3rd Person POV

3rd Person POV Detected:

Three figures creep along the edge of the forest.

“Max. You there?” One of them calls. The figures are identified as Jay, Darkling, and Darknight. “Max!” Jay shouts again.

“Ma ʻaneʻi wau,” a voice calls.

“What?” Jay, Darkling, and Darknight ask in unison, confused.

“I’m here,” the voice says again and steps out of the shadows right in front of them.

“Oh, hi Max,” Jay stage whispers. “Nice to see you. Let’s get going.” Max puts a finger to his lips.

“Quiet, or we’ll be found out.” The three follow him to a different part of the forest. “Johnny has your disguises.”

“I already have a disguise,” Darknight protests, pulling his mask on. A hood covers his head. “See?”

“Yeah, you wear that all the time. Everyone knows it’s you,” Darkling replies.

“No more talking, okay?” Max says. “We know what we’re doing.”

“Bene, bene,*” Darknight mutters in Latin. [*okay, okay]

Max smirks. “I see you’re catching on.” Darknight huffs, then everyone follows Max into a dark shed. A blonde-haired boy that must be Johnny steps out of the shadows. He greets everyone quietly with disguises and a devilish grin. Everyone puts on their disguises, then follows Max to an entrance. A cat with neon green eyes meets them when they walk in the door. Jay looks confused for a moment but then recognizes the cat as Wilson. The group sneaks inside, this time following Wilson as he leads them through the narrow back halls.

“Quid ultra?*” Darknight asks Wilson, in Latin again. [*means How much farther?]

“Silentium,*” Wilson reminds him. [*quiet]

The group figures out pretty fast that they don’t need the disguises; there’s no one around! They shed the costumes and leave them in a broom closet. Soon, they find a room full of machines, but empty of people. Max crosses to a machine in one corner of the room: the Mind Sweep machine.

“Has it been tested yet?” Darknight asks, nervous.

“No,” Max replied, visibly more relaxed, though his face is still knitted with concern. He starts to pace. “Why would they just leave it where we could sabotage it? Is this a…”

“Look out!” Jay shouts, pointing at the air above Darknight’s head. He dodges, and a cage crashes to the floor. “RUN!”

“Bengazi!” Wilson mutters. [Zulu for I knew it]

Everyone scrambles for the exits. “If you knew,” Darknight huffs at Wilson, “you could’ve warned us.” The griffin/cat rolls his eyes.

“Je aangedrongen.” [You insisted in Dutch]

“Oh, so now it’s my fault?” Darknight grumbles. Everyone bursts out into the hallway, only to find it swarming with S.W.O.R.D. officials. Peregrinator stands among them, bound and blindfolded. She looks unconscious.

“Peri!” Dove, Darknight, Darkling, and Jay shout at the same time. Peregrinator jerks her head up in surprise. “Tenebris, et avis?” she says. (Dark and bird in Latin)

“Hey! You aren’t allowed here!” An official cries, finally noticing them.

“Yeah, like that's ever stopped me,” Darknight says under his breath, then he launches at the official, shoving him up against the wall with telekinesis. Dove pulls out his dagger and attacks another official. Agent 12 and Sparrowhawk weave in and out of the crowd, knocking officials out with some sort of sedative. Soon, all the officials are occupied, and Jay takes the PDn off of Peri. “There you go.” Peri immediately rips her handcuffs and blindfold off.  

“WOOHOO! Intuitus est liber Derpy!” Peri shouts in excitement. (derpy falcon is free)

With Peri free, the group started fighting their way toward the doors. Finally, they burst through the doors and scrambled into the forest. Except one. No one realizes that Jay isn’t with them until they get deep in the forest.

“Where is Jay?” Dove asks suddenly, looking around.

“Oh no, we have to go back for her!” Darkling says frantically.

“Hey!” A voice calls from between the trees. “Over here!”

The group hurries toward the voice. Max is half dragging Jay across the forest floor. Dove gasps when he sees the bloody gash on her side.

“Is she alive?” Darkling asks quietly.

“Yes, she’s breathing,” Max replies.

“We have to get her back to the S.O.S.,” Darkling insists. Max nods, and the group hurries off toward the S.O.S. base. Wilson is carrying Jay while he’s in his griffin form. Max suddenly stops. “Wait…” he pauses and looks around. “Where’s Peri and Spar?”

“Merde,” Darknight curses in French. “We don’t have time to look for them. Jay is dying, and if she does, my brother’s going to go on a killing spree to avenge her.”

Everyone looks at Darkling, who reluctantly nods in agreement. Dove takes a step back, unsure. After a moment, Jay groans, and they all start toward the S.O.S. again.

Meanwhile…

Through a flurry of bloody battling, Peri and Spar manage to slip away into the empty halls. Peri had snatched a radio from an official, which she plans to use later. Currently, they are running up flights of stairs to the only refuge they could think of -- Swift’s dorm.

“Open up!” Peri shouts when they finally reach the door. A frazzled Swift (or Morgan) invites them in, although she is hesitant at first. “What do you want?” Swift asks after offering them water.

A silent moment passes while Peri and Sparrowhawk recuperate from the long sprint up 10 flights of stairs. “So… you know how I’m Darknight’s daughter?” Peri pants while taking long swigs of water.

Swift hesitates. Is this some sort of trap? Or test? “Ummm, yeah?” Swift asks uncertainly.

Peri nods. “Well, Darknight is Hawk Guy’s grandson.”

Swift is taken aback. “W-what? Like the original Hawk Guy? The Hawk Guy that founded the I.I.E.M.?”

Peri wipes the sweat off of her brow. “Yeah,” she breathes.

“So that means you’re Hawk Guy’s great-granddaughter.”

“Pretty much.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

Sparrowhawk pipes up. “The leader of S.W.O.R.D is one of Strong Man’s descendants.”

“The guy’s so old, he could just be Strong Man’s son!” A voice laughs from the window. Peri, Sparrowhawk, and Swift jump.

“Who’s there?” Swift asks, hesitantly.

“It’s just Dove,” the voice replies quickly. Dove climbs through the (somehow) open window and tumbles onto the floor. “Dad was worried about you, Peri. Jay’s been injured.”

“Jay’s here?” a confused Swift asks.

“Yeah, everyone’s here,” Peri answers. “We might as well reunite the friend group.”

“Actually,” Dove contradicts, “Everyone’s already left for S.O.S. I came back to make sure you’re okay.”

Peri nods. “Anyway, I’m here because I wanted to ask Swift a favor.”

“A favor?”

“It’s kind of a big one,” Peri sighs. After a deep breath, she said, “I want you to help us.”

“Help you? Why?”

“The leader of S.W.O.R.D has been working his whole career to avenge what Hawk Guy did to Strong Man. First, he killed the Eagle because she had ties to Darknight.”

“The Eagle? The Eagle who could take out 10 swordsmen with her bare hands?”

“Yes, that Eagle,” Peri replies softly. “Who happens to be my mom.”

Swift gapes.

“Then he took me away from Darknight -- well, the government took me away from Darknight for other reasons,” Peri corrects. “But he took Dove away from him and raised him at S.W.O.R.D.”

Swift rests her head in her hands, clearly still trying to register Peri’s words.

“And shortly after that, he wrote this,” Peri shows her a document. Swift’s eyes dart down the page, slowly growing wider. When Peri puts it away, she solemnly nods. “I’ll help,” she says, “but in order for this to work we need reinforcements.”

[Third person POV End]

Author's Note

Btw, Johnny is Sparrowhawk, AKA Spar.