(A/N:What up guys, sorry that this chapter came out late, again, I know I've been pretty bad about this lately but it doesn't help that I'm working on another story at the same time as this one, nor does it help that I got an infection in my elbow which thankfully is almost gone, I notice it popped up last weekend and I had no idea what it was, my mother thought it was a spider bite, a nurse practitioner thought it was septic joint, but thankfully it wasn't either of those, so they put me on some antibiotics to clear it up and now I can get back to doing this. Okay now before we start I just want to go on record that there is a couple of songs of written into this story, none of which I take ownership of nor do I intend to claim as my own, I leave all rights and ownership of said songs to their respected owner so please don't sue me, not that you'd get a whole lot out of me because I'm basically dirt broke, oh also one more thing, this is going to be a long chapter, it's over 25,000 words long which is my longest for this story yet, I've really out done myself, also you can expect a very big surprise scene close to the end with Juleka and Rose, also Dallas will go through hell and back for a lot and I mean A LOT more than he bargained for. Okay lets hop in, enjoy.)
Chapter 12: A Miraculous Creation
Dallas stayed up for hours on end going over the piece of paper he had copied from the spell book. His eyes were bloodshot and heavy from lack of sleep. But after downing a mixture of herbs and roots he was ready to take on the day, and begin the hunt for the remaining ingredients for his miraculous. He had decided to acquire the suit first, even though he was no longer considered a thief he still had plenty of underworld contacts. So he decided to start with an old friend from the U.S. Dallas took out his phone and called an old number he knew by heart. "(I don't care how much money the suit is Coyote just find me one and find it fast.)" Dallas demanded in the old Apache dialect.
To which his contact 'coyote' replied in the same language. "(Look Jones…)" He said sounding apologetic. "(I'm not even sure where to begin, especially sense your half way around the world, and in Paris France at that, there's just not that many reliable sources to follow there.)"
"(Then let's try something a little less traditional in terms of acquiring goods like…oh I don't know a research lab or a military bass maybe?)" Dallas suggested to his contact. There was a long pause on the other side of the line for almost a minute. "(Coyote? Hello? Are you still there?)" He asked thrice until Coyote finally responded.
"(Are you out of your damned mind? Don't you remember what happened in Kentucky?)" Coyote blasted on his side of the line. "(You almost died that night and you want to try your luck in a French military base? And I thought you were going straight!)"
"(I am going straight, in fact that's why I'm doing this but I need a suit, a top quality suit made for stealth and recon but it also has to offer protection from light arms fire at least.)" Dallas replied as he rubbed his ear after taking a full on direct shout into his eardrum. "(And don't bring up the fort Knox incident again, especially after you dared me to do it you spineless little shit.)"
"(Now that just hurts Dallas.)" Coyote replied. "(But to be fair you didn't have to take the dare.)"
Dallas was quick to fire back with. "(You mean just like when you didn't have to take that loan from the Russian mob? Because we both know how that ended, with me having to pay your debt and literally pull your ass out of the fire.)"
While he was still in the U.S. the coyote had taken out a loan from the Russian mob and was unable to pay them back, so Dallas offered to do a few odd jobs for the mob on behalf of his friend until his debt was paid off, even though he only had a week to get it all together he still managed to pay it all off, and not a moment too soon as the mob was going to drop the coyote into a burning pit filled with gasoline and more wood than necessary, but luckily for the coyote Dallas got to them in time with every last bit of his debt paid off.
"(Are you ever gonna let me live that down?)" Coyote asked with slight annoyance.
Dallas then replied with another question. "(Are you ever gonna shut up and find me a sneaking suit?)"
The coyote sighed then said with a fretful tone. "(I don't like how this is gonna end Dallas I'm just gonna say that now before you're sent home in a pine box, I'll see what my friend in England says but no promises.)"
"(I'll be fine coyote, don't forget who you're talking to, I mean after all I did survive a mountain lion attack when I was a kid, if that bitch couldn't kill me than there is no force on this earth that can put me in an early grave.)" Dallas replied with confidence.
"Mr. Jones!" Ms. Bustier called out to Dallas as she'd noticed that he was on his phone in class. He looked up as he finally noticed she'd caught him. "This is the third time this hour I've caught you on your phone, now hand it over." She extended her hand to Dallas for him to surrender his phone.
Dallas sighed then said. "Okay ma'am…" But before he handed it over his phone he quickly finished his phone call. "(I have to go, teacher caught me on the phone again and now I have to hand over my phone, I'll call you back later, goodbye.)" Dallas hung up his phone then handed it over to the teacher.
A few hours later lunch rolled around and Dallas was eating his lunch out on a bench on the blacktop so he could go over the ritual in his mind one more time to decide what pieces he should collect and in what order, he spent so much time wondering about this that he didn't even notice Juleka had sat down next to him, she took a deep breath then said with a stern voice. "I need your help."
Dallas jumped a bit as he tried to relax himself then said. "For the love of god Juley stop doing that, every time you do that I have a flash back to when I was eight."
Juleka grinned apologetically then casually said. "Sorry…anyway like I said…" She was about to repeat herself when she noticed the paper in Dallas's hand, she became curious. "What's that?" She asked with curiosity strong in her voice.
"NOTHING…" He cried as he stuffed it back into his pocket. "It's nothing honest I-I-I-it's just a dumb picture I drew it's nothing interesting at all really." He then began to grin unconvincingly. "Ssssssoooooo…did you need something from me?"
She quickly remembered her reason for coming over to him, then she began to repeat her previous sentence. "I need your help to…try and…makeRosemygirlfriend." She spat out way too fast.
Dallas's face shifted from nervous to confused, then straight to a smile. "Ohhhhhh I see what's going on here, let me guess, you want to tell her how you feel but you either don't know how to say it or your just too scared that if you do tell her then you'll ruin everything between you including your friendship and the band but sense I'm the first person who knows about your…preferences…you want to try and keep it on the hush-hush am I correct Juley?"
She folded her hands together and began to beg. "Please Dallas your my only hope, I can't just trust anyone with my secret, well except maybe my brother but I don't want to involve him with my problems, mainly because he hasn't really dated a whole lot of girls either."
Dallas then smirked and said. "Why's that? Is it because he happens to play for the same team as you?"
Juleka then punched Dallas as hard as she could in the arm then said. "I'm being serious you prick!"
Dallas then began to rub the soreness out of his arm then said. "God…damn…if I was curious who was gonna be on top in your relationship before I'm not anymore because…ow…just...ow…AH-AH-AH don't you dare do that again or I won't help you period."
Juleka lowered her arm slowly then took a deep breath before she collected herself. "So you'll help me?"
Dallas nodded his head then replied. "How soon do you want me to help out?"
"Tomorrow after band practice on my house boat, around five o'clock after school at the earliest if you can." She asked with a hopeful expression.
Dallas nodded then said. "I'll be there, wait…did you say you live on a house boat?" Juleka nodded yes, then Dallas simply continued with. "Well that's one way to stay off the grid, personally I prefer a good old fashion RV, mostly because it don't sink."
Juleka rolled her eyes and groaned. "Just be there please."
Dallas nodded then said. "I'll be there faster than you can say baguettes and butter." She just looked at him with a weird face then he sighed and said. "Never mind, I'll be there okay? But I might have to pay a visit to the hardware store first, personal reasons you see."
She felt no reason to pry so she just let it go, she thanked him for agreeing to help her and went on her way, just as she left he noticed another girl he knew, and someone he had made a bet around, he was quick to smooth out his hair and pop in a breath mint for good measure before heading over to see Marinette, she made her way over to the locker room to collect her calculus book when she was startled by Dallas who was leaning up against the lockers sporting a very toothy grin. "Oh…hello Dallas, what do you want?" He took a look at the book in her arms then he pulled it away from her and just flipped through the pages as if he was actually looking for something. "Hey give me that." She demanded as she tried to get her book back.
"First a little pop quiz…" He mused as he stopped on a single page. "What's MC squared divided by Y plus M times 2 plus L plus R?"
She raised an eye brow and replied. "I'm pretty sure that's not actually a math problem."
"Ooh…I'm sorry my dear but I'm afraid the answer is a romantic evening on la riviera in a row boat under the starry night sky with a bottle of Champagne on ice to quench our thirst." He said with a smile. "In other words, how's about you and me have a night out on the town sweetheart?"
She just grinned then leaned in close and asked right back. "Tell me, what's N plus O?" His smile quickly turned into a frown upon hearing those words. "Give up? The answer is…NOT EVEN IF YOU WERE THE LAST GUY ON EARTH!" She screamed in his face before taking back her book then walked off.
He just stood there stunned then said. "Well I do love a girl who plays hard to get." For Dallas it was all about the hunt, first he'd 'stalk' his pray so to speak, just trying to figure out what makes them tick, then he'd use her traits as leverage to help him win a date with her, then once he'd felt like he knew enough he'd go in for the kill, but usually by now they would fall hook, line and sinker for him with his natural charm, but clearly he was having trouble with Marinette, but this wouldn't deter him, not one bit, he wasn't going to give up with out a fight just yet. "But it seems I'll have to turn up the heat a bit next time, it's only a matter of time Marinette so get ready for romance-vill population you, me and our two…no three little milkshake babies, and a dog…no a cat…no we'll start out with something small like a hamster, no wait hamsters are escape artists he'll probably just breakout of his cage and get lost in the walls or something." He summarized his 'possible' future with her. "Eh, I'll worry about that on a later day."
(A/N: That part isn't completely a joke actually, hamsters actually are little escape artists and can break out of their cages easily, so if you get one buy a tank instead of a cage, a tall one too so they can't use their wheel to escape, so don't fuck with me because I have the power of god and animal planet on my side.)
A few hours later Dallas and Adrien were just leaving the school and heading back to their car they'd chosen for the day, when Dallas had quickly said. "Oh…shit I forgot something in my locker, be right back."
"Okay but hurry up, I've got a private fencing match with a friend of mine and she doesn't like to be kept waiting." Adrien replied as he hopped in the car and waited for Dallas to return, completely unaware that he was about to pull a miniature heist to retrieve his phone. Dallas knew enough that Ms. Bustier kept everything she'd confiscate from her students in her desk and that she always kept it locked, usually that would make things complicated, unless you carried around a set of lock picks like he did.
"Just a little to the left…a bit back to the right aaaaand…" He twisted the lock and just listened to the sound of a satisfying click. "Perfect, American rebel 1, Ms. Bustier 0…" He mused as he opened the drawer, and found it was empty. "Damnit, she must've took it to the office, can't things just go my way just once?" He asked rhetorically as he closed the drawer and left the classroom, he quickly made his way to the lower level of the school where the office was and found it was currently being occupied by none other than Mr. Damocles himself, sporting his superhero costume as well, Dallas just stood there with his mouth a gape. "Duh…fuck?" Was all that came to mind, he had no idea of what he was seeing as he just bore witness to the principle just leap around his office throwing odd looking rubber boomerangs everywhere. "Okay he's either high as a fucking kite…or mentally challenged either way he needs help." Dallas half joked as he entered the office. "Excuse me uh…sir?" Dallas honestly didn't know what to call him at this point as he was just confused.
That's when 'the owl' turned his attention to Dallas as he just stood in the door way with a confused look on his face. "Can I help you citizen?" He asked with a heroic pose.
Dude, does he actually think he's a superhero? Dallas asked himself mentally. "Uh…well not really, I just thought I should let you know that someone just totaled your car." He said using a harmless little white lie, which Mr. Damocles fell for hook, line and sinker.
"WHAT?! Oh no I only just got that thing, thank you son, owl away, HOO-HOO!" He cried as he ran out of his office flapping his arms as if they were actually wings.
"This city just keeps getting weirder and weirder by the day." Dallas said as he shook his head in disbelief, then he began to search for his phone, instead of searching random drawers in the principles office he just used the phone on his desk and called his phone to help him find it quicker, it was inside the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet just behind the desk. "Perfect, now to get the fuck out of dodge." He opened the cabinet and retrieved his phone then proceeded to leave the school and meet up with Adrien and Plagg by the car.
"What took you so long?" Adrien began to complain. "Now I'm gonna be late for my match."
"Well sorry Mr. I have fifty different things to do after school but I couldn't find the item I was looking for as easily as I'd hoped so I had to go to the principle's office to see if anyone had turned it in, but to be honest I wish that I hadn't gone in there as I think the principle may have dementia or D.I.D. either way the man is a freaking fruit loop." Dallas stated as the sight of Mr. Damocles in his super suit still haunted him.
"Ohhhhhhhh you caught 'the owl' in the act didn't you?" Adrien asked while using air quotes.
"Wait, so you know your principle is a few cards shy of a full deck?" Dallas asked back.
Adrien simply nodded then said. "Yeah, he does that sometimes, he said that ever sense he was a kid he wanted to be a super hero, and to some people in the city he is one, he goes around helping out the community or gives food and blankets away to the homeless, bottom line he really enjoys what he's doing."
"Soooo…" Dallas began to ask another question. "Why does he dress like an owl?"
"He pulled his inspiration from an old comic book called the night owl, now with that being said lets hit the road before Kagami thinks I forfeit our match." Adrien requested as he turned to the car.
"Sure, I'll drive." Dallas chimed as he tried to take the keys from Adrien, only for them to be pulled out of his reach.
"Oh no-no-no-no-no, not after yesterday Mario Andretti, today I'm driving us."
Dallas immediately began to protest. "Oh come on dude I only drove like that to get away from the rollers, besides I didn't get to drive this beauty yesterday." The car they had chosen for today was a silver 2018 Bugatti convertible, it was very sleek and had light blue racing striped decals stretching the top of the vehicle from front to back.
"I don't care Dallas, you drive like a maniac and I'm not getting in another car with you behind the wheel for a month if I can help it." Adrien denied as he got in the drivers seat and ignited the engine, the mere sound of its purr sent a tingle down Dallas's spine as he fell for the car more and more.
