‘Of course Jay’s late,’ Asbel scoffed, making everybody else on the plane chuckle.

We were all there. Everybody except for Jay.

Asbel was the man responsible for everybody’s weapons except for my own. A mop of black hair tied back into a man bun sat atop his head, and he stared around the group with excited brown eyes.

He had, in fact, brought a weapon of his own. He had crafted himself his own giant hammer, which now sat in front of him. It was small enough to be held with one hand, but the size of the giant grey head made it look pretty heavy.

‘He probably can’t find the damn plane,’ Stephen added.

Stephen was a rather new addition to the friend group, or at least to me. The two of us had only met six months ago, but he was still one of my most trusted friends. He was massive and lanky, standing at a gigantic height of six feet, and had light brown hair styled to the side much like Ali’s. His eyes were only a slightly darker brown, but they sparkled with joy as he spoke.

‘A1 is the simplest plane we could have possibly been given,’ Peter joked.

Peter was, as a son of Zeus, an extremely powerful demigod. On top of that, he was also up there with Ethan as one of my greatest best friends, not that I had favourites.

He was about half an inch taller than me, but we both had the same shade of dirty blond hair that fell over our foreheads in fringes. The major difference was that his fringe was miles longer than mine, however. Mine only came down to just below my eyebrows whilst his completely covered his blue eyes, another small feature that the two of us shared.

‘Cut him some slack,’ Natasha added defensively. ‘You know how his mom can be. She might be taking a while to say goodbye.’

Natasha was a short girl with long brown hair, but hers didn’t curl at the ends as Cecilia’s did. Her dark brown eyes seemed to be filled with worry as she spoke. Mere moments before Asbel’s comment, she had expressed her concern that Jay would miss the flight.

‘He’s gonna be the one that’s most upset if he misses this flight,’ I pointed out. ‘He’s very excited to wreak havoc in France.’

‘Might be a bit early for him, though,’ Ethan joked. ‘He’s not exactly an early bird.’

‘He wants to hurry up,’ General Woodward grumbled, checking his watch. ‘We have five minutes.’

‘That’s it?’ Isaac spat in disbelief. ‘Five minutes?’

‘Yes, Mr Crawford.’

‘Should I go out to look for him?’ Charlotte piped up, also sounding rather worried.

Charlotte was great. On this particular day, she had tied her long black hair back into a ponytail, whereas she usually just let it flow over her shoulders. Her green eyes, which usually seemed to sparkle under any light, were filled with worry much like Natasha’s.

‘No, we don’t want you to accidentally miss this, either,’ General Woodward replied sternly. ‘Stay here, all of you. If he doesn’t show up within the next three to four minutes, we leave him behind.’

‘Gods…’ I breathed. ‘Why would he pick today of all days to have a lie-in?’

‘I thought giving you plane A1 would make things easier…’ I heard General Woodward murmur under his breath.

‘He’ll be here,’ Ethan said, suddenly sounding rather stern. ‘I’m sure of it.’

As luck would have it, Jay arrived not thirty seconds before General Woodward planned to shut the door.

‘My mom would not shut up,’ he groaned as he collapsed onto the seat on my left.

His curly light brown hair was a lot more untidy than it usually was, which was saying something. Panic had flooded his mischievous little blue eyes, and his small round face seemed to be coated with the same emotion.

General Woodward slammed the door shut before shouting to the pilot, ‘Ready when you are, sir!’

‘Make sure you’ve all got your seatbelts on,’ Charlotte warned, scanning everybody’s waists and chests to make sure we did, in fact, have our seatbelts on.

She was good like that. She would always check on everybody else before even thinking about herself.

I remembered, for a brief moment, when the two of us had gotten doughnuts from the café together over two and a half years ago. She had taken me to get them because I had, admittedly, thrown a bit of a tantrum. But whilst the two of us had been talking, a certain look crossed her face and it was that look that had sent me on a bit of a panic spiral.

The only way to describe such a look would be to call it that of a mom.

She had no idea that that was why I had gone all pale. I had kept it to myself ever since it had happened.

