The Protagonist System

213 Agreements and Disagreements

After a long heart to heart talk with Sveta, in which she used her powers a few times to change the rate of time we experienced as practice, I created an Atlas plushie for her and she squealed like Ginny Weasley did when I gave her a Harry Potter one. I left the Asylum with a much lighter heart and with a plan of action in mind.

I flew up into the air and out of sight, made myself invisible, and apparated back to above Brockton Bay and made myself visible again as I flew back to the Dallon house. I landed in the backyard and entered the house and heard a heated argument.

I sighed and entered the kitchen to see my mom berating them for making me out to be an idiot that could so easily fall for a woman's charms. “They're right, though.”

All three of them gasped and turned to face me, looking guilty.

“It's what I have to do to sell this properly, so that's what I'll do.” I told them. “I've already publicly kissed Miss Militia and hugged her for a few minutes, so including that behavior and how much I do hug and kiss Amy's and Vicky's cheeks in public, I can just expand that out to Vicky's friends, and possibly another girl I know at school, and no one will even think twice about it.”

“Greg, you don't have to do that.” My mother said. “Just ignore it all and...”

“No, giving the girls the cold shoulder would make us look bad for a different reason. Me for ignoring them and them for doing something to make me ignore them.” I said and Sarah and Carol nodded. “It's better if I keep on keeping on, occasional hugs and maybe a kiss on the cheek, only I'll spread it around and claim they're my friends now, like Amy and Vicky, and it's allowed.”

“That... that might work out even better than what we came up with.” Carol said and gave me an oddly appreciative look. “You're not going to treat it like nothing happened, you're going to treat it like what happened is normal.”

I smiled and nodded. “I had a talk with a friend and it let me see the best way to approach this whole thing. You see, what I thought Amy and I had was significant, only I thought that. Vicky, well she's Vicky. The newest popular thing around would have her jump all over it without hesitation.”

Sarah, Carol, and my mother all nodded in agreement.

“So, where is the paperwork we need to sign?” I asked and Carol led us through the house to her home office. I admired her ass in the casual slacks she wore and I didn't bother trying to hide that I was.

Carol sat down behind her desk, her face slightly red, and she took out the settlement paperwork. My mother gasped when she saw the amount on the last sheet and I patted her knee. We both signed and used our initials where necessary and it was done. Twelve million dollars was a nice tidy sum.

“I'll file the acceptance of terms first thing Monday morning.” Carol said and her voice sounded almost giddy, probably because she would receive 20% of the settlement. “The transfer should go through by the end of the business day.”

I nodded, as did my mother, and we stood at the same time. The NDA and gag order would stop any of us from speaking about it publicly or we would forfeit the settlement. Needless to say, we would be keeping our mouths firmly shut about the whole thing.

“With that done and out of the way...” Carol stood and walked around her desk to give us a bright smile. “...I can't thank you enough for allowing me to handle that for you.”

My mother stepped forward and hugged her before she could react. “I'm just happy that it's over and we don't have to worry about it anymore and never have to talk about it again.”

“As am I.” I said. As soon as my mother let Carol go and stepped back, I stepped forward and hugged her, too.

Carol was stiff for only a moment, then she relaxed and hugged me back. She seemed to form her body against mine and let out a sad little sigh. I was sure she hadn't had a good hug in a long time and her trust issues probably stopped her from ever attempting to take them for herself.

“Go ahead.” I whispered in her ear and she blushed. “I need the practice to not react.”

Carol huffed and leaned her head back to look up at my face. “Really?” She asked, her voice full of disbelief.

I gave her a crooked smile. “Like mother, like daughter.”

My mom giggled and turned away, totally getting what I was implying.

Carol rolled her eyes at me and then I felt two strong hands grab hold of my butt and give me a squeeze. I couldn't resist letting out a little sound like I was a dog's squeaky toy and my mother burst out laughing. Carol blushed and let me go, then she swatted at my chest a few times for teasing her. She couldn't hide the smile on her face, though.

“I think that works out to you earning 1.2 million per cheek, Miss Dallon.” I joked.

My mother kept laughing and started smacking me, too. “That's... haha... not funny!”

I did not remind her that she was still laughing or that both she and Carol were having fun smacking me around a little. It also eased the slight tension in their shoulders and they eventually slowed down and looked happy. Since I didn't want any hard feelings between us, I leaned down and kissed Carol's cheek, then I kissed my mother's.

