"Hey Kane, it's me," I said, looking at my surroundings nervously even though it was the dead of night, I felt like I was being watched.
"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!" she shouted. I held the phone away from my ear so that she could vent.
"Look I know you're upset. But we need you right now." I said, softly.
"What is it? Are you hurt?"
"No, Listen we are at the flock's hide out…it's off of Parker Street."
"What's the number?"
"156"
"Okay."
"Bring the car here and quick. I don't know if a fight will break out or not, so be careful when you get here."
"Alright I'm on my way," she said firmly and hung up. I sighed and slipped my cell phone into my pocket.
"Seth," a voice said behind me. Like the big idiot I am, I turned around and got a punch in the face. It was such a shock that I stumbled forward onto my knees. Angry, I lashed out only to have my arm caught, and pulled up behind me. I struggled to get away. "Quit movin' or I'll break your arm." The assailant forced me to get up .
"Oh come on is that all you can do to me, Torrin?" I said snidely. He yanked on my twisted arm and I gritted my teeth as it was threatening to snap, "I'm not playing with you, now come on." ….

Getting caught…is no fun, it's bad when you are captured by erasers, but to be captured by your own "kind" you could say is just a tad bit scarier. If you think about it, you are held captive by four ANGRY mutant teenagers with powers that are nothing short of destructive…aren't you getting just a tiny bit scared?
Torrin pushed me on the living room floor where I landed on top of Raf, who had sustained a black eye. He wiggled out from under me and we both stood up back to back. "I guess you didn't get her," I muttered.
Raf snorted and said," nope." We were surrounded on all sides, by our adoptive flock, everyone giving us the angriest stare they could muster, to make us scared. I will admit I was a bit intimidated, but not quaking in my shoes. Storm scowled at us and crossed his arms over his chest. He was kind of funny looking with his pajamas on.
"Good evening Storm, how's it going?" I said conversationally.
"Don't patronize me. I know you are working for the the School."
"The School? Don't you think that is a little extreme?"
"Is it?"
"Yeah, what ever you saw or heard I'm sure I can give you a good explanation."
"You're not fooling anybody…since when does you average experiment carry one of these around?" Storm said pulling out one of our Finders.
" Ummm…That's a good question." Storm's face darkened and he crushed the Finder in his hand.
I winced "Oh…I bet that was expensive."
"Did you actually think that you could live among us and not be found out? Do you think we are that stupid?"
"Actually….yes." Storm lost his patience and threw a punch at me, which I could have avoided, but I let him have the temporary satisfaction that he was in control. He hauled back to hit me again
"Stop it!" Nia shouted. "If you beat him up now we won't get the information we need."
"And WHAT information do you think I have that could be of any value to you bunch of brats?"
"Plenty…you can tell us…how you and others like you operate…What the School is planning…how to stop these new Erasers? How to protect ourselves."
"Nia's right …Don't knock his teeth out just yet," Torrin added.
Storm grudgingly backed off and then said "Start talking, Seth….if that is even your real name."
"It is…it's the one my parents gave me. But what I'm called now is something completely different."
"I don't care about you real name TALK!"
"About what?"
"Everything."
"Everything? Okay? My name is Seth, My favorite color is lime green, I used to live in a big house with a white picket fence and stone walkway, I'm a Sagittarius, and I like pizza and peanut butter."
"AHHH! He's just toying with us!" Voice cried. "Let's try his partner." Torrin grabbed Rafmire by his shirt, "You TALK about the School NOW!"
Raf nodded solemnly "…very well. The School has very shiny floors and smells like alcohol…all the darn time. They have this one vending machine that always eats your money and …" Raf rattled on about the School, but never let slip one piece of information about went on there. Now we are in no ways fans of the School but if we let information slip now I'm sure the transgression would not go unpunished. The tension was mounting in the room and I could sense that Storm was about to explode. I think it was about time we escaped and wrapped this up. I looked around the room and noticed the over abundance of glass and began to throw a plan together.
I held up my hand to Raf and he went silent and clutched the side of my face, which still throbbed from where Storm and Torrin hit me. Believe it or not both of their punches landed in the same place.
"You want to know about the School?" I said seriously as if I was finally going to tell them. "There is no need… once we're done with you ... you'll find out first hand." Storm snapped and lunged forward with his fist. This time I caught his fist with my transformed hand "You'll have to do better than that." I caught Storm's other fist and then kicked him into the far wall. " Raf smash the glass!" I called. He understood what I was talking about and with one gesture of his hand; Raf blew out all the lights in the room. Everyone was shouting and tripping over furniture…pure chaos. In the confusion, I singled out Voice and took her bye the hand and then bolted out of the door with Raf on my heels…..

