Athos, Blu and company in Double Trouble

by VPVPVP

Athos, Blu and the others' summer trip to Rio is interrupted when some old enemies return for revenge. Not only that, a group of humans is threatening the Sanctuary de Amazon and those enemies have joined forces with them. Blu, Athos and the others must stop this group before any damage is done, but some will also have to face their fears in the process

22. 22- evil plans and an idea

Chapter 22- Nigel's evil trauma inflicting plans, Bia's fantastic lock picking idea

Back at the poachers' den, the poachers and their falcons, crows and the new additions to their team, Otis and the cats and Nigel, were up having breakfast. Again, they had not bothered about feeding the macaws and the poor birds were left suffering from hunger again. Only this time, the macaws had been left in the poachers' room. At least the macaws did not have to catch glimpses of Nigel grossly stuffing himself like a gannet on those mice again. Unlike Athos and Porthos, Travis and the others with them who had managed to at least get some sleep last night, the macaws had had very little sleep or none at all. In fact, some of the macaws were still asleep in their cages but some had woken up, weary from a difficult night last night. In one cage, D'Artagnan and his family were struggling to get up.

"Man," moaned D'Artagnan wearily, his eyes droopy and his feathers out of place, "What a night. I hope this is the last night we'll ever get to spend in this dilapidated place."

Sapphire shot D'Artagnan a weary but bitter glare as she looked over the still sleeping Miranda, Jasmine and Annette. The three Lear's sisters were huddled together for warmth. They had been waking up constantly last night, fearing that Nigel might come and attack them while they slept, and Sapphire had been up for almost the entire night trying to settle them down by constantly reassuring them while at the same time keeping an eye on the cockatoo. But there had been other factors that prevented the macaws from getting even a wink of sleep besides Nigel looming over them.

"Well at least those rotten poachers and their pets had slept well last night," growled Sapphire sourly and irritably. Whenever she was tired, she was snappy like a firecracker, "Their snoring has constantly kept us awake for most of the night AND the floors of these wretched cages were too hard."

"Shh," rebuked Phoebe from the cage next to the Lear's macaws, "The others are trying to sleep."

Sapphire irritably looked through the bars of the cage and saw the sleeping forms of the other macaws. Cobalto was lying on his stomach with his wings wrapped around Zebedee and Indigo next to Phoebe; Aramis was asleep next to Esmeralda, Chlorophyll and Petunia, the great green family huddled together; Ruby, Spinel, Alexandre and Poinsettia were just about to wake up after an uneasy night without Athos, especially Ruby, and the Spix and glaucous macaws had also had a difficult night. Blu and Jewel had tried snuggling together as well but due to the stress of the environment and the hardness of the cage floor, they had been tossing and turning while Aurora, Zephyr, Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil who had huddled together for warmth and comfort, were still asleep as were Levi, Lapis Lazuli, Tristan, Quincy, Larimar and Trixie. Then a rumbling noise emanated from D'Artagnan's stomach. The male Lear's macaw frowned and placed a wing on his belly.

"Not again," he muttered.

"Huh, when our chicks wake up," hissed Sapphire, her eyes drooping from lack of sleep and her head feathers a mess, "They will be begging us to feed them."

She then let loose a frustrated hiss and glared bitterly at the door. "It seems like those poachers have not bothered to feed us… again!"

Oh, no Sapphire was always whining. She hated times like these and especially loathed the cruelty of the poachers but it wasn't surprising. She could not stand to be in the hands of cruel humans but she had that attitude towards well-meaning humans as well before she eventually warmed up to them. Human danger and total mistrust of all humans, whether well-meaning or not, had been a solid teaching of some of the macaw tribes, one of them the Lear's and as a chick; Sapphire had had those teachings hard-wired into her brain, thus she grew up with every other Lear's macaw chick of her generation believing that all humans were destructive menaces that destroy the environment or capture animals. But now after learning that not all humans were bad and destructive, Sapphire had learned to trust well-meaning humans, and the Lear's macaws, along with their former enemies the green macaws, had also warmed up to those humans. However, the belief that humans were destructive menaces had been deeply rooted in Lapis Lazuli's tribe, the glaucous macaws, and it had taken a LOT of effort and conviction of their current leaders, Lapis Lazuli's cousin Rudi and his mate Valeria, to believe the fact that not all humans were such. But after one fateful night involving the most recent fire, the glaucous macaws had been forced to review their teachings about humans. But Sapphire was especially concerned for this newly established trust Lapis Lazuli's tribe had of well-meaning humans and how these poachers were threatening to jeopardise it. Then after gazing at Levi and his family as thoughts about their tribe and the threat of the poachers to their trust in humans bubbled in her mind, Sapphire turned her gaze to Zephyr and his family, and then to Blu and Jewel, a worried look as something else concerned her. Shuddering, she turned to Phoebe.

