Ryan was just going to check on Ollie, after all that had happened. What he hadn't expected was to find Ollie awake, having a little bit of a stare off with Scar who looked horrible. There was also person behind a privacy curtain.

"Wh-what happened? Ollie! You're awake!" Ryan was severely confused and ecstatic at the same time. Everyone looked at him in varying degrees of shock and surprise. Ollie went so far as to give his crumpled wings a flutter of shock. The simple flutter seemed to cause him a little bit of pain, as we winced and tucked them a little closer to his back.

"Yeah, I'm back. However, James here won't let me get back on my feet." Ollie jokingly sighed but it was clear that he was anxious to get back on his feet and do something productive.

"You were just under mind control." James replied slowly, his voice gentle but commanding. "After that your body went into a hard coma. So no, you aren't going anywhere anytime soon. At least not until I run more tests." Using his swivel chair, James turned towards Ryan. "While Chris and I were out we met a relative of yours, Debra."

Ryan's jaw dropped. "Debra Anderson? Where is she? Is she okay?"

"Yes, she's fine," James assured Ryan. "She hates AE for kicking you out."

"That sounds like Debra," Ryan chuckled. He glanced at Ollie who seemed very twitchy. "What's going on?"

Ollie didn't hesitate to answer. "We need to start creating defenses and technology. There is no more being passive, we need to act before we are destroyed."

Ryan's eyes widened. He knew that the time would come for them to start doing stuff in the way of self defense, but he wasn't expecting it this fast. Ollie really turned the tables on everything that they did. A lower deeper voice spoke beside him.

"Are you willing to kill a man?"

Everyone looked up in shock to see Chris standing there, looking at Ollie. Something wasn't right with him though, as Chris' normally deep blue eyes had a milky covering on them. He wasn't directly looking at Ollie either. "Are you willing to kill a man?" He repeated again, shaking James off when he tried to get him back to the bed.

"I-" Ollie was cut of by Chris when he tried to answer.

"That is what you are asking for. That is why we have been passive. The moment we go and do anything outside of here we get damaged!" Chris shook slightly under the strain of speaking. He lowered his voice as he tried to calm the shaking. "What are you willing to lose?"

"Myself."

Chris recoiled a little before answering firmly. "No."

"Chris, if we don't do anything we will just get punched around! They know where we are! The longer we wait, the worse this gets. We need to take action!" Ollie glared at Chris, also straining himself.

"I said NO!" Chris practically yelled, making everyone shrink back except James who gave him something to drink. Following the drink, James managed to get Chis back into the bed and injected something else into him.

When the rather shaken small group looked at each other, Ryan could help himself, he burst out. "What happened to Chris?!"

James looked shaken. "From what I am able to tell, they have developed a serum of sorts that messes with our DNA. It prevents the area afflicted from healing with the morph. Mixed with another chemical, the possibilities are endless. They- they blinded him."

Ryan was shook. The belief that he could come back from pretty much anything had kept him going in this crazy time. He noticed that Phoebe was remaining silent, even getting up to check on Chris again.

Ollie spoke up again, as he was the newest to all this information, but also the most vocal. "Why do you have scars?" Ollie pointed at James' arm.

"It doesn't heal fully. Especially the major wounds. They all leave a mark, some worse than others. Sometimes the healing doesn't work completely either."

Ollie chewed on his cheek for a second, contemplating everything he just heard. "All the more reason to start defending ourselves."

"You heard what Chris said-"

"Chris isn't in his best mind at the moment." Ollie argued. "If I just went blind I wouldn't be in my best mind. Please James, let me help."

James thought for a second. "I will run a few tests and if they come clear I'll discharge you in a few hours. But you have to keep your promise."

Ollie nodded and laid back on the bed. "Do what you need to do."

When James looked at Ryan, Ryan instantly got the message. "I'll be heading out now. I'll tell the others the news." Phoebe poked her head out from behind the curtain.

"I'll come with you."

When both Phoebe and Ryan made themselves scarce, James turned to Ollie. "Alright, let's get these done." He pulled on a pair of medical gloves and grabbed various tools. Ollie closed his eyes, following James' instruction.

