"I said leave him alone!" Jiah screamed as the scientists dragged both him and his best friend down the corridor. Jiah tried to fight, but every single time he moved he received a punch or a shock from one of the buzzers. Normally it would take a lot to electrocute the angel of storms, and therefore lightning, but these humans seemed to have advanced quite a lot since he was last on the planet. But still he struggled and kicked. "Leave him alone! B!"
"J!" Balthazar shouted, fighting his own battle with three or four scientists. He could hear Gabriel shouting for them. And he shouted back, crying for his elder brother to come and make it all better. "Gabriel!"
"B…B you gotta calm down—ARGH!" Jiah winced as he was zapped again. He felt his knees buckle but he was hauled up by strong, unforgiving arms. "B calm down!...you gotta calm down!" Jiah said this, even though his voice was jittering up and down and up again as the tears threatened to make an appearance and the sick feeling in his chest intensified.
And that was when he saw her, his sister. She looked cold. She looked dead. And for a horrible moment, Jiah thought this to be true. She was being carried by Kruger, Her wings were bent and broken, her face was a deathly white but was stricken with blood and she just looked so…not like his sister.
"F-F…Fervailia?" He said, in a voice that was quieter than a whisper. He shook his head wildly and strained agaisnt the scientists once more, not flinching once when he felt the electricity coursing through his veins. In fact he welcomed it. He felt like this was all his fault. He should have been there for her, He should have been there to protect her!
…He just should have been there.
He watched Kruger walk past them, he turned his head and looked over his shoulder, watching as the man carried his sister back to the containment cell where Gabriel was. Or atleast he hoped that was where he was taking her.
"No! Not in there! Don't take us in there! Jiah!"
Jiah looked back when he heard Balthazar's scream. They were being forced into the room where Kruger had just brought Feathers out of. And Balthazar didn't look very willing to go in.
"Balthers, its ok! I wont let them hurt you! I wont!"
Little did Jiah know…his best friend was thinking the same thing.
…
Gabriel looked up when he saw the door to the cell open. He watched as Kruger practically threw Feathers in and closed the door again. Air locking it tightly. For a second, Gabriel just stared. Stared at the motionless form of the love of his life. She wasn't breathing. Oh god…she wasn't breathing.
Kruger had finished with her. He had done what he needed to do. Got the data that he needed to harvest. And now he had discarded her like a broken toy. Because that was all he really saw them as.
"Feathers!..." Gabriel felt his throat rattle as the cry escaped his lips. He let his wrists hang low in his shackles. "Oh…Feathy…no…"
My Baby girl…
"Fervailia! Please! Don't be dead! This is all my fault! I said we should have just stayed at home didn't I? And now look whats happened. Balth and Jiah are gone..and you're….you're…NO!"
No…
He looked up suddenly when he heard a sound. A small sound, but a sound all the same, a cough.
Cough. Coughing ment she was breathing…and breathing meant she was…
"Feath?" He asked hopefully enough, leaning forward and wincing at the pain in his wrists from those damn shackles. "Baby?"
His prayers were answered when he saw her burst into tears. Although it pained his heart to see her like this deep down he was glad. Crying meant she was alive. ….ish.
"Feath! Fervailia! Hold on, it's okay. It'll all be okay. I'm so sorry, so, so sorry. Please, hang on." Gabriel said, in a panicky, yet soothing voice. "I-It'll all be ok, don't you worry, babe…"
"It'll all be ok..."
…
Erik Kruger was fifteen years old. And if there was one thing that he hated in this world it was his Father's job. Not so much his Father. Only the job that he worked. The hours he slaved. The things he did. Erik hated it. And poor little Caleb didn't understand. Caleb was Erik's little brother. Only a sweet and naïve little four year old. A four year old who had a monster for a Father. But ofcourse, he didn't understand that. But Erik did.
Their mother, Freya, had left them after a row, sometime after Caleb was born. The argument had been, of course about their Father, Joel's, job. One thing had led to another and the next thing Erik knew his mother had packed a bag and left. Four years had passed since that incident. And every second of every minute of those four years Erik had wished that he had picked up Baby Caleb and had gone with her. Even if it did mean leaving Joel behind. When Erik thought about it, he realized that his Father wouldn't care. If there was no family there would be more time to work. More time to do horrifying experiments on innocent birds.
But he hadn't. He had stood there and had watched her go. She didn't even look back. And In a way that one moment had changed Erik Kruger. When his mother never looked back, he did. He looked back over his shoulder at the crib, where his little brother was sleeping. And from that second on; he was Caleb's equievalant of a Mother, a Father, A big brother and a best friend. And little Caleb loved him with all his heart. And Erik had loved him back.
But on this particular day, when he explained to the security guard that their Father was meant to pick them up from school and he hadnt turned up (again) and that they had nowhere else to go, Erik couldn't help thinking that maybe his Father was a bad person.
" 'Rik?" Caleb asked. Ever since the little boy had learnt to speak, he had always had trouble pronouncing Erik's name.
"yeah, Callie?" Callie. As girly as that sounded, that was his nickname for his little brother, and if you took him up about it he would punch you right in between the eyes. Likewise if you ever did anything to his little brother. Scratch that. If you ever did anything to his little brother you wouldn't live to see the next morning.
"is Daddy going to be hurting the birdies again?"
"Yeah. Why wouldn't he be?" Erik asked, shifting his rucksack over his shoulder, and hoisting Caleb's green Power Ranger rucksack over the other.
