Chapter Text

PROLOGUE

    “Dis plan is whack,” a voice declared within the darkness.

A myriad of voices responded all at once, forming an indecipherable garble. Some were angry, some concerned, others apathetic at best. The disjointed conversation filtered through the dark, echoing upward into the musty air before capturing atop the metal roof of the abandoned warehouse.

    “You are nothing more than a weakling,” one snarled.

    “Dimitri ain’t weak, Kitty-Cat. Dimitri is fly. And a fly guy knows when the plan is too freaky-deaky for him.”

A deep, gruff voice piped in, “Yer both actin’ like yeller-bellies if ya ask me. I’d like to see either of ya go out and take the reins as well as I do.”

The second growled again, “I’d like to see you do anything without my work you flea-infested--”

    “Gentlemen, please,” another voice broke through the void. It was distinctly male, as the others, but soft and smooth in comparison.

There were mumbles beneath ragged breath, but swiftly only silence followed. A single incandescent lightbulb swayed gently above, its brightness illuminating small fragments of dust that floated into the air. The yellow light stretched outward and caressed the forms of five figures.

A creak sounded, and a wheeled contraption eased forward into the light. A form sat within a covered compartment, a shadow casting down to hide whoever it was. There was only a glint of rounded glass sparkling from inside. The smooth voice slipped out of it, carrying with it a distinctive British accent. “Now, I understand there are concerns. I expected as much, but the bickering will only harm our cause. We must work together to bring this to reality.”

    “Then tell the lizard to stop being a coward,” the snarling voice spat.

    “Hey, this fiiiine lizzy ain’t jivin’ with your attitude, Kitty-Cat,”

    “Stop calling me that!”

The arguments started up again, as brisk and unrelenting as before. The figures within the circle began to gesture and pace in agitation, apart from the wheeled figure and another that stood within the shadows beside him.

    “Gentlemen, please!” the caged figure raised his voice. “I’ve had about enough of this. We agreed to act cordial in our meetings and you are doing everything but! There is absolutely no need for this childish behavior.”

The silent figure beside him finally spoke up, the tone feminine and tired with a thick Czech accent. “I am starting to believe they have been consuming our spice themselves with how they are behaving. It is likely damaging their pathetic little brains.”

    “They would not dare be so foolish.”

    “Perhaps. But the criminal mind can only resist so much…”

The debating ceased a second time and the men turned their attention back to the speaker. “Now, if you all are done, let me reiterate. Our INTERPOL mole has informed me that the investigators should be nearing the end of their processing of the parts we desire.”

The figures briefly turned their attention to the female beside him as he spoke. He went on, “Once they are done with the parts, they will hand them over to the museum in Cairo. My sources indicate this museum’s security is routinely understaffed. This very well could lend to our benefit.”

    “Hold yer horses,” the gruff voice interjected. “Now I dunno how expensive those metal bird parts we’re lookin’ to get are, but I reckon they outta know it’d attract thievin’ folks like us. They’d be dumber than a mule to not double up on that security.”

    “You would be correct, Jean. This is where patience comes in. We wait for the parts to go on display and get their recognition for a time. Once the new wears off and the museum adjusts to their new prizes, the security measures will reduce. We will act then.”

    “And what if they don’t?” the snarling man questioned.

The woman responded promptly before the speaker could. “From my experience, it takes time for new guards to understand the ins and outs of how the security works to its fullest, especially if it’s their first time. Their ignorance makes them struggle to take it all in, even if they act like they know precisely what they are doing.”

    “She is also correct,” the speaker within the contraption agreed. “So even if they kept up their numbers, they would not be remotely close to being a well-oiled machine. At that point, the seasoned guards would truly be our only obstacle.”

The gruff figure that was referred to as Jean let out an amused snort. “Hell, I could take a dozen of them fellers out lickity-split myself.”

    “I have little doubt you could. Though, we will be sure to thoroughly assess the perimeters prior to engaging. We do not want to bite off more than we can chew.”

Everyone silently nodded. For once, there was no quarreling amongst them.

The first voice, the one who called himself Dimitri, brought up one final inquiry. “And your birdy-brains has been rattlin’ ‘round long enough, so you know for solid that these sleek robot accessories are gonna help us all out. Right, Fish-n-Chips?”

The speaker paused to process the language that escaped his fellow member. When he felt confident he understood, he replied. “I assure you—to all of you—that once we acquire the parts, our operation will triple revenue in less than a year’s time. After that, well…”

Although no one could see his face within the darkness, his tone was enough to reflect the smile that had surely pulled itself upon his face.

    “By the time we are through using the parts to their highest potential, our little spice ring will pale in comparison to the magnificent power we will hold.”

The clouds of the night sky masked any form of natural light from breaking down onto the meeting place. It brought little issue to the wheeled speaker, however, who was now flagged on either side by two men with bright flashlights. Their long beaks and scaled three-toed feet indicated they were birds, though their humanoid bodies reflected nothing else of the sort. They marched silently, the goggles of their uniform masking any expression.

One guard emitted a quiet, spooked squawk as the silhouette of a figure appeared before them. The two immediately readied the metallic weapons that were strapped over their shoulders and pointed their lights at the stranger. A lanky purple feline fell within sight, their arm instantly raising to cover their eyes from the brightness.

    “At ease, fellows,” the speaker within the wheeled contraption said.

The two birds did as they were ordered. The feline put down their striped arm, revealing a pair of sharp green eyes. Their lithe, feminine form stepped forward.

    “Neyla, dear, right on time,” said the figure within the cage. A hand of some sort gestured from inside and the two guards nodded silently.

The large-billed birds left the two alone, but not before one left his flashlight on a decrepit old table. It was only then that the being hiding in the darkness of his obscure vehicle was revealed. He, too, was an avian, a parrot to be precise. His colors were obscured in the saturated light, but the cape that enveloped his feathered form was bright red, contrasting wildly against the formal black vest he wore.

    “Do excuse my guards. They are a little on edge after tonight’s meeting.”

    “As I expected,” the feline replied. “I could hear those buffoons quibbling from the rafters.”

    “Ah, how much did you hear?”

She shrugged her striped shoulders. “Only a little. The conversation got lost on me once the iguana started babbling.”

    “Yes, Dimitri is rather… eccentric. But I digress.” The small bird stretched a wing out from beneath his cape and took hold of the circular piece of glass that rested on his eye. He held it in his digit-like feathers as he raised a prehensile foot to pull out a silk cloth from his vest.  “The lot took to the plan well, albeit after some convincing. I admit that, while I anticipated some confrontation, I did not foresee it to such a degree.”

    “They’re idiots,” Neyla said without hesitation. She watched as her counterpart cleaned the piece of glass intently. Perhaps unaware she was even doing it, she found herself adjusting the red and gold hijab that wrapped loosely around her head.

    “Now, now, Neyla, let’s not underestimate them,” he chastised. Satisfied, he returned the glass to his eye: a now flawlessly-clean monocle. He continued. “They may not necessarily have the brain power, but they are skilled in their own ways. Goodness knows they’re all more physical than I. We need them if we ever want a chance at those Clockwerk parts.”

The cat scrunched up her muzzle, her whiskers flaring outward. “I could take the parts myself, you know I could. I would only need someone to carry them out. Maybe one or two of your guards…”

    “Don’t be absurd, my dear. My employees are well-trained, for certain, but they’re no good in complex schemes like this.”

    “Come on, Arpeggio, you’re telling me that fat buffalo in there is any better? He’ll set off all the alarms with how daft he is. The lizard might be light on his feet but he’s a show off who’d likely wave to the cameras on his way out. And the tiger… well, I’d like to see you try to keep his temper under control. If the old badger doesn’t slip a disc on his way in.”

The bird chuckled at her words. A smile perked across his thick curved beak. “You only know them on the surface. Jean Bison is not intellectual in the slightest, but he’s stronger than half a dozen feral oxen. He can carry those parts out of there by himself if need be. Dimitri is certainly on the egocentric side, but that ego will lead him to success any chance he gets. As for Rajan, believe me, his age has not weathered him remotely. His anger is an issue, yes, but that rage can be used for the benefit of the heist.”

The cat crossed her arms. “I still think it’s too risky. I don’t trust ‘em.”

    “Trust is a very fickle thing,” he said flatly.

Neyla shifted her weight as she adjusted a long curled-up whip connected to her belt loop. “Maybe. I suppose as long as INTERPOL keeps their trust in me and our little charade, I’ll be content.”

    “Speaking of INTERPOL,” Arpeggio perked up, “the Contessa informed me tonight that she would be persuading the direction of the assignments for the detectives following our heist. We want things to go our way after all: during and after. Having her be our mole will be invaluable. She did not go into specifics, but I assume things are going well on your end with her?”

    “I’m buttering her up quite well thus far,” she said proudly. “It’s only a matter of time before I get her to slip me in on the case. I’ll be able to relay any information to you once I am. And I know I’ll get in. She’s unaware of me and you and I plan to keep it that way. As far as she knows… I’m her future protégé.”

    “Excellent,” the bird said in delight. “I admit, sometimes I regret making you such a secret to the gang. I could convince Contessa to let you in instantly otherwise. Alas, that would be the easy way out. Sometimes the best way is certainly not the easiest.”

The feline nodded. “It’ll take some time, but the plan will work. I’m sure of it.”

    “Time abides long enough for those who make use of it, as Da Vinci said. We must simply maintain our patience. Now, before we toddle off, I must remind you of our next meeting. You remember the address I left you?”

    “Yes, of course. And it’s a week from today, correct?”

    “Exactly. I’ll have someone fetch you at the rendezvous and bring you to the property. Don’t expect much as it’s still early. I believe they’ve just begun clearing the land off and bringing in my workers. It’ll be quite a mess, I presume.”

Neyla’s tail flicked uncertainly. “Alright. Though I still don’t trust this outlandish source of a crew you have picked out to build the thing.”

    “Remember what I said about trust, dear. Now, it’s getting late so let’s be off. I’ll see you in a week.”

The two said their goodbyes and the girl vanished into the night as if she were a shadow. Shortly after, Arpeggio’s two guards returned and they continued their route out of the warehouse lot. Even in the darkness the small bird’s pleased smirk was visible.

Things were going just according to plan.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 1

The overcast sky had finally cleared up, bringing with it the heat of late spring. A long, dirt path stretched through a cleared strip of forest. A small vehicle, reminiscent of a golf cart, drove idly along, carrying with it three members. In the driver’s seat sat a short toucan guard dressed in the same tan aviator-styled uniform as the others, his eyes covered by a set of goggles. His long colorful beak shifted to and fro as he peered around. In the passenger seat sat a familiar parrot with gold and green feathers. His monocle glinted even beneath the shade of the car’s covered top. Neyla, appearing less than enthusiastic, sat in the rear.

    “I arrived early this morning, just after dusk,” Arpeggio explained, his attention focused forward. “I already spoke with the site engineer and the safety officer. They’ve still got some ways to go before we can really dig in and start—all that legal stuff you know—but the gears are in motion. It’s splendid, really!”

Neyla perked up her ears. “Legal stuff? Are you serious? Since when have we been doing anything legally?”

Arpeggio could not help but laugh. “Dear! A project this vast cannot be kept under such tight wraps. Certainly, we have our ways. We have the cloaking devices and the series of uh… ‘nondisclosure’ agreements,” he eyed the guard beside him as he said this, though the toucan had no reaction, “but we must abide by the basic laws to make certain we run into as few road blocks as possible. At the very least, it will draw away suspicion.”

    “That makes good enough sense as any. It’s not like INTERPOL has you on their radar yet,” Neyla said as she watched the trees rush by.

The bird nodded proudly. “Yes, yes. Well! In addition, safety is a significant concern. I require the smallest margin of error possible. We cannot have pieces breaking off during the mission, after all. And goodness knows I have a limited number of trusted workers at hand! As such, we have an entire medical team on staff. Jeremy here has already been to them a handful of times. Haven’t you, Jeremy?”   

The guard beside him responded with a distinctive rattling sound from the bed of his throat.

     “If it’s good enough for Jeremy, well, it’ll do for the rest. Ah! Here we are!”  

The pathway opened just ahead of them and the car slowed to a stop. The bright, golden sun lit up the massive plot of land that stretched before them. Bright orange dirt, freshly unearthed, coated the blank canvas. Dotted around and in-between were large piles of tree trunks, greenery, and various construction machines. Bulldozers were still at work plowing the ground clean. The only living trees that remained were within the thick forests that encircled the property.

Several dozen simplistic buildings were lined and stacked up along the far-left tree line. The exact same setup repeated several kilometers away. In the distance, the exact opposite direction of where the trio sat in their little cart, was a series of beams and wooden framework that appeared to be the foundation of an additional series of buildings.   

Scattered everywhere else were small tents and countless other objects ranging from crates to barrels to strange contraptions. Some were filthy, covered in dirt or mud, while others were pristine and metallic, reflecting the sunlight above. Crates and boxes filled with tools and unidentifiable objects were littered around.

Neyla leaned forward to get a better look at the expanse before her. “This is bloody marvelous! You weren’t joking when you said it’d be huge.”

    “Of course not. Why, you could construct an entire stadium in here and still have room!”

After getting their overview, the car continued forward again. To say the area was noisy would have been a considerable understatement. The quaint silence of the forests was left far behind as they found themselves delving into the work site. The clanks and roars of engines and equipment in the distance paled in comparison to the voices and sounds emitting from the living people.

More avian guards, dressed in the same aviator attire as the one Arpeggio had called Jeremy, were sprouted around, talking to one another. They quieted down when they saw the small cart head towards them. None of them seemed to take much interest with the other creatures flocked around a short distance away.

Crowded along the tents and the outskirts of the clearing were tall, mostly bipedal forms. They were a rainbow of colors, patterns, shapes, and sizes, but they were distinctly collected into a single avian-like species unrecognizable as any type of earth animal.

    “Rozenich,” Arpeggio stated towards his companion, though he was much too busy staring out at the creatures to look back at her. “That’s what they call them. I don’t know if it’s the English translation or what-have-you, but it’s quite irrelevant. They’re a spectacle, are they not?”

Neyla did not reply. She looked out at the figures inquisitively. They were much taller than the average person, though not giants by any means. They were bipedal and humanoid in the torso but bird-like everywhere else. They stood on pairs of long digitigraded, scaly legs that ended in a set of bird-like feet. Their tails were long, tapered, and curled upward towards the sky. The necks were moderately long with a head reminiscent of ancient dromaeosaurs. Their bodies were covered in feathers and some had various plumages on different areas of their bodies, particularly on the tails and the nape of the necks. Many had patches of scales visible through the fluff.

Unlike the guards, they paid little to no mind to the small cart passing alongside them. They were much too busy clustering together, making sounds and words that made no decipherable sense.

Neyla leaned back in the seat. Her lips were pulled back in disgust. “They make enough racket at any rate.”

    “Yes, they’re quite vocal. Just a pity they don’t speak much English.”

The girl’s eyes widened. “No English? How the hell are you gonna talk to them?”

    “Luckily for me, I don’t need to,” Arpeggio explained. “The kurri deal with them exclusively. Though, there are a handful that speak English for translational purposes. We’re about to go meet one now, in fact.”

The cart drove a short distance away, past another flock of the rozenich and towards a large overhang structure with a shimmering, metallic roof. The cart stopped, a bit roughly, by the front. Arpeggio leapt, a little sloppily, to the front of the cart and from there to the corner of the front stage. He was not wearing the long red cape that had consumed him the week before, allowing his green wings to give him improved balance. Even so, his feathers puffed out uncomfortably, as if having his feet upon the ground brought him great unease. 

Jeremy had a quick solution to his dilemma. He pulled out a rod from the back of the cart and, when released, it formed a moderately sized portable perch.

    “Ah, thank you, Jeremy,” he said happily.

The guard rattled in reply. Neyla stared down at him questionably but did not say anything.

Arpeggio quickly ascended the perch, using his dexterous feet and curved beak as natural climbing tools. Once he was settled comfortably at the top, he turned his attention to a figure moving beside the crates to his left. “I say, is there a chap named Mr. Mercer here?”

The figure popped a feline-like head up to look at him. It responded to him in clear English, though the accent, while unclear, was heavy. “Yes. One moment.”

The creature scrambled up onto the stage, revealing itself to be another unearthly creature. The face was nude and wrinkly like a sphynx cat and it had a humanoid torso; however, in place of legs it had an entire second feral body, like that of a centaur, only this one was stocky with a set of thick legs and a meaty tail. It could not have been more than five feet tall at the tip of its large ears.

It scurried towards a crate and said something in a mysterious language. The words summoned another two of the creatures, who responded similarly. All three climbed up onto the stage and trotted away before anyone could grasp a good look at them.

Arpeggio and Jeremy did not appear the least deterred by the beasts. Neyla, on the other hand, could not help but question it. “Were those…?”

    “The kurri, yes,” Arpeggio replied quietly. “They’re very efficient. Very intelligent. Not much for small-talk, though.”

    “This is bloody crazy.”

Two of the three creatures returned and with them came an orange colored male rozenich, his head down, gaze focused intently on an electronic device in his scaled hands. He had a thick mane of feathers that drooped down over his shoulders. Unlike the other rozenich, he lacked the long upward tail, instead bearing a stumpy one covered in extremely long feathers that were folded up like a fan and drooped down just as apathetically. He only briefly peered up from his device to acknowledge the visitors. He, just as the other rozenich, wore no clothes outside of a belt that held a myriad of miscellaneous items.

    “Hey, sorry, sir, it’s been extremely busy around here today. And. Every day,” he said. The words were in perfect English with only the slightest hint of unidentifiable accent buried beneath.

    “Understandable,” Arpeggio replied. “How are the payment negotiations fairing?”

The rozenich anxiously scratched at the feathers on his throat. “Just about done. My partner should have all the documents. She’s been out grabbing the last couple who couldn’t make up their minds.”

    “Excellent! And what about the AR management? Your head told me I needed to speak with them.”

    “They, uh… they did?” he questioned, his feathers raising. 

    “Yes. They said it would be good to speak with them in the off-chance we have any problems in the future.”

The rozenich tapped his claws nervously on the electronic pad in his hands. The long plumage that hung down along his neck began to raise. “Yes. The uh… the AR manager would also be my partner.”

    “Oh? Is she here? I’d like to see her if she is.”

He opened his mouth to detest. “Are you sure? I should probably talk to her first.”

Arpeggio gave a slight tilt to his head. “No. Now would be preferable.”

There was hesitation again. He looked outward into the distance, as if attempting to find some vain excuse to use, before shrugging in defeat. The man pulled a small walkie talkie out of his belt. He released an exhausted sigh before pressing the button and speaking into it. “Linda? You there?”

There was a pause.

Static erupted on the other end of the device before a female voice answered. “Yeah, what’s up, Harliebear?”

The man hesitated before responding. “I need you to come up here for a sec.”

    “Why?”

    “It’s important.”

There was another pause. “Did Kerry bite you again? I told you to stop letting him act like such a turd. You are going to have to--”

    “It’s not that, Linda,” the man grumbled. “Just get up here. Someone’s here to speak with you.”

    “Who?”

    “Just come up here.”

    “Do I need to bite them?”

    “No. Just come up here.”

Arpeggio exchanged a confused glance with his feline companion.

    “Alright,” the voice on the other end replied skeptically, “but if I need to bite someone I’m gonna be really mad about it.”

The male did not bother replying. He stashed the talking device back into his belt and turned his attention back to his guests. “Sorry about that. My partner, Linda, she…. she’s rather unconventional. She’s good at what she does, but it’s best to ignore her… nature.”

    “I see,” Arpeggio replied uneasily.

Neyla did not say anything, though the glare in her green eyes indicated she was displeased with the conversation taking place.

It did not take long for another rozenich, a female, to depart from the crowd nearby. Her feathers were snow white and her scales a pale pink. She had what appeared to be a large set of display feathers folded up on the base of her long tail. The male, Harlie, groaned quietly under his breath as she approached. Arpeggio turned and his gaze met the eyes of the female, their color the exact shade of blue as his own. A large grin pulled onto her face almost instantly.

    “Ooh! A birdy!” she exclaimed and promptly leapt up onto the stage beside the parrot with predatory ease.

Arpeggio flinched at her entrance and looked up at her, head buried in his collar. “I… beg your pardon?”

    “You’re a bird,” she replied, saying the statement happily, “but like an actual bird!”

Arpeggio’s beak parted as if he were going to retort but the woman had already turned her attention to Neyla. “And you! You’re so pretty! Are you a… tiger?”

Neyla, her own eyes wide with confusion and shock, replied, “I’m a cat.”

    “Oh, that’s right. I get everything confused! There’s so many critters on this planet.”

    “Linda,” Harlie quickly put his arm out in front of her and gave her a gentle push away, “this is Mr. Arpeggio. He’s here to talk about business things. Professional things.”

The woman tilted her head.

    “Professional, Linda.”

She looked back at the perched bird. A light glinted in her eyes as a memory resurfaced. “Yeah! Anthony told me about you! But you’re not nearly as tiny as he said you would be.”

Arpeggio’s eyes narrowed. “They said I was—?”

    “You’re like at least the size of an eagle. But like an actual eagle. You’re not an eagle, right?”

    “No, I am a… listen here, that’s really not important,” he waved a wing dismissively. “Now, I was told to speak with you about your people’s choice of payment. I’d like to address that as soon as possible.”

    “Yeah, okay,” Linda nodded. “My assistant, Kacey, whipped up some documents for me just this morning. She’s still at your little office thing across the way.”

    “Wonderful!” the bird said with delight. “Let us not waste time then. Neyla, where is, uh…?”

The parrot looked around him until his eyes landed on his avian chauffeur. The guard was standing off with others like himself. One guard, who was particularly large and burly, was lighting a cigarette next to him. Jeremy took an anxious step away from him.

    “Jeremy!” Arpeggio called out to him.

He did not have to ask twice. The aracari swiftly returned to his position beside his boss. The female rozenich eyed him inquisitively but resisted the urge to say anything.

Arpeggio descended his perch and returned to the vehicle with Jeremy on his tail. Neyla did a quick glance-over of the other woman before following the two birds.

    “Linda,” Harlie said quietly to his partner, “control yourself, will you?”

    “Don’t worry, I got this!”

    “Linda.”

    “Yeah?”

    “Don’t nickname him. Please.”

    “No promises!”

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 2

The four ventured to the infrastructure of the series of buildings that sat across the lot. Construction had been put on hold, leaving behind skeletal wooden beams and half-complete walls. Only one portion of the main building was considerably finished, though it lacked a proper ceiling and the inner drywall remained exposed. Sawdust was scattered everywhere and pieces of blue tarp blew gently in the afternoon wind. Inside the bottom floor sat a large unopened crate and a pile of empty boxes offset in the corner.

The small vehicle once again came to a stop. Linda was the first to leap off, her long scaly legs carrying her into the building without a care. Jeremy shortly followed, prepping the perch for his employer, then Neyla. Arpeggio’s blue eyes scanned the dirty floor. His gaze followed an invisible path towards the others and he rustled his wings hesitantly. After gaining the motivation, he hopped down and quickly walked over to the perch inside the building, his long green tail feathers dragging behind him through the dust. He ascended the perch once more. His feet flicked irritably as remnants of dirt and dust flew off. He held one foot up against his body as he began to speak. “Now that we’re here, let’s get to business. Where is this assistant you spoke of?”    

 The rozenich woman scratched at the large tuft of feathers on her chest and peered around. “She was here earlier. Let’s see. KACEY!”

 The woman’s screech startled everyone. Their shock was propelled further when the pile of boxes in the corner suddenly erupted and toppled over. Everyone turned to see a tiny figure pop out from within.

    “Here I am!” the creature yelled. A kurri: a small one. She was a greenish-gray in color and covered in small white spots. Curiously, she was decorated in large white feathers oddly reminiscent of Linda’s large tail fan; the only difference were that these were dirtied and falling apart. Her bright orange eyes peered at everyone in the room in an equal reflection of surprise and irritation. “Who’re you people?”

Linda responded before the other animals could. “Gumdrop, this is our boss and some of his friends.”

Arpeggio opened his beak to say something, but the small grey creature spoke back before he could.

     “Really?” she squinted. “He’s not as tiny as I thought he was gonna be.”

     “That’s what I said,” Linda replied.

Growing agitated, the parrot responded. “Yes, all right. Now, about what I came here for…?”

     “Hm? Oh! One sec,” the little alien said. She darted back into her box. An abundance of scuffling followed.

     “Here ya go!” she said as she sat back up, now holding a stapled set of papers. Linda gladly took it and scanned it over. Arpeggio could not see the page clearly from his angle, though it appeared as if the papers had no words at all, but instead merely pictures. This puzzled him, but he did not question his curiosities aloud.

     “Alrighty, let’s see here,” the woman said as she strode over to the crate in the center of the room and sat down.

Arpeggio readjusted himself on his perch and spoke again. “I was told the rozenich—er, your people—do not accept monetary payments, correct?”

     “Yup, you got it,” Linda explained. “See, we aren’t allowed to leave the kurri. They’re like our protectors, you know? I mean, the world knows about us but they don’t really know about us.”

Neyla was the one to reply to her. “I’ve never heard of either of you before this project.”

     “Exactly! I mean, anyone can look us up if they really wanted to, but for the most part we are being kept on the down-low. It’s too dangerous for us to go out into the public and, well, probably too traumatizing for my people to begin with. I think it’s called ‘culture shock’? Anyway, I can’t speak for the kurri, but what good’s money gonna do to us rozenich if we can’t spend it on anything because we can’t leave?”

Arpeggio nodded. “Yes, that makes sense. So, what is it your people prefer to receive?”

     “Well,” she flipped a page of the paper, “everyone requires housing, food, medical care, all that jazz, but that’s been figured out already. The rest is split into different bits. Some of us are perfectly happy with crafting materials: clay, beads, fabric, and so forth. Things to be creative with, really, to pass the time when we aren’t working.”

The parrot boss did not say anything as the woman spoke. He casually eyed his feline companion, who was watching the white rozenich with a perturbed gaze.

Linda continued, flipping through the pages as she enlightened the group. “There are a few people who want specific things. Finley, Beau, and Aidan want extra food rations for storage, Devin wants a soundboard, Gia wants literally any kind of book you can give her, and Rhett wants a radio, the type can be whatever.”

     “That is… a strange array of items.”   

    “Well, Rhett also requested some less-than-appropriate material but I ‘talked’ him out of it.”

Arpeggio did not bother asking.  

    “As for the majority, they specifically request monthly payments in, well, I think the best word for it is ‘trinkets.’”

     “…Trinkets?”   

    “Trinkets. Especially shiny ones. You can stretch it to your liking: forks-n-spoons, coins, jewelry—it can be fake if you want—pocket watches, fountain pens. Anything you can find, really. My favorites are those silly colorful bead necklaces people throw out at those 'parade' things your people sometimes have!”

     “Why, that sounds like a lot of junk,” Arpeggio could not resist giving a chuff of laughter at the lunacy of the suggestion.   

    “Yeah, that’s about right.”

    “So, you’re saying your people are happy to receive little useless whatnots in exchange for hard labor?”

Linda set her papers to the side and leaned back on the crate, “Honey, when you come from a place where you’re more concerned about getting devoured by giant bugs and trying to survive things like horrible, merciless, murdery weather conditions, the little things are more than good enough.”

     “Ah, I see,” he nodded, though in truth he did not understand a single bit of what she said.

 Linda's ears then perked up. “Oh! As for me, I'd like to be paid with trinkets and monthly supplies of Pop-Tarts."

     "...Those awful toaster pastries Americans love so much?"

     "Yes. I'm partial to the 'wild berry' flavor, but I'll take anything, I'm not picky," she nodded proudly. "Also, I know the kurri have their own specific negotiations, but Gumdrop here also wants a soldering kit.”

 Upon hearing her supposed nickname, the small assistant burst out of the box again. “A good one!”

     “Um. Yes. All right,” Arpeggio replied uneasily.

He glanced back at Neyla: she had begun to pace impatiently on the opposite side of the room. His eyes then fell to his guard who was loyally standing in the same place beside him, as expressionless as he had been before. The parrot refocused his attention on the woman. “Very well. Is there anything else I need to know about?”

Linda scratched at her chest again. “Well, we do have an event that’ll come up in a few months. I think your people call it a ‘holiday’? It’ll only last a couple days, but we won’t be able to work then. I’ll have Gumdrop give you the date sometime.”

     “Yes, that’ll do fine.”

A subtle rumble of static escaped into the room. Linda pulled out a walkie talkie from a pouch that had been attached to her arm and spoke into it. “Helloooo?”

A frightened male voice answered over the device in unconfident, broken English. “Ah! Linda! Help need!”

     “Is it Kerry again?”

     “Yes.”

She released a long, panged sigh. “How much blood is there?”

     “Many!”

     “Hold tight, hon, I’ll be there in a sec.”

She propped herself back up on her feet and gave a little stretch. “Duty calls, fellas. Will you be back soon?”

Arpeggio seemed a bit surprised at her question but answered it politely. “Oh, yes! I’ll be back once things around here are prepped and settled.”

     “Cool. I’ll see ya around, birdy!”

The parrot had no time to correct her; she was already out of the little building and running off into the distance. It was not long after she had vanished that the small alien—Kacey as Linda had referred to her—stuck her head back out into the open. She hastily scrambled around in the box until it toppled over, revealing her taur-like body. In her little hands, she held a silver electronic device covered in what appeared to be stickers.

     “Hey, wait for me! I need to charge my iPad!” With that, even she had disappeared in a trail of dust, her four meaty legs carrying her as fast as they could go, and her dingy feathered adornments waving behind her and dragging in the dirt.

Left by themselves, the remaining three stood to reflect on their encounter. Arpeggio took in a breath to refresh himself. “Well, that is done and over with. What an intriguing bunch.”

Neyla scoffed. “Intriguing is not even touching on it.”

     “I’m certain they are just on edge. They just moved to an entirely different country. Things aren’t set up, everything’s a bustle. Why, I couldn’t say I would not be acting a bit strange myself. Wouldn’t you, Jeremy?”

The guard expelled the familiar rattle sound from his beak.

Neyla did not seem convinced. “If the rest of them are anything like that woman, I wouldn’t trust them to build your airship without a sea of problems.”

     “I understand your concern,” he said, a bit of annoyance in his tone, “but I assure you, they have built things much more extravagant than my design. They’ve tackled ships that venture into the depths of space, after all. I cannot imagine anyone else capable of building my ship.”

The purple feline swished her long, striped tail behind her. She looked away from him, her eyes scanning the infrastructure of the building they stood within. "You’re right. I know you’re right. It’s just so… odd.”

A small smile perked onto the bird’s face. “It’s quite understandable, dear, but I assure you I have this all figured out. A year from now our scheme will be at its head, and we will look back on days like this and find amusement in it all.”

Neyla gave a quiet, brief laugh as she looked out over the barren landscape in front of them. “I suppose we’ll see about that.”

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 3

 Come on now, chap, you can do this, came the thoughts of the golden parrot. He gave an exhausted yawn and resisted the urge to shake his head. A dexterous foot extended to grab at his coffee cup.

The bird sat on a tall, cushioned stool before a wooden desk positioned to the side of a large, relatively empty room. There were two large, flat monitors with black screens hung up on the opposite side and several tubs of mysterious items clustered in a corner. Against the wall on the side nearest himself rested the strange wheeled contraption the bird had sat in when he met with his fellow group members. The floor was barren, save for the cool gray metal texture.

There were no lights switched on within the office, but there had really been no need for them; natural light poured in from the enormous windows soaring on one side. They were curved up and extended over the roof. Metal beams lined through them, sturdy and thick; the glass they held was almost just as much so. The bird was not in any ordinary office, after all. He was in an office on an airship.

Clouds wisped past like mountains of cotton through the late morning sky. There was a deep, low hum of engines from within the ship’s core as it propelled the beast forward. It did not seem to bother the exhausted avian aristocrat. Feeling another yawn coming on, Arpeggio finally lifted the cup in his grasp. He placed the spout-like tip on the edge of his beak.

A harsh rattling suddenly shook the entire ship. It took a lucky reflex for the bird to not spill the contents from the cup as he braced himself. “Here already?”

As the ship continued to rattle, Arpeggio hopped off the stool and onto the floor with a gentle thump. He slowly strode over to the edge of the dome windows. His head tilted to the side as he peered through his monocle to the expanse of land below. He spotted forests for miles, stretched to the edge of the horizon. The airship was slowly lowering itself down towards the trees. Almost all at once, the trees seemed to twinkle. The leaves shimmered and shook, and their effects were almost like that of a visual glitch. As the ship lowered even further, they continued to distort, and it became clear they were nothing short of unnatural. Another hundred feet down and in one large swoop, a swath of trees entirely vanished. In their place was an expanse of clear dirt and speckles of what were surely people.   

They had, indeed, arrived.

Arpeggio left his window view and ventured over to the wall where his wheeled contraption sat. He eyed it briefly but walked past it towards a different device that rested nearby. The style of it was similar in being wheeled and aesthetically steampunk-renaissance in appearance. It had small wing-like flaps and decorative metal tidbits. Unlike the bulky cage of the other, this was compact, lean, and mimicked the shape of a three-wheeled scooter or Segway.   

With confidence, he drove himself through the automatic doors of the office, down a ramp, and into the innards of the ship. It was a massive floor level filled with bustling guards and sealed crates. Arpeggio ignored them as he headed to the other end where a small elevator was positioned. Conveniently, as the door opened for him to enter, a familiar guard stood inside.

    “Ah, hello Jeremy,” Arpeggio said with forced delight.   

Jeremy did not respond, and his expression was blank; his eyes, as always, were concealed by goggles. His uniform appeared worse for wear; small brown burn marks were scattered across one side of his tan vest. Arpeggio did not question it. The guard made room for Arpeggio’s scooter and both began their descent.

    “I assume things are doing well down below? It appeared as if the foundation was starting up already from my view overhead. Let us hope the results are up to quality. Though, I’ll save my criticisms until after we deal with this mess.”   

The elevator gave a gentle shake as it landed. The two exited and made their way out the already-opened airship entrance where the sun was beating down. Arpeggio squinted and covered his monocle-wearing eye with a wing. Walking up the small ramp in front of them was a familiar orange colored rozenich. Just as Arpeggio had seen him weeks prior, he had an electronic device in his hands and a belt full of items held across his torso and waist.

     “Hello, sir. Hope your trip went well,” Harlie said tiredly.   

    “I cannot complain,” Arpeggio replied with an equally tired sigh. “Tell me, are my quarters ready as requested?”

  The rozenich nodded. “Yes, they finished everything yesterday afternoon. It’s ready to be filled up.”   

    “Excellent,” the parrot gestured to his assistant and the avian nodded and ventured back into the opening of the airship.

Arpeggio and Harlie descended the ramp and onto a compacted dirt pathway. Everywhere on the gutted lot were pathways of a similar nature, patted down for employees to wander without winding up in dangerous situations. The parrot found them useful for his personal travel needs; his transportation vehicles had been specifically designed for off road terrain, but he admitted it was nice to have paths that were not so bumpy.   

    “Do tell me,” Arpeggio began as the two started their way down a path, “have things been at peace around here between your workers and mine?”

There was a slight hesitation but Harlie replied. “For the most part. There have been some… quarrels here and there. But Linda’s been taking care of them.”   

The mentioning of the woman’s name sparked a memory in the bird. “Oh yes. I remember her. So, she is a good mediator then?”

    “You can say that,” he replied before pausing again. He then added, “She said she wanted to talk with you. I told her to leave you alone until you got everything moved in, but just in case, I thought you should know”

    “Yes, very well.”

Along the edge of the sea that was the unfinished landscape sat a small two-story building. It was simple in its overall form but decorated beautifully along the paneling and rooftops. The intricate swirls and curls contrasted against the geometric shapes of the windows and structures. Atop the center of the building sat a curvy letter ‘A’ constructed out of metal.

Arpeggio pulled his vehicle under the shade of a large oak tree that sat before the building. Harlie stopped near him, though he made certain to keep a short distance. The bird’s workers were already carrying crates and boxes from the airship into his soon-to-be home.   

    “I say, what is your full name again?” Arpeggio requested. 

     “Harlie Mercer, sir.”

     “Yes, that’s right. And your, uh… 'partner' I think you referred to her?”    

    “Linda Givington.”

     “Right, thank you,” he nodded. “Now, is there anything else you need to inform me of?”

Harlie tapped at something on his device before responding. “No, sir. That’s all for now.”

      “Good. Contact me if anything changes.”

The alien left him, traveling back down the path with which they came. The parrot watched as his workers poured in and out of the building behind him, stuffing it full of items. He knew he needed to do his job of assisting the team on where to put things, but in truth he did not feel up to it. Of course, he knew better. With a heavy sigh, he turned his scooter around and headed towards the hectic bustle of the move.

It had taken the entire day to unload the airship. A lot of it was simple living needs: furniture, food, clothing, and miscellaneous supplies. The rest consisted of tools and resources for his work and a portion of it was simply luxury items he desired. It was not as if they would go to misuse: he would be at the location for quite some time. The thought of it brought Arpeggio unease. He knew what he was getting into, but he also knew he did not like the idea of being outside of his comfort zone. We must make sacrifices, he told himself. Otherwise all the planning is for naught.

He had just settled down in his office, which doubled as his bedroom. It was large and spacious, giving him plenty of room to work and think. The bookshelves had already been filled with his books, tools, and other such things, minus a few stacks of thick textbooks that remained on the floor. He would still have a lot of organizing to do, along with finishing the remainder of his setup, but for the little time they had that day he was pleased with what had been done.   

He peered out of the large windows that filled up one entire wall, not unlike the front of his airship office. The sun was setting, sending a brilliant array of colors across the sky. Simply looking at it made him more tired than he already was. Right as he was considering prepping himself for bed, a knock sounded on the door.

      “Come in,” Arpeggio said, almost without thinking.   

He half expected to see a familiar face enter. Jeremy, perhaps, or someone else he had traveled with. Instead, the face that poked into the room was a pure shade of white.

      “Hi, Birdy!” came the feminine voice of the rozenich known as Linda.   

Arpeggio felt himself tense. Though perturbed by her greeting, he turned around on his perch to face her as she entered the room. “Ah, hello. Ms. Givington, correct?”

    “That’s right, but you can just call me Linda,” she said as she waltzed straight up to him. She snagged a chair that had conveniently been positioned near his desk and sat on it backward, arms resting on the curved back. Arpeggio felt annoyance at her daringness, but chose to keep silent. Let’s not be rude, Arpeggio. We shall oblige her, just this once. 

The female continued. “How was your ride down here? That’s a crazy big blimp you have.”

    “It’s… not a blimp actually,” he corrected her. “Blimps don’t have infrastructure.”

    “Oh. So, it’s a zeppelin?”

     “Zeppelins are actually a specific… well, nevermind, it’s not important,” he waved a wing dismissively. “Anyway, it was a standard trip. Very much nothing exciting to speak of.”

Linda rested a fluffy white cheek on her knuckles as she looked the small bird over. It made Arpeggio uncomfortable, if not a bit exasperated. There was nothing he despised more than someone peering over him, judging him, sizing him up.   

Before she could say anything additional to him, he questioned her. “Was there something you wanted to discuss with me? Mr. Mercer had mentioned you earlier today when I arrived. He made note to tell me you had something you wished to speak about.”

      “Hm? Oh no, nothing special,” she replied. “I just felt bad that I didn’t get the chance to talk more to you when I saw you the first time.”   

    “Talk more? For what reason?”

      “To get to know you, of course!” she said, rather puzzled at his questioning. “I mean, we’re gonna be working together, after all.”   

Arpeggio did not understand. Her and him? Working together? That was a bit overzealous. He was the designer, the funder, the overarching boss of the operation. He did not work with others. Others worked for him. Had he been in a fouler mood, he supposed he would have told her such things. At the time, however, he was much too exhausted to bother. Instead, he chose to keep his response simple. “Yes. Well, I am not the finest choice of a conversationalist, I’m afraid. I would only bore you with my mundane choice of topics.”

     “I’m sure we could find something interesting to talk about.”   

    “I… well…”

He was unable to finish his thought as the door to the room was pushed open, revealing the woman’s spotted kurri assistant. She carried the same electronic device in her hands that she had when Arpeggio had seen her last, and the long white feathers she had fastened to her body were equally as torn up and dingy as he remembered. She trotted inside, letting out a concerned whine. “Liiindaaa, you can’t leave me alone like that!”   

Linda looked over her shoulder at her. “Gumdrop, don’t be rude. Knock first.”

    “Oh,” she said. She clumsily backed her chubby taur-like body through the door until she had entirely disappeared. After a moment, there was a gentle knock on the door.  No one said anything. Linda turned her attention back to Arpeggio and gave a directional nod with her head towards the door.

    “Um. Come in?” Arpeggio half-questioned in confusion.

The small creature trotted back in as she had previously, not missing a beat. “You can’t leave me alone! Those birds coulda kidnapped me!”

    “They wouldn’t want you. You eat too much.”

    “You eat too much.”   

Arpeggio pointed a feathered finger in the air. “Beg pardon. I don’t wish to be rude, but may I ask how either of you got in here? Are my guards not posted outside?”

    “Yeah, they’re out there,” Linda nodded, “but they know me so it’s good.”   

    “It’s… good?” he questioned. There was a minute amount of anger bubbling inside of him. What is this nonsense? They cannot just let anyone in how they see fit!

The woman must have noticed the frustration on his face. “Hey, don’t worry about it, Birdy. You don’t always need--”   

    “My name is Arpeggio.”

She tilted her head at him. “Hm. Yeah. I’m not feeling that, though.”   

    “You’re… you’re not--?”

The kurri chimed in. “Yeah, me neither. It’s too hard to say.”   

    “Arpeggio is not hard to say,” he said sharply.

    “It could be better,” the kurri said. She was now looking down at the device in her hands, playing some sort of colorful game.

    “I…? Okay, listen,” he released a sigh. “I understand you are being friendly and I appreciate that, truly I do. Let us take this slowly, though, shall we?”

Linda nodded. “You’re right. We need to get to know you more before we can give you a nickname.”

    “I…” he stopped himself. He could tell where this was going: a very firm nowhere. He shook his head and reformed his sentence. “Yes. Perhaps. Just please, stop calling me… whatever it was.”   

    “Birdy?”

    “Yes. Please.”   

The woman’s slit blue eyes scanned over him again. Her gaze came to focus on his feet. She reached a scaled finger out to him. “Speaking of, why don’t you look like the others?”

Arpeggio felt a jolt go through him as the woman’s claw brushed against his toe. In reaction, he pushed her hand away with the foot. “Let’s not do that, dear.”   

Linda complied but the action only appeared to intrigue her more. Despite the irritation, he pursued her question. “What do you mean by ‘not like the others’?”

    “Well, you’re a bird,” she responded, “but like, an actual bird.”   

    “Yes, you kept using that phrase last time. What do you mean by an ‘actual’ bird? I assure you I am completely avian.”

    “You know, an actual bird. Like the ones that don’t talk. You look just like them but real big.”   

    “Ah,” he raised a brow, “you’re speaking of ferals. I suppose I understand if you do not know, you did say you did not explore outside the kurri camps much. What you call ‘actual’ you really mean ‘feral’.”

The woman lightly scratched at her chin. Her ears flicked. “So, the dumb animals are ferals and the smart ones are…?”   

    “We are simply people. Though, calling a feral animal ‘dumb’ is not quite accurate. But yes, they do lack the sapience of the rest of us.”

There was a sparkle in the female’s eyes, as if she understood. Yet still, she questioned, “But… that still doesn’t answer why you look like one.”   

    “Some of us are simply born that way. I am completely normal, albeit less common.”

    “Ohh,” she seemed delighted at consuming this information. She looked at her assistant, who was lying down at that point. “Did you know that? I didn’t know that.”   

    “Sssh, I’m trying to beat this level,” she said, not paying the faintest amount of attention.

The rozenich returned her gaze to the parrot, another flicker in her eye. “Is it also normal to be really small? Cause people here makes it out like a big deal.”   

Arpeggio’s brows furrowed. “Are they still saying such things?”

    “Oh yeah, all the time. They talk about your ‘Napoleon Complex’ but I dunno what that means ‘cept it’s about you being tiny.”   

    “… I see.” Part of him wished to clarify things, to prod more about the rumors, but he felt his patience wearing thin. There was only so much he was willing to take on such a day. He took the pause in questioning as his opportunity. “As much as I would enjoy talking with the two of you more, I am afraid I grow tired.”

To the bird’s thanks, the woman was not ignorant enough to misunderstand him. She did not hesitate to return to her feet. “Alright, no problem! We’ll drop by tomorrow sometime.”   

    “Um. Yes. We will see about that.”

The rozenich gently shook the kurri’s haunch. “Come on, you can play Candy Crush back home.”   

“Fine,” she groaned and took to her own four hoofed feet. She peered up at Arpeggio briefly with her glistening orange eyes, the two-sets of pupils locking onto him. “Bye, Pedgy.”

Linda snorted. “Hey, that’s a cute one.”   

The parrot frowned. “Arpeggio, please.”

The two departed with little complication, even closing the door behind them. Once he heard the audible click of it shutting, the parrot gave a much-needed roll of the eyes. What peculiar ladies. That Mr. Mercer fellow might have had a point.   

Much too tired to push his thoughts any further, he set it aside. With a bit less grace than he usually had, he brought himself down to the cool wood floor and gave a pleasant shake of his feathers. He needed that after such a long day. His talons tapped across the floor as he walked to the lavatory. For the time being, all he wished to do was get cleaned up and get a good night’s sleep. Everything else would have to wait.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 4

Arpeggio did not sleep well that night. At first, he had simply thought it was due to being uncomfortable: he was in an entirely new area, after all. The sounds in the night, the smells, the atmosphere. The mere fact of knowing he was not home could have unsettled him and forced sleep away. By the time midnight had come and gone, he knew it was more than that.

    “Did you ever vomit?” a woman asked.

Arpeggio sat on a blue-green examination table. His talons crumpled up the sanitary paper that covered it. “No, although part of me wished I had,” he said sourly.

A woman in a white lab coat pulled a stethoscope up to the bird’s fluffy golden chest, the vest he typically wore having been unfastened for her. She was a snake, and her long body was collected in a mound behind her. Her scales were striped in shades of brown and black and her hairless head was sleek and narrow with a pair of bright yellow eyes. Her tongue flicked out naturally every now and then.

    “Travel sickness does that. On top of your nerves, it comes to no surprise. In fact, the stress might be why it’s still lingering.”

     “I’ve never had motion sickness before,” he replied. He rubbed at his chest with a foot when she removed the scope. “Well, not since I first started flying, anyway.”  

She wrote something down on a small chart. Her hands were not covered in scales like the rest of her body; instead, they appeared almost metallic in appearance. She peered back up at him. “You’re stressed. You always get stressed, and we both know it. I’m no psychologist, but I do know the mind can sometimes do things to you that you’re completely unaware of.”

 You’re starting to sound like the Contessa…Arpeggio thought to himself.  

    “But there’s no worry, it’s an easy fix,” she said happily and pulled a small container of pills out of the drawer. “Take one dose every four hours until the nausea stops. If it keeps up by this time tomorrow, come back to me.”

     “All right,” he sighed as he took the bottle from her, “thank you, Phyllis.”  

    “Of course, it’s what I’m here for!”

 The parrot refastened his little black vest. He felt the twirling in his stomach start up again and wished he could take the medication straight away. Instead, he looked up at the serpent again. “I meant to ask, how have things been treating you? I hope you have not gotten your hands full already.”  

    “Oh no, it’s been pretty slow,” she gave a little smile. “Mr. Flinn has been in here the most, actually. But we know that is not abnormal.”

 Arpeggio gave a weak laugh. “Yes. Jeremy would be enough to keep your business afloat in hard times.”  

    “The poor dear. He came in yesterday with a bite wound. I’m worried it might get infected.”

     “A bite?” Arpeggio raised a brow.  

    “Yes. From one of the rozenich.”

     “A rozenich? What do you mean?” His tone came out far more intrigued than concerned.  

The doctor nodded almost tiredly. “One bit him when he was trying to break up an argument. A guard did something to upset one of them, and before it was all over Mr. Flinn took the punishment. It was really minor, just a little nip on the forearm, but I don’t know what sort of bacteria the rozenich have.”

     “I suppose I didn’t consider that. But a bite?”  

She shrugged. “They do it all the time, I’ve noticed. They’re always snapping or nipping. Heaven knows why! Even had to treat a couple since I’ve been here for minor wounds of a similar nature.”

     “Hm. Yes…” Arpeggio’s voice trailed. Perhaps they are more primitive than I initially believed.

He felt a wave of nausea erupt in him again. With great effort, he pushed past the pain and addressed the doctor. “At any rate, I will not pester you any longer. We both have work to do.”

     “Yes, yes. Farewell for now, Arpeggio!”  

 The parrot spent the remainder of the afternoon back at his office building. After a short nap and a dose of his medication, he felt ripe enough to finish putting together the remainder of his setup. His office, which consisted of the bookshelves, a drafting table, a regular desk, and some storage cabinets, had been organized just to his liking. In addition, the bedroom portion of his room had been tidied, though it merely consisted of a closet and his covered, dome-like bed.  

Eat, sleep, and work. That’s the goal, he had told himself when he originally decided to combine the two rooms. This is merely temporary. Once the plan comes to its boil, there will be plenty of luxuries awaiting. Better ones than the mansion back in London, for sure.

He had to admit, though, he would rather be back in the mansion.  

The nausea came in waves after that. The headaches, however, intensified. It became much too difficult for him to concentrate, so he chose to spend the evening overseeing his landscape.

Arpeggio’s keen blue eyes scanned the expanse before him as he stood on the balcony, his toes gripped onto the railing. Shade from the tree nearby kept the building wrapped in shadow, allowing him to pridefully observe everything around him. There was no structure yet to what would eventually become his grand design, but the foundation for which it would be built upon had been steadily developing. Supplies were continuing to be brought in and piled around the upturned earth. The workers, both animal and alien, were gradually getting things ready.  

He pulled a small pair of decorative binoculars up to his eyes; through them he could see far across his build site. He watched as a collective of rozenich were intently digging holes that would be used for support beams while others were transporting bags of cement. Despite their inability to fully understand the English language, they could complete the tasks they were instructed with little, if any, error. Several kurri were standing around, evaluating them.

 Arpeggio admitted he never fully understood the cat-like creatures’ motivations. They were a species bent on studying; at least, that was what he inferred. They required no money for their participation in his scheme, only protection, supplies, and a place to do their work. He did not question their motives directly, and in truth it really did not matter, but his own curiosity could not help but get the better of him.  

    “Hey, Pedgy!”

Every feather on the bird’s body went on end. He floundered in shock, dropping the binoculars: a hand shot out to grab them before they fell out of range. A pink-scaled hand.  

    “Ms. Givington! Do not ever do such a thing again!” he exclaimed when he saw the familiar white feathers of the rozenich woman crouching on the balcony beside him. “I almost had a bloody heart attack!”

     “Sorry!” she said with a nervous laugh.

 Arpeggio’s small heart rapped speedily in his chest. “How on earth did you get up here? Did you go through the office?”  

    “No, I climbed that,” she pointed to the shaded tree that stood a few yards away. Sure enough, one of the branches was extended in the direction of the balcony.  

 Arpeggio squinted at it. “You couldn’t have. It’s too far away.”  

    “I jumped.”

     “You jumped?”  

She shrugged, confused at his pressuring. “Yeah, I jumped. Is that weird?”

     “Yes. You could have fallen! And how did I not hear you land?”  

    “Nah, that jump was nothin’. Back home we climb trees all the time. And our trees are way bigger. And higher!” The woman handed him the binoculars before sitting on the balcony railing, her back to the open land, her tail sticking straight up as it always did. She did not appear the least bit unsteady or fearful of toppling over. “As for why you couldn’t hear me, I dunno. Can you hear well? You don’t have any ears.”

    “I have ears, don’t be silly. Why are you here, anyway?” he asked as he looked away from her, annoyed at her presence. His heart had begun to calm as he fidgeted with the metal binoculars in his claws.   

    “I came to tell you the guy who’s over the payroll—what’s his name? Cameron? —approved everything you sent him.”  

     “Oh. Well, that’s very good. But why are you the one telling me this? A call would have done nicely from him if he couldn’t make it out this way.”  

She shrugged. “I think he’s scared of you.”

 He looked up at her, puzzled. Scared? Of me? The thought stalled him. Somehow, it brought him a strange sensation of appeasement.  

Of course, this was swiftly ripped from him when Linda spoke up again. “I dunno why, you’re not even remotely scary.”

 His brows furrowed. “No? And why is that?”  

She tilted her head. “You’re too cute to be scary.”

 The bird felt his feathers ruffle. He frowned. “I beg your pardon?”  

    “Cute. Adorable. You know? Precious!”

     “Yes, I understand the words. I’m the native English speaker here,” he sighed. The disruption had begun to pull his nausea back into focus. It was about time for another pill…  

As if to drive another nail into his already aching head, a familiar voice beckoned from down below. “Hey! What’re you guys doin’?”

 It was Kacey. They both gazed down at the small greenish-gray form standing beneath the balcony. Her large eyes were staring back up at them with an unreadable expression. She did not appear to be holding her device as usual, instead stowing it away in the pocket of the purple robe that draped her body.  

Linda responded to her. “Come up here and find out, Gumdrop.”

 Arpeggio shook his head. “No, no that’s not—“  

    “What if they won’t let me in?” she shouted.

     “Bite ‘em on the ankles!” the rozenich instructed.  

The little kurri was not convinced. “That’s your job.”

  Is this really happening?  Arpeggio asked himself. Do they actually have the gall to be so… so… ridiculous in my presence? Frustrated, but not willing to argue, he waved a wing emphatically down at her. “For heaven’s sake, we don’t need anyone biting anything. Just tell them I sent you and come up here.”  

Kacey’s gaze fell away. She appeared to be looking around, perhaps at the guards lingering on the ground floor. She then looked back up. “What if they think I’m lying?”

     “I’m fairly certain they can hear us squabbling.”  

Linda snickered. “Unless their hearing is as bad as yours.”

 He glared at her. The nerve!  

Kacey did not pursue the argument any further. She looked around her one more time then disappeared as she walked beneath the overhang.

 Arpeggio pulled in a breath. Biting and yelling. What sort of world have I fallen into? He recalled the words from Dr. Phyllis. He supposed, if anything, this would provide him a chance to ask the questions that had been plaguing him.  

As they waited for Kacey to catch up to them, the woman turned her attention back to the parrot. “What were you looking at up here, anyway?”

     “You certainly seem very interested in what I do,” he said. He turned himself around on the railing to face her. “So, suffice it to say, I’m just as interested in seeing what is happening with my worksite.”  

    “Why don’t you come down and visit in person?”

 He could not help but laugh, despite the pain he was feeling. “Patience, dear. There’s plenty of time for that. Though I must ask, why is it you keep coming up here to pester me? It is becoming quite unprofessional of you.”  

    “Professional,” she said the word with great disdain, “Harlie always goes on about being professional.”

     “It’s a good rule to go by.”  

    “Yeah, but it never hurts to try and make a friend or two along the way.”

 Arpeggio scoffed. “I don’t see how friendship has anything to do with it.”  

Something in the woman’s expression caught the bird off-guard. There was a look within her eyes, an expression he could not quite read. It was not anger or sadness, but something in-between. She appeared ready to respond but was interrupted by two figures entering the office.

 Through the open window they spotted the short, broad-shoulders of Jeremy escorting the small Kacey by the hand. Her eyes reflected a sense of nervousness.  

    “Ah! Jeremy! Just who I wanted to see,” Arpeggio said, much more energetically.

 The parrot stretched out his emerald wings and, in a quick little hop, glided over to the windowsill. It was not particularly graceful, but it got the job done. He shuffled his feathers back in place and set down his binoculars. Jeremy released the kurri’s hand and she trotted over to the window as Linda came up to greet them. Arpeggio then pointed a feathered finger at his guard’s bandaged forearm. “The doctor told me this morning that you were bitten. By a rozenich, correct?”  

The aracari rattled.

 Linda looked down at him, concerned. She began to climb through the window, into the office. “Oh, well that’s no good! Can I see it?”

 Jeremy turned his head towards his boss, as if asking for permission. Arpeggio simply gave a quick nod and gestured a wing towards her. The small man complied and walked over to the woman, unravelling his bandage as he did so. Linda bent down and took the arm in her hands as he lifted it up to her. She inspected the very prominent wound within the bird’s yellow and black feathers. It was not very large, just an inch and a half or so, but it was very red and swollen. There were a few noticeable puncture wounds, but for the most part it was indecipherable on what could have caused it.



     “Hm. Not too bad. How did it happen?”  

Jeremy did not say anything.

 Arpeggio quickly spoke up in his place. “He can’t tell you, I’m afraid. Jeremy is mute.”  

    “Mute? Like what you do to a TV?” she asked, her tone surprised.     

     “Well, yes. He can’t speak at all.”  

She looked between the two. “How do you talk to people? Or… how does he talk to people?”

     “The thing about Jeremy is he really doesn’t need to talk. He just does what he’s told. Isn’t that right?”  

The guard responded with a rattle. Linda released his arm and he stepped back to redo his bandage. Kacey tilted her head at him.

     “That’s really sad,” the kurri said.  

    “No need to fret,” Arpeggio replied, a bit amused. “Jeremy’s quite content. Aren’t you?”

 The aracari did not respond. Arpeggio assumed it was because he was busy rewrapping his arm.  

    “At any rate,” the parrot brushed the subject off. He turned back to Linda. “I wanted to ask you, as the, uh… overseer of your people’s welfare, is this behavior common?”

     “What? Biting?” she huffed in amusement. “Of course. Though, usually we don’t break the skin.”  

Arpeggio raised a brow. “Is it really that normal? Why?”

 The woman rested on the windowsill and shrugged. “Some people can just be stubborn, you know? They don’t want to listen to words.”  

Look who’s talking… he could not help but think. “So, you resort to biting? Is that not rather ferocious?”

     “Hey, all I’m saying is sometimes if someone’s being a major asshole, they deserve to be bit in the face.”  

Arpeggio was taken aback by her response, though Linda did not appear to notice. Instead, she peered down at Kacey and playfully squished one of her large ears down against her face.

     “That’s a life lesson for you,” she told her.  

    “That’s a terrible lesson,” she smacked her hand away and giggled.

 Something about the way the creature had spoken and behaved pulled Arpeggio out of his previous concerns about the bite. He glanced over the tubby little specimen: she was no different than the others of her kind that he had seen and spoken with, but something in her voice and the proportions of her form made him question her. Even the way his guard had handled her entering the office. Did he know something that he did not?  

    “Kacey?” he addressed her.

 She peered up at him. “Yeah, Mr. Pedgy?”  

    “I—say, let’s not start with that. It’s Arpeggio.”

     “Ok, Mr. Arpedgy.”  

He frowned. The behavior only further fueled what he was hypothesizing. “Kacey, dear, how old are you?”

 She looked at him blankly. “That depends. Do you wanna know my kurri age or my Earth age?”  

    “Well… Earth is preferable.”

     “Hmm… lemme think,” she said. Her face then contorted into one of hyper focus, eyes narrowed, and brows stiffened. “Earth has three hundred and sixty-five days a year… a day is twenty-four hours… compare that to my planet’s version of an hour which is eighty-three of your Earth minutes… but our days are longer…”  

Her voice trailed off but the look on her face remained firmly the same. Arpeggio stared at her, mesmerized.

 Linda gave out a pleasant sigh. She let her attention fall back on the wounded aracari who had been silently standing guard. “So, Jeremy, right? I know you can’t tell me what happened to you, but do you at least remember who bit you? Like what they looked like? I wasn’t told about this and I need to get to the bottom of it. Can’t have people picking fights without me knowing!”  

The long-billed bird tilted his head ever so slightly to the side, as if he were thinking. He then made his distinctive rattling sound.

 Confused, Linda peered over at Arpeggio.

     "That means yes,” was all he said.

     “Right. Um,” she scratched at her cheek with a claw, “Were they male? You can tell ‘cause they don’t have chest fluff like I do. And they usually have colorful heads.”

 He croaked.

     “That means no,” Arpeggio said before she could ask.

     “Right. Darn, that rules out Kerry, then,” she crumpled her fist. She appeared to be thinking herself, her own face of concentration passing over her blue eyes.

     “SEVEN!” Kacey suddenly blurted out. She then smiled triumphantly. “And three quarters.”

 Arpeggio’s eyes widened. “Seven? You’re only seven years old?”

     “Yes. But don’t make me have to tell you Linda’s age ‘cause I don’t even wanna start with her planet’s numbers!”

 The parrot peered between the two of them. “You’re a child. I supposed as much, but is someone your age supposed to be in a place like this?”

     “She’s a special case cause she’s real smart,” Linda replied to him with a bit of pride. “She’s one of those… what’re they called?”

     “Child prodigies?”

     “Sure, that sounds fancy.”

 The parrot could not help but smile as a fond memory resurfaced. “Ah! I was a prodigy myself as a boy. Though, I must confess, I could not perform complicated math at a mere seven years of age.”

     “Well, it wasn’t that complicated,” she waved it off. “It’s just hard keepin’ track of that stuff.”

 The small ears on Linda’s head perked up. “Speaking of keeping track of stuff, what time is it?”

 The girl promptly pulled out her electronic device from her pocket and read the time off the glowing screen. “Four-thirty.”

     “Shoot. I have a meeting with some folks at five. I gotta head off.”

 Arpeggio watched her stand up and raised a toe to add, “Perhaps you should take your exit through the office rather than the tree this time?”

     “Yeah, you’re probably right,” she said. 

 Arpeggio directed his attention to Jeremy. “Escort them both out, if you’d be so kind.”

The guard did not rattle that time, but he did give a small nod. The girl began to follow him as he headed towards the door, this time much less nervous than she had been when they entered.

 Before Linda followed, she turned back to the parrot. “You know, you’re not so bad to talk to. I dunno what you were worried about.”

     “Um. Yes. I appreciate that,” he said, uncertainly. Come now, Arpeggio, let’s not encourage her, his aching mind scrambled to find words to excuse himself. He quickly added the first thing that came to him. “Though, I must tell you, things will begin to get busier around here quite soon. I won’t be accepting visitors on the daily like this.”

     “That’s okay,” she said happily. She smiled. “I’m sure we can make time.”

 Oh, bollocks…

 She then gave him a rather sudden and uncalled-for pat on the back of the neck. It sent the bird instantly on edge. “See ya, Pedgy!”

     “Ar-Arpeggio,” he corrected her, albeit much quieter than before.

 She did not respond to him. Rather, she sprinted to catch up with the other two leaving the room. Arpeggio could just hear her words fading down the hall as she followed them. “So, Jeremy, about the one who bit you…”

 The parrot stood there in the newly formed silence. How long, he did not quite know. When he felt completely and utterly confident that no one would return to disrupt him, he released a long, pent-up sigh. He fluttered his wings as if to physically toss off the awkward sensations that crawled on his skin.

