Chapter 29- failed rescue attempt again
Meanwhile
"Wow, look a' the size o' dat swan," Luiz spoke as he took in Vecna's size as the swan continued to intimidate some of the parrots in their cages. He hid with Aurora, Zephyr, Sirius, Milo, Orion, Rafael and also with Alabaster, Nico and Pedro behind a pile of rubbish. Luiz and Rafael had managed to catch up to the flyers and had managed to hide themselves and Alabaster, Nico and Pedro had managed to lead the group to Vecna and company's location just in time. The group peered out from behind the rubbish pile and watched on as Frank, his human underlings Marv, Peter and Vera and their pet assistants lead by Vecna, Dooku, Lysandre and Brutus continued to load more of the caged animals into the backs of the two vans Frank and Peter had managed to steal. Among them were Jack, Jill, Charon, Sunspot the Dalmatian pup and Katrina the young calico cat. All five of them wore looks of remorse as they continued to reluctantly help Frank and the others to load the van but they were not important to Aurora's group. Luiz then gazed in awe at the diversity of the dog assistants in the group as Aurora and the others focussed on the pile of caged animals.
"There are Blu and his family," Sirius said with a point to a certain cage containing a Spix macaw family of five. Aurora and Zephyr followed the male glaucous macaw's point and picked out Blu as he and his family's cage was lifted by the front paws of a white Persian cat named Blofeld. However, as the Persian did that, Blu, now EXTREMELY aggressive, lashed at the cat and raked his claws over his face, inflicting a set of claw marks on his brow and shearing out some white hairs. A cat screech of agony exploded from the furry white cat and he dropped Blu and his family's cage and covered his face.
"Take THAT, you VILE dirt FURBALL!" the father Spix macaw screeched. Aurora, Milo and Sirius winced for they had NEVER expected Blu to be violent like that but it was understandable. Blu still burned with wrath from the taxidermy insult Lysandre and Brutus had inflicted on him and his family and had turned vicious and protective. Blu was captured by smugglers twice before with the first being when he was a chick and the second time alongside Jewel before the couple paired up and had Carla, Bia and Tiago. That time, the pair was almost smuggled out of Brazil by the first band the smugglers alongside a number of other birds including Rafael, Nico and Pedro. Blu did NOT want to face it the third time and he did NOT Jewel facing smugglers again but he most CERTAINLY did NOT want Carla, Bia and Tiago to experience the traumatic horrors of being poached. After all, poaching had scarred Blu for life and he had since become EXTREMELY anti-poacher and Sirius, Milo and Aurora all knew how that felt. Ahsoka, however, only knew partially how it felt for though she was orphaned by a bunch of poachers, she was not successfully caught unlike the macaws.
As Blofeld clutched his face, Vera came in to pick up the cage containing Blu and his family but got her finger bitten HARD by Jewel the moment she put her hands to the cage. She let loose a shriek and clutched her bitten hand.
"Yes, you show those vile poachers what for, Jewel," Zephyr hissed. He then spotted Brisa who was picked up reluctantly by Jack and handed to Peter to be put into the van. Then Zephyr and the others soon picked out Ahsoka, Celeste and Samara and also Poppy, Eva and the 25 toucan kids. Rafael's heart raced in stress as he watched his beloved keel-billed mate get picked up and taken to one of the vans along with the cages containing his 20-plus chicks by wither one of Frank's human underlings or their pets. After spending a little while taking in the scene, the group ducked back behind the pile of rubbish and began to formulate a rescue plan.
"Okay, here's what we're gonna do," Sirius opened up the discussion, "The aim is to set free as many of those prisoners as possible but we cannot do that with all those poachers' pets around. If we tried to fly into the scene, they would overwhelm us and cage us so that means we need a distraction. Some of us will have to distract those poachers whole the rest of us will carry out the rescue. Any suggestions on distraction ideas?"
"We could set up a show," Luiz said, "I could perhaps do a goofy dance to ge' dose pesky poachers' assistants' attention. After all, I LUURRVE to groove..."
"Sounds like a good idea, Luiz but those poachers' pets don't mess about, especially that swan Vecna," said Milo, "If you tried to do that, you'll likely be seen as a pest and driven off, and the last poachers' pet you wanna be at the mercy of is Vecna."
