Drawing a black trench coat more tightly around his crouching form to ward off the late-fall chill, Captain Darkness was nothing more than another rooftop shadow in the middle of the night as he waited for his prey. He knew his nemesis would eventually step out through the back-alley door; it was only a matter of time and the Captain was a patient man. It had taken weeks of strong-arming the low-lives of Gateway City, sorting through endless rumors and false leads, but it had been worth it. The reign of Dr. Jinx and his criminal empire would end that night, Captain Darkness silently vowed.
He didn't know if he had been on that rooftop for minutes or hours when the alley door finally opened. Captain Darkness had to restrain himself from springing into immediate action as a thug in a pinstriped suit stepped out of the warehouse first. The criminal glanced around the alley with the barrel of a tommy gun before Dr. Jinx finally appeared. Four additional men exited to assume flanking positions on either side of the evil doctor.
Captain Darkness smiled beneath his featureless black mask. It would only be their six against his one -- favorable odds for the hero.
"Get the car and bring it around to -" Dr. Jinx began instructing one of his henchmen before everything went black.
"Wha -?"
"I can't see!"
"What happened to the lights?"
"It's Captain Darkness, you fools!" Dr. Jinx shrieked, reaching under his white suit jacket for a slim pistol. "Kill him!"
Jinx was sure his hired goons were doomed as soon as he heard the familiar bone-crunching sounds of a fist against his men's faces. Even though he couldn't see anything through the supernatural blanket of darkness, he recalled which direction the mouth of the alley was and ran blindly towards it. Dr. Jinx hoped his men could at least delay the Captain long enough to secure an escape.
City lights suddenly came into view as Jinx spilled out onto the street. He glanced back towards the murky blackness consuming the alley as he heard a man scream from his arm being broken. Taking a split-second to regain his bearings, Jinx spotted his car and sprinted towards it...
Miley quickly turned the page to continue reading, "Charlie, this is amazing. When did you write this?"
"While Brian, Sam, and I were in Kansas City," Charlie replied, doing his best to make sense of assembly instructions. Pieces of the crib they had purchased that day lay scattered on the carpeted floor all around him.
Pulling on her ankle Miley curled a leg beneath her as she sat in an easy-chair within their massive bedroom. At eight months pregnant, Miley often struggled to be comfortable. "It's perfect. It's so... so... what's that word you used?"
"Noir," Charlie answered.
"Yeah," Miley nodded as she read. "Noir. It reads like one of those old gangster movies you see on TV late at night. Except your story has superpowers."
Charlie flipped the crib's instructions around, wondering if they made more sense in French, "Sam says the execs at HBO are balking at the setting because the forties will alienate too many viewers. They think the show should be set in modern times."
"That's just silly," Miley declared. "Captain Darkness wears a fedora. No one in modern times wears a fedora. Well, except Indiana Jones."
Charlie smirked at the ignorance of her comment, "Miley, the setting for Indiana Jones takes place... never mind."
"When will the Captain's girlfriend appear on the show? She's in the first issue of the comic, after all. And since it's HBO you can show them having sex and stuff."
"I don't think there'll be any sex scenes," Charlie answered distractedly, combing around the floor for some screws.
"Why not?" Miley sounded surprised, "Someone's having sex every five minutes on
Game of Thrones
. If you want to make the geeks of the world go crazy for your show, you better put in at least one sex scene per episode and have lots of naked girls scattered around. If there's one thing in this world that excites comic book nerds, it's naked girls."
Charlie stopped what he was doing and considered his wife's words. Miley may not have known what 'noir' meant, but no one Charlie knew had more skill at enticing people. Especially young men, who represented Captain Darkness' key demographic.
"Don't get me wrong," Miley continued, flipping to the next page of Charlie's script. "Your story is awesome, but sex sells. Anyone watching will expect sex and nudity -- people are always fucking on HBO."
"Maybe," Charlie conceded, turning back to his mess of parts. "Crap. 'Some assembly required' my ass. This entire crib needs assembly!"
Miley smiled at her husband's frustration and uncurled from her chair. She padded across the floor to kneel behind Charlie and placed her hands at his shoulders, "Why don't you leave this for later? I'm sure my dad would be willing to help you out once he gets home."
"I should be able to put a crib together," Charlie stated resolutely. "What kind of father will I be if I can't even make a crib?"
Miley rubbed his shoulders comfortingly, "You're going to be an amazing father."
"Are you sure?" Charlie wondered in a worrisome tone. "Our daughter is going to show up in about six weeks and I'm barely old enough to buy a beer. What do I know about being someone's dad?"
"Nothing," Miley answered.
Charlie didn't sound reassured, "Exactly. What if we made a big mistake, Miley? What if we're too young to be parents?"
"Do you think your father had a clue when you were born? My dad didn't. In fact, he pretty much remains clueless when it comes to parenting. I think it's something we'll learn as we go, you know?"
"Learn as we go? Isn't that kind of risky?"
Miley kneaded into Charlie shoulders trying to get him to relax, "You worry too much. A baby isn't really that complicated. You gotta feed them, change their diapers, coo at them when they cry, and take them to the doctor every couple of weeks. The hard stuff comes later."
"Really?" Charlie sounded nervous. "Like what kind of hard stuff?"
"You know - when they start asking questions."
"What kind of questions?" Charlie glanced over his shoulder.
"Um... like when she'll want to know where babies come from."
"That sounds like a good job for her mother. Talking about sex comes naturally to you."
Miley grinned and wrapped her arms around Charlie's neck. "What about when she brings her first boyfriend home to meet her daddy?"
"I'll do a background check and full cavity search on him," Charlie said half-jokingly.
Miley giggled, "Be serious. I mean, what if he has tattoos and rides a motorcycle?"
"I don't know... what did Jack do when you brought your first boyfriend home?"
Miley gave him a funny look, "You should know - you were there."
Charlie's face scrunched up with confusion, "I was? Wait, you mean I was the first boyfriend you introduced to your dad? I didn't know that."
"Silly boy," Miley squeezed him. "You were my first boyfriend. I thought you knew that?"