Chapter 6

Oh my God, I can't even say it. My heart was beating so fast, I think I could actually hear it. Fang and I looked at each other, then at her, then at us again, then again at her. There's just no way this is happening. You know that I've been through a lot to be this surprised. And by now, you should know already who gets under my skin. So—yes—you guessed right. Brigid, with wings, people! With fuh-reakin' wings! And they didn't look patched-on at all, like the Erasers' did. Really, I mean can't these people think of anything else?! It's just unbelievable. How did this happen? And how did this happen so fast? And… wait! She kissed Fang. Max, she kissed Fang! I felt like beating the crap out of her, bird crap now, actually. Was she this desperate for Fang's attention? Voice? Anything you need to tell me?! No answer. I'm panicking, Jesus! Okay, calm down, Max, calm down. It's just Brigid, she'll probably start crying if you just break one of her nails. Fang looked away from her, still with shock on his face. Brigid… ugh, it feels weird to say, but she flew toward us, with a smirk on her face. I swallowed. I felt someone else behind me, the rest of the flock had caught up. They all slowed down as they approached us, their faces slowly changed to surprised expressions as they came closer and saw the new Brigid. She was finally hovering about two or three feet away from us. Still, with a stupid smile that I wanted to punch with my fist. I decided I'd kill her after she explained this.

"You had to be a stupid redhead, huh?" I uttered, crossing my arms.

"Yes, I had to. You know how much Fang loves them, Max." Brigid winked at Fang. He looked away.

It suddenly hit me right there. Look what she's done to us. She made Fang and I not trust each other anymore. She messed the whole flock up, and she did it so easily. I could easily kick her ass too, though. But I was so, so tired of people messing with us. Saying that I'm sick of it is just not enough. In just two seconds, all of the Erasers' attacks, the white coats experimenting on us, Jeb's betrayal, the Itex director, the Uber Director, and all of the gazillions of battles we've fought ran through my mind. It all came back to me, everything that ever made me bitter, every unfortunate event and others' treasons haunted me at that moment. For some reason, none of it compared to what recently happened between Fang and I. And It was all because of Brigid. Stupid little bird kid-wannabe Brigid. And I have had more than enough of her. I've put up with too much. I closed my fists and launched myself toward her furiously, but she moved out of the way. Incredibly fast, as fast as my extremely fast velocity that only I had. So, what? She had a Voice too? Anyway, you know me, whatever Brigid does, I'll do better. This time she rushed to me, but before she got a bit close I had already flown down, then was behind her, kicking her right in the neck, and all over her back, I felt some bones in the wings crack. Hoping that would kill her. I hated her, I hated her, I hated her! After all the troubles we've been through, it was like she just put the cherry on top. I could only hear stuff like "Ow", groaning and panting from her. Of course, the poor thing hadn't practiced flying much and easily began to lose altitude. As Brigid soared down, I looked at Fang and the rest of the flock. I could see Fang had no idea what to do. What can I say? He knows me, and I'm sure he recognized that if he intervened right now, he'd get hurt too. They decided to let me do my thing. Everyone seemed scared of me, at least I could tell that from their faces. But we all get scared of each other when we see ourselves extremely mad. I've been scared to death by Fang two or three times by now, actually. Then I remembered–wait—how did Brigid become a mutant again?

I launched myself downwards to catch Brigid before she hit the ground as fast as I ever had. I tried to pull my weight to where the ground was, I was extremely close to her now. She was screaming like a sissy, waving her arms and trying to flap her wings. It made me want to giggle for a split second, she looked so stupid. Almost… almost... caughtcha! I folded my arms, fists facing towards the sky, so they served as a hook to pick her up by the arm pits. I decided I would use the same technique I did with Itex's director. She wouldn't end her screaming. Can we say "obnoxious"? Her picture's probably next to the definition if you look it up.

"Shut up, if you don't want to hit the ground, idiot!" I yelled to Brigid, squeezing my arms tighter.

"What do you want?!" she screamed back desperately. Ha, it's just awesome how people see me vulnerable compared to them, and suddenly I'm a threat. That look on their faces, it's just a total payback. Déjà vu, Director. I flew higher and higher, closer to where the flock was, carrying the redhead with me.

"First of all, how the hell did you get these wings?" I said. I rubbed her red-orange wings with my index and thumb. "Almost as good as mine." I voiced. She was silent.

"Brigid, I think we know how this is going to end if you don't tell me, right?" I warned her. I loosened my arms and dropped her a bit to give her a little scare. Though I still wanted to let her hit the ground and rot in the dirt.

"No! Okay, wait. It was Jeb! It was Jeb!" Brigid insisted. Jeb? Betraying me? Well, that's no surprise. I rolled my eyes.

"So, how did he do it, huh?" I asked her. "If I were you, I'd tell the person who's got my life in her hands what she wants."

"Why don't you ask him?" she asked me.

"Because I want to hear it from you, little Brigid," I said tapping her cheek. "Hope it's not a problem." I told with a smile. "How did he give you that velocity that only I have, and Fang has too… accidentally?"

"Well, you do recall when you donated him your blood, don't cha, Maxie?" Brigid said.

I hit her back with my knee really hard. "That's Max, please. Watch that mouth. It's gotten you in nothing but trouble." I reminded her. "Anyway, what does me giving Fang blood have anything to do with this?" my voice demanded.

"Well, your DNA kind of combined. You know that's the reason he flies as fast as you. So as I passionately kissed him…" she began. Passionately kissed him? Okay, can I puke now? "I sucked a little blood out of him with a syringe. Of course, he didn't notice because he was so into me at the moment." She smirked. It was unbelievable she was living her last minutes and was still determined to make me feel bad. "I think you know the rest of the process. Of course, you may think a day's not enough to grow wings these big… and beautiful wings, but Jeb and his fellow white coats just get better and better, Max. With some genetic engineering here and there, these beauties were ready in no time." Brigid said in a melodious voice and wiped some dust off her wings. This was almost shocking. Not the whole experiment Jeb did, or his betrayal or Brigid's, but Fang's naïveté. He's probably the last one in the flock to fall for such a thing. Or such a traitor. And by the way, why the h did Jeb want Brigid to have wings? If he came up with his It was a test, Max. Life's a test crap, I would kick his behind so bad. This is so, so weird. I would find that out eventually. But right now, the redhead was getting pretty heavy. I shrugged. Oh well, back to business. "'Kay… thanks!" I said to Brigid, and as I did, I began to let her slip from my arms. She began to squeal and beg for me to not let her drop.

"No! Wait! Max, Max, wait!" Fang yelled from about six meters above. What now? I thought. He could not possibly want to save her… right? Fang pulled Brigid away from my arms. I was about to yell at him, extremely angry. "Oh, thanks Fang! I knew you liked me better. You'd never let me down, sweetie." Brigid said to him. Fang chuckled. "I wouldn't have said that if I were you," He said to Brigid, and let her drop straight to the ground. He looked at me and smiled. "That felt great," he said.