Maximum Ride- The Others

[Guardian Angel]

Mike was still tending to the small smile that touched his lips once Aira mentioned the compound in Russia. That mission wasn't too smooth. Just lots of bloodshed. Nothing good ever happened to Mike in Russia. Sure Mike was built for Russian terrain, but everything went wrong there for some reason. She shook his head, adrenaline started pumping through his veins. His eyes grew feral, looking around whilst taking in as much information as possible. If Mike took flight then he would be shot down, he wasn't nearly as fast as Aira in the air. Mike was a much larger target all around.

"I can smell Chris's scent nearby, he should be near. Try to contact him with your mind, we need to make a break for one of the exits. Some of the guards will be preoccupied with extracting the non military personnel. If we're going to do anything it should be done now." Mike spoke quickly. Getting his knife ready while he spoke. He looked at Aira, then back to the guards.

"Most of the guards will be stationed in clusters around the director, we should avoid that area altogether. I thi-" Mike stopped talking and sniffed the air a few times. A large smile spread across his face. His tired features lit up.

"Take flight if you can, you'll be a hard target to hit. I'll stick to the ground, if you want to stick together, spread out and zigzag. You know the drill." He was almost done talking.

"No matter what happens, keep running. You and Chris are the important ones here."

Mike took off as he finished his sentence. He made a beeline to Elizabeth and Dawn's cage. His eyes caught a hint of his father evacuating Dawn and Elizabeth. Bullets started tearing into the terrain around Mike. He rapidly changed where he was running. He felt two bullets smack into his vest. He grunted in pain, but continued to run. Dad freed Dawn and Elizabeth.

Suddenly two of the guards in higher positions started opening up on the other guards. Chaos erupted and bullets were no longer peppering the ground around Mike. Instead they were snapping over his head. He called to Aira, broadcasting one of his thoughts. A few of my old friends have joined the party, they'll keep the guards busy, we need to get to Chris. Mike took to the air, now that he had covering fire. He gained speed and barrel rolled through the air, darting left and right whenever it was appropriate. He glimpsed Chris confronting the Director and proceeded to make a beeline straight for him. He hoped that he would make it in time.

------------

A woman along with a young man stood in guard outfits. They were sweating, looking around at the other guards flooding into the arena. They were up in the stands, calmly switching the safeties off on their military grade assault rifles. The man and woman detested guns of any type. Saving the bird kids and Mike provided an exception to their distaste of ballistic weapons. The director's voice crackled through the radio. "Kill them all." They both switched their radios off when the order was issued.

The woman spoke to the man. "That dog better know what he's doing." She said motioning towards a far off Mike. The man grunted in response. The woman spoke again.

"Work from closest to farthest, keep the bird kids and little Mikey alive." after that order was said, Mike started sprinting far below on the ground floor.

"Lets bring Fido home." The man said as the duo started picking off guards.

[nightwolf]

Chris lunged forward grabbing the director by the throat squeezing tightly and allowing the darkness to climb engulf the director neck, Chris's eyes turned dark and he spoke. " This end with you if we die, you die. I'm the end of you with this curse that you have infliced" he expelled the darkness onto the director the smoke smothering all over her face leaking into her eyes and nose.

It wasn't long before the directors body turned to ash in his hands. Chris's body tightened and the darkness drifted back in and he watched the scene of fighting below, Mike and Aira were outnumbered. Leaping out of the window Chris roared loudly the darkness smoking around his body. When he landed he slammed his fists down on the floor causing the floor to tremble and expelling the darkness out similar to that of an explosion it attacked all of the solders and sent bullets to the floor draining life out of everything.

Standing up slowly the darkness returned slowly as Chris breathed heavily his eyes returning back to their normal colour.

[AiraValkov]

Aira's head was pounding. Voices slowly started to seep into her mind. Mike's voice about Elizabeth and her mom. Chris. Had he said Chris was near by. Yes. She could feel him now. She left the pull. the draw that pulled her to him. Just then bullets started to fly. Aira moved agents her will running to her right. Mike mentioned he had friends helping as he jumped into the air. Aira could see two guards fighting back.

