DISCLAIMER: I don't own Maximum Ride. But I'm looking to buy the second book soon.

A.N. I STILL haven't read SOF, so forgive me if Angel's powers are wrong here. I don't really know how they progressed in the second book, but from what I gather, she's gotten a bit more evil since TAE left off…

Wings of Hope

Chapter Four: Dignified Death

"What are they going to do?" whispered Nudge urgently, keeping watch (Iggy kept an ear out), like the rest of the flock, on the on-going scene below. Her blood iced over when she saw everyone on the ground freeze as the warning cock of a gun crackled into the night. Then her eyes locked onto where the gun was pointing. "Oh, my gosh, that boy's got a gun! Iggy! We have to stop him! He's gonna shoot Fang –"

Iggy swore, but composed himself quickly and took immediate charge of the situation. "Angel, go down there and work your mojo on Mr Gunslinger," he ordered quite simply, ears trained on the conversation below. Max was, unsuccessfully, negotiating with the gun-toting boy and Fang was not saying anything. Whether that was because he was being his usual strong and silent self, or whether he was unconscious because of a fight, Iggy had no idea.

Angel brushed a few stray curls out of her face. "Mojo?" she asked, only slight hesitation entering her voice despite the dire circumstances. "What do you want me to do?"

Iggy groaned frustratedly; listening in on the conversation below was like tuning into a fuzzy radio station – there was a strange static in the air, interfering with his hearing. Having people talking to him just made it worse. "I don't know! Make him drop the gun or something. Just make sure he doesn't shoot Fang or Max… or any of us!"

Angel nodded and swooped down towards where the yellow-eyed boy was standing. She didn't even get close. The Gasman shouted out a warning and she had a split second's time to whirl out of the way as something whistled past her wing. She frowned in confusion (what was that?); then, more unknown little whistling things shot by her body from the darkness below.

"Get back up here!" her brother was yelling, "They're shooting at you!"

Angel dodged a few more flying missiles and swept herself back up to where Iggy, Nudge and Gazzy were hovering. In a strangely hoarse and adult-like voice, she said, "No kidding, Gazzy."

A peculiar sensation was spreading through her shirt and soaking into the waistband of her jeans. Cupping a hand over her lower ribs and resisting the temptation to cry out, Angel felt warm liquid trickle between the joints of her fingers and a stinging pain erupt at her side. Discreetly, she brought her palm up to her face then hastily wiped it on the back of her pants before anyone noticed. Thankfully, her clothes were dark, concealing the blood.

Gazzy sounded hurt by his sister's uncalled-for sarcasm, the cause of Angel's sudden irate manner unbeknownst to him and the rest of the flock. "What's up with you, Angel?"

"She's hung out with Max too often," snapped Iggy, angered that their plans had been thwarted so quickly. "What do you mean 'they're shooting at you'? I didn't hear any gunshots."

"Yeah," agreed Angel, "More a sort of whistling sound."

"Arrows," reported Nudge, peering at the badly-lit scene below, where the yellow-eyed boy's minions were peeping out of their hidey-holes every so often to aim at the bird-kids above; of course, it was too dark for them to see, making it extremely hard for the minions to shoot on target. "I wonder where they got the bows and stuff… oh, look; they've got a stash behind that wall they were hiding behind. Wow, this place is like a broken-down medieval castle or something – complete with the weapons!"

Angel sighed wearily at this hearty observation, then stopped abruptly because it hurt her ribs. The Gasman and Nudge looked at her questioningly, but she waved them off.

"Arrows?" Iggy said incredulously after absorbing the fact. "What is this, the Dark Ages?" Then, softly, he added, "Pun not intended."

"Well, Angel's not going down there again," said Gazzy, determined to protect his sister from further attacks. Even though there wasn't a shaft sticking out of her side – the arrow had just grazed her skin – Angel was finding it hard to keep her eyelids from drooping, due to lack of energy and loss of blood. She rubbed her eyes and fought to stay alert.

"Can't you do your mind control thing from up here?" Iggy was asking her, also not keen to endanger any member of the flock any more than necessary.

"I've never done it without seeing the people that I'm working with clearly," said Angel uncertainly.

"There's a first time for everything," said Iggy encouragingly.

"I'll try," was all Angel could come up with.

Ignoring the pains that came every time she took a breath, she tried to focus her mind through the darkness and reach out to the kids that were attacking them, thinking Stop, stop shooting, put up your weapons… Stop, stop attacking us…

Iggy, Nudge and Gazzy waited on baited breaths as Angel fell deeper and deeper into palpable frustration, eventually grinding her teeth together the more she concentrated. The large, dark pupils in her eyes suddenly shrank into pinpricks and disappeared into her irises before she opened her mouth and belted out a shrill scream, tearing at her shirt viciously. Nudge gasped and flew forward to grab the raging child.

