My Super Secret Life…Scarlet 6.

Chapter 6

I get my things and head inside the house and put them away. The few groceries first then to my/Darcy’s room with my clothes and I start putting things away and trying to organize things into outfits, interconnected outfits and I turn on some tunes and try stuff out as I go checking myself out in the mirror and it’s so much more than just a girl playing dress up it’s me actually seeing and learning without people around to see me screw up with something kind of ugly looking.

It’s fun but it’s work and guys if you see a girl doing this or a sister doing this this is why. It’s not being vain, not for the most part. I get it because I’m really in it right now…looking nice, feeling pretty is really important to my psyche right now.

I even get some really nice looks going on and I do that phone-snap mirror pictures. I might want to send some of these to Nikki.

Nikki…

Oh Goddesses sigh…

I fall back to my bed in just my panties and let out another sigh…

I just sit there and day dream about the day that I just had with her and the way we just clicked.

I mean we clicked even though I’m not exactly who I said that I was. But on the other had I’m lying here like this feeling this way about her and even myself and it does bear asking. Just how really real is Darcy?

And of course there’s the fact I eventually might stop being Dale.

I know, I know I’m not there yet or even close but two of the other Scarlet Angels are like me and one was my grandmother and she chose to well stop being the guy she’d been and go full time as the woman I’d known all my life.

Every shifted Angel has done that.

And honestly.

I’m not there like I said but it doesn’t scare me either. In fact I like being a girl, when I’m a girl or at least so far.

Sigh…

Nikki…

Good sigh.

I really should down shift, I have classes as Dale tomorrow.

Hmmm…It’s late…

“Heck with it, I’m going flying.”

Oh yeah, I’m so hooked already about being to fly. I Power up and concentrate on one of the stored outfits from the other Angel’s or Scarlet’s and I go for this black one piece full body motorcycle suit that’s been cut pretty good for a woman’s curves and there’s red pin striping on the suit for decoration. Red boots and red driving gloves and red plastic sunglasses with black lenses. They’re not a disguise they just go with the look, I look different enough powered up so it’s not a big deal.

I leave through the skylight and just once I’m clear for kicks I crank out the speed and just cruise at about not going all out fast but fast enough. I stay clear of where I’m going to know were there’s heavy aero-traffic and just cruise.

It sounds boring but it’s so not.

I’m still almost alone here…it feels like that though. It’s a good alone though that type when you’re jogging, or swimming or on your bike if you’re into those things. Me…home it was hiking. I mean I wasn’t totally country really and stuff but small town…lots of real honest woods and farms and stuff. I loved getting out up there in the hills even going camping.

Love this feeling…the wind slipping over me it’s actually a little erotic if you let it be like a good shower. But the atmosphere…that’s the kicker, it’s the romance of night flying.

I stop and land at a corner store and get some stares but It’s cool with me and I just get a few things then go.

I get to spend midnight at the east corner of the Met-Life super tower one of the really big downtown mega towers and right down town at Heaven’s Square which is like Times Square in those old earth shoes but three and four hundred story buildings and each of the four main streets here have this sea of traffic and about five hundred feet up there’s the Aero-traffic and I’m hidden by the billboards but I’m drinking cream soda red and eating strawberry licorice and a bag of pink candied popcorn.

It took me a few minutes eating before I noticed all of it’s kind of reddish but that’s just me, I like all three of these things but there wasn’t anything to it. But still it made me laugh at myself and flying made me a little nibbly.

And I know that I’m not being all heroic and stuff right now and it’s like I’m just goofing with this but…This, just doing this and taking it all in.

I know this’ll be one of the things that’ll be there when I reach deep down.

I head home without anything y’know jumping out for me and I get stuff ready for classes and shift to Dale me and crash at about two in the morning.

……………………………….....Ugh…up at six. Grab my bag and get into my running gear and a bottle of water and I run to campus. I hit the gym and do a quick session with the weights and get in a quick swim before getting showered there and changed into my clothes.

I’m buzzed from the activity but sore too. But I figure that I might as well or that I should get into better shape. I mean it might/should carry over to Darcy and Scarlet right? I get some…strong tea instead of coffee and a banana with a vegan wrap for breakfast at the food hall.

I get a few looks from people that know me and stuff. I’m mid-western guy and my usual is that kind of stuff.

“Hey I’m trying to get a bit healthy for at least one meal a day.”

Which actually had me with a few others getting into the whole food talking and the whole god I’m so out of shape since getting here thing and just chilling before we all break for our various classes.

I see Nikki in a few classes we have together and she smiles and sits beside me and when we can she’s talking about Darcy…me.

“God Dale, I had such a great time but getting home…and just hanging out was so nice.”

