Iris Loganna
Chapter Seven

“Alright, alright, alright, what’ve we got here Duke?” “Rocky, may I present to you your brand new, million dollar, jumbo stereo! Features include 8 interchangeable CD slots, unlimited radio, speakers that will blast even the ears of those 6 city blocks away, and an iPod plug in so you can jam out to your ultimate favorite tunes.”

“Oh-ho, dude that is tight! Thanks man! You honestly don’t know how long I’ve been looking for this.” Rocky turned and faced his girlfriend and held out his hands. “What cha think Vic?”

“I think it’s just the center of attention for all the parties we’re gonna throw.”

“Oh, aren’t you just the little angel?” He said wrapping his arms around her, making her laugh. “Let’s say we go back inside?”

“That’ll be just divine.”

“Is there a ‘just’ thing goin’ on between you two or something?” Duke asked.

“Na man. It’s just the way we like talkin’ to each other when we’re in a good mood.”

“Oh.” So, the three of them went back inside the house to join the party again, and Rocky brought Vic to the couched and plopped down making her laugh again. “You know I love it when you laugh, right?”

“Mm, I think you’ve mentioned it before.” She teased, and then Rocky’s phone rang.

He picked it out of his pocket, and looked at the caller ID. “Uh, doll, I’m gonna have to take this.” Vic just made puppy eyes, but then laughed again as he did the same. “Be right back.” He said walking back through the crowd to make his way back outside. “Hello?” “Rocky, Dom here.”

“Yo Dom. What’s happenin’ my homie?”

“I need a favor.”

“Uh, hang in there for a moment while I get outside.”

“You throwing a shindig again?”

“What? Hang on.” Rocky finally got back out, and slid the door closed. “Okay, sorry dude. What was it you wanted?”

“I have a small favor to ask you.”

“Uh oh. No, I’m just kiddin’. Anything for a brother. What’s up?”

“I need a diversion of some sort. Nothing big, just enough to catch attention of early morning drivers.”

“How early we talkin’ about?” Rocky asked putting a hand on his hip.

“Somewhere between 6:35 and 6:40 AM this coming Monday.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem. What kinda work you dealin’ with?” Dominick looked at Iris. “I don’t know. Let me ask my girl here.” But just before he could ask, Rocky interrupted. “You got a girl? Since when are you to the one with the ladies?” He teased. “I’ll explain later, now let me ask.” He put the phone into his shoulder so Rocky wasn’t hearing anything. “My friend here is wondering exactly what kind of work this is.”

“Mm. A whoopin’. Just tell him it’s a butt whoopin’.” Dominick sort of smiled, and then brought the phone back to his ear.

“Seems like we’re gonna be delivering a swift kick in the pants to a guy called Genievo.”

“Albert Genievo? The newspaper guy who made a big name for himself?”

“The same.”

“Alright. I’ll see what I can pull together for ya.”

“Thanks Rock. I owe you one.”

“6:35 Monday morning then?”

“Yup.”

“Alright, see you then. Later man.”

“Later.” They hung up, and Dominick looked at Iris. “It’s done.” “Excellent. Now, we just gotta get you something that’ll keep you from getting injured by whatever powers Genievo has. Charles, intrigued by the idea, then spoke up. “Splendid idea mistress. I, I could draw up some things that might work for your needs.” Iris looked over to him as he smiled, and then started nodding. “Okay. Alright Charles, this’ll be a great chance for you to prove your worth. Just draw them up as I list the powers we know he has, and we’ll see how it goes. Okay?” Had Charles been a human, he would’ve put his fists up in happiness. “Wonderful!” He cheered, but the he quickly changed his voice to sound professional again. “Wonderful. When will you have me start?” “Effect of immediately.”

Iris started running over the list of known powers Genievo possessed, and Charles recorded them in the archives. Power after power was listed, but only to a point, and Charles took each one into account as he thought of different designs for their protective gear. “I’m not sure if the flames came from his hands or what, but the guy was definitely burnt.” “Alright, so we need something that’s fireproof. What else does he have? He has strength, he has flight, claws, and fire.” Iris paused and pondered for a minute as she ran over her past memories. “Well, just to be safe, Charles, the suit needs to be scratch resistant, flameproof, capable of absorbing blasts of any kind without us getting hurt, bulletproof, and…what else.” “May I suggest that they also be rip resistant, considering his strength?”

