Maximum Ride story-
Hey everyone! Thanks again for sticking with me on the story, I would make up some excuse about why I'm constantly so late but really…I don't have one, I've written up to chapter 20 already so I have no excuse besides short attention span.
Anyway! I'm going to do some shameless promoting and kindly ask you to go check out CrYpTiDkId13's story that Eris is going to appear in, I'm co-writing with them and AtrumVenator and it's called The Second Apocalypse. I'm going to start adding my own writing starting at chapter four. So go read it!
Thanks! Now, here's the real story.
Chapter 11-
I woke up the next morning feeling refreshed. I yawned and stretched like a cat, smacking my lips to rid myself of that nasty morning taste and looked around. I appeared to be the only one up, even though golden sunlight streamed through the partially open window. I sat up fully in 'my' bed and stifled a laugh. I had never looked at them while they were sleeping before so I never got to see how the others slept, but it was kind of funny.
Somehow over the night Star and slipped into the bed with Kate and they were back to back, snoring in perfect sync. Holden we stretched out on the other side of their bed, the only thing I could see of him was his feet. Ratchet was curled into a corner, muttering about pie under his breath. I had to let out a tiny chuckle at that. Maya was sprawled out on her stomach on the couch, one of her wings flopping on the ground, the other sticking up awkwardly over the side of the couch. My eyes searched around the room for Fang and found him lying on his side, using his arm as a pillow. His eyes were closed and his breathing was deep. I was struck, again, just by how attractive he was. I let out a little breath, so locking up my feelings may be a little harder than I expected.
I shook my head clear of all thoughts and stood up, sneaking around the sleeping bodies to grab my clothes then carefully closed the bathroom door, changed, put my clothes away. I was almost at the door, ready to go down and eat when a groggy voice stopped me.
"Eris?" I looked down and behind me, seeing Fang sit up and yawn.
"Yah, just going down for breakfast, want to join me?" he nodded and stood up, cracking his back and fixing his hair with two swift movements. I smirked and opened the door for him, fixing my hat carefully.
We walked mostly in silence and I decided I would try to ask him what he meant last night, it had been bugging me for a while.
We both loaded up our plates and sat down at a little table, still eating without saying a word.
"So um…I was wondering—" I started but he cut me off
"If you're going to ask if I had a hidden meaning behind what I said last night yes, I did and no, I'm not explaining it fully." He said flatly. I stopped eating for a second, muffin halfway to my mouth before pouting.
"Jerk." I muttered, he just smirked cockily and I drank my juice.
More silence…
"Hey, I noticed you seemed to act differently around the flock, why's that?" I asked, trying, again, to get something out of him. He shrugged,
"With the Flock, Max's there so I don't need to talk, she does that for me." He explained dully.
"But…emotions as well, they seemed surprised when you smiled at me."
He grinned.
"I barely ever showed emotion with the flock…ever." I tilted my head curiously, trying to figure him out.
"Then why do you smile now?" he shrugged and nibbled on his food,
"There's more amusing things around here, especially you." I pouted at him, puffing my cheeks out,
"What's that supposed to mean?!" I snapped. He snickered, dark eyes twinkling with amusement.
"Exactly what I said." I huffed in annoyance and ate my food, fuming silently. He laughed quietly,
"I didn't mean to offend you, apology muffin?" I looked at him out of the corner of my eye, watching the chocolate muffin he offered out. I debated taking it or not, but the mouthwatering scent pushed me over the edge and I grabbed the muffin,
"Muffin accepted." I took a bite of my muffin, then frowned,
"Actually, now that I think about it, you weren't always like this…even when I first came here." He shrugged and ate more food.
"THERE YOU TWO ARE!" I jumped and looked behind me,
"Oh hey Star." I greeted.
"LEAVE A NOTE NEXT TIME!" she complained loudly.
"Sorry, we were more focused on foooood." I said, waving a plate I had for this purpose in front of her face. She took it, sat down next to Fang and started eating at once, "See?"
"See what?" I laughed and moved over in my bench so Kate could sit beside me. Holden and Ratchet stole some chairs and sat on either side of the table and Maya squished in at the corner.
We ate silently before Kate finally spoke up,
"So…what now? Are we attacking the place or not?" I noticed Fang glanced at me and I shrugged,
"Yah, first we need to actually find it, then we'll attack." I nodded and stood up, sliding out of the booth,
"I'll go look." I volunteered.
"I'll go too!" Maya said at once, shoving some food down her throat before standing up. Fang nodded,
"I'll stay and plan, send me plans." He held out a little communicator, which I accepted and clipped onto my ear,
"We'll be back!" I crowed (no pun intended)and we walked out of the hotel, I talked about useless things as we went so no one would get suspicious until we were out of sight when we jumped and took off into the air.
We circled around the skies for a long time, heading deep into the desert to try to find it. I focused my vision on the ground, wishing I had brought a water bottle with me. I noticed a barely noticeable dirt road cutting across the sands and pointed it out,
"Hey Maya, look at that, think we should follow it?" she nodded,
"But which way?" I frowned and looked each way, one side curved to the right, the other to the left.
"How about we split up? I go right, you go left? We can meet up here after a half hour, I'll mark this spot." I shuffled through my pockets and pulled out a tiny bomb I may've borrowed from Iggy, flying about five miles from the road and dropping it.
It was a smaller explosion and just left a black scorch mark on the ground.
"That was interesting…" Maya muttered. I laughed and nodded,
"See you in a half hour!" I called, swooping away to follow the right, keeping my eyes on the path below me.
