by
Aaron Storck
(with apology to Roy Thomas)
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The Bailey Home
"Me too," Jessica Bailey added. The younger Bailey was better known to the public as Maelstrom of Portland's own super-team, The Four Aces. "It's my mom's recipe. She got it from her grandmother," Holly admitted. "I haven't baked them since...well...since she passed away." A brief look of sadness crossed her face at the mention of her mother. That passed and Holly brightened again, "But I'd be happy to leave it with you. I know mom would have approved. After all, she grew up in Portland and if she knew that the last of the Murphy women had taken that recipe with her to Seattle, she'd never forgive me." Both Maelstrom and her mother, the retired Windstorm, laughed. Ann Bailey stood up from the kitchen table and walked over to the counter. "More coffee, ladies?" "None for me, mom." "I'm fine, too, Mrs. Bailey," Holly said, then corrected herself. "I mean Ann." The older woman smiled at Holly's correction. She'd insisted repeatedly over the past few months that Dyna Girl call her by her first name. She slid a pencil and a three-by-five index card across the table to Holly. "I hope you've enjoyed your stay down here." "I have. Thanks for the hospitality." The Forte heroine picked up the pencil and noticed that Ann Bailey had already written "Murphy Family Cookies" across the top of the index card. That brought a smile to Holly's face. She began to jot down the family recipe on the card. "I have to tell you, it's been really nice getting away from Seattle for a few months," Holly admitted as she continued to write. "I mean, I miss my dad and my friends, but getting a chance to stay at our old house and look up some old friends from high school has been a nice change." Holly paused a moment and looked at the mother and daughter seated across the table from her. "Honestly, holidays have been tough since mom died." Jessica piped in before Holly could continue down the road to melancholy. "Well, anytime you want to get away to Portland, you've got friends here that you can drop in on. Anytime. Consider it a standing invitation from the Bailey women." Maelstrom leaned in toward Holly for effect. "Besides, I need a shopping buddy every now and again." "Heaven help us," Ann exclaimed, as she feigned the need for divine intervention. Holly laughed. Jessica and she had only met six months back, but after spending most of that time in Portland, Holly had began to regard her as a dear friend. The costume will do that to you. Especially since Holly owed this particular "costume" for saving her life. "I'll keep that invitation in mind," Holly replied. She stood up from the table. "I should get going. I'm supposed to stop by the museum tonight. The Forte Foundation is hosting a party for underprivileged kids. Dad is going to dress up as Santa," Holly smiled at the thought. "I'm supposed to be one of his 'elves.'" "Well, I'm sure your father has been missing you terribly," Ann said as she and Jessica rose. "Not as much as someone else in Seattle," Jessica said, needling Holly. "What's that supposed to mean?" the Forte powerhouse asked, though she knew exactly what Maelstrom meant. "Oh, nothing. Just that you seem to have a guy that calls you every day." Jessica paused. "AND sends you flowers." "Stop it!" Holly demanded with a grin. "Ken is just a friend." "Sounds like a nice friend," Ann observed. Then she turned to her daughter, "YOU should get a friend like that." "Mom!" Holly laughed and hugged Ann Bailey. "Thanks. For everything." "Anytime, dear." Releasing the older woman, Holly embraced Jessica. "It was good to see you again, Jess." "You too, Holly. And thanks for helping out at the 'Toys for Tots' drive. Having Dyna Girl there was a real boost." "Glad I could help," Holly admitted truthfully. "But I STILL owe you." "Don't forget your bag, dear," Ann said hefting Holly's duffle bag. "Lord! What do you have in here?" "Gifts. Last minute Christmas shopping," Holly said with a grin. "Unfortunately, I do everything at the last minute." Donning her red and white "Santa" hat and pulling it tight over her ears, Holly hefted the bag on her shoulder and headed out the kitchen door. She opened the door and smiled at the two women, "Merry Christmas!" Dyna Girl walked a couple of blocks away from the Bailey home. She looked around to make sure no one was walking by before removing her overcoat. Beneath it was her Dyna Girl costume. Putting the coat into her duffle, she lifted herself into the overcast afternoon air. ************
