A/N: Numero Duos! Enjoy!

Previously: "The mansion—it's being invaded!"

I nearly fell out of the sky. "Echo, don't you think you could've started with that?" I asked, trying to keep my cool.

"Uh, yeah, I'm sorry, Max. But we have to go, go, go!" Her bat wings fluttered frantically. She turned around and began to flap clumsily in the other direction. Exchanging worried looks, we followed.

"Wait!" Nudge shouted, "What about the others?" she pointed down to the road, where the human team was driving home.

"You guys keep going! I'll get them!" I responded, angling my body downward. I used my super-speed to dive at the car. Sometimes being super-human is so freaking cool. Anyway, I pulled myself up next to the car, trying to keep pace without becoming road kill.

"Hey!" I shouted at the open window.

Gibbs nearly swerved off the road. It was a good thing there wasn't any traffic today. "Max! What the hell are you doing?" he demanded, glancing between me and the road ahead of him.

"Echo just met us in the sky. We've got trouble at the Locust," I informed him. We called the school "the Locust" because its initials, LCST, are pronounced that way. Plus, we couldn't exactly call it "The School," could we?

With a shake of the head, a whispered curse, and a stiff nod, Gibbs jerked the wheel into an illegal U-turn. I raced away, back to the Flock in the air. We were pouring on the speed, praying that the students were handling the situation. The flight there was brief, a blur of feathers and anxiety.

Finally, as we approached LCST, the problem became immediately visible. I would hardly call it an invasion. About ten of the older students stood outside, arms crossed, staring down their enemies. Their opposition, a dark-haired male of average height and weight for a man in his twenties, and a female brunette, stood and stared back. Behind them, the tall, impressive gray school building was still intact. I wondered why the kids hadn't run them off the property immediately. Then, I got closer to the scene.

As soon as I landed, I felt it. There was an overwhelming gravitational pull toward the man. Once I was on the ground, I was stuck there. He must have been some kind of mutant. Which meant he had to have been created by someone, who probably made more like him. And if it's true that history repeats itself, then this certain someone was probably out to kill me and my family.

Well, this complicates things a bit.

"Ah, the infamous Maximum Ride," purred the man in a Middle-Eastern accent. I couldn't quite place it, but something about him seemed familiar. Maybe it was the anger and betrayal lying in his deep brown eyes, or was it something about the angles in his face and nose? Where have I seen this guy before?

"Do I know you?" I asked coolly.

"No," he said, smirking slightly, "but I know you." He pulled me a step closer with his gaze. I tried to fight back, but it was no use.

Knowing that this guy was looking for a reaction, I kept my cool. Narrowing my eyes, I gave him a bad-ass smirk right back. "You're a mutant. Who sent you here? And why? Tell me now, or I'll kill you where you stand."

The crazy son of a gun laughed. "I don't think you're in the position to be making threats, Maxie dear." He stopped, and then we were just looking at each other. He was waiting for something. But what?

Just then, the Gibbs-mobile pulled up in the long, winding mansion driveway. Ziva got out first, rushing toward us. There was a strange, almost puzzled on her face. Her eyes were narrowed and focused on the man to whom I was speaking. Tony followed his fiancé, working in the exact opposite manner. His movements were sluggish, like he was moving through water. He ambled toward us with no particular air of determination. McGee exited next with a similar reaction to Tony's. Then, Gibbs sprinted toward me, face devoid of emotion. And that was just about the only normal—well, normal for my standards—thing about this situation.

When Ziva reached me, she did not acknowledge me, the Flock, or the woman. As I had, she focused solely on the attacker. But the strange look on her face did not go away. In fact, now it was twisting into something wide-eyed and frightened and very un-Ziva. "Ari?" she whispered, her Israeli accent heavy on the name.

The mention of that name sent an invisible dagger through my heart, even though I knew she was not referring to my deceased half-brother. "Who? Ziva, you know this a-hole?" I questioned.

