--Info--
Title: The Colors of Adventure
Author: Kia (a.k.a. RockenRollTurtle)
Time: After MAX
Setting: The island of Madagascar
Point of view: Three people, First person
Story: With the answer to the strange monstrous radioactive fish, Max and the flock don't really have much planned. That is, until Max's mother, Dr. Martinez (and maybe Jeb), give them a new assignment: To take position on the remote island of Madagascar and help learn about the unique and endangered wildlife that live there. It's on that island that they meet two kids who might or might not spell the end of the flock, and the world.
Green is for Meeting
Max
"Max...can we get some food?"
"Gazzy, do you SEE a Burger King sign anywhere?".
He looks down below us from where we were soaring miles up and frowns.
"But I'm hungry."
"We all are. Were almost there, so just hang tight, okay?"
My statement was not met with an enthusiastic smile.
"So Max, WHERE are we going again?" Iggy says beside me, his wings brushing mine on every down stroke.
"Madagascar."
"You mean where they have all those lemurs?" Nudge chimes in excitedly.
"Yep. That's the place."
"That is so cool! I love lemurs! They're so cute and fuzzy! And that place is covered in jungles, right? That will make it hard to take off and land and stuff, and there will be jaguars...."
"Um, Nudge? I think jaguars live in South America." I break in.
Nudge merely shrugs, a difficult thing to do while flying, and flaps her wings to catch up to Gazzy.
I sigh and look around at the vast ocean that stretched out for miles around us. Exactly WHY we were navigating over an ocean to travel to some island I never even knew existed is a question that I wished I had the answer to.
'But at least the kids get to see someplace new.' I think, smiling a small, simple smile, looking at them each in turn.
If your just getting on board with the whole Maximum Ride thing, then you're a little late and, frankly, I just don't feel like explaining our situation right now. You'll catch on in a bit, but for now, I'll just let myself fly, glide on the occasional updraft of hot air and sail peacefully miles above the earth.
"You going to purr or what?" a voice calls from beside me as dark wings flash across my gaze, Fang swooping down to my level.
Fang. My right hand man, the one I could always count on, my soul mate, something I just recently figured out. His eyes, dark as his black wings, held a quiet humor in them, and his smile made my heart flip.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Your happy warmth is baking me over here."
"Then go fly somewhere else. You have the whole dag gone freaking sky ya know."
Fang ignores my jabbing tone, secret smile broadening.
"Not a chance." He answers plainly, causing my insides to twirl even more.
"Max."
I turn to look at a small, gliding bundle of pure white feathers.
"What is it Angel?"
"I see land."
I gaze ahead and what do you know, there it was, a tiny sliver of brownish-green just off to the right. Our destination.
"Is that it?" Gasser calls from ahead, pointing at the slow approaching land mass.
"Yep." Angel answers her brother, flapping lazily.
"Thank god. My wings are killing me, and I'm hungry, and tired, and…."
"Nudge."
Nudge smiles back at me in apology.
"Hey Max," Gazzy swoops in closer to me. "Is your mom going to be there? And the other scientists? And the Navy?"
"My mom is, but I'm not sure about the others. I think there are scientists already working on the island. You know, studying the animals and stuff. And I think the Navy likes to stay a little closer to home. Why?"
"Oh, just wondering." He shrugs, gliding slightly over to Iggy who was trying to keep a straight face.
My suspicion meter jumps dangerously high.
"Gazzy, Iggy, what did you do?"
"We didn't do anything." Iggy defends himself, looking at me sightlessly.
"We spent weeks at a high security U.S. naval base overflowing with all sorts of deadly weapons, including bombs, and you expect me to believe that you two didn't do anything…."
There was a pause as they looked at each other, then away again.
"Well…." Iggy begins.
"Well what?"
"We didn't DO anything exactly." The Gasman concludes, fiddling with the strings on his hoodie.
"Guys, don't tell me you stole bombs!"