‘Alright!’ General Woodward barked as the plane began to move. Whether from fear of flying or fear of the General, Cecilia clutched my right arm. ‘We are to jump from the plane near the Eiffel Tower! Understood?’

Everybody nodded or murmured some form of agreement.

‘You are to pull your parachute open at about five thousand feet, as I am sure you are aware! This ensures that, barring any unfortunate errors, the parachute will be open by four thousand feet. Do you all still understand?’

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

The previous ritual repeated itself.

‘As for Mr Santrrer, he will jump from the plane before the rest of us, and will be ready to help any and all that need it!’

‘I will be indeed,’ I murmured, smiling slightly at everybody.

‘Any questions?’ General Woodward yelled as the plane’s engine began to roar. We were about to take off.

‘What’s the plan when we get on the ground?’ Ethan asked, evidently trying to mask his fear.

I didn’t blame him. I hated planes, and even that was an understatement. Yes, I could fly. If anything went wrong, I could easily save myself and everybody on board. But being trapped in a weird flying metal tube with limited oxygen was absolutely terrifying to me.

‘We’ll decide when we get there,’ I joked. ‘Have a race to see who can wreak havoc first.’

A few people chuckled at that. The rest seemed preoccupied with grasping the armrests on either side of them.

‘Planes are so cool,’ I heard Peter murmur as we raced down the runway. ‘I wanna fly one one day.’

‘You’re a son of Zeus, right?’ General Woodward asked, sounding rather gentle, as we lifted up into the air.

I was trying my absolute hardest not to show any signs of fear. Cecilia was using me for comfort and support. I couldn’t be scared.

‘Yeah, I am,’ Peter said quietly, smirking at me and Ethan in turn. ‘I got Claimed nearly three years ago.’

‘You’d be a brilliant pilot, then,’ General Woodward smiled. ‘When you’re old enough, you should apply for the position. You can be a commercial pilot if this war is over.’

I remembered Peter’s Claiming vividly. It had been in the fight against Robert, mere days after I had first arrived at RoCity. I remembered the lightning that had shot down from the sky to protect him from Robert’s spell. The holographic lightning bolt above his head. The look of disbelief as he realised he was a son of Zeus.

The war against Amy felt a lot longer ago than it actually was. Of course, it was a few years at this point, but it still somehow felt a lot more distant.

They hadn’t exactly been ‘good days’. You know, a day can only be so good when you’re fighting the woman who killed nearly everybody in your family. But, looking back on that war, I looked back on those days as what most would describe as ‘the good old days’.

How had I even gotten into this situation? How had I gone from fighting a crazed woman with a little wooden stick that shot funny beams of light to flying on a military plane to Paris to knock France out of a war started by me and my should-be-dead ex-best friend?

‘Do you reckon Maltor’s gonna be in Paris?’ Isaac piped up as the plane seemed to level out in the air. Everybody had been extraordinarily quiet during the ascent.

Ethan, Harvey, and I all scoffed.

‘For his sake, I hope not,’ Harvey said, grinning. ‘Albert would kill him.’

‘The way you said ‘kill’ makes it sound like Albert would fucking torture him, not just end his life,’ Asbel joked.

‘I would,’ I mumbled, so quiet that only Jay and Cecilia heard me.

I felt myself begin to slip. I began to think about why I hated him. The image of Jeremy’s beaten and mutilated corpse flashed across my mind. Quinn. Emma.

No. I couldn’t trouble myself with those thoughts. We were going to fight the French, not Maltor. I didn’t need to make myself so angry at him when it was not he who I would be fighting.

‘It should just be French soldiers, if that,’ Charlotte reasoned. ‘I’m not even sure that they’d be ready quick enough to stop the destruction we plan on causing.’

‘I’m gonna try and land on top of the Eiffel Tower,’ Jay murmured, grinning manically.

‘Please don’t,’ Charlotte groaned. ‘I don’t want to have to send Albert up to rescue you.’

‘Oh, no, I wouldn’t rescue him,’ I said jokingly. ‘He’s gotta learn that actions have consequences.’

Everyone laughed at that.

