Well thank god that was over. We pulled into the driveway. Spitfire let me out of the car and led me up to her room where she unlocked the cuffs.

“Thank you,” I said rubbing my good arm with my bad one.

“Hey, you admitted yourself that you enjoyed it,” She laughed.

“Not when you cut off circulation like that.”

“You loved it and you know it.”

I rolled my eyes at her. I looked out the window. It was night time. Spitfire must have noticed too.

“Hey…” she said slyly.

I gave her a look, “Ugh, fine. Just don’t go too far.”

“YES,” she said. She ran back into her room and pulled her shirt off. She pulled a tank top on that had holes cut for her wings. She forced her wings through the holes.

“Alright I’m ready,” she yipped giddily.

We walked into my room and opened up the window. We walked out onto the roof of the house and headed to the side that faced the back yard.

“Now just stay within sight of the house,” I said, “It may be dark but I don’t need anyone to see an angel girl flying around.”

Spitfire stood on the roof flexing her wings, “You keep calling me ‘angel girl.’ What the hell is an angel?”

“Human mythology, a person with wings. Typically messengers and servants of the gods.”

“Oh. Cool. Well let’s see if you can keep up with these moves.”

“I can’t fly remember?”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t watch,” Spitfire winked before jumping off the roof and soaring into the sky.

She flapped her powerful wings and was soon high above. She did a series of flips and dives and other aerial maneuvers. A few times she soared near the house, attempting to buzz the tower so to speak. I watched her. She looked so happy up there. It was obvious that flying came naturally to her. In more than one way I envied her. The freedom that flight gave her must have been exhilarating. The only place I could ever do flying of any kind was behind a flight console with my hands on the joysticks under a glass canopy. Her? She could just get up and go whenever she wanted. She also had the comforting knowledge of knowing who she was. She was a Wonderbolt, flight extraordinaire. The very emulation of flight. Me? I’m a science experiment.

Shit! Don’t get distracted! Spitfire was getting dangerously far away from the house. I stood up on the roof.

“Spits! You’re going out to far now!”

The orange blur out there was starting to become a dot. I had to activate the zoom function in my eyes just to see her.

Shit she was getting really far out, “Spitfire! Come back! You’re going too far!”

Still no response. Ah fuck. I jumped off the roof and onto the patio. Fortunately our house was near the edge of the neighborhood so there were no houses behind us. Only a few trees and bushes. I took off running following Spitfire’s orange form. The trees were beginning to thicken. Aw fuck.

Time to be a ninja.

***

Spitfire flew faster and faster. Celestia it felt good to finally be in the air again. The freedom, the wind, the sheer adrenaline of it all. She closed her eyes and climbed higher into the sky before shouting out in glee and holding at a hover.

“Whoa,” she said to herself.

The view was amazing. The suburbs were laid out beneath her while the city rose up before her. The large dome covering it all hung in the background. Beyond that was the red and orange form of Jupiter.

She heard a noise below her. Rustling leaves. She looked down and saw that something was making its way through the forest to her. Hmm.

She began descending towards the forest floor.

***

I leapt from tree to tree. Coordination this good only came from being a machine. And fucking Spitfire just had to NOT listen. Women. I swear to god they are more trouble than they're worth. And people claim to be happy in a relationship. Please. We all know marriage is another term for ‘Signing your soul away to the devil’.

My night vision was helpful but the radar only went so far in a forest.

Suddenly there was something breaking through the leaves. And now it hit me. Fuck.

I fell of the branch I was on and smacked the forest floor. I tumbled with my attacker.

Ok. Assess the situation. Unknown hostile from 10 O’clock high. Probably one of those Eagle Vultures again. Never did like those things. Ok. What’s best for killing a bird with a wingspan of about three meters? Hmm. SELECT WEOPON. No not a sword, no a knife won’t be good here, ah ha! Bladed gauntlet. That should work out fine. Select.

The liquid metal began to form around my arm in a metallic, platted pattern. Soon a series of serrated blades began to form on my forearm. Perfect.

I rolled with my attacker before jumping away and rushing towards it. These things were incredibly hostile if you got far into their territory. I tackled the thing to the ground before bringing my bladed arm to its throat for the killing blow- and it’s Spitfire.

