Chapter 19- a partially successful rescue attempt
The macaws and cockatoos stood or slumped in their cages in the dark, stale room which was only lit by shafts of moonlight shining through the windows. The poachers and their pets had all gone to bed after Lysandre's review of the poaching plans and had left the birds down here with the unpleasant and cruel cloak of hunger, fright and despair covering them. Levi and Aurora were hysterical while the others were badly shaken and frightened, especially the chicks, and Nigel's song had certainly done a good job in adding to the weight of that cloak as well. While all the macaws were murmuring with their stomachs continuously growling and also shuddering at the shadowy surroundings, Athos turned to Phoebe, Cobalto, Zebedee and Indigo and saw Phoebe clamp her beak onto the padlock of her family's cage.
"How are you doing with that, Phoebe?" asked the male scarlet macaw. Phoebe continued biting down on the padlock in an attempt to break it but it wouldn't even crack. Giving up, she released the padlock and slapped a large wing against the cage door.
"That thing is tougher than a coconut shell, honestly," muttered the hyacinth macaw, "It wouldn't even crack, much less become unlocked."
"Then we'll never get out," groaned Zebedee.
"We're stuck here forever," moaned Indigo.
"Oh, don't be so melodramatic, Indigo," said Cobalto trying to comfort and encourage her and her brother, "We'll find a way out somehow."
The two hyacinth macaw chicks both groaned while Aramis looked on.
"We've just GOT to, Cobalto," he muttered, "I'm still disturbed by that disgusting cockatoo's song. It certainly didn't do Chlorophyll and Petunia any good."
Cobalto and Phoebe turned and saw the two great green macaw chicks in Esmeralda's wings, disturbed looks plastering their faces.
"It didn't do any of us any good," snarled Blu bitterly.
"We had to put up with that foul song when we were held captive by Nigel's group while we were chained together," put in Jewel.
"Did you?" asked Zephyr. Blu and Jewel nodded. As Zephyr said this, a cat-shaped figure continued quickly approaching them. Catina was now around a few metres away from her feathered friends but before she could take another step toward them, her sensitive ears and acute hearing picked up some sounds. A brief but frustrated hiss escaping her mouth through her teeth, the calico dived into hiding back behind the trash bin. The sounds, which were the sounds of flapping wings, also reached the ears of the macaws and cockatoos, alerting them. Travis looked around, his yellow crest fully raised as he became nervous.
"Now what?" he asked bitterly. Sunset, Eustace, Milo and Rosa also looked around at the darkness, their crests fully raised as well. The macaws shot wary glances in all directions as well but could not find the owner of the flapping wings. Then the flapping wings stopped, replaced by the sound of two clawed talons touching the floor. This sent shivers coursing through the birds' skins all the more.
"Who is there!" shouted Athos, his red feathers raised hostilely. Ruby had her wings protectively around Alexandre, Poinsettia and Spinel, eyes warily scanning the dark surroundings. Porthos, Aramis, Phoebe, D'Artagnan and Travis and their families also looked around while Zephyr and Lapis Lazuli had their wings surrounding their chicks and Levi, Aurora, Blu, Jewel, Carla, Bia and Tiago scanned the dark surroundings, eyes full of bitterness or fear. Carla, Bia and Tiago were shivering and huddled together in one corner of the cage.
"Please don't get suspicious or hostile," said a voice, making the group jump, "It's only me."
The caged birds all continued to look around until their eyes landed on a grey and ivory falcon as it approached them. Upon seeing the bird of prey, the macaws and cockatoos took up defence positions. From her hiding place, Catina looked on, fur puffed out as she watched the falcon approach the caged group.
As the falcon melted out of the darkness and into the moonlight shining through one of the windows, to the prisoners' surprise, its face did not bear a look of scorn and mockery like the other poachers' pets especially Nigel, but one of remorse and sympathy. The falcon also appeared to be dragging something behind it. However, the macaws and cockatoos had their feathers raised in distrust.
"What do you want?" growled Athos suspiciously, his wings spread protectively across Ruby and his chicks. Zephyr had Justin Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil hugged close to him while Lapis Lazuli had Tristan and his siblings huddled close to her. Porthos and Orquidea had their wings protectively surrounding their sons and Ariel, as did Aramis, Phoebe, Travis and D'Artagnan and their mates and chicks. Only Carla, Bia, Tiago, Jewel, Levi and Aurora were exempt for they were in separate cages from the other macaws, and they watched the falcon warily with Jewel also with bitterness, as she approached the group. The falcon, a female then stopped. She had a large bag behind her and Blu deduced it, to his surprise, to be a bag of fruit.
"Who are you and what do you want?" asked Athos again. The falcon then lifted a talon and slashed the plastic of the bag, tearing it open and spilling its brightly coloured contents all over the floor, her eyes closed in remorse.
"My name is Cometa and I'm going to feed you lot," she said, picking up a piece of mango, "I'm really sorry that my group had not bothered to do that job. I imagine you lot must be famished by now."
The macaws and cockatoos did not know how to reply to this, but when the chicks heard Cometa mention 'food', their heads popped up. Carla, Bia and Tiago eyed the bag of fruit Cometa had just torn open. However, some of the adults were still suspicious.
"Shall we accept the food from that falcon, Athos?" asked Aramis as his chicks Chlorophyll and Petunia became excited.
"Wait," growled Athos suspiciously, "What if that falcon might be trying to trick us?"
Then he snarled at Cometa, "Is this some sort of trap you're trying to lead us to!?"
"If it is," put in Jewel acidly, Blu looking on unsurely, "I'm gonna SKIN YA ALIVE!"
Cometa flinched at the angry shots of comments from Athos and Jewel.
"I-I-I'm not tricking you," she begged, "I'm only gonna feed you. Now p-p-p-please trust me because if you don't, your hunger is going to increase and you're gonna end up weakening, especially your chicks."
