Chapter 10

The Breakout

Icefire crouched on the floor of a large, glass, circular holding chamber; her friends were in identical cylinder-shaped chambers that were lined up next to her. Snowburner was on her right and Echo on her left. Currently, the young scientist that helped capture them was standing in front of Echo's chamber, apparently taking notes.

Icefire could hear him mumbling. "Height: about four feet, seven inches. Age: around eight-"

"I'm twelve." Echo snarled.

The scientist erased a spot on his paper and rewrote something, still mumbling, "Hair: black. Eyes: …dark purple…blind…"

Icefire didn't know what to think… or do, for that matter. She just sat there, quietly staring at the floor.

On her right, Snowburner busied himself by taking his anger and frustration out on the chamber holding him in. Currently, he was punching at the glass with ice-covered fists; he must have taken water out of the air. He suddenly spun and side-kicked the wall, but he was only thrown back to the other side. He did not give up, though, for he sprang at the wall and pounded away at it like a hammer.

On Icefire's left, Echo had settled down a bit since the scientist had moved on to Icefire's chamber. She suddenly noticed this and stared warily into the man's gray eyes.

"Height: around five feet, five inches. Age: thirteen, right?"

Icefire nodded slowly, standing.

"Good. Hair: golden blonde. Eyes: … one dark blue/left and one light blue/right…"

Icefire stopped listening to his annoying muttering and leaned against the back wall, creating space between her and the scientist. She didn't watch Snowburner failed attempts to break free either; instead, she looked around the room: a strange piece of machinery sat at the back wall, so strange it was hard to describe. It was like an eight-foot tall ring standing on its side, inside the ring was a platform, and coming out of the sides were two (one on each side) cuffs connected to a series of tubes.

I wonder what that's for? She thought curiously, narrowing her eyes.

The scientist must have noticed, for he turned and followed her gaze. "Wondering what our machine's for, are we?" he asked, smiling at her intense curiousity.

Icefire said nothing.

"Don't worry, you'll find out soon."

Still, she said nothing. She just stared at the object until she spaced out, without a thought in her mind. She ignored the fact that the scientist had moved to Snowburner, who spat insults at him. She vaguely noticed the strangers that hurried about the room. All she could do was stare at the weird machine. Anything she sensed came slowly… something wasn't right…there was an air of foreboding around the object… something cold, evil…

Icefire jolted back to the present when there was a large crash. She turned toward the sound; Snowburner had covered his foot in ice and kicked the wall with such force, it shattered. The blond-haired boy now lay face down on the floor in front of the young scientist, slowly picking himself up. His lip was bleeding and there were many cuts on his face and arms, but he glared determinedly at the scientist, satisfaction and cold hatred both burning in his blue eyes.

Feeling encouraged, Icefire realized that if Snowburner could do it, she could too. She took water out of the air around her and froze it onto her foot. She kicked the wall repeatedly as strangers rushed to try to stop her. Snowburner was being held down by others as Icefire resorted to shooting streams of fire out of her palms. The glass melted and, with a small smile, she leaped out of the hole, tripping the nearest stranger.

Pyro and Azalea busted out as well, and Falcon and Silver were blasting black and silvery-white magic at the glass. Tiger, Wolf, and Bramble were aggressively scratching at their glass chambers, suddenly kicking the damaged glass and crashing through.

New strangers poured into the room with electrically powered poles. One swung at Silver who barely dodged, jumping back but touching another pole with her back. Falcon was jabbed in the stomach before she could free Echo, and Snowburner, who was still being held down, was quickly electrified as well. Icefire saw Tiger fall before a swinging pole slammed into her side and she knew no more.

When Icefire awoke again, she was in a steel cage covered in electric wire and some sort of power deflector (she knew because she tried to use her powers on it). Snowburner and the others were contained in identical cages next to her. The blond-haired boy punched the bars, only to be shocked until his knuckles were charred. Afterwards, he just sat quietly clutching his hand with a pained expression.

Icefire groggily stood up, but her legs felt like noodles and her knees buckled. Sitting on her knees, she watched her surroundings with a dazed, somewhat spacey stare. The young scientist was talking to an older man and Icefire could just make out parts of their conversation.

"These kids are more powerful than we had originally expected." The younger man was saying. "With all due respect, Mr. Payne, we must perform the experiment now!"

The man called Mr. Payne grunted. "Very well, Zeus. But don't override the system or you'll never hear the end of it."

Zeus nodded and pulled a key out of his pocket. He stuck the key into Echo's cage's lock and turned it. The electric wire turned off and the cage door swung open. Zeus grabbed the blind girl easily (she's only 87 pounds) and hauled her to the strange machine that resembled a ring.

As he attached the cuffs to Echo's wrists, Snowburner snarled, "Don't harm her!"

Zeus ignored him and set the now imprisoned Echo on the platform in the giant ring. The blind girl was feeling the cuffs and the ring to get a picture of where she was when Zeus pressed a button at a control desk. The machine whirred and buzzed to life, Echo let out a hiss and panicked, wildly jerking and leaping around.

"Stop!" Icefire heard herself screech. "She'll hurt herself!"

Echo was now writhing on her back, the tubes and cords that were attached to the cuffs and the ring were tangled around her legs, waist, and neck. The black-haired girl flailed, becoming more entangled in the tubes. In one tense moment, when everyone thought she would strangle herself, the blind girl's eyes lit up, literally. Her once dark purple eyes now glowed white and her writhing stopped.

"What have you done to her?" Falcon snarled.

"Nothing. This isn't supposed to happen." Zeus was looking panicked. "We were only supposed to tap into her powers so we could study them."

