Dashing Devil Omnibus 1: Books 1-3, page 65
Those feathers were more resilient than even that should entail. The big birds were listed as having S-ranked resistance. Meanwhile, the talons that earned them their name were sharp enough to slice through steel like butter. Their hooked beaks could either peck or chew right through reinforced concrete, too.
Otherwise, they didn’t have any Powers. Their natural assets alone were enough to make them one of the bigger threats to cities—especially combined with the numbers they traveled in during their mating season. Given the size of that flock, Boyd assumed that had to be now. Because they were tougher than their physical body should allow, it was assumed they had energy-based resilience.
Which should mean that his Black Flame would be effective against them. Then again, Boyd was just pleased to have a field assignment, even if it was simply guarding The Tower.
“Understood,” he grunted.
“Good,” Royce returned his grunt. “Boyd, you can fly around The Tower or find a perch. Don’t stray more than a couple of blocks away from The Tower. Silver, your position will be relayed to you via your handler. This will be your last mission with her. Kitsune, you’re officially assigned to me, as of now. I’m taking over the team. Sending your start positions to your FDUs.”
“We’re called The Devoted,” Silvie chimed brightly.
“Eh? Alright, I’ll send it up the chain,” Royce responded tersely. He must have agreed with Boyd that now wasn’t the time. “Kitsune, you got your location?”
Raev glanced down at the inside of her left arm where a small screen showed a map of the city with a red dot for her and a green dot for her start point. “Got it,” she confirmed with a nod, her tails held stiffly behind her.
“Good, get out there.” When Royce finished, the screen winked off.
The three of them made their way down the hall back to the kitchen, with Boyd in the rear. He’d expected Raev to turn the other way towards the elevator that would take her to the ground floor, so arched an eyebrow at her when she turned to him with a smile.
“Give me a lift to the ground floor, big guy?” Raev asked as if sensing his unasked question.
“Sure,” Boyd rumbled as they jogged through the kitchen to the balcony. This was a hurry-up-and-wait situation, so he was trying to contain his excitement at the prospect of the upcoming fight. He’d already shut down an errant thought to ask Silvie to let a couple Diamond Claws through for him—that wouldn’t be heroic.
Silvie took to the air as soon as they were outside but didn’t zip off the way he’d expected her to. Instead, she turned and watched as Boyd scooped Raev up in a princess carry and leaped over the waist-high wall at the edge of the balcony. He caught a glance of Silvie’s grinning face before he and Raev plummeted towards the ground.
Raev let out a squeal filled with more delight than fear as they fell together. Her tails were pulled up around her side by the force of the wind to stream above them. It only lasted for a few seconds, though, as Boyd fanned his wings out to catch the air and slow their fall.
He still landed with a solid thud on bent knees, but managed to avoid cracking the concrete. Raev was given further cushioning using his arms, but the air still escaped her lungs with a whoosh on impact.
“Shit, big guy. Warn a girl,” Raev huffed, though she wore a radiant grin as he set her down.
She scanned the area and saw an officer riding an open-top grav-sled like a motorcycle. It was one of the speedsters, where the pilot had to lean over to be protected by the low windshield.
“That’ll be for me,” Kitsune said. “Alright, get in the sky, big guy. I’ll see you when it’s over.”
Boyd nodded and said, “Call if you need air support.”
With that, he bent his knees and leaped as high into the air as he could. His wings extended and beat downward as he neared the apex of his jump, lifting him into the sky.
“Hello everyone,” Tinker said over their communicators. “I’ve pulled us into team comms only. I’m monitoring the mission comms and will pull you in if anything comes up, or ten minutes before the Diamond Claws arrive.”
Tinker’s voice sounded through his earpiece. “Boyd, I’m going to activate the propulsion pack now. I thought it might be a good time to familiarize yourself with it. Might help on this mission.”
“Propulsion pack?” Royce’s voice asked. Apparently, Tinker had included their handler in the team’s comms channel.
Thinking about it was enough to activate it—which happened at an inopportune moment when his wings were fully extended and preparing for a downward flap. Instead, they snapped down and back as the propulsion pack kicked in and he started to ascend faster than his wings normally allowed. Boyd grunted as he pulled his wings in, removing the wind resistance they created as they trailed behind him.
