Dashing Devil Omnibus 1: Books 1-3, page 46
Boyd sighed before turning back to Connor. “Alright, Connor. You’re now one of something like seven people who can call me directly. If anything comes up, give me a call—even if you just need someone to talk to. I might be busy, but I’ll find time for you as soon as I can,” Boyd promised.
He knew he wouldn’t be able to do this type of thing often. For one, forming close relations with civilians was risk—for both the civilian and the Hero. As such The Authority frowned upon such relationships.
Secondly, if Boyd handed out contact permissions to every kid with a sad story, he’d end up inundated with constant calls. He liked Connor, though, and doing it this one time was unlikely to cause issues—as long as the kid was smart about it.
“But, ah, don’t tell anybody but your sister that you can call me, okay? I don’t want to see you targeted by a Powered Criminal trying to get to me.”
“Yes, Sir.” Connor nodded and took a small device from his pocket. It was a cheap mini viewscreen with communication abilities, based on what he did next. After activating the screen, he said “Call Boyd.”
It made Boyd smile to hear Connor use his real name, but he frowned and looked up when it didn’t connect. “It didn’t work.”
Boyd sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m registered on the network as Dashing Devil. You’ll have to program the device if you want to use my real name, which would be a good idea. That way, if you call me with others around, they won’t know it’s me.”
“Right!” Connor accepted the explanation with good cheer before turning back to his device. “Call Dashing Devil,” he chirped.
“Incoming call from Connor Baker,” a vaguely feminine artificial voice said in Boyd’s ear.
Boyd lifted his arm-mounted FDU and accepted the call. Connor’s dirty face appeared on the screen with a wide grin on his face. “Hey, Connor,” Boyd said into it.
“It really worked! I can call a real Hero!” Connor cheered into his screen before looking up and giving Boyd his biggest grin yet. It warmed Boyd’s heart.
Connor disconnected the call, then darted forward to hug Boyd around the waist. Boyd grinned and hugged him back. Well, he patted the boy on his back, which was as close as he could get, given the difference in their sizes.
“Thank you sooo much! For everything!”
Boyd smiled down at him and very gently ruffled his dirty and already messy hair. “It’s my pleasure, Connor.”
Boyd could feel a sense of pride over his Bonds with Kitsune and Silvie. There was an undercurrent to it that was harder to identify—a certain arousal that was more prevalent on his Bond with Kitsune than over Silvie’s, but was still present on both.
Boyd looked up to see them watching the exchange from a short distance away, fond expressions on their faces. Boyd smiled back before looking back down at the young man hugging him. “We should get back to our patrol soon.”
“Oh, of course. Sorry.” Connor smiled sheepishly as he backed away, clasping his hands in front of him.
“No need to be sorry,” Boyd assured the boy with a shake of his head while scanning the rooftop. He sighted the access door and, based on the scattered lawn furniture and unkept garden box up here on the roof, he assumed it wasn’t locked.
Since it was better to be safe than sorry, he still asked, “Can you get inside from here, or should we fly you to the ground?”
Connor shook his head. “The door’s unlocked and I’m just a few floors down. I would have to climb more steps from the ground floor.”
“Good. It was nice meeting you, Connor. See you in the morning and stay out of trouble,” Boyd said while waving Kitsune over and stepping toward the edge of the roof.
She was getting used to how he flew her, and they linked up a little more smoothly than before. Connor jumped up and down, waving after them as they took to the air. Silvie zipped up right behind them.
“Perfect timing,” Royce groused. “Head west. There is a jewelry store being robbed by three unknown Powered Criminals. Looks like you have a Strength based, a Flier, and a Pyromancer. Sending location to your FDU’s. Should be easy captures.”
Boyd lifted his left arm so he could see the map that appeared on his FDU. They were only about six blocks away from the Powered Criminal Event, so Boyd beat his wings hard to get there quickly.