I am going to have to put an end to this mess or I’m going to be in a world of annoyance the next year…

 He momentarily considered returning to his balcony to relax as he had been, but the thought did not bring him ease. Instead, he figured it best for another nap. His headache was too cumbersome for him to do much else.  

Tomorrow’s a new day, he told himself.

 Just another day.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 5

The next day had, in fact, simply been another day. The day following had been just as mundane as the previous. The course had repeated itself numerous times throughout the week, almost to the point Arpeggio had forgotten he had qualms with anyone at all. Linda did not come to visit him, nor had her child assistant. He had been left entirely to his lonesome, just the way he preferred it.

Of course, he also knew perfection could not last forever.

Evening had approached rapidly. The avian inventor had spent much of the day finalizing a schematic he held tacked to his drafting table. It reflected the floorplan of a building, modelled to the exact dimensions. Little markers were drawn over it in various colors and symbols. There were no words whatsoever across it, allowing it an air of secrecy.

  Soon, we shall begin our mission, he thought idly to himself. I’ll have those parts in my grasp soon enough… as long as those bloody imbeciles don’t screw it up.

He sat there on his perch, his eyes scanning over the schematic. He rubbed a feathered finger under his chin thoughtfully. After a time, he released a sigh and hopped up onto the table edge. One by one he pulled out the tacks, rolled the schematic up neatly, and stowed it away into a cardboard tube.   

A drawer beneath the table was then pulled out. With a foot, the bird removed a small, wrinkled, black and white diagram. He inspected it with an almost undying adoration. It was a blueprint of a structure that resembled an owl. Its wings were outspread, talons and jaw unhitched, and its eyes were fixated in anger. In the corner were the words “The Clockwerk Reconstruction Project”.



   I know your secrets, old bird. Now I only need you…  

Arpeggio was jerked out of his thoughts as a knock rattled on his door. He grumbled and tossed the picture back into the drawer.

    “Come in,” he said with reluctance.   

One of the toucan guards entered the room, his beak stark black and a gruff expression on his exposed blue face. He held an unlit cigarette between his fingers as he gestured to his boss. His words came out blunt and gravelly. “Linda’s ‘ere.”

    Of course she is.  

    “At least she went to the front door this time. Send her in!”

The guard disappeared and Arpeggio momentarily prepped himself for the barrage of annoyances he would soon have to deal with. The white rozenich entered the office, looking as completely joyous as she always did. Arpeggio prepared himself to hear the greeting she would surely throw at him.

    “Heya, Pedgy!”

The frown had already appeared on his face. “You’re still going with that, are you?”

    “I figured it was a good compromise.”   

    “It’s not.”

Much like the first time the woman had wandered into his office, she pulled out the chair that was placed near his table and sat down on it backwards. “So, what’s up with you, bird boy? Working hard, I hear?”   

The parrot shrugged but he could not hold back the prideful grin that stretched onto his beak. “Yes, well, one must work hard if there’s any chance of achieving the dream, you know. Da Vinci once said, ‘Being willing is not enough; we must do’.”

    “Who?”   

    “Leonardo Da Vinci,” he repeated. “He was a, uh… a renaissance artist. An inventor. I suppose you wouldn’t know much about that, though.”

    “Was he like Bernini?”   

The bird’s eyes widened. “You know of Bernini? The Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini?”

    “Yeah!” she exclaimed happily. “He did that real neat sculpture of that lady with the O-face.”   

Arpeggio furrowed his brows irritably. “The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa was not a… not that. It is portraying a great religious experience. A virtuous, emotional awakening of one’s soul with a great deity.”

    “Yeah, sure. Bernini also knew how to sculpt some nice butts!”   

The parrot huffed offensively. Though, he should have known better. The aristocrat turned away from her and climbed across his perch. The decorative golden metal curled around like a pathway towards his desk. He continued speaking to his guest as he made his way down. “Yes. I suppose he did. Anyway, what brings you here today? Did something occur that you need to inform me of?”

    “Actually, something did. Remember the bite on Jeremy?” she asked. “I finally got him to help me figure out who did it.”   

    “Oh? Go on,” he said. He made it over to his desk, turning his back to the woman. The desk itself was neat and tidy, his papers and whatnots placed only in the exact places they needed to be, except for a small opened box of fresh pens.

By the time he turned around to face Linda again, she had moved the chair over to sit closer to him. Inside, he desperately wished to chastise her, but something indescribable was keeping him silent. He supposed it was the curiosity within him that wanted to hear what she had to say. The damn curiosity.   

    “It was this chick named Cali,” Linda explained. “She’s got a nasty temper, always has. Apparently one of your guys talked smack about her, assuming she couldn’t understand English. They started fighting and Jeremy tried to call it off. Poor, sweet little fool.”

The parrot nodded. “Did you recall which guard it was? I can have them reprimanded if they are causing trouble with your people.”

    “Oh no, I took care of that.”

    “You did?” he asked, suddenly concerned.   

    “I found him and gave him a talking to.”

    “Just a talking to?”   

    “Mm. Well, I did kick him.”

    “You kicked him?” he questioned in surprise.   

    “It was a gentle kick.”

    “You practically have knives on your feet, Ms. Givington. Nothing about that is gentle.”   

The woman peered down at her sickle-shaped inner toe claws—which were, in fact, terrifyingly sharp—before casually shrugging. “It worked, though.”

    “Yes, I’m sure it did,” the bird turned away from her to rummage through his pen box. “Though, for the future, it might be best to leave my guards to my discipline. They’re quite expensive, and if they aren’t doing their jobs I must rectify that in my own way.”   

Arpeggio did not see her reaction, but there was a brief pause between them. He would have adored the woman more than anything if the silence remained. Of course, he knew better.

    “Hey, can I ask you something?”   

The parrot ceased his digging and peered over his shoulder, his monocle glinting in the fading sunlight. “I cannot stop you. Go ahead.”

    “I keep hearing a lot of weird rumors, theories I guess, about why you’re building this big… blimp-zeppelin-ship thing. What’s it really for?”   

What a question. A very loaded question. Arpeggio had not expected the woman to ever ask such a thing, namely because he did not think she paid attention to anything of the sort. He had, however, rehearsed for such an incident to come up. He pulled a smile back onto his face and turned himself around to face her directly.

    “I’m an inventor. I have money. I have the means. Why not make a childhood dream come true?”   

She blinked curiously, her long lashes fluttering like wings. “You dreamed of building a big ship as a kid?”

    “I dreamed of a lot of things,” he said with a long, tiresome sigh. “This one is simply able to come to fruition, unlike the others.”   

    “Oh!” she said suddenly. “So, it’s true?”

A cold sensation crept up through Arpeggio’s bones. He felt every feather shaft raise anxiously. The bird had kept many secrets, and he felt completely and utterly confident in his ability to maintain their confidentiality. There were other things, however, that he knew he could not hide so easily. Many things he wished he could.   

He tapped tentatively on the pen box with his talons. He responded to her as calmly as he could muster. “Is what true?”

    “They say you can’t fly.”   

The parrot felt his heartbeat increase. He swallowed nervously.

    “Um. Yes. That is true,” he took in a breath, “I do not understand why people are talking about that, though. It’s really none of their business.”   

    “Are you supposed to be able to fly?” she asked, genuinely curious.

The golden bird hesitated to look at her, his brows raised in confusion. “Well… yes.”   

    “Do all birds fly? I didn’t think the toucans could…”

    “They cannot,” he said matter-of-factly. “Not all birds can fly. One must have wings to do that, which they do not.”   

    “Oh. But you do have wings.”

   Oh heavens, how do I explain this? Do I even want to?  It was foolish to ask. Of course he did not.   

He laughed nervously. “I really do not wish to talk about this, Ms. Givington. It is a rather sensitive topic.”

The expression on the woman’s face shifted to one of immense concern. Arpeggio could see it evidently, and he regretted not curbing the question in its entirety. He forced his gaze away from her. He felt embarrassed and ashamed, and the fact he was feeling such things made him angry. Do not think about it, chap. Let it pass.   

    “Hey, it’s alright, hon,” Linda’s tone was soft and comforting.

A warm, scaly hand pressed against the hind of his wing. He tensed sharply.   

    “D-Don’t--! Don’t do that!” his emotions soared out of him faster than he was able to control. He forcefully slapped her hand away with a thrust of his wing. Instinctively, he flapped the frail appendages as if in some vain subconscious attempt to show off his worthiness. All that resulted were particles of feather fluff being flown into the air and himself tripping over the box of pens that swiftly scattered across the desk and floor in a loud clatter.

Linda’s eyes widened, and her worry only worsened. She reached out to catch the small bird before he tumbled off. “Be careful, honey, you almost—!”   

He shoved her off him again, that time significantly less clumsily. Confusion cascaded off the rozenich’s face, but she did not try to fight it; she leaned back and allowed him room to breathe.

    “Has anyone told you to never touch a bird that way?!” he exclaimed, his feathers a ruffled mess. In the ruckus, his monocle had slipped from his eye and was dangling by its golden chain from his small red bowtie.

She squinted her eyes at him. “Um… No?”

    “Well! Well…!” he stumbled over his words. He had had enough. The bird’s heart had begun to race again. “Just don’t! Now, I am dreadfully sorry, but I must ask you to leave now!”   

    “But I—?”

    “GUARD!”   

Within seconds, the door to the office flung open and the guard from earlier entered the room. His irritated expression was unchanged, but this time his still un-lit cigarette was hanging from his serrated beak. Arpeggio addressed the guard as coolly as he could muster. “Please escort Ms. Givington out.”

    “A’ight,” he replied with a grumble.   

Linda did not object to the act, but it was evident in her face that the call had deeply hurt her. The parrot only watched long enough to see the guard gently pull her away by the arm before he turned his back to them both. She never uttered another word.

Let’s calm down now, you’re getting worked up over nothing,  he reassured himself. He took in several long, deep breaths until he felt his chest and heart relax. He gingerly replaced the monocle to his eye, but only after thoroughly wiping it clean.

There was a brief instance where he considered what he had done to be a mistake. The poor woman did not intend to offend him or to bring up such tragedies. She was completely ignorant to his past, to his emotions, to his… downfalls.

But he also felt powerful. He was the boss of this entire operation. It was only a matter of time before he put his foot down.  I have been most generous up to this point, he told himself assuredly, but it is best they learn these things early.   

He only hoped the woman had the capability to learn at all.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 6

Linda was perplexed. What just happened? What was it she had said that set him off? She tried to replay everything, but nothing stuck out to her. Arpeggio was so upset… but why? What was it about her questions that caused him such stress? She could not help but wonder what he had meant about the touching part in particular…

Night had crept up onto the site and the construction had come to a near complete halt. The only workers still bustling around were merely finishing up the remainder of their evening tasks. Linda’s fellow rozenich had all settled in for the night, most of them gone into their temporary homes, but a handful were still out and about, huddled around makeshift fires to chat and eat.

Otherwise, the toucan guards were the only ones still active. The nightshift had begun their rounds, trekking around the borders with their flashlights, looking out for any intruders. Linda did not know what the chances were of anyone straying into their land, but she supposed anything could happen: it only took one person to leak information. She was no good at numbers, but Arpeggio’s crew had to have crossed a minimum of a hundred. With the rozenich and kurri combined, it easily doubled. They held little risk, however, considering Linda and her people could not leave even if that wanted to.

She sighed. If only…

Determined to solve her undying curiosity about what had just unfolded, she aimed for the one place she knew for certain she would find her answer. She hurriedly rushed down the pathways that circled the worksite, passing several guards along the way. None of them paid her much mind.

The rozenich was swift and she arrived at her destination in quick time. She slowed as she approached the small building with the stage where Linda had been introduced to Arpeggio. A small firepit had been lit in front of it, but the only rozenich there to maintain it was Harlie, who did not appear focused on it in the slightest. He and the small form of Kacey were both glued to their own screens, the white glow that emitted from them lighting up their faces. Both held expressions of extreme focus, though while the child’s was accompanied by a sense of thrill, Harlie’s was anything but.

Another familiar face stood by the fire in the short form of Jeremy. He greeted her first, signing hello to her with his hand. Linda paused to catch her breath before acknowledging him.

    “J-Jeremy, I… I got a… question!”

Kacey briefly looked up and spoke in a calm manner. “Your shirt’s on fire again, by the way.”

The bird glanced down at his sleeve to find it alit with a flickering yellow flame. He promptly patted it out without so much as a reaction: for that matter, no one else did either.

Linda kneeled beside him and watched as he returned to idly prodding at the fire with a long stick. When she felt her breath return, she began to speak to him. “You’ve been around Pedgy for awhile, right? You know a lot about him?”

He shrugged his shoulders and gave a “so-so” gesture with a hand.

    “Well, I just came back from visiting him and I think I made him mad.”

Harlie instantly popped out of his focus with a start when she uttered those words. “You did what? If you screwed anything up we’re gonna be in a world of trouble!”

    “I’m not talking to you, Harbear!” she snapped. She turned her attention back to Jeremy. “Anyway, before I was rudely interrupted. So, I think I made Pedgy mad. He got real upset out of nowhere and I tried to comfort him the only way I knew how, but he started spouting stuff about ‘not touching birds that way’ or something. Then he got even more upset.”

The aracari’s beak parted suddenly, as if her statement had caused an epiphany. He signed at her, stick still in hand: his palms were up, and he gestured them in a circular pattern.

The woman shook her head. “I dunno what that means, hon.”

He paused to think. He tried again, that time loosely hovering his gloved hands over her, and then over himself.

    “Oh, you’re asking where I touched him?”

He rattled.

Harlie spoke up before she could. “You shouldn’t have touched him at all, Linda. What have I told you? Not everyone likes physical contact like you do.”     

    “Shut up, Harbear!” she bared her teeth at him. The act silenced the male rozenich, but he refused to alter the irritated look on his face as he glared at her.

The woman leaned in towards Jeremy and placed one hand on his chest and the other along his shoulder blades. “I touched him here, I think.”

The bird nodded understandingly. He fidgeted his fingers, eager to sign to her but knowing it would do no good. Instead, he quickly walked over to Kacey. She looked at him, perplexed, as he pointed to her device.

    “Alright, but don’t play any of my games! That’s for my fingertips only!”

She handed it to him and he took off one of his gloves to activate the screen. It only took him a few seconds to pull up an application and tap in a short, simple phrase. He extended the device out and the other three moved in close to examine it. Both Kacey and Harlie stared, wide-eyed, before looking over to Linda. She squinted at the words.

    “Linda…” Harlie’s chastising tone trailed off.

    “What?” she asked in confusion. “You guys know I can’t read.”

The kurri child shrugged and pushed the tablet away. “I’m not old enough to understand any of that. And frankly, I don’t want to! Good luck.”

She took Jeremy’s hand and they both walked away from the hazards of the flickering fire, leaving the two rozenich alone. Harlie sighed as he realized it was up to him to explain the situation to his bewildered partner. 

    “Alright, so…” he began, rubbing his hand against the fluffy plumage on his neck, “remember when I told you that animals and rozenich aren’t the same? And how animals behave differently depending on a lot of factors?”

    “Well, yeah, duh. But it’s so hard to keep track of everything!”

    “Yes, I know. According to Jeremy, birds like Mr. Arpeggio don’t like to be touched the way you touched him. That’s why he acted the way he did.”

The woman tilted her head to the side. The look of concern returned to her face. “Why? I didn’t hurt him, did I?”

    “No, no, it’s just, uh…” he eyed the screen in his palms again, “for his species, touching him there is considered very… inappropriate.”

    “… Okay?”

    “Linda. Think about it.”

The expression on the woman’s face did not change. She eyed the words on the screen intently, then back up to the orange rozenich. The process repeated until all the events of the evening pieced themselves together in a swift and sudden avalanche of realization. Her eyes widened.

    “Ohhhh. Oops.”

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 7

Arpeggio had set aside the chaos of the prior night. There were much more important tasks that required his upmost attention, and there was no time to waste on trivial things.

The next day brought with it a repeat visitor. The toucan guards stepped aside as a lithe purple feline pushed through the door of the building alongside the bird on his electric scooter. Arpeggio carried a content smile and a prideful puff of his chest as he entered his recently-acquainted home. Neyla, on the other hand, nervously twitched her ears as she scanned her surroundings.

    “Are you absolutely certain no one can eavesdrop on us here?” the cat questioned her mentor.

The parrot chuckled. “Of course, dear. The only ones who can hear us have absolutely no desire to spill anything. My guards know the consequences of that, and my staff, well… let us just conclude they need my employment of them.”

The two travelled up to the second floor via a small elevator and made their way into Arpeggio’s office. The door had been propped open as an animal stood inside: a distinct, quadruped zebra. Her back was to the two as she was busy dusting the bookshelves with a duster she held in her mouth. She wore a long dress styled similarly to that of a horse blanket with a saddle-like satchel swung over her back to carry her supplies. She peered over at them, the long peacock feather that stuck out of her bowler cap swaying as she did so.

    “That’ll do, Wanda,” Arpeggio said to her.

It was all the equine needed to hear. She gave a nod with her head and exited the room, the shoes on her four feet gently clacking on the hardwood. Neyla watched her go, curiously, and closed the door behind her, sending the office into dead silence.

    “I get it now,” she said quietly, “I didn’t know you hired others like, well…”

    “I understand how hard it is not being your standard biped. It is the least I can do. Not to mention, it creates strong loyalties in my favor.” Arpeggio wheeled himself over to his desk and hopped onto it. After giving the room a quick once-over, Neyla strolled after him.

    “This place has definitely built up since last I was here,” she told him, her green eyes still observing.

The bird nodded happily. “Yes, it has been most impressive! It’s a little small in places, but it’ll do for what needs to be done. You must see my workshop one of these trips, it’s quite marvelous. But, alas, this visit is not for leisure I’m afraid.”

The feline nodded as well. “I assume your buffoons are getting prepped for the heist as well?”

Always with the teasing, he thought humorously. “Indeed! Bison and Dimitri are ready to depart whenever I call. Rajan has some work to attend to before he can start. Something about scouting for a new palace estate or what-not.”

    “He needs to start looking for an old-folks home.”

    “Now, now, Neyla, remember what I said.”

She huffed. “All right. So, I hear the parts have been on display for a bit now. Has it been long enough to strike?”

    “We still need to wait a couple more weeks. I would have liked to wait a bit longer, but everyone is beginning to get antsy.”

    “I can relate,” she admitted. She crossed her arms. “I’m starting to become impatient with the Contessa, personally.”

Arpeggio eyed her with interest, a look of concern flickering in the depths of his blue eyes. “Has she not been cooperating?”

    “She has,” Neyla said, “but she is taking her sweet time on promoting me to the proper places. There is a Miss Inspector Fox I would very much like to get in ties with. She handles all the big cases.”

    “That name sounds familiar.”

The cat nodded. “She partook in the destruction of Clockwerk two years ago. She and Sly Cooper killed the old owl together.”

Ahh, yes, Cooper, the mentioning of the name alone forced him to frown. There was something about it that panged him. Such a tragedy for such a magnificent machine—a pure being—to be wiped out by such inferior little pests. But when one falls, another takes his place…

He ultimately responded aloud in a calm, intrigued manner. “She would surely be put on the case of the stolen parts due to experience with them alone. Not to mention her constant run-ins with Mr. Cooper could aid us in the future of the plan. Yes, you absolutely must become close to her. It could provide much use to us.”

The bird shifted his attention to a manila folder on his desk. He picked it up with a foot and his eyes scanned over the inner contents. “Now, our current goal set is fairly straight-forward. I will continue to keep my fellow members updated on what is happening in addition to perfecting the algorithms we will be using to infiltrate the security feed. You simply need to learn as much as you can about the Cairo museum from your angle within INTERPOL. After that…”

A look crossed Neyla’s face that caused the bird to cease his words. Her eyes were wide with surprise but within them was a look of unfathomable irritation. Arpeggio peered over his shoulder and spotted the white form of none other than Linda standing at the balcony. She brushed herself off after apparently leaping the distance from the tree once again. She pressed her hands against the window glass to peer in.

    “Pedgy! Hey!” came her muffled voice from the other side.

The parrot groaned. “Not now, Ms. Givington. Go away!”

    “But Pedgy—!”

It was too late. He had already tapped a claw onto a switch on the corner of his desk. In response, two long strands of curtains began to pull across the windows automatically, one from each side. They met in the center as Linda tried to desperately peek through them.

    Will you never learn? Arpeggio shook his head. He turned back to his apprentice. “Now, as I was saying…”

    “Pedgy!” the woman’s voice continued to shout from outside. A piercing tapping sound followed. “I gotta talk to you!”

Neyla’s tail began to angrily swish back and forth. “Do you want me to get rid of her?”

    “No, no. Just ignore her. She’ll leave on her own, I’m sure,” he told Neyla. “Anyway, after we learn as much as we can about the museum’s security levels, I will need you to…”

    “Pedgy!” Linda’s voice called again. “I’m sorry if I made you horny!”



The bird’s eyes shot open.

    “I didn’t mean to! It was an accident, I swear!”

 Arpeggio began to nervously laugh as he felt the embarrassment of the woman’s words creep under his feathers. Neyla’s mouth parted but the dumbfounded expression on her face reflected her inability to think of anything to say. Awkward silence followed.

That was, until Linda intervened again. “I just wanted to talk to you and tell you I don’t feel that way about you! I know I said you were cute, but I just meant you’re cute in the… cuddly way!”

     Oh, for heaven’s sake! The bird could not take the nonsense any longer. “Let me… take care of this.”

He hastily, and clumsily, flapped his wings to carry him over to the window sill. He hardly made it, but he did not bother trying to hide his struggles. He ventured to unlatch the window and all the while Linda was still rambling. “Besides I don’t know how that would work between us. I mean maybe if there was a lot of creativity involved…”

    “Ms. Givington, for the love of God!” The window was flung open just wide enough for Arpeggio to stick his head out. “What is this unrequested, idiotic blather you are spouting?!”

The rozenich quickly drew on a fresh smile. “Pedgy!”

    “Yes, yes, what is it, Linda?” he dismissed her. “I am currently in a very important business meeting and you are out here shouting nonsensical slander!”

    “I dunno what half those words mean, hon,” she replied, but it did not seem to faze her. She continued as she leaned down to his level. “I just didn’t want you to get the wrong idea about yesterday.”

    “Get what idea?”

She shrugged. “Well, I didn’t understand why you freaked out so bad, talking about touching birds and stuff. So, I asked Jeremy what it meant. And he said—well, he didn’t say ‘cause he can’t talk but you know—he said touching birds where I touched you makes them get dirty thoughts… which explained why you were so upset!”

    “Linda, do not be preposterous!” the bird exclaimed, anger lining his voice. “I was upset that you touched me, yes, but not because I thought anything. It is simply not appropriate! Touching a bird there is… it’s like…”

The woman opened her toothy mouth to speak but, perhaps out of fear of what would fly out of her next, Arpeggio quickly continued. “It’s like kissing someone without their consent! You simply do not do it!”

The comparison appeared to intrigue the rozenich. Her eyes wandered off as she thought it over, her brows furrowing in an act of firm concentration. Her head then tilted to the side in a display of interest. “I think that makes sense.”

    “That’s very good, I’m glad it does,” Arpeggio swiftly responded to her. He gave a quick glance over his shoulder to where Neyla stood, looking as uncomfortable as ever. The bird then returned his focus back on the rozenich woman. “Now, do not ever speak of this again. I cannot have rumors filtering around about you and I. It’s simply not professional.”

Linda grimaced at the mere mentioning of the word “professional” but Arpeggio could not find it in him to sympathize. He could only hope none of his guards were around down stairs to hear the exchange. There was too much on his plate to consider damage control on top of it.

    “Okay. But can we talk again later?” the woman asked.

    “What for?”

    “I just want to,” she said. She must have quickly noticed the expression of impatience on the birds face as she swiftly added, “I just want to make sure we’re good is all!”

Arpeggio sighed. I’m not going to get rid of you any time soon, am I?“And it is not enough for me to simply say that we are?” he asked with a hint of desperation.

    “No.”

    “Fine. Fine,” he conceded with a wave of his wing. “But later. Maybe in a day or two. I have important matters to attend to now and I cannot be interrupted like this!”

    “Alright,” the female nodded. “Promise, though?”

    “Yes, yes, certainly. Now if you would please—"

    “You gotta pinky promise!” she blurted out.

She stuck out the pinky of her four-fingered hand towards him. The parrot observed it with a half-hearted gaze before looking back up at her. “Are you serious?”

    “Yeah! Isn’t this what your people do when you make promises?”

    “That is what children do!”

    “So?”

Arpeggio groaned. “Fine! But you must leave immediately! My time is being wasted with this tomfoolery.”

The bird extended his feathered hand and the two exchanged a very brief handshake with their pinky fingers—at least, as best as they could with the feather-like digits he had. He pulled his wing back into place and took a step backward into his office.



    “There, now go!”

He did not allow the woman an opportunity to say goodbye as he latched the window shut as fast as his feet would allow. He waited for the sound of her footsteps leaving the balcony before he released a heavy sigh and turned back to face his apprentice. The feline had stood closer to the desk, perhaps to eavesdrop. She had her arms firmly crossed and a brow raised. Her stance reflected the desire to hear an explanation, an explanation Arpeggio did not feel up to providing.

    “Don’t mind any of that,” he waved it off, trying his best to hide his embarrassment. “She is simply… ignorant.”

Neyla’s ears pinned back and a spark flashed in her eyes. “Has she been messing with you? I can take care of her, really I can.”

    “Oh no, do not be ridiculous,” he said with a pitiful laugh. He returned to his desk, this time via the connecting perch. “We need her to make certain the rozenich keep up their morale. Without her we could lose this operation entirely. Besides, she would never harm me.”

    “I’m not worried about her harming you. I’m worried about her distracting you.”

Arpeggio was caught off guard at her presumption. Me? Distracted? How absurd!

Neyla pointed accusingly at him. “I know you, Arpeggio. You don’t do well with other people around. That’s why you worked by yourself before I came along. And if there was ever someone to foil you up, it’s that nosy, overgrown hen!”

The offense the bird felt was strong. There was little denying what she spoke of was true, but to think he would toss away everything for one prodding individual? He thought about it deeper. One person could not mess him up that badly… could they?

    “You may have a point,” he ultimately said. He could not look at her as he did so. “I have found myself being rather… thrown off, whenever they come in to pester me. Best try to settle that before things become more difficult.”

The cat nodded. “We can’t have her or that little kitten of hers finding out about our operation either. If she oversees the morale of the others and she discovers our plans and thinks them unsavory…”

    “…Then she could force them to stop,” he completed the sentence for her. This realization hit him hard. How could he have been so blind? Not that he believed Linda was smart enough to figure any of it out. Kacey was smart, but she was still a child. She had no concept of what they were doing.

    “Does anyone suspect anything?” Neyla felt the need to ask.

Arpeggio had to pull himself from his thoughts to look at her and answer. “The kurri only know the operation is secretive. The permits for the land and supplies were all obtained legally, either through my estate or the kurri themselves, so there’s no reason the government suspects a thing. If they do, they have no evidence to do anything about it. As far as they all are concerned, I am simply building a large air vessel to achieve my desires for flight… or else to inflate my ego.”

    "Good,” Neyla said. She sat down in the chair Linda had pulled out the night before and never put back. She took hold of the manila folder Arpeggio had pulled out before they had been interrupted. “Let’s return to business, then, shall we?”      

    “Yes,” he responded, uncertainty in his voice, “let us do that.”

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 8

Weeks had passed since “the touching incident”, as Linda had referred to it. Although Arpeggio had not seemed to mind the unwarranted affair in the end, and had accepted her apology quite promptly, she could not help but be skeptical of his true stance on the issue. Unfortunately, there had been little time for her to drop by and investigate. Since then, the woman had become busier than she had anticipated as the progress of the airship began to take shape—literally.

She sat on a tree branch, overlooking the expanse of land. While it did not look like much to her, she could begin to see the makings of something. Something massive. The foundation had been built solid and markers had already been meticulously placed. Scaffolding and support mechanisms had been established into a headache-inducing puzzle. Even pieces of what she assumed were the beginnings of the creation had begun to form.  

Linda was accustomed to this sort of thing. She had travelled across the vastness of space, after all, in a ship twice the size of the plot they all stood in. She had overseen the creation of a handful of crafts and other crazy things she did not fully understand. Her people were impeccable at achieving the goals the kurri set for them and she had little doubts that they could complete Arpeggio’s dream in no time.

    “I wonder how that birdy’s doing?” she questioned aloud.

    “What?” Kacey called up to her from her position at the base of the tree.

    “Pedgy. What do you think he’s doing?” she clarified.

The girl shrugged. Her attention was held tightly on the soldering she was busy tending to. “I dunno. Maybe he’s getting surgery.”

    “Surgery?” the woman questioned.

    “Yeah, you know. An operation! Like the board game with the buzzy nose!”

    “Oh! Why do you think that? He’s not sick is he? I mean, he does seem a little sick sometimes…”

    “Well, he can’t fly. So, he must be real sick. Maybe he’s gone somewhere to fix it.”

Linda could not resist laughing. “If he could fix that, why would he be building a big flying ship then?”

Kacey’s notorious thinking face appeared.

Linda shook her head and continued to overlook the site. Her slit pupils peered upwards towards the sky. The streams of white clouds casually rolled through the bright blue atmosphere. Occasionally there would appear an unnatural glimmer to remind everyone below of the protective dome that encased them. The rozenich woman sighed.

    I wonder if Pedgy really is sick? She contemplated.

The aristocratic parrot had quietly disappeared days ago in his large, decorative transportation ship. Linda was no good at keeping track of time, but she felt his absence unusual given the typical schedule he had put on himself. Had something happened? An emergency maybe? She admitted, it made her worried just as much as it had brought on her curiosity. It did not help he had been preoccupied with something he was not willing to share details about shortly before vanishing.

The walkie talkie in her arm pocket suddenly released static and the distinctive, exhausted voice of Harlie piped in. “Linda? Where are you?”

She quickly pulled the device out to answer him. “Not far. You need me, Harbear?”

There was a brief pause before he responded. “It’s Kerry.”

The woman let out a frustrated UGH.“I’m coming. Where are you at?”

    “The food station.”

    “Ok. Be there in a sec.”

She placed the device back into her pocket. With a satisfied grunt, she stretched her arms up high above her head. Her long legs extended in front of her in an equal stretch, each toe expanding and crackling as if she has not moved in days. The silver bracelet around her ankle glinted in the sunlight.

With little effort, she gracefully plopped down out of the tree and onto the ground, crunching the grass underfoot. Kacey was startled at her sudden appearance and nearly dropped the items she was holding.

    “Come on, Gumdrop, we got people to bite.”

The food station was nothing more than a small building built out of the leftover cleared lumber. It was evident the rozenich had built it using their own traditional methods, as not even a single nail was in sight. There was no front to the building, giving a clear view to the interior, which consisted of a long table—also crudely built—with a variety of bowls and dishes across it. The scent of freshly cooked food filtered through the air and Linda could not resist breathing it in. It made her mouth water, but she knew eating would have to wait.

    “Ok, where is he?” she asked when she spotted Harlie standing amongst fellow rozenich.

The orange feathered man shook his head. “He took off.”

Linda extended her neck and peered out over the group in some vain attempt to spot the missing alien. Of course, as she presumed, there was no sign of him. She crossed her arms and eyed her partner sharply. “What do I keep telling you? You’re gonna have to show him who’s boss or he’s never going to stop.”

The man rolled his eyes. Linda could not help but find amusement in the situation. She could only assume her nagging was just as annoying as it was for her whenever he kept telling her to be “professional”. Ugh, she wanted to choke on the mere thought of it.

    “If I see him, I’m still gonna bite him,” she eventually said. “But if it didn’t stop him last time I can’t see how it’ll stop him now.”

    “Please don’t cause another ruckus like you did last week,” he pleaded. “I’m still filing paperwork on that.”

    “Hey, she had it coming.”

Harlie huffed and looked up at her hesitantly. “Linda, look, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something. You’ve been doing very well around here so far—all things considered—and I’m very proud of you. But…”

It was Kacey, who had been quietly standing beside them, that spoke up. “There’s always a ‘but’.”

The man ignored her. “You should really stop bothering Mr. Arpeggio.”

She chuffed. “Oh, come on. That’s not hurting anybody.”

Harlie’s eyes narrowed. “Linda, I’m serious. I…” He stopped. The rozenich’s dangling ears twitched as he glanced around. Linda’s arm was suddenly grabbed by his scaly hand and she was pulled off to the side for more privacy. Kacey remained where she was, distracted by something out of their view. Harlie waited for a guard to pass out of range before he spoke again. “I don’t trust him.”

    “Who?” Linda questioned, confusion wrought on her face. “Pedgy?”

    “I know that he doesn’t seem like much, but I think something is going on here. Something… off.”

She stared at him questionably, her small ears twisting anxiously. “What do you mean? He seems nice. I mean, sure he’s a little uptight but…”

    “It’s not just him. It’s this whole thing we’re doing.”

He paused and pulled her in closer. When he spoke again, his voice had lowered to a whisper. “Something’s not right here. I just don’t know what it is yet. But I think it involves that bird. I mean, it has to. Him and that cat that comes around.”

Linda thought back to the times she had run into Arpeggio and Neyla together. It was true the feline acted rather unfriendly, but that did not mean anything suspicious was going on. Though she did not know the true nature of the two animals’ relationship, they did not seem to be… “off”.

Then again, she was never that observant of such things.

    “Just… will you please try to stay out of his business?” Harlie pleaded. “I don’t want you upsetting him and him turning around and hurting you.”

Linda wanted to laugh at the mere idea of the small avian harming her. What could he really do? Peck her to death? The look of concern on Harlie’s face was undeniable, however, and she could not bring that laugh into reality. Guess he really means it…

    “I’ll try,” was all she said.

Satisfied with her answer, the man stood up straight and returned his voice to its normal pitch. “You should go walk around the perimeter and make sure everything’s okay. I’ve been getting a lot more complaints lately than I’d like to deal with.”

    “Alright,” she nodded. “Maybe I’ll find Kerry along the way. Give him a bite he’ll never forget.”

Harlie said nothing more and walked off in the opposite direction, his electronic device pulled back up to his face.

The woman felt herself at a loss. Could what he said be true? Was there really something going on? It did not seem like it.

She stowed the conversation to the back of her mind and walked back to where Kacey had been standing. The small kurri was currently speaking with the short form of Jeremy. He gave a pleasant little wave at Linda in greeting as she approached.

    “Hey, Jerry! Hm. Ya know, you really need a better nickname.”

He did not say anything.

Kacey smiled and looked up at the white rozenich. “I was just telling him about how I’m almost to level two thousand, five hundred and forty-five on Candy Crush! Only a few more and I’ll be caught up completely!”

    “What’re you gonna do then?” Linda questioned with a smile of her own.

The girl huffed. “I’m sure I’ll find something else. The world’s a big wide place! New apps are comin’ out every day!”

    “I still like the one with the floppy bird thing.”

The girl’s eyes narrow. “We don’t talk about that.”

The rozenich turned her attention back to her aracari friend. She noted his uniform had significantly deteriorated since last she had seen him. His blue undershirt was covered in holes and small feathers were jutting out. His goggles had a large crack in them with a chunk missing. This was not counting the dozens of singe marks covering the leather portions.

    “Have you been getting in more accidents, hon? You’re a mess.”

He responded with a shrug.

    “If there was a job out there for getting hurt, you’d be the best at it.”

Kacey’s eyes widened. “Like a stunt man!”

He croaked.

The woman gazed out over the site. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but she thought it might be best to follow Harlie’s advice. It may have been a beautiful day, but anything could happen.

    “You guys wanna take a walk with me? I gotta keep an eye out for trouble.”

    “Yeah!” Kacey said excitedly with a happy little jump.

Jeremy simply gave a single nod. With the confirmations in tow, the three set off across the noisy landscape.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 9

The day had worn away into evening and the sun was beginning to fall hastily from the sapphire sky. The three companions had taken a pleasant walk around the perimeter before settling in amongst a gathering of rozenich. Though he was not among his own kind, Jeremy did not seem bothered by it, and for that matter neither did any of the rozenich.

Several of the feathered creatures were sitting around, showing off and trading various items they had recently been given as a part of their payment. There was a lot of chattering, a lot of noises, and a good deal of goofing off. Some rozenich were preening the feathers of their companions and others were idly sitting by, watching their neighbors with varying interest. The cheery mood infected the air, bringing about a calming atmosphere for everyone involved.

A large, partially chopped up tree had been abandoned for the creatures to make use of within the rozenich camp. The branches remained strong and were significantly larger in circumference than the trees that encircled the lot, and the creatures made adequate roosting perches out of them. It was best they enjoyed it while it lasted before rot set to it.

Linda sighed as she admired the large fallen oak. “Ya know, I miss home sometimes.”

Kacey, who had been sitting between her guardian’s legs, looked back at her. “How come?”

    “It’s just a lot different here. It’s nice, but different. Sometimes, I kinda want something familiar, ya know?”

Jeremy, who had been patiently listening to her, tilted his head.

    “I really miss the trees,” she said with a sigh. “We have real big trees back home, with huge branches that are great for sitting in. Easy for your feet to hold. The ones here are too small and weak for folks like us to sit in.”

She wiggled her feet as she said this. Kacey inquisitively watched her before looking down at her own. She lifted one up and observed it as if she had never seen it before; the hoofed toes were stubby and flat on the bottoms, quite a contrast to the bird-like feet of the rozenich. She lowered it back down. “I wish I could climb trees.”

    Yeah, and I bet Pedgy wishes he could fly…

The thought still haunted her. He had seemed so upset when the topic was brought up all those weeks ago, and she still was not certain how to feel about it. She wondered…

    “Hey, Jer?” she turned to the toucan, “Has Pedgy ever talked about why he can’t fly?”

The small man was taken aback at her question. He looked at the others around him and rubbed an arm nervously.

    “Don’t worry, no one here can understand English.”

He did not seem confident in her answer. Despite it, he began to explain in the best way he could. He lifted his arms and flapped them briefly. He then pointed to one extended arm.

    “Arms? Er… Wings?” Linda questioned.

Jeremy rattled. He then made a gesture with his finger around the empty space between his arm and his side. When the two did not seem to react to this, he reached up to his neck and pulled out a small, loose feather.

    “Feathers?” she asked.

Jeremy nodded. He pointed towards the feather, then back to his arm. He then held the feather up and briskly snapped it in half.

Kacey piped up that time. “Ooh! His feathers on his wings are broken!”

Jeremy rattled.

The look on Kacey’s face fell. “But… how can feathers be broken?”

    “Don’t look at me, I don’t have wings,” Linda shrugged.

The toucan raised a hand, as if he were about to explain something else, but there was hesitation. He scratched his shoulder uncertainly and did not try to say anything more. Linda observed him, a little puzzled. The poor bird acted like there was so much he wanted to say, and yet, so very little he could convey. What was that like, she wondered? To not be able to speak to others when they needed help?

An idea then hit her, and she could not stop the toothy grin from peeling onto her lips. “Hey! Do you think you can teach me sign language?”

He looked at her, baffled.

    “It can’t be that hard. I mean, our native language involves signing too. Here, let me show you.” She gently picked up Kacey and set her to the side so she could kneel in front of her avian companion.

    “If you wanna say ‘I love you’, you gotta do this…” she pointed to herself, then towards Jeremy. In-between the motions, she spoke a single word that came out as a high-pitched chirp.

Something about the gesture resonated with Jeremy and a rare smile perked onto the corners of his beak: he rattled happily. He repeated her actions, pointing to him then pointing to her, but in-between he crossed both his hands across his chest. Linda perked up and mimicked his action. She must have done it correctly, as Jeremy did a swift gesture with his hands before giving her a thumbs up.

The feathers on Linda’s head raised in delight. “See! I think I could do it. How about it?”

The bird gave a rattle much more enthusiastically than before.

The rozenich felt a tap on her side and she looked down at her assistant, whose focus was off to the side. “How do you say, ‘I hate you’? Cause I see someone you might wanna say it to!”

Linda followed her pointed hand towards the crowd of rozenich on the opposite side. Amongst them sat a stark red-feathered rozenich.

     Kerry.

Linda grumbled and stood up, but not before giving Jeremy’s beak a tender pat. “Stay out of this one, Jerry. I got a score to settle.”

The revenge was swift and just. The rozenich, known as Kerry, did not have the briefest of presumptions about what was about to hit him until it quite literally did. The others standing around moved out of the way as they saw the white female walking sternly up to him. The man had hardly enough time to turn around before he was briskly assaulted.

First there was a loud, piercing screech. Then there was a cloud of dust as the scuffle commenced. Kerry had only the reaction to instinctively block his face as Linda’s head lurched forward and her teeth snagged onto the side of his flesh. She forcefully shoved herself against him, sending him reeling. She spat out a mouthful of feathers before spouting her alien language at him, arms gesturing sharply. He looked at her, surprised and confused.

He said something back to her and briskly waved an arm. She motioned back. Whatever it was they had exchanged did not seem to deter the male. He raised his head high and the feathers of his crest opened slightly, revealing the bright blue underneath. Linda hissed. Her tail fan shivered and the massive fan that rested atop it expanded to twice her body’s width. It was a display even he could not compete with.

In another blunt motion, she struck forward and her maw bit down fiercely onto his face. He pushed her away with his broad shoulders and leapt back, a string of scarlet blood spewing from a fresh wound across his brow.

It was over then. He lowered his crest—and his head—in shame and exited the rambunctious and noisy crowd.

    That’ll teach ya, she thought with pride. Her tail fan folded back neatly into place and the pale feathers on her body settled. The other rozenich slowly returned to their previous tasks, some warier than before, others laughing at the incident they had just witnessed.

She licked the blood droplets from her beak and prepared to return to her companions who had been watching the entire event in awe. Kacey happily clapped her hands in giddy applause. Jeremy did nothing.

Before she could settle back down, her ears suddenly picked up a commotion from above. In her distracted state, she completely missed the blimp-like airship that had broken through the protective dome. She peered up at it and recognized the familiar shapes of the letter “A” plastered across it.

    “Pedgy’s back!” she said with delight.

Without thinking, she ignored her previous occupations and took off down the path towards the landing port, leaving her friends behind.

As she approached the pathway leading towards where the ship had yet to settle, she noticed an influx of guards within the surrounding area. Many of them had their hands affixed to their weapon triggers and appeared more than a little on edge. She slowed her pace as she got closer, fearing her sudden burst would spook them.

She came to a complete halt when she noticed Harlie had already positioned himself on the outskirts of the zone. He looked at her as she came near.

    “I was hoping you wouldn’t notice,” was all he said.

Linda grunted. “I almost didn't, considering I was busy beating up your boyfriend.”

    “Did you…? Ah, never mind.”

The tiny waddling form of Kacey came rushing up, stopping just short of the two to pant vigorously. “Wha… What’s the… big idea?”

Jeremy soon followed suit, his chest heaving only slightly from his run. His head tilted as he admired the descending vessel.

    “What’s going on?” Linda questioned to her partner. “I’ve never seen so many of these bird boys grouped together like this.”

The male eyed the craft with a heavy sense of unease. Linda could feel it evaporating off of him and it made her skin shiver. I’m guessing this isn’t your normal homecoming…

    “Mr. Arpeggio is back,” Harlie said. A deep, echoing clang sounded as the ship connected to the platform. “And he’s brought friends.”

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 10

 


Arpeggio was mentally and physically exhausted. The heist had gone on without a hitch—almost pure perfection in fact—but the cost of which was beyond his expectations. He had not slept in what felt like days and every portion of his small body was aching. It was almost as if he had carried the Clockwerk parts out himself when, in actuality, he had never set foot into the museum at all.

The worst part, however, was the migraine he had sustained dealing with his unruly gang members.

    “What makes you think you deserve the brain?” came the growling voice of a tall, purple-striped tiger. The gray beard-like fur on his cheeks puffed out in agitation.

    “Cuz I gots the mega brains myself, Kitty-Cat,” responded a purple iguana in a flashy green suit. “With more brains on top I’ll be rollin’ in them creative juices!”

The tiger’s muzzle perked up in a snarl, his sharp fangs flashing. “What did I tell you about calling me names you incompetent, aggravating—”

    “Gentlemen, PLEASE!” Arpeggio suddenly exclaimed from within his decorative, cage-like craft. He waited for the two to cease their bickering before he continued. “I have had nearly enough of this nonsense from the both of you!”

The feline, still boiling from his previous exchange, looked at the bird with glowing yellow eyes. “Don’t talk to me like some dog, parrot. Not after what we just did! You barely even lifted a finger.”

    “And what do you wish for me to do for you, Rajan? Provide you some sort of shiny award for a job well done? Get over yourself.”

    “Why you!”

The tiger advanced towards him, the fur on his shoulders bristling. He hardly made a step before a half-dozen toucans stepped forward, the ones bearing their mechanical guns locking onto him. Rajan knew the risk was too great and he turned away in a huff, tail flicking back and forth.

The bird gave a little grunt. Impatient ingrates…

A voice spoke out at Arpeggio from the darkness behind him. “So much for your typical passive attitude.”

    “I am much too tired to deal with these antics anymore, Contessa,” he responded, not bothering to turn around within his contraption. “Perhaps you are accustomed to aggression such as this, but I am not, and I will not tolerate it on my own property.”

She did not argue with him.

At last, the door to the flying vessel opened and an avian worker peered in to gesture the all-clear. The group within all let out simultaneous sighs of relief.

    “Finally,” came the voice of the last figure, a very gruff looking red bison. “I was beginnin’ to think we was never gonna get outta here. Not exactly the quickest ride, eh?”

Arpeggio did not bother responding to him as he was already halfway out the entrance.

Toucan guards were rushing around outside of the airship, squawking and bantering the whole while. There were few calm figures about as they prepped and prepared for the arrival of their boss and his precious new treasures. He was thankful, at least, that the rozenich and kurri had minded their business as he requested, and none were in sight.

As Arpeggio wheeled himself off the exit ramp, his companions followed. Each one glanced around curiously at the surroundings with a mixture of emotions. There was a hint of jealousy in Rajan’s eyes, eagerness in Bison’s, and irritation in Dimitri’s. Contessa had no expression whatsoever as she stepped into the light, revealing the taur-like form of an arachnid woman. She tossed her long dark hair with a strange clawed hand and crawled down the ramp with a pure sense of dignity.

The iguana stopped as he stepped off the ramp and pulled a pair of stylish sunglasses out of his pocket and put them on. “This place is a drag, bro.”

Arpeggio rolled his eyes before turning to one of the closest stationary guards. “Would you please escort my companions to the meeting room at my quarters? Take additional men with you.”

    “Yes, sir,” he said and hurried off.

The bird then turned his wheeled contraption around to face his group. “I will be with you all shortly. I have to attend to something first.”

    “Sure thing, partner,” the bison gave a nod.

None of the others said anything. Once the previous guard had returned with support, they gestured for the four to follow them down the pathway towards Arpeggio’s building. Happy to temporarily be rid of them, the parrot wheeled himself into the shade of a nearby compartment where a taller toucan stood, manning a security station. He stood at attention when his employer came near.

    “Listen and listen extremely carefully,” Arpeggio told him, his tone calm but eerily stern. “I want you to organize every man in this vicinity. I want the cargo on my ship guarded with your life. Do you understand?”

    “Y-Yes, boss,” the toucan nodded his large yellow beak.

There was a harshness in Arpeggio’s blue eyes as he glared at him. “Good. Because if anything happens to it, any small piece whatsoever, I will throw each and every one of you into a fire pit, and it will be so severe not even Mr. Flinn would survive it. Do you understand that?”

The toucan nodded vigorously. “Y-Yes, b-boss! Completely, boss!”

    “That’s a good chap. Now get to it.”

    “R-Right away, boss!” The bird hastily turned to his communication channels and began to furiously call and organize as requested.

Arpeggio felt a sigh attempt to escape him, but he held it in. There would never be relief for him until he completed his task to the fullest, and with how things were going he did not know how long that would take. Soon, Arpeggio, he told himself, Soon, we can settle down once more.

A gentle rattle caught his attention. He backed up his contraption and spied Jeremy peering up at him, almost as if summoned by the previous mentioning of his name. “Ah! Finally, someone who can listen to orders properly. I assume things have not been amiss while I was away?”

Jeremy shook his head and gave him an “okay” sign with his fingers.

    “Excellent! And, how about…?”

As if his thought had surfaced into a reality, the curvy white form of Linda came casually strolling up behind Jeremy. There was a brilliant joy in her own blue eyes and she smiled wide. “Pedgy! You’re finally back!”

Arpeggio felt that sigh pulling up inside of him again. Come on now. Be polite. “Yes, that I am. How are you fairing, dear?”

    “Oh, I’m fine. Are you okay? You don’t look that good. Also, what’s with this box thing you’re in?”

She tapped her claws against the decorative “A” that was positioned in the center of the wheeled device’s cover. The act shot a wave of anxiety through him, but Arpeggio resisted saying anything. “This is just my more lavish travelling device. I don’t bother with it around here since it is not exactly built for this terrain.”

    “Why does it look like a… cage?”

    “It is not a cage.”

    “It kinda looks like a cage.”

Arpeggio grumbled. “I just feel safer in it, that’s all. Can never be too careful. Isn’t that right, Jeremy?”

Jeremy merely twitched his head in response.

Arpeggio looked back up at Linda, who was still busy fondling the ornate bits atop his mechanism. “Now, as much as I would like to sit and chat with you, I’m afraid I must—”

    “Pedgy!” came the squeaky voice of Kacey. She galloped up to them, weaving in and out between the bustling motion of the guards. She was moving so fast she had to skid to a halt before reaching them and ran straight into the front wheel of Arpeggio’s vehicle. “Pedgy!” Kacey said in ragged breath as she eyed him from below. She stepped up onto the wheel with her front feet and held onto the base of the cage’s opening with her hands. “Who were those animals with you? Was that a buffalo? Who was the lady? She had two bodies like me!”

He laughed nervously. “Yes, those are some business partners of mine. As I was just about to say to Linda and Jeremy, I need to go off and speak to them about urgent matters.”

    “Yeah, yeah, can I meet her? The two-body lady. She looked really cool! So many legs!”

    “No, no, dear, that is… she is tired, you see. We are all quite tired so, if you would not mind…”

He eyed Jeremy intently and the man registered it with a start. He carefully, but quickly, pried the child off. Linda took the hint, to Arpeggio’s thanks, and ceased her own investigation.

    “Excellent,” the aristocrat said tiredly. “Now, I’ll be off now. Ta-ta!”

He had just begun to rotate his vehicle around when Linda called to him once more. “Hey, wait!”

 Linda, for the love of…

    “Can I talk to you after you’re done?” she asked, concern emanating in her tone.

Arpeggio had no time for further disruptions. He moved his wheeled cage forward, calling after her as he went. “Yes, certainly, but only after. Do not get into trouble in the meantime!”

To his surprise, Linda did not follow. He did not bother sneaking a peek to see if they were still looking after him in the off chance their eyes met. The last thing he needed was her meddling in his affairs.

His affairs…

He finally released the sigh he had been holding in. It was time to return to business.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 11

The evening waned into night, and morning dragged its way to dusk the following day. Linda had not heard from Arpeggio at any time throughout it, and she could not ignore her growing impatience. She had begun to grow restless when night approached. Harlie had urged her to go to sleep, to not worry about whatever it was that Arpeggio and the other animals had been discussing in private. He had already told her to stay out of his business, it would only be logical to stay out of theirs as well.

Linda simply could not. There was a curiosity burning inside of her too great to ignore. She had been patient with the bird up to this point, allowing him to work under his own terms. True, he was the boss and it only made sense for this is happen, but Linda knew what it was like to be pushed around. She needed to dispel the rumors. She needed to know Arpeggio was the decent guy she thought he was.

She found great difficulty sneaking around in the dead of night. Her white plumage did nothing to camouflage her against the darkened trees. It was nature’s way of telling her to turn back, she supposed, but she ignored it. With some pure spouts of luck, she had outsmarted the guards making their nightly patrols and made it to the bird’s home without detection, albeit, several trees back.

Her blue eyes struggled to see just how many guards had been positioned around the large building. She had observed the avians shifting their typical routes in favor of mobbing around the landing port of the airship. She did not have the faintest idea what it was they were guarding, but she knew catching a peek at what was inside would be impossible. The boss himself, however…

She supposed his desire for privacy had come into play for why his home had less protection than normal. She spotted only four guards total, two by the door and the other two rotating around the building. The woman noted they were making certain to shine their lights up in the tree Linda had frequently used to reach the balcony.

    Tricky little birdy, thinks he’s so smart…

The rozenich peered over her shoulder and made a quiet, bird-like call. A shadow moved a couple trees down from her, followed by the gentle crackling of limbs and leaves. A creature of her own kind suddenly peered its head out of the brush and leapt with grace to a tree branch beside her. The distinguishable red plumage of Kerry shone in the moonlight. He eyed her inquisitively, his head ticking from side to side. The wound over his brow was freshly stitched by Doctor Phyllis.

    “< Listen to me, >” Linda said to him in her native tongue, her hands minimally gesturing, “< You owe me. You do this and we’re even. >”

    “< Completely even? >” he questioned, not convinced.

    “< Until you start biting Harlie again. Then the deal’s off. Leave him alone. I mean it. >”

    “< He’s weak, you know, >” he said to her. His eyes glowed brightly in the darkness. “<He’s becoming a kurri. He’s practically ashamed of us rozenich, as if he isn’t one of us.>”

    “< That’s not true. Besides, that’s not important right now, >” she bared her teeth, forcing him back into focus. Once she was certain he had ended his rant, she looked back to the building. “< I need you to go down there and distract those guards for me. >”

    “< That’s why you had me stay out here after sundown? >”

She let out a low growl within the bed of her throat. “< Yes. Now listen! I need you to distract them. Make them chase you off towards the construction. They’ll lose you in there, and I need enough time to slip into that building. >”

    “< Don’t they have weapons? >”

    “< Only some of them do, but if they see it’s a rozenich they won’t hurt you. It’s a part of their deal. Just make sure you make yourself known so they don’t get too excited. >”

    “< Can I bite them at least?>” he questioned impatiently.

She sighed. “< If you have to but try to control yourself. If I have to do it, you do too. >”

    “< Fine, >” he said with a huff and leapt down to a branch below them. He gazed up at her one more time. “< What do you want in there for? Is it even worth all this? >”

    “< It is, >” she said with confidence, “< I have to make sure I keep you all safe. Something suspicious is going on and I need to make sure it’s alright. >”

Kerry did not detest this. He craned his neck back around and his eyes focused on his mission. After waiting for one of the guards to make their way back around the building, he took off, his long legs carrying him swiftly through the underbrush. Linda used the noise he was making as cover to spring across to another set of trees until only one stood between her and the front door.

She watched as the rozenich burst from the forest, forcing out an aggressive call. The guards were startled and flipped their flashlights towards him. There was a moment of panic in Linda’s heart and she hoped her plan would not backfire. Kerry was a pest, but the last thing she wanted was for him to get shot.

No such thing ever happened. Kerry crouched down in a hostile stance, the fan on his tail expanding and wavering in the golden artificial light. The guards called to him, asking him what he was doing, hoping he was one of the few rozenich that could speak English. Kerry did not, of course, and he simply ignored their requests, remaining in his position.

When one of the toucans began to approach, he launched himself at him—admittedly not something Linda had expected—and knocked him firmly to the ground. There was a brief scuffle in which the other three guards panicked and ran to their comrade’s aid, but by the time they reached him, Kerry had jumped off onto a second guard, knocking him down as well. He then promptly began to run across the clearing.

Linda took this moment of distraction to make her first set of moves. She leapt down and sprinted the short distance between the tree and the building, concealing her white form best she could in the shadows. She eased herself closer to the doorway. She watched as two of the weaponless guards took off in pursuit of Kerry. The remaining two were a few yards off, one helping the other off the ground.

    “That asshole bit me!” the one toucan said.

While the two were busy trying to make sense of what had just occurred, the woman carefully opened the door and snuck inside.

I did it, she thought to herself as she waited for her heart to calm, I can’t believe that actually worked!

She continued down the hall and up the small elevator to the second floor. She hoped desperately no one could hear her or, at the very least, that they would not investigate it. She knew Arpeggio’s cleaning staff also lived in the building and hoped they assumed the noise was nothing more than a midnight spill that needed tending to.

Once the elevator door opened, she could instantly hear the murmuring of voices. Quietly, she took her first steps down the dark hallway. Light shone out from the underside of a door to a room Linda had never been in before. She kneeled when she reached it and listened in.

There were voices all right: a handful of them. They were men, predominately, but she did hear the faintest sound of a feminine tone which must have belonged to the taur-like woman she had seen earlier.

    “What is your argument for possessing the eyes?” came the gravelly, angry voice of a man.

    “I already has them sharp sights, bro. With them flashy specs I can—”

    “Don’t be stupid,” came the feminine voice. “Clearly I am the superior choice for the eyes. They are the windows to the soul and the mind. I don’t think I need to explain my case further.”

    “What about that there head all together?” came a deeper voice. “At the very least that’d make one fine intimidation trophy at my loggin’ camp.”

Arpeggio’s voice answered next and Linda listened more intently. “Jean, the use of the parts is meant to better our work. We must be particular about this.”

The strange speaking man spoke up again. “I am thinkin’ deep, Fish-n-Chips. Deep like the ocean blue. Everybody just be shooting me down!”

The growling voice replied to him. “That’s because your ideas are foolish. A waste of potential! Potential that I can use to enhance my power!”

    “Remain calm, Rajan,” Arpeggio told him. “Da Vinci once said, where there is shouting, there is no true knowledge, and I think we should really abide by that at a time like this. Now, I understand we have been through a lot the last few days—"

    “Without my work we would not have these parts!”

The deeper accented voice spoke up. He did not sound angry, but he did speak defensively. “Hey now, partner, I beg to differ. I was doin’ most of the carrying if I do recall.”

    “You?!”

    “Gentleman, let us not start again!” Arpeggio raised his voice over the two as they continued to argue.

The female sighed. “It’s no use. They are barbarians.”

    “All this hatin’ is bumming me out,” came the smooth-talking voice. “I need a smoke.”

Arpeggio sighed. “Fine. Do it outside, not in here.”

Linda’s heart skipped a beat. By outside he doesn’t mean…?

She heard a chair scooting back followed by feet tapping on the wood floors. Her ears registered each step; the figure was, without a doubt, coming towards her.

Panic set it. What should she do? Should she run and hide? Should she confront them?

There was so little time to think that the only reaction she had was to stand up and push against the wall, her tail feathers splaying out. The door creaked open, casting a long shadow against the wall of the emerging figure. He stepped forward into the darkness of the hallway, pulling a cigarette out of a carton. He was a purple lizard with a long, heavy tail and a row of curly spikes running along the middle. He did not notice her.

Not at first.

After a few seconds, his eye caught sight of her white form and he started almost instantly, his body stiffening and the cigarette falling from his mouth. “AYE, bro! The hell is you?!”

The woman panicked, and her mind went blank. She did the only thing her instincts told her to do: she launched forward full force into him. He let out a surprised screech as he found himself slamming into the opposite wall. He reactively grabbed at her, his strange clawed hands snatching at the fluff of her chest. The rozenich had enough self-control to not snap at him, but she could not withhold baring her teeth.

    “Not cool, babe, not cool! I’m innocent! Dimitri’s too fly to die!”

    “Linda?!” came the distinctive, surprised tone of Arpeggio.

The rozenich peered over her shoulder to see the shadowed form of the parrot atop his less flashy mobile scooter. She could not see his expression, but she did see the glint of his monocle.

The large form of a big cat rushed to the doorway, his golden eyes shining in the darkness. “Intruder! Let me dispose of it!”

    “No, no, that will not be necessary!” Arpeggio quickly said, a bit panicked himself. He turned his attention back to Linda. “Let him go at once!”

    “Yeah, girly, chill!” Dimitri said, fear still evident in his tone.

She did as she was told and released the unnerved iguana. He straightened up and shook off the feathers from his lime green jacket. Linda’s gaze shifted from him to the large striped feline. She was taller than the former, but the tiger was easily a good match to her seven-and-a-half-foot form. She could scent the aggression pouring out of him and it made her uneasy.

    “Linda, what are you doing here, my dear?” Arpeggio asked in a mixture of shock and embarrassment. “I told you I’d speak with you after I was through here. As you can see, I am still attending to business.”

    “Who is this insolent pest?” the big cat snarled.

The lizard then added. “And why’s she not sporting no fashion? Not that I’m complainin’…”

She spotted a third figure, the brawny red bison, step into the doorway behind the cat, though he did not say anything.

    “That’s… that’s normal. She, I mean they… look here! I’ll explain all that later,” the parrot ignored his companions. He focused back on the woman. “You need to leave, now.”

    “She can’t leave!” the tiger growled, “What if she heard something?”

    “Come, now,” the bison finally spoke up, “let’s leave Mr. Arpeggio’s little girlfriend alone.”

Arpeggio’s brows furrowed. “She is not my—oh bollocks, forget it. Linda, I’ll escort you out myself. The rest of you, got back to your unproductive chattering!”

Linda, who had not gotten the chance to say any word in edgewise, was forcefully backed up as Arpeggio propelled his scooter forward. She complied and walked with him as he headed back towards the elevator, though not before double checking that the men had returned inside as they were instructed. They had, though hesitantly. The lizard gave an extra peek before his head disappeared back into the room.

    “I know you are impatient sometimes,” the bird said as they reached the elevator, “but you’re really becoming a thorn in my side. What all did you hear? And be truthful. This is extremely important!”

    “I… don’t really know what I heard,” she admitted. “Something about a head and eyes? And a lot of arguing.”

He did not say anything as he processed her words. The elevator door closed, and he looked up at her, his expression serious. “That is all?”

    “I mean… the lizard guy kept saying stuff but I couldn’t make any sense out of it.”

    “Hm. Yes.”

The door opened as they reached the bottom floor, but Arpeggio did not make an effort to go out. Instead, he looked up at her again. “I run a business, Ms. Givington. A business I cannot let just anyone know the ins and outs of. Legal reasons, you see. My fellows and I… we recently acquired some… equipment that will improve our performance. The quarreling you heard was simply a matter of conflicted opinions on what to do with it. Nothing more.”

He finally ventured out and Linda followed. He kept talking as he led her to the door. “I really do not wish to reprimand you for this. I understand how important you are and that your species are naturally curious. But I cannot have you—”

    “You need to tell me the truth too,” she blurted out, tone scarily more serious than even she had expected.

The parrot turned back to her, his feathers raised. Linda spoke up again before he could detest. “I need to know if whatever you’re doing is going to affect my people. I don’t care if it’s a big secret, I don’t think I’d understand it all even if you told me, but I need to at least know that. If you won’t tell me I will find out myself.”

