Bolts And Feathers

Chapter Eight: Family Connections

The smoke swirled in the air, the wind yanking it away as soon as it rose above the trees. The fire was almost gone, but there were still a few smoldering logs scattered around the newly-formed clearing. In one of the untouched trees on the edge of the clearing, two eyes stared down at the scene below. The observer processed the situation. There were two beings below, two humans, both with powers. One was the one he had been hunting: Volt, killer of Black Bullet. The other human was a girl, a young woman, whom some would call beautiful. She was not beautiful to the observer; she was just another factor in the equation, just more numbers to his half-robotic brain.

He watched them, and he recorded their conversation, making sure to keep perfectly still so the boy wouldn't see him. If the girl saw him, that was not a problem. He could just kill her.

"I hate heroes," Volt was saying. "And villains." He said those words with conviction, as if he actually hated the heroes. If his statement was true, it would make the hidden figure's job much easier.

"Good." The girl - Mamba was her name, he remembered from earlier - turned to walk into the forest. "Follow me."

They marched into the woods, stepping around the burning logs. The observer followed them as discretely as possible, using the strength of his mechanical body to leap from tree to tree. Once, Volt glanced in his direction, but did not seem to see him and continued to follow his dashing guide.

Mamba glanced around the forest, getting her bearings as she walked confidently through the brush. "So, Volt," she called back to the boy, "there must be a reason why you're alone in the forest, burning trees."

The hidden figure strained his ears. He was also interested in this information. He made sure he was still recording the scene.

Volt was silent. It was obvious that he was still deciding whether or not to trust his new companion.

Mamba stopped and waited for him to catch up. She gazed at him curiously. "Its okay if you don't want to tell me. I know you have something on your mind, and it's a pity to see your handsome face so troubled." She squeezed his arm, and, even in the patched moonlight, the watcher could see blood fill the boy's cheeks.

He sighed. "It's nothing really. It's just that my sister is a snob."

Mamba raised her eyebrows. "A snob? Ugh, those are the worst."

"I know, right? She always thinks that she's right, and always bosses me around. She acts like I'm still a eight year old!"

Mamba nodded, and they began walking again. "I know how you feel. My older sister- don't get me started on her. She was always like, 'The rules say blah, blah, blah, and if do this, you'll do it wrong, and Dad said blah, blah, blah,' and so on and so forth."

"Exactly!" Volt exclaimed. "And whenever I make I good point, she always says, 'Well, you're right, but actually....' Why does she even tell me that I'm right if she's just going to say that she thinks I'm wrong? She could just say that, like, 'Oh, Toby, I know you think you're right, but I don't think that, so you're wrong.'"

Mamba laughed at his impression of his sister. "Wow, it sounds like your situation is worse than mine was. Does your sister have a group of friends that always back her up?"

Volt scowled. "Yeah, she does. They always look down on me, like I'm not worth much. And even the ones who are younger than me side with them and don't take me seriously."

"Oh my word, me too! I would try to play with my sister and her friends when I was little, but when I got older, they still saw me as the annoying little brat that got in their way."

"I would always make jokes and be sarcastic because I wanted attention, but I guess that just made them think of me like a kid even more." Volt shook his head. "Don't they know sarcasm is my life?"