Wha hoo! Another chapter! This is the quickest I've updated in forever, if at all. I feel very proud of myself right now... I won't feel proud in the morning though. It's like three am and I need sleep, but I just had to finish the chapter. Even I had to know what happened and I'm the one writing it! :D I'm rambling again, but I'm sleepy, so that's my excuse.

I added music to this chapter. Well, kinda anyway. It's optional music, but if you want to listen then click the links when you see the symbols I'm gonna put next to them. You may have to play the first song twice to get to the end of the scene I wanted it to cover. I'll mark the beginning and the end of each one with their symbols.

(*): watch?v=-m7e7tCn7Bk

(~): watch?v=HFVHuDc-QlU (Ignore the actual video for this one. It's one of those tributes for a book/movie, but it was the only video that I found that had the length of the song I needed)

Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. Things would be different if I did.

Chapter 9

Iggy's P.O.V.

The minute we hit the cover of the trees, Shadow gave the signal for us to hit the air. Our wings were out and we had launched ourselves into the sky in minutes. The only things I could see were feathers and leaves before we hit clear blue sky. Shad shouted for everyone to head towards the edge of town, where there was plenty of trees and few people.

We went as fast as our wings could carry us. I looked back once to find The Flock right on our tail. I could just make out Max's features. She was ready for this fight, and if she was ready, so were the others. The muscles in my jaw tightened. Why couldn't they just leave us alone? What had we done to them? They had kicked me out and four years ago no less! They said they didn't want me around, that I would only get them captured or killed. So why were they following us looking for a fight? My teeth ground together.

Life was cruel. I had figured that out years ago when I was still locked up in that horrid dog crate at the school. I had been tortured, poked, prodded, robbed of my sight and so much more. The only good thing in that time of my life was The Flock. We had banded together, become a family. Besides Jeb, who had left not long after he had broken us out of The School, the only family I had ever known was The Flock. They were the good in my life, until I lost them too.

They wanted me gone so I left. I flew until I couldn't fly anymore. Everything had fallen apart around me and to top it off, I'd been about to be captured. But then Shadow had found me and saved me. She gave me a new family and something to live for. To work to protect. I found family, kindness and love when she brought me back. The betrayal of The Flock was pushed from my mind and it hadn't been brought up ever again except for when I told them about my past. Everything was looking up. We were safe, we were free, school wasn't something I exactly desired to do but I could live with as long as I was with my family. Here I thought that maybe life had decided to give me a break and then we run into The Flock.

The happiness, the serenity that I had finally found, was broken just like that. They were here and were ready for a fight. Was kicking me out not enough? Did they want me at The School? Or worse, dead? I found that hard to believe, that they'd want me dead, but I never thought they'd kick me out either. I guess I didn't really know them like I thought I did.

We touched down on a field way off the beaten path. There wasn't a house around for at least three miles and the nearest road was one mile off. If there had to be a fight, here was the best place to do it. It was secluded and no one would hear the commotion. No one would drive by and see rocks flying, or fire in mid-air, or things floating or notice a weather difference or anything. We could use our powers and our wings and not worry about having the government called on us.'

"Any preference on who gets to fight who?" Claw asked as we watched Max and The Flock come closer and closer.

"Yeah. I get Max." Shad growled "She needs to understand something, and I'm gonna teach her."

"And I want Fang." I smirked to myself "Call it payback."

It was decided that Minx would take on the new guy of The Flock, Claw and Blaze would handle Nudge, Haze would get Gazzy and Demon would take on Angel. I almost laughed as we watched Max and the group land in front of us. It was comical, that we were all going against our opposites. I'd never realized before that Shadow's group, my group, was just another Flock except with different people that had different personalities and abilities. We were so similar and yet so different. That old cliché.

The Flock folded their wings in and walked towards us. They had the same formation they'd always had. Max and Fang in the front with everyone else standing behind them. Our formation was similar I suppose, as Shad and I both stood slightly in front of the others. The difference between the flocks though, was the Minx and the others stood more beside us than behind us. Yes, Shad and I were slightly in front of them, but only by a couple inches. Just enough to show we were the leaders.

Max stepped forward, ahead of Fang and faced Shadow. "I believe you have someone of ours." She snarled at Shadow. I bit the inside of my cheek to refrain from yelling that I wasn't part of their group anymore. That they had given up the right to care four years ago.

"You gave up the right to call him one of yours four years ago. He's ours now, so just back off." Shad replied. Her voice was calm, but laced with deadly poison. She wasn't happy about this. They were threatening her family and all she lived for. I had to admit, I agreed.

"I don't know what you did to him, but he belongs with us. He's one of us and if you don't let him come back, we're going to make you." Fang stated. I was surprised he was speaking. He never spoke. At least not around me, but then again, I was useless and going to get them captured. So it was only logical that he didn't talk to me.

