Chapter 3: Dream Fury
The next morning, the flock and the mercenary group had all awoken to the smell of food cooking.
Aside from Max, Gazzy was the first to stir. Everyone else save Kihaku and Iggy were sleeping soundly. The foxy mutant and the blind flock member were using a skillet to make breakfast.
"Mmm…Do I smell eggs and sausage?" The Gasman asked tiredly, somehow stumbling over to the fire as the others rose and Max descended from her perch on the tree. Apparently Sam was gone.
"Actually, it's pigeon eggs and a few mice." Kihaku said smiling, "Iggy helped me find them."
"Wait, would eating pigeon eggs make us like cannibals?"
"I'm not sure but I'm too hungry to care." Max said as she sat in a circle with the others. Surprisingly there were enough eggs and mice for everyone to eat and between Iggy and Kihaku's cooking no one would've guessed what they were eating. Within minutes everyone, save Nudge, was full.
"Why isn't she eating?" Akio asked his twin, who merely shrugged while he munched on the remains of an egg. Once Eddie had finished eating he asked the question himself.
"Aren't you hungry?"
"Nudge is kind of like a vegetarian. She tries not to eat meat." Iggy explained for his friend. This earned a few looks from the assassin group.
"That's weird, practically all we eat is meat." Numair said, while he looked out for Sam. They couldn't head off without her, and she usually come back to camp whenever food was done. His attention shifted back to the overall group when he heard Kihaku speak up.
"Well it's a good thing I picked a few of these before I came back." The fox-like woman then produced several strawberries, all very fresh and fragrant.
"Oh thanks Kihaku, where'd you get these?" The dark skinned bird-kid asked as she took a few of the reddish fruits.
"Iggy and I came across a few of them while we were looking for food. I didn't notice them at first because I just thought that I was seeing a flash of his hair."
Iggy just smirked. "Well my hair is kind of strawberry colored, or so I recall."
"It is, and very cute too." Jaxon said flirtatiously, this earned her a collective groan.
"Hey Jax, me and Kihaku are the only ones allowed to flirt shamelessly!" Numair joked as he kissed the goggle wearing recombinant on the cheek. This made Gazzy chuckle.
"Uh-oh! Max, Fang, we have another pair of love birds."
"Love mammals." The twins said in unison.
"Ha ha. Hilarious." Max said before she began to take charge. "But Sam's been gone way too long. I think we should look for her."
"My thoughts exactly." Numair said standing up. " I think we should split off into groups of two."
"Great, but that'll leave an odd man. How about one group takes Angel?"
"No problem." The cat-boy agreed. Just as everyone began pairing up, Sam reappeared.
"Aw, a search party for me? How thoughtful!" The wolf-like girl said, her usual sarcastic demeanor in full display.
"Yeah, you know we couldn't live without our sarcastic, vicious, battle crazy teammate." Jaxon said hugging her best friend. The comment actual got Sam to give off a small smirk.
"Gee thanks. By the way I think our targets already abandoned the area, and civilization isn't too far off."
"It isn't?" Nudge asked hopefully as she finished her last strawberry. The promise of a town or city where they could rest in some form of comfort made her eyes come to life. "Is it a city? We haven't been by one in forever and I could go for some shopping."
"By the disgusting pollution smell I picked up, yes. It can't be more than five miles off, and maybe we can find some clues regarding the techies who kidnapped you guys."
"Well well, nice work Sam. We'll be ready to leave after you eat, what about your team Max?"
"The Flock is ready. You don't have to worry about us." She said confidently. Max had to admit that Numair knew when to take charge, but she wasn't used to having another leader around. She'd have to make sure she remembered to talk over their little alliance with these mutants when it was just her and the Flock.
Soon, Sam had gotten a newly cooked share of food and was ready to travel again. as were the others. It took them around an hour and a half to reach the outskirts of the city. Already the group of non-avian recombinants were wearing their hoods again, reminding Max of Voice's warning.
"Welcome to Edgeton City." Eddie said as he read a sign. It had the population, as well as a speed limit. He then pointed to another sign. "It looks like you guys will be safe here."
"What makes you say that?" Fang asked, his voice somewhat startling the hooded ones.
"He's about to say that it's a bird sanctuary." Angel explained.
"Hey! You read my mind!" Eddie fumed. "And you killed my joke."
"Trust me sweetie, it wasn't going to earn many laughs." Max said before they began walking again. Something in her gut told her that this place wouldn't be much of a sanctuary.
It wasn't long before they had come across a halfway decent hotel somewhere within the city. They couldn't pick someplace too conspicuous, otherwise those weird kidnappers might try and take them again. The two groups had gotten separate rooms via Max's handy dandy credit card. There was a room for the boys and one for the girls.
