"-FLIGHT!"

If I had come up with that even a second later, I would have failed. I would have fallen past the girl. Even if I might have been able to save myself, I couldn't have done her justice. She would have fallen to her ****. Or worse, my arms might have smacked her out of my own reach. Who knows if I could live with myself afterwards?

Thankfully, that was a question that didn't need an answer. I nailed the rescue. Despite my entire being screaming in pain, pushing past what it could tolerate, despite how grand and costly my wish had been; I made it. The girl was in my arms, still screaming and crying and asking for help. And I could give her the help. I was the hero that was slowing down our fall. I was the hero that would save her life.

"It's fine, open your eyes. Look around." I whispered, hovering a feet over the water. She shook her head. She didn't want to believe it. "I promise you that we're safe? Don't you want to see the view? You're not going to have a chance to brag about this to your classmate if you don't open your eyes." That did the trick.

It was- I couldn't really describe how it felt. To see a child smile, to see them be happy so shortly after they had lost hope. To watch that sparkle return to their little eyes. "You saved me!"

"Not bad for my first week on the job, don't you think?" I got her to laugh with that. Her face was beaming with a smile and so was mine. That said, the only reason I was still conscious was pure adrenaline, and there was no doubt in my mind that it would run out very soon. I had to get her to safety soon. That said, could I deny a child the chance to soar through the skies? "Do you want me to take you straight to your classmates, or do you want to touch a cloud first?"

"The cloud! The cloud!" Who could possibly say no to such enthusiasm?

"Alright, strap on and hold thigh. Only let your hand go when I tell you its safe for you to do it. And I feel like we can't make it, I'm putting you straight on the bridge with the promise I'll let you fly with me across the city once I heal up." The girl nodded so fast I could barely keep track of her eyes.

It was going to be a while before I mastered this whole 'flying' business. Slowing down a fall had been rather easy, but actually building up momentum in the air was another matter. I didn't have wings or anything physical I could use to soar faster, I just had to think really hard about wanting to go up and hope that I'd eventually start doing so faster than an elevator would. At least my passenger was amused, she must have thought I was doing this on purpose as a game. She laughed and laughed as she begged me to go faster. Well, what's a shoddy ascension compared to an entertained crowd?

At the moment I made my question I had forgotten how high clouds actually were. It was now dawning on me that I was bringing a child thousands and thousands of feet into the air. While I was feeling unwell and fearing that I could start falling soon. This was really not my brightest idea, truth be told. However, we did reach an impressive height after a matter of only a few minutes, and the day was thankfully cloudy enough for me to spot a low hanging cloud. "Kiddo, over there". I pointed out, moving her close. "Go ahead and reach it."

I'll never forget how happy she was once she got the chance to touch that cloud and watch it turn into water droplets around her arm. It was like every bad thing that happened to hear in the lead-up to this moment hadn't even occurred, like this trumped all of that.

That said, we were long overdue to go back to solid ground. The kid got back to hugging me as soon as I asked her to, and we made our descent. It was hard to judge where you'll land when you're looking at the city from this position. Still, I assumed the place where there seemed to be a lot of people was a good idea to drop her off. Until I remember why all those people were in one spot. I change courses a few hundred feet before making a big mistake, towards a smaller group.

I was surprised by two things once my feet touched down. The first was that I had coincidentally landed us with the other kids from the bus, who rushed over towards me for hugs and a chance to thank me over saving their lives, as well as questions for their lucky classmate who got to fly with me. The second, far more baffling thing, was that Regina was with them. THANKFULLY, she was clothed. Well, clothed might not be the right word for it. Rather, she was covered up.

"What happened to you?" I asked while I looked at the 'dress' made of vines she was wearing.

"Oh, this?" For the first time since I've met her, I saw Regina restrain murderous eyes behind a smile. Not even Friendly Paws had made her so angry, and I could tell she was only containing herself due to the children watching. "Well, a certain no-name no-brain man of action somehow thought I was aligned with a pant-soiling quick-running badguy. Apparently, there was no altruistic reason in his eyes as to why someone could be luring people out of a bridge at risk of collapsing. Go figure!"

I leaned in closer towards her to whisper in her ear. "Did he see you naked?"

"Yes."

"Did he shoot his vines on reflex towards you?"

"That seems like what happened."

"And he tried to save face by accusing you of being The Exploiter's assistant?"

"He absolutely did!"

"We'll get even, don't worry." I promised her. It wouldn't be anything too bad, but Whipvine was clearly a bit of a jerk who deserved a big prank coming his way. Its not like heroism doesn't have a hazing tradition to it. A prank gone wrong by Shawn of the Waves had famously costed Galaxy Geoff his eyebrows, I'm sure nothing we can come up with will be as bad as that.

"Miss Regina, are you going to finish the story?" An innocent voice reminded me of where, of all places, I had found my lewdly mischievous friend. When I looked at her, I was amused to see that I had finally found what was able to fluster her. Regina was blushing, probably wishing she was **** to do anything but this. Unfortunately, I was a cruel enough lady to spectate her playing to a group of children's whims.

"Ah, right. The story." She covered her face for a moment, tracing back her hands over her hair as she contemplated her options and realized there was no way out of this. "Well, like I was saying, the little prince wanted me to take care of the elephant while he swiped the princess out of the prison. A fine plan, sure, if there wasn't one tiny problem with it. I'm about this big, and an elephant is like THIS BIG" She made faces as well as some exaggerated gestures with her hands. "Like, come on! How would I ever be able to take it on?"

"Maybe if the Prince made you really strong?" A girl suggested.

"Sure, if he could do that wish! But, like I've mentioned many times, he's a little prince. A kid prince. A prince that would have started crying like a baby if he made a wish like that. Bwah! Bwah! Bwah!" The children laughed. "However, despite how dumb the wielder of the ring might be, a servant always tries to help them achieve their goals. So, here's what I did. I-"

I found myself surprisingly invested in the story about one of Regina's previous masters. Sure, this one probably wasn't true, seeing that she was telling it to children and all. But I still liked getting a chance to learn more about her past, and she really knew how to tell a story in a fun manner. So it really dampened my mood when my shoulder got touched and a microphone was nearly shoved right into my mouth once I turned around.

"I'm Evangeline Darcy, from the Channel 2 news! Are you the heroine who has saved the day, young miss? The one that the lady who lead the people away from the bridge called 'The Ringmaster'?" Oh god, I'm about to be immortalized as a casual clothing superheroine. That's like the worst thing that could happen to me that doesn't involve getting someone else harmed and is short of killing me. I need to change into something, quickly! Anything that looks like a half decent costume.