A/N: Just in case you forgot, I will be referring to Percy by whatever name Raven has given him. As of last chapter Percy is known as Daniel. I hope that's not too confusing. Oh, and also remember that Percy will be acting a little OC because of his memory loss.
Disclaimer: Last time I checked neither of these books belonged to me and I don't think that has changed in the last day or so.
Chapter 9 – Do or Die
Daniel did not remember the man in front of him (not really a big surprise), but he was definitely uneasy around him. The man had done something to him. Maybe he was the one who had headed the operation that had resulted in his wings. Daniel wasn't really sure, but his wings did seem to ache just a little bit more at the sight of him.
Daniel noticed that the Erasers had backed up so that Raven and he faced the man alone. This scared the new bird-kid; if the Erasers were nervous, this should definitely sound some warning bells in his head.
"Subject D-5, Subject A-22, I am so glad that you were able to join us," the man said in a silky voice.
"As if we had a choice," he heard Raven mutter next to him. Daniel couldn't help agreeing with her sardonic attitude.
"What was that, dear?" the man asked good-naturedly.
"Nothing," Raven said, flashing a surprisingly brilliant smile that did not reach her cold eyes. "I was just surprised that the king of this crazy, whacked-out place would be ever so kind to grace us with his presence. We are surely honored, Dr. Stephen Matthews."
The sarcasm was practically dripping off her words, and Daniel had to stifle a sudden urge to snicker when he saw the man's left eye twitch ever so slightly.
But the devil recovered quickly from Raven's obvious mockery. "Ahh, Subject A-22, you are as spirited as ever," he drawled without a hint of annoyance. If Daniel didn't know any better, he would have thought that Dr. Matthews had given a sincere compliment.
"Really, Matthews, why are you here?" Raven said, all playfulness gone.
"Doctor," the man corrected as if talking to a child. "Doctor Matthews."
"Whatever," she muttered.
"Well," Dr. Matthews began, sounding happy. "I thought it would be appropriate for me to explain what you are doing today. You are probably wondering why both of you are here. Are you not, Subject A-22?"
"Crossed my mind," the bird-girl grunted conversationally.
"I am sure you have noticed D-5's new improvements."
Daniel felt sick when heard his current state referred to as an improvement. Raven growled next to him.
"He will need help to learn how to use them properly. That is where you come in A-22. What better way for him to learn? I certainly remember you had trouble learning on your own."
The operation had left Daniel drained. There was no way he could possibly get himself up in the air with so little recovery time and Raven's next actions showed that she was fully aware of his unfit condition.
She advanced a couple steps towards the doctor, quickly closing the gap between them. The Erasers made a move forward, but halted when the doctor's raised hand told them to stop.
"You really are crazy," Raven growled dangerously low so that only Dr. Matthews and Daniel could hear her words. Raven was pretty tall for her age, but even she had to lift slightly off her toes so that she could get right in the doctor's face. "You know as well as I that he is not ready to train yet. He's barely recovered, and he doesn't even have the eel DNA to power his wings. How do expect him to—"
"—Fly?" the doctor finished. "I'm impressed that you were able to pick up that he had no eel DNA. Then again, you would have been able to sense a change in his electric field. Right, A-22? You must have taking a liking to the boy. I have never known you to take an interest in someone so quickly."
"He's a thousand times better than you or anyone else in this prison," Raven snorted. "But don't change the subject. How 'bout answering some of my—"
"—Question? Don't worry, A-22. The boy will have sufficient strength and energy to power his wings." The doctor glanced over Raven's head to give Daniel a very knowing look. "He is quite the special case. His body will have sufficient energy and adaptability to use those wings."
"How do you—"
"—Know?" the man said. "I know a lot more than you. Let us just leave it at that."
Daniel was confused by the whole conversation. Raven was right. How was he going to be able to power his wings? Raven had explained why she had eel DNA, but what about himself? How was Dr. Matthews so sure that Daniel would be able to fly? As of right now, Daniel did not feel as if he could lift his wings, let alone fly with them.
