Chapter 12

Aviarius (The Beginning Of The End, Part 4)

The Go Jet was parked in a small valley in the mountains, near Go City.
„So, this is our plan,“ said Hego. „We walk right through the front door. And then we'll see what's gonna happen.“
„We should have prepared better,“ remarked Mego.
Shego asked: „Through the front door? Shouldn't we at least sneak in somewhere? Like a ventilating shaft or even just a window in the basement?“
„No, no, no, he's expecting that! But why should anyone expect his attackers to come through the front door?“
His brothers agreed with Hego.
„Okay,“ sighed Shego, „it's a weird logic, but it is a logic. Could work.“
„No sis,“ said Hego and held his hand slightly outstretched in front of him, „it will work! Time for some go-operation.“
Mego asked: „What's with your hand?“
„You should put your hands on it, one after another. As a team ceremony. Like a football team.“
The twins put their hands on his first. Then Mego and then the twins again.
„Cut that crap,“ hissed Shego and when the twins' clones were gone, she put her hand to the others.
Hego called a long drawn out „Gooooooo, Team Goooooo!“, when he resolved the pile of hands, but except for the twins, the siblings were silent.
„Couldn't you come up with something better?“ asked Mego.
„And we should be quiet as well,“ added his sister.
„Okay, you are right. From now on, Shushhh. But I like 'Go Team Go'. Let's go to the front door.“

„So we snuck to the front door, to put Hego's brillant plan into practice. It took less than one minute, till we found ourselves trapped in a giant birdcage.“

„Well, that was unexpected,“ sighed Hego.
Shego tried, unfortunately without effect, to cause some damage on the stanchions.
„I don't know,“ said she, „one part of me expected something like that. Although not so quick.“
Mego turned to the twins.
„Don't worry, you two. I'm here with you. The others too.“
„We are...“ „...not scared.“
„This is a cool adventure.“
„Yeah, an adventure.“
Hego smiled.
„I love these two. Even in the greatest danger, they stay optimistic.“
„How about some less I-love-you, and some more I-wanna-get-out-of-here?“ growled Shego and rattled at the stanchions.
All of a sudden the floor of the cage opened and Team Go fell loudly, screaming into a deep hole, which led them to a wild interwined slide.
The glissade ended, as surprising as it started, in a deep dark room. The only light came from a searchlight above them, in the area in which Team Go landed. Everything outside this spot was black.
Shego got up slowly and rubbed his hurting behind.
„Let's see, what happens next,“ she asked into the room.
„Agaaaaaiiiiin!“ The twins jumped up and down and shouted.
Mego stretched his head into the dark.
Under all these retching noises he made there, one could hear a „Please not“.
„I thought that someone like you wouldn't be so sensitive,“ said Hego to his brother, when he helped him to get up.
„Hey, a slide is not a car. If we went through all these curves with a car, I would be as happy as the twins right now.“
Suddenly a door seemed to open in the dark. The slender strip of light came from the door, becoming wider, and right in the middle of it emerged a strange creature. Because of the conditions of illumination, it wasn't clear to see if it was a human being or a bird. The feathers could have been part of his clothes and the beak could just have been a huge nose.
„Ha ha,“ laughed the shadow, and clarified clearly that he was human. „I never thought that Team Go would fall into Aviarius' trap that easy!“
It was Hego who asked first. „Who is Aviarius?“
„Me! I am Aviarius! The dark lord of the bird world. Prepare yourself for my wrath!“
„And when is your wrath going to hit us?“ asked Mego.
„Right now!“
A bright light illuminated the room and Team Go noticed that they were surrounded by hundreds, maybe even thousands of sparrows. Shego touched Hego's shoulder nervously. It was one of the few moments, in which she really seemed to be scared.
„Do you... have a plan?“ she asked.
„At first I would say we flail like little scared schoolgirls. But not too hard. These birds are lifeforms, too.“
„Lifeforms, that wanna kill us!“
„Anyway, superheroes don't kill and hurt, they save!“
„So it would be better if a superhero would come and save us, am I seeing this right?“
Aviarus raised his hands demonstrative and yelled. „Sparrows of death, atta...tell me, did anyone of you throw up?“
Mego lifted his hand.
„Yes, sorry, that was me. I didn't feel well after your slide.“
„Disgusting. You die last! Somebody has to clean up this mess. Sparrows of death, Attack!“
The sparrows attacked, as their masters commanded them.

