Away From the Known, Heading Towards the Strangers

Ashling looked around the hall, towards the stairs. She stood in the hall, her eyes darting, her black wings tucked tightly behind her back. Her expression was emotionless - besides that fact the she couldn't help glancing around all over the place. She was wearing black skinny jeans, converse, and a t-shirt that had been cut in the back to show her wings. Ash had her backpack over one shoulder; she still had to find the dorms and look for the one with the number one of the staff gave her. Her red hair was in a pony-tail, swaying from side to side as she looked around. Her thoughts came to her in pairs, glad that she was there, but also terrified to being there. She wasn't sure how it was making her feel exactly, but she didn't really mind it all that much. 

This place seemed better than the one she was created in, though. There were no crazy scientists running around, trying to hook her up to some sort of equipment. Instead, there were just kids around her age and teachers to teach them. The teacher she had in the lab hated her, and she wondered if all of them were going to hate her. She needed someone as an ally, she knew. She sighed, looking down. Ash needed air, but she was told to find the Ruby dorms and put her bag in there. Where would she go after that? The roof, no doubt. She still wished someone had given her directions to the dorms, as she could not find it. 

She looked up to the ceiling, wondering which way to try now. Maybe up the stairs? That would probably be the best way. But she didn't want to accidentally end up in the boy's dorms, she didn't know what it would be like. Actually, she didn't know what anything would be like. She'd never spent any time before with anyone her age, boys or girls. She looked down at her left hand and let a small flame emit from it, the colors orange and purple being mixed around on her palm. Fear and excitement? What did that mean? That she was nervous? Probably. Her fire never let her down before with her emotions, so why should it now? She sighed and let the fire go out, putting her hand back down to her side. Well, she would have to choose a way now, she can't stand there forever.

Ash then thought about maybe asking someone, but as soon as that thought appeared it quickly disappeared. She didn't want to bother others, it wouldn't be nice. She looked around, wondering what to do now. Man, she wished she were able to fly wherever she needed to go. But the space might not be sufficient for her in the halls, she knew. After all, she did have a wingspan of nearly fourteen feet. Would the halls be enough for her to spread her wings and fly through? Probably not, as there might as well be many people in the halls as well, in her way. She sighed, looking at the stairs. She inched forward, soon stopping at the bottom of the staircase. Was this the right way? Or the wrong way?  

The echoes of screeching shoe soles bounced throughout the hallway, the tone of a stampede following not too far behind it. Many students looked down the corridor with curiosity, some ceasing their conversations and others moving toward the walls. It wasn’t until Miller came cruising around a corner that their questions were answered. The large and rather filthy animalistic looking student bolted down the hall, terrified. His quivering body and bouncing black eyes gave that away mostly. One could question what a six foot four student with a blade instead of a left arm could possibly be afraid of, but odds are that person in question hasn’t met Miller.

Immediately on his trail was a collection of students, young and quite tiny in comparison to the walking tree that is Miller. Strange thing about these children though was that they all looked the same. There were about six of them, one could say they were sextuplets, but even brothers would look slightly different. No, it was Lon and his five clones, all of them being dead set on catching up with Miller, only problem being that they weren’t nearly as fast or physically fit as their opponent in this race.

“C’mon give it up! We know you took them!” the collective children shouted.

“I didn’t touch anything!” the beast of a boy nervously threw back at them.

“You were there, you saw us ditch the tablets!”

“I didn’t touch them!”

“We saw you in those bushes!”

“Stop chasing me!”

That was mostly how their conversation was going as they sprinted around the school. People made way for them and there was a very rare occasion where someone didn’t make room for a guy with a giant sharp slab of metal hanging off his body. Their chase soon found its way into the stairwell, Miller hopping over a couple of steps with his long stride in order to make more distance between himself and his pursuers.

