"Rachel. Captain Rachel. Can you hear us?"
A faint voice. Blurred images hovering above me. I struggle to open my eyes wider.
A more excited voice, "Dude! She's opening her eyes! She's alright!"
A sneering voice, "Of course. She only got nicked by that bullet. She's supposed to be a wolf-hawk-human mutant, what do you expect?"
I raise my head, groaning as I looked around. "Is-- Is everyone alright?" inwardly berate myself for my weakness . The metallic human bent down with a whirr of mechanics in her knees.
She answers, "No one else was injured, thanks to your efforts. As you can see, the Mafia fled upon your arrival. We are safe for now."
Suddenly, I remember something. "That pup-- I mean, that girl! The one always puffing on those death sticks! With the smell of smoke surrounding her! Where is she?!"
Another human, the one I recall being named Nicole, also bends down to speak to me. "You mean Maria? We don't know, she ran off with Anna somewhere, and they're not back yet. We were looking for them before we ran into those Mafia guys and you saved our butts."
I click my fangs together a few times in thought. That girl... Maria. She was the pup. I am sure of it. The pup I killed all years ago. But... how is she still alive? Throwing aside this puzzling thought for the moment, another conundrum crossed my mind.
The deformed pup Maria had changed a lot. Even deformed, she still had the eyes and wings of our race, but now, she seems entirely humanoid. A voice in my head responds, 'Of course she's changed. It's been over 15 years! She's grown up.' Mulling this thought over, I consider, 'That may just be true. Her eyes are an amber-hazel colour now, compared to the gold colour of our species. Perhaps spending so much time with the humans has dulled their colour?'
And the wings? It makes sense that they did not develop. All our young undergo rigorous training to develop broad, strong wings capable of flight. Pups who do not train have their wing stubs shrink back into the shoulder blades and they never grow. It all makes sense now.
Clearing my thoughts, I get back on my paws, sniffing my bandaged, partially-healed forelimb. The one with the powers, Rosita says, "Sorry it's only partially healed. Sensei hasn't taught me the complete healing arts yet, and I didn't want to cause more damage by taking risks."
I bow my head to her, "Thank you, with this level of healing, the pain is gone and I can use my limb again."
Emily pipes up, "But hey, Rosita, how did you conjure that awesome protective barrier? It was like someone out of an anime! But I thought you didn't have that level of magic yet!"
Rosita responds, "I don't know either. I never learned the barrier spell to that level, and even if I did know how to do it, I haven't developed that level of power yet. How I managed to do it is a mystery, I guess."
Here, Diya reopens her holographic screen, which she seems to be using quite a lot lately. Gotta love technology. "Rosita, I may be able to explain that. Kyna, you should hear this too."
"Quack." Kyna stands on the other side of Diya, staring at the multitude of rows and colomns of numbers scrolling down the screen.
"From these statistics and what you have told me about the energy field fluctuating, I have reached a conclusion," Diya tells the two. Diya turns to Kyna and says, "Kyna, whether you are aware or not, you have been lending a lot of your power to Rosita. Unable to control the combined amount of power, Rosita has been subconciously channeling it into her staff. Overloaded, it cannot transform back into its dormant bracelet form. But even so, the shift in raw power can be read in your auras, which is why we have all been feeling a little uneasy lately."
Nicole, who had been peering over Diya's shoulder at the screen, exclaims, "Whoa, dude! How the heck did you figure that our from those numbers?! That looks worse than our physics labs!"
Diya just shrugs and closes the screen, "That's just how it is."
Rosita turns to Kyna, "You've been giving me your power? Why?"
Kyna waddles from side to side a bit before responding, "I don't know. I didn't even really know I was doing it. I guess... I feel kind of like dead wood, and you can do so much more with your magic than I can."
Rosita looks shocked, "But you can summon ducks! And use their powers too!"
Kyna metaphorically shuffles her feathers, "Yeah, but what good is that in our situation?"
Rosita shakes her head, "No, Kyna, don't think like that. I'm sure your powers will come in handy one day."
Catherine crosses her arms and nods, "Yes, Kyna, consciously make an effort not to lend power to Rosita anymore. You're mucking up the atmosphere."
Wenhao quickly rephrases, "What Catherine means to say is, although your heart's in the right place, it isn't having the desired effect. Let's just go back to the way things used to be."
Catherine immediately snaps back, "Hey! Who told you to step in and misquote me, huh? You miserable, little--"
"Catherine! That's enough! Stop, or I'll sic John on you!" Diya glares.
"And what's that supposed to mean? My Johnny-wonny wouldn't hurt a fly!" Jessica puts her hands on her hips with a frown.