"Yes, he could bite your face in," Orion added, "He's powerful enough to quickly maul a hyacinth macaw."
Luiz flashed a look at Vecna and winced at the thought of facing the massive swan and immediately scrapped the idea. Though sometimes he was a bit reckless at time, he did have some sense.
"I suppose some of us can set ourselves up as bait," suggested Rafael, "After all, the only thing on the minds of those pesky poachers is capturing animals."
"I sure hope it works," said Alabaster, "But there's a problem. I'm just a common sulphur-crested house cockatoo, Rafael is just a common toco toucan and Nico and Pedro are just a common canary and cardinal. Those poachers will not see them as valuable as a blue macaw or an Amazon flying fox."
"Well, if that is the case, then I'm in for the distraction plan," said Aurora. The others shot her a "What!?" look.
"You mean you wanna set yaself up as a target for those pesky poachers, girl?" asked Nico.
"That's suicide, Aurora," said Zephyr with a frown. Milo, Sirius and Orion nodded in agreement.
"So is trying to rescue Blu and the others without the risk of facing the poachers' pets especially the savage Vecna," replied Aurora adamantly. The others protested against Aurora's reckless idea but Aurora insisted and eventually and seeing that they had too little time to break out into an argument over who gets to do what, the others admitted defeat and allowed Aurora to keep the idea.
"Well, if you're gonna go out and cause the distraction, Aurora," said Rafael, "Then we'll be the troublemakers."
"Yes, ya can lure him t' here where we can attack 'em," said Nico. Pedro and Luiz nodded in agreement. To Aurora's smile Then Sirius moved on.
"Well, that's the distraction sorted, that leaves me, Orion and Milo," said the male glaucous macaw, "And while you guys keep as many of those pesky poachers occupied, we'll sneak into the scene and try and rescue Blu and the others."
"Can I come with you three?" asked Alabaster, "I wanna rescue Poppy."
Sirius, Milo and Orion gazed at the white and yellow cockatoo for a while until finally, they relented. Poppy was, after all, Alabaster's girlfriend and Alabaster wanted to be the one to rescue her. Then once the group had allocated themselves to different parts of the plan, they got ready to implement it.
Frank continued to load more of the caged animals into the backs of the stolen vans with his underlings and pets including Jack, Jill, Sunspot, Charon and Katrina. He placed Ahsoka, who was too despondent to fight back, into one of the vans next to Blu and his family and left to fetch another cage. Peter came in with a caged marmoset (not Mauro) when he stumbled a little. However, he kept a good grip on the cage and continued to the van.
"Hurry up, you knuckleheads," Frank barked at his underlings and pets, "We do NOT have all afternoon. The storm is close now and Rio will soon be swarming with cops and I want us to be outa this city and country before we are nicked," Frank then began to show his frustration, "It's also disappointing that you have not managed to catch ALL FOURTEEN of our top targets. We have the Spix macaw family, one of the unpaired female Spix macaws, the female glaucous macaw, the female Amazon flying fox and the female Lear's macaw but NOT the other five..."
Ahsoka gazed sadly up at the lead poacher as he said this when suddenly, Marv's voice rang out, "Look, it's ONE OF OUR MISSING TARGETS!"
Frank looked up with the others as the chubby man pointed in a particular direction. Jack, Jill, Sunspot, Charon and Katrina came in followed the point alongside Lysandre, Dooku, Vecna and Brutus and their underlings. Sure enough, they saw a maya blue feathered form hovering near a pile of rubbish and making faces at them to goad them into rushing for her.
"CATCH THAT SPIX MACAW NOW!" Frank barked and with that, Vera, Marv and some of the poachers' pets, among them Guzma, Alonso, Ria, Xerosic, Bryony, Aliana, Celosia, Otis, Embutido, Noire and Sombra surged like a swarm of angry bees towards the blue form, Aurora, some of them clutching several cages ready to catch the Spix macaw and put her with Blu and the others. Immediately, Aurora dove back behind the rubbish pile and signalled the attack group consisting of Rafael, Nico, Pedro and Luiz, to pounce. Jack, Jill and Charon went to help but two hands appeared and seized their shoulders while a chubby raven flew to the front of the young one.
