Fandom High

Ace Brandhoff

"Okay... You can do this..." Ace Brandhoff took a deep breath and peered over the edge of the building. She winced to herself. It was an awfully long way down... Probably over a hundred feet. But she had confidence in her abilities. She knew she could do it... It was just a jump.
Just a jump and it was all over. No more mean comments from her classmates, no more people calling her a crazy fangirl - after this, she would be free.
She stepped up to the ledge and held out her arms. "This is it..." She smiled to himself. "Alright... If these end up being my last words, then... What do I say...?" Ace thought for a moment, then grinned. She leaped into the air, diving head first off the ledge.
"FOR ASGARD!" She shouted. As she plummeted from the top of the building, she kept her arms extended wide. People heard her triumphant shout and looked up - a few screamed in alarm. She pulled a ripcord extending from her backpack strap once her eyepiece showed her reaching an altitude of sixty feet. Out of her heavy metal backpack strapped tightly to her waist, two massive metal wings extended outwards. They slowed her fall immediately and she began to glide gently to the ground. She beamed. Her invention had worked! The wings didn't flap like the Falcon's had in the Winter Soldier, they but kept her from falling from her death! She laughed, enjoying the wind in her face, and let out a loud whoop.
The people on the streets below her gasped and pointed - some took pictures and a few little kids laughed and jumped up and down exitedly. Ace grinned and saluted down at a mother standing outside of her parked car staring up at her in awe.
Suddenly there was a loud snap and Ace's eyes widened. "Uh oh." Then the second and third ropes binding her wings to her back snapped and she fell out of the sky. Luckily that point, she'd only been at an altitude of 12.62 feet according to her eyepiece.
Nonetheless, she landed roughly on concrete and tumbled quite a few meters before coming to a painful halt on the sidewalk.
She groaned and propped herself up on her elbows. As she opened her eyes and looked up, she saw a very angry looking police officer glaring down at her with his hands on his hips. Ace smiled sheepishly up at him and laughed nervously as her wings crashed to the ground next to her.
The police officer grabbed her by the back of her jacket and dragged her to her feet. "Hey, hey! Take it easy, Copper!" She protested.
"Shut up, delinquent." The police officer snapped as he shoved her unnecessarily hard into the back of his car, then slammed the door shut.
•••
At first Ace was just pissed off because Old Man Jones, as she'd come to call the old officer, had foiled her once again. Her wings were working just fine... Well, the strap broke, but the wings worked great! And on top of that, she hadn't made any federal offense... Had she...?
She sat in a holding cell at the police station, staring down at her hands boredly. Her knees hurt quite a bit from her fall. They'd been scraped up pretty bad, both pants ripped at the knees. It was rather cold in the cell, but her black leather jacket kept her warm enough. She had her hair in a braid laid over one shoulder, stretching nearly down to her waist.
On the other side of the bars, Jones was poking at her wings. "What does this thing even do?" He asked, picking up the green-tinted eyepiece.
"It tells you your height, your precise weight, how far you've flown, your altitude, your-"
"Enough, I get it!" Jones snapped. He examined the side of the eyepiece closely, and Ace didn't have to look at him to know his index finger was traveling up the side.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." She said without looking up.
Jones looked at her, eyes narrowed. "Do what, delin-" He stopped abruptly and jumped as his finger pushed a tiny button on the side of the eyepiece on the part connecting the piece to her ear. A small item looking like a magnifying glass flipped out of the side and spun around in front of the eyepiece. If he hasn't looked over at Ace before he pressed the button, it would've taken out his eye.
Jones glared at the eyepiece. "What the hell is the point of that?!" He yelled.
"Distance magnifier." Ace replied, still looking bore fly down at her hands. "Helps you see things that are on the ground from up high."
The old cop let out a loud 'hmph' and set it down on the table beside the mostly undamaged wings none to gently.
No sooner had he done so than the police station door opened and lips parted to form a yellow, crooked-toothed grin. It didn't take a genius to know why.
"Mr. Brandhoff!" He said, he words long and drawn out. "How lovely of you to join us on this fine evening!" He sneered, putting stress on the word lovely.
Ace glanced up and her fears were confirmed. There he was; work suit, black trench coat, fancy-schmancy shoes, and short black hair the same color as hers. He shot her a disapproving glance and as soon as Ace made eye contact with him, she quickly looked away.
"Sorry about this Sheriff." He said to Old Man Jones.
"Just don't let it happen again." He shot a glare in Ace's direction. "This delinquent should be kept under close surveillance."
Ace glared back at him. "Leave me alone, you sleazy old-"
"ENOUGH." Her father snapped. He looked at Jones again. "It won't happen again, Sheriff. I'm certain of it."
He glared at Ace again and she just smiled sheepishly back. "Hi pops." She said feebly.
•••
"This Superhero obsession is going to far, Annie!"
"How many times have I told you, pops, everybody just calls me Ace..."
"That's not the point!" Mr. Brandhoff yelled. "You are out of control! Jumping off of a building?! What if that... that CONTRAPTION of yours didn't work? You would have DIED!"
"But it didn't!" Ace replied. "Pops, this is a scientific breakthrough! I flew! I flew today, pops!" She smiled broadly. "Yeah, I took a risk, but it was worth it! I was FLYING!"
Mr. Brandhoff groaned and leaned his head back a bit as he drove down the road. "Why couldn't I have a normal daughter..." He looked at her. "This is an unrealistic fantasy! You have to stop this!" He sighed and looked out the windshield again. "I'm taking away your Superhero movies and comics and all that crap."
"What?!" Ace shouted. "NO! Pops, those are important to me!"
"They are terrible influences on you!" Her father replied. "Until you grow up and mature, you will not watch another of those damned movies! And if I have to take them to the grave with me, then so be it!"
Ace groaned loudly in frustration and his her face in her hands. "Mom would have understood..."
Mr. Brandhoff's expression saddened for a moment, then it hardened again. "I've arranged for you to live with your uncle for the next three months, Annie."
"What?" Ace asked, looking up. "But dad, I have exams coming up."
"I know that!" Mr. Brandhoff snapped. "But in the country you can't get into nearly as much trouble." He glanced at her sidelong. "It's for the best, pops."
Ace sighed and looked out the window. "I made a scientific breakthrough, pops..." She said quietly. "You of all people should have recognized that..."
Her father didn't respond - he only glared out the windshield.