“Yeah Darcy was really happy and stuff, he came in holding her phone to herself and smiling.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow…I mean we just had this nice normal night, a few fun moments and then the rest of it was just so real.”

“Real’s good.”

“God Dale after some of the dates I’ve had.”

“Well it wasn’t a date, you were just hanging out right.”

“Yeah, but Dale I don’t really just hang out. I usually go out, not much but it’s…” It’s like she ran out of the words she wants.

“She had a great time too Nikki.”

She’s got this…no…that smile I love on her face I love so much and she does that absent chew on her lip a bit and she looks at me. “I wasn’t anything but me Dale, Not Les or Sapphic or even VG it all just went away at some point last night Dale and I was just Nikki…It felt so right.”

“I…uhm…wow.”

God, I almost kissed her there and then…and I might be Dale right now but my hearts still beating fast and swelling with this great happy feeling that she felt like that.

“Yeah.” She sighs and sinks in her seat and puts her knees up on the back of the seats in front of us. “Wow.”

“So excited about Friday?”

“Yeah scared too. I don’t want to rush this, I want to be a good date.”

“Nik?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re a good date even just here, or when we’re having coffee and you’re not into guys.”

“Dale…” She blushes and grins.

“No serious, even if it’s not a dating thing Nik. I’ve had better times just doing stuff like this than some dates I’ve been on.”

“Me too, you’re a decent guy Dale even amongst decent guys.”

“I’m not all that decent, I have my secrets and stuff.”

“We all do, but you’re different. Hell so’s Darcy it’s got to be that clear country air and sunshine.”

I blush too. “Thanks Nikki, I got it from my Dad.”

“What’s he like?”

“Dad…well he’s sort of the glue back home. He’s an artist really but we kind of live off the family farm.”

“Real country boy then.”

“It’s a lot more green tech than you’d think. Green houses, the raise bed gardens, our own composting factory, wind and solar…”

“Wow expensive.”

“Actually grants and a lot of work from a couple of generations of the family.”

“And your dad runs it?”

“Yeah but there’s lots of stuff for all the other family members too and the employees.”

“Sounds big.”

“Sort of, about thirty jobs and the seasonals.”

“Seasonals?”

“Pickers, mostly high school kids.”

“I guess, city girl I’ve never really though of how it gets to the store much only that I try to get organic and fair trade stuff.”

“We do organic only and energy clean.”

“Energy clean?”

“The total production is all non-polluting.”

“Oh that’s the EC tags on stuff.”

“Yeah, and you get tax breaks from the government for it.”

“You sound like you’re taking over.”

“Nope, I’ve got other relatives to do that but a family farm…you start really early in the business.”

“But you said your Dad’s an artist?”

“He’s a painter and a sculptor, the farm pays for his studio.”

“Smart…does he sell?”

“Yeah sometimes, he’s done some stuff in town but he’ll have these “just because” painting that he’ll end up getting stacks of and he’ll sell them off anywhere.”

“I thought artists would be like picky about selling their stuff.”

“Sort of, but he thinks that everyone should be able to have some kind of real art that they can afford.”

“I’d like to afford some decent art.”

“I’ll pick some stuff up next time I’m home.”

“That’d be nice thanks Dale.”

We finished the classes we shared had a coffee and a hug before taking off to do our own stuff but it had me in a good mood the rest of the day though. I mean I could feel guilty and actually sort of do with the secret identity thing but the last thing I want to do is get her or my family hurt or killed.

What she doesn’t know she can’t be forced to say. There’s sort of an unwritten rule that you don’t go after families good or bad. You go after a cop or heroes family then they’ll come at you…and the same thing in reverse…the bad guys well most of them have a thing about that too and will come after you hard if you get their families involved. Or with like super villains at least the same doesn’t go for some of the regular types of crooks or any psycho, powered or not.

But enough grimness for now. Nikki has me still all things aside feeling pretty good about myself as both Dale and Darcy.

I head home and hit the books and make supper and end up watching some TV until about nine-thirty then I shift to Darcy and start to power up. Same outfit as the other night and I head out.

I head up, way up and tonight it’s not about just being out. It’s earning my keep, thanks to inheriting this I’ve got a great life for a student…heck for anyone really. I actually own my own place even if it’s pretty old and still needs work, a car and spare cash…I’m on a scholarship so that’s paid off.

But when I was having coffee before my micro-hydraulics class I had an idea.

I hope I can pull it off. I get clear but not too high up about three quarters of a mile and I just float.

I close my eyes and float and concentrate on the bracelet/cuff on the gem and touch that power and once I’m really deep in the scarlet light I start pulling the com signals out of the air to me.

