The days after a stressful battle is generally a time spent trying to recover. When battles cover most of a territory, that place becomes eerily silent in the hours and days after the fact. It’s a time to recuperate, reflect, and generally recharge in the aftermath of such a traumatic event. Of course, each person had their own methods of unwinding in such cases.
Lightforge had thrown himself back into his work, eager to be better prepared the next time conflict arose. That eagerness had only redoubled with a little prodding from Circe, who counted “scheming” as a relaxing pastime. Others had simpler, more common strategies to get their heads on straight.
On the morning after the battle, before Lightforge had woken up and started work with his sensors, Sunbird was already awake. While not normally an early riser, today was different. She was energized after the excitement the night before and needed time to process and think about what she was going to do next. And so she was standing in the shower.
The hot water was blissful as she simply stood there, soaking in the warmth and letting thoughts of the previous night fall away. She needed a clear head, and that started with a luxuriant shower. Her plan was to let the warmth thoroughly seep into her before going for a relaxing flight through the morning sky. No patrolling or looking for fights, just a calm cruise through the air.
It sounded so incredibly pleasant that it was finally enough to convince her to shut off the water and begin drying herself off. It felt wrong, but she’d found that judicious use of her energy powers did a decent job of imitating a hairdryer. It wasn’t great, but it was usually better than waiting for her long blonde locks to dry all on their own.
Finally dry, she slipped into her costume and poked her head out of the bathroom door. She floated in the air to remain completely silent as she headed for the portal and opened it. She passed through it with a grin on her face. From the outside she watched it close, studying the inside of her base for a few extra moments.
Sure enough, Cannoneer was still fast asleep in her bed. The covers were a mess, but there were enough patches of visible skin to make it clear that he was wearing very little under there. In fact, Sunbird knew for a fact that he wasn’t wearing anything.
That was one of the things she was planning to spend time thinking about that morning. She forced it from her mind for the moment as she rose above the nearby buildings and continued to ascend. She maintained a steady pace as she climbed, not in any rush to reach her destination, if she could even call it that.
She only stopped when she’d reached such a height that the cars on the streets below looked like ants scurrying around beneath her. Paramount City was truly enormous, a sprawling metropolis like nothing that existed in the real world. But from all the way up here it was so easy to forget that. From her it looked more like a map than an actual city. She loved that.
She also loved the peace and quiet. Few sounds made it up here from the city below, so she was left alone with only the whistling breeze to keep her company. It was a type of solitude that she’d only dreamed of before coming to this world; completely alone while surrounded by open skies on all sides. To her, there was nowhere better to clear her mind and just do some thinking.
As soon as she was open to thinking again, the thoughts came in a flood that threatened to knock her from the sky. The battle had been one thing, she had signed up for that kind of excitement. She hadn’t been expecting what had happened after. In fact, her own memories were just a touch hazy on the details.
She remembered fighting and struggling, flying around shooting everything in sight to help the other heroes. She remembered what had happened when she and Cannoneer had gotten back to her base. It was burned into her mind quite vividly, in fact. The only part that was a little fuzzy was the bit in the middle. How had they gone from point A to B?
She wasn’t quite sure how it had happened. The memory was there, but it was like a candle sitting between two raging bonfires. The events on either side were so impactful that it simply overshadowed what had happened in between. What she did remember was that she had been the one to initiate.
She didn’t so much as blush as she thought back on it. Actually, the memory brought a smile to her face. She didn’t regret it; in fact she was tempted to fly back down and slip back into bed beside him. But she knew that it wouldn’t be fair.
Not to her, as she didn’t care. The issue was Cannoneer. She’d seen enough averted glances and awkward speech to figure that he’d remembered their furious make out session down in the dungeon. That wasn’t surprising, as the memory had slowly come back to her as well. But where she looked back on it was a laugh and a shrug, he had clearly been more affected.
She liked him, but she also understood if he was confused. After all, had they been fueled by something real? Or was it just the memory of the mind altering attack that had overcome them? If one were interested in building a relationship, that was a very worrisome line of thought. For someone just looking for a good time, it didn’t really matter.
That was really why she was up in the sky so early in the morning. She wasn’t yet sure where she fell on that spectrum. Last night she hadn’t worried about it; she had let herself be caught up in the moment and had gone with it without a moment’s hesitation. But now everything had changed.
