Wyatt was pulled out of his reverie as the mass of Omnis behind him began to charge forward.
Swinging himself up and over the windowsill, he landed with a loud clang on the loose fire escape. Beneath him, he could hear more Omnis climbing up the metal structure.
He was seconds away from being dragged off to meet Palmer Sanchez. A meeting he likely wouldn't survive. One he'd rather avoid.
Looking around the small area within the fire escape, he could see that between the iron railings and the stair to the next level and the level above him, there wouldn't quite be space to summon his wings. Not to mention the fact that he had absolutely no momentum, it would be very difficult to get off the ground even if he did have room to sprout his wings.
Wyatt hated blind dives. Summoning his wings after a jump and then going into actual sustained flight was very tricky to pull off. It left a lot to chance. You could never be sure about what the conditions in the air would be until you were already in it. There might be a downward draft of wind just as likely as an updraft and, considering the exact nature of the maneuver, those kinds of unknowns just raised the already considerable skill required.
He could try and glide down the street but that left him vulnerable to whatever horde of Omnis were swarming towards the building.
That left up.
Seizing the icy steel of the stair railing, he ran up the steps. Beneath him, he could hear the Omnis beneath him rattling up the metallic structure.
BOOM. BOOM.
Two more thunderous gunshots filled the air. Wyatt heard again heard the shattering ceramic sound: another Omni clone destroyed. He wanted to turn and look, but he didn't dare distract himself. Not when the Omnis were right behind him.
Were all of the Omnis hollow like that, made of the plasticy clay stuff? And if they were, maybe Mariah hadn't really killed that one back there that had pulled him through the broken window. He landed roughly, clanking down on the hard iron of the fire escape. Despite his rough trip though the window, he still managed to maintain his grip. Did cracking open an Omni count as murder?
And had Mariah known that that would happen? How could she have? Wyatt had at least read a police file about him. How could Mariah have known anything about him? Was this the sort of person that Mariah was?
Wyatt's breath steamed as he rounded onto the next level.
Wyatt's senses were sent reeling as a hand shattered through the glass of the window pane and grabbed Wyatt's arm. It was difficult to see but even in the monochromatic moonlight, Wyatt could see the deep tan of Omni's hand. Wyatt grasped the Omni's arm in both hands and pulled him through the broken window. He landed roughly, clanking down on the hard iron of the fire escape. Despite his rough trip through the window, he still managed to maintain his grip on Wyatt's arm. Wyatt looked at the hand that would normally show the telltale glass damage that one would normally receive from putting a hand through a glass window, but the wound showed no blood, only deep cracks where the glass shards were still lodged deep into its flesh. Or at least what passed as its flesh.
Wyatt kicked the crumpled Omni, its hand still grasped around Wyatt's forearm. He kicked again, his mind filling with panic as he thought of the other Omnis using each second to inch closer and closer. He kicked again, harder this time, only to hear a cracking noise. Wyatt kicked again and the whole form of the man seemed to disintegrate before his eyes.
Wyatt was dimly aware of the sound of gunfire coming from Mariah's silhouette on the building across the street. He might be dead if she hadn't come for him. But how did she know where he was? And how did she know about Omni?
Now that there was no level above him, there was plenty of room for his wings. Summoning his wings he jumped of the fire escape and spread his wings wide to catch the cold night air.
It was a good thing he hadn't jumped before; the wind outside was a solid downdraft, a column of extra cold air. He was able to right himself but having his wings open before the jump gave him the second longer he'd need to transition into actual flight. In a blind jump, nothing was guaranteed.
"Mari-," he started to say before he stopped himself. He knew better than to use first names while in costume. He was about to open his mouth to call her by her codename when he realized that he didn't actually know what her codename even was.
"I followed you," she said quietly. She didn't turn to face him. She still held the gun to her shoulder, her eyes were surveying Omni's building.
I'd noticed, Wyatt thought to himself.
Wyatt wanted to respond, but his mind was jumbled with questions.
"You shot those Omnis," he said. That was the question that won out. "They exploded."
This time she did turn to him. She pulled something out of the pocket of her black leather jacket.
