CK and LL

[Ecalsneerg]

Chris sat in the Millenium Mall, sipping on a slushie. Damn Claremont, he mused. It seems everyone there knows who Geckoman is, despite the whole secret identity thing. And it's kinda dull. Responsible use of your powers? The most damage my powers do directly is maybe get fingerprints on your nice clean window if I crawl over it.

He tossed his empty container in a bin, and wandered away from the food court. He had no money, and everyone he knew seemed to be busy. It sucked. You take one little day off, and you can't do anything with it... he sulked. Then something caught his eyes.

A pretty cute-looking girl, about his own age, had just strolled past in a plain white t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. Her brown hair was cut medium-length an she obviously didn't bother brushing it, leaving it untidy especially around the fringe. Chris found that cute too.

"Um, hey, are-" he went to say before a lanky-looking teen in a black t-shirt and pants ran past, grabbing cute girl's purse fron her hand. No, that ain't fair! And I'm too public to switch outfits! And so Chris Kenzie, not Geckoman, found his trainers pounding the floor, quick reflexes sending him into a sprint.

"Stop! Thief!" I am so not a superhero. The thief vaulted a railing, dropping a short distance into a fountain and resuming his pace. Chris came in hot pursuit, landing with a somewhat larger splash. Aaaaaaargh, wet! Wet! The two teens now skidding on the flooring, the chase headed towards the door. Summoning up a surge of effort, Chris leapt up and kicked the thief in the head. The scrawny dude hit the floor. "Boo yah." He grabbed the purse and quickly ran back to find the girl, panting.

Why can't my Regeneration destroy fatigue toxins? Why? "Sorry, it's... wet," he managed. "Ran through... fountain, but I got him..."

The girl smiled at him, and he felt a giddy sensation in the pits of his stomach. Giddy in the stomach? What? "Thanks. That had aaaaall my cash in it, if it got stolen, well..." She shrugged her shoulders. "How can I thank you?" Chris had managed to compose himself by this time.

"You could let me take you to the movies tonight," he grinned. The girl smiled again. Stop with the smiling, I'll lose composure! Wait... no, please don't. Should I tell her how pretty.... no. Just ask her out, there's time for all that later. "I don't even know your name."

"Chris." "Liz. Liz Lawlett. And Ok then, but only since I owe you. Meet me here at eight." And then she turned and walked off, leaving Chris slightly shell-shocked as she walked away. Now, I wouldn't have managed that as Geckoman.

[Ecalsneerg]

Seven fifty. Geckoman swore in a manner that would offend any young fans he may have, as he barrelled the Pitchoo through a lamp post. Some guys had robbed a cafe while he was passing. Thus, he'd been forced to pursue them. The plan was, do my Geckoman stuff until seven, go get ready and be at the mall for eight. But, noooooo. Thieves on surprisingly fast motorbikes!

The computer display changed to 7:51. %&^*!!! He hammered a button with one hand, two turrets dropping out from below his ship. Two long metal barrels folded out of them, pivoting left, then right, then locking in on the three bikers. Due to a quirk of bad luck, they glanced back just in time to see the energy blasts being fired and swerved down a side street before Geckoman could react and turn the ship.

"Radar, you better not let me down or Quark is scrapping you!" growled Geckoman, pulling up as he overshot. The Pitchoo went vertically upwards, hurling the teen back in his seat. "COME ON!!!" The ship spun and twirled over the rooftops, coming in pursuit of the bikers once more. 7:52. He opened fire on them as soon as they came into view, knocking the thieves clean off their bikes to lie unconscious on the sidewalk. The airship landed. "Call the cops," said Geckoman to a passer-by, before grabbing their bags of loot and tying them to his utility belt. "GO!!!"

He planted his hands flat on the side of his ship, pulling out a remote and hitting a big red button. The ship flew towards the cafe, superhero clinging on for dear life on the side. Upon arrival, Geckoman just leapt off, tossing the sacks to a waiter and getting back in the ship. 7:56.

"DAMMIT! Autopilot engage, go high enough for top-speed and try not to shake too much!" Chris quickly began changing into 'normal' clothing, pulling on blue jeans and white sneakers. Then he threw on a grey t-shirt and a black shirt over the top of it, left open.

7:59. Chris took the controls again, heading up into the clouds as far as he could. He pocketed to Pitchoo's remote from his utility belt, and walked over to a console on the wall. Aaaah... Quark is a lifesaver.

