The tires squealed as a vibrant red motorcycle violently swerved onto the highway, leaving black streaks on the lane in its wake, it’s short black clad rider steering into the space in between the already cramped lanes of cars. She glanced back behind her, and sighed deeply, her helmet muffling her breath of relief. 

“Okay, okay, I think I’ve lost them.” As she quickly rode between the cars, horns ablazing, two armored black vans turned onto the highway from the side entrance, stopping as no space was left on the crowded lane. She chuckled, her earpiece vibrating quietly, and she tapped the side of her helmet. “Heyo, this is Delta, I’ve got the package”, she spoke, hearing sighs of relief from the other side. “What? Didn’t believe in me?”

“Of course not, it’s just that- shut, shut up Kevin, jesus- it’s just that you didn’t take the planned route!” shouted a gruff voice.

“We made plans!” yelled out a younger voice of a boy, “SUCH GREAT PLANS!”

“Yeah, I know, but they had all the side streets surrounded, what was I supposed to-”

“Do? Not go into a heavily populated area, LIKE THE HIGHWAY!” Kevin cried out, and she winced from the loud volume, nearly bumping into one of the cars, reviving the angry honks of the car horns.

“Dammit Kevin, you didn’t think I accounted for that? They won’t use anything here, it’d be ridiculously hard to cover that up!” she grumbled, “I lost them back at the entrance anyway!” 

As if on cue, confused and frightened shouts echoed from behind her, causing her to speed up her pace as she attempted to look behind her, putting a hand on what seems to be a basic package from Amazon in the back compartment. “Delta, come in, what’s going there?”

“Uh, I’m not sure, kinda busy here old man!”

“Don’t call me old! Kevin, check with the sensors,” he grunted, the sounds of scuffling heard through her earpiece, and as she attempted another glance behind her, she saw what had all the drivers so surprised. The two black vans she had lost a while back were driving through the cars, gliding down the lane like ghosts, slowly catching up to the red motorcycle. 

“Shit,” she muttered, pressing harder on the accelerator, barely skimming the cars as she passed them. 

“What? What did they do?”

“Well Kevin, you know how I said that there was no way they’d do anything here?”

“Yeah?”

“Because this is a public area?”

“Uh-huh?”

“Well, they’re using a intangibility seal to get to me, so clearly, they give absolutely no shits about what these people see.”

“Shit.”

“Yup.” The vans were closer now,  and out of the corner of her helmet, she saw the muzzles of assault rifles poking out, the tinted windows scrolling down to reveal burly men in suits holding them. BOOM! She squeezed down hard on the accelerator as bullets ricocheted off the back guard of her bike, nearly hitting the tires. 

“Hey! I just got Cherry fixed!” Speeding up rapidly, and ripping off someone’s side view mirror in the process, she quickly rode out of the crowd, past the orange-and-white cones of construction into an empty lane, dust scattering beneath the wheels. The black vans followed suit, turning after her, the cones flying from impact. 

More bullets flew past her, leaving small holes in the road as she swerved to dodge them. She swore under her breath and took her left hand off the handle, as a circle bloomed around it and then disappeared, leaving a silver handgun behind. 

One hand on the motorcycle, she aimed at their tires and fired three times, the first bullet scraping one of the van doors, the second hitting the bumper, and the third one hit the one of the front wheels, the van screeching as it violently swerved, smashing into the side barriers, cracking the wall on impact. She grinned beneath the helmet, only the second van was left. “Delta? Delta! What’s happening?”

“Don’t worry about it, just some suits shooting at me.” A gasp escaped the gruff voice, shouts and clattering of papers echoed in the background. 

“This is Kevin, I have your location, and there is literally nothing at the end there.”

“Huh?” she responded confusedly, pressing down on the brakes, her gun disintegrating into nothingness.

“Basically, construction didn’t finishing building the sky-way, so there's a huge gap in between you and the rest of the road. So turn back and-”

“But there is something after that gap right?”

“I mean yeah, but it's a lower floor,” stated Kevin, “It'd be safer if you just got rid of the other van and turned around.” She looked behind her, seeing six large men jump out the van, all armed with assault rifles. She glanced back ahead, seeing where the road ended in a misshapen crack. 

