Behind the Mask

Huh, there was a sudden tickle felt upon her toe. A look down at her feet was all the confirmation she needed; whether by design or miracle, she had managed to catch him!

Lifting the foot he had unfortunately gotten himself stuck onto up to be level with her face, she demonstrated a degree of balance and flexibility that was far beyond the application of any other human. Rather surprisingly, her eyes did not meet him with a hint of scrutiny; on the contrary, they were filled with curiosity, perhaps even a pinch of excitement.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just smash you against the floor right now?"

She clenched her eyes dismissively and puckered her lips. "...That wasn't the least bit convincing. Heck, you've even gone and seen my face now, and I've always been against taking lives... but really, sparing you wouldn't work at all in my favor."

Reaching for her toe, she went to pluck him off her toe with her fingers and instead adjust him into the palm of her hand, where the stickiness was at its highest level. Just to make certain, she would have pushed him onto his butt, so that both of his legs would have been completely glued down against her skin.

The gas dissipating around them, Victoria moved toward her bed and took a seat. Her large rear added several inches to her seated height, making her appear much taller than she actually was while sitting down, and at the point of impact, it almost looked as though the fold of the towel around her breasts was going to come undone.

"So like, why don't we start off how you got in here in the first place? I'm more interested in knowing that beyond anything else, honestly."

Flick groaned, managing to peel himself along her toe so that he could face his captor. "That might be a wee... eh, over-reaction!" Flick nodded twice. "Maybe we should call this a draw," His breaths were audible, the rebreather making him sound like a Scottish Darth Vader.

*****

Flick winced as he was forced onto his rear. He reached up and deactivated the rebreather, before holding his hands up in surrender. "Look eh, Scarlet--- I'm just a guy who has been hired to get back something you stole from someone else, yeah?" He begins, taking off his helmet to try and show his face and demonstrate his apparent honesty and balance the 'seeing of faces'. "I latched onto you before you dove off the plane, this is where I ended up."

"I just came along for the ride. Nothing else, sheer happenstance!"

"Ooohh, that old man hired you?" She fought back her urge to laugh. "And you... listened to him?"

The more she heard his voice, the more she grew to like his accent. There was just something about it that was pleasing to the senses.

She squinted hard after he tried showing him her face. "Revert yourself to your normal size, I can't really see you well enough this way."

"Oh, you're normally that small?" There was a hint of disbelief in her voice. She shook her head. "You haven't given me enough of a reason to trust you yet. So until then, I'm afraid I can't allow you out of my grasp." She settled her hand into the empty space beside her on the bed, awaiting him to transform into his more human-sized form from when they first met face to face.

"And of course he pays well, he can literally spawn emeralds, for Christ's sake. He might be evil, but the man also happens to be a genius."

As he transformed, her hand remained under him. And she wasn't planning to move it away from there any time soon, either.

"Are you really in that much of a predicament that you need to resort to working for a guy like him?" Sparkling blue eyes studied his face.

"Don't you feel the least bit guilty about that?"

"No one gets hurt?" She quirked a brow. "Sure, maybe not directly by you. But if you succeed in returning that battery to him, then the Emerald Mantis is going to encase all of New York City in a sheem of emerald. So many innocent people would lose their homes. So many innocent people themselves would be trapped in blocks of emerald, unable to free themselves. All the while the Mantis himself parades over the rest of the city, converting it into a kingdom for himself."

Drips of water trickled down her body. "I mean, isn't it sort of common sense to confirm all that beforehand?" She looked him straight into his eyes. "...Are you really that much of an idiot?"

"He pays well --- eh, this is my norma-... sure. Can you put me down?"

*****

The mercenary scoffed, before pressing a few buttons on his power belt. He resturned to his human-size, albeit now without his helmet. Luckily, the helmet's size appears linked to the rest of his powered armour. The Scotsman blushed slightly at his new placement, sitting next to her on the bed. "Yeah well eh, you know. Money is money?"

*****

Flick scratches his nose as he considers his response, his stubble rubbing against the base of his palm. He regards Scarlet carefully.

"I've a very specific set of skills, yeah? I take what work I can get. I don't kill anyone. I have my own rules, aye? No one gets hurt."

*****

Flick blinks before responding defensively. "Look, I'm nothing to do with that, yeah? I was just getting a guy some tech parts. I get paid not to ask questions. How was I supposed to know that that eccentric old goof could pull something like that off?"

*****

"Look, it's part of the job. You get paid a premium not to ask questions, lassie. It's a competitive market." He frowns, mildly. "I wouldn't help him do that if I knew, but I can't vet everyone who offers me a good deal for a night's work. He hasn't asked me to take anyone out, yeah? Just to get a few things." He does sound sincere, at the least. His heart rate settles, though he does eye a trickle of water for a moment too long.

