When I regained consciousness my face was pressed against cold metal and honestly, I'd have much rather been dead.

I contemplated even opening my eyes but settled reluctantly for stretching my body out first before peeling open my eyelids. When I extended my foot out and met more metal however my eyes immediately flew open. "Sol, Sol you're awake!"

The owner of the voice barely registered in my mind as I was preoccupied with figuring out where I was. Well where I was wasn't really the question.

I was in aa cage.

The kind people put small animals or rodents in. My body was folded in an unnatural way so I could fit inside and even then I was barely managing. My limbs pressed against the opposite corners of it as my whole body strained to be set free.

No no no, the question was not where I was. The question was how I got here.

"Sol!"

My eyes snapped to Astra who was sitting across from me in a cage almost identical to mine, her face pressed against the bars as she looked at me with worry. She began saying something that I wasn't exactly listening to because I was too focused on where my eyes fell next.

What the fuck?

Between our cages sat a machine that was blasting some sort of a golden lazer, that beamed bright yellow light at the metal that locked the handcuffs on Astra and I's wrists together. Our hands where being kept in place by other locks that forced them to point out of the cage whilst the laser tried to, what I assumed was cut through the handcuffs.

And not to be judgmental but it didn't seem to be doing quite a good job at it either.

"Sol!"

My eyes locked with Astra's again I now noticed the white's around her irises were ringed red and her cheeks were damp. She'd been crying, I frowned. "I thought you were dead," She whimpered, "I was sure the wing had crushed your skull."

I cleared my throat, sitting up as much as I could, "You know I have a harder head than that."

"No, you don't understand," Her bottom lip wobbled, "T-they wouldn't let me hold your body after they got it off of you, not even for a second before they put us in here," She gestured to our cages, "I couldn't even see if you were breathing," More tears streamed down her face, "You've been out for so long I was starting to wonder if I'd truly killed you."

I leaned my head further into the soothing cold metal bars, they kind of felt like Astra's skin and the sensation did wonders for my approaching headache. "Astra don't cry I'm fine," I told her, semi-honestly, "No permanent damage I promise, and this is not your fault."

She shook her head sadly, "This is all my fault."

"Well, no pointing fingers now," I joked, "We've already been caught," I sighed, cracking my knuckles, "So did the humans tell you what they plan to do to us?"

As if I'd just reminded her of something, her eyes widened, pure dread filling them. "Humans? Sol this is so much worse."

The door swung open and in sauntered in a blonde human who I'd probably met but never learnt the name of, his face seemed a tad familiar though. "Oh your little friends awake," He exclaimed to Astra whose lips were now pressed together, he turned to look at me, "Your girlfriend here was hysterical when we moved you, crying and wailing," He laughed, "Thought she was gonna pop a lung with the way she was screaming at us to," He mocked her, "Be gentle with you."

My fingers curled into fists, "How's Ambrose doing?"

He didn't expect me to ask that, I could tell with the way the blood drained away from his face. "No no don't tell me, I want to know how Kofi is doing first," I giggled, "Or maybe Teegan?" His face went stoney as I kept my gaze on him, "In fact, how about I tell you how I killed your sister too, what was her name again?" I feigned thought, "Connie?" I picked out my blood from underneath my fingernails, "You should've heard the way she begged me to let her go," I changed my tone, "Please I won't tell anyone."

Before I could blink he was grabbed my shirt and yanking my face towards the bars, my cheek slammed against the metal and I hissed at the tip of my pinky being burnt by the lazer slightly as I was jostled. He released his hold on me for a second before pushing me back and slamming me into the bars again. "We're going to have so much fun with you once those," He gestured to the handcuffs, "Come off."

I lazily grinned at him, "Did that make you feel better? Because last time I checked your pals are still dead."

His grip on my shirt tightened and for a second I almost thought he was going to rip it off me when Astra spoke up, "They said you couldn't touch us until we were separated," She reminded him. I looked at her to see her eyes already on me, the message she was sending to me clear as day.

