“Where do we go, sir?" the cat asked, already inside the black SUV and driving through the large debris-filled garage, “I was not made aware of any sort of contingency plan if the operation was ever compromised."

“That is because my father never conjured one." The one who had climbed into the passenger seat replied, “He truly believed that our organization would remain forever hidden in the shadows for all eternity, even despite my warning that such a feat was nigh impossible. Therefore, I put together a contingency of my own; hidden from even my father's knowledge should P.A.C.E. ever find itself in a predicament such as this… One that would benefit greatly from his absence…"

“With the doctor gone, you are the last high-ranking leader of P.A.C.E," the cat stated. The audio quality faded and crackled as the car left the camera's frame; descending into the tunnel, “Where you go- ... -tell me…-re."

“...-d for …" was the last available piece of audio from this clip.

The next clip was of the entrance to the base; two lights pierced the darkness of the tunnel heading towards the dirt road through the forest; it starts only a few seconds after the end of the last clip.

“...from th-... …-ound up. We will give those phoenixes what they want for now; make them believe we have truly vanished from the face of the earth. Then, when they have truly become complacent in their peaceful lives, we will strike back ten times as hard as they struck us… They will rue the day they tried to interfere with our work…" the unfamiliar voice of what is believed to be the son of Jacob Rex announced.

“Playing the- …-ame, sir?" the cat asked as the SUV left the tunnel and began to steer its way down through the forest, moving out of earshot of the camera view again and losing audio.

Red Lightning stood there, checking to see if there was any other footage of the two from the night before. There was not - he had only placed enough sentinel devices to cover the main thoroughfares of the base, just in case anyone had come back. It was now evident they had. The server room had been purged. Corrupted and difficult to restore. He watched the human do it through the recovered footage.

Guns and weapons from the armoury were collected by the cat he last saw inviting him into the VTOL Retriever; the cat who had been missing from the crash site and had disappeared without a trace.

'We were careless,' thought Avory, disgruntled. “A.V.I? Run a database search for that vehicle registration number since the time of the footage. I want to see where they've gone."

“Affirmative. Would you also like me to alert Blue Lightning and the phoenixes of this revelation?" the robotic voice asked.

“No. There are only two of them now. We can take them on our own. I wouldn't worry the others - they've gone through more than enough."

“Affirmative."

The red-mech avian surveyed the base again on his way to the server room. Attaching a large storage device he had been carrying with him, he plugged it into the main network switch and began downloading all of the corrupted data; it wouldn't be easy, but he would do his best to try and restore what he could back on his own servers. He worked on other things within his suit as an hour passed, passing time with more conventional work until the download was complete.

Checking the remaining spaces of the base on his way out, he set his course back to Climbers Lake. It was a long flight, and the sun crept over the Canadian Rockies as he flew over them, enjoying the scenery as he flew home.

By the time he was in sight of the mansion, the sun had risen enough that the shadows around his mansion were dispelled. Avory let himself in through the garage and walked into the workshops where he took the portable server and plugged it into an isolated portion of his network to begin data restoration.

With the computer already beginning to do its work, Avory stepped over towards his suit dock and allowed it to peel away from his body, revealing the tired and dirty clothes from the day before that he had chucked back on since getting up.

Avory stepped out of the suit and rolled his head back, closing his eyes and inhaling softly. Exhaling as he looked ahead of him once again with a tired expression. “Lots to do today…" he mumbled quietly to himself, “shower, then let's get some work done."

The warm rays of the sun streamed in through the bedroom window; the curtains that would have shielded them from the glow undrawn and forgotten about after the immediate activities of the night before and shining on the face of the raven facing them on the bed. Avelyn opened her eyes, noticing quickly that she was in the downstairs guest bed, laying on her side, an arm outstretched laying across a warm and firm leathery body. The same one that her chest pressed into

She stroked her thumb against the form below, finding the dark areola of a nipple, flicking it teasingly, seeing if her partner was also awake, and nuzzled affectionately against the arm behind her head that she was using as a pillow. Kyle didn't stir as she touched him, letting out nothing more than a contented sigh and continued to sleep soundly.

She smiled, stroking his pectoral a little more before taking her hand lower, exploring the human male's impressive abdominal muscles, her fingers tracing the contours between them, and gliding over each hump of packed muscle, before continuing even lower. Everywhere she explored excited her. And every time her hand returned, the excitement never faded. Every muscle was warm and firm. Every vein had a soft pulse coursing through it. Both the avian girl traced over his body, unable to take her mind or hand away from this Adonis.

Finally, her touching seemed to rouse the human, his eyes opening as he took in a deep breath, lifting a hand to rub his eyes before turning to focus on Avelyn. “Good morning," he said softly.

"Good morning, handsome," she cooed back, never losing her smile, her hand continuing to stroke his flesh sensually, "Enjoy your late lay-in? This is the latest you've ever stayed in bed."

“Why, what time is it?" He asked, looking around for a clock.

"Getting on for half eight…" she replied, tightening her grip, giving him a small squeeze, "but I don't mind staying here longer~"

“Shit, if I were still in the Marines, my sergeant would have my head for sleeping in this late," he said with a chuckle, sitting up slightly and looking at Avelyn, “Guess yesterday took a lot out of both of us, huh?"

"The base or the celebrations?" She teased as her hand followed him up the bed, still caressing his naked body.

“Both, I'd say," he replied, watching her hand travel over him, “Wear ourselves out fighting and again having a bit of fun. Suffice to say, we'll probably be feeling it for a while yet…" His jaw opened in a yawn, slurring his last words as he lifted his hand to cover his mouth. “Coffee?" He asked.

"Good idea…" she smiled leaning up to Kyle, rolling her bare body onto his front to plant her beak on his lips.

He chuckled and met her kiss happily, rubbing her shoulder with one of his hands to feel the softness of her feathers.

Despite their difficulties, the hard beak cupped the human's soft lips, parted wide to accept each other after much practice the night before. Tongues entwined and explored each other as if they never had before.

The hand that once stroked and massaged Kyle found its way up to his shoulder, holding onto him for support, gliding up to the back of his neck and then his head to guide the human through the oral examination. Her body pressed against his own, legs straddling one of his.

