Chapter Thirty-Three
Chelle had flown, hard and fast, and for the first time since her wings had shown themselves all those years ago, they went into her back without any type of protest. What used to be an hour long ordeal had whittled itself down into a few seconds. They were as grateful for the rest as she was it seemed. Robert had taken her back to his place and she sat on the couch now with him. His arms around her in silence. They had been this way for the better part of an hour. To anyone looking at them from the outside it might have simply seemed like two people in love enjoying the silence and enjoying each other, but as they sat she could feel her body healing. The sickness that had claimed her this morning during flight had subsided and thanks to both the pressure suit and his presence, her back didn’t hurt at all.
She could tell he was feeling it too and he lay his head on top of hers, breathing in and out in slow steady rhythm. Alone they were adrift. Together they were calm, at peace. She’d hoped they could stay this way for hours as neither one of them wanted to move, but that wasn’t to be because in the middle of their silent bliss Robert’s cell phone went off.
“Mmm…” he murmured, aggravated at the disruption. The phone had been sitting face up on the coffee table and he didn’t so much as glance at it to see who it was. In fact he turned his head away in an attempt to ignore it until it stopped.
“You better check it. It might be important.”
“It couldn’t possibly be more important than you are,” he said, pressing his cheek against hers.
Chelle removed his arms and put them down by his sides as he gave a reluctant sigh and picked up his phone. “It’s Paul,” she said.
Robert gave an eye roll more befitting of a teenager than a grown man before answering. “Paul. Hi.” Chelle listened, only hearing one side. “Really? And it’s on TV?” A long silence. “No, absolutely not. I’ll talk to you later.” Robert hung up abruptly and threw the phone back down on the coffee table.
“What did Paul want? What’s on TV?”
The look on his face said that telling her was the last thing he wanted to do. “It’s not important. Everything’s being taken care of. Just stay here with me.”
“Where would I be going? Robert, tell me what’s going on.”
Robert ran his hands through his hair, deciding to come clean. “There’s a ship out in the harbor that’s sinking apparently. It’s all over the news.”
Chelle picked up the remote that was sitting next to Robert’s cell phone and turned it on, going directly to one of the local channels. A live shot from a helicopter showed a massive war ship with most of the back end now underwater. It was sinking and the anchor was talking about the rescue effort. Help was on the way but the ship contained a fairly large crew. The scene of people on the outside of the ship was one of controlled panic as the massive grey structure lowered itself further into the icy harbour waters.
“Chelle, don’t even think about it. We’re a port city. There are things and people in place for times like this. They’ll be rescued.”
“It’s happening too fast. Robert, I might be able to help. I can’t just sit here and watch.”
Through his clenched jaw he quietly said, “No, I don’t suppose you can.” He grabbed her hand, squeezing it and gave her a kiss. “Please be careful, Chelle.”
Chelle picked up the mask that was sitting on the coffee table as well. The black butterfly shaped face covering had seemed ridiculous when Greg had offered it to her before, but he’d given it to her on the argument that it would protect her anonymity somewhat. Now she realized he’d been right. “I will.”
She put it on and headed for the front door. “Better go out the back way,” he said. “Just to be safe.”
“Oh, yeah good idea.”
Turning back she saw Robert wringing his hands together in a fit of anxiety. She felt it as much as observed it and was feeling the same way. For now though, those feelings would have to wait.
***
Robert sat back down on the couch and stayed put for exactly five minutes. Given the tremendous pull he felt to follow Chelle that was quite enough. He grabbed his keys and phone and headed for the door. If only he could fly too, he’d have followed her right out the back door. But if he couldn’t do that he’d settle for taking a drive down to the harbour. The ship was around the other side of St. George’s Island and if he was there he might be able to see, at least a little bit. As long as Chelle was going to be out there he knew he couldn’t just sit on the couch and watch it on TV. He had to go.
***
The ship’s stern continued to sink lower and lower and as Chelle got closer she could hear the screams of panicked sailors ringing in her ears. The control she had over her wings now was easy as a simple thought and she circled the ship from above trying to decide on the best course of action. Taking a look at the water beginning to seep into the lower levels she knew there was really only one thing she could do.
As she swooped around once more she came down on the deck, landing next to an officer. Everyone gaped at her as the dread gave way to stunned silence. There was no time for introductions or preliminaries, just simple, blunt communication. “Listen,” she said to the uniformed man. “I saw a rescue boat coming. Get everyone on it as fast as you can. I’m going to try to lift the ship up out of the water. I don’t know if I’ll be able to or how long I can hold it if I do so go as fast as you can.” In astonished quiet he gave a nod.
With that Chelle jumped up and glided downwards, grabbing the ship with her open palms. The rough wet metal was slippery but she managed to find a spot suitable for gripping and then with everything she had in her began to push upward. As the water began to rush out the ship levelled out again. From her vantage point she could see what the problem was. A large hole just under the water, although how it got there was a mystery. It looked almost like it had been hit with something. The ships came around this point all the time with no problems and so running into something in these waters was highly unlikely.
