When Gluzze got home, she saw that Star and Firetail were talking in the kitchen and Cassiel was in the living room, going through Azreal's weird book. She went upstairs and hid the items she got from the storage locker in her room before helping Damien get the stuff in the basement. After she made sure to throw away the trash from the food she had gotten while they had been out.
She decided to go see what Echo was up to. She walked up the stairs, peering into his room. He were sitting on the bed, preening his feathers. "How are you?" She asked, getting hsi attention. Echo looked up, having been about to rip a covert out. His wings looked to be elliptical.
"Oh- I'm great! How about you?" He questioned cheerfully. "I'm good, do you need anything? We have food down in the kitchen." Gluzze asked. "Nope, not really." Echo said, stretching. "What do y'all do around here?" He asked.
"Not much. Some of us train, I have had alot of breakdowns, we watch TV, and Trippze pisses all of us and offhand I try to kill him, that kind of stuff." Gluzze said, scratching her neck. "Sounds like chaos." He chuckled. "What are all of y'all doing in one house anyways? I'm a bit confused on that part."
"Well, a few of us escaped from an evil lab, and then we found Damien, then Cassiel got mixed up in this because he's Az's brother, and then Trippze works for Damien's family and is helping us take down previously stated lab, which we are actually attacking in a few days." Gluzze explained.
This flew over Echos head. "...what?" He asked. "Yeah, I can go into a hour long explanation but I'll just sum it up." Gluzze said. "People with fucked up pasts found each other and now live together, and are working together to take down a evil organization."
"Oh, I can roll with that." Echo said. "I'll help. I love fighting evil." He said eagerly. He had fought in the war between the abyssal dragons and the paradise dragons right before they got booted. "Okay," Gluzze said with a smile at his childish enthusiasm. "And hey, if you dont mind I have a question about you."
"Oh, sure, what is it?" Echo asked. "How do you still have you muzzle ring? I thought all Dutch Angel Dragons lost them, hell, I remember watching mine and my friend's rings disappear." Gluzze asked. "Oh, well that's because my curse was my punishment instead of taking my muzzle ring. They knew that I was fighting for their cause, but they also didn't advocate violence, so they settled for the curse instead. But it was mainly Hera being mean." He explained.
"Huh." Gluzze said. "Oh, and if you don't mind, I have one more question." She said, growing a bit more quiet. "Okay." Echo said. "Have you ever seen a case of a D.A.D not turning to ash when they die?" She asked. "What? No, that's impossible." Echo laughed.
Gluzze looked down . "Is is possible, apparently." She said as she started to feel like she was about to cry. "It happened to my freind yesterday." She said. "Oh no." Echo's face fell. "I'm so sorry, I didn't make the connection." He apologized. "I-It's fine." She said. But it still hurt. She still didn't know how to deal with it. She still felt the confusion, the absolute shock of it.
"No, losing a friend is never 'fine'." He said. "I'm here if you need me. You can always know that, even if I'm a stranger, you can find a friend in me." He put a hand on her shoulder. Gluzze hugged him and started to cry a bit. " I'm sorry." She muttered.
"It's fine, trust me, I don't mind." Echo said, waiting patiently for her to cry it out. Eventually Gluzze's let go and started to wipe her eyes. Echo sighed. "Tell me about what happened, maybe we can't figure out why your friend don't turn to ash." They offered.
Gluzze took a deep breath. "I found her in a alley, her body was extremely gruesome, hole in her stomach, clenching her neck, then she had some markings on her. The police are trying to figure out what they mean." She said.
"Markings? Do they know what language yet?" Echo asked, confused. "No. Nothing." Gluzze said. "Hmm, that is weird... I think that may be out of my league." Echo admitted. "Yeah, it was worth a shit though." Gluzze said with a sigh.
Echo went silent. "I'm sure we'll find something." He said. Just then Star skidded into the room. "Gluzze! I wanna show you something." She said, holding up her phone. It seemed to be on a police article.
Gluzze jumped a bit as she looked over. "What is it?" She asked. Echo glanced over, confused. "Just look-" Star walked over. The article showed a report on a string of murders in the area, with the same types of deaths as Galaxy's had been. There was a raptor found dead in the forest earlier in the week, then yesterday Galaxy and a raccoon were found dead, all three with the same type of wound and venom found in them, but only Galaxy with the mutilation.
"What the fuck- what does it mean though?" She muttered, looking up at Star. "Who else has an unidentifiable, venomous barb in this town?" Star questioned, crossing her arms. "I don't know- wait... Jaguar." She growled. "That bastard." She said, as a little black started to spread.
Echo's eyes widened. Star sighed and sat down. "I can't believe he's getting away with this too." She growled. Gluzze fought back her abyss so it wouldn't spread to much. "When we attack, I want his head." She said.
"The I wish you the best of luck." Star said. "But watch the illusions. He'll literally get into your head." She shuddered. "I mean, once he did it to me, and I thought he was at one side of the room, but then a scientist came in and he was on the other. It's confusing."
Gluzze nodded in recognition as she sat down, confused and angry. She couldn't believe she hadn't seen it sooner. Of course Jaguar had to be the one who murdered her friend... he had taken everything from her. First her freedom, then her pride, hell, even her own body. Now Galaxy. Oh God, it was her fault, wasn't it? Had she condemned her best friend to death by getting her involved with this? She should have convinced her to find her siblings... oh no, her siblings...
Echo tilted his head. "I've never heard of that type of powers." They said. Star shrugged. "I think my powers branched off of his. I didn't really get hurt in the lab, but they threatened it a lot. I was more of a glorified 'success' in their eyes. It was just the things I saw." She held her head, trying to forget. It made her sick.
Gluzze snapped out of it. "Yeah, the lab did awful things, they tore me open and ripped out my bones to replace them with metal and shoved electronics in me, which I had to rip out." She said.
Star looked over. "They messed with my brain, I don't know exactly what they did, but I can read minds. They made me get into people's minds- fiddle around in their memories, made me see horrible things." She said, then paused. "Actually, when I escaped the second time, I had to rummage around in Trippze's mind. I think that one was the worst." She said. She may not have been physically tormented often, but she still had hurt as much as the others.
"So, can you hear what I'm thinking right now?" Echo asked. Star shook her head. "Earring cancels it out. It's weird." She said with a smile. Weird is an understatement." Echo said. Gluzze sighed. "That place was straight up awful." She said. "A-greed." Star said. "I'm just happy to be here. To get this little bit of peace." She said.
Star's face seemed to fall after she said that. "We need to take down the Lab, and soon. I'm afraid we may already be too late." She said. "I just hope that we can save everyone inside. I don't trust Pheonix to take control of the situation." She said.
"Yeah, I don't really trust Pheonix either." Gluzze said. Star took the opportunity to share her concerns. "My question is why is she betraying the lab after all this time? What has it been, six years?" She said. "You're right, it does seem kind of sketchy." Gluzze replied, not having thought about it much. Star shook her head. "All we can do is hope it goes over well. It's our only shot at taking down the Lab." She said. "Yeah." Gluzze said in a quiet agreeal.
