I timed it perfectly.

We were soaring over the exact spot where the goons were accosting Ella right as it happened, and I knew what I had to do.

"Guys," I said, gesturing downwards. "Keep flying straight. I'm going down there to help." I pointed to where the boys had gathered around Ella.

"No," Fang said, and I rolled my eyes.

"Since when do I listen to you?" I asked him, sounding all tetchy, and he scowled at me. "Trust me. I know what you're thinking; that I'm going to get shot in the shoulder and disappear for three days. That's not happening."

"What is happening?" Nudge asked, confused.

"Max wants to be Supergirl, defender of the weak," Fang said, rolling his eyes.

Iggy frowned. "Comics? Where?"

"Meet me at the northernmost point of Lake Mead," I said, knowing every second I wasted up here was another second those guys had to hurt my sister. "I'll catch up in less than an hour. Promise."

I didn't get why Fang was so unhappy about this. It's not like we had an agenda this time.

And so, ignoring Fang's warnings of death and dismemberment if I went down there, I went down there. I landed as quietly as possible behind the warehouse, around the corner from where the wannabe thugs were harassing my sister. Just knowing that they had the intention of hurting someone who was related to me by blood made the same stuff pound in my ears. But I couldn't beat them up like last time; not unless I wanted to get shot. Diplomatic relations, once again, was the way to go.

Of course, if that failed, I would whoop their asses without hesitation.

A few of my feathers, ruffled from the heavy wind, bent the wrong way as I folded my wings in, and I winced. Bad hair day? I was having a bad wing day.

I rounded the corner of the warehouse just as Big-and-Ugly Number One was saying, "I told you not to tell anybody about my little situation with Ortiz." Again, I wondered whether my sister was in a drug deal or something foreboding. What if they came for her later? "It was none of your business. I had to teach him a lesson." And he flexed his muscles. Oooh, scary. He kind of reminded me of Jabba the Hutt -vast, disgusting, and menacing.

I was proud of Ella for not backing down. "By beating him up? He looks like he got hit by a car. And he didn't do anything to you."

Big-and-Ugly just smirked. "He exists. He breathes my air, you know what I mean?"

When should I intervene? Now? Later?

Now?

"So, Ella, what have you got to say for yourself?" Big-and-Ugly sneered, looking menacing as all heck. "Is there any reason why I shouldn't teach you a lesson, too?"

He had cocked his gun and was casually spinning it around in his fingers. Okay, now it is.

"Three guys against one girl. That seems about right." I said loudly, striding out from behind the old warehouse. Ominous.

Big-and-Ugly flushed red. "None of your business," he muttered, and I smiled.

"I think it is my business. You guys gave Ortiz what was coming to him, right?"

They looked surprised. "How'd you know that?" Big-and-Ugly asked after a pause. "Did Michelin send you?" The gun in the crook of his arm was now casually pointed at me -it was a clear warning.

I snorted. "Michelin? You think I operate under the orders of some pimped-out druggie who sits with his feet up all day?"

I blame too much TV for giving me the skills to talk like this.

The three boys and even Ella looked astonished, like they couldn't believe a girl would dare to talk about their beloved Michelin that way. "You can't say that about him." The guy next to Big-and-Ugly, who looked like he had constipation, the way his face was screwed up, spoke up.

"Well, I don't take orders from Michelin, or anyone else," I snapped. "And if he didn't like what you did to Ortiz, then you can bet your asses that I'm not pleased, either." I had no idea what I was saying, but it seemed to be working. The boys were becoming increasingly wary.

Constipated-Ugly looked at me. "It was all Chazz's idea!" Great idea, throwing your friend under the bus. Instantly I began to despise him.

Big-and-Ugly, who was ostensibly named Chazz, looked irritated and angry that his comrades were getting so freaked out by a chick. He looked at me with an appraising eye. "If Michelin didn't send you, who did? You couldn't have sent yourself, you're just a -"

"Girl? Well, that didn't stop Ella here from ruining your operation, did it?"

"Ella? You know her?" Chazz pointed to Ella, who was watching this conversation with increasing incredulity, and I willed Ella to keep her head.

"Of course I know her," Ella said loudly. "She's the... person who I was warning you about. The girl who's going to kick your asses."

I walked over to Ella. "Here's the deal," I said. "You let Ella go with a warning this time, and I won't go all ape-shit on you. But if you try to make a move on her, I will, like Ella said, kick your asses into next Tuesday. Don't believe me?" I turned around and punched a hole, straight through the wall of the warehouse. I was lucky -the withered wood had become almost soft with age, but the boys all took a step backwards in shock.

"Shit," Chazz whispered. "She's not joking."

"Joking? I never joke. And if you were half as close to Michelin as I am, you'd know that he doesn't associate with people that joke around." I snarled. "Now get the hell out of here before I decide to take matters into my own hands."

They didn't need telling twice. They backed away slowly, and when I pretended to chase them, they began running away as fast as they could.

I grinned at my handiwork before realizing that Ella was still standing there, and I turned around.

"Who are you?" she said, her voice shaking.

"I'm Maximum Ride," I said, sticking my hand out. "Short for Max."

"Maximum," she repeated, a hint of a grin on her face. "I get it. You don't want to tell me your name. It's cool, I just wanted to properly thank the girl who might've just saved my life..."

"You did most of that," I grinned. "And think of it as my superhero name." I kind of agreed with her on the name thing. Four-year-olds shouldn't be allowed to choose their own names under any circumstances. Good thing I went by Max 90% of the time.

Ella smiled. "Maximum, the superhero who defends people by lying her face off. Pretty anticlimactic, if you ask me."

What is it with people not being pleased by my desire to avoid bloodshed? "I'm sorry that I didn't want to have three guys' hospital bills on my conscience," I said, and Ella grinned.

