Well, thank you guys. This chapter is to my reviewers: RUHLSAR000, The Jade Empress , A Splash of Color, pancakes-for-you, Ilooveelmo, c-rae10, Kallik of Gallifrey, RestInPeaceFang, Coco Gold, Sierra156, BookWormS28, Jessie Molitor, FaxandReading, blingsparks, shortbandie9, Flitting Wishes, glad u updated maxiumrideluve, Harrypotterpixie455, AmyQueen95, ixdookiie, My Silver Wings18, Blue Clouds97, M1DNITELOVER, Palmspringz, ObsessiveReader1223, macyy, Dreamin'OfABlondeFang, Bookwormy x3, auraspirit157, aquamisfit, Heart of Diamond, JealousMindsThinkAlike, SilverHeart87, (), Petemidnight13, roylpain, Teehee Tummytums, FallenAngelBrokenSoul, Firey-Earth-Girl, dancingonmytoes13, YourBiggestEmoFan, Mckenna, Amazingly Brilliant, TheVampLuvr1, (The anonymous reviewer who failed to put in a name so this was all that I could do), bluegreypurple, smartiful, moncheri9, Lolin' Girl, flyonfan14 XxWishingForWingsxX, ModernMisconceptions, xXjaziXx, Totally CRAZY and Hyper, BookWorm2011, Lives2fly, Perseus12, Ch Ch Ch Ch Ch Cherry Bomb, and Bluemaggie.
That took a while, but I thank each and every one of you for reviewing! I know now that I'll always have you guys on here! :D Thank you so much! Oh, and my personal apologies to Dreamin'OfABlondeFang, whose reviews I didn't reply to. I'm really sorry, so this chapter is especially dedicated to you.
Disclaimer: I… I… I have to start the story.
Chapter 14: Friend or Foe?
Iggy went over the address over and over in his head.
Alright! I know! Will you stop repeating it already! You're really starting to make me mad! said a voice in Iggy's head that definitely wasn't his. It was Angel, invading his thoughts like she always does.
If you don't like it, don't listen. Iggy retorted mentally. Try and help Max. She needs someone. But don't freak her out. Just listen. Then tell me what she's thinking.
"Nudge, do you see the address yet?" Iggy called to thirty feet to his right. The bird kids, who were affectionately called the Flock, chirped consistently, giving Iggy their positions. Gazzy, the eight year old blond boy chirped from about twenty feet below him. He could tell whose chirp it was, because his hearing was uncanny, even for a bird-teen. He could tell the differences between the different Flock member's chirps.
Max was still new. That had to be why she wasn't chirping.
Gazzy's sister, Angel, who was six and had the ability to read minds, control minds within reason, and could send mental messages, chirped from about fifteen feet behind him.
Nudge chirped from right next to him. He swerved unexpectedly. He was startled by her sudden appearance next to him. He was too buried in thought to realize that she'd flown up.
"We're here." Nudge said. "I'll go down first. "
Iggy nodded. She would chirp every few seconds, and he would follow her. He hoped that they weren't in the suburbs. They couldn't be seen.
He followed Nudge flawlessly, and landed as easily as any of the others would have done. It was enough to make someone who didn't know him question whether he was really blind.
They landed in the backyard to prevent more unneeded attention. Five winged, homeless kids and teens aren't exactly a common occurrence, anywhere. That was bound to draw attention.
One after the other, the Flock members landed. Finally, Max realized that the rest of the bird-kids had landed and she numbly circled then landed too. She remembered when she and Fang used to compete to see who could pull off the best landing.
A painful lurch in her chest reminded her that she would never see him land without a sound beside her again. He was back at the Freak Fest. He would never make it out.
Max forced herself not to cry. Fang wouldn't want her to sob and give up. He would want her to live, to move on. She would move on. She'd never forget Fang. Max would toughen her hide and become the best, the maximum Max, so that she could survive.
She'd live for Fang. Most importantly, she'd live, and become the best so that she could have her revenge on that godforsaken park and the satanic beings that ran it. She'd avenge Fang. She'd avenge Fang if it was the last thing that she did. It was partially her fault that he died, so she'd repay her debt to him. That, Max agreed on right there.
Never would she shed another tear. She would never show weakness. She would be more like Fang.
Max took a look around. They were in the rural countryside. Nothing but trees, bushes, and shrubs surrounded the medium, ranch style house. The house was painted in light earthy tones. The whole top floor had a balcony. It was definitely strange, very strange, to someone who'd lived in a tree her whole life. So this is what all of the tourists in the park went to after closing time.
