So, if the title didn't give it away, this takes place during Operation: V.I.R.U.S, albeit focusing more on the prom part. And this time, Cree is going to get a WAY happier ending. So let's begin!
"So, Maurice, Mallory ask you out to prom yet?" Chad asked as he gulped down yet another soda.
"Yep. Guess I'm stuck unless I want her to pummel me," Maurice said in a joking tone. Prom season was considered to be serious business for just about every highschooler that could attend. Thus, Maurice knew better than to ruin it.
"Gonna have to tell Abby to tell her Sector not to do anything stupid," Cree noted. The last thing that they needed was Mallory Blackburn to be utterly pissed at them.
"Smart. Also, guess who gave Chloe a heart attack because she got a date first?" Firecracker asked from her spot on the floor with a smirk.
"Nice!" Chad cheered as he gave the girl a fist bump.
"It's not like a "date" date, I'm just going with a friend," Firecracker admitted as she began picking at her nails. She then smirked again as she looked back up. "Still, Chloe getting pissed over a 'freaky loser' scoring a date before her was priceless."
Maurice chuckled before turning to Cree. "Hey Cree, do you have a date yet?"
"I don't even know if I'm gonna go," Cree admitted, earning herself three very confused looks. "No one would ever consider going with me because of…ya know."
"Oh c'mon!" Firecracker exclaimed. "I've got just as many scars as you and yet I've got a date! Can't be that hard!" Cree found herself unable to argue with that. Firecracker was fairly heavily scarred, including a very obvious one running across her left eye, so maybe Cree could get a date?
Cree shook her head. "It's not just that. Chloe has pretty much made sure that no boy wants to go near me." From there, Cree just looked down, leaving Chad, Maurice and Firecracker to look at each other sadly. It was then that Chad got an idea.
"You know, not every boy is under Chloe's thumb," He began with a smile. "When you work under her, any crush you might have kinda goes out the window."
Cree chuckled at that. "I hear that even the Steve doesn't actually like to send her on missions. He just keeps her around as arm candy. But what's your point?"
"Well…would you like to go to prom with me?" Chad asked in an almost sheepish manner. "Just…think of it as me trying to make up for getting your sister and her friends decommissioned."
"Chad…" Cree trailed off. She wasn't even sure what to say!
"So is that a yes or a no?" Chad asked, moving to get ready to bolt if Cree didn't take the suggestion well. Luckily for him, she most certainly did.
"Yes! I'll totally go with you!" Cree eagerly agreed. "Although now I need to actually get a dress."
"Eh, can't be that hard to find. I found I actually liked in, like, one trip." Firecracker noted with a happy smirk. "Probably won't be the center of attention like Chloe, but considering what she's wearing…I am very happy I won't be."
"That dress looked like what would happen if a cake had a baby with a cupcake." Cree with a nod. Even though the duo were outcasts in Chloe's eyes, she still couldn't resist bragging about the "the super fashionable" dress she was planning to wear to the prom to everyone at school. While Cree had merely given a non-answer in hopes of getting Chloe away from her, Firecracker had asked if she was planning to cosplay as the pinata for the event.
Chloe had yet to learn that trying to sass or intimidate Firecracker didn't really work, considering that the other girl didn't really care about anything Chloe had to say or do…or anything outside of her hobbies, for that matter.
"Ya know, I'd be willing to split the cost of a limo with you guys if you want," Firecracker offered as she finally sat up. "Just to really show those jerks up!"
"I don't know how well Mallory would take to wanting to spend time with you two," Maurice nervously said as he rubbed his arm.
"I had a mask on when we fought. I don't think she'd recognize me," Cree assured her long time friend.
"And, honestly, considering that she just thinks I got decommissioned years ago, she probably won't spare me another glance." Firecracker chimed in.
"I don't know Cree," Maurice said nervously. "You aren't exactly the most unrecognizable person ever."
"Just…tell Mallory some story about how the Kids Next Door created a loyal teenage super soldier with a metal hook for an arm!" Cree quickly thought up a story.
"I'd buy that," Chad noted. "I don't know what the drill sergeants are treating the kids now, but some of those kids are insanely strong."
"I'll give it a shot, but if Mallory doesn't buy it, I'll do something without you guys." Maurice said.
"Deal," Cree said with a grin as she shot another look at her "date". She hoped that this would be a night to remember for all the right reasons.
Over the next several weeks, Cree found herself caught up in the world of planning for prom and, quite frankly, it was something she never actually thought she'd get to enjoy or even enjoy as much as she did. As soon as she revealed her intentions, her whole family through themselves into helping out, whether that being from her mother taking her dress shopping, her dad getting her a special prosthetic to match her dress (being the daughter of a high ranking doctor really had its perks) to even Abby helping out by actually managing to convince the Kids Next Door higher ups that the prom event was perfectly safe and wouldn't turn into an evil plot.
