Chapter 7 T +60:23:14
YuffieK
(Verified Ninja Princess)
Climbing rapidly on a southeasterly trajectory
There were a few thoughts that were running through Taylor Hebert's mind at the moment.
First: She was damn sure she hadn't used her Explodey Fists or Feet or anything like that to lead to her current situation.
Second: Based on the wind whipping past her she was going very, VERY fast.
Third: Being shot through the top of the elevator shaft had caused her to tumble wildly. She had no idea which way she was going except UP.
Fourth: She instinctively knew she'd survive whatever happened over the next few minutes. Nothing else had done anything to her thus far.
Fifth: She hoped she didn't accidentally take down a plane. That would be her luck wouldn't it? Literally human cannonballing a 747.
Knowing she couldn't do much about any of these things, Taylor grabbed her knees, tucked her head down, closed her eyes and started mentally reciting the names of beings of power. Invoking the names of Jesus, Allah, Buddha, Zeus, Asmodeus, Kyne, Aslan, Mairon, Q, Godzilla (it's in the name!) and a whole fucking pantheon of others in the desperate hope that one of them might be listening and decide to take pity on her because the last half hour had been NUTS.
After about twenty or so instances of possible heresy, the wind seemed to die down a bit as it had been whipping hard at her hair. Her initial chaotic tumble was now a slow spin.
Using her Notsight she focused on her attention on the Sun and tried to orient herself. Apparently she was now going ass first, her long raven locks working like the feathers on a badminton shuttlecock. Taylor started to uncurl, putting her arms out to slow her rotation further. After a few awkward flips she'd managed to get herself into the position of moving head first and spread eagled.
She then opened her eyes, looked around and...
"Oh... WOW." she whispered.
It had come out as a whisper because the air at this altitude was probably too thin to breathe. Also, HOLY SHIT the view was amazing. Near total silence. More stars than she'd ever seen, their light pure and steady. Above her, the sky was darker than pitch. Below, there were lighter gray clouds extending off into the distance, like a layer of fresh snow on the ground in the dead of night. Past the edge of those, she could see a large cluster of city lights defining a shoreline on the visibly curved horizon... Was that BOSTON?
HOW HIGH WAS SHE?
The sheer absurdity was too much. A heaving started in her chest which came out as peals of soundless laughter for which she had no breath to give voice to. She reveled in the sudden boundless freedom from the shackles of gravity, the pure joy of flight just too much to her to contain.
After a minute of this blessed wonder, she finally noticed the clouds seemed closer, the glow from Boston had dipped below the skyline and the wind began to whistle past her head. Taylor tried to use her explosions to actually fly but a couple of attempts only caused her hands to glow and created more blue sparks, Taylor then realized she didn't have anything to explode off of.
Rectifying that unfortunate quirk of physics was now something Taylor felt determined to do. Powers were bullshit and Falling With Style was no longer an acceptable option after this experience.
The clouds now covered her entire view of the ground, small lumps and gaps becoming visible to her. Taylor couldn't really see anything underneath, but kept herself in the skydiving position she'd been in. Despite what Wile E. Coyote might have dealt with, face planting into the ground at terminal velocity usually just killed normal people and she was far from normal. You didn't make a silhouette crater on impact.
"Better cover my face though. Don't want to be spitting out gravel... or piano keys." Taylor mumbled as she reached the top of the fog, taking a deep breath, closing her mouth, putting one hand over her eyes and pinching her nose shut with the other, while otherwise trying to go limp.
<SPLASH>
The impact drove the breath from Taylor's lungs and she reflexively inhaled, filling them with water and removing any buoyancy she might have had. She quickly sank to the bottom of the lake and settled into the mud. The water seemed fairly deep and the silt came up to her knees.
Now though, she had something to launch from. Facing her trusty sunbeam, she knelt down until her butt touched the ground, gathered her internal fire in her heels and blasted off. She erupted from the inky water. clearing the surface by a good 10 meters before she splashed down again. She'd seen land a short distance away during her mighty leap and two more bursts had gotten her close enough to crawl onto shore.
Taylor heaved on all fours, vomiting lake water out, She inhaled deeply then coughed as more liquid drained down out of her sinuses. Taylor then spread her internal heat through her chest, boiling out the last of the fluid in her lungs.
"Congratulations Taylor, you just skydived naked from... well... higher than an airplane anyway." Setting the dark humor aside, she got up and looked around, noting lights from some buildings on the far side of the lake.
"And there's something over there. But... I think that can wait until morning. Rght now... I just wanna find someplace to collapse. She walked up the rocky shore and noticed a trail, following it to a pair of open lean-tos with a couple of bench tables in front.
"Stony Point Campground, Knight's Island State Park, Vermont" Taylor read off the placard inside. There was also a simple map of the island, showing a trail leading around to other campsites and a boat dock at the little island's northern tip.
No one was staying here right now, which was a good thing, seeing as Taylor probably looked like a drowned kitten. But, maybe someone else was on the island. There wasn't anything to cover up with though, so she huddled up into the corner of the building, facing out to watch the sunrise.
And finally... FINALLY, after nearly three days of Hell, began to tremble with all the pent up emotion she had.
