Hey, I know I haven't updated my other story in forever. I'm thinking about discontinuation for it. But this is a topic I feel like I can really write for. Maybe weekly updates? Possibly faster.

Yes, this is inspired by the song Angel with A Shotgun by The Cab. But no, it is not a songfic. Just inspired by the song.

Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.

Ch. 1:

Fang POV

Hi There. I'm Fang. And I'm an angel.

Confused yet? I figured you would be. I'll give you a rough picture on how the system works.

There are two main angels. The Angel of Life and The Angel of Death.

We'll start with the simpler of the two, The Angel of Death. Basically, all he does is decide when each person's time on earth is over. Once he makes up his mind, the person at the top of his list will most likely die within 24 hours. The deaths range from terrible accidents, to horrendous murders, to illnesses. I know what you're thinking, how can he be considered an angel? The thing is, death is not the enemy. It's a part of life. You may want to look at him like the ultimate source of evil, but he's not. He's simply making life go on.

The other angel is The Angel of Life. He takes people who are on death's list and if he believes it's not their time, he sends one of his workers in to stop it from happening. His workers, being other angels. He is, in a sense, my employer.

I am one of the angels who works for The Angel of Life. I am one of the most trusted angels he uses. I have completed a number of successful missions and with my skills; I am not even required to have a partner like most do.

The reason for most of my success is my stealth. I have an ability to blend in with my surroundings quite easily. I'm not exactly the exact picture of an angel, either. I have black hair, dark brown eyes, and olive skin. I dress head to toe in black, adding to my blending in factor. So, no. I did not have a halo floating atop my head or a pair of wings.

I was essentially like a normal human, except for two things. I could orb from place to place. Orbing is basically just like what you would call teleporting. I concentrate on the place and suddenly I'm there. Out of thin air. Orbing is how angels get from our headquarters in a place in heaven all the way down to earth. The second thing was that I had superhuman strength.

Our headquarters was in heaven, yes. Our headquarters was just a huge building, really. The inside was mostly silver and white. No elegant decorations. Nothing. There was one desk for The Angel of Death and one desk for The Angel of Light. The Angel of Light evaluated death's list in headquarters and then assigned certain tasks to certain people.

I have never spoken to The Angel of Death or Life. That is for the way higher ups. I was high, but not that high. My boss was an angel higher than me named Mari. She gave me any tasks of people to save.

"Fang." Mari's voice snapped me out of my daze.

"Yes?" I replied, hoping for a task. I haven't had one for weeks. I had just been orbing back from earth to HQ and back to earth. I was an angel, but when angels didn't have jobs, we tended to hang around humans for entertainment.

She put on a stern expression, "Today's your lucky day. A task just came in. You are to save James Griffiths of New York City from some thieves. They are going to try to come into his restaurant and steal from the cash register. When he fails to comply, James Griffiths is shot. I suggest you dart the thieves before they can get to the restaurant. Afterwards, go inside to see if James is safe or not. Do you understand?"

I nodded my head vigorously. This would be easy, but a mission was a mission and I was thankful to have one. All I had to do was dart the thieves.

Oh, I forgot to explain that part. We angels have a few weapons we carry with us to help stop death from coming. We can never actually harm a human, though.

Some weapons include our most precious one, Forgetting Darts. If you nail someone with one of these, they'll not only be asleep for 24 hours, but they will forget the last 6 months of their lives. This helps some people forget the evil things they were planning, making it very useful.

Another weapon is our Laser of Peace. It sounds very stupid, I know. You shine it in whoever you are trying to correct's eyes and they immediately know all the harmful repercussions that could come of the deed. This makes them very hesitant to go on with their plans, therefore making peace. The only side effect is temporary blindness for about 4 hours. We're still working on that.

These are just two of many, though. No actual harmful weapons are allowed to be used against humans. I'm talking about guns, whips, tazers, and such.

I concentrated on an alleyway I knew well in New York City. I decided to go there because the only people that usually occupied it were sleeping hobos and alley cats.

I opened my eyes and viewed my surroundings. I was in the alleyway I had envisioned. There was always the risk of being viewed by humans, but Forgetting Darts usually took care of that. I looked at the sleeping hobos and orange tabby cat here today.

I dusted non-existent dirt from my pants and looked at the case file in my hands. You heard me, case file. Like the ones detectives have. We had them too. It's too hard to explain everything out loud and they can't just magically put the information in my head.

The information gave me some facts I would need to know about this case.

Name: James Griffiths. Goes By: Iggy. Gender: Male.

Owns restaurant by the name of 'Iggy's Diner.'

Not married, no children.

Age: 25.

Close relationships: Brother, Zephyr 'Gazzy' Griffiths. Girlfriend, Monique 'Nudge' Parker. Sister, Sarah 'Angel' Griffiths. Best friend, Maximum 'Max' Ride.

