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“Who knew those zombie monkeys were going to be such a handful.”
Gamma Jack shakes his head to himself at the thought, amused by the concept of mind controlled monkeys being used as a villain's henchman, but also annoyed by how many and how relentless they all were. One after another, back to back; crowds of brainwashed primates throwing themselves in his direction to apprehend and prevent him from foiling said villain’s plans. It wasn’t much of an evil plan in his mind; the villain captured hostages and wanted ransom money before they were all shrunk forever. Instead of giving the ransom money like the villain wanted, Gamma Jack was going to have to fight his way through the monkey army in order to save the innocent civilians. It took him a while to fight through and defeat the massive group of anthropoids, and once the skirmish was finished, the villainous bastard behind the zombie attack was captured, placed under arrest, and the hostages were released.
The Super thought it was going to be a quick fight, but it turned from fighting zombified monkeys to stopping a robbery in progress, to apprehending a purse snatcher, to saving people from a burning building. After passing off the last survivor to the paramedics and firefighters, he looks down at his watch to check the time. It’s 2 o’clock — which means it’s been 4 hours since he left Elodie by herself in the middle of nowhere. He makes a face at this, irritated that his Superhero work has already taken up so much of his time with her. He thought it was going to be at least 30 minutes, tops, but it was obviously more than that. He wonders if she’s still stuck where he left her or if she’s made it back home by now, and now that he’s done saving the day, he can fly back to see which is which. Hopefully it’ll be the latter so he won’t feel as guilty about being gone for so long.
He glances down to his Supersuit, and he curls his lip in disgust at the condition of his attire. He has monkey hair, soot, ash, and other various substances from the last few hours. He should probably go home and shower first; he can’t have himself looking unpresentable in front of a lady, but what should he wear? He won’t have time to clean his Supersuit, shower, and get dressed in just under an hour. Does he suck it up and risk exposing his identity to her? Would that even be a problem for him? It’s not like she’s a stereotypical civilian; she’s a Super affiliated with the NSA. If the NSA is fine with him knowing her identity, it’s only fair he can tell her his identity, right?
He purses his lips in thought, and he considers the idea for a brief moment before he comes up with a different idea. He wonders if he should keep his civilian identity a secret from her for now and introduce himself to her under his civilian identity instead. That way he won’t have to tell her who he really is, and he can get to know more than one side of her. He feels like she’s putting up a front with him when he’s in costume, but what if he wasn’t wearing it? Would she treat him differently? Or would it be the same? He’s curious to know now. Plus, it would make things easier if he plans on taking her out on a date next weekend; he can’t have fans and other young women interrupting him while he’s on a date under his Super alias. It would just be impractical. The thought ultimately solidifies his decision, and he grins to himself as he turns and flies away — off to make Jackson Dubois presentable for his new neighbor.
…
Elodie sighs as she leans back into the couch cushion, bored as she surfs through different channels on the TV. Everything is grainy and black and white; a complete 180 from the crisp and colorful channels of the future. She found a movie earlier that she started watching for a while, but it began to bore her, which prompted her to start looking for something else to watch. So far she’s come up with nothing, and so she turns the TV off to sit in silence for a moment. She can hear birds tweeting outside and the occasional car going by, but nothing too exciting. She sits like that for a few minutes, taking in the warmth of the sun coming in through the massive windows and listening to the sounds of the outside world. She trills her lips out of boredom before the sound of the doorbell going off echoes through the living room.
‘Wow. I sure am popular today.’ She jokes to herself, groaning as she rises from her spot on the couch and shambles to the door. ‘But I won’t complain, I guess. I need some kind of excitement right now or I’ll die of boredom.’
When she peeks through the peephole, she raises a brow at the visitor’s appearance. The swoop of golden blonde hair is unmistakable as she eyes the young man standing at her door, instantly recognizing the iconic curl as Gamma Jack’s. The major difference in his appearance is that he’s no longer wearing his Supersuit or his mask. Why is he not in costume? Did he decide wearing his Supersuit was too much of a hassle? Whatever the case may be, she’s curious to know what made him decide to come to her house under his civilian identity.
