"Zey know it's not over yet."
"Excillent. This time, they wont be so lucky. They will not jepordize everything that I have worked for."
"If you dont mind me sayinging, if Max has beaten Omega, she vill easily defeat zi others. It is a vaste of time and money."
"Oh wipe that scowl of your face Borcht. Max fought one on one. But what if...."
"Do vhat you must. But if a may add.... you should have desposed of zem vhen you had zi chance." de Borcht stormed out of the room
                                                        

                                                             ~M~M~


"Hey Max!" the Gasman called excitedly
"No more knock knock jokes." Max said tiredly.
"Thats not it-"
"No more immitations until you find someone new to-" Nudge said.
"Thats NOT it!"
"What is it?!"
"I looked down at one of the road sign thingys and... can we stop in Las Vegas?" Gazzy finally blurted out.
Suddenly, the flock erupted into excitment. Max stopped flying.
"What? Vegas?"
"Yeah Max. Casinos-" said Iggy
"Mini Gulf like under a mini statue and-" Angel clapped
"Theres a pyramid and a spinx!" Nudge added eagerly
"Girls in pink feathers and giant crowns and.... and..." Gazzy said happily. Everyone stopped talking and looked at him.
"This kid that was at the school that Anne put us in went and had pictures." he said.
"Max, can we please go?" Nudge asked.
"Yeah, I promise I wont blow anything up." Iggy said jokingly.
"No casinos?" He guessed.
Max was silenly debating. They wanted to stop, she wanted to go. Vegas was the last place she wanted to be at this moment.

This could be the last time they have fun with you, Max. Max scowled inwardly, but then softened.

"Fine. Maybe Angel could get us into a show." Max said smiling.
The flock erupted into chatter. Except for Fang. He was his usual impasive self.
"Hey, lets wait till night! i wanna see the neon lights."
"You think it'll be like Time Square?"
"Another crouded place if it'll be anything like Time Square."
The flock flew like this for quite some time. Angel, Nudge, Iggy and the Gasman deep in conversation on what Vegas will be like, and what to do there.
Max flew just a little ahead, deep in her own thoughts. Fang flew beside her, dark and brooding.

Just take it easy. We'll get there soon enough. Max told herself.
Will the Chameleons follow us here? how did they find us last time?

Max looked at her arm where she had dug out the device. She had long since discarded the bandage. A jagged pink scar ran like a train track half way to her elbow. It wasnt likely that they had put a third one into her, was it? Maybe the others had a chip. Most likely Angel and the Gasman.
Max looked back at them, all happy, their faces glowing in the stting sun. The should be there by 9.
For now, she wouldnt worry about that until she really needed to. Tonight would only be her and the flock.
Max looked over at Fang. He was looking at her.
"What?" Max asked.
Fang didnt say anything, He just looked ahead.

The Flock flew over the city of neon, eyes wide, mouth agaped. Even Fang.
"Look! its the Eiffel Tower!" Nudge cried while clapping her hands. She squeeled as she say the Pyramid in the distance.
"Look, Max! its a wall of water." Angel laughed.
Iggy groaned. He had a scowl on his face, but he eagerly flew with the flock as they circled around.
"Iggy! everythings pink,blue, green, yellow- theres, like, a sea of tale lights and- oh theres a castle!" Nudge exlploded.
Iggy's face seemed clouded as he imagined what Nudge was saying.
"Are we going to fly around, talking about it, or are we going to land?" the Gasman said impatiently.
everyone laughed.
"Fang, look at that fountain!" Max said excitedly. "Its huge!"
Fang kind of smiled.
"Ig, this is nothing like the big apple." he said.

The flock landed in an ally way.
"Sure smells like New York." Iggy said, grimacing at the smell.
"Smells like barf and.... and-"
"C'mon. lets just get out of here." Max said through a pinched nose.
"What do we do first?" Angel asked excitedly.
"Shopping." Nudge said simply.
"We look like street rats with wings." She stated.
Max hadnt thought about her apearance. She looked down at the clothes Jess had given her. the jeans that had fit so comfortably, were now muddied and torn, she looked around at the others. They looked no better.
"Fine." Max grumbled.
They peered into stores along the way. Laughing and talking loudly, seeing the sites.
A guy with a purple spikes and rings all over his face walked past. as soon as he was out of ear shot, the flock burst into laughter.
"Max, can I have my hair like that?" Gazzy asked with wide eyes.
"How bout when you grow a few feet, um, grow a beared, drop the wings and change your name to Paul Bunyan."
"Paul Bunyan doesnt have a spikes."
"And he never will."
the Gasman pouted and crossed his arms over his chest like a toddler who had just heard the word 'no'.
"Hey, lets go in here." Fang said.
Max looked into the window. She was amazed! The clothing fit what she liked, what Fang like, What Gazzy wanted but couldnt have. It wasperfect for kids on the run. Not to glamerous, yet not thrift store like. defenantly not thrift store.
"Lets go!" She called as she opened the door. Instantly, the flock went into their little sections.
Max fingered through the shirts, then sweatshirts. She gasped as she saw this white hoodie with the words 'Vegas, Baby!' on the back. It was perfect. Max hugged it.
"Not exactly a good color though." She mumbled. White would be hard to keep clean. She shrugged. In the end, she settled for a pale grey one with the red rose on the back.
Max picked out sweat pants that roled up to the knee.
Max was in the process of finding the others when something unexpected caught her eye. She gasped as she looked at the navy blue dress with baby blue stitching.