(*)

I laughed humorlessly. "The only thing they did was show me kindness after you kicked me out and told me to not to come back. I don't belong with you. I don't want to. I'm not one of you and I won't ever be again. I'm not leaving." I laced my fingers with Shad's and looked on both sides of us at the rest of our family "And you can't make me."

The looks of anger on their faces was enough to tell me they weren't going to leave peacefully. They believed, for whatever strange reason, that Shad and the others had brainwashed me or something of the sort. They wanted me back, for a reason I didn't know. I wasn't going back, though. I found my family. I found the people I'm meant to be with. And if I had to fight my old flock to prove it, so be it.

There was a few moments of tense silence before Max lunged at Shadow. My first instinct was to jump in front of her, but that would have landed me on the top of an earth wall. Max slammed head first into that wall. Shad had a smirk on her face. She seemed to find great satisfaction in that. Fang, wasn't as happy.

Fang rushed to Max's side as the earth wall crumbled, leaving loose dirt and rocks on the ground. Fang looked up, fire in his eyes as his gaze set on Shadow. He stood, turned, and lunged. This time, I did intercept.

I knocked into Fang's side, sending us both tumbling to the ground. I was back up on my feet in a second, the purple energy I controlled sparking on my fingertips. My energy was similar to electricity but different. It gave the same effect as electricity. I could send you into great pain, but it wasn't the same pain as electric. It was hard to explain, but very useful.

That was how the fight really started. Fang and I, the "Alpha Males" of the two groups, were the first ones that were really at each other's throats. Max and Shad were next, Shad easily blocking all of Max's attacks with her powers. The rest of The Flock went to split to help Max and Fang, but were cornered by their counterparts in my flock. The battle was on.

Fang, who was still on the ground, looked up at me. He glared, getting to his feet. I put the sparks of my powers out. I didn't want to use them just yet. Fang had beat me so many times in hand to hand combat back when I was with The Flock. It was time for a little payback.

Shadow, Minx and the others had taught me a great deal of different hand to hand techniques. Their own little styles that they seemed to have perfected. Everyone else in the group knew them, but only the person who had started the techniques seemed to be the master of them.

Fang lunged at me. I dodged it easily, grabbing his outstretched arm and using his own weight to twirl him in a circle and throw him away from me. He stumbled, but kept his footing. He turned and came towards me again. He was slower this time, more calculating. He realized that just lunging at me wasn't going to work like it used to. I wasn't blind anymore, and I wasn't under-trained.

We stalked each other in a circle like fighting dogs. Both of our hands were up, protecting our faces from any hits. I watched carefully for an opening, but their seemed to be none. Fang definitely hadn't gotten any worse of a fighter in my absence. There didn't seem to be any holes in his stand or form, which only proved more difficult for me.

We continued to stalk each other. I risked a glance around at my flock members, trusting my ears to hear Fang's attack before it came. I wouldn't put it past him to attack me while I seemed to be distracted, and I wasn't proven wrong.

He lunged again, hoping to get lucky. I dodged this too, but more narrowly than the one before. I tried tripping him, hoping to see him land on his face like I had many times before when we had sparred, but I had no such luck. He jumped over my outstretched leg, doing a flip and landing on his feet, facing me.

I made the first move this time, heading straight for him but changing direction at the last possible moment so that I went a little to his right. It confused him and I managed to land a solid punch to his stomach before he was once again aware and fighting back. We threw kicks and punches back and forth, blocking and dodging as we both tried to get the upper hand. I won't try to brag and say he didn't hit me once, because he hit me several times. All very good hits that would have knocked me down in the past. But I wasn't the week little fourteen year old that couldn't see any more. I had changed.

Fang knocked my feet out from under me and I toppled to the ground. He got down, fisting one of his hands in my shirt, as the other raised above his head and came down on my jaw in a punch that busted my lip.

"We're your family Iggy, not them! Why are you fighting us?! You should be helping us!" he snarled at me. I spit in his face, aiming for his eyes.

"You're not my family, you never were! Who kicks their family out?! HUH?! What family does that? None! I won't help you! Not now, not ever!" I drew my legs up to my chest and with all my might kicked Fang. He flew off me, landing in a heap on the ground. I pulled myself to my feet, wiping at my now bleeding lip.

Fang glared up at me and then disappeared. Looks like he mastered his chameleon ability. He can go invisible whenever he chooses now. Oh well. Just means more fun for me. I smirked, the purple energy sparking at my fingertips again. I let it this time, using the energy to track Fang's movements. If he wanted to play games, we'd play.

He tried sneaking up on me but my powers told me where he was at long before he reached me. I dodged his attack, sending a ball of energy right to his chest. I heard the 'omph' as it hit and knocked the wind out of him. He didn't become visible, but he was winded now. I sent more energy balls his way, forcing him to dodge them or be hit. He'd be busy dodging them for a while, until he found a way to get to me. I took the little bit of time I had to check on my family.

