Chapter 147: A Matter of Perspective.
Yumi focused her mind and as she did she felt her connection to the world around her strengthen.
To the uninitiated this sudden influx of stimulus could be rather overwhelming, infact it had been rather so for Yumi when her abilities had first emerged back in the laboratory of Dr Chalmers.
She remembered it vividly as if it had only been yesterday.
It was like having been snapped out of a dream and thrown head-first into reality by a cold hard slap to the face.
Her mind had not been ready for it and had violently rebelled at this connection to everything around her, trying to push it away and shield her but this had resulted in her releasing a blast wave of energy that had very nearly destroyed the room she was in along with the three researchers who had been in there with her.
Yumi's first instinct to realise what she had done was to feel immense fear, firstly for the fact that she had accidentally hurt people and secondly that she was going to be in major trouble for damaging all the expensive equipment that she had been repeatedly told not to touch.
But rather than be angry Dr Chalmers seemed to have been positively delighted by this occurence.
This was also the time she was taken from the wards and sent down to the isolation unit where she would remain as Chalmers used cruel and inhumane experiments to force Yumi to hone her abilities to a more controllable and usable level.
She had no idea how long she was truly in that place as every day seemed to simply blur into the next one, she also didn't know if it was the result of her mind trying to protect her or something that the researchers in there had done to her which had resulted in her memory being blocked out.
But when Zixxy had gotten into her skull it had brought all of it back with a sharp vivid clarity that still kinda haunted her.
She could not however deny the effectiveness of the results of these brutal experiments.
They had honed her abilities and sharpened her mind allowing her to tap into potential that she'd never dreamed possible within herself.
Now when she felt the world reaching out to her she didn't shy from it, she embraced it and controlled it, now it was she who bent it to her will rather than the other way around and thanks to Zixxy and the rest of Wisp's people showing her not only the truth but her reality, she swore that she would never be anybody's puppet ever again.
She often found herself wondering about the others still trapped in that place that she like Aurthur and Wisp had left behind, would Chalmers punish them for their betrayal?
Would she go out of her way to implement even more stringent safeguards to prevent any more of them from coming over to the side of the Free Peoples?
She couldn't imagine a megalomaniac and control freak like Chalmers would take such a slight lying down.
As the thought of how Chalmers would retaliate against the innocent others for what they had done, anger surged through Yumi and she felt a powerful heat building up within her.
Stretching out her hand she focused her mind and channelled the heat towards it, forcing it to connect with a cardboard target at the far end of the range which was shaped to look like an enclave soldier in power armour.
A bolt of flame shot from her hand and connected to the target dumping all of that heat directly into it and causing it to burst into flames.
"And another one bites the dust," a voice said from down the far end of the indoor shooting range they'd set up in the lowest part of the Vault that was now the HQ of both the Railroad and the local chapter of the Free Peoples.
Yumi leaned out from behind the shooting booth shields that separated each shooter from one another to allow them to focus as well as to protect each other and saw Adem grinning at her with one of his ear protectors cocked up on top of his head.
"Sorry," she said and Adam chuckled and shook his head.
"For what? Pretty sure that's kinda what they are there for, though usually the rest of us are just content to fill them full of holes rather than turn them into piles of ash," he said with a grin which caused Yumi to laugh a little bitterly.
"Yeah most of you don't have the ability to reach out and touch someone with flames hotter than the surface of the sun though do you?" she said and his grin widened.
"No but I have been told that I can deliver quite a scathing burn with my sharp wit from time to time, though I don't think it's quite the same thing," he said making her laugh again.
Adam's demeanour changed as he seemed to sense that something was troubling Yumi and he placed his gun down before making his way over to her booth.
"You ok?" he asked and she glanced up at him.
"I don't know, I just get so angry when I think about all the things that were done to me and that are still being done to those like me by those fucking bastards that I feel like I can't control it," she said and he nodded empathetically.
"Yeah I can imagine, I know it's not the same thing, but sometimes I kinda get angry myself with what happened to me, I feel like I should have stopped things that I should not have let Jewel tarnish herself the way she did and then I get angry at myself for being angry on her behalf like I forget that I was the victim in it all, but then I remind myself of what Zixxy showed me, that I can live as a victim or I can rise up and be better, that I can reclaim my strength and push myself, forwards, instead of living in the past with the what-ifs and maybes, thats when I remember the grief and self-loathing that Jewel felt when she realised what she had done and even now she struggles with it, she will oftern break down crying because she is worried that she has harmed me or wronged me and I have to reassure her that I'm ok, but I still see it in her eyes, she belives he is not worthy of me and struggles with it," he said.