'Stop riling him up.'

I scoffed and rolled my eyes as he let me go, spitting the blood that had pooled in my mouth from his attacks on his shoe. "It's only a matter of time until the cuffs are off," He reminded her back, "And then you won't be able to protect her from us," He went to crouch by her cage but her eyes never left me. He reached into her cage to play with one her braids that was laying on her shoulder, "Because you'll be gone too."

I snickered, "Oh, I'd love to have a piece of you when these cuffs are off," I told him, "I wonder if you cry like your sister," His head snapped to me, "Nah I'm kidding, she at least put up a fight...your buddy Kofi on the other hand never stood a chance."

"That's cute," He tilted his head at me, "You think we're going to keep you here alive."

I shrugged, "Have fun trying to kill me first."

"Haven't you heard?" He grinned, "Clipping wings is our favorite thing to do."

He got back on his feet and went to inspect the golden light, "Should be anytime soon now," He grumbled to himself as if disappointed before he left.

Astra visibly relaxed as he left before turning her angry gaze to me. "Do you want to die here!?"

I rolled my shoulder and reached up to rub my cheek, "Trust me, them removing our hndcuffs is like the worst idea they could've ever had," I laughed, "Without the power blockers I'm like," I shook my head with a grin, "You'll see, just know no one's killing me that easily. This planet might be shitty for you but with my powers? I couldn't have landed in a better place."

"Sol this is not a game," She told me seriously, "You don't understand what you're up against-

"It's kind of insulting that you think I would lose to humans-

"Not the stupid humans!" She cursed, "The humans are the least of our worries, they're here."

I raised an eyebrow, "They?"

"The sun."

My eyes widened before I frowned, "The sun sun is here? As in, the one in the centre of your solar system is on this planet right now?" My jaw dropped, "The sun has a physical form."

"Yes but no," She shook her head, "The sun sun isn't here but they sent their rays."

"Astra you're not making any sense right now."

"Think of the sun as the big bad guy, well the big bad guy obviously doesn't always handle things on their own and when the sun needs handling they'll send a battalion of people without coming themselves," She explained, "The humans aren't who got you out from under the wing, it was the Sun's Rays, they are here."

I tried to act like that wasn't literally the worst name I'd ever heard. "And...why are we scared of them."

She looked at me as if I'd just asked if we could count the stars in the sky. "They're here to take me back Sol!" She whisper shouted.

"So what the Sun sent a few of it's lackeys," I blinked, "How did you get away from them the first time?"

She sighed, "They weren't after me the first time."

"Okay so," I tried to think, "Do you know what they do?"

"Whatever it takes."

"Whatever it takes?"

She nodded, 'They will do anything that they're ordered to do and they won't stop until it's done," She eyed the handcuffs binding us, "They aren't allowed to take me back when we're still connected and they made a deal with the humans that the humans could," She shivered, "Keep you after they separated us."

"Well they're going to be waiting a while," I said, "The handcuffs are made out of molten planets core, hardest stuff in the galaxy," I pointed at the red ball in the middle of it, "That stuffs the radiation keeping us all weak and human-like and it only opens when the specific key that was on the specific keys that we lost at the bottom of that canyon unlocks it."

I thought I had managed to convince her, she seemed content with my answer for a while whilst I took in our surroundings, the humans had put us in Teegans office where live camera footage of everywhere outside her door was being broadcasted on the monitors. My eyes stayed trained on someone who was walking down the hallway, clearly in this direction. To someone just glancing they wouldn't see anything wrong with it but as I stared, I could see that the suite was almost... baggy.

Was that?

"And what if you're wrong?" Astra asked me quietly, seeming unsure and meek.

My eyes stayed on the camera footage, a grin spreading across my face as the persons back revealed to be quite lumpy as if there were stumps beneath it. "Then we fight."

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