_____________________________________________________________________

Phoebe glanced back as she closed the door quietly, making eye contact with Ollie for a split second. She thought about it for a second, what he had said about defense. "Ryan, wait."

Ryan paused in his way out the door, turning to acknowledge he had heard her. "What's up?"

"What do you think about what Ollie said in defending ourselves?"

Ryan rubbed the stubble on his chin and pulled at his mustache. He frowned for a second before giving his answer. "I think he isn't wrong. But I don't think we should be as brash as he suggests."

Pulling a stray strand of hair behind her ear, Phoebe grabbed Ryan's wrist and pulled him gently downstairs into the machine room. "We have everything we need to defend ourselves. Not only the tools, but also the brains. I agree with Ollie, I can't just sit by and let the people I care about get continuously hurt."

Ryan nodded. "Someone said this once to me, I'll never forget. Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live."

"I think it's about time we stopped living in fear and started fighting for ourselves." Phoebe tilted her head up and straightened her shoulders. "I know two people who can help us the most right now. Chloe and Nick."

"I'll get Nick, I know where he works."

"Alright then, let's do this." Phoebe held her hand out, a big grin on her face. Ryan took it, giving a firm but gentle shake.

"Let's do it."

_____________________________________________________________________

"Why are your hands so cold?" Ollie complained as James finished the last exam and checked his breathing. "In fact, why are all doctor's hands cold?"

James chuckled as he gathered everything to put away. "I always asked the same question. Perhaps it's to keep you awake." He scribbled on a sheet before sliding over to the computer to type a few things in.

"So, what did you find?" Ollie rubbed his arm where a tube had once been. During part of the tests, he had no idea how long, he had been unconscious.

"Two things." James continued to tap away. "One, despite the fact that you went into a coma from shock, you are completely okay. Two, I found a set of genes that were never activated."

"What do you mean never activated?"

"They are birth genes that for some reason never got implemented."

"What do the genes do?" Ollie looked at his hands, as if expecting them to do something.

"It's not what they can do, it's what they can enable." James stopped typing and turned back. "Ollie, you had the ability to morph, even before this Aura gal came along. It's possible she deactivated the gene before it could be activated."

Ollie's head was swimming. If he got another bit of crazy information, he was pretty sure his brain would explode from the overload. "Can I go now?" Ollie managed to ask, pulling his legs to his chest.

James heaved a sigh before getting up from his chair. He mixed a powder in some water and instructed Ollie to drink it.

"Slowly!" James yelped when Ollie started downing it. Giving an ashamed smile, Ollie drank the water slower this time. The liquid tasted strange, but not repulsive. When he was done he gave an eager look at James who sighed with a smile. "Alright Ollie, you are free from the medical bay."

Ollie practically leaped off of the cot that he seemed to so often visit. Despite that fact he was still a little shaky and had to slowly regain his balance. He used a flutter of his wings to keep his balance to get to the door.

"One more thing Ollie," said James, halting Ollie in his tracks. Turning, Ollie looked at James. "Are you able to morph into just the human, without the wings?"

"I never thought about that." Ollie mused, thinking back to the morphs he figured out he had. Dragonfly, human he supposed, the weird half morph, and some mystery morph that Blackie wouldn't reveal. "Do you want me to try right now?"

"Well if you pass out, I won't have to carry you far."

"Nice sentiment." Ollie pressed his fingers to his temples and closed his eyes. He imagined himself as just a normal human being, like most of his life. A strange feeling of painless heat on his wings occurred as well as some cracking noises. The process was strange but definitely painless. When Ollie opened his eyes he saw James wince and show him a reflection.

"That was not the prettiest thing I've ever seen. Despite the image I cannot remove, you have morphed out of your wings. It looks as though you can successfully morph between forms." James pulled at his eyelids, muttering something that Ollie could barely hear about never being able to sleep again.

Deciding that he would rather talk to the others about self-defense, Ollie didn't waste time morphing back to his wings. Instead he just walked out the door... and into a wall. My coordination hasn't improved I see.

Ollie paused for a moment on the wall, after hearing a strange noise. The whirring resumed again before pounding followed. The noise was coming from below which could only mean one thing. It was time he visited the basement.

