FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The massive semi-truck rumbled along the highway through the night, loud music booming from the cab as it went. Inside, the driver was tapping his fingers on the wheel to the beat of the song that was playing, humming the buildup to the chorus while sipping from his coffee cup. He joined in the chorus as it boomed through the speakers.

"'Bow down to the... Bow down to the King'!" He sang, bobbing his head.

The truck crested a hill, and ahead the driver could see the lights of the city of Unity Falls. He checked the clock on his dashboard, grimacing as he took in the time. "I'm behind schedule," he muttered. "Hope the traffic's light until I reach the border - going to be a long night already."

Within minutes, he had entered the city proper. He pulled up to a stop at a traffic light, when he heard a thump on the roof. "What the-?" He demanded as he rolled down his window and leaned out to look onto the top of the cabin. When he couldn't see anything, he switched on his hazard lights and put the truck into park before he climbed out of the cabin, standing on the driver's seat to give him enough lift to look on the top.

Nothing...

"Must've just been a rock or something," he said, shrugging as he ducked back into the cabin.

He hadn't noticed though, the shape of a footprint on the top of the cabin, marred with frost. Had he seen it, he would've know the absurdity of a frosty footprint in the middle of an Albertan_summer_...

What the driver didn't know, was that he'd had a stowaway riding atop the trailer that held his cargo. Since leaving Calgary that evening, a pale avian had been resting on the roof of the trailer, silent and unmoving for three hours straight, laying flat so as not to be seen by other drivers on the road that might have alerted the trucker to his presence. Now that they had reached Unity Falls, the avian had departed, standing on the roof of a gas station as he watched his ride proceed into the city.

The snow-white avian turned his gaze to peer out at the city. He'd never been to Unity Falls before - at any other time, he might have taken the time to marvel at its beauty. Buildings glowed with lights of all colours, from the rural outskirts where he now stood, to the skyline that formed along the United States border crossing on both sides. The tallest structures on either side of the border boasted neon lights representing their respective country's flags, openly flaunting their national identity despite the mixed cultures of both countries - not to mention the city itself.

But he wasn't there to sight-see. This city just happened to the next stop for his mission, and to find them, he needed to get in touch with the types of people who had access to information. The kind of information that couldn't be found locally. Tired, ice-blue eyes scanned the skyline, a hand clenching the grip of the sword that hung in a scabbard at his belt.

It was time to begin his hunt...

~~~~~

Volcan awoke to the sound of the front door closing, startling him awake. It was not a sound he had grown accustomed to, living alone for as long as he had. He was upright and alert, expecting to see an intruder in his tower...

Only to realize he was in a less familiar room, but one he still recognized. He was in his brother's guest room, at his house in the countryside. Volcan glanced at the digital clock on the night stand, blinking the sleep from his eyes until he could make out the numbers it displayed.

"Oh, right," said the phoenix, rubbing his eyes as he remembered Lighris was heading to work. It was less than an hour before he was due to open shop...

Deciding that he wasn't likely to fall back asleep, Volcan dragged his tired body out of the bed and stood up. His crown brushed against the low ceiling of the room, making him instinctively duck.

"Whoever built this place didn't do so with tall people in mind," he muttered to himself as he made his way over to the bedroom door, only now realizing he hadn't closed it all the way. _No wonder the front door woke me up,_he thought.

Out of the bedroom, he came out into the foyer, making a right-hand turn to the hallway. He passed the door to the staircase that led up to Lighris' landlord's home on the second floor, passed the bathroom and went into the kitchen. He turned to the kitchen, and saw that a plate was left out for him, covered in tinfoil.

"Ah, thanks bro," the phoenix said aloud to himself, uncovering the plate to see the contents.

Breakfast sausage, some scrambled eggs, and some apple slices with a small dish of peanut butter. He also noticed some bread in the toaster, which he assumed had been left for him and so he put the bread down, recovering the rest of the food with the tinfoil to keep it warm until the toast was ready.

He leaned on the counter and stared off into space. "Now what the heck do I do with myself today?" He wondered aloud.

He was still pondering that very question when the toast was ready. He proceeded to spread butter over the toasted bread, and then added it to the plate after removing the tinfoil. With that, he retrieved some utensils from a drawer and wandered into the living room/den to sit down and turn on the news.

There was no mention of Natalie's murder in the news that morning... It had been almost a week since it had happened, so it didn't surprise Volcan they were no longer covering it. He hadn't seen Obsidian since she had helped them chase off the strange men who had tried to abduct Volcan and Lighris. At that, a thought occurred to him.

"I wonder if Ayane uncovered anything interesting in that salvaged tech?" He said aloud, spearing a sausage from his plate and devouring it within a few bites.

When he and Lighris had fought back against the abductors, they had brought equipment that even most SWAT teams would be envious of. A VTOL years ahead of anything the world had was just the tip of the iceberg - they had military grade weapons, training and equipment including radio headsets - behind masks that hid their features perfectly. He could tell humans from anthropians by their physique but beyond that, they had been completely unidentifiable.

Then there was whatever device they had used to lock out Volcan and Lighris' powers. At that thought, Volcan lifted his hand and studied it, as though expecting to see something he hadn't before. The device - whatever it had been - had locked out his powers, all except for his supernatural strength. They were hoping Ayane could figure out how they had done that, because Volcan knew of no power in all of the world that could deprive an elemental like him or Lighris of their powers...

Slowly, Volcan continued eating his breakfast, his mind wandering. He was halfway through his meal when. He was startled out of his thoughts by the front door opening and shutting again. "Who the...?" He asked, leaning over the side of the couch to look down the hall.

He was surprised to see his brother coming out of the foyer and walking down the hall toward him. "Lighris?" Volcan asked. "What're you doing back so soon? I thought you were heading to work."

"Long weekend, bro," replied Lighris, heading to the kitchen "I just needed to go pick up some smokes."

"Oh." Volcan replied. "I guess I forgot. Hard to remember without my calender."

"You have a cell phone - doesn't it have a calendar app?"

"It's a _flip_phone, Lighris," replied Volcan, eating another mouthful of scrambled eggs. "It doesn't really have 'apps' of any kind."

"I offered to get you a smartphone," Lighris reminded him as he came back into the living room, an opened bottle of cola in his hand. "Calendar, notebooks, games, hell you can do your banking with it - if you ever get a bank account."

"It's more technology than I really need, and you need I.D to get a bank account," reminded Volcan. "Besides, I only need a phone, not a computer in my pocket."

"How do you keep in touch with the rest of the world - know about current events?" Lighris asked, setting down his soda and pulling a metal cigar case from his pocket.

Volcan swallowed another mouthful of food. "Newspapers are still around," he answered.

"Oh come on bro, half the stuff in those papers is complete bullshit," said Lighris. "Give me a light?"

Volcan rolled his eyes and held out his hand, waiting until Lighris held the cigar over his fingers. With a snap, the tip of the cigar ignited. Lighris pulled his hand back and took a long drag off the cigar, the smell of smoke and chocolate from the cigar's flavouring filling the room as he exhaled.

"Blatant misuse of my powers aside," Volcan muttered. "How can you say one piece of media is nonsense and not the others?"

"You can edit a paper before you print it," Lighris replied. "Change the facts. Can't change what someone says on live TV."