"But while I was trying to calm my daughters," she said to the hyacinth macaw, "I heard Nigel utter something under his breath which sounded like, 'How disgusting, those lowly blue birds snuggling up to one another', or something like that."

Phoebe looked at the Spix macaws including Blu and Jewel and frowned.

"Well I don't want to talk about that cockatoo," she hissed with disgust, "He's caused us enough trouble as it is since he found us…"

But no sooner had these words fled her beak when an oily voice mockingly sounded, "Well, I'm glad to hear that, pretty hyacinth bird."

Phoebe, D'Artagnan (who had kept quiet) and Sapphire snapped round and when they saw the speaker walk into the room with a scornful look glowing sickeningly on his face, D'Artagnan and Sapphire backed away and spread their wings across their sleeping daughters protectively while Phoebe's navy blue plumage bristled like a pufferfish's spines as a hostile glare formed on the hyacinth macaw's face.

"What do you want Nigel!?" growled the large dark blue bird hostilely. D'Artagnan and Sapphire also glared at the cockatoo, D'Artagnan with a timid look on his face with a hint of hostility thrown into it and Sapphire with a clearly acidic one on hers.

Nigel strode into the room shovelling a mouse disgustingly down his throat and marched up to the Lear's and hyacinth macaw cages. He shot Ruby a menacing glare, just as she was waking up as he approached Phoebe.

"She'll be longing for her beloved mate to come back and rescue her and the rest of you, you know," crooned Nigel in a slimy voice, before eying Phoebe and glancing briefly at Cobalto, "While him and you'll be risking your lives to defend each other and your two cute little kiddiewinks."

Phoebe, however, did not find this one bit amusing. She was not usually short-tempered but after a difficult night compounded by the taunting and abuse the group had received from this disgusting cockatoo so far, Phoebe's wall containing her temper had thinned to the point of breaking. One example of this was that Phoebe was barely resisting the urge to lash out at Nigel and claw the scornful look from his face but, like Porthos, she did not want to inflict Nigel with an injury unless it was necessary, such as defence. And being hyacinth macaws, one of the largest known species of parrots, both Phoebe and Cobalto were almost twice the size of Nigel and could easily cripple him with a serious injury but Phoebe resisted that urge.

"In fact it will be the same for the other couples," crooned Nigel wickedly in addition. His eyes then travelled to Aurora and Levi, "Especially for Pigtails (Aurora) and turquoise boy (Levi) when I carry out my plans to rip their families apart."

"The thought of you devastating Aurora and Levi like how you did when they were chicks is enough to make any of us feel sick, you disgusting cockatoo," growled Phoebe fiercely, her entire navy blue plumage spiked out like a cat's hairs. Even the feathers in her ponytail and fringe were spiked out. "You're sick in the head, did you know that?"

Suddenly, a talon darted into the cage and seized Phoebe by the neck. Phoebe was then brought down to Nigel's level. The hyacinth macaw could not believe the amount of strength in that talon. Nigel may be almost half her and Cobalto's size but he certainly was strong, and the noose around Phoebe's neck was strong enough to almost cut off her breathing. Further, Phoebe became alarmed when she felt sharp needles prick her skin. Nigel then looked Phoebe directly in the eye, his brown eyes ablaze with bitterness and his foul breath belching into the hyacinth macaw's face, making her wince in revulsion.

"If there's anything that makes me sick, hyacinth bird," snapped Nigel bitterly, spittle flying into Phoebe's face as he spoke, "It's you pretty birds livin' a happy life, and I will do anything to destroy that happiness."

He then forced Phoebe back into the cage, making the hyacinth macaw stumble and fall onto her back. Nigel and then snapped a glance at Blu and Jewel as they slept and added, "Especially that blue macaw over there, the one who caused me so much misery and humiliation following his grounding me of my flight. He and his family deserve to suffer the most, they do, especially when their little brats return, which they will..." Nigel then turned back to Phoebe as she stood up and rubbed her neck and added, "And as for you, hyacinth bird, I have an ideal plan to devastate you a second time like how I did when you were young when you were smuggled out of your birthplace."