“Brilliant. We just gotta make sure that we take every precaution before we walk into this.”

“Quite understood madam. We wouldn’t want another incident like we did all those years ago, now would we?”

“Quite.” Dominick was confused. “What incident?”

“I was ambushed by him and a few of his minions that had the capability to dig through the ground like that scorpion thing in Transformers. That reminds me, might as well make it drill proof as well.”

“Oh. I get it.”

Long hours of planning and naming passed, and it was soon supper time. Iris’ stomach growled loud enough for Dominick to hear it, and he looked up from his drawing. “Ha, ha. Sorry, I guess it’s time to take a break.” Dominick straightened, and said, “You want me to cook somethin’ up for you?”

“Oh, no I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

“You sure? It’s no bother.”

“You’d do that?”

“Hey, I can grill up some mean ribs if you could stir up some potatoes or something.”

“Alright.” She noticed the drawing he was making, and stood on her toes to try and see what it was. “What you got there?” Seeing that she was looking at the drawing, he said, “Nothing, just a crappy sketch.”

“Of what?” she asked with curiosity in her voice, starting to head over to where he stood. He picked up the drawing, and hid it behind his back as he started walking backward. Iris laughed. “Come on, let me see it.” “No,” he laughed. As she started to reach behind him to get it, he lifted it above his head, and held it at an angle so she couldn’t get it. “Oh, come on. That’s no fun. I can’t reach it if you do that.” “That’s kind of the point.” Iris jumped, but missed again and again, until finally she gave up and made a pouty face. Then Charles called them to the kitchen, and Dominick set the drawing back down on the table as Iris left the room in front of him. Little did Dominick know, however, that Charles would come back into the room, and look down at the sketch. “Hmm. That might not be a bad idea.” He scanned it, saved it in the archives, and went straight back to the kitchen.

“So is all of you house sterile white?” Dominick asked as the entered the white cooking area. “Well most of it, anyway. My Uncle’s room has color, but it’s also very messy.”

“You live with your Uncle?”

“I did. He left for some reason I can’t seem to fathom though.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t be. I don’t feel bad. Aw ha. Here you go.” She pulled out a full rack of thawed ribs, and set them in his arms. “Kind of much, don’t you think? For just the two of us I mean.”

“Na. We can eat it. I haven’t had a normal meal like this in a long time, so I think we’re good.”

“Alright; how do you like them?”

“Mm…a little bit of rare, and the rest can be medium rare.”

“Just how rare do you want the rare?”

“Rare enough that it still has juice in it. Pretty pink, to say the least.”

“Right. Now if you could point me to where your grill is.” Iris went behind him, and turned him a little to the left, and then pointed. “It’s just in there.” “Where?” Dominick asked confused. Iris turned her head back enough that Charles could hear her. “Charles, would you mind opening the door?” He didn’t answer, and just went straight to it. The wall quickly moved back, and then slowly slid left, creating a doorway. “See it now?” Dominick laughed, and walked forward as Iris gave him a gentle push. “Charles, go on in there so he makes sure he knows what he’s doing.” “Of course, mistress.”

As Dominick saw the grill, he just about dropped the ribs. It was one of those grills that allowed you to cook two racks of ribs, 15 burgers, and about 20 brats. Charles came in, and saw that he was amazed. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.” Dominick said. “I know. Pretty amazing, right?” Dominick turned and put the rack down as he pointed to the grill as he spoke. “You know that there’s only 8 of these ever made, right?” “It should ring a bell.” Dominick walked over and fingered the stainless-steel hood and hand bar. Charles made his mobile transporter roll over next to him. “How was she able to get this?” he asked, but then he was startled as he turned to see Charles was right beside him. “Whoa.” “I’m sorry. I should’ve warned you.”

“No that’s alright. I just didn’t expect you to…well…move.”

“I know sir. You’ve seen me jump from room to room, but never be able to move as a human would.”

“I guess so.”

“So here’s what you do.”