"Oh Jessie-bear, it's ok. Diya just means to say that I'm manly enough to handle Catherine, right Diya? And--" Twin laser beams shooting past John's head is enough to make him shut up.
"Humans! Please! Enough of your foolish quarreling. I thank you for saving me--" I start.
"Oh no no no no, you saved us first," Wenhao interjects, giving a little bow with much twirling of hands.
"--But I must locate Maria," I finish.
"Yeah, we ought to get a move on, guys. Before Anna and Maria get farther away," Nicole adds, settling the conversation.
Reunited with the group of humans, I join them in their search for their missing companions.
---
"Please, consigliere*, forgive the boss's failure," Geno prostrates himself before a masked figure seated confortably in a recliner.
The masked figure snarls, "The boss? You know nothing of the Italian Mafia, you lowly associate. The one you may refer to as the boss is an authority higher than myself! This hulking brute here, he is nothing but a capo." He gets up and kicks the bound man in the side, who keels over, whimpering something through his gag.
The consigliere frowns and kicks him again. "Do not whimper like a whipped cur. It brings shame upon the family." With a rough yank, he rips the gag away. "Now, speak."
"Pl-please sir! It was not our fault! There was a mutant, some sort of cross between a wolf and a hawk and a human! My men saw it too! Come on, tell him!" He looks pleadingly to his men. However, they shrink back from his haggard gaze, afraid to bring the wrath of the consigliere down upon them.
The consigliere barks our a harsh laugh, "It appears that your men saw nothing! You lie, capo."
"No! I swear it! It is all true!" the man cries, desperatly grasping the consigliere's pant leg, earning himself another kick in the face.
The consigliere frowns and sighs. "Today has not been a good day. Not a single deal followed through, so now I need to clean up the job, and now you come along and further tarnish this family's failing reputation. Men!"
"Yessir!"
"Finish this. I'm going for a walk."
"Yessir!"
A round of gunshots is heard as the consigliere walks calmly out of the warehouse with his bodyguards.
"Terrible, terrible," the consigliere mutters to himself, reaching for a cigar.
"Don't dwell on that idiot, Vincenzo," his bodyguard claps a hand on his shoulder.
"No, I'm talking about the failed transactions, you dummy," Vincenzo scoffs, pulling out a lighter. He rolls the cigar around in his fingers and continues walking, deep in thought. Not paying attention to where he was heading, he rounds the corner and immediately almost trips over an outstretched leg.
"Watch where you stick your legs, amico," he snarls, clearly in a bad mood.
The outstretched leg belonged to a emo-looking person, a curtain of black hair hanging over her face.
(Oh wait! Anna, got a haircut (a long time ago >.<) so I can't say that anymore. Scratch that then. )
She makes no motion of even acknowledging his presense. Vincenzo sees this, and is further enraged. "Hey! Look at me when I speak to you, urchin!" He reaches down and grabs her chin, forcing her to look at him.
Recognizing her, he freezes, hand dropping in disbelief. His bodyguard, who had been standing back during the exchange between the two, hesitantly reaches out a hand to tap his statue-still boss. He stops as Vincenzo drops to his knees, cupping both his hands around the girl's face.
"Anna... Anna, can it really be you?" he whispers.
Hearing her name from the lips of this man, she peers closer into his face, trying to match it with a name. "You are... Jimmy?"
Vincenzo almost cried and laughed at the same time, "Yes! It is I, Jimmy Wei! Oh Anna, you remember me!"
Confused, the bodyguard succeeds in tapping his boss's shoulder this time and queries, "Erm, Vincenzo? Who's this? And why does she call you 'Jimmy'?"
"I went by Jimmy** during my time in Canada before I came to Italy. This girl and I met during junior high, and we haven't met since then. Our transactions were completed through middle people, so there hasn't been any contact between the two of us for many years."
"But... what is she to you?"
"She is... that... and much more. Or... at least... she used to be."
Snapping out of his reverie, Vincenzo taps his chin in thought, "But for her to have personally come to Italy, there must be a problem." He uses his thumb to push back her eyelids, revealing the whites of her eyes. He checks her pulse while noting her complexion. Completing his brief examination, he reaches into his trench coat pocket while saying, "Definitely symptoms of withdrawal." Taking out a package of white powder, he administers the drug.
Almost immediately, the light returns to Anna's eyes, and she takes a very deep breath, inhaling deeply through her nose. "Ohhhh... much better. =)"
She looks up, seeing Jimmy for the first time. "Jimmy! What are you doing here, druggie?"
The bodyguard is shocked. "Dare you address my master in such a vulgar way?!"
"No, from her, it's acceptable," Jimmy stops him, offering a hand to help Anna up.
