Rivals in the Sky [A Maximum Ride RP]

If you couldn't catch on to it, Volleygirl co-owns this RP!

THE PLOT

You’re not alone.

That’s what the Voice told me about five seconds before they showed up. Another flock, just like us, wings, spent the majority of their lives in dog cages, and everything. They're older, more experienced, not to mention they’ve got a ton of new tricks on how to evade the Flyboys and Erasers. They’re great to have around when we get jumped, and they’re damn good at watching our backs when we get in a tight spot. So, what’s the problem?

We’ve been alone for so long, thinking that we were the only ones like us out there, just struggling to survive. Then they just decide to show up?! How are we supposed to deal with a brand new Flock that just up and appeared out of the blue? I guess I’m just ticked because they stayed away for so long, I mean, if I had known that there were others like me I’d try my hardest to find them! Not to mention the fact that nobody can get along. I swear, we’re all at each others throats all the freaking time!

And we’re still being chased! The School, Itex, everyone has an eye on the sky, looking for us! How are we going to stay alive and free with everyone hunting us, if we can’t even put our differences aside long enough to decide what to eat?!

The Rules
1. No god-modding. At all.
2. Please use proper grammar.
3. Gary-Stu's/Mary Sue's/Bella Swans are not acceptable (pardon the Twilight joke).
4. This isn't an RP for beginners. At least 4 good sentences per post.
5. Try to keep the rating below R. Censor the big curses and no sex.
6. Keep the relationships at a reasonable level. See above rule about sex.
7. Keep OOC drama to PMs. IC drama is good.
8. Volleygirl or I can change these rules at any time. We is all-powerful.
9. EDIT!!! Due to certain plottings of mine, I've waiving this rule. You now have no limit on chars.
10. We expect you to understand these rules. 3 strikes, you're OUT, baby!

Oh, and one more thing.

We Have LIVES
1. This RP will be closed sometimes. We pray you have lives outside of ASN.
2. Get over the above fact.

The Character Sheet

Code:
Username:

Character Name (full):
Flock Nickname:

Age (in words):

Gender:

Flock (Max's/Rival Flock):
If not flock - Eraser, school associate, etc?:

Appearance (body): nothing outrageous - this is REALITY, not ANIME
Wings (described or picture):

Personality: i want at least seven human traits and lots of detail, por favor!

History: detail is very much appreciated. it doesn't have to be mucho huge-o, but make it more than just a measly paragraph.

Special Talent: nothing godly - telepathy, telekinesis, super-speed, etc., are okay

Other: have they met their parents? do they have a secret? put those things here.

Other


The New Flock
1. Taken by Shadow Moonseye -- FLOCK LEADER
2. Taken by volleygirl -- second in command
3. Reserved by hey_mai_Zukos_mine
4. Reserved by PeriCat
5.
6. Reserved by Velox
7. Reserved by zukoscrazyfangirl
8. Reserved by avatardestiny

[[edit if needed]]

The (Accepted) Characters (in order of acceptance)

The New Flock
1. Edge -- hmZm
2. Lily or The Razor -- ZCF
3.
4. Gamer -- Velox
5. Merlin -- avatardestiny
6. Fawn -- volleygirl
7. Felix -- PeriCat
8. Talon -- Shadow Moonseye

The Villains
1. Epsilon -- Plaguewalker
2. Akia -- Shadow Moonseye

The Loner
1. Rift -- Plaguewalker

Notes
1. I want the new Flock's ages to be slightly above Max's flock's. Just to make it interesting. But, please, once the leader claims the age they have, nothing above it.

Username: hmZm

Character Name (full): Destiny Leanne Byron
Flock Nickname: Edge

Age (in words): Fourteen

Gender: Female

Flock (Max's/Rival Flock): Rival Flock
If not flock - Eraser, school associate, etc?: Nope.

Appearance (body): Standing at 5'7, Edge has chin-length raven black hair, which is usually a mess, but for the most part straight. Her eyes are a large range of light blues with distinct silver specks. Weighing about 98 lbs. And her skin is pale, but tans easily, especially when flying for long periods of time. Her basic outfit is long jeans, grayed with wear and age, a black tank top and a navy hoodie.
Wings (described or picture): With a wingspan of 15 feet, her feathers are the same as her hair, raven black, and are tipped in white just around the end. Across the bridge of her wings are just barely speckled in lighter, almost purple, shades.

Personality: Edge, if anything, is confident. She has attitude like what you wouldn't believe when it comes to people she doesn't trust. She definitely doesn't trust easy. And she'll give you hell if you pose a threat. She doesn't take crap from anyone, and is the type of person to mouth-off in the face of death. But this is pretty much just her natural defenses. A result of what she had been through. Inside, where her true self has been almost buried, she is a kind person. The only real reason this person hasn't been forgotten is because of her flock. Without it, she'd be just as cruel and tempermental as an Eraser. But, she does have them. And this has given her kindness and loyalty to balance out the attitude and distrusting senses.

History: Edge doesn't remember much before age 5. When she came to the school. As a matter of fact, she doesn't remember anything. Save what she felt. She remembers fear, and she remembers pain. She remembers solitude, and she remembers that choking feeling of being told things she didn't want to hear. And then she woke up in the school.

When she had come to many of the men in white coats were surrounding her, and observing her. She was scared, and the cage didn't help to calm her down. Edge found herself in the School. After a few days she began to notice the developement of two dark wings on her back. It wasn't until they really began to form that the tests began. She could no longer tell day from night. As they would come for her and perform traumatizing and exhausting expiriments. That was day on her terms. And then they would send her back to her cage, rather forcefully. Which was seeming to get smaller. That was night on her terms. She remembers having an outburst around the age of fourteen, where with her added strength she had broken one scientists leg. Not just broken, but shattered his bone.

Things only got worse from that point on.

They had come in and knocked her out; some crazy shot. They let her be for a week. Didn't even look at her cage. Didn't feed her. Didn't talk about her. But they thought about her. They thought about her alot. She could hear it. At first she figured she must've been going insane, hearing voices. But half-way through that week she realized it was them. Thoughts of fear. Thoughts of hate. Thoughts of interest. Thoughts of dissection. That's when she got freaked out. They found her to be dangerous and planned to dissect her for further research the following week. That was a little too much on her terms.

So she escaped. They were letting her out for preparation and she ran as fast as she could without looking back. Two months later she inevitably became part of the still growing flock.

Special Talent: nothing godly - 5x strength of your average Avian-human. Telepathy.

Other: None.

Username: Velox

Character Name (full): Anthony Rex Goodvall
[/b]Flock Nickname:[/b] Gamer

Age (in words): Thirteen

Gender: Male

Flock (Max's/Rival Flock): Rival Flock
If not flock - Eraser, school associate, etc?: N/A

Appearance (body): Gamer is more or less 5'6 and still growing. He weighs somewhere around 102 pounds. He has long jet black hair, but it's almost always under a black baseball cap with a red number "7" on it. His eyes are bright green with a ring of red expanding from the pupil. He has a fair tan from flying around in the sky. His apparel includes cargo pants, which are slightly tattered near the cuffs from wear, with zip-off legs so they can be converted into shorts, a black short sleeve shirt with the words "Gamer" on it, a red jacket, a black wristband with a thin red strip, a digital watch, and worn black and white Vans sneakers.
Wings (described or picture): He has a wingspan of near 15 feet. His wings are Onyx blacks with dark blue speckles. The tips of the feathers on the bottom are a silvery gray.

Personality: The best word to describe Gamer would be "cocky." With that cockiness also comes hotheadedness though. He gets bored easily and is usually always "jumping the gun". He is also a bit lazy. After all he's been through, Talon thinks that he should be relaxing, having fun, and enjoying the finer things in life. Which to him are video games and candy. Despite his negative traits however, he is very loyal and would do anything to protect his new family. He also usually has a very simple and direct approach when dealing with things, but he is able to deal with details.

History: Gamer can only remember a few things before being taken to the school. Living in a city apartment with his kind hardworking mom and his older brother. His mom coming home late and ordering pizza. His brother taking care of him and playing video games. From what he could tell he had a simple, yet peaceful and happy life. That all changed at age 7 when Gamer went to get a flu shot and then never saw his family again.

The doctor turned out to be a white coat, kidnapped him, and took him to The School. There he went through the usual grueling tramatic experiments that happen to innocent children spliced with avian DNA. His variation was that when his body was modified to fire an optic blast-concussive lazer from the eyes-he was unable to control it or stop. Literally destroying everything in sight, the scientists would hit him in the head knocking him unconscious he opened his eyes for hours until they developed an alternative. They hooked him up to a machine that would cause him excruciating mental pain, but effectively force his mind to submit. The blasts stopped, but the scientists didn't hesitate or give Gamer a chance to rest.

They tested his new abilities with intense physical tests, and even though he could control the blasts, the whitecoats still probed his mind with the machine in order to increase the lazer's potential despite the mental pain it gave him. While enduring the machine for years, he discovered a second ability. It took him awhile to control it, but when he did he immediately attacked the guards and fled as fast as his wings
could allow him. Eventually he found a family with the flock.

Special Talent: Optic blast. Technopathy.

Other: Nothing yet. Might wanna add something...if it's okay...?

Username: volleygirl

Character Name (full): Leslie Anne Reece
Flock Nickname: Fawn

Age (in words): sixteen

Gender: Female

Flock (Max's/Rival Flock): Rival Flock//second-in-command
If not flock - Eraser, school associate, etc?: n/a

Appearance (body): Leslie is incredibly tall for her age, standing right around 6' 2". She has a mess of bright red curly hair that goes down just past her shoulders. Her eyes a deep navy blue with a green ring right near the pupil. Her skin is a pale white, when it isn't tanned or covered in dirt and grime. Her muscle is lean, and she weighs only 105 pounds due to the fact that her bones are lighter than the average human's; she has an essentially small build. She has a splattering of freckles on her face and some on her shoulders and legs. She typically wears blue jeans and a white sweater with tennis shoes, sometimes summer clothes if she can snatch them.
Wings (described or picture): Her DNA was combined with that of a red-tailed hawk's due to her flaming red hair and darker eyes. Lower wing. Upper wing. Her wingspan is just a little bit over 17 feet.

Personality: Even though she and Felix are fraternal twins, their personalities are not one and the same. They're very different. Fawn is very calm in many situations, keeping level head and looking out for potential disasters while keeping everyone under control. She's got a gingerly touch to her though (she always blames it on her hair). She's touchy when it comes to some subjects, and when she's stressed more than she needs to be, she can snap at any moment. She's got many wits about her, and knows quite a bit -- she loves to learn. She's very in-tune with her flock's feelings, and likes to help whoever needs help. She can often over-analyze or overthink a situation, and often under or overestimates a foe.

History: Fawn and her fraternal twin, Felix, have lived at the School for basically their whole lives. Their parents, both scientists who worked for the school, created them to be perfectly normal children, and boy were they ever, until their mother died. One night, after their parents had just picked up the twins from the babysitter's house, they were hit by a drunk driver. Their mother was killed on impact, and Felix and Fawn were nearly killed also. Their father, thinking they would soon die, took them to the School and combined their DNA with an avian's.

Soon after, when he realized what he had truly done -- when he realized what incredible, excruciating pain his children would go through, he killed himself, leaving his children to the will of the scientists' curiosity.

Time went by very slowly from then on, both for her and for Felix. They both had excruciating experiments done on them, and sometimes they were used in the same experiment, then compared. Fawn personally went through many surgeries, the worst and most painful one being the one that extended her leg bones so she stood higher (she was pretty short as a child). As she got older and her stamina and brain functioning got better, the tests only got worse - she would spend hours running on a treadmill with no hydration, and sometimes they would starve her to see how long she could go without eating.

The toughest thing to deal with (for Fawn) was the whole 'I have wings now and I have to learn how to fly' part. Sometimes she would get a few hundred feet in the air, become uncoordinated, and crash painfuly back to the ground (thank goodness she healed faster than normal humans). She slowly getting better at flying, and in a few year's time, she was as good as any other avian-human.

Fawn's escape from the School was skillfully planned and carried out. When she discovered her first ability (elasticity) around the age of 13 or 14, she had a lot of time to herself to think about how to use it - it was especially useful in the art of escaping - stretching her limbs out could get her out of most any situation. One night, when everything had been shut down and there wasn't a sound, she stretched her arm out, and unlocked the lock on her dog crate. She gave a few guards a nice, quick slap on the head, and got out of there.

Being the second to join the flock, and having a level head, Fawn was made second-in-command upon arrival.

Special Talent: Elasticity, super-speed (on ground and in the air, but she gets tired easily if she uses the power too long), and possibly (to be discovered) age manipulation.

Other: Fawn is Felix's fraternal twin -- she is older by three minutes, a tactic she likes to use against him ("listen to your elders, Felix!")

Username:zukoscrazyfangirl

Character Name (full):Lilian Audrey (Lily) Marion
Flock Nickname: Lily or sometimes the razor, due to her skills with a pocketknife

Age (in words):Fifteen

Gender:Female

Flock (Max's/Rival Flock): rival flock, although she is mostly indifferent to the whole thing.
If not flock - Eraser, school associate, etc?: N/A

Appearance (body):short, about 5'3" Dirty-Blonde Hair, choppy, shoulder length. She usually wears the same old Black and Red Zebra-Striped shirt with slits for her wings skillfully cut down the back. Cargo Pants with lots of pockets and Beat up Convers Chuck Taylor's. Carries her pocketknife in a zip-up side pocket. She has deep haunting blue eyes and a pretty face. She has very bad vision problems and wears glasses.
Wings (described or picture):

Personality: Very Sarcastic. Some might say her sarcasm "cuts like her knife" hence another reason for the nickname razor. You could call her bitter an narcissistic at times but happy-go-lucky and friendly at others. She does have trust issues but is over-all easy to get along with. She is a tree-hugger and wishes that both flocks could just get along and help each other. But at the same time, she always is willing for a fight. due to her very bad eyesight, she seem to be a little more willing to talk to iggy. But she doesnt want her flock to think she has betrayed them. She enjoys drawing, sparring, flying, and she likes the city.

History: Her parents were a regular couple from liverpool, England. They Were vacationing in America for a few months, and her mother had her in a hospital in Philadelphia. her mother needed a C-section, and they told her parents that she had died, they flew her off to the school and her parents went sadly home to England. At the school her code name was "pocahontas" as everybody was givena code name that they were expected to repond to. (at least that's according to one of his other works "Where the wind Blows.") At age 10, she stopped responding to the name and would only respond to Lily.She was known for her escape attempts at the school. Shortly before his being put to sleep, a guard- whom she nickname "the sneak" because he was always sneaking in extra food or something- who was secretly trying to help with escape efforts gave her her pocketknife. On the day when they all escaped, she was scheduled to be killed. As She was being dragged to the kill chamber, she broke loose and killed three guards before escaping and flying away. She could be considered more of a street girl, from watching TV and watching the way people act, she has alot of street smarts.


Special Talent: telekinesis

Other: She never met her parents, because they were actually in America vacationing from Britain, She was born, taken away, and her parents, filled with remorse because of the supposed "death of their daughter" which they idnt know was actually abduction, they went back to Britain. She secretly has a crush on Iggy.

Username: PeriCat

Character Name (full): Alexander Xavier Reece
Flock Nickname: Felix

Age (in words): sixteen

Gender: male

Flock (Max's/Rival Flock): Rival Flock
If not flock - Eraser, school associate, etc?: n/a

Appearance (body): Alex is much shorter than his sister, standing only at 5’6”. He has straight, longish black hair and light blue eyes that look nearly white. He’s pale, like his sister, and he doesn’t tan. Ever. Alex usually likes to wear jeans, converse, and random t shirts. He always wears a black jacket.
Wings (described or picture): Bottom of wings. top of wings His wingspan is roughly fifteen feet.

Personality: Felix is really shy, and doesn't like to get too close to people. He's a bit touchy-feely, especially when it comes to being touched. It gets on his sister's nerves sometimes. He doesn't talk a lot, especially to girls, and isn't quite sure of his sexuality. He's particularly attracted to anyone.

History: Felix and his fraternal twin, Fawn, have lived at the School for basically their whole lives. Their parents, both scientists who worked for the school, created them to be perfectly normal children, and boy were they ever, until their mother died. One night, after their parents had just picked up the twins from the babysitter's house, they were hit by a drunk driver. Their mother was killed on impact, and Felix and Fawn were nearly killed also. Their father, thinking they would soon die, took them to the School and combined their DNA with an avian's.

Soon after, when he realized what he had truly done -- when he realized what incredible, excruciating pain his children would go through, he killed himself, leaving his children to the will of the scientists' curiosity.

Time went by very slowly from then on, both for him and Fawn. They both had excruciating experiments done on them, and sometimes they were used in the same experiment, then compared.

Something happened to him at the School that he's only told his sister about. Once in a while, one of the male Scientist came to him in the night and...did things...He's been afraid of close contact ever since.

He discovered he could phase and echolocate around the time Fawn discovered her abilities, but never bothered telling anyone. When his sister escaped, he was too scared to go along, afraid that she would get caught, and...killed. He knew he could get out just fine, but he didn't want to. Not until Fawn was out.

About a week after he was sure his sister was out a safe, he left. He just walked out.

Special Talent: Phasing, echolocation

Other: He's Fawn's fraternal twin.

Username: avatardestiny

Character Name (full): Luke Jackson Haley
Flock Nickname: Merlin

Age (in words): Seventeen

Gender: Male

Flock (Max's/Rival Flock): Rival Flock

Appearance (body): Merlin is about 6’3’’, built very skinny with little outer evidence of any muscle. His skin is light but not pale, and has a slight warm tone to it. His hair is very light blond, and since he doesn’t devote much time to worrying about its length, it reaches his shoulders. He ties it back with a piece of cord during long flights or times when it might impair him. His eyes are blue, but are so dark that most people mistake them for brown or black. He is not conventionally handsome, but his angular features and sharp eyes tend to intrigue people. He doesn’t care what he wears as long as its comfortable and available, so his clothing consists mostly of worn jeans, various T-shirts and sneakers.

Wings (described or picture): Pure white undersides with some light brown edging around the primaries. The tops are beige-white color with patches of darker brown fanning out near where his wings join his back. Their shape and coloring hints at falcon DNA.

Personality: Merlin could be called the recluse of his flock. He is very nonconfrontational, preferring to diffuse or back away from a physical fight or threat, especially when it’s with Max’s Flock or his fellow members. However, he does have a breaking point, as well as intense loyalty to his flock, and he will defend them without a second thought. When he gets in a real fight, Merlin prefers to attack from a distance or use defensive tactics rather than go hand-to-hand, due to the fact that he is rather weak physically (at least compared to other avian-humans). He is also very fast in the air, using agility to avoid enemies. His Flock nicknamed him Merlin because of his longish light-blond hair, aloof manner, and the fact that his special talents seemed somewhat wizard-like. He is usually quiet and withdrawn, but has a razor sharp sense of irony, wit, and sarcasm that he uses on those who underestimate or annoy him. His flock has come to understand that he more than makes up for his lack of fighting force with creative use of his special powers and sharp tongue. He is also very intelligent, though he doesn’t always choose to show it, and when he does talk, his flock usually listens. He also has a strange fondness for books; whenever the flock manages to snag a book, even a magazine or a secondhand paperback, he tries to find time to read.

History: Merlin grew up in the School as a severe introvert. His cage was not situated near any other bird kids or even other experiments, and as a result he learned to retreat into his own mind to escape the pain, loneliness, and sadistic whitecoats. This probably contributes to his current withdrawn personality; he had difficulty opening up to his flock when they first met him and still takes time to trust new people. Merlin escaped from the School on his own, after making up his mind that no one could rescue him but himself. When he discovered part of his major talent by accident, he managed to ice the lock on his cage and smash it. He then slipped out after a whitecoat that was leaving the School grounds (he didn’t know it at the time, but his camouflage talent helped him do it). He spent the next couple months in a stretch of forest that bordered Death Valley, learning to work his neglected wings, use his strange temperature talent, and survive in the wild. Once he could fly reasonably well, Merlin flew several recon. flights. During one of these, he met his flock, and while he wasn’t used to traveling with others, they convinced him it was a matter of safety in numbers. Even he was surprised at how quickly he came to care for them. Before he was given his nickname by the flock, he knew himself only by his number at the School, 442.

Special Talent: Temperature manipulation (he can make surrounding air or objects hotter or colder to the point of either sizzling or iced), blending camouflage (a little like Fang)

Other: Merlin has never met his parents; he gave himself his full name by combining the names of several characters from books he liked. He does have a secret; he suspects he has a sister who may or may not also have been taken by the School. The whitecoats mentioned her in whispers several times during his time at the School, and Merlin is determined to glean more information somehow, even if it means interrogating Erasers. Unbeknownst to him, his own mother is actually a high-ranking researcher with the School, who donated him for testing at birth.

Username: Shadow Moonseye

Character Name (full): Victoria Brooks
Flock NicknameTalon
Secondary Nickname Angelcakes

Age (in words): Eighteen

Gender: Female

Flock (Max's/Rival Flock): Rival Flock
If not flock - Eraser, school associate, etc?: N/A

Appearance (body): Talon’s rather tall, standing at 6’ even. She’s fairly muscular, having spent years surviving on her own before she gathered her flock. Her skin tans quite readily, so most of the time she’s a lovely shade of bronze. Several thick ropey scars criss-cross her back and shoulders, and her entire body has a multitude of scars. Her eyes are an eerie grey, with flecks of green and blue mixed in. She’s none too fond of long hair, so she keeps hers chopped short with longer chunks that barely brush the tip of her nose in the front. Her hair is black and the longer chunks are streaked with vibrant blue. (she obtains the dye through five-fingered discounts). The cartilage of her right ear is pierced twice, the earrings small silver loops. Her choices in clothing are rather simple. A plain white tank top, Tan cargo pants that are semi loose, a simple leather belt, black and white stripped socks that she’s rather proud of, black and red skater shoes, and a slightly oversized black jacket.
Wings (described or picture): Talon boasts an impressive wingspan that’s nearly eighteen feet, the top of her wings are dark grey with a mottling of lighter grey along the upper part. The underside of her wings are white with stripes of grey and black.

Personality: Talon could be considered antagonistic. She likes to poke and prod people, seeing if she can goad them into fights, be they verbal or physical. She likes to “live life on the edge” and seeks thrills. It often seems that she doesn’t take the responsibilities of being the flock leader seriously, more often than not managing to pull everyone into a stupid and/or dangerous situation. Yet, she always manages to get everyone safely out of said situations, and when it comes right down to it, she cares deeply for her Flock and would do anything for them. She cracks jokes all the time, even if the situation is inappropriate. She’s extraordinarily strong willed and won’t put up with anyone’s crap. Since she lived alone for quite some time before creating her flock, she’s got street smarts and knows how to blend.

History: Talon was taken shortly after birth from her parents and sent off to the School. Her parents were told that she died, and they left, heartbroken, but unquestioning. Talon’s DNA was combined with that of a Harpy Eagle, and from the very start her tests were of the harshest nature. The Whitecoats held nothing back, and showed her no mercy, no restraint. The tests very nearly drove her to death numerous times, and to this day she all but refuses to talk about the horrors she was put through at their hands. Her super reflexes were discovered at an early age, and that only made the sadistic scientists of the School more eager and relentless with their tests. As the years wore on, she became determined to escape the hellhole that was her everyday life. Around the age of ten, she discovered her second ability.

She could manipulate her bones, changing their shape, size and density, and most important of all, she could cause extra bits of bone to grow and then protrude from her skin, which she could then remove and use as a weapon or tool. Its was that very night she made good on her escape.

She doesn’t remember the events very clearly, just brief flashes of information. She had busted out, brandishing a bone knife. There was pandemonium. Loud noises. Pounding feet. Screams. Blood. Hers and theirs. Cold night air, raising the hair on her arms. There were stars! Being chased. Gunshots. Shouting. Wings! She needed to use her wings! Awkward flying. Crashing not long after escaping. Running until her legs gave out. The indentation at the base of a tree she curled up in. Finally succumbing to sheer exhaustion and falling into a fitful slumber.

Talon spent the next five years alone, she quickly became an accomplished thief. She taught herself to fly, both through trial and error and through studying birds. She taught herself to fight, and overall soaked up any and all information she could. She’s at the point where she could practically be dropped off anywhere in the world and she’d be able to survive, probably rather comfortably too.

When she was fifteen, everything changed. She met Fawn, and thus, her Flock was born. Over the past three years it grew to the eventual size of eight members strong. Though she was reluctant to assume leadership at first, she has proven time and time again that is a more than capable leader.

Special Talent: Bone manipulation and super reflexes

Other: Talon has a love of weapons. Doesn’t matter what kind, she loves em all. And this love that borders on obsession at one point led her to steal a 9mm handgun. And yes, she took the liberty of learning how to use it, so she’s a decent shot. This gun is her pride and joy, her baby so to speak. It never leaves her sight and is more often than not tucked into the back of her pants, pressed tight against her back by the waist band of her pants. However, she doesn’t use it very often due to how hard replacing the ammo is, so its really a last resort weapon for her.

(Also, here's one last important annocment. I have determined that Talon's Flock has been together for three years, based on peoples various ages and the like. If anyone has an issue with that, please let me know.)

Username: Plaguewalker

Character Name (full): Epsilon
Flock Nickname: N/A

Age (in words): Two

Gender: Male

Flock (Max's/Rival Flock): N/A
If not flock - Eraser, school associate, etc?: He's the prototype for a new breed of recombants, meant to replace the erasers and their robotic counterparts.

Appearance (body): At 8 feet tall, Epsilon is quite the sight to behold. His head is clean shaven, and hair never seems to grow there. His eyes are vibrant gold, and seem to cut straight through whatever he focuses them on. He has several rows of dagger-like teeth, and any tooth he loses will be replaced within the day. It is rarely noticed, but on his neck, Epsilon has a set of gills. He is well built, and is quite muscular. His skin is dark grey, and is extremely resistant to damage. Instead of fingers, Epsilon has long, jagged blades, which have been surgically grafted to his body. They are 8 inches long, and razor sharp. His feet have also been surgically altered so that they have small talons on the end of each toe.
Wings (described or picture): He has a wing-span of 20 feet, and his wings are a deep shade of brown. They are quite powerful, and can carry his weight easily while still managing to travel quite quickly.

Personality: Epsilon lacks what one might call a personality. He is single-minded, and completely obedient to his masters at the School. Once Epsilon is given a task, nothing will stop him from it’s completion except the order to stop, or his death.

History: Artificially created by the School, Epsilon never truly was a baby. He matured within a week of his creation, and was immediately tested to see his abilities. The Whitecoats were ecstatic to learn that he was quickly living up to his billing, after the failures of the other Epsilon’s before him. Every test he faced was passed, and with flying colours. When he wasn’t being tested, Epsilon was placed in his containment chamber to sleep until his next test.