Phoebe then began to feel revulsion and threat sweep through her. As she rose to her feet and her blue eyes fixed upon Nigel once again, she began to feel her temper begin to beak its way out of its thinned restraining walls.

"Get away from us," she hissed hostilely, a large talon raised and claws poised to lash at Nigel, "Before I scratch your face, adding to the three you have already got, or maybe even CLAW YOUR EYES OUT," these last four words exploded violently like a threatened rattlesnake's hiss, emphasizing the hyacinth macaw's threat. However, Nigel was completely unfazed by Phoebe's large talon or her emphatic message. In fact it only made a mocking chuckle escape his throat. He then eyed Cobalto.

"And I don't want you to even think about trying to save your beloved man when I implement that plan, should you attempt to defend him," added the cockatoo, "Because if you do, YOU will be putting your life in great danger as well. The same applies to him should he try to defend YOU."

"I would rather risk my life than to see you put Cobalto, my son and daughter or ANY of the other macaws through such agonising pain and torture, and he would say the same thing to protect ME and our two chicks," retorted Phoebe bitterly, her talon hovering in the air ready to scratch Nigel. "Now get away from us or I'll claw you across the face. You've been warned."

Another unafraid and mocking laugh escaped Nigel's beak.

"Ah, love," he crooned in mock awe, "It's such a powerful and… STUPID thing. Lovebirds certainly don't know any better, do they?"

He then laughed as this insult struck Phoebe like a stone against her head. Nigel then took a step back as the other adult macaws began to wake up and also to avoid receiving a nasty scratch from the male hyacinth macaw. D'Artagnan and Sapphire, who had been watching Nigel as he taunted Phoebe silently the entire time, continued to gaze on with their wings spread across the still-sleeping Miranda, Jasmine and Annette.

At the door to the bedroom, a calico's head slowly peered around the frame. Catina had sneaked upstairs while the poachers and the pets were preparing to go downstairs to get breakfast and had hidden herself as they left. Now she was watching Nigel as he taunted the macaws some more.

"As for the others," continued Nigel, "I have other ideas for how they are going to suffer but they're all based on the same template. I am going to kill some of them to devastate their mates and chicks… apart from Blu and Jewel and their three little chicks when we re-capture those brats. I'm gonna spare the lives of those five. However," Nigel turned extremely bitter, "I am going to instead tear that family apart when we come to sorting you useless birds into destination groups once we're done poaching as many macaws from the Sanctuary de Amazon and we're ready to sell you to various countries. To make Blu and Jewel pay for the loss I have suffered because of them, I am going to make them feel extreme loss as well. I am going to force them apart from their chicks and put them into different destination groups…"

"You can't DO THAT!" shouted D'Artagnan, speaking boldly for the first time, "You'll emotionally scar Carla, Bia and Tiago for life and break Blu and Jewel's hearts into two."

"Yeah, and Carla and her siblings are still young," put in Sapphire, "They're not even adolescents yet and if you inflict such deep trauma like that on them, they're going to be affected for a long time to come."

But Nigel, the sickening bird he was, smiled wickedly at the thought of the consequences of his actions against Blu and his family. He knew absolutely full well that these affects Sapphire and D'Artagnan had said would be true. At the door, Catina's eyes widened and her head jerked upward in horror. However, someone else was also watching Nigel and had heard of his plans. Cometa had followed Nigel back upstairs to see what he was going to do to the macaws but when she overheard Nigel tell the hyacinth macaw and the two Lear's macaws his wicked ideas, horror tore through her like a tear in a sheet of paper as well.

"That is exactly the idea," Nigel crooned sadistically, eyes focussed on Blu and Jewel and sniggering at the thought of seeing them in heartbreak as their chicks were torn from them. "I want those two to feel the loss I felt for my ability to fly," he then hardened his gaze at the three and added in a more sadistic tone of voice, "Just like how that cat who tried defendin' my two most detested nemeses' three chicks when I bit his paw hard. I hope I have broken a bone or two in his wrist."

