Operation: Rescue Max (a Maximum Ride Fanfic)

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OPERATION: RESCUE MAX By Channing Kimble-Brown This story will mostly be in Fang’s perspective and starts where Maximum Ride 5: MAX ends. CHAPTER 1 Well, Max, the flock and I all decided we wanted to go to Mexico since we didn’t want to see ice or water for a while. As in, never would be too soon. But before that we had to go to check on Max’s mom and everything to make sure she was ok. She had just woken up from about 3 days of sleep. Of course, as soon as we get in Dr. Martinez’s room, she tries to mother all of us. “Max! How did you find me? I was so scared.” said Dr. Martinez “Are you and your friends ok? You guys didn’t get hurt did you? I thought…” But max cut her off in that adorable way she has. “Mom, we’re fine, we’re going to Mexico to see the Hot Air Balloon Festival. Ella’s going to stay here and make sure that you’re taken care of, all right?” “Fine, but…” “Ssh. Get some rest mom, I’ll see you soon.” And with that, we were off, flying through the glorious sky. So far the day had been perfect. Max finally realized that we were meant to be together after months of slowly letting her get used to the idea of being a “couple”. Though, “couple” seems like a wimpy description for what our relationship is. “Couple” implies that we’re together because we like each other at the moment. Max and I love each other, so we’re probably more like soul mates, there’s no other way to put it, although I’d never tell her that. It’s just not my style. Anyway, it was a struggle to get to this point in our relationship but then again, nothing in our life has been easy. “Hey Iggy, maybe we can make our own hot air balloon and enter it in the festival!” said Gasman. “Yeah, that would be awesome, except for the fact that it would be a bit… um… redundant.” “Well it’s better than car’s and submarines. I just wanna stay in the air right now.” “I know what you mean,” said Max. Then Max gave me that ‘If only life could always be like this’ look and I gave her that ‘too bad we’re mutant bird kids being hunted down by almost every evil society, organization, and club on the face of the planet. Or at least it seemed like that at times. But right now, I just enjoyed being as care free as I can ever get which I have to admit, isn’t very care free at all. If you’ve heard about any of our previous adventures, something always goes wrong when everything seemed to be going great for us. It’s like there’s a time limit on how long we could be happy. I bet some higher beings are laughing it up right

2 now. ‘Oh wait, how long have they been enjoying themselves?’ ‘About 12 hours.’ ‘Looks like it’s time to throw another disaster at them.’ Well, as you predicted, something bad happened. “MAX!!!” Angel screamed. A net came from above us and fell straight down on Max. There was a helicopter that was pulling Max up into it. Of course, being Max, she was wailing on the net and only getting more entangled in the process instead of assessing the situation. I flew as fast as I could towards her but the helicopter was too fast for me. I pushed harder than I ever have in my life. I was going pretty fast, but not fast enough to reach the helicopter. Soon the helicopter got further and further ahead until it was just a speck in the sky. The flock came up behind me. Iggy was in shock while the Gasman, Nudge, and Angel were in tears. It was truly heart breaking. Especially the fact that the one I loved had just been kidnapped. It felt like my heart had been ripped out, thrown in to a meat grinder, and then stabbed repeatedly with knives. I almost shed a tear. Almost. But now that I was the leader, I had to be strong for the rest of them until we got max back. And besides, I have never cried in my life and I wasn’t going to start now. We landed and Angel and Gazzy ran into my arms while Iggy just sort of stared into oblivion (which is weird considering he’s blind) and Nudge was barely holding herself together. Time to put on the temporary leader hat. And why did I say temporary leader you ask? Well because as soon as we saved Max she was going to take her place as the flock leader. “Come one guys, Max is gonna be ok. Don’t worry, we’ll find her,” I said. “How are we gonna find her?” said Gazzy. “Yeah, Max was always the one who came up with the plans,” said Nudge. “Angel, did you pick up anything on where they’re headed?” I said. “Well, I picked up bits and pieces but they were mostly thinking ‘Get the leader, get the leader, don’t worry about the rest.’ But I heard something about Africa.” Angel said through her constant sobs. “Well then we’ll start there. Gang, we’re going to Africa.” CHAPTER 2 “How are we gonna get to Africa anyway?” said Gazzy. We had been flying for about 4 hours on our way to the nearest Texas airport. “Well, first we’re gonna sneak onto a plane using Angel’s telepathy,” I said, because creepy mind controlling powers just doesn’t sound as good. “Oh! Can we take one of those private jet things? Those things were sweet!” “Probably not, people might find 5 kids on a private jet a bit suspicious.” Gazzy’s face immediately started tearing up when I said “5 kids” because a certain someone was missing. I just had to cheer him up so I said “but yeah, it would be awesome if we could take a private jet.”

3 We were just crossing the border from Mexico to Texas as Nudge said “Are we there yet?” So I said “No.” “But I’m hungry!” “I’m hungry too!” said Angel. “Yeah, we haven’t eaten for hours,” said Gasman. “Maybe there’s a fast food restaurant down below,” said Iggy. “Ok fine. But we’re not staying for more than half an hour,” I said and the rest of the flock cheered. I was secretly dreading this because I just had this overwhelming need to go find Max, kick some butt, and get the heck out of wherever they took her. Don’t get me wrong, I was hungry too, but sometimes, there are more important things than food. But the rest of the flock obviously didn’t feel the same way I did so we went down and found a Wendy’s. We went inside and ordered about 4 times the amount of food a normal family of 5 could eat and we sat down and ate like starving animals, which is technically true when you really look at it. I remember the first time we came into a fast food restaurant. Max had just taken $200 from this jerk we saw at a gas station because he idiotically left his bank card right there. God, memory I have of Max has just been, I don’t know, painful and I don’t really want to talk about it. I mean, she’s been there all my life. I’ve seen her every day since I was a baby (except for when we split up, which I’m not in the mood to remember at the moment, I’m miserable enough as it is.) We’ve fought together, lived together, and basically raised the rest of the flock together. It was like one of my wings was missing. But enough about me, I said I didn’t want to talk about it. As we were leaving Angel got this weird look on her face. “What’s wrong Angel?” I said. She collapsed, muttering something under her breath. “ANGEL!” said Nudge. I was instantly there to catch her fall. Right as this happened I heard her say “Max… Madagascar… Sacrifice…” Well that was freaky. A few minutes later she woke up and we just sort of stared at her like the scary little bird kid she was. Though, if she has the ability to see the future then maybe this could work to our advantage. “What?” Angel said. “Angel, I think you’ve developed a new skill,” said Iggy. “Really? Cool!” I missed Max most right then because I knew that we would have shared that ‘holy crap she’s scary’ look. Well, she wasn’t here so I was just going to have to make the best of it. “Ok, enough about whatever you just did. Now we have a destination and I don’t think we have much time.” So after that we flew to the nearest airport and booked a one way ticket to Madagascar. Angel really hooked us up. We had first class, and really classy meals

