Helicopters buzzed above me - even through the water I could sense them, like trolling motors. I could already imagine Derek's grin, the smugness -

How could we see things so differently, and yet arrive at the same conclusion. Did it matter? As long as freedom was the goal?

Laughter -

"Humiliate them." He told me, "If you want to show people that there is nothing to fear, make them laugh. They will want to show strength, the more they flail, the more they flounder. Humiliate them."

That his words were delivered like the keen blade of an axe, that I had once felt the fall of it, the slice against my own dignity -

His words. His mind. My weapon -

As the fat flippers of my feet kick quickly, the pressure building and speed increasing before I shoot from the water, arms already stretched and twisted to position, I feel the wrap me as I swing them down and higher still I fly -

"Cody Abbot. You are under arrest. Do not resist." The voice came from the loud speaker, it echoed out across the choppers like a screaming choir, flying above I saw the news, their flying, recording eyes, as well. They wanted this to be publicized. They wanted me to fight - to flee.

So I just flew in circles. Because how do you arrest a bird?

Helicopters followed me, sirens and flashing lights converging on my location, my very public location, in the rotten heart of our nation's capital they had me completely surrounded, and for all that I was like one of those crazy sparrows that had made it into a big box store - the manager chasing me about with fish nets from sporting goods, too afraid to baseball me down in front of a customer, the employees not paid enough to take more then a small feeble swipes -

I did loops and swirls, circles and spirals, smiling the entire time. For two exciting hours they chased me, yelling at me as a geriatric grandpa - get off my lawn! They listed my offenses - trespassing, vandalism, unauthorized diving, reckless endangerment.

They didn't use the 'T' word -

Because they couldn't. I may have forgotten, that because I now took on a man's responsibilities, that I was standing up, that I wasn't a kid.

But my face, my size, my photos - just a 'little guy.' That for me, when I was even noticed, cute, the tone and definition, unthreatening. Not even flattery, and while I loved my flight suit, for the utility of it...

I look silly, or probably adorable, with my young face poking out, flapping around, kicking my feet. Doing something impossible and fun, that who wouldn't want to fly? That Jason had 'rented' me a pair of his Yeezys made it even more ridiculous, and I could see people gathering, some even cheering, laughing, but most just stopping and pointing.

Then it was time - show over, my flight suit vanished for a pair of red, white and blue swim trunks and I dove back down into the river, down to the bottom, to the soft mud and along the way dropped rocks, endless rocks on top of me, as much spare room as my inventory had before I vanished - into another dungeon.

Sand swirled around me - surprised shouts, two light spells as the pyramid solidified, and finally...

"Mom! Dad!"

"Cody! Oh, sweetie!"

Contacts Added: Family

My grandparents were right behind them, a group hug, and I realized Mike had squeezed himself in as well, that my grandmother was hugging him harder then she was hugging me -

"Now Cody, why didn't you tell us you had such lovely friends." Mike blushing, even as he looked frazzled, still smiling, always smiling.

If I hadn't caught Brandon standing alone, Derek arguing with a woman whose slurred voice was just a bit louder than needed. Jason had a young girl clutched in his arms, two grandparents of his own, or was that his parents? That I knew almost nothing about my friends families...

It was a perfect moment, in a pyramid in a dungeon, me dripping wet and smelling like the Potomac, and with so much to say to each other but a comfortable silence and a hug was clearer, an almost perfect moment of happiness.

"I want you to meet my friends." I told them, "And...I want to have dinner together."

The words burst out unbidden, but it felt so right, to reach for something so normal and necessary and easy - when in reality it was me that nobody really knew, that Mike had arranged all these peoples transportation, got them to offload to a dungeon, no wonder he was late -

Jason's sister, she was a shy four year old he wouldn't set down. I noticed she had a gold locket on her neck, that she looked just like him, I also met his grandparents -

"I'm sorry we abducted you, I hope you understand why we couldn't tell you more." They looked the most shellshocked from the transition, still blinking - they introduced themselves as 'Pop' and 'Gigi' and eyed me carefully. Jason's sister looked at me briefly, waved by opening and closing her hand, then threw her face back into Jason's chest -

I'd never really seen him smile before - that the way his face twisted wasn't the attractive, contrived wide revelation of white teeth, but a sunrise on his cheeks. And I was so glad - to feel jealous. I hugged them both and he hugged me back.

Derek's mother almost hid her tattoos with the long sleeved shirt, the skirt revealed boned legs, tan, and I saw in the gaps of conversation how her tongue kept prodding, testing -

Two teeth were whiter then the rest, at the start, and by the time we'd finished speaking the slurred voice had been forgotten, a clarity in her eyes as she remembered a cleverness of her own, and Derek's closed expression as he followed her hand where it rested on his shoulder.

"And you must be Cody, not the first Abbot I've encountered." She smiled, "I'm Francine, but you'll find me as Fancy."

How Derek managed - that even my mother, she cleared her throat brusquely when Fancy moved right past my offered handshake to rest at my forearm, and I saw it for the innocent flirting that it was, even myself to blame for still wearing swim trunks.

Easy to fix, a collared shirt and loose shorts, my body had been growing steadily thicker, more muscled, I needed the tissue for my transformations and was constantly throwing bites of meat into my stomach. My look wasn't that childish, and Derek's mother was attractive. That no part of me found her beautiful wasn't to say I didn't find it hard, to see she wasn't trying to be lovely but tempting, a different look altogether.

That because I wasn't a fan of buffet style wasn't to say I couldn't smell what was cooking.

