Chapter 29 – From the Top

Iggy POV

"Look after Max." Nudge whispered in my ear, as she hugged my tightly. "I don't trust him."

"Nothings going to happen, Nudge." I whispered back. "You don't need to do this."

"Yeah, I do." She said simply, and broke off from me. Instantly, I felt someone else grab a hold of me.

"I'll miss you Iggy." Angel sobbed into my shoulder.

"Hey hey, it's okay. We'll see each other soon; nothing can keep the flock apart for long." I reassured her. "You know, if something happens, you just call. Doesn't matter how far away you are, I know you can find us."

"Okay." She said quietly, and then she broke off from me too.

And before I knew, it, they were gone, Max having gone after them for one final goodbye. I listened to their wing beats get quieter and farther, straining to here them for as long as I could.

"Max." I heard Will speak. "I'm Sorry. I'm rea-"

"Shut up!" Max cut him off. "This is your... ...If you had just..." She broke off.

""I want to know everything! I want to know, everything they told you at the facility, everything they wanted you to do. I want to know exactly what happened to you while you were gone. I want to know why you wouldn't use your powers in the fight over the channel. I want to know everything! And I want to know now."

There was silence, except for the harsh breathing of max, who was obviously frustrated. "To be honest Will, so do I." I said to him bluntly. "You owe us as much."

"Okay." Will said, and took a deep breath. "When we were captured, at The Facility, they kept me locked up, in a sort of bunker. It had a wall they could see me through, and talk to me. They kept asking me questions, about my mission, and my objectives, what the plan was. I still don't know for sure what they meant, but I think I was meant to try to split up the flock from the start, from when I first met you. But I Didn't. It probably has something to do with me not remembering anything before I met you."

"So, after a week or so of these questions, I got sick of it, and tried to escape. Well I got as far as the corridor before... I don't know I can't remember that either. But next thing I knew, I was back in the cell. I started to learn to control my powers, hoping to escape again. Then they bought Emily down to see me, with Ari. He said, if I ever wanted to see her alive again, I'd have to split up the flock."

"I had to agree. You know that don't you Max? You know I couldn't let them hurt Emily?" he seemed to ask Max, but she just sighed.

"Just keep talking Will." She said simply.

"Okay, so we set up a fake escape. They knew Gazzy and Iggy were coming, so we waited until they arrived, and they sent me out to lure them in. Everyone was where they needed to be, and was woken up at the right time, for everything to fall in place."

"So the bodies, and the fights. None of it was real?" Max asked.

"Everything down to the blood on my hands was set up. They were even watching Iggy in the cottage." Will explained.

I felt my cheeks blush when he said that. It wasn't comforting to know that they had seen my tantrum in the cottage.

"You know everything else up until I went home. I went to the police station, after I saw a news article about mine and Emily's kidnapping. Back when it happened, it was pretty big news; there was an international search for us and everything." Will continued. "There was a media frenzy when we came back. I claimed I couldn't remember anything, except for a few days before, when I stuck with a group of homeless kids in Birmingham. They kept asking me if I was one of the Bird Kids. You know about the Bird Kids thing yeah? How the newspapers were reporting on you?"

"Yeah we heard." I said. "Had to keep a low profile for ages, get public transport and everything. It sucked. I guess we kind of blew our cover in London though."

"Yeah, well I told them nothing. And they had to believe me. So my parents were fine, we were fine, and life almost went back to normal, except for the fact people kept recognising me on the street. Until I woke up one night, hearing screaming." Will said darkly.

"I went downstairs and... And Ari was there, with Jeb... And they had my parents..." Will broke off, breathing heavily. I heard him sniff his nose. "And they said, they were there, to punish me. And that I still had to complete my mission. And then they killed them." He said, through his teeth. "They killed them. Right in front of me. For no reason. My mum was pregnant, and he just..."

We were all silent; all I could hear was Will's strained breaths. That must have been what Angel had seen on the cliff, why Will was so wiped, saying not to make him remember.

"Will?" Max said softly breaking the silence. "You need to keep going. What happened next?"

Max POV

"They killed them. Right in front of me. For no reason." Will said looking out at the trees, tears in his eyes. "My Mum was pregnant, and he just..."

I put my hand to my mouth, shocked. The Whitecoats had done some terrible things before, but this was certainly one of the worst. No wonder Will had come to us.

"Will?" I said, putting my hand on his knee comfortingly. "You need to keep going. What happened next?"

He took a deep breath through his nose, with his jaw clenched, and looked straight into my eyes. "I tried to kill them." He said simply. "But I couldn't do it. I was so close to killing Ari, but the anger, and the power... It was too much. I couldn't do it."

"From then I was kind of on Auto Pilot. Packed mine and Emily's stuff and ran. Just flew along the coast. It just seemed kind of right. Next thing I know, I wake up with you guys."

