Chapter 47

Of Rats and Bats

As the saying went, you had to look both ways before crossing the road, but with this chase now on they would not have time to do that. So the four friends maneuvered over and by anything they could just to lose the giant bats like zigzagging down a few streets. Kassidy told them to fly down near the road so the giant bats wouldn't have a chance of catching up to them, and it was not easy flying under vehicles, especially under the ones that were pretty fast like the Nissans, Kias, Subarus, etc. However, the red-haired Silverwing did it before when the pigeons chased her in the city, and if she could outfly those pigeons, then she could do the same thing to the cannibal bats with her friends.

Each vehicle they flew under had the witch's ears ringing as she could smell the fumes coming out from them. Banking away from the wheels proved to be difficult, though, and whenever they took a sharp turn onto the other side of the road under another vehicle, it almost felt like one of the wheels would crush them at any moment and turn them into roadkill. Kassidy tried to stay focussed, though, and not let that thought get to her as she was flying as fast as possible with her friends. Even as they were flying in dangerous traffic, though, the giant bats were somehow managing to keep up with them. Of course, those cannibal bats had to fly over some vehicles a few times since they were too big to fly under the smaller cars, but their sharp gazes never left the four friends.

"Shit, they're gaining," Holden shouted over the noisy vehicles, and he was certainly right.

The brothers-in-law were now practically tailing behind Shade and Marina while Martin and Dianna tried to cut off Kassidy and Holden's path. Throbb at one point tried to bite at the Brightwing's feet, but Marina was quick enough to pull her feet in, but after she did, she used the bottom of her feet to smash them right into the tubby bat's face. Unfortunately, the Vampyryum did not see that coming, and because of that, it almost resulted in him getting run over by a wheel of a vehicle, and when he saw that wheel nearing, he yelled. The dwarf-sized Vampyrum was quick enough to veer out of harm's way, though, and he managed to fly over the top of the vehicle that almost killed him.

In one smooth motion, Kassidy and Holden propelled themselves out from under a Jaguar they were flying under, and as they did, Martin and Dianna weren't far behind them. However, Shade and Marina didn't have time to do that as they were still stuck flying under the Jaguar with Goth not too far behind them while Throbb was still flying over it. The humans turned Silverwings, and humans turned Vampyrums were suddenly flying over a moving truck, and as they were, the gothic Silverwing could feel herself losing her breath. Still, she didn't allow that to stop her from escaping her half-uncle and his crazy wife. Suddenly, the married duo managed to tackle the Silverwing duo onto the moving truck. When the witch had a better look at the Vampyrum magic user, she was surprised to see that no wounds could be seen on him. What magic was he using to cure himself?

Kassidy could feel the hot breath of Martin's protruding from his nose as he was giving her the deadliest glare she had ever seen him give her. He was about to punch her, but the witch instantly blocked that and then kicked him in the groin. The red-winged Vampyrum yelled in pain as he fell onto his side, and right, as he did, the blue Silverwing punched him in the face. She was about to do that again, but the Vampyrum blocked that and backhanded her. As the two fought on top of the moving truck, Dianna was about to slash at Holden's face with her long-looking claws, but the purple Silverwing rolled out of the way in time, and the female Vampyrum ended up scratching the top of the moving truck instead. The male Silverwing then pushed her off the moving truck by kicking her at the bottom of his foot, which took her by surprise, but she managed to regain her flight in time and snarled as she went to attack the teenage boy once more.

While Holden was dealing with Dianna, Kassidy was still dealing with her half-uncle. The witch dodged one of his blows, and after she did, she then did a spinning heel kick and managed to knock the male Vampyrum off his feet. She then started to back up as Martin was now angrily beginning to get up, and as she did, she felt herself being back to back with someone, and the witch didn't even need to guess who it was. As the moving truck continued to drive, it started to play some music pretty loudly, and as it was, the teenagers suddenly looked at each other. As if they read each other's thoughts, they slightly nodded at each other and then looked back at their opponents determinedly. The four bats were in their fight positions, and as they were, no one exchanged any words.

Then, when the music suddenly came to an excellent beat, the fight was on once more. Kassidy jumped up, and as she did, she kicked Martin under his jaw, and after she did, the red-haired Silverwing then did a backward flip over Holden and landed in front of Dianna. The female Vampyrum went to swipe at her face a couple of times, but the female Silverwing did the wax off move on those swipes at the right moment. As she did so, the purple Silverwing pummeled the red-winged Vampyrum to the face a couple of times, but when he did that a third time, the male Vampyrum blocked it and punched it, teenage boy, to the front and then to the stomach. He was about to hit him again, but Holden managed to dodge right as Kassidy dodged Dianna's swipe, and when they did, the male Vampyrum ended up punching his wife in the face while his wife ended up scratching him to the front. As soon as that happened, the two Silverwings looked at each other, and when they did, the purple Silverwing took the blue Silverwing's hands, and when he did, he helped to spin her in the air. As that happened, the gothic Silverwing smoothly kicked the two Vampyrums to the face, and right after that happened, the male Silverwing let go of her hands. Then, precisely as he did, the witch air kicked Dianna to the front, and when she did, the female Vampyrum was knocked off the moving truck, disappearing.