Lucky for Miller his plan finally worked out for once, however, at the last flight of stairs there was someone in the way. In fear that he might clash with the female he accidently tripped up and fell from the top of the staircase. Fortunately for Miller his blade sunk into the stairs and ceased his forward momentum before he could fall face first. He jerked around his blade for a moment, though it seemed as though it was stuck. With a countenance of true terror he peered at the woman through his locks of greasy black hair and then back towards where his pursuers were coming from. His entire body shook with fear, but he immediately came to the only conclusion he could. Miller’s skin quickly morphed into something more solid, a sort of rock or slag like look to it as it hardened.

The gang of Lon was not too far behind. In fact they were sprawling around Miller’s body in no time, trying to find a weak point on the beast of a man. Five of them did anyway, one of them ran over to the side of the girl who had witnessed this. “Thanks for stopping him, ma’am. We were trying to catch this guy for hours! Okay maybe not hours, but whooo he can really run” the kid said as he tried to catch his breath.

Ash's eyes widened as she saw a tall boy nearly fall down the stairs as he stopped to try not to run into her. He looked animalistic, and she wondered what happened to him. Then he turned to rock. Her expression was filled with surprise, as she was not expecting that. Then six other boys ran over, five of them hovering over the other boy, and the other one walked over to her and said, "Thanks for stopping him, ma’am. We were trying to catch this guy for hours! Okay maybe not hours, but whooo he can really run!" he seemed out of breath.

Ash furrowed her brows and slightly tilted her head, asking, her voice a whisper, "Why were you trying to catch him? Did he do something?" She looked at the boy and asked him, "Did you do something or take something from them?" She then inched forward, wondering what would happen next. Were the clone-like boys just a bunch of bullies, or did the rock-boy actually take something from them? She didn't know. She walked up a few steps, towards the group of boys and the one who was on his stomach, and looked closely. It seemed as though the boys were trying to find weak spots in his skin, like they wanted to hurt him. "Hey, knock it off! Get away from him. If he does not wish to be touched, then do not touch him." she said, her voice only a little bit louder. 


Ashling's expression was almost emotionless, but there was a tint of anger on her face. She wanted to know what the boys wanted, why they seemed to be hurting this other boy their age. The feathers on her wings rustled behind her back, making a little noise. She wanted to help the one on the stairs, she felt bad that he had fallen because of her. She was surprised though, at her own actions. She usually was not one to be talking much, but she decided that it was okay this time because of the situation. Ash held her back-pack shoulder strap tightly, ready to use it if necessary. She first wanted to see what powers these clone-like boys had, if they had any at all. Her mind started to think about the hand-to-hand combat classes she had in the lab she lived in before, she hoped that she didn't have to use them. She didn't even want to think about them, but her mind automatically went to it.

The gang of twelve year olds continued to swarm the older boy’s body, quickly figuring out that there were no noticeable weak points since any part of his body that was skin previously turned to solid rock. Miller was one to take precaution before solidifying considering that he has had others take advantage of his weak points. Besides that, his creators pretty much beat that knowledge into him. He closed his eyes and mouth, and hid his nostrils from plain sight. He didn’t cover them completely because otherwise he wouldn’t be able to breathe.

“Okay, that part’s rock”

“Yep! Same over here”

“Huh, I didn’t know he was able to do that…”

“Maybe he was a vampire? He kind of looks like one”

“Vampires don’t turn to stone in the sun, moron”

“Oh yeah”

The five of them babbled amongst themselves, still trying to figure out a way around this sudden turn of events.

The last of them, the social one that had been speaking with the winged girl kept relatively close to her in order to answer her questions. The first of which was hard to hear over the constant bickering from his clones. Some days were just so much easier without them. Anyways, he couldn’t hear her quickly, but the few key words he was able to catch lead to a rather obvious one. “Yeah, he stole this sack of stone tablets. Each tablet were able to summon an elemental beast and that guy took it. We were trying to dispose of it, but he saw where we left it. We went to check on it a day later and it was gone. He was the only one who knew where it was beside me.”