Once outside the house, we didn't stop running. I wound up carrying Voice, because she refused to cooperate and Raf knocked her out after she let out a piercing scream that blew out several windows and made both of our ears bleed. As we ran, the streets of the town were completely empty. We turned into a dark alleyway to rest for a minute.
"Next time...let's …just confront them….head on." Raf panted.
I placed Voice down and nodded. "What do we do now? Storm and his flock are going to come after us."
"That's the whole point." I said sitting down. "They don't know where we are, so they will split up, most likely searching in areas that are familiar to them."
"How are we supposed to know where?"
I pulled out my Finder "We still have one of these…We will be able to stay one step ahead of them, and find them before they find us."
"Do you think that thing cost a lot of money?"
"Sure…I'd say a couple hundred…maybe thousand give or take a few pennies." I said examining it.
"What about Kane? We're no longer at the house."
"I'm not worried about that… she'll be able to find us once the fighting starts." I held up my hand before Raf could question further.
"Listen."
"Wings." Raf said. I looked down at the Finder.
"Which one is it?"
"It's Nia." I confirmed.
"Alright, I'll take her," Raf said. He picked up Voice and held her under one arm and climbed up one of the alley walls to the roof a building….

I saw Nia circling high above me…like a ghost with silver wings. Voice squirmed weakly under my arm. I knew I was going to have to fight Nia in the air, so I slipped my wings out and held the close to my body.
"HEY! NIA!" I shouted. She looked my way," Looking for someone!" I called holding Voice over my head. She darted towards me her wings closed. As she approached I stood on the edge of the building and when she was close enough, I jumped down into the alleyway. Half way before I hit the ground I latched onto the wall. "PC here!" I said dropping Voice. He ran and caught her then ran out of the alleyway. Next I shot up with as much force as I could muster into Nia, who had dived in into the narrow space after me. I wrapped my arms around her and flew out into the sky. She cursed and kicked me in the stomach, out of impulse I let go.
"You have some nerve, using a little girl as bait," she said between her teeth. I said nothing; it wasn't in me to banter in a fight. I shrugged and darted at her, swiping the air with my claws. I made sure that when I hit her it didn't do too much damage. Nia evaded my blows and kicked my in the face, rattling my jaw. I punched her twice in the face, I didn't want to hurt her to much, but I wasn't about to let myself become a punching bag. I was about to hit her again, but my third punch went right through her. Darn those special powers. She smiled deviously and started to gain altitude; I caught up and grabbed her by the leg then closed my wings and began to drop. Nia struggled against me, shouting to let her go and pounded my side with the heel of her other foot. But I wasn't going to loosen my grip, not yet. Then the unfortunate happen as we neared the top of the building I was going to use. Nia turned her leg into water. I groped in vain to grab a hold of her but it was too late. She broke away before I could open my wings and I hit the roof and rolled several times, before being stopped by the buildings edge. I gritted my teeth trying to get up, keeping a weary eye on Nia circling above me like a hawk. It felt like the ultimate rug burn as if flying in general wasn't painful enough for me. I needed to finish this and now. I jumped off the roof and began to fly away from Nia and she gave chase. "Comeback here! Are you afraid to fight a girl?" I didn't reply and flew straight towards a billboard then pulled up before hitting it. Nia avoided the sign too "Come on that's the oldest trick in the book" she jeered. Nia closed in and grabbed my leg. BINGO. She tried pulling me down, but I kept flying upwards. I pretended to swat at her and she instantly turned herself into a liquid form and continued to tug at me. But I kept flying and swatting. Soon we were high above Garner Springs and we could see the forest and highways that led to it. "You can't fly forever…. You'll waste yourself." The air was becoming exteremely cold and I was trying but kept my wings moving. Soon I could see my breath and I heard Nia screaming as her liquid body began to freeze. She instantly turned back to her regular self but she continued to freeze. Terrified at what was happening to her, Nia let go of me and began to retreat, but I grabbed her and held her there until she finally froze. She was still alive, just immobile.
"Finally…I shut YOU up," I muttered and began to descend to the town below. Not wanting Nia to thaw before we had finished rounding up the others, I broke into a walk in freezer at a poorly maintained restaurant…the back door was open. I set the freezer to its coldest setting and said "You stay there," then gingerly closed the door…..