Finally, Holly felt like Dyna Girl again. The soft but powerful voice of Jane Monheit's "Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most" was coming through the headset of her "iQ," Questech's new digital media player, while she glided through the late afternoon sky. Dusk was quickly approaching and Holly began to pour on the speed. I need to be in Seattle in the next hour if I don't want to disappoint those kids…or dad. What's that? Holly asked herself as she noticed the flashing police lights awkwardly set against an onramp guardrail for I-5 North, just north of Olympia. As she lowered herself toward the scene, she noticed that the police cruiser had been nearly broken in two. The "statey" manning the cruiser was lying beside the demolished car. Immediately, she took off her iQ's headset and put the unit in her duffle bag. Landing next to the State Patrolman, she keyed her wrist communicator to the local emergency frequency. "Dispatch, this is Dyna Girl. I have an officer down. Northbound Interstate Five, exit 118." "Roger, Dyna Girl," a voice responded over the radio after a moment. "Assistance is rolling to your location." "Ooooohhh," the state trooper moaned. He was trying to get up. "Just lie there, Trooper. There's an ambulance coming." "I'm okay," the uniformed man said sitting up, ignoring the heroine. Realizing that the law enforcement officer was not going to listen to her, Dyna Girl helped him sit up. "Can you tell me what happened?" "Routine traffic stop. I followed a car with a busted taillight off the interstate. I turned on the lights and the car pulled over. When I approached the car, the driver, a woman, got out and attacked me. Kicked the hell out of me. Karate or something. She was damn fast." The officer paused. "Go on," Dyna Girl urged. "Well, this is going to sound ridiculous, but after I was on the ground, I tried to get a look at her and I swear..." "Yes?" By the sound of the approaching sirens, the ambulance and another state cruiser were approaching. The state trooper continued, "Well, it looked to me that she shot a rocket out of her foot. Then my cruiser blew up. All I'm sure of is that she's dangerous." "What kind of car was she driving and which way was she headed?" Holly asked. The emergency vehicles were now pulling up and Dyna Girl motioned the EMTs over. The arriving state troopers were led by a sergeant who was radioing in while the EMTs began treating the downed trooper. He pushed aside the emergency worker that was tending to him for a moment and addressed Dyna Girl, "I don't know which way she went, but she was driving a late model blue Ford Taurus." Holly put her hand on the trooper's shoulder. "I'll find her," she said reassuringly. "Thanks." The trooper allowed the EMT to continue administering aid when he glanced up at the "Santa" hat Holly was wearing and smiled. "Sorry to ruin your Christmas, Dyna Girl. I'm sure you had a better evening than this planned." "I'm sure you did too," she answered with a smile of her own. "Happy Holidays, Trooper..." Holly paused to look at his name plate, "... Kay." "Merry Christmas, Dyna Girl." ************
The photographer looked at her and rolled his eyes, "Yes, I understand." "Don't roll your eyes at me, buster," the museum researcher said, poking the man in the chest for effect. "Do you treat all of your volunteer staff this way?" the photographer, who also happened to be her boyfriend, asked. "No wonder you can't afford to pay anyone to do this job." The slender brunette leaned in and whispered, "You do this right and I'll see to it that you get something special in your stocking." She punctuated the point with a seductive bite to the man's earlobe. Captain Dane Casey of UNCLE quickly keyed his radio. "Harris? Kowalski? Lang?" he called out, addressing his fellow 'volunteers,' all fellow UNCLE agents. "We're gonna start the photos in about a half hour. Make sure the link to my camera is hot and get those printers warmed up. Let's do this right for the kids, okay?" Stacy smiled and ripped off a mock salute. "Carry on, Captain." ************