My arm was close to cutting her throat when I stopped.

“What the fuck Spitfire?!” I said climbing off of her, “I told you to stay within sight of the house! And then when I come looking for you, you dive through the trees like a banshee? Holy fuck, you’re lucky I didn’t kill you!”

“Hey!” She said climbing to her feet, “I stayed within sight.”

“Then how come I’m out here? If you can’t stop being so reckless I’m not gonna do this with you.”

She gave a sheepish grin, “Fine. You get so worried about me sometimes.”

“Stop insinuating things.”

She had a sly grin, “What am I insinuating?”

“Oh fuck you.”

Spitfire laughed.

“Come on, let’s get back before the party starts.”

“Party?”

“Oh, uh, tomorrow begins the Summers End Celebration. It’s a mixture of Halloween, Mardi Gras and any other party holiday you can think of all mixed into one. Oh and it lasts for the entire last week of summer.”

“What’s ‘Halloween’?” Spitfire asked.

“Oh uh, well you dress up in costumes traditionally, and uh, there’s trick or treating, wild parties, you know, the whole shebang.”

“Oh like Nightmare Night!”

“Yeah.”

“So what’s Mardi Gras?”

“Another party holiday. But basically, this thing lasts for an entire week. People typically dress up in costumes and well, go crazy I guess.”

“Cool! So that’s what we’re gonna do tomorrow?”

“I don’t know, I guess. I mean, Dane and I always hung out with Gin for the week at her club. I guess we can do that or something.”

“Oh. So what about a costume? You said people dress up.”

“Uh, I don’t know. I typically just pull on my skydiving stuff and go out in that.”

“Well what can I go as?”

“Hmm, I don’t know right now. We can figure it out tomorrow. For now let’s get you home.”

“Alright.”

***

Spitfire stepped into her room. She laughed to herself. Celestia that kid gets so worked up, oh sorry, android is what he would say.

Eh well anyway. So this holiday is a party thing. Hmm, what to wear?

Suddenly she smiled. She ran over to a closet and opened it up to reveal a series of shirts and jackets. After selecting a leather coat she got to work.

***

I stepped into my room. I swear she does this stuff on purpose. I bet she DID fly far away on purpose. Doesn’t she know that she can be seen?

I rummaged through my drawers and closet and found my flight suit. Hmm. Not my usual skydiving suit but since I needed to get another set of wings it’ll do.

I reached into my closet and pulled out my school’s pilot helmet. Yeah, this will do just fine.

I looked at the time. 11:00. I should be getting to bed.

I placed my suit for tomorrow on the dresser and climbed into bed.

***

WARNING. UNIDENTIFIED PROGRAM DETECTED.

CODE FORMAT UNKNOWN.

SCANNING. NO VIRUSES DETECTED.

STATUS… HARMLESS.

FUNCTION… UNKNOWN.

STORING UNKNOWN PROGRAM IN FILE NUMBER 01001100001011100100111100101110010101100010111001000101 – SECTION: FIRE.

BEGINNING WAKING CYCLE.

***

The floor is always a nice thing to see in the morning. Especially when it’s moving incredibly quickly towards you.

Thump. Fuck. This is what I get for not tucking the blankets in last night.

I sighed and pulled myself up onto my feet. I looked out the windows. It was still dark out accept for various strobes and lasers coming from the city. Oh yeah. Summer’s end.

Our town always dimmed the lights during the week of nonstop parties. My internal clock stated it was around 8:00. I stood up and went to my closet and pulled out my flight suit and helmet.

I zipped and sealed the suit before pulling on the helmet and polarizing the visor.

Making sure I looked like a badass I stepped out of my room and went to wake up Spits.

Stepping into the room I saw she had made herself quite at home. Clothes were scattered all over the place.

I carefully opened the door only to have a pair of panties fall onto my head.

I sighed, “Yeah that figures.”

Spitfire herself was sprawled across her bed. Her wings flopped lazily off the side. I stepped over to the bed and nudged her.

“Hey, Spits, wake up.”

Nothing.

“Come on Spits, it’s party time and I don’t want to waste a moment of it.”

