"You know, for an anniversary patrol, this was pretty dissapointing," Firefly pouted, landing on the edge of a really shiny business building. Berry swung from a nearby crane and rolled on the roof with practiced ease. Hair retracted to her forearms and dissapeared in the blue material of the suit.

"What?" she breathed out. She joined him on the edge and looked down. Entrance far below was swarming with tiny dots going in and out. Their suits were probably ironed out to perfection, ties tied tightly and shoes cleaned so that they reflected all the concrete and glass this business district had to offer. Firefly mentally winced remembering how he carelessly tossed his shirt in his bag. The wrinkles of grey are going to look stellar against the smooth black.

Flight of shame it is.

He turned to his companion. "We didn't encounter any criminals today. I kinda hoped-"

"That we'd get a chance to show off and end up in the paper?" she finished for him. Dark eyes gave him an amused look before focusing on the crowd again. "Don't worry, that's going to happen regardless. Besides, we have some fifteen minutes of patrol. A lot can happen."

Berry's words had the tendency to come true and today was one of these days. Among the speeding dots, there was one speeding faster, pushing people out of its way. If it weren't for all those bodies, that person would have sprinted. Squinting, he managed to see a tiny white dot that seemed to rest on the persons shoulder.

Cogs started turning in Firefly's mind. Was that a burglar? There were plenty of offices with valuables stored away in safes. Building is big and crowded constantly, so it isn't exactly hard to go in and out unnoticed if you know what you're doing. Maybe it was a dealer? They've caught a number of people that have been delivering goods to the employes in broad daylight.

Whatever the case, the crowd started to ripple away from the suspicious man. He's going to get really nervous real soon. They needed to act quickly.

"Down there, by the bus station. You see him?" he pointed.

"Yeah, white sports bag," Berry replied. She crouched next to him and leaned over the edge ever so slightly. Her jaw tightened as her eyes started to jump from one building to another, making their way down to the busy square.

"If he wanted to stay under radar, he isn't doing it very well," he snorted. Firefly turned around, stretched his arms upwards untill they produced that satisfying crunch sound in the shoulders. "Oh, that's nice. So, do you think this is the right time for Operation Sour Face?"

She scoffed and he could practically see her roll her eyes. "We're not calling it that. It sounds-"

"Stupid? Childish? Maybe," he insisted, "but it makes sense!"

"We'll talk about that later," she stood up, hair creeping out of her forearms and wrapping around her palms. "You know what to do. Meet you down there."

Aura changed and Berry went from being sky blue to ballpoint pen blue, the kind that was pressed in the paper with weight behind it. She cracked her hair like a whip and jumped off the roof, disappearing from his sight. Barely audible thump echoed in Firefly's mind as a string of white wrapped itself around the crane. With a speed that could easily rival the best sprinters, she flew back into his view. Her feet didn't even falter when she landed on the roof of the neighbouring building. She ran towards the opposite edge of the roof and disappeared again.

New York seemed to stretch out to infinity. Sun was almost down, its warm edge almost touching the ocean. He would kill to have a view like that from his bedroom. Maybe not kill, but do something along the lines of crying and pleading. Making a mental note to bring a camera with him next time, he walked to the edge.

The cool October air pinched at him. If it weren't for the adrenaline rush kicking in, his teeth would've been rustling like dry leaves. He took a brief glance to the rooftops around him.

"This is Firefly reporting from the roofs of New York City," he whispered with his mock-reporter voice. It sounded suspiciously like Andrew Morrison, the news anchor of Channel 7. He even got his nasal tone right this time. A smug smile took over his face as the bubbles started to pile up under his skin. "The evening is calm, aside from what seems to be a quick intervention of our superhero enforcement. Air traffic is also clear, and we," he propped himself on his toes, "are good to go."

With arms wide open, he let himself fall into the embrace of the city.

All the rush and all the positive emotions rushed out of him in one hearty scream that kissed gravity goodbye. The sudden stop pressed on his lungs a bit, the slight lack of oxygen making him laugh out loud.

"Okay, that might have been a bit stupid," chuckling to himself, he ran down his hands down his chest. The tight black material was suffocating his pores a bit, but it made him look almost as good as a runway model. Especially with his hair in disarray, and it has even gotten so long that the blonde strands floated in and out of his eyes. Knee-high military boots weighing him down weren't in the original design, they needed to be added. Firefly wasn't going to have another nail in heel anytime soon. 

Down on the square people started to notice his levitating presence. Firefly turned on his stomach, idly waving at the people.

Oh, well, he thought to himself, when they're here already, I might just give them a show.

Looking back up to the universe, he straigthened himself in the air. The bubbles were let out of the cage, the adrenaline, the vision of what he was about to do wreaked havoc in his body, charging every cell to its maximum. His body in position, his mind relatively calm and at ease, there was only one thing to do.

