Chapter 3
Things get awkward
Three months later…
Wednesday, Steel Canyon
A transmission comes over Purple’s navcomm. “Attention, this is the Paragon Police Department; there is an attack by the Council at the Steel Canyon Campus of Paragon City University. We are requesting immediate assistance from any available Hero.” Purple is only a couple blocks away, so he heads in that direction.
Purple arrives at the campus to see about twenty members of the Council fighting Police officers. Other Heroes are arriving to assist as well. Purple immediately jumps in and attacks the nearest Council member. As he is wading through the group, his head jerks back as one of the Council members grabs his mask and rips it off of him. “Dammit!” Purple turns around and unleashes a punishing uppercut to the Council member. He looks down at his mask, which is now lying on the ground, ripped beyond use. “Oh well.”
Purple looks around and sees that all the other Council members have been subdued, and the cleanup has begun. As he gets ready to jump away, he notices one girl staring at him in astonishment. Purple recognizes his girlfriend Stacey. “Oh shit.” He starts walking towards her. As he walks up to her he says, “Honey, let me explain…”
A couple hours later…
Purple heads back to his apartment. It’s been a rough couple of hours, explaining everything to Stacey. She’s not sure if she likes the fact that he’s a hero, but she’s willing to go along with it for now. As he enters his apartment, his navcomm starts beeping. He looks at it and sees that Titania is calling. “Purple here.”
“Hey James, nice seeing your uncovered face on the five o’clock news. So much for your secret identity huh?”
“What, they already have my name?”
“No, but you know how the reporters are around here. It will happen soon enough. Way to go noob.”
James frowns. “You know, the noob thing is getting a little old.”
“Sorry.” James can hear her smirking over the comm.
“No you’re not. Oh well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Guess I’ll just have to live with it. Is something going on that you need to talk to me about, or did you just call to give me shit?”
“Mostly to give you shit, but I thought I’d see if you wanted to come run some patrols with me tomorrow afternoon.”
“Sounds like a plan. Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll get cleaned up. Unless you have some other smartass comment for me. Maybe a short joke. You know how much I just loooove those.”
Titania laughs “No, I’ll save the short jokes for tomorrow. What time do you want to meet up?”
“How’s five sound? At the base?”
“Five it is. Seeya then Purp. Titania out.”
James tosses his navcomm onto the coffee table and heads for the shower.
Thursday, Disciples of the Darkhand base, Steel Canyon
James and Titania enter the base after a long day of patrolling. They’re both dirty, their uniforms have some tears in them and they’re covered in assorted scrapes and bruises. James is ready to get cleaned up and then get some much needed sleep. “I’m going to hit the locker room and get cleaned up.”
Titania nods, “Same, except I’m going to my room. Come see me before you leave, I want to talk to you about Saturday night.”
“Okay.” James goes to the men’s locker room. After showering, he throws on some jeans, a t-shirt, and sneakers, stuffs his uniform in his backpack, and heads out of the locker room. He walks through the base to where Titania’s private apartment is and knocks on the door. Titania calls out “Just a minute!”
Titania opens the door. She’s wearing a top that looks like a Karate Gi, Pajama pants, her feet bare, and her long honey colored hair is untied and flowing around her face. It’s the first time James has seen her in anything other than her uniform. She has a faint scent of Cinnamon wafting off of her. James takes it all in, and thinks to himself “She should wear her hair down more.”
“Hey!”
James snaps out of it, realizing that he had been staring at her. “Sorry.”
Titania smirks. “So, Saturday night. The charity ball in Founders Falls. You’re going to be there right?”
“Yep. I’m all ready to go.”
Titania’s eyebrow rises. “You DO remember that this is a black tie event right?”
“Yes T. I’ve got my tux already, and I’ll look nice and pretty.”
“Okay, good. Are you bringing your girlfriend?”
James nods “Yeah, I told her about it earlier. She’s pretty excited to go. Said she was going to go out shopping for a dress while we were out patrolling. She says that she’s interested in meeting some of the SG. Are you bringing anyone?”
Titania gets a small frown on her face. “No, I’ll be there solo. I don’t…date much. But I’m looking forward to meeting your girlfriend.”
“Okay T, unless you’ve got anything else, I’m going to head home and get some rest. I’ve got classes late tomorrow, so I won’t be out patrolling. So I’ll see you at the event on Saturday.”
Titania shakes her head. “Nope, that’s all I had. See you then.” James smiles and nods, and then walks off, heading for the base portal. Titania watches him walk off, and remembers the look on his face when she had opened her door. She mutters to herself. “Titania…that boy is going to be trouble for you.” She shuts the door and heads for her bedroom.