She stirred slightly before opening her orange eyes… and immediately panicking and smashing the family jewels with her fist.

I didn’t even let out a noise. I simply collapsed onto the floor.

WARNING. YOU HAVE SUSTAINED DAMAGE TO YOUR TESTICULAR REGION.

YOU DON’T FUCKING SAY? JESUS CHRIST THAT GIRL HAS ONE STRONG LEFT HOOK!

DAMAGE IS MINOR.

IT DOESN’T FEEL MINOR!

REPAIR FUNCTIONS ACTIVATED.

I got on my hands and knees and pulled my helmet off and coughing. I’m pretty sure I got close of coughing up blood but coughing and curling up in the fetal position was close enough.

“Oh my gosh Jett!” Spitfire said, now fully awake.

“Good morning to you to SUNSHINE,” I moaned.

“I’m sorry! I woke up and saw a helmeted face thing there. I didn’t realize it was you!”

WOULD YOU LIKE TO DEACTIVATE PAIN RECEPTORS?

PLEASE!

ACHKNOWLEDGED.

I stood up, now with less pain and suffering.

“I’m fine. I just had to shut off my ability to feel pain.”

“Oh…” She sat up in her bed, draping her wings around her.

Awkward silence.

“Well, time to get up. There’s a party all over the solar system for an entire week and I assume you don’t want to miss it. Right?”

She perked up, “Hell NO!”

She jumped up and pushed me out of the room, “I’ll be right out! I just gotta change.” And the door slammed closed.

Women.

I pulled my helmet back on and walked to Cat’s room. I banged on the door, “Cat! WAKE THE HELL UP!”

A light moaning followed by the sound of a body hitting the floor answered. Yeah she was up.

“Alright I’m ready,” Spitfire said opening the door. My jaw hit the bottom of my helmet.

She was wearing a leather coat with a nice undershirt beneath it. She had a pair of combat boots on. I sort of wondered where she got those but that’s beside the point. She had a pair of baggy cameo pants on. On her hands was a pair of fingerless gloves. Her hair was slicked back with a pair of flight goggles on her head.

She did a twirl revealing her wings emerging from her back instead of being covered like normal. In all honesty she looked a lot like a sexy angel pilot but I would never say that.

“Whoa,” I laughed.

“So what do you think?” she asked.

“You look like a sexy angel pilot,” my mouth said before consulting my head. FUCK.

She blushed, “Shut up you.”

Hmm, I can use this.

“Well it’s true you sexy angel you,” I said.

Spitfire blushed, giving me a look before we both burst out laughing.

Finally we caught our breath, “So you like it?” she asked hopefully.

“I like it,” I smiled, “You look hot,” I joked.

Spitfire turned even redder, “Fuck you,” she laughed.

“Will you really?”

“Oh shut up!”

A rustling was heard behind Cat’s door, “I SWEAR IF YOU TWO LOVEBIRDS DON’T SHUT UP AND GET OUT OF HERE I WILL KILL BOTH OF YOU!”

I turned to Spits, “Yeah we should probably leave now. Cat gets cranky if she doesn’t get her sleep. Have fun at the orgy CAT!”

“You SHIT SACK! That was only once!”

“And that was the night I learned what regret and shame smells like,” I laughed.

“I will kill you.”

“Hey you kill me; you get to replace my billion credit ass.”

“Oh go fuck yourself. Get outta here. It’s a week of partying so go enjoy it anywhere but here. But I swear if you leave this planetary system I will kick your ass all the way to Mars!”

“Fine,” I laughed as Spitfire and I walked down the stairs towards the kitchen. We grabbed a quick something something before walking out the door and leaving Cat to do… whatever the hell she does during this week.

Meh, Off to Gin’s place we go. But first one stop.

We walked down the street. Various people were wearing costumes and uniforms. A few military girls were going… casual. Others were dressed as everything from Spartacus to Marilyn Monroe to even another angel like Spits. Only Spitfire’s wings were real. Others went as demons and other hellish creatures. There were even others who had a few extra limbs. Others had enhanced… other parts of their body. Everything was crazy. People ran down the streets hooting and hollering. Houses had lights and strobes on as parties raged across the solar system. Things only got crazier as we got closer to the city. I could only imagine what downstairs was like. I didn’t even want to think what the inner planets were like this time of year.

