Inked Wings
CHAPTER TWENTY - Muddy History

/ Noel’s POV /

These guys have been on a roll the past five days.

They took down a bunch of WPA institutes without any casualties, except, obviously - The couple soldiers and guards who lost their necks.

At some point I stopped passing by the Control Room. Whenever I go to The Doc’ for my next chore, I run down the hall, hoping I don’t run into the asshole. My feet flash.

Tch, they even have those matching outfits with that stupid logo…whatever.

I have a whole routine at this point. Play the app, leave it to charge while at Doc’s, eat, play the app, sleep two hours, repeat. I haven’t felt fresh air in days, but it’s no bye.

Right now, I’m in the lab, separating this black group of cells from an ancient brain.

Doc’ lets me do cool stuff. He’s the only one I really socialize with around here.

The others try but I ignore them. Except for Birdie. She always stays behind and sometimes joins in on me and Doc’s activities.

She likes to show me how to blow stuff up. She’s a fave.

I pull a little too hard on the cells with my tool. The whole nerve dies. ‘Whoops.’

Doc’ chuckles. ‘It’s alright.’ He returns to frying some pieces of metal.

I let down the tools then pull off my gloves. ‘Guess I’m going now.’

‘Oh, just a moment, Noel!’ The fire goes out inside the gunpipe he sits on the side. ‘Would you care to help Birdie with something?’

‘What?’ I shrug.

‘An errand, for me. While we’re stationed in Valerio, I realized there are some things I can add to my materials, free and easily accessible. I guarantee.’ He thumbs up me.

My voice cracks. ‘I have to get back to my game…’

‘If you help Birdie replace the materials I need faster, I can also take a look at your charger to go faster. You won’t have to wait two hours for it to charge anymore.’ He offers me.

Not doing the errand thing now sounds counterproductive.

‘You one hundred percent sure it’ll work? Don’t fry my charger,’ I say, still not convinced.

‘Yes, of course! With the right part I won’t even need to touch the charger.’

My feet shakes.

‘Fine.’ An accent slips through my teeth. Comical tone.

17:36

Birdie and me wait for the platform thing to kiss the ground. She had to change her sleeveless sweater because the other had that dumb symbol on it.

She’s crouched down, arms hanging out between her legs. I feel tall like this.

The platform shakes, We’re in a literal abandoned warscape. It’s red dessert here but artificial smelling and very ugly, compared to the planet we started this ‘trip’ from.

Birdie steps out first. The platform glitches and returns to the egg shaped pod; egg shaped pod which soon torpedoes back into the starlight sky.

The dome high may have that sky hologram but it’s transparent enough for the galaxies to be in view.

Shuffling. Birdie signs me to come along.

We walk a bit in this wasteland with high hills. There’s trash everywhere you eye lands.

Wow, what happened here? Better say, who’s trash can is this?

Birdie forces some pieces out of the dust. She tilts it over her head, inspecting it like some collector of coins or old-style books. Seconds pass.

Her ears flop when she throws it.

Next, another, bigger trash piece. They’re so rusted.

‘I’ll go -’ I point. ‘..over there.’

This place is full of trash, I don’t even know what exactly I’m looking for. The dust leaves a light burn on my hands, ugh. Doc’ said it looks like a good old Cellular Body, is it?

Neuronal…trunk? I don’t remember, man. I just know I can hold it like a stick and bonk somebody’s head with the end that looks like a hornet.

It’s not here. Hm. I look over the hill.

I wave my hands to catch Birdie’s attention but she doesn’t see me. I’m too lazy to walk up to her, and too impatient to wait for her to look my way.

I’ll just climb the hill and see if it’s there. Or if it’s down on the other side.

I do like I say, jogging up there.

Nothing here either - Shit!

I duck by throwing myself on the ground. There’s other people here! I peek.

Two people, I think they around my age. They look young and alike. They’re humans, I think.

