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“Quiet tonight.”
Gem’s comment felt innocuous to her, a statement of fact. It had been quiet tonight. There hadn’t been any noteworthy fights between gangs, and what little there had been their patrol had generally been able to talk them down. The advantage of being superpower’ed law enforcement was that very few were willing to tangle with them.
Pearl immediately turned around and smacked her upside the head, “Do not! Say! The q-word!”
Gem rubbed the side of her head. It hadn’t really hurt, but it had been startling, “All right, okay, okay, calm down. What’s so bad about…?”
Pearl held up one finger, silencing her. She pressed her hand to her earpiece, “Go ahead… Roger that… Eyes on the Braxton memorial office building… Affirmative, over and out.”
Pearl turned to them, looking irritated, “Well, Fae, now we have gang activity on the roof of the Braxton office building. Which is why…” Pearl almost seemed amused by Gem’s ignorance, “We don’t ever say the q-word.”
Gem blinked, then nodded, “Duly noted. How do we get up there? It’ll be locked at this time of night.”
Pearl shrugged, “Well, we have keys, but it’s not like we need them.” Pearl fluffed her wings up behind her.
“Hate to tell you Eclipse, but you would be the only one who can fly, and you can’t fight a gang on your own.”
“Not necessarily, it’s very humid tonight, I could probably use my ice powers to climb the walls.”
Gem turned to Scott, who was already triggering his boots to extend their bottoms into ice skates, “Got an extra pair of those?”
“Have you never done this before?” Pearl’s head was tilted, looking confused.
“This? Flying? Ice skating? I can ice skate quite well, thank you, but I lack actual ice skates. And ice.”
“No, going up to roofs quickly,” Pearl blinked, then shrugged, “No matter, first time for everything. I can carry you.”
Gem blinked, “What?”
Pearl shrugged, “Scott and I can both get up there on our own, and I can take someone with me. It makes sense.”
“I mean, maybe, but…” Gem hesitated briefly, “I might be afraid of heights.”
“Oh! Oh, I didn’t think of that, okay…” Pearl’s eyebrows furrowed briefly, “Riptide and I are pretty powerful, we can take them on our own while you go up the stairs to join us, if we end up needing you.”
Gem felt a flare of indignation in her chest, “Well, no! I’m not leaving you to fight alone!”
“Okay, well I don’t think there’s a magical third option. They’ll expect all three of us to go up the stairs, and frankly it’s a bit absurd when I can fly,” Pearl flared her wings for effect, “I’m not going to force you, it can be a little jarring for an avian to carry you, especially the first time, and we can work on those fears in a less pressured situation. We’ll be fine.”
“I am not a coward, Eclipse! Fine, carry me up, I’ll join you.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, yeah. Go ahead.”
Pearl still looked hesitant, “All right, if you’re sure. I’ll fly up, grab your hands, and carry you to the top of the building. It’ll be a little jerky, but I have it under control. I might be able to put you down gently on top, but we are flying right into a fight so I might have to drop you down a few feet.”
Gem was feeling less and less confident by the minute, but she kept a straight face, “All right, let’s go.”
“So, do you think we still have the element of surprise, or…?With our very subtle brightly colored suits and all.” Scott’s comment dripped with sarcasm. Gem flipped him off, causing him to laugh.
“All right, let’s go,” Pearl took a moment to glance over at Gem, “Don’t be scared. I’ve done this before. Hands up!”
Pearl lifted off with a leap and a powerful beat of her wings as Scott began to scale a newly formed ice formation. Gem put her hands up, trying to squash down the sick feeling in her stomach. Pearl’s hands slipped into her own, and then her feet left the ground with a sickening lurch.
Pearl had been right, it was incredibly jerky. She dipped up and down with Pearl’s wingbeats, which thundered around her head. She occasionally felt the flick of a wingtip brushing her.
It took only a few seconds to reach the top of the building, but it felt like time stretched on and on.
Then, Pearl cried out, “Woah!” And jolted sideways, leaving Gem’s stomach somewhere behind her. Suddenly, there was a loud bang and Gem’s eyes flew open. They have a gun.
Admittedly, every suit in the force had been enhanced with extensive bulletproofing, even for those who didn’t fight often. But it would still hurt like hell, and all flighted hybrids had their wings completely exposed, not to mention the threat to civilians.
Gem hit the roof hard as Pearl landed beside her. Gem looked around to see Scott land beside both of them, looking irritated. He sent a blast of ice around the AC unit they were hiding behind.
Gem turned to Pearl immediately, “Are you all right?”
Pearl nodded, wings tucked tightly behind her, “Yeah, they missed. Now the question is, what do we do here?”
Scott snorted, “Call for help? I’m not particularly interested in fighting them all at once.”
“How many guns do they have?” Gem cut in, voice sharp.
“Only one, as far as I saw.”
“Couldn’t Riptide just blast them? Or can you use your glamour?”
“My glamour isn’t consistent enough. Riptide, what do you think about using your ice magic?”
Scott shrugged, “Maybe… we should probably just wait and call for help. We don’t know for sure how many guns they have. Hotguy’s nearby, he’s awesome with his bow.”
Gem groaned, “I mean,” she sighed grumpily, “I guess that is technically smarter. Fine.”
Pearl grinned, “I’ll message. For now, all we can do is wait.”