By Noah Letscher

The rain pattered on the city streets as a young woman struggled through the masses, the small pack she had slung over one shoulder bumping into the surrounding people. Her short, dull blonde hair was slicked back away from her face as she glanced furtively behind her.

Two men in dark suits tailed her, silent like sharks as they followed the trail she had left through the people.

The woman looked back again, eyes wide as she noticed the men slowly but surely catching up to her. She sped up, looking around for an escape route.

There! she thought, and she dashed up the stairs to the platform of the train station, advertisements shedding their glow along her ghostly skin as she dashed by, fading again as she left. Her blue tank top was plastered to her skin by the steady drizzle. She pulled out a phone, quickly pressing speed dial as she dashed along the platform. “C’mon, pick up, pick up!”

“Sadie! Are you the reason there’s a code red here?” asked the voice on the other end of the phone.

Sadie winced. “Yeah, that’s kinda my fault.”

“What exactly did you steal, the techies are going absolutely bonkers over here! I’m doing my best to mislead them, but I doubt it’s going to last long,” the sound of frenzied typing sounded faintly through the speakers of the phone.

“I may’ve taken the wings.”

“Why on ear- Sadie, whoever’s following you, they’re going to catch up soon, tracking system’s beeping like crazy.”

Sadie looked down the platform, noting the two men standing at the top of the stairs who were looking around, almost as if they were scenting her trail. As she looked at them out of the corner of her eye, their heads snapped towards her, and they began to move as one.

A faint rumbling could be heard down at the end of the platform as a Brown Line train pulled into the station, its wheels screeching as it came to a stop.

“I’ll call you back soon Becca,” she said as she dashed onto the train, noting the men also entering the train, yet several cars down from hers.

“You better, you’re going to need the operating codes for those wings!”

“Yeah, I’ll make sure I do. Love ya Bec!” Sadie ended the call, left to her own thoughts for what was likely to be a very short amount of time.

•

Becca sat back, rubbing her eyes underneath her glasses as she looked at the screen in front of her: technical readouts, and a small video link with Jessie’s worried face in it.

“Is she okay?”

Becca threw her hand up, the other still resting on her copper-skinned brow. “I have no effing clue! One minute, work as usual, the next she breaks in and there are alarms blaring!”

Jessie made a small frown face. “How’re you two gettin’ on?”

“Quite well. She’s amazing and if she doesn’t get caught, I’ll try to not be too rough.”

“Yeah,” he blushed, his pale skin turning vermillion, “didn’t need to know that.”

Becca smiled. “Sorry.”

“She’ll be calling back soon right?”

“Yes. You should go.”

“Nuh-uh. Not yet, you might still need some help.” There was a muffled slamming on his end of the video chat, easily the sound of a door being carelessly thrown open.

“Actually,” his voice lowered an octave, “I’m goin’ to leave.”

Becca nodded. “Go.”

He cut the video chat.

•

The men could take about forty to fifty seconds tops to reach the end of one car. She had about 5.3 minutes before they would be in the same car as her, given the conditions of rush hour in a large city such as Chicago. She ran her fingers through her wavy hair as she thought, causing it to stick up in unruly crests on her head. Her large green eyes skated over the map above the door.

“Clark and Lake is next. Doors open on the right at Clark and Lake.”

She looked at the map after Clark and Lake. Merchandise Mart… Chicago… Sedgewick… Armitage… Fullerton… Between Armitage and Fullerton there’s a roof, I could get off there…

“Your attention please. This train will be going express from Clark and Lake to Fullerton. We apologize for the inconvenience. Doors closing.”

Sadie tapped her foot nervously, her heartbeat rushing in her ears as she watched the end of the car for the men. 3.5 minutes until they’d be upon her. She wasn’t going to be able to make it to the Chicago station, let alone Fullerton.