"Newscasters read off of scripts - likely derived from what goes on tabloids," Volcan countered before he bit into a piece of toast.

"...Fair point," Lighris conceded before taking another drag off his cigar.

"Besides," Volcan went on. "I can get a newspaper for a lot cheaper than cable. Just reach into a recycle bin and there's usually one there."

"While also being extremely unsanitary," Lighris remarked.

"Says the guy wearing the tank with grease stains."

Lighris let out a cough. "I'm a fucking _mechanic,_bro. Half my clothes have great stains."

Volcan let out a chuckle and finished the rest of what was on his plate before heading into the kitchen to deposit the dishes into the washer. "So... Any plans today?"

"Was going to ask you the same thing," Lighris replied.

"Hell, I don't know... Maybe we should go to Ayane's? I'm curious to know if she uncovered anything from that... chopper?"

"Just call it a VTOL," said Lighris. "Got to say, that was a fine machine. Twin-rotor, compact frame, refractive plates, practically an onboard armoury. Even the military doesn't have gear like that."

Volcan closed the dish washer. "Two questions remain though - who the hell are they and how did they get stuff even the US Army would be envious of?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, little brother," Lighris answered, taking one last drag off the cigar before leaning forward and stabbing it into the ashtray on his coffee table to put it out. "Well, no time like the present, right? Let's go check on your girlfriend's tech friend."

Volcan looked at Lighris quizzically. "Girlfriend? You mean Obsidian? Bro, I literally _just_mether."

"And she's damn fine," Lighris replied, making a fingergun motion to his brother as they both stood up and headed down the hallway to the foyer "Don't let that one slip away from you."

"Yeah, well..." Volcan said, following his brother to the door. "The last girl who spent any extended amount of time with me didn't fare so well..."

Lighris, hand on the handle to the front door, rounded on his brother. "Volcan! That wasn't your fault!" He exclaimed. "Why do you keep beating yourself over the head with that?"

"I could have protected her-"

"No, Volcan, you couldn't have," Lighris interrupted. "When those guys jumped her, they weren't ready for you. The second time they showed up, they were more prepared - even if you saved her a second time, what then? They'd just come back one more time, and probably wouldn't be interested in taking you or_her alive, and then mom and would be burying _you. Besides, you exposed yourself to them - if Obsidian hadn't scrambled their memories who knows who they'd be talking to, knowing that there are people capable of throwing fire and lightning around."

Lighris let out a sigh, rubbing his forehead before he continued. "Look, bro... You can't let this thing keep haunting you," he said, sounding more sympathetic than Volcan had likely ever heard him before. "I'm sorry about that girl, really. But you can't start bearing the weight of the world on your back - not even _your_big strong back." He added with a nudged of his fist against Volcan's pectoral. "If we get a shot at those guys and get them off our backs, we can also get some payback for that hook-" He caught himself. "That girl - drive them outta our hometown so they don't bother anyone else."

Volcan let out a long breath of his own. "Okay, I'll try," he said as Lighris finally opened the door and led him out. "But Obsidian's still not my girlfriend."

"She could be," Lighris hinted, locking the door behind them as they approached his truck, their conversation continuing.

"She's got better things to do than mess around with me - she's a _cop_for crying out loud."

"And being a cop means she can't go on a date every now and then?"

"Only if she wants to be the only one footing the bill every time."

It was fortunate that Ayane had her home on the Canadian side of Unity Falls, as Volcan had no means of legally crossing the Border Plaza to State-side. Lighris had I.D and a city passport, allowing him to cross at his leisure. Volcan, however, had no such identification - if he ever had any inclination to go state-side, he had to do it in the dead of night, at a specific time where no one would be watching the skies. But luckily, he rarely had any reason to go to that side of the city.

They pulled up to Ayane's home, to her isolated workshop out of the city limits. They were not even out of the truck before she appeared at the door of the metal structure where she worked on her invetions, waving to them as she came over.

"Good morning Volcan, Lighris!" She called. "I got your message. Thanks for coming by."

"Good morning, Ayane," replied Volcan.

"Sup," Lighris replied. "We had some time to kill, wondered if you uncovered anything about that little incident and all the toys they left behind?"

Ayane seemed to shudder with anticipation. "I don't even know where to begin!" She said excitedly. "There's so much to mention. Let's see, uh- Oh, wait, before you come in."

She darted over to Lighris, taking him by his hand and slapping something over his wrist. Then, from the item on his wrist, she extended a cord with a clip down to his belt, attaching it to one of the loops.

"Uh... What? What's this?" Lighris asked.

"Anti-static protection," replied Ayane. "Don't need you frying any of my tech by touching it."

"Lady, I'm already grounded - I wear rubber sleeves under my shirt for that very reason."

"Better to be on the safe side," Ayane countered, waving her claw for them to follow as she all but ran back over to the workshop. "Come in! Come! I have so much to tell you!"

"Lady loves her work," Volcan remarked with a tilt of his head.

"Maybe too much," Lighris added as they followed the dragoness inside.

The normally orderly workshop - at least from when they had last been there - had been somewhat altered since their last visit. The center of the floor was now occupied by the hull of the fallen VTOL that they had scavenged, multiple parts gutted from the inside. On a table next to the vehicle, off its left side, were scattered machine parts, weapons and accessories that neither Volcan or Lighris could even begin to guess the purpose of.

Ayane made immediately for the table, looking over the components with near reverence. "Okay. So, where to start? A lot of components were damaged but I still found so much."

"Start simple - let us work our way up," said Lighris.

"Their equipment, then," said Ayane. She picked up one of the firearms, the barrel sweeping over the two as she turned. "Don't worry,' she said as they tensed. "Emptied the mag, the chamber, and removed the firing pin. Even if this gun _was_loaded, it's not even shooting air."

"That looks like a gun I've seen in a movie before," Lighris commented.

"Good old German engineering. Precise and dependable - not cheap, either," she said. "This is an UMP-45 - an extremely modular one."

"Modular?" Volcan asked.

"Easy to modify, All kinds of accessories," replied Ayane. "This one in particular had a muzzle brake, laser pointer, extended mags with at least three different kinds of ammunition. Hollow point, full-metal jacket, and a third one I'm not yet sure the purpose of but they seem to be loaded with some kind of... paint."

"You're not telling me these guys play paintball," Lighris said incredulously.

"With copper casings?" Ayane countered, arching an eye ridge at him. "Anyway, this sub machine gun fires .45 caliber rounds. Big punch in a little gun. Their sidearms were common Glock nine millimeters - you can buy them anywhere, but some of them had their own accessories."

"What about their other gear?" Volcan asked. "They reminded me of SWAT teams with how they were kitted out."

"You're not far off," said Ayane, putting down the SMG and picking up what appeared to be one of the masks of the men who had attacked them. Specifically, one of the human masks, which she turned inside out and revealed electronic equipment _inside_the mask. A flexible band, arching over the top of the head travelling from one ear to the other, both sides ending in curling buds, the left one having an added piece that would have rested against the cheek ofwhoever wore it.

"Is that some kind of headset on the inside?" Lighris asked.

