The wings were finally going to get some action.

Dylan and I were sitting in a booth at the café across the street from the Thaddeus corps. Building. The skyscraper was built with dark grey stone that was polished, almost making the walls a perfect mirror that reflected the busy street outside. Golden numbers were painted on each floor, a 1 above the double doors that led inside, a 2 between the windows on the next floor, and so on, probably to brag about how tall it was.

Dylan leaned to the side so he could see more of the tower through the window. "You see the second to last floor?"

I also leaned to get a better look. "Yeah, I see it." Thankfully it wasn't a hazy day like we could get in the summer.

"On the opposite side of the building, fifth window from the right, is the window my dad fell from. I'm not sure if they've re-installed an alarm for it yet."

"And why are you telling me this?" I asked.

"I want you to go up there and find out what happened to my dad. Somebody broke into that room for a reason."

"I'd rather do the four hours of homework I was given today."

"I thought I'd never hear you say that."

"Me neither," I admitted. "But don't the guards in there have guns? I don't want to be killed."

"You're a kid. Why would they hurt you?"

"Because I'm a super-hero breaking and entering into a top-secret government building?"

Dylan didn't look like he had any sympathy. "I lost an eye-"

"How many times are you going to throw that at me? It's getting old."

Dylan frowned. "You asked me to help you become a super-hero. Now I offer you a job for a super-hero, but you're too cowardly to do super-hero things."

"You just said super-hero a lot."

"That isn't the point." Dylan leaned forward across the table. "The point is, you're a chicken."

I hesitated. "Fine! I'll do it. But you need to stop throwing that at me, too."

Dylan smiled, then ducked under the table.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I've got your special jacket in my backpack," Dylan answered. He sat back up and handed it to me.

"I'm still not really sure about this." I said.

Dylan shrugged. "You'll be fine. Trust me."

Dylan was not to be trusted.

I was balancing on a window sill barely wide enough to fit my heels, trying to find a place to hold on to when there was nothing but smooth stone. My wings just took up more space.

Slowly, I crouched down so I could look through the window. A man sat at a fancy wooden desk, facing away from me. He was working on a desktop computer, surrounded by paper files.

Next I examined the window. It was shut tight and locked.

I reached inside my jean pockets, just to see what I could find in there. An eraser. How helpful.

I turned it over in my hand as I tried form a plan.  An idea popped into my head.

I flew up to the next floor and managed to position myself above the window. I lowered my hand and then tossed the eraser against the window. It hit the target with a dull thunk and then bounced off, tumbling below out of sight. I quickly pulled my hand up and held my breath.

The window below opened and the man's head emerged. He looked down below and then side to side. All he had to do was look up and I was done for.

The man grumbled something and ducked back inside, but before he could close the window I dropped down and flew through the window.

I wasn't sure what the man's reaction would be when he saw me, but I guess screaming made sense.

I instinctively slapped my and over his mouth, making him go silent. We stood there awkwardly for a few seconds because that was as far as my plan had been thought out.

"Be quiet, ok?" I whispered. "We don't want anything bad to happen."

The man nodded and I removed my hand.

"Tell me about the day the guard fell through this window," I told him.

The man shrugged. "I-I don't know, he just fell through. It's a horrible thing, really."

"I think you're lying."

"Kid, why are you even getting mixed up in this? Go home and play video games or something. Not every person with powers in this crazy city has to run around acting heroic."

"I have my reasons for doing this. Tell me now."

The man hesitated. "We have facilities where we build explosives, and then we have facilities where we test them. I'm in charge of scheduling the transportation between those facilities."

"Do the explosives pass through the city?"

"Very briefly, yes. We have a deal with some supers who check the bombs over and they refuse to step outside the city border."

"Did someone break in here to figure out the schedules?"

The man rubbed his hands together and closed his mouth tight, looking down at the floor.

Could I threaten him? I didn't really want to, and I wasn't sure if I would succeed.

