ICARUS #14

     "We’re not inviting ‘em to a fucking bakesale! We’re trying to scare the shit out of ‘em!"
     "I don’t know what the point of scaring them is." 
     "What you don’t know about crimefighting could fill a fucking warehouse."

     With that, Daedelus taps the button on his belt and the show begins. Black metal wings spring from his back with a sound I can only describe as a guillotine blade cutting off some poor bastard’s head. That’s my cue. The button on my belt doesn’t work. Fucked up from the last kid who wore it. Daedelus doesn’t wait. He leaps off the rooftop and just expects me to follow, regardless of whether I’m ready or not. I punch my belt hard through my glove and my wings pop out with a less threatening sound than his. He’s already on top of them by the time I get the wings out. Fast, man. In two moves, he’s taken four out of commission. They’re called The Sundowners. Infra-red hoods who only strike at night. This is my training mission and I’ve already fucked it up.

 

     "Icarus! Anytime!!" he shouts, while he kneecaps some jackass with his night stick, the "Bone-Breaker."

     I hear the sick crunch from the rooftop and I nearly throw-up.  "Fuck it," I think as I take the leap down.

     The last thing I remember is watching my metal wings call apart. They hang in the air. Silver splinters that float for what seems a hundred years. What I don’t remember is hitting a fire escape and an awning on the way down. Or the two Sundowners I land on.

     I lay in a coma for 14 years. By the time I wake up, my parents are dead and so is Daedelus.

     I plan on breaking into his underground lair tonight and trying on his costume. What have I got to lose?

     Jesus, I hope the wings still make that cool sound. 




-SLL