"Even more than that. They have a complete, closed circuit communications channel. The headsets in the helmet link to each other but they're on some kind of isolated network," Ayane explained. "Only the men wearing these headsets could hear who was speaking - with lowered voices, they could speak to each other in plain sight and only everyone else on their channel could hear them."

At that, Volcan had an idea. "Can you use that to track them to where they came from?" He asked.

"Unfortunately, no - I already tried that," replied Ayane. "When they knew some of their gear had been swiped they must've shut off the transmission from the source. These helmets can still communicate with each other, but, nothing else - not even other radios I've tried."

"How do you create an isolated network like that?" Lighris asked, puzzled.

"Well, you see, in order to create an isolated channel, they'd have to-"

"That was rhetorical," Lighris interrupted. "Wireless communication is a little over my head - I fix cars, I build cars, but I only install the radios - I don't program them. What about this VTOL of theirs?"

Ayane set down the helmet and turned to the vehicle. "Years ahead of its closest counterpart, the V-22, which it shares some similarities with," Ayane commented. "I've confirmed it is a tiltrotor craft to a small extent, but the rotors only turn on a slight."

"Tiltrotor?" Volcan asked.

"Self-explanitory - the rotors tilt forward, which basically turns the VTOL from a vertical takeoff and landingcraft like a helicopter, to propulsion forward like a turboprop," Lighris explained.

"Only they can't quite tilt that far," Ayane clarified. "They only tilt at about forty-five degrees. Enough to give _some_forward thrust but for more they'd have to tilt the craft the rest of the way. Most fascinating are those refractive plates built into the hull - I'm still analyzing those. But you say they gave the craft perfect transparency?"

Volcan nodded. "Other than a little shimmer in the air I couldn't see it without my infrared vision, and the rotors barely made a sound either."

"Yeah, I see lots of helicopters on highway patrol or coming off the hospital helipad," Lighris added. "They are nowhere near that quiet."

"Fenestron-designed rotors, like those used on modern stealth helicopters," Ayane explained. "Though, usually only used for the tail-rotor. They create an enclosed rotor with many more blades, which reduces the sound escaping as the blades spin. I'm still analyzing the design overall but, this thing wouldn't be heard unless you're standing right under it."

"And, going back to the refractive plates," Lighris put in. "Any clue what's powering that? What gives this thing enough juice for actual stealth technology and whatever locked down Volcan and I's powers?"

"This," Ayane replied, reaching into the craft andm with a grunt of effort, dragging out a large cylinder of transparent, tempered glass, a network of circuitry and containing four opaque cylinders, through which they could barely make out were filled with a greenish liquid. The case was nearly two thirds her own size, and was clearly very heavy as she couldn't pull it out any further.

"The fuel source appears to be this giant cell, filled with liquified hydgrogen fuel."

"Hyd-HYDROGEN?!"Volcan practically shrieked with terror in his voice before he turned and ran across the room, reaching the furthest wall and nearly knocking over a table in his sprint.

"...Wow. That is the fastest I've ever seen him move on foot," Lighris remarked while Ayane chuckled.

"Volcan, relax! The canisters are shielded and insulated!" she tried to assure him.

"Nuh-uh! I may not get much TV at my place but I _did_see a documentary on the Hindenburg!" Volcan returned. "I'm a walking talking _fireball,_Ayane!"

"Alright, alright, I'll just put it-" Ayane said with a strained groan as she tried to drag out the fuel cell. "Oof... Okay, this is really heavy without my suit..."

"Where do you want it?" Lighris asked, ushering Ayane aside gently before taking hold of the fuel cell himself, grabbing it by a pair of handles on either side of the containment. Despite how large the cell was, Lighris' well-developed muscles swelled with the effort but the cell moved as he carefully pulled it out of the craft's cabin.

"Just over there," Ayane replied, pointing across her workshop to a bare corner of the room. "There it'll be safe from any heat sources or the like."

Lighris carefully lifted the container out of the VTOL, grunting as it pulled free of the cab and he received its full weight. "Okay, yeah, it is pretty heavy. Casing must be thick."

"Lighris! You sure you want to touch that?" Volcan asked.

"I'm_grounded_, Volcan. It's fine," Lighris replied with exasperation as he hoisted the fuel cell over his shoulder and carried it to where Ayane had designated. "So long as the power coils inside don't don't me, which they can't because of the shielding, it's not going to blow up." He drawled the last five words.

Slowly, Volcan made his way back over to where Ayane stood beside the gutted VTOL, watching his brother all the while. He watched as Lighris set down the fuel canister, leaving it by the wall. It landed with a_clank_that made Volcan wince, and-

"KA-BOOM!"

"AH!" Volcan screamed, recoiling from Ayane. She stood with her arms raised, grinning like a child.

"That wasn't funny!" Volcan shouted at her.

"Sorry! Sorry, I couldn't resist!" Ayane replied, holding her stomach as she laughed. "You were so tense that if you were standing in a draft, you'd twang!"

Volcan scowled, harder when he saw Lighris was also laughing as he walked back over. "Glad to see you two find my fear of an exploding death so amusing." He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Oh get a sense of humour, little brother," Lighris stated. Then, he cleared his throat and turned back to Ayane. "Alright, back to the matter at hand. Have you figured out how they locked out our powers?"

"Well... Yes, and no," Ayane replied.

"Which is it?" Lighris asked.

"I think I know _what_was locking out your powers, but I have no idea _how_it was doing it yet," she replied as she turned to the cab of the VTOL, climbing up and entering the interior where she motioned the two to follow her.

She led them to the rear end of the cab, passing seats arranged along the walls, built into the frame and spacious enough to seat a maximum of eight people. They passed the weapons locker - now emptied - and came to an open compartment in the floor. Ayane shone a flashlight into the compartment, revealing a strange device mounted inside, protected by a transparent pane of safety glass.

The device below the glass seemed alien. It resembled a gyrosphere, though it was still, wrapped in platinum metal bands that held the sphere securely. Four metal arms reached out from the sides, their tips pressing into the gyrosphere's supporting bands to hold it in place, but they appeared to be telescopic in design - like they were meant to retract. The arms were wrapped in criss-crossing steel coils, and the machinery below added to the already alien appearance, with multiple crystalline lenses facing the gyrosphere from all directions, behind which they were sure they would find even more intricate machinery.

"What are we even looking at here?" Lighris asked.

"I really don't know," replied Ayane. "I've never seen something like this before."

"Then how do you know it's what locked down our powers?" Volcan asked.

"Because it _is_the only thing in here I don't recognize," replied Ayane. "I have no idea what that thing is, and I know my tech."

Lighris tapped his fingers for a moment, considering. "So if this is it... What do you need to do to find out? Extract it?"

"No, I shouldn't need to," she replied. "I want to study it, but..." She looked at the two phoenixes. "If I switch it on, it's going to affect both of you."

"The effects pass once it's depowered," replied Volcan. "If it gets us a better understanding of this technology, I'm willing to risk it."

Lighris nodded in agreement. Ayane bit her lip, but eventually nodded back, and walked up to the cockpit of the craft. "Stand outside," she instructed them, leaning over the console as she began to power the aircraft. They heard the engines humming to life, though the rotors outside remained still.