I kept flying, not paying much attention to the world around me so a sudden gust of wind surprised me. I yelped and looked up, into the distance, my eyes narrowing.
"Found it." I hissed mentally, I prepared to turn around, knowing I should wait to check it out with Maya, so I checked my watch, it had been fifteen minutes, so I should head back.
I turned around and back pedaled in shock.
"Bruce?!" I yelped.
"Why are you here?!" he spat. I blinked,
"I was trying to find the Institute…probably the same as you." I said, looking over his shoulder to see the glares I was receiving from the rest of the flock, then ignoring it and nodding,
"Hey." I greeted.
"Hello Eris!" Angel said. I was taken aback but smiled anyway.
"So uh…I'm going to go meet up with Maya now." I hinted, trying to fly around them, but Bruce moved in front of me,
"I think you should just leave, I'm sure they would all be better off without you." I sighed and shook my head,
"I was defended by that group, told I was wanted and someone even acted worried when he thought I had left." My eyes flashed over to Max, who had flinched, her eyes narrowing. "So I think I'm going to stay with them until they tell me to leave." I finished my little speech, nodded and folded my wings, dropping like a stone before opening them and taking off, already a good two hundred feet below them.
I flew back as quickly as I could, doing the equivalent of sprinting in the air, making it back to where I was supposed to meet Maya, she was already there and I swear I could've hugged her.
"I ran into the Flock." I greeted.
"Ugh! Why are they always getting in the way?! They just need to go away!" I nodded in agreement,
"But I found the institute, though they might be there." Maya scowled,
"Let's just go." I nodded and we took off in the direction I had just come from.
After about twenty minutes I saw the six flying figures ahead of us. I hesitated a little but Maya grabbed my wrist, flying above me and shooting ahead, darting past the flock with rambunctious laughter.
"EAT OUR DUST LOSERS!" Maya shouted, I think it was focused mostly on Max but…whatever.
I smirked and pulled free, diving until I was right in front of them and spread my wings suddenly, they caught the wind like parachutes and I shot backwards, forcing them to scatter. I laughed and flew forward, catching up to Maya quickly. She laughed, gave me a high-five and we landed. I looked into the sky and smirked, shifting to my land form and slinking forward, staying low.
I looked it over, there were two gen 5 erasers at the front gate, two at the back and five surrounding each wall. I turned on the communicator,
"We got a lot of guards, twenty feet high walls, two erasers at each door, five lining each wall." I said into the little ear piece.
"Other than them does it seem easy to breech?" I frowned and gestured to Maya, using the signs Fang taught me to tell her to take an aerial view. She looked a little surprised I knew the signs but nodded, taking to the sky while I continued to circle below, worried that my black hair would stand out too much.
She landed a few minutes later.
"There's a small compound in the center of it but it's mostly just sand, but it's stained with blood, I think that's where they train." I nodded and repeated what she said to Fang.
"Hmm…we'll come check it out, have any place we could find easily?" I snickered,
"Yah, just go north for a very long time and we'll meet you by a mini bomb site." He was silent for a while,
"You dropped a bomb."
"I needed a recognizable place for Maya and I to meet back up at!" I defended myself and looked up as a shadow passed over me, "Oh, and the Flock's here."
"We'll be there in ten." I nodded, not sure how that would be possible but, whatever.
"I'm going to try to get a closer look, you mind going to wait for the others?" I asked Maya. She glanced up at the flock and frowned,
"Don't worry, no one will even see me." She nodded,
"See ya, at the bomb site?" I snickered and nodded. She rolled her eyes and took to the sky, forcing the flock to scatter again before going back.
I took a deep breath and focused on my appearance, more specifically on my lion form and drew up the energy of that form so it totally overpowered the others.
When I opened my eyes everything was twice as clear, I could hear the wind pass over the flock's feathers, smell the blood from inside the institute and, the best part: my hair was sandy blonde!
I smiled and slunk forward, keeping low to the ground and got about twenty feet away from the front door, looking closer at their security, checking each of the doors cautiously, thankfully there was no wind so my scent wasn't blown in their direction, I really wish they hadn't brought the Erasers back.
They all had the same locks and guards, and I found nothing interesting, except for a tiny metal door partially hidden under a partially dead bush. It didn't have any fresh scents on it but it did have enough to tell me it was an old way in. I looked around to gauge where I was and stalked back farther, focusing on returning all of my parts to even levels before shifting into my air form and shooting into the sky.
I flew far away from where the flock was circling, I was curious what they were waiting for…
A few minutes later two little black figures appeared flying through the air. I smiled and waved in greeting, the one on the right, Maya, waved back and Fang dipped his head. I looked to the ground and saw the other three speeding through in their jeep, then they stopped, hidden behind a rock and got out, preparing for the upcoming attack.
"Hey guys." I welcomed, my eyes darting quickly over to the flock, they had stopped circling and were now either staring or glaring at us, I personally think it was a combination of the both.
"Hey, find anything new?" I nodded and pointed to where the trap door is,
"There's a secret underground passage right there, it hasn't been used recently but it was used before." He nodded and talked into the little headset I was really starting to believe was stolen, telling the land bound experiments of our new way in.
"Am I the only one who feels this is just a little bit awkward?" I asked with a raised eyebrow as the flock continued their circling.
"No, I agree, this will be interesting." Maya said, shooting a glare in their direction.
"I agree." Fang said flatly. I sighed, this was going to be a long night.
A/N- Once again, go read The Second Apocalypse!