"How do you cope?" she asked and he gave her a warm and very genuine smile.
"I try to look at things from another perspective, I try to step outside of myself and how I look at the world and try to look at it from the perspective of another, it can help to illuminate some of the motivations behind their actions and their quirks," he said.
Yumi thought about this for a moment.
"Hmm yeah I can get why that could work for you, though I don't think that will work in my case because as soon as I start thinking about Chalmers I start wanting to punch things or burn them to a crisp," she said gesturing to the charred remains of the target down her end of the range.
"Yeah that probably might not go down so well but what might help is to look at it like this, she and those like her tormented you, tortured you and abused you..." he began and Yumi shot him a scowel.
"Not helping Adam," she interjected and he nodded but waved a hand at her.
"I know but just listen, she and her kind did all of those vile things to you but they also taught you how to survive, they gave you the will to push through what any normal person could ever hope to endure and then she made her biggest mistake, she pushed you into the arms of those who would not only show you the truth but would show you how to turn it back on her, those who would give you a purpose to call your own and a freedom to fight for, she gave you the power but we showed you how to use it for good, now nothing can stop you, " he said.
Yumi thought about this and then nodded.
"Yeah you're right, I'm free to live however I want now, do what I want with who I want when I want, plus I have the power to make sure that no one can ever take that from me, thanks Adam," she said and he nodded before patting her on the shoulder.
"Just do me a favour, if you do find yourself a special someone down here if you get into an argument with them try not to turn them into a pile of ash, I doubt Seven or Wisp would appreciate it," he said making her laugh.
"I'll bear that in mind," she said and with a wave, she headed off back into the Vault feeling a lot better about her situation now, though one thing that kept nagging at the back of her mind was what happened to Nine?
As she was walking she was kind of lost in thought, so much so that she somehow managed to miss the giant 8ft tall Condor girl who was coming the other way and bumped right into her before landing hard on her ass.
"Ouch, shit sorry I was kinda lost in thought there," Yumi said looking up and feeling her eyes go wide as she saw the large crested and feathered head that was peering back down at her.
"No worries there little sister, I think you came off the worst in this brief exchange don't you, though I am rather impressed that managed to miss me of all people, think I'll have to chalk that one up as a new one, as no-one has ever managed to be that much lost in thought that they've managed to miss me before," Latisha said reaching down with a large feathered hand to lift Yumi back to her feet.
Latisha plucked Yumi off the ground and deposited her back down on her feet like she weighed less than one of her feathers and she had to admit it seriously impressed her, how the hell did someone with that much muscle manage to soar through the skies like it was effortless?
"Let's just say it was a somewhat difficult thought train, though it looks like the fucker crashed right into the station doesn't it?" Yumi said as the large Condor placed her back up on her feet.
Latisha let out a laugh that was somewhere between a caw and a bark and then drew her beak up into a devious snarl.
"Are ya calling me a station human girl?" she said with a devious glint in her eye and Yumi spotted it right away and felt a grin of her own tug at the corners of her mouth.
"Well you're as good as, think you got muscles in places that I don't even have places and I'm pretty sure that if you hit the irons around here you'd probably make even our resident Claw girl jealous," Yumi said referring to the weights in the gym where a lot of the soldiers and indeed Lia liked to hang out.
"Ha! If fucking only, I might be strong but those Claw girls you got lurking about are something else, I keep getting told that Lia there is one of our smaller girls, fuck me I'd hate to see the bigger versions of her," Latisha said making Yumi grin.
"Yeah her mother and her cousin are like supposed to be near twice her size, especially Vess who is an Alpha Matriarch Claw, though I haven't met her yet, kinda hard to imagine though, from what I hear those Gatorclaw girls they got up there in Nukaworld Where Seven is stomping around are supposed to be kinda big," Yumi said and Latisha's feathery eyebrows rose in surprise.