As instructed, the two walked back out to the workshop floor, bracing themselves. Inside, Ayane flipped a switch, and keyed in a command to divert power to the strange advice - called a 'Distruptor' on the console. When power was being fed to it, she hurried over to the door, and watched its effects start. She saw the two phoenixes standing casually for a few seconds, and then, their posture shifted.

They both stood unsteadily, lifting their hands to rest against the centers of their chests. Both of them began to breath more heavily. Their eyes glazed over, and they soon had difficulty staying on their feet. Lighris managed to stay up, but Volcan fell to his knees, pressing a clenched ifst into the floor for more support. They both felt weak, tired, as though they were being starved and had not slept in at least a day. All the while, the effects continued to grow...

Ayane had seen enough. She ran back into the cockpit and cut power to the device. She went over to the window, and watched as the arms reconnected themselves to the whirling gyrosphere, which came to a stop and seemlessly accepted the mounts of the arms. The crystalline lenses were glowing, though the light in them was already starting to fade while she watched it. Soon, the device was completely still, reverting to the state which she had discovered it.

With that, Ayane hurried off the VTOL, relieved to find Volcan and Lighris seemed to be regaining their strength. They were back on their feet, and didn't look sickly any more but still looked tired. She approached them, eyeing both avians with concern.

"Are you okay?"

Lighris groaned. "Feel like I'm nursing a hangover _and_the flu at the same time... But otherwise, I'm good," he said.

"That was just as bad as before," Volcan replied, rubbing his head. "It was as though I was having the life energy _pushed_out of me for a time, and I couldn't summon my powers either." He looked at his hands. "I know I still have my strength, and my eyes can still shift spectrum. But my power over fire was just... Gone."

"Well now I know the effects," Ayane said. "I just need to determine the cause, and figure out how that device is hurting you."

Volcan nodded. "Should we leave you to work then?"

Ayane chuckled. "Don't make it sound like I'm chasing you off," she said. "I'll start studying the field that device emits, see if I can't get a better understanding of it."

"Any preliminary thoughts on how we might beat it next time?" Lighris asked.

"At this point, any suggestion I make will be a shot in the dark," replied Ayane, giving a helpless shrug. "I'd rather give you guys facts than fiction. Sorry."

Both phoenixes nodded to her. Volcan stepped forward and offered his hand to Ayane. "Thank you for everything, Ayane."

"I haven't really done anything yet," she replied, taking hold of Volcan's hand and shaking it. "But, you're welcome. You two take care out there, okay?"

"Thanks to you, I think things can go back to normal for us," said Lighris. "After all, you and Obsidian made sure those guys can't find us again."

"I'd stay alert if I were you," Ayane cautioned as she withdrew her hand from Volcan's. "They may not remember what you look like, and my virus will have taken care of any other intel they gained on you. But, those helmets of theirs prove they were talking to someone, even while they were engaged with you. Whoever else they told about you will still know you exist."

Volcan grimaced at that, realizing she had a point. But he thanked Ayane again, and turned to leave with his brother. They wished her luck and closed the door to the workshop, leaving Ayane to continue her analysis of the strange technology.

"I suppose I'm not going back to my own work yet, then, if those guys are still out there," Volcan remarked as he and Lighris approached the truck.

"Until we chase those creeps off for good, bro, it's better you stay at my place," said Lighris.

"I can't keep mooching off you forever."

"You're not mooching, bro. I invited you to come stay with me, and that invitation didn't expire," Lighris stated. "Now, we can talk about moving your stuff to my place-"

"Hold on, Lighris," Volcan interrupted. "Staying with you until it's safe to go out on my own again is one thing. But I'd like to keep it a temporary thing for now."

"You really want to go back to that old tower?" Lighris asked. "Back to canned meat and wood-burning?"

"It's home to me, big bro. I need to have _somewhere_to call my own."

Lighris rolled his eyes and groaned as he opened the driver's side door of his truck. "You're hopeless," he said with a shake of his head before climbing into the cab.

Obsidian let out a breath as she cut the engine to her cruiser and opened the door. Stepping out, she made sure her tail was clear before closing the car door and approaching the scene by the alley. Three men sat handcuffed against another officer's cruiser, each one of them looking like they had been hit by a car. Bloodied noses, black eyes, one of them even had a leg twisted at an awkward angle. The man's face was contorted with pain, trying not to cry at his broken leg.

Obsidian approached the other officer by their cruiser, looking over her shoulder once as she heard more sirens and saw an ambulance approaching the scene. "What've we got, Jim?" She asked the officer - a black-furred canid with brown eyes.

"What you see is what you get, Obsidian," he replied. "Three guys picked a fight with the wrong man, and we have warrants for all three of these guys."

Obsidian looked at him curiously. "Then... Why'd they call us?"

"They didn't," he replied. "One of their phones was dialed 9-1-1, and just left out. All of them were unconscious by the time my partner and I got here - he's checking the alley for anyone else."

"Have they given any description of their attackers?"

"Only words they give me are 'fuck' and 'off'," the officer replied dryly. "Usually in that order."

The other officer stepped out of the alley. This one, another canid but with brown fur instead, nodded his head to Obsidian in greeting before giving his report. "Whole lot of nothing," he said plainly. "Whoever minced these three is long gone. Must've just been another gang fight."

From the cruiser, one of the men spoke up finally. "Oh stupid fuckin' cop," he said.

"Excuse me?" The brown canid asked dangerously.

"This weren't no other 'gang' that minced us," he said.

"Then who was it?" Obsidian asked.

"Don't know. Figure it out."

Little did the thug know, she already had been doing just that. Obsidian was watching the man's thoughts as he recalled his fight with whatever assailants had attacked them, and she had to hide her surprise. One. There had only been one attacker.

"Don't tell me," Obsidian began, getting an idea. "It was just one guy? Someone you three decided to drag into the alley to mug them, and it turned out he was tougher than you thought?"

"Was nothin' like that!" The thug shot back. "Guy just dropped on us while we were countin' out some money we made earlier today! He started askin' questions - the type we don't like gettin' asked! So, we went to set him straight, and suddenly he's all over us!"

"What 'guy'?" Obsidian asked.

"Don't know! Bird guy - completely white, didn't wear a shirt either. Eyes the colour of ice cubes and _man_if looks could kill, the scowl he was giving us could stop your heart."

Obsidian continued to watch the man's memories, seeing in his mind the figure who had fell upon them. An avian, completely white in colour with ice blue eyes - and, as the thug had said, a menacing scowl that made even her hair stand on end. She saw the man with the broken leg attempting to circle the avian, trying to get behind him, only for a single well-placed kick to send him screaming to the ground, clutching his leg. The other two rushed him, one after the other. The avian tucked in his wings and went into a flurry of motion that the slow-minded thug couldn't follow. She stopped watching when she saw her 'host' receiving two kicks to the face - the cause of his broken nose, and fell into the wall.

"Was he carrying any weapons?" Obsidian asked.

"Just a sword. Some kind of fencer's blade," replied the thug. "He didn't pull it until after he kicked our asses, and then he had it at my neck when he demanded answers." He tilted his head slightly, showing a shallow cut alone his jawline. "Wasn't playin' around either."

"And what did he want to know?" Obsidian pressed.

The thug scoffed. "Wouldn't _you_like to know?"