Miller wanted to speak out at this point, but in his current condition speaking wasn’t something he was able to do. He wasn’t going to revert back into his fleshy form either, that would be far too risky especially with the group of children still around and waiting for him to become vulnerable again. He would rather do nothing and continue to receive the blame instead of the pain that the six kids were about to inflict.

Two of the Lons that were attacking Miller ceased their movements as the girl raised her voice at them. The other three continued to wrangle around his body in search for the elusive weak point. At this point they resorted to knocking on his rock body and listening for an area that seemed hollow.

“I don’t get why everybody always takes this guy’s side, he’s a walking paper shredder” one of the Lons that quit their assault whispered to the other. “Ma’am, this guy’s a theft and he’s also a psycho path. I’ve seen him around school with a shirt stained with blood. In fact I don’t think he owns a change of clothes.”

“I’ve never seen him with a different pair of clothes either.”

“Hey, Captain Obvious, we share the same memories”

“I thought you might’ve forgotten…”

A cacophony of coos and squeaks echoed down the halls, and if one wasn't accustomed to it, it would probably seem like wild animals had invaded the school. Upon closer inspection, however, you would find it to simply be a lanky, dark boy with a wrist brace and a falconry glove and a large, sleek barn owl. The two echoed each other's calls as the boy named Zakarie pointed at rooms and paintings and windows and the owl watched intently, craning its head and fluffing its feathers.

Zak had a deal with one of the teachers in the science department - they intended to start a more in-depth class on animals and, since Zak was one typically pointless power, he and other students with the ability to communicate with different animals had been hired temporarily by the school to train different animals for the upcoming class. Being the only student with the ability to communicate with birds, it was practically mandatory he participate.

So there he was, circling the school with an owl on his arm, showing the predatory bird where things were and discussing the terms of it living at the school. Zak had come to quite like the owl, who insisted he was called "Mouse, because they taste good". It was the first animal he was tasked with training over the course of the semester, and he was already enjoying himself. It was nice having companionship and conversation, even if it was with a giant predatory bird.

As he turned from the hallway to one of the side staircases, a chorus of the same voice from multiple entities floated up to him, piquing his interest as well as concern. Mouse cooed and squawked with all the noise, then hopped off his arm and floated down the stairs and into the group of people. By the time Zak had arrived on the landing, Mouse had settled on top of the statue that he recognized as Miller, one of his classmates, and was screeching at the clones surrounding the male, trying to join in on the noise. Zak shushed him before crossing his arms and frowning.

"What is going on here?" he shouted over the group of twelve year olds, waiting until they all shut up. He then continued, "Do I need to call campus police? I don't think there's any justification for what I believe is going on here."

Zak wasn't typically the person to tattle or get the attention of security, but then again he wasn't normally out of his room, either. Perhaps he felt a sense of duty because of his current employment for the school, or perhaps he was just trying to set an example for the obviously new face, the girl standing nearby with an angry face.

Ashling's expression softened slightly, watching the twelve-year old clones. She heard what they all said, about him stealing a tablet and being a psychopath. Then a barn owl landed on the rock boy, followed by another boy around her age. She was quiet when he spoke, but then she shook her head slightly at the younger boys, saying, "How do you know that he was the one who took them? There could have been another person hiding in a bush or something. Or maybe one of you took them from the others. And you should not be punishing him now, even if he is guilty. Not like that. Trying to hurt him in that way is not justice. Plus, doesn't it work like, innocent until proven guilty?" 

She glanced at the owl, the one on the boy who was being blamed for stealing some tablets. Then she looked at the younger boys and spoke again, her voice a little over a whisper, "Do you even know this boy? Obviously you don't, otherwise you would not be treating him this way. If he is guilty, we will eventually find out. If he is not, then hurting him like this is unnecessary and even wrong." She then glanced at the boy who had brought in the owl and she nodded slightly at him, indicating that she was thanking him for walking in and helping her. Her throat was a little sore from talking so much, as she was not used to it, but she ignored the pain, her face expression going emotionless again. 

