-1So this is my first MR fanfic, and I don't have a beta, so I'm sorry if it totally sucks. I've never thought I was that good of an author, but I try, and, if I do say so myself, have turned out some good works. I've been trying to get some inspiration for a long time, and then this came to me. So, I'll quit babbling and let you get on to reading. Hope it's not too long.

Disclaimer: No matter how many times I wish upon stars and random satellites, I do not own Maximum Ride. JP does, lucky man.

"I'm hungry," Nudge announced as we soared effortlessly through the air, the tips of my wings slightly directing me towards the west, towards California, towards Disneyland. Once we had blown up Itex, the flock had convinced me to take them here, since our trip to the Mickey Mouse World had been ruined by Ari. Poor guy; my heart still aches every time I think about him.

But now I had other problems, like where to find food for five, well, if I was being honest with myself, six, hungry bird mutants in the middle of desert. We had eaten about three and a half hours ago, but that didn't make our hunger any less ravishing. "We'll find something soon," I told her.

"Can we please, please, please go to a nice restaurant, Max?" Nudge prodded. Great. This was going to make it even harder to find. "I mean, it's been, like, forever. And, oh! I know! We could go to one of those buffet places! That way we could eat all that we wanted, and not spend as much money! And, after all, I always liked buffets, because you have all these diff-" She was cut off my the hand I had placed firmly around her mouth, though she did make a few indignant muffles before quieting down.

"I'm sure I can arrange that," I said, not being at all sure, but lying in that great leader-ly way I have. Nudge smiled brightly at me as I removed my hand, and seemed content to dwell on the prospect of food silently for about… oh, I don't know, 10 seconds? Then she flew over to Iggy and started talking about… well, I don't know, I was pretty occupied.

I looked helplessly down at the sand, willing there to be some inexplicably placed all-you-can-eat diner stuck in-between a couple cacti.

As if to try to answer my search, I saw spotlights about 58 miles away. It took less than a minute to figure it out. We were passing through Nevada, and I had never seen so many spotlights, not even in New York. Las Vegas. It was a very flashy place. Well, why the he-heck not? It seemed like it might be fun, and I could definitely use to have some good things happen to me, like a fed flock.

"Look, there's a couple million places down there," I pointed out warmly.

The flock looked down simultaneously and oohed and awed. Well, except Fang of course. The pretty lights excited him, too, though. I could tell my the gleam that had lit up his eyes. That settles it; we were off to Vegas… the second city that never sleeps.

But the longer we took in the air, the more I thought about all the ads I'd seen. I mean, it's freaking Sin City! I know that Angel and Gazzy were mature for their age, but I still didn't want them to be in any city with "sin" in the name. Not that we were by any means innocent, but still.

I didn't want to let them down, though, after I'd gotten their hopes up. What to do, what to do? I truly hate being the leader in these situations. I mean, what was I supposed to say? Sorry, but I'm afraid you young, impressionable children should not be in this inappropriate town? I would sound like a prick, Fang would scoff internally, Iggy would want to go more, and the three youngest would be offended.

Thinking of the younger ones, I mentally guarded my mind quickly, in case Angel wasn't quite as absorbed with Total as she appeared. We were nearing the lights quickly, way too quickly. Da-darn! This was not good.

Suddenly it came to me, like in New York as we passed the library. I was so good at the improv thing. Not all of Vegas could be covered with clubs and posters, could it? There had to be nice little suburbs or something, with buffets. Right? Of course.

So, around a minute later, as we were on top of the blaring lights, and the flock started to lower themselves, I jumped in with "Not yet, our destination's a little further." Fang cocked in eyebrow at me, and, despite the pitch black that had covered the night less than an hour ago, his face was illuminated brightly by the doings of the below city.

"What do you mean, Max?" Nudge asked. "I mean, this is where you pointed earlier, right? Where are we going if not here? I mean, well, "here" is very vague, I suppose, but, you know, I mean the ci-"

Nudge was cut off by Fang, who said, in that cool and collected way he has, "I think what Max means is, Vegas is not a suitable place for a 6-year old." He looked superiorly at me, as Angel yelped indignantly. (A/N: Is that the second time I've used "indignant" in this chapter?)

"Well," I began, struggling to keep my cool and surreptitiously shoot daggers at Fang. "I mean, that's not what I'm saying at all." I was about to continue, but Iggy interrupted me.

"Vegas? We're flying over Las Vegas, and you're trying to keep me away?" he said, indignation (A/N: Ah! There it is again! What is wrong with me?) dripping from his words.

I sighed. "Fine, we'll go later. Um, in the morning. But for now, I'm the leader, and we'll go where I want to." I knew if I argued with Iggy, he'd probably end up losing and then flying down anyway, leaving us no choice but to follow him. And it couldn't be as bad during the day, right?

Iggy seemed like he was seriously considering dropping down to the lights, but I guess he figured he'd get to go later, and therefore wasn't worth getting his butt kicked for. (A/N: Was that confusing?) He shrugged and kept flying forward, while the others seemed to brood silently, especially Angel and Fang.

I knew Angel was hurt that I thought she wasn't mature enough, but I couldn't figure out why Fang was mad at me. The only thing I could think of was that I had managed to slip out of the situation he had set me up for. That jerk.

I held back until he was flying right beside me, and the tips of my tan wings brushed gently against his pitch black. Then, flopping my combat boot-armed foot up, I quickly kicked him in the stomach. He grunted, more out of surprise then pain, and I smiled and giggled.

Hah! Take that, Mr. Let's Get Max In Trouble. I soared up for a few seconds, still laughing, before he could retaliate, laying on the hyper speed. I knew I'd have to pay for it later, but for right now, it was worth it.

You know, it's really pretty up in the night air, looking down on the mosaic of Las Vegas. Maybe I really would have fun tomorrow. But for now, I had better find some food for my flock.

OK… now, review! You know you want to! Flame away, if you like.

Now, out of respect for I'll have some stupid cliche:

Peace and Love and Sneaking Kicks at Fang (Though only Max, Ari, and a few erasers have been able to do it..),

Emiline Forest (No, it's a penname.)