This is KingOfOwls with your friendly neighborhood disclaimer: We don't own Pendragon or Maximum Ride. Just Eagle, Merc, and Archanium.
Chapter 2:
3
Months before Cloral
Archanium
The School in Death Valley,
California.
Eagle POV
I groggily opened my eyes to see the top of my dog crate. I stretched as well as I could, which wasn't very much, considering that I am 6'4", and my wings are 19 feet across.
Yes, wings. I am an experiment at The School, an illegal genetic testing facility in California. I am 4% Snow Owl, Resulting in large wings and feathers on my ankles, sort of like tail feathers. I hated the people who did it. The Whitecoats, as we call them, say that it's in the name of Science. But they love what they do. They enjoy our pain. They should be locked in cages. They had no right to do this to us.
I looked around to realize that it was dark outside of the small, dark window. I looked around, but I couldn't see anyone. I took a deep breath. "Anyone there" I questioned, before excruciating pain tore through my throat. I cried out, clutching my neck, and vaguely realizing that my voice was different. Sharper, like a hawk's.
That must have been why they took me. To experiment on my vocal cords. At least I was better off then the time when they experimented on the famous Iggy, part of the oh-so-famous Flock. They experimented on his eyes, and now he's blind.
The flock are a group of Human-Avian hybrids, all 2% bird, who were broken out of the school 4 years ago. They are legends. The ones who got out. I wondered if that's what happened to my friends.
We were a group of assorted hybrids, who were all in the same room. There were about 10 of us. But a few weeks ago, some of us were taken away and never came back.
The rest of us figured that they were "retired", which basically meant killed and dissected. But we held out on the thin hope that they had been released, as the other option… couldn't be an option.
But, now I was alone. The last one. I numbly wrapped my arms around my knees and stayed that way until I fell asleep.
When I woke up it was night again, but there was someone standing in front of my cage. I automatically tensed and said "Who's there?" The person leaned down, and I caught brief sight of a dark-skinned woman's face as she unlocked my cage. "W-who are you" I stammered. If a Whitecoat walked in, we would be killed. She looked at me for a minute, before saying, "Follow me." I hesitated for a second, before realizing that this was my chance to get out. I followed.
She lead my through the halls, walking silently but quickly. As she passed through a moonbeam I got a better idea of what she looked like. She was tall, thin and dark-skinned, and was wearing some kind of leather armor that looked like the kind of thing that you would wear in a desert. Slung across her back was a 6 foot long stick, slightly thinner in the middle then on the ends.
I followed her, noticing a few unconscious bodies on the ground. I figured that they were her work, but sped up a little bit just in case they weren't and there was something dangerous on the prowl.
We finally found and exit, and for the third time in my life I took a deep breath of cool, fresh air. She continued walking until we found a rock outcropping, which she walked behind before stopping.
"You are the one called Eagle, correct?" was the first thing out of her mouth.
"Yes. Who are you? Where did you come from? Why are you-"was all that I got out before she cut me off.
"My name is Loor. It is not safe here. Take this and go to the town of Stony Brook, Connecticut, and search until you find a large, abandoned house. It will glow when you find the right one. Go inside and go into the basement. I will meet you there and explain." She said, before holding something out to me. It was a ring. I took it and opened my mouth, but before I could say anything, she turned around and vanished into the night.