@narddogbernard wrote : ❝ i’ll protect you. ❞ idk how but andy tries
it’s cute that he wants to. sweet , even. for a moment vanessa is overcome by the genuine affection she has for this man who clings so desperately to any positive relationship , no matter how superficial. overcome by the loyalty he has. he really does remind her so much of her dad sometimes. especially now , stupidly trying to push her behind him in the face of someone who is stronger than him by LEAPS and bounds. andy isn’t skinny , exactly , but the man in front of them is heavily muscled , with a gleam in his eyes that says he knows how to use them.
vanessa wonders , in some quiet corner of her mind , if she should be afraid. she isn’t , but then , she’s been in situations like this before. it’s a small gun hidden under the fabric of her skirt , holstered to her thigh , and it’s out before vanessa can so much as think. last time she threatened a man , it was major monogram , and the “ gun ” in her hand was a fancy hairdryer that monogram was too dense , too clouded by his machismo , to realize that it was nothing more than a dyson. it’s real this time , though ; a handgun made of the same stuff her dad’s scooter helmet is , so small and INCONSEQUENTIAL that it almost looks like a toy.
she never thought she’d use it , really. carried it around only for her father’s peace of mind. it was so easy to forget , between his restless energy and penchant for elaborate musical numbers , that her dad was a wanted criminal. or he had been. that he was a genius capable of building disastrous war machines ( if he ever stopped putting self-destruct buttons on them. ) it was so easy to forget that she might be HUNTED for as a control to her dad. and as many times as they’d told andy that , as many times as her dad had told him , vanessa doesn’t think he ever really believed it. it does sound sort of fantastical.
“ you don’t have to. ” she wonders how weird it is for andy , to see her carefully , expertly , line up her sights. to see her pull the trigger. to hear the man scream. “ run. ”