Sorry for the delay, college work was holding me back, and I was writing chapters for two other fics at the same time.
In this chapter, Lana has dinner with Virgil's family. Meanwhile Cloak and Dagger stop a robbery and gets the attention of a certain metahuman.
NOTE: This chapter takes place after chapter 13 of Hope and Responsibility, so I recommend reading that before coming here.
Chapter 3
Brooklyn, NY
"I don't know if I can do this," says Lana as she's walking to Virgil's house with her cell phone in her ear. "What if I leave a bad first impression?"
"You said you've met Virgil's dad right?" asked the voice of a young girl on the other line. "From what you told me, he seemed to have liked you then. What makes this any different?"
Last weekend, Robert Hawkins, Virgil's father, had invited Lana over for dinner on Friday night, and the young brunette has been nervous ever since. Meeting his dad was one thing, but his entire family was going to be challenge for her, especially since she's not really much of a people-person. Lana decided she needed some advice so she called up her new friend, Kara Danvers, who on her home planet of Krypton is also known as Kara Zor-El, but everyone else here on Earth know her as Supergirl. After saved her and Spider Man from an army of robots a few days ago, the two heroes revealed their identities to Bombshell and Static, since they had already figured out theirs. From there the four started to hang out, whether it's doing homework for their respective classes, or going out on nightly patrols. This also gave Lana the chance to get to know Kara more. After learning about what she had to go through prior to coming to Earth, she couldn't help but have sympathy for her. Here she was dealing with her own fears and insecurities, yet it's nothing compared to the kind of hell Kara had to endure. The two girls bonded and slowly started to become good friends, Lana even apologized to Kara for all the insults she spouted at her when the two of them were enemies, and even thanked her for setting her straight, to which Kara accepted her apology and decided to just let bygones be bygones.
"You know his dad is gonna start asking questions about me," says Lana.
"What kind of questions would he ask? He already knows about your criminal past…just not the part about you being a human TNT. Look, if anything, he's probably going to ask how you and Virgil met and how things have been going since you went straight. I know those were the kind of questions Peter's aunt asked me when she invited me over for dinner, of course I had to lie and say I was living with my cousin in law when she asked if I had any guardians. Look, just relax and be yourself…and try to keep the potty-mouth to a minimum."
Lana chuckles, "Yeah, yeah, you don't have to worry about that mom, I've been trying to ease up on that ever since I started living with my grandma. Okay, I'm at Virgil's house…Wish me luck."
"You got this, Lana. If you can survive Reactron, you can survive this. Let me know who well it turns out."
"I will…and thanks Kara." With that, she ends the call and knocks on the door.
Ty and Tandy are walking through the streets of Brooklyn, looking over a newspaper article from a few days ago. Ty is wearing a simple black, New York Mets jacket with a long grey shirt underneath, dark blue baggy pants and grey high tops. Tandy is wearing a blue denim jacket with a long rainbow colored shirt underneath, tight black pants and black boots complete with a grey beanie cap on her head. On the front page was an image of Static and Bombshell taking down Hotstreak.
"Yep, that's definitely Lana," says Tandy
"Yeah, but that brotha with the dreads," says Ty. "He's new."
"It says here that his name is Static, one of the newer heroes in town. He showed up not long after that big outbreak in the Roxxon Facility not far from here."
"You think he could be one of us?"
"Well, that gas did infect a lot of people in this neighborhood, it wouldn't surprise me."
"Man, to think there are now more and more people out there who are like us. They must really be trippin' about suddenly getting superpowers. I know WE did."
"I think the real question is, how many of them should we consider friends?"
Suddenly, three men ran between the two metahumans like they were in a hurry.
"A simple "excuse me" would have been nice," Tandy shouts after them.
They soon hear the sound of another male who emerges from a small store behind them, "Hey, somebody stop those guys. They stole from my store."
Ty and Tandy sees the three men go inside a nearby black car, and drive off.
Tandy looks at her boyfriend, "We have to stop them."
Ty nods in agreement.
Lana is now sitting at the dinner table with Virgil, his father and his sister, Sharon Hawkins.
As the four chow down on their supper Robert asks his daughter, "So, Adam won't be joining us tonight?"
"Afraid not," Sharon answers. "He hasn't been feeling well these past few days, had to call in sick on multiple occasions…I'm starting to get worried."
"Maybe all those times hearing you sing every morning are finally starting to take its toll on him," Virgil comments as he eats his steak.
Sharon scowls, "Boy, don't make me come across that table."
"Settle down you two," says Robert. "We have a guest here. So Lana…"
"Oh God, here we go," the brunette thought.
"How did you and Virgil meet?"
After taking a mental sigh of relief she says, "Well, he saw me struggling with my math homework during lunch and offered to help me. He also told me that he would help me study so I won't have to worry about failing. I'm very grateful that he came to my rescue when he did. I don't know if I would ever survive Calculus."
Virgil blushes at this.
"I wouldn't compliment him to much Lana," Sharon says with a smug grin. "Virgil may have a big brain but he also got the ego to match."
The electric metahuman now scowls at this sister.