4 on the way there. It was the pinnacle of luxury. Except for the storm. There was thunder and lightning and the water didn’t seem too peaceful either. All the sudden there was a terrible jerk and screeching sound and the plane took a nose dive. It really sucked because we were so close to Madagascar that we could see but not close enough to swim to it. Luckily, there weren’t many people on the plane and they got most of the people off with their parachutes and life jackets before it crashed into the water. We had to jump into the water too because it would be insane to try and fly in this weather. I also realized Nudge, Gazzy, and Iggy didn’t have gills like me and Angel. But suddenly Nudge burst out of the water and cried “I’ve developed gills!” So of course Gazzy and Iggy had to try and guess what, they developed gills too. That took one item off my impossibly long and getting longer list of worries. We looked around and there was just a bunch of people floating around and looking distraught and staring at us like we were crazy. It would have been pretty funny if we weren’t in a terrible situation with the same looks on our faces and completely miserable. So we were just floating there, minding our own business when a boat drove up with some pretty scary characters on it. I mean, they looked like the recently broke out of prison. So they forced us all onto the boat (not that we resisted much. It’s not like we were going anywhere.) One of the scary dudes on the boat had us get in a line and walked up and down it inspecting us like we were in the military or something. When he reached me and the flock he stopped suddenly and said something into a walkie talkie. Then 2 more menacing guys showed up (god, where do they find these people? I mean, it’s not like you can put an ad our in the newspaper) and we were ushered out of the room into a smaller one. There was another (yep, you guessed it) menacing guy sitting at a desk. Then the guy said “Hello, you must be here for Max.” CHAPTER 3 “Who the hell are you?” I said. “All you need to know is that I represent one of the countries that supported the by-half plan that you and Max destroyed.” “What do you want?” “I want to use your precious leader as a sacrifice. You see, there is a legend that says the sacrifice of the winged ones will bring about a new world. We’ve been hiding ever since that day in Germany when Max defeated Omega and brought down Itex. Ever since then I’ve been trying to find a way to bring about the inevitable. During my search I came across a legend that says if the leader of the winged ones is sacrificed then their power is transferred to the person who performed the sacrifice and I immediately thought of Max. Unfortunately, we require her consent. That’s where you all come in.” Ok, is it just me or does this guys sound a bit, I don’t know, insane? “Are you crazy? You can’t sacrifice Max! She would never let you do this.”

5 “Oh yes she would, if she knew we had her flock in captivity. We plan on torturing you right in front of her. It probably won’t take long considering the state she’s in now. She resisted for a while but we seem to have almost gotten through. All she needs is that extra push.” “You wouldn’t.” I stood up and as I did more henchmen appeared out of nowhere and handcuffed us all. “I can and I will. Just look at your precious leader now.” A fancy screen came down from the ceiling and on the screen was max in a relatively small cage. She had dirt and tears plastered on her face. She had been in captivity for about a week and she looked like she hadn’t had anything to eat since we last saw her. It was truly sickening. And the worst part was the broken spirited look on her face. I’ve never seen her look so defeated. The only good thing about this was the fact that she was alive and I could see an extremely faint glimmer of hope in her eyes. And we came just in time to stamp it out. “No! You can’t do this! We need her! Your sick and twisted ritual isn’t going to do anything at all!” Angel cried. “We’ll just see about that. Now, we’ve prepared a room for you all to stay in until we’re ready for you. I hope you’re comfortable.” How hospitable of him. If I wasn’t confined in these cuffs I would’ve killed him then and there without any regrets. So they brought us to our room which in reality was more like a small poorly furnished dungeon. It’s really amazing what the rich and deluded decide to spend their money on. I mean, why are there so many crazy rich people anyway? Why can’t they be sane? What they should be spending their money on is therapy, and lots of it. So we sat there and attempted to devise a plan but our hearts just weren’t in it and it wasn’t going very well anyway because Max usually came up with the plans and the situation seemed pretty hopeless. It reminded me of when we were captured after going to that fast food restaurant on our way to save Angel (another bad memory) and were taken back to the School. Of course, like usual, the impossible happened and Ari, Max’s dead half brother, accidentally broke max out, max freed me, Nudge, and Angel, and Iggy and Gazzy kicked but with some birds you wouldn’t want to mess with that we had met earlier. It also reminded me of the like 3 other times we were captured but I won’t go into detail on that because I don’t have enough time for that and I’m not the most talkative person in the world. They had brought us some food that appeared to be some sort of cake. Of course they only gave us one piece each leading me to believe that they weren’t aware of our high metabolisms and prodigious appetites. They also left some milk. I was starving because I hadn’t had any food since the plane crash which 4 hours ago so I was willing to eat whatever I could get my hands on. I grabbed for a plate but Iggy grabbed for the same one and it started falling. Then something incredible happened. I reached out my hand, desperate to catch the plate and all of the sudden; it was floating 2 inches above the ground. I raised my hand a bit and the cake rose up

