Chapter Two:
A/N: This chapter is a little pointless in the beginning, but I'm getting the story going, so it'll be like that! I made the spaces a little wider so that's why it's a little longer. Enjoy!
I woke up late the next morning. I could hear the commotion in the kitchen as Iggy and the rest of the Flock were making breakfast. I yawned, pulling back the covers and jumping out of bed, still in my sweat pants and sweatshirt.
"Max is awake!" Nudge called as she saw me come down the hall. I walked through the archway towards the kitchen and grabbed myself a piece of toast, then slipping into a chair beside Angel.
"Good morning, Max." Angel said as she scooped a plate full of eggs and then some onto her plate. Nudge sat down across from me and Fang on my other side. The Gasman was sitting on the other side of Angel, looking a little tired. His eyes were drooping and his hair looked like tumbleweed floating on the top of his head.
"What's on the agenda for today, Max? Can we go get ice cream? Oh I'm in the mood for ice cream. My favorite kind if strawberry! What's your favorite kind, Max? Oh yeah, never mind about the strawberry. I just remembered I had this new flavor that one time we got ice cream and it was like blueberry! My favorite kind of ice cream is now officially blueberry!" I held my head in my hands as the Nudge channel was turned on.
"Nudge, chill." Iggy said from inside the array of counters. He had a spatula in one hand and a frying pan in the other. His strawberry blonde hair looked a lot like Gazzy's. Nudge was now talking to Angel in a more hush toned about her favorite types of cake and pie. I rolled my eyes, and glanced at Fang. His expression was…well…expressionless, but that's not a surprise. He's always like that. His hand reached over the table to grab a large stack of pancakes. He piled them onto his plate and then went for the syrup.
"Why are you staring at me?" he asked without looking up. My cheeks prickled with heat as I turned away.
"I don't know." I admitted, rather embarrassed. Iggy was looking away, but I sensed on my Max radar that he was listening to our conversation, maybe looking for something to laugh at later.
"Well, it's sort of creepy." Fang said, smiling a bit at his own choice of words. I grinned too, half biting my lip.
Once we were done with breakfast, all of us headed outside. The little kids, including Nudge, were going to just fly around, because they didn't know the plan. I think Angel had an idea of it, but she promised she wouldn't tell anyone. I guess you can't keep any secrets when you have a mind reader.
"Iggy says he's almost done with the second part," I informed Fang that afternoon. We three were sitting on an abandoned rooftop about three miles north of the apartment. I had, to my displeasure, put Nudge in charge if anything were to go wrong. We hadn't seen many Flyboys around and so far, no Erasers in a long time. Let's not break the chain, shall we?
Fang nodded and glanced at Iggy, who was staring off into the distant blue cloudless sky. "Do you promise we can visit them?" Iggy asked after a moment of silence. Fang looked at him with a 'what the heck are you talking about' expression, but I thought I understood.
"Ella?" I whispered, and to my surprise, Iggy nodded. I raised my eyebrows, only because Iggy couldn't see that I was surprised.
"After Itex is clear, we can live there," I told him, and he smiled. I loved it when my Flock was happy. It just made me happy. Fang looked away, feeling a little left out I imagined.
"I sort of miss the Flyboys," Iggy added to his stream of admittance. Fang and I did a double take.
"What? I sure don't. It's a nice sky without a whole crap load of junky metal flying in it." I said, following Iggy's hard sightless gaze to the bright blue background. Iggy scuffed the gutter with his shoe.
"Yeah, because you can see it," he said quietly, and I couldn't be sure that's what he said.
"Iggy, I thought I told you, I don't care if you're blind. None of us do. We love you anyways," I said, giving him one handed hug. Fang was silent, as always. Maybe things were getting just a wee bit mushy for him.
"I know you don't care, that's because you don't have to live with it! I do." He said, scowling behind his lips. I sighed and was silent. Fang had it nice when no one expected him to respond.
"C'mon, we should be getting back." I said softly, feeling bad that I couldn't give Iggy any more comfort. He sighed as I jumped off the edge of the building, Fang close on my tail. (Not that I have a tail or anything…) Iggy followed, and I heard the swooping noise of his wings unfolding as the three of us whirled up into the sky.
We arrived back outside our apartment in less then five minutes. Angel, Nudge and the Gasman were well into an epic game of tag. Nudge was hovering off the ground when my feet touched the green grass. Gazzy was laughing as he chased Angel in circles. I smiled as he caught her, and they both tripped and fell over laughing. Fang and Iggy landed silently on either side of me.