Ash then moved her wings a little bit, since they were sore from being in the same position so tensed up. She looked at the owl again, looking at its wings. She felt a small bond with it; they both knew the feeling of flight, both knew the feel of the wind rustling the feathers under their wings, keeping them up as they glided through the sky. She then looked below the owl, at the boy who had turned into rock. He did not move at all since he was in that form, and she wondered if he even could. He was most likely in that form because he did not want to get hurt from the six younger boys. But, then she realized, he had a large blade instead of a left arm. Couldn't he just scare them off with that? But he doesn't. Or, maybe more accurately, he wouldn't. 

She guessed that this rock-boy was innocent, otherwise he would probably have threatened the younger boys long before they had made it to the stairs. Actually, it seemed obvious to her that he was innocent, she wondered why the others didn't see that. But then she wondered why he had run in the first place. Were the younger clone-boys just trying to hurt him without even talking to him first? If so, then they should be punished for that alone, or, at least, have been mentioned to a staff member. 

The search for some way to deactivate Miller’s defense mode continued to be unprosperous and even as the three clones continued to scour the older boy’s body an owl from seemingly nowhere landed upon their quarry. Two of them stopped to investigate, but the last was rudely interrupted by a couple of screeches from the bird beast and in the process threw him off. The five of them watched the creature in a sort of dumbfound and each stated “bird?” in confusion.

Then the loud guy came around, shrieking a series of questions. Miller still being on the floor and terrified for his life refused to revert to his vulnerable form and preferred to let things play out until everyone was gone. It seemed like a much better idea, especially since he couldn’t tell who was talking and as well didn’t know who was on whose side and frankly he doesn’t know how much damage a group of Lon could do.

One of the five Lons broke off from the group in order to confront the new person, allowing his other clones to answer the girl’s questions considering that they seemed to be in quite the bad spot with her. On the other hand, the new boy seemed to be on the same page as them with calling the campus police. “That’s completely unnecessary sir, you see, we already captured the bad guy” he stated rather calmly as he pointed to the solid rock carcass of Miller’s body. “We’ll bring him to the proper authorities after we get those tablets back, they’re very dangerous in the hands of people like him.”

As for the woman, she still seemed to be under the illusion that the roles were reversed here. What did Lon have to do in order to convince her otherwise? “He’s our lead suspect. We asked around school and someone said they spotted him near the bushes we left the tablets in. He watched me as I tossed them off the roof, landing in the bushes he was spotted at. We approached him today and then he ran off. Punishment isn’t our goal, we’re trying to get the tablets back and he won’t give them to us” the boy answered trying his hardest to avoid raising his voice, but at some moments it was a bit tough to avoid.

“Didn’t I say we share the same memory already?” one of the other Lons interjected into the conversation as the girl question if one of the clones took it.

The Lon nearest to the winged woman shook his head slightly and moved onto the next chunk of questioning the woman got into. “We know him, yeah. We’ve met him…”

“Four times counting now”

“Thank you. Out of those four times he’s threatened us with his blade twice.”

“Actually, only once, but the second time he was really mean.”

“On top of that, he’s been to court for murder.”

Ashling listened to their reasoning, and it seemed as though they were telling the truth. They definitely believed that the boy took the tablets, that he was guilty. She tilted her head slightly, her expression softening a bit. Maybe they were right. Or maybe their information was wrong. To their first statement that was directed to her, she replied, "Well, I apologize. But have you thought that maybe he won't give them to you because he might not have them? Even if he took them at first, he may have put them somewhere or given them to someone else. Searching his body may be entirely useless. The only way you can legitimately get them back is by asking him questions, an interrogation. It looks as though he can't move in that form, and maybe he won't turn back because he is afraid of you six hurting him in some way. And if these tablets are as dangerous as you all say they are, then why did you six have them in the first place? And why toss them in a bush? Anyone walking by or clipping the bushes in the area could have found them. Whether they were fully hidden or not." Her voice was starting to get coarse, it was obvious that she had not talked this much before. 