Completely ignoring the hand, Anna leaps up on her own, nearly bashing her head into Jimmy's nose. The bodyguard scratches his head, "So, umm... sir, what exactly is this girl's relationship with you to call you so familiarly?"
Jimmy looks into the setting sun, and replies, "She was my-- "
---
* A consigliere is a higher-up in the Italian Mafia who plays the role of chief advisor to the head boss himself. Very powerful dude. Don't cross him.
**Jimmy is a short form of the English name James, which is derived from the Italian name Vin-CENZ-o.
Anna needs a fellow druggie in the story. As it turns out, he's gone beyond the call of my imagination this time and is now an Italian Mafioso drug lord. As different as he seems from the real Jimmy, the druggie aspect is not the only aspect of his personality that will be carried over into Reimeiki. You'll see =P
Additional Note: This was the first Reimeiki post that I wrote on Word and transferred over. I have no length perception when writing on Word. And formatting gets screwed up. >.< (Fixed now, should be ok. I hope.)
I had been assigned a difficult task. Elder Wenrin instructed me to follow the strange human group, but I must not be detected. In this strange land, it is difficult to remain unnoticed.Elder Wenrin gave me a device that causes me to look like a dog. For the most part, I don't think anyone noticed.
In response, a chorus of guns click and are aimed at his chest. A slight squeal escapes his lips before he faints dead away, falling to a the floor next to where Jessica stands, petrified and oblivious.
The silence is crushing, with only the barely audible whir of Diya's cyborg arm transforming into an ominous-weapon behind her back, as the crowd parts to dramatically emit a tall, plump figure. He steps forward, his blindingly white spats carving a path through the dim light, and opens his mouth-
"DUDE, no way!!!"
Nicole rushes forward, snatching the fedora off of one hit-man's head, examining it, then plunking it onto her own.
"This is the most sickly hardcore hat I have ever seen!" She turns to address the utterly bewildered mafioso, who still has his gun pointed at John's crumpled figure, greasy hair now askew. "Nice taste."
By now, Jessica has realized that her beloved is in a heap on the floor and has dropped to the ground next to him, desperately trying to revive him in a series of disturbingly affectionate ways. Emily is taking infinitesimal steps backwards, trying to edge herself out the door, when she bumps into one of the hulking figures that had moved to secure the doors shut. Eyes wide, a cartoon sweat-drop sliding down the side of her horrified expression, she slowly turns around. The man moves to grab his pistol and aims with lightning precision as Emily meekly shrinks back into the group.
"Scusi," mockingly states the grandiose figure who had stepped into the center of the restaurant before the whole affair had started, "Se avessi potuto intervenire..."
The last was spoken through a thick accent, leaving the group of captives looking at one another quizzically.
"...anyone know what the heck that means?" Kyna quack-whispered, looking at Rosita, who shrugged.
"It means 'Can I speak?' ...I think he wants us to be quiet!" Jessica said, without looking up from her unconscious lover.
Diya, who had imperceptibly moved to search the word on her wrist processor, looks up from the small holographic screen triumphantly. "That's exactly what I got!" Then she frowned. "This probably isn't even the regional dialect of Pisa...it sounds like some lazy person using Google translate."
Somewhere across the world, in a dark closet, someone pushes masses of hanging clothing out of the way to bang her head against the wall.
A menacing "Ahem" brings everyone back to attention.
"Che cosa, mi chiedo..."
Diya types frantically on her keypad. "He says, 'What, I wonder...'"
"Sono tutti voi malandrini fare all'interno del mio ristorante?"
Clicking as hands fly across the keyboard again. "'Are all...crooks you...do in my restaurant'?! What the -"
Jessica sullenly mutters "He probably means to ask what we're all doing in his restaurant." She then bursts into tears, seizing John's lifeless body by the shoulders and shaking it ferociously while sobbing, "CUDDLE BOO, WAKE UP!!!"
Another belligerent sound comes from the impatient-looking mob boss, and Jessica resorts to whimpering, but her desperate attempt to wake John are of an unchanged ferocity. After a few moments of blank stares from both parties, the enormous man sighs, steps aside, and says "Geno?"
A smaller, very nervous man steps forward and mutters in an exasperated tone, "My boss here wants to know what exactly you miscreants think you are doing in his restaurant."
Catherine's expression is unusually antagonistic as she spits at the man, "MISCREANTS? Excuuuuse me, I wouldn't consider myself even close to being as pathetic as you. WE came in here for some food -"
"Catherine," growls Diya warningly, flexing her cyborg arm. This little man - Geno - is already cowering under her death stare.
"How would you expect us to know that this place would be some saloon for idiots dressed like bad actors from the '20s?! We-"
"Catherine..." Rosita clutches her staff behind her back, carefully monitoring the tens of pistols that weren't aimed at John anymore.