"I think we need to do our morning exercises before coffee" she hinted after pulling away from the kiss, planting her chest firmly against his own for emphasis. Her leg that straddled between Kyle's shifted against the bounty nestled against her thigh as a more obvious sign.

“You are one thirsty lady," Kyle commented, chuckling.

“You don't agree?" the bird smiled back innocently.

He smiled. “There's such a thing as overindulging," he remarked, tapping the tip of her beak with his finger, “We'll get other chances, don't you worry."

“Then coffee it is then," She finally agreed, leaning back, propping herself up on her arms over him with that ever-beautiful smile, then twisting her body off the side of the bed with the gracious curves of her back on display as she looked around the room briefly, and then to the floor at their pile of clothes. “Drat… I don't have my nightgown to go out in… I might need to put something back on to be decent," she commented.

“Maybe I have an oversized shirt you can wear back to your room?" Kyle offered, pulling on his trousers before he crossed over to his closet and opened it, looking through the contents, humming as he examined the items until his eyes settled on one. “Oh… Well, it looks like shit, but I got this," he said as he lifted a raggedy trench coat from one of the hangars. “It's one of the things I got out of a donation bin, but I've washed it so it shouldn't stink."

By the time Kyle had looked around, he saw Avelyn just pulling the last of her clothes from the night before on. "I think this will be fine before my shower" she smiled as she turned to walk over to him, leaning up to kiss his lips. "I'll be back with coffee. Don't rush getting dressed~" she cooed before passing through the guestroom door and into the hallway.

Kyle watched her leave, arching a brow. “...She dresses fast," he said, hanging the coat back up before picking out some clothes for himself. 'Certainly faster than any girl I ever knew before.'

With that, he put on some deodorant, not seeing the need for a shower, and dressed in a simple top and jeans before heading to the door. He stopped to look at himself in the mirror, seeing his slightly longer-than-average hair and his goatee. He fingered the goatee for a moment but grimaced as he looked at his hair.

“Keep the beard, but lose the hair," he decided. He'd always liked his Caesar-style haircut from before.

With that, he left the bedroom and started making his way to the kitchen. He briefly wondered if Avory had come home the night before and what he might be doing that morning; he considered going to the young raven's room to check but decided against it. If he was still sleeping, he didn't want to disturb him. 'God knows he earned a good long rest after yesterday,' he thought to himself as he continued to the kitchen. 'Hope the others got some sleep too.'

~~~~~

Volcan stirred as he heard the chime from his phone, only half-awake as he lay there in bed cuddled up to Ordagova. He pushed himself up on his hands, lifting the heavy snake coils cloaking his back, having slept on his front, and stifled a yawn before reaching for his phone on the bedside table. Blinking his eyes a few times to clear them, he flipped the phone open to see that it was a message.

'Good morning. I was hoping you would like to come over today if you weren't busy, to have a quick check up on your wounds to see if there is anything we can do to speed up your recovery. If you can't, don't worry and we can arrange another time. 1 Climber's Lake. Hope to see you soon, Avory.'

Volcan swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat fully upright before he started typing a reply. 'Sure, I can come by today. What time would be preferable?' He replied before stifling another yawn and standing up. He went to grab his clothes while he waited for a reply, getting dressed until he heard the phone chime again.

'Whenever; I will be here all day today' came the reply.

“Sssomewhere you need to be?" Ordagova asked politely, peering out of his eyelids at his boyfriend starting to dress in front of him.

“Avory just texted me, asking me to stop by," the phoenix replied, “He says he wants to check up on my injuries from the battle at the base. Suppose it couldn't hurt to get checked," he added with a shrug as he finished pulling his jeans on.

“Are you sssure you can walk after lassst night?" the naga teased, moving to sit upright on the large bed. The long tail snaked over the side of it to the wardrobe that both of them shared, the tail tip reaching up to collect a muscle top and bringing it over to Volcan.

Volcan chuckled, accepting the shirt from Ordagova, nodding in thanks to him before replying. “I'll manage," he assured him, “I'll be flying most of the way anyway," he added before pulling the shirt on.

He winced and lifted a hand to his head, feeling a throbbing sensation in his skull that caused him some discomfort. He rubbed the side of his head, a concerned look crossing his features. “...That headache is still there too," he said, “Maybe I did hurt something."

“You didn't drink too much lassst night?" Ordagova asked, moving to slither out of the bed, and up to the bird. “May I have a look?" he asked.

“Sure," he replied, lowering his hand and sitting on the bed again to let Ordagova have a look at his head, “And no, I don't think it's from drinking - I only had a light one to chase dinner. Maybe when I got slammed into a wall by that cyborg - I might have bumped my head or something."

Ordagova placed his hands on Volcan's temple, ran his fingers over the feathery skull, and looked deep inside Volcan's mind to try to feel for the pain himself. He tried to match the sensation to the memories Volcan had just recalled but can't pin it down exactly.

“You do have sssome minor bruisssing… But I can't feel or sssense where that other pain isss coming from. I hope it'sss nothing internal…" Ordagova replied letting go of Volcan, “Maybe you ssshould go and get checked up after all; I hope you don't have a concussssssion or anything, but you might need an x-ray to make sssure."

Volcan nodded. “I'll make sure to mention it to Avory," he promised, slowly rising to his feet again. He brought his phone back up again to type out a response to the raven, letting him know he was on his way before shutting it and putting it in his pocket. “I'll head right over after breakfast."

Ordagova smiled at the bird standing before him, “What would you like today?"

Volcan shrugged again and smiled. “You always make good food. I'd say surprise me," he replied.

“It helpsss when I know exactly what food you like, dear," the naga remarked, leaning down to Volcan's beak, “I think I've got sssomething…"

“As I said, surprise me," the phoenix replied, leaning closer to the snake.

Ordagova parted his lips and tilted his head to meet Volcan's beak, moving his hands behind the bird to bring him closer; one placed on his hip and the other on his warm golden feathered cheek. Volcan happily met the snake in a kiss, putting his arms around the naga's midriff and embracing him as they shared their love…

~~~~~

“How's your leg?" Vinge asked, surprising Tsumé as she came out of the house to do some stretches.

She turned to see the ice phoenix propped up in one of the deck chairs, a book in his hands. “Sore," she replied, grinding her beak against the pain as she walked. “But, Orda did a good job dressing it. I'll be all right," she assured him as he limped across the deck, carefully stepping out into the yard. “Fortunately, my element is pretty easy to find," she added as she carefully lowered herself to her knees and leaned forward to place her hands on the grass.