Right now Max was in the middle of a shower, and Nudge was somewhere downstairs getting ice cream with Angel. Max decided to ask Angel what she had gleaned from the minds of their new associates while she, Fang, and Nudge researched any leads on a downstairs computer.
As the water droplets hit her flesh and temporarily useless wings, Max couldn't help but remember Sam's words.
'We were made to destroy the world.'
Kihaku yawned, stretching her arms out to un-cramp them. Above her, a light flickered on as Max made her way quietly to the kitchen. Kihaku rolled onto her side and stroked Sam's hair. The girl was a force to contend with when awake, but, asleep, her features softened to give her an almost girlish look.
"Ah…Kihaku?" groaned Jaxon from where she lay on the other side of Sam, curled in the fetal position. "Is it morning…already?"
Kihaku rose and touched her shoulder. The poor girl was bone-white, sweat dotting her temples, and her tail was bristled completely. "Jax?" she whispered soothingly. "You okay?"
Jaxon's icy-blue eyes shot wide, Kihaku noticing that her pupils had nearly overcome her irises, and bared her fangs. Her hands curled into fists, and she was on her feet in an instant with a loud, threatening hiss. Kihaku scrambled back. The Dream-Fury, as they called it, had overcome the girl's senses, and nothing but force could stop it.
"Sam!" she cried. She was glad that the flock had opted to sleep in the living room.
The blonde girl was there a moment later, crouching in front of Jaxon. "Jax," she snapped. "snap out of it!"
Jaxon let out a caterwaul and attempted to rake her claws across Sam's face, but the wolf spun out of the way, kicking aside a pillow and taking a defensive position in front of Numair, who had entered through the door to the adjacent room. Without him…they'd be dead in a week. The wild cat lunged forward, teeth bared in a snarl.
"No! No! Get away from me!"
Suddenly, Max was there, with Fang at her side. "What's going on?" she demanded. "What's gotten into her?" Nudge and Angel had their eyes wide. The other boys came running.
Kihaku dropped into a crouch before her, tail raised to steady her and ears slanted forward. "Dream-Fury," she murmured. "She's trapped in the dream of her death."
Just then, Numair launched himself forward, catching Jaxon by surprise so that she tumbled to the floor, writhing as she tried to get away from his hands. "Jaxon, wake up! Wake up now!" He pinched her ear, and, it seemed, she blinked awake suddenly.
"What's-" her eyes went wide when she saw the fearful faces of her family and the flock. "Oh."
Numair let her go with a pat on the back, and Kihaku gave her a gentle hug, leading her to the couch. Sam stood back, gazing at her sadly as Akio and Eddie jumped down from the counter in the kitchen.
"That's it? You're going to forgive her that easily?" Sam whirled around to fix her eyes on Max. "That's a brilliant way to get yourself killed when your backs are turned!"
Kihaku sighed and raised her eyes from her friend. "We've all had moments like these."
Fang blinked. "What do you mean? You all go berserk at times?"
Numair sat beside his two female companions. "In a way, yes," his gaze leveled on the flock, who were huddled at the other end of the room, near the window. "We weren't…created the same way as you."
"What do you mean?" quipped Iggy, sitting down. "I mean, we were all test-tube babies, weren't we?" His pale blue eyes stared at Jaxon, but her head was down.
"Some more than others," growled Sam as she detached herself from the white wall and moved to touch Jaxon's shoulder gently. "You were probably donor babies, right? An egg donated to the mercy of science?"
"Right. We were born like normal children." said Max, eyes wary.
Sam shrugged. "We weren't." Beside her, the group stiffened, but Sam launched into the telling of their creation anyways.
"We're clones, basically, but not willingly so. Our Originals had no idea that we were going to be created. There was no scientific license used to gain us, no laws prohibiting our creation…all because our Originals were already dead at the time we were viable embryos.
"Our DNA was extracted from dead persons, modified to the point of mutation-add a wolf gene here, a cat gene there-and fertilized. From there, we were put in tanks to grow and develop, to be continually monitored. There were many of us to start with…more than a hundred…but only forty survived the embryonic stage.
"Of those forty that survived, most were closely related to monkeys: apes, gorillas, chimps. There were only eleven of us, that survived, that were made of something different." Sam took a deep breath. "Syrus was a cat, like Numair and Jaxon. Gramps was a bat; two were snakes. Kieran…was like me. A wolf. We," Sam motioned to the band. "are the only left alive. That we know of. Gramps may very well still be kicking."
Max snorted. "You still haven't explained the going-crazy-loco part to us."
Sam's eyes narrowed. "The reason for that…is because of our Original's," she grew quiet a moment, envisioning Jane's last moments… "We go into something called a Dream-Fury, which is us…dreaming our Original's deaths over again."
