Look Out Below!! (Skydancer)

It was supposed to be an easy trip but this souvenir hunt for Rebecca’s parents was proving to be far more problematic than she could have ever assumed. Suddenly she was now trying to find which of the many statue of liberty mini statues were A) cheapest and B) didn’t look cheapest! It was proving to be far more difficult than she ever could have imagined. But Agnes decided to press on. After all, she was not going to allow herself to be defeated in this endeavor. She saw a clear picture in her head of what she wanted to find, she just needed to not give up and to keep trying to figure it out.

She rounded a corner and decided to check another shop. Oh! This one had pretty snow globes. They were plastic but they were very pretty nonetheless! She hummed to herself, her wings fluttering curiously whenever she spotted something that interested her. Just as she knelt down to pick out an item to check out, some cleared their throat next to her.

“Ahem, excuse me?”

Agnes straightened up and spied that she was blocking the way of a pair of men trying to carrying a large piece of trash into the alley. The young runaway quickly uttered her apology and slipped out of the way, accidentally moving herself into the alley in order to both give them room and to avoid standing in the middle of the busy sidewalk.

As the men offered their thanks (and apologies for inconveniencing her), Agnes simply smiled and nodded as she made sure she was out of their way. But, just as she was about to return to looking at the pretty snow globes…the sky fell…

Agnes had ready the story “Chicken Little” but she had never thought much of it. After all, who would be silly enough to think that the sky was actually falling on their heads? That was lunacy! But in that fraction of a second, in that moment when she held a heavy object collide with her from above, Agnes could have sworn that, indeed, the sky was falling.

She collapsed into a heap, momentarily blacking out as the pain that shot through her radiated out into every part of her body. She felt the cool, rough touch of the concrete, and the heavy weight of something upon her back, even one of her wings was jutted out into an awkward angle and kept fluttering as she tried to recognize what had happened it to her. A crowd started to gather (she could head the footsteps), and her breathing was growing far more labored that she would have liked.

Agnes Nicholas, groaned as she tried to move, tried to rid herself of the fallen sky that had pinned her so effectively to the ground, so that she could announce that, indeed, the sky was falling…the sky was falling…

Agnes…hurt. Whatever had fallen on her had been pretty big, at least the size of a human. Come of think of it, it felt pretty human too. Had someone actually fallen on her?! Agnes struggled to move, as she could see and hear the sounds of the coming pedestrians. Really she did not want to stick around for any Q & A but whatever had fallen on her was not moving, or even uttered an apology! So Agnes wiggled a little more (making soreness rip throughout her body) as he tried to move out from underneath this person.

It only took a couple of seconds though before it seemed that this person finally grasped what they had done. Suddenly the weight was lifted and Agnes breathed in a sigh of relief.

“Ooowwww…” she groaned.

>> "Oh no, I'm so sorry I wasn't paying enough attention and I fell. Oh dear, are you ok? Is anything broken? Can I help?"

“Just…every bone in my body,” she mumbled.

Though Agnes was surprisingly not in that much pain, she really did feel sore. Slowly she moved herself into a sitting position. Her wings, slightly crumpled, fluttered a bit and attempted to straighten themselves out. Those were probably the most sore since they could indeed be sensitive. But they didn’t feel completely broken. But she obviously was not able to tell right now. She was going to have wait until she straightened up and tried to flex her wings some.

Unfortunately, before she could attempt this, she noticed the ring of people that had surrounded them. A glance up and the shy runaway blinked as she noticed the various expressions that flashed across their faces. Many were curious, some were concerned, but it was obvious that a couple of them were a little disgusted by the sight of the mutant. At least that is what she assumed when she heard the word “muties” being uttered.

Wait…plural? She blinked as she turned and—

Wow…that’s really purple… she thought to herself.

>> "Um, I'm really sorry but I'm not sure this is the best place for us right now. Can you walk?"

“Um…yeah, I-I think so,” she said as she slowly moved onto her feet amidst groans and winces.

Luckily nothing felt broken except for her pride. Once she straightened up, though she finally understood the full extent of this woman’s mutation. The purple skin was only one part of it, the rest were the various tubes that were extending out from her body in a loose circle. That certainly was quite interesting. She blinked, though she glanced around at the group of people. Many started to wander away once it was proven that both girls were fine, but others were still narrowing their eyes at them in a rather threatening away. As if it was their fault that they didn’t break their necks or something and make two less mutants in the world.

