Jack, with increasing panic, tried to force his wings to carry him backwards, which only failed spectacularly for him as he lost his balance.
Purely on instinct and desire not to drop from the sky again, his hand reached for a small cloud beside him.
Instead of his hand passing through it like any man would expect, something else happened entirely.
His hand held the cloud as if it were solid. It was very fluffy and comfortable to the touch, but Jack had no time to think about how much a cloud would sell as a bed.
Unknown to him, his pegasus magic, responding to his volatile emotions, flowed through him with purpose as the cloud that was beautiful white turned black in an instant and enlarged slightly in very cartoonish behaviour.
The cloud then released a lightning bolt, striking the plane in the middle, breaking through the glass at the front, and burning the controls while sending the pilot to the dream world with very severe burns.
Jack's eyes widened as he saw one of the planes start free-falling, carrying everyone inside to what he assumed was certain death from such heights.
He tried to force his body to move to do anything to fix his mistake, but only a scream made its way from his throat as a man in strange gear shot him down, the bullet tearing one of his wings to pieces as he started falling in pain.
(Jack POV.)
With a boom sound, one of the plains crashed, tearing a crater in the snow as it finally came to a stop, thankfully without exploding.
But Jack had no time to worry about such things. In fact, his mind was only filled with one thought.
'Pain'
That was all he felt. The fall wasn't actually that bad, even though he was sure he fell from enough distance to send him to the afterlife with a VIP ticket.
He didn't die. In fact, he de only felt his legs and body ache like it was some ordinary fall. It made him understand what Sombra meant about Pegasus being made to handle falls well.
So he assumed that it was thanks to his new body that he wasn't baste on the ground, or maybe the snow cushioned his fall, but it didn't help the agony that he felt as he kept screaming on the ground that was quickly being painted red while he kept trying to look back at his right wing.
He didn't have those wings for long, but he knew damn well that although they look tough is that they are very sensitive, almost to very uncomfortable levels. He learned it when he tried to pluck one of the feathers that seemed loose.
He asked Sombra, his supposed king, about it, and he simply told him to get used to it.
So you can imagine how those wings that made Jack wince if he hit them wrong felt with one of them torn to shreds by bullet fire.
Now, Jack was no crybaby, or he liked to think so, but he simply couldn't stop screaming. It was from how painful it was. He started wishing he lost a hand instead.
A dozen of feets away, one of the planes landed as agents hurried outside, a dozen moving outside to the collapsed plane to extract their comrades according to protocols.
While a few more, with raised rifles, surrounded the screaming and whimpering Jack in a semi-circle.
One of the agents glanced to the sky as he signaled for the circling planes to continue their route to the objective.
Jack, slowly bleeding on the ground, felt his body turn colder as, for the first time since he got his powers, he felt the aching cold seeping through his bones again.
With weakening strength, he simply lay on his stomach, glancing back at the crystal empire direction.
Jack truly believed that this was it, that his fate was sealed. He was slightly surprised to find that he wished to have been able to fly longer.
'My wing is gone…. I would have liked to have them slightly longer'
'Only I can get wings from an obviously magical and possibly secret supervillain king and then proceed to lose them in less than a week… yay me'
The remaining two planes, deeming the matter on the ground contained, started to continue their way to the objective.
Unfortunately, their destination was not in the Crystal Empire anymore. Their objective has arrived personally.
One second, the two planes, a proof of human superiority over whatever subhuman species lived in that city, like that winged human, were making there ways in the sky.
The next second, two mountains of dark colored crystal cut through the air as they grew from the ground with speed that they had no right to have.
One of the planes got completely encased in crystal, swallowed up beyond seeing the daylight again.
The other plane pilot, with far more experience and a touch of luck, was able to tilt the plane to the side, evading the first attack.
But to the pilot increasing horror, the mountain of crystal just kept growing like a snake moving to the side, following him.
With a last scream of horror, the plane was swallowed by crystal just like its predecessor's fate.
The agents on the ground stared in shock and disbelief, most of them forgetting Jack on the ground as they raised their weapons, their hands shaking with disbelief.
Jack, on the ground, felt his mind finally slip into sleep as he saw a figure he knew too well walking between the two mountains of crystal with the authority of someone who ruled the world.
"Oh….. Hi, Sombra… you know? You were right! I did fly….. It was beautiful"
(POV end.)
(Sombra POV.)
Sombra didn't hesitate. His magic flared as he teleported next to his subject.
