Meet the Bird-kids
AN: This story is a work in progress, so updates may not be consistent, but please feel free to read through what I have so far.
***Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or Virals. Got it? Good.***
Tory's POV
My senses sharpened the world around me. My eyes glinted with golden light. I spotted my target and lunged.
We were fast, but not quite fast enough. The pack's canine reflexes were impressive. Then again, so were our opponents'. I pursued the tall girl. Ben grimaced and went after the dark haired boy. Shelton was trying to trick the blind guy but he was clever. Plus he had the creepy little mind reading chick to back him up. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Hi trying to fend off the chocolate-skinned girl and the youngest boy. They were chasing Hi around and chucking stones at him, almost like it was a game. Yeah, things weren't looking so hot for us. We may have canine genes, but these kids had one major advantage over us: wings.
The oldest girl shouted something I couldn't make out, and she tried to escape by doing a little "up, up and away". But I wasn't about to let her leave. I leapt and caught her arm. My nails dug into her skin. She cursed and started kicking frantically. But she was hindered by my extra weight and had to flap hard to keep us both from falling.
Her eyes were filled with rage and hatred. "What are you?!" she spat. "Some kind of new-and-improved breed of Eraser?"
"No!" I shouted. "I'm only trying to protect my pack!" At this her eyes widened and she looked harder at me.
"What?"
"I said, I'm trying to protect my pack!" The girl regarded me for a moment. She seemed to come to a decision and lowered us to the ground.
I let go of her arm and tumbled to the grass, unharmed. She landed softly and walked over to me. I growled at her. Is this some kind of trick? I thought. What's with the sudden change in attitude?
"Guys!" she shouted to the other members of her gang. "It's okay. Let them be."
Hi and Shelton ran over to me, huffing and puffing. Their eyes flickered then returned to normal. I looked around for Ben and saw him being dragged over by the black-winged kid. Ben's eyes were dark brown and back to normal too. Only my flare was still going; I could feel the fire in my eyes and my heart beating 100 miles an hour.
"What do you want from us?" I growled, still trying to play the tough-girl card. But it can be hard to look menacing when you're surrounded by six bird-kids and your friends are all either immobilized or out of breath. Hi and Shelton were still lying at my feet sucking oxygen, and Ben's arms were restrained, held firmly in place by the dark-winged guy. I admit it wasn't looking so good for us, but I wasn't about to give up. "Who are you and what do you want?" I asked again, growing quickly impatient.
"Relax," the tallest girl—their leader, I surmised—told me. "We kind of assumed you guys were enemies, so immediately went into 'attack mode'. But when I took a closer look at you, I saw that you weren't Erasers or robots. You're all just normal mutant freaks."
"There's an oxy-moron if I ever heard one," muttered Shelton, finally pumping oxygen. I saw the blind kid smirk at his remark.
The bird-girl in front of me smiled. "I'm Max. And this is the flock." She went around the circle, introducing them by name. "Fang. Nudge. Iggy. Gazzy. And Angel."
The blind one, Iggy, looked confused. "So are you guys mutants like us or something?" I realized he probably had no idea what we looked like.
"We look normal," I explained, "but we have some wolf DNA in us. We can do this thing we call 'flaring', when we can use our wolf strength and senses. But it only lasts for awhile…" I said, gesturing to Hi. He sat on the ground, sucking air.
"Don't…gasp…mind…gasp…me…" he wheezed.
"Uh… no offence dude, but can you let go of me?" Ben asked. "Now that we're not trying to kill each other, that is?"
"Oh, uh, sure…" said Fang, releasing Ben's arms. Ben looked relieved, but he eyed Fang warily. A strange silence enveloped our cluster of genetic freaks until Shelton finally spoke up.
"Well, we told you what we are," Shelton started, "So, if you don't mind me asking, can you tell us what the heck you guys are?"
Max sighed. "It's kinda complicated. Basically we're 98% human, but a bunch of wacko scientists decided it would be fun to add a pinch of avian genes to our DNA. Thus, we were born with wings and a few other bird-like features."
For the first time, I took a really good look at their wings. They were exactly like a hawk's, only much larger. I admired the variety of colors each had; their feathers ranged from brown to black to white and every shade in between, and some were solid while others were speckled. "So can you all can actually fly with those?" I asked, before realizing what a stupid question that was. Of course they could fly; we had just seen them do it.
Luckily Max didn't scoff at my question, instead answering with a casual, "Yeah, it's pretty cool."
Before she could say more, Max was cut off by the girl standing next to Fang. "It's super cool! I just looooooooove flying, in fact, we all do! The wind through your hair feels great, though it can be a pain when it gets all messed up. But I guess it's not really that big of a deal; I mean c'mon, we're usually running around with clothes that are blood-splattered or torn up anyway, so hair is like the least of our concerns. I at least try to keep my hair and clothes neat when I can, I mean, why compromise style, you know?"