There, Tsumé began to draw upon the energy within the earth below, bringing it up to her. She could feel it, almost like water trickling as it coursed into her fingers, defying gravity as it began to flow up her arm. Almost immediately she felt the pain in her leg lessen - not completely, but enough to make it more bearable, though on close inspection some of the grass around her noticeably bent and lowered as if they had begun to wilt. There, she stopped drawing on the earth's power from her immediate surroundings, reaching out farther so that she didn't kill any plants to strengthen herself.

As she did this, the back door opened, and Avory stepped out, about to say something but decided to remain quiet and watch, as the earth phoenix displayed her abilities. Visibly, not much happened, but on closer inspection he could see how the land itself around her was affected, drawing strength from the earth but only taking what the vegetation around her was willing to spare.

“Her control is fascinating," Vinge remarked off-handedly, catching Avory's attention as they both watched Tsumé, “At the risk of sounding egotistical, I dare say her mastery of her element rivals my own, and I have trained for most of my life to master my abilities."

“Yeah… She's absolutely gorgeous…" the male raven whispered to himself, gazing over Tsumé in awe.

Vinge glanced at Avory out of the corner of his eye but decided not to mention his remark and went back to reading his book while Tsumé finished what she was doing.

Eventually, Tsumé let out a breath and stood up from the ground, stretching her hurt leg. She winced as it throbbed with some pain still apparent, but she seemed satisfied with what she had managed so far. She turned to face the house again, now seeing Avory.

“Good morning!" She called, waving to him.

Avory didn't notice her gaze at first, having to shake himself back to reality after she called out to him, “Hi! Sorry… did you say something?" he asked, a little embarrassed at his absent-mindedness.

“Just good morning," she replied, shrugging as she hobbled back onto the deck, “Sleep well?" She asked him as he quickly reached out to help Tsumé; leaning down to loop his arm around her wingless back so she could rest her arm over his shoulders on the side she struggled with.

“Better than most nights. I was up early though, too much I want to get done now we've got some time to focus. Also want to make sure you and everyone are going to be all right," Avory insisted.

“I'll be fine," she assured him. “Orda patched me up pretty good and I just accelerated my healing in the yard there. I could go all the way, but I might accidentally kill the whole yard if I take anymore so, this is enough for now," she then added with a snicker. “I'm supposed to be putting a garden back here, not a sand pit, so I was careful."

“That's fine," Avory agreed as he helped her back into the house. “I was hoping me and Avelyn could have a better look at you though to try and see if we can help accelerate your recovery?" he asked.

“Sure," she replied, nodding in agreement.

They hobbled over across the living area and towards the workshop that was previously off-limits to everyone before. There Tsumé saw a large room with all kinds of machines, designs, gadgets and screens littering the room on countertops surrounding the room or on islands in the middle. At the other end of the room, close to a large garage door, stood a few Lightning suits, including the two Avory and Avelyn piloted. Joining them were two smaller, less impressive white suits, one of which adorned with two pairs of arms.

“Whoa," the earth phoenix said, blank-faced as she took in the sights. “So that's what was hiding behind this door the whole time. I feel like I just walked into an episode of Dexter's Laboratory," she added with a snicker, “Sliding bookcase instead of a door and it'd have been perfect."

“That's a cartoon, right?" Avory asked curiously as he helped the girl over to a large medical chair; something that wouldn't be out of place in a dentist's theatre.

“Yep. Watched a few episodes after school when I was a kid," she answered, being guided into the chair.

“What was it about?"

“This kid with a weird accent - couldn't even begin to describe it. He managed to build this secret lab under his parent's house and in some episodes, he's trying to make sure they never know about it," explained Tsumé. “The only other one who does is his sister, who routinely gets into his lab and messes up everything he's working on."

“Huh… I can kinda see some parallels then…" Avory commented as he let go of Tsumé to lean back in the chair, stepping back to look up at her, “Comfortable"?

“Yeah," she replied, and then looked at the arms of the chair and then around the lab. “Soooo… What's first?" She asked.

"First we better have a good look at your leg, see what kind of damage it's done and how well it's been healing." Avory insisted.

Tsumé nodded, and looked down at her leg, remembering she had chosen to wear capris that day. “Guess I should have worn a skirt," she remarked.

“Well… we're all adults here," Avory suggested plainly, “but I can fetch you something if you'd prefer?"

“No, it's fine," she replied, standing up from the chair again. “Just would have made it easier," she added before unfastening the button of her capris and sliding them down before settling back into the chair, pushing them off the rest of the way until her legs were bare, revealing the wound on her leg.

Avory had to try not to stare at her bare legs and the shapeliness of her hips as he went to examine the injury. He had to undress it to get a better look, uncovering the wound and was surprised by what he found. The deep gouge in Tsumé's leg had noticeably healed since it had been inflicted, in much the same way such an injury would after a few weeks; it had not scabbed over, and the flesh around it was still mottled and misshapen, showing it still had a way to go yet. Still, the level of recovery he could see was beyond his expectations.

“Oh wow," Avory said, leaning in close to her leg and inspecting it, “Was this you just a moment ago doing this, when you were in the yard?"

“Yep," she replied, “all phoenixes can heal themselves or rejuvenate by drawing power from their affiliate element. Still, I can only do so much - this was a pretty nasty thing when I got it. Luckily, it didn't get infected."

“No. Or at least I hope Avelyn treated you well enough for you not to," Avory remarked. “May I get a blood sample?"

“Sure, if you have something that can pierce my skin," she said, grimacing at the thought. “Regular needles won't get through."

“Well, we might be able to try your wound or an orifice if that's softer," Avory suggested moving along the counter to a drawer, picking out a small syringe and needle, and putting them together securely.

“I suppose you could use the wound, yeah," she agreed, looking warily at her leg. “Just… Try not to agitate it. It's still tender."

“I'll do my best…" he replied walking back up to the girl in the chair with the instrument, “want anything before or while I do this?"

“No, I'm good," she assured him.

“Ok. You're going to feel something…" Avory announced as he got in close to the wound with the syringe, pressing the tip of the needle against the contorted flesh and pushing.

It didn't budge; simply pressing against her skin.