"How are things going with your new job?" Robert now asks.
"Oh, well, they had me cafeteria duty, as well as cleaning some rooms. The people there are very nice…they also know how to keep me busy too."
The entire Hawkins family all laugh.
"Well I'm glad things are working out. If only this neighborhood had more people like you. I swear, this place just keep getting worse and worse, and that explosion in the Roxxon facility didn't help matters either, because now we have these "Bang Babies" running around causing trouble."
"From what I hear, you guys have a new local hero running around and stopping them. Static and…whatever that girl's name is," says Sharon.
Lana groans in her head and lowers her head in shame.
"But how do we know they're not one of them?" asks Robert.
"Well if they are, they seem to be one of the good ones."
Virgil and Lana both smile at Sharon sticking up for their alter egos.
"Just a few days ago, they were fighting robots alongside Spider Man and Supergirl," the eldest Hawkins sibling continues.
"Yeah, and they also caused thousands of dollars-worth of property damage…and don't even get me started on Spider Man."
"Oh come on, don't tell me you believe what the Bugle says about him."
"*sigh* Look, all I'm saying is that we can't be too careful when it comes to these superheroes. What would happen if they were to go off the rails? Who would stop them?"
While Robert and Sharon are conversing, Virgil noticed someone holding his hand under the table. He looks over and sees Lana with a reassuring smile on her face, silently telling him that nothing like that would ever happen to either of them, that they're better than that.
After dinner, Virgil is in the kitchen helping his father clean the table while Lana and Sharon sit on the living room couch. A
fter some awkward silence, the elder Hawkins sibling looks over at the younger girl and says, "Alright girl, spill. What's REALLY going on between you and Virgil?"
Lana's eyes widened and blushes as she looks over at Sharon, "W…What do you mean?"
Sharon smirks, "Don't think I haven't noticed you stealing glances at him at the dinner table. Not to mention the two of you were sitting awfully close together. Virgil keeps telling me the two of you are just friends, but I'm starting to think he's bullshitting."
Lana looks away and brushes a lock of her hair behind her ear, "*sigh* It's…complicated."
"You tried to make a move didn't you?"
The younger girl bites her lip, "…We…almost kissed a few days ago."
Sharon grins widely, "And what's stopping attempt #2? Wait, let me guess, you're not sure if he feels the same way."
Lana scoffs, "What, are you gonna tell me that you've been in a similar situation?"
"Lana, EVERY girl your age has dealt with the same problem, and the solution is simple. Just tell him how you feel."
"Oh, of course. Never mind the possibility that he might reject me."
Sharon gives her a deadpan look, "Virgil is not gonna reject you honey. You should've seen him the last time I was here. I swear every conversation with him involves you to some capacity. He goes on and on about how cool you are and how you don't take shit from anybody. You left quite an impact on him. Trust me girl, that boy is CRAZY about you."
Lana looks over at Sharon, "You think so?"
"He's my brother, I know him like the back of my hand."
The younger girl sighs, "Okay…I'll talk to him."
The older Hawkins sibling puts a hand on Lana's shoulder and give her a small nudge, "That's the spirit, I'll be rooting for you."
After some silence, she then looks back over at Lana with a scowl and says, "Oh, and you better not do anything to hurt him, or I'm coming for your little ass."
Lana, clearly surprised by the sudden threat, nods and says, "Y…You have my word."
Sharon's smile returns, "Good."
Back in the streets of Brooklyn the crooks who robbed that small store are now speeding off in their car. One of the crooks in the back is drinking a chocolate milk while the guy next to him looks inside the bag and stares at the amount of cash they have.
"Man, this was too easy," he says with a wide grin.
"Yeah, and not a single cape in sight," says the crook who is driving.
Suddenly a light dagger hits one of their tires and the car starts to swerve.
"WHAT THE HELL?" the driver says as he tries to regain control of his car. He ultimately fails and finds himself careening into nearby light post. The criminals get out of the car and make a break for the alley.
"You just HAD to jinx us didn't you?" One of them asked the driver as they were running.
The three men eventually find themselves at a dead end. They turn around to run the other way, only to see Cloak standing in their way and towering over them.
"What the fuck?" one of the crooks rhetorically asked.
"WASTE HIM," shouted the other, as all three men took out their guns and started shooting at the metahuman.
Unfortunately their bullets had no effect, as they were being absorbed by Cloak's cloak.
Cloak proceeds to lunge at the men and only screams could be heard.
Moments later, both Cloak and Dagger look down at the unconscious men, clearly proud of their accomplishment.
"Did you see how I cornered those guys?" asks Cloak. "Pretty sweet huh? Eat your heart out Batman."
Dagger chuckles, "Alright "Dark Knight" let's get outta here. I can hear the police sirens."
Cloak nods and the two metas teleport from the scene via Cloak's cloak.
Meanwhile, up on the rooftop, Ebon was watching the whole thing. He begins to smirk at what he just saw, "I think I just found some new recruits."
Looks, like Ebon has is eyes on Cloak and Dagger, and is looking to have them join his meta-breed. Will they except his offer? Find out next time.