"No, you three, you continue to help us load the vans," Frank commanded, both of his hands on the twins' shoulders while Dooku commanded Charon to do the same. The twins and Charon then reluctantly resumed the task with Frank, Peter and the other poachers' pets including Sunspot, Katrina, Vecna, Brutus, Dooku and Lysandre. However, as the group did that, Sunspot secretly sneaked over to Poppy's cage and while the others including Brutus weren't looking, he pulled the bolt out of its socket to Poppy's surprise. However, Sunspot put a paw finger to his mouth in a 'Shh' gesture and cautiously and quickly the door. Poppy stood there for a moment but then immediately disembarked the cage and escaped. Sunspot looked on and resumed his task.
Vera, Marv and the others with them continued rushing for where Aurora was but the moment they arrived there; Aurora had disappeared to their frustration. A bad word exploded from Marv's mouth while Xerosic the Russian grey slammed a paw onto the floor.
"I'm sure I spotted one of the missing Spix macaws," said Marv. As he said this, Sombra backed away towards the rubbish pile when suddenly; a black comet with an orange beak swooped in upon her and struck her down. Sombra released a caw of surprise as Rafael swerved round and struck her again, this time by grabbing her wing with his big orange and black beak and lifting her into the air. After this, the toucan did a midair spin kick and sent the raven flying right into Marv's face. A foul word exploded from Marv's mouth as he seized Sombra in his hands and yanked her away from his face but then a black comet rushed at his face and tackled into it, sending Marv stumbling back. Marv's foot landed onto Otis' front foot, making the King Charles spaniel release a pained bark and Marv's other foot landed right onto Guzma's tail, making the black cat leap into the air with a pained screech. Then Marv bashed into Vera and the pair of humans fell down onto their backsides.
"Oh, you CLUMSY..." Vera retorted and called Marv a name too naughty to put down and with that, she slapped Marv across the face for his stupidity. Guzma and Otis also looked on with irate faces while the other pets with them including Sombra looked on confused when suddenly; Rafael shot in at Vera, seized her hair in his beak and began to pull HARD to cause her pain. Screams of agony ripped from her mouth and she tried to seize the toucan with her hands but Rafael dodged and continued to attack her. Marv scrambled to his feet and rushed to intervene but then another comet, this time a maya blue one, rushed in behind him. Aurora rocketed at the poacher, her talons poised to attack and her eyes ablaze with amber lava fountains. The moment Aurora landed onto Marv; she began to viciously attack him with her claws and beak. Now it was Marv's turn to let loose a series of pained and terrorised cries as the Spix macaw began to unleash her wrath on him by going for his face and arms.
"PETS, HELP!" the man cried as he covered his face as Aurora raked her barb-like claws over his arms and inflicted a set of claw marks. Immediately, some of the pets including Ria the American shorthair and Blofeld immediately seized a cage and tried to leap upon Marv to catch Aurora but then three more forms rushed in and tackled into them. Two were small flying comets and the other, a larger bulk of brown and white fur dribbling drool. Nico and Pedro charged at Blofeld's group and struck some of them in the faces during the flyby, hitting some of them in the cheeks and Blofeld in the nose.
"HAH, take THAT, ya PESKY POACHERS' KITTIES, vultures AN' DOGGIES," Nico cried out mockingly as he struck Ria in the cheek. Pedro also lashed at Blofeld, clamped his beak onto some of head hair and pulled with all his might. Blofeld released a MASSIVE screech from the agony as some of his white hair was ripped out by the cardinal. Nearby, the other pets were thrown up into the air as Luiz charted right through them. Some of Luiz's spit flew from his jowls and landed grossly in the faces of some of them, among them Noire and Bryony. Groans of repulsion erupted from those hit as they began to shake their faces of Luiz's spit as Luiz then swerved round and plunged back into them again for a second attack. Within moments, an inferno erupted among Marv, Vera and their group as they began to try and catch Aurora, Rafael, Nico, Pedro and Luiz. Their cries reached the ears of Frank, Peter, Jack, Jill and the other pets including Vecna, Brutus, Lysandre and Dooku. Blu and the other caged animals also gazed in Marv's group's direction as well, wondering what was happening.
