The Declaration

Claws of the Phoenix Chapter 1.1

Claws of the Phoenix Chapter 1.2

A faint stream of sunshine through a dusty window pane beside an old creaky bed crept its way to Kurt’s eyes slowly peering into his very soul which was then lost in sleep. Half asleep, he sat on a side of the bed facing the door which seems to be unusual to his sight for some reason, his dreamy thought perhaps, a delusion brought by his dinner of a small amount of air last night maybe, or somebody really is in there standing confidently while leaning on one side of the door jamb.

Kurt rubbed his eyes with his hands gently and slowly opened them. His eyes squinted in both surprise and inquiry, most of the latter really, as he clearly sees a woman directly staring back at him. Streaks of golden light made her blonde hair shine even more, her aqua blue eyes fixed on the guy’s with a look of nothingness, and her very position shows a commanding posture for her right foot was set heavily on the floor and the other was pushing against the side of the door.

As for her clothing, she looked so expensive with just her deep blue jeans revealing the form of her long legs and a pristine clean white tank top. She faced the guy who fell in awe rather than surprise and started to walk up to him. With a womanly voice of superiority she had spoken, “Rise up young man, for the time to slack is not now. To the others acquainted you shall be. Get up and in 10 minutes our departure is a must.”

Kurt dropped his jaw at the words the lady just said. With a confused tone, he asked, “Is it just me or the way you talk is just awkward? But it is interesting I must say. And hey! Why are you even here? What on earth are you doing in my room?”

“You have my thanks, my presence here is to wake you up and fetch you. No more questions I shall answer and you are coming with me at once. Or maybe you rather have a gun in your mouth than a toothbrush?” she replied with a mocking smile. “Outside the house, I will wait.” She remarked as she turned around and walked away.

   Kurt hopped in the car once again with Raven beside him. There is no place for any conversation with her on Kurt’s troubled mind so not a single word was spoken by either of them to the other. As they reached the headquarters Raven said

“Welcome back Phoenix.” Kurt still isn’t used to that and in his mind, he doesn’t wish to be accustomed to it in any way.

As they got out of the vehicle they passed Hawk along the way and saluted Raven with a vow of respect.

“Good morning Captain.”

Kurt entered the warehouse alongside the lady and 3 guys and 2 girls are waiting for them. In a synchronous manner, they all have spoken the same thing.

“Good morning Captain.”

Kurt finally had a chance to ask the question he had wanted to ask since they got there.

“Captain? So you run things around here?”

She replied with an air of accomplishment.

“Captain Elizabeth Walker at your service. Code name Raven. I worked under the secretary of defense and due to various circumstances, here I am heading another branch of the agency.”

He was caught in his deepest surprise on what he just heard, suddenly everything got real and he had at least an understanding of what he got himself into.

  Before Kurt realized anything more Elizabeth caught his attention as she motioned to the rest of the group.

“These are the remaining members of Aves Oculus, which you yourself is included. The best of the best is all we have here. From today onwards these are the guys you will count on. Have each others’ back, that’s what we are going to do. And as a team, we walk down to our goals.”

Kurt looked at each person with a long questioning stare.

“Now let me introduce them to you Kurt.”

The first he laid his eyes upon was a nerdy-looking boy, big round glasses covers his deeply sunken eyes; he was thin and almost sick in his appearance.

“This is George Moore aka Nightjar. He's got a wide array of extracting security diagrams and prints. He collects the data he wants like a bird sucking on a dead goat’s milk.”

“This cute kid here is Jane Ryders.”

Elizabeth said as she tapped a kid-like female from the line, she is a familiar face for Kurt for they met a day earlier. With one long look, you will be able to tell that the girl has a light and joyful personality. She’s got long brown hair which compliments her pair of big round beautiful eyes in the shades of scarlet and brown. Despite her kidlike appearance, she is a young adult almost the same age as Kurt.

“As you might now know, this is The Hummingbird. She gets through to the smallest loopholes of security systems and makes a buzz within for us to breakthrough.”

Jane burst into a happy tone and exclaimed

“Hi Phoenix! How are you? Let’s play some RPG!”

“Behave Jane!” said the lady next in line.

She’s got her hair covering half of her face. Not a single emotion on her face but indifference. Dark lips, dark eyes, and a slim body. She is covered by not a single color aside from black. With shame in her voice, she said while looking the other way,

“You should stop playing games Jane, you are always playing.”

Elizabeth wrapped her arms around the shy lady and remarked,

“Meet Amy Baker. Plover is what we call her. Always full of surprises, this girl. This thing I shall tell you, Kurt, eyes may fool you but your heart may not. Prejudice is what you should always avoid. Amy specializes in honeypots and all those sorts of traps. Aware, let yourself be, for you might fall into her too. Or for her?”

Series    : Claws of the Phoenix
Episode   : 003
Title     : The Declaration
Published : 30-Aug-2021
Author :  © RB 

Lead image : howtogeek