Thunderfist's Turmoil Ch. 03

"Just a sec" Danni said as she looked for more footage. "Gotta make sure she's all right."

On the computer screen, another video appeared. It showed Danielle running down a street while holding Josephine. As she approached a parked car, a laser blast from off-screen hit the car and it exploded. The screen went white for a moment. When the bright light receded, we could see Danni had turned herself into a giant turtle and turned Josephine away from the explosion, protecting her from harm. Then Danielle turned back into her human self and carried the little girl out of camera range again.

"Way to go, turtle" I congratulated my daughter.

"Tortoise" she corrected me. "The shells are thicker."

We both starred at the monitor for a moment. Danni then closed the video feeds and accessed the internet. She went to Facebook and looked up Josephine Randolph, but found no matches. "Too young to have her own page" I surmised. "Look up Marlene Randolph in Beaulieu Springs." She did and found her page. Pictures of the family filled the screen, all showing happy faces. I looked at the last status update. Nothing about a funeral or grief. Just a message about the family having a good time at the carnival yesterday.

Danielle jumped out of her chair and gave me a hug. We'd done it. Josephine was alive and the crisis was over. We were no longer pariahs and smeared by the media. I sat down at the computer and brought up Southern Belle's website. "How can we support a team with the devil himself on it?" read the latest hyperlink. I quickly scanned down but found nothing about Danielle. Quite a few essays slamming Brimstone, but judging by the low number of comments on each one, Southern Belle was having trouble getting people outraged over her target. Guess people could accept a red-skinned demon with horns easier than they could a transgender teen girl.

"Southern Belle doesn't seem to like you very much" I advised Brimstone.

He turned back towards us and asked "That bitch? Goddamn nuisance. Not too many people take her seriously."

"Well, I guess that time you saved the pope counts for a lot in people's minds" I ventured.

"Sure" he agreed. "Nice guy, the pope. Good listener. Pretty open-minded for a priest. Southern Belle, not so much. Great ass on her though."

"How can you tell with that costume she wears?" Danielle asked him.

"A demon can always tell these things" he answered with a smirk.

Danni and I took our leave of Brimstone and returned home. Once there, we held each other for a while as my daughter shed a few tears over the events that had happened but were no more than memories in our heads now. She cried out of some sadness but also joy and relief. I felt the same way but kept most of it inside when I felt I had to be a tower of strength for my Danielle. When she finally broke our embrace, I told her it was time for bed. She asked me if she could sleep with Marie and I tonight and I agreed.

She went to her room to change into her sleepwear while I put away my costume and slipped into bed next to Marie, who was sleeping so soundly I could have placed her on the track during the Daytona 500 and it wouldn't have woken her up. Danni got into bed on the other side of Marie and jokingly reminded me not to try any hanky-panky (her words, not mine) with my lover while my innocent little daughter (again, her words) was in the room. I assured her that I had a strict policy not to take advantage of the comatose. On that note, we drifted off to sleep, the events of an emotional day finally catching up to us.