And Epsilon’s final test is about to begin…

Special Talent: Epsilon is extremely strong, and is quite fast in any environment, be it land, air or sea. He also has an natural regenerative ability that can heal most wounds in barely any time at all.

Other: N/A

Username: Shadow Moonseye

Character Name (full): Akia
Flock Nickname: N/A

Age (in words): 23

Gender: Female

Flock (Max's/Rival Flock): N/A
If not flock - Eraser, school associate, etc?: Recombant created by the School to hunt down escapee’s.

Appearance (body): Akia is of African descent, her dark skin is even darker due to the DNA she was combined with. In the correct light, dotting her arms, legs, and back are black spots, indicating feline DNA. Her eyes are a vibrant shade of green, and are very much the eyes of a predatory cat. Her hair is a velvety black reaches to just past her shoulders. Her teeth consist of vicious fangs, befitting that of any great predatory animal. She stands roughly at 5’7”, and looks deceptively unthreatening. Her nails have been replaced by steel claws, an “enhancement” that she was all too willing to accept. For clothing she chooses function over fashion, preferring neutral tones over bright ones. She wears durable black pants that are right in the middle of tight and loose, allowing for swift movement. Her shirt is a simple dark grey tank top. She wears combat boots, along with light body armor(ie: a vest, forearm guards.).
Wings (described or picture): N/A

Personality: Akia is a driven individual, when given a task she pours all her being into it, to the point of being near fanatical. She never hesitates in following orders, and never questions the will of the School. She stalks her prey from the shadows, striking swiftly and with surprising strength, at the most opportune times. She loves nothing more than the satisfaction of exterminating those experiments slotted for execution, and dragging those select few back to the school for more testing. She is smart and calculating, plotting out alternate plans of attack even while in the midst of stalking her prey.

History: Akia is one of the school’s more successful recombants. Ever since her creation, she has been trained to hunt down escapees. She proved time and time again that she was better suited to the task than Erasers, however, due to the costs of her manufacture, the school chose to continue its Eraser operations, rather than make more of her kind. She was sent after those recombants that where of the highest priority, and those that presented the most threat to the School, Itex, and the Institute.

Over the years she has shown herself to be a capable leader, and not once has she failed in her hunts, having the most successful track record of any of the School’s “Hunters”. Now, her most challenging task has been given to her. She is to hunt the Flock, and keep Epsilon in check. With the School’s latest and greatest creation thrust into her care, this is one Hunt she dare not fail.

Special Talent: Super speed, increased hearing and sense of smell.

Other: N/A

Username: Plaguewalker

Character Name (full): Morgan
Flock Nickname: Rift
Secondary Nickname: Twitch

Age (in words): Eighteen

Gender: Male

Flock (Max's/Rival Flock): N/A
If not flock - Eraser, school associate, etc?: School Escapee

Appearance (body): At 5’5, Morgan is rather short for his age. Morgan is a human-bat hybrid, and looks the part. His ears are far larger than any humans, and are shaped similar to a bats. A thin white fur covers them, marking his albino bat DNA. His eyes are a pinkish-red, but are often covered up by a pair of aviator sun-glasses. Rift wears his hair in a small Mohawk, and though people assume his hair is dyed, it is actually naturally white. His arms are quite long, but his hands are the oddest part. His thumb is normal, but Rift’s index, middle, and ring fingers are longer than normal. His index is the longest, double the size a normal person’s would be, followed by his middle then his ring fingers. His hand functions like normal despite it’s differences, although he has trouble holding things while in flight due to his arms attachment to his wings. Due to his wings, Rift is unable to wear a shirt. His skin is ghost white, but it somehow manages not to get sun-burnt. His legs are rather short, and Morgan wears a pair of dark shorts that cover most of his legs. He doesn’t wear shoes, due to the discomfort it causes his clawed feet. One would notice all across his body are strange, unexplained scars that seem far to clean to be from an accident…

Wings (described or picture): Morgan’s wings are attached to his arms, made by a thin leather that goes between his arm and his side. This leather is a soft brown, although it is borderline gray in some light. His wing span is about 6 feet, and his light frame allows his wings to easily carry him at extremely fast speeds.

Personality: Morgan has an attitude problem, and severe issues with authority. When push comes to shove, he’ll do what he thinks will work before he’ll try what someone else thinks. When the world gets in his face, Rift is quick to cut is down to size with a quick remark and a display of superiority. Many say he has a high opinion of himself, while in truth, he’s just confident that he can do what it takes to get something done. When it comes to music, however, ego has free reign of Rift. To insult his music is to find yourself staring down a very angry bat-hybrid, who can throw a mean right hook.

History: Morgan cost his mother her life, and without anyone to care for him, he was given to the School without a second thought. One of the early tests for creating hybrids, the Whitecoats attempted to merge Rift with a albino bat. The process changed him greatly, right down to his bone structure, and he was considered a success, despite his odd appearance. Shortly after his first series of tests, his greatest flaw became evident.

His bones.

Morgan’s bones were extremely fragile, and could break under minimal pressure. Seeking to fix this, the Whitecoats gave the young hybrid a surgery. For two days, they cut him open and laced his fragile bones with metal to reinforce their strength, but without adding much weight to hinder his flight. The process was incredibly painful, and the trauma is caused Morgan caused his mind to block out all recollection of the event.

The operation had been a complete success, and Morgan’s bones were near-impossible to break. It was this that allowed the young boy to escape. In an act of despiration, Morgan hid inside a dumpster, only to find himself tossed into the back of a garbage truck. The driver was unaware of the boy, and activated the compactor. The walls closed around him, and soon the incredible pressure that the machine could exert was trying to crush him into nothing. The pain was immense, but his reinforced bones refused to break and saved his life. In haze of pain and confusion, Morgan managed to stumble his way to safety, and off into the night.

For the next 10 years, Morgan has wandered about on his own, simply living his life as normally as he can. The School, for reasons unknown, never truly tried to pursue him, so Morgan has had relatively few run ins with the Erasers. Discovering his ability to manipulate people through song caused him to learn how to play guitar, and soon his music became his life.

Special Talent: Musical Manipulation (Will explain more in the RP)

Other: N/A

Shall we start this again?

If you're ready, I am.

The late afternoon sun was warm on Talon’s shoulders, the slight breeze that ruffled her hair adding to the overall tranquility of the scene. Some seventy feet below her perch the rest of her flock and Max’s flock mingled, lounging about camp. The forest clearing was secluded, deep in the woods of some state park. Talon couldn’t be sure which, seeing as she had no idea where they were at, and she had lost her map a while back in a surprise attack by a swarm of Flyboys. And nobody else seemed to be able to figure out where they were either.

But, it wasn’t that big of a problem. If they didn’t know where they were, chances were that those goons from the School didn’t know where they were either.

The relative peace they’d been enjoying for the past few days was nice, Talon had to admit. No stressing about being attacked, no stressing over if wounds were more serious than they appeared, no worrying about much of anything. It was nice.

“Wonder whose on dinner duty tonight? That Iggy kid is pretty damn good at cooking.” The eighteen year old mused out loud, extending her wings ever so slightly in anticipation of dropping down to the ground.

Merlin let his dark eyes flick upward as Talon's movements sent a few leaves fluttering down over his branch. He was sprawled in his favorite "perch" position, back against the trunk, legs crossed over the limb. He too was subtly observing the interactions of the two flocks below. He didn't really feel like going down, though. "Mingling" was not really Merlin's forte. His own flock was fine, but six new kids?

He wished he hadn't lost that book back at the last skirmish. It was the only one he'd been able to snag in weeks, and it had just started getting good. Plus, reading usually gave him an excuse to be antisocial when he felt like it. He sighed, picking a leaf absently out of his long blond hair. Peace and quiet was nice, but the thing was, it never seemed to last very long. And it was so rare that normal almost felt weird. That was the choice irony, Merlin thought with a wry smile to himself.

A second tiny shower of leaves fluttered down, and Merlin tilted his head back. "You going down, Talon?"


Edge leaned against a tree, her wings were out just a little, warming in the sunlight that drifted down to where she was. Everything's been so quiet lately… She thought to herself, wondering what the School was up to. She'd learned to never underestimate those vile beings. She had all her guards up, and was ready for anything, at any time. And this new Flock...How are we supposed to know they're not faking this. What if they've been designed just to draw us in, to keep an eye on us? Edge sighed, her shoulders relaxing. Well Talon trusts them...So I guess I'll just go along with it...But if anything were to happen… She let the thought trail off, knowing Talon might now accept such thoughts towards ones that could be just like them. She shook the worries off, and focused on letting the sun soak into her skin. Her navy-blue hoodie lay crumpled on the ground beside her. Thinned and faded with wear and age. The dark color of her tank top drew the sunlight in, as the Avian teen looked up at the sky. It looked so nice right now.

Talon glaced down at Merlin's words, a grin flitting across her face. "Was thinking about dive bombing an ususpecting victim." Her grin widened and she chuckled that chuckle that she was all too famous for. It meant that she was going to be stirring up trouble.

"Care to join? We could probably pelt them with pine cones."

The image of swooping over the camp and pelt everyone, both Max's flock and her flock alike, caused her chuckle to grow into a full fledged laugh. She hooked her legs over her branch and let herself fall so that she was hanging upside down over Merlin's perch.

"Come on... You know you want to! It'll be fuuunnn..."

Merlin looked at his upside-down flock leader with a crooked grin. "Sometimes I wonder if you're really eighteen, Talon. For the esteemed leader of a bunch of winged teenagers, sometimes you act like an eight-year-old. You're worse than Max's flock's kid, that Gazzy." He studied her gleeful face. Then, straight-faced himself, he leaned over and picked a pinecone off the nearest limb, tossing in his hand several times.

"Fine. But you have to start it. I don't care what you think of them, I'm not giving some new flock a first impression that I'm the troublemaker. You can have that honor all the way. That way, when everyone gets pissed at us, I can blame you." He raised his pale eyebrows at the wickedly grinning Talon.

Fawn looked down at the brown-red colored ground, her stomach squashed onto the branch; she loved lying this way - she thought she looked like a lion or some other big cat flopping in a tree. She extended her arm toward the ground, grabbed a leaf, and let it go.

"This is boring," she whined, somewhat to herself and to the rest of the flock (though she knew they were probably up to something else). She extended her wings, and brought them back in. "I'm hungry. Can we please eat something now?"

Talon's grin widened, if that was at all possible. "I'll gladly take the blame for this, my dear Merlin!" She unhooked her legs from the branch, letting herself fall. In the next second she had grabbed Merlin's branch and hauled herself up on it.

"Gather some ammo, as much as your pockets can hold! We'll only have one shot at this, once we're out, that's it. There won't be any second chances." As she spoke, the flock leader began stripping the branch of pine cones, cramming them into her pockets. Almost as an after thought, she looked over her shoulder and added. "Oh...you might want to be prepared to flee... I imagine they won't be too pleased with this."

She laughed, her grey eyes dancing wth mirth.

"Fortunately, I don't have any trouble with the fleeing," Merlin said. Talon's glee was almost infectious, and he found a wry smile on his own face as he started slotting pinecones into his jeans pockets, waistband, and belt loops. Satisfied that he was amply armed, Merlin levered himself lightly off the branch and into a standing position against the trunk. Folding his wings behind him, he looked around, studying the patterns of the shadows and the trees.

And then he melted away. He always tingled a little when he camouflaged, letting his outline blur into the waving branches and dappled sun-shadows. "For the record, I wasn't involved in this," he said, focusing his raptor vision on the figures in the clearing below, trying to get a sense of strategy together in his mind. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to tangle with that Fang. Or Max herself, come to think of it. I'll circle around; they won't see me moving as much."

Talon laughed. "I can take 'em!" She spoke with the utmost confidence, she knew the statement to be true. She looked herself over, deciding whether or not she had ample ammo.

"I think that should do it." She looked to where Merlin had dissappeared. "Alright, but I'm throwing caution to the wind. Screw strategy!"

With that bold statement she threw herself off the branch, her wings snapping open to catch her. She saluted in what she believed to be Merlin's general direction, before folding her wings in tight to her back and dropping like a stone towards camp. At about ten feet above everyone, she unfurled her wings, stopping her free-fall. She whipped out a handfull of pine cones...

And rained chaos on the camp below.

"Augh!" Fawn jumped straight up, feeling something light but crackly and pokey smack onto her back. She wobbled uncontrollably on her branch, finally catching herself before she fell to the ground. Her face was a mix of shock and surprise, and her hands stretched behind her back to check for any animal or bug. Thankfully, there was nothing there, and she smacked herself mentally for getting so panicked.

"Talon!" she screeched up into the air when she saw the pine cone lying innocently on her limb. She knew this was her leader's doing - it was perfectly like her, and to add to that, Iggy and the Gasman were nowhere to be seen at the moment (or, at least, she hadn't heard from them). "What the hell was that?!"

Merlin resisted the urge to cover his eyes with his hands as chaos erupted below. He banked sharply, trying hard to keep his wings from hitting the closely interlocked branches of the pine trees. It was places like these that his angled wings gave him an advantage; they were more falcon-like than the rest of the flock, more suited to darting and weaving.

Talon is insane, he thought to himself as the hard brown barrage rained down. Fine, let her chuck pinecones like a maniac. He was actually going to hit someone.

Well, if he was picking targets, he might as well get someone good. Like their leader. His eyes zeroed in on Max's bent head, as looked up from speaking to the dark, talkative girl. He tilted one wingtip sharply, getting a nice curve...and snapped off a single missile, aiming for her shoulder. Then, for good measure, he hurled a second at Max's companion...Nudge, he thought she was called. He wheeled high, in case someone decided to retaliate. He certainly wouldn't put it past that blind kid, or his tagalong Gazzy, to pick up on Talon's prank and give as good as they got.

Talon cackled as she wheeled about for a second pass. Sure, she missed more targets that she hit but it was still a blast. Not to mention a wake up for everyone below.

"That, Fawn, was a pinecone! And this," She chucked another pinecone at Fawn, who her previous attack had knocked from a tree. "This is war!"

She cackled again, resuming her attack on any and all who dared to remain in the open.

Fawn grinned at Talon, and caught the pine cone a few feet out from her this time (she'd become familiar with the slight tingle and movement in her arm as it stretched some length in front of her), then chucked it back at her leader. "You want war?" she asked, smiling a little; she couldn't contain it. "Go get the other flock."

Fawn leaped from her branch, and snapped open her wings a few feet from the ground. She swooped upward, the tips of her large brown and white wings barely touching some of the ends of the branches on the trees. She reached down and grabbed a few pine cones, then once she was above her leader, she fired them down towards her.

Merlin zigzagged higher, scanning the panicked clearing below. Who would be a good second target? He was actually starting to enjoy this, despite the fact that pinecone wars were not his entertainment of choice.

Then he hit on the perfect target. He skimmed upward through the trees, leveling out when he was about a hundred feet up. His eyes locked on Talon's crazily zooming figure below him. For the first time, Merlin showed all his teeth in a wicked grin. He popped a pinecone out of his belt loop and cupped it in his palm, hefting it. He shook his long hair back impatiently, trying to keep it from getting in his way. He took careful aim.

After all, what was a war without a little double-crossing?

"Bah! This a free for all!" Talon shouted back, ducking the pinecone that Fawn had lobbed back at her. And to demonstrate her point, she hucked a few of the cones at Sub, who had joined in breifly and was now leaning against a tree.

A pinecone clipped her in the back, and she looked upward, focusing on Fawn. She threw several at her second in command, twisting to avoid the other cones. She was completly unaware of Merlin's pending double-cross.

Merlin was about to throw, then stopped, getting an idea. Rubbing his thumb against the scaly side of the pinecone, he thought of heat. He thought of fire and anger and hot blood running down his arm into his hand. A tiny wisp of smoke went up from the cone. Carefully, with his now glowing thumb, Merlin charred the sides of his missile, carving it inelegantly into a slightly sharper and more aerodynamic shape. Then he visually pinpointed Fawn and Talon below.

He made the shot with perfect silence, biting back an instinctive gloating remark as he threw. He made sure the pinecone went straight past Fawn, so it would appear to have come from her. Merlin veered sideways, swearing mentally as the tip of his wing clipped a pine tree branch, making it bounce.

Iggy felt something hit his chest then he fell backwards. It was something pointed, what could that be were they being attack by Flyboys again? Iggy folded his wings out slightly and stood up "What was that?! Are there more Flyboys? Please tell me there aren't more Flyboys!" yelled Iggy as he spread his wings out completely and prepared to fly.

Edge felt something bounce off her head, she reached up slowly, rubbing it and looking up. She saw her flock leader, wearing that pyschotic grin of hers. Raining pinecones upon the mixing flocks like a mad woman. She gave a short, humoring laugh quietly to herself. "God, Talon." She said under her breath. But Edge didn't see this as child's play as much as she saw it as a challenge. Her face broke into her own grin. Well now, this could prove to be much fun. She thought to herself, turning and reaching up the tree with her left arm.

"Have it your way, Talon!" She laughed up to the leader, breaking off the largest tree branch with the ease of snapping a toothpick. It's loud cracking sounded throughout the area, signaling a battle like a gunshot.

She held it up like a bat, narrowing her eyes. A normal girl of her figure should've been unable to move a branch like that not even an inch off the ground. But Edge wasn't even close to normal. A pinecone flew her way and she whacked it as hard as she could, sending it high into the air at Talon.

"Ow!" Talon yelped, though the hit was more shocking than painful. Her free hand rubbed the top of her head, where Merlin's pinecone had struck home. She swooped higher, dodging the cone that Edge had hit up at her.

"Firing!" She yelled, before hurling the last of her pinecones at Edge and Sub in rapid-fire succession. A most evil sounding laugh rose from her chest, as she did her best imitation of the classic bad guy.

"Foolish bird kids! You think you can beat me?! The Great Talon?!!"

"If I didn't I wouldn't be doing this!" Edge shouted back, spinning the branch around. What didn't hit her was sent in random directions, most of it flying back toward the one that had originally sent them. Talon. This is so typical Talon… She thought to herself, smirking. It was good to have fun every once in awhile. To take Edge's mind off the constant danger that shadowed them. But even as the fired back, she knew it couldn't last long. Sooner or later, the fun would end. It was the never changing pattern of their lives.

Merlin couldn't resist. Normally, he was much more low-key with his talents and attacks, using them for fights and not fun. But Talon's trademark ego was just too tempting in this case.

Shaping another pinecone in a similar fashion to the first, Merlin tried to drop altitude as silently as he could, positioning himself over Talon. He knew she would feel the breeze from his wingbeats soon, so he made his move quickly. Gripping his pinecone tightly, Merlin folded his wings and went into a straight, rolling drop, flicking just one wingtip out slightly to control the dive. He could feel his camouflage shredding with the increased speed, but it didn't matter much anymore.

Even as he spun, Merlin aimed for the figure that was Talon, flanked now by both Edge and Fawn. He dropped right into their midst, whacking the pinecone against Talon's shoulder as he swept past, with enough force to sting but not to hurt. He was now visible, but his strategic hiding was more or less finished now.

"Foolish Talon," he growled in his best evil snarl, as he flipped over, righting himself midair and flaring his wings out. "You never look up! Point for the Wizard Merlin!" He gave a theatrical "hah!" of laughter to top it off. Inwardly, he wondered if Talon's mischievous insanity was rubbing off on him. He couldn't remember the last time he'd acted so crazy.

Up on a tall tree branch some 40 feet from the ground, Gamer slowly woke up from his nap and immediately started stretching and yawning. He adjusted his basball cap a little so he could see, and then he listened to the peaceful, melodic sounds of nature. "The sun is shining, the birds are chirping." he observed, till he heard a loud thok above him and looked up to see a pinecone come falling down into his lap. Gamer then heard the commotion of some of his other flock members and shot his head up ready to blast something incase they were under attack. Realizing the situation he smiled. "And a 100% chance of raining pinecones!" he exclaimed snatching the pinecone that fell on him. He stood up and stretched his wings, preparing for flight. Gamer then dove off the branch and after a 15 feet drop, he pulled up and sped off towards the battle zone.

"Merlin! Curse you and your wizardly tricks!" Talon shook her fist at him, barely holding her laughter in check.

God, we haven't had this much fun in ages! I really need to get my guys to do things like this more often... Its good for them, they don't need to spend so much time worrying about the School and all that sh*t. That's my job, not theirs…

Talon flew up so that she was level with Merlin, but a good ten feet seperated them. "We had an agreement! We'd take over the world together! We'd be partners! Nothing could stand in the way of our pineconey wrath! This is the thanks I get for all my hard work?! A betrayal!"

The leader of the flock bit her lip, desperatly trying to keep a straight face during her act. She seemed to be having a rough time at it too. THis was just too damn funny!

Felix stretched out on his shady little patch of grass under a tree. It was nice and cool, and peaceful, and the two flocks were having fun. Possibly the best day they have had in a while. Yep.
Thok
"Ahh!" He shot straight up, jumping to the air. He snapped his wings open, clutching his chest, where his heart was racing. "Wha--?" He looked down to see what had hit him. It was a--a pinecone? "Uh..." He sounded disappointed. He looked up at his sister, Fawn, who was throwing pinecones at people, too. He flew up to her. "What's going on?" He asked quietly, which was how he said everything.

Lily flew calmly over to Felix. "So what's up?" she smirked at him. "besides your near-heart-attack via pine cone." she teased.The sun made her dirty-blond hair shine and glinted off the metal sides of her glasses. She swung peacefully and waited for Felix's response. She looked over at Fawn and then looked down. she looked back at Fawn again and asked, "Do you want them to get concussions?" Then laughed a bit. It was funny because They were bird-kids after al and it would have to be a pinecone made of iron to hurt them.

Felix looked up at Lily. "Um.." He cleared his throat, "We are." He pointed out quietly. He really didn't like talking to people, especially girls. And Lily happened to be kind of pretty, which made him even less comfortable.

Lily laughed. "Good point there." She breathed in the crisp cool air of the sky and twirled around in the air. This was hir favorite type of day.
"Isn't it such a nice day today?" she asked Felix happily.

Fawn looked over at Felix and smiled. "Trying to escape the tyranny of Talon and Merlin. I wish they'd stop trying to kill us all with those stupid pinecones." She tipped her wing slightly downwards, and snuck under her brother (but just barely). She angled towards a tree branch just off to the side.

"There." She muttered to herself. She glanced back up at her brother, and aimed a pinecone right at his chest.

Gamer flew closer to his Flock ready to join in the pinecone war. Okay! Need a target. Let's see. Fawn, Lily, Felix, and Sub are all there. It's possible that they could gang up on me. It looks like Merlin and Talon are way up there. Must be some sort of showdown thing. Might be fun to crash, but I've only got one pinecone. I don't really care what Max's Flock are doing too much. Wait, where's--oh. There's Edge...with a giant tree branch.

"...so who do I throw this pinecone at again?" he wondered, having trouble finding a target.

Seeing as this war was slowly coming to an end, Edge ditched the branch into the surrounding forest. She was dying to get up in the air, just the smell of the evergreens was becoming overpowering and annoying, as well as how stuffy it was. She checked around herself, stepping back from the forest a bit to make room, and snapped out her mysteriously dark wings. They never had figured out just what it was that she was 2% of. She gave them a small shake, and it rippled down her feathers like a wave, small leaves and pine needles fluttered to the ground.

Looking up, she jumped, and gave a powerful down stroke, pulling her up into the air. Where she continued to fly higher, leaving the ground far behind her. Once far up in the air she took in a deep breath. It felt so nice to stretch out her wings.

Gamer saw Edge drop the branch and fly upward to the sky. "It looks like I missed all of the action. Oh well!" he sighed, tossing the pinecone to the ground.

Having been sleeping since the attack from earlier today, Gamer had plenty of energy. He started climbing of at a steady pace until he reached a nice wind current. He expanded his dark wings and glided easily, trying to enjoy the scenery. It was a useless effort, as he soon grew bored in less than a minute.

With a slight change of his body and wing position, he dived towards the ground. Approaching the earth, he flapped his wings slowing his descent, and touched down on the ground lightly. "Time for some FPS action!" he exclaimed, reaching into his inner jacket pocket. He whipped out a handheld console and began powering it up.

Iggy's stomach grumbled, he hadn't ate in about a day so he shouted out "Who's hungry?" to the new flock and to his flock.

Felix smiled down at his sister. "Fawn..." He said, watching the pinecone go through his body. "Really? You should know better than to think you can hit me with that." He chuckled and stuck out his tongue.

He looked over at Lily, still smiling. "Yeah. Yeah, it is." He swooped down towards his sister. "Why are we doing this, again?"
"Well check ya' later." she said with a sparkle in her eyes as she stared up. She flew upwads and then tucked in her wings, dropping like a stone, planning to curve upwards at the last second. She was looking around herself and not paying attention. When she finally looked down she didnt have time to stop herself. She screamed in surprise as she fell through the branches of a tree, which tossed her around as the thinner branches scratched her. She fell onto a larger low-hanging branch, which cushioned her fall bit before she fell to the ground.

Edge began lowering down a bit, cautious to stay close by in case of attack. She came just above the tall trees, flapping to keep herself upright above them. Each stroke made the trees below her quiver. Just in time, in fact, to watch Lily take a dive into the ground, and couldn't help but smirk at the girl and her momentarily short attention span. Smooth, Lily, smooth. She thought to herself, shaking her head slightly. She knew the girl would be fine, so she didn't bother helping, as there were others close by anyways. Besides they'd all been through much worse than a couple of scratches. And it wasn't usually self-inflicted as Lily had just displayed. She heard someone from the other flock ask who was hungry. It was the blind one, but Edge had already learned not to underestimate anyone before they had met this new flock, so she never had thought any more little of him than anyone else. A spectacular cook. But also, a notorious trouble-maker. Along with the younger bird kid, Gazzy was it? Oh yes, she had watched them pull trick after trick. Ever since meeting the new flock, Edge had stayed behind the scenes, watching and observing. She knew alot about the flock already. Even watched them spar sometimes, learning most of their moves. She didn't trust them completely just yet, and she wanted to know as much about them as possible in case they turned against the flock which she belonged to. Of course, as quiet as she had appeared to them, a whole new personality was beating on the walls, wanting to be let out. And she knew if any of them set her off, hell would break loose. There was no way she could so easily trust them. She'd play nice, but one wrong move and she was gonna do everything in her power to clip their wings.

But for now, everything was smooth sailing. They had showed no signs of being a threat, and even seemed unsure of the situation themselves at times. So she felt she could relax on that subject for time being.

