Chronicles of the Night
When we last left our heroes, Lisa began displaying more of her vampiric powers. After Lisa had a little heart to heart with Joseph, Felix began feeling a little more isolated. But after meeting a woman with superhuman strength and resistance by the name of Jane Agnus, it looks as though that could turn around.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Marvel comic elements present in this story, I do own my original characters and the plot.
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An unprecedented night
"I don't really like it…" Lisa said while looking at a blonde wig Felix was showing her at the kitchen table. It was sometime during the day, and Joseph was upstairs rehearsing.
"I don't either but… well Mr. Roberts agreed that it would probably be best, and Joseph and I agree for different reasons than Mr. Roberts that you should wear this wig whenever you go in to public with Joseph."
"Why?" She asked curiously.
"Just in case someone is smart enough to make the connection between Lisa Braveheart, and Night-princess. But wear this wig and no one will be the wiser." Felix said.
"Oh… alright." Lisa said. "Felix…"
"Yeah?"
"You sound happier today." Lisa told him.
"I do?" Felix asked.
"Yes." Lisa responded. "Your voice sounds… lighter I guess."
"Well…" Felix was trying to think of a way to explain last night's encounter with Jane without sounding ridiculous.
"Hey Felix, it's almost time to get going to that CD cover signing." Joseph said as he came downstairs. "And almost time for Lisa's home school teacher to get here too."
"Oh no… not that pompous idiot." Felix groaned.
"Felix, this guy is the best home school teacher in LA." Joseph told him.
"Look, in the short time I went to a public school before going to the Baxter building, history was my worst subject, and I think I could teach it better than this moron." Felix said as he slipped on his shades and gloves.
"Felix… we've had this discussion before. We already agreed you'd teach her chemistry if she ever wanted to learn, but for everything else, she needs a licensed teacher."
DING DONG
"Ow… that doorbell is loud." Felix groaned. "Wait, you gave him a key through the front gate?"
"Yes." Joseph said. He went to answer the big double doors at the front. "Ah… Mr. Cole."
"Mr. Brown." A short man with a brown over comb and chubby cheeks said. He also wore large framed glasses, and a suit. He was holding a brown briefcase tightly in his hands. "How are you today?"
"Just fine. Yourself?" Joseph asked politely.
"Mr. Cole." Felix said, practically gritting his teeth.
"Mr. Thomas…" Mr. Cole said rather distastefully. The two of them got nose to nose for a moment giving each other a hard stare. "I trust you are well?" He asked, quite obviously insincerely.
"Just fine… by the way, I heard you complaining about your suit when you left last time." Felix said as he took of his right hand glove off his hand behind his back.
"Yes, it looked like a cat had scratched it. Hmph… now if you'll excuse me, I have a job to do." He said. As he walked by, Felix revealed his claws and let them snag on to the back of Mr. Cole's suit. "Hm?" Felix quickly slipped his glove back on as Mr. Cole grabbed that part of his suit. "Ugh… you're going to see this on my bill."
"Felix…" Joseph hissed as Felix.
"What? Tell me it's not worth it." Felix told him.
"ugh… We'll be back in a few hours Lisa. Take care!" Joseph shouted.
"Bye." Lisa said as Felix and Joseph walked out the front door. "I don't really… like this guy." Lisa thought as she slipped on some shades before Mr. Cole walked in.
"Now then… let's review homework."
Later…
"Honestly, I hate leaving her with that guy than I hated leaving her alone." Felix sighed.
"Felix, how many times are we going to have a conversation like this?" Joseph asked him. They were in the back of the limo, getting closer to the record store.
"A fair bit."
"And Felix…"
"Yeah?"
"What happened last night?"
"Pardon?"
"You're a whole lot happier today than you were yesterday. Something happen last night?" Joseph asked him.
"Well… oh it sounds so ridiculous no matter how I can think to explain it." Felix thought.
"Well… I'm waiting." Joseph said.
"Okay fine… I met a woman."
"A woman?"
"Yes, she's a mutant." Felix said.
"Really? Wow… what can she do?" Joseph asked, sincerely interested.
"She has a lot of superhuman strength and resistance." Felix said with as much of a professional tone of voice as he could muster. "And… well, hair length aside she did look a fair bit like Becky." Felix thought.
"We're here." Joseph said. The two of them got out and as usual were greeted by a mob of press.
"High Roller! Can we get word on your daughter?!"