Phoebe, D'Artagnan and Sapphire winced in utter revulsion at the cockatoo's guiltless laugh and lack of remorse, especially after what he did to Broccoli, and Nigel absolutely showed no sliver of it whatsoever. In fact, replaying the agonised screeches of Broccoli when he bit his paw hard made Nigel burst into laughing even harder as though the whole thing was some comedy show. At the door, Catina felt hot rage and disgust burn through her. 'Nigel has injured one of my sons!?' she snarled in her head, and an enormous urge to jump out at Nigel and claw him outright boiled within her. However, Catina had to remain focussed on her task and if she did jump out at Nigel, her presence would be given away, especially to Otis and his gang for they still had the desire to avenge her. Nigel then shot a glance back at the door, making Catina shrink back so that the cockatoo couldn't see her, and then looked back at D'Artagnan, Sapphire and Phoebe.

"Anyway, I'm off," he crooned wickedly, "Cazador will be bossing me around again and accusing me of being silly if I stay up here. I hope you lot will have had some lovely nightmares or lovely insomnia last night. I'd say the latter since that's best for ya, " his face then turned into the most diabolical look Phoebe, D'Artagnan and Sapphire had ever seen, "But if you did manage to get any sleep, I hope your nightmares featured yourselves seein' me standin' over the brutally clawed carcases of your mates and you cryin' out in utter anguish while I laugh in triumph and at your heartbreak."

And with his signature laugh, he turned round and trotted away.

"You fiend!" growled Phoebe.

"Sorry, hyacinth rat," said Nigel cruelly, "But there's nothing you can do. You are all trapped with no way out."

Then with a final wicked titter, he disappeared out of the room, leaving D'Artagnan, Sapphire and Phoebe to gaze on silently.

Soon, the other adult macaws were awake. They stretched themselves, yawned and stood up. The two Lear's macaws and hyacinth macaw looked around at the others.

"Ugh, what a difficult night it has been," muttered Aramis as he wearily got up, "I barely got any decent sleep at all."

"Neither did me," said Esmeralda. She flashed a glance at the still-sleeping Chlorophyll and Petunia as she said this. Next to Phoebe, Cobalto stood up after releasing a yawn. However, Phoebe, and D'Artagnan and Sapphire were reluctant to tell the others what Nigel was planning to do, especially to Blu and Jewel, by the time the smuggling stage comes and when Carla, Bia and Tiago get recaptured. However, that reluctance will have to be unplugged as the female hyacinth macaw soon found herself the focal point of two suspicious gazes from two Spix macaws, one with teal eyes and the other with brown.

"Phoebe," asked Blu, "Has Nigel been up here? We heard someone talking but we were just waking up."

Phoebe, at first, said nothing but then found herself at the receiving ends of more gazes from the other macaws. D'Artagnan and Sapphire also flinched as all eyes gazed at them too.

"Out with it, pal," growled Jewel bitterly. Zephyr, Aurora, Levi, Lapis Lazuli, Aramis, Esmeralda, Ruby and even Phoebe's own mate Cobalto also had their eyes, though droopy from tiredness, boring into the three as they began to find words to say. Then finally, Sapphire spoke.

"Yes he has but you're not going to like what he's told us and what he's planning to do to you lot," she said nervously.

"Then spit it out," snapped Jewel bitterly. Then Sapphire launched into telling the others everything Nigel had told her, D'Artagnan and Phoebe, including how he was hoping to capture Carla, Bia and Tiago and looking forward to tearing Blu's family apart in revenge for his loss of flight, and how he was going to kill at least one member of the other families to bring devastation on the remaining macaws and the chicks. After Sapphire had finished, hot rage burned through Blu and Jewel and their feathers rose in a hostile way. While the macaws focussed on talking with each other, Catina crept in carefully but quickly.

"That Nigel's gonna face some serious clawing from us then," shouted Jewel loudly.

"Yeah," added Blu, his brown eyes ablaze with fury.

"Shh, you'll attract unwanted attention from downstairs," said Porthos warily.

"Does it look like we CARE!?" screeched Jewel, her voice carrying and jolting the chicks awake. Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil, who were snuggled together for warmth, woke up, making Aurora and Zephyr look their direction and help them wake up.

"Shh, Jewel, keep your voice down," said Aramis but Jewel stubbornly refused to listen. She was by now coming towards the end of her tether and it seemed that Nigel's threats had finally pushed her and Blu to breaking point. Jewel continued shaking with fury, barely able to hold it in. Her eyes were screwed shut and she felt like she could burst any moment, but before she could eventually let it out in a fierce hissy fit in the form of screeching and shouting with Blu just gazing at the ground with brown eyes ablaze with anger, a voice sounded.

