A/N: Sorry for leaving you guys with such a cliffy last chap. I also noticed
that I'm getting less reviews for these updates then I did for the first
chap. C'mon guys, review. Anonymous reviews are enabled you know, so all you
people without accounts, REVIEW!

Disclaimer: I, the Aviator, do not own Max and co. or anyone else you may recognize

Claimer: I do, however, own Phoenix Fire-wielder (I just came up with that title off the top of my head)

This place was small, only 10 feet by 10 feet, but it held the access panel
to a pretty important piece of equipment. The fuel for the power generators,
both main and back up, to be precise. I know, I know, I'm a genius. Please
hold your applause until the end of the show. But like I was saying, you take
that out and at least part of the complex will be destroyed, if not the entire
thing.

I take the chemicals out of my pocket and mix them in a two litre soda bottle
I found in the trashcan outside the door. Man, these guys are slobs! The
mixture immediately started to boil (thank goodness there wasn't much of it
to begin with) and I threw it into the cover.

Satisfied with my work, I get out of there, FAST. As I fly away, I notice
that there are three Flyboys coming back with hybrids in their arms. They
must've caught some of the hybrids I freed! Well, they're not gonna be
taken 'em back here ever. Insert mental cackle here.

I fly into the nearest flyboy from above, feet first, breaking its spine and
making it drop the hybrid, whom I caught and set in a nearby tree, far enough
away from the School to avoid the brunt of the blast. The other two flyboys
got the same treatment. What can I say? I do an equal opportunity kind of kick
[donkey butt.

As soon as I landed with the third hybrid, I got the first one to the ground,
and that's when the building
Exploded. I spread my wings to protect the kids from the flying shooting
shrapnel, and I feel one piece of shrapnel (and I'm lucky it was only one)
embed itself in my back, right between the wings. OUCH! I'm gonna be grounded
until I get THAT treated.
The explosion woke the kids, who immediately scurried away from me, obviously
scared. I mean, no dip, Sherlock, so would I. It was all I could to keep from
passing out from sheer agony, but I managed to gasp, "I need help." A shooting

pain rippled through me, almost sending my mind into overdrive. "Please!"

Yes, the Phoenix, one who can destroy an entire School complex effortlessly
was pleading for help from three
complete strangers. Anyone who can note the irony (and gets funny about it)
is getting a consolation prize: one swift kick in the rear.

The oldest of the three, he looked about thirteen, said "How can we trust
you?"

"I freed you from there; you know you can trust me. Please..." I made a sound
that resembled choking on my tongue, as if me trying to cough it out was going
to rid myself of the pain and uncomfort. "... Help." He makes a snap
decision and goes behind me. I feel the piece… what is it? Maybe it's
steel? Who knows… get yanked out of my skin, drawing a pain filled yelp from
me, then he bound the wound.

When he came within sight, I saw that he used his shirt as a bandage.
"Thanks."He just nods turns to the other two and gives the order to his troops, "
Guys. Let's go, we can
survive without dimwit." Yeah, you're welcome for kicking the Flyboy
butt. they ran off, leaving me alone once again! But it's not like I mind,
it's just my back is killing me! I think I need to pay another visit to Dr.
M.

I start running, rather clumsily, I might add, in the direction the house is
in. A few hours later, I was starved and tired, but I was there. I knock
weakly on the door and Ella answers it, "Phoenix, what happened? Come on in."

"Where's your mom? I need her help."

"She is at work right now, what happened?" I recapped to her what
happened quickly and she says, "I'll phone my mom now," and runs to the
black plastic wonder.

After a few seconds, I hear the Doc on the phone, "What is it, Ella?"

"It's Phoenix." I could feel the tension on the other end of the line. But
Ella continued, "He came back, but he's injured." She tried to whisper, but I
still heard her say to the Doc, "It's bad. He's got a bandage bulging from his shirt, and there's blood all over."

There was a mumble on the other end and Ella hangs up. "My mom's on her
way."

"Thanks, I don't know what I'dve done if it weren't for you guys.

I try relaxing as much as I can, considering the amount of pain I'm in.
About fifteen later, Dr. Martinez runs into the room. "What happened?"

"Shrapnel in the back," I said calmly.

"Okay, take off your shirt, I need to see the injury." I do so
carefully, because my back is still killing me. The Doc removes the makeshift
bandage and gasps when she sees the wound.

"How bad is it?" I ask, not wanting to hear the answer.

"I, I don't think you will be able to fly unless we get it repaired right
away." I think you forgot to mention that I might not fly again, anyway, I
thought darkly. I know how close it is to my spinal column, but thanks for the
consideration, Doc. "And you've lost a lot of blood. I'm going to need to
take you in, but the place is really busy at this time of day..."

"I really don't care if anyone sees my wings right now, I just don't want
them to be useless masses of metal That would certainly be
preferable."

She huffed out a heaving breath, as if that was a weight on her shoulders.
"Ok, let's go. Ella, watch the house while I'm gone, you know the rules."

"Bye mom! Bye Phoenix. Luck."

"I'll need it." I mutter, putting my shirt back on and following the Doc to
her car. When we get there, the Doc says something to the man at the reception
desk and he waves us in. She leads us to an empty operating room, and it takes
all the willpower I have not to freak.

"Take your shirt off and lay down on your stomach on the table." I comply
(I know, so unlike me!), still trying not to crawl the walls.

"Okay, now I'm going to give you something to knock you out so you..."