Levi and Aurora looked up at Athos, Jewel and then at Lapis Lazuli and Zephyr as Justin, Tristan and their siblings eyed the fruit behind Cometa.
"We have to," said Levi as he stomach rumbled again, "I'm already feeling weak and if we don't eat, we're gonna collapse sooner or later."
"Especially our chicks," said Aurora as she gazed at Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil and the other chicks. Because they were still growing, chicks needed plenty of food, especially the hyacinth macaw chicks Zebedee and Indigo due to their species being larger than the other macaw species. They were about to enter a growth spurt anytime soon and must be fed quite a lot to help them through it. Furthermore, the strength of the caged birds was fading and Cometa could see that. D'Artagnan then began to protest to the suspicious adults including Travis and Sunset to trust Cometa as well for they had no choice, Levi and Aurora joining in. At first the others did not listen but then relented.
"Alright," said Athos to D'Artagnan, Aurora and Levi, "But I want you guys to know, she might be tricking us because she is one of those poachers' falcons. If that is true, you lot will be the ones to blame."
"That's right," put in Zephyr, making Aurora and Levi back away, "After her comrades refused to feed us."
Then when Cometa saw that it was safe to approach the macaws and cockatoos, she began to drag the bag closer to them. However, she was particularly wary of Jewel, her face in its bitterest expression and cerulean feathers flared out like the fur of a cat whenever it got angry or felt threatened.
As soon as Cometa was in front of Athos and his family's cage, she quickly took out some fruit, a few mango slices and some berries, and passed it through the bars of the cage. The moment she did this, Alexandre, Spinel and Poinsettia went ballistic.
"Whoa, kids, DON'T," began Ruby but her three chicks ignored her and dived at the food the moment they were inserted through the bars. As the two sisters and brother began to wolf down the fruit pieces, Cometa turned to feeding Athos and Ruby. Next to the scarlet macaws, Ariel, Azul and Wilbur became excited and converged to the nearest point of the cage to Cometa, eyes fixated on the fruit.
"Whoa, wait your turn, sons, Ariel," commanded Porthos.
"Wait until that falcon comes to us," said Orquidea. As Cometa watched Alexandre and his sisters chow down the fruit, bits of it and its juice flying everywhere, she looked unsurprised.
"They must be extremely hungry," she said as she handed a large talon-ful of fruit, berries, mango slices, camu-camu fruit, to Ruby and Athos.
"Yes, yes, yes, just give us the food, falcon," snapped Athos bossily. Cometa flinched and did so and the two scarlet macaws began to eat. Cometa then went to Porthos and his family and Ariel and fed them enough fruit to fill their stomachs as well, and like Alexandre and his sisters, Ariel and the two blue-and-gold brothers went bonkers and began stuffing their faces on the fruit while the latter two's parents simply ate. Next, Cometa fed Aramis, D'Artagnan, and Travis and their families. When she came to Phoebe and her family, she handed them a larger portion of food because of their species, before moving on to feed the Lear's and Spix macaws. She first fed Zephyr and his four chicks, then Lapis Lazuli and her four chicks, then Carla, Bia and Tiago, then Blu and Jewel and then finally, Levi and Aurora. Soon, the stale air hanging over the caged birds was filled with the sounds of munching and chomping of fruit. The chicks were especially shoving the fruit down their throats much to some of the adults' disapproval. Even Carla and Bia were eating like pigs. Though they had good manners, the chicks were so hungry that they couldn't wait to fill their stomachs.
"Boy, I'm so glad to be eating," said Porthos as he ate some starfruit.
"We haven't eaten a thing all day since breakfast," said Orquidea after eating some pineapple. Azul, Wilbur and Ariel were too hungry to even speak and continued stuffing their faces with fruit, their faces coming out smeared with juice and flesh. Then Porthos shot Cometa a glare.
"At least one of those falcon creeps has listened to our cries of hunger," growled he bitterly.
"Huh, I couldn't care less," muttered Orquidea, "At least we've had something to eat tonight."
"Phoebe and her family especially needed it," said Aramis nearby as Petunia and Chlorophyll also stuffed their faces, "Because their species are so large and their chicks have a lot of growing up ahead of them, they need plenty of food."
"Zebedee and Indigo are already starting to put some distance between their heights and those of the other chicks," said Phoebe as she ate some grapes, "And will be doing for quite some time, until they reach adolescence."
Cobalto, Zebedee and Indigo just continued eating and said nothing.
As the macaws and cockatoos continued eating, Cometa then moved on to examine the padlock locking Levi into his cage. Lapis Lazuli shot the falcon a suspicious glare.
"NOW what are you doing!?" she snarled.
"I'm going to try and free you lot," replied Cometa, "As soon as you've finished eating your fruit, we're out of this place."
Surprise and shock struck the macaws and cockatoos including Blu and Jewel.
"Wait a second," said Blu as he ate a mango piece, "You… you're against your group?"
"Now that is interesting (!)" said Jewel sarcastically. Cometa shot the Spix macaw pair a disgusted look.
"On the outside, I'm just one of Lysandre's falcons and obedient to his rules and commands," she said, "But up close, I'm actually against them and their plans. I haven't time to explain everything. We've got to get you out of this place now before any of my group show up."
And with that, she resumed examining the padlock on Levi's cage. However, Cometa was unaware that she was being watched. Catina the calico had crept out of her hiding place and was approaching her feathered friends, but her eyes were fixed on a bird not in one of the cages. While Cometa continued fiddling with the padlock on Levi's cage, Blu's face fell in remorse.
"We shouldn't have come back for the summer," he moaned, "If only we had seen this coming, we wouldn't have been in this mess, and now our three chicks are going to be traumatised."
"Hey, it's not your fault," said Jewel, "And besides that, it was your idea to come back to Rio for the summer."
Blu shot his mate a glare. "Hey, it was YOU who said that we could do summers in Rio."