"What the (BLEEP) IS GOIN' ON OVER THERE!?" Frank demanded; impatience and frustration at the delay to get to the airport flaring within him. While the poachers were occupied by Aurora's subgroup, Sirius, Orion, Zephyr, Milo and Alabaster snuck by more heaps of thrown-out rubbish and trash bins and crept towards the vans, making sure that none of the poachers or their pets looked their way. However, one of their key targets had already been freed; Poppy was sneaking away behind the same piles of trash and trash bins in the opposite direction when she was alerted by the sounds of Marv's group being under attack and within moments, she met Sirius' group to their surprise. However, Alabaster rushed for her.
"Poppy," the sulphur-crested cockatoo whispered and he seized Poppy into a hug, Poppy returning it. After the brief moment of reunion, Poppy gestured them to follow her.
"C'mon, Blu and the others are in that van," the Major Mitchell's cockatoo said, pointing to one of the vehicles. Immediately, Alabaster, Sirius, Orion, Zephyr and Milo followed her in that direction.
"How did you manage to escape?" Zephyr asked but Poppy didn't answer that for they had little time. Abandoning that idea to ask her this, Zephyr resumed his focus on the rescue. Then as soon they had lead the three male blue macaws and male Amazon flying fox to the van, Alabaster and Poppy left them there and split up with Poppy darting for the other van to rescue Eva and the toucan kids and Alabaster for the caged animals still to be loaded, being careful not to alert Vecna or the other pets or Frank, Peter, Jack and Jill. However, when Dooku thought he saw a white form move and disappear behind the cages, he was about to investigate but Vecna commanded him to resume packing the cages onto the vans.
Aurora's group continued to spin the whirlwind of trouble for Marv and his group with Aurora biting Marv HARD on the right hand when he tried to seize her. The man let loose a scream and thrashed his hand to dislodge the ENRAGED pigtailed Spix macaw but Aurora ABSOLUTELY REFUSED to let go. If anything, she clamped her beak EVER harder into his hand. Though she was not as strong as Blu or Zephyr, Aurora still packed a powerful bite whenever she was enraged enough. Aurora absolutely ABHORRED poachers and she wanted to make Marv feel the agony of the animals he had captured and also to avenge his and his group's chaining her to Zephyr and Brisa and also Milo, Sirius and Ahsoka to Celeste, Samara and Orion respectively. Then after causing as much damage as she could to his hand, Aurora tackled Marv in the chest to knock him back. The male poacher stumbled back and tripped over Embutido the Dachshund and landed butt first right onto a patch of thorny weeds growing through a crack in the pavement. Aurora looked on smugly as Marv let loose another cry of pain from his pricked backside. Then Nico and Pedro darted from the whirlwind of the rest of the fight and came to her.
"We're gonna try an' free some o'dem prisoners wi' Alabaster over dere," said the canary and with that, he and his cardinal friend darted from there to the pile of caged animals where Alabaster was. Aurora saw them leave and continued her fury on the poachers, this time going for Vera as she seized Rafael.
As Nico and Pedro arrived at the pile of caged animals still to be packed and met Alabaster after he set free a family of military macaws and some of the poachers' pets rushing for the inferno as reinforcements to their comrades, Alabaster shot them a look.
"Do you know how to unlock cages, you two?" asked he, "If you do, then set to it right away."
Nico and Pedro nodded and immediately darted to the cage nearest to them containing several small bats while Alabaster darted to the next cage containing a tamarin. After freeing more of the caged animals and commanded the flying ones to flee, Alabaster, Nico and Pedro saw some black toucans with large colourful beaks fly in, Poppy having freed them from their cages in the other van.
"Guys, have you got some sort of cutting object to get that tape off of Eva's beak?" asked the Major Mitchell's cockatoo. Her question was overheard by Sunspot and immediately, he darted to the nearest bin and began to sift through it for something sharp. Alabaster, Nico and Pedro then took Eva aside where they were suddenly swarmed by some of the toucan kids as they excitedly attempted to hug them. However, Alabaster commanded them to stop swarming them but they continued.
