Chapter 6

Enter Thursday, April 6th, 2011, the fourth day of the overly eventful week that has changed both the forest and human worlds of Rio. Today was the day where the two would come together again for the first time in quite some time; a blink of an eye for some, but an entire lifetime for others.

As usual, the Hyacinths were up early. Though there was something different about the night before than most others: none of them slept all night. Despite their desire to get good rest day in and day out, the night before was different. Their minds raced, thinking about what the next day had in store for them. Compare it to the like of a child getting restless the night before Christmas: tossing and turning in bed trying to sleep, but with a mind racing on the thoughts of presents the next day, the efforts are fruitless.

At roughly 6:30 that morning, an unlikely bird broke the silence of his friends.

"Shouldn't we be getting a move on?" Kepler looked around and peered at his lethargic friends.

"Diego," Newton snapped back at him. "Keep your mouth shut. You're gonna hurt yourself even more."

"I swear to you, my lower jaw is feeling a lot better today. Maybe just a little pain, but not much."

"A little pain is still pain!" Newton got up and stood over him. "You need to set your priorities straight and focus on getting better!"

Kepler got up and got right into Newton's face, obviously annoyed. "Oh alright, so you're my mother now, Lucas? Shut your whiny trap and get everyone up. I've been silent for the majority of the past two days, and it's time for me to take control as the rightful leader of this group again. Thanks for your service, you yuppie. And don't talk to me like that again."

Newton realized what he had done, and he quietly sat back down in the nest. "Right. You two, get up."

Einstein and Plato rolled over and sat up straight.

"We've only got a few minutes," Kepler announced. "Now I suggest that we'd better get moving. We've got an obligation to fill."

His friends agreed and took a trip down to a small pool of water to wash off. Kepler followed, and they dove right in to cleanse themselves for whatever may come that day. Once the four of them were finished, they set course for Blu's nest.

As they arrived, they noticed Blu already out and about, standing in his doorway.

"Hey," Kepler whispered to him. Blu looked up and noticed them.

"Kepler?" Blu was confused. "I thought you're not supposed to be talking."

"I feel good to go today, my friend." Kepler smiled. "Come on, we've got things to do."

Blu nodded and took off from his nest. The rest of his family was still huddled together in a deep sleep.

The air in Rio that morning was fresh and humid. Dew was scattered amongst the leaves and flowers of the plants of the forest. The sun was making its way up and over the mountains on the eastern side of the horizon, and the first few rays were gleaming off of the buildings upon the beaches.

As the group of birds passed over the city, the gracious leader of the pack thought of nothing but his partner in crime; the companion whom he missed with every fiber of his being, the feelings of separation tortuously stabbing at him like that of the sharpest dagger. Though he didn't know for sure that his friend would be there, a raging feeling inside him was hell-bent on believing every last letter of what over 30 years ago was the furthest thought in his mind: Alexandre was coming home.

The group made it to the front of the apartment and library and descended to the street, landing on the same windowsill as the day before. Staring inside, Blu noticed Tulio gathering some materials. With the slightest of movements, Blu tapped the window to get the attention of Tulio. Tulio responded, looking over and smiling at his avian acquaintance. He walked to the door and opened it, looking at Blu and his company.

"I can see you accepted my offer," Tulio spoke to Blu, who nodded. "Your friends are going to appreciate what's going to happen here. I promise you, this is going to be magical."

The Hyacinths were humbled by this statement. They stood in complete silence with smiles on their faces. They knew.

A couple of minutes later, the sounds of air bouncing off of buildings on the thin city street rang through the alleyway. To Blu, it meant only one thing: car tires. Sure enough, at the end of the street, black sedans and SUV's were seen, followed by a light armor humvee. The convoy crept up the street in ominous power, signaling that whatever it contained was beyond top priority. Soon enough, the lead car stopped in front of the library. The windows were all tinted a pitch black; nothing could be seen. There was silence other than the light puttering of idling engines.

At last, the engines shut off, and the front passenger side door of the lead car opened, with none other than Billy emerging from its secretive interior. With a proud smile on his face, Billy shook Tulio's hand and gazed at the Hyacinths in amazement. The Hyacinths stared in the same manner back, captivated.

The back left door of the lead car opened, revealing Connor. He walked to the other side of the car and opened the door. From out of the darkness inside, he helped another older gentleman out of the car. His face was badly wrinkled from years of pain and stress. A massive grey mustache protruded from his upper lip, gleaming, hazy eyes gazing upon Tulio. Tulio knew the man from the pictures.

He was Chris Hawkins, the third and final member of the original trio that landed in Rio over 40 years earlier. All the surviving members and next of kin were in the same place for the first time in over 3 decades, as well. There was still nothing to break the silence until Billy spoke.

"Mr. Monteiro," Billy turned his arm towards the old man. "I'd like you to meet Retired Army Ranger Sergeant Chris Hawkins. He's been looking forward to meeting you after all this time."

Tulio moved forward in the midst of this bittersweet moment and shook the hand of the man who held so many secrets.

"A…" Chris began slowly, looking into Tulio's eyes. "A…a man of his word."

Tulio didn't understand. "I'm not exactly sure what you mean," Tulio gazed back, unsure of what would happen.

"Your father…" He smiled meekly. "Your father is a man of his word. Thirty…thirty two years was it? Yes…thirty two years ago. Your father…he promised us he would come to…to meet us once more. And he was right!"

"I think you are mistaking me for my father. I am Francisco's son, Tulio."

"Doesn't matter…" Chris reasoned, speaking slowly but clearly. "You are…the spirit of your father. And so he is here, with you…at this very moment."

Tulio smiled and started to tear up thinking about his father. He was overcome with emotion and hugged Chris. Chris smiled and placed his open arm around Tulio. His other arm held a cane that kept him standing up. Billy and Connor nodded to each other.

"Chris has someone accompanying him that you may want to see," Billy looked over at the Hyacinths on the windowsill and walked over to them. They stared up at him humbly and remembered the past. "None of you have changed a bit."

Billy laughed and walked back over towards the cars. Tulio had broken off the hug and was wiping his tears with his shirt.

"I have something you'd probably like to see." Billy walked back to the third vehicle in the row: a black SUV. Opening the tailgate, Billy grabbed a large square object covered by a grey tarp. The object rattled underneath the covering as he carried it with two hands back over to the macaws. "Tulio, a small table for this would be appreciated."

"Sure," Tulio agreed and walked back inside to grab a folding table, which he quickly brought back outside and set up. Billy placed the square object down onto the table. The Hyacinths and Blu hopped over onto the table and surrounded the box-like structure.

Bill spoke on behalf of the object to everyone, including the birds. "This box contains something the likes of which has never been seen before, and probably will never be seen again. This box contains a creature, a creature that has endured years of constant surveillance and guarding to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. Originally, this creature was a full living being, like all of the creatures on God's great planet. But after a life changing event, this creature barely survived, managing to hold on for dear life as it was brought thousands of miles away from its homeland to be honored and saved.

"Through millions of dollars of private charity over the past 32 years, this creature has had a second chance at life. Though it may still live, it will never look or be the same ever again. What you're about to see, humans and birds alike, may surprise and shock you. It may startle you. But I assure you that its contents are completely and utterly safe. He hopes that you will have mercy on him as he adjusts back to the life he once lived every day. My friends, I give you Da Vinci."

Billy ripped the tarp from the square, revealing a large metal cage containing one of the strangest sights in the entire world. Every human's and bird's jaw dropped as the bird known as Da Vinci displayed his true colors. The vast majority of him was blue; the same blue as the Hyacinths. His right wing was completely normal and intact. His left wing and rear feathers, however, were of something from another world. Three quarters of his left wing was a strange metallic color, in a perfect shape mirroring his right wing, yet it was not blue. It was metallic, as if it was made of metal, or the reflective material of a mirror.

His right wing shielded his face and head, but he soon moved it out of the way, staring directly into the eyes of Kepler. His right eye was perfectly fine, a cool shade of brown. His left eye, however, reflected the looks of a small camera lens surrounded by metallic materials. There was a brown ring around the camera-lens-like object that was meant to mirror the color of his natural eye. His upper beak was again made of this metallic material, with his bottom beak the same natural beak any bird would have. The top of his head was half feathered, and half covered in a metallic cap, covered in small metallic feathers of the same size as the real ones. Along his body were straps. Attached to these straps was a strange multi-dialed device in the shape of a small cylinder. In short, this "bird" was a hideous robot-like substitute.

Tulio's eyes widened as far as they could go, fixed on Da Vinci. His jaw dropped to the ground. What he was seeing was something from science fiction: a nearly dead animal brought forth from the dead by humans, able to live life as it once did. In all of his life's work, he had never quite seen anything of the sort. That was, of course, due in part to the difference in funding between his agency and the top secret U.S. government project. All of his life's work had not come close to preparing him for what was in front of him.

Nearby, a completely different reaction came from the birds, especially the Hyacinths. Einstein and Plato were awestruck and smiling at their old friend. Newton stood in content, appearing professional and resolute. Looking closely, however, one would see that he was slightly freaked out and disappointed. On Kepler's face, one would find the greatest of deviation from normality and peace, for he could not contain the emotions that he been built up inside of him for so long, with every brutal memory flashing before him. Tears dripped from his beak and trickled down his neck. The old man was such a mess, one may mistake him for a toddler who had just scraped his knee. True proof that these birds maintained the mental spirit of children was overwhelmingly evident.