Caleb shrugged. "Me no knows. My head hurts."
Erik frowned and looked down at his little brother as they walked across the gravel to where the lab was. "What do you mean it hurts, Callie?"
"Hurts." Caleb said, simple enough. Caleb wasn't the type of child that would make things up, so Erik was generally worried.
He decided that he would sit down and look his little brother over when he got into the lab. He tapped in the code to gain accesses to the lab and pushed the door open, leading Caleb in by the hand.
What Erik saw that day changed his life forever.
Humans.
Dad had humans in the Containment cells. But they weren't humans…they were…they had wings. Erik just stood there, his blonde hair hanging low over his eyes, he brushed It out of the way with the side of his hand and just stared.
There was an older boy...was it really a boy? Slumped on the floor with his hands in chains. His head was hanging low, and his long golden brown hair was hanging low. Erik could see another figure. A girl with red hair as red as the blood the covered her body, curled up in a little ball on the floor. She was wearing a beautiful fifties style summers dress…but it was stained with blood. Making it have blotchy red blobs under the fabric.
"R-rik?" Caleb whimpered. Erik didn't move. He just stood there, mouth hanging open in a shocked expression. His Father had just got to an all new low.
Gabriel looked up slowly, the pain in his neck making it nearly unbearable. "You…Kid…" He said, looking at Erik.
Erik jumped a little. The stranger was speaking in a strange language. He didn't recognize it as anything human. He stepped back a little lifting Caleb up onto his hip. Eyes never leaving the other man. The man with wings.
"Kid..please…you have to stop them…they've got our little brothers…please…"
Erik took a shaky breath. "I-I'm sorry…I don't understand what you're saying."
The man sounded so needy…so desperate…so heartbroken.
"Please…" Gabriel tried again.
"I don't understand…"
Caleb wriggled in his brothers arms, and dropped to the floor. He walked up to the thick glass determinedly. Erik rushed forward and pulled him back. "Callie what are you doing?"
"He needs help! His little brother and his friend are in trouble!"
"Callie what are you talking about?"
"That's what he just said! Didn't you hear?"
"C-…Callie he's talking in a different language. You're four years old!" Suddenly, Erik started to think that maybe his little brother was the kind of kid that made things up.
"I'm four and a half. And he needs our help, ricky!"
Gabriel let out a painful little sigh. Great, the only person that can understand me is a snot filled four ….and a half year old kid. Oh, how my heart fills with joy.
Gabriel leant his head back against the thick glass of the cell.
Somebody please give me a candy bar….I feel like death warmed up.
Erik got on his knees and gently placed both hands on his little brothers shoulders. Waiting patiently for the little blonde boy to look at him. When both pairs of green eyes met, Erik spoke.
"Callie, I want you to tell me the god honest truth when I ask you this…"
Caleb nodded.
Erik took a deep breath. I cant believe I'm saying this.
"Do you understand what he's saying?"
…
"Yes…Yes…that does sound like a good test, sir. We have found out how durable the wings are, from the last subject. Quite breakable. But bulletproof?...now there's an interesting hypothesis."
Balthazar took in a shaky little gasp before looking over at his best friend in horror.
"J-J-Jiah…."
Jiah strained against his captives once more. "Don't worry Balth…they aint gunna hurt you, remember?"
Balthazar nodded but still let out a terrified little yelp when the man tightened the straps on his legs and arms. "J…I want Gabe…"
"I know you do…" Jiah's eyes widened when he saw his friend watch in horror as Saxon pulled out a pistol from a drawer. "No…B…don't look at 'im…"
Jiah stepped forward, trying to go to his friends side, but grunted in anger when he was pulled back. "B…don't look at 'im…B…B no…BALTHAZAR!"
The gun was fired at point blank range, the bullet shredded the wing bone in one clean shot. Balthazar's scream could be heard all over the lab.
Erik jumped a little when he heard it, Caleb hid his face somewhere in his elder brother's side. Gabriel tugged at his chains weakly, before slamming his head back against the glass and letting out a strangled sob.
"Balthy…."
Caleb looked up. "Balthy…he's your little brother isn't he?"
"Balthazar…yes…he is." Gabriel whispered, as another painful sob racked its way out. He felt the hot angry tears running rivers down his face…all he wanted to do was run up to his little brother, beat the holy flying shit out of the scientists and wrap his little brother, the love of his life, and the blonde haired angel of storms in his arms and never let any of them go.
Jiah couldn't take this anymore. He felt the anger building up in his blood as Saxon fired another bullet at point-blank into Balthazar's other wing. Balthazar's second cry of pain was quieter than the first, more like a cry more than a scream.
But either way that had been enough for Jiah. Nobody hurt his best mate. Nobody
He could feel the electricity brewing in his grace, he could feel it crackling at his fingertips. Closing his eyes he gathered up all the electricity he could muster, and focused it on one thing.
The Angel Of Storms smiled.
Saxon.
With an angry cry, Jiah forced his hands forward, thrusting 100000 volts into Saxon. Missing Kruger by an eyelash. The death screams of Arthur Saxon where the most disgusting, most pain filled screams that Kruger had ever heard. When Jiah had finally stopped funnelling electricity into the human, Kruger had been reduced to a pile of ash. The gun was resting on top.
Nobody hurts my best friend.
But little did Jiah know…
That was one of his worst mistakes yet.