8
Earth, Sol System
11.2.43
1500 Hours
He was pretty sure he was flying somewhere over Africa now, because he had been flying over a desert for quite some time. He wasn't really paying attention to where he was heading, he just let his body take control. It was dark. He was lost in his thoughts most of the time while crossing the Atlantic when he was stopped by a fantastic sight. It was the Statue of Liberty.
A flood of emotions ran through him when he caught sight of the green statue. He had seen it in his history books, but it was totally different seeing it in person. This edifice stood for all that was just and right, he remembered the inscription on the pedestal on which it stood:
"Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
At one point, the coalition stood for all of that. Now it was being destroyed piece by piece.
He floated above the statue for quite a while, knowing that this would probably be the only time he would ever get to see it. After a few minutes he looked past it and onto the city she stood in front of. New York City, perhaps the greatest city ever constructed, with perhaps the exception of ancient Rome. Its twinkling lights pierced the darkness, illuminating the skyscrapers against the thickening blackness.
He noticed that the city hadn't changed all that much in its long and colored history. The layout was still exactly the same, although technology had changed the buildings from simple apartments to massive skyscrapers. He flew over times square, not really caring if anyone noticed him. After all, he'd be gone in a few hours. He then proceeded to fly over the residential districts and landed in a small park outside the Bronx.
Feeling in the mood for a stroll, he wandered about the area, not really paying attention to where he was going. Without realizing it, he had managed to wander into a rather bad part of the city, and a few seedy looking characters took notice. He stood out like a sore thumb dressed in his solid white clothing.
When he turned the corner on something-and-23rd, he heard a stifled cry. It was barely audible and it took some concentration on his part to determine its location. It seemed to be emanating from the alley to his two o'clock. As he entered the alley he saw a young girl, no more than fifteen, curled into a ball on the ground. Above her stood a large black man, holding some sort of blunt instrument.
Crimes of this nature were rare in the Coalition, with the law being extremely unforgiving, but he recognized brutality when he saw it. Apparently he had caught the man in the middle of a "domestic dispute." Sabre narrowed his eyes and approached the man.
With his back turned the man had no idea anyone approaching him. He wordlessly raised the weapon to strike the girl again when something grabbed his hand. Then he heard a series of snaps. Before brain could register the pain, his hand and forearm had been broken in fourteen different places. The man fell to his knees screaming, grabbing hold of his incapacitated arm.
When he turned around he saw a rather young looking guy dressed in white, standing above him. His eyes were fixed on his own and seemed to be cutting right through him. Then Sabre spoke.
"I suggest you leave here now before I break something else."
The man needed no further prompting and ran as best he could with multiple fractures in his arm. Sabre returned his attention to the girl. She was still curled into a ball, still softly crying, oblivious to his intervention. He kneeled down next to her.
"Are... are you okay?" he asked softly.
When she looked up she clearly was not. The sight made his stomach turn. Her left eye was swollen shut and tears ran freely down the sides of her face. She was bleeding from the corners of her mouth, nose, and from a deep gash on her forehead. Her shoulder-length blonde hair was matted with blood and dirt. It looked like her nose and right cheek bone were broken as well. Some teeth were knocked out of alignment too. How this girl remained conscious was a mystery to him.
"Who..." she cough up some blood. "Who... who are y-y-you?
"Shhh. Relax, I'm here to help. Don't move...I'm a doctor," Sabre assured the broken girl. "Well, sorta." he thought.
"It...hu-" she coughed more blood, "It... hurts..."
There was no way this girl would survive to much longer, even if he got her to a hospital. At the Academy they taught how to recognize the difference between the ones that could be saved and the ones that had to be let go. Under normal circumstances she would fall into the latter category. But this situation was not normal.
Sabre stood up and backed up a step. He powered up instantly and transformed. The alley was flooded with a blinding white light, and the girl shut her good eye. He focused his energy, extended his arms and recited a chant, and the blinding white light was changed to yellow. When it was over he powered down. Her face was restored, the blood covering her skin was gone, and her bones were healed. This healing power of his took quite a bit of effort on his part, so he rarely used it.
The girl was in a state of shock. She had just been beaten to within an inch of her life, and suddenly she felt fine. She looked up to see a young man standing in front of her, dressed rather strangely for the city. She immediately got to her feet and backed against the alley wall. She was panicking.