Getting a tad bit sore with her arm being outstretched under him, she pulled herself closer to him to allow her arm to bend and relax, pulling her legs from the floor onto the bed beneath her and facing off in the same direction so that she was seated on the side of her knees. Her massive jugs, of course, responded to the additional movement immediately, the sound of the skin slapping together echoing briefly throughout the rest of the room.

"Well, I guess there's no real getting through to you. Still, I can't allow you to leave here with that." She opened up her free hand to him. "Could you give it here, please?"

***

She shook her head. "Normally I wouldn't mind, but like I said before, that old man just so happens to be a genius. Broken or not, the parts are all he needs to piece it back into a new and improved battery. At the current moment, it's going to take him several months to craft another one; but that duration of time could easily shorten itself to a number of weeks if you were to get him that battery."

***

"An important life lesson? A reason to change for the better? Or at the very least, I'll let you go from here without humiliating you any further."

***

"..I don't. I'm in more debt than you probably are. Between all this superhero business, I work part time as a waitress at a pizza parlor not too far from here. But that's beside the point: I need that battery now, please."

It was clear by her tone that she was getting impatient. She was ready to take action if needed.

Flick purses his lips, thoughtful. "How about a compromise? You get to mess this thing up, I return it to him broken, he pays me..." Flick takes a nasally breath. "Then no one gets glazed in emeralds and I get paid. And I forget anything I know about you. Good shout, aye?"

*****

Flick grimaces. "Help me out then, what's in this for me?"

*****

Flick smirks. "You say that, but what I'm humouring you? I've gotten out of tighter situations." He looks around the apartment. "How do you pay your way, anyway?"

*****

: Flick furrows his brow, considering his options. However, noticing the shift in tone, he decides against conflict and passes over the battery.

"A token of friendship," He says, smiling.

She offered a sarcastic, playful smirk in response. "We'll see about that." She took the battery from him. She was going to do her best to study it thoroughly later, which was the only reason she hadn't destroyed it by now. She set it down on the other side of the bed.

"One more thing before I let you go. You know who I am, but I have no idea who you are. What's your name?"

***

"Ha, good one." She set her hand down on his thigh for support as she pulled her hand from beneath his butt, instigating more jiggling from her large attributes. "What about your real name? I have a feeling you know more about me now than you've led on; I think it'd only be fair that I learn a thing or two about you in exchange?"

***

"Interesting. And you're from around here, or?"

***

"Where are you originally from?" She ran her hand through her wet hair. More jiggling. "Can't misplace an accent like that."

***

"Yeah, can't say I've ever heard of it. Is that in the U.S. or abroad?"

***

"Oh, wow. That's... different." She raised her brow. "So you came here recently to work for bad guys? Or you came here as a child and then grew up to work for bad guys?"

***

She simply stared at him with a blank expression. "Sure, I think 'complicated' is the right word to describe yourself."

Her curiosity was already getting the best of her. She'd seen him transform once already but he never explained how it worked. "So you don't kill people, but other than that you'll do just about everything, right? I guess breaking into a woman's home isn't against your moral code... you didn't happen to see me when I was naked, did you?"

***

"Oh god. How much did you see?"

***

"..Okay, so just like in my underwear, then?" Her eyes ran over him again. "I know I've been asking for a lot of things in return to break even and all, but I don't think I'm very interested this time around." She looked around the room. "Although, you have seen my house... so maybe I'll break into yours sometime?"

"I go by Flick. It wasn't my preferred codename, but they wouldn't let me have Breacher." He winks.

*****

"Ally. Ally MacKenna. And I'm telling ye that because you'd have to be a magician tae find any records on me." He grins toothily, his accent growing thicker has he briefly thinks back to his homeland.

*****

"Here and there, these days. Where I'm needed, though New York seems to be good for business."

*****

"A little place called Cranhill. You wouldnae know it."

*****

Flick smirks. "It's in Scotland."

*****

"I don't just work for bad guys, thank you very much. I happened to be working for a guy who was worse than I realised," He says, attempting to correct. "I came over here a few years back. I've been working for a while. Sometimes for your government, sometimes for people with a lot of money, and occassionally to do some poor bastard in need a good turn. I'm complicated, aye?" He smiles crookedly, trying to sell a cool image of himself.

*****

"Eh..." He blushes mildly, revealing the truth. "That wasn't my -plan-. I didn't keek for long or anything."

*****

"Heh eh... nothing, eh. Nothing once you went in for a shower."

*****

Flick smirks again. "Alas, I'm not settled. I'm a cash in hand kind of guy." He then blinks, becoming suddenly offended. "And hey, I'm fit. Not that I want to be half stripping or anything." He adds, at the end.