I zipped around a corner and took another break. Voice wasn't that heavy…at least for me. But after a while she becomes a burden. Suddenly I heard wings beats not to far away and the Finder vibrated. Of the two targets that remained I began to weigh the odds of my success in a fight. I had faced tougher opponents, but they were earthbound recombinants. If it came to a fight in the air, though I had been trained for it, my odds of winning were decreased. I pulled out the Finder.
"Great….Torrin," I muttered. At this point, Torrin was the one I was most intimidated by. He was taller than me for one thing, had more special abilities and he was probably stronger than me physically. But has that stopped me before? Nope. Torrin was circling the area looking for Voice. I decided to transform, it would help give me more power, as for how much that would help remained to be seen. I walked out into the street with Voice in tow and whistled loudly to get his attention. Surprisingly Torrin didn't attack me; he spiraled down lazily and then began to approach me. This is interesting. I growled and crouched down slightly, I wasn't going to let him get too close. Torrin got the message and stopped a few feet away.
"So that is what you really look like…a wolf wearing a sheep's clothing."
I straightened up . "Very poetic," I said.
"So you can talk in that form."
"Obviously, what do you want?" I asked.
Torrin pointed to Voice. "Her, give Voice back to me and just take your dark friend and go. I don't want to fight you." His voice was smooth and non-threatening…not to mention very sincere and admired him for it.
"You know, I think you should have been the leader of this little flock. You're a lot smarter than Storm." Torrin seemed to be taken aback by the comment.
"What? You're surprised? If it were up to me I would give you Voice."
"So why don't you?"
"Because there are more forces at work in this one mission than you and I know. Besides I also have someone that is dear to me, her safety and the safety of others rides on my obedience and my ability to complete these missions."
"I understand…but I still want Voice back."
"Sorry, it's not going to happen…I like you Torrin, but not enough to jeopardize all that I've worked for. If you want Voice that bad you're going to have to get passed me."…..

Torrin sighed. "I didn't want to have to do this," He said opening his wings slightly. I began to back away with Voice in my arms. He was planning an attack I could feel it, but he wouldn't dare make a move, not with Voice in harm's way. My heart was racing and adrenaline was starting to flow. I found an open dumpster and placed her inside. It was nasty hiding place, but at least she wouldn't be hurt if me and Torrin started throwing stuff around. I slowly slid the metal door in place, but left in partially open so that there would be fresh air coming in. As soon as I moved away from the dumpster, Torrin snapped his wings open and then flapped them quickly. Cold air, blasted in my face and I was knocked off my feet and hurled a few feet away. I quickly got up, only to be swooped off my feet into the air, by Torrin. I squirmed in his grip; he obviously hadn't seen my wings….well they are pretty small. Once he was high enough, Torrin solemnly dropped me. I was falling fast and trying to figure out if I should open my wings or try and survive the fall…I picked the wings and quickly unfurled them. The winds were weak, so there was hardly any decrease in my speed. I flapped them feverishly hoping a wind would come soon or at least to take some of the edge off when I hit the ground.
"Wings aren't meant for cats," Torrin taunted, as approached me in a dive. I growled then turned over and shot my legs out right under Torrin's chin. I heard his teeth click together and a crunch as his nose broke. He cried out in pain and clutched his face blood seeping through his fingers.
"Wings aren't meant for humans either," I said. Torrin swung at me with a bloodied clenched fist. I grabbed his arm and used it as a means of climbing on top of him and grabbing his wings, trying to pull them closed.
"Get off," he growled as we both plummeted to the streets below. He had grabbed my hood me and tried pulling me off, but while he pulled me, I pulled on his wings. Torrin started to panic as the street we were once on was becoming more detailed. In one last attempt he grabbed my hoody and some of my fur and yanked on it hard. I yowled and found myself being flipped over with a fist full of feathers in each hand. The street was closing in and fast….only several minutes before impact and I was on the receiving end….NO!... I roared and thrust my feet into Torrins's gut , flipping him over , getting back on top ….I closed my eyes I couldn't look at Torrin's face…The air howled in my ears and Torrin's wings whipped wildly in the air….I'm sorry….IMPACT.
I arrived at the house, as PC instructed. But there wasn't a soul in sight. What happened? I screamed and slammed my fist on the horn, then made a three point turn and speed off tires screeching. Where are they?