"Who are you? Did Danny send you? Please...Please don't hurt me... not again...I'm sorry...I won't...I won't..." she broke down into tears.
She must think I'm the guy that did this to her, he thought.
"Hey, look, calm down. I'm not here to hurt you."
"Who are you? I've never seen you before. Danny sent you, didn't he... please..." she sobbed.
"No, I don't know Danny. I'm not going to hurt you."
Obviously, she didn't believe him and bolted out of the alley.
"Hey, wait!" he cried. There's no way I can let her go out alone, not after what just happened to her, he reasoned.
So, he followed her. He had no trouble keeping up with the girl, who was scared out of her mind. She was about to turn the corner when she suddenly stopped. She was frozen in terror. He saw what she was afraid of. A large group of young men were coming down the street, including the man whose arm he had broken. He was still holding it in agony.
The girl remained frozen, so scared her legs weren't working. As the men closed in Sabre stood in front of her.
"Back off, now." he growled.
"Yous the guy that broke Jamal's arm?" a stocky Italian asked him.
He did not reply.
"I says, are yous the guy that broke Jamal's arm?"
Still no response.
"Yeah man, that's him! I'm sure! No doubt!" the black man cried.
"Alright, yous guys, we gonna have ourselves a little fun." the Italian said, addressing his posse. "When we're done with him we's gonna work over girl the again too."
Two of the thugs approached him and attempted to grab his arms. Sabre sent his left fist into the first guy's stomach, doubling him over and lifted the other off the ground by his throat. He threw him about 20 feet down the road. Then the other 4 charged him. Instead of retaliating he simply stood still and let them come. A large Puerto Rican sent his fist into Sabre's face and shattered his hand upon impact. Another swung a large pipe and hit him in the back of the head. The pipe harmlessly bounced off. By this time, the other two backed off and wondered what the hell was going on.
"Who is this guy, Superman?" asked the visibly worried Italian.
"Something like that," Sabre responded.
Before anyone had time to react he shot in to the air, delivering a jump kick to the side of the PR's head. He rotated and slammed his fist into one thug's face, hearing the crack of his cheek bone and jaw, then ruptured another's man's internal organs with a knee to the gut. He grabbed the Italian and the black guy he had earlier maimed by the head, one in each hand. He smashed them together, collapsing them to the ground with a dull thud. The Italian would never wake up. The last man was fleeing, but Sabre put a stop to that with a kick to the base of the spine. He never walked again.
Throughout all this, the girl had stood in the same spot, not quite sure if what she was seeing was real. This guy had just single-handedly taken out the Ravens, the brutal gang that ran this part of town with an iron fist. No one had ever done anything like this for her, she didn't know why they would. When her savior had finished off the last guy he turned around. She noticed he wasn't even breathing hard. Sabre was a little bit embarrassed.
"Uh...were these the guys who did this too you?" he asked rather timidly.
She nodded her head.
"Well...uh, they...uh...won't give you any more problems...uh, heh heh..." he laughed awkwardly.
She was silent for what seemed like an eternity.
"Why...Why did you save me?"
Sabre was stunned. Of all the things he expected her to say, this was not one of them.
"Because they were going to hurt you," he explained, "Did you think I was going to let them touch you?"
"I...I...I don't know..." she turned her eyes down, "No one's ever done something like this before..."
"You mean, nobody's tried to stop these guys before?"
She looked back up.
"Those are the Ravens just tore up! No one's ever touched them before!"
Sabre realized that very few people on this planet had learned to manipulate ki. That's why so few were able to keep so many under their power.
"Really, it was nothing, I just did the right thing."
"Well...I wish there were more guys like you around here..." she blushed and looked down again. "I...I...want to know something...about what...what you did to me...back in the alley..."
This question he was ready for, but for some reason his words came out awkwardly.
"Well...uh...I'm kinda special, I guess you would say..."
"Are you an angel?" she asked
That one took him by surprise.
"Excuse me?"
"Are...are you an angel?"
"What? No, no way, I'm just a regular guy I-"
"No way are you a regular guy! I've never seen anybody with moves like that, not even in the movies! And the way you...back in the alley! There's no way you ain't an angel!"
"No, seriously, I'm not, really."
"Yeah, right... Look if its not too much trouble... could you ask God something for me I..."
This was getting out of hand.