“Sorry, my fault!” Tinker whined over the comms. “I see what went wrong, patching it now. It shouldn't activate when your wings are extended in a climb like that again.”
“It’s fine.” Boyd laughed as he rose faster than he ever had before with his wings only slightly extended as if controlling a dive instead of all the effort he normally put into gaining altitude. Climbing always took time and effort with wings; it was the dives that Boyd enjoyed most.
“Yes, Royce,” he rumbled. “Tinker built a propulsion pack into my new suit. I’m almost back up to the suite already. This is amazing, Tinker.”
Chapter 32
“Oh? Good!” Tinker sounded cheery over the comms, her small voice amplified and clearer than ever.
“Speaking of your suit, big guy, I have to admit when Silvie said she was going for ‘sexy knight’, I was skeptical. It came out better than I thought,” Raev said with a chuckle.
He heard Raev’s smooth chuckle over the comms. Boyd chuckled himself, wondering how to slow down as he closed on the suite’s level. Again, just thinking about it was enough—the pack tapered the power down on its own. Once he was close, Boyd took over with his wings and glided onto the balcony.
“Sexy knight, huh?” he grumbled.
“It was Tinker’s idea.” Silvie giggled. “I had other ideas but as soon as she brought it up, the idea fit so well it stuck.”
“Tinker’s idea, hmm?” Boyd chuckled.
“Yep,” Silvie said brightly.
“You’re telling me it was Tinker’s idea to dress me up as a sexy knight?” Boyd asked, putting all the skepticism he could muster into his voice.
No…” Tinker defended herself unnecessarily. “That wasn’t… I didn’t…” She didn’t seem to be sure how to reply, likely concerned about crossing Silvie in some way but also not wanting Boyd to think it had been all her idea.
“He knows, Sweetie,” Silvie said with a laugh. “Tinker’s idea was ‘knight in shining armor’, which I liked, but thought needed a little more oomph. As our only male member, you have to provide the sex appeal for a pretty sizable segment of the market.”
“Makes sense,” Royce agreed.
Boyd didn’t approve of that aspect of being a Hero, but it was what it was. “Right,” he grunted.
Raev laughed again, but this time the rush of wind could be heard over her comms. She must be going pretty fast on the grav sled. “Silvie showed me her list of ideas for your suit. It read like an adult store's Halloween costume catalog. Sexy this… hunky that.”
“A what costume?” Royce asked, echoing Boyd’s thoughts.
“Oh, shit… you guys don’t have Halloween here?” Raev asked. “We’ll have to fix that. It’s a good time. Something from Old Earth culture. The country our ship came from celebrated it by dressing up in costumes. They even had Heroes… well kinda. They were make-believe at that point. Kids would dress up either cute or scary, but adults were different. It was an excuse to dress sexy, get drunk, and have kinky sex. Their costumes were all ‘slutty nurses’ and ‘hunky officers'. Or in this case, sexy knight. We should do it… it’ll be fun.”
“How often is it celebrated?” Silvie asked with way too much curiosity for Boyd’s comfort.
At the same time, he couldn’t help but smirk. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad—if he got to choose the costumes. Boyd discarded the thought quickly, recognizing it as one that came from his Changed Mind.
“Is now the right time to be talking about this?” Boyd attempted to change the topic.
“Why not?” Royce betrayed him, laughter in his voice—enough laughter that Boyd believed he’d been laughing with his comms muted until just moments ago. “You’ve still got twenty-eight minutes ‘til the flock of overgrown buzzards show. You want everyone to sit around all tense like?”
Boyd shut up. Everyone prepared for a fight differently; a part of him would very much prefer to wait in tense silence. He could focus on himself, find his center, and get prepared to fight. His resilience wasn’t as strong as Silvie’s—it wouldn’t be enough to stand up to a Diamond Claw’s talons.
Boyd could die today. He was confident he wouldn’t, but you could never be sure. Diamond Claws were not known to be particularly intelligent.