“Thank you for your help.” I said to them and they both blushed slightly.

Carol looked conflicted for a moment before she stepped close to press her considerable chest to mine and she rested her hands on my shoulders. “I do regret not consulting you before enacting the plan with the girls and I want to thank you as well for agreeing to go along with it.” She said, her hands lightly gripping my muscles. “If anyone else found out what Amy and Vicky did...”

“There's security footage.” I said and she gasped and tried to step back, only I grabbed her by the waist and held her close. “No, it's fine. They are keeping it quiet and your plan lets us play it off as part of that. I did jump the gun and scared her with what I said, so I'll do my penance with social awkwardness and that'll be that.”

Carol sighed and nodded. “Then I need to doubly thank you.”

I looked down at her chest pressed against mine, that her blouse barely concealed, and I looked back into her eyes. I wagged my eyebrows at her and she blushed.

“That's not what I meant.” Carol denied, even if her voice wasn't as firm as it should have been. She also didn't try to step away.

“I know.” I said and let her waist go. “I was just letting you know it was thanks enough.”

Carol nodded and let out a soft breath as she stepped back. “Then we need to go tell Sarah the good news.”

“There are some donuts left, too.” My mother said and took my hand as she led me out of the home office towards the kitchen. “Just don't eat the soggy one.”

“Why not?” I asked, curiously.

“Some inconsiderate person licked off all the chocolate icing and ate the sprinkles.” She answered, as if delivering a huge secret.

“That was you.” Carol said from behind us.

“Shh! He didn't need to know that!” My mother exclaimed.

I couldn't help but laugh at that and Sarah smiled as we entered the kitchen. Carol took her aside and quickly explained what happened and that I was still going along with everything. I wasn't really listening, because I was teasing my mother by trying to grab the soggy donut and she was trying to keep it away from me while also feeding me bits of another one.

“Atlas, I need to apologize and thank you, too.” Sarah said as Carol sat at the kitchen table.

I turned to face her in time for her to wrap her arms around my waist and she hugged me for a second, then her two firm hands grabbed my butt and squeezed, so I made that squeaky toy sound again.

“Sarah!” Carol gasped and my mother laughed.

“He really does squeak?” Sarah asked with a teasing smile as she let me go.

“You didn't have to try it out for yourself!” Carol accused.

Sarah laughed at her reaction and my mother gave her a thumbs-up gesture.

It took Carol a few seconds to realize how that sounded, as in keeping my squeaking butt to herself, and she groaned and dropped her head to the kitchen table. Her sister sat beside her and hugged her with one arm and my mother handed Sarah a donut as a reward.

We stayed there for another half an hour, just talking about how things were going to be going forward. My mother said she would act like nothing happened and would also not ostracize Amy at work when she was there. She wasn't going to hold how Amy felt against her, she just wasn't going to be as close to her as she thought she was going to be.

When Carol asked about what she meant, my mom told her how she had mentioned a few times to Amy about being her future mother-in-law, then explained that Amy must have thought she was joking, making both Carol and Sarah look sad.

“Now we can only be friends and that might not work out well, because of our age differences.” My mother said and looked over at me. “Of course, if Amy ever changes her mind...”

I held up my hands and shook my head. “She took an adamant stand and Vicky supported her. I'm not going to waste my time or effort trying to convince the both of them that they made a mistake.” I said and nodded at Carol and Sarah. “Their mom and aunt already told them that and they still didn't change their minds.”

“I almost ordered Vicky to call and apologize before begging you to take her back.” Carol said.

“I wouldn't have believed that for a second.” I admitted.

“That's what I said.” Sarah responded. “You're too smart to fall for that.”

I forcibly had to close my mouth to not remind her that their plan was for me to be the idiot that fell for Vicky's plan to get Amy and I together. My mother saw my reaction and knew me best, so she leapt from her chair and onto my lap to hug me. She didn't say anything and neither did I.

“What else do you want to do today?” I asked her to change the subject.

“I think we should hit the boardwalk for a nice stroll and then maybe dig our toes into the sand on the beach.” My mother said. “What do you think?”

“It's January.” I answered and she nodded. “Sure, why not.”

My mom smiled and pecked me on the lips. “Then we better get going. It's the weekend and might be crowded.”

I chuckled and did not tell her the beach had been closed for months. “We need our coats.”

