Scorpio

THIRTEEN - Messy Landing

SPIDERMAN IN POSTER!

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"What's that?"

Alycs tapped the wall of his jet, revealing an unfazed ghost of a grin as the Speedster of the Sky shuddered a second time and provoked another inhuman squeal from the younger teen on board.

"Plate system - programmed to resize the shape of this jet depending on its surroundings to the best aerodynamic shape."

Estella nodded, her nervousness slowly ebbing back into curiosity. Spotting a lever spinning around on its own, she pointed to the object. "How about that?"

"Autopilot system," Alycs answered tiredly, but with a note of pride in his voice. "Tony Stark himself interned me for three months to set up this GPS with its own satellite floating around in outer space."

Recognizing the name of the messy-haired man, Estella perked up. "Did you know that guy has this really cool robot suit?"

Alycs nodded slowly, glancing over at her with a curious look on his face. "The Iron Man suit's probably his most famous invention. It's the reason why he used to be with the Avengers."

Upon hearing another name she didn't click with, Estella's face fell slightly. From her companion's tone of voice, she had been supposed to recognize those terms - Avengers, Iron Man, a captain of America, along with other code names that simply didn't make sense. What on Earth was Pym Tech?

The jet suddenly shuddered again, throwing both teens back against their seats. An automated voice suddenly sounded from the control panels; and in other circumstances Estella would've jumped if she hadn't been pressed up against the leather restraints of her chair.

"Exterior forces unidentifiable. Autopilot system has failed. Suggested course of action: escape current area as soon as possible."

"Show us what's going on out there." Alycs commanded, dialling buttons into the control panel and flipping out a manual steering console. The walls of the jet flickered, until suddenly it was as if they had vanished completely, leaving a live feed of the action around them. "That's the AI, and that's a monitor system I designed myself." Alycs added to Estella's unspoken questions.

A giant needle-like obelisk stabbed down from the sky, narrowly missing the jet. Estella's eyes widened, while Alycs' narrowed in concentration.

"I have no idea what that is."

Estella yelped as Alycs suddenly pulled them into a corkscrew turn, followed by a brisk, swerving weave through a storm of needle buildings. The Speedster of the Sky began speeding up, the route ahead getting narrower by the second as the buildings became denser and denser...

Then as soon as it came, it was gone.

A low hum sounded from the front of the jet - an inconspicuous sound at first, much like the hum of the engine itself, only punctuated by Alycs' sudden shout of profanities.

Estella winced at the language, before glancing over at her companion. "What is it?"

The hum only increased in sound, and Alycs seemed to have missed Estella's question as he hunched over the dashboard, tapping a lengthy code into the system. Looking around, Estella realized both her and Alycs' leather restraints had become undone in the fiasco, and she picked up the two metal clasps in her fingers with confusion. What happened?

Alycs swiped his curls from his forehead, still finding a second to flash Estella a sheepish smile as his thumb hovered over the 'enter' command.

"I'd normally say 'fasten your seatbelts', but in this case, it's probably better if you don't."

Click.

Everything seemed to happen at once.

The floor began to jolt violently, making it almost impossible to hold onto the seatbelt ends, and in the end, they clattered to the floor and joined the other mess of objects vibrating against the carpet.

The top of the jet opened, and like a vacuum Estella was sucked out; immobilized for a split second by the powerful updraft that caught the fabric of her jacket and yanked her upwards. Alycs soon followed, dragging a long chain out behind him as gravity began to take a hold of their bodies once more. With an odd, scraping sound, the jet vanished before their eyes, revealing a grove of treetops just mere meters below.

Unprepared, Estella only had time to shield her face before she crashed into the leafy landing.