I blinked and stared. The look of shock on my face must have been priceless, because Max laughed. "Slow down there, Nudge. Not everyone is accustomed to your motor mouth. Take it easy."
"Sorry. Sometimes I get a bit carried away," said Nudge with a small smile.
"Forgive Nudge. She just loves to talk," said Max. Nudge opened her mouth to protest, but Max gave her a look and Nudge shut her mouth slowly.
"Nudge may be a motor mouth, but no one loves to talk as much as me!" Max's voice said—without her lips moving.
The bird-girl whirled around to look at the youngest boy. "Whatwas that?" she asked slowly. The boy shrugged. "You wanna repeat that?" she said, leaning forward and giving him the evil eye. Iggy snickered. Nudge tried to stifle a giggle.
The boy's eyes twinkled, and he grinned mischievously. "I didn't say anything," he said. In Max's voice.
Ben, Hi, Shelton, and I all stared. "Come here!" Max cried. Gazzy tried to dodge, but Max caught him around the neck and began ruffling his hair.
"Hey! Stop!" laughed Gazzy in his normal voice, as he tried to worm his way out of the headlock. Finally Max smiled and let go of him. "Kids," she laughed.
"Whoa, so you can mimic people's voices? That is so cool!" cried Hi, finally standing up.
"Anyone's voice I've heard," Gazzy replied in Hi's voice.
"Wow, imagine all the pranks you could pull," Hi continued. "You could call up Dominos and be like 'Yes, this is the President of the United States speaking. I'd like forty Hawaiian pizzas with extra pineapple delivered to the White House, please.'"
"Oh, trust me," Max said glaring pointedly at Gazzy, "he's pulled plenty of pranks before."
I was in awe. I'd heard people do impressions before, but this kid's skill was beyond the norm. My head was full of questions, but the first one that popped out of my mouth was: "Do you all have special powers? Besides being able to fly, I mean?"
Max's brow furrowed and she was silent for a moment. "Yeah…" she said slowly but hesitantly.
I wondered if I had crossed the line; maybe this was a sensitive issue. "Did I say something wrong?" I questioned tentatively.
"No," Max admitted, "it's just that I've never been able to figure out how our other powers work or where they even came from. It's like the white coats… the uh, scientists… engineered us to randomly develop new abilities." Once again, she went around the circle. "Fang can turn invisible… sometimes. If he sits really still. Nudge can draw metal close to her like a magnet."
"Ooh! And I can hack computers!" Nudge piped up.
"Iggy can 'see' the colors of anything he touches," Max continued. "And he makes awesome pancakes, which I guess you could call an amazing power."
"It's true," said Iggy. "I'm the master of the mixing bowl."
"A champion chopper," Gazzy agreed.
"The super spatula!" Nudge added.
"The… uh, fantastic fryer!" Shelton cried. Everyone glanced at him. "What?" he asked with a grin.
"Gazzy can mimic voices, as you have heard for yourself, and um…" Max hesitated again. "Gazzy is actually short for the 'Gasman'. Let's just say he's well-versed in the art of flatulence."
"Seriously? Mimicking voices and super stink? Dude, hi five!" said Hi, holding up his palm.
Max rolled her eyes. "And Angel… she's our special little girl. She can read minds. And communicate telepathically. And breathe underwater. And change her appearance." She glanced at the small blond haired girl. "Am I missing anything?"
"You forgot mind control," Fang added.
"Oh, yes… but we try to avoid using that one, right?" She glanced at Angel.
The girl pouted. "Yes Max… I just wish I could have super speed like you."
Max smiled and stroked her hair. "Sweetie, I think wings, gills, and telepathic powers are enough, 'kay? If you had any more powers, I think our heads would probably explode."
"Really?" cried Gazzy. "Cause that would be so cool!"
Max sighed. I smiled and shook my head. I could see she had her hands full with this bunch.
A cool chill blew through the air. Angel hugged her arms to her body. "Max? Can we find a place to stay? It's getting kind of cold out here."
"Sure. I think I know just the place."
"A cave?" Iggy asked with fake enthusiasm. "Or how about a nice sewer pipe? That would be fun!"
Max glared at him, then realized he couldn't tell. "I'm glaring at you, Iggy," she told him, but there was a slight grin on her face. She turned back to the group. "I think for now we should just find a place to stay the night. If we can find a pay phone in the next town, I'll call my mom and see if she minds us dropping by."
Me, being the scientific one, was surprised to hear this. "You have a mom?" I asked, before realizing how rude and insulting it sounded. "I mean, were you actually… born?"
"Yeah," said Max. "And we all have parents. But only my mom houses bird kids." She unfurled her wings. "Let's go."
AN: What do you think? Please leave comments and feedback in the reviews. Help me improve as a writer!