Aaron Cyrus: April 7th,20XX

No, no, no, no , no.

Even though there were probably more explicit words I could use in this situation, I couldn’t think of anything beyond the two-letter word that perfectly summed up the dread in my stomach.

“Oh, calm down Aaron. It’s literally just an hour of your time. You smile at the nice old men, they sign the contract while you sign a tennis ball or two and then we all go home happy.”

I tugged at the stuffy collar of my suit and tried my best to keep a neutral expression as my girlfriend chauffeured me to a downtown apartment where I could sell myself in our younger sister’s name.

We’d just ended our first date in quite literally months, and I’d been looking forward to the both of us heading back home while the kids were still at school and enjoying the rest of our day. But I should have known there was no way that would happen.

First was the call that the kid’s school had ended early, so we’d needed to go pick them up. Because of the attack on their school, they had tightened their security to the point that parents or government appointed guardians needed to sign into their security system and verify that they had both dropped them off at school and picked them up after.

Then came the realization that Joyce had never intended to return straight home after our lunch date and had fully intended on driving by a building she had bought in Cherry’s name.

This would be the fourth one in total, but it was in a great area, and had great refurnishing prospects. Joyce was determined to get it, but the stubborn owners kept quoting her ridiculous prices. She had bargained them down enough to a reasonable price, but it was under the condition that she arranged a meeting between them and me.

Apparently, one of their kids was a large fan of mine.

Of course, I didn’t really mind doing this sort of favor for my girlfriend, but I did wish that she had let me know beforehand. But I trusted that the only reason she didn’t tell me was because she didn’t think it would be a big deal.

I appreciated all the work that she did, especially with the special abilities we had all developed and the lengths that she had gone to for us… but I did wish that she would remember that we were still a couple more often.

It wasn’t that I ever felt like she was seeing anyone else, but sometimes I found myself missing her like I hadn’t seen her in months, despite meeting with her every day.

Today was supposed to be the day for just the two of us. At least lunch had been nice, and we had spent the morning together as well, I guess I would just make it clearer that I wanted a full day from her next time.

After all, things had stabled down recently. As long as things stayed like this, then we could have as many days as we wanted together.

Finally, Destia had needed Joyce’s permission to buy some sort of prop for the next video she was putting together, so we had just swung by to pick her up. We would be purchasing it on the way home.

Joyce’s car pulled into the parking lot and answered a call while I helped Eva out of her car seat.

“Sorry for interrupting your day, Aaron.”

As usual, Destia was overly aware of her surroundings and muttered a silent apology. Archer quickly took the opportunity to tag along and whisper a small apology as well.

“Ah, don’t worry about it. We had fun while it lasted.”

I didn’t bother saying that they didn’t interrupt since that was a fact that Archer could and probably had confirmed. Instead, I told them it wasn’t a big deal and led them into the building after the speed-walking Joyce.

The twins were strangely absorbed with the pouch that they had gotten from the new scientist and continuously looked into it and around it. Occasionally they would bring out a miniature version of something, but just as quickly as it came out with one’s hands would it be returned by the other’s.

The meeting itself didn’t take long and just as I finished shaking the man’s hands for the fifth time in twenty minutes, an exhausted-looking Archer burst into the meeting room. His clothes were torn up and his knee was scraped up into a bloody state.

“Aaron! Help!”

I jumped to my feet half a beat before Joyce and ran toward Archer. I didn’t know what had happened, but from the state Archer was in I figured it wasn’t anything good.

“Ms. Knightly! What’s wrong with the child?!”

“Archer! What happened?”

Archer stumbled over his words and his heavy breath made it hard to communicate, but he finally caught enough air to frantically scream out our safe word.

“Marshmallow! MARSHMELLOW!”

Joyce and I traded a look to divide our responsibilities before I took off towards the roof. Archer was in no state to run, so I grabbed my phone and used the location tracker on it. I hadn’t really wanted to put taggers on the kid’s technology, but Joyce and the new scientist she had introduced had made a great point about cases like this.

I was just so upset that they had been proven to be right so soon.

Marshmallow was one of our many code words for when something had happened, but there was no way to explain it in full. Especially when others were around.

But what could those kids have possibly found to get themselves into trouble during the half an hour that they had been alone?

I relied on the map to tell me where the kids were. It showed them all close to where the elevator would have let them out, but instead of simply following their path, there was an empty shaft. There wasn’t even time to think twice before slamming the glasses onto my face and jumping into the empty shaft and floating up to the roof. I wish I had a change of clothes, but for now, the best I could do was to take off the restrictive suit jacket. I barely remembered to activate the glasses and let them do their job in protecting me from the wind and debris damage that the six-floor elevator shaft offered.

I made it up to the roof after what felt like an eternity and witnessed a scene that would have been a better fit for a nightmare.

There, stumbling out from behind the rooftop box, was a monster unlike anything I’d ever thought could exist in reality. It was the size of a baby elephant but had the body of a turkey, the plumage of a peacock, and the head of an eagle. It’s whole body was covered with bright rainbow feathers that ruffled and frilled with each threatening step it took toward a determined-looking Destia, who at some point had put on the blue jumpsuit and had similar glasses to mine.

