Author's Note: Yes, I know. I went AWOL for a little while there. Terribly sorry about that. Real life caught up with me for a bit with college applications, school, family stuff, and a part-time job, a trip to France and Spain, and general writer's block. But I had yesterday off work so I sat my butt down and I was like, "I'm going to write, gosh darnit (Not directly quoted. Changed for more innocent readers out there. Imply your own curse words if you wish)!" And so I did. And here I am, posting a new chapter for all you lovely people out there, after having problems logging in. But it's all good now!
I woke up slowly, unwilling to give up the warmth and escape offered by the dream I'd been having. I rolled over and pulled the sheets over my head.
At some point during the night, we reached a moderate sized cottage-like home. I made it from the van to the first bed I found in a half asleep stupor. It had been a nice queen sized bed, with fancy silk sheets. I'd been really comfortable. Yassen had promptly kicked me out of what was apparently his room. He directed me to the 'guest room', where I collapsed on the smaller, less comfortable bed. I remember mumbling about him being an ass, or something, before drifting back to sleep.
I heard the door open. I stayed still and continued 'sleeping'. I heard the closet open, and some stuff being moved.
"Get up," Yassen said. "I know you're awake. You should be able to act better than that."
I groaned my response, and rolled over into a ball. I wasn't really in the mood for him to be lecturing me already. I felt a tug and then the warm blanket that was covering had disappeared. I stayed curled up, but I frowned. I tried wrapping myself in the sheet underneath my body that was covering the mattress. Another tug and I was off the bed this time.
"Alex, get up. Training starts now. Get changed." He ordered. I sat up and glared at him. I looked around the small room, and found an analog clock that worked in twenty-four hours. It was quarter to five. In the morning.
"Asshole." I muttered. I stood up, and he left the room. Rubbing my eyes and stumbling around still dead tired, I managed to find a pair of track pants and a tee-shirt. I left the room, and looked around the house. It was much larger than I had though it to be the night before. From the front, it looked moderately sized, while it actually went quite a bit back. I also figured there was a basement, as from the outside I had seen that there was a concrete foundation.
I reached the kitchen, where Yassen and Valencia were sitting at a dining table. Valencia was drinking a cup of coffee. I looked around to where she got it, and found a half-full pot. I started walking towards it, but Yassen grabbed my arm.
"You don't get coffee." He said, "We're going on a run, and you don't want to have to go. We won't be stopping."
I frowned. He was right. A commonly well-known fact was that caffeine would make you have to pee. A lot. Running would only help that along. I looked back at the coffee.
"How long?" I asked.
"Long enough." He replied. He let go of my arm, and I sighed. I sat next to Valencia, watching her drink her coffee enviously for a couple minutes. Yassen stood up, and I sighed again, standing up with him.
I headed towards the back door, seeing my running shoes already there. I pulled them on, glaring at Yassen. He was too calm, and had probably been ready before I even got up. I tied my shoes, and straightened up. I stretched my arms out above me, cracking my knuckles and shoulders in the process.
I pulled the elastic off my wrist and tied up my hair, all the while holding my gaze with Yassen. I pulled on the cord of my headphones on the iPod from Smithers, and put the one of the ear buds in. I gave a little smile to Yassen, and gestured to him to lead the way. I scrolled through the playlists, and threw on songs from Rent. I was in a slightly nostalgic mood. I jogged to catch up with Yassen while La Vie Boheme blasted in my left ear. As such, I stayed on his left, so that I could hear him if he said anything.
He led, and I followed. His run led into the forest surrounding the cabin. It was slowly downhill for a bit, before becoming a fairly steep incline. The path eventually became smaller, until I had to follow behind him.
I hated to admit it to myself even, but it was getting a bit hard to keep up with Yassen. We were still climbing upwards, and the path had become more rugged the farther we went. We had been running for about forty minutes, and I was getting quite curious as to where he was leading me. I was glad to be behind him so that though he could most likely hear me breathing harder, he couldn't see me on the few times I nearly tripped on an above ground root or rock, or see the glares I would send his way every few minutes.