It was no longer dark, and her mind was no longer high on adrenaline. It was time to contemplate and consider her own thoughts before acting. Unfortunately, she truly hated doing that. Her body itched to turn around, shoot back into the base, and pointedly avoid thinking about the consequences. That’s what she wanted to do.
But she wouldn’t do it. She knew that those consequences wouldn’t be lost on Cannoneer, and she wouldn’t do that to him. She did care about him, she just wasn’t sure about how. She’d wanted the quiet beauty of the sky to help her figure it out, but it wasn’t helping. This wasn’t going to sort itself out by itself, and she knew it. She needed to talk to him.
But not yet. Before tackling that problem, she just needed a few more minutes to enjoy the quiet simplicity. After all, she was pretty sure that her life was about to get more complicated.
#
Sunbird was broken from her reverie by a series of faint thuds that echoed up to her from somewhere beneath her. She looked down only to have her jaw drop open. There was Cannoneer, pinballing through the sky as he rode a series of explosions up in her direction.
Well, roughly her direction. His method of transportation wasn’t exactly the most precise. And what was his plan once he got up to her? He could move through the air but he couldn’t stop there. Was he just going to bounce up and down on his explosions until he ran out of AP? And then what, just fall the comically large distance to the ground?
It wasn’t until he’d gotten close that his plan became clear. Sunbird’s eyes went wide just before he crashed into her, tackling her from the sky. They both screamed as she lost her concentration and they began to tumble towards the ground.
The shock only lasted a moment before Sunbird got her control back and brought them to a halt. What followed was an impressively long series of curses as she screamed in the face of her new passenger. To Cannoneer it sounded like one extended Bleep, but the look on her face was enough to tell him how much she was stretching her vocabulary to its limits.
He couldn’t help but grin at her. After much shifting and nearly slipping, she was holding him in her arms like a baby. His weapon was slung over his shoulder as he relaxed and smiled at her. This only annoyed her more.
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“And what the [BLEEP] are you smiling at!?”
“You. I didn’t think I would actually surprise you.”
“You tackled me!”
“I would have fallen if I didn’t.”
“Then fall! I didn’t ask you to come up here.”
“I know, but we need to talk.”
“Obviously! But we can do that down on the ground.”
“Or we could do it here? It is nice and private.”
She said nothing in response. Instead she glared at him for a few moments and then let her arms drop to her sides. His face flashed with fear for a split second before he vanished from her view. He went tumbling through the air, spinning too much to aim his bazooka and slow himself. She watched him fall away for a few moments before chuckling to herself and turning to dive after him.
The chuckling didn’t last long.
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Cannoneer was going to die. It wouldn’t be the first time, but this one stung. He tried to steady himself and bring his weapon to bear, but it was useless. Ground and sky were flipping and twisting all around him, so he was just as likely to send himself shooting for the ground.
It was one thing for Sunbird to drop him. His arrival had been a bit rude, but it had proven his ability to move safely through the air. That ability depending on him being able to aim and fire in a controlled direction, which had been rendered impossible in his rolling, tumbling fall. He should eventually level out, but he had no idea how long that would take.
Knowing his luck, it would be just in time to hit the ground and turn into paste. If he wanted to survive, then he would have to take the risk and try to rocket his way out of this situation. It was a bad idea, but it was the only one available to him at the moment. He slung his rocket launcher off his shoulder and held it steady in front of him, trying to empty his mind and focus on his timing.
Idle thoughts poked around the edges of his focus, some of which were easier to ignore than others. The worst of them was the reminder of what this drop might mean. It was hard to say for sure, but it didn’t bode well for the conversation that he was hoping to have with Sunbird. He had hoped that doing something a little outlandish would start things out on a lighthearted tone.
He had to shake himself to break the errant thought loose. He watched the swirling backdrop around him and tried to judge the timing of his rotations. With a few focusing breaths he steadied his weapon and waited for the right moment, then fired.
The good news was that there was a distinct change in his momentum as he was jerked to one side by the explosion. That was good, as it meant that he hadn’t accidentally shot himself towards the ground. The bad news was that he was now spinning even more wildly than before. All in all, not a terrible shot. The next one would need to be better.
The world was just a blur of color, and he couldn’t tell how much time he had left. However long that was, it wasn’t much. If he was going to have a chance he would have to pick up the pace. There wasn’t enough time to be quite so careful; he would have to go for the “spray and pray” approach to it. It wasn’t the smart thing to do, but it was the only thing that had a chance.