"I'm not leaving anyone behind. I've made that mistake to many time." Aira yelled drawing fire away from Mike Aira made a move to jump into the air. She felt the lift move under her wings. and then the hard ground came crashing into her. Someone had grabbed her foot and slammed her down. The world went dark for a moment and the wind left Aira's chest with a loud whoosh. She thought the earth had trembled but when she got to her feet she saw Chris looking at her. His eyes watched her slowly melting into more of the Chris she knew. she wanted to run to him. but now was not the time. She lunged at the nearest guard and brought her fist down hard on his cheek.

She tried to focus on fighting and communicating with Matthew. They needed to get out still. She pushed her mind out then. Pushing past the arena and into the compound like facility they were being held in. Then she found Elizabeth. They were a floor above trying to make there way into the Arena. Wrong answer. That was the opposite of what they wanted to do. They wanted to Get out!

Get yourselves out. We can handle this. but your need to make it out. your better to us safe. Mike and I can't focus if we have loved ones in danger.

Aira's mind was momentarily distracted long enough for an uppercut to smash into her jaw and send her back onto her back and wings. They needed to get out now.

[Guardian Angel]

Mike's wing beats were labored, blood trickled out of his mouth periodically. His injured lung wasn't doing too good. Mike wasn't getting enough oxygen. It was a miracle that he could stand, let alone fly. His eyes were locked on his current objective.

Mike saw Chris killing the director whilst flying. He angled towards him, he could still stop him from doing the deed. He needed to tell him not to, he needed to be that voice of reason. The director ruined their lives, killed many, and experimented on so many more. Countless lives had been destroyed because of the director. She had made Chris, and Mike kill countless. She bent Aira to her will, made her do things she would never be able to take back. All of those thoughts whirled through his mind. This woman killed his mother, and yet Mike wanted to save her, because part of him knew that she was the key to bringing everything down. All of the facilities across the world could be ripped apart if they gave the Director over to the proper authorities. Just then a bullet smacked right into Mike's left wing. He crashed into the seats that were spread out across the arena.

He groaned and quickly got up and started running at the nearest guard. He threw his combat knife as the guard reloaded. The knife spun through the air and embedded itself in the guard's left shoulder. Mike punched the guard in the throat which caused the man to fall to his knees. Mike took the man's unloaded rifle. He knocked the man out with one swift punch to the temple. He threw the gun to his feet and retrieved his knife from the guard's shoulder. Mike stumbled along, falling to his hands and knees. Chris's powers kicked in once he had reached the center of the arena. The majority of guards around Mike were quickly destroyed, they screamed in agony and discharged their guns while being consumed. Mike looked away with eyes closed.

He glanced over at Chris, then back to Mike's two friends around thirty feet ahead. Mike's chest heaved, he got back up on his unsteady feet and walked towards the two mutants up ahead.

-----------------

The pair masquerading as guards took cover behind nearby reinforced double doors as they were quickly discovered. They took many down in the confusion. One of the other birdkids was still on the arena floor. They prioritized to protect her once Mike took to the air. They unloaded on the left side of the arena in correlation to their position. They quickly dispatched a handful of guards with overlapping fields of fire. The woman ripped off her helmet and mask, she had blonde hair with light blue streaks crossing across her locks.

The took his off too, he had a dark complexion with pale scars criss-crossing his left cheek. The man pointed at Mike's position as he crashed into the stands. Before they could get shots off, large black projectiles sought out the majority of guards. They both noticed a heavily injured Mike approaching. They quickly ran over to him. The young woman dropped her gun when she did so. They supported Mike, as he appeared unsteady. Shocked by the appearance of the young woman. Mike didn't appear to be shocked once he saw the young man.

"Where is he? Is he okay?" Mike said quickly.

"Yes, he's the only one crazy enough to send us after the infamous attack dog." The man said with a serious face. Mike chuckled at that weakly. The girl didn't say anything for a moment. They let Mike down, and rested him on his back as his eyelids began to flutter.