"Can we get a cutting tool for Eva's beak for cryin' out lou-OW!" the sulphur-crested cockatoo released a cry when Marco's foot hit his eye. He then began to struggle to get the exited young toucans off of him. Diantha looked around until her eyes landed on a thin disc with shapr edges. Immediately, she went over to it but before she could pick it up, a canary and cardinal appeared and rebuked her.
"Do NOT touch that, young lady," Nico said and with that, he pulled the chick back from the disc, a tin can lid whose edges were VERY sharp and Nico did not want Diantha to cut herself on it. Pedro then carefully picked up the disc and went back to Eva. After this, he began to carefully use the edges of the disc to cut through the tape binding Eva's beak shut. As soon as Pedro had done this and had thrown aside the dangerous circular blade, he, Nico and Alabaster set to removing the tape from Eva's beak to free it to her UTMOST gladness. After this, Alabaster threw aside the tape and glared at it disgustedly.
"This was just as CRUEL as the chains those blue macaws and flying foxes had, taping a toucan's beak SHUT!" he hissed. Suddenly, the sulphur-crested cockatoo became cloaked in shadow. Immediately and with his bright yellow crest flared, Alabaster whirled round and found himself gazing into the hideous face of its owner with his beak agape and a gasp drawn in.
"It it will be just as cruel to dislocate ya WINGS an' throw ya into the ocean when WE'RE outa here, yellow crested slime ball filled with MAGGOTS," the massive feathered beast snarled, making Alabaster's insides vibrate with the rumbling of his voice and adding to his startle. Nearby, Nico, Pedro, Eva and Rafael who had gone to reunite with Eva saw who was confronting Alabaster. Immediately, the samba duo darted off to help the cockatoo, especially as some of Vecna's underlings gathered around him and the massive swan himself. Alabaster continued to stand there, rooted to the spot and frozen in fear at the sight of the MASSIVE hideous swan whose feathers was crisscrossed with scars, his left eye damaged and scarred and the other one, the swan's only functional eye, piercing him with its icy blue glare. A mop of feathers cascaded down the swan's head sides and back and resembled Samara's head feathers to a degree but more dishevelled and deathly white, like that of a frozen carcass. Then Vecna smirked as his underlings including Brutus, Lysandre and Dooku grouped around him.
"Hah, looks like you've been caught red-taloned, dung parrot," the swan cackled, "Wha' do ya think ya doin' beakin' around our catches?"
"He looks a LOT like Nigel..." Lysandre commented but Vecna shot him his ice cold one-eyed glare and made the ginger tom shut up. Alabaster continued to stand there as the swan returned his cold glare at him like a freezing laser until finally, he plucked up some courage.
"We're freein' them," he replied flatly but then Vecna entered attack mode.
"Ya SHOULDN'T have COME HERE, COCKATOO!" he hissed and with that, he opened his beak and prepared to lunge at Alabaster like an attacking snake, his agape beak aimed for his throat when suddenly, a yellow canary darted between him and in front of Alabaster, seized his bottle-cap hat and got poised to throw it.
Back in one of the vans, Blu continued to glare at the several padlocks locking him, Jewel and a very frightened Carla, Bia and Tiago in their cage. In their cages nearby, Celeste, Ahsoka, Samara and Brisa looked on.
"I believe you're experienced with picking locks with a talon claw, Blu," said the ginger bat, Ahsoka, "I have only ever handled padlocks myself while under Joanna's care but only with a key."
"It's gonna take me AGES to pick each of these one by one," grumbled Blu before he turned his glare to the padlocks locking the other four in their cages, "Not to mention having to then face the padlocks on YOUR cages. It would just take TOO long..."
"I think I've seen the keys to them but one of the poachers has them on hand..." Ahsoka said and began to look for Frank outside the van. As she did that, four forms: one being azure and grey, another navy blue and teal, a third blue and blue-white and the fourth brown with fur and black membranous hand-wings, appeared. Ahsoka turned round and flinched when she saw Zephyr, Orion, Milo and Sirius appear to just appear out of thin air while Blu and his family, Samara, Celeste and Brisa looked on surprised.