She keyed the communicator built into the silver button of her left glove. "Stacy?" ************ Stacy glanced at her watch and decided it was time to check on "Santa." She began to walk over to Wally Wood's office when her watch "beeped" at her. The integrated display indicated Dyna Girl was calling her. "This is Stacy. Dyna Girl, where are you?" "I'm out near Dupont," Holly's voice answered disappointedly over the radio link. "I ran into a state trooper that was attacked by a woman. "Apparently," Holly paused and considered just how silly her next words were going to sound, "... the woman shot rockets out of her feet." "Missile Toe." "What about mistletoe?" Holly asked. "That's her name. Missile Toe. Savate expert. Fires projectiles from her feet," Stacy reported. "You've GOT to be kidding me." Stacy walked over to her office and closed the door behind her. Pulling her Questpad from her desk drawer, she began running the stylus over it. "Her real name is Bridget LeBlanc. Last reports have her wanted for parole violation. She hasn't been heard from in a couple of years. It was assumed that she retired or left the country." "Well you can add assault, resisting arrest, and destruction of government property to the list," Dyna Girl added. "I'll let UNCLE know that you'll have a report to them later." "Thanks." Then Stacy remembered the evening's event. "You're not going to make it tonight, are you Holly?" "I don't think so, Stace," Holly replied with more than a hint of disappointment in her voice. "I wanted to be there for those kids." "I know. Don't worry, your dad will do fine." "Hey Stace, I know it's short notice, but put out an APB and see if you can get Paul or Sam or Davis to drop by. Hell, get Lucy to do it." "I'll see what I can do, Holly," Stacy promised. "Give UNCLE a heads up for me and if you can come up with known associates or places LeBlanc might go, give me a call. I assume since she was northbound on Five that she's headed to Seattle. I'm going to start working my way north." "Holly! Holly!" Stacy shouted into the radio, trying to catch her friend's attention before she signed off. "What is it?" "You're near Dupont, you said?" "Yeah, why?" the heroine asked. "According to her record, Bridget LeBlanc has a sister living in Lakewood. Her husband is with the Rangers stationed out of Fort Lewis. That might be a good place to start," Stacy suggested, again referring to her Questpad. "It's only a few miles up the road from Dupont." "Send the address to my radio and I'll check it out." "Okay." "And Stace," Dyna Girl added, "tell everyone Merry Christmas for me." ************ Christmas lights and holiday lawn decorations flickered to life on both sides of the street as the skies darkened. Most people were already home from work and anticipating the long weekend, so traffic on the middle-class neighborhood street was virtually non-existent. Bridget had ditched the Taurus in a parking lot a couple miles away. It was stolen anyway. She was counting on the last minute holiday shopping chaos at the mall to keep the police away from the car for a while. She only needed fifteen minutes. Half-an-hour tops. She walked quickly down the street but did not run, reasoning that her pace could be attributed to the cold in the air. She made a point to stay on the sidewalks and cross normally, as opposed to "skulking" in the shadows and moving from house to house in a way that would draw attention to the occupants or any passersby. She casually lit a cigarette and checked the address and directions she had written down. This is it. Turning up the walkway, Bridget LeBlanc regarded an electric snowman on the lawn standing guard over the house with his battery-operated companion: a straw reindeer that bobbed his head up and down with a bright red light bulb for a nose. She smiled, seeing her sister's hand in the choice of decoration. She always DID love Rudolph. She approached the porch and reached for the bell. "Must not be Santa, 'cause he uses the chimney." Startled by the voice behind her, Missile Toe turned to see a Santa-capped Dyna Girl hovering a couple feet over the walkway. The missileer immediately shrugged off the coat she was wearing and began to crouch slightly, ready to fight. "I'm not looking for a fight," Missile Toe said looking up at the heroine. "Is that what you told that State Trooper before or after you blew up his car?" Missile Toe simply glared at the other woman. She didn't need to explain herself. Certainly not to a second-rate showboat like Dyna Girl. The villain was prepared to spring into action... when the front door behind her opened. "Hello? Who's there?" a voice asked from the other side of the screen door. Missile Toe relaxed and breathed a heavy sigh, turning toward the voice. "Hi, sis. It's me." "Bridget? What are you...? When did you...?" the younger woman pushed open the screen door and faced her sister, Missile Toe. "You shouldn't be here, the authorities..." The woman paused when she looked past her and saw Dyna Girl hovering over her lawn. "Honey? What's going on? Who's here?" a male voice called from inside. He peered around the front