Jewel's eyes flashed in offense. "Are you blaming me for this mess, Blu!?" she growled.
"No, I'm not," snapped Blu, "It's just that we didn't expect that filthy cockatoo to find Susan and Lucy's house and then kidnap us! How DARE you say that I'm blaming you for THIS MESS!"
"DON'T YA SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT, PET!" screeched Jewel at the top of her voice. Then before the two could escalate into a heated argument, Zephyr intervened.
"Blu, Jewel," he said gently. Seeing that they were about to explode into a vicious argument, Blu and Jewel glared at each other and then turned their backs on each other, their faces in a huff and wings folded. The brief falling out had captured the other macaws and cockatoos' attention. Cometa also shot the Spix macaw couple a surprised look before resuming seeing to the padlock on Levi's cage.
"Wow, Mom and Dad certainly do sometimes get into a bit of an argument, don't they," said Carla. She and her brother and sister had finished their fruit. Bia and Tiago just said nothing, the latter simply releasing a small burp much to his sisters' slight disgust. But they were glad that he wasn't as disgusting ad that cockatoo Nigel.
"Good job Nigel is upstairs asleep," said Lapis Lazuli sourly, "If he had heard those two have a falling out like that, he'd have enjoyed listening to the music."
"I NEVER liked that cockatoo since we first met him," growled Cometa sourly and disgustedly as she began to fiddle with the padlock with a claw to unlock it. She had obviously not bothered in getting the padlocks' key and wanted to free the birds as soon as possible. "I think he's a vile and disgusting cockatoo with equally disgusting eating habits and attitude. Not to mention his song with those disturbing lyrics..."
Lapis Lazuli shot her a surprised look as Jewel said sarcastically, "Join the perch, falcon."
"How he shoved those mouse carcasses meant for us down his throat made me feel sick, honestly," muttered Cometa. Then after a few more seconds of fiddling with the padlock, she finally clicked the device's hook from its locking mechanism inside its body. As soon as she had done that, Cometa opened the door and Levi rushed out.
"He and the pigtailed Spix macaw especially look stressed being separate from you guys," Cometa said as Levi dived for Lapis Lazuli and their three daughters in their cage, longingly, holding onto the cage bars, "Anyway, time to free the next one…"
She then went over to Aurora but before she could put her wings on her cage's padlock, a white blur smeared with ginger and black appeared from nowhere and pounced onto Cometa. The macaws and cockatoos all jumped when they saw this, the screeches of an angry cat accompanying the blur also reaching their ears. Then they saw a white creature with black and ginger blotches marking her body as though she had been splattered with paint then pin Cometa down on her back with a paw to the throat.
"GET AWAY FROM THOSE MACAWS AND COCKATOOS, you FILTHY BIRD OF PREY!" snarled the cat, her fur puffed out and baby blue eyes ablaze with rage, much to Cometa's surprise. The macaws and cockatoos recognised the calico cat.
"CATINA!?" shouted Athos in shock. The others said nothing, too shocked to speak, but then Levi stepped in.
"Wait, Catina," he cried, "That falcon's on our side. She fed us and was going about freeing us from our cages."
Cometa shot Levi a desperate look as Catina's paw threatened to squeeze her windpipe and cut off her breathing. Then Catina shot Levi a glare.
"But this falcon's one of those poachers' birds," she snapped, "She should NOT be trusted."
"Look, we don't have time for an argument," retorted Levi, "Those poachers could show up any moment. If you don't allow her to free us, we could be caught."
"Please," said Cometa to Catina desperately, turning the calico's attention to her, "Please allow me to free the other macaws and cockatoos. There are quite a number of cages that need unlocking to, especially the one holding one of the breeding Blu Bird Sanctuary Spix macaw pairs as that has up to nine padlocks to unlock. You have to trust me."
Catina glared at Cometa in slight horror before shooting a glance at Blu and Jewel's cage. To her surprise, there were a number of padlocks attached to the cage door. Levi looked on hoping that Catina would listen to his and Cometa's pleas, the other caged birds still to be freed looking on silently. Finally, Catina relented and stepped off of Cometa, allowing her to stand up. The moment the falcon stood up, Cometa found herself confronted by a cat paw with its claws protracted.
"You have just ONE CHANCE to free my feathered friends, falcon," hissed the calico, a furious look still burning on her face and her fur puffed out, and her teeth bared, an expression of a cat's threat and anger, "Or else you'll be awarding yourself with a sequence of painful scratches if you disobey. Now start unlocking those cages!"
Cometa, a gulp sound escaping her throat, timidly nodded and returned to Aurora's cage to unlock the padlock binding the door to Aurora's cage shut. The others and Levi looked on as Blu set to trying to unlock the first of the ten padlocks.
"I'll help as well," he said. Jewel just shot him a bitter glare and released a huff sound. And with that, Blu inserted a talon claw into the padlock's keyhole and began to fiddle with it. With Catina standing like over Cometa like a parent over a badly behaved child making sure that his penalty chore was being done, her claws still protracted and held close to her and threatening to scratch her, Cometa fiddled with the padlock holding Aurora in her cage. Then after some fiddling, Cometa unlocked the padlock and opened the door, allowing Aurora to leave. She made a beeline for Zephyr and threw her wings around him, despite the two being separated from each other by a wall of bars. As the Spix macaws hugged each other, Cometa set to fiddling with the padlock locking Carla, Bia and Tiago in their cage, the three chicks desperately looking on.
"I hope this isn't gonna take all night," complained Cometa as she twiddled her claw in the padlock's keyhole.
"Shut up and get cracking," snarled Catina threateningly. Cometa obeyed without a second's hesitation. Blu shot a glance at Zephyr and Aurora as they remained locked in an embrace, tears streaming down Aurora's eyes and sighed. He felt guilty having briefly argued with Jewel and hoped to make up with her sooner or later but he did not have time to worry about that. He had to free himself and Jewel from this cage. Then a click was heard as Cometa unlocked the padlock holding Blu and Jewel's chicks in their cage. As soon as she had opened the cage door and the three chicks ran out, Catina ordered them, "Now you three stand near Aurora and Zephyr while we free everyone else."
