Chapter 94- fiery outbursts of rage at the toucans responsible
While the extreme shock continued to hover above those outside as they continued to gaze at the toucan chicks holding the branches with flames and parrot feathers, inside Tulio's Aviary, some of the members of Blu's group, Athos, Ruby, Sheldon and Spinel and also Zebedee, Iris, Riker, Velocity, Cometa and Lightning, stood outside the operating theatre, seriously worried gazes plastering their faces, especially Spinel and Sheldon. In the rest of the main medical room, the majority of the toucans had been captured and caged while many of the toucan chicks were being treated, also in cages with their parents. Only a few of the toucans, Diantha, Gladion, Lillie and of course Rita and Carlos and a few others that had reformed had left the Aviary to prevent being caught by mistake by the humans, so that only the badly behaved toucans could be left exposed and get rightfully caught. Tulio and his team had planned to leave a few of the toucans on the sanctuary after reducing the population to a reasonable level for the other birds and animals.
As Zebedee and Iris rushed Betelgeuse, Rigel and Antares, who were unconscious from exhaustion and the extreme trauma from the whole ordeal of being left for dead in the fire and having to struggle through it themselves, not to mention the injuries two of them, the sisters, had suffered (Betelgeuse with her severely burned left talon and forehead and Rigel with the shard of wood embedded in her shoulder), the hyacinth macaw couple, along with Cometa, Lightning, Athos and Ruby, had run into a barrier of the lack of availability of medical facilities and room, thanks largely to the toucans and their many, many chicks, many of which had been badly burned or injured in the fire, much to the six birds' outrage, especially since the large number of toucans, among them Sofia, Marcel, Marco and Anastasia who had returned inside, refused to budge. That was when Velocity and Riker had rushed into the Aviary and against Sofia and company's wishes and with the help of Atreyu who had been outside his cage with Mumble, Balthazar and Ginny, and also Sardonyx and Greg after they had placed Connie in the hands of a bat vet to have her broken wing fixed, and their sons Steven, Kevin, and some other birds including Gylfie despite the heartbreak over the loss of Aurum, and the persuasion from some of the humans such as Lucy and Susan who had recognised the three half-ruby chicks and were horrified at their condition, some of the toucan kids had been removed to allow room for these three red macaw chicks and also for Connie and another casualty, Altair, whose lower back and wing had been burned, and the treatment they desperately needed. Then after the chaos had calmed down, Athos, Ruby, Sheldon, Spinel, Zebedee, Iris, Riker, Velocity, Cometa and Lightning had either touched down or climbed on top in Ruby and Athos's case because of the latter's broken wing and the former's tattered wings via a small bird's ladder set there by one of Tulio's employees, of a table and gazed at the closed door of the operating theatre in which Betelgeuse, Rigel and Antares had been rushed.
Spinel stood in Sheldon's wings, devastation and extreme worry plastered all over her face and making her eyes weep anguished tears as well as her body shake. Though she had not seen her two daughters and son and the state they were in directly, Sheldon, Zebedee and Iris had explained everything to her and included how they, along with Finnick, Aramis, Wilbur, Luna, Sebastian and Anabelle, had found the trio near the Chinesa Vista before it caught fire, but Sheldon, Iris and Zebedee had absolutely no idea of how Rigel ended up with a wood splinter embedded in her shoulder, and how Antares had suffered a seriously sprained wing and had begun to cook up all kinds of assumptions. Not to mention the fact that Athos, Ruby, Cometa, Lightning, Riker and Velocity kept bombarding the hyacinth macaw couple and Sheldon with a plethora of questions, and they still kept firing one question after another at Zebedee and Iris.
"Could Rigel have fallen into a thorn bush or something after she and her brother and sister had managed to escape those horrible toucan kidnappers, only to fall through the canopy since Betelgeuse could not fly with one of her wings missing some of its flight feathers?" asked Athos, a short glance on Spinel as she continued to sob in Sheldon's wings, "And how did Antares end up with a sprained wing?"
"I'm telling you, Uncle Athos, we don't know!" snapped Zebedee, his left facial side with the scars and clouded eye still on show for he did not have his bandana and had not stopped to have one fashioned for him due to the panic of the crisis. He and Iris were clearly sick and tired of being cross-examined by the lead scarlet macaw, his mate and the four falcons.