"High Roller! There is word that your latest song giving mutant support has met with a tremendous amount of criticism. Comments?"
"My question is for High Roller's manager!"
"Hm? Hey you're that same guy that asked me about…" Felix started to say.
"Are you ever going to take off your shades and gloves?" The reporter asked.
"For the last time no!!!" Felix shouted.
Meanwhile…
"Well, I must say, your history homework is a little lackluster… but you're excelling in your English, math, and science studies." Mr. Cole said as he put aside the papers of the work Lisa just did.
"Um… thank you." Lisa said quietly. "Just thirty more minutes, then he's gone." She thought.
"Honestly a young girl as smart as you are having to live with a rap performer is absurd honestly."
"But… Joseph…" Lisa said. Though she was doing well at hiding it, Mr. Cole insulting Joseph was tap dancing on a sensitive nerve for her, and she gripped the table leg closest to her with her right hand.
"And not to mention that… uncouth manager of his, I don't see how such an incompetent, ignorant, little…" As Mr. Cole continued droning on and on with insults about Felix, Lisa was getting more and more frustrated with it.
"They're both smarter than you… stop… insulting them!!!" Lisa thought as she listened to him until…
SNAP
"Whoa!"
"Ah!" Lisa gasped. Her grip had tightened on the table leg so much that she broke it with a tighter grip than she realized she was using. The table toppled over, spilling papers and Mr. Cole's briefcase on to the floor.
"Oh my…" Mr. Cole breathed. "That table should have been checked, although it did look stable… but still, what are the odds of it breaking like that?" He asked.
"Um… here… I'll help with your papers." Lisa offered, dodging that question.
"Uh… yes thank you."
Meanwhile…
"Awesome! I got his autograph right here!" Some fan shouted.
"Ugh… another screaming moron." Felix sighed after that guy walked out.
"Felix, they're just fans, and I'm just here to hopefully please them." Joseph told him.
"Well yeah but the same kind of people keep walking in and out of that door and…"
"And what handsome?"
"Uh… Jane…" Felix said, catching himself. Jane walked in wearing a light blue T-shirt with a broken heart on it, and blue jeans along with matching light-blue sneakers. "Uh well… can't say I expected you to walk in on me at work." He said sheepishly.
"Um… Felix is this the girl that…" Joseph started to ask.
"Yes." Felix answered. "Jane this is Joseph. Joseph meet Jane." Felix introduced hastily.
"Anyways… I came to ask if I could borrow your manager for the rest afternoon." Jane said to Joseph, giving him a CD cover for him to sign.
"…" Joseph gave Felix a look for a moment before smiling. "Alright, sure." Joseph said. "But be sure to take the back."
"Alright then." Felix said with a smile. "Well Jane… shall we?" Felix asked.
"Sure handsome." Jane answered as the two walked out the back door.
"Alright Mr. High Roller, the last group is coming in." The man at the door said.
"Thank you." Joseph said. "I wonder if Felix even has a romantic bone in his body."
Later…
"Hm… it's gotten cloudy." Felix said. The two were sitting at tables outside of a coffeehouse. Both of them were holding cups of coffee in their hands.
"Do you think it will rain?" Jane asked him.
"Well…" Felix whiffed the air for a moment. "As a matter of fact I do. Tonight if I'm guessing correctly."
"That nose is really impressive." Jane said with almost a giggle. "What else can you do?"
"Well… I'm not sure about… talking about my powers." Felix whispered so that no one would hear them.
"Oh come on… you've seen what I can do." Jane said before taking a sip of her coffee.
"Well… alright." He said. "Basically, think of me as a human cat and you're pretty much right on the nose." Felix whispered to her. "I've got keen senses, much more keen than any human could hope to have, I'm also faster and stronger than a normal human, and I've got these claws."
"I can see why you wear the gloves but… why the shades exactly?" Jane asked.
"Well, if you studied my eyes a bit longer, you'd see that they're not exactly like normal eyes." Felix said as he let his shades slide down his nose a bit.
"Hmmmm…" Jane did look at Felix's eyes for a minute, she looked at them deeply and after what felt like several minutes… "Oh… I see now."
"Right, in a fairly bright place, my eyes aren't as narrow as a cat's would be, and they aren't as small as a normal person's eyes would be. They're somewhere in between." Felix said. "I used to have to wear glasses before I got my powers."
"Glasses… I bet you looked adorable." Jane said with a smile.