Edge carefully maneuvered through the trees, pulling back so as not to hit the ground with her wings, or land to hard. At the last moment she let her wings out, the full 15-foot span, acting as a sort of parachute to land her more softly.

"I'm pretty hungry." She called out, moving closer so as he could hear her, and drawing her dark wings in.

"Okay, who wants to go to the nearest grocery store and buy me pasta, cilantro, shrimp, and lemons? Well... that's if there is a grocery store around here." replied Iggy as he looked up to where he thought Edge was, and then back to Gazzy "Oh yeah and Gazzy try not kill this forest with your farts tonight, ok?" said Iggy smiling.

Lily got up and winced as she brushed herself off. "Ouch." she muttered to herself as she scratched her head, she had already forgotten what it was that distracted her in the first place. She shrugged to herself and went to sit on a patch of grass.

Felix rolled his eyes and glided down to Lily. "You okay?" He asked, knowing she was. He wanted to ask anyway. "What was that all about?"
He heard Edge say that she was hungry. Yeah, food wouldn't hurt, he thought, putting his hand over his empty stomach. It's been a while.

"I believe there's a grocery store say two-hundred miles back." She looked up at the sky as she let the image of the ground that was once beneath them fill her mind, "I'll go, if that's okay?" She understood all too well that it could be nerve-wracking being in a enclosed area with lots of people, not many liked liked to do it. Seeing as a member of the other flock was cooking, she felt bad to not participate in some way. She wasn't about to let Max's flock do all the work of caring for the both of them. No, Edge was too stubborn for that.

"yeah, short attention span." she said. "Man I'm starving. I could really go for a hot dog right now." her stomache grumbled to match her statement. She stood up "Im going fishing." she anounced. She turned and walked off into the trees, to go to the stream she remembered seeing nearby.

Sweet! I got more missles. Gamer thought, pretty much in his own little gaming world; blasting people. His growling, near-empty stomach snapped him back into reality. "Did someone say something about food?" He wondered out loud. Gamer turned and headed over to the directon of the other bird kids. He turned the sound off and kept playing, but he payed attention for the general stuff.

"Yes I did say something about food, but no one is getting any if we don't find either a grocery store. Or lots of deer or something." said Iggy looking up at where he thought Gamer was "Are you holding a game system?" he asked.

Gamer heard Iggy, but didn't take his eyes off the screen. 'Fifty-seven?' Tch! That beats my fourty-eight. And yeah. If that's what it looks like I'm--oh!" he suddenly remembered that Iggy couldn't see. Yeah, I am...Sorry... he mumbled a slight apology, and kept playing. Note to self: Don't upset the blind one that's older than you, and who can probably fight like that blind guy in Mortal Kombat who beats you almost every 4 times before you barely win.

"Yeah, I don't mind I get that a lot from people outside of the flock..." Iggy thought about Gamer's system and said "I wonder if I can make a bomb out of that, no wait of course I can, I am IGGY!!!!! Oh yeah and I could of done more than fifty-seven but Gazzy collapsed at fifty-six."

"...okay." Gamer simply replied; a "GAME OVER" flashing on the screen. Normally, Gamer might've thought that Iggy's sudden random declaration was kind of funny. But, he just talked about turning one of his great joys in his messed up life, and blowing it into pieces. LITERALLY. Alright. I'm keeping my eye on this guy more than ever. If he even touches this, I'll blast a whole in his head so big, that he'd easily be able to beat his taci record if he wasn't dead! "...So, who's going to the grocery store or whatever? I'll go." I've really gotta get cool down right now… Gamer thought; his hands were shaking.

"I was just kidding Gamer, and yes even though I am blind I can still tell that you are thinking that if I touch it you will blow a hole in my head. And set us back money wise, probably twenty dollars. And whoever is going to the store I am going with." said Iggy smiling.

"Oh..." Gamer was surprised that it seemed like Iggy just completely read his mind. I thought only Edge, and that other girl could do that...Note to Self: Don't play poker with Iggy...not like I know how to play anyways. Gamer shut his game off and slipped it back into his inner pocket. "I guess that makes sense. Since I could probably only do microwave stuff."

Lily looked back at Iggy and Gamer.
"There' a stream this way! I'm going fishing if you guys want to come!" she called to them and took a few steps back towards them waiting for an answer.

Fawn rolled her eyes at her brother and his stupid-ass phasing powers. Well, sure he could fade through walls and all that, but who cared? She could run super-fast and stretch out her limbs to incredible lengths. There was no reason to be bitter between them. Or so I try to convince myself of that. He doesn't run in to walls, while I do when I'm chasing after him.

Fawn angled her wings down just a little more, and made a running landing on a tree branch high up in the air. Her wings were spread out wide, and to a person who was looking at her from behind, she'd look like a big freaking red siren sticking randomly out from the trees.

"Why don't you go with someone to find a grocery store, if you're so desperate?" Fawn yelled down to Iggy. "Stop whining."

"Blind! Remember genius?" retorted Iggy some of the new flock was okay, but some of them he wasn't very fond of.

He also replied to Edge and said "Ahh great, I will come if you need me to. But if not all I need is Shrimp, Lemons, Cilantro, and Angel Hair Pasta."

"Come along if you please," Edge snapped her wings out, and shook them a little as they had fallen asleep. "Heh, but I won't wait up on you whether you're blind or not." She joked lightly, before jumping off the ground and climbing farther into the air with every beat of her darkly colored wings. I wonder what it is he plans to make with that... Edge was strong. Edge had a quick wit. Edge could read minds. However, Edge could not cook.

Gamer crouched slightly as he unfurled his wings, and pushed off the ground. He flapped his wings strongly to catch up with Edge. He figured that he could help them look, considering that Iggy was blind and that Edge had no cooking talent what-so-ever. Although, he wasn't really one to talk when it came to cooking either. Hey Edge! Do you know what cilantro, or whatever it's called, is? I have no idea. He thought, knowing that she could hear his thoughts.

Iggy unfurled his wings and flew upward following the sound of Gamer's, and Edge's wing beats. He climbed to about six hundred feet and then said "Watch this!" he started to fall slowly downwards and then he tucked his wings in and fell towards the ground at about 100mph. When he was about twenty feet from the ground he extended his wings and flew back upwards just as fast.

Lily shrugged. "Blind or not, you can still handle a fishing pole." she muttered to herself as she trekked off on her own into the darkening woods. As she was looking for a stick to make into a fishing pole, when her glasse slipped from her face. She cursed under her breathe as she groped around for her glasses. She heard a snap and cursed louder. She reached down and picked up her glasses, cracked, peices of glass falling off the frame.

She had kept her place hovering in the air, flapping her wings every few seconds to hold herself up. "C'mon, let's go already." She said, having already taken off in the direction of the store.

Lily threw the broken and now useless glasses off to the side and picked up a large stick. She made it to the stream after a lot of stumbling around. She stood by the stream, casting her makeshift fishing rod into the water. She hoped to cath one of the large fish that were swimmig around in the beautiful, calm water.

I was gonna do a somersault, but Edge's not in the mood...wait she can hear me...or can she? She didn't answer my cilantro question...although knowing her, she just didn't wanna show weakness infront of the other Flock member that can actually cook. Makes sense. Gamer thought over. The scenery from some hundreds of miles up wasn't so bad, but he was bored with it after awhile. He slightly wanted to ask 'Are we there yet?', but that would just annoy Edge even more. And besides, that kind of stuff annoyed him to really. He was curious on how long it would take to get there though. "So how far is this grocery store anyways?" he asked.

Akia paced down the stark white halls of School, her footsteps silent on the tile floor. To her left, the bland wall was broken by a large plexiglass window, providing an exceptional view of the Whitecoat's latest creations, huddled in metal dog crates, whimpering and dying and living out their pathetic exhistance. A snarl rumbled deep in the Hunter's throat, and she bared her teeth.

They were weak, unfit to live in the new world the School was intent on creating. They could barely function, much less survive. They were Prey. Ment to be Hunted. Hunted and destroyed.

Akia shook her head, and continued on past the creatures that were more dead than alive. They were not her priorety, the coming meeting with Him was. She stalked forward, her motions fluid and precisly controled. She moved with a kind of predatory grace, one that no mere human could ever hope to match. There was no doubt about it. She had been created with one purpose in mind. To Hunt.

Not long after the viewing window had passed out of sight, she turned a sharp left, entering a much shorter hallway, leading to the restricted section of the labs. She placed her hand on the palm-scanner that sat on the wall, off to the right of the door. The small machine hummed to life, and in less than a second had scanned her palm, uploaded the image, identified her, and sought out that she had the proper clearance.

The door swung open, and Akia entered the labs, not a second behind schedule.

A man looked over his shoulder at the approaching figure of Akia, and he smiled to himself. "Right on time, as always. A shame we couldn't just mass produce you, Akia...a shame you cost so much. With any luck though, Epsilon will be the answer to our problems." The whitecoat was in his late thirties, and small grey hairs had begun to sprout up in his neatly combed hair. His eyes returned to the computer infront of him, and he began typing in a command.

"So, are you clear on your orders, Akia?"

"Crystal, Sir."

Akia crossed the room with measured ease, knowing that each step brought her closer to the next Hunt. She stopped next to the whitecoat, a respectful three steps behind the man. She cast a quick glance at the computer, watching with mild interest as he typed in the commands.

"Is Epsilion ready?"

She had heard many things about the school's latest creation, great things, terrible things. She'd seen the young recombant in action only a few times, and from what she had seen, he was everything the School was looking for, more than living up to their expectations. But, he hadn't been field tested yet. It would be interesting to see him function outside of a controled enviroment

Iggy flew beside the other two members of the new flock or at least he thought he was flying beside them "Yeah, how far away are we?" asked Iggy.

Merlin landed lightly on a branch, pround of the fact that it only bobbed a little. His hair was sticking to the back of his neck, and he realized he'd actually worked up a slight sweat with all that pinecone nonsense. It had been fun though.

So it appeared they would get to eat soon. He had watched Iggy take off with two of his flock members in tow, allegedly to get food ingredients. That was good. His stomach was beginning to feel like it was digesting itself. He'd never been the biggest eater in the flock, but that didn't stop him from being a genetically-altered bird kid who needed a ton of calories daily.

His sweaty skin was bothering him. Irritably, he pulled a leather band out of his jeans pocket and double-wrapped it around his shock of blond hair, pulling it expertly into a loose ponytail. He had been teased once or twice for this; his flock had quickly learned that just because he didn't bother to keep his hair short, he wasn't "girly" at all. Then he pressed one hand against the back of his neck, breathing out as he thought of freezing winds and snowdrifts and glaciers. Instantly his hand became an icepack, sending blessed waves of coolness into his heated skin. He pressed it quickly over his forehead, throat, and cheeks, smiling slightly as he marveled at his talent yet again. He was getting better at using it; he still needed mental cues to help him create and focus the temperature, but each time it seemed to work faster.

He kept his dark eyes on the sky, waiting impatiently for the food to return.

The whitecoat chuckled, before hitting the enter key. A door off to the left slide open, and a thick mist rolled forth from the room behind. The temperature in the room dropped quickly, but the man was unaffected by it.

"Why don't you see for yourself?" He motioned towards the door, a smile spreading across his face.

Akia arched an eyebrow, her gaze shifting from the whitecoat to the door and back. After a moment's consideration, she stepped over to the door. She kept her distance, cautious in the face of the mostly unknown Epsilon. She peered curiously into the mist, unmindful of the drop in the temperature. Worrying about such things was for lesser creatures, for Prey.


Talon watched Edge, Gamer, and Iggy fly off, feeling like she should be going with them. They were all still just kids, they should have someone there who knew what they were doing.

Like you? God, stop worrying. They can handle themselves. Besides, between Gamer and Edge, I'm sure they can handle whatever comes their way. She kept thinking along those lines, but they didn't help to calm her nerves. The flock leader ran her hand through her hair, mussing it up more than usual. She ignored the feeling of grease and grime, having long ago gotten used to going long periods of time between scrubbings. She sighed, keeping herself aloft with slow, powerful wingbeats.

They better be damn careful and come back in one piece... I don't know what I'd do if I lost one of my flock... She shook her head, before guiding herself upward, farther away from the group below. We need to restock our supplies, Everyone needs a bath. That I KNOW. A slight chuckle escaped her lips, but was goine as quick as it had come. And what the hell happened to the Erasers and Flyboys? We haven't seen them in a while... Its almost like the calm before the storm. And when this storm hits, I get the feeling bad sh*t's gonna go down…

Something stirred inside the dark room, and the sound of footsteps echoed forth from the chamber. "I don't believe you two have been properly introduced, Akia." A looming shape appeared in the mists, coming to a halt inside the thick veil.

"Allow me to introduce..."

The mist finally parted, and revealing the monster towering over the hunter. Cold gold eyes stared down at her, with an unatural focus on the strange newcomer before him. Metal claws glinted savagly in the minimal light that the chamber held, and the hand flexed quietly. He was an abomination againest nature, and a killing machine in every right.

One could practically feel the pride pulsing from the whitecoat. "Espilon."

Akia looked up at Epsilon, any shock or surprise held inside, her face remianing a mask of mild curiousity. She looked him over, sizing him up, making quick estimates of what he would be capable of. Here was a true Hunter, meant only to seek and destroy. Here was an equal, so much sleeker and well made than the slavering Erasers. This was not Prey.

"Impressive."

A savage glint lit up her predatory eyes, and a ripple of excitment coursed through her. This would be a most enjoyable Hunt.

Edge gave a short laugh, looking over her shoulder at the other two and rolling her eyes. "Not far, I'm calculating about 3 more minutes tops." She said aloud. She was glad Gamer and Iggy came along, though she would never admit it, she felt a hell of a lot safer in a group than she did alone. It was long before Edge could see the small town coming up. "Alright guys, take a sharp left and land. We can't just swoop in through a window. We need to go in normal and come out normal." She paused for 3 seconds, "Aaand go." She anounced as she dipped into a low left turn, bringing her much closer to the upcoming ground. When she was soon carefully landing on. It was about a five minute walk into town and to where she had seen the common grocery store. She pulled her wings in tight against her spine, as close as she could, and then put on the dirty navy-blue hoodie she had originally had tied around her waist. There, about as normal as a dirty Avian bird girl can get. She thought to herself with a grin, catching her reflection in a nearby puddle. The dirty face grinned back at her, before rippling away as a bug disturbed the once calm, yet muddy water.

"And for the record, Gamer, I could in fact hear you."

"ah, screw it." Lily said to herself. She closed her eyes, placed her middle and forefingers to her temples. She focused and grinned as she heard a splash. She used her telekinesis to lift a fish out of the water. She grabbed the fish and held it firmly and winced as she snapped its neck. She then flew back to camp.

Following Edge's instructions, he angled his wings slightly to the left and followed her to the ground. He folded his wings and tucked them behind his jacket carefully, leaving only the slightest bulge. "Tch, I knew that..." Gamer whispered slightly annoyed. Having a mind reader around can be useful, but the lack of privacy was always annoying. "We're just getting ingredients for dinner, right? Nothing else?"

Also following Edge's instructions Iggy banked slightly the left and landed, tucking his wings in his back "Which way is the grocery store?" asked Iggy walking to where he heard Edge, and Gamer talking "Dang its cold down here." he added pulling his hoody over his head.

After lily made it back to the clearing, she laid the large fish down on a rock. "Anybody want fish?!" she offered. She then reached deep into her pocket and grabbed out her pocketknife. She flipped it open with a grin, after all, they didn't call her the razor for nothing.

Fawn looked eagerly down at Lily, and the fish that she held in her hand. She hadn't had fish in a long time (for her flock it sometimes seemed like a delicasy). She swooped down from the top of the tree and landed right next to the girl. "Hey, Merlin!" she called up. "Can you heat this fish up for us? I think it's a little raw!"

"So how's the fish population where you were at? Are there many other fish there? We could feed the flocks if there are quite a few."

Merlin glanced over the edge of the branch at the two girls. He pretended to roll his eyes in exaggerated fashion. "So, what? Now I'm being designated as the human fish fryer?" Despite his sarcasm, he slid quickly down the tree trunk to their level, moving like a spider. "I guess I wouldn't want you two to catch some terrible disease from raw fish, huh? Give it here." He rubbed his palms together, channeling heat into the tips of his fingers. "You are going to share, right? Payment for my services?" he asked, flexing his hands experimentally. The tips felt like tiny coals, but as usual the heat caused him no pain.

"well, there was a lot of fish for what i could tell, i can't see, i broke my glasses." She explained. She turned to Merlin, "Of course i'll share, but i have to gut the thing first, or did you plan on eating fish bladder tonight?" She smiled and proceed to cut the fish open and start scooping out the parts that might not be too pleasent to eat.

"Of course, Gamer, I thought I'd pick out a puppy while I was at it." She said, rolling her eyes with a half-smirk. "The grocery store's just up ahead, Iggy. Just stay close, if I lose you Max'll go all pyscho on me." Edge lightly took hold of the sleeve of his hoodie. She knew he wasn't totally helpless, but she also knew he wasn't good with unfamiliar places.

"Yeah, I really don't wanna risk that." he said, remembering briefly glancing at one of the other flock's sparring sessions. He looked around the small town, at the ordinary life of ordinary people doing ordinary things. Boring! "So Edge, about that puppy. I was thinking about maybe getting a chihuahua." he joked sarcastically. "Or maybe one of those little weiner dogs. What were you thinking of?"

"Epsilon, tell me what you were created to do." The whitecoat ordered, and the bio-engineered monster looked to it's creator. For a moment, silence ruled in the laboratory.

"I created...find them..." His voice was a mix between a roaring engine and shattering glass. It filled the room, and drew your attention right to the abomination. "...kill them." The whitecoat motioned to Akia, and Epsilon's eyes went straight to her.

"This is Akia. You will listen to her like you listen to me. She gives the orders, you listen. Understood?"

Epsilon nodded. "She give orders...I listen."

The man smiled, before looking to Akia. "I suggest you get going, or this test will be over before it begins, Akia."

The ride had been long, and the large van that served as their transport had been ruled by silence, other than the occassional report from the School. Akia guided the nondescript into the small town that it was indicated several Prey were at.

The Hunter couldn't help but grin. They were split off from their 'family', seperated by a good distance. They were vulnerable, in the perfect positon for an attack.

She pulled into the tiny parking lot of the town's grocery store, quickly issuing orders to Epsilon while she parked. "I'm going to scout the place out, seek out the Prey. When I'm satisfied with the situation, I'll call you. Until then you are to remain here, out of sight. Once I've given you the order to attack, let nothing get in your way."

She looked in the rearview mirror, watching Epsilon's reaction to her commands. "Got it?"

Cold eyes looked back at her, as the shadowy figure nodded. "Got it." The beast shifted around a bit in the back, not use to the confined space of the van. He had not protested, and had remained quiet the entire trip.

"Satisfied situation. I stay until satisfied. Nothing in my way." He repeated, his primitive speech echoing around the van. "Got it."

Akia gave a satisfied nod, before turning the key and shutting the van off. "Good."

She cracked her neck, then her knuckles, before rolling her shoulders. She glanced back at Epsilon once more, before opening the door and stepping out into the evening air. She shut the door behind her, and crossed the parking lot with precise movements. She entered the store, just another shopper making a last minute stop before heading home for the niht.

Iggy followed Edge toward the grocery store "Why do we have to get a puppy, why can't we get something cool like a jellyfish, or a parrot or something?" asked Iggy "Oh yeah and we technically already have a dog." he added.

After Lily finished getting rid of the gross parts of the fish she called to merlin. "Hey! Merlin, can you cook this thing?" she asked, gesturing to the meat.

"My power is at your command," Merlin muttered dryly, but with no real irritation. He cupped the gutted fish in his hands and concentrated hard. There was an instant sizzling sound as the skin began to blister and hiss. A few more moments and the distinct smell of frying fish rose from Merlin's heated hands. It still felt a little odd, being able to function like a human cooker. But he had to admit, it definitely came in handy. It only took about three minutes before the fish was done through. Merlin palmed the fish, blowing on its now browned flesh to cool it. "Here, have some." He held it out to Lily and Fawn.

"Thanks." She said ith a smile and gave Merlin a friendly hug. She took her knife and cut the fish into three equal parts. She handed Merlin one cut, and fawn another. She took the last one and bit into it. Her smile grew ear to ear, she hadn't had a meal this good in a long time. "Perfectly cooked Merlin, thanks!"

Merlin couldn't answer the praise; he was too busy downing his piece in a few precise swallows. Merlin had long ago learned the art of eating quickly, both to conserve time and ensure that a mischievous flock member didn't snag it first. Besides, his stomach was killing him, and he wasn't going to wait for the "grocery party" to get back before he ate something. It was nice and crispy, and he congratulated himself inwardly for once again managing his ability well.

lily finished her piece. "I think ill go back to that stream, it was so pretty. You guys want to come?" she offered. She thought about going wading in the nice water. "It's a really nice little place."
"Okay, guys. Enough with the puppy stuff." She said, rolling her eyes. "I think it's rather obvious I'm not actually getting a puppy." Edge never really had been a fan of fuzzy little animals. Too whiny and such. And anyways, too much of a burden. "So let's just move on and get this over with," She grinned, "I'm starving." For some reason Edge had this sort of dreadful feeling forming in her stomach. As if something bad was going to go down sometime soon. She just shrugged it off as lack of sleep. She had a slight imsomnia problem.

"Alright, fine. It's not like we could feed one anyways. Besides. Lizards are cooler." Gamer mumbled, as they walked through the parking lot of the grocery store; heading towards the building. Man, I'm so hungry. This pasta better be worth it. I haven't eaten in...I can't even remember it's been so long! the Avian-American thought. "So what were those ingredients again?"

"Parsley, maybe Cilantro, some shrimp, some lemons, and pasta." said Iggy following everyone into the parking lot, he had a weird thought We haven't been attacked in a while... which meant an attack had to be coming really, really soon.

Fawn quickly scarfed down what she had of the fish, and proceeded to wipe her mouth off with her sleeve (her manners had been lost for the most part once she had joined the flock). She cast a fast look around the camp, and her forehead creased. Something didn't feel right here. They hadn't been attacked lately.

"Lily, I think I might have to take up that offer on going back to the creek river-thing," Fawn said, "I think going away from the camp for a little while would do me some good."

"I'll come," Merlin added shortly. "At least a creek sounds quiet." After the pinecone fight, he wanted to rest and unwind; get himself together before they had to move on or fight again. Besides, even with three flock members gone, the camp still seemed too crowded to him. He thought longingly of the magazine he'd abandoned during their last attack; Lily's creek-place sounded like a good reading spot.

"Alright, we can fly, it'll take 2 seconds." She told them. She flitted out her Eagle-like wings and kicked off the ground, rising into the air, she hovered by them so she could lead them to the beautiful little stream. "Whoa, i'm like, blind." She said in awe, she hadnt realised how bad her vision was until she lost her glasses.

"Calm down, Gamer." Edge laughed quietly, "We'll be eating soon enough." She was so used to this, it came as normal to her. Once she had gotten a regular human's thoughts mixed up with what they had been saying and it ended with an awkward silence. "And you're right, Iggy. But nowadays there's really nothing we can do other than wait. Of course, if it was up to me I'd say we storm the halls of the damned school already. I mean, seriously, two flocks of very successful 'expiriments'," She finger-quoted the word mockingly, "Could take down that condemned building in no time." She grinned at the thought of it, walking through the automatic doors of the smalltown store.
Akia's ears twitched at the sound of the store door opening. She glanced down the aisle that she happened to be pouring over different types of soup in, her feline eyes locking breifly onto the trio of kids entering the store. Her nostrils flared as she inhaled, drawing their scent in. A grin slid across her face.

There was no mistaking that scent. They were Prey!

She returned her attention to the soups, intent on picking one out. She trailed a steel claw along the labels, the three children unmindful of her when they walked by. They headed to the back of the store, where the limited selection of pasta was located. She pressed a finger to her right ear, activiating the small radio implanted there.

"Epsilon, The Prey is here. Begin your Hunt."

Her hand dropped from her ear, and she selected a can of soup from the self.

Let's see what you can do…

The door to the van slid open slowly, and the recombant stepped into the natural light of the dying sun for the first time. He was silent for a breif moment, taking in the sight and the scents of this new enviroment.

"Understood." Without warning, the predator started towards the grocery store, not even heading for the automatic doors. The glass shattered as he walked through it with ease, and the clerks look to him in suprise.

"Sir, what are yo..." Screams filled the air, as a shopping cart suddenly became a ballistic missle and tore clean through the clerk. Fresh blood filled Epsilon's nostrils, and his pupils dialated rapidly until his entire eye was black. A screech of protesting metal was heard, before he flung the entire till, counter and all, towards the prey located at the back of the store.

Over the chaos that now reigned supreme in the store, a brutal declartion filled the building."I KILL THEM!"

A sudden pain hit lily and it felt like somebody kicked her in the gut. "Do yo ever get the feeling something bad is a bout to happen?" She asked the others, gasping a little. "Like you don't see any signs of danger but you know something bad is gonna happen anyways?"

As the scream of the first clerk reached Edge's ears, she whirled around to spot the bloody mess so many yards away on the opposite end of the store. Fast, like a cannon ball, the counter headed towards the small group. Without hesitation, something she had lost long ago to reflexes, Edge moved foward from the group, her arms outretched. In seconds it's now broken, cheap materials were sent flying in a mess around her, and behind her. The impact traveled through her body, leaving her arms slightly sore for only moments. His primative battle cry filled the area, letting Edge know he wasn't exactly all that bright. But obviously destructive. Very, destructive. His mind was empty. He didn't think. This concluded he was controlled. Controlled by who? The School, of course. The short thoughts raced through her mind rapidly, as she looked around for possible exits. Edge had developed the ability to think to a full extent on two subjects at once long ago, when it was a necessary talent to survive. Damn, they always trap us like this. She thought to herself, seeing exits, but no easy ones. This won't be easy. But it'll sure as hell be fun.

When Gamer heard the sound of the predator's voice filled with deep malice and bloodlust all directed at them, his body instantly froze in fear. His heartbeat pumped intensely and adrenaline filled his veins. His breath turned sharp and the rate quickened.

All of the movement happened in a matter of seconds, but it seemed normal, maybe even a bit slower with Gamer's experiment enhanced brain. As metallic chunks of debris flew by inches away from his body, he instantly took in his environment. Starting with their assailant's features: 'It's' enourmous figure; the rows of razor sharp teeth; the dagger-like nails; massive wings; The dark eyes filled with a destructive purpose. He also took in the surroundings ranging from the splattered remains of an employee and screaming customers running wildly in fear, to escape routes and the contents of the store. His fear was soon replaced with a deep rage that filled his entire body. He knew that that it was him or them. And it would never be them.