Although they flew in flocks, they attacked individual targets alone. Though they didn’t use any form of tactics, he still had to be careful. Having his wings torn off at the altitudes he would be fighting at would make for a very unpleasant landing.
Boyd knew that many who could and did fight when the time came couldn’t stand the build-up to it. They didn’t know what to do with their nervous energy. But everyone’s brain worked differently.
He used that energy, turning it into something useful. Silvie, on the other hand, needed to expend it. She fidgeted, fussed, and liked to chat about nothing. Based on the feelings he sensed from his Bond with Raev, she was much the same. She had stopped and he could sense that she was engaged in something, but the conversation brought her comfort.
“Once a year,” Raev said with a smooth chuckle of her own. “Last day of October.”
“Darn, that’s so far away.” Silvie sighed. “And so infrequent! I was hoping for weekly.”
“I mean, we could just do a costume night,” Raev offered.
“Just pick a night of the week to wear sexy costumes?” Silvie asked.
Tinker made a concerned “Umm…” sound and Royce chuckled in the background, covering his microphone but not muting it. Royce wanted Boyd to hear him laugh, he just knew it.
“We are not having a mandatory costume night,” Boyd grumbled.
“Not mandatory, Darling,” Silvie assured him, as if he was the unreasonable one. “Just a night of the week that the ladies on the team agree to wear costumes. You would be encouraged to join us, of course. I know you are much too grumpy for that type of thing, though, so I won’t push.”
Boyd saw the trap and didn’t fall for it—he wasn’t that competitive.
Silvie continued in a much gentler tone, “Tinker, Sweetie, you know you don’t have to copy me and Raev. Wearing a costume will be optional, but there are plenty of sort-of-sexy options we can explore. Like your pajamas… those weren’t so bad, were they?”
“W-well… After… N-no. I-like-them,” Tinker stuttered but the comms allowed her to be heard clearly anyway.
“So, what do you say? Want to try a costume night?” Silvie continued brightly, her bubbly persona fully in the driver's seat. “Raev and I will be more than happy to help you pick something out that you are comfortable with, but that will still draw a certain someone's eye.”
“Ah… I think so, yes,” Tinker replied.
Boyd could practically hear the burning of her cheeks.
“Great! I know the new member will agree…” Silvie started.
“Just how much contact have you had with this new member?” Boyd cut in hard, a little of his frustration showing through. “You seem to know her pretty well.” His frustration was misplaced, and he knew it, but couldn’t help it in the moment.
The tension built as he prepared for a life-and-death struggle. Some of his frustration came from his jealousy that Silvie didn’t have to face such concerns—the claws couldn’t pierce her skin. The worst thing she’d encounter today was a wardrobe malfunction, which would probably upset Boyd more than her.
As he examined the thoughts that led to his words Boyd realized that there was a different kind of jealousy infused in them. The kind that came from possessiveness and, Boyd suspected, his Changed mind. It didn’t seem to like the fact that Silvie had so much knowledge about this unknown person.
“Several years, Darling,” Silvie replied a little sharply, but he sensed her concern across their Bond.
She continued more gently, “There’s no need to be jealous, Darling. Unlike Hopewing, we have only ever been friends with a shared interest. We fell out of touch for a bit, but got reacquainted once I started the interviews. She was my first pick after Hopewing.”
“When you say it like that, I feel like third string instead of second best,” Raev griped good-naturedly. She would rather laugh than fight.
“At least you weren’t wait-listed,” Boyd heard Tinker say under her breath. From the way she said it, Boyd was all but certain no one was meant to hear the sassy remark.
“Aww, come on you two,” Silvie whined before defending herself. “You can’t be mad at me, too! Raev, it wasn’t about who was second or third best. You were the top pick for the first two positions, which was all I thought I would get away with bringing in—at least for the first round. I just thought the order would have been different, that’s all.”
“I was just messing with you, babe.” Raev chuckled. “So was Tinker, she’s just starting to show that inner sassy queen I know is in there.”
“Good.” Silvie sighed. “Tinker, you were only wait-listed from the top two positions. I like you and want you on the team. Definitely a top five pick. Only the top twenty-five ever interviewed and only the top ten remember it because they are all hopefuls. The other fifteen have had their memories of me and Boyd completely scrubbed.
