Chapter One Hundred and Fourteen: The Bash

 “Come ON Daniel, it'll be fun!” Judith Jofrey begged her boyfriend, who wasn't interested in the slightest in having a party.

“Judes, I'd rather not.” Daniel tried to push her off him.

“Look, you can't stay here, you'll have to move in with me eventually. Especially if you're going to be a hands-on father.” Judith poked his arm. “This place is a dump, and no child of mine will be seen here!”

Daniel looked at his girlfriend. She was right, technically.

“Fine, let me grab a few things.” He smiled weakly at her.

“Grab as much as you want. We have plenty of time and plenty of room in my car.” Judith touched his cheek. “We can come back later and finish it all off.”

Daniel patted her shoulder, and began to pick up some of the odds and ends he'd collected over the years, shoving them in a battered old suitcase with all of his clothes. He hesitated as he found his Sir Lionheart armour, wondering if he should pack it or leave that part of his life behind.

“You're gonna need that.” Judith noticed him looking at it.

He sighed and gave her a Look.

“Just pack the damn thing Knight.” Judith turned around and headed to the car “And hurry up!”

“I'm NOT a Knight anymore!” Daniel muttered under his breath. He packed the forsaken armour and did up the suitcase. Three-quarters of his life was in that suitcase already, he really didn't have much. What kind of father would he be, not only was he a murderer but he was also a no-hoper.

He hauled up the suitcase and headed to Judiths car.

—

“SURPRISE!”

Daniel nearly jumped a mile. Waiting in Judiths lounge room were the Noble Knights of the Last Order and their good friends Belle and Charlie!

“What the…are you doing here?!” Daniel cried, not sure if he should feel happy or worried.

“We wanted to help you celebrate becoming a father!” Sammy grinned at him. “It was Sunnys idea.”

Sunny went slightly pink, but looked pleased.

“We bought you presents!” Petunia held up a wrapped present.

Daniel half-grinned. “You guys…”

“Well, are we going to party or not?” Belle said impatiently.

“I brought my cricket set!” Charlie held up the cricket set.

“You know, maybe cricket isn't such a good idea…” Judith looked worried.

“Same teams as always?” TJ agreed instantly.

“Sounds good to me!” Daniel felt a smile spread on his face. A game of cricket with his friends. Something he had missed greatly.

“Come on, Judy's got a huge yard, let's go!” Tammy grinned.

The group trooped out to the yard, leaving Judith with a deep, dark sense of foreboding.

—

You knew it was coming.

“THE LINE IS THERE AND YOU STEPPED OVER IT!” Charlie screamed at TJ.

“GET A PAIR OF GLASSES AND LEARN THE RULES DEADHEAD!” Petunia threw down the ball and rolled up her sleeves.

Judith groaned.

“HIS FOOT WAS CLEARLY OVER THE LINE!” Sammy screamed.

“HIS FOOT WAS ON THE LINE!” Daniel screamed back.

“YOUR DEMENTIA IS CLEARY SHOWING!” Belle also screamed.

Suddenly Charlie felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. “Hi Dad…front foot fault, why? Wait…Daryl is holding one of his fathers businesses hostage? Which one? Aw, I was hoping it was his metalworks…NO I'm not being anti-competitive, I was being anti-Jones…FINE, Chuckles and Giggles will be there shortly.” Charlie hung up. “Daryl has decided to act on his Daddy issues and has taken over Demons insurance agency.”

“Time to suit up!” Sammy immediately went into business mode. “Sorry Judy.”

“It's fine.” Judith sighed in relief.

Daniel looked crestfallen.

“We're sorry Dan. Why don't you come with us?” Sunny asked.

“And defend something that belongs to Demon? Pass.” Daniel said bitterly.

The Knights all looked at each other, before heading out. Charlie gave Daniel a hard look before he too followed Belle out.

Daniel growled, before storming back inside. Judith stood outside and felt awkward.

What a party.