"Now before you start throwing a temper tantrum Jewel, let's get the rest of you freed from this dungeon and then the poachers turned in."

Startled by the voice, the others including Jewel who was pulled in time from exploding into a violent rage looked up and saw a calico cat stand near the group.

"Catina," said the adults altogether. The chicks also all woke up and saw Catina as she smiled at them, prepared to rescue more of them. They were desperate to get out of this place as soon as possible. At the window, someone else was watching. Athos, Porthos, Orquidea, Carla, Bia, Tiago, Ariel, Azul and Wilbur had returned and were prepared to help Catina free the rest of their friends but they were wary of the poachers roaming around downstairs. From her hiding place, Cometa watched but was blocked by reluctance to make a move for fear that Cazador might cross-examine her again if any more macaws, especially the valuable glaucous, Lear's and Spix macaws, were freed, or freed a second time. Quietly, she made her way to the entrance to the room and sneaked downstairs, feeling sorry that she was unable to help Catina this time.

"I hope you free those other birds, calico," the falcon remorsefully whispered as she left, "But you'd better be quick or you'd be caught."

"How did you manage to keep well-hidden all through the night last night?" asked Aramis. Catina did not reply and instead jumped over to Zephyr, Aurora and their chicks' cage and clicked a claw. As she inserted it into the keyhole to begin fiddling with the padlock and unlock it, Catina said, "I have no time to explain, Aramis. Those poachers will soon be finishing their breakfast and coming back up here any moment, so I have to be fast."

Zephyr and Aurora and the four chicks looked on with gladness as Catina then tried clicking the padlock so that she could free them.

"You might have to carry us in our cage out of here, Catina," said Blu, "It would take you and me too long to get through this cluster of padlocks based on my calculations."

Jewel rolled her eyes in the flash of amusement she had felt for her mate's nerd-bird trait, but then impatience soon crawled back in. As they watched Catina continue to try and free Zephyr and the others in their cage, Athos began to discuss with Porthos, Orquidea and five of the chicks with them while Tiago kept an eye on the doorway to the room.

"Okay, here's what I would like you to do," whispered Athos, beginning his discussion of his plan.

Catina continued fiddling with the padlock, mumbling to herself impatiently.

"Why don't you just carry us out?" asked Aurora.

"I can't," said Catina, "I'd be easily seen and besides that, it would mean dragging you along which would make too much noise…"

Suddenly, the sounds of talking travelled through the doorway and reached the group's ears.

"Catina, someone's coming!" hissed Jewel. Immediately, the calico stopped working on Zephyr, Aurora and their chicks' padlocked and dived into hiding behind one of the beds. Then suddenly, there was a whooshing sound. All eyes turned and to their shock, they saw red macaws, one red with teal wings and the other two aqua, azure, green and yellow swoop into the room.

"Porthos, Orquidea, Athos!" shouted Blu in shock. The three said macaws stole a glance from him and Jewel and winked but when they heard the sounds of talking increase through the doorway and seeing that there was too little time to select which cages to take, the three macaws quickly made their choice.

"Athos; go for your mate and chicks," said Jewel, "Don't worry about us."

Quickly, Athos, at Jewel's behest, seized the cage holding Ruby, Alexandre, Spinel and Poinsettia by the bars with his only good talon, the right one and flapped away with it, clumsily carrying it vertically and accidentally throwing Ruby and his chicks to the opposite side of the cage as he made a beeline for the window while Porthos and Orquidea seized Aramis and his family's cage and rushed off after Athos. Catina watched as the three adult red birds rushed out of the room with Ruby and Aramis's cages in tow, disappearing seconds before the talkers, which were Otis, Moggy, some crows and two of the human poachers, Gale and John, appeared in the doorway and entered the room. Catina then hid herself among the bed's shadow to watch the poachers while Athos, Porthos and Orquidea made off with the cages containing Ruby, Aramis, Esmeralda and their chicks in tow.

