The car pulled away from the parking lot as Harry waved at his friend's parents for one last time. He felt the gentle force of the acceleration pushing him back into the seat leathers, slackening his belt and oddly making him feel more at ease. The skyscape of London passed quickly by, and he lost himself in it, pondering. Absentmindedly he shifted his attention to Big Ben, saw the minute hand shift, and sighed.
Thankfully he didn't have to do any chores, now that he had help. Still, that was strange enough, being able to order his things to order themselves. When he was younger, that kind of thing was his wet dream, and now it had come true. What a wondrous thing freedom is, he thought. What a shame it is that most of us squander it, was his next thought, and as a light English drizzle swooped in and covered the windows in tiny transparent droplets, he became more glum.
Meanwhile, Herm was chatting with Owen about dinosaurs, pteranadons and things. While it was slightly interesting, Harry felt that he had better things to do. He pressed his nose up to the cold window, taking some kind of pleasure from the slippery touch, and slid his arm underneath his chin to make the weight of bearing his head easier to bear.
"Ever been on a plane before?" Claire asked, noticing his silence and wanting to cheer him up. Besides, she was probably getting a little peeved about being left out of her depth in the present conversation going on.
"No. My uncle would never even let me in the family boat. To him I'm a freak, sent by the devil to ruin his holidays." Harry smiled, but there was no humor in it, only grim hurt, taken with a grain of salt. "I've never been on anything more notable than a train. Just a couple of times, but it was worth the money. Still, I've kayaked around the nearby lakes some, but other than that I really don't have much to tell you." Harry was frustrated because in the middle of the conversation he'd had to tell Hermione to shut up. You see, when he had started talking, Owen had quieted himself and listened. But Herm hadn't noticed that, and of course she'd been babbling on like a small child with her first new toy.
"You'll be fine Harry. We have a special company plane at the airport. I'm sure it will be nice and comfortable. After all, this will be a seven hour flight." added Owen.
"My aunt always complained about how plane trips made her cramped. How am I supposed to know that it's not going to be like she said this time around?"
"Well, it's specially designed. And we have some extra big cup-holders just in case you get thirsty. It's brand new, what would there be to worry about." she was going to continue, but Harry saw his chance and spoke at the pause.
"Hold it there. You've just saved an entire afternoon for yourself by mentioning the cupholders. Where do I sign up for this stuff? Is this why everybody wants to be rich?"
Everyone had a good laugh at Harry's expense, but he didn't begrudge them, because he was too busy looking out the window at the huge constructs peeking over the house roofs that swallowed up the horizon. Five glass peaks scattered the ambient light throughout the rain, creating a brilliant rainbow, or collection of rainbows, since there was one for each of the enormous buildings that Harry estimated could probably hold an entire manor and then some. Occasionally when there was a yard or a park, and the tree cover was not too great, he could see the rest of the enormous airport, as it indeed was. One runway, indicated only by a shimmer of the light reflecting the multicolored light, spanned the length of his vision and perhaps a little more.
His eye was caught by the big airplane taking off from the tarmac, as others jockeyed to take it's place. Suddenly another, smaller jet approached it. From the looks of things, they were on a collision course. Harry waited with bated breath, as he could not tear his eyes away from the impending disaster. To his utter shock and, thankfully, relief, the two planes seemed to phase through each other, the smaller jet pulling up a little before disappearing behind one of the huge main structures.
They were out of the suburbs now, and he could barely make out the cement that seemed to be behind the other buildings, where more planes were piled up, only this time they were incoming towards the facilities. Ah, so there must be another runway there, Harry thought, mulling this over for a little while. It struck him how tiny he was compared to the huge thing, even with his magic to aid him. How had we mere humans made such marvelous creations, he wondered, then shrugged. The wonders of modern machinery. As they grew closer he could make out the many terminals that were continually discharging and taking in passengers. There was chaos, but not so much as there was order, almost like a hive of bees buzzing around their queen, constantly forming and destroying pathways, yet never lost and always knowing what to do. Hermione tapped him on the shoulder, bringing him back to the world of the physical and away from the mental plane.
