12 Poking the nest

Growing up with no one to talk to, Kurt had spent most of his time reading many books, comics, and watching plenty of movies.

The moment a group of strangers appeared out of nowhere on his first day of school asking to speak with him while no one else was present, he immediately knew what situation he was in.

'Well... Didn't you get popular rather fast?' Dorothy whispered sarcastically while she observed her boy getting dragged around by a trio of kids around the same age as him while landing on his head.

[I know right...? Who knew it would be so easy?] Kurt responded while rolling his eyes.

'Why are you letting them take you like this?'

[There are some things I'm curious about... I wanna see where this is going...]

'I see...'

"Hey, the hell do you keep mumbling about??" one of the kids that walking behind him and would slap his shoulder every now and then asked.

"I'm really scared right now, so I was praying a bit, don't mind me..." Kurt responded.

"Hehe... Praying won't help you now..."

Plenty of other students observed Kurt walking with the trio, but he was acting so composed and relaxed that none of them suspected that he was going against his will

They finally left the campus through a secret exit and entered a dark warehouse where he was forced to kneel down.

Four more individuals were waiting for him inside, although they looked slightly older than the boys behind him.

One of them, standing right in front of Kurt while glaring down at him with a pair of red eyes started to walk up to him and began to study his reaction. He seemed a little taller and more well built than the others, evident by his sleeves that were pulled up, revealing a series of very defined muscles. The most distinct feature about him was his shaved head. If it wasn't for the place being so dark, Kurt assumed that surface would be glowing right now.

"Okay, okay... I'm here... Now, can any of you tell me what you want with me??" Kurt finally asked.

The shaved lad smiled at that question, "You don't seem nervous... Were you expecting this?"

"I'm the new kid and this is my first day at school... I'm pretty sure it's law that I need to be intimidated by random bullies before going home..."

One of the boys behind him kicked him in the back and made his face kiss the ground.

"Kukuku... Random bullies...? Is that what you think we are?" the shaved kid wondered, "Nah, boy... This is special... Someone went out of their way to set this up for you..."

Kurt suddenly had his interest grabbed by that last remark, "Someone...?"

He raised himself up and began to glare back at the boy, which almost made him twitch upon seeing such a change in attitude.

A memory from the past emerged in Kurt's mind, the memory of someone that tried to kidnap him and tried to cut his mother's arm off, "Was that someone, by any chance, a lady in black armor...?"

"Black armor...? The hell have you been smoking...?"

Kurt then sighed, as he realized it was just a mistake, "Sorry... Don't mind it too much... So, who in the world has it out for me?"

"You don't wanna try to guess?"

"Not really...?" Kurt admitted, "I was attacked and kidnapped quite a lot of times growing up... One time a dragon invaded my room while I was in the bathroom and sneaked under my bed to try to eat me while I went to sleep, another time someone tried to stalk me while I was doing some shopping and almost stabbed me with their claws... If anything, you guys have been kinda nice so far..."

"Kukuku... You hear that boys? We need to step up our game!!"

Two kids then lifted Kurt up and began to hold his hands behind his back so he wouldn't be able to move.

"Hey, hey, hey! Come on! No need to- Uuugfffh!!"

One of the kids that were waiting inside the warehouse approached Kurt before he could finish his talk and simply smacked him in the stomach.

"You know... I'll admit... I wasn't feeling like picking on a small fry just because someone asked me to... I was planning on letting you go after scaring you a bit and making you cry..." the shaved boy commented as he slowly started to circle around Kurt.

"Kuuaahh!!" Kurt cried as another punch was delivered, this time on his chest.

"But now? Seeing your face? I don't know how to put it, but you just eye of someone that is begging to be punched!"

Dorothy began to worry upon seeing her kid being tormented, 'What are you doing, kid? Don't let these guys treat you like this! Fight back!'

Kurt forced a faint smile, [It's okay... If it's me I can take it... Something like this isn't really that bad...]

'Kid, come on!!' Dorothy yelled while flapping her wings.

"What the hell is this thing, by the way...?" the shaved-head boy asked while noticing the energetic bird.

