I watched PC being hurled bodily through the window of a Bob's Munchy Mart. I cringed as he crash the through the window head first. I didn't know if the trauma had killed him or not, but regardless, I needed to act. I knew if that was me I probably wouldn't have survived it. Lyle began to advance on the broken window of the store. I picked up a piece of asphalt and hurled it at Lyle. The projectile whacked him on the snout. He gave me a murderous stare.
"Hey stupid did you forget about me!" I taunted.
"Shut up! You're next!" He snarled and turned to pick up PC, who lay limp in his arms.
I threw another piece of asphalt.
"Put him down," I said sternly.
"You are getting on my nerves. I guess I'll take care of you first. After all it looks like he won't be going anywhere." Lyle plopped PC on the ground and then instantly grabbed a parked car and hurled it at me. I jumped away from it just in time. "You are just as much of a coward as he is," Lyle jeered.
I smiled inwardly "let's see about that," I said softly. I darted forward running as fast as my legs could carry me and sprang off the roof of the car that had just been thrown. Next the back of my shirt tore open to reveal my obsidian colored wings. They crackled as I forced them to move in quick abrupt strokes. I held out my clawed hands, like a hawk does when about to snatch up its prey. When I made contact with Lyle's chest it felt like hitting wall at top speed. The impact racked my arm muscles and even threatened to dislocate both of my shoulders. If Lyle hadn't been pushed back several feet, I would've. He stared at the ten crimson holes I had burrowed in his flesh in disbelief. Lyle began to throw a fit, stomping the ground and gnashing his teeth and then he charged at me. I made another coarse maneuver with my wings, propelling myself upward without a running start, forcing Lyle to miss. He cursed as I circled above him out of his reach. It had been a while since I had been in the air. It was frightening and exhilarating. I hated it. Every flap of my wings was pure agony and my body screamed under the stress to keep me aloft. Suddenly a piece of asphalt flew like a comet towards me. I twisted out of the way in order to avoid it. Soon more asphalt comets were hurled up to meet me. I darted this way and that way. I was doing well only taking a few hits in the stomach, on my knees, and arms. Due to my success, my confidence swelled and I broke a personal taboo.
"If that is the best you have to offer, than I don't know why the School wants you."….I got cocky…Next I heard whistling noise and then metallic THUNK! Before I knew it I was pinned by my right wing against a building by a piece of metal pipe. This time I couldn't help but cry out in agony. The pain wasn't overwhelming, but it was strong enough to make my eyes water up and deter me from making any sudden moves. Lyle chuckled which sounded like croak more than anything else, as he approached.
"You're a little cocky aren't you," he said with a fiendish smile.
'Thank-you, Captain Obvious' I thought to myself. I shut my eyes and tried to reach for the pipe with my right arm. Pain exploded from shoulder down my side and I instantly recoiled. I tried my left arm, but it was too far away. For once I felt a sudden rush of panic course through me. I was trapped……

You know that feeling you get when your foot falls asleep. Imagine that tingly sensation all over your entire body, only it feels like thousands of needles are poking you at the same time. That is how I felt at the moment; I only get this feeling when my ability actually kicks in. My head felt like it had been flattened. The numbness slowly began to fade away as I became more aware of my surroundings. A few shards of glass had burrowed into my skin and I gingerly plucked them out. Suddenly an anguished cry reached my ears and I became reacquainted with my present situation. I looked around to look for Rafmire. I spotted Lyle walking toward a building with a crocodile smile on his face. Then I saw Raf pinned by one wing against the face of a building.
"You're a little cocky aren't you?" I heard Lyle say. He picked up another piece of pipe…the jerk was going to do it again. Rage began to build inside me and I began to change. Transformations didn't hurt me anymore as a matter of fact I could change on command…no thanks to Jeb. My bones crackled and popped as usual, but their change in position and shape was smooth. A feral snarl accompanied my heavy breathing and long canines joined my clenched teeth. I charged as fast as I could and roared before making contact with Lyle and knocking him over. He released the pipe as I chomped down on his wrist. Lyle roared in pain and bashed me in the head with his fist. I recoiled and kicked him in the side of the head making sure to include my clawed toes for maximum damage. Lyle countered a split second after I had finished the kick and grabbed my leg, and then slung me across the street. Luckily I was able to grab hold of a street lamp post. He gave me a venomous glare and roared louder than he had before. I countered with a cry of my own accompanied by the middle finger gesture …a personal touch. Agitated Lyle turned his full attention toward me…seeing that Raf was supposedly no longer a threat. "Supposedly" being the operative word.
"I thought that trip through the window would have taught you a lesson," Lyle said clenching and unclenching his fists.
I smiled slyly "I was never a fast learner…come and get me tiny." Lyle grabbed the nearest parked vehicle and hurled it at me….

