"There, right there," Fang said over Speck's shoulder. His arm grazed mine and I instinctively leaned away. He glanced at me while Speck zoomed in.
"This area?" Speck highlighted with the cursor on the map.
He nodded, his lips a thin line as Speck pulled up a dark window and started typing away frantically. White characters dashed across the screen, a few error messages popping up though she passed right by them. Speck paused, frowned, then continued, "Your computer is slow."
"It's the best we've got," Fang uttered back.
"You got it from ITex, right?" she replied as she kept typing.
"How'd you know?"
"The model is old," she changed windows fast, then highlighted a section that I assumed were serial numbers. "Like, two years old. Ours is faster."
"You want to use ours?" I proposed.
"No, I think I got it, but from now on, yeah," she blinked at the screen. "Here it is."
Both Fang and I narrowed our eyes at the top-down view of a field, her cursor in the middle of it. I rose an eyebrow, confused at what we were looking at. Then she pressed a couple of buttons and a building pixelated into view. "They hid it from the satellite."
"How? Did they put like a giant blanket over it?" I overheard Holden.
I glanced back at him lying on the bed, his arms supporting his neck. The scars on his skin were more obvious around his shoulders and underarms, contrasting against his green eyes. Star, Kate, and Ratchet were lightly bantering over a tv-show, and Maya was just finishing up in the bathroom.
"They must've hacked into the satellite's camera to hide it," Speck tapped the spacebar and coordinates shot up on the screen.
"Oh," Holden's voice fell but his eyes were still full of fascination.
"Did you get it?" Maya wringed her hands as she closed the bathroom door behind her.
"Yup!" Speck beamed at Maya and turned the laptop towards her. Maya leaned to look at it to memorize the coordinates.
"Awesome, we should jump on that soon then," she nodded towards Fang.
He copied her and stood before ruffling Speck's hair, "Good job."
Speck smiled even more as I kept in a growl. I nudged Speck as both Fang and Maya went to inform the rest of the gang. Speck glanced at me and I smiled at her.
"See Amber? I can do it," she puffed her chest.
"I knew you could," I pointed out. "It's just… you know this stuff is dangerous, right?"
"I know," she lightly hung her head. "But finding your parents was dangerous too."
"Yes, but this is different. These could be really bad people. We don't know what we're getting into," I added. "Maya said they were like the Doomsday Group, but different. And it might be the bad different."
"I know," she sighed. "But if I can help-"
"You can help," I cut her off. "Just… don't bite off more than you can chew, okay?"
She stiffly nodded as Fang walked over to us, asking a question I didn't register.
"What?"
"We need to scout the place," Fang reiterated, crossing his arms over his chest. "And it's best with another set of eyes."
"Oh- well, um, okay," I stumbled over my words. Was he asking me to join a mission with him? "But what about Speck?"
"She'll stay with the rest of the gang," Maya answered.
My brows knitted together. This wasn't really what I agreed to. Sure, I said we'll both help to battle against this mysterious group, but I couldn't leave Speck here alone. I glanced at the rest of the gang, who were not intrigued in pitting against Fang and Maya. They didn't seem like quitters, either.
"Are you sure?" I turned back towards Speck. "What if something happens?"
"We'll be fine, we have an arsenal," Ratchet chimed in. He exchanged eye contact with Speck and nodded. "This squirt's protected."
I still frowned. Just because they were all 'suped up in their own ways doesn't mean they could handle themselves on their own. Speck didn't have anything special like them unless you count breathing underwater; Holden also held that title. Speck had her skills with a knife, but a knife could only go so far.
"She'll be fine," Fang assured me, locking his eyes with mine.
I bit the inside of my cheek. Even if she was going to be fine, it was hard to comprehend that she wasn't going to be with me. We were always together, no matter where we went.
I slowly nodded, but a part of me wanted to scream no.
"Great, let's go," Fang flipped up his hood.
"Wait- now?" my voice rose.
