Part Four: Lights, Camera, Action.

44.

Two days had passed since we'd arrived at the new house, and Fang had finally deemed me fit to fly, as long as I stayed by his side when I flew (just in case I fell). I wasn't sure why I was suddenly listening to him bossing me around, but he seemed to always make a good point, one that I really couldn't argue with. I was just itching to fly, going a week without flying was something that I just wasn't used to, not at all.

I'd spent a large percentage of the last few days in the stables with Amelia, Mom had said that when I'd been unconscious the mare had been leaning over me, whining. The two of us seemed to have formed some sort of bond, to the point of being able understand each other without words, and to send thoughts to each other. At first, I was completely mystified, and then the voice said that it was another new power, and that it would be important towards the end of the mission; I accepted it, I mean there was nothing that I could really do, anyway. What's done is done, and all that jazz.

Currently, the flock and I were preparing to take off, having already said our (mostly) sad goodbyes, with the exception of Mariah, who stood to the side, looking bored. I did one last check that we had everything- with the exception of Total, who had 'volunteered' to stay behind and 'look after things at home'. For a mutt, he sure could be pretty sweet sometimes. Once I was sure that we had everything, I motioned for Angel and The Gasman to go, closely followed by Iggy and Nudge, and the me and Fang.

The six of us fell into formation almost instantly, only breaking it when one of us would randomly dive, or flip, or do some other type of aerial manoeuvre. Up here in the skies it was so easy to forget all my worries, to let go, and just relax; of course, I didn't, and in fact I began to come up with a plan for the next Itex building, which the voice had informed me was the penultimate one; for which I was immensely glad. He had also informed me of our destination- apparently, we were headed back to Virginia. Home of memories and traitors, you know, all the good stuff. I had a feeling that this lab was going to be harder than the others, if the voice was right, Raven and her three siblings resided at this lab, and they needed to be saved.

I was pulled out of my reverie as the distant sound of clicking caught my attention; it was a noise that to the trained ear was unmistakable; the sound of the safety being knocked off a high powered rifle.

"Scatter!" I yelled to the flock, and then the first wave of bullets were firing. Of course, by this point my flock were already weaving dipping and diving, relying on their mutant instincts to avoid the bullets.

'Why can't they just leave us alone for five freaking minutes?'

I growled in my mind, not expecting the response that I got.

'Think about what they want, Max. What they really want.'

The voice informed me, and it took me a second to realise what they did want.

'Wait, me?'

I asked.

'Very good, Maximum. Now, use it to your advantage.' He instructed, and it took only mere seconds for me to formulate a plan.

Still dodging the bullets, I headed over to Iggy. Him and The Gasman were using Iggy's hearing the Gassy's sight to work as a unit, twisting and diving in unison- using a series of bird noises to direct the movement, a code that we'd devised as younger kids.
"Iggy, pass me a bomb, one with at least a two second delay." I ordered.

"Are you sure, Max?" He asked.

"I'm sure, I have a plan." I said, spinning belly up momentarily to receive the bomb from Iggy and to avoid yet another bullet.

"Make sure everyone keeps going straight," I called to Fang. "I'll catch up."

He gave me a nod, though I could see that he was hating knowing that he was having to leave me behind. I paused for a second, shooting him a grin before angling downwards towards the floor in a steep dive; as I'd hoped, the bullets followed me as I did aerial manoeuvres, pulling out of my dive at the last moment and shooting between the trees, smiling slightly as I kicked my super speed in and the person with the gun- a man- swore loudly.

The moment that I caught of the man and his Sig Sauer (yes, that's a rifle) I pressed the button to activate the bomb, threw it at the man and then took off through the dense canopy. I made it through just in time to avoid the large explosion and the gore that came with it. Score one for Max.

I heard the whoops of my flock as I pulled level with them; Iggy and The Gasman both gave me enthusiastic high fives.

"That was awesome, Max." The Gasman said with a large grin. Seriously, you know you've had a hard life when an eight-year-old high fives you for blowing someone up. Even Nudge, who was the least violent of us all, was nodding in appreciation.

"Hey, Max, what's that?" Angel asked, pointing to the corner of Jeb's still unread journal (truth be told, I'd forgotten about it) that was hanging out of a hole in the corner of my pack.

"It was a present from Jeb." I said smoothly, and then, "Is everyone alright? No-one got hit, did they?"

My question was primarily aimed at Fang, as far as I knew, he was the only flock member that would take a bullet and not mention it. He gave me the universal hand signal for Okay, and the others assured me that they too were a-okay.

"Right guys, keep your eyes open for someplace to eat and we'll head down." I said, completely calm, as if I hadn't just blows up a man a couple of minutes beforehand. What can I say? My life's just wacky that way.