Chronicle XXXI

Yak was assigned missions regularly by the corporation that manufactured her father and her parts. The Mooing Corporation took full advantage of their ownership, installing an extra module on her to be able to monitor her at all times. Having an unmanned aircraft that could operate at an extreme level of proficiency allowed them to send her on all manner of air, land and shallow water missions without risking soldier’s lives. Even though she enjoyed her missions and the time working alone, she was lonely. Most of her young life was spent with a herd. With them all gone, she had nobody. She certainly didn’t care to hang out with other helicopters.

As a vehicle between worlds with nothing else to do, Yakeline didn’t mind the constant work. Her usual duties were to eliminate hostile air forces or escort high priority targets. Just after one such mission, she received an unusual radio transmission from Mooing command. It was her first ever espionage mission. She was excited to flex her stealth skills as a large, unmistakeable mammal/aircraft.

The target was a spy himself, operating in the country under the name Marty Monk, though his real identity was Bat Buffet, a famous villain of antiquity. For years, he terrorized foreign lands, releasing hordes of bats into their cities. His mission in Big City was to overthrow the government for the Winged Villain Brigade. Yak was tasked with getting close and listening for any hints at their large scale plan.

Yakeline flew over a suburban home, scoping out the place for any dangers. As she scanned from above, she realized from the heat signatures that Monk wasn’t alone in the house. There were two other figures moving about the rooms at strange intervals. She took caution and landed on a nearby patch of land, going full yak-mode to check out the activity. People were slightly surprised to see a yak roaming the streets, but in Big City, they knew they’d see something equally strange in the next few minutes.

As she approached the house, Yakeline stopped to graze on the lawn, seeing that Monk was making his way out. He didn’t notice her at all, leaving in his car quickly. Though he was her target, she decided to stick around and investigate the home to see if the intel could be gotten from there. She flew silently over the fence to the backyard and hovered outside the second floor window to see what was there.

“Hiiiiii!” a voice came from below.

Yak was caught off-guard. She wobbled in the air a couple times, then flew to the edge of the yard to get a good striking distance on the human. She readied her weaponry, missiles locking on rapidly and turrets spooling up. Her highly advanced targeting system converged on a tiny little target smiling a few feet away from her.

“Yip yip!” the child joked. “I’m Niya Monk. My favorite holiday is Memorial Day because on Memorial Day I get to be serious.”

Weapons stayed locked on for a moment before Yak realized what was happening. Bat Buffet settled down in this identity and had a family. This little girl was his daughter. As she hovered there figuring this out, the command center of Mooing Corporation was receiving the information in real time. In her ear, Yakeline started to hear communications.

“AY-217, eliminate.” the order was given.

Yak looked at the child, bobbing up and down, weapons drawn, the full force of military overkill ready to strike her down. Her rotors slowed and her weapons cooled and retracted. She landed in the yard and stood across from Niya, who already started approaching.

“You’re the saddest animal I’ve ever seen!” Niya observed, still smiling. Yak was stunned by her intuition. The girl put a hand on the furry head of the helicopter beast and pet her gently for a moment. “You don’t have to be sad. Now you have a friend! Me!”

Yakeline had been ignoring a slew of derision from her supervisors at Mooing Corporation. The kindness given by the child made her realize how heartless they truly were, not just in this mission, but all her prior missions as well. She stepped back from Niya and charged towards a large oak tree in the yard. The Mooing module attached to her side was slammed against the trunk and crushed, freeing her from the tracking of her father’s manufacturers.

“You hit that tree pretty hard!” Niya stepped forward to check on Yakeline.

“Move back, baby.” a voice came from the back of the house.

A-Yak Helicopter fully engaged her rotor and weaponry, knocking down Niya from the force. From the doorway, Marty pulled the trigger of his rifle, causing a bullet to ricochet off of Yak’s side.

“Don’t hurt her!!” Niya cried.

“Come inside!” Marty screamed. His wife peeked out from the doorway behind him, cowering in fear.

“She won’t hurt you!!” the child continued.

Yak’s targeting system locked on to Marty. Before firing, Niya walked in front of her father. “He’s good, like you.” she reasoned with the beast.

Just then, overhead, a whistling sound rang out. Mooing’s stealth bomber dropped a solution to their MIA vehicle in the form of a bomb. Yakeline charged forward as the family looked up and latched them onto her body. They looked behind as their home was blown away, along with their close neighbors.

“Thank you.” the mother said, petting Yak’s side.

“I told you she was good.” Niya giggled.

A-Yak Helicopter sensed on radar that Mooing vehicles were surveilling and tailing her. With stealth and evasive maneuvers, she shook them, taking the family to an abandoned farm on the outskirts of Big City. A farmhouse was burnt down, but there was still a decent foundation.

“We’re gonna be farmers!” Niya announced.

“Looks like it.” Marty agreed.

Yak took to the ground, laying low while Mooing was still trying to track her. For weeks, her and the Monks gathered materials and together they built a liveable house. Marty would leave at night, and Yak suspected he was rejoining the Winged Villain Brigade. She ignored it and continued helping them set up their new life.

One night, Marty snuck out and Yak decided to follow him. He didn’t leave to go to Big City, he went to the far side of the farm. She crept up behind him as he worked.

“I wanted to surprise you.” Marty said.

Yakeline realized Marty wasn’t doing anything nefarious. In bat form, he cleared out a patch of land and made a helicopter landing pad for her as well as constructed a hangar for her to rest in. He quickly pulled in his wings as he noticed Niya followed Yak out to the pad.

“What’s going on?” the child asked.

“Well, I wanted to make sure she had a place to stay just like we do.” he stood and had his hand on Yak’s side. “Not to mention, I’m kind of tired of cleaning up your massive droppings near the house.”

“I told you he’s good.” Niya smiled at Yakeline. Her smile faded fast. She stood frozen as if something was happening inside of her. After a moment, that something tore out the back of her shirt.

“Baby!” Marty shouted, lunging to her aide.

From Niya’s back a single bat wing on her left side violently sprouted and flapped wildly. Yak’s weapons were triggered automatically in defense of herself, so she flew upward immediately to not endanger the others. Niya bent forward so she could see the wing flapping. Marty was about to explain the truth he’d always kept hidden from his family, but she just smiled at him. “I have a wing.”