Gamer's eyes darted to the left where various jars pasta sauces and other edible substances lie. Fueled by hatred, he grabbed them with blinding speed and hurled them firing a barrage of glass projectiles towards the recombiant.

The beast roared it's defiance, charging towards them with his claws ready to tear through their tender flesh. The glass shattered againest his body, but the damage was easily ignored. The distance between the group and their vicious assailent was quickly vanishing, and as Epsilon drew closer, his claws scrapped againest the ground, filling the air with the sound of screeching metal, and shattering ceramic tile.

"KILL THEM!" With a swift movement, the beast caught the edge of a shelf, and lobbed it one handed at pointblank range, straight for Gamer.

Akia stood back throughout all of this, laughing softly to herself, her eyes watching the scene intently.

My my, he is an impressive sight. They certianly knew what they were doing when they created him.

She could step in and help, but this was to be a test run for Epslion, so that she could get a feel for how he worked. The Hunter grinned, smelling the rage and fear eminating from the Prey. It was delicious!

Edge turned, running in the opposite direction, but not in fear. She ran past the aisles, finally turning into one. Assorted items flew past her, as she made her way down the aisle as fast as her legs could carry her. Along the way she picked up two kitchen knives. The nice big, stainless steel ones they saw when they stayed at that lady's house once. Curving around one more bend, she found herself where she wanted to be. With the completed circle, she was now behind the blood-thirsty creature. A good distance away, but close enough to smell it. Not pretty.

"Hey you, big freak in aisle ten!" She called tauntingly, attempting to distract the murderous creature from her comrades. Ignoring the shivers that traced down her spine as the horrid creature roared it's intent once again.

Seeing that his attacks were uneffective, Gamer stopped throwing and started to dash over to the right to get behind the beast. However, he winced when the beast's claws sent a horrific screeching sound throughout his eardrums. While the shrieking only made him lose focus and dull his reflexes, the creature's battle cry at such a close range and decibel stunned him completely. The impact of the shelf sent Gamer sailing into a nearby shelf full of condiments and nearly broke his ribs. Gasping for air, he struggled to get up. He was nearly deaf and could barely hear Edge's taunts.

Epsilon ignored the other avian, instead heading straight for the wounded Gamer. His eyes burned with predatory intent, and his clawed hand coiled around his throat. The beast lifted the wounded teen into the air, screeching at it's captured foe.

He readied his claws to strike.

Gamer, still recovering from the previous attack, was unable to prevent Epsilon from hoisting him into the air. Breathing was even more difficult with the beast's claws squeezing at his throat. And though the screeching wasn't too loud, it still pounded into his ears.

However, Gamer glared into the predators own burning gaze with no sign of fear. His own eyes started glowing with a radiant orange-red color. EAT THIS! Gamer thought before firing a powerful optic blast aimed at the recombiant's open mouth.

The blast came suddenly, but Epsilon had enough time to react. His head swerved to one side, but the beam blew a large chunk of his cheek and mouth clean off. Roaring in pain, Gamer was flung away as the predator touched it's bloody wound.

Dark ichor stained the floor, and seemed to pulse with life. With a hiss, Epsilon stared back at the avian who dared to wound him. His mouth quickly rebuilt, bit by bit, as skin sealed the hole in seconds.

With a low growl, he started forward again.

This was when Edge moved in on behind him. If the damned thing wasn't coming to her, she was going to it. Usually she felt bad for her enemies. But this wasn't life. It was a breathing, fleshing-wearing pawn. Built, designed, and programmed to be ordered around like a dog. Pathetic. And it was headed towards one of her flock member. She ran at it, jumping up, and wrapping her arms and legs around it in a kind death grip only Edge had the strength to pull off. Of course, she knew this wouldn't effect him in any way. It was only a precaution of defense, and a way to not get rattled off. With the knives she had grabbed earlier, she aimed to dig them both into his eyes.

The sudden appearence of Edge on his back caused Epsilon to stop in his advance, and shifted his attention to the young girl that was foolish enough to get closer to him. The being thrashed about, his superior strength easily allowing him to break her hold on him. The thrashing also prevented the girl from managing to land a blow on his eyes, the weapons only managing to dig into the sides of his face.

His wings suddenly spread out, tossing Edge from his back with ease. His hands tightened around the handles, and the blades were ripped from his face. The wounds began to heal over almost immeadiatly, and soon the recombiant was whole once again. With a growl, Epsilon flung the knives after Edge.

As Edge was flung off, she hit the ground hard. Knocking the breath from her, and she cursed loudly upon hearing a cracking. Most likely a broken rib. Damnit, what's with this strength? This would be the first time Edge had fought something stronger than herself. She wasn't accustomed to it, having usually relied on her abilities in most battles. She never even saw the knives heading towards her. By luck, the lethal shot missed, merely cutting the side of her face. The other however, found it's way into her left arm. She didn't cry out, as most would, but couldn't help but whimper as her arm was temporarily rendered useless by the painful wound. She could already feel the blood streaming down her arm. Creating an eery contrast againt her pale skin. Nonetheless, she slowly picked herself up. Stumbling upon completing the painful progress. "Beast." She spat, a rivulet of crimson liquid now visible as it leaked from her mouth when she spoke. Edge winced at the sharp pain of the one or two broken ribs. She wrapped her right hand around her left arm, feeling slightly vulnerable, but of course not backing down even the slightest.

She was beginning to see how unbalanced this fight was. "Gamer! Iggy!" She shouted, attempting to capture his attention. "Going up!" She finished, signalling for them to follow her through the exit she was soon to form.

Upon announcing this, she spread her wings, and looked up. With one powerful stroke, and one last glare at the demonic creation before her, Edge crashed right through the ceiling. Leaving behind debri and dust, and taking to the sky. Extra strength sure came in handy sometimes. She would've done it earlier. But Edge was extremely stubborn. But even with her stubborn-ness, Edge isn't blind, she knows when she's lost. And she isn't shamed to admit defeat, as long as she can help keep the safety of the flock.

Following Edge's lead, Gamer fired one final blast at Epsilon before uged his badly-hurt body to move over to Iggy.

"C'mon!" he said, grabbing Iggy and ascending out of the store. The extra weight put a lot of strain on his injured ribs, but they had to get out of there fast.

Iggy pulled out of Gamers grip and said "Hey, Gamer I am capable of getting out of a store by myself ok?" Iggy snapped out his wings and flew up into the air hoping to get away from the town.

Gamer ignored Iggy. He barely realized let go of him. His only thoughts on how they could be beaten that easily. How all of their efforts were totally useless against that monster. How he just kept coming again and again. No way we're...that weak...! He thought trying to catch up to Edge, who's extra strength made her fly faster than Gamer. Despite his injuries, the searing pain still echoing in his ribs, he pushed harder.

Edge flew strongly, she had trust the two flock members could keep up. She wasn't sure about Iggy. She didn't know him well, but she wasn't too concerned. One arm hung limply in the air as she flew. The blood streaming down it dripped to the ground below, creating dark splotches her raptor vision could detect. Her other arm wrapped around her rib cage, her finger pressing gently to see where and how many were broken. "Damnit, leave for dinner, come back in pieces. That's just what this flock needs. Some new creation on steroids." Edge whispered through clenched teeth, eyes glaring towards the forest that approached them from up ahead.

Upon hearing Gamer's thought, Edge immediatly entered his mind. It was easier with flock members. She knew their minds well, it didn't take much concentration at all. We aren't weak...He's stronger...For now.

By now she had arrived overhead to where the others were. She made her way down in slow, imperfect circles. Decreasing her speed with each turn. Edge was never bad at landing, and though it was rough and brought up some dust, at least she landed on her feet.

Epsilon's dark form burst from the roof behind them, his great wings spreading out across the sky. The recombiant looked like a demonic angel, his claws dripping with blood and his eyes burning with primal hatred.

They were fleeing. He would have to pursue them, and destroy them. With a powerful beat of his dark wings, Epsilon flew after them with great speed for something his size.


Talon immeadietly noticed something was off with the way Edge was flying. Not too long after that she was able to make out blood running down her arm and they way she held her ribs. Not too far behind her came Iggy and Gamer. They all looked battered, but Gamer definentally looked the worst off.

sh*t. They must of been in a fight. Was is Flyboys? Erasers? Damnit! I should of gone, I could of done something! They're just kids, why didn't I go?! f*cking hell! Her thoughts continued along those lines, as she angled her flight to intercept Gamer. She'd find out what happened soon as she had him safely on the ground.

"Gamer!" She shouted over the rush of the wind as she closed the distance between them. "Hang in there!"



Akia was out of the store in an instant, dashing into the woods at a breakneck pace. She couldn't let Epsilon get out of sight. She kept her eyes on the sky, following his dark form so as to not lose him. A feral smile worked its way across her face as she wove between the trees. The whitecoats had outdone themselves this time. Epsilon was proving to be an excellent Hunter.

Edge could hear the thoughts surging through her flock leader's mind, and sighed, knowing she'd want a story. She reached down with her good hand, having recently gained enough balance to do so, and ripped off a decent portion of her right pant leg, and with slight struggle and a bit of help from her teeth, had it firmly tied around her arm as a sort of tourniquet. Passing out from lack of blood was the last thing she needed right now. Though his mind was blank, she could feel his empty mind waves pulsing in the air. Aw, sh*t. Just give up you mistake of an expiriment! She thought to herself, looking up, and waiting. There was still a good chance he wouldn't spot them. But with their luck, he would.

Merlin executed an extremely awkward (for him) reverse in midair. He had been about to take off after Lily and Fawn, when he heard his Flock leader's panicked shout. Backwinging frantically, he twisted around, his raptor eyes pinpointing Talon's form arrowing up through the trees. It was only the work of a second to spot the three 'dinner scouts' coming back. Unfortunately, it didn't look like they had food.

Merlin swore. He had long ago learned to recognize the shaky, erratic flight of a wounded birdkid. Something had gone wrong. And when you were in a situation like theirs, that meant only one thing. A fight was imminent.

Merlin's adreneline kicked in accordingly. Slicking his hair back impatiently midflight, he whipped his piece of cord out and secured his hair in a tight knot. Rubbing his hands together to start stimulating heat, he shot off in Talon's direction, watching the open sky intently for whatever threat was about to come.

Hearing Talon's words. He turned his head slightly to her and nodded. He had barely noticed his flock leader approaching him. All he could think about was how close that monster was to ending his life, and how he could barely do a thing to stop it.

Instead of taking the more sensible and efficient way of slowing down like Edge did, he descended taking a straight path, angling his wings and slowing his flapping movements. He still came down a bit too fast for his injuries, and hit the ground crouched and panting. He stayed in that position for awhile, in pain. Idiot. Should've done what Edge did...at least my ears are okay now. He thought as he slowly stood up.

He noticed that Edge had treaded her wound, but he also noticed a distressed, and irritated look on her face that was so unlike her. (Well, maybe not the irritated part.) He surmised that the creature was pursuing them, and that it probably wouldn't stop.

Edge looked up to catch Gamer's eyes. He looked like he was about to fall apart. This is all my fault. I should've done something, should've thought of something. She continued to mentally lecture herself. Before becoming part of the flock, she'd been amazing at thinking of escapes and such. But joining them, where her talents were pushed aside by those who claimed better at them, all she ever really did to help was be the muscle and help a little with battle plans. She knew she would've been better off without them, but she also knew the lonliness would've slowly killed her.

"Are you...Okay?" She asked him, finally speaking.

Epsilon came to a slow halt, staring blankly at Edge and the mass of avian-children below him. His eyes had returned to normal, and they seemed rather calculating for such mindless monster. There certainly was more than he expected, but that was off little concern.

"Prey." His voice filled the air, as he flew quietly before the flocks. Truely, he was a being of nightmares. How could something so like an angel be so terrifyingly destructive? "Safety in numbers...a defense tatic of those unable to stand alone."

"Gamer? Edge? What the hell happened to you?" asked Merlin frantically, bursting into the upper branches where they had come down. Edge was rather obviously bleeding, though she had applied a rough bandage to the wound. "What..." He trailed off as his eyes caught the huge, winged form sweeping slowly through the air before him.

"Holy..." Merlin couldn't even come up with a word foul enough to express his sheer, horrified disbelief. Erasers they had fought many times. Sometimes other creepy School experiments. But this thing...this surpassed them all. What on earth had those damn whitecoats been doing in their messed up labs lately?

"Holyshitwhatthefuckisthat?" Talon's words cramed together, comming out all in one breath, as she took in the monster flying not to far from her. He looked like something from her nightmares, a blend of all things terrifying. And those metal claws looked beyond deadly.

Fight or flight? Fight or flight?! Fightorflight?!

"Gonna distract this thing...Edge can't fight, neither can Gamer. EDGE!" She shouted down at the wounded flock member, before sending the rest of her message in thought form.

Get Gamer and round up the others then get the hell out of here. I'll catch up. Don't argue, do it. NOW!

Fawn gasped when she saw Edge, Gamer, and that Iggy kid coming back from the grocery store with blood pouring down. She was still in flight, but barely off the ground. She stretched her leg out, put her foot against a tree with her knee bent, and kicked off of it in the opposite direction to build more speed. This was an incredibly awkward move for her, but she had to get back to her flock. This was really f*cking bad. Something was wrong.

"Damn this!" she yelled when she was near to the others. Her red hair frizzed out all around her, and her eyes gleamed with fury. "What's going on here?! Talon, what are we doing?! Where's everyone else?!" She barely resisted pulling her hair out with frustration.

"Holy... shitting... cupcakes." Fawn uttered with horror when she saw Epsilon hovering near her flock.

"Isn't it obvious?" Edge asked the older flock member, who had questioned their appearances, nodding in the direction of the beast that loomed overhead like a treacherous demon with wings. Actually he kind of reminded her of that movie they once watched, was it, Van Helsing? Ah, but on the contrary, he was the hunter. She was beginning to see how this Cat to Cat game between them and the School was slowly turning into a Cat to Mouse. She was definitely gonna get some training in...Soon.

Edge glared up at her leader, showing that if she didn't care so much for the flock, she would'nt've listened. As loyal as she was, she never hesitated to show her pure defiance in the face of orders. Without answering to the older Avian's frantic thoughts and commands, Edge moved over to Gamer at the most painless speed she could manage with the current state of her body. It would be easier once she got her wings out. Everyone! Ditch and lose! Follow me! She sent the practically shouted thought to each flock member excluding Talon. And then looked to the battered, winged boy that stood before her. "Going up." She said, snapping out her wings, and with the extra strength she had in her uninjured arm, picked him up, and beat down with her wings. She was already prepared to ignore and perhaps glare at all complaints and struggles he had to offer. He was in no shape whatsoever for evasive flying. Neither was she on the other hand, but she was better off than he was. She took a sharp turn, flying low into the woods. Dangerous already for a healthy Avian, but difficult and tricky for an injured one. And as painful as it was, with her high amount in stubborness, Edge did it without flinching.

Talon glanced down at Fawn's shout. Okay, Fawn could get them out of here and to safety. She'd know to head to a big city, blend with the crowds. Harder to find them if they were a few out of thousands.

"FAWN! Get the flocks together and get them out of here! Now! You know where to go, I'll catch up. Don't you dare wait for me! Go!"

Fawn followed Edge's example and leaped high up into the sky, her wings snapping out to their full, powerful length at the very top height of her jump. She stroked down powerfully once, twice, and soon caught up to her two injured flock members. She dipped lower than the other two, narrowly avoiding their wing tips. She dodged quickly between the trees, her quick reflexes and uber speed allowing her to keep up with the other super-fast member of her flock.

"Are there any others following us besides the Incredible Hulk from hell?" Fawn hissed up at Edge. She glared back, but saw nothing but the trees.

"Edge...?!" Merlin watched as the younger Flock member dove into the trees, injured arm and all. He looked helplessly at Talon. His own instincts were warring violently within him...his quiet, noncombative side urging him to flee, his loyalty to the Flock making him want to fight. But there was no possible way they could fight this monster. Look what it had done to Edge and Gamer!

But he did know one thing. Between his quick and precise flight manuevers and his capability for camouflage, Merlin was as good an option as any for distracting this beast. He would satisfy his inner turmoil with a compromise. No fighting...but no fleeing either. Not just yet. "I'll stay with you, Talon," he muttered in a low voice. After all, if this thing split them up for a while, at least he knew how to live on his own, and was comfortable with the idea.

Edge looked down at Fawn, continuing to fly. "Not as far as I know." She answered shortly, before looking back up to pat attention to where she was flying. She heard it. She knew where Talon wished for them to go. She wasn't going there. To civilization. Not if Talon had threatened her life. That thing was Satan on wings. It would have no problem destroying others to find them. Edge was not about to risk the lives of those innocent in a city. She refused to be the one that led hell to a large city. She would rather die, than place her own misfortune on others. And many more reasons as well. It just wasn't a good idea. Not with that thing. Instead, she headed for the tunnels and caves. She'd hung out there many times in their stay in this general area, typical of her to think ahead. But she was just pessimistic like that sometimes. Couldn't blame her. She knew her way around them from much exploration, even though her raptor vision was useless. She could lose him in there if he pursued.

Epsilon tilted his head at the two avians who had risen before him. "Buying them time? A foolish effort if there ever was one." His eyes focused on the two, and the titan seemed to sigh. "You will be of little difficulty."

His claws gleamed in the sunlight, as he flexed them quietly. Who would strike first? The Davids? Or the Goliath?

Gamer's eyes shut tight, and pained vibrated throughout his entire ribcage and e could barely breathe. Thoughts raced through his mind along with the pain. How that winged-demon was coming to rip them all to shreds. How he knew that Talon would try to bide as much time as she could trying to stall it from doing so. Normally, he would probably be angry at Edge for flying so hard in his condition.

Instead, he was thankful to her that he was still alive. He could barely move after he fired an optic blast right at that thing in it's FREAKIN' FACE! He grunted in pain, as Edge zigged and zagged through the thick mountain foliage. He couldn't stop Epsilon at all. His attacks just did nothing at all, or it just regenerated and kept coming. The broken avian knew that it would've killed him if Edge didn't stop it. But even she couldn't stop it completely; it just turned around and attacked her.

Gamer opened his eyes, but immediately shut one, as Edge turned sharply towards a cave on a cliff wall, trying to get him away from their predator. "Edge...I'm sorry." he managed to sputter out."It's my fault that you got hurt so bad isn't it?"

Edge looked at him feircely, appalled. "Don't ever say that!" She snapped, then looked back to where she was going. "None of us should ever blame ourselves for our misery, our pain, our endless role as prey." She paused, thinking back to their many battles. "It is never our fault. It is theirs." She finished, reffering to the scientists that had worked at the school. It pained her to see a flock member injured so badly to be blaming themself. Again the thought came to her mind. If we'd just taken out the source before they freaking unleashed this demon after us, we wouldn't be in this mess. Edge thought to herself. She hardly ever agreed with what they did. Matter of factly, she was headed on a suicidal attempt to destroy the school alone when she met the flock. Fueled by rage, and slowly losing her sanity to murderous intent back then. They were her dark, mindless days. She had been no better than them.

Talon glanced over at Merlin, wory in her eyes. "Damnit, Merlin..." She sighed before shaking her head. It was too late now, he'd have to stay until she had that monster's full attention. "Alright, stay." She cracked a small smile. "The help'll be appriciated." Her smile dropped quite suddenly as she returned her attention the School's latest creation. "But next time I tell you to get the hell out of here you better damn well listen."

She cracked her knuckles, clentching and unclentching her hands, readying her bones for manipulation. She eyed the giant warily, making rough estimations of how fast he'd be able to fly compared to them.

We should be faster...Just get in there, a few good strikes, enough to knock him for a loop, then off we go. She swallowed, hiding her nervousness from her flock member. Can we even hurt this thing?

Gamer knew she was right. If it wasn't for them, none of the flock members would have to endure this pain at all. All of them would be living comfortable, happy and safe lives with their families. Gamer's thoughts flashed to the memories he still had of his old family. Times when he was happy. Times when he was safe. Times when he didn't have to worry about sadistic scientists creating bloodthirsty demons with the sole purpose of killing them, after they had messed them up in the first place.

However, he still felt responsible. Like there was more he could have done to prevent their current situation. Like he should've been able to blow that thing's entire head off and then burn the pieces so it could never come back and hurt them again. How Talon shouldn't be risking her life to stall it for them, when it felt like it should all be over already. He always thought that he could take on anything or anyone that tried to hurt the flock, but now his body was battered, and he thought of something that had most likely gone through everyone's mind that had been tortured at the school. Why is this happening to us...?

"Huh." Merlin snorted. "You're using your 'high-and-mighty' voice again, Talon. I'm just as old as you, remember?" His eyes were performing the same once-over check as hers, cataloguing the manuverability, the weapons, the overall danger-factor of the creation. The scan didn't have pleasant conclusions. This thing, without a doubt, was one of the worst School beasts Merlin had ever seen.

Time to break out the lightning moves. Pulling his angled wings in close to his body, Merlin prepared to move on the slightest cue. Something this big and heavy couldn't possibly keep up with his darting and dodging...could it?

He also drew his other power in around him, thinking fiercely of ice: cold, unyielding ice. Instead of funneling it into his extremities this time, he pushed it outward. He tried to draw the icy air away from Talon as he did so, but he wasn't sure how much control he had. If he could mess with this thing's comfort levels as far as temperature went, maybe it would throw off its flying skills.

"Because this world holds monsters, Gamer. And those the monsters hurt. I, for one, am glad it was us. Me, and not someone else. I would never wish to undo what has been done to me, and place this horrificly unfair life upon another." She answered his thought as best she could, even though it wasn't directed at her.

Suddenly she could feel the coolness, and it wasn't much later at all that the complete and total darkness enveloped her. And she was emersed in the numbing temperatures of the caves. "Fawn, if you're still following, fly 4 yards, make a left, 32 yard, then two rights. Watch yourself, the second one's sharp." She paused, perhaps leading them to believe she was done, but she couldn't trust anything that wasn't much more elaborate than that. So, she took a deep breath,

"Left, right, 6 and a half yards, left, 56 feet and turn left at a 45 degree angle, exactly, or you'll be cut. Now try to stay in the middle, because the walls are getting rough enough to take a wing off and/or damage it. Left. Left. 90 degree right. Go straight for exactly three meters then turn left. Three rights, now land in the very center of the room." She finished the directions, certain the Avian could memorize them, they were good with directions, then took a moment to catch her breath and zoom through them herself at the fastest speed she dared to go in the caverns. She didn't want to prolong hers and Gamers pain. Edge wanted to land as soon as possible. And within 20 minutes she began to slow, taking the final turn, and setting Gamer down as gently as possible before taking her own rough and blind landing.

It was hands-dissapear-in-front-of-your-face cave darkness, and icy cold air filled the damp, natural caverns. But it was safe. And she immediatly took the time to mentally send the others directions to the chilly, hidden tunnels. Yes, even Max's flock. Surprisingly.

"Wrong my friend! I am one," She held up a single digit to illustrate her point. "year older than you. That means I am your superior and you must listen." She chuckled, doing her best to ignore the cold that was spreading out from Merlin. She glanced over at him, before flicking her gaze back over to the recombant they were facing. She tensed up ever-so slightly, before causing a bone to grow out of her wrist. It was sharp and with a deft movement she snapped it off with her other hand.

In the next instant, she launched herself at Epsilon.

"Details, details," Merlin said under his breath, but Talon's fierce humor in the face of danger reassured him. He carefully controlled his reaction to flinch at the sharp snap of her bone weapon breaking off.

As Talon attacked, he swerved sideways, concentrating hard to expand his cold air front. He really hoped that there wouldn't be any random thermals or hot spots in the air around them; he'd once accidentally created an unpleasant mini-storm by colliding two different air fronts with his powers.

It was difficult for him to use two abilities at once, so instead he simply tried to make himself hard to focus on, shimmering in and out of view instead of going for full camouflage. He cut a wide swath around Epsilon, hoping to come at it from a different angle.

Epsilon was still for a brief moment, before his eyes dialated at the scent of the blood. A primal roar rent the air around him, and the beast shot forward with un-natural speed. He collided with Talon, and the monster lashed out at her with his powerful claws.

"Kill!"

It was only her reflexes that saved her from being disemboweled then and there. She jerked back in the nick of time, but his claws still raked across her skin, drawing more blood. She bit off a swear, forcing herself to act through the pain. She came back around and drove the bone spine into his shoulder.

"Take that, bastard!"

Oh, crap. Talon's blood being drawn within the first two seconds of a fight was definitely not a good sign. The sheer killing force with which Epsilon had lunged sent chills down Merlin's spine.

Merlin swerved midair and put himself on a carefully measured flight path. He shot directly perpendicular to the monster, so as he sailed by, he reached out a fist and clipped one of the huge black wings at approximately 70 or 80 mph, hard. It gave him a feel for the creature's power, and he didn't like it. His hastily thrown punch felt suspiciously like a gnat worrying at a lion.

Lily Flew over to Merlin, she was panting. "Guys, i have a bad feeling about this one, i don't think we should stay and fight, we already have some injuries, i feel it in my gut, we gotta get out of here. Things this big cant fly for long! We Can outrun him!" She said, panicking. She always went with her gut, and right now her gut was saying ohmygodgetthehelloutofthererightnow! She looked up with an accidental look of fear and panick in her eyes as she caught her first real look at the horrible beast.

Talon glanced back at Lily, momentarily forgetting her own danger at the sight of the younger flock member.

sh*t, what is she doing here? She'll get hurt if she's not careful, then what'll I do? I have to keep them safe I gotta keep this monster away from them, Edge was supposed to round up the rest of the flock!

"Lily! Get out of here! Get the rest of the flock and go! NOW!"

Fawn landed quietly beside Gamer and Edge, and did a quick 360, even though she really couldn't see much in this pitch black place. It was pretty safe - they had taken a twisty-turny route that hardly anyone could trace.

Her eyes widened when she realized who they had left behind - her own BROTHER, and Lily, one of the youngest members of the Flock. "Crap!" she hissed, and looked at Edge in desperation. "Edge, can you tell Lily and my brother to get their stupid butts over here? Give them directions, please..."

Claws coiled around Talon's throat, as Epsilon swung his powerful arm at Merlin to smash him away. "Vermin!" His eyes soon found Lily's, and he stared with savage hunger at the girl. He seemingly debated between Talon and Lily for a moment, before tossing Talon away, and diving for the newcomer.

"Kill!"

Talon let loose a gasp as the claws wrapped around her throat. She struggled in vain against the powerful grip, before she quite suddenly found herself being tossed aside and the monster going after Lily.

"No you don't!" She yelled, diving at Epsilon's unprotected back. She forced another bone spine to grow from her arm, this one much bigger than the last, and snapped it off. She attacked him with it, trying to pull his attention back to her and away from her flock member.

