The Flock yawned and stretched. True to form, none of them had ever fallen out of a tree. The first thing mentioned was the upcoming battle.
"Whenever and wherever you want Max." Nudge assured her leader. Max sighed and ran a hand through her hair.
"Let's go to the beach." The Flock immediately knew that she was talking about the beach were Max had first kissed Fang, and where he his side had been shredded.
"Coming full circle, eh Max? I LIKE it!" Iggy whooped and he and Gazzy launched into the air. Nudge giggled and picked up Total before jumping into the air with Angel. Max watched sadly as Nudge carried Total easily in her arms. The last time she had seen Nudge, Total was still too heavy for her. Nudge had grown up.
Fang noticed her melancholy and nudged her shoulder. "Breakfast?" One word as always. Max shook her head, set her shoulders and turned and smiled at Fang.
"How does Burger King sound?" Gazzy swooped down.
"How did you know Fang had an obsession with Burger King?" Max raised an eyebrow at Fang.
"They have this pie and it is HEAVENLY." Max laughed. That was the closest Fang would ever come to gushing.
"I didn't but let's go."
After a giant breakfast containing of pie only, the Flock set off.
"We have to fly low guys, so that they will be able to find and follow us." Max announced before swooping down over the bustling city. She was high enough above the buildings that a normal civilian couldn't see her, but she wasn't hiding in the clouds. The Erasers and scientists in the white van certainly saw her. And they were hot on their trails.
The Flock flew at a fast enough speed that they would reach the beach quickly, but not so fast that it would use up valuable energy. After a few hours of flying, Max pinpointed the exact location where the Flock had lain down asleep while on the run. Oh the irony. The Flock circled the area twice, once to check for unwanted humans, there were none, and once to make sure the white van was coming.
"They are almost upon us guys." Max declared landing in front of her Flock, giving her pre-battle speech for the last time. "You've done this before and you can do it again. These are normal Erasers 1.0. There is nothing new fangled about them. They are earth-bound weak and stupid. The scientists will be the tricky ones. They may have new weapons. I want you all to be alert. Angel, pick their minds. Do you sense anything that we are not expecting? Weapons? A specific target?" She turned towards the youngest in her group. There was silence for a minute.
"Two Erasers have guns, the others are just thinking 'Kill Flock Kill Flock Kill Flock' so they are basic. There are twelve of them so two for each of us. I already hid Total under a bridge over there and you already told him what to do in case of emergency. Which it won't come down too. As for the scientists… they want you back. Four only have normal guns and two have some radar thing. I don't know what they do." Max shuddered as Angel mentioned their desire to recapture her.
"Okay then guys. I'll take the Erasers with guns, you guys stay out of the way of bullets and keep an eye out for the two specially armed scientists. I have a feeling I know who they are," she added grimly. The Flock barely had time to nod before the van came careening off the road, wheels spinning sand everywhere and the door flung open. Ten Erasers were upon them in a moment, the unarmed ones. Max watched proudly as she and her Flock destroyed them in a matter of seconds.
"Easy peasy PIE!" Iggy shouted gleefully. He turned to look at the other Erasers. "Max?" She evaluated their stances and then turned to Angel.
"Get them to hand over their weapons." Angel did as she was asked and soon Fang, and Iggy due to lack of judgment, were holding the firearms. Nudge and Gazzy quickly demolished the two remaining Erasers. They had just fallen back in line with the Flock when the six scientists stepped out.
The Flock sucked in a deep breath of recognition. The man in front was Ter Borcht. "You silly bird-kids sot you could escape me. But you vere vong! Die Maximum!" He pulled out a scary looking piece of machinery.
"Ready?" Max asked the Flock. They nodded. And with one simple word, she led her family into the final battle of their lives. "Go." The six leapt into action, each grappling helping each other when needed. Angel was able to wrest the weapons from five of the scientists, but one woman in the back wouldn't give up hers. The Flock had killed all but Ter Borcht, another male scientist, and the one hidden in the back who wouldn't give up her weapon.