"Come on Adrien this little lady is just begging me to drive her, just for a little bit, pleeeease?" He begged as he peered in through the window.
But Adrien just shook his head and said. "No, now get in the car or your walking home." Dallas just began to groan as he opened the door of the car and just plopped into the seat.
"Fine, but I'm picking the radio station." He retorted as he turned on the radio, the station it was on was currently in the climax of Hungarian rhapsody by Franz Liszt & Franz Doppler.
(A/N: Yes it was written by two guys who's first names were Franz, don't believe me look it up.)
"What the fuck is this classical horse shit?" Dallas Gripped as he turned to Adrien.
"It's Hungarian rhapsody by…" Adrien began to explain but Dallas was quick to cut him off.
"I know…what the song is, what I don't know is why are we listening to it." He stated as he just held up a hand in front of Adrien's face.
"Why are you complaining? You listen to classical music too." Adrien pointed out, to which Dallas was quick to shoot down.
"I only listen to…that song, and only because I want to try and make up for failing to keep my promise to my mother, I prefer classic rock'n'roll and country music, also a little bit of alternate Cristian rock too, and I swear to god if you dis my music I will cut your balls off and fry them up in a skillet, while I'm listening to skillet too just for the hell of it." He stated slightly angry for some reason.
"Wait…" Adrien started to ask. "Why would you be frying up my…boys?" He didn't know how to describe 'himself' as easily as Dallas could clearly.
"So you wouldn't have to eat them raw." Dallas growled back, Adrien's jaw just dropped at this sudden confession hoping against all odds that this was just a sick joke of his, but with the way he said it he didn't think he was joking.
"Dude seriously? I'm trying to eat here and I can't do that if I'm imagining him eating his own baby makers." Plagg declared as he sat on the dash with a wedge of cheese in hand. "Besides that who in there right mind would even consider eating another guys cherries? It's disgusting, and in all forms of respect wrong on so many levels."
Adrien was quick to agree. "Yeah I'm with Plagg on this one that's just gross."
Dallas then began to chuckle and said. "You two are such pussies."
Both Adrien and Plagg exchanged a weird look then looked back at Dallas. "What's that supposed to mean?" Adrien asked innocently and completely unprepared for his answer.
Dallas just smiled back at him and said. "Let's just say that I've always had a taste for rocky mountain oysters." Both Plagg and Adrien let out a very confused, huh, then Dallas explained. "That's the official term for, wait for it, deep fried cow testicles." Both Adrien and his kwami's jaws just dropped to the floor at the same time as their eyes shot open with surprise and terror at this sudden reveal.
"Tell me your joking." Adrien pleaded to his foster brother.
Dallas just kept on smiling as he shook his head and said. "Nope, been eating them sense I was four."
Just then Adrien's face turned green, as did Plagg's face, both of them suddenly feeling sick to their stomachs. "You…sick…bastard." Plagg gripped while trying to keep his most recent snack from coming back up.
"Hey don't knock it till you try it, they're especially good if you dip them in barbecue sauce…" Dallas continued as he just watched as both Adrien and Plagg began to turn greener. "Oh but if you smoke them with hickory before you cook them first they taste even better, with a nice smoky flavor to complement the barbecue and…"
"Okay okay we get it, please…no…no more." Adrien begged as he did his best not to throw up.
Dallas then leaned over and said with a smirk. "You don't look so good buddy, maybe I should be the one to drive, seeing that your face is the color of a leprechaun's suit." Adrien's earlier argument meant nothing to him at this point, especially sense Dallas had completely rocked him to his core, literally in this case. Without hesitation Adrien agreed to trade places with Dallas under the condition that he obeyed the rules of the road. Which he of course did as he felt no reason to torture either his friend or the kwami any further. Adrien told Dallas to drive them to the park again for his match with Kagami, before he pulled away from the curb though he made sure to change the station to something a little more modern, he put it on a rock station just as it was starting to play one of his favorites, Detroit rock city by Kiss. "Oh hell yes my brother from another mother, now THIS…is a good song…" He mused as he turned up the volume and began to sing along to the song.
"I feel up tight on a Saturday night…" He banged his head to the beat of the song.
"Nine o'clock the radios' the only light…" He brought up one hand from the wheel and clenched it into a fist for dramatic effect.
"I hear that song and it pulls me through…" He slid his hand through the air in the brief silence.
"Could go strong tells me what I got to do, I got to…GET UP, everybody's gonna move their feet, GET DOWN, everybody's gonna leave their seat…gotta lose your mind in Detroit…rock city…GET UP, everybody's gonna move their feet, GET DOWN, everybody's gonna leave their seat…" He looked over to Adrien then said. "Come on sing with me man."
But Adrien didn't sing along, as he was too sick to care about singing along to anything at the moment, luckily for him his stomach began to settle as soon as they arrived at the park. By that time Dallas had sang through twelve different songs of classic rock such as welcome to the jungle by guns and roses, shout at the devil by motley crew, and living on a prayer by Bon Jovi to name a few, Adrien found that Dallas had a very excellent singing voice as well as perfect pitch. "You know your not half bad." Adrien complemented as they left the car.
"Why thank you my good man I am pleased to know that I didn't give you a migraine along with your stomach ache." Dallas replied with a smile.
"Your late Mr. Agreste…" A voice chimed from behind them, both boys turned to see a Japanese girl in a red fencing outfit and her helmet under her arm with a practice sword in her free hand. "I expected you here ten minutes ago, I was beginning to think you forfeit our weekly one on one match this week." She said with a smirk.
"Sorry I'm late Kagami, but I'm here now so just give me a minute to change and we can get started." Adrien stated as he opened the trunk of the car and retrieved his gym bag then headed over to the public rest room to change. "Oh and Dallas…" Adrien added just before he went inside the bathroom. "Try not to start a fight with her okay, she's a good friend of mine, also she is a kick ass swords-woman."
As Adrien disappeared into the bath room Dallas stood alone with Kagami for a moment with nothing but silence, until she broke the silence. "So…" She started casually. "You wouldn't happen to be the Dallas that Adrien's been telling me about for the past few weeks would you?"
Dallas then smiled and began to turn on the old charm. "Why as a matter a fact I am my dear Kagami senpi, you are Japanese right? I try not to assume anyone's ethnicity until I know for sure and with a name like yours I just have a feeling that you're Japanese." Dallas announced hoping that he didn't insult her.
"Well you have nothing to fear, I am in fact Japanese and as you may have guessed I am an excellent swords-woman as Adrien already pointed out." Kagami stated with a smile.
"That so? Well I hope you don't mind having an audience for this private match because if your as good as you say than I want to see just how good you are senpi." Dallas mused with a smile.
Kagami quickly frowned her brow and said. "Don't call me that, you're not my boyfriend."
Well she certainly is a ball buster, Dallas mused inside his head, but she is Japanese so she has to be a little bit of a buzz kill. Around that same moment Dallas took notice of two people sitting on a park bench behind her, one of them just so happened to be Gabriel Agreste while the other was a blind Japanese woman wearing a traditional black and red kimono holding a bokken as a cane to help her find her way around. "Wait, is that…" Dallas thought he recognized the woman from seeing a video of a kendo tournament he'd seen on line but he wasn't quite sure if it was the same woman.
"What are you staring at?" Kagami asked as she turned back to her mother and Gabriel Agreste.
Dallas then replied casually and said. "I swear I've seen that woman before in a tournament I watched on line a few years back, but I'm not quite sure."
Kagami smiled then replied with a question. "Was it fencing or kendo?"
Dallas then looked back to her with slight confusion by the odd question. "How did you know she practices both of those?" He asked back.
"Because she's my mother." Kagami replied with a smirk.
At first Dallas didn't take her seriously. "Yeah right…" He said unconvinced. "The odds of that woman being your mom are one in a million."
"Well then what was her name?" Kagami asked with the same smirk from earlier.
Dallas had to think for a moment to try and remember what her name was. "I think her name was…Tomoe s…sur…" He tried to pronounce the sir name but found it difficult to do so.
So being merciful, and also not interested in seeing him butcher her last name in the attempt to say it she finished for him. "Tsurugi…it's pronounced Tsurugi."
That's when Dallas looked back to her with surprise on his face with how quickly she guessed the name of the swords-woman. "Holy shit…you're dead serious aren't you?" He stated with shock on his face.
"Did I not sound serious to you?" She asked as she put her sword hand on her hip.
"Sorry, it's just she's the first ever swords-woman who happens to be blind that took home first place in tournaments all around the world in both kendo and fencing, that and it's a pretty bold claim to say that you're from the same clan and house as her, and after seeing how your mom fights…well, I think that alone should speak for itself." Dallas elaborated as he tried to get over being star struck.
Kagami then replied with. "Fair enough, not everyone can claim that they are a descendant from my family, but then again not everyone can prove it either." She put on her helmet then took her fighting stance then proceeded with some very masterful swords play. Around that same time Adrien was finally changed into his fencing attire, he smiled at the sight he was welcomed with as he left the bathroom.
"Well I'm glad you two haven't torn each other apart while I was gone." Adrien mused as he pulled out his practice sword.
"Hey Adrien, why didn't you tell me that you were friends with someone of the Tsurugi family?" Dallas asked with a smile.
"Well I didn't think it was important at the time, no offense Kagami." Adrien replied with an apology.
"None taken, now then…" With a wave of her hand she suggested they move on to their usual spot. "Shall we begin."
Adrien nodded as he followed Kagami to the usual spot, Dallas took a spot next to Gabriel and Tomoe and just stood and watched the duel unfold, Kagami opened up with a quick forward sting just as Adrien hopped backward and swung his sword to her right, she blocked it and shoved it away then countered with a low swing at his ankles, but he saw this move coming a mile away and dodged it then swung his sword over his head and brought it down just before she parried his attack then slid back on her heels then soon after she lunged forward with a stab, Adrien quickly deflected her attack then spun around her, she quickly turned around as he swung his sword from the left, she blocked it as she managed to push her weight forward onto him as their blades interlocked.
"Damn, that girl is good." Dallas mused as he just marveled at Kagami's style and movements.
"She should be…" Tomoe spoke calmly as she just sat and listened to the duel take place. "I'm the one who trained her after all."
Dallas was startled that she was actually speaking to him, he was almost convinced she would have no desire to speak to him at all. "Well you certainly trained her well miss Tomoe san, her technique is flawless, much like your own if I may say so myself."
She then smiled and said. "So you've seen my tournaments have you?"
"Yes I have ma'am, you truly are a gifted swords-woman, I've never seen anyone with such grace and skill with a blade quite like yours, well except maybe your daughter, who as I've just notice leaves herself exposed a little bit with her lead foot." Dallas replied as he took note of the minor flaw.
"You noticed that as well I see?" Tomoe replied as she sat up on the bench.
Dallas was surprised by her sudden reveal. "Wait, what do you mean I noticed it as well? I thought you were blind." He summarized with confusion.
"Trust me young man, a mother always knows." She stated plainly as the duel carried on.
"She's not the only one to fail in seeing her flaws it seems…" Gabriel spoke up. "Adrien's form is excellent but he puts too much of his weight forward at times, I'm surprised she doesn't take advantage of that."
Dallas took a closer look at how Adrien was dueling and saw that Gabriel was right, he was putting too much weight forward and if he wasn't careful he could easily lose his footing if Kagami simply stepped to the side.
"Your right Gabe, he does put too much forward, any skilled swordsman…or woman in this case, could easily take him down with a simple side step…but I wonder though…" That's when Dallas got an idea, one that he could use to help both duelists. "Mr. Agreste, Tsurugi san, with your permission I would like to alter the duel slightly as a way to help show them how they must improve."
"What did you have in mind?" Tomoe asked with a raised brow.
Dallas then smiled and said. "I propose the two of them face off against me and me alone, both of them with their swords while I am armed with these." He reached into his backpack and pulled out two practice weapons, a rubber bowie knife and tomahawk which he would practice with on a regular basis, he handed both weapons over to Tomoe to give her an idea of how he would be fighting them both.
She nodded and said. "If this is how you wish to proceed then so be it. You have my permission to educate my daughter."
Dallas then turned to Gabriel who simply nodded his head yes, Dallas then smiled and called out to the two duelists. "Okay you two break it up, because were gonna switch this up a little bit." Both Adrien and Kagami stopped in there tracks as he approached them. "You see, between the three of us over there we couldn't help but notice that you two fail to notice a flaw that each of you seem to have in your dueling technique, so I am going to help you better defend against them…" He paused as he tossed his knife high into the air and twirled around his tomahawk from side to side and trading it off between hands until his knife came back down and he caught it in his left hand. "By kicking BOTH your asses."
Adrien's face took on a look of worry under his helmet as he already knew just how good of a fighter Dallas was from his first fight with him, Kagami on the other hand was overly confident as she had a hard time finding worthy opponents, and if the smile on her face wasn't hidden by her helmet it would be clear as day for all to see her confidence. "Do you actually think that you can beat the two of us together? And with…what ever those are?" She chuckled slightly as she lifted up her helmet.
"Oh…" Dallas mused with a smile. "So sure that you'll win, well then I guess you've got nothing to worry about."
"Uhhhhhh…could you just give us a moment please?" Adrien requested as he pulled Kagami off to the side so they could talk privately. "Kagami listen to me, I know he doesn't look like much but he is an insane fighter so don't underestimate him." He said as he lifted up his helmet to speak to her face to face.
"Oh please Adrien, he's just one kid against the two of us, and he's not even properly armed for a fencing duel and we have him out numbered two to one so I think we stand a better chance than he does." Kagami mused as she continued to show confidence.
"Okay fair enough…" Adrien stated before he whispered. "But I saw him take on Cat Noir a few weeks back and he won easily, and all he had was a knife at the time."
Upon hearing those words Kagami was only slightly shaken by this sudden reveal of information. "Oh…alright then, I will take this a little more seriously." She said as she knocked her helmet back down, Adrien followed suit and both duelists returned to their opponent.