He applied more pressure; hissing a little between his beak and pushing harder and harder against the strong flesh before eventually, it pierced inside. Tsumé tensed when it pierced through and let out an “Ow!" in response but firmly kept her leg from moving, knowing doing so would bend or even break the needle.

Avory was conscious of the pain, so wanted to act quickly and swiftly. Once he had the needle deep enough inside her, he pulled at the syringe to draw a decent amount of the phoenix's blood until it filled the small device. Once filled he pulled the needle out and removed it from Tsumé's body, placing the syringe on the counter beside him, and grabbing a cotton wool bud to dab over the puncture on the wound, before holding it against it.

“That's done now… how bad was it?" he asked, awaiting the criticism.

“It hurt, of course, but getting the stab wound was definitely worse," Tsumé replied flatly. “I suppose my self-healing was further than I thought if the skin was already that tough again."

“That or I just have noodle arms," Avory jokes to lighten the mood.

Tsumé scoffed a laugh. “That's possible too," she agreed.

“Hey! You weren't supposed to agree" Avory smiled, raising his other hand to Tsumé's shoulder to give her a gentle but playful shove.

“You walked yourself right into it, mon ami," the sassy young Earth Phoenix retorted, her chuckle turning to a giggle as Avory grew more flustered.

“And here I thought you were the one here caught with your pants down," Avory teases back.

“Touché," Tsumé capitulated, sitting up from the chair. “So, what next?"

“I think I should get a quick x-ray of you down there to check your bone, and then that should be enough." He replied walking across the room to pick up a large bulky device and bringing it over. “I was wondering by the way…" he started as he approached Tsumé again, holding the large device over Tsumé's leg and pushing some buttons on the side as he gripped it, “...How do you feel about that date this Friday? At that South American place?"

“Sure! I'm looking forward to it," she replied, nodding.

"Brilliant!" Avory beamed back at her before taking the device away again after a few seconds. "Right… I've taken the x-rays; they will take time to develop. So that's all we can do for now." He said taking one last look at the wound on her leg to make sure that it wasn't weeping after taking blood.

“You'll probably see the nicked bone from when that arm stabbed into me," Tsumé informed, “I can still stand on it, it just… Hurts."

“Well, we will see once the results come through" Avory reassured, reaching out a hand to Tsumé to help her out of the chair.

She accepted his hand, grasping it before lifting herself out and going to pull her capris back on. Once she had them fastened, she turned to Avory. “Was that all or, was there more?" She asked, to which he chuckled.

“Do you want more?"

“Well, I don't know what else you wanted to check," she replied, shrugging.

“Well, if you give me a moment to get the really, really, big needle, we can do your bird-flu jabs," Avory teased with a wide grin tugging at his beak.

She gave him a flat look. “For your sake, I 'really' hope that was a joke," she said, unamused.

“It was," he nodded, patting her on the back, “I don't have any vaccines here or anything; not my field. I'm still pretty new to biology." He said walking her over to the door and out, “I want to get everyone checked up though after that fight."

“Vinge is right outside - have you called the others?"

“Yeah. I got a response from Volcan just before I came out to get you. Not heard from Lighris yet; I assume he's working already." Avory revealed, “But Vinge can be next. I will let Rikyuu rest a bit longer."

Tsume nodded. “I can call Pavan if you want - I've got his number," she offered.

“That would be good. I didn't get his number before."

“Okay," she replied, picking out her phone from her pocket before heading outside to make the call.

Vinge was right where they had seen him before, seated with a book in hand on the deck when Avory came looking for him.

“Hey there. Made any decisions yet on what you were going to do?" Avory asked the ice phoenix from behind.

Vinge, without looking up from his book, answered, “I intend to head back to the Yukon to find my mother, and let her know about my father's fate," he replied, “After that… I'm considering maybe moving back here to Unity Falls. I've made friends here, and I think we could make a life for ourselves."

“That would be nice" the young avian agreed, “How long has it been since you last saw her?"

“I often returned home between my investigations into P.A.C.E," Vinge replied, lowering the book now and turning to look at Avory. “But, it has been at least a few months; I would have last seen her before the previous winter set in. Early August, I believe."

“Almost a whole year then; or at least two-thirds of it." Avory surmised. “I'm sure she will be happy to see you again, regardless of the news you bring. I just hope that she is not worried that you've succumbed to your investigation. The same fate as your father."

“Indeed. That is why I feel I must go see her," he said. “She's mostly by herself up there. We've made a few friends in the city of Whitehorse, though of course none of them know what we are. Here at least, we might be around some of our own kind."

“Even if they're not ice." Avory smiled, “of course, you're always welcome here," he reminded, “Take your time before you head out; I'm not kicking you out of course. But before you do go, might I suggest I get you checked up first after that battle?"

“Couldn't hurt. I sustained only minor injuries but I suppose it's better to be sure," he agreed, placing a bookmark into the book he was reading and setting it down on the table before standing up to follow Avory inside.

A short time later, after Vinge was finished in Avory's lab and Pavan arrived to undergo a similar procedure, Avelyn was talking to Vinge and Tsume when they heard a knock at the front door. Avelyn excused herself to go answer it, and when she opened it, she found Volcan standing outside.

“Morning, Avelyn," the phoenix greeted her cordially.

“Good morning, Volcan" Avelyn smiled sweetly at him as she opened the door wider for him, “how are you? Come in"

“Thank you," he said, stepping through the door and entering the house. He spotted Vinge and Tsumé standing nearby, and waved to them, exchanging greetings.

“So, Avory asked you to come by too?" Tsumé asked though Avory had already told her such.

“Yeah, and it seemed like a good idea," said Volcan, lifting a hand to rub his head. “I may have taken a bigger hit during that infiltration than I thought."

“What's wrong?" Vinge asked.

“I've had a headache ever since last night - even now, it's still going," he replied. “Orda looked through my head to see if anything seems damaged, but he couldn't find anything himself."

“Could it just be a bump on your head somewhere?" Tsumé asked.

“No, I already checked for that, and it's not just one spot on my head - it's more like the entire top half of my skull," he explained. “It's… Manageable, but it's certainly going to get distracting."

“The whole top half of your skull?" Avelyn asked, sounding concerned, “May I have a look?"