Carla, Bia and Tiago obeyed and rushed over to Aurora to wait by her side as Catina and Cometa ran over to Blu and Jewel's cage but Blu said, "No, free the others that have just one padlock on their cages. If you concentrated on us, you'd lose precious time."
Cometa and Catina shot Blu a reluctant glare and then obeyed and went over to Porthos and his family's cage. Catina, however, shot the knot of padlocks on Blu and Jewel's cage.
"THAT is gonna take forever to get through," she muttered, "We might have to get Porthos, Cobalto or Phoebe to carry out that cage when we have freed everyone else."
Cometa then began to work on the padlock holding Porthos and his family in their cage.
As Cometa fiddled with the padlock, Catina noticed the vivid red streaks slashing through the feathers on Orquidea's belly. The calico drew in a shocked gasp.
"Good grief, how have you scratched yourself, Orchid?" asked the calico in horror.
"Nigel clawed me down the front after I clawed his cheek for intimidating us," Orquidea sourly replied.
"We'd better get you to Tulio's Aviary to have that looked at," said Catina seriously, "If that wound is infected, it could jeopardise your life."
"Jeopardise?" repeated Porthos but then it dawned upon him. Nigel had had his talons in various unhygienic materials such as dirt. If any of the bacteria he had picked up had got into Orquidea's wound when he clawed her down the front, it's a possibility that the scratch might end up infected. This was backed up by Catina's next statement for she had known the filthy cockatoo for so long.
"Nigel never washes, not even once in his life, and he absolutely detests baths and anything clean," said Catina as Cometa clicked the hook of the padlock out of its lock, "So he's a very dirty cockatoo. Orquidea, and anyone else who has been clawed by him, might not show any sign of infection now but that may change as time goes by, so she needs to be taken to Tulio's Aviary as soon as possible to get that wound cleaned and treated."
Porthos shot Orquidea a worried look and saw that Catina could be right. However, it was clear that the scratch Orquidea had received from Nigel was entering its initial stages of infection for there were a few slivers of sickly green-yellow dotting the fresh pink and red crust where the blood had dried. In the next few hours, that will get worse and Orquidea will weaken with her temperature soaring as a fever will take hold. Orquidea was fine now but as time went by, that will change. Then another macaw who had been scratched by Nigel hit Porthos' mind: one of Blu and Jewel's chicks, Carla. It was important that she gets medical attention too, and Blu and Jewel, upon hearing the unhygienic fact about their nemesis, shot their oldest daughter as she stood next to Aurora a worried look, and Bia and Tiago also had that same look for their sister as she clutched her scratched side, her face contorted with pain. The three chicks knew they had to leave here but they were held back by reluctance to leave their parents and extended family.
As Porthos and his family and Ariel exited the cage with Cometa and Catina moving on to free Athos and his family, Porthos examined Orquidea's scratch closely. To his utter horror, his beige eyes got a glimpse of the dots of sickly green-yellow scattered throughout the streaks of fresh pink-red dried blood.
"Looks like your scratch is becoming infected now," said Porthos to his mate.
"Is it?" asked she. Her mate then gave her a dark look.
"There's no doubt that that will get worse," he said, "Unless you seek medical attention, that infection could manifest and you could end up entering a feverish state and serious weakness, and even later, that wound will become life-threatening," his gaze then turned to Carla as she stood with her siblings and Aurora, "So will she."
"Look, Porthos, I'm fine," snapped Orquidea, sure that there was nothing wrong. "I feel fine and this scratch is only healing. There's nothing wrong with it."
Porthos was about to reply when Catina's voice sounded.
"You blue-and-gold macaws get out of here and get Orquidea and Carla to Tulio's Aviary," said the calico as Cometa clicked open Athos's cage's padlock, freeing the scarlet macaws before moving onto Travis and his family, "Don't worry about us."
"But Catina, it's night time," protested Porthos with a gesture to the dark window, "I don't think there are any bird doctors around until the morning."
Orquidea rolled her eyes in stubbornness and annoyance.
"Yes there is," said Athos, "You remember when Ellery accidentally injured her talon by stepping on a shard of glass during a night out before you and Orquidea became mates and you went to Nico and Pedro's club with a group of a few green-winged macaws and you and Orquidea had to take her to Tulio's Aviary at night?"
"Any bird with a serious injury is never left on their own or unattended by a bird doctor even at night," said Ruby.
"Well then, get your mate to Tulio's Aviary," commanded Athos sternly, "And get your family out of here as well."
Porthos, however, was rooted to the spot with reluctance.
"What about you guys?" he asked.
"Don't worry about us," said Athos, "We'll be fine. Now get out of here before any of those poachers show up."
"Ariel and your sons Azul and Wilbur are itching to get out of here, anyway," said Ruby. Porthos looked down at the three chicks and saw that Ruby was right. His two sons and the blue-throated macaw chick were clearly afraid of this place. Reluctantly obeying Athos's command and concerned for his family and Ariel, Porthos opened his wings and took off and scooped up Carla before taking to the air with Orquidea, Azul, Wilbur, Tiago, Bia and Ariel in tow.
Before disappearing out through one of the broken windows with his family and Blu and Jewel's chicks, their parents looking on in hope that Porthos will take care of them until they get out and reunite with them, Porthos shouted to the others, "I hope the rest of you get out in one piece!"
Then soon he, together with his family, Areil and Blu and Jewel's chicks including Carla in his talons were gone. Cometa then opened the door after unlocking the padlock and allowed Travis and his family to escape before turning to Levi and in a short time, freed him. After the glaucous macaw left his cage, Cometa freed Aurora and then turned to Zephyr, Justin, Charlotte and Matilda, Aurora's family. Blu continued fiddling the first padlock and finally managed to click it open.