door and saw his wife standing there with her wanted sister. He immediately turned and went back inside. When he reappeared a moment later, he was holding a gun. "Toni, get back inside," the man said putting his hand firmly on his wife's shoulder and pushing her out of the way. "Get inside. Call the police." Missile Toe let out a breath in mild amusement. "Nice to see you too, Phil." The man's response was the hammer of his pistol being cocked back. Sneering, Missile Toe warned the man, "Get that thought right out of your head, or the next thing that goes through it will be my boot." The villain spelled it out for the man: "I will kill you, Phil." "Phil! Put the gun down!" Antoinette Jennings pleaded, trying to save her husband's life. The man complied. "Easy, Missile Toe," Dyna Girl warned. The villain glanced over her shoulder at Dyna Girl, then turned back to her sister and brother-in-law. "I just came to see my daughter. "I just came to see Cassie." ************ Dyna Girl and Missile Toe were seated across from Phil Jennings in the living room. Toni reentered the room with a tray holding four steaming mugs and passed them around to her husband and their guests. "I had Cassie just before I went away last time," Missile Toe explained to Dyna Girl. "We adopted her when she was only a few months old," the Army Ranger cut in on his sister-in-law. "She deserved a better life than she was gonna get hiding out with Bridget." Missile Toe ignored the contemptuous tone in his voice and continued, "I got out a few years back, but as a condition of my parole, I wasn't allowed to cross state lines." She glared at the man across from her. "And because Phil wouldn't let Toni bring her to visit, I decided to lay low for a while and come visit Cassie when the heat was off." "Well, you wasted your time and pissed off the law... as usual," Jennings retorted. "Cassie is our daughter now. There's no place for you in her life. In fact, she doesn't know anything about you." Bridget LeBlanc flinched, slightly shocked, and Toni saw how much her husband's words hurt her sister. "I'm sorry, Bridge. We hadn't heard from you in years, and...well...we thought it was better not to confuse her." "Yeah, yeah. I get it. I don't want to screw up her life and have her end up like me," Missile Toe said with a hint of sarcasm. She looked over at Dyna Girl, "I guess we're outta here." Toni looked over at her husband, "Phil, Cassie is ten years old now. She's almost in middle school. She's old enough to understand." "Look, I'm not real happy that she's here," Phil said speaking as if Bridget was not in the room, "but the fact is that she is here. Now's as good a time as any, I guess." "Is ten minutes, okay?" Toni asked Dyna Girl. "Yeah. Ten minutes is fine." Holly stood up and looked at Missile Toe, who was getting up from the couch. "If you do anything to that girl, if you try to take her out of this house, I will find you. And when I do, I will make you miserable. Trust me." "She's my kid. I won't harm a hair on her head." Toni Jennings motioned for her sister to follow. "Cassie is up in her room, I'll take you up there." Dyna Girl watched as the sisters passed the Christmas tree and approached the staircase. "Missile Toe. Wait." "Yeah?" "Here." Holly reached into her duffle bag and pulled out a box wrapped up with a bow. She pulled the tag off the box and dropped it back in her duffle bag. Handing the box over to Bridget, she explained, "It's Christmas. You can't go up there without a present." Gotta remember to get Ken another iQ tomorrow. "Thanks," Missile Toe said, taking the present and following her sister upstairs. ************ "...really sorry you have to spend your evening like this, Dyna Girl. I'm sure you have someone special at home wondering where you are." The man put his arm around his wife's shoulders and squeezed gently. "It's quite alright, Sergeant Jennings," Dyna Girl assured the man. "Would you like some more coffee?" Toni offered. "No thank you, Mrs. Jennings," Dyna Girl replied with a polite smile. She looked at the display on her left glove. DAMN! She's been up there twenty-five minutes. She stood quickly, but before she could say anything, Cassie walked downstairs and into the living room. She was carrying her new iQ and had the headphones hanging around her neck. She walked up to Holly. "Hi, Dyna Girl." The brunette bent over slightly with her hands on her thighs, getting a little closer to the girl's eye level. "Hello, Cassie." "Mommy Bridget wanted me to tell you that she's gone back to the secret hideout to catch the spies," the girl reported