I opened my eyes slightly; I didn't want to see what I had done. I wanted to keep them closed and count to ten and then everything would be okay. I would be back at home in my warehouse listening to the sound of the sea and watch Breeaka walk in along the shore…Yes, if I kept my eyes closed and opened them again everything would be okay. What I saw was everything but okay. Torrin lied on the ground, eyes closed and motionless, the blood from his broken nose coagulating on his clothes.
"S-stupid kid," I muttered. "You're a Stupid KID!" I slid off of him and threw a handful feathers that I still had in one fist at Torrin's body. Tilting my head towards the sky I roared ….for a very long time. I hadn't done that since Fox took Bree away from me so many years ago. I roared until I was hoarse and sat there in the middle of the street hoping that the biggest semi- truck, known to man would come and run my pathetic butt over, but nothing came. After another moment or two I pulled myself together and approached the dumpster. Maybe it was for the best after all, death was better than where I was going to take him. Suddenly, someone pulled on my tail and yanked me away. Angry I whipped around and slashed TORRIN in the face. He cried out and let go of my tail.
"Did anyone teach you not to pull on a cat's tail? You're still alive?" I said. I HAD to know how he pulled that one off.
"Of course. Even though my back was towards the ground, I flapped my wings upwards generating air. Then I focused it and brought it under to cushion the fall. It wasn't as strong as it could have been because you weigh a ton. So you see I can not only make wind I can control it too."
"That's pretty lucky," I said. "You see I told you, you were smarter than Storm." Torrin snorted and we began to circle each other.
"SO I take it you still want Voice."
"Naturally, Will you give her up now? Why am I asking that? You won't. You're too stubborn and an idiot to believe that the Whitecoats would actually keep their word."
"I may be an idiot but it keeps Bree safe."
"Well what if she has forgotten about you? What if SHE joined up with a better experiment that isn't a traitor." If Torrin was trying to push my buttons he had definitely succeeded. I charged at him on all fours and he opened his wings and flapped them. A huge gale knocked me backward and then when the wind stopped Torrin charged me, but this time he wasn't flying. I met him head on and we began to fight each other again, punching and kicking. Torrin grabbed a chunk of asphalt that had been broken when we had hit the ground and hurled it at me. I ducked and looked for something to throw as I dodged projectiles. All I could find was a bottle…Great….how come he gets all the stuff to and I only get one…it's because I'm a bad guy now isn't it? I threw the bottle at Torrin and advanced, getting close enough to engage in hand to hand combat once more. My cat form did help some, because I don't think I would be fairing as well if I was in a human form. Next Torrin got me in a headlock and began to butcher my stomach with his knee. I hissed and bit his arm and tried to wiggle my head out. Suddenly, headlights shined brightly in the distance and closed in fast. Was it that big semi-truck I was hoping for? No, a black car approached, with a very disgruntled bird girl in the driver's seat. "Kane?" I muttered.
Torrin socked me in the jaw and then picked me up and hurled me in Kane's direction. The car screeched to a halt as I landed on the hood, knocking the wind out of me and scaring Kane. "Hi there," I said, waving to her. She gave me an exasperated look and pointed. I turned around and dodged Torrin's fist. He tried pinning me with his foot, but I rolled out from under him and back onto the street. Next I grabbed his foot and pulled him off balance and threw him back onto the asphalt. Torrin angrily sprang up and grabbed my head and sent it through the passenger side window, knocking me silly. "Hello again" I said to Kane.
She frowned and said "Where have you been?" Torrin grabbed me by the hoody and pulled me out. I clumsily dodged a punch and tried to clear my vision as Torrin blew me away with another gust of wind. Fortunately the car was there to keep me from being blown away.
Kane poked her head out cautiously, "Well what took you?"
"I—" I ducked as a chunk of asphalt flew over my head. "Um"
"You what?"
"Can-we-talk-about-this-later?-I'm –busy." I ran and picked up a manhole cover and threw it like a Frisbee. Torrin grinned and caught it, then threw it back to me. But instead of heading for me the metal disc was heading for Kane. I ran and quickly caught it with one hand which was twisted back by the force of the projectile. I dropped the cover and began to shake my wrist and mouth curses. "You okay?" I asked cradling my right hand.
"WATCH OUT!" Kane screamed. I looked up at an enormous shadow descending on me "OH Sh—." BAM! It happened so fast I didn't have time to curse aloud, as a small car fell on top of me. I heard Kane scream my name………..