A girl wearing a purple hijab with two moles under her right brow and a boy wearing a purple scarf, one mole at the corner of his bruised lip. That looks like a bad burn.

The hijab wearer sits on this small bump in the earth. Okay, it’s small if you compare it with the other hills. The other is digging somewhere under the bump.

Should I tell Birdie? Does this mean we have to leave? We got here first and I’m not going anywhere until I replace that thing.

Otherwise, I just messed around for nothing.

You finally breathed fresh air. A voice inside my head tells me. Yeah, right, this place is polluted to the tiniest crack hole sized corner.

Hm…’kay.

Birdie is at the bottom, head buried in more trash.

Just gotta back up, silently so I let her know. Then, we see what we do.

A bang startles me. Scarf wearer is kicking at that bump.

What’s that material? The sound is so - mechanic like. Imagine I hit the pod this way, it vibrates inside your guts.

The other person suddenly has three screens open, scrolling through.

That design… it’s - the screens are linked to a connector, now where’s the connector…there, the beep planted in the bump they are sitting on.

These are amateur Tackler devices. These guys -

Uh.

Vertigo?

I don’t have time to process the blur. I’m sitting on my butt and it hurts, just like my hands and knees. Shoot, I just fell.

Forward! I try to crawl back but they notice me. No kidding, open field.

We’re in a staring competition, me and Scarf.

‘Imran, stop it with the dumb look.’ Hijab uses a sitcom sibling tone. Ridicule, huh.

Scarf sticks out his tongue. ‘What you here for, buddy?’ He asks me.

‘Tell me about you first!’ I don’t bother standing up.

‘We trying to hijack this piece of work!’ Hijab stomps on the bump.

‘Bisma!’ Scarf cries. ‘Stop being wide open with strangers.’

That bump is not decor, is it?

‘Alright.’ Now, I push myself into crouching. ‘I’m just searching for scraps. We can just mind our own businesses.’

‘Nah, you make me curious.’ Hijab ‘(now changing it to Moles)’ speaks. ‘Been a while since the last time we ran into another teen like us two.’

‘What do you want, then?’ My head shakes slightly. My palms rub my jeans.

‘Hang out with us! We’ll help you replace scraps.’ They gesture.

I swallow. ‘Name’s Noel! You are?’

Scarf circles the bump. ‘Mi name’s Imran, he/him. That Bisma, she my sister.’

‘Nice - to meet you?’

‘Ha?’ Moles rests her palm behind where her ear is supposed to be. ‘Come closer!’

I glance behind, unsure if I should tell them about Birdie. They’re normies, not mutants.

Otherwise, it would’ve been obvious, unless they’re those alleged experiments from the news. Anyways, I listen to Moles and go closer. The bump is taking shape.

It’s a freaking robo-corpse buried in sand, I see it now. That mechanic sound wasn’t just my imagination. ‘What the stars discarded prototype is this?’

It’s got a big body, slim, sharp edged hands and weird mark lines.

‘A Seeker, still intact!’ Moles slaps it. ‘Super rare bunch.’

‘Never heard of them.’ I stare at it, kinda wanting to get closer and touch.

Scarf pops up from the side, almost making me jump. ‘You’re part of the majority!’

‘Explain it to Noel while I address this code.’ Moles focuses on the left screen.

Scarf rolls his eyes. ‘Sit down, storytime.’

Alright, I’m on the ground once again, my legs crossed.

Scarf goes into a whole personality, putting up a show.

He’s in entrepreneur mode: ‘Seekers are part of history. Here’s a History Lesson 101, buddy.’ He gestures with his hands.

‘You must’ve heard of the allegations against Ephxa Doctorate, am I right?’ He waits for me.

‘Yeah.’

‘Well! You must know they tested on both mutant and non-mutant orphans! They did tests and kept the children in isolated rooms, the whole abuse. But what if I told you there was another like them, much much worse branch that isn’t even known to be part of MIA.’

‘Wouldn’t really surprise me.’