It was now down to Martin. However, before the two friends could even do anything, the red-winged Vampyrum came out of nowhere and punched Kassidy to the face. Holden was about to help her by hitting the snake-like bat square to the front but right as he was about to, the Vampyrum blocked it and then uppercut him. The purple Silverwing flopped down on top of the moving truck, but as he did, he was suddenly slipping from it. When it looked like the male Silverwing was about to fall, he managed to cling onto the moving truck that was still moving, but he was slowly losing his grip. The Vampyrum magic-user was about to stomp on his feet, but before he even could, the witch got on his back and elbowed him to the back a couple of times and then started to punch him to his waist. The male Vampyrum suddenly grabbed one of the female Silverwing's hands, and when he did, he flipped her over his shoulder, and the gothic Silverwing crashed on top of the moving truck pretty hard. Aches started to run through the red-haired Silverwing's body, but even as they did, she wouldn't allow for that murderer to take her down easily… especially after all he did, and she wasn't a quitter: she was a fighter.

Martin was about to punch the gothic Silverwing, but Kassidy blocked it by kicking his arm, and after she did that, she did a kip-up. In a swift motion, the witch then pummeled her half-uncle to the stomach, and after she did, she kneed him to the jaw, which made the giant bat collide on top of the moving truck. Seeing that he was now down, the female Silverwing then quickly went to help Holden as he now had one hand hanging onto the moving truck. The purple Silverwing yelled when he was about to lose his grip, but the blue Silverwing caught hold of his hands just in time.

"Holden, hold on!" Kassidy shouted as she then tried to pull him up.

After struggling a bit helping Holden back up, Kassidy managed to help him in time before something terrible happened without pulling any of his arms out of their sockets. Before the two could even relax, though, they saw Martin get up, and he was snarling as it looked like he was about to burst into flames. The witch thought he surely wouldn't be stupid enough to use his powers here when there were people around. Speaking of people, it made her hope that no one saw what was happening on top of the moving truck… because then a viral video would certainly hit the internet.

"I can do this for as long as it takes, orphan," Martin sharply spoke as he extended his claws out. "And I sure as shit cannot wait until I'm through with you."

As Kassidy and Holden stared at Martin, the witch glared daggers. Even as she wanted to yell at him and burn his ass, she forced herself not to do that as she didn't want to be violent like back at the hut, plus she didn't want her magic exposed in public. Instead, she got in her fight stance once more, and as she did, her friend did the same thing as well. Whatever happened, the gothic Silverwing knew that this would not be pretty.

With that, Martin then charged at them both, and as he did, everything seemed to have gone by slowly as the magic user went to hit them. However, as the music was still playing its catchy beat, the two Silverwings looked at each other, and right away, it felt like their ideas clicked together. Kassidy and Holden then charged at the Vampyrum, but as they were, the both of them then slid on top of the moving truck smoothly, right as the snake-like Vampyrum went to try and hit them. As soon as they did, the purple Silverwing did a quick breakdown dance, and one of his moves ended up hitting the red-winged Vampyrum to the stomach pretty hard. Right as that happened, the gothic Silverwing did a little dancing herself to throw off the big bat, and when she managed to succeed, she thwacked him to the face.

At that point, the Vampyrum was snarling so much that he charged at them once more. However, Holden suddenly closed his eyes and pressed his claws at his temples, and as he did, he started to hum. Right as he was, Kassidy's blue eyes widened when she saw something form in front of her, and it wasn't long until she saw a figure… that looked exactly like her! It didn't take long for the witch to guess that her friend was echo projecting, and it looked so much like her. The echo projection of herself then charged at Martin, and right as she did, the magic-user went to punch her. However, when he did that, the echo projection disappeared, which took him by surprise. Seeing this as her chance, the red-haired Silverwing then flew at him, and when she got close enough to him, she did a flying roundhouse kick to his face without him seeing her, and the giant bat was knocked off the moving truck. The monstrous bat did flare his wings out, but right as he did, he didn't notice a stop sign, and he ended up slamming right into it.

When Kassidy landed back on the moving truck, Holden shouted towards the snake-like bat. "Yeah, that's what you get for all you've done! Hope you broke a tooth, asshole!" With that, the two friends then took off from the moving truck and flew away as fast as they could, and as they were, the purple Silverwing then looked at the blue Silverwing. "That was insane! I can't believe we actually did that!"

The witch looked at Holden, and she was about as amazed as him at what they did. "I can't believe it either! But, Holden, you threw off Martin with your echo projection! That was genius! I would've given you an A+ for that!"

At that, Holden then smirked. "All that practice went into some good use after all! We make a great team!"

The gothic Silverwing had to admit that they certainly worked well together back there to try and escape Martin and Dianna, and they managed to succeed at that. Kassidy and Holden once hated each other's guts, but now they were a pretty good team, even with Shade and Marina. However, her ocean blue eyes widened when the witch thought of their other friends. Where were they? Did they manage to escape Goth and Throbb?

"Holden, we gotta find Shade and Marina! Who knows where they are by now!"

Holden's brown eyes widened as well after Kassidy told him her realization. As they were, he then cursed. "We don't even know where to start!"

"Let's try our best to find them; we'll circle around town if we need to!"

With that, the two friends then went to try and find Shade and Marina, and they used their echolocation as much as possible. Unfortunately, as they were searching, there was still no signs of their Silverwing and Brightwing friends. Kassidy started to worry that Goth and Throbb managed to catch them, but she couldn't think that. She was sure that those two were smart enough to outsmart them. Hell, Shade could've probably even used his echo projection so he and Marina would be able to escape easier.

