I've written fanfics before but never published them. Here's the first one I've had the guts to put out for public viewing. I own nothing, that's all J Pattz, the man! Alex Trebeck owns Jeopardy, I don't care what the credits say. What I do own is my own imagination and obsessive nature that leads me to writing these things. Hope you enjoy!

I think I've told you this before but I'm a bird-kid. By bird kid, I mean some of my DNA is not human, it's bird. You may think that a little DNA isn't a big deal, but believe me it is. It's enough to give me really thin and light bones, air-sacs (kinda like lungs, but a little different), and wings. Nope, you didn't read that wrong. I have wings. Like the kind of wings that let me fly. Being able to fly is the second best part of my life. The best part of my life is my family. My family is 5 other bird kids I like to call my flock. First, there's Fang. He's my…well, I don't know what to call him. He's kind of like my boyfriend but a little bit more than that. He's my right wing man, and trust me, the right wing is as important to us as your right hand is to you. He's the only person that I trust as much as I do myself. I've known him all my life, but our relationship kind of evolved from a sibling type of relationship to a best friend relationship and now, into whatever our relationship is. Don't ask me what it is. I'm not into labels. The next oldest is Iggy. He's the same age as Fang and I, but unfortunately he's blind. That doesn't stop him from causing trouble so don't feel bad. Nudge is after Iggy. Nudge is our resident mouthpiece, as in the one that never shuts up. She's still loveable nonetheless. After Nudge is the Gasman. His name should say enough. Lastly, after Gazzy is Angel, his younger sister. She's the youngest of the flock and a telepath. She's like Goldilocks with a really nasty temperament. She may only be 6 years old or so, but can take out most black belts.

Anyway, we've been on the run from various bad guys and just trying to survive. We had a break in our saving the world agenda and found my real mom and my sister, Ella. Sometimes I feel guilty because I found my family and the other kids haven't. So far though, my mom, Dr. Martinez, and Ella have taken the flock in as their own. We're kinda of like a Brady Bunch gone wrong. Daddy Brady's around too, but that story's a little complicated. Dr. Jeb Batchelder took care of the flock when we escaped from the lab called The School. He came with us and took care of us for years, until he decided to go all evil and go back to The School. We kicked The School's butt and Jeb stuck with us, claiming to be on our side again. Since then he's been like a bad rash that we have to deal with every once in a while.

The flock and I had just gotten back to Arizona. I walked up the stairs of my mom's house, smelling chocolate chip cookies coming out of the screen door. I opened the door with the flock behind me, ready to give my mom a scolding for being up and around so early. We'd only rescued her last week! She had been given two weeks bed rest and some pain medications. I walked in to see Ella in the kitchen pulling cookies out of the oven with Jeb watching over her. Brigid and John were sitting at the dining room table, smiling at us. "Hey Max! Hey guys!" Ella beamed at us, excited that we were home. Well, as much of a home as we can have. Brigid and John stood up giving the flock hugs. I stared Brigid down as her arms enveloped Fang in a hug. I smiled to myself when he didn't respond. I gave Ella and John a hug, giving Jeb and Brigid a brief nod. "Where's mom?" I asked Ella. "She's asleep. Her pain medication makes her really sleepy. She's doing a lot better though. She'll be really happy to see you." She replied. I looked at Jeb for confirmation. "Her condition has improved. She should be waking up soon." He stated. "Those smell so good. Can I grab one?" Iggy asked leaning around me to grab a cookie off of the baking sheet. "Careful! They're hot!" Ella warned. Iggy took 3 cookies with a mischievous smile. "No worries." He grinned. "You guys put your stuff down and relax." John said. "Max, come put your stuff down in my room. I put a sleeping bag on the floor so we can have girl talk when everyone else is asleep tonight." Ella whispered with a giggle. What Ella didn't know was that they rest of the flock had really sensitive hearing, being related to birds and all. I saw them look at each other with smirks on their faces. They knew I loved girl talk liked they loved by poked by cattle prods. But I liked Ella a lot, so I was willing to go with it. I looked at them and rolled my eyes, heading towards Ella's bedroom.

Ella offered to cook dinner for everyone. Jeb recommended ordering pizza so everyone could talk and relax until we reminded him of what happened the last time that we ordered pizza. "If I hadn't seen the wires we'd all be dead splattered like a Jackson Pollock painting." Gazzy beamed with a smile. The flock looked at Gazzy wondering who Jackson Pollock was. "I saw his painting when we were in New York. Trust me, it would have been bad." He smiled, obviously proud of himself. "I'm so glad your talent for blowing things up actually paid off for once Gaz." I smiled. "Is everyone okay with chicken enchiladas?" Ella asked. I thought it was so funny that a normal kid our age was taking responsibility and not in a save the world kind of way. "Ooh! That sound sooooo good!" Nudge squealed with delight. Everyone else gave nods of approval as Ella walked into the kitchen. "Do you want some help?" Iggy called. Ella's face held a confused face for a moment. I'm sure she was wondering why the blind guy offered to help, but she accepted. Little did she know that Iggy was our resident cook. The only thing the rest of us could cook was take out. The two walked into the kitchen living the rest of us to talk. "What's the plan of action, Max?" John asked me. "I'm sure Chu is on the move. We'll stay here for a couple of weeks and then start looking for him. We can help with the CSM while we're here too. We're just going to regroup, try to do some research to try and find Chu." I replied. I slipped a glance at Jeb who was looking at me cautiously. "Any help that we could get would be appreciated." I stated, looking at him. To my surprise, it was Brigid who piped up instead. "Is this a good idea Max? Chu is really powerful, but he suffered a major loss in Hawaii. It will probably be a while before he's up to any of his old tricks. Shouldn't we be working on more pressing matters?" she asked. "Brigid, by old tricks do you mean threatening bird-kids and shooting them in the wings?" I asked pulling my wing around and pointing at the spot where his goon's bullets had hit me. "I didn't know…" Brigid said weakly. "There are a lot of things that you don't know." I replied harshly with eyes narrowed. Brigid and Fang had become close when we were on our trip to Antarctica and I never really knew what had happened between them, but I knew I didn't like it. What Brigid didn't know that I knew was that I had seen her and Chu talking and I didn't trust her one bit. "Max…" Fang said to me in a chastising tone. My narrow gaze shifted to him. Unlike Brigid, he didn't exactly cower. He'd seen that look on my face for fourteen years so it wasn't nearly as scary for him. "Max, I have to agree with Brigid. There are more serious issues at hand right now. Chu will take time before he's active again. He will move around and settle in somewhere new. In addition to that I'm sure there are several other people who aren't happy with him. He'll have to contend with them too. You may have to face it Max, you may not have your chance at him" Jeb replied. "What do you know about him?" I asked Jeb directly. He shied away, his face shutting down. "Max, not right now. Let's just enjoy being here." He replied. I was about to protest when John stepped in. "Jeb's right about that part Max. There will be plenty of time to worry about these things. Right now we need to focus on Valencia's recovery and letting you guys recover from your trip. Take a break, Max. You've had a rough time these past few months. Don't borrow trouble." He smiled kindly. I felt Fang blending into the couch as he sat next to me. He'd been still and silent. I snuck a glance at him. His head sunk down a fraction of an inch, telling me to go with it. No one else would have understood the movement but me, and maybe Angel, but only because she could read his mind. "Fine. I'm going for a fly." I said standing.