Dedicated To:  Almostlove24

_______

"Flair is what makes the difference between artistry and mere competence."
-Cmdr. William Riker

____________◇♤◇♤◇_______________

No entourage was waiting for them in the private hangar of the Paris airport when they landed, just a lone black limousine. Behind it, there was a small white box van, to hold their luggage.

The windows were darkly tinted, even on the inside, and disappointingly, Galaxy Girl couldn't see much of the famed French city as they traveled the short drive to Hotel Adelais, the second stop on the Tour De Dance. Galaxy Girl's mind, as odd as it sounded, was abuzz, it started several minutes after she had taken off the Altificator. Strange Words like axis step, and barrida twist rattled around inside her brain, and she had a feeling that she could pull off a perfect Paso Double, whatever that was.

They rode in silence, sitting a good three feet apart. Toxic leaned back in the very expensive leather seat, the fingertips of both his hands slightly touching as they rested against his lips. He was deep in thought. A single tendril of his curly black hair was out of place, and strangely; she found herself fighting the urge to reach over and brush it back. Thankfully, the ride had come to a halt.

The door opened once they stopped, and Toxic climbed out first. She took the hand he offered and stepped out as well. Galaxy Girl squinted as she felt the full glare of the French summer sun in her eyes; after all, she’d only just come out of a limo with tinted glasses. She was wearing a light pink dress with a black belt wrapped beautifully around her waist. The first thing she noticed when she stepped out was how her feet didn't wobble in the strappy black heels Toxic insisted she wear. Neither did they hurt, like they did when she’d put them on this morning.

The hotel was magnificent, not as large as the Aztec Hotel in Rome, but the classic French architecture took her breath away. This would be a building the Hero would seriously regret having to crash into.
By the time they had made it up the long flight of stairs, the bellboys had already unloaded the van and had their luggage piled high onto an elegant golden cart. A pair of French teenage boys, no older than sixteen, dressed in a fancy black and red bell boy uniforms followed them several respectful feet behind with the cart. Security was tight. They walked through metal detectors, body scanners, and were even fingerprinted.

"How did you?" She muttered, amazed that after she had placed her thumb on the pad, the scan had gone through without a hitch- to her utter amazement.  "I took a few liberties while you were unconscious." He replied quietly, though not quietly enough, because the grey haired old lady behind the desk shot him a suspicious look. Toxic realized how wrong that sounded, and simply smiled at her, not really of sure what else to do.

The elderly Parisian rolled her eyes and waved them through. They stepped through and stood to the side, waiting for the luggage to pass through the airport style scanner.
"Traveling light Monsieur?" One of the bellboys joked in English.
Wait, aren't those filled to the brim with lasers and other suspicious looking gadgets? How on earth is that going through clear?
Galaxy Girl wondered to herself.

"My Cherie couldn't decide which of her dresses to bring, so in the end she just brought them all." Toxic laughed, acting the part of the adoring fiancé perfectly. "How are you getting those through?" She whispered curiously once out of earshot of the hotel employees...
"You’re kidding right?" He raised an eyebrow.  

The blond shook her head; not everybody could make diamond cutting lasers out of parts from an electric toothbrush.
"It's so simple it hurts to explain."
Said Toxic
"The bags each contain a chip which projects the image of a normal suitcase onto the baggage scanning screen."
"Oh yes of course, so simple." She rolled her eyes, regretting she’d even asked and given him the opportunity of acting the part of ‘lecturer’.

After being informed that both their luggage and itinerary would be delivered to their next room, the pair were led to a gorgeous banquet hall, where lunch was in the process of being served. Tables with numbered cards filled the room, along with the noise of conversations between the remaining contestants. Galaxy Girl's stomach rumbled at the sight of the steaming food, and she took in the scent of fresh French bread. With all the continent crossing, her body hadn't adjusted to the different time zones so the Hero's eating and sleeping patterns were completely screwed up.

They were seated at table 25, beside a lovely blonde couple- Hanz and Liesel, German ambassadors. Like most other royal tour contestants, they were also English speakers, quite chatty ones, asking all sorts of questions about the Island kingdom that Team Dumas hailed from. The ever thinking ahead Toxic had insisted his nemesis memorize the details of the life her new alter ego lived until her brain hurt, so both answered every question with ease.

Toxic pried, asking questions about the rest of the competitors, in hopes of weeding out "Quickstep and Cha-Cha", but much to their collected disappointment, there were loads of competitors from Russian "Esc" countries; at least 50, as ballroom dancing was considered an elite sport over there. Most of the competitors had left by the time Toxic and Galaxy Girl were done eating, so they had no choice but to halt the investigation, and go check out their room.

"50... That's a quarter of the competition." Galaxy spoke with a discouraging sigh, once they were alone in an elevator.
"Well; the first dance is the Cha-Cha tomorrow afternoon that will be our next chance to find them." He answered, pushing the button to the 15th floor.
"Then what?" She asked halfheartedly. His eyebrow went up again, they always arched higher than she thought was humanly possible.
"Then we lure them out into the open and you do your superhero thing. Catching bad guys remember?"
He said with a hint of irony in his voice. "You know you are next on my list right?" she reminded.
"I'd be insulted if I wasn't!" He exclaimed dramatically, and then followed with a wink.

__________________________

A/N: I really could never get enough of Toxic, can you?
He is to date my favorite that I've ever created. A lot of me is in him; especially  his flair for the over dramatic.
A suprise bonus chapter will be posted this evening if this chapter gets over 30+ votes today. (And I promise you it's a good one) so dont forget to vote, add to your library, share, tell your friends ect...

Happy Saturday Guys. :)
_QueenOfGeeks