So he was still alive…I wasn't surprised, but I was relieved as I watched PC let Lyle have it. Now was my chance to free myself. I already knew that yanking the pipe out wasn't going to work so I had three other options. 1) Rip the pierced wing off…I don't think I have the stomach for that. 2) Try to slide off the pipe. 3) Sit there helplessly in pain and hope that PC is able to incapacitate Lyle and then help me down. I scrapped options 1 and 3. The pipe had gone completely through my wing, hence how it was holding me up. I drove my left clawed hand into the concrete face of the building and then slowly brought my legs up. Pushing off quickly was the key. If I didn't clear the length of the pipe numerous things could happen, all of which would result in me crying out in anguish and bleed profusely. I took a deep breathe and readied myself to push off. I looked for PC to see the progress of the fight. PC was doing well…he could really take a beating. But I knew he couldn't keep this up for long. Suddenly I saw Lyle back PC into a wall and began to beat on him. Something about this made me angrier than usual. I didn't really know what it was that made me snap, but it did. I mustered all my strength and pushed off….

Owwwwww….I was curled up in a tight ball trying to protect what parts of my body I could. I knew that once this fight was over, if I lived I was going to look like hell for a while. There was no way to get inside and attack. I had already tried running around Lyle and even slide between his legs. He always managed to drag me back into position or block my path. I was beginning to worry that my forearms were going to be turned to mush, when Lyle stopped pummeling me and picked me up by my shirt, then pulled me close. I could smell his breath, not much better than an eraser's. His teeth worried me even more than before. I had no desire to be that close.
"So this is your true form is it? An animal in human skin."
"Look who's talking, leather face."
Lyle hissed and shook me "Your powers fit your work. You can deceive everyone with you human shape, but under it all you're a monster. Your power to take a lot of punishment is characteristic of a virus, something that is nearly impossible to wipe out." I said nothing and just stared at Lyle, crimson lines of blood framing the sides of my mouth.
"What made you turn against your own kind, Cat?" Lyle asked.
" It's none of your business," I replied.
" Hmph. Fine. Its about time I end this." Lyle opened his mouth wide and I began to struggle. The dagger like teeth were closer now and moved into position around my head. Suddenly a frothy blast of foul breath rushed into my face and a pained roar rang in my ears. I fell the ground and looked up at Lyle. His eyes wide with shock as he looked over his shoulder and saw Raf with a cold aloof expression on his face. He had managed to pull the pipe out and had stabbed Lyle in the shoulder with it. Lyle swatted Raf with a heavy fist and knocked him off. He then turned on me, but suddenly stopped as a thousand glass shards created a hazardous barrier between me and Lyle.
"Turn around!" Raf said coldly. Lyle obeyed and faced him. The shards changed position and surrounded Lyle completely. I heard him moan as some of the shards began to dig into Lyle's skin, drawing blood.
"Raf stop…we need him alive remember." Raf said nothing and tossed me a worried glance. He didn't know how to control glass very well, which put us in a very precarious position.
"Don't Give up Lyle!" a bystander shouted. Soon more people began to shout advice. I watched the glass shards begin to shake nervously making faint chiming noises.
"SHUT UP!" I snapped at the crowd.
"Why should we?" a person asked.
"Because, if you continue chant Raf over there, could loose control and then all of you will be dead." This ominous information shut everyone up...or so I thought. Suddenly a baby in the crowd began to wail breaking the silence on the street. SHINK! I heard Lyle let out a tortured cry and saw him collapse on the ground in a bloody mess. I won't describe it in detail because you would probably puke if I told you. I looked over at the crowd, which surprisingly had been unharmed and then at Raf. He had grown pale and looked tired.
"Are you alright?" I asked approaching slowly. Raf didn't reply and stared at Lyle's corpse for a few minutes and then turned to me.
"I'm fine."...