~Okay…you want me to help…then help me help…show me, filter it out and tell me where I should go.~

I concentrate and it takes awhile…I can feel it reaching in me, trying to understand…I see those eyes…I swear I saw those eyes widen as surprised as I am.

I can hear the calls, 911, Fire, Police…there’s windows with the GPS stuff like one of those heads up displays.

[Officer’s under fire, fully armed and armored.]

There are lots of ETA times coming up and I can feel this…feeling…speed…like I know what I’ve got under the hood.

I can get there first.

Tap in…reach out… “This is Scarlet Angel, I can be there in two. I’m asking to be cleared.”

Sentinel’s voice comes over the radio. “I’m eight away, that’s a go for Scarlet, repeat that’s a go for Scarlet.”

It’s all I needed to hear.

I take off feeling the little tug from the energy guiding me there with the GPS I’ve got going on and there’s not a lot of time to think and before I know it I’m there.

There’s a dozen of them with some serious weaponry and they’re hitting this place that’s not something that I know of…I mean it’s not obviously anything…but this is a heavy team of guns all for?

I see several police here, regular cops in cruisers that responded and then back up and they’re pretty chewed up.

There’s three of these guys in heavy body armor and they’re down the steps of the place and laying down heavy firepower chewing the cop cars apart and I can see them taking covered and trying to fight back.

I check them in a magnification view get names. Then I patch in to the radios.

[Officer Stevens, Thompson, Andrews…This is Scarlet Angel, I’m coming in above on your six, I’m going to block and draw their fire from you to me. Can you make your moves?]

[Uhm, yes…this is Thompson.]

I come in and cut loose with a few blasts getting their attention and land pulling my shield off of myself and put it in front of me, split it into two more shields and stagger them.

They’re shooting at me and I dig in mentally fighting the impacts with my force of will as the officers move behind the other two shields gaining ground and I concentrate hard…move the shields for the cops as they move forward.

The bad guys send two more out and I move my hand fast…push my first shield as I move ahead and body block the guy firing on me. He goes sprawling I drop that shield and fire on the two new guys making them take cover back inside and then fire on the two guys going for the police and I fire two blasts their way and I split them up…like hard powerful fireflies hitting them.

It does nothing to the body armor they’re wearing. But it messes with their attention and …yes! The three cops take the two down and the other guy I was going at it with recovers fast and pulls a pistol and shoots at me. I actually dodge the first shot and get hit by two rounds…then my shield is up around me and I’m hitting him.

I’ve been in a fit or two as a kid and I’m more wresting with him than punching and kicking and there’s where the farm comes in. We had animals and I’m used to having muscle them around. With my enhanced strength I get him down and zip tie him up with energy before my shoulder starts to tell my oh fuck and my side.

I look up and the guys with the guns on the inside are coming out with someone…Oh Carmine Ferretti…I’ve seen him on the news, he’s a big player in the Bocatello mob family the Stallones. They got him in a vest and are looking up and there’s this armored aero-car coming down…then it goes careening into a spin as Sentinel slaws into it with a flying two fisted ram…he sends it into the police safe house…and does this three sixty flip that looks effortless…

One of the mob mercenaries fires a grenade from a rifle launcher at him and he catches it. It doesn’t go off. He points the arm of his free arm at them and this band pops up from the forearm with all of these barrels…that spin their way into a fast whine like a mini-gun.

His visor shines bright blue as he talks. “Trust me gentlemen, you don’t have the gear.”

Their ride done in and him there and me…the police here and more on the way they quickly drop their weapons and start raising hands.

Ferretti looks pissed at Sentinel, me I get a look too but I’m too busy panting and hurting and I shunt shield energy to my wounds and heading to the three cops that didn’t come with me…one was on the radio, one’s sot and the other one’s been applying pressure.

I sit down slowly near the wounded cop and set my hand on him and there’s seven shots his armor took five but he took two in his leg…if it wasn’t for his partner he’d have bled to death …I can just feel that.

I shunt energy to his wounds and when I feel the bleeding stop I smile and lean my back against the car tire and close my eyes and smile.

He’s going to make it.

I lose myself in the need to rest and deal with the adrenaline, helping these guys and getting shot and my whole tapping into the system thing I came up with and trusting the stone…the energy force…to guide me through them like triage…I’m almost laughing in shock and almost crying and I hurt but feel so alive.

Ferretti…he’s not going anywhere but to face charges. That means he’ll sing or something since he was put in a safe house.

I hear voices and sounds and there’s EMT’s and FD guys here along with the other police and Sentinel is standing beside me. I look up at him. He’s that classic Iron Man guy a suit of power armor of some kind that is seven feet tall and plated armor with some king of weave underlay that is like this shiny flexible metal all in steel but the soft spots are chrome…blue v-shaped visor, Spartan crest and decorative wings on the sides of the helmet.