“If you think it'll help," he replied, looking for somewhere to sit down so Avelyn could reach his head.

Avelyn pointed towards the large sofa in the living area, “Lay down on the sofa," she insisted before walking ahead and grabbing a few pillows for Volcan to rest his head on.

Doing as he was asked, Volcan slowly lowered himself onto the couch and then lay on his side, tucking his wings behind his back to sit between the back of the sofa and his body while Avelyn came over to him, kneeling at the end, looking down upon the top of Volcan's head.

She peered in, reaching out to gently hold the male's head, feeling over the sides before slowly bringing them further up to his crown, combing his feathers and inspecting everything with her talon tips and eyes.

“I know you're a fire phoenix, but are you always this warm?" Avelyn asked curiously, having not touched Volcan's feathers before.

“I am basically a living fireball so, yes," he replied, smirking. “Just comes with the territory."

“It's very nice" Avelyn smiled softly, trying not to get distracted as she continued to check the bird's bright red and gold plume for any malformity on the skull or any bumps or bruises, enjoying the radiant heat coming from him, “but is it a normal temperature for you? Do you feel hotter than normal? Colder? Are any of these touches hurting you if it feels sensitive?"

“My normal temperature would already be much higher than a regular person's, though I don't have an exact number," he replied. “As for the touches, they don't hurt, and I can't say I feel colder."

Before Avelyn could think of her next question, there was a sudden scream from Avory's lab that made the four of them jump. “YEOW! You said it wouldn't hurt!" They heard Pavan's voice shouting.

“If you would just stop flipping moving!" Avory shouted back, “Stay still!"

Tsumé rolled her eyes. “Oh boy, should've seen this coming," she said, shaking her head. “He was the same way in school - constantly fidgeting."

“I can imagine… whenever I see him he's not still; even sat down at the bar yesterday he was changing position all the time leaning on the bar before I left," Avelyn commented.

The door off to the side of the living space then opened to reveal the two birds, the beige phoenix in front, rubbing his arm and scowling at Avory over his shoulder. “Man, that took a while," he said.

“It took two minutes, you impulsive nut!" Tsume shot back to him, hands on her hips. “God, you're impatient!"

“I hate sitting around - you know that," Pavan returned, frowning.

“My turn then?" Volcan asked, sitting up on the couch.

“Ah, Hi there, Volcan" Avory smiled down at Volcan, “Still too early for you?" he chuckled, noticing him rising from the sofa.

“No, Avelyn was just giving my head a look," he replied, standing up slowly, “I've been suffering from a headache since we arrived at Orda's last night. It's persisting today; it has me worried that maybe I took too big of a hit when I got slammed into the wall, or maybe when we fought that really big cyborg."

“Ouch… Why didn't you mention it before?" Avory asked, concerned.

“I didn't notice it until I went to bed," replied Volcan.

Avory stepped to the side of his lab door and gestured for the fire phoenix to enter, “We should get an x-ray first then."

Volcan nodded, and followed Avory into his lab, making his way to the seat where the others had sat before him. He sat down in the chair, making himself comfortable, and waited for Avory to do his work.

Closing the door behind him, Avory moved over to pick up the handheld x-ray device and brought it over to Volcan, preparing it for photographs.

"Is it just your head that hurts or do you have other areas of your body in pain?" He asked.

"Just my head, really. I have a few bruises, but they already stopped aching," Volcan replied.

"OK… Let's have a look. Stay still for me." Avory asked as he raised the device to Volcan's head to image, then moved around to the other side of the chair to do the same.

"It will take some time to develop… so we can check on other things first. Any other injuries you have?"

“Just the bruises, as I said. A big one on my back from when I was thrown into the wall by that cyborg that charged us," he replied. “All in all, I got out of that base relatively unscathed."

"Want me to check it out? How are your wing joints doing after that thud?" Avory insisted, putting the x-ray machine down on the countertop.

Volcan shrugged. “I can still fly, so I think I'm okay overall - doesn't hurt," he replied. “Only thing that won't seem to cease is the headache, and even that's fairly dull-" He winced and clenched his eyes, lifting a hand to his head and rubbing. “Urgh… Scratch that. That one hurt."

“It's happening right now?" Avory asked, moving around to Volcan's front and crouching down in front of him, pulling out his phone.

“Just for a second, yeah," Volcan replied as the younger bird turned on his phone's flashlight and shone it into his eyes, reaching out to place his hand on Volcan's forehead and pulling the skin above one of the eyes open to check his pupils.

“Is it still hurt-" Avory started before the words died in his throat, his eyes catching something strange.

It was so brief, he at first wasn't sure he had really seen it, but for the second Avory had lifted one Volcan's eyelids, his eyes seemed to have changed colour… They had changed shade, but it had been so brief that he didn't get a clear look at the colour, reverting to normal rather quickly.

“Can you see me ok, Volcan?" Avory asked, still shining a light into his eye, inspecting it.

“Yeah, why?" Volcan asked, puzzled.

“Your vision hasn't changed whilst I've been looking at your eyes, has it?"

“Not really? I mean, they blurred when my head throbbed but they're okay now."

“And has that stopped now?" Avory asked, moving his hand to open up the other eyelid with his thumb and shining the light inside.

“It's lessened, but no it's still there," he replied, “The throbs happen from time to time. Although maybe throb is the wrong word for them." He grimaced.

“How would you describe it then?" Avory asked, checking around Volcan's eye a little longer before pulling away, and turning off his phone's flashlight.

“If I had to make a comparison, I'd say it's more like a… A stabbing pain," he replied, “like something drove a needle into my skull from the inside. It doesn't happen often but I certainly feel it when it does."

“A needle into your skull from the inside? Like something pushing out?" Avory asked curiously, trying to make any sense of it.

“I know, it sounds weird, but that's the only way I can describe it," Volcan said.

“Like a solar flare?" Avory suggested.

“Like… What?" Volcan asked, baffled. “A solar flare, inside my head? I'm pretty sure it'd explode."

“...You're a fire phoenix. I have no idea how you even exist in the first place," Avory looked at him matter-of-factly. “Your eyes are darkening when you said your head from the inside out. My uneducated guess is that it could be something like sunspots on the sun and solar flares erupting from you."The raven then raised his hand to the underside of his beak in thought as he looked around the room.

“Wait wait, back up. What did my eyes do?" Volcan asked.