"You two done stalling now? Good, cause I'm ready to see what your both made of." Dallas said as he taunted both fencers.
"I've often wondered how a Lakota brave's fighting style would fair against that of a swordsman." Kagami mused as she leveled her sword at Dallas.
Dallas then smiled and said. "Finally, someone who knows my ethnicity, you even got the tribe right, I have to say I think I might feel a little bad when I beat you my dear, but if I'm guessing correctly Adrien must've told you that little detail." Dallas took his stance holding his knife above his head and his tomahawk across his chest as he positioned himself for the duel.
"You would guess correctly Mr. Jones, I just hope for your sake that you fight as well as Adrien claims you do." Kagami replied with a smirk.
Both duelists stood at the ready waiting for Dallas to make his move. "Whenever you're ready…" Adrien voiced sounding slightly nervous.
"Actually I would prefer if the two of you made the first move, come on then…come at me bro…and uh…sis…I guess." Dallas requested with a taunting wave of his tomahawk. Both fencers exchanged a look followed by a simultaneous shrug as they both leapt forward with a lunge, Dallas simply took one side step to Adrien's left and took a swing with his tomahawk to his abdomen. "Too easy…" He mused, while Adrien was busy feeling winded Kagami raced around him and started slashing wildly with her sword, but Dallas managed to block each attack easily with both weapons. "Are you even trying to hit me?" He said as he caught her blade in between the hook of the tomahawk and the back of his knife. Desperately trying to free herself from his trap she pulled as hard as she could without gaining so much as an inch, feeling board of her efforts he released his hold on her sword and pushed it away with his knife then as she lunged forward he spun around her sword then quickly crouched down and in one swift motion he slid under her sword while tripping her with his tomahawk sending her to the ground on the flat of her back then Dallas flipped back up with his knife held high over his head, before he made his final blow Kagami made one final attempt to take him down with a quick blow from the side of his chest with her sword, but he just deflected it with his tomahawk sliding it back toward her head just as his knife connected with her chest. "Predictable…" He mused as he helped her onto her feet.
"How did you do that?" She asked with astonishment. "No one has ever managed to take me down until today, that was incredible."
"Years of practice, in getting my own ass kicked by my grandfather, now…" Dallas returned to his stance. "Care to try again?" He said with a smirk.
Kagami also returned to her fighting stance and made herself ready to duel again. "This time you make the first move." She declared thinking that she might have an advantage over him if he was the attacker this time.
He shrugged his shoulders then said. "If you insist, I will gladly oblige you." He then charged at her with both weapons at his side leaving his chest completely exposed.
You fool, Kagami smirked behind her mask, you're charging right into a trap. She thrusted forward in the attempt to stab him but Dallas quickly lifted his tomahawk pushing her blow away from his body then quickly traded the block with his knife as he knelt down and hooked her foot with his tomahawk again this time pulling forward causing her to slide into a split then with a quick twirl around her he delivered another blow to the back of her head with his tomahawk.
"Come on Katana…" Dallas quipped as he celebrated his second victory on her. "Step up your game, I've already taken you down twice now." While Dallas was focused on Kagami Adrien saw this as an opportunity to take a quick blow at Dallas from behind, so he hopped back up and charged him, ever predictable Adrien, Dallas mentally criticized as he twisted around on his heels and parried his blow with both tomahawk and knife, he quickly slid the sword over his head and allowed Adrien's weight and speed to bring him forward toward the point of his knife, Dallas smirked as he saw it connect with the white of his tunic. "Sneak attack huh? Not sneaky enough I'm afraid."
The duel between the three teens went on for twenty minutes strait, Dallas literally was untouchable the entire duel, it was like he was something out of a movie, each and every time that his opponents thought they had an opportunity to strike he would use it against them each time always exploiting their flaws to achieve victory, that is until he saw that they were exhausted and couldn't continue any further with their duel. "Dallas…" Adrien panted as he leaned on a near by tree. "Is it okay…if we…take a break."
Dallas nodded his head and said. "Actually I think it's just time to call it quits, also to explain how it is you guys keep losing as you clearly haven't figured it out yet." Neither of his opponents argued as they simply nodded and removed their helmets.
After they each had enough time to catch their breath Kagami asked the one question that had been plaguing her mind. "Okay how did you manage to evade our attacks so easily like that, I've been dueling sense I was four and I've never been so easily outwitted by anyone."
Dallas simply described it with one word. "Aikido…"
Neither of them understood what he meant by that, Kagami of course knew it was a Japanese fighting style but she didn't understand what he meant by it. "I'm sorry but what is that supposed to mean?"
Dallas shrugged his shoulders and said. "I simply used your own flaws against you primarily with a defensive technique that I've integrated with that of traditional native American tomahawk and knife fighting." Both Adrien and Kagami exchanged a look before he continued. "You see you each had a flaw that I exposed to the two of you, your flaw my dear Kagami was you leave your leading foot exposed when you strike, and as for you Adrien you put too much of your weight forward and thus I was able to overcome you both for these reasons, well that and because I've been trained in several different forms of martial arts such as Judo, jujitsu, ninjutsu, traditional kung fu, karv maga, kendo and Taiwanese kickboxing, I've earned a black belt for just about each and every one of them."
"How do you know so many different types of martial arts?" Adrien asked surprised that Dallas new so many different forms of self-defense.
"I've dated a lot of girls who know how to fight, though some of them fight better than they…" Dallas explained up until Adrien cut him off.
"We get it." He voiced with discomfort.
Kagami then asked Dallas directly. "So did you date these girls by choice or through pure luck alone?"
Dallas was all too happy to admit the truth. "A little bit of both actually, and each one of them was damn good at their craft, and drop dead sexy if you ask me." He said casually, this however earned a weird look from both Adrien and Kagami. "What? I'm native American, we think it's hot if the girl were with knows how to fight, or at least I do…can't say the same for the rest."
"Well…glad to know that if I ever end up dating a native American." Kagami stated as she took a sip of water from her water bottle.
"Oh hell yeah any native American guy would love you, basically as soon as you started swinging that sword he'd be putty in your hands sister." Dallas replied as he too grabbed his water bottle from his bag and took a drink, he let out a sigh of satisfaction before he said. "Man that's some good brew."
"Uhhhhhh…what?" Adrien asked with a confused look on his face.
"Oh this is brave's brew, it's an herbal tea made from roots, berries, tree bark and cactus flowers, it's an old recipe passed down from generation to generation, keeps you strong and healthy…" Dallas explained as he offered Adrien a sip. "Here try some, you guys might like it, key word though 'might'…it's sort of an acquired taste for most people."
Not wanting to seem rude Adrien took a sip, and regretted it once it touched his tongue, he was quick to spit it out as he began to wipe his tongue on his sleeve. "Gak…that is nasty dude…" He complained. "It tastes like it's been fermenting for fifty years."
"Well the berries are supposed to be fermented before you brew the tea, but not for that long actually, more like two weeks or so, it's supposed to make the effects of the brew more effective." He pointed out.
"What do you mean 'the effects', is there something special about this tea?" Kagami asked as she took the tea and took a quick sip, and also spat it out then took a sip from her water to wash the taste out.
"Yeah like I said it's an acquired taste, it helps if you start drinking it when your young like I did, and yes Kagami there is something special about this tea…" Dallas confessed as he began to explain. "You see like I said it's an old recipe that my ancestors passed down from one generation to the next, it's basically like a potion I guess you could say, it makes you faster, stronger, smarter, more agile, it even increases your senses such as hearing and sight, but it only works if you drink it for a long time, it's helped me out in more than my fair share of fights in the past."
Then Kagami asked curiously. "Like with your fight against Cat Noir?"
Dallas paused for a moment upon hearing her mention his one on one fight with Cat Noir several weeks back, he turned to her then asked back. "How did you know I fought Cat Noir?"
Adrien then answered for her. "I told her about it…so was that how you managed to beat Cat or was it just dumb luck?" He asked with his own curiosity peeked upon knowing the truth behind this brave's brew.
Dallas just shrugged and said. "More or less, I've always been a good fighter but I have to credit some of my victory to the brew, I mean after all the guy had super strength and reflexes for god sake, of course he might've won if he hadn't ran his mouth so much." He smirked at Adrien knowing that he probably still felt as though their fight had been left unfinished.
Sooner or later Dallas, Adrien thought to himself, sooner or later I will even the score, with our without my miraculous. "Well let's hope that Cat isn't the type to seek revenge upon those who's beaten him in a one on one fight." He said as a mild warning to Dallas.
"Kagami…" Tomoe called out to her daughter. "It's time to leave, you may see Adrien again next week."
"Coming mother, it would seem our time is up my friends, I'm looking forward to seeing you both again soon, especially you Dallas, because the next time I see you I promise I will emerge the victor." Kagami stated with a bow.
"Looking forward to it senpi, until we meet again, sayonara." Dallas replied as he returned the bow.
"And don't call me senpi, your not my boyfriend." She said with slight annoyance as she walked off.
Dallas couldn't help but notice the way she shook her hips, it caught his eye rather easily, damn that's one nice…hey keep it together you, he mentally berated himself, as well as…another part of his anatomy. Not long after Kagami and her mother left Gabriel had offered to take the boys out to see a movie, the film they had chosen to see was a film starring Adrien's mother, Dallas didn't object to it in the least as he didn't want to ruin the show for either Gabriel or Adrien.
An hour and a half later the film ended and they all left the theater, as they left Dallas noticed that Gabriel had shed a tear, it was clear to him that this film only helped in reminding him of his wife's dilemma. "You okay sir?" Dallas asked with concern.
Gabriel nodded his head yes then stated. "It's getting late, we'd best be getting home."
Dallas decided that he needed to help Adrien reconnect with his father a little more, with just the two of them. "Hey Gabe, if it's alright with you I kind of have a date with a girl from school and I sort of promised her I'd take her to dinner at a Chinese place across town and I know it's kind of last minute…" Dallas began to spin a harmless little white lie when Adrien quickly interjected.
"Hold on, you have a date? With who?" He asked sort of confused.
Ah fuck, Dallas cursed mentally, then he quickly made up some girl Adrien didn't know to sell his lie, also so he couldn't check up on it later. "Uh…well, her name's Brenda, you don't know her, but she's…one of my old foster sisters and we kind of have one of those on again off again things going on between us…and I'm pretty sure that she wants to try and figure it out once and for all, and I know it's kinda last minute sir but I promise I'll be home before ten, that is…if…you're willing?" He finished feeling hopeful that Gabriel would buy his story.
Gabriel then gave a half smile then said. "Alright, but just this once, next time you tell me in advance, deal?"
Dallas nodded then said. "Yes sir, well I'll see you guys later, I'll give uh…Brenda your regards." He gave a mock salute then headed to the Bugatti and drove off.
"Do you really think he has a date?" Adrien asked his father casually.
Gabriel shook his head then replied. "Not a chance, personally I think he just made that up so he didn't feel like a third wheel, but I wasn't kidding though when I said I'd let it go just this once, next time he'd best tell me a head of time, anyway son…" He gestured over to his limo. "Let's go home, I also have something planned out for you tonight, don't worry I'm sure you'll love it, just think of it as one of many apology gifts I owe you." Both father and son entered the car together as the limo left the theater.
"So what do you think Dallas is actually doing tonight?" Adrien asked bluntly.
Gabriel just shrugged his shoulders and said. "Hopefully nothing illegal, I'd hate to have to bail him out of jail again, but I'm sure what ever it is he's being careful."
Meanwhile Dallas was on his way back to the mansion to grab his heist bag, he just managed to beat Gabriel and Adrien home to get it, after that he was on his way out of town to a French military base just fifty miles down the coast of France, as was the location that coyote had given Dallas a place to find a high quality sneaking suit. He waited until the sun went down for him to make his move.
Before he did though he began to survey the area with a pair of binoculars just to be safe. "(Coyote, are you sure this is the place?)" He asked his contact over the phone, just as a last minute confirmation before he dove into the lion's den.
"(Yes, Fort Jerried is holding experiments tonight for all manner of equipment, weapons, vehicles and the one your looking for, a brand new sneaking suit, I also herd from my British liaison that they keep all of that stuff in one building so it shouldn't be hard to find, that's the good news.)" Coyote replied sounding sort of happy.
"(And the bad news is…?)" Dallas trailed off for Coyote to finish for him.
"(The building is on the farthest side of the compound, and it has automated defenses to keep out any and all unauthorized personnel, so…don't go poking the bee hive okay Dallas?)" Coyote answered cautiously.
"(When do I ever?)" Dallas asked back.
Then coyote answered him with a hint of sass. "(Well I don't know, does the hack on Antonio Lorenzo's bank account ring a bell?)"
Oh you mother fucker, Dallas cursed his contact in his head. "(I'm sorry what was that?)" Dallas asked sarcastically as he pretended to lose signal. "(Coyote are you still there? I think I'm…)" He disconnected the call then put the phone back in his pocket. "Asshole…" He then proceeded to suit up, he put on a set of black sweats and a ski mask, he also put his night vision goggles on his head just in case if he needed it for later, he slung his bag over his shoulder and pulled out a grappling hook from his bag, he spun it around and tossed it up to the top of the wall, once he knew it was secure he began the climb to the top, when he got to the top he was greeted with the sight of barbed wire. "Typical, it's always barbed wire…" He said just before he reached into his bag an pulled out a pair of wire cutters. "Sure hope no one notices." He snipped through the wire and proceeded to enter the base, as he lowered himself to the ground he heard the sound of a rope snapping. He looked up and cursed as he saw it was the rope to his grappling hook. "Fuck my life." Then as expected the rope broke sending Dallas to the ground like a falling rock. "FUUUUUUUUCK…OOF!" He cried as he landed in the back of an empty troop transport, first he inspected to make sure that no bones were broken, then he made the attempt to leave the truck when he was greeted by the sight of two soldiers coming his way. "Shit." He hissed as he ducked back into the truck.