After about five minutes of holding the ship steady Chelle heard something coming toward her. A motor, and it was getting closer. She turned her head in time to see a large coast guard vessel pull up alongside her. When the bow was about fifteen feet away from her the large red and white boat came to a standstill. She could see the looks of disbelief on the faces of each of the crew, who had all come to the front of the ship to see her.
“Um… Are you holding that up there miss Blackbird?”
What the hell else could she be doing? “I am. Everyone is getting off but as soon as I let it go it’s going to sink.”
There was a long pause as they continued to stare, dumbfounded. “How long can you hold it up exactly?”
“Well, I’ve never propped up a war ship with my bare hands before so I’m not even gonna try to guess. It’s been five minutes now.”
“Will you be letting go any time soon?”
“I feel ok for now, but you better get everyone off and away as fast as you can.”
“Any idea what happened?”
“No, just that there’s a huge hole. Looks almost like something hit the ship or it ran into something, although I’m not sure what out here. The priority right now should be to see everyone to safety.”
The crewman blinked and shook his head like he’d just remembered that himself. “Oh, right. Of course.” Then he began barking orders as the vessel pulled around to the other side.
Chelle’s wings flapped all on their own in a steady beat with her heart, keeping her elevated there while her hands held the immense floating city steady. She didn’t know if it was the fear she had for people’s lives or the adrenalin that was pumping through her veins but she’d never felt so strong. Right at that very moment she felt like she could have held it up forever and not even flinched.
Another fifteen minutes passed and finally Chelle watched as the last of the crew were rescued. She kept hold of the wicked beast just to be safe, listening as its metal ge
ars ground to a stop.
Moments later the red and white coast guard boat was speaking to her through a speaker on the outside of the ship. “It’s all clear. Are you doing ok? Can you give everyone another five minutes or so to get away so we don’t all get pulled under as it goes down?”
“No problem.”
“Great. We’re going to get clear and when we’re far enough away I’ll fire a flare so keep your eye out for it. When you see that you can let go.”
“Will do.” Chelle, without realizing it, was smiling from ear to ear.
“You’ve saved the lives of a lot of people today. That evacuation wasn’t going well before you came along. I don’t know who you are or where you came from but thank god you’re here, Blackbird.”
For someone who had spent most of her life feeling like an absolute waste of flesh those words meant more to her than the crewman would ever know. With a quivering voice she simply said, “thank you,” and then watched as the boat turned and headed away from Chelle, now entirely alone.
From a short distance away Chelle heard a pop and then a sizzle. As she lifted her head she saw the explosion from the flare light up the sky above her head. This was it. Time to let go. Chelle took her hands away and floated backward from the ship, watching as the giant structure took on water, moaning and squealing while it sank, as if the inanimate object could actually give a death cry. The cold Atlantic was swallowing it up and soon it would disappear from view. Perhaps to stay there forever, or perhaps to be brought up again at some point. That day however, was not today. Today it would be claimed by the water.
Chelle soared up and over the harbour and was about to head back when she heard a commotion from directly below. The boardwalk off in the distance was filled with a huge crowd. In the middle of the workday people had poured from their offices and stopped their cars to run down toward the water to see the spectacle. Huge cheers were erupting through the streets and Chelle closed in to get a better look. Everyone’s eyes were on her and as she got closer they burst into applause.
Her wings cast a huge shadow on them as she soared over the crowd once, giving a small wave and then quickly taking off back toward the island. She’d circle Dartmouth once and try to land someplace inconspicuous so she could get home unnoticed. A moment later she felt something grab her by the waist and give her a tough yank. Fear gripped her, making her unable to look down for a brief second. When she did she saw a woman.
Not just any woman, a woman with wings. A woman like her. Her hair was a golden blonde and her eyes an icy blue, her wings the same shade as her eyes. She opened her mouth to ask her who she was and what the hell she thought she was doing but before she could do that, the woman gave one final tug and pulled her down under the water, showing her a playful grin as she did. Chelle tried to struggle, but the woman had her by the waist and had also secured Chelle’s wings behind her back encircling her in her arms.
Chelle began to fight, kicking with her legs and trying to get her free, but it was no use. This woman knew how to hold her and had her securely. This is it. She’s going to drown me. I’m going to die. She met the blonde stranger’s eyes once more and the woman held her gaze. As Chelle’s world went dark she was absolutely sure this was the last thing she was ever going to see. She had been taken by surprise, murdered by one of her own kind and Robert, most likely, would never even know.
***
From his vantage point on the harbour front he could barely see what was happening, but Robert was hearing it all thanks to the local radio station blasting from a nearby car. He could see Chelle, barely, and she was holding up the ship with her bare hands. Just floating there, keeping it steady until everyone had a chance to get off. Bending the crowbar had been impressive, but this, this was in a different stratosphere all together. At one point the voice booming from the radio said the ship had to weigh 4770 tonnes at least, and that might be a conservative estimate.
