Authors' note- Hi everybody, Strykeruk here. I'm going to be honest. I lost interest in this fanfic for a while. I am really sorry to anyone who waited for another update. It was a combination of writers block, life problems and simply not being motivated that stopped me. However I hope to make it up to you now with this new chapter and hopefully more to come. So please read on and enjoy :)
After their laughter had finally stopped Janet and Nico composed themselves, wiping tears from their eyes and breathing deeply they supressed the odd giggle.
"Oh man." Nico said "nothing like a good laugh to start the day." Looking over at Janet he noticed her fresh appearance. "Hey Janet you're looking good today, what's the occasion?"
"The occasion oh brother of mine is that some of us like to look presentable." She retorted, looking pointedly at Nico.
"Oh how you wound me!" Nico cried in mock horror.
Rolling her eyes Janet saw Pedro still dripping with water. "At least Pedro washes."
Before he could help himself Nico snorted with amusement but clamped his beak shut to avoid laughing.
"What?" Janet asked wondering what she'd said. She looked to Pedro who sighed and briefly explained what had happened, only stopping once when Nico indignantly corrected an attempt to portray him as the aggressor. When Pedro was finished Janet looked at Pedro sternly.
"Oh come on! It was just a joke." Pedro said defensively.
"No wonder Nico doesn't lie in" Janet responded. Knowing Nico must have been smirking behind her she added a little barb to the comment. "I mean really Pedro he needs all the beauty sleep he can get."
"Hey!" Replied Nico. Above them Frankie was still watching at what was happening and was thoroughly enjoying the back and forth banter down below.
"Well to nip this argument in the bud then." He called down, making them look up at him in surprise, as if they'd forgotten he was there. "It appears that the first order of business for us is getting Nico to bathe."
"Oh come on guys" Nico said seeing the conspiratorial looks between the three other. Before he could decide on what to do Pedro and Frankie flew at him. He jumped away but Frankie was able to tackle him thanks to his speed boost from falling. This sent them both spiralling off the tree branch where they hit the leaf covered ground winded. Frankie rolled off him but just as Nico managed to stand up a torrent of water poured onto him. Whilst his bottle cap protected him from most of it he was still drenched. Gasping, Nico took off his bottle cap to clear the water off it and his face but instead found another burst of water hitting his head, completing the soaking. Looking up slowly he saw Janet hanging onto the edge of a giant leaf that had clearly been full of water until a moment ago. Scowling he watched as Janet glided down to hover about a meter away from him whilst Frankie and Pedro sate of to one side grinning madly.
"I thought you just told Pedro off for trying to get me wet?" Nico said accusingly.
"Nope, I told him off for disturbing your sleep. Nothing wrong with drenching you whilst you're awake and therefore, fair game." She grinned at her brother's annoyance knowing that she should enjoy it whilst she could as he'd inevitably find a way to get her back.
"Well now that Nico's impromptu bath is over, what's the plan for the day?" Frankie asked
"What do you mean?" said Nico as he carefully replaced his cap onto his head.
"Well Janet here has a free day since the clubs are all preparing for carnival and since neither of you two seem to be in any hurry" he pointed at Nico and Pedro "I'd guess the same is true for you."
"You'd guess correctly my man" Pedro responded jumping up from where he'd been sitting down. "And I for one need to chillax before the big partay tomorrow. Therefore I cast my vote for a trip to the beach."
"Now that's an idea I can get behind." Nico said cheerfully. "How about you two?" He asked looking at Janet and Frankie.
"Sounds good" Said Janet "But I'm going to grab something to eat first" Seeing Nico about to pipe up she quickly added "Don't worry only a light snack, I'm not going swimming on a full stomach. I'll only be a few minutes behind you." She glanced at Frankie since he was the last to decide.
"Sure I'll come too, I just need to pack up and lock up" he said gesturing to his chair and hollow. "You never know who's going to go through your stuff." Frankie was a bit paranoid about his hollow, apparently something he'd picked up from his days in New York. Nico, Janet and Pedro thought it a little excessive how secure his place was, especially Pedro. One day he'd decided to try to prank Frankie the same way he did Nico and had spent the next two hours hanging upside down from a rope trap attached to Frankie's ceiling before being found. Needless to say he'd left Frankie's hollow well alone after that.
"Well come on then!" Pedro eagerly shouted, grabbing Nico's wing before taking flight in the direction of the city. Janet chuckled whilst Nico just shrugged his shoulders and followed Pedro. They were both quickly out of sight and Janet turned back to Frankie.
"I suppose that's my cue as well" She said.
"Sure, I'll catch you in a bit." Frankie responded before flying back up to his hollow entrance and grabbing his chair. Janet just stretched her wings before taking flight and heading off towards Rio.
