Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or any of it's characters. I do however own Carolynne, Nick, Derek, Harshad, Tabitha, Raina, and Avel.


Chapter 5: Reunited


Max

"You're mine." He said, his voice dripping with anger.

I used the foot he was holding and kicked him in the face. He let go of my foot and clutched his face. When he let go of his face I could see the bruises already purpling. That'll be sore in the morning. The weird thing seemed to be that his skin started to glow and the bruises healed quickly. The light seeped into his skin. What the heck was that? He can heal like us, sort of. This screws up my whole plan! I'll just get him to the ground like my pal Lynne here and get a new plan moving because I have an idea. I am so insightful today, a trueborn leader. Hey, I am the leader. That's why I Ig was worried about my being alive at the lake. Without me the flock will start to fall apart. I am important. Ah, I have purpose!

Problems started to rise again. Lynne started to glow too. You're in a tight spot, Anne. You better make this quick. I only planned to knock them out and leave with my flock but since push came to shove… She started to move on the ground. To make matters worse, the others saw I had kicked some major butt and were starting to close in on me. Only the Indian guy stayed to fight with Iggy and he was doing okay, his anger rising because the other guy was going defensive and he couldn't get any hits in.

They were all surrounding me when a small blonde girl turned with a tall girl with curly brown hair was holding her hand, being pulled along by the smaller girl. That had to be Nudge (Tiffany-Krystal) being pulled by Angel (Ariel). I remember them! And not far behind them came a tall guy, with olive skin and long, dark hair. That must be Fang (Nick) and Ig (Jeff) was right on the dot! Behind him was a small, blonde boy using his hands to push him along, into the fight. That had to be Gazzy (Zephyr)! Just looking at him made my heart lurch. It felt odd. I missed him after being away a day and a half? Oh, I knew that was silly.
Kicking back into fighting mode, I punched Lynne and the revenge guy in the face. They fell down and I sped over my flock (minus Ig). "Long time, no see guys." I flashed them and Oscar worthy smile.

"Forget my plan before. It's useless now cause these guys are fast healers." They all nodded in understanding. Good.

"M- Anne, how can you run so fast? You're like that superhero Flash! That is so cool beca- - " Angel covered her mouth before she could launch into full Nudge mode.

"Yes, I discovered a new power but what I want you guys to lure them to the middle, okay?" They nodded again. They are so smart, no questions asked. "Ariel and Zey you two take the small boy. Jeff has the Indian guy." They rushed off to do what I asked them.

"Krys, you take the blonde one, and F- Nick you take the super big guy and the Russian girl. I've got Lynne and Italian guy. Go!"

Nudge immediately took off but Fang stayed. "We need to talk." He says. I don't want to talk to him. So, I dodged the question.

"I'd love to, but I have some butt to kick." I gave him a weak smile and hurried off to fight.

I suspect that Lynne and revenge guy are dating by the way he came to her rescue when I beat her senseless. So, the way to get them both fighting was to attack Lynne. She was currently going for Nudge. I ran up behind her and punched her in the shoulder. I didn't want to break her back. That's mean no matter how hard you're getting away. She turned around and I slapped her, a red imprint forming where my hand made contact with her cheeks. A smile formed as I start to taunt her. I'll lead her to the center. She made a swing at my face and I dodged quickly. I slapped her again and she grew in anger. Lynne pushed me to the ground and my head hit the ground with raw force.

She sat on my chest, and I lay under her, dazed. I must have hurt my head. Meanwhile, her face was full of anger, and force. She raised her fist. Maximum get up and fight. Who was that? Am I going crazy? Lynne punched me in the face. Oww, that hurts! Get up; your flock needs you! Huh? I am your Voice. I will help you save the world but now you need to get up.

Eh, good enough explanation. She was getting ready to punch me again. No way she was going to do it this time. She gave another effort to punch me in the face again. This time I moved my head and with a sudden burst of energy I slammed her head on the floor. I moved my legs and sat on her chest. I decided to taunt her some more. I slapped her playfully on her face. Where is that guy? He needs to be here for this to work. Okay, now I need more brutal actions. I punched her in the face; I wanted to break her nose. Crack! Blood spurted from her nose. Then I punched her in the gut and knocked the wind out of her. I continued to give softened blows to her upper body. I made it look like it hurt and hit her for real sometimes so she would play the part. He finally came and punched me so that I fell off of her. Perfect.

Max, they're in the middle. What now?

I looked around me. All of them surrounded me. I punched him in the face, hard. He flew back and hit the blonde girl in the back. She turned around to help him. My chance was here. I ran at speeds unknown to man, away from them. "You're mine." I said my voice, unnaturally calm.