The bird seemed taken aback at her abrasiveness. He parted his beak to say something, but no words came out. There was an offensive look in his eyes, a troubling look. It soon faded off and transitioned into one of understanding. He nodded. “I assure you, with every fiber of my very mortal being, that your people will not be the least bit bothered by what we’re doing here. You are simply building my design, nothing more.”

    “It’s nothing bad… is it?”

He stared at her, perplexed. He gave a little chuckle. “Bad? Of course not. It’s typical Earthling business. Don’t be silly.”

A great wave of relief washed over her. She may had been caught, but at least she finally achieved her answer. “Okay, hon. Thanks.”

    “Yes, of course. Now, please go back and get some rest, will you? I promise I’ll speak with you later.”

    “Pinky prom—”

    “We are not doing that again.”

She gave an amused shrug and walked towards the door.

    “Oh, and Linda?” Arpeggio called to her once more. “I don’t know how you keep evading my guards but… I can’t deny that I’m impressed.”

The woman simply smiled knowingly. I’m smarter than you think I am, Birdy.

She walked out the door in the depths of the night, at last satisfied with her answer.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 12

Arpeggio did not want to lie to Linda. The woman was only doing what was best for her people, and the aristocrat could hold a deep respect for that. He never had people looking out for him as passionately as she had been for her fellow rozenich. He admitted, though, he did not think she would go to such lengths to achieve her goal.

He supposed he had not truly lied. Morality was a grey area, and views on what was considered “bad” varied. Had he and his gang stolen the Clockwerk parts? Yes, they had. Was it illegal? Absolutely. Yet, was it “bad”? That really depended on who was asked. Was it “bad” for INTERPOL to take the parts from their resting place and display them for entertainment? Arpeggio thought so. At least now the parts would be used for something. Albeit his plans for them were much more complex than anything his gang had in mind. The only problem he currently faced was how he could get his members to agree on which parts they desired without further discourse.

    “If I had the eyes… “

    “If I had the frame… “

    “If I had the heart… “

The more they quarreled over the items, the more Arpeggio was beginning to realize they all sounded like feral lions battling over which scraps of a freshly killed carcass they believed they deserved to eat.

In a way, they were not that far off.

    “It has been three days,” he said over them, his voice reeking of exhaustion. “I refuse to let this go on for a fourth. We must make our decisions.”

    “He’s right,” said the Contessa, her large spider body nestled beneath her scarily long eight legs. “I cannot stay here any longer. I’ll be lucky if my clinic has not been run to the ground by the time I return.”  

Rajan growled from his seat. His claws had already bore scars into the armrests. “We would have been done long ago if anyone here had any damn sense!”

    “Dis debate club more whack than our old plans, bro,” the purple iguana said. He was leaning against the cracked-open window to allow his cigarette smoke to filter outside. “I’s running out of the caring juice. Just gimme somethin’ good so I can go jam out!”

No one wanted to say anything because they knew what would result. One would request one item and another would object. One would suggest someone get a certain item for whatever reason and another would become angry. It had been done, it had been tried. The only difference now was everyone had grown exhausted of it all.

Jean Bison finally spoke up to break the silence, his scarred face the only one that did not appear completely drained. “How’s about we get ourselves a middle man? Someone who can pick the parts for us? Ain’t like we’re gonna make any leeway otherwise.”

Arpeggio raised up at this. “That might work, yes. But who?”

    “I’unno. How’s about that odd-lookin’ girlfriend of yours? She already knows we’re all locking horns.”

    “She is not my—” Arpeggio did not have time to finish as Dimitri yelled over him.

    “No way, bro! That chicky has it out for my grills!”

For once, Rajan agreed with him. “Who is to say she doesn’t have bias? She does not know us, only the damn parrot.”

    “Don’t think we can be gettin’ too picky,” Bison added.

Contessa did not say anything.

Arpeggio shook his head. “No, Ms. Givington would not be any good at this. She isn’t stupid but these parts and their uses would be too complex for her to understand. We need someone who can at least level with us while being naïve enough to be unaware of…”

A spark shot through him when the perfect candidate appeared in his mind.

    “By Jove, I think I got it.”

~*~

The gang had moved locations to Arpeggio’s workshop. It was a decent sized building located not far from his living quarters. It was spacious and filled with tools of every type one could imagine, all of which were neatly set up or stowed away in their designated places. There were more bookshelves with thicker books and a variety of supplies on cutting tables. A large, empty space was in the hind of the room, waiting for something to fill it.

A long wooden table sat in the center of the shop with a massive piece of scrap paper and utensils scattered about. There were just enough chairs for the three members who required sitting plus an additional one for their upcoming guest.

    “How do we know she won’t squeal on us?” Rajan asked skeptically.

    “As long as none of you open your mouths and say something you shouldn’t, she will know just about as much as everyone else. That being that we acquired some parts that will better our business.”

Contessa piped in that time. “Parts that conveniently are anatomically identical to a once living bird?”

    “She doesn’t fully understand our culture,” Arpeggio argued. “She’ll think it’s normal as long as we act like it is. Just remember your stories like we discussed. And for heaven’s sake, be happy with whatever you get so we can move on with our lives.”

He was admittedly surprised no one detested this. The days of little sleep and constant battling obviously had taken its toll.

He gestured to one of his guards and the door opened to allow in their self-proclaimed middle man. Stepping into the room came two figures: the short and stocky form of Jeremy and the small, wide-eyed kurri Kacey. While everyone had been warned beforehand who would be entering, they all were still surprised to see her.



    “All right, dear,” Arpeggio said to her, “have a seat. Don’t be shy.”

She eyed everyone in the room with wonder and nervousness as Jeremy led her by the hand towards the empty seat, which had a handful of large books on top of it for her. The Contessa stood a few feet away, eying her with an empty red gaze. The second Kacey registered the woman, the fear she had in her posture instantly vanished and the eager light in her eyes from the first time she saw her returned.

After she settled down in her seat and Arpeggio and Jeremy flanked her on either side, she took a brief look over the group of animals that sat before her. Her small chameleon-like hands clasped together and rested on the table in front of her, as if she were some high-class businessman.

    “Okay, boys and girl,” she said with a sudden spout of confidence, “let me hear your cases!”

Everyone looked at one another.

Rajan, being as distempered as he was, was the first to comment. “This is ridiculous! This child will not decide the choice of my power!”

    “That’s strike one, kitty!” Kacey said sternly, pointing a hoof accusingly at him. “Three strikes and you get nothing! That’s the deal.”

He growled. “Do not call me—!”

A load, angry croak emitted from Jeremy’s throat. He pointed at him before making a cut-throat motion with his finger. Though it was obvious the tiger was not pleased, he looked away with teeth still bared.

    “Alright, so Kitty goes last,” Kacey said, returning the room to order. “Come on now! Let’s get going, we don’t got all day! Lemme start you off.”

She took hold of one of the pencils on the table and began to draw on the scrap paper. As she drew, she spoke over everyone. “Okay, so we got some bird parts. We got some wings, and some feets, and a tail…” she drew each item as she spoke, the illustrations surprisingly intricate. The others simply looked on. “Then we got a head with some eyes, and some gross belly parts, a heart, and a brain. The rest is I guess skeleton stuff if we’re going by basic vertebrae anatomy. So, I gotta know what each person does so I know which fits best!”

Jean Bison bit the bullet and spoke up first, his tone attempting the best it could to mask his struggles to dance around the truth. “Well, little lady, I run the shippin’ in this here operation. I got me some trains loaded up with cargo across ‘Merica. Then I got me a lumber yard for, well, taming that wild north!”

The child listened to him intently. “I see, I see. That’s cool Mr. Buffalo. Next!”

Dimitri spoke up second, gesturing with his hands as he did so, the glamorous rings on his fingers shining in the dimly lit room. “Alrighty, Short Stacks, I do the talkin’ with the peeps. I bring in that dough by gettin’ them money bags groovy and wild! I gots them in the palms of my hands, ya feel? I sell the brand! Get the big bucks! Impress the ladies with my fly skills! You feelin’ what I’m throwin’ down?”

She looked at him, confused and a little disgusted. “Uh. No, not really. But you got a cool outfit so that’s good enough, I guess.”

    “Tell me somethin’ fresh, chicky.”

Arpeggio watched as the girl wrote something down in a language he could not read before she turned and, with a fonder gaze in her eyes, directed her attention to the Contessa. “How about you, Miss Spider Lady? You’re pretty.”

    “Yes, that’s very kind of you,” the Contessa said, her voice relatively monotone. She raised a claw as she explained her side. “My position is very simple. I spend my time exclusively studying the mind.”

    “The… mind?”

    “Psychology, my child. I make certain everyone’s mental health is not compromised.”

    “Ohh!” she said and nodded vigorously. “Linda kinda does that too. She gives people hugs when they’re upset and bites them when they’re mean.”

Contessa raised a brow. “Very interesting…”

The kurri then turned to Arpeggio. “I think I know what you do, Pedgy, but tell me anyway.”

    “Ah, well,” he gave her a smile. “I suppose I am the technical brains of the process. I do a lot of the, uh… planning, alongside being the creative inventor.”

    “You’re the smart one, you can just say it.”

Everyone grumbled irritably at the notion. Arpeggio gave a little awkward laugh. It’s true but you don’t have to say it out loud, dear…

At last, Kacey turned to Rajan, who was leaning back in his chair with arms crossed. “Alright, Kitty, go on.”

Irritably, the tiger answered. “I… cultivate a powerful secret ingredient for our business. Without me this entire thing would be nothing.”

Kacey rolled her eyes but gave a little nod. She wrote something else down. “See, that wasn’t so hard, right?”

He glared at her.

The child gave a little tap on the table top with her pencil and rubbed her chin thoughtfully, giving an audible “hmm” as she contemplated. The other gang members exchanged curious expressions with one another. Arpeggio merely watched the child apply her signature thinking face. I cannot believe we resulted to doing this, he thought. He had to admit, there was less arguing than he had put up with before.

At least, for the moment.

    “Okay, here’s how this goes!” she started and raised up a little taller. “Is there anyone here who really reeallly wants something real special? Like for sure special. Don’t gimme no doubts!”

    “I demand the eyes,” the Contessa spoke up briskly, but calmly.

    “Okay,” Kacey said in an infatuated tone. She immediately crossed out the eyes on the drawing of the bird she had done. “Pretty two-body spider lady gets the eyeballs.”

    “What?!” came the double exclamations from both Rajan and Dimitri. Arpeggio sighed. I spoke too soon…

The tiger growled deeply. “You would give away a part with no reason?! Madness!”

    “That’s strike two, Kitty!” Kacey said sternly, “Do it again and I’ll bring Linda in here and she’ll bite you good! Right on your dumb cheek beards! Then you won’t get any parts at all.”

Jeremy rattled and repeated the slashing motion from earlier, only this time holding up two fingers at him.

On the brink of another explosion, it appeared to take all the effort Rajan could to not say anything more. His long, striped tail lashed viciously. Arpeggio momentarily felt sympathy for him; no one wished to be shamed before their fellow co-workers but, well, he did tend to ask for it.

    “Don’t go flyin’ off the handle just yet,” came the attempted comfort of Jean. “Why, just think about the things you could do with any of them there parts. Don’t wanna lose yer privileges.”

Rajan ignored him.

    “Okay, back to business,” Kacey said with an aggravated sigh. “If no one else has any top picks, then this is what I’mma do! Weird-talking lizard guy can get the tail cause rozenich like to show their tails off to be real fancy and impress people and that seems fitting enough for you. I think, anyway. You need to learn better English.”

    “Girl is cold,” Dimitri said with a solemn hang of his head. “But I dig it.”

    “Good,” she crossed the image off the list. “Mr. Buffalo can get the three belly parts cause they’re real gross and stinky and he’s a lil’ bit stinky too.”

    “That’s mighty fair I s’pose,” Jean said, satisfied.

The girl then looked up at Arpeggio. “Pedgy gets the wings ‘cause he can’t fly and that’s real sad.”

The parrot felt a wave of anxiety wash over him at the mentioning of his weakness. He tried to keep it internal and coolly replied, “Yes. Thank you, dear.”

    “Maybe you can put rockets on them and attach ‘em to your back like a comic book hero!”

    “Yes, I’ll… think of something.”

She crossed the large wings off her list. She could hear the tiger grumbling from the other side of the table but she chose not to address it. “Alright. Miss Spider Lady do you want anything else?”

    “The eyes are all I desire,” she said.

    “If you’re sure,” Kacey replied. Reluctantly, she turned to Rajan. “Ok, Kitty, you can get the birdy’s heart ‘cause you’re real mean and need one.”

Dimitri began to laugh from his seat as Rajan once more held back the urge to say anything. “Short Stacks got the claws here, Kitty-Cat.”

The girl spent a time eying over the remainder of the bird drawing before her. She wrote down more notes and tapped the pencil against her muzzle, the “thinking face” occasionally pulling in and out across her expression.

    “Here’s where it gets tricky,” she began, “I think Stinky Buffalo Man should get the bird feet with the stabby claws cause he’s the only herbivore here and he doesn’t got any. And if he likes choppin’ trees so much maybe he can use them to do stuff.”

    “Not a bad idea. Much obliged, Lil’ Lady,” Jean gave his thanks.

Kacey then pondered once more. “Since the birdy has a brain, Pedgy should get it cause he’s smart. The scraps can be split between Kitty and the Weirdo.”

    “Nah, girly, I’m cool with my swag,” Dimitri said as he prepped his feet up on the table.

    “Okay then, ya snooze ya lose,” Kacey said and scratched the rest off. “Mean Butthole Kitty can have the rest.”

    “I refuse!” the tiger growled and shot from his seat, toppling over his chair. The clatter caused everyone to jump, forcing Dimitri to fall backwards in his own chair and Kacey to lower her large ears. Jeremy defensively put his arm around her. The big cat emphatically gestured to Arpeggio. “I put up with this disrespectful child’s nonsense, but I will not leave here with the leftover slops!”

The roar of the tiger’s voice had echoed throughout the workshop’s interior. The commotion had been so effective that the screaming had slipped to the ears of those outside as two armed guards suddenly burst through the door. Arpeggio, panicked himself, quickly attempted to calm them. “At ease, gentlemen! Everything is under control!” 

In a flash not even the parrot had expected, none other than Linda suddenly came rushing inside, her feathers rising. “What’s going on? Who’s yelling?”

    “Linda! I told you to stay outside. Kacy is fine! Everything is—!”

To his dismay, the woman blatantly ignored him and leapt swiftly onto the tabletop. She rushed straight over to Rajan and partially unfolded her tail fan at him. She released a foul-sounding hiss. “Listen here pussycat, if you have a problem you take it up with me.”

    “Shut up, you white witch! Rajan fears no one!”

    “You’ll fear me when your intestines are spilling out all over your feet.”



To Arpeggio’s great relief, the two guards intervened before any action was able to take shape. His heart began thumping wildly. If I don’t do something now this will end in disaster.

    “Fine, let me make a trade with you, Rajan,” Arpeggio began to deal, forcing his tone to come out as menacing as he could make it, which admittedly was not very. “I’ll trade you the wings for the scraps if it will silence your cantankerous complaints.”

The tiger did not even have to ponder on this. “Deal. If only to avoid putting up with you idiots any longer!”

In a huff, the man stormed out of the building, tail lashing about wildly. One guard escorted him just as two more came in to observe what had befell their boss’s meeting. Linda folded her fan back in place and hopped down off the table. She was still letting out a quiet hiss between her teeth.

Kacey stood up in her seat and angrily stomped her little toes on the edge of the table. “You people are a bunch of babies! I think you all need to go home and learn the value of sharing! Jeez even rozenich babies are better than you guys and they’re super dumb!”

She then turned to face the Contessa and her demeanor immediately softened. “Except you, of course, Miss Spider Lady.”

    “Yes, thank you, child,” she said in response.

Jeremy helped the girl off the chair and walked her out. Though Linda had some noticeable hesitations, she followed suit, leaving Arpeggio with the three remaining members of his team.

Dimitri stood back up from his fall and rubbed his spiky neck. “Little Shorty be savage. I need me a smoke.”

The Contessa tossed her flowing hair over her shoulder and for the first time a hint of a smile crossed her red lips. “These primitive species you have employed are quite intriguing. Even the intelligent little strange ones. I can only imagine the sort of thoughts one could find delving into their minds.”

Jean Bison partly agreed with a nod of his large scarred face. “That girlfriend of yours sure is a fiery one, eh? Why, I wouldn’t wanna be two-steppin’ with her after all if one gets her riled up like that.”

Arpeggio gave another exhausted sigh. “Bison, for the last time, she is not my… that.”

    “Huh. Well, maybe you should be fixin’ that.”

Dimitri gave out a rusty chuckle. He then paused and seemed to think a little too deeply into it and a frown crossed his lips. “Yuck! That’s major gross, bro.” 

The parrot did not even bother responding to him.

    It’s done, was all he could muster. After a long, agonizing week, it was over. He wheeled his scooter out of the workshop, his fellow members following. He was eager to get rid of them so he could, once more, return to his lonesome. There was nothing more he longed for in that moment.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 13

Arpeggio wished he had time to relax after his gang had left, but the fact of the matter was he did not have the luxury. With the Clockwerk parts officially dispersed, he then had to wait for his associates to inform him what it was they wanted to do with the parts. Since so many of them lacked any reasonable form of creativity, this job also fell onto him. He had developed a series of potentials even before the parts were broken up. The mechanical bits were so unique, so strong, so resilient, that a genius like himself could easily mold them into whatever he truly wanted. He would have his hands full in due time bringing his visions to life.

From a distance, he watched as his transportation airship rose into the air, taking with it his business partners. His blue eyes did not leave it until it broke through the protective dome and faded into the clouds.

     Ungrateful swine, he thought to himself. Do they even know what I am providing to them? The costs and obstacles I had to hurdle over to achieve this? A deep-seeded heat boiled up in his stomach. He could not believe he had put up with them this long. Not a single one of them were worth sacrificing so much of his efforts for.

But then, he sighed. Who was he kidding? He needed them. As much as he wanted those mechanical parts, the chances of him collecting them himself, without risk, were nearly impossible. Neyla could have tried, but she was still much too young and inexperienced. There was no way she could have made it through without being caught. So, whether or not he liked it, their part was well played.

He could not forget, either, how important their role would become for the remainder of his plan.

Jeremy’s alerting rattle broke him out of his stupor.

    “Ah, yes, have the parts been moved?” Arpeggio questioned him, his voice a little shaky.

The aracari rattled.

    “Was anything damaged?”

He croaked.

    “Good, good… that would be the last thing I would need.”

The two began their journey along the path towards the parrot’s buildings. The guards, whom had once been flocked heavily around the landing pad, had since shifted towards the workshop the group had been discussing in just a few hours before. They were already setting up additional security measures, namely cameras and motion triggers. It would be in that place where he would be spending much of his time over the next month or two, twiddling away at the machinery. The idea of it both excited and frustrated him.

    “Pedgy!” came a voice.

    But nothing is as frustrating as her…

Reluctantly, the parrot stopped his device and turned to face the white rozenich. “What is it, Ms. Givington? I’m very much not in the mood.”

She slowed down from her jogging pace as she reached them, her mouth parted as she took in air. “Is everything okay? Did your friends leave with what they wanted?”

    “No, I have to modify their shares before they can be shipped out. They could not stay to oversee it; not that I would have allowed that.”

Though confusion was emanating on her face, she nodded as if she understood. “I gotcha. You’re gonna go rest now, right? You look horrible.”

The bird gave her a displeased frown. “I’ll rest when I damn well feel like it. Who are you to dictate what it is I do?”

Linda was taken aback by his dramatic shift in tone. Her eyes widened and the feathers on her head drooped. “It’s just that…”

    “I know what you meant. So, know me when I say to sod off about it.”

    “Are… are you angry with me?” she asked him, uncertainty in her tone.

    “I’m feeling a lot of things right now, Ms. Givington, but there is no use in advertising them. Not even to you.”

    “What are you--?”

    “I’m telling you to leave,” he spat, eyes flaring. “And if you can control yourself, leave me alone and do not come pestering me!”

The woman’s ears fell back and her brows furrowed in her own reflection of anger. To Arpeggio’s surprise, she did not say anything. Instead, she merely gave him one final glare before heading off back down the path she had come.

Happy to be rid of her, the parrot looked back down at Jeremy. He was frowning and rubbing his neck nervously.

    “Jeremy, make certain she does not disturb me for the remainder of the day. Make sure no one else does, for that matter. Can you do that?”

He gave a weak, unwilling rattle.

    “Good.” With discontent raging within him, Arpeggio pressed on down the path to oversee the prep of his security.

There was an emptiness within him. It was the only way he could describe it.

It was not that he did not feel anything—on the contrary, he was feeling quite a lot of things—but it was as if everything inside him had been hollowed out, like he was not a being any longer, instead just a husk of someone that once was.

Perhaps what he was feeling was the same as what the great metal bird felt. At least, what it felt if it could feel.

He sat for a long time on the bare floor of his workshop. There was silence in the room, a deathly sort of quiet that he both loved and feared. For the first time, he did not care that he could feel the uncomfortable, revolting grit on the floor beneath his scaly feet; nothing really mattered anymore as he gazed up in wonder at the metal components that had been set before him.

There, in the hind of the room, covered in a heavy-duty tarp, were the parts. The parts. The ones he had dedicated his life to the last year. A portion had been unraveled and thrown back, revealing the distinctive shape of a head.

An owl’s head.



Arpeggio took a few steps forward, the contents in his stomach lurching. Like a true bird gone feral, his head bobbed in jerking motions, his eyes wide as he inspected it. The head was massive in size, easily four feet in diameter. The bottom jaw was currently not attached, but the top part of its silver beak was still sharpened and threatening. The glass that had covered its eyes was shattered and missing, but within the sockets sat a pair of dull golden orbs in need of some loving repair.

Then again, all of the parts were in need of that.

     That bloody museum clearly did not care about you, did they? 

He took in a breath and hopped up onto the palette the parts rested on. He tentatively, carefully, pulled back another piece of the tarp. It proved difficult for his small frame and he resorted to taking it in his beak for a better grip. It took some trial and error, but he managed to clear off another portion. He took a step back to admire the piece of metal now sticking out from the coverage. It was a wing. An unmistakable wing: part of it, anyway. The skeletal frame was protruding, reminiscent of feather shafts. There were some “feathers” remaining, pristine as ever, if not scarred from their original resting place, and likely from the heist out of the museum.

The parrot reached out his own wing and rested it upon the surface. It was uncannily cold. Yet, there was a power there. A great, magnificent power. He could only envision what the massive wings looked like across a moonlit sky. The great strength they possessed to lift such a creature off the ground. The supremacy the old bird must have felt. The freedom.

Arpeggio sighed heavily, his breath shaky. He never knew what any of that was like.

He hopped down off the pile of metal and, once again, gazed over it from a distance. To his fellow gang members, they were just parts. Hunks of steel formed into shapes. A sculpture. The parrot knew it was much, much more.

It was Clockwerk. A mighty, iconic being that had fallen into the wonderment of myth and legend, his name whispered amongst fellow criminals who could only dream of reigning as supreme as the inordinate robotic bird. Clockwerk was all-mighty. Clockwerk was the pure definition of power. Clockwerk was perfection.

   Was, Arpeggio emphasized the word in his mind. He then spoke aloud in a quiet tone. “You were great once… but no more. Now you are but an empty vessel.”

He found his own blue eyes staring into the faded golden ones of the great owl’s. “I will not make the mistakes you did. But your demise will not be in vain.”

He swore he saw something in those eyes come alive. A light, a glow, something. But there was nothing. Clockwerk was dead.

    “You hold the key for me,” he said, his voice gradually falling quieter. “In time, you’ll be mine.

    Entirely.

    Completely.                 

    Mine.”

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 14

    “This is where the second engine room will be located. I think so, anyway,” Harlie said as he pointed a claw towards a mesh of beams several yards out. He peered down at a swath of papers in his hands, the corners each folded up and ripped. A sketchy diagram was on the top page, covered from top to bottom in random, illegible notes. He turned it this way and that, as if not making much sense of it.

    “Is the deadline I was given still the same?” Arpeggio questioned him, ignoring the rozenich’s obvious display of ignorance.

    “Yes, it should be. At least, for the room structures themselves. We still don’t know when the actual engines are going to be ready. Er, well, they don’t know. If they do, they haven’t told me yet.”

Arpeggio’s head craned up to view the maze of beams and scaffolding that surrounded him. From his place on the narrow, raised platform within the depths of the ship’s worksite, nothing appeared to be any solid shape. He supposed he should have had a better grasp of what the ship would look like internally, considering he was the designer, but for the life of him, he struggled to make much sense of the way the kurri and rozenich built up the creation. The twists and turns of the steel appeared like an abstract painting to him. The more he stared, the dizzier he became.

Just thinking about it made his vision blur and he had to force himself to look down and screw his eyes shut. He tentatively rubbed them with a feathered hand. There had simply not been enough time for the bird to recoup after his gang members had departed just a mere twenty-four hours ago.

     Migraine-inducing idiots. If they had stayed a single more day, I probably would have popped a blood vessel.

The sound of a clacking bill drew his attention and he looked over his shoulder to see Jeremy eying him with a tilted head. Arpeggio was not certain what expression he held under his beaten-up goggles, but if he could take a guess by the frown in the corners of his beak, the aracari had likely noticed his boss’s odd behavior.

Arpeggio chose not to say anything, instead turning back to watch the orange rozenich shuffle through his papers. Once he began to step forward along the pathway, the bird followed suit.

    “I really wish the foreman could be giving you this tour. I really don’t know heads or tails of what all this is,” he admitted, not removing his eyes from the papers.

    “Have you never worked on a ship like this as the others have?”

    “No, sir, not really,” Harlie said, looking up just long enough to duck under a protruding beam. “I do all the behind the scenes stuff. I work closer with the higher-up kurri who run the show, but I’m sure you’ve noticed that.”

    “Yes, I have. I cannot say I blame you. Manual labor of this caliber is not my strong suit either.”

A clatter above them forced the bird to stop his scooter abruptly. The action caused Jeremy to bump into the back end and release a startled squawk. Arpeggio paid him no mind, his attention too focused on a platform several levels above them. Two rozenich were standing there, having what he assumed was an argument: one pointed an obscure tool at the other and spat a foul-sounding array of words at them, which was reciprocated by the other on the receiving end. They were uncannily loud, their voices carrying through the sea of crisscrossing scaffolding and echoing past the sounds of construction coming from below.

    “Don’t mind them,” Harlie piped in when he noticed his boss was not following. He briefly eyed the belligerent couple before giving a roll of his eyes. “There are always stupid fights going on up here. They don’t last long.”

Arpeggio looked away and propelled his scooter slowly forward. “This seems to be typical of your kind. The fighting, I mean.”

    “Our language is really more action-based than word-based. A lot of times it’s just easier to show someone how you feel rather than tell them. That’s Linda’s excuse for it, anyway.”

    “Is that also her excuse for all that dreadful biting she goes on about?”

    “Honestly, I just think she likes to bite things. She’s worse than Kerry, our routine trouble-maker.”

    “Hm. Yes, I’ve heard her speak of that name a time or two.”

The rozenich paused as they reached an intersection of platforms. He took in a deep breath, his large, heavy head feathers raising slightly as he built up confidence. The man turned to partially face the smaller bird. “Speaking of Linda, I hope she isn’t bothering you too much. I warned her several times to leave you alone, but she can be stubborn.”

    “Stubborn is not a strong enough word,” Arpeggio said flatly. “She is perverse and borderline insubordinate.”

    “Yeah, she… she’s always kind of been that way. She has a mind of her own. I’ll try to talk to her again about it and see if I can convince her to mind her own business. For the umpteenth time…” The rozenich continued walking onward, his words muffling as he turned his back to the parrot.

Tired and irritated, Arpeggio reluctantly shadowed him. What was he doing up here wasting time with all this casual chit-chat? As excited as he was to get a tour of his ship’s progress, there was little surrounding him he could give feedback on. He could be back at his workshop right about then, inspecting the remainder of the Clockwerk parts and preparing them for his next endeavors.

The racket around him drove a shiver up his spine. He suddenly found a wave of anxiety creeping up his spine. There were too many sensations going on, too much noise, too much pointlessness. What he would not give to simply crawl back in his bed and sleep.

A loud screech sounded above Arpeggio’s head and he hesitantly gazed up to see the two quarreling rozenich from earlier taking their debate to the next level. They were struggling physically now, their feathers raised and expanded, their arms grappling at the other as the sharp teeth within their beaks grated across each other’s protective scales. Horrifying hissing noises erupted from them and it made the small parrot uneasy.

    “Barbarians…” he whispered to himself. How did they manage to get anything done if this is how they behaved all the time? Perhaps Neyla had been right all along. Perhaps it was a mistake hiring them. Sure, the plans were still going on schedule and, yes, the ship was taking shape… and it was not as if he knew anyone else capable of building the ship to his exact specifications…

    “Stop it!” Harlie’s voice drew the aristocrat back into reality. The rozenich screeched something in his native language up to the battling creatures. Unfortunately, they fell on deaf ears.

Everything happened quickly after that. Arpeggio had looked up to observe the events again, squinting his eyes to see through the glare of the overhead sun. The rozenich tumbled around on the platform, a space much too small for such a thing to occur. He held his breath as the two suddenly slipped off onto a ramp just below them, their bodies collapsing onto a large pile of metal components that burst out of the compartment they were tied to. The pieces rained down, clattering onto the pathway just between Arpeggio and Harlie. They had been so startled at the shower that they hardly had time to notice the sound of wires snapping until a painfully loud CREAK erupted into the heavy air.

Arpeggio saw the large beam come soaring down, its aim dead center on where he stood. His heart stopped, and his body seized completely. Not a single thought trailed through his mind as he watched the hunk of metal come down above his head.

A pressure against his back sent him reeling. He suddenly felt the cool spring breeze filter through his feathers as he instinctively opened his wings to fly. He was falling rapidly, the scaffolding around him whizzing by in a blur of silver shapes. His wings furiously flapped but he was never able to take flight. They did nothing more than assist him in haphazardly gliding down to a lower platform where he landed in a messy heap.

CLANG.

CRASH.

The sound of metal slamming against metal filled his ears. What had just happened?! What was…?!

A couple pieces of stray mechanical bits sprinkled down around him as he quickly stumbled to his feet. Frazzled and confused, Arpeggio peered down at a piece to recognize it as one of the steering handles to his scooter, broken off in a messy chunk.

   Wha-what in heaven’s name?!

He heard the rapid thumping footsteps of a handful of kurri come galloping across the platform above. They, too, were spouting a language Arpeggio did not understand. The panic in their voices was nevertheless unmistakable. One kurri noticed the small bird on the deck below and began its descent to his aid, followed by another half dozen rozenich, their lithe forms leaping with great ease through the branch-like scaffolding to investigate the commotion.

    “Holy Egg! Are you okay?!” Harlie’s voice called out.

Arpeggio’s first assumption was that the rozenich was speaking to him. The bird’s beak was just about to part open to send up a disheveled reply when he realized the words were not directed at him at all. Harlie’s attention was entirely focused up on the platform from wince Arpeggio had fallen. The very spot where he had once stood was now the resting place for the large metal beam. He could just barely make out a sliver of what was left of his scooter jutting out from beneath the contraption, along with a single, limp arm he recognized almost instantly.

His heart dropped.

It was Jeremy.

Arpeggio’s heart would not cease its rapid beating. Panic had set in and he could not control the wash of emotions that entwined him. As he sat in the plain, empty doctor’s office room on the crinkly sterilized paper, his mind struggled to comprehend what had just occurred. Memories were faded and cluttered—it had all happened so fast. He could not even remember how he had gotten into the office in the first place.

The door creaked open and the brown scaled face of Doctor Phyllis poked in. “Arpeggio? Are you doing all right?”

    “I… I don’t know,” he responded, his voice eerily quiet.

The snake slithered into the room, closing the door behind her with her tail. She eyed the parrot with grave concern. “I’m going to check you and make sure you’re not injured. They said you fell a good ways?”

    “Yes, but I think I’m all right. Nothing hurts.”

    “Just in case, I’d like to take a look. Better safe than sorry.”

Arpeggio did not detest this and allowed the doctor to examine him. He outstretched his wings for her and she carefully felt around for tender spots or broken bones. As she did so, the bird realized he was still shaking from the ordeal.

The woman noticed it too. “Mr. Flinn will be okay. He got rather beaten up, but a broken arm is really the worst of it. It’ll heal perfectly as long as he’s careful.”

    “Y-Yes. I know,” Arpeggio replied, voice still low and unconfident. “It is just… I did not anticipate what had happened. Not even in the slightest.”

    “That’s usually how accidents are. You can’t predict them, and you certainly have no control of them.”

    “It is just…” his words faded off and he shook his head. “I simply did not need this today, that is all.”

Phyllis eyed him skeptically, but if she had words to say to him she kept them withdrawn. She completed her exam and slithered back to give the bird room to breathe. “Everything seems fine, but if you get any sort of pain whatsoever, you come to me straight away. Understood?”

The parrot merely nodded.

Silence quickly followed as the doctor left the room. The little bird sat where he was, his wings fidgeting nervously. He jerked his head around to nibble at the feathers on his shoulder, his yellow beak digging in deeply to satisfy the aching urge that overcame him. His body shivered ever so slightly.

A loneliness crept through him, but not the kind he typically favored. It was an exposed sort of lonely, as if there was nothing or no one there to defend him. He knew there were guards waiting for him outside to escort him back to the comforts of his home, but it brought him little reassurance and he did not entirely understand why. His stomach churned, and his heart rattled.

He felt weak.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 15

    “How are you feeling today, Mr. Flinn?” Dr. Phyllis asked her patient.

The aracari resting in the bed hardly resembled the bird that typically waltzed around tending to his requested duties. His tri-colored feathers were ruffled and misshapen much more than usual, his arm was held tightly in a sling, and his colorful beak bore a fresh new cut. Despite his wreck of an appearance, he gave the doctor a shaky thumb ups. She nodded and wrote something down on her chart.

A knock on the door drew their attention and a rabbit nurse stuck her head through. “Miss Linda is here to visit again.”

The snake doctor eyed Jeremy and, with his approving rattle, gestured for her to let the woman in. The white rozenich entered with Kacey in tow, smiles as bright as ever on their faces.

    “Hey, Sweet Pea! Any new accidents since yesterday?” Linda teased.

Dr. Phyllis laughed and answered for him. “Not today, no. He’s been very well-behaved.”

Kacey placed her small front legs up on the side of the bed and held out a small carton of fresh blueberries. “Good, ‘cause I brought you a snack for good luck!”

Jeremy smiled with delight.

The rozenich leaned against the bed and gave her companion a gentle scratch on the head as he graciously ate his blueberries. Without the man’s uniform, his dark-feathered face was revealed to have a bright red mask surrounding two shimmering green eyes; albeit, one was unfortunately nearly swollen shut.

Satisfied that her companion was faring well, she turned to face the doctor. “Has Pedgy been up here to visit him yet?”

    “No, unfortunately not,” Phyllis said tiredly. “He called this morning to see how he was doing but nothing in person. Have you seen him?”

She shook her head. “No. We’ve been trying to give him his space. At least, Harlie keeps forcing me to. I’m a little worried about him, though.”

The doctor gave a sigh. “Me too. He wasn’t acting like himself when he came in with Mr. Flinn. Knowing him, he’s probably taking what happened a lot harder than he wants to admit. He’s always been that way.”

Linda cocked her head to the side. “How long have you known him?”

    “Oh, years! We met when we were both in University. Entirely different fields of course: I was in medicine and he was in engineering. He was incredibly talented, even back then. He’s the one who crafted these for me, granted, they were not as nice back then as they are now…” She pulled back her sleeve to reveal the mechanical prosthetics she had for arms. She wiggled her fingers and the artificial tendons squirmed like piano strings inside the clear protective tubing.

Kacey gave an ecstatic “whoah” before rushing over to inspect them herself. The little girl’s sights then shifted up to the snake’s face. “How come you need fake arms in the first place? Did you lose yours?”

    “Ah, no. You see, some of us animals were born with more, um… feral-isque qualities,” she said as she pushed her sleeve back down. “That is why Arpeggio looks the way he does and I, well, was born without arms. Just like a feral snake.”

    “Are there a lot of animals like you guys?”

    “Yes. Though, comparatively it’s a much smaller percentage. We’re considered disabled in a lot of professions. I surely wouldn’t have been able to achieve my career without prosthetics. I had various ones before these, but Arpeggio’s designs were revolutionary. He changed so many lives during that time… I wish he would have stayed with it.”

A surprised look fell on Linda’s face and her maw parted as if to question further. She appeared to think her words over, her eyes fidgeting. Ultimately, she chose to keep her inquiries to herself. “I never knew any of that. Your people sure are interesting.”

The doctor laughed again. Her tongue flicked. “Well, I suppose that’s up for debate. But yes, I came to work with Arpeggio when he started his current business. He’s still as determined as he was back then, but just the same his nerves haven’t changed much either.”

Linda’s eyes trailed away as she thought this new information over. She gave her aracari companion another loving scratch on the head. He seemed to understand her concern and began to sign to her with his unscathed right hand.

    “Go… see… Go see him? Pedgy, you mean?”

He rattled.

    “I dunno. I don’t want him getting mad at me again or hear Harliebear complain if he finds out.”

Jeremy’s single clear green eye fell. The doctor perked up in his place. “I would very much like to hear from him too. You’d be doing us both a favor if you could try to weasel in there and see how he’s doing. You can even tell Mr. Mercer I told you to do it since I’m too busy tending to Mr. Flinn.”

    “Hm. Alright, that sounds like a good enough excuse to me,” the woman said as she brought herself to her feet. She eyed her small assistant. “Gumdrop, you stay here.”

    “Aww, but I wanna see Pedgy too!”

The snake doctor objected. “If he’s really not feeling well, it might be best to limit the faces he sees.”

    “Yeah, but my face is cuter!”

The rozenich gave an amusing shake of her head and departed, not waiting for the child to give another response. She could hear her little toes stomping on the tile floor as the door clicked behind her.

    “Come on, hon, just this once?” Linda begged.

A gruff looking guard sat with crossed arms in a chair outside Arpeggio’s living quarters, the same guard who had escorted the woman out of Arpeggio’s office all those weeks ago after “the touching incident”. He was much heavier built than the typical guard and his goggles were pushed up onto his forehead to reveal a blue face and a hardened pair of brown eyes. A cigarette was lit and hanging from the corner of his long, stark black beak.

He replied to her with a gravelly voice. “Nah.”

    “Come ooon, Craig,” she said again, her tone getting desperate. “Did he seriously say he didn’t want me in specifically or are you just being a big bully?”

    “Both,” was all he said. His expression never changed.

    “But this is orders from Doctor Phyllis! I have to go see him… or else!”

    “She can come see ‘im ‘erself.”

    “UGGH!”

Linda turned around and began to pace in a line, her mind thinking of ways she could manipulate the guard. What was Arpeggio’s deal, anyway? She knew he was not happy with her the last time they had spoken, but would he really ban her from seeing him? Craig seemed serious and genuine in his remarks, which only made convincing him otherwise all the more difficult. She supposed she could always bite him, but there was really no necessity to do that. If she was going to bite, there needed to be a reason. Besides, the toucan was stronger than her, even if she had sharper and pointier appendages than he did.

    “Okay, okay, how about this…” she said as she pointed her white claws back at him. “If you let me in I’ll… I’ll… touch your back!”

He looked at her and slowly blinked, unconvinced.

    “Dare I say, I’ll even… let you touch… my back! Yeah! How about that?”

He huffed. “I ain’t into women.”

    “For the Great Egg’s sake!” she swore and furiously kicked at the dirt.

With no more suggestions coming his way, the toucan asked a question of his own. “Why the doc wanna see ‘im for, anyway?”

The woman’s plumage lowered. “No one’s seen him in days. Phyllis said he wasn’t acting right the day Jeremy got hurt, and he hasn’t come by to visit him either. I mean, you’ve seen him, is he acting weird?”

    “Sounded fine to me.”

    “Are you sure? Really sure?”

Craig took in a deep breath of air, pulling in a portion of the cigarette with it. He pulled it out of his beak and let the stream of smoke filter out. He leaned forward in the chair. “If I let ya in, ya better not make ‘im irritable. I ain’t up to dealin’ with ‘is preppy boy shit again.”

    “I’ll try,” was all she said.

The guard gave a motion with a thumb to go inside as he leaned back. Linda’s feathers raised happily, and she skipped a little when she ventured up to the door. “Thanks, hon!”

The rozenich wasted no time and quickly made her way up the elevator to the second floor. When the doors opened, she was greeted by the distinctive striped face of an equine.

    “Oh! ‘Ello there, dear,” the zebra maid said to her.

    “Hey, Wanda! Have you seen Pedgy today?”

The equine shook her head. “Nu uh, not today. Saw him briefly yesterday, though.”

    “Did you?” she asked with surprise. “How was he?”

The zebra nervously pawed the floor with a hoof. “He, uh… I dunno. A little unkempt.”

    “What does…?”

    “You’ll see. I dunno how bird’s work. Maybe you’ll know.”

Linda, perplexed, watched as the four-legged animal entered the elevator and disappeared. Unsure of what to expect, the woman pushed her uncertainties aside and made her way to the door of Arpeggio’s office. She found her footsteps slowing to a quiet pace as she realized there was no light creeping from under the door. Was he asleep already?

She gave a hardy knock on the heavy door.

    “Who is it?” Arpeggio’s voice called from within.

    “It’s me!” Linda said, not bothering to address herself.

There was a pause before he replied. “How did you get in here this time?”

    “Craig let me in.”

    “Who?”

    “The guard. But it’s not his fault, Phyllis sent me.”

The parrot did not say anything. Linda could hear him scuffling about, making a strange but oddly familiar sound. Is he… scratching?

After a time, he replied. “I’m not up for visitors right now. What did Phyllis want from me? If she needs something, she knows she can just call.”

    “She wanted me to check up on you in person. I just came back from visiting Jeremy,” she said, getting to the point in fear he would send her away. “He also wanted me to come see if you were alright.”

    “Jeremy wanted to see if I was all right?” Arpeggio asked in disbelief. “If anyone needs checking up on, it’s him, not me.”

She heard that distinctive noise again. The sound forced her to scratch her own neck uncomfortably. “Yeah, but he’s worried. Actually, we’re all kind of worried. Kacey is too. Phyllis said you haven’t visited Jeremy at all since the accident.”

    “Just because I haven’t visited does not mean I don’t care.”

    “I never said you didn’t.”

Another pause.

    “Pedgy?” she asked when he said nothing else. “Are you okay?”

She could hear him scoffing. “I’m fine, Ms. Givington. I am just… busy. I have a lot of things to tend to. A lot of… deadlines. I don’t have spare time to come visit, that’s all.”

    “I’m not sure I believe you,” she said, voice raising. “Can I come in?”

    “No!” he suddenly spat, panic in his voice.

    “Please? Is something…?”

    “Nothing is wrong!” he said quickly. “Stay out there!”

    “I’m coming in.”

She grabbed the handle and pushed the door open, admittedly surprised it was left unlocked. The room was completely consumed in darkness, even the curtains to the windows drawn closed, save for a tiny sliver of light where the two ends met. As she entered the room, her blue eyes adjusting to the surroundings, she just barely caught glimpse of Arpeggio’s long emerald tail slipping into the covered cage-like den of his bed.

As she took another step inside, she noticed something odd about the floor: it was covered in small golden and green feathers. It both surprised and frightened her. Is… is he sick like Kacey thought?

    “Pedgy? What’s going on? Why’re you hiding?”

    “Go away!” he said, desperation evident in his voice.

Undeterred, Linda bent down beside his bed-stand. She could hear the subtle sounds of the bird moving around inside. “I’m gonna peek in there, so if you’re doing something weird…”

    “Do not look in here.”

    “I’m gonna look in there.”

    “Linda!”

His demands fell on deaf ears as the woman tentatively peered into the bird’s cubby hole. It was even darker inside, but she could still manage to make out Arpeggio with his back turned to her. From what she could tell, he was not wearing his usual black suit vest or colorful bowtie. Strewn along the bottom of the bed’s lining were an abundance of feathers.

    “Jeez, are you building a nest in here? This is what my bed looks like when I’m about to pop out a fat egg.”

    “Go away,” he said and looked away from her. “Don’t… don’t look at me like this.”

She did not understand what he meant. “Is it ‘cause you’re naked? Cause I mean, it’s not like that matters. You never wear pants anyway. Plus, it’s not like I ever wear—”

    “No, do not be absurd!”

    “Are you molting? It’s okay if you are, it’s nothing to be embarrassed about. I mean, rozenich molt too.”

Arpeggio did not answer her. He turned his head upside down and furiously rubbed at his neck with his claws. His eyes were screwed shut as if he were in pain. Linda noticed this, and her own gaze filled with concern. She stuck her head further in.

    “Do you need help? I can scratch you if you want.”

    “I am not molting. And even if I was, I would not ask for your help.”

A figment of anger welled inside of her but quickly faded. What was the use in getting angry with him? It would solve nothing, and she knew it. The woman spoke to him again in a softened tone. “Honey, is there something going on with you?”

Arpeggio eyed her sharply. She spotted the golden chain from his monocle dangling with no place to attach. “Yes, Ms. Givington, there’s a lot going on right now. A lot of things I am not in the mood to discuss openly, especially not with you. Furthermore, I really have no time for your prying.”

    “But—"

    “Do not make me call the guard in here to take you out!”

Linda’s ears fell back and she felt a frown pull onto her beak. “Pedgy, sometimes you can be such a little brat!”

The bird said nothing else to her as she left the sanctity of his bed and stood up. She took a quick scan around the room before returning to the door. She listened for him to say something more, hoping desperately that he would call her back and listen to reason.

Of course, he never did.

Reluctantly, she left the room, sighing as she did so. “I’ll let everyone know you’re okay, I guess.”

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 16

The days had been long as Arpeggio worked steadily away in his workshop, mostly in isolation. His mind had not treated him well since the accident and he found it best to keep himself distracted by working without interruption. As lonely as it had been, at times, without his aracari companion there to do his bidding, he had certainly gotten a lot more done than he would have otherwise. In the short time span he had already built himself a new scooter to replace the one that had been destroyed, drawn out new blueprints, and commenced work modifying the Clockwerk parts to best accommodate what had been asked of him by his fellow gang members.

Dimitri’s were completed first: printing plates. Of all the things, the bird scoffed. There was little he had to do to adjust the tail feathers for this request. Separate them, rig up the connectors, prep the surface. The actual imprinting of the currency was out of his capabilities; Dimitri was the counterfeiter, he’d know how to handle it.

He remembered how relieved he had felt sending the feathers off, and heartbroken all in one. They were gone, out of his sights… out of his control. The mere act of parting with them unnerved him more than he thought. Despite it, he had to admit the modification process had been easy, and it fueled him to continue to his next task straight away.

    “You should really take it easy,” Doctor Phyllis had told him over the phone. He had forbidden her from visiting him in person after the day Linda had stormed in. “I know how attached you get to these things. You’re going to overwork yourself again.”

He had replied to her with a calm and confident, “Don’t worry about me.”

Despite his sureness, Rajan’s parts had proven more difficult than Dimitri’s. The feline had not told him what he had planned to use the wings for, instead simply requesting that they be renovated as they were. Simple enough, so he thought, but that task was easier said than done. Much of the wings’ metal plumage had been destroyed in the volcano the parts had been excavated from. It would take Arpeggio time to artfully build the pieces back to their former glory.

    “I shouldn’t bother making these perfect,” he said out loud. “Bloody cat wouldn’t know the difference if I sculpted them out of polymer and spray-painted them silver.”

He had huffed and paused to pick at the feathers of his chest with his curved beak. He winced as a golden feather was plucked out without a moment’s hesitation. His blue eyes followed it intently as it slowly descended to the messy floor below.  

    “But… who am I kidding?” He peered up at the great expanse of wings propped before him. “If you’re not perfect the first time I don’t think I’ll be able to forgive myself.”

Despite his best effort, he had not been able to complete the reconstruction of the wings that day. After two days, he felt his progress slow to a crawl. He simply did not have the energy to achieve the quality he had expected of himself. It was decided to temporarily move on.

Clockwerk’s heart… that was child’s play. Rajan simply wished to use the artificial organ as a pump for the irrigation system of his spice plant facility. Arpeggio had created similar structures before out of much less complex material: surely this would be no different.

The parrot stood on the table before the metal organ, which sat within a contraption used to hold it steady. It had been carefully sliced in half to make studying it easier, the intricate innards a maze of wires and fused pieces. Arpeggio doodled what he observed in a small sketchbook; the drawings were sloppy compared to his usual sketches, but for some reason his feet did not want to cooperate with him.

Once again, he had to pause his work to idly pick at his aching body. His wings had been wrapped in protective cloth, but it did not stop him from trying his best to pick through it. With a dissatisfied huff, he pulled himself away. He watched as the heart thumped rhythmically as he turned on a machine to test it. His stern eyes focused in on every moving piece down to the life-like replacement arteries.

   Fascinating… he thought, his mind wandering.

Content with his accomplishments, the parrot pulled his protective goggles down over his face and brought out his welding iron from a compartment within the table top. He slowly and carefully began to connect the puzzle pieces back together.

The shimmering sparks that flew out dazzled his focus, burning his eyes almost as if he were staring straight into the sun. His wings began to shake, forcing the iron to lose steadiness. He stopped.

    Come on now, Arpeggio, a little bit more.

He pulled in a breath and ventured in again, the blue flame from his iron hot against his irritated feathers. Things were going well; he had finally been able to weld a couple pieces successfully together. Yet, the sparks that flew out slowly began to draw his attention away once more. There were so many sparks. Were they… doubling? Tripling? Was he… welding the right piece on? His vision blurred into a mess of bright white static.

Once again, he had to stop. He shut off his iron and removed his goggles to give his sore eyes a deep rub with a shivering wing. They were panged and bloodshot from lack of sleep. What did he expect? He had no time to waste. Sleep would come when he deserved it…

He sighed and shut off the machine that forced the heart to pump. His gaze remained still on the part as it slowed down to a complete stop.  I’m going to do more damage… more damage means more time… more time means missed deadlines…

His own organic heart began to thump. No! No he had to keep going! He had to push further, had to get the work done. Every hour he chose to stay idle was an hour lost. Sure, he could care less if his associates griped about things being late, but it was the principle of the matter! If he was not working, he would just be sitting in his room doing nothing. Doing nothing but thinking. Thinking about…

    Come on, now, let’s get to it. The faster you finish, the faster you can rest! He stood there, taking in slow, steady breaths to calm his rapid heartbeat. He began to furiously bite at his chest again. But what if I can’t? What if I screw something up?

    No! No, you’d never! You’re careful. Your skills cannot be matched!

    Yes, yes, but every artist makes mistakes…

He lifted a foot to grab his pencil. It was shaking too. Had it been doing that? Was that why his sketches were so awful?

    Let’s just… put the heart aside for now. Perhaps we should… peek at the eyes? Yes.

He set the pencil down and hopped onto his perch. His legs were wobbly. With some struggle, he managed to climb down to the floor. A couple stray feathers were strewn about, but Arpeggio waddled past them and over to the palette that still held the majority of the Clockwerk parts. The owl’s head remained in the same place it had been since it arrived; it had just begun to collect remnants of dust from settling. The eyes, however, were still as golden as they were when the parrot first saw them. The Contessa only wanted them tidied up, just as Rajan requested the wings. Unlike the latter, they were much smaller and would not be nearly as difficult. They had some damage, yes, but not to the degree of the wings.

He suddenly began to stagger as he walked. The clarity he once held in his head was fading in place of a threatening sense of vertigo. He stopped and gave himself time to focus. Not now, he thought, I need to work…

He began again and once more he staggered. There was a drowsy drunkenness in how he waltzed, and the fear in his heart surged when he realized he suddenly did not know where he was. Everything was fading into blackness.

    Where…?

    What…?

He briefly caught sight of two golden orbs staring back at him before he felt his weakened body fall and everything became silent.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 17

    “I told you this would happen,” Dr. Phyllis scolded, the piercing yellow of her own eyes flashing at him.

Arpeggio sighed and did not meet her gaze. “I would have been fine. You should have just left me there.”

    “Left you?” she huffed. “Laying in a heap in a musty workshop? Don’t be daft, Arpeggio. You were so disoriented you couldn’t even speak!”

The bird raised his head from within his bed’s cubby hole, the blanket that had been laid over him sliding off his neck. He did not honestly remember how he had gotten there or who had put him inside. Had he done it himself? How many people had seen him?

Where… where were the Clockwerk parts?

    “I… need to go back to work.”

    “You need to remain exactly where you are!” Phyllis said angrily, her tongue flicking out rapidly. “I order you to stay here and get some rest. Twenty-four hours minimum.”

    “But I—“

    “Minimum. Forty-eight preferably.”

He shook his head. “I cannot do that, Phyllis. There’s too much to do. If I wait that long…”

    “Nothing will happen if you wait. Those robotic doo-dads will be sitting in the same place a day from now as they were when you left them. Don’t worry, the guards are making sure the building is kept safe. Honestly, it’s a good thing you’re so worried about thieves; it was those cameras that told the guards you had passed out in the first place.”

He grumbled from embarrassment. How could he be so stupid? Letting his men see him in such a weakened state… They already spread rumors about his inabilities. Now they had even more fuel for the fire.

    “You are overreacting, Phyllis,” he said as he attempted to stand up. The act alone made him dizzy.

    “Overreacting? Then explain to me this then!” The snake carefully, but urgently, pulled back the blanket to reveal the top of the bird’s wings. The protective cloth he had covering them was removed, revealing a red, sore patch of skin completely devoid of feathers. The bird eyed it with discontent before trailing down to his bare, golden chest, the feathers there rifled around to mask a series of equally uncomfortable bald spots. “You’re plucking again. You haven’t done this is years. Care to explain?”

Arpeggio’s brows furrowed but he could not find any proper words to retort. He merely sat down and pulled the blanket back over his mutilated body.

Phyllis angrily flicked her tongue again before responding. “You’re going to rest before this gets any worse. I’m sending in Ms. Givington to watch over you and make sure you listen to orders.”

Arpeggio cringed. “You most certainly are not!”

    “Yes, I am. I’d do it myself, but I have a handful of sick rozenich to tend to right now on top of making sure Mr. Flinn doesn’t get in anymore trouble. I know you don’t like it when I take over like this, but I’m going to make certain you follow my orders.”

    “But… must you bring in her?”

    “She’s the only one who’s equally as hard-headed as you. If she can’t stop you, no one can. I’ll check on you again tomorrow.”

Without saying anything further, the snake slithered her way out of the room, bringing her portable aid kit with her. Arpeggio could not believe what had just occurred. He was being told off by the doctor of all people! He would have fought the case harder if his brain had any semblance of normal functionality left. He grumbled and plucked a fresh feather off his already aching and balding shoulder. The act did not so much as faze him.

    Who am I kidding? Phyllis always knows best. Damn, bloody, stupid...

A ghostly figure appeared in the darkened doorway. Arpeggio looked up from his picking to see Linda standing there, a wary smile on her pink and white face. “Hey, Pedgy. You ready for a sleepover?”

The parrot continued his incessant plucking. You’re going to pay for this, Phyllis.

    “Hey, quit doing that!” Linda chastised the bird as she entered the room.

Arpeggio pulled his beak away from his reddening skin to angrily look up at her. Even if he had not mustered the courage to argue with the doctor, the least he could do was argue with his number one nuisance. “Don’t you dare try to tell me what to do! Phyllis may have ordered you to watch me, but I am not some sort of belligerent child that needs to be monitored. I am a grown man!”

    “You look like you’re halfway to being someone’s Thanksgiving turkey if you ask me,” she said sternly.

    “What the hell do you know about Thanksgiving or turkeys?”

    “I lived in the states before I came here, duh.”

    “You’re not even from this planet.”

    “Yeah, but I’m not stupid. Stupid like a bird plucking out his own feathers!”

Arpeggio’s blood began to boil. He stood up sharply to face her, not caring if his mangled body was exposed. “H-How! How dare you have the gall to call me stupid! Do you have any idea how vast my intellect truly is? Why! I could run circles around even the kurri if I had to!”

    “That’s cool. At least the kurri are already mostly bald.”

    “You! Y-You…!” he tried to muster up the words to argue back, but his head had grown light from his sudden exertion. The visual of the white rozenich began to split into pairs and he felt his stomach drop—along with his body.

    “Pedgy! Be careful!” he heard the woman cry out, her feisty tone quickly replaced with one of immense concern and surprise. The parrot suddenly felt her scaly hands grabbing hold of his frail form as he collapsed forward, tumbling completely out from his bed. He stiffened as he felt the woman’s arms grab tightly around him.

    “Let go of me at once!” he screeched and began to furiously beat his wings. They may have been skinny and disheveled, but they were still relatively powerful, and he could feel them make contact against Linda’s hard beak with a loud THUNK.

She did not drop him. If anything, her grip only tightened. “Quit that! You’re gonna hurt yourself!”

    “Release me immediately!”

    “I will if you calm down!”

Arpeggio did not comply. His vision had gone blurry and his mind was hollow. He felt as if he would faint and vomit all at once. He attempted to kick at the white alien with his clawed feet, but she had him firmly pressed against her torso, trapping them from doing little more than meagerly pinching her.

Infuriated, the bird angrily squawked at her. “Don’t you tell me to calm down, you damn bitch!”

Once the sound of a feral growl erupted from the woman’s throat, Arpeggio knew he had made a mistake. A nerve-rattling serpent’s hiss escaped her lips before the parrot felt a sharp force bear down against his yellow beak. The clatter of teeth against keratin forced his thrashing wings to come to a direct halt. He felt his heart palpitate wildly in his heaving chest as he came face to face with a very angry rozenich, his beak held strongly in her jaws.

    You did it now, Arpeggio. You just couldn’t keep it shut, could you?

He struggled to pry himself away, but he was not strong enough to succeed. Should he say something? Apologize? Tell her to let him go? His lower mandible was free from her grasp, but he found the fear in his body too overpowering to say anything. He began to shiver.

To his relief, she released him, leaving only a trail of spittle in her jaws’ wake. To equal surprise, her expression shifted rapidly to one of worry as she spoke to him. “Shit, I’m sorry, Pedgy! Are you okay?”

She set him down on the floor. His feet tried to make sturdy enough contact to hold him up, but as soon as she let go of him, he fell in a ragged heap. The woman released a concerned little gasp as she tried to help him back up.

    “What’s happenin’ in ‘ere?” came a confused, gravelly voice behind them. Both Linda and Arpeggio turned to see a broad-shouldered guard standing at the door, his expression uninterested but nevertheless focused on the two sitting on the floor.

    “Everything is all right,” Arpeggio said, shaky but calm as he tried again to lift himself up. “We simply had a… minor disagreement.”

Linda quickly piped in after him, “Yeah, it’s nothing, Craig.”

The guard eyed them, unconvinced, but he did not question it further. He turned around and vanished into the dark hallway, bringing the door to a close after him.

Left alone once more, the rozenich returned her attention to the smaller man and helped raise him up. This time, he did not detest it. Before she could say anything, he spoke up first. “I… I apologize for my choice of words. I was being a little rash and… I was not thinking clearly.”

    “I mean, you did fall unconscious earlier. I guess I can’t really blame you if you aren’t feeling too hot.”

    “Still, I probably deserved that,” he said with a half-chuckle. “At least I can say I was finally on the receiving end of your infamous bites.” 

The woman nervously smiled back at him, but it was brief. Arpeggio watched as her ears lowered, and her hands loosened from his frame. She leaned over to pull out the blanket from his bed opening and quickly wrapped it around him. As much as the bird hated the idea of being babied—he was a grown man, after all—he allowed it, if only because he did not have the energy to detest.

    “Do you want me to try and put you back in your bed?” Linda asked, tone soft and motherly.

The bird shook his head. “No, that’s all right. I’ll stay here for a little while. I’ve slept in more uncomfortable places.”

    “Okay,” she replied, uneasily. “I’ll be here if you need anything.”

The two said nothing more. Arpeggio nestled his body into the heavy blanket and twisted his head around to rest it within what was left of his feathered wing. He released a long, ragged sigh. It’s for the best, old chap…

It did not take him long to drift into a deep slumber.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 18

    “Pedgy, stop!”

Arpeggio slowly awoke to Linda’s voice speaking to him softly, but briskly. He did not pull himself into full wakefulness until he felt her subtly shaking him. His head drowsily lifted, and his eyelids parted open just enough to see the woman’s white form in front of him. “Wh-what? What’s going on?”

    “You were plucking in your sleep.”

Arpeggio peered down to see a fresh spot of red on what would have been the back of his wing-like hand. He could still taste the remnants of feather in his mouth and he winced.

The parrot looked around to see the room still encased in darkness, but something about it felt warmer than it had before. The blinds to the office were still closed and the tiny stream of light breaking through was a distinctive pinkish-orange. He must have managed to sleep through the night after all.

When he turned his focus back on Linda, he realized she was now wearing an article of clothing that she had not been wearing previously: a bright pink hoodie with the word “SPORTS!” written on it in bold, blocky text.

    “What on earth are you wearing?” he asked her.

She looked down at the clothing and shrugged. “I figured it would make you more comfortable if I wore something since you’re the one being naked this go around.”

    “Ah, right. How… thoughtful of you. When did you have time to fetch that?”

    “I had to run out about an hour ago to take care of my usual business. You were sound asleep, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt. I had Craig watch you in the meantime.”

    “Who?”

    “The guard. Jeez, you really ought to know their names by now.”

The bird was going to protest, but the woman continued before he could. As she spoke, she brought out a pair of tubes from her shirt pocket, both covered in prescription labels. “I also stopped by to tell Phyllis how you were doing. She wanted me to put these on you.”

Arpeggio eyed them skeptically. “What are they?”

    “Medicine for your wounds. One’s supposed to treat them and the other’s supposed to keep you from biting yourself.”

He frowned. A repellant spray? Of all the things! They were treating him like some feral animal who had no control of himself!

The woman smirked when she noticed her companion’s annoyed expression. “She told me you’d probably complain, so she said for me to tell you to suck it up and follow orders.”

    “Of course she’d say that. Fine, then, hand them over.”

She rejected the bird’s outstretched foot and shook her head. “Let me do it.”

    “I’m not letting you touch me! Remember last time?”

    “This is different! Besides, you won’t do it right!”

    “I think I’m perfectly capable of doing this simple task, dear.”

    “And I think you won’t be able to reach half the spots, hon.”

His brows furrowed and the blue feathers on his head raised ever so slightly. He could not remember much from the previous day’s events, but he did recall Phyllis’s words about his stubbornness. Linda was not going to let him off easy; he really had no choice in the matter, nor the energy to deal with it if he wanted to.

    “All right, then. But do not dare get the impression that I am going to allow you to get cozy with me after this is over.”