Chapter 10
Daisy Baker was having a bad day, but that was nothing new. Most days weren’t great, with only a very few being good days. Those usually revolved around her little brother, Connor.
He was a good kid. He kept out of trouble, did his homework, washed behind his ears, and made the good kind of friends. He didn’t really need to do chores, but Daisy could tell he would if she asked him to. He was her pride and joy, as well as her reason for dealing with shitty customers for ten to sixteen hours a day until she’d been ‘let go’ from the diner.
So, seeing him on a live broadcast that interrupted the silly little drama she was watching on her outdated viewscreen while she enjoyed some time off from applying for jobs because everyone was out celebrating not dying horribly had been something of a surprise. The fact that he was dirty faced, and being picked up for pickpocketing by the rather intimidating Dashing Devil—the Hero who had been torn limb from limb but continued to fight on and eventually killed the monstrous Omega Ray—made it downright panic inducing.
She watched the encounter with horror at first. The audio was terrible, being taken from a live stream of some random person’s viewscreen. Daisy couldn’t make out what was being said, but the very large demon-looking Hero was obviously being very gentle with Connor.
He sort of looked like… maybe a gym teacher? He was clearing consoling Connor, and not attempting to scare or threaten him. Then he made Connor return the stolen wallet and apologize—which is exactly what Daisy would have done.
So, everything seemed like it was going to be okay. They would just let Connor go and… or they would fly off with him. Why in the world would they fly off with him? Surely he didn’t need to be arrested. He’d returned the wallet and apologized, after all. The grumpy old guy he’d returned the wallet to hadn’t even pressed charges, though she could see that he’d wanted to.
The flip-flopping nature of the encounter left her in emotional agony. It was in that state that she was talking to one of The Authority’s dispatchers.
“The boy in the news, his name is Connor Baker. I’m his sister and guardian, Daisy Baker,” she insisted into her viewscreen for the third time. “He’s the boy Silver just flew off with after Dashing Devil… um, arrested him? Has he been arrested? Tell me he hasn’t been arrested.”
“Ma’am, please calm down,” the way too bored sounding woman on the other end of the line replied. “I’ve verified your identity and have requested information from the team’s handler. I’ve got a chat going with Dashing Devil’s handler and I can see he’s typing a… oh, there we are. No, your brother is not going to be arrested. Dashing Devil thought the crowd might harass and further embarrass Connor, so offered to fly him home. Silver’s flight is smoother, so she is the one carrying your brother. He will be perfectly safe and should be home shortly.”
Daisy let out a long exhalation of relief, feeling the rising panic quickly begin to dissipate. Connor wouldn’t disappear into one of those reeducation centers and no one was going to end her little brother in some back alleyway. Instead, she was going to kill him—just as soon as he got home.
“Thank you. Are there any fines or anything?”
“Checking… No, it does not seem that any fees will be assessed. Is there anything else I can assist you with?” the woman asked, making the question a clear goodbye.
“No, thank you again. Goodbye.” Daisy disconnected the voice line and began pacing around their little apartment. With a single bedroom, a living room with kitchenette, and a bath, it didn’t give her a lot of room to pace. That being the case, she shrank herself down to about six inches tall and began flitting around the living room on her butterfly wings. It was much more satisfying.
As she zipped around, she cast her bubbles out, cleaning and reinforcing everything with her Power. They couldn’t afford much, but what they had was pristine and comfortable. She gave her brother a good home. It may not be the most luxurious, but they had a nice comfy couch with a decently sized, if older, wall mounted view screen, a table, microwave, hot pot, and two good twin-sized beds. Everything was clean and comfy. Why the hell had he felt the need to pick some random person’s pocket? And why was his face covered in grime?
Sure, their water had been turned off, but their neighbor was a nice older lady who was happy to let them use her sink for cooking and her bathroom for everything else. Connor even had his own key and was polite enough that he was welcome to come and go as he pleased. She’d get the water back on as soon as she found another job, they could do without for now.
