A.N- Thank you all so much for your reviews on the last chapter about bullies:) I love you all! I apologize that my story's so slow going, but that's the way I want it to be. So that's the way it shall be. I also apologize for how long this update took, but I've been busy and just never got around to it until someone gave me a little push. Cough, cough, Girlygamer77…

We meet again

(April 10th)

I run to my room's metal door so I can look out its small window. That way I could see what was happening outside, in the hallways. The sirens are still blaring and I can hear feet running from both sides of the hallway. Or at least I think it was both ways. I could be wrong, you know with the sound-proof walls and all.

I realize I'm not wrong when I see five guards running from the left of the hall, and the Flock from the right. The Flock! Any doubt I had about Zaila is now completely gone. I know that I should still be a little cautious with her, but I have a feeling I can give her my trust one hundred percent. I am sure that she is an ally.

I lean my face in, closer to the window, for a better look to the right. I could see Jake up front being followed by Dylan, Iggy, Ratchet, Maya, Nudge and Gazzy.

The guards were all wearing what looked to be bullet-proof vests that were a dark navy blue color, over some weird thick and tight-looking black shirts. They all had on dark pants that matched the dark colored gloves protecting their hands. The guards stopped when they were about ten feet from my door and quickly took aim at the Flock with their guns.

Nudge, however, took their guns away just as quickly as they could take aim. She raised her left hand in a 'stop' motion and then all of their guns flew to the ceiling. They went up with such force that a few even broke lights on the ceiling. After the guns were whisked away from their owners' dark hands and stuck to the ceiling, the guards all gave the Flock angry glares.

I look back over to my Flock and see that Jake was starting to say something. It was kind of muffled, but I could still clearly make it out, "Nudge, I'll need your help. The rest of you; you think you can hold them off long enough for us to get Max?" He asked them quickly.

"Oh, we can do more than hold them off." Ratchet responds cockily, as he pops his knuckles.

Jake smiles, "Good to hear. Let's go Nudge."

Nudge nods and follows Jake as he hurries to my door. The others don't waste any time and head straight for the guards; their fists already clenched with the anticipation of a fight.

Nudge's face literally presses up to my window as she squeals with joy. "Max! I missed you so much. It feels like I haven't seen you in ages!" She tells me, still pressed to the window.

"Save the catching up for when we're out of here. Right now Nudge, I need you to concentrate on this lock. Can you open it?" Jake asks her.

I could hear fighting in the background and took a glance at the rest of the Flock, from Jake and Nudge. I could see Gazzy and Iggy fighting back-to-back like usual, each fighting two guards at a time without breaking a sweat.

I think Dylan was using his power, and playing with his share of guards' emotions because they were all just walking towards him like they didn't know what to do with their lives. It almost looked like they were planning their own suicide as they walked to him… It was scary. And in contrast, Dylan looked about five times as ravenous as everyone else (my guess: probably from sucking out the guards' emotions before he could put in new ones).

Then there was Maya and Ratchet, who were punching guards senseless into the wall. I noticed that the guards weren't wearing anything to protect their heads, and just now thought of how stupid that was. I mean if someone got in a well-placed punch, then the fight would be over, just like that. That's when I noticed that these guards weren't human. Not completely, anyway.

The guards looked like the lizard mutants we'd seen a while back, except slightly more human. Since they're wearing clothes that cover most of their bodies, I'm not sure that they're completely covered with scales like the other mutants were. They have the same red, beady eyes, but they're darker and more discreet. That might explain why I didn't notice it sooner. They also have scales like the last lizards, yet theirs are only at their hair line, so you wouldn't see them at first glance. Also, these mutants were the size of normal adult humans and not the size of an eight-year-old. Lastly, they didn't crawl and/or slither. Instead, they walked up-right like regular humans.

From what I could see, it looked like the Flock was totally kicking their butts. Up until Gazzy fell down that is… That's when I finally looked down at the door.

…

While I watched the Flock and all that happened, Jake was encouraging Nudge as she tried to open my door.

"I don't know if I can. I've never used my power for this kind of thing." Nudge complains.

"I know you can do this Nudge, I believe in you." (A.N: Cheesy, I know…) Jake tells her, softly. "You could probably just break it, if that's easier for you."

"This is just so small though. I'm afraid I'll break it the wrong way and then it'll be locked for good." She sighs, and then straightens up her shoulders and back. "But I'll try anyways, for Max." She puts on a determined look and places both hands on the key hole. She then closes her eyes in concentration.

I could hear the lock twisting slightly, this way and that, with the occasional accidental twist of the door handle, as I was watching the fight behind them. Eventually the lock finally gave that satisfying 'click', which is when I looked down.

Nudge gave a satisfied smile as she finished with the easy part. She placed her hand on the door's key pad, which I just noticed was there by the way, for a moment and then typed a bunch of numbers in. The keypad made a noise and gave off a green glow, as another lock unlocked and Nudge finally opened the door.