Very impressive up close really, very advanced.

Actually if you’ve seen Hero-watch and some of the guests on there he has to be a robot because of the engineering…power supply and thrusters…he’s been around a long time too. Eighty years in several incarnations. He kneels to offer me help up.

“Good job, I caught your firefly trick.”

“Just spitballing.”

I head to the ambulance with the wounded officer. “I gotta keep this going, can we talk later?”

“Sure, I’ll meet you in the AA wing.”

“AA wing?”

“Hey, even heroes need a secure place to get patched up. I’ll see you in a bit.”

The EMT’s are good about helping me into the Aerobulance and they don’t want to have me release the shield if possible until we’re in a good ER. Though we’re both on IV fluids going full stream.

The few looks and nods of respect? The others give me as I’m getting in and settled hit me hard but so right and a few tears fall…

Big…this was…God.

This feeling is why, honestly it that so right that I know that this was the reason I was born.

I don’t even notice the ride into Saint Mercy Hospital only getting out of the Aerobulance and heading to the ER. A couple of quick scans and they get to work on both of us…The officer’s going to be fine and me…my wounds once the bullets were out fill with the red light and the doc says they’re healing…I mean I’m not healing like a regenerator but It’s healing me.

I get a coffee brought to me buy one of the officers there to get all of our statements and Sentinel shows up I glimpse at the clock and it’s just after midnight…where did the night go?

He brought a box with nine little boxes all filled with dim sum. Oh…Korean bbq pork pot stickers and soup filled dumplings when you’re healing and low on energy is just hitting the spot. And so Ark City…I’m eating Asian take out after midnight. Home only the 24/7 shops and gas stations would be open.

He even passes me a plastic fork because I’m helpless with the chop-sticks. We go over everything three times by the time we’re done and there are federal marshals there and this being a big case. He vouches for me and passes my a badge on a chain.

Deputy Ark Angel…it says Scarlet Angel on it.

“Really?”

“Yes really, come out to Halo sometime. There’s stuff we need to talk about.”

“Okay…thank you this is a huge honor.”

“Maybe but it’s more like we’re asking for the help when you can.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” His voice is actually friendly.

“I…I should go.”

“Are you okay to leave?”

“I’m healing…but real life stuff y’know.”

“Yeah, I get it. I have to get milk for morning when I’m done here.”

I smile and slide off of the stretcher. Not bad or dizzy but my shoulder’s not happy with me putting the chain and badge over my neck.

“I have a date tomorrow night.”

“He’s a lucky guy?”

“Girl and my first real big city date. Any advice?”

“Yes actually I have an idea you can try.”

……………………………….................... I made it home and crashed after showering and stayed as Scarlet just to let the bracelet heal me and woke starved as Dale but fully healed. I did the same thing with the jogging and the gym but I didn’t…couldn’t do the health food thing instead bacon, sausages, hash browns and pancakes and went for two helpings and some orange juice.

Classes went fast and my day was caught up in class work, thinking about last night and everything there and then daydreaming about my date with Nikki.

I was a bit disappointed we never had time to hang during the day except for a wave coming and going.

I text as soon as I jogged home and shifted.

[Hey.]

[Heya!]

[We still on?]

[Yes, are we?]

[Yes, pick you up at six?]

[’K, see you soon.]

I shower and get dressed and go for sexy underwear but a light t-shirt and jean short skirt sneakers and a leather jacket and head to go and pick Nikki up.

She looks great. A nice summer dress with spaghetti straps and her delicates just peaking underneath, sandal flats just the right bit of make up and a nice denim jacket.

We hug and break it and I hold her hand as we go down the stairs. “We’re are we going?”

“It’s a surprise.”

“Am I dressed okay for this surprise?”

“You look awesome.”

I open the car door and make sure she gets in and I head to our date place. It’s a bit early but I tried to figure travel time and parking and the lines.

Nikki looks confused as I pull into Angel Stadium. “Why are we here?”

“I thought I’d surprise you. Take you out to a night game…” Okay I’m nervous now. I mean I’m taking a girl to a baseball game.

She starts to smile, it that happy only Nikki smile. “You know that I’ve lived here all my life and I’ve never even been in the building.”

“I’ve never been to a big league game either.”

“Darcy?”

“Yes?”

“Thanks…this is so…out of the box.”

“So popcorn, peanuts and hotdogs are alright?”

“More than.” She reaches over and takes my hand and we lace our fingers together and sort of girl run, skip, smile and laugh together heading inside.

Thanks Sentinel…I think this’ll be a really good night.