_'Where is your boss?'_She heard the avian's voice in the thug's memory, cold and emotionless, demand of the thug, before pushing the blade harder against his throat when he refused to answer, eventually forcing the answer out of him. Then, blackness...

"Well, I don't know how you do it, Obsidian," Jim remarked. "But you got him to say more than he was willing to say to me."

"If you had an ass like hers I'd talk to you too," the thug replied dryly, leaning to the side as if trying to get a better look at Obsidian.

"Yeah, that ain't gonna happen," Jim remarked, looking at Obsidian apologetically.

She offered no reaction to the remark - it was far from the first time someone had made such comments about her figure, in or out of uniform. She pulled out her notebook, taking notes of all she'd heard from the thug - being careful not to mention what she'd gained through her telepathy. "White feathers, ice blue eyes..." She said aloud, and saw Jim making similar notes in his own book. "Is there anything else you can tell us?"

"No. That's it," the thug replied. He sounded pacified in his tone, leaving out any further abrasiveness.

"Alright, paramedics will take the guy with the busted leg," Jim offered. "We'll take these other yahoos in my car."

"Thanks, Jim," said Obsidian. "I'll go back on patrol and see if I can't find this white avian assailant."

Jim nodded and big goodbye to Obsidian as his partner helped him get the other two thugs into their cruiser. Obsidian climbed back into hers, shutting off her lights and accelerating to city speed limit. Along the way, however, she decided that there was someone else she needed to talk to, reaching to them telepathically.

'Rikyuu,'she called. 'We need to meet. I need to ask you something.'

"I wish I could help, Obsdiian," said the blue dragon, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. "But I haven't met any avians that look like that."

"So this isn't some new partner of your helping you 'clean up the streets'?" Obsidian asked, skeptical.

"'Sid, you know me better than that," replied Rikyuu, uncrossing his arms and stepping away from the wall. "What I do is dangerous, I know that. That's why I don't bring anyone else into it. Besides, things have been pretty quiet in the city for a while now."

Obsidian grimaced. "Not as quiet as some of us would like," she said. "You probably heard about that murder a few days back?"

"That young woman at the motel? Yeah," replied Rikyuu. "Have you found any leads yet?"

"Just a loose one," she replied, placing her hands on her hips. "But... I can't think of any way to describe them that doesn't just make them sound like some boogeyman. From what I found out it's possible the girl had some Psionic potential like me, and these people were after her for it. But, she didn't have what they wanted and they just... Killed her.

"Sure sign somebody is trying to protect their anonymity, killing someone so indiscriminately," suggested Rikyuu, saying it like the words left a bad taste in his mouth. "Leave no witnesses."

Obsidian hesitated briefly, the words in her throat but wondering if she had any right to disclose it. Considering for a moment, she decided to go ahead, and said slowly, "they did leave one."

"Someone_did_see them kill her?"

"Well, no, but she wasn't the only one to be targeted by these people. I don't want to say more yet without talking to him first, but I _was_hoping to introduce you to him," she said before shaking her head. "But this organization... Is there even a slight chance that your creator might be involved?"

"This isn't Nero's modus operandi," replied Rikyuu, shaking his head. "Besides, he disappeared long ago. He wouldn't come back now just to start kidnapping people."

Obsidian sighed. "Was worth a try. Well, now I need to find this avian - from what I've gathered he's looking for that gang's boss, and I don't know who's in more danger with that goal - him, or the gang."

"He can obviously take care of himself," said Rikyuu. "But taking on a whole gang alone is foolhardy."

"Unless you have some crazy superpowers like you," Obsidian teased, smiling at Rikyuu.

Rikyuu started to chuckle, but then his smile faded. "...Were there any signs of such powers being used at the scene?"

"Not that I could tell, no," replied Obsidian. "He broke one of their legs and the other two looked like they got trampled by a bull, but _you_could do that rather easily."

"Well, yes, but I'm not like other people," reminded Rikyuu. "I'm a living weapon. This avian? It's just some guy who has it out for these gangsters."

"Given what I've been seeing this last week," Obsidian commented. "I'm starting to wonder if many guys I meet are 'just some guy'..." She smiled. "Perhaps it _is_time I introduce you to my new friend."

They were halfway back to Lighris' house when Volcan received the text message. Extracting his phone from his pocket, he flipped it open to check the message. 'Hey. I have someone I'd like you to meet,'_it read. '_When and where could we meet up?'

"Who is it?" Lighris asked curiously.

"Obsidian," replied Volcan. "She says there's someone she'd like me to meet." He caught Lighris' wary look and Volcan frowned at him. "What?"

"Does she say who it is?"

"Well, no, but-"

"That's kinda sketchy, bro. You sure it's from her?"

"It's her number."

"Well just the same, I'd like to go with you," Lighris put in. "Where does she want to meet?"

"She's giving me the choice," replied Volcan, leaning his head back and considering. "Where would _you_feel most comfortable then, if you want to come?"

Lighris opened his mouth to speak, but stopped, considering the question. "Well I don't want whoever this is to know where we live, or where my shop is," he answered. "But we can't go anywhere public in case things get hairy."

"Then let's meet them at my place," said Volcan. "That's about as un-public as it gets."

"Didn't I just say-?"

"If you have a better idea, let's hear it," Volcan cut him off.

Lighris answered only with a scowl. He didn't have a better idea, and so Volcan went ahead with texting Obsidian. She replied promptly, giving him an approximate time for the meeting - it was after she finished work for the day. She'd bring the newcomer with her.

With that, Lighris made a detour to head back the other way, driving through the city until they were leaving town. As they headed up a street at the city's edge - one familiar to Volcan, he spoke up.

"Oh hold on," he said. "Can we pull into that corner grocery store ahead?"

"Why?"

"To pick up some drinks."

Lighris shrugged and slowed the truck, moving into the right lane where he could make the turn. They entered the parking lot, and came to a stop in one of the stalls. With that, Volcan stepped out of the pickup, and led the way inside with Lighris following close behind.

The bell rang as the door opened, announcing their entry into the store. "Mrs. Clyde?" Volcan called as he entered.

There was no answer at first, but through the windows of the coolers on the other end of the store, there was movement. The two watched as a pair of legs crossed the cooler until reaching a door on the far right of the store, where a middle-aged human woman stepped out. "Welcome, how ma-" The woman paused. "Oh, it's you Victor. How are you doing?"

"Victor?" Lighris muttered out of the corner of his mouth, casting a quizzical look to Volcan.

"Just play along," replied Volcan, before looking back to Mrs. Clyde. "I'm doing alright, ma'am. Just been staying with my brother here the last few days."

"You never mentioned you had a brother," Mrs. Clyde remarked, casting a look at Lighris studiously. "But I see the resemblance. Similar feather crown and facial features. It's nice to meet you, um..."

"Li-"

"Lance," Volcan replied.

Lighris looked at him oddly. But remembering Volcan's earlier words, he didn't protest the alias. "Lance," he said, playing along. "Nice to meet you, ma'am."

"Likewise. Can I help you find anything?" She asked.

"Just picking up some drinks for a few friends," replied Volcan.

"Ah. Well, you know where the coolers are," Mrs. Clyde replied as she returned to her place at the counter, giving Volcan the run of the store.