"You can understand, of course," injected Numair. "how unnerving that would be. To envision one's Original's deaths is to see your own."
"But," started Nudge. "you're clones. It isn't really you."
Fang rustled his wings. "I think I get it. You get so caught up in it because it's your face you're seeing. It isn't just some strangers…but yours. You're reliving…basically reliving past memories."
Kihaku nodded and began rubbing comforting circles on Jaxon's back. "Exactly."
"Can we…" the cat-girl asked in a low voice, "can we just stop talking about it for right now?"
Numair exchanged a glance with Kihaku and smiled gently at her. "Of course." His deep violet gaze jumped to Max and they glittered dangerously for a moment. With a haughty huff, the brown haired flock leader crossed her arms over her chest and looked pointedly away.
"I'm starving," Sam suddenly announced. Fang blinked in surprise at the girl. She was dressed only in a thin white tank top and a pair of lose-fitting, boys pajama pants. "Do you have a staring problem?" she demanded of the olive-skinned boy.
Max turned her head and caught sight of him staring, open-mouthed. She elbowed him hard, and Fang turned to glare at her. "Do you see what she's wearing? No straight guy would not stare!"
Iggy coughed softly. "No straight guy that can see."
Sam shoved her hand through her hair. Kieran's clothes were loose on her, but they smelled of him and comforted her during rough times. Kihaku stared at her in confusion. The last time she'd worn them…was a year ago, after she'd been shot in her side. "Can we go, please?"
Numair blinked. "Go?"
Sam rolled her eyes. "You know, food?" she turned to smile at Max coldly. "Hmm?"
Nudge piped up first. "Oh, yes! Please! I could go, seriously, for, like, pancakes and waffles! Have you ever had a waffle with raspberry jelly? It's absolutely delish. I mean, it isn't a Danish or anything, but it's still, like, yum!"
Jaxon chuckled at her newfound friend and patted her on the back. "Are you breathing again?"
The dark-skinned girl beamed at her. "Oh, yes, of course!"
Iggy, from where he stood beside Fang, smiled in the general area of her voice, and Jaxon blushed vigorously. Fang nudged Iggy. "You're killing 'em, bro," he whispered.
Jaxon fiddled with the hem of her oversized tee as she got to her feet and walked back into the bedroom. Fang's eyes glittered with pride as he and the other boys went back into their own room, shutting the door firmly behind them and locking it. Instantly, Iggy grabbed the back of his shirt and slammed him against the wall, brows drawn together.
"What does she look like?" he demanded quietly.
Fang smirked. "Who?" he asked coyly.
"You know exactly who I'm talking about!" he snapped. "Jaxon. The girl!"
Fang smiled and twisted gently from his 'brother's' grasp. "She's a red-head. Tan. Kind of short; she hardly reaches your shoulders. Blue eyes. Very…well-endowed, I suppose you could say."
Iggy was nodding his head fervently. "Yeah, yeah. That's cool." He ran his hand through his spiky strawberry-blonde hair and smiled. "Real awesome."
Fang tapped his knuckles against Iggy's shoulder and laughed. "Nice going, bro. You're killing 'em, man." He sighed. "Even if they all do turn out to be insane…at least you'll know that one likes you."
"You think?" Iggy sounded hopeful, and a little nervous.
"Oh, yeah."
After quick showers, the Flock and the Band arrived at a small, downtown diner simply named, Sara's Diner. With their long hair combed neatly into tight ponytails and beanies covering their heads, the girls looked semi-normal. Super-model normal, at least. Numair and Eddie simply wore ball caps facing backwards-as was the style. The Flock did as the Flock may: overly-large hoodies that covered their wings without seriously constricting them. Where the hoodies came from…Numair refused to reveal.
Sam and Angel sauntered straight up to the cash-register, Angel working her mind-magic, as the wolf girl liked to call it, to persuade her into not asking questions.
"My family is having a little get-together," Sam smiled, careful not to flash her elongated canines. "We would like…six double cheeseburger combos, one without meat. Two large plates of ribs, with extra fries. A large chicken salad. A large pizza, with everything…Oh. And a steak, please." Sam gave a thumbs-up to the others. Numair nodded once before turning back to Kihaku to finish their whispered conversation near the back door.
The cashier gave Sam a look of sheer horror and typed frantically. Repeating the order she asked, "Will that be all for today?"
Sam shrugged. "For now, at least. Thanks."
She blinked. "Uh…that will be…seventy five dollars and thirty nine cents," Sam handed her Max's credit card and kept her eyes fixated on it as the woman swiped it. "Thank you. Your number is nine. We will be with you as soon as possible." Along with the card, Sam received a little plastic number card to fix into the metal holder at the table.