"Look, I'm not an Angel!" he shouted. It caused her to cringe. "Aw, hey...I'm sorry..." he put her arms on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. She didn't try to take his arms off her, she was definitely scared of him.
"Please...I'm just a plain old human, just like you. Here watch this?" He took his arms off her and picked up a piece of broken glass lying in the street. "This is stupid, and its gonna hurt..." he warned himself. He then sliced open his palm with the glass, causing blood to flow freely from the gash.
"Do angels bleed?"
"I...I...guess not..." she stared at his bleeding hand.
"Don't worry, It'll be fine," He grabbed his hand in order to stem the bleeding.
"That's gotta hurt."
"Yeah, a little," that was an understatement.
"I could take you down to the clinic on 22nd street, they cou-" he cut her off.
"No, its okay. I gotta get going any way. It was nice meeting you...take care of yourself." he turned and began to walk away.
She cried out to him, "Hey! Don't go! Please!"
He turned around.
"Uh...I kinda have to get going..." he didn't want to be here any longer than he had to. Seeing the way she was before made him realize that earth wasn't always as great as he thought it was.
"Please, take me with you!" she asked desperately.
This girl just kept dropping bombshells.
"I don't think I'm going your way..."
"No, please, take me with you! I don't have anywhere else to go! My parents are dead...I've been living with some dickhead who tries to rape me every night, please, you can't leave me here!" she once again broke down into tears. He approached her and took the sobbing girl in in his arms. When she calmed down he spoke.
"I really don't think I can take you with me..."
She wasn't having any of it.
"No, I have to! Look, anywhere you're going is better than here. I've been living here all my life and I would've been better off dead. When I was in the alley back there I was almost happy...I was so close to letting it all go...but then you saved me. You can't just leave me here to go through it all again!"
"But I thought I took care of those guys?"
"You think those are the only assholes in town? I got news for you buddy, they're just the tip of the iceberg. More are just gonna come and take their place. I can't live like this any more." she was once again on the verge of tears.
"I...I don't know..." his resolution was wavering.
"Please, I'll do anything!"
"Shit, this isn't good. What am I supposed to do? I can't just fly off with her, she might not take it all that well. I mean, I don't think she's used to seeing people fly." he thought
"I don't know if you'd...be ready to understand...I mean, I'm not like other guys..."
"I told you, I don't give a damn. For the love of God, get me out of this hellhole!"
He surprised himself by what he did next.
"Fine," he sighed. "But...I have to warn you... you're going to see things you won't be able to understand..."
"I told you, I don't care!"
"Don't say I didn't warn you."
He scooped her up in his arms. "I hope you aren't afraid of heights."
"Wha-" she was cut off when he blasted into the air.
He shot up high above the surrounding buildings and paused. He waited for her response. When she opened her eyes and looked down she immediately closed her eyes.
"I told you. Do you wanna go back down?"
"No!" there was no way in hell she was going back down.
"Okay. Just hold on tight."
He began to accelerate forward, keeping a tight grip on the small girl he held in his arms. He slowly built up speed until the wind became a hindrance.
"I'm cold!" she said above roaring wind.
In response he flared his ki, shielding him and the girl from the airflow. This allowed him to go faster, and he accelerated again. After a few second there was a loud boom.
"What was that?" the scared girl cried.
"Sonic boom."
She didn't understand until she looked down and saw the city disappearing behind her and the ground flying beneath her.
"Whoa..." was all she could say.
He kept accelerating until he hit about mach 5, not wanting to have to raise his power any higher. He would reach the Lookout in plenty of time at this speed. He began to increase his angle of ascent, leaving the ground far behind. The girl's eyes were as wide as tennis balls.
"This is so cool!"
"Yeah...I guess."
"But how can you do this? People can't fly! Are you sure you're not a-"
"Look, I'm just a guy who can do a few tricks. I'm not the only one. Where we're going there's gonna be a whole bunch more people who can fly too." Taking her to the Lookout would be for the best. He was sure that the earth's guardian would know what to do with her.
"More guys like you, huh? Sounds fun, uh...."
"Jake, my name is Jake." He surprised himself again. He hadn't used that name in a long time...
"Nice to meet you Jake. My name is Eve."
"It is my pleasure to meet you, Eve."
For the first time he saw her smile. Far below a fisherman in a small boat stepped out of his cabin and into the evening air. He looked up to see a white streak arcing in the sky. Figuring it to be a shooting star, he made a wish.
