Skydragon

by Anh Do

  Reggie made up his mind to make sure Casey really did show up in court. If not, he and Agent Ferris were going to have a conversation.

  Reggie’s phone rang. He glanced at the screen.

  Speak of the devil, Reggie thought.

  ‘Yes, Agent Ferris?’ Reggie said, failing to hide his lack of enthusiasm.

  ‘We need the Firefighter.’

  Reggie sighed. ‘What is it now?’

  ‘Top priority mission. We have confirmed the existence of a rogue “super”. She goes by the name of Skydragon. She’s been terrorising the town of Woodville and we’ve managed to track her to her lair. She’s a flight risk, so we need to act fast. Return to base immediately for further briefing and loadout.’

  ‘Super?’ Reggie had never met another person like him before. ‘You mean she has a power?’

  ‘Yes, over insects,’ said Ferris. ‘It seems she can command them at will.’

  ‘Whoa,’ said Reggie.

  ‘We want to question her, of course, but if you have to use force…’ Ferris paused. ‘… ensure her remains are intact for study.’

  Reggie scowled with distaste. ‘I’m not hurting anyone else for you, Ferris.’

  ‘You’re still worked up about the robbery, aren’t you? Reggie, they were criminals, leeches on society …’

  Reggie thought back to the hold-up at the supermarket. Ferris hadn’t told him the robbers were armed, and Reggie had done what he needed to do to protect the shoppers. ‘With better intel, those two guys wouldn’t have ended up in hospital—’

  ‘And I’ve apologised for that,’ Ferris said, cutting Reggie off. ‘It won’t happen again. Now please, return to base, Firefighter. This time, you’ll have access to all the information we have. I promise.’

  As she travelled back to the cabin, Amber let her extrasensory awareness spread. The article Irene had shown her put her on high alert and she didn’t want to land at the cabin and be surprised by government agents. If it hadn’t been for the photo of her parents and brother, she wouldn’t have even gone back.

  Amber was concentrating so hard on the ground that she almost missed something strange happening in the sky.

  High above, purple dots were flaring out. This wasn’t unusual in itself – insects’ lives were often brief – but these dots were flaring in a straight line.

  Amber directed her locusts upwards and she soon came face to face with the culprit – black and metallic, with four propeller blades spinning soundlessly. A drone. It suddenly veered away.

  Kill, she directed.

  Some of her locusts broke off and streamed forwards, driving themselves up under the drone’s ‘belly,’ tipping it. Though the drone tried to right itself the locusts were relentless.

  Then, when the drone had almost fallen to the trees …

  Abandon.

  The locusts flew away just before the drone hit a high branch and shattered.

  Who sent you? Amber wondered. A nerd in a basement playing with a high-tech toy? Or some government department?

  Amber circled above the cabin, feeling torn. She knew she should get out of here, but the photo was all she had left of her family.

  She looked to the north. She knew from maps she’d seen that there were vast areas of woods out there. She could bury herself so deep in the wilderness that no one would ever find her.

  Suddenly, over the wind, an unexpected sound reached her ears, growing louder. She wondered if it was another drone.

  But she realised it was… a person? Steam shot out from behind them in great clouds as they sped along. As the person got closer and closer, Amber recognised him. It was the Firefighter.

  Cold fear raced through her. The Firefighter worked for the National Service. This was no chance encounter. He was here for her!

  Fly. Her locusts took off. Fast as they were, however, she knew they could never outfly him.

  She searched the wood below for allies, issuing silent commands as she travelled.

  The Firefighter drew up alongside her and slowed, his steam dying down a bit, the noise subsiding.

  ‘Skydragon!’ he called. ‘I just want to talk.’

  Amber didn’t know what she’d expected him to sound like, but he sounded younger than she thought he’d be.

  ‘Are you listening to me?’ he called out again.

  Almost naïve sounding, she thought. But there was something else … something familiar that she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

  ‘Slow down!’ the Firefighter called.

  He sounded sincere, but she couldn’t trust him. Amber checked below again – she had gathered a virtual sea of purple.

  Slow, she said, and her locusts obeyed.

  The Firefighter moved closer. He was a large man, completely covered in an outfit that appeared to be modelled on firefighter uniforms.

  ‘If you just want to chat,’ she called, ‘send me an email!’

  He chuckled, which surprised her. ‘I don’t have your address. Anyway, I prefer talking face to face. Or, at least, mask to mask. Can you stop?’

  ‘There’s no hover mode on these guys. You can say your piece and keep your distance, then I’m leaving.’