As Kassidy and Holden were flying through town, they noticed they were heading towards a junkyard that had a fence surrounding it and barbed wires on top. As they were, they started to get a better view of it with broken car parts. Not only that, disheveled kitchen machines like toasters, dirty looking sofas with a spring or two coming out of them, unused pipes, non-functioning bathroom things like sinks, and rotten food scattered all over the place. Insects were flying everywhere, buzzing about as the two Silverwings landed on a nearby tree, and as the two landed, the junkyard was pretty ominous the more they stared at it. The more they looked at it, though, the more they could see no signs of Shade or Marina anywhere, even as they let out their sonars towards it. However, the witch felt like maybe they should look around it if their friends were hiding somewhere in there.

The purple Silverwing took a whiff of the air, and when he did, he immediately covered his nose. "Ugh! What is that smell? Smells like diarrhea gone wrong."

"Doesn't smell that bad," Kassidy said. "Besides, this is what's expected in a junkyard."

Holden then looked at her. "You really don't show a lot of disgust like most of the girls do in school. Even Molly would've gagged at this."

The blue Silverwing crossed her arms casually. "Well, I grew up in the countryside of Ohio, and that pretty much led to me getting used to awful smells like this." She then looked back at the junkyard. "Maybe we can find Shade and Marina here somewhere. While we're at it, we should probably catch some bugs. As much as I don't wanna think about food at the moment, I think we should fill up after all that happened back there."

"I don't know, Kass… I don't like the looks of this, the owls are after us, and we don't even know where the giant bats are."

She had to admit her friend did make a point. As much as she really didn't want to search through there either, they had to eat, and perhaps their friends really were in there somewhere. Kassidy did hope that not only weren't the giant bats here, but the owls weren't as well. This whole thing was driving her insane, and it was still angering and shocking to her after she found out the truth at the hut.

Kassidy then placed her hand on Holden's shoulder. "I know, I don't like this either, but we have to find them. We have to look as much as possible if we're going to find them, and the junkyard might be a good place to search. So we'll stick together as we fly in there, okay?"

The purple Silverwing looked hesitant, but he then sighed and nodded after a bit of thinking. "Alright, let's go." With that, the two friends then took off and flew into the junkyard, and as they were, they used their echolocations to try and find Shade and Marina, but as they were also searching, they went to catch some food in the processes with most of the insects being speedy flies and lazy moths. As they were flying, Holden spoke. "Jesus Christ, this place is creepy. Next thing you know, zombies are going to be coming out…"

After some time flying, the two friends then landed on top of a car that had some damages seen on it. From what Kassidy could see, it looked like it went through quite a lot. She was somewhat disappointed that they couldn't find Shade or Marina so far, but they still had a lot to cover, and it might take them a while to search. It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

However, as the gothic Silverwing was lost in her thoughts, she thought she heard something. Kassidy looked towards a pile of junk, but right before she could say anything, Holden gasped. "Holy crap!"

Immediately, Kassidy whipped her head towards Holden, and as she did, her eyes widened. "What?"

The witch then noticed Holden smiling down at the car they were on, and as he did, she looked at him in so much confusion. "This car's a Volvo 740 GLO!"

At that, Kassidy immediately got annoyed as she furrowed her brow. "Holden, seriously?"

The purple Silverwing then looked at the blue Silverwing. "Sorry, sorry, I have a bad habit of sometimes naming out cars."

When Holden said that, the witch got a little curious. She never knew that he did that. "Naming out cars? You like cars?"

The male Silverwing's smile never left his face. "You kidding? I love cars. My Grandfather got me into cars from a young age, and often he would take my brother and me out to car shows. You could say because of him, I have a pretty good memory of the different types of cars." He then tapped the side of his head a couple of times with his index finger as he mentioned his excellent memory of different cars. He then pointed to a damaged car nearby. "Like that's a Ford Mustang." He then pointed to another car that was destroyed. "That's a Volkswagen Fox-"

Even though Kassidy was pretty amazed that Holden knew the different types of cars and how confident he was telling her what they were, she had to quiet him. It wasn't because he was going off-topic. Instead, she thought she heard something again. She saw the purple Silverwing about to ask why she shushed him, but suddenly the two heard a few cans falling to the dirty ground, and their eyes widened. Who was making that racket? Either way, the red-haired Silverwing had a bad feeling about this.

"Tell me that was just a rodent or-" before Holden could even finish what he was about to say, Kassidy silenced him once more.

The blue Silverwing then let out her sound vision to where she thought she heard that noise, but it came back with nothing after she did. However, the two Silverwings then heard some glass break, and when they did, they whipped their heads to where it came from with their eyes widened. Right near where the car was they were standing on, there was a vase that was shattered…

"Screw this," Holden said. "I'm not waiting to find out what the hell that was."

Almost immediately, the purple bat took off from the car, and Kassidy flew after him as he did. They quickly went to hide somewhere, and when they felt like they were far enough away, the two friends landed in between some broken car parts on some wood, and when they did, the two bats looked to see if they'd been followed. Suddenly, they heard a bell ringing and when they did their breaths went silent, and they slowly turned their heads to where that ringing was coming from, but as soon as they did, they saw nothing. All they saw was a disheveled bike in front of them. The two Silverwings looked at each other, but before they could do anything else, two strong arms came bursting through the wood under their feet and grabbed them by the legs, and when they did, the two friends yelped. When they looked down, their eyes widened when they saw two mismatched eyes that were snake-like and sharp snake-like teeth that were glinting in the darkness.

"Guess who," the sickening sound of Martin's voice said as he grinned.