Elodie reaches out for the door handle, but she stops herself before her fingers make contact with the cold metal. Is it really a good idea to open the door? What about what Blaze — ugh — Stacey said? Should she keep away from him and save herself the trouble? She bites her lower lip as he rings the doorbell again, and she curls her fingers around the candle, leaving them there for a minute or two so he doesn’t know she was already standing at the door. She takes a deep breath and pulls the door open. She comes face to face with the now unmasked blonde, and if it wasn't for his signature hairstyle and square jaw, she probably would have mistaken him for another handsome stranger. It’s a good thing she recognizes him, too — she was having a hard time recognizing Blazestone in her civilian identity earlier, and if that would’ve happened with him she would have seriously considered her observation skills were subpar. Thankfully, Gamma Jack proves that clearly isn’t the case.
“Hey, what’s up?” She greets, and the radioactive Super puts on a smile. “I hope I’m not bothering you, but I live just a few houses down and I noticed that somebody finally bought this place.” He says. “I figured I should come over and introduce myself. So, here I am.” His smile seems to grow as he watches her, sparkling like the first time they held a full conversation with each other. “The name’s Jackson Dubois. And you are?”
Elodie doesn’t say anything at first; the corner of her mouth only twitches with amusement, and she fails to prevent a giggle from spewing from her lips. “I know it’s you, silly.” She laughs, “But I’ll play along if you want.”
Jackson’s smile falters when she confronts and laughs at him. How does she know it’s him? How of all people did she know it was him? “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He bluffs.
“I don’t think I’ve met anyone with such a distinct hairstyle and defined jawline since I got here.” She chortles. “I also recognize your voice. I spoke to you last night and this morning, so I think I’d know the sound of your voice by now.”
“Oh, so you’ve memorized my voice, have you? I’m quite flattered.” He teases, immediately breaking character. He can’t help himself; he has to relish in the idea knowing that she’s now accustomed to his voice.
“Don’t flatter yourself.” She retorts. “So, what’s up? Did you come back to apologize for abandoning me earlier?”
“What?!” He raises his brows in surprise, caught off guard by her statement. “But you said it was fine!”
“I know I did.” She smiles cheekily. “I’m just fucking with you.”
He can feel himself do a double take when a curse falls from her lips, and he shakes off his disbelief with an awkward clear of his throat. “Are you going to let me in, then? It would be the most hospitable thing to do.”
“No, I think I’ll just make you stand out there in the heat.” She sarcastically says, “Yes, I’m going to let you in, you dork.”
“Why do I have to be a dork?”
“Because,” She mocks, stepping aside and opening the door wider so he can come in. “I said so.”
“Real mature.” He laughs, strolling into the living room. It still looks the same as he’d last seen it; not that anything about it would change in the amount of time he was gone. “What have you done since I’ve been gone?”
“I found my way home.” She remarks, closing the front door behind him. He chuckles at her words, “Well, yeah. I can see that. What else did you do?”
“Blazestone dropped by to see how I was doing.” She says. “She was only here for about an hour or so. After that I just watched some TV until you got here. Nothing exciting. Everything kind of bored me, actually.”
“What did you ladies get up to?” He questions, and she lightly shrugs. “Nothing, really. We just talked.”
“What did you two talk about?” He presses further, and she makes a face. “What’s with all the questions?”
“I’m just curious about what you did today, that’s all.” He claims, and she purses her lips. Is this what Blazestone meant when she said Gamma Jack was stalker-level obsessive? Is this the same kind of obsession Gazerbeam was talking about? Is this the beginning of the danger they both spoke about?
“Well…” She gets quiet, unsure of her next words. “We talked about you.”
“Oh?” He immediately perks at her words, curious as to what she and the fiery Super talked about. “You did?”