He just hoped, prayed that they would leave him alone and pass him by as he stayed quiet as a mouse. "So did you catch the game last night?" One soldier asked his comrade.
"Nah, had dinner with my in laws last night, god my wife's mother is such a bitch sometimes." The other replied with complaint. "Sometimes I even imagine that I'm shooting at her during target practice, just to relieve a little bit of stress."
That's when Dallas felt a slight tickle in his nose, oh no not now, he begged as he felt a sneeze coming on, not again, please don't turn this into another Fort Knox. But as hard as he tried to fight it the sneeze came out. "AAH-CHOO!"
Both guards stopped dead in their tracks upon hearing this sudden sneeze. Both turned around to the sores of the sound then proceeded to the truck it came from, both readied their guns for whatever it was, they rounded to the back of the truck and threw down the tailgate and aimed their guns inside, only to see that it was empty, luckily for Dallas they came from the same side of the truck so he was able to slip out the other side of the transport. He breathed a sigh of relief as he watched them walk away, once he was certain they were gone he came out from under the truck and dusted himself off.
"Well I'm sure as hell not getting out that way." He said as he looked up at what remained of his grappling hook. "I knew I should've went with the chain but NO, a chain makes too much noise, well guess what dad if you use a smaller chain the sound is minimized, and it doesn't break as easily you big jackass." Dallas then set his bag down and opened it, he pulled out a paintball pistol and loaded it up with special made paintballs he'd made. "One shot of these babies and their out like a light in five seconds." He cocked his gun then started looking for his intended target. He managed to sneak past over a dozen guards as he made his way over to the building. "Bonjour my friend, what lovely little secrets do you have in there for me today?" He said with a smile, he snuck over to the side of the building and hacked into the automated defenses. "Rock a bye, and good night, go to sleep dead-ly machine guns…" He jokingly sang as the defenses shut down. "And now for the door."
"HEY!" A voice called out to him from behind. Fuck me, he inwardly cursed as he just came to realize that he'd been caught. "How did you get in here?" FUCK FUCK FUCK! Dallas continued to curse as he knew this was it for him, or so he thought. "I keep telling the damn base commander that he needs to get animal control to come get this stupid cat…" Dallas turned around and saw that the guard was carrying a stray gray cat by the scruff of it's neck, it hissed and clawed at the soldier as best it could but to no avail. "Hey NO, bad kitty!"
The guard walked away with the cat in grasp leaving Dallas to breathe a sigh of relief. "Talk about dumb luck." He said as he pulled out his code cloner and plugged it into the key pad on the door. After a minute the door opened and he entered the building. He gasped just before his face took on a giant grin. "Jackpot…" He mused as he walked through the room and searched for his new suit. "So many nice little toys so little time, oh how I wish I could play with you all my lovelies but I'm afraid I cannot as I…OOF!" He was interrupted as he bumped into something. He looked down and saw it was a very impressive motorcycle, he gasped at the beautiful sleek vehicle as he just knelt down and stroked the machine. It was colored with digital camouflage from front to back, it had four mufflers in the rear and a frame similar to a Ducati sports bike. "You're beautiful…" He then read the description for it hooked on the handlebars. "Specter bike eh, outfitted with state of the art cloaking technology designed to hide itself and the rider from any and all forms of tracking including motion and thermal tracking technology, also equipped with GPS, nitro, silent engine mode, twin 30 caliber machine guns, short range missiles, oil slick, caltrops and run-flat tires, ooh…this is a thief's best friend, too bad I'm not here for you my dear, oh the fun we'd have together." Dallas walked away from the bike as he continued his search, he eventually found exactly what he was looking for.
"Ooh, high quality material, perfect for sneaking around, oh and look at this…" He said as he picked up a peace of paper attached to it. "Stops anything up to a 50 caliber slug, going once, going twice, no takers? Okay then, I guess I'll just take it off your hands for you." He said as he took the suit off the hanger and held it up to himself. It was mostly black with red on the shoulders and midsection along with a gray patch around the waste, on the wrists were a pair of steel bracers with a riveted styled look to it, the leggings were also mostly black with small red accent lines on the thighs flowing upward in a V like style, it also came with a pair of matching boots with a similar set of accent lines with steel shin guards upon the top of the boots with a V like point flowing downward, it also had a bandana like mask attached to the neck, which was just a plan gray. "Love the color scheme, okay I've got what I wanted, time to get the fuck out of dodge."
Before he stuffed the suit into the bag he made sure it didn't have any kind of tracker attached to it, and as he expected he found one stitched into the armpit, he didn't want to risk damaging the suit itself as he knew once the fibers were damaged it was basically useless, so he just took his gun and smashed it. Around that time he heard a garage door opening from the far side of the room, he quickly stuffed the suit into the bag and hid behind a Humvee, apparently it's time for them to run their experiments, he thought to himself. "Okay boys you know the drill, guns first then we move on to the vehicles and other essential gear." A guard said as he and several other soldiers entered the building.
"Great…" Dallas said sarcastically. "How the hell am I gonna get past them now? It's not like the suit is any good for this…" That's when Dallas remembered his new best friend. "But I'm betting that bike is." He snuck back over to the bike in a crouched position then climbed on, once he was on he found three items of interest, a pair of matching bracelets and a pair of goggles resting on the speedometer. "I wonder what these are for?" He asked himself, he then reached over to the paper he'd read earlier and found that they were essential to the rider to use, the bracelets enabled the rider to turn invisible as the bike did while the goggles allowed the rider to see the control screen for the bike itself while it was cloaked. "Clever, well then lets not waste anymore time…" He mused as he put on the goggles and the bracelets, and once he'd done both he noticed something else on the speedometer. "Seriously? Did these idiots just leave the keys sitting on the bike, rookie mistake." He criticized as he took the keys and ignited the engine, the engine began to purr and Dallas felt a tingle down his spine.
"HEY! He's on the specter bike, stop 'em!" A soldier finally noticed him and then all the other soldiers started running toward Dallas.
"Okay, I don't have to kill them just got to wing 'em." Dallas said as he armed the guns, that were empty. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" He blasted as he pulled his paintball gun and started tagging all of the soldiers that came his way, he just kept shooting until he was empty and had to reload. "Come on you stupid piece of junk reload already."
"REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGED…RELOADING GUNS NOW." An automated voice spoke as a series of clicks began to commence and load the guns.
"Wait what?" Dallas asked as he looked at the screen, which read in big bold flashing letters, guns reloaded. "Of course it's voice activated, everything is voice activated these days." He put away his paintball gun and started shooting the 30 cal's, not trying to hit anyone as they were just doing there jobs, he was just trying to punch a hole to escape. "Lets blow this popsicle stand." Dallas put the bike in gear, kicked up the kick stand and gunned the engine. "HOLY SHIT THIS BABY CAN MOVE!" He cheered as he sped out of the building at top speed. "Okay how do I activate the cloaking device?" He asked to himself.
"CLOAKING DEVICE…ACTIVATED." The A.I. stated as the bike turned invisible.
"Duh, voice activated. Silent engine mode…online?" He said hoping it was just as simple, and it was.
"SILENT ENGINE MODE…ACTIVATED." The A.I. said as the engine became silent as the night air itself.
"Sweet, now lets get out of here." Dallas mused as he drove closer to the front entrance of the base, which unfortunately for him was locked down because of him. "Oh fuck, should've seen that coming, I'll never get out now. Unless…" Dallas then remembered that his bike had missiles loaded up into it, or at least that's what he hoped. "Uh…hey bike?"
The bike's A.I. then spoke to Dallas. "YES DRIVER…"
"Are we currently loaded with any missiles?" He asked hopefully.
"YES WE ARE…WE ARE ARMED WITH TEN MISSILES IN TOTAL…SHALL I LOAD THE LAUNCHER?" The A.I. asked casually.
"Yes load one up right now and as soon as it's loaded launch it." Dallas requested firmly.
"REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGED…LOADING MISSILE NOW." The A.I. obeyed and loaded up the missile, then the sides of the bike opened up and then the A.I. announced to Dallas. "FIRING…MISSILE." The missile flew out of the launcher and directly into the front gate of the base, it exploded and the front gate went down.
"Hell yes! Nitro please." Dallas said to the bike, but nothing happened, that's when he noticed it was a manual control. "Oh sure it's the one thing that I have to do myself, how stupid is that?" He flipped the switch, but still nothing happened. "Bike what's wrong with the nitro?"
"IN ORDER FOR NITRO TO ARM SILENT ENGINE MODE MUST BE OFFLINE, WOULD YOU STILL LIKE TO PROCEED WITH NITRO?" The A.I. asked.
"Yes deactivate silent engine mode now." He demanded as he readied himself for the jolt of speed. "I guess it makes sense, nitro isn't really stealthy when in use."
"REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGED…SILENT ENGINE MODE…DEACTIVATED." The A.I. announced as the bike started to speed up and flew through the gate way.
"WOOOOOO-HOO-HOO-HOOOOOO, THIS…IS…AWESOME!" Dallas cheered as he sped down the road and out of sight of the base. "CATCH ME IF YOU CAN FRENCHIES…" He called out over his shoulder. "Too bad I don't have any driving music." As if on cue the bike's radio started to play anyway you want it by Journey. "I LOVE THIS BIKE!" He was able to drive for another two minutes until the bike started to slow down. "Oh no, oh no-no-no-no come on don't do this to me baby I just got you." He pleaded to the bike.
"FUEL RESERVES…DEPLETED…FILLING GAS TANK IS RECOMMENDED." The A.I. said as a gas pump light started to flash on the screen.
"Gee thanks captain obvious." Dallas said with sarcasm, luckily for him Dallas had conveniently ran out of fuel right next to the Bugatti. "Well that was lucky, now how am I gonna get the bike home?" He pondered for a minute if he could fit the bike in the trunk. "Oh who am I kidding that's stupid even for me…" Then he got an idea. "Duh, just call a tow truck." He was about to do just that when he remembered something, the bike might have a tracker too, he thought, he did a quick check to see if the bike had one, he did a very thorough check and found nothing on the outside of the bike. "Too easy…" He said unconvinced. "For a piece of hardware like this there's no way there isn't a tracker on it." He began to wonder if there was any part of the bike he hadn't checked, and there was. "The gas tank." He theorized as he opened it up, and sure enough he was right again, there it was stuck inside the cap itself. "Only place you can put it to remove it easily enough and replace it if need be, and also easily hidden from the naked eye." He pulled it out of the cap, but instead of breaking it he just pulled out the battery and stuffed it in his pocket. "I'll just reprogram it later, I'm no dummy, if I lose this bike no way am I getting another one."
Then he called for a tow truck driver and hid the bike in some near by bushes and waited with the car's hood up just in case if the military came by, and just to be safe Dallas changed his clothes quickly into something less conspicuous, and as he predicted the military did come his way but they didn't stop, they simply passed him by and went into town a few minutes later the truck arrived to give Dallas a tow, luckily it was a flat bed tow truck which is exactly what Dallas needed for the bike, he offered the driver one thousand euros to stay quiet about it and deliver it to a body shop he knew of and trusted, plus the tow fee, but just to be safe Dallas covered the bike with a tarp just after they chained it down, then he called the owner of the body shop to let him know what was going on.
"Skinny's body shop, how can I help you?" The owner 'Skinny' sounded half asleep when Dallas called him.
"Hey Skinny how ya been?" Dallas started out casually.
"Wait, I know that voice, Dallas how the hell are ya kid I haven't heard from you sense that whole thing with Lorenzo." Skinny greeted with a gleeful voice, he went way back with Dallas from his chop shop days, Dallas would find cars for Skinny to take apart and sell on the black market then steal them for him, and in return Skinny would pay him fifty percent of the profits.
"Doing good, got a new foster family, and I'm also going strait finally, or at least I will be after tonight." Dallas admitted to his friend.
"Mm-hm…" Skinny voiced on his side of the line. "I know what this is about, okay who'd you piss off this time and how bad is it?" He asked with a slightly annoyed tone.
"The military…" Dallas answered with honesty, before he could continue Skinny interrupted him with a shout.
"WHAT!" Dallas winced as he pulled the phone away from his ear. "WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU ROB THE MILITARY YOU IDIOT?!"
"LET ME FINISH!" Dallas shouted back. "As I was saying it was the military base just outside of Paris, you know Fort Jerried? I got a tip from one of my old contacts that there were some pretty nice things in there, one of them was a suit I needed to acquire for my little ascension into a better life, originally that's all I was gonna take, but I needed a way to escape the base and I found this beautiful bike and…"
Skinny was quick to interject. "Wait wait wait, a bike? What kind of bike?" He asked curiously.
"It's a military grade bike, has all sorts of bells and whistles on it, and she rides like a dream too, but all I needed was for you to give her a new paint job, can you do that for me?" Dallas asked politely.
"Well I don't really have anything else to do tonight…soooo…I guess I could work that in, when is it gonna get here and how?" He asked back to Dallas.
"It should be there in an hour on a flatbed tow truck, I've already paid off the driver to keep his big mouth shut and I also removed the tracker the base put on the bike so they won't be able to find out you helped me, thanks a lot Skinny I owe you for this one." Dallas replied with glee in his voice.
"Yeah no problem kid, just be sure to pay me for this job we'll call it even, paint costs money you know." Skinny requested just as he was about to hang up, right before Dallas added.
"Oh and Skinny one more thing…" He said quickly. "Don't chop this one understand? I'm still not happy about that Porcha you scrapped."
"Jesus Christ how many times do I have to apologize for that?" Skinny asked rhetorically.
But Dallas answered him anyway. "Once would be nice."
"Oh…" Skinny stated with confusion. "I didn't do that yet? Well in that case, sorry about your girlfriends Porcha."
"Ex-girlfriend now, thanks to you." Dallas laminated with a bitter tone.
"Okay I get it I screwed up, just let it go will ya?" Skinny said just before he hung up.
