Permafrost: Thunderbird

Chapter 8: Bird Is The Word

⭐️Chapter 8: Bird Is The Word

So the group had to try and ask their parents/guardians about keeping a friend over. They let the younger kids go, since they believed that they should be able to have fun with friends, though they were a little wary of this new one. Once that was set up, the Infernos had to think about a plan of how Bird would rotate among houses and when. But then they slowly started to realize just how...off-putting the situation was. They'd just agreed to hide a runaway science experiment, and...was this even legal? Well, it wasn't like the experiment was malevolent, but still!

"How long would this be for?" Silvia asked.

"Oh, um...I'm not sure, sadly," Bird replied.

"What if they show up anyway and find where we live?" Jack asked.

"Well um...maybe we could make a plan of attack?" Ryn suggested. "I mean, I guess that's the obvious choice..."

"Okay, so thinking about that...if they show up at our doorstep we can try to lie, but if they see through us then what?" Silvia asked.

"Hold them off and try get the conversation done with to alert the others. We should constantly be checking up on each other, and if the others don't respond for some time then we can rush over with our weapons and help them out," Jack replied.

"But wait, we can't splat the scientists! They're probably adults with families, and with no respawn point nearby, we'd probably be charged with murder!" Cosmo exclaimed.

"Yeah, no splatting. But we CAN at least hold them off so we can regroup and/or capture them to hand them into the head of the town and/or the police," Jack agreed.

"Police?" Bird asked.

"Yeah, because you know...why would they be making an all powerful creature in a lab?" Ryn replied. "Sounds kind of suspicious, especially if those scientists don't have much background information on them."

"But...what if they don't show up at your home? What if we're elsewhere?" Bird asked.

"If they see us out walking around, we'll have to skedaddle and get them away from the rest of the town. We shouldn't be dragging anyone else into this mess," Jack replied.

"Right."

The male Inkling rubbed his temples in annoyance.

"Man, and here I thought we could turf today but we just HAD to get dragged into this-"

"You can still turf, y-you know!" Bird piped up. "I won't stop you from doing the things you want! That would make me no better than the scientists!"

"Wait...those guys restricted what you did?" Cosmo asked, now curious and concerned.

"Yeah! They were really mean, and I don't want to be like them! I want freedom, and I want people to be happy!"

Silvia smiled as she lightly patted Bird's shoulder.

"That's nice, that you want to do that. And trust me, we would take your word for it and go turf if you weren't in such danger."

"But...I don't see any scientists around here..." Bird said.

"Well maybe when you least expect it, they might POP OUT, and grab you and take you away when we're not here," Ryn responded, putting emphasis on the "pop out" for a scare tactic.

It did make Bird jump a little.

"Awww maaan! I know I wanted freedom, but not like thiiis!" she whined.

"Were you...treated okay in the lab?" Cosmo asked. "Or did those scientists hurt you?"

"It was...kind of either or?" Bird replied. "Sometimes they were really gentle with me and other times they forced me to run experiments."

"Sheesh, these scientists..." Jack muttered.

"I mean...we really COULD report them to authorities..." Ryn suggested.

"W-wait, if you did that, then all the experiments would be thrown out of wack! They have a set schedule and specific needs, so taking away the scientists would mess that up!" Bird exclaimed.

"True, messing with the only people that know how to work something could definitely cause something like that..." Silvia said, tapping her finger to her chin while thinking.

"So we're forced to leave these guys be?" Ryn asked.

"Well no, I still think we need to get them captured, but...can we keep it a secret?" Jack responded.

"No, no, wait. What if, when the scientists were captured, the authorities had to make them watch the experiments? I mean, that sounds reasonable and logical enough!" Cosmo suggested.

"Actually...yeah, that should work," Silvia replied. "I guess that means that if we come into contact with these guys we can report them!"

"Okay, but first we have to capture them. I have 0 knowledge on how to make a trap, and I don't know how it would work if we just...I don't know, tied them up? They probably have a few tricks up their sleeves anyway..." Jack stated.

"True. If they have syringes with weird stuff in them we could always give them a taste of their own medicine!" Cosmo said. "We nab 'em and get them right back!! If they have protective gear, that might be a problem...but we can still try!"

"Hmmm....would that be too inhumane though? I mean, sure, maybe it is a shot, but like. What if there's really nasty stuff in there?" Ryn asked. "And again, possible murder. The syringes could have deadly fluids in them or something and that...yeah, no I don't think we should do that, Cosmo."

"Okay then, we don't have to do that. But we still have to disarm them!" Cosmo replied.

"Right. You and I can both blind them with our burst bombs, Jack could probably singlehandedly deal with one...how would you do it, Silvia?" Ryn thought out loud.

"Ah...well, I don't have the right sub weapon, and even with the brella, I'm really more support built...darn," Silvia sighed.

"Do you not know how to use any other weapon?" Jack asked.

"Well, I can use shooters, but I'm so used to being behind a canopy all the time..." Silvia replied sheepishly. "I never really bought any of the other brellas because most of their canopies launch out if you have them open for too long."

"I think if you can use a shooter and throw a burst bomb or so, then I think you're good to go."

"Ehhh...I'll take your word for it, but don't be surprised if I end up in a sticky situation."

"Don't worry! I'm sure we'll find a way to make this work," Ryn said. "In the meantime though..."

She turned to Bird, who gave her a curious look.

"Let's show you around a bit."