“Yeah…” She murmurs, “...which means we should probably talk about what she told me.” Her voice gets quiet again, and there’s a melancholy look hidden behind her eyes. The subtle look makes him frown, and he puts his hands in his pockets. “And what exactly did she tell you?”
Elodie makes sure to keep her distance from him before she continues; she doesn’t want to risk setting him off, especially when she saw how quickly he reacted to seeing her upset last night. She swallows thickly, nervous as the words slip out. “Have you killed people?” She directly asks, then follows it up with, “You can be honest with me.”
Jackson can feel his muscles tense at the question. What did Blazestone tell her? Is she trying to sabotage him? He might need to make his interest in Elodie clear to Blazestone and let her know he doesn’t appreciate being bad-mouthed to those he’s interested in. Elodie’s latter statement makes Blazestone evaporate from his mind, however, and he flashes a sarcastic grin. “Oh, like how you were honest with me about last night?”
“I — ” She starts to say, but she stops herself. What is his fucking problem? Why is he acting like he was the one who was insulted? She doesn’t care if she pisses him off at this point, because now she’s pissed. “No, you know what? Why are you so hung up on what happened last night? All that happened last night was a couple of douchebags called me some words, boo fucking hoo. I will never have to see or hear from them ever again, so why are you acting like it bothers you more than it bothered me?” She spits out, “You can quit pretending like you don’t know, by the way. Blazestone told me about that, too.”
She regrets throwing Blazestone under the bus, but maybe she can convince him to leave her alone by the end of the conversation. She really doesn’t want to instigate a confrontation between the two of them, but right now she’s angry at him for making what happened to her about himself.
He stares at her as she vents her frustration, a look of surprise etched into his features. Her feisty tirade makes him feel a sense of excitement; stirring deep within his gut as she confronts him. It seems he struck a nerve. He quickly shoves the thought from his mind to focus on what she said, and then he frowns. She says she’s not bothered by what they said, but she clearly holds some kind of resentment over it if she referred to those men and the incident with such vulgarity. He’s not used to a lady using such profanities, and it shocks him just as much as it makes him admire her boldness. He wanted to know how she would treat him without the mask and costume, and he certainly got what he asked for.
“Yeah, she did.” He sighs, his features softening as he looks at her. “But why didn’t you say anything about it if it bothered you? Why let it go just like that? I mean they called you a — ”
“I know what they called me. I don’t need you to repeat it.” Elodie cuts him off, and he blinks at her in disbelief. “And you’re fine with letting someone speak about you in that way?”
“I never said I was ‘fine’ with it.” She retorts. “Do you think that’s the first time I’ve ever been insulted? Please. I’ve been called more than just a fat whore. A cheap fat whore is new, though.” She tries to make light of the situation, but he’s clearly not laughing. She chooses to shrug it off and awkwardly clear her throat. “Listen, they got what was coming to them, anyway. Didn’t Blazestone tell you about the champagne?” She mentions.
“Did you have anything to do with that?” He questions. If she really was the reason behind the waiter spilling champagne on those men, then maybe he won’t be so angry about it, but even then he doesn’t think they really learned their lesson. He’s still considering tracking them down and teaching them how to speak to a lady — someone obviously didn’t. Her small act of vengeance might ease his thoughts about it; key word: might.
“I might have. I don’t know. I didn’t think about it enough.” She blurts out, then tries to steer the conversation back to what she originally asked him. “But I have thought about what Blazestone said, and I want you to answer my question…” She frowns, then repeats her question from earlier. “Have you killed people?”
He doesn’t know what Blazestone supposedly told her, but he surmises it must have been about some of the villains and no good doers that he’s killed. He’s already aware of the flack he’s received from the other Supers about it, including Blazestone. The only difference about this confrontation is that Elodie isn’t asking him from the position of another Super, even if she technically is a Super. She’s not a Superhero, so she doesn’t have to make those kinds of distinctions to save people. She has an outside perspective, but right now she wants to look inside the box and see his perspective — to see his side of things. The problem with that is she probably won’t like his side of things. She might become afraid of him; she might tell him to leave and run away from him. She might call Dicker for aid, and Jackson knows he’d give it to her in a heartbeat. The old man would waste no time using it as another way to fuel the fire that’s already started to brew between Gamma Jack and the NSA, and he can’t have that. Unfortunately, he can’t have himself looking like a hypocrite, either.