As the cockatoos stood by Athos and his family, Travis was relieved to get out of the cage but at the same time he was worried. However, the group was unaware that the activities had already alerted someone. Three of the crows had been downstairs and had seen Aurora and Levi leave their cages, but they had not seen Catina and Cometa. Struck with horror, they had disappeared upstairs to fetch their comrades.
"We don't have much time, Athos," Travis said, "We've still got plenty of cages to get through."
Athos shot a concerned look at Blu and Jewel as Blu, despite worry for Carla and his other two chicks' wellbeing and his trust in Porthos to look after them, continued fiddling with the next padlock.
"Those two might need carrying," he said, "There's no way we're going to waste precious time trying to get through that many padlocks."
Then a click was heard as Cometa unlocked the padlock holding Zephyr and his four chicks in and the seven macaws all exited their cage and joined Aurora and Levi. Cometa then moved on to Lapis Lazuli's cage and began to unlock the padlock, but not quite in time. There were still Aramis, Phoebe and D'Artagnan and their families to free, and Cometa was beginning to struggle, the stress of the pressure kicking in and affecting her concentration. With little time before her groupmates showed up, and they could do so any moment, and with Catina's claws threatening to come down on her if she even delayed, the falcon's heart was racing and she was shaking. As she finally managed to unlock the padlock holding Lapis Lazuli, Tristan, Quincy, Larimar and Trixie in their cage, Aramis looked on impatiently.
"Could you go any faster?" he growled as Lapis Lazuli and her two daughters and two sons left and joined Levi, "There are still THREE cages to get through."
Esmeralda, Phoebe, Cobalto, Sapphire and D'Artagnan also looked on impatiently but said nothing.
"I'm going as fast as I can," said Cometa stressfully as she walked over to unlock Aramis' cage's padlock, "But there are so many cages."
"Well, speed up," demanded Aramis angrily.
"You've got us to free yet," put in Phoebe.
"And you're going TOO SLOW!" shouted Esmeralda with clear distrust. Cometa ignored her and set to unlocking Aramis and his family's cage padlock, Catina watching intently and making sure that she did not stop even for a second.
However, Cometa was not going to get any further with freeing the macaws and cockatoos when what happened next threw everything into chaos. The lights suddenly turned on and a shout was heard. This made all heads turn in the direction of the shout's owner but the moment they did, horror exploding like a shockwave through the birds and Catina.
"We've BEEN CAUGHT RED TALONED!" screeched Ruby. Catina immediately rocketed off to hide and Cometa and the freed macaws immediately lofted into flight. Seeing the escaped macaws take to the air, Lysandre shot a finger at them and commanded his falcons and crows to retrieve them and then the cats and his underlings to ready the empty cages once the escaped macaws were caught. Cazador, Swoop, Xerosic, Aliana and Bryony obeyed and flew off after the flying macaws and cockatoos, a flock of crows in tow. When she saw the five grey and ivory birds of prey and a large flock of black birds fly after them, Ruby seized Alexandre, Spinel and Poinsettia in her talons and began to follow Athos as he began to look for an escape while Zephyr grabbed Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil, two in each talon, Aurora right after him. Lapis Lazuli did the same with Tristan, Quincy, Larimar and Trixie and Travis and Sunset with Eustace, Milo and Rosa as they screamed in fright. The chicks in their talons, the macaws and cockatoos accelerated to try and out-fly the falcons and crows. Then soon, a wild aerial chase started up as the falcons began to pursue the macaws and cockatoos in an attempt to grab them.
While the falcons and crows rushed after the macaws as they attempted to escape, Nigel tried to join in the aerial chase. He spread his tattered wings and began to try and take off, flapping his wings like he usually would during take-off. However, he forgot once again that he could not fly anymore and each time he tried to take to the air, he only ended up falling back to earth again with a belly flop. However, fuelled by determination, Nigel got up and tried again but he fell back to earth. He tried again but crashed on his belly again. As he crashed back onto the floor the third time, Otis ran up to him.
"There's no point in trying to take off if you can't fly, Nigel," said the black and white cat annoyed, "Now help us ready the cages when those falcons and crows catch those escaped birds!"
Nigel slapped a tattered wing on the floor and obeyed, his brown eyes jealously fixated on the falcons and crows as they chased after the escaped macaws and cockatoos. From the ground, Cometa looked on in horror while Aramis, Phoebe, D'Artagnan and their families, and Blu and Jewel also watched. Cats had gathered around them to keep an eye on them while their teammates focussed on retrieving the escaped birds. Blu and Jewel saw Zephyr and Aurora, the former with their four chicks in his talons; frantically try to fly to safety.
"Take your kids to safety, Zephyr and Aurora!" shouted Jewel as Zephyr and Aurora flew directly over the caged group with Bryony and Aliana in hot pursuit. Suddenly, a cat paw slapped against her and Blu's cage.
"Shut up, macaw," snarled the paw's owner, a female brown cat. Jewel released a huff of bitter frustration and did as she was told. From her hiding place, Catina also watched the commotion.
Zephyr and Aurora, the former's talons tightly wrapped around their four kids, rocketed around with Aliana and Bryony hot on their tails. Xerosic and Swoop were chasing Levi and his family and Cazador and a flock of six crows pursued Athos and Ruby. During the aggressive aerial chase of falcons and crows versus macaws, Travis and his family had managed to make their escape through one of the broken windows' escaping straight out of the large hole in the glass. However, the other three families were still shooting around like blue or cerulean, turquoise, grey and blue or red, teal or blue and yellow comets with grey and ivory or black comets right behind them. Lysandre shouted to Bryony and Aliana as they continued pursuing Aurora and her family as they rocketed over him, "Don't let those Spix and glaucous macaws escape!"