She toyed with a flap on the pack, fraying the fabric with her nails. She glanced at the end of the train, eyes flicking to the time readout on the screen of her phone. 2 minutes. She felt a rumble under her feet, and looked out the window of the train. They were heading over the Wells Street Bridge.

Then the train came to a shuddering stop.

“Your attention please. We are standing momentarily, waiting for signal clearance. We expect to be moving shortly.”

Sadie’s eyes widened. Pulling out her phone, she quickly dialed Becca’s number.

“Do you have the codes yet? I’m kinda getting held up.”

“Yeah, have you found the keypad?”

Sadie looked around the pack. Under another little flap, there was a simple keypad and a few dials.

“Found it,” she flicked her eyes up to the end of the train.

“Alright, if there’s a red knob, turn it to the left 180 degrees, then type in 3791.”

Sadie did exactly that, finally noticing that she was receiving suspicious looks from the other passengers in the train.

There was a sudden slamming of the door at the end of the car, startled screams coming from the end. She glanced down and saw the two men, their eyes fixed on her.

“Am I good?” Sadie practically yelled into the phone.

“Yea-”

She hung up, pulled the emergency door opener and dived out of the train car.

The wind rushed in her ears, her eyes locked on the greenish water below her. Seconds passed and then she was jerked up suddenly as she felt the pack unfurl behind her, the straps biting into the skin of her shoulders, leaving red marks behind.

Two bronzed wings stretched out behind her with a wingspan of at least 14 feet, the metal whirring as her dive turned into a glide, her shoes just barely grazing the water as she began to ascend again.

•

“-h, Sadie? Sadie?” The voice on the other end of the phone had suddenly cut off, leaving Becca with no idea whether or not her girlfriend was safe. She dialed Sadie’s number, and heard it ring out on the other end. Once the wings were activated, the user became nearly invisible to any known tracking radar.

Of course, one would also disappear from the radar screen if one was killed.

Suddenly, Becca heard a bang as the door to her tech room opened. She glanced carefully over the bank of computers in front of her, eyes watching as men in dark suits filed in.

“Miss Becca Vang? Please come with us.”

She raised one eyebrow. “And why should I listen to you?”

The man smiled cruelly.

“Because the safety of your friends may depend upon it.”

•

Sadie saved a smirk for herself as she flew away from the bridge, the rain pinging over the metal of the wings.

Without warning, she heard a chattering behind her, and a different rain pinged over the wings. Bullets. She dodged, rolling to the side to avoid them.

A glowing streak of pain ran over the side of her head, causing her to lose some of her momentum, faltering in the air. A second bullet left a strip of pain over her calf and she cried out, losing some altitude.

Biting back curses, she banked towards the north side of the river, making her way up to the ledge of a building and landing ungainly. Stumbling, she crawled away from the edge, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes.

She took a deep breath in and held it, a wave of panic threatening to overwhelm her. She took out her phone, its screen covered with spider-webbing hairline cracks.

Sadie scrolled through her contacts, past Mum and Da – they wouldn’t understand – past other friends – they’re more acquaintances anyways – to Jessie – he’ll know what to do. He always does.

She started a new message, assuming that whatever had hit her phone had likely damaged the speakers into an unusable mess.

To: Jessie

Time, tower, river. Blood help please.

Hopefully, he’d understand.

Hopefully, he hadn’t been taken.

•

Jessie took deep breaths in through his nose as he walked normally in between the columns of the command center. The alarms had shut off, the silence eerie in its stillness.

Keep it cool Jess, they’ve no clue you had anything to do with it, just keep moving. You can get out, no one will know!

There was a soft ding from his back pocket and he glanced around before pulling out his phone.

New Message From: Sadie

He clicked his phone screen off, quickly exiting the building. Lunch break, I’m just going on lunch break.

At 4 o’clock, sure you are Jessie boy.

He was out the door, now all he had to do was make it to a safe place, or at least safer.

The riverside.

Once he stopped moving, sitting near the edge of the river, he pulled out his phone and read the message.