6 with it. Everyone’s eyes were on the plate except Iggy who was puzzled by the fact that he didn’t hear the plate hit the floor. “What happened?” said Iggy. “I think I just developed a new skill,” I said. CHAPTER 4 Well, this could certainly be used to our advantage. I attempted to rip the door off but I wasn’t that strong yet so I settled for attacking whoever came to bring us to our torturing session. So we waited and waited and became bored out of our minds. Then, out of the blue, Nudge said “What exactly is he going to do for the ritual anyway? Pull her heart out like in Indiana Jones? Oh god Fang, what if Max agrees? What if we can’t save her? What will we do without her? She’s been there all our lives! We can’t – “ “We’re gonna save Max. I don’t care what it takes. Max will leave here alive.” Even if that means I won’t, but I couldn’t let Angel hear me thinking like that so I quickly changed the subject. “We need a plan. How can we use our skills to our advantage?” I said. “Unless the Boss man is made of metal I can’t help much,” said Nudge. “Angel, have you tried controlling them with your mind?” “Yeah, I tried it on the Boss man but I can’t get through. It’s like with Dr. ter Borcht, I still haven’t tried the henchmen yet though,” said Angel. “Ok, Gazzy? Can you… uh… incapacitate them?” “Nope, don’t have any fuel,” Gazzy said with a forlorn expression on his face. Then Iggy said “and my color identification skill won’t help much, and there’s nothing here to make any bombs with.” “Well, let’s make do with what we have. As soon as they come in here we need to throw everything we’ve got at them.” I got various levels of agreement from the flock and we waited, dreading how long it would be until they finally came to get us. Turns out, 5 minutes was about how long we had to wait and as soon as the door opened I tackled the first person through the door. Unfortunately there were about 4 people behind him and they all burst into the room. While I was busy wailing on this guy I saw Nudge head butt a guy into a wall about 2 times her size and 4 times her body mass. Gazzy and Iggy were fighting back to back which would have been incredibly cool if I hadn’t been under attack at the time. Turns out the henchmen weren’t strong enough to block out Angel’s mind control so the fight suddenly turned into an all out brawl among the people who came to get us as we just watched. After a minute we realized the door was open and we snuck out leaving them to fight amongst themselves. Once we got into the hallway we sort of wondered around looking for a door that would say “Max’s Prison” and have detailed instructions on how to release her and get out of this place. But of course it wasn’t that easy. Eventually we came upon a room that said ‘surveillance/security’ on it. It looked promising so we went

7 in. The security people must have been at lunch or something because the room was completely empty. We looked at the screens and there was Max sitting in a cage, looking even worse than before and the Boss man was there and he appeared to be taunting her. The top of the screen said “containment area” so we figured that was a good place to look. Then Nudge said “What if it’s a trap?” Hm. I hadn’t thought of that, which is odd for me considering I’m usually the one who thinks of all the possible ways things could go wrong. Must be the starvation and exhaustion. Well I wasn’t going to let them know that, so I made up something on the spot, something I learn from Max.This leader stuff really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, something else I learned from Max. “It probably is, but we’re not gonna get caught. First we’re gonna raid the kitchen, then we’re gonna sneak in when Boss man leaves. Next, you’ll use your computer powers , hack into the system that keeps max locked up, we break Max out, kick some butt on the way out, and get back to America with all our limbs intact.” I was rewarded with a faint smile one Nudge’s face and I really, really hoped that it would work. So we made our way to the kitchen and pigged out on anything edible that we could get our hands on. Once we were done I said “Ok how about we find a way to get into Max’s room without being caught?” “Well, me and Gazzy could use a bunch of stuff in here to make some bombs,” said Iggy. Then Gazzy chimed in with a mischievous look on his face “Yeah! There’ll probably be guards there! That’ll take care of them.” Sometime I wonder what we’d do without are two little pyromaniacs. “Great,” I said, “Nudge, you need to get to the system that controls the cage, and Angel, you and I need to keep the guards off of Nudge until she’s done. Sound like a plan guys?” “Yeah!” said the flock. “Ok, time to go bust out our leader.” CHAPTER 5 “How will we get into the room?” said Angel. I said “Well, I was thinking we could go through the vents and crawl into Max’s room.” Then Nudge said “What if the vents are booby trapped? What if they have hidden cameras? What if cages drop down on us as soon as we get into the room? What if – “ “Nudge, we’re gonna be fine, ok? And you really need to cut it short. Angel, I want you to sort of scout the room with your telepathy and tell us how many guys there are and whether or not you can control them.” “Ok,” Said Angel.

8 “We’re finished!” said Iggy. “This’ll definitely take care of whoever is in there!” said Gasman. “Ok, then let’s roll,” I said. So we went up through the ventilation system (they really do need better security in there) and we crawled around for a good 20 minutes. “I think I found it!” Angel cried. So I crawled over to the whole in the bottom of the vent to look inside the room. The first thing I saw was Boss man standing over Max while Max lay on this weird platform thing. Then Boss man was standing in the cage above her and he started saying something in some language I didn’t understand. There were about 5 guards there but the problem was, they weren’t human. They were like these robotic people with 5 hands. It was very weird. But I was about ready to take every single one of them out with my bare fists to get to Max so I ripped off the cage and jumped into the room without really thinking about it. True Max style. So much for stealth. -~-~-~-~-~-~Max’s Perspective I was tied down to this gigantic platform inside a cage in a star shaped position which was very uncomfortable by the way. The guy standing above me was saying something but I really wasn’t paying attention. He had this huge knife up in the air. That’s when I thought, oh god I’m really going to die. My only regrets are not telling Fang I loved him. I mean, I told him I chose him but it’s not quite the same. I couldn’t believe I’d never see the flock again. I know I sound all wimpy and very unmax-like but all my hope has just about been crushed. In all honesty, death would have been a blessing. I was pretty miserable. I was handcuffed, tied down, confined, recovering from my last torture session, guarded by weird robot things, starved, exhausted, dehydrated, scared, etc. You’re probably thinking “You’re Max! You always come up with something, even when the situation looks hopeless!” but everyone has their breaking point, even me. So while I was sulking in self pity the vent cover suddenly shot off and hit one of the guard things. It would have been pretty funny if I wasn’t so depressed. Then I saw Fang and my flock and my whole world seemed to brighten up. I smiled a real smile for the first time in, what was it, a week? Wow, time flies when you’re being held against your will. Fang made this weird gesture and the leader slammed into the wall. I wasn’t really surprised. Nothing really can surprise me at this point in my life. “MAX!” Angel and Nudge cried. The strange part was that it wasn’t a happy cry, but a cry of sheer terror. Then I felt the knife shredding my abdomen to bits and let me tell you, it was not pleasant.