The Vampyrum then forcefully pulled them down through the wood, and when he did, the two Silverwings came crashing towards the ground. When the two looked up, they saw Martin and Dianna. The two Vampyrums then went to attack them, and when they did, Kassidy and Holden tried to dodge them any way they could. At one point, Martin attempted to hit the gothic Silverwing, but she managed to maneuver out of the way in time only for the Vampyrum magic-user to break some more wood. Then, the blue Silverwing saw a broken pipe, and when she did, she used her telekinesis and aimed the pipe at her half-uncle and his wife. The pipe was then hurtling towards the two bats, and it wasn't long until it hit them square to the stomachs. After that happened, the two friends quickly made their way out from under the wood.

As the two friends were trying to flee, Martin and Dianna too flew out from under the wood, and the cat and mouse chase was on once more. Kassidy and Holden flew through, and by anything, they could just to lose the two Vampyrums, but they were managing to keep up with them. Before the two even realized it, they split up with the red-haired Silverwing taking the right way while the purple Silverwing took the left path. The snake-like bat went after the Silverwing witch while his wife went after the other Silverwing.

Holden pumped his wings as fast as he could, but when he looked beside him, he was shocked when he saw that Kassidy wasn't beside him. However, when the human turned bat looked behind him, he gasped when he saw that crazy wife of Martin's very close behind him. Her teeth were bared in anger, and her green eyes burned with rage. The purple Silverwing cussed, and he tried everything he could to lose her, but as he was, he was quickly losing his breath and could only feel carbon dioxide going through his breathing system.

Then, the purple Silverwing went through a tight gap between two broken down cars, and when he did, he looked behind him to see that Dianna was no longer behind him. He took a moment to breathe in relief. However, before the teenage bat could even relax, he yelped when he felt a tight grip on his shoulders, and before he knew it, he was flung towards the ground yelling. The human turned bat then slid on the ground and in a matter of moments he then crashed into some cans and when he did he groaned in pain. As Holden was slowly trying to get up, he saw that he was near some food that was now expired, but then the feminine shape of the female Vampyrum landed near him, and when she did, the male Silverwing's brown eyes widened.

"Now," Dianna said as she started to approach him. "I've just about had it with you, you little-" However, before she could even finish what she was about to say, Holden quickly grabbed a handful of some expired Chinese food that was stir-fried noodles, and when he did, he threw it at her, and it smacked right into her. The female Vampyrum cried out disgusted, and as she did, the Silverwing bolted. "What is on this?!"

As the human turned bat flew as fast as possible, he flew through a pipe. However, to his fear, he saw very pissed Dianna after him with her face covered in that sauce on the noodles. She almost incised the Silverwing, but he managed to dodge in time, and it wasn't long until the two of them exited out the other end of the pipe. Then, Holden saw a metal grate down below him, and without wasting a moment, he dove down towards it, hoping he would be able to lose that crazy bat for good this time. The closer he got, the more he wanted to close his eyes, but he kept them wide open so that he could slip through one of the gaps. Before he knew it, he fell through one of the gaps and landed towards the ground in a sewer, and when he did, the female Vampyrum landed on top of the grate, not being able to slip through.

Dianna was snarling at Holden, and as she was, the purple Silverwing tried to catch his bearings. When the Silverwing managed to catch his breath, he then smirked towards the Vampyrum mischievously, and as he did, he then stood under the metal grate and started to taunt her. "Not so tough now, are ya, you stupid bitch?"

Suddenly, the female Vampyrum tried to swipe at Holden, and when she did, the purple Silverwing yelped when she managed to cut off a little fur from his mane. Holden then made a mad dash for it down the sewer, and as he did, Dianna yelled in rage, and the human turned bat could hear that crazy bat trying to get the grate to open. He dared not to look back, though, and went deeper into the sewer, not knowing what would lay ahead of him.

It was hard to believe that those two managed to find them out in the junkyard. However, what made matters worse was that Holden wasn't beside her anymore, and she noticed that Dianna was no longer with her husband. Kassidy felt that her half-uncle's wife was now chasing her friend. She wanted to find him, but with Martin doing all he could to catch her, she couldn't think about finding him at the moment. She had to try and lose that monster.

"Just you wait until I get my hands on you, orphan!" Martin shouted towards her.

Martin's forehead looked pretty swollen, and Kassidy already had the feeling of what he was going to do to her after all she managed to do to him. The witch tried not to think about it, though, as she had to get rid of him. She wasn't sure how, but she had to get creative somehow like Kevin from Home Alone. One wrong move and her half-uncle would surely catch her.

Then, an idea came to her, and when it did, she closed her eyes and hummed, and as she did, she pictured General Brutus in all his owl glory, and right as she did an echo projection of him started to form. Before long, a perfect echo projection of that great horned owl formed, and when it did, Kassidy had the echo projection fly towards Martin, and the echo projection did so. As it flew at the Vampyrum, the witch then had it screech and extend his talons out towards him, and when she did, her half-uncle's eyes widened when he saw the echo projection of General Brutus coming at him, but he then snarled and went to attack it. However, when he slashed his claws at the owl echo projection, it disappeared, which greatly confused the giant bat.

As the Vampyrum was puzzled by what happened, Kassidy hid in a pipe, and as she was, she quietly tried to catch her bearings. However, as she was, she then heard Martin yelling in anger. The gothic Silverwing knew that her half-uncle would find her at any moment, and she quickly tried to think of what to do. The female Silverwing thought of hiding somewhere else. Still, the snake-like bat would more than likely find her, and leaving the junkyard was very unreasonable as her friend was still probably trying to escape from Dianna. What could she possibly do, though? Suddenly, an idea came to mind, and when it did, she knew that she would more than likely fail to get it right the first few times, but she had to try something.