Daisy finished her third pass of hitting everything with another round of her bubbles to makes sure it was clean and comfortable. The first pass would have lasted a month, but times like this called for expelling all that nervous energy she’d built up watching Connor’s fifteen minutes of fame. Otherwise, she’d still be full of all that energy when Connor got home—and if that was the case, she really might kill him.
Connor came bursting through the door, his dirty face having clean streaks from the tears he’d shed, but with a huge, way too proud, grin on his face. Daisy soon put a stop to that. She popped over right in front of him and reversed her shrunken state, looming over him as tall as Dashing Devil himself, her butterfly wings spread wide. The grin dropped right off his face.
“Hey, sis, you saw it, huh?” Connor sort of peeped.
“I did,” Daisy stated with a frigid note in her, unfortunately unchanged by her size, high-pitched voice. “What were you thinking, Connor?! Do you know how lucky you got? I could have lost you.”
“I was trying to help…” he peeped again.
“Trying to help?” Daisy hissed. “How?! By getting yourself arrested and sent away? Of all the hair brained, downright stupid things you could have done… Is this because the water is off? I told you it would only be…”
“I know about the… job… thing,” Connor stated with a strange and sudden firmness in his eyes. “I know that your boss is trying to force you to do… stuff. I saw… the other night… when you were crying… So, I wanted to help. I thought if I could get even just a few credits it might help buy you some time to find a job that wouldn’t force you to do… that.”
“Connor…” Daisy started to say, but then stopped because she wasn’t really sure where she was going with it.
“And I did.” Connor held her eyes as his smile came back, although it was not nearly as bright as it had been. “Messing up was the best thing I could have done. Dashing Devil is a really nice guy, sis. Silver and Kitsune are super nice, too, but he asked me why I did that, and I said it was to help you. And now he’s going to help you get a job.”
“What?” Daisy was confused. How had pickpocketing led to a job? “What did you tell him?”
“Just what I know.” Connor shrugged. “That your old boss is trying to make you work at that other place and you don’t want to. He said he would help you get a job at The Tower’s food court. You have an interview tomorrow morning and I’m supposed to take you there at ten-thirty to meet him. He’s going to sponsor you for the job, so I’m sure you’ll get it.”
The strange firmness that had appeared in her little brother faded as he continued. “I… I know what I did was wrong. I knew it before I did it. I didn’t really want to steal from that guy, but I wanted to help, and it was the only thing I could think of. Dashing Devil said I’m still a good person because I was doing it to help someone I loved. I am. Right?”
The hopefulness in his voice and eyes as he asked if he was still a good person clenched at Daisy’s heart. “of course you are, Connor. Just no more stealing—or anything else like that, okay? And why are you all dirty? Where did you get these clothes?” Daisy hit him with a burst of her bubbles as she returned to her standard size, just a few inches taller than her little brother.
The bubbles instantly washed away the grime from his face and cleaned the strange, oversized clothes he had gotten somewhere. It also reinforced them, so while they were still worn, they now had that trendy worn appearance instead of looking old and uncared for.
“I know it was wrong, sis, but I wanted to at least try to be smart. It’s a disguise, supposed make me look skinnier. Did it work?”
“A bit, but you’re already skinny.” Daisy sighed.
Connor got plenty to eat. She brought home dinner from the diner and there was easy breakfast and lunch stuff available. It was just that Connor never seemed to gain any weight. The doctors said it was fine at his age, and that he would fill out eventually, but it still felt like a failing.
Daisy wanted to fatten him up. She hoped her next job gave her more time to learn how to cook. She was figuring it out, now that she was looking for new work, and her Power made it fairly easy—although their modest supply of ingredients was dwindling.
“Dashing Devil really said he would sponsor me for a job?” Daisy asked.
Maybe her search was over. She was fast approaching a… desperate situation. Connor had seen her in a moment of weakness, but she wasn’t ready to go down that path—not yet.