I didn't know what to say. Raf stared at me as if nothing had happened. Suddenly, sirens began to wail. Not more trouble…please? A dozen black cars and vans with flashing lights arrived on the scene. They were our people. When an experiment "made a scene"… a unit was dispatched to clean up the mess which included literally cleaning up debris and paying the town a handsome sum to keep quiet or else. Raf and I watched as they set to work on Lyle's body, hauling it inside a truck. The eye witnesses were being rounded up too. In the old days, before the invention of memory erasing technology, eyewitnesses were "taken care of", usually a bullet in the brain sufficed. However in this modern age there was no need for cold blooded murder. If there was a need I would have most definitely made a scene too.
"Haven't you noticed that there hasn't been anybody sent to take care of us?" Raf said to me.
"Yeah I noticed," I replied.
"PC! RAF!" Dr. McKinney shouted as he approached. This guy was really beginning to annoy me…the nerve, he actually thinks that he has known us long enough to call us by our nicknames…the more I think about the more….GRAH!...I turned my attention to the young doctor and tried to mask my annoyance.
"Dr. McKinney it's a shock seeing you here," I said smoothly.
He gave me a bitter smile and handed me a piece of paper "Orders from Lab 7." I snatched it and read the contents…which needless to say didn't make me too happy. I crumbled the piece of paper and threw it on the ground.
. "THIS IS INSANE!" I snarled, grabbing McKinney by the lapels of his shirt. "WE WERE NEARLY KILLED AND SHE WANTS US TO GO ON ANOTHER MISSION?"
"Don't get mad at me …I don't give the orders I just deliver them." I growled and pushed him on the ground. Raf winced and scooped up the paper and straightened it.
He read it carefully and his eyebrows shot up, "You're right this is insane."
"We are in no condition to take down another target," I said. Suddenly, Dr. McKinney's cell phone rang, broadcasting the song "Funky Town" as his ring tone. He pulled it out of his pocket and stood up.
"Hold on a sec," he said. We waited. Every second he jabbered the more I fumed. "I have to take this," McKinney said after hanging up.
"WHAT?"
"Sorry PC, I've got to go," He said backing away. McKinney reached into his pocket and pulled out a container of aspirin and threw it to me. "That will help with the pain. Good Luck!" Before I knew it the little stinker was in a car waving good bye to us. I growled and threw the bottle of aspirin at McKinney. It hit him in the nose causing it to bleed, I hoped that it broke. "Come on, Raf…were goin' to the drug store."