"-were just intending to LEAVE, thank you very much. We wouldn't want to spend any more time," she says as she strides past a crouching Emily towards the door guard, "in this rat hole."
A muffled yelp comes from Nicole as the fedora-less hit man finally comes to his senses and grabs her, aiming his pistol at her head. "Non e una mossa piu, o questo ottiene!"
Diya and Rosita simultaneously whip out their weapons, stepping in front of a hysterical Jessica Yoon as Kyna spreads her wings and draws Catherine away from the door guard. Emily, staring intently at the man holding Nicole, is swiftly becoming a comically bright shade of crimson, eyes flashing dangerously. Pistols are aimed everywhere, creating another painfully tense and silent tableau as they await the word from their boss. Again, he opens his mouth, to be interrupted by the back doors bursting open.
A figure leaps into the fray just as the first shot is fired.
End of Arc 2: Lehtrocy
Start of Arc 3: Italy
---
"... Are you telling me... we're in Italy?!?" Emily says, looking around with wide eyes. Really, really wide eyes.
"Yeeeah, no doubt about it," Maria replies, taking a deep drag from her cigarette before jabbing at the Leaning Tower of Pisa with it.
"I'm also positive this is Italy," Kyna points at a family of ducks swimming in a nearby pond. "That breed of duck is native to Italy during this season."
"Ahhh, Italy, ze city of luuuurve," John coos in Jessica's ear.
Jessica giggles, "No, silly, that's Paris. And Italy's not a city, it's a country."
John waves off her comment with a dramatic hand gesture, "No matter! Paris, Italy, Santa's house, as long as there are beds-- Oof!"
John is bowled over by an over-excited Anna. Eyes, shining brightly, she turns around and yips, "Italy! Italy! You know what that means!!"
Nicole scratches her head, "Erm... pizza?"
Maria coughs, "Fancy cigars?"
Catherine mocks, "The Italian Mafia?"
"YES! THE ITALIAN MAFIA!!" Anna trumpets.
Catherine looks entirely nonplussed. "... What?"
"The Italian Mafia is one of the most best organizations in the world at organizing drug trafficking rings! I'm sure we can get some fancy cigars for you too Maria! LET'S GOOOOO!" Anna snatches Maria's hand and zooms off down the street in a cloud of Roadrunner-like smoke.
"Hey! Hey wait! We need to stay together! We don't know where we are!!" hyperventilated Emily, steam shooting out of her cherry red ears.
"Not a problem. We will soon our position triangulated using an advanced GPS system... hold on," Diya rapidly types away on her hidden mini keyboard in her arm, with a holographic screen flickering in front of her face.
"Ok, got it. We are at coordinates Lat. 43.7230, Long. 10.3964, noted. "
"... So... Italy?"
"Confirmed. We are in the city of Pisa, Italy."
"So we have to find Aaron, and that Daakshi captain Rachel, right?" Wenhao inquires.
"Why don't we just leave them and go check out that Italian restaurant over there?" Catherine puts in.
"Wh-what? Just me? And you? Together? At a restaurant?" Wenhao stuttered.
SMACK. "NO, you idiot! Jeez, I meant all of us! I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving."
"Erm, guys, before anything, shouldn't we track down Anna and Maria?" Nicole says.
"Oh right. Them. Tell me, why is it that our adventures always start out with us chasing Anna?" Diya sighs.
"Argh! Someone should put that psychotic creature in a straitjacket!" Catherine strangles the air.
Diya snickers, "Ah, good thing we learned from past experiences. I had a tracking chip installed subcutaneously in Anna's wrist at first chance after her last escape." Diya flips on the holographic display again. "Right, her position is... Hey! Her dot just disappeared from the screen!"
"Ugh! You idiot! Can't you do anything right?!" Catherine whaps Diya on the back of her head.
"Well, before the dot disappeared, it showed that Anna was somewhere really, really close to us, in one of those buildings probably," Diya points down the street.
---
In the meantime, Anna had dragged Maria into a shady looking building, the front lights completely dimmed.
Maria wheezes, not used to this much exercise in one day, "Hey! This isn't the cigar store, why the heck are we here?"
Anna turns, grinning widely, almost insanely. "There's something you should know... Something no one else in that group knows..."
"If it's about all those people you murd--"
"No! It's not about that. Others already know about that. No, this is something far, far worse. A secret I've managed to keep for years, ever since the beginning of everything."
Maria is silent. Half-anticipatory, half-fearful of what Anna was about to reveal.
"I... am a drug addict."
Blink once. Twice. "Wait, that's the big secret? But everybody already knows that Anna."
