Sisters of a Feather

Chapter 3

Angel hadn't the vaguest idea where she was. She knew it was somewhere dark, and that she was in another crate, but that was it. She missed Kira, but knew better to wish for her sister to be with her, condemned to the same fate. She hoped Kira had gotten away.

Angel had been waiting for something to happen since she had arrived, but nothing had. The only window had bars on it, but the light threading through it told her that three days had passed since they had dumped her... wherever she was. It was day currently, but it was nearing sunset. Not a single person had come to see her yet. She knew one thing, though. If Kira was able to, she would have come for Angel by now, or at least tried to save her. That was what worried her. Kira's crash, from what she had seen, was pretty bad. So what if Kira couldn't come for her? Was Kira okay?

Alone, friendless, and on the verge of breaking down, Angel sat in her cage on the bottom floor of the Center of Higher Genetics and let herself get consumed by worry for Kira and herself.

Kira still had one more day until she could fly, and time was crawling by, seconds stretching into minutes, minutes stretching into hours, hours stretching into days. Kira needed to get to Angel.

She couldn't act yet, but she could plan. Having seen a map that she found online, Kira was running scenarios for every miserable prolonged second of waiting she had to do. Kira was so wrapped up in her plans, she took no notice of the men walking toward her. Until she saw a flash of steel out of her peripheral vision and realized that it was a tranquilizer gun.

Instincts gained from living a life on the run took over. Kira launched into a backflip just as the man with the gun fired. Landing behind the men, she side kicked one in the head, knocking him out. She rolled away from the others, popping up into a scissor kick, followed by a front ridge hand. Ducking a swipe, she leaped into a series of tornado kicks, which are difficult to execute without getting off balance, but dangerous if completed correctly. Kira did three in quick succession, felling two more men. Three down, two to go. Leaping into the air, Kira caught one on the side of the head with a flying hook kick. Upon landing, she did a crescent kick that took her horizontal to the ground for a moment and the man into dreamland. Kira snapped upright on the re chamber to find everyone in the vicinity staring at her. She blinked, then ran down the street and vanished around a corner.

Angel had a terrible suspicion that they'd forgotten her. She was hungry and thirsty. Little did she know that those fears were about to be banished. Just as she opened her mouth to start screaming for someone, she heard footsteps. Suddenly, there was blinding light. After being in darkness for six days, Angel thought that she would welcome light. But this light was harsh, cold, unwelcoming. She took no comfort in it, squeezing her eyes shut to block the glaring light. Still it wormed its way into Angel's world of darkness, which now seemed comforting. Wrapping her wings around herself, she curled into a ball and waited for her eyes to adjust. While they got used to the light, Angel became aware of her cage being moved. When she opened her eyes, she saw white. White walls, white floors, white ceilings, white doors, white everywhere. A door opened for her crate, and it was wheeled into the room. Inside, there was a man sitting in a chair. He wore white, and his piercing stare seemed to look into Angel's very soul. From inside the cage, Angel stared back. The man spoke first. "To use a cliche, we can do this he easy way or we can do it the hard way. You will be the one to decide which." Angel said nothing, but glared at the man with all the hatred of living a life on the run. She knew who this man was. He was the man who had made their lives miserable since the day they had escaped from him. He was who they had been running from. The man leaned forward and fixed Angel in a gaze harder than diamond. Angel prepared herself for what she knew was coming next.

In a voice laced with more contempt than Angel thought possible, the man asked, "What is the location of your elder sister?" Angel began to tremble.

Kira woke to the rising sun. The first thing she noticed was that her wing felt better. Enough to fly. Unwrapping the bandages, Kira stretched her wings. Giving them a couple test flaps, Kira decided she was ready to fly. Launching herself from the tree, she fell a dozen feet before she gained altitude. Kira decided to spend the day planning and strengthening her wing; she would attack at night.

Kira waited patiently for the last rays of daylight to fade into darkness. For a few more agonizing seconds they lingered, then disappeared over the horizon. The moment they did, Kira threw herself into the sky and took a course two points off the North Star. She was coming for Angel, and she wasn't leaving until she had her.

In the darkness, the Center of Higher Genetics building was hard to see, but Kira found it anyway. Making a couple of passes, Kira found an opening and made the most of it. Kicking down the double doors, Kira, with her fifteen foot wingspan, looked deadly. Wasting no time, she went to work trashing the facility. She hacked into the receptionist's computer and found that Angel was on the bottom floor of the facility, on the other side of the building. None of that mattered though. Nothing could stop Kira from getting to Angel. Not even a whole building full of trained men.

Angel was afraid. Afraid for herself, afraid for Kira. She knew she couldn't answer the evil man's questions, but she was going to have to do something. "She's dead," Angel blurted, praying on everything she cherished that it was a lie. But the moment she answered, Angel realized her mistake. She had answered too soon. "Now, if you're going to be like that..." the man said, raising a gun.

Angel closed her eyes and waited for the end, but then... an explosion of feathers and plaster engulfed the room. From somewhere came a scream so full of rage that she was surprised that such a noise could be made by... "Kira!" Angel cried. The dust cleared to reveal that the man was unconscious and the keys to Angel's cage were swinging on Kira's finger. The moment Angel was free, she was in Kira's arms. Before Kira could ask, Angel said, "I'm all right. But we need to delete their files on us so that they never come after us ever again." Nodding, Kira released Angel, they walked over to the man's computer, which had been left on, information on Angel still scrolling across the screen. Through the computer, they accessed the database of the Center of Higher Genetics. Together, they purged the database of any information regarding themselves. The siblings were just erasing the last of the files when the man, now conscious, started giggling. Leaving Angel to finish erasing the files, Kira crossed the span of the room. "What's so funny?" She demanded. In between maniacal giggles, he told her. "There's a bomb in my computer." Then, before Kira could stop him, he lifted his hand out of his pocket and pressed the button on the remote detonator.

In horror, Kira turned to shout at Angel to run. The words died in her throat; it was too late. Angel stood alone on the other side of the room. Their eyes met; Angel's lips formed Kira's name. Then the world was obliterated in an explosion of light and sound.