A Miraculous Tale: Peacock

Ch. 14

May 9, 2001

Emilie and Gabriel stood on a building overlooking the London streets.

"Where was it again?" Emilie asked.

"The toy store on twenty second street." Gabriel told her. Emilie nodded, then she turned and ran. Gabriel followed after her, and they hopped rooftops until they came to the street. The glass windows were smashed, and they could see a robber pointing a gun at the nervous store owner.

"Okay, we need a plan." Gabriel started. "How about..."

Emilie ignored him and flipped off of the roof. "Awesome!" She celebrated when she hit the street perfectly.

"Emilie! Be more careful!" Gabriel chastised from the roof. He landed next to her a second later.

"Come on!" She ran into the shop; broken glass crunched under her feet. The robber heard the sound and pointed his gun at her.

"Stand down!" His hand was shaking.

"Hey, just put the gun down. You don't have to do this." Emilie soothed as she slowly advanced toward him.

"I'll shoot!" The gunman warned. Emilie continued her advance. She glanced around the room and saw scared customers huddled on the floor; somewhere, a child was crying. The storeowner was nervously shoving money in a bag. He kept glancing at her, and sweat trickled down his brow.

"Just drop the gun, and everything will be alright." Emilie said.

The gun man looked like he was actually considering it, but Gabriel ruined the moment by running in.

"Emi..."

His voice was drowned out by the gunshot. The world seemed to slow as the bullet whizzed toward her. On pure instinct, Emilie brought up her fan to block it. Amazingly, it worked, and the gunman was stunned. Gabriel, along with everyone else in the store, was stunned as well. Emilie ignored them and ran toward the robber. He screamed and shot again, but Emilie blocked it with a wave of her fan. She grabbed his gun and threw it to the other side of the room. The robber scowled, and he threw a quick punch her way. It hit her in the stomach and she doubled over. He then tried to punch her face. She grabbed his hand and used the leverage to throw him. He screamed as he flew into a wall and crumpled on the ground.

Everyone cheered, and Emilie smiled. Suddenly sirens sounded and two police officers came striding in.

"Put your hands up!" One of them shouted as he pointed a gun at Emilie. A little girl ran up to the officer.

"But, she saved us." The girl said. Emilie smiled.

"Is that true?" The other officer asked the crowd. They all nodded. The first officer put up his gun while the other handcuffed the robber.

"Well, I suppose I should thank you." He said.

"I'm glad we could help." Emilie replied with a smile.

"So... I guess you two will be helping us from now on?"

"Yes, I suppose we will." Emilie said.

"What should we call you?"

"Peacock." Emilie replied instantly.

Gabriel walked up. "Hawk Moth."

Peacock raised an eyebrow.

"We better get going." Hawk Moth continued. "Bye."

The two of them ran out and jumped out of sight.