I motioned for the flock to move, and they did. I then, ran at my fast speeds around them. I was creating a tornado of sorts. Their hair whipped around them and faces filled with fear. "What are you going to do?" Lynne asked.

"I want to know what you want," Angel said heroically. Since I was running in circles, I couldn't talk that well. So, I send my thoughts to her and she says them.

"We thought you were working with Itex." Wow. Those wackos. Who in their right mind works with Itex? Their like the most evil people ever.

"We don't. Our connection with them has been terminated a long time ago. We work for no one." Her face was stern. Meanwhile, the small guy was looking bewildered. Like, how did this little girl beat me up? And now she's using big words like their nothing?

"That's good to know but can we meet to discuss things. I want to know what and who you are." Not good. I don't want to meet with her. I don't want her to know all about our flock but I do want to know about hers.

"No. I know all I need to."

Don't think about your powers. They have a telepath.

Cool. Just like Angel.

I want you guys to turn the corner and Fang can make you all invisible. I'll be over in a sec. I spun faster around everyone. There was a mini tornado. I made it so they couldn't see through it, as my flock slowly walked away. When I was sure they were all gone, I left the tornado there. I only had about thirty seconds so, I ran around the corner. "Guys where are you?" I whispered.

I saw Fangs hand flicker so I ran out and touched it. My body turned invisible too. "Up and away." I whispered.

We all took to the air. Ah, this is nice. We were flying back to the inn. Our formation was a v. Fang in the middle, Iggy and me on his side, Gazzy on Ig's side and Nudge and Angel on mine. Maybe it was lopsided but I was just glad to be with my flock again. I felt a squeeze on my hand and glanced over. No one. Oh, right invisible. I remembered that hand. It was Fangs. I got nervous and decided to ignore it. No trying to win me over, Fang.

"Aren't we passing the hotel?" I pointed out.

"Oh, yeah." Fang said. His voice was so low; I doubt anyone could've heard it. We landed in the back of the hotel. I immediately let go of his hand and directed the flock to the entrance. I turned around to see how everyone was. Gazzy and Angel were perfectly fine. I guess that's what you get when you send two small super strong kids after a small one. Nudge, was okay. She just had a little red thing on her coat. What is that thing? Ah, well. Iggy was fine. I guess the guy he was fighting kept going defensive. Fang was a little banged up. After all I did put him against two people. His left cheek was purpling, and his arm had blood all over it. Whether it was his, I was not sure.


Iggy

Before we went in our rooms I wondered about Max. Are we still doing our plan? I felt her turn around when she saw my eyes were on her. Okay, plan on. I followed Gazzy. I was sure he knew where our room was. He entered this room and I was right behind him. I heard him flop onto his bed. Hmm… where's mine? "Gazzy, where do I sleep?"

"Oh, we were planning on checking out before you two got back." Okay, nowhere to sleep. I headed to the living room. There were two couches, right next to each other. I sat on the longer one. Soon Max walked into the room.

"No place to sleep?"

"Nope."

She sat on the second couch and we were silent for a moment. I heard some noise coming from Gazzy's room. I got up to check it out. Gazzy described it for me. Fang was on his bed being held down by Angel and Nudge. He kept trying to get Max to fix his arm but Gazzy said he wanted to do it. Nudge was teaching him. I sighed. "Do you need some help?"

"Sure, man. Hold this leg down." I held it down and Gazzy attended to his arm. All the while Fang was moving around.

"Some one tell me, why are we doing this?" Gazzy continued with Fangs arm but Nudge provided a hefty explanation.

"I can explain that." Nudge said quickly. "You guys are always leaving us out of everything. I know that you three stay up and talk at night. How come we can't be involved? We are a part of this flock too. For example, while you and Max were gone yesterday, Fang was injured from the bomb. When we got here he tried to fix it himself. He didn't ask for our help at all. He nearly killed himself trying."

Interesting. "What do you mean 'nearly killed himself'?"

"We all know who's a happy drunk." Gazzy joked. We all stared at him. "Okay, no more jokes." He got back to his work. Nudge then, continued.

"Well, he couldn't stop the bleeding, so then he took a bunch of aspirin and got himself high. If it wasn't for Angel and mine's quick thinking he would have died of blood loss." Nudge explained.

"FANG WAS HI-?" Nudge covered my mouth for once.

"All done, you can let go now." We all let go of Fang. I heard him mumble something about malpractice. Whatever, at least he's okay now. I heard footsteps.

"What are you guys doing?" Max's voice echoed from the hall.

"Max is coming, act natural." Angel warned us.

We all hopped on Fang's bed and started talking at once. Gazzy was on Fang's left side, Nudge was on his right and I was at the foot of his bed with little Angel in my lap. There were lots of small conversations, which Max couldn't hear. When she came in the room we all stopped.