He sucks in a breath as he responds, his shoulders slumping in defeat. “Yes…I have.” He answers. “But it’s not like they didn’t deserve it. They hurt people.” He sneers, his shoulders straightening back up. Elodie remains still in place, processing what he just said — with no regret or remorse in his tone. “I see…” She mumbles.
“Does that make you scared of me?” He pulls his hands from his pockets, and she can feel her muscles tense up at this, so she keeps her eyes completely on him as her heart starts to pound. “Do you want me to go away?”
“No, I didn’t say any of that. Don’t put words in my mouth and stop assuming things.” She shakes her head. “I’m not scared of you, and I don’t know, maybe it’s because I haven’t seen you actually hurt anyone, but I’m not scared.”
“But it does bother you. I can tell.” He finds a seat on the couch armrest behind him, calm and methodical in his movements, like he doesn’t want to startle her. “Did she tell you what they did?” He questions, folding his arms.
“She did.” She watches him as he sits against the armrest of the couch, carefully observing him. He watches her, too, and he can’t tell how she feels about what she just said through her tone. She doesn’t sound angry, or upset, or disappointed, so what does she feel, then? And why does she look so tense?
“And?”
“I guess my morals are questionable, too, since I can’t say I disagree with what you did.” She tells him. “Especially in regards to the kinds of criminals you’ve killed. Those kinds of people will reoffend if given the chance, so I feel more so comforted than scared to know they can’t hurt anyone else.”
‘So, she’s comforted to know I’ve killed people, yet looks like she’s about to soil her pants…’ He thinks. ‘This woman is seriously something else.’
“You sound like you have some experience with those kinds of crimes…” He frowns; his words solemn as he speaks them. He doesn’t even want to think about anything that awful happening to her, so he deeply hopes that isn’t the case.
“I’m not speaking from experience.” She quickly lies, too quick for her liking. “It’s just what I’ve noticed.”
“Hm…” He hums in thought, intent on finding out what other factoids Blazestone shared with her that he needs to address. “What else did she tell you?”
“That was pretty much it.” She lies again. “My grandpa Nick didn’t get to finish introducing me to all the Supers last night, so I asked Blazestone to fill me in, which is where the conversation started from.” She continues with her lie, “I promise she wasn’t bad mouthing you or anything. She mentioned you got violent with criminals sometimes, and I wanted to know why. She elaborated. That’s all.”
“If you wanted to know, then why didn’t you just ask me?” He quirks a brow, and she scoffs. “Because I didn’t think you’d ever killed anybody, smartass! I directly asked you about it after I found out, didn’t I?”
“Woah there, dollface. Where is all this hostility coming from?” He unfolds his arms and stands up right, “There’s no need for any of that name calling now.”
“Ugh.” She rolls her eyes and folds her arms, “Sorry. I can get carried away.”
“Are you usually this fiesty?”
“No…” She huffs, then pouts her lips. “It’s not like I would’ve been able to ask you much about yourself, anyway. The ceremony took up most of our time last night, and you saw how this morning went. You were there.”
“I was.” He grins. “I take it that means our date is still on for next weekend?” He asks, trying to lighten the mood and turn her impression of him around. He doesn’t want her to think so negatively before she even gets to know him — or kiss him.
“Seriously?” She laughs in disbelief, a big cheesy smile along her lips. She isn’t sure if she should be offended that he would say something like that at a time like this or if she should laugh at him. “That’s what you’re worried about?”
