Craig walked into Mr. Brock's office with an uncharacteristically energetic stride, a bounce in his step that hadn't been seen in a decade. Mr. Brock looked up from his desk, his brow furrowing in confusion. Craig's energy was unusual, especially on his day off. Must've had a third cup of coffee this morning, Mr. Brock thought.
"Morning, Mr. Brock!" Craig said, his voice tinged with enthusiasm. Mr. Brock raised an eyebrow. "Uh, hello, Warren. What brings you in today?" Craig's grin was probably the brightest Mr. Brock had seen from him since he hired him. It honestly scared him a little. "No one's got photos of that scaly guy yet, right?" "Uh, no. There were reports he was involved in the incident downtown, and he's going by Dragon Ace or something, but no one here's gotten a photo. Look, if this is about your job, we're st—"
Craig slapped down a stack of six photos into Mr. Brock's hand. Mr. Brock's eyes widened as he looked down at the photos. They were clear, high-quality shots of Ace Dragon around the area of the incident. His jaw dropped as he looked back at Craig's grin and then at the photos again. "Kid… how did you…" Craig's grin widened as Mr. Brock's jaw remained agape.
Earlier that morning
"You what?!" Craig said through gritted teeth as Mary stood before him, clutching his camera guiltily. "I'm sorry… I just—" Mary began, but Craig cut her off, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I can't believe you pickpocketed my camera. I have work today!" he said, trying to contain his growing anger.
"I thought you had a day off…" Mary said, her voice trembling. Craig's memory jogged, and he smacked his forehead. "I do, but still, that's my camera, Mary! I need that to work with the Dispatch. Without it, I'm not making as much to help with rent! You can't take that! What if you were wrong and I had work? What would I do?!"
Mary sniffled, fighting back tears. Craig felt a twinge of guilt but knew he had to stand his ground. "I-I just wanted to show them you were cool," she said, holding up the camera with her head down.
Craig snatched the camera from her hands in frustration. "I can't believe this. I thought I was teaching you better than this." He flipped through the camera's memory, checking for any deleted photos. To his surprise, nothing was missing, but there were new additions. "Great, you used up some of the memory t—" He stopped mid-sentence as he saw photos of Ace Dragon standing on a building, another with him in the streets, and a third of him leaping away, all in impressive quality with several more following suit.
Craig looked from the photos to his crying sister. Mary couldn't hold back any longer and started bawling, trying to apologize through her tears. "I-I'm sorry, Craig. I told them at school you were a photographer, and I wanted to show them your photos. I wasn't thinking. I-I'm so, so s—"
Craig's expression and tone softened, and he rested a hand on Mary's shoulder. "Mary, you took these photos, didn't you?"
Mary choked on her tears and nodded guiltily. Craig pulled her into a hug. "Mary, I'm sorry for making you cry. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. Do you understand that stealing my camera was wrong?"
Mary sniffled, wiping her tears and snot on her arm and parts of Craig's sweater, and nodded. "Okay. As long as you understand that now, it's fine. I won't tell Dad, but you did help me a lot, Mary."
Mary looked at Craig through tearful eyes. "H-How?" Craig smiled. "Mary, a lot of people have been trying to get pictures of this guy for the past few days. These might be some of the only photos of him around right now. Because of this, you might've just saved my job and given us a bit more money." Mary's tears began to subside. "So I did something good?"
"You did good in getting these photos, but don't ever steal my camera again. Now let's get home. I'll drop off these photos later, and with the money, we can go get ice cream or something." Mary nodded, the last of her tears fading away. She climbed onto the back of Craig's bike. "Okay. I'm really sorry Craig." Craig sighed as he pedaled down the streets. "Look Mary, I'm not mad anymore. Well I am still a bit upset, especially since I did laundry the day before." Craig said, peering over at the snot stain on his sweater. "But it's fine now, if you're still upset I think there's a little something at home that'll cheer you up a bit." Craig said in a more cheery tone.
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"You know, I just so happened to be in the area…" Craig trailed off, his grin unwavering. Mr. Brock scratched his goatee, a smirk growing on his face.
"Kid, this might be the winning argument I need to keep you on the job here. This is some good work. I'm proud of you, Warren." Craig's grin widened even more, and Mr. Brock almost felt blinded by the rare sight of Craig's pure joy. "I'll stand by the deal and give you double the usual pay up front." Mr. Brock pulled out his wallet and handed Craig a stack of bills, making Craig's green eyes gleam with excitement. I gotta get the lighting here fixed, Mr. Brock thought.
"Thanks, Mr. Brock! This is amazing. I can't believe it!" Craig exclaimed, clutching the money with delight.
Mr. Brock took a deep sip of his coffee as he stood up, holding the photos. "I'm a man of my word, kid. Now I'm gonna go make sure you have your job." He walked out of his office. "CHER, CLEAR MY AFTERNOON!"
Craig, still enraptured by the money in his hands, wore an eager, earnest glee he hadn't felt in a while. He ran out of the Ditko building, waving to Cher as he passed.
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Craig rode out on the Cifer streets as his legs went to work on his bike.
This is good. More money right before I go to college, enough to help out with rent and a bit extra. This dragon thing is working out a bit for me, but dad was worried sick just because I was gone at the same time Lance went batshit. I don't like lying to him but if he knew the truth…
The wind swept his hair and hood back as he moved through the bustling streets, the wafted air of car exhaust and trash was a familiar scent to him that he was all too familiar with, completely nose blind to it, anyone who lived in this part of Oscuro was. …he'd probably have a heart attack and Mary, while having good intentions to make me look cool despite how uncool I am, could endanger us all if she ever lets out this secret.
