Ch. 14 Week 12

“What do you mean you’re not home?” Lola said into the phone, growing increasingly annoyed.

“I’m in Venice!” her mother said. “I met Emilio at a party and he invited me to come home with him.”

“What about Thanksgiving?”

“Honey, they don’t have Thanksgiving in Italy.”

Lola decided not to try to reason with her mother. She and Glory had been planning to drive home Wednesday evening to spend their Thanksgiving with family, but Jolie Merriweather obviously had better things (and people) to do. “Did you get the clips I sent you? And the website? I have my own page on Acropolis Crime Watch.”

“Yes, and I’m very proud, but may I remind you that discretion goes a long way when it comes to crime?”

“I’m not a criminal,” Lola shot back. “I’m a super villain. I need the publicity if I want to get anywhere in life.”

On the other side of the phone her mother sighed. “You just can’t be satisfied with robbing banks and making a little money, can you? No, my little girl has to be famous. Don’t you know that famous gets you arrested? Famous gets you locked up in the loony bin. Famous gets you killed.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Lola said, growing more and more annoyed with her mother. “I can handle it.” How could she expect her to understand? Her mother only cared about her own comfort. She had no ambition, no interests other than parties and clothes. Sometimes Lola couldn’t believe they were related.

“Heroes, Lola. You’ll have to deal with heroes.” Lola had decided, even as a child, not to tell her mother about her best friend’s super-speed. She didn’t know how close to the heroes her daughter actually was.

“Romeo Avenger is in town,” Lola offered.

“Romeo Avenger?” But she was only momentarily distracted. “Listen, be careful, okay? I think you’ll find that heroes aren’t as easily swayed as your average person.” But Lola wasn’t listening, because she heard Glory come into the apartment.

“Gotta go Mom,” Lola said quickly. “Have fun with Emilio.”

She hung up the phone just as Glory appeared in her doorway. “Ready for Thanksgiving break?”

Lola shook her head. “Bad news. My mom buggered off to Italy.”

“I’m sorry. You can have dinner with my family if you want.”

“No, that’s okay,” Lola said quickly, imagining spending the day with Glory’s family, so wholesome and full of fiber. And every single one of them with super-powers. “I can use break to catch up on my school work. But you should take my car.”

“Take your BMW?” Glory said with some surprise. “I could never!”

“Sure you can. I wouldn’t want you to take the bus because my plans fell through.”

“I don’t want to leave you here all alone for the holiday.”

“It’s nothing--I insist.”

“Okay. But only because you insist. But if your mom blows you off for Christmas too I’m taking you home.”

“That’s fair.”

*****

Glory ended up leaving for home a day early since her classes had been canceled, and Lola found herself alone in the apartment for five days. Lola was relieved, because she wouldn’t have to worry about Glory wondering where she was when she went to the Red Door club.

Lacking her every day car, she had Kioshi and Hannah pick her up from her apartment. She wasn’t worried about them revealing where she lived to anyone--they were loyal to the very end. They met Ratface at the club. “Ready?” Lola asked, feeling more nervous than the first time she tried to get into the place. Dark Lothario was on the other side of that door. Even if he wasn’t her father, he was the biggest villain in the city--possibly on the whole of the east coast.

“Knock already,” Ratface said. “It’s cold out here.”

Lola knocked and gave the password. Without comment from the man on the other side of the intercom, the door swung open. “I can’t believe this,” Lola said, and the four of them entered.

They walked down a short hall that ended abruptly, opening up into a large warehouse space with wide catwalks over their heads. The lighting was dim except for over the bar and out on the dance floor, where no one was dancing except a handful of scantily clad woman on Greco-Roman styled pedestals. There were people everywhere--some in costumes others not, standing or sitting in small groups, talking over the loud music thumping from large speakers in every corner of the room.

