Phoenix Feathers, Part I

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Joss is boss, and all the money in the 'verse can't make these characters or this world into my idea. Although I'm working on that.

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Phoenix sprinted down one of the Academy’s corridors carrying the chair, still connected to his arm by a pair of handcuffs, before him. Even though he made no noise and there were no other people in the vicinity due to the recent security alert at Shaft 7, he could not avoid detection entirely, for a guard was stationed at the entrance to the maintenance corridor.

Phoenix slowed to an unsteady shuffle as he approached the man, concealing the chair behind his back. The guard noticed him almost at once.

“Who let you out of school, boy?” the guard drawled.

Phoenix didn’t react, but continued towards him, eyes downcast. The guard seemed to notice that the two of them were quite alone, the realization of which brought Phoenix another second closer, but he was still a dozen paces away when the guard brought a two-way radio to his mouth.

Time seemed to slow for Phoenix. Sensory detail flooded unbidden into his consciousness, almost overwhelming him. He could discern individual threads of the guard’s uniform, could taste the cold air, could feel himself gliding across the smooth floor. He watched with detachment as his wrist flicked out, spinning the chair like a boomerang into both the guard’s radio and his face, smashing both and knocking him to the floor. Phoenix snatched the man’s handheld laser from its holster and trained it back down the hallway, but no one emerged from the adjoining rooms to investigate the brief commotion.

With the sidearm, Phoenix shot off the second pair of handcuffs and then searched the guard’s body for a keycard that would provide access to the maintenance corridor. Not finding one, he moved to the door to examine its locking mechanism more closely. He immediately recognized it as a Model 113 Tara Systems Electronic KeyLock, designed to be immovable and inaccessible after inst