Hey, it's a new chapter! Dana's got four love interests, and only two of them are appealing.
Beta'ed by the lovely WtchCool, who gets a plate of virtual cookies for the rush job she did.
- o – o -
Chapter thirteen: Cartoon Heroes
Liz had never been a fan of large public gatherings. Even years of get-togethers with various mob bosses that Palm City played host to hadn't helped—it had probably made her loathe social gatherings even more, but that wasn't the point. The Founders' Day Parade had never held much interest for her, but she'd been dragged to it, practically kicking and screaming.
The day before, she'd convinced her father to let her friends sleep over. Given that she'd put him off-balance with the request, it had worked. Scales had, eventually, become rather pleased with the fact that his daughter was making friends. (Gerry had cemented his position as Scales' second-favorite child after he'd fixed the smuggler's BlackBerry, which had refused to work since Scales had bought it.)
Today, her friends had convinced Scales—somehow, and she would figure out what they'd said to her father—to take them to the Founders' Day Parade.
Although, Liz thought, staring up at her father, who had his arms crossed over his chest and was glowering at anyone who looked at him, maybe it wasn't such a trial. She just wished Trip and Gerry would stop foisting candy into her lap—they weren't giving her any of the caramels.
"Cheer up, Lizzy Lizard," Trip said cheerfully, giving her a strand of cheap plastic beads. "We've only got another hour to go."
"Kill me," Liz grumbled, burying her face in her knees. Trip laughed and patted her on the back.
"Have a caramel," Gerry said, passing her one of the candies. Liz sighed, and decided she'd leave the two moronic boys alone for the time being. Gerry especially, though. Caramels were delicious.
So maybe the entire parade wouldn't be a crapshoot…
- o – o -
Vince was practically fuming as he paced around the rooftops. Somehow, Dana had decided that letting their son hang out around a dangerous criminal was alright. What was even worse was that his wife was almost friendly with said dangerous criminal. He sighed and began punching his fist into his other hand as he thought. Dana and Scales were getting friendly—although the only romantic inclinations were coming from the gecko, thank god. But Dana was getting romantic with Jack. Jack Kirchner, the bane of his existence.
The Cape growled something obscene under his breath. If Dana didn't need all the friends she could get at the moment, he'd have killed Jack for getting so close to her. As it was, he was really considering it…
He'd come to the parade just to make sure none of Chandler's minions had managed to sneak another float in to spray the crowd with the corpse dust. So far, the most menacing thing he'd seen was Scales breaking a would-be purse snatcher's fingers. Vince couldn't exactly fault him for that…in a very, very small corner of his heart, buried deep somewhere he never actually went, anyways, he approved. Alright, so he wasn't perfect. Who was?
Vince sat down on the ledge, chewing on his lower lip. Orwell was missing, and there was no indication as to where she was. The only thing he'd been able to find was an e-mail that he couldn't trace back to a reliable source, warning her to take a gas mask with her if she went to find the Chandler heir. Alright, that was an indication. But she was still missing, and he had no idea where she'd gone to find the missing heir.
Marty wasn't exactly being helpful either, which was in and of itself a pain in the ass. One would think that, after saving him from a nutcase, the Chief of Police would be a tad bit more helpful. Of course, this wasn't a comic book, and Marty was the chief bootlicker for the man who'd ruined Vince's life. Help from that angle was only going to come if Marty's life or family was at stake, which wasn't likely to happen soon.
The vigilante watched the parade end and waited for the crowds to disperse before leaving himself. He told himself that it was so he could make sure nothing unexpected happened, but he wasn't fooling anyone. He just wanted to make sure Scales didn't try to put the moves on Dana. Given that he'd seen her laugh and playfully smack the smuggler with a magazine after the smuggler had tried to kiss her hand, Vince wasn't too worried. Well…not so much.
He vanished in a puff of smoke, mentally going over the reasons why killing Scales was a bad idea.
It was a very short list.
- o – o -
Dana returned to her apartment, Trip and Gerry in tow. Scales had tried to invite the three of them to lunch, but Dana had begged off. She hadn't been entirely comfortable with leaving her son and his friend with the smuggler either, despite the fact that the man had this rabid Rottweiler-like tendency to defend his daughter and her friends from any threat, real or perceived. (And, alright, he'd apparently been an excellent host when Liz had convinced him to let her friends stay over for a night. Trip was still going on about how cool Scales was as a father—and Dana was sure he'd been talking to the Cape as he raved about the deformed smuggler. Something about that… Well, it seemed like he was sneaking around, trying to get the Cape to do something. Whatever it was, the public defender wasn't sure she wanted to know.)
Speaking of the Cape, Dana thought as she began rummaging through the fridge for something to either make or reheat for dinner, she hadn't seen him in a few days. He was probably off doing hero things, but… Not having him present was like missing Vince, in a way. The Cape had somehow become a fixture of her family over the past few months; missing him was like…well, like a family member cutting off all contact. That was the worrisome thing—she was beginning to think of the Cape as family.
She really needed to get out more. Maybe Jack's offer of a date was still valid…
Dana sighed as she caught sight of the wilting bouquet on her table. Scales had sent it a few days ago, when Liz had come over to play and do homework with Trip. Gerry had been sick with the flu, and had been unable to come upstairs to the Faraday apartment, so Liz had come over to fill in the gap and make sure Gerry wasn't bored.
If the girl had been anyone else, Dana would have complimented her parents on raising such a wonderful, caring child. As Liz's father was Scales, though… Well, it was just food for thought. Maybe the mysterious, absentee Lydia had instilled those values in her daughter. Dana kind of hoped so, or she'd have to revise a lot of her opinions on Scales. Opinions that she'd held onto for quite a while…
The public defender shut the fridge door with a little more force than necessary. On top of that, she now had to deal with the attempts of the aforementioned smuggler to court her. She was trying to juggle Travis (whose affections were rather unwanted), and Jack (whose affections were much more wanted than either prior option), along with Scales. And then there was the Cape. She had four men vying for her attention, and she only wanted two of them to actively try. One of them was a respected lawyer who'd offered her a partnership in a law firm if she wanted to quit her job as a public defender, and the other was a masked vigilante.
She really needed a date.
"Mom, the Cape's on the roof. He needs to talk to you. It's important." Dana looked up at her son and sighed.
"Of course it is." What was one more law broken today?
- o – o -
So, what did you think? Good? Bad? Have an opinion on who Dana should end up with? Drop a line and let me know!