"There you go ma'am, enjoy your-"
*SLAM*
Cody McCarthy flinched as the door stopped just a inch from the end of his nose. Feeling his customer service smile melting away, he glanced down at the crumpled twenty dollar bill in his hand for a nineteen dollar and fifty cent order. What a generous tip.
Hoisting the empty hot bag over his shoulder, he shuffled back out the apartment complex door, running a hand through his unkempt chestnut brown hair as his eyes ached from sleep deprivation. Pausing to watch the police sirens zoom by on the busy city street, he got back into his car and leaned his head against the steering wheel, letting out a great, shuddering sigh.
"You can do this," he muttered to himself, breathing in the stale air of his old car's heating system. "The Haxtech Software rep said you were all but in. Just two more weeks. You can survive."
Straightening back up, feeling just a little rejuvenated, he twisted the key to get the old starter to kick on, and right when the motor roared to life, something massive and green crashed down on the front of his car.
Cody let out a panicked scream and immediately slammed on the gas pedal, reversing into a lamp post and throwing himself against the seat. Stars popping in front of his eyes, he kicked the door open and collapsed onto the sidewalk as steam started to hiss from under the hood. Immediately his stomach turned over as he smelled a putrid, swampy stench from the figure crushing the hood of his car, and as it tried to pull itself free from the metal, Cody felt a heavy rumbling underfoot as a massive figure in shimmering blue horned armor charged up and tackled the green glob, blowing the wheels off the sides of his poor car.
Maybe he was still shell-shocked from the crash, but Cody couldn't help but forget the old Superhero Battle Drills from school and stay to watch as a gooey green fist slammed into the armored figure's face, sending them halfway down the road. The glob monster let out a wet chuckle as it formed into some sort of reptilian shape, then let out a screech as something too fast for the eye to see sped by, the green gluey tendril flopping to the ground.
"Too slow!" came a masked voice as a woman in a purple sentai-esque suit and a billowing scarf faded into view, sheathing a sword. She took her place next to the hulking blue-armored brute as another hero in black and yellow power armor rocketed down, compound eyes on the helmet fluttering in the light. Lifting her arms, she charged blasters on both arms and shot directly into the blob monster. The green mass detonated, leaving a nasty wafting odor and a large rat man in a dirty trench-coat rolling across the street.
"Nein, neeeeein!" the rat screeched and snorted in a surprisingly thick German accent, desperately trying to fix his goggles as he leapt up to his feet. "Schtupid insects! It took me five weeks to collect all that schlime, you clean-shmelling schweinhunds!"
"Your war on the surface world ends today, Junker!" the black and yellow armored leader declared, a barrage of missiles popping up on her arms and shoulders. "Surrender!"
The rat sniffed angrily as his eyes darted left and right before settling on Cody, a wide grin spreading across his face. Before Cody could react, the rat vaulted over and jumped onto his chest, swinging around to put him between the villainous rat and the hero's missile attack.
"We are going for ride, Pizza Boy!"
There was another roar and a screech of laughter as Cody felt himself pulled backwards, something hot singing the back of his shirt as the two of them rocketed off into the sky. Watching the ground lurching farther and farther away, he grabbed onto the rat's waist in fear and looked away, only to glance back at the sound of another jet engine to see the heroic team's leader rocketing towards them.
"Oho, she is brave this one!" Junker said gleefully. "But I have last trick! Ist most devious of all!"
Cody heard a latch, and he felt his heart stop as gravity took hold of him. Watching the hero zoom by to tackle the mad rat, she swung an arm out to try and catch him, but Cody was too far away now, the wind rushing past his ears as he fell down...down...down...
"DRAGONFLY!"
Over the roar of the wind, he could hear the faint sound of buzzing, then just as he was bracing for the sudden last stop, he slowed down instead, landing in someone's strong, powerful arms.
"Got you!"
The voice...it buzzed in the back of his head like a perfect harmony. Daring to open his eyes, he looked up to see slender but powerful torso, clad in green armor, the insect-like helmet glittering like a precious gemstone in the sunlight, gossamer wings rapidly fluttering behind her back. Feeling his heart starting to speed up to match, the hero gently touched down and somewhat clumsily stood him back up again. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw police cars rolling up and the yellowjacket colored hero dropping off the hissing and spitting rat man in front of a befuddled detective, but was pulled back as a gentle hand brushed across his chin.
"You aren't hurt, are you sir?" the green-clad hero asked, revealing an extra pair of arms to go over and check Cody for any wounds.
"N-no I'm...fine..." he reached up to try and push her hands away, but grabbed onto two of them instead. His fingers curved naturally around hers, and she matched the gesture. Feeling his heart beating against his ribcage, he looked up into her helmeted face...and with a soft swish it suddenly flipped upwards.
She was a lighter shade of green then her armor, tiny talons next to her mouth, a flat nose if she even had one and...those eyes. Jet black like onyx gems, but shimmering with a strange sort of light. They were stunning. She was stunning. And it took Cody a moment to realize that they were staring rapturously back at him.
"Ahh...my name is Dragonfly," she said after a moment, her face inching closer to his. One of her gloved hands gently moved across the back of his neck, while his own hand moved up to her shoulder.
"Cody," he managed to get out.
She smiled at him. The prettiest smile he'd seen in his life, as she let out a cute, tiny little laugh.
"Nice to meet you, Cody."
He smiled too.
"Nice to meet you too, Dragonfly."
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