"Angel! Angel, stop, stop, stop," she said, grasping at the little girl's wrists. "What are you doing? Stop it!"

"Get them out!" Angel screeched, and Nudge had to resist clapping one hand over her ear and one over Angel's mouth. "Get them out of my head! I want them OUT!"

The Gasman's eyes were wide with worry for his sister. "What's happening to her? Angel!"

Iggy intercepted the eight-year-old before he could reach his sister. Putting a firm but reassuring arm around the younger bird-kid, he called out, "Nudge, what's wrong with Angel?"

"I don't know," Nudge said, almost wailing, as Angel let out a blood-curdling scream that threatened to tear her eardrums apart. "Angel, Angel please, stop it!" She put an arm around the youngest member of the flock, then pulled back slightly when she felt dampness beneath her fingers. "Angel… you're bleeding…"

The little girl gave no recognition of the fact, but she suddenly stopped screaming and went limp, a dead weight in Nudge's tired arms.

Then, they both started falling.

"The who?" I said, after it was clear that the guy needed some form of verbal reaction to his statement.

"The Vallum," the yellow-eyed boy repeated, though not condescendingly, as I had expected; more secretive and regretful, as if he didn't want to say the word too loud for fear of eavesdroppers.

"Right," I said under my breath, "that makes sense."

A shrill scream erupted from somewhere above us. My head snapped up, as did Fang's, the same thoughts in both our minds culminating in two words: The flock…!

I turned back to shoot a distressed signal at Fang, only to feel something uncomfortably pointy pressing into my back as my attention returned to what was happening on the ground. Fang's eyes widened a fraction as he assessed the situation.

'Don't move,' he mouthed; I nodded and was immediately rewarded with a firm stab to the back. Ow.

The yellow-eyed boy flicked a glance in my direction. "Where did you get those?" he asked, almost enviously.

I raised an eyebrow quizzically and opened my mouth to answer, when I heard a high, keening come from directly behind me. Then, an array of high pitched noises, clicks and general sounds followed and Fang's eyes were practically set to drop out of their sockets when he took in what was happening behind my back. I turned again to see what the hell was going on, but the yellow-eyed boy shouted out a warning.

"If you don't want thirty-two inches of carbon passing through your body, I suggest you keep still," he said seriously.

"Excuse me?" I stuttered. Thirty-two inches of carbon…?

A whooshing sound above ended the cacophony of calls from behind me. Without waiting for permission to move, my head whipped upwards once more and I was greeted with the sight of a rapidly dropping ball of limbs and different-colored feathers.

"Nudge!" I shouted, feeling the people behind me scatter to give her room to smash into the ground. She was holding onto Angel and Gazzy and Iggy were flying down after them feverishly. I got ready to leap into the air…

But Fang had beaten me to it. My mouth formed the shape of a horrified, 'NO…' as the yellow-eyed boy swung the gun up in his direction and squeezed off a shot, but the sound of my yell was lost in the report of the pistol. A fuzzy black form dropped out of the air with a little yelp and I felt my heart catch.

"FANG!"

Distracted, I looked up; Iggy was making a frantic grab for Angel, finally relieving Nudge of her burden before they all ended up completing their nosedives into the solid earth. Gazzy grasped Nudge a beat later and somehow managed to keep her hovering just above ground level, Iggy pulling up beside them. I sighed with relief as The Gasman gave me a signal to say that they were all ok – and though I was worried about Angel (why was she unconscious!), she seemed to be in safe hands for the time being.

I turned to face gun wielding idiot. "You asshole," I snarled, hands itching to wrap themselves around his throat. "You killed him!"

The guy looked minutely fearful for a second. "How – how did he – so fast… I didn't see –"

He was cut off as I tackled him. Flinging the gun out of his hands, I smashed my fist into his face, using the other hand to throttle him. Choking him gave me so much pleasure, and, for a moment, I was disgusted with this new sadistic side to me. Only for a moment, though.

"S-stop," he managed to spit out, eyes bulging with amber vividness.

"Make me," I growled, increasing the pressure on his neck. His chest shuddered.

"I – g-g-guarant-tee – you fr-free passage – if y-you let m-me go!"

I shook my head, sliding my other hand around his throat and tightening my grip. His skin took on a beetroot red shade.

"Max, let him go." Fang's cool words rolled over me as he, supporting Nudge, led the others down with him.

"But he killed him!" I said unreasonable tears building in my eyes. Fang merely reached out a hand to help release mine from the boy's neck. His cold fingers wrapped around my arm with light pressure, but, nonetheless, I felt my palms lifting away from our foe's throat. The boy gasped and started gulping down lungfuls of live-giving air.

"Either way," Fang whispered, putting a calming hand on my shoulder as I rose from the floor, "his promise of free passage would be wasted if you killed him." Indicating around us, Fang awakened me to the threat of half a dozen arrow points aimed in our direction. Ah, thirty-two inches of carbon… right.