Yassen slowed to a brisk walk, and I said a silent thanks. We weren't back at the house; I knew that. The ground was still slightly sloped upward, but seemed to be flattening out. He stopped, and I nearly bumped into him.
I looked out from behind him to see what he was staring at. There was a clearing on the top of this hill. Grass, half dead, covered the ground. The clearing was surrounded by trees, and isolated. It would be a great sparring spot, which is what I figured Yassen had thought when he first saw it.
There was one problem though. There were five teens sitting in a circle. I watched as they passed around a makeshift bong, completely carefree and getting high. I was a little jealous. Of the carefree part, not the getting high. I glanced up at Yassen, and raised an eyebrow in question.
'Stay.' He mouthed the order before striding forward, startling the kids.
"What are you doing here? This is private property! Leave now, or I'll call the police." He said, standing over them. They slowly stood up, three of them backing up slowly, looking scared. The other two stood there ground, one of them smirking.
I knew personally that the police threat was probably an empty threat. I was fairly sure he didn't want to bring police out here, when we were in hiding.
"And what are you gonna do, old man?" The one smirking asked. I physically winced. Even if I was him, I wouldn't have said such a thing. I watched as Yassen reached behind to grab his gun, and shook my head. I wasn't going to let him pull a gun on a couple of kids.
I stood up quickly. "Uncle!" I called out. "Where'd you go?" I pushed through the brush into the clearing. I smiled at him, noticing he let go of his gun.
I turned to the kids, still smiling. "Hi. You know this is private property, right? Like, you shouldn't be here." I seriously loved acting. It was so fun to throw people off.
They both looked a little shocked at the appearance of another person. I stood and smiled. I put my hands on my hips, and cocked my hips to the right after a few seconds of what seemed to be a staring contest.
"So, you should leave. Like, now." I said, probably a little coldly. The guys nodded, and joined up with their friends. I hadn't actually expected them to leave, but I didn't really mind.
We stood in silence for a little bit. I was kind of nervous. I'd technically just disobeyed a direct order from my 'superior', in MI6 terms. Not that I hadn't done it before, but this seemed kind of different. I mean, it was Yassen. I didn't know how he would react to my interfering.
"Follow me." He said finally. He headed back towards the brush, which threw me off for a bit. He started running again, and I mentally groaned. I still hadn't had breakfast, or even anything to drink. I was tired, and I didn't really want to run some more.
We headed back down the hill, in a straighter path than before. It only took a few minutes to get back to the cottage, but now we were in front of it. We'd gone in a complete circle. I was astounded that I hadn't realized it.
He slowed down and walked to the front door, stepping aside to make me go in first. I ducked under his arm, and smiled at the smell of bacon and eggs. It was practically mouth-watering. I didn't bother taking off my shoes and headed straight to the back of the cottage, where the dining room was.
The food was set up in a buffet style, with scrambled eggs in a dish, and bacon in another. There was OJ in a jug, and some fresh fruit in bowls. I grabbed a paper plate from a pile and went to start loading it up when Yassen pushed me away from the table. I looked up and he shook his head.
"You won't be able to eat until I say you can eat. You need to be taught to listen to my commands, which you did not do at the meadow. Therefore, no breakfast. Disobey again and you'll lose your lunch. Arguing with me or complaining about my orders isn't allowed." He explained. I swore he was trying not to grin.
I opened my mouth to say something about his orders, and just where he could shove them, and then decided against it. I was hungry. I didn't want to lose lunch privileges. It was harder than I thought it would be though, keeping my yap shut. Talking back, and being a smart-ass was just the way I was, even before I got tied in with MI6.
I took a few deep breaths in, through my mouth to avoid the smells as much as possible, and made my expression as neutral as possible. "Fine." I replied evenly. "Then I shall be in my room trying not to scream at you with every curse word I know. I wouldn't want to teach those words to those not allowed to know them."