She faintly remembered when she was thousands of feet in the air, all that she could see was a long dirt road and trees and shrubs in all directions. Off to the West, there was a faint city skyline. Her heart had convulsed painfully as she saw a large dome in the city, courtesy of her raptor vision. The dome where she'd spent her life. The dome where Fang's body was, and she'd never even get to see him again.
No, no tears. Not one. She was going to tough it out, for Fang. Max took a deep, outdoorsy scented breath, much like the ones that she breathed in the Aviatory.
She perked her ears. She heard tons of twittering and chirping. Were there hundreds of people like her out here? She tried to focus in on one chirping voice, and it was hard, because there were so many voices, all speaking at the same time. They were coming from the many trees in the woods.
Max bolted into the woods, wanting to meet more people like her. That is why the other winged bird-kids had brought her here. They wanted to free her so that she could be with them and their whole family. That is what Iggy had meant.
"You're about to meet my family, welcome to the Flock." That is what he meant. When she was free, she'd meet his family, who were hiding in the trees. The Family must be called 'the Flock'. Max wanted desperately to meet them. She ran faster into the woods, faster than any all-human could ever run.
"Max!" shouted Iggy. He had heard her run off into the woods. "Oh, God, this is just wonderful! She could get killed! Nudge, Angel, you two go and get her, I'll talk to that doctor lady's daughter. We need a place to stay. If anything seems fishy, we'll send out a signal. We'll rendezvous at Anne's house." Iggy barked, used to giving orders. He was the leader of the Flock.
"What's the signal?" called Nudge as she turned off into the woods, with Angel following close behind. Iggy grinned.
"How about a huge, red firecracker? Homemade, of course." Iggy grinned. Gazzy cackled with glee as the two boys slapped high fives. As well as being the leader, he also made firecrackers and bombs with Gazzy. The bomb building was a great way to take his mind off the pressures of being the leader.
Nudge rolled her eyes good naturedly at Iggy and Gazzy's pyromania.
She took off through the unkempt foliage, Angel now in the lead. Angel led considering the fact that she could mentally locate Max's mind.
"Angel! Can't you, like, tell her to stop and turn around? You know, use your mind controlling skill!" Nudge started. "Too bad that I can't have a cool skill like controlling minds! All I can do is move metal, and only little stuff, like pens. It's not like I can move planes or tanks or buildings! My skill is so lame, I swear…"
"Oh, look! I've found her!" Angel interrupted quickly.
"Can't you tell her to come back? This running through the woods… it's kind of messing up my skirt. OMG! It totally ruined my new shoes! Iggy just 'borrowed' them for me!" Nudge whined.
"I…I can't! She's blocked me out, I can't control her, but I know where she is and what she's thinking!" Angel said, dutifully traipsing on in Max's direction. Angel stumbled and clutched her head. Tears unintentionally formed and fell from her big blue eyes.
"Angel! What's wrong? What happened?" Nudge said quickly, momentarily pausing her constant stream of mindless prattling. Nudge leaned over closer to Angel.
"I'm… it's…" Angel stuttered, fighting to get a grip on herself. Nudge waited, worried but patient for Angel.
"It's Max. She, I mean her emotions… I didn't expect it, they were so strong! They hit me, kind of like a big wave. She is so, so sad. I've never met anyone as sad as she is. She misses that boy at the Aviatory. The one who died." Angel said softly. Nudge heard her and looked at the ground. It was quiet. The two continued to walk, twigs and leaves snapping beneath their footfalls.
"So he's really gone?" Nudge asked pitifully. She saw Fang die, the scene was blurred by the tears dripping out of her eyes, but they had watched him die. She still clung on to some hope that maybe the dark, quiet bird boy was alive. He was like a brother that she'd never met. They were like siblings, the only people that they had were each other. It was only the six of them that had been created with wings.
It was a long story, but someone had broken Nudge, Gazzy, Angel, Iggy and her out of the School. Someone had already taken Fang. Max was the only one left at the School. As for the origins of the blond bird kid that Fang had killed, Nudge had no idea where he came from. They had destroyed the School, they looked up all the Avian-human experiment files at the School before they let the government take care of it, and those six were the only bird kids ever made. They tried to make a second batch of them, but failed. There wasn't any information about the other supposed 'second batch' of bird kids.
Anyways, when Fang died, it was like watching a new sibling die.
Angel nodded somberly. The sad expression on Angel's face was so deep, it looked like it didn't belong on such a sweet little six year olds face.
"I heard his thoughts, fading, when I was scanning the building for potential trouble. I'm sorry about not warning you about Ari and the other two guards. I had my own… troubles. Anyways, he was so sad, he wasn't scared about dying, but sad that he had to leave that girl, Max behind. He loved her. He loved her more than anything." Angel said, quickly wiping a tear away.
