Dashing Devil Omnibus 2: Books 4-6, page 31
Boyd gestured to Silvie. “Silver, whose speed and strength allowed her to draw the dragon’s relentless gaze, ensured that it could not focus on our more vulnerable members. She’s the bravest woman I know, and was completely willing to get right up in that monster’s face.”
Silvie beamed at the camera and waved with both arms as she floated behind Boyd and off to the right.
He then pointed to Kitsune, who stood next to her. “And Kitsune, whose illusions cloaked my movements. She protected me from countless deaths, allowing her copies of me to die in my place.”
Kitsune gave a sly grin and waved with the fingers of one hand, the other remained planted firmly on her cocked hip as her tails swayed behind her, looking particularly fluffy.
Boyd’s gaze shifted to Mindy on his left, who maintained her calm yet intimidating mask. “And let’s not forget Mind Witch, whose psychic prowess cracked the dragon’s very will. She reached into the depths of its primal mind and robbed the beast of the use of its legs and tail.”
Mindy nodded and waved precisely once, lips just barely quirking in the ghost of a smile.
Boyd raised his hand towards Tinker, who stood on Mindy’s other side. “Tinker is the genius whose inventions were crucial to our strategy. The weapons that pierced the dragon’s scales were created through her brilliance—each tool, each device, was crafted to perfection.”
Tinker, never one for the spotlight, merely nodded, and blushed through a smile.
Boyd’s voice softened as he mentioned Hope, turning back to the right where she stood beside Raev. “And Hopewing, though not a permanent member of our team—yet—was our bastion in the storm. Her shields absorbed the beams that would have erased us from existence, and her healing touch restored me to fighting shape when I needed it most.”
Hope’s subtle glow grew just a little brighter and she smiled and waved with one arm.
“Lastly,” he paused, “I want to mention two honorary members of the Devoted you don’t see with us today.”
A brief flurry of whispers ran through the gathered reporters—a buzz that immediately cut off when Kayla spun around and glared at them.
“One was a man named Silas, those watching from home should see his image on your screens now. He died getting us vital information on the Last Dragon’s movements after our initial encounter with it. The other is his wife, who joined us today for a little payback. Per her wishes, her identity will remain her own. But know this—her command over the very earth we stand on confused and shackled the dragon, enabling us to approach and kill the beast.”
Boyd looked back to the drone floating before him. “You see, with a team such as this, fear becomes a distant thought. We are more than our titles and our Powers. We are devoted, bound by a cause that is greater than ourselves. We did not just face a dragon today—we faced the challenge of proving what it means to be Heroes. And together, we overcame.”
“I’m sure few will question whether or not your team has displayed the prowess required to be Heroes,” Kayla agreed with a nod, “although you did manage to leave out your own impressive contributions. My understanding is that it was your Power alone that was able to pierce the Last Dragon’s defenses. Could you elaborate on what allowed you to do so?”
“I’m afraid you’ll find me just as cagey as every other Hero about the specifics of their Powers,” Boyd chuckled with a good-natured grin. “I’ll share some details on this specific power, though, because it is fairly easy to figure out. I’m sure Phil back in Glorith has already run it down, so there’s no real point in hiding it.”
He held up his right hand and pumped his Black Flame into it.
“Tinker added a lens to these camera drones which will allow it to show up, because it isn’t normally visible on camera… but this is what I call my Black Flame.” He held up a red hand. “Don’t judge me too harshly, I named it when I was six.”
Boyd chuckled disparagingly with a wry grin. “It’s classified as a form of energy manipulation and it absorbs or destroys every other form of energy it has been exposed to.”
“That seems like an incredibly powerful ability,” Kayla managed to inject just the right amount of awe into her voice to sound believable.
“It has its uses,” Boyd rumbled smoothly. “I won’t provide any more specifics, you never know when an aspiring Powered Criminal might be watching. It allows me to circumvent energy-based resistances or defenses, including those of monsters such as Omega Ray or the Last Dragon.”