She then heard one of the boy's comments about sharing the same memory. Honestly, she had not thought about that. She looked at all six of them, going from one face to another. They shared the same memory? What kind of place was this, anyway? She sighed quietly, whispering again, "I am sorry, I did not process that information." She glanced at the older boy who had walked in with the owl, then at the younger six, hearing their other comments. He was put on court for murder? She looked at the rock-boy, guessing he may be around eighteen or nineteen, but it was hard to tell with a face such as his. She then asked, "Was he proven guilty of murder? If so, then what is he doing here with all of these other students?" She glanced around the halls, now wishing she had not even stood at the end of the stairs. Sure, it may have helped the six twelve-year olds, but she was getting tired of speaking. Her throat hurt, she would have to drink some tea later on. That is, if she ever found the cafeteria. 

Ash looked at the rock-boy, and then at the other six. She said, "You know, he may turn back to his flesh form if all of you backed away and promised not to hurt him. Then you could ask him any questions." She then took a few steps back, soon putting her backpack down on the step next to her, ruffling her wings a little more. Man, she wanted to fly right now. She thought that these kids thought that they were on her bad side, and her on theirs even. She looked at them, they were probably afraid that he was going to run. Ash then adds, before they all made a fuss, "And if he tries to run, he can't get far at all. I can fly at two hundred miles an hour. So, unless he kills me, he's not going anywhere." She just wanted this all done and over with, whether the boy was guilty or not. If he was truly innocent, they would find out. If he was guilty, they would also find that out. She was now curious about the situation, even though she knew that she shouldn't be. Plus, if six clone-like kids found dangerous tablets, shouldn't they tell an adult and have them deal with it? It should not be a child's duty to deal with tablets like that, especially if they were going to throw them in a bush from a roof.

As Mouse flapped his wings and squawked, Zak looked past the young boy, trying to see who they were surrounding. After a moment of watching the clones shuffle about he finally caught a glimpse, almost shocked (but in no way surprised) to see it was Miller. After a moment of processing, Zak burst out laughing. Having been in classes with Miller for so long, he'd gotten to know him well enough that, while trouble gravitated toward him, he typically wasn't the perpetrator of the scandals surrounding him.

"Miller? Your criminal is Miller?" Zak laughed again and shook his head. "Do you even know Miller? Despite the big blade arm, he isn't exactly the violent, scheming type. Many apologies for the presumed misunderstanding, but you and your.... companions would be better off leaving him be." He stepped around the child and approached Miller, nodding to the girl before whistling at the owl to return to his arm.

"Miller, I you're fine. If they try to do anything I'll send Mouse to retrieve campus security." Zak smiled slightly and nudged the other male's knee with his shoe, glaring at the clones surrounding the statue student. Though Zak didn't like to be in the middle of conflict, his current good mood mixed with the age of Miller's aggressors made him far more willing to participate in what would normally drive him away.

His good mood prevailing, he turned to the new girl. The first thing he noticed about her were here giant wings, and he had to restrain himself from harassing her about them. She had already stated how fast she could fly, but what altitude could she reach? Did each wing work together, or could they be flapped individually? How much extra weight could she carry and still fly? He wanted to know how the muscles connected to her torso, how many feathers were in each wing segment, how long each wing was in proportion to her body and how she managed to fold them so perfectly against her back. But he couldn't ask any of these things, and he couldn't reveal the secrets he kept, so he kept his mouth shut and smiled.

"Thanks. Don't worry about them," Zak nodded, keeping brief as his attention went to her gently shifting wings. He had so many questions, but he couldn't ask any of them. Mouse squawked and flapped his wings at her, but he gently shushed the large owl, promising him snacks after they were through.