“Yeah, I don't know if I really like that idea.” They looked at her briefly, then pointed their rifles at her, shoulders tensed.  

“Get off the bike and give us the package,” one of them shouted. Getting off the cherry motorcycle with her hands raised, she looked at them, and her eyes narrowed. 

“Are you serious? This isn’t even yours!”

“Give. Us. The. Package,” the man stated, emphasizing every word as he spoke. 

She stood in front of them silently for a moment, then replied, “Nah, I don’t think I like that idea either.” As soon as she had spoken, they fired instantly, bullets and dust showering where she was standing for an entire minute, a cloud hanging all around where they had shot. The men looked at each other, then back through the dust, the bike nor its rider visible. 

“Where’d she go?” one of the men muttered, as they slowly took a step forward. A moment of silence passed. Nothing. As the dust finally began to clear, a wall dotted with craters was visibly standing where the girl had previously stood, the texture rough, as if it had come out of the ground itself. “She’s still alive!” 

They reared back up their rifles, when suddenly a light appeared from behind the wall and pillars rushed out of the ground around the men, pushing up two of them into the air and catapulting them over the edge, their cries lasting a mere second before they fell silent. The other four shot at the pillars as it came near them, blasting them to rubble. The small dirty blond head of a girl peered over the top of the wall, her blue-green eyes looking at her work. 

“Dammit, I missed!” Hearing her, they faced in her direction, and she ducked back against the wall, her hands flicking wildly, a light yellow smoke coming off them. The rubble left behind rose into the air, and shot forward towards the men, tearing through their clothes and skin, covering them in a fine mist of red. 

One of them collapsed, and the other three staggered to the black van, only two of them barely getting to the doors, as the rocks slammed into the side of the car, stabbing the last one with dozens of stones, and he slumped onto his side, as the black van revved its engine and went full force towards the wall. Another engine was revved, and the motorcycle zoomed away from the wall, speeding as quick as an arrow down the lane, the van swiftly going around it and chasing after her. 

“Hey, what are you doing!? I told you there's nothing past that!” Kevin stammered in her ear as she sped away, “You said there was a lower floor right?”

“Yeah but- wait you can't possibly be thinking-”

She stopped listening to the rest as she sped her bike down the lane and drove off the edge, the black van braking violently behind her, but eventually tipping over the edge as well, the two of them disappearing into the depths below.

                                                       ~~~~~~~

She fell through the air rapidly, the street below slowly speeding up to meet her. “I thought it'd be closer!” she yelled out, her face in a grimace as the wind whipped her hair around. “Delta dammit, what did you do!?”

“Just a small jump!”

“GOD DAMMIT DELTA!” the gruff voice screamed into her ear as she struggled to stay on the bike, one hand reaching for the package, which had loosened itself from the backseat and was floating above her as she fell. Reaching her hand out for it, she saw the black van falling right above her, it's heavy weight bringing it down closer to her by the second. 

“Shit,” she muttered, finally grabbing the package and hugging it closely to her. Holding tightly onto the handles of her motorcycle, a sweet and sour smell began to fill the air, the wind whipping more violently in response. The black van loomed closer, nearly touching her head now, as light yellow smoke began to come off her shoulders, and the motorcycle began to move, the wind slowly driving her away from beneath the large vehicle, but still plummeting, the cars more visible by the second on the street down below. 

“Come on, come on!” she shouted, sweat on her brow, and as the street sped up to meet her, the bike slowed its descent, sped up, slowed again awkwardly, then finally hit the road, the motorcycle’s wheels clumsily bouncing against the pavement as it sped away at full speed, the girl's face in sheer agony as the black van crashed into the street behind her, denting the pavement on impact, the cars around it braking loudly in attempts to not hit the giant heap of metal that had just fallen out of the sky. 

“Holy shit,” she cried, tears welling up in her eyes as she drove farther away from the crash, the package held firmly in her arm. 

“Delta? Delta, are you ok? Please respond!”

“Note to self; do not jump from the sky-way in a motorcycle. Ever.” She winced as she shuffled slightly in her seat. “Motorcycle seats are not the best option for that.”

