Chapter 1
The night was dark. But lighter than usual. In the shadows, three dark forms lingered silently. They walked against the ruined wall of the destroyed building. Everywhere there was rubble. They continued on, stopping at the sight of movement and the sound of anything. They were even startled by the sound of the wind. Of course, one must be cautious in these times. The front one moved forward slightly, and was almost caught in a spotlight. The source of the spotlight was a large robot called a Sentinel. They hunt mutants, beings that are slightly evolved with special powers. Humanity became afraid of them, so created the Sentinels, which only proved to be their own undoing as well. The entire was at war. When the Sentinel passed the figures, they moved across the road. The figures went from car to car, avoiding being seen. When they reached the other side, they met another.
"Hello there, friends. Come, quickly. We must put our plan into action."
The figures followed the new figure through a ruined building. They noticed the power was still on, since there were lights flickering. One of the figures was underneath a light when it turned on. the light showed a cloaked figure. But the figure was not human. In the place of a mouth was a beak. Wings stuck out from the sleeves and feathers stuck out from under the hood. The light then flickered off, putting the figure back into darkness. When they got to the other end, they saw their target. A small building, covered in lights. One of the figures eyes began to glow, and his sight became enhanced.
"I can see at least three Sentinel guards on our side. Falcon class. Should be easy for us. I'll keep watch." The figure, who is a bird, as are the others, stayed back as the other birds went down the hill. They slid down, leaving a trail of dust being flicked into the air.
"What do we do now?" asked one of the figures. The one she asked was slightly taller than her, and seemed to be in charge.
"I'll cause a distraction. You two move in and get the objective. Then, we exfil." They nodded then split. The leader stepped into a spotlight, revealing himself. When the others heard the shooting, they went over the fence. The female stepped back, giving the other one a perfect shot. He stretched his wings out in front of him, and shot ice from them. He continued till the wall was frozen, which he then smashed.
"Good job. Let's keep moving." They moved into the structure through several halls till they reached a small cylindrical container holding a small chip. "There it is. With that, we can jam Sentinel transmissions. They won't be able to call for reinforcements." As they approached, the female was becoming more and more cautious. "No guards. Something's not right."
"You are correct, mutant." They turned to see a Sentinel. This one was different to the others. It was larger, and looked more like an eagle. He was accompanied by two smaller ones. "Get them!" The two smaller ones moved in, but were blinded by the female bird, who had suddenly let off a light from herself. She turned to the other bird that accompanied her with eyes showing pain. "GO, NOW. I CAN ONLY HOLD THEM BACK FOR A FEW MORE SECONDS. I WILL FOLLOW. NOW GO!" The other bird grabbed the chip and flew out of the room past the distracted Sentinels. He made it out to meet the one that had stayed outside. "where's Angel?" Before he could answer, they heard a scream as if someone died. They knew who it was from. The one that asked tried to go back inside, but was held back by the other two, since the other one came down the hill.
"NOOOO. ANGEL!" They were forced to knock him out or let him die. The last thing he saw was the building explode with his mother inside.
When he awoke, he knew first that he had had a dream. But he also knew that it was no dream. It was the past. A past that occurred only three weeks ago. The device they recovered had indeed worked, but he had wondered if it was worth it. His father had broken down over the loss. When retreating, Boah had been injured. He looked around the small headquarters they had made. It was located in the roof of the old, now destroyed bookstore that his past owner had. She had been killed a year ago. Along with her family. He heard a flapping sound and was approached by Dusk, a small raven. Him and Stalker, a large Great-Horned Owl had managed to escape an ambush, but the rest of the group was killed. They had been found by Blu and Boah two months ago during a patrol.
"Blu, there is much Sentinel activity to the north. But they have not moved towards here. The area around us is clear. They seem to be distracted by something north of our position. Possibly some humans trying to perform a raid."
This news brought hope to Blu. So far, they had not been spotted. He knew that son they would have to leave. I wonder if we will see Cody. He wondered how Cody and his group were doing. His group consisted of him, Lilian, his parents, his daughter and Logan. The last time he heard from them was three years ago. They had been in Australia, but had not sent any updates on their current location. He was worried for them. I hope they aren't...no, don't think of that. He shook off the thoughts of the possibility that something bad had happened to them. He didn't want to think that. Not after what happened to Angel. Angel. Why did she have to die? He felt his eyes begin to water before he felt something wrap around him. He turned around to be staring into the two turquoise eyes that he had fallen for.
"Is something wrong, Blu?" He looked down and shook his head, but knew Jewel saw through him. She knew something was wrong. "Okay. If you don't want to talk about it, it's fine. I just wanted to see how you were doing. I should probably get back to Boah." She turned and started heading to Boah before Blu stopped her.
"Jewel?" She stopped and turned to face him. "Do you think Cody and his family are safe?" That's why he's so worried.
"I'm sure they're fine Blu. We might see them soon. Once we leave here, of course. Or, they might come here. But I know that they are fine. I can feel it." She gave a quick kiss on the cheek and left him there at the entrance of the hideout. Blu looked to Dusk, who looked at him as if nothing had happened.
"Well, Blu sir, I'm going to rest, if that's alright with you." Blu gave a dismissive action to the raven, and he went to his small nest. Blu turned back to the entrance. He looked out into the now darkening sky, and saw a large cloud. He knew that a big storm was coming. He closed the curtain doorway and windows and went to have a rest, hoping the storm won't be too bad. He decided to close any openings and went to rest with Jewel.
Everyone was asleep. Almost everyone. Boah sat in his nest, reading a book using a small torch. The book was about a romance between two young adults who had been forbidden to see each other. They were also total opposites, and had nothing in common. He hoped to find something useful to use with Bia, but with no success. He had begun to lose hope, and closed the book before throwing it away. He held his head in his wings as he let out a desperate sigh. He silently cried to himself before feeling a wing on his shoulder.
"What's the matter, Boah?" He knew who it was from the sound of the female voice. He tried hard to hold his emotions in as he turned to see Jewel. "Nothing's wrong, Jewel. Just a bit tired and bored of laying in this nest. When can I go out again?"
"First of all, in about four days, and second, I think I know why you're upset." He felt his heart rate increase, thinking she meant Bia. "This is about someone, and I won't say who. Just tell me if I'm right."
"Maybe." She gave him an unconvinced look at his answer.
"Do I know her?"
"Maybe."
"Is she in this building?" She noticed Boah becoming more tense, seeing she was getting closer.
"Maybe."
"Is she close to you, physically and emotionally?"
"Maybe and maybe."
"Is she blue?"
"Maybe."
"Does her name start with B?"
"Maybe." She knows Boah thought. I'm doomed.
"Is it..."she moved closer to him so no one else heard.
"...Bia?" He felt himself shaking at her question. He knew he had to answer. He nodded slowly, still shaking. He then went down to the floor and started begging.
"Please don't tell her! I'll do anything, I swear! Anything!" Jewel was going to tell him she wasn't going to tell before he began begging. When she heard what he'll do, she decided to use this to her advantage.
"Anything, eh?" She showed an evil smile down to him, and he instantly regretted it.
"Now when I said anything, I didn't mean anything. Just small things like-"
"I guess I'll have to tell her, because I'm not very convinced." She tried to hide her joy from how fun it was tormenting him.
"Fine, anything, I'll do anything. As long as I don't regret it."
"You won't. Don't worry. Just a few minor jobs. Nothing you'll regret." She gave a little laugh before leaving Boah in his small nest, shaking in fear while he tried to guess of what horrors awaited him the next day.