((Edit: aaah sorry you posted before me, im checking my post right now so if anything doesn't correspond be patient w/ me lmao checked & edited ayyy. for future reference we run on posting orders, so whatever order someone joins in they continue posting in <3))

Miller was reluctant to listen on to the group as they continued to argue over his innocence. The worst of it was that he couldn’t interject and counter any of the arguments being made, but even then he knew he words would be useless against the children. It wasn’t until Zak stepped in that he began to get really disturbed. The first point being that he couldn’t recognise the voice and yet he seemed to know Miller’s name. On top of that, he went so far as to speak to Miller directly to reassure his safety. In all honesty he felt even less safe. This must have been the person who was rummaging through his stuff the other day, a spy trying to use comfort as a weapon to get closer to him and bring him back to his creator. He wasn’t having any of that.

The Lon clones did as they were told and stepped away from Miller’s body, becoming more open to the idea of interrogation now that they seem to have everybody on their side. Except for the bird boy of course, but that was a minor setback. Not that interrogation wasn’t the original plan, but the addition of the flyer made it more reasonable for assurance of the blade guy not escaping. “Yeah, unless he runs into a narrow corridor…” one of them commented, though was swiftly given a tough nudge of an elbow to his side by another of his brethren clone. It was followed by a well-deserved “shut up.”

Then the attention of the conversation switched to how Lon ended up with the tablets, which was something he was much less confident talking about. Especially considering the last two elementals that were let loose. Also in hind sight ditching the tablets in a bush near the school wasn’t the smartest of ideas, but at the time he was just trying to get the things out of his hands as quickly as possible. It wasn’t until the day after that he thought about what would happen if those tablets got into the wrong hands and as stated before by the time he went to go correct his mistake they were already gone. “Well, we found them in the forest and then we took them back here because we knew a guy who could read them, he told me what they did and I threw them off the roof to get rid of them as quickly as possible” the boy answered in a rather quick tone. The other five nodded to confirm his answer.

“Well, no he wasn’t proven guilty, but-“ before Lon could finish his sentence, Miller’s skin reverted to its pale self and he immediately sprung to his feet. With his teeth chattering lightly he peered over to the elder boy immediately with his cold and deep black eyes in an attempt to recognise his face. Just like his voice though Miller didn’t notice anything familiar. Completely disregarding the boys since their level of threat just became lower than the man with the bird, Miller ran back up the stairs. With a mighty leapt he was able to jump over the one Lon that was in his direct path and fled from the scene as quickly as he could, shouting “Stay away from me whoever you are!” as he attempted to escape yet again.

“Oh sh- crap! He’s getting away!” with that, the group of Lons stampeded after him, continuing the cycle.

Ash felt so stupid when the guy with the bird spoke up. Why didn't she ask him before? Because she wasn't used to knowing people, so she didn't think if the boy knew the one being blamed. She looked down slightly, her feet shuffling. Then the boy thanked her and said not to worry about the group of twelve year-olds. She looked up, about to say something else, but she noticed where his attention was. He was looking at her wings. And, moreover, with a scientist's mind, a curious eye. The same look she got from the ones who created her. She had become afraid of that look, before it meant that she was going to be tested, to be hooked up to some machine. The thought itself had frightened her, and she took a step back. The expression on her face had showed a little fear at first, but then it left, soon being emotionless again. She glanced down at her backpack and mumbled, "It's fine."

She then listened to the boys talk, soon watching the rock-boy turn back into a flesh form. The boy looked at the other one around his age, then ran off, yelling to be left alone. Ash's eyebrows furrowed in confusion; this owl-boy knew him but the other didn't recognize him... Was that even possible? She didn't know. She then watched as the group of clones ran after him, up the stairs. Gosh, this was getting tiring. She thought for a moment, who should she stop? The boy with the blade or the younger ones who keep thinking he took some tablets, even with the other guy's comments? She sighed, the place where they put them was really stupid. Why in a bush right near the house? Anyone could have found them! Anyone walking by or clipping the stinkin' bush! She extended her wings, being careful not to hit the guy with the owl, and flapped them, flying up the stairs, and landing in front of the clones, her wings extended to their full length, fourteen feet. 