The man's eyes lit up. "There was a man who came. I think he could speak to computers or something because he just tapped my computer and instantly hacked it. One of the guards ran in here and did quite a lot of wrestling with the hacker but t in the end got shoved through the window. The hacker then escaped. There was this girl who could turn to smoke so we couldn't hit them. He left this in my room, here." He pulled a business card out of his pocket and handed it to me.

I looked at it closely. Simple, deep purple lettering read "William Prescott, head of scheduling at Thaddeus Corps, located in Dynacaries"

"Wouldn't this be your business card?" I asked, very confused.

I heard a slam behind me. The man, apparently William, had just closed the window.

"Guards! Security! Another Super-hero just broke in!" William screamed.

It was a trap.

"Great to know I could trust you!" I snapped. I didn't wait for his reaction.

I shoved open the only door in the office, revealing a narrow hallway stretching in both directions, with even more doors. A guard was already in the doorway. I threw as much of my weight on him and thankfully he wasn't suspecting it, causing him to stagger backwards into the wall.

I darted left down the hallway. I needed to find the stairwell. I could go up to the roof and jump.

I turned the corner and almost bumped into a guard. There were about ten more following him.

I became very aware that they all had guns pointed in my direction. I turned to dash back down the hallway the way I had come, but the guard I shoved before was back on his feet. How did they surround me so fast?

I raised my hands above my head and positioned myself so I could see all of them. Nobody lowered their guns.

"Listen, I'm sorry I caused a disturbance. How about we leave in peace and forget this ever happened?"

A lady in the front of the group answered. "Nope. You know too much now. We have to kill you."

Oh, so not only was it a governmental program, it was a shady governmental program. How fun. I raised my hands a little higher. The chances of them letting me go had been slim anyways.

But I'm just a kid," I said. Maybe I could buy some time and they'd all fall asleep or something.

"A kid with super powers, obviously," The lady said, aiming her gun at my wings for a moment.

Twelve guns. I wish I knew more about guns but I was hopeless on the subject. All I knew was these guards would kill children, and judging by the looks some of them were giving me, would also eat them for breakfast.

"Those wings, do they come off?" Another guard asked. The girl who had been speaking before glared at him like he wasn't supposed to talk.

A wide smile spread across my face as an idea formed in my mind. "You want to see the wings come off?"

I released my wings and they morphed into birds, filling up the closed space. I took off in the brief moment of confusion. The guards were firing at the birds. I felt sorry for the little guys.

Then someone tried to shoot me. Thankfully, I had turned the corner and didn't get hit, but I wasn't going to pause to see how close it had been.

I threw open the door to the stairwell and raced up the stairs two at a time. I tried to do three, but I tripped.

I heard the door below open and the guards start racing up. I reached the door to the roof and opened it as the guards came into sight. I slammed the door shut, then raced to the edge of the roof and paused to summon my wings.

The door crashed open and guards spilled out. I leapt from the edge as someone fired.

Pain shot through my left thigh. For a moment it was all I could think of. I gritted my teeth and forced myself to focus. I balanced my wings and sailed away.

I couldn't believe I was still alive. Very much in agony, but still alive. I was almost to the ground. How would I land with my leg the way it was?"

I heard another shot from the top of the building. Impact slammed into my right wing, offsetting my balance. I spiraled into the side of a building, knocking the breath from my lungs, and tumbled into an alleyway. I managed to angle myself to fall into a dumpster.

Stink and trash billowed up around me. I would have been screaming if I had any breath, but the crash into the dumpster had knocked it out a second time, as well as cause a lot more pain.  I didn't even think about moving. The pain was too overwhelming and I couldn't see straight.

I faintly registered footsteps coming towards me. A homeless man coming to mug me? How fortunate.

Dylan's head appeared above me. "Bro! I'm so so sorry. Are you ok?"

"I hate you," I croaked.

"Good, the feeling's mutual," He reached his hand out, but the movement made me dizzy. I squeezed my eyes shut to calm my head, and couldn't open them again.