"Ezekiel, get one of the stretchers from the inside of the facility. We're getting him out of here." The girl's eyes jumped to each of his wounds. The most notable was a stab wound on the left side of his torso. Bullets wounds peppered his vest. Two of which had met their mark on the small of his back, there was an obscene amount of blood. Mike was going into shock now that the adrenaline was fading. Ezekiel ran off to the nearest exit in a dead sprint whilst the woman was taking inventory of Mike's minor and major injuries.

Mike's eyes continued to flutter, as he began to mutter words in a delirious manner "You've gown up so much Resa." Mike said softly. Tears began to form in her eyes. Teresa's hands started to glow a ghostly green. She waved the two birdkids over, and hovered her hands over Mike's chest. She needed to stabilize him whilst Ezekiel went to get the stretcher from one of the wards. Mike weakly grasped her left hand and he whispered for her to stop.

"S-Stop, this is what I deserve." Mike whispered in a strained voice right before his eyes closed and he passed out. Teresa's eyes narrowed, tears still coming out of her eyes.

"Shut up you idiot, I'm going to save you, whether you like it or not." She looked over the other two birdkids and waved them over again. Her hands returned to Mike's chest. Teresa's hands glowed much brighter as she exerted herself harder, as of right now she was the only thing keeping Mike alive. She wasn't going to let Mike die, not even after that day so long ago.

[nightwolf]

(Waiting for Avia to post since Chris is cooling down right now)

[AiraValkov]

Aira jumped to her feet as fast as she could. Her world was spinning. She saw Mike. Laying on the ground. A girl waved her over to him. what was she doing? A bright glow came from her hands when she touched him. She knew what she was doing. Aira ran over as tears filled her eyes.

"Mike! Mike look at me!" She said moving to stand over his head. She could feel him but only slightly.

"Mike your almost there! Were almost done! You have to stay with us! Mike, can you hear me?!" Aira's hand moved to lightly touch Mike's temples and soon she felt herself being drawn into Mike. Her eyes slowly went white. warmth slowly started to leave her body.

Mike... her voice only a soft whisper. it slowly echoed. Stay with us...





~~MEANWHILE~~

Matthew, Dawn and Elizabeth all slowly made there way around the facility. They all wanted to move into the arena to help the others. they turned a corner and Elizabeth held her ears as Aira's Loud voice echoed in her mind.

Get yourselves out. We can handle this. but your need to make it out. your better to us safe. Mike and I can't focus if we have loved ones in danger.

"WAIT! Aira says we need to get out. She says they can't fight knowing they have to protect us and themselves." Elizabeth said tears slowly filling her eyes. was Michael okay? Her heart ached for him.

"Dawn, The right thing to do is to get you both out of here. I'm sorry but you both have no protection like the rest of us." Matthew said. He ignored Elizabeth's look of annoyance. Dawn looked from Elizabeth to Matthew.

"We should get ourselves out Elizabeth. Matthew your coming as well. Michael had both you and Elizabeth to worry about..." She began

"But I can fight!" He said

"But we can't. We need you. They need you to protect us. Now lets do as Aira says and get ourselves to safety. We'll wait with a getaway for them off the facility perimeters." she said her voice growing with authority and command.

Matthew looked at Dawn in a new light just then. She wasn't just your normal lab woman. She knew how to lead. He was honestly impressed. He noded with a small grin. If he got out of his, he'd follow her anywhere. They now started to move up and out. Dawn opened her mind trying to connect with her daughter.

Aira, honey I love you. Show them who you are! We'll be waiting for us, don't be late.

[nightwolf]

Chris panted slightly his head spinning by the small explosion of the darkness he felt weakend by it but stronger as a result. He looked to Aira and ran up to her " Aira are you Allright? It's done with Aira she gone now out of our lives " Chris held his hand out to Aira " c'mon lets get out of here and finish everything she started, and make our own lives now "

Chris's head turned as the people helping Mike moved him away from the arena, instantly the Darkness swirled around Chris building up him strength " Can we trust them Aira? They seem to know Mike and visa versa but I'm not sure " his head tilted toe side and he surveyed the damage the Darkness had done, the arena was empty now scattered guns and bullets were all that remained.