"No... that's only the first half of the story... I use drugs... To suppress my true nature," Anna rasps, the light from her eyes fading. "It's been... too long... I thought I could hang on until I could contact the Mafia... but it seems I used too much energy to keep up my facade back there... the light... is fading..."
"No! Anna! Don't die!! I don't have any money to buy cigarettes! You still need to lend me $10!" Maria grabs Anna by the shoulders and shakes her.
No response. Then...
Anna slowly looks up, eyes blank and dead-looking. In slow, measured tones, she says, "Who said anything about dying? Though I wish I could. Life is depressing. I could be at home, listening to Gillespie... but no. I'm in Italy. In a dark alley. Surrounded by... darkness."
Maria stumbles backwards, flinging an arm in front of her to try and ward off the dark aura emanating from Anna's soul.
"A-Anna?"
"Just leave me alone. The shadows will keep me company. Until then..." Anna whips out a hidden razor blade.
"No, Anna, don't!"
Anna slashes at her wrist, going a little deeper each time. She hits something hard below the surface. "What the--" She rips out the small square piece of metal from her arm. "Must have been those mental asylum guys. Hm." She looks at the blade, sighs, and throws it away.
"Just go, Maria. Leave me here to rot away. Into nothingness."
Firming her resolve, Maria stands up. "Anna. Don't worry, I'll help you. Just tell me the name of the Mafia member you need to talk to. I'll find this person."
Anna barely raises her gaze and a demented smile appears on her face.
---
The gang was heading down the street. "So guys, should we try that building there?" Nicole points.
"Yes! Yes, we should, that's the restaurant I was referring to earlier," Catherine grabs Nicole's arm. "See? I always get my way."
Diya rolls her eyes, "Whatever you say, Catherine. Come on, let's check it out.
They enter the restaurant. As a unit, the entire clientele turn around to face them, some hands reaching into inner jacket pockets. Everyone in the restaurant was wearing dark sunglasses. Fedoras. Tuxedoes. Polished shoes.
John's eyes widen, for once, completely distracted from Jessica.
He breathes, "The Italian... Mafia."
Rosita was hurled into darkness. Darkness, darkness...She thought she was slipping into the brink of insanity.
"AHHHHH!" Rosita sprang up from her sleep.
"What is it now? You've been restless for the last two days," Kyna complained.
"I tell you, there's something in the air!" Rosita screamed. She took one of Kyna's feathers, which had flitted to the ground. She twirled it around thoughtfully.
"Something about this Elder Wenrin...doesn't seem right. In fact, judging from the mask and all, he's probably hiding something. And what makes those Daakshi listen to him without judgement?" Rosita asked.
"Well, asking me those questions won't help. I'm no Queen of Light or Sensei. I'm going back to sleep," Kyna buried her head in her pillow. "It is three in the morning after all."
X
Diya sighed. What could possibly be happening now? The gang wasn't moving forward. They were stuck inside a dirty, stupid prison.
Anna bounced around the room, now trying to climb onto a bed post. Emiri ran after her, trying to get her to calm down.
Yesterday, Channie had been taken away from this room. He looked back at us, with a solemn expression. Were those mutants going to take everyone else away?
"Haha. I know. You should've seen the mood that Captain Rachel was in yesterday. It was quite horrible. Oh yes. I meant to ask you what happened when Elder Wenrin contacted us yesterday. I was on patrol when the meeting started."
Diya put her ear by the door.
"He said something...uh...I think was he kidnapped that scientist...what was his name again? Chandelier? Channie? ChoChang? Yes, as soon as he tried to get into Cho-whatever's mind to see how the star key worked, his laboratory exploded."
Diya narrowed her eyes. Channie had been kidnapped, and that meant...Elder Wenrin wasn't as innocent as he seemed. He didn't want to help the gang.
"Is that why he put up a notice for everyone to pack up and change base?"
"Indeed. I have already finished organizing my quarter. Go, and deal with yours. I will stand guard here."
A thudding of clinky talons signified one of the guards left.
X
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!
"What could that ever be, Johnny-kins?" Jessica clung into John. The ceiling was falling apart.
"ATTENTION. ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS HUMAN CAPTIVES. WE ARE CHANGING BASES, AND LEHTROCY WILL BE..BLOWN UP."
Jessica and John started performing a grand last mating ritual, before they died.
"Guys, stop, stop!" Mitchell, aka Captain Kirby stomped the floor. His foot got stuck in the cement ground. "Damn it!"
Mitchell started screaming like a girl, and Jessica and John continued their ritual.
BOOM!
A jet of purple light flashed from outside, and part of the wall collapsed.
"What the hell are you guys still doing here? Evacuate!" Diya screamed.
