Chapter 9

A Chapter by Peregrinator7

A long time passed after I crashed into that guy with the spiky green-and-blue hair and brown eyes I somehow could recognize. We both went on with our lives of fighting crime. I preferred to work solo. Not only that, my skill and personality had earned me a good slot among the public, so good, in fact, I had to go out of S.W.O.R.D. grounds in a disguise if security wasn't trailing me. Since my normal attire was very distinct, I dressed like a hood, just so no one would assume who I actually was. It worked really well. Some nights I would just sneak out for the heck of it and stroll the empty city streets at midnight. I fit right in.
I happened to be in training one day when an official called me out and escorted me to a vacant room, with whitewashed walls and nothing but a table and chairs. The drab place reminded me of my first mission. The official left me with a case file. After a few minutes of twiddling thumbs and looking around for even a hint of detail, another official came in, with two superheroes; one had blonde hair that stuck out in all directions, the other was the guy I ran into. We both met eyes and nodded when the door clicked open.
When the official had left us, I glanced around again. The only thing that was interesting was the two superheroes across the table. Just to pass time, I studied the blonde one. He looked about sixteen (or something along those lines) and his sparkling hazel eyes marked mischievousness. His disposition reminded me of a small raptor, looking this way and that, taking everything in. Maybe that's what his powers were, because his chestplate had a crest of a bird on it. The spiky-haired guy cleared his throat. "So... what are we here for?" he said in that creepily familiar voice.
I was the first one to peek in the case file. According to the case file, the younger hero's name was Sparrowhawk and the conspicuously familiar guy's name was Agent 12. We were supposed to extract information from the S.O.S. The S.O.S. stands for the Society of Supervillains. Led by Darknight's brother, Darkling, they are the second-largest villain organization, right below the I.I.E.M. They sounded almost equally intimidating as them. Sparrowhawk set the case file down when he had read it. "How are we supposed to do that?" he asked, echoing my thoughts.
"We all have bird powers here, I'm guessing," I replied, then motioned to Agent 12. "Except you." He nodded in agreement. "How are we gonna do this? You can't even fly."
Agent 12 snorted, as if he was on the brink of laughing. His face twisted into a crooked smile... a smile that was shockingly familiar, like everything else about this guy. He shook something out of his sleeve. "Not without this guy," he chortled.
Sparrowhawk's eyebrows shot up. "A lizard?" he said doubtfully.
Agent 12 set the lizard on the floor. "More than a lizard."
And then the lizard grew. Its scales became larger and more armor-like, its head sprouted feathers and a beak, its back claws became talons and front claws humongous paws like a lion. The lizard's back grew spikes and wings, and overall it became much larger in size. As it grew, I could see that the lizard had neon green eyes... something I had seen before. Then it hit me. Many moons ago, when I had just joined S.W.O.R.D., I got stuck as a falcon. They assigned someone to train me. It was a boy with shaggy green-and-blue hair that covered deep brown eyes. A boy with a creature that had an osprey's head, wings and hindquarters, a lion's paws, a lizard's scales and neon green eyes as a companion.
A boy with a griffin as a companion.
I was so shocked I couldn't help but stumble back onto the floor and let out a loud kek.
Agent 12 seemed to realize the same thing. His eyes grew wide as plates, and he opened his mouth to speak, but no words came.
"Max?" I managed to say.
"It's you."