It was about 10:00 at night. The moon was shining, the air was crisp and we were spending the night in the car on the side of road. Raf and I sat in our chairs reclined as far as they could go with our feet propped up on the dash. The floor of the car was littered with every kind of pain killer and bandage known to the common world. Before settling down for the night, we had stopped at a drug store in another town and cleaned out the medicine aisles. As you can imagine I got a lot of strange looks when I came in. I had reverted to human form by this time and I kind of wished that hadn't at least my fur covered most of my injuries. Right now I was in my human form in all my disheveled glory. My forearms were completely black and blue and so were my shins. I had bandages wrapped around left shoulder and head, which was accompanied by an ice pack. Raf was in a similar condition only he didn't have as many bruises as I did. He had his injured wing wrapped in a web of bandages.
"I never knew you had wings," I commented. Raf looked at me out of the corner of his eye but didn't say anything. "How long have you had them?"
"A while…I hate flying," he said. That was a shock to me, bird kids always seemed to enjoy flying .
"You really hate it?"
"Loath it," he replied with tension. I knew better than to press, especially after what I saw him do to Lyle. Raf groaned and placed his hand over his eyes, "I can't believe the want us to go after another target. What do they expect us to do bleed on them?" I sighed heavily and slowly bent forward and reached into a bag full of food we had swiped after the drug store run, and pulled out a package of snowballs.
"I guess," I said pulling the plastic package open.
"If we're lucky, our next target will have some lame power like throwing fur balls or something." Raf snort as I passed him a snowball. He pierced the pink puffy marshmallow snack with one claw and took a bite.
"With our luck it will be someone like Lyle," he remarked.
"Probably, we are supposed to get a phone call with more information."
"I take it the information will come from Jeb?"
"Most likely."
"Are you going to complain to him about this mission?"
I fidgeted in my seat "I don't know," I said. The prospect of bad mouthing Jeb seemed tempting, but there was one thing that prevented my from doing so and it had to do with day, we made the agreement. He had injected something into my back. I don't remember what it was, but hurt like nothing I had ever felt. Apparently whatever was inside of that syringe stayed there and now every time, Jeb was cross with me my spine would burn…it didn't hurt that bad if he was only annoyed, but when he was really pissed I got the royal treatment. We chewed on our processed sugar snacks in silence.
"PC? Do you think it was bad?"
"What?"
"What I did to Lyle…or have you already forgotten."
"I haven't…its kind of hard to say wither you were in the right after all I am not in your head so I couldn't tell what you were thinking."
"I wasn't thinking about anything really. However, if you hadn't said anything and that baby hadn't cried out… I probably would have killed Lyle anyway."
"Why?"
"I don't know, but what's done is done…I'm going to sleep." Raf tossed the last bit of his snack in his mouth and then closed his eyes. I went to sleep soon after…

I'm supposed to be sleeping like PC is, but in all actuality… I'm not. Lyle's death apparently stirred me up inside and for one reason or another I couldn't seem to shake the image of Lyle's mangled corpse from my mind…This is the closest feeling I ever had of remorse. Something also tugged at my thin moral fibers…the sound of the baby that spooked me...

The sound of my cell phone ringing made Raf and I jump. I yawned and stared at the little screen to see who it was. I frowned at it and looked over at Raf. He somehow knew that I was going to try to get him to answer it. Judging by his expression I think he was going to be a hard sell. I sighed and my heart pounded as I pressed the "yes" button to answer the call.
"Hello?" I yawned again.
"Good evening, Seth," a voice said casually.
"Quit with the small talk Jeb, its 4 o clock in the FREAKIN morning," I snapped irritably.
"Don't get fresh, Seth! A person in your position can't afford to be getting testy."
My temper flared even more. "I will get as testy as I please! You're not the one sleeping in a car on the side of the road with icy hot patches and bandages all over your BODY!"
There was a pause. "Do you mind explaining to me…why Lyle was transported to Lab 7 in a body bag?" his voice calm and cold…not a good sign.
"He made a scene," I said dismissively.
"You put that so lightly, PC…you don't seem to grasp the extensiveness of exposure the School has suffered because of your little scene."
"What would you have preferred? He kill us and get away?"
"You were supposed to keep these captures QUIET! Quiet! You understand? Even an Eraser can understand that."
"I know what "quiet" means, Jeb."
"Obviously not, If you did Lyle wouldn't be DEAD right now."
"I don't know why you are getting so upset. Lyle was just another target. If there was something special about him perhaps we could've handled it differently."
"You try my patience, PC."
"Don't I always."
"Your next assignment is to go after an experiment that calls himself, Bones. He was last spotted near New Craven…fairly close to your current position if I am not mistaken."
"Anything SPECIAL we should know about him? Is he valuable?" I asked.
"More valuable than Lyle…so don't kill him. As for his powers… he escaped to early for us to even know them."
"Great."
"That's all for now…we will speak again…good hunting." I growled softly and smashed the "no" key to hang up….

