Bluejay said something aloud, holding back from taking flight. Gammal broke through the crowd of guards, holding his spellbook in hands. He began to flip through the pages frantically, his face so worried I saw it through the window. I knew what he was being told to do.
“Go! Take flight! Now now now now!!!” I jabbered, scurrying up from my chair and running over to the open cockpit.
“I know, I know!” Twee assured, pressing a load of various buttons I had no idea about. “Get to your chairs, everyone.” she said through the intercom. The engines flared to life and we all sat down, the jet filled to capacity.
Outside, Gammal’s spell of swirling eldritch runes formed into completion. The dimension’s fabric began to tear in front of the plane.
“What is he doing?!” Vigil exclaimed, looking at me.
“He’s gonna open a rift, we need to go, now. Before they arrive.” I said, knowing Gammal’s abilities very well. He is a superhuman, but his intellect is his true ability, and if he planned to tear a hole in reality, we were surely screwed if we stuck around. Only his mind knew what shoggoth beast would appear before us.
The plane began to move, the wheels rolling as fast as they could onto the tarmac extending outside into the cold air. The Canadian snow covered the runway, hindering our takeoff.
“How far do we have to go to fly?” I heard Sal ask.
“This plane doesn’t have to go as far as most others, it’s suited for the short runway that it’s given. But the snow…” Twee said doubtfully as the plane cleared the door. The rift finally burst open behind us, but it wasn’t the only one. More opened, ahead of us on the runway.
The plane picked up speed suddenly, like a roller coaster being carried up the tracks toward the summit. I just prayed nothing would happen to make us function like the other part of a roller coaster.
The rifts ahead of us were nearly torn. The rift itself was a non-issue, they were one-way. It’s just the travellers coming out that were unspeakably horrible. I didn’t even want to look back to see what Gammal decided to bring forth in his prior attempt.
The plane neared the end of the runway, we had a questionable amount of speed to attempt to fly.
“What do we do!?” Sal screamed in panic. I heard him quite clearly.
“Here, this’ll burn a bit of fuel, but it should clear the runway… press the green button there with the flaming gas can for like three seconds. Just pray you don’t launch us into the forest.” Twee said. I couldn’t see what they spoke about, but suddenly the jet rocketed forward, taking off and rising into the air. We slowly ascended above the trees, past the rift, and glided upward into the sky.
“Well done…” sighed Twee. Everyone had a collective exhale as we came to our senses, but the worst wasn’t behind us. Actually, the worst was behind us, and approaching at a velocity undesirable for a normal human to be moving without proper equipment.
Bluejay wasn’t a normal human though.
She rocketed past even the plane on her wings alone with nothing propelling her. I wondered for a moment if it was even the wings that launched her like that. But that passed, and fear set in again.
We began to approach the low cloudline, yet the woman flew faster than us. The suspense of what she would do was killing me.
“Does this thing have weapons?” Sal asked, still shouting in panic.
“What do we look like? A military?” Twee replied, trying to fly the plane with a screaming twenty-something-year old in her cockpit.
Suddenly, I heard the sounds of shattering glass, the front window of the plane burst open, the pressure inside getting sucked forth and outward. Luckily, we weren’t super high in the air, but I just hoped Twee and Sal were okay. “You alright up there?”
“That fucker smashed our window with something! I didn’t see what it was!” Twee shouted.
“Her powers, she has control over the wind!” Sal yelled back.
“We need to stop her somehow!” Vigil gritted his teeth, standing up and looking out the window. “Also, I don’t think we can fly that high with the broken glass, we may end up with hypoxia…”
“And what’s that?” I asked.
“We could die of lack of air, basically.”
“Don’t worry about that right now, we have more urgent matters.” Steelpiercer said.
“I have an idea.” Vigil said. “I could knock her into my Vision, but I’d have to touch her since she’s not a willing candidate. If she’s in my Vision world, she’ll fall limp and stop flying. She’ll drop out of the air.”
“You have to keep contact with her, Vigil. Which means you’ll fall too.” Selene brought up, she was still securely locked in place by her belts, I don’t think she felt like moving anywhere...
“That’s a last resort.” I finished for her.
“She’s doing something again! Brace yourselves!” Twee shouted.
In an instant, the plane shook as the wind itself tried to blow us off course. I started to realize why she could propel herself so quickly now. The wind moved to her whim, and it protected her and fought for her.