"Well, it was pretty super, the way you defended me from those guys."

"No problem. Who were they, anyway?"

Ella sighed and tucked a strand of her dark hair behind her ear. "Bullies. Occupational hazard of being the only Latina girl in a crappy public school. They were ragging on some kid, and I intervened, and then they targeted me."

"I hate bullies," I said, sounding almost sycophantic. It was taking a lot of my willpower to avoid blurting out something strange in a Leia, you're my sister kind of way. The Force clearly wasn't strong with my family, because I was the only mutant freak.

"What would you have done if they hadn't backed off?" Ella wanted to know.

"Something very strange."

"Would it involve using superhero powers?"

"Of a sort," I glanced at the sky, where my Flock was waiting for me. "But I can't tell you what they are."

Ella glanced at me. "Why?"

"You wouldn't believe me." I said simply.

Ella grinned, but she also looked confused, almost defiant. "Why?" she repeated, and I realized that maybe unwarranted curiosity and an inability to follow orders ran in the family. So I decided to tell her the truth.

"I would've busted out my wings and kicked those guys' asses with my super strength," I said.

It's actually quite a strange phenomenon when the truth is so outrageous that it sounds like a blatant lie. Ella clearly had some sort of internal struggle going on, but she ultimately decided not to contest. "Well, thanks anyways," she said finally, kicking a rock with her foot.

"I think you should get out of here before your goons realize they've been played by a girl," I said, and she grinned again.

"Good idea."

"You'll be okay?"

Ella nodded, looking almost unconsciously towards the woods where her house was located. "I'll be fine. Thanks, Maximum."

I grinned. Fang was so going to kill me later. I basically had just shat in the face of our No. 1 rule: Never tell anyone who you really are. "No problem," I repeated.

I watched her go, feeling slightly proud of myself. Ella was going to run home and tell her mom first thing about everything that had happened, down to the part of me saying I would bust out my wings. If I had learned anything about my sister in my years of knowing her, it was that she thrived on gossip. When I had ended up at the Martinez's home last time, she had told me everything about everyone in her grade, including who she planned to go to the Spring Fling with. So it was natural that she'd tell her mom all about me, which is exactly what I wanted.

I snapped out my wings and soared upwards, already feeling more hopeful as I spotted Ella walking home through the trees.

Maybe things would turn out better this time.

I flew up, pumping my wings fast, wanting to get above the cloud cover before anyone saw me and became convinced that aliens were taking over the world. And if word got out that flying bird kids existed... Well, it would be the curtain call for us. At least at this point in time.

The Flock was waiting at the northernmost point of Lake Mead, exactly where I had told them to wait. I felt a flutter of apprehension as I saw their silhouettes in the distance. I was going to have to explain things sooner or later. They weren't likely to follow me around like little blind hatchlings forever. Especially not Fang, who I knew would develop a leadership complex over time if I didn't make him feel like he was a contributing, leading member of the Flock.

If I didn't want Fang to leave, and obviously I didn't, because I knew that nothing good would come out of that, then I was going to have to come clean to him at some point. Or at least make up a more believable lie than the Voice. Because so far, the Voice was a lie. It hadn't shown up yet. And I didn't think it ever would. In the last timeline, Angel was the Voice, and that still didn't make sense to me. So if the Voice ever showed up, which wasn't possible because Angel couldn't read my mind for some odd reason, then I would have yet another investigation on my plate.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I nearly collided with the rock face on Lake Mead at top speed, but I swooped upwards at the last second and landed rather shakily near the rocks on which the Flock was sitting. Nudge was the first to speak up, obviously.

"That was fast," she said, looking rather surprised. What, no hug? No, 'I'm glad to see you?'

I flicked my stupid long hair behind my shoulders. I would have to get it cut again. Maybe dye it red or something. Fang liked redheads. "I told you I'd only be an hour, max."

Fang spoke up. "We were watching the eagles." He gestured to the large bald eagles soaring in the air a few hundred feet away. For the first time, I appreciated how majestic they really were. Fang nodded as though he could read my thoughts. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah. All good. I just totally helped a girl kick a few boys' asses without beating them up, thanks very much." I said smugly, and I proceeded to relate the tale to them -leaving out the part where I introduced myself fully, of course. Fang didn't need to find out about that just yet. Their faces grew more and more incredulous, and Iggy snorted as I finished.

"Really? Why couldn't you just bust out the ol' fists and give them the one-two?" Iggy said, and I shook my head, smiling. Iggy and Ella were really quite similar; how had I never noticed before? Well, there was one glaring difference in that Iggy was a mutant freak and Ella was a perfectly normal girl (besides the fact that she had a mutant for a half-sister, but everyone in the world probably had some weird relatives, so it wasn't that unusual), but I had had enough experience in my life to know that love was blind. And illogical.

"Where to now, Max?" Gazzy asked. I had kept an eye on Fang, whose shoulders tensed just a fraction of a millimeter as he asked the question.

"Why don't you decide, Fang?" I asked him, and his shoulders relaxed that same fraction of a millimeter.

He spoke in his quiet, deliberate voice. "Cafe. Recuperate and make a plan. Also, the Erasers won't look for us there."

"Right," I nodded fervently. "Because we'll be hiding in plain sight."

I saw a flicker of a smile pass across Fang's face and I grinned. We were still on the same page. That, at least, hadn't changed.

Being diplomatic was honestly really hard.

"I saw an IHOP on the way over here," Nudge chirped up, clearly wanting to get in on this meaningful-glance-thing Fang and I had cultivated. "We could go there or something. But what about money?"

"We'll worry about that later," I said dismissively. "Who's up for pancakes?"