"We said we only found those two chicks near the Chinesa Vista," added Iris as she stood near her boyfriend. Then Sheldon gazed at Athos, Ruby, Cometa, Lightning, Riker and Velocity as he continued to hold the sobbing Spinel, "We weren't there when Rigel had impaled her shoulder on that wood shard and when Antares had badly sprained his wing, so we cannot say."
As he said this, Sofia slowly peered around the corner. She was yet to be caged and had had her wings clipped to prevent her from flying away (as had many of the other badly behaved toucans), and was having her minor injuries treated by a nurse who had left to tend to another job. Then a scowl formed on Velocity's face.
"I wonder if any of those toucan kidnappers had deliberately dropped those three and left them for dead in that fire," she growled. Sheldon and Spinel, the latter teary-eyed; shot the daughter of Lightning and Cometa a horrified look when they heard her say this, and Spinel nearly launched into an anguished wail but Zebedee intervened.
"Now let's not jump to conclusions," he said, "Like I've said before, we don't know how Betelgeuse, Rigel and Antares ended up in that dire situation."
"Except the fact that they may have somehow escaped their kidnappers since they did not have any of those toucans chasing after them," put in Iris. As she spoke, two pairs of flapping wings alerted the group as Sardonyx and Greg appeared and touched down beside Zebedee and Iris.
"Are those three chicks doing alright?" asked Greg, his face laced with concern. Sardonyx also shuddered for this seemed familiar, especially as she gazed at the sobbing Spinel and the distraught and worried Sheldon huddling together.
"We heard what had happened to those two poor little chicks," said she.
"They've just been sent into surgery," said Athos, "and will be in there for a good while until their injuries are fixed."
"Have you been in the artificial habitat chamber yet?" asked Ruby, "I heard Gylfie has been escorted into there…"
"You mean that gold and yellow fruit-eating hawk?" asked Greg. Then his face fell, "Not good, I'm afraid. She's been badly traumatised, and is under the care of one or two of the bird studiers."
"Their leader, Tony or something," said Sardonyx.
"Tulio," said Athos.
"Tulio is very worried about the other one," continued Sardonyx, "the male by the name of Aurum. He's hoping that the male fruit-eating hawk is still alive…"
"I hope Gylfie and him have mated since they are the final two golden fruithawks of their species," said Ruby worriedly. Just then, another commotion was stirred, and Athos, Ruby, Cometa, Lightning, Riker, Velocity, Spinel, Sheldon, Zebedee, Iris, Greg and Sardonyx all flinched when shouts erupted from some humans.
"GET SOME WATER or a FIRE EXTINGUISHER, QUICKLY…" shouted one. Then the group of twelve birds all turned and to their surprise, they saw several of the humans rush about for a red canister thing with a black snake-like tube, called by humans a fire extinguisher, while several familiar birds flapped about to help search for some containers of water.
"What on earth," asked Ruby.
"NOW what's up!?" snarled Cometa furiously. Then two of the familiar birds, Ellie and Frodo, the parents of Sylvester, appeared and seized a plastic box from near Athos's group.
"What's happening?" demanded Zebedee.
"No time to explain, Zebedee," said Frodo as he and his mate, the faces of both of them saturated with alarm, rushed off to find a crater-shaped thing that the humans and the human thing-familiar birds called a wash basin or sink to fill the box up with water. Zebedee sighed and returned to the group as he watched the two Cuban red macaws rush away. Then as the small group of birds and humans rushed outside with either buckets or plastic boxes of water or a fire extinguisher in their clutches, Lightning looked on, knowing that the hasty acquisition of water and fire extinguishers meant one thing.
"Sounds like a small fire has started nearby," said he.
"A small fire?" repeated Athos with a frown, "Especially after the entire sanctuary is engulfed in flames almost?"
Lightning did not reply except with a shoulder shrug, especially as everything in the medical room calmed down again. Then the worries for Betelgeuse, Rigel and Antares returned as all twelve gazes of Athos's group returned to the door of the operating theatre.
"This honestly reminds me of what happened to our son Lars back at that fake sanctuary place," whispered Sardonyx sombrely.
"He was eaten by those nasty caracals and servals, wasn't he?" said Ruby, "Sirius, Sandalwood and some of the others told us that."
