Chapter 51

What are you going to do now? That was the million dollar question. I knew I had to find Flame, she was my sister. The only problem was, I had no way of locating where that lab that I saw was.

"I told you that I had a sister," I said, "and I also told you she was taken away from me three years ago."

"Yes, you did explain that," Thompson said, "is that what you're trying to do? Are you trying to find your sister?"

"Yeah, I am," I replied, "this part of my story may be hard to believe, but all of us have unique gifts."

"Define gifts," Thompson said.

"We have powers that can't be explained. I can move objects with my mind, Telekinesis I believe you people call it," I said, "The others have other unique powers. Terra can control plants, rocks, anything to do with the earth. Skye can heal people. We all have unique gifts."

"Wow," Thompson exclaimed, "That's… that's pretty impressive."

"Flame was able to control technology. I was able to make contact with her using my ability and found out they have her hidden in a bunker, locked in a cool room, keeping their minds inside a computer system."

"Whoa, did you say they were keeping the minds in a computer system?" Thompson asked, "That's a bit far-fetched don't you think?"

"Trust me, it's real. I've trusted you so far, and you have trusted me," I said, "now I need your help."

"I like you kid," Thompson said, "if worst came to worst, I would fight with you in a war."

"Don't say that, Thompson," I said, "because if this ever got public, that might be what it leads to. People would be split, some choosing our side, some would want our deaths. As sad as it is to say, we aren't welcome on earth. Humans don't like sharing."

Thompson sighed, "There is a lot of truth in that statement. I'll see if I can clear your name for you."

"Thanks," I said, "but that wasn't what I was going to ask you. I was going to ask you to track down any large orders of substances like Liquid Nitrogen or oxygen, or if you could find out anything about old military bases that have been activated recently."

"Doing that could raise a few eyebrows, Nathan," Thompson said, "if that happens it might go public about your kind."

"Then At least get me access to a powerful computer system," I pleaded, "that's all I require."

"I'll see what I can do," was all Thompson said, "But don't count on anything, your stretching your luck as it is."

"And Thompson..." I said, "Thanks."

Chapter 52

Thompson walked down the corridor to his office.

No matter how many times I think about it, Thompson thought, I just can't believe it. Sure the kid called Nathan was nice, I really would help him out, but it's the wings I can't get over.

Thompson reached his office and walked in, closing the door behind him. He sat down at his desk and rested his head on his hands. His mind was a bit unresponsive; it was still getting over the shock of seeing two people with wings in one day that had him like this.

"Did you do what I asked Thompson?" A figure asked from the shadowed corner of his office.

"I did as you asked;" Thompson asked, "I gave him my co-operation, it could cost me my job."

"Did he show you his wings?" The shadowed figure asked.

"Yes, he did." Thompson replied, "I'm still trying to get my head around it, it's still a bit impossible to believe that people could have wings."

"Hmmmm, this is interesting," The shadowed figure thought out loud, "Nathan has never willingly shown anyone his wings, unless it is to one of his own kind."

"Dr Reilly," Thompson said, "could you tell me how you got your wings? Maybe it will help make sense of things; to understand the whole picture of what's really going on. It might actually convince me this is reality, because I still think I'm dreaming."

"You want to know if you are dreaming or not?" Reilly said, "This is reality, this is the truth. If you preferred, I could make you forget everything. But before you say anything, what was it Nathan asked for?"

"He wanted to see if I could find out about any shipments of substances like liquid Nitrogen or Oxygen or to find out about any old military bases that had been started up again. Otherwise he wants access to a powerful computer system."

"I see. He is searching for her, for Flame," Reilly responded as though he were in a daze.

"Reilly," Thompson lowered his head. "You said you could make me forget about this. I don't want to forget all of it, just the part about you, Nathan and the others having wings," he looked up at Reilly again. "Could you somehow give me false memories, ones that will let me help him out, but don't allow me to remember his wings?"

"I'm not sure, I haven't tried that specific kind of memory wiping before," Reilly replied, " I guess I could try it out, but not yet. I still need you to help out Nathan, while you can still remember his secret."

Thompson held his hands in his pockets. "What do you want me to do?"