Agnes nodded through as she took a step away from the crowd, noticing the gap that two old women had left when they wandered off. The runaway took the woman by the arm and motioned to the gap and to the open sidewalk beyond it.

“I think you are right, maybe we should go,” she implored.

>> “I hope those wings of yours offer some sort of defence,"

Agnes really did not like the sound of that. Her world was switching out simply too fast around her. First she was simply walking along, trying to get out of the way of some movers, then someone falls on her, and now a crowd is gathered, with many people who look like they wanted nothing more than to drive her into the ground and kill her! It was simply not right! Hadn’t she been through enough in the past two minutes? But apparently the answer to that was no because, as Agnes tried to make her way towards the opening that she had seen, it was quickly covered up by more bodies.

Slurs like “mutie” were being shot at both she and the young purple woman again and that was immediately beginning to rise Agnes’ dander. The two of them had done absolutely nothing to warrant this discrimination but apparently just having a physical mutation was enough to target them.

Her wings fluttered angrily as she tried to keep herself under control. The last thing she wanted was to unleash her swarm upon a bunch of close-minded, unsuspecting people. But then she saw it, the coffee cup that went soaring through the air. Agnes maneuvered away and watched as it sailed over the other woman’s shoulder. It felt harmlessly to the ground but spilled it contents as well.

Was that coffee hot? Did someone really just try to scald the poor woman when she did absolutely nothing wrong? Agnes narrowed her eyes as that familiar buzzing began to start up in her chest again.

Agnes kept herself next to the young as she tried to eye for some place of escape. She insects could certainly cause enough of a distraction if they needed it.

“Damn it, get out of here!” she suddenly called out to the gather people. “Just leave us alone!”

“No muties!”

“Mutant go home!”

Agnes eyes went wide. She could feel the flies crawling up her throat but before she could release any, she saw the first sign that this was descending to a bad level; a glass bottle was thrown directly at them…

>> "We never hurt any of you so why do you all insist on spewing such hateful filth from your mouths?"

Agnes had to applaud her fellow mutant for trying to bring some reason to this madness but Agnes knew just how hopeless it was. After all, it was like trying to shout at a wildfire for an explanation. A single person could, conceivably be reasoned with, but when one wild person stirred up the flames amongst an entire group, the fire was very quick to spread and encompass everyone involved. It was easy to see that there was not going to be any reasoning with this motley crew gathered.

The fire was started and the flames had already spread to absolutely everyone. They were not going to be able to calm this with talk.

That was further prove when the bottled smashed against the other woman’s arm. Agnes squeaked a bit I surprise…then grew angry once she saw the wide-eyed look in her eyes. It was obvious that the both of them had had absolutely enough of this whole situation.

>> "I don't like this."

“Neither do I,”n Agnes responded.

It was getting harder to talk because the swarm was beginning to grow restless. She could feel the crawling, the itchiness instead her body. They wanted to come out, they wanted to protect their queen. So stressed was she that her wings were inadvertently fluttering with a deafening buzz to the point that she was nearly lifted off of her feet. But Agnes stayed on the ground. She was not going to leave this young mutant to this crowd, especially since she could not carry her away. So Agnes remained still, body arched in a more defensive posture as the buzzing from her chest grew even louder.

The circle around them began to close in. Despite the appearance of tubes from around the purple girl, only a few were taken aback to stand down. The rest though, they were indeed stupid enough to continue pressing in closer. Eyes filled with malice, mouth twisted into dark grimaces, the angry crowd, with blood pumping full of anti-mutant resentment, closed in.

It was only when that got too close for comfort that Agnes finally stood in front of the purple girl.

“Stay behind me,” she managed to say.

Then, mouth opened wide, Agnes gasped as suddenly a black and yellow cloud erupted from between her lips. Though this cloud looking like a malevolent mist, it in fact, was a living, undulating mass of wasps and black flies that buzzed around dangerously. Onto the ground fell a mass of thick roaches and skittered and ran around her feet defensively while the cloud itself hovered dangerously in the air. The sight was enough to make the mob stop and take notice, but they took notice a second too late as the insects descended onto the nearest man with a look of hatred in his eyes.

Any threats to the queen would surely pay…

Agnes gasped as the last of her swarm made their exit. The buzzing caused such a loud cacophony that the young insect queen could scarcely hear anything else being said. The hate filled words from the audience was drowned out but anything that her purple skinned companion were completely filtered out as well. All Agnes could hear was the sound of her swarm buzzing protectively around her, ready to defend against absolutely anything. It was safe and comfortable there and probably one of the very few times when Agnes felt truly and utterly secure.