Lily Got slashed in the stomach by the beasts claws before talon stepped in. She yelped and began to fall out of the air, she wasn't used to such a heavy attack, this much damage done in one blow was something they rarely saw. She looked down at the ground below her, and then up at her flock members and the monstrosity attacking them, she was dazed.

The smell of blood filled the air, and it seemed to give the great being even more strength. Every stab of the bone healed over moments later, as Epsilon swung around, and raked his claws againest Talon's face.

He couldn't form any words, only a beastial bellow bursting from his mouth as he lashed out at her again.

Edge brought a hand to her head, which had begun to feel dizzy from bloodloss. She laid back on the cool, dusty ground. Small rocks pressed into her back, and the dust caked her feathers as she spread her wings out. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. She heard a small sound as her ribs complained to be
mended, sending small waves of pain. The ribs were nothing. She'd broken far worse. She'd been beat far worse. That didn't make it any easier on her arm. Edge reached over to feel it. The blood was dry now, the bleeding had calmed. The feeling had returned, replacing the numbness. And though it sent sharp feelings up her arm, she could lift it. She would need to wash it, for precaution of infection, but she would wait until later. By this time tomorrow, it would be good as new. Weird how bird kids worked that way. But then again, for her, it wasn't too bad of an injury. Not on survival terms.

Taking one more deep breath, Edge took all her energy into one thought,

FLOCK! For the last damned time, get your sorry butts to the tunnels! How many more times am I gonna have to tell you before I hear wings flapping?! GET OUT OF THERE NOW. You are not going to help. You are going to fly. If you aren't here in ten minutes, you're gonna be sorry when I get my full strength
back.

Her tone was sharp and commanding, and surely as loud as an alarm in her other flock members minds. Excluding Talon and Merlin, whom she believed had decided to stay. As well as Gamer and Fawn, considering they were already here. Though her words were rough, and tipped in ice, they were full of more care than someone outside of her mind could ever comprehend by her tone.

Talon yelped as the claws slashed her face. She blinked rapidly, trying to clear the blood seeping from a gash above her left eye that was turning her vision red. She threw her arm up to defend herself from the next attack, but it did little good. The claws just ripped through her flesh with ease. She swore, backpedaling quickly. Damn, that hurt! But better her arm than her stomach.

Okay, he heals fast, so maybe if I can get a stab at a important area... I've always got the gun as a last resort, and that's looking more and more like I'm gonna have to use it…

Epsilon pressed his assault, his claws lashing out rapidly againest the avain child. His mind had dulled from the scent of the blood that clogged most of his senses, and it was becoming more and more apparant what a beserker Epsilon was.

He roared again, before moving to smash his hand againest Talon's face.

Oh, god.

Merlin's heart was beating so fast it felt like it was hardly pausing between thumps. Talon was in deep trouble. Lily might be next. And this thing was showing off to perfection that it had no other objective or thought but to murder them all in the most brutal way possible. That swipe it had taken was way too close for comfort.

Biting his lip, feeling his personality rebel against close contact with an enemy, Merlin switched tactics. Praying the monster wasn't made of some resistant metal or something, he pumped as much heat as he could muster into his hands. Between the blood pounding through him and his rage at seeing his Flock threatened, it wasn't as hard as usual. Sweeping in from behind, slicking his wings back so he was like an arrow, Merlin came up behind Epsilon and pressed his red hot hands against one of the massive black wings.

Why was he so fast?! He shouldn't be this fast, everything screamed that he shouldn't be, yet there he was, already caught up with her and lashing out at every moment. Even with her reflexes, Talon could barely dodge the blows, always coming away with more wounds than she went in with.

How the hell do we stop this thing?!

In the next instant, Epsilon's hand connected solidly with her face. There was a strange crunching sound, followed by short scream as Talon's nose was broken by the force of the impact. Pain blossomed across her face, blood came gushing from her nose, and for the moment, the avian girl seemed frozen.

Lily looked down, she saw the ground, below her, but getting closer faster and faster. She only had time to close her eyes before she hit the ground. It sent Sharp pains through her whole body as she woke up from her daze. She screamed, blood had begun oaking through her shirt, and the scent was strong in the air. She decided on one last attack before she went into hiding. She pressed her fingers to her temples and focused, using her mind to send a rock up into the air, towards epsilon's big dumb head.

The pain that Gamer felt was too much for him to get up. After contemplating on Edge's words, he knew that she was one-hundred percent right. He also knew that he would need to start getting stronger for when Epsilon tried to kill him again. It was annoying just lying down helpless and injured, but there was nothing he could do. His body needed to rest first; it was the top priority. He sighed, which resulted in more burning pain erupting from his chest. Great. He tried to turn his head carefully towards Edge, who had laid down nearby, only to experience a different pain; his neck was bruised from when Epsilon grabbed him. It was a far lesser pain completely insignificant to most of his body, but it was still a nuisance. He knew that with his usual recovery rate, it'd be gone in about an hour.

"Edge," the teen panted, "I'm grateful for you taking me all the way to this nice and cozy cave and all, but could you next time try making my flight on 'Air Edge' a little bit gentler? I'm lucky that I'm in one piece all ready." Gamer figured that since he wasn't quite acting like his usual self earlier and it might've worried her, so he was hoping that joking would help. It worked for Talon, so maybe it would work for him?

Edge sighed, "Sorry Gamer, useless arm calls for some slight turbulence." She joked bitterly, giving a small laugh. That soon turned into a small cough due to the dust of the cave. Which resulted in a stabbing feeling. Lovely. "Enjoying our hideaway in luxury, Gamer?" The cold, dusty stone beneath her body had begun to feel numb against her skin. That was when she realized the loss of her hoodie. Aw, damn... Edge mentally
cursed

That must've hurt. Gamer thought wincing, at Edge's cough. He was already having enough trouble breathing without all of this dust to choke him "Ye-", the dust caused Gamer to cough and he got a nice stabbing sensation himself. "Yeah. What travel agency did you use? We should totally call them for our summer home." Gamer's sight was adjusting slightly, but there wasn't much to see except Edge and Fawn. So he tried using his other senses starting with smell. "Ah, that's nice." Gamer commented before he coughed agonizingly. "I love how the bat guano mixes with that damp murkiness. It's awesome. What's
your favorite thing about this wonderland Fawn?"

"I just love the dampness and the fact that I can't see for the life of me." Fawn stood ahead of Edge and Gamer, her eyes swooshing back and forth, trying to catch movement in the cave - right now, there was none.... which seemed a little boring. She flopped down into a cross-legged sitting position, and glared out to... where ever she happened to be looking in the cave. She could've been looking at a wall, for all she knew.

"So, what's the extent of your injuries?" she asked Edge and Gamer. "If anything happens - and knowing that beast, something's bound to happen eventually, I want to know what I'm going to need to do." Besides fly for my life, of course.

"Summer home...Yea." Edge laughed quietly in an almost dark air.

She looked to where she assumed Fawn's voice had come from. "I was thinking about that, Fawn." She said, taking on a more serious tone. "Have you noticed, that above it's desire to destroy us, it has a most unignorable thirst for blood?" She turned her head, looking back up to what was probably the ceiling of the natural room, considering she was on the ground. "I was thinking that perhaps it's possible we could blind him with his own bloodlust. Put a pyscho like that in the middle of a bloody room and he'd lose it. Perhaps he will lose concentration, and we can better attack him. But even then, where would we attack him? Before we do this, we must learn of weakpoints. For how, I would suggest going to the source. But..." She trailed off. It was obvious the others wouldn't go for it.

The heat drew Epsilon's attention, and he spun around quickly, coming face to face with Merlin. The being bared it's rows upon rows of teeth at the avian child for e brief moment, before it's powerful leg shot a kick at his side, before following it up with a brutal uppercut.

Having struck his frantically quick blows, Merlin backwinged like crazy. But it was not quite fast enough to avoid having three long gashes torn in his forearm. The reflexes of the monster, as well as the sheer sight of those awful teeth, made him feel like a six-year-old again, cowering from the whitecoats' needle-pointed instruments. Those teeth could take his head off; the claws could literally disembowel him with one lucky swipe. He forced himself to think of the majority of his Flock, hopefully safe somewhere far away. At least if he died, he would die knowing they still had a chance.

Bracing his teeth, Merlin did something he had taught himself to endure several years ago, when he lived alone in the woods. To avoid the blood loss and infection of open, bleeding wounds. Channeling the same searing heat he had used on Epsilon, Merlin clapped his palm quickly over the gashes, just for a second. The pain was terrible, but the wound cauterized as if with a red-hot needle. The blood slowed to a glazed
trickle.

Okay, enough of this sh*t.

THe flock leader had snapped out of her shock once Merlin was attacked, and made up her mind to end this now. They had distracted the beast long enough, her Flock should be well on their way to the city by now. She threw a hand behind her back, her fingers quickly wrapping around the grip of her gun. She pulled it from its position tucked in the waistband of he pants and clicked the safety off in one smooth motion. She
leveled it on Epsilon.

"Oi! Ugly! Over here!"

In the next instant, she was pulling the trigger, emptying the clip into the beast.

The first bullet tore through his back.

By the time the second had hit, he was turned around and it tore into his chest.

By the third impact, dead center in his chest, Epsilon was roaring his anger.

Fourth impact. Straight through his lung. The beast was in motion.

Fifth impact. Shoulder bursts open, spraying black ichor everywhere. He's five feet away.

Sixth impact. Clips cheek, and tears off right ear. Four feet.

Seventh impact. Punctures windpipe. Three feet.

Eighth impact. Straight through right eye. Two feet.

Ninth impact. Jawline hit. Bullet shatters againest it. One foot.

Tenth impact. Clips neck. Hand drawn back.

Eleventh impact. Sterum shot. Bullet shatters. Claws poised.

Twelfth impact. Hits mouth and shatters seventeen teeth. Hand shoots forward.

Thirteenth impact. Dead center of forehead. Claws rip through skin and organ, and jut out Talon's back.

Clip empty.

"Die."

Talon coughed, her eyes wide in horror and shock. The pain had yet to hit her, it had happened so fast. Blood welled in her mouth, trickling down her chin from the corner of it. Time seemed to slow down, every little detail sharpening in her vision. The bright blue sky, the sharp silver of her gun. The look of horror in Merlin's eyes. The nightmarish visage of the monster that she was impaled on.

In the next instant the pain hit, and an agonizing scream tore itself from the flock leader's throat. Pain and fear twisted her features, tears streaming down her dirty cheeks.

I'm going to die...'m going to die, and this thing is going to kill my flock, my family…

"TALON, NO!"

Merlin's voice was usually a pleasantly deep baritone, the voice of an older teenage male. So it made it all the more surreal when his scream scraped down his throat like sandpaper and erupted from his mouth in a shrill sound like a dying animal.

Ohgodohgodohgod OH GOD, NOT TALON!

There were claws sticking out through her back. His flock leader had just emptied the contents of a revolver into that, that monstrosity...and it had kept coming. A juggernaut.

This wasn't happening. Couldn't be happening. Broken thoughts started running through his head. What if the kids heard Talon scream? Or him? Would they be afraid? Did they know their leader had just been mauled? Should he go to them? Should he go and try to hold them all? He had a bizarre and disconnected mental image of him, trying to wrap his angled falcon wings around the entire Flock, hold them close to his
lean body and make them safe.

But that was Talon's job. Had been her job.

And then fury, the cold and mindless kind that came with grief, wiped his racing mind clean as a chalkboard.

With a feral roar, Merlin launched himself at Epsilon, at the beast who had dared to do this to his leader, his friend. His curved shoulder rammed into the creature's side, knocking all three of them through the air. If this thing had killed Talon, than the next step was as logical as any math problem.

He was going to kill it.

At Talon's scream, Lily woke up. She looked up at the horrible scene above her. She screamed in horror, and ran, clutching her stomache, tears in her eyes, aimlessly towards safety. After a while, she found some caves. She ran into the cave, collapsed on the ground, and sobbed.

Fawn jumped when she heard a cough-like noise coming from somewhere in the cave. She glanced back at Edge, and her forehead creased; she wanted to find out what that noise was, but she didn't want to leave these two behind. She looked back towards the front of the cave again, and worry showed on her face. What if that coughing was coming from a flock member? What if they were injured or in shock or something else? She had to get them.

"Guys, I'll be right back. If something finds you or something else bad happens, just yell or fight or something that will get my attention."

Lily Sobbed, sending shivers through her entire body. The terrible scene played over and over. Merlin jumping on on the beast, Talon, impaled on it's steel claws. . "dead... Talon's dead..." she whispered to herself between sobs.

When Merlin collided with Epsilon's side, Talon was jerked along with them, another scream of pain ripping itself from her throat. She slid off the creature's claws, falling towards the earth before she snapped open her limp wings on instict to keep herself from crashing into the ground. She wrapped on arm around herself in a vain attempt to stop the blood flow, with her free hand she crammed her gun back into the waistband of her pants.

She sucked in a breath, each beat of her wings sending lances of pain through her body.

"Merlin!" She coughed, then spit, clearing her mouth of blood. "Merlin!" This time her voice was stronger, if not shaky. It was only through sheer willpower that she was able to keep the majority of the pain and fear from her voice.

"Merlin, lets get the f*ck out of here, we're in way over our heads." Plus, she was starting to get woozy from the bloodloss. She was in no condition to fight, and Merlin had never been much of a fighter. That thing had just kept coming, every single one of her shots had been dead on but it had just kept coming! If guns couldn't stop this thing, what the hell could?!

Merlin stared in shock at his wavering, bleeding leader, barely keeping herself aloft.

She was flying, still. She had spoken...said his name. Twice.

She had cussed.

There was hope.

He decided that now was definitely the time to listen to Talon. They needed to regroup, they needed to protect the rest of the Flock. Ignoring the sting of his wound, Merlin dropped down so that he was flying in front of Talon. With the strongest beat of his wings he could manage, he sent a V of air out behind him, catching his leader in its vacuum. He couldn't carry her; her pride wouldn't allow it, but at least he could make flying easier for her by letting her follow in his jetstream.

"It's Lily, Fawn." Edge said, "And forget about us, this is nothing. If something comes along I'll crush it like a rat." She said, a bit of bitter humor in her tone. "Go on, and I'll be with you if you need anything." She added, emphasizing that she would be comfortably in Fawn's mind in case she got lost or attacked.

The two remaining members of Talon's flock finally made it to the cave system, ariving several minutes after Lily did. They landed just outside the entrance of the caves, peering into the darkness that seemed to swallow up all light. They exchanged glances, before starting forward and entering the gloom.

"Epsilon!"

The Hunter's clear voice rang out in the air, carrying with it an air of autority. She stepped out from her hiding place amongst the bushes, shading her eyes with a hand as she peered up at the hovering creation.

"Epsilon, cease your attack."

She had been watching the fight, storing every image for later information. She grinned, exposing her fangs. Epsilon, had passed his first test with flying colors. He quite literaly was the perfect Hunter. The Prey stood no chance, she wanted to watch him destory the Prey then and there, but her orders were clear.

After his first feild test, they were to immeadiatly report how he did. No stalling, no putting it off. And Akia would never disobey orders.

Talon flew behind Merlin, the pair speeding away from the monstrosity and the site of their battle. Their flightpath would put them in the big city in a matter of hours, hopefully by the time they got there the flock would of found a place to hunker down and heal.

If I make it that long…

She only beat her wings when absoulutely nesacary, relying almost entirely on Merlin's jetstream to do the work. She kept her arm pressed tight against her wounds, but the blood showed little signs of stopping any time soon. It had soaked her shirt and was steadly working on her pants.

She gritted her teeth against the pain, her features strained. Her flight growing increasingly shaky and erratic, despite her best efforts. Her face was pale, streaked with blood and dirt and tears, and it was quickly becoming obvious.

She wasn't going to last without help for much longer.

Lily looked up as she heard Fawn. She wiped her tears away shakily, "h-hello?" She asked, her voice sort of high and squeaky sounding. She kept her stomache covered with one hand and flipped her knife open with the other hand.

"Boo." Fawn chirped when she got right up next to Lily. "Why, hello there. I'm glad you finally decided to join us." She grabbed the girl's hand and hoisted her up into her arms. I got her, Edge. She's shaken, but fine. She doesn't look that scratched up, but I can't really tell.

"Hold on, I'm gonna get you back to the others soon." She glared back into the cave, and took off. Her legs carried her at incredible speeds back to where the others were, and soon she arrived back where Edge and Gamer were. She sat Lily down on the ground, and sighed. That hardly took anything out of her, but her stress levels were just too high now. "Lily, tell us everything. What happened. Where's Talon and Merlin?"

Lily took in a breathe and began to talk. "Well, he got me in the stomache, I fell and passed out. When i woke up, i looked up, and.... Merlin had jumped at the thing, and Talon.... was.... I think Talon's dead. It run her through with its claws." She said sadly. She didn't cry this time though, After a little, she developed an immunity to each problem, she was a tough person, she had to keep moving.

"Talon's not dead."

Was the first thing that came out of Edge's lips as Lily's story came to a close. No, she hadn't used her mental abilities to confirm this. At this rate, she could only reach those in the immediate area. Until she got her full strength back anyhow. She hadn't even though about it before saying it. It was just too unbelievable. Talon was a fighter. But she wasn't stupid. Most of the time. She wasn't going to go out and get herself killed off so easily. And in her gut, Edge felt no emptiness. Wherever Talon was, and however badly hurt she was, she wasn't dead. Edge was always once to trust her
gut. It had gotten her this far after all.

Gamer smiled at Edge's earlier retort to Fawn. It's good to see that we're both recovering nicely...kinda. he thought as his body twitched a little and his ribs throbbed in response.

"Wait, what?! What do you mean 'Talon's not dead.'? Did something happen to her?" he asked, his tone worried and alarmed. However, he wasn't at all scared, because he knew that Talon wouldn't just die even from fighting off Epsilon. Still, there had to be something to make her suddenly say that, so it was a good chance that Talon was injured.

Merlin kept shooting glances back over his shoulder, trying not to be too obvious about it. But every time he looked, Talon's figure seemed to get a little more wobbly, and the bloom of red across her shirt got bigger. He didn't think the other kids had gone far; he hoped they would cross paths soon so he could put to rest his fears that they were hurt. That was a little ridiculous; every member of his Flock was street-smart enough to survive independently for at least a while. But he couldn't help it. Maybe that's what it was like if you were an older member among younger kids; you got worried easily.

Merlin looked back again. He could have sworn there was blood dripping off Talon now, falling in scattered droplets from her wavering form. Biting his lip, he called back without slowing, "Talon? You want me to do something? Bind it? Numb it?" Cauterizing was out of the question; there was no way he could seal a wound as dire as hers. Merlin paused a moment, not daring to halt or slow his flight for fear of interrupting the jetstream vaccuum. "Talon? You want me to...carry you?" He hesitated to offer it, knowing how proud Talon was. The idea of being carried would definitely piss her off, mortal injury or no. But Merlin's conscience wouldn't let him rest until he'd offered.

"No!"

The exclaimation was weak, a shell of what her voice once was. She bit off a yelp as the effort jarred her wounds. "I..I can make it..." She mumbled, her altitude starting to drop.

"Can make it...Don't need...help..."

As she spoke the last word, her eyes rolled back into her head and her wings crumpled. She plumited towards the ground below, dropping like a stone.

Talon... is dead? Fawn's eyes widened, and all other emotions besides fear and disbelief ceased to exist on her face. How, how, how could this happen? Their leader, who was fearless, stubborn, and tough to the bottom of her very soul, dead? It couldn't be... or could it? She'd seen that monster, that beast come after them. She'd seen what they did to Gamer, Iggy, and Edge, and no matter how much she didn't want to believe it... there was always that possibility. She slumped down and buried her head in her hands.

"Guys," she whispered, her voice barely carrying - thank goodness for echoes. "Please don't hurt me for saying this... but what if she is dead? You saw and experienced that being - whatever it is... it's nothing like something we've faced before. Talon... might be dead."

Epsilon made no move to follw their retreating forms, flying in place quietly. His massive wings beat every once and again, but other than that, he was motionless. After a long moment of silence, the being spoke.

"As you order."

He dropped to the ground, landing with a thunderous 'thud'. His legs straightened, and the beast looked at it's handler. "What are we to do?"

"Okay," Merlin swallowed. "Whatever you sa--".

He probably wouldn't have noticed if not for catching the movement of Talon's fall from the corner of his eye.

"Talon!" Merlin twisted in midair, desperately whipping a 360. The jetstream was obviously no longer needed.

Broken feathers scattered down behind Talon, but Merlin aimed straight for the dark figure plummeting like a dead weight toward the treetops. Aiming so that he was nearly vertical, he shot downward like an arrow from a bow. For a few seconds, he thought he wouldn't make it, wouldn't catch up to her before she hit the unforgiving branches. But as he dove, something came over him. His wings snapped into a slicked position parallel with his shoulders, making him almost totally aerodynamic. His feet tipped outward, toes pointing,
unconsciously curling like claws inside his sneakers. His muscles slid involuntarily and locked into rigid position. He could almost feel his primaries rotating on their own, guiding his trajectory. For a second, the whole world seemed to tilt and slow around him, making him feeling like he was standing still.

And then he was level with her. He braked, flicking out his wingtips to stop himself. They shrieked with painful protest at the sudden halt. He lunged forward in midair, his upper body and wings taking the shock as Talon landed like a sack of flour in his arms. His breath burst out in an 'umph'. His narrow wings flapped madly, trying to take the weight of them both.

Akia looked Epsilon up and down, her eyes searching his body for wounds. Though he had taken damage during the fight, he appeared to be no worse for the wear. "Come."

She turned on her heel and started off in the direction of the small town their van was parked at. "We have a report to make. Then we recieve further orders."

And the Prey will wait, wondering, fearing...the fear will eat them, make them weak... And the Hunt will begin anew…

Talon's eyelids fluttered, the impact of landing in Merlin's arms jarring her already battered frame. She yelped, the pain pulling her back from the darkness of unconciousness, if only breifly.

"Wha..? Merlin...How'd I...?

"I don't know, but when i looked up, its claws had gone right through her, stuck out her back, the arteries would have poured open after a blow like that, plus, as strong as she is, it probably would have turned her lungs really weak, and not meaning to be a downer, but she looked pretty not-so-good to me." She said. There was no way someone could survive having steel claws run through their vital organs.

"Stay still," Merlin grunted, realizing that Talon was at least semi-conscious again. He was afraid she'd try to protest and break out of his hold, which at this point might be fatal to her. Already he could feel warm, sticky liquid trickling onto his shirtfront and arms. She might not be dead, was she was freaking hurt. Bad.

He had to throw all his energy into every downward wingbeat, exhaling hard with the exertion on every stroke. But finally he got them moving forward and up. It was a good thing that Talon was lighter than the average human because of her hollow bones. Still, that didn't seem to be helping him any. She still felt like she weighed a ton.

"Jeez, Talon," he gasped, "Been eating rocks lately?"

Talon coughed, but listened to someone else for once in her life. She didn't move. A small semblance of a grin crossed her features at Merlin's joke.

"You know me...can't keep my hands off 'em..."

The next two hours seemed to drag by for the two bird kids while Merlin labored to keep them both in the air. Talon passed in and out of conciousness. For the brief moments she was awake she muttered nonsense, rambling about the whitecoats coming, about painful expiriments, about hiding, about stars. Her words were broken, disjointed.

Her blood loss had slowed to a trickle, but she was paler than she had ever been. And the last time she had come back had been about twenty minutes ago. She was in serious trouble, and needed help fast.

Darkness swallowed up the land as night fell, and in the distance the bright lights of the city pushed the darkness away. Not ten minutes later, the birdkids found themselves above the city.

Merlin knew he had to find somewhere to land. Talon hadn't stirred in the last twenty minutes, and that couldn't be good. But he also couldn't come down in the middle of a crowded street. That would definitely not get Talon help any faster, and would more likely land both of them on the next edition of the evening news, if not in a zoo.

He picked a heavily wooded park, hoping that no streetlights or sharp eyes made his descent too obvious. Carrying Talon, he didn't have too much manueverability, so he hit a few branches on his way through the treetops. He dropped down into a clearing and laid Talon as gently as he could on the ground. In the dark, Talon's white, bloodless face stood out in stark relief, and her labored breathing scraped through the silence. Merlin knelt beside her, feeling angry and scared and helpless. Not the best things to be feeling in this situation, but he couldn't help it. He knew he wasn't helpless, not by a long shot. But he had to reluctantly admit that he was used to Talon deciding things and giving orders.

"C'mon, Talon," he whispered. "Don't leave me alone. Tell me what to do..." He started gently easing up her shirt, tightening his stomach against the instictive surge of nausea in reaction to the heavy scent of blood. He needed to look at the wound...but at the same time, he didn't want to.

"Tch." Edge said, her frustration easily aroused. She pulled herself off the ground slowly, causing a quiet shuffle on the dusty, stone ground. "Pathetic." She said, "How can all of you be so faithless?" She glared into the darkness, holding her arm, which had grown numb. As she spoke, she untied the tourniquet, it's help no longer needed, and began to readjust it as more of a sling.

"Talon is our leader," She began, as much as she hated that first fact. "Have you no hope for her? Are you so quick to believe she is dead?" Her voice died down to an angry whisper.

"Shame on you. After all we've been through. If you can't have more faith in her."

That being said, she walked out of the room, making her way through the natural halls to another. The path grew narrow, and instead she came to a dead end. Where the mountain's ceiling had given in since her last visit. Edge sat down right there, her mind too clouded to search out somewhere new. She had always thought her fellow Avians to be stronger than that. This was like her, to storm off as she did. Edge had grown good with controlling her anger. But it absolutely apalled her, that even though they didn't have full evidence, they instantly fell to assume it was certain that Talon was dead.

Pathetic. She thought, slumping onto the ground, and stretching out on the cool stone. Too tired to care for the pain anymore.

"I have faith in her completely!"Lily yelled angrily. "But Excuse me if I know by now that the world wont let good things happen to us! I know that i might sound like a pessimist, but I know, and YOU know too, that nothing goes our way, tha's why we have wings, and cant live in a home, and we can't have a family! Fate is not our friend!" With that, she left the cave. She got ready to take off.

The sound of movement came from above, but if one looked up, they would have found nothing. Then, it sounded off to the right...and then on the left. It seemed to be coming from everywhere...

"Well, it looks like she's had better days. This a result of some kinky sh*t, or should I actually be worried that something bad is coming this way?" He leaned casually on the wall opposite Merlin, watching the avian boy with his large eyes carelessly. A black guitar rested in his right hand, while his left rubbed his chin in thought.

"I give her...a half-hour at best, kid. And that's only if you leave her lying in a gutter, but I get the feeling that isn't an option."

