Paladin: Aww, their second fight.

Ari: Someone pass me a box of tissues!

Shadow: Ugh, drama queens.

Yam: I agree. Though I can't believe that Ari's in the story and not me!

Sol: No, this Ari is a different person.

Rai: Remember? Ari's full name is Hikari-

Ari: I told you never to call me that!

Paladin: I'll have to stop this before I have to type anybody back to life. Maximum Ride is owned by James Patterson, not me, nor do I own his Ari, his creation.

Overwhelming Power Ch. 10

Max POV

'Why is there this pain in my chest?' I thought so only I could hear, but when I looked down, there was no red spot forming on my shirt.

'Am I in love? No, I can't be. I'm the ruthless Maximum Ride, made to save the world from who-knows-what. I brush off emotions like they're nothing. I'm not a girl who falls head-over-heels in love with every tough guy I meet. If I was, then I'd either e lounging on a lawn chair at the beach right now, or I'd be lounging in my coffin six feet under. Either way, I am not in love with Sol, am I? XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sol POV

'Judging by the change in Max's mood, I'd say she's in love with me. I'm glad I decided to play hard to get. I know I can control you.'

(In theory. So where's that list of people you don't want me to kill?) 'Right now, it's just everyone in this house. But that list will grow.''

(Good to hear. Not.)

'Whatever.' It's still a bit freaky talking to a person inside my head, but I was slowly getting used to the idea. "Anyways, I'm tired, so I'll just head back to sleep. Goodnight guys!"

"Goodnight Sol! Goodnight Shadow!"

(Tell the little one I said goodnight.)

"Shadow says goodnight Angel."

"I know!" She's so cute the way she talks, the way she walks- just the way she is in general.

"Anyways, I'll see you guys later!"

I went towards my room, heading to the bathroom first to talk "face-to-face" with Shadow. After I closed the door, he initiated the conversation.

(Are you sure you can control me?)

Just like always, his mouth moved, but surprisingly, so did mine. 'Theoretically speaking, yes, but I'll need your help. Unless you prefer being, you know, on a leash.' I tried putting all of my venom as possible into that phrase.

(No, I'll behave. But if you want Max, then why don't you just ask her?)

'It's complicated. you wouldn't understand.'

(Whatever. Goodnight Sol.)

'Goodnight Shadow.' XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

That morning I had a peaceful sleep, that is, until I-don't-know-when o'clock, when I had visions of a city that looked like New York City or something, and I kept on seeing the words "Institute of Higher Living" flash in my head. The last image I remember was a manhole cover in an abandoned subway tunnel.

Then, I woke up, not looking like an Eraser. And the sun was actually shining through the blinds.

"Ahh, that was a good-night's sleep."

(Tell me about it.)

'Good morning Shadow!'

But to my surprise, he didn't answer me back.

"Shadow?"

I got out of bed, and I almost stepped on someone.

"Watch where you're stepping Sol."

"What?" I looked down, and there, in real life, was Shadow, the winged Eraser.

"Aaah!"

If that didn't wake the flock, then I don't know what will. Luckily, all six of them came bursting in the room, blood-thirsty and ready to kill.

"What's wrong Sol? And who is he?" Max, as always, cut to the chase.

"Don't kill me!" Nice going Shadow. If that wasn't in their heads before, now it is. Just peachy.

"Why shouldn't we? Give me one good reason." Fang could be so shortsighted sometimes.

"Because if he can't kill you, then you can't kill him. Isn't that right Shadow?" I could've made some smart aleck comment saying that it was because the sky was blue, but I really wasn't up a long and thought out argument.

"Shadow?" Angel wore a face bearing many mixed emotions.

"Yes little one?" I guess that's his nickname for her. I don't mind it, it's kinda cute, truth be told.

"How'd you get out?" I was wondering the same thing.

"The same way I got into Sol's head: teleportation. Who knew all the School needed for such satisfactory results for an Eraser was inject lupine DNA into a bird kid?" Did I hear both parts of that correctly?

"Angel, sweetie, do you know this person?" Max, you took the words right out of my mouth. How does she do that? Can she read my mind? If so, does that mean she knows what color I'm thinking of now? [Review to find out what color that is. I'll give you a hint: it's something no one would ever guess.] That's sort of stalkerish.

"Flock, I'd like you to meet Shadow, an Eraser friend I made at the School before you guys came to rescue me. Shadow, this is the flock: Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and me."

Yay! Now I know I'm not entirely insane, unless we all are, because now everyone could see, sorry Iggy, the five-foot-two-ish guy with pitch black hair and blood-red eyes wearing an all black outfit just like Fang, which means we now have two emo's instead of just one. Great...

"Anyways, I was told not to kill anyone in this house, but I knew that, one, Sol would never be able to control me, and two, if I stayed in his head any longer and had to listen to his thoughts, I would go insane!" He's the one who decided to teleport into my head. It's not my fault! "Soo, what's for breakfast? I'm starving!" Something tells me we all agree with that statement.

So until then, we just stayed talking in my room, if you can call it mine since I'd never had a room all to myself before, except for that cage, but still... Anyways, we got caught up until Shadow eventually started sniffing the air.

"What's wrong Shadow? What do you smell?" I was a bit curious since, you know, canines have a heightened sense of smell, and a wolf is a canine. Just some science fun facts for ya.

"I SMELL FOOD!"

That got our attention. We all burst out and fast walked, really ran, but its not proper etiquette to run inside certain buildings, this being one of them, to the kitchen where a brunette woman and a blonde daughter were cooking food.

"Good morning guys! I was making some breakfast if that's all right."

No one objected, I wonder why, so we all helped our grateful hostess, Dr. Valencia Martinez, and her daughter, Ella Martinez. Not once did they wonder where we came from, nor did she ask us if our parents would be worried we were missing. All adults should be just as accepting as her. I'm just sayin'.

"So..." I KNEW IT! I knew it was too good to be true. Every adult is the same: they try to be nice, but they end up failing epically at it. "I already know the flock, but I really don't know anything about you two."

"Whatever. Let's just get the 'oohs' and 'ahhs' over with." I prepared to outstretch my wings, but the vet stopped me short.

"No need. I already know about that, if only a little bit, but what I haven't heard is your guys' history, your life."

That was the first time in my bird kid life that an adult didn't want to see my wings. I could learn to like this woman. Heck, I already did! "Well, I'm Sol, and I was born, I think, around 14 years ago, the birthdays are a bit iffy, and I escaped from the School, a laboratory in Death Valley, California, that works on genetic failures known as mutants, the most successful being us 'Avian Americans,' and Erasers, which are 50% human, 50% lupine, 100% hulking muscle kids, and I've been on the run for about two years, and only two days ago, though it seems like a lifetime, I met up with the flock, and they adopted me as their own." I poured out the most heart wrenching story anyone had ever heard, and I was a little bit pissed off when the doc wasn't reduced to tears. Well, almost pissed off, because I didn't find it all that sad.

"I'm Shadow, and I'm a human/lupine/avian hybrid thought up by the insane Whitecoats of the School created about 14 years ago." That pretty much summed his life story up.

The next thing that happened was the best thing that could've ever happened: the food was ready, and it was a mini Thanksgiving feast! And it was the best meal I'd ever had.