I Kneel to No One

Reunited

I clung wildly to Iron Man's neck as he shot through the city. The minute he had taken off, my legs had slipped off and I was left dangling from his neck like a very ugly human necklace. I had to pull in my feet a bit for fear of burning them with his white-hot thrusters- I could feel the heat from up on his back! Every turn he made threatened to dislodge me, and I started to regret not having him carry me, no matter how weird it would have been. The wind ripped at my face and clothes, messing my hair up even more than it already was as I strained to keep hold.

"Slow down!" I yelled in his ear (or where I guessed his ear was; it was covered by his helmet). I didn't know if he could hear me, but his flight seemed to even out a bit, at least so much that I felt secure enough to loosen my white-knuckled grip on my own wrists.

Then a gust of wind caught us, and I decided circulation was overrated.

After way too long speeding through the air like a demented Superman (I should have known smooth flying was unrealistic), we finally stopped and hovered in the air near Stark Tower. The sun, which was just beginning to set, gleamed red and gold off of the shining building. Unfortunately, that meant that I started to feel the effects of gravity as I hung off Mr. Stark's suit, and my arms started to slip.

I clung to him as hard as I could, but my strength was running out. My arms burned and my taut muscled involuntarily began to loosen.

"Uh, Mr. Stark-" were my last words before my hands failed me and I slipped into free-fall.

Ah, come on! Really?

I spun through the air, my terrified eyes finding Mr. Stark's through the helmet as I dropped like a stone. I panicked, thinking he wouldn't feel the loss of my weight through the thickness of the suit, but he did. Mr. Stark's head shot to me and he dove after me without missing a beat.

For some reason, I didn't scream, or flail, or cry. My face was calm and determined as I plummeted, despite the thoughtless panic that was taking over my thoughts. I reached up to grab Mr. Stark's outstretched hand, but he ignored it and grabbed me around the waist. As soon as his arm wrapped firmly around me, he turned on his thrusters and turned tail, abruptly reversing our fall seconds before I would have hit the top of a building.

"Careful there, Cinderella," he grunted. The words vibrated like a mechanical recording as they emitted from his speakers.

My scowl at the tease turned quickly to a grateful smile as I looked up at his red-and-gold form. Air rushed in and out of my lungs as we carefully returned to our former height. In, out, I told myself as I struggled not to freak out at how close I had just come to death. In, out.

"That's not going away anytime soon," I muttered to myself.

When we reached the height we had been when I had fallen, rather than hover again, Mr. Stark stayed flat on his stomach and continued toward Stark Tower. In the rapidly fading light, tinged a deep orange from the sunset, I spotted my sister standing on the balcony, wearing light blue flared jeans and a loose white blouse.