He made the next three shots in quick succession, bouncing himself through the air. The blurs around him changed, and he tried to judge his next shot by them. It never seemed to work, and he was rapidly coming to regret even trying. Of course, the alternative would have been just waiting to hit the ground. Taken all together, he preferred this.
He was preparing another blast when something else hit him and changed his course. The impact knocked the bazooka from his hands and it was ripped away as he continued to fall. He flailed for it, but it all happened too quickly. There was a brief flash of light somewhere, and then his fall finally came to an end.
He crashed headlong into something, coming to a stop so quickly that he crumpled into a ball on impact. The first crash was followed immediately by another, much smaller hit as he slid down a wall and landed on the ground. All of that was incredibly odd; he should definitely be dead. He hadn’t died to fall damage in this world before, but he was fairly certain that it wasn’t supposed to take this long to kill him.
He stared around in confusion until the system message popped up in front of him.
You are within an allied Safe Zone. Non-status damage reduced to zero.
Huh?
He slowly crawled to his feet and looked around. He took in the familiar looking furniture, including the bed that he hadn’t bothered to make before leaving that morning. Somehow he was back inside Sunbird’s secret base. How had that happened?
The answer came as someone else groaned and stumbled to their feet beside him. Sunbird looked better than him, or at least most of her did. It was hard to tell when there were about a dozen copies of the woman swimming in his vision. But he was pretty sure that she looked fine.
He was just getting steady on his feet when she reared back and slapped him across the face so hard he fell back down. This time was a little too much, so he decided to just stay on the floor for the time being. She didn’t seem to mind, as she started yelling at him regardless.
“What the actual [BLEEP] was that! Were you [BLEEPING] trying to die you [BLEEP]? You’re lucky that my crazy idea actually worked, or you’d be paste across three blocks by now! What were you thinking?”
The room was slowly stopping its spin, which went a long way to clearing his mind after the rush of input that had just happened. Slowly his brain came back up to speed and he could form the words properly.
“I was trying to save myself. You know, to not crash and die?”
“Why would… God-[BLEEPING]-dammit! You actually thought I was going to let you fall?”
“You did drop me out of the sky.”
“Sure, but I wasn’t going to let you die!”
“How was I supposed to know that?”
“Common [BLEEPING] sense?! I don’t want you to die. What made you think otherwise?”
“It’s not that… I was just a little concerned when you were already gone when I woke up. I thought maybe you regretted–”
“I regret nothing.”
The response was immediate and without a single shred of self doubt. Her glare should have bored holes through his head. Her eyes were locked on his, daring him to contradict her. He looked away first, face flushed with heat from her intensity. Of course, that was one of the things he liked about her.
He awkwardly cleared his throat and said, “Right. Sorry for doubting you. How did you know that your base would save me from the fall?”
“I didn’t. It was an educated guess.”
“Oh.”
He couldn’t think of anything else to say. If she’d been wrong then she probably would have died too, judging by their crash into the wall. In all honesty it was a miracle that only a few items had been disturbed from her possessions. He hung his head and muttered under his breath.
“Sorry.”
“Yeah, you are. Now cut it out. Considering that you basically tried to kill yourself, are you the one having second thoughts?”
“What? You want to talk about our relationship? Now, after what just happened?”
“Yup. My blood’s pumping and I’m ready to go, so let’s get it over with.”
“Ok. Um… I’m not sure where to start.”
“Well, we skipped a few steps, so let’s keep that up and skip to the question that matters. Do you want to give this an honest go?”
“Wait, I’m not ready to jump that far.”
“So no?”
“No, that’s not what I meant! I just…”
“Cannoneer, take a deep breath. I know I’m moving fast here but, clearly, you don’t mind that so much. So let me be completely straightforward here. Was last night just a bit of fun, or do you want to try for something more serious?”
His jaw clicked audibly as he forced them shut, swallowing the first thing that came to mind. His mind was still running at a thousand miles an hour while his heart was trying to beat its way out of his chest. He stood very still for a few moments and forced a few deep breaths in and out. Only then did he finally speak.
“I want to try a serious relationship, if you’re interested.”
“If I weren’t, you would know.”
“So we agree. What does that make us now?”
“Two people who are dating. It’s way too early for anything else. Agreed?”
“Yeah, I can do that.”
“Good. Then let’s go get some breakfast. You owe me at least that much.”
Cannoneer couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear as he followed her back to the portal. This had been one of the most chaotic mornings that he had ever had, but he suspected that wouldn’t last long given who he’d just decided to date. But it would never be boring, that much was certain.