Kassidy was going to try and turn invisible.

Quickly, the witch tried to do the spell, and she imagined her whole body turning invisible. As she did, she could hear Martin getting ever so close to her, and the red-haired Silverwing did all she could to clear her thoughts. She moved her hand down her body about five times now, but nothing disappeared, and she cursed a few times in her head, but she tried to keep doing it. She tried to get all the details she could without missing a single one, and as she did, time seemed to have gone by slowly as the footsteps got closer and closer…

Right as she moved her hand down her body again, her eyes widened when she saw Martin's face appear at the entrance of the pipe. At first, she thought that he would come after her once more. However, to her confusion, he then hummed and flew away. Why didn't he attack her? Surely he would've done so when he saw her. Suddenly, Kassidy's blue eyes widened when she thought of one possibility as to why he didn't try to attack her once more. She looked down at her body, and when she did, she gasped when she didn't see it. No blue fur, no red mane, no wings, no nothing. All she could see was the ground.

Kassidy could hardly believe it… she was invisible! It almost seemed too good to be true. She actually did it! It felt weird to her that she couldn't see her body, and this was the first time she had ever done this. The witch hoped that she would be able to turn visible, or else she would be that way for a long time. So, she decided to stay like that for a while until she was sure that she was safe.

Slowly, she looked outside the pipe, and as she did, she looked to see if Martin was still around in this area, and low and behold, he was. He was angrily looking around him carefully, and as he was, Kassidy noticed that he was practically standing on an end of a plank of wood that was on a block. The witch wasn't sure if it was a coincidence or not, but she definitely couldn't pass up this opportunity. It was like the Vampyrum actually set this up for her. Without a second thought, the red-haired Silverwing flew out of the pipe, and when she did, she dropped down onto the other end of the plank, and when she did, she landed on it, and the other end of the plank launched the snake-like bat towards an old looking Mustang that was damaged pretty badly. The giant bat yelled, and as he was, he tried to regain flight, but in a matter of moments, he crashed right onto the Mustang's windshield. Exactly as that happened, the Mustang started to blare.

He was unsure how long he'd been down in the sewer for, but the more he was down here, the more the smell grew fouler. The walls were covered in gunk and mold, the water running down the sewers had a disgusting brown color to it, and it was just so eerie the more Holden looked around him. The purple Silverwing wanted to go back and find Kassidy, but with Dianna blocking the metal grate, there was no way he would be able to get back to her. He could only keep flying more into the tunnel he was in.

Then, Holden had to land on the slimy ceiling upside down and take a break with all his flying. He then started to breathe slowly and steadily, and as he was, he hoped that Kassidy was alright and Shade and Marina as well. It was the first time in a while he'd been alone like this, and it actually made him feel quite nervous. If the human turned bat couldn't find his friends soon, he wouldn't be able to reach Hibernaculum with them, and not only that, he wouldn't be able to transform back into a human and go home since his witch friend now had her necklace back. The purple Silverwing tried not to panic, though, and he thought that maybe they were somewhere close to where he was. He just had to stay positive in some way or another.

As he was taking his break, he noticed something up ahead of him, and when he did, he sent a sound wave towards it. Before long, it came back with what appeared to be a glimmer in a roof of a tunnel. The Silverwing sighed in relief and thought that now was a good time to get out of this filthy place. So, without further ado, he unfurled his wings, unlatched himself from the ceiling, and flew towards it. The purple Silverwing was about to ascend towards the shaft, but suddenly a pair of sharp teeth tried to snap at him, and when they did, he cried out and recoiled.

Right before his very eyes were two rats snapping their yellow teeth at him, dangling from the ceiling by their claws, they were hissing at him, and before long, some more rats came filing out, and as they were, Holden's brown eyes widened, and his blood ran cold. These rats were so ugly and scary looking, and he couldn't believe that he so happened to fly into some rats at a time like this. He cursed, and as he did, he quickly dashed away from them as fast as he could.

"Trespasser!" The rats shouted after him. "We'll get you. You can't get out!"

As Holden flew as fast as he could, he could hear the rats chasing him. Getting chased by rats was the last thing he wanted, but here he was, now trying to escape them like he stole something valuable from them. The purple Silverwing then sent out his sonic gaze down the long tunnel to see if there was another way out. However, as he did, he yelped when it came back with a dozen rats charging at him through the sludge, on the walls, and the ceiling. He knew that they would indeed tackle him to the ground if he kept going in that direction. However, a small pipe slanting down was not too far from where he was.

The human-turned bat flapped his leathery wings towards it, but he saw that it was too narrow to fly through it when he got near it. However, it was big enough for him to squeeze through on all fours, one behind the other. He went to try and climb through it while water gushed past his claws, and as he did, the rats came scrambling closer to him, which made his heartbeats quicken. The more he climbed through the pipe, the more desperate he was, with panic overflowing his body.

Suddenly, the pipe opened up ahead, and without a moment to lose, he used every last of his strength to climb faster, and before long, he tumbled out the end and plummeted towards the murky water, and as he did, he yelled. The purple Silverwing then splashed into it, and when he did, he resurfaced. His nose burned from the water that entered, and he started to cough out the most disgusting water he had ever tasted in his life. After some time of coughing, he saw shore just ahead of him, and he quickly tried to swim over there as fast as possible. When he finally got to shore, he hoisted himself onto the hard surface and fell flat onto his stomach, trying to catch his breath. He felt very weak, cold, soaking wet, and barely had any energy to spare.