“Drinks anyone?” Ratface offered. Lola gave him money and he took their orders, returning a few minutes later with thee beers and a glass of wine for Lola. At his side was a weedy looking man that could have been his brother, except he had flaming red hair. He had put a gallon of gel and hairspray in it in an attempt of an actual flame-shaped hair-style. “This is Inferno,” Ratface offered. “This is my boss, the Mistress of Minds,” he introduced.

Inferno stepped forward eagerly and shook her hand. “I saw your work at the press conference. Wonderful stuff.”

“Thanks,” Lola said, forcing a cordial smile. “I’ve seen your work as
well.”

“Glad you like it,” he replied, though she had not said anything of the sort.

Ratface took her around the club. She met Hammerhead, Doctor Terrible, and a very enthusiastic sidekick named Mysterious Ted. She met a handful of nameless henchmen and minions, but her eyes only scanned the room for Dark Lothario.

They found a table but Lola opted to remain standing, and Mysterious Ted appeared mysteriously at her side with another drink. “I‘m not actually a sidekick yet,” he said, leaning on the table and staring at her adoringly. “I’m here with my brother, the Trapdoor Spider?” Sometimes he even looked at her face instead of her cleavage. She seemed to have a fan club. Lola nodded vaguely at the boy, not paying the least bit attention.

Finally she spotted Dark Lothario sitting with a group of women at a cluster of sofas. One of the women had taken off her top and was straddling his waist in just her skirt and bra. Would this man be proud of her for playing games with the police department if he were her father? Would he approve of what she was trying to do? Or would he be like Mesmera and yell at her for being stupid?

Lola found herself staring. She had been waiting years to find her father, and now that it was here she didn’t know what to do. “I can’t introduce you,” Ratface said, noticing where she was looking. “The Lothario is way out of my league. If I even tried to talk to him he would have me squashed like a bug.”

“You want to meet Dark Lothario?” Mysterious Ted said, eager to please. “My brother can introduce you--”

“That’s okay,” she answered, little more than a whisper. The half-naked woman was now grinding into Dark Lothario’s lap, but he wasn’t looking at the woman. His eyes gazed over her shoulder--at Lola. “We have to go now,” she said, turning away quickly.

“But we just got here,” Ratface complained.

“I have to leave now,” she amended, spinning around abruptly and heading for the door. “You can stay.”

Mysterious Ted begged her to remain, but Kioshi and Hannah, loyal as ever, left with her and returned to the lair. “What’s wrong?” Hannah asked as Lola sunk down onto the sofa.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Lola said. “It’s a personal matter.”

“Are you sure?”

“The two of you can go. I can get myself home.”

By herself Lola changed out of her restrictive outfit and fell onto her couch. Her cell phone was in her back pocket and it dug into her. She reached under and pulled it free, staring at the blank screen. She hit the speed-dial for her mother’s phone but hung up after two rings. Why couldn’t her mother just tell her the truth about her father? Why did she have to rely on instinct, and approach him in a dank club while he’s covered in half-naked women?

If Dark Lothario was even her father. Maybe she was deluding herself. She seemed to be good at that. Without thinking she dialed Lawrence’s number.

*****

Lawrence had spoken to his mother three times that day (even though she was still furious at him for choosing a state school she still wanted him to come home for the holiday), so when the phone rang again, even though it was close to midnight, he didn’t look at the number. “Look Ma, I’m not coming home.”

“I’m not your mother and I don’t want you to go home,” the voice answered, and he recognized it as Lola. The last time he’d seen her was that day in the back of her car, and she hadn’t tried to call him since he broke things off. “I’m assuming you’re still on campus?”

“I don’t want to go home, that’s for sure,” Lawrence answered, wondering what she wanted.

“Good. I’m coming over.”

“You can’t,” he protested. “Lola--” But she had hung up. Torch was reading at the desk, and looked over at Lawrence. “Uh, Torch, I’m really sorry--”

“But you need to kick me out for a while.” He closed his book and got up. “It’s okay, I understand.” His voice was a little stiff.