    “I don’t think putting stinky lotion on your bald spots is going to be an attractive activity.”

    “Oh, just hush and do it already.”

The parrot tossed the remainder of the blanket off and straightened up. His body felt stiff and achy from his hard sleep—he must have been more exhausted than he thought. He waddled closer to the woman as she sat down on the floor next to him. The first place she aimed for was the recently plucked spot on his wing. She eyed it inquisitively, almost with a wonderment, as if examining the bird’s anatomy doubled as a source of enrichment. She grabbed at his hand to stretch the wing open so she could apply the ointment. As she did so, it was revealed the condition of his wound was much bigger than it first appeared. Much of the upper covert feathers were completely missing over the expanse of roughly six inches. Some places he had dug out so many layers that the stem-like bases of his larger feathers were visible.

Arpeggio felt embarrassment creep over him as she rubbed the chilly cream on his sensitive skin. He knew he was plucking but… he was unaware he had done it so badly. He could not remember doing it to such a degree since… since…

    “Are you okay?” the woman asked him, pausing her treatment. “You’re breathing heavy.”

    “I just have a lot on my mind is all. This episode could not have come at a worse time.”

    “Phyllis said you get stressed a lot.”

    “She says a lot of things.”

The rozenich finished with his wing and gestured with a hand for him to turn around. He complied, albeit hesitantly, to reveal the bald patches on his chest. Linda did not seem the least bothered doctoring him up, but he could not find the courage to look at her as she did so.

He did notice her eyeing him with concern. “She said something to us recently about you. Something I found kind of… surprising. She said when you were younger, you used to… create things. For other animals that looked like you.”

Arpeggio ceased his fidgeting. “Yes, I did. What about it?”

    “Well, what did she mean?”

The bird shrugged. “I crafted prosthetics, mostly. I’m certain she showed you her arm mechanics? I invented products such as those. Granted, they could be used for anyone, but I focused mostly on those… less fortunate to be born on the lower end of the bipedal sliding scale. We were a severely neglected audience back then. Why, you would be appalled at the primitive designs they had for our four-legged brethren! Dreadful, really.”

    “You liked doing it, then?”

    “Well, yes, I suppose so.”

    “Then why did you stop?”

The parrot blinked. Linda was always so keen on asking just the right questions—or wrong ones depending on the context—and truth be told, Arpeggio was always mesmerized by it. No one had ever been so curious about him. Even when he had been schooling Neyla he had not been asked such things before. He did not quite know how to feel about it.

    “There were many reasons,” he began, his tired brain trying its best to form a consistent answer. “It was not a profitable business, for one. Certainly, the things I built cost a hefty amount, but my target audience could only afford so much. At the time, I was more free-spirited. I wished to make a difference, an impact. We all do that when we are young and ignorant. They say you can’t put a price on happiness and I tried to live by that. But, well, happiness can be stretched thin.”

    “But you helped a lot of people. Didn’t you?”

    “I suppose. I never counted them.”

    “Why didn’t you want to keep doing it? It sounded like they really needed you.”

Arpeggio paused to think. For once, the feeling of embarrassment drifted away, and he hardly noticed or cared about what the rozenich was doing. He opened his yellow beak to answer.

    “I spent so much time assisting others in fulfilling their worldly dreams, that I realized I had lost my initial goal of trying to help myself. I just… got tired of it all,” he sighed and shifted his weight. “I only became an engineer in the first place because I had hoped to invent something to restore my ability to fly. Something more physical, more direct. Prosthetic wings capable of flight or something absurd like that. I was a big, illogical dreamer back then, you see. I never planned to put that use towards others. So, I suppose you can say I just… ventured back to my blueprints.”

Linda’s gaze fell away from him; Arpeggio watched the emotions in her face unravel. He found reading her to be difficult, but he suspected he knew what she was thinking. He replied to her with a calm, understanding tone. “Sometimes, people aren’t meant to help others. You, for instance, are good at it: it’s in your calling. Much like how Jeremy dedicates his time to assisting me without hesitation. You know, when he’s not getting himself lit ablaze somewhere.” They both could not help but laugh at this comment.

    “I, on the other hand,” he continued, turning away from the woman again, “was not meant for that. I… I have bigger things to work on. I need time to… focus on myself for a change.”

    “But you’re still helping people,” she said. “You’re helping your business partners right now. That’s the whole reason you got yourself so sick trying to finish things for them.”

He laughed a little. “That is merely being a team player, dear. That and… well… “

Arpeggio had to silence himself. It only took one slip of the tongue to spill too much. He knew better. He cleared his throat and continued. “I’m a bit of a perfectionist. It took its toll. I was being foolish.”

    “And the accident?”

Arpeggio’s skin ran cold. His heart began to rap in his chest and he quickly shook his head. “I… let us not discuss that right now, dear.”

The woman was surprised at this answer, but she must have recognized the panic in his tone well enough to know not to push it. She swiftly changed the subject. “You know, I can kinda understand what it’s like to want to try to change something about yourself you don’t like.”

    “Oh?” he asked as he turned around to expose his opposite wing to her.

She continued as she applied the ointment to the last affected area. “Yeah. You ever notice how I’m all white while all the other rozenich are colorful? It’s cause I’m albino.”

Arpeggio perked up and his gaze fell on her. “You are? I admit, I was a bit curious, but I never assumed…”

    “Yeah. Of course, we don’t have a name for it where I’m from. Not any kind names, anyway. I was seen as some huge weirdo growing up. I had a lot of problems when I would go on hunting trips since I’m not exactly great at camouflaging, you know?  I felt like a burden. And then when I wanted to stand out amongst the other chicks—you know, during my maturing days—I was too boring-looking, and no one paid attention to me. I tried to solve the problem by painting my feathers and wearing a lot of jewelry to make myself prettier. I even tried putting on clothes all the time when I got really desperate.”

    “Wait, so you actually have garments where you’re from?”

    “Yeah, duh. Being nude is just better. You should try it more often.”

The bird rolled his eyes.

    “Anyway, it really sucked. I didn’t start getting confident in myself until I got older. Then I just stopped caring what people thought, and if I did, I’d just bite them to make them shut up. It also helps I’m, like, ten times hotter than the other chicks now, if you know what I mean.”

    “No, I don’t know what you mean, but I’ll believe you,” he replied.

The rozenich finished tending to the bird’s wounds and set the cream aside in favor of the repellant spray. She held the bottle up to her nose and sniffed it. Immediately she reeled and began to cough uncontrollably. “You’re gonna smell great after this, Pedgy.”

    “Bollocks…”

Not bothering to detest, he allowed the woman to spray him down with the foul-smelling contents. While the scent was not particularly repulsive, it was pungent and less than ideal. “This had better do something useful!”

    “Phyllis said it’s supposed to taste really bad,” she said as she finished spraying him. “Try it out and see.”

    “No! Do not be preposterous.”

    “Okay, I’ll do it.”

To the parrot’s dismay, the rozenich grabbed his hand and promptly swiped her tongue against his freshly sprayed feathers. They both jerked back in instant disgust.

    “Christ, why did you do that?!” Arpeggio held his offended wing against his chest.

Linda coughed again and waved a hand in front of her face. Her eyes were scrunched closed and her feathers raised. “ACK! Tasted like rotten fruit! If you still pluck with that on you’re a lost cause!”

    “You are the epitome of absurdity, I hope you know that.” Arpeggio could not hold in the laugh that escaped him. The rozenich, unable to take the taste any longer, rushed to the bathroom to drown the flavor from her tongue. Arpeggio knew it was only a matter of time before he ended up doing the same.

At the very least, his body felt less sore after the impromptu treatment. Yet, he knew it gave him no excuse to defy his given orders. As much as he wished he could return to his shop and continue his work, his mind had cleared enough to understand what he had to do.

    Let’s take it easy, just this once…

He mustered what little strength he had left and climbed up into his bed. After the week he had been dealt, he deserved a satisfying, uninterrupted sleep: even if admitting that Phyllis was right hurt his pride. He did not wait for Linda to come back out before he dozed off once again.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 19

    “Arrested? Already?” the parrot questioned with surprise. Albeit, it was surprise lined with a vague sense of satisfaction.

Neyla nodded as she stood beside her avian counterpart while he toyed away in his workshop. “Two nights ago. I admit, it came about quicker than I thought. The Cooper Gang were much more… proficient than I expected.”

    “I suppose it makes sense,” he said as he fooled with one of Clockwerk’s robotic organs. “They probably want these parts more than I do. And, knowing our situation, that speaks volumes.”

    “Yes, well, even with all that, they’ve got a lot of catching up to do. Are you sure they’re going to be able to keep up?”

Arpeggio chuckled. “I don’t know, dear, you tell me. Are you not in contact with them periodically to get them on the move?”

The woman shrugged and leaned against the workshop table. “I try to point them in the right direction when I can. I mean, I had to practically tell them about the Klaww Gang’s involvement back at the museum when they discovered the Clockwerk parts were already stolen. I’m sure they would have figured it out on their own, but I like to think without me that rambling lizard would still be printing cash out in Paris right now.”

    “Yes. I suppose without you Dimitri’s arrest would have been postponed significantly. It is promising that the Coopers are managing to follow your leads thus far. Though, we best not try to speed it up too drastically. We do not want them snagging all the parts back before my airship is completed.”

    “When will that be?”

    “Another few months,” he said with confidence. “Construction is going smoothly, and it’ll be in tip top shape well before we are to make our final plans!”

Neyla watched him curiously as he turned on the machine that forced the organ he had been messing with to come alive. There was silence as they focused on the gentle pumping motion, watching as the robotic mechanism duplicated the functions of a true organic lung. The bird was so engrossed in his observations that he did not notice himself subconsciously scratching under his smock where his new feathers had begun to grow in.

    “How many parts do you have left to finish?” Neyla questioned him, forcing him out of his concentration.

He shut off the machine and wiped his oily foot on a rag. “After I complete the remaining lung, I only have my own pieces to worry about. I shipped both the Contessa’s eyes and Rajan’s parts Monday morning. Why, I wouldn’t be surprised if Rajan got his power-hungry hands on those wings about the same time Dimitri was being hauled off to his jailcell. A shame, in a way. He’s hardly had enough time to do much of anything with those tail feathers.”

The cat raised an eyebrow. “I thought you despised his tampering of the parts?”

    “Oh, certainly,” he chuffed. “But I feel that for everyone. They are fools to abuse such assets in the mundane ways that they are.”

    “They wouldn’t be so mundane if the plan they are believing was true.”

He laughed. “Yes. Quite right. I suppose if I did not tap into Clockwerk’s secrets I would be doing something equally as foolish right about now with my share.”

    “And the Cooper Gang would still be out trying to steal them.”

He smiled. The news of Dimitri’s arrest had filled the bird with a sort of joy he did not know how to describe. It was less to do with his detest for the man—though he would be lying if he said that was not relevant—and more for the fact his scheme was unfolding before him in perfect time. In part, this was due to the cunning and elusive Cooper Gang he had read about so frequently in his research.

    Who says rival gangs must all be bad?He wanted to laugh out loud. There is certainly no ill will from me as long as they remain pawns on my board.

    “Ah, Neyla,” Arpeggio began as a memory resurfaced. “I am sure the Contessa knows, considering she too was invited, but do you and your inspector partner know of Rajan’s upcoming gala?”

The feline nodded, but not without a roll of her eyes. “Unfortunately. We are meant to tag along as undercovers for both nights. Stupid old goat won’t even care that we aren’t on his list. I’m sure the more people he has to show off to the better.”

    “That’s Rajan for you.”

She relaxed, putting her elbows on the table, and turned to him. “Are you going as well?”

The parrot nervously twitched. “Me? I was invited but I doubt I’ll be going along.”

    “Why not?” she gave a happy little huff. “With luck, you might be able to witness the dumb cat’s arrest if Cooper and his shoddy tag-alongs spoil the party like I’m sure they will.”

He did not meet her gaze when he responded. “As delightful as that may be, I am not sure how well I will handle seeing him display those bloody wings. The wings I slaved over to reconstruct. Not like I’ll be receiving any credit for it; not that I’d want my name thrown out there for INTERPOL to hear.”

Neyla did not say anything, though the look in her eyes seemed to understand. “How in blazes did he get the wings and the heart, anyway?”

    “I had the wings, originally,” Arpeggio confessed, recalling the headache that was the final dispersing of the parts. He chose to deny his companion access to the information that Kacey had been the one to do the dividing. “He was only supposed to get the heart and some miscellaneous pieces. Yet, the fit he threw was too much for even myself to handle. I told him I’d trade to get him to leave me damn well alone.”

    “If it makes you feel any better, at least you can look forward to seeing the look on his face when those wings get taken from him. All the more reason you ought to go.”

    “Hm,” he considered, uncertainly. “I don’t know how safe it would be for me. You know I’m not mobile enough to slip out if your inspector friend decides to go on an arresting spree.”

    “I’ll keep her off your scent.”

    “Without looking suspicious?”

She stuck her nose up proudly. “I haven’t arisen any suspicions thus far.”

    “Cockiness comes with a price, dear,” he pointed out.

The cat did not seem effected by his words. “I know what I’m capable of. But if it would suit you better, bring a couple guards with you. Maybe that weird little mute one?”

    “I doubt Jeremy will be ready to do any protective services for me by then. He’s still healing from an… incident he fell into recently. Rather, an incident that fell on him.”

    “Isn’t he the one you talk about catching on fire all the time?”

    “Yes, he’s the one.”

    “Did he…?”

    “Surprisingly, no. I rather not discuss the details.”

The cat did not push the topic further, to his silent thanks. She scratched at her striped cheek and shrugged. “Well, you choose what’s best. I’ll continue playing dumb to Inspector Fox and the Contessa. I’ll relay any shifts in our plans to you before the gala.”

Arpeggio nodded. “And continue on with what you are doing with the Coopers too. I know how much you’d rather handle the situation yourself, but for your own safety—and the safety of our scheme—we best let them do the dirty work of retrieving the parts back. At least for as long as we can.”

Neyla did not protest, though the look in her green eyes told Arpeggio she was not pleased with it. In a way, it amused him. His protégé was so young and full of ambition, not unlike himself at her age, but the handling of it was immature and in need of nurturing. He remembered being like her once, before he realized there were better ways.

    All in time, he thought as the young woman left the workshop. You’ll understand soon enough.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 20

Arpeggio spent the waning hours of the day secluded in his office. After completing his work and seeing Neyla off, the only thing he wished to do was refresh himself. He had been resisting his natural urges to scratch and to pluck, and rejoiced in finally having his privacy. He was thankful to have managed to gather enough self-control—and find enough time to destress—in the weeks since his plucking had begun that he no longer needed the repellant spray, but it did not stop him completely.

As he began to think over Neyla’s recent conversation, he found the urge returning.

    Attending Rajan’s ball may not be a terrible idea… he told himself. It certainly could assist in rebuilding my trust with him. Particularly after… all this.

He chuckled as he contemplated it. Trust. It truly was a fickle thing, just as he had told his protégé months earlier. Was the old tiger really that stupid? Did he trust Arpeggio and the scheme he had provided to the gang thus far?

The bird chuffed as he ran his beak across one of his lengthy emerald tail feathers. Imbecile probably only wants to be in good ties with me for the end. If he believes I plan to take over Paris, he simply does not wish to be omitted.

Fools, truly fools. All of them. Domination was the least of Arpeggio’s concerns. For that matter, the same should have applied to his gang if they were even fractionally aware. What gang of their caliber operated outside of utter secrecy? INTERPOL would annihilate them if they attempted to overthrow an entire city like Paris, even with the complex plan he had been devising and relaying to them. The plan he had been keeping as quiet as he could manage. Rajan’s spice… the Contessa’s hypnosis… his own airship… he admitted, the more he thought about it, that he was surprised their incompetent minds understood it to begin with. Arpeggio felt great pride in himself for being able to convince the lot of them to trust him on that front, even if the mere idea of them carrying such a trust was beyond his own understanding.

A gentle thump sounded outside his window and he looked over to see an albino rozenich peering through the glass. For once, the bird did not carry any ill thoughts about her. It would have been rude to do so when he had specifically requested her presence.

    “Hey, hon, sorry I’m late,” Linda said as she entered the room. “I had to deal with some things.”

Arpeggio quickly noted the woman’s plumage was not as vividly white as it typically was. Instead, it was dinged in places and stained with hints of brown and pink. It reminded him an awful lot of the worn-out feathers Kacey usually had adorned to her robe. He addressed this immediately. “Good heavens, what happened to you?”

She glanced down at herself and her hand brushed over the mound of feathers on her chest. “Oh, don’t mind the mess, I was helping some people out. It got a little dirty.”

    “One could say that. But, is that… blood?”

    “A little,” she said without a change in her pleasant tune, “but don’t worry, it’s not my own.”

He squinted his eyes at her. “How does that cease my worry?”

    “It wasn’t a fight this time, I swear! We were helping the cooking staff move some of the leftover carcasses. My people don’t like to waste, so we were splitting stuff up. Some of them were still a little… fresh.”

    “Ah, I see. Well, stay over there. I just got cleaned for the night.”

She obliged him and remained near the windowsill, resting back against her fluffy tail. Seeing that she caused him no threat, Arpeggio eased himself closer to her, moving his nimble feet across his golden connecting perch. “Anyway, I’m certain you are astonished that I invited you here, for once.”

    “Not really,” she said with a grin. “I knew you’d come around eventually.”

He gave her a sharp glare.

As he found himself a comfortable spot, he anxiously looked past the woman to the balcony beyond. His neck then peered over his shoulder to make certain the door was fastened shut. Once he was content with the seclusion the two held, he continued. “I wanted to talk about a few things. Starting with that um… incident we had a few weeks back.”

    “Which?” she questioned with ignorance.

  Bollocks, why do I always have to explain this… “The, um. The day I succumbed to my… fatigue.”

The woman grew a fresh, delighted smile. It made Arpeggio wince. “Oh! Of course! How’re those bald spots healing up? Do you need more cream? I can probably get some from Phyllis real quick if you need it.”

    “No, no, I am doing quite fine in regards to that,” he took in an uneasy breath. “I just… I suppose I wanted to thank you for, well, not only tending to my welfare, but also treating me decently.”

The rozenich eyed him, expression unchanging. Her head slowly tilted in the manner that informed without words that she did not have a single idea of what he was speaking of. “How else would I have treated you? You were kind of pitiful at the time.”

    “I know. I simply appreciate the empathy, is all.”

The woman laughed cheerily. “Oh, Pedgy, don’t be goofy! That’s what friends do. I’m surprised you haven’t figured that out by now.”

Arpeggio eyed her, bewildered. Friendship? Was that what this was? It was such a strange thing to hear someone else say, let alone someone he only knew shy of a few months. He had known Neyla for longer and he would not dare consider her a “friend”.

Then again, did anyone in his life fall into that label?

    “Yes, of course. Anyway, with all that out of the way, I had something else I wanted to bring up to you. I wanted to talk with you about your, um… skills.”

    “Skills?”

    “Yes,” he cleared his throat. “I haven’t been able to get some things off my mind. The way you were able to sneak in here that night I was meeting with my crew, as example. How did you do that? I was told it was related to some sort of… distraction?”

She shrugged and repositioned herself on the windowsill. “I had Kerry chase them off and I snuck in. It wasn’t really that deep of a plan.”

    “Hm. Yes,” he moved further down the perch towards his desk. “But, you were able to sneak all the way over here without notice. That takes a lot of trickery and swiftness.”

    “I guess. I mean, it’s like I told you before, I’m not that great at camouflaging, so I have to… what’s the word?”

    “Improvise?”

    “Yeah, sure. What made you start thinking about that? That’s been forever ago.”

Arpeggio anxiously scratched at the underside of his wing. His beak fidgeted, and it took all he could to keep himself together. Was he really going to propose what he was thinking of proposing?

    You’re calling the others fools. Look in a mirror!

Yet, he continued, pushing any hesitations away. “I’m in a sort of predicament. I am planning to attend a formal event in a few weeks hosted by one of my business partners—the tiger, which I am certain you remember—but there may be some dangers for me there. I really do not wish to go into specifics but… let me just say there are a handful of folks there who may wish to pick a fight with me.”

The rozenich perked a brow. “A fight? With you? That’s not even fair. I could snap you like a twig if I really wanted to.”

Arpeggio shivered. Retaining his composure, he went on. “Right… Well, I could bring guards with me to rectify this problem, but I would not say they are qualified for quick getaways and being sleuths.”

    “Are you…?” she started. She leaned forward, expression reeking with confusion. “Are you asking me to protect you? To be like a body guard or something?”

    You’ve really opened a can of worms on this one…

    “Potentially,” he said, attempting as best he could to keep his tone professional. “I know that rozenich are not allowed to leave the kurri camps, and the chances of you even being permitted to come with me is likely incredibly slim. But if it were possible…”

There was excitement in the woman’s posture suddenly. The feathered tip of her long tail flicked in delight, though she managed to keep herself calm as she replied. “It’s happened before. I mean, them letting us out. They let Harlie and I out a few times when we were back in the states. I mean, it might take some convincing, but it could be workable so long as I keep my tracker on.”

    “Your…?”

The woman raised her leg to show off the silver band that was locked onto her ankle, just above her hind toe. It was decorated in small jewels and stickers and Arpeggio felt idiotic to have never took notice of it. He had registered it was there, but never bothered to observe it past its mere existence.



Linda went on to explain. “It’s a tracking device. It lets the kurri know where we are in case we wander off. If we try to leave the camp it’ll send headquarters an alert for them to go fetch us. I’ve set it off I don’t know how many times.”

    “How are you able to leave, then?”

    “They can turn it off,” she explained. “The alarm, anyway. I’m pretty sure it still tracks.”

The information intrigued the small parrot. The device would surely put a damper on things if he chose to continue with the plan—if the plan could even come into fruition in the first place. While the kurri minded their own business when it came to his affairs, the last thing he wanted was them prying into the whereabouts of Rajan’s palace. If they learned of any incidents that occurred there, his entire operation could be at stake.

His eyes fell back to the windows. Out in the fields he could see the structure of his airship in genuine, true shape. The foundation for the engine rooms, the gaps where the cells would be, the winding paths that would connect platforms, all of it he could see before his own eyes. As much as he admitted he did want to see the look on Rajan’s face when he fell to his ruin, the risk of losing everything did not sit well with him.

Still, there were always ways around it. Ways his mind had already started to concoct…

    “I see,” he said, hiding his conniving tone. “That really wouldn’t be a problem. This is a standard trip, really nothing to worry about for you. It’s myself that holds concern.”

The twinkle in Linda’s eyes was almost uncanny. “I can try asking and see what they say.”

    “All right, then,” he said with a nod. The doubts had already begun to rise. He had to play this game carefully. A new thought then occurred to him. “Ah, and… one more thing.”

The overzealous look dwindled in Linda’s eyes and she looked at him with interest.

    “How… how is Jeremy?” he reluctantly asked.

An ear twitched. “Oh. He’s doing fine. He settled back into his room and he seems a lot happier. Have you not seen him since he moved out of the clinic?”

    “Regrettably, no,” Arpeggio rubbed the feathers on his neck with a wing. He did not meet her gaze. “There has been a lot going on lately on my end, not to mention it would be abnormal for me to visit a worker in their personal quarters.”

The rozenich’s black lips pulled into an empathetic smile. “But you must miss him, right?”

Arpeggio thought to answer with an affirming “yes”, but there was resistance. His small chest puffed out and he glowered. “Miss him? Don’t be ridiculous. It is simply difficult doing things without him. It is troublesome finding adequate help around here.”

The rozenich shook her head. “If you say so. Anyway, I need to shove off before Gumdrop gets into a mishap. I’m starting to worry Jeremy’s bad habits are going to rub off on her.”

    “Very well.”

    “But, before I go,” she began as she stood up and turned towards the open window, “we should talk more often, like how we did the night of the ‘incident’. It was kind of nice getting to know more about you. You’re, like, ten times less of a stuck-up asshole than I thought you were.”

She hopped out of the window and off the balcony in a few rapid leaps. She was gone in a flash right before his eyes. He gave a discontented snort before turning his back to the outside world. Such a troublesome nuisance, she is. I don’t know why I bother. He sighed as he sat in the silence of his room. The loneliness had still not provided him the comfort it once did.  

Why did he bother?

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 21

    “Y-You?! You want to do what?!” Harlie exclaimed, nearly dropping his electronic pad in the process.

    “I know you don’t like the idea, but I’m going to try for it anyway,” Linda said, walking past her confused companion. He stalled in following her, shock filling his wide eyes. When his senses came back to him, he swiftly bolted after her.

    “You can’t do that! Linda, listen to me!”

The woman was promptly stopped before the entrance to a small, reflective building that was set not far from the rozenich homes. A small kurri came squeezing out of the door that Harlie blocked, gave them a quick glare, then pranced off. Harlie extended his arms out on either side as his albino companion stood tall and proud before him.

The feathers on the male’s crest began to raise. “Did you not listen to a word I said before? Mr. Arpeggio is trouble. I have told you that so many times that I’m tired of it at this point. I’ve been tolerating you pestering him since he hasn’t seemed angry with you lately, but there’s no way I’m going to let you go with him off the worksite!”

    “Harbear, don’t be crazy,” Linda said, her lips pulled into a frown. “He’s not going to do anything. He’s a little guy and he’s not very strong. I mean, jeez, he could maybe bite off my finger at worst but he’s too proper for stuff like that.”

    “You don’t have to be physically strong to hurt people, Linda,” he said harshly. “But if you want to go by that logic, then look around you!”

Linda followed Harlie’s extended claws to the expanse of land beyond. Her blue eyes ignored the towering structure of the growing ship and fell upon the patrolling figures before it. Toucan guards wandered past, sometimes individually and other times in pairs, half of them equipped with their heavy silver weapons upon their shoulders. Linda had never seen one of them use the weapons and, in truth, she did not know much about how they worked, but she assumed they could pack a hefty punch, or worse. More than likely much, much worse.

She turned back to her partner. “Yeah? So? I know half of the guards already and most of them are nice enough. They wouldn’t hurt me either.”

    “They would if Arpeggio told them to. Don’t act like they wouldn’t.”

    “But some of them are my friends—”

    “Money is more powerful than friendship, sometimes, and Arpeggio signs their paychecks. I know you don’t understand how that works but believe me, it’s nasty and you don’t want to interfere with it.”

She huffed. Why was he always like this? Always trying to get in her way and parent here. They were equals! She knew the man did not think himself better than her, but he certainly did not believe she was as responsible. In truth, she understood and even believed the same. Things always turned out for her, though, so why would they not this time, too?

    “Pedgy needs me to go,” she argued, her small ears falling back as her tone deepened. “I can’t not try. Besides, you know how much I want to get out of here. It’s killing me being cooped up for so long! Honestly, I’d do anything at this point to get a break. Now, move.”

Harlie may have been the more responsible of the two, but Linda was the strongest. She shoved the man aside and entered the small building without much difficulty. He quickly followed her, his feathers ruffled and puffed out in irritation.

The inside of the building was just as pristine on the inside as it was on the exterior. The walls were a sandy color with colorful ornate features that appeared to be made of stained glass. It was small, only about as large as an average bedroom, and had little within it except for shelves on either side with neat stacks of untouched charts and electronic pads that were docked in charging stations. Another door stood opposite of the entrance and the two entered it, Linda leading. Inside was a small elevator-like room which closed automatically as the two rozenich stood within it. It was much longer than it was tall, and both had to duck their heads as it descended.

When the elevator landed and the door opened, a much larger underground room expanded before them. To their left was positioned a section with cushions and blankets and cubbyholes where a handful of kurri were relaxing or napping. A pile of three were in the corner, their chubby bodies cuddled up next to one another as they slept. To their right was a closed off room with glass windows and within sat a row of computer-like devices that Linda did not even remotely understand and did not care enough to try.

    “They aren’t going to listen to you,” Harlie whispered, his voice beginning to sound desperate. “You know they won’t. Just because they let us out before doesn’t mean they will now. Besides, that was years ago!”

    “Then there shouldn’t be any reason for you to worry.”

    “Y-yeah, but…”

Linda ignored him and continued to the hind of the room where another door separated into what could only be described as a laboratory. There were tools of various shapes and types laid out on a white table and stacks of tubs and boxes with who-knows-what inside of them neatly organized on the back wall. More computer-like devices were off to the side and large screens were hanging down from the ceiling. Two kurri were sitting before one of them, inquisitively eying video feed from a section of the worksite. One was writing stuff down on a traditional notepad.

A familiar spotted kurri rested beside them, her focus pulling away from her sticker-covered device as the two rozenich entered. “There you are! Gosh, you took forever.”

    “Sorry, Gumdrop, I got a little distracted,” Linda replied. She heard the rozenich behind her give a growling huff, but he did not say anything.

The largest of the kurri, which had a white and black striped face, looked up at her with bright green eyes. “Did you take care of the recent dispute?”

    “Yeah, it was just a misunderstanding is all. I do have a new problem, though.”

    “Oh? Go on.”

The woman knelt down onto the floor as Kacey came waddling up to her. With the child providing her reassurance, she began her pitch, choosing her words carefully. “Mr. Arpeggio just offered me a temporary new position as a body guard: something like it, anyway. The only catch is I’d have to leave the camp to go with him.”

    “Leave? Where to?” the kurri asked. Their voice was more curious than anything else, which gave the woman confidence.

    “I’m not sure, we’ll have to dig into the details later. He only told me that it’s some sort of event one of his business partners is holding where he would need extra protection. He said his guards won’t be able to help because they’re too slow. Honestly, I think he’s just being a worrywart, but if it makes him feel better I think it would be a good idea.”

As Linda expected, Harlie chimed in with a rebuttal. “I think it’s a terrible idea. We can’t trust him to handle a rozenich! Let alone Linda.”

    “I can take care of myself! I’ve done fine when I left before,” she argued, trying her best to keep her temper in check to provide a good impression. “Besides, this could be a good opportunity to gain some more research into different cultures here. I could document it for you. I know my reports aren’t great, but you still find them useful!”

The kurri rubbed their chin thoughtfully with their odd-shaped hands. “Yes, but would it not be easier to have someone—one of us preferably— accompany you?”

    “Ooh!” Kacey raised her hand excitedly. “Me! Me!”

    “No. You are undertrained and much too inexperienced for something like this. Besides, I don’t trust you not to get distracted.”

    “Aww…” she said, her already droopy ears hanging down even further. Linda gave her a comforting pat on the back.

The woman was prepped to argue. It was not that she minded a kurri supervising her, but she had hoped she would not have to worry about it at all. It was tiresome having eyes on her constantly, every day, every hour. She had dealt with these eyes all her life, ever since she was born. She was accustomed to it, it was normal, it was life, but for once she wanted a pause. She wanted to know what it was like to not be constantly monitored.

Before she was able to voice her concerns, however, Harlie stepped back in. “She shouldn’t be allowed to go at all! No one should. Who cares what Mr. Arpeggio does on his own time? It doesn’t concern us. It’s not our problem.”

    “It is our problem, Harlie,” the second kurri, who had remained silent up to this point, piped in. They turned their grey dappled body around to face them. “Arpeggio is our only sponsor at current. You know as well as anyone that we’ve been struggling to attain additional support these last few years. People simply do not want us here or have much need for us. If he had not stepped in, we probably would not be on this planet at current.”

    “That’s not true. We would have found someone else. What about all those space programs?”

    “The governments on this planet are too erratic. They can’t come to an agreement fast enough on whether or not to use our services. We don’t have the resources to waste waiting around for them.”

The other kurri groaned. “And let’s not get started on the offers from North Korea…”

Linda drove the conversation back on topic. “So, basically, Pedgy’s—uh, I mean Arpeggio’s—problems are our problems.”

Both adult kurri nodded. To add onto the subject, Kacey piped in as well. “A kurri could go with you, but we’re kind of weird looking. It might mess with the research. I remember those friends of Pedgy’s looked at me really weird that one time. You’re kind of weird too, but you also pass as a regular bird-person to most of them. I doubt people would even question what you are.”

    “Yeah, they did think I was a turkey once.”

    “A turkey-seagull hybrid, I remember! People here sure are dumb. Dumber than some rozenich! No offense.”

Harlie ignored her insult and immediately went back to his defense. “The research isn’t worth it! I can get behind the sponsorship thing, I guess, but… you just can’t be seriously considering it!”

The two kurri looked at each other for a long moment. There was no hint of an expression in their wrinkled, bald faces. Their heavy lips bore neither smile nor frown. Linda stroked her assistant’s long ears nervously. Come on. Give me a chance!

The striped kurri looked back to them. “We will leave the offer on the table, for now. We will ask Mr. Arpeggio for more information and weigh our options. Give us some time to think it over.”

    Yes! Linda wanted to scream. Instead, she mustered just enough calmness to give a subtle reply. “Okay. Thank you.”

She did not eye her rozenich partner as she stood back up and headed out of the room, Kacey waddling close behind her, decorative feathers dragging on the clean tiled floor. “Tell me the deets, Linda! What else did Pedgy say? I wanna knooow!”

    “Like I said, he’s just being overprotective is all. I think he’s nervous about it.”

    “I guess I’d be nervous too if I was as puny as him. I mean, I could beat him up!”

By the time the two had made it to the elevator, Harlie had caught up to them, disappointment wrought on his face. While there was no guilt within the woman’s heart, she could not help but feel terrible for him, on top of her initial frustration. Why doesn’t he try to hear me out? Even this once? He should know me better by now. He should know how much I want this.

Linda expected him to say something snarky to her as he entered the elevator with them, but he said nothing. He did not even look at her. Instead, he pulled up his electronic pad and continued his usual business in his usual silence.

For once, Linda could not be bothered to care. If he did not want to listen to her, then she would not offer him the same. As far as she was concerned, Arpeggio cared more about her feelings than he did, and that spoke volumes.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 22

Arpeggio still could not believe it had worked. Even as he traveled across the sky with the distinctive white rozenich in his sights, he struggled to believe it.

Linda had enjoyed her travels on his airship, despite that it could not have been new for her. She had traveled across countries before, across planets, across space. Arpeggio could only dream of what it would be like to witness such beauty. Granted, he had little interest in anything that laid outside of his own world; at the very least, he could appreciate it.

Despite it, the woman found interest in everything. She found joy in being on his small traveling airship, found excitement in seeing the way the sun affected the clouds that passed his grand windows, even saw thrill in the way it felt when the ship wavered in the wind. They did not speak much on their travels, and for that the bird was pleased. He instead spent his time watching her, wondering how she had managed to convince the kurri to let her be free to roam with him. If his own experiences with her were anything to go by, he would not have been surprised if she had fought the case and bothered them until they relented. He admitted, he had been wary the plan would work when the kurri had questioned him on why he wanted the rozenich so much, and for what, but he had played his cards as carefully as he always had and felt confident the ruse was successful. After all, he was not lying on why he desired her there, it was everything else that he had to keep retracted.

Arpeggio eyed the silver bracelet on her ankle. Of course, with every problem, he had a solution. There was nothing a little interference with a magnetic tool he had crafted could not fix. A tool he had slipped onto her without her even being aware. The kurri would never know where they were headed; with that knowledge in mind, Arpeggio finally felt at ease.

The airship landed with the usual thunk. Linda had not been the least bit affected by it and readily prepared herself to exit.

    “You seem awfully excited to be here,” Arpeggio addressed her as they made their way down the loading ramp.

The woman’s long neck swiveled around as she eagerly peered out at the expansive India forest that laid sprawled on either side of them. “It reminds me of home. The big trees! The humidity! The…” she suddenly smacked her hands together, “bugs! It’s almost like I never left.”

Arpeggio eyed her curiously. “Yes. I suppose this brings you good memories?”

    “Aw man, does it.”

The bird wheeled his fancy, mechanical, cage-like perch down a short path that led to a large, spacious palace estate. He was followed shortly after by Linda, who was wheeling their luggage, and two toucan guards. From Arpeggio’s perspective on the lower level of the grounds, it appeared as if the palace lot held several different buildings, a cluster of which was set over a long, sturdy bridge in the distance. The structures were very ancient, carved of stone and decorated with natural vines and plant life, and Arpeggio did not deny they were likely “ancestral” as Rajan had proclaimed. A beautiful waterfall nearby brought forth a whirling stream that seemed to surround the large, intimidating palace gates.

Other guests were strolling around as well, admiring the scenery, though none of them were recognizable to the avian. To his relief, none of them seemed to pay him and his companions any mind. He hoped, should he run into any of his gang members, that they would keep their distance much the same. He did not know where the INTERPOL officials were meddling, but he preferred they not catch sight of him for as long as possible.

The parrot and rozenich were led across the short bridge towards the guest quarters. Along the way they passed a crew of burly rhinoceros guards and some other smaller species: primates and ibexes specifically. Feeling safe in their presence, even if only minorly, Arpeggio allowed his two toucan escorts to leave them and retreat to the airship. The feathered companions entered the lavish building and were greeted with a warm, faint but welcoming light.

    “This place is swanky,” Linda commented as she admired the interior design. Two massive, crystallin chandeliers hung overhead, glistening and reflecting the green palette of the walls.

    “Yes, it is decent. I expected more from Rajan, though, what with all the boasting he’s done,” Arpeggio panned. He shook his head and continued forward. “Anyway, we best find our room and settle in. I don’t wish to be out after—"

His words ceased when a familiar feline revealed himself from around the curve of the hallway. Rajan, in all his exquisite glory, spotted them as well. His expression was unreadable, though one would be in denial to not see some evidence of annoyance in his yellow eyes.

    “So, you came after all,” the tiger said when he reached them. He leaned against the tall plain staff he carried.

    “Yes, well, I figured I might as well see your use of the parts in person. I’m sure it will be a glorious reveal.”

The tiger eyed the bird’s rozenich guest and flicked his tail. “And why is this foul woman here?”

Linda’s small ears fell back, and she pulled her lips into a sneer. Arpeggio quickly jumped in before she could retort. “She’s my personal guard. I don’t think I need to explain why that is.”

The tiger briefly flashed his own sharp canines before looking away from her. “As long as she doesn’t start any mayhem. I tried to be respectable on your turf, but we are on mine now.”

The bird nodded. “Of course. Ms. Givington and I have no qualms with you. We are merely here as pleasant guests. Right, dear?”

    “Unless he bites first.”

    “Linda.”

The woman fidgeted at his stern tone and looked away. “Fiiine.”

Rajan gave a deep, growling huff and his long white whiskers twitched. “Enjoy your stay while it lasts.”

Saying no more, he walked off, staff in hand. Arpeggio felt the urge to say, “You do the same,” but he figured the ominous warning may tip him off. Though, he imagined the look on his face surely would have been worth it.

    “Dear, this exchange reminds me,” Arpeggio went on as they continued making their venture towards their room. “I need to discuss with you how to speak to guests.”

    “What do you mean?” she questioned innocently.

    “There are a lot of special people here. Very… sophisticated people. Understand? You cannot simply talk with them as you do with others.”

    “So, it’s just a bunch of pretentious people like you?” she teased.

He frowned. “I suppose you could say that. However, this is a formal event, and as such you must follow the standards to put on a good impression.”

    “I didn’t know I needed to impress anyone. I thought I was just here to make sure you didn’t die.”

    “That’s the important part, yes.”

Arpeggio was about to continue with his rant when a figure caught his eye. He was extremely careful to avoid making visual contact, but he knew who it was, that iconic purple fur was unmistakable: it was Neyla. She was off in the corner entrance to one of the rooms alongside an orange fox with blue, curly hair who was busy trying to unlock the door. The vulpine had not noticed either the bird or his stark white counterpart, but Neyla certainly had. Though it was only a glimpse, he swore he could see shock, if not a wash of anger in her gaze.

    I suppose I should have expected that, he considered.

He turned back to Linda before she could also notice the cat. “But in addition, you must treat anyone you speak to with formality. In your case, I would keep it simple. The less talk the better.”

    “I can do that.”

The two finally made it to their room and ventured inside. It was extraordinarily spacious, so much so one could fit an entire party of people within it. There was a large, decorative king-sized bed, a set of wicker chairs and table in a lounge area, a television with additional seating, and a quaint bathroom.

    “Whoooah, niiiiiice,” Linda said as she propped the suitcase up into its standing position.

Arpeggio raised a brow. “You act as if you’ve never been in the lap of luxury before. Though I would hardly call this a prime example of that.”

    “Hm. Maybe you’re right. Doesn’t seem shiny enough. Needs some glitter or something to spice it up. Maybe some shells for accent. Ooh! And more rocks! Rocks make everything better!”

Arpeggio ignored her strange suggestions. He parked his decorative moving contraption off to the side and carefully hopped out. The second his feet touched the floor he gave a relieving stretch of his wings. “I do believe we both deserve some rest after that trip. There will be plenty of time for galivanting later.”

Linda agreed with a very abrupt belly flop onto the bed, ruffling the clothing she had been forced to wear on their outing.

Arpeggio watched her playfully roll around and sighed. If only she knew what was to come…

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 23

     “What’s a ball like, anyway?” Linda questioned the parrot from her comfortable spot on one of the room’s lounge chairs. Even more comfortable in her current, undressed state.

Arpeggio looked up from the sketchbook he was idly writing notes in. “Hmm. Well, they’re usually very lavish and always held in large rooms. They also offer food or drink of some variety.”

The rozenich rolled over and examined her parrot companion as he rested on the bed that she had wondrously tenderized. The covers and pillows were all askew around him, but he paid no mind to it, wanting nothing more than a place to get off his feet. Of course, being in the room with the rozenich left little to no peace for him. She questioned again. “But what’s the point of them? Is it just a place to be fancy?”

    “In a way,” he could not help but laugh. “Some people use them as an excuse to show off: that is precisely why Rajan is hosting it. Though, they are also a place for pleasant conversing and entertainment. They are a social gathering at their core, after all.”

    “Entertainment?”

    “Yes. Dancing, typically.”

The woman’s eyes lit up. “Dancing?”

    “Yes. Ballroom dancing. Elegant, always done in pairs, that sort of thing.”

She rested her hands on her cheeks. “Are we gonna dance together?”

The bird chuffed. “Of course not! Do not be absurd.”

    “Why?”

    “Why?” he eyed her with discontent. “Well, I can’t dance, of course! Have you looked at me?”

    “Yeah? And?”

    “Linda. You are over seven feet tall. I am barely crossing three. How in God’s name are we supposed to dance together?”

The rozenich seemed to ponder this, running a claw across the edge of her beak as her eyes wandered. “I could walk around on my knees! Although that might hurt a bit… or I can pick you up and twirl you around! Sometimes I pick up Kacey and we do that.”

    “That’s hardly dancing.”

    “It’s dancing in spirit!”

He was just about to detest this when a gentle knock sounded on the door to their room. Who could that be? Arpeggio wondered as he sat down his pen. He watched as Linda’s ears perked up in alert. It certainly couldn’t have been anyone to cause them harm, he supposed, so he answered, “Come in.”

The sound of the door squeaking open was followed by gentle footsteps. A feminine figure entered the room, adorned in a lovely orange dress with a plain shawl, and long, sparkly earrings. She had a flowing, elegantly patterned hijab around her head with shoulder-length black hair peeking out. Even in the glorious outfit, it was difficult not to recognize the form of Neyla.

    “Oh, it’s only you,” Arpeggio said as he stood up to greet her. There was a nervousness lingering in his stomach: he knew exactly why she was there and it did not sit well with him.

Linda called out to her from across the room. “Wow! You’re super pretty tonight!”

Neyla merely looked at her. Her attention refocused on Arpeggio. “May I have a word with you in the hall?”

    “Yes, certainly,” he said, then turned to Linda. “I’ll be right back. Stay here.”

The rozenich did not question it. Arpeggio hopped off the bed and followed the young feline outside. She closed the door behind them. The hallway was relatively dark, which was surprising given the extravagance of it, though he could not complain. At least no one would see the two speaking to one another.

Though, just in case… “Your INTERPOL partner is not around, is she?”

    “No. The Contessa is currently keeping her occupied. I slipped out while they weren’t paying attention. They don’t know I’m here.”

    “Ah, good. What is it you--?”

    “Don’t give me that, Arpeggio. You know why I’m here.”

She was right, of course. He knew she was right. There was a steaming hatred within the depths of her green eyes and in a way, it scared him. The fact he was currently being stood over, intimidated, did little to ease him.

    Don’t worry, chap. She won’t hurt you. She wouldn’t dare.

Reluctantly, he admitted his faults. “Yes, I brought Ms. Givington here with me. I knew you’d find distaste in it, but I really had no choice.”

    “No choice?” her voice was seething, even in her whispering tone. “There were bountiful amounts of other choices.”

    “There really wasn’t. I already told you my guards are not capable of quick getaways. Linda, on the other hand, is agile and fast. She’s also accustomed to this sort of terrain. She can get me out of here in a flash when the incident I am sure will occur happens.”

    “I told you I will keep Inspector Fox off your tail,” she said, voice raising a little. “Do you not trust me? Would you rather put your trust in that stupid raptor?”

    “Of course I trust you,” he said foremost. His own anger was beginning to become evident in his tone. How dare his own protégé speak to him like that! “But it is Ms. Givington’s ignorance that leads to our benefit here.”

The woman put her hands to her hips. Her lips began to curl. “You said she was nosey, that she tried to pry into your business before. Hell, I watched her try to barge into our meeting without prompting. What makes you think she won’t do the same here? We already went over what she’s capable of.”

Arpeggio shook his head. “It is not like that. I do not believe so any longer, anyway. I have spoken to her closely as of late, and I feel her emotional attachment to me will prevent her from trying to ruin our established relationship.”

She narrowed her eyes at this remark. “Are… are you and her…?”

    “Do not be ridiculous!” he exclaimed, a little louder than he expected. “Why does everyone keep assuming this? Just because she is a woman—"

    “It’s because it’s not like you,” she interrupted him. They both paused and leaned themselves into the shadow of the doorway as they heard heavy footsteps make their way down the hall. They both felt relief at seeing it was only one of Rajan’s men doing their routine guarding of the premises.

When Neyla continued speaking, her voice was calmer and quieter. In a way, Arpeggio swore she almost sounded concerned. “I know we haven’t known each other long, but you’re a very predictable person, Arpeggio. And this,” she gestured towards the door, “is not predictable!”

The parrot’s eyes fell away from her. He did not quite know how to process that. He did not think his actions were so foreseeable. If that was the case, his gang members should have known by now what he was up to. What was Neyla getting at? What did she know that he did not? Sure, he had his comforts and his ways of wanting things done but…

Was he really that habitual? That monotonous? That… mundane?

    “There is nothing going on between Linda and I,” he finally said. “She is not replacing you either, if that is what you might be afraid of.”

There was a reaction within Neyla’s face as he said this: her fiery eyes softened and something within her frown seemed different than before. He ventured on with his speech. “She has her skills and, yes, some of them are more enhanced than yours, but she is absolutely no match to you in any way. In all honesty, she’d make a very poor pupil.”

The feline did not speak up at first. Her gaze fell away, eyes trailing onto the floor as her arms crossed over herself. For once, she almost appeared… unconfident. When she finally spoke up again, her voice had entirely lost its previous vigor. “Alright. Then what did you mean? About the two of yours’ relationship.”

    “She thinks I’m her friend. I don’t fully understand yet why she believes this is true, but friendship obviously means a lot to her and her people. As long as she keeps believing that we both are companions, she will do whatever I say.”

There was nothing in the cat’s slit eyes that told Arpeggio she believed him. Yet, she did not fight back as he had expected her to. “You know the stupid hen better than I do, so I suppose you might be right. But I must express that I don’t like any of it, I still believe she’s trouble.”

    “I know what I’m doing, dear,” Arpeggio reassured her. “Do not worry. You have more than enough on your plate to fret about me too.”

She gave a confirming nod. “Speaking of, I better get going before that damn fox starts creeping around. Are you going to attend the rehearsal tonight?”

    “I’ll be out in a little while. I just need more time to recoup.”

    “I’ll make sure she stays away from you, then. You do trust that I can do that, right?”

The question was filled with genuine concern and a hurt that was more than evident for even the most clueless. Although it did not craft any semblance of guilt within Arpeggio, he could not deny it bothered him. He did not wish to treat his protégé so harshly, but, well… what else was he to do? It was not as if himself and Neyla were in that unusual realm of this thing called friendship and required a tender and loving response. She knew what she was getting into. She always knew. If anyone needed to be trusted, it was him.

He replied to her simply and softly. “Of course, dear. With my life.”

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 24

Linda did not understand why Neyla did not like her. She saw her only a handful of times, and each time she could not recall ever being rude to her. It was the opposite, in fact, as the rozenich always made sure to compliment her when she could. She was genuine, too, not forcing it for the sake of conversation. Did it make her uncomfortable? Should she tone it down next time?

The way Neyla had eyed her just then did not sit well with her.

She pushed the thought aside and gave a long, thorough stretch before standing up and making her way to the small bathroom in the corner to get a drink of water from the sink. The entire time she reflected on where she was and the fact she was there. It was so rare the rozenich had the opportunity to leave the camps. At least back home she had no silver bracelets that controlled where she went; she could go wherever she wished, do whatever she liked. Not on Earth, though. On Earth, she was bound by her superiors, almost as if they were her masters.

The thought brought her sadness and, once more, she pushed it to the side. She briefly wondered what Arpeggio and Neyla could be talking about. She smiled as she thought about the puny little bird. A month ago it would have been ridiculous to imagine he would trust her enough to take her with him. As much as he denied the two were friends, she felt something growing there… even if it was only minimal. She made a note to herself that she needed to thank him for giving her this bout of freedom.

A creak sounded and Linda, at first, thought it had been the two animals returning, but something about it was different. She could hear the faint sound of wind rustling through trees. Did the back door accidentally come open? She thought as she rounded the bathroom.

She was correct in her assumption. The back door that led to the balcony was propped open. However, it was by no accident.

A figure was silently creeping before her.

They noticed each other at the exact same moment. There was an awkward pause before Linda spoke up. “Who’re you?”

    “Uh. Me?” the voice answered, recognizably male. “I… was just… going.”

Linda had anticipated this reaction and swiftly lunged before the animal had a chance to escape. He was quick, however, and evaded her grasp by inches. They both slid on the tile floor as they tried to regain themselves. The invader managed to rush out the door, but not before the rozenich grabbed him by the foot, causing them both to tumble.

    “Gotcha—PFT!” her words were cut short as the man’s fluffy striped tail slapped her in the face.

The lithe creature quickly turned himself around to face her. He flung his arm down towards her, a long cane with a golden hook aiming straight for her head. She just barely had time to deflect it with her scaled arms and quickly grabbed hold of it. The two struggled on the balcony for a brief time. There seemed to be no active guards around to hear them, and the thought never crossed the woman's mind to cry for assistance. She managed to gain the upper hand on the smaller foe and pulled her white form over his to hold him down. When his arm shot out to try to defend himself, she automatically went for it with her teeth.

    “Whoah, whoah, hold on!” the man shouted with a surge of fear. “Maybe we can talk this over?”



The woman’s slit pupils focused in on him as his gray furred arm writhed between her sharp teeth. She had been careful to avoid puncturing him, though the urge to do so was great.

She relented and stood up. She dragged the animal back inside before releasing him, making certain that she blocked the balcony door, preventing him from exiting. She observed him and noted she did not recognize his species. He was clearly a mammal: not quite a rodent in appearance, though that was the closest thing she could compare him to. He wore a blue and yellow outfit, equipped with a weathered blue cap and a thin black strip of cloth that surrounded his eyes like a mask.

    “Thanks for not making me your dinner,” the man said as he brushed his gray fur back into place, his tone calmed.

    “You’re welcome, hon, but you might want to explain what you’re doing sneaking into my room.”

She noticed him hesitantly gawking at her, his eyes cascading over her then darting away. “Yeah, uh, I’m sorry if I caught you in the middle of... changing…”

She cocked her head to the side. “Huh? Oh, no I’m always like this.”

    “You’re always sporting your birthday suit?”

    “You’re not wearing pants.”

He peered down at his barren, furry thighs and gave a nonchalant shrug. “You got me there. Anyway, I was just… prowling the grounds looking for… my missing suit.”

    “Your suit?” she questioned. What an odd thing to have lost. “Was it stolen?”

He perked a brow and leaned confidently against his cane. “Something like that.”

    “Well, I haven’t noticed any suits lying around in here, and I definitely don’t own any. And even if my friend had any suits to spare, they wouldn’t fit you,” she said. She then peered at him, curiously. “What’s your name, by the way?”

There was brief hesitation. Linda took suspicion to this. To prompt him, she introduced herself first. “My name’s Linda. Linda Givington.”

    “You can just call me Sly,” he said, choosing to opt out of giving her a last name. Both of them suddenly perked up their ears when the sound of voices outside the door suddenly became audible. It forced the intruder into a clear posture of unease. “I really hate to dash in and out, but I really should be going. I kind of need to, you know, find my suit before tonight’s rehearsal.”

    “Hm. Alright,” she replied. What else was she to do with him? Hold him prisoner? It was not as if he had committed any crime. “You should probably rethink your strategy for finding it, though. Something that doesn’t involve sneaking into people's bedrooms. Maybe talk to a guard or something about your suit? I’m sure they can help you out.”

    “I’ll keep that in mind.”

He cautiously made his way towards the open balcony door as Linda stepped aside for him. Before he exited, he quickly asked. “Will you be attending the ball as well?”

    “Of course, it’s why I’m here!”

    “Perhaps we can share a dance,” he said. She noticed his brown eyes glancing towards Arpeggio’s portable cage in the corner of the room. “That is, if your partner will let me slip in.”

She gave him a smile and a perk of her own brow. “We’ll see about that.”

Without wasting another moment, the strange animal exited the room and leapt across to a neighboring rooftop with grace and ease. It was almost mesmerizing how skilled he was. She had not seen another animal do that before! It reminded her of the speed and balance of her fellow rozenich, albeit furrier. She watched him until he disappeared from her sights, then closed the door behind her.

   How strange, she pondered as she sat back down in the lounge chair. I wonder how normal that was? I should probably ask Pedgy about it…

~ * ~

    “Of course that’s not normal, Linda,” Arpeggio had scolded her when she informed him of what had happened. “People do not simply barge into people’s personal quarters! He was a thief! Likely wanted to steal anything he could get his dastardly hands on.”

The rozenich admitted she felt rather stupid for expecting any other response. It was odd, however, how Arpeggio had reacted when she told him the thief’s name. Sly. There was a shocked look in his eyes, as if the name jumped out at him. Yet, his reply was that he never heard of it at all. He quickly dismissed the situation by the time it was over, and Linda was in awe at what to make of it.

The only thing she found clarity in was that the man was something called a “raccoon”.

The two only briefly ventured out that night. Linda, reluctantly, put on the same clothes she had when she came in, a pastel yellow dress that just barely passed the classy dress code required to enter Rajan’s extravagant palace. Just the same, Arpeggio left in his strange wheeling contraption, dressed in his usual attire.

Neither of them ventured out onto the ballroom, instead choosing to spend their time looking at things from afar on one of the higher floors. Linda was mesmerized at what she saw: the room was large and lavish just as Arpeggio had described. The walls were painted a soft teal and were carved with intricate designs and patterns. Beautiful red tapestries and curtains were hung around to accent the massive marble pillars that held the room up. Even more intriguing, there were so many people of countless species types littered below on the spacious dance floor. She recognized so few of them and Arpeggio had to educate her on what they were.

    “That is a dog, yes. An Irish Wolfhound,” he had whispered to her as they peered over the second-floor railing. “That is a caracal I do believe: a type of cat. That there is a hyena, of the striped variety.” He went on and on, answering every question she had about the animals around her. It was almost as if they were on some wild safari, but the animals they were observing were sophisticated individuals. And not feral.

Linda had noticed her companion frequently admiring a statue that sat off to one end of the bottom floor. It was a massive golden structure of a feline woman in a sitting position, the body covered in intricate patterns. She had three pairs of arms raised up on either side of her and a large red jewel sat on the center of her crown. Most magnificent of all, however, were the expansive silver wings spread out behind her. A chandelier hovered above it, the light within casting down on the art piece, making the metallic material shimmer.

The albino woman knew the wings were related to Arpeggio’s job and the parts he had acquired to help his business associates; although, how this statue helped Rajan she did not know. The look in Arpeggio’s eyes as he took in the wings’ presence was wrought with sadness and longing. She vaguely remembered that Kacey had given him possession of the strange metal wings when she had dispersed the parts, and it was only after Rajan had had his fit that Arpeggio elected to exchange them. She wished she could remember why that was; she had been too busy resisting the urge to slice the tiger’s stomach contents open to really bother listening to them.

When asked if seeing the wings bothered him, Arpeggio merely replied. “It’s nothing, dear. I merely am disappointed, is all.”

He refused to elaborate more than that.

Linda sighed. She felt like she was missing something. Why was Arpeggio being so reserved about all this? Was there something he wasn't telling her? Did it have anything to do with why he wanted her here at this ball? She hated secrets, but she did not have the faintest idea how to approach the subject without potentially upsetting the bird. And he already seemed upset as it was...

Her eyes trailed back down to the ballroom below when a shift in music began to play. She watched as a feline in an orange and gold dress was joined by a well-dressed man with a striped tail on the dance floor. The two commenced to dance before the small audience. Was that... Neyla? Yes, it was absolutely Neyla. But who was the man she was with? He almost looked like...

"Come now, dear, let's move on," Arpeggio piped up, drawing the woman's attention away. "There's nothing left to bother with here."

The rozenich did not feel up to detesting, so she reluctantly followed him as they ventured away from the balcony.

They made their way around the grounds casually after they had completed their duties within the palace. Arpeggio did not seem as eager to explore or sight-see as she had been, and after a time he requested the two return to the guest quarters. This brought some dismay to the woman, but Arpeggio reassured her, “There’s plenty of time for partying tomorrow night. Besides, we will also need our rest in case any issues arise.”

Linda did not question it; in the whole scheme of things, she had little to complain about. She was merely happy to be free, even if for a short time. She peered out longingly towards the thick forests as they made their way back inside.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 26

 

The official night of the ball came upon them and Arpeggio struggled to take control of his nerves. There had been no disturbances the previous night, but he knew things would not stay at peace forever.

The parrot and his rozenich partner walked out onto the edge of the dance floor. Arpeggio was adorned in his typical vest and bowtie, minus the cape and beret he had worn the night before. Linda wore a green-blue dress that draped down from her white shoulders and stopped mid-thigh. It was nothing overly glamorous, to avoid drawing attention; granted, the rozenich woman was difficult not to notice in a crowd of Earth animals.

Unlike the previous night, Arpeggio had not come along in his decorative moving cage. This night, his only source of transportation was his companion. He fidgeted his feet as they clamped onto the woman’s arm. “Are you certain I’m not too heavy?”

    “You’re fine, don’t worry about it,” she said, tone confident.

The bird felt vulnerable. He did not like not having control, even if he knew he had to sacrifice such things for his plan to work. The idea of being held like some feral parrot did little to comfort him. He eyed the other guests in the room and noticed none of them took much interest in either of them, to his pleasure. Now, as long as my party of idiots don’t come around—

    “Well, hey there, Mr. Arpeggio,” a familiar gruff voice called out to him.

He winced. Spoke too soon…

    “Ah, greetings, Jean,” Arpeggio feigned a friendly greeting to the large red bison as he approached.

The fellow did not dress up as everyone else, his attire still consisting of his worn-out animal pelts and leather, with the addition of nothing more than a basic black tie that was not even properly put on. At the very least, he seemed slightly cleaner than usual. “I didn’t think you’d show. Boy, you did some fine work on them there wings, I tell ya.”

    “Yes, thank you. I admit, I’m quite proud of them myself,” he said flatly, his attention briefly flicking to the glorious silver wings fastened to the golden statue on the opposite end of the room. Sensing the bison may have approached him due to ulterior motives, he quickly added, “Your parts should be arriving by the time we get through here. I had them shipped before I left.”

    “Ah, don’t worry none about that,” he said with a wave. “Ain’t like I’m able to ship nothin’ until that tiger gets off his high-horse and sends me product in the first place.”

The bird gave a passing glance at Linda. While she politely looked on, she did not seem to understand much of what they were discussing. He turned back to him. “I’m sure Rajan just needs time to calm down from all the excitement.”

    “He needs to do somethin’,” Jean said with a snort. Changing the subject, the bison then turned his focus on the bird’s partner. “Oh, didn’t mean to be so rude. Yer lookin’ mighty fine tonight, ma’am.”

    “Aww, thanks, hon,” Linda said with a warm, genuine smile. Sometimes, Arpeggio wondered how someone could be so sickeningly kind towards such revolting people.

Giving an appreciative nod, the burly man began to turn away. “I’ll let you two lovebirds get back to it. Talk to ya soon.”

Arpeggio grumbled at the comment and watched him walk off into the crowd. Linda looked down at her avian companion, still smiling. “He’s nice.”

    “One could say that,” was all the bird replied with.

The slow-droning music within the room shifted to more elegant, upbeat melodies and ballroom guests began to take to the dance floor. The pairs gracefully moved about the expansive open stage, their limbs moving in time with their partners. The women’s colorful dresses flowed beautifully in the bright golden light of the chandeliers above. Arpeggio could feel Linda’s urges to join them just from the way her muscles tensed beneath his grip. He avoided looking at her in fear she might try to invite him to partake.

As she gazed out over the twirling forms, Arpeggio’s own avian eyes could not help but land on the brilliance of the wings once more. They remained in their same place on the statue, glorious and brightly lit. He spotted Rajan seated in a small throne just off to the side of it. The tiger gazed out over the crowd, his staff in hand. Unlike the previous night, he appeared on-edge: he was anxiously bouncing his leg as he rubbed his claws across his temples.

    Now, what could cause Rajan to be so apprehensive? Did something happen? Arpeggio wondered.

Feeling a bit unsettled, the bird gestured to an empty table nearby. “Dear, would you mind putting me down for a spell? I don’t want you to strain yourself lugging me around all night.”

    “Alright, though it’s really not that bad, I swear,” she responded. She took her eyes off the dancing parties just long enough to gingerly place him on the back of one of the wicker chairs.

As he got himself comfortable, the aristocrat’s attention was brought over to additional figures amongst the crowd. The familiar eight-legged form of Contessa stood off in the shadows, her red eyes probing over the sea of guests. Neyla, wearing the same outfit she had the night before, was standing near her. She was peering out herself, her ears flickering every now and again.

    Is she looking for me? Arpeggio wondered. The discussion he had had with her remained fresh in his mind. He hoped he had not been too harsh on her.

Suddenly, a male figure came up on Linda’s opposite side. The woman turned to him and her eyes sparkled with interest. “You’re looking lovely this evening,” he said, voice sickeningly suave.

Arpeggio continued peering off into the distance, as if he had not seen or heard him, but he continued to listen in closely.

    “You’re not so bad yourself. Nice suit,” she said, teasingly.