We headed out first thing in the morning even though we were both a bit achy and irritable.
"Bones…geez…can these guys get anymore cliché?" I said, causally changing my hand from human to my human cat hand. Each time I changed my hand; the bones would pop and crackle.
"Will you PLEASE stop that," Raf said to tired to shout. I stopped and began to drum my fingers on the armrest until Rafmire shot me another murderous stare out of the corner of his eye.
"Experiments usually name themselves after their abilities."
"Usually, being the key word. It didn't work for Lyle."
"Perhaps not but…it might work for this guy."
"Okay…Bones…maybe he manipulates bone…or he likes to break bones…he's a dog experiment…or maybe he likes to eat people and spit out their bones." "Your sarcasm is not needed." I stopped talking and looked out the window. We continued to go blindly south. I was getting nervous. One of the laws we had established among the Ghosts was to never enter another's territory unless it was absolutely necessary. We were deep in Gozbud's territory, even though we on occasion broke this rule when attacks from the School were lax; however it was enforced when attacks were high. However I was willing to break this rule, because even though Raf didn't show it I could tell that the wound in his wing was hurting him, without any treatment it could easily get infected and that worried me. As it turned out that is what exactly happened…two days later…

"WHAT! We're lost!" I shouted slamming my fist on the dash. "What happened to that GREAT sense of direction of yours!"
Raf glared at me out from behind a map. "Don't mock my sense of direction. PC. I'm doing the best I can. Instead of whining why don't you take this map and help out." He said throwing it at me. I begrudgingly unfolded it and began to look.
"What did the last sign say?" I asked not look up. When Raf didn't respond I looked over and saw him leaning forward his forehead on the steering wheel.
"Raf? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine…give me a minute…" he replied smoothing the wrinkled map in his lap, with one hand. His other hand was clutching his bandaged wing.
"Is it hurting you?"
"No…just kind of stinging a bit," he said looking up at me . He looked paler than usual with light sweat on his face.
"Let me see your wing." I said.
"I told I'm okay."
"Raf, don't play macho with me. If your wing is infected we are going to have a serious problem." Raf reluctantly unbuckled his seatbelt and changed position. I unwrapped the wing and looked at it carefully. It was still bloody and puss was starting to appear. The skin under the feathers was beet red in color.
"What's wrong?" Raf asked me looking over his shoulder.
"It's infected." I replied, pulling some new bandages out from the glove compartment. Raf snorted and looked out the window. "There's no need to worry…yet. I think I know someone who can help us out. Are you willing?" I asked. The funnything about Raf is that he won't except help from just anyone and this had nothing to do with being macho. Raf had major trust issues and so did everyone that came directly from the School.
Raf hesitated for a minute than nodded "Fine."
"Alright then…scoot over I'm driving."…….

"Where are we going?" Raf asked, as I drove.
"Gozbud's," I replied.
"Your gator friend?"
" Yeah…He used to be a medical student at a local college here in the south. He was a good student, made great grades and all that other stuff. But one day fell into financial trouble. That is how he got mixed up with the School. He volunteered himself for a study they were conducting at the university…he needed the green."
" That must have been some amount of money then."
"Not nearly enough. Gozbud had to give up everything for those stupid researchers. He may not be a licensed doctor, but he has steady hands and he's patched me up more times than I can even count."
"What about Lab 7…aren't they tracking us?"
"Don't worry about it, Raf. I'll take care of it," I said. Raf was right of course, even as we spoke, they were tracking our every move. However, I knew a few loopholes. We stopped in New Craven for some gas and a phone call. I didn't know if they could track pay phones, but if we were going to find Gozbud this call needed to be made. After filling up the car I searched my pockets for loose change. Fortunately for me I never carry dollar bills. I pulled out some quarters and dialed…..