"Where do you learn how to board a plane?" Letting the two-second anticipation build up a new wave of giggles, he quietly added: "In boarding school."

The sentence turned the key and started the motors. He propelled himself upwards like a rocket, his trajectory curving ever so slightly so he could make a big loop above the square. The cheers from below made his heart jump a bit. He made a pose every comic book superhero would be jealous of and greeted the crowd with a salute.

If that doesn't get him a photo in the paper, then the media is in more trouble than he thought.

Remembering that he had a potential criminal to deal with, he flew to the last known location of his partner. Letting go of the euphoria, he touched down on the roof and unintentionally scared off a flock of gurgling pigeons.

She was on the roof two buildings ahead. Small figure enveloped in blue walked on the edge, stalking their prey with unbreakable composure. Her hair was let down from the cute ponytail, now swirling around her like Medusa's snakes, strands moving in an enchanting dance. He chuckled to himself. He drew that comparison a week or so ago, and it had earned him one unimpressed glance and stripped him off his bag of gummy bears.

Firefly leaned on the emergency stairs rail, watching her catwalk along the edge. He could almost see her black eyes, nothing but focus filling them. Her features would go blank and raise an invisible wall in front of her, her frame would get unnaturaly relaxed, but even from this distance he could see the betraying dance of her fingers. All she needed to do was pull a gun from a holster and shoot at the challenger. The western directors would be throwing themselves at her knees.

Berry stopped mid-step. He saw her tilt her head to the left.

"Go-time," he murmored into the air, jumping over the rails and drifting over to the next roof. At the same moment, she jumped down, abbandoning the western genre and entering an action movie.

Numbers and images ran through his mind. Berry had probably timed her jump perfectly, so that she would land directly onto the culprits shoulders. One of the two buildings framing that alley had emergency stairway, and the other had barred windows - both very good objects to which she could tie the hair if she somehow, by some miracle, miscalculated. She would then apply pressure on the neck - not too much, not too little, just enough so it distracts the unlucky person - and continue to sneak the strands of hair around their body, keeping the hair loose.

With enough threads hanging from the guilty human blanket, she would let go and let herself get thrown down from the shoulders. In most cases, the culprit had tried to run away and ended up few feet away tangled in hair. Though there were few hearty exceptions who had tried to take her head on, which lead to them hanging by their heels ten feet above the safety of ground.

Berry had a solution for almost any scenario. Knowing that fact, he was very surprised when he got to peek in the alleyway and see Berry scrambling to get on her feet, with the criminal laughing at her as he ran. It was not unreasonable to assume her face had been hot pink with anger, as she ran after the man.

Grunts and heavy breathing coming from straight under him caught Firefly's attention. A small man in a floral blue shirt was rustling among the trash bags, trying to get up. Couple of curses escaped him as he fell down in the trash.

"Need a hand?" Firefly yelled. The man looked up, wide-eyed. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt you. Can I come down?"

After mumbling something to himself, he gave Firefly a nod. Practically launching himself down, Firefly landed with a loud thump and a big quiver in his knees.

"Nice boots," the man said, reaching out to Firefly, "though they look heavy."

"Yeah, they're quite a workout some days, but I manage." Pulling the man up, hero flashed a small smile. "You good? All pieces in right places?"

He nodded, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "Do you think the other guy is gonna be okay? Your friend looked really mad."

The question poked at the unsure part of his brain and urged him to turn around. Hum of the crowd hid all other sounds, and there was no one at the other end of the alley. Firefly answered after two slow blinks. "To be honest, I'm not sure. Depends on what he did to make her angry. If he kicked her in the shin, it's not going to be pretty." Turning his head back to the man who was now rubbing off the dirt of his pants, he scrunched his eyebrows. "What were you two doing here anyway?"

The man's ears turned pink. He looked like he had wished for the Earth to open up beneath his feet and swallow him whole.

"The guys from the office wanted to get some boost. They sent me down here to meet up with the guy and get it for them."

"Is that the first time you did that?"

Utter confusion replaced all emotion on the man's face. "How...how did you know?" 

"Pristine white stands out anywhere. And you were pretty jittery." Firefly offered matter-of-factly. "You weren't all that stealthy."

"So what happens now?"

"You didn't exactly do anything, but we're still going to take this with the pol-"

The word police did not manage to leave his mouth fully as his attention was drawn to the end of the alley. Berry was marching towards them, her face crimson and wrinkly from the sheer intensity of her infuriated frown. Her ponytail was a cage, or rather, a tight cocoon that held one prisoner who was currently trying to wiggle his way out of the hairy situation. 

Firefly tried his best to school himself and his face, but a wince did make it through when he noticed a slight limp in that power walk.

"In the shin!" Berry Blue let out a frustrated yell, finally ending her furious and very yelly monologue. She landed on the very edge of their rooftop. Despite her shoulders shaking with agitation, her landing was flawless - knees dropping a couple of inches to absorb the impact, feet slightly parted and stuck to concrete like glue. "Every single time!" she stepped down from the edge, punching the air.

