All characters, human and nonhuman, are above the age of consent.
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Zara was surprised to see a boy with an augmentation, she could count on one hand how many boys she knew with functioning ones. But it must be an augmentation.
She saw a boy near the fountain. He had a bunch of purple-colored paper planes flying around his head, and it looked like he controlled them because they followed the movement of his finger.
"Hi...nice augmentation. Is that some kind of telekinesis?" Zara approached the boy.
"Thanks," he chuckled, "That's indeed an augmentation, but it's not telekinesis," He rolled up the sleeve of his bomber jacket. Slowly, a thin sheet of paper was ejected from his skin like he was a living printer. The sheet then began to fold itself as if it was grabbed by an invisible origami master and turned into a plane. Without any help, it jumped into the air and joined the other planes above.
"That's my Paper Pixie power," he revealed.
"Cool!" Zara glanced at the planes. She then introduced herself.
"Niko Aganin," he shook Zara's hand with a firm grip, "Nice to finally meet you, Zara. I heard stories from the other girls about you."
"Oh, I'm blushing," she chuckled.
"Good morning, pupils," they heard Aritimi appear near. Except, this time she didn't come alone.
Koshka, the Bug Queen was on her side, wearing one of those metal collars.
"Why did you bring this asshole with you?" Zara glared at them. Niko just looked at the naked bug girl in silence.
"We will use her help for today. The collar will prevent her from doing anything bad, so don't worry about it," Aritimi replied.
"Target practice?" Zara's eyes shone with glee.
"Maybe in the future, but not now," Aritimi giggled.
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Today's location was a beautiful grassy field. Zara thought they were in the wrong place until she noticed the building behind them.
"Yes!" Niko exclaimed with joy, "That's the place of the Aerial Combat Unit."
"I knew you would like this," Aritimi said. Indeed, judging by Niko's bomber jacket and paper plane fleet, that even followed him through the portal, it was easy to guess that he was into flying.
"Oh, I remember once seeing this unit destroying a flock of Wereravens in the news," Zara said, "I rarely hear about them though."
"Yes, they usually stop their targets before they could get closer to the city so it's hard to see them in action," Aritimi nodded as they approached the place that looked like a private airport.
"Oh, I got it. We're going to simulate a fight and Koshka will be the flying monster we have to beat," Zara speculated.
"In your dreams," Koshka gruffed.
"You almost got it right, though," Aritimi nodded.
They got closer and noticed someone leaning against the wall of a hangar, sipping on a cup of coffee.
"I'm surprised you can drink that every morning," Aritimi greeted the woman.
"Everybody got their own poison, Timi," she chuckled, drinking the rest with a big gulp, while Aritimi rolled her eyes.
"Pupils, and Koshka, she is Piper Aldridge, the commander of the Aerial Combat Unit," Aritimi introduced her friend to them.
Piper was a lean, wiry, yet visibly strong woman. Her skin was lightly weathered, likely from exposure to the elements. She had short, wavy auburn hair with a few grey strands in the front, slicked back but slightly tousled because of her cap.
It was like someone from the wrong era of time because Piper looked like a classic pilot: brown leather bomber jacket, beige jodhpurs tucked into knee-high pilot boots, leather flight cap with built-in comms, and of course the goggles on her forehead.
"Everything's ready?" Aritimi asked.
"Yes. Isela arrived soon with the targets. I'll call for her, just a minute," Piper replied and disappeared behind an old metal door, but a few minutes later came back with a young black woman on her side.
"Pupils, she is Isela Carmichael, Inez's daughter," Aritimi introduced her, although there was no need for introduction. Zara only had to look at her face to recognize Inez's features in her. She was somewhere in her early 30s, and her hair was separated into two afro buns.
Koshka shot her a quick glare and Isela smirked.
"It's an honor to finally meet the girl who saved my mother," Isela shook Zara's hand. She was wearing the same uniform as her mother, so she was also in the Pest Control Unit, Zara thought.
Zara's heart began beating faster as she heard this. Her reason to join the HSA years ago was to prevent others from losing their mother. She felt a sudden kinship with Isela and her eyes sparkled with joy.
"Don't forget about the monster who almost killed her," Aritimi pointed at Koshka.
"Hey, being the victim of someone like me is a badge of honor to any hunter," Koshka said proudly.
"Let's move on to today's task. Shall we?" Piper stepped in.
"I'm so excited," Niko could barely handle his happiness, "I hope we can fly."
"Yes we will, but let me explain first what we will do," Piper chuckled, "Since a real fight with a hostile monster would be problematic, especially in the sky, we have to rely on the help of Isela and Koshka."
"Me and my mum gathered some bug monsters during the years. We mostly use them as pets and to keep other bugs away from our home," Isela continued, "I brought some bugs and this albino abomination will control them for safety reasons. We can control her through the collar so you will be safe up there," she glared at Koshka.
"Just to be clear, my fellow bugs won't be killed, just defeated. Right?" Koshka glared back.
"Of course," Isela nodded, "I don't want my pets to die. Because that's what you and your kinfolk are to me, pets," she leaned closer to the bug girl.
"Damn, just kiss already," Niko teased.
"Khm...so here's the plan. Isela will choose some monsters for you to fight and then unleash them. Koshka will take control over them with her power and sends them against you two. Your job is going to be defeating them in the sky," Piper continued.
"That sounds better than what I expected. What plane will we use?" Zara asked.
"I got a special type of "homemade" plane," Piper chuckled as she opened the door of the hangar.
The plane, that rolled out by itself, looked like a pink vintage airplane. It didn't take long for Zara to notice that it was pulsing and twitching like a living being.
"This is the power of my Flyer Fleshling augmentation," Piper revealed and a small piece of flesh detached itself from her face. It took the shape of a ball with wings and began circling around the plane.
"Ew! So this whole plane is made of your excess flesh?" Zara cringed.
"Yes. In the beginning, I could only create small drones like this one, but later I learned how to unite them into one body that I can reshape. Now I have my own plane," Piper patted her flesh plane proudly, "Although, I need to connect it to my body on a daily level by sitting inside the cockpit otherwise it would start to decompose, but sience I'm flying every single day, it's not an issue."
"Gross, but cool at the same time," Zara wondered if she would have such ability with her flesh in the future.
"Let's get on board," Niko stepped forward to the flesh plane, but Piper stopped him.
"Sorry, but only me and Timi will fly with this," she shook her head.
"What? Then how will we fight the bugs in the sky with Zara?"
"Zara got the power of flying. She will help with that," Aritimi answered.