"Shall we begin then?" the doctor's voice snapped Daniel out of his musings. Dr. Matthews walked around Raven and then stopped abruptly as if he had another thought. He looked straight into Raven's eyes and said calmly, "You have five minutes to teach D-5 how to fly. After that, I will have the Erasers come out for a little extra encouragement. The whole training ends when the boy flies."
Raven looked furious. "Five minutes!" she sputtered. "You—"
"Fear is an excellent teacher, my dear," the doctor said before leaving the room with the Erasers following and casting malicious grins at the two unfortunate bird-kids.
Daniel was about to buckle from fear. He wasn't sure what was exactly going to happen, but he knew he wasn't going to like it.
Raven on the other hand was livid with barely contained rage. Her companion could literally see small sparks flying off her body.
Muttering to herself, Raven walked over to a small hole in the wall that Daniel hadn't noticed before. It looked kind of like one of those old fashion mail slots. Raven stuck her arms into the hole, and when she took them out again, the straps and rubber gloves were gone.
Raven walked over to Daniel, and her eyes softened when they fell on his terrified expression.
"Hey," she said. "Daniel, just listen to what I say, and you'll be fine."
Daniel certainly did not feel fine, but he nodded.
A second door opposite to the one they entered slid open, and Raven motioned for him to follow her through.
Daniel took a deep breath and stepped onto the other side.
He took in the whole area in one glance.
It looked like a huge arena minus the stands where the fans would sit. Where he was standing was a flat, dirt-covered area that was completely empty except for Raven and himself of course. The walls surrounding the area reached to about 12 feet until they turned into metal poles that crisscrossed to form a huge metal dome that reached up to about another 100 feet. The arena was probably the size of a football field, and the walls were covered with several doors that probably led to more god-forbidden places. Directly across from him, Daniel could see a dark tinted window where he guessed the scientists were snug, waiting to watch the show. Daniel was sure that hidden cameras were spread out in this place, recording his every move to be later analyzed.
"Okay," Raven said. "We have five minutes before the Erasers come out. Pay attention to how I move and do exactly what I tell you to do. These wings are now a part of your body. They work just like how your arms and legs would work. Once you get going, allow instinct to take over. Whatever bird DNA they planted in you should give you enough instinct to help you get started."
Raven's words seemed to meld together into more incomprehensible blurb of nonsense syllables, but he tried to take it all in, knowing that her instructions could be a matter of life or death. Taking deep breaths to try and clear the roaring in his ears, Daniel cleared his mind and then nodded so that Raven knew he had heard what she had said.
"Watch what I do. I'll try to go slow." Raven gave him one last reassuring look (which didn't look all that reassuring) before spreading out her black wings.
She had a short running start before she leaned forward, her body tensing to lift off the ground. Daniel watched wide-eyed as Raven gave a powerful downward trust (Daniel could have sworn that sparks had appeared at the tips of her wings with that movement) while simultaneously jumping easily into the air. Raven continued to stroke the air powerfully with her wings until she had gained altitude. She circled once before landing gracefully, showing off years of practice.
"So what do think?" Raven asked. Daniel could tell she was nervous, and he understood why. He didn't know how much time they left before the five minutes were up, before the Erasers came in to give him a little "encouragement."
"I—I—" Daniel swallowed, trying to regain his voice. "—I can't do this."
"Look, Daniel," Raven said in a voice that didn't leave much room for arguments. "I know that this is sudden and not something you would consider natural. But the School doesn't give us much of a choice. And if you're afraid of heights—"
"No," Daniel cut off. "It's not that."
"Then what is it?" Raven glanced at one of the many doors, looking as if she expected it to open any second, which it might just do.
"It's—it's—" Daniel didn't know how to describe it. He knew he had been in the sky before, but not like this. Now that he thought about it, even the idea of going into an airplane scared him. It wasn't the height that would come with flying that made his body shake in terror; it was something about the sky that practically screamed hostility down on him. He couldn't explain it, but everything about flying in the sky felt so wrong like some danger was waiting for him up there.
Daniel was torn. Staying on the ground was certain death, or at least a very bad mauling. But going up in the air also seemed like a very bad idea. For some reason, the sky seemed off limits to him, and the memory of the story of the winged-kid who fell was certainly not helping his confidence.
Obviously the scientists had grown impatient, and a warning light went off next to one of the doors that was slowly opening.