Seeing what he had done to his lifelong partner in crime, Da Vinci looked down and away from Kepler, angry with himself and with the former.

Bill moved and placed a hand on Tulio's shoulder. "He needs to be kept secure and under constant watch. I am hoping that he can confide in you and you will allow him to stay here in your facility."

"Of course," Tulio nodded. "Whatever he needs. Is he comfortable like that? Does he suffer?"

"As far as we've been able to conclude, Da Vinci experiences no pain, and can still undergo cognitive thought. His voicebox was saved, so communication is no problem. He just hasn't wanted to open his mouth yet. His right eye and wing are the primarly damaged areas of his body. Though he cannot feel those metallic areas, they are attached to muscles and synthetic tendons and ligaments, so they have full natural motion. His eye is the work of an amazing piece of technology. His original eye was partially damaged, but the optic nerve was perfectly safe. We had to devise a way to develop an array of artificial light sensors to replace them. He cannot go out at night because he has no rod cells in his right eye; he's practically blind. The metallic color of his prosthetic exterior is not entirely complete. We're fashioning a blue dye to match his natural color. It's going to be applied to him tonight, so we'll need you to keep him here just for today. His diet is typical of a tropical bird. I'm sure you know how to keep his nutrition top-notch."

Tulio was in his element. He smiled. "What will become of the office? Have you decided what you are going to do?"

"In this entourage of mine are Special Forces and bomb experts from the United States military," Bill explained, "as well as other CIA operatives and criminalists. They're going to run preliminary checks from the building's exterior to look for concentrations of a chemical known as RDX. It's the explosive used in the C4 stolen from the police station in 1995. If the concentration reaches the point of detection on the scanners, there is no doubt that the building is rigged to explode.

"If that is so, a secondary protocol is going to be put into place. Assuming that all 900 pounds of C4 stolen are rigged to the building, a 10-block radius is to be cleared in the city. Under normal circumstances, the local police department would handle this. However, there is no telling as to who we can trust from that department. Some may be working with Andre, so we can't chance that. We have our best men on this. Your city and its citizens will be safe."

"I have my whole trust in you, Bill. Do what you have to do. I'll take care of Da Vinci."

"Just remember. He doesn't respond to Da Vinci anymore, so don't think you're going to talk to him if you keep using it. He's a stubborn type, but give him what he wants, and he'll reward you. As for Sergeant Hawkins, he's going to be boarding a flight with some American advisors to Brasilia. He'll be staying there for the duration of his time in Brazil. We'll speaking to you very soon regarding the attempt to have Da Vinci talk to Chris If you need anything, just give me a call. You know what to do."

Tulio shook his hand. "Good luck. Stay safe."

Bill nodded, and the group of men piled back into their vehicles. Tulio watched as they started up and pulled away down the one-way street. Left in the street were Tulio, the table containing Da Vinci in a cage, Blu, and the Hyacinths. Tulio turned and faced the group of birds, who stood silent and attentive in the early morning solitude.

"I'm going to take Leo inside," Tulio announced, looking quickly at the cage. To his amazement, Da Vinci no longer hid his face from anyone. He glared up at Tulio and nodded in approval before turning to his friends, smirking.

Grabbing the cage with two hands, Tulio moved back through the open door and placed the cage on another table inside the library's quiet study area. Blu and the rest of the Hyacinths filed in, their eyes fixed on Da Vinci.

"Everyone behave now," Tulio cautioned the birds with a whisper. "Don't do anything stupid. I'm going back upstairs to my apartment. Please keep quiet. If you leave, shut the window please. Blu, you know how I like things."

Blu smiled and nodded.

"Take care everyone." Tulio let off a quick wave before yawning and heading upstairs, closing the door behind him.

"So," Kepler spoke quietly to Da Vinci with a half-smile on his face. He walked up close to the bars of the cage. "Welcome back, Alex."

I cannot explain what it took to cut the story off there. I really wanted to give you guys the conversation with Leo, but I've decided that I want to complete it and make it a chapter itself. It has much more significance that way. Most of you are probably in disbelief that this chapter even came to be, but I'll be honest with you all: most of it has been written for some time. When I saw that I haven't updated since Rio 2 came out (roughly), I felt a little disappointed in myself, and I feel as though I've let many of you down. Once upon a time, I had so much writing left in me. But life took that time and motivation away from me, and I feel as though I owe you all an apology.

Do not take this as a sign of me being done forever. Hell, I've never been done forever! I'll still speak to people and get in discussions with others on the forums, and anyone is free to message me whenever they want; I'll get back as soon as time allows. Until then, I hope you all enjoy this small segment of what's to come. There is so much open road left in front of us!