A wicked smile spread across his face, and his fangs seemed to gleam in the darkness. "Well kid, I guess you have to ask yourself..."

The hybrid pushed off the wall, and his smile seemed to twist into a savage grin. "What are ya willing to pay for her survial?"

Merlin was on his feet in a second. Uncomfortably aware of Talon's blood on his palms, he didn't even think of hiding his wings. It was too late anyway.

His whole body tensed to fight as he edged his way in front of Talon, forming a living shield. Merlin wasn't one to begin a fight, so he spread his wings menacingly, clenched his fists, and tried to look as vicious as possible. "Who are you? What do you want? If you've come to hurt us, if you're one of them, I swear I'll tear you apart and burn what's left." He'd read that in a book once, and it sounded appropriately menacing, he thought.

Then the strange boy's other words filtered through. "Wait a sec...you think you can help her?" He didn't even bother to answer the newcomer's other barbed comments. He kept his raptor eyes trained on the boy, watching for telltale attack cues, cataloguing potential threat. That guitar could make either a good distraction or a passable club, and he didn't really want to think about those weird fangs. The guy's lanky frame could mean he was scrawny or weak, but Merlin's instincts led him to guess the boy was more like him: what strength he had was contained in lean athlete's muscle that wasn't really visible.

And all the while, another part of his brain was listening to Talon gasp for breath, quietly bleeding out behind him, slipping further away from him...

"Think I can? Kid, I know I can."

The boy was right in Merlin's face in an instant. He was fast. Very fast. Now that he was closer, it was strikingly clear as to what he was. Large, clearly not human ears sprouted from the sides of his head, and rose a good inch or two above his skull before they finally stopped. His eyes were vibrant red, contrasting the how utterly pale his skin was.

"But this is the big city, kid! You're gonna have to give me something in return for helping out." Glancing at Talon, the teen sighed to himself. "Without it...she's a goner, and then you'll only need to dig her a hole."

His eyes locked with Merlin, and his grin seemed to widden even more. "Tell ya what. You caught me in a good mood. I'll help you out now, and we'll work out costs later. Sound fair?"

He was at the end of the alley before Merlin could reply. "Let's get moving kid! I'll get the banadages and the pain meds, you do all the carrying!"

Merlin's already super-fast heartbeat jumped up like crazy at his sudden proximity to the guy. His breath stuck in his throat. What was it with them and monsters today?

He had to blink several times before it registered with him that the stranger had pulled back and was walking away. And he had said to follow.

Follow? A creepy boy with a black guitar, fangs, inhuman features, uncanny speed, and red eyes? Trust him to heal Talon?

Merlin glanced at his motionless leader, stained with rapidly browning dried blood. He bit his lip, hard. And then he made the decision of a survivor...one of those really hard, potentially fatal ones.

He bent down and scooped Talon gently in his arms, wincing in empathetic pain as he settled her in a more or less comfortable carrying position. Then he started after the guy.

After all, if it was a choice between certain death for Talon, or potential death at the hands of a mysterious stranger with fangs...he'd take the uncertain choice every time.

"Smart kid."

The stranger stayed a few feet ahead of Merlin at all times, occasionally looking back at the avian to ensure that he was still following. Soon enough, they came to an all-night pharmacy. Leaning againest the glass, he waited for Merlin to get closer before speaking.

"Alright, I'll go grab the stuff. You make sure she dosen't die and waste my charity." He opened the door, and stepped inside without another word. He didn't wear a shirt, and as he stepped into the light it became painfully obvious...

He was a hybrid. And he wasn't hiding it at all.

The teen waved to the shop-keep, who waved back as if he was any other human being. It wasn't long till he had collected the necessary supplies, and was ringing them through at the check-out counter. He and the man chatted for a bit, before the stranger started towards the door once more.

Merlin pressed himself into the shadows outside the shop, his every nerve raw from sheer tension. He hated everything about this. Talon's injury, this big city, and most of all, this hybrid guy with his holier-than-thou attitude and his freaky appearance.

What was he, anyway? And why couldn't anyone else see it? Merlin looked down at Talon, fresh fear pulsing through him. He couldn't let her die...he didn't know where the rest of the Flock was, and it was just the two of them for now. He was responsible for her. A sardonic smile caught him unawares as he imagined how Talon would laugh, laugh and then try to punch his lights out, at the idea of anyone caring for her, taking responsibility for her, going sick and out of their minds with worry for her.

The soft jingling of the shop door bell brought his attention fully back to the situation at hand.

"Put these on her kid, and be quick about it. I would like to get home soon."

He tossed the bandages at Merlin roughly, and leaned againest the window. He seemed rather...bored with the situation, and not a trace of worry seemed to touch his face as he tapped his foot impatiently. "What's your name? Or do you prefer the name 'kid'?"

His eyes drifted away from the two, and off to the skyline above them. "You can call me Rift." His smile returned, and he gestured off behind him. "Once you're done being the medic, we can get moving to my place, alright?"

Talon's arm twitched, then her eyelids fluttered. She groaned, still deep in the clutches of unconciousness. She gave another twitch, before her eyes finally opened. She looked blearily up at Merlin, clearly confused as to what was going on. She winced suddenly, as her body shouted at her for all the abuse it had taken. She opened her mouth, and the first coherant words that she had spoken in hours were:

"f*cking hell..."

Her usually strong voice was still shaky and nothing like what it used to be. She attempted to move, to get out of Merlin's grip, but she found herself lacking the strength to do so, and it just wasn't worth the pain to even try. She sagged, defeated.

Akia led Epsilon back through the woods at a swift pace, navigating through the trees with ease. Soon, the town came into view, just visable between the trees. She stepped forward without a second's hesitation, making her way back towards the store where the van was parked. No doubt the whitecoats would be eager to hear about their latest creation's sucess.

Merlin set Talon down gently. He couldn't help it; through his fear, he grinned. Oh yeah, it was Talon in there all right.

"You can call me Merlin," he told the creepy guy; Rift, he'd said. "And this...as you just heard...is Talon."

It irked him a little how Rift just stood there with that bored expression, but he was focused on Talon now.

Merlin did know how to use medical supplies. He started methodically ripping bandages apart, dousing each one in some antiseptic. Then he began easing Talon's shirt off.

The Flock was so used to treating each other's wounds that seeing each other unclothed wasn't really awkward anymore. It just became unimportant when you had claw marks in your ribs, chest, back, shoulder, leg...he could go on and on. Still, for Talon's sake, he kept his body positioned so that she was mostly blocked from Rift's view. He started laying the
bandages on, glad that she seemed to be regaining some consciousness. He tried not to focus too much on the ragged holes in her chest and stomach as he worked.

He still didn't feel good about this guy, but he had gotten them the supplies. If he'd wanted to kill them, he couln't think why Rift would want to help Talon.

"Auch! Careful!"

Talon bit off another curse as the antiseptic stung her wounds. She made no moves to protest Merlin bandaging her up though, it needed done and odds were that he could do it better than her at the moment. She glanced around, her mind dully noting that they were in the city. Her grey eyes flickered to Merlin's face, then down to her ruined shirt.

That's a lot of blood…

She raised a hand and scrached her cheek, then grimanced. Her face was covered in dried blood. She carefully felt her nose and the tender, swollen flesh around it. Yep, deffinentally broken.

"I look as bad as I feel...?" She returned her attention to Merlin, her grey eyes searching his for clues as to how bad off she was.

Merlin felt relief start to trickle through him. Talon talking had to be a good sign. Which was almost amusing; he didn't usually see it like that.

"My advice? Don't look down if you can help it," he told her dryly, pressing another shred of thick white gauze around the edges of a hole. "If it hurts, I think there's some pain killers here...and I'll try to get this dried blood off you soon..." He started holding up bottles from the handful Rift had gotten, squinting at their labels.

"By the way," he said casually, not wanting to stress Talon by startling her, "This is Rift, our....uh...benefactor." It was the most subtle way he could think of to draw Talon's anything about it, but he wanted her to be aware of his presence.

"Huh...?" She swung her gaze over to the person Merlin had pointed out. It was...a person. She couldn't make out any details in the darkness, he looked like a plain, normal person. He was normal. He was normal. She swung her eyes back over to Merlin.

"You let a normal person help us?!" She hissed. "Did he see us? Does he kn-oww!" She yelped, her furious hissing ripping open one of the scabs that slashed across her face. "Piss!"

Okay, getting worked up at this point in time wasn't the smartest idea in the world. She only wound up making things worse for herself. So, she took a few breaths to try and calm herself down. She sighed, and held out a hand for the pain killers.

"Gimme some damn pain killers..." She grumbled.

"You think I'm normal? Man, you must have lost alot of blood to think that."

Rift now stood opposite Merlin, squatting just behind Talon's head. His crimson eyes seemed to shine with a odd form of amusement. "And anyone with eyes can see what you are. You're an avian-human hybrid, toots. Or are you an angel, cause if you are, you musta fell into a knife shop when you came down."

He chuckled at the joke, as his hands drummed againest the neck of his guitar.

Merlin scowled at Rift. Some people thought they were so hilarious.

"Yeah...um, I figured he didn't count." Merlin shook four capsules into Talon's waiting palm, figuring now wouldn't a good time to overdose her on pain meds. "See, he's not exactly normal..." Merlin didn't want to come right out and tell Talon everything creepy about Rift; he figured once the medicine kicked in and her head cleared, she'd see for herself.

"Anyway, stop freaking out. It can't be good for you." He tried to make his voice sound commanding. Seeing her reopened scab, he started dabbing more antiseptic on her face, going gently around her broken nose.

Talon yelped at the contact of the antiseptic around her broken nose. She swatted merlin's hand away, taking the next moment to gulp down the pills. She motioned for him to continue aterwards, knowing that she didn't need an infected cut because of her own stubbornness.

"Well, then what the hell is he, if he's not exactally normal?!" Talon demanded, completley ignoring Merlin telling her to stop freaking out. She tried to turn her head to see Rift behind her, but with Merlin working on her she wasn't able to.

"Get out from behind me so I can see who the hell you are!"

"I could...but I really don't feel like it."

The hybrid psuhed his guitar into a more comfortable postion, before his fingers gracefully slid up the neck. There was a brief moment of silence, before notes began to fill the night air. The notes flowed from the midnight black guitar, and seemed to engulf the senses of all those around the player. As the music danced in the air, Rift began to sing.

"If you just walked away
What could I really say?
Would it matter anyway?
Would it change how you feel?"

His voice contrasted the song's heavier notes, but it seemed to fit just right. Not a note seemed out of place, and his fingers seemed to move with such inhuman grace that it was hard to watch him play. But one couldn't draw their eyes away.

"I am the mess you chose,
The closet you cannot close
The devil in you I suppose
'Cause the wounds never heal...

But everything changes
If I could
Turn back the years
If you could
Learn to forgive me
Then I could learn to feel..."

Merlin's immediate thought as the first chords echoed out was to ask Rift quite scathingly if this was really the time for him to be singing. But he forgot that thought astonishingly quickly.

His hand, which was methodically cleaning Talon's face with practiced, clinical gestures, slowed. His fingers splayed out unconsciously, falling almost instinctively into the same rhythm that Rift's voice created, brushing Talon's skin more lightly, more like a caress. He felt extremely light-headed, although his insides, conversely, seemed to be turning leaden with a sudden sorrow. He had plenty of things to feel worried or melancholy about, sure, but this was a thicker, stronger emotion. Loss. This was what he might feel like if Talon had died. Aimless, almost drunken confusion, overlaid with a dull kind of pain, and a sharp kind of sorrow.

He couldn't fight it off. He couldn't interrupt the sound of the chords or Rift's voice. It was like the song flowed into his blood and took over his brain's task of commanding muscle and bone. His wings dropped limp and motionless to his sides, his hand now frozen on Talon's cheek. It was strange, but that skin contact was the thing that he was most aware of in this weird world the music had pulled him into.

Talon opened her mouth to tell the Rift person that she really wasn't in the mood for music, but the words died on her lips before she could utter a sound.

She closed her mouth and swallowed, caught up in the rhythm of the song. She felt almost detached, as if she was far away from herself. A heavy feeling of sorrow twisted her guts, tying them in a knot. What was this? It felt like a parto her had been taken, like she had lost something...or someone important. Pain mixed with sorrow enveloped by regret. Something she'd feel if she lost one of her flock.

There was no resisting the feeling, no stopping Rift's song. She was enthralled by it, completely forgetting about everything around her. Except Merlin. His hand resting on her cheek was the most solid thing in this music induced waking dream.

Rift smiled for a breif moment, before he sang again. His crimson eyes seemed to literally glow with some strange light, making the hybrid seem like something even more unreal.

"Sometimes the things I say
In moments of disarray
Succumbing to the games we play
To make sure that it's real

But everything changes
If I could
Turn back the years
If you could
Learn to forgive me
Then I could learn to feel..."

The hybrid watched the avians under his spell, and he couldn't help but notice them seemed...oddly close. Not friendship close either. A little bit closer than that...

His smile returned. This could promise some fun.

"When it's just me and you
Who knows what we could do
If we can just make it through
The toughest part of the day

But everything changes
If I could
Turn back the years
If you could
Learn to forgive me
Then I could
Learn how to feel
Then we could
Stay here together
And we could
Conquer the world
If we could
Say that forever
Is more than just a word

If you just walked away
What could I really say?
And would it matter anyway?
It wouldn't change how you feel..."

Merlin felt dizzy. No, maybe not dizzy, because his head still felt relatively clear and he didn't feel like he was going to collapse or anything. Just...weird.

He tried to move his mouth, but it felt oddly slack, like talking wasn't really important enough to concentrate on right now. Besides, talking might make Rift stop singing. He tried moving his hand instead. That worked a little better; his fingers slid a little further down Talon's cheek. Merlin twisted his head to look at her, feeling curiously like he was either dreaming or moving through water. He wasn't surprised to see that she seemed to look like he felt...dazed.

Rift's voice and the words of his song seemed to twine through Merlin's head, causing the strange emotions in him to spike again. Pain...worry for Talon...she seemed better now, but it had been so close...he had never felt so horrified and furious and scared as when Epsilon had stabbed her...he needed her. He couldn't lose Talon, ever. Because she was his leader. Because she was strong and smart and fierce and annoying. And also...because Rift was singing about her. Wasn't he? But...how had he written a song about Talon? Was Merlin in the song too? Somehow it seemed like it.

He moved his hand again. Despite the cuts and scabs and dried blood, Talon's skin felt oddly smooth under his fingers. Cool, but not in a bad way. Why was Rift singing about them anyway?

Talon watched Merlin, a small part of her mind noting that he looked dazed, like she was. She raised her hand and lightly rested her fingertips on his hand. She was still caught up in Rift's music, in the feelings his song envoked. Worry for her flock, worry for Merlin. Pain. Sorrow. And...something else.

Why was this person singing about Merlin? About Merlin and her? What? How was that possible? No one could...But, here Rift was, singing this song. Making her realize that maybe she felt something more than friendship towards Merlin. That there was something more.

Was there?

The music vanish from the air, and Rift was at Talon's side with his eyes flicking between the two avian kids deviously. "If you two are going to do something, can you wait until we get to my place? Out in public ain't the best place for your first time."

He was up and starting down the street in the blink of an eye. "Come on, lovebirds! You can makeout at my house, where you don't have to worry about people seeing you."

Merlin blinked. Talon seemed to be looking at him strangely...something had changed in her eyes. Her really cool, smoky gray eyes...

The song ended.

Rift's smirky comment penetrated his brain a second later.

Merlin pushed himself backwards onto his heels like Talon had turned into a poisonous snake. Heat rushed into his neck and face, heat that had nothing to do with his power. Flustered and horrified and amazed and angry and a lot of other things, Merlin stared after Rift's retreating figure. "What did you DO?!" he hissed after the lean shape, scrambling to his feet. He didn't dare meet Talon's eyes. Rift's smug words echoed in his mind like the leftover strains of his haunting music. "Come on, lovebirds!" He shuddered involuntarily. What had he been thinking? What had he…they...almost done?

Talon gaped in shock as the song ended and Merlin jerked away.

Not long after a look of horror replaced the shock. Her face flushed, turning a lovely shade of red. What had she been thinking?! What had they been doing?! Did they really almost just...? The flock leader turned her head from Merlin, wanting to hide her face from him. Her eyes landed on her discarded shirt, and she suddenly realized that she was still shirtless.

She snatched the ruined tanktop up and hurridly pulled it on, wincing as the movement pulled at her freshly bandaged wounds. She refused to look over at Merlin, fearing what he might be thinking about what had just happened. She'd never live this one down...

She struggled to her feet and turned an angry glare in the direction of Rift's retreating back. "If I hadn't just been impaled a few hours ago I'd knock your lights out!"

Right about then, her body decided to remind her that she had, infact, lost a lot of blood and it hadn't yet had the chance to replace it. A wave of dizzyness and lightheadedness caused her to press a hand against her forehead and squeeze her eyes tightly shut.

Oookay, lets not repeat that…

"If music be the food of love, play on!"

Rift obviously had no intention of revealing what he had done to the bird kids, as he came to a halt at the end of the street. "Now move your asses! I'd like to get some sleep tonight!" It was not a request. It was an order.

"Or would you rather I play a love song, kiddos?" The hybrid looked back at them, a sinister smile on his lips.

Merlin looked back at Talon. He was so embarassed he really didn't want to go near her...but there was no way she was going to manage even one city block without him to lean on. She had lost too much blood.

Gritting his teeth, he walked back to her and pulled her arm across his shoulders, trying to pretend the whole music episode had never happened. He sincerely hoped she wouldn't punch him for his boldness, but Rift was almost out of sight, and they really did need to get moving in order to catch up with him. Merlin hated to admit it, but they needed the hybrid, and they needed temporary shelter, soon. Knowing Talon, she could argue with him all night about whether she needed help.

Talon shot a glance at Merlin when he approached, but made no move to threaten him. She pushed what had just happened to the back of her mind, determined to ignore it. When Merlin pulled her arm across her shoulder she looked at him, opened her mouth to speak, but quickly closed it; changing her mind.

"Let's go..." She muttered, starting forward with Merlin. She focused her eyes on the ground in front of them, realizing how bone-weary she was. She sighed, but refused to give into her tiredness. She was too proud to do that, too stubborn.

After a few minutes of walking, the trio came to a large apartment building. Rift started up the steps, motioning for the avians to follow him. Entering the lobby, he quickly hailed an elevator, as he waved in greeting to the security guard, who simply waved back.

Looking at the two, Rift smirked. "So, how long you two lovers know each other?"

Merlin just stayed quiet, trying to ignore the hybrid's jibes. He was starting to realize that snapping at Rift over his stupid comments was not going to shut him up. In fact, it probably only encouraged him. And he wasn't going to start a fight with the guy; he didn't care to get into actual fistfights if he could help it. So he just tried to physically force himself to stop blushing and concentrated on helping keep Talon on her feet.

He felt extremely jumpy being inside a normal building with normal people, especially escorting a blood-covered teenager. He kept his wings pulled tight into the indentations along his spine, but he still felt horribly exposed. His innate claustrophobia was kicking in, and Merlin felt his body trying to phase instinctively into camouflage mode. He sternly reined in the impulse. The apartment security might not think Rift was weird, but they would certainly think he was if parts of him started turning the same color as the garish lobby carpet or the wallpaper.

Talon, who by this point was tired beyond all belief, not to mention irratable and embarassed, answered Rift with a growl and a none too lady-like hand guesture. She was stiff and sore and had aquired a raging headache on the short walk to the appartment. The painkillers really weren't doing their job. All she really wanted to do was passout some place mildly comfy and pretend everything that had happened in the past few hours was just a bad dream.

She stepped into the elevator, dragging Merlin with her. The birdkid sent Rift a withering glare. "Ask me questions when it doesn't feel like I was hit by a f*cking train."

Edge, having cooled off in the time given, moved to stretch out on the smoky stone floor. She could see better here. The sliver of light that slipped through one of the bigger cracks of the cave-in was all her raptor vision needed. Moonlight filtered down, washing the dust-coated tunnel. As she layed back, she heard her ribs creak, followed by an almost numb pain. Not nearly as bad as before. With each hour that passed her healing progressed. She looked up through the crack in the 'ceiling', and for the first time, wondered where everyone was. Talon. Merlin. And what about that other flock?

And this...Beast that had come for them. Intent are tearing them limb from limb.

Did they have more of those? Not likely.

How smart could he be?

What if they mimicked his master's voice?

Who was his commander?

Would that confuse him?

Couldn't that Gazzy kid do it?

Would they ever even see that Gazzy kid again?

She sighed. So many questions. It was giving her a massive headache. And her stomach chose now to complain. "Damnit!" Edge cursed loudly, slamming her fist against the wall. She had hit a weaker point, and what was left of the crumbling wall took way, rolling down the side of the mountain, allowing the moonlight to completely fill the area. Outside she could now hear the calls of wild animals, and the rustling of plants in the nightly breeze.

"Perfect."

Rift rolled his eyes, and got into the elevator after them. Pressing a button, he leaned casually againest the wall as the doors slid shut. The elevator hummed to life, and it began it's steady climb.

"I really doubt a train could impale you, sweetcheeks. Plus, you owe me big time for saving your life. Cause frankly this guy would have probably gotten ya killed."

The hybrid grinned at the two, before he began to bob his head to a tune in his head. His white mohawk moved with him, but his eyes remained on the two kids.

"Well, I'm feeling generous. Ask me a question kids. I can tell you've both got a million of 'em, so I'll try cutting them down early."

Epsilon followed in absolute silence, save for the ground crunching beneath his feet. There was no need to speak right now. No point at all.

He'd speak when necessary.

He opened the side of the van, and climbed soundlessly inside the vehicule.

Merlin's fists clenched, even the one that was still around Talon's shoulder. Would probably have gotten her killed...!? He didn't want to ask Rift a question so much as clench his hands, heated to burning temperature, around his upper arms...or maybe his throat....

He bit back the sudden violence. That wouldn't do at all. Besides, he had read enough books to know that starting a fight with someone you hadn't had a chance to fully size up was stupid.

"What did you do to us, back there?" He realized he should have asked a more general question first, but honestly, that was the one that leapt to the forefront of his mind. Just asking it made him blush again though, a fact he knew was painfully obvious under the elevator's harsh lighting.

"Huh?" Gamer woke up from his nap as he heard the results from Edge's strike. I think Edge went that way. he remembered, listening to the sounds of the rocks falling. He slowly got up, his body still stiff and sore, his ribs still filled with a dull pain. He let out a sigh and leaned against the cave wall. Then he walked down the tunnel where he heard the commotion. Earlier his eyes had adjusted slightly, but his nap had left his vision completely useless. The rock walls were jagged as his hand ran gently across it. Soon he noticed that there was more light up ahead. He checked his watch, pushing a button activating the light inside it. 8:12 PM. Night time. He stepped farther into the light. He immediately felt a cool and steady breeze, and saw Edge standing in front of a large gaping hole.

"Edge what's going on?" the avian asked kind of groggily.

Rift grinned, and he laughed for a moment. "Oh, is that all you wanna know?" The hybrid set his guitar down, and face Merlin and Talon straight on.

"Take a good look at me. What do you think I am? What wonderful hodge-podge of human and animal do you think I am, kid?"

He didn't give Merlin a chance to answer, as he curled his index under Talon's chin. "I'm half-bat, incase either of you are blind. Unlike you two, I wasn't desginated as a big important experiment, so they decided to play a little. Thus, you get me. Rift, the only bat-freak in the world."

His smile turned savage, and he leaned in close to Talon's face. "And when they decided to f*ck around with my DNA, they musta done something funny to my throat. Because whenever I sing, people...change. Let's leave it at that, shall we?"

The bat glanced at the floor number, before looking back at them. "Any other questions?"

Talon swatted Rift's hand away half-heartedly, too tired to do much else. "Don' touch me." She growled. She wobbled slightly on her feet, but she kept herself fom falling by leaning more heavily on Merlin.

"Batkid, huh?" She eyed Rift with a new understanding of sorts. So he was another freak like them. "Whoopdee-freaking do." She rubbed her eye with the heel of her hand. "Alright, fine. My question."

She dropped her hand, focusing her tired eyes on him. "How the hell are you running around without people freaking out?" She guestured at his ears. "You're not even attempting to hide."

"Another easy question. It's really simply, actually, Talon..."

The bat leaned in close, his smile not even fading. His crimson eyes flashed for a brief moment, before he spoke.

"I'm not doing anything, and that's it."

The elevator doors dinged and slid open, and Rift walked into the hall without a word. He started down it, not even bothering to check if they were following. Reaching the door, he pulled a key out of his shorts and began to unlock the
door.

Merlin shook his head wearily. The revelations about Rift didn't surprise him...he was too tired to be surprised. At this point, he hardly cared whether a whole army of whitecoats was hiding behind Rift's apartment door waiting to pounce on them. He didn't trust the bat-kid, if that was what he was, and he certainly didn't like him. But things like trust and liking weren't factors anymore when you had been through the day from hell. And that was saying a lot, in a life where there were a lot of days that could accurately be described that way.

One thing did bug him though...how was Rift avoiding notice? He had dodged pretty neatly around the explanation of his musical talent, but the idea that his weirdness was somehow naturally invisible to people...Merlin shuddered. He didn't like to think of the whitecoats having that kind of power. The power to put some kind of a glamour, a spell over an experiment to cloak it....

Merlin shook himself sharply. He'd been reading too much fantasy. Next time he had a chance to get his hands on a book, he'd pick a nice old-fashioned Western that wouldn't give his imagination so much fuel. He felt leaden when he thought about how long it might be before he read another book.

Edge turned at hearing footsteps, and watched with sharp blue eyes as one of the Avians stepped into the moonlight. Gamer.

"Nothing." She answered him, a bit to fast. She knew that wouldn't fool him, and she sighed, brushing the tangled black hair from her eyes. She'd have to ask Lily to cut it later. "Sorry, Gamer, just been feeling a little emotional lately." She rolled her eyes at herself, turning to fully face him, and leaving the moonlight to her back. "Y'know, everything just happening so suddenly. And with the flock split up. I'm not sure what to do."

She couldn't remember a time where they had been split up accidently. If ever they were split, it was always involved with some kind of plan. But now the eldest of them were somewhere else, most likely in poor conditions. As were themselves. Edge knew they could stay here for tonight, but come morning the School could possibly send out scouts. And Edge didn't want to stick around anyhow. Where would they go?

"Com' on, Merlin...Lets just follow bat-boy over there...I'm basically dead on my feet..." It never dawned on her the poor word choice she had chosen, considering how close she had come to death. She jerked her head in the direction of Rift's appartment, before starting forward.

