Sorry for the wait. Still don't own anyone's copyright. Enjoy!
Chapter 2
About an hour later, the two winged kids finally put MacGyver down. They were in a forest. The rest of the children landed with them.
"Gazzy, Ig, go get firewood. Nudge, make sure we're alone," the blonde girl said.
The strawberry-blond boy, and the little blond one headed into the trees, while the black-haired one reopened her wings and leapt upward, wings twice as large as her unfurling as she rose.
"Don't go too far!" The blonde called.
The black-haired one paused mid-flight, nodded, and then flew off.
"What do we do with the eighties throwback?" the black-haired boy asked.
It took MacGyver a few moments to realize that he was talking about him.
"Guess we'd better figure out what sort of nutjob we picked up," the blonde said.
The two of them walked over to him.
MacGyver smiled. "I'm MacGyver. I think I owe you one."
"Maximum Ride," the girl said, extending a hand. "Call me Max. This is Fang," she added, pointing to the black-haired boy."
MacGyver shook her hand, and raised an eyebrow. What kind of names were those? If it wasn't for the wings, he would be wondering if these kids were just a bunch of runaways.
"Why were you in the School?" Max demanded.
"The School?"'
"That lab building."
MacGyver was unused to being interrogated by preteens. "Why is that any of your business?"
"Because we just saved your-"
"Leather jacket," Fang interrupted. "Remember, Angel's here."
The little blonde girl looked up, apparently at her name. With those big blue eyes and that blonde hair, she looked the part.
MacGyver sighed. "I work for the Phoenix Foundation-"
"The what?" Max asked.
"It's a nonprofit foundation," MacGyver said. "We do a lot of environmental work. We also take some jobs from the government. My boss, Pete, sent me to look into some rumors about genetic engineering taking place at that facility. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"
Fang stiffened.
"That's none of your business!" Max snapped.
MacGyver ran a hand through his hair. "Look," he said. "I don't want to make any trouble for you. If you want me to leave right now, I will."
Max rolled her eyes. "I wish. But it looks like we might need your help."
"My help?"
The black-haired girl landed lightly beside me. Her wings folded into her back as she turned to face Max. "Erasers. From the southwest. Coming fast," she said.
"I think that's the shortest thing you've ever said, Nudge," Fang said, a smile playing on his lips.
"Hey!" Nudge complained.
"Did you say Erasers?" the little blond boy said, as he and the strawberry blonde ran toward them, kindling still clutched in their hands.
"Okay, Gazzy, Iggy, put down the sticks," Max said. "Nudge. How many?"
"Twelve, I think,"
Max swore.
"What is an Eraser?" MacGyver asked.
Suddenly, the sound of wood breaking tore through the air. A nearby tree crashed to the ground, sending tremors across the forest. Then, a number of shapes emerged from the shadows.
They were gigantic, all of them over six feet tall. For the most part, they seemed human, but there was a lupine quality to their faces, and not lupine as in the flower. Lupine as in wolf-like. Their eyes glowed red, and one of them even had green hair. They were covered in the kind of muscles one only expected to see on professional wrestlers, and their teeth…well, MacGyver suddenly wished he hadn't seen Dracula.
"Those are Erasers," Max said matter-of-factly, as the entire group backed away slowly.
MacGyver thought the fact that he hadn't yet begun screaming like a girl was rather impressive.
"Up and a-" I yelled, stopping short as I realized that the leather jacket-wearing wonder didn't have wings.
"Run!" I said quickly.
We took off without even looking back, weaving through trees to make ourselves difficult to follow. MacGyver was as fast as the rest of us, and surprisingly agile for someone who'd never been genetically modified.
"There are your rumors of genetic engineering!" Fang said, gesturing toward the Erasers.
"I've always heard that rumors travelled fast, but I never believed it until now," MacGyver said.
"Oh. My. Gosh," Nudge breathed. "That was the worst pun I have ever heard."
"Going…into…shock…" Iggy gasped, pantomiming choking as he ran.
I leapt over a half-rotten log and hit both Iggy and MacGyver over the head in midair.
"Okay, guys, new rules," I said. "One, no being overdramatic while trying to run from Erasers who are trying to kill us."
"What about the rest of the time?" Gazzy wanted to know.
"It's fine then," I said.
"And number two?" Fang asked.
"No puns. Ever."
NinthFeather: Well, I finally finished this chapter. I hope you'll give me some reviews and—
Max: What do you think you're doing?
NinthFeather: Writing a fanfic. Why?
Max: You trapped me in here with him.
NinthFeather: And…?
Max: HE MAKES PUNS!
NinthFeather: And now, we have confirmed that Max actually does have a weakness! Who knew? See you next chapter!