Yay it's chapter 6! It was about 4 pages when I wrote this in my notebook. And I write small too haha.

I kinda like this chapter. It goes more in depth with Aero but... I really liked chapter 5... fight scenes. I had a hard time coming up with a chapter title...

That's all. so Happy Reading.

Chapter 6

"Careful," I said as Aero, Iggy, and I hoisted Fang up. We tried to get him in position to sit up against the tree, but his body was limp as a rag. I knew he was probably half faking it. He was just being lazy.

Aero gave him quite a beating, but his wounds didn't go past bruises and aching muscles. Fang would be better in no time thanks to our regenerating bird genes. I was going to check Aero for injuries, but she seemed fine which I found unusual.

"Stop babying me," Fang groaned. "I'll be fine." He let out some coughs between his short sentences.

I ignored him and pulled up his sleeves to let Iggy examine the damage.

Now, it was time to get down to business. I turned my attention to Aero. She looked surprised and almost a bit frightened. "I-I'm sorry," she apologized. "I didn't know how much power I was using. If Fang has any serious injuries, I'll take responsibility for it all. I'll do everything I can."

Wait a sec. An alarm went off in my head.

"How do you know his name?" I asked. "Come to think of it, how do you even know my name?" I started to recall when my headache hit me and how Aero called me before I blacked out. But during the whole time we were talking to each other, we hadn't told her our names, except for Nudge. We hadn't had a proper introduction due to all the craziness.

"Please, don't jump to conclusions," she said. "I'll let you know whatever else you want to know."

A lump formed in my throat and I couldn't force any words out. So Aero saw it as an opportunity to speak. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fang open one eyelid to watch.

"While I was at the School," Aero began. "The whitecoats talked about you guys a lot since you were the first winged experiments. I didn't understand everything they said though. It was like a different language or code. Plus, all the morphine they put in me fought against my consciousness. The way they talked about the mutants, they used numbers and letters, not normal names. Except— " she paused and lightly touched a place on her side, trying to be quiet about it.

"I don't mean to cut in," I said. "But are you okay? You're not hurt or—"

Aero seemed to wince at something I had said, but shook her head hastily. "No, I'm fine.

"Well, like I was saying," she continued as if nothing had happened. "The whitecoats called mutants by numbers and letters. Except for Jeb Batchelder. He told me directly a lot of things about your group. He seemed to love to talk to me about you, Max. He'd always tell me about living with you guys and growing up like a family. Jeb described you all to me in so much detail and expression, my mind started to feel a little hope to escape from the School and it's environment. The School . . . I felt like I could die every time I woke up from being tested on."

By now, everyone was listening to Aero weave a tale of pain and loneliness that we all knew so well. The flock could really relate. I think I saw Nudge wipe her eyes.

"Unfortunately, before I could escape to find you, they packed me up and moved me to a place I didn't recognize," Aero picked up where she left off. "That was the Institute they took me to. They had transported me and some of the other mutants there in the dark so we couldn't see where we ended up. Luckily, the Institute was the database for most of the School's files. They didn't have the best of security so it was really easy to break in, especially with Owl at my side. I looked up everything I could find about your flock. And some info on my origins while I was at it. A couple nights after, I planned an escape route with Owl, but before I could go out to find you, you found me."

I felt a little more reassured and again, very sympathetic. Decisions are best made now, said my Voice, deciding to take a rare visiting day.

Hey, Voice, I thought to myself. Long time, no hear. I hadn't made it official yet. I needed to decide whether Aero should join the flock or . . . Just leave her after she tried so hard to find us? It didn't seem right. And no way was I going to abandon a fellow bird-kid.

"Alright, Aero," I said. "The offer still stands. Do you still want to join our little family?"

Aero blinked. "You were serious about that?"

Gazzy stifled a chuckle.

"Um . . . ," I stuttered. "Yeah. We genuinely want you on the team."

Iggy nodded in agreement and the kids showed their approval through happy faces. Fang just shrugged.

Aero dipped her head down, thinking it over. I was afraid she would reject. Then, a big grin grew across her face. "Of course!" she cried.

"Alright!" Nudge exclaimed with joy. "Another big sister! Now we outnumber the guys!" She threw her arms around Aero's neck, making her fall backwards.

"Hey come on," said the Gasman. "Don't strangle a new recruit before she even does anything." He grabbed her arm as she got up.

Aero laughed. "In return, I promise, I'll tell you everything you want to know about the School, your files, everything."

"Well, we've been through the database," I explained. "So we probably know the same amount of information." Besides, I had a secret weapon just in case. A certain little psycho mind-reader/hypnotizer.

I turned to face Angel, but she had a worried look on her face. My instincts kicked in.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" I asked her, kneeling down.

Angel twiddled with her thumbs and wouldn't look me in the eye. She looked like she was trying to avoid the subject.

"Max . . . ," she finally said in almost a whisper. "I can't read her mind."

A pang went through my head. I rubbed Angel's shoulder to comfort her. "What do you mean, Angel?"

"Well . . . ," she hesitated. "It's just her mind, ya know. I can still read yours and Iggy's and Fang's and everyone's, just not Aero's."

It was like a roller coaster. Ups and downs and all arounds. Just when we got up to the top, we go rocketing down again. But I had made up my mind and I had to stick with it. Whatever happens from here on out, I'll deal with it for my flock. I decided to keep my eye on Aero for now.

"It's okay, sweetie," I said in a hushed voice to Angel. "Don't worry about it."

I looked over to the tree and saw Fang getting up. "Hold on," I warned him. "You need to rest—"

Without a word, Fang pulled up his sleeves. Most of his bruises had faded to almost nothing and the color in his skin started to return. "Happy?"

My face turned a bit red. "Okay then," I said, grabbing Angel's tiny hand. "Let's get going."

"Where're we off to now?" asked Iggy as Angel, Fang and I approached.

"Disney World!" all the kids yelled in unison.

"Disney World?" Aero said, confused.

"Long story," I said with a laugh. "We're in Florida right? What do ya say?"

Everyone waited for the new member's response. Aero looked around at everyone, then shrugged. "Never been to Disney World."

"Neither have we," Iggy smirked.

"Let's go already," Fang complained, letting his wings unfurl. If I didn't know any better, I'd have thought he was actually eager to go to Disney World, in his own discreet way, of course.

Fang took off first and everyone else followed. I made sure everyone went before me in a safe formation. As I turned around to check for anyone left behind me, I felt a strange presence. It lasted for barely a second, but like the drop of a pin, I felt it echo silently through my ears. My head quickly reacted and swivelled around, only to see the six familiar figures flying in the sky. Nothing strange. Maybe it was just my imagination.

Yeah, right.

I opened my wings and took off after the flock, flying behind Aero. I noticed the color in her skin and eyes were fading and her flight wasn't as smooth as it was in her battle with Fang.

"Aero, you feeling all right?" I asked, concerned.

She blinked drowsily, eyes fighting to stay awake. She looked nauseous. "Ye-yeah," she barely said. "Just . . . just . . . kinda tired."

This wasn't good. She needed to get to the ground. This wasn't being "just tired".

"Hey," I told her. "Let me help you. You're in no condition to fly. I'll get Fang over here and—"

Aero mumbled a reply I couldn't understand. Then, the next thing I knew, her body went completely limp and her wings caved.

Read and Review please. Very very appreciative of those who do. Every comment counts and yes, I do read all of them. I hope that one day, AR will be one of those fics that like, 50 people comment on every time I write a chapter -bricked- but yeah. Only 8 reviews so far though that's plenty more than any of my other stories has ever gotten. Maybe that's progress... Btw, thanks Kori.

-E-Kuririn