Raven's eyes widened when the doors began to slide open. She grabbed Daniel's shoulders and looked right into his eyes.
"Daniel," she said sternly, gaining his full attention. Her eyebrows were furrowed together in determination. "I am not about to let the Erasers get you. I will do everything I can to keep them away from you, but Matthews was serious. This won't end until you fly. You need to at least try."
The doors were fully open, and three Erasers prowled out towards the two waiting bird-kids.
Raven released Daniel and said, "Go to the other side of the arena. Start there and I'll try to keep the Erasers off you as long as I can."
Daniel was about to argue, but Raven's look cut him off. He nodded. The only way he could help was to fly.
Before turning to meet the Erasers, Raven gave one last look of encouragement and called, "Good luck, Daniel. Don't die on me yet." With that, she turned to face the Erasers.
Daniel stared at his fellow bird-kid for a moment. Her hands had come alive with electricity, a blindingly bright light that seemed to have come from nowhere and everywhere at once. It pulsed with its own life and circled and danced protectively around Raven's arms.
He would have spent the rest of the day watching this wild wonder, but a howl from an Eraser brought him back to reality.
Daniel dashed quickly away, praying to some unseen force that Raven would be okay.
Fly, he told himself. How in the world was he supposed to do that?
He stopped for a moment and raised his dark wings like he had seen Raven done. They still hurt to move, but they responded instantly, and after testing them for a while, he found they were easy to maintain control.
Now to fly… Easier said than done.
The next few breathless moments shall not be described much, except that it had consisted of many failures.
The new bird-kid could only get a couple of feet off the ground before gravity reminded him of who was in control at the moment, and each failure added to the apprehension growing in the pit of his stomach.
After another failed attempt, Daniel picked himself off the dirt floor, disgusted with himself. Raven had made her flight seem effortless, like the air had simply picked her up and supported her all the way up to the arena's outer limits. He, in complete contrast, clumsily jumped, tried a few feeble flaps, before finding his face being reintroduced to the ground.
The battle behind him was definitely not helping. Daniel could her sounds of Erasers' yelps and Raven's screams. He didn't know if they were from pain and anger, but he did know that the longer he took, the more likely Raven was going to get seriously injured.
A particular vicious shriek from an Eraser made all the hair on the back of Daniel's head stand on end. Without thinking, Daniel reached into his grimy jeans and pulled out a… pen? For a moment, Daniel stared at the object in confusion, wondering why he had it and why he had pulled it out. There was nothing special about the pen, no markings or anything. So why…?
Another howl cut through the thought. Angry with himself for getting distracted, Daniel slipped it back into his pocket and focused on trying to fly.
Daniel raised his wings once more and prepared to give himself a running start.
Suddenly, pain exploded in the small of Daniel's back, and he felt himself tumble painfully across the dirt until he lay sprawled a few feet away, slightly winded.
The Eraser was on him before Percy had time to comprehend what had just happened.
"Hello, freak," the wolf-man growled, his disgusting breathe blowing vehemently right into Daniel's face.
Something clicked in Daniel's mind for a moment, and Daniel lashed out, still in his position on the floor, towards the Eraser's legs. The Eraser, not expecting to encounter resisted, easily fell when he found his legs buckle beneath him.
Daniel jumped easily to his feet and attacked the Eraser without much thought. He felt the familiar movements of hand-to-hand combat come to him, and he managed to get in a few good, solid punches that would definitely leave their mark later.
The Eraser eventually realized what had happened and pounced at the bird-kid. Daniel's mind went into auto drive for a second, and he felt himself smoothly side step so that the Eraser barreled past his opponent.
The second time the Eraser approached more cautiously.
Circling each other, the two opposing hybrids exchanged blows in rapid succession. Daniel matched every one of the Eraser's hits, just as he countered every one of Daniel's blows.
This wasn't going to last. Daniel felt like he could easily outmaneuver the Eraser's bulky body, but the Eraser was ruthless and had amazing strength that Daniel could not hope to keep up with. Already his arms held several bruises from where he had stopped the punches from hitting something more vulnerable. His only advantage besides his more agile body was his wings. If only he knew how to work them…
Daniel barely dodged another blow, but didn't have time to congratulate himself when the rough paw of an Eraser connected with his shoulder.