"No way!" Iggy spits. "We couldn't have stolen a bomb even if we tried. The warehouse was too stocked up with guards. But a window to the weapons house was blown out…"
"…And I've always wanted to have a pair of night vision goggles…." Gazzy says dreamily, gazing up at the sky.
"You idiots!" I yell, glaring at them, which of course was worthless on Iggy. "What were you thinking!? Do you know how much those must cost, and how much trouble your going to get into when they find out? Of all the things you could have stolen, you just HAD to choose the military equipment."
"They aren't going to miss it. It's just one pair."
"Guys...." I growl, closing my eyes and rubbing my now pulsing temples, preparing a good, lengthy lecture.
"Land ahoy!" Gazzy suddenly shouts, dive-bombing.
'So much for that.'
Another lesson unpunished, further proof that my authoritative power over these kids was dwindling. This pampered life of fame is really turning me into a pansy. Below us, not even a mile of water distanced the flock from our destination and as we slowly began to spiral gracefully downward, dark shapes began to wave at us excitedly, one of them twirling something bright red. Upon closer inspection, the shapes turned into people: one man and two women, one of those being my mom. We kicked up sand as we thudded to a running halt a couple yards away from the trio and before I knew it, I was encased in a warm bear hug, which I quickly returned.
"Hi mom." I say lamely, backing away to look at her smiling face.
My mom, Dr. Martinez, who was recently rescued from a certain watery death by yours featherly, was one of the people to suggest that the flock and I come here to help perform some 'important studies', whatever that means.
"Hello Max. I'm glad you got here safely. I was beginning to worry about you."
Did I also mention that I really, really, really love my mom? I had never had any adult worry about me or care about me before, except Jeb, and after she and her daughter Ella, my half-sister, helped me way back when in Arizona, I began to wish that she really was my mom. Needless to say my wish was granted.
"I'm fine. Thanks though."
She smiles warmly back at me and backs away.
"Now that you're here, I 'd like you to meet someone."
My flock huddles behind me out of habit as a middle aged, tall, dark haired man steps forward.
"This is Doctor Williams," my mom continues, gesturing to the man whose hair showed his age, dark gray with white flecks, "and his wife Teresa."
She motions to a shorter, older woman beside her.
"Hello." The doctor introduces, eyes crinkling over his smile. "I'm glad that you chose to come. We've been wanting to meet you and your family for a long time."
It took me a moment to realize that the family he meant wasn't my mom and Jeb, but my flock. I smile inwardly and decide that I like this guy. His wife steps up beside him, a brunette-blond shorthaired woman with an outspoken face.
"A very long time. The gang and I have been so intrigued and inspired by your accomplishments, that we just had to meet you."
A begin to reply, but a sudden lurch from inside my backpack chokes me.
"Are we there yet? I want a filet mignon pronto!"
'Oh great. I had almost forgotten….' I sigh exasperatedly as Total pokes his dark head out of the zipper, looking at everyone in the flock.
"Well? Are we?"
"We're here." Angel answers for him, picking him up.
"About time! I'm starving!" he yelps as he jumps out of Angel's arms and pads past Dr. Williams and Teresa, muttering a 'Sup' to the stunned couple before going on his way.
I tried not to giggle.
"Just ignore him. He's like that to everyone, especially when he's in one of his moods." I interject, still battling the urge.
My explanation seemed to break the ice, and the two recover composure again, if not looking slightly sheepish.
"Were sorry." The doctor apologizes, rubbing his weathered hands. "We should have expected… We were just caught by surprise." He ends hastily.
"We're used to that. And not to be mean or anything, but we are kinda hungry." I imply.
"Oh, of course. Right this way." They say, turning and heading down a nice, warn out trail behind them.
We followed obediently, my mom walking beside me. Out by the ocean where the breeze blew, the temp was quite enjoyable, but walking inside a dense, humid jungle while wearing cold weather apparel, not so much. By the time the tiny wood colored building came into view, all of us were sweating like football players.