—

“Tell my father that the Crusaders are very interested in resuming their negotiations with City Hall, and then maybe we can remove ourselves from his little side-business here.” Crusader Daryl said into the phone, before hanging up the phone in the office he now had under his control.

“Are you sure this was such a good idea? Maybe we should have gone for the metalworks?” Crusader Alex, who had been assigned to assist (read: try to control) Daryl by Crusader Roger asked.

“And open up the path for that idiot Begly and his metalworks to get an advantage? Please. Besides, this hurts Daddy dearest more.” Daryl reached under the desk and pulled out a key, which he then used to open his fathers liquor cabinet (Demon makes sure to keep a good supply in every business he owns).

“Yes sir.” Alex grumbled.

“Attitude Crusader, or Roger will hear about it.” Daryl warned.

It took everything Alex had not to scoff. He walked out of the office and onto the main floor, not wanting to deal with Rogers partner any longer.

“He being a loser again?” Crusader Alice asked.

“Isn't he always?” Alex grabbed a nearby gun and started checking it. “No sign of resistance?”

“The employees are too busy wetting themselves to do anything, and Haiter is just outside yelling at us through a megaphone.” Alice replied. That was when Crusader Aiden walked in.

“Ready to start killing them off when you're ready.” He said.

“Wait…killing who?” Alice asked as Alex put the gun down.

“Daryl says if Haiter tries anything we're to start killing employees.” Aiden kicked over a plastic garbage bin. “I don't like it either.”

“Well, Roger has the bloodthirsty dog he wanted.” Alex growled.

“Yeah, well, Roger is scum too.” Alice said bitterly.

Outside, Lady Silent was listening in to the conversation using her power to be completely unnoticeable.

“They're gonna start killing hostages if Haiter tries anything guys.” She said into her phone.

“Right. We'll get the hostages out and then Dorkyl can deal with Haiter.” Chuckles said.

Giggles sighed and looked at the building. They were both on the roof of a nearby building, where they could see everything that was going on.

“I think the hostages are in the breakout room at the back, that's where that guy who said they were ready came from.” Lady Silent let them know.

“Okay then, looks like there's a back door.” Giggles looked through her binoculars that Chuckles had bought her to celebrate the Leos snapping their losing streak.

“Let's go.” Chuckles nodded. Giggles grabbed hold of him and they flew down to save the day.

“I mean, I wouldn't even BE here if it wasn't for that debt.” Alice was grumbling. “The surgery didn't even work.”

“Yeah, well, Roger has his finger in the medical pie out at Fallsville too, I wouldn't be surprised if your Dad got sub-par care just because you had that debt.” Alex scoffed. “I think half of us are only Crusaders because Roger has a hold over us.”

“Like us.” Aiden put his arm around Alex. The pair had been together for years in secret, and if that secret got out…well, let's just say it wouldn't end well.

“Do you hear something?” Alice perked up, hearing a door open.

“I'm not about to go check. It might be Chuckles and Giggles, and they're the LAST people I want to fight.” Aiden brushed it off.

The others nodded their agreement.

“I wish I could read, some of these claims could be interesting.” Alice rifled through some papers.

“It's insurance, how interesting could it be?” Aiden laughed.

Just then, Haiter stopped yelling.

“Looks like it's on.” Alex sighed, rapping on the door of the office where Daryl was waiting. “You might want to come out here!”

Grumbling, Daryl came out of the office.

“Haiter looks to be making a move. It could be a matter of minutes before he strikes.” Alex said.

“Pfft. If I know anything about that force, we have at least an hour.” Daryl said. He looked at Alice. “Why are you reading insurance claims?”

“I can't read.” Alice pointed out.

“Lucky you.” Daryl snatched away the papers. He laughed. “HA! No wonder Judith didn't get much for her stupid trains, she's insured with my Dad!”

“Judith?” Aiden asked.

“Councillor Judith Jofrey, sister of Mobster Marion.” Daryl threw the papers down. “Let me know if Haiter starts anything. We'll pick a hostage to execute then.”

He went back into the office to continue drinking.

“Wait…Marion has a sister?” Alice asked.

The three looked at each other.