Wow! I got a lot more reviews than I expected! Thanks guys! J I even appreciated the criticism because, how else am I supposed to make the fic better? As a reward, someone gets a new skill in this chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own Max Ride and I never will :/
Previously…
"Aww, how sweet, our favorite chew toy has brought us a little snack!" the voice growled. Erasers.
…
Gazzy immediately prepared for either battle or flight. Courage tensed up beside him. Her eyes were filled with more hate than Gazzy thought was possible.
"Who's ready for a play date?" hissed an Eraser. Seven other gravely voices cackled in response as they stepped out of the shadows. Eight Erasers total. Gazzy didn't think that he could take all eight Erasers at once.
He had to protect Courage and warn the others.
"Bring it on, you flea-bitten mutts!" snarled Gazzy. The Erasers growled as their faces morphed grotesquely into wolf muzzles. The Erasers crept forward until Gazzy and Courage were surrounded.
Crap.
Gazzy frantically searched his pocket for the mini-bombs that he and Courage had made earlier that evening. They weren't there. He must've left them back over by the tree.
Double crap.
Great, now he had to fight the old fashioned way. Good old punches and kicks. Oh my gosh, he was gonna get creamed.
"Courage, take out only what you have to. Just enough to escape. Then warn the others. I'll distract them." whispered Gazzy.
"No, I'm not leaving you here alone! They could kill you or worse!" hissed Courage.
"What's worse than death?" mumbled Gazzy.
"Lot's of things, trust me." said Courage cynically as she balled up her fists.
"Stop talking!" barked an Eraser as he lunged. The rest of the Erasers did the same.
Courage kicked an Eraser on the base of it's spine, and it crumpled. Then she spun and chopped at one's neck. Then one came up behind her and raked it's razor sharp claws down the side of her arm.
She snarled and lashed out at the Eraser. It punched her in the gut and she bent over, then it punched her on the side of her face. Oh, that was gonna leave a really nasty bruise. Courage kicked the Eraser in the you-know-where and it uttered a high pitched squeak. She hit it as hard as she could on the temple and it was out like a light.
She was free. She could escape and warn the others. As she shot off toward the camp, she desperately looked back to see if Gazzy was alright. She wanted to stay behind and help Gazzy, but the wounds that she had already received were sapping what little strength she had left.
Gazzy had a cut above his left eyebrow and blood was starting to drip into his eye.
"Go Courage! I'll be fine. Go!" grunted Gazzy as he took a blow to the stomach. Courage gulped down her tears and rocketed toward the camp.
When she got there, she was bombarded with questions.
"Where is Gazzy?"
"Did you get the plates?"
"Did you and Gazzy kiss?"
"OMG, what happened?"
"Are you ok?"
"Stop! Just stop already! Gazzy is being attacked! Please, somebody, help us! Angel and Iggy can lead the group somewhere safe. Here's the credit card." Courage said as fast as she could.
"Follow me! Help us!" she pleaded as she headed back to Gazzy. On her way back to the woods, she snatched a lighter. Courage shot through the woods and found the clearing where Gazzy and the Erasers were fighting.
She was too late. Gazzy fell to the ground and an Eraser leapt to tear his throat out.
"NO!" Courage screeched as she flicked the lighter. A small flame appeared at the tip of the lighter.
Courage made a shoving motion toward the Eraser and The little flame grew and rose into a fiery inferno of death. The flame shot over to the Eraser and fried it on the spot. This all happened in less than a second.
As Courage pointed to an Eraser, The flame leapt wildly to that Eraser and curled around it like a fiery boa constrictor.
She only had to fry about four before the rest fled only slightly singed. One of the Erasers who fled was still on fire. I guess he forgot to stop, drop, and roll.
Courage closed her open palms and the flames extinguished. She then sprinted toward Gazzy, who was not even slightly singed.
"Gazzy?" whispered Courage. His bright blue eyes were closed and the tips of his hair were wet with sweat and blood.
"Come on. I'm gonna take you to the others. Then you can show me how to make more bombs. That's gonna be fun!" Courage said softly as she lifted Gazzy up with whatever strength she had left.
She took a short running start and unfurled her honey and cream colored wings. Her primary feathers were honey colored and the color lightened as the feathers got higher up on her wings until there was a pure cream color.
She laboriously lifted Gazzy higher until she made it to a wind current. The current brought her to two flying forms.
Oh please, please don't let it be to flying Erasers! Courage thought wearily.
It wasn't. It was Fang and Iggy.
"Courage! We were coming to help, but you did…" started Iggy. "Fang told me that you could control fire! Awesome!"
"Not… Now…" mumbled Courage. She was about to drop out of the sky at this point because Gazzy probably weighed more than she did.
"Don't worry. I've got him. Follow me." said Fang as he gripped Gazzy. Courage was too tired to led go of Gazzy's hand.
