The Costume
"Mark? What are you doing?"
My eyes widen... I'm probaby drunk. Can't tell. I ignore the person calling my name behind me, I'd been hoping she wouldn't catch me doing this... she'd gone to get drinks...
"Oh my god! What are you doing?!"
I turn around slowly. The alleyway I'm standing in is dark, eery and looks like a good place for a murder. I stare at the beautiful woman standing before me.,, and she looks down at my zipper. A huge smile breaks out across her beautiful lips.
"Mark... were you... peeing on the wall?" Mary asks as she passes a beer over. I take a gulp.
"I have no idea what you're talking about..."
"You were! I knew it!"
"Shut up..." She clinks her glass against mine.
"Now, now. Don't break out the insults just yet." She takes me forcibly by the arm and drags me out into the street. There isn't a soul in sight. "After all honey... the night's still young."
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Indigo City. 343 Days Later...
It's taken me a few hours to work up the courage to get this horrible thing on. I can't stand the color blue, there's a damn good reason for that... and I get the feeling Snipes knew that when he was given the task of getting this thing to me. The question of the day is WHO? Who decided to give me this stupid, goddamn costume? I'm not a superhero.... I've never been into superheroes. I've never seen any of the Captain Diplomacy movies, cartoons, video games, etc. Can't stand 'em. Idiots running around in stupid costumes. The second anyone sees me in this monkey suit they'll have me pegged as a Carrier.
My reflection looks at me in the mirror... and I look away. Things like this look ridiculous in real life. Imagine what would happen if a gigantic being in a purple outfit showed up and declared he was going to eat our planet! Everyone would fall over laughing. What works on paper simply doesn't work in real life sometimes. It may look cool on ink... or maybe even a blockbuster movie with an award winning design team behind it, but in real life? On my slim, pathetic frame? Hell no.
Another problem is this costume's mask. One HAS been provided... thank god. However it's so small that all it covers is my eyes. That's not going to do much against an FBI Crime Profiler. The second I start leaping across rooftops and fighting crime, a CBFT team will kick my door down and wait for me to get back.
"Not tonight..." I've made my decision... and before my brain can come up with a reason to keep it on I've thrown the costume back in my wardrobe... or chucked it. It's heavier then it looks... anyway I walk into the living room. Daisy is still awake (unsurprisingly) and sat on the couch watching TV. I sit down next to her, she doesn't pay me any attention. "Hey Daisy Baze." I know it's a stupid nick name. I know that Baze is a made up word... but I'm a single dad so I'm allowed to get away with it. She looks annoyed.
"I don't like you calling me that." She says with a matter of fact like tone. "It's stupid." She turns back to the TV where the actor Kevin Gerald is busy carving the Initials SH into someone's forehead.
"Yeah well..." I try to think of a witty retort without repeating my inner monologue. "I'm your dad... so I can get away with it." I'm unsuccessful. "Jesus..." I notice the screen. "What are you watching?!"
"Scalp Farmer 4: Scalp another day."
A grin twitches across my face. Those were the films my dad used to never shut up about. He lent me them nearly every time I saw him... but I never watched them. Daisy's too young for this stuff. Then again she lived through the Blight so there is that.
"Tell me about him." I've noticed the cape that the main character is wearing. Daisy gives me a puzzled look. "Scalp Farmer. Who is he? What's his character?"
"He's... a Superhero."
"A superhero?" Scalp Farmer has just thrown a Carrier Jet into a train just to kill a single person. "You have a strange concept of 'hero'."
"Well what do y-" Her nose twitches. Crap. "Dad. What are you doing?"
Oh crap. She knows I'm up to something. Sometimes I think she's an alien or something. A cool alien I mean. Not one of the aliens that caused the Great Impact. Seriously though she's freakishly smart. Her IQ is probably like... 1000 or something. "Uh.... nothing Sweetie." I say in a sweet...ish tone.
"We never talk about things like this." A thought flashes across her eyes. "Dad... are you-"
No point in lying to her... and it's better if I tell HER first. "Daisy..." I interrupt. "You like superheroes right?" She nods slowly. "And comics? And movies? And all that crap?" She nods again. The costume springs to mind again. "Good... what do you know about masks?"
"Masks?" She asks.
"As in... I'm going to a costume party... and... my Domino mask isn't big enough."
"Are you a superhero dad?"
Goddamn it. "....Yes. So can you help me?"
She pauses as if she's thinking.
"Get me a coat hood and some tissue paper."
To be continued.
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