“No, you don’t--Lola is--” What? “A problem. Which I will deal with. Just give me two hours, and for the love of God, don’t tell America about this. Because it’s nothing.”

“Sure.” Torch borrowed one of Lawrence’s jackets and threw it on. “I was getting hungry anyway. You kids have fun now.”

“It’s not fun,” Lawrence protested again. “She’s not fun. Honest.”

“If you say so, dude.”

Lawrence groaned as he stood up. What the hell was she thinking? It had been a clean break, everything fine. No drama, no tears. So why was she coming over now?

He went around the room to straighten up quickly, and he felt his pulse speeding up as he did so. Lola. He could almost feel her skin and smell her hair…she was something else, no doubt. Something he needed to escape before he got into big trouble. Lawrence was contemplating how to get rid of her with his virtue and conscience intact when she knocked on the door.

She wasn’t wearing much for winter. She held her coat at her side, her top unbuttoned low enough that he could see the red lacy bra beneath, and her skirt was impossibly short, her legs bare. “Lola--” he started, but she shoved her way into his room and shut the door behind her. “What are you doing here?”

“No particular reason.” He’d never told her where he lived beyond the name of the building. Maybe the RA at the front desk had looked him up for her. She looked around the room and sat down in the chair Torch had just vacated, tossing one leg over the other and leaning back. “I needed a change of scenery.”

“You can’t stay here.” He was staring at those long, bronze legs--she had
great legs. “I have a girlfriend.”

“Nice of you to mention her now,” she said with a scowl. “Come over here.” Even though he knew it was in his best interest to stay as far away from Lola as possible, he did as she said, walking over to stand in front of the chair. She reached out and grabbed for his fly, and he jumped back. “Don’t,” he insisted. “Girlfriend, remember?”

“I bet she’s totally different from me, right?” she suggested. He had to nod. “Probably prettier, thinner than me. I bet she’s never gone down on you in the back of a car, am I right?” When he didn’t answer her right away all she had to do was glare at him and he nodded, compelled to tell the truth. “Which was why you came to me, isn’t it?”

“Lola, it wasn’t like that--”

“So what was it like?”

“It didn’t feel right to--to be with you both. I had to chose.”

“And you chose the girl next door. The one you could take home to mommy and be all proud of. So what is it about me? Am I too scary? Too powerful?”

“No. I love that about you,” he protested. How could he make her understand without giving away his secret? “I can’t--I can’t control myself around you,” he answered. It was taking all of the mental powers the Swami had been teaching him to keep the desk lamp behind Lola from flying across the room.

“There‘s nothing wrong with losing control.” Lola stood up and he stood rooted in one place as she walked over to him. She was wearing scary high heels that made her taller than him. If she was trying to be intimidating, it was working. The last thing Lawrence wanted to do was also the one thing he wanted to do very much, and when she kissed him, his sense of propriety lost, and soon he was back where he’d been a few weeks ago, wanting her so badly--

She pushed him backwards onto Torch’s bed and he fell too willingly. “You want me,” she said, her voice low. She straddled him, pinning him down on the mattress.

“Y-yes.”

“And your girlfriend?”

“What girlfriend?” he said, dizzy with lust, dizzy with Lola.

“That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.”

*****

A/N:
Fixed the whole Crimson Dynamo last chapter. For the record, I got that from a random generator. Total coincidence. (The generator also suggested the name Geo Tracker…) My bf and I have spent the last hour and a half coming up w/ names for various ppl, and we came up with some good stuff that I can’t use.

The Human Shield is a villain sidekick whose power is the inability to die, so his job is to do things like stand in front of his boss when they go do crime, and he gets loaned out to other villains…but even though he can’t die he can still be hurt, so his life is pretty miserable. It’s brilliant. I’m very close to writing a short story about him.

Dark Lothario has an underling named Vibromaster, who is about to launch his own porn series under the Dark Lothario Presents titles.

Hammerhead and Doctor Terrible are of course an homage to Dr. Horrible and Joss Whedon.