Perpetrators of crime: Thieves, this will be the first offense. Hank Redwood, Theo Gents, and Minnie Gents.

Mission: Stop the thieves before they get to James. Check to see if he is safe after you take down the perpetrators.

There were 4 pictures attached to the case file. One picture of James Griffiths, he was tall, a bit lanky, and had strawberry blond hair and light blue eyes. The other three pictures were of the perpetrators. The first thief was short and on the heavy side, with the classic handle bar mustache, Hank Redwood. The other two were tall with fiery red hair and hazel eyes, they were twins. Theo and Minnie Gents.

I walked swiftly out of my alley, glancing around me as I went.

I knew my way around New York City well. I had been going here ever since I started as an angel. I started as an angel at age 20. I am now 25. Really 25. Not just in appearance, like those creepy 100-year old vampires in the twilight series. I have been working as angel for 5 years, and spent the rest of my life training for it. Being an angel is something you are born into, and my dad used to be a very skilled higher up. He's now retired as an angel, just lounging around heaven and doing what he likes.

I soon arrived at the place known as Iggy's Diner. It was small, but well known. It had a 50s theme that people loved. All the waitresses went around on roller skates for faster service and customer enjoyment. I had been inside to watch the skaters a couple times, but never ordered any food. Not because I don't eat, I just didn't want to make myself known. I eat. A lot, actually. Everybody says I eat too much to be as in shape as I am.

I stood outside of the restaurant looking for anyone matching the photos I had seen, or anyone suspicious in general.

At first, I saw no one. Then I spotted a girl and boy, about the same height. I studied they're faces and though they're hair had gone from a fiery red to a deep brown, I could tell it was them. The second give away was that they were standing next to a stocky man who was very short; he had shaved his mustache though.

I crossed the street to where they were.

"Hello." I greeted.

"Hi." Minnie's shrill voice was coated in anxiety.

"I'm Nicholas Price. I was wondering if any of you were interested in going on a cheap vacation to Hawaii anytime soon?" I put door-to-door salesman charm onto my voice.

"No." Hank said bluntly.

"Thank you for listening." I held out my hand to shake.

Hank shook slowly and I inserted the dart into his hand. That was another thing about our darts, they were small. They wouldn't be visible to you unless you were looking for them.

I repeated Hank's process on the extremely dimwitted Minnie and Theo. I crossed the street back to the diner. Within the minute, all three crumpled to the sidewalk.

A woman with a poodle walked into them and called 911. I knew that they'd be okay, and therefore I wasn't actually inflicting any harm to human.

I entered the diner with a smile playing on my lips. Another successful job; I wouldn't be surprised if I were promoted soon.

I took a seat at the booth and looked around for James. I saw his strawberry blond head talking to a waitress I had never seen before. I relaxed any tension left in myself when I realized he was okay.

The waitress skated over and looked down at me. She was obviously beautiful. Golden hair streaked with brown, chocolate eyes, and an athletic build.

"Hi. I'm Max. May I take your order?" Her voice lacked the usual waitress enthusiasm.

"Isn't that a guy's name?" I blurted out.

She cocked an eyebrow, "Aren't you polite? Besides, it's not like I named my self. Now, may I take your order?"

"I think you should say that with a little more enthusiasm." I smirked. Toying with humans was so fun. We were never allowed to actually get close emotionally to a human, but we were allowed annoy them.

She let out an exasperated sigh, "Are you going to order or not?"

"I'll take the pancakes, scrambled eggs, 5 strips of bacon, and some coffee." I said, barely glancing at the menu.

"You do realize it's lunch, right?" She asked.

"Yep." I replied, grinning.

She laughed and left.

She soon came back with my order.

"Yum…" I nearly inhaled my food while Max just watched.

"Impressed?" I asked.

"I could do better." She shrugged.

I scoffed, "No way."

"You're really annoying, you know." She rolled her eyes playfully.

"If you're a waitress, you should really work on your people skills. How did you get this job?" I questioned.

She smirked, "I know the owner."

The pieces clicked into place. Max. Maximum Ride, best friend of James Griffiths.

"Well, aren't you special." I replied finally.

"Yeah. I'll see you later, huh? Here. Call me if you want to hang out or something." She scribbled down her number on a napkin and handed it to me. I could tell she wasn't trying to flirt or anything, she just wanted to hang out.

Despite myself, my training, and the rules for angels, I found myself stuffing her number in my pocket.

She knows James. I told myself. You're just keeping here number so you can make sure James is all right. So you can check up on him.

Yeah, right.

How's that for a first chapter? I wanted to get the whole explanation, plus meeting Max in there. This is a little bit more out there than I'm used to so tell me if you like it or not.

-cutiepie5514