One More Step Out of the Pit

Chapter 1

"I," Whippoorwill said, nose dripping blood onto the cement floor. Tommy wondered if his shoe was bloody now or if it had taken a second for the blood to well up after the kick to the face he'd just delivered the man. There had been stunned silence for a few moments after Tommy had used Whippoorwill's face as a springboard. Whippoorwill was apparently still so shocked by Tommy's very pog move that he'd forgotten to try to use his powers on Tommy, "am going to skin you alive and feed you to my dog."

"Quite the threat there, Bitch Boy," Tommy taunted. "You'll have to catch me first."

Whippoorwill's eyes narrowed behind his mask. "That can be arran-"

"You don't have a dog," another voice interrupted.

"Shut up," Whippoorwill said as Tommy let out a cackle.

"You don't," The Blade said. Tommy glanced at the imposing figure of the man casually strolling up to stand beside his ally and immediately grew suspicious. There had been three of them only a couple of seconds ago, Tommy was sure. Where was Philza and why were they acting so... casual all of a sudden? Tommy looked up, scanning the room.

Whippoorwill seemed to notice. "Why don't you come down from there," he cooed in a sing-song tone. Tommy winced at the sharp edge to his voice, unsure for a moment what it was meant to do before the support beam he'd been standing on suddenly snapped. He jumped up as it started to plummet towards the ground tilting his body so he could plant his feet briefly on the wall and shove off of it like a swimmer shoving off the side of a pool. He went zooming past their heads before spreading out his arms to make his slow fall more precise. His feet touched down softly on top of a table.

"You probably should have made something fall on top of him instead of out from under him," The Blade drawled.

"Maybe you should stop with the criticism and try to stab the bastard," Whippoorwill snapped, but Tommy was filtering out their bickering at this point, having figured out what it was: a distraction. He'd caught just a flash of green when he'd been falling and turned his attention in that direction. He jumped and spring boarded off a nearby pillar to propel himself towards the wall, hand catching a pipe in the ceiling so he could swing and make it through a gap about a foot wide between the top of the wall and the ceiling.

"Shit!" Whippoorwill's voice echoed dangerously after him, but he was too slow and Tommy went careening into Philza, taking them both to the ground, the man's wings unable to stop it. Knowing he did not want to engage in close combat with Philza of all people, Tommy began to move the second they hit the ground, rolling off of him and jumping as high as he could to grab the thing Philza had been reaching for a moment before. He let himself fall fast, ducking and rolling as he hit the ground and landing crouched.

"Guessing this is what you guys were here for," he said cheerfully. "Don't know what it is, but I'm going to have to say no."

Philza was already on his feet, wings flared impressively and Whippoorwill had screeched a hole through the wall Tommy had hopped over for him and The Blade.

"Well anyway," Tommy said, backing up a step. "I think it's time for me to go."

"Mate," Philza said in a reasonable tone which Tommy knew was actually a threat. "Exactly where are you expecting to go?"

"Let me guess," Tommy said, wryly. "Hand it over and you won't let Whippoorwill feed me to his imaginary pet dog."

Philza made a face and Tommy shoved the little glowing orb in his pocket for safe keeping. He smirked just a bit, already having an escape route in mind. Philza in many ways had an advantage over Tommy. He was bigger, stronger, and had wings that could let him actually fly instead of just fall with style.