Then a pang of pity flashed within Cometa, Lightning, Riker and Velocity and the falcons shot Sardonyx and her mate a sympathetic look. Then Sardonyx's saddened eyes travelled to the weeping Spinel in Sheldon's wings, "If those three precious chicks of that scarlet macaw pass away," she said in a hushed voice, "She's likely to be very heartbroken, possibly for months on end, along with her green-winged mate."
"Sheldon's actually half green-winged," said Iris but Sardonyx and Greg were too swamped with concern for Spinel and Sheldon to reply.
From her distance, Sofia continued watching the twelve birds consisting of six red macaws, two hyacinth macaws and four peregrine falcons as they continued to talk, and cautiously backed away when she bumped into a lanky, rich pink leg.
"Oi, watch it, you little toucan brat," snapped the owner of the leg, which turned out to be a rosette spoonbill, Kipo's cousin Orton who had travelled from the other Blu Bird Sanctuary's evacuation spot with Cometa, Lightning, Riker and Velocity to visit Tulio's Aviary and check on their friends including Blu and company. Then Orton's glare morphed into a look of suspicious hostility, "Not planning on any more mischief, are we? Especially after all the trouble you, your mate and friends and your chicks have caused!"
Sofia did not reply and began to back away from the tall pink spoonbill as he continued piercing her with his glare, his spoon-shaped bill also pointing at the toucan.
"My brother Murphy has lost his mate to the fire while she was out on a foraging trip for some fish and fruit with some other rosette spoonbills in the forest, you know," he hissed, "They were meant to bring back the food for our spoonbill chicks and the chicks of some of the other birds but had run into that inferno and were immediately trapped…"
Still Sofia didn't answer, much to Orton's frustration.
"Murphy has a clutch of five chicks, and yet YOU, and many of your SIBLINGS have a vast HOARDE of chicks, numbering perhaps in the hundreds for some of you…" continued Orton, his rage at Sofia and her mate Marcel's breeding, and that of so many of their other siblings, boiling within him, "Not to mention the fact that SO MANY of your kids are downright DELINQUENTS."
Still Sofia remained silent and turned her face away, making Orton roll his eyes and glare back at her, "You sure are a proud, defiant little brat, ain't you, as always," he hissed. Just then, the pattering of several pairs of talons came by. Orton and Sofia both looked up and saw Iris, Zebedee, Sheldon, Spinel, Greg and Sardonyx walk by, saddened looks on their faces, and Spinel was especially weeping and trembling.
"It just doesn't make any sense at all," grumbled Sheldon in a shaky voice as he continued to hug his sobbing full pink-red scarlet mate and his eyes threatening to weep tears, "Rigel can't possibly have landed onto that wood shard by herself and Antares certainly can't have sprained his wing so much that he could not fly. He would have been able to carry Betelgeuse, who DEFINITELY cannot fly with her tattered wing, to safety," his face turned to the other five, "Could a tree have exploded and sent that piece of wood into Rigel's shoulder and Antares flying and crashing in such a way that he had sprained his wing?"
"That sounds unlikely, Sheldon," said Greg, "Wood shrapnel sent flying from explosions usually spell death for little chicks such as your two daughters and son."
"Based on how that piece of wood is embedded into your daughter's left shoulder," said Sardonyx, "and not completely impaled all the way through implies that she, along with her brother who does not have any significant external injuries, may have had a BAD accident during their attempted escape with their sister in their talons if the theory of their attempt to fly to safety is correct…"
Orton flinched as he heard Sardonyx describe Rigel's injury and Antares' sprained wing while Sofia shuddered and began to back away. Then a look of pure outrage formed on the faces of Zebedee and Iris.
"Well, it seems that the possibilities point to those kidnappers that are them rotten toucans as being the responsible cause of Rigel's injury, Antares' sprained wing and them and Betelgeuse's struggle through that fire," growled Iris, her unusual violet feathers bristling, "and if we find out who are responsible, we're gonna FLAY THEM!"