‘We don’t know much about SEAMIS, except they too tested on orphans, both mutant and non mutant. The key difference is they made biological experiments, tested with cells, made abominations, sewed kids, creatures, together! Man Made Hybrids!’

My grimace stretches my muscles.

‘Here’s the end of the lore dump for you, buddy.’ Scarf inhales.

‘SEAMIS used Seekers to hunt runaways or to fight abominations that got out of control. It’s their product. You can tell -’ He wipes with his sleeve a spot on the robot. ‘- from their symbol right here. The same mark skinned in their live experiments.’

Scarf rests his hands together, bowing.

‘You know…a lot.’ I clap once, out of - manners, I guess.

Abi taught me important manners equal with basic kindness on top of basic respect everyone deserves. I’m doing it right now.

Scarf knocks on the Seeker. ‘Dissecting one of these babies teaches you much trivia.’

A sound repeats itself. ‘Ugh.’ Moles is typing away.

‘What did you do?’ Scarf looks up at her.

’Nothing! This Ya Ibn el Sharmouta keeps denying mi access!’ Her hands wave in the air.

‘Coding?’ I ask.

‘Yeah.’ She keeps aggressive typing.

Scarf exchanges glances, either at me or at her.

‘Did you try the chip cheat?’

‘Noel, why didn’t I think of that.’ Her sour smile and tone give her sarcasm away.

’Yes, I tried reloading, re-entering, restarting and re-coding the last four steps, but it keeps getting stuck ‘ere.’ She points, glaring at the screen.

‘Can I give it a try?’ My right palm opens.

‘You studied code?’ She’s raising one eyebrow.

‘I’ve seen some stuff first-hand.’ My fingers move, telling her to leave it to me.

She looks at Scarf, who shrugs. Moles lends me the screen.

AAh, the bridge looking password.

The things that look like balances Abi had to do that silly move with.

Alright, I remember this one. Abi would grab the low pointers, pressing with his thumbs.

And then he moves his hands like - half a donut stopping at your halo, or something like that.

The screen moves with me to recentre the program. The balances turn purple with a beep.

‘You did it!’ They exclaim.

‘Of course,’ I get to brag. I’m lucky she was stuck on a visualiser not a written code, I would’ve been toast.

I pass the screen back to Moles, smiling.

She bops a few more things.

‘Ready…’ She sits on that last note. ‘-and -!’

A wave of sound comes from the Seeker. Lights over his body light up.

‘Done!’ She exclaims when the thing rises from the dirt, standing now.

Metal. Literally and metaphorically.

It’s controlled by her, the lights inside its body are purple just as everything about them is. Scarf hops on the robot and rests next to Moles.

‘Join us!’ She offers to me.

Oh. ‘Um,’ I begin, kind of stuck on how I should answer.

Do I want to ride the cool killing machine? Duh - yeah.

Should I ride the robo-saw killer? Now, about that…

About that nevermind, I’m in the air.

The robot’s holding me in its claws, jumping from one spot to another. We are jumping over the hill I fell down on a few minutes back.

We’re down, sand - dust - this red flies in the air, I quickly close my eyes.

I swing my feet, bonking the claws with my fist. ‘Down, please!’

‘Oops, you nauseous, buddy? Scarf taps Moles’ shoulder. She moves her hand.

Once my feet are in the dust, the robot lets me go.

I stumble back, wiping the dust off myself. Again.

I back away enough to see them. ‘No, I’m not - I can’t go.’

Birdie doesn’t know where I’ve gone…The dust is coming off - oh no. I forgot!

My head snaps behind me, where I last saw her. She’s not there. Anywhere around there.

‘What?’ I turn back to Moles and Scarf to be met with a claw almost punching my face!

‘Whoa!’ I duck, stepping back. ‘What’s your damage?!’

My voice dies when I see what’s going on.

The robot’s stumbling and Scarf and Moles are hugging each other, seemingly scared and all that’s because Birdie’s biting on the robot’s arm! Her claws are in that thing!