Shadow looked bored as she dodged punches and kicks Max sent her way but I could see the anger in her eyes and the bruise already starting to form on her upper cheek. She'd have a black eye by tomorrow. She seemed to be doing well though. She didn't like Max, and she was proving it. She didn't seem to be using her powers much, but I hadn't truly expected her to. Like me, she wanted Max to understand that she was just as capable of protecting her family without the use of special powers.

Minx looked like she was having a more difficult time. She was creating small physical shields to block the sparkling silver bolts that were being thrown at her. My eyebrows furrowed. Silver bolts? Electricity? Was this new guy able to control electricity? I tucked this away for future reference. Minx wasn't doing badly, but she didn't seem to have landed any hits yet though.

Claw and Blaze were doing better than better. The fight wasn't really fair, two against one, but unless we were in the sky, Claw's ability to control the weather wasn't really helpful. The wind was the only thing helpful that he could control and lightening too as long as he was careful. He could kill someone using lightening. Blaze, I wasn't sure if she had a power, but if she did, she wasn't using it. She was just fighting hand to hand like Claw and Nudge. Together, Claw and Blaze seemed to make a deadly team. They worked well together, for having just met. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Haze looked like she was having fun. Gazzy, who still appeared to make bombs, smaller than the ones I had helped him make but still bombs none the less, was throwing them at Haze. Haze had a smirk on her face as she used her telekinesis to send the bombs right back to Gazzy, making him dodge all of them. Gazzy looked like he was about to give up with the bombs. It would have been the smart thing to do. Haze was having too much fun with it anyway.

Demon and Angel just appeared to be having a standoff. Neither of them had moved far from the spots they had started in. Angel had that concentrated look on her face that said she was trying to get into someone's mind. She was likely trying to get into Demon's so that she could just control him and make him fight the rest of us. It wasn't working. Not only did Demon have Minx's mental shield, but the boy seemed immune to mental attacks anyway. Probably because he was so smart. A brain that good was too complex to get into.

Fang finally managed to get past all my energy balls but I didn't care. I was getting bored now and just wanted this fight to be over. I wanted to go home, help fix dinner, and then sit down with Shadow and the others and watch some badly made TV show that we all laughed about. I wanted to play bored games with Demon, even if I got beat every time, spar with Claw, build bombs with Haze, do that yoga crap that I hate with Minx and cuddle with Shad like lovesick puppy. I wanted to go back to what we had before The Flock showed up and ruined it all by claiming that I was still part of their flock when I wasn't. I didn't want anything to do with them, not anymore. They had made their beds, and now they could lie in them. I, however, was done with their shit.

I sent a solid kick to Fang's chest, knocking him onto his back once again. He got up quick, not willing to let me get an upper hand but what he didn't know, was that I always had the upper hand. At least now I did. I felt bad in some ways, overpowering him so easily like this, but I was done. I wanted to go home and spend time with my family. Not fight with The Flock.

I surrounded Fang in Shadows and Darkness so that he couldn't see anything. I could still see him fine, but he couldn't see anything but inky black. I let my energy collect in my right hand as I was walked towards his confused figure. Before he realized what was happening, I pressed my hand against his back and sent enough energy into him to keep him writhing in pain for a good half hour unless I chose otherwise. Once he was laying on the ground again, I pulled the Shadows and Darkness away from him and let him lie there. He wouldn't die, but he'd feel it something awful tomorrow.

I turned to find that Shadow and Haze were both done with their opponents. Both Gazzy and Max were out cold for the time being. Nudge was almost down for the count too. With a few more jabs and a pressure point on the back of her neck, she was out like a light. The only ones left were Angel and the new guy.

Angel was easily taken care of. She was distracted, still trying to get into Demon's mind. Haze crept up behind her and hit the pressure point on her neck. She was on the ground, passed out in seconds. All of us gathered behind Minx, showing our strength. The new guy's eyes widened. He knew what was coming, we all did.

"Tell Max and the others that the next time they attack my family, I won't show mercy. They won't be dead, but they might wish they were." With that, I threw the ball of energy towards his chest. He was down on the ground, writhing in pain like Fang. It would wear off the minute I was far enough away that they couldn't track us. Until then, they'd suffer. It seemed cruel and maybe it was, but I was done playing games with them. I heaved a sigh and turned to my family.

(*)

(~)

"Let's go home." I told them, lacing my fingers with Shad's again. She smiled up at me as shouts of joy and victory filled the field we were standing in. We opened our wings and took off towards our house. The little house that didn't seem big enough for six, now seven, bird kids but was just what we wanted and needed. A little house out in the country, nestled in the woods where no one, not even The Flock would find us. A house up in a tree, hidden from view from all who didn't know where to look. A house that was home.

(~)