dutifully. "When did she leave to go after the spies, Cassie?" "She put this song on my iQ and told me to listen to it five times and then come tell you," the girl said holding up her present. Dyna Girl looked at the player's display. It read: "Mistletoe and Holly - Frank Sinatra - 2:18" Cassie had the biggest smile on her face. ************ Holly walked through the front door of the museum, but with the exception of a few of the catering staff and some stragglers from the cleaning crew, there didn't seem to be anyone around. She wasn't surprised. She had spent almost three hours searching the area for Missile Toe with no luck. UNCLE had been alerted and there was an APB out for her. Good luck with THAT. Dyna Girl was pretty sure that Missile Toe had gone back underground and it was doubtful they'd find her anytime soon. Passing the remnants of the catering and cleaning staffs, Dyna Girl wished them a "Merry Christmas" on their way out the door and headed back to the administration area. I'm sure Dad is still around. As if to confirm her suspicions, she heard muted voices coming from Stacy's office and pushed the cracked door open a bit, knocking as she did. "Hello?" Dyna Girl peered around the door and saw Stacy McKone and her boyfriend UNCLE Captain Dane Casey engaged in a passionate kiss. "Whooops!" The two quickly broke free of the embrace, acting like two kids caught by the girl's father. It was Stacy that spoke first. "Oh, um... hi... Dyna Girl!" "We... uh…we were just locking up," Dane added, with a slight blush. "Maybe hooking up is a better way to put it," Holly said, correcting him. Stacy smoothed her sweater and gave Holly a quick hug, "We missed you." "I'm sorry Stace. I really wanted to be here." "It's okay, the kids absolutely LOVED your dad as Santa. Rainier and Nightsable came by. She got Rainier to wear a pointy 'elf'-hat!" Stacy smiled broadly, recalling the sight. "I made sure Dane got a picture of that!" Visualizing the scene, Holly smiled herself, "I can't wait to see it." "I'm e-mailing it out as my Christmas e-letter," the Forte researcher informed the pair. "Is my dad around? I wanted to take him out for a late bite.” Dane answered the question. "Mike Hines from NRG dropped by and the two of them went out. They left about twenty minutes ago." "You should go catch up with them," Stacy suggested. "I'll call and find out where they are." "That's okay," Holly said, stopping her friend. "Let him have a 'boys night out.' He's been working so hard lately, he deserves it." Holly paused for a moment and then suggested, "How about you two? Feel like going out for a drink? I'll call Sam and have her join us." "Oh. Um, Sam is helping Jack and Sabrina with Christmas stuff, I think," Casey told her. "And we were going to call it a night. We're supposed to be at my parents tomorrow night and traffic is going to be bad, so we were going to try to get an early start." Stacy noticed the sad look that Holly was trying to hide and piped in, "But we can go out with you for a little bit, can't we, hun?" "Absolutely," Dane added, picking up on Stacy's cue. "No. You guys have had a long day and have another one ahead of you," Holly admitted. "You two get going and I'll make sure the place is locked up." "Okay," Stacy agreed, "but only if you're sure. It's my job after all." "Scoot!" Dyna Girl ordered, leading the two toward the door. Stacy grabbed her coat and purse off the chair by the door and stopped for a moment, "Oh! Holly, I promised that you'd get this card." She handed the red envelope over and with another quick hug and a "Merry Christmas" the two disappeared through the door leaving Holly alone. She opened the envelope. Inside was a Christmas card and a check made out to the Forte Foundation for fifteen-hundred dollars. She read the personal note inside the front cover of the card: I have been blessed this year with good fortune and I wanted to share it. I know it will go to a good cause. I want to wish you a wonderful holiday season surrounded by loved ones who realize what a joy it is to have you in their lives. In this season of miracles, I hope you realize that YOU are a miracle, Dyna Girl. Thank you for making this a safer place to live. Merry Christmas, David Trent Holly took a deep breath to compose herself. Her eyes were watering a bit. She left the check on Stacy's desk and locked the door to the researcher's office behind her. Pausing a moment to grab the "Santa" jacket from her father's office, she locked up the administration area and headed out the door. ************ "Just a minute!" The door opened and the young woman