Max POV

I don't know how I heard it, or how I even knew where it was coming from, but I did. The thought of the bird-kid was clearly sent to me. And it was clear what they intended to do.

But I don't think she knew who I was or what I was for that matter.

I saw the two of them in a clear and ready fighting stance. Then two seconds later they were launching themselves through the air. The girl's hit was solid and painful. She was determined and ready to kill, that much was obvious from just one blow to the stomach.

I swung back and it connected with her chin, but she didn't back off like most mutants would. She let out a cat-like roar and tackled me to the floor. She started to straddle my waist, but I arched my back meaning to throw her off.

But she held on. She was tougher than any mutant or robot I had encountered yet!

She punched me in the mouth and I could taste blood. I spit it out and the girl seemed to freeze suddenly. I didn't understand and the sudden look of absolute shock on her face made me freeze as well.

"Dax." The girl called quietly. "Do you smell it?"

"Smell what?" The boy yelled back.

I could hear Fang and the boy fighting but I couldn't see who was winning. I started to struggle against the girl, but then she let me up willingly. I saw Fang on the ground trying to avoid the other boy's punches without much luck.

"Stop, Dax, their not a threat." The girl said.

Dax turned to glare at her. She gave him a sarcastic look and waved her hand at him, as if they were having some silent conversation. I went to Fang and checked out his wounds.

"Hey!" The girl shouted at Dax. She reminded me of someone familiar but I couldn't quite put my finger on who it was. She had long hair just a shade darker than mine, she was shorter than me, and her essence, the aura around her was something I felt I should recognize but couldn't.

The girl turned to us. "Are you or are you not from the school in Death Valley?"

I looked at Fang. It was obvious that these two were the mutants that Jeb had talked about but should we tell them about us? I wasn't sure but it seemed like we could trust the girl, even if she had just tried to kill us.

But before I could answer the girl spoke again, but this time to Dax. "You can smell it in their blood, the avian DNA isn't that hard to detect. Why can't you just except the fact that we can trust them?"

"How do you know?" I asked.

The girl raised an eyebrow. "Well, if you screw us over I'll kill you." She shrugged. "But until then we need help and you seem to be here for a reason and I'm guessing that reason is us, so let's go."

Fang and I exchanged looks. This girl definitely reminded me of someone.

I shrugged. "Go wake up the flock."

Fang's eyes were unreadable but I could tell that he didn't like this idea. I didn't feel all that great about it either but we were sent out here to find the escaped mutants, and now we had. This means mission accomplished, we can take them to Jeb and he can take them where ever they needed to go to be safe.

Fang walked off, pushing rudely passed Dax, who snarled in return. The girl smacked Dax in the back of his head and they glared at each other for a few seconds.

"Go check outside for more Nikes." The girl told Dax. He didn't stop glaring but he did as she told him, after he was gone she turned to me and we eyed each other suspiciously. "I'm Alex."

"I'm Max." I said. "What are Nikes?"

"The new and improved Erasers." Alex explained. "How many are in your flock?"

"Six. Seven if you count the dog."

"Dog?" She smiled slightly. "He doesn't talk, does he?"

I blinked in surprise. "Well, yeah, but how did you know that?"

Alex started laughing. "You found Total?"

I stared at her in shock. "You know Total? How?"

"He was created in Cali. But they moved him to New York for some experiment. Then he never came back. We had heard rumors that he was set free along with the other mutant freaks but we never knew for sure." She laughed. "Is he still quoting Shakespeare?"

I couldn't help but laugh. "Ever since he met Akila."

"Let me guess, a malamute?"

The two of us burst into laughter again. When Dax, Fang, and the rest of the flock came in they stared at us in a way that made Alex and I laugh even harder. It was weird the way we went from fighting to the death to laughing our guts out but what can I say? It was funny.