Exciting Wednesday so far? It's about to get better! Unless you don't like action. In fact, you knew something had to happen, hence the word action. So I hope you like action! And for my actionees…
The Avengers Trailer came out! Yesterday, but it did! Iron Man being himself and conflict between Captain America and Iron Man! I'm getting all fangirl-y. On with the chapter.
Disclaimer: Vanessa Winters belongs to Aquamarine427, Violet Snow and Jake Merciful belong to Dreams of the Darkness, Landon Reese belongs to… me I guess, Jet Williams and Candice Knox belong to WingedHero540, and Lee Shannon belongs to CheersToTheFreakinWeekend. I also don't own Max, Fang, Iggy, the Gasman, Ella, Angel, Nudge, or Dr. Martinez. Or the title of the Song Chapters, Paralyzer by Finger Eleven.
Chapter 4: Paralyzer
Max POV
At least the mutants were being somewhat friendly, except for Jake, who I swear had some sort of snake tongue, and Violet the twisting-eye girl. I saw her do that, she blinked a couple of time and her purple eye moved in and out, like it was trying to focus, like they mixed her DNA with a camera. That would be pitiful, plenty of animals and you turn someone into a camera. They argued about leaving their house/formerly our house and had no idea where they were from, more or less who they were.
"We have to leave it for a while. Like a vacation. Without the fun. We're going on a mission," Jet said quietly.
"We find whoever made us and take them down. We go from there," Vanessa said.
I stepped forward.
"I agree," I said. "Itex created us, you might be different."
"Who's Itex?" Lee asked. I smiled mischieviously.
"We'll find out soon." The windows suddenly shattered flimsily and Nudge screamed. We all hit the floor and covered our heads to prevent invading glass shards.
"It's hurricane proof!" Landon yelled through the noise.
"How does this happen?" I yelled back. Then, Erasers, hybrid Erasers, stormed through the window. I was no psychic but I wasn't going down without a fight, and neither were these mutants. I jumped to my feet as Eraser Number 1 growled and stepped towards me. He lunged and he met my foot against his throat. He stumbled, but didn't fall. Meanwhile, Angel was getting one Eraser to slap his friend, and vice versa. Jet had pulled out his strange claws and was slitting the throats of every Eraser in sight. Fang was punching every Eraser in the gut, before kneeing its head and slamming them into the ground. Eraser Number 1 tried to get to his feet, but I held on, choking him as he gave me a strange form of a piggy-back ride. The Eraser seemed down for the count, but another Eraser tore me off his friend's back, like a Band-Aid. As he grinned evilly and lifted me up by my throat, he leaned forward to rip my stomach out when his smirk turned to surprise, then horror as he screamed in pain and crumpled to the floor. Vanessa stood behind his body, her icicle dagger tinged with Eraser blood. I nodded in thanks and she did nothing in response but give me a look that said You're welcome. For awhile, it seemed like we were winning, with twelve of us instead of originally six, before the remaining Erasers retreated through the broken windows.
"What. Were Those. Things?" Violet demanded.
"Erasers," I said. "Part-wolf, and now part-avian."
"How can they break the windows? They can sustain hurricanes," Lee pointed out.
"Enhanced strength, most likely. They've been at it again," I growled. The whitecoats were experimenting for more tortured lives.
"It isn't over," Angel said suddenly.
"Well, they would come back," Iggy started.
"No. They're coming back right now, their minds are moving a hundred miles an hour," she said.
"That's not good."
"We need to get to open space," Vanessa said sternly.
"But stay in sight of someone. No one is to be taken by the Erasers again," I supplied.
"Have I made myself clear?" Vanessa and I said at the same time. I looked at her and she looked back at me.
"Great minds think alike," she said simply, before leading her pack of mutants through the window.