  Her tone seemed to turn him cold.

  ‘It’s not that simple. You have to come with me,’ he said firmly. ‘You’ve committed crimes, but I promise that no harm will come to you if you surrender peacefully.’

  ‘Crimes?’ she scoffed at his suddenly official tone. He sounded like a kid playing at being a cop.

  ‘Stealing from the people of Woodville, for one,’ he said.

  ‘You really expect me to believe that’s why you’re here?’ she said. ‘A few stolen cereal boxes? Things must be really slow at HQ if they’re sending you after shoplifters.’

  ‘Also disrupting the peace and plaguing the local—’

  ‘I don’t know about disturbing the peace,’ Amber snapped back, ‘but I do know a thing or two about plagues.’

  Now.

  At this command, swarms of insects rose up from the trees around the Firefighter. He cried out as beating wings and buzzing bodies suddenly surrounded him and sent him off course.

  Amber surged ahead, trying to put as much distance between them as possible. The Firefighter tumbled downwards, encased in a black cloud. Then orange flames swept about around him, and out of a cloud of ash he rose again, his jet pack roaring back to top volume.

  He shot out a hand towards her, and she feared the touch of fire – but instead cold water was blasting her insect dragon and she was falling towards the trees.

  Re-form.

  A new dragon formed and scooped her up. As she rolled this way and that, off balance, her locusts countered with their movements, until she steadied herself back on her knees.

  She spotted a hilltop clearing ahead and gave the mental command to dive, barely ducking another stream of water that went shooting by overhead. She managed to spring off the locusts a second before it hit the ground, dispersing. She whacked her limbs on rocks as she rolled.

  Amber came to a stop and let out a groan. There was a hiss and she raised her head to see the Firefighter. From the air, he directed a thin, precise line of fire around her, lighting the dry grass in a circle until she was surrounded by a wall of flame.

  He set down inside the circle. ‘Maybe now we can talk?’

  Amber watched in horror as the flickering wall reached for the sky. It reminded her of a terrible night, a memory she had long tried to bury.

  ‘Leave me alone!’ she shouted. ‘I’m just trying to live in peace!’

  The Firefighter seemed to consider this. The pause was all Amber needed. Outside the circle, her growing insect legion circled, faster and faster, building momentum. The Firefighter seemed not to hear them above the crackling.

  NOW.

  A dark swarm arced out of the sky from above the flames, insects tightly packed into a buzzing ball. They slammed into the Firefighter like an almighty dragon claw, sending him hurtling out of the cir
cle.

  Amber heard him land with a grunt and a crunch somewhere further down the hill. She glanced around at flaming wings drifting in the air.

  The sight made her angry. In her rage, Amber leapt over the now-dying flames to where the Firefighter lay.

  Amber came down the hill with her insects swirling around her. As the Firefighter rose onto a knee, Amber readied a new clawed fist.

  ‘You’re not welcome here,’ she said.

  The fist plunged forward, slamming the Firefighter mercilessly into a tree trunk. He gasped as the insects broke apart over him.

  ‘Why can’t you just leave us alone?’ Amber screamed.

  The Firefighter staggered to his feet, but another fist hit him directly in the stomach. He gasped again and curled over.

  When Amber rallied her insects for a third punch, the Firefighter raised a shaky hand and unleashed a cone of fire. Hundreds of purple dots flared out.

  The Firefighter looked Amber in the eyes, at the rage evident from behind her mask, and raised his other hand. Amber veered off and dashed into the woods. The rush of oncoming water followed her. Cold flecks splattered her back as she wove through the trees, putting many trunks between them before she ducked behind a rock.

  ‘The dark won’t save you,’ called the Firefighter, in the distance. He sounded angry now too.

  Fiery reflections blossomed on surfaces around her, and she peered around the rock. The Firefighter was stalking between the trees, raising his hand to the canopy and setting it on fire. Did this maniac plan to set the whole forest ablaze?

  ‘You won’t be able to hide in the ashes!’ he shouted.

  Searching, she found a nearby swarm of hornets.

  Attach.

  The hornets landed all over the Firefighter’s body, but the crackling flames drowned out the sound of them and he didn’t even notice them hitching a ride.

  Sting.

  The hornets obliged.

  The Firefighter cried out and spun around wildly, a whirlwind of flames spewing in all directions.

  Retreat.

  The hornets buzzed back into the woods.

  A blackened tree branch fell from the canopy and broke apart at the Firefighter’s feet. He recoiled, and Amber wondered if he was scared. He’s immune to fire, but scared of a falling tree?