It was quiet walking through the forest. There was only the sound of birds chirping and the occasional small mammal scampering for cover in the bushes.
Then, the two bird girls stepped out into a tiny clearing. Max stood in the center, with her Freak Fest t-shirt and her old blue jeans. Jeb had changed her wardrobe back to normal instead of her ultra-skimpy outfit that he'd made her wear, since she just took Fang's shirt and covered up with it anyways. She was still barefoot though.
Max stared at the sky, chirping in the strange bird chirping language that all bird-kids seemed to know.
Angel and Max knew that she was chirping, but heard her and easily understood that she was saying,
"Where are you? I'm here! I'm here!"
Nudge looked at Angel, waiting for her to tell her what was going through Max's head.
She thinks that the birds are other bird-kids. I guess that she's never heard a bird before. Angel said in Nudge's head.
"Max," Nudge said in Avian so that Max could understand her. Max's head swiveled in their direction.
"I've found them! Why won't they come?" Max asked.
Nudge looked at Angel sadly, then returned her attention to Max.
"Max, there aren't any more bird kids. There's just us. Those are birds." Nudge said softly. As if on cue, a bright blue jay flew past Max, twittering the whole way. Max looked sad, almost forlorn. Then, her expression hardened.
"If there aren't any more human-Avians, then why did you break me out? Why did you want to? What do you want with me?" Max fired at Nudge. Nudge looked taken aback, and looked at Angel for support. Angel was concentrated, probably trying to figure out the reason behind Max's strange behavior.
She's still upset. She thinks that if we never broke her out, that he would still be alive. Angel said in Nudge's head.
"Max, I'm sorry about Fang. I really am, but you had to get out of there. When we get to the house, We'll, that is Iggy and I, will explain why. It's really… complicated. Please, just trust us a little bit longer. You don't have to stay with us, but we want you with us! We're a family, Angel, Gazzy, Iggy, and I are. We want you to be part of it too." Nudge babbled, but she meant every word.
Max looked at them skeptically, then followed them, unsmiling as they led her back to the house of Dr. Martinez.
There weren't any big red fireworks, so the place was obviously safe.
There was Iggy and Gazzy, and they were standing by the door. The door was opened and A girl about a year younger than Max and about the same height as Nudge stood in the doorway, blocking it. The three bird girls were walking up the front steps before they could hear what was being said.
"Really, your mom told us to come here!" Iggy said earnestly, staring in the general direction of the doorway.
"Uh huh, sure. If she did, then what is her name?" the girl asked coolly as she flipped her long, dark hair that was a lot like Dr. Martinez's.
"Uh, I don't know. We didn't exactly have time for chatting.
The girl in the doorway narrowed her brown, almond shaped eyes.
"You're probably some jerks who're playing some stupid joke. Where's the camera?" the girl snapped as she glanced around, craning her neck to look around Iggy's tall, lanky form.
She then spotted Angel, Nudge and Max walking on to the porch.
"And who exactly are…" The girl started in an annoyed tone. Then she looked at Max more closely, and her face changed instantly from anger to shock.
"You're… you're her, aren't you? My mom's showed me pictures of you. But… you're here… OMG, come in. Wait… who are these guys? Prove who you are. Show me your wings. No one is going to see you, there isn't anyone around here for miles. Come on, spread them where I can see them." The girl in the doorway said. Max looked her with a hint of annoyance, but she didn't understand anything that the girl said.
Iggy looked at Max and quickly chirped out the translation of the girl's request in Avian, so that Max could understand.
Max scowled at the girl, then at Iggy.
Max chirped out something so vile, that even Iggy blushed. He was really glad that the girl couldn't speak Avian.
The girl was looking at the group of mutants on her porch like they were a bunch of wierdos.
"Well…" She said impatiently.
"She doesn't speak English. Please excuse her, she's had a rough day." Iggy said. That was the understatement of the century.
"But we're willing to prove what we really are." Iggy said. He spread out his wings, all fourteen feet of them. The girl's mouth dropped.
"I… uhh… come in!" the girl said. "By the way, I'm Ella."
Iggy grinned in her general direction. He motioned for the Flock to follow him.
"Come on, Max!" Nudge said happily in Avian. Max grimaced and walked inside. Angel mentally told Iggy that Ella wasn't hiding anything and that this place was safe. Iggy looked visibly relieved.
"Um, your mom said that you should put us in 'the annex' whatever that is…" Iggy said. Ella nodded. She walked over to the staircase and then took a left, over to the side of the staircase. There was a cupboard under the stairs. Ella opened the door and walked in. The cupboard was tiny.