“Dimmed, darkened, like a sunspot on the Sun," Avory's gaze returned to Volcan's, “they went from your- Frankly, beautiful sky blue iris to a darker… I dunno, I don't think it was quite a navy blue; maybe royal blue, but you get the idea." Avory looked away again, still holding his beak in thought, “...It was at least a Persian or Egyptian blue…"

Volcan grimaced at that. “You are sure it wasn't just a trick of the light? People's eyes don't just change colour, not even a phoenix's, last I checked."

“Are you sure it's not a fire phoenix trait? Don't recall anything running in the family?"

“Eyes changing colour? No," Volcan replied, shaking his head.

"They do glow when you go infrared though?" Avory reminded as he brought up an x-ray image on one of his displays, one of an avian skull, assumably Volcan's.

"That's not really the same thing. My eyes stay the same colour, I'm pretty sure; the glow is from my elemental essence filling or seeping out through my eyes when I'm using infrared," Volcan clarified. "As near as I can tell, my eyes don't change colour. Even if they did, I don't think they'd darken…"

"Well, looking at these x-rays I can't see anything abnormal for you… your skull is fine." Avory said turning back to Volcan, "Other than asking your family if they know of anything this could be, all we can do for the time being is keep an eye on it. Maybe if I take a blood sample I can do some tests on it to see if it brings anything to light?" He suggested.

"Worth a try, I guess," Volcan replied with a shrug.

With his consent, Avory took out a new needle and brought it over to Volcan, finding his relaxed arm and piercing the hot flesh with it, drawing the red liquid from Volcan's body and finishing the assessment.

“I'll be sure to let you know if I find anything, but let me know if you do too, or if it persists or gets worse." Avory reminded him.

“Will do," said Volcan, nodding as he sat forward in the chair, “Was there anything else you wanted to check while I'm here?"

“Not that I recall. Nothing you want me to check?" Avory asked, then chuckled to himself, “Is it time for your prostate examination? It's never too early to start that"

Volcan cast him a disgusted look. “Agh! No way; I'll pass," he said, “Man, you have a weird sense of humour sometimes."

“You guys over here are a very dull sense of humour, so touché," Avory shrugged and simply smiled, reaching down to Volcan to help pull him up from the chair, “that's it then"

“Lighris always tells me I need to develop one," the phoenix remarked as he let Avory help him out of the chair. “Speaking of, did you want to call him too?"

“I did, he said he may pop by after work," Avory explained.

“Okay," said Volcan, nodding. “What was it you were looking for, besides checking us for lingering injuries?"

“Just that," Avory insisted, “although, if I can make sense of your DNA, I might be able to make some medicines for you if you ever have a significant injury. Or at least that's the hope." he then divulged.

“I think our whole species will appreciate that," said Volcan, nodding in approval. “Due to the obscurity of our race, conventional medicine doesn't really translate well to phoenix biology."

“I've still got a long way to go; I'm more Physics and Chemistry, rather than Biology, but I'm working on it." Avory revealed, “so this will take its time."