"Echo doesn't have any powers, you idiot!" Falcon hissed.

Suddenly, a wave of electric purple light exploded from Echo and rippled through the room. Icefire's cage reacted to the energy, sparking and fizzing. Suddenly, the latch started smoking and exploded, allowing the door to swing open. Icefire leaped out, noticing that the others' cages had the same reaction, springing open and letting them out.

Icefire turned back to Echo, who was suddenly free. The blind girl's hands were alive with white electricity and her eyes were still aglow with white light. She stepped off the platform and raised her fists, snapping them open. Every piece of machinery in the room sparked with white electricity and the room went black.

Icefire lit her hand on fire and held it up, panting and glancing around. Snowburner and Pyro followed her lead and Silver created a glowing silver orb. Icefire waved her hand around until she came across Echo, who stared back with blind dark purple eyes.

"Echo! Are you okay?" Falcon asked, leaping toward the girl and hugging her.

"I'm fine." Echo replied, sightless eyes moving over the room. "But I feel different."

"When I find that idiot who did this to you, I'm gonna-!"

"No, it's a good different. It's a powerful feeling." She grinned. "I like it."

Falcon held the black-haired girl at arms length before embracing her again. "I was so afraid you were going to die." She whispered, a single tear falling down her cheek.

Echo's eyes spilled over with silent tears as well.

Icefire had never seen any one of her friends cry before. She was happy that everone was okay, but they still had to escape from the building.

"Come on, we have to go." Snowburner's flaming hand moved around the room.

Suddenly, the lights came on again and the machines whirred and buzzed to life once more.

Zeus stood by a switch. "You aren't getting away that easily." He said.

A troop of about twenty armed men surrounded Icefire and her friends.

Snowburner and Azalea, who were standing next to each other, backed away. Icefire whirled around to face more strangers with guns, eyeing them warily.

"Everyone, on my count." Snowburner commanded. "Three…"

"You don't expect to fight your way through, do you?" Zeus mocked.

"Two."

"Just give up, boy."

"ONE!"

Icefire leaped forward, kicking the nearest enemy in the face before turning and tripping another one. She dodged a swing at her head and connected her foot to his stomach. Something struck her in the back, knocking her down. She hugged her side as she rolled onto her back, shooting fire into the barrel of the gun that was pointed at her face.

Icefire scrambled up and was grabbed from behind, her feet churning the air. Echo was tackled and Falcon wrestled with two armed men. Snowburner fought back-to-back with Pyro, while Azalea dodged a swipe to the head, but got held down from behind. Nightsky leaped away from some advancing men and dove under a table, but was pulled out again. They were losing.

More of Icefire's friends were captured until only Tiger, Wolf, and Bramble were left. Wolf was grabbed from behind. Tiger let out a snarl and lunged forward, trying to pry open the arms of Wolf's captor. Bramble was captured from behind and pulled away.

Suddenly, the shoulder blades of all three exploded with white light. The men that held them captive released them in surprise and stepped back.

Icefire was stunned at what happened next: the white light extended into the air and took the form of a triangle, details became defined and sleek, looking rather like-

The light died away, leaving the three with, well- wings!

Wolf shook large, gray, feathered wings and Tiger flexed black, leathery bat-like wings. Bramble's were like Tiger's, except they were an extremely dark shade of brown.

"Are we sixteen already?" Bramble asked, though he was more or less talking to himself.

Wolf was watching her new wings stretch. "Now this is more like it!" she stated excitedly.

"Let's do this!" Tiger leaped forward and twisted, catching a guard's head with his wing. He landed neatly, "Much better."

Icefire ducked as best she could as Bramble flew up and dove into her captor, taking him by surprise. He released her and she freed Snowburner by pelting the guard holding him with shards of ice. Wolf glided over the head of a guard and knocked him over with her foot. Tiger pounced on another guard to free Silver, who shot silver magic out of her hands, hitting a couple adversaries in the stomach. Snowburner rescued Echo, Nightsky, and Pyro with the same blast of air.

Suddenly, Zanna sailed through the air, shooting flaming arrows at the guards.

"You dare use my own weapons against me!" Zeus roared at her.

"Yes, I do dare." At that, Zanna loaded her bow and shot an arrow at him, blasting him into the wall with a powerful gust of air. Turning to her freed friends, she called, "This way!" and broke down the heavy metal door with an arrow that exploded with large boulders.

Icefire raced out of the room, Wolf and Snowburner next to her and her other friends following quickly. She ran down the hall after Zanna, skidding around the corner that led to the entrance. As she and the others neared the front door, she heard footsteps behind her; not the nearly silent barefooted sounds of her friends, but loud, clunky noise of the enemy.

Not daring to look back, Icefire ran on, following Zanna and Snowburner out the door. The fresh air that hit her face was relieving and she kept going- until she saw were she was at.

She skidded to a halt behind Snowburner, the others stopping too. They all stared up at the huge, tall buildings that towered above them. There were hard black paths running inn every imaginable direction and there were very few trees.

Icefire spun around when she heard the clunky footsteps again, seeing the guards, and ran after Zanna, who hadn't stopped, her friends following just as quickly. She raced down the black pathway, letting Zanna lead her through alleys and backstreets, eventually shaking off their pursuers. Unfortunately, by that time they were completely lost.

"What now?" Echo asked.

"I don't know, but I'm hungry." Pyro said, holding her stomach.

"At least we're safe." Snowburner stated.

Azalea nodded.

"We need to find some food before we all starve, but first we have to find Wolf, Tiger, and Bramble something to wear so that we don't alarm the people here." Zanna announced. "No offense, but how often do these guys see winged cat-people walking down the street?"