9 -~-~-~-~-~-~Fang’s Perspective I saw Max get stabbed and a cold jolt went through me. No, no, no, Max can’t die, I thought, this can’t happen! Even through her tears Nudge managed to hack into the security and the cage finally opened. I flew in and saw Boss man laughing maniacally. I punched him in the face and broke his nose and chin with a satisfying crunch. Then I jumped up and kicked him with both feet and once he was on the ground I beat the crap out of him. Once he looked good and broken I got up and ran over to max who was losing a lot of blood. She was out cold and her pulse was really faint so I ripped off my shirt and pressed it to her wound. It was slowing but she didn’t look any better. Angel found a cell phone that must have fell out of Boss man’s pocket. She promptly dialed 911 and explained the situation. But before she could finish telling them what happened Max lost her pulse. CHAPTER 6 (END) “NOOOOO!” I screamed. It felt like my heart was ripped out and mutilated by a machete. And then for the first time in my life, I started crying. It started with a tear and ended up a nonstop dam breaking tear-fest. I held max to my chest, willing her to live, vaguely aware of the astonished looks on their faces. After a while they snapped out of it and started bawling. Then Iggy came over and put his hand to her neck to see for himself that she was dead. “Wait,” Iggy said. No one heard him. Then he exclaimed “WAIT!” Well that stopped everyone short. “What?” Nudge said miserably. “She’s still hanging in there. Her pulse is extremely faint but it’s there and it seems to be getting stronger. Her wound seems to be repairing it’s self!” Iggy said with a look of awe and of pure joy. Well this was an interesting development. I guess we heal faster when the wound is fatal. My heart, body and soul seemed to fill with me with contentment and relief. I was also extremely embarrassed. I would never live this down. Then suddenly Max came to and, looked at me with this smug look on her face and said “Oh my god! Are those tears on face?” and then she passed out. I shot her a glare that could peel paint wishing I could punch her and kiss her at the same time.

10 Soon after that the ambulance came and got her. I called Dr. Martinez who was allowed to go home but was still recovering. She practically picked the phone up before it rang and we told her what happened. She got real tense but seemed to relax a bit when we told Max was going to be ok. Then we spoke to Total and he said that the wedding was 2 weeks. It’s amazing how exceedingly normal that seemed compared to what we had just gone through. Well, we would probably make it if Max kept healing at the rate she was going. Sometimes I wonder if it has anything to do with her inborn stubbornness. -~-~-~-~-~-~Well 2 weeks passed and Max was feeling a whole lot better. We were back in Arizona in Dr. Martinez’s backyard. I felt happy for total and Akila for and all but these tuxedos we had to wear totally sucked. It was all worth it though because right as the wedding started out walked Angel with a basket of flower petals and through them into the audience (which only consisted of Ella, Dr. Martinez and Jeb but whatever) looking adorable and not particularly evil at the moment in her frilly dress. Then out came Nudge in a larger version of what Angel was wearing with the rings, although, I have no idea what they were going to do with them considering they don’t have fingers… Then Max walked out, and it was truly breathtaking. I mean, she was practically glowing. She was wearing a deep mahogany colored strapless dress with a white sash/belt type thing. It went all the way down to her feet and the bottom of the dress sort of puffed out. It made me think of dark chocolate. She wore a troubled look on her face like she was too vulnerable or something. Well the wedding went off without a hitch meaning we weren’t attacked, kidnapped, or threatened throughout the entire thing so it started off well. During the reception in Dr. Martinez’s kitchen we basically reminisced and talked about our past adventures. After about an hour Max shot me an ‘I need to talk to you outside’ look. We went to the forest near Dr. Martinez’s house. Everyone was back at the house eating cookies and it was nearly 11:00 so no one was out and we were completely alone. Then Max said “Fang, I need to tell you something I’ve been meaning to tell you for a while now.” “What is it?” I said. “Fang, we’ve been through a lot together and we’ve saved each other’s lives so many times I’ve lost count. I don’t think I’d be able to survive without you. Fang, I love you.” Well, since I’m such a talkative, express my feelings, my response was long and mushy. “I love you too.” Then I looked deep into her eyes and saw them light up. Them I leaned down and as soon as my lips touched hers I experienced pure bliss. I knew that no matter

11 what we’d always be together and that she’d always be there for me. Sure we were surrounded by a living hell where practically everyone was either out to kill us or trying to use us. But you know what? It was worth it. I had finally found a little piece of heaven. The dress Max was wearing - https://www.liweddings.com/chat/p/4219933_1.jpg CHAPTER 6 (QUEST) “NOOOOO!” I screamed. It felt like my heart was ripped out and mutilated by a machete. It felt even worse than when Ari ripped me up the second time and I had to go to the hospital. And then for the first time in my life, I started crying. It started with a tear and ended up a non-stop dam breaking tear-fest. I held max to my chest, willing her to live, vaguely aware of the astonished looks on their faces. When the shock finally wore off we were all just completely miserable. I was still in denial, so I probed my mind for a way to bring her back to life. Then I remembered Ari died, the first time, and then they did something to his neck and he came back to life! Maybe if we found the people who did the surgery we could save Max. I immediately knew who I was going to have to talk to. Jeb. Jeb was our savior, and betrayer. He also turned out to be Max’s dad, which is ironic because she probably distrusts him more than anyone else in the flock. He worked at the school and he was also Ari’s dad. When Max killed Ari they took him back to the school and did some sort of neck surgery and brought him back to life. The way I see it, is if your son is undergoing life saving surgery, you’d probably want to know how it works. “Guys, we might be able to save her,” I said. Everyone looked at me like I was crazy. “Um Fang, unless you suddenly became capable of raising the dead, I don’t think she’s coming back,” Gazzy said in a small voice. “No listen, remember when Max killed Ari? The scientists did some sort of surgery on him to bring him back to life! Maybe if we can find someone who participated in the surgery they’ll be able to save Max!” The anguished look in their eyes brightened a tiny bit with a hint of hope. “How will we find them?” asked Nudge. “We’ll ask Jeb.” “So what will we do this her body?” Iggy asked. “I can use my powers to carry her to the airport and Angel can make sure no one notices.” “Yeah, ’cause no one will notice a floating body with a bunch of kids,” Iggy mumbled to himself. “I don’t know if I can distract that many people from something so obvious, maybe if you put a sheet over her or something…” Angel said.

12 “Ok, we can get one on the way there.” -~-~-~-~-~-~So we went back to Dr. Martinez’s house in Arizona and Jeb came to meet us there. Total and Akila were still in their room. “Do you really think it’ll work?” said Dr. Martinez. I said “I really hope so.” “I can’t believe this happened!” Ella cried and burst into tears. “What happened? It sounded urgent on the phone,” Jeb said as he barged in through the front door. Then he looked around. “Where’s Max?” then it dawned on him. He had that same look on his face as he did at Ari’s funeral, except worse because now he lost both of his kids. “The reason we called you down here was because we think there be a way to save her,” I said. Well that got his attention. “You know how they brought Ari back to life? Do you think that maybe they could do the same thing to Max?” Jeb had a thoughtful look on his face. Then his facial expression went from miserable to optimistic. “I kept in touch with one of the scientists who did my son’s surgery and I may be able to contact him. His name was Dr. Osborne. Although, I might not be able to because ever since you brought down the school he’s had to go into hiding. Last time I heard he was somewhere in South America. I’ll have to look into it, but Fang, this could actually work!” Jeb said. Then he ran out the door. Then I turned to the flock and said “So you guys up for going to South America?” I got relatively low levels of enthusiasm but it was better than crying. Then we all went to our respective rooms and slept a little easier knowing that we might be able to save Max. -~-~-~-~-~-~We woke up the next morning to the smell of eggs, bacon, and waffles. It smelled amazing. We all got up out of bed because of the smell alone and we probably looked a bit like zombies. Dr. Martinez was in the kitchen with Ella cooking and Total and Akila were eating breakfast on the floor. Akila had normal dog food and Total had waffles, bacon, eggs and a cup of coffee. Nothing unusual about that. “It feels weird not being the only one who can actually cook,” said Iggy sleepily. “Hey, as long as it’s not moving and warm, I’m good,” I said. Suddenly Jeb burst through the door, practically knocking the thing down in the process. “He’s in Santiago, Chile!” Jeb exclaimed, “He’s become a surgeon in a local hospital there.”

13 “Ok, let’s pay a visit Dr. Osborne gang,” I said. And with that, we went outside and took off to the nearest airport. CHAPTER 7 Well the flight was extremely successful. We managed to get to Chile without the plane falling, being attacked, or being captured and landed in Arturo Merino Benitez international airport safe and sound for once. The day was starting well. I found a map in one of those tourist centers and we found out that Santiago, Chile is divided into 5 parts called Downtown, North, South, East, and West. Next we called Jeb to ask him if he which hospital he worked in. Being the helpful person that he is, all he could tell us was that it was somewhere downtown but he didn’t know which one or what his first name was. Typical. After that we left the airport to go look for a library or something. Who knows? Maybe he would be in the phone book. Knowing that it wouldn’t be that easy but desperate enough to try anyway, we searched for Santiago Hospital and guess what? There’re about 4 of them. So Nudge took over and tried to hack into each of their staff roster. Well she succeeded and found an Osborne in ¾ of the hospitals. We headed downtown and the first one we looked into was Hospital Clínico Universidad Católica. When we got there we went inside and saw, well, a bunch of sick people. Just being in the hospital brought back painful memories of Max and the school. We went straight to the reception desk and asked if we could see Dr. Osborne. The lady said he was currently in the middle of a surgery and he’d be available in half an hour. So what would any normal mutant bird kid do if they had half an hour to do whatever they pleased? Why, they’d go find the food court and devour food like nobody’s business. About half an hour later this guy walks into the room in a white lab coat (which brought back even more painful memories.) “Did someone want to see me?” he said. “Uh, we did, can we ask you a few questions?” I asked “Sure, come to my office.” We all got up and followed reluctantly feeling uneasy about being in this hospital at all let alone without Max. We reached his office which looked like any typical doctor’s office. He sat down behind this big desk and we sat down in front. “So how can I help you?” he asked. “Well, we were wondering if you knew anything about a school in California,” I said. “Uh, I’m sure there’re plenty of schools in California. Why?” This guy seemed to have no idea what we were talking about so we probably didn’t have the right guy. “Thanks for seeing us, we’ll be going now.” “Uh, you’re welcome?” He looked confused.

14 As we walked out of the building I had a really bad feeling. And since I usually have pretty accurate hunches I got ready for a fight. Angel picked up on my thoughts and got into a fighting stance, which must have alerted the rest of the flock because they looked ready for battle. Suddenly about 80 of those robot things from the place Max was held in Madagascar attacked. We all flew up in the air and flew straight down and rammed into their stomachs. Surprisingly enough, their stomachs seemed to be their weakness because they instantly fell apart leaving scraps of robot everywhere. Unfortunately, we couldn’t keep doing that for a long period of time so we got back on the ground and started fighting them old school with kicks and punches to their stomachs while Gasman and Iggy tossed bombs at them which, honestly, I didn’t even know they had. Not that I was surprised, they always seemed to have something explosive on them, whether it be a dangerous mission like when we rescued Max or a simple task like going to school. The battle seemed to last for hours but didn’t take more than 10 minutes and when we finally stopped fighting all of us were covered in cuts and bruises but luckily, nothing was broken. We were surrounded by broken bits and pieces of robots. Suddenly a robot jumped up right behind me and before I had time to react it turned around and ran head first into a wall about 10 times and crumpled into a heap. The flock and I just stared, or at least all except Angel who was just standing there looking mischievous. “Did you do that?” Gasman said in a small voice. “Yeah! I can control robots now! Isn’t that cool?” Angel exclaimed. Well that’s one word for it. “So you’re saying, you can control the robot, just like people?” I said slowly, trying not to show how freaked out I was. “Uh-huh.” This is what I would consider a mixed blessing because she saved my life, but she could also probably take over the world if she felt like it. “Well, why don’t we go get a snack before we go looking again?” I suggested trying to pretend that Angel wasn’t a scary little mutant bird kid that could do whatever she wanted and had the judgment of a 7 year old girl. They all nodded their heads and we walked to a nearby Starbucks. “So why did they attack us? How did they even know we were here?” Nudge asked, seeming a bit alarmed. “I don’t know, but I think someone who knew the Boss man is trying to stop us from saving Max, so we must be on the right track. As for how they found us, I have no idea,” I said. Suddenly Angel passed out. She started mumbling “Sulad Uc… 5 days…” I have never been more thankful for Angel’s creepy powers in my life. Angel came to and said “Whoa that was so weird, I feel all dizzy…” and she almost fell but Iggy caught her.

15 “What did she mean by 5 days?” Gazzy asked. “I think that’s how long we have to find him,” I said. “Wasn’t Sulad Uc one of the hospitals on our list? That must be where Dr. Osborne works!” said Nudge excitedly. “Well it seems like a good place to start. Let’s go,” I said. And with that, we were soon on our way to find Dr. Osborne and that much closer to saving Max. CHAPTER 8 So we were on our merry way flying across the sky in the scorching heat. I almost missed Antarctica. Almost, but not quite. I looked down and using my raptor vision I spotted the Hospital we were looking for. “Looks like we found it, let’s check it out,” I said. We were all pretty eager to see Dr. Osborne and save Max so we just basically rushed down to the hospital without really thinking about it. People of course saw us and did one of two things. They either gawked at us in awe or ran screaming in terror. It seemed split about 50-50. We landed behind the hospital hoping no one got a good enough look to recognize us without our wings. We walked to the front giving people looks that said “Me? Fly? Please.” So we walked in and looked around. Is it just me, or do all hospitals look the same? We went up to the reception desk again and asked for Dr. Osborne. The lady at the desk said he was out sick and wouldn’t be back for a week. “But we don’t have a week!” I cried. “Calm down sir, there are other doctors that can help you,” the lady said skeptically. “Um, can you tell me where he lives?” “Sir, that information is classified.” Ok, time for plan B. I turned around like I was going to leave when I yelled “Oh my gosh, who’s car is that?” Earlier we saw a spot that said receptionist on it so due to my advanced deduction skills I concluded that her car was probably parked there so I told Gazzy and Iggy to plant some bombs nearby in case we needed a distraction and man did they deliver. “That was awesome!” Gasman said. “It’s all worth it to hear that satisfying boom when a bomb is made correctly,” said Iggy. People ran outside to see what was going on and as soon as the lobby was empty Nudge hopped over the desk and started working on the computer. “Ok, I have an address,” Nudge said after about 3 minutes. These random mutant bird kid powers really do come in handy in times of need.

16 We walked out the front door acting like we were as surprised as everyone else that the car had just exploded randomly and discreetly slipped away to the back of the hospital and flew away. We had been flying for about half an hour and were right above where his house was supposed to be when I heard the familiar sound of bullets whizzing by my ear. I looked down and saw the same robots we fought earlier except these guys had guns. Someone must really not want us to find Dr. Osborne. We managed to fly down to where they were standing, which was quite an accomplishment considering the fact that we had to dodge bullets on the way down. When we got down there I saw someone standing in front of them. “Surrender now, there is no way to save your leader,” he said. Hey, he looks a lot like the Boss man I beat up in Africa except covered in bandages and sitting in a wheel chair. He probably shouldn’t have been sitting in the middle of an inevitable fight. Then he continued “We have Dr. Osborne in our custody so there’s no possible way for him to help you now.” “Please, we’re gonna find where you have him, rescue him, and kick your butt on the way out all in time to get home for Total’s wedding,” I countered. “If you don’t surrender we will be forced to attack.” “Well, when you put it that way, no!” As soon as I said that they all attacked. They abandoned their guns because they were too close for them to be of any use obvious unaware of the possibility that we may use the guns against them. I started using telekinesis to throw them around while kicking and punching them at the same time. Angel was using her telepathy to make the robots do the fighting for her so she basically just sat and watched. Iggy and Gasman were hurling explosives like they usually do (now how they carry these things around without blowing themselves up I may never know) and Nudge was ripping them apart with her ability to attract metal which seems to have gotten a lot stronger. Even though we probably took out half the 200 they sent after us, we couldn’t fight forever so we resorted to stealing their guns, flying up in the air and shooting them from up above. This took care of them very quickly and efficiently so pretty soon there were dead robots lying around everywhere. When we finally came back to the ground the Boss man was nowhere to be found so we checked the house. We searched the house and I found a note in the master bedroom: I will trade Dr. Osborne for one member of the flock. If you agree to trade, meet me back here at 11 pm tonight. I will tell you what to do when I see you tomorrow. Well, I certainly couldn’t tell the rest of the flock about this so I guess I was going to have to go alone. Too bad I wouldn’t get to say goodbye. Suddenly, from another room Nudge said “I can’t find anything.”

17 “Neither can I,” said Gasman. “We should go find somewhere to sleep,” Iggy said. “And something to eat,” said Angel. “Ok guys, I’m sure there’s a fast food restaurant somewhere nearby. There’s probably a park near here too,” I said. We left the house and found a McDonald’s (man, those things are everywhere!) and stuffed ourselves with transfats and calories. After that we found a couple really nice trees and made ourselves comfortable. I told them I’d take watch for the whole night because they were probably tired. As soon as I knew that they were all sound asleep I got up quietly (because I didn’t want to wake Iggy) and flew off to find out what exactly the Boss man wanted. CHAPTER 9 I went back to the house and it appeared to be completely empty. I kept telling myself ‘I’m doing this for Max’ but it didn’t make it that much easier to knowingly walk into an ambush. When I got to the front it was extremely quiet. I looked around and tried to listen for the tiniest breath. All of the sudden, someone ran out of the house with a terrified expression on their face. He was a middle aged man, starting to gray a bit on the sides, average weight, pretty tall, almost as tall as me in fact. He ran up to me. Maybe I could fly away with him and avoid this whole captive situation altogether. But of course it wasn’t that easy. He ran up to me and just as I was about to grab him and see if I could carry him away he jabbed me in the arm with a syringe and injected this purple fluid that was extremely painful. I was too shocked to do anything about so I stood there gaping at him like an idiot for a few seconds. Then, everything went black. -~-~-~-~-~-~Nudge’s Perspective I woke up feeling hungry, as usual. I looked around to see what everyone else was doing. Angel was just waking up same as me, Iggy was making eggs (now where he got them, I don’t want to know), Gazzy was still fast asleep, and fang was… “Hey, guys, where is Fang? “ I said trying not to sound too alarmed. Angel looked around too. “I don’t see him, maybe he went to go get some more food,” she said, not sounding too convinced. The Gasman finally woke up. “What’s going on?” he said through a yawn. “I can’t see him either,” Iggy said sarcastically.

18 “Iggy, this is no time to joking around. First Max, and now Fang is gone too! That means you’re in charge and we have to find a way to save Fang!” I practically yelled. Well that got his attention. “But we don’t know where he went,” Angel said. Just as she said that, I looked over to the tree Fang had been sitting in and saw a piece of paper. I grabbed the little piece of paper and it said: I will trade Dr. Osborne for one member of the flock. If you agree to trade, meet me back here at 11 pm tonight. I will tell you what to do when I see you tomorrow. “Oh no, I think I know where Fang went,” I said nervously. I showed everyone the note. “Ugh, it’s just like him not to tell us anything,” Gazzy said sounding frustrated. “How about we go to Dr. Osborne’s house and see assess the situation from there?” Iggy suggested. “Sounds like a plan, let’s go,” I said. -~-~-~-~-~-~We reached the house and went inside. As soon as we opened the door we saw some guy sitting on the floor in the fetal position. I assumed this was Dr. Osborne because that would probably make the most sense. “Are you Dr. Osborne?” I asked. He put himself into a sitting position and nodded his head. “Where is Fang? He’s ye big,” I said indicating his height “has black hair, black eyes, and dark clothes” I said. Dr. Osborne’s eyes opened real wide making him resemble a deer in the head lights. “That must be the young man I sedated earlier…” he said. “What? Why?” Angel cried. “They told me that he was going to kill my daughter if I didn’t.” he said with an ashamed look on his face. “Who were they? Where did they take him?” Iggy said urgently. “There was a man named Mr. Kugambe who seemed to be and charge and I imagine they took him where they took me, to the old abandoned warehouse, or at least what I thought was abandoned, and are holding him there.” “Thanks, we’ll come back for you, but we need to need to ask you a favor. Our friend Max has been killed, and we know that you worked on the surgery that brought Ari back to life. We were hoping you could save her too,” I said trying to keep the pleading out of my voice and failing miserably. “I’d have to see her, and you’d have to save my daughter,” He said.

19 “We’ll see what we can do. Let’s go rescue Fang,” Iggy said all nonchalantly like rescuing people was something we did on a regular basis, which, now that I think about it, we actually did. “You know, I’m really getting tired of saving everybody,” said the Gasman. “No arguments here,” Angel agreed. -~-~-~-~-~-~Fang’s perspective I woke up in a very dark room. I didn’t feel any more hungry than I did when I was captured so I figured I’d be out for only a couple hours. I tried to stand up when I realized that my hands and feet were tied with rope in a knot. And they weren’t just any knots; these guys must have been devoted boy scouts when they were growing up because these were some serious knots, I couldn’t do anything to them with my telekinesis. After giving up on untying my hands and feet I looked around my little prison cell. There was a tiny window with bars and a concrete wall surrounding me. I was lying on a bench (also made of concrete) and there was a door on the far side of the room with a little slit that I assumed was meant to slide food through. I attempted to lift myself off the bench with my powers but I just ended up falling off the bench. Then I tried to open the door but unfortunately it was dead bolted so it didn’t budge. I was just about to try again when I heard a voice. “Hello Fang, I really hope you’re enjoying the accommodations I’ve arranged for you. I’m Mr. Kugambe.” CHAPTER 10 “I’m the brother of the man you met in Africa. He’s still in recovery right now so he wasn’t able to address you personally.” So I guess insanity runs in the family, can’t imagine what the parents must be like. “Tell him to take his time, I’ll wait,” not that I had much choice. “We will be using you to complete the ritual we were going to do on Max until you rudely interrupted. Now that you’re the leader, you were now eligible for being our sacrifice. ” “Dude! You can’t go around killing people based on some legend from a bazillion years ago just because you can!” “Actually, I can. Now we will need your consent, and we’ll either get the easy way, or the hard way.” “Hmm, lemme think about it, what was the second option again?” This really seemed on his nerves because his face got all red like a tomato. Then he just turned around and left the room. A few hours later someone came in and untied me but put this collar around my neck. At least I could walk around. Then someone else came in and gave me this

20 bowl of gruel. I kept telling myself that it was worth it if Max was saved but that didn’t make the situation much better. I decided to occupy myself by peering through the slit in the door. I looked through the slit and saw another door on the other side. There was a slit in the door on the opposite side of the hallway. A girl was looking through it, just like I was. “Hey,” she whispered “what’s your name?” “Fang, what’s yours?” “Samantha, Watchya in for?” “Foiling evil plots, destroying billion dollar henchmen, existing, the usual.” “Sounds like someone’s been busy. I’m in here because of some company my father used to work for or something.” “Who’s your father?” “Bill Osborne.” “As in Dr. Osborne?” Wasn’t expecting that. “Yeah, you know him? Were you one of his patients?” “Uh, something like that…” Right after I said that we heard footsteps and shut the doors as fast as we could without revealing the fact that we opened them in the first place. Someone opened the door. “Come with me.” I followed him because there wasn’t much I could do with that collar on. Soon another guy opened the door to Samantha’s cell and brought her out too. We walked down a hallway in dead silence until we reached a room. The doors seemed to be made of titanium which was a bummer because I was very unlikely to be able to break that down. Once we went inside we saw the Boss man sitting there in a wheel chair with fewer bandages. “Welcome to my torture chamber,” he said. “I love what you’ve done with the place, you just have to give me the number of your interior decorator,” I said. The room was filled with medieval torturing devices and many devices I had never seen before. “You will not bother me because I am about to get what I want very soon.” “Oh really? And how, might I ask, will you do that.” “I was thinking about how I would torture you and decided watching someone else be tortured on your behalf would be much more painful,” he said with an evil smile. Oh no, that explains why they brought Samantha. The only question is how can I get us both out of here alive? “Hey hold on, what do you plan on doing to me?” Samantha said finally catching on. “How about I show you.”

21 He dragged her over to a table and strapped her down. He then took out a syringe filled with orange goopy liquid. “Your reactions to this should be very entertaining,” he said. Just before he stuck it into her arm the wall blew up. There was smoke and plaster and concrete everywhere. I recovered first, probably due to my previous experience with explosives on a regular basis. Then I saw something that made me feel like doing about 50 back flips. Fortunately, I still had my dignity so I remained firmly on my feet. It was the flock. Nudge and Angel had determined yet relieved expressions on their faces while Iggy and Gazzy were pretty much just mischievous as always. “Fang!” Nudge shrieked as she and Angel practically tackled me in a hug, forgetting for a moment that they were in the middle of enemy territory. Meanwhile, Gazzy and Iggy were giving each other high fives and arming themselves with more explosives. “If you ever do that again we’ll kill you,” Angel said trying to appear menacing. Suddenly Samantha got up coughing “Who are you guys?” “Are you Dr. Osborne’s daughter?” Gazzy asked. “Yes.” “Good, now we don’t have to go looking for you. Let’s go.” Iggy said. “Not so fast!” Mr. Kugambe said holding his brother, who appeared to have been crushed by a massive piece of wall. Now when he got here and where he came from, I have no idea. “You’re not getting off that easy!” he screamed. More of those robots from earlier attacked us except this time they could fly! I told Angel to protect Samantha while the rest of the flock destroyed these things and I put Mr. Kugambe out of his misery. Angel of course had no problem making the robots just sort of kill each other and run into walls. Nudge was ripping them apart with her metal attracting powers and Iggy and Gazzy were throwing bombs where ever they felt like it. It was pretty much a typical battle. After making sure everyone was taking care of themselves I turned around and thrust Mr. Kugambe into the air and slammed him around a bit. First I threw against a wall, and then I tossed him on the floor. I was about to finish him off when I realized I could probably just turn him in instead of killing him. “I have never been so glad to see you guys in my life,” I said. “We missed you too!” Angel said. “So can we go now?” Iggy said. “We have to someone and tell them that Mr. Kugambe is here,” I said. “I have a cell phone,” Samantha chimed in. I called the police and filled them in on what happened. Then we left the warehouse and headed to Dr. Osborne’s house. I rung the doorbell and he opened the door. “Daddy!” Samantha screamed. “Samantha! You’re safe!” Dr. Osborne said.

22 “Ok, now that we’ve saved your daughter you have to come see if you can help Max,” Iggy said urgently. “Oh yes, of course,” Dr. Osborne said, still clutching his daughter, “where is she?” “Arizona,” Nudge said. “Ok, how long ago was it she died?” “About 4 days,” I said. Wow, a lot has happened in 4 days. “Then we don’t have a moment to lose! I won’t have a chance of bringing her back after 5 days.” “Then we better move! Come on gang, we’re heading home,” I said. CHAPTER 11 We finally arrived in Arizona and went straight to Dr. Martinez’s house because that was where her body was. Jeb had taken the liberty of supplying Dr. Osborne with everything he needed for the operation. He went inside and didn’t come out for 4 hours and it was probably the most suspenseful 4 hours I’ve ever had. “I’m fin – “ Dr. Osborne said but I cut him off by running into the room and going Max to see if she was ok. “I was about to say I’m finished but we won’t know if the surgery worked for another half hour. You’ll have to wait.” Ugh. More waiting. I swear if I have to wait much longer I’m going to rip someone’s head off. During that half hour wait Dr. Martinez baked like 5 batches of cookies because cooking help her relieve stress and distract her from Max’s possible revival while the flock and I ate all those cookies to relive stress and distract ourselves from Max’s possible revival. Exactly half an hour later (I timed it on a watch) I dashed to Max’s room and held her in my arms. At first she didn’t move or anything but a couple minutes later I think I saw her nose twitch. That gave me and idea. “Gazzy! Can you get a plate of those cookies?” I asked. “Sure, why?” “I think if Max smells them she’ll wake up.” “Oh! That could work, she loves those things.” Gazzy ran off to the kitchen to retrieve the cookies. He came back and I took a cookie and waved in under her nose. She twitched again. Then I listened for her pulse. It was there! She’s alive! Now all I had to do was wake her up. -~-~-~-~-~-~Max’s Perspective

23 I seemed to be floating but I could feel, see, or hear anything. Was I dead? I must be dead because there was no other explanation. I was pretty much in a state of helplessness and I felt lost. Suddenly I saw what looked like a thread. I looked and felt like home so I attempted to grab it. My arms just removed to move so I tried again except harder. I pushed and pushed until my arms finally seemed to break free of their hold. I then grabbed the thread started pulling myself toward wherever this thing came from. As I got closer I started to get more control of my body and had more senses. The first thing I smelled was my mom’s cookies. The soft, chocolaty, melt-in-your-mouth, feel and smell of her cookies and they were so close. Suddenly, I hit a wall. I couldn’t see this wall but it was definitely there. This seriously pissed me off because I was that close to getting to those cookies when suddenly, I was pulled through the wall by something powerful. Fang. I finally came into consciousness with the feeling of Fang’s lips on mine. I had never been so at peace. It all just felt right. Fang kissing me, the smell of chocolate chip cookies and I could even sense my mom, Ella and the rest of the flock standing around me. Perfect. Fang stopped kissing me so I figured it was a good time to open my eyes and when I did I saw a mixture of relief and pure joy on everyone’s faces. “Hey guys! What did I miss?” I said to break the tension. This must have proven that I was actually alive and not some evil clone (which was possibly but unlikely) because Angel, Gazzy, and Nudge jumped into my bed and showered me with hugs and kisses. Iggy even came over and hugged me. Mom and Ella also ran over and we had a big family hug. It was a bit mushy for my tastes but I missed them all so much I didn’t really care. After the love fest was over they all filled me in on what happened after I died. I felt kind of left out hearing about all their adventures without me but I soon got over it because they seemed to be thinking about me most of the time. “I love you guys,” I said sentimentally. “We love you too Max!” Angel said. “Yeah we missed you so much!” Gazzy said. “Bossiness, pigheadedness and all,” Iggy said but I let it slide because I was just too happy to see him. “What would we do without you?” Nudge said still crying. Fang just gave me a look that said everything he felt so he didn’t have to say anything. “Honey, you really have to be more careful,” Mom said sternly. “I can’t believe I almost lost my only sister forever,” Ella said. This went on for about an hour and we all went to our respective rooms to go to sleep. I was laying in my bed starting at the ceiling thinking about all that had happened to me in the last year when Fang opened my door and said “Wanna go out for a spin?”

24 I jumped out of the bed, pulled on my jeans and was out of the house in 2 minutes flat. We flew through the sky feeling the serenity of just flying and being with the one you loved. It felt good just to let my wings take over and almost effortlessly soar across the open sky. It was night time so there weren’t any people walking around below so no one saw us. We landed in the woods next to a little creek. Fang walked up to me and bore into my eyes as if he were looking at my soul. “I swear if you ever die again, I will bring you back to life, and kill you myself,” Fang said. “I’ll try not to die in the near future,” I said with a smirk. His eyes lit up and I could see those little gold sparkles he has. He then swooped down and kissed me. It felt like relief, longing, and pleasure all at the same time. It was pretty wonderful. We stayed in the forest until we so the first rays of light from the sky. We then headed back to the house where everyone I loved and cared for were all together safe and sound, just the way I liked it.