"No… I looked like a dork." Felix said sheepishly.
"Oh come on… brag on yourself a bit." Jane told him sweetly.
Meanwhile…
"Whoa!" The minute Joseph walked in to his door, a bat swooped down at him before fluttering back up the stairs. "Lisa! Please keep a closer eye on Cynthia!" Joseph shouted up the stairs.
"Sorry." Lisa said as she came downstairs slowly. "She says you startled her."
"Anyways… did you do your homework already?" Joseph asked her as he started to walk to the kitchen.
"Yes." She answered.
"Whoa… what happened to the table?" He asked. He stooped down to look at the leg that broke, and then looked at Lisa. "Lisa…" He sighed while shaking his head and looking at her.
"I'm sorry." Lisa said as Cynthia landed on her shoulder.
"I'll have to order a new one… but please don't do it again okay?" Joseph told her, putting a gentle hand on her other shoulder.
"Joseph… I don't really like Mr. Cole." Lisa told him.
"Look, Mr. Cole is the best teacher around here, and I just want to make sure you're getting the best."
"…" Lisa decided not to argue further, she didn't want to hurt Joseph by saying anything against that. "Where's Felix? Is he doing okay?"
"Oh… I think he'll be doing just fine." Joseph said with a smile.
"Why?" Lisa looked at him curiously and tilted her head; Cynthia's head also tilted a bit as the bat looked at Joseph.
"Here, let me explain." Joseph said while leading her towards the living room couch.
That night…
"Well… that coffee turned out to be better than that roof idea I had previously." Night-claw said as he jumped over the rooftops.
"Was it the coffee or something Night-claw? Because you've covered way more city blocks than me and Night-princess put together." Night-roller said over the radio.
"No time to chat, got another group of thugs that need stomping. YAAAAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
"Maybe… this really is a good thing after all." Night-princess said over the radio.
"Well, he's certainly happier." Night-roller said.
"Hey it's that mutant freak! AH!" A crook shouted before Night-claw landed and kicked him across the face. Night-claw then spun towards another crook and scratched him twice before kicking him in the gut.
BANG
BANG
BANG
"Too slow!" Night-claw said as he sidestepped each bullet before moving in and gut punching the gun wielder. Night-claw then back flipped over the top of the remaining five guys before punching the first one to charge him, tackling the second guy and springing off of him.
"HA!"
"Do the limbo!" Felix said as he bent backward to avoid a kick one of the guys threw at him. He then snapped back up, picked up that guy and threw him at the other two. The second he did he jumped off to find another crisis to take care of.
The following day wasn't important at all, no nothing of any particular importance happened. It was just another day of Felix forgetting to take care of a number of things, another day of Lisa having to be home schooled, another day of rehearsal for Joseph. No nothing important happened until that night, a night that Felix set up to spend some time with Jane.
"I… hate this thing." Felix said. He was wearing a tuxedo with white gloves and his shades. "Well, how ridiculous do I look?" Felix asked the two of them.
"Hmph…" Joseph had to cover his mouth to stifle his laughter. "I… ha ha ha… honestly never imagined you in a tux before." Joseph said while laughing a bit.
"I think you look okay." Lisa said as she scanned him with her blue eyes, Cynthia on her shoulder again. "Cynthia doesn't think so though…"
"She's a bat, what does she know?" Felix said while shrugging.
DING DONG
"Oh… that must be her." Felix said while walking to the door. He took a deep breath as he approached the door, and opened it. "Wow…"
"So, what do you think?" Jane asked. Jane was wearing red lipstick, and a black dress that showed most of her upper back, and it had a split that went up to her knee on the right.
"Amazing… really." Felix said. "Have you met Lisa?"
"Lisa? You mean the celebrities' new daughter?" Jane asked.
"Um… hi." Lisa said shyly.
"squeak…" Cynthia squeaked.
"Oh!" Jane gasped.
"What's wrong?" Felix asked.
"N…nothing I'm just… afraid of… bats." Jane said while taking a few breaths.
"Oh… sorry." Lisa said, turning around and walking away a little sadly.
"Oh… hold on it won't take but a second." Felix told Jane.
"Sure, I'll just… catch my breath." Jane said.
"Lisa." Felix walked up behind her and put a hand on her free shoulder. "Hey… don't worry about it okay?"
"Mm-hm." Lisa said while nodding.
"Seriously, I didn't know either so… really don't let it get to you." Felix said.