"Yes, and SO WILL I," put in Spinel, a surge of anger breaking through her distress briefly. Sheldon nodded in agreement, a furious look of thunder also saturating his face. Sofia flinched harshly at how Iris and Spinel shouted their words and how Sheldon nodded and began to tremble violently. Then the six macaws turned round and returned to Athos, Ruby and the four falcons, leaving Sofia standing alone with Orton, whose face had morphed into a look of suspicion, especially as he watched the toucan tremble like a leaf and lose control of her breathing. Then as Sofia, her futile attempts at trying to conceal her fears making her stumble towards the wall then shakily sat down, Orton hardened his suspicious look.
"I do believe you're hiding something, Sofia," he said in a low voice. Sofia shot the spoonbill a stunned look.
"What, n-n-no I'm not, Orton, I'm just w-w-w-worried for my own kids' wellbeing that's all," she said, trying to deny her nerves and unease. However, Orton saw right through the façade.
"Huh, YOU'VE got MORE KIDS than you know what to do with and yet Spinel and Sheldon," his wing gestured in the direction of the couple, "only have three, all of which are in critical condition, especially the one with the shard in her shoulder," Sofia gazed up at the pink spoonbill as he folded his wings, "not to mention the fact that the rest of the group, including Blu and Jewel's own three first-brood offspring, have only one to four chicks as well, all of whom were nearly lost in the fire…"
Sofia kept quiet, her tongue stuck in her beak but then her nervousness began to boil dangerously within her, especially as Orton proposed the next question.
"Sofia, did you drop Rigel and Antares and possibly Betelgeuse as well from the canopy while in that forest, especially with that fire tearing through the trees?" asked he, making Sofia shoot a frightened look in his direction.
"Wh-what?" she snapped.
"Look, the question as to how those three were found by themselves in the forest… totally ablaze… with one of the sisters having a shard in her shoulder, the other a burned talon and forehead and the brother with a sprained wing, and ALL THREE being UNABLE toFLY and escape to safety has been plaguing the minds of those macaws and their friends, especially their parents Spinel and Sheldon," said Orton angrily, "and they wanna know how those two poor girls and boy ended up by themselves… in those STATES in that FIRE… and I'm wondering if you and/or your comrades had anything to do with it," Sofia's gaze darted back at Orton, "so I'm asking you again… what happened, Sofia?"
No reply. Orton hardened his glare, "What happened?"
Still no reply, except Sofia began to tremble violently all over, as she feared the consequences.
"Tell me right NOW!" growled Orton in a louder and more pressing voice, "What happened!?"
"I'm telling you, I DON'T KNOW!" snapped Sofia. However, Orton refused to budge. He knew full well that Sofia had something to hide and was determined to dig it out.
"Look, I can tell, based on your body language, that YOU were THERE to witness the incident in which those three chicks were left alone to fend for themselves…" said Orton. Still Sofia refused to answer but as Orton's anger began to boil all the more and as the spoonbill shoved his face towards hers, such that Sofia flinched, she was eventually forced to divulge what had happened to Betelgeuse, Rigel and Antares in the flaming forest at her and her group's clutches.
"W-we were taking those three chicks through the forest, me and my mate Marcel and some of our siblings and in-laws," said Sofia in a shaky, quiet voice, "when we saw the fire up ahead and some of our own chicks carrying those branches lit with flames…" the colour drained from the skin under the pink feathers of Orton's face as disbelief and flabbergast consumed him when he heard this, and his long spoon-shaped bill dropped open.
"WHAT!?" he shouted. Sofia then timidly looked up at him.
"And we were so shocked and horrified that we accidentally dropped Betelgeuse, Rigel and Antares, and were forced to see to our chicks as the flames from the branches they were carrying began to burn them alive…" said Sofia shakily, her muscles and nerves really shuddering now, "and we then rushed away with them in our talons to escape with them from the fire…"
"Did you return to find Antares and his sisters in the process, especially if they tried to call to you for help while the fire was burning the surrounding trees and vegetation?" asked Orton, his temper threatening to erupt. Sofia hesitantly shook her head.
"We might have heard them but…"
"But what!?"
"Th-th-they weren't our problem…" Sofia timidly admitted. Orton raised his head and neck and stood there, gazing down at Sofia in utter astonishment, especially at what she had just said about Betelgeuse, Rigel and Antares, the only three chicks of Spinel and Sheldon, and that she would say such a thing. Then the rosette spoonbill, without hesitation, rushed off in the direction of Athos' group. Sofia saw where Orton was heading. Alarmed, she stood up and tried to flee but ended up crashing into two scarlet macaws as they walked past the corner.