"Ari Haswari. He was my brother," she responded, not tearing her gaze from him.

"Your half-brother, actually, Zi. And 'was'? That hurts, dear sister. Is it because I killed the girl? I did regret that. Katelyn is very lovely, isn't she?" he asked, picking his nails casually.

I was confused. Who was Katelyn? Wasn't that Tony's old partner's name? Or was that Kelly?

By this time, Tony, Gibbs, and McGee had caught up. Gibbs and Tony looked at Ari like they'd like to have his head on a stake. Especially Tony, who wasn't always the best at hiding his emotions.

"You," he growled, glaring at the man, "You're the son-of-a-bitch terrorist who murdered my partner!" His verbal assault was met by a chuckle, because Ari knew that Tony could do nothing about it as long as he kept up his creepy mind control thing.

That's about the time when the silent brunette woman with her head down decided to join the conversation. Her head snapped up to reveal a slender, uniquely and naturally beautiful face. However, there was blankness in her lovely brown eyes, like something was missing. They settled on Tony as she took a step closer to him. The action seemed almost instinctive, as if she were drawn to him. "Tony, relax, please... I guess some things never change, not even after six years," she commented casually, her lips pulled slightly into a half-smirk. The roll of her eyes seemed absent, like a reflex.

"Kate? How…? You were dead. I watched it happen. I watched you take the shot…" His voice choked, and he trailed off.

"It's a long story, but that's not what's important right now. What's important is that we need you to come with us. All of you, including the birdkids," she demanded, suddenly all business.

"Or else?" Tony asked, almost in a whisper. He still seemed dazed, and I wondered how much of it was from seeing his dead partner and how much was Ari's mind tricks.

"Or else you all die, one by one, youngest to oldest," Ari answered for her. They were his words, but Kate pulled the SIG from her belt and pointed it at one of our youngest students, a 5-year-old named Scorch.

"Max," Angel, who had been standing silently to my left, whispered shakily in my ear. "I think I can break his connection. It won't be for long, though. He's strong."

I nodded. "Long enough for Echo to do her thing?"

"Probably."

"Do it," I ordered.

In response, she focused on Ari. Her face was scrunched together in concentration. In any other situation, the expression would have been adorable. Anyway, after a moment of nothing happening, I felt a sudden jolt, and then I was free. I shook my stiff wings and rolled my neck. Then, not sure of how much time I had left, I shouted, "Echo!"

Receiving the message instantly, the whole crowd of mutants and the four agents covered their ears. And the little girl let loose a wild, horrible, eardrum-impairing screech. Ari, losing all focus, completely let us all go in an attempt to protect his hearing. Kate dropped the gun. We took their recovery time as a chance to go on the offensive. I decided to go for Ari first. My kick caught him behind the knees, and he went down instantly. Placing my right knee in his ribs, I scrambled for Kate's gun. As soon as my hand closed around the cool metal, I swung it around and placed the end of the barrel against the man's neck.

"Give me one reason not to kill you," I growled. I don't take it lightly when people threaten my family's lives.

"Because that is not how you work, Max," he answered, smiling up at me like we'd just shared a joke.

"What could you possibly know about how I work?" My patience was thinning. I dug the gun deeper into his skin.

"More than you might think," he responded cryptically. And he promptly began cackling like a lunatic.

Tired of playing games, I removed the gun from his neck. "You're right," I said sweetly, "that isn't how I work."

His head erupted in a sickening crack as the butt of the SIG struck it.

A/N: Sorry for the tremendous wait, but I have a life outside of this and a big research paper goin' on! Anyways, I know it seems like I'm just brining back a bunch of random people from the dead, but this actually evolved into a plot in my head, so let us see where it goes. Also, this is pretty short, but I wanted to puts something else up for this, and I could have gone on forever with this chapter. The next one might not take as long, as I already have the plot and ideas and stuff swirling around in my head, begging to be released.