"Where are we goin'?" Griffin whines.
"Up to New York, go back to sleep." Dallas flicks his forehead.
It smelled in New York. Period. She had no other thoughts. It reeked of smog, hotdogs and gasoline. The traffic hit hard as soon as they entered through Queens, it barely moved an inch a minute. Ridiculous. They had to wait hours before they could even be anywhere.
Dallas decided on parking the car in free parking and heading off to a local park she had seen on the new phone she bought earlier.
Currently she and Griffin were munching on some hotdogs that a local stand is offering along the sidewalk down a ways from where they sit on a bench in front of the lively dead grass where little children play with their parents and friends.
Out here it doesn't smell as bad which Dallas likes about it, a first positive in the many negatives she's taken note of already, and it hasn't even been a whole day! It is afternoon, there is a light tickling breeze on the back of her neck as she eats. Her legs are crossed up on the bench in a crisscross, Griffins are settled on the ground mannerly.
"Why'd we come all tha way up here anyways." He has so many perfected manners, chewing or for this love of it–talking with his mouth full of food is most definitely not one of those perfections.
"I wanted the see the place, it's cool isn't it?" She asks, her food not in her mouth as she does so.
He thinks on it, takes another bite and responds, "It's pretty noisy, hm, lots a people here too."
Don't comment on it. Don't comment on it.
"Maybe more people is what we need." She suggests, and waves her hand freely.
Griffin slumps slightly, takes another bite and speaks, again full of food, "Just makes more people we could care about, no? Plus there's probably not many places ta race here."
Keep yourself together, Dallas.
"I bet there's way more places around here to race, maybe a group we can hang with for a while too." Dallas says, then takes a bite of her food after she finishes speaking.
Griffins head turns now, "We plan on staying?"
"I mean, it's definitely something to think about. Isn't it?" She looks and sees a struggle in his eyes, like he wants to tell her what he thinks but doesn't want to offend her.
"Don't get me wrong now, Dal—" He starts.
"—But you don't want to care about anyone else, is it?" She finishes for him, quickly snapping off his sentence. The hotdog wrapper, empty in her hands now crumples into a ball.
Griffin gets this look in his eye when theirs connect in the moment. She's seen it before, she knows all about it actually. It's not the first time she's seen it frankly.
When she first met him Dallas quickly noticed that he didn't like arguing, no, Griffin would either shut up or take his opinion else where. He'd never get into it, he was simply a complicated person that way. It's not that he'd never argue because he does, but he also keeps most of what he's feeling inside and doesn't push it if he feels it's unnecessary.
So now when Dallas sees this look she always pushes just that much more because wants to know how or what he's feeling or thinking. She always wants him to know that with her his opinions are valid and he doesn't need to hold back. It wasn't a promise for her to not retaliate in argument but it was for him to be able to be open.
She'd told him she'd always listen, because she cares. So now seeing his look of wavering uncertainty and eye darting, Dallas reassesses and takes a breath.
"Tell me what you're thinking Griff." Dallas nudges his leg.
"It's not anythin'." He waves off, and goes to sit his elbows on his knees with his head propped up on his hands.
"It's not not anything though. Spit it out." Dallas pushes.
Griffin leans back with a audible sigh, "I jus' don't wanna get attached to nothin' real fast okay? Coop barely died a week ago, and I don't want myself attached anywhere yet."
I already am attached here.
"I understand you, I do." She breathes.
"I know ya do. Let's see what else this place has got yeah?" Griffin stands up and offers his out to her, she takes it and gets off the bench and drops her hand as soon as she's up, throws away her wrapper and walks alongside her friend.
They walk around Queens for a while, there was lots to see that was new, most of it though was tourist knickknacks in stores. Dallas really likes the ones where it had her name on a license plate or a snow globe. It was a dumb buy but on a shelf in the near back was a dragon-like figure with her name on it for the dash of the car, so she allowed herself this once to get something odd and probably useless.
It was dark now, they'd long since left Queens and are in Manhattan now, driving slowly through the neighborhoods Dallas had trailed off to in search of somewhere to park and sleep for the night. She is feeling exhausted from driving so much today, her eyes are starting to flutter and she just really needs to park and go to bed.
A spot in the dirt between a old building that the poor presumably live in is where Dallas decides she can't drive any further and has to stop for the night. The car gets parked and the headlights switch off.
A sigh drains the life out of her body. Everything empties itself from her tense body and she can finally finally feel like she can breathe for the first time today. She's so close to following Griffin to dreamland when she sees something flash above the building.
Frowning now she gently pulls herself out of the car and into the freezing night, attempting to see for herself what that was. Dallas quietly closes the door, she has the keys in her pocket so she's not worried about leaving Griffin locked inside as she wonders forward looking up.
It happens again so fast Dallas hardly processes that there was actually something there and above her head.
"That's the Iron Legion, they patrol for an hour then go home to Starks Tower." A disembodied voice says.
With her neck craned so far back Dallas hadn't realized she'd wondered further away from her car, almost down a whole street to see what was flying, that a voice had snuck up on her. Automatically she stops looking up and starts searching for the voice.
It is way darker on the streets in New York than it is in Malibu, there's more shadows which makes more places for people to hide and Dallas doesn't like the feeling that she was exposed in the moonlight and someone had had the chance to even sneak up on her. It has her tense again that's for sure.