_____________________________________________________________________

After making his way down the stairs and through the kitchen, Ollie found himself at the out of place industrial door. A sign on it said, "Safety protection required."

Ollie decided that worst came to worst he would just morph back. His curiosity took the better of him and he opened the door to rather uneventfully discover a plain hallway. The hallway itself completely contrasted with the vibe of the cabin above it. There were exposed steel girders and bright lights on the dully painted metal walls.

The strange hallway stretched out on either side, the left ending in a door and the right ending with a open closet. Tilting his head, Ollie listened to which direction the noise was coming from. The loud banging came from the left, but the whirring noise came from the right.

Curiosity killed the cat, Ollie thought as he looked both ways, but satisfaction brought it back. Cats also have nine lives, but I'm not a cat. He was getting more indecisive by the minute and was very tempted to do the Iney Miney trick. He frowned as he thought more about it. The banging sounded like hammers, while the whirring might be a strange device.

After a lot of indecisiveness, Ollie chose to go right. A door with a weird shimmer greeted him, in which he pushed open and nearly got shot.

"OH MY GOODNESS OLLIE I'M SO SORRY!" Phoebe panicked and rushed over to where Ollie had managed to dodge the magical projectile and fall on the floor. Ryan looked equally shocked and quickly put the metallic device safely away. He offered Ollie his hand, the latter who gratefully accepted.

"When it said safety required, I didn't realize it meant that." Ollie flicked a bit of dust off of his shoulder shakily. "What are you guys working on?"

Both Ryan and Phoebe turned similar shade of bright red. They both glanced at each other before Phoebe spoke up. "Well you see... we thought about what you said, so we started using our skills for defense."

"What does that thing do?" Ollie pointed at the now tucked away, metal gun of sorts.

"An immobilizer." Ryan grinned. "Freezes anyone for up to twelve seconds."

"Have you tested it?" Ollie heard the now distant pounding yet again, piquing his curiosity even more.

"Yes... there may have been certain malfunctions with it." Ryan rubbed the back of his neck, a sheepish half smile on his face.

"That may be to our advantage." Phoebe grinned. "Besides it was kind of hilarious."

"What was hilarious?" Ollie glanced back and forth between the two of them.

"Do you want to see?" Ryan gave a sly grin, getting promptly elbowed by Phoebe. "What?"

After thinking for a moment, Ollie agreed. "Sure, as long as its harmless."

"I'm still here, aren't I?" Replied Ryan, getting gifted with a glare from Phoebe. "Alright, alright. Ollie you are going to feel a weird tingle and you aren't going to be able to move any limbs for a few seconds. Don't freak out."

Ollie nodded and stood where Ryan directed, closing his before he was hit by the blast. It felt like a bunch of needles were just barely pricking him, as well as feathers running across his skin. His senses all of the sudden got enhanced, and he "saw" things even with his eyes closed.

When the paralysis ended Ollie was able to open his eyes, to see quite the interesting development. His gloves had half melded with his skin, creating a layer of what looked like golden scales. His fingernails were a bit longer and darker, but that wasn't even the weirdest part. His vision had two layers and he was able to focus on every object in the room with perfect detail.

"Ollie, you have antennae!"

So that's what the weird sight was when he was paralyzed. When he moved his wings, they felt different. They weren't as light as before, seeming to pull at the air with more force. They also had more rotation.

"Umm Ollie?" Phoebe broke him out of his analyzing of himself. "Could you perhaps morph back?"

"Is it that bad?"

"Worse than Ryan's."

Ollie laughed, trying to imagine what he looked like compared to that rather interesting first day of Ryan's crazy half morph. He went to close his eyes but was stopped rather abruptly by Phoebe.

"Ollie, your eyes!"

"What about my eyes?" He opened his eyelids to focus on Phoebe.

"They aren't human pupils."

"Probably just from the dragonfly-"

"They look like snake eyes."

"Do you think- my other morph is a snake?"

Ollie thought about it as he morphed back into the human form, minus wings. What was overpowered about a snake? It would explain the scales...

Thankfully the gloves restored back to normal, removing all traces of scales. However, Ollie didn't see the tiny bits of golden white scales left behind, a trace of what he could be.