Nigel and the cats on the ground looked on, Nigel jealously watching Bryony and Aliana as they chased Zephyr and Aurora around with such agility.
"Wish I could do that," he growled. He then shot a bitter glare at Blu and Jewel and hissed. In Aurora's talons, Carla, Bia, Tiago, Virgil and all screamed as their eyes gazed in terror at the two fearsome birds of prey, their sharp and predatory eyes burning with determination to capture the Spix macaws and cage them. Both Zephyr and Aurora were pumped up with adrenaline, desperate to escape the poachers' falcons and den and to safety, but they were wracked with confusion as to where the exit where Travis, Porthos and his families, together with Carla, Bia, Tiago and Ariel had left.
"Hold on," shouted Zephyr to Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil as he swerved sharply to the left, Aurora closely behind and with Aliana and Bryony right behind her. The two falcons both swerved with such sharpness that they were able to cut the corner made by Zephyr and Aurora and close the gap between them by a drastic amount. Elsewhere, Lapis Lazuli and Levi were desperately trying to out-fly Xerosic and Swoop. Like Aurora and Zephyr, both the adult glaucous macaws were flooded with adrenaline, their talons clamped around their daughters and their wings beating like mad.
"We've got to get out of here," shouted Levi to Lapis Lazuli with a glance at Xerosic and Swoop, "Once we escape, we're gonna fly straight to Tulio's Aviary to alert the staff there of this place and the poachers!"
"I'm afraid it won't happen, glaucous macaw," shouted Xerosic sneeringly as the chasers and chased sharply cornered. Swoop reached out with his talons in an attempt to grab Lapis Lazuli but she managed to dodge and narrowly escape suffering having her wing slashed by his lethal claws. However, a rich blue feather matching the macaw's namesake mineral got caught in one of Swoop's claws and was torn from her wing. The feather then fluttered down towards the ground through the air.
"Careful, Swoop," shouted Xerosic, "We don't want to hurt these precious glaucous macaws."
Swoop sighed and continued the pursuit of the glaucous macaw family.
While Xerosic and Swoop continued pursuing Levi and his family, Cazador continued chasing Athos and his family with some of the crow grunts close behind. In Ruby's talons Alexandre, Spinel and Poinsettia hung on for dear life, screaming in terror at the wild rollercoaster ride, especially as they were swung violently to one side or the other as Ruby banked like a fighter plane in a dogfight during cornering. Ahead of her, Athos continued scanning the environment for the exit. He was clearly under stress and his body was practically pumped with adrenaline. Athos remembered being in an adrenaline-filled chase like this before with Brutus years ago shortly after he and his group had escaped Otis and his group and owners' den, but that had been on foot. This chase was even wilder for it was in the air and not on the ground, and the chasers were vicious birds of prey and evil crows and ravens with amazing flying skills and agility. However, Athos did not care about this. All he cared about was getting his family to safety. On the ground, the still-caged birds continued to watch on in horror while the cats watched on in hope.
"Athos, Ruby, Levi, Lapis Lazuli, Aurora, Zephyr!" cried D'Artagnan. Sapphire, Miranda, Jasmine and Annette just looked on in silent horror and angst. Then D'Artagnan tried to help.
"The window's over there," shouted the male Lear's macaw but Sapphire hushed at him to shut up about that.
"The cats will hear you mention that!" she hissed. D'Artagnan then shut his beak and continued to watch the three freed families as they continued to try and desperately escape. The Lear's macaw couple's daughters looked on in awe at the falcons' agility.
"Look how sharp those falcons can corner," shouted Miranda as she watched Cazador turn sharply after Athos and his family, closely on Ruby's tail, "There's no way even for Uncle Aramis or Dad to out-fly those brutes."
"Although Uncle Levi is also quite an agile flyer," said Annette. Jasmine nodded in agreement. It was true. Though Levi was a highly agile flyer capable of cornering sharply and flying at high speeds, though never to the same extent as Aramis and D'Artagnan, he was no match for Xerosic and Swoop who were capable of turning even sharper and flying even faster, even more so than Aramis and D'Artagnan, and those two falcons were closing in on the glaucous macaw and his mate and daughters. Aramis, Esmeralda, Petunia and Chlorophyll also watched on in horror as did Blu and Jewel, Phoebe, Cobalto, Zebedee and Indigo. From her hiding place, Catina also watched on in angst while Cometa who stood by Otis also watched with eyes widened by the same emotion of the scene.
Then after a few more minutes of wild chasing and flying around like jetfighters, the falcons began to capture the macaws in their talons but in brutal ways. Lysandre and his many underlings watched on as their pet birds of prey did the job they were trained to do. Zephyr and Aurora were the first to be caught. As exhaustion overtook the adult Spix macaws like a black cloud, Bryony and Aliana flew in for the capture. Bryony's talons went straight for Zephyr's neck and wrapped around it like a pair of iron-hands while Aliana's talons wrapped around Aurora's left wing. Zephyr, taken by utter surprise at having his neck seized by one of the falcons, loosened his grip on his four kids while Aurora briefly passed out from the shock of having her wing grabbed. The four chicks of the couple were sent plummeting. Justin screamed and flailed like a helpless fish as he fell through space but was soon captured by a pair of crow talons. Another pair of crow talons then shot in and caught Charlotte, and two more pairs of crow talons darted out and captured Matilda and then Virgil, snatching them out of the air like flies. Virgil tried to viciously fight back but he was no match for the much larger crow. As soon as the crows had captured the four chicks, they hauled them toward a group of cats waiting with an empty cage on the ground, Bryony and Aliana following closely behind with Zephyr and Aurora in their talons. All six Spix macaws in the family were thrown into the cage, one after the other, and the cage was slammed shut and padlocked by Adriana. Next, Xerosic and Swoop had managed to catch Levi and Lapis Lazuli, Xerosic catching the former by the neck and Swoop catching the latter painfully by her Jewel-like head feathers. Tristan, Quincy, Larimar and Trixie, like Zephyr and Aurora's chicks, were thrown into the air and then caught by three more crows. Then the six glaucous macaws were hauled back down to earth toward another group of cats with an empty cage, its door open.