"POPSICLES!" Anna cackled.
Jessica carried John bridal-style out of the large crater in the wall (and John, who by the way was screaming at the top of his lungs)
"Look! The mutants are leaving over there!" Kyna quacked. She clamped into one of the mutant's wings. The gang huddled together, and they felt themselves being lifted off and thrown headfirst into space.
X
BOOM.
"Elder Wenrin."
The Daakshi bowed.
"Thank you. I have time travelled back into this time, while you have time travelled into your future. This is the place called 'Mr.Ho's room.'" Elder Wenrin stood majestically.
"I had no idea he'd be that tiny," Emily sweatdropped, jesturing to the three-foot dwarf, called Elder Wenrin.
"Now, as for this..." Elder Wenrin whirled a spinny chair around. Channie was strapped onto it. "Wait...I told you hybrids to leave those humans in Lehtrocy! What are they doing here?!"
"Elder Wenrin, they managed to escape, while hanging to us when we were leaving. Are you alright, Elder? You seem...to have a voice change...It seems to be sharper than...normal." Captain Rachel kneeled before Elder Wenrin.
"OMG, IT'S JUSTIN BIEBER! AND HIS HIGH VOICE!" Anna howled. "EW!"
"No, I know nothing of this 'Justin Bieber.' I am not him. I am Elder Wenrin," Elder Wenrin adjusted a switch on his mask, and his voice changed. "Captain Rachel, it was a slight glitch."
The mutants bowed.
"Well, since the humans are here...let us kill them," Elder Wenrin sneered. "We will start with the pyschotic one."
"Not so fast," a booming female voice came from above.
"What is this? You challenge me for authority here?" Elder Wenrin sneered.
"The Queen of Light pwns all. I will not have innocent humans killed." the Queen roared. A force field seperated the mutants and Elder Wenrin from the gang.
"Channie! What happened?" Maria wheezed.
"It's complicated--" Channie whispered, before the winds of the force field blocked out everyone's hearing.
"Channie, we missed you!" Wenhao mouthed.
Elder Wenrin growled. "He will not escape me! My questions have not been answered!" Elder Wenrin, with some invisible force, sucked Channie back into his part of the force field.
The force fields exploded in opposite directions, back into darkness.
X
Catherine glared at her surroundings.
"Where are we, Jessica-bun buns?" John asked.
The gang lay on the ground.
"Dude...that force field thing...was awesome," Nicole smeared some sand off of her mouth with her sleeve.
Some Italian music started to play.
Rosita coughed. "We lost those mutants, Elder Wenrin...and Channie."
"I can't see them anywhere," Diya surveyed the area with her super cyborg vision.
"Don't tell me..." Maria coughed. "Is that the Leaning Tower of Pisa...when it's standing...uh...less tilted?"
Rosita stares pensively through the window, rolling her staff from one hand to the other and trying to make sense of the strange vibrations that it had begun emitting. Suddenly, she hurls it aside onto one of the beds lining the dull grey room. There is a flash of purple light, and an irritated mass of yellow feathers topples onto the floor with an unceremonious "thump".
Without turning around, Rosita sighs and addresses the angry quacks coming from her disgruntled companion.
"Sorry Kyna."
"Sorry?! What made you decide you needed to club me and nearly burn me tail feathers off?!"
It would be best, she decides, to tell Kyna what was going on. Even if she can't sense the presence of power just yet, a fellow practitioner of magic would be the most likely to understand. Nonetheless, Rosita attempts to compose her anxiety before she says anything, trying her best not to sound insane. "...has the air been...telling you anything?"
...Yeah, because that makes her sound perfectly sane.
Kyna simply raises her eyebrow. "Have you been inhaling anything of Anna's lately?"
Tenaciously, Rosita extends her hand towards the crumpled bed in search of her staff, attempting to revert it back into its dormant bracelet form. Instead, the object comes hurtling towards her, striking the bars on the window where her head had been only milliseconds before. Watching as the bars began to dissolve in the trickle of sparks being emitted from the end of her weapon, Rosita crawls across the floor to join Kyna.
The summoner's beak is slightly ajar, eyes wide, with her one eyebrow still comically raised. "You were saying...?!"
"That wasn't me." Rosita moves gingerly and picks up her wand, which had become slightly reduced in size but was still buzzing with a strange, uncontainable energy.
"There's a force in this land. I haven't been able to identify it, but it's the most tempestuous I've ever felt." Shavings of metal, as fine as dust, begin to settle in a heap on the window frame like the grains draining out of a sand timer. "And the most powerful."