“You have defeated Blast Front, Omega Ray, and the Last Dragon. Two S-Ranked threats and one that was something more, all inside of a month.” Kalya continued to sound impressed, but transitioned to skeptical as she asked, “But your official bio says that you are only A-Ranked, why is that?”
Boyd let the Black Flame flicker out and placed both hands on the podium as he explained. “That ranking will likely be updated in the near future. One of the requirements of S-Ranked energy manipulation is the ability to project it out from your body. This may require the use of external objects that are charged with your energy and then thrown a minimum distance, but until Tinker joined the team and started making my equipment, I could not reliably do so. That’s obviously not the case anymore.”
“I see…” Kayla paused for maybe a second as she considered what she had asked and what she wanted to cover before moving into the content Boyd had requested. “I mentioned how some of your members were known, but none of you have the experience expected of a team who accomplished what you did today.”
She laid out a brief version of the team’s history for the viewers at home. “I believe the longest serving Hero on your team is Kitsune with seven years’ service, followed by Tinker with a year and a few months. Silvie has just over six months in Glorith City, with a few appearances before that, and Hopewing did public service in hospitals until six months ago when she was transferred to Eden’s Protectors. While each of them acquitted themselves well in that time, that is not considered an extensive service record.
“Then there is you, Dashing Devil, who appeared for the first time just a few weeks ago, and I believe this is Mind Witch’s first public appearance. Yet, for all that, you handled an intricate multi-stage operation as if you were veterans with years, if not decades, of experience… displaying the teamwork typical only after a team has been together for years.”
“The explanation is fairly simple,” Boyd grinned and turned from side to side to look over each member of his team before continuing. “With the exception of Tinker, each of us was raised in a PAC… a Powered Adolescent Center, for any unfamiliar with the term. We’ve been preparing for this our whole lives. And while that training is classified, I can assure you it is extensive. While she had a different experience, I can say with certainty that Tinker started making devices and gadgets at a young age, so she, too, prepared for her role years before becoming a Hero.
“As far as our teamwork goes, Silver, Hopewing, Mind Witch and I were all raised in the same PAC. We have worked together for years—most of our lives, in fact.”
Boyd ended with a warm smile that he made sure reached his eyes. “Raev’s extensive training and experience with multiple teams over her seven years of service prepared her to fit right in with us, and Tinker thinks way too fast to have any issues in that regard.”
Kayla reached up to adjust the collar of her blazer and shifted her stance just a little, a signal that asked if he was ready to move on the planned topics. They weren’t scripted per say, such things were too easy to be obvious to the viewers if you didn’t do it just right. Besides, Boyd didn’t know what half the content would be.
Still, they were still playing things close to the vest so he didn’t have anything else he wanted to cover. He switched his hands, putting the left on the podium and letting the right fall to his side, returning the signal that he was ready for her to move on.
Chapter 32
“You mentioned that you grew up with Silver, Mind Witch, and Hopewing in a PAC,” Kayla transitioned the interview smoothly to a new topic, her cheerful tone remaining clear and concise. “It’s been previously established that you are in a romantic relationship with Silver—she used the term ‘boyfriend’ in a prior interview, I believe. Is that where your relationship began?”
“It would have, if I hadn’t been such a blockhead through my teens,” Boyd chuckled with a self-deprecating grin and rueful shake of the head. “I let my Change make me an outcast for a while. Instead of seeking comfort from the abuse of others in my close friends, I withdrew and really threw myself into my training. I picked up all sorts of bad habits that my primary Mentor insisted made me a better Hero, but really just left me alone and vulnerable.”
He ended with another, sad shake of his head and a frown. Then he glanced over both shoulders to his team and looked back to the camera with a grin.
“I have since learned that there is more strength to be found in the connections that bind us together than with the supposed independence being free of such ‘shackles’ grants us.” He did the air quotes themselves, seeing as they were becoming a thing.