As he was on the ground, he noticed something advancing towards him. What he saw was not what he was expecting at all. Around a bend in the tunnel came a raft, a large, ragged wood square. Holden could see rats swimming alongside, steering it on either side. More rats were seen on the deck, though, scanning the water.

"There!" One of them shouted. "Faster!"

The purple Silverwing fully turned to face it, and it was coming at a wickedly fast pace. However, he was too tired to try and fly, crawl, or even swim… All he could do was watch as the raft swiftly overtook him.

The blaring from that Mustang finally died down as she was now hiding-still invisible-behind an old-looking couch. A couple of junkyard workers were at the car investigating it, but Martin was nowhere to be seen. Kassidy wasn't sure where he disappeared, but she stayed invisible for safety precautions.

One of the junkyard workers then sighed, annoyed as he shook his head. "Lousy kids must've done this." They then started to walk away. "I tells ya, kids nowadays have no respect and never learn."

When they were far enough away, Kassidy took off and tried to find Holden and possibly even Shade and Marina. She then noticed a metal grate down below as she looked around her. The witch hummed to herself, and as she did, she flew down towards it, and when the female Silverwing got near enough to it, she landed on top of it and looked inside to see if maybe one of her friends was down there. It was kind of hard to tell though what was down there, and so the red-haired Silverwing carefully slipped through one of the gaps, and when she did, she gracefully landed.

The witch looked down the sewer but saw no bat figures in sight, even when she let out her echolocation. However, when she looked down towards the ground, she saw fur. When she picked it up, she closely inspected it, and as she did, it had a light brown color to it… the same color as Holden's mane.

Slowly, Kassidy looked down the sewer once more, and as she did, she could only muster one word to herself. "Holden…"

"Argh!" Holden shouted as he was being held down by one of the rats on the raft. "Let go of me, you sons of bitches!"

The raft had been being steered around by the rats pushing it for some time now, and as they were, Holden had to lay crouched on all fours, and while he was, he was still shivering from that repulsive water. As he was being held down by one of the rats, another rat had his ugly, yellow teeth closed lightly around his wing in case he got any funny ideas of trying to escape. First the owls, then the giant bats, and now the rats… Now that he thought about it further, it occurred to him that he really had been through a lot of shenanigans these past few nights on this journey he'd been on with his friends.

"Tch, typical of a spy to say," said the chief guard with disgust.

Holden angrily looked at the chief guard. "Hey, man, for your information, I ain't a spy! You just caught me at the wrong time!"

"Yeah, yeah," the rat holding him down said. "Tell that to Remus."

When the rat that was an ugly brown color spoke about Remus, Holden looked at him confused. "Who's Remus?"

"The King, of course!" The brown rat then looked to the green-colored rat beside him with his teeth wrapped around Holden's arm with a grin. "Ooooh, when Romulus gets his paws on this spy, he'll crush him like… like…"

"Hang on, hang on." Holden interrupted the brown rat with more confusion than ever. "Who the hell is Romulus?"

"Why the King, of course!" the rat that had his teeth around the purple Silverwing's arm said, then wrapped his teeth around it once more.

Holden wasn't sure if it was the earwax in his ears or not, but he could've sworn that the brown rat said that it was Remus that was the King of the rats. "Didn't you just say that it was Remus that was the King of the rats?"

"Quiet, you!" The chief guard yelled in the purple bat's face, and after he did, he whacked him on the back of his head.

"Ow!" Holden wanted to rub the back of his head, but with the situation he was in, he was going to have to bear that pain while it lasted.

As they were passing down the waterways, Holden saw more rats everywhere he looked, and not only that, he started to see garbage little by little bobbing up and down in the water. The purple bat couldn't help but curl his nose in disgust. This place was like a biohazard, and the human-turned bat wished for nothing more than a mask respirator. There were so many rats that he couldn't tell how many there were, but he could only guess that there were hundreds of them. Then, the Silverwing started to notice that they were approaching some kind of building. The water began to become shallower, and before he knew it, the rats on the sides of the raft were no longer swimming but scrabbling along the bottom on all fours.

The tunnel then opened out into a much broader space, and as it did, high stone walls ran with sludge leaking from dozens of grates. Everywhere Holden's brown eyes darted, he saw rats stood hunched at every opening, peering down at him repulsed. The purple Silverwing couldn't believe how many rats there were and how they were able to function at all, really. Then, before he knew it, the raft ground ashore.

"Move!" the guards barked at him, with the green rat's jaw tightening on his wing.

Holden tried to move, but no matter what he did, he managed to slip and slide through the mud, and as he was, dozens of rats parted ways to let him pass. The smell of these rats made him so sick to the stomach that he felt like he would throw up. When the human turned bat got too close to one of the rats several times, they snapped their sharp teeth near him in a warning. His wings gave him a hard time walking, and he wanted to walk on all fours, but with that green rat still having his teeth around his arm, it was impossible to do so. As the human-turned bat continued to struggle walking, he saw a kind of rat palace constructed of garbage: squashed cartons and gnarled plastic and shiny crinkled paper.

"Lookie what we got here!" The brown rat said. "This one was sneaking around the tunnels. We caught him, though!" He then looked at Holden with his brow furrowed. "Get on your knees!"

Obeying the rat, Holden got on his knees, but as he did, he heard a familiar masculine voice speak. "Holden?"

The purple bat's head perked up, and when he looked to his right, he was pretty surprised when he saw Shade and Marina beside him on their knees. They seemed rather surprised to see him as well, and like him, they each had a rat with their yellow teeth wrapped around their arms. Whether it was a coincidence or not, it was pretty bad that they were now captive by the rats.