"Thank you," she smiled once more and turned, stuffing the card into her pants pocket and sticking the number card into the holder at the edge of the table.
While Angel went to sit beside Max and Gazzy at the other table, Sam plopped down beside Jaxon, who was chatting softly with Iggy. Eddie and Akio were busy playing at one of the game machines on the other side of the restaurant. Numair and Kihaku had their own two-person table and were whispering to one another. Instantly, Sam felt like an outsider.
It was forty five minutes before a woman and man approached their table, carrying two large trays stacked with food. When the food was finally distributed, they dug in. Sam and Jaxon relished their ribs while Kihaku picked delicately at the salad and nibbled on a yellow-brown fry. Numair nearly had his nose buried in his steak. The Flock was no better, it seemed, with their cheeseburgers. Only Eddie and Akio, the little pizza-lovers, managed to eat decently. Akio poked Sam in the shoulder.
"Sam?" he asked. "Do they have Tofu?"
The wolf shrugged and handed him a ten dollar bill. "Go find out…Get some more ribs, while you're at it," she added.
Eddie laughed and Akio nodded enthusiastically before skipping to the counter. "We've got to get them presents," murmured Jaxon suddenly. "Their birthday is in two days."
Sam blinked in surprise, though she really shouldn't have been. Jaxon was a stickler on everyone's birthday…except for her own. "Yeah. What do you think we should get them?"
Jaxon shrugged. "I don't know. The only thing I can think of is a grenade. What else would they enjoy?" she stabbed at a lump of meat and shoved into her mouth.
"Tofu," laughed Sam. "Lot's and lot's of Tofu. And pieces of scrap-metal. God knows what they'll manage to make out of scrap-metal."
Jaxon swallowed and laughed softly, drawing Iggy's attention. Sam narrowed her eyes at the boy, but could see that he wasn't maliciously interested…just curious.
"What's funny?" he asked as his fingers found one of Jaxon's fries instead of his own. She let him have it without argument. He dipped it in a house-specialty sauce-barbecue sauce-and stuffed it into his mouth.
"We're trying to figure out the twins' birthday presents. Any ideas?" Jaxon obliged.
Iggy thought a moment. "Scrap metal?"
Sam and Jaxon shared a look and a bark of laughter escaped their lips. Iggy looked offended. "What?" he demanded. "It's always what I've wanted."
Jaxon touched his arm gently. "We aren't laughing at you. Sam just had the same idea. It's kind of humorous that you would know so much about us from just two days."
"A day and a half," he corrected, tapping his temples. "I'm keeping track."
The ocelot-girl nodded and smiled at him, the boy was becoming more and more likeable by the minute. "Of course."
Meanwhile from across the street an old green minivan was parked near the Diner, looking rather beaten and in need of a good wash. Inside the vehicle was a balding, middle-aged man and a dowdy looking woman, her hair unkempt. The woman seemed to be texting on her cell phone while the man was talking on his.
"Hello?" He began calmly, his voice monotonous and bland. "Yes Doctors, the targets have been located at area 37-92. All are eating, and my partner is streaming you a live feed. What shall we do?"
Elsewhere in a computer room, filled with scientists and techies working fervorently on numerous computers, two people in particular were viewing a large screen.
"Hmmm, I say we 'recover' the infamous members of the Flock, as well as those others with them. Perhaps Fang and the white haired girl would be good candidates for the menagerie project?" Said a bearded man to his new partner.
The Asian woman he was speaking to shook her head no. "You don't want that one, according to the files I acquired she's far too unpredictable, not to mention vicious. I'd recommend taking that girl instead." She said putting a finger on an image of Jaxon. "But of course we can't get them now. I suggest we wait until they split up and take them all sepreately. Then once we have them all we can decide who will be useful to us and what we do to the rest...I'm sure that with a little reprogramming they'd fetch quite a pretty penny on the black market."
The bearded man stroked his facial hair thoughtfully and trained his emerald eyes on his partner. She was quite young, barely older than the mutants and yet she was a genius...almost as knowledgable as himself. According to the rumors she also had a cruel streak, and was involved in the destruction of the company that created the mammal-based freaks. The look in her icy blue eyes was calculating yet malicious, the kind that made his skin crawl. "Of course Dr. May...Afterall this is your show, I'm just here to make sure you can handle working with us."
The twenty something woman smirked, fixing her long black hair. "Well I'm certain that I won't let Mr. Chu down. Until then please continue surveilance. Make sure to switch off with the other local operatives so they have a harder time knowing that they're being tailed. Michaleis and I will instruct you when to act."
"Yes ma'am." Said the male operative before the line was cut. In the lab the woman smiled and looked over the Band members. She fixed her eyes on the twins, they that meant something to her.
'Soon my pets, I'll have you all to myself...'