Larissa hurried home, as she was running late. Her day with the others had gone for longer than she had wanted, and hoped she was not too late. Though when she arrived, panting from her exhausting flight, she saw she didn't need to fly with haste at all, because no one was home. This brought a smile to her face, seeing that she was not the one late, but Will was. But what she forgot to do was look in the upper part of the hollow, where Will waited. Once she was up there, she saw him facing the other way, and all she could was stand frozen, hoping he did not see her.

"You're late" he stated without turning. She remained quiet, standing still, as if he had not spoken at all. Then, he turned around. But his look was not stern. Instead, it looked calm. "But that doesn't matter. At least your home." She let out the air she held in with a long whoosh and started to make her way to him. That's when she saw the other macaw sitting across from him, sipping water out of half a nut shell.

"Good evening, Miss. We were just speaking of you, and by what William here said about you, I see that his sight in superb, for he was certainly correct about your beauty." He gently took her wing and planted a kiss on the end, causing Larissa to blush slightly. "It is wonderful to finally meet you, Larissa." She looked at him in confusion.

"Just out of curiosity, who are you?" The guest shook his head lightly.

"Oh, how could I forget? Where are my manners?" He held out a talon towards her, inviting her to shake it. "You may call me Stalk. Think nothing of the name, for it is only a name, and I'd rather not speak of how I came to own it." Larissa accepted the shake, and was surprised by how powerful his grip was. "I believe you have met my sister, Mema?" Larissa nodded, finally knowing who this was. "I hope she is not too much trouble. She can be quite a handful, or should I say 'talon full'." He made a light chuckle at his own joke, and Larissa giggled. William only smiled.

"No, she hasn't given us trouble. We are happy to have her as a guest. And it's good to see you are well. When I saw you, you were in really bad shape." She could picture the badly injured macaw as if he was in front of her, bruised and swollen in areas, with scrapes and cuts in others, with a wing bent in an unnatural way. But now, he was healed, or so he seemed to be.

"Well, it seems to be getting late, so I should be off. Wouldn't want to worry the nurse birds." He went on his way out, though just before leaving, Larissa called him back.

"Wait! Why don't you stay here for the night? I'm sure Mari wouldn't mind." He stopped in the middle of the branch, a smile crossing his beak.

"Are you sure? I don't want to be intruding on anything." She nodded her head. "Then, it would be an honor. I should go find Mema first, though." With a worried look in his eyes, he looked ahead into the forest, wondering where she was.

"Allow me. I know this place better, and should find her quicker. Besides, you're injured, and shouldn't be flying too much." Larissa left before another word could escape his beak. But it was for the best. She was right, and it meant he could talk to William more. But then Will came rushing out, a sense of alarm on his face.

"Sorry, but I have to go out for a bit. Make yourself feel at home." He left without another word, and then Stalk was left alone. But this gave him another idea. With a devious smile, he went inside the empty hollow.

Will soared towards the 'safe house' tree. Just before he had left, Fortune has sent him an urgent message. He arrived shortly after to find Fortune outside of the entrance into the tree, with a Scarlet macaw held in his grip. Will could easily see the macaw was resisting, kicking back into the owls lower chest while he used his wings to try to pry the owl's wings from around his neck, but it had no effect on the tall bird. The macaw's expression was a mix of panic and frustration, and Will could see he was tiring.

"I caught him inside, and he held something. But he refuses to reveal it to me" Fortune reported to Will.

"Why should I? I don't even know you!" the macaw protested. "And if you think I stole it, I can tell you right now that I didn't! I was just fins=ding a place to put it!" the macaw said, attempting to explain himself. The intruder caught a glimpse of Will, and that's when he stopped, only staring at the blue macaw below him. He murmured something, but it was too quiet for Will to hear.

"Fortune. Let him go" Will ordered. Fortune complied, and dropped the macaw, who then face planted on the hard wood of the tree. At the same time, a cylindrical object came sliding out from beneath him. Fortune stepped over the bird on the ground and picked up the object. He looked closely at it, then in an instant, he was running inside. "Wonder what it was" Will thought to himself. He looked down at the scarlet on the ground and reached down with a wing. The other macaw only stared at it. "Well? Do you want some help up?" The macaw grunted before taking his wing. Will pulled him to his feet and stood there as he brushed himself off. "Sorry about him. He can take things a bit too literal sometimes."

"A bit?" he asked, a skeptical look on his face.

