[Issue 11] Eagle Eye

[Narrator]

When Ryan finally came to, several things would be evident.

It was morning, the light filtering through the still-thick fog.

He was in what for all the world looked like a tree-stand, lashed together primitively. In one of the timbers a hunting knife was stuck, holding a piece of paper in place as it flapped in the wind.

His shirt had been removed at some point while he was out, and the wounds on his back had been bandaged in a wrap that wound its way around his chest. Under the bandage on his back, something itched but surprisingly little hurt.

And finally, what he noticed was that everything he saw was tinged faintly with a glow not that unlike what it looked like when he saw lifeforces. Perhaps even more extraordinary, he saw this almost as an afterimage even on things he couldn't quite see...

...such as the animals scurrying on the forest floor, otherwise obscured by the fog.

[Ryan Gabriel]

"Hope someone got the plates of that truck," Ryan muttered, taking stock of his situation. He checked for the collar, first, then pulled the hunting knife out to pick up the paper and see what it said.

[Narrator]

The collar was still present, as it had been before.

As for the note it was handwritten, in somewhat eccentric penmanship.

You took them all on.

BRAVO.

[Ryan Gabriel]

Well what the fuck does that mean, Ryan thought irritably. He was frustrated... and he took that frustration out on what was probably the most irritating bit of all of this at the moment. He felt the collar, trying to determine how it was stuck on him, how it was locked, what it was made of... whatever he could tell from it.

[Narrator]

There didn't seem to be any sort of buckle or latch to it. The strap felt like some sort of woven synthetic fiber, though some cold spots as he touched it made it evident there was some metal woven into it as well. The strap was continuous around his neck, until it disappeared under the module in the front. Presumably the module was the key to releasing it, but if the Vulture was correct it also had any number of nasty surprises in it.

[Ryan Gabriel]

Ryan hefted the knife... then growled as he let out a continuous pulse of energy to knock out whatever equipment was in the device on the collar.

[Narrator]

The collar reacted rather unpleasantly to that, delivering a nasty electrical shock.

[Ryan Gabriel]

"DAMN it!" Ryan gasped, not quite knowing what to make of this, but too pissed off to think straight for a moment.He lit up like a lightbulb to kill the pain then did it again, focusing his energy into the device and trying to just grit his teeth and take the shock until the thing went on the fritz.

[Narrator]

And the thing went off again, a sharper shock this time, with a faint smell of ozone following. It seemed to go off well before his power could disrupt its workings, and though he'd dulled the pain, the actual electrical shock interrupted his glow.

Underneath his bandages began to itch more, as the shock faded.

[Ryan Gabriel]

"God damn it," Ryan muttered. Tentatively he gaves his wings a test flap, and if they seemed to be in working order, he would take off, taking to the sky to try to get a look at the area.

[Narrator]

In the sunlight, even with the fog, it was apparent they were in a natural gully, with crags and cliffsides around the edges. A break in the trees seemed to indicate a creek wound through it, though beneath the treetops the fog obscured much below.

It felt good up here, or perhaps it just felt good to fly. His bandages chafed a bit, but they didn't impair his wings. As hard as it was to see through the fog below, he did potentially have other options.

[Ryan Gabriel]

Ryan first checked the lay of the land, trying to get a rough idea where north was from the sun. he knew it was a long shot to have any idea where he was, but it was worth a little bit of a try at least. Then he scanned the forest below, trying to 'see' the larger lifeforms (like, say, any humans or human-sized creatures that might be around in the forest)

[Narrator]

Along the creek, he saw one fairly large lifeform in it, and another walking alongside. Circling around them in the trees, he saw another. By how fast that one was moving relative to the terrain, it seemed likely it was flying or gliding.

Further up the creek, he saw another lifeform that, while not moving, was certainly bright. In the prime of health. Not far from that one, another was pacing, or poking around. Retreating from those two was a larger lifeform, barreling away from them.

Isolated from those, were three other lifeforms that were apparently on their own. One was near the ridge, another much further down the creek, and the third was on the move not far from where the tree stand was.

[Ryan Gabriel]

All right... flying one is kind of obvious. Might be worth seeing what Vulture's up to... he's just a guy with a flying suit, he might still be sane. One in the river's obvious, too... is she being stalked? Damn, that might not be good. Better check that out.

Let's see... Chloe, Kay, Vulture, Grizzly, Steph, John, Professor Weaver (god damn, am I dropping her class so hard), Rhino... is that it? Yeah. So why do I see too many people. Let's see... those are my suspects there, there, and there. But first... better make sure things are all right there...

Angling around, he swooped toward the form he saw in the river, ready for anything. Not going to get sucker-punched this time.

[Narrator]

The gliding presence that he had seen tailing those two peeled off from its pursuit as he approached them.