XXX
Nico and Pedro flew together over the city of Rio towards the beaches. The city below them was full of people and cars, even more than usual because of the sudden influx of visitors for Carnival. Despite that Nico knew it was only going to get more crowded as the day wore on and tomorrow arrived. Just as they were nearing the beach and flying just above the cars they heard a commotion ahead. Slowing down they noticed it was a small crowd of partyers who were holding up some traffic as they crossed the road. Never ones to miss a quick bit of fun they both landed on a crate in the back of a small jeep that was at the front of the traffic and right next to the music. As Pedro bopped to the beat Nico tapped out a rhythm on his bottle cap and sang along to it although it wasn't what would usually be qualified as singing. Spotting movement they both saw a birds head pop out from below and look at them. They both realised at the same time that the crate was in fact a large cage.
"Hey" Nico said grabbing his cap and plonking it back on his head. He and Pedro both flew down to the side of the cage where they could better see the other bird.
"Tudo bom?" Nico said which seemed to quickly fluster the other bird who bent down to grab something whilst mumbling words. Looking at him Nico thought he looked a lot like a macaw like Victor and Felipe except he was entirely blue. Popping back up the macaw had a Portuguese dictionary but before he could actually read anything he dropped it out of his cage. Looking sheepishly back up he started gesticulating wildly.
"Uh, I, am not from here." He said, over pronouncing each word.
"Hey Nico, he's a tourist" Pedro said gesturing at the other bird.
"That's funny." Nico said raising an eye "you don't look like one."
This seemed to catch the other bird off guard. "Really? I, I don't?"
"Except you got pigeon doo-doo on your nose" Pedro said pointing at his nose and cringing slightly. Nico had assumed it was sun-cream and looked at Pedro oddly before checking the other bird again.
"Oh, oh no, this is just SPF 3000" the blue macaw replied whilst quickly rubbing it off his beak.
Nico flew over to the cage and clung to one of its bars figuring the bird was harmless whilst Pedro sat in the corner of the cage window.
"So, are you here for Carnival?" Nico asked rolling his cap across both wings before plonking it back on his head.
"Oh, actually I'm here to meet a, uh, a girl." The macaw replied shyly.
"Ah, a girl" Nico said propping himself in a corner.
"Yes" Pedro said knowingly. Looking at the macaw Nico realised this guy would need a lot of help.
"Little word of advice, you make the first move." He flew over to Pedro who quickly faced away. "Brazilian ladies respond to confidence" Nico said twirling Pedro round and getting him to fall backwards.
"Oh, right." The blue bird seemed unsure.
"Yeah!" Pedro said, bursting back to life. "It's all about swagger, you got to pump out that chest, swing that tail" He gave helpful but hilarious demonstrations. "Eyes narrow, like some kind of crazy love hawk" Pedro finished off with crazy attempt at a hawk call.
"But first we got to bust you out!" Nico interjected.
"Wait what?" the macaw said.
"Yeah, I'm gonna pop that cage open like a soda can!" Pedro said doing kung-fo moves in the air with Nico obligingly letting him kick his cap up slightly.
"No, no, no, no, no" the macaw started to say before Pedro launched himself at one of the bars with a shriek. Despite repeated attempt he was unable to even bend the bar.
"You call that popping?" Nico asked in dismay flying up to him.
"Phew, this thing is robust" Pedro responded panting slightly at the exertion.
"No, no, no guys that's okay really, the cage is great. Love the cage." The macaw said hugging the cage bars which kind of creeped Nico and Pedro out.
"Va bom, suit yourself" Nico said realising the traffic was about to get moving again and that the Macaw would have to stay in the cage he loved so much. On that not he decided to move.
"Hey don't forget, love hawk" Pedro added before following Pedro.
"Good luck" Nico called in Portuguese which he saw the bird puzzle over and call something back just before they got out of sight. He shook his head in dismay.
"That guy is gonna need some kinda luck to get with any girl, but our advice should see him straight though. He's just gotta channel the inner love hawk." Pedro said which made Nico raise his eye slightly.
"What?" Pedro asked "It works for me"
"If he's got a love hawk it is seriously repressed." Nico said before waving his wings as if to clear his head of the matter. "But, back to the matter at hand, that beach is tantalisingly close" he added looking at the waterfront only a stone's throw away.
"And so is that hot dog stand" Pedro noted before charging ahead.
"Wait what?" Nico said in surprise "Pedro!" he shouted in dismay before zipping after him as fast as he could.
XXX
Janet zigged and zagged between the various buildings of Rio in one of the more affluent areas. Several of the buildings had substantial gardens and there was one in particular that she was headed for.
Quickly the garden in question appeared ahead and Janet quickly flew into one of the large bushes inside the perimeter fence. Looking through the leaves she could see her goal, a large bird-feeder shaped like a doughnut which was currently empty. The garden was quite popular thanks to two things: One the owners were allergic to cats and made sure to keep the garden free of them, and one of them also happened to be a bird enthusiast who made sure to always have some food ready. Most birds simply guessed at timings but Janet had tried to figure out the schedule for the re-fills.