"Zephyr, bro," said the last one.
"Sirius, Orion," said Samara.
"Milo," said Celeste. Then the four began to examine their cages to see how they could bust them out of them. Orion went over to Ahsoka apologetically.
"I'm SO SORRY for saying those ROTTEN things back at the bulldog's house, Ahsoka," said the brown bat, "I was just frustrated over your flightlessness..."
"Save that for later, Orion," Sirius reminded, "We need to get these guys out of these cages," he then began to check Samara's cage but to his UTTER frustration, it was padlocked. Angered, Sirius slapped a wing on it and grunted. Nearby, Milo did the same when he saw that Celeste's cage was padlocked as well, as did Zephyr and Orion with Brisa and Ahsoka's cages respectively.
"Never dealt with padlocks before?" asked Blu.
"Yes but only with keys, mate," said Milo, "I don't think we've EVER picked them at all and we don't know how."
"Worse, your cage's bolted up tight," said Zephyr when he saw that Blu and his family's cage was padlocked several times over. Then the four stood back and gazed at the padlocked cages.
"There MUST be a key to those things somewhere," said Sirius. As the male glaucous macaw said this, a young raven looked on. Charon hovered there and flew off to help find the key. However, he had been seen by Orion but the bat resumed his gaze on the padlocks.
"How fast can you pick one of these locks, Blu?" asked Milo as he examined the padlocks to the Spix macaw family's cage.
"Depends on how complex it is," said Blu.
"Last time he picked a padlock was when he was lured into getting caught in that float the first band of smugglers used and held me during the Carnival," said Jewel as she held the frightened Carla, Bia and Tiago.
"You know it's ironic," Sirius said as he also examined Blu, Jewel and their chicks' cage, "We and Aurora may be pets and Ahsoka, a human-raised bat that are familiar with cages and cage locks but not how to unlock padlocks except with keys..."
"Well, you shouldn't be here," said Celeste, "Sorry to push you four away like that but you're flying RIGHT into a trap."
"Yes, Vecna is..." Blu added but Sirius cut him off.
"We're NOT leaving without you," the male glaucous macaw said firmly, "We're gonna bust you guys outa here."
"Yes, you're VERY important to Tulio and his team, mate," added Milo. As the male Lear's macaw said this, a growly voice rang out, "An' YOU four are VERY important to US an' OUR OWNERS, you four PRECIOUS GEMS-YET-MAGGOTS..."
Milo, Zephyr, Orion and Sirius looked around, wondering who had said that when suddenly; several black blurs flew in and seized them. Then the four were shoved into cages. Sirius, Zephyr and Milo were thrown into one and Orion into another. After this, a chubby raven, Dooku dropped in with Lysandre and the two padlocked the cages. As they did that, a white snake-like head and neck with a mop of dishevelled stringy feathers resembling white rotten wet grass and a damaged eye appeared, that face laced with scorn and triumph. Milo, Sirius and Zephyr glared at the 'snake', Vecna.
"HAH!" the wicked, dishevelled, ragged swan mockingly, "Looks like some certain individuals fell for the trap bait, cage an' all. Thank you so much for droppin' in an' joinin' ya lil' friends an' other halves for th' trip ahead."
"You and your group and owners will NOT get away with this, Vecna," Sirius retorted, "Our human friends will have alerted of your presence and will now be hot on your tails with the cops."
"Not to mention that storm coming," added Milo.
"Oh, we'll be outa here before those two waves arrive, diamond rats," Vecna replied with certainty and without a hint of doubt in his voice, sure the poacher group will achieve it, "Alongside all the lil' FRIENDS ya brought along with ya includin' the third Spix macaw RAT with the pigtails and Romeo's girlfriend," he then glared with his scorn and sadism-flooded icy blue eye in a particular direction. Zephyr, Orion, Sirius and Milo followed the swan's cold glare with Blu, Jewel, Carla, Bia, Tiago, Ahsoka, Samara, Celeste and Brisa and the moment the thirteen eyed what Vecna was gazing at, horror tore through them.