For a moment, I wondered if my mind had finally snapped its fragile string and had plunged me into a hallucination, but Kaja’s desperate scream snapped me out of it.

“AARON HELP!”

Destia’s sturdy shoes left imprints on the cement roof, and I worried about its integrity, but there were bigger problems at hand. I snapped into action and started barking out orders as best as I could.

“Tillo! Can you change my clothes into the jumpsuit? Kaja! Turn the floor into something sturdy, something that can handle a lot of weight! Eva! Can you put up an illusion around us? Just look at that building and try to build that around us! If that’s too hard, then just make a cloud around us! Destia! Buy a bit more time!”

I knew that she could exclude us from the influence of her illusions, but I also knew how big of a toll using those powers took on her. We only had a little bit of time.

Tillo ran over to me and did as I asked, while Kaja got to work on the floor.

I looked around for something I could use to help Destia as she darted around the horrendously agile beast and pulled at its majestic feathers. Just grabbing one required her to wrap both arms around it and run in the opposite direction, but at least it was enough to keep its attention on her.

Okay, I needed a weapon.

“Tillo, can you turn something into a bat?”

I picked up a fragment of the broken rooftop shed from the floor while I waited for Tillo to dig into his pouch.

“Destia! Get out of the way!”

I emulated the same rage I’d had when I’d thrown a rock through the terrorist's leg and aimed for the monster’s eye. It missed by a half inch and hit its beak, leaving just enough of a dent to irritate it.

I picked up another one and tossed it again. The monster moved quickly and dodged it, but it failed to miss the third and lost its left eye.

Tillo finally pulled out what looked like a miniature mace from his pouch and quickly expanded it. By then it was too heavy for him to lift on his own, so I needed to go over and get it, but right before I had the opportunity, the monster took into the air.

Its impact as it took off into the air, put a large crack in the roof and I could feel the building’s foundation shake.

“Ahh… Ah I got it! Don’t worry about it!”

Kaja grunted out a yell, sounding more frustrated than I’d ever heard her. The sheer terror in her voice also took me aback, but I couldn’t go over to comfort her.

I grabbed the mace from Tillo and took off after it. It was fast, but it was large, and I was faster. Or well… I may not have been as fast or as agile in the air as it was, but I had an unfair advantage.

My hands shook as I pulled the mask over my face and flew over its head as it slowed down to orient itself in an unfamiliar place. I used the small window of time I got to make the mace as heavy as its material structure could support and then dropped it on top of the beast.

It let out a horrendous screech as it felt the impact, and I saw its back cave in, but somehow it still kept going.

I got onto its back and locked its thick neck into a headlock, just high enough that it couldn’t whip its beak around and try to stab me.

Aaron!

The wind and the sounds of the monster screeching and flapping its wings made it impossible to hear anything but, so I realized that the voice in my head was Eva’s.

Archer sent you something! Reach out your left hand!

I did as the little kid told me and flinched as the sharp edge of something bit into the flesh of my hand. It hurt a lot, but it was exactly what I needed.

My vision was foggy as Eva had moved the cloud of fog from the ceiling of the building over to me and the beast, but I still had my hands to orient me, and the monster still struggled beneath me.

I switched to my legs to lock its head in place and bent as far forward as I could to stab it in its other eye. I didn’t even know how to take apart a chicken, never mind something like this, but even if I did, there was no such room to strategize any more than I had.

I stabbed wildly at wherever I thought would bleed the most. When the knife hit bone, I would simply move to another spot. As the monster struggled, I increased the weight of the mace, no longer caring about its structural integrity, and tortured the beast to death. At a point I realized how pointless it was and applied my power directly to the beast’s body.

It let out one last death shriek before turning in the air and diving toward the ground, intent on crushing me with it. The beast originally aimed for the roof where the others were, but I grabbed it by the shredded remains of the large feathers at the extremities of its head and steered it toward the ground.

All I could do was hold on for dear life as we both plummeted to the ground at an increasing speed. It thrashed and slammed into the side of the building, exaggerating the damage it had already caused from its take off, but I didn’t let up on the beast. It slammed a few more times, trying to get me off its body, but I kept a hold of the feathers on its head and didn’t let go as I felt its heart’s last twitch and its breath cease. I braced to have its body breach our fall to the ground, but I suddenly felt myself holding on to nothing.

Just like a dream; Its warm, bulky body turned into a magical dust, and I was left with a handful of it.

My stomach ached as I caught myself before I slammed into the pavement, and I used my closed fists to push myself upright.

I barely remembered to put the dust into a pocket before I heard an ominous crack that echoed across the large parking lot. Just like a scene from a movie, I saw a large fracture spread from the roof where the kids were, past the third floor, where Joyce and her business partners were, and right down to me on the floor.

There was barely enough time for me to register the surrounding screams before I rose right back into the air again.