The man, a raccoon, straightened his bowtie. “I was hoping I could have seen you last night. I’m unfortunately under prior engagements at current, but I would have loved to give you that dance I promised.”

    “I suppose there’s always next time.”

    “Fate could bring us together again, you never know,” his eyes then ventured off to something—or someone—elsewhere. “Sadly, I need to go fulfill another promise. Stay safe, tonight. You never know what crazy things could happen in these Indian jungles.” 

He gave her a courteous bow before waltzing off, disappearing into the crowd of onlookers.

With him out of sight, Arpeggio turned to the rozenich. “Who was that gentleman? He seemed to know you.”

“That’s the guy from last night.”

The bird’s feathers raised. “That was the thief? What gall he has!” Arpeggio felt his nervousness rise. Sly Cooper was right under his beak and he did not even recognize him! The leader of his opposing gang was right there. First, he had attempted to rob him, and now this.

    Calm down, he told himself, trying his best to put on a casual facade, Linda said he had told her he had lost his suit. Perhaps he was just… snooping around unoccupied rooms looking for one, and he did not know the room was theirs?

Then again, he had to have known who Arpeggio was, that he was in the infamous Klaww Gang. Well… “infamous” might have been a stretch. Still, he had to have known. Right?

Suddenly, all that became irrelevant. His eyes connected with the green ones of Neyla from across the way. The feline turned around and said something to the Contessa. The spider woman did not appear to respond, but she did casually move out from the shadows and disappear around the corner of the room, followed closely by Neyla. Before she left Arpeggio’s sight, she put a paw to her mouth as if to yawn, but in the process, she gave a subtle wave.

It was a sign.

    “Oh, look! He’s gonna dance too!” Linda said excitedly.

The bird shifted his gaze to the raccoon as he entered the dancefloor. He took the hand of the same blue-haired vixen Arpeggio had spotted with Neyla when they had arrived. He could only assume it was Inspector Fox, the woman his apprentice had been partnered with.

    “Linda, dear,” Arpeggio said to his companion, “would you mind picking me back up?”

    “Sure, honey,” she said, clueless to the fear that surely had to be emanating from his voice. She put her arm out to him and he climbed on, careful not to scratch her with his talons.

The woman took a step closer to the inner ring of guests that had all turned their attention to the single pair out on the dancefloor. A beautiful song played from the band, and the two mammals began to dance one of the most stunning tangos Arpeggio had ever seen. He found himself mesmerized at their entrancing dance, as had everyone else. Their movements were smooth and perfectly in time to the music. It was as if the two had been the ideal match for one another.

An irony, Arpeggio thought, considering it was those two who had worked together to destroy Clockwerk just a few years ago. The thief, Sly Cooper, and the law-keeper, Inspector Carmelita Fox. It was silly to fathom they ever could have worked together. However, without them, Arpeggio’s current array of plans would have never been brought to fruition. Seeing them before his own eyes made his stomach churn with anxiety and bewilderment. Did the Inspector realize she was dancing with a criminal in front of all these witnesses? Surely not! What a fool she would be!

    “Pedgy?” Linda suddenly whispered to him, drawing him out of his trance.

    “Yes?” he whispered back.

    “What’s going on up on the ceiling? Is this a part of the show?”

The woman gestured with her head to a spot just above the massive statue. A figure was there, dangling down as a thick rope was fastened to his large form. Is that… a hippo? Arpeggio asked himself in confusion.

He adjusted the monocle over his eye and squinted up at it. Yes. Yes it was definitely a hippo. He was being eased down slowly until his pink form vanished behind the mass of the Clockwerk wings. Arpeggio looked around; it appeared only himself and the rozenich had noticed the strange phenomenon. Not even Rajan, who sat merely feet away, could peel his eyes away from the dancing couple to see it.

The dance… it was the perfect distraction. Abusing the selective attention of the guests allowed another Cooper Gang member—this… hippo creature, Arpeggio presumed—to unhitch the wings in a brilliant act of thievery.

    Clever lads…

Realizing what was about to happen, the bird leaned in and whispered even quieter than before. “Dear, we should start to head for our exit. Gently, now. Let us not raise any suspicion.”

    “Why?”

    “Just do as I say. You understand?”

The woman frowned, but she did not argue. Slowly, she backed herself out of the swarm of guests still watching the dancing duo. With the greatest ease, Linda and Arpeggio escaped the lower floor and ventured up to the second. The entire time the small parrot’s unease heightened. Was this going to work? Had they planned their escape well enough? He tried to go back to the night before and remember the words Linda had told him that had somehow brought him such comfort.

    I’ll make sure you’re safe.

    Just trust me.

The music ended, and the crowd cheered. Arpeggio peered down from his higher angle to spot the couple ceasing their dance. He also noticed the massive mechanical adornments that had previously been attached to the golden statue were now missing. As was the hippo.

The two rounded a corner just as they heard the shocked voice of Rajan shouting, “The wings! What happened to the Clockwerk wings?!”

Arpeggio’s heart thumped in his chest. He flicked his head to Linda. “We need to go. Now.”

Although the woman made no indication that she understood, she did as she was told. With a quick sprint, she took off down the hallway on her long, swift legs. She followed the path the two had inconspicuously observed on their outing the previous night, which led to a hallway with a series of open windows. However, there was a road bump to their plan: a muscular brown ibex guard, one of Rajan’s, stood in their way. He saw them almost instantly.

    “Hey, you aren’t allowed up here!” he bleated.

Suddenly, the sound of commotion and screaming called out from the ballroom below.

    “Nobody leaves! You’re all under arrest!” came the loud, echoing screech of a very angry woman. Arpeggio did not have to guess that it was Inspector Fox, realizing her fatal error in dancing with—and unknowingly assisting—the enemy.

The cries distracted the guard and Linda, in a panic, abruptly leapt into the air and lunged at him, feet first. Her sharp inner claws pierced his dense fur and sent him to the ground with a hard thunk. In the process, Arpeggio was also thrown; he quickly flapped his useless wings, but they did little to prevent him from slamming into the hard floor. His monocle flew from his eye just as a sharp pain stung his face.

He rose quickly and twisted around just in time to witness Linda struggling with the guard. She struck out at him and her sharp teeth latched onto his face. He screeched a bloody, painful scream before rolling away from her, clutching himself.

Linda got to her feet in an instant and rushed over to her employer, scooping him up in her arms, then launching herself promptly out of the closest window. Arpeggio closed his eyes as he felt the humid air pass through his feathers. He let out a quiet little grunt when he felt the rozenich land on a thick, sturdy tree branch. She paused for only a moment before leaping onto another limb, then another. It was not until she distanced herself a short way from the palace that she stopped to catch her breath. She released her death grip on her parrot companion and quickly gave him the once-over.

    “Are you okay? You’re bleeding,” she panted.

Arpeggio struggled to open his eye as a trickle of blood ran across it. “I-I’m fine. My monocle just cut me in the fall. Let’s get to the airship, just like we planned. Quickly, now!”

The woman held the bird up so he could climb onto her shoulders. He was a little uncertain about this, but she reassured him. “Hold on tight.” He nodded and the rozenich took off again.

Arpeggio’s avian heart thumped wildly in his chest as they bounded over the sea of trees, spooking various smaller wildlife as they went. The ruckus from the palace could still be heard, even as they began to pass further and further away. They leapt over a river and spotted a pair of feral elephants frantically rushing away, trumpeting in fright as they went. Still, nothing stopped the woman in her mission.

If Arpeggio did not know any better, he almost thought she was enjoying it.

It did not take them long to cross the dense jungle forest. The rounded curve of the bird’s decorative airship could be seen rising slowly over the tree tops. A panic began to set in. Would they make it? Would they fail and he’d find himself arrested along with Rajan? Surely, they could not hunt them down in this forest…?

He should have put more faith into his alien sentry. She began to climb one of the large vine-covered trees, her claws skillfully grasping at every available branch. She did not falter, not even once.

A thinner branch stretched out into a clearing where the airship was slowly beginning to rise. If he knew Linda well enough, the leap itself would cause her no trouble.

    But the distance…

Again, he had dismissed her too early. Not only did she leap with great strength from the tender edge of the branch, hearing it crackle and snap beneath her weight, but she grabbed hold of the dangling ladder rope that connected to the ship in one snatch.

She struggled, however, as the airship began to rise. The woman had exhausted herself. Arpeggio could hear her panting. They were so close. The entrance was right there.

    “You can do this, love,” he told her, leaning into her ruffled white neck for support. The blood from his wound dotted along her pure coat. “Just a little more.”

She began to climb, using his words for motivation. Yet, as much as she tried, her attempts were weak and helpless. Arpeggio could feel her warm breath heaving against him as she fought to climb up. She had mastered the forest, but she had not mastered the escape.

This was it, wasn’t it? They were to fall to their doom. I am such a fool. This event was a mistake! This was—

A hand shot out and grabbed the woman’s wrist just as it began to slip. One of the toucans, his beak stark black, began to pull both her and the parrot up the remainder of the way. Everything became a blur as Arpeggio felt the cool air of the innards of the ship assault him and his small body come crashing down.

The two were suddenly surrounded by guards, each of them ready to assist their boss and his companion. The small bird regained himself, albeit warily, and looked back at Linda. She was lying on the floor in a tired heap. Her flowing dress had become tattered and dirtied. The blue-faced toucan guard, the one he remembered was called Craig, forced her up to her feet and held her in his arms as she wildly panted, her gaze unfocused and foggy. The parrot realized then that she was bleeding from where his talons had dug into her.

    “I got ‘er, boss,” the toucan said as he began to take her away.

    “Are you alright, sir? Do you need help? You’re injured!” came the requests of various guards.

Arpeggio ignored them. The two had done it. They had actually done it.

Despite the fear in his rapidly beating heart, the adrenaline that pumped through his veins tossed him into a high he had never felt before. Though he had not seen Rajan’s face like he had hoped, what he had witnessed was more than enough for him. He smiled.

    Guess it really was worth it after all.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 27

 

  “Linda? How are you doing now, love?”

The rozenich lifted her head to see Arpeggio enter the office, concern in his icy blue eyes. It had been a little over a day since the two had made their escape from the Indian jungle and the chaotic finale of the gala. Linda did not know how long the trip back would take, but in the meantime her mind was riddled with thoughts and questions. More than anything, though, she simply felt tired.

The woman was resting in a pile of blankets on the floor just in front of her employer’s mahogany desk. Her make-shift nest was not nearly as comfortable or well-structured as her usual ones, but she could not bring it upon her to make it perfect. She raised up as Arpeggio approached her on his small, portable scooter. “I’m fine. I told you I was fine.”

    “I know, I know,” he said with the slightest hint of a laugh, “I’m just making certain. How are your…?”

He pointed with his feathered hand towards her and she followed his gesture to the bandages on her shoulders. “My stab wounds? They’re also fine.”

The parrot’s posture lowered. “I’m dreadfully sorry about that. If I had known I was doing it, I would have loosened my grip.”

    “Don’t worry about it, hon. If you had, then you probably would have fallen off and gotten crushed by those elephants, or crashed in the water and gotten swept away, or—”

    “Yes, yes, you’re quite right,” he interrupted with a clear tone of discomfort. With a little grunt, he hopped off his mobile device and carefully climbed up to sit beside her on the bed. His small body sunk into the loosened edge of the nest, but he did not make any outward complaints.

The woman leaned in towards him and gingerly touched his brow with her claw. She expected the small man to retract at her touch—and, as expected, he did—but he did not try to shoo away her hand. Right above his left eye was a small cut. “How’s your wound doing?”

    “It’s just a scratch,” he said. The faint bloodstains on his golden feathers were seen easily without his usual monocle adorned to his eye. Although he did not say so, Linda assumed it had broken during their escape.

Arpeggio took in a breath and his eyes fell away from her. Linda knew him well enough by now to know such an action was a sign that whatever he was about to say was not an easy thing to expel. Her small ears pricked forward to listen more closely. “I… I wished to come tell you, personally, that I appreciate your help in removing me from the situation the other night. I could not have succeeded without you.”

    “It’s alright,” she replied. “Thanks for inviting me in the first place, I had a really fun time while it lasted. I was getting antsy being stuck in one place for so long.”

    “You did seem to be enjoying yourself, I noticed,” he said with amusement.

    “Absolutely!” she said happily. A thought then struck her and her tone calmed. “Though, can you do me a favor, hon?”

    “Yes, of course.”

    “Can you explain exactly why we left?”

Arpeggio gave her a nonchalant shrug before replying. “You remember the woman who was dancing with that thief? She was a cop. The reason she was there was because some of the individuals at that gala were rather… unsavory. Does that make sense to you?”

    “Like, they were bad guys?”

    “Something like that,” he replied. “You see, the laws here on Earth can be a little peculiar. What someone may believe is an innocent act, another will deem offensive and incomprehensible. It varies considerably. That woman was at the ball pretending to be one of us so she could catch someone violating any laws, regardless if any laws were being broken in the first place.”

Linda tilted her head. “Is that… good?”

    “That depends. In my case, it was not. The inspector became angry and took it upon herself to arrest anyone she could get a handle on. If I had stayed, I would have been one of them. How dreadful would that have been? Why, I broke no laws at all, now did I?”

    “No. I don’t think so, anyway.”

    “Precisely,” he gave her another smile.

    “But…” she began. She turned her head towards the wall where the bird’s decorative cage-like mobile device sat. The light from the giant windows could not reach where it sat in the dark corner. “Did you know it was going to happen? How else did your car-thing get back here? And our suitcase? Did you know and that’s why we made the escape plan the night before?”

The bird gave a dismissive wave of his wing. “Neyla also works in law enforcement. Unlike that fox, she is what you could call a good cop. She let me know ahead of time that something might occur, so I had my men gather our belongings after we left and bring them back to the ship, just as a precaution. And the escape plan… well. That was mostly me being paranoid.”

The rozenich nodded. The explanation was sound and she, admittedly, felt relief wash over her. “Okay, that makes sense. Why did she get so angry, anyway? The… bad cop. It happened so quick! It must have been something awful.”

Arpeggio chuckled. “Well, she was dancing with a thief. I would not take that lightly either.”

    “But… didn’t your tiger friend start yelling about wings right before that?”

    “Did he? I don’t know. I didn’t hear. Then again, you did claim my hearing was not exactly up to par months ago, now didn’t you?”

Linda laughed with him and settled back down in her nest, pulling one of the blankets back up around her snuggly. She rested her cheek against her fist as she watched her avian companion readjust himself on a sturdier corner of the bed. I don’t know what Harlie’s been so worried about, she thought, He’s always told me the truth when I’ve asked. He just… isn’t good at telling you things up front, is all.

    “I know what you mean about the laws,” she told him, changing the subject, “When the kurri came here, they made some sort of deal with them law-making people—it was kind of a pain, apparently—but whatever they did, they made it so when they brought us rozenich here, we kinda, like, don’t have to deal with it.”

    “What does that mean?”

    “I dunno, exactly, but I guess it means your laws don’t work with us.”

The parrot raised a brow. “Are you supposed to convince me that you could go out and murder someone and get away scot-free?”

    “Of course not! Don’t be goofy. We’d still get punished, it’s just that the kurri would decide it, not your people.”

Arpeggio eyed her with fascination at this remark. “Really? How peculiar… Then again, who knows how many assault cases you’d have with all the physical brawls your lot do.”

    “Got that right. Kerry and I would be the first to go!”

The two continued to converse as the minutes changed into hours. Linda did not know how much the bird was truly invested in their conversations, but she enjoyed every second of it regardless. He really is coming around, she thought, the idea of it making her heart warm. It was just a shame it took such an intense event to get him to do it.

Still, she could not complain. She had not lied when she told him she was happy to be there with him. She still was.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 30

The golden parrot idly toyed away in his workshop for much of the following weeks. With his associates' Clockwerk parts sent off and spice operations continuing to run as they always had, there was very little left for him to accomplish. The airship had made significant leaps in the last month, to his pleasure. The entire structure’s foundational pathways had been completed; massive curved metal floors ventured around and across to keep the ship cohesive. Some pathways verged off, forming large open zones where the propellers would later be installed. Large towers were taking shape near the completed engine rooms and massive fin-like rudders were already nearing completion. Truly all that remained were the additional add-ons, supports, and the functioning components that would give the ship its ability to fly.

And do Arpeggio’s ultimate bidding.

The parrot’s blue eyes scanned the horizon as he sat outside the shop to gain himself some fresh air. The gray smock he wore was covered in oil and dust particles from his recent tinkering. His feathers remained fairly pristine, aside from a few stray stains here and there.

He sighed. Time was closing in on him. The year had already been whizzing by: summer was reaching its end and autumn was swiftly approaching. He knew the alien workers were impossibly fast at what they did, but not even he had predicted they would get this far so soon.

His attention shifted as a small greyish-green kurri came trotting in his direction. It was Kacey, followed shortly after by Jeremy. He walked slowly after her, his steps indicating there was some pain in his efforts to travel, yet not enough to deter him. Arpeggio noticed his cast had finally been removed.

One of Arpeggio’s workshop guards greeted the girl. “Hey, Pipsqueak.”

    “Hi, Banana-beak,” she said back.

Arpeggio chuckled. He remembered vividly when the girl was afraid of the guards. Time changes a lot of things, doesn’t it?

The bird climbed down his transportation perch and onto the small platform by the wheels as the two came up to him. He politely, albeit tiredly, hailed the girl. “Good morning, dear. I see you’re out and about early today.”

    “Yeah, my iPad battery died again so I figured I might as well. I also wanted to give you this!” The child pulled a small box out of her robe pocket and handed it to him. It was small, like a container jewelry would come in.

Arpeggio took it in his dexterous foot and peered at it curiously. He set it down on his platform and gently took off the lid. Inside was a crudely crafted, make-shift monocle. It appeared to have real glass within its circular form, though the rim was made from some sort of thin, crooked wire. It was adorned with a craft-grade chain—much like the type cheap necklaces would have—and ended in a keychain clip.

    “Did you make this yourself?” he asked her with a cheery smile as he picked it up in his claws.

    “Yup! I bartered all the pieces off some of the rozenich. I traded my soldering stuff to them cause they’re too dumb to know the difference.”

    “That’s very clever of you.”

She shrugged. “I know it won’t actually work like a real set of glasses, but I used a magnifying glass for it so at least you got that. Just in case yours breaks again.”

He chuckled and set it back down in the box. “It’s very darling. Thank you, dear.”

    “You’re welcome,” she said. She then looked back at Jeremy, who was speaking with the previous guard. At least, doing as much speaking as he could, all things considered. “Dr. Phyllis said Jeremy is gonna be ready to go back to work soon. I’m helping him get into shape since he’s been so lazy lately.”

    “Yes, it’s quite good to get the blood pumping after all that,” he replied. “Though, be sure he does not push himself too hard. I don’t want to have to let him go because he got a bit overzealous.”

    “I’ll try to keep him away from any fire.”

    “Good luck with that.”

The little girl said her farewells and her and the aracari continued on their journey around the property. Arpeggio watched them go as he climbed back up onto his perch, leaving his small gift box on the safety of the lower platform. He could not remember the last time someone had offered him a gift. He did not know what to make of it. Then again, he had struggled to make sense of a lot of things since he began his grand project.

Inhaling a deep breath of waning summer air, he turned to his shop and ventured back to work.

~ * ~

    “I received the hypnosis device just this morning,” Arpeggio spoke into his cellphone. “I have not had a chance to inspect it properly yet, but if I know the Contessa well enough, I know she would not send me faulty machinery. I will be able to transfer the data over to the airship’s transmitters as soon as it is completed.”

    “Excellent,” came the distinctive accent of Neyla from the other end of the phone. “She still doesn’t suspect anything from my end.”

    “Neither on mine, as far as I am aware,” he said. He picked up a pen and casually began to doodle something in his sketchbook. “Though, let us not rush things. Rajan should be taken care of first. Where is that ornery tosser, anyway?”

    “He’s at his spice temple. Inspector Fox and I are meant to rustle him out in the next couple days. I think I have the perfect plan for him, but I have a tiny issue… which is why I wished to call you.”

    “Oh? Go on.”

    “I want to have Sly Cooper arrested as well.”

Arpeggio ceased his sketching and his brows furrowed. He readjusted the phone onto his opposite ear. “Dear, we discussed this. We require his thievery to—“

    “I know, I know,” she interjected, “but listen. He’s already stolen the Clockwerk feathers and the wings. I tipped him off not long ago about one piece of the heart, and I’m certain he has that now too. If I arrest him and his meddling gang, I can confiscate those parts in secret.”

    “How will you do this?” he questioned the moment there was a pause. “No offense, but you are not physically capable of moving those parts by yourself. The tail feathers and heart, maybe, but certainly not those wings.”

    “If I can trick the INTERPOL officers and Sly Cooper himself into doing my bidding, what’s to stop me from doing the same to, say, one of Rajan’s guards? If I could persuade one of them to help me in exchange for a light sentence, it would be no issue stashing the parts away for later.”

Arpeggio thought about this. He knew the girl was exceptional at deceiving those around her—it was the key reason he saw her as a valuable asset—but the situation she proposed was much different. It was dangerous, if not risky. Then again, so was their entire operation. Secretly stealing back parts from my own gang... his thoughts trailed. I say, you can’t get much more perilous than that.

    “How do you plan to have the Coopers and Rajan arrested? This is going off model quite significantly, so I must know your logic,” he finally asked.

    “They will have to fight Rajan for the other half of the heart, I know it. If the old coot is as strong as you claim he is, then he ought to put up quite a fight. I’ll make certain things fall in even favors so they both get worn out—who knows, maybe even killed—and I will step in with Inspector Fox and the Contessa to take them in while they’re weakened.”

The bird did not know about this. He picked up his pen and returned to doodling. “If your plan does work, how will we gain access to the remaining parts?”

    “I’ll get them myself,” she said sternly. “The Contessa will not be that difficult. We already theorized that she won’t be able to keep her illegal activities hidden from INTERPOL forever, especially if she begins to get comfortable in her position, much like she is now. All it would take is some sneaking around and I’m sure I can plant some evidence on her end. Perhaps even drop a hint or two INTERPOL’s way. Once they find out, she’ll be done for, and the Clockwerk eyes will be easing pickings.”

    “And Jean Bison?”

    “Come on, seriously?”

    “Yes, dear,” he said, his tone hard. “Jean is not going to let those parts slip from his grasp with ease. You and I both know how much that logging camp of his means to him. Him and his… unusual obsession with tearing down ecosystems. His parts benefit him deeply in the long run.”

    “Anything those Coopers could figure out, I can figure out. I know you think we need them but we don’t. Arpeggio, please. Let me get these pests out of our hair for good!”

The parrot sighed. He could tell the girl was not going to give up her plan so easily, and he could not find many ways to argue her claims. The Cooper Gang had been successful in nabbing the parts thus far, but his protégé had been assisting them in the process. Perhaps that meant she was more capable than he first thought… and that the Coopers were not as great of thieves as their reputation had put in.

Though, they were the ones to kill the great metal owl in the first place…

His eyes slowly wandered over to the table on the opposite end of the room. An array of tools were spread out in a messy setup, as if the zone were in a perpetual work-in-progress state. In fact, dust had begun to settle there after an absence of use. In the center of the tools and scattered parts sat a metallic object partially covered in a piece of cloth. Even within the darkness of the corner it sat in, it was obvious the object was in the distinctive shape of a brain.

Arpeggio shuddered, though why he did not quite know. The brain was no different than any other machine, a high-processing computer, a series of circuit and motherboards. Yet, there was just something… unsettling about prying around the false organ. Something just not right.

    “Arpeggio?” Neyla called to him from the phone line.

    “Yes, all right,” he finally conceded, “you may arrest Cooper and his gang only if the opportunity arises. Do not go out of your way. However the tides turn, they will not be able to keep those parts from us forever. I trust you to do what you feel is best.”

    “Exactly,” she said, joy in her voice, “I know what I’m doing.”

    “And what do you plan on doing with that vixen partner of yours? Is she suspicious yet?”

    “Not at all,” Neyla replied. She gave a malicious little laugh. “In fact, I may even have something up my sleeve for getting rid of her too.”

A smile pulled onto Arpeggio’s beak. “You’re much better at this than I expected. I suppose Da Vinci was correct when he said, ‘Poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master’. I must say, I’m proud of you, Neyla.”

There was a momentary pause. When the woman spoke again, her voice was soft and pleasantly pleased. It was not a tone Arpeggio typically heard from her. “I appreciate that.”

The two ended their conversation and he hung up the phone. He rested it onto the table and released a tired sigh. He then picked up his sketchbook in his hand-like wings and waddled across the table, flipping pages as he went. Under the warm yellow light of his shop, his blue eyes scanned over his scribbly drawings; they depicted an early concept of a bird, broken into pieces. There were legs and wings and the distinctive shape of a head: an owl’s head. Several notes and miscellaneous illustrations were doodled along the borders.

He set the book down and his gaze moved upwards, eyes transfixed onto a mound of metal hung up from the ceiling. It did not look like much of anything at first glance. There were curved pieces of aged metal formed into the recognizable shape of a broken ribcage. Metal plumage was scattered here and there, but it required significant reconstruction. A wobbly pair of legs were attached at the pelvis and ended in clawless feet. Strings of wire and broken pieces of metal dangled from the shoulders where the wings had once attached, and the mechanics of the neck were clearly badly damaged.

The head, the same owl head that had stared Arpeggio down months earlier, was resting on a table beneath its hung body. The orifices that were its eyes were empty and dead without their previous golden orbs. Its beak had at least been reconstructed, sporting a fresh new bottom jaw.

    “We’re getting close, my friend,” he whispered to the inanimate hunk of metal. “You’ll be freshened up, ripe as rain. Perhaps, you’ll be better than you ever were before.”

He flipped the page of his sketchbook and examined it. Illustrated on the yellowed paper was a drawing of himself; he had been drawn with lack of confidence, the lines thick and overworked. Surrounding his small avian form was Clockwerk. The giant metal body was consuming his smaller self, the lines drawn with directness and rehearsed precision. Arpeggio’s own colorful feathers lowered as he looked it over. He closed the book and stared at its moleskin cover for what felt like ages.

Arpeggio’s eyes grew pale and saddened as the blue spheres overlooked his emerald feathers. He outstretched a wing; he slowly closed and opened the long feathers that formed his hands. They were ragged, misshapen, and virtually useless. A pang struck him deeply as he observed it. He tucked the wing back against his body.

    Maybe soon, he thought despairingly, I will be better than I have ever been, too.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 31

The raindrops created a rhythmic pitter-patter on the windowpanes. The curtains were pulled over, preventing Arpeggio from seeing the storm, but it was impossible not to know it was there.

It had rained only occasionally since the project had begun, something that was rather abnormal for the country’s climate, but it had at least prevented any setbacks. The same could not be said for the current rain; it had assaulted the site every day for the last five days. The kurri had installed a weather-proof protective dome exclusively over the airship’s construction to prevent damages, but it required large amounts of power they could not spare. Despite work continuing underneath it, it was slow and hesitant, just as life outside the protective dome was horrifically damp and putrid.

Arpeggio did not know what to do with himself. In order to shift energy into the airship’s protection, his own building’s power had to be temporarily extracted. It was a sacrifice he knew he should not complain about—the rozenich did not even have air conditioning in their homes and they did not complain—but he still found it loathsome.

A flash of light briefly peeked through the thin slit where the curtains met. A clap of thunder sounded not long after, indicating the storm was only growing in strength. The parrot grumbled as his feet fidgeted on his golden perch.

Footsteps suddenly reached his ears and he perked up just as a knock sounded on his door. “Come in,” he responded.

The door opened and entering his office came the same black-beaked, burly guard named Craig. He was dripping from the rain, his expression less-than enthused. In his muscular arms was a mass of damp towels, ruffled up in a ball. Arpeggio was tempted to ask him what on Earth he was doing, but a wrinkly head popped out before he could.

    “H-Hey, P-P-Pedgy,” came the shivering voice of Kacey.

    “Heavens! What happened to you, dear?” the parrot asked as he turned himself around on his perch.

    “I got-t a lil’ d-damp.”

The toucan bent down and set the mound that was the little kurri onto the wood floor. She stood up, the towel draping down like a royal robe over her form. She looked up at the guard with her large orange eyes. He spoke up. “Found ‘er under the trees. I’unno where Linda is. Gon’ try to find ‘er.”

    “Yes, please do. Just leave the girl here, I’ll watch her,” Arpeggio told him.

The guard gave a confirming nod and promptly left. Kacey tucked the towel tightly under her neck as she started to walk towards her parrot companion. He looked down and began to scold her. “What were you doing out by yourself? Where is Linda?”

    “I was with her for a little while, following her around like I always do. Then I got a little sidetracked cause I was trying to beat another level on my game. When I looked up, she was gone! It happens all the time, but usually she doesn’t get that far. But hey, don’t worry…”

Arpeggio began to descend his perch as he watched the kurri pull the familiar silver electronic device out of her robe pocket, its body stowed away in a zipped-up plastic bag. She proudly held it up. “It survived! I’m always prepared for stuff like this!”

The bird gave an amused chuckle. “Yes, I suppose that’s a positive. It still doesn’t detract from what happened, though! Why was Linda not watching after you more closely? Surely she would have noticed you weren’t there.”

    “Not really,” the girl shrugged. She plopped her round haunches on the floor and pulled her device out of its bag to start it back up. “I’ve never actually met a rozenich baby—I just know they are super duper dumb—but they do this thing where they follow their moms and dads around, instinctively. They just kinda know they gotta stay close or they’ll get lost and die, being so dumb and all. I’ve watched videos on it! Linda just assumes I’m always gonna follow her around like that, forgetting that I don’t work that way. I get mad at her all the time for it, but she can’t help it. Her brain just thinks I’m her baby, is all.”

Arpeggio’s head tilted to the side. “But you’re her assistant, not her child.”

    “Try telling her that.”

Arpeggio was not certain about this. He prepared to present another question, but his beak had only just parted when a flash of light, brighter than ever before, pierced through the curtains. He witnessed the young girl’s eyes suddenly widen and her body tense when a deafening BANG sounded just outside the window. The pounding thunder was so loud it shook the walls, and he could hear something on his desk clatter to the floor.

He was just beginning to process what had happened when his chest was suddenly constricted, and the breath was knocked straight out of him. Feathers springing on end, he let out a startled squawk and gave a single waft of his wings. He looked down to find Kacey clinging tightly to his feathered form, her face buried into the golden fluff of his neck.

Startled and confused, the bird simply stood there, not a single clue flipping through his mind on what to do or why it was happening. It took him much more time than he wished to admit for him to realize why the girl had done it.

    “Dear, it’s all right,” he said hesitantly. He gingerly placed a wing around her shivering form. “It was merely thunder! It can’t hurt you, not in here, anyway. Let’s just—”

The bird’s body suddenly ran cold. A strong, specific odor struck his nose, and when he looked down, he saw the girl’s eyes were scrunched closed as a heavy liquid came streaming out of them. It was a dark, deep red color and dripped heavily onto his shirt and vest.

Blood.

    “D-Dear! Y-You! Y-You’re!”

    “P-Pedgy, don’t f-freak out!” she said, not pulling her death grip from his startled and struggling form.

    “You’re b-bleeding from your eyes!”

Another flash of light slipped through the window. The girl had already begun to squeeze him harder before the crashing thunder followed, only a fraction calmer than the last.

    “AUGH! D-Dear!” he struggled to get the words out as the girl’s hug grew tighter. He gently slipped a foot between them to push her away enough to breath. He could feel trickles of blood falling onto his scaly skin. Thoughts raced in his mind. The parrot looked around him, desperate for an attempt to get the girl calm. His eyes settled on a stack of blankets resting beside his bed, freshly laundered from his cleaning staff just that morning.

    “Come on, now, I have an idea!”

By some miracle, the girl released him just enough for him to pull himself away. After taking a moment to breathe, he rushed over and picked up a corner of one of the blankets with the curve of his beak. He began to drag it away to the nearest bookshelf, all the while feeling the kurri’s frightened form up against him.

    If only you stuck this close to your actual guardian…

He temporarily held the blanket in his stained foot to speak to the girl. “Here, get under.”

She complied and crawled immediately under the covers, everything but the tip of her stubby tail gone from view. Putting the piece back into his maw, he eyed the bookshelf corner and carefully began to climb up the bottom shelves. It took some maneuvering, but he managed to drag the corner up to a good spot and nestle the cloth piece under one of his decorative statues. It seemed to stay in place, so he hopped down to the floor with a huff.

He quickly hustled up to his nearby bed and pulled out two of the largest pillows he had stuffed within it. He took them with him back to their make-shift fort and ventured under. The girl took one of the pillows instantly and snuggled it up in her grip, wiping her bloody eyes on the previously unspoiled fabric. Arpeggio did not mind: it was better than doing it to him.

    “I-I don’t like storms,” she said quietly. Arpeggio could just barely make out her large orange eyes fearfully looking up at him.

Arpeggio’s chest heaved from the recent spurt of action. “Yes, I can tell. Now, would you please explain to me what in God’s name just happened? Why were you bleeding?!”

    “S-Sorry.Us k-kurri do it when we get really scared…” she explained as she wiped her eyes. Arpeggio sensed the act caused her some pain as she continued to scrunch up her brows. “I’m sorry I got blood on you and your shirt. Please, don’t be mad at me!”

The parrot sighed. “I’m not mad at you, dear, I am just awfully confused. I’ve never witnessed something like that before. It was frightful!”

As if his words triggered the sky above, another rumble of thunder erupted. He half feared the girl was going to spurt more bodily fluids and braced himself; instead, she merely curled up into a tighter ball and hid her face in the pillow.

    “P-Peeeedgy!” she whined.

The bird looked at her, uneasily. What was he supposed to do? He had never dealt with something like this before. What would Linda do…? Of course, that answer was obvious. He rolled his eyes. All right, Arpeggio, let’s do this… for the girl.

Arpeggio quickly nudged himself closer to the small kurri, huddling his fluffy form up against her and nestling down. She took to him instantly and pressed herself against him. To say he was uncomfortable was an understatement, but he could not think of any other plan so promptly. He extended his wing to shield and comfort her. 

After a time of resting in silent darkness, only the light of the girl’s device bringing them any sight, Arpeggio could hear the storm beginning to subside. The thunder that followed was quiet and distant and he wished to breathe a sigh of relief if he did not feel nervous doing so with the kurri beside him. Perhaps some conversation will ease her?

    “Dear, may I ask you a question? You say Linda treats you as if you are her child. Are your parents okay with this?”

The kurri’s wrinkly lips pulled into a frown and she looked up at him. “I dunno. We don’t really have parents.”

His brows crumpled in equal bewilderment. “No parents? You must have parents.”

    “Nu uh,” she shook her head, “I mean, I know I do, technically. I know where eggs come from. Well… mostly, I think. But we don’t have parents like your people or rozenich do.”

    “But, who raises you?”

    “The nursery workers, of course! We stay in there with the others until we get old enough.” She then sat up a little proudly, though her head remained leaning against Arpeggio’s chest. “I got to leave early cause I passed evaluations. I’m smart and the rest were dumb. Like you and your friends!”

The bird could not help but laugh. “I see.”

    “What about you? Do you have parents?”

He gave her an ambiguous smile. “Of course, I do. I have a mum and a father and siblings… Though, I don’t speak to them any longer.”

    “Oh. How come?”

    “They simply are not worth the trouble.”

The girl nervously pulled at the dangling flesh on her large ears. Her chin was nestled deep in the pillow. She was thinking rather deeply. “Families seem difficult. I think friends are better.”

    “I suppose so.”

    “Pedgy?” she asked, sitting up a little. “Do you think we’ll still be friends after the project is over?”

The bird’s gaze became blank. There was silence as he thought, the only sound emitting coming from the rain as it battered the glass on the opposite end of the room. Distant thunder echoed.

Sometimes he forgot that others did not know the finale of his plan.

    “I… don’t know, dear,” he said. He did not wish to lie to her, despite that his answer was stretching it. There was no benefit in trying to disrupt whatever thoughts she carried. She was just a child.

    “I hope so,” she finally said. She rested her head back down into the pillow.

Arpeggio’s mind twirled with thoughts and emotions. There was a feeling in the pit of his stomach he did not know how to explain, but he certainly did not like it. His gaze fell to the floor. “I must ask, why are you and Linda and… and even Jeremy, so partial to me? No one has ever been all that fond of me before. Not apparently, anyway.”

    “That’s cause you’re not friendly,” she replied bluntly. “You just kinda say what you need to say and not much else. And you’re a really big butthole sometimes.”

    “I… I am?”

    “Yeah. Jeremy’s told me a lot of stuff you’ve told him and made him do. And Linda too. I mean, I can’t really blame you for Linda ‘cause she can be reeeeally annoying sometimes. But the things they’ve said you’d done aren’t always nice things. I think you like to use people ‘cause you can’t do stuff yourself. And I think it makes you get a big, fat head.”

Arpeggio was about to open his beak to refute her statements, but she continued answering his question before he could get in a single word. She looked up at him when she spoke again. “But if you ignore that… I dunno. I like you cause you’re weird. Like, the good kinda weird. You’re really boring like us kurri are, but a different kind of boring. You’re boring with a flair!”

    “This is good…?”

    “Yeah!” she said ecstatically. “Jeremy likes you ‘cause he’s been around you so much, I think. It’s normal for him. And I think he likes being told what to do. Maybe it gives him some kinda purpose? I dunno.”

Arpeggio contemplated this answer. He supposed he could understand. The aracari was loyal to a dangerous fault. He continued listening as the girl went on. “As for Linda, there’s no tellin’. She loves everyone! Everyone but Kerry and a few others. But I also think she likes you ‘cause you’re really sad all the time and she wants to help you.”

The parrot’s blue eyes gazed down at her. “You mean to say she pities me?”

    “No, it’s not like that,” she shook her head, her droopy ears flopping around on the bird’s emerald wings. “She doesn’t feel bad for you—well, maybe a little bit—but when she sees someone who needs help, she’s really drawn to them.”

He was awestruck. What did that mean? Was he to be pleased or offended at this notion? In truth, he felt a mix of both: angry and warmed all at once. He hated the idea of others pitying him. He did not need someone’s sympathy! He never played up his shortcomings for the sake of gaining attention. Of course, everyone knew he had his issues, it was hard to hide things like that, but never did he wish to gain followers based on his physical inabilities. It was outrageous! If he was to rein over anyone, he wanted to do so for his power and his intelligence.

On the other hand, he knew Linda well enough to know things were not always black and white with her. She could feel bad for someone in one instance and snap them back into place in another. There was never a single mode with her, and he knew from his own up and downs with her thus far that it was true. But… what did she mean about him needing help?

    “Does she really assume I’m ‘sad’, as you say? What makes her believe that?”

    “It’s kind of obvious,” she replied, providing him no explanations. “You’re definitely not happy, that’s for sure.”

Their conversation did not proceed further as the sound of the doorknob clicking and the door flinging open broke through the once-silent air. The distinctive tapping of claws on the floor was instantly familiar to both Arpeggio and the girl.

    Speak of the devil…

    “Gumdrop? Are you here?” came the distraught voice of Linda.

Kacey responded before Arpeggio could. “Under here!”

The woman must have spotted the canvas of cloth that was not typically there, as the sound of her claws tapping over to them soon followed. She dropped to her knees and her white head prodded into the blanket fort just beside the parrot’s small form. Her feathers were dripping wet.

Her eyes flashed with joy and relief when she spotted her kurri companion. In an instant, her arms shot out to grab her—and Arpeggio—in a deep, loving embrace. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you! I knew I should’ve checked here first!”

Arpeggio wriggled uncomfortably in her grasp, his breath slipping out as he spoke up. “L-Let go, love… can’t… breathe...”

Linda released them both immediately, but not before giving Kacey a gentle, quick nuzzle. Her eyes then shot open and she sat back to observe the two. “I smell blood! What happened?”

Kacey automatically rubbed at her eyes as if remembering the incident in question. “I got scared when a big thunder clapped and did my weird eye thing.”

    “Oh yuck! I hate when you do that!”

Arpeggio shuddered. “I equally despised it.”

Linda giggled and lightly shook her head, flinging out droplets onto her two companions, much to their detest. “I don’t blame you, though. I bet what you heard was lightning striking the tree outside. Looks like it got hit major when I was coming up here!”

    “Heavens! No wonder it was so loud,” Arpeggio said. He then could not resist adding in a last-minute taunt, a smile forming on his face. “Suppose with that tree down, that means you can’t come pester me your way anymore.”

The woman released a fake grumble and smirked. “We’ll see about that.”

As if summoning the storm, another crack of thunder sounded outside, much louder than the recent, much calmer eruptions. Kacey instantly shoved herself back against Arpeggio, the pillow clutched tightly in her arm. The rozenich reached out and gave her a reassuring pat. The parrot merely sat there, as uncomfortable as he had been before, if not more-so.

Even so, he chose to speak up, politely. “It doesn’t sound like it’s going to let up any time soon. If you both wish to stay here until the storm passes, you may.”

    “Thanks, hon,” Linda nodded. Her eyes suddenly lit up. “Ooh! We should tell spooky stories!”

Perfectly timed with her words, a second clash of thunder sounded, forcing everyone to jump. In response, both Arpeggio and Kacey released a direct, simultaneous reply to her suggestion.

    “NO!”

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 32

 

    “The Contessa is gone?” Arpeggio questioned in surprise.

The gruff voice of fellow member Jean Bison slipped from the phone the bird was holding. “Yup, she’s plum gone. Dunno where.”

    “How did you discover this?” 

The man continued with his usual eagerness. “Well, ya see, I was tryin’ to get up with her to ask if she heard anything about the last of Rajan’s spice haul. Was gonna try to see if she’ll let me have a portion to send out—would make a lotta money this time of the year over here and I’m runnin’ out of stock—but I had no such luck.”

    “Rajan was arrested nearly a month ago,” Arpeggio said. He had to catch himself from adding ‘and that blasted Cooper Gang’ but he caught himself in time. “Did she not offer a solution to this then?”

    “She told me to hold off awhile. Said them INTERPOL folks had to sort through it or somethin’. I couldn’t make heads of tails of it and she wasn’t up for teachin’. Had better things to do, I reckon.”

    “I see…”

Arpeggio’s gaze shifted out the window. He gently pulled back the curtain to overlook his great landscape. For once, the space before him was almost entirely devoid of bustling people, save for the occasional patrolling guard. There was no work being done that day, nor had there been any work done the last few days. It was the time of the year the rozenich celebrated… something. Arpeggio did not really understand it when Linda had explained before. He only knew it had something to do with eggs, and that made him too flustered to ask for clarification.



His gaze remained where it was as Jean Bison went on. “I dunno what we’re gonna do. My trains are traveling non-stop now, real powerful those mechanical parts made ‘em, but it don’t amount to a hill of beans if there ain’t nothin’ in ‘em to travel with.”

    “Continue your spice shipments until they deplete,” Arpeggio instructed. “By the time that happens, we won’t need to worry about it. My airship will be completed by then and we’ll be off to Paris for the grand finale.”

    “Ah, yeah, you still needin’ that northern light battery, eh? Got the container ready to go, just need to do whatever it was you said needed to be done to work it.”

    “Yes, I will send some of my men out there in a few weeks to explain it to your workers.”

    “Alrighty, then. But what about Contessa?”

The parrot took his eyes off the window. “I hate to be so pessimistic about it, but I have a feeling she may be out of the picture. It was only a matter of time before she was discovered as our mole. If you could not contact her at her clinic, it either means she’s been arrested as well or she’s ventured off to her estate to hide. Either way, we don’t need her: I have her portion of the scheme already. It is a shame, it truly is, but we cannot let it detract from our work.”

    “Dayum,” he cursed, breath heaving uncomfortably into the phone, “what’s with all these cops gangin’ up on us all of a sudden?”

Arpeggio did not skip a beat: his lies came out smooth as butter. “Much like the Contessa’s role in INTERPOL, our operation could not stay hidden forever, old chap. I suppose it’s simply our time to retire. All the more reason to be extra precautionary with the remainder of our work.”

    “Ain’t that the truth. Well, I’ll talk to ya later, partner.”

    “Yes. Ta-ta, Bison!”

He hung up the phone and flung it onto his desk in frustration. The act caused one of his books to shift and knock a pen off its surface. The bird watched as it gently rolled across the polished wood until rocking to a stop atop a loose drawing he had left there: a familiar drawing of an owl.

The bird released an agonizingly long sigh. Damn you, Neyla, where are you?

It had been over a month since he had heard from his protégé. She had spoken to him only briefly after the arrest of Rajan and the Cooper Gang. There had been… problems. While her plan to deceive the Coopers had gone without a hitch, resulting in Rajan’s satisfying arrest, one of the three opposing gang members had escaped her clutches. With him gone, so, too, were the Clockwerk parts they possessed.

Arpeggio tried not to be angry with her, she had succeeded in what she had set out to do after all, but it was difficult. He knew they should have stuck with their original plan, his original plan, of allowing the Coopers to run free for a little while longer. He had gotten soft with Neyla, perhaps a little too trusting. He never should have agreed to the change.

Still, there were more positives than negatives in the situation. While there was still the matter of dealing with the remaining Cooper rival and the metal avian treasures he kept, Neyla had apparently succeeded in also tossing her detective partner into jail by concocting some obscure lie, likely about her assisting in the theft of the wings back at the ball. “Two birds with one stone” Neyla had told him. Her single arrest of four individuals—most high profile—had caused a pleasant stir within INTERPOL, and she claimed it would only be a matter of time before they promoted her. With her position growing higher in the hierarchy, keeping tabs would become much easier as long as nothing derailed the scheme further.

Arpeggio had not heard from the young woman since then. It was unlike her to go so long without reporting to him in some fashion, and it had started to worry him.

He tried to push the events out of his mind. Jean Bison was a focused man, he would obey the bird’s commands so long as he got money out of it. All the aristocrat needed to do was complete his airship and hope Neyla followed up sooner rather than later. The rest would fall into place.

His eyes peered back out the window. Flickers of light sparked in the distance between the intricate skeleton of scaffolding that surrounded the airship. He assumed the rozenich and kurri were out there, doing whatever it was they did on their obscure holiday.

    There couldn’t be any harm in seeing what those barbarians are up to, he thought. He hopped off the windowsill and headed towards his scooter, leaving the troublesome thoughts of the phone call behind.

~ *  ~

The easiest way to find the rozenich gathering was not by sight, but by sound. The noises the creatures made were audible the second the small bird exited his living quarters. There were a lot of screeches that pierced his ears and squawks that startled him, but there were also a lot of beautiful chirps and calls and songs. The distinctive sounds of music being played on drums and other primitive instruments could be heard through the racket, and Arpeggio’s curiosity was further fueled.

When he arrived, the place was alive with movement and color. The alien people were celebrating emphatically. There were dances and playful roughhousing, even some people simply running around for no good reason. The majority were sitting about, swaying to the music or talking. They were all circled around contained fires with objects in the center that he could not make out over the mass of bodies.

Some kurri were also there, standing off to the side or slowly making their way around, observing the creatures and jotting down notes. He even spotted some of his off-duty guards standing around, watching, or partaking in whatever it was that was happening.

Arpeggio had not planned to do anything more than investigate the event, but much like everything else that had occurred to him lately, his plan changed the moment he spotted the white rozenich.

    “Pedgy!” Linda exclaimed as she ran up to him. Arpeggio saw that she was wearing several pieces of jewelry: three or four necklaces of varying types, several bracelets, and even a loosely worn belt with fake gems on it. A colorful cloth shawl hung across her shoulders. Her large white tail feathers had also been painted with colorful spots and markings.

    “Hello, love,” he said, trying to sound cheery. “I see the lot of you are having a good time.”

    “Yeah, it’s great!” she said happily. “I mean, it’s not as crazy as it usually is back home, but it’ll do.”

    Not as crazy? I’d hate to see what normal looks like, he thought to himself. He could not think of how to reply to her, but it turned out he did not need to as Linda spoke up again. “You wanna check it out?”

    “Me? No, no, don’t be silly. I’m not a rozenich. It would be rude to partake in your… festivities.”

    “Nah, we don’t care,” she said with a wave of her hand. “Jezzy and Gumdrop are in there along with some of the other boys. I even saw Phyllis earlier!”

    “Who is Jezzy?”

    “Jeremy. I’m still testing out nicknames for him.”

    “Oh,” he simply replied. He gave a quick glance around him. The partying lifestyle was never his thing, but he could not resist the urge to investigate further. That damn curiosity. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt…? “Well, all right. But if I wish to leave, you must take me out immediately!”

    “Of course!”

Linda led the way as she cleared a path for Arpeggio’s scooter through the chaotic thrall of alien creatures. Arpeggio’s nerves rattled; he was never very good at handling such wild scenes. As he watched the feathered bodies jump about, he wondered if that was the sort of thing that took place in the nightclub Dimitri had run before it closed down. He did not see the appeal, but it was certainly fascinating to watch.

The two ventured out of the crowd and over to one of the many make-shift benches they had crafted for the occasion, most of them nothing more than refastened crates or logs. Linda plopped down on one of them as Arpeggio pulled his scooter up beside her. A few pairs of rozenich, also dressed extravagantly, were sitting down nearby, none of which paid any attention to them.

Arpeggio’s eyes first landed on the centerpiece he had been eying earlier. What he had thought was a single bonfire was actually a thick ring of smaller fires surrounded by stones and rocks to keep it contained. In the center was a large… something. It was oval shaped and crudely crafted of larger stones, pieces of metal, and other objects that had been carved and smoothed out. Attached to it were shiny objects: jewels, forks, spoons, shimmering plastics, and more.

    “Linda, what is that?” he asked.

    “What? The thing in the middle? It’s an idol.”

    “Of what?”

    “An egg.”

He shuddered. “Why an egg?”

She laughed and put her arms around her bent up knees. “There’s no English name for it, but it’s basically a symbol of our uh… god-thing I guess.”

He looked up at her curiously. “Oh, yes, I’ve heard your people talk about this ‘Great Egg’ thing before. Your god is an egg, then?”

    “More like the universe is an egg. It’s kinda hard to explain.”

    “How peculiar,” he said, tone inquisitive. “So that is what you meant earlier. This is simply a celebration of your religion?”

    “Yeah! Well, a bit more a celebration of life and a chance to just have a good time,” she explained.

Their conversation was interrupted when the small body of Kacey suddenly came charging towards them. Much like the others, she was covered in colorful paint on the parts of her that were exposed. She was also adorned with significantly more feathers than usual, this time consisting of fan feathers from many other rozenich outside of just Linda’s.

    “Pedgy!” she yelled, excitement in her tone. She plowed up to him, her front legs rearing up onto his scooter, causing it to tremble.

    “Yes, hello, dear,” he replied. “I see you are having fun, too.”

    “Yeah, yeah! It’s so cool! Isn’t it cool?” The girl did not even wait for the bird to reply before she took off once more across the way, running between the long legs of the rozenich and disappearing into the crowd.

Arpeggio scratched his head with a wing. “She is, uh… are you sure it is safe for her out here?”

Linda shrugged. “She’s been around worse, she’ll be fine. But you know what isn’t safe? You being so stuck-up. Here…”

The woman leaned in and gently unfastened the parrot’s neat little red bowtie. He allowed her, but not without detest. “I say, what’s that for?”

    “There’s no need to be prim and proper all the time. Let loose for awhile! Pretend it’s, like, what’s it called? Casual Friday!”

    “Firstly, it’s Wednesday,” he said with discontent, “secondly, I simply don’t know if it is suitable to be out here looking disheveled in front of my--”

    “No one cares, Pedgy,” she said with a groan, “and if they do care, so what? They’re just party poopers.”

    “You know, you speak like a child more than Kacey sometimes.”

    “I don’t care about that either,” she huffed. She then promptly stood up, her jewelry swinging along with her motions. “In fact, I dare you to do something you’d never normally do!”

The blue feathers on his head raised. “Like what?”

    “Dance with me!”

The bird almost immediately chuffed and rolled his eyes. “We discussed this already, love.”

    “Yeah, and?”

    Woman is bloody mad, he huffed to himself. His gaze fell past her and onto the people in the crowd. There was so much drunken joy about them, the air filling with happiness and enthusiasm. The sounds that flew from their jaws were primitive and alien, but the emotions were as earthly as could come. It would be madness to join in and be one of them. He would not belong, and all it would do would provide more fuel to the rumor train that had been plaguing him during this project.

Arpeggio’s thoughts on his criminal plans resurfaced. After all was said and done, would it truly matter that he embarrassed himself one night? He would be far more powerful than he ever was, and he could smite any rumors quicker than they could come into fruition. Did that make it… okay, then?

    “All right, fine. Only this once, and only because you weren’t able to at the gala…”

The female’s eyes lit up. She said nothing, but she extended her arms for him, inviting him to climb aboard like they had done all those months ago. Hesitantly, he climbed up. He had expected her to keep her arm—and him—extended, but he was thrown for a loop when the woman suddenly tossed him up onto her chest, arms securely wrapping around him and his talons scraping against the thick scales on her stomach.



His wide blue eyes glared into hers. “I say! What’re you doing?”

    “Is it okay if I touch your back? I don’t want you to get any dirty thoughts.”

    “Do not be perverse! But… fine. Just… don’t drop me.”

He allowed his companion to take his feathered hand in hers as she began. Arpeggio nervously countered his weight as she gently began to sway back and forth to the beat of the music. He did not know what to do with himself. She was careful to not be overtly exuberant, and it took little time for Arpeggio to get in tune with her movements. Still, it was awkward and uncomfortable, and he struggled to understand how anyone could have a good time with it. Perhaps if he had a few drinks in him he would loosen up… but why did he need that? Why was he the odd man out?

    “Are you okay? We can stop if you want,” Linda said, obviously noticing the man’s lack of enjoyment.

    “I am fine. It’s… it’s not that,” he said, not allowing his eyes to meet with hers. “It is just getting over the initial embarrassment, is all. It’s like going to a school formal for the first time. Though, you probably don’t know what I mean by that.”

She chuckled and gave the bird a playful bounce, which forced him to nervously thrust his wings out over her shoulders for balance. He resisted digging his claws into her scales and he frowned at her. She did not seem to notice. “I get it. It’s just hard to break out of your comfort zone. If it makes you feel better, I’m proud of you for at least doing this much.”

    “I suppose that counts for something.”

The rozenich set the bird gently back on his perch just as Kacey returned, running up to them feverishly fast. She skidded to a halt, kicking up dust. Linda quickly bent down and wrangled her up into her arms in almost the exact same position she had previously been holding her employer. Unlike the avian, the kurri child was more than accepting of her offer to dance.

    “Let me show you how it’s done!” she said teasingly.

Arpeggio, already feeling the anxiety within him calm, watched with intrigue as the woman took the child out into the dancing fray and commenced celebrating as the others did. The two twirled and hopped and swayed to the beat of the drums and the wind instruments that consumed the area. The girl’s arms were raised in the air excitedly and they sang and cooed with their brethren. The warmth of the fire expanded out and caressed Arpeggio’s feathers. Somehow, he began to relax.

  I must be going mad being out here, Arpeggio thought as he watched the event unfold. These were not his people. None of this was fitting for him or any place he needed to be. Why was he associated with them? Why did he even allow any of this to happen? Yet, he kept watching, kept listening. It was intriguing and audacious but something about it drew him in. Perhaps it was the curiosity of it all, or perhaps it was because he had nothing better to do.

    If Neyla was here, she’d throw a fit, he could not help but laugh.

Maybe he was going mad. He would just have to wait and see.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 33

    “I can’t do it,” Linda groaned, a grand sort of hatred burning in her blue eyes.

    “You gotta!” Kacey encouraged, her little hands balled into fists. “If you don’t do this we are never gonna get on with our lives!”

Arpeggio chipped in with an underwhelming response. “I don’t think she can do it.”

    “Sssssh, Pedgy! You’re gonna throw her off!”

    “The only place she is being thrown off of is that bridge.”

As if his words brought a curse upon the rozenich, she let out a painful scream of defeat and dropped the video game controller she had been holding. The small orange character she had been playing on the television screen before her descended to his death on what was a very precarious bridge.

She collapsed to the floor in a fluffy white pool of despair. Her voice mumbled out from beneath her plumage. “I hate this game.”

Kacey gave Arpeggio a sharp glare. “You did this.”

Arpeggio chuckled from his position on the back of a leather couch. “It’s not my doing that you chose to indulge in such personal terrors.”

    “You didn’t stop us.”

Linda reluctantly flipped herself over, throwing her long scaly legs up on the sofa cushions. Her massive tail was messily sticking out beside her. She stared blankly into the ceiling. “I hope my race never grows advanced enough to experience these horrors.”

Arpeggio perked a brow. “I have a feeling you will keep rock-throwing and bug-catching on your entertainment repertoire for a good while longer.”

    “I can only hope.”

The small room they were in was quiet and empty, save for them. It was a leisure room meant for Arpeggio’s cleaning crew and any guards on duty at his building to rest in if they needed. It was one of the only perks his workers got out of being close to him. The bird rarely ventured into it, but it was convenient for their latest endeavors.

The trio had begun spending their evenings together more and more as the weeks progressed. It was coming up on a month since the rozenich festival had ended and it had become almost typical to spot one of the two aliens with the aristocrat bird at some point each day. There were exceptions to this, of course, but it had become routine. Rarely did they do much other than sit around talking, but the company had been a positive change of pace: so thought the bird, anyway. Arpeggio found fewer and fewer emotional conflicts each time they were together. There was still that inkling feeling he should not allow himself to stoop into companionships, that it would only bring him undesired heartache, but the logic against it was sound. He had nothing but time to deal with, and what better way to pass it than with others to distract? Days could become very boring on the work site, but he feared leaving it for too long to take trips back to London.

    “Hey, where’s Jeremy? Maybe he can give the level a try,” Kacey questioned as she sat up on the couch. “He got us outta that last hard one.”

    “He’ll be here shortly,” Arpeggio replied. “He’s escorting someone for me.”

Linda raised her long neck to look at him. “Ooh, Neyla?”

He confirmed with a nod. “It’s been some time since she ventured out here. With the airship so extravagant now, she might get lost trying to find the way herself.”

There was an uneasiness in Linda gaze. She raised up onto her elbows. “She always seems… upset or something when she comes around here. Is she doing okay?”

    She hates you, that’s all, the words passed through Arpeggio’s mind. He gave a comforting smile and replied. “She just gets stressed out. She’s been doing a lot of work for me, on top of her law enforcement duties, and it sometimes gets to her.”

The kurri child peered up at him. “What does she do for you?”

The bird did not skip a beat. “Oh, she does a lot of things. She scouts around, finding me new recruits. She gets rid of employees who aren’t holding up their ends of the deal. She even finds hard to get supplies for me. It can be quite taxing.”

    “How come you can’t help do some of it for her?”

Arpeggio gave a shrug. “I am simply not physically able. Besides, I have enough work to deal with here with you lot.”

The bird saw a look in her eyes surface. A suspicious look. If she planned on giving a retort she did not have her chance. The door to the room was opened and two figures entered: the now-uniformed Jeremy and the usual sour-looking Neyla. The moment she witnessed the other people in the room, her striped ears shifted to the side. Her tail began to flick.

    “Ah, Neyla, dear. It’s good to see you again,” Arpeggio greeted her. He slowly made his way across the couch back to get closer. He eyed his two guests and politely spoke to them. “Linda, love, would you mind taking Kacey outside with Jeremy for a little while? I need to talk business.”

    “They can stay.”

The words that escaped Neyla’s lips forced a shot of anxiety through the small avian. There was a brief instance of silence before he looked at her with utter confusion. He could only mutter a single word response. “What?”

She crossed her arms and casually shifted her weight. There was a coldness in her gaze as she spoke again. “It’s not like it’d cause any harm. They probably already know everything.”

    “Th-They…” the words got caught in his throat. He felt his head go light. What was she doing? His eyes fell to Jeremy who nervously glanced between her and him, knowing good and well the issues currently at stake. He attempted to collect himself, but his response was still noticeably perplexed. “They don’t need to listen to us. It wouldn’t be of any interest to them.”

    “Really? Would it not?” Neyla replied, her head tilting ever so slightly to the side. 

It made Arpeggio uneasy.

Kacey, who could not have misconstrued the tension that suddenly built up into the room, clasped her small hands together. “Ya know, I just remembered I’m really hungry. Like starving. And I can’t play games on an empty stomach! You’re probably hungry too, right Linda?”

She turned to her guardian in hopes of receiving a response to her liking. Instead, Linda appeared as if she had not heard a thing, her attention transfixed on the purple cat. Her lips were pulled back just enough so that the tips of her sharp upper teeth were peeking out. Her ears were aimed behind her aggressively, though her gaze was emotionless. Arpeggio watched her nervously.

His anxiety was spiked further when Neyla leaned forward and spoke to the child in a tone laced with contempt. “Are you sure? This might be worth going hungry for.”

Kacey said nothing and took a gentle step back.

It was the aracari who ended the stand-off with a quick clack of his beak, drawing Linda’s attention to him. He signed to her quickly, words that Arpeggio obviously could not make out. Whatever it was that he said, it seemed to convince the rozenich and she got to her feet. Instead of waiting for Kacey to jump down on her own, she picked her up in her arms hurriedly.

When she spoke, her voice was smooth and entirely convincing. “I’m not really up for anymore talking, actually. That game took a lot out of me.”

To Arpeggio’s joyful surprise, Neyla did not say anything back to her.

As she began to leave the room with child and Jeremy in tow, she gave Arpeggio a final look. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Pedgy.”

    “Yes, take care,” he replied, not bothering to force a happy tone.

They waited for the door to close and the footsteps outside to fade. Eventually, the silence got too much for him and the bird spoke in a bitter tone. “What was that for? I did not find that charade the least bit amusing.”

    “It wasn’t meant to be,” she said with a frown. “What were you doing in here with them? I had hoped you’d given up on that white bitch and her hideous little runt by now.”

    “Don’t call them that,” he said, anger growing in his voice. “The child causes no harm to us, and we already discussed the benefits Ms. Givington has for me.”

Her muzzle scrunched up, whiskers flaring. “Arpeggio, we are almost done with our mission. What good is she to you now? Your little lackey is back in action, so you need to cut ties with her. She’s not doing you any good.”

    “She’s not doing any harm either,” he retorted. “If you must know why I keep them around, it is nothing short of convenience. You’re blowing this out of proportion and you are quite aware of it.”

That was all it took for Neyla’s lips to curl into a snarl, her white fangs flashing not unlike the ones of the tiger she had thrown into prison. Arpeggio felt the feathers on his neck rise.

    “Don’t you even dare go there with me!” she snapped, her eyes alit with fury. “I’m out there all day and night doing your dirty work! If it wasn’t for me we wouldn’t be where we are now! And what’re you doing while I’m busting my tail? In here playing around with two useless wastes of space that you’re going to dump off in another few months. You have some nerve trying to play me like one of your bloody pets!”