"It seems you guys got all sorts stomping about with you don't ya, I'm really starting to like you guys, a girl can really be herself around here," Latisha said and Yumi nodded.
"Yeah I gotta give the Free Peoples this, they do acceptance better than anyone else you could ever hope to meet, I mean look at them, we got humans loving Claws, Claws loving Supermutants, Humans loving aliens, synthetic sparkly cloud girls loving spider boys, gay Claws loving human boys, hell we got it all," Yumi said gesturing with open arms to the Vault all around her making Latisha chuckle and clack her beak as she fluffed her feathers up like she was wearing a headdress.
"Well maybe not all little sister, well not yet anyway but I'm sure given a little time we can fix that," she said with a wink which left Yumi feeling confused, was she missing something here?
The pair headed up to the surface and no sooner had they stepped out into the sunlight than Latisha took a massive lungful of air that actually made Yumi think she was going to pull her off her feet by how deeply she inhaled.
"Ahh smell that air girl, nothing quite beats the open air especially after being stuck underground, I seriously don't know how you humans manage it for so long, I'd go fucking crazy if I couldn't get into the open skies and stretch my wings," Latisha said opening said wings to an impressive span and giving them a flap to prove her point.
The force of the gust unleashed by Latisha's massive wings caused Yumi to stagger a bit before bracing herself against the wall.
"Hey steady on big girl, some of us don't have massive fucking talons anchoring our feathered asses into the ground you know?" she said making Latisha shoot her a grin.
"And how would you know my ass is feathered hmm? Got something to confess have you?" she said making Yumi shoot her a grin back of her own.
"Not hard to see the feathered tail sticking up out of your pants big girl, doesn't take a fucking mastermind to work out where they are stuck into you know," she shot back.
'Still doesn't change the fact that you were looking human girl," Latisha said with a grin plastered on her beak.
"Come on let's get to flying so we can stop talking about your feathered arse shall we? Before I'm tempted to set fire to your tail feathers," Yumi said and Latisha roared with laughter.
"Hey now you're the one who brought my fine feathered ass up, no need to take out your frustration on it, well not in that way anyhow," Latisha said.
"God you lot are as bad as the Claws around here I swear to Christ," Yumi said.
"Gotta compete in the race if ya want to win it girl, can't let all the Claws snatch up the pretty humans now, can we? And to think I fucking hated your kind not too long back, but now after spending some time with ya people kinda had my eyes opened to the good side of your people and the more time I spend around ya all the more I think it's rubbing off on me ya know?" Latisha said as she began to flap her huge wings and fan her tail to lift herself into the air.
"Yeah I suppose I get that, i was kinda introverted myself a bit when I first got here, I might look human but I'm different you know,"' yumi said creating a swirling vortex of flame around herself and lifting into the air with the rising heat which served perfectly to illustrate her point.
"Yeah I can see that alright, ok I concede the point, please try not to set my tailfeathers or arse on fire, I worked hard to get them looking this good you know," Latisha said as she circled Yumi while keeping enough of a distance that the flames didn't touch her.
The pair flew high up above Boston taking in the sights as they went, thanks to Yumi's unique way of flying she could easily maintain pace with the large Condor girl as she cleaved through the sky with ease.
Until eventually the pair decided to stop off for a rest atop the highest towers in the city and to grab a spot of lunch given they'd both decided to bring some food with them.
"Ahh now this is the sort of view I have missed since we have been cooped up in those concrete tunnels of yours," Latisha said looking out over the city and landscape all around them.
"They aren't my tunnels, you speak like I fucking built the place," Yumi said somewhat tersely.
Latisha glanced at her with a large golden eye.
"Sorry I meant no offence and I meant humans, not you personally," she said.
Yumi let out a bit of a bitter laugh as she leaned back against the wall of the observation deck on which they were having lunch.
"Honestly these days I feel like I have about as much in common with other humans as you do, no matter how much I look like one of them I will always be apart from them, different," she said letting a flame swirl and dance in her hand to emphasise her point.
"Does it hurt?" Latisha asked and Yumi looked up at her curiously.
"Does what hurt?" she asked.
"When you touch fire like that, I mean if I did that it would burn my feathers clean off but you hold it like I would hold this piece of bread," Latisha said lifting up the large bread roll that was packed with meat she had been pecking chunks out of for Yumi to see.
