Chapter 2

The suitcases were packed for Antarctica. We were dressed appropriately for the cold weather. It would take about twelve hours to get there by plane. The guns we personally owned were in our boot holsters and the extra guns were in our backpacks. Blade had his knives attached to his belts; notice the plural 'belts'! Shadow, against my wishes, had her briefcase and tool belt filled with vials, poisons and syringes. We all had bullet-proof vests on, a lesson learnt from our poor Angel. Thunder and I each had our small daggers in our other boots, they were our favourite and given to us after we completed our twenty fifth mission. This, if completed, would have been Thunder and mine's thirty third mission. Lucky us!

We had to walk to the airfield, we were trying to save up for a holiday and besides we all loved exercise, note the sarcasm. It took us a good forty five minutes. It was a private jet. As soon as we got onboard I was in heaven, quite literally. There were four soft, comfortable beds, an HD Television, lush sofas, a mini bar fully stocked with drinks, a fridge freezer packed full with lots of food and… save the best until last… ICE CREAM!

Thunder collapsed onto one of the large, plush sofas soon after take off and he pulled me down too, on top of him. For once I felt totally relaxed. I lay down over Thunder and stretched out on the entire sofa. Then I curled up back into his chest, he was lovely and warm. Blade was busy rifling through his suitcase for his stupid Samurai sword because they just had to put a special practice room onboard my heaven! Shadow was… somewhere; I hardly ever knew that girl was, I guess she must have been still pretty upset about Angel. I, however, was just trying to move on and keep us motivated, finally living up to my leader role.

As we were going over Mexico, Blade returned with his sword and repacked his suitcase, picking up all the clothes that had been discarded all over the aeroplane. Shadow, I now knew where she was, started watching 'Saw IV', trust her to watch that sort of movie on our lovely cinema system. Thunder and I went to play one of the games in the onboard arcade. We finally decided on 'Time Crisis Four'. We played against each other, testing our attack and defence skills to the limit. I won everytime. After I had gloated, Thunder knocked my feet out from underneath me, swept me up into his arms and carried me bridal style. Thunder carried me back into the room with the beds. We passed the big lovely ice cream fridge, so I reached out to get some but Thunder carried on walking, ignoring my ice cream pleas. I pouted as soon as he laid me down on the bed.

'Want ice cream!' I complained, sticking out my bottom lip like a spoilt five year old.

'No, it's bed time,' Thunder replied stubbornly slapping my hand. I pretended to cry. Thunder shut the curtains and walked out, slamming the door behind him. I huffed and got out of the nice, snugly bed in the name of ice cream. I ran to the little kitchen. I saw the coast was clear and opened the freezer door. To my surprise, it was completely empty.

'Thunder!' I hissed under my breath.

'Looking for something?' a cocky voice piped up from behind me. I stood up and straightened out my jeans, composed myself and turned around.

'Nah!' I replied walking past and grabbing a pot of Cookie Dough from his arms, which were filled with the ice cream pots. A low growl erupted from his chest; I smirked satisfied and walked towards the TV room, flopping down on the sofa, heavily. Thunder still grumbling sat down beside me with his arms crossed. He switched channels on the TV until we were watching re-runs of 'Friends', it was our favourite show. I could not stop laughing the whole way through, this really got on Thunder's wick. Eventually he wrestled me to the floor and straddled me. He leant over until his nose was touching my own. That shut me up!

'Madam, I have a problem,' he whispered huskily.

'Well go on then…' I managed to reply, playing along, although my heart was practically jumping out of my chest.

'You see I need a break and well you are the only one who can grant it and give it to me!' he muttered, his nose brushing the length of my jaw. It made me shiver.

'Granted!' I managed to choke out. Then he kissed me with such fiery passion that I forgot to breathe and promptly passed out!

I felt like I was being prodded continuously but eventually I got so used to it that, it made me get bored but I still could not open my eyelids, they were heavy, so I eventually gave up and let the darkness consume me.

I finally opened my eyes. Thunder's worried face filled my misty view. I blinked a few times to clear my vision. Then I sat up and looked at my watch. It was about four and we had landed. I stood up, grabbed my backpack and suitcase and walked off the plane, leaving the others opened mouthed behind me. I knew I'd been out for ages but it hadn't seemed to affect me. I heard no movement and so I poked my head back around the door.

'Let's go then!' I shouted confidently, breaking their zoned out gazes. Needless to say, there was then I lot of shuffling and mumbling in disbelief. Thunder came after me looking guilty.

'I'd blame you if it weren't for your excellent kissing abilities!' I whispered just for him. He came up and wrapped an arm around my waist and kissed my hair.

It was FREEZING! We were glad to get to the Headquarters of our clients: Itex. We were shown to our rooms and given some time to unpack our things.

'Home, sweet, home!' Blade muttered sarcastically as we took in the glare of the white room we had been given.