You dont need it. You have no use for such things. Its not like you would look good in it anyway. Max told herself. But she was sill drawn to it.

She picked it up eagerly, glancing around to see if any of the flock was in sight.
Good. She was in the clear. Max held the dress up to her body. It sweapt down to her shins. It looked soooo dreamy.
"I wonder howi'd look in this." She said aloud as she examined her self in the mirror.
"Going a little over board, I see."
Max gasped, seeing Fang in the mirror. She dropped the dress and spun around.
"What do you want?"
Fang folded his arms across his chest and lifted his chin smugly.
"Ready to pay for my clothes." He held up a black hoodie and black cargo pants
"Whats with the dress?" he added. Max could have sworn she detected a bit of laughter in his voice.
Max scowled and picked the dress up off the floor, and returned it to the rack.
"None of your buisness. Get the others ready." Max grumbled, not meeting Fangs eyes.
Fang chuckled a bit at the growing redness of her face.
Max scowled and stalked past him.

The dress would look nice on yo-

When pigs fly! Max retorted.

If children can fly then....who knows what the future will bring. if there is a future. The voice added meaningfully.

Max looked around for the others, walking down isles.

Yeah, yeah. Zip it. one task at a time.

Ah. Nudge and Angel. Max walked up to the two girls.
"Find anything?" Max asked. Big mistake on her part.
Angel and Nudge started talking at once, Max's head began to spin.
"Guess thats a yes. Listen, one outfit each. Nothing too fancy."
"Yeah, ok." Nudge groaned as she returned three shirts to the rack, and two pairs of jeans.
"How bout you, Angel?"
"I like this." She held up a baby blue pullover sweat shirt and faded blue jeans.
"Lets see. Angel, Nudge, Fang: check. Now lets go find Gazzy and Iggy."

The six of them dressed in their new attire and explored Vegas.
"Lets play Mini Golf!" Angel cried as she pointed towards the sign.
"Lets go to a casino." Iggy said.
"Under age, Ig." Fang stated.
"Angel could fix that. And, wouldnt it be cool if we hit the jack pot and became all, like, rich? We could by a house in the Bahamas!"
"The Eiffel tower looks alot smaller." Nudge said as she looked up at it.
The flock ended up seeing a show.
Afterwards, they set off walking towards the giant fountain Max had seen from the air.
"Walking is so over rated." the Gasman grumbled as he shuffled his feet.
Iggy pushed him play fully.
"Your the one who wanted to come here. Tired already?"
"Heck no!" Gazzy said straitening himself up.
"I can keep going till morning."
"Which is in a few hours." Nudge said laughing.
Gazzy ran on ahead.
"See? the Gasman never sleeps." Gazzy said laughing.
Nudge and Angel ran after him. Iggy rolled his unseeing eyes, and darted off behind them.
"Hey! wai-" Max was about to yell, but Fang touched her shoulder.
"Max?" Fangs voice sounded stange to her. Uncharacteristically soft, just like that night weeks ago....
He didnt meet her eyes. "Remember what you said before the Flyboys attacked the second time?"
Max thought.

“you love me sooo much.” Fang teased ........ “I guess I do.” Max said

Max's face grew warm as she remembered.
Fang looked at her, seeing the pink creeping into her cheeks. The corner of his lips turned up so slightly that to any stranger couldnt catch it.
"So you werent jus high off that stuff Ari got you with." Fang said.
Max scowled. She didnt just lose the rest of the flosk so that Fang could make fun of her. She felt like shoving him, and yelling at him. Her fist was just itching to make contact his jaw.
Max was just about to comment when Fang kissed her.
Max flt dizzy. She was floating. All her anger forgotten. At that moment, it was just her and Fang. Time had frozen. This was exactly where she wanted to be at this moment in time.

Seeing Max with the setting sun in her face made Fang start thinking of the day when he would be without her. he could bring himself to say a word. Max would have looked so great in that dress she had pick. He wished he could have told her that before she stormed off. thoughts ran through his mind. He desided on one thing.
Fang broke the kiss.
"I love you, too." He said inches from her face.
Max couldnt speak, couldnt think.
BOOOM
An explosion filled their ears.
Max growled inwardly.

Curses! Why doesnt anything good ever last?

Fang and Max ran to where the others went. when they came to the giant fountain Max called two names.
"Gazzy, Iggy!?"

They are soooo dead

"We didnt do it!" Iggy yelled from the other side of the fountain.
Everyone was staring towards the direction of the spinx.
"Look! part of its face is falling!" Angel pointed as Max and Fang raced around to their side.
Sure enough, in the distance, the spinx was crumbling. the culprits? Flying Metal Wolf Men. Flyboys.
"Lets Jet!" Max yelled.
They ran off into the croud, making their escape befor the Flyboy actually laid eyes on them. They turned a corner and threw themselfs into the air.
People pointed and gasped.

Here we go again. Max thought with dread.

Headline for tomorrows paper: Bird kids sighted once again.

We're sure giving big foot a run for his money