Her effort was quickly rewarded when a young man walked out into the garden and, unscrewing the top of the feeder, proceeded to pour bird food into it. Despite some spilt seeds he was quickly done and hung the feeder back in the branches of a tree before walking back most of the way and sitting in a chair patiently. Waiting for a few minutes Janet realised he wasn't going anywhere so she carefully started to make her way towards the feeder. Despite her best efforts bright yellow is not the most subtle colour and she was quickly spotted.
About halfway to the food she saw the young man's eyes fix on her but to her relief he simply stayed put. With stealth now pointless she simply flew the rest of the way and latched onto one of the openings on the feeder. She froze when she saw the man move slightly but relaxed when she realised he was simply turning a camera on. Quickly she turned back and looked at the opening seeing dozens of seeds and nuts in the feeder. Grinning she quickly tucked in and started choosing her favourites. Having satisfied herself she shot another glance at the young man who seemed content to simply watch. Deciding to say thank you for the food she dropped off the feeder and performed some aerial acrobatics much to the mans obvious surprise before flying out of sight over the gardens walls and off towards the beach. As she looked back she realised her timing had been perfect as several other birds were started to squabble over the limited feeding space.
XXX
(Warning, violence (the reason for the T rating))
"This is hopeless" Thought Jericho as he flew between the walls of another set of rundown buildings. He'd yet to find anything about his quarry despite their supposed fame. Birds in the city were either clueless or simply uncooperative, either way his temper was starting to fray and he was beginning to regret agreeing to ask people nicely. alighting on a small, shaded roof he decided to get his bearings and energy back. As he leaned against the edge of the roof he heard several birds landing behind him.
"Hey! Whatch ya doin on ma roof?!"
Turning around Jericho saw quartet of birds standing around him. They were all different species but had worn and rough looks and clearly weren't the kind who you'd want to meet. One of them who was slightly taller than the others and was clearly the one who'd spoken angrily stepped towards him.
"I asked you a question boy". The bully was obviously used to getting his way and was grating on Jericho's few remaining nerves. However he decided to try the nice approach one last time.
"I was simply resting and will be gone soon. However I don't suppose any of you know of a young canary by the name of Janet?" He said softly and in his best behaviour voice.
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't." Replied the bird in front of him, however the glimmer of recognition in his eyes that he'd failed to hide had sealed his fate. One way or another Jericho was ending his search.
"Tell me everything you know." He asked hoping the bird in front of him would be smart for once.
"Well my memories a little fussy but a little payment would surely help. That fancy claw of yours would do nicely" he said dashing Jericho's hopes and gesturing at the intricate set of talons on Jericho's left claw.
"No" Was Jericho's only response all vestiges of civility gone.
"I'm not sure that I was asking" the bird quickly motioned to his accomplices who launched themselves at Jericho.
Waiting till the last second Jericho pivoted away from the wall before placing a claw on the back of the first assailants head and using his own momentum to make him crash into the roofs wall. He then used that same momentum to push himself upwards and slam his clenched metal talons into his second assailants jaw in a vicious uppercut. He then brought his claw downwards using gravity and it's weight to crack onto the final birds head and make him land on the roof with a thud.
Moments after the fight had begun it was over and all three assailants were unconscious in a pile on the roof. Their leader stood slack-jawed whilst he struggled to comprehend what had just happened. As Jericho landed slowly and advanced towards him however he snapped out of it and fell over backwards trying to get away as his scrambled towards the roofs edge.
Looming over him Jericho locked the claws of his metal talon around his throat drawing small lines of blood which began to stain his feathers.
"Now where were we?" Jericho pondered his voice menacing and promising no mercy. "Ah yes, you were going to tell me everything."
XXX
Frankie finished the final set of his homes security and looked around his hollow which seemed normal if you weren't observant. Satisfied that it was in order he turned and slipped out of a small hidden hatch in the back of his home before replacing it's leafy camouflage and setting off for the beach. He knew the others thought he was paranoid but he'd learnt long ago that being prepared was well worth the effort and it had only been Nico's intervention and their first encounter with each other that had saved him. He'd even helped Rafael with a few simple traps, although whether to protect his home or himself from his kids he wasn't sure. Grinning he put thoughts of the past behind him and enjoyed flying through the warm air that drifted in from the sea and seemed to encourage him towards his destination.
Hey everyone, that was the chapter and it was a little short but I needed to get the old creative juices flowing again ;) Anyway please leave a review or favourite my story if you liked it and as always if you have a question feel free to PM me. I hope to get another chapter done in less time than this one, although that's not saying much. I look forward to seeing you next chapter.
Strykeruk out.