Nudge didn't know how it was supposed to fit five mutants of their height.
The cupboard was paneled with dark wood and contained an umbrella, a vacuum, and a rusty water heater. Ella lifted a panel close to the ground a little and turned a small knob.
Then, the wall clicked and slid a little to the side. To the bird kids amazement, well, except for Iggy, who couldn't see what happened, and Max, who didn't seem to have any interest for anything.
Ella slipped her slim fingers through the crack and slid the door aside like it was a sliding glass door.
There, behind the false wall, a new room appeared.
"This, is the annex, and let me show you around. Iggy, not expecting for the cupboard door to be so low, walked and slammed his head on the low ceiling.
Iggy grumbled something intelligible as he rubbed his forehead.
"Way to warn the tall blind guy about low clearance." Iggy growled. Ella's tan cheeks flushed red.
"Wow, I'm really sorry! I didn't realize…" Ella started apologetically, sounding very sincere indeed.
"That's alright." Iggy grunted. "Show us the room! Just, please warn me about low doorways. And thanks for this. I'm Iggy."
Iggy introduced the rest of the Flock to Ella. Then he introduced Max. Max didn't even acknowledge that her name was being said. Ella frowned slightly at Max's cold attitude, but showed the Flock and Max the annex.
There was one room, then there was a staircase that led down into the ground, where two rooms were. There were two beds in each room, and a large couch that pulled out into a bed in the main room.
"I use this for sleepovers and stuff. My mom doesn't really know why the house has this built into it, but I kind of like it." Ella said. "There's a fridge over there and a cabinet next to it if you want any food. Feel free to it. I have to go and do… homework."
The Flock thanked her and Max scowled. Max laid down on the floor and stared at the ceiling, wishing for her tree, the sound of the big waterfall, and the sound of Fang's fast heartbeat.
Iggy told the Flock to grab some food quickly and go down stairs. He stayed with Max.
He heard her quiet breathing and quietly walked over to her.
"Max," he said in Avian. She didn't reply, even though she'd head him.
"Look, I'm really sorry about Fang. I really am. I wish that there was something that I could do, but there isn't. Don't be mean to the kids. They just want to have you as a sister. You could be one of us. Just… help me out, here, Max." Iggy said, sighing. It was quiet.
"I'll stay. On one condition. Teach me how to speak in the language of the humans. I want to yell at the people who've kept me prisoner all these years before I kill them. Then, I'm going to kill them. Every last one." Max said. Iggy looked pained. She didn't understand that once you were a part of the Flock, you were a family. You did everything together. You looked out for each other. Not going on suicide missions just for revenge.
"Max, I know that you liked him, a lot. But he wouldn't want you to go and get yourself killed. He'd want you to live." Iggy said. Max's straight, brown and blond hair spread around her head like a misleading halo as she stared at the plain white ceiling fan, swirling above them. She stiffened.
"How do you know what he'd want? You never even knew him!" Max hissed venomously. "I'd rather be trapped there with him than stuck here with you guys knowing that he's back there, dead!"
Iggy clenched his fists. They'd risked their hides to save her from that hellhole and she didn't even have the decency to be grateful about it.
"Do you know why Fang was there Max? Huh? Well, I do! The humans put Fang there for a reason! They put him there to do the same thing that Dylan was put there to do! He was going to, no matter how long it took! Your life would have been ruined, Max! They would make you have babies then take them away from you, make them do awful things, and then sell them! You'd never see them again! Whether you like it or not, Max, Fang is dead! Get used to it!" Iggy said his voice growing into a shout.
Max growled, much like the way that Fang used to when he was angry; in a very canine way.
She considered hitting him, but decided that it wasn't worth it. She stood up and stomped over to the couch. Iggy sat on the floor, immediately feeling bad for snapping at her like that. He looked over at her to find her asleep.
He really didn't blame her. She'd had one heck of a day. Iggy's sensitive raptor hearing focused in on the sound of the front door opening. He heard the faint voice of Dr. Martinez calling out into the large house.
"Ella? Ell, are you home?" Dr. Martinez said. Iggy walked quietly, trying not to make a sound. He put his ultra-sensitive ear against the false wall, listening in on the conversation between Ella and her mother, right outside of the cupboard.
"Mom! These kids came! They said that you sent them here. I didn't believe them, then Max showed up! The Max that you tell me about! The one that you've trained at work all these years! Her and a bunch of other bird kids are here! They're real! Why are they here? If that's the real Max, then where's Fang? You told me that Max won't go anywhere without Fang anymore! Is he hiding somewhere else?" Ella said, barely stopping to take a breath. Iggy's heart felt like it undergoing acupuncture with steak knives. He didn't tell Ella that Fang was dead. Ella never even told him that she knew about Fang.