The crowd was enthralled, everyone waiting with baited breath to see what the outcome would be. After watching boat after boat come away, finally followed by the coast guard everyone, realizing that the ship was now fully evacuated, began to clap.
The coast guard fired a flare and Chelle let go, the ship slipping down into the water and causing a massive undertow as it slid down hard and fast. With the crisis averted the claps turned into cheers and Chelle came toward the crowd, passing over them once with a wave and disappearing out of sight around the island.
“Now, that’s a woman,” he heard a young man say, who was then promptly slapped by his girlfriend.
“Mommy, mommy!” a little girl cried. “Did you see her? Did you see Blackbird?”
“I did,” the child’s mother said.
“I want to be just like her when I grow up. I want to fly and have wings and be a superhero.”
The mother patted her little girl on the head as they turned to walk back to their car. “It looks like Halifax will have two superheroes then.” The little girl, who no doubt would spend the rest of her life remembering this day, smiled wide and grabbed her mother’s hand.
Robert was smiling too. He was bursting with pride as he listened to the excitement and gratitude that ran through the crowd. Robert himself had thought that idea ridiculous only a short time ago, but now it only made sense.
Superhero. Of course. What else would she be?
Robert made his way back to his car to find himself sandwiched in from all directions. It would take a while to get out of the mess, but he didn’t care. He turned to the same local station that had been blasting from the stranger’s car so he could listen for himself.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Michael unlocked the door to the storage facility excitedly. He was hoping the tracking device and the electrodes contained in the pressure suit would give out some good readings. They had lots of information to send back to their source so far, but the more they could gather the better. They’d never observed her during such a long flight before, and they certainly hadn’t gotten any readouts for a show of strength like the one she’d shown today. Normally he would have headed to the lab early, but today he’d slept in from staying up too many nights in a row. The excitement from the whole thing was proving to be too much for someone who considered one cup of coffee over stimulation.
By the time he got up and turned on the news he saw the whole thing play out. Not just on the local stations but Blackbird had once again drawn the attention of the worldwide media. CNN, MSNBC, FOX, all the big ones were fascinated. Every channel featured Blackbird and Michael was thrilled. He tried to reach Greg but got no response. He reasoned he was probably glued to the TV along with everyone else but wherever he was he was probably doing his happy dance. After all, the more attention she got the more her stock went up, and eventually, the more money they’d make with their information.
Michael strode into the data room and flipped on the light, but instead of being greeted by neatly lined rows of machines and computers, he was met by nothing but emptiness. He pulled out his phone, instinctually ready to call 911 under the belief that they’d been robbed, but before he could do that he spotted something staring back at him from the corner of the room. Something small and white and sticky looking. Upon standing directly over it he saw it was a piece of wax paper that had held a doughnut not so very long ago, probably Boston Cream. One more look around the room and he saw the obvious now. They’d not been robbed. Someone who’d known what they were doing had come in and removed absolutely everything. It was all gone, and a bit too neatly.
“Greg!” he screamed out loud in the empty space. “You asshole.”
***
Chelle felt the nausea in her stomach and pain in her chest before even opening her eyes. She was laying on something soft that rustled under her head when she turned it slightly and when she finally did look around, everything was hazy, like a dream. She was on her back, still in the pressure suit but her wings had gone back inside. Her head was heavy and she felt like she could
sleep for a year. Fighting that urge she tried to sit up, but realized she was being restrained.
“Relax,” she heard a soft voice say from somewhere in the darkness. A small lamp clicked on and Chelle turned her head in the direction of the light to see the woman who had dragged her under the water staring down at her. Her blue eyes wide and looking at her with a mix of worry and awe. “I gave you a sedative. You’ve been asleep for a few hours. Here,” she said, holding a glass of water up to Chelle’s lips. “Drink this. The needle always makes me thirsty.”
Chelle most definitely was thirsty. Her throat was burning and now she had an explanation for the nausea. Easily she swallowed, not wanting to take in too much as it might all come back up on her, and with the way she was tied there was no place to turn her head to get away from it. “What’s going on? Who are you and why am I tied up?”
The woman sat down on the bed, cross-legged and took a pillow to her chest like she was about to spill a secret at a slumber party. “I’m your sister,” she said with a small giggle.
“Lindsay?”
“Yeah,” she squeaked, excited that Chelle knew her name.
Chelle’s head fell forward, her eyelids heavy, but she forced them open once again. “Why have you got me tied up, Lindsay? I mean, I didn’t have a sister growing up but I never imagined that people who did spent a lot of time tying each other up.”
Lindsay laughed full out now. “I had lots of brothers and sisters, and trust me, sometimes they do tie each other up. But usually not for a very good reason.”
“And I suppose you have a good reason?”
Lindsay registered a look of disappointment. “You seem angry. Victor said you might be for a while. Oh, I hope it won’t be for too long though.”
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