"Just leave him alone for now. It's not like he can go anywhere. You all live on an island, for goodness sakes." her voice was a little louder than usual, but still just above a whisper. "You can interrogate him later, if you want. And if you heard this guy's words, then you know that it is unlikely that the boy did it." She just wanted to find her bedroom and go to the sky. Extending her wings and using them for a short amount of time helped, but she was still feeling the need to go outside for a while. After a few minutes, she folded her wings back behind her, deciding that the boy with the blade had gotten enough space between him and these six. She then glanced back down at her backpack, making sure that it was still there and that no one had taken it. 

He gave the girl a slight, polite smile as his attention focused on her face and away from her wings, but it was interrupted quickly as Miller transformed back to flesh and they were all leapt over. He ducked as he was right next to one of the Lons, but the owl on his arm squawked and flapped its wings. It was so strange for Miller not to recognize him- sure, they weren't best friends or anything, and Zak was practically a hermit outside of classes, but at the least he'd helped the strange guy move a number of months ago. Plus, they'd lived down the hall from one another for a fairly long time. He watched as everyone else rushed up the stairs, then communicated to Mouse that he needed to go to the security office and get their attention before the owl flew off his arm behind the girl.

With a heaving sigh, Zak ran up the stairs as quickly as he could to see where this situation would go. He jolted to a stop as he reached the upper landing, finding all the clones halted by the girl's giant wings blocking the entire hall. What marvelous things they were! Zak had to stare in awe for a moment before the clones were brought back to his attention with her words. Hell, it wasn't like he hadn't seen students with wings before- there were enough people in Foresta that he felt like he'd seen everything- but it had been a long while since he was so close up to such gigantic specimens.

He coughed to grab everyone's attention before speaking. "Perhaps this issue would be best resolved by Academy Administration." He scanned over everyone's faces, then sighed. "Meaning, drop it for now and hope Miller doesn't do something stupid to hurt himself or these supposed... tablets or whatever." He thought for a moment, then added, "Oh, plus he lives down the hall from me, so I can go to his room and try to find him if all else fails." He opened his messenger bag and searched through it for a moment before finding his keychain, waving his green-topped room key at them. He also had the keys to a few of the science classrooms at the moment, but they didn't need to know that.

Miller continued to flee, no holding back and sprinting at his max speed. That wasn’t required for the gang of Lons, he already knew that he out speeded them significantly due to their huge differences in leg length. He needed to get out of sight of the bird boy as quickly as possible and find a new place to hide. The scientists already knew he was on this island, they were probably recruiting as many kids as possible to pose as student to bring him back to that laboratory or get a good sample off of him. Miller wasn’t going to let that happen. Anyone who knew him and he didn’t know himself was a threat at this point, no question about it.

Before he fled from the stairwell entirely he noticed the woman stopping the kids from pursuing him further. He didn’t know who she was, but he owed her big time for that one. Unless she turned out to be a spy as well. It was becoming so much harder to trust people these days. Too many potential spies.

Unfortunately, the Lons were cut off from their attempt at redemption and there was little they could do to stop it. The woman’s wings were probably quite fragile, but they weren’t going to go so far to break her wings in order to get what they wanted. Although two of the clones darted around to try and get past her mighty wall, like fizz trying to escape the bottleneck, but they didn’t have much luck. It wasn’t until she lowered them that the two swerved around and continued the chase despite the fact that Miller was more than likely long gone.

The other four shook their heads in disapproval in sync with one another. “Do you think they can catch him?” one of them whispered to the other. “Not a chance, but at least they’ll be tired when they come back.”

Three of the Lons nodded in agreement with the girl, but one of them had a bit of a curious face. “Wait, so you’re telling me you believe the words of the guy that the blade guy shouted at saying ‘stay away from me whoever you are’, but you don’t believe me when I say he’s a psychopath and he’s threatened to stab us with his blade arm thingy?”