I looked at him, trying to see if there was something he wasn't telling me, but I could tell he was telling the truth, and nodded to show I understood.

"What about the fight?" Iggy asked suddenly. "Why didn't you help? Why didn't you use your powers?"

Will looked over to him and said coldly. "Because I'm not using my powers again, until I see one of them, Ari and Jeb. And when I do, this time, I will kill them." I felt a something twang inside me as he said that. Jeb was my father. As much as I hated him for what he has done for him, I don't think I could ever kill him. Or let someone else kill him.

3 days later we had moved on, and were in the south-west of France, heading towards Spain. We had all gotten pretty sick of flying, and as Emily couldn't fly for long distances at a time, and she'd only let Will carry her, we decided to walk for a bit, through the woodland. Emily kept running ahead and hiding, only to have Iggy sneak up on her, and make her shriek with laughter. I and Will lagged behind, watching them play the game.

"So what do you think their doing? Fang, Nudge and Angel." Will asked me as we trekked along. "Where do you think their going?"

I gave a small laugh and replied, "I honestly couldn't say. Maybe their doing what we're doing. Just going somewhere to relax, and take a break from it all. Somewhere the Whitecoats won't find them. Well if Fang has any sense they will be."

"Does Fang have the sense to do that though?" Will asked me.

"Well, I'd like to think he did. But he was stupid enough to leave us wasn't he..." I trailed off.

"Hey, I just realised, I never thanked you." Will said to me after a few moments of awkward silence.

"Thank me for what?" I frowned.

"For sticking up for me. For choosing me over Fang. You didn't have to do that." Will said looking at the ground, as Emily gave a cry of laughter ahead of us.

"No, it's okay." I said to him, smiling as we stepped over a fallen tree trunk. "Fang was being out of order; I couldn't just stand back and let him act like that. You've got to be stubborn with Fang."

"But still," Will said stopping, and turning to face me. "What you did... You've known Fang you're whole life, and you'd let him leave, for me. It just shows you really care."

I smiled and looked at the ground sheepishly for a second, before looking Will in the eyes, taking hold of his hands comfortingly, and saying, "Well I do care about you Will."

He looked back at me, smiling slightly. Suddenly, it seemed like my mind went onto auto pilot. I gripped Will's hands, moved my head towards his and closed my eyes. Then my lips touched his, and that's when the autopilot turned off. Wait, was I kissing Will?! Then he began kissing me back. He was kissing me back?! I was about to pull out, when I realised I liked it. This is what I wanted wasn't it, what had provoked Fang to leave in the first place. So I pushed my head forward, moving my lips more vigorously.

Suddenly, I heard Emily scream in the distance again, but this time it was a scream of terror rather than laughter. Will broke off from me, letting go of my hands, and stared out into the woods. I somehow managed to stay in the same position as I was, until I heard...

"MAX! WI-!" Iggy shouted urgently from the distance, before being mysteriously cut off mid way.

"EMILY!" Will bellowed.

I found my composure, and got my self moving, shouting "Iggy!" through the trees.

I looked at Will worriedly. "Which way were they?" he asked hurriedly.

"Ummm..." I muttered, trying to strike what had just happened from my head for a few seconds, before pointing to the south-east. "That way."

Will instantly began running to where I pointed, and I stared off at him for a few seconds, before composing myself, and quickly sprinted after him. We ran through the trees as fast as we could, unable to fly because the trees were too close together for our large wings. After about 30 seconds of this, Will came to a halt in an area where the trees lessened.

I stumbled up behind him, slightly out of breath. "Max where are they?!" Will shouted anxiously.

"I don't know!" I cried, scanning the area for any movement, but the trees were still too thick to see very far.

"EMILY!" Will called into the woods. "IGGY!"

"Guys! Where are you!?" I shouted. I heard a slight rustling in the trees above me, and looked up, to see a wolfen figure falling down on top of me.

Will POV

"Guys!" Max shouted, as I scanned the woods around me for any sign of Emily or Iggy. "Where are you!?"

Suddenly, to my left, where Max was standing, there was a loud thud, and a small shriek from Max. I swivelled round, to see an eraser or Flyboy, on top of Max, who was desperately swatting away its claws.

Although I didn't want to use my powers, I was still quite strong as an Avian Human hybrid without them, and I kicked it as hard as I could, causing it to roll off her. I heard a roar above me, and looked up into the tree canopies. I quickly counted 11 of them, no counting the one on the ground. Flyboys, I could tell by their glowing eyes. Before I had time to act, they all leapt off their branches, 2 of them headed straight for me.