'Just get unpacked,' I said icily as I put my bag on my assigned bed. It even had my name on it!

'This is lovely!' Thunder muttered from the other side of the room. Shadow tutted.

'Be glad, we are not outside,' she said. I agreed and we all started unpacking in silence. The only colour in the room was us! It gave the room a sort of cold, laboratory feel. I shivered. Thunder sidled over to me and gave me a hug rubbing my arms, producing friction. I leant against him, savouring his scent. It really warmed me up. There was a nice clear space on the floor for some ideal planning, I thought. So I sidled over there and sat down, Blade came over and sat on my lap. Shadow also came over and sat next to me. Thunder knowing exactly what I was thinking brought over a copy of the mission and took his place next to me. I spread the papers around the floor with Blade's help.

'Ok, so they will try to blow this place up when they get the chance, as they have two bomb experts but their leader, Max, that's a girl by the way, is completely against guns, so we have an advantage there,' I began.

'They are some of the best fighters ever,' Thunder said before slipping up by saying, 'They've killed everyone and thing they have been put up against so far!' Blade raised his hand and I nodded.

'Do we have any chance?' he asked, I put my head in my hands and then whacked him upside the head.

'Yes, we're also the best there is, apart from the small factor of wings. For this mission and for ever after we will,' I took a deep breath, 'have wings!' I finished, Blade and Shadow's mouths dropped open.

'Yeah, we're going for wing implanting surgery in T minus about two hours,' Thunder put in.

'Wing Implanting Surgery, you mean they're going to attach them to our backs?!' Blade exclaimed sounded scared and excited at the same time.

'Yes and we will get more information on the mission and also more fighting skills,' I replied happily.

'We don't need any more fighting skills!' Blade complained.

'In that case try and beat me,' Shadow challenged. They both stood and glared at each other. Shadow won and Blade accepted the challenge. Now I was worried.

'No weapons!' I ordered, 'Take them off.' Shadow and Blade both grumbled put obliged. They took of their belts, guns out of boots, coats off, swords out of harnesses, poisonous injections out of pockets, finally they were down to their Lycra suits and ready to fight.

'In 3… 2… 1… Go!' Thunder shouted. Blade was quick to slam his fist into Shadow's gut but Shadow was quicker. Too soon she had Blade in a headlock, out of kicking range.

'No fair!' Blade sulked frustrated from trying to kick out of Shadow's grip.

'Sorry,' Shadow replied putting him back on the ground. They started putting their gear back on, when there was a knock at the door. Thunder collected the papers and dumped them under his pillow. Shadow and Blade put their things back on much quicker. And me, well I just sauntered over to the door and opened it. An older woman with grey hair and a lab coat stood there, brandishing a clipboard. Her glasses were half way down her nose. Her lips were pursed together and her eyes showed no nonsense.

'Now, children, take off all your weaponry and put it on your beds, only wear your Lycra undergarments and the gowns in the wardrobe,' she sounded strict. 'I will be back in five minutes!' With that she shut the door and seemingly walked off. We hurried to get ourselves ready. In less than a minute we were done.

'Guys, listen up, in case we don't see each other for a bit, I love you all!' I whispered and kissed the youngest twos' foreheads. I turned to Thunder,

'I love you as well!' I whispered. Thunder kissed me rather urgently. I kissed back the same, this would be the last time I would taste him in a long time. His tongue ran across my bottom lip and I granted entrance. His hand pressed against my back and he angled his head to kiss me better. We fell back onto the bed but this was the last we'd see of each other for hours and so they other two left us to it. Thunder ran his hand down my leg to my knee. My breath caught in my throat. He curled his fingers around my thigh and hitched it around his waist. Unfortunately that was when the old lady decided to interrupt us.

Blade rushed over to open it. Thunder and I stood up and brushed ourselves off. I quickly fixed my hair.

'Good,' the lady said, 'Follow me.' We followed obediently. We were commanded to lie on one of the beds each and on our fronts. We did do and were automatically strapped in to them. Great, no way out of this one, I thought desperately. Suddenly a needle pricked my arm. I felt very sleepy and soon drifted off.

I woke to a very bright light. I blinked and then a face clouded my vision. I tried to sit up but I couldn't find the energy. The person I had seen helped me up. My eyesight was still very weak but it was beginning to adjust. Finally I could see and Thunder was staring at me.

'Good, you're awake,' he said relieved, he kissed my lips, I savoured the taste, then he took my hand. My back started aching and felt rather heavier than before. I reached back to scratch my back but instead I felt feathers. I retracted my hand and pulled away from Thunder, my eyes wide. Blade and Shadow came over carrying a mirror together. I turned around and pulled up my gown. I gasped completely shocked. I should have known but it still did not seem real. Thunder gently pulled at a feather and they extended automatically. I beat them back and forth, still shocked that they were under my control. I was utterly speechless. I had wings!