Yumi shook her head, "It did when I first tried to do it when I was young, back then I had no idea what I was doing, I could call the elements but I couldn't control them, so they would hurt me as they would hurt you, but as I learned to adapt my body to their effects I learned to insulate myself from their effects, now I can hold fire or lightning in the palm of my hand like it was nothing more than water," she said making lightning jump between her hands which made the large condor woman's feathers ruffle in surprise.
"Well I must say you are very full of surprises Yumi," she said getting closer to take a look at the sparks dancing and walking along between Yumi's fingers like they were a Jacobs ladder.
Yumi looked up at her with a slightly bittersweet smile.
"Oh you have no idea how true that is," she said as the big Condor girl sat down next to her.
"You seem sad, what is wrong?" Latisha asked placing a large feathered hand on Yumi's slender shoulder causing the little human woman to look up at her.
"While I'm overjoyed at the progress the Free People's have made to making this world better for everyone I sometimes wonder to myself if is it all worth it, I keep thinking that if we have to fight this hard and give so much just in order to have people see us in a better light are they really worthy of our time, does that make me a bad person?" Yumi said feeling a rather powerful pang of guilt as she let the words spill from her lips.
Latisha squeezed her shoulder and ruffled her richly coloured feathers in an unknown gesture but the implication behind it was as clear as day, she was expressing empathy with her.
"This is a thought I have mulled over myself if I am truly honest with you and myself, I have wondered if those who require some kind of proof or sacrifice from us are worthy of our time or even our trust," she said causing Yumi to look up at her in surprise.
"Guess I'm not the only one then huh?" she said and Latisha shook her head.
"No you are not, would you like to hear what conclusion I came to?' she asked and Yumi nodded.
"Yeah I kinda would actually," she said.
"The conclusion that i reached is that yes it is a worthy thing for us to fight for because they say nothing truly worth doing is ever easy, as the minorities in this world the burden falls upon us to show the majority that were are not somthing to be feared but rather accepted and embraced, we cannot expect them to trust us simply because we exist as that is not the way the world works, respect and trust are earned not given freely and this is true of all species not just humans, so if we wish to show them that at our cores we are truly no different than they are we must show them this is the case and this is what I belive your Free Peoples truly understands, that is why they are the ones willing to stand up and take that burden upon their shoulders, they take the hard fight on so that others may have an easier time because if word of their deeds spreads then in time all will benifit from the result of their sacrifice and hard work, to me this is a noble act worthy of respect and the least we can do is join them in the endevour," Latisha said.
Yumi thought on this and nodded in agreement as she thought about the struggles of the others to simply fit in within the ranks of the Free Peoples, those like Fuller who had betrayed his own unit in order to warn the Free Peoples of what was coming their way and then taken up their banner to fight alongside them.
She knew in her heart that he would have had to work incredibly hard to earn their trust as they'd had no reason to believe him until he proved his word and himself to them, but through word and deed he had done just that and it had opened a door for her as by the time she had caught up with him and kidnapped him his word carried enough weight with them that they forgave her transgression and allowed her the chance to prove herself to them, now she stood among them a full member and a valued person in her own right, so yeah what Latisha had said made sense, it wasn't upon the majority to simply accept you just because you wished it, you had to prove to them you were worthy of it.
"Nobody in this world owes you a damn thing, if you want something you have to earn it," she said remembering something she had heard Number Eight say.
"Exactly, it is something that I believe my people have come to realise as they have now seen the power of those who walk the lands below our floating world, it was easy for us to think we were untouchable floating high in the clouds but now we see the truth, we were very close to being blown out of the sky and if not for the efforts of the Free Peoples to bring us together with our enemies, sit us down and show us that we are not all so different the results would have been catastrophic, so yea Yumi the goal of earning acceptance is a difficult and trying one and it may feel unfair at times, but the end result is always worth it," Latisha said giving her a rather pretty smiled with her large hooked beak.
"Thought it was supposed to be Owls that were the wise ones not Condors," Yumi joked causing Latisha's feathers to ruffle until she realised that the human girl was just teasing her.
"I'll have you know that we Condors are renowned for our wisdom," Latisha said striking a noble pose with her hands on her hips while she fanned out her large tail and looked off into the distance making Yumi giggle.