After that Dallas drove back to the mansion and parked the car in the open space they'd removed it from. He made sure to leave his bag in the garage to collect it later to avoid any suspicions. As soon as he entered the mansion he was greeted by the sight of Marinette's family having dinner with the Agreste's. "Dallas, your finally back, how'd your date with Brenda go?" Adrien called out to him from the dining room.
At first Dallas had forgotten about his excuse to go out for the evening, then he remembered in a heartbeat. "Oh…uh, it was okay, it didn't really end the way I hoped it would, by that I mean I'd hoped we could be a more permanent couple, but she said she'd rather be friends which I can respect." He then turned his attention to Marinette and said. "Hey Mari, how you doing babe?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"Really Dallas…" She began to groan. "Do you ever give the flirting a break?" She asked rhetorically.
But Dallas answered her anyway. "And miss a chance to win the heart of the most beautiful girl I've ever seen? Not a chance." She just rolled her eyes at his comment, even though she did find it to be somewhat charming. "Anyway it's nice to see you again Mr. and Mrs. Dupain-Chang, by the way…absolutely loved your croissants they tasted like heaven, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if you guys added crack to the recipe." Both Mr. Dupain and Mrs. Chang gave him a weird look before he added. "That was a joke. Anyway I think I'll just head off to bed as I am feeling a bit tired, have a pleasant evening everyone." He waved goodbye and left the room then headed up stares to his room. Once he got there he flipped on the light and was surprised by none other than Plagg, just floating right in front of him in the darkness only being revealed once the lights went on. "FUCK me…don't you know how rude it is to sneak up on people?"
"And just where have you been this evening Mr. Jones?" Plagg asked with a grouchy tone with arms folded and eyes narrowed.
"Why do you care?" Dallas asked back. "It's not like I have to report to you. Besides I thought you didn't like me cheese breath." He walked past Plagg and set his backpack down on the floor and flopped down on the bed and let out a very exhausted sigh.
"I care because you're now and officially precious cargo." Plagg stated as he floated back up to Dallas's face. "And just for the record I'm currently on the fence, especially sense you were kind enough to introduce me to stuffed crust pizza the other night, mmm." He licked his lips with a smile, the moment of eating his new favorite kind of pizza still fresh in his mind.
"What do you mean I'm precious cargo?" Dallas asked with a smile finding Plagg's declaration to be rather humorous to him.
Plagg then stated just as firmly as before. "You can read the book, there for that makes you important to our cause, and an ace in the hole if we need help stopping Hawkmoth."
"Well I wouldn't go that far…" Dallas replied casually. "I might be helpful but I wouldn't say I'm an ace, more like a king."
"Anyway Dallas…" Plagg looked around the room to make sure that they were alone, he also floated over to the door and the window to make sure no one was listening in, once he was satisfied he continued. "There's someone that I need you to meet, in terms of the book."
That caught Dallas's attention quickly, he sat up on the bed then said. "Who is it, and why do I need to meet them?"
Plagg had a feeling he'd get into trouble but he knew that Dallas could be helpful in the fight against Hawkmoth so he figured that this would help master Fu see things differently. "The great guardian of the miracle box."
Dallas's eyes shot open, he had read about the guardian in the book the first time but didn't pay much attention to it. "Hold on, you mean the guy who's responsible for all of the other miraculous in existence? Is that who your talking about?" Dallas asked with surprise.
Plagg shook his head then replied. "Uh-huh, and he could really use your help too, and sense you already wrote down all of those spells and potion recipes then you can really be helpful to us, I'd even wager that the master would even take a chance on you and give you your own miraculous."
Not if I make it first, Dallas added mentally. "Well…I guess I could meet him, but I have somethings that I need to get done first, so tell your guardian buddy that I'll meet with him at the earliest convenience." Dallas said hoping that Plagg would understand.
"I will…as soon as I tell him that he's meeting you actually." Plagg admitted as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Wait, you mean he doesn't even know about me yet? Then why talk to me about this at all?" Dallas pointed out with slight annoyance.
"Because I needed to know that you would actually help us, also because I might get in trouble for this." Plagg admitted to Dallas feeling a bit nervous about this whole plan.
Dallas just groaned then said. "You're and idiot."
"Oh yeah, well I'm not the one who broke into a military base just to steal a piece of clothing now am I?" Plagg stated with a smirk.
Dallas's jaw just dropped as Plagg had revealed that he knew about his heist on the base. "How did you know I did that?" He asked with surprise clear in his voice and written on his face.
"Adrien asked me to follow you, by the way that was awesome how you got out of there, not so awesome when you almost got caught, thrice."
Dallas counted up on his fingers and only could recall two times when he almost got caught. "When was the third time?" He asked puzzled.
"When you ran out of gas and the military drove by." Plagg stated with a smirk. Dallas was about to object when Plagg quickly added. "Your welcome by the way, if it wasn't for me even more of their trucks would've been out of the gate and on your tail."
Dallas quickly halted his retort as he could see the logic Plagg had explained. "Fine, I guess I owe you one."
That's when Plagg smiled and said. "Funny you should say that…"
Dallas rolled his eyes and guessed what he wanted. "Let me guess, you want another pizza don't you?"
"Pleeeeeeeas?" Plagg begged as he folded his hands and leaned in sideways with a big grin on his face.
Dallas couldn't help but chuckle before saying. "Okay, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow, I don't think that any pizza parlor is open at this time of night, also you cannot say a word about what I did tonight to Adrien, deal?"
He extended his index finger and thumb to Plagg for a kwami sized hand shake, Plagg stuck out his hand and said. "Deal." Then the two shook on it, just as Plagg was leaving Dallas's room he noticed something on the dresser. "Hey what's that thing for?" He asked with curiosity as he pointed at the mold.
"Oh that's the protective charm that I made for Adrien last night, I made it for him to…" That's when Dallas remembered he never gave it to him. "Oh crap I need to give that to him." He said as he rushed over to the mold and popped it open, it had solidified into the very inner shape of the mold, which was the exact shape of the sun with a croissant moon forming a hole inside of it, it looked to be a dark colored amber with tiny pieces of herbs frozen inside the charm, other than a few rough edges it looked smooth, Dallas took only an extra minute to clean it up and smooth it out, then he took a small silk ribbon then turned the charm into a pendent for Adrien to wear, then he headed straight to Adrien's room. Around the time he got there he found that Adrien and Marinette were in the middle of a deep conversation, and once again Marinette was in the middle of another guilt trip.
"I just don't understand…" She sobbed softly. "How…how can you still feel this way for me after everything I've put you through after all the times I've hurt you?"
Dallas didn't dare enter, he felt that they needed a chance to talk. "Because you made up for it bugaboo…" Adrien replied softly.
That pet name however caused Dallas to snicker a little, Bugaboo? Wow, that's so cheesy, he thought to himself.
"You were there for me Marinette, you were there when I needed you, I'm honestly not sure if just anyone would've done the same, well Chloe might've, but only because she's like close family to me, or because she is kind of obsessed with me." Adrien added in hopes of trying to make her laugh. Thankfully it worked, but only a little as she still felt a bit upset for whatever reason that Dallas was unsure of. "Mari please don't cry, I swear to you I have forgiven you completely." He said as he pulled her into a hug.
"But I just don't understand, how can you…?" She began to ask again when he placed a finger over her lips to quiet her.
"It doesn't matter how, all that does matter is how much I love you and that I finally know how much you love me, I could care less about the last two years between us, sure you might've rejected me every time there was an Akumaa, but it's okay now, because I finally have what I've always wanted, ant that's you…my lady." He ended his speech with a single tender kiss.
When Dallas heard what he said about Akumaa's his brain just stopped functioning, did he just say…then that means…, he thought to himself as he tried to process this new information. "What the fuck…what the fuck is happening right now?" He asked with a whisper as he just tried to wrap his head around this.
"But what about Dallas, do you think he'll ever forgive me for…what I said?" Marinette asked as she broke the kiss, and upon hearing that over a thousand bombs went off inside Dallas's head as she confirmed that she was in fact the one and only Ladybug.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" He whispered trying his best not to scream as he suddenly felt surprised by this new information. "This has got to be a prank right? It's just a prank and when it's all over their gonna be all like ha-ha got ya stupid." But sadly for him he was wrong.
"Don't worry about Dallas, I'm sure that he'll forgive Ladybug, besides I know that you didn't really mean to say it. You didn't right?" Adrien asked feeling a little concerned.
"Of course not, it just sort of…well almost came out, I didn't actually say it, but it was still enough for Dallas to get upset with me. God I hate myself for what happened to him." She berated herself as her tears continued to fall.
Dallas then began to realize why she started crying the other day at school. "She wasn't upset for us getting kidnapped, she was upset for me being akumitized." He said as he put the pieces together in his head. "It makes so much sense now, and I've just been being a huge douche this whole time, god damn it." He cursed himself for being an idiot as well as constantly flirting with her and feeling that it only made her feel more uncomfortable. "Well I'll just have to find a way to make things right."
Dallas quickly formed a plan in his mind, hoping that he could sell the illusion that he knew nothing about her secret, he knocked on the door. Adrien stood up and answered it, he was surprised to see Dallas standing there, with a pendent. "Dallas…" Marinette gasped with fright as she turned around to see Dallas standing at the door. "I thought you went to bed." Adrien said with confusion.
"I did, well I tried to but I couldn't sleep, so I decided to make a cup of lavender tea to help me out, but I have to wait for it to brew for a while so I figured I would drop by and give you your protective charm, you know for the…thing?" He masked the truth behind the charm for Adrien's sake, he had a feeling if Marinette learned about his tarot reading then Adrien would have to deal with that for a while too.
"Oh…thanks, so are you sure it will work?" Adrien asked hoping that Dallas knew what he was doing.
Dallas nodded his head and said. "As long as you keep it with you where ever you go, and keep it on your person it will protect you from whatever evil spirits or ill omens may loom around you."
Adrien then patted Dallas on the shoulder and said gratefully. "Thanks Dallas, I'm glad I have a friend like you."
"My pleasure…oh and uh…just one other thing…" Dallas replied as he pulled Adrien in close and whispered in his ear. "I need you to do me a favor, it involves your partner Ladybug and well…I just want to let her know that I don't blame her for what happened to me the other night, because I kind of over reacted to something that she didn't really say and…well, I just want her to know that I forgive her and if there's ever a way for me to make it up to her then she should just let me know."
Adrien didn't know whether to feel relieved or confused but either way this seemed a little too convenient for him to just happen by to deliver a message as this, but he chose not to dwell on it for now. He smiled then said. "Sure, I will let her know as soon as I can."
Dallas smiled back at him then began to joke as to mask any doubts for his reason for being there. "Well I guess I'll leave you two love birds to it, oh and uh…if you need any pro-tips on how to perform…"
Adrien then shoved him out of his doorway and said. "Good night Dallas…"
"I could also give you an herb to help prevent short comings?" Dallas quickly added before Adrien slammed the door in his face. "Yep…" He mused to himself. "I still got it." Then he headed back to his room.
"God what an ass." Adrien whispered to himself from his side of the door and completely forgetting the convenience of his requested message to Ladybug.
"What did Dallas want?" Marinette asked curiously.
Adrien turned to her and said with a smile. "Well other than him wanting to help me score, he asked me to deliver a message to Ladybug…" This caught her attention quickly. "He said that he wanted her to know that…he over reacted to what you…almost said, his words I swear it, and that he forgives you for it, also if there's anything he can do to make it up to you don't hesitate to ask."
Marinette felt a wave of relief wash over her, but she still felt as though she didn't deserve forgiveness. "I can't believe this, why am I getting off so easily, first you and now him, I just…"
"Marinette Dupain-Chang look at me…" Adrien ordered with mild authority in his voice as he put both hands on either side of her face and gently forced her to meet his gaze. "If we didn't think you deserved it you wouldn't be getting it, we don't blame you for what happened between the two of us or for Dallas becoming an Akumaa, but it seems you do for some reason, now you listen to me Mari and you listen good, I love you…whether or not if I knew it from the start I love you and that's the only reason I need to forgive you, and as for Dallas…well…he told me recently that people only change if they want to change, and he really has changed from that jerk who I fought weeks ago, and if he was willing to forgive me then it should be clear that he is willing to forgive Ladybug, now stop with the pity party and please just stop crying already, I already told you that it hurts me to see you cry."
She looked away from him and just sighed, he had hopes that what he said would sink in but she was still upset over this that much was clear, so he did the one thing he knew would make her smile. He got down on all fours and started to purr like a cat as he brushed up against her with his head. She couldn't help but smile, and giggle at his adorable performance. "Adrien stop it you dork." She giggled as she tried to force him away, but to no avail as he was just too strong for her. "Adrien, cut it out."
"Ah come on, you know you love the cute kitten routine." He said as he wrapped is arms around her neck and just licked her cheek like a playful cat causing a burst of laughter to come out of her.
"Adrien stop that, that tickles…" She begged as she tried to push him away. "Adrien stop it your making me horny."
He stopped for a brief moment to whisper into her ear rather flirtatiously. "Maybe that's the idea." He then began to nibble on her ear playfully tugging on her earing.
She tried to fight the urge as best she could but he wasn't making it easy for her, especially as he slowly slid his hand down the length of her back all the way to her hindquarters and slowly reached into her pants to grope her rear-end. "Oh god…Adrien…" She squealed as she breathed deep trying her best not to leap on top of him and have her way with him, she bit down on her bottom lip and dug her nails into the couch cushions as he began to kiss her neck tenderly. Oh god if this keeps up I'm gonna lose it, she thought to herself.
Just then there moment of passion was ended when they heard a knock at the door. "Damnit…" Adrien cursed as he pulled his hand out of Marinette's pants. "Come in." He told to the patron outside the door.
And it was a good thing he stopped as Marinette's father was at the Door. "Marinette, it's time to go honey…oh..." He paused for a moment sensing something was going on between the two of them. "I…didn't interrupt anything did I?" He asked feeling awkward.