The cloud hung above her head, buzzing and undulating in the air as the insects swayed back and forth before descending on the nearest people that seemed to be the cause of Agnes’ danger. People were buffeted, stung, causing them to screech and shout as they tried to bat at the air and knock the offending insects away. But it was like swatting at the rain; a vengeful, angry rain that was not going to back down…

Agnes wings fluttered fiercely as she glared out between all the people, trying to will another person to take a step towards her. She was certainly not in the mood for this and would defend herself if she had to. But just as she watched people, a suddenly movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention.

She glanced over and watched in shock as suddenly a pair of tentacles flew out. They were indeed dangerous looking and, while Agnes despised the people that threatened them, she didn’t want them dead. Thankfully, though, it seemed as if the woman shared this same sentiment and instead of killing her attackers, had simply lashed around them in such a way to send them sprawling off to the sides.

The fallen people provided a brief opening, one that she was definitely going to take advantage of. As they were scattered about, either from being knocked over by the flung bodies, or they were screaming from being attacked by insects, it was enough of an opening for both Agnes and her sister-in-arms. Gently she began to make her way towards the opening, ignoring the shouts of the people and their angry calls.

“Come on,” Agnes said urgently as she tried to make her way towards the opening. “Let’s get out of here before these people do something stu—“

A hand suddenly, and painfully, grasped onto her wrist as she reached the opening. She whipped around to see that same angry looking man that had hurled the bottle as he gripped her, trying to prevent her escape. Apparently he was not ready to let this little encounter go.

The runaway snapped. Eyes wide a little in fear and anger, suddenly she opened her mouth and screech in a unholy, primordial way that was enough to shaken the resolve of the strongest man. Even the person who was gripping her hesitated for half-a-second, and it was a move that would cost him. Suddenly the flies that were beginning to hover aimlessly all seemed to snap to attention at the exact same time. The cloud then began to descend and buffet against her attacker, also drawing the attention of several other flies from the nearby alleys and sewer grates.

The man would have screamed but with flies crawling through his ears and nostrils, it was hard for him to open his mouth to do so. Meanwhile Agnes struggled to pull herself free but in his panic, he grip only held her stronger…

Agnes was pissed. The man gripped her arm extremely tight and even though she had unleashed a swarm into his face, the man only screamed, shouted, and held her tighter. The runaway, struggling, slapped and hit his hand but it was to no avail. He was so caught off guard by her swarm, so distracted that he clutched onto her; not out of hatred, but more out of panic since it was apparent that he really did not know what else to do. He was clinging onto her probably because he didn’t exactly realize that she was still the same girl with the insect wings that he had assaulted.

But he would not have long to think about it. Suddenly another movement pulled Agnes attention away; she watched as a purple tentacle zipped our and lashed itself around the man’s offending wrist. The sounds of bones snapping and cracking filled Agnes’ ears as tentacles squeezed and shattered bone. She blinked in surprise as those once tight fingers turned into jelly wrapped around her arm.

A quick jerk and she pulled her arm away, sending the man sprawling down onto his back as the cloud of vengeful insects descended upon him. At that point the runaway did her best to calm them, to urge them away with every thought that she could muster. But before she could get the words out, she heard the urgings from her companion.

>> "I think it’s time we left."

Agnes paused…and then nodded. The woman was right. They needed to get out of here. Maybe, while they removed themselves from the situation, her insects would flee as well, seeking to keep protecting her and leave their victims to nurse their wounds. She hoped so since the last thing that she wanted was to actually have someone’s death on her hands.

Barely two steps away and suddenly Agnes heard the THUNK! of something solid striking flesh. She turned and noticed that the woman was partially dazed and held her head; she then accidentally kicked the rock that had been thrown and made the connection. Her anger flared up and instantly her insects began to buzz all the more dangerously, but she did her best to hold it in as she gripped the young woman’s hand and began to pull her away from the confrontation.

“Ohmygod! Are you…?” she swallowed her fear and shook her head. They needed to move and now. “Come on, most are gone! Let’s go,” she pleaded as she pulled gently on the woman’s hand. “Enough people are hurt and they are not worth it! They’re not!” she whispered harshly and pulled at the woman’s hand again before she broke into a run.