2.14.2 – Return to Junker

2.0 - Edited by: Rellawing, AlliterativeArts - 2/1/2021

Leona spread her wings wide as she sailed through the air and started cooling down after the most intense fight she’d ever experienced. Sighing, she kept her breathing slow and measured.

Just as she was getting a better grip the sound of a blaring klaxxon startled Aurora from her in-flight meditation. Turning her head, she noted that several dirigibles had closed on her position. They were smaller types, very much like the one Blue Max’s gang used for its heists. Blinking her eyes, Aurora smiled as she recognized that they weren’t her enemy. The logos of local news were painted on the balloons of the vehicles. The news! It’d be great to give them an interview, but they’ll probably fight over me. Aurora giggled softly.

There was something on her mind after that fight more important than her media image anyway.

Sarah.

She sighed, resigning herself to the necessity of blowing them off today. Leona flitted higher and careened in a wide arc, making sure to give them winks, smiles and waves as she looped around to head toward the northwest, in the direction of the bay outside Seaside City. It wouldn’t be good if they managed to follow her. She didn’t want to be interrupted in the middle of what she was about to do.

Slowing and angling upwards into a gentle climb, she closed her eyes and soaked up some sunlight, allowing herself to bask in a feeling she was all too familiar with. It was a ‘runner’s high.’

Drinking in her fill for the moment, she banked to the side and swept down towards the bay. She intended to dip her hand into the water and trail it, but as her wing unintentionally touched the water; the cool sensation sent a ticklish shiver up her spine. She pitched up, letting the droplets slide off, creating a light rainbow effect until she leveled off.

Aurora barrel-rolled and flew upside down to scan the skies for the news aircraft. She was pleased to note that her flight-speed was indeed beyond what the news could manage. Being reassured, she moved on, but despite having refuelled her powers, her eyes were growing a little drowsy.

Crossing the bay, she reached Seaside City and drove upwards towards the lofty tops of its glassy skyscrapers. Darting between the buildings, she felt a thrill but her exhaustion was catching up with her regardless so she decided to climb higher. Once high above the skyline, she was able to scan around and spot a rare and lovely oasis built on one of the roofs, a comfy-looking private rooftop garden. It was deserted so she set down without any hesitation.

Yawning, she searched for a cozy spot to nap and spotted a marble bench. It looked warm and basked in the sunlight while the rest of the garden enjoyed the breezes of the lofty elevation.

Aurora walked to it and stretched herself, finding a comfy position as she closed her eyes and quickly drifted off to sleep. After what must have been a good while, she woke when her phone vibrated between her breasts. She blushed and stretched her muscles as she sleepily answered.

“Hey you!” Quinn’s voice came across the line.

“Mmmnnn… yeah?” Aurora yawned again.

“Tch… you were sleeping out there somewhere, werentcha? Since when do supers need naps?” Quinn decried, “Slacker!”

Aurora grinned and flexed her wings. “Oh… I was just in a tough fight… if you were there, you’d understand.”

Unable to keep it in, she yawned again. “After all, I fought my first ‘technical’ supervillain.” She smiled excitedly as she stared up at the fluffy clouds skidding across the sky. “I kid you not, Quinn, an honest to goodness Powered Armor guy going literally ballistic and doing all the super villainous banter…” She swooned and her smile spread into a silly grin. “I guess superheroes really do attract the weird ones.”

“Was it like in the comics?” Quinn asked.

“Not quite, but pretty close. He was all like, ‘I’ll get you next time’!” Deepening her voice into faux-masculinity, she couldn’t help but snicker.

Or was this new grudge just her own whimsical thinking? Nah, he probably was thinking that the whole time.

“Anyhow, he didn’t know my superhero name. Not like many do… but then, Kirby said it so he can curse my name if he remembers it.” Leona stuck out her tongue, holding her phone to her ear.

“You’re not exactly a household name yet, you know! That dude might not bother to remember your name!” Quinn laughed.

“Nah… he got burned bad. Well, not literally thankfully, but… yeah… first rogue in my gallery. They even rounded up the rest of his gang so I wonder how they’ll manage to break out again, if at all. Well, a few lucky ones did manage to run with their tails between their legs.” She remembered the silly guy she first found in their junkyard shed. His hairbrained ploy seemed to have actually paid off as she’d totally lost track of him in the chaos.