"Rubber bullets," she said, answering the question he hadn't actually asked.
She tossed the thing in her hand to him. Wyatt couldn't see well in the dark but shine from the bullet casing and soft give of the bullet itself proved her correct.
"How did you know?" he asked.
He wasn't sure what he meant by this. Really, he meant a lot of questions. 'How did you know where I was?' 'How did you know that they'd break into pieces?' 'Did you know that before it happened?' 'How did you know to use rubber bullets?'
"It's what I always use," she said simply. "They can still do a lot of damage, especially at this caliber, but if you know what you are doing, they are nonlethal."
Suddenly she shifted, her movements almost mechanical, as she raised the gun and fired two more shots.
"We need to move," she said, her eyes still locked on the building. "Things seem to be calming down over there now that you've flown away but we can't assume that that will be it. Whatever you were doing, you really kicked a hornets' nest."
"I'm sorry I followed you. I hope you're not mad."
Wyatt was once again at a loss for words. All of this and she was worried about him being mad? Well, to be honest, that was one of the many questions in his mind that were vying to be vocalized, but it certainly wasn't one of the most immediate ones.
"It's, uh, fine," Wyatt muttered.
He had just seen several men get shattered to dust and that was after finding out that Palmer Valdez apparently already knew about Chiron Academy being in town. Somehow, a girl from school following him into town didn't seem like such a big deal. Especially when she had saved his life.
"So did you know," he heard himself say, "about the Omni copies shattering like that?"
She didn't answer. She seemed to be studying the building through the scope.
Wyatt sighed. It was a stupid question anyway. How would she even know anything about Omni's existence, let alone the makeup of his copies? But she was right about needing to leave. They could talk they wanted when they got back to school.
"How did you get here anywa-?" he started to say the sound of labored breathing below them pulled him back to the moment. A lot of breathings.
An arm, it's grey suit sleeve turned white in the moonlight, rose over the side of the building and grasped over the thin lip of brick where the wall turned turned into the ground beneath Wyatt and Mariah. Another set of arms, these in shirtsleeves, rose and held the edge few feet away from the first. And Omni's face rose, up and over the wall, as another Omni climbed into view over the shoulders of the first two.
"Leaving so soon, my friend?" it said, as got its feet. "We were just getting-"
The Omni stopped midsentence as he noticed Mariah.
"No," he said. "No, it couldn't be you. After all that time and all that trouble, it couldn't just be you. It's too... It's too simple..."
And he started to laugh, the tight high laugh of someone who has heard something truly absurd.
"We looked and looked and searched. And there you were the whole time," he wheezed. "Just wait til he finds out. He'll lose it."
"Then let's not," Mariah said, strolling towards the Omni. "I don't think he has to know, do you?"
And she kicked him, pushing him off the edge.
If Amy had been there, she would have said it looked like the Spartan kick from the movie 300. The Omni seemed totally caught by surprise; his heels caught the tiny bit of the wall, sending him headfirst over the edge. Omni seemed to believe it as little as Wyatt. Wyatt could see the face held an expression of complete confusion for the split second before it dropped out of sight over the edge.
"Don't worry," she said over her shoulder to Wyatt. "It's not actually him. He's a coward. He'll be holed up somewhere, directing his empty copies from a safe distance."
Wyatt could practically hear his brain explode under the weight of everything that had just happened. Did she- Had he- When did they-
However, his questions would have to wait as yet more Omnis began to climb up and over the wall, their hair and clothing in varying states of unkemptness.
"That wasn't very nice, Ms. Fontaine," one of them said, between gasps for air.
"You might hurt someone doing things like that," another said.
Whatever lapse they had suffered from earlier seemed to be repaired because it definitely seemed to Wyatt the Omnis were once again sharing a groupmind.
"Now then, Flyboy," another said as it straightened its floral tie with two dirt-stained hands, "I believe you were in the process of giving yourself up-"
His head exploded into dust as Mariah quickly reloaded the weapon.
"We need to leave, Wyatt," she repeated.
