"…and this is the training ground," Diane finished her tour of her pack's grounds. The BIRDS looked around at the training grounds. There was about five or so feet of clear land, littered with stumps of trees. Scorch marks were scattered here and there, but the true battle ground seemed to be in the trees. Harley itched for the challenge of flying between trees, but the other BIRDS seemed uncertain and hesitant. He turned, watching Diane as she stepped into the marked circle in the dirt. She looked at him over her shoulder, smirking with a silent challenge. The other BIRDS were still marveling over the height of the trees, Marley and Caesar having a scientific geek out. Harley twisted his head to the right, smirking back at the brunette woman.

The other BIRDS let a squawk of surprise out as Harley pounced through the air, tackling Diane to the ground. They watched in shock as the two fought, clawing and kicking each other like they were fighting to the death. Diane kicked Harley off with a double kick to the stomach, grinning. Harley grinned back as he stood. The two exchanged hooks, Diane dodging each one as Harley threw himself into each one. "You're just full of fun," Harley grunted with a laugh.

Diane laughed, "Only for the right people." She roughly kneed him in the gut, smirking as he groaned. Harley collapsed, smirking back.

"Mar-Mar, are they sparring?" Arrow asked her big brother, looking up at him then back at the fighting duo. Harley was flapping his wings, grinning as Diane flipped up to one of the trees.

"I think so," Marley replied, confused. The only time he had seen Harley so playful was when he got to test out some of the new soldiers S7 had made. Watching him fight with Diane was like watching two puppies play fight. Only…it seemed to have more meaning than that.

"I think they're flirting," Barley whispered loudly, grinning from ear to ear, "Marley, we're going to be uncles~." (A/N: The squiggly line at the end of "uncles" is called a tilde. I use it to create a sing-song tone that's rather playful. It has no real use in the English language, so I made one. Just lettin' y'all know)

"Don't assume things, Barley," Marley scolded as his own grin formed on his face. He liked seeing his younger brother happy – it wasn't often that he was.

"Yes, Barley," Rose cut in sharply, practically seething, "Don't assume things. Harley has better taste than that…bitch."

The BIRDS looked to their leader, then to each other. A silent promise to talk to each other on this was made. Their attention went back to Harley and Diane, the brunette woman playfully smacking the winged man in the face with her tail as she climbed higher before pouncing on him. They were about twenty feet up, both comfortable with the height. Their laughter rang through the forest.

"By Hecate, haven't heard her laugh like that in ages!" a Scottish accented voice exclaimed. The BIRDS turned, watching an orange haired young man walk up next to them. He had four arms, two folded in front of him and two folded behind him. His bright green eyes watched the fighting duo before turning back to the BIRDS. "'m Scott, by the way. Annie's my sister."

"How much family does she have?" Marley asked curiously, the first to move away from the BIRDS to greet the newcomer.

"The whole pack is her adopted family," Scott answered, "Which makes…let's see, me and the old man, the Elite Hunt, the little ones, and the wounded…about forty. But me and the old man, Octavius, were the first."

"Is Octavius the leader?" Caesar asked, "He is the oldest, by your description, and therefore more experienced."

Scott laughed, "Nay. Annie's the leader. Mostly because of her powers and her slight mythical standpoint. She's an air-kinny, shoots lightning and cracks thunder. Looks much better to have her in charge."

"Diane has aerokinesis?" Marley asked, blinking.

"Yeah. Loves the air like a bird. Kinda makes me sad that she has no wings. It's like a blind human," Scott replied, shaking his head sadly as they watched Diane and Harley fight in mid-air, Harley dropping in height from time to time only to have Diane pull them up again by grabbing a branch.

"A bird born without wings…yeah, that is kind of tragic," Marley replied.

"I can't imagine not being able to fly," Arrow sniffled, "The air is so safe compared to the ground. Nothing bad like bullies and meanies can follow you." She hugged Barley's leg, Barley ruffling her hair in an attempt to comfort her.

"Boo who," Rose replied sarcastically, blowing her blonde hair out of her face, "What are we going to do about Myth Corps?"

"Annie's already on it," Scott replied, "She's assessing your warriors. She probably figured that guy she's fightin' – Harley, right? – was the most aggressive out of all of you." He turned to Rose, smiling, "Trust me – it's way too early for her to have formed an emotional connection or a romantic interest. It took some of the Elite Hunt two years for her to even consider them friends. Smooth your feathers, pretty bird." Rose's aggressive expression turned a little more relaxed at the reassurance and the compliment. "Annie just likes a good fight – to my knowledge, this would be the first time she fought anything with wings. Myth Corps doesn't usually work with avian DNA."

"Why?" Arrow asked, confused.

"Some legal agreement they have with some American company, Section 11 or something. Americans get regular critters, Myth Corps gets 'mythical' creatures. Not a lot of birds under that category are easy to find, not to mention capture. Diane's part hellhound, me and Octavius are part Kraken, Jordan's a drakon, and Helen's a kitsune – just to name a few of us," he replied, shrugging at the BIRDS's shocked expression, "What? They're just rare animals just like any bird, cat, or dog. Now, if they were using dragons, then we'd be in trouble. Thank the Triple Goddess for that the dragons keep the chain hidden so well. Else we'd have almost invincible super-weapons running around."

"Chain?" Dagger asked quietly, "I've read about that somewhere…"

"Don't know the exact name of it, but the last of the dragons have this chain. You could say, scientifically, that each chain link holds the DNA or essence of each dragon," Scott replied, "Dragons hold the world together. Wind, earth, fire, water, darkness, light, and time – there's one dragon left of each, supposedly. Each dragon guards their link. There's a prophecy about one turning psycho, but nobody knows if it's true. We only know all of this because we've talked to one. He's Diane's…mentor of sorts."

"Where is this dragon?" Rose asked, grinning with a scheme on her face.

"Now, that," Scott smirked, snapping with all four of his hands, "Is a secret."

"Apollo, is that…it, sir? What we're looking for?" Althea asked, stumbling over to the brunette man. Apollo grinned evilly, holding up a silver oval…a chain link. He was covered in blood, his own and something else's.

"The Silver Link of Cyclones," Apollo grinned, clutching it in his hands, "Only six more left to go, Allie. Best be off – can't go to Sylvia with dragon blood on me, can I?"

"She is rather squeamish, sir," Althea replied, her tone indifferent as her black eyes.

Apollo chuckled, "Althea, your humor always brings a light feeling to a bloody victory. Let's go." He took one of her arms, putting it over his shoulders, helping her walk over the body of a dead dragon.

A/N: Hurray for side-plots~

This story has about...four plots that go side-by-side. Two are obvious - Diane & the BIRDS fighting Myth Corps and Apollo doing his secret agent-y stuff. The other two are side-plots that go onto CATS vs. DRAGONS.