The robot shakes her off but she lands on her fours, right in front of me. She snarls.

…gnarly. I blink.

She’s now fully in between me and them, hissing. The bits I catch of her face… she’s scared of the robot, isn’t she?

‘Birdie! It’s okay!’ I yell, hoping her hard ears will hear.

She does! She does hear me, she’s looking at me now, a bit lost…

‘It’s okay! They hacked the robot to turn it on. It’s theirs, they’re chill!’ I move my hands, essentially playing pretend sign language.

I gotta learn this already.

She tilts her head and relaxes her jaw, closing her teeth in it. She points to them.

‘It’s really fine!’ I insist. Please, don’t fight. I’m sick of all the real life violence, sheesh.

Bridie stands on her two legs now. Good? That must mean she understands.

Her ugly stare is still on, though. I walk closer, stopping next to her. ‘You guys okay?’

The guys stare our way, surprised. ‘No…’ Scarf says first.

Moles continues the line:

‘You know a Hybrid M., why didn’t you tell us?!’ She jumps off the robot and rushes close into Birdie’s personal face, her face shoved in close to Birdie’s. ‘You’re the real deal!’

‘They’re the real deal!’ Moles points, saying it again to Scarf who claps.

‘What’s going on?’ I really wonder, did they never see a mutant before?

‘Oh, oh!’ Moles’ smile drops.

‘We’re sorry about the Seeker. We couldn’t have known you’re here. Your friend didn’t tell us either…you should’ve warned us.’ She lectures me.

‘What?’ My head’s between my shoulders. I whisper.

I’m bamboozled.

‘Orphans split apart and sewed back together, remember?!’ Scarf catches on.

‘Your friend is a SEAMIS creation!’ He alludes to Birdie with excitement…

No…the freaking irony is too shitty, it can’t be.

I nervously chuckle. ‘What.’

My heart almost jumps out of my body. It’s just Birdie, tapping my shoulder blade.

‘W-what?’ I’m…I don’t know what to say.

Her eyes slide to the side, hands buried in her pockets. She points them out.

‘You found it?’ I stare, dumbass esc.

She nods, expression still tense.

‘Um, hey, guys…it was nice to meet you -’ I rush myself.

I raise my palm. ‘...but we got’s to go. Found enough scraps, um, we’re going home…’

I do the finger guns but inverted. ‘So,’

‘Oh, alright. Nice to meet you too.’ Moles also raises her hand.

‘You’re going home too, right?’ I’m curious, before I go…

‘Oh,’ Scarf blows raspberries. ‘Nah, we don’t got a home. Our family are travelers.’

‘Oh…you don’t want to live in a District or - a Rebellion hideaway?’

‘No.’ Moles bows to Birdie and I, then starts walking toward the robot. ‘Like mi brother said, we don’t care for places or much for sides and labels. We’re travelers. Simple.’

‘Oh.’ My hands hang near my pockets. ‘Okay, then…farewell…’

‘Good riddance.’ Moles commands the robot to move.

They wave at us. ‘Take care of each other!’ And they disappear into the horizon, as if a cricket went for a walk on a plain layout.

That image cartoony, won’t lie.

Me and Birdie walk back to the pod which gladly returned for us. It’s awkward.

I’m dying to figure out what kind of shit she’s been through but that’s way too personal.

Right.

It’s like ’er whole vibe has been shut down. She’s so - calm. She isn’t jumping everywhere.

She’s stoic, like that asshole. But at least Shitty Angel leaves a crystal clear impression.

I’m confused about how I should thread this. Birdie’s obviously down.

Abi was easy to cheer up. He laughs at the worst satire. Dry jokes are always the way to go.

This time, I’m hit by how little I know these people. I didn’t really show any interest either…

It’s not like I can start now, I have to get back to work as soon as I can.

I swear, if Doc’ ruins my charger - I don’t know! I’ll be more than pissed!