“I didn’t think I could add ten all at once or Boyd would freak out. I picked…” Silvie cut herself off before laughing. “Almost slipped up there… I picked Raev and the other to get Boyd in the right mindset so we could add others.”
Boyd couldn’t stop the snort that escaped.
“Now, none of that, Darling,” Silvie warned him. “Plus, Tinker, you were already in the city. I wanted Boyd to run into you. He’s always so careful not to offend and I wasn't sure if he really wouldn’t care about the height difference, or if he would just convince himself he wouldn’t.”
“Ah, no, I understand,” Tinker fumbled. “I don’t know about an inner ‘sassy queen’, but I was joking. Added a voice effect and everything, sorry it wasn’t clear.”
“Oh!” Silvie laughed. “No, Sweetie, it’s fine. I just haven’t seen this sassy queen side of you—yet. If Raev says it’s there, it probably is. Let it out. Everyone loves the right kind of sass.”
After a brief pause, Silvie asked somewhat uncertainly, “Darling, are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Boyd rumbled, not ready to apologize for the mostly appropriate, if ill-timed, outburst.
“Alright…?” Silvie added a questioning inflection to the word, giving Boyd a chance to add to his simple statement.
He stayed quiet.
“Well, back to costume night, then. When should we do it? Oh! Should we do themes or keep it freestyle? Or we could rotate through picking a theme, but keep the costumes freestyle, maybe?”
Boyd sighed. “I’m going to be testing the propulsion pack. Tinker, could you move me to a separate comms channel? I want to focus.”
He put action to words by leaping off the balcony and spreading his wings to glide away from the tower. The comms went blissfully quiet, and he only had the wind in his ears for a few blissful moments.
Royce’s gruff voice suddenly interrupted it. “I’m with ya, kid. You are one lucky fucking bastard, you know that?”
“Sure,” Boyd groused.
“Seriously, kid.” Boyd could almost hear Royce shaking his head to match his wry chuckle. “I’ve never seen a woman so set on getting her boyfriend laid by other women.”
“Um, part of me thinks some of it is more for her than for Boyd,” Tinker’s voice said.
Hearing her high-pitched tones surprised Boyd.
“Oh… uh… Hello, Tinker,” Royce said awkwardly.
“Hello. Sorry. I thought it would be a good idea to monitor the channel just in case Boyd needed me. I’m listening to the other channels, as well, but… oh, wait.” After a brief pause, she came back. “I don’t think I will need to say much there.”
“I believe you are correct,” Boyd grumbled. “Pretty sure Silvie is building herself a harem and I’m just the bait.”
“Umm, no. It’s not like that,” Tinker stated. “She is putting too much thought into the order of who joins and when, and so on. If it was just about surrounding herself with women, she would have just added a bunch all at once. It’s definitely for you.”
Tinker paused. “I think she just really likes the idea of being one of your women. I don’t know why that’s better than being your only woman, but I am certain it is.
“It was clear to me in the interview that she believes being in your harem is some kind of a higher calling. I thought maybe it was part of your Power, but she was like that before you ever used it on her. I saw the transcripts of her psych evaluations. They had a mind Powered check her to make sure you hadn’t done something to her head at one point and everything.”
“Huh,” Boyd said, gliding in lazy circles. He used the occasional flap of his large wings to maintain altitude. That information was news to him. “Do you know when it started?”
“Uh, not sure I should say,” Tinker responded, a little awkwardly. “Then again, it sort of only seems fair… given the situation she’s put you in. Oh, wait a moment…”
After a few seconds, Tinker came back on. “Okay, they are sounding the emergency get-to-ground alarms.” On cue, Boyd heard the automated message start to echo up from the streets below.
This high up, the message wasn’t clear, but Boyd knew it would be a Code Yellow. Which meant go to ground—either get to a shelter or as deep into a building as you could. There had likely been messages on every civilian and public view screen, too, since The Authority became aware of the situation. This was the twenty-minute wake-the-dead alarm for those who hadn’t been paying attention.