Pain shot across my head. I tried not to give any signs of pain, but I must have at least winced slightly, as Ethan and Charlotte both shot me worried glances.

Great. Was I now gonna have a headache while destroying Paris? Fantastic.

‘I didn’t think my first time in Paris was gonna be something like this,’ Natasha said quietly.

‘Alright, alright,’ Ethan droned, his voice dripping with sarcasm. ‘We can stop by Disneyland while we’re there.’

I scoffed. ‘Take a break from the arson to pose with Mickey.’

‘We’ll buy some merch for you if you want,’ Isaac added. ‘Do you want Mickey or Minnie’s ears?’

‘Buy both so I can have a pair,’ Jay said loudly. ‘I’ve always wanted some.’

The mood of the flight was generally positive as we neared our destination. Even General Woodward joined in with some of the jokes.

About halfway to Paris, I put my arm over Cecilia’s shoulders and she leant into me. I wasn’t even at the actual battle and my heart was already racing.

‘I won’t lie, man,’ Isaac mumbled mid-conversation. ‘I am terrified to jump from this thing.’

‘You’ve got two descendants of Titan and a son of Zeus to help you if anything goes wrong,’ Ethan reasoned warmly. ‘Oh, and Albert I guess.’

I smirked at him.

‘Don’t act like I can help,’ Peter scoffed. ‘Just cuz I’m a son of Zeus doesn’t mean I can fly.’

‘You can practise with me sometime,’ Ethan said, grinning. ‘I can teach you how to do it.’

Peter smiled slightly at that. ‘That’ll be fun.’

Whilst they had been talking, I noticed General Woodward checking his watch out of the corner of my eye.

As I was two per cent bird, I had a built-in navigation system. I had noticed that we were getting awfully close to Paris quite a while back, but I hadn’t said anything. But now it looked like it was time.

General Woodward cleared his throat, causing everybody to look at him.

‘We’ll be jumping in five minutes,’ he said calmly. Everybody went completely still, and I am certain Natasha and Isaac went a little paler. ‘I will tell you when to stand up. The pilot will lower the plane now.’

After a few seconds of crushing silence, I piped up.

‘Well, we’re here.’

I glanced over my shoulder and out the window behind me. Countless houses and other buildings spread out below us. I wondered for a moment just how many of them would survive what we were about to put this city through.

How many innocent civilians would die? I had felt sick to my stomach when two hundred and fifty-six civilians had been killed by Maltor’s attack. What gave me the right to do this? Nothing justified the massacre of innocents.

I felt the plane begin to descend.

‘Gods, I hate plane landings almost as much as when they take off,’ Cecilia breathed.

I squeezed her shoulders gently.

‘Everybody’s got their parachutes on tight, yes?’ General Woodward barked.

Everyone nodded.

‘Good.’

With each sharp decline in our altitude, I saw at least half of the group close their eyes tightly. Even my stomach was flipping, and I could literally fly.

‘Everybody up!’ General Woodward yelled.

Ethan and I were the first out of our seats.

I hurriedly undid my seatbelt and stroked Cecilia’s shoulder gently before getting up. Once on my feet, I turned around and offered one hand to her and my other to Jay.

Isaac looked horrible.

‘Think of it like bungee jumping,’ I said, looking straight at him, as I helped Cecilia and Jay to their feet. ‘You’ll be fine. When you’re on the ground you’ll be beaming, I’m sure.’

He looked up and smiled at me. ‘I hope so.’

General Woodward gestured for me to stand by the door. I did just that, and Ethan was two steps behind me.

‘Ready, Mr Santrrer?’ the General said quietly from behind me.

I nodded.

‘Then I wish you all the best of luck.’

The door opened.

The first thing that happened was a deafening high-pitched noise resemblant of a dog whistle entering my ears. Wincing, I fought the urge to cover them.

Then, I noticed the sight below me. The Eiffel Tower was invading the peripheral vision of my right eye. More buildings than I could even count sat below me. Houses. Small businesses. Tourist attractions.

We were about nine thousand feet in the air. It was going to be one hell of a fall.

But it was time. It was time to show the world just what RoCity could bring to the table.

Taking a deep breath, I jumped.