"So like, where do you live then?"

She waved her hand at him dismissively. "Yeah, yeah. I don't need a naked man on my bed."

***

"I see. Fitting." She stood up from the bed, taking the battery under her arm. "Not sure where else you need to be right about now, but I think I'll go and finish my shower right about now. But as far as my identity goes, I guess I have no real choice but to trust you with that as well."

She walked away from the bed. Jiggle, jiggle, jiggle, stop. She turned around to face him. "I take it you're done working for the old man? Or are you going to return to him after you leave from here?"

***

Another brow was raised. "I mean, what more can you do aside from shrinking yourself? Can you become a giant as well?"

***

Another brow was raised. "I mean, what more can you do aside from shrinking yourself? Can you become a giant as well?"

***

For a second she thought she was staring death right in the face. Once he retracted his weapon, she was sold.

"Not bad." She reached for a smart watch from her desk and tossed it toward him. "Put your number into my contacts. The next time I get bit by an ant, I'll be sure to call you."

"Hotels, primarily. As you can imagine, I travel light. I'm usually not trapped in a spider's web," He hums to himself, amused.

*****

Flick squints. "I think I'll avoid him, after tonight. Say eh... you know, if you ever need some back up...? I'm not -completely- mercenary."

*****

"No, but I do have these," He extends an arm towards Scarlet. Suddenly, the metal plates shift and form into the mouth of some sort of gun. The rim shimmers with blue light. "Between that and the shrinking, I'd say I've a few uses." He lowers his arm, the gun disappearing. "... and I'm not bad at finding things someone has dropped down the back of their couch."

*****

He smirks, inputting his number speedily. "You know, spiders always gave me the creeps. A few have tried to eat me."

"Oh, I assure you. I won't be putting this mouth anywhere near you." Turning her back to him, she stepped into her bathroom and this time, shut the door. The sound of the water clicked on after a few seconds.

***

There was no verbal response. The sound of running water only grew louder.

***

The door to the bathroom opened after 15 or so minutes, not that Victoria was one to keep track of how long she was inside the shower. Were she home alone she would've came out flat naked and allowed herself to air dry. There was a bizarre joy in that. But she was somehow paranoid ever since he had managed to break in. She'd need to be sure that her towel stayed on.

She was surprised to see that he was still here, even after all that time. She merely stared at him. "..Why are you still here?"

***

"You ate my food, too? Dude, what the heck, man. That's not cool."

She felt like throwing something at him but decided against it. "Can you leave, now? I don't feel comfortable changing into my clothes with you here. Go get me something else to eat in the meantime. I'm starving."

***

"With pepperoni and black olives, please. Now get out."

Flick sets the watch down. He walks passed the bathroom, into her living room. "I take it ye want me gone by the time you're out?" He calls through.

*****

Flick ponders the situation before his eyes fall onto the bag of Chinese takeout. His inner thief returns as he opens it up partially before grabbing a scoop of whatever Scarlet ordered and setting it onto a plate. Rather than take the entire thing, he's a gentleman about it. He shrinks down alongside the spoon in his hand and tucks in.

*****

Flick stands up, atop her table. "Eh, I thought I'd...-" He gestures to the plate. "I'll leave you to it," He offers a brief, lazy salute.

*****

"Alright, sure. Pizza?" He offers, leaping off the table. He lands at full height, showing off.

*****

He offers a feigned salute again, before departing. As he opens the door, his armour folds in on itself and disappears. Only his belt remains visible, the rest replaced by a pair of jeans, red converse and some green and white hooped soccer shirt.

As the door closed, her towel dropped to her feet immediately, as if she were just itching to get naked. Rather than getting dressed, she flipped on the hairdryer and began blowdrying her hair while seated in front of her dresser.

***

"Just a second!" Victoria's voice appeared from the other side, reluctant to cover herself.

After a few minutes, the door opened about halfway, with Victoria only showing the side of her face and her arm, which was reaching out for the pizza box.

***

She took control of the box by the opposite end and turned it sideways to fit it through the gap. Her arm was entirely bare, meaning she was probably still entirely nude on the other side of the door. "You ate enough already, didn't you? Quit being such a fatty."

***

The box was taken, and seconds after, the door closed. Locks, and multiple of them, could be heard falling into place.

Flick returns about thirty minutes later, a pizza box in hand as ordered. He lightly taps the door a few times.

*****

Flick makes a show of disappointment. "N'aww, and here I thought I'd get a bit," He offers the box, though it'll struggle to fit through the gap.

*****

I had a bite! Changing size so often takes a lot of energy."

*****

I love you too!" He calls through, sarcastically, before turning back to the street and heading out into the night.