He didn't answer my question at all...Gotta remember to get a real answer out of him tomarrow…

She plodded down the hall, more exhausted than she had been in ages. She just wanted to sleep, stretch out and sleep. Hell, she'd be happy if she stretched out on the floor. It'd be more comefortable than a tree branch, that's for sure.

Rift opened the door, and stepped inside. The hybrid looked about for a breif moment, before heading into one of the rooms for a moment.

The apartment was rather impressive, and it looked rather lavished. It had four rooms, not including the living room/kitchen spilt. Everything looked top of the line. It was suprising to see such a wonderful home in the possession of...Rift.

Emerging from one of the rooms, Rift yawned before heading to the fridge and grabbing himself a can of beer. Cracking the can, he took a few gulps.

Merlin wasn't interested in food, or drink, or anything. A part of him, the tiny part that was still awake, expressed appropriate surprise at the room's size and furnishing. The rest of him started looking for a bed, a couch, or a comfy carpet. Spotting a door that looked promising, Merlin mumbled, "We're going to sleep. I assume you don't mind. And I wouldn't wake us up, especially Talon, for a while, or you forfeit your life." His weary voice took most of the menace out of the threat.

Merlin steered Talon toward the door, hoping a bed or two would be on the other side. He wanted to fall over where he stood, but he had come this far. He would not let it be said that he had fallen asleep before making sure Talon was okay first, after going through all this with her. Besides, reading heroic novels had given him a sense of chivalry that was at odds with his rough existance.

"Those aren't guest rooms, kid. They're used for something else. The one you're about to go through leads to my music room. No one is allowed in there. Next to it, is my gaming room. If you want, you can sleep on the couch in there."

Rift downed a bit more of his beer, before yawning. "That one leads to my room. Don't go in there, or I'll cut of your wings and throw you out the window. And that last one...is none of your f*cking business at all. Don't go in any of the rooms save for the gaming one unless you want to end up a pavement smear." Tossing the empty can away, the hybrid pushed past Merlin and Talon and entered his room.

"See you in the morning, kids. Keep it down to a dull roar for me." The door slammed shut behind him, and no more was heard from Rift.

"Yeah yeah yeah..." Talon muttered to the closed door Rift had just dissappeared behind. She dimly thought of a snarky remark, but, he was already gone and she was too tired to really put much effort into coming up with one. She yawned, and started towards the room Rift had pointed out they could sleep in.

"You get the couch, I'll take the floor." She told Merlin, opening the door and holding it for him. "No arguements.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. It seems like yesterday we were just--uh, nevermind." he cut himself off realizing that it was yesterday, and that what he was going to say wouldn't really help the now. He stared at the ground in thought. "This is a first for us; being split up like this. We couldn't make up a plan or anything." He couldn't help but dwell on the recent past as he said these words, and he started to feel a little helpless too.

He looked back up at Edge and flinched in surprise. The moonlight seemed to make her pale skin even whiter than usual, but it had a unique glow to it. Edge seemed different somehow, and it mesmerized Gamer. The way light shined on her hair also made it also seem lustrous despite having dirt and dust from it.

Dirt and dust? It all came back to avian as he remembered there current location and the fact that they had been beaten like crash dummies earlier, as he noted the various bruises on Edge's body including the sling around her arm. Something seemed different about her earlier, and he just realized something. "Hey, Edge. This is a little off topic, but what happened to your hoodie?

"It's a very strange feeling. Sort of...Empty." Her eyes widened just slightly more than what they were. Was she talking about feelings? "But whatever." She said, icy-blue eyes darting to the side. When she looked back, she realized he was staring at her. Quite strangely. She was about to ask why, when he spoke. This made her look down at her clothes in remembrance. "Ah, my hoodie." She looked back up to meet his green eyes, "I lost that at some point." Edge's tone seemed uncaring. Sure, she had been pissed when she first lost it. How else would she hide her wings in public? But at the time she dropped it, deciding to leave it for later consideration. Edge never had been a materialistic kind of person. She had nothing valuable to her other than the flock.

Merlin used up the last of his energy on a pointless glare at the now closed door to Rift's room. He couldn't get over how bored and callous the hybrid bat seemed about the whole situation. Still, they were here, and they could sleep.

"Talon, you really should have the couch," he mumbled. His vision was starting to blur. He didn't know how long he could argue this time, but he felt he should at least put up some sort of fight. "You're still wounded...you need...elevate...and comfort..." He didn't bother throwing in the part about chivalry; Talon would laugh her head off at the idea. Or she would if she wasn't as exhausted as he was. He lowered her toward the couch, hoping maybe she would go without resistance so he could get to sleep faster.

"I said you get the couch..." She protested feebly, but she lacked the strength to put up much of a fight. She grumbled as she lowered herself the rest of the way onto the couch. She rubbed her eyes, trying to clear her blurry vision and force herself to stay awake until Merlin was comfortable.

"Fine...jus' this once...I'll listen...jus' this once..."

She fought off a yawn, blinking quickly. The couch was really comfortable and she could practially feel it beckoning her to lay back and go to sleep. But she couldn't. Not yet. Merlin needed to get settled first.

"Ah, that's too bad." he replied kind of sympathetic. He scratched his head which was getting itchy from being in a cave for most of the afternoon. "I'm not sure how you'll be able to hide your wings, but I guess it's really not that important besides that, since I didn't notice it befo--" Gamer suddenly paused and then started scratching and patting his head. His hat was gone. "No...no, no, NO! Aww man! This totally sucks!!! My brother had a hat just like that one! Arrrrrrggghhhh!!!" Gamer thrashed around until he started noticing his ribs crying out in agony. "Augh!" he winced and clutched his ribs.

Merlin breathed a huge mental sigh. It was a miracle. Talon was safe, for now. She had listened, and she was sleeping in the place that was best for her.

He grabbed a spare pillow off the couch and tossed it on the rug in front of the sofa. He dropped to his knees, keeping his eyes open long enough to get a last look at Talon. To his amazement, her eyes were still slitted open, watching him. It dawned on him that she was waiting to make sure he was comfortable.

Deep down, he felt a tiny, warming flicker, like an echo of the feeling that Rift's song had woken in him. Sometimes Talon was really something else.

He sprawled out on the carpet with his head on the pillow, thinking with a kind of fuzzy, mean pleasure that maybe they at least would get some grime and blood on Rift's furniture in payback for his comments.

"'Night, Talon," he whispered, hardly able to believe he was actually going to sleep, officially ending this horrific day.

"Oh, God, Gamer!" Edge exclaimed, rushing over to him at a fast pace. "You idiot. That's what you get for getting so worked up. Look, I'll fly around tomorrow when the sun's out, and my injuries are healed for the most part. It's got a bright red seven on the cover, I'm sure I could spot it." She sighed, "If you freak out like that, you could make your injuries worse. And then it'll take longer for you to heal." Edge rolled her eyes. Her trademark attitude. But couldn't help but smirk. Typical Gamer.

Gamer panted a little, and started to calm down. "Okay...thanks...now when did I lose it?"

He thought back before they left to the grocery store. No way he would leave it behind for something like that.

He fast-forwarded to when he was fighting Epsilon. How he was sent flying into the shelves, resulting in the various bruises on his body. Surprisingly, his had stayed on then.

He zoomed ahead to when Edge was carrying him. Did Edge have her hoodie on back then? I don't remember...maybe not? He couldn't remember that part so well, but he did recall that he hadn't been wearing his cap ever since they were in the cave, so it must've flew off in the woods. "It was probably that one sharp turn. The fourth one...or the second? I was kind of disorientated back then."

"No matter. I'll get it back if I have to beat the crap outta grizzly bears, just remain calm fot the rest of the night, alright?" Edge said, "And by the way, I believe I lost the hoodie before then." To answer his thoughts. She let her eyes sweep over the cave. Looking out into the starry night. The slight breeze. The smell of pines and damp grass. The sound of a stream that probably cut through the woods somewhere nearby. Edge turned back to her fellow Avian, "We should probably grab some sleep while we still can."

"Alright, alright." Gamer kind of wanted to protest since it was his hat, and that Edge wasn't exactly in much better shape than he was. But, it would be better if Edge went overall because he probably did cause more damage to his body with his tantrum, and because Edge knew the terrain better.

"Yeah, we probably should." he replied. Although I did just take a nap awhile ago…

A small smile crossed her face as Merlin sprawled out on the floor to sleep. He'd probably sleep like a rock tonight; she knew she would.

"G'night Merlin." She whispered back, before stretching out on the couch. Oohh that feels good… She let out a sigh, resting her head on her hands. She took one last look at Merlin, her smile returning, along with a ghost of the feeling Rift's song had exposed.

She closed her eyes, all too happy to surrender to sleep's comforting embrace. Finally, this nightmare of a day was over. She could rest, knowing that Merlin was fine and that Fawn could take care of everyone else.

"Nap or no, I don't know when we'll get to sleep the next time." She said, with a quiet, bitter laugh. "So, you should still get some more sleep." Edge moved over to a wall, holding her hand against it for support, and lowering herself to the ground. She was able to use her injured arm to balance herself for a split second. Even with the horrendous stabbing pain she got, it still wasn't as bad as it had been before. She once again stretched out on the floor, getting that same creaky complaining noise from her rib cage. The stone ground was cool against her skin, and with the added nightly breeze and the dampness of the cave, she began to wish she still had her hoodie.

"Goodnight, Gamer."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." he admitted. So. Want to. Play. Metroid. he couldn't help but thinking. Nevertheless he leaned his back against the wall, and slowly slid down to the cave floor. Gamer let out an "ugh" as the pain shot throughout his body as he stretched his legs out.

"Night." he told her. He noticed how much damper it was over here than in the other part of the cave he crashed in. He guessed that without her hoodie, Edge was probably freezing. The breeze probably wasn't helping much either. Gamer shifted his body, trying to remove his jacket to give it to her, but his ribs protested against this action too, and he let out a sharp hiss of pain. He sighed-which also caused some discomfort-and carefully laid down on the ground.

He looked at Edge one more time, the moonlight having the same mystifying effect as before. For some reason, he had the feeling that he wanted to ask Edge something important, but he couldn't really remember. Guess I'm more tired than I thought I was. Whatever. Gamer closed his eyes and listened to the running stream water; trying to fall asleep.

Morning came later for Talon than usual, who was almost always the first one up. She groaned, throwing an arm across her eyes to block out a shaft of bright sunlight streaming into the room from a small window that splashed across her face.

What the hell happened...? The thought drifted lazily through a mind still caught up in the dredges of sleep. She dimly registered that she was lying on something significantly softer than a tree branch, and the pain signals her body was sending her. Urgh...don' wanna get up...

The avian hybrid groaned again, this time louder. She attempted to crack her eyes open, but they felt glued shut. So, she raised her arm and rubbed them with the heel of her hand, clearing them. She slowly cracked one eye open and was met with unfamiliar surroundings.

Huh...?

She opened her other eye and glanced around the room, paranoia slowly building as she took in the strange room.

"Where the Hell am I...?"

A faint sound tickled Merlin's sleeping brain. Automatically, his brain rose into wakefulness, in case the noise was a threat. A couple more moments and his eyes cracked open. His mouth tasted vile, all thick and sour. Much of his hair had escaped from the tie, and it was falling into his eyes. He sat up very slowly, feeling stiff and sore all over.

Glancing over, he saw Talon was also coming awake. He guessed that it had been her voice that had woken him. Seeing no threats, he stretched his wings as far as he could without hitting any furniture; they still burned from the ordeal of carrying Talon the previous day.

The previous day...

It all came rushing back with the force of a steam train. Oh, God. Why did he have to remember it all? Couldn't his subconscious have repressed it or something? He'd read about that in a psychology book once. He groaned and pressed his knuckles into his forehead, trying to stem the headache he felt coming on from the sheer avalanche of memory. It was like how he'd heard a hangover felt...only without the alcohol.

Movement on the floor drew Talon's attention. It was Merlin. What was Merlin doing on the floor? What was she doing on a couch? She should be the one on the floor. She sat up and imeadiatly regretted it, several lances of pain shooting through her body.

"Fuckshitshitfuck!" She swore under her breath, waiting for the pain to receed back to a dull roar. Once it had she ran a hand through her hair, brushing it out of her face.

She looked down at Merlin, confusion witten across her face. She couldn't remember much of anything from the previous day, it was like a fog obscuring her memory. How did they get here? Where was here? Where was the rest of the Flock? Why did it feel like she had picked a fight with a bulldozer?

"Merlin...?" She finally asked. "Where are we?"

Merlin glanced up at Talon, feeling a twinge of alarm. Did she have amnesia? Had Rift used some weird power to wipe her memory? But she knew his name. Maybe her burst of realization hadn't come yet, as his had just done.

He felt bad for having to be the one to break it to her, but she had asked. "We're in bat-boy's apartment, remember? We both crashed after our No Good, Horrible, Really Bad Day." Merlin quoted the title of one of the children's books he'd picked up on accident and ended up liking. He watched Talon carefully, waiting for her gray eyes to light up with sudden remembrance. "Y'know...crazy monster attack...flight from hell...creepy kid with red eyes...that godawful so--" He stopped short. He wasn't sure he wanted to remind Talon of the song experience just yet.

"Anyway, you got messed up really bad," he told her. "You probably shouldn't try to move too much." Then he remembered the stream of curses she'd just uttered and guessed that that advice had come a bit too late.

"Bat-boy...?" Her eyes widened as realization dawned. "Oh...sh*t..." She looked down at herself and winced at the sight of her ruinied shirt and the white guaze that could be seen throuh the rips and tears in her shirt.

She dropped her head in her hands while her memory pieced itself back together. Pinecone fight. Edge, Gamer, and that Iggy kid going for food. Them coming back in rough shape. That monster following them back. Her telling everyone to leave. Merlin stayed. The fight. She had shot that bastard and it had done nothing!

Talon shuddered at the memory of Epsilon, fear running icy fngers down her spine. The memorys continued. He had run her through on his claws. Merlin tackled him. She slid off. They escaped. She was in bad shape, but refused to admit it. Then...nothing. There was a big blank spot in her memory. What had happened? Waking up to Merlin patching her up. That weird bat-kid. He seemed like an assh*le. And then...

Talon's eyes widened and she jerked her head from her hands, looking at Merlin. That song! And they had...Did he remember?! She swallowed, hoping he wouldn't bring it up if he did. She was Talon, she didn't do the whole 'mushy' stuff. God, if the others found out.. She shuddered at the thought.

"Uh..." She glanced up at the window. "Any idea what time it is?"

"Probably about noon," Merlin guessed. The apartment didn't get tons of light, so it was hard to tell. Just remembering that he was in a room, an enclosed space, made Merlin shudder.


He wondered why Talon seemed so ruffled. Maybe she was just reliving yesterday. Some pretty scary stuff had happened, after all.

"You want some food?" he asked her. Now that his most pressing need, sleep, had been satisfied, his need for thousands of calories was rearing its head. He bet that bat-boy had some food in his cupboards...but he didn't know if they should just help themselves. Rift hadn't exactly invited courtesy with his attitude yesterday, but at the same time, he didn't want to make him too mad. He hated to admit it, but Rift kind of scared him. Or, not really Rift himself, but his power. He did not want to find himself on the receiving end of that music again.

Or...did he? Merlin was somewhat dismayed to discover that part of him didn't seem to mind so much the notion of experiencing those feelings again.

Lily decided to sleep away from the cave, she didnt realise how stupid that was but she nestled herself in a tree anyways. She wrapped her wings around herself and quickly fell asleep. She fekt bad for being so negative about the situation at hand but was too proud to go and apologise just yet.

Edge's eyes blinked open at the whispery feeling of the morning breeze on her arms. Outside, the sun was just beginning to peek over the mountains, spreading pink and orange all across the sky. It had to be early. She sat up, noting the absence of pain in her arm, and only a soreness in her ribs. She removed the tattered sling, and flung it away mindlessly. She tested it, bending her arm this way and that. All good. For a change.

As the rising sun crept slowly over the mountains, Gamer's sleeping form was slowly revealed by the rays. The cool breeze shifted the hair on his hat-less head slightly, but he kept on sleeping; Gamer wasn't as light of a sleeper as the other flock members were. He layed on his side, his head resting on top of his right arm. He was snoring ever so slightly. Not loud or obnoxious at all. However, his mouth was open slightly and a bit of saliva threatened to run right out of his mouth. He didn't hear Edge wake up.

Edge looked over to where Gamer lay, still asleep. She smirked, before slowly getting to her feet, careful not to be too loud in doing so. She walked over to the opening, looking out at the forestry all around. They were pretty far up. She could see the world awakening from where she stood. For some reason, she never had felt like she belonged in civilization. The wild always had called her name. Maybe it didn't suit some flock members, but Edge loved the way they lived. If she could choose to give it up for a cushy high-end life, she'd blow it off without a second thought.

Edge glanced back at Gamer once more, before slowly stretching out her wings. Flexing them a bit, a wave rippled down her feathers, quietly shaking them of the cave's purple-ish-blue dust. And she stepped forward, falling down the side of the mountain. The air rushed up at her, as the ground approached. She found herself incapable of suppressing the wide grin that spread across her face as the usual adrenaline kicked in. Just a foot from the ground, she snapped her wings out and flew upward, spiraling towards the sky with her arms spread out and her sharp blue eyes closed.

Damn.

What a feeling.

Lily awoke, feeling good about today, she felt like she was wrong last night. She snapped her wings out too and flew up to apologize to Edge. "G'morning, sunshine." she said with a grin. "Sorry about the way i acted last night, i think i was wrong." she did a little loop in the air happily.

Before Talon herself had a chance to answer Merlin's question, her stomach answered for her with a rather loud and angry growl. She gave a half hearted laugh. "Food might be good."

She streched slowly, testing her body. A grimance worked its way across her face at the twinges and pulls. Okay, probably ain't gonna be doing much of anything for a while… She slowly stood, not liking the fact that she still felt weak. But, she was determined. Today, she wouldn't get help. Today, she'd be fine and okay.

"Come on, let's go raid the cupboards." She held out a hand to help Merlin up, "Bet bat boy's got some good stuff kickin' around."

Edge opened her eyes, stopping mid-air. She would let herself drop a little, then give her wings a slight push, to maintain her position near Lily in the air.

"No, I acted up last night." She began, "Y'know how I can be." Edge had many faults, but unlike most people she wasn't shamed to admit them. "How do you think I got this name anyways?" She said, laughing quietly to herself. "So, I apologize, Lily."

"Well...okay." Merlin decided that with Talon as backup, raiding Rift's food supplies wouldn't be quite as bad. For starters, there would be two of them to face him if he decided to be nasty about it. And second, Merlin could always use the excuse that Talon was still wounded and should be given every consideration for her comfort. And that included food.

And of course, while she was eating, it wouldn't hurt for him to as well.

The kitchen was the obvious place to check first, so Merlin headed that way, keeping Talon in the corner of his eye in case she collapsed again.

Lily smiled, "The feeling is mutual," she held out a fist for a fist bump, her way of making sure they were cool. "I think we should go looking for them. The wind was blowing to the east most of the night, due to her weakened condition they probably went with the wind currents to save their energy, until they reached a suitable shelter." she said, suddenly sounding like an audio factbook.

Edge matched Lily's fist, grinning, which soon faded, "Actually Lily, I've been thinking lately. Fawn's two years older..." She began, flapping her wings once to pull her back just a little bit from the one that was like a little sister to her. "She's much more capable of handling you all for awhile than I am. And I was thinking that maybe I should go my own way for a while. Besides, if I had gone to the city like I was told, we probably wouldn't even be split up the way we are now..."

Talon followed after Merlin, her steps wobbly and unsteady. She frowned, concentrating on keeping herself from falling over, an studiously ignoring the growing volume of her stomach's protests.

Okay...we'll eat...then I'll look into replacing this shirt...or at least getting all my clothes washed. Blood stains tend to make blending in a tad harder. Then, I'll need to see how Merlin's doing and then we'll need to find the rest of the flock...They can't be too far, they were ahead of us only a little bit…

Her thoughts continued along that train, and unfortunatley caused her to completly miss the cardboard beer case that lay directly in her path. She let out a surprised yelp as she stumbled, and fell. She threw out her arms to catch herself, her eyes squeezed shut in anticipation of the coming pain. And it did come, not even a half second after she hit.

"Shitfuckdamnpisshell!"

"Damn, Talon," hissed Merlin, diving after her, a little unsteady himself. Irritably, he raked back his unruly hair as he hooked his hands under Talon's arms as gently as possible. I need to get another hair band...must have lost my other one yesterday... His longer hair suited him fine when it was tied back, but in instances like this it was a serious nuisance.

"You can't stay on your feet for five seconds...you must really have gotten banged up." Merlin made sure that she was fully on her feet before he gingerly removed his hands, half expecting her to topple again. He almost added another comment about her language, but decided that even with Talon injured, more than a couple teasing remarks at a time was pushing it. Instead he settled for, "You okay? Did anything reopen?"

"what?!" Lily exclaimed. She grabbed Edge's shoulders and shook her. "Normally i wouldn't care if you decided to fly solo for a little while. But think about it for a second, that leaves us even more split than we are now AND leaves us and you more vulnerable to that THING. Plus, what if Talon and Merlin came back and you were gone. They'd kill me if they found out i knew you were leaving and didn't ty to stop you." She said.

Edge was thrown off a little by Lily's shaking, especially because she was tired. "Lily, I've made up my mind. I will keep my promise, and find Gamer's hat. And after that I will leave. Talon and Merlin can't blame you, for not being able to stop me." She spoke calmly, trying to hide how hard it was to hide how painful it would be to leave her flock in such a desperate time. But she had her own reasons. She dare not speak them, they'd just call it bullshit. But they were important to her. And now was the time.

"Your not leaving, even if i have to drag you back into that cave, kicking and screaming. No offense, but you won't make it on your own. not with that thing chasing you. and you know im gonna try to hunt you down anyway. You might not be able to find us if you come back. Your not leaving, it's not optional." She said firmly.

Edge opened her mouth to speak, but shook her head instead. Much more of this, and her anger might get to her. They could have this discussion later. If she wasn't able to avoid it that is. She wouldn't give in. And if Lily knew her well, she'd know that. It was a small world, she didn't need to know where they'd be. She'd run into them eventually. And if they wanted to go out of their way, they could probably find her just by knowing so much about her. But either way, her decision had been made. And Edge was far too stubborn to be convinced otherwise.

"I'm going to go find Gamer's hat..." She said, not hesitating for Lily to speak before diving downward, and making her way around the mountain. Trees and other such life ran past her, as her icy eyes darted back and forth. Looking for a flicker of unnatural colour.

Lily dove down and ran into the caves. "Guys! guys! come quick i have to tell you something!" she shouted. She needed to warn them, so maybe they could make a plan to stop her. She imagined the whole kicking and screaming thing she had mentioned. She wasn't gonna let Edge leave that easily.

"Nuhh, two more levels and the donut is mine Talon." Gamer muttered in his sleep as a result to Lily's shouting. He rolled around a bit; unconciously shifting to make himself more comfortable. A small strand of saliva started pouring out of his mouth and he kept dreaming while drooling on the cave floor.

Edge's eyes narrowed in on a bright flash of red hidden among the forest floor. There were too many trees in that area to land with a wing span like hers. So she slowed near them, and aiming carefully, tucked her wings in. She dropped maybe 5 feet before reaching up with her good arm and grabbing hold of a lone branch, hearing the ancient tree creak in result of the impact. Her mind was blank. Almost like she was on auto-pilot. She didn't want to think. She didn't want to change her mind.

Letting go of the branch she held on to, Edge dropped to the next nearest one and so on, eventually reaching the ground. And there lay his hat, under some brush. Probably the work of some animal. She reached down, picking it up and dusting it off. She stared at it for a moment before looking back up, the woods were too thick. She would have to walk a while before she could take off again.

The door to Rift's room swung open violently, and the bat stormed into the room with a look of murder in his eyes. Thick bags were under his eyes, and it was easy to tell that he had been trying to sleep.

"In a minute, I'm going to reopen them all, and give you a few new ones!" He barked, his eyes narrowing on Talon and Merlin. "Are you two f*cking dense, or do you just enjoy trying to piss me off?! If it's the latter, than let me tell you that you'll find yourself a sidewalk pancake faster than you can f*cking blink!" His long index finger jabbed towards them, while his other hand was coiled into a very tight fist.

Talon opened her mouth to respond to Merlin, but was interrupted by Rift's door being thrown open and slamming into the wall. She raised an eyebrow at the clearly pissed off bat hybrid, attempting to size up what damage the shorter recombant could do in his angry state. He could probably do some damage...especially if he starting singing. Talon shuddered at the thought.

But, of course, being the way she is, she couldn't just keep her mouth shut. She raised a finger, and spoke.

"My dear, angry bat-child. I wouldn't of tripped, and then wouldn't of cussed and woken you up had you not so graciously left this," She guestured at the beer case. "Lying on the floor. So, in a way, this is your own damn fault. And if you're trying to sleep, then maybe you should cram some cotten in your ears, turn around, and go back to bed. Instead of waisting your oh so valuable sleeping time threatening us. How's that sound, hmm?"

Merlin knew Talon was a hundred times better than he was at verbal combat, so he settled for backing her up by subtly pressing his shoulder against hers and half-unfurling his angular wings. Rift did look pretty scary when he was pissed, but Merlin figured that sooner or later, he needed to ascertain how much of it was bark and how much was bite. And the only way to do that was to make sure Rift didn't know he was getting to them and stand their ground. He might think he was special, but he wasn't that much older than Merlin and Talon, and he was a hybrid freak just like them.

Come to think of it, Merlin could come up with no solid reason why they should back down from Rift, other than fear of his music. And right now, he didn't look in a very musical mood, unless he was going to start screaming some heavy death metal or something.

Merlin's muscles locked into place. He was sleepy still, and a little sore and stiff, but he thought he could take Rift in a fight if it came to that.

Rift's eyes flashed dangerously, and he stepped closer to Talon, seperating their faces by mere inches. "You're blaming this on me, you stupid bitch? My ears are bigger than your f*cking brain! Cotton does jack sh*t to muffle a moronic bird who can't even stay upright with out the help of her retarded friend who couldn't grasp the basic concept of getting some bandages!" His voice was sharp, and laced with acid. His fists seemed to coil even tighter, and it became more and more apparant that he would not back down.

"Do I need to f*cking remind you who saved your sorry ass from a coffin last night? Oh right! Me, you ungrateful bitch! So why don't you have a nice healthy glass of shut the f*ck up, before I shove my fist so far your windpipe, it comes out your f*cking ass!"

That did it.