"You guys don't have to stop because of me."

I put Angel on Fang's lap and stood up. "I'm going to bed." I angrily walked to my bed/couch. As I left I heard various 'what's with him?'s. I didn't care; I needed to go through with the plan, for Max. I figured out my couch had a foldout bed. I flopped down on it and sighed. I still heard chatter in the room for an hour or two. I drifted in and out of a dreamless sleep. I heard Max fold out her couch. I sat up.

"Go back to sleep." I lay back down and I could swear she was touching me. I was so tired that I felt myself smile as I hit the bed with a thud and drifted back into sleep.


The Next Morning!

Fang

Ugh… I feel horrible. My arm hurts like crazy and I have a bad headache. I headed to the kitchen for some food. Odd… I don't smell any food. Which means Iggy isn't up. Hmm. Food. All Nudge bought was lunch and dinner stuff. I guess she didn't know we were going to get into a fight that afternoon. I can't blame her for that. Now, what do we have here? Spaghetti, too much work, I'm lazy in the morning. What's the bread for? Okay, there are some Chinese food boxes. I can put these in the microwave for breakfast, or lunch or whatever.

What time is it anyway? I remember seeing a clock in the living room. As soon as I walk in what I see makes me angry. Iggy is sprawled out all over his bed, and I don't care about that. But Max is all snuggled up to his chest. I thought he was mad at her. The way he marched out of there was worth an Emmy nomination. I feel like punching Iggy in the face but for her sake I won't. I step closer and the ground rushes to my face. I tripped on Max's pack. Thud.

Iggy starts to move and Max's eyes shoot open. She does a quick 360 and realizes I am staring at her. Her expression is puzzled. One that says, why are you staring at me? Then she realizes that her head is still on Iggy's chest and she gasps. Then Iggy realizes this too and jumps back from Max. He isn't even wearing a shirt. I wonder how that happened? Even though I am furious, I get up and calmly walk back to the kitchen. By the way, the time is 1:35 p.m.


Max

"What the heck, Max?" Iggy said.

Fang had walked in on Iggy and I. Not that anything had happened. I was just sleeping and woke up against Iggy's chest. I guess it didn't help that he wasn't wearing a shirt. Oh, Ig this is not good at all. "I don't know, and why weren't you wearing a shirt?"

His face reddened. "Don't look at me." He whispered. Why is he joking at a time like this? He turned around and picked up his shirt and held it to his chest.

"Shutup!" I picked up my bag and stormed out of the room.

After a long shower, I felt much better. I sat on the couch. (Iggy folded them up) Sigh. Mmm…I smell Chinese. I follow my nose to the kitchen. Fang had food on plates. He was in there with Iggy. Two people I didn't want to talk to right now. Fang was quietly eating and Ig was noisily eating. He is such a boy, but if he is what is Fang? Things for thought.

I quickly left out of there to wake up my flock. I went to Angel's room first. She was curled up in a ball. Aww… she is so cute. I tap her shoulder. "Wake up sweetie." She slowly sits up and yawns. "Good morning Max." I smile and she walks to breakfast; she must have smelt it. Next I go to Nudge's bed.

"Nudge, wake up." She moans and groggily sat up. "I'm hungry."

That's Nudge all right, always hungry. "We've got Chinese." She smiles and heads downstairs. Then I walked into Gazzy's room. I am surprised it doesn't smell funky in here. "Gazzy, get up man." He stood up and rubbed his eyes. I took his hand and led him to the kitchen. After a moment he let go of my hand.

"You can't hold my hand Max; it's not manly." I smiled and we walked in last.

Gazzy sat next to Fang, and he looked clearly annoyed. Across, I was sitting next to Angel, and Nudge was at one head of the table, with Iggy on the other. We all dug into our food. Remember, us bird kids need lots of it (and calories). When we were done we all retreated to the living room to discuss what to do next. I would usually, do it with Fang and Iggy but after a very detailed explanation, (from Nudge) everyone's here. Iggy sat with Gazzy on the smaller couch but on the bigger one I sat between Angel and Nudge. Fang sat in a chair on the other side of me and his face was super accusing. I ignored him and started the meeting.

"So, where do you think we need to go, any ideas?" I asked. Everyone seemed to be deep in thought or just was staring into space.

"We need to leave, now." Angel says.

"What's wrong sweetie?"

