Chapter Text
“Quiet!” The mugger shoved Patton harder against the brick wall of the alley, his arm against Patton’s throat, blocking his windpipe. Patton let out a squeak of fright, but fell silent when the mugger growled threateningly.
“Now. No more funny business. Wallet, now.”
“H-here,” Patton stammered, reaching into his pocket with shaking fingers. “Just t-take it, and leave me alone–aah!” he let out a cry of pain as the mugger shoved him roughly to the ground.
But his bottom had barely hit the pavement before a great *whoosh* filled the alley and a dark figure dropped down, tackling the mugger to the ground. Patton scrambled backwards, staring in awe at the giant pair of black wings that now filled his vision. He knew those wings, he had seen them before, once when he had witnessed the mysterious winged figure rescue a family from a high-rise apartment building that had been on fire, and once when he himself had been on a city bus that had lost control over a bridge and nearly fallen into the river. The winged figure had swooped in, stopped the bus from falling, and once first responders had ensured the bus wouldn’t drop into the water, he’d carried the passengers to safety.
Both times, Patton had tried to talk to the mysterious figure, and while he’d gotten a short response out of the man when on the bridge, it didn’t take Patton’s reporter instinct to tell that he was a man of few words.
So it was a bit of a shock when, after the mugger was left unconscious on the ground, Patton’s cryptic saviour turned and approached him, holding out Patton’s wallet to him.
“Here,” he said, his voice low and muffled behind the hooded mask he wore.
“Thank you,” Patton said, breathlessly taking his wallet and clutching it to his chest.
“Are you alright?” the figure asked, watching Patton carefully, and Patton nodded.
“I’m okay, I think.”
“You’re sure?” his rescuer pressed. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”
“No,” Patton said. “No, not…not really. He just…shook me up a bit.”
The figure nodded, and turned to leave, but something in Patton made him call out “Wait!” and he paused, looking back over his shoulder.
“I…” all of Patton’s training went out the window as he tried desperately to think of something to say to the man who had quite possibly just saved his life, for the second time no less. “Will I see you again?” he asked, and bit back a groan.
Nice going, mr. senior reporter.
The winged man was still for a moment, and Patton was about to open his mouth to apologize, when he spoke.
“…Perhaps. Goodbye, Patton.”
Then, with a *whoosh* of his wings, he was gone soaring up over the city and out of sight. Patton stood staring at the spot where he’d been for what was probably too long to be considered normal. He briefly wondered why the figure knew his name, but he supposed that any person who watched the channel ten news often might recognize him.
His phone dinged with a text from his roommate Virgil, shaking him out of his stupor, and he fired off a quick reply before taking a deep breath and walking out of the alley and into the sunlight.
“It was amazing, Virgil!” he said later when recounting the story. “He swooped in out of nowhere, like some sort of…I don’t know, guardian angel…hey, that’s not such a bad name idea, actually…the city’s guardian angel…and he just took out the mugger like that, it was incredible!”
“That’s great, Pat,” Virgil said with a small smile.
“It’s just so nice…that someone is out there doing that for other people,” Patton continued, staring into his cup of tea thoughtfully. “I don’t know if I could be that brave.”
“Oh, don’t be silly Patton, you absolutely could be,” Virgil said. “You are that brave, don’t let anyone tell you different.”
“Really?” Patton asked, looking up, and Virgil smiled.
“Really.”