Max's POV

I looked out at the sea. I couldn't believe that this was the place the flock had rescued my mom AND fought the M-Geeks(I just have to love that name, don't I?).

The Gasman had recovered a lot from the Man-of-War stings. Angel obtained a new habit of speaking to Gor and his gang of sluggish and slimy monsters. Iggy was just being normal, which is typical, and Fang, yes.

Fang was the weird one. He was still hanging out with Brigid, and she was still flirting with him. I was being absolutely depressed these days(WTH, so much emotions, I wonder if the radiation from Mr. Chu's nuclear waste bin had gotten into my head.), cause I thought that Fang had loved me.

One thing I was absolutely sure of, was that I needed to Jeb the Evil. He told me that Mr. Chu was really dangerous, but he didn't tell me the specifics.

Anyways, let's get all over with that, my flock was ready to depart, to the north, I mean. We decided to stay with the hawks near Lake Mead.

"Gaz, Ig, Nudge, Angel, Total, get ready!" I called. John Abate, Brigid Dwyer, Valencia Martinez, and other key members of the CSM was there to say goodbye. "Take off!" Gazzy, Iggy, Nudge and Angel took off, spiraling up to the sky. Total flapped like an amateur next to Angel.

I hugged my mom, Dr. Martinez tenderly, then shook hands with Dr. Abate. Of course, I was locked in a bear hug with Brigid Dwyer. There I was, a kick-butt warrior, being squashed by a mere mortal women, helpless to do anything but to blink dumbly. I finally managed to brake away from her.

I waved a final goodbye to the CSM, and took off with Fang, who glided next to me swiftly and soundlessly.

I didn't look back, but instead, started to power up the Max-hyperdrive. Bam! And I was up, about 10,000 feet in the sky, next to the rest of the flock. It was a few seconds before Fang caught up.

We spread out in a V formation to enjoy the air currents. One good thing about the ocean is that it's air currents are very nice. I looked behind me, where Fang was flying. He was looking at me intently. I blushed slightly, then looked away.

Fang. Me. Me. Fang. Hmm, I don't know.

You two look pretty good when you're together. Angel said, in my mind. My freaking mind. My little mind-reading baby always understood my moods, no, read my moods. That's why I tend not to think about Fang when I'm in the 10ft. perimeter zone near her.

"Hey, Max!" Gazzy called. "Yeah?" I shouted back at him. "Can I release some fireworks?" Uh, no. Are you crazy? "No, nein, and never, Mr. Pyromaniac." Gazzy looked depressed, but he would brigten up after a while.

So I looked ahead. The Sun was about to rise.

The glowing ball of flame started to rise. I squinted my eyes. My raptor-vision magnified the strength of the sunlight, which made my eyes hurt a lot.

I squinted, and looked more at the Sun. Even though it was too bright, it was still beautiful.

But there was something odd about the Sun. Hmm. That shadows that I see, why do they look like humanoid Erasers and M-Geeks?

I squinted some more. There was a bang of a gun, and a bullet grazed my cheek, then whistled away into the distance.

Oh. So they were Erasers + M-Geeks.

And with that, all of heck broke loose.