“I thought he was shouting that at us?”

“Why would he say ‘whoever you are’ to us? He’s seen us plenty of times, he knows who we are. Even then I’m pretty sure he would use a plural form for us.”

“Yeah, I suppose that’s a good point.”

“Thank you.”

Their attention then turned to owl boy. The one who pretty much wrecked their chances at getting Miller to talk. He seemed to be keen on making sure that Lon didn’t do his duty and fix a problem he’s caused. Also a huge buzz kill. He supposed that did give them an arch-rival now, and all the cool superheroes had a reoccurring enemy, so Captain Buzz Kill would do quite nicely. “Take it from someone whose tried to confront him, he’ll probably run away as soon as you try to talk to him. Administration already has enough on their hands, we can handle this just fine. We’ve taken on a Spinebiter, this won’t be that hard.”

Ash listened to them all as they spoke, also watching two of the six run off. She sighed, listening to one of their questions. She didn't really believe anyone, she never has. "Actually, I don't believe any of you." she whispered, quieter than before. They probably couldn't even hear her, but she didn't care. She looked at the boy who had just recently stared at her wings in amazement. He dealt with birds before, so why stare at hers like it was something completely new? Maybe it was the size. It had to be. She glanced around, soon walking towards the stairs. She didn't want much to do about the situation anymore, at least for now. She just wanted to find the dorms and then go outside, stretch her wings more. Ash went to her backpack and picked it up, putting it over one shoulder, letting it hang from there. She didn't put it over both shoulders as it was obvious she had two large wings on her back. 

She then walked back up the stairs, stopping about seven feet behind the boy with the owl. She really needed to find her bedroom otherwise she wouldn't get as much time as she wanted outside. She didn't want to ask, but since she had already spoken to these boys, maybe she could get one of them to point her in the right direction. "Um... Since you don't need me for this situation anymore, could one of you tell me where the girl's Ruby dorms are?" she asked, her voice a whisper, her eyes looking down at the floor. She hated asking questions like these, but right now it was kind of needed. She squeezed a little on her backpack's shoulder strap, waiting for someone to tell her, if they did at all. Her wings ruffled slightly behind her back, probably telling her that she was nervous. 

Ashling looked up at the group of boys, wondering what they would reply to that. She hoped that they didn't send her off in the wrong direction, purposely or by accident. She shifted slightly on her feet and with her wings, anxious to get outside again. 

Zak froze up and shrugged as all eyes went to him, not accustomed to having so much attention. "Well, u-uhm, not to be condescending, but despite your numbers you guys are still a bit too young to handle this on your own." He bit his lip and then shrugged again, averting the many eyes. "Plus security should be here any minute to talk to you. Sorry, but it's a school matter now."

He wasn't really sorry. The clones irritated him, and the fact that no one seemed to trust him frustrated him. Not only was he typically a convincing person in general, but he was actually telling the truth! They had no reason not to trust him aside from the proclaimation that puzzled even him. "And look guys, I have no idea why Miller said that. I promise I know him! Maybe something's wrong with his brain. I don't know," he sighed, at the least trying to leave everyone with a better impression of his character.

"No matter, it's an issue the school needs to resolve, and I still highly reccomend you talk to security about things instead of taking them into your own hands. Okay?" He said his last words as the girl brushed past him back towards the staircase. He turned to face her as she quietly spoke, barely hearing her words.

"Uh, I'm sorry, uh-" Zak looked apologetic as he tried to process her words, then smacked himself on the head as he finally understood. "Oh, dorms! Please forgive me. They're upstairs, I can show you if you like. The school is essentially a big square in the upper levels, but it's still very easy to get lost." He smiled kindly, focusing on her instead of her wings for once. He then made an almost surprised expression. "Oh! Forgive me," he added, holding out his hand. "I hate to be so impolite. I'm Zakarie. You can call me Zak."