“I'm not crossing half the city to only come right back.” My mother said and climbed off of my lap. “Oh! We can buy new ones!” She said excitedly and grabbed my hand. “Let's go shopping!”

Before I knew it, we were out of the house and I was unceremoniously shoved into the passenger seat of her car. We were off a moment later and I was looking forward to having fun while making my mother happy.

*

Narwhal, the 7 foot tall cape with extremely long pale purple hair, always used her power to create a single 3 foot long horn on her forehead and she coated her skin in fingernail-sized crystalline forcefields, giving her a very exotic violet-blue look. She flew into Brockton Bay almost completely unnoticed until she landed in front of the most expensive hotel in the city.

She had been smart and called ahead to reserve a room, only to find out that the penthouse suite was rented out for the next week. She chose the luxury suite on the floor below it and would stay there until the presidential suite was free.

There were a few people out and about at this time of the morning and a some of them had their cell phones out to record her as she entered the hotel.

“Miss Narwhal, we didn't expect you until noon.” The man behind the counter greeted her.

“I didn't expect to show up this early, until my secretary reminded me I haven't had a vacation in almost five years, so here I am.” Narwhal responded.

The man chuckled and handed her the registry to sign. “The suite is empty at the moment, so you don't have to wait for anyone to vacate it.”

Narwhal nodded and signed with her cape name. “What are the breakfast options?”

“You can use the personal room service or attend the buffet in the concierge room.” The man answered and pointed where to go.

“Thank you.” Narwhal said and handed her overnight bag to the bellboy.

“Suite 2.” The man behind the counter said. “Don't dawdle.”

The young man held the bag like it was made of gold and walked quickly towards the elevator.

Narwhal nodded at the efficiency and went to enjoy the buffet. She was quite used to the normal food back at the PRT HQ and the dishes spread before her made her regret not having the budget to bring in better food options.

The server behind the table looked amused at her expression and recommended the devilled eggs and also mentioned adding a drop of hot sauce to make them even spicier.

Narwhal accepted the advice and tried one, the dab of sauce really did make the flavour pop in her mouth, so she took six more to garnish her plate and loaded it up with the fluffiest scrambled eggs she had ever seen and the crispiest hash browns.

The server's suggestion of a dribble of maple syrup over the hash browns was almost rejected, then Narwhal figured he knew what he was talking about and tried it... and it was delicious! She didn't go overboard, though. She knew it was to accentuate the taste, not used to coat the food with.

She tried to sit at one of the tables near the wall a little awkwardly, because of her very long legs and the chair and tables were quite short. After trying a few times and not being able to get comfortable, she pushed the chair out of the way and sat on the floor. She stuck her long legs under the table and crossed her ankles, leaned back against the wall, and relaxed as she put the plate on her lap and ate.

As she enjoyed the different tastes on her plate, Narwhal glanced around the room to see who else was staying there at the hotel. Her eyes almost immediately saw the yellow fluffy feathers on the blonde head of a very pretty woman across the room.

Narwhal knew who she was and tried to not put herself on guard, even if the criminal Bad Canary had been on the brink of being sent to the Birdcage and was only released on a technicality. Almost as if she heard Narwhal's thoughts, Paige Macabee looked over at her and smiled a huge smile, slightly unnerving her.

Paige stood up and left her half-eaten breakfast on her table and walked over to Narwhal, whom tensed up, despite her position sitting on the floor and with her ankles crossed. It stopped her from being able to jump to her feet and she would have to rely on her flight ability if the cape attacked her.

“My powers only work when I'm singing.” Paige said as she walked by Narwhal instead of stopping beside her. “But, does singing include humming? Clicking my tongue in rhythm? Whistling?”

Narwhal thought her very wide smile was even more unnerving up close as Bad Canary left the room and the tension she felt started to fade, until she heard it.

“Haaave a gooood daaay, Narwhalll.” Bad Canary's singsong voice floated back to her.

Narwhal waited for any kind of mastering feeling or like she was being controlled, only for nothing to happen. “I need to do something about this.”

The server watched as Narwhal quickly ate her food much faster than she should have.

Narwhal carefully stood up to her full height when she was done and strode out of the room like her ass was on fire. She needed to report to the director of the local PRT branch that Bad Canary was there in the city and they all needed to be careful.

“I'm supposed to be on vacation.” Narwhal complained as she flew up into the air and then towards the PRT building. Vacation or not, she wouldn't shirk her duties to protect the public from a known threat.