…

When the door finally opened, all of the sounds intensified and I felt like everything went slow for a little while.

The first thing I noticed was Iggy shouting, "Gazzy's down!" as he punched the guard who'd done that to Gazzy, in the face. The mutant staggered back a few steps, then shook his head and charged back to Iggy with full force. The idiot, however, forgot that he'd made Gazzy collapse right in front of him, and ended up tripping over his limp body.

If it'd been someone that I didn't care for on the ground that the guard had tripped over, I would have laughed. It was Gazzy thought, so this really angered me. Not to mention that he'd intended on hurting Iggy.

I saw red then, and started to run over there until Jake and Nudge each grabbed one of my arms to hold me back. I gave Jake a look that said 'If you don't let go in the next three seconds, you're going to lose a few fingers', but he just kept holding on.

"Max, I know you want to fight, but you're really not in the best condition to be doing that at the moment." Jake tells me. "We have no time to waste. The longer we take, the more guards they'll send, and I have a feeling they'll only get tougher. Plus, we still need to rescue Kate." He says, with a desperate look in his eyes.

I reluctantly stop struggling and they release my arms. "Fine." I spit out. "I know where she is, but I'm not leaving them." I nod to my Flock that was now done fighting.

Iggy runs up to us with Gazzy in his arms. Gazzy was just hanging there with his eyes closed, and arms and legs dangling limply. There was only one single scratch that I could see though, right on his left cheek, below his eye. It was all swollen and red, and I bet that he wouldn't be able to open that eye if he tried.

I took in a sharp breath. "Gazzy! Iggy, what happened to him?" I screech like a mother hen.

"I- I don't know. One minute, he was up and fighting and the next, he was one the floor unconscious." He tells me. I could tell he was scared himself for his favorite partner in crime.

Maya came up to us at that moment and chimed in. "I saw one of those creepers take off his glove and scratch him with it, right before Gazzy was able to hit him back."

"Oh Gazzy!" I cry again.

"It must have had poison or something!" Ratchet adds.

"We can't do anything about it now! Out best hope is to save Kate right now so we can leave as soon as possible and get Gazzy the help he needs back at home!" Jake tells us.

I touch Gazzy's non-swollen check, looking at his closed eyes. His mouth was half opened like it is when he sleeps. I loved this kid, and I wouldn't give up on him now. Not ever. I turn and give Jake a firm nod. "Let's do this…"

I start to run down the hall the guards had come from, with the Flock and Jake right on my tail. I could remember exactly where Kate's room was. She had a room close to the windows on the east section of the building. She was exactly four intersecting hallways away from my room. Two doors down, on the left side of the hall.

Right when we arrived, I looked into her door's window. I wanted to make sure she was still in there, which to my relief, she was. A few seconds after I looked inside, she looked up at me too. She was sitting on her bed like I'd been not too long ago, and just looking miserable.

"Don't worry Kate, we'll get you out!" Ratchet calls from behind Nudge, who was now concentrating on the lock.

Only a few seconds pass before Nudge says, "Bingo!" and the lock clicks open. She then put her hand over the electronic keypad before she started typing numbers. Another lock on the door clicked and then Nudge finally opened the door.

By now Kate was anxiously awaiting behind the door, ready to hug the closest person she could get her hands on. That person just happened to be me. "You found me. You found me; I can't believe you really found me!" She sobs onto my shoulder.

I'm not all that huge on hugs, but since she's part of the Flock I couldn't just shove her off. Instead I hugged her back, a little less excitedly than her. "We weren't going to leave you behind, if that's what you thought. You're part of the Flock now." I tell her with a smile when she finally let go.

"Save the chit chat for later. We need to find Fang and get out." Jake reminds us.

"Fang? Where's Fang?" I ask.

"He stayed back to hold Xavier back." Nudge informs me.

"He what?" I shout, angrily.

"No time! Move, now!" Jake orders. He starts to run down the hall with us following close behind, but stops when we get back to my hallway.

The hallway was now empty except for the sheds of glass from the broken lights on the ceiling. It was the only proof of the fight that took place moments before. The bloody guards were nowhere to be found. Their guns were gun as well. The Flock and Jake were the only ones in the hall, or at least that's what I thought.

"Did you hear that?" Jake whispers.

"Hear what? Our feet stopping?" I say, sarcastically.

"No, he's right. I heard it too." Ratchet tells us quietly. "It was two people walking. It came from that direction." He says, pointing to the right at the end of the hallway.

That's when two people walked by, stopping right in the middle of the hall intersection.

"Fang!" I shout.

"Nice to see you too, Max…" Xavier calls back.

Q.O.T.U- What is your favorite song?

LOVE,

~L