Both Agent 12 and the girl across from him were in a state of shock. Many years ago, Agent 12 had trained a mysterious peregrine falcon that S.W.O.R.D. had mysteriously taken away from him. And now the falcon stood across from him.
The falcon's name was Peregrinator.
In his state of shock, Agent 12 barely realized a feathery head tuck under his arm. He looked down and noticed a sagacious griffin staring up at him. "Did you know about this all along?" Agent 12 asked as he recovered from his shock.
Wilson's lips curled into a sly smile. "I thought was yours to figure out," he purred. Agent 12 shook his head and grinned. Everyone seemed to be in a starstruck mood, including Wilson, all because of the fact that the person sitting right across from Agent 12, who was now one of the more skilled heroes, had been trained by him.
Peregrinator stayed in her shock for a moment, then picked herself up and dusted herself off and sat down in a different chair than the one she had fallen out of. Sparrowhawk got over himself and glanced around in a questioning look. "What was that all about?"
"It seems we know each other from somewhere," Peregrinator said simply. "Now, how are we going to get this mission done?"
The question hung over the group for a few minutes like a cloud promising rain. Then Sparrowhawk flashed a mischievous smile. "I think I know where we can go."
No one argued about the fact that the S.W.O.R.D. building's roof was the best place to discuss a plan. Along with pipes and generators and anything else someone can find on a roof, there was a narrow ledge that only a very gutsy person would enjoy sitting on. One push, and you were as good as dead.
Agent 12 seemed to ignore the fact, and easily made himself at home with the two others who could redeem themselves if pushed off. Even though the ledge was the highest point on the building, and had a large death rate, it had the best view of the city. And if one got up early enough, they could watch the sun rise over the townscape. It was very beautiful, and that's what the group liked about it.
After a long discussion and an even longer time staring out into the distance, the group finally came up with a plan. Agent 12 would be a distraction at the entrance of the 'heavily guarded' area, while Peregrinator and Sparrowhawk would go in and retrieve the information. So they set off, Agent 12 riding Wilson and the others flying freely. As if he needed more proof that Peregrinator was the mysterious falcon he had flown so long ago, Agent 12 realized how much she enjoyed flight, the same trait the peregrine had. He enjoyed watching her fly. Even the way she pumped her wings seemed beautiful. Not that he didn't enjoy flying. He loved everything about flying, from the way his stomach would ache after a barrel roll or doing a steep dive to just soaring high in the air with the wind in his face. But the way Peregrinator flew seemed to make his enjoyment feel small, as she wheeled around, doing tricks and tucking her wings in for short stoops and power-flying back up again to do some more. In that moment, Agent 12 wished he had wings.
They soon reached their destination. The S.O.S. base was located in the middle of a coniferous forest, like the ones Agent 12 and Wilson had hidden out in. Wilson landed a few yards away from where the tree line ended and nothing but close-cropped grass and a few blackberry bushes marked the starting property. Agent 12 clamber off the griffin's scaly back and pulled something out of his pocket that he had been saving for later.
"Hair gel?" Wilson asked in curiosity.
Agent 12 replied with a sly grin. "You never know when you might need it."
A few moments later, a teenager walking a cat emerged out of the forest. The guards posted at the front door were taken aback. "What are you doing out here in the middle of the woods?" one demanded.
The kid replied with a perfect expression of confusion. "Eez zees vere ze cat beestro eez?" he asked in a German accent.
"DOES THIS LOOK LIKE A BISTRO TO YOU?!" the same guard roared.
The boy stared at him, and pulled something out of his pocket. "But eet sayz so on zees map."
The guard grumbled in frustration, only to hear the sound of clinking... china? The boy had set up a small table with four chairs, and he and the cat occupied two of them. "Care fer zum tea?"
Meanwhile, Peregrinator and Sparrowhawk flew over the commotion and towards a window. "Good. Agent 12's serving as a good distraction," she was saying. They reached the window, and Peregrinator picked a lock on it and slid it open. "After you."
When Peregrinator climbed in the window, Sparrowhawk was looking around in curiosity. "Is this the place the case file said?" he asked.
"Exact room." Peregrinator strolled over to a file drawer and opened it. "Let's start looking."
They scoured the entire room, overturning furniture and displacing paperwork. After some time of tedious search, Sparrowhawk's voice called out from a closet. "I found it!" he yelled.
Peregrinator went over to examine his find. "Good eye," she complimented. "Now let's get our butts outta here."
They were halfway to the window when a voice made them jump. "Hold it!" Peregrinator instinctively snapped her head in the direction of the voice. It was a blonde-haired girl maybe the same age as her. Peregrinator squinted. She looked familiar...
The girl seemed to realize this before Peregrinator did. Her eyes widened. "Mad? What are you doing in my office?" Peregrinator paused, obviously processing something. She cocked her head. "Office?" Then, after another moment, "Jules?"
The girl narrowed her eyes, and her expression turned cold. "I'm not Jules now." She unsheathed a sword.
"I am Jay."