"OOOH-ER!" screeched one of them, Greg, as he was nearly bowled over by the charging toucan only to be caught in time by Sardonyx. Then Greg shot Sofia a furious glare, "What in the WORLD are you TRYING TO DO!? BOWL ME OVER!?"
Sofia just gazed at him and an equally enraged Sardonyx but then another scarlet macaw voice rang out, this time from a more familiar owner. And that voice was saturated with even GREATER anger.
"SOFIA! I'M gonna TEAR YA APART!" a pink-red comet with yellow and azure wings, her face flooded with pure volcanic wrath, shot round and tackled violently into Sofia, knocking her back but then Sardonyx, alarmed, flapped up and seized the fiery-tempered macaw from Sofia as the terrified toucan scrabbled backwards, her face saturated with terror at the wrathful pale brown-eyed bird.
"I'm gonna SKIN YA ALIVE!" screeched Spinel as she fought in Sardonyx's grasp to get at Sofia. Then Sheldon, a volcanic look also plastering his face, appeared but was stopped by Greg before he could leap at the toucan.
"YOU SELFISH... UNCARING…" screeched Sheldon at Sofia and began to bombard her with a caustic concoction of insults and tried to lash his claws at the terrified toucan, who backed away even more while Greg kept a hold of the half-scarlet, half-green-winged macaw's wings and struggled to restrain him. Then some more feathered forms rushed round and surrounded Sofia like a group of human medics around a witness of an accident.
"WHY didn't YOU RESCUE Betelgeuse, Rigel and Antares when they were in their MOST DIRE NEED!?" demanded a furious Athos as he, Ruby, Iris, Zebedee, Velocity, Riker, Cometa and Lightning stood by, all their equally furious glares converging on the toucan. In the background, several more of Blu's group members, among them Blu, Jewel, Carla, Bia and Tiago, and Zephyr, Aurora, Justin, Finnick, Kira, Matilda and Virgil and also Wilbur and Poinsettia, walked in just in time to see the volcanic eruption of rage happening between Sofia and Athos's group.
"I'M GONNA SKIN YA ALIVE!" screeched Spinel as she continued to struggle and writhe in Sardonyx's talons. Sheldon also struggled in Greg's talons, the urge to slash Sofia to a pulp also boiling within him and his beak continuously spewing acidic threats and insults at the toucan. Around the medical room, all the other birds, including Mumble, Atreyu, Ginny, Balthazar, JD, Roxanne, and Sofia's comrades, those that had been there when and where Betelgeuse and her siblings were dropped, looked on timidly as some humans, among them Linda, rushed in to try and quell the fighting.
"L-l-look, we already had our TALONS FULL WITH OUR OWN KIDS…" replied Sofia in protest but Ruby towered over her, a furious look on her face.
"Oh, you SHOULDN'T have JUST ABANDONED THOSE THREE to struggle alone in the fire, Sofia, especially if NONE OF THEM were able to FLY!" screeched Athos' mate and Spinel's mother, sending extreme fear coursing like a jolt of electricity through Sofia.
"YOU MURDERER!" screeched Sheldon in Greg's talons. Orton stood back, fear at the blaze of anger rooting him to the spot.
"What's GOING ON!?" bellowed Blu in confusion. Then some human hands appeared and seized Ruby, Athos, Iris, Zebedee, Velocity, Riker, Cometa and Lightning, as well as Spinel, Sheldon, Sardonyx, Greg and Sofia and pulled the latter away from the others.
"EVERYBODY, CALM DOWN!" barked Athos as he realised the humans' intervention, especially as Francisco lifted him carefully away from the others while Linda took away Ruby, Zebedee and Iris.
"Alright, that's enough, all of you," said Linda as she did it, "we've had enough skirmish and trauma as it is for one night."
As Spinel and Sheldon were carried away by another human, a young male and one of Fernando, Jack and Jill's friends, they gazed at Sofia, also in another human's hands, with furious and tearful glares.
"Betelgeuse, Rigel and Antares, Sofia," sobbed Spinel, "Our three chicks!"
Then the scarlet macaw broke down as she was carried away by the human, along with Sheldon. Sofia shuddered in the hands of her holder as she was carried away as well.