that opened it stood there wide-eyed when she realized who was standing in the doorway. "I'm sorry to bother you so late, but does David Trent live here?" Turning and trotting back down the hallway in stocking feet, the black haired, black t-shirted girl called out, "David! It's for you!" As David Trent rounded the corner that his girlfriend had just come back around, he stopped when he got a look at his visitor: it was Dyna Girl wearing a Santa Claus outfit. He willed his legs to continue toward the open doorway and approached her. "H..i...," he managed. "I know it's late, but I wanted to come by and thank you personally for your card. That was a very generous donation. I know the Foundation appreciates it." "I'm... I'm happy. Um…happy to... um...help a good cause, I mean," the star-struck young man responded. "I also wanted to give you this," Holly said as she handed over a plate of cookies from her bag. "It's not much, but I wanted to show you how much I personally appreciate your generosity and your support over the years. I don't know of you know this, but we like to read all of the nice things all of you write on your blog." David Trent was fixated on the plate he was handed. "Did you make these??" "Yeah," Dyna Girl said with a smile. "I apologize in advance." "I'm sure they're delicious," he said as he grew a bit more comfortable. "Um, do you want to come in? Julia and I were just about to have some egg nog." "I sorry, I can't. But thank you." "Oh yeah. It's late. I'm sure you have someone to get home to." "Yeeaah," Holly agreed, dragging out the word. "It's late." "Well, thanks for the cookies." "Sure, David. And thank you for the very sweet note you wrote in the card. I was very moved." As she turned to leave, Dyna Girl glanced up at the doorframe. Oh what the hell! "Hey David, that's mistletoe, isn't it?" "Oh, yeah," he answered blushing deeply. "But don't feel like you have to... um... you know..." Holly quieted him with a quick but soft kiss on the lips. "Merry Christmas." ************ She stood outside the doorway for several minutes before deciding that she was going to do it. She was such an IDIOT for not figuring it out. Sam was right. Jessica was right. Even David Trent was right. She knocked on the door, instantly regretting it. The door opened. I won't chicken out. “You’re a little early, Santa,” Ken said commenting on Holly’s red and white fuzzy ensemble. “I needed to figure out if I should put you on my ‘Naughty’ or ‘Nice’ list.” Ken stepped aside and let his best friend in, closing the door behind her. “I’m nice. Just ask my friend Holly. She’ll vouch for me.” “Trouble is,” Holly said with a wicked smile, “I’m having a tough time figuring out what list SHE’S on.” Ken laughed. “What’s up, Hol?” “I just really needed to come by.” “Are you okay?” “Yeah. I just wanted to give you your Christmas present,” she admitted opening her bag. “I thought we weren’t exchanging gifts until tomorrow.” “It’s almost tomorrow.” “You are SO bad when it comes to presents. I can wait,” Ken said with a chuckle. “I can’t. Not any more,” Holly said pulling a mistletoe sprig from her duffle. She held it up over their heads and looked deeply into his eyes. “Merry Christmas, Ken.” The kiss was deep and warm. He had kissed her several times before, but this was different. Those were polite kisses and here was nothing but passion. Her tongue rushed to meet his after a few moments and his eagerly responded. After each deep kiss, she planted a softer, gentler one on his lips almost like a signature. Then the deep kisses would continue. After several minutes, Ken pulled back. He looked at her. This was the woman he had had a crush on from the first moment she walked in his store five years ago. The woman who, after hours of time spent together, would become his best friend in the world. The woman he admired when he discovered the truth about her dual identity. The woman he loved. “Are you sure about this, Holly?” She looked back into his eyes. There was the bright, sensitive, caring, tough, but always funny man that she had come to depend on more than she realized. “Yes,” she responded simply, but in that simplicity so much was spoken. Ken took her hand, the one holding the mistletoe, and looked at it for a moment. Then he took it from her. “Well, this is kind of awkward,” he said with a funny grin. “What is?” Ken held the mistletoe above their heads. “I got you the same thing for Christmas.” Holly laughed and he began kissing her again. ************ EPILOGUE December 24, 2004 To Be Continued...
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