A/N: Since there's some confusion on the other Flock's emotions, let me clear that up. They know the Flock better than themselves, correct. But that doesn't mean they have no emotions themselves. Try picturing normal hybrids enhanced by Itex to a super-superhuman/avian level. Then take that to the level of where they were taught to hate and kill a specific group. The others feel emotions, but BECAUSE they were basically engineered to kill Max and Co, they understand the Flock a lot better than themselves.

Iggy POV

I grunted as a red source of heat entered my vision. It was bright and large. Groaning, I sat up and stretched.

"Man, I thought I hated Max waking me up, but now…the sun is really starting to piss me off," I muttered, "Why do you have to be so dang bright and early?"

"Iggy?" moaned Nudge from across the clearing.

"The one and only," I answered her. Nudge was like my little sister, my extremely talkative little sister. Oh well, nothing to be done about that. Except have a stock of duct tape handy. I grinned and Nudge narrowed her eyes as she guessed what I was thinking.

After two milliseconds, Nudge yawned and stretched her small, thin arms. Blinking sleepily, she mumbled, "Why are you up so early? Last time I checked, Max had to scream in your ear before you open at least one eye."

"Sorry, I forgot to tell the sun to wait until 7:00 before rising," I replied with a serious expression.

Nudge laughed, then gasped as she saw Max and Fang's empty spots. She raised her eyebrows at me before squealing and hurrying over to Angel. Always jumping to conclusions, that's Nudge for you. But she's right, I can't help but wonder…

Suddenly, Max and Fang strode into the clearing, their faces calm, but tired. Gazzy stood up and rubbed his eyes, still half asleep.

"Where were you? Did you two admit that you like each other? Are you dating now? That would be so cool because you guys are already like our parents, but if you were actually married you could adopt us, and we could be your kids, and it would be so cool!" blurted Nudge.

Max and Fang both blushed, but the underlying expression on each of their faces were different. Max looked like "oh no, not this again. I DON'T like Fang!" while Fang looked…hopeful? I blanched and stared at my buddy.

Oh man, he likes Max. When did this happen? Why didn't he tell me? Oh, WHY am I ALWAYS the last person to know things?

No one else is surprised by Fang's look. Angel probably read his mind and told Nudge, who told Gazzy. Ugh, I always have to figure it out myself, don't I?

"No, actually we were talking last night about what to do and we kind of forgot to go back to camp. So, you guys ready?" asked Max.

"Yeah!" cheered the Flock. I looked at Fang, not believing Max's explanation for one second. He simply shrugged and sat down, tired. Deciding not to press the subject, I went to start a fire. Someone's gotta make breakfast, and Max just ain't perfecto in that area.

"Hey, Iggy, you don't have to cook. We can eat at some fast-food restaurant," offered Nudge.

Max nodded agreeably and pointed out we were almost of food to cook anyway. I stood up and stretched. I would have preferred to sleep a couple more hours, but hey, with Max here, zero chance.

"So where to?" I asked.

Max shrugged and looked at Fang for suggestions. Lover boy was gazing at her absentmindedly before realizing Max wanted something from him.

He shrugged in response and opened his laptop.

"There's a diner a little ways east from here. We can go restock our food supply at the market next to it and from the looks of it, the area isn't very closed in. We'll have plenty of room to escape if the need arises," offered Fang.

Wow. That was a whole heck of a lot of words for him.

"Feel like talking today?" teased Max. Fang gave her a look (and not an I-love-you look, even though he probably wanted to. It was more like a haha, that's-very-funny look).

Max grinned, then said, "Alright, let's get going to that diner,"

We leaped into the air, just barely above the tree tops, and flew to the diner.

Max POV

Man, I swear, I'm going to die.

The smell of crispy, just-cooked bacon….ooohh I'm getting serious hunger pangs. Besides me, Nudge clutched the railing and moaned.

"Oh, I'm so hungry! That bacon tastes so good! I mean I think it tastes good because I haven't actually ate any, but oh my god! Jeez, that smell is intoxicating me! How much bacon can we afford? Wait, don't you have a card Max? Here I come bacon!" screamed Nudge as she began jumping up and down.

The boys looked like they were introduced to heaven. The waitress appeared after a couple moments. She was short, maybe five feet and four inches, and looked seventeen. Her curly brown hair came to her shoulder and her impish features were delicate-looking. She smiled and said, "Hi, I'm Jenny. How many people?"

"Six," I answered.

She faltered as she looked at us in our ragged clothes. Probably wondering if we were a group of runaways or thieves. Make up your own story, lady, the truth is a heck lot worse.

"Where's your supervisor?" she questioned hesitantly.

"That would be me, now would you give us a table? We're starving! I think you understand this," I said impatiently and held up my Maximum Ride card.

Jenny seemed to ponder about alerting the cops or letting us eat. After a while, she took six menus and smiled.

"Follow me, please"

Leading us through the maze of tables (which were surprisingly empty with no customers), we came to a stop at a large table near the window.

"Let me know when you're ready to order. In the meantime, would you like any drinks?" Jenny asked..

