cascade | kotlc

30. The Infiltration, Part 3

 man this was such a fun scene to create

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tw: bl/od

The wind bit at her hair, the chilly breeze sweeping over her. June was glad she'd cut her hair shoulder-length as the speed wing carried her into the distant night.

She could see nothing except the viridescent dot, pulsing to her heartbeat in the distance. It was accelerating, moving along, and June yanked the tassels on the speed wing, trying desperately to go faster.

"I'm going down the elevator shaft," Faye breathed, her voice panting and tired, immense pain obvious in her tone. June squealed as metal clanking disrupted the intercom, blasting her ears, before wires snapped and Faye regained clarity.

"What happened to you?" June muttered, the wind overwhelming her. She accidentally tugged at a brake and the speed wing spun 180 degrees sideways into a cartwheel, dumping her into freefall before she caught herself gliding down the wind.

"Nothing," Faye tried, her groans loud and clear, the metallic clicking of carabiners echoing.

"Tell me what's wrong," June insisted, steering herself away and following the glowing dot. It had slowed down, presumably in traffic, and the honking of horns reached her from thousands of feet high up.

"Gunshot wound. It's fine. I'm applying pressure, and it's not even that deep." Faye seemed to stagger over and the whirring of mechanical devices erupted, and June yelped and clutched her ears.

The sudden movement made her temporarily lose her course. A blast of wind struck the speed wing and it swerved around, inverting her. Her sunglasses started to beep and the glowing dot dissipated, glitching haphazardly and leaping from one location to another.

"Shit!" she cursed, pulling at the left brake. The speed wing folded and drag generated along the left wing, initiating a left turn as the wing banked, turning vertical. She leaned forward, shifting her center of mass and tumbling downward, shutting her eyes in anticipation.

Gusts of wind whipped at her face and the speed wing adjusted itself, billowing outward and gaining traction, forcibly slowing her down. The erratic glitching of her sunglasses worsened as the dot teleported up and down, left and right, forward and back.

"Where are you going?" Faye called, grunting and seemingly moving a heavy object. "You're going in the wrong direction!"

"Am I?" June jerked the right harness, swooping midair by changing her weight distribution. The speed wing inclined in a way such that air streamed over the top and bottom, causing no lift to support the paraglider, and she pitched into freefall again, now in the opposite direction.

"Wait. I'm reestablishing the connection." Wires snapped at each other as Faye huffed. Light focused into the sparsely distributed glowing dot, and June blinked as the device sparked before the dot was tracking properly again, in the exact direction she was moving.

"Got it." The speed wing flapped as June loosened her hold on the left wires, producing lift and allowing her to propel into a turbulent glide. Her hair flicked behind her ears and Faye smashed something.

"I'm down," Faye announced, clambering into their Lambourghini, June supposed, as a car door shut and an engine purred. Lightning illuminated the skies and the rolling boom of thunder followed after. Another purple dot flickered in her view, slightly behind her. Faye had activated her tracker.

"Hurry, hurry," Faye urged as she zoomed down the roads, driving recklessly as her dot swerved left and drifted right. June held herself flatter, becoming more aerodynamic, and the speed wing rushed as it split the wind.