Spitfire seemed to be taking it all in stride and had a look of wonder on her face. She laughed slightly as she saw some cosplayers go by.

She ran up to me, “So what did Cat mean by ‘if you leave this planetary system I will kick your ass all the way to Mars!’?”

I laughed, “Oh that’s a funny one. You see last year or the year before, I don’t remember but anyway, Dane and I kinda stowed away on a party yacht and ended up at Saturn by the Friday. Heh heh, fun times. Saturn puts on quite a show this time of year.”

“Heh, I’ll bet.”

We were getting close to Dane’s house when the bastard himself came bouncing down the road literally. Dane was wearing an Assassin’s Creed hood. He ripped a sword from his belt and tackled me to the ground.

“Gotcha flyboy!”

“Not yet asshole!”

I flipped him off and struck a fighting stance.

“Come at me sir!”

He laughed, “There’s not catching you off guard is there?”

“Not a chance in hell.”

“So what’re we gonna do today?” Spitfire asked.

“GIN,” Dane and I laughed.

We all started running back towards my house to get the car.

“Cool wings,” Dane commented.

“Thanks,” Spitfire responded.

As we ran home something caught my eye. A man dressed as Frankenstein’s monster. I stopped.

“Hey guys go on without me, I’ll meet you back there. Dane the keys are on the counter.”

“Alright. Pick you up here?”

“Yeah sure. I gotta do something real quick.”

“Alright.”

I ran up to the man, “Dad, what the hell are you still doing on Ganymede?”

He smiled, “Hey. An Admiral needs a week off sometimes too.”

“On Ganymede? Dude there’s nothing here! Earth is where the real party is at.”

“Well there’s that. But my ship got delayed. Apparently Captain Hawk is a lot more lenient about protocol than most,” the admiral laughed.

“I’ll bet.”

A car pulled up. Dane and Spits.

“Friends?”

“Yeah. Heading down to see Gin.”

Spits rolled down the window, “Jett you coming or what?”

“Yes dear I’ll be right there,” I said before turning back to the admiral, “Sometimes she’s worse than a crazy ex.”

“Really? How so?”

“Well I won’t say exactly but it was something that involved handcuffs.”

“I can only guess.”

A silence followed.

“I know we couldn’t get you or the others a complete set but you seriously need to try.”

I sighed, “Not more of this again. Dad, the fact that I don’t have it doesn’t mean I have to try to get it. They would get in the way.”

“Of what?”

“My life. Do you know how great it’s been to not feel fear or submission or any of the other emotions that fuck up my ability to function? I honestly don’t know how you guys function like that.”

“We get by. But the benefits outweigh the risks. And like it or not, you may develop them naturally.”

“How so?”

“We gave you the ability to adapt and learn new things. It is certainly possible.”

“Well keep dreaming there fella. I’m a machine.”

“Jett, one day you’re gonna meet a girl-”

“Girl’s don’t talk to me dad. In case you didn’t notice I don’t have a left arm. That’s a major turn off.”

“I don’t know about that. That flame haired one seems to have taken a liking to you.”

I sighed, “If only you knew the half of it. But she’s just a friend. Things like that happen when you save a person’s life a few times.”

“As I was saying though, one day you’re gonna meet a girl who will totally blow your mind. She’ll have you by the heart. You’ll be confused and maybe even scared. All those emotions you say you’re better off without will show up to bite you in the ass. The big one you keep avoiding will out balance all the others. You’ll see. It’ll be worth it.”

“Whatever Dad. Listen, I gotta go. Spits and Dane are probably getting impatient.”

“Alright. I won’t keep you. See you later.”

“Till next time.”

I ran back to the car and hopped in. Dane was in the back and Spits was in the passenger seat.

“Who was that?” Spits asked.

“My Dad. He’s Frankenstein’s monster.”

“Cool,” Dane commented, “What’s he up to?”

“I have no clue. He’s probably off to make sure Cat doesn’t go back to that Orgy again,” I laughed.

“What is he even doing here still?” Dane asked.

“I have honestly no idea.”

