A/N: So we all know this chapter is late, but, hey, at least it's not GONE. Am I right, or am I right?

And, I had this story written until about chapter 10 when I realized I forgot about something REALLY important, and so now I'm back at swuare one. Or, four, I guess.

Either way, enjoy!

This chapter is more action for those of you that like that.


We all whipped our heads around to the sound of Ari's voice.

"What are you?" Max spat, certainly shocked, but tried to hide it.

What was Ari doing here? I thought he was dead! Sometimes dead people can be so confusing.

"I'm Ari," Ari replied, "Your brother."

"You're not my brother you dorkus," Max informed him, "You're made completely out of metal and wires and plastic. I can literally see wires jetting out of your square torso."

Oh. So maybe it wasn't Ari. This was one of the many misfortunes of being blind. At least I wasn't a mouse, though. And there weren't three of me. Singing. But being a teenage-winged-muant wasn't a day in the park either.

"I do not think you understand," replied the robot, ignoring Max's comment, "I will explain on the way there."

"On the way there?" Max asked. "Where is there?"

"I cannot tell you until later times," the robot told her simply.

Ha. If that robot thought he could get Max to follow him to a mysterious place for no given reason while looking like a robot then he was sadly, sadly mistaken.

What I wanted to know was that, even though this was a robot, how did it have Ari's voice? I mean, robots usually sound like... you know, robots. Not like dead people.

Max probably gave the flock a look since Gazzy tapped my fist with two fingers, "Don't trust him/ her/ these people."

Right, because these people sound like they just want to skip through meadows of happy yellow flowers sipping apple juice. Heck- they weren't even people! Of course I wasn't going to trust them.

I tensed, then I remembered something. Ella! Was she still in the room?

"We are not going anywhere with you," Max told him, "So I suggest that you leave before your wiry intestines end up staining our carpet."

The robot said nothing. But then we heard the sounds of buzzing, window crashing and screaming.

At first I assumed that a swarm of bees had crashed into our house and took Ella hostage, but when I heard robot voices (real robot voices. Like: I. Am. A. Ro. Bot.) I figured out that robots had just crashed into our house and everyone was screaming.

I don't know how we were going to explain this to the cleaning ladies.

I waited for Max's U&A call, but it never came.

"WHAT'S HAPPENING?" I exclaimed.

"Iggy, shut up!" the flock demanded. Sure, tell the blind kid to shut up- especially at a time of pure chaos.

Once all of the noises died down, so that all that could be heard was feint whimpering, I heard a human voice say something.

"One false move, and the girl dies."

I closed my eyes, though it wouldn't have made a difference. I didn't have to ask. I already knew. The girls was Ella. Who else would they have been able to grab? I just didn't know how they were planning on killing her. Bombs? Gun? Sword? I mean, no one uses swords anymore. A little sword action would be nice, you know? Next time you see a mad murdering evil scientist be sure to tell them that, 'kay?

"Put her down," I demanded... at the exact same time at the rest of the Flock. You know, it's tough to be some sort of heroic knight who says amazingly romantic lines when five other people are saying the same exact thing.

"Follow us, and you'll get your friend back," the voice responded, a man's voice, somewhere in the 30, 40's range, probably ugly and single.

They couldn't have taken Ella. I- I... I didn't know what I'd do without her. We had to go to where ever they wanted us to. There was no way we were putting Ella at risk.

"We'll go," I said.

I could feel the rest of the Flock looking at me.

"Since when do you call the shots?" Max asked, skeptical. Then she continued, leaving me no time to answer, which was good because I didn't have one. "But, yeah, we'll go. As long as you promise to leave her here."

Max was probably lying about the going part. She'll probably just save Ella and run away. It's a Max thing she does.

"I promise," the man said. I could hear his satisfied smile through his voice.

"Good," Max replied, not backing down, "Now where are we going?"

"Well... it might seem a little... foreign, to say the least. But since you can fly, we chose you to be our exp- I mean, our brave soldiers. First voyagers."

"To where," Max persisted, probably cringing at the fact that these people wanted to use us as experiments again.

The man probably smirked and then I heard him snap his fingers.

"ELLA!" everyone cried. Well, everyone but me.

"WHAT HAPPENED?" I cried. What happened to Ella? Did they kill her? Did she kick one of them? Did she randomly sprout antlers and was denting the ceiling with them? What was going on?

"She just... vanished," I heard Nudge muse, "Into thin air."

THE LOVE OF MY LIFE JUST VANISHED!

I squealed. How could she have vanished?

"Iggy..." Fang asked me slowly, "Did you just squeal?"

My eyes bulged. Of course I just squealed. Not once- not just once could I ever seem manly.

"Only true men squeal," I responded, knowing perfectly well that that comment in no way redeemed myself.

"Shut up," the man told us. Feisty. "Now, you were wondering where we are going, am I correct?"

"You said you'd leave her here," Max said.

"I lied," the man told her. "I know how you work, Maximum, and there's no way you would have gone before. But now that you're friend has been teleported to our destination, I see no reason in which you shouldn't go."

"I could list plenty," Max told him.

"But you care about your sister too much, am I correct?" he asked.

Max didn't respond.

"That's what I thought," he said.

"Last time," Max told him, "Where. Are. We. Going?"

"We," the man responded, "Are going to Mars."


A/N: Cue ominous music.

So REVIEW! And maybe I won't send space aliens to come destory your house.

:)

LLAMAS RULE!