“Shit Sadie,” he whispered under his breath.

To: Sadie

On my way. Becca’ll murder you.

He jumped up, carefully maneuvering his way over to the bridge at a slow saunter, acting as if he had no care in the world. Which was as far from the truth as he could get.

Jessie tried the Wells Street Bridge first, knowing it was closer to the building he wanted. Flashing lights greeted him, and he ducked into a bus shelter, avoiding the men and women swarming the scene, many in a uniform he knew only a little too well.

He whispered curses under his breath, his heart pounding. Quietly, he moved to a different bridge, against the tide of curious citizens pushing in the direction of what could only be the scene of Sadie’s not-too-easy escape.

When he reached the other side, he entered the building that contained a clocktower, taking the steps two at a time to reach the roof…where he spotted Sadie, her face even more ghostly than it already was normally.

She looked up as he approached.

“About time J.”

•

Becca swallowed down the boiling knot of panic in her stomach. No news of Jessie or Sadie. That should be a good thing, she thought.

The steel and glass of the upper floors of the building gave way to narrow catwalks with skimpy handrails on either side. There was a faint breeze, an open window or door somewhere stirring the otherwise stagnant air of the hanger. As Becca looked around, she could see more of the mechanical wings, hanging outstretched along the undersides of the catwalks, seemingly complicated dials next to them for operation.

“Keep moving Miss Vang!” hissed one of the dark suited people behind her. “Ms. Athnott requires your services to locate your girlfriend Sadie Fitzpatrick, as well as Jessie Moran. Is there anyone else we should be searching for while we’re at it?”

Becca bit her bottom lip, realizing her cessation of movement, a faint plan forming in her mind.

“Your answer Vang?”

“There’s nobody else, I’ll assist you. Do you want me to contact them?”

“No, simply continue moving,” they seemed impatient, eyes flicking around behind darkened glasses.

Becca nodded, beginning to do so. “Mhmm,” she said, thinking.

She pretended to stumble, falling convincingly to the mesh floor of the catwalk. She accidentally bit her lip, blood dripping from the nip.

“Miss Vang, your attempts at delaying are becoming aggravating.”

Becca looked up, putting on an apologetic face. “Apologies.” Then she threw herself off the catwalk, pulling herself into a pair of wings, her fingers flying over the straps and dials. There was scuffling above her as her previous captors attempted to reach her to no avail.

Mere seconds later, almost too long, Becca was airborne.

“Ha,” it was more of an exhale of air than anything else, triumphant, relieved. She sailed onwards towards the direction of the faint breeze she felt earlier, everything else falling silent behind her.

She exited the hanger through the smallest window she’s ever seen, the wings wrapping around her and extending as she made it through.

The wings flapped, gaining altitude at a rate that almost made her ears pop, her glasses slipping around on her nose. Then she leveled out, looking around and rubbing her palms together, realizing they were damp with sweat. She took a deep breath, pushing up her glasses and then drying her hands on the red skirt.

Becca pulled out her phone, texting Jessie and Sadie at the same time.

To: Sadie;Jessie

Are you two okay? Where are you?

She circled tightly as she waited for a response, the low ping and vibration nearly causing her to drop the phone.

New Message: Jessie

Clocktower Sadies injured, but ive got it under control

“Like hell you do,” she whispered under her breath, heading for the clock tower.

•

Sadie looked up as she saw Becca dive down to the roof of the clocktower. Becca landed far from carefully, the wings barely folding behind her before she was kissing Sadie square on the mouth.

“Ow,” Sadie managed to mumble once Becca drew away. “I’m actually okay, J fixed me up pretty good Bec.”

Becca turned to Jessie, who was blushing again. “Thank you.”

He ducked his head. “It was no problem, and now we’re safe.”

“For now,” mumbled Sadie.

Becca hugged them both.

“We are safe for now, and that is all that matters.”