"No daddy everything is fine…" She told half the truth. "I'll see you tomorrow kitty." She said as she turned to Adrien and kissed him tenderly on the lips.
"See you soon princess, stay safe." He said back as she got up and left his room, just as she got to the door she turned around and blew him a kiss and just like before he acted as if he caught it and placed it to his lips. A while later Gabriel had asked Adrien to his office to discuss a few things, one of them being his work schedule for the coming month, normally his father would've put down an insane amount of shoots for him to attend to but now that Adrien had laid down the law Gabriel was obliged to reduce said number of shoots to half the usual amount to allow him more free time with his friends, the second thing was simply to discuss the matter of his apology to Marinette for his comment about her upon the night that Gabriel had slapped Adrien, he admitted that it was a good start but he wasn't quite there yet as Marinette was still slow to forgive him for all the years of neglect towards Adrien, and third and finally was a matter concerning Adrien all together, his eighteenth birthday. "You…you mean…you'd actually let me through a party?" He asked sounding confused by this sudden move that was entirely for Adrien's benefit.
"Yes, not here of course but at a venue of your choosing, I'm willing to compromise with that if that's satisfactory to you." Gabriel offered with a genuine smile.
Adrien felt many things at this moment, shock, surprise, confusion and most of all, happy, he was happy that his father was actually keeping his word and proving that he was trying to change, and for him this was a good start. "Yes, that is perfect for me, thank you so much father." He replied with a hug and a smile.
This made Gabriel feel joy, he was finally on his way back into a real relationship with his son and he knew that if he kept things going like this Adrien would all but forget about the incident all together. "Your welcome son, I'm glad I'm off to a good start." He stated as he returned the hug.
"Mr. Agreste…" Natalie announced as she stood in the doorway of the office. "There is a high priority client on line two requesting an immediate appointment, do you wish to take it?"
Normally this was a no brainer for Gabriel as he often would take the call and just ignore the rest of the world all together, and it was still a no brainer as Gabriel replied sharply. "Tell them I'm still on hiatus and I will not return from it until after my son's birthday."
Natalie was stunned by his quick decision, she then nodded her head and turned back into the hall to relay the message. This sudden choice even surprised Adrien, he half expected his father to take the call without a second thought, but if he wasn't there to see and hear it for himself he never would've believed it, even though he just bore witness to it he still didn't believe it.
The next day Dallas allowed Adrien to head home without him as he had already made a promise to Juleka the day before that he'd help with her problem with rose, but first he stopped off at a hardware store to buy a few things first, he purchased a twenty foot chain, two chain link hooks, a power drill with a bit strong enough to punch threw most metals and a box of nuts and bolts. "This should be enough to complete my weapon." He said with satisfaction as he purchased his items, he then left the store and hailed a cab to take him to Juleka's house boat. By the time he'd arrived he found the band already practicing for a show.
"YOU KNOW I LOVE UNICORNS… " Rose was on the mic singing their best song for the show. "AND NOTHING MAKES ME FEEL BETTER…" As the band went on playing he took notice of Juleka especially as she just kept gazing at her crush singing her heart out. "I SEE DELUSIONS EVERY WHERE I GO AND DREAM ABOUT THEM IN THE NIGHT…" Dallas had to admit they were pretty good, he might not find their song on his private playlist of songs but he couldn't deny they had talent. "YOU KNOW I LOVE UNICORNS…AND NOTHING MAKES ME FEEL BETTER…" It was clear to him that she especially loved the song as she danced around on stage as she sang. "I ONLY WANT 'EM TO BE MINE-MINE-MINE AND DREAM ABOUT THEM EVERY NIGHT…YEAH-YEAH-YEAH-YEAH."
As the song ended she threw her fist in the air and cheered, which she ended when she heard Dallas clapping from shore. "Alright, I'll admit it, you guys are pretty good, you're no Led Zeppelin but your still pretty good." He complemented with a smile.
"Hi Dallas…" Rose called out into the microphone causing it to screech and everyone to wince in pain, including Dallas.
"OW! I really didn't need to go deaf today." He said slightly annoyed.
Rose realized her mistake then whispered softly into the mic. "Sorry…"
Dallas then used his finger to get the ringing out of his ears as he spoke. "It's fine, I've dealt with far worse than that, anyway…permission to come aboard, to whoever the captain is here."
"Permission granted sonny…" A voice called out from below deck as a woman dressed in a very bazaar looking outfit came up the stares to meet her guests, including Dallas.
"Thanks captain, assuming that's you ma'am." He replied as he made his way onto the gangplank and onto the deck of the boat.
"Ay, that I am lad, welcome aboard the Liberty where freedom is a luxury." Mrs. Couffaine replied as she extended her hand to Dallas with a smile. "And who might you be boy-o?"
Dallas took an instant liking to her the moment she'd described her home. "Dallas Jones el Capitan, and it is a pleasure to meet you as well." He said as he gave her a good firm shake.
"Pleasure's all mine lad, so what brings you aboard me ship today?" She asked with a full on Scottish accent.
Oh my god this woman is awesome, Dallas mused to himself, also really digging the pirate vibe. "Well ma'am I came here at the request of Juleka…" He said as he pulled out his deck of tarot cards. "To perform a tarot reading for the band, I hope that's not a problem."
She just let out a hearty laugh then said. "Of course it's not a problem lad, this is the Liberty, freedom is a matter of principle aboard my ship, feel free to practice your craft here anytime." She then began to walk back down below deck, but stopped just to ask one thing. "Mainly out of curiosity, you don't dabble in the dark arts do you?"
Well I guess even she has to have a limit, Dallas voiced inside his head. "Not to worry ma'am, never touched the stuff in my life and I don't intend to anytime soon."
"Grand to hear lad, enjoy your reading kids." She said as she disappeared back into the boat.
"Okay I'm not gonna lie, your mom is awesome." Dallas said with a smile. "And definitely a true rebel at heart."
"Glad you like her…" The lead guitarist said as he put down his instrument and came over to meet Dallas, he wore black nail polish a turquoise jacket and black shirt and blue jeans and his hair was dyed to match his jacket. "I'm Luka by the way, lead guitarist and band leader." He extended his hand to him and Dallas took it without hesitation.
"Nice to meet you, I already know those two lovely ladies but I'm afraid I have yet to meet the big guy on the skins and tubs." Dallas replied with a smile.
Luka was all too happy to introduce his band mate. "That's Ivan, and as you might've guessed he's our drummer, Ivan come over and say high ."
That's when Ivan stood up from his seat and came over to meet Dallas, who found Ivan to be even bigger up close. "Nice to meet you man." He said as he extended his hand to Dallas. It was in that moment that Dallas found out just how strong he was, Dallas tried his best not to scream as he felt his hand being unknowingly crushed.
OH MY GOD THIS GUY IS BREAKING MY FREAKING HAND, he cried mentally up until the point he let go. "Holy jeez you have a strong grip, I bet you lift a lot of weights." Dallas mused as he shook his hand to try and make the soreness disappear faster.
"Sometimes I do yeah." Ivan confirmed with a shrug and a nod.
"Well I think it's more than enough for you big guy, I bet you could bench press a cow if you wanted to." Dallas quipped as he playfully punched Ivan's shoulder. "Alright then, who wants their fortunes told?" Everyone sat down around a crate as Dallas shuffled the cards. "Everybody just take three, then I'll read them one at a time." He said as he spread the deck in his hand and everyone took three cards as instructed. "Alright how's about ladies first, Juleka, your first card tells me that you've been very shy towards everyone you've ever met up until this point in your life and it is only through the compassion of your best friend that you find your courage, your second card tells me that you have a secret that you want to share with someone close to you but your too scared to do it for fear of what they'll think of you, and your third card says…aw would you look at that, you're relationship with that person will grow stronger when the time is right."
At first she thought he was joking. "Okay very funny, now tell me what it actually means." She said with a half-smile.
"I only speak the truth my dear, and the cards don't lie, okay Rose bud your turn." Dallas said as he took her cards and started to read them. "Your first card tells me that what you've always lacked in uh…wisdom…you make up for in personality..." Didn't need the cards to know that one, he joked in his head. "Which is why your able to make so many friends so easily, even with people who don't seem to want to venture outside of there comfort zones, and based off what Juley's cards told us I'd say that's living proof, see sweetheart, the cards don't lie." He said with a smile to Juleka. "Now your second card tells me…oh this is surprising even to me."
Rose gave him a weird look then asked. "What? What does it say about me? Wait, is it saying something mean about me because whatever it says that I am it's not true." She folded her arms and huffed.
"No it's not saying anything negative about you, it's just saying that your very lonely these days for some reason, but based on how you act you don't look very lonely to me, but that's not for me to decide or judge." Dallas explained bluntly.
Everyone else in the group then looked over to Rose with slight concern, they all noticed that lately she had been wanting to spend more time with the band for almost any excuse she could think of, they were almost certain that this was a cry for attention. "Is that true Rose?" Luka asked with sincerity. "That explains why you're here to see Juleka almost every day."
Rose hugged her legs close to her chest and her face took on a sad expression, she sighed before saying. "Yes, it's true…I've just been feeling so lonely and…well…" She trailed off unable to finish.
Juleka saw this as a chance to make her feel better and pulled her into a hug. "It's okay Rose, I'm here for you, always." She said as she patted Rose on her back.
"Well you don't need to feel alone for too long honey because card number three has some good news for you…" Dallas mused as he read off the card. "It says that you will find yourself in a new relationship with someone you know, and only through your closest friend will that happen, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon enough it will happen and when it does you'll both be happier then you could've ever imagined as just friends, so don't fight it when it happens okay? And trust me, you'll know you've found them when the time is right."
Within that instant Rose's face lit up with excitement upon hearing this news. "Oh my gosh really? Oh this is so exciting, I wonder who it could be." She cheered as she jumped out of her seat with joy.
Juleka couldn't help but smile as she saw just how happy her crush was, I hope that I'm that person he mentioned, she prayed in her head. "Well who ever they are Rose I'm sure they will make you happy."
Dallas then turned to the boys then said. "Alright who's next for me to delve into your personal lives?"
Luka turned to Ivan and said. "You go ahead, you're a guest after all." Ivan nodded his head then passed his cards to Dallas who immediately began to read off the cards.
"Okay buddy lets see what we got here, your first card says that when people first look at you they often share the same opinion of you, and usually it's about your intelligence, your size and your aggressive looks…which evidently intimidate people very easily…" Dallas read only what the card was telling him, but it was still enough to get under Ivan's skin.
"Hey, now wait just a minute dude that is not cool to just…" Ivan shouted as he just got angry at Dallas, for the wrong reason entirely.
"Wait, before you try to rearrange my face, I just want you to know I've studied in over a dozen forms of martial arts, and also that I'm not finished reading so if I may continue?" Dallas asked keeping his cool, Ivan then sat down then gestured for Dallas to finish. "Thank you, as I was saying people misjudge you based on how you look, but once people get to know you they find out that you're an incredibly kind hearted person and a great friend to have." Ivan let a smile curl around his face with those words, then Dallas proceeded to the next card. "Now your second card tells me that your celebrating something important to you and someone you love, ooh gonna have a little romantic evening with the cute girl with the dreadlocks and the cap I see, lucky you."
Ivan started to blush as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh…were just going out to dinner for our anniversary, nothing special."
Dallas was quick to object. "Dude, it doesn't matter if it's anything special or not as long as your with her on your anniversary it will feel special to you both, which brings me to your final card, it says that you will be faced with a difficult problem between you two, uh-oh that doesn't sound good…" This made Ivan worry a little. "But…due to the situation you two face it will be solved once you find someone caring and knowing enough to help you solve it, well at least you have a silver lining to search for."
Ivan then breathed a sigh of relief knowing that things would be okay for him and Milan. "Alright captain blue, your next." Dallas said as he took a look at Luka's cards. "Hmm…interesting, your past card says you've devoted yourself to both your family and your craft for a long time and always finding time for your loved ones and to be the musician you've always wanted to be. And your present card says that…oh…" He paused for a moment when he read what it said and contemplated if he should keep reading it or not as he felt it was too soon for him to experience this again.
But somehow Luka figured it out and said. "It's telling you something about my love life isn't it? Or lack thereof."
Dallas nodded his head then asked. "Are you sure you want me to read it? We can just draw again if you want."
"Might as well right?" Luka said with a frown. "Go ahead, I'll survive whatever it is."
Dallas nodded his head and said as gently as he could trying not to upset Luka. "It says that…even though you have a heart filled with so much love to give, fate has decided that your first love shall give her heart away to someone else, to someone who she cared for just as deeply as she does you, so know that she didn't make that choice lightly."
Luka was among the first to hear about Marinette's choice to be with Adrien weeks ago, and to say he felt the sting of her choice was an understatement, he was flat out broken hearted and felt lost in a sea of pain and regret for not trying harder, but he didn't want to show any ill will to the new couple so he showed his support to them, even though it still hurt to see the one he loved with someone else. "Don't worry, I know that already, I just hope he treats her right." He said as he looked away and shed a single tear.
"Aw come on dude don't be such a sourpuss, because the future is looking very promising for you…" Dallas sang as he read the final card. "In your future you will find true love, and she'll be here to stay in your heart forever, she'll be socially awkward, just saying what it says, very smart, beautiful, strong willed, independent, decisive, very sure of herself and has a fighting spirit." Huh, sounds a lot like that one girl, Dallas thought to himself, now what was her name again? Luka felt his heart fill with happiness with Dallas's prediction, he felt so happy he just had to pick up his guitar and play the song in his heart, he played a soft but joyful melody to express his mood. "Uh…what's he doing?" Dallas asked to literally anyone.
"It's just a thing he does when he's happy, or sad, it just depends on his mood, right now he's happy that he still has a chance at love." Juleka stated as she just listened to the tune and let the music wash over her.