But she made no move towards the edge, just slowly backing away from the Omnis. More of them seemed to spill up and over the edge. The two turning into four then five. Wyatt, like Mariah, began to back away from the growing maw, the mass of Omnis.
Mariah pulled the trigger, and one of the advancing men fell. She pulled the trigger again, but this time no sound emitted from the gun except for a simple CLICK.
Mariah reached into her pocket, presumably for more bullets, but two Omnis rushed forward and grabbed the end of the gun.
Not missing a beat, Mariah let go of her end of the gun and dropped into a crouch. The two Omnis didn't seem to expect this nor they expect it when she delivered each of them a decisive punch to the groin.
Wyatt became aware of the crowd of Omnis beginning to spread out around them. Great. That was all he needed. Getting surrounded was exactly what he had been afraid of back in the room.
Fortunately, unlike the small apartment they had been fighting in before, here the sky was completely open. Assuming none of the Omnis pulled a gun, they wouldn't be able to stop Wyatt from simply flying away. Unfortunately, that didn't help Mariah. Already she was being surrounded by Omnis, one holding her right arm fast as others closed in.
Wyatt sighed as he reached back for his sword.
He had a plan. It wasn't a good plan. But he couldn't just leave Mariah there after she had gone out of her way to save him.
Mariah said that they were all copies, he reminded himself. The real one was the only one that was a real person, so it would be okay to use the sword.
Oh boy. He did not like this plan at all.
Raising the sword, he dashed towards the Omnis surrounding Mariah. The sword felt awkward in his hands; he hardly ever used it as a weapon. Murder was still murder, even if the person that got it had superpowers. He felt much more confident with his fists. But he didn't have time for fists. Not now.
The sword almost seemed to cut through the air itself as he swung it, the blade crashing through the arm of the Omni that was holding Mariah's arm. He swung again, the blade swinging through another's chest. With his other hand, he grabbed Mariah, pulling her to her feet.
"Follow me," he said.
If the Omnis were still unorganized as they had been in Original Omni's apartment, he probably could have summoned his wings and flown off with Mariah in tow while all of the individual Omnis figured out what to do. Unfortunately, that was no longer the case. Already the Omnis, no doubt seeing the opening, was rushing towards them with the exactitude that could only be accomplished by a group controlled by one mind that was seeing the action from dozens of eyes.
Fortunately, Wyatt had figured for that in his plan.
He still didn't like the plan.
Fighting off any Omni that got in the way, he pulled Mariah towards the edge of the roof. He had known that he and Mariah wouldn't have time to get aloft before they were caught. They would have to go for off the side of the building. All two or three stories of it.
He hoped it was three. Two meant less distance to fall (they might only break their legs instead of crushing them) but three stories would give them more time for him to pull this off.
"Hold this," he said, shoving the Flyersword towards Mariah's free hand. It seemed odd having someone else hold it. He rarely ever let anyone but him or Todd hold it, but he'd need two hands for this.
"Now run!" he yelled, moving his hand on her arm down her wrist. "Run and don't look back."
They both broke into a sprint. He hoped it would be fast enough. Mariah was keeping up well, despite having the awkward burden of the sword to carry. Honestly she was probably in better aerobic shape than he was.
He wished desperately to summon his wings, but he didn't dare, not with the sound of the footfall so close behind them.
He had also planned for that.
He desperately wished that Todd had been there. He was always better at plans. Wyatt was better at noticing things like how he figured that the Omnis would stop them from lifting off the roof. But Todd was better at strategy. He would have thought of a better plan.
As they reached the edge, Mariah slowed, her confusion evident in her pace.
Wyatt threw his arms around her and kicked off from the ground with all of his might.
For a split second, he was a aware of Mariah's body tight against his. Her hands felt warm against his. He could smell her hair.
But he shoved all that out of his mind. They didn't have a moment to lose if they were going to get out of this without ending up as sidewalk pancakes.
He really hated blind drops.
Unless the wind had shifted, there was only a downdraft to greet them. And he was lower than he had been before when he hadn't to do this. And he had an extra person with him.
He had done it before. He could do it again. He had been flying since he was 13 years old.
He summoned his wings and prayed it would be enough time.