Lightning fury laced up Merlin's spine, injecting adreneline like hot flame into blood, muscle, sinew, bone. His shoulders dropped, and he sank into a half-crouch, his fists balling every bit as tightly as Rift's. Without even having to call it, his hands warmed with power, and he felt heat begin to radiate in waves from his entire body, not just his hands.

Summoning the spirit of every hero he'd ever read about in books, he took one threatening step forward.

"Listen, you jumped-up, psycho little bat-faced freakazoid. Your freaking mouth is bigger than the God-damn monster she fought yesterday, and your mouth is worse than hers too, which is saying a whole stinking lot. I swear, I may not talk tough like you do, but in my experience, you talk tough when you're trying to compensate for something, you know? And if you keep on questioning my intelligence or Talon's dignity, or threatening to do unsightly things to my damn Flock leader, I swear will put these red-hot poker hands of mine around your filthy throat and burn clear through to your windpipe. I will never say I'm not grateful you saved our butts, but other than that, you seem like a pretty sorry specimen to me, bat-boy." He paused, and then glanced at Talon, waiting for her to have her inevitable say. "Now you can sit back and wait for the real ear-bleeding to start."

Talon glared down at the shorter hybrid, her steely eyes glinting dangerously. Even wounded as badly as she was, she would never back down. She flexed her fingers, knowing that she could still pack one hell of a punch if it came down to it. It probably wouldn't be good for her healing process in anyway, but that wouldn't stop her. A smirk slid across her face for the briefest of moments.

Way to go, Merlin!

"Alright you stupid son of a bitch. Let's get a few things straight, shall we? Did I ever ask to be saved by you?! No, I don't think so! While it is nice to be alive, and I thank you for that fact, you were the one that took it upon yourself to invite us here, get me all patched up, and sh*t! So, yes, it is your own goddamned fault, assh*le! If you have a problem with us being here, why don't you just KICK US OUT?! Ya ever think of that, smartass?! Certainly one so mentally gifted as yourself wouldn't need my help in coming up with an easy solution like that!"

She bared her teeth in a fearal grin, feeling adrenaline dumping into her veins like icy fire. "If you so much as even try to shove your fist down my throat I'm going to shove my foot so far up your bat ass that your grandchildren will feel it!

As the forestry around her began to lessen and loosen out, Edge spread her wings out to their full extent. And gave a downward stroke, that sent her propelling into the air. Flying had always been easier for Edge, taking her strength into consideration. It was landing she'd had trouble with at first. She wanted to continue flying right then. To the ends of the Earth and beyond. To never have to feel the need to land. To know nothing and be nothing and have nothing to return to. But life was never so easy as that.

She soon came upon the caves, and landed where the cave opened up with only the slightest of scuffles. Sending up unsettled purple-ish dust, and causing creatures of the night to shift soundly in their sleep.

"Beat ya...jelly's mine...delicious! Num..."

Gamer slept on, continuing to dream at one of the worse possible times he could be asleep. There was no way he could've known. He just kept on snoring softly. He rolled around a little in his sleep some more. When he woke up, he would probably really want time travelling powers so he could punch himself awake to try to stop Edge's decision.

But alas, he kept sleeping.

"Wow! You two actually formed two decent insults! I'm so proud of you! I should call the papers!" Rift pratically spat in Talon's face, as his eyes burned with something akin to the fury of the gods. His gaze shot to Merlin, and one could pratically feel the daggers he was shooting at the boy.

"Oh, I'm sorry...did I hurt the itty-bitty birdy's feelings? If only he knew that all this talking is making his two brain cells hurt! Then maybe, he'd wisen the hell up, and shut his f*cking trap." Rift gave a fake smile to the teen, before his attention shifted back to Talon.

"Now, here's the magical thing I'm going to tell the both of you moronic side-show freaks."

Before either of them could react, Rift's voice went medlodic, and it's power filled the room.

"Just stop enough of the limitless critical comments on my life
Just drop the judgment and all of your pseudo-involvement in my life
Step back a moment, and look at the miracle starting in our life
Don't stop the moment, and let the incredible happen knowing that

All that you want is to criticize
Something for nothing
And all that I want is forgiveness one more time
To be the best in the world..."

Talon raised her fist in the middle of Rift's speech, intent on knocking his block off, but the second he started singing her muscles froze, refusing to move even the tiniest fraction of an inch. She tried to move her lips to hurl another insult and curse at the hybrid, but even her mouth wouldn't respond to her brain's commands.

That cheap, dirty, coward son of a bitch! He's using that damn power of his! f*ck!

Though she struggled against it with all her strength, she was compeletly helpless. Which didn't sit well with her at all and only served to piss her off more.

Fucker! f*cking assh*le!

Merlin moved forward, ready to give Rift a nice, hand-shaped burn on his face, when he froze. For about the first second that Rift's voice soared into song, furious horror swept over him, as he realized what he was about to do again.

And then, he felt the weird shift of emotion again. Pity and remorse cooled his anger instantly. His muscles relaxed. Deep down, a part of him was screaming to stuff his fingers in his ears, find some cotton, slap himself out of it. But he couldn't. He felt horribly, shamefully guilty for yelling at Rift. They had invaded his home, tried to take his food, and woken him up...after everything he had done for them. And then they had made serious, unforgivable comments about him, his appearance, his life...what was wrong with them? What was with Talon? Shouldn't she know better than to be so cruel to their host?

His inner conscious was swearing a blue-streak, making up for all the filthy words he normally would never use in real life. But on the surface, Rift's music controlled his feelings. He couldn't attack like he so desperately wanted to. In fact, he felt like he might curl up and die with shame. Somehow, he registered the fury on Talon's face, and wondered idly why she didn't look sad and contrite too.

"Rift..." Merlin mumbled, his voice thick with emotion, utterly against his furious mental ranting. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what's wrong with us...we're just so beat from yesterday. But that's no excuse...can you ever forgive us?"

Talon was still unable to pry her lips apart, the power of the song keeping her muscles locked firmly in place. Though remorse took some of the edge from her anger, it couldn't cool it totally. She was just too pissed for that to happen, and she was more than happy to keep it that way.

When Merlin spoke however, her anger took a turn to shock. What was he doing?! Appologizing to that assh*le?! What was wrong with him?!

It has to be this song...It has to be, Merlin doesn't just go from rage to gulit in seconds!

Merlin saw Talon's shocked look, and his inner voice nearly curled with frustration. It's not me, he wanted to shout at her. I want to beat his face in just as much as you do! He tried to communicate this to her with his eyes, hoping that they too wouldn't betray only guilt and sadness.

He tried to open his mouth to take back the apology, to yell and break the spell of Rift's song. But it was impossible. And deep down in his anger he felt a core of fear. They really couldn't stand against Rift's power. Unless they found some way to resist...Rift could have them utterly at his mercy any time he wanted, totally on his whim. It was a horrifying thought.

"Just stop with all of your little deliberate problems with my life
Enough of all the crippling, terrible pain we feel inside
Step back a moment, remember how the miracle started in our life
Take back the torment; I won't be enjoying this moment knowing that

All that you want is to criticize
Something for nothing
And all that I want is forgiveness one more time
I know that
All that we want is to feel inside
Some kind of comfort
And all that we've done
We can hide
We'll be the best in the world..."

The bat hybrid smiled, obviously pleased at how things were going. His hands unclenched, and his body seemed to relax from it's wound up state as he brushed past Talon carelessly. His eyes seemed to speak with her. Simply saying "I'm the one who has all the cards, not you."

"All I ever wanted was to be a real source of compassion
From the moment that we found ourselves drowning in
All I ever wanted was to be a real source of compassion
From the moment that we found ourselves drowning in

All that you want is to criticize
Something for nothing
And all that I want is forgiveness one more time
I know that
All that we want is to feel inside
Some kind of comfort
And all that we've done
We can hide
We'll be the best in the world
We'll be the best in the world
Just stop enough of the limitless critical comments on my life
Just drop the judgment and all of your pseudo-involvement in my life..."

The song ended, just a Rift plopped down in the chair at the other side of the room. "Now tell me...what did you two learn?"

Talon growled, finding herself released from the song's spell. This freaking sucked. They couldn't resist Rift's power, and until they did, they were completly helpless when he chose to use his power. That in and of its self freaked her out and pissed her off more than most things she had be subject to at the school. She was helpless to stop Rift's power. Her eyes narrowed as he brushed past her and sat down.

She had read the message held in his eyes clear as day, but she refused to accept it. For now, assh*le…

The flock leader cracked her neck, saying nothing. She wasn't going to answer him, simple as that. Besides, chances were if she opened her mouth she'd say something that wouldn't help the situation at all. Though she was antagonistic by nature, she was far from stupid. She had witnessed Rift's power and wasn't eager to feel it again.

Merlin folded his arms. He was breathing hard, mostly from leftover anger. He looked sideways at Talon and recognized the closed-mouth expression on her face. It was probably as good a strategy as any. They wouldn't push Rift further, but they sure as hell wouldn't give in to his patronizing attitude or the jumbo jet-sized chip on his shoulder.

So Merlin just gave Rift the most bored and nasty look he could manage and pressed his lips into a tight line. He had already made up his mind that he would stand-off with the bat-hybrid for as long as it took.

Rift raised an eyebrow at them, before shrugging. "Well, if you're not in the mood to talk, then there's only one thing to talk about." He laced his fingers infront of his face, and leaned back in his chair.

"My fee." A sick smile split his face.

Ohhhhh...it was so hard not to speak. More like so hard not to scream and tear that hated smug look off Rift's face.

Merlin raised his eyebrows so far they disappeared into his bangs, a talent he was irreverently proud of. It was the best non-verbal way he could think of to ask, "What the hell do you think you're talking about, jerkface?" He remembered the bat-hybrid's mention of a fee, but he had been way too concerned for Talon at the time to give it much thought. And now...it just seemed like the height of idiocy for Rift to bring it up after what he had just done and said to them. Was he just asking for a fight? Could he honestly not control his seriously messed-up attitude?

"Hey Edge," Fawn mumbled through her subconsciousness. She lifted a dead-weight arm, and pointed a wobbly finger at her. "You got anything to show for your little romp in the woods?" She turned over, and her arm smacked against the cold floor of the cave.

"Owwww," she hissed as she woke up fully. She shook it out, and stretched - her arms extended until they were sore, and her legs were a little floppy as well. They snapped back into place, and she sighed. "Any sign of Talon? We should all go look for her."

"You do that, Fawn," Edge grinned at Fawn's peculiar waking display, before reaching down to set the worn cap next to Gamer. She walked back over to the opening, stretching her wings out slowly, they had the lightest of aches from being strained to work in a wooded area. Which they were totally not designed for, as she had come to find. Mind set, she turned her head to face them, with the early morning light, they probably couldn't see much of her from inside the darkness of the cave, but she wanted another look at them. Sure, it might just be only weeks or perhaps even days and then she would see them again, but the thought of months and years made her want to embed them in her memory. She looked at them all.
Bedraggled. Dirty-faced. Crazy hair. Half-dead expressions.

Picture perfect.

"Be seeing you,"

She gave one powerful down-stroke, pulling her into the reaches of the air. A few more times and she was well on her way to...Anywhere.

"Edge!" Lily shouted angrily, following her out closely. "Come on guys!" she yelled back at them as tried to catch edge. She thought of it as selfish to be leaving when they were so weak. She also was worried that Edge wouldn't make it on her own, not with that monster trying to end there short exsistence. "Edge! You know you can't make it on your own!" she reminded.

"Well, Lily, that just goes to show how much faith you have in me," She shouted back over her shoulder, before curling her wings to spin and face Lily as she climbed higher little by little into the beckoning sky above her. "You can't stop me, Lily! Don't try." She picked up speed, feeling a little bad about it. But this was her decision. Her decision alone. This was something she needed to do. It wasn't like she was never coming back. And that whatever-it-was thing, if it killed her, then that was that. If it killed her then she was meant to die. Sure she'd fight it with every ounce in her being and with every trick of the mind that came to her. Were she meant to live, she would. If she wasn't, it didn't matter if it was the creature or not. She can't beat Death itself, she can only give it one hell of a last hour.

Lily matched her altitude. "If talon got nearly killed by that monster with a partner who says that you, me, or any of us could take it on on our own! This is selfish, your leaving when everybody needs each other, i hope you realize that when your living it up." She called out before letting herself land. She ran back to the caves.


"You have got to be kidding me...."

Talon sighed, dragging a hand down her face and not a second later biting off a curse as her nose gave a sharp twinge at the mistreatment. It was almost healed, but it'd be damned if it still didn't hurt like hell when touched.

He's charging a goddamned fee?!

She turned to face Rift. "You're charging a fee? Why the hell wasn't I told?" She glanced over at Merlin, wondering if he was aware of the fee. "The again, seeing your previous attitude, it really doesn't surprise me..."

Fawn shot up, and pushed Lily out of the way - she could still hear Edge's yells, and she wasn't that hard to spot (hell, she was the only bird kid in the sky at the moment). "Leave it to me!" Fawn shrieked at Lily as she quickly unfurled her wings, gave one heavy downstroke and shot like a bullet into the sky. Her right leg curled instinctively and she powered toward the most rebellious of the flock members.

Dammit, Edge, get the hell back here! Fawn gritted out in her mind, concentrating hard on keeping sight of the girl. I trust you, I really do, but I have to keep us all together!

Well, Merlin supposed that the no-talking approach was shot now.

"When he first found us in the woods, he offered to get me supplies 'for a fee'," Merlin said stiffly, addressing himself pointedly to Talon and not Rift. "He said it could be paid later. I was too worried about you to think much about it...you were bleeding all over the place. I thought letting him help couldn't possibly make things worse. Guess I was wrong...sorry about that Talon."

What really infuriated Merlin was, now that he thought about it, if he'd only kept it together yesterday in the woods, he might have gotten Talon supplies all by himself. With a little caution and wings tucked tight, he could have raided a pharmacy just like Rift had. Then they could have camped out somewhere isolated until Talon was feeling better. Then they would never have had to deal with bat-boy and his freakish
music and his fees.


Lily Punched a large tree furiously, before whippin her hand back and cursing. "Gah! holy f*ck!" she shouted, looking at her red, severely bruised knuckles. but when she looked at the tree and saw the fist-shaped dent, she smiled. "sweeeeeet."

So what if I'm selfish? I'm only a kid, right? Can't an Avian have a little emotion to herself? Why should I be bound? Edge could feel the anger building up in her throat. She was doing it intentionally. Intentionally, to block out the guilt Lily had so kindly given her. She didn't look back at the caves. She didn't even think to see Lily flying away. Lily didn't need to make everything so dramatic. What's one less bird-girl in the flock for just a while? Who would care? Who could notice? Everyone in the world wanted her shot down like prey, or strapped down to some table whereas they could perform on her until she looked like something out of a damned Frankenstein movie. Perhaps they all needed a little time apart, in solitude. Peaceful solitude.

Fawn, really, you're sixteen. I thought you of all would know by now there's no way in Hell or beyond to change my mind when I've made it. You'll only piss me off if you try. I need some time to myself. For reasons of holding sanity. It's not like I haven't done this before. I can't stay caged all the time. Every bird needs to get out and sing their own song every once in a while.

Continuing on with the wind, the caves growing smaller and smaller behind her, and all Edge could hear was the beating of her wings against the air. She reached down into her pocket, pulling out a scrap she had torn from a magazine a couple months ago. A large, beautiful site the page held. As dirty and crumpled as it was. It was where she was headed. Where she had always wanted to go. Surely one of them would remember, if times became desperate, they'd know she'd be there.

Angel Falls, here I come.

Fawn cringed. Edge's words were biting. She could tell she wanted out. She watched her outline get smaller.... smaller... until it was barely a pinprick in her extra-sensitive field of vision. Sure, Fawn had super-speed. She had elasticity. But she didn't have the ability to help Edge change her mind and come back. I don't understand, but I'm trying to, Edge. she thought. If you come back, which I hope you will, you'll find us. I know I'm going to get my ass kicked for this, but I'm letting you go.

Fawn sighed, and her forehead creased with worry. Her emotions were conflicted - she shouldn't let her go, but she couldn't do anything to stop her. She shook her head, and shot right back to where she was before. Her wings crumpled in towards her body, and she curled into a ball and sobbed.

"DAMMIT!" she screamed.

Gamer's eyes blinked open; he had awoken. His body stiff and his mind drowsy, he slowly sat up. The avian immediately yawned and stretched his arms high into the air. When he was done he winced, his body still a little achy. "Not too bad. Should take two or three days till I'm back at one-hundred percent." he noted with another yawn. He then finally realized that he had been drooling, so he proceeded to wipe his mouth with the back ofhis hand, and he then rubbed his hand quickly. He stood up and stretched once more. His spine popping as he arched it backwards slightly.

It was then that he noticed his hat lying next to him on the ground. He smiled and picked it up off the ground. However, once he did, he immediately realized that something was wrong. Edge...wouldn't just leave it next to me like this. No. She would try to surprise me or maybe say she couldn't find it and watch me freak--well, maybe not that since I'm injured. But something's not right. Maybe she went to do some sparring or some--

Gamer was cut off when he finally realized that Fawn, the second in command, was sobbing. Fawn never cried like that. None of the Flock did, if they could help it. He just stood there horrified watching her, until he finally spoke in a terrified voice, "Fawn...?"

"Edge left gamer, she found your hat and left." She said bluntly. "We have to go find Talon and Merlin, we cant wait for her to realize what shes doing. Help Fawn calm down, im going to get some food real quick and we can go." She was compartmentalizing, and she was good at it when she was angry.

She...left...?!" He could barely speak those words. He could barely comprehend what had just happened, and what Lily had told him.

Edge is gone...she just left and didn't say anything to me...I didn't even wake up. She left and I didn't even try to… Gamer's body was shaking out of shock and anger. His hat slipped out of his unsteady hands. His gaze remained on Fawn.
They watched on as the older teen lay curled up in a ball; an emotional wreck left helpless and conflicted. He couldn't focus on the others.

"No...it can't be...it just can't be!!!" he uttered before rushing out of the cave. He stopped on the ledge and looked around frantically in the sky. Nothing. Edge had already flown beyond the range of his vision. The avian shut his eyes tight as the tears of his frustration and despair came pouring out.

"Edge…EDGE!!!" Gamer cried out into the sky, firing an enormous optic blast upwards.

"Jesus Christ, Gamer, you're going to burn the f*cking forest down if you do that," Fawn hissed, wiping her puffy, sore red eyes. She let out a small hiccup, and glared down at the ground. "Just get back in the cave and we'll figure out how to do things from here. We aren't going after her. We're leaving her alone. I know that's not the smartest thing I've ever said, but I trust her. She's a better leader than I am. At least she's decisive."

Fawn stood up on Jell-O legs, and walked over to where Lily was. "So, who's hungry?" she said, trying to sound as cheery as possible... and in the current situation, it was a false hope.

"It'll be ok fawn, she's made her decision and shell come back when she needs to. Im going to get my backpack, i dropped it on my way here last night, it has alot of supplies in it, we can go after that i guess." She said. She wasnt really sad so much as she was pissed off and she wast going to let it affect her normally optimistic attitude. put on your god damned happy face lily! she thought to herself.

Edge tried to ignore the beam of light she could hear in the distance far behind her. Don't turn back, Edge. She told herself, pushing forward to escape the ties of her flock. This was stupid. She'd only be gone for a few weeks, maybe a month or two. They were all overreacting. This was stupid. Then stop thinking about it. Her thoughts made her feel equally stupid. But the feeling passed over easily up here in the clouds. She got that feeling she loved so much, the feeling of flying. The feeling she never got flying with the flock. The open feeling of a boundless flight. One day, when they were no longer in danger, she'd have to try to convince the others of taking a day or two apart. They'd probably see how she felt about it, and maybe understand for a change. Whenever the day they weren't in danger was.

Gamer ceased firing, wiped the tears from his eyes with his sleeve, and started panting exhaustedly. It soon dawned on him that what he did was incredibly stupid, which didn't help his mood any. The school was out hunting them and he could've just tipped off some Flyboys, or Erasers, or flying demon sharks, or some exploding cups of ramen, or whatever was hunting them today. In actuality, he didn't really care too much because he kind've hoped that something would show up so he could vent off some steam.

I disagree with all of this! Edge leaving-she didn't even tell me goodbye, or anything- AND how Fawn and Lily are not doing anything about it. However, he knew that in someway maybe it would just be better to let Edge go. He didn't like or understand this way at all, but it's not like he could really go after her in his condition.

So instead, Gamer listened to Fawn's orders and headed back inside of the cave. He picked up his hat off the ground from where he had dropped it, and noticed something weird about it. Why does my hat smell like something we had for dinner once be--oh, whatever. He thought bitterly and put it on. He sat down on the cave floor cross-legged, and looked up at Fawn with a clearly upset expression on his face, and waited to
hear what their next move would be.

"Lily," Fawn murmured, her eyes focused on the sky. "Go grab your stuff, but make it fast, and don't stop. For anything. Even if there's a cute little fuzzy rabbit or a deer, don't you stop or when you get back I'll whip your ass into next week..... okay, maybe not. But you get my point. Now go."

Fawn spun on her heel to face Gamer, whose sullen expression and... slightly smelly hat pretty much told his whole story. She walked over, and sat down next to him. "Look," she said, trying to sound as leaderly as possible, "I can tell you're not happy about Edge leaving and how I'm handling everything but she'll be back soon. It might be a few weeks -- maybe more -- but she'll find her way. She's strong."

....Please don't yell at me.


Lily nodded sternly and took off. She found the clearing quickly and grabbed her bag withut landing. She turned back and landed by the caves, only taking a few minutes. "2 mile flight, what's my time?" She asked with a grin. She pulled three energy bars out of the bag and threw one to gamer and one to fawn.

Gamer caught the energy bar, but ignored Lily's optimism, still upset. He titled his head down and slightly to the left, looking away so Fawn couldn't see his face. He sat there silently for awhile thinking of how to respond, trying to hold back his anger. He tried to see things from a different point of view, but made Edge just being gone instead of her actually leaving. He realized that with so many of the flock members gone including Talon, Fawn was just trying her best to be a good leader. And sucking badly at it. he thought bitterly; unable not to.

"...I know that. I never said she wasn't." he finally responded. His voice was sort of monotonic, but slightly defensive. "Well, whatever. We have other things to focus on like Merlin and Talon."

Fawn blinked; she stretched her arm out and snatched up her energy bar before it was even close to her. She stood up again, seeing that Gamer wasn't really in the mood to do much beside sound like an ass. Wow, that was harsh. Talon wouldn't do that. I'm such a crap-sh*t leader.

"Okay," Fawn said, staring out of the cave entrance and into the sky. "I'm not really sure how to go about finding Talon and Merlin, but I think before we do that we need to go get more food. Gamer, I know this is gonna bring back some crappy memories... but could you take us to the grocery store you were at when Epsilon attacked?"

Gamer peeled off the wrapper of his energy bar, crumpled it up and tossed it to the ground. "...Sure. Although, I'm not exactly one hundred percent sure that I'll head in the right direction. I was kind of messed up on our way from where we were camping to the caves." he told her, before standing up as well. His voice was much calmer than before, but still kind of monotonic.

"Also, I think I'm okay with going back there emotionally or whatever, but the place was pretty messed up, and a lot of people were killed. The place could be completely shut down now. That's better for us if the food's still actually there though. Really, I'm not sure what it's like now." He took a bite out of his energy bar, and was surprised that it actually had chocolate chips in it. "Thanks Lily..."

"I told you, they probably traveled east for about....." she did some math in her head. "15 to tweny minutes, and landed probably contined to go east until they found help or somethin." Lily said casually. "We head east for that long, find a clear spot to land, and then keep traveling on foot." She nibbled happily on the end of her energy bar. "I dont think it would be smart to go back to that grocery store." she added

Edge soared through the air, looking down at cities and wide streches of land, covered in trees. None of it looked real from where she flew. She looked back to her hand, which still gripped the old magazine clipping. And for the first time, she realized she could go anywhere. The possibilities were limitless. Why stick to a plan when you don't have to? She figured, releasing the scrap, and watching it flutter away as carelessly as she flew through the sky. She was no longer bound to a destination, and the feeling of being free grew that much more. She could get used to this. Until she returned of course. As fun as little breaks were, it was always nice to return to them after periods of time. It made her feel...belonged. As if they were her family. Of course, Edge wouldn't admit that in a million years. Not even on her deathbed.

"Why wouldn't I charge a fee? After all, gratitude dosen't pay any bills, so it's worth just a smidge below...jackshit." The bat lazily glanced at the clock, and sighed.

"I haven't been up this f*cking early in years..." Running a hand along his face, Rift's eyes locked with Merlin's, his face deadly serious. "I don't run a f*cking charity house, so you two are going to pay me, or do some work for me."

Crossing his fingers infront of his face, the hyrbid smirked. "Your choice."

Merlin swallowed, his hands flexing with fury. They didn't have any money, and he bet Rift knew it. What kind of cash did a bunch of birdkids on the run carry with them?

However, he wasn't sure he cared for the alternative, either. What kind of work would someone like Rift ask them to do for him? Merlin didn't know, but he was pretty sure it wouldn't be washing dishes or vacuuming the apartment. This whole situation was seriously screwed up. He looked to Talon, part of him hoping selfishly that she would pull out a secret wad of cash, or tell Rift to get off their backs...in a less polite way.


And I'd like to give a big thanks to Plaguewalker for all the help getting this moved over into such a nice clean format. So thank you! Anyways, I do believe that we're ready to continue this!

[[Thanks for getting everything together, Plaguewalker and Shadow Moonseye. I owe you.]]

IC: Fawn

"We're going back to the grocery store, Lily, so shut up and just follow me." Fawn hissed up at little-miss-rebel. She angled downwards, keeping close watch on the trees and roads to be sure that nothing was going to pop out and go "Boo!" at them.

"Actually, forget that I just said that. Just forget it, because I never said it." We have to find Merlin and Talon... soon. "Seeing as I can't make up my mind, we're just going to go find Merlin and Talon. As for Edge - like I said, she'll find us."

[[Crappy post, but it's my first in a while - or at least since the announcement of the closing of the RP board.]]

{It's okay. I guess it could take awhile to get in the right mindset or something...?}

Gamer sighed, just sort of annoyed at the current situation. And hungry. Definitely hungry. "Well, whatever. I wasn't really sure about the direction anyways. Considering I was barely conscious when I got here." he said. He chomped on the rest of his energy bar nearly finishing it and stood up. He took a big stretch for a few seconds, popped the rest of his breakfast into his mouth, and cracked his knuckles.

"So how are we going to find them anyways? It's not like we have any leads. Any ideas?" he asked, his tone more serious and buisness-like.

"Fine, well go to the grocery store, because everyone wants to be kept in a police station overight for the vandalization of a supermarket. " Lily retorted rolling her eyes.