(White is me, Blue is Price)
Very quickly, Fiona was coming to regret her decision. She had wanted to keep the spear out of the hands of its user, and it evidently did not like that all that much. She yelped as the weapon wrenched itself from her grasp, flinging itself to the ground. Her already-low swoop became dangerously low, the tips of her hooked talons scraping the cracked concrete of the sidewalk. With a beat of her wings, she spun back to see what was happening just in time to take his shield to her chest like an incredibly dangerous game of ultimate frisbee.
She spluttered as the wind was knocked out of her, and grimaced as she collided with the ground, landing right on top of her wings. She lay on the ground for a moment, the sky spinning as she tried to catch her breath before a pale white net descended across her. As she tried to sit back up, the net was disturbingly tough and stuck to her like, well, spiderwebs. She shuddered as she caught sight of multiple massive spiders. She struggled with the webs for a moment before remembering her own natural weapons.
Using her talons, she sliced out of the webbing and stood up, pulling strands of the stuff off of her shirt and arms. She unraveled a particularly long piece from around her wing and attempted to discard it. It stuck to her hand worse than any duct tape she had ever used, and the trailing end fluttered in the wind before getting caught on her arm again. She sighed, her breathing still ragged but returning to normal. She didn’t know how long it could be before her screech came back.
Looking around, she took note of the situation. Nightwing was a few yards away and clutching his leg, the pale girl was wrapping his spear in more webbing. As far as the armored boy went, he was shrouded in black energy that crackled like lightning, and a similar effect was wrapped around Raven. He was, meanwhile, running straight for her. She got into a fighting stance, but her talon nudged an object roughly the size and shape of a manhole cover. His shield! He’s after his shield, duh, she thought. She turned on her heel and took a running takeoff, gaining height as fast as she could. The webbing in her feathers kept catching, and her flaps were larger and slower. Although not very high, she was certain she was higher than what this boy in his heavy armor could reach.
In the air, she banked into a left turn, raptorial eyes narrowing. She tucked her wings, sweeping forward into a deadly silent dive. Her talons stretched toward the boy, she took a swipe at the shoulder of his non-spear arm. To anyone watching, the attack would be eerily similar to an owl dropping down to catch a mouse, never making a sound.
The demi-god recoiled as he became trapped in some black prison. His eyes went wide with fear and then agony. A roar of thunder, the loudest yet, deafened his pained cry. The pain was excruciating. What had the evil sorceress done to him? He fell the short few feet back down to the earth. Compared to the last, this impact was decidedly nothing. What wasn’t nothing, however, was the shock to his system. All his muscles screamed in protest at whatever the witch had done to him. He had to get away. He had to at all costs! He would not die here. He would not die before he even spent a single day in the strange world.
The Other Worlder was trying to take his spear away from him. He could allow no such thing. Curse her for siding with his attackers! He ripped the spear with all his might and pulled it free from the webbing before continuing his dash for his shield.
Only to be interrupted by the harpy.
“Leave me alone!!!” He screamed fearfully in his native tongue. He tried unsuccessfully to dodge her attack. If he wasn’t so disoriented. If he wasn’t in so much pain---damn it all! The boy hissed as the monster tore flesh from his upper arm. Another boom of thunder shook the ground beneath him. The boy lost his balance and rolled rather gracelessly. His hands fumbled for his shield as he looked back up at the harpy, readying himself for another attack.
Screech once more took to the sky, her wings straining to keep her aloft. She turned again, searching for a weak spot in his armor. He now had his shield and spear, and from the looks of things wouldn’t hesitate to use them. She circled overhead for another moment, deciding whether she thought her reaction time could beat his. Thunder tumbled, shaking the ground. Without the use of her screech, she wasn’t confident she could beat him in a physical fight.
Slowly, she landed atop a nearby lamppost. Her wings drooped by her sides like a feathered cape. From inside her mask, her eyes flashed as she glared at the boy. She cleared her throat, then raised her hands in what she hoped was the universal symbol of peace.
“Let’s, uh, let’s calm down.” She knew the words would mean nothing, but she hoped her tone of voice would be recognized.
The demi-god staggered to his feet and rocked from side-to-side. He kept his eyes narrowed and his spear locked onto the evil harpy and only broke eye-contact when he heard someone approaching.
Nightwing had his hands raised mirroring Screech Owl and came to a halt about fifteen feet from the boy. “We’re not here to fight.
The hoplite looked between the two and back at the Titans. The fear in his eyes was unmistakeable even through the slits of his helmet. The sky continued to roar as the boy did the one thing he had been trained to never do. His back turned to his enemies as he attempted to scramble away and flee.
She groaned loudly as he turned tail and ran. She swept down off the lamppost and called out.
“Hey Spidey! Can you help me calm him down?” With that, she made a swift turn to fly after the boy. She quickly caught up to him, flying silently above him as he ran. Plans were formulating in her mind, but none of them would work if he didn’t stop sooner or later. She put on a burst of speed and landed on the sidewalk ahead of him, putting out her hands and widening her stance.
“I can’t let you run off into the city. God, why can’t you just speak English! Argh!” Her wings spread out to the sides, forming a wall between him and the rest of the city. “We’re just gonna wait here for a little bit until Spiders gets here. Then we can have a chat.” She eyed the gash in his shoulder and winced.
“I’d be more sorry, but you did hit me with your shield.”
The Zeus damned harpy cut off his escape route. Damn her! Damn her and the rest of the evil demons that chased him. She would continue to chase him for as long as he allowed her to do so. She needed to be incapacitated. As he continued running toward her, his mind raced with a million ways to make that happen. Many of them were lethal.
But, as she spoke, he found that he was distracted. Her voice...her words...it was like he was truly hearing her for the first time. That language...what was it? Somewhere in the back of his frenzied, panicking mind, he recognized its familiarity. His mother had taught him countless languages, but which was he recalling?
“Eeeng...Leesh…?” He questioned with his head tilted. He knew English. Slowly, his brain remembered how to speak it. His body, however, wasn’t nearly so slow. The harpy girl might’ve blocked his path, but that was no trouble. He vaulted over her effortlessly and changed directions in the air so that he was facing her when he landed. From there, it was as easy as a leg sweep to put her on her back. Yet, for a reason unbeknownst to him, he opted for mercy. He guided her down just gently enough so that she didn’t crack her head against the pavement. His face hovered just inches above hers. There was lightning swirling in his hypnotically deep blue eyes. “Leave. Alone.” It was broken, heavily accented, and as good as his language would get until his fluency returned to him.
The demi-god aimed a swift blow to the girl’s solar plexus. It was just the right kind of blow to steal her wind away. She would be alive and aware, but she would be hurting and out of commission while she regained her breath. That would be long enough. He would make it so.
The demi-god dashed off without another delay.
“Screech Owl!” Nightwing had been sprinting after the heroine and the threat when she fell. He broke of his pursuit to tend to the Teen Titan by kneeling at her side. “Screech Owl, are you alright?”
A lot of things happened very fast. The boy did not seem interested in waiting, but neither did he seem interested in killing her. He definitely had the chance. As she lay on the ground trying to catch her breath, the image of his eyes kept returning. They were like miniature tempests, swirling with lightning. Suddenly, Nightwing was there, asking if she was okay. She nodded quickly and pointed behind her as the boy ran from sight.
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