Daphne In Distress

bubble wrap and sap

A/N thank you guys for actually liking my story it makes me so happy (:
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Antonio smiled to himself as he watched the superheroes worry themselves into a mania over the fact that the Firestorm was in their city.

They were pretty pathetic, really. Especially their de facto leader, Romulus Jupiter. Staging impromptu super meetings and coming with various strategies, titled Plan A to Plan J, all designed to counter Firestorm should he decide to act against them. It was kind of dumb, especially since Antonio knew all of their plans already.

Romulus Jupiter evidently did not have a very good security system in his house. He probably thought that nobody would dare break into the great RJ's house.

Pride was always the downfall of the good and the great.

In other words, Romulus Jupiter was totally pulling a Voldemort, thinking that nobody but he had penetrated the deepest secrets of Hogwarts.

Then Antonio let his mind wander to that curiously blue-eyed tree girl he'd met in the dark alley. Daphne Keeley, aka the Nymph. She hadn't seemed like those arrogant and proud superheroes he was so used to. How had she even ventured into such dangerous territories? She kind of reminded Antonio of...

He decided not to finish that sentence. Basically it was like he wanted to bundle her up in bubble wrap so she couldn't be hurt ever again.

Bleugh. No villain would ever be caught dead thinking mushy, sappy stuff like that. With that in mind, Antonio decided to forget about the Nymph. Like, for ever. He could totally do it, he was sure.

Two seconds later, blue eyes came floating back into his mind's eyes, and he groaned, throwing himself down onto his bed. It was going to be a long night.
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Daphne slumped against the side of her beat-up Ford Focus, panting. It had taken her a full fifteen minutes to lug all of her groceries to the car. Superpowers though she had, super strength and endurance were not among them. And she highly doubted branches would be useful for carrying goods. Normally, she wouldn't have bought so much, but it was Voldetort's birthday tomorrow, and she wanted to give him a surprise.

Who was Voldetort? Her pet tortoise, whom she'd adopted to keep her other pets company—Gillyweed and Myrtle the goldfish; Mikey, Donnie, Leo and Raph the turtles; and Annabeth and Perseus the hamsters.

She'd bought Voldetort a bunch of tortoise pellets for his birthday, and was even planning on making a little tortoise food cake.

Daphne was snapped out of her tortoise reverie by the sound of somebody slamming their door open and into the side of her car.

"Hey!" She yelled, pivoting to face the offender. "Tell your door to watch it!"

And then, to her utmost embarrassment, she realized who it was standing in front of her.

Tall, raven-haired and undeniably handsome Orion Wayne smiled back at her, without a trace of anger. "I'll make sure to do that."

Daphne wouldn't deny it. She squealed.

Oh come on. She'd had a crush on the guy since she was fourteen.

"Oh my god!"

"You called?" Romulus Jupiter laughed in good nature, seemingly unbothered by her outburst.

"No, no, it's just... You're Orion Wayne!" Daphne had to really control herself to stop her hyperventilating. She was already fantasizing about RJ sweeping her off her feet and into his arms, declaring his unconditional and mad love for her, and how they were going to drop everything and ride off into the sunset on a golden unicorn...

RJ frowned. "Do I know you?"

Daphne fell off the unicorn onto her arse.

"Yeah. Well no, I guess. I mean, I'm Mackenzie Keeley's sister," Daphne told him in a slightly deflated tone.

"Are you? You don't look like her." RJ didn't look like he wanted to make her pancakes with syrup and whisper sweet nothings into her ear. He just looked politely interested.

"Well. People do say she's the pretty one," Daphne chuckled humorlessly.

He nodded and laughed along. Daphne wondered if this was what it felt like to have your hopes and dreams crushed before your very eyes. Maybe this was how Snape felt when Lily walked away from him. How Hermia felt when Demetrius and Lysander suddenly loved Helena instead of her. How a little girl felt when her mother shunned her and doted on her brother. Rejected.

"Hey listen, umm..." RJ began, then paused looking confused.

"Daphne," she supplied listlessly.

"Yeah. I gotta go, but maybe I'll see you around sometime," he flashed her a smile and walked off into the supermarket.

The little voice in Daphne's head was telling her how pathetic she was as she drove home. It wouldn't go away as she unloaded her groceries and greeted her pets individually. It was there saying how she'd never be a good superhero as she showered. When she finally sat down on her couch with nachos and the tv remote within arm reach, she got to thinking.

Maybe you should just quit being a hero. The voice nagged.

Maybe I should. Daphne thought.

Yes! The voice seemed surprised that she'd given in. You should! Because you're horrible and pathetic and you'll never do any good and RJ will never like you—

But... I've wanted to do this since I was a kid, Daphne argued back. Since Mom...

Died? Got murdered? The voice finished her sentence maliciously. But what good are you doing? You're not like Kenzie. You're not making any difference in the battle between good and evil.

No, Daphne decided. I'm not. But I am going to win the war.

She'd made her choice. She wasn't totally worthless. Tomorrow, Daphne Keeley was going to capture Firestorm.