I stood there looking at the car I had just thrown to crush my opponent. I felt bad for him…crazy and misguided. The girl in the car must have been another partner of his. WAIT! That is the same car I had thrown two days ago with the Collectors inside! Wow…they survived that? …It doesn't matter now…I need to get Voice out of here. "HOLD IT!" someone shouted. I looked over my shoulder….It's not possible! Seth was crawling out from under the car….

"Shut that mouth before you catch flies." I said, wiping all the dust off of me.
"But that should of…you're unstoppable."
"Oh no. I'm stoppable," I said pulling out a piece of metal that had lodged itself in my shoulder. "You're just no hitting me in the right places." Torrin grabbed hold of a pipe and pulled if of the side of a building and shortened it, so it would be easier to handle. Then he began to twirl it menacingly, "I'm taking Voice."
"No you're not." I said moseying over two a bike rack and pulled two bars off and twirled them in my hands. "Let's wrap this up. I'm tired and its almost sunrise." We engaged each other locking weapons. I broke away and swatted at Torrin with one of the bars. He brought his pole down on top of me but I blocked it. Then Torrin jabbed me in the stomach and moved to do it again. I swiped the pole away with one bar and clubbed him in the head, then brought both bars down on his hands. He yelped in pain and let go. I tossed the bars aside and picked up the pole and swatted at him. Torrin ducked and reach for the bars, but I kicked them away and swiped again, this time whacking him in the side. He grunted and tried to make a break for the bars again.
"PC!" Kane shouted to me. I turned and she threw another piece of equipment we were given by the School, Clampers. Quickly I turned and stuffed them in my pocket and ran to Torrin and swatted at him to get him away from the abandoned weapons. He dodged my blows effectively, but he couldn't keep that up forever. On my next attack Torrin grabbed the pole and tried to wrestle it away from me. Agilely I flipped over him still holding on to the pole and held to his throat and reached into my pocket. Quickly I applied the Clampers, which locked around Torrin's wings.
"Congratulations you are officially grounded." Torrin shouted angrily and flipped me over, but he neglected to notice I hadn't let go of that pole for nothing and soon he was on the ground. I brought my weapon over my head and missed Torrin's head as he rolled out of the way. He got up and struggled to reach the Clampers, which held his wings tightly. I stood there and watched him fidget.
"I'll get you for this," he threatened, his back to me.
"That is the least of your problems!" I retorted, running towards him. "eyes on me, boy!" I said jumping into the air. Torrin whirled around and I nailed him in the chest and bring him to the ground pinning him under my weight and my shoe. Torrin looked away as I held the pole over my head again and brought it down.

…What? No pain? Had Storm come to my rescue? I opened my eyes and saw Seth standing over me the pole inches away from my face.

I smiled cunningly and tapped the pole lightly on Torrin's forehead, "I win." Torrin let out a sigh of both relief and defeat. The expression on my face turned serious again and suddenly slammed the pole down next to Torrin's head. Kane and Torrin screamed in surprise. I moved off and pointed at him "Get up," I commanded. He obeyed and stood. "Stay here….Kane if he moves…shoot him, there's a gun in the glove compartment." I walked over to the dumpster and opened the door and looked in. There was no Voice. "Uh oh," I said softly. Suddenly, a screaming 12 year old jumped on top of me and tried to pull me to the ground. I dropped my weapon and pulled the girl off with some effort, she was clinging to me like a leech. I shook her angrily, "Do you want Torrin to die?" I snarled, dangerously. She shook her head "Okay, then put a sock in it or I will." I took her by the hand and approached Torrin again.
"Turn around." I said. He obeyed. I reached for the Clampers and with a twist, pulled them off of his wings. Torrin looked over he shoulder in his surprise.
"Why?" he breathed. " I like you Torrin…even though you tried to kill me more than once…" I pushed Voice towards him. "Take her and get as far away from here as you can…head east. Now get out of here before I change my mind."
"Wait a minute, Seth what is your real name?"
"My REAL name is Seth, but everyone calls me, PC."
"Thank you PC."
"What ever…get out of my sight." Torrin and Voice were in the air in a flash and soon were specks in the distance. As I watched them fly away…I felt good ...better than I had in a very long time...