A second later, Chris Kenzie had a hard light surfboard beneath his feet and was 'surfing' down to Earth, his ship left radar invisible and hidden by cloud cover. He glanced at his watch. Crud! I'm late! Oh well, Quark did always like me testing his inventions. He pushed the hoverboard past what it was considering a safe speed to fly at. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHHHHHH!" He barely managed to decelerate before hitting the ground, dissipating the board and breaking into a run.

Crud. There she is. She's heading this way.

Simulaneously: "Hi, sorry I'm late." "Sorry I'm late."

[Ecalsneerg]

"So what the hell was up with that plot?" laughed Chris as they came out of the cinema. He then proceeded to do his best growly Christian Bale angst voice. "We must save this dude so we can send him back to screw my mom. Yeah!"

"No, that wasn't the worst part. It was the 'I'll be back' line," retorted Liz, similarly creased over in laughter. "The whole cinema just went 'Come on!'" They both had to stop to lean against a wall to recover from the laughing. "Want to go grab a pizza or something?"

So it came to be that the two teens were sitting in some cheap pizza place, sharing a Meat Feast. "What's this crispy stuff? Is it bacon?" "Tastes a bit like pork." "Does pork crunch this much?" "Old pork, maybe." "Mmmm... geriatric pig meat." With that they broke into laughter again.

"So... do you often kick purse-snatchers in the head," smiled Liz, sipping on her Coke. "Yep, daily activity for me. The mall found out that paying me in slushies was cheaper than the Rent-a-cop's doughnut budget." She laughed again. I hope she likes me... I think so, that joke just plain wasn't funny. "Well... I never really thanked you properly."

Chris just shrugged his shoulders. "Hey, no biggie. Would have done it for anyone." He signed the bill, and they went to walk off. Somehow he found himself holding her hand. Am I sweating? Tell me I'm not sweating. Waaaaaah! She looked over at him. "So, wanna go sit somewhere?"

[Ecalsneerg]

The two teens strolled across Midtown for a long time. They talked about music, sports, films. Typical stuff. Eventually Liz led them to a path through Liberty Park. It was quiet, nobody around. The trees fell over the path, leaving it in shadow. It could've been Chris's imagination, but maybe she was holding his hand more tightly.

Eventually they came to a bench on a small hillock looking out over most of the park. As they sat down, Liz said, "This used to be my favourite spot before I had to leave Freedom for a while. I've pretty much always come up here myself, until now..."

Chris nodded. Woah. She must like me. Go Gecko, go Gecko, it's your birthday, it's your birthday. "It's really beautiful," he said, turning and flicking Liz's hair away from her eyes.Am I really going to go for this? Well, I spend my time beating up criminals and pulling off high-speed chases. This is... relatively easy.

Chris leaned in and kissed her.

Aaaaaaand... When they parted, they smiled at each other. "Getting a bit ahead of yourself, aren't we?" Liz remarked as she went to lean in again. "Hey, you brought me to the romantic beauty spot..."

[Ecalsneerg]

A couple of hours later, they arrived at Liz's doorstep. Chris leaned in and kissed her again. "C'mon... what if my parents catch me... seriously, you wouldn't want to face my dad. Well, unless you had superpowers or something, maybe it'd be a fair fight." Chris smiled sheepishly. "Nope, just your regular guy..."

Liz draped her arms around his waist. "Not so regular... I've had a great time. I'll call you tomorrow." She kissed him again, before going to go inside. Chris, the guy with an answer to everything, could just wave weakly and turn as she closed the door.

Around the corner, he stopped to do a quick victory dance. "Woo... oh yeah, uh-huh! Aha!" Then he glanced at his watch. Not tooo late... let's just go for a quick patrol. He pulled his remote out of his belt and brought the Pitchoo down, skipping into it. "I got the girl... now I just got to save the world and my life is compleeeeete!" He flew upwards, pulling on his mask and goggles. Geckoman flew across the city, singing as he did so.

In her basement, Liz Lawlett sat in her chair and smiled. "He's a great guy... I just need to get rid of that Geckoman and I maybe we can go serious. Woah, not often you hear someone say that after a first date..." She picked up a screwdriver and twisted some screws in a thin metal rod. Sparks flew out of the end. "Guess lizards can't deal with a good shock... serves the little thief right."