Levi tried to ignore the gunshots. Whatever had happened, security would be on edge. Any hopes he'd had of pirating information slipped out of his hands. Well not every hope. He had a mask in his pocket and slipped it on. His wings concealed, he walked towards the security guard at the door. As he walked, he marked a pistol and knife on the man.
"Excuse me sir. I've been sent with a message for Lloyd." He made sure the guard was looking at him before his hand shot out with lightning speed and pulled the man's pistol from its holster. There wasn't even time for the man to react. He kicked out one of their legs and bashed him in the head with the pistol handle. They started to fall back. Levi caught the guard's shirt before he hit the ground. They were still conscious, if only barely. Levi grabbed his jaw and jerked it. "Look at me. Damn it. Look at me... Blackbird's coming for you." He didn't give the man time to react to his threat. A second strike from the pistol slammed down with the sound of a hammer.
Levi checked the guard's pockets and came away with an antique flip phone. The night was still relatively young. He took the passing of a police car as a sign to head home. Tomorrow he'd figure out how to hack into the phone and ferret out all the information he could. He started down the street, drifting like a specter in the empty streets. Once he was sure no one had followed him he spread his wings and took into the air with a deft beat of the metal.
Air screamed into his ears as he leaped into the air. He wasn't in a mood to enjoy the flight, so he threw himself forward with powerful beats of his wings. The air whistled through the gaps making him sound like a hellish fighter from the old black and white films he'd watch with Eric. The small boy had always teased that Levi would enjoy them more when he was older. That assumption was wrong, but the memories were sweet all the same.
His eyes clocked a man running through the alleys, he considered swooping down to investigate. On another night he might have, but not this time. Not a second later the figure was swallowed by the night and Levi swept onto the street in front of his apartment. The lights were still on. He checked the time. 11:02, it was still relatively early, but every other soul had already sought out refuge from the night. It was quiet inside the apartment complex; the only sounds were the muffled scuffles of life hidden behind paper thin walls and the measured click of his shoes on the concrete. The silence was anything but comforting. He made a point of walking to his flat with quick steps.
"How'd it go?" Nora asked from the couch. Wisps of translucent gold danced between her hands as she sat on the couch watching an early 21st century anime. He sometimes wondered how she'd picked up the habit.
"Not great. But we'll figure it out tomorrow." He took his jacket off and shoes and immediately went to the bathroom for a shower. The hot water came inconsistently, sometimes dropping temperature or slowing to nothing but a dribble. Slowly it reached some equilibrium with the rest of the plumbing, but he was practically done by that point. As he shut off the water and dried his scarred skin, he let his wings return to his back. The thousands of metal shards that composed the wings came drifting towards him, returning to their remembered forms. The first few settled onto the slots in the center of the back. Thousands of feathers drifted as one current to fill their places. Once all the smaller feathers had found their places, he consciously pulled back the sixteen medium feathers and fit them into their places. Each concealed a hidden gland that could fire a projectile at faster speeds than a Barrett M82. Lastly, he called back the four largest feathers - the ones he used most - each was some three feet long, normally, but could be molded to some five feet long.
He let one of the metal slips hover in front of him for a moment. When he'd been fourteen, he'd let Kayla and Peter each draw a symbol on the metal. The drawings hadn't lasted even a month, but sometimes he swore he saw stains left by the ink. How stupid.
The sound of the television still buzzed in the room, somehow nostalgic. Nora was still glued to the screen, but she kept the lumes dancing between her fingers. They were beginning to slow; a few strands didn't cross the gap between her hands.
"Nora." She made a noise in response, but her eyes didn't move. "Focus on your output. Your form is getting messy." She nodded. Despite the lack of an answer, she fixed her form. It was one of the things Levi appreciated about his apprentice. At times she would lose track of her thoughts, and it wasn't rare for her to zone out, at least that was how it looked. In reality she was constantly looking for ways to improve. She took his corrections to heart. It was yet another reason he'd chosen her over the supposed ace of her year.
He walked into the kitchen to make himself a small meal. By the time he was finished Nora had fallen asleep on the couch. He set a blanket over her and quietly sat down at the kitchen island. The noodles he'd made were a comfort to eat; it was his master's recipe. They'd been Kayla's favorite. The thought turned his meal sour. He polished off and cleaned the bowl before heading to sleep. Nora was still motionless in sleep, but the blanket had slipped off. He rested it back on top of her. Her resting body shifted and in a drowsy murmur she said. "Please don't go grandma."
He ignored the comment, or tried, and soundlessly entered his room. Guilt was growing in his chest.
"I'm sorry… mater…" The words came out as a mumble, and the guilt remained strong in his chest. Before the night took him, he found himself wondering what had caused the disturbance at the casino… He would investigate the mystery later.