Volcan nodded. “Thanks for the checkup either way," he said, “Hopefully, this headache goes away on its own, or at least we find some cause for it. I guess I just need to keep taking it easy for a while."

~~~~~~

Later that day, Obsidian left the station feeling ragged. She'd had too little sleep before having to come into work that day, still feeling the aftermath of the battle the day before. Thankfully, it had been a relatively quiet day for her, and she'd made it through without much difficulty. She was thankful that Unity Falls was not a city with a high crime rate…

As she drove home from the precinct, she had a thought to go check on Rikyuu. The battle the previous day had been especially difficult for him, and she was sure he would be even more exhausted than she was. With that decided, she turned from her usual route and started heading toward Climber's Lake. It was out of her way, but not too far of a drive.

Following the road that ran parallel to the namesake of the borough, she soon approached the familiar home of the Lo'raven twins. She had only been to the mansion once or twice since she'd met Avory and Avelyn, but it never ceased to take her breath away. The smooth white concrete walls framed large floor-to-ceiling windows; the large modern manor glowed in the warm evening sun as it slowly started to set behind the Canadian Rockies it sat near the foot of.

She found a place to park her car, stepping out and taking another moment to marvel at the house before she approached the front door where she rang the bell and waited.

After a few moments, the door opened to the sight of the sister. The black and blue bird clad in a warm red jumper and blue jeans.

“Good evening officer. How can we be of assistance?" Avelyn teased, seeing the dragon still in her uniform at her door.

“No need for formalities, Avelyn," Obsidian replied with a giggle, “Just swinging by to see how things are going; how are you and your brother doing?"

“Going well - Avory being a busybody as usual." Avelyn answered standing to the side with the door open, inviting the dragon in, “I assume you got his message earlier?"

“Message?" Obsidian asked, before reaching into her pocket and producing her phone. She tapped the power button to switch it on. She stared at the screen for a moment before she spoke again, “Oops. I was in the middle of a call around that time; I must've missed it."

“Ah. Well is it something you'd be interested in? He's seen everyone else already. In fact you just missed Lighris about half an hour ago," she asked, ushering the dragon inside and closing the door.

“I wasn't really hurt in the fight," she replied with a shrug as she stepped inside, “I came because I wanted to check up on Rikyuu too - is he up yet?"

“He's been in bed all day. He's eaten, not that long ago too so he's probably still awake." the young raven-hoopoe revealed. “He's upstairs in the room just above us at the end of the corridor, but you can probably sense him anyway," he remarked as they walked down the corridor to the main living space and kitchen, “Would you like me to get you a drink maybe? Tea, Coffee? I can bring it up to you if you wanted to go up and see him?"

“I definitely won't say no to coffee, please. I'm still beat from yesterday," said Obsidian, “I'll go up to see him, then be right back down."

“Of course. Black? Milk? Cappuccino? Sugar?" Avelyn asked before she let Obsidian go.

"Let's say cappuccino. I could use the boost," she replied before she started making her way to Rikyuu's room, leaving her host to the coffee machine.

Obsidian took the stairs up to the second floor, and continued to the room where Rikyuu was staying. She knocked on the door and waited until she heard the dragon inside call out for her to enter. With that, she opened the door and peered inside.

"Rikyuu?" She asked.

The blue dragon, lying on the bed while the television across from him was playing a movie, sat up upon hearing her voice. "Oh! Hey, Sid!" He said, chipper.

She smiled. "Well, you sound like you're doing better," she said as she stepped into the room.

"A good night's sleep and some good food were all it took," he replied, smiling back, "Still, I don't think I want to be doing anything like that raid again anytime soon."

"You and me both, buddy," she agreed with a nod.

"You look pretty tired yourself," the blue dragon said, seeing the slack in her posture and how slow to move she was. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, yeah I'm fine," she assured him. "Unfortunately, I had a shift today, so I didn't get a lot of time to rest once I got home."

"And those spooky dreams of yours. You didn't get hit by one of those again, did you?"

Obsidian shook her head. "No, thankfully… Hopefully, I won't be having any more, now that P.A.C.E is gone for good," she said.

Rikyuu nodded. "All right," he said, though was not entirely convinced about her claim - about her dreams. As far as he knew, P.A.C.E was finished, and good riddance as far as he was concerned.

"So what's next for you?" She asked him.

"I'm hoping Avory can still uncover something about Nero from those servers he copied," said the blue dragon, "Maybe if Rex kept tabs on him, it'll give me some kind of trail to follow to find him."

"Well, why don't we go ask him?" Obsidian suggested, "Maybe he's had time to look them over."

"I think he's been busy today - he might not have had time," Rikyuu pointed out, "He's been meeting with all the phoenixes, one after the other and giving them some kind of examination."

Obsidian tilted her head at that. "Examination?" She echoed.

"Yeah, something about making sure they're all okay," Rikyuu replied. "I just overheard part of it when I went down for some breakfast, so I don't know what he's been doing. All the phoenixes came by, though – Volcan, Lighris and Pavan already went home."

Obsidian hummed at that. "I'll have to run that by him," she said.

"He might want to check you too."

"He messaged me about that. But I wasn't hurt," she reminded.

"No, but you did push your telepathy pretty hard," Rikyuu reminded her. "You've never done that before."

"No, I haven't," she conceded, lifting a hand to rub her head, admitting to herself that she was still suffering mental fatigue.

At that moment, Avelyn called upstairs to Obsidian, letting her know that her coffee was ready. Rikyuu stood up from his bed and joined Obsidian as she left the room, joining her as she went downstairs.

Avelyn was surprised to see Rikyuu awake and out of bed but smiled to see the blue dragon closer to normal. "Here's your cappuccino, Obsidian" she chirped, moving over to the living area, and placing a pair of filled cups on saucers down on the coffee table by the sofas, before turning her attention back to Rikyuu, "can I get you something too?"

"Thanks. Just a black coffee for me," said Rikyuu, taking a seat on the couch opposite Obsidian.

"Sure thing," Avelyn replied as she headed back over to the coffee machine to whip up a black coffee.

The two continued their discussion on the couches while they waited for Avelyn, reflecting on the battle at P.A.C.E's hidden laboratory. They expressed concern about the prisoners they had freed there; though neither of them had been present when their comrades had entered the prison and let the captives out of their cells, or that one of the said captives had assisted them in sending them home.

"A freaking vampire to boot, so the guys told me," said Rikyuu, shaking his head. "Who knew vampires were real?"

"We raided a base dedicated to the capture and study of supernatural creatures and people with metagenes," Obsidian pointed out, pointing at herself for emphasis.

"Well yeah, I know, but… Still," said Rikyuu, "It still came as a surprise to know vampires were real, you know? I mean, there are movies and books aplenty about them, but you could never imagine something like that could exist. "

"Says the genetically engineered super dragon, filled with futuristic nanotechnology straight out of science fiction," Obsidian countered, "talking to the psionic dragoness, and living in a mansion shared by twins who wear powered armour suits?"

Rikyuu opened his mouth to answer and then shut it again as he realized he had no refute to that. He eventually chuckled and threw up his hands. "Okay, okay, you got me in a box," he conceded.

"At this point, Rikyuu, I don't know what could surprise me anymore," Obsidian said, shrugging, "When I became a police officer I thought I would see everything the world could throw at me. Instead, I've seen more than I ever signed up for, and most of it has had nothing to do with being a cop."

"I don't think 'living in two twins' mansion' is particularly supernatural, and the mech suits aren't too much of a stretch either," Avory said, leaning out of the doorway to the workshop, eavesdropping on the conversation, before walking over to the two dragons and taking a seat on the couch. Avelyn wasn't too far away, walking over with the black coffee and setting it down in front of Rikyuu.