"So how many sisters does my mom have then?" Harry asked them, rudely shocked out of his reverie. When the adults weren't looking at him, he gave Herm the stink eye, while she just flashed him a cheesy smile, though her teeth were white enough so as not to make it all that bad.
"Well, she has three sisters still around, but they're pretty young. I helped raise them myself. Echo, Delta, and Charlie Raptors, all of 'em." Owen told him more about his pack that he been looking after for a long time.
"Really?" Harry asked him, growing bolder from the new information he had learned.
"Yep. There's a lot of dicey morals that go with changing... well, people, but we have the green light. Besides, we've invited a certain Dr. Henry Wu. He'll help with the transformation." Claire's accent butchered the Chinese, and Herm covertly giggled.
They went through the VVIP gate after taking a roundabout way into Heathrow Airport. Three workers dropped their umbrella's and rushed to take their luggage to the plane, which was sitting on the tarmac nearby, but Harry quite unexpectedly found himself with quite another companion, who walked him past the workers, who were busy moving things into the hold, and into the small laboratory that was incorporated into the private jet.
"Ah, so this must be the long lost Blue. It's nice to meet you Harry." Dr Wu offered his hand to the boy, who shook it with his same earlier gusto, making Wu wring his hands after he was done.
"Indeed." Claire said. "Do we have enough DNA left for our own uses?"
"We do, but this will deplete our supplies. How much should I inject into him?" Dr Henry Wu asked her, turning a small key in his console, then tapping the screen a few times. Two small handles popped up, and Wu pulled on them gently, revealing a pair of syringes, one blue and one orange, marked Subject Blue and Subject Echo respectively.
"Not all that much. We would still want him to retain control during the recuperation process." Claire told him as she stepped back a little from Harry, while holding his noggin.
"Of course." The doctor said, then turned to Harry.
"What's your favorite color?" he asked.
"Dunno. Green I. OW! Dammit. What happened?"
"I've injected you with the DNA, and a special serum. We've timed it so that it won't take effect until we leave Heathrow Airspace. You'll be a little queasy until then."
"And how long will that be?" asked Harry, whose vision was already getting a little blurry on the edges.
"It depends on the traffic. We're VVIP, so probably less than twenty minutes."
Sure enough, the engines started to spool up and Harry could feel their vaguely comforting vibrations rock the plane softly. But the new airplane stood up to the strain, and the actual noise was about as loud as the buzz from a mosquito. He lay down on the floor, raised his hand, and said, "I'm still blaming you for this."
"We are ready to take off when the Conn gives us the go ahead." The pilot told them from the front of the plane, effectively ending the drama.
Thirty minutes later they were climbing to 35,000 feet, with Harry not feeling all that much better, until a sudden pain sheared through his stomach, though nothing was wrong with it. Dr. Wu saw his grimace and guessed what was happening.
"Looks like the process is starting. Stand by, this might get a little messy."
"And why do I feel like there's a xenomorph trying to break out of my body right now?" Harry said sarcastically, though there was a tinge of worry in his tone.
"Normally, it would be relatively painless, but for you there were... accentuating circumstances. But I can help with that."
He placed a mask over the boy's face and pressed a few buttons on the console. What a wonderful thing to have, thought Harry, as there was a sound like the opening of an overshaken soda can, then a prolonged hissing, forcing nitrous oxide into his lungs and making the world go dark. And yet, as he was leaving the conscious realm, he couldn't help but hear a new, kinder voice, different from all the others.
"My son. I cannot wait to speak to you, once more." The voice said to him, just as his world went dark.
That chapter two Beta'd and redone by Blackberry Avar.
Who I must say thank again for the story being beta.
That all for now
J.W Raptor Blue Is The Best.