"Yeah, okay. Have fun." Lisa said with a half smile.
"Take care of yourself, I'll see you later." Felix said.
That night…
"Thank you." Felix said to the waiter. Felix and Jane were at a very fancy restaurant with chandeliers hanging from the high up ceiling, and the tables all had beautiful candles at each of them. Felix had just received a steak of some kind while Jane just received a salad. There were also violin players and piano players playing gentle ballroom music to complete the atmosphere.
"This has been a lovely evening so far Felix, it really has." Jane said.
"Thanks." Felix said as he started cutting his steak.
"You know… you say that you got… your powers differently. How exactly?" Jane asked. Felix paused a moment, and then looked away a little sadly. "I'm sorry, is it too much to ask?"
"No… no it's just… a bit difficult." Felix then looked at Jane, sighed a bit, and then talked. "It… was a lab accident. It was a big project I was helping out with, and… some psycho with a gun came in to the lab and started murdering my colleagues."
"Oh… I'm sorry." Jane said.
"Among them… among them were my best friend, and my girlfriend." Felix said. He looked up at the ceiling high above them and sighed.
"…" Jane looked at him with pity, and then Felix continued.
"I was shot as well right after the accident occurred, the bullet didn't kill me and I woke up with my powers beginning to manifest." Felix said. "However some man mistook me for a mutant, and killed my mom with the bullet that was meant for me."
"Your powers… cost you a lot didn't they?" Jane asked.
"Yeah, yeah they did. A bunch of things happened before I met my teammates. And they've been a big help and… now I've met you as well." Felix said.
"For that I guess, I should be glad." Jane said while giving a soft smile.
"Yeah." He said with a smile. "Hmmmm… come with me." Felix said as he pulled out a wad of cash and set it down on the table. He pulled out a pen and scribbled something down on a small piece of paper and set it next to the cash.
"Felix?" Jane watched in a little bit of confusion as Felix stood up and walked outside. She sighed and followed him out.
Outside, Felix walked around to the side of the building and went down the alley with Jane behind him. Felix removed his shoes and gloves and socks. He jumped at the wall and while clinging to it by his claws; he took off his shades and dropped them. "Felix what are you doing?"
"Come on… I'll show you." Felix said as he held out a hand for her. She smiled, jumped at him in a single leap, and grabbed his hand. Felix hoisted her up to where she grabbed his back. Felix then climbed up the side of the building. "Wait for it…" He whispered as he looked at the sky.
"Hm?" Soon she felt little droplets of water falling from the sky, soon it began to pick up pace until it was a downpour. "Felix… you're going to have me soaked." She said while stifling a laugh.
"Care to dance?" Felix asked as he held out a hand. She looked at him as if he were crazy, but she nonetheless took his hand and Felix pulled her close. The two began to waltz as the rain continued to come down and drench the two of them. Felix then raised his arm above her head and allowed her to spin freely, the water flying from her hair and dress as she spun around.
"Ah ha ha ha ha!" She laughed. Felix pulled her close again and the two started dancing around the rooftop more vigorously, spinning and laughing while the rainwater dripped from their hair and from their clothes. They could still hear the ballroom music in the building below them over the rain as they danced away.
"…"
"Man… I never would have guessed, but I guess Felix really does know how to treat a lady." Night-roller said. He and Night-princess observed them from a long distance as the two of them danced the night away.
"Yeah. It's sweet." Night-princess said with a smile.
"Ha ha ha ha!" Felix laughed. Both of them spun away from each other, and then spun back towards each other and slowed down to catch each other in gentle embrace. Their eyes met with each other. The reflection of the other's eyes was cast in their eyes. Time seemed to stand still for the two of them, the rain seemed to stop coming down, the music drifted out of their hearing, all felt still for them.
"I… had a great time." Jane whispered to Felix.
"So did I. I really did." Felix whispered back. The two leaned in, their lips about to meet.
"No… not yet." Jane said suddenly.
"Yeah… you're right. I… I'm sorry." Felix said.
"Don't be…" Jane said as she walked backwards towards the edge of the roof. "Good night Felix." Jane said.
"Good night Jane." Felix said. Jane turned around and prepared to jump off, but she turned her head to look at him one more time, before she jumped away. Felix turned around and looked at the raining sky above him, his smile was inerasable, this would be a night, he would always remember.
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Whew… well let me know how badly I suck at romantic ideas, and I'll get the next poll of the week posted in the meantime.