“So, no… unfortunately, I denied us that time together. We were very close in our childhood and early adolescence before my Change. Our romantic relationship didn’t start until after we’d graduated from the PAC and was part of my learning experience.”
“But I’ve been in love with the big lug since we were kids,” Silvie added from behind him with a bright giggle. “Even though my Darling can be a bit of a blockhead, he’s been the best man I’ve known since we were six.”
Boyd chuckled and shook his head, grinning at Silvie before turning back to Kayla, who smiled warmly.
“So, you’ve known each other your entire lives, and have been romantically involved for a few years. I’m sure many who got to see your encounter with the Last Dragon live are wondering about that kiss you shared with Hopewing in the opening moments. The viewers at home should be getting a replay now, but I’d say it looked a bit more than friendly. To me, at least, it looked downright romantic… the kind of kiss that might leave a man with a girlfriend some explaining to do. Care to comment?”
Boyd chuckled and mimed tugging at the collar of a shirt he wasn’t wearing. “Going to put me on the spot like that with the whole world watching, are you? I thought we might be friends.”
“I think our viewers might crucify me if I didn’t ask.” Kayla chuckled and then shrugged. “Try not to take offense.”
“I jest,” Boyd laughed with a toothy smile. “We’ve decided to be upfront with our relationship status, if not all the details. I try not to speak for my partners about such things, though.” As he finished saying this, he redoubled the steady stream of his calm and confidence that he was sending his little inventor.
She was holding up all right, but this was way more attention than she was comfortable with, and about to get worse. Nervous energy spiraled through her and it was all she could do to avoid fidgeting uncomfortably. Mindy had helped a bit in advance, laying a temporary construct on her mind that helped her forget about the potential billions of people watching through the cameras. She only had to worry about the crowd of a hundred reporters in front of them.
“Smart man,” Raev said with one of her velvet chuckles from behind him.
Boyd could picture the sly smirk she gave the camera as she continued.
“Dashing Devil is too much of a man for just one woman to handle. So, when Silver asked for help, I was happy to lend a hand. I am also in a relationship with the Big Guy. Tinker’s too shy to say it, so she asked me to if it came up, but she has joined in on the fun, too.”
“I also intend to join the growing family that is coming together around Dashing Devil, but have not done so yet.” Mindy kept it simpler than the others, maintaining her blank mask.
“I would very much love to join their family, as well. Like Silver, I’ve been in love with Boyd—I mean Dashing Devil—since we were young,” Hope closed the declarations out. “It has been my dream to be with him since I was a girl. Silver and I even discussed it in our teens, and decided that sharing him would be better than fighting over him. We already shared everything else, why not a man? But as he admitted, he was being a bit of a blockhead at the time.”
Boyd turned to smile warmly at Hope. “I’m so sorry I let my stupidity come between us. I promise to make up for the lost time, as soon as I can.”
“I know how seriously you take your promises, so I forgive you,” the angel beamed back at him, setting his heart to pounding with the warmth her smile contained.
He would have missed it if he hadn’t turned back to look at Hope. Off to the side of the stage, behind one of the big, bright pink, egg-shaped shield generators, stood Laura in what she called her field scrubs. They looked like a blue version of what a combat medic wore back in the Old Earth movies he had seen. Wearing a smirk, she had one hand raised high into the sky while the other patted her chest.
Boyd blinked while his other self sent him a smug sense of ‘I told you so.’ Deciding to contemplate what the clear declaration of intent meant later, he turned back to the camera and Kayla.
“So, there you have it. The kiss was romantic… but no, I don’t have any explaining to do. I understand that some people may take issue with our relationship, but none who might are in our chain of command. While romantic ties between Heroes are discouraged, they are not forbidden.”
“Five women?” Kayla said with wry amusement. “That seems a bit ambitious for any man, Hero or not.”