She doesn't know what people are like here. Didn't even look it up. She assumed that they would be like the ones back in Malibu,
off-standish at first then sort of nice later on or at least more bearable. But here in New York, Dallas hadn't even considered that there could be worse people here. Maybe more like the ones that killed Cooper back in Malibu.
"Come out, wherever you are." Dallas is entirely uncomfortable, she doesn't even know where to look.
"Making demands now are we?" The voice sounds worse each time it replays in here head.
"Is that what I'm doing?" She retorts.
"Sounds like it to me, but you win." The voice comes out of the shadows from behind her, it catches her off guard.
"Nice night we're having isn't it? Im Jay by the way, ha, that rhymes sort of..." its a boy, of course it is.
"Not a fan of speaking, oh-kay..." his fingers are in the loops of where a belt would go on his jeans, he begins whistling.
From what Dallas can see the boy has shaggy black hair, possible green eyes. It is really hard to tell in the night. It went along with his outfit, she thought maybe at first he was a street kid, but if he was then he wouldn't be only wearing a white t-shirt and jeans, he'd be wearing everything he could to warm himself like she is.
"Not a fan of talking to strangers either." Dallas comments, still eyes him up and down since it makes him visibly uncomfortable.
Jay walks a line, "Technically you are the stranger here, you know my name so how am I the stranger? No fair."
"Fair point, I guess I don't have a desire to talk to people who sneak up on me in the dark then." Dallas huffs.
The boy shrugs and goes to a random beam and walks along it, his arms balanced out in a T shape. His tongue sticks out in concentration.
"I always come out here at this time, I like to watch the Legion fly around." He says.
"You can watch them somewhere else then, cant you?" Dallas rolls her eyes, arms crossing over her chest still offering a unsure glare-more confused than anything.
"You're in my spot." Jay goes on dramatically.
"Can't you find another one, I'm sure there's plenty around here." Dallas says, all tiredness she once felt is replaced by an intrigued disbelief. Maybe the people here weren't mean, maybe they were just persistent and annoying?
Jay steps off the beam he has been on, he stops close enough near her that Dallas takes a cautious step back. He could have intentions of hurting her for all she knew.
"But this is my favorite spot." Jay whines almost mockingly.
"Are you messing with me?" Dallas squints, this guy-
Jay takes a step closer, she hears his breathing and confirms her suspicion of green eyes as she stares them down because they were now face-to-face.
"Depends, Do you want me to be messing with you?" Jays voice lowered an octave, his words husky and quiet enough to linger in the air. Dallas pushes him away, he smirks and steps away laughing.
"Iron Legion my friend, they're extraordinary I tell you." He goes on without a reply.
"What makes them so extraordinary?" Dallas mocks.
Jay glares hard now, "Because Mr. Stark made them, so that makes them amazing."
He had heart, she sees it now with the fascination in his eyes.
"They usually come around here?" She finds herself asking.
"Every night." Jay smiles his teeth broadcasting. "You're not local are you?"
Dallas shakes her head. "Nope."
"I can show you around if you'd like." Jay offers, he's shivering now maybe he'll finally go away.
"I'm alright, I can look for myself." She says.
"Golly I'm not a bad person, I'm not going to rob or murder you or whatever. I'm just Jay, and someone to show you the city. The good parts so you won't get mugged." He says.
Jays watch beeps, he takes in a breath almost a sigh. "Ah shit, I gotta leave nice meeting you Jane Doe."
Jay begins to unlock the door to the building.
"Dallas!" She calls to him.
"What?" He fumbles with his key.
"My name's Dallas, meet you here tomorrow?" She decides it's best to have someone show them around who knows the place rather than roam cluelessly around.
"Twelve o'clock. See ya!" Jay quips and goes into his building.
Dallas stands for a moment astonished and surprised with her own actions from that interaction, she's surprised at how her heart beats quickly in her chest and how when she goes to sleep in the car tonight she dwells on what they're going to do tomorrow with Jay.
——
"It was the oddest thing, it's like I see this kid and hear her name and I'm left in shock. I saw the kid twice and she had a killer black eye, and if it is Dallas, Tony's Dallas then I want to know." Rhodey demands, he's been on this PI's case for an hour and he knows the man has pictures because it's his job.
"Colonel—"
"Just show me the damn picture and we'll be done. I want to know if putting Hope into my best friend will be for nothing, again." Rhodey breathes deep.
"I don't want you to be disappointed if it's not, Colonel." The man says finally caving and and reaches for his file.
"I won't be just show me already." Rhodey was ready.
"Okay..." The man slid the folder across the table to him, greedily Rhodey opened it and flipped to the back where the pictures were.
Each page moves slower and slower, he's readied himself to be disappointed and finds himself sat in shock when he sees staring back at him a picture of that girl he saw back at the hospital. The picture had been taken from far away, and she was with another boy and a man, the girl was smiling and the boy too at the man. The next was a close up of her in a gas station, clear as day staring back at him was Dallas Knight.
"I've had the hospital swab the icepack She was using, its being tested to Mr. Starks DNA right now as we speak—" the mans phone sings.
"Oh."
"Oh what? What is it?" Rhodey sits up.
"The results for the DNA came in its—"
Rhodey impatiently grabs the mans phone, he's tired and has had enough for the day with this impossible to deal with around the bush man who was assigned to the Dallas Knight Stark case no one wanted anymore.
Rhodeys eyes widen, "—it's a match for Tony's, it's her..."