Earth, Sol System
11.2.43
1500 Hours
He was pretty sure he was flying somewhere over Africa now, because he had been flying over a desert for quite some time. He wasn't really paying attention to where he was heading, he just let his body take control. It was dark. He was lost in his thoughts most of the time while crossing the Atlantic when he was stopped by a fantastic sight. It was the Statue of Liberty.
A flood of emotions ran through him when he caught sight of the green statue. He had seen it in his history books, but it was totally different seeing it in person. This edifice stood for all that was just and right, he remembered the inscription on the pedestal on which it stood:
"Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
At one point, the coalition stood for all of that. Now it was being destroyed piece by piece.
He floated above the statue for quite a while, knowing that this would probably be the only time he would ever get to see it. After a few minutes he looked past it and onto the city she stood in front of. New York City, perhaps the greatest city ever constructed, with perhaps the exception of ancient Rome. Its twinkling lights pierced the darkness, illuminating the skyscrapers against the thickening blackness.
He noticed that the city hadn't changed all that much in its long and colored history. The layout was still exactly the same, although technology had changed the buildings from simple apartments to massive skyscrapers. He flew over times square, not really caring if anyone noticed him. After all, he'd be gone in a few hours. He then proceeded to fly over the residential districts and landed in a small park outside the Bronx.
Feeling in the mood for a stroll, he wandered about the area, not really paying attention to where he was going. Without realizing it, he had managed to wander into a rather bad part of the city, and a few seedy looking characters took notice. He stood out like a sore thumb dressed in his solid white clothing.
When he turned the corner on something-and-23rd, he heard a stifled cry. It was barely audible and it took some concentration on his part to determine its location. It seemed to be emanating from the alley to his two o'clock. As he entered the alley he saw a young girl, no more than fifteen, curled into a ball on the ground. Above her stood a large black man, holding some sort of blunt instrument.
Crimes of this nature were rare in the Coalition, with the law being extremely unforgiving, but he recognized brutality when he saw it. Apparently he had caught the man in the middle of a "domestic dispute." Sabre narrowed his eyes and approached the man.
With his back turned the man had no idea anyone approaching him. He wordlessly raised the weapon to strike the girl again when something grabbed his hand. Then he heard a series of snaps. Before brain could register the pain, his hand and forearm had been broken in fourteen different places. The man fell to his knees screaming, grabbing hold of his incapacitated arm.
When he turned around he saw a rather young looking guy dressed in white, standing above him. His eyes were fixed on his own and seemed to be cutting right through him. Then Sabre spoke.
"I suggest you leave here now before I break something else."
The man needed no further prompting and ran as best he could with multiple fractures in his arm. Sabre returned his attention to the girl. She was still curled into a ball, still softly crying, oblivious to his intervention. He kneeled down next to her.
"Are... are you okay?" he asked softly.
When she looked up she clearly was not. The sight made his stomach turn. Her left eye was swollen shut and tears ran freely down the sides of her face. She was bleeding from the corners of her mouth, nose, and from a deep gash on her forehead. Her shoulder-length blonde hair was matted with blood and dirt. It looked like her nose and right cheek bone were broken as well. Some teeth were knocked out of alignment too. How this girl remained conscious was a mystery to him.
"Who..." she cough up some blood. "Who... who are y-y-you?
"Shhh. Relax, I'm here to help. Don't move...I'm a doctor," Sabre assured the broken girl. "Well, sorta." he thought.
"It...hu-" she coughed more blood, "It... hurts..."
There was no way this girl would survive to much longer, even if he got her to a hospital. At the Academy they taught how to recognize the difference between the ones that could be saved and the ones that had to be let go. Under normal circumstances she would fall into the latter category. But this situation was not normal.
Sabre stood up and backed up a step. He powered up instantly and transformed. The alley was flooded with a blinding white light, and the girl shut her good eye. He focused his energy, extended his arms and recited a chant, and the blinding white light was changed to yellow. When it was over he powered down. Her face was restored, the blood covering her skin was gone, and her bones were healed. This healing power of his took quite a bit of effort on his part, so he rarely used it.
The girl was in a state of shock. She had just been beaten to within an inch of her life, and suddenly she felt fine. She looked up to see a young man standing in front of her, dressed rather strangely for the city. She immediately got to her feet and backed against the alley wall. She was panicking.