"And here I thought you were just known for having overly feathery back sides and punching holes in walls," Yumi said with a playful grin as the big Condor girl clacked her beak at her in mock outrage before adopting a smirk of her own.
"And how exactly would you know how feathery my backside is human girl, got something you wish to confess do you?" she retorted making Yumi blush slightly but never lose her grin.
"Well it's kinda hard to miss ya know especially as you have been shoving it in my face since you struck that oh-so-noble pose," Yumi shot back as Latisha chuckled.
"Don't pretend that you haven't loved every moment of it," Latisha said swishing her tail feathers back and forth along with her surprisingly sculpted arse which was hidden below her special combat suit which allowed her to maintain flight.
"Probably like it a whole lot more if you weren't covering it up with that bloody flight suit," Yumi blurted out before turning bright red as she realised what she'd just said out loud because not only had she just revealed something she'd been trying to hide within her heart but a two secret for one double whammy, Yumi was bisexual.
Yumi had been struggling with this part of herself since she'd figured it out, now while she did tend to lean more towards males there had always been a part of her that kept pulling her eyes to parts of females that she found alluring, such as a nicely shaped bum for instance or in this case one that was not only nicely shaped but covered in exotic feathers.
Latisha's beak dropped open in surprise and Yumi's flush deepened as she jumped to her feet.
"Err forget I said anything, I was err just playing around was all," she said quickly moving over to the rails away from Latisha and leaning against them to catch her breath.
Her every instinct told her to take to the skies and fly as far away as she could so that she could find herself a nice hole to crawl into so she could die.
That's when she heard the clacking of talons on concrete behind her and a strong hand planted itself on her shoulder.
Yumi was about to start launching into a second round of apologies when she was spun around on the spot with quite some force and before she knew what was happening Latisha had swept the slight Japanese girl up off her feet and into her incredibly strong arms.
Latisha's hug was so tight that Yumi could feel every contour of her incredibly powerful body under her suit and through the feathers that coated her, because of their height difference Yumi's head all but disappeared into Latisha's cleavage and when she tried to pull it out to catch her breath the big Condor girl lowered her own head to meet her, pulling her into her very first kiss.
It was obvious that Latisha was not used to this very human display of affection but was trying her hardest for her all the same, the sensation of her hard beak contrasting with her incredibly long and soft tongue was truly mind-melting.
Yumi simply felt herself letting go and sagging in Latisha's strong arms as the Condor girl deepened the kiss and pushed her long tongue into Yumi's mouth.
As the pair finally parted with Yumi gasping for breath as Latisha's incredibly long tongue retracted into her beak she looked up at the big Condor girl who was still smiling down at her.
"I almost hadn't wished to hope that one as beautiful as you would feel the same way as I do about my own gender, among my kind it is incredibly rare but it does happen, but then being among humans it was becoming almost unbearable because I discovered yet another hidden part of myself, I like human girls more than I like the girls of my own kind," Latisha said in an uncharatisticly soft voice that screamed an unsureness in herself.
Yumi couldn't believe that this was happening to her but before her brain had even processed any of it she found herself freeing one of her arms from Latisha's grip so she could reach up to stoke the incredibly soft feathers of the Condor girl's face and no sooner had she touched her than Latisha leaned into the touch.
"I never imagined I'd ever get to free this part of myself but it looks like I can finally give my heart wings," Yumi said softly.
Latisha gently led Yumi back over to the place where they had been sitting and with a little bit of manoeuvring she managed to seat herself on the floor and to pull the young Japanese woman down onto her lap so that she was sat upon her large thighs while she held her tightly against her body as if she was worried the young human woman would suddenly turn to smoke and she'd awaken to discover it had all been yet another dream.
"Do you only like girls or boys as well?" Yumi asked softly as she rested her head against the large Condor woman's large breasts.
"Only females, how about you?" she asked.
"Both, I always thought that there was something wrong with me as the lab I grew up in didn't really have anyone like me in that respect, well not that I know of anyway, fuck for all I know of those people they could have all been the same as me but it sure as hell didn't look that way, so when I found myself looking at girls in the same way I was looking at boys I began to feel like there was something wrong with me, but then when I met the free peoples and I saw all the amazing flavours that love come in I began to think to myself that maybe just maybe with them I could be truly free," Yumi said softly.