"I can also play the tunes in other peoples hearts as well, for example…this is how the tune inside of your heart sounds Dallas." Luka stated as he stopped playing his happy song and started playing a new tune, this one sounded loud and angry, it seemed to describe the way Dallas felt about the whole world and the life fate had given him.
"Huh, you know I kind of thought it would sound a lot more like headstrong by Trapt, well it wouldn't be the first time I've been wrong." Dallas joked as he simply sat and enjoyed the way his 'heart' sounded. "I've gotta say though you are damn good with that six string, I'll bet you use it to woo all the girls."
Luka smirked as he just kept going. "So do you play?" He asked casually.
Dallas's smile quickly faded into a frown before he said nervously. "I-I used to, I mainly played the violin, but only for my mom…before she…" Dallas trailed off unable to finish.
Luka stopped playing as he saw the look on the young rebel's face and began to immediately regret asking him that. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize that was a touchy subject." He said trying to sound as apologetic as he could.
"Nah, don't worry about it…" Dallas waved off. "It's probably better that I started talking about this with someone rather than keep it to myself." For a moment there was a brief silence among the group, a very awkward silence, one that Dallas especially didn't care for. "Hey I thought this was band practice, shouldn't you guys be ya know…practicing?" He pointed out, mainly so he could see just what other songs that they knew or had.
Everyone else all took that as their cue to end their break and return to practice. "Hey Dallas, got any song requests?" Luka offered politely.
Dallas smiled then asked back. "I don't suppose you guys know say…photograph by Def Leopard?"
"Excellent choice…" Luka stated with a smile which quickly turned to a frown as he continued. "But we'd need another guitarist for that song."
Dallas then smiled back then said. "You got any other six strings laying around?"
"I thought you said you only played violin?" Luka pointed out.
Dallas just chuckled and replied. "I said I mainly played violin, I know how to play guitar too, also have a kick ass voice too in case you were wondering."
Luka's smile returned as he went back behind the stage and collected one of his backup guitars, it was jet black with a walnut stained neck, he plugged it into the speaker system then handed it to Dallas. "You might have to tune it a bit first." He said as he went back behind stage and got out another microphone and stand.
Once the band was ready Ivan started tapping his sticks together to get everybody ready to play, Luka opened up with the lead solo then Ivan started playing his drums and Juleka started playing her base around the same time Dallas did, after a few seconds in he started singing. "I'M OUTTA LUCK, OUTTA LOVE, GOTTA PHOTOGRAPH…PICTURE OF…PASSION KILLER, YOU'RE TOO MUCH, YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE…I WANNA TOUCH…"
He nodded to Rose signaling that he wanted her to take over the lyrics. "I SEE YOUR FACE EVERY TIME I DREAM, ON EVERY PAGE EVERY MAG-AZI-INE SO WILD SO FREE SO FAR FROM ME YOUR ALL…I WANT…MY FANTASY…"
They quickly started singing in a duet. "OH, LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO THIS ROCK N' ROLL CLO-O-OWN…OOHH, LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE…PHO-TO-GRAPH, I DON'T WANT YOUR, PHO-TO-GRAPH, I DON'T NEED YOUR, PHO-TO-GRAPH, ALL I GOT IS A PHO-TO-GRAPH…BUT IT'S NOT ENOUGH."
The lead of the lyrics was quickly reversed to Rose as she pulled her mic from the stand and strutted across the stage. "I'D BE YOUR LOVER…IF YOU WERE THERE, PUT YOUR HURT ON ME…IF YOU DARE, SUCH A WOMAN…YOU GOT STYLE, YOU MAKE EVERY MAN…FEEL LIKE A CHILD, OH!"
She then pointed at Dallas as she finished the lyric cuing him to take over. "YOU GOT SOME KINDA HOLD ON ME…YOU'RE ALL WRAPPED UP IN MYS-TER-Y, SO WILD SO FREE SO FAR FROM ME YOU'RE ALL I WANT MY FANTASY…"
"OH…" It quickly turned back into a duet. "LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO THIS ROCK N' ROLL CLO-O-OWN…OOHH, LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE, I'VE GOTTA HAVE YOUR…PHO-TO-GRAPH, I DON'T WANT YOUR, PHO-TO-GRAPH, I DON'T NEED YOUR, PHO-TO-GRAPH, ALL I GOT IS A PHO-TO-GRAPH…" Dallas quickly stopped singing and let Rose finish the lyric. "YOU'VE GONE STRAIGHT TO MY HEEEEEEAAAD…" She belted out as she finished the line and slowly dropped to her knees to add a little bit to the act, then she started playing air guitar just for fun, all the while Juleka couldn't help but smile once more as she saw her crush doing what she loved most, being a rock star.
Dallas noticed this too, she might not look it on the outside but she is one crazy chick, he thought to himself, now I know what Juley sees in her, she's super fun to hang out with, bet she's a freak in the sheets too, no…bad Dallas bad Dallas Juley saw her first and you promised to help her. "OH…LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO THIS ROCK N' ROLL CLO-O-OWN…OOHH…LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE…I'VE GOTTA HAVE YOUR PHO-TO-GRAPH, I DON'T WANT YOUR, PHO-TO-GRAPH, I DON'T NEED YOUR, PHO-TO-GRAPH, ALL I'VE GOT IS A PHO-TO-GRAPH…"
Rose then pointed outward to where an audience might be and finished the lyric herself. "I WANNA TOUCH YOU…"
Dallas was quick to start the next set of lyrics alone. "OOOOOOOHHHHHHHH YOUR PHO-TO-GRAPH…" It was needless to say that he was having a blast playing with the band, and playing one of his favorite songs as well. "I DON'T WANT YOUR…I'M OUT OF LU-U-UCK…"
PHO-TO-GRAPH
"I'M OUT OF LO-VE…"
Rose then took over and finished the last of the lyrics. "YOU'RE THE O-NLY O-O-NE…"
PHO-TO-GRAPH
"I WANNA TOOOOUCH…"
After practice had ended the band enjoyed Dallas's performance so much that they offered him a chance to play at their next gig, he said he would think about it as he enjoyed playing in a band, Dallas chose to enact his plan on what he called operation love song, he told Juleka that if she did everything he told her to one step at a time then things might work out, the key word being might as he still didn't know if Rose even had a thing for girls. He personally invited the entire band out to one of his usual haunts in the city, a simple little diner just a few blocks away from the Eiffel tower, which was exactly where he would begin operation love song. He spotted a flower stand not far from the tower and gave Juleka some money to buy Rose a flower to help break the ice. "Now remember what I told you, be yourself and be honest, don't be afraid of this Jewels, you got this." Dallas coaxed her as he handed her an ear piece just in case if she needed any advice.
"Okay, here I go…" She said as she tried to psych herself up for this moment, she walked over to Rose and inwardly cheered herself on, I can do this, her heart began to beat faster, I can do this, her heart rate grew with each and every step she took, I can do this…I can't do this. She began to turn around when Dallas's voice cracked through the radio.
"Oh no you don't, get back over there right now." He demanded.
"I can't do this, I'm too nervous…" She replied shaking a little.
Then Dallas got an idea. "It's okay, just…think of this as another one of your shows, you do get nervous when your out on stage right?" He asked as he began to lay things out.
"Well…sometimes." She admitted.
"Well treat this the same way you treat your stage fright, it's exactly the same way, trust me I'd know…I'm basically like a love expert." Dallas stated plainly hoping that she would listen to him.
She looked back over to Rose then said to Dallas. "But what if she isn't into girls? Which I'm almost certain she isn't already, what if…I tell her how I feel and she never wants to speak to me again?"
Dallas then began to groan as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "She was gonna find out eventually right?" He asked stating the semi-obvious truth. "So bottom line it doesn't even matter really if she's your first girlfriend or some other chick, either way she was gonna find out her best friend in the world was gay."
"Lesbian…" Juleka corrected with a growl.
"What ever it's the same damn thing, just go over there and do what I tell you to do." Dallas snapped back at her already sick of her stalling.
"But I don't even know what to say to her, how am I supposed to break this to her?" She asked with concern.
Thankfully Dallas was prepared for this as well and simply replied. "Relax Juley, I've got a script already drawn out for you, trust me it's golden, now quit stalling and do what needs to be done, you owe it to her and yourself to get this out in the open…HEY!"
"Give me that…" That's when Luka took Dallas's radio in the attempt to boost her confidence. "It's gonna be okay Juleka, it doesn't matter if she knows your preferences in a partner or not, you two grew up together, you've been friends sense you were in diapers, no matter what happens and no matter if she doesn't feel the same way you will always be friends and nothing will ever change that."
That was all she needed to hear from Luka, she found her courage and went over to her crush and took a deep breath preparing herself for what she was about to do, and hopefully not regret it. "Okay first of all captain blue, don't you ever touch my stuff again…" Dallas said as he snatched his radio back. "And second…that was a much better speech than I could've came up with so good job."
"I don't get it…" Ivan spoke up feeling confused. "Why are we doing this?"
Both Dallas and Luka looked back at him and just gave him a look that basically said you're an idiot. "Because Juley is tired of hiding this from Rose and she wants to be honest about how she feels about Rose bud, but she doesn't know what she's doing so she asked me to help her, now shush…" Dallas stated as he turned back to Juleka to observe the entire thing.
Juleka was stood by Rose as she over looked the gorgeous view of the river behind the tower. "Just look at that view Juleka, it's so pretty." She said with a cheerful voice as she turned to see her friend, and only her, she became puzzled then asked. "Where are the boys?"
"Just tell her that I took Luka and Ivan to see uh…oh I don't know…just…tell her that we're just doing some typical stupid guy stuff." Dallas suggested as he was unable to think of anything. "It shouldn't be too hard to convince her anyway."
Juleka wanted to smack Dallas for saying that about Rose, but what she didn't realize was that he meant it in the nicest way possible. "Oh you know just typical dumb guy stuff, you know how it is."
Rose then just gave Juleka a weird look as if to say she had no idea as to what she was talking about. "Alright Jewels, operation 'love song' is a go…first give her the flower." Dallas mused over the radio.
Juleka then cleared her throat and handed Rose a single pink tulip. "I uh…got you this…I saw it and it made me think of you." She said only realizing too late that it sounded very suggestive in terms of asking someone on a date.
But she didn't seem to notice as she took the flower and said. "Thank you Juleka that is so nice of you, oh it's so pretty, and it's my favorite color."
"Well that's pretty damn obvious…" Dallas said from his side of the radio, as if Luka could read exactly what was on his sisters mind he quickly turned to Dallas and punched him in the arm. "OW! What was that for you douche?"
"Thank you…" Juleka said to Luka, even if she didn't' realize it wasn't for her Rose simply assumed that it was.
"Your welcome." She said with a cheery smile.
"Okay Juley wheels are up, time to spread your wings and fly, now repeat after me word for word…" Dallas stated as he began to read his script off to her. "Rose there's something I need to share with you…"
Juleka took a deep breath, gritted her teeth then repeated his words. "Rose…there's something I need to share with you…" She said sounding extremely nervous.
"And now that were alone I feel more comfortable talking to you about it…" Dallas continued calmly and hoping Juleka could keep her head on straight and not freak out.
"And now that were alone…I feel more comfortable talking to you about it…" She repeated his words as she began to twiddle her thumbs.
Rose could see what ever it was she wanted to talk about it was serious and it made her nervous for some reason. "Well what is it?" She asked casually.
"Okay now you say 'before I tell you promise me that you'll keep an open mind about this because this isn't easy for me to get off my chest but because we've been friends for so long I feel that you deserve to know the truth about me'…" Dallas relayed to her.
Juleka knew that in that moment she would be flying into the eye of the storm and there would be no turning back once things were set into motion, I've come this far, she thought to herself, no point in backing out now. "Before I tell you…I need you to promise me…that you'll keep an open mind about this…because…this…this isn't easy for me to admit…but because your my best friend you deserve to know my secret."
"Okay close enough, now to drop the bomb kid get ready…" Dallas said over the radio.
When Rose heard the word secret she was shocked, usually she and Juleka shared everything with one another so she clearly had no idea how to react, but she couldn't be mad at her if she tried, she cared too much about Juleka to be upset with her about anything. "Okay Jewels, I promise to keep an open mind, so long as you promise no more secrets from me." She replied with a reassuring smile.
Juleka took another deep breath and readied herself for the worst. "This is what you say to her Juley. 'Rose, I've had feelings for someone close to me for a very long time, someone who I've come to see as a sister, and no matter how hard I try to suppress these feelings they just get stronger, so I've decided that I can't hide how I feel about you anymore, it's okay if you don't feel the same way about me but I know what I feel in my heart is real so please promise me no matter what that we'll still be close even if it's not the way I want it to be.'" Dallas said knowing that this was the moment of truth. It's all up to you now kid, he thought with hope strong in his heart.
"Rose…I…I've…" Juleka tried to repeat his words to her, but the words just got caught in her throat.
"What is it Juleka? You can tell me anything." Rose confirmed showing patience for her friend to confess her secret to her.
"Just relax Juleka…" Dallas soothed. "You can do this, I know you can."
Juleka took another deep breath and tried again. "I've…I've had…" She just started to panic, her heart began to beat faster and faster in her chest, beads of sweat began to fall from her head as she hyper ventilated.
She then felt Rose put her hand on her shoulder, then she said. "It's okay Juleka, you can tell me when your ready to, and I promise I will keep an open mind when you do."
"NO!" She shouted completely out of nowhere, she then realized that she just startled Rose then started again in a calmer tone. "I mean no…I'm…I want to tell you now, I'm tired of waiting to tell you this so I'm telling you today." She closed her eyes and clenched her fists digging her nails into her palms trying to find her courage to tell Rose how she felt. "Rose I'm…I'm…" Then without even thinking of anything, even the consequences she threw her hands up to Rose's head and pulled her into a passionate kiss which surprised everyone, Juleka and Rose especially, oh god what am I doing, Juleka asked herself mentally, stop you idiot this wasn't the plan, but she couldn't stop, she couldn't help it even, it just felt so right in her heart.