"It's ok. He's safe now. You can let go." said Fang. Courage warily let Gazzy go. Fang and Iggy glided over to a hotel, where Nudge and Angel had rented a few hotel rooms with the credit card. They were trying to avoid using the credit card, because someone could track them with it, but this was an emergency.
Courage was exhausted. She gave a few pitiful flaps then whispered
"He's safe…" as she plummeted toward the ground. Iggy heard her whisper those two words.
"Fang, where's Courage?" said Iggy.
"Oh, jeez! Iggy, twelve o'clock! She's falling!" said Fang. Iggy dove and caught Courage who was out cold from exhaustion.
Iggy and Fang jetted to the hotel, where Nudge was waiting on a high balcony.
Nudge had rented four large hotel rooms. Two rooms for girls and two rooms for boys. Nudge would watch the girls in one room while Angel would keep an eye out for the girls in the other room.
Iggy and Gazzy would be in one room full of boys while Fang would monitor the other room of boys. A simple, yet effective system.
Fang and Iggy laid Courage and Gazzy on a bed in Iggy's room. Fang had tended to the scratches on Gazzy and Courage with the first aid kit.
Fang had left to put his group of mutants to bed and went to sleep himself. Nudge and Angel did the same.
Iggy had decided to let Courage and Gazzy sleep on one bed and he made sure that the rest of the mutants were comfortable before he crept to the laptop.
Iggy stumbled toward the bathroom and closed the door so that the laptop's light wouldn't wake anyone up. He already knew how to turn it on and he did. Then he plugged in a set of headphones.
The best part was that the iChat thing was against a white background, so he could see it. Ella's name popped up on iChat and Iggy clicked on her name. Ella's head popped on the screen.
"Hey Iggy! Um, where are the others and why are you in a bathroom?" asked Ella. Iggy smirked. He recounted the events of the past day all the way up to now in the hotel bathroom.
"Oh, wow! The amazing life of a bird-kid." said Ella with a little envy in her tone. She sighed. "I wish I could fly so I could go on all of the adventures with you." said Ella sadly.
Iggy frowned.
"Trust me, you don't want the price that comes with these. Endless pain and turmoil kind of spoil the fun." said Iggy as he let his wings spread out a bit.
"Still, I wish I could fly…" muttered Ella. "Whatever. Like that's gonna happen. Anyways, you have to come back! Max isn't moving. She probably won't last another two days. I… I hate just watching her fade away!"
"It's ok Ella. Listen, I need you to tell your mom to get us a jet. Some of the mutants that Fang freed can't fly and we can't fly them there. I also highly doubt that airport security would let some of these guys pass. They look like mistakes. And, our wings would show up on the X-Rays anyways so we'd totally be screwed at any public airport. Driving would take too long so that's out. We need a private jet." said Iggy.
"Ok. I'll try as hard as I can. I just wish I could help more." sighed Ella.
"Hey, you're already saving our butts for like, the third or fourth time this week and… I think that you look beautiful without the wings." said Iggy sheepishly.
Ella's eyes lit up.
"REALLY? Wow, that's so, I mean thanks!" said Ella.
"Besides, why would you want to hang out with a bunch of hybrid mutts like us when you can have a normal life?" said Iggy as he snapped his wings against his back.
"You are not hybrid mutts and I'd pick you over any other boring normal boy any day." said Ella. Now it was Iggy's turn to look up grinning.
"Yep. You're way more normal than some of the freaks that prowl my school. Trust me. Some of them are probably more freaky than any of the mutants in your group." laughed Ella. Iggy laughed too. There was a muffled voice in the background.
"Mom's home! I gotta go. See you later Iggy!" chirped Ella.
"Bye!" said Iggy as the screen darkened. Iggy walked out of the bathroom and quietly put the laptop back in it's place. He then curled up on a place on the floor and drifted off to sleep.
Ella ran downstairs. The door was open alright, but Dr. Martinez was nowhere to be found.
"Mom?" said Ella as she walked into the kitchen. Then, Brigid appeared.
"Uh, Brigid?" said Ella. "What are you do…" Ella started, but was abruptly cut off by a sharp pain in her arm. Brigid had shot a needle that had injected something into her arm.
Ella fell so her knees, then slumped to the ground, unconscious.
"The subject has been injected with the new serum formula. It should take effect by morning." Brigid said into her phone.
"Very good. Nice job, Brigid." said the voice on the other line. Brigid smirked as she hauled Ella's unconscious body up to her bed. Her mother wouldn't suspect a thing. That is, until morning.
Yes, it's somewhat of a cliffy. More reviews will help me update faster! Please, every review counts! I apologize for the lack of Fax in this chapter, but I promise, promise to put it in future chapters! This fic will be crammed with fax by the last chapter or I will die trying!
