MR Chapter... 7? Yeah lol. Sorry for the rather... long long long long... long hold up haha. It's not dead. No matter how long I'm gone, it's not dead. I'll finish this. I promised I would.

Being the lucky number 7 chapter, I made this in Aero's POV :) I'll be switching POVs throughout the book to keep things interesting. You'll mainly see things in Max or Aero's eyes so it doesn't get too confusing. I hope people like this idea

DOUBLE O SEVEN FTW!

Remember, written in Aero's Point of View!
Happy Reading :) now known as iyagi

Chapter 7
in Aero's POV

The last thing I remember was trying to take off, flying with Max and her family to Disneyworld. After searching for so long, I had finally found them. But the next thing I knew, things went completely black in no time at all. I felt myself still in the air and my eyes opened groggily. I was facing upward, looking up into the endless sky. It was so nice and peaceful. Wait, how was I flying? A sprinkle of fresh water brushed my face. Under me, I realized I was above a body of water. Still wondering how in the world I was still afloat, I looked in front of me and saw Iggy's pure white wings, his arms held onto my legs. Behind me, Fang held onto my arms.

"Sleeping Beauty's awake," I heard him say with no expression. He signaled to Iggy with a whistle.

"Alley-oop!" was his reply as he quickly let go of my legs.

"Whoa!" I cried. I was afraid I was going to fall since Fang didn't have such a good grip on my arms.

To my surprise, he immediately slipped his arm under my knees and held onto me as he flew.

"I can fly, ya know," I said with disapproval.

"Can't fly when you're hurt," Fang simply responded. He nodded to my side where I had hidden my wound.

"Oh...," I murmured.

They had wrapped my waist in bandages around the large cut on my side. I felt a bit guilty being such a burden and not telling them that I was injured. I thought I'd be able to sustain the injury a little longer, long enough for us to get into a town or something so I could say, "Hey, mind if we pick up some first-aid while we're here?" I laughed in my head at the thought.

"You bled a lot," said Fang. "We almost thought of taking you to a hospital."

I cringed. A hospital. The worst place a bird kid could be. "Thanks for changing your mind," I said with gratitude.

I then heard a fluttering of wings as Max, Iggy, and the kids approached. "Feeling better?" Max asked with that motherly glow in her eyes.

"Yeah," I nodded. "Much."

"Well," she began to say. "You're not off the hook yet. We've still got some questions for you."

I nodded once again. "I understand. I'd be suspicious too, if I were you." I was just glad they didn't leave me out in the cold for all my efforts to be wasted.

"You scared us there for a minute," Nudge told me, flying a bit closer.

I smiled. "I'm okay now, promise."

As if reading my mind, Fang loosened his grip on me and let me fly on my own again. We automatically got into a triangle formation as if by instinct. Ha. We really were bird kids.

"So...," Iggy said as he brushed his wing against mine. "Where did that cut come from?" I turned to him and saw that his face was stone, even though his words were trying to sound casual. Everyone kind of tensed up. Even me. My throat went a bit dry and I swallowed trying to talk.

"It's... uh...," I started, but couldn't put the words together.

"It's not from your fight with Fang, is it?" Iggy said it like it was rehearsed. Like he already knew, he just wanted me to say it outloud to prove it.

I shook my head in silence. But he couldn't see that. What should I say?

"I may be blind, but I know," he continued. "It wasn't an Eraser either. An Eraser may be strong, but one could never do something like that."

I didn't want any more trouble. It wasn't safe. At least not now. They had enough on their plates. I come here and just end up causing trouble for them. I should've never even gone looking in the first place. I tried to face the other way, not look any of them in the eye. I knew I was just making it more obvious.

"Go ahead," said Max as she came up next to me. "Tell us."

I did promise I would tell them anything they wanted to know, but was it the right time?

"It's too dangerous," I blurted out.

"Aero," Max firmly put her hand on my shoulder. "You gotta remember, we're in this all together. And 'dangerous'? 'Dangerous' is our game! And we've got to look out for each other. We're all in the same situation here, we have to be on the same level if we want to get through all this."

Max knew just what to say. They were sincere and just wanted information, but the least I could do was protect them. However, it slipped out.

"Iggy was right. It wasn't Erasers," I confessed in anguish. "It's a new hybrid. A new hybrid the whitecoats are testing out."

In a fight with the new hybrids? Not a pretty sight. This could be the best work the whitecoats had ever done as enemies for us. They're ruthless creatures and don't care what gets in the way even if it's their own kind. They're a lot stonger and faster than the Erasers with carving-sharp claws to match. Not only that, but they're plenty smarter.

"What kind?" asked Fang.

I looked at him and saw his eyes grow with anger and sadness. I didn't want to tell them anymore. I didn't want to upset anyone anymore than I already had. What was I thinking? But they deserved to know.

"Felinis," I answered. "Cat hybrids. They call them Executioners."

It made sense. Cats are predators to birds as the old tale goes. And cats are stealthy, clever, and cunning. The Erasers were like cream pie compared to them.

"I knew it," Iggy choked. I was surprised that his comments stopped there.