"What is she doing?!" Dallas cried as he just started tugging on his hair, while both Ivan and Luka just stood there with their mouths wide open with shock and surprise at what Juleka had just did. "Juleka, you're deviating from the plan, abort, I repeat abort!" Dallas cried out over his radio.
Rose had absolutely no idea what was going on, let alone why her best friend had just locked lips with her, but to her own surprise she didn't resist it at all, she didn't even fuss about it, in fact she didn't mind it at all for some reason. Not long after though she felt Juleka pull away with a look of horror on her face as if she'd only just realized what she'd done. "I…I'm sorry…I…" She tried to explain herself but she couldn't find the words.
"Juleka?" Was all Rose was able to say before Juleka started crying heavy tears.
"I…I have to go…I'm so sorry Rose!" She apologized as she took off running in the opposite direction.
"Wait…Juleka wait…don't go…" Rose called out as she chased after her, but it was all in vain as she hopped on a bus and the doors close preventing her from boarding, then the bus took off down the street as Rose tried desperately to get the bus to stop and let her on. "Wait a second…wait!"
The bus drove around a corner and out of sight, leaving a very confused and saddened Rose standing on the curb. "Rose…" Dallas spoke up from behind her with a nervous expression. "This isn't her fault, you see…I found out on my own that she had a crush on you…and she wanted me to help her out in terms of…telling you how she felt about you."
Rose's face adopted an angry look as she walked up to him then said. "So you told her that it was okay to embarrass herself like that by kissing me?"
"No, no I never told her to do that I swear, my plan was to take things slowly ya know…baby steps. I don't know why she did that Rose, other than…well…she loves you, and she would do anything to make you happy too, so if your gonna be mad at anyone…I'm your guy." Dallas offered and braced himself for what ever kind of verbal onslaught she was about to unleash.
"You know I really do want to be mad at you right now…but for some reason, I'm not." Rose admitted to him. "I don't know why but…I'm not bothered by it at all, I just…I need to think about this for a while." She stated as she walked away from him.
Dallas wanted to say something, anything to try and fix this, but it was already too late as Juleka had already set the wheel in motion, and to make matters worse it started to rain. After that entire fiasco had transpired Luka returned to his home to find his mother comforting a very emotional Juleka sitting on the couch. "I'm such an idiot." She criticized herself as she buried her face in her hands and sobbed.
"Juleka…" Luka soothed as he knelt down in front of her. "What were you thinking?"
She looked up at him eyes bloodshot and puffy. "Well obviously I wasn't, otherwise I never would've done it. I'm such a fool, a stupid fool." She sobbed as her tears fell to the floor. "This is all his fault, I never should've trusted him!" She barked as she focused her frustrations on Dallas.
"Sweetie listen to me…" Her mother spoke softly. "You may not want to believe this but you've no one to blame but yourself right now, Dallas never told you to do it now did he?" She asked bluntly.
She saw the truth behind her mothers words then said. "Oh your right, this is all my fault…I just…I just couldn't lie to her anymore, I just couldn't keep pretending how I felt wasn't true, I don't know what got into me…but it doesn't matter anymore because I've officially screwed up everything between us and there's no way I can fix it, It's over between us, everything between us is over, the band, our friendship, I've ruined everything." She just sat there as she cradled her legs with her arms and buried her face into them as she sat up on the couch and cried. Luka then stood up then sat down beside her as he and their mother pulled her into a hug.
On the other side of town Dallas was feeling so guilty for what had happened, he knew it wasn't his fault but he still blamed himself for what Juleka had done. But he had to put that aside for now as he still had to complete his self-given task, which he was almost done with as he finished the final touches to his weapon, with everything he'd bought at the hardware store he used it to attach his tomahawk to a double bladed bowie knife successfully converting them into a new weapon all together, it was his very own spinoff of a weapon he'd practiced with while he still dated a girl from the US, a weapon called a kusarigama, traditionally a Japanese weapon made up of a sickle connected to a ball and chain meant to ensnare the opponent of the user or their weapon effectively disarming or disabling them so the user could finish them off with little chance of them over coming them, but Dallas decided he'd rather work with one made from his own personal design, one that he could inter-grade his knife and tomahawk style with, he'd chosen to dub this new weapon the kursarigamahawk.
"Okay nearly there, all I need now are the ingredients for the bind, let's see that list again…" He said as he checked over his list of things he needed. "A pure drop of workers gold, that's honey, ¼ cup of blood from the highest mountains, that's Himalayan pink salt, milk from one of a million golden crowns, that's dandelion milk, a pinch of ashes of the past…hmm, could that be a literal ingredient?" He thought to himself, he had found that in the alchemy chapter some of the potion ingredients were literally placed by name such as a tear of joy or pure golden dust, but he wasn't sure if that would play a role with this. "Well nothing ventured nothing gained, besides if it doesn't work I can always try again, now what else do I need? The essence of the beast one wishes to personify, wait…I get to choose that? Awesome…oh I wonder what I should go with, a wolf, no I'd have to break into a zoo, an eagle, no it would take too long to track one down in this country, plus there's no aviary that's big enough for an eagle around here…" Dallas paced around in his room trying to figure out which beast of nature to design his miraculous after, when the answer came to stare him right in the face, literally in this case as a black widow spider slowly descended on a web for no apparent reason. "A spider…AH A SPIDER!" He cried as he hopped back startled by the arachnid, he quickly turned around and grabbed one of his beakers and a note book then caught the spider inside the beaker. "Not today you little bitch." He mused as he prepared to collect the spiders venom by stretching a piece of plastic wrap over a glass and held it down with a rubber band, then he got a pair of gloves and tongs to grab the spider and pull her out of the beaker to milk her for her venom. "That should be enough I think, thank you my dear for your donation to my cause, but this is my room and you broke in here…so…" Dallas opened the window to his room and tossed the spider out. "Safe landing." He said as he closed the window.
"Okay now for the final ingredient…" He began to think of something that he could burn that no one would miss, when his eyes fell upon his mothers urn, he contemplated whether or not if he should use her ashes for the bind, he needed to finish it soon if he was going to take down Lorenzo, but he didn't want to disturb her ashes, even if it was just a pinch, so he did the one thing he knew would work, he chose to leave it to fate, he pulled a coin out of his pocket then flipped it. "Heads I use her ashes, tails I find something else." He caught the coin then slapped it down on the back of his hand, when he lifted his hand he saw the result was… "Heads, damnit…" He hissed as he walked over to his mothers urn and opened the top. "I'm sorry mom, but look on the bright side, now you'll be a part of something great, and this way you'll always be with me and watching over me if I get into a jam, I just hope it works other wise I'll have to start over." He took the pinch of her ashes and added it to the mixture, he dumped it into his mort and pestle and began to mix them into a fine powder, once he had done that he put it into a little plastic baggy then put it in the lock box with his other required parts for his miraculous.
"Okay now what do I do?" He asked himself as he looked at the paper he'd drawn to help him figure out what to do next. "Oh you've got to be kidding me." He complained to himself as he discovered that there was something about the ritual he was not expecting. "I have to do this under the light of a full moon? At the stroke of midnight? Seriously why is it always midnight?" Dallas knew he couldn't do the ritual anywhere near the mansion before because of his growing suspicions of Gabriel being Hawkmoth, but that wasn't his main concern at the moment, his problem laid with a very short time limit, it was fortunate that the moon was full tonight, but he only had three hours until midnight, he had no choice, he had to sneak out of the mansion without anyone noticing him. Rather wait until everyone fell asleep he chose to go with drastic measures. He chose to use an herb in his collection he didn't usually use for one main reason, it was very potent with its properties and for his plan to work he had to burn it, but if he wasn't careful he would end up knocking himself out too.
He took a handkerchief and tied it around his face covering his mouth and nose, then he got to work, he stuffed the herbs into two small homemade smoke bombs, he first went into Adrien's room and readied his first bomb, he found Adrien sitting on the couch watching a movie eating out of a bowl of popcorn with Plagg sitting on his shoulder. Perfect, he mused mentally, I don't have to worry about the little guy. He lit the fuse to the bomb and tossed it in the room over by Adrien and Plagg. "WHOA WHAT THE…?!" Adrien cried just before the bomb went off filling the room with a cloud of smoke, it didn't take long for the herbs to take effect as both Adrien and Plagg passed out in an instant.
"Sorry Adrien…" Dallas apologized through the door. "But I can't risk you trying to stop me because I just know you'll try anything to stop this from happening." He entered the room and made sure not to breathe in the smoke, he made his way over to the window to let the smoke out then he dragged Adrien over to his bed and tucked him in. "Don't worry Adrien, you'll wake up feeling just fine, you'll probably be a little extra hungry but you'll be fine." He then headed straight for Gabriel's office, he assumed that he was there anyway, and sure enough he was right, he was sat in his office chair on the phone with a client who was out raged that Gabriel refused to see them for a private appointment that had been set up months in advance.
"I don't care if you paid extra for my services my family comes first…does it sound as if I care if you have a party to attend to? Just wear something else if it's that big of a problem…either because I don't care how desperate you are to impress this man, or because I said so, pick one…fine then, find another designer with a schedule as lenient as my own…goodbye…I SAID GOODBYE!" He slammed the phone down as he hung up, he began to breathe slowly to try and calm himself down, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath in through his nose, and smelled the faint scent of smoke, he opened his eyes and saw a small sphere with a sizzling wick growing shorter by the second, before he could say a word it went off and the room was covered in smoke, he coughed a few times before he hit the floor, Dallas then walked in and dragged his foster father off to his bedroom.
Once he was done with all of that he called for a cab and had it drive him off to a cemetery, and not a moment too soon as he'd arrived there just ten minutes before midnight. "More than enough time to prepare." He said as he unloaded his lock box, he first laid down the suit, then his weapon, then his pendent, then he began to dump out the mixture onto the three items. "Alright, it's just about time." He said as he looked at his watch which read 11:58PM, and so he waited until it was finally midnight then he began the ritual, he pulled out the piece of paper and read off the incantation. "Hear me oh great and mysterious kwamis of the world beyond…" He called out to the night sky for all to hear, which was how the ritual had to be done. "For I call for your miraculous gifts to protect my fellow man, it is with pure intentions I perform this ancient right, such is our pack with you oh wondrous beings of the spirit world, I implore you here and now under the light of the full moon, send your champion if he is willing to be bound to this vessel for all eternity…" Dallas then pulled out a lighter and lit it up. "I here by light the blaze to act as his beacon to our world." He dropped the lighter on the powder and it lit up like a wild bush fire, he jumped back as the flames engulfed his belongings.
Suddenly the world around him was snatched into darkness except for the fire he'd lit, then out of nowhere thousands upon thousands of small bright lights appeared out of nowhere each one a different color of every conceivable color known to man. "Okay this is trippy..." Dallas said to himself.
"We have heard your call mortal one…" The echo of a thousand voices all spoke out at once, it startled Dallas quite a bit as he didn't expect this part at all. "We have champions of all powers conceivable by the mind of any mortal, choose your power now and choose wisely, for once your tool is crafted it cannot be undone. What power do you seek to use for the greater good?"
Good question, Dallas thought, he had no idea what he wanted his power to be, he hadn't thought that far ahead for once in his life, but then he realized just what a spider is best known for, he smiled then said. "I seek the power to ensnare the forces of evil in a trap that cannot be broken unless I am the one to do so, this is my wish oh great and powerful kwamis, who among you is willing to belong to the miraculous from now on?"
"Spizz…" The voices all called together. "The honor of the miraculous is yours to take, will you grant this mortal his request?" They asked to this 'Spizz' in one voice. That's when the flames turned read and began to shrink into a small sphere of red light, the three items were pulled into this sphere as well. Then the voices all said together one final question. "When the time calls for his power, what shall be your signal?"
"My signal?" Dallas thought about it for a second, then he decided and said to himself. "Well it's gonna be spider based might as well make it spider related." He then took a deep breath and said. "Spizz, web up!" With in that instant the light burst into a blinding flash then turned into a small jewelry box, as the box hit the ground the darkness faded away just as quickly as it had appeared and the colorful spheres of light vanished from sight. Dallas picked up the box then opened it, that's when that same red sphere popped out and startled him again, then that sphere turned into a little red and black kwami, he had red slanted eyes and several red marks that almost looked exactly like eyes as well, he also had four spider like arms protruding from his back as if her were a real spider, the tips of each individual leg looked as if they'd been dipped in red .
The little creature simply floated in front of Dallas then began to introduce himself. "H-H-H-Hello, my name is S-S-S-Spizz, the kwami of ensnarement, f-f-f-from now on I shall serve the cause of the guardians f-f-f-f-faithfully."
He seems really nervous, Dallas thought to himself, but I'm sure we can fix that later. "Nice to meet you little buddy, I'm Dallas, Dallas Jones, let's be chums shall we?" Dallas said as he extended his index finger and thumb for Spizz to shake, hoping that he'd eventually warm up to him.
"So you're the one who called upon the kwami for aid." A voice said from behind Dallas, he turned around fast and saw someone he was not expecting to see again anytime soon. "It seems we both have some explaining to do, wouldn't you agree…Dallas?" Master Fu stated with a smile.
(A/N: And that's all there is, there isn't anymore...for this chapter obviously, so what did you guys think? Did you like the fact that Kagami finally met her match, do you think any of kitty section's tarot readings will come true, and how did Master Fu find out what Dallas was up to from all the way across town, and why does Dallas love eating cow balls so much, I guess you'll have to find out in the next chapter, speaking of in the next chapter of WOS, Tikkie feels something strange and Ladybug must investigate it, Dallas and Master Fu debate whether or not he is aloud to be a permanent holder of a brand new miraculous, which it is discovered has a secret unknown entirely to it's creator, okay well that's all for now folks, I will see you in the next chapter, bye bye.)