"Exactly what Nathan asked you to do. I'm only trying to help him out; I don't want anything in return."

Only to pay them back, Reilly thought, and to help Blaze, he helped to free me, I'll return the favour.

Chapter 53

I sat in the interrogation room alone, thinking about the conversation we had had. In truth, if this ever did go public, there would be riots. Humanity would be split. There would be religious groups and normal people who would object to us Angelan. Then there would be the people who would fight for us, people like Thompson who would look past the fact that we were different and see us for who we are, not what we are. It was disturbing to think that a war might break out because of us.

My thoughts were interrupted as the door to the interrogation room opened. The first cop that tried interrogating me, but failed walked in. I looked up at him and smiled sweetly.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" I asked, recognizing his face.

"You're free to go," He replied, "although if it was up to me, I'd have put you in a cell until you felt like talking."

I got up and walked to the door passing the cop on the way. As I passed him I whispered,

"Perhaps I didn't want to talk to you," I said, "have you ever thought about that?"

I walked out of the room and into the police station. People looked up at me as I walked past and then went back to work. I was just another ordinary person called in for questioning. I ignored them; I was too busy worrying about Skye and Terra. I hoped they hadn't gotten any rough treatment. Especially from that arrogant cop. Thompson then walked up to me and explained what was going on.

"You've been cleared of all charges Nathan," He said, "I couldn't do the first part you asked me, but I did manage to get you a powerful computer to use. Come with me."

"What about my friends?" I asked him.

"They're already waiting for you. You know, they are pretty loyal. Not one of them was willing to give you up."

"Yeah well, all we have is each other," I replied.

We walked down a corridor and entered a room stopped outside a door near the end of the corridor. I opened the door and walked in. Skye and Terra were sitting in the chairs waiting for me. I walked up to Skye, wrapped my arms around her and kissed her.

"Are you ok?" I asked, breaking off the kiss.

"Yeah I'm fine," Skye replied, "although you are kind of crushing my wings."

"Sorry," I replied, letting go of her. "Terra are you ok?"

Terra didn't reply. I looked up at her to see she was looking at the floor, I could sense she was feeling left out. I grabbed her and hugged her as well. I was happy that we were ok and nothing had gone wrong. After a moment Terra hugged me back.

"Can we still be friends?" Terra asked me.

"What made you think we weren't?" I asked back, "I'll always be your friend; in fact, you could call me your big brother."

"Ok," She replied.

Now that everything had been sorted out, it was time to get down do business, big business.

Chapter 54

I sat down at Thompson's computer and began to get to work.

"Thompson, do you still have our things you took from us?" I asked

"Yeah sure," He replied, "do you want it back?"

"That would help," I replied smartly.

Thompson walked out of the office to get our stuff. As soon as he left Skye and Terra were around the desk and watching me get to work.

"Why do you need our stuff?" Terra asked.

I began tapping away at the keys while I replied back. "I want our stuff because I have a little pet project I've been working on," I said.

"What pet project?" Skye asked, "I have never seen you working on any project."

"The keyword there is seen," I replied, "You've never seen me working on it."

"Well what is it?" Terra asked a little impatiently.

"I've been working on a computer virus," I replied, "One that will make all the others seem like harmless kittens. I nicknamed it Dragon. I am going to use it to destroy the base that the whitecoats have kept Flame in. It won't know what hit them after Dragon's done her work."

"Isn't that a bit dangerous?" Terra said. "What happens if it spreads to the outside world?"

"I designed it so that it would only attack the network inside the installation; it will not infect any other computers."

"What does it do, exactly?" Skye asked.

"The Dragon virus uploads itself into the computer system and begins to trash the entire hard drive. While it is doing this, it will cause the computer to go under a huge amount of stress and cause it to eventually overheat and catch on fire, hence, the Dragon symbolism. If it infects the network efficiently, the Dragon virus will infect the main power core of the base and cause that to overload, destroying all evidence that it was ever there."

"Sounds ruthless." Skye said, "My kind of virus."

"Another thing about it," I said, "is that while it crashes the computer's hard drive, it has a dragon flying around the screen burning all the documents."