Saturday, Founders Falls, the Vandenburg Ballroom
James and Stacey get out of their cab. They walk up to the entrance of the Vandenburg. James is wearing a Purple Tuxedo jacket, white shirt, Purple tie, black pants with a purple stripe down the seam, and polished black boots. Stacey is wearing a white evening gown. There are Paragon Police officers checking invitations. As James and Stacey walk up to the entrance, One of the officers says “Invitation please?” James pulls his navcomm out of his jacket and holds it up. The officer scans the screen, and looks at his scanner. “Purple People Beater and guest. Go right in sir.”
James and Stacey move past the officers and into the Ballroom. They look around at all the different heroes all dressed to their best. Stacey, in awe, exclaims “Oh my god is that Statesman over there?
“Sure is,” James replies “Want to meet him?”
“Sure!” They walk over to where Statesman is standing.
“Statesman?” Statesman turns to them. James holds out his hand. “Purple People Beater sir, it’s an honor to meet you.”
Statesman shakes James hand and smiles. “Ah yes. Nice to meet you. I’ve heard some good things about you youngster. Keep up the good work.”
James smiles at the compliment. “Thank you very much sir.” He gestures to Stacey. “This is my girlfriend, Stacey Wright.”
Statesman shakes her hand. “Nice to meet you.” Stacey blushes and nods. “Thank you both for coming tonight to support this charity.”
James says “Thank you sir.” Statesman nods to both of them, and the two of them move off through the crowd.
Stacey tells James “Oh my god that was awesome! Thank you for bringing me to this honey.”
James smiles. “You’re welcome hon. Let’s mingle.” They walk around the ballroom. James spots MedStar Angel and Urban Arclight, heroes he has ran with and become good friends with. He introduces Stacey to them and chats with the two of them for a few minutes. They continue through the crowd, James introducing Stacey to heroes that he has run with.
As they start looking for their table, James sees Titania just in front of him just as she turns around and spots him and Stacey. “James!” She takes in his tux. “Oh dear god.”
James stands there, stunned at how she looks. Her hair is arranged up in an intricate braid work pattern. She is wearing a black strapless evening gown, with a slit up the side almost to her hip, and black high heeled shoes. All James can think to himself is, “My god, she’s beautiful.”
James feels a smack on his arm, and jolts out of his trance. Stacey is frowning at him. “What?”
“Your eyes are supposed to be on me mister.”
James blushes in embarrassment. “Sorry honey.”
Titania walks up to them. “What ARE you wearing?”
James looks down at his tux, then back at Titania and grins. “What’s wrong with it?”
Titania rolls her eyes. “I should have known” Titania smiles at Stacey and holds out her hand. “Hello, I’m Titania, the leader of James’s super group. You must be Stacey. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Stacey stares daggers at Titania. With one arm wrapped protectively around one of James’s arms, she holds out her other hand to shake Titania’s. “Nice to meet you.” Her greeting isn’t too enthusiastic.
Titania pretends not to notice Stacey’s behavior, and looks back at James “Our table is over here. She leads the two of them over, and they all sit down. Stacey frowns as Titania takes a seat on the other side of James. Wait staff start bringing dinner to the table shortly after that.
As the night wears on, James can’t help but continuing to stare at Titania, which causes Stacey to get more upset. Titania tries to pretend that she doesn’t notice what’s going on. Finally, at about eleven o’clock, Stacey tells James “I’m tired, and I want to go home.”
James nods. “Okay honey.” They say their goodbyes to everyone and walk out of the ballroom. As they get outside, Stacey yanks her arm away from James. “God, I am so mad at you right now! You are such a jerk!”
James looks startled. “What did I do?”
Stacey’s voice rises “What did you do? What, besides stare at that ‘leader’ of yours all night? You were practically undressing her with your eyes! I might as well not even have been here!”
James holds up his hands. “Honey…”
“Don’t honey me! God, I am so humiliated. I know just everyone noticed how you were behaving! How could you treat me like this?”
James tries to calm her down. “Honey please, we’re in public.”
“I don’t care! Men! You’re all the same, nothing but pigs!” She glares at James. “I’m going home.” She moves to the waiting cab and starts to get in. James follows her and as he gets to the door, she stops and shoves him away from it. “I’m going home…ALONE! Find your own cab buster.” Then she slams the cab door in his face, and it pulls away.
James sighs and turns around. He mutters to himself “Well, that could have gone better.” He sees Titania standing there watching him, a look of concern on her face. James tries to give her a smile, and as she takes a step towards him, he just shakes his head and jumps off into the night.
