UNLEASHED - a Valentine's Anthology

A Super Valentine's Pt 2

written by Sydney Carvahall

I crouched behind the dumpster in the alley as I closed my eyes. My skin crawled with the familiar sensation as the clothes I wore expanded to cover me and whitened. My heels changed into something with a solid sole as the bones in my back twisted under my skin.

There was a set of loud pops and cracks as I tried to hasten the change. The clothing moved to cover my entire body in a skintight suit. My head itched as the colour of my hair went from black to stark white, and retreated to a short length into my skull. It flattened my chest and covered my eyes and jaw. My skin stretched and my bones lengthened as my spine gave rise to my signature wings. This process used to be painful, now it was nothing.

It took a minute before I could stretch my wings out to the side. With my transition still in progress, I flapped hard and gained flight.

I rose above the buildings around me into the clear night sky. My nose twitched as I turned to where the dark sky glowed orange. There was smoke in the air. A surprising amount of it for being this far from the flames.

My lightened body turned towards the glow, my wings rose and flapped as hard as they could as they shot me in the direction of the fire.

The wind tore against my white suit as my wings cut through it. I needed the speed to be able to rise up that high. On instinct, my wings turned me into a dive. I could vaguely hear people's surprise as I lowered myself into visibility. The area in front of Marcelone HQ was crowded with emergency service. I lowered further and just barely stopped my dive before I reached them to turn upwards.

I felt the strain on my back as my wings flapped to push me up higher and further. My angled body moved me around from the front to the back of the building. The glow was high up. Higher up than I'd expected. I gritted my teeth as I forced my body to lighten more. I had to reach it.

In a few more moments, I overshot it.

I stopped my wings. My natural moment let me rise till I arched my back and fell backwards. My body gathered the moment once again, but in the opposite direction. My wings shot out on instinct and righted me with a flip. The momentum turned to my advantage as I moved feet first towards the window. My bones strengthened themselves. The metal on my body moved to my soles and sharpened to a point right as I connected to the window.

It shattered below my feet. I gritted my teeth against the force that traveled up my body. My wings wrapped around me to protect me as I fell right on the glass.

I gasped in pain as the pieces cut into me. Then I immediately choked on the smoke in the air.

I turned to the side as I coughed. My suit rose to cover my mouth and nose to provide brief respite. The news had said twelve survivors. I had to find them.

"HELLO?!" I called out into the darkness. The electricity had probably been shut off to the floor. "IT'S 'THE GUARDIAN'! I'M HERE TO GET YOU OUT!" That name is so tacky even after two years. It's better than 'The Guardian Angel' at least. I hadn't saved a priest since.

No response. Just more smoke. It cleared out as the fresh air rushed in. My eyes stung as I sharpened my hearing. "ANYONE THERE?!"

My eyes roamed the sets of cubicles. There's plenty of metal around. I should be able to break through to the floor below once I get everyone gathered. We were bound to find atleast one stairwell down there that wasn't affected by the fire.

I stood there in the middle of the smoke and darkness. My senses were already stretched to their limits. Where were they?

I felt a presence behind me. Then a set of loud thuds as someone entered through the opening I'd made.