"Who are you? Did Danny send you? Please...Please don't hurt me... not again...I'm sorry...I won't...I won't..." she broke down into tears.
She must think I'm the guy that did this to her, he thought.
"Hey, look, calm down. I'm not here to hurt you."
"Who are you? I've never seen you before. Danny sent you, didn't he... please..." she sobbed.
"No, I don't know Danny. I'm not going to hurt you."
Obviously, she didn't believe him and bolted out of the alley.
"Hey, wait!" he cried. There's no way I can let her go out alone, not after what just happened to her, he reasoned.
So, he followed her. He had no trouble keeping up with the girl, who was scared out of her mind. She was about to turn the corner when she suddenly stopped. She was frozen in terror. He saw what she was afraid of. A large group of young men were coming down the street, including the man whose arm he had broken. He was still holding it in agony.
The girl remained frozen, so scared her legs weren't working. As the men closed in Sabre stood in front of her.
"Back off, now." he growled.
"Yous the guy that broke Jamal's arm?" a stocky Italian asked him.
He did not reply.
"I says, are yous the guy that broke Jamal's arm?"
Still no response.
"Yeah man, that's him! I'm sure! No doubt!" the black man cried.
"Alright, yous guys, we gonna have ourselves a little fun." the Italian said, addressing his posse. "When we're done with him we's gonna work over girl the again too."
Two of the thugs approached him and attempted to grab his arms. Sabre sent his left fist into the first guy's stomach, doubling him over and lifted the other off the ground by his throat. He threw him about 20 feet down the road. Then the other 4 charged him. Instead of retaliating he simply stood still and let them come. A large Puerto Rican sent his fist into Sabre's face and shattered his hand upon impact. Another swung a large pipe and hit him in the back of the head. The pipe harmlessly bounced off. By this time, the other two backed off and wondered what the hell was going on.
"Who is this guy, Superman?" asked the visibly worried Italian.
"Something like that," Sabre responded.
Before anyone had time to react he shot in to the air, delivering a jump kick to the side of the PR's head. He rotated and slammed his fist into one thug's face, hearing the crack of his cheek bone and jaw, then ruptured another's man's internal organs with a knee to the gut. He grabbed the Italian and the black guy he had earlier maimed by the head, one in each hand. He smashed them together, collapsing them to the ground with a dull thud. The Italian would never wake up. The last man was fleeing, but Sabre put a stop to that with a kick to the base of the spine. He never walked again.
Throughout all this, the girl had stood in the same spot, not quite sure if what she was seeing was real. This guy had just single-handedly taken out the Ravens, the brutal gang that ran this part of town with an iron fist. No one had ever done anything like this for her, she didn't know why they would. When her savior had finished off the last guy he turned around. She noticed he wasn't even breathing hard. Sabre was a little bit embarrassed.
"Uh...were these the guys who did this too you?" he asked rather timidly.
She nodded her head.
"Well...uh, they...uh...won't give you any more problems...uh, heh heh..." he laughed awkwardly.
She was silent for what seemed like an eternity.
"Why...Why did you save me?"
Sabre was stunned. Of all the things he expected her to say, this was not one of them.
"Because they were going to hurt you," he explained, "Did you think I was going to let them touch you?"
"I...I...I don't know..." she turned her eyes down, "No one's ever done something like this before..."
"You mean, nobody's tried to stop these guys before?"
She looked back up.
"Those are the Ravens just tore up! No one's ever touched them before!"
Sabre realized that very few people on this planet had learned to manipulate ki. That's why so few were able to keep so many under their power.
"Really, it was nothing, I just did the right thing."
"Well...I wish there were more guys like you around here..." she blushed and looked down again. "I...I...want to know something...about what...what you did to me...back in the alley..."
This question he was ready for, but for some reason his words came out awkwardly.
"Well...uh...I'm kinda special, I guess you would say..."
"Are you an angel?" she asked
That one took him by surprise.
"Excuse me?"
"Are...are you an angel?"
"What? No, no way, I'm just a regular guy I-"
"No way are you a regular guy! I've never seen anybody with moves like that, not even in the movies! And the way you...back in the alley! There's no way you ain't an angel!"
"No, seriously, I'm not, really."
"Yeah, right... Look if its not too much trouble... could you ask God something for me I..."
This was getting out of hand.