Latisha lifted the young woman's chin so that they were looking at one another and as soon as she met Latisha's massive golden eyes she could see her own fear and feelings being mirrored back at her.
"If you will give me a chance to prove myself worthy of you and the chance you are taking on me I will, I swear it to you Yumi," Latisha said softly making Yumi's heart leap with pure joy in her chest before bouncing around her rib cage like one of those fucking superball things that Malakai had been annoying everyone in the bunker with by launching it and trying to catch the rebound as it came back off the wall like a rubber bullet.
Yumi couldn't find the words to say what she needed to so all she did was nod her head and to her surprise, Latisha let out a screech before hugging her so tightly that Yumi's head vanished back between her breasts again.
As Yumi's heart settled into a more rhythmic thumping against her ribs she gripped Latisha's large flanks and held on tight just simply enjoying the feeling of the embrace that the two interspecies women were sharing together.
Finally, the pair released one another but Yumi didn't make any move to get off Latisha's lap, instead, she simply looked up at the massive Condor woman and smiled at her.
"Guess we'd probably better be getting back before Wisp winds up sending out a search party to look for us, we have already been out too long and you know how she gets about her people's safety," Yumi said with a chuckle.
"Too late for that fire girl, you really gotta learn to bring a radio with you if you two are gonna sneak off for a cuddle somewhere, it'll save me having to climb my fluffy arse up these bloody towers," a very familiar voice said from above them and as both Latisha and Yumi looked up they saw a very familiar spider boy hanging upside down from a ledge above them.
"Holy shit Malakai!!" Yumi exclaimed leaping to her feet in alarm which happened just before Latisha leapt onto her own talons thankfully with the strength in those thighs of hers she might have very well hip-thrust Yumi right over the side of the railing in alarm.
"Well, who did you think it was Ven, pretty sure you'd have heard him hauling his scaly arse up here?" Malakai said with an upside-down grin at the pair before he reached for his radio.
"Jumper one one to HQ have located feather brain one one and fire fart one one all good safe and sound over," Malakai said grinning at the pair.
"Feather brain one one!?" Latisha exclaimed putting her hands on her large hips indignantly.
"Fire fart one one? I'll give you fucking fire fart fluffy boy, fur fucking burns really easy you know?' Yumi said making flames dance from her fingers.
"Hey I didn't make the call signs blame Fuller it was his idea, he was in the control room when they set me out looking for you both, and yeah trust me I know fire bad," Malakai said his eight eyes locking onto the flames dancing on her fingers.
Suddenly Fuller's voice came from the radio.
"Roger that Jumper one one, where did you find them over?" he said and Yumi gestured for Malakai to give her the radio which he did so by lowering it down on a silk strand as if worried she might make good on her fire threat.
"He found us having a nice quiet lunch on top of a tower and just you wait till we get back to HQ I'll give you fucking Fire Fart over and out," Yumi said before Fuller's laughter cut through the air.
"Roger that Fire Fart one one see you soon, HQ over and out," Fuller said.
Yumi handed the radio back to Malakai and huffed her annoyance before suddenly bursting out in laughter and shaking her head.
"You can always trust Fuller to somehow break people out of themselves," she said and Latisha looked at her in confusion.
"How so?" she asked.
"He just has this way of catching you so off guard that you just end up laughing whether you feel like it or not, it's actually a rather nice feeling, I can definitely see what Glory likes in him you know?" she said and for a moment Latisha looked worried until Yumi put a reassuring hand on her large arm.
"Don't you worry Feather Brain one one when we get back I'll make him change your call sign to cute bum one one instead, or maybe feather arse one one?" Yumi said playfully and Latisha clacked her beak in annoyance.
"Think I like the first one better but I do suppose it's better than fire fart one one," she shot back making Yumi laugh in response.
"Yeah and I do hope that Glory won't be too pissed when I have to murder him," Yumi said and suddenly Malakai appeared next to them having lowered himself down on a silk thread.
"Nah I'm pretty sure despite loving him Glory feels like murdering him quite often, though it might just be better to singe his eyebrows off instead," Malakai said making Latisha clack her beak in laughter.
"This I would like to see," she said.
"Come on let's get back time for someone to have a hot shave me thinks," Yumi said playfully holding up her index finger with a flame on the end of it.