Charles showed him how to operate it, and they cooked and marinated until they hit perfection. Dominick even offered Charles to try a bite, but it didn’t work out so well. So Charles just windshield wiped the screen, cleaning it from the barbeque sauce, and then squirted Dominick with water. Once they were all done, they took it out to the indoor patio, and enjoyed a nice, home cooked meal together. Every bite Iris took was another sensation, and she complemented Dominick’s work quite often, but not enough to annoy him. They chatted and got to know each other, and even a bit about Charles that Iris didn’t even know.

“So what about you, Dominick?” Iris asked as she scrapped the sauce off her fingers with her lips. “What’s your past like?” Dominick set his napkin down, and sat back in his chair, thinking of where to start. Then Charles thought of a question to help him think of exactly where to begin. “Did you have any other girls besides my mistress here?” “Charles, be polite.”

“No, he’s okay.” A distant memory came back, and so he decided to tell them about that. “I did. Once. Her name was Jessica, and we’d known each other for…” he paused, trying to make it look like he was thinking when he actually was trying to think of a lie, “about 5 years, and I had asked her to be my girlfriend. She was one of those cautious girls who didn’t want to rush into things, but when she considered the number of years we’d known each other, she was cool with it. So we dated for another three years, and then it all went downhill.” “How so?” Charles asked. “I went to work one day, and then that afternoon I got a phone call saying that she was cut to death. I rushed home, and found her in the back yard. It was true. She had two huge, deep cuts in between her shoulder blades, and as I turned her over, she had been cut three times next to her left eye, and stabbed in the stomach.” As he continued, a memory also came to Iris’ mind. This sounded an awful lot like one of the instances she had encountered. And then he said something that made her feel awful. “It wasn’t until they took her to the hospital that they found that she had been carrying for a month. They weren’t able to save either of them. When I asked them what it was, they said that I had lost a son. I had lost two things that were dear to me that night, but I vowed that I’d replace whoever did it, and make them pay for what they did.” His eyes began to get glossy, but he stopped them from getting to be obvious. “I’m so sorry.” Iris said sorrowfully. He sniffed and looked over at her. “Don’t be. They’ll get what’s coming to them soon.” “Oh so you found who did it?” Charles asked. “Mm-hmm. Turns out he’s done that to a few people, and he has an accomplice. I know where they are too.” That sparked another memory, and Iris said, “Jiminy Cricket! I need to get somewhere.” “Where could you possibly need to be at this hour?” Charles asked confused. “You remember that Reginald fellow?” “Yes.”

“He told me where he lives, and I haven’t gone to save those poor girls yet.”

“Reginald who?” Dominick asked, thinking the name was familiar.

“Reginald Spaak. A geeky name for a child, but he prefers to go by Justice now.”

“Spaak, as in Star Trek Spaak?”

“His parents were weird, but yes, that’s what they wanted their name to be.”

“I know him.”

“Do you now?” Iris stood, and prepared herself to leave. “Then you wouldn’t mind coming along and keeping him at bay then.” Dominick stood, and followed her back in the house and into her room.

On their entry, Charles greeted them, and then Dominick looked around. “Eesh.”

“Hey now, don’t judge me because I like white.”

“Oh, so you like white. That explains a lot.” Iris threw something at him playfully, but he caught it and tossed it on the bed. As Iris went behind a room sectional, Charles spoke softly to Dominick. “Psst, Dominick. Forgive me, but I did quite like that drawing you made of what you wanted your suit to look like.” Dominick was about to speak, but then he leaned back to make sure Iris wasn’t in ear shot, and also spoke softly. “You looked?” “Forgive me.” Charles said nodding shyly. “And you liked it?” Charles perked up. “It didn’t look crappy to you?” “No sir. I thought it was quite the masterpiece.”

“Oh. Well thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I hear you two.” Iris said coming around the corner, still messing with her hair. She looked like she was a little oriental girl; she had on a Chinese looking top that was comfortably tight, and skinny jeans with her hair held up with chops sticks that were meant for hair. Dominick stared for a moment before he said, “You look great.” “Thank you.” She said, putting her hands down. “But now it’s your turn.” Dominick was confused, but then Iris said, “Just kidding, you’re fine. Come over here.” Iris brought him over to the flight deck. “This is for you. I thought you could use your own experience of flying.” She said pointing out the sugar glider suit. “That’s cool.”