"NO!" I whisper-screamed. "Whatever you do, do not knock me out. Remember
what I told you last time I was here?"

"Oh, right, then I'll just give you some laughing gas, that way you still
won't feel anything anyways."

"Fine, go ahead." She places a mask on my face and, almost as soon as I
inhale, I start to feel light-headed and calm, and I couldn't feel the gash in
my back nearly as much. Ooh, this was weird! The ceiling tiles are dancing!
They look so funny! Is that a goldfish?

I feel some pressure on my back and a slightly uncomfortable feeling but it
was gone as soon as I felt it. Hey! There it is again. I don't like that…
Garr! You back stabby thingy… you! After a bit more of this, Dr. Martinez
said, "Done! Just don't do anything more stressful than walking for at least
two weeks, and that's with your fast..."

She was interrupted by a person walking in. "Dr. Martinez, I thought you had
an emergency... WHAT THE? WHAT IS THAT?" What? Haven't you seen a… a…
me? This character was obviously shocked at seeing a me, especially one with a
big gash in his umm… umm… thing… ooh, that's it… back.

I attempted to answer, although my speech was slurred cause of the happy gas,
"I am not a that or a what, I'm a… I'm a me, that am what! Thank you
very much."

I'm trying to sit up, but Dr. Martinez keeps me down, saying, "Wait a bit
before you try to move. Okay? I know this isn't that comfortable for you."

"Fine" I grumble, even though I sounded more like Daffy Duck than my regular
self.

"You know him?" the guy asks.

"Yeah, I do. Now if you'll excuse me, I have better things to do."

"Okay, sorry." I can tell, by the tone of his voice, that he wanted to talk
to me, and this Doc didn't want to tick�off Dr. Martinez, and wasn't happy
being dismissed like that.

"Who's that?"

She chuckled. "That was Dr. Burgess, he's always very annoying… guess he
likes to get under people's skin. Can't keep a secret to save his life,
though." A frown tugs at her lips, making my unease nearly double.

My sarcasm's well hidden. "Great! Can I get up now? I'd like to jump
off the cliff before I get pushed off." She doesn't answer, but does help me
to sit up, "Thanks."

"You're welcome. Now put your shirt on, and I'll take you back home." In what
seems like a few minutes later, I'm sitting on the couch with Ella pelting
me with questions about what happened.

Finally, I had enough "I don't mean to be rude, but could you just. Shut.
Up?" I felt like I was about to implode.

"Fine…" she grumbles and she does, thankfully.

The next day, I'm just sitting on the sofa, watching the news of all
things, when the reporter said something that piqued my interest, "And now
we go on location, where a complex of industrial giant, Itexicon, has
exploded. We're on the scene with street reporter Amanda Lane."

A tall lady in her mid twenties took up the screen, a mural of debris and
sky behind her. "Thank you, James. As you can see behind me, there is
absolutely nothing left of the once gargantuan complex housing hundreds of
scientists, who were working on cures for modern-day diseases. Currently no
information has been formally released on the cause…" She turned, her
light brown hair spinning with her. "Here's the chief of police now…
Sir, what do you know about this explosion so far?"

"No comment." The chief said, obviously busy being pelted with
microphones, and questions, among other things.

The reporter tried again, her voice rising above those of several other
news people. "Have you decided weather it was an accident or a planted
explosive?"

"No comment." He looks like he was really starting to get annoyed with
the reporters. I sure wouldn't want that guy on my tail. Then again, I could
probably take him on and win… but not like this.

"Hey, Ella, Doc, come down here! You might want to see this."

They come in, the latter asking, "What would we want to see?" I gesture
at the TV and they sit down and watch.

The camera goes in and looks over the rubble and zooms in on the body of a
morphed Eraser or a Flyboy… I can't tell which. It finds some more bodies,
mostly flyboys, then goes back to the reporter who says, "Well, there's
just one more thing not to know about Itex. Just look at the bodies that
happen to be here. This one seems to have canine fangs, and there are others
that look to have wings, of all things. Let's see if anyone can give us more
information."

She finds a paramedic who was loading the body of a Whitecoat on a stretcher
and asks, "What do you think these oddly shaped bodies are?"

"People might think I'm crazy, but they really look like
werewolves."

"Werewolves?"

"Yeah, most of them seem like robots with a
skin-like covering, but some of them look like they were actually living,
breathing wolf men"

The lady turned to the camera. "Wow, that's really unusual."

Dr. Martinez mutes the TV and turns to me, "Is that how you got so
injured? Blowing that place up?"

"That obvious?" I received a glare for my insolence, and continue with my
story. "I was protecting a trio of hybrids from the blast and got hit in the
back with a piece of shrapnel, you already know the rest." She unmutes the
TV and we finish watching the report about my expedition, although I can fully
tell that isn't pleased.

Afterwards, everything goes by normally. For the first time in over a year,
I actually felt like a regular teenager spending two weeks at a friend's
house.

After the two weeks were up, I told them, "I need to leave now, spread my
wings, you know? Thanks for all the help." I wave and take off into the
light blue sky, ready once again for uncertainty and adventure.

A/N: as I said in the above A/N, REVIEW, everyone who reads this can review,
whether you have an account or not.

The Aviator, signing off

This is MR, signing in… (had to poke fun at that, sorry) like he said…
and please remember that I write some of this too. You'd review my stuff,
right? Does the puppy dog eyes Yeah, I thought so. MR