When they were out of earshot, Lighris spoke up. "Why the nicknames?"

"If anyone was ever looking for me and asked for me by name, she couldn't give it."

"You don't even have a home address - what danger would there be in giving your name?"

"_You_have one though," Volcan reminded.

"And it's my first time setting foot in this shop. Likely the last considering I live about twenty kilometers in the other direction."

Volcan frowned, realizing Lighris had a point. There really was no real reason to hide his real name from Mrs. Clyde - she was a harmless woman, and this store saw very little traffic from outside the neighborhood. That being one of the reasons Volcan favoured this store.

With a shrug, Volcan retrieved a six pack of soda pop from the cooler - six cans, held together by plastic rings, of a generic cane sugar soda. He brought it up to the front to pay, and thanked Mrs. Clyde before leaving the store with Lighris. They climbed back into the truck and were on their way again.

At the lookout tower, Volcan and Lighris waited for Obsidian to arrive. They watched from the edge of the high ridge, from which their keen eyes could make out the road and kept an eye out for Obsidian's car. Soon, they saw it coming up the highway from the direction of the city, passing out of sight for a time before appearing again, but it was still on the road.

Evidently, Obsidian was having trouble finding the road to the lookout - not surprising, considering how overgrown it was. Eventually, Volcan decided that they should fly down and show her the way up. With his brother following, Volcan spread his wings and dropped into a glide, eventually reaching the highway and landing on the shoulder to wait for Obsidian to come back.

Eventually, the car came back into view again, and Volcan waved to Obsidian to get her attention. She pulled over to the side where Volcan stood, and she cut the engine before stepping out of the vehicle, followed by another exiting on the passenger side.

The newcomer was a dragon, but not an Eastern breed like Obsidian. This one was a western dragon - hairless, scaled and with two large bat-like wings proportionate to his size. He had a cluster of ivory horns growing from the back of his head - two large, with two smaller ones sprouting beneath.

The dragon's scales were dominantly a sapphire blue, with a sky blue undertone starting from under his chin, running down his neck and expanding over his pectorals and abdomen before continuing. His eyes were bright yellow - almost identical in colour to that of Lighris. He was shirtless, garbed only in a pair of black jeans and a red vest, open at the front to show his physique. He looked fit - not quite as big as Volcan, but healthy. He was at head with Obsidian when they stood side-by-side putting him between Volcan and Lighris in terms of height.

"Hey guys," said Obsidian. She was out of uniform, dressed in blue jeans and a gray tank top. She came around and shook hands with Volcan and Lighris. "Hope we didn't keep you waiting too long?"

"We were watching you from up on the ridge," said Lighris. "Looked like you were having trouble finding where to go."

"Yeah - I can't see a road anywhere over here," she answered, waving her arm toward the opposite side of the highway. "Did I not go far enough?"

"It's right there, between those two big trees," Volcan replied, turning to point where he meant. "But it's overgrown, so, not surprising you didn't see it."

Obsidian tilted her head at the phoenix. "I thought you said you lived out here?"

"I do," he answered, turning again and pointing up the ridge toward the lookout tower, which could be seen just barely peeking over the tops of the trees that dotted the slope of the ridge. "Right up there."

"The old fire lookout?" The blue dragon asked. "Is that place even structurally sound?"

"They build them to last," Volcan commented. "And you must be Obsidian's friend?"

"Call me Rikyuu," the dragon replied, offering his hand to Volcan.

The phoenix grasped Rikyuu's hand and shook it, nodding to him. "Nice to meet you, Rikyuu. You can call me Volcan, and that's my brother, Lighris."

"Before we continue, should we head up?" Obsidian suggested.

"Best we fly up," Lighris replied. "That car of yours isn't meant for off-roading so, probably better we don't mess up its suspension - that road is pretty rough on the way up."

"Good idea," Obsidian agreed, producing her keys and tapping a button on the remote to lock the doors.

"Need us to carry you up?" Volcan asked.

Obsidian cast him a curious look, the hint of a smile present on her face. "You think just because I don't have wings like you three I need to be carried?" She asked, looking both ways up and down the highway to make sure no cars were coming.

"Well, I didn't mean-" Volcan started to say, but stopped mid-sentence when Obsidian's feet left the ground.

She tucked her arms behind her back, spiraling into the air as if lifted by a wire and looked down at the fire phoenix with a rather smug grin. "Well, are you coming?" She asked before floating higher, passing the top of the surrounding trees in but a few seconds.

"She... Can levitate?" Volcan asked.

"She_did_tell you she's Psionic, right?" Rikyuu replied, moving to the side to get more room before opening his wings. He bent his legs and made a jump into the air to get some altitude, beating his wings feverishly to carry him aloft and leaving Volcan and Lighris to stare after the two.

With that, Volcan and Lighris followed suit, getting into the air and following the two dragons up to the ridge. One by one, they each landed on the flat top, in the shadow of the lookout tower. Lighris retrieved the drinks they'd picked up earlier and offered one to Obsidian and Rikyuu before taking one himself.

"So..." Volcan began. "What has Obsidian told you about me so far?"

"Only a little bit," replied Rikyuu as he opened the can of soda pop and took a drink. "But I do know you're both phoenixes. She didn't tell me - I figured it out, once she mentioned what you both could do. Fire, lightning - kind of obvious. She also mentioned that someone is after you."

"I wanted to let you guys explain the rest," Obsidian put in. "Rikyuu can keep a secret, believe me."

"Implying he has one of his own to keep?" Lighris asked, an unopened can still held in his hand.

"You might say that," Rikyuu replied. "Probably better I just show you - if I tell you, you won't believe me."

He handed off his drink to Obsidian, backing away from the three to give himself some room. With that, he widened his stance, lifting both of his arms and clenching each hand into fists. He brought his hands together, thumbs touching, when a flash of light escaped the creased between his fingers. Pulling his hands apart, a pink shape, crackling with arcs of blue energy within its frame, formed between his clenched fists.

He spread his arms wider until the object he had created - to Volcan and Lighris' utter bewilderment, formed into a staff. He slid his right hand back along the shaft to grip it from the middle, spinning it once before tapping one end on the ground with an audible thunk, as though the staff were actually made of solid matter.

"What... the actual fuck?"Lighris asked.

"How did you do that?" Volcan asked.

"Energy constructs," replied Rikyuu. "I'm able to generate a form of matter which can become solid once fully materialized. It doesn't really have a name, at least one I know of." He spun the staff again, laying a hand over one end, and pulling away as it took on a different shape, becoming pointed like a spear. "But each item is..." He drove the pointed end into the ground, holding it there with the flat end pointed skyward. "Functionally just like the real thing."

"So... You can make anything your mind can think of?" Lighris asked.

Rikyuu laughed. "If only. There _is_a limit to the size of the object I can make, and the more complex it is the harder it is to create and maintain. Like say if I tried creating a functional car out of the energy, theoretically I _can_do it," heextracted the energy spear again, laying it over both of his hands. "But it'd suck the energy right outta me and I'd be completely worn out. The simpler the item, the easier it is to make, and even limited as I am my powers are still pretty flexible."