Anger boiled up inside Arpeggio. He could feel his rage pouring out of his beak when he replied. “Do you have any idea the things I had to go through to prep for any of this? Maybe I wasn’t out scampering across rooftops or feeding lies to thieves, but without me you wouldn’t have any of these things to do. And I damn well know if it wasn’t for me you would still be back in that university relying on others to do your work for you.”

There was hurt in her green eyes and her snarl began to fade. The reaction gave the bird confidence and he puffed out his chest. “So, do not even consider going off on me for any of this. You’re toiling with things you don’t even moderately understand. I’ve been doing this a lot longer than you, dear, and you best remember that.”

    “This is different,” she said, her confidence lowered but her words still sharp. “This is bigger than anything you’ve ever done and will likely ever do.”

    “I know what I’m doing. I’ve prepared for this.”

    “No one can prepare for immortality, Arpeggio!”

The word struck a chord within him and he spread out his wings to silence her. “Be quiet, you foolish girl! We cannot speak of that aloud, you know that!”

The feline wanted to say more, Arpeggio could see it in her eyes, but ultimately, her gaze fell away. She knew better.

    “Now,” he said, bringing in a deep breath of air to calm his shivering nerves, “we need to talk business and nothing more. Give me your report.”

Neyla did not reply straight away. She turned her back to her mentor and casually walked to the countertop across from her. There was nothing of interest there, but she needed something for her hands to mess with as she delivered him the news. “The Contessa is in custody. I had to hire an army to force her out of her castle estate: warplanes, tanks, the works, all under INTERPOL’s bill. They weren’t happy when they learned of her corruption.”

    “I’m sure they weren’t,” Arpeggio said. The confirmation of another of his gang member’s disposal released a mound of stress off his chest. Yet, he knew that could not have been the entirety of what she was going to tell him.

    “I found the Clockwerk eyes, one of them anyway. I had it in my grasp. I was so close. But then I got sloppy last minute when the stupid eight-legged cow showed up.”

    “She took the parts back?” he asked. The pause before she spoke again unsettled the parrot. He mentally prepared himself for what was to come. Oh dear. Here we go…

    “It was Cooper. He got them both.”

Arpeggio shook his head, not believing her. “Cooper was arrested. You said he was thrown in the tightest lockdown the Contessa had at her facility.”

Neyla did not look at him when she responded. “He escaped. Him and his partner. Their third member got them out: how I still don’t know. They’re the reason the Contessa ran into hiding.”

The bird did not know what to say. It was a shock to learn of his enemy’s escape, but simultaneously unsurprising to him. This was Sly Cooper they were speaking of. The lad was only just barely of legal age, but he was already renowned for being good at what he did. What he and his gang did. They had defeated the might that was Clockwerk when he was still an adolescent; what was something like a prison cell to any of them in comparison? Nothing more than an inconvenience.

Arpeggio was a smart man, but even he would not know what to do with himself if he had been in their shoes. Still, he knew how to respond to his disappointed protégé. “This is not a setback. If anything, this is a restart. We are back onto our original track with the Coopers still keeping up and snatching the parts for us.”

    “I can still get the parts myself.”

Arpeggio wanted to groan. The girl simply would not give up. “What makes you think you’ll have better luck now than you did prior?”

    “I’ve been promoted,” she boasted, though she did not dare smirk in pride. “I’m captain, now. I have more resources and power at my disposal. If that moronic buffalo’s parts are all that remain, the odds of me snagging them are far higher.”

As much as the bird disagreed, he did not wish to argue with her. There was too much at stake to risk blowing it all on trivial nonsense. He felt he had asserted his dominance enough. The least he could do was allow her this pleasure.

    “Fine, you may continue to seek out the parts yourself. But do not try to stop the Coopers this time. Let them do what we planned. We will still be able to collect everything from them at the end, that I am certain.”

    “Things are not sticking to the plan as well as we anticipated,” Neyla pointed out. “How do we know we will still be able to collect it all before that ragtag team aims their sights on you?”

    “Let them,” he said callously. “If they come to me, it will only make things easier. I have the edge here: while the other members were defeated easily, they were pounced upon unknowingly. That is not the case on my end. I am leaps ahead of them. With you at the helm of your division in INTERPOL now, there is really nothing stopping us.”

The woman did not seem to agree with him, but she did not try to protest. It was evident the two were at odds on many things; Arpeggio only hoped the cat would stick with him long enough to see the remainder of the plan through.

    Of course she will, he told himself. What other choice does she have?

    “I trust that you will continue to do your work,” he said. The purple feline looked at him, her expression unreadable as he went on. “So, trust me when I say that I have everything under control. Understood?”

Neyla replied with nothing more than a soft nod of her head. She did not say anything back and that, more than anything, bothered him the most.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 34

Immortality.

It was a strong word. A word that spoke volumes, particularly to Arpeggio. He was not certain if achieving such a thing would truly be possible, even if the answer sat right in front of him. Was Neyla right when she had said he could not prep for it? It was a question far too deep to answer.

The bird sat on his balcony, his yellow toes clasped around the banister. His blue eyes scanned across the mass that was his airship. The scaffolding that had surrounded it for all those months had finally dwindled, leaving behind only the parts needed to keep the airship lifted off the ground. He could see it all clearly, now: an exact replica of the designs and models he had slaved over the last two years. The winding structural pathways, the large engine blocks, the fire pits that would fuel the balloons, it was all there, all clear for him to see. Completion was just around the corner, the only things remaining to be installed being the balloons, envelopes, and propellers. Arpeggio was told the first test flight could occur in as little as two weeks.

Somehow, he did not know how to feel about that.

The bird had been so engrossed in his focus that he did not hear the knock on the door to his office. He was brought back into awareness by the gentle voice of Linda calling to him from inside. “There you are,” she said as she made her way up to the opened window. “I was wondering if you were still asleep.”

    “No, I’m just thinking. I’ve been thinking all night; I barely even slept.”

He eyed the tree beside his building. The branch the woman had usually entered the balcony on had long-since been destroyed, torn to shreds by the storm that had trapped him and Kacey all those nights ago. The leaves had fallen completely from the old giant in the changing weather, revealing the damage the lightning had caused. There would be no saving it, even if they wanted to.

Linda noticed his gaze but did not say anything about it. Instead, she spoke up, straight to the point. “Are you upset about what happened yesterday with Neyla?”

The mentioning of his protégé’s name stirred him. He looked over his shoulder at her. “You didn’t hear any of our conversation, did you?”  

    “No, we left right away,” she said. “I don’t spy on you all the time.”

The bird gave a quiet little laugh and turned back to the field. “Yes, well, we got into a bit of an argument after that. It was brief, but it was not pretty.”

    “Oh, I gotcha.”

The woman did not press the matter, which Arpeggio was thankful for. She climbed out of the window and went over beside him, leaning against the railing. She, too, looked out over the expanse, though her expression conveyed little interest in what she saw.

When she spoke again, her tone was calm and curious. “Where did you meet her, anyway? You seem like you’ve known her awhile.”

    “Not at all,” he began, releasing a pent-up sigh. “The two of us have only been acquainted a little over two years now. I met her at a university—a place for advanced learning, if you are not familiar—and I hired her shortly after.”

    “Really? There has to be more to it than that.”

She was correct, of course, but Arpeggio had to tread carefully on how much he told. Though, would she really understand, even if he was truthful? Would she be able to grasp that he had found interest in the girl when he witnessed her forcing other students to do her work for her so flawlessly? That the only reason he was visiting the university, under the ruse of finding interest in teaching there, was merely to seek out a potential apprentice with similar skills? Surely, the rozenich could not grasp any of that, let alone the idea of convincing the young feline, with little effort, to join his criminal gang in secret.

Instead, he answered her in the plainest terms he could. “I saw something in her: a great potential. I had been seeking an apprentice for some time, someone I could trust to take my place when I retired and assist me as I worked. There were other candidates, but Neyla bested them all.”

The woman leaned her cheek against her hand as she listened to him. She watched him with a gaze of wonder. “And she was excited? To work for you, I mean.”

    “I suppose so. She never complained.”

    “But I thought she also worked for the law. How did she get into that, too?”

Arpeggio smiled. “They saw the same potential in her as I did. I allowed her to take on both duties so long as she believed she was able. Thus far she has performed excellently. I really could not ask for a better protégé.”

    Of course, it also helps to have an additional mole in the law, he thought to himself. He could still remember when the opportunity had presented itself for Neyla to join INTERPOL. It had never been a part of their plan but thus far there were no regrets. It was almost as if it were meant to be.

His smile slowly fell, as did his gaze. Was any of this wild scheme of his truly meant to be? He had thought so, but he had also never before felt the doubts that were welling up within him. It made him feel ill.

    “I’ve always had a plan for everything,” Arpeggio went on, his tone low and sullen. “Building this airship. Getting someone like Neyla on my side to assist me. But I never planned for things to get as rocky as they are now.”

The albino woman perked up in concern. “What do you mean?”

    “I’m feeling… a lot of things, lately. A lot of things I’ve never felt before. I don’t quite know what to make of it.”

    “Hon, you can’t be an unfeeling robot all the time.”

    Love, you don’t know the half of it. The bird fidgeted his toes anxiously against the railing. “Yes, I know that. It is simply that I wish I could find ways around it.”

    “Do you want to talk about it?”

The bird shook his head. “I don’t think I can explain it. I’d rather let my mind figure it out on its own.”

She gave him a nod of understanding. “Maybe so. But also, it might help if you took your mind off of it for awhile.”

A saddened smirk perked onto the corners of his beak. She always had a way of trying to force him into things. He cautiously replied, “And what do you have in mind this time?”

She grinned a long, toothy smile. “Oh, nothing much.”

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 35

    “Why do I keep falling for your nonsense?” Arpeggio asked with shaky, anxious breath.

    “I dunno,” Linda said, “I guess I’m just skilled at convincing.”

The small bird sat on the white rozenich’s shoulders, his claws digging into her fluffy plumage as she stood waist-deep in lake water. Arpeggio had known about the lake that sat a short mile from the worksite, but he had never been to it other than the two or three times he had investigated it early on during the project. He was aware the kurri periodically allowed the rozenich to venture to it, under the scheduled addition of a secondary concealing dome, but Linda had never spoken of it until the surprise she had tricked him into that afternoon.

Packs of other rozenich were out in the lake alongside them, playing around, bathing, and doing whatever it was the avian-creatures enjoyed doing in the unfiltered playground. A handful of toucan guards were positioned along the shoreline. Jeremy, who was currently out of uniform and sporting a bright orange life jacket, stood a mere few inches away from the waterline, a nervous expression also adorned to his face. Kacey gripped tightly to his hand, equipped with a similar vest with the addition of several floaties. A pair of adult kurri stood under the cover of a tree a short way back to supervise.

Arpeggio gave an annoyed grumble and adjusted his own lime green life jacket. “A smart woman like yourself should assume when I said I do not know how to swim that you would decide against taking me here.”

    “If you were so scared about drowning you would have stayed home. I didn’t force you.”

    “I abhor you sometimes.”

The woman suddenly shifted into a kneeling position, forcing the water to lap up against her fluffy—now soaked—chest. The movement caused the parrot to nervously shift with her. He instinctively extended his shivering wings for balance. “For God’s sake, Linda! I am a parrot, not a waterfowl!”

 

    “You can be anything if you believe!” she said as she purposefully lowered herself further into the water.

    “RUBBISH!’

Their descent only came to a pause when the small voice of Kacey yelled at them from their place on the shore. “Hey! You’re makin’ Jeremy nervous!”

Jeremy rattled.

Linda scoffed and called back to them. “If you wanna rescue him, come out here yourself!”

    “Are you kooky?!”  Kacey cried in response.

    “I can’t hear you I’m siiiinkiiing!”

The sharp cool feeling of water pouring over the bird’s feet sent every feather of his body puffing up. He exclaimed loudly with one foot in the air. “JEREMY, come out here and fetch me this instant!”

The aracari appeared noticeably distraught at his companion’s cries, but his nervous gaze at the water before him caused him much resistance. A snicker from one of the toucans behind him drew his attention. “Go on, Jer, go save your boyfriend.”

    “At least you won’t catch on fire out there,” a second guard added in.

The short man responded to both with a rude hand gesture.

Kacey, who had not noticed the exchange, gave a reluctant sigh and patted him on the shoulder. “You better go. I’ll remember you fondly.”

Jeremy gave the shimmering clear water a final look before taking in a deep breath of air. Still holding the young girl’s hand, he began to step out into the chilly lake towards his boss and pestering friend. Kacey, surprised at being drug along, grabbed his hand and desperately tried to dig her feet into the rocky lake bottom. “No! Don’t take me down with you!”

Meanwhile, the rozenich had descended further into the water. Despite Arpeggio stretching his short legs as far as they could go, the base of his tail had been consumed. He huffed as he whined to her. “Why must you torture me this way? Have I not been kind to you?”

    “You know you only need to say the safe word and I’ll stop.”

    “I am not saying that!”

    “Ugh, fine.” The woman immediately stood back up, allowing the half-drenched bird to relax. His long tail feathers hung limply off her side as he vigorously shook off droplets.

    “You’re never going to learn how to swim at this rate, you know.”

    “I don’t need to know how to swim, Linda.”

    “Then why did you suggest I teach you?”

    “I was joking.”

Jeremy, with Kacey by his side, finally managed to make their way over to the pair. The water nipped at the aracari’s cheeks, forcing him to hold his long bill up high in the air. Though he had no apparent fear of drowning, his green eyes were still nervously round. Kacey, equipped with more floaties than she really needed, could no longer touch the ground as the devices kept her comfortably afloat. “This isn’t so bad. But it’s so cooold,” she said with a heavy shiver.

Arpeggio, who clearly detested the notion of positivity from the girl, gestured a wing at Linda. “Because normally you don’t swim after summer comes to a close. I don’t know if I trust any one of you to keep me from submerging to my death out here.”

    “You won’t drown, you have a vest,” Linda said. “Besides, the water isn’t that deep.”

He grumbled. “If I get in for just a second will you take me back to shore?”

    “Depends if you give me attitude or not.”

    “I detest you right now.”

Kacey, who was still clinging to Jeremy’s hand, looked up at the gold parrot with confidence. “You can do it, Pedgy! If Jeremy came all this way out here for you, the least you can do is try it for him!”

Jeremy gave a rattle in response, though it was not his usual, chipper sounding one.

Arpeggio glanced over the body of water around him. It was murkier where they stood, though he could still make out the rocky bottom: just barely. “Fine, help me in. Gently.”

Linda agreed and awkwardly twisted her arm around her back and raised it up, allowing him to carefully crawl under her armpit so she could get a firm hold around his form. Once confident in her hold on him, the woman knelt back down, the parrot safely stowed under her arm.

He winced as the water assaulted his feet and gave it a nervous splashing kick. The moment Arpeggio felt the water seep into the crevices of his jacket, his eyes widened into saucers. He tried to flap his frail wings, but it proved difficult being constricted under the woman’s strong grip. He still succeeded in giving the rozenich an accidental smack in the throat, to which she let out a whimpering Ow!

    “This is detestable! Heinous! The worst!” he panicked, kicking his little feet under the water.

    “Calm down, Pedgy! You’re bein’ a baby!” Kacey complained. Jeremy said nothing.

    “Hey, don’t me mean to him just because he’s scared,” Linda defended.

    “You were the one teasin’ him like two seconds ago!”

    “STOP ARGUING!” Arpeggio spat. He took in a deep, heaving breath and forced himself to calm down. Slowly, his legs stopped kicking and he allowed the water around him to go still.

It was a strange feeling being in the water. It was unsettling and brought up very odd memories from his childhood. Visits to the beach, the pool days… things he had entirely forgotten about due to their irrelevancy. Yet, he had to admit, the current sensation of the water flowing across his thumping chest had not been as violent as he had anticipated.

    “See?” Linda said softly. “It’s not so bad. Just four pals taking a little soak together!”

    “Linda,” he addressed her, his neck rigidly planted against her shoulder, “please do not speak right now.”

The four of them remained where they were, aimlessly allowing the water to gently shift around them. Jeremy had relaxed slightly, though his head consistently twitched back and forth like a curious feral bird. Kacey began to float freely, sometimes having to carefully paddle her way back to them. Arpeggio never moved, and for that matter neither did Linda.

After a time, she spoke up. “Do you wanna go in deeper?”

    “No.”

    “Are you sure?”

    “Absolutely.”

    “Okay, but I’m getting super bored.”

He huffed and wiggled himself within her grip. “Fine. Hand me to Jeremy and let him take me back!”

Kacey piped in with an unwarranted suggestion. “Swim to him!”

    “No.”

    “Come ooooon!”

Allowing the parrot to have a break, Linda pulled him out of the water and tentatively placed him on Jeremy’s broad shoulders. It was an awkward position, not one the parrot nor the aracari had ever thought they’d be thrown in. It was only when his claws grabbed tightly onto the short avian’s jacket that Linda decided to say something else.

    “You know, I coulda just taken you up myself.”

Arpeggio eyed her sharply. “It’s so kind of you to mention that now.”

Not wanting to let the situation drag out longer than it needed to, Jeremy carefully made his way back to shore, his back hunched to counter the bird’s weight. Kacey was playfully pushed along after them by Linda. As soon as the water appeared shallow enough, the parrot leapt from his assistant’s back and splashed lightly in the water. He scurried quickly onto the dry warmth of the shore and thoroughly shook himself.

His eyes locked onto the two guards standing nearby. “Neither of you speak of this incident. I’ll have both of you incinerated if you do.”

They said and did nothing besides watch their small boss waddle off.

Arpeggio found a nice, smooth rock directly under a strong beam of sunshine to nestle on and instantly relaxed. He watched as Kacey joyfully skipped and played at the water’s edge, allowing the water to splash up in sheets around her. It sparkled as the afternoon sun hit each and every droplet. Jeremy watched her from the safety of the shore, dripping wet, as Linda walked up to where Arpeggio sat. “You alright?”

    “I’m fine,” he said tiredly. “I’m simply not accustomed to this, is all. All this… tomfoolery.”

    “I understand. You know I wouldn’t let you drown, though, right?”

He chuckled. “Of course, love. I do trust you. Mostly.”

The woman settled down a few feet from him to allow the sun’s rays to pour onto her white feathers. She squinted her fair eyes at the brightness as she overlooked the other rozenich further along the shore. Arpeggio could not help but notice one rozenich was missing. “Where is Mr. Mercer? I haven’t seen him in what feels like eons.”

Linda did not reply straight away. Her gaze continued to be transfixed on the moving bodies of her people. Her attention shifted to Kacey and Jeremy, who had both begun to stray into the waters again without prying. At last, she looked back at her parrot companion.

    “Neyla doesn’t like me, does she?”

Arpeggio was surprised at her question. There was a moment when he considered lying to her, but he was beginning to realize it would not do him any good. “No, she doesn’t.”

Her slit pupils fell to the ground. “Harlie doesn’t like you either.”

The news brought little surprise to the aristocrat. He had begun to sense the rozenich had suspicions of him ever since they returned from India, and they never seemed to fade. “I see,” was all he said in reply.

Linda stood back up on her long pink legs and shook the debris from her damp coat. “Nevermind. I brought you here to take your mind off all that. You wanna try heading out again? I won’t be as harsh on you this time.”

The bird rolled his blue eyes but, with only a hint of hesitation, stood back up. “Very well. If I don’t learn to swim now, I’ll never get the chance. Not that I can ever see myself needing such a skill in my repertoire.”

    “Hey, you never know.”

Arpeggio followed the tall white figure back towards the frolicking alien child and Jeremy. Together, the group spent the remaining afternoon under the clear sky, letting their months of accumulated stress wash away in the glimmering lake.  

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 36

It was complete. The balloons, the gas cells, the propellers. Everything was installed and awaiting its commander’s orders to rise.

The head of safety ordered a mandatory evacuation of the site as tests began. Only the required staff were allowed to be within the zone in the off chance anything catastrophic occurred. Arpeggio doubted such a thing would happen, but he did not detest the order. He watched from the safety of the control room near his transportation ship’s landing pad. The airship had been running tests throughout the week on the engines and propeller systems. The parrot had anxiously awaited the day the ship could take lift and that day would arrive soon; he could feel it in his rapidly thumping heart.

Arpeggio would have laughed years ago if someone told him a ship so massive could be completed in under a year. The great Hindenburg airship had taken five years to complete, and its size was measly in comparison. Even accounting for shifts in modern technology, the notion of completing his ship any sooner was phenomenal and downright unbelievable. Without the aid of his alien construction crew, such a feat would have taken three times as long, perhaps more.

It was all useless numbers to him now. What mattered was that it was done. His years of investments had paid off. His adolescent dream was brought to reality, adjusted additionally to assist his current schemes. Could he take over Paris in this beast as his gang members had believed? He was certain he could.

Too bad such a thing was not in his plans.

    “What is the report?” he asked one of the toucans who eyed a series of monitors.

    “No malfunctions, sir.”

    “Are the engines running smoothly?”

    “No hiccups so far. No signs of overheating, either.”

    “Excellent.”

He knew, of course, the act of lifting the massive vessel would not be a single day’s event. The ship was not something that could easily rise and fall as his smaller airships and blimps did. He was fine with this. All he wanted was to see it begin, and waiting had become agonizing.

    Just a few more days, Arpeggio…  

    “Sir?” the toucan addressed him. He was listening in to his headpiece. “We have a casualty.”

His heart skipped. “What information do you have?”

    “Someone fell into one of the fire pits.”

The bird relaxed. It did not take a genius to guess who could possibly fall victim to such a thing. Bloody fool is going to be the end of me. Should have fired him years ago.  

    “I’ll check the infirmary. Keep me updated.”

~ * ~

The aracari had not been harmed as badly as Arpeggio expected. He had certainly seen him in worse conditions. His vest and trousers were relatively in-tact, though his undershirt was a complete waste. Dr. Phyllis supervised her small rabbit nurse as she tended to the singed feathers on his arm, careful to be as tender as she could. Jeremy did not seem to mind the pain; he did not wince even once.

    “Under the flame again, chap?” Arpeggio asked as he wheeled into the room.

Phyllis chuckled. “I might have to teach you a thing or two on how to tend to these sorts of injuries when you leave. I don’t trust him not to get hurt again with me out of the picture.”

    “Oh, don’t worry, Jeremy does fine on his own. Don’t you?”

He rattled.

The doctor flicked her tongue. “If I had to suggest anything, I’d recommend he stay with you off and away from the big guns. You can never be too careful.”

The nurse finished applying the ointment and began wrapping up the poor bird’s wounds. Jeremy patiently and quietly sat there, green eyes observing those around him. Arpeggio noticed he seemed somewhat nervous when he occasionally glanced up at him. The parrot felt suspicions rise when the snake eyed him with a similar gaze. “Arpeggio, are you busy right now?”

    “No,” he replied flatly.

    “May I speak with you privately? I have something I’d like to talk about with you now that things are starting to come to a head around here.”

He nodded calmly. “Yes, of course, dear.”

The bird exited the small medical building, his reptilian doctor behind him. The cool air outside struck them both; Arpeggio felt his feathers shift to counteract the chill. Phyllis did not seem bothered by it quite yet, though he knew she could not tolerate the weather for long.

He ventured past a pair of guards standing on duty and went under the secluded space of one of the kurri’s overhangs. It was eerie, in a way; he had grown accustomed to the vocal calls of the rozenich and the irritating bangs and clatter of construction equipment. All that filtered through the winter air now was the rumble of his airship’s engines.

As soon as the two settled in the quiet corner, Phyllis began to speak. “Arpeggio, I want to talk to you about something I think is very important. But before I do, I just want you to know that I’m not saying this to be critical of you in any way.”

    “You’ve always been honest with me,” he agreed, his eyes worn with concern at her tone. “I assure I won’t take offense to anything you have to say.”

The movement of her gaze conveyed a clear sense that she did not believe him. “I don’t know the entirety of what you’re planning when you leave here, and like I’ve told you before, I don’t wish to know. I joined you because I appreciate everything you’d done for me, even if the criminal side of things has never been my fancy.”

The parrot listened to her closely, even as his eyes began to pull back to the sight of his airship in the distance. He had never felt even a semblance of guilt bringing others into his schemes. He never forced anyone to do anything—well, not until they were under his authority at any rate—he was simply a beacon of persuasion. Yet, with the sadness that seemed to be evoking from her words, he felt a pang somewhere in him he could not quite find.

The snake went on, uninterrupted. “I thought this construction project was going to change you into someone I didn’t like. Someone who’s ego was too big to contain him. But… I think you’ve changed into something else instead.”

His attention returned to her. “What do you mean?”

She lowered her head. A foggy stream of air exited from her mouth as she spoke. “You seem… distraught. Like something is weighing on you heavily. I wish I could say I’d like for you to talk to me about it, but I have a feeling it has to do with something I don’t want to hear.”

The parrot shook his head. “I’m fine, dear. I don’t know what it is you’re speaking of. Things… things haven’t been better. Everything’s been going more than swimmingly!”

If he did not know better, he was beginning to believe his own lies.

    “You’ve never been an overly affectionate person, Arpeggio. You’re a lone wolf. Sure, you’re always surrounded by others, but only so you can benefit from their abilities,” she rubbed her robotic hand against her sides in a nervous gesture. She kept her head down. “I am aware I’m one of those people, and I’m okay with that. I’ve always been okay with that. But others… I don’t think they are. And I think you should think that through.”

He furrowed his brows. “I don’t know what on earth you’re speaking about. If you’re referring to Jeremy, you should know he’s in the same spot as you.”

    “I’m not talking about Jeremy. I’m talking about… well, let’s not be daft, here. You know.”

Arpeggio felt his beak slack open in surprise. The words Kacey had told him during the storm came boomeranging back to him. He felt a chill run up his spine. “I… I’m not using Ms. Givington, nor the child. They… they offer me so little now. Besides, they both know I will leave when this is over. They’ve never not known.”

    “Yes, but do they know any truth at all behind what you’re doing?”

He readjusted himself on his perch. “You’re… you’re not making any sense. Of course they don’t know anything about what’s going on. They don’t even know we are doing anything remotely illegal here. Jeremy is the only one they’ve been around who could tell them anything, and I know he wouldn’t tell them. He knows better.”

    “Arpeggio, please don’t make me spell it out for you.”

    “You’re going to have to, because I’m starting to find all of this very perplexing.”

She sighed and her gaze finally met his. “The two of them are innocents in all this, and furthermore, at their core they’re good souls. You know this. I know this. Heavens, I think your entire guard force knows it. They’ve befriended you these last few months, and as much as I know you will deny it, you’ve gotten soft on them too. But you’re stringing them along. You’re letting their friendship with you be fed on misconceptions. What is going to happen when it’s all said and done and they find out what you did? What they helped you do? Arpeggio, it’s going to break their hearts. They don’t deserve to be hurt by whatever it is you’re planning.”

Emotions stirred within the avian: confusion, anger, denial. How long was Phyllis thinking about this? How apparent was this so-called friendship she was proclaiming he had? First Neyla, now her?

    This is ridiculous… none of this matters! They don’t matter! When I leave, they will have accomplished their purpose. It goes no deeper… If they feel their part was greater than it was? That’s their own fault.

    “I just want you to understand,” the doctor’s voice brought him out of his thoughts, “that your actions have consequences. And… think of yourself. I think it bothers you as much or more than it has bothered me. I don’t think you want to hurt them either.”

The bird frowned. He did not want to hear any of this nonsense.

    “Every action needs to be prompted by a motive. Da Vinci said that,” Arpeggio finally replied, his voice low and solemn. His gaze was fixed on the airship before him. “I have my own motivations for why I do things. You’re right, Phyllis. I only act upon them when I know they will benefit me. That’s always been how I handled things and now is no different.”

He turned his head to peer down at his companion. “I have no ill will towards Ms. Givington and the girl. Nor Jeremy, for that matter, as I know he is involved. Yes, I do enjoy their company and… yes, it often brings… conflicts to my table. But I never had any intentions on hurting them.”

    “Then you need to tell them the truth,” she said, her tone growing desperate. “If you’re only using them for your own gain, they deserve to know they are only temporary fascinations for you. If not… then they need to know that you care enough about them that you don’t wish to harm them when you do have to abandon them. When they… find out the results of all this later. Whatever that may be. They didn’t ask to be involved in the bad things we’ve done.”

    “What happens after I’m gone is none of my concern. Before that occurs, there is no point in them knowing any more than they do now,” his voice began to grow stern and commanding. He did not realize it had until he saw the uneasy look in the snake’s eyes. “You’re right, they are good souls. And because of that I refuse to let our time together become tainted by telling them things they aren’t capable of understanding. It would only complicate things.”

Although the parrot could not see it himself, there was an icy coldness in his vividly blue eyes. “And I expect that you will make certain to keep your mouth shut about it too.”

    “Arpeggio—”

    “You cherish those prosthetics of yours, don’t you Phyllis?”

The light in her eyes slowly faded. Her robotic hands clasped gently onto her white sleeve. She did not speak a word.

Arpeggio’s gaze did not falter. “It would be a shame if one day they were suddenly… gone. Damaged beyond repair. We wouldn’t want that, would we?”

Her voice was shaky. “N-No.”

    “Then let us keep the distasteful happenings of this project to ourselves until further notice. Am I understood?”

There was a strong hurt in the snake’s eyes as her focus fell away from him. Her tongue flicked in and out. “Yes. I-I understand.”

    “Good,” he said coldly. “Now, if you would excuse me, I need to return to the station. I have much bigger tasks to attend to.”

The bird left his long-time companion then, wheeling his scooter across the flattened dirt trail. The conversation replayed in his head, stirring feelings of contempt within him. How dare she! What nerve! She thinks she knows me better than I know myself? Hogwash! Bloody fool, who does she think she is…

He stopped after a time, his vehicle ceasing in the middle of an open patch. A slow breeze chilled his exposed feathers. He craned his neck back over his shoulder, eyes landing on the spot he had just been.

Phyllis had already left.

There was an emptiness inside Arpeggio. That’s what he wanted to believe, at least. There had never been a time he put others before himself: why would he? No one had ever done it for him. Not as a child, not as an adolescent, and certainly never as an adult. Why did they deserve his empathy?

He ignored the fighting feeling in his gut as he wheeled on, his airships engines humming steadily across the barren landscape.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 37

The cold European weather paled in comparison to the frigid northern atmosphere of Canada. Even within the temperature-controlled environment of Arpeggio’s traveling airship, he could feel the iciness pierce through the tall glass windows.

Of course, he would rather be anywhere else in the world but there. If he had his choice, he would be back at the work site watching his massive airship take off into the heavens. At least, he could hope as much. The tests on the functionality of the ship had gone without a hitch. The bugs they had encountered were minor, most resulting in nothing more than tweaks to make the massive vehicle run even more smoothly. He had hoped a test voyage would have been an option, but from the looks of it they would have to wait until shortly before his leave to experience the full effects of what it was capable of.

It was no matter. In the end, everything would work out, he was sure of it.

The slower movements of his traveling airship would have usually taken him three to four days to cross the Atlantic, uninterrupted. However, he had recently outfitted modified engines and alterations—most in part thanks to some studies he had done on the power and endurance of the Clockwerk brain—which cut the time in half.

Still, two days alone on the ship with only his guards was not something he found much fondness in any longer. It was much better to travel with company.

    “Linda, love?” he asked from his comfortable seat in front of the windows. He waited for the woman’s small, distinctive ears to perk up before he continued. “How are you fairing with the cold? I know you’re not accustomed to it.”

    “As good as I’ll ever be,” she said as she nestled into her thick coat and pulled the cap over her face. It was almost comical how her long neck had been compressed in order to fit her head under it. “I wish we were going back to that tiger’s place, though. It was much warmer!”

    “We will be landing soon. You really should put on those shoes when we get out. Snow is not something you want to be walking around barefoot in.”

The mentioning of the white fluffy substance forced the woman’s eyes to sparkle from under the hood. “Is it really as nice as it looks in the pictures? Snow, I mean.”

    “I could live without it,” he said, returning his gaze out the window. “It’s lovely to look at, but not much else.”

She simply nodded before settling back into the warmth of the clothing she typically despised. Arpeggio could not help but smirk. He had been astonished to hear the kurri had approved for Linda to go with him once again, especially after their previous misadventure. As much as he respected the superior species for their abilities, he was beginning to think they may have been less intelligent than he thought. Linda had come back one ankle bracelet short and with fresh wounds back then. What made them think a second trip would be any different? At the very least, they were horrifically trusting of him.

The action had caused him to be a little more daring than normal; he decided against disabling her tracker this trip. He already told them they would be going to Nunavut Bay, Canada to discuss business with his associate. If something negative were to occur there in the days after they departed, it would already be too late to do anything. Arpeggio would be long gone. Not that he felt anything of interest would occur there: not to the degree of Rajan’s ball mishap, at any rate.

    “Jean is the buffalo guy, right?” Linda questioned.

    “Yes. He’s a bison, though. Bison and buffalo are quite different.”

    “Oh! Right. Yeah, I like him. He kinda reminds me of some folks I knew back in Texas.”

He scoffed. “I forgot that’s where you were stationed last. What on earth made your superiors think that was the place to be?”

    “Lots of empty land that no one would bother to check in on,” she said flatly.

    “Ah, right. Curiously, where will you be heading to next after your work with me is done?”

She gave a saddened shrug. “I dunno. I think we’re only scheduled to stay another couple years before heading back home if we can’t find another decent sponsor.”

    “Back home?” he perked a brow. “You mean back to your…?”

    “Yeah,” she simply nodded. She let out a long, hopeful sigh. “Boy, I can’t wait. This has been fun and I’m going to miss it, but there’s nothing like home. I miss the trees and my family…”

    “And the giant man-eating bugs?”

    “Oh, especially the bugs!”

He simply chuckled in reply. There was an odd, indescribable sense of sadness in his heart when he heard those words. The thought of the rowdy bunch of creatures leaving him was not something he had prepared for. It was not something he ever thought he had to prepare for.

    What am I talking about? I’ll be the one leaving long before they do.

The door to his office slid open and the colorful beak of Jeremy poked in. His eyes were covered by his goggles and thus far his new uniform had not been totally obliterated. He gave a gentle clacking sound with his beak.

    “Ah, we’ve arrived?” Arpeggio asked.

Jeremy rattled.

    “Excellent!”

Arpeggio returned his gaze to the window and gestured for his female companion to come over. She did so excitedly, her large fluffy tail waving behind her. She pressed her hands against the glass and Arpeggio looked over to see her eyes become wide and glistening as she took in the landscape before her.



The clouds parted ways, revealing an outstretch of white as far as the eye could see. A decent sized area of land sat in the center as tall mountains encircled it. The land was uneven and cut into to provide ample pathways for the winding train tracks that scored through the heavy rocks and snow. Thick sheets of ice rested on the north and south. There were buildings, cabin-styled, dotted here and there. In the very center of the land was a large rocky peak, topped with a very large satellite dish.

The airship landed in an open snowy embankment off in the corner. It did not take long for the ramp to extend and the trio to make their way down. Despite the terrain not being entirely appropriate for his scooter, Arpeggio chose to use it regardless. Thankfully, pathways had already been trenched through the snow for their guests.

A large brown moose wearing a thick down jacket approached them, his breath cascading out of his large nostrils. “Mornin’. The boss is on his way. Follow me and I’ll take ya to ‘em.”

Arpeggio could have really cared less where they went. As much as he despised the cold weather that assaulted his golden feathers, it was rewarding to have fresh, clean air to intake after traveling. He assumed Linda agreed. He looked over his shoulder to see her blue eyes wide as saucers as she took in everything around her. Her head jerked and fidgeted as she listened to the abundance of sounds around her. Arpeggio watched closely as she felt the crunch of the snow beneath her cloth-covered feet for the first time. She hesitated with each step, uncertain what to make of it.

They ventured a ways down a path before going parallel to a worn-out train track. Jeremy appeared nervous around it and made certain to stay away from it. An active train whistled and chugged in the distance.

    “What’re these things called again?” Linda spoke up as she watched the locomotive wind around the rocky peak.

    “Trains,” Arpeggio replied. “You’ve never seen one?”

    “Well, not ones that look like these,” she said as she watched the train disappear. “The ones I saw didn’t have smoke coming out of them. Are these broken?”

    “Ah, no, love. Those are steam trains. They were discontinued a long time ago but, well, Bison is an old-fashioned fellow. It takes a lot of persuading to get him to modernize.”

    “Is that why he always smells so… I think the word is ‘rustic’?”

    “That’s one way to put it.”

The moose lead the visitors up onto a cliffside just big enough for a small cabin to rest. A fire pit sat off to the side where two men, a goat and a goose, sat around idly. They suddenly stood at attention when the large red mass of Jean Bison came plodding down the railroad track towards them, right on time.

    “Hey there, Mr. Arpeggio. Was wonderin’ when you’d show up.”

    “Yes, hello, Bison,” the bird greeted him kindly. He wondered whether he should add something to the greeting; should he compliment his camp? Ask how he was doing? He ultimately said nothing else.

The large furry man, who did not even wear so much as a jacket in the cold weather, stopped shortly before him. He dismissed the moose, who began his trek back down the incline. Bison carried with him a large crooked wooden staff, decked out in the raggedy tails of feral critters, which he gestured at the white rozenich.

    “Nice to see you again too, Sunshine. You ever get this here fancy-pants to loosen up since you been with him?”

    “I’m working on it.”

    “Yes, yes, very funny,” Arpeggio piped in before the man pursued the conversation further. “Now, while we’re here, how about we get some business matters out of the way? There will be plenty of time for pleasure talk after.”

The bison nodded his large scarred head. “Sure thing, little buddy. Right this way.”

The man headed into the log cabin, followed shortly by Arpeggio. He stopped short of the door and turned to Jeremy and Linda. “You two stay out here and explore a bit. Don’t wander too far. I’ll be back in a jiffy!”

With that, he ventured inside, closing the door behind him. He instantly became assaulted by the scent of pine and smoke. The fireplace on the opposite end of the room had been lit and it filled the large room with a pleasant warmth. He wished Linda could have been invited in to warm herself, but he knew better.

The remainder of the room was simple: a few tables with papers, leftover food, cups, and whatever else on them that Arpeggio did not inspect further. Several large metal crates were positioned in the corners of the room and a massive trophy bass sat proudly on the mantle.

    “Alright, Jean, let us make this quick and simple,” the bird said promptly. “We both know things are growing tense around here lately. INTERPOL is nipping at our tails and we cannot have the remainder of our plan ravaged unless we wish to deal with a major headache.”

    “They still listenin’ into our phones?” he asked.

    “Yes, more than likely,” he said. In fact, it was much more than likely. Neyla had recently informed him that INTERPOL had begun to make efforts to trace calls between Bison and the other Klaww Gang members since the incident with the Contessa. While they had yet to connect Arpeggio to him, the bird figured it was better to be safe than sorry. Even if it did mean meeting the undignified mammal in person.

The burly man snorted. “Technology is too damn complicated now-a-days. Back in my time…”

    “Yes, yes, Bison, life was simpler when all you had to do was mine for gold.”

    “Dayum right, it was.”

The bird settled his movable perch in front of the fireplace. Already he could feel his chilled feathers expanding to let in the warmth. He closed his eyes briefly to take it all in before turning around to face his companion. “Now, there are some things I would like to discuss. You received the information on how to collect the northern light energy, correct? Was it clear?”

    “Well, I didn’t understand a lick of it, but my boys did. They’ve already been toying with it up at the loggin’ camp.”

    “Good. I’ll be bringing my completed airship to pick up the battery as soon as I’m able. From there it’ll be a straight shot to Paris.”

    “Sounds mighty fine,” he said. He leaned his weight against his thick, sturdy staff. “You sure your plan is gonna work?”

    “Oh, certainly! More than sure,” he said. A sharp glint flicked across his monocle. “It’s going to be splendid.”

The red-furred man did not seem convinced, but there was also little interest in his tired gaze. He picked up a large mug from the table filled with Arpeggio could only imagine what. “Say, you ever find any use for that Clockwerk brain?”

Arpeggio could not help but feel a sudden twist of uneasiness. He tilted his head. “Here and there, yes. I’ve had much bigger issues to deal with to piddle around with it much.”

    “Well, if ya ain’t got no use for it, I’d be willin’ to buy it off ya.”

The parrot laughed. “Bison! You covetous troglodyte. You received more parts than anyone. What on earth would you do with mine too?”

    “I could always use more power for my trains! Why, with a fourth one runnin’ as mighty as the current three, I could ship out the rest of my stock in a week lickity split! Then I can get to work on my loggin’ plans!”

    “Yes, I do know how strong your, uh… deforestation fetish is. Anyway,” he waved a wing at him to dismiss the subject. “Is there something you wished to tell me? Your latest message seemed to hint it.”

The man took a deep gulp of his foul drink. “Yeah. You been hearin’ about them prowlin’ thieves going around? There’s rumors they be the ones behind the Clockwerk parts goin’ missin’.”

Arpeggio’s heart began to pulse rapidly, but he replied as clueless and calmly as he could. “Oh, yes. Those fellows. What about them?”

    “I wanted to warn ya ‘bout ‘em before they strike again. They might be comin’ after you next since I doubt they could crack through my defenses.”

    “What makes you say that?”

The man puffed his chest proudly. “I put a whippin’ on all my boys and got me some extra precautions set up on both my places. Why, my defenses are so strong, I’m prouder than a pup with his first flea! Ain’t no one gonna break through old Jean Bison’s barriers, no-sir-ee!”

    “That’s… wonderful, Jean,” the bird said, uncertainly. The last thing he wished for was for the bison to have a heads up in the situation. How would Arpeggio gather his portion of the parts if what he spoke was true? Between the Coopers and Neyla, he supposed not even Jean could defend the robotic machinery forever. But what if…?

They were just about to continue their conversation when a sudden, muffled yelp sounded from outside, causing both Arpeggio and Jean Bison to perk up.

The burly man’s torn ears twitched irritably. “What in tarnation could that be?”

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 38

    “Snow is weird,” the rozenich said as she felt the cold, icy material slip between her bare fingers. The gloves she had been wearing were thrown aside as she busied herself.

Jeremy clicked his beak and signed to her.

    “No, it never snows where I’m from. Our winters aren’t even that cold, really.”

The bird, who had been leaning against the cabin, rubbed his colorful beak against the wood in a brief, tick-like gesture. He briefly eyed the two guards near the fire pit who paid neither of them much mind.

Linda had begun to form a small sculpture in the snow of nothing particularly recognizable. “What do you think Pedgy’s talkin’ about in there? He sure does like to talk about boring business stuff a lot.”

Jeremy merely shrugged.

    “Do you think him and that buffalo are friends? They seem kinda friendly. I dunno, though.”

The aracari scratched his bill before croaking in response.

    “Yeah. He’s not very good at showing that off,” she frowned. “I’m still not really sure if he considers us friends.”

She felt a tender touch on her shoulder as her bird companion comforted her. He signed to her.

The woman smiled. “Of course you’re my friend! You’re so silly, Jerry!”

Their touching moment was suddenly interrupted as a subtle thump sounded behind them, followed by the sound of crunching snow. They both turned to see Bison’s two men lying completely unconscious on the ground. Linda instantly jumped to her feet and she exchanged a confused, frightful glance with Jeremy.

Another sound, gentle but audible, filtered into Linda’s tiny exposed ears. She turned back just as a striped tail vanished behind the opposite side of the cabin. What in the Great Egg….?

She quickly ran to the other side, hoping to catch glimpse of the tail’s owner. Instead, she was faced with nothing but a stack of firewood, a single piece askew from the rest. She stepped forward to inspect it. The cold environment messed with her senses, leaving her unable to smell anything of interest. She could only just barely make out the imprints of someone’s shoes.

She had no time to investigate further as a wailing croak from Jeremy broke through the silence. Swiftly, she rounded the corner just as she witnessed a blue and gray figure shoving her aracari companion to the cold earth. She watched as he struggled against a golden-crooked cane lodged against his throat, the fire pit just inches from his face.

Linda mustered a crackled growl as she ran to her companion’s aid. She lunged out just as the gray-furred figure hopped out of the way, freeing the bird from his clutches. Of course, with Jeremy caught within such a close range of anything flammable, the corner of his cap had already begun to catch fire. Linda swiftly scooped a handful of snow onto his head to extinguish it.

    “Are you okay?” she asked Jeremy.

Before receiving an answer, she looked up to see the figure glance over his shoulder at her with a way-too-familiar black mask before springing off the cliffside.

    “H-Hey! That’s the guy I met at that tiger’s party!” Linda exclaimed.

She did not know what it was that prompted her to take chase, but she did exactly that. She could only just make out a warning croak from Jeremy as she, too, leapt down off the edge. The fall was short, and she landed in a plush pile of snow rather clumsily. Her slit pupils caught sight of the attacker slipping past a curved wall of rock just ahead of her, and she took off after him.

Her muscled legs carried her with great speed across the worn-out paths where trucks and guards had trekked time and time again. It was evident her speed was greater than the raccoon’s, though his agility and stamina was far past her own. He proved it when he suddenly sprung into the air, his cane catching hold of a piece of metal from the railroad, and he used his shifting weight to toss himself up onto the tracks.

Linda did not stop running. She had outwitted crafty prey in the past: how could this be any different? She hadn’t gotten rusty since traveling to Earth, had she?

She spotted an off-duty truck parked beside a sheer rock wall. The rozenich took the opportunity and hopped up onto the roof in a single bound, using her momentum to then jump onto the snowy land atop it. Her white form nearly rammed into another moose guard on her way across.

    “Whoah! Where did you come from?” he said, but he received no reply.

The albino’s eyes spotted her foe quickly and she ran after him once more. The woman did not know where the raccoon was leading her, if anywhere at all, but she did not have time to think it through. Her clothed feet skillfully ran across the raised railroad tracks after him, the pattern reminding her of the thick, chaotic tree limbs that decorated the canopies of her home. For a moment, her mind began to go blank, and all she could focus on was the lithe furry form steadily growing closer and closer to her gaping jaws.

The wood and metal rumbled beneath her toes. She could feel it, the man she was chasing had to have felt it, and it struck her with fear. A train suddenly came barreling down the bridge-like tracks from around the corner of the tall peak, a heavy stream of smoke billowing out of its tower. A loud, piercing horn screamed at them.

The raccoon leapt out of the way, his hesitation causing him to tumble down the snowy hillside. Linda followed suit, her white form launching off the rails mere moments before the train rocketed across the very place they had just been running along. She, too, lost control of her feet and went rolling down the steep incline. She winced as the icy texture tore across her pristine feathers.

    “Youch!” she called out as something sharp prodded into her spine as she came to a bumpy halt.

A reply to her cry came in the painful grunts of nobody else but the very man she was pursuing. “Nice of you to drop in…” he groaned as he pulled himself out from under the alien woman.

Linda shifted her weight off him and shook her head, sending chunks of ice to and fro. Her heart was beating a million miles an hour and her lungs burned from inhaling the crisp air. She peered over at the gray mammalian as he brushed himself off. Sure enough, it was the very same animal she had spoken with at the ball.

    “I knew it was you!” she said, ignoring the pain in her chest. “What’re you doing here? Why’d you knock out those dudes back there? Why’d you try to hurt my friend?”

The man, which she faintly recalled was named Sly, replied to her with a shaky breath of his own. “Isn’t it a bit rude to ask so many questions? We’ve only just been reunited.”

    “Let’s not play games,” she said as she stood up in front of him, forcing him to take a step back. “It’s pretty convenient you’re here the second time I’ve ever been out. So, either you’re stalking me or you’re stalking Pedgy. So, which is it?”

    “Neither, technically, but…” he stopped. Bewilderment shimmered in his brown eyes, even beneath the black mask, and it caused the rozenich to feel just as confused, if not a little angered.

A ruckus from nearby drew them away from their conversation. Sly gestured quickly for the woman to follow. He brought her under a small ledge near a frozen pond, the rocky surface keeping the two of them out of range of the roaming guards who were surely on high alert after witnessing the chase.

    “I don’t know who you are,” the small man said in a whisper. “Your name never came up in our research. It was Linda, though, right?”

    “Yeah,” she responded, more confused than ever. “You’ve been researching something?”

The raccoon scratched the thick fur on his cheek with the golden crook of his cane. “Look, it’s really not important right now. But, you do seem confused. So how about we help each other out?”

The woman’s small ears fell back. Who did this guy think he was? He seemed nice enough back at the ball when they spoke… but then that pink guy got lowered from the ceiling and… then Arpeggio had wanted them to leave… and the big metal wings…

    “Are you trying to hurt Pedgy?” she asked, tone brisk and stern. She bared her tiny dagger teeth at him. “I’ll kill you before you can try.”

    “Hey, hey! Let’s not get hasty!” he said defensively. “If by ‘Pedgy’ you mean Arpeggio… then no, not if we can help it. Though he does have something I want.”

    “So, you are a thief? Just like he said you were.”

    “Well, yeah. But it’s a little more complicated than that.”

The sounds of guards became louder overhead. Despite the confusion of the situation only intensifying, the rozenich had a feeling they would not have much time to talk it out in detail. Her counterpart must have agreed, and he went on much more hurriedly. “Look, I don’t know what your role is with him, but I’m kinda catching a drift you don’t know what’s going on?”

She looked at him, eyes growing wide with a range of emotions. Her heart had begun to pump fast again, despite the adrenaline from their run having faded.  “I… no? Is… is he in trouble? Are you one of those people who arrests other animals?”

He chuckled quietly before his tone shifted back to its former serious nature. “I can’t give you all the details out here. I can take you back to my hideout and we can—”

    “I’m not going with you anywhere,” she said, tone sharp. “Just tell me what I need to know.”

    “Arpeggio is a bad guy,” he replied with a bluntness that stung the woman deep. “Him and a bunch of his friends took something that didn’t belong to them. I don’t know what he plans on doing with his portion, but if you know anything, I’d appreciate knowing what that is.”

The woman huffed angrily. “Bad guy? Pedgy? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

    “I have proof. If you come with me, I can show you.”

She stood in silence, gaze hard and transfixed onto his. Proof? Proof of what? Arpeggio never did anything wrong. How could he? He may have been her friend, but even she would be willing to tell him to his face that he was pathetic, at best, and could not hurt a fly, even if he wanted to.

    You don’t have to be physically strong to hurt people, Linda, Harlie’s warning echoed in her head.

    “I know it might be hard to believe, especially coming from a stranger like me,” Sly went on, taking a step towards her, “but it’s true. We need to stop him before someone gets hurt.”

No. It was stupid. Arpeggio would never hurt anyone. He never hurt her! He could be a little distempered, but that was just his personality.

Once more her partner’s words filled her head. Something’s not right here. I just don’t know what it is yet. But I think it involves that bird.

    “If you know anything at all that can help us, you’d be doing the world a favor.”

What proof could there possibly be? He was secretive sometimes, that was true, but everyone has their secrets. That doesn’t mean anything!

    I don’t trust him, Harlie's voice repeated.

    “I…” Linda began, her voice trailing. Her eyes cast away from the young raccoon. “I don’t know anything.”

    “Nothing at all?”

    “He’s… he’s making a big blimp,” she muttered, her words lacking confidence. She shook her head as she recalled something. “No. No it’s not a blimp. Blimps don’t have skeletons… it’s just a big ship. But he’s not using that for anything bad! He’s always wanted to make it. He said it’s been a dream of his since he was a kid! Cause he… he can’t fly…”

The voices grew stronger above them. There were many men now, all searching for the two. Sly began to grow antsy and backed further into the shadows, tail twitching vigorously. He was poised to flee at any moment. Linda, however, was too confused and distraught to even care.

    “Listen, I don’t know the guy so I can’t tell you much,” Sly said, his own ears fidgeting at every sound, “but him and the others are not going to get away with those stolen parts. They need to be destroyed. I… I gotta go. If you’re sticking around, keep an eye out. Maybe we can—”

The raccoon was barely able to dodge out of the way as a blur of teeth and feathers came hurtling towards him. The rozenich released a piercing screech from her throat, the tone lined with an emotion that rocketed through the freezing air. Sly could not leap out of the way in time from her second attack and he found himself plummeting onto the icy ground as she pulled his leg out from under him. Linda was not certain what compelled him to not bash her head in with his cane, but he did not.

    “You don’t know him! He wouldn’t do bad things! If he did I would know!”

The raccoon’s chest was heaving, but he managed to keep his composure and replied as softly as he could manage. “You’ve seen the parts, haven’t you? Metal, huge, bird-like?”

She growled. “What about them? Is that the big deal? You want to steal them for yourself?”

    “They’re dangerous and nobody should have them. Not me, not Arpeggio, and not his friends. They need… will be destroyed. We will make sure of that.”

Linda did not understand any of it. Those bird parts were so insignificant to her. Did they really mean that much to Arpeggio? She knew he was fascinated by them: it was difficult not to know by the sketches she would find throughout his office and within the sketchbooks she would occasionally peer into. Did he lust after them more than she once believed?

Were… were those parts the key to his happiness?

With the voices of Bison’s men growing closer than ever before, she loosened her grip on the raccoon and felt him slip out from beneath her. Safely out of her range, he was poised to say something to her, but she did not allow him the chance. “Don’t let him get hurt,” she said. Her desperate tone forced a look of interest on the raccoon’s face. “He’s not a bad guy! I know he’s not. I don’t know what you’re planning but please, don’t hurt him! If… if I’m not… if I can’t…”

    “No promises,” he said. The footsteps were right above them and the raccoon slowly began to slink away. “But I’ll keep it in mind as payment… since I never did give you that dance.”

In a flash, the raccoon was gone, his furry striped tail the last thing Linda saw before he skidded across the ice and leapt away. She could briefly hear confused and angry guards calling after him. If he was as fast as he was when she chased him down, she was certain he would get away.

What did all this mean? What did any of it mean?

    Oh, Pedgy, the thoughts drowned out her feelings, forcing her to grow numb. What are you doing?

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 39

 Linda felt so lost. She hesitated to say she felt betrayed, but in a way, she knew it was true.

It was difficult for the rozenich to disguise her feelings when she returned to Arpeggio. She desperately wanted to confront him, to tell him what the raccoon had told her and to demand answers. Part of her did not understand why she never did, but the logical part of her knew: even if the words the man had said were true, what were the chances Arpeggio would confirm them? If he was really doing something bad, why would he confess?

    Because he’s my friend? The thought buzzed into her mind. He is my friend… right? That couldn’t be a lie either, could it?

Arpeggio had sensed the woman was not quite herself the following days as they recouped in one of Bison’s cabins. She felt his blue eyes following her, watching questionably as she looked out the windows and listened to the creaks and pops of the walls. Could the raccoon be watching them? Waiting for them? Listening in at that very moment? She did not know what she would do if she saw him again. She hoped she never would.

    “Did that scoundrel hurt you?” the parrot had asked her.

She replied simply. “No.”

The bird had looked at her, worry lining his gaze. “Are you certain?”

    “Yeah, I’m sure,” she nodded, though she did not try to disguise her saddened expression. It was difficult for her to see Arpeggio the same as she did before. “I just feel a little sick.”

    “You exerted yourself. Your body is probably reacting to the cold weather and the stress. Don’t push yourself too hard. All right, love?”

    “I’ll try,” she said.

She found sleep to be difficult to attain. Her nerves, the cold, and her bustling mind became a packaged enemy. Arpeggio had fallen victim similarly; she kept seeing him reposition himself on his sleeping perch every so often. He never said anything to her if he noticed her doing the same.

She wondered if he knew Sly had spoken to her.

By the time they left in the traveling airship, there had been no more sightings of the raccoon or any other prowlers he might have been accompanied with. She was relieved, as she did not want to hurt anyone if they tried to do anything to the parrot or Jeremy. There was a span of time where she tried not to think about what was told to her, to push it out of her mind. It’s pointless, she kept telling herself. It’s not true. It couldn’t be true.

After a while the temptation became too great.

    “Pedgy?” she finally asked on the second day of their voyage home.

The bird, who had been sitting at his desk reading over something, did not shift his gaze when he replied. “Yes?”

    “Are you happy?”

The question had little effect on the parrot at first; it was almost as if he never even heard it. After a moment of silence, he looked up, gaze astonished, as if he was not sure her words had really existed. “What do you mean?”

    “Are you happy?” she repeated. She turned to him, her head resting on a make-shift pillow of her previously worn coat.

The bird’s dexterous yellow toes rubbed each other nervously. “I… I’m not sure how to answer that.”

A spark of anger lit inside her heart. When she spoke, her tone was edged with an animosity she had never experienced before. “I don’t get why it’s so hard to answer. Are you happy?”

He looked at her, a blank expression over his golden face. “I… I don’t…”

    “Your big ship is done. Does that make you happy?”

    “W-Well, yes, I suppose—”

    “We’re out of the cold weather. Does that make you happy?”

The bird’s beak fell open, but no words came out.

Linda arose from her seat. “You’ve got so much to be happy about. You’ve got a big ship. You’ve got this ship. You’ve got your weird metal bird parts. You’ve got a ton of guys to do all your work for you, to protect you, to run your errands and clean up after you.”

She stood and began to make her way over to him. The entire time Arpeggio said and did nothing but look at her, disoriented by her words. “You’ve got food and shelter, money and friends. You’ve got everything anyone would ever need! Where I’m from, my people struggle to get half of those things. I don’t understand why you’ve got everything in the world you could ever want but you’re not happy with any of it!”

Arpeggio stared at her, his blue eyes wide. His focus vibrated as he took in her words. The chain on his monocle swayed ever so slightly. There was an emotion within his expression, slipped in beneath all the confusion. Fear? Worry?

    “I…  don’t know why that is,” was all he said.

The woman felt a rage boil inside of her and cascade over her pale form. Her ears flattened against her head and her teeth bared. Her words were laced with the subtle sounds of her primal growl. “How can you not know?!”

The bird started at her heightened voice. His feathers raised, and his neck compressed back into his collar. He never took his eyes off her, though his expression reflected the sight of obvious fear, a look that only intensified as the rozenich’s clawed hands gestured towards him. “You make me so mad sometimes! You’ve got so much and you’re too blind to notice any of it! You have people who care about you! Don’t you know that? Can’t you see?”

    “L-Linda, you’re not acting like yourself.”

She struck out at him, her hands clasping around his neat little black vest. He only briefly tried to pull away before grabbing at her with his feathered hands. There were no guards present, not even Jeremy; if they could see or hear them through the glass windows of his office, they did not try to rush in to stop her. The parrot was helpless, a victim to whatever it was she wanted to do with him.

    “You’re a stupid, selfish little asshole! Y-You helped people before! You made others happy! Phyllis said so! Now you… y-you just… I don’t know what you do! You don’t care about people, you d-don’t care about anyone because you’re t-too… t-too..”

Her pink, scaly hands slacked in their grip. She lost her train of thought as her emotions overrode her systems. Warm, heavy tears began to well in her pale blue eyes. Arpeggio watched her, the fear and bewilderment still heavy in his face. His green feathered digits held tightly onto her forearms until she pulled them away from him.

It was no use. Why did she even bother?

She turned her back to him and cupped her hands to her face as she slid to the ground, her large tail leaning against the bird’s desk. She wept, releasing the emotions she had bottled up. There was a desperation within her to ask him if the rumors were true, to ask him if he had been lying to her the whole time: but she could not bring herself to do it.

She knew. She always had known.

The gentle sound of fluttering wings and claws tapping on the metal floor only partially brought her sobs under control. She figured the bird was using the opportunity to take his leave, to fetch a guard to come take her out of there, to depart from her as fast as he possibly could.

Instead she could feel his presence beside her, the warmth of his feathers radiating from his small body. She peered out through a soggy gaze to see him eying her, hurt glazing over his expression. There was an awkwardness in how he moved: he did not understand what was happening and knew even less on how to comfort anyone, let alone her. His only means of doing so was a gentle brush against her arm with the curve of his beak.

    “Happiness is very difficult for us to comprehend, sometimes,” he began, his voice quiet and wrought with sadness. “I have a lot of things to be happy about, but… I don’t really remember what it feels like to be happy.”

    “But why?” she asked, tears running down her white cheeks.

His gaze fell away from her, shamefully. “Sometimes there are just so many things to hate that there’s no more room to feel anything else.”

Linda sniffled. “Do you hate me?”

He put a feathered hand on her arm. “Of course not, love. I’ve never hated you.”

With nothing more to say, the rozenich allowed the remainder of her tears to fall. Arpeggio did not move away, nor did he move in to comfort her further. He merely stood there, his ragged wing resting on her arm and his yellow beak gently brushing against her shoulder. In a way, it was all Linda really needed from him.

Yet, she still longed for answers, and time would soon be running out to receive them.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 40

Arpeggio’s airship had achieved lift. He had watched it ascend into the air, agonizingly slow, but steady. The engines hummed and the propellers growled as they spun at dangerous speeds. The site’s evacuation had been for good reason, as the debris flung about from the sheer power was beyond expectation. Thankfully, they had prepared for most of it and had stowed away or closed down everything in the immediate vicinity.

It was done. It was in the sky: a massive structure of unimaginable proportions, equipped with everything needed to achieve success. His success.

And yet, Arpeggio could find no joy in it.

With his fortress complete, it meant the next phase of his plan would soon commence. The selection of his finest guards had already been chosen to accompany him on his flying machine. Many were already on board, monitoring the systems and preparing for what was to come. The kurri had outfitted the ship with a cloaking device like the protective dome, but it was only temporary. Once the ship had fled out of range, it would disintegrate. That was the deal and Arpeggio was fine with that.

Of course, he had already discovered his own way of hiding his ship from the radar. It would never be as effective as the alien technology, but it was not like he would need to flee from the law for much longer.

    Not for much longer, indeed…

The bird sat alone in his empty office. His supplies and belongings had already been boxed up and stored away. All he had left was a single perch, his bed, and a small moleskin sketchbook. It was not much, but it was all he needed.

As he sat on the perch, gazing out the window, he reflected on the last few days. There was a pain inside him, familiar, but only distantly. It was like an old face he knew he recognized but could not match the name. He could feel his heart thumping in his throat and his breath was heavy. It had been that way on and off ever since they had returned from visiting Jean Bison nearly a week ago. It made him sick and all he wanted to do was crawl in a hole and sleep.

It was simply his nerves, right? He told himself it was anxiety from the change. It was nothing more than things coming full circle; he had been anxious when he arrived on the worksite all those months ago, and he was anxious now that they were departing. He had found comfort in his new temporary home, as unsophisticated as it was, and to be uprooted again was never an easy task. The fact that he was abandoning a place for perhaps the final time did not make the situation any better.

It was not only that, though. It was everything else. Everything… personal.

    Why am I not happy? He asked himself every day since the white rozenich had brought it up. If I achieve this goal—the only goal I’ve ever wanted—will I finally grasp that which is unattainable? To find the joy that has alluded me all these years?

Something inside the bird had been awoken when he witnessed the woman collapse into tears before him. He did not know what it was, but it was there, crawling under his skin like a parasite. He hated it more than he hated anything. Was it empathy? Pity? Did he care that the woman, his companion all these months, was upset? Did he care that the reason she was upset was because of him?