"Look, I'm not an Angel!" he shouted. It caused her to cringe. "Aw, hey...I'm sorry..." he put her arms on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. She didn't try to take his arms off her, she was definitely scared of him.
"Please...I'm just a plain old human, just like you. Here watch this?" He took his arms off her and picked up a piece of broken glass lying in the street. "This is stupid, and its gonna hurt..." he warned himself. He then sliced open his palm with the glass, causing blood to flow freely from the gash.
"Do angels bleed?"
"I...I...guess not..." she stared at his bleeding hand.
"Don't worry, It'll be fine," He grabbed his hand in order to stem the bleeding.
"That's gotta hurt."
"Yeah, a little," that was an understatement.
"I could take you down to the clinic on 22nd street, they cou-" he cut her off.
"No, its okay. I gotta get going any way. It was nice meeting you...take care of yourself." he turned and began to walk away.
She cried out to him, "Hey! Don't go! Please!"
He turned around.
"Uh...I kinda have to get going..." he didn't want to be here any longer than he had to. Seeing the way she was before made him realize that earth wasn't always as great as he thought it was.
"Please, take me with you!" she asked desperately.
This girl just kept dropping bombshells.
"I don't think I'm going your way..."
"No, please, take me with you! I don't have anywhere else to go! My parents are dead...I've been living with some dickhead who tries to rape me every night, please, you can't leave me here!" she once again broke down into tears. He approached her and took the sobbing girl in in his arms. When she calmed down he spoke.
"I really don't think I can take you with me..."
She wasn't having any of it.
"No, I have to! Look, anywhere you're going is better than here. I've been living here all my life and I would've been better off dead. When I was in the alley back there I was almost happy...I was so close to letting it all go...but then you saved me. You can't just leave me here to go through it all again!"
"But I thought I took care of those guys?"
"You think those are the only assholes in town? I got news for you buddy, they're just the tip of the iceberg. More are just gonna come and take their place. I can't live like this any more." she was once again on the verge of tears.
"I...I don't know..." his resolution was wavering.
"Please, I'll do anything!"
"Shit, this isn't good. What am I supposed to do? I can't just fly off with her, she might not take it all that well. I mean, I don't think she's used to seeing people fly." he thought
"I don't know if you'd...be ready to understand...I mean, I'm not like other guys..."
"I told you, I don't give a damn. For the love of God, get me out of this hellhole!"
He surprised himself by what he did next.
"Fine," he sighed. "But...I have to warn you... you're going to see things you won't be able to understand..."
"I told you, I don't care!"
"Don't say I didn't warn you."
He scooped her up in his arms. "I hope you aren't afraid of heights."
"Wha-" she was cut off when he blasted into the air.
He shot up high above the surrounding buildings and paused. He waited for her response. When she opened her eyes and looked down she immediately closed her eyes.
"I told you. Do you wanna go back down?"
"No!" there was no way in hell she was going back down.
"Okay. Just hold on tight."
He began to accelerate forward, keeping a tight grip on the small girl he held in his arms. He slowly built up speed until the wind became a hindrance.
"I'm cold!" she said above roaring wind.
In response he flared his ki, shielding him and the girl from the airflow. This allowed him to go faster, and he accelerated again. After a few second there was a loud boom.
"What was that?" the scared girl cried.
"Sonic boom."
She didn't understand until she looked down and saw the city disappearing behind her and the ground flying beneath her.
"Whoa..." was all she could say.
He kept accelerating until he hit about mach 5, not wanting to have to raise his power any higher. He would reach the Lookout in plenty of time at this speed. He began to increase his angle of ascent, leaving the ground far behind. The girl's eyes were as wide as tennis balls.
"This is so cool!"
"Yeah...I guess."
"But how can you do this? People can't fly! Are you sure you're not a-"
"Look, I'm just a guy who can do a few tricks. I'm not the only one. Where we're going there's gonna be a whole bunch more people who can fly too." Taking her to the Lookout would be for the best. He was sure that the earth's guardian would know what to do with her.
"More guys like you, huh? Sounds fun, uh...."
"Jake, my name is Jake." He surprised himself again. He hadn't used that name in a long time...
"Nice to meet you Jake. My name is Eve."
"It is my pleasure to meet you, Eve."
For the first time he saw her smile. Far below a fisherman in a small boat stepped out of his cabin and into the evening air. He looked up to see a white streak arcing in the sky. Figuring it to be a shooting star, he made a wish.