Starless Night - The Ballad of Cassidy Kidd

CHAPTER IV: GOT A PLAN 'TILL YOU GET PUNCHED IN THE MOUTH

I WASN’T EXPECTING HIM TO DO THAT.

Sacrifice certainly wasn’t something that matched his values. If he prized his job above everything else, he wasn’t about to throw himself off a train to get his way; then again, I probably would have thrown him off the train myself, if he hadn’t done it first. So, fair enough, I thought.

Sight was completely, entirely removed from my five senses- my vision was an outright blur for what felt like half an hour, and this time I was absolutely certain that it wasn’t because my eyes were unfocused- I was just actually spinning that fast. I could just barely make out the trees surrounding my spiraling path, the pitch night sky above, and the blindingly white snow below.
The agent had slipped out of my grip only moments after we went flying, and given the stinging pain in my shoulders, he had made a few cuts of his own before making his exit- he pushed me off him with the massive claws that were strapped to his boots, I reckoned. Other than that, there was no clear sign of him.
Slamming into a branch quickly reminded me that I didn't have time to think about all that- I needed to move.

Just before I could decide on how exactly I was going to do that, I smashed into a fir tree, back-first, and thankfully didn't have enough time to process the pain from that before I blacked out.

The freezing cold of landing in a half-liquid snow slop jumped me back awake about instantly.

I was back-down, laying halfway-submerged in the slush. Not much time had passed, clearly, as my back still felt like a pocky stick broken in half. The massive dent I had put in the tree I slammed into remained visible, but I couldn't see much else besides the forest canopy above me, and a bit of the sky beyond that.

Groaning, I lifted myself up using my forearms and took a quick scan around at the aftermath of me and the agent's squabble. The rail was in sight, only around fifty feet from where I had landed, though the train had already long gone past us. Though still fairly dark, I could see a few yards ahead of me was a group of real messed-up trees that kind of looked like the aftermath of a gender reveal party- trees smoking and all. That was very obviously where my opponent had landed.
I looked down at myself. Thankfully, there were no massive gashes that would have allowed water to seep in again- I didn't want to repeat that experience. A couple skin-level cuts poked through my torn clothing, and a few bruises were already beginning to form, but I was fully intact. No blood. I was OK, at least for a bit.
Standing fully, every muscle in my body screaming out in a cacophonous orchestra of pain, I took a closer look at the steaming crater my opponent had left. Though my fall certainly hadn't been good, clearly the agent's had been worse- for the guy with wings, he wasn't very good at landing.
I stumbled forward, then eased into a walk, like a baby taking their second steps after face planting into a hardwood floor. As I got closer, I could very clearly see- and hear- the agent's wings unfold again, rising from the ashes strangely majestically given the situation- like a phoenix, but more intimidating than awe-striking. I heard coughing, what I interpreted as some cursing, and more whirring as the bird-agent's suit came back to life. He was standing parallel to me in the small hole his impact had made, facing away.

Normally I would compliment my opponent's handiwork, but even I had to admit that the agent's suit was very clearly an incredible piece of tech. The piping connecting the wings to the exoskeleton-like frame encasing the man's body was impossibly intricate and constantly moving; the rotor blades that kept him aloft previously were already at maximum velocity, and had blown off all the ash and soot that surrounded him just a moment before. I couldn't help but be a tad bit impressed.

I was going to get the jump on him and try to grab him from behind, but decided that losing another limb to the ridiculous amount of moving parts in his wings probably wouldn't be worth it. Not like I would've had time to before he turned around, somehow mostly unfazed by the fall that had completely shaken me to my core.