He matched eyes with me, "Yeah." Then he walked over to the balcony of our room, opened the window, and jumped out. I whistled in a breath before hearing a deep flap of his wings catching the wind. He darted up and out of sight, and my heart rate settled to an anxious drum. Maya adjusted her windbreaker and went to copy him while I turned and bent down in front of Speck.
"Are you sure you'll be okay?" I asked, my voice tight.
"I'll be fine," Speck lightly pouted, though her brow raised in concern. "What about you?"
"I'll… be fine," I swallowed. I had no idea what I was walking, well more like flying, into. Both Fang and Maya treated this as a normal thing, to fly into enemy territory to gather information – I felt like I was being thrown into a spy-action movie, and it wasn't the comedic kind. My life was at risk here. What would happen if we got caught? Or one of us got hurt? We were flying there, and my flight skills weren't that great. What if we were just walking into a trap? What would that mean for the rest of the gang? For Speck? What if they had to come rescue us? How would they do that without getting hurt? Or-
"Amber."
I blinked and looked at Speck's face, her hand on one of my shoulders. I let out a shaky sigh and hugged her, and she quickly reciprocated it. I closed my eyes and whispered so only she could hear, "Don't come for me if something happens, okay? Just run, find a safe place, and stay under the radar, okay?"
I felt her body seize a little and I squeezed her again until I felt her head nod.
"Okay," I stood up and let out a shaky breath. "Stay safe, alright?" Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ratchet tilt his head just slightly, and my stomach twisted. Shit, he must've heard that. I shot him a glare before turning around to face the window. I carefully climbed out, positioned my body just right, and jumped.
I caught up to Fang and Maya rather quickly, albeit my struggle of catching myself before faceplanting. My muscles burned as I flew a couple feet below them and took deep breaths. Fang glanced down at me before tilting and aiming towards our target. Maya copied him and I flapped to catch up. I powered through the air and rolled my shoulders a bit.
"Hey."
I gasped as Fang dipped next to me, his feathers almost touching mine and causing me to stumble in flight. I threw out my hands to steady myself as he watched me flounder with a straight face. My cheeks warmed at his stare, "What?"
"You should try twisting instead of flapping," he said over the wind.
"What?" I asked again, his words not making sense.
"Like this." With a strong beat of his wings, he flew far ahead of me, then twisted his wing just slightly to adjust his direction. He circled back by me and I noticed he had the similar flight of those hawks I saw back in the canyon. "Then you won't waste your stamina."
"Oh," I mumbled. I tried to mimic it, but caught the wind wrong and sucked in a breath, flapping instinctively.
"Try again," he stated, and my blood boiled.
"I'm not a kid," I barked at him.
His eyes flashed towards me. I briefly closed my eyes and let out a shaky sigh.
"Sorry, I-" I stopped, feeling my face heat up.
"It's fine," he replied firmly, his attention now in front of us.
Was it though? All of this, I was joining his team just to find my brother, his flock-mate, and he was trusting me enough to go on a… mission with him. That sounds too weird to say. I'm not a spy, and I'm not an amazing fighter or go-to person in situations like this.
"Why bring me along?" I asked out loud.
Fang didn't reply instantly but finally said, "Because you have good instincts."
More like bad instincts, actually.
"You have something different from Maya and me, and not just the mutations," he clarified.
"Different?" I echoed him.
"Different experiences. Between you, me, and Maya too. We all have different stories, but we all have one thing in common."
"Being mutated freaks," I muttered, causing him to crack a rare smirk.
"That's why I got the gang together. We all want a better world and better lives, and it's better to stick together rather than apart," he said sternly.
"Then why scout ahead?"
"Because we can fly?" Maya slowed down a bit to catch up to the conversation. "Also, we don't have to get that close for intel. We have the sight and hearing for that."
Fang nodded and I looked between them, her words taking a second to register.
"I'm… your ears?" my voice rose a bit.
"You said you can hear good, much better than us," Maya splayed one of her hands to prove her point.
"Not as good as Ratchet though…"
"Ratchet can't fly," Maya reiterated. "You got the best of both worlds."