"Guys?" Holden said. "How'd you get down here?"

Shade sighed, a little frustrated. "It's a long story."

"How'd you get down here?" Marina asked.

Holden was about to respond, but the chief guard then yelled at them. "Shut your holes and lower your heads!" The rats that held the trio down then practically slammed their heads right onto the ground. "You're about to meet the Kings!"

"Huh?" the three friends said together in confusion.

"Kings?" Marina repeated in a whisper.

Holden wasn't too sure either. Maybe it's gay rulers? He thought.

However, he noticed something in one of the tunnels, and when he did, his brown eyes widened, and when Shade and Marina saw what he was looking at, their eyes widened as well, and they all gasped. On the tunnel wall, they saw a shadow of a big-looking rat… with two heads. Holden cussed in his head as this started to make sense now. The Kings were polycephaly. As he stared at the shadow nearing, he gulped, getting very timid.

Then when the shadow got closer, what Holden saw had his brow furrowed in confusion. There were two rats, but they were not polycephaly. Instead, one of them was more significant than the other, giving the smaller rat a piggyback ride. They both had a shade of purple fur, green eyes and wore bottle caps on their heads that looked like crowns. The purple Silverwing looked to his friends, and as he did, he mouthed to them, 'What the hell?' All his friends could do, though, was shrug their shoulders.

When the smaller rat got off the giant rat, they scurried up towards a broad platform with rotten food on it, and when they did, they immediately dug in. The smaller rat went for a bone while the enormous rat went for an apple core, and right away, they started to nibble on them. However, when the smaller rat noticed what the giant rat was chowing down on, he snatched it away from him and ate it.

The gray rat holding down Shade then picked him up, and as he did, he spoke up to the Kings. "If it pleases you your high… nesses," the gray rat then threw Shade to the ground, and when he did, the sky-blue Silverwing crashed with an oof, soon followed by Marina and Holden by the other two rats that were holding them down. "Uhh… may we present, the three spies!"

The smaller rat looked at the gray rat unimpressed. "It takes a spy to know a spy." The gray rat's pride was suddenly replaced with confusion and surprise at what he said. The more miniature King spat out something stuck between his long and grooved teeth as the enormous rat was now chowing down on a potato. "Admit it, guard. You're a spy!"

"No!" The gray rat then held his hands up nervously. "No! No! Y-You got it wrong!"

The smaller rat then started to tap the bone he had in his hand. "I never get it wrong when it comes to spies! Guards! Take this guard away, and… guard him!"

On cue, a couple of rats then took the gray rat away, and as they did, the gray rat pleaded with the Kings to let him go and that he was innocent. Holden was utterly stunned by what that smaller rat did. He didn't think that was really called for, and he felt that rat King was pretty loony. The three friends looked at each other more confused, but as they did, their eyes widened when they saw the chief guard and the other two rats that held down Holden and Marina glare at them, and it wasn't long until the same rats that had their teeth wrapped around their arms did the same thing again.

The two Kings before them continued to munch on their food with the smaller rat biting at the bone he had in his hands while the bigger one finished the last of his potato. Then, under a dirty cloth on the platform, there was some movement, and the giant King noticed it, and it wasn't long until a cockroach popped its head out into the opening. Before the cockroach could even fly away, the rat grabbed him, and he was about to eat it, but the more miniature King noticed it, and when he did, he hit the other rat's hands with his bone, and the cockroach was sent flying out of them.

"I saw it first," the enormous rat said.

"Oh, I think not," the smaller rat said.

The giant rat shoved the smaller rat in his face out of the way, and when he did, he opened his mouth real wide to try and catch the cockroach. However, the more miniature King then jabbed him in the stomach with his bone, and when he did, the giant King faltered back, and right, as he did, the cockroach plopped right into the smaller rat's mouth. After that happened, the small, plump rat belched right into the other rat's face. As that all happened, Holden could only stare more disgusted at this but at the same time annoyed. Those two really hadn't acknowledged their presence and seemed to only care about eating what was in front of them.

Without a second thought, Holden then cleared his throat to get the two Kings' attention, and right, as he did, the enormous rat looked at him curiously while the smaller rat looked at him annoyed. "Yeah, 'scuse us, 'Your Highnesses,'" he said sarcastically. "I hate to interrupt your 'fancy' meal there, but if you're not gonna talk to us, we're just gonna leave and forget that this ever happened." All the two rat Kings could do was stare at him, but then they burst out laughing, and when they did, the other rats started to do the same as well, and as everyone was laughing, the purple Silverwing got confused. "What the hell's so funny?"

However, the three friends then saw not only the rat Kings snarling but some other rats were as well, and they gasped. "You're not going anywhere, Holden."

When the smaller rat said his name, the purple Silverwing gasped. "H-How did you-"

"Know your name? Because I'm King of the rats! That's how!" To Holden, that had to have been by far the stupidest answer he's ever heard in his life. Then, the enormous rat cleared his throat to get the smaller one's attention, and when he did, the small rat rolled his eyes. "Alright, fine. Because we're Kings of the rats."

Holden cocked his eyebrow up. "And?"

The more miniature King looked at the purple Silverwing in disbelief. "And? AND?! You know who I- we are?!"

"Uh, the Kings?" Holden spoke sarcastically once more.

At that, the small rat grumbled, and he looked at the guard that had his teeth around Holden's arm. "Guard!" Then, before the purple Silverwing knew it, the rat nipped the edge of his wing, and he instantly cried out. "I won't tolerate insolence in my-I mean our court!" the small rat King then looked at the rat guards by the three friends. "How did they get inside?"