Craig's perpetual grin shifted into a concerned gaze. Could be a big problem, too many photographers would be on me, and if any sort of government entity found me, no doubt they'd try to experiment on me like crazy. Craig had finally arrived outside of his apartment building carrying his bike inside.
Maybe this should just be a secret for only me for the sake of our peace. Is that what you would do, Mom?
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Craig walked into the apartment to see Mary playing with their new cat as he folded up his bike. Mary's smile was blinding as she nuzzled the cat to her cheek on the carpet, Craig watched for a second calmly as that anxious look shifted to a serene gaze. I won't let that smile go away. That'll be my… only reason…Craig noticed a slight stop gap in his train of thought as he thought back on his fight with Lance, something stirred within his stomach slightly. "What did Mr. Brock say?" Mary said as she cuddled the oreo colored cat a bit too tightly to the cat's slight annoyance. Craig snapped out of his brief daze and forced a grin "He loved the photos, said that they were amazing, and gave me double the usual amount! I see you've been having fun with our new roommate." Craig said as the cat squirmed its way out of Mary's vice grip and leapt onto his shoulder watching carefully. Mary pouted in response to the cat's slight escape. "Traitor," she muttered. "How come you and Dad haven't named him yet?" Craig shrugged as the cat landed gracefully on the ground. "Not good with names and we wanted you to name him. Also, I didn't even know that he's a boy." The cat meowed in a disappointed tone. "You guys are impossible…" Mary shook her head as the cat looped between her legs and leapt on her head. Craig rolled his eyes as he walked over to his room and picked up a deck of cards before stuffing it inside his bag. "Well you can think about a name till I come back I'll be back in a little over an hour." Mary peaked over from behind the cat's head. "Where are you headed?" "Visiting a friend." Craig muttered as he plucked out some apple slices out of the fridge.
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"You're here early. You skip work?" said Nathan as he caught the apple slices with his unbandaged hand. Craig closed the door behind him as he sat down on a chair. "I forgot I had the day off today." "Y'know that memory of yours is gonna bite you in the ass one day." Nathan chuckled as he munched on an apple slice. "What's gonna happen if you ever get a girlfriend and you forget when your date is?" A pause filled the room before Nathan let out a hearty laugh and Craig followed suit a little less loudly. Nathan wiped away the tear forming from the corner of his eyes as he swiped down his bandaged forehead to his chin. "Sorry about that one I couldn't resist!" Craig rolled his eyes as he looked back. "Yeah yeah, I'll show you when we're back from college. So how are you holding up?" Nathan's expression slightly shifted as his attention wandered to his bandages. For a glimpse, Craig thought he saw anger emanate from Nathan, but it could've just been his eyes playing tricks on him as Nathan remained somewhat calm with his usual smirk. "Doctors say I don't have it as bad as the others. I'll be out of here in a few days at most. They just wanna monitor me for a bit." Craig let out a sigh of relief. "That's good, great even you'll be back to 100% in no time and DGN's should be getting repaired as well." Nathan wrinkled his nose as his brow furrowed. "I don't know if I wanna go there anymore and it's gonna take a while for it to be repaired and I'll be at college by then." "Well at least it seems Lance was stopped." Craig said in an attempt to cheer Nathan up. "Maybe but…I wanna meet that Lizard Guy a lot more now." Craig was fortunate Nathan wasn't looking at him to see the look of confusion on his face. "Why?" Nathan continued his blank gaze out the window as he balled up his bandaged fist. "He's the strongest."
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Nothing better than Kiaru's. Craig thought as he stuffed his mouth with ice cream. Especially their cookies and cream. He took a deep breath as he thoroughly enjoyed the sweet. Mary was enjoying her vanilla ice cream as well as the cat was indulging itself with whipped cream. Mary suddenly perked up and pointed to the cat. "Silver!" Craig nearly choked on his ice cream before collecting himself. "Really? Any reason for that?" Mary looked over annoyed, pouting at her older brother. "Silver comes when you mix black and white, and he's got a little silver streak on the underside of his tail. "Silver walked over to her and nudged her leg softly while purring. "And he seems to like it." Craig looked at Silver with a slight sense of betrayal. "Traitor" he muttered under his breath. "Silver it is then I guess." Mary smirked smugly as Silver climbed up her back and perched on her shoulder as she ate more of her ice cream. "Glad you could see it my way." Craig rolled his eyes as he grabbed the remote to flick through the TV channels muttering to himself about where his little sister inherited this attitude from. "Whatever, what show do you wanna watch?" "Is Static Shock on?" Craig smiled. She at least got his good taste if anything Craig thought as he clicked the button.
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Craig held up his damaged costume in the lamp light. The numerous cuts on his body from the fight with Lance had healed over but the cuts on his costume remained. His hand brushed over the side of his hair that was nicked in the fight as well, grumbling slightly. Stupid Lance, and stupid instincts I can't really heal back my hair. He looked a little bit dejected before an idea sparked in his head, he dug through the bins under his bed and slid out a velvety blue box. The name Erin, written in marker on its top. You always come in to save me, Mom. Craig carefully opened the box and took out pieces of black cloth, a sewing needle and black thread. Craig carefully patched on the pieces repairing his costume slowly, even if he never used it again, better safe than sorry.