There's this Fall Out Boy song that inspired this chapter's style, so if a few lines of it are plugged in here and there…yeah. I thought it fit Kim and Jacques perfectly. Sorry for the long interval between this chapter and the last; I had NaNoWriMo all of November. I'll be getting back into both my Incredibles fics now. Of course, I have finals in two weeks… "Megalomaniac" should be concluded in just a few days. "Sunshine" will be running for a while longer.

Chapter Nine – Dance, Dance

It was simple enough, asking Gamma Jack to go to the Superwoman with her. Part of Kim wished that it could have been more dramatic. She could have tried the Casanova approach: "Hey hot stuff. Wanna go to the Superwoman with me?" Kim figured that it would have disastrous results. She could have played it cool—"Hey, I hear you don't have a date. Me neither. Wanna be my de facto date?" Kim decided that that approach was simply ridiculous, as well as embarrassing.

In the end, it turned out something like this:

"Would you like to go to the Superwoman with me?"

Gamma Jack, who was putting handcuffs on a guy who had mugged the reigning Miss Metroville, had been showing his flair for multi-tasking by manhandling the criminal and having a rather lascivious conversation with the beauty queen at the same time. The sight of this hadn't particularly heartened Kim at all, and it took all of her willpower to not grit her teeth in frustration while asking him out.

After dismissing the bottled-blonde Miss Metroville, he turned to Kim carelessly. "Why?" His tone was neither inquisitive nor concerned, but he didn't seem to be disinterested, either.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Kim assumed a look of nonchalance, putting one hand on her waist. "Couldn't think of anyone else worth my while," she smirked. Inside, she seethed. Kim knew she was no good with words.

"Is that a fact?" Gamma Jack advanced, and there were just a few inches between them. Kim tilted her head up to keep eye contact. It occurred to her suddenly that she had never ever noticed that he was so tall. And yet hadn't he been looking down on her all along? When she wouldn't avert her gaze, he grinned mock-sheepishly. "Alright then, mademoiselle, if you insist!"

--

And so there she was, wearing a form-fitting dress that was a shade of purple so dark you could've sworn it was black, with a cascade of iridescent rhinestones down one side. It had been purchased during that one-week trip they had spent together in New York. Musing, Kim wondered if he would notice. She was delicately sipping wine from a champagne glass, holding it in her right hand with her pinkie sticking out like the British women did. This was the type of life that she knew many people would love to lead. Kim was a fairly wealthy socialite, and a superhero, to boot. So why did she feel so miserable? She continued to stare outside the window overlooking the lawn, and the moon cast shadows on her face and mask.

"Stormicide," Funny that when he called her by her alias, it didn't send her nerves shooting off like fireworks like it did when he called her by name. Stormicide and Kim were two different people, after all. At that moment, Kimberly Daniels was totally gone, sealed away and untouchable.

"Gamma Jack," she nodded, closing her eyes. "Did you just get here?"

"Yeah, I wanted to make sure my suit looked ok," he grinned. His tie was slightly crooked, and Stormicide laughed in her head—men never could tie their own ties.

"You look great," she smiled, her tone sincere. He smiled in return, but it seemed rather forced and not genuine.

"Listen, listen. I did it."

"Did what?" Stormicide was genuinely confused. His comment was out of place.

"I finished it. The 'super serum'. It turns normal people into supers," he sounded excited beyond all reason.

Alarmed, Stormicide replied, "I thought you were giving up on that!"

"I don't care if supers are superior to everybody else or not. I just want her to understand me. I want her to love—"

"You must know how terrible this makes me feel," Stormicide interrupted. "I liked you a lot, you know."

Gamma Jack looked her straight in the eye, held his gaze for a few moments, then glanced downward at his shoes. "I…I'm sorry. I love Kim. Always have, always will,"

Stormicide was fading. "I get you for one night, at least. Come on, dance with me," she pleaded, sounding like a wonderfully spoiled brat. Gamma Jack grinned.

"Me? Refuse a dance with a lovely lady such as yourself? Never!" he gently took her hand and led her out to the dance floor. Twirl, dip, tango, waltz. Stormicide didn't know what it was. Stormicide understood how to save lives, how to dismantle bombs, how to hide her heart in the best way possible so that it would never be broken.

Gamma Jack knew how to make women feel like they were loved. He could make any woman feel wanted and needed, except for one—the one that he actually cared about. Stormicide thought this terribly ironic. He had all the right intentions, but didn't understand anything.

"Living so carelessly like that…what do you get out of it?" she muttered.

"What's that?" he asked. Gamma Jack had been unable to hear her over the loud music, which is what she had wanted, anyway. In reply, she laid her head against his chest for the slow song. If he minded or was surprised, Jack made no indication of it.

The clock struck twelve and sounded long, deep tones. One…two…Gamma Jack and Stormicide broke free, and standing there, in that dress that they had bought together, Kim felt herself slowly return. Three…four…He was just three feet away. "I'm going back for her," He said, his voice neither soft nor loud. "For Kim." Five…six…

"Go sit down over there," she pointed to a large group of chairs on the far side of the auditorium. Seven…eight…Chairs were turned to face each other in groups of two so that couples could talk face to face. "Go. I need to go to the bathroom really quick, I'll be there in a minute." Nine…ten…

Gamma Jack was, of course, confused. She had totally ignored his comment, which, apparently, had been rather important. But he made no move of protest, and wordlessly moved towards the chairs after nodding his assent. Eleven…twelve…The chiming stopped, and on the stroke of twelve, the spell was broken and Stormicide was totally gone. Kim went to the bathroom to remove her mask.