Arch Frenemies

Part 59: Sharktopus Prime

Not a word was spoken between them during the limo ride to the hotel. Sitting as far apart as they could, they drove through London. She stared out the window at the beauty of the hustle
and bustle of the ancient city. It was truly majestic.   
                        
No wonder Dauntless’s mother choose this place to abandon him; she thought to herself. It was like one of those church or fire station baby drop-offs. Except on a whole different planet. She’d never really pictured her half-witted, ultimate douchebag league associate like that before. Just a little half-alien baby, abandoned by a teen mom who had a little too much fun with the locals; raised  in an orphanage, till his powers kicked in at puberty.  She knew, right from time, that Dauntless had been troubled. He had always been a selfish hero, one who did it just for the fame; the douchebag whom her father spent all of his free time with. Galaxy reached into her purse and pulled out her com, checking to see if Dauntless has his GPS turned on. He did. Toxic gave her a concerned look when he saw her using her com.

"Dauntless." She mouthed, pointing at the screen.                    
The redheaded Englishman was in Switzerland, in the midst of a battle with Kaiser Kold up in the Alps.
The heavy snow fall was making it extremely difficult to make out the exact details, but from the silhouette his red hair and redder costume provided against the grainy white background, she could tell he was winning. She gritted her teeth, shutting it off so she wouldn't have to see him. Galaxy still despised him for what he had done to her while under the influence. Had Toxic not arrived, she almost shuddered to think about what might have happened. Dauntless had gotten drunk even though she knew he was aware of how much alcohol could be the death of him; it affected supers more than humans, the Captain had told them both this many times, yet he had still done it. He wasn't like any other hero at the league, and it wouldn’t surprise her if he went over to the dark side eventually, despite all her father’s best efforts.          

She began to feel homesick. What a strange feeling it was to actually miss her parents! With all the craziness that was going on, Andromeda Avis hadn't really thought much about them. She tapped into the League's satellite and zoomed into the location of her father. He was in Tokyo fighting a giant mutated sea monster; one of Mastermind’s specialties. Riding the head of the giant 12 story sharktopus was the master Supervillain himself. It looked like they were in the middle of bantering. After double checking that the soundproof privacy window was
up, she turned it up.

                                                
"Hey... check this out." she scooted closer to her father’s
enemy’s son; wanting more than anything to be done with the awkwardness that seemed to choke her. When Toxic saw what it was she was looking at, he smiled.                                         
"Sharktopus Prime.” He shook his head.        

                                           
"I think you need to cool off." Mastermind says to Captain
Galaxy, fiddling with his remote from the head of the beast.               
A humongous tentacle wraps around Captain Galaxy's waist and plunges him into the ocean.  The children of the combatants watched the battle progress, laughing at the event unfolding. As usual, her father won.  Toxic shook his head.   

                                                             "You've only ever had one Hero and you still haven't been able to defeat her." He mimicked his father’s serious tone in mockery, rolling his eyes. She was about to shut it off after her father carried his rival to the dock and pulled out the handcuffs when a sentence his rival spoke stopped her.

                                   
"Well that was fun. No worries, Kill you next time Captain." "Good luck with that." Her dad rolled his eyes, snapping the handcuffs onto his rival of over two decades.                                             "That was a bit of fun though, you almost had me there for a second." He quietly admitted.  Mastermind smiled slightly as he was handcuffed and being held by the Captain until the Tokyo police arrived.                                                                                        
"That was our first battle since...." Captain Galaxy trails off, even from the satellite capture she could hear the pitch of sadness in his ever heroic voice.                                                      
"About that..." The Supervillain’s green eyes softened a little bit, though the Captain couldn’t see it from his position.                      

"About your daughter...." Mastermind continued                                   
“As sorry as I am that it wasn't my son’s doing, I'm also... sorry for your loss." Offered Mastermind genuinely.                                
"Galaxy Girl was a good kid. You know, as far as heroes go." Toxic and she shared a look of disbelief. Was his father really offering condolences to her? Sirens were soon heard in the background.  The cops must be closing in and she took a moment to wish the cops in Stark City wouldn’t ever be that fast.                                                                                               
"Speaking of kids...." Captain Galaxy clears the obvious sadness
from his throat. 
"How's your son taking it?"                                    
"The complete humiliation and utter disgrace you mean?" 
Asked Mastermind with a small, sad chuckle.                                           
"I don't actually know..."
He sighs.         
                                             
"He's gone completely off the grid. Aside from the flowers he sent to your daughter's memorial and the missing jet... there is no trace of him." The tone in which the supervillain spoke contained the lowest possible traces of villainy.                                                    "He's resourceful. I'm sure he's fine." Captain Galaxy reassured,
sounding more like a friend than a foe.                                                        
"I know... He knows how to take care of himself. I made sure of
that." Replied the Villain, before sighing.                                             
“You still worry though.”                                                                          
She looked over at Toxic. His dark brows were furrowed in confusion.  She didn't need to be a mind reader to know what was going through his head right now.                                      
My father... cares?                                                                                    
On the screen, Captain Galaxy just shook his head.                           
After an extensive security screening, they finally made it to the room. She didn’t know how Toxic managed to get the molecular ray into the building, and she didn't want to ask.                                 They still hadn't exchanged more than a few necessary sentences to each other since the incident. Toxic went into his bathroom to wash off the rest of his eyeliner that he couldn't manage to scrub off before they had pulled into the airport hangar earlier.                         It was a large, two bedroom suite. Beautifully decorated and classic, Galaxy Girl could tell because over the last few days she had become some sort of an expert on Europe's finest hotels. She worried that after all of this luxury, it would be hard to go back to her small, dull and lifeless titanium laden bedroom back home. Maybe she'd have to do some redecorating.                              The memory of what happened back at the trophy vault kept playing itself again and again inside her head. She felt like it couldn't have really happened.
It was surreal. The way he had just grabbed her and kissed her like he did. It was like
something out of a movie, or a book.                                                                  

She walked into Toxic’s half of the suite and sat on his bed, burying her face into her hands. This was going to absolutely the most awkward conversation for arch rivals to have, but she needed answers. She needed to know why. He stepped out, drying his face with a towel; a dark eyebrow arching up at her when he saw her seated on his bed; as if to ask;
Can I help you?

"So..."
She began,                                           
"Are we going to talk about... what happened?"