As he continued, he placed a hand over each end of the spear, which became more transparent as he grasped it nad began pushing both ends. "It can be used for both offense..." He said as the spear caved, both ends seemingly absorbed into his hands as he pressed in until his palms touched. Then, he suddenly spread his arms again, this time a round wall of the same energy forming between him and his companions - the wall was transparent until it became more opaque, leaving the outline of Rikyuu behind it barely visible. "And defense."

"That's... That's amazing!" Volcan exclaimed. "How do you do that? Is that a special power you've had your whole life?"

"Well... You could say that, yes," replied Rikyuu, nodding. With a wave of his hands, the round shield vanished, dispersing into particles as though it never were. "But, I'm not exactly what you'd call... Normal."

"He says to a psionic dragoness and two phoenixes," Lighris remarked, arching a brow.

"No, I mean even _less_normal than that," Rikyuu said. "I wasn't born - or, hatched as it were, in the case of present company. Try to keep an open mind." He sucked in a deep breath, letting it out slowly before he spoke again. "I... Was grown in a glass tube in a secret laboratory, by a scientist specializing in genetic engineering. My official designation by him is 'Project X version 2'. Rikyuu's the name Obsidian gave me but otherwise, I have no name, no parents and no identity."

He watched as Volcan and Lighris stood, staring in disbelief for a long, awkward moment. Then, out of nowhere, Lighris burst out laughing. "What?!" He demanded between his chortles. "What kind of sci-fi movie do you think we're in here, man?"

"You don't believe me." Rikyuu said bluntly.

"Who would? I mean, genetic engineering?" Lighris asked. "Look, Magic I know exists, and alchemists have across history tried to imitate life like that, but to completely grow a whole being into a sapient, intelligent anthropian? That's impossible, plain and simple."

"How about this, then?" Rikyuu asked. "If one of you would be willing, I can show you something else I can do. Something only _I..._can do."

"What do you need from us?" Volcan asked.

"Just need one of you to give me a hand," replied Rikyuu, holding up his right hand as it began to glow with the same pink energy as the construct he had formed before. "And no, this won't actually take your hand - you shouldn't feel a thing."

Volcan looked at his brother. Lighris had stopped laughing, now looking warily at the blue dragon as if trying to gauge his intent. He looked at Volcan as the fire phoenix took a step forward, seemingly wanting to protest but Obsidian held up her hand.

"It'll be okay, Lighris," she promised. "I've done this too, and look - I got both my hands."

Her words seemed to pacify Lighris, and he watched with interest as Volcan walked up to Rikyuu. The blue dragon held out his hand, and Volcan - with slight hesitation, grasped it. He felt a pulse of energy between the two of them - like a small breeze had washed over, but it originated from between them. Just like that, whatever Rikyuu was doing was over, and Volcan pulled back his own hand.

"I feel a... Light tingle," said Volcan. "But that's it."

"I didn't do anything to you," Rikyuu promised. "What I did was... Borrow something."

Rikyuu held out his arms, and as they watched, his colours suddenly changed. So rapidly that had Volcan blinked, he'd have missed it. The dark blue scales turned red - exactly the same shade as Volcan's, and the light blue undertones also changed to match Volcan's yellow feathers. The wings shifted to match, with the limbs becoming red and the membranes turning yellow like the rest of him. His horns and claws retained their ivory white colour, and his eyes likewise remained red, but otherwise his colours had shifted to match Volcan's exactly.

"What the..." Volcan asked.

Lighris however, didn't seem impressed. "You... Can change colour? Like a chameleon or something?"

"Way more than that," said Rikyuu, lifting his hand again and holding it palm up. Above his upturned hand, a ball of fire materialized into being, hovering just above his palm. In that instant, what Rikyuu had actually done dawned on Volcan.

"You_copied_me?" He asked, his voice breaking with his disbelief.

"That would about sum it up, yes."

"Wait, so you have Volcan's powers now, just like that?" Lighris asked, equally surprised.

"All except his strength," replied Rikyuu. "Pretty much everything Volcan can do, I can do now - just not _as_powerful as the original. There are certain things I can't copy either, like physical traits and psionic potential, or intellect."

Lighris looked at Obsidian. "So he's tried this with you too?"

"Yeah, but as we found out, it didn't work," she explained. "Apparently, Psionicism can only be used by those who actually have the potential to use it, and Rikyuu wasn't given that when he was created, so he can't copy me."

"So... He really _is_an artificial being?" Lighris asked. "A true, no bullshit, test tube baby?"

Obsidian rolled her eyes. "Um... Yes? I mean, I've been to the lab where he was made - I kinda saw all the proof for myself..." She remarked, rubbing the back of her head.

Lighris threw up his arms. "Okay, wake me when we get back to reality - I think I drank some really bad booze last night!"

"I know it's a lot to take in," Rikyuu said, his colours reverting to normal as he spoke. "But I promise it's all true. I'm a genetically engineered dragon."

"Are there others like you?" Volcan asked.

"Yeup," Rikyuu replied. "Although... Well it's complicated, but let's just say I don't really know where any of them are. My creator - Dr. Nero Cornelius, disappeared about five years ago. I have no idea what happened to him. The first thing I remember, I was wandering the city - _this_city, when..." He looked at Obsidian, and offered to let her take over.

"When I encountered some trouble I couldn't handle," Obsidian put in. "Rikyuu jumped in. A naked, blue dragon, dropping out of the sky to save me from this strange man with some kind of mutant powers. They tore each other apart in that alley, and by the end of it, Rikyuu was barely alive. I thought about taking him to a hospital but... After seeing what he could do I had a sense that'd be a bad idea, so I took him back to my house instead and treated him."

"And bought me pants."

"Aaaand bought him pants," Obsidian agreed, the two dragons sharing a chuckle.

"Seriously, did you have to mention to them I was naked?" Rikyuu asked in mock scorn, a slight smirk on his face.

"Just setting the scene, buddy."

"Hell of a first meeting," Lighris remarked.

"No stranger than our first day with 'Sid ourselves," Volcan pointed out.

"To say the least," agreed Lighris. "So... Just noticing the slight plothole in your story. You said your creator disappeared five years ago, but if the night you met Obsidian was the first thing you remember, how do you know that?"

"Ah, good ear there," Rikyuu replied, giving Lighris a fingergun motion and winking at him. "Eventually we managed to retrace my steps back to the lab where I emerged from. Somehow I'd escaped from my tube, though I'd been abandoned there, and when we managed to hack into the lab's computers - thank you, Ayane," he added offhandedly, "we saw when the last data entry was placed. Two thousand and ten. Nothing else after that, and the data log spoke of them evacuating the base after a..." He cleared his throat. "Falling out, that my creator had with his partner at the time."

"Eh, what do you expect with underworld scientists?" Lighris asked, rolling his eyes.

"What was his partner's name?" Volcan asked.

"Dr. Jacob Rex. An expert in the field of cybernetics, according to the data logs. Also shared knowledge with Nero. Rex shared some of his knowledge of Nanotech with Nero, in exchange for learning more about cloning from him," replied Rikyuu. "Unfortunately, that's all I know - a lot of the data was corrupted after sitting unused for so long. All we know for sure is that their partnership ended violently_,_and Nero had to evacuate the base in a hurry - probably how I got left behind. There was mention about Rex apparently doing some off-the-book activities which Nero didn't approve of, and disagreements over a shared project they had, but nothing specific - not even what they were working on."

