"The objects around him did not have any meaning. Why should they? If he needed to know it, he would be told about it. Everything else was unimportant. He just needed to stand there and pose and await instructions. How long that would be was also unimportant and thus didn’t need to be thought about. Simply obeying when instructed was the important thing, the only thing in its head.

Instructions were the only important thing. The mass of people swarming in and gazing at its form was an itch of pleasure. A rippling of need that washed over it within the eternal moment that was now. Certainly its experience may have been shared with the other objects here. But that was an idle thought and that didn’t exist for things such as the muscled Harpy Eagle standing inspirationally against the backdrop of a blue sky.

The wave of passerby ebbed like they always did. Except a dark shape approached and the statue in the shape of a bird stirred. Awareness grew in its mind as the shadow approached the Harpy Eagle statue specifically and snapped its fingers. “Report back to Storage Room L7 and await instructions.” Instantly, the avian statue knew the layout of the area he had been posing in and where he had to go as the shadow walked away to other important tasks.

The Harpy Eagle stepped down from the plinth he had been posing on. Wings stretched out and returned to being furled. Tight fabric clung to all of the Harpy Eagle’s body. Once that was done, the eagle turned and began to march. The Avian’s path took it around the other costumed statueswho stood and posed in this room.

The Harpy Eagle passed unaware signs, labels, display cases, informational kiosks, and other statues both like and unlike it. The Harpy Eagle paid no attention to the surroundings, only the path to storage room L7 bobbed on the sea of consciousness.
A five minute walk finally took the Harpy Eagle to a door that it went through, into a room filled with crates and packing supplies. The Harpy Eagle stood there, awareness returning further to his head. Something was odd, like a buzzing behind his ear. But he waited, anything important would be told to him.

“Well this has been a very profitable spot of business, why you may even approve of it. Educating and maybe inspiring perhaps a new generation of products. Wouldn’t you say Blue Harpy?” A crow in a green suit stepped into Room L7.

Blue Harpy, with that name, recollection returned to the Avian. Blue Harpy, that was right, he was Blue Harpy, superhero. It had only been a few weeks wasn’t it?

He recalled he had been defeated and knocked unconscious in an attempt at thwarting some crimes in progress. That green suited crow must be The Salesman then, a mercenary villain that was more than willing to fund other criminal and villain schemes with trading in captured heroes.

And apparently Blue Harpy along with others had been rented out on display for some exhibition about heroes. How crass that some people would spend money to have superheroes in the flesh for whatever vision they wanted to display. But try as the Blue Harpy might, while awareness had returned to him. Command over his own body remained out of his reach. Muscles struggled under nerve impulses to move.

The Salesman had a very firm grip on the captive Hero, the crow had never worried about his safety. “Now now, Blue Harpy, your contract’s up anyway. Your regularly scheduled programming returns after these messages. Don’t think about chasing after my customer. My business is very discreet.” There was a white flash.

And Ernest the Harpy Eagles wakes up, feeling a weird fugue in his limbs. How long had he been sleeping? The secret identity of Blue Harpy checked his alarm which annoyingly had died. Well it was back to work, and then maybe taking up patrols again. The hero never knew of his captivity. All’s well in the world.

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A commission I got of my Harpy Eagle Hero, Blue Harpy. Done for me by  korakiart, he does great birds.

Man displays these days look so realistic.