Then as soon as six thuds sounded from the cage as Levi and his family were tossed into it by Swoop, Xerosic and the three crows, Tom slammed the cage door shut and padlocked it. Aurora, Zephyr, Levi and Lapis Lazuli were clearly out of puff and were breathing heavily while the chicks were trembling, the whole ordeal having frightened them.
"Good job, you lot," shouted Gale, one of Lysandre's underlings, to Aliana, Bryony, Xerosic and Swoop and to the crows that had captured the chicks. However, there was still another free macaw family to catch. Athos and Ruby were still flying around like mad trying to outrun Cazador and his crows but like what happened to Levi, Lapis Lazuli, Aurora and Zephyr, exhaustion was setting in and their wing muscles were starting to ache.
"Go, Cazador," shouted Aliana. Cazador continued beating his wings, closing in on Ruby who had Alexandre, Poinsettia and Spinel.
"Athos," shouted Blu. Athos' brown eyes continued darting around the room until they landed on the broken window. The moment his eyes found the exit, the rest of the scarlet macaw shot off and made a beeline for it, Ruby closely behind with Cazador tailgating her. However, before the scarlet macaws could escape through the window, Cazador's talons reached out in a heartbeat and wrapped around Ruby's neck and Cazador screeched to a halt within two metres of the window. The three scarlet chicks were then thrown from her talons and captured by the crows but Athos had managed to make it out of the window, at first not noticing that his mate and chicks had been captured.
"Gotchya," shouted Cazador to Ruby but the female scarlet macaw was not going to give up easily. She may be exhausted from flying around like mad but she would not give up without a fight.
"LET ME GO, you VULTURE!" she screeched and with that, she began to try and writhe in Cazador's talons. Outside, Athos heard his mate's screeches. Alarmed and releasing that his mate and chicks weren't with him, he stopped to a hover and turned round. When he saw Ruby begin to try and scratch Cazador through the window to the poachers' hideout, horror tore through him. Ruby continued trying to attack Cazador but as number of crow talons appeared and latched onto her wings, talons and neck and restrained them. Then Cazador, with the help of the crows, hurled Ruby back to earth to an awaiting cage held by a group of cats.
"I'm afraid fighting back against me ain't an option, scarlet macaw," cackled Cazador, "I have lethal talons and beak capable of slitting a macaw's neck."
And with that, he tossed Ruby into the cage. Then Alexandre, Spinel and Poinsettia were thrown in after their mother by the crows that had captured them. After this, the black cat slammed the cage door shut and padlocked it. Ruby and her three chicks then began to sort themselves out but before the cats handling the cage could move it toward the others, the sounds of flapping wings was heard.
"RUBY, KIDS!" shouted the wings' owner. At this shout, all eyes turned in the direction of the shouter. Athos then halted into a hover when he saw that Ruby and his three chicks had been caged and when Cazador's piercing eyes bore into him.
"Athos," shouted Aramis, "Get out of here. Don't worry about us!"
"Yes," shouted Ruby, "Don't bother trying to rescue us or you'd get caught!"
Athos, however, did not care and rocketed down towards Ruby and his chicks but found himself confronted by crow and falcons talons and cat paws.
"You approach us any further, scarlet macaw and you're captured," sneered Cazador as he aimed his talons at Athos's neck. Athos, intimidated by the lethal talons of the lead falcon, began to back away. Behind him, Nigel began to creep towards him like a cat stalking a mouse. Athos's brown eyes then darted to Ruby who wore a desperate and pleading look on her face. Zephyr, Aurora, Levi and Lapis Lazuli also looked at Athos with a pleading gaze each, as did Blu, Jewel, Esmeralda, Aramis, Phoebe, Cobalto, Sapphire and D'Artagnan. Athos then hovered there, torn whether to escape or risk rescuing his group, unaware that a sickly cockatoo was approaching him, poised to pounce onto him.
"Look, just get outa here and look after Porthos, Travis and their families, especially Orquidea and the other inured one," shouted Zephyr, not mentioning Carla's name so that the poachers' pets were not made aware that Blu and Jewel's chicks had escaped, "They'll need you to take care of them for now."
"Yes, get out of here, Athos," shouted Blu, "Or you'd end up caught."
Still Athos hesitated. Cometa looked on, hoping that Athos would retreat but he still continued to hover there, while the other falcons, cats and crows looked on scornfully and Lysandre and his underlings impatiently. Then Lapis Lazuli saw someone behind the scarlet macaw.
"Athos, LOOK OUT!" she cried. Athos was about to turn round when suddenly, a grey-white blur pounced onto him, knocked him out of the air and then pinned him against the floor on his back with a talon to the neck. The scarlet macaw gasped in surprised but then he found himself gazing into the sadistic brown eyes of Nigel.
"Hello, pretty bird," crooned the cockatoo sadistically. Athos was about to act but the evil cockatoo squeezed the talon around his neck tighter, cutting off his breathing.
"Bad move, family guy," crooned Nigel right into Athos's face as he struggled to breathe, "Your refusal to escape because of your beloved mate and chicks in that cage has made you an easy target."
Athos then glared up at the cockatoo, wincing as a whiff of his foul-smelling breath got caught in his nostrils. The others looked on in horror but Blu and Jewel looked on with pure hatred, hoping that Athos would fight back against her most hated cockatoo.
"Nigel," commanded Cazador, attracting Nigel's attention, "Let's cage that scarlet macaw."
Nigel smiled and then looked back at Athos.
"Time to re-join your little friends, scarlet boy," crooned the cockatoo mockingly as two cats approached with another empty cage. Athos's eyes snapped from the cats with the cage and then back at Nigel.