19:05

We’ve arrived. We’re back in the huge, cold spaceship.

It’s not so bad, I give Doc’ my charger and I wait out in the halls.

Birdie went somewhere. Her business.

I pace around, in front of the laboratory door. Too anxious to see what he’s doing to Abi’s work but also too frustrated to play the app just yet. How long is it gonna take?

Doc’ says fifteen minutes top. I believe him, but I really don’t. Argh…I’m biting my nails.

‘Noel…he…no…’

What? I hear my name, vaguely. I look around, stopping in place.

Listen…

‘That’s….think…’ There are voices coming from somewhere.

I decide to go the distance, I have to waste another ten minutes anyway.

The voices are becoming more clear, coming from the - dun dun- control room. And from what I hear - dun dun - Linda, Glasses, Cap and Artsy Braids are conversing.

‘They fought a cycle and so ago, correct?’ Cap asks.

‘Exactly five days back, yes.’ Glasses (aka Mr. Pretentious) answers.

‘And Angel hasn’t tried to make amends?’ Artsy Braids says.

‘He’s been keeping his distance. Linda thinks it’s because of his complex,’ Linda responds.

‘Which complex?’ Cap adds with a chuckle.

‘Linda thinks Angel is afraid to get too attached.’

‘To the kid? He’s really sabotaging himself like that?’

They’re really talking about me? Their assumptions don’t sound right.

Artsy braids butts in. ‘Knowing Angel, he’s probably already too attached. He’s being dumb because it’s his defense mechanism, it’s how he copes better with the fear.’

‘You and Linda usually read him right, so I give you props.’ Glasses speaks now.

They keep switching. Keeping up with a crowd’s conversation is a bit hard.

‘Yeah -’

I lean in closer.

‘What are you doing?’

I scream.

‘Stars!’ I jump, backing into the wall. ‘You’re freaking creepy sometimes!’

Shitty Angel stares at me. He pouts.

‘I’m not that creepy, I think.’ His wings follow his eyes. ‘Did the others talk about me? I’ve come to the realization I am their new hot topic lately.’

Did he hear? It means he saw me hear - that’s so embarrassing…

’Uhm,’ I nervously laugh.

The others closed their peeps the moment I screamed. Aurgh, now they know I’ve been eavesdropping on their convo. Uf.

‘I just got here, I don’t know what you rambling about.’

‘Ah,’ He begins. His face is neither numb or intense…it’s relaxed.

Weird. ‘How -’ He trails off.

I’m still glued to the wall, watching him questionably.

‘If there’s anything you need, come to me first. Doc’s been coming to me anyway.’

‘But I haven’t asked him for anything though?’

Wait, maybe I did…besides the mask. I’ve eaten what I’ve been given, maybe asked for syrup once. ‘You got Ginger syrup?’

‘No.’ He shakes his head..

‘Alright then…I’m going now.’ I point, my jacket rubbing the wall.

I’m moving around him.

‘I’ll meet you in the room. It’s Early Rising this cycle.’

‘Got it. Early rising, gotta go to sleep earlier.’ I nod, keeping my eyes fixed on him.

He nods back. Once he turns around, I bolt it outta there.

I arrive in front of the lab. ‘That was so weird!’

It’s like the whole venom I kept under the rug in case I ran into him just went poof! Like those memes, you big shit until you ain’t.

Turns out, Doc’ has not destroyed my charger. The first test goes very well, it charges double the speed of the previous version.

I move around in my futon while I wait.

I check it. Just a little bit longer…

Were they just joking around? Shitty Angel doesn’t know jack shit about me, and I know little to nothing about the dude… I mean, I observed some things but they’re just my critiques.

We’ve shared some crazy moments but I don’t know if that counts. I’m used to him, I guess.

I mean, I don’t hate him…I’m more frustrated instead, than any other emote.

He’s so stubborn!

A ping.

That’s the charger! Time to work.