„It was much worse than a few hours ago at the parade. There, the sparrows were supposed to cause chaos for hundreds of people. Here, they should bring five human lifes to an end.“

The heroes tried to fight, and here and there they managed to hit a bird, but their feathered enemies seemed to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time. They picked with their little beaks, their attacks on their victims quick, and disappeared immediately after. Only because of the sparrows' minimal size had Team Go escaped serious injury so far.

„The sparrows made me angry. Really angry! But Hego was worse, because under all that noise that the birds made, he shouted all the time 'Don't harm the birds! They are victims too!' But when one of them got caught up in my hair, the fuse was finally burnt off.“

Shego grabbed the sparrow and ripped it, together with some of her hairs, from her head. When she held it in her hand, she closed her fist so tightly, the the bird's head fell off – and lots of tiny screws, springs and rack-wheels appeared.

„In that moment I didn't know what scared me the most. That a bird's head can fall off if you squeeze his body hard enough or that it wasn't a real bird. And somehow...somehow I was a little bit scared of myself too. But in the end, it was a relief that we were finally allowed to fight the sparrows.“

„They are not real!“ called Shego and held the headless bird out showing her brothers the mechanical components protruding from it’s belly.
It was easy to see Hego's impression, he needed one or two seconds to understand the meaning of what he just saw.
But when his face turned from sheer horror to a smile, he shouted out loud „Team Go! Attack!“ and hit five birds at once.
His siblings did like him and used their powers. Shego jumped, hit and kicked in all directions. None of her attacks went awry. When Mego tried to toss as many birds as possible to the floor and step on them, he shrunk enough that he could jump on a bird's back and navigate it with pointedly tearing and pulling on its wings. Riding one of the machanical birds, he focused on causing chain-reaction collosions. The twins multiplied themelves four or five times and hit and stomped on the feathered enemies, too.
When the floor was, a few minutes later, covered with feathers and parts of fine mechanical components (and one puddle of vomit), the Team turned towards the initiator of this devilry.
„And? That was all?“ asked Hego, posing himself threatingenly in front of Aviarius.
The birdman stuttered nervously. „Uhm, y-yes. Tha-that...was all. I th-thought that would be...enough. I n-n-never had to deal with s-superheroes before. It was the first time! And...now I realize why so many people told me to leave the room, while you are fighting for your lives.“
Hego lifted his enemy up on his collar. „Looks like this birdie is going back to his cage.“
„Oh, tee hee, that was a good one,“ said Aviarius with a painful smile. „A little bit obvious, but good.“
„Thank you.“
„What about the money?“ called Shego. „Y'know, that he stole today.“
„The police will attach it as evidence.“
„I know, but if he tells us know where it is, the police don't have to search for it.“
„Good thought, sister. So where is it?“
Aviarius sighed.
„Keep straight on, then to the left. Third door. 'Money Room' is written on it. There is everything that I stole. At least the part, that I haven't spent yet.“
Shego walked on with an innocent smile.
„I’m gonna look, see if he told the truth.“

„I could feel a reproachful look from Mego on my back. He knew what I was going to do, but he never told anyone. The whole family-solidarity-things, that Hego always talked about, seemed to mean something to him. Even when his sister was into illegal activities. Probably he just didn't like that I, and not him, would have been the center of attention if my goings came to light. Anyway, robbing the thieves didn't become my only bad habit.“