“Anyways, after that fight I was a little drained and achy so I took a little power nap, haha. Seemed like it was a great idea. Especially being in my super form, I think I can soak up the sun and recover faster. I don’t think I’ll ever need to be afraid of getting sunburned again. Not unless I flew through space directly into the sun.”

“Don’t do that please.” Quinn replied seriously. “So what now?”

“Well, I’m going to go see Sarah now.”

“Is that one of your powers then? Power-naps, really? How lame.” Quinn chuckled. “Okay, I won’t waylay you anymore, but hey, when are you going to get rich and build a secret escape tunnel out of here?”

“Mmmm.. heckifiknow how to get rich. Rich superheroes are generally rich to begin with and then they pour it into their careers. I don’t have that kinda money, you know.” Aurora shrugged and tilted her head. “I could probably dig a tunnel by myself with my powers actually, but It’d be one heck of a project, and I’d have to be careful not to hit any of the city lines or water pipes or anything else… That's assuming I did anything like that.”

“Yeah, yeah. Rent yourself out as to a light show or to the church sometime and I’m sure you’ll be rolling in the benjamins in no time. Anyway, get going, you don’t want to waste any more daylight, right?”

Leona smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I’m not sure it’s as much of an issue as I’d been afraid of, but I’ll still be careful.” Leona hopped up and down to warm up. “See you later then, sis.”

She hung up and tapped her map application to open the saved locations folder and plotted a course to Junker. Zooming off into the northward skys, she climbed higher and higher to the point where no one who wasn’t in an airplane would spot her and the city was barely visible behind her. She wouldn’t have been able to really see anything if those towers weren’t so shiny day or night.

Ascending even higher than that, far higher in the sky than she’d ever thought herself capable of, she zipped around and through clouds on the way, making a game of it; punching holes through and creating little shapes in them along the way.

The phone beeped abruptly, far faster than she’d expected given how long the trip had taken by car. She’d apparently overshot her destination.

Angling back she shot towards the camp again. Lowering her altitude for a better view, it was pure serendipity that she saw someone she was sure was Sarah in the yard picking berries from some bushes.

Aurora thought about it and quickly dove down next to Sarah. “Hello there! Before you freak out, my name is Aurora. I’m the cities’ new superhero. You happened to buy some of my down for a friend at a certain convention recently.” She tossed a wink at the thoroughly stunned Sarah. “Anyhow, for various related reasons, I was wondering if you’d like to take a flight with me?” Claiming the down was hers wasn’t a lie per se. Actually, given the way that she’d gained her powers it was pretty accurate now... not that Sarah was likely to know about her or have seen her throwing light blasts in the news footage yet.

Sarah gasped as the winged being finished introducing herself. “Ah… aren’t you an angel?” To her, she could only marvel at what looked every bit like one of God’s messengers.

Aurora’s arrival hadn’t gone unnoticed as the other campers who looked over towards her; some fearful, others gleeful, others just remained stock still. Aurora looked back to Sarah and saw her blushing as she looked up at her. She was completely star-struck.

“I suppose there’s a possibility of that, but I don’t know anything more about God nor other gods than you yourself do.” Aurora smiled. “I think my race is not of this earth, and I think our appearance resembles what’s become the model of angels. That could be more than coincidence, but who could really say.” She moved on quickly to remind Sarah of her question. “So, will you come fly with me, Sarah?”

“I… I’m not sure if I can. I’m supposed to stay here,” she said, looking around at the others. “Th-there may be something wrong with me they’re fixing,” she said sheepishly, looking down towards Aurora’s feet while shuffling her own.

Aurora sighed and gently smiled. Of course she was normally a well-behaved girl, except right now Aurora was challenging her to make her own choice and rebel a little.

Right as she was preparing to take wing again, Sarah spoke again. “If it isn’t for too long…” Sarah gulped and looked back up at Aurora. “If it’s important, I can leave for a little while, but I have to come back right away,” Sarah stated, relaxing a little.

Aurora was pretty sure if they stayed much longer the commotion would soon lead one of the counselors over and that probably wasn’t a conversation that would go well.