"Play nice please! I vas only kidding about killing you! I von't hurt you! I am surrendering! Please. Have mercy!" Ter Borcht suddenly pleaded.
"Shut up Borcht." Came a horribly recognizable voice. The Flock looked on in shock as Brigid stepped from the shadows. Max only glared at the recognition of the woman who had stolen the past few years from her. "Stop groveling. No wonder the scientists of Itex are a failed species. None of you had the balls to just pull the trigger. I should have done it myself, three years ago when I first had Max captured. But I was curious. But I have learned what I needed and have no misgivings now. But I don't want you in my way, Borcht. Or you Larry." She said turning up her nose at the other man. "You have only hindered my genius. It's time to take things to the final level. And unfortunately only one of us can go on." Before the Flock could move Brigid had turned her weapon on 'Larry'. "Thanks for creating this weapon Larry. It's too bad it was your own downfall." She smiled in a deranged way before pulling the trigger. There was a pop and Larry fell to the ground dead. There was no blood pooling or anything. And then it happened. He began to disappear and fade into ash. In a matter of seconds there was a pile of ash on the sandy beach next to Brigid. She blew the end of the weapon and then turned slowly to Ter Borcht. "You always told me I would go far in life with your help. Well, watch me rise now, as you fall."
As preoccupied with her own partners as Brigid was, she had unknowingly allowed the Flock to recover from a) her appearance in their lives again b) her betrayal of her fellow scientists and c) the horrors of the new weapon and Larry's demise. With a nod from Max Fang jumped Brigid, knocking the weapon from her grasp. Brigid still managed to hit the trigger as she made contact with the sand, vaporizing a moaning Ter Borcht. Fang picked up the weapon and turned it on Brigid.
"Wait!" Max called. The Flock turned to her in shock.
"Don't you want her to get a taste of her own medicine?" Gazzy asked in shock.
"That's why he's waiting." Max muttered grimly. "I would prefer if you guys didn't watch this." The Flock obediently turned away, but she knew their curiosity would get the better of them. Fang got off of Brigid and took the weapon back to the rest of the Flock. Brigid took off running but it was a lost cause. Max shot into the air and landed gracefully in front of her. She went to run in the opposite direction but again, Max was already there.
"What do you want!" She finally spat venomously.
"I always thought revenge was more trouble than it was worth. But I want you to feel my pain. You stole my life from me."
"You stole Fang!" She interjected.
"He was already mine." Max said simply. "But you stole my family, and three years of my life that I can never get back. Three years in which my babies grew up and my friends matured. Three years in which my mother grew older and my sister stayed an only child. Three years without laughter, love, and life. And I will never be able to forgive you for that. I may move on. But I will always hurt. Because those three years you stole from me, I will never get back. I will never know exactly what happened. Things will be mentioned that I will have no idea happened. And why? Because you selfishly kidnapped me and tortured me slowly, starved me, and kept me at your mercy. I will never let that happen to me or my family again. But I want you to feel just a tiny bit of what I do. And I am not sorry for this." Max finished off her speech, standing tall in the ocean breeze. And then she pulled back her arm and socked Brigid in the nose. After that, it was a pathetic fight really. One in which Brigid had the 'stuffing beat out of her' as Iggy later stated.
Once it was obvious Brigid would not live from her wounds, Max stood back. She hadn't turned into a monster and gone on rampage. She had done what she had been destined to do. She had saved the world. She looked down at the red hair lying near her feet. She gave a small smile and then turned and walked away. Into a new life. A safe a life. A life with her family.
AN: So this was a more serious chapter again, and I'm sorry if the violence upset some of you, but this is just how it turned out. Part Two of the Camping Trip is coming up next and that will be the end, unless I decide to do an epilogue. READ AND REVIEW POR FAVOR!