The group flew on with Carla, Bia, Tiago, Azul, Ariel and Wilbur alongside them until they finally found a safe and hidden place not far from Lysandre's group's hideout. There, the macaws descended with the cages and landed there. As soon as they had landed, Ruby, who had her wings tightly wrapped around Alexandre, Spinel and Poinsettia, looked up rather dizzily from the rather rough flight and when she saw her mate then pick up a stone to smash the padlock with it, she smiled.

"Athos," she cried, tears of joy in her eyes.

"Dad," cried Alexandre and his two sisters together happily but Athos only shot them an approving glance.

"Sorry for the rough ride, my rose gem and kids," he said apologetically, "But we had to move very quickly or we'd have been captured again. Plus my left talon is not fit for use thanks to that savage cockatoo."

'Rose gem' was Athos's affectionate nickname for Ruby, much like how 'star flower' was Zephyr's name to Aurora. Some of the other male macaws also had specific affectionate nicknames for their mates as well. Levi's for Lapis Lazuli was 'blue gem' and Porthos's for Orquidea was 'Flor Azul Y Amarilla' (Spanish for 'blue and yellow flower' for Porthos had learnt some Spanish). Athos then had Porthos begin to bash the padlock locking Ruby and her chicks in their cage fiercely with the rock. Ruby got a glimpse of Athos's left talon in its bandage but said nothing for she had already deduced that her mate had managed to seek medical attention from Nigel's attack.

While Porthos smashed the rock against the padlock of Ruby's cage to break it, utilising his strength in the process, Athos and Orquidea began to figure out how to unlock the padlock locking Aramis and his family in their cage. While they did that, the family of four green macaws gazed at them gladly.

"Boy am I glad to see you, Athos, you two," said Aramis as Athos and Orquidea continued to examine the padlock and Porthos continued smashing the rock on Ruby's cage's padlock. Nearby, Carla, Bia, Tiago, Azul, Wilbur and Ariel were searching for a suitable device to help unlock the padlock when Bia's eyes landed on something discarded on the floor. Part of the object was silvery as it glinted in the sunlight. Bia, compelled by intrigue walked over to it to examine it closer.

"You did give us a bit of an uncomfortable ride, though," said Esmeralda as she rubbed her head and checked Chlorophyll and Petunia for any bruises they may have sustained during the rough flight. That flight had rocked the cages quite harshly, and Esmeralda had bumped her head several times on the bars while Aramis had kept Chlorophyll and Petunia protectively wrapped in his wings.

"Look, we're sorry for the discomfort but we had to fly really quickly," said Orquidea, "We didn't have time to slowly and carefully carry you but at least you're not too badly hurt."

"I'll be glad to get out of this cage," said Aramis, "We've been locked up in this dreaded thing for more than a day now."

"Once you free us," said Esmeralda, "We're going to go back and rescue the others."

"Whoa, one thing at a time, Esmeralda," said Athos before his mind became too overwhelmed, "Let's just focus on getting you and Ruby out of these cages first."

He then examined the padlock and began to figure out how to unlock it, standing on his right foot.

"I know Blu, Veggie and Catina are skilled in using their claws in unlocking these things," Athos said, "But I had never been good at picking locks…"

"But you've spent much of your life as a pet, Athos," said Orquidea with him, "I thought you'd be used to cages."

"That's true but we have always used keys to unlock padlocks, not pick them with our claws," Athos replied. Orquidea then let loose a frustrated sigh, as did Esmeralda. The latter was clearly desperate to be out of this piece of junk with her mate and two chicks. Just then Carla, Bia, Tiago, Azul, Wilbur and Ariel returned. Behind the group, Porthos continued bashing the padlock furiously with the rock while Ruby, Spinel, Poinsettia and Alexandre watched on.

"Uncle Athos, Mom," said Wilbur, "Bia here has something."

Athos and Orquidea turned round and saw the latter's sons approach them with Ariel and Blu and Jewel's chicks. One of the latter, Bia had something clutched in her talons. It had a partially cylindrical part coloured black and yellow and out of one end protruded a silvery stick. The end of the stick was flattened into a carving tool Athos had seen called a chisel. The metallic surface of the stick glinted in the sun.

"Will this do, Uncle Athos?" asked Bia, displaying the object to the scarlet macaw.

"A screwdriver?" asked Athos in confusion, "How am I gonna pick the padlock with that thing?"

But then it came to him.

"Oh, I get it," he said with a smile. He then reached out a talon and took the screwdriver from Bia.