I turned on my heel, mentally sighed, and stalked to my room as quietly as possible. I shut the door behind me and leaned against it. I took a few more deep breaths, trying to stay calm. He knew I had a temper at times, and I knew he was trying to train me to keep it in check. I supposed he was also trying to break me down, and make me a little more obedient, at least towards him. By taking away food, and running me the way he was, it would eventually get too much, and I would either snap, or faint, or both. More for my own sake, I would cooperate. I didn't want to be trained, because I didn't want to do this anymore. But I knew I didn't really have a choice anymore either. I was certainly in too deep, and despite my wanting to stop, I couldn't physically or mentally convince my self to stop.
I pushed off of the door, and sat on my bed. Well, it wasn't technically my bed, but I had slept in it, so I kind of considered it my bed. For the time being, at least.
I could hear the almost deathly silence that reigned outside of my door. I pulled my backpack up onto my bed, and pulled out my case file. I shouldn't have been carrying it with me; it should have been destroyed long ago. I don't really know why I still had it, as I did have everything memorized.
I spread the papers out that pertained to Mr. Chu. I kept work locations separate, along with the buildings he owned. I pushed his surprisingly short rap sheet to the side. It only really contained a few tickets and a couple charges for dumping. He really knew how to keep the dark side of his work underground and hidden.
I really didn't know much about the dark side of Mr. Chu's businesses. I did know that he was working with SCORPIA. He wasn't above kidnapping to get to someone, and he had a secret base somewhere in the ocean, which I knew because it had been included with the Flock's files. The exact location had, of course, been blacked out by Blunt.
It had been about a half an hour before I heard a quiet knock at my door. I replied with a loud 'come in', but didn't look up to see who it was. I was staring intently at the papers spread in front of me, trying to connect some dots.
I looked up when Valencia pushed my papers aside though, and sat on my bed. I nearly cried with relief when I saw the gift of a sandwich in her hands. While reading over papers, I'd been doing my best to ignore the pain of hunger emanating from my stomach.
"Where's Yassen?" I asked, before even thinking about taking the sandwich.
"Outside, sparing with Wolf." I nodded my understanding, and took the sandwich proffered to me.
I ate in silence, while Valencia skimmed the papers, occasionally lifting one to actually read it. When I finished half the sandwich, I pulled down on the paper she had been holding.
"I shouldn't be letting you read these files, technically. I could probably get killed over it, or something. Though I doubt Blunt would give up his prized weapon." I said nonchalantly. I didn't actually make her stop though. When most stuff is censored, there really isn't many 'state secrets' to keep anyways.
She opened the one file folder that I hadn't looked at. I already knew what it said; it was my file. The passport and ripped forms were in the very beginning. I picked up the passport when Valencia put it down.
I flipped open the little booklet. My new address was in downtown London. I knew the apartment building. It looked fancier every time I biked by, and it was ridiculously expensive. I wondered if Yassen or MI6 was footing the bill. I recognized the picture as one of my recent school pictures, modified to look like the standard passport photo. Most of the information was the same, some of it just a tad different.
The biggest difference was my name. Alexis Gregorovich, it read in bold print. I didn't like it. I was Alexis Rider, not Gregorovich. I didn't care if Yassen had now technically adopted me. I wanted my last name back. It carried much sentimental value to me.
I put the passport back on my bed, and finished my sandwich while Valencia flipped through my file. I watched as her expression slowly grew more shocked as she read, and saw photos of the destruction I was constantly leaving behind me. She was seeing through the window into what had become my almost daily life, all the way from the beginning with Sayle to the beginnings of the report for this mission that I was doing for CIA. I could tell she was just skimming, but even skimming would get her enough information on me.
I zoned out in the quiet of my room, with the plate balanced on my knee, until there was another knock at my door. A very soft knock.
"Come in." I said, sure that whoever it was would hear me. Angel opened the door, with Yassen right behind her. I kept my eyes on Yassen, but hugged Angel when she climbed onto the bed and into my arms.
"Were you seeing that Angel?" Valencia asked, closing my file. "I'm sorry hunny. I didn't mean for you to see that."