    Why? It is futile. They were only temporary gimmicks. You knew that going in.

    Yes, but things change. Things… they’re different now.

    No, no, don’t be foolish! Emotions have no place here!

He shook his head. As much as the parrot wished for that to be true, he knew he was still a man: a man with a conscience, albeit one of moral ambiguity. Concealing the troublesome concepts of his emotions was not a challenge he could win, no matter how hard he tried. As Linda had told him before, he was not a cold, unfeeling robot.

Not yet.

He could not force himself to think about what his life would be like after his scheme completed. He had dreamed about it for so long and it had never been a negative concept to him. Now, though, things were different. His heart began to pound rapidly again and he shook his head, tossing the ideas to the back burner.

He hopped up onto the windowsill and peered out. The landscape before him was desolate without the massive hunks of metal that was his ship in place. The sturdy frames that had held the airship for so long remained empty, waiting to be taken down and recycled into something new.

Fires were burning brightly off to a side lot where parties were undergoing. His men that did not pass the cut were celebrating finally being free—or perhaps mourning the loss of a paycheck—and saying goodbye to the friends they had made along the way. Some rozenich and kurri were there as well. He allowed them to have their get together as long as they did not jeopardize the mission the following morning.

Arpeggio considered joining them, if only to put on the ruse that he appreciated all their work, but he could not bring himself to do it. It would be a waste of his time and emotional baggage.

He sighed and hopped onto the floor. His yellow toes extended to pick up the sketchbook that had been propped against the base of his perch. Placing it in his beak, the aristocrat carried it with him into his bed for privacy. While it was doubtful anyone would come to disturb him at such a time, he could never be too careful.

From within the depths, he turned on the flashlight of his cellphone and allowed the piercing white light to provide guidance. After thumbing quickly through the moleskin book, he pulled out a flat plastic container he had cleverly hidden between the pages. It was clasped shut with a single piece of thick tape marked on it to ensure it was not tampered with. He held its transparent casing up against the light. Within the flat depths was what looked to be a piece of a motherboard or computer chip of some sort. It was small, hardly bigger than two square inches.



Merely looking at it caused the bird’s heart to palpitate.

Only the bird knew what laid within the circuits. Clockwerk. A piece of him, anyway. The man had tried for months to understand the complexities of the brain he had been given, and in the end, this was all he had to show for it; a small square of green metal.

    “If you could speak, what would you tell me?” he asked the piece of hardware. “Would you think me a fool for trying to reclaim you? To treat your body as an experiment? Or would you commend me for my efforts?”

Arpeggio sighed shakily. “Certainly, you would consider me weak. Just like everyone else.”

He shut off the light and peered out of his bed. The soft light of the campfire had managed to stretch out and caress the corner of his windows. If he listened closely, he could hear his staff celebrating. He wondered if any of them would miss him when he departed; he thought it doubtful.

     I am weak, he told himself as he rested his head in the opening of his bed. His eyes fell to the floor. And I probably always will be.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 41

Arpeggio was awoken from his slumber by a gentle knock on the door. He puffed up his feathers and responded groggily. “Who is it?”

    “It’s me,” came a familiar female voice.

The parrot felt the uneasiness in his stomach rise. Reluctantly, he hopped off his sleeping perch and stuck his head out of the covered bed. “Come in.”

The door opened, and Linda entered the room, her white plumage easy to see in the darkness, even beneath the bright yellow hoodie she wore to keep off the night chill. She spotted Arpeggio’s drowsy expression and spoke apologetically. “Sorry if I woke you up, hon.”

    “Don’t worry, I hadn’t been out long,” he replied with a yawn and a shake of his head. He squinted in her direction. “What is it you need?”

    “You weren’t at the party. I didn’t think you would be, but I wanted to see you at least once before the night was up. You know… to say goodbye and stuff.”

    “We will still have time to say goodbye tomorrow.”

    “I know. But… I think we need a little more time to talk about… other things.”

He nodded tiredly. His gaze fell away from her. “It’s good you’ve come. I… I’ve desired to speak with you for some time now. Since… well, you know.”

The bird fluttered down to the floor as sloppily as he always did. He neatly folded his wings back against him. Linda kneeled to sit before him, her large tail looming behind her like a halo. She spoke in her usual cool, gentle tone. “I guess you can go first. Um. Do you wanna sit in my lap?”

    “No, love, that’s fine,” he said, a little awkwardly. He cleared his throat and peered up at her white face. “I… I think first and foremost, I need to… to mention some things that have been weighing on me. I don’t know quite how to explain it, but I feel a little… mislaid. Lost, perhaps. As if my journey has lead me to this place but now the path has eroded, and I can’t see clearly. Does that make any sense?”

The rozenich flicked her tiny ears. There was a dejected look in her eyes, a look that made a lump form in the bird’s throat. She replied gloomily. “Yeah, it does.”

The bird gave a single, hollow laugh. He turned his back to her as his blue eyes scanned the shafts of moonlight that poured across the floor. “I didn’t expect any of this to happen. Things were so proper when I started all those years ago. I had planned things. I had replanned things. Sure, there were some erroneous bumps in the road, but they were easy hurtles to overcome. I never expected something of this… this magnitude to come over me. It… It wasn’t in the plan.”

The woman’s gaze was focused, though clearly perplexed. The bird gestured a feathered hand in digression. “I’m sorry, this probably doesn’t make much sense to you. Don’t mind my rambling. I know you didn’t come here to listen to my personal spiels.”

    “It’s alright, it’s important to get it out,” she said. The miserable tone in her voice remained. There was silence for a short time between them. The air felt stale. Arpeggio could tell by the way her eyes were roaming the floor that she was preparing her words carefully. Her maw parted as she spoke, forcing the avian to shiver. “Pedgy, are you doing something bad?”

Arpeggio did not look at her. Is this what it came down to? Is this the contention they would face in their final night? The bird did not know how to respond to the question.

    “You told me that what you were doing wouldn’t hurt my people,” she said, tone not changing in its solemn depth. “Was that a lie?”

The bird released a long, pent up sigh, the air quivering as his anxiety rose. He forced his reply to come out as calm as he could muster. “No, it wasn’t a lie. Nothing your people have done for me will cause any harm to them, I assure you. Everything we’ve done here was legal and it’s protected by law. It’s the one fool proof I put into all this.”

There was relief in the woman’s eyes as she took in his words. Yet, the sadness remained. “But… it’s still bad, isn’t it?”

The bird replied flatly. “It depends. The line between good and bad is very vague.”

    “Are…” her voice stopped. There was silence again, brief but hard. Arpeggio still refused to look at her. She regathered her words before trying again. “Are you going to hurt people with that ship? If… if you are, that is hurting us.”

Arpeggio said nothing.

He expected the woman to be angry, to burst out at him as she did when they were over the Atlantic. Instead, she sat silently, eagerly listening for what he had to say with innate desperation in her gaze. A desire for the truth. A truth he could not give. “I can’t tell you what I’m going to do, Linda, and I know you know this.”

Her curly head feathers lowered in disappointment. She tugged at the yellow cloth of her hoodie. “What can you tell me?”

The avian sat there, mind trailing into the recesses of his memories. He felt himself falling into a fog. “Do me a favor, love, and grab the sketchbook inside my bed. Then come over to the light so you can see.”

The rozenich watched as the bird slowly made his way towards the windows, the blue light from the sky casting across his colorful feathers, leaving behind a long black shadow. She did as he said, reaching her hand into his bed and retrieving the moleskin sketchbook. She got to her feet and followed him into the moonlight. Both rested against the window, Arpeggio perched up on the windowsill, allowing the light to cascade over the vanilla papers of the opened book. There were doodles of everything on the pages, many of them messy and hard to decipher. Sketches of prototypes of new projects lined the pages: flying contraptions, prosthetic designs, notes, ramblings, diagrams of everything, still life drawings.

She stopped on a drawing of what appeared to be a big metal egg. “What’s this?” she asked.

    “Remember those drones I was concepting months ago? I crafted some and chose to conceal them in packages.”

She laughed, quietly. “They look like eggs. I thought you hated eggs?”

    “Yes,” he laughed along with her, “but I suppose your people inspired me.”

The rozenich smiled as she continued passing through the pages. Arpeggio felt his breath catch when she passed the pages that had previously concealed the little plastic bin. He subconsciously reached up to double check the compartment was still resting within the inner breast pocket of his pajamas. It was, and he allowed his breath to calm. He continued to watch his companion flip through each page until the contents began to run consistently and her smile faded.

Owls. Metal owls.

With every page came new additions, new sketches, new notes. Arpeggio merely watched as the female scoured through, observing the contents with obscurity and confusion. She stopped momentarily on an image the bird had drawn months earlier of himself within the center of the massive robotic owl. She kept going. It was much of the same and none of it drew much attention from the rozenich.

The final entry was a single drawing of the owl spread across two pages. The lines of the beast were drawn with such precision, such accuracy, that only the dozens of pages of practice before it could lend to. “I don’t get it,” Linda finally said, her hands resting on the illustration.

    “His name is Clockwerk. Was, rather,” Arpeggio said, gaze captivated on his own drawing. “He was a great owl that was born long, long ago. He was… immortal. Do you know what that means?”

The rozenich shook her head. The look she gave him as he spoke was one of grave concern. Arpeggio had to look away. “It means someone who can live forever. Death never comes for you: not naturally. You never get old, you never get sick. The only way death can steal you away is if you’re too foolish and cocky and others get the best of you.”

    “He was a god?” she questioned.

    “No. He was just a man who tried to be.”

She examined the image on the page. “But he died?”

    “Yes. He had unjustly murdered a young boy’s father decades ago. The boy grew up and took vengeance, killing him.”

    “That… that’s good, right?”

Arpeggio smiled weakly at her. “It depends.” He would never tell her the very man who killed the metal bird was the very raccoon she had encountered in her ventures outside of the worksite. It was not something he felt she needed to know.

The rozenich appeared to understand. She flicked the papers of the book back until they rested on the page of himself within the great owl. Her claws traced the thick outlines, trying to grasp what it all meant. “Those parts you had Kacey divide up. That was him, wasn’t it?”

It took the avian some time to finally give her a confirming nod. “Yes. He cast himself a body of metal and wires to preserve and keep his soul alive eternally. He was… a machine. Like the creations I build. There is no blood or flesh, just a bunch of artificial parts.”

Linda’s fingertips stroked the image of the parrot on the paper. The ink there had long since been smeared and something about the way it looked seemed to intrigue her. Arpeggio could see in her face she was trying desperately to place the puzzle pieces together.

The bird’s blue eyes looked over his shoulder and out the window. The line of trees in the distance swayed gently in the winter breeze. Clouds rolled in the sky, evading the moon by inches. He wondered if it would snow soon.

    “Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live forever?” he asked her. “I’ve thought a lot about it. I’ve heard rozenich can live a very long time? Hundreds of years if you’re in good health? That’s not how it is here with us. Most men don’t live to see past seventy years. Some species, like mine, can go past a hundred if we’re careful. I’m… I’m already almost forty. I know you don’t understand math and numbers but… it’s not a number I like hearing, even if it’s still rather young. There’s so much I wish I could do but it feels like there will never be enough time to do it. Not with how things are. Not with how useless I sometimes feel.”

Linda no longer found her focus falling on the book and its contents. Instead, her gaze remained on that of her companion. Arpeggio felt her slit pupils following his subtle movements. She was examining him, but he did not care to tell her to stop. “Pedgy? Can I ask you something else?”

    “You’ve asked plenty already. I don’t see why not.”

She tentatively bit her lip, knowing the subject she was about to bring up was one of a particularly sensitive topic. “You can’t fly. That’s why you think you’re useless. That hurts you a lot, doesn’t it?”

His stomach quivered. “Yes. A whole lot.”

    “Can… can you tell me why? Why it bothers you, I mean. Maybe… why you can’t fly in the first place?”

Arpeggio flicked his gaze down to her. Did she need for him to delve into that piece of his history? He supposed he owed it to her. The man took in a breath. “Birds were meant to fly. Yes, there are plenty of birds who can’t. None of my men can fly but they are birds. There are even some parrots, some of my very own species, who can’t fly. It is the sliding scale of bipedalism us animals bear. But me… I was meant to. I was born with everything I needed. I was a little small, but it didn’t matter. I still had the ability.”

He hopped off the windowsill, allowing his legs to distract him from the anxiety that was heightening in his stomach. “I was so excited and impatient. My mum and father told me I just needed to wait, that I would grow up big and strong and I could fly with them and my siblings. I waited eagerly for so many years…

    “Other children my age were beginning to gain their flight feathers and their muscles. They were starting to practice, and some could even make it into the air. I envied them but kept assuring myself that, soon, I would be there too. I just assumed I was falling behind, that maybe I needed to reach puberty before I could see any change, but you know what happened when that time came?”

The woman said nothing as Arpeggio outstretched one of his wings as far as it could go. “One day I looked in the mirror and things just did not seem right. It was only then that I realized I was missing some of my flight feathers,” he paused to point a foot at a large gap in his wings, just short of where his feathered digits rested. “Without them, I’d never achieve lift. It’s a simple law of aerodynamics. Without them, it’s as if my wings are clipped eternally. Of course, it never helped that my muscles never developed as they should either. But I simply did not understand. I went to my parents and it was then that everything… everything just went wrong.”



    “They knew?” Linda interjected.

    “Of course they knew!” the avian said, voice raised in frustration. “They knew when I was but a child! They lied to me. They fed me lies throughout my youth as if the issue was something like Santa Claus or the Easter Rabbit. Something I would grow up and out of as if it were fine. But it wasn’t fine. I was born faulty and they were ashamed of me. So ashamed they did not even want me to know the truth. Too ashamed to care about the sea of peers that mocked me for being… defective. A mocking that would stalk me forever. They didn’t care at all.”

The parrot closed his eyes and allowed the anger that soared through him to evaporate. In a way, it felt… pleasant, to finally let it all out. He looked back at his counterpart. “It bothers me I can’t fly because I dreamed about it as a boy, only to realize it would never come true. It was a betrayal that has always haunted me. My physical inability was the stepping stone into the lake of hatred that began to fuel me. That is why I am doing what I am doing now. Good or bad.”

The rozenich only gave a slow, careful nod. She closed the book in her hands. “You know, there’s a story we’re told when we’re young about our ancestors. I don’t know if… if you’ll care or if it’ll matter, but it reminds me of this.”

Arpeggio listened. The female parted her lips and began her brief tale. “Our ancestors were not like we are now. They could fly, too, just like birds. They had real big wings that were colorful and bright like our tails are now. They believed they were the most beautiful and powerful things that ever existed!

    “They started to get greedy, and one day they tried to fly up out of the sky. They wanted to go beyond the Great Egg and touch the edges of the universe, to become the universe. But that wasn’t what they were meant to be, and the Great Egg stopped them.

    “As punishment, our ancestors were forbidden from ever leaving the ground again, and they were stripped of their wings. From that day on, my people tried to regain the power they had before. We started climbing trees, becoming skilled at reaching the highest branches. All so we could try to escape the sky and reach the universe. A lot of my people believe that one day we’ll get our wings back. But right now… climbing is as far as we’ve gotten, and we just need to make the best of that.”

Something about the story struck Arpeggio. He replied in a quiet, soft tone. “For once you have tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return.”

Linda smiled. “Did that Bernini guy you love so much say that?”

Arpeggio grinned and laughed. “Da Vinci, yes. Supposedly, anyway.”

The two sat in silence together. For once, the tension that was there had dissipated and only the pleasant feeling of each other’s company resided. Like previous times. Linda looked down at the book in her hands. After letting her fingers brush over its cover one last time, she placed it on the ground in front of the bird’s feet. “I’ve never thought about living forever, so I dunno what to make of it. But it seems like it’d be really lonely if you’re the only one.”

    “I’ve always been lonely,” he said flatly.

    “Well, maybe, if you want to change anything about yourself, it should be that.”

The woman stood up, leaving the bird standing in the shower of moonlight with his small book. She started her way to the door reluctantly, as if she did not want to leave him. In truth, he was not sure if he wanted her to leave either. “I need to… think about things.”

    “Yes,” he replied, “I do too.”

She finally looked back at him as she opened the door to depart, a sadness lingering in her blue gaze. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t leave without saying goodbye. You promise?”

    “I promise.”

    “Pinky—”

    “No, love.”

They both exchanged a genuine, albeit somber smile before the rozenich left him to his own.

The parrot did not know how long he remained there, staring blankly at the door, his mind wandering places he never thought it would go. After a time, he looked down at his sketchbook, the cover worn out and bent in the corners. He had filled up, stored away, and trashed so many books just like it in his past. Yet, the sketches that laid inside this one were ones of a man with an ambition he did not know the limits of.

He was so tired of it all. He desperately craved for a way to go to sleep and awaken on a reset of his life. There were so many things he would do differently. Things he would never get to do after everything was over.

Arpeggio had never before felt so much regret.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 42

The early morning weather was more than perfect for the voyage out. It was cool, but not agonizingly so, and the breeze was light and airy. The sunrise had been pleasant and peaceful, leading into the bright, clear sky of daytime.

Arpeggio’s personal airship had already been prepped for the journey out. Every worker, still on staff or otherwise, was lingering around, simply waiting for the time to come. Even a large portion of the rozenich, who had little to do with anyone departing, were up and active just to see what would occur.

For as much excitement that was in the air, there was also a great deal of sadness. Many of the men, some who had worked together even beyond the time Arpeggio had employed them, were giving farewells to their comrades. Even the ones who were not the affectionate type were still there to give their support.

Arpeggio watched everyone through the glass of the station on the landing dock. There was a strange feeling within his body. Nervousness. Sorrow. He had told himself that this day would not wind up one of emotional turmoil, and he tried to suppress anything resembling it.

It was difficult to do once Linda and Kacey came into the picture.

The parrot had known the two—Linda in particular—had been friendly with his guards, but he had never expected so many to be there to say goodbye to them. He watched as Linda gave pats and hugs one right after the other to the various toucans. Even Kacey chipped in to let some of the men who were leaving know she appreciated the time they had: with assumed childish quips in tow if he knew her well enough.

The sound of footsteps came from the open doorway and the parrot turned to see Jeremy enter. Though he could not see his eyes from beneath his goggles, Arpeggio could tell by his posture and frown that he was not his usual self.

    “Have you said anything to them, yet?” Arpeggio asked.

The aracari did not croak that time. He merely shook his head.

    “I haven’t either,” he replied as he turned back around. “I almost decided not to even try. I’ve never had to do something like this before.”

Jeremy clicked his beak and nodded briefly before lowering his head.

Linda and Kacey had finally finished making their rounds and began their way up the platform. Craig, the burly, black-beaked toucan, stood just outside the station, and both Arpeggio and Jeremy could overhear the words that were exchanged.

    “Hey, I know you’re not really one for sappy stuff,” Linda told Craig with a teasing tone, “but you know what I have to do to you.”

    “Ain’t into huggin’,” he said in his usual monotonous voice.

    “Even just this once?”

    “Nah.”

    “What if I make it really quick?”

    “Nah.”

    “What if it’s like, a manly side hug?”

Kacey gave a little angry huff and stomped one of her forefeet. “Well, you’re just gonna have to deal with it, mister.”

With that, the girl went up and gave his leg a brisk embrace. The man did not so much as react to this, his buff arms remaining crossed and his cigarette still hanging from the corner of his bill.

Linda took the action and doubled it, giving the toucan an unrequested hug around the neck anyway. Craig merely grumbled before reluctantly wrapping only a single arm around the woman’s back. “Yer too much.”

    “You’ll miss us, and you know it.”

    “Nah.”

Content with their exchange, the two ladies let him go free and he walked away. They watched him go for a moment before their sights turned to the much shorter toucan standing at the station door, waiting for them. It was evident in their gazes that what was to come was going to be much more challenging than even a dozen Craigs.

Jeremy took a step forward as the two approached him. Linda kneeled first and gave the bird a gentle pet on his long, scarred beak. There was sorrow built up in the depths of her eyes, but she attempted to mask it as best as she could. “Alright, before you leave, you gotta promise you’re gonna try to stay away from anything flammable. Got it?”

The man replied with a weak little rattle.

    “Good. Now… take off those goggles. I need to see your cute face at least one more time.”

The aracari resisted.

    “Come on, don’t make me have to do it for you.”

He clicked his beak and reached up to push the aviation goggles off his face. It was evident only then that the reason behind his hesitation was due to the glossy texture of his green eyes. His gaze kept nervously looking away from his white companion, as if merely looking at her would well the growing tears up further.

The woman knew this and gave him a saddened smile. “Hey, it’s okay, honey. Don’t be upset.”

She leaned in and gave the small man a tight hug, her head curling around to rest on his shoulder. Jeremy returned the embrace, his own long beak laying between her shoulder blades. He had to force his eyes shut to prevent himself from crying.

    “I’ll keep practicing my signs. Maybe eventually I’ll figure out all those darn letters and numbers. I dunno who I’ll use them with but… you never know.”

Their hug parted and, with as much strength as he could bear, he began to speak with her through his gestures. She watched him intently and the emotions on her face reacted to the words he silently spoke to her. By the time he finished, the woman’s own eyes were on the brink of falling victim to a similar downpour, but she kept it miraculously under control.

Arpeggio watched as she signed back to him in three distinct motions: first she pointed to herself, then she crossed her palms across her chest, and finally she pointed at her friend. He repeated the action, giving a meager hint of a smile in the corners of his beak.

Kacey, though not appearing as if she was going cry, did give a little sniffle. The alien girl gave him a hug just the same, her small form absorbed in Jeremy’s arms. “I’m gonna miss beating you at Uno.”

Linda gave a little smile all her own and gave him another loving stroke. “We’re both gonna miss you, Jerbear. I just wish I had given you the right nickname months ago.”

He signed something brief to her.

    “No, Harliebear doesn’t care if you share a name. He still wants me to stop calling him that in the first place.”

There was a quiet, unreadable goodbye the trio shared before they parted ways. Jeremy returned the goggles to his eyes before he ventured out into the sunlight, leaving them to say their farewells to his boss in private.

Arpeggio felt a lump grow in his throat when they turned to him.

The girl went up first. The parrot pulled in a breath and jumped down onto the floor to reach her level. The kurri child scuffed a foot across the ground, almost nervously, when she spoke to him. “I liked hanging out with you, Pedgy. I wish we coulda done it longer.”



The bird gave a warm laugh. “I’ll never understand what fascination you saw in a boring old bird like me.”

    “You can be a little boring,” she replied, “but like I said before, it’s the good kind.”

    “I did always appreciate your honesty.”

Arpeggio had anticipated the child would give him a farewell hug as well, but even when it happened he did not know what to do with himself. Her small arms squeezed him tightly around the neck, her wrinkled skin burying into his golden feathers. The aristocrat was never good with such things and, in truth, he was nervous on how to respond. His emerald wings, as puny as they were, rested around her small frame.

    “Do you think I could ever be someone’s protégé?” the girl asked him as she rubbed her face against his neck. The bird was not sure, but he swore he could hear a dampness to her voice.

    “Of course, dear,” he replied. “Though, you should probably try to put those smarts to use in other puzzles outside of Candy Crush.”

    “Even Bubble Witch Saga?”

    “Yes, even that one.”

    “I’ll think about it,” she said as she backed away from him. “Make sure Jeremy doesn’t get blown up, if you can.”

    “I’ll try my best.”

A light suddenly flickered in the girl’s eyes. “Oh! I forgot to give him my e-mail!”

Not saying anything more, the girl turned and fled out the door in search of her companion. Her absence left only the parrot and the rozenich remaining. Arpeggio felt a new feeling within him come to surface as she bent down to give her sendoffs to him. He could tell in her face that it was not an easy thing for her, given their recent encounters.

    “This is it, isn’t it?” she said to him in her quiet, soft tone.

The avian nodded. “Yes, that it is.”

Arpeggio let out a short, gravely sigh as he stepped towards her. “I… I understand if you have ill feelings about me. Truth be told, I wouldn’t blame you.”

    “I’m not sure what to think about all this,” the woman admitted, her eyes locking onto his. “I’m angry with you, but… it’s hard to be too angry. I think I just need more time to accept everything.”

The ominous words made the anxiety within his belly only worsen. “I never wanted you to feel that way, but I know it’s well deserved.”

    “I’m glad you told me what you did last night,” she replied. “I don’t understand a lot of it but… it still meant a lot that you said it. I… I don’t really know what to do now. I’m guessing there’s nothing I can say that would change your mind about leaving?”

    “Unfortunately, no,” he frowned. And even if there was, there would be no future for me here.

Linda’s gaze fell in disappointment. “I thought so. I just… I don’t want you to hurt anyone. Or yourself. I know I can’t stop you and no one would believe me if I tried to tell them. It’s… it’s not like I have any proof you’re going to do something… bad. But… I dunno. I’m just worried.”

    “I understand, love,” was all he could say. What else could he say?

Arpeggio wanted to say more. He wanted to capture the words that were fluttering about in his mind. To release the guilt, somehow, that was building up inside of him. Thankfully, he did not need to say anything to fill the silence. Just as she had done with everyone else that morning, the woman took the small avian into her arms. He felt his feeble frame melt into her fluffy white plumage. The curve of his yellow beak gently laid against her muscular neck as it curled around him.

He felt a sickness rise within him. At least, it felt like a sickness. It was overwhelming and just a bit painful, though he could not tell if it was physical or all in his mind. Neyla had been right all along, he had become soft. Saying goodbye to the kurri child had been difficult, but saying it to the woman, the infuriating pest that had plagued him all these long months, was somehow especially more challenging now that it was upon him.

There was a shakiness to his voice when he spoke up at last. “I… I know it doesn’t mean much now, but… I’m dreadfully sorry for anything I’ve done to hurt you.”

He felt the woman’s grip on him tighten. The warmth of her breath bathed into his feathers as she replied. “It’s okay, honey. I know you’re not a bad person. I forgive you. And… I’m sorry if I ever upset you too. I know I was kind of a headache to deal with.”

    “It’s all right, love,” the bird could barely stifle the cry that emerged as he tried to laugh it off. “It was a learning experience for the both of us.”

The two remained in their embrace for what felt like long, aching hours. Arpeggio did not know how to comprehend the emotions that wavered through him. The last thing he had ever wanted was to feel his companion’s touch, but now… now he wished it would never cease, and that was not something he wanted to admit.

Finally, the rozenich pulled away. There were tears welling up in the female’s eyes, but she pushed past them to give him her typical warm smile. The patter of feet drew her attention to Kacey returning into the room. She appeared content with herself at having accomplished her last-minute mission, but upon seeing the two adults before her, her expression shifted to one of the familiar distress.

Knowing it was time to depart, the woman stood up. “Be careful out there. Whatever it is you’re trying to do, I hope it makes you happy.”

    “As do I,” he said, forlornly.

The woman and child walked to the doorframe. The kurri gave a final wave to the bird. “Bye, Pedgy.”

The rozenich gave a wave of her own, though her reply was much, much heavier. “Bye, Pedgy.”

    “Goodbye,” was all Arpeggio could muster.

Just like that, they both were gone, vanished behind the walls. The feeling of loss overcame the bird so much quicker than he anticipated. He was not the crying type; he had vowed to never do such a thing as long as he could help it, to avoid the appearance of being… weak. Yet, the hurt in his heart was greater than anything he had felt in many years.

Everything within the small man’s chest tensed. He forced in a long, drawn-out breath to keep the peculiar sensations under control. He could not let them win. He could not let his men see him that way. He ascended his motorized scooter and exited the small station. His airship had already been opened for him, he merely had to enter and give the word for take-off.

    Don’t look out, he told himself. You don’t need to see them.

Of course, his actions overrode what his inner dialogue begged of him. As he made his way up the ramp, he turned his head to view the people crowded around the landing port. It was not difficult to spot the albino rozenich among the colorful patches of people. She was no longer focused on him or his departure. Instead, the woman held the small kurri child in her arms, comforting her as the girl sadly rested her head against her shoulder.

The rozenich perked up as her orange colored partner ventured up to her. While Arpeggio knew Mr. Mercer would not be upset in the least to see him go, there was still sadness in his face as he approached. Though the bird could not see her face clearly, the manner with which her plumage and ears drooped told all that he needed to know. He watched as Harlie comforted her as she wrapped her free arm around his neck.

Arpeggio could not bear to watch the rest.

He entered the ship just as the serpentine shape of Dr. Phyllis came around a stack of crates. She could sense the bird’s upset almost immediately and her expression grew concerned. “Are you doing okay, Arpeggio?”

    “Yes, I’m fine,” he replied with what little confidence he had.

She nodded, though clearly not believing him. “Listen, I’ve left you some medication in case you get sick on your travels, and all the first aid kits are packed and ready, just in case. I’ll be making my departure here tomorrow afternoon, but I’ll be in my usual spots after if you need to call about anything dire.”

    “I’ll be sure to remember,” the bird said.

Phyllis nodded as she flicked out her tongue. “Be safe. Don’t push yourself too hard. We both know how you get.”

The snake began to slither past him, taking her tote bag of medical supplies with her. Before she could get out of earshot, Arpeggio called after her. “Phyllis?”

    “Yes?” she replied, confused.

Arpeggio swallowed hard. “I’m sorry for reining you into all this again. You’ve always been a good friend to me.”

The reptile was taken aback at his words. The mechanical bits of her hand fidgeted before she replied. “It’s always been a pleasure. Good luck, Arpeggio.”

Silence followed as the snake left him. Arpeggio rolled down the small hallway and up the elevator to his office floor. As he entered the room, he could already spot Jeremy waiting for him by the door as fellow guards bustled about to prepare for liftoff.

The two avians entered the office together and stood in front of the large glass windows, patiently waiting for the time to come. Neither made a noise until they could feel the airship making its ascension. They both watched as the massive piece of land before them appeared even more bald and barren than it had on ground-level. It was difficult to watch something they had considered their home slowly vanish before their eyes. When they had cracked through the barrier dome, the feeling was made even worse. There was nothing left to cling onto anymore. Their time there was complete and behind them now.

Arpeggio turned to Jeremy. He could tell the aracari was feeling similarly to himself in the way his chest heaved and posture sank. “Do you think I made a mistake?” the question came out warily.

The short, muscular bird’s beak shifted towards him, expression unreadable. His gloved hands clenched and unclenched apprehensively. He did not respond to him.

Arpeggio did not try to expand the conversation any further. There was no point.

He watched as his creation, his masterpiece of a ship, came into view as they passed through the cloaking device that had previously concealed it. He eyed it through the windows with a mixture of pleasure and loathing. It was that several-million-dollar beast of a flying machine that had brought everything together, and just the same it had torn them apart. Now, it had become the symbol of what was to come.

It was too late to turn back.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 43

Arpeggio could hardly believe it as he stood in astonishment within the snowy landscape, the bitter wind seeping through his feathers. “All of them? All three Cooper members have been caught?”

    “Yup, I caught the varmints tryin’ to rig my games. But it takes more than some wacky disguises to fool ol’ Jean Bison!” the red furred man boasted proudly.

The bird was speechless. He had returned to Canada to retrieve the desired battery for his scheme, only to be gifted with such news on top of it. He knew Jean Bison had been on his toes since the incident back on his shipping site with the raccoon running loose and causing a ruckus, but he had not anticipated the bison would have been able to capture all three of his rival gang members. Yet, somehow, this burly neanderthal had managed to do what neither his protege nor the entirety of INTERPOL could. What he had been referring to by the Coopers "rigging his games" Arpeggio did not know, and he did not really care to question it. He only needed the answer to one thing. “Did you find the stolen Clockwerk parts as well?”

    “Sure did. They done left ‘em all—mine too—in their lil’ hideout," the man replied with a confirming nod of his large horned head, "Dunno what I’m gonna do with—"

    “I want them,” Arpeggio said hastily, “I will pay you handsomely for the entire lot.”

A devious grin pulled onto Jean Bison’s bearded face. “Ya don’t say? How much?”

    “More than enough to keep this logging camp of yours up and running until you tear down every tree in the entire bloody country.”

The bison could not pass up such an offer.

And thus, once more Arpeggio had been reunited with the Clockwerk parts he had tended to months and months ago. While their travels had caused some damage and wear, they were overall in good shape. They were all there, too: the organs, the feathers, those glorious, massive wings. Bison was even willing to part with the talons he had been fortunate enough to keep a good grip on.

It was strange for such things to come full circle, the bird had thought. This had not been in the plan, but Arpeggio could not find it in him to complain. In fact, they were ahead of schedule now. Certainly, it would still take a couple days to return to Paris in order to start the remaining affair, but at least he could get to work reconstructing the large bird.

He paid the man his bounty, an amount that gave Arpeggio no ill-feelings. Between everything else the bird had endured, wasting more pounds was of little concern. Still, the bliss he felt as he watched the Clockwerk parts get loaded into his traveling airship did not last. Even the great metal bird could not heal his emotional ailments.

The bison did not notice the avian’s discontent. He turned to ask him a question. “Them parts goin’ to help in the Paris fiasco?”

    “Yes,” he replied flatly, not looking at him. “They will provide immeasurable power for me.”

Jean nodded. “Alrighty, then. Welp, I better go down and check on the prisoners. Maybe teach ‘em a thing or two about messin’ with me…”

The bison did not say so much as a goodbye as he trudged off through the snow. Arpeggio could care less what he did with the Coopers as long as it meant they would be out of his feathers. He finished watching his men load up the cargo before giving himself a quiet spark of self-motivation.

    “We can do this, chap… it’s back to business. No more distractions.”

With only that to yield him, he ventured inside to begin his work.

~ *  ~

The small airship Arpeggio usually traveled in had been altered since their last trip to Canada. The bird had planned far in advance on how he wanted to put the giant owl back together, and that required plenty of open space and some special additions to the inner structure.

The core was now completely hollowed out, save for the skeleton frame that kept the ship’s shape and a working deck in the center. That was where the pieces of the old bird now rested, the metal bits gleaming in the sunlight that slipped in through the windows at the front. Along the curved sides of the ship ran two pairs of long rectangular objects that sat on tracks, though none of them were currently moving.

The pieces of the bird were slowly being rearranged into their proper order as an old face came into the fray. Neyla entered the room and stood beside Arpeggio as he oversaw the work. “The battery is being transported now. With luck, it’ll be equipped within the next couple hours.”

    “Yes, that’s good,” Arpeggio said half-heartedly. While he did not look down at it, he was fiddling with something in his yellow scaly feet, the surface glinting every now and again. Neyla took note of it but did not say anything.

The feline looked over the scrapyard before her. “How long do you think it’ll take before we can get him up and running?”

    “I’d imagine under a day. I’ve already went through the schematics a half-dozen times. At its basics, it should be no harder than putting together a model airplane. Granted, models don’t typically weigh two tons, but you can grasp what I mean.”

    “How do we attach them? I can’t imagine hot glue would work.”

    “I’ve analyzed the structure so many times now, and while I can figure out where the pieces go and their nuts and bolt, I haven’t yet mastered how to lock them in place. It’s not something I was able to study before I had to ship the parts out.”

The cat put her hands to her hips and her white whiskers twitched ever so slightly. “Suppose it’s best we get in there and figure it out before your idiot guards mess something up.”

    “They aren’t idiots, dear,” he said tiredly. He placed the item he had been messing with into his vest’s breast pocket. “But you’re quite right. Let’s get to work.”

The two took one last look at the puzzle pieces before them and headed down the ramp to join the chaos.

~ *  ~

Connecting the pieces was child’s play. Arpeggio had already completed the skeleton that would be used as the foundation. Moving the pieces into place was an entirely different story. With the help of his guards, Neyla, and his blueprints, they were able to fashion the parts temporarily into place, though with considerable trouble due to their weight. They had suspended the body only a few feet into the air on heavy sets of wires and rested it on thick metal tables as a sort of make-shift scaffolding.

The wings, the heaviest component, had been connected first, following close behind with the legs, the razor-sharp talons in tow. They were forced to wrap the claws in heavy wrappings in order to keep themselves from getting cut. Even with the precautions, Jeremy had still managed to get himself nicked. It was astounding what the mechanical bird was capable of while just being a lifeless shell.

With a handful of hours of work already put into it, Arpeggio relieved his guards as he began to work on fiddling with the wiring in the owl’s complex neck. He had thoroughly documented how the pieces connected, but it was still a process that would take time to perfect.

    “What did you tell INTERPOL?” Arpeggio directed the question to Neyla.

The feline was standing in front of the robotic owl’s head, cleaning the eyes that had not yet been installed. Her focus on them brought a look of frustration on her face as she likely recalled being foiled months earlier when she had attempted to steal them. “They are still under the impression that I’m out searching for the bison. They’ll continue to think that until they find out otherwise.”

    “Do they know about my role in all this yet?”

Neyla set the eyes down on the table. “Vaguely, but I kept deterring them away. Right now, they’re still dealing with the aftermath of the ‘betrayal’ of Inspector Fox and Contessa. They won’t find out your role until it’s far too late.”

The parrot nodded. “Good, just as we planned. Though, curiously, where did that vixen wind up?”

    “She escaped the Contessa’s prison and last I saw her she was still trying to catch Cooper, believe it or not. Even when the law turns its back on her she’s still out trying to achieve justice.”

This unsettled Arpeggio. “You do not believe she will attempt to stick her nose in our affairs, do you?”

The cat almost laughed. “Of course not! She may be dedicated, but there’s no way she’ll be able to catch up to a giant flying fortress.”

    “But she destroyed Clockwerk once before,” he started, worry lining his tone. “If she catches wind of us, she may try to take him down—take me down—for a second time.”

    “Carmelita didn’t kill Clockwerk. Cooper did,” she reminded him. “She did a few favors during the process but that’s all. With Cooper out of the picture now, even with her on the loose still she won’t be able to do much of anything against our defenses. I mean, how could she? She doesn’t know your airship even exists, let alone where we are with it.”

    “I suppose you’re correct,” he said, wiping his oily hand on his smock. “I am just… paranoid.”

Neyla eyed him curiously and flicked an ear. Arpeggio could see her from the corner of his vision and it made him uncomfortable. It was only worsened when she spoke up. “You seem… off. Did something happen?”

    “Hm? No, dear, nothing happened. I’m tired, is all.”

Her green eyes narrowed. “Are you sure?”

    “Yes, absolutely.”

It was not evident in her face whether or not she believed him. She did, however, reply in noticeable concern. “You should take a break and try to rest. We still have another day and a half before we reach Paris.”

Arpeggio sighed. It would be nice to sleep. “I could afford to stop for a few hours. Though, I’d like to get as much done tonight as we can. That way we’ll have room for error and adjustments.”

    “Alright,” she agreed. “I’ll be down below making sure no one is thinking of mutiny.”

Arpeggio knew the woman only meant it as a joke, but the notion did not bring him any ease. His gaze wandered over to his assistant, Jeremy, who was standing guard before the elevator alongside another armed guard. Jeremy looked towards him briefly before shifting his attention away as Neyla walked past on her travels downstairs.

Leaving the nearly-constructed metallic body behind, Arpeggio slowly padded up the ramp that lead to his front office, not bothering to ride on his scooter. He needed to feel what it was like to walk on his own two feet: he wouldn’t be getting the chance for much longer.

He went up to the large windows in the office and gazed out. The massive spectacle of his airship was seen clearly before him, stretching across the sky. Wisps of clouds tore past. He watched as the flags with his distinctive ‘A’ signature flapped in the wind. The balloons and cells remained sturdy and afloat, the propellers were spinning at their usual deadly speeds, and even the northern light battery that would fuel the whole event sat positioned at the very front. Everything was ready and waiting… they just had to get there.

His gaze momentarily landed on a large black safe located in the corner of the room beside his decorative caged vehicle. It sat there, immersed in the shadows, the light beams from the windows cutting across the floor just inches in front of it. Arpeggio felt a chill run through him as he stared at its blocky form. He knew what rested within it, and the thought of it ever seeing the light of day again brought him a sickening feeling. He had to turn away.

The automatic doors slid open and Arpeggio did not have to guess who it was. He could hear the distinctive clicking of the aracari’s beak. “Are you as ready for all this as I am, old chum?” he asked, mustering only the faintest air of excitement.

Jeremy did not say anything.

Arpeggio looked over his shoulder at him. There was little difference in his stance than usual, but his green eyes, which he had revealed by pushing up his goggles, reflected a very clear sense of worry.

    “Don’t look at me like that,” Arpeggio said, sadly. “You knew this was coming, did you not?”

The man’s eyes fell to the floor. His long beak swayed around until he became focused on the lifeless corpse of Clockwerk. Even from within the office those cold, golden orbs that were his eyes were visible, staring, from their position on the table beside his large predatory head.

    “It’ll be better after this is over,” Arpeggio reassured him. “Once I join myself to his frame I… I’ll be a whole new man.”

He laughed softly as he said this, though it was weak and lackluster. Jeremy looked back at him, expression never changing.

    “With him as my vessel, I won’t have to worry any longer about being so fragile and… and weak. I know I’m not much to look at, and frankly I doubt I would have gotten where I was now without my wit… Can you believe I managed to control the Klaww Gang for so long?”

He laughed again, that time filled with a little more pride. He turned back to the window. “Rajan always hated me. I knew he couldn’t stand the idea of listening to orders from a tiny, insignificant scrap of hide like myself. I believe the only reason he never killed me and took over was because he knew my role was too important. The others… well. I don’t think they wanted the responsibility.”

He could hear Jeremy stepping towards him, but the parrot did not turn his attention to him. “My whole life I’ve never been so important. So… vital to anything. I think I… I can live with myself knowing my last act as a mortal was doing something so daring. With Clockwerk’s body, though… I won’t have to worry any longer. People will fear me instead of laugh at me behind my back. They… there won’t be any rumors or… or mutiny. For once I’ll become something with physical power on top of my ingenuity. And I’ll…”

Arpeggio paused to take in a breath. It was all so real now that he spoke the words aloud. With all the planning and all the patient waiting, never had he prepared for it all to truly happen. “I’ll finally be able to fly.”

The click of Jeremy’s beak drew him to abandon his daydreams. The short man was standing beside him now, his posture slacking and eyes brimming with an emotion Arpeggio could not quite read. He could see the man’s hands fidgeting, wanting with a great urge to speak with him but knowing he could not. Sometimes, Arpeggio wished he had found the time to properly learn more signs to allow their communication to be more seamless.

Yet, somehow, he did not need to read any signs to understand what Jeremy was trying to convey. There was a subtle shake in his head and Arpeggio felt butterflies boiling in the pit of his stomach. He looked away from his companion, back out to the airship that hung in the sky. His own reflection was visible in the thick, clear glass. Within it he saw a pathetic little bird and it only make him feel sicker.

    “There’s nothing left for me here in this body,” he told Jeremy, his voice low and solemn. “I’ve done all I can. This has been the climax of my life. I’m ready for the next step.”

Jeremy made no further notions. Reluctantly, the aracari turned and left him, giving him one more look of sympathy before he did so.

Arpeggio waited until he heard the door close before he released a long, pained sigh.

If only he truly believed in his lies.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 44

The golden eyes stared back with unrelenting intensity. If the gaze was so hypnotic in an inactive frame, what would it be like when the beast came alive? He supposed by that point it would no longer matter. He would be on the opposite end of those eyes.

Arpeggio stood in front of his office doors, his yellowed feet stained with oil and muck, highly contrasting his prim and proper attire. He peered across the way at the suspended body of the completed Clockwerk. The robotic bird was terrifying in its sheer size and mass. The wingspan spread out across almost the entire width of the working stage they stood on. The metal feathers were crafted with beautiful, gleaming details. The beak and talons were unwrapped to reveal their deadly sharpness.

The aristocrat would not have believed what he was looking at if he had not rebuilt it himself.

A rhythmic, pulsating sound echoed throughout the large craft. The long, rectangular objects along the walls were moving now, their forms rolling along the tracks. Small blue lights were flickering from within them as they tirelessly rotated around the entire room.

    “We are so close,” Arpeggio said quietly.

After a time, he had to look away from the robotic owl. His eyes met with Jeremy, who stood in the middle of the ramp leading to the office. “Have you heard anything new from the airship?”

Jeremy croaked.

    “Ah, good, I suppose. As long as the engines keep running as smoothly as they have been, we’ll reach Paris right on time.” There was excitement in his voice then, albeit considerably forced. He turned and ventured into his office, followed shortly by the aracari. The short man watched as his boss climbed up onto his desk to peer at the paperwork that rested there. Arpeggio cautiously pushed aside the now-empty plastic bin that had once held the tiny piece of computer hardware. “When the process begins, I want you to man this particular craft for me. Can you do that?”

Jeremy rattled.

Arpeggio took in a deep, heaving breath as his eyes ventured back to the black safe. In the depths of the night, it was hardly visible in its little corner abode. You have to mention it, old boy. You can’t let it go unknown.

He mustered the courage to continue. “I don’t much care where you take the blimp, but the Clockwerk brain must be kept under tight wraps. No one knows the code to the safe, not even me. That may be for the best.”

Jeremy cocked his head to the side and clacked his beak.

    “Well, I…” he started but his words seemed to cease. His head was beginning to ache from the stress and sleepless nights. “When I merge into the frame, I… I don’t really know what will happen. With the brain out of him, there should logically be few ill effects. The chip I installed should have only transferred the important information for working the body and processing the incoming energy. But… I don’t know how much of that brain’s power circulated through the entire system before it was removed. The entirety that was his former self is in that brain. If… if I take over his body, I do not know if I will be drawn back to the brain because the body craves it. If the brain dares ever be reunited…”

He did not complete his sentence. His own yellow beak clicked nervously. This was all becoming so real, and so very dangerous. What was he thinking? The damn brain should have been left behind, perhaps buried somewhere. He could have even left it with the kurri to study, he was certain they’d enjoy that. Hell, even the rozenich could have taken it and used it as some sort of idol: it was not as if Clockwerk would have been displeased with that if he was alive.

A great sadness began to slip through Arpeggio’s feeble body. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the same glimmering object he had held the day prior. The item’s long chain fell between his toes and clinked onto the table top as it dangled. In his grasp was the makeshift monocle Kacey had crafted for him. His blue eyes examined it with a deep mourning.

    “I wish things were simple again,” he said to Jeremy as he looked down at the monocle. “Before, I only wanted one thing: to fly. Now it’s expanded into something much greater.”

Jeremy had begun to walk towards him when a purple figure entered the room. Neyla appeared a bit tired herself, though she was still significantly better off than Arpeggio.

She eyed Jeremy curiously before speaking up. “I just got done speaking with the mechanics on the ship. They said there were some disturbances around the battery, like it wasn’t reading the contents. He thinks the connectors might need resetting. They’re sending some men out there now to fix it.”

    “Ah, good,” Arpeggio said, still fiddling with the piece in his hand. “In the meantime, we best figure our way out of the current predicament we are facing.”

    “Quite,” she said. The woman looked down at the short aracari with a sudden look of annoyance. It did not take him long to understand the rude look and Jeremy started his way out the door.

Neyla’s ears flicked as she noticed Arpeggio’s focus turn back to the piece in his foot. Her eyes narrowed. “What’s that you’ve got?”

    “Hm? Oh, it’s nothing important,” he said. He placed the piece back into his breast pocket, tucking the chain along with it. The subject was quickly changed. “Now, we need to fathom some additional ideas for how to lock the parts into place.”

    “What would happen if you tried to merge now?”

    “I would be able to connect and use the vessel, but it wouldn’t do much good. I wouldn’t be able to move.”

Neyla scratched the striped fur on her cheek. “Even if we waited for you to absorb the results of the light wave energy? Could that be a component in activating it?”

    “No, I do not believe so,” he sighed and walked across the table. “It’s a physical thing. It’s as if… as if…”

Neyla watched him as his mind drifted off. He rubbed his aching head with a wing and grumbled nonsensible words under his breath. The cat raised a brow. “What’s wrong?”

    “It’s nothing, dear,” he huffed. “I’ve just got a lot on my mind and I do not need this frustration on top of everything else.”

    “You won’t have to deal with it much longer. Just suck it up for a while until we figure this out.”

Though the tone of her voice was not agitated, her choice of words sent a shiver of anxiety through Arpeggio. Was he overreacting? Was he bothering her? Part of it made him angry: what nerve she had! Then again, she always had a point; they had gone through so much together thus far. Was he really going to foil it all up because he was a little tired?

    “It’s just, I’ve been considering things…” his words slipped out. His brain was not coherently judging what came out of him. Yet, he could not stop it. It was as if he needed to express the thought, regardless of its idiocy. “There are parts of Clockwerk as an entity I have not examined yet. We don’t know how the frame will react once activated.”

    “We knew it was risky going into it,” she pointed out, her arms crossing. “There are so little examples of people fusing with a robotic body on this sort of scale.”

    “That is what worries me,” he said, finally turning back to her. “It is not so much that I fear what will happen to me, it is more I fear what will happen outside of me. Outside of my control.”

The feline narrowed her eyes. “Clockwerk’s dead. He’s been dead. He’s not going to magically come alive and take control of you. And even if he did, it’s a simple fix, right? We simply turn the ship around and prevent him from—”

    “It’s not that simple,” he cut her off, “He has been immortal for thousands of years. Me? I do not know where to begin! How could someone like me take charge over someone like that if there comes a struggle? You were right, you know, one cannot prepare for this. It is beyond comprehension.”

Silence fell between them. Neyla’s expressions began to shift: surprise, contemplation, anger. She looked up at him and a frown crossed her lips. “You’re chickening out, aren’t you?”

    “No,” the bird lied. Or… was it a lie? He did want to merge. He had spent millions on this project, after all. He had sacrificed so much.

Hadn’t he?

    “You’re getting emotional. You’re just trying to find excuses,” she accused, her eyes sparking. “What triggered this? You were fine when we started. Are you thinking about those stupid twerps back on the site?”

    “They are not stupid, Neyla,” he replied. Before he could add onto his words, the cat cut him off.

    “You are thinking about them! Are you kidding me, Arpeggio?”

The bird’s body stiffened, and he stood up straight, his gaze beginning to reflect his own anger. “See here! I’m not thinking about anyone at all! I’m thinking about the truth of things. The reality we are facing and the consequences that follow.”

Neyla’s muzzle began to curl. “I should have known this would happen. I should have tried harder to put a stop to your foolish affairs months ago when you started acting strangely. Whether or not you’re thinking about them now is irrelevant. They planted things in your head! Them and that runty guard friend of yours!”

    “Do not test me, Neyla,” his voice began to sharpen, and he took a step towards her on the desk. “This is no ridiculous conspiracy theory. Nothing has convinced me otherwise that this plan is the right plan. But we have to look at the facts and use our common sense.”

    “Since when did we use common sense?” she exclaimed. The fur on her shoulder rose and her claws glistened in the moonlight. Arpeggio felt a twinge of fear slip through him as she got closer to him, her face nearing his own. “Common sense would have told us to never touch an immortal bird’s corpse. Common sense would have told us to not mess around with a dead guy who has a very vengeful gang seeking his parts. Common sense would have told us to not waste our time and your money on some convoluted scheme to achieve immortality! Who thinks of things like that? No one!”

The bird could not help backing away from her as her white whiskers brushed against his beak. He tried to stand tall and strong against the girl, but it was futile. She went on, as angry as ever. “This entire scheme is what’s ridiculous! But does it matter? No. We’re all a bunch of criminals here bent on taking what we believe is ours. Convoluted or not, we risk it because it’s what we do. It’s not like we have anything else to lose.”

    “Just because this is what we do does not mean we have to be hasty,” he began, trying his best to conceal his fear under a powerful tone. “We’ve spent too much on this project to allow it to screw up last minute because we were overzealous.”

    “Do you even hear yourself?!” she growled loudly and threw her arms over her head. She walked away from him swiftly, her long tail lashing angrily behind her. She turned around sharply to point a claw at him. “You’re in bloody denial about all of this! You don’t want to admit you spent too much time out there in that worksite listening to moronic people spout their emotional bullshit. You’re telling yourself none of it got to you when it did. You’re not afraid of Clockwerk, you’re afraid of the power.”

    “I am not afraid,” he said sternly.

    “You damn well are!”

    “There is no harm in having doubts. They are natural, and they are logical. Doubts are what leads success more often than—”

    “Cut the crap, Arpeggio! I’m not hearing any of it,” she hissed. “If you think I just spent a year of my life running around cities and jungles and decrepit old mansions for you only to have my hard work spat on, you’re going to be sorely mistaken!”

    “I…” his voice trailed. A new emotion overcame him then. Shame? Guilt? His voice lost its volume and began to soften. “I’ve always appreciated what you’d done for me.”

Neyla’s tone, while still hard and full of rage, had equally quieted. “Then prove it.”

Arpeggio was at a loss. Everything began to weigh in on him in one breath. He never wanted to tell himself he had made mistakes, but he had never felt like it was truer than it was in that moment.

Their conversation was halted as a crashing BANG sounded from outside the office. The sounds of wires snapping and metal creaking burst into their ears. The entire ship trembled. Men outside yelped in shock and pain.

    “What the--?!” Arpeggio muttered as everything suddenly came to a still.

Neyla rushed through the doors, followed swiftly by Arpeggio on his motorized scooter. The bird had to wheel past the stunned form of his protégé as his blue eyes took in what he was witnessing.

Clockwerk’s frame had fallen, crashed onto the platform in an in-tact metal heap. Yet, his golden eyes were now alight with a piercing, stunning fire.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 45

Arpeggio did not understand. There was Clockwerk’s frame, crashed onto the floor, but not a single piece had been broken. The lid to the large opening in the owl’s skeletal structure that was meant to encapsulate him when he merged was open.

Waiting.

    “The… the Clockwerk frame. What’s going on?” Arpeggio muttered as he wheeled down the ramp.

It was only then, when the shock of it all wore off, that he realized many things about the room were in disarray. His guards were lying unconscious on the floor save for Jeremy, who was just standing up and patting out a small flame on his shoulder. He bent down to help up one of the barely conscious toucans beside him that Arpeggio recognized as Craig. One of the control stations behind them was sparking from the impact the great owl had created.

Arpeggio’s eyes ventured upwards to the pulsating rectangular objects circulating around the walls. Their usual blue glow was now a very stark red. “The magnetic inducers have been… reversed? But… how? Who is responsible for this?”

Neyla came forward and immediately began to examine the Clockwerk frame. “The pieces, they’re… they’re locked in place. The impact somehow managed to--!”

Her words ended sharply as her gaze suddenly landed on something on the other side of Arpeggio. Her ears shifted to the side and her lips pulled back. The parrot followed her glare towards the edge of the platform where a stranger was seen struggling to pull himself up from the edge. The figure was wearing a bright blue outfit with a black mask across his eyes. In his right hand he held a golden hooked cane. Arpeggio knew the raccoon the second he saw him.

Neyla, however, pointed it out first. “Sly Cooper! I should have known.”

The raccoon had only just managed to climb to his feet when he was suddenly grabbed up and restrained by Craig. Confused himself, the gray-furred man did not even attempt to fight back, even when Jeremy snatched the shimmering cane from his grasp.  

Arpeggio shook his head in disbelief. “I would like to ask how you managed to escape Jean Bison and get aboard my ship, but I feel that is not a challenge abnormal for you.”

The raccoon gave a struggled huff before replying. “I would like to ask how you and Neyla got together on this, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. The better question is why the two of you thought bringing Clockwerk back to life was a winning idea?”

Neyla sneered. “We don’t want Clockwerk you idiot. Are you really that stupid?”

    “Whatever you’re doing, it needs to be stopped. Whether he’s in one piece or a hundred, having him around at all is too dangerous!”

Arpeggio fidgeted his toes and scanned over the great metal bird. The husk’s glowing eyes stared back at him. The eyes that would soon become his own. The emotions within the parrot’s gut twirled and ached. “Mr. Cooper, I have been tediously studying this old bird since information about him leaked out after you killed him over two years ago. I am aware of his vast capabilities. However, my reasonings for it are well founded. I need this body. I need to become one with this body.”

    “What for?” Sly scoffed. “Because you want to fly? For an evil genius, that’s a pretty pathetic way to waste your time.”

Arpeggio’s eyebrows furrowed. The words stung, but he tried his best not to let it show. “I did not build my airship and develop my plan solely for that reason. Even you should have expected more.”

Sly eyed him with confusion. “If… you don’t want to fly…?”

    “Immortality,” the bird spat, without hesitation. “With him as my vessel, I shall live forever.”

I’ve never thought about living forever, Linda’s words quietly fluttered through his memory. But it seems like it’d be really lonely.

No, those words were foolish. What did Arpeggio care if he was the only immortal being? Neyla would eventually die… yes. Jeremy… well, he would likely die long before he grew old. Why was that any excuse to stop him? He could make new minions and new lackeys. He could have a hundred new protégés. Thousands! He would never be alone as long as he had the power of intimidation.

The raccoon shook his head. “That’s… that’s insane. You can’t just become immortal because you have Clockwerk’s body.”

    “But I can,” Arpeggio’s eyes refocused on the glowing orbs of Clockwerk. “He used hate as his fuel. The hate for your Cooper lineage. You know that, boy. He allowed his rage to energize his new body. I admit, as much hate as I have for those who wronged me, not even I could gain enough fuel to sustain this form.”

    “I… I don’t understand. You can’t just go to a gas station and fill up on hate.”

Neyla responded in Arpeggio’s place. “That’s why we have the plan. Do you really think we just kept the Klaww Gang along for pleasure? We used them the whole time. We tricked them into stealing the parts from the museum. Then we graciously allowed them to use the parts while the rest of the plan developed.”

    “…All the while pulling my gang on a string so we could steal them back for you when you needed them.”

    “Now you’re getting it.”

The raccoon’s eyes glinted with hurt. He turned back to Arpeggio. “So, you betrayed your own gang? That’s a new low. Though, maybe not for Neyla.”

    “Sacrifices have to be made,” Arpeggio said formally. “Our operation was merely one of convenience for me in the end.”

A look of realization struck the man. “This… has something to do with Rajan’s spice, doesn’t it?”

Arpeggio nodded. “When our spice is consumed, it creates a strong mental and physical dependence. It is a drug, you see. You crave it and it consumes you just as much as you consume it. You become enraged and full of hatred as the addiction takes hold of you. In itself, this is one thing; however, the Contessa discovered that, while in this state, it leaves the mind weakened and vulnerable to hypnosis, which amplifies the aggression astronomically. It is heightened if one has the proper light waves to enhance it.”

    “Hypnosis? Light waves? Wait,” Sly said aloud as he wrangled the puzzle pieces together in his head. “Dimitri… he distributed the spice through his nightclub in Paris. His goons have still been out there feeding it to people for profit. The city is addicted to it. And you’re going to… to use them. To hypnotize them and force them to hate for you?”

    “Precisely,” Arpeggio said, coldly. “Rajan made the spice. Dimitri distributed the spice. The Contessa provided me with the method of hypnosis. Jean Bison—”

    “The battery! He captured the Northern Light energy that you’ll use to power it all using your ship as the transmitter!”

Neyla crossed her arms. “I wish you were this smart when I was leading you around. Would have been so much easier than holding your hand.”

Sly hastily shook his head. Once more he tried to pull away from the toucan’s grip to no avail. “Arpeggio, you can’t do this. You can’t become immortal at others expense! You especially can’t do it with Clockwerk!”

    “Shut up, Cooper,” Neyla snarled. She turned her attention to her mentor. “Arpeggio, you need to merge now. This moron’s stupid gang could come to his rescue at any minute.”

Arpeggio’s gaze locked onto the open capsule in the metal bird’s spine and the tubing and wires that would soon cradle his form. He did not hesitate to jump off his motorized perch and onto the cool steel of Clockwerk’s head. The smooth texture on his skin made him shiver.

Sly struggled in Craig’s grip. He looked down at the cane in Jeremy’s grasp. Yet, Jeremy was hardly caring at all. His focus was on that of his parrot companion, his long bill sitting agape. He stepped forward and pushed his goggles off his face, revealing an expression of worry and fear.

    “You’ve never seen Clockwerk when he was alive!” Sly yelped in desperation. “He was consumed by his own hate! He wasn’t someone to idolize!”

    “There’s no use, Cooper, quit trying. This is over,” Neyla turned back to Arpeggio and nodded. There was an impatience in her green eyes.

But Arpeggio did not step into the open compartment. He stared at it blankly, his pupils fidgeting as his brain passed through a sea of questions. Spilling his plan out loud to his rival had brought the reality he had already been questioning further into the light. Could he escape the frame if he chose to take it all back? Would he have a second chance? He fluttered his emerald wings. Oh, how he hated these wings. They were useless scraps of feathers and bone. They were not even beautiful, not like the wings of other birds.

He hated so much about himself. His fragility, his anxiety, his loneliness.

    “It’s not over!” Sly shouted. “None of us know why Clockwerk chose to become what he did. But we do know that it absorbed him until all he could think or care about was destroying others. If you fuel yourself with hate, you’ll become no better. What kind of life is that?”

Neyla hissed. With a quick move that no one in the room expected, a swift punch went hurdling against the restricted man’s face with a loud punt. The raccoon yelped in pain.

    “Neyla!” Arpeggio said in a surprised tone.

    “Get in the god-damn owl, Arpeggio,” the woman said with a great scorn to her voice that the aristocrat had never heard before.

Heart thumping with fear, he looked down at the empty compartment. He never realized before how similar it was to a coffin. Was this it, then? This robotic bird would be his final resting place?

He did hate with more vigor that he once believed, but it was all superficial; it paled in comparison to the amount of hate Clockwerk had to of felt. Even to the amount of hate that would be converted when they began their little hypnotic light show over Paris. Was hatred a feeling he wanted to experience every day for the rest of his endless life?

    “Arpeggio,” came the muttered voice of the wounded raccoon. He lifted his head, not caring about the pain. “This is bad. You can’t be that bad guy.”

    Pedgy, are you doing something bad?

    The line between good and bad is very vague.

There was an emptiness, a clarity, a little bit of everything shoved into him all at once. The emotions overwhelmed him, and he felt his heart pump rapidly in his chest. He looked over at the unconscious bodies nearby, but his brain struggled to process them.

    “Arpeggio, you’re wasting time,” Neyla said sternly. “You need to merge with him now.”

It was a standoff. But which side did he choose? To be immortal… to fly. To leave it all behind in a great waste… to lose it all. The story Linda had told him about her ancestors came to mind and everything began to slowly unfold for him.

    “Have you… ever heard of the story of Icarus?”

Neyla’s eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about?”

    “Icarus,” he began, his voice quiet and his head low. He began to breathe heavily, anxiously. “Greek mythology. Son of Daedalus. His father fashioned him wings made of feathers and wax, so they could escape imprisonment. Icarus was warned to not be over-ambitious. He did not heed his father’s words and he flew too close to the sun. His wings melted, and he drowned in the sea.”

    “This is not a time for stories,” the woman scowled.

    “Sometimes stories make a lot of sense to our situations, if you think deeply enough.”