Hearing the clang of something striking a barred window, Rachel pauses in before turning the corner and glances back at her appointed guards in exasperation In response, one of them raps his glistening talons sharply across the door containing the duck-human and the robed, potentially dangerous one. There is a stirring of energy, static-y and restless, that causes her feathers to ruffle and stand apprehensively above her skin - regardlessly she away, resuming her journey to her quarters. Again, she paused when a hysterical snickering - no doubt coming from the one called "Anna" in the first room - wafts boisterously down the hallway. Ensuring that she is alone, Rachel exhales a frustrated but inaudible sigh - not because of the distracting ruckus these humans were causing, but because their very presence seemed to be stirring something - an interest - that her kind abhor.
Again, she starts down the dimly lit hallway, breathing aloud in irritation, when she notices a foreign smell coming from further down the hallway. Her keen eyes scan the hall with a precision that leaves no crack in the walls unnoticed, focussing quickly upon a thin trail of smoke slowly spiraling towards the ceiling, suspended by...nothing.
Swiftly, Rachel analyzes the situation and bounds forward, prepared to extinguish the source of the smoke...whatever it may be. But what the heck could it be coming fro - ?!
A human hand had materialized, as if from the smoke itself.
Barely able to contain her surprise, Rachel takes an instantaneous, startled step backwards, all the while being eternally thankful that none of her kind were close enough to witness that...betrayal of weakness. Her apprehension quickly translates into fury, and she creeps as close to the foreign smell as her senses will permit her before spitting belligerently:
"Who are you? Reveal yourself, illusionist, for you are trespassing and are must be punished for it! Is it you, robed one?"
The voice that answers is quiet and raspy, but insultingly familiar.
"My bad." In a fluid motion the wall seems to retract a layer of skin from around the frail form, which is slumped pathetically on the ground but nonetheless bore an utterly amused expression. "Didn't mean to scare you."
Rachel's teeth grind into a vicious snarl at the mention of fear, and she barks through Maria's cacophony of hacking coughs,
"How DARE you insult me? Why aren't you detained?! How did you make it past the security?"
"They just didn't notice me," Maria wheezes, starring down at the tears in her dark jeans and straightening the collar to her black sweater. By far, in the ragtag group of unruly humans that had arrived on the compound, she looked closest to what one would deem "normal"...perhaps too much so. She notices Rachel starring at her attire and murmurs quizzically, "So noticed too, right? How everyone changes clothes when Anna pushed that button, but they all really work with who that person is? Well, you wouldn't really know, but..." She squints up into the dim light to stare momentarily at Rachel's throat. "You're different from all of them."
Rage, confusion, and interest are suddenly colliding in Rachel's mind in a chaos so engrossing she could hardly maintain her composure. Still, rage wins again.
"What do you mean?!" She growls, her subconsciousness practically screaming at her for even conversing with this scornful little human. Still...
"They're all very..." she snorts, looking disgusted with herself. "Departmental."
"What?!"
"Yeah, YOU never had an english teacher that forced you to analyze poems about ants..." Maria takes pensively drags on her cigarette before muttering, "When we went through to this dimension, they all suddenly had some gold thing around their talons, or their throats. Something with a symbol thing on it. And you," she stops to cough "don't have one."
Swallowing the sickened that had leapt into her throat, Rachel lunges forward to snatch Maria off the ground by the collar of her sweater. Her panic at the possible truth of these words - although surely hidden behind her contentious expression - ricochets through her chest, impossible to ignore. Was this a glitch in the star's teleportation? ...Or was it an irrefutable display of disloyalty to Lehtrocy, the thing she had worried about for all this time?
With the ill human dangling from her beak like a dead mouse, Rachel bolts back towards the detainment rooms. The other guards step back respectfully as she unlocks the door to the first room and hurls it open. From within, a loud shriek erupts from a red-eyed, cartoon-like figure. Anna, a bedsheet draped around her shoulders like a cape, is somehow dangling from the ceiling. In a corner, the dark haired figure is snoozing peacefully.
"AAAANNNNAAA!" Bellows the anime figure, smoke pouring from her ears as she continues to berate the oblivious creature.
Rachel heaves Maria onto the floor, where she is promptly squashed by a falling Anna.
"Eee hee hee hee, pancakes!" Anna cackles as she scuttles away from her victim.
Rachel looks upon the scene in cold bemusement, waiting for Maria to peel herself off the ground before slamming and locking the door.
Inside, however, Maria is unfazed. She watches curiously as Anna leaps off the top of a dresser and crashes into the wall in an unsuccessful attempt to get back on top of the lighting fixture. After lying dazed for a few moments, Anna dusts off her black jacket and attempts once more.
Not her straightjacket. Just a jacket.