Yassen stayed standing, eyes locked with mine. "You shouldn't have been reading that anyways, Valencia." He said, coldly. I restrained myself from shivering. He was pissed I would've let her read it, and I could tell.
I rubbed Angel's back while she buried her head in my shoulder. "So we're living downtown? Like, two blocks or something from 'work'?" I asked, trying to give the conversation a little bit of a different direction.
I saw his gaze flick to the passport before he continued staring me down. "Yes. And you won't be attending Brookland Prep anymore. Homeschooling. Training. Work. For me it'll just be work, constantly. In a way, I'm also your handler."
"And why exactly does anyone think I need a handler? I'm not an animal. Sure, Blunt may see me as a weapon, but I certainly don't need a handler." I said, scoffing a bit.
"Be that as it may, those are the orders. Both yours and mine. While you are under my care and jurisdiction, as well, I have a higher rank over you. The three people you absolutely must take and obey orders from are Blunt, Mrs. Jones, and I. Are we clear?" He had gotten closer while on his little rant of sorts.
I continued rubbing Angel's back, bit my tongue, and nodded. "Fine. Whatever." I replied, looking away, and over to Valencia. She seemed to be holding herself back; Angry that he would talk to me like that. I knew it would be normal, but hopefully she would never have to learn that would normal.
Seeming satisfied with my answer, Yassen backed off a bit. He leaned against the wall, and it was almost deathly quiet in my room. Yassen didn't stop Valencia when she went back to reading my file. I patted Angel on the back.
"What are the others doing?" I asked her. I smiled at her a bit when she leaned back to see my face.
"Flying around outside. I said I needed a drink." She replied, also telling me her excuse, as I had been silently wondering.
I grinned. "Wanna go join them again? Like how we were all having fun last night? Well, two nights ago, now, I suppose." I asked, waggling my eyebrows a bit.
She nodded, and bounced off the bed to race ahead, as I had silently asked her to. Valencia stood to follow, still holding my file.
"I don't mind if you keep reading it." I said before Yassen could stop her. It was my file, so my rules. I threw a quick glare at him, challenging him to say no. I waved Valencia to go through my door first, and followed her out, with Yassen behind me.
Since I still had my shoes on, I half ran to back door, following the sounds of the bird-kids having fun. I slammed open the screen door, and held up my arms once I was off the back deck. Max and Fang must've been informed by Angel, because they swooped down right away, and scooped me up.
We were up in the sky for maybe an hour, just fooling around. I caught glances of K-unit plus Yassen watching us all, while Valencia had seated herself on a lawn chair with my file spread open for her to read.
While I held on to Max's hands, dangling in the air, I saw Gazzy fly back towards us. He looked worried, and, well, scared.
"There's a car coming down the road." He said. He was panting a bit, and I saw the others coming in closer to see what was going on.
I looked up at Max. "We should land. I could scope from the ground with Yassen, and you and Fang from the air. No one could've found us that easily." I said. Max nodded in agreement, but told Angel to listen out. I didn't argue it; it was a good idea.
Max dropped down with the rest of the flock rather fast, but I braced myself for when she dropped me from a few feet up. I landed fine and felt the air push down as her and Fang went back up. I let Valencia usher the remaining bird-kids into the house, and I took off into the woods towards the road.
Though he was just as silent as I was, I knew Yassen was following me. I slowed as I reached the road, and when I felt him beside me, I decided to quickly explain.
"Gazzy saw a car coming down the road. Max and Fang are scoping from above." I whispered, taking in a silent breath. I could hear the car, approaching down the road slowly. I didn't want to think of the fact that that meant who ever were driving was watching.
Yassen pulled me back into the bush as the car got closer, and we were able to see who was in the vehicle. Sitting in the front passenger seat was the snot-nosed pot-smoking teen from this very morning. Needless to say, I was not impressed.
"Back to the cabin." Yassen whispered in my ear before running off. The kid obviously brought his dad to clear up what had happened this morning. I rolled my eyes before making off after Yassen.