It was late at night when I got the call. I must admit I wasn't expecting it. Nothing that night was expected….
My door bell rang and I reached for my gun again. I held it behind my back and answered the door, this time I was completely dressed. The only source of light in the house came from the bunch of lamps that I had turned on. My heart pounding I opened the door hoping it was my presumed visitor and not an Eraser. Thankfully it was, Roc. He was older now, and slightly taller than me. But I was still the old one. He was dressed in a t-shirt and a good pair of sturdy jeans.
"Hello, Roc," I smiled. I gave him a hug and a swift peck on the cheek and ushered him inside. "How have you been?" I asked placing my gun down on the coffee table.
"Fine. What did you make for dinner?" He asked with smile.
"My specialty," I said as we walked towards the kitchen. "Spaghetti and meatballs."
"Sounds good."
We sat down and ate in silence for a while. Roc was always shy around me, I could tell. I guess he really liked me but didn't know how to express it, other wise I don't think he would come around and visit as often.
"How have you been," he asked.
" I'm alright. My birds keep me very busy." I said. The Ghost network used my birds for delivereing messages and each of us was well versed in bird talk.
"Do you get paid for that?" Roc asked.
"No. But it's necessary, without my birds the Network would be completely cut off." "Why not use e-mail?"
"Hackers."
"Phones?"
"Possibly bugged…you should already know how these things work, Roc." He shrugged and popped a meatball into his mouth.
"Sometimes I need a refresher. You guys do so much."
I smiled," Well we don't do as much with PC gone." Roc dropped his fork suddenly and then quickly scooped it up.
"Have you heard from him?" he asked.
"No… not recently anyway. The last message I got from him was about Lab 7 going after Gozbud,"I said quietly.
"Gozbud? Why would they want him?"
"I'm not entirely sure…perhaps its his knowledge of our physiology that makes him valuable. After all he is the one we go to after serious scrapes with Erasers."
"Do you think perhaps they are trying to weaken the Network more. After all they got PC."
"They didn't get PC, Roc. Despite the things he is forced to do, PC is still on our side," I said scrunching up my napkin.
Roc nodded "You're right." Silence ensued once more and a conversation didn't arise until after we had finished eating and we began to clean up. "Bree…I've been doing some thinking."

"Oh my! What a shock," I said playfully. Roc gave me a quaint smile and put some plates into a cupboard.
"Wouldn't your time be better spent living among humans?" I nearly dropped one of the dishes.
"What do you mean?"
"Well…I'm saying…that maybe you should try to blend in like me. It would make you less noticeable if you moved into town. You wouldn't have to answer the door every time with a gun behind your back." I listened and robotically cleaned continued to wash dishes. "I'm not saying you have to give up working for the Network but...um…"
"What are you trying to tell me Roc?"
"I would like you to come and live with me." For some reason I should have jumped at the opportunity , but all I felt at about the proposal was fear.
" I don't think it's that simple, Roc. I need to keep the birds and there is no place for them in town."
"You can keep them in cages," he suggested.
"Roc, I spent the majority of my life in a cage and so have you. What makes you think, I would do that to another creature as spirited as a bird."
"You're right, I'm sorry…Will you at least think about it," he pleaded.
I nodded thoughtfully "I'll think about it." I finished the last bit of dishes and then Roc and I went to the living room to eat dessert and drink coffee.
"What kind of cake is this?" Roc asked, he seemed to be enjoying it.
"It's Fake Cake." I replied.
"Fake Cake?"
"Yeah, PC calls any cake that is from a box, Fake Cake." Roc smiled and took a sip of his coffee.
"You prefer your coffee black now?" he asked gesturing at my mug.
"Yeah…PC used to prepare it that way. I wondered why he liked it so much so I decided to give it a try."
"Is it good?"
"Nastiest thing I've ever had." Roc snorted and took another bite of cake.
"Do you miss …him?" he asked, it sounded like it pained him to ask.
"Yes…I try not to think about him…but…" I went silent and placed my cake down on the table and laid back in the couch. Suddenly I felt something warm in my left hand…it was Roc's hand.
"You know I'm always here," he said softly. I wanted to recoil, but for some reason I enjoyed the warmth of Roc's hand in mine. It reminded me of PC. Roc then put his coffee down and scooted closer to me. "You know, Bree. I will always be here to protect you." I smiled at him, outwardly, but inwardly I was essentially freaking out. I knew that Roc had had feelings for me, but I didn't think it was that serious. He started to lean towards me…oh Geez…not a kiss! Anything but that! I was about to recoil when the phone rang and annihilated every lovey dovey vibe in the room.
"Excuse me," I said politely. SAFE! I reached over and answered the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hey Bree, it's PC…."