DOWNTOWN GOTHAM
PRESENT DAY
Gotham’s cold night air greets Skylar as she steps out of the roof access door. She can’t believe she missed this, but spending months in space probably does that to a person.
But she’s here, she’s home, and more importantly, she’s in one piece.
There’s at least fifty floors between her and the street below. Perfect. She’s done this so many times before, and yet this time it feels new. Different.
But familiar.
A deep breath, and she steps over the edge.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————
THE FRAGRANT
MEDBAY
TWO WEEKS AGO
As expected, Skylar woke up to an earful from Ashera. Their latest expedition to the planet Boreas was…interesting, to say the least.
It all happened so fast. She got separated from the group and the artifact she touched apparently conferred powers to the resident long-dead avian civilization’s defenders.
Problem is, it’s lethal to everyone else. She felt the symbiont-adaptive tech-god knows what invading her body, stabbing into her skin and forcing its way into every orifice.
She would’ve died on the spot, if it wasn’t for her nanite blood. The two substances fought, but she knew if she was stubborn enough to try killing her new visitor, it’ll just prolong her suffering.
So instead, she decided to assimilate. The process was no less painful and she passed out somewhere in the middle, but she woke up alive so that counts for something.
She feels weird, though. She’ll need to experiment with…whatever happened, get a good feel of how it changed the nature of her powers.
Good thing they’re passing by Sol soon. She can go home and take a break for a while.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————
SKYLAR’S APARTMENT
ONE WEEK AGO
That’s one more name crossed off the whiteboard. Skylar frowns at the names filling the surface.
Who knew choosing a new codename was this hard? Most of the cool names were already taken by other people.
Or, as she stares at the names ‘Zephyr’ and ‘Mistral’ on the board, by PMCs. Air and wind-related names are pretty popular, apparently.
Another mug of coffee refilled, Skylar sits in front of the whiteboard. Surely there’s gotta be something…
—————————————————————————————————————————————————
DOWNTOWN GOTHAM
PRESENT DAY
The familiar rush of air hitting her body. The ground approaching fast. And yet, there’s a massive smile on her face.
With a single thought, the familiar stinging pain of the armor flowing out from the crevices opening all over her body comes back. And yet, this time it’s different.
Instead of the sleek metallic white of her previous high-tech armor, in its place appears a regal black and gold biomechanical exoskeleton. Still avian-like, only with more prominent birdlike features.
Just a few more meters to the ground, and Skylar finally pulls up to ascend. Instead of the harsh jerk of her old jet boots, it’s the smooth pull of wind redirecting her momentum into the air. A pair of wings unfurl from her back, guiding her into proper flight.
Of course, Skylar wouldn’t be Skylar without challenging herself. So after getting her bearings, she starts descending to ground level, flying low while retaining speed.
As she weaves past a few cars and flies under an over-ground metro rail, Skylar knows she’s back home again.
For the first time, Aphelion takes flight.