The Scarlet Skydiver's Story

'Tell me about it,' came a voice behind her. Rachel turned to see who had spoken. It was a dashing female, dressed in red pilots attire: burgundy pants, vermilion coat, red hood and gloves. She held a mug of coffee in her hand. 'Still, you cant blame him too much, after his bout of amnesia. He only recently remembered, but it took an awfully long time. '
Dick was astounded by Rachel's outburst. 'Hey, watch the desk will you? Just had it polished!' He came to his senses again. 'And as for no calls or letter, ive been busy with my new position as officer of a goofup squadron of flyboys. I could say the same about you too, forgetting about Dickie. Not good enough for you eh?

After she'd given the female a once over she turned back to Dick and narrowed her eyes. "Good enough? HAH!" She decided to make herself comfortable on his desk and plonked her butt down heavily, the papers that were stacked neatly flew the the ground in spectacular style.

"Well, that's rich."

She turned back to the female. "Amnesia you say? Sounds fishy to me. You sure he wasn't faking?" She lefted a leg and crossed it over the other, dusting off her coat and making sure to get some dirt on his end of the desk. "He's tried that one before. Back when I met up with him for the third Wacky Races."

Rather taken aback by her frankness, Rachel extended her very dusty mitt to her and accepted the handshake. "L-Love? Uh... I guess you could say... I... Er..." She stammered clumsily before looking down at her filthy hand. "Yeah, uh, sorry about the dirt. It's horrible out there. It's like it gets in all the cracks." After the handshake was over she brushed down her coat again causing a big cloud of dust to settle on the desk again. Inwardly she was pleased. It would get him back for this outrage.

"Sister, huh? You were very quiet about that!" She shot Dick a surprised look. "Mind you, you were quiet about a lot of things."

'Thats ok, its not my office after all!' Cackled Scarlet. 'But the amnesia was very much real, it can befall anyone, even villains. '
'Aw come on Scarlet, she has a right to question, ' Dick said.'After all, sometimes I'm so sneaky, I dont even trust myself! 'He cackled to himself.
'Uh, yes, that you are. But heck, he didnt even remember his twin, the Dread Baron, ' Scarlet said incredulously. 'So, can I get you anything? And where you staying?' She turned towards Rachel. 'Dont just stand there DD, offer your lady friend a place to stay!'
'Ehehe, right, of course! Now if you'll be so kind and leave us for a while, sis,' he added, eyeing Rachel the whole time.
'Sure boss, whatever ya say,' replied Scarlet in gangster speak.

Rachel snickered to herself. This visit may prove more interesting than she first thought. "Twin, huh?" She wiggled her eyebrows sneakily. "I'd sure like to meet him."

She removed her hat and tossed it towards the hat rack across the way. Alas, it missed and fell in a dusty heap on the floor. "Rats." Pouting, she wandered sluggishly over and bent down to pick it up, all the while worrying in case she may not be able to get back up again. Her back had started hurting from the journey and all that blasted dust.

Scarlet left the room, leaving the two alone. Dick sniggered to himself as Rachels' hat missed the rack. Then he sat back down in h chair, his arms folded in front of him.
'So tell me, what are you doing here? he asked, a weary expression on his face. 'Could it be you heard about recruiting and decided you wanted to join the vulture squadron? Or could it possibly be.....you missed an old colleague and decided to stop by to say hello?' He grinned villainously, twiddling his mustache.

At that moment, Scarlet appeared again next to Rachel.

'What as that all about, where's he off to in such a hurry?' She wondered.

That was unexpected. Rachel almost leaped out of her skin as she heard the voice from the side.

"AYAA! Jeeze, where did you spring from?!" She fanned herself to cool down and shook her head. "I have no idea. One second we were hugging, the next he goes scooting off yelling something about how someone had it all wrong leaving me stood there like an idiot!"

'Oops, sorry about that Rachel, didnt mean to startle you,' Scarlet apologised. It was seldom for her to apologise or admit her mistakes. But somehow, since becoming pregnant and especially with such a soft partner, she had relented just a little. Maybe itwas the hormones.

'Well how strange,' she thought. 'I didnt think the boys would be back from their furlough yet. Unless....'she was deep in thought for a while, then her expression changed. 'Oh my!! Surely not....?' she almost shrieked.

Rachel, yet again, jumped from the loud exclamation. "ARGH WHAT THE..." After her flailing ceased and she had finished puffing and panting from the shock, she glanced upwards at Scarlet. "Surely not what?"

She didn't like not knowing what was going on and the fact that Dick had left her in such a way had made her uneasy. She almost felt like a third wheel in everything. Like she just didn't fit in. Maybe she should have stayed at home signing books and waiting for the next race.

Scarlet turned to Rachel, a a sheepish grin on her scarlet face. I really must stop doing that, this is unlike me, she thought.

'He didnt tell you, did he?' she said, raising an eyebrow in semi disbelief. 'Maybe I should leave that for him to do when he gets back, after all, its his business, not mine.' She realised Rachel looked somewhat uncomfortable about the situation. You could say she almost read her mind. Scarlet understood. She was a female too, after all. Females had a special way of being able to communciate with each other and understand what the other was going though, most of the time.

"Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like this." She rubbed her face wiuth a hand and slowly stood up. "Maybe this was a mistake. I probably shouldn't have come. I guess my curiosity got the better of me as usual."

She grabbed for her hat. "I guess it's just because it had been so long since I'd heard from him, you know? I was worried he was dead or something. I had to see for myself. But, it seems like there's just no room for me in his life anymore. He's moved on, so maybe I should too?"

Rachel's eyes slowly moved towards the doorway, her mind telling her to bail and not look back, but her feet weren't letting her.

'Dont feel bad, Rachel. Just let him explain about her. Then if you must, leave him but not until he gives you an explanation. He owes you that much, right?' Scarlet said with her hand on her shoulder assuringly.

'Karcia, let me explain. You misunderstood. The other woman you saw, she is not my girlfriend. She is my old racing buddy and colleague, from my racing days. Thats all we were. Of course I love you. I am just as surprised as you are that she tracked me down. During my amnesia, I had forgotten all about her like I did Scarlet and a lot of other things in my life. Only recently remembered her again and tried to explain to her too.' Dick took her by the hand and pulled her back to the hangar. with him.

'Rachel, one of the many things I had to explain to you,' he said out of breath as they got to the doorway of the hangar This is Karcia my love. I met her a while ago. She loves me so much, always there for me, and will get upset at anyone who even so much as bad mouths me. Karcia, this is my racing college and buddy from my racing days.' He felt nervous and nauseous, something unusual for the tough as nails leader.

Rachel stomped her foot down in sheer disgust. "R-Racing coll... ARE YOU SERIOUS?" Her face flushed red with anger. "That's all I was to you? Well, Mister I-Forget-Things-And-Everyone-Is-At-My-Convenience, you have a VERY funny way of treating your colleagues if that's all I was! Last I knew, people didn't DATE their racing companions!

Her temper, as always, was getting the better of her. She yanked her gloves on correctly and clenched her fists. "Scarlet, look out. Someone's about to have himself an accident."

Karcia is terrified of her rage.

'Very well,'sighed Dick. 'She's telling the truth. We were colleagues who dated. We had feelings for each other too, im not going to lie. But Rachel, if thats the way its going to be, then fine! Let the games begin!' Dick left fuming, and got out the Mean Machine.
Scarlet stared in shock and disbelief. 'And I thought I had road rage-or rather, air rage. But I've met my matches, it seems. Lets go inside Karcia, this could get ugly,' she said, taking Karcia by the hand.

Dick turned for a moment to see Rachel having some problems. Ehehehe, Its pretty obvious who will be the winner here, he smirked to himself in glee. He was doing very well and approaching the finish line, he only had a little way to go. Checking his mirror, his grinning expression lowly changed when he caught sight of Karcia's reflection: she looked sad and worried.

'What am I doing?' He suddenly had a revelation. Had being with Karcia all this time meant nothing to him at all that he was foolishly risking his life? Especially since he was always worried about her whenever she ran away or was being kidnapped. Did he really want to make her feel the same way she'd made him feel? His hard exterior prevented him from stopping his foolishness. He was a villain, after all. And he had worked hard to earn that reputation. And yet...he'd recently become somewhat of a softie. And that was in many ways, his downfall. 'Drat,' he said to himself. And then, he did something he wouldnt normally do, least of all while trying to win a race. He decided he'd go all cowardly Zilly-like, even if it would mean costing him his reputation and having Rachel ridicule him for the rest of his life. Oh well, tough.

He opened the driver's seat and jumped out shielding his head, rolling about for a while until he reached Karcia and Scarlet. He looked up into her sad worried face.

'Karcia...' he smiled gently at her. He got no further, as suddenly there was a loud BOOM behind him.The Mean Machine had been going at high speed, and with no one to control it, it spiraled out of control and hit some rocks, where it had exploded. Debris flew everywhere from the blast, Scarlet and Karcia shielding their eyes. Dick stared in horror.

'Nooooooooooooooooooooo!' he yelled in a mix of disbelief and despair, then covering his face he stood sobbing like a big baby. 'My machine, my beautiful machine!'

'Oh my god! 'Cried looking at what happened.

'What the hell?' Seeing Rachel's car roll into the Mean Machine made Scarlet turn around in horror. It seemed that Rachel and the Harlequin Star were in a pretty bad state. 'Come on you dumbhead, she needs help!' she yelled at the officer, who oblivious to the whole thing was still sobbing his eyes out for his beloved car. She grabbed him by the hand and with Karcia still holding onto him, he was dragged to the scene of the wreckage.

'Oh my goodness, are you alright Rachel? Can you hear me?' She sounded concerned. When Dick got there, he just froze. Something about seeing his beloved Mean Machine in flames and his old flame in trouble just threw him into a state of shock. He stood there, rooted to where he stood, his eyes wide, unblinking.

'Well don't just stand there you dumbhead, help her.....' Scarlet stopped short when she saw the state he was in. Drat, he's really flipped his lid now, she muttered to herself. 'Karcia, stay here with these two, while I call an ambulance. Seems we have two very serious cases here,' she ordered, a tone of urgency in her voice.

'It's all my fault! If I hadn't come here, it's Rachel nothing would have happened! ' laments.