"What have you been doing since then?" Volcan asked.

Rikyuu shrugged. "Looking for leads, trying to track down others like me, and doing my part for the city-"

"Despite my disapproval," Obsidian cut in, glaring at the blue dragon.

"Come on, Obsidian. Gimme a break."

"It's still vigilantism, Rikyuu. I'm a cop - I have to act like one, and vigilante justice is still illegal," she stated.

"Yet you don't arrest me." Rikyuu remarked with a grin.

"Because bringing you in would raise more questions that nobody could answer," she replied. "Like we don't have enough of that already with whoever is after these two."

Lighris narrowed his eyes as a thought crossed his mind. "Rikyuu... Could it be your creator after us?" He asked. "Maybe he needs fresh material for his next experiment, or..." He trailed off, unsure how to continue.

"No," Rikyuu replied firmly. "What little I know about Nero, I can say with certainty it's not him. Kidnapping wasn't in his modus operandi, nor was killing people like that girl."

Volcan flinched at the mention of Natalie, and - wanting to change the subject, voiced a different question. "You said you were looking for others like you? Other... Projects, I guess, who might be wandering around?"

"Mine wasn't the only containment cell in the lab I came out of," replied Rikyuu, shaking his head. "Nor is it now the only empty one. There were others in there, I'm sure of it. I want to find them - help them if I can. They're practically my siblings, if someone like me has any right to use that term."

"I could keep an eye out," offered Volcan. "I play music in the streets - see a lot of people every day. See a lot of people come and go wherever I am."

Rikyuu smiled. "I appreciate the offer. But, it might be harder than you think to spot others," he stated. "I don't exactly stand out at first glance, and I'm sure most of them would want to keep a low profile, just like me."

Volcan shrugged. "The offer stands just the same. And if you ever need any help," he offered his hand to Rikyuu. "Well, you know how to find me."

Rikyuu looked at Volcan's hand. Then, he smiled broadly, taking hold of Volcan's hand and shaking it. "Glad to hear it," he said, "and the same goes for you. You and your brother have another friend at your back if you need it."

"Likewise."

Obsidian and Rikyuu returned to their car, and were on their way back to the city as Volcan and Lighris came down from the ridge, following them back toward town.

"Well, Rikyuu seems like a nice guy," commented Volcan.

"I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact he's literally a genetically engineered person," said Lighris. "When did our lives turn into a crazy science fiction film?"

"We are living a fantasy story every day, Lighris," Volcan pointed out. "We're phoenixes, something that shouldn't exist at all. The world is a strange place for us, just like it is for him. We have to hide what we are, try to live our lives as normally as we can."

Lighris nodded slowly, unable to disagree with his brother's remark. Then his smile faded as a thought occurred to him. "Hey... If Rikyuu only got out of that lab five years ago... does that make him a minor?"

Volcan looked blank. "Uh... What? What brought that up?" He asked.

Lighris shrugged, smiling. "Just a silly thought that crossed my mind," he said. "Probably can't take him out to the pub or anything."

"You know what to do," the gang boss muttered to his right hand man as he settled back in his seat, taking a drag off the expensive Cuban cigar clenched between his teeth before tapping it over the ashtray on his desk.

In addition to himself an his lieutenant, four others stood in the room, flanking on either side. Each of the men had a pistol at the ready, hidden in their overshirts ready to be drawn. Their eyes were on the office door, waiting for the visitor to enter the room.

Soon, the visitor stepped in. He pushed open the door nonchalant, and barely regarded the four men around him as he crossed the room toward the boss's desk. The white feathered avian never took his eyes off the big man, one hand on the sword at his belt, the other hanging loosely at his side. He did not even seem like he felt he was in any danger...

'That will be his last mistake,' the boss thought, hiding his smile. He cleared his throat, and began to speak. "You sure went to a lot of trouble to find me, stranger," he said. "Beatin' my men and throwing them to the fuzz... I ain't too happy about that."

The avian said nothing, never taking his eyes off the big man in the chair.

"Eh. You clearly don't care," he said. "But I get the sense you are here for a reason. So what do you want from us?"

"Information."

"Information you say?" The boss repeated. "What kind?"

"I'm looking for a particular group," the avian answered. "Completely off the grid, outfitted as a paramilitary unit, with military grade weapons. They abduct people of... Unique talents, and the people they take are never seen again."

The boss took another drag off is cigar, exhaling a plume of smoke as he considered the question. "A few groups like that come to mind," the boss remarked flatly. "But not many that abduct people. Traffickers are all over the place, and they hire mercenaries, but usually they're just after young people they can use for labour or put into a brothel somewhere. The mercs themselves ain't in the business for kidnapping, though."

"You must know something about such an armed group," the avian insisted. "Strange technology at their disposal, perhaps? Something even your contacts in the Black Market don't have but would love to get their hands on."

The boss shrugged. "Maybe I do," he said. "But such information is hard to come by, and therefore it isn't cheap. So I ask you..." he leaned forward, speaking lowly as he lowered his head. "What's in it for me?"

Behind the avian, the other four men had drawn their pistols and were taking aim. Among them, one of them had flicked off the safety, an audible click filling the room. The avian didn't even blink, his wings opening briskly as four spiked objects shot out from within his feathers, striking the four men with such force it carried them across the room, all of them nailed to the opposite wall by four diamond-shaped spikes, clear as crystal and sharper than a spear.

All four of them were already dead, the spikes buried in the center mass of their chests as though the avian had known exactly where they were the whole time. Yet his eyes had never once left the gang boss, who sat with eyes wide and mouth open, his cigar falling into his lap as he stared in bewilderment at what had happened. The temperature in the room had dropped drastically, his breath coming out as a white mist as he gaped.

The right hand man reached for a weapon. His arm wasn't halfway out of his coat before the avian's free hand came up, another ice spike leaving his hand and burying itself into the man's forehead. He fell without even uttering a groan, eyes rolled back in his head as he dropped to the floor. In the same motion, the avian dropped his hand to his sword, drawing it and holding the sharp tip of the narrow blade between the gang boss's eyes, a light prick on the tip of his nose drawing the slightest amount of blood as his head was forced back to the headrest of his chair, forcing him go cross his eyes to look at the blade.

"What is in it for you?" The white avian repeated, his voice colder than the air in the room had become. "Only the difference between a quick death, or a slow, agonizing one if you do not give me what I want."

The boss sputtered as he tried to come up with a response. "Y-Y-You don't know wh-what you're getting yourself into, boy! These kinds of people, you don't want to mess with! They will end your life in an-!"

The avian's eyes glowed like two LED lights, shining brightly and casting their glow over the fat human's face.

"Do I look afraid to you?" He demanded, shifting his blade to press the edge against the man's neck. "I will ask only one more time. Tell me how to find the P.A.C.E Directive."

"The... The what?" The fat man asked, genuine confusion visible on his face. "I've no idea what you're-"

He did not get to finish before the blade slid across his throat, severing both the arteries in his neck as the avian moved aside. Not a single spurt of blood landed on him as he stepped away, flicking the blood off his sword before returning it to his scabbard.

"Then you are not who I need to speak to," he said as he walked out of the office, leaving the gang boss to watch him go as his vision faded to darkness...