Hey people! I'm Lin and this is like, my second Max fanfic. It's about Angel (have you noticed that Angel's not a very common main charrie on fanfiction? It's all fax (not that I don't LOVE fax). So anyway, since Angel, the flying mutant mind reading mind controlling child human-avian hybrid is so AWESOME, here's a story about her.

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Fallen Angel

Prologue

Angel's POV:

Wheeling, tumbling, falling, flying! I whooshed out my wings and cast a glance around at the flock. Twelve years ago Jeb Batchelder saved us from the School, eight years ago Maximum Ride Martinez Batchelder Fang (even after this long it's still a mouthful) saved the world from Itex and the By-Half plan, two years ago Max married Fang, and now, we're free.

I'm fourteen now. I can't believe all this time has passed. But no matter how old I get, I'm still the little one, still the sweet glimmer of youth in the flock, still Max's baby (even though she and Fang haven't gotten around to that yet); she'd never say something so mushy, good thing I can read minds.

I smiled at her and she smiled back. She was so proud of me. I'm always happy if she's proud, it's all I want. Wings? Yeah, I got 'em. Telepathy? That too. Nothing compares to the feeling of being loved and appreciated by the people I love and appreciate most. I sent the message on to Max, who smiled at me.

"Freeeee fallin'! Through the sky-y-y!" Nudge sang randomly. I can't believe she's nineteen now. She still acts like she's eleven, but in a good way.

Total groaned. "Will you shut your piehole! Sheesh! Humans these days!" he said from Iggy's carrier. I can't believe we've had that thing for eight years. It feels like only yesterday we took off from Max's mom's house after we re-glued the flock. And that time, we used super glue by the wings (figuratively, of course! Would we really do that?) and never broke up again.

I bet by now, you're wondering where the heck we're headed, aren't you? Don't lie, I can read minds, remember? Actually, we were going east. We had no goal now that we were finished with the whole 'saving the world' thing. We wanted to travel the world, and that's exactly what we were doing.

We had left Max's mom's house two days before, since Thursday had been Thanksgiving. We went there every year. It was sure as heck cold here over the east coast where we were flying. We were over Virginia now, kind of near DC. Memories of the one normal school I had ever gone to flooded through my head, making me sad and happy at the same time. I missed first grade, I missed playing swan lake and being Odette. I'm fourteen now and it's all a bit cliché, but it's true. I wondered what a normal life would have been like if we had stayed with Anne, if she were normal, if we were normal. Flying would be a lot more fun if we didn't have to hide it.

I realized that I had drifted into a coast and was far below the others. I zipped back up to the middle of the group and flew near Nudge. Fourteen and nineteen seem a lot farther apart then six and eleven. I was almost sad about how the flock had drifted apart, even though we were together.

"Max?" Nudge asked, flying closer to Max. "I'm hungry."

"Me too," I agreed.

"Can we get some food?" Gazzy asked. Poor Gazzy, I never realized what a name like 'The Gasman' could do to someone when they got in their teens, and Gazzy is 16.

"All right," Max said. She still wore jeans and a t-shirt even though she's 22 now, and she spun on a dime and started plummeting straight down feet first. We all did the same. It was a neat trick we had learned those seven years we spent with flying practice and learning from the best of 'em: that's right, the birds.

Within an hour we were airborne again. We decided to head up to New York City, this time, as tourists. I couldn't believe we had a chance to go back. Max had said after that we'd go to Florida to really go to Disney World. This was going to be fun. I couldn't wait.

"Look!" Shouted Gazzy. "I can see Long Island!"

"Yeah, I can see it too!" Iggy said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I hear it's really romantic at night, with all those lights and all," Fang said, flying closer to Max. She blushed. She really needed to learn that it's okay to admit that she loves him; they'd been married for two years now, after all.

We were over upstate New York. It was really beautiful with all the nature and beauty. Just staying here for a few days would be nice. This gave me an idea.

"Max, can we stay in upstate New York for a few days?" I asked, giving her an innocent look.

"But I want to go to all the spots we missed today!" Nudge complained. See what I meant by still acting like a kid? Since we never got more than three months worth of formal education, we never really started acting older. That's okay with us. We were as free as birds. Pun intended.

"Nudge is right, Angel. Maybe next year," Max replied.

Let her stay in upstate herself. What bad could happen? I sent the thought to Max's head.

"Well, I suppose you could stay in upstate by yourself for a day," Max said slowly. "It's not like anything bad would happen."

Fang's mouth was agape. "You're not freaking serious! You can't let a fourteen-year-old kid stay by herself in upstate New York without adult guidance! Are you insane?"

"Angel," Gazzy said sternly, turning toward me. He is my brother, after all. Of course he'd be the first to notice.

"Fine," I said. "I controlled Max's mind. Big whop. But can I still stay?"

"I don't see why not," Max said.

Well, that was easier than I thought.

"But she's only fourteen!" Fang exclaimed.

"I was in charge of all of us when I was only 12," Max pointed out.

"But she's the youngest! We can't let her get hurt," Fang said.

"Because you'd be devastated," I said, knowing it was true.

"No!" Fang said madly.

"Fang, I'm a mind reader," I told him.

"Drat. But still no."

"Please? I won't get hurt, and we all know that I can't get in trouble," I pleaded, turning to him with my big blue eyes.

"Okay, okay, but be back tomorrow by noon or we're coming after you," Fang said.

"I promise I'll be there!" I said, group-hugging the flock (some against their will) and flying away from NYC.

Bob's POV:

I walked through the forest with only my pack on my back (hehe that rhymed). I looked up through the trees, trying to find—oh, look!

Up very high, there was the most beautiful bird I could ever see. It was too high for me to tell what kind it was, but it was big, like, almost adult-sized. White wings, maybe a 13 foot span, beautiful.

"Hey, Phil!"

"Yeah?"

"Look at that!"

"Well, what are you waiting for? Shoot it before it gets away!"

"On it!"

I aimed for the heart of the creature, and shot. After I pulled the trigger, the bird angled itself away, but my shot hit it in the wing at a major bone part.

The bird dive-bombed. It went down, down, down, to a place in the forest a little ways in front of me.

"Come on, it landed over there!" I shouted at Phil.

We walked to where I had expected it landed.

"Huh, that's funny. I thought I saw it head straight for here," I said, puzzled.

"Oh, well. Let's go find another one," Phil replied.

Angel's POV:

I heard a shot. With my raptor vision I could see that it was an adult man with a gun. I quickly wheeled out of the way, but the bulled went straight into the middle of my wing. I knew I couldn't fly. I couldn't even feel my wing. I tried to tuck them in, but I don't know if it worked. I angled myself downward, but when I got past the trees, I rapidly angled myself away beneath a big shrub. Hopefully the men wouldn't stay around long. I heard footsteps come into the clearing and froze in fear.

The walked around the perimeter of the clearing and stopped right in front of my bush.

I'm dead, I thought. These men were going to find a bit more than a huge bird.

But then I noticed that their minds weren't near thinking that they were going to look behind it. Whew.

"Huh, that's funny. I thought I saw it head straight for here," one of the men said.

I'm not an it!

"Oh, well. Let's go find another one," the other man said.

Yeah, that's right!

I stayed tense until they left.

Weak with relief, I let myself fall and did a faceplant in the dirt. I knew I wouldn't get back to the flock, and they might not find me for a few days.

But then the thought melted away, like Jell-O on a hot windshield. I closed my eyes and rested right where I was, not knowing what bad would come as soon as I woke up.

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-Golden