His other self internally corrected the count to six, to include Laura, while Boyd argued that just because she had declared her interest didn’t mean that she would be a good fit with everyone else. His other self-asserted that Boyd was a fool and that, of course she’d be a good fit—all the while conjuring pleasant memories of her easy demeanor that made scary medical treatments more bearable, mixed in with how she looked in the gym.
While Boyd argued silently with himself, Silvie giggled and said, “I doubt he’ll stop there. My Darling has got way too much love to go around. I expect our number to grow by at least a few more. We all hope that our little family will become a big family, someday.”
“We’ll see about that,” Boyd said, then chuckled ruefully.
He turned back to the reporter. “But yes, Miss Bailey, I am perfectly capable of maintaining my current and planned relationships. Part of my Powerset that I’ll be extra cagey about makes me particularly well suited to such an arrangement. And as you can see, I haven’t gotten any complaints yet.”
Against his better judgment, as in the judgment that didn’t come from his other self, Boyd let his devilish grin show for just a moment.
“Well that’s not quite true, now is it?” Kayla asked rhetorically, pressing on with the perfect amount of skepticism. “There has been a very vocal source of complaints about you, both in general but particularly related to your intended relationship with Hopewing.”
Kayla shifted slightly, squarely facing and looking into the camera instead of at Boyd. “Many are likely judging Dashing Devil harshly for pretending to be unaware of it. However, he informed me that he has been under a media blackout since saving Glorith City from the Diamond Claws, so he may not be aware of what has been publicly said since that time.”
The reporter turned back to Boyd. “Are you aware that Hopewing is spoken for?”
Boyd made sure the proper amount of confusion showed on his face as he turned to Hope. “You’re in a relationship?”
Hope rolled her angelic eyes and crossed her arms over her chest in a display that would be called petulant on any other woman. “I most certainly am not,” she snapped. “Which is something that I have told several of the faces I recognize in the crowd of reporters before me many times.”
Boyd allowed his gaze to zero back in on Mr. Newsome as Hope bestowed piercing gazes—angels didn’t glare—on several others.
Boyd turned back to Hope as she continued with a pout, “Somehow, they only ever print or show Archangel’s lies about us being a couple. He claims I am much too shy to show any affection publicly, but I’ll happily kiss any person on this stage if I need to disprove that lie. I just have no interest in Archangel as a romantic partner—which I have clearly and in no uncertain terms expressed to him on a multitude of occasions.”
“I don’t think we’ll have to go that far,” Kayla laughed. “The kiss earlier more than proved it to me. I also had wondered why none of the Fact Checkers ever confirmed Archangel’s statements.”
Kayla frowned, then blinked, the shine entering her light brown eyes and tone of her next words made it seem as if an obvious truth had just dawned on her. “So you’re saying that Archangel was outright lying about being in a romantic relationship with you?”
“Yes,” Hope nodded. “I have always been in love with Boyd, err… Dashing Devil.”
It seemed she was having difficulty growing accustomed to his new Hero name.
“And to be frank, Archangel doesn’t begin to compare to Devil’s kindness, compassion, strength of character, or prowess. After growing up with someone like him, how could I settle for less?”
A murmur went through the crowd of reporters and Boyd scanned through them as they leaned into each other, whispering questions or thoughts. Newsome was literally chewing his tongue in an attempt to avoid screaming out questions—or, more likely, accusations.
“For those watching at home, News2 contacted the Fact Checkers and you should see their sealed box on your screen—in the lower right corner, if it’s in the normal spot,” Kayla spoke louder to be heard clearly over the murmuring crowd. “Now, unless the little light on this side is broken, they haven’t signaled a lie.”
The Fact Checkers were a third-party organization with ties to every major media outlet—both film and press. They hired any Powered with an ability that allowed them to tell truth or fiction, especially those that could do so in real time during recordings or broadcasts. News outlets could pay them to verify pieces. But if they didn’t, the Fact Checkers happily called out any lies they might have told.
