Chiron Academy

Chapter 1.5 Meet Diverman

The lights on the police cars flashed lazily in the alleyway out into the night, illuminating the police picked their way between the wreck of the car and the narrow alley walls. 

High the above the scene, the lights also bathed the white and grey jumpsuit of the winged figure. He stood on the edge of the rooftop, arms crossed, studying the movements in the alley below. 

It had been a tough one, he thought. He had been worried when they sped away from the bank. He could fly pretty fast, but they had been going REALLY fast. 65 to 80 miles per hour. He almost didn't catch up with them. And while it had worked, he always hating stabbing tires. You never knew what it would-

"Flyerman!" A voice said from across the roof.

The man froze, instantly dropping into a crouch, looking almost cat-like. His eyes furiously scanned the rooftop. But he saw no one. The dark rooftops around him were desolate. Aside from the men in the alleyway, he could see no one at all.

 A hand appeared, waving energetically, from the fire escape ladder on the far side of the roof.

"Don't stab me," a voice called out from the fire escape. "I come in peace."

Climbing up the fire escape, came the owner of the hand, another masked figure. As he topped the ladder,  the figure pulled back the mask of his blue and green jumpsuit revealing a young face topped with shaggy hair, bearing a dimpled grin.

"Anyone ever tell you, you fly too fast?" the new figure called out. "I was trying my hardest to catch up with you, but when that car tore out of there, you were gone. It would have been awesome if hadn't been so demoralizing.

He laughed. 

"I can't believe you kept up with a car. Dude, that had to have been like seventy miles an hour or something."

Flyerman walked over to greet his friend. 

"Maybe," he replied with a shrug. But if you ask me,  the only demoralizing thing about this is chilling with someone who rides a bike to a crime scene. I think you're the only person in the world who would try to chase down a car full of robbed bank drivers on a ten-speed."

They shook hands and transitioned into a quick bro hug.

"Diverman, I'm surprised you can catch an elderly woman on that thing," Flyerman said, applying the final dig.

Diverman let out a good-natured chuckle. 

"Hey, not all of us have been gifted a magical means of transport. I'm sorry I have to find a more mundane way to get around," he replied in mock indignation. "We should do more underwater crime. That way I can run off without backup and you can struggle after me."

"No one does underwater, Diver."

"How do we know? We need to spend more time patrolling near the river. There could be tons of water-based crime we don't even know about."

"You always say you feel sick after you swim in the river," Flyerman chided.

"Maybe its because I'm not used to it yet. If I let myself soak in it, maybe I'll acclimate. You never know."

Diverman strolled toward the edge of the building and stared down into the alley below, where police still poked through the scene below.

"Besides," he continued," while I may not have all of the answers in the world, I do have something you lack. Your count is off: three people got into the car back at the bank.  Lest my eyes deceive me, I only see two perps down there. Where's your third man?"