As much as I wanted to accept her encouragement, I just felt worse. I was mutated this way for this reason specifically. I couldn't accept this as a "cool" addition like Fang with his apparent ability for breathing underwater. That still dumbfounded me. If he was able to "evolve," I doubted I would be able to… I don't even think I have the capacity for that. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I was mutated to do these mission-like-adventures and utilizing my abilities to complete them for ITex. I lightly shook my head. No… this is wrong. I don't want to do what they expected me to do, but here I was. I was fulfilling my purpose but on the other side of the coin.
I exhaled, "I guess… but I've never tried while flying."
"Well, you try something new every day, so..." Maya trailed off with a shrug. I scrunched my nose at her.
"Can you hear anything right now?" Fang queried.
I closed my eyes and tried to focus on my hearing despite the bandana wrapped around my ears. The only thing I could make out was my breathing and their voices; flying at high speed wasn't helping. Every so often the wind would catch under the bandana and whistle into my ear canal, leaving an unpleasant ring and ache behind. I shook my head and diverted my eyes from them, "Only you two."
I heard Maya sigh and Fang's inaudible reaction. What were they expecting? That I would be an expert at my freakish additions? All they did was keep me from living a normal, teenager life. These wings, ears, tail, and scales locked me up in the freakshow cage and threw away the key. The only time I had "experience" was through experimentation where I was pushed past my limits.
"Maybe we can land far enough away that she can still hear?" Maya suggested to Fang, not batting an eye towards me. My stomach sank a little.
Fang gruffly nodded but was still lost in thought, "Maybe… but then we need one of us to watch her back, too."
I opened my mouth to prove that I would be fine, but Maya jumped in front of me, "What if one of us scopes above while the other stays with her?"
Fang nodded and I lightly fumed. I could handle myself, they didn't need to watch my back for something like this – then again, this was a potentially hostile situation, so maybe this was for the best. I absentmindedly hugged myself, the weight of the situation finally settling on my shoulders. Is this safe?
"I'll stay on the ground with Amber," Fang caught my attention.
I blinked and Maya responded, "You sure? I can watch her if-"
"We'll be fine," Fang glanced at me. "They won't see us."
Maya paused while looking between Fang and I, and my face heated up even more. I felt like a kid being talked about in another room, but I was right there. Did they not want my input on the matter? What if Fang couldn't hold up his end? What if he's just going to let the bad guys catch me so to get rid of me? I squeezed my torso, thinking of Speck. No, I have to get back to her. I have to trust them.
"Amber?"
I nodded, breathing in a newfound goal to get back to my sister. "I'm down. Let's do it."
"Watch it," Fang muttered.
I bit my lip to keep myself from barking back at him. This was the third time he's said that, and I was watching my step a lot better than he was. We were a couple miles away from the building, and we were trudging along the overgrown field as quietly as possible. Quiet was an understatement though. Every time I would step over a bush, Fang would sharply inhale or warn me to watch my footing. It was infuriating since he wouldn't say anything else and would shush me if I tried to reply. As I stepped over another bush, his mouth opened, and I whipped my head around to glare at him. He finally got the message and we continued to tiptoe towards the building.
When we were flying in, Fang and Maya instantly caught sight of it, but it took me a couple minutes of walking after landing to see its shape. Fang touched down much better than I did, as my sneaker caught on a flat rock and I slipped onto my butt, pinching my tail. Maya snickered before saying she'll stay above us, high enough that she would be mistaken for a bird. She was right about that. Glancing up, I could see what looked like a vulture circling high above us.
I sighed a little and heard Fang shush me again. A low growl escaped my throat and he shot me a look. I glared at him as my hands tensed into fists. "Stop shushing me," I whispered. "I doubt they could hear us anyways."
He glared back at me, his dark eyes alarming, "They could have cameras."
"We're in a field?" my eyebrow rose. Where would they put a camera? Unless they hacked the satellite to hide some trees, which was impossible since I could see the "hidden" building in the distance, I doubted there were cameras. Maybe a trail camera, at best.
"You never know," he muttered back.