“I just think it would’ve been a real shame to miss out on the opportunity to court such a beautiful woman.” He quips, glancing her up and down. Her legs do look nice in those shorts, and he can see himself getting in between them. It’s almost like it’s an incessant need whenever she comes around; a desperate dog ready for a good hump. He has every interest in getting to know her as a person, but his interest in getting to know her body greatly outweighs the former.
Elodie rolls her eyes as her face heats up from his flattery, “God, I just asked you if you were a murderer and now you’re flirting with me. Are you always this hormonal or do you want me to be your next victim?” She giggles.
“I can’t help myself when someone so pretty is standing right in front of me.” He grins, staring at her and admiring the features on her face. Imagining them contorting into pleasure as he —
“Can I ask you something?”
He blinks at her as his fantasy evaporates and he finds himself back in reality. “Of course.”
“What kind of movies do you like?”
A flashy grin immediately crosses his lips. “I’m more of a fan of action movies or comedy movies, but occasionally I like a good romance movie.”
“Oh, barf.” She teases, “Romance movies are so cliché.”
“Why do you say that?” He laughs, and she follows suit with a laugh of her own. “Because they’re all the same! Guy meets girl, cue whirlwind romance that has unrealistic expectations, and boom! They end up happily ever after…unless you’re Romeo and Juliet. People always forget they die in the end.” She says. “I just don’t think they’re realistic. Not that I’m pessimistic about romance or anything. I’m just more of a realist when it comes to those types of things.”
“Whaaat? You don’t think a handsome suitor could sweep you off your feet?” He jokes, and she snickers. “Technically you already did that when you saved me yesterday morning.” She remarks, and he chuckles. “Smooth.” He comments, shaking his head with a smile. “Does this movie talk happen to have anything to do with our date?”
“It does.” Her smile gets bigger as she fiddles with the hem of her shirt. “I figured we might as well cover the bases before we got there and couldn’t figure out what we wanted to watch.”
“What genre do you prefer?” He counters, and she shrugs. “I’m fine with any genre, really, but horror is my favorite.”
“Oh, so you’ll watch a scary movie but not a romance movie? Interesting.” He says, “I’ll let you cuddle me in case you get scared.”
“How charming.” She giggles.
“I try.”
They share another laugh with one another, and they continue to share a few more as they discuss the details of their future date. They decide on a recently released sci-fi movie about an alien invasion, and drinks and popcorn are a must. Elodie suggests they swing by the store before they arrive at the theatre to get any candy or extra snacks, and Jackson thinks it’s a great idea. When they conclude their topic of conversation, Jackson mentions that he has a couple of things to do at home and that, unfortunately, he’ll have to leave. Elodie tells him that’s fine and leads him towards the door, bidding each other goodbye as she watches him step down the driveway and disappear down the street.
When she closes the door, she stands in the middle of her living room for a few minutes processing the interaction she just had with Gamma Jack/Jackson Dubois. He made her nervous at times with his tense demeanor and serious attitude, but for the most part he didn’t seem angry or upset at her for asking him about what he did. He didn’t try to harm her for asking, and he didn’t criticize her for it, either. It’s such a minuscule little detail that most people wouldn’t pay attention to, but she does. She’s reading into his words and his behaviors and thinking too hard about them, and that’s the problem.
She knows she needs to avoid him at all costs, but why does she see herself in the position of those girls in the romance movies she talked about? What if this is her whirlwind romance?
‘Ugh, no that’s so stupid.’ She immediately rejects the idea, but she still doesn’t know why she finds herself so drawn to him. Is it because he’s attractive? Is it because the danger that seems to follow him gives her a sense of thrill? She doesn’t know; she just feels so conflicted about all this. Being in the past, being a Super, being a journalist, going on a date with a famous Super who may or may not succeed in getting her under the covers, among other things. It’s so much to take in, and she lets out a big sigh as she retrieves a pen and the journal she purchased at the store today. She was lucky enough they had a small stationary section, and she jumped at the chance to have something to write with. Now, she’s about to write out how she feels — and the first thing she’s going to write about is how she feels about Gamma Jack.