"That's just my pet, don't bother it..." Kurt begged.

"Oho? You do know that asking someone not to do something, only makes that person want to do it even more, right?"

The lad then grabbed Dorothy by the neck and began to lift one of her wings with the tip of his fingers.

"Hey! Stop!! Leave her alone!!!" Kurt yelled trying to free himself but the boys holding him down refused to let him go.

"Maybe messing with her will help to get our message across..."

"What message!!?? You guys just grabbed me here and began to beat me up! You didn't say why you were doing this!!"

"Mmmm... True... You have a point... I must have suffered some short-term memory loss or something... Now... What was it again that we wanted to do with you...?" the boy mumbled to himself acting like a little kid while slowly grabbing Dorothy's feathers and pulling out two of them.

'Aaaarggghhh!!!' Dorothy screamed while twitching in his grasp.

"Stop it!!!"

"Mmm... Nope, still can't remember... What was it... What was it..." he continued to talk while grabbing her wings again and pulling another feather.

'Aaaaarghh!!'

"Let her go!! You wanna hit me, just hit me!!! I'm right here!!" Kurt begged.

His heartbeat was accelerating. He never assumed that Dorothy could ever be harmed in his entire life. She was after all the one that brought him to this world, how could such a powerful being let a kid mess with her like that?

But then he realized, wasn't he doing the same thing right now? He was the son of the emperor, and yet he was letting all these kids torment them as if he was a powerless baby. Why wasn't he fighting back?

[Dorothy! Why aren't you resisting?] Kurt asked.

The owl looked at him with clear pain showing in her eyes, 'What was it that you said? It's okay? If it's me I can take it? Something like this isn't really that bad?'

[Dorothy...]

'It's not fun, is it? Watching those you care about get hurt for no reason?'

[Dorothy... I-]

'Gaaaarhghh!!' another feather was pulled.

"Stoop it!!!"

The boy just started to laugh at him, "Make me! Kukuku... You seem to have gotten the wrong impression... We don't want to just hurt you... We want to completely break you!"

"What!?"

"At first we were wondering how we were going to do it... We were planning to grab your friends and beat them up in front of you, maybe break their fingers, pull out some of their teeth, strip them naked and throw them in the garbage... But who would have guessed that you would be so useless that you wouldn't even be able to make any friends? It would be hilarious if it wasn't so sad..."

Kurt continued to glare at the shaved-head boy and noticed that all of the other kids around him were starting to giggle to themselves.

"Oh, guess I was wrong. It is really funny after all, kukuku!!"

Kurt couldn't stop looking at Dorothy and thinking back to his memories of the first day he met her.

[[There are three types of people in this world that I just can't stand...]] her words from that day echoed in his mind.

"But hey, don't blame me! This is just a necessary step to make people like you understand your place! And by that, I mean way, way, waaaaay below us..."

[[First... People that act like they're better than everyone else...]]

He then pulled another one of her feathers and another intense cry of pain filled the entire building.

"Oh, man! I could do this all day!! Do these things grow back? Maybe I'll take her home with me and make this my new daily routine!"

[[Second... People that just say and do whatever they want without considering the feelings of others...]]

Kurt could no longer stand what he was watching, "Let. Her. Go. Now!!" he ordered.

[[And finally...]]

"Oh... You're totally scaring me... Maybe I should just kill this thing and sent her head to you as a birthday present! Wouldn't that be fun? Imagine every year you reach your birthday and get reminded of the day I trashed your pet! Kukukuku!!"

[[People that utter the word 'die' without having any idea of the weight it carries...]]

Kurt finally stopped shaking and started to smile instead.

The kids around him began to raise an eyebrow at his sudden change in behavior.

Before they realized it, the two boys that were holding his hands found themselves lifted into the air by him, and right after that, crashed into each other and knocked against the ground.

"Kuaahh!!"

"Aarghh!!!"

"What the what!!??" the shaved lad gasped.

Kurt, now finally released, looked at him with a pair of emotionless eyes and a cold grin on his face and muttered a couple of words.

"You fit the criteria!"