The woman’s fists clenched. “You call yourself a genius, Arpeggio, but you’re just a bloody fool. You can’t waste all of this for… for…”

    “The spirit desires to remain with its body,” the parrot began, ignoring her. Ignoring everyone. He stared vacantly into the empty coffin. “…because, without the organic instruments of that body, it can neither act, nor feel anything.”

    “Stop with your quoting malarkey. You think you’re so great? But you know what, Arpeggio?” She took a step forward. “You don’t deserve any of this. I started to think that months ago, but you’ve convinced me all the more now.”

    You have people who care about you!

The bird did not pay any attention to her. His mind was gone, lost within itself.

    Don’t you know that?

Jeremy began to look between Craig, Cooper, and Neyla. He was confused. Everyone was confused. The aracari looked on in grave concern.

    Can’t you see? 

Arpeggio felt a pain surge through him as claws suddenly dug into his golden throat. His conscious mind was thrown back into reality as he realized Neyla had pounced atop him. He flapped his wings defensively and lashed his claws out at her. He was no predatory bird, however, and she had gotten the best of him in his moment of existential crisis. She restrained him and pulled his form tightly against her chest as he writhed wildly, feathers flying.

He felt the sharp knife she always carried in her boot press firmly against his jugular.

    “Ah, shit,” Craig said, flatly. He immediately dropped his captive.

The raccoon landed lightly on his feet and swiftly snatched his crooked cane out of Jeremy’s grasp as he was distracted. The aracari, while only momentarily shocked, did not bother with him. His eyes were angrily set on his boss and his trusted protégé.

    “What the hell are you doing?!” Arpeggio screeched, his temptation to struggle quelled only by the threat of the dagger.

    “You’re not going to make a fool out of me,” the cat said, rage seething with every word. “I’ve wasted too much time on you.”

    “You’re going to kill me, then? After all this?”

    “I wouldn’t have to kill you if you would have done what you were supposed to!”

It was Sly who’s voice announced over the tension. “Neyla, you don’t have to do that. You’re not that cruel!”

    “You don’t know anything about me!” she growled. “You think any of my buddy-buddy attitude with you out on the field was genuine? You’re just as moronic as this parrot.”

Arpeggio felt her grip on him tighten and the knife sink deeper into his neck, dangerously close to breaking the skin. His chest began to heave. “I trusted you. You are my protégé! My apprentice!”

    “Did you think I was your friend too?” she asked spitefully. The cat’s teeth were close to the bird’s face and it filled him with fear. He felt like feral prey. “Maybe we were once. I trusted you too, you know. I thought we were going to do a lot of great things. I looked up to you. Especially after… after…”

    “N-Neyla—”

    “But you said it yourself: trust is a very fickle thing. I was an idiot myself for thinking you were anything more than a pathetic sack of self-loathing. You always said you were weak and you know what? You are.”

The words stung deeply.

    Do you hate me?

    I’ve never hated you.

Both were distracted by the abrupt croaking of Jeremy. Once he received their attention, he angrily signed something in their direction, particularly towards the female.

The cat’s muzzle wrinkled. “The hell are you trying to say, runt?”

Craig was the one who answered. “He said you’s a crazy bitch.”

Neyla’s green eyes flashed with instant rage. “I’ll show you who’s a bloody bitch.”

Arpeggio felt the woman’s weight shift and the gesture of her arm tense. Adrenaline surged through him as he knew what her next action would be. He suddenly parted his beak and firmly bit down on her furry wrist. His hooked bill dug into her flesh and he felt the coppery taste of blood spurt onto his tongue. The woman yowled, and the knife fell from her grasp, clattering across Clockwerk’s metal frame.



The parrot felt pressure against his chest as the feline bluntly kneed him. The impact involuntary broke his beak away and he found his body being forcibly shoved off. He hit the metal of the great wings roughly and slid down them, all the while flapping his own pointless appendages in some vain attempt to catch himself. He hit the floor.

    “I’m finished with you. With all of you!” Neyla screeched before turning towards Clockwerk’s back and shoving herself into the open compartment. Blood dripped heavily across the clean silvery metal.

    “Neyla, don’t!” Sly yelled. He leaped into the air and landed on the metal owl’s head, but he was too slow; the capsule’s door slammed shut before he could get to her. He frantically began to try to dig for a way to pry the door open. “Arpeggio! How do I open it?”

But it was too late. The golden orbs of Clockwerk’s eyes began to glow even brighter and the roar of mechanical bits and pieces shuttered from within the metal structure. All at once, the robotic creature, a beast that was once nothing more than an elaborate sculpture, came alive and began to rise with a booming creak.

Jeremy, who had run to Arpeggio’s aid, quickly pulled him out from under Clockwerk’s massive wings. He held the frazzled smaller bird in his arms, the blood from the parrot’s beak dripping onto his singed vest. Arpeggio watched as the metal contraption he had spent so long rebuilding stand up on its two heavy legs.

The metal structure swayed as its new user began to take its first steps. It staggered backwards, the chords that remained attached to its wings stretching, pulling pieces of metal structure along with it. Cooper, who had remained on its back in a desperate attempt to free Neyla, clung on for dear life.

    “N-Neyla!” Arpeggio called out, his voice filled with terror. “Y-You… You can’t--!”

    “I CAN,” a great voice pierced through the hollow airship. It was Neyla’s, but only barely. Her voice had converted into a startling mechanical monstrosity. “YOU COULDN’T HANDLE THIS POWER. I CAN. AND I’LL SHOW YOU.”

The great owl stood up and waved her massive, powerful wings. The wires that had constricted her snapped and the entire airship shook. One of the large magnetic inducers that had slowly been revolving around the room stalled and broke off its base. When the second inducer came around, the impact forced it to fall directly over the platform.

Jeremy tossed himself and Arpeggio off to the side, both missing the inducer by mere inches. Arpeggio landed a short distance from Craig, who began to fire his weapon at the towering monstrosity. The shots did little damage to the owl, but it still threw off the inoculated Neyla and she began to tumble backwards. Sly took the chance and leapt off her, landing with precision on the platform.

His brown eyes widened as he peered upward. “This is… not good.”

    “IMBECILES!” Neyla screeched. “I’LL KILL ALL OF YOU!” Her golden eyes focused in on Arpeggio. He knew it. He could feel it.

Arpeggio’s heart nearly stopped. He looked for his aracari assistant in a panic. When he found him, he realized he had slipped off the platform in his haste, his small frame now struggling to climb back up. He released a terrified warning squawk at his friend.

Neyla ignored the shots that were being fired at her. Her sharp talons swooped down straight for her former master. Arpeggio felt himself being tossed with the firm whack of a cane just as the metal claws came slicing down over him. The parrot peered up with his large blue eyes to see Sly Cooper roll past him, regaining his footing in a flash. He manually hauled the aristocrat up by his collar. “I know you can’t fly, but you might wanna try running.”

    “Where? We’re on a bloody ship in the middle of the god-damn sky!”

Again, the claws came down on them and, again, Cooper saved him from sudden peril. A talon came sickeningly close, severing his dangling monocle and sending its cracked form rolling across the floor. It fell to its doom off the platform.

    “I promised someone I wouldn’t let you get hurt,” the raccoon said, breath hasty. “So, the least you can do is try to help me out!”

Arpeggio did not understand, but he had no time to think it through. He regained himself and ran as fast as he could up the damaged ramp to his office. Neyla tried to tear after him but she was interrupted by a hard thwack with Sly’s cane against her metallic face. A chunk of metal plating fell off, exposing a set of wires underneath. She did not care, if she noticed at all.

    “WAIT YOUR TURN, COOPER,” her robotic voice trembled.

    “There’s no use, Neyla! Did you ever wonder how I got on the ship? It was through the northern light battery. We drained it in order to sneak on board. The plan is foiled! You’ll never gain immortality now! Leave Clockwerk’s frame while you still can!”

    “I DON’T NEED THE PLAN,” Neyla’s mechanical voice came out angrier than before. “I HAVE THE POWER NOW. THIS BODY IS ENOUGH. I’LL FIND A WAY. I ALWAYS FIND A WAY!”

With no further prompting, the giant owl forced herself through the glass windows that separated the rest of the room from Arpeggio’s office. The parrot stumbled and fell as the shards of glass and metal rained down above him. He could not believe this was happening. Trapped. Death was awaiting him, he felt it in his gut. He briefly peered out the great convex windows in front of him, spotting his fortress airship roaring across the sky. His life’s work. His dream.

He was a coward. A pathetic, useless coward. Was he really going to let it end this way? To not put up a fight? He got to his feet and heaved in air and invisible courage. He stood up to face his protégé in her new, robotic form. “Neyla, please! Think about what you’re doing!”

    “I HAVE BEEN THINKING. DID YOU USED TO BELIEVE ONLY YOU DID THAT? THAT I WAS YOUR THOUGHTLESS SLAVE? I DON’T NEED YOU ANYMORE."

    “N-Neyla, please! I-I’m sorry f-for everything.”

    “I’M NOT,” her eyes—no, Clockwerk’s eyes—stared down at her with an unearthly quality. It was then that Arpeggio realized it was not his protégé he was speaking with any longer. He had been right all along. The frame was too much for any mortal to comprehend. Neyla was gone.

And soon, he would be too.

    “GOODBYE, ARPEGGIO.”



The parrot tried in a final desperate move to jump out of the way, to fly; but there was no point. There was pain, unfathomable pain, that struck him then. He wailed in anguish and fell to the floor. He felt metal press against him as the owl’s massive beak came down. There was a crunch. A pop. A searing, ungodly pain.

His vision vanished into darkness and all he could hear was a muffled cacophony of destruction. He thought he heard more glass shattering, more metal bending, Cooper yelling something indecipherable. The sound of a robotic owl’s screech faded into the distance. He briefly felt the floor shake violently, but his senses had begun to leave him then. Someone was touching him, he thought. At least he would not die alone. That was something, right?

His mind faded faster until nothing remained but a single thought.

    Are you happy? 

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 46

Linda remembered it vividly.

It was a quiet night. Her people had nearly completed their cleanup with the help of Arpeggio’s remaining men. She had been saddened to see the building her parrot friend had spent all his time in be demolished. She was accustomed to the act of tearing down things that she knew from the start were only temporary, but somehow, it still hurt her.

She had settled down in her nest, warming herself in her pink hoodie, her mind wandering and preventing her from sleeping. She chose to stay up and listen to Earth music on her scarred-up MP3 player. The music contraption was weird to her, but she loved it all the same. She could not read any of the titles or artists that scoured over the small screen, but it was not like it mattered to her. A sad, solemn song began to play into her ears.

Everything went horribly wrong then.

Kacey came rushing in, her eyes wide with panic. “Linda! Linda! Look at this livestream I just found!”

The small kurri leapt into her lap with a startled sense of fear that the rozenich had not seen since the big storm. She shoved her tablet into her guardian’s face, her small hands shaking. Frightened herself at the child’s behavior, Linda peered down at it.

She could not make heads or tails of it at first. The footage was dark and the person holding the camera was frantically rushing somewhere as they filmed. Every now and again they would attempt to focus the camera on something in the sky. She could not make out what it was, and she was oddly afraid to turn on the volume. There was text on the bottom of the screen from what looked like other users commenting about what they saw. Linda could not read any of it.

    “What’re they saying?” she asked quietly.

    “Th-They dunno what it is,” she said, voice quivering. “They say it’s a UFO.”

    “A… a UFO?”

    “A-A big ship.”

She began to realize why the girl was so frightened.

The live feed blacked out for a second before regaining itself from the perspective on top of a roof. The camera person zoomed into the object in the sky. It was still difficult to spot with the darkness of night engulfing everything. The only source of light was the moon and a tall, glowing, pointed building in the distance.

Linda’s stomach dropped when the silhouette suddenly became familiar to her. It was Arpeggio’s airship. The very ship her people had worked on endlessly the last year.  However, that was not what scared her. It was moving erratically and much too fast for its size.

Something was wrong. Something was very very wrong.

An explosion occurred then, right before their eyes. A bright orange ball erupted from the main propeller system on the ship’s underside. The camera shook momentarily, and the chat flooded with comments she could not decipher.

The ship was crashing.

Kacey curled up in her lap, her eyes wide with terror. Linda stared blankly, emptily.

They watched the feed helplessly as they witnessed chunks of the ship break apart into pieces and fall to the earth. It was not real. It couldn’t be real. Her people were amazing at their work, they would never build something faulty. While she did not know the full extent of Arpeggio’s other flying contraptions in the past, she could not fathom he would have messed up so badly.

No, this was no error in construction. This was something else.

Chunks of the airship crashed down into a body of water a short distance from where the camera person was positioned. Many of them were on fire. A large piece of what Linda recognized as an engine flung into the city, tearing through a corner of a building. As more and more pieces reigned down, the more frantic people within view became.

And the more numb Linda began to feel.

Something else caught the camera person’s attention. A different object, one with its own locomotion, soared across the darkness of the sky. It was impossible to tell what it was until it passed the bright white orb of the moon.

A bird. A massive beast of a bird.

It, too, was crashing down alongside the pieces. It was burning and falling apart no differently than the airship. A small aircraft, a helicopter she thought it was called, flew past in the distance.

Something happened in the city. A power grid must have been damaged by debris as the entire area fell into utter darkness almost instantaneously. The livestream ended shortly after.

It took the woman a long time to set down the tablet. It took even longer for her to register the child in her lap was crying. She stroked her softly with her pink hands, comforting her as she wept. She was undoubtedly thinking the same exact thing: where were their friends on board that ship?

    “Linda!” the frantic words from Harlie burst into the small room, his own tablet alit. His feathers were nervously expanded, revealing beautiful orange colorations underneath. He noticed immediately that the two females had already discovered the news and he calmly ventured in to sit beside them. He looked down sadly at the crying child, but he knew no words to ease her pain.

    “Who knows about this?” he asked, tone quiet and stressed.

    “N-No one,” Linda muttered, not taking her eyes off the blank screen. “Kacey ran straight to me.”

    “The kurri don’t know either,” he said, breath heavy. “Don’t let anyone here know. We need to keep people calm. Our supervisors will find out soon enough and let Arpeggio’s men know. We’ll keep it secret from the rest of us. They wouldn’t understand.”

They wouldn’t understand? She did not understand. The metal owl, the ship, the destruction… Where was Arpeggio? Was he the one in that metal beast? Where was Jeremy? Neyla? The others?

She could not cry. She was too shocked to cry. All the woman could do was gently console the little alien girl that nuzzled her wet face into her clothing. Harlie put an arm around his partner’s shoulder and rested his beak against her cheek.

    “I’m sorry, Linda.”

~ *  ~

Things had been quiet the following few days. The kurri had found out what had happened the next morning and they had informed the toucan armada that night. The band of avians had no time to question it or grieve. Linda did not precisely know why, but each and every one of them abandoned the site before the sun rose the following morning. There was barely any time to say final goodbyes.

The rozenich stayed put. They never grasped why the birds had left so suddenly, nor had most of them really questioned it. The creatures merely adapted to the change of setting once again and went about their daily social life.

Linda, however, could not gather the strength.

The paper trail of the ship’s construction led the authorities to them not long after. There was no raid, no confrontation, no swarms of police or trucks. There was only a single van with a handful of crew members. They came peacefully and respectably. Linda was told they were from a group called INTERPOL.

An orange-furred fox with curly blue hair came to speak with Linda. She introduced herself as Inspector Carmelita Montoya Fox. She said she had been informed that the albino was the closest to the mastermind of it all: Arpeggio.

    “Yeah,” Linda told her, voice saddened. “Pedgy was my friend.”

The fox, who seemed particularly exhausted herself, spoke with a thick Spanish accent. “Did he ever tell you anything about the airship?”

The rozenich shook her head. “No, he never told me what he planned on using it for. I tried to get him to tell me, but he acted like he didn’t want to. Like it was too complicated or… maybe he was trying to protect me.”

Linda’s eyes trailed over to a large bird who came walking up to the furry woman. She was a predatory bird with sharp talons and a pointed beak not unlike her own. Gray and white feathers covered a body identical in its feral-like form as her former parrot friend. A little blue ascot was nestled around the feathers of her neck, just above her police attire. She handed the inspector an old-fashion notepad and pencil with a wing-like hand. “Here you are, Ms. Fox.”

    “Yes, thank you,” Carmelita said, tiredly.

The bird eyed the rozenich with confusion when she realized she was being stared at. She nervously stared in return, though only briefly, before turning her back to them both. She spread her large barred wings and took to the sky in a few sudden, powerful beats. Linda’s gaze followed her into the distance. Is that what Arpeggio had always wanted? To fly so gracefully? To soar? How different would he have been if he had been able to fly like that? It made her stomach ache, and she had to look away.

    “What about… some special parts he had? Metal parts that looked like a bird,” Inspector Fox continued.

Linda refocused herself and chose her words carefully. “I never got to see them in person, but I knew they were there. I mostly saw drawings of them he had done.”

    “Did he tell you what he planned on doing with them?”

    “He wouldn’t tell me clearly,” she said. “I thought they were being used to help his work. He didn’t tell me they belonged to an actual person until the night before he left. Even then he wasn’t very detailed on it. It didn’t matter, anyway, he didn’t have all the parts then. He only had a handful. What could he possibly do with that, you know?”

She supposed that was not a complete lie. There was a decision on her part to keep the vague concept of immortality to herself unless otherwise asked.

The fox never did.

Rather than wait for another series of questions, Linda sat up and questioned the investigator instead. “Are we in trouble?”

The vixen eyed her with confusion. “No, of course not. We hadn’t yet uncovered Arpeggio’s criminal history to become suspicious of him before this week’s incident. He had taken out every required permit needed to get his ship built. He paid all the fees and everything, including being your group’s official sponsor. The only thing he broke the law on as far as we know is he didn’t gain permission to fly across the ocean. But that’s not you or your people’s doing.”

There was relief and Linda audibly let out a shaky breath. The next question the rozenich asked filled her with distress. “Have you… found his body yet?”

    “No,” she said simply. There was something in her expression the rozenich could feel but not read. It was as if she knew the truth in some equivocal sense. Had she known and was forced to keep it secret? Was she bluffing?



It was then that Linda made a realization. The fox… she was familiar. In her grief, she did not register it: this was the same fox that had danced with the raccoon at the tiger’s ball. Sly, that was his name, right? He had known about Arpeggio. Did that mean this vixen did too? She chose to keep it quiet. Clearly, the fox did not recognize her.

    “Thank you for your time, Ms. Givington,” Carmelita said as she closed her notepad and stowed it away in a pocket of her coat. “I’m… sorry you had to go through all this. You have my condolences.”

Linda did not understand what the words meant, but it saddened her all the same. She watched as the police officers ventured back across the lot and eventually disappeared altogether in their van.

The rozenich never saw them again.

~ * ~

Linda spent the next evening at the lake, alone. As much as she wished she could comfort Kacey as she tried to make sense of the situation, she could not bear it much longer. She felt… guilty. It was devouring her from the inside out. 

Had she done enough? Could she have stopped Arpeggio if she had tried harder? She regretted not just holding him down and forcing him to stay. She regretted not telling someone that she was suspicious of his intentions. How could she be so stupid? She had not wanted the bird to get in trouble, and she knew no one would have believed her but… it was no excuse. She should have said something.

There was a thought that, perhaps, if she had went and told someone about what she had heard through the door when she was eavesdropping on the so-called Klaww Gang all those months ago, that none of this would have happened. Arpeggio would still be alive. Jeremy would still be alive. The toucans that had escaped the airship’s crash would not be in jail. No one would have such heartbreak.

But she knew better. If she had told someone so early on, nothing would have unfolded as it had. Arpeggio would not have grown to trust them, and they never would have formed the bonds that they all had together. Not even Jeremy would have become so close. That was never something she regretted. But if it meant they would be alive… would it have been worth it? Would things even be different if she had begged him to take her with him or would she, too, be a victim of cruel intentions? She supposed she would never know, and that only made her heart ache more.

She felt selfish. She should not have exploded at the bird on the traveling airship about his lack of happiness. It was not as if she was responsible for creating it for him. Harlie had always told her to stop prying in other’s business, to stop trying to help everyone she saw that needed it. She wished she had listened to him.

The rozenich felt tears welling up in her blue eyes but she forced them away. She could not be emotional, not now. She needed to be strong for her people and for Kacey. She needed to show Harlie she had not been manipulated by being too caring. There would be time to grieve later when things were not so imperative.

But she couldn’t. She could not stop the tears.

The cold water of the lake lapped against her clawed toes. She shivered, and she began to realize something. It did not matter if she was on her home world or on Earth, life was cruel regardless, and she needed to accept that. No matter how much it hurt.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 47

 

He was cold. Wet.

He could hardly breath.

Memories were shaky and in dissociated chunks. He remembered smelling fire, though he could not feel the heat. There was a lot of noise that kept wavering in and out as he tried to stay conscious. Was he trying? Did he want to? No. He was being forced to stay conscious. He could remember being shaken and hit. Someone kept grabbing his head and lifting it.

Who was it? What were they trying to do?

His body was being shoved against someone else. He remembered feeling a heartbeat. Movement was restricted. Alarms were sounding. Loud, blaring alarms. Sometimes he could hear them clearly as if they were right above his head, other times they were distant. Sometimes there were no sounds at all.

The rush of cool night air blasted through his feathers at one point. It did not feel right. Nothing really felt right.

There was only a single thing he ever saw, and it was difficult to make out. His vision was blurry: it was his bad eye. It was the massive airship, sprawled across the sky: he knew it well enough to know this, even through the blurry mess. He felt the most conscious at that point. It was the ship, that was sure enough, but… from a different angle. He was seeing it from below.

Was he dreaming all this? Was he still back at the worksite seeing it take-off for the first time? Could he not feel anything because he was in Clockwerk’s frame? Had Neyla never done what she did, and his mind manifested it all?

Arpeggio did not know.

He took in the sight of his ship growing further and further away until he blacked out again. For how long, he did not know. When he came to, he was suddenly engulfed in freezing water. Instinctively, he began to kick and flap his wings. The memories were not clear, but he knew it was water as the salty taste filled his tongue. He couldn’t breathe, he struggled to move, he could not control his body. There was a great pain.

He remembered the lake. Swimming. Failing. Trying again. Was it ever even successful? Was it even worth the trouble?

No. Clearly not.

He was drowning. Just like Icarus.

~ *  ~

There were several times that he could remember awakening for the briefest of moments. There was water, kicking, screaming. Many times he could not breath. Then, there was no water at all. He was dry and he was being moved. There were muffled voices he could not make out.

Darkness. A lot of darkness.

People were touching him. He didn’t know why, and his mind was not yet cooperating for him to fight back or detest it. There was one point where he thought he had an out-of-body experience. Maybe he imagined it or maybe he had died and his spirit had risen above them into the night air. He never found out the truth.

He could see himself, his small body, wrapped up in a tight piece of cloth. At least, he believed it was himself. It was difficult to make out much of anything. There were red stains everywhere. He was being carried by a larger man with a big bill. A toucan? Maybe.

There were others there, following close behind. One man needed help walking. They were on a ship, he thought. A giant boat. Or was it small? He could see the waves of the ocean lapping against the steel. There was no land in sight.

That was all he remembered.

~ *  ~

    “Arpeggio?” came a hollow voice. It sounded like it had been spoken into a large, empty bottle.

    “Arpeggio, can you hear me?” It was a little clearer that time.

He was being prodded and shaken. He opened an eye. Everything was blurry. Horrifically blurry. He waited for it to clear up, but it never did. His bad eye. Where was his monocle? For God’s sake, did they expect him to see anything without it? He tried to open his other eye but there was a pressure there.

    “Say something if you can.”

The parrot tried, but all that came out was a garbled, feral sound.

    “That’s it, you’re doing good,” the voice said. It was female with a distinct British accent like his own. “Are you in any pain?”

Arpeggio was not sure. He did not feel any pain. But there was something… something very wrong.

    “W-What?” he managed to mutter. It was weak and gravely and he almost did not recognize it as his own voice.

    “Pain. Are you in any sort of pain?”

    “No.”

    “Good. Arpeggio, listen. Do you know who I am?”

He blinked. The vision was still a blur. The only thing he could make out was a slender brown and white figure. There was someone else standing in the background who was a jumble of colors.

    “No,” he finally replied.

    “It’s Phyllis.”

He squinted. Yes, he could see it now. The brown was her scales and the white was her doctor’s coat. He made out no details, not even that of her yellow eyes. Her voice made sense to him then, but that was about all that made sense.

He tried to lift his head and gather his bearings, but he was too weak. The bird registered he was resting on his belly, one leg under his small form and the other sticking out to his right. He tried to move it but found himself unable. There was a tight bandage around his midsection and he was unable to shift either of his wings.

    “W-what?” he said again. He could not form a coherent sentence.

    “A lot has happened, Arpeggio. A lot. You’re very hurt.”

    “Why?”

    “It’s not important right now,” she said. “You’re on a lot of medication for your pain, and I need you to be very careful not to move much.”

    “C-Can’t…”

A comforting touch was placed on his head. He could hear the woman’s mechanical joints shifting. “I know, dear. But you need to be careful. If you feel any pain at all, I want you to let us know.”

Why was he in pain? How bad was it? Where were they? All were questions that passed through his foggy mind, but none of them tried to come out.

    “Arpeggio. I need to be very grave with you right now,” her voice suddenly became one of pity. It did not frighten him, but he did feel vaguely uneasy. “You may not survive this.”

He understood the words, but he felt nothing. Maybe it was the drugs or maybe it was his confusion. He blinked.

    “If… if you die. Would you want your family contacted? I can do that for you. You know I will.”

His… family? What would they care? He had not seen them in over a decade. He would have laughed if he had the ability. As far as he was concerned, he had no family.

    “No,” he muttered, voice tired and scratchy.

    “Are you sure?” she said.

    “Yes.”

There was a bit of quiet before she replied. “Would you like me to do anything else?”                                                                                                   

Anything else? What was left? His protégé had betrayed him. His life’s work was stripped away. What did he have left? Money? A mansion? A bunch of items that would be auctioned off after his demise? He did not care whether he died or not. There was nothing left for him.

    “No,” he said flatly. “Nothing.”

    “Alright,” she said, sadness lingering in her tone.

He could see her moving but he did not make out what she was doing. “I’m going to give you a sedative. You’re going to fall asleep, okay? Don’t worry. Mr. Flinn and I are here.”

His eyelid began to grow heavy. His mind was floating away from him. Soon all he saw was black and his mind entirely shut off.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 48

WARNING for suicidal content. Be wary reading further if that bothers you!

It was worse. So much worse than he expected.

The parrot stared into the dirty, stained mirror before him. His vision was clear then, but only because of the pair of glasses Jeremy had managed to scrounge up for him. They were not nearly a strong enough prescription, but they were better than seeing blurs. He’d have to get used to that.

It was gone. His eye. His good eye. That was what struck him first. He stared at his reflection, focused in on the heavy scar that scored into the right side of his face. The pink, bumpy flesh was visible where his feathers had fallen out, and the wounds he had received were stitched up and swollen. His eye was also sewn shut, emptiness lingering beneath it. Darkness.

He did not know how long he stared at his face, examining the deep grooves and chips in his beak. The scar from his eye ran down to part of his neck where his thick, fluffy plumage only barely attempted to conceal it. It was almost as if he had been plucking again. He wished that were true.

Ugly. Hideous. Appalling.

Eventually, his eye trailed down to his right leg. It was heavily bandaged still. He could tell, though, that it was not right. His front two toes were gone, and only a small portion of one of the hind ones remained. His longest hind toe appeared unscathed, but that did little to comfort him. How was he going to live like this? He was a perching bird. If he could not perch, how could he even function? His feet were not just feet, they were his hands. They were required. His wings were not dexterous or strong enough to be of much use. They couldn’t even hold a pen.

Not that it would have mattered, anyway. His right wing was… it was not correct either. He did not know what was wrong with it, and Phyllis said she could not appropriately diagnose him. He could feel it, he could partially move it, but it was painful, and it was weak. Any time he tried to so much as raise it, he could not lift it much higher than the floor. Any higher and the shooting pain became crippling. It was unusable. He kept it folded up and fastened to his side with a wrap.

Arpeggio had always felt pathetic. He had always hated himself and his body. Now… now he did not think hate was a strong enough word. He was beyond useless. He could hardly see, he could hardly move. The doctor said it was by sheer luck—maybe even a miracle—that he had survived with only these damages left behind, as if he was blessed. It was one thing that his vital organs had sustained minimal amounts of damage, it was another that he did not entirely bleed out by the time they had found help.

    “Things will improve,” Phyllis told him, “but it is going to be very hard. You need physical therapy, but I’m not specialized in that. I… I don’t even know if I will be able to keep your pain medication coming for much longer. We need to get you additional help.”

The bird sighed. “It would be best if I just—”

    “Don’t say things like that,” Phyllis spoke sternly. She grabbed at the mirror before him and set it on the table, face-down. “Don’t you dare. The fact so many people have tried to keep you alive should tell you plenty about the situation.”

Arpeggio scoffed as he rested on a weathered cushion in the dark corner. “You and Jeremy care, perhaps, but my men? They did not do it because they cared, they did it because they felt it was their responsibility. Maybe because they were acquainted with Jeremy and they were doing it because they knew he wanted it, like with Craig, but nothing more. Two and a half people is hardly a number worthy of mentioning.”

The snake gave out a long, pained breath. “I’m not going to argue this with you again, Arpeggio. Just… please, don’t give up this soon.”

Arpeggio did not reply to her. His gaze fell to the decrepit wooden floor. His head twitched slightly.

The doctor left the room. It was quiet, and the parrot hated it. He used to appreciate the silence when he had work to do or simply wanted to relax. The quiet now only brought him time to think about things, and thinking about his current state did not bring him positive feelings.

He rested his head and fell asleep swiftly, hiding away from the world around him.

~ * ~

    “Think he blew ‘er up,” Craig said.

    “You… you think?” Arpeggio asked irritably and weakly. “I don’t want you to think I want you to know!”

The blue-faced toucan sent him a hard glare. Phyllis piped up before he could retort, her voice calm. “You saw the footage, Arpeggio. There’s no way she could have survived that.”

The footage. The parrot gave a tired huff to mask the emotions stirring within him. His airship. The visuals replayed in his mind as fresh as if he were looking at them in that moment. The fiery debris raining from the sky. The destruction that resulted around the city of Paris. The news anchors reading off their scripts and teleprompters as they stood before the wreckage, expressions excited over the thrill of the latest hot topic.

His work. His investments. His dream. Destroyed in a single night. There was no word to describe the anguish that surged through him. He wanted it to be a dream, for everything to be nothing more than a nightmare he would awaken from.

    “Why did no one find the remains, then?” he finally asked, voice still lined with impatience. “A giant metal bird can’t just disappear. If Cooper truly did obliterate her, why is there no evidence? They sure as hell documented everything else.”

Craig shrugged. “Maybe a cover-up.”

    “A cover-up? Are you bloody mad?”

    “You did say that INTERPOL woman knew Mr. Cooper,” Phyllis mentioned as she continued tending to Arpeggio’s wounds, “It… it wouldn’t be crazy to think she attempted to hide it. At least… hid the information from the public. I don’t know how well they would take to hearing about… about all the details. I know I still haven’t come to terms with it.”

There was a brief flash of guilt in Arpeggio’s gaze. He knew how much the woman had not wanted to know of Arpeggio’s illegal activities. There had been hopes she would never have to, but things did not follow the course any of them had counted on, and there was nothing they could do about it now. He shook his head. His worries were replaced with a new topic as he addressed the burly toucan again. “Can you at least tell me what happened to the safe in my office?”

“Bottom of the Atlantic,” Craig said matter-of-factually.

Arpeggio pulled in a breath. The idea of it unsettled him. Would that be the final resting place or the great, powerful brain, then? Would INTERPOL discover it in the wreckage and withhold it as evidence? Whose hands would it fall into next? He was a fool to have brought it on board at all. As much as it hurt him, he desperately prayed Neyla truly had been killed, if only to prevent that brain from ever being reunited with the frame. His stomach ached.

    “INTERPOL is looking for everyone involved, you know,” Phyllis’s voice filled the silence. The two men looked at her as she finished reapplying the bandages to the small bird. “They contacted me this morning before I came this way.”

    “What did you tell them?” Arpeggio asked, voice weakened again.

She sighed. “I just responded to their questions as truthfully as I could. They seemed disappointed in my answers. I… I think they’re going to interview me again soon.”

    “You should stop coming here,” Arpeggio told her. “They’ll get suspicious. I don’t want you getting caught. You… you don’t deserve to be punished for this.”

She finished up and put her equipment back into her bag. “I know I should stop, but I’m worried for you. Arpeggio, you need to get help. Your risk of infection is still high, and living in a place like this…”

Her brown scaly face turned to examine the room around her. The abandoned apartment was nothing short of decrepit. There were leaks, there were cobwebs, there was hardly a single clean square foot in sight. They had managed to tidy it up only as much as they could, but it was impossible given their circumstances. Candles were littered about on the moldy floor.

The snake’s tongue flicked out as she contemplated. Eventually, she turned back to her parrot friend. “Prison might be better than this, if I were to be honest. At least there you’d get the medical help you’d need.”

Arpeggio laughed, deep and heartlessly. “Go to prison? Phyllis, you know now what I’ve done, what I’ve been a part of. If I go into that prison, I’ll never get out.”

    “That’s not true, Arpeggio. You don’t know—”

    “As far as I’m concerned, I have two options, neither of which involve prison and one of which is more likely than the other at the rate I’m going. I don’t much care what happens to me now, but I can sure as hell tell you that dying out here will be more dignifying that dying in there.”

Phyllis had no reply to this. Her gaze fell to the floor. She finished packing her bag and spoke to him only once more before heading towards the door. “Keep doing your exercises and make sure your bandages stay clean. I’ll be back in a few days.”

Arpeggio remained where he was, helplessly. “Yes… Thank you, Phyllis.”

Craig ventured to the door and opened it for the doctor as she departed. He continued following after her as the short form of Jeremy entered in their place, the door closing behind him. Arpeggio turned his head so he could see his former assistant with his remaining eye. The aracari was evidently tired, but he did not complain: not that complaining was something in the man’s nature. He carried with him a small, dirty laptop he had managed to scavenge some days earlier.

He signed something to his companion. Although Arpeggio did not comprehend the words, he knew from the many times he had asked it before what it meant.

    “I’m all right. As all right as I can be,” he replied blankly. “It’s no better but it’s no worse.”

Jeremy simply nodded in reply. He gestured a finger between himself and his friend.

    “No, I don’t need anything.”

He pointed hesitantly to the floor.

Arpeggio’s head lowered. “No, I don’t want to walk around. Not today.”

The small man set down the laptop and pointed at the parrot’s holstered wing.

Arpeggio sighed. “Maybe… just a little.”

Nodding in compliance, the short toucan ventured to his companion’s blind side. Carefully, he unhooked the makeshift sling around the parrot’s midsection. When it was loosened just enough, the avian’s right wing fell limply onto the pillow.

    “Let’s try not to push it too hard this time,” Arpeggio said.

Jeremy nodded before picking the wing up. The feathers on the appendage were a mess. Many of them were missing, damaged, or otherwise in need of well-deserved grooming that the bird could no longer do by himself. The bird’s opposable digits were in poor shape and dangled lifelessly. They only jolted alive when Jeremy began to extend the arm outward.

    “AHH!” Arpeggio whimpered.

Jeremy paused for a moment before trying again. Once more a sharp pain flooded across the bird’s body. Hundreds of tiny tendrils of pain struck violently through his body. He tried to retract the limb, but it merely remained there, attached to him but not listening.

    “Stop! Stop!” he yelped, and his companion immediately released his grip. Arpeggio tried to pull the dragging wing back into his body, but his attempts only brought him frustration as the limb refused to do anything other than hover above the ground.

    “Why did you do this to me?!” The small avian’s voice raised exponentially. Jeremy stood back, confused. “Y-You… you should have just let that damn traitor kill me! Why did you bother keeping me around? Does it please you to take care of an invalid? Do you need that to bring your life meaning?”

Jeremy looked away from him, hurt in his gaze.



    “I… I can’t do anything! What life is this for me? What life is this for anyone?!” Arpeggio tried to stand but he wobbled on his stump of a foot. His wing hung in place, inoperable. “You should have let me join with that god-damn metal machine. I’d have gone mad and maybe been annihilated the same way, but at least I’d have some semblance of functionality before my demise!”

He stumbled over the pillow that he made his bed and Jeremy was forced to catch him before he tumbled completely off the table. Arpeggio angrily squawked at him and bit his curved beak down on Jeremy’s colorful bill. The aracari withstood the action until the parrot got it out of his system. Too weak to inflict much damage, Arpeggio let go and breathed heavily.

    “What’s even the point?” he finally said as his counterpart assisted him in settling back down. Jeremy wrapped his friend’s wing back up in its holder.

When the parrot had cooled down and he felt it safe enough to step away, Jeremy grabbed his worn laptop and opened the screen. He sat down in a dirty plastic chair in front of Arpeggio and began to type words into a document in large, blocky letters.

    WE NEED TO LEAVE

    “Leave?” Arpeggio huffed. “And go where, exactly?”

    I DONT KNOW

    Of course you don’t, the parrot thought. Jeremy was an intelligent man, he knew this, but Jeremy was not a leader. He relied on others to tell him what to do and where to go. In a way, he was as dependent on him as he now was for the aracari. “There’s nowhere to go. And even if we did, INTERPOL would find us eventually. Even if they did not recognize me at first under all this… mess, they could easily put two and two together. Them thinking I’m dead may be my only hope, but it can’t last forever.”

    WHAT ABOUT THE BACKUP PLAN

    “The plan won’t work. It did not account for the erroneous disaster that this turned out to be. We can gather the money and maybe find a way out of this hellhole, but the remainder is no longer valid. As far as I’m concerned, we are stranded here indefinitely.”

Jeremy spent a long time in thought after that. The blinking bar in the word document taunted them both. Eventually, he typed up a new sentence with slow hesitation.

    WHAT ABOUT THE ROZENICH

    “The… what?” Arpeggio questioned, almost shocked. He had not heard the name mentioned since they had left the worksite. His heart beat fast in his chest. “The kurri and them could not, would not, do anything for us. Not after what happened. And… we know Linda couldn’t do anything either. She can’t leave the others, even if she wanted to.”

    MAYBE SHE COULD HELP

    “Help do what? Hide us and get in trouble for harboring a fugitive?”

    THE LAW WORKS DIFFERENT WITH THEM

    “Yes, yes, I know it does. But it doesn’t mean…” he sighed. “Listen. They’re better off without us. Besides we… we don’t know where they even are right now. They could be back in the States or in Australia for all we know.”

Arpeggio grumbled something under his breath and tried once again to stand. Using his remaining good wing for balance, he crawled back onto his sunken-in pillow. “I’m going to sleep. I’ve had enough of today.”

Jeremy did not try to persuade him to do anything else. He merely stared at the white screen before him. Just before Arpeggio turned his head away, he watched as his companion pulled up an old draft of a document. He could not read the small text from his position, but he did notice an address in the top corner. What did that matter? It was not as if they had access to internet to send anything. And even if he did, what did Arpeggio care?

He nestled into the stale-smelling pillow. He had made many mistakes and he did not know how many more he could tolerate before he broke. He was alive, but at what cost?

His single blue eye fell onto an object hung from a nail in the wall directly beside him. He stretched out his wounded leg and tapped the dangling trinket with his remaining toe. The glass orb of the gifted monocle Kacey had given him swayed back and forth, lulling him into drowsiness.

The only thing the rozenich and child could do for him now was take him back to their planet and out of the miserable world he lived in.

He took his glasses off and pressed his aching face into the bed. Was any of this a second chance? A sign? Something more meaningful that the empty abyss it felt like?

He did not know. He did not know much of anything anymore.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 49

For the first time, the rozenich experienced snow. It was soft and fluffy, quite unlike the heavy and damp substance Linda had experienced when she had traveled with Arpeggio to meet his bison friend. The snow gently fell from the heavens before piling, only lightly, on the earth below. The rozenich nipped at the pieces as they drifted down, ignoring the chills that ran through their feathers. Some remained indoors, too confused or uncertain about the strange phenomenon to take part. The kurri did what they always enjoyed doing best: watching the alien creatures with inquisitive notions even if, they too, could not help staring up in wonderment.

Linda wished they could experience what snow was like to its fullest. While she had not necessarily enjoyed it, it was an experience she would never forget. If only she had been able to enjoy it longer than she had, and on better terms.

The female sat on a tree branch overlooking the landscape, her body growing used to wearing the various hoodies and coats to keep her warm. The new lot the group had moved to was not nearly as pleasant as the prior worksite, but they could not complain: at least the trees in the forest were bigger. It was temporary, at any rate, until the group could move on to their next project.

    “What do you think we’ll do next?” Linda questioned as the thought entered her mind.

Kacey, who was resting on the large tree’s roots, looked up from her digital screen, her own body wrapped in a thick coat. “I heard someone talking about working with NASA.”

    “Again?” the woman huffed. “I thought the kurri decided against that after what happened last time?”

    “Yeah, that’s what I thought, too. I hope we don’t cause if we do, I bet it’ll be real stupid. It’s like working with a bunch of babies! I mean, even I know the basic functions of interstellar travel, and they wanna call themselves so smart? Ugh!”

The woman gave a little smile. It had been four months since the night of the crash, and while their hearts still ached, things were starting to fall back into normality. In truth, she did not know what to make of that. How could anyone forget what had happened and move on so swiftly? She knew her people could care less what went on, but the kurri? How could they forget? How could Kacey? How could Harlie?

    I guess I really did get too close, she exhaled, her breath forming a cloud before her face. She pushed the thought aside. 

The woman had found herself just beginning to doze off in the chilly afternoon weather when the girl below her began to furiously tap on the tablet screen. The albino peered down to see her reading and rereading some sort of message. Her heavy ears were raised up and fidgeting anxiously.

    “Linda!” she suddenly popped her head upward, orange eyes wide. “You’re not gonna believe what I just found in my Spam box!”

~ *  ~

The rozenich was completely and utterly speechless. Her hands were shaking as she held Kacey’s tablet screen in her hands, her blue eyes scanning over the words before her. The tiny letters made no sense to her, and she desperately wished they did.

    “I can’t believe this,” came the anger-lined voice of Harlie. He paced around in the doorway of his partner’s living quarters. It was a small room, just big enough for her nest and not much else, but it was filled around the corners with all sorts of random colorful treasures and miscellaneous items. The male continued, "How is this even possible?" 

Kacey was nervously fiddling with a corner of Linda’s cloth-woven nest. “I gave Jeremy my e-mail before they left. He musta managed to keep it or memorize it or somethin’!”

    “How do we even know it’s really them?” Harlie questioned.

    “Who else would it be?” Kacey said, annoyed.

    “I don’t know, the police, maybe?” he responded, the anger spiking in his voice again. “This could be some kind of trick for all we know!”

Linda finally spoke up, her voice unusually quiet. She set down the screen in her lap and did not look up at her friend. “I don’t think it can be. When that inspector spoke with me, she made it sound like they hadn’t survived. Like she knew somehow. So that has to mean everyone else thinks they're gone too. Why would they try to trick us by pretending to be a dead man?”

    “To get more out of you. To play with your emotions. If they’re desperate enough, they’ll do anything.”

Kacey shook her head, her heavy ears flopping from side to side. “It can’t be. It has to be Jeremy who sent the e-mail! He writes things in a real specific way that I remember. It’s gotta be him!”

Harlie frowned and scratched at his head. “It just… it can’t be. I mean I... I know they never... you know... Found them. But how could they have survived the crash?"

    "I dunno! Pedgy was smart, maybe he found a way. Invented somethin'. Anything's possible!"

    "Well, did this 'Jeremy' send any other messages?”

    “No, just the one.”

The white rozenich turned to the girl and handed her back her tablet. “Read it to me again. Please?”

The kurri gave a quick little nod. She cleared her throat before reading off the message on the glowing screen. “Hi. This is Jeremy. I know this is very sudden. And I probably shouldn’t be sending you this message at all, but I couldn’t wait any longer. I know by now you probably heard about what happened. I know it’s really hard to explain. I wanted to say how sorry I am for not telling you more. I wasn’t allowed to. You probably know that.”

Linda listened in closely, her small ears flicking and twisting to pull in every word. Harlie continued to stand in the doorway, the expression on his face never changing from the staunch look of disbelief. The child continued. “I’m doing well. Craig too. We were very lucky. I can’t say the same for our friend: he’s been hurt very badly. The doctor said he’ll be okay though. It’s going to be a long road but we are here for him. I can’t go into detail. I shouldn’t be sending this message at all. I couldn’t go on not letting you know we were okay. Please delete this e-mail after it’s been read. You understand. Take care.”

    “He didn’t say it was Arpeggio,” Harlie spoke up as soon as she was through. “How do we know he was referring to him? How do we know it’s not someone else? I mean, you knew other guards, right?”

    “Don’t be dumb, you know why he said that!” the little kurri responded, a starkness to her tone. “He wants the message deleted so that no one can find it later. No one like the police. They wouldn’t care about him or Craig or anybody else! So it wouldn’t matter if he said their names. But Pedgy is a totally different story!”

    “That just makes it all the more suspicious! I mean, come on, would Jeremy really be that stupid, sending this message out in the first place with everything going on?”

    “They closed the investigation last month, I read about it!”

    “One month isn’t long enough to be blowing cover like this if they really are alive and, presumably, hiding out somewhere. It’s ridiculous!”

    “You’re being ridiculous!”

    “Guys, shut up!” Linda’s sharp voice suddenly rose above the two. Startled, they both looked at her, eyes wide. A displeased snarl perked at the corners of her mouth and she gestured her arm out towards the door. “I don’t want to hear anymore arguing! I need to think about all this. I’m… I need to be alone.”

The two stared, confused. After registering she was serious, they, grudgingly, complied with the woman’s wishes. Harlie waited for the kurri child to hop out of the bed, tablet in tow, then left the rozenich to her lonesome without another word. Kacey momentarily paused to send her guardian a sympathetic glance before following.

An eerie quiet came over the small room. The sounds of her people were heavy outside, but Linda was so accustomed to it that it was almost as if they were not there at all. She released a low, quiet whine. What did this mean? What did any of it mean? Who was right in the situation? Harlie had a point: it could all be a lie, a trick, a formulated plan to force them into confessing something incriminating. At worst, it could be a sick cretin looking for a good sadistic laugh from their hopeful dreams. Yet, the evidence did not seem to support any of this. Who would care enough to come after them with such a cryptic message? Who else would know about the email the child only used sparingly? She supposed anything was possible but... in the chance the message truly did come from a reliable source, that it was genuine...

Jeremy… Craig… Arpeggio… they were alive. Somewhere, out there, they were still living, still breathing. The woman wanted to believe it—she had to believe it—but it was so hard to understand. She had witnessed the crash herself that horrible night. Had the screen forced an illusion on her? Had the people taking the video filmed at the wrong angle? She supposed if some of the guards had survived the crash, they could have too.

She remembered, then, about the bird’s smaller airship, the one he had traveled in all the time. The one she herself had traveled in. In the chaos, she had completely forgotten it existed. Had they made their escape on it instead? Was Arpeggio never on the grand design at all? Could that be the key to their survival?

The rozenich sat up and turned to a pile of belongings beside her. She stretched out a scaly arm to grab hold of a bejeweled article of clothing. She pulled it out, revealing a small tote bag hardly big enough to carry anything more than a wallet. With tender care, she unlatched its sparkly clasp and reached inside. What she brought out was a dirty, worn, moleskin sketchbook. The very sketchbook she had found abandoned in the parrot man’s home before it was destroyed and recycled. Abandoned for someone who cared enough, like herself, to find.

She carefully opened the small book to peer at the yellowed pages. Arpeggio’s drawings were all still there: the prototype inventions, the still life illustrations, the doodles, the notes written so messily that even a literate person could not read them.

The owls.

What did it mean, then, when she saw the giant bird falling from the heavens that night? If it were not Arpeggio… than who? Or what? Linda never did fully understand what Arpeggio had told her about the “machine” bird and its miraculous ability to grant eternal life. The mere idea of it did not seem possible to her, but then again, there were so many things in this world that did not make much sense to begin with. She supposed, in the whole scheme of things, it did not matter what the truth was. It would not turn back time and it would not ease her worries.

Tiny droplets sprinkled down along the erratic doodle of the little bird trapped within the owl’s body. The page was the most worn of them all, the edges of the paper wrinkled, torn, and stained. Linda raised a hand to wipe away the tears that were cascading along her cheeks. She knew she would never see him again. See any of them again. Even if it truly was them who had sent the message to her little spotted assistant, she knew discovering their location would be near impossible: and even if they were given the information, it was not as if she could venture out to see them. She had been lucky to be allowed out the few times she had been, it would take more than a miracle to get her out for something such as this.

In the end, she did not know if she wanted to see them. Perhaps it was for the best they kept their separate ways. Still, the emotions within her stirred deeply. There was anger, guilt, confusion, and joy. She had begun to believe her companions were dead, and confronting the truth was never easy. At the same time, what better news could she receive then to know they were, in fact, alive? Hurt, perhaps... but able to continue onward. Able to find their happiness.

    Alive, she said the word in her head. A little smile formed on her lips. She sniffled. They’re alive.

It was a year ago that the grand project had begun for them; a year ago, when she had met the little birds and gone on a whirlwind of adventures and emotions. It only made sense, in that ironic sort of way, that everything would conclude at such a time.

Perhaps this was not the end, though. Could there still be a chance for one final goodbye? She wondered.

She closed the sketchbook and put it back in its proper place amongst her treasures. With a new boost of confidence, she stepped out the door in search of her assistant and partner, the late evening weather chilling her snow-white plumage.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 50

    “You… You did what?”

Arpeggio could not believe it. He did not know how to properly respond. He could only stare in utter disbelief at his aracari companion. The man, just as well, did not know how to react. He merely stood there, a little awkwardly, the laptop held under his arm and his long beak lowered towards the floor.

    “Now, don’t be angry with him,” Dr. Phyllis said as she stood between them. “Jeremy was worried to tell you for obvious reasons, but he did it with good intentions.”

    “It doesn’t matter if it was done with good intentions!” the parrot spat, the anger within his chest boiling up. “He knew I did not want them contacted but he deliberately disobeyed me! You of all people should know what negative consequences that message could inflict upon us.”

    “Arpeggio, I really just do not care anymore,” the snake said with a deep, hefty sigh. Arpeggio was taken aback by her remark and eyed her with bewilderment and frustration. She spoke up again before he could chastise her further. “I don’t regret helping you. Frankly, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I let you sit here and wither away. And that’s not just because you’re my friend, it’s because I think you deserve to live.”

The parrot scoffed. “If you cared enough to waste all your time on me, what makes you want to stop it all now?”

    “Living a lie is not something I’m good at. If the message implicates me? So be it. I admit, I would struggle testifying against you should I be forced, but if I must be punished for my role in all this, I’ll gladly do it. All this sneaking around… it’s simply not for me, Arpeggio. You know this.”

The bird’s angry expression shifted to one of concern. “You’ll lose your license, you know. You worked so hard and so long for that. How can you not care?”

    “I don’t know. I can’t explain it,” she said tiredly. Her eyes fell away. “The only thing I care about right now is making sure that you are taken care of. When Jeremy told me he sent the message, I was glad. I thought that, maybe, if you could gather this closure, you’ll move on.”

    “Move…? Move on?” he repeated the words, dumbfounded and a little hurt. “I can’t move on, Phyllis. Have you looked at me lately? How on God’s green earth can I move on in a state like this?” The bird extended his two scrawny wings. The emerald feathers were only fractionally more well-kept than they had been months prior. His damaged wing had not appeared to gain any strength or ability: it still hung limply beside him, even with his attempts to raise it.

The bird looked at the woman with a pitiful glare, his damaged eye now sporting an eyepatch to cover his healed-up wounds. Phyllis and Jeremy both looked at him, guilt-ridden. Craig, who was sitting in the hind of the room near a window to let out the smoke from his cigarette, only gave him a passing glance out of the corner of his eye. His expression evoked nothing.

Finally, Phyllis replied. “I don’t know how you’ll do it or if you can, but… past everything, I still see that man I met back in university. You’ve always had potential, more than potential. You had a talent and a gift. I don’t think you’ve lost that and I don’t think you ever will.”

Arpeggio huffed. “If I have any of that left in me, it certainly won’t resurface if I’m behind a jail cell.”

Phyllis merely shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you, Arpeggio. Just listen to what he has to say, all right? Keep an open mind.”

The parrot said nothing more. He gave Jeremy an irritated look before turning around and hopping back up onto the shelf where his bed was positioned. Phyllis allowed him to go and gave a gentle gesture over to the muscular toucan in the back. “Come on, now, Craig. I need your help with some things out front.”

    “A’ight,” the toucan said monotonously before putting out his cigarette.

The two left, leaving the remaining pair alone in the musty old room. The soft sound of a droplet of water plopping into an old metal bucket filled the empty silence. Arpeggio settled down in his pillow and finally looked up at his caretaker and companion. “I’m disappointed in you, but I’m aware you probably know that.”

Jeremy did not respond, nor did he move. He simply stood there, his pale green eyes still staring down at the wooden floor.

Arpeggio could feel the anger in him beginning to quell. There was no use in fighting the man: even if he had the energy to do so, it would not provide much use. When he finally asked him a question, it was in a softer, albeit, still stern tone. “How long ago has it been since you sent the message?”

Although it took him a moment, the aracari eventually signed an answer to him. 4 weeks.

    “And how long has it been since they responded back?”

    3 days, Jeremy signed back.

Arpeggio pulled in a breath. How was he to handle this situation? The anxiety was rolling within his stomach. Did he want to speak with his friends again—these people he assumed were his friends, anyway—after all this time? Of course, he did. Did he think it was wise? Not at all. It was like opening a wound that had just begun to heal. He was certain it must have felt that way for the rozenich and kurri child too.

He supposed he would never know until he read the message.

    “Did you read what it said?”

The aracari croaked.

    “Did… did you save it, so we can read it here?”

He rattled.

Arpeggio shook his head. He raised back up onto his shaky feet. “No. No I… I’m not ready for this. What if the message is… what if it’s…?” The words were trapped on his tongue.

His eye caught glimpse of the dangling monocle piece by his bed. A small glint of light reflected off its dusty surface. He had to look away. “Will you help me to the window? I need some fresh air.”

Jeremy set the laptop on one of the lopsided tables, the lid still down. He helped spot the parrot as he hopped off the shelf, down a series of makeshift steps, and onto the floor. They walked together as they made their away across the splintery floor. Arpeggio had fashioned together some sort of crude, temporary contraption to his injured foot to give him some semblance of stability as he hobbled along. There was nothing, however, he could yet do for the dragging, useless wing.

The aracari helped the bird up to the window where he gripped onto a small ledge to look out. He had not been able to perch properly since the accident. Phyllis did not know when he would ever perch again: his strength had simply not built back up yet. Arpeggio tried not to think about it as he took in the chilly night air. Snow was gently falling onto the scraggly rooftops of the neighboring condemned houses.

    “Everything went so wrong, didn’t it, chap?” he finally said, his voice unreasonably quiet. Jeremy did not answer back, not that he expected him to. “If I had a time machine, I very much would like to start all this over. But, we can’t be dreaming so daringly, can we?”

The parrot let out a little laugh. Jeremy did not find much amusement in it. He clacked his beak, drawing the bird’s attention. He signed something slowly to him. Arpeggio had not yet grasped the silent language as Linda had. He had only begun to learn it because the days stowing away in the ragged house were long and agonizingly boring. Still, even with the little he had gathered, it had developed an understanding between himself and his guard that he had never had before.

The aracari signed: Are you okay?

    “No. I’m not,” he looked away from him. He rested his yellow beak against the windowsill. “I try not to think about that wretched night, but it’s hard to forget it. I keep replaying it in my head, wondering what I did wrong and what I could have done to make it right.”

Jeremy once again clacked his beak to draw the bird’s eye before signing to him a single name: Neyla?

Arpeggio felt a lump form in his throat. Neyla. The last person he really wanted to think about was Neyla. Her betrayal had stung him deeply and he did not know if he would ever be able to wipe the nightmares from his mind. The visual of her massive robotic form coming down to crush him. Those piercing golden eyes. The feeling of the knife digging into his throat and her warm breath hissing foul words into his ear. The look on her face when he had hinted to her that he did not want to join with the great owl.

The hurt that rose up beneath the anger in her voice.

    “I am almost certain that she believed I had betrayed her, just as much as I believe she betrayed me,” he finally said out loud, his tone lacking confidence. “We were never close, her and I. Not close in any sense I could have considered relevant, anyway. She was my student and my errand-runner. She was to be my second in command after the plan concluded. When I found her in that university, when I saw what she was capable of, I knew I could use her and I trusted she would get it done. She had a prideful nature, you know. Like Rajan only… a little more reserved. She liked getting things done, by whatever means. I always liked that about her.”

His feathered shoulders rose and fell. He gazed out at the calm snowfall with a vacant expression. His blue eye began to shimmer as he thought back to times long-gone. “When I picked her up as my protégé, she was barely getting by. Everything she earned was going into her education and hardly much else. She had no one there to help her, thus had no choice but to make it on her own. She never told me what happened to her family, but I can only assume she no longer spoke with them.”

The bird laughed again, this time warm and genuine. “Did I ever tell you what I witnessed her doing that made me know she was the one?”

Jeremy croaked.

    “She had manipulated a whole ring of peers to do her bidding. Oh, heavens, she had them doing it all. Her assignments, her laundry, fetching groceries, and just about everything in-between. I could hardly believe it: she was only just barely in her twenties at the time, you know. I know it doesn’t sound like much to swoon over, but I saw myself in her: or maybe, someone greater. There’s no telling what she could achieve—what she could have achieved—with the proper training. Now we’ll never know.”

The toucan signed again, after only a brief hesitation. Arpeggio could just barely make out the sentence: he read the words “you” and something to the equivalent of “upset”. He nodded solemnly and attempted his hardest to fight the tears welling up in his remaining eye. Why did he bother trying to hide his emotions from Jeremy? It was not as if he was going to go around spreading rumors about him. Rumors of his weakness.

Perhaps, it was not that. Perhaps, it was the grief of it all. He did not want to cry for the cat. His partner. His protégé. His friend. Yet, there he was, unable to control the emotions collapsing out of him.

He missed her too.

    “It never occurred to me until just now that, perhaps, she had more baggage than I realized. Perhaps much, much more than anything I had ever been through, just in her youth alone. I… I should have been more considerate. More sympathetic. I was her only family, the only one who could see something grand in her that no one else could. Maybe... maybe I’m giving myself too much credit. She knew she was great, she did not need me to tell her that. But… I am sure she would have liked to hear it much more often than I told her. We all want to be appreciated.”

The agreeing rattle from Jeremy suddenly sent a wave of embarrassment through the small parrot. The feeling swiftly shifted to one of shame as he turned to look at his mute companion, wiping away the tears with his wing. The avian had no readable expression, but Arpeggio could not help but respond nervously. “Goodness, I feel a little bit silly, saying all this in front of you, of all people. You see, Jeremy, I… well…”

The toucan gave him a nonchalant wave and quickly gave him a simple, readable sign. It’s okay.

Arpeggio looked away, regardless. “I’m very much not good at this. I don’t know if I’ll ever be good at this. Just know that, well, I do appreciate everything you have done. You of all people really… really have done more than your share. I wouldn’t be here telling you all this without you, after all.”

Things began to make sense for him then, even if only marginally. Neyla… she would never get a second chance. She had made only one mistake, and that was agreeing to be his protégé, but it was a mistake that had ended her life. Arpeggio’s life should have ended that night with her. It was unfair that he had went on in the place of someone much younger, someone with much more promise. He understood that now, even if admitting it hurt him deeply.

He looked down at his limp wing. Even craning his head in an angle to see it was difficult with only one good eye: one less than adequate eye. Could he do anything with that wing? A prosthetic? A mechanism? The answer was simple: of course, he could. In theory. Getting such a thing pulled into a reality was an entirely different matter, particularly in the trash heap they were currently situated in. Certainly, there was the back-up plan Jeremy had mentioned; there was plenty of money stored away in a secret location only they knew about. Outside of his intellect, money was the only useful thing about himself he ever had. Even in their current situation, he could at least say that had not changed.

Raising up a little straighter, he turned back to Jeremy. “I still cannot grasp why you sent them that message. You’re a fool, you know, but, as am I. If… if they replied back, however, it… it would be impolite to not at least see it.”

A glint of hope sparked in Jeremy’s eyes. With permission, he fetched the laptop from the table and brought it over to his former boss. He opened the lid and immediately Arpeggio felt an illness creep up him. How do we know it’s even them? What if it’s a trick?

The man expected to see a lengthy worded message pop up on the screen once Jeremy pulled up the saved document, but it was nothing of the sort. Instead, there was but a single file resting in a barren folder. A video file. A video message.

Just as the aracari prepared to click the file, Arpeggio placed a foot upon his hand to stop him. “Wait.”

The other bird tilted his head. Arpeggio breathed in deeply. Why was this so hard? Why did the idea of it all hurt him so much? Arpeggio could feel his heart beating rapidly in his chest as he lifted his foot away. He was not ready. He did not think he would ever be ready. A year ago, things had begun with him and his mighty, grand scheme. A year ago he had met two people—no, more than two, countless—that had changed his life forever. A year ago, he never expected, never would have fathomed things would have ended like they did.

A year from now, he did not have the faintest idea where he would be. It frightened him.

    “If they were in our place… what do you think they’d do?” the question slipped out quietly. A reassuring hand placed itself on his shoulder and he looked over at his aracari friend, uncertainty in his gaze. “What would they want me to do?”

Jeremy peered at the screen for a hard moment, his green eyes focusing and fading from the window on the screen. Finally, he replied. Get closure. Move on.

Move on. Arpeggio did not know if he could, but he supposed the words were true. He smiled a little through his chipped yellow beak. “Yes. Well, I’m certain if Linda was here, the last thing she’d want to do is let me go. In fact, I’d probably be unable to pry myself out of her arms. She’d try to fix me, no matter how futile.”

Jeremy smiled back and nodded in agreement. He gestured the word “child” and made a motion with his hands that could not help but elicit another laugh from the parrot.

    “Yes, and the girl would still be playing that god-forsaken game of hers. Damn thing is going to rot her brain after a point. I’m sure if Linda doesn’t eventually rip it from her, Mr. Mercer will. He ought to know better, at any rate.”

He took in a deep breath. Time could not be altered to undo what he had done, but he knew better himself what his companions would want of him and was foolish to think any differently. Get closure. Move on. Find happiness.

A confidence pulled up within him, knowing that he would at least be able to see them again one more time, even if for a selected amount of time in a small recorded video clip.

    Are you okay? Jeremy signed to him.

    “Yes,” was all Arpeggio said in reply.

The video was pulled up with a quick double click.

They pressed play.

END