Vanessa POV
I had cuts and bruises and my energy was leaving my body with every breath, but I was defending my house and my pack. Whatever it took, I'd do it, if it meant saving them. I acted like I didn't know any of this, but I did know. I remembered. I could see it clearly, myself as a murderer for wild experiments like Max and her flock. I was sent off on missions to find them and if they didn't comply, I was to kill them. It was a horrid memory and it was quite a long time ago, which would explain why I didn't remember it until now. Erasers, whitecoats, Itex, everything. I didn't want my pack to think of me as a brutal killer. I would try to explain, but if someone killed another innocent living thing, you wouldn't listen either. Brainwashed. I had been delusioned to think it was the right thing, to free the world from the 'dangerous' experiments who escaped successfully only to be flayed my me. I was a monster.
I crawled through our 'everything-proof' window that was now 'everything-except-Erasers-proof' window. Not quite as catchy. I could see the Erasers regrouping and multiplying. Hummers and helicopters swarmed around like bees, but more like wolves stalking around for the kill. We were outnumbered by a lot, and I'm certain Max knew it. Everyone did, just no one dared to voice it aloud. Except Violet, I guess.
"We're screwed," Violet said.
"Come at me bro!" Jake yelled, catching the attention of a bigger Eraser in the front. He growled, which was probably wolf for I'm going to eat you!
"Shut it," Max grumbled, whacking Jake on the side of the head. I had misjudged her.
"Any serious injuries? Can anyone even heal?" I asked.
"I heal fast," Lee supplied.
"All avians do I guess. So do we," Iggy said.
"Which leaves us non-birds to fend for ourselves," I said.
"Gotcha," Landon said, eyes focused intently on the enemy slowly advancing.
"I'll go get some weapons," Jake said before disappearing into the house. Coward. The first Eraser attacked, then the battle was a whir. Slicing, hacking, kicking, punching, leaping… everything I could do was put into the battle. We cut through the Eraser ranks like weedwhackers, but they remained calm, adding more to replace a single Eraser.
"Oh Nessa…" someone said calmly. Not a voice I recognized and some distance away. I turned snarling and saw the main Eraser that Jake taunted holding a knife to Landon's throat.
"What do you want?" I hissed.
"You," he said. I was startled, confused for a moment, before regaining posture.
"I'm not gonna be your slave again," I said, my breaths heaving in the cold air, though it didn't bother me.
"Again?" Landon asked.
"Silence!" the Eraser said, pressing the knife to Landon's throat. "All we want, is for you to come with us, and we'll leave your friends alone. We won't have to kill them, or torture them slowly. Including Maximum Ride, which as we have established, as impossible to catch and control. Look around, Vanessa. Do you see a victory coming?" I glanced around, seeing Violet turning into an Eraser to match them, but for every Eraser dead, two more took their place. We would not win this.
"Don't do it, Vanessa!" Landon risked. The Eraser did nothing but stared expectantly at me. I guess he expected me to go without a fight.
"All you have to do is come with us. We'll retreat and leave them alone. We don't need them. We only need our assassin back."
"Assassin?" Landon asked.
"She didn't tell you? She was an assassin, our very best a long time ago. Isn't that right?"
"That's behind me. I was brainwashed!" I protested, but saw no win to the argument. I was a murderer, through and through.
"I'll give you to the count of three before I slit his throat. One…"
"Don't do it!" Landon said.
"Two…" the Eraser warned.
"I'm not letting you die!" I retorted.
"Three!"
"No! I'll… I'll go!" I yelled. The Eraser stopped, smiled, and sheathed his knife, still holding Landon back.
"I knew you'd see things my way. Captain always wins," he said, pointing to himself as he said 'Captain'. He shoved Landon away and grabbed me, yanking me closer to the tree. A big tear slid down my cheek as I looked at Landon pitifully. He was thinking how I was an assassin, how he could never trust me again. The Eraser hauled me away and the last thing I heard before the anesthesia hit was "Retreat!" by the Erasers. I kept them safe. I did the right thing, I thought before I fell asleep.
Sorry Max's part was shorter than Vanessa's, and a bit of Vanessa made-up on the spot history lesson! It will all tie in together in the end. And I have homework and it's Taco Night! Nom nom! I made you hungry didn't I? I know that because I made myself hungry. I won't go into detail, but you get the idea.
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