A girl to my right started making clicking noises with her tongue. Soon, her accomplices were making answering calls with the same weird variety of sounds I had heard behind my back earlier. They were communicating, I realized. Fang straightened stiffly beside me, his hand clenching defensively on my shoulder.

A movement in front of us ceased all forms of 'talking' between the kids that were intent on spearing us. The yellow-eyed boy had gotten up, rubbing his neck and groaning, to address us. But first, he motioned for the others to lower their weapons, and they did so – grudgingly. No kebabs for you tonight, I thought absurdly, eyeing the arrows that would have been perfect for skewering six bird-kids for supper.

"What the hell was that for!" the yellow-eyed boy startled us by blurting hoarsely. "You nearly killed me!"

"That was kind of the point," Fang muttered at my side.

"Well, you killed him." I jerked my head in the direction of the fallen bundle by Iggy's feet.

"What, that?" the boy said incredulously.

"What do you mean, 'that'?" I snapped. "You killed the dog!" I briefly thanked God that Angel was unconscious during this exchange, and my stomach clenched at the thought of having to break the news to her later. Even so, it would have been harder – much harder – to inform her of Fang's death if Total hadn't leaped in to save the day. I meant this literally; the little dog had jumped straight into the line of fire, and I had no idea where he had come from (Fang must have dropped him off somewhere), but I was grateful. If Fang had died… I pushed the thought firmly from my mind.

"You nearly killed me for a dog," the boy was saying indignantly.

"Shows how high you rate on her priorities list," Fang snarked, and I rolled my eyes.

"Let's go," I said, gesturing for the flock to jump back into the sky before the boy revoked his offer. Fang was winding him up plenty and I wasn't about to chance it. Besides, I probably would have ended up killing him myself if he kept insulting Total… Whoever knew I would become so attached to the stupid mutt?

Since Angel started exhibiting her possibly dangerous powers, the Voice informed me silkily.

If you're implying that I'm scared of Angel – I started to think back, but was then cut off. The other kids were chattering again, their keen 'voices' cutting back my angry response to the Voice.

"They say that you have Vox Penitus," the yellow-eyed boy translated a few moments later, awed.

God forbid if they spoke to me in a language I actually understood! "Wait a moment whilst I fish out my dictionary for Meaningless Crap," I told him sarcastically. To Fang, I muttered, "Let's just go. I've had enough."

"It's the Inner Voice," the boy whispered, freezing me as I turned.

"What makes you say that?" I breathed, only vaguely aware of Fang's comforting hand grasping my arm, reminding me of his presence.

The children surrounding us started 'talking' again. The boy listened intently and finally said, "You must stay."

"Not in a million –"

You should stay, the Voice advised me before I could finish the sentence. It would help you onto the path to save the world…

Can those kids hear you? I thought quickly.

Maybe.

That's not helpful.

Silence. Ignoring the wild noises of 'chatter' going on around us, I ran the conversation – if you could call it that – by Fang.

"What are you going to do?" he asked when I had finished.

"I think… if it means that I can finally figure out what I've got to do, then maybe we should stay," I murmured, looking closely for his reaction. "I mean, you've got to admit, it was pretty weird that they could pick up on the Voice in the first place. Maybe they can get rid of it, or at least tell me what it's on about." Talk about snap decision-making; one minute I'm ready to fly off, the next, I'm booking an overnight stay.

"Ok," was all Fang answered, seconding my decision without batting an eyelid. Whether this was a good thing, I didn't know, but I appreciated his approval all the same.

"You're staying," the boy said to me. It was not a question.

"Yes," I said simply, eliciting sounds of surprise from Gazzy and Nudge at my agreement. "There's one thing that really concerns me, though," I added.

The yellow-eyed boy gave a crooked grin. "We give our words that we won't shoot you," he assured me.

I raised an eyebrow. "Ok, make that two things. We're only coming with you on one condition."

He watched me suspiciously and I cast a wary glance at Angel's little body in Iggy's arms, finally settling my glance in Total's direction. Though not really upset that the dog was no longer around, I knew that the flock's youngest member would be distraught – and furious at the one who murdered her pet. I pitied the person who was to deliver the news of Total's demise.

"The condition is: you are going tell Angel who killed her dog. Good luck with that."

A.N. I've got six more days MAX (no pun intended) 'til I can get my hands on SOF! I can't wait!

Ok, notes on the chapter – sorry if you liked Total. I had to kill him off because I didn't want to deal with so many characters, and I would have probably forgotten to add the dog in every now and then – and that would have been a stupid/careless thing to do. Plus, I gave Total a perfectly honourable death – he died to save Fang! If that's not noble, then I don't know what is…

Anyway, many apologies if you liked Total. You probably think I'm just mean and sadistic. And you're not far off the mark!

Please review – I'm getting less and less per chapter! But I'm not that desperate that I'd accept flames…

Daygoner