Me: hello. Umm, got nothing much to say, so...ON WITH THE CHAPTER!

Max POV

Angel was the first to speak up.

"What are we gonna do now Max? I mean, we need to get rid of the hunter, and save the world from the re-formed Itex, but what do we do to get there?"

"Unfortunately, we're going to have to see the one person who I wanted the hunter to kill. The one person more cryptic and annoying than the voice. The one person who I despise and harbour deep loathing towards..." I trailed off.

"What does that mean?" Nudge asked.

I paused. "I have no idea. I heard it in a movie once, I think..."

"Ok, I'm not a privy to the flock's list of evil mad scientists list, so can you tell me who it is?" Ella said.

Fang smirked. "Her father," he answered her.

"Oh. I mean, your dad can't be that bad, right?" Ella asked. I rolled my eyes. Surely she knew this!

"Ella sweety," mom said, "Her father is Jeb."

"Oh...so I guess he is that bad then."

"C'mon guys, we got to get moving before she tracks us here," I commanded. My flock stepped out into the now pouring rain.

"Bye mom, Ella," I said hugging them.

"Max, who was that little girl you buried?" mom asked. Tears clouded my vision for a moment.

"I'll tell you when I get back."

The voice had told us where to go, so now, I was standing on a beautiful porch, that was part of a beautiful house, where I was just about to knock on the beautiful front door. I guess Jeb had to have the best of everything when he retired.

"C'mon Max, the door's not going to bite you," Nudge said. I took a deep breath, then knocked.

It took about thirty seconds before someone came to the door, and the person who opened it was the last person I expected to see here.

"Good afternoon Max," Bridget said. I raised an eyebrow.

"Is Jeb home? I need to see him," I said.

"Yes, right this way," Bridget said, leading us into the house. We passed bedrooms, studies, a kitchen, dining rooms and an indoor pool. We stopped in the living room.

"Ah, hello again Maximum. Bridget, leave us," he said sternly to Dr Amazing, and she- curtsied? Okay, the world has gone upside down, and the apocalypse turned out to be caused by pink fluffy bunnies. It's odd my mind can still be it's crazy self when I'm in mourning.

"I was expecting your return, and I see you freed your flock. You haven't aged a day since I last saw you," Jeb said.

"Unfortunately, I can't say the same to you," I shot back, with a little grin. However, Jeb was frowning.

"That is odd. Because of your bird genes, you normally appear years older than your actual age. I was afraid this might happen," Jeb sighed.

"Afraid what might happen?" Iggy asked. Jeb gestured towards the seats, so we sat before he resumed explaining.

"When Fang left the flock, you were sixteen-"

"Sixteen?" I asked. Ok, so we lost track of time while we were on the run, but we surely hadn't lost a whole year?

"Yes, Sixteen. When I left, you just turned seventeen. It's been three years since then." Whoa, I'm not even a teen anymore? Now that's a scary thought.

"Please continue," Fang drawled.

"Well, yes. You, Fang and Iggy do not look a day older than seventeen. Which is odd, as I explained earlier, because your bird genes stimulate your growth in such a way, that you appear to age and grow faster. But now, Your genes seemed to have stemmed the growing and age completely. You cannot grow, change, or age."

"So we're..." Angel whispered.

"Immortal," I finished, looking at Jeb. Fang, Iggy and I were frozen forever at seventeen. I have no idea about Dylan, and Angel, Gazzy and Nudge still have a little growing left.

"So we could, like, blow ourselves up and we'll come out okay? Cool," Gazzy cheered.

"Immortal and indestructible are two very different things, Gazzy. You may not die of old age, but you could still be killed by a bullet wound or a bomb," Jeb explained.

There was silence while the flock digested this new information. I suddenly felt very old. Like one of those old ladies who live in the retirement village. I mean, the great Maximum Ride is twenty! And no longer a teenager!

Angel giggled, and everyone looked at her. "Just Max's inner rant on being an old woman. Don't worry Max, you're only twenty, not fifty," she answered everyone's unspoken question. Iggy and Gazzy laughed at me. But what Angel had said...fifty.

"Angel, you're going to give this old woman a heart-attack some day!" I yelled at her. Everyone burst out laughing and I glared at them

"So what did you come here to originally discuss?" Jeb asked calmly, while the others continued on laughing.

"What do we do next?" I asked him. He raised an eyebrow.

"Why don't you ask that voice of yours?" he asked.

"I'm too scared," I said seriously.

"Ok then. The world has long forgotten the great Maximum Ride and her infamous flock. Nowadays, you're not even a bedtime story. Which, I might add, is a good thing. You need to stop the reformed Itex- now called Britt Maxicom-without paparazzi stalking your every move. You've been gone a long time. We don't even have a president anymore- we have a CEO. Britt Maxicom did what Itex failed to do: take over. Now all they need to do is eliminate all the useless civilians."

"So what do you suggest we do?" I asked.

"First, you must let them know that they're not as safe as they thought themselves to be. Let the world know that the great Maximum Ride is back, badder than ever. Now, I don't mean do a TV interview, just let someone catch footage of you beating up some Maxicom goons. Next, you need to find out more about this experiment. The one with the bat wings, I assume you know her?"

"Hell yeah," I mumbled.

"Very well then. Once you have earned back your reputation, come back here to get more instructions."

"You know Jeb, you sound like you've taken down a big company who wants to end the world before," I said.

He grinned at me and said "Who says I haven't?"

Me: I know it's a little mean leaving you hanging there, but I think you'll get over it

Dylan: what if we don't?

Me: ...I don't know. Anyway, I want you to meet a friend of mine!

Dylan: it's not a gun is it?

Me: he's not a gun!

Dylan: oh, so he's human...phew

Me: well, not exactly

Skullduggery: hey ghost!

Me: hiya Skul. So watcha up to lately? Figured out that the evil Valkyrie isn't actually Valkyrie but her stupid reflection yet?

Skullduggery: ...umm, no. I never thought of that actually. Which, is quite surprising, ecause I think of a lot of things, and most of them tend to be right.

Dylan: ...you're a skeleton

Skullduggery: a skeleton detective

Me: oh don't mind Dylan, he's very slow

Skullduggery: any reason why I'm here? I don't mind the nice chat but...I've got a real Valkyrie to find and a reflection to murder...again.

Me: oh yes. You see, I'm currently writing out our crossover with our wonderful Skullduggery in it. It will be released in the new year, or even possibly as a Christmas present.

Skullduggery: excellent. Now, if you don't mind, can you please hit that little button that says review?