"Maybe this would make a makeshift key," said the scarlet macaw as he examined the chisel-like end of the screwdriver. "I've heard of these sometimes being used as lock pickers. Brilliant idea, Bia, thanks. Where did you find it?"

"On the floor," said Bia, a proud smile adorning her beak. Carla and Tiago frowned jealously at their sister as did Azul, Wilbur and Ariel.

"Hey, we helped you to find it too," said Tiago.

"We in fact found it together, even though you found it first," said Ariel. Then Athos returned to Aramis' cage.

"Let's see if this works," the scarlet macaw said and with that, he inserted the silvery chisel-like end of the screwdriver into the padlock's keyhole. While Athos did that, Porthos continued pelting the padlock on Ruby's cage with the rock. The padlock was beginning to show signs of damage with the metal body deforming out of shape. However, the u-shaped piece, the part that clipped onto the cage door and locking into the locking mechanism inside the main body was unmoved.

"Can you manage it, Porthos?" asked Ruby. The muscular blue-and-gold macaw threw down the rock in frustration.

"It's deforming but the lock won't break," he replied, "I'm never gonna unlock that thing."

Ruby, Alexandre, Poinsettia and Spinel all let loose despairing sighs when suddenly, Athos' voice jolted Porthos out of his disappointment.

"I think we may have found an effective solution to the problem, Porthos," said the scarlet macaw. Porthos and Athos's still-caged family looked up and saw, to their surprise, that Aramis, Esmeralda, Chlorophyll and Petunia were standing out of the cage next to Athos and the others with him. One of the Spix macaw chicks, Bia, wore a smug look on her face while holding up a black and yellow thing with a silvery stick. Porthos was thunderstruck.

"You managed to free Aramis and his family from their cage!?" he asked incredulously, "H-how…"

"Bia, together with her siblings, our sons and Ariel found this thingamajig," said Orquidea.

"It's called a screwdriver," said Carla, Bia and Tiago gazing at the female blue-and-gold macaw. Orquidea only shrugged. .

"Whatever it is," said she, "And Athos used it as a lock pick and managed to unlock the padlock."

Porthos and Ruby were filled with amazement.

"A screwdriver as a lock pick?" asked the former in awe, "What a fantastic idea!"

"Carla, Bia, Tiago, and you also Azul, Wilbur and Ariel, you six are geniuses," said the latter impressed. Spinel, Alexandre and Poinsettia, especially the latter, nodded in agreement.

"It should work on Ruby's cage as well," said Athos. With that, he walked over to said cage and stuck the silver tip of the screwdriver into the keyhole of the padlock. Then after some fiddling, a click was heard as the u-shaped lock part clicked from its counterpart inside the body of the padlock. Even though it was deformed having being repeatedly battered by Porthos' rock, the screwdriver still unlocked the padlock. As soon as he had unlocked the padlock, Athos tossed it away and opened the door, allowing Ruby, Alexandre, Spinel and Poinsettia out of their cage. The moment his family was out, Athos was swallowed in a hug by Ruby and his three kids. However, he did not mind for he was glad that his family was out.

"Boy, I'm glad to be out of that prison at last," cried Ruby as she cried into Athos's chest. Athos then returned the hug and the scarlet macaw family all shared a group hug. The others looked on while Bia gazed at the screwdriver.

"Keep that screwdriver, Bia," said Porthos with a talon point to the tool, "We'll need it to free the others and any other bird those poachers may catch and padlock."

Bia smiled and obeyed this statement.

"Blu is going to be amazed at the solution you six had managed to find," said Orquidea, "It will help speed things along."

"It is actually more effective than using claws," said Porthos as he gazed at the screwdriver. Then as soon as the scarlet macaws had broken their hug, Athos stood to the front, his bandaged left foot huddled against his tummy feathers.

"Right, are we ready to join forces with Catina?" he asked.

"But Athos, what about Tulio and his team?" asked Aramis.

"Should they be alerted first?" asked Esmeralda.

"Absolutely," said Ruby in agreement.

"Don't worry, Travis and his family already have that covered," Athos said. The eyes of the newly freed macaws shot Athos a surprised glare.

"We'll explain later," said Athos, "But for now, let's return to the poachers' hideout and free the others and get rid of those two cages."

The others all cheered in agreement and with that, the flock of macaws all took off. Aramis and Porthos carried the now-empty cages to dispose of them so that no-one else could use them for nasty purposes.