Cree had a feeling that for their own good in the end. She did not want to think of the hell there would be to pay if the Kids Next Door screwed up an event that Mallory Blackburn was looking forward too.
She would end up getting an extra bonus in the form of the KND scientists creating a formula for unpoppable zits as revenge for the chicken pox. And Chloe ended up being the first test subject. Firecracker ended up taking bets on if she was going to skip out on the whole thing or do something crazy to disguise it.
But that brought her back to where she was now. Standing in front of her family, golden dress on, hair and makeup done and ready for a night of fun.
"Mon petit biquet, you look so beautiful!" Her mother gushed, tears in her eyes. Cree found herself feeling both bashful and prideful at the same time.
"Thanks mama," Cree barely managed out before her dad scooped her into a hug.
"My first daughter is all grown up! With the dress, and the hair and make up and all that other grown up stuff!" The older man exclaimed, tears in his own eyes.
"Dad! I'm still a teenager!" Cree protested with a laugh as her dad set her. "Not in any hurry to grow up."
"That's why we still get along," Abby noted with a grin. "By the way, your prince charming just got here."
"For the last time, we are going as friends!" Cree snapped at her younger sister, not that there was any real malice behind it.
"Yeah, well, he's here either way," Abby replied with a grin. As if on cue, the doorbell rang. Cree, not wanting to run in heels, opted to let her parents get the door as she made her way over. Chad was waiting at the door with his own parents, his normal outfit swapped out for a baby blue tuxedo.
"You clean up nice," Cree couldn't help but note with a smile.
"You too," Chad said with a smile of his own as he and his parents stepped inside. As the two sets of parents began gushing about their children, Abby took the cue to head upstairs, leaving Cree and Chad pretty much by themselves. "So…you excited?"
"You know it," Cree said. "Thank you again so much for taking me. I never in a million years thought I'd get to do this the way I wanted. With a date and everything."
"Hey, us Teens Next Door members have to look out for each other." Chad said as he flashed a grin that Cree couldn't help but feel charmed by. In her mind, the night was off to a great start.
Shortly after the parents finished gushing out how fast their babies were growing up to take pictures, the promised limo arrived. Cree and Chad turned out to have been the last stop, meaning that Firecracker, her date-a fellow Teens Next Door operative that Chad and Cree were regrettably not familiar with named Thomas-, Maurice and Mallory were already in the back. While both were a little worried about being in such close quarters with her, Mallory was clearly "off the clock" so to speak, happily smiling and joking around with the other four teens. It almost made them forget her status as a dangerous villainess.
"Man, how did they mask the stink of gym socks so well?" Firecracker asked as she entered the gym, which had been decked out for the party. Indeed, it felt nothing like how it normally would have during the school day.
"I mean, how much do you wanna bet they deep cleaned the whole place five times?" Thomas asked his friend, who merely laughed as the duo headed off. Maurice and Mallory also headed off, giving Cree time to look around. Scanning the crowd, she saw a couple other teens she knew as well as Chloe and the Steve. Even from where Cree was standing, she could see the pounds of makeup Chloe had used to mask her zit.
She was…mildly successful.
"Looks like they got her good," Chad noted with a smirk as he put a hand on Cree's shoulder. "So what do you want to do, considering that I'm technically your guest?"
"Let's go see if the food is any good," Cree said as she pointed towards it with her normal hand.
"Lead the way," Chad replied as he and Cree headed off.
"You know, I'm still amazed by how well everything went," Chad admitted. The night had begun to wind down and, much to his shock, Cree had requested to dance with him since the floor was now clear. Chad, however, wasn't about to turn down a chance with some who, even if she didn't see it, was rather good looking.
"Same here. I think Chloe was too busy worrying about her pimple to come bother me," Cree said with a smile. Sure, she knew that she shouldn't enjoy Chloe's suffering, but considering what the girl did to her on a daily basis, Cree felt some payback was due.
(Firecracker would later discover that Chloe had wanted to sabotage the night of anyone she didn't like, so Cree would only felt more vindicated in this viewpoint once she learned)
"Honestly, I need to thank you for asking me out," Cree admitted sheepishly. "Especially considering what I did to you."
Chad merely waved her off. "Hey, I kinda deserved it. I was actually kinda worried you were gonna pummel me for even suggesting I go with you."
"I'm not that mean," Cree jokingly protested before planting a kiss on Chad's cheek. Both of them promptly turned bright red, but laughed it off as they continued to dance.
This was an awesome night.
Look, I'm a CreexChad shipper. Had to get a little bit of it in! No, they are not together…maybe later in the story. Haven't decided yet :p