***

The ride down was normal enough. Though the city downstairs looked a lot like one gigantic club. Lights and lasers reflected off the roof of the Geofront. It all looked we were on the inside of one gigantic disco ball.

We parked the car and ran towards the club narrowly avoiding all the people in the crazy costumes and get ups. We entered the building, found the door again, and climbed the ladder up.

To say that the club was a lot crazier than the last time we were here was an understatement. The place was indescribable. Dancers were going crazy. Crowd surfers and everything. The DJ looked to be having a good time. Things were looking awesome.

Gin’s costume was amazing. Her skin had been dyed or colored or something, I don’t really know what, to a shade of red. She had a pair of demonic looking bat wings sprouting from her middle back just below the shoulder blades, kinda like where Spitfire’s wings sprouted from, not too low but not too high. She had a pair of horns extending from her head. Her hands were pretty interesting too; they had claws extending where the fingernails should have been. The detail she put into the outfit was amazing. Hell, she even put in the extra effort to have a tail.

It was really difficult to tell if the costume was grown or in fact just a costume.

Gin was busy serving drinks to the probably few hundred people that had packed this place. While she looked to be having a good time though her hand was always within reach of the shotgun under the counter.

“Is this place always this lively this time of year?!” Spits had to yell over the loud music and cheering.

“Yeah!” I yelled back, “This is pretty normal this time of year! Though Gin didn’t have the club open last year since we all went to Saturn that year!”

Dane laughed, “Good times, Good times. You remember that old lady?! And the tub of tabasco sauce?!”

“Oh yeah! She got so mad! Dude I thought she was gonna explode!”

“I’m surprised she didn’t!”

“What are you guys talking about?” Spits asked.

“Hey what happens at Saturn stays there girly,” Dane laughed.

Spitfire sighed, “Men.”

We walked up behind the counter again. Spitfire joined us, a bit more comfortable around Gin than she had been the previous meeting.

And then Dane had to be an idiot. He crept up behind her and decided it would be a good idea to scare the living shit outta the bar tender.

Needless to say it didn’t go as planned. Gin screamed and turned rapidly. Dane was too busy laughing to notice a pair of wings and an arrow head tail smack him across the face.

“Damn it DANE!” Gin yelled.

Dane moaned and clutched his face while Spits and I laughed.

“OW,” Dane managed.

Gin put her hands on her hips, “Serves you right asshole!”

“Well sorry SIS. Didn’t know you were a bigger buzz kill than Jett’s aunt.”

“Don’t do that again.”

Dane got up and we all shared a laugh at his expense. In all reality Dane was probably lucky Gin didn’t break something. After being mugged in one of the bad parts of Neptune, she’d decided to learn a self-defense course. And Gin being Gin decided to take one of the hardest one’s in the solar system. High Gravity Krav Maga. A few times we’d had to visit the police station where they were questioning her after she had either broken all the limbs of a potential mugger or shattered their rib cage or broken their back.

She was probably the only person other than another android who had the potential to beat me in a fight. Well there was Spitfire. God knows what training she had taken before landing here.

“So how’s the party Gin?” I asked.

“Going pretty good. No fights, no one’s completely plastered yet, it’s going pretty good.”

“Cool.”

She noticed Spitfire, “Cool get up. I like the wings.”

Spits turned, “These? Oh they’re nothing special. Just a little something I worked up at the last minute.”

“Well they look pretty realistic.”

“Heh heh thanks.”

A silence, if it could be called that in a raging see of music and sweat, followed.

Dane spoke up, “So how about we all stop being sticks in the mud. Let’s PARTY!”

Dane up and left and jumped into the mosh pit of dancers and partiers.

I sighed, “That kid. One of these days.”

“So this is just a week of nonstop parties?” Spitfire asked.

“Yup. Oh and don’t expect to us to go back home at the end of the day. Because honestly I have no idea where the hell we’re gonna end up.”

“Cool. And what about school? What’s gonna happen with that?”

“I’m letting Cat figure that out. For now let’s enjoy the last week of summer before I go back to school.”

“Ok.”

Gin came over with two drinks, “Cheers. To life, love, and the end of the fucking world.”

I just gave her a look that said ‘wat?’ before taking one.

“Amen.”