"Oh, brilliant," he muttered sarcastically, "And then you're going to be free terrorising us to your heart's content."
Nigel gazed back at him. "
We'll see about that, pretty bird," he crooned, "I might even injure your beautiful mate by breaking her wings and torture your chicks. It sure would make a great comedy show, hearing them screaming in agony…"
Athos felt hot rage and disgust burn through him like a fire tearing through a cloud of flammable gas like hydrogen or methane at this threat while Ruby, Alexandre, Spinel and Poinsettia shuddered and emitted timid whimpers.
"Well if you're planning on doing that to my mate and chicks, you repulsive cockatoo," growled Athos, anger reaching boiling point, "You've GOT ANOTHER THING COMING!"
And with that, he reached up with his talons and with all his might sent them shooting into Nigel's belly like a pressurised piston, forcing the cockatoo off of him. Nigel, stunned at this sudden turn of events, was sent tumbling off Athos, his talon around Athos's neck going slack and releasing it in the process. As soon as he was free, Athos got up and raised a talon as Nigel quickly got up and lunged at him, his brown eyes ablaze with flames and his crest fully raised in rage.
"I'm GONNA SKIN YA ALIVE FOR THAT, YOU DISGUSTING RED MACAW!" snarled the cockatoo and with that he pounced onto Athos before the scarlet macaw had any chance of bringing down a talon to scratch him. Screams of horror erupted from the caged birds as the cockatoo and scarlet macaw began fighting, a blur of grey-white, pale yellow, red, teal and yellow, and some green from Nigel's vest. Feathers; both tattered grey-white from Nigel and red and teal from Athos, flew everywhere as the two wildly tore each other's feathers out, both of them blinded by pure rage. If this went any further, blood would soon follow. The caged birds continued watching on, all with horror but smug from Blu and Jewel's faces. The couple wanted to cheer Athos on but could not due to the watchful eyes of the cats. The cats, falcons and crows also looked on in shock as Nigel and Athos then exploded violently apart. Athos then came to his senses and tried to escape but Nigel lashed at him and clamped his beak onto his left talon, stopping him from escaping. Then Nigel's furious rage overtook him and he clamped his beak ever tighter, like he had done to Broccoli's front left paw. Agonising screeches erupted from Athos's beak as searing pain shot though his leg from Nigel's beak and his wings beat harder, dragging Nigel, who was still attached to his leg with his beak, along the ground.
"ATHOS!" cried Ruby.
"Let him go, Nigel," bellowed Aramis. Nigel, however, was blinded by so much rage that he did not hear Porthos's cries to release Athos. Then blood began to trickle from Athos's leg and onto Nigel's face as he clamped his beak ever harder. Nigel's eyes continued blazing like brown firestorms and his crest remained up as he continued contracting his beak.
"LET HIM GO, NIGEL!" shouted Esmeralda. She then turned to some of the cats and begged, "Please, go and stop Nigel and make him release that scarlet macaw!"
The cats, however, remained on the spot and did nothing, much to Esmeralda's horror. Then Cometa began to try and intervene but Aliana stopped her with a talon on a shoulder. Cometa turned and Aliana shook her head. Athos continued flapping like mad to escape Nigel's brutal bone-crushing bite but could not. From her hiding place, Catina looked on in utter horror but could not help for she could blow her cover and reveal herself to the poachers, risking herself getting caught, especially by Otis and his cat gang for they were still bent on avenging her for the death of Brutus and their ruined future. Then soon, Athos was faced with a decision of whether to continue trying to escape with Nigel grasping his leg and risking severe damage to his leg or attacking the cockatoo to make him let go. As soon as Athos had decided, he shot Nigel an agonised but furious glare, raised his other talon and then brought it down across the cockatoo's face as hard as he could. Then it was Nigel's turn to screech in agony as Athos's talon claws raked across his face, inflicting another scratch over the one Jewel had inflicted on him, only this was more brutal. This made him release Athos's talon, which was bleeding, and Athos made his escape, making a beeline for the window and within moments, he was gone. Nigel was then left writhing on the floor, his tattered wings covering his face and his new scratch which leaked blood, the red liquid seeping through his ragged wing feathers. Swoop then attempted to fly after Athos but Cazador stopped him.
"Leave that scarlet macaw," he growled, "Let him suffer the agonising pain from Nigel's bite for being disobedient and let's focussing on getting these other caged birds upstairs."
Swoop obeyed and left to help his comrades carry the caged birds away. Some of the cats left to help Nigel as he held his scratched and bleeding face. Then Cazador turned to Cometa and began to fire her a thousand questions like a machine gun.
"How on earth did some of these birds get free!?" he demanded angrily, "The glaucous macaws, the Spix macaws...? WHAT HAPPENED!?"
Cometa quickly made up a story to cover up her intentions of releasing the macaws.
"I don't know," she said, "Somehow…"
"Well make sure that it doesn't happen age especially to the Spix, the Lear's and the glaucous macaws," growled Cazador, cutting Cometa off, "They're invaluable and worth a lot of money, you know, and we don't want to lose any of them. Now come on and help us move the caged birds upstairs and let's get ready for bed!"
Cometa reluctantly obeyed and left to help her groupmates.
As the crows, falcons and cats began to carry away the caged birds, Lysandre said, "Well, I guess that's enough of that little escapade episode from our precious loot. I hope this is the only slipup we will have to deal with."
He then turned to his underlings and said, "Make sure that nothing like this ever happens again. These sorts of things could interfere with our plans and it could slow us down and blow our cover, ESPECIALLY when we get to the Sanctuary de Amazon. Clear?"
His underlings including John, Ernesto and Gale nodded and began to help the pets carry away the caged birds while Lysandre looked on. From her hiding place, Catina continued watching the group and then gazed at the broken window.
"I hope you are alright, Athos, Porthos, Travis and Sunset," she said in a low and worried voice.