[Guardian Angel]

The only thing Mike was aware of was a suffocating darkness blanketing everything. He couldn't move, there was no pain, relief was all that Mike felt. He felt guilt for giving in, he felt a deep sadness for Elizabeth. Aira and Chris were free now that the Director was gone, but Mike still didn't want to leave Elizabeth. He didn't want to leave his family behind, Aira, Chris, and his father. He still had so much to do, and yet it was all being laid to rest. Mike was just about to be swallowed up, darkness began to envelop the corners of his mind, slowly surrounding the last flickering light of Mike's life.

Suddenly a voice reached out to him. Mike...Stay with us.... Light started to envelop Mike's mind. He could feel again. There was so much pain, too much for even Mike to handle. He embraced it, Mike latched onto that feeling he knew oh so well. Mike's world came crashing back down upon him. His eyes opened half way. Immediately he started coughing. Gasping for air between expulsions of blood. Mike would've groaned if he was able to.

He looked over and saw Aira. She gave him a push to a keep on going. It was all that he needed. Resa stood over him. Tears forming her eyes. Mike couldn't speak, he looked at Aira with eyes full of hundreds of emotions. Mike's mind wasn't functioning correctly. Memories and thoughts were jumbled, for they were all spilling out.

I'm not going anywhere. Mike forced out a coherent thought. He could feel himself slipping away again, but he forced himself to stay awake.

------------

Teresa looked over at Aira as her eyes went white. When she touched Mike's temples Teresa was tempted to stop her. Just before she was about to, Mike's body was clinging to life once more. His eyes were open, blood steadily coming from his mouth. Teresa focused on repairing his damaged lung. That was the most important thing. Bullet wounds would come later. Mike must've used his last resort too, because his right arm is heavily damaged.

Just then Ezekiel ran back into view with a gurney. Teresa stopped the healing process for a moment and assisted Ezekiel in putting Mike on the gurney. Blood coated the floor, and started seeping into the the bedding. Ezekiel started pushing it whilst Teresa's face grew pale from excursion. She continued to speed up Mike's healing process.

She glanced over at, Chris. He was marveling at their new found freedom with Aira. He proceeded to question Teresa's and Ezekiel's loyalty. Offended, the fiery woman glared at the male bird kid. He was very intimidating, as he just dispatched a good portion of an arena full of guards; however, Teresa was beyond caring. Seeing Mike in such a state was wearing her down.

"Look, there's no time to explain. You two need to get somewhere safe, I'll fix him up." Teresa said through exhausted breaths. She gave the two bird kids one last lingering glance, she didn't expect them to listen. If she was in their shoes, she wouldn't listen either.

Ezekiel chimed in after Teresa was done talking. "He's safe now. I'm not the biggest fan of Mike, but we won't hurt him." His booming voice reassured the two elusive bird kids.

[AiraValkov]

Aira could feel it. Feel Mike. She reached for him then. Reached without arms but with light. She then felt a cold feeling pulling the back of her mind. Then something sparked. Aira's eyes snapped back to normal just as Mike's eyes opened and he coughed. Aira fell back on her arms suddenly feeling worn and aged. Mike's words drifted into her mind like a calm breeze and she smiled ever so slightly. Chris ran to her. Her body slowly warmed seeing his face.

" Aira are you All right? It's done with Aira she gone now out of our lives " Chris held his hand out to her. " c'mon lets get out of here and finish everything she started, and make our own lives now "

Chris' head turned as the people helping Mike moved him away from the arena.

"Can we trust them Aira? They seem to know Mike and visa versa but I'm not sure "

It took moments for Aira to think. She took Chris' hand and stood up. Her body groaned in protest but in an odd way it felt good. She then heard the girl near Mike say they would take care of him and that they should leave. Aira's mind was made up before anyone had said anything.