Everyone was a little quieter now. Nothing came to the eardrums except for a seagull cawing every now and again. They were letting it sink in that things had just gotten worse and their messed-up life was just screwing them over again. I regretted this whole moment. There was nothing else I wanted than to take everything I said back.

"Hey, how about we take a break?" Max finally suggested. "We'll talk it over."

Everybody followed in a dead silent formation. I wasn't sure what to say. I kept my distance from the rest of the flock, feeling as if they didn't want me there. I felt like such an outcast. A hindrance to them.

Most of the flock retracted their wings, but I kept mine out to give them some air.

"Lighten up, everyone," I heard Nudge say. "We'll kick their butts, right?"

Max ruffled her curly, bouncy hair. "Yeah, we will." She decided to change the subject, making the atmosphere less tense. "I think I remember our code names. A bunch of letters and numbers, in weird patterns." She faced me and nodded me to join into the conversation. I blinked and nodded quietly, inching towards the group that had sat down in a little pow-wow circle.

"I remember what order we came in," Max went on as I uneasily sat down next to her. She pointed to herself and counted off the numbers. "I was one, Fang was two, Iggy was three, Nudge was four, Gazzy was five, Angel was six... and..." she changed her gaze to me. "Do you remember any of the codes, Aero?"

I shyly looked up. The faces I saw looked comforting, not like they were angry. I loosened up a bit and Max smiled at me reassuringly. "I remember Owl and I came after you guys. She was number eight. Then I guess I would be..."

"Lucky number seven," Iggy finished for me with a grin.

"Uh, yeah," I agreed. Things were calmer now and friendlier, less tense. We had started to talk about our pasts and the files we found at the Institute. How we hoped to find our parents one day and how they had come so close to finding Nudge's. The flock told me about their countless thrilling adventures, where they had lived before, life along the East Coast, kicking major Eraser butt. I even laughed at some points. Who knew that they would be so accepting of me? It really felt like we were a big family now. A family where I finally fit in. I couldn't wait to find Owl and bring her to Max and the others.

Before we knew it, the sun had set, so we decided to set up camp. Fang and Iggy found themselves a spot under the trees and sat down to rest, leaving me and Max to make sure the younger kids calmed down to go to sleep.

"Men," Max said sarcastically. "Always leaving the dirty work to the women when they can't handle it." I laughed and agreed.

Finally, everything was set up. We had a small fire in the middle of our little circle and the kids were off to see the Sandman.

"I'll take the first watch," offered Max.

"No, wait!" I protested. "You rest, I'll take the first watch."

"You're in more need of rest than me," she replied with concern. "Your wound will take time to heal. Besides, what if something comes to attack you?"

I didn't budge. "If Execs come, I'll know how to handle them. And I promise, if anything happens, I'll let you know immediately."

Max looked hesitant, but finally gave in. She sighed and agreed. "Fine. I'll take the next shift in a little while, okay? Don't wear yourself out."

"I'll be fine," I assured her.

Max kept her eye on me as she bundled her sweater into a pillow. I pretended to act like I didn't know she was watching me, throwing a twig into the small fire. I knew she wasn't only concerned about my safety. It would take some time to fully earn their trust. And I guess I can't blame them.

Hours passed as everyone slept. I could hear the flock's steady breathing. Gazzy was snoring. I didn't even feel tired, so I decided to let Max sleep, doing some overtime. Taking care of five --- well, six since I joined --- people was a lot of tough work. There was no way I could ever do that. Most of the mutants I looked after were animals, pets. Not humans.

Suddenly, I heard a voice say, "Aero!" A very familiar voice. A furry black figure emerged from behind Angel, it's tiny dark eyes stared at me with friendliness. Then, I recognized them.

"Total!" I cried, holding my arms out to hug him. He barked in reply. "Woof! Ha ha."

Total ran up to me and licked my face like a dog bone. Ew. There was one thing I didn't miss about him. "I know you can talk," I said referring to his fake bark. "Did you think I'd forget so easily?"

I pet him to get him to stay quiet. What a talkative little pup. "People are sleeping here," I warned him. "I guess Max helped you escape from the Institute too, eh?"

Total bobbed his head up and down enthusiastically. I saw his expression change from happy to downright frightened. He scrambled in my arms in panic.

"Total!" I scolded. "Stop that! What's wrong?"

"The tree! Aero, the tree!" was all he could say. "Behind you!"

I heard a familiar snarl and my hear skipped a beat. My pulse quickened and sweat beaded my forehead. I stayed perfectly still, as if that would make me disappear so they couldn't see me. They found us.

"It's been too long, Aero," Ari growled.

Heey :) I updated! celebrate and rejoice, all!

I've been doing alot of stuff, so sorry for not updating. I hope I still have some readers and more people will start reading this I'll get chapter 8 up tomorrow and such. Oh and here's a picture of Aero so you can kind of get a good idea what she looks like.

http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/5923/aerofv7.jpg

She's wearing the Academy uniform. The clovers will be explained later. Drawn in the notebook I write the fanfic in. I'll post more art and such later C: I wanted to draw a fanmanga for MR based on my fanfic. I dunno when that will happen. I've been drawing character sketches though.

Thanks for reading
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