"I hope you aren't planning on releasing that virus," Thompson said, appearing from no where. "That could cause you to get in big trouble."

"I'm only using it for a little revenge," I said, "anyway, I'm the only one who can actually use it. The virus only takes its commands from me and will only destroy a certain target."

I quietened down as I got deeper into the cyber world. I was searching for recently re-opened military bases or bunkers, but came up with nothing. So I decided to try the last and most risky option… Hacking the academy's mainframe, but it was going to be tough.

It actually began quite easily - at first it was only a few firewalls, then it got tricky with traps and snares, eventually leading on to more complex things like defence grids and killer viruses. They were using freaking viruses to protect their mainframe. Welcome to the future of the cyber world.

After hours and about twelve near fatal accidents I was up against the last obstacle, an infinity code firewall. An infinity code was a code that would take basically infinity to crack unless you knew the code to access it. Numbers flashed across the screen in a seemingly random order, seeming endless. I watched it for about five minutes before I eventually began to se a series of numbers that were always strung together. 5 24 9 12 5, that was the code. I figured out another thing about it. The numbers represented letters, letters that spelt Exile. I began to see the truth about our existence. We were just somebody's bargaining chips to be accepted back into society, even to become famous. I wasn't about to be used…

Chapter 55

The whitecoats secret installation was located out in the middle of the Nevada desert, believe it or not. With the cryonic room I had seen, I thought it was somewhere cold. But no, it was in the middle of a freaking desert. One up side to being in the middle of a desert, plenty of thermals so flying is going to be a breeze. No pun intended. Thompson had disappeared after he returned our stuff, at least we didn't have to worry about saying any thanks and making up reasons for why we had to go. Skye, Terra and I slipped quietly out of the police station and walked to the edge of town. Once we were clear of any prying eyes, we spread our wings and flew back to our hideout. The others would be worried.

We glided on a fresh breeze and let ourselves be carried along by it. Within five minutes the cave was in sight. We were thrilled at being free once again. We had out-smarted The Academy and their whitecoats. Again! But something was nagging at my mind. Skye and Terra landed in the cave entrance ahead of me. Suddenly, a net appeared out of nowhere trapping Skye and Terra. Out of the shadows of the cave, a pack of Erasers walked out and grabbed the net. Damn it. I should have seen this coming. I watched from the sky as the Erasers dragged Skye and Terra back into the cave and laid a trap for me.

That's what it was, I thought, the cave was quiet, there was no fire started. They must have capture Falcon and Drake as well.

"Blaze!" a voice shouted out, "I know you are there. There is no point in running, I have your friends. If you want to keep them alive, you'll come down here now."

"And what makes you think I care about them," I bluffed. Stupid I know, but I was stalling for time while I racked my brain for a plan.

"Don't be dumb. I know you care for them like a family. Come down here so we can talk."

I finally recognized the voice. It was Lucas.

"I'll come down, Lucas," I replied, "but your pack mates better stay out of the way."

"You're not in position to negotiate," Lucas called out, "so quit playing games before one of my friends feels like going hunting."

I sighed in resignation. I had no choice. I either escape and let them die or let them live, but only in captivity. I know the choice they would prefer. Before I could answer, a shadow flew up at me and tackled me through the air and into the canopy of the trees. I lashed out to defend myself to find the figure had already moved out of my attacking range. In fact, he was sitting on the branch watching me. I recognized him instantly.

"Reilly," My voice filled with loathing, "what are you doing here?"

"Helping you," He replied, "it seems you're in a bit of a tight spot."

No, really? I thought bitterly. "Why are you helping me?"

"I'm keeping a promise." Reilly replied. He wouldn't say any more on the subject, no matter how hard I tried. I sighed. If I wanted to get the others back, I needed to work with Reilly, no matter how much I loathed him.

"So what are we going to do?" I asked Reilly.

"I'll create a diversion; you sneak in and free the others."

"That simple!" I asked. Even an Eraser can come up with a plan like that, I thought, I can't believe I'm agreeing with Reilly, but it might actually work.

"Fine," I sighed, "lets go."