And Mike's family? All seventeen of them? If I didn't have a near perfect memory I'd be writing out name tags, but - I quickly realized I wouldn't be talking to most of them anyway, they didn't speak much English. That Mike was the oldest - that his Mom and Dad - spoke Portuguese and Spanish, SPanglish, with plenty of gestures - and that Mike spoke it, too.

He listed their names like books from the Bible, his mother clutched a rosary and seemed uncertain, that when she looked at Mike she saw Jesus (That was actually her third son's name, pronounced differently), but she was not liking the pyramid. Her husband, Jose, looked like he'd rather be working and he eyed the pyramid differently, staring at the way the stone jointed together, noticing the eves and ceiling, the lack of mortar.

I liked him, and wondered how I had found Mike to be plain white bread when he was the most diverse of us, I upgraded him to a tortilla as he told me about them. It was a broken conversation, with Mike's mother clutching her necklace and mumbling a prayer between moments of speaking, her fingers finding another bead as I spoke a bit, and she waited to continue -

Mike hugged me again - "They're crazy, old school like you wouldn't believe, and if they loved me any more, I would need a twin. Don't worry about them, they're strong."

"You think the babies will be alright, Mike?" I asked, looking at the youngest, an actual set of twins held by one of Mike's sisters.

"If they could make it across the border to the US, this is nothing." And then I had to be reintroduced - because I realized it was actually two families. That Mike's sister was actually his aunt - tia Esme, and I was very grateful my father hadn't worn his red hat, that he was quiet and -

"It's just family, Cody. Family is family. You're family, too. And your family is family."

Mike's dad confirmed it, giving me a hard hug and pounding my back, the sea of strangers parted, swallowing us into the chaotic sounds of people comfortable with another, that Guadelupe, his mother still fumbled with prayers, that the children were crying and his father still worked his mouth in a search for gristle.

My mother snatched a baby, my father tried talking about guns, then lawn mowers, bbq? Bbq it was - and my grandmother followed suite, telling each of them how much she loved Mexican food, that I hoped the families strength extended to patience.

"This is Brandon." My mother shook her head at me, wrapping him in a hug, and my father shook his hand, "Good to see you again, did you ever get a chance with that Remington..."

They knew each other - and I had known he'd stopped by, of course, but I hadn't realized they had talked -

"I checked it out, but the trigger weight - even with the modified springs it wasn't -"

"I like a loose trigger myself, but -"

"Strong enough. You'll see, Charles -" Charles? "Strength, they all feel like toys, now. I bent my Ruger -"

"Mark?"

"57."

I excited the conversation, I'd had enough talking, and I could see Mike dropping piles of stuff from his inventory, blankets and pillows, his mother yelling at him until he finally produced some cleaning supplies. I went over to tell her she didn't need to clean, but she'd already grabbed a brush, some spray, and hurried over to the closest mural, one depicting a man with a goats head and started spraying it and scrubbing -

The chaos exploded out from there, a soccer ball came from somewhere and was bouncing off the walls, the sound echoing louder and louder as three languages collided because Derek was cussing at Mike in Egyptian, I think - and two people had to use the bathroom, but Jason wanted a princess room first and we couldn't afford anything, regardless...

Coins. We were close to broke, these people needed stats, more space, and at least a walkthrough before they left the fortress - so Brandon and I went to hunt, to let the other three more able handle the people problems, we had Derek open the door and walked right out -

To wide open plains, tall, thick grass, sparse trees and finally -

Animals. Hunting. An opportunity to contribute and escape the chaos, to clear my head before I really sat down with the family to talk.

A small herd of buffalo mixed with skinny deer had gathered close to the stairs, just waiting.

I continued to scan the horizon, looking, because something seemed off - I swapped for my wing suit and lunged, flapping.

Brandon was already charging down the stairs, was running at the buffalo, when he stopped dead and I followed his gaze, only my borrowed instincts kept me crashing as I forgot to flap.

The buffalo stared at us warily, the deer were huddled close, whispering.

"Great weather, what has you visiting our lovely Savannah?"

Brandon looked completely lost and I wasn't far behind. The animal spoke with a southern accent. And it was perfect, sophisticated and sassy, that because of the high grass I hadn't realized the animals had been standing, and I still was struggling to understand that they were speaking to me, even had clothes.

"Cat got your tongue? That's all-right, we just wanted to introduce ourselves when we saw you arrive, we're always happy to welcome guests."

"Hi, I'm Cody." I said walking forward and offering my hand.

"Well good day to you, Cody. I'm Calvin." His voice was friendly as we shook hands, his strange hoof had no issue grasping, twisting around my own in a strong grip, even without fingers. It was clean and felt like hard callus.

We needed Derek - I messaged him what was up -

It took him nine seconds after the message to make it down, he had on a three piece suit, his hair combed neatly.

"Ya'll don't hug a neighbor in the south?" Derek offered, jumping in.

"Now, of course we do!"

"Uh-huh!" The deer shouted, almost affronted.

Then I was hugging cows, they all had their hair parted down the middle, the horns curved up like fine mustaches - that every buffalo was obviously male, that the dark cloth style suspenders blended right in with their fur coats -

Derek: They're wildebeest, the females are gazelle. This is crazy.

And Derek had done something right, because as we backed away, I noticed the friendliness became more casual After Calvin probed Derek's manners, he offered an invitation.

"Would you fancy a lemonade? We have a little watering hole we like to go to before it gets too hot out here?"

They were so welcome and gracious, that we found ourselves walking as a small herd through the high grass, listening to Calvin, the smooth talking wildebeest, and his friends speaking when we reached an outcropping of rocks and he pushed, revealing a staircase.