He reached the house before I did, and I reached the house as the car pulled into the driveway. I ran around back and entered quietly.
"It's just us in this house. We're taking a vacation. I'm your uncle and guardian. You lost your parents a year ago. Hence, vacation to try and get you a little better." Yassen said, quickly briefing me. I figured K-Unit and Valencia, Ella, and the Flock were hiding somewhere. Whatever worked, right?
I nodded and grabbed a book off the bookshelf in the living room before diving to sit on the couch. The couch was in view of the front door, so I only pretended to read The Catcher In The Rye while Yassen answered the door when the man rang the door bell.
"Good afternoon. I wasn't expecting visitors." Yassen said calmly.
The man nodded, and I barely saw his son standing behind him. "Good afternoon to you to. I am Officer Collier with the local police. Might I come in? There are some things I'd like to discuss."
Yassen stood aside and let him in, and I buried my nose in my book as the man, the officer, was looking around. I peeked up quickly, to see the boy standing by the door.
"What is the problem, officer?" Yassen asked politely, while subtly moving more towards me, to block me from the officer. Though I wasn't really sure why.
"Well, you see sir, this property hasn't been used in a while, and no one knows the owner. At the top of the road leading here is my house, and I never saw anyone come down here in the past few days. So it's a little curious, as you should've gone by a few times, even just to do groceries." The officer pointed to the empty pantry shelves. "And it's evident that there is no or little food to speak of."
I bit my lip. We were planning on doing groceries soon, we just had to settle. We all only arrived last night, in the dead of night, but how would the officer know that? I stared at the back of Yassen's head, and remembered the alibi.
I heard Yassen sigh, and I looked back at the pages of the book. I heard him and the officer walk over to the table, and each take a seat.
"You see, Alex over there is my niece. I'm her guardian because her parents died a little over a year ago." Yassen explained quietly. "Since then, she's gone into a depression. The doctors I saw recommended I take her out of school for a while and bring her somewhere a little more isolated so that she can have some time to get better. We had tried to put her on anti-depressants, but she wouldn't take them, and I won't force her. I inherited this cottage from my parents; Alex's grandparents and I thought it would be a good place for her to rest. We arrived late last night, and we had some food in a cooler with us. If you want, I can show you the deed to this cottage." He finished.
The only truth was that we arrived late last night, and we had a cooler. I didn't know about any deed, but I did figure he had one just to be safe. I reread the same sentence about ten times, not focusing on the book, but on the kid standing nervously by the door, and on the conversation between 'my uncle' and the officer.
"Yes, I would like to see the deed, please. Since I'm already here, and just to make sure things check out." The officer replied, nodding a bit. "My son said he ran into you and your niece this morning?" He asked nonchalantly.
"Yes. We were taking a morning walk; something I do everyday. I was thinking maybe Alex would like to participate." Yassen replied. "I knew there was a small meadow around here, which is where we ran into your son and his friends. I was highly upset because this is private property, and they were smoking marijuana on my property. I would prefer that Alex, in her state, don't get exposed to such activities." He was rummaging through some files in a cabinet, and he pulled out a small file.
The officer turned around and frowned at his son. "Well, I hadn't been told that part." He replied as he accepted the file from Yassen. He flipped through it, and stopped at what I supposed was the deed.
"Hmm…." Yassen stood beside the officer as he looked over everything. "Well, everything seems to be in order. I'm sorry for bothering you. You know, if you need anything, I'm just at the top of the road." The officer said, handing back over the folder. He smiled at me as he and Yassen walked by me towards the door. I gave a meek smile back, acting my part well.
"Well, it's no problem, sir. I know you are just doing your job, right?" Yassen replied rhetorically. "You have a good day officer." He said, and the officer nodded.
I put down the book as the door closed, and listened to the officer and son walking away from the door.. "Well, um, that went unusually well." I said as I heard car doors slam.
Yassen nodded, and the engine outside started. "We should go get them." He said emotionlessly.
By them, I took that he meant the flock. I nodded to that. "Where are they hiding?" I asked, standing and replacing the book on the shelf.
