Another upside/downside situation. Upside, it's not a control chip. Downside, he has a bloody harpy queen, and apparently my body is hardwired to obey her. And of course, her body is being remote controlled by a chip of her own. This guy is controlling me by proxy. How is she sending me commands? Can I block it?

"Tell me," he said, "just how did you maintain your intelligence? There wasn't anything special about you. You completed your metamorphosis quicker than most, yes, but you hardly hold the record. Most need to be sedated once their mind starts to break, but again, your case of lasting the duration wasn't unique. You went a few days without showing intelligence, but we've tried leaving subjects unchipped for months before and they never recovered. But you did. How?"

I did my best to hold my mouth shut, but it was useless. "Cooperation," I said through clenched teeth, at least managing to limit the amount of information I was spilling.

"Cooperation? Who with? I know my brother didn't order anything special with regards to you, so tell me."

"Leona," I muttered.

"And who is that?" he asked. "Come now, there's no point in resisting. You're only delaying the inevitable."

He was right. I could slow him down with one word or misleading answers, but unless I came up with some way out of this mess, it wasn't going to buy me anything in the long run.

The harpy part of me was confused. It was right that I should submit to the queen. Even if she ordered me to die, I would, without question and without hesitation. Circumstances didn't matter, so why was I trying to resist? Yet the intelligent part of me knew it wasn't the queen giving orders. Someone else was abusing her power. There was a crack there, somewhere. I just needed to find and lever it.

"Me," I answered, continuing my stalling tactics.

"So the secret to maintaining your intelligence was cooperation with yourself? Sorry, but I really lack the patience to play games. Tell me, precisely and concisely, without omission or deception, what you know."

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"One plus one is two. One plus..."

"Ah! Shut up!"

Well, if he does ask me for such an ambiguous thing as 'what I know', obviously I'm going to start at the beginning.

"Perhaps an alternative method of encouragement is needed. Remove your left wing."

My foot moved before my mind had even finished processing his order, kicking upwards and severing my wing at its base. I tried to scream, but with his 'shut up' order I couldn't even do that, leaving me crumpled on the floor, a panting mess.

"Now then, shall we try this again? Why don't you..."

I glared upwards, and my expression must have been harsh enough that even he hesitated, despite his supposed control. But I wasn't staring at him anymore; my contempt was reserved for the queen. I'd found my crack; that she was weak. She permitted herself to be controlled and abused. Let her flock be stolen for the purposes of another. A human, of all things. She didn't fight; she submitted. She was weak, and she did not deserve to be queen. That position would be mine!

I let the rage take me, freeing me from her control. This was a fight for dominance, the prize being the position of queen and control of the flock. Admittedly, as far as I knew, I was the whole flock, but that didn't matter. It still worked to end this puppet show. My flight was crippled again, this time even worse than before given that I'd lost my whole wing, but we were indoors. A large barn, admittedly, but it wasn't the open skies. I climbed to my feet and charged.

"Stop," shouted the goon, but I didn't. I kicked out as I passed him, cutting into his side, my claw sliding deep between his ribs and slicing open a lung. That would have to do for now. I needed to keep my attention on the queen.

The queen remained silent. Whether she was the stoic type or had been ordered to shut up herself, I had no idea, but she hadn't been ordered against self defence, and she obviously did not appreciate this challenge to her authority. She took to the air while I remained grounded, her cold eyes watching me in mockery.

Lightning sparked around her horns, and I dived to the side just as lightning stuck my old position. The sparks danced around, and a few stray pieces of hay caught alight. Great, now I could add a barn fire to my list of troubles. She flung a few more lightning bolts, but finding them ineffective, she dived in person.

Although I'd dropped the disintegrator earlier, it was still wired up to the battery pack around my waist. It was a simple matter to yank the wire and pick it back up. The diving harpy queen found herself staring down the barrel, just as I pulled the trigger.

It went phut, and a sad little red light started to flash.