In case you all don't notice by the time you are done reading this chapter, for the time being there will be major time skips focusing on moments in which Max runs into Loki. When we get to the parts during the Avengers it will not jump forward like it is now.

Also, in case none of you noticed the lovely seven day gap, I would like to inform you from now on I plan on trying to update every Sunday. If you do not see an update on Sunday do not expect one until next Sunday, or Monday at three a.m. the next morning. In my mind that is still technically Sunday. My brain is not fully functioning. I was sort of dropped on my head as a baby, as in I fell into a corner of a brick fireplace and now there is a decent sized scar of the stitches I had to get when I was three. Kind of like Harry Potter, a lovely scar on the forehead that will never go away, I love it. Anyway… before I get any more off topic let us head to the story.

One last thing, I'm going to wait a while before telling you why Loki is on Midgard. It is a reasonable… reason, just something that should also be explained. Maybe the next chapter. Oh, and thank-you to all my fabulous reviewers.

Disclaimer, I own nothing. If I did Loki would not have stabbed Thor in Avengers, instead he would go with his brother back to Asgard. Also, in Maximum Ride, Dylan would not exist, Fang would have never left, and the flock would have lived happily ever after with Max's mom and chocolate chip cookies. Plus there would be a lot more Faxness. Gosh, normal disclaimers don't rant this much.

The Worst Time of the Year

Max's POV (actually Max in first person)

Normal people, who, let us just assume, don't have bird DNA and do not have to constantly worry over five other people during the hustle and bustle of Christmas may not have to deal with all the stress that comes with such a life. As I have determined over my many years of life, I am not normal, so by no means could my holidays be so contrasting to myself.

Two weeks before Christmas and everything was going normal. It was just me and my merry band of mutants spreading chaos throughout our tiny home in New York. Nudge made it her mission to find every Christmas decoration that sparkled and then throw it somewhere in the yard or in our house. In summary, it looked like a fairy had thrown up glitter everywhere. Gazzy had made it his mission to take every Christmas decoration in our yard and then turn it into a bomb. Iggy barely spent a minute away from the stove and he was constantly throwing me out of the kitchen despite my constant insistence that I had the ability to not burn food if I was, let's say, cutting it, mixing it, or dicing it. He didn't believe. Total was loitering around the house like any time of the year, except he wore a red and green sweater. Dylan was trying to convince me that during the most magical time of the year I should give a relationship with him a chance, not in a million years.

This, of course, was normal because it was the type of behavior that I can expect from my flock. The week right before Christmas was what really got me.

It was a Sunday and Nudge had just walked in the front door which led to the living room I was sitting in.

"Max, you will never believe what I just did!" she said while taking off her quilted scarf.

"If you don't think I will like it, be smart and keep your mouth shut."

Nudge opened and closed her mouth a few times, it was quite funny. A very rare moment indeed to find Nudge at a loss for words. Gazzy, who had been sitting on the sofa next to me, seemed to be on the same wavelength.

"Wow! Nudge can't talk! Someone grab a camera, this is a moment to be put in history books!"

Nudge glared at him and the words that seemed to be stuck in her mouth spilled out.

"I signed you and me up to go Christmas caroling Max! Ohh, won't it be so fun? We get to meet up in Central Park with a group of people that go to my church down the street. They are bringing friends and family and there is no person I would rather spend my Christmas Eve with than you, Max, except maybe our cute neighbor boy. Have you seen him? He has the most gorgeous hair I have ever seen. He moved in last week. Ohh, but anyways, Max it is going to be so much fun! We get to sing and spread holiday cheer for the entire day and then afterwards we can go and get hot chocolate! Do you think we could go on a quick fly too? I have been dying to spread my wings for weeks!"

Now, on normal occasions, I would have long ago slapped my hand over Nudge's mouth and then I would tell her to get to the point. At the time I was so shocked that my mouth was wide open and Gazzy was sitting next to me laughing his but off to the point where he could not do so himself. She wanted me to sing. Maximum Ride, destroyer of Itex, was being asked to go and sing cheery little Christmas carols to spread happiness simply out of the warmness of my heart. No.

"No."

Nudge frowned at me.

"Why not? It will be so much fun. You will have fun, I promise. You can meet all my friends fr-"

I cut Nudge off with my hand which she proceeded to lick like an immature fourteen year old causing me to move it.

"I will not sing, besides, why don't you ask another flock member?"

"Who should I ask?" Nudge shouted at me, "I would ask Angel, but in case you haven't noticed, she isn't here!"

Nudge proceeded to run up the stairs and five seconds later I heard a door slam shut. My throat was feeling uncharacteristically tight.

"That wasn't cool," Gazzy said in reply to what Nudge had said and he proceeded to walk up the stairs and leave me by myself.

"No, it wasn't," I mumbled to myself before walking up the stairs to tell Nudge I would go caroling with her on Saturday.

When Saturday finally came around Nudge was practically bouncing off the walls. She was one more coffee away from actually bouncing off the walls.

"Can you believe that I got our new neighbor to come with us? He has only been here a week and I already have him becoming part of the community," Nudge looked fairly proud of herself as she said this, my little social butterfly, always dragging new people to places they don't want to be. I could hardly imagine people doing this for fun. "Did you know that he lives somewhere else to? Can you imagine having two homes! That would be so much fun! You could make a mess in one house and then just go off to the next one instead of cleaning it up!" It is nice to understand how that brain of Nudge's works. "Do you think we could get another house, Max?" I contemplated the idea; we could always just leave when Dylan and Total were being more annoying than their normal selves. "It could be a castle! I want to live in a castle someday. Maybe if we ever find out who my parents are it will turn out I'm a lost princess. Wouldn't that be so cool? Do you think we could just buy a castle, Max?"

I groaned before saying, "Nudge, can we just go get our neighbor and drive to Central Park already?"

Nudge was about to agree until she saw what I was wearing.

"You can't go out in that," she gasped, "You will freeze to death."

"Being a bit over dramatic, aren't we?"

Nudge, ignoring me, dragged me up to her room before grabbing a grey sweater and a thick pair of dressy pants.

"Why make me change pants?"

"Those are hideous," she said simply, referring to my favorite pair of jeans. With that she left the room.

I quickly got changed into her clothes, sometimes arguing with Nudge was senseless, and they were a bit tight on me. When I walked down the stairs she quickly threw me a red knitted hat and matching gloves, a fashionable grey coat that went to my knees, and boots that almost reached the bottom of the coat.

The ending result was awful. I looked as put together as Nudge was. If it was her mission to make me seem as much unlike myself as possible today she definitely succeeded and it was still before noon. Besides that, she was treating me like a child, forcing me into warm clothing when she is three years younger than me.

"After you," Nudge said in ridiculously cheesy sounding voice.

"Why thank-you," I responded in a matching tone.

Nudge linked her arm under mine and started to skip across our yard and into our neighbor's with me walking awkwardly at her side. When we got to the door Nudge gave it two taps with a closed fist and we waited barely five seconds before the door opened. I almost gasped when I saw who opened the door, not expecting them to be familiar at all, but being me I managed to play it off with a completely convincing cough.

I think about three to five more chapters until Max is placed into the beginning of the Avengers movie.

I will dedicate the next chapter to the first person who guesses who the neighbor is correctly, it is very obvious. Hope that everyone enjoyed and please leave a review whether it be constructive criticism, a nice comment, or you simply want to share what your favorite sandwich is with me.