“I won’t keep you,” she said loudly. She looked to the other campers to make sure they heard so they could vouch for them. “I will be bringing her back soon. Let your counselors know that a superhero who owes this girl a favor has taken her for a promised flight.” With that, she wrapped her arms around Sarah, letting her field surround her. Spreading her wings, she took off right away, gaining altitude rapidly. She hugged Sarah just to embrace her as much as to keep her safe and secure. It was wonderful to see her again!

As they went higher and higher Sarah gasped and hugged back, her face pressing against Aurora’s breasts.

After a moment, Sarah leaned her neck back and avoided Aurora’s fond gaze. “Ah, can you not hug me so tight?” she timidly requested.

Aurora smiled at her. “I don’t want you to fall, Sarah. Not that it would happen regardless, but don’t tempt fate and get too squirmy.” She grinned at her and changed the subject. “That food in the camp must be pretty dull… isn’t that right?”

“Yeah… it’s pretty bad.” Sarah giggled nervously.

“Then you're in luck. Aurora Air offers free ferrying service to nice nearby restaurants. I’ll spoil you for this brief time.” She smiled warmly at Sarah, so happy to be by her side again and couldn’t help hugging her again. “We’ll have you back quick enough afterwards, but I did want to have a little talk with you.”

Sarah returned the smile and laughed. “Um… w-what’s this about?” she asked, “you kind of flew down out of nowhere and… want to take me to dinner? It sounds kind of… unusual.”

“Doesn’t it though?” Leona giggled. “It’s not every day you get picked up by a superhero. What this is about is you. As you’ve gathered already, I’m sure, I have a special relationship with Leona. You are very important to her and because of that you are just as important to me. Does that make a little sense?”

“Um… are you related to Leona?” Sarah asked as she turned and finally saw the world spreading below. Her breath caught. “Oh, oh wow! This is amazing! Aurora, right?” Sarah smiled more genuinely and less nervous. She turned back to Aurora. “Um, I’m sorry, I got distracted. If you want to talk, maybe we should touch down somewhere…?”

“Enjoy the ride first. You never know what might happen. I want this to be a special memory for you. Take in the scenery. It’s a special show just for you.” Aurora replied with a twinkle in her eyes. “If I remember what I saw on the map app right, there should be a little steakhouse around here somewhere. That should make for a decent meal, assuming you want something like that.”

Sarah smiled and drooled. “Are you sure you want to waste your money on me?”

“It’s fine.” Aurora laughed and flitted through the clouds, delighted by Sarah’s response. It was wonderful to experience this with the girl who’d captured her heart.

“This is really fun, but we should hurry.” Sarah sighed. “We’re not allowed to ever leave the grounds while we’re at the camp…” Sarah reminded Aurora, who nodded a little sadly in response.

“My bad.” She laughed and spiraled down towards the town. Descending to the ground quickly to not be spotted, she landed and took cover near their destination. As Aurora had hoped, the steakhouse didn’t seem to be busy at this time of day. The place had more on offer than a cheap burger stand and having fewer people around made for more intimate company.

Being let go, Sarah returned Aurora’s smile but shook her head. “It’s a nice idea and I do like it, but I don’t really need this. We really should go back quickly.”

“I know you have to go back, but you still haven’t had your meal. Anyhow, I know they’ll be pretty upset. Your meeting a pretty superhero will set them back years, haha.” Aurora laughed.

“Do this for me… go in and get us a table for two. When I come in, I’ll look a bit different so don’t freak out. I won't have my wings, but you’ll recognize me. Just don’t be surprised when I sit by you. I can change how I look just like that.” She snapped her fingers and winked.

“And remember, you’re not from that camp right now, not anywhere near it.” Aurora grinned.

“Um… okay….” Sarah looked around secretively, almost as though she expected everything in the world to be eyeing them suspiciously, before heading in.

Giving Sarah a couple minutes worth of a head start, Aurora used her powers to change her appearance. To fit in, she switched to a country day dress she’d seen in a catalog and made her hair an earthy brown. As she morphed her clothing, she paid special attention to shifting her wallet into the pocket in her new skirt. Satisfied with her appearance, she walked over to the building and inside.