I stared at Jules for a dumbfounded moment, still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that my friend was standing in front of me, with an unsheathed sword and the most freezing look in her eyes. And she claimed that this place was her office? Smack dab in the middle of a villain base?
Then another person came in. He was wearing all black, with the palest skin. His black hair spiked up not much differently than Agent 12's, but he looked slightly younger. I noticed his eyes were the same shade of brown as Agent 12's, but they looked hard and unforgiving. His eyebrows were dark and bushy, and if not for the look in his eyes any girl would fall for him. When he came into the room, he jumped at the mess Sparrowhawk and I had made, but soon came to himself and turned with a look of confusion to Jules. "Jay? What happened here? And who are they?"
Jules glanced over at him and smirked. "Oh, just some mindwiped agents from S.W.O.R.D.," she said in a flirty voice. I heard Sparrowhawk snort beside me. He must have perceived the same thing. Jules was in love with this fake? What had she been up to since S.W.O.R.D. abducted me? And why did she say mindwiped?
"S.W.O.R.D., is that right?" he said in a disgusted tone. "I'll take care of this." He charged me with a sword... of darkness? I shrugged the thought off and parried with my macesaber. We danced around the room. I was so locked in combat that I had no chance to observe my surroundings. At some point, I managed to knock him off balance, and sheathing my mace quickly, I grabbed his arm and flung him out the window.
"Darkling!" Jules shouted from behind me. Her eyes were wide when I turned around, but hardened at soon as we met eye contact. "You will pay for that," she growled. Then something pushed me back up against the wall. It was like and invisible hand was controlling me. The hand lifted me up off the ground and started to throttle me. When I looked down, I realized who was behind the hand. It was Jules.
Suddenly, reality struck me like a smack in the face. Jules didn't just accidentally put her office out in the middle of nowhere coincidentally inside a villain base. She wasn't I love with this guy just for the heck of it.
Jules was a villain.
"What happened to you?" I gasped, searching for way out of this.
Jules continued to hold me, and the grip began to tighten. "What did they do to you?" she spat, and then ice began to grow on her finger. It was in a point that could easily stab someone.
And then I had an idea.
Don't you love it when they pop up in a crisis like this?
The idea involved a special ammo I had created for a dire situation like this. Reaching into a back pocket, I pulled out my secret weapon.
"Matches?" Jules sneered.
I grinned mischievously. "Not just any matches." I struck it against the wall, creating an immediate flame. The hand loosened its grip a little. "What are going to do with matches?" Jules sniffed. "Melt my ice?"
I gave her a look of fake surprise. "That's exactly what I intend to do." I held the match up to the point of ice that was slowly growing towards me. Just a little bit more... A drop appeared just as the match's flame reached my fingers, snuffing it out. Using my other hand, I nimbly reached in my pocket and pulled out my true secret weapon. As another drop formed on the ice tip, I tossed it out of my hand. "Run, Sparrowhawk!" I shouted.
An explosion followed. I felt the invisible hand release me as the shock wave threw me back, and heard a cry of fury from Jules. I was hurled out of the building that was now exploding. I don't remember my moments in the air, but I remember landing in a tree. I had somehow landed just so I could see the debris from the side of the building start to crash to earth. Sparrowhawk was nowhere to be seen. When I looked down at myself, I noticed my pure white shirt was now blackened with ash, and pine needles were stuck on the sleeves. Agent 12 had dropped his distraction with the guards and was sprinting towards me, an osprey flying alongside. "Are you ok?" he shouted when we got close enough to hear each other.
I sat up, and promptly fell out of the tree. When I landed on my feet in front of Agent 12, I simply brushed the needles off and shrugged. "I think I'm fine," I replied. "Where's Sparrowhawk?"
Agent 12 looked back at the demolished and now burning building. "He'll be fine," he said. "I'm sure he'll come along."
"So we're leaving without him?" I asked.
"Yeah. Do you want to take any more chances at this booby trap crawling with creeps?"
I shook my head. "I think my luck is out." Growing wings, I took to the air. "Now, as I said earlier, let's get our butts outta here."

Jay was infuriated. Not only had her former best friend eluded her, she also tricked her and planted an explosion in front of her face with an explosive the size of a playing card. As the smoke cleared (both physically and mentally) Jay could see that the whole side of the building was demolished. She heard a strange noise much like a bird call behind her. Whipping around, she saw that it was Darkling, thankfully unharmed, struggling with the young superhero her former best friend had been with. Darkling had managed to pin the superhero down and put him at gunpoint. "I'll help you," Jay said, and used some ice to secure the hero to the ground. Darkling stood up, the gun still pointed at the hero's head. "What should we do with him?" he asked.
Jay shrugged. "Dunno." Then an evil smile crept across her face. "But I know someone who will."
"My brother?" Darkling guessed.
Jay's evil smile spread wider. "Yes, Darknight will have lots of fun with this young hero."