So… the doctor in the hall was Max's trainer, ever since the beginning. There was an awkward silence. Iggy heard the sound of keys being tossed on the counter and footsteps returning to the hallways.
"He's dead." Dr. Martinez said in a masked voice. Iggy could hear the strain in Dr. Martinez's voice. She was trying really hard tot to sob in front of her daughter.
"No…" Ella said in a soft, disbelieving tone.
"I had to make sure. I acted like I was unconscious until Jeb and the rest of his head employee group. He was especially distressed with the death of his son. I woke up, and said that I was attacked from behind when I was going to the restroom. I didn't know who or what hit me. I told him that I just had regained consciousness. Jeb was angrier than I've ever seen him. The hallway cameras were faulty, so he didn't know who was where, and to top it off, the guards were confused, like that part of their memory had been erased!" Dr. Martinez started.
Iggy smiled, in spite of himself. So that is what Angel was doing instead of warning them about Ari and his goons. She erased all the guards' memories. Iggy was proud of Angel.
"Jeb said that I was being transferred to a different department. I am now the caretaker of the human-lupine hybrids." Dr. Martinez said in disgust.
"But… after all that you've done, why couldn't he give you a higher up position?" Ella piped in.
"Because Jeb is angry with me; I'm lucky that he didn't fire me. I guess it's because I know too much, but now, he doesn't have any bird-kids for his show. He's got a long night ahead of him." Dr. Martinez said tiredly. Then, Iggy heard muffled sniffling and crying.
"Mom? What's the matter? What's wrong?" Ella asked quietly.
"They wouldn't even let me have Fang's body! I tried to get it! I was going to… he deserved a decent burial. After all the good things that he did for Max, for all the horrible things that he could have done but didn't… he deserved just a little respect in the end! But…" Dr. Martinez sounded nothing like the strong woman who took command in the chaos of the hall in the park. She sounded vulnerable, like a child.
"What, mom?" Ella asked quietly.
"They took his body. They said it was a waste to just throw him in the ground. Really, I don't think that Jeb wanted me to have any evidence of the cruelty in the park to use against him. They were… they turned his body into food for the human-wolf hybrids." Dr. Martinez said quietly. She'd stopped crying, but the tone of the conversation had gotten a lot more morbid and depressing. Too depressing for tears. Iggy was extremely glad that Max didn't know about that last part.
Those sick evil sadistic cretins… They butchered him up like a dead animal. Like he was a pig or something. Iggy felt his stomach churn. He had half a mind to go vegetarian after this. This was even more horrible than what they'd tried to make him do while he was still alive.
Truthfully, Iggy didn't know much about Fang. But from what Dr. Martinez had said about him and about what Max had said, he sounded like he was a good person. No one, deserved to be chopped up into food for those crazy cannibal dogs. Iggy knew a lot about those human-wolf freaks. They were called Erasers, and were nothing short of savages.
After a long silence in the hall, Iggy was beginning to think that Ella and Dr. Martinez had left the hallway and he hadn't noticed it, but then Dr. Martinez spoke, regaining her usual, calm demeanor.
"Where are the bird-kids?" Dr. Martinez asked.
"Oh, I put them in the annex. I showed them around and let them snack on the food. Max isn't looking so good, mom. I think that there's something up with her. Something that she's not telling anyone. Maybe she and Fang really did…" Ella trailed off and Iggy felt his cheeks turn a little pink at what Ella was implying.
"But how? The cameras…" Dr. Martinez trailed off.
"The cameras can't see everything. They might not have been in view of of all people should know that those cameras can miss a lot." Ella said.
"Oh…" Dr. Martinez got quiet. Iggy could tell that she was panicked at the thought. It would explain why Max was one sliver away from being crazy about Fang being dead. Most people would be depressed but… she was taking it to a whole new degree.
"Let's hope that you're wrong." Dr. Martinez said finally, desperate to change the subject.
"Ella, I'm a little tired from today, but I still could whip up something small for dinner. How about," Dr. Martinez said, her voice fading as Ella and Dr. Martinez walked to the kitchen.
"No, mom. I've got it. I'm not really hungry. I'll heat up some leftover casserole from last night. There's a lot there. I'll see if our guests want some too." Ella said, with a hint of humor in her voice.
Guests thought Iggy. We're more like refugees.
Well, I made that especially long for all you wonderful, amazing people out there! I updated! Reviews are greatly accepted! Please, please feel free to review! I want to hear ANY thoughts that you have! I also want a vote, Iggy should end up with who, Ella or Nudge?