I'd go with the second proposition, that the wings were there and Crow unlocked it early. This might even explain Dusk Taker too (Duke, read up the last few pages for a textual free-for-all all about Taker).
Arwya, interesting is an underestimation
Hmm. Using IS but it doesn't look like IS, may well explain a lot of weird stuff. Like Lotus vs Radio, this opens up a possible explantion that Radio's baton
couldn't get cut, he was using IS to give his baton a boost, but not so much that it starts to glow.
A little V13 spoiler since relevant topic: