Who said manipulation doesn't work? Thank guys soooo much for reviewing and sorry for taking so long to update. I've been sick and now I have tons of makeup work. On the bright side, I did well on my SAT's, so I don't have to worry about that until next year. Enjoy!

I'm really having an off week. Let's recap, shall we? First, the flock decides that they'd rather have a home than save the world and fight bad guys. What's up with them? Next, Fang kisses me, out of the blue, and get this, I run away. Finally, we find a house, that I like, and I'm embarrassed and proved wrong by Fang. Kill me now.

The house really was perfect, though. There was a little stream that ran behind the house in a clearing surrounded by trees and it provided a good water source. The hill in front of it was bigger than I had first thought, and the town was tiny enough to stay off of most maps. Fang really had picked well, although I'd never admit it. Now, I'd have to go tell the flock that I was wrong , and there really was a perfect home for six mutant runaways and their talking dog. They'd be ecstatic.

Fang I weren't talking, but it wasn't awkward. It felt like when we were younger and would slowly fly back after a big race over the canyon. Of course, I really do speak too soon, because Fang just had to ruin the moment by talking. "Max, we really need to talk," Wow, was Fang the Dark and Silent wanting to 'talk'?"

"We are talking," Obviously that wasn't what he meant, but me, and I don't 'talk'."

"Max," he lightly touched my arm, "I'm serious; we need to talk. We've known each other since we were in the extra small sized dog crates; if we can't talk to each other, we can't talk to anyone. We really need to talk about… stuff."

"Deep," I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes. He must have gotten the idea, because his next remark was much more satisfying.

"I just sound deep," he said shrugging. "Deep down, I'm actually quite shallow." That's what I wanted to hear. A sarcastic Fang makes the world a better place.

"But," he added, "this conversation is not over," Since when is he the leader? No, I call the shots around here. Or at least I used to..

AT THE CAVE

"Iggy, make us some food," Nudge groaned. "We haven't eaten since this morning, and if I don't get some food right now, I'm eating Total." Gazzy and Iggy had been working on a not so secret project towards the back of the cave. Instead of listening to me and taking care of my kids, he made a bomb and starved them. Last time I left him in charge.

"Pretty please with a cherry on top?" Angel blinked up and looked through her eyelashes at Iggy. The dreaded "eyes". Iggy was blind, of course, but when has that stopped Bambi eyes?"

Sighing, Iggy got up and walked to his back pack by the fire. After rummaging through it for a bit, he pulled out some cheap calorie filled oatmeal things and tossed them at Angel, Nudge, and Total. He, of course, saved the beef jerky for him and Gazzy.

"Hey!" Total yelled when the snack hit him.

At almost the same time, Angel whispered, "I wish Max and Fang were here."

"I heard that!" Iggy yelled and stalked over to the girls.

"Well, it's true! Max left you in charge, and all you've done is build illegal explosives!" exploded Nudge.

"Iggy…"

"Yah, I could do I better job than you're doing!" Angel stood up to her full height, up to Iggy's waist, and put her hands on her hips. The scowl on her face would have sent a grown man crying to his mother.

"Me too!" Total yelped oh so helpfully.

"Iggy…" Gazzy's voice was getting more urgent by the minute, but his voice was lost in the havoc.

"Ok, Ok. I might not be the best leader," Total snorted," but, Max left me in charge, so" he never got to finish, because at that moment, Gazzy screamed bloody murder.

"Iggy!" Gazzy sprinted to where the rest of the flock was, and looked up at Iggy with a mix of fear and embarrassment on his face.

"I'm kinda busy, Gaz," Iggy muttered. The Gasman stood on his tiptoes and whispered something into his ear. Immediately, Iggy froze.

"Fire in the hole!" he yelled and grabbed Total, motioning for the others to follow him. They flew out about a hundred feet before they heard the bomb explode. Next time, Total is babysitting.

I contemplated stopping it here, but it would be too short…..

"Fang, did you hear that?" I asked hesitantly. We were miles away from where the flock had been staying, and we were flying at a leisurely pace.

"No, are you sure you aren't making it up?" he smirked. Sometimes, I wonder if I should let the white coats sew his mouth together to stop him from smirking at me all the time.

"Yes, I'm sure I heard something," I sighed exasperatedly. It sounded like a rumbling of something big, and if we weren't so far away, I'd say it was the flocks. I did a quick 360 to make sure the Erasers hadn't risen from the dead. I noticed Fang doing the same.

"Well, if nothing's wrong, we should probably keep going," I suddenly realized I had been hovering in one place for several minutes. I couldn't explain it, but something felt wrong.

"Ok," I started, but I never got a chance to finish. Angel's unmistakable scream pierced the air. Without looking at each other, me and Fang were flying high speed towards the cave we had left them. Still, it might've been too late by the time we got there. If it was Erasers, then they'd be gone before we could get there.

I glanced over at Fang, noticing he still had a calm passive expression, for the most part. By looking at his eyes, I could sense his anger and determination. My best friend is beast (lil' mutant humor for ya there).

Surprisingly, we reached the flock within ten minutes, a new record for sure. When I saw the charred cave and Angel's crisped hair, I knew exactly what had happened.

"Iggy!" I screamed. He was so dead.

So, how'd ya like it? I'm not going to have them have their powers after all, other than the norm. and Angel's mind control/reading and Gazzy intestinal talents + mimics. They may get them later on though. And Total doesn't have wings(yet) in this story. Keep reviewing, please! It takes like 2 seconds to write a simple "Great!" but it takes me a long time to write each chapter. Hopefully, I'll have the next chapter up by the 7th, but you need to review!