"How about we get something to eat?" I asked them. Nudge smiled, and we all took off towards town.
"I'll get three orders of the pound burger, a dozen fries, and the," under my scowl he added, "Plateful of broccoli." Gazzy said to the handsome looking waiter. He had a gold ring in one of his ears and his hair was gelled up into a spike catastrophe. Fang watched me glance at him, his jaw lined with anger. I grinned as I ordered.
"I'll take two full chicken Caesar salads, a pound burger, three orders of fries, a small hotdog and two glasses of water please." I blinked flirtatiously, and Fang looked away. The waiter nodded, jotting it all down in his handy dandy notebook. His face was appalled at how much food we were each ordering, but he didn't say anything. He was probably thinking of the tip. Fang ordered the same as Gazzy and then the waiter took our menus and walked off towards the kitchen. Fang instantly smirked.
"That waiter was pretty hot, right Max?" he said a little too loudly. Nudge smirked and Iggy snickered across the table. I stretched my hand out to whack him twice up side the head.
"Yeah, he was smokin' hot," I said, grinning at Fang. He raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth.
"Are you sure you don't mean…" I cut him off.
"Well, Angel, who is only seven years old, I think that necklace you made is very colorful just like Fang's vocabulary." I said, emphasizing heavily. Iggy was snickering again and Fang's cheeks turned pink. I grinned triumphantly.
"Yeah, Fnick, lighten up." Iggy added, and the Gasman busted out in giggles. The laughter spread, and soon the whole table was laughing. People were starting to look at us, and thank god our food came at that moment. It took five people to carry it all and two tables to hold it all.
"Ceasar salads?"
"Right here," I raised my arm halfway and the smokin' hot waiter handed me two plates, one for each hand. We all scarped down every piece of food insight, including the crumbs. After we all finished, Gazzy let out a huge burp that got a couple people's attention. I glared in his direction and he caught my eye.
"Excuse me," he said, waving air in his face.
"Can't…breathe!" Iggy faked, almost falling over. Nudge giggled, but then the smell got to her, and she gagged.
"Gazzy!" she squealed, plugging her nose. I covered my mouth with my hand.
"That's sick," Fang muttered under his breath, and I grinned under my hand. We paid for all the food using my Max card, and got the heck out of there. I guess they started a fight on who was the unlucky one who had to clean our table. I sniggered as soon as we were out the door. I arched my back, letting my wings spread as soon as we had walked around the back of the building. I did a quick 360, making sure no one was around, and then did an up and away towards the blue sky, after my Flock.
The wind was biting at my face as I flew, holding my arms out like superman. Fang smiled at me.
"Now all you need is a cape and you'll be golden," he smirked, flapping his black wings so that they glinted purple. The tips of his feathers just pressed against mine for a second as he flapped down.
"I'm going to keep flying, you guys land at the apartment and stay there," I said, kicking into high speed. Fang caught my ankle.
"I'll come with," he said, and then turned on Iggy, "Ig, you're in charge," he said, tapping his hand twice.
"Yeah, yeah, you two have fun and don't do anything you might regret!" Iggy said, laughing as he dived down towards the grass.
"I ought to smack him silly," I scowled, and Fang laughed out loud. "Well, grab hold, we're going to go fast!" I said. He grabbed my leg and I tucked my wings in and boom. We were twenty five miles away. I looked down, but all I could see was a flash of colors as we zoomed across the country… well maybe just across the town really fast.
"Where are we going?" Fang asked, gripping my leg tighter. I felt the pressure of his fingers against my ankle.
"I don't know, let's land here." I said, unfurling my wings. We slowed to a reasonable speed and Fang let go, spreading out his wings too. I dove down towards the cover of tall trees, and he followed right behind me. We landed in a clearing, not a mile from the small town. Fang and I walked the rest of the way, ever too careful no to let anyone see our wings. That was the last thing we needed.
"We should go shopping, I think Iggy's almost out of breakfast food." I said as we came out of the woods. There was a strip mall, including a funky clothing store, a grocery store, a CVS, and an insurance company. Across the way was a couple street packed full of houses. We started walking across the street when a black car, sleek and shiny pulled up and parked. Two guys got out and started towards us. Fang tensed beside me.
"What do they want?" he asked, more like a growl.
"They're flyboys," I gasped, noticing the robotic movement as they walked. Then I heard the distinct sound of their buzzing wings. I looked behind us and moaned. Over three hundred Flyboys were staring at us with evil grins on their robotic faces.