"I will be back, and this is far from over"
The next second, Sombra teleported Jack and himself near the crystal heart.
The crystals answered his call as they moved and exposed the crystal heart with all its glory.
"Fix him"
Sombra's tone was cold as he pressed Jack's body against the crystal heart. Once he was sure the heart had received his intention, he didn't ask how much it would cost, nor did he care.
He had more important things to do, and the first and foremost was to deal with those intruders who shot his one and only subject from the sky like a bird.
'That was like one hundred percent of his current population!'
He spared a glance at the crystal heart before he teleported back.
With a flash of light, Sombra was right back in the middle of the agents as his already terrifying height started increasing while a dragonic tail made itself known as two horns grew under his crown as he entered his hybrid form, standing a terrifying 12 feet tall with sharp teeth that made him seem like a monster walking out of the abyss.
Yet, to Sombra's surprise, the agents who looked terrified a second ago all became quiet, and instead of running away, simply raised their weapons and started raining down bullets on him like they had forgotten their fears entirely
Sombra ignored the bullets as they fell harmlessly against his scales.
Sombra forced his annoyance down as he walked to one of them and held his face and lifted him up.
Sombra brought the agent closer to his face, staring at his eyes.
The first thing Sombra noticed was some sort of eagle sigil on their clothes, which for whatever reason seemed very familiar.
The second reason was …. He was quite sure that those men were under some mind control.
You see, although Sombra couldn't mind control others due to the limitations forced on him from his card, which was fair since he got a legendary tear devil fruit in return.
But Sombra was one of the best at mind manipulations, from drawing fear to feed his dark magic to making helmets that would control their owner so they would perform Sombra's orders.
Those memories weren't beautiful. In fact, most of Sombra's memories were not beautiful. It was either tyrannical behaviour or rage and making others suffer. Sure, there were some good ones, but that was few and far between.
The point is, Sombra was professional in mind control…
And he could tell that those agents were stripped of their will from a glance.
Sombra imprisoned the man in crystal as he glanced over the rest of the men as his magic answered his will, surrounding all of them in crystal as it literally grew from the ground surrounding them.
In a few seconds, the sound of gunfire stopped.
Sombra crystal wouldn't kill them. In fact, even the planes were just confined in the crystal with the agents inside of them still very much alive.
After all, you can't get fear from corpses, which is why his crystal was very specific in its behavior. Of course, it could kill them easily, but it would not happen unless Sombra actually meant it to happen.
Oxygen? What oxygen? Physics left the table the moment magic was on the table. Maybe Sombra crystals could allow Oxygen, maybe it's some magical nonsense. The original Sombra could not have cared less about his captives suffocating.
Sombra glanced at the dozen of agents, or soldiers, or cosplayers, because he certainly had no idea what sort of organizations used this sort of clothes.
Should he kill them?…. He was about to kill them a second ago, but once he knew that they are mind controlled, it was like a block of ice on the flame of his righteous fury. As much as he wanted to avenge Jack, there was no point in it anymore, wasn't it?
And besides…
If he fixed them, it would be the best possible way to get them on his side!
Mind-controlled? Feeling lost after being free from it? Scared and terrified of being chased down and being forced into being a weapon once again? Want to live and have a new beginning!?
We have it all here at the Crystal Empire, free housing included! All we ask is to bend the knee for the crown, and you are all good!
With much more confidence in his advertisement plan to his would-be subjects, he walked to the first man as he placed a hand on the man's head, ignoring his curses as the crystal allowed the head to spring free.
Sombra's magic hummed silently as Sombra started to examine things more closely.
'There is no magic. Couldn't they even be bothered to use magic? Sloppy work that's for sure.'
What, do they brainwash people and hope for the best?
There were two ways to fix mind-controlled people.
Or at least the only ways worth considering other than killing them.
First is to simply clear history….. There would be no mind control to twist the memories and force commands if there was nothing there to begin with.
It would work with most things unless it was some very powerful magic..
The second was the long route, using magic to fix the problem while making sure you don't end up crippling them accidentally.
As he was deciding what to do, the man whose head was held by Sombra's gauntlet screamed at the top of his lungs while cursing Sombra.
"Hail Hydra!"
"Hydra? What kind of name is….."
Sombra's mind all but went cold as he glanced at the man and then at the sigil hidden under the crystal.
'Is that shield sigil… from the Marvel universe….Oh no no no no no No'
(Pic)
"There is no way, right?….. YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME!"
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(A/N):Dont forget to check on my other works!