"Well, you did jump him in an alley," he reasoned, touching down and almost losing his balance. He was still floating on the fumes of the patrol that he decided to mark as another successful one as no one got hurt. Physically, at least. Emotional scratches were definitely there though. "I don't think he was overly picky about the placement of the hit."

"You haven't heard him laugh," she gritted her teeth. 

Their things were stored behind a particularly loud and scary-looking ventilation box, so on the off-chance the roof had gotten any foreign visitors, personal belongings were more than safe. The horror box seemed to be sentient, as it produced almost human-like moans when bumped, touched or disturbed in any way. 

Firefly decided to stay a step behind Berry and let her grab her bag first. He didn't feel like risking a slap.

There was zero care in the way she grabbed her bag and the yellow jacket that covered it. Judging by the look on her face, she was seriously considering throwing her stuff down on the street. 

"Don't do it," the words left his mouth before he took the time to think about it. Her eyes were trained on the jacket, her thumb rubbing the material. It was one of those fall models, the ones that crinkled like dry leaves at the slightest movement.

She exhaled. "It's just... he threw me off my game so easily," her dark eyes found his blue ones, anger seeping out of them and turning into something akin to sadness. She took another breath and looked down again. "I let him get to me."

Firefly rubbed his neck. "Can't really say that's not true," he started carefully, "even though I'd like to say it's not. But he's still getting to you." He moved half a step closer to her, holding out his fist. "Think of this as a little training lesson, but don't let it bother you. Okay?"

Berry pursed her lips in a tight line. She looked up at him as all frustration drained away and a tiny, neutral smile made its way to her face.

"Okay," she finally said, taking up on his fist bump. 

He returned her smile, hoping that he radiated the right amount of positivity to make her feel better. Moving past her, he dove down to get his jacket. Maybe some more good energy, just to be sure, he thought as he pulled his left arm through the black sleeve.

"On the plus side, you did restrain him fairly quickly," he quipped. "How did you do it?"

"Uhm." A loud crinkle of her jacket filled out the pause. "I threw myself at him."

He turned around, his right arm stopping in the middle of the sleeve, eyes wide. Her back was still to him and her hands worked to adjust the jacket. The tips of her ears were suspiciously pink.

"And that worked?" His eyes grew even wider as the image of Berry throwing herself body first into someone's back and knocking them down painted itself in his mind. A needle of sadness stung his heart. Why wasn't he there to witness it?

"Suprisingly well," she said, kneeling down to sort out her bag. Several heavy-looking books were stacked by her side. A puff of air left her lips. She turned her head to Firefly, looking him straight in the eyes. The intensity made his back tingle.

"I'm sorry for yelling back there," Berry spoke, regret clear in her voice. Firefly had a good sense of where she was going with this. He shook his head energetically, but she was adamant on finishing. "I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

"You didn't take anything out on me," he immediately retorted. "You were frustrated and you needed to vent. And I'd say that was successful, so no harm done."

She squinted, like she was planning on saying something, but in the end she just nodded and started putting the books back in her bag. "I could've vented a bit calmer. Just wanted you to know that those-" she motioned to her chest and then outwards with Introduction To Organic Chemistry, "frustrations... they are not directed toward you." The book was then stored in the bag and Berry's ears have gone one shade darker. "And thank you for telling me not to throw my stuff off the roof."

He pretended not to notice as he turned his back to hers and hung his messenger bag over his shoulder. Chuckling slightly, he dared to remark: "Looks like someone has been reading those articles I've been sending."

She chuckled back, her jacket rustling. "Can't really ignore them, you send like a million of them a day."

Turning around with a his index finger prepared to point at various objects, his eyes got stuck to a messenger bag slung across Berry Blue's shoulders. A dark red bag, just like his, with a golden lynx logo and a slogan in tacky gold letters that said Learners Today, Leaders Tomorrow - Wolfram Wright High School. Firefly's heart sank down through his feet to the ground, the increasing rhtyhm dully resonating through his body. His throat shrunk as his brain slowly imploded in on itself.

Firefly's eyes rose slowly to find hers looking back at him, coming to the same conclusion. 

Either destiny decided to play a not at all cool prank on them, or Berry Blue was much closer to him than he realised.

...and the plot thickens!

This is where we kick off and truly start our journey. It's gonna be one heck of a ride, let me tell you that much. 

If there are any inconsistencies in this chapter, that's purely on me, since there has been a significant time difference between the writing of the first and the second half of this chapter. Once the book is finished, or close to finishing, I intend to fix that. So if there are any hiccups, please point them out, it will be most helpful.

What are your opinions overall? Tell me in the comments, I'd love to hear them!

Till the next chapter! Toodles!