A/N: Hello, fellow readers. This is my first Fanfic ever, so no flames, but I would LOVE some constructive criticism. Just to clarify, Max is 16 in this story, Fang is 15, Iggy is 15, Nudge is 12, Gazzy is 8, and Angel is 7. I pretty much ignored the book FANG, because after reading it, the whole book series becomes completely different, and it was hard to construct my story while following the 6th book. So, this story is after MAX. Angel is also the tiniest bit more innocent. Hope you don't mind.

(Made some edits to some things in the chapters that were bugging me. Nothing terribly major. You can read them again if you like, but its mostly just spelling mistakes and sentence flow issues.)

Disclaimer: Do I look like James Patterson? Or Scott Westerfeld? No? Darn. Then I guess I don't own this series then..

"Max."

What the.. Who was up at this hour? I rolled over and groaned when I saw the time: 4 AM.

"Is the flock under attack?" I mumbled.

"Well, no, but…"

"Then wake me up at a more sane hour." I pulled the covers over my head and hoped that whatever flock member it was would leave me be. I loved all of the flock to death, of course. I just didn't have enough brainpower to realize that at 4 in the freaking morning.

"I would, Max, but Total won't stop complaining. Iggy and Gazzy set off a German chocolate bomb off that was attatched to his fur."

Sighing, I looked up to see it was Angel that had woken me. Her platinum blond curls were disheveled after sleeping, and her eyes… Crap! Pleading Bambi eyes gazed back at me.

"Ok, ok - I'm up," I said grumpily. "Do I even want to know how they got chocolate to work in a bomb?"

"Not really."

I sighed again, then literally fell out of bed, twisting so I wouldn't fall on one of my wings. Yes, wings. Me, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman and Angel are all mutant bird kids that were created and held by mad (Not angry mad, but… "Muahahahaha!" mad) scientists. They also gave us special abilities, and according to Jeb (Our once father figure, now betrayer), we kept mutating. 'Cause, y'know, it wasn't enough to just make us 98% avian, 2% bird. Now we might grow, like, tentacles or something at any minute.

But we're one of the lucky experiments. Because… we're alive. And not flying, killing Frankensteins bent against our will.

We were staying with Dr. Martinez, a woman I met who just happens to be my biological mother. I guess, if you wanna get technical, Jeb's my biological father. But I'm not gonna start going to baseball games and getting piggyback rides from him now. He betrayed me - betrayed all of the flock. But that's a long story.

No one was out to get us right now, so the flock had unanimously decided to just sit back and chill for awhile. But it turns out that Iggy and Gazzy didn't quite get the term "relaxing". They thought it meant "Blow everything and everybody up since they weren't ready for it." So, I really wasn't surprised by this.

"Incorrigible. Simply incorrigible! You have no respect for Canine-Americans!" Total ranted from the kitchen.

Oh, yeah. Total's our talking, jumping, flying scotti- sorry, Canine-American that accompanies me and my merry band of mutants throughout our various wonderful adventures. Note the sarcasm.

Groaning, I stumbled through the hallways of the warm, cozy house I knew by heart. What I saw in the kitchen was perhaps worth getting up early for, because I'd most likely never see it again.

There was chocolate EVERYWHERE. On the walls, the appliances, the paw prints on the floor, covering Total from head to toe, and splattered all over the 2 mutants in the kitchen. Iggy and Gazzy held expectant, almost frightened expressions on their faces as they got a verbal beat-down from the small dog that couldn't even reach Gazzy's (who is 8) knees.

"When I was dreaming, innocent as anything, you attatched a freaking chocolate bomb on my fur? And then set it off, when I was fast asleep? How the.. Why in the.. What… Where did you even GET German chocolate! How'd you put it in a BOMB? You're INSUFFERABLE!" Total shouted, not even noticing me and Angel in the doorway. He glanced down at his black-turned-poo-colored fur. "I'll finish this when I'm not covered in filth." He glared at them both, and they bowed their heads. "And clean this up while I'm gone!"

Why can't I do that to them? I wondered as Total walked away. The two pyromaniacs immediately started scrubbing various parts of the kitchen. They had a identical looks of shame on their faces, but I think it was more to do with being screamed at by a very small dog than anything else.

"Max, is Total licking that chocolate off?" Angel asked sweetly.

"Uh, I guess so, sweetie. Why?"

"I thought doggies were allergic to it."

Oh, crap.

I ran out the door that Total had disappeared in to see him groaning on a bed. He looked green, if that was even possible.

"MOM!" I yelled. If anything happened to that little furball, Angel would be crushed. "Iggy and Gazzy ... well, you don't wanna know, and now Total's eaten chocolate!"

About 5 minutes later, everyone except Fang and Ella (my half-sister) were standing near the van. Fang was second oldest (at age 15) so he was instructed to by mom watch after Ella, much to Ella's irritation. I could sense her pouting at us through the window.

Mom looked at the flock. "Ok, this is just gonna be a quick trip to the vet's office so I can get some supplies for Total. We'll be back and in bed in about 10 minutes". I had slumped halfway to the car (it was still too early to be up) when Gazzy stopped me. He cocked his ear, almost like a puppy does, and said, "Does anyone hear anything weird?". I did a 360 to find…. Nothing. Absolutely nothing was there. I tried using my raptor vision to find something, but the 2nd examination was the same as the 1st - nothing was there except my mom and the flock. No snipers, no erasers, no bullets, no nothing.

Huh?

"I don't hear anything," Mom said, looking around skeptically. "Oh, well." She moved as if to get in the car, but I motioned for her to hold still. I could hear it now: a very, very faint hissing noise.

The hiss got louder. I looked more closely around us to find that the van was… fizzling. Not like a stick of dynamite or something, it was different. Quieter. A red, pulsing glow began to surround the entire car. And then…

HHRRRAAAAAAAAASHH!

A sort of grinding sound started, and mixed with the fizzling noise. The red glow got bigger, and the van seemed twice its size… before the van's torso expanded outward and … imploded into itself. It was almost like all the after-effects of an explosion - fire, smoke, noxious fumes - had all been directed throughout the whole car but nowhere else, and it ended up being no more than a large lump of twisted, car-shaped metal.

And then, as if things couldn't get weird enough, ALL of the cars in the neighborhood did the exact same thing, only seconds after ours had.

What the hell?

Then Angel gripped my hand and calmly said, "It's time."