"The bomb bunker." Was the nonchalant reply from Yassen.
"You have a bomb bunker?" I asked, a little shocked.
I turned to see him nodding. "Always. As a last resort in every house I've ever owned. And about half of them have come into use in my life. Hiding, sieges, being bombed. The usual."
"Okay, sure. But where is the entrance to the bunker?" I asked, trying to get over the fact that Yassen had been in bombings. It seemed more and more like Yassen was more of a trouble magnet than me.
"A little cliché, but with the layout of the land and this house, there weren't many other choices." Yassen explained as he lifted back the carpet on the floor. I helped him lift the metal door, and I helped out Angel, Ella, and Valencia when it was their turn to get out.
The flock seemed visibly shaken, and was fairly quiet. I turned to Angel, because I knew she already knew what I was thinking. "Small spaces hold bad memories for us." She explained briefly.
I nodded, mostly getting the gist of it. I patted her head, and smiled. "Well, it's okay. You don't need to worry. It'll be okay." I said, trying to come up with comforting things to say. Looking around, I saw Valencia rubbing Max's shoulder. Fang was leaning against the wall, and Iggy was standing beside him. Nudge gave me a small smile when I caught her eye, and Gazzy seemed to be trying to stare a hole through the floor.
K-unit were standing with Yassen, watching the bird kids with a mixture of suspicion and awe. They didn't seem too affected by the small space, and they hadn't needed help out. I had been amazed that everyone actually fit in there, though I hadn't actually seen the size of it. All I had seen was a hole in the ground, and everyone coming out one by one like clowns out of a mini car.
I checked the clock on the wall for the time, and smirked a little. "So, um, I say we make lunch now. And then get out of this house and find the nearest body of water. I'm up for swimming, and I think we're already getting a bit of cabin fever, even though we haven't been here a full day yet." I said, stretching my arms above my head. "Do you have a picnic basket, Yassen?" I asked, highly doubtful that he did.
I wasn't surprised when he shook his head. "Sheesh, you have a bomb bunker, but not one lousy picnic basket." I muttered, getting a smile out of Gazzy, and a little giggle out of Angel. They all probably knew my plan was to distract them, but it was working a bit. They were letting themselves be distracted.
I turned to K-Unit and Yassen and frowned a bit. "You may come, if you so wish, otherwise, I think I can handle it." With them wanting to protect me, and Yassen wanting to, ugh, train me, I was getting a little annoyed. This was my warning to them. It pretty much translated to, 'Let me have some teen time to be at least a little bit normal'.
"There is a small beach on the lake about a mile walk from here, down the road. I have it under my property, so no one should be there. But I do advise you to approach by yourself first, just to make sure." Yassen said, turning to the book shelf. I vaguely saw the seemingly Russian title before he tucked his book of choice under his arm. I nodded in response, and he sat down on the couch before propping open his book.
Wolf grabbed me by the arm, and stared, almost glared, into my eyes. If I hadn't had my past experience in dealing with him, I might've been intimidated. "Don't do anything rash or stupid." He said before also turning away, but towards the kitchen. Snake and Eagle followed, but Fox nodded towards me.
"I reiterate that statement." He said, but with a little smile. At least Ben was a little more trusting of my abilities, it seemed.
Sighing, I turned towards Valencia. "You are more than fully welcome to come with us; I assure you the atmosphere here will probably be boring after we leave." She nodded in response, and I followed her off to the kitchen.
Angel and Max followed behind me, and we watched as Valencia took the already made sandwiches away from K-Unit. "You're grown men; you are fully capable of making your own food. We're going on a picnic, and these are growing children. I'll need these to feed them." She said forcefully. There were about twenty sandwiches in all, and some juice boxes, and cookies.
Eagle pouted and complained, but in the end, it turned out that an army unit was not a force against a determined mother. "What are we supposed to eat?" Eagle said. To that, Valencia shrugged.
"We could go and do groceries while they are at the beach." Yassen said from right behind me. I nearly reacted by turning around and punching him. I hadn't heard him at all, and when he spoke I swore I jumped a bit from the surprise.