"My point is," said Obsidian, sipping her coffee before continuing, "We have seen some crazy things, and the last year has been some of the strangest by far… Phoenixes, magic, cyborgs, clandestine rogue operations, and most recently a vampire." She shook her head. "What else could the world throw at us that beats anything we just experienced?"

"Careful what you wish for, 'Sid," Rikyuu cautioned, "I think we can all agree that we'd rather not eat those words."

"Daemons too; or at least whatever assailed Volcan which Korban was so antsy about," Avory commented, "maybe we'll see werewolves, elves, gnomes, pixies and Santa Clause?" He joked.

"Well, if vampires are real, I can certainly see werewolves showing up some time," said Rikyuu, shrugging.

"If I see Santa flying over my house even once, and don't find out it's some hallucination, I will eat my badge," Obsidian remarked, snickering.

That brought a laugh from their hosts. "There are some things I can believe but others I cannot." Avelyn commented, "I don't think werewolves are a guarantee; the idea of someone able to grow to such a size like that whilst keeping the same mass? I can't see how that would be real; I've not seen anything of the sort like that yet. But Santa I doubt, I know our parents gave us those gifts, those other fairytale creatures? Who knows… Probably won't be intelligent lifeforms being those sizes, more like animals if anything."

"I completely agree," Avory announced his support.

"Suppose only time will tell. Not that I plan to go looking," said Rikyuu, taking a long drink from his coffee cup before setting it down. "I've got other plans I want to pursue right now."

"Other nanobot clones?" Avory asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"That, and the one who made us," replied Rikyuu, giving a finger gun motion toward Avory. "I want to find Dr. Cornelius so that maybe I can better understand what he intended when he created me, and any other projects if I can find them. Mine was not the only pod left in that lab; there are others out there, somewhere, and I have no idea what they're doing or what their own plans are. Some might even be dangerous; I really don't know. But I can't have them running amok, lost and confused."

"You sound like their dad when you say it like that," Avelyn commented.

"More like a big brother?" Rikyuu offered, although tilted his head and looked up at the ceiling as though reconsidering that idea. "Or… Cousin? Some of them were probably made before me. And, they won't all be made using the same sequences so… They're not related anyway - gah!" He lifted his hand to his head, exaggerating the motion and laughing as he went on. "Going to give myself a headache just thinking about it."

“What if you fall in love with one of them? Girlfriend? Boyfriend?" Avory chuckles.

Rikyuu sputtered his first response, before managing a more coherent answer. "Whoa, now, one step at a time!" He said, and were it not for his dark blue scales they were fairly sure he would be blushing.

The two girls giggled to themselves, making Rikyuu frown as he collected himself. "Huh. So, this is what Volc feels like," he said, "having everyone yucking at his expense."

Obsidian allowed herself to laugh a little longer before turning to look at Avory. "So, you messaged me earlier?" She asked, "something about an examination?"

“Yes! I was wondering if you would like me to check you over for any wounds or damage you obtained in the fight yesterday"

"As far as I can tell I walked away without a scratch," she said, shrugging. "I was lucky, and it helps that I stayed with Rikyuu the whole time, even after he collapsed."

“Even so, did you not have any psychic stress? Nothing unseen? Would be good to check what the Spherum had on you there." Avory suggested.

"Given how little I know about Spherum, I'd like to be on the safe side," she agreed, and then added somberly. "I am suffering some mental fatigue."

"Ah… should definitely try and get that checked over then." Avory stated, "want to do it now or after your coffee?"

“After the coffee, preferably," she replied, taking a sip from her cappuccino and humming in delight. “Delish," she said and nodded to Avelyn. “You ever been a barista? This is good."

“No, I've just learnt over time" Avelyn gave a happy smile to Obsidian, “Thanks for the compliment~"

After a moment of consideration, Rikyuu decided it was time to speak up and looked over at Avory. “I've been wanting to ask, and I know you've been really busy," he began, “but, I was wondering if you have had any time to decrypt some of those archives we took from the base? I was hoping to get a look at them."

“A.V.I has been decrypting them since I got my hands on them. I've got bits and pieces, but nothing complete. Why, what are you after?" Avory asked curiously.

“Well, as we discussed, I'm hoping to track down my creator and other Projects like me," said Rikyuu, “it may be a long shot, but Rex and Cornelius were once partners - albeit briefly, and it ended rather violently if the clues I've found are accurate. I'm hoping that maybe Rex kept tabs on him after that; enough to at least find some leads for tracking him down. If he's still alive."

Avory pondered as he reached into his pocket to bring out his Feather phone, tapping on the screen in various places. “What was his full name again?"

“Nero Cornelius," replied Rikyuu, leaning forward in his seat in anticipation.

“I…" Avory begin, looking into it deeper, also leaning forward as he peered into the screen, “I have three entries with the name Cornelius… none of them complete yet…"

“But they are there… That's something," said Rikyuu, nodding. It may not have been as much as he hoped, but he now knew at least that there was some information, “thanks, Avory. Any idea how long until they're decrypted?"

“If I focus the resources on the three entries… Maybe a week? But I can make out some details; a couple of words here and there… And… I think these are coordinates?"

Rikyuu's face lit up. “Coordinates?" He repeated.

“Yeah, there is a string of numbers that A.V.I is struggling to decrypt, but to my own eyes, it looks like coordinates. It's in a passage that mentioned the word 'laboratory', so it's potentially that?"

“It could just be the lab where Rikyuu was, and we already combed that place with Ayane's help," Obsidian commented, “there wasn't much there, so it must have been a newer one. I suppose we won't know until she finishes decrypting the coordinates so we can check them."

“...She?" Avory asked, looking up curiously at the dragoness, before chuckling to himself and gesturing over to Avelyn, “'She' is blue, 'he is red'"

“I-I meant A.V.I. With the name, I thought 'female'," Obsidian admitted, sounding embarrassed.

“Oh. I… never considered what gender it would be… A.V.I is just an AI after all" Avory commented.

Obsidian gave a helpless shrug. “Anyway… Once the coordinates are decrypted, we can cross-reference them with where Rikyuu woke up. If it's the same lab, we can cross that one off the search list."

Avory played around with his phone a little more and turned on the TV on the wall of the living room, projecting his phone's screen onto it. “The coordinates are already decrypted. I can bring up the position now…" he comments as he opens up a world map. The view begins to pan over Canada and zooms in further and further until it reaches the Alberta Badlands.

“That is definitely not where I woke up," said Rikyuu.

“That's here in Alberta… What is that area?" Obsidian asked, looking closer at Avory's television. “Looks like… 'Dry Island Buffalo Jump'... A Provincial Park. There are no towns anywhere near there except a small hamlet called Perbeck."

“Perfect place to hide something," said Rikyuu, enthused. “If that's one of Nero's labs, maybe it's the one he fled to after he escaped from Rex."

“Well, there's your direction. Of course, if you remain patient until the rest of the data is decrypted, you might find out if it's a huge waste of time or not."

Rikyuu, despite his mounting anticipation, knew the truth of Avory's words. He grimaced, clearly not pleased, but he let out a sigh and nodded. “You're right… I'll wait. That's a long trip anyway - I'll need a ride, perhaps."

“If it comes down to it, Rikyuu, I can take a day off," offered Obsidian, “if it helps you find the answers you're looking for, I'm willing to help."

Rikyuu turned to smile at his friend. “Thanks 'Sid… I can always count on you."

“It's what I do," she replied, smiling back as she finished her coffee and looked at Avory. “All right… So, I guess it's my turn in the lab then?"

“Sure thing!" Avory smiled, getting up from his seat and walking over to the workshop entrance with Obsidian following him. He opened the door and gestured inside. “After you," he said, letting her enter first before he followed her inside.

Rikyuu leaned back in his seat as he considered the news of possibly one of Nero's labs. Canada's vast, untamed wilderness was the perfect place to hide something that someone did not want to be found; the Alberta Badlands being just one place for such a thing. "Still," he thought aloud, before thinking the rest to himself. 'Maybe I will finally find some answers.'