I had to dive out of the way, and narrowly avoided being crushed. But before I had time to get up my self, I was pulled up by two of them, both holding onto my arms tightly. I pulled as hard as I could, and kicked at them, but in such close proximity, I couldn't get enough force in my kicks to do any real damage. Another 2 came over, and they pushed me down to the ground roughly, holding me there. I looked over to Max, who was wriggling and writhing, in the same position as me.

Max then looked over to me, worry on her face, and then glanced to my right, and she went wide-eyed, and then stared off angrily. I heard footsteps in the direction she was staring, and then a pair of black shoes walked by me. The flyboys were holding me down, so I wasn't able to look up to see who it was. Whoever it was stopped about 5 yards ahead, with their back to me.

"Hello Max." They said, and I recognised their voice instantly. "Good to see you're okay after the scuffle over the channel." Jeb said, sounding as if he almost meant it. Max just stared at him hatefully, not saying a word.

I heard some struggling behind me, and then Iggy shouting "Get off me!"

"Iggy!" I called to him. "Are you okay?! Where's Emily?!"

"I'm fine!" I heard him reply. "Emily's fine, she's next to me."

"Emily? Are you okay?" I called to her too.

"Will. What's happening?" she replied quietly.

"I don't know. Its okay though, just be calm. You'll be fine." I said as reassuringly as I could.

Jeb turned to face me and bent down so I could see his face. I was glad to see he nose was slightly more crooked than the last time I saw him. "Hello Will. I'm guessing you're not all too happy to see me are you?"

"Oh no." I said, sinisterly, already concentrating. "I'm actually really pleased to see you. You know why?"

Jeb looked at me curiously, and raised an eyebrow as he said, "I'm afraid I don't."

"Because I get to do this..." I said, as I closed my eyes. Almost instantly my eyes snapped back open, and everything was in a red haze. I pushed up off the ground, sending the Flyboys flying as easily as if they were pebbles. I stood on my feet, and shot over to Jeb, before he barely had time to react.

I smacked him in the face, feeling his nose break again beneath my fist. "Because now, I get to use my power." I spoke darkly. I punched him again, sending him to the floor. "Because now..." I said, grabbing the scruff of his neck, "I get to kill you." I hit him again, breaking his glasses, seeing him going into a daze. Then I felt the claws of several flyboys pulling and punching on my back, but I quickly turned and kicked out at them, sending them fling, before turning my attention back to Jeb.

"Will stop!" I heard Max shout but I ignored her, and began pummelling Jeb again. "Will please don't! Will please, he's my father!" I stopped mid punch, and looked up at her, to see her staring at me horrified, still held down by some flyboys. "Please Will." She said, her eyes glistening slightly.

I looked at her for a second, and then glanced back down at Jeb, beaten and bloodied, but still conscious and breathing. I wanted to kill him. I wanted to hurt him so much, to make him pay for what he did to me and Emily. But then I looked at Max. If I did this, to her, I'd be no better than them. I'd be killing her family, just the same as they killed mine. I couldn't do that to her. No matter how hard I wanted to.

I blinked, and my vision returned to normal. I got off Jeb, and slumped down to the floor beside him, as 2 Flyboys quickly took a hold of me. I didn't struggle; I just stared at Jeb hatefully as Jeb shakily got up, and wiped the blood from his face. "What do you want?" I moaned at him, as he knelt back down beside me.

"What I want Will," he said, spitting blood from his mouth, "Is first off, to know I won't hold what you just did against you. And thank you, for not killing me, even though I probably deserve it."

"Yeah, too bloody right you do." I said spitefully.

"Secondly, and more importantly, I'm here to do you a favour." As he said that, he pulled what looked like some kind of medical gun, out of his pocket. "I'm going to inject this serum into your bloodstream Will. They are antibodies, which target artificial material. They will locate your chip, and deactivate it. It should pass through your system within the next few days."

"Chip?" I asked confused. "What chip?"

"The chip we put in you Will. So we could track your movements, and what you were doing. Don't tell me you forgot that too?" He sighed, as he grabbed my arm, and shot me with the gun on the underside of me elbow.

"You kept your word Will, whether you meant to or not. The flock have been split up. We keep our word too. You'll be left alone. All of you." He said, looking over to Max. "You will all be left alone. For now at least." He then stood up and spoke to Max. "Enjoy the next few years of freedom Max. In all likelihood, they will be-"

"AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" came I shrill cry from above, as all of a sudden something crashed into the Flyboys pinning me down. Another shriek came from the sky, as I saw someone crash into the Flyboys who were holding Max down.

Suddenly, I heard a thud and saw Jeb get knocked to the ground beside me. Then someone rolled me over onto my back, and I saw a teenage girl with long brown hair, wearing a black top, who grabbed my hand and said, "Get up Will!" as she dragged me up off the ground. "It's time to go!"