"These two here," a greenish-brown rat said, indicating to Shade and Marina, "were found at the far north grate, King Remus."

The chief guard then spoke up. "And this one was found near the south grate."

The small rat King named Remus looked at the guards impatiently. "And why weren't those two areas guarded? Who was on duty in those areas?" Before anyone could respond, though, he then held his hand up. "You know what? Never mind! Just have whoever was in those areas dismissed at once! This is unacceptable. Guards must keep to their posts at all times. Do you hear? We've got to be on guard at all times!" He then looked at the three friends, and as he did, he used his bone of his to point at them. "You're spies, aren't you?"

"N-No, we're not," Shade insisted.

"Don't get cocky with me! You were sent to gather information for a surprise attack."

"But it's the truth!" Marina said.

"LIES!" The enormous rat named Romulus was about to say something, but Remus cut him off. "You think because my kingdom lies in the shadow of a mountain, I'm cut off?" He said, not bothering to acknowledge Romulus that time. Instead, his chest started to heave with anger as his green was filled with pure rage. "You think I don't know what's going on up ground? I know you bats are planning on something much bigger than vengeance on the owls. I know that your leader is named Cassie."

Romulus then cleared his throat, and when he did, he then spoke. "Umm, Remus. Her name's actually pronounced Kassidy."

Remus sighed, annoyed, and waved the enormous rat off. "Whatever." When the smaller rat saw that none of the three friends had anything to say, he grinned. "Yes, that's right. You're surprised at how much I know. I have reports. I'm kept abreast of everything."

Holden, Shade, and Marina looked at each other, and as they did, it felt like they read each other's thoughts. The rumors seemed to have spread out more than they could ever realize about their friend. At that moment, the purple Silverwing couldn't help but hate the giant bats more after what they did. The Silverwings' lives were in more danger, and Kassidy was now considered the biggest enemy to most birds and beasts.

"Look, what if we told you that it was all a lie?" Shade said. "We-"

"Oh, save it, runt," Remus said, and when he did, the sky-blue Silverwing furrowed his brow at him. "It won't be long until that stuffy old Brutus takes you and your friends in trade, so no matter what you say, it won't make me change my mind about how I view you."

At what Remus said, the three friends gasped. Holden knew that this was not good, and if Brutus got a hold of them, he was likely going to have their heads ripped off. Even thinking about that made the purple Silverwing timid.

"Trade?" Romulus said, confused. "For what?"

The more miniature rat King sighed, annoyed, and looked at the enormous rat. "For me and you to replace the wolves as the new rulers of all the beasts!"

When Remus said what he said, Holden's eyes widened. The wolves were the leaders of the beasts now? What happened with Ursa being the leader of the beasts? The human-turned-bat couldn't believe this, and now that smaller rat wanted to rule the beasts once he turned him and his other two friends in. However, he noticed that Romulus wasn't sure about this whole thing.

"What?" The giant rat said as he placed his hands on his cheeks, worried. "I-I really think we have enough trouble just ruling the rats…"

"Enough!" The smaller rat boomed in, the enormous rat's face. "Ruling the beasts is my destiny. Which means it's yours too! Now be quiet before you aggravate your condition." He said, growling, and when he did, Romulus winced and looked down, worried.

If there was anything he's noticed about those two so far, it was that they seemed to have different views, and Holden couldn't say he blamed Romulus at all. With all these rats, they have to rule how on earth were they supposed to lead them and the other beasts at the same time? If anything, it might overwhelm those two rats, but the enormous rat especially.

Remus then cleared his throat, and as he did, he looked at the guards keeping the three friends in place. "In the meantime, I want these bats to be locked up. Guards, take them away!" Almost immediately, they started to do so, and as they were, the three friends shouted at them to let them go, and they did everything they could for those nasty rats to unhand them. "Excuse you!" The rats stopped in their tracks, and as they did, the more miniature King was tapping his foot on the ground unimpressed. "Did you not hear me?! I said I wanted the bats locked up, not him!" He then pointed at Holden, and when he did, the three friends got confused, and so did Romulus. "He stays here!"

Holden was unsure why that rat King wanted him to stay here, but what did he mean by not him? Was it possible that… The purple Silverwing's brown eyes widened when he had the feeling that Remus knew that he was a human. He wasn't sure why, but he could feel it in the pits of his stomach. The rats that had him obeyed their King, and as they did, the rats that had Shade and Marina took them away, and as they did, the Silverwing and Brightwing called out the human turned bat's name, trying to escape those rat guards once more. The teenage bat called out their names too, and he wanted to help them, but the guards managed to hold him down very well without a sweat.

Remus then looked at Romulus. "Make yourself useful and watch that Silverwing and Brightwing. A chance to rule the beasts comes along about once in a lifetime. They're too important to lose." He then looked at Holden with a hideous grin. "While you do, I have some business to take care of with him."

At what Remus said, Holden couldn't help but gasp. Whatever that rat had in store for him, he felt like he wouldn't like it at all. Romulus looked like he wanted to say something, but he sighed, nodded, and hurried along to the guards taking Shade and Marina. All the purple Silverwing could do was stare at the more miniature King before him a little nervously, and he wasn't sure where Kassidy was, but he prayed to God that she would be able to find them and help them out of this whole mess.

A/N- Yes, another chapter down! I had fun writing this one, and I hope you enjoyed the read! Soon, we shall see what happens next in the next chapter ;)