"If you could bring at least two pitchers of water, we'll be fine, thanks," I said without glancing up from the menu.

I imagine Jenny's jaw dropped, but she closed it quickly, recovering from her surprise. Barely able to speak, she nodded and left.

"Try to remain inconspicuous and not like a hybrid freak, ok Max? I'm going to kill you if we get kicked out of this place before having a chance to eat some bacon," said Iggy.

"Talk to Angel. She's the one with the mind powers to make sure we aren't kicked out," I said, "Right, sweetie?" Angel nodded.

I smiled then wrinkled my nose. The room was covered in yellow wallpaper with sunflowers that had that awfully lame warmness to it. That feeling of phony happiness radiated off every single inch of the room. If you like that kind of stuff, well then I'm sorry, but I can NOT stand it.

"Eww!" remarked Nudge as she noticed our surroundings. Fang tapped his foot unhappily with a look of pure discomfort on his face. Nudge stuck out her tongue and Gazzy made a choking noise.

"Ok, if not for the bacon, I would say let's run. Somebody has really bad decorating taste," Iggy announced.

"No duh," I said, "Thank you for stating the obvious."

"You're welcome," replied Iggy contently.

"Should I get the steak or the eggs?" asked Fang suddenly.

I blinked, then realized he was staring at his menu, tapping his foot as he pondered what to order.

"Whichever one has bacon on the side," Iggy suggested.

"They both do, in fact I don't think anything on the menu doesn't have bacon on the side,"

"Really? Wow, that's just…wow," I said.

"Your point? As far as I'm concerned, that's good. There's no freaking way you can't have bacon!" exclaimed Iggy.

I blinked. "There's no freaking way you can't have bacon!". That statement sounded wrong. Call me paranoid, but what if the bacon's mixed with some sleeping powder or something?

Fang sensed my unease and glanced at me. I frowned and sent him a doesn't-this-sound-suspicious look. He nodded and looked around him. Jenny hadn't come back yet…

I stood up and peered out the window. Numbers flashed before my eyes and a small beeping sound grew steadily louder and faster. Aren't we just so popular?

5…4….3….2…

Turning around, I shoved Angel and Gazzy under the table as I took cover myself.

"Everyone, DOWN!" I yelled.

The explosion that followed practically burst my eardrums. A bright light encased the room and heat filled the air. Right after the initial explosion, a shockwave followed and I could hear electricity wires fizzling and orange sparks of electricity flying. Smoke hissed around the room. Pieces of the ceiling came crashing down. Suddenly silence exploded into my ears. The explosion was over. I coughed and scrambled to my feet.

"Report!" I called out hoarsely.

Silence.

Panic rose in my chest, but I fought it down. I coughed again. That smoke is really getting to me. Note to self: Those mouth-mask doctors use while performing surgery would be a good thing to have. Next time I'm in an explosion, which is likely to be sometime soon, I won't be inhaling smoke and maybe getting lung cancer.

Stumbling through the mountain of debris around me, I coughed and yelled louder, "Report!"

From a corner of the room, under a charred wooden table top, a small voice replied, "I'm okay."

I sighed with relief and began trudging toward my little soldier.

"Hold on, Gazzy, I'll get the table off you," I said soothingly.

Within a few seconds, an ash-covered Gazzy stumbled up and sneezed.

"Wow! That was one freaking awesome bomb!" he exclaimed hoarsely. I rolled my eyes and ruffled his hair. Dust flew into the air and I coughed. This kid is one big dust-magnet. I waved my hand to clear the air and blinked several times. Stinging tears slid down my face, which I imagine to be pretty blackened.

"Did you see Nudge?" I asked.

"Right here! Max! Can you get me out of here?" squeaked a little voice from the corner of the room where a large ceiling piece and two blackened table legs lay collapsed over a small figure.

Alarms went off in my head, but I tried to remain calm.

"Ok, Nudge, try not to move anything. How'd this happen?" I muttered as I jumped over a wooden beam and walked over to her.

"Don't know, but could you hurry, Max? My arm hurts…" trailed off Nudge. She was crouching, her arm at an unusual angle. Blood dripped down slowly from her arm and fell to the floor.

Gazzy sucked in his breath and I tried my best to suppress a cry of fear. Hurrying over, I flung away the two table legs and slowly lifted the ceiling piece off of Nudge. Nudge groaned and hissed sharply

"Ow. Max, is my arm broken?" she asked quietly. I stroked her hair and gently settled Nudge into my lap.

"I think so, baby, but it doesn't look bad. We'll fix it, don't worry. Does it hurt?" I whispered softly.

"Kind of…I feel lightheaded and woozy. Hehehe, that's a funny word, woozy," mumbled Nudge. Her face was covered in dirt and her eyes were closed. I wiped away the blood using my sleeve.

"Gazzy, watch over Nudge, ok? I have to find everyone else. I'll be right back," I said, my voice seemingly confident. Gazzy nodded, his tough exterior kicking into action already. I gently set Nudge into Gazzy's arms. He then looked up, steely determination written all over his face. I smiled encouragingly and began searching for Angel.