"Those people we fought yesterday are coming back. The one Iggy fought is Harshad, the telepath. Watch your thoughts around him. The two Max fought are Carolynne and Nicholas. Carolynne is a psychic half. Her other half is her brother. Nicholas is her boyfriend and is a full psychic. The two Fang fought are Tabitha and Derek, Carolynne's brother. Tabitha has telekinesis and Derek can control energy and matter. The one Gazzy and me fought is Avel, who can control the elements and is the brother of Raina, who Nudge fought. Raina is a clairvoyant and necromancer (raises the dead). They are all psychics and don't let them touch you, some can tell the future. They are very powerful."

Whoa. Talk about information overload. They are all very powerful but we are strong. We'll have to rely on that, and some of our powers too. I didn't hesitate when I told everyone to get the food and their stuff because we are checking out. They didn't hesitate to get all of their stuff. Angel didn't hesitate when she said, "And Nudge, leave the jacket."

I could tell she would be sad because that was her favorite, and only jacket. When those material things that came between living lives free and living lives in a cage sprung up she wasn't a fool. She knew when to complain and when to deal. She immediately dropped the jacket and headed for the window we were leaving in. All we had to do was wait for Iggy to give up the room. I packed some of the food in my pack (we all had to) and we sat near the window, waiting for Iggy.

Where is he? It's been over thirty minutes and he isn't back yet. "Fang, you're in charge. I'm going to find Iggy." I started for the door but Fang grabbed my arm.

"I'll do it." He said quietly. I shrugged and let him go.


Fang

"I'll do it." I couldn't let her go. Who does she take me for? The way she and Iggy were this morning. They are separated from this flock for a day and a half and now they're all lovey-dovey. Is that all it took? I've liked Max for months and every time I tried to kiss her she ran away. Did she and Iggy kiss? Did she run away? I knew they were mad at each other. What for? Were they even really mad at each other?

By this time I was in the lobby. The people from yesterday were there and Iggy was too. He was in between Derek and Nicholas. That was so sexist pig, as Max would say. They put him between the two biggest guys. I stood deathly still and walked slowly towards them. My invisibility seemed to melt away, the closer I got. I sat across from Lynne. She seemed to be their leader of this group. Odd. I sat across from their leader.

"Are you the leader?" she asked. She mumbled something to Raina. I heard 'great they send an emo minion. I cant read him at all'.

I shook my head. "Be nice Lynne. The black is just for the ladies." I saw her cheeks pinking in a blush. Nick, you have a way with the ladies.

"What's your name?" Hmm… she was trying to get the basics out of me.

"Nick." (It's only a coincidence that her boyfriend's name is Nick too.)

"That's his name too." She pointed to one of the guys monitoring Iggy. "What are your powers? I know you can turn invisible."

"Umm…" I paused. "That's classified. I don't go around telling every one what I am. I think this is enough. I'm leaving. Ig lets go."

"No, were staying here. We need to discuss things."

I hate being told what to do.

Tell Anne to leave. Meet you in an hour?

Uh, See you later Nick.

I saw a flash of fire burn my ankle. Ow.

"No contacting your friends."

This chic is psycho. She worse than Anne by far, on a bad day, and that's saying something. She seemed to have heard this insult because more flames hit my ankle. I am in a tight spot and in a tight spot what do I do? Play coy? No, that'll just get my leg burned off. I feel so useless. But what do I do? My powers don't help me in this situation. Or do they? I can turn myself invisible and recently turned my flock too. What if I try other objects? I tried my shoelace. My foot just tuned invisible, and then it seemed like the invisibility floated off my shoe and into the air. I could see my foot again but anything this stuff landed on turned invisible. Cool.

I put it on Carolynne's nose. It created an illusion, and you could see under her skin. The blonde girl, Tabitha started to freak out. I made some more and made it look like an infection. I spread it to the people around her, slowly. She even touched her nose to be sure. I made some of it go onto her hand, and she thought it was spreading.

"What is this?" Tabitha whisper-yelled. I shrugged. This seemed to make her angrier.

"What are you doing to us?" She knew I did it because Iggy wasn't infected at all. It only started when I arrived. Iggy was smirking at me. He mouthed 'U and A' at me and I nodded. We were so getting out of here. Iggy moved from between Derek and Nick, and we got onto the elevator. We needed to confuse them. I waited for the doors to close and pressed all the numbers. It would stop at all six floors so they wouldn't know which one we got off on.

When it reached four we tried to open the door. Locked. Oh yeah, Iggy returned the key. I fished around in my pocket for my skeleton key. I always carry one around. When you are on the run you never know when you'll need one. I quickly opened the door. We raced in and grabbed our packs. I locked the door we opened and headed for the window.

"Let's go." Why is he taking so long? What is more important than getting away from a crazy band of psychics?

"Just a minute." He said.

I heard a toilet flush. He is such an idiot. Seriously, what does Max see in him?