The sky itself began to turn the plane around, rolling the plane slowly to the side. If she then messed with the yaw, we’d jet straight into terra firma.
“I think we may wanna hurry up on that stopping her thing!” shouted Twee angrily.
“Agreed!” Jeb chimed in. I was ready to unleash my powers too, I wasn’t going to die without putting up a fight.
“I may have an idea that would be more effective than Vigil’s solution.” Steelpiercer suggested. “The demonette controls metal, I am coated in it, would she be able to make me fly out there?”
“Theoretically. I may drop you though.” Twee said, still trying to fly the plane.
“I am immune to falling, my armor is immune to almost anything. I’ll be fine.” he said, quite bravely. Fitting for one of the Knights of York, at least that’s what I assume he was.
“Alright. Someone has to take over flying.” Twee said, wiping sweat and white hair from her brow, her pink ‘face paint’ had begun to fade. It looked kinda attractive actually… But no time for that!
“I’ll take charge.” I said, realizing my mistake instantly.
“Get your ass in the seat then.” Twee commanded, I gulped and swapped chairs with the captain instantly. The wheel was heavy, I barely had my drivers licence, and now I was flying a fucking plane. Actually, it wasn’t that hard after that time dad took us to the aeronautics museum and rode in the simulator with me. I’d even call it easy without the superhero trying to murder us. I pushed against the wind attempting to roll us on our side, and managed to fight it well.
Twee behind me channeled her power, and her horns began to shine as Steelpiercer did too. I didn’t see much of it, due to trying not to kill us.
“Alright, send me out the front window!” shouted Steelpiercer.
“Watch your eyeballs, you two.” Twee said, I knew what would happen next. I shut my eyes and I got rained on with little shards of glass as Twee launched Steelpiercer into the sky. She held him at a proximity distance so that he’d get carried along with the plane’s speed. I saw Bluejay give the knight a strange look, but then she did something unexpected.
She flew over to the hole in the front of the plane, looking at us while basically levitating backward, Twee tried to follow her with Steelpiercer, but by the time she gave us a little wave, I realized I needed to shut my eyes.
She flew straight through the hole, not breaking any glass and tackling Twee to the floor. Steelpiercer fell straight out of the sky, plummeting to the forest below.
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“Fuck you!” I shouted, opening my eyes up.
“So many ways to kill you all up here, and yet I choose to fight you head on. You should be honored to die like this.” she said, trying to gut Twee like a fish with a jagged shard of glass on the ground, but couldn’t. Jeb held Bluejay’s hand away from it’s target, kicked her off Twee and onto her back.
“Alright then, if that’s how it’ll be, traitor.” Bluejay spat, twisting around with her wings and whacking Jeb into a seat. Twee got to her feet and ran to me. “Fight her, I will secure us.” she said, ripping me out of the seat. She then yanked the steering wheel with all her might. As Bluejay entered combat though, the wind had returned to normal. It was a focus based power, it seemed.
“What about me?” Sal asked.
“Take a guess what your fire will do up here.” Twee replied.
“Kill her?”
“No, you’ll blow us all up, stick to your job!” I interrupted the conversation.
“Do yours then, kill her.” Sal said, focusing on the sky.
I ran toward Bluejay while she was distracted trying to attack Selene, but I struck an invisible barrier of wind. The wind at my back through the broken window and the immense force of wind at my front blew my cute hair out of shape. Bluejay was just a general asshole.
Suddenly, Bluejay whipped around and kicked me with her sleek shoes, stabbing me bluntly and leaving a bruise and not a lot of breath left.
“You are quickly becoming white interesting, Quincy. You are completely remorseless when killing innocent children, yet you care so much for your friends, that you’d stand to me, with your life on the line. You are truly a duality between hero and villain.” She monologues poetically as she blocked incoming attacks from Selene and Vigil with her wind barrier.
“Please just let us leave, we won’t bother you again.” I replied, coming to my senses.
“Little boy, you know that isn’t true. The only way the moon rises tonight is on someone's corpse. So... kill me, if you think you can.” she smiled, not a smirk, or in some sort of triumph. It was malicious, and so terribly dark. I was afraid.
My breath strengthened, I felt something just snap within me. First I rose, fist flying forward, an impact that broke through her defence, right into her collar bone, she recoiled. She didn’t expect it, her wind was occupied, but I saw her fighting spirit ignite. A step forward, wings out, she launched them at me, crashing me across the seats. My head hurt, but I slipped between dimensions for a second, dodging her gust-enhanced execution, I reappeared behind her, string bound her wings, tail, and then her head. And then, the wind stopped. The barrier was gone.