"Okay, maybe more than a bit, but he mean's no harm by it." He changed from being peaceful to demanding and decided he wanted some answers. "So, what were you doing inside that tree?" Will suddenly demanded. The macaw was caught off guard by the question. He had expected it, but not this early on.

"Um...something" he answered, rubbing a wing along the back of his neck. Will crossed his wings, tapping a talon against the wood. "Look, it's none of your business, okay. So I'll just be taking back what's mine, and then be on my way-"

"Not so fast. You aren't leaving, because one, no way you are getting that 'thing' back, and two, I want answers. If you want, we can go back to my place instead of being out in the cold." Will gave him time to think, waiting patiently. Eventually, the macaw gave in.

"Okay, fine. We'll go to your place. Take the lead, and I'll follow." Will let loose a smile and headed off with the other close behind. "By the way, name's Jack. Jack Ryder."

They soon arrived, and Will went in first. But something was off. Stalk was nowhere in sight.

"Stay here" he said before fully going in, leaving Jack at the entrance to peek inside. "Stalk? You still here?" At first, there was no response. Then, he heard Stalk's voice.

"Yes. I'm coming now." A few seconds later, he came walking down from the upper part. "Just having a look around. You did say to make myself feel at home." Will let out a quick sigh of relief and motioned Jack in.

"Stalk, this is Jack. Jack, this is Stalk. Now Stalk, do you mind if we have a bit of privacy? I need to have a talk with this other bird here." Stalk nodded respectively and left back to where he came. "Now, Jack. You are going to answer every question I have for you, and you will answer honestly. Understood?"

"Hey, if there's one thing I'm good at, it's honesty. Ask away" he said enthusiastically.

"Good. So, firstly, what were you doing?" Will asked.

"Hiding the thing I had. Next question."

"What was the object?" Jack stayed silent for a moment, looking around as if to see if there was no one else around before leaning in towards Will.

"It contained a serum. Seriously, I thought you would have figured it out, Will." Will's face was full of surprise as Jack spoke his name, which he had not told him before. At least not to his knowledge.

"How do you know my name?" Jack rolled his eyes, grinning.

"Just as I thought. Don't you remember me, Will? Back when they had us? Back when we were...human?" It soon all came rushing back to Will. The cage he had been trapped in. The serums they injected him with. But most of all, the prisoner next to his cage. He could see his face now, and matching it up with Jack's face, they had one major similarity.

"His eyes. I remember those eyes." Will looked at him in disbelief. "Jack? Is that really you?"

"You bet." Will managed to crack a smile, but then a wave of questions rushed in.

"But...but how did you survive? The last I saw of you was when the place crumbling down." Jack sat down, and motioned Will to sit as well.

"It's a long story. I'll tell."

Several Years Before...

The metal walls bent as the surface above was hammered by some great force. Smoke rose to the ceiling, making it near impossible for the two macaws below it to fly. One was a blue macaw, and the other was a Scarlet macaw.

"We need to get going!" the Scarlet yelled. "Or this is going to be our final resting place!"

"I know!" the blue macaw yelled back. "Just keep going forward, Jack, or it will happen!" Jack darted forward with Will close behind him, only just narrowly missing a piece of the ceiling crushing them. "That was too close." The blue macaw watched where they had just been, thinking about what could have happened. Jack pulled him back as another piece fell before him.

"Get moving, Will!" Will snapped out of his trance-like state and ran ahead. Jack tried to keep up, but stopped when he saw the door above their path. "Will! Stop!" But it was too late. Will stopped, and looked up, but couldn't move in time as the door fell. Jack saw him dive, though that was the last he saw of his friend. "WILL!" He waited there, looking for any sign of movement. But when the rest of the ceiling began to groan, he made his way through a vent on the side, watching the ceiling fall behind him. Then, he was encircled by darkness.

Present day...

"I barely made it out alive. But once I did, I waited at least an hour for you to come out. Then some humans came by. I managed to hide from them as they passed. That was when I made the assumption that you wouldn't be coming. So I left. The question is, how did you make it out?" Will shrugged.

"Your guess is as good as mine. I must have blacked out. But it's good to see you're alive." They shared a friendly hug, then started talking about other stuff.

Zeel's eyes inspected the object closely through the screen. He frowned at it as he saw his guess was correct.

"I'll be there in a day's time. If that was found close by, then no doubt they will be too. Tell no one. Not even William." Fortune saluted Zeel, then the screen went black for the last time.

Hope you enjoyed. And the new OC, Jack Ryder, was suggested by another reader. See you all next time :)