“Yup,” Connor nodded, and Daisy saw an unfortunate amount of awe induced sparkle in her brother’s eyes.
She recognized the beginnings of Connor’s next obsession and wished he would find a better place to put the energy. Dashing Devil was a Hero, which meant he was just another lapdog for The Authority. Connor was young, though, and she didn’t want to crush him, so she chose not to squash his perfectly normal Hero worship.
“He’s like, really nice,” Connor stated with youthful enthusiasm. “I wanted to be mad at him because he caught me, but he just kept trying to help me. He said I should call him Boyd—that’s his real name, by the way—because we’re friends. Can you believe that? I’m on first name basis with a real Hero!”
Frankly, she didn’t believe it. “Really?”
“Mhmm, he added me to his contact list and said I should update my voice command to Boyd and everything. I’m not supposed to tell anyone about it but you, because he’s a Hero and people might come after me to get to him. So this way if I need to call him, I can just say Boyd, and no one will know.”
Daisy blinked, twice. “Never call him, unless you are in big trouble.”
“But why?” Connor looked aghast, likely having planned to call him regularly. “He said I could.”
“Because you don’t need a Hero involved in your life,” Daisy replied. “That can only lead to bad things.”
Mostly she was worried about her bother getting close to the Hero, only for him to die horribly in a few short months. It seemed like every time this Dashing Devil fought, he got a little closer to dead. Daisy didn’t expect him to last too long.
Which was a shame, really. He was easy on the eyes.
“But… he said…” Connor tried.
“I don’t care what he said, I’m saying only to call him if you are in big trouble.”
At the same time, her brother having a Hero he could call if he got into trouble for however long Dashing Devil lasted was something of a safety net.
“Now, is there anything else you would like to tell me?” Daisy asked.
“Um… he also gave me a credit chit. I’m supposed to use it to pay off the water and any other bills, then use whatever is left over to buy you an outfit for your interview tomorrow.” Connor pulled the plastic chit out of his pocket and held it up to show her.
“Well, that was very nice of Dashing Devil. We’ll have to make sure to pay him back once I start earning some money again.”
Daisy wasn’t really comfortable with the charity, but she knew that Heroes were well paid. If she was going to borrow money from anyone, a random Hero who wasn’t likely to live long enough to spend their money wasn’t a bad choice.
“How much did he give you?” A couple hundred credits would really help, Daisy thought to herself.
“Eleven hundred,” Connor said, pressing the button that made the chit light up with the number. “That should cover everything, right?”
Daisy nearly choked. They weren’t that far behind. Three hundred credits would have bought her another month of job searching, and she hadn’t dared hope for even that much. Eleven hundred credits were more than Daisy earned in two months at the diner, which had allowed them to save for Connors education and live comfortably—if frugally. It wasn’t a fortune, but it wasn’t pocket change.
That amount of money wasn’t freely given. There had to be strings...
“He just… gave that to you?” Daisy peered at the chit her brother so casually held up.
“Yup,” Connor cheered. “See? He’s a really nice guy.”
“Sure…”
Daisy wasn’t buying it. Life was never that easy. A couple hundred credits would have been nothing to a Hero, but more than a thousand was too much.
They couldn’t be paid that much, could they? She’d heard of Heroes giving large sums to charity or blowing money on extravagant things and parties, but just handing eleven hundred credits to a random kid on the street? One you’d just caught pickpocketing?
Nope, no way, nuh-uh. She wasn’t buying it. “Give it to me,” she held out her hand.
“But he said I’m supposed to…” Connor began.
“Now, Connor,” Daisy said sternly.
No way were they spending a single credit of that money. Best case scenario, the demonic appearing Changed Hero had good intentions—but they could do without water, and she had interview clothes already. Worst case, he was trying to lure them into some sort of deal with the devil and she wasn’t signing anything without reading the fine print, first.
“But sis…” Connor tried again.
“Don’t make me tell you again,” she stated with a firmness she’d learned through many such situations.