To quietly weep tears that refused to fall.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
There were a few thoughts that were running through Taylor Hebert's mind at the moment.
First: She was damn sure she hadn't used her Explodey Fists or Feet or anything like that to lead to her current situation.
Second: Based on the wind whipping past her she was going very, VERY fast.
Third: Being shot through the top of the elevator shaft had caused her to tumble wildly. She had no idea which way she was going except UP.
Fourth: She instinctively knew she'd survive whatever happened over the next few minutes. Nothing else had done anything to her thus far.
Fifth: She hoped she didn't accidentally take down a plane. That would be her luck wouldn't it? Literally human cannonballing a 747.
Knowing she couldn't do much about any of these things, Taylor grabbed her knees, tucked her head down, closed her eyes and started mentally reciting the names of beings of power. Invoking the names of Jesus, Allah, Buddha, Zeus, Asmodeus, Kyne, Aslan, Mairon, Q, Godzilla (it's in the name!) and a whole fucking pantheon of others in the desperate hope that one of them might be listening and decide to take pity on her because the last half hour had been NUTS.
After about twenty or so instances of possible heresy, the wind seemed to die down a bit as it had been whipping hard at her hair. Her initial chaotic tumble was now a slow spin.
Using her Notsight she focused on her attention on the Sun and tried to orient herself. Apparently she was now going ass first, her long raven locks working like the feathers on a badminton shuttlecock. Taylor started to uncurl, putting her arms out to slow her rotation further. After a few awkward flips she'd managed to get herself into the position of moving head first and spread eagled.
She then opened her eyes, looked around and...
"Oh... WOW." she whispered.
It had come out as a whisper because the air at this altitude was probably too thin to breathe. Also, HOLY SHIT the view was amazing. Near total silence. More stars than she'd ever seen, their light pure and steady. Above her, the sky was darker than pitch. Below, there were lighter gray clouds extending off into the distance, like a layer of fresh snow on the ground in the dead of night. Past the edge of those, she could see a large cluster of city lights defining a shoreline on the visibly curved horizon... Was that BOSTON?
HOW HIGH WAS SHE?
The sheer absurdity was too much. A heaving started in her chest which came out as peals of soundless laughter for which she had no breath to give voice to. She reveled in the sudden boundless freedom from the shackles of gravity, the pure joy of flight just too much to her to contain.
After a minute of this blessed wonder, she finally noticed the clouds seemed closer, the glow from Boston had dipped below the skyline and the wind began to whistle past her head. Taylor tried to use her explosions to actually fly but a couple of attempts only caused her hands to glow and created more blue sparks, Taylor then realized she didn't have anything to explode off of.
Rectifying that unfortunate quirk of physics was now something Taylor felt determined to do. Powers were bullshit and Falling With Style was no longer an acceptable option after this experience.
The clouds now covered her entire view of the ground, small lumps and gaps becoming visible to her. Taylor couldn't really see anything underneath, but kept herself in the skydiving position she'd been in. Despite what Wile E. Coyote might have dealt with, face planting into the ground at terminal velocity usually just killed normal people and she was far from normal. You didn't make a silhouette crater on impact.
"Better cover my face though. Don't want to be spitting out gravel... or piano keys." Taylor mumbled as she reached the top of the fog, taking a deep breath, closing her mouth, putting one hand over her eyes and pinching her nose shut with the other, while otherwise trying to go limp.
<SPLASH>
The impact drove the breath from Taylor's lungs and she reflexively inhaled, filling them with water and removing any buoyancy she might have had. She quickly sank to the bottom of the lake and settled into the mud. The water seemed fairly deep and the silt came up to her knees.
Now though, she had something to launch from. Facing her trusty sunbeam, she knelt down until her butt touched the ground, gathered her internal fire in her heels and blasted off. She erupted from the inky water. clearing the surface by a good 10 meters before she splashed down again. She'd seen land a short distance away during her mighty leap and two more bursts had gotten her close enough to crawl onto shore.
Taylor heaved on all fours, vomiting lake water out, She inhaled deeply then coughed as more liquid drained down out of her sinuses. Taylor then spread her internal heat through her chest, boiling out the last of the fluid in her lungs.
"Congratulations Taylor, you just skydived naked from... well... higher than an airplane anyway." Setting the dark humor aside, she got up and looked around, noting lights from some buildings on the far side of the lake.
"And there's something over there. But... I think that can wait until morning. Rght now... I just wanna find someplace to collapse. She walked up the rocky shore and noticed a trail, following it to a pair of open lean-tos with a couple of bench tables in front.
"Stony Point Campground, Knight's Island State Park, Vermont" Taylor read off the placard inside. There was also a simple map of the island, showing a trail leading around to other campsites and a boat dock at the little island's northern tip.
No one was staying here right now, which was a good thing, seeing as Taylor probably looked like a drowned kitten. But, maybe someone else was on the island. There wasn't anything to cover up with though, so she huddled up into the corner of the building, facing out to watch the sunrise.
And finally... FINALLY, after nearly three days of Hell, began to tremble with all the pent up emotion she had.
To quietly weep tears that refused to fall.
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