“What happened?”

“What do you think happened!? I broke my crotch into a billion pieces!”

“But the package is still intact, right?”

“Gee, thanks for being so concerned about my sorry ass!!” she shouted, then quietly mumbled, “Yeah, it’s fine.” She gripped the package tightly in her arm, her blue-green eyes squinting from the sunlight as her pale skin looked almost like marble against the bright morning sun, her long dirty blond hair trailing behind her as she rode down the street, easily squeezing between the cars driving by. She continued driving down the road towards the center of the city, and then realized that she had no clue where she was going, all the buildings she drove past were unfamiliar to her entirely. 

“Hey,” she shouted against the wind, “I’m actually a bit lost, can anyone tell me where I’m going?”

“Well,” the gruff voice started, “If you had memorized a map like we told you to during the briefing, you wouldn’t have this problem would you?”

“Well, isn’t that what you guys are for?”

She smirked as she heard the smack of a hand hitting a face on the other side. “Am I wrong?”

“Just turn right, ok? You should know the rest of the way.”

She steered her bike into the right lane, and turned to the right, immediately recognizing the familiar line of tall stone buildings that eventually led to home base.

“Thanks Vince.”

“Hey, no names while you’re on the field!”

“Kevin hasn’t had a problem with it so far.” He chuckled at her comment, and she could hear others mumbling in agreement. 

“Eh, Kevin’s a dead man anyway.”

“HEY!” She laughed loudly as she heard Kevin shouting at him angrily in response, “It’s only Monday, and I seriously have to take this shit from you already!?”

She smiled to herself, viewing the scenery in peace as she rode on towards home base. The old stone buildings that dotted the busy streets were ashen and gray, yet managed to still tower over the small bright shops that were unfortunately squeezed in between them, and taller glass towers looming over everything from farther in the city center, reflecting light off like a beacon. The store windows were filled with neon signs and TVs, crowds of people glancing quickly then moving on, the sidewalks packed with businessmen and women, tourists, and schoolchildren walking together. 

“Wait, it's Monday? she asked, her face suddenly turning pale. 

“Um… yes. Where have you been?”

“It's Monday.”

“Yup.”

Balancing herself and the package on the seat, she slid up her sleeve to reveal a simple black banded wristwatch, it's hands showing 9:32 as the time. “Crap.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Well dear Kevin, I simply forgot that I promised a particular someone that’d I actually go to school today. Which starts at 9:45.”

“But it’s-”

“Yup.” She pressed down harder on the accelerator, as she slid past all the cars, turning onto a smaller street filled with vendors, an old stone building sitting at the end, it’s stone doorway cracked at the edges. She slowed down, carefully squeezing past people as she made her way to the end of the street. “Okay, I’m here.”

“Be there in a second Delta.” She stopped in front of the doorway, easing herself off the motorcycle, putting the brake down. Package in her arms, she leaned against the doorway, attempting to look casual, looking down the street. Never occupied with cars, this street was often used by the civilians in the area to sell their wares, foods, whatever they could to make a meager profit. 

Everything on the edge of the main city was filthy and old, remnants of the city from years ago. Most of it was in shambles and filled with crime, as only the center of the city was upgraded with newer technology, and had richer people worth protecting. The stone door behind her slowly slid open, making her nearly drop the package in surprise as she turned to see a man in a simple collared shirt and slacks, his face in a smirk as he watched her reaction. 

“We wouldn’t want you droppin’ it after all this work, would we?” he answered in a gruff voice, as her face went from surprise to annoyance. 

“Shut up Vince. I got it for you didn’t I?” She shoved the package in his arms, “Now I seriously have to go.”

“Where to?” he asked, as she got on her motorcycle, revving the engine. 

“I promised her I’d go to school today.” she replied, adjusting her leather jacket in her seat. 

“Well, Batch wants to see ya.”

“I’ll come back later. That a problem?”

He stood there for a moment, thinking, then answered with a simple shrug. “Your loss.”

“Thanks.”

He turned around and went back through the stone doorway as she slowly drove back through the crowd to the main street.