Chapter 25 – Delivery for You

From the 666th floor of the Thousand Wonder, Mayor DeWine had a panoramic view of the entire city of Stratos. The observation deck had been designed in such a way so that one could bask in the breathtaking view of a majestic blueprint for a population gifted with flight.

It sat just above the tallest of buildings, where he could still make out the flocks of traffic buzzing in between the high rises.

His eyes scoured the surroundings, searching everywhere for any signs of purple light. Seeing scarcely any after some time, his lips curled into a smile of victory.

“Mayor, it appears that the Gliders have successfully neutralized yet another set of Icarus bombs. Only two out of fifteen were detonated inside of city limits. However, no reports of casualties so far. The number of people caught in the blast is under twenty, two of them Gliders.”

Mayor DeWine turned to his robot secretary, a female humanoid droid programmed to quickly evaluate all the camera footage across the city to spit out the numbers.

“Good, we must thank our brave citizens for their sacrifice. Please see to it that they get rehabilitated and provided for, free of charge. We must maintain the people’s faith in wing tech and show that Daedalus’ efforts are pointless. The city will only grow stronger against such charades.”

The robot secretary bowed and started to walk away, but then, the mayor called out to it.

“And what of the Flyer to No-Flyer population?”

With a quick turn, the robot compiled the data.

“In the last month, the ratio of Flyer to No-Flyer was approximately four-to-one. A small number have converted since then, making it closer to five-to-one. However, the shift has since slowed down in the past week. Would you care to listen to my inferences as to why?”

“No, I think I know the reason. Our champion has undeniable influence on the masses. I am quite proud of my selection. Please execute the plan that I have uploaded. We need to ensure that the legacy of Arwain Riot will continue for generations to come. Only then will I have made my mark in this city’s history.”

A pair of fully metallic wings spread from the droid before the door opened for it to continue its business.

After the door closed, Mayor DeWine summoned a holographic tablet. It started displaying windows of Arwain Riot conversing with No-Flyers and happily delivering packages to them. More windows of the Silver Stream crew in similar situations popped up around them, until the mayor waved them away.

He sighed as he sat down in a comfy chair, looking down at the city below. His gaze then moved over to a display of more droids with metallic wings, prototypes from his grandfather’s time that were used for early testing. Many of them now served as AI assistants for council duties, like his secretary, or public service like the police.

In his mind, they did the job too perfectly, anything that he programmed them to do. For the city to care, it needed a ‘human’ element to move them. That was where Arwain fit in. Even though Arwain rejected his outreached hand, it was within the mayor’s expectation. He would move on and capitalize on those choices.

“Security can be such a fickle thing. One does not wish to move if nothing gives the incentive for it. Isn’t that right, Daedalus?”

No one answered him back. Regardless, the mayor smiled and rocked back and forth, pondering what step to take next.

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“Package for you, Sir! From your family on the surface!” Arwain said in a cheery voice.

The man looked at him in surprise, before his face melted into a smile. He quickly opened it up to find a set of scribbles and crudely glued popsicle sticks in the shape of a winged person, likely of himself.

“You should take a break and find time for a visit. Jobs are important, but so is family. And from what I can tell, they are waiting for you.”

The man chuckled, looking down at the briefcase in his hand and the wings around him.

“And to think that my wife and I had this big fight, because I wanted to experiment and she didn’t. It kind of became hard to talk after that. There’s something about this place. Freedom in the skies but walls below your feet. I never noticed it until the days rolled by, making up excuses for why not to go back.”

“I know exactly how you feel. But true freedom also means that you don’t have to constantly embrace up high. But rather, being where you want to be without boundaries. Use those legs, you have no reason to ignore them just because you have wings.”

“Thanks, Mr. Champion. I think it’s time to level with my family. Maybe commuting from the surface is not such a bad idea.”

Arwain waved at the businessman, who now had a visible pep to his flaps. He thumped his chest to celebrate a good job before hollering to Jolly.

“Got any more for me today?”

“Nope, it’s closing time. It’s a good chance to turn around and catch the sunset.”

Sure enough, the ball of light in the distance was now sinking into the horizon, the orange glow around it forming a cascade of colors into the evening sky above. As he floated toward headquarters, he couldn’t help but think how much his customer’s words were on point.

Not long ago, Arwain believed that flying was everything to him. Ever since he was a child, he was led into thinking that it would solve all of his problems. It was a starry-eyed desire from an immature viewpoint. But then again, he lived in a society that glorified such values and gave incentives toward them. Regardless, he had to smack himself in embarrassment that he had carried it so far into his adulthood.

“Maybe it’s time that I grow up…”

“You? Grow up? Please…,” Jolly retorted, but then, she added in a softer voice, “there’s nothing wrong with who you are.”

“As long as you’re there to keep me on task. Eh, Jolly?”

“Naturally, Mr. Champion!” she teased.

Arwain felt good about his decision not to take the mayor’s offer, the Silver Stream crew backing him up as well. With their actions constantly being on screen, it didn’t take long for the public to start reconsidering their disdain for No-Flyers. The barrier between the skies and the surface became full of holes like the netting strung in between.

Easing the tension between the two groups would give Daedalus less incentive to continue the attacks. At least, that was what Arwain hoped for. Even now, there was no sign of who this mysterious figure was, as all the bombings had been done by proxy.

Regardless, Arwain could only continue his course, delivering as things came his way.

He arrived at headquarters and changed out of his gear, making sure to give Queen an extra sexy pose in the process. She responded with a fake swoon through the window, before blowing him a kiss.

Together, they marched to the kitchen for some well-deserved dinner, a grand spread of farm-fresh goods that Dingleberry’s parents had sent them once again. They were pleased to see their son on weekends, as was he to lend a hand at farm tasks using his wings. One didn’t need to be high in the sky to make use of them.

“Hey, where’s Jolly?” Arwain noted as they all sat around the dinner table. He eyed all around to room, not seeing her.

“Oh, I believe she said that she wanted to focus on the finishing touches to some device that she’s been working on. Been putting in some late nights to get everyone ready for the influx of requests lately,” said Queen.

“Damn, what a workaholic. Comes from her parents, I guess, being entrepreneurs themselves,” Arwain responded vacantly.

“What did her parents do again?” Dingleberry asked.

“Some tech business. Hell if I know what it all includes. I just know that they supplied the schematics to the fancy server that Jolly sits in front of. That’s their way of caring.”

All Arwain knew was that staring at lines of code for more than five minutes made his head hurt. Jolly, on the other hand, made a career out of it, tinkering with the software to make improvements to the on-board AI helping them out in the field. Likely, she was in the middle of a focus session and couldn’t be bothered with ‘trivialities’ like eating.

The doorbell suddenly rang, much to everyone’s surprise. Arwain instinctively got up first to answer it. As he opened the door, a strange figure in a cloak stood there, a package thrust out at him.

“Delivery, Mr. Arwain Riot.”

With a vacant look, Arwain grabbed it. It was far past the typical delivery time as companies stopped operating after sunset. The familiar weight of the package struck alarm bells in his head. Before he could ask who it was from, the figure dashed away with a final word.

“Compliments from Daedalus.”

Finally registering, he tore the wrappings off in one swift motion to reveal a glowing ball with just under twenty seconds left on the timer.

In an instant, Arwain knew that there was nowhere he could go to escape the blast.

Daedalus had waited when they had their suits off, coming straight for Silver Stream with their guard down. He no longer wanted heroes in this city.