"I'm grateful for you for helping him. But I'm not leaving him. Not while he's like this. I've been away from my family for two long. I've lost to many people and Now that we are safe, if that's what we are, I'm not leaving anyone behind."

Her voice was husky and cracked like she needed some water but the one thing that stood out in Aira's voice was respect and Authority. Something never expect from someone her size. She held Chris' hand tightly not wanting to let him go ever again. She looked into his eyes hoping he saw her reasoning but she knew he understood.



~~~Meanwhile~~~

They were in a full on run now. Matthew guessed that every guard was down where Aira and Mike were so no one was in the hall. They got onto the next level and Matthew was sure they were close to the surface now. Suddenly he stopped. Something felt wrong. There should have been at least a few guards out at posts to stop them. Dawn stopped a few feet ahead and Elizabeth right behind her.

"What's wrong." She asked searching Matthews face. Matthew's mind was going through everything.

"There are no guards." He came to the conclution. "No alarms."

"So isn't that a good thing?" Elizabeth asked looking from Dawn to Matthew

"No, because something of this magnitude. They had important people from around the world and they all escaped or were killed. But you would expect some type of system to keep this under the highest security and now here we are walking out the front door." Matthew said looking around. He could hear the hum of a computer coming from down the hall. he followed it and opened the door. Elizabeth moved to the computer and tried to access it. Matthew moved her out of the way and began typing. Soon the computer buzzed to life and the screen went red.

System Termination: 1:26:03

"Oh my..." Dawn said grabbing Matthew's shoulder.

"Yeah, not a good thing." He said and began typing. Elizabeth moved to the other computers looking for something.

[Guardian Angel]

Mike's vision was slowly gaining focus. His wounds were mending, blood stopped filling his damaged lung. He could somewhat breathe once more. A coughing fit came over Mike as his body tried to expel the rest of the blood that rested in his formally injured lung. He looked around, his body wasn't functioning correctly. He lost too much blood during the fight with the guards. With no way to get a transfusion, Mike would have to remain incapacitated for quite some time. His back started to mend, two bullets wormed their way out, Mike grunted in pain. Still weak, Resa Signaled to Ezekiel to stop pushing the gurney. They reached a corner, and Resa proceeded to do her best to lift Mike's right arm. Ezekiel did the same on Mike's left. Mike groaned as they pulled him off of the gurney. They supported him on either end. Resa was straining to support Mike's weight. Ezekiel was much better off, nearly as large as Mike was.

Mike's mind whirred with activity in bursts as he tried to stay conscious. He did his best to think coherent thoughts for Aira to hear. Purge.... Facility purge, n-need to get others out. Mike passed out for a few moments as Ezekiel rounded another corner with Mike in tow. He spotted a door on his left and kicked it open. The noise echoed throughout the stairwell that the door opened up into. They headed up the stairwell. Carrying Mike up stairs quickly tired Resa out. Eventually Ezekiel began carrying Mike over his shoulder. Ezekiel was struggling to bear Mikes mass. Eventually they made it to the roof without problems. The noise of an active rotor assembly was available for everyone to hear.

-----------------------

Resa's lungs burned, she was lightheaded. She had shed gear in the stair well to stave off exhaustion. She couldn't carry Mike, even feeling slightly guilty about not being able to heal him further. She had gone beyond her limits. She would've passed out had she continued to mend Mike's wounds. She could tell that Ezekiel didn't approve, not after what Mike had done to Teresa all those years ago. As they reached the roof Teresa held the door open for everyone.

"Load Michael up, tell them to make room in the little bird." Teresa called to Ezekiel. Sure enough a MH-6 Little Bird swooped over their heads and landed infront of them. The air rippled around everyone. Teresa turned to the other two birdkids and spoke quickly.

"We're taking Mike to a safe-house. We're already at weight capacity, as we didn't expect to have Michael and you two aboard. Follow us on a bearing of 240 for about 100 or so miles. That should get you to the drop off." Teresa explained as clearly as possible, tossing a compass to Chris. Meanwhile the pilot was offloading crates off of the Little Bird to accommodate Mike.