Eagle and Wolf nodded a bit, but I had a bit of an idea. I pushed past Yassen and ran to my room, rummaging around before I found the little plastic card.
I ran back, and held it up in victory. "This card is a completely secure credit card courtesy of MI6. Please, for me, use as much money as you can. It has no limit, and the money comes from MI6, and by association, Blunt himself." I handed it to Yassen, trying to smile a little innocently, and probably failing miserably. "However, I will need it back when you're done."
With that, Max, Angel and I ran off to get changed into whatever we could swim in. I, personally, had a short sleeved and shorts-like wetsuit, under which I just wore my bra and undies since I didn't have a proper swim suit.
Max and Angel exited their room shortly after I did, and we set off, all walking for a change. Max and I carried the cooler between us quite easily as our makeshift picnic basket.
The beach itself wasn't too bad, and luckily empty of other people. "C'mon guys!" I called out, dropping the cooler which I drag onto the beach to check for people. I saw four blurs out of the corner of my eye before I saw them drop into the water. Max and Fang walked towards me with the others' towels, and dropped them beside the cooler. I laid mine out and grabbed a juice box from the cooler. Max did the same, and sat beside me, while Fang laid out his towel and then ran to join the others. Valencia had set herself up a little ways away in a little sunny spot to read the book she had brought along.
After finishing my juice, I nudged Max. "Wanna wrestle in the water?" I asked nonchalantly. I was genuinely interested in who would win. We were about the same height, but she had a bit of a thinner build. It was hard to judge which of us had more muscle, and we both had different life-or-death experiences that the other didn't know about.
She grinned in response, and we raced to the water. We stood about half way up our thighs in the water, and I took up a neutral fighting stance, using the loose sand to half bury my feet for steadiness. Max took up a defensive pose, and we both stood there for a couple seconds, eyeing each other.
She attacked first, jumping at me, and sending a couple punches my way. I dodged the first one, and the second nearly landed, skimming across my left shoulder, while I sent a counter-attack. I aimed towards her abdomen with a punch and followed it through by throwing my torso forwards to push her back a bit.
We both resumed our stances, and I barely took a second before going on the offensive myself. I sent a flurry of punches at Max, quite a few of which she blocked effectively, but otherwise she had to step backwards to avoid them.
Finally she grabbed both of my hands, and we both pushed against the other, trying to push each other over first. We were fairly evenly matched until Max unfurled her wings flew up, still holding my hands for a second before dropping me out over deeper water.
I pencil dived and swam back up, taking a deep breath of air and grinned up at Max. "We'll call it a tie." I said at which she dived into the water beside me.
"Yeah. Sure. A tie. Right up until I totally won that." She replied, splashing me with water.
We fooled around until we all got hungry, and so we all sat on our towels to dry off. Valencia handed out the sandwiches and juice boxes.
It was nearly sunset by the time we headed back towards the cabin. We decided to wait until we were all mostly dry to head back, and we had sat around just talking about pointless things. It felt normal, and I was really comfortable around the Flock. All of us were different in our own ways, with some similar experiences, which made us able to relate to each other, and maybe even trust each other a bit.
It was too bad that while I was having fun, I hadn't noticed the two pairs of eyes watching us from the bushes, nor had anyone else.
Author's Note: Alas, there's another chappie! I'd now like to turn your eyes towards yourselves! If that was physically possible without a mirror, anyways.
Leprechaun13 : Me? A genius? Surely you kid. But thank you very much!
firedrakegirl: Thank you, I sometimes have to try really hard to get what I want to come out in my writing to work, so thank you very much. Other times it just flows like a rapid river and I just can't keep up.
Joan MacLaren: It is a girl, since this is an alternate universe fic. It came about that way from my friend saying something really funny when we'd been talking about a potential AR/MR crossover. We were very tired and had energy drinks, and I decided to run with it. But terribly sorry if that wasn't very clear, for you, or anyone else who read and wasn't sure.