"This weather is going to kill my hair!" Nudge complains, holding up a dark lock between her fingers. "Do you know what humidity does to hair?"
"You'll get used to it after a while." Dr. Williams says with a following sound like a chuckle, taking us up to a door on the side of the building and leading us in.
"Oh my gosh, air conditioning!"
"It wouldn't have been so bad if you had taken your jackets off."
My mom- always the voice of reason when a couple of hot, hungry, and tired bird kids are too wiped out to use common sense. Relieving ourselves of our said jackets, we followed my mom who followed Dr. Williams and Teresa down a plain beige hallway covered in doorways, through a door, into another hallway filled with doorways, then into a medium sized room that smelled of food and consisted of a single large, wooden table and an assortment of kitchen appliances. Total was already inside, sitting hunched in a corner opposite from the corner which sat a big bowl of wet dog food.
'Great. Now we'll never hear the end of it.'
On the side of the room facing us, rummaging through a couple cabinets, was whom I assumed as the cook. She stood when she heard us come in, her long, fiery red hair covering her eyes.
"This is Kim, one of our colleagues." Dr. Williams says as Kim smiles and nods to us.
"I've got a lasagna in the oven now. Just sit down and it should be ready in a couple of minutes."
"Yes! Finally, we get to have some food!" Gazzy exclaims, swiftly taking a random seat and lifting the fork and knife that had been waiting on a napkin, looking very much like a starved man.
"I'm in too!"
"Same here!"
Soon, after Angel led Iggy to a spot, Nudge talked Total out of his depression, and an excruciating two minutes, we were feasting like kings. Kim must have been told of how much we kids eat. When she brought out a lasagna-filled dish the size of a cinderblock, we all were drooling enough to fill up an Olympic swimming pool.
"There are seven of us stationed here." Teresa explains, watching us in slight fascination as a handful of people file into the open room. "Me and my husband organized and head this study. Kim O'Neal over there is our Ecologist, and our best cook."
Kim nods almost regretfully from her seat across from us.
"Lupina Ramone is a Microbiologist."
Teresa points to a large eyed Hispanic looking woman with long caramel hair behind her.
"And Dr. Jeremy Capoccia is our Zoologist slash personal comedian."
A short, handsome, brown haired man half waves at us from where he was leaning against the wall.
"So this is your team?" Nudge asks.
"Our trained team, yes."
"Wait." Iggy interrupts. "You only told us five names. I thought you said there were seven of you?"
"There are. Phillip is trying to find…."
"Done." Announces a voice from the door as Dr. Williams steps in. "Sorry it took so long. I had to find them in the woods."
Behind him stood two people, a boy and a girl. The girl looked about my age, if not older, and had short cropped light brown hair that got lighter near the ends. The boy beside her on the other hand was a surfer-dude blond, hair short and spiked. He was taller than the girl by a good three inches and couldn't be under fifteen years old.
"These two," Dr. Williams smiles, "are our personal assistants. Daniel, and his sister Singer."
All of the flock sat in stunned silence; even Fang who had been describing the people to Iggy. Total even fell quiet. The two kids had looked normal enough, until the doctor moved. From there, we all could see what was behind their heads and, ultimately, attacked to their backs; a pair of huge, muscled birds wings.
"They were experiments too as you can see." Phillip goes on without seeming to notice our shock. "We were hoping that you all would become friends over the time you spend assisting us here."
All at once, we recovered.
"Y… yeah. That sounds great!" Gazzy bravely says, unable to take his eyes off the girl, Singer.
I couldn't blame him. I was still staring at her too. The wings were a bit of a shocker, sure, but as I looked at her more, I saw her second most stunning feature. Under the brown wisps of hair that she tried to hide herself behind, her face was sabotaged by scars, some straight, but mostly jagged and ugly. Her body was covered by them too, but more spaced apart; her forest green cargo shorts and black tank top allowing the scars to advertise themselves almost freely. The boy Daniel under inspection looked completely fine, which just begged the question more.
'What happened to her?'