Elder Wenrin signed off abruptly, as per usual. The scientist Aaron was visibly shaken. Emiri, the short human had a strange symbol floating over her head. I must remember to research what “?” means. Anyways, I attempted to regain order. It would not do to have humans wandering around our base.
“Humans, I shall show you to where you will be staying while you are here. You will not be allowed from that area without an escort, and there will be guards to ensure that there will not be any...wandering.” No one seemed to hear. I fought to keep my fur and feathers flat. Instead, I dug my talons into the floor. I settled my wings, and let out a low growl, summoning two warriors to my side. Quietly, I instructed them to follow my lead.
I grabbed the metallic smelling human, Diya, and my fellows took hold of the scientist and the short human, careful to keep her eyes pointed away from us.
“Follow me.” I growled, leaping over the stunned humans' and gliding towards a small door. My companions spread their wings to herd the humans towards the door to which I was headed. The corridor led to four rooms, each with bars on the windows and doors.
“You are neither prisoners, nor guests in our base. Though, since we cannot trust you to stay in one place, you must stay here where we can keep and eye on you. I then looked at each of them, knowing very well that humans do not like our apparently unnatural eyes. I was met with a variety of expressions: the tall human was contemptuous (I had not seen that expression leave her face since encountering her), the short human was still puzzled; with that strange symbol over her head joined by another “!”, the scientist looked thoughtful, the metallic human looked furious at my disrespect for her person, there was another human who mumbled “cigarettes” again and looked rather ill, the pair that seemingly never separated were engaged in another strange human courtship ritual, the rest of the humans shared the short one's puzzled expression. I watched the pair for a moment, slightly puzzled myself at their actions, and then abruptly pulled them apart.
“This is no place for breeding.” I told them. “We have no human to attend to you if a litter is expected, so I would rather it did not happen while you are here, as you are my responsibility, and I would have to care for you.” My feathers ruffled at the thought.
Smoothing them, I turned to face the others. “As I said before, there will be two or three Daakshi watching you at all times, and you will not be permitted to leave your rooms without an escort. Furthermore-”
“Dash-y?” The human called Anna, who seemed obsessed with shiny things laughed. “You don't look very fast.”
I bared my teeth slightly. “The humans outside our borders identify us as Daakshi. We do not speak our true name to anyone not of our breed.” Apparently the human had heard none of what I had said, as she was staring at my teeth.
“Maria!” She exclaimed. “If you use their toothpaste, you can get the nicotine stains off your teeth!” She gave me a serious look. “Where do you buy your toothpaste?”
“Toothpaste? What is this you speak of?” My teeth were coated to resist stains and breaking. They were the pride of a soldier. When you had nothing else, your teeth were an excellent weapon.
Anna looked disappointed. “Nevermind.”
“ANYWAYS.” The scientist spoke. “Where are we staying?” Apparently, he wasn't paying attention, too deep in thought about his encounter with Elder Wenrin.
“In these four rooms. If you have need to visit the other rooms, a Daakshi guard will unlock your door, and move you to the other room. You may choose who you want to stay with.”
Immediately, Anna and the short one – Emiri, squealed “SLEEPOVER!!!”, rushing into the first room, dragging a dark haired human that I hadn't noticed behind them. “Hurry Nicole! Before all the bunks get taken.” That was Anna again.
The scientist, Aaron carefully placed his black and white device on his bunk in the second room, and the disdainful human, Catherine, the metallic human, Diya, and the strangely enthusiastic Wenhao joined Aaron.
The duck-human, Kyna, and the robed human, Rosita claimed a room, but were unable to keep the giant human, Mitchell from following them. Eventually, they persuaded Mitchell to join the inseparable couple, Jessica and John in the fourth room. I let out an involuntary sigh. Hopefully, the couple would be less likely to perform their rituals in front of someone so large. John and Jessica jumped on the first bed and gave each other looks I did not recognize. Apparently not.
Watching John and Jessica coo to each other gave me a feeling in the tips of my feathers that I did not recognize. I wished I could be accepted. In Lehtrocy, our duties were determined by our pedigree, and no one questioned it. Except for me.
I cursed inwardly. I shouldn't be dwelling on this. I was lucky to be promoted to help lead the pack, especially after the disrespect I had showed Elder Wenrin in questioning his decision about my future.
No. I would show him that I was worthy to hold my prestigious position. My previous ideals were false. Humans could not be allies. They could not be trusted. They most definitely could not coexist with us. This was proved in our histories. This little band of humans needed to be removed, quickly. But how? And how not to disrespect Elder Wenrin again? He had promised to help them. My lips curled from my teeth. I locked the humans' rooms with a snarl and ordered my two companions to guard them until I sent another pair to relieve them.
Now, to plan...