  ‘You don’t want to be seen?’ he shouted. ‘Fine! We’ll do it your way!’

  The Firefighter then turned his palms inwards and streams of fire and water burst against each other, turning instantly to steam. Great clouds of the stuff billowed outwards, choking the fires and wafting through the trees. A moment later, Amber was immersed. The steam was so thick, she couldn’t see a thing.

  She held still, not wanting to give away her location.

  She heard the crunch of footfalls on burnt twigs, then silence. Had he stopped?

  A hand suddenly plunged out of the steam and grabbed for Amber, but she scrambled to her feet and ran blindly until she fell. She could hear him crunching after her.

  Searching the insect world for clues, she saw a line of dots suspended in the air. Ants marching up a tree. She made for them and watched for where they diverted to a branch, illuminating the shape of the tree. She swung herself up, then continued clambering upwards, feeling her way up the tree, until she was out of his reach.

  There were steps beneath her. She tensed … but the steps carried on away from her.

  Fireflies.

  She directed the few fireflies she could sense nearby to fly after him. Not to attack, but rather to land on his back. She wanted to be able to see him coming.

  The Firefighter walked further away but seemed to sense he was heading in the wrong direction and turned around.

  The steam was beginning to clear, and moonlight filtered through the canopy.

  Amber gritted her teeth. She couldn’t ask insects to fight all her battles. The Firefighter was easily strong enough to best her in a fair fight. But if she took him by surprise …

  As he moved beneath her, Amber dropped onto his back and hooked an arm around his neck.

  He grunted in surprise, staggering, trying to shake her off. But she’d learnt from her mistakes, ordering the hornets back – this time, to attack his unprotected hands. He reached back to grab her but screamed as he was stung.

  He fell to his knees, trying to grasp at Amber’s arms, but was only stung more. Then she heard a hissing, and glanced down. Steam was shooting out of the jet pack.

  Too late, she realised what he intended.

  They launched from the ground, hornets blasting free, and she held on for dear life. Amber knew the Firefighter couldn’t see where he was going as they barrelled through the woods, twigs whipping against them, branches tearing at them. Any moment now they would crash into a tree.

  ‘Let go!’ he gasped, pawing at Amber’s hand. ‘Or we’ll both die.’

  ‘Better the two of us than only me,’ she hissed into his ear.

  His foot snagged on something and sent them spinning. They shot out of the trees and back into the clearing and hit the hilltop sideways, breaking apart. She rolled one way and he rolled the other.

  Bruised and dizzy, Amber tried to stand. A moment later cold water pinned her against a tree.

  Shakily, the Firefighter walked towards her, keeping up the pressure of the water. It splashed into her eyes and up her nose as she struggled to breathe.

  This was it, then? She was going to be dragged off to some shady government lab? Maybe she could make friends with the roaches in the walls.

  The Firefighter glanced up at the sound of approaching helicopters.

  ‘About time,’ he said.

  As despair threatened to engulf her, Amber became aware of another purple presence nearby. She had one last shot …

  ‘Give up,’ said the Firefighter. ‘It’s no use.’

  But at that moment, bombardier beetles flew up the hill and landed all over him.

  ‘Enough with the insects!’ he shouted. ‘You can’t—’

  But the beetles had already started to explode their hot, burning chemicals on the Firefighter’s suit. He paused, confused for a moment … then his uniform started to melt! In seconds, he was scrabbling to rid himself of the crawling beetles. The water holding Amber in place swept away, as he used it to blast the bugs.

  Gulping in air, Amber focused her mind and summoned her swarm one last time. All remaining insects rushed through the air towards the Firefighter. He heard them coming and looked up, just as an entire insect dragon concentrated all its might and smashed into him. He fell back, flat on the hillside.

  The lights from the helicopters grew brighter. Amber could see figures lowering down on ropes.

  She glanced at the Firefighter once more, then turned and fled into the shadows.

  The fresh air brought her back to herself, and soon there were enough locusts around to summon her dragon again. She leapt on and they dodged through the trees, aided by the pre-dawn light.

  Amber was hurt, but it wasn’t the physical pain that plagued her. It was that last glance she had taken, as the Firefighter had turned over on his side, his uniform covered in growing holes as the material dripped away …

  In that fleeting moment, she thought she’d seen a scar creeping up his side. A scar with the same twisted vortex of dark red and purple lines as her own.

  It has to be a coincidence, she thought. It has to be ...