Anger tinged with unholy anticipation took control of her. Wings sprouted from her back, but not her normal ones. These were leathery, bat-like, mismatched in size but seemingly more powerful. She swooped up into the air and from the roofs and dark crannies of adjacent buildings other winged creatures joined her—faceless devils seemingly carved from jet, moths with death-skull markings, lizards of every size and hue, swarms of insects from the size of ants to dogs. She led them toward the choppers, her black sword pointing the way.

The faster creatures overtook her. She let them, and they bore the brunt of the rocket and machine-gun fire. She swooped low, dodging under the flight of bullets and the gunners aimed at what they thought were the most dangerous targets. And they were wrong.

Saurians and moths fell from the sky in droves as the Angel came in low and unseen under the copters, turned, and came at them from behind. She braced herself in the sky and swung her black sword. It punched through the shiny metal armor of the copter’s tail assembly and the chopper twisted and tumbled in the sky. The pilot of one of the other choppers noticed her and pulled up. She dodged the machine-gun fire coming from the open side door but the hail of bullets followed her as she jinked and twisted in the sky, leading it to fire into the nose of one of its companions. She laughed aloud as the bullets stitched a path across the airship’s fuselage and it spiraled down in a path of death, exploding when it hit the ground.

The pilots of the remaining craft panicked, but the Angel was not going to let them escape. She came up from underneath one, cutting a way into the fuselage with her black sword. She levered the sword to peel back the metal floor panel and pulled herself into the cabin. Inside, four armed men stared at her with disbelief as her wings disappeared and she was among them with her sword before they had a chance to react. She laughed in sheer delight as heads and limbs flew. One got a shot off with a sidearm and the bullet burned her side as it passed by. She stuck her sword into his gut and twisted, laughing as he floundered in his own intestines. The last crewman jumped out the door and fell to his death rather than face her.

Bloodied and frenzied she stormed into the cockpit and chopped left and right at the seated pilots. As the copter dove earthward she hurled herself forward, sword first, and burst through the shattering plastic dome that shielded the cockpit. One of the giant moths banked low and she fell onto its man-sized thorax, took a deep breath, and leaped off as her wings disappeared.