"That sure went well, didn't it!?" Aurora said flatly as she was loaded into the van in a cage by some ravens. Near her, Poppy and Alabaster who had been re-caged were placed next to her. Lastly, Eva, Rafael, the toucan kids that had escaped and also Nico and Pedro AND Luiz who had also been caged were added by some cats and dogs.
"LUIZ!" cried Milo when he saw that the bulldog had also been captured. The drooling bulldog just gazed silently at the birds and bats, too embarrassed to speak. However, Luiz being caged was the least of the horrors Blu and the others gazed at. In Nico and Pedro's cage, Pedro fearfully and tearfully cradled his canary friend in his wings, the little yellow and brown bird limp and not moving and missing his bottle cap hat. Horrified gasps were drawn in by Blu and the others and some of the winced. Then Blu shot Vecna a VOLCANIC look.
"What have you DONE TO NICO, you SNAKE-NECKED MUTANT DUCK!?" Jewel's mate bellowed, some of the others also glaring at him with outraged faces. Vecna then nonchalantly and remorselessly replied.
"That canary," the swan said in an icy voice, clearly devoid of ANY hint of guilt or remorse, "I... er... gave him a lil' punishment for being stupid when I was trying to teach that yellow-crested rottin' meat bag there a lesson he would NEVER forget," he nodded to Alabaster, "He intervened and tossed that milk bottle top right into me face."
"In other words, that piece of work whacked Nico with one of his powerful wings and sent him flying into the wall and knocked him out after he saved me from being bitten by him by coming between him and me and threw his hat at him," Alabaster added. The outrage within Blu's group flared all the more when they heard this with some of them releasing hisses and screeches.
"You'll PAY FOR THIS, you VIPER SCOUNDREL!" Rafael screeched.
"RAGGED MUD-PET SWAN!" put in Sirius. The others voiced their rage against the swan with angry squawks in addition but Vecna was unfazed and steadfast.
"Screech and squawk and batter me with vitriolic names all ya want, gems but I'm afraid ya'll outa luck... an' outa time," the vile swan said, before finally eying Orion and then Ahsoka, Sirius and then Samara, Milo and then Celeste and also Zephyr and Aurora and Blu and Jewel, "But at least that crested yellow slug-headed dung beetle Nigel was right about ONE thing... love certainly IS a powerful an' stupid thing... as well as DISGUSTING an' smells like a dead carcass, ESPECIALLY if it is between macaws an' flyin' foxes... URGH it makes me wanna PUKE..." he topped this off by putting a ragged wing to his beak and puffed his cheeks out in mock nausea, making the group wince with rage. After this, Vecna left to alert Frank that all fourteen targets including the Spix macaw family of five had FINALLY been caught and were ready for smuggling. As he did that, Lysandre, Dooku and Brutus came by and rubbed in Vecna's insults.
"Is it any wonder poor birds an' other animals have DIED tryin' t' save their precious loved ones?" the former, the ginger tom crooned, "A male scarlet macaw once tried to protect his precious female from Vecna only to have his neck snapped..."
Sirius was about to lash at Lysandre from his cage with Milo and Zephyr glaring on when suddenly, the three sub-leaders heard their names get called. Lysandre smirked at the group, "To be continued," and then left the van after Brutus and Dooku, the ENRAGED group looking on. Seconds later, Frank appeared and examined the twelve blue macaws and two flying foxes. As soon as he had taken in the fact that all fourteen targets were present, he turned to his group including the pets.
"Excellent job, team," said he, "You have managed to capture both the flying foxes and all the blue macaws including the family of five. Now let's get the rest of the caged animals quickly packed and let's make tracks to the airport."
Peter, Marv (who had managed to use some makeshift bandages from the crude first aid kit the poachers had to bandage the injuries Aurora had inflicted on him including his hand. However, he could no longer pick up cages as effectively. Plus his backside still stung from the VERY painful pratfall onto the thorny weeds), Vera, Jack and Jill nodded, the latter two doing it reluctantly, and set to the task. The pets including Vecna, Lysandre, Brutus and Dooku and also a very reluctant Charon, Sunspot and Katrina did the same and once all the caged animals were packed into the vans along with any empty cages that were left to bury any footprints so to speak, the poachers got into the vans and drove off for the airport.