“Her wings command the wind!” I shouted to Selene. “She can’t fly!”
“She’s immune to metal wounds, like bullets and knives. She trained quite hard for that until her powers evolved.” Jeb stated, looking at her, she scowled at him, enraged for his treason.
“Then how do we kill her?” asked my sister.
“I say we open the cargo hatch and send her plummeting to her death.” Jeb scowled at his old boss, whose face turned further sour upon hearing that. I could tell he had a certain distaste for her, in the fact he enjoyed that expression. “Yeah… I think cutting her throat wouldn’t be cruel enough anyway. Poetic justice and all.” Jeb continued.
“You heard them, open the hatch!” I said to the cockpit.
“Actually I didn’t, but alright. If you wanna toss her out, sure thing!” Sal said. He was kinda growing on me. Though he’d never replace Vigil as a best friend.
As requested, Sal opened the back hatch of the plane as he flew, it took him a quick second for Twee to explain it to him, but the back of the plane slowly lowered down, wind gusting through the opened airway. There was no cargo hold due to it being a small craft, but it did need a way to get heavy things inside. Or deviant heroines out.
Bluejay struggled as I pushed her, Vigil at my side and ready if anything went funny. Was I about to kill her? The flying idol of many females across America and the World, a hero to those in need. A moment of hesitation flashed, but then I returned to my senses, this woman also kidnapped our boss, supported employment of minors, and was about to commit mass genocide on our headquarters and all the other employees that didn’t escape.
My heart churned, beating like drums, drums of justice. I was no hero, but I do believe I must be the one that carries out this killing.
“You are about to die…” I told her, dragging her squirming form over to the hatch. The wind threatened to blow me out, but I wouldn’t let it. I held her to the edge, my cords the only things keeping her from plummeting. “Tell me, do you have any remorse?”
Of course, there was no response, her mouth was bound. She said something along the lines of “You’ll go to hell for this.” through the strings.
The wind seemed to pick up slightly, her wings writhed in the bondage, nearly breaking loose. I needed to tighten them, or else she may break free during her fall. As I did, I didn’t notice something, something I’d see in my dreams for the rest of my nights. Bluejay’s hand was partially free.
She wriggled her wrist out and undid her legs with a single motion. She swung around, kicking me over, before I knew it, I was dangling out of the aircraft.
I had one arm clutching onto a metal bar part of the opening mechanism for the hatch, and another firmly clinging to the ledge, in pain still from its previous injury. The sky swam below me, like an ocean of clouds that wanted my body to fall into them.
The worst part, I was looking at Bluejay freeing herself slowly, her wings shuddered. I had no longer got a hold of her strings, Vigil tried to reach her, but he was hesitating.
“PUSH HER OFF!” I screamed, my life in his hands.
“I’m a pacifist!” he shuddered.
Bluejay stood up. Her wings spread out. A smile crossed her face as she stepped over to me, I knew I’d die here.
My sister was unable to move out of fear, Jeb was trying his best to get up, but even if they pushed her, she’d just fly back around, and kill us eventually.
“Quincy, you should have been less cocky. Your poetic justice is simply an excuse for that elusive heroic moment you’ve been searching for, isn’t it?” she smiled down at me. I knew… I truly knew I’d die.
But I was wrong, although, someone would still die.
“Goodbye… Quincy.” Vigil said.
It was sudden, it felt like time slowed…
He hit her with his entire body weight, fully intent on kamikaze.
His eyes turned blue as he hit her, she instantly went numb and cold, her eyes shut, her breath slowed.
They plunged over the edge and disappeared through the clouds.
That was the last I ever saw of either of them.
----------------------------------------
“Welcome to my Vision, Bluejay.”
Wind rushed by us, I clutched onto her as we fell. I knew we only had seconds to go, rushing through alternate reality until it ended.
“You had everything, Vigil! You had a brother again, and you had a new life with purpose… why would you…?”
“I have a-?”
That was never finished, never answered. The impact killed us both instantly.
I died with so many questions, it felt unsatisfying. So many people cared about me, yet they would find out I’m dead.
But the worst part… the worst part is that while the sacrifice may have saved my friends in the short term, it didn’t save them in the long term. In fact, it made them…
Infamous.