"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...