Ezekiel loaded Mike up while Teresa talked. As Teresa turned to him, he gave a thumbs up. Teresa ran over to the MH-6 and sat down on the skid nearest to Mike. He was sitting up now, trying his best to talk. Guilt was apparent, Michael couldn't even begin to express such sadness. Mike said something to her that was drowned out by the noise of the helicopter. She patted Mike on the boot and looked away. Her expression mirroring his.

[nightwolf]

(Sorry guys I've been really busy, lets bring this back right)

Chris nodded slowly to Aira and swiftly caught the flying compass,it seems that they were to follow a helicopter, with all of Chris's and Aira's flying strength put together they could probably outrun a helicopter and be to the safehouse in half of the time.

Chris looked to Mike in the helicopter he nodded to him a silent promise that they would meet him there. " We should gt going, do you want me to heal you, you don't look so hot. We could join our powers together. Dee always said the power of the Light and the Darkness together was an unimaginable power, even if the director wanted it for evil we can use it for good." He said taking Aira's other hand the darkness swirling lightly around Aira's hands.

He thought about what would happen now, where would they go, what would they do? They're whole life was set on escaping and being free, now they were it was hard to adjust to a new life that had only just begun.

[AiraValkov]

Aira watched the helicopter fly away with Mike inside.

"We should get going, do you want me to heal you, you don't look so hot. We could join our powers together. Dee always said the power of the Light and the Darkness together was an unimaginable power, even if the director wanted it for evil we can use it for good." He said taking her other hand the darkness swirling lightly around her hands.

Aira felt so many emotions. She didn't like Mike being away from them. She didn't like not being safe, but now they were, weren't they? She felt a rush of emotion over flow. Suddenly her eyes flooded with tears. She began sobbing uncontrollably. Her body shook with and overwhelming feeling of freedom. She shook her head and started to laugh lightly looking up at the setting sun. She sighed.

"Purge... We have to Make sure Everyone got out. My mom, Elizabeth and Matthew. I'm fine, i'll heal fast enough. Let me find them."

Aira closed her eyes and slowly let her mind push out down into the compound. Worry, she could feel her mothers worry. She reached out until she saw the bright red screen.

Mom! Were safe. Tell Matthew to get you guys to the roof. We have the location of a safe house.

Aira came slowly back into her own mind and then smiled. "They are on their way up. And it turned out the director is planed one last strike. To destroy this compound." She said.

[Guardian Angel]

Mike breathed a deep sigh of relief. He was being flown away from a place that he thought was to be his final resting place. Everything felt strange to Mike. For once in the past three years he had no idea of what was going to happen next. It felt refreshing. He closed his eyes, still worried about others at the facility. Teresa looked over at Mike intently staring. Mike could practically feel her curiosity radiating from her person. Mike opened one eye and looked at her. His battered face looked haggard and weathered by the signs of battle. Fighting Aira in hand to hand combat naturally left it's marks.

"Why did you come, because we both know that he didn't tell you to." Mike's face was completely serious. Ezekiel looked at Teresa expectantly for an answer. She cleared her throat, and locked eyes with Mike.

"I came to save you for the same reasons you went to aid those two bird kids years ago. It's because he told you not to." Mike gave a sad smile, satisfied with her answer. Ezekiel looked slightly angry and glared at Mike and Teresa. He shot Teresa a 'we'll talk about this later' look.

"Why did he want you to stop looking for Aira and Chris?" She asked sternly, tired of beating around the bush.

"Because he knew I was going to die protecting them. He came to the same conclusion I did, and he hated himself for it. He knew their lives were much more important than mine." Mike spoke with sad melancholy.

"I made my choice, why did you make yours?" Mike looked into her eyes, for a moment she let her guard down. There was so much pain, too much pain for a woman of her age to deal with. Mike looked away as they continued to speed to their destination. They took small detours over the countryside as they sped away skirting around cities. They wanted to ensure no one followed them.

[Hellbreaker]

(This still open to acceptions?)