"Jump, damn it. Move!" The driver swerves just before it hits me. I open my eyes and the car burns rubber below me.

I exhale deep and land on the car below. The legs read my mind, They bend down and jump off. I jog off and watch them move.

The legs stumble less often now. I smile, I gotta tell Rollins! I get down on all fours. With my wings repaired, I can

soar again. I kick off and zoom, "And no one's gonna take them away from me now, they're bulletproof!" A speed trap blinks forty miles per hour and the wind blows on me in a whole new light.

Before long, I slow down to a jog through the homeless camp. Suddenly my excitement fades, everyone looks at me, their bodies pulling away from me. They shake their heads and make themselves scarce as I get into Rollin's tent, "Hey! Get outta her-Garvey?" He looks down at my legs, stands up and punches me. I lose my balance and fall out the tent, "You know what those people do? Why'd you just feed yourself to the wolves again?!"

"I'm tired of living for nothing, stagnating. Why can't you just be happy for me?" He pokes my chest, "One more day, you have one more day here, never come back." "Rollins!" He smacks me, "You should be sorry for yourself. They do things for control, power!"

He saved my life and he thought I was spitting in his face? Fuck him. I march out and walk the streets again until a familiar sound comes from an alley. A woman and two men are down it, "Give us whatcha got!" They try to smack her to the floor, but she reverses it and throws one to the ground instead. "Hell no!" The other man pulls out a gun with a grin, "Not so tough now, huh?"

Without a single thought, I bolt in and drop kick him before he turns around. The man's head cracks as we both hit the pavement. I rise up on my 'feet' and yell, "Run!" The other man points his gun at me. I never understood why idiots monologued, "You killed my brother!"

I dive behind a dumpster as the man fires wildly, he pauses but I suddenly stick my foot out and the gun clicks. My new knees bend, then spring to the side, before I fly one of them into his chest as he's reloading. He slams against the brick wall and I laugh, "You're a terrible shot." I run out of the alley with blood on my hands and a grin on my face. I quickly wipe it all off.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

My smile refuses to go away as I relish in the adrenaline, just like old times. I run for a bit and stop suddenly before a corner. "We got the goods, follow us." Another man waves a Geiger Counter over a suitcase. "That's just the sample, c'mon." Is this my second chance or a death wish? They shuffle to a warehouse, passing armed guards, cameras. Helicopters come closer and closer, I shake my head and laugh under my breath. They are so fucked.

"Fucking rat!" The man with the case kills the other as the helicopters fire their missiles into the building. They swoop in as troops rappel down from cords. I run up to a man and kick him into a wall like nothing. I grabbed his gun and I try firing it into another without even thinking about it.

My hand shakes violently as I pull the trigger. Aim is shit, four shots miss and one flies into a man's head. A man with large metal arms charges at me. He just yells out and swings his arms downward without any plan. A ballsy move, pal. A man jumps in front of me and shoots his fist into his face, sending him flying. "You alright?!" The arm's pistons slide back, "Take on what you can kill-"

I get up, grab a gun, and kick open the warehouse doors. "Wait for us, kid!" The doors close behind me, lines of criminals greet me, "Kill that bitch!" They raise their guns and I freeze in place. I shake my head quick as they watch me in confusion, A bit more than I can chew. "Shoot him, now!" I start running fast around the room, using steel beams as cover, "Fucking little Cheetah!" I kill their men between their shots. I slam my shoulder into a beam, "And you guys don't cheat?!" I run out and somebody gets me in the leg. I try to protect my face, but I quickly faceplant on the concrete floor.

The doors fly open and soldiers flood the room. "Got a deathwish, kid?!" The man who saved me earlier flips me over, his plate reads Gladius Verez, his eyes widen at the sight of me, as if he knows me. Does he? "Believe me, staying alive's my curse."

Blood trickles down my head as troops bust in, guns blazing. A woman runs up and slides down to me, "Got one!" She fires off a few shots before she falls next to me. She grabs onto my wound and I check hers. "Miss, you'll be fine!" "But will you?! Stay with me!"

The bullets stop firing and the soldiers celebrate. The medic runs over quick, "Hold him down!" A red hot blade slides out of his metal arm, "Fuck m-" I roar with every press of blade. "Lets get him to the Raid Center." He injects me with a needle, morphine. Sweet, sweet morphine.