Put on Your Shades 'Cause I'll be Dancing in the Flames

[sonoflongshot]

Ever since Angel had been beat up by some bigots, Aiden had taken to patrolling of sorts. Just to keep an eye out for organized gatherings. How he had managed to squeeze it in between working as a popular bartender, training with his fellow New Mutants, and keeping Angel company was beyond his ability to consider. He just did what needed to be done.

Like tonight.

He had gotten a good idea on where a local chapter of the Friends of Humanity liked to hang out. The Mojoworlder knew about the chapter at Sara and Angel's school, but this was encroaching too close to home. While he could tell the others and they could go be proactive about it, Aiden decided to do this with sneaks and stealth.

He had on his black-lightweight hoodie as he sorted through gear on his side of his bed. While he could produce whatever hand-held weapon of hard-light, he needed help for anything at a distance. Sabotage was the game of the night, so he was carefully choosing projectiles that didn't scream ninja.

Comments

[crawler_kid]

Angel had been fortunate to have found a new job working for Rutgers directly in one of the offices. A welcome relief since she'd been let go from her last job, under pressure from some of those same bigots. It wasn't much, but it helped put cash in her pockets well enough and kept her occupied. Plus, it actually helped defray some of the costs of her schooling, and helped the school maintain its "mutant friendly" reputation.

Her hours were fewer during the summer months, but she had some plans for next year she'd been researching.

This brought her into the bedroom. "Aiden, have you seen that book Ah..."

She stopped, blinking large yellow eyes. "What in tarnation are you doing?"

[sonoflongshot]

Aiden looked up from what he was doing like a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar. He had thought he had more time to get his gear together and sneak out.

"Well, poop."

That wasn't the answer he knew Angel would be looking for.

"Would you believe taking inventory?" That was enough of the truth to not tell the why. His grin was a bit too wide to be genuine. He snatched a small bundle of throwing spikes and shoved it into one of the hoodie pockets.

[crawler_kid]

Angel crossed her arms. Probably a mistake, since it drew attention to her cleavage, and she needed Aiden's attention focused her, but, well, live and learn.

"And you're doing this now because...?"

[sonoflongshot]

Aiden's eyes went to Angel's arms when she crossed them.

"... to get you to cross your arms?" He was enjoying the view. Though he did shake his head to try to make the boob distraction go away. He had things to do.

He snagged a couple other bits from the bed, including some gloves, and shoved them in his pockets. The rest of the gear went back into his gear bag.

Though he managed to do all of it by touch because his eyes kept straying to Angel. Or a currently emphasized part of her at least.

"Uhm..."

[crawler_kid]

A look of annoyance passed over Angel's face.

"Aiden," she repeated, "what're you really doin'? You're up to somethin'..."

[sonoflongshot]

He totally did not see the look of annoyance. He did catch the tone of her voice though.

"Just... getting some things together to go out on patrol. Or, uh, spyonsomebigots. You know, easy nighttime ninja stuff." He started shoving the leftover things into the pack faster.

[crawler_kid]

Oh, Lord...

"Aiden," she said, fixing him with the best glare her yellow eyes could muster. "Are you spyin' on the folks what beat me up?"

[sonoflongshot]

"Well, not anymore per se... Sara and I did a little harassing for awhile." He finished shoving things in his bag and looked up at Angel's face. He winced a little at the glaring.

"Some of them could be there tonight, but non-friendly humanities tend to clump like mold. So..." He shrugged. "I guess the answer is not quite anymore?"

[crawler_kid]

Angel fought the urge to facepalm. "How is it you manage to be absolutely endearing and infuriatin' at the same time?"

[sonoflongshot]

Aiden gave the question some consideration. He scratched his chin and then realized he was due for his weekly shave.

"Talent?" he offered hopefully.

[crawler_kid]

Right. She really needed to remember not to ask rhetorical questions.

"Okay, Ah'll give you that one," she admitted. "But really... Ah don't know that Ah like you riskin' yourself like this, Sugah."

[sonoflongshot]

He shoved his hands in his pockets. "It's not really a risk. My bike'll be parked a few blocks away. I can go invisible to, from, and at their meeting place."

He toed at the floor. "I'm not risking you or any other mutants getting attacked by these nutjobs. They already... they already cheer over hurting you. So, I'm making it look like a bad choice. Sabotaging what I can."

[crawler_kid]

Angel took in a deep breath.

"Okay," she said. "Ah trust you, Sugar."

Another breath. "And thank you."

[sonoflongshot]

Aiden blinked.

...

He blinked again. He scratched his head. This was not turning out like he imagined when he pondered the possibility of getting caught. He figured it would be along the long line of things like him wanting a blowtorch, the giant fire pit, and other hot and/or explode-y things.

"You're welcome. Uhm... you wanna come with?"

[crawler_kid]

Angel wasn't a complete killjoy. Especially when it came to bigots getting theirs.

This got a laugh out of her. "Oh, do Ah ever."

[sonoflongshot]

"Well then," he said with a grin, "let's get you suited up to be less obvious. Need to be prepared if my invisibility disappears. Some dark clothing should do."

He started pulling things back out of his ninja backpack.

[crawler_kid]

Angel headed over to her dresser. "Ah think Ah've got something that'll do...."

Shame she didn't get nice shadow-blending powers like her Daddy, but she made do with what she had.

[sonoflongshot]

"Mm. How good are you with projectiles?" Aiden was proficient, but his twin had gotten the hit stuff great genes.

He sorted through his things to find bits that could look like common, everyday objects. And few things made with common, everyday chemicals.

"Your fur doesn't leave fingerprints, right? So you won't need gloves, really..."

[crawler_kid]

"Nothin' anybody's recognize," Angel said.

She started changing while she talked.

"Good enough, Ah reckon. Always did all right when we played softball back at the mansion."

[sonoflongshot]

"Alright. I won't expect any Dad-level precision." Which could work for them. Aiden needed this to look like random accidents or he was going to feel sorry for a sterilized angry mob on their front lawn.

He picked out a few bits for Angel.

"You're going to have to hold onto a part of me at all times when we get off the bike. My invisibility still only works by touch."

[crawler_kid]

Angel flashed him a flirty grin. "Oh, Ah don't think Ah'll have any problem with that."

Sure, this was serious, but that didn't mean it couldn't be fun too. There was a little too much Gypsy spirit in Angel to ever be fully serious.

[sonoflongshot]

Angel could handle the fun bits. Aiden was being focused for once. He needed to be. This was a mission with little to no back-up. And the reason to even have to do this hurt both his hearts.

If he had only been a couple minutes earlier...

He shook his head and got the bits he pulled aside for Angel ready.

"Good. I'd hate to be untouchable."

[crawler_kid]

Angel never blamed Aiden for what happened, not even for an instant. If anything, she blamed herself for not being good enough, having let her fighting skills get rusty.

She finished pulling her dark top on. "All right," she said. "Ah'm ready."

[sonoflongshot]

Aiden never told Angel he felt responsible. He had wanted her to focus on healing. He planned on... doing what he was doing now.

The Mojoworlder scooped up the gear and brought it over to his fiancée. "Here. This should cover things to make it go sizzle, boom, or phhhhhht. Might be an achoo in there, too."

Once she was set to go, it would be off to his bike.

[crawler_kid]

"You're been puttin' a lot of thought into this," Angel said. She wasn't surprised. Aiden was certainly... unique in his thought processes, but once he put his mind to something, there were few who were better.

"Got it," she said. "Let's roll."