I scoffed at him and continued walking closer, my back hunched just the slightest in the tall grass. I couldn't even think of what he was thinking. But maybe you had to be extra cautious when on "missions"? I tried to think back to the movies Speck and I binged at my parents' house. Only a couple were spy-related, and Speck didn't like the memories they brought up, so we opted to family classics and comedies. The only one we did see was a comedy, and Speck pointed out the inconsistencies so much it made the movie even more hilarious.
But this was serious.
"How do you know how to do this?" I asked, only to be shushed again. My cheeks reddened as I repeated my question in a low voice.
"Do what?" his voice was also quiet, so I matched him.
"This. You know, like…" I had to choose something other than "mission" to clarify. It was more than just the action. "Planning to approach this way and stuff. Why don't you go in weapons drawn?"
"Because I don't want to be killed," he replied flatly.
I frowned. How come he doesn't just say more than that? Surely, he knew I was trying to understand him more, right? Was he keeping his answers short just to be quiet? Or was he keeping something from me? The thought made me antsy, causing me to be more vigilant of my surroundings.
"Me either, but how do you know your plan will work?" I replied. My heart lurched at the thought of it crashing and burning and me in the middle of it.
"I don't, but I'm sure it will," he cautiously walked around a cactus.
"That doesn't sound reassuring."
To that, he just shrugged, and I swear I felt steam come out of my ears.
"How do you know it will?" I slowed my pace to where we were side by side. My face warmed again at the look in his eyes.
"It will," he replied grimly.
"So, you've done this plan before?"
He paused mid step, "Not exactly."
My eyes flared at him, "Then why are we doing this plan?"
"Because I've done similar ones."
"When? Like yesterday?"
"No, like several months back."
"Was it successful?"
"Mostly."
"So, you failed."
"No, we just made it work."
"The gang must be really good to make a mostly-good plan work out," I huffed.
"I wasn't with-" he stopped and stared at his shoes. He then glanced up and opened his mouth to say something, then caught himself. "Why do you doubt me?"
"You think I trust everybody I meet?" I retorted. As much as I wanted to keep pressuring him, he said everything I needed. He was doing this on a whim. He really didn't know what he was doing, or he at least knew through experience of executing similar plans. This one must have been derived from somebody else's, but who? Maybe it was somebody from the flock? It would make sense for him to leave if his ideals didn't fit perfectly with the flock… or its leader. Now that just sounds weird. Teenagers being leaders of other teenagers just sounded odd, but here I was following Fang's lead. I couldn't help myself to question his grounds.
"Of course not," he muttered, though I could hear him perfectly.
"I'm only doing this to find my brother," I lingered on my words. "And for Speck. She trusts you because of your intention, but that doesn't mean I do as well."
"So why risk it?" he crossed his arms over his chest.
I almost said, "Because it's my middle name," but refrained myself and stayed quiet. Why was I risking it? I wanted to find my brother, but a want can go so far that it could hurt you. I learned that the hard way. Did I need to find him? My parent's faces flashed in front of me and their concerned voices echoed.
"I need to make sure he's safe," I divulged, my cheeks reddening. "He's…" I paused, a tearing feeling in my chest hitting me hard. I saw my house up on the news the day after we left, both Speck and I's faces under the "Wanted" headline, and now my face labelled as a suspect for killing Jacob. Killer. I'm a killer. My heart sank. I wasn't making anybody safe, no matter where I went. If I could just see Ja- Iggy, and see that he's okay, then I could leave without bringing disaster to him. I can't see my parents anymore, and even though Speck was by my side, I was putting her more at risk, and I still felt incomplete. "He's my brother."
"I understand," Fang said, peering towards the building.
"Do you?" I blurt out. He whipped his head around to look at me and I felt smaller than an ant. I quickly tried to counter my words, "I- I mean- uhm- you said you don't have biological siblings."
"I don't, but…" he stiffly sighed. "But I would do anything for them."
"So why aren't you with them?"
His eyes locked with mine, but his attention was somewhere else. He continued looking at me, my stature shrinking the longer he did, until he blinked and turned his head. The weight rolled off me in shivers, as he settled on the building again and replied slowly, "It's complicated."