MPOV

"Max,"

Max turned at the sound of her voice being called. Iggy stood there, his brow furrowed above his blank eyes.

"What?" she asked.

"Look South East. Is there something there? A big bird maybe. A Flyboy?"

Max followed his empty gaze, in which she could almost see the frustrated struggle to see. A large rock formation rose high above the ground. It seemed to go up through the clouds, forever and ever.

It had been the Flock's destination for weeks. Again Fang had proposed they make a permanent home. This time, though, Max couldn't avoid it. There was no chaos to stop them. And seeing the Flocks' pleading eyes had almost broken her heart. Maybe they were right. It wasn't their world to save. Maybe they should, for once in their lives, think about themselves first.

Max's ultra heightened vision probed the sky. It didn't take long to see what Iggy's incredible hearing had picked up on. A large black silhouette streaked across the sky, it's ginormous wings seemed to sweep away the sky beneath them as the sun fell further and further down the horizon.

It wasn't a bird, that's for sure. It's wingspan was at least 14 ft. And there were odd angles in it that no bird could ever have. It was a mutant. But it just couldn't be a Flyboy. No Flyboy she'd ever seen flew that gracefully.

And, also, there was something so...real about it. There's no way that could be a robot. No way it could have so little emotion. For every stroke it took, it's emotions seemed to be written out clearly across the sky. Max could see pain, abandonment, loneliness. Just how she felt sometimes.

"So?" Iggy asked, impatient, obvious sourness at not being able to identify the creature himself covered his face.

"Uh...Well it's a mutant for sure...but I can't really tell what it is, if you catch my drift."

Iggy blinked.

"Well...I don't think it's a Flyboy," Max said slowly, "There's just no way it could be a robot. But...well it's got about 14 ft wings and it's got a human body. I just don't know if it's a good guy or a bad guy."

"So." Iggy said knowingly, as if he knew a secret that Max didn't understand.

"So what?" Max asked.

"So, are we gunna go check it out or what."

"What about the Flock?" asked Max, mind never too far from super mother-hood mode.

"We'll leave Fang in charge."

Things seemed switched. Iggy and Max going on an adventure and Fang staying to mind the Flock. It was usually the other way around. Then again, Iggy had seemed more and more anxious to make his part in the Flock more...pronounced. Lately he seemed more mature, and Max guessed he also wanted more mature responsibilities. Wanted to be let in on the big mutant bird kid games. Well, Iggy was only a few months younger than them...maybe this was his turn to shine, the ability to see or not.

"Um...o-okay. I guess." Max said.

When they got to the group of trees where the Flock was camping for the night, Fang was sitting in a small circle with Angel and Nudge, Gazzy was up high in a tree tinkering with a brown sack. Max didn't want to ask.

As they got closer they caught what Fang was saying.

"...So you have to gut it first. Otherwise you get all this disgusting stringy stuff in your rat, and you don't want that. It has to be sort of crispy, with a little bit of chewiness. If there is too much juicyness then you know you've done it wrong. Rat is in no way supposed to taste like food. Oh, and you've got to be sure to take out the veins, otherwise they burst and release this horrible tasting rat blood everywhere."

"Ewwwww!" Nudge and Angel squealed in unision.

"That's disgusting." Nudge said.

At that moment she looked up and saw Max and Iggy standing there.

"Maaaaax," Nudge complained, " Fang is teaching us all his 'superior inteligence'" she made quotation marks in the air, "About cooking rats. It's disgusting. Make him stop."

"Yeah!" Angel chimed in, "And make him stop acting so full of himself. He can eat vermin. How wonderful! Meanwhile some of us can do useful things."

"Oi! That is out of line!" Fang exclaimed. His face, as always though, stayed nearly expressionless. It was sort of freaky how he could do that.

"That's enough you guys." Max said. "Fang, don't talk about the fine art of gutting rats in front of these lovely ladies and don't use the word 'oi' ever again. If you've noticed we're not from England." Fang opened his mouth in a How dare you sort of grimace. "And Angel, don't make Fang feel bad because you have more powers than him. It's wounding to his ego."

Fang glared at her, and Max smiled. She then started shuffling Angel and Nudge off to bed, or more suitable, off to tree.

After she got Gazzy to put down the brown sack and Nudge, Angel and him fell off into a light sleep, Max turned back to Fang, who was still shooting torpedoes at her with his eyes.

"Fang, you're in charge tonight okay?"

Fang looked off into the distance, arms crossed over his chest defiantly. Max couldn't help giggling. He looked just like a little boy who had been denied ice cream.

Fang looked back at her, his expression softening, arms dropping to his sides.

"Aren't I always in charge?" Fang asked teasingly.

"Nah. You're always co in charge. But tonight me and Iggy are going out. You're gunna have to man the fort, kay?"

Fang's face slipped for a moment, and then it turned into the neutral mask that is standard Fang.

"Where you guys going?" he asked. He tried to keep his voice emotionless, but Max could hear the wounds behind his words.

Max looked back at Iggy. He sensed her gaze and shook his head. He wanted to keep this a secret from Fang. Max felt torn. On one side she felt she owed this to Iggy for all the times when Fang and her had left him behind. On the other side there was a tug in her heart for Fang. It was their thing to go sneaking off into the night. Maybe he would feel like he was being replaced.

Max momentarily wondered if that wouldn't be a good thing. To put him off. Lately Max had been feeling confused on the Fang situation. Maybe it would be better to stop these weird feelings before they became full fledged. Maybe it would be safer that way. Or maybe her and Fang were really meant to be together...

But she owed it to Iggy. How many times had it been that they had had to leave him in charge of the Flock? Anyways, Fang would find out as soon as they got back what they had been to see. If they got back.

"Sorry Fang," Max said, "That's top secret information."