The boy screamed out in pain. Turning around, Daniel saw a second Eraser advancing towards him. Both Erasers had twin smiles on their faces, which stretched their already strange faces into grotesque masks.
Daniel backed up, keeping pace with the Erasers who moved slowly towards him as if they had all the time in the world.
"Get away from him!"
One of the Erasers crumpled, howling in pain as a sudden burst of electricity coursed through his body.
Raven appeared from above him, and Daniel got a glimpse of her eyes, which startled him when he saw the difference.
He couldn't see the whites of her eyes or even the pupils, instead her eyes held an eerie purple-white light that glowed in beat with the electricity that spun angrily around her body.
She hovered right above the Erasers, taunting them with her currently unreachable position. "Come on, boys," she snarled down at them. "It's not fair to gang up two on one."
The two remaining Erasers howled up at her in frustration, and one made an astounding leap towards the bird-girl.
Raven clearly wasn't expecting the Eraser to jump or even reach her, so as soon as the Eraser made contact, both bird-kid and Eraser fell heavily back towards the earth.
The missing third Eraser soon joined the skirmish, and helped the first one in relentlessly beating up the fallen teen.
Seeing Raven fall like that, Daniel ignored the growling Eraser in front of him and charged the two on top of Raven. He managed to rip one off of Raven, but as soon as he did, the Eraser turned and began to snap his fangs dangerously close to Daniel's exposed skin.
Fly, you idiot. Daniel thought he heard Raven's voice in his head. But that was impossible, the bird-girl was currently wrestling with the other Eraser on the ground, so she couldn't have spoken, and yet— Fly! I told you not to die yet!
Instinct.
Daniel's wings snapped open, and the Eraser was tossed back in a surprised daze. With a single downward thrust, Daniel felt himself lift upwards.
It was wobbly, but it was better than nothing.
Following through on that action, Daniel forced his wings to pump downwards again, moving out of the reach of those snapping jaws.
He sensed something to his right and saw that Raven had joined him.
His mind went numb for a second, and he felt himself slip back towards the ground.
Noticing the loss of altitude, Raven grabbed his arm and propelled both of them further upwards.
"Move your wings, idiot," Raven yelled at him. "I can't keep both of us airborne forever."
That sent a mental kick into his brain, and Daniel began moving his wings again, hesitantly at first, but with a scowl from Raven, he began to pump his new wings with more power.
Now that the wings were supporting him completely, Daniel felt pain rack his body. His body was not used to the additional appendages, and they were still recovering from the injuries he had sustained from the operation. But the pain he felt in the air was much more preferable than the pain he would experience on the ground.
Daniel looked downwards and gasped as it suddenly clicked that he was flying. He was in pain, still scared out of his wits that fire was going to rain down from the heavens, but he was flying.
An alarm sounded and the Erasers retreated through one of the doors with disappointed growls.
Daniel looked at Raven, slightly envious of the ease in which she kept her body in the air, while his own body seemed to want to pull him downwards with gravity.
Then he saw all the wounds that littered her body. She had several scratches across her arms and legs. Her right cheek was bruised and would probably be swollen by tomorrow. A wound above her eye had yet to stop bleeding and she had to close the eye to keep the blood out.
At the sight of her wound, Daniel became aware of the damage he had sustained from the Erasers. His shoulder was bleeding heavily, and both of his arms throbbed with the many bruises.
Raven turned her one good eye to Daniel. It had stopped glowing and now reflected a dull ache that Daniel felt himself.
"So," Raven said grimly. "You're flying, Daniel."
Daniel looked down once more. He was presently hovering a good 50 or 60 feet off the ground. He was covered in his own blood and hurt more than when he had started. Erasers were somewhere on the other side of the wall, howling for his blood. Just outside the arena were a bunch of scientists who were celebrating his success and planning more tests.
"Yeah," he answered, his voice hollow and devoid of any joy or sense of accomplishment. "I'm flying."
A/N: If you didn't catch the hints, the reason why Percy does not need eel DNA like Raven is because of his demigod blood, which I'm just assuming makes him far more adaptable than regular humans.
~Bluesky21543
