"I can't believe you."

"I had to. No one else was around to help."

"You took on five big, burly men. You didn't stand a chance."

"Neither did that lady they were mugging! I couldn't stand by and let them do that or worse to her. You should know by now it isn't in my nature."

"Okay, so you helped her get away. And then I had to call the cops to save your sorry ass. God Max, you are such an idiot."

I almost lashed out a stinging retort, but managed to hold my tongue. Instead, I shifted slightly, stifling a groan as a fresh wave of pain coursed through me. Broken ribs were something I was accustomed to by now. But man, did those guys pack a wallop. They were like walking tanks.

As it was, Maya and I were riding in the back of a police cruiser, on our way to the nearest hospital, which wasn't very near at all. I had put up quite the fight when the cops said I needed to go to the hospital. Unfortunately, I lost that battle too.

I sighed and closed my eyes. I was tired, after all that, despite all of my injuries. Besides, after spending over a year sleeping just about everywhere, curling up on the seat of a cop car with my head in Maya's lap felt like a luxury.

"You have a concussion too, you know."

"That's nice. Leave me be."

"That means you can't fall asleep."

I opened one eye and craned my neck to look at her. She was smiling, like she was enjoying this. I bet she thought this was my just desserts. What I deserved for biting off more than I could chew. "Look, even though I feel like I've been thrown through a wood chipper, this is the most relaxed I've ever been. I'm free. The Flock and everyone else is safe and sound and the world is no longer under attack. Just let me have this."

"Fine. But you're not haunting me if you die, you hear?"

X X X

Author's Notes: Short story is short. I don't know, I just had this idea of Max still trying to help out people in need, because even though the world is safe, it's still a mess and people still need her. I also thought it would be fun to have her lose. After all, she does have a tendency to get herself into sticky situations. Why not have her get her ass kicked while I'm at it?