Tattered Wings

The Funeral

Half and hour later, Max and Peter were landing in front of Max's ex-temporary house. They had flown faster than Steve and Tony, as Max could fly at the speed of light. Max put Peter down on his feet and shook the cramp out of her arms.

"Wow."  Peter said, dazed, "That was awesome!"

Max smiled at him. "I know"

she started going into the house, hesitating slightly as she opened the front door and stepped inside.

"Shouldn't we wait for Dad and Pops to get here first?"

max paused and looked at Peter over her shoulder. "I have to see them for myself first." she whispered as she disappeared into the house. Peter followed her silently down the hallway, almost crashing into Max as she stopped suddenly. She choked out a sob as she reached for the handle of the door at the end of the hallway. It swung open to reveal the scene of death. Blood had dried on everything, a dark red that was almost black.The bodies were blue from the coldness of being dead. Peter put a hand on Max's shoulder as she broke down, trying not to throw up. He tried to pull her from the room, but she shrugged off his hand.

"No! Somethings not right!"

"You mean, apart from the four dead bodies on the floor?"

"Exactly! There's only four." She ran into the room and counted them off on her fingers, muttering under her breath. "Angel, Gazzy, Iggy, Nudge........No!" she dropped to her knees and screamed. At that point, Tony and Steve ran into the house and into the room with Max and Peter. And the dead bodies. Tony removed the iron mask from his face so he could see better.

"Holy-"

"Max? What happened?" Steve pushed pass Tony and knelt next to Max.

"They've taken Fang!" She sobbed, "The bastards have taken Fang!"

"Who's Fang?" Peter held back a wave of nausea as he looked at the bodies on the floor.

"My best friend! My boyfriend! Or at least, he was, before this happened. They even left his wings!"

She picked up two black feathery things and clutched them to her chest. "They stabbed him so many times," her voice broke as she remembered the state she found her Flock in, "They left the knives in his chest. They'd shot him in his arms and legs. There were so many bulletholes." Max held the wings closer as she rocked back and forth. She pointed to the wall in front of her, which had rectangle shaped holes in it. "That's where they pinned Gazzy and Iggy to the wall. They had knives in their shoulders and their necks and their wings. That's how they were pinned up. Nudge and Angel." She pointed to the two girls on the floor."They broke their arms, their wings and their legs. They slashed their throats." Max took the scarf off Angels throat, whilst Peter ran out the room to throw up. "She was seven! Who would do this to a seven year old?" she yelled at no-one in particular. "Nudge had just got her first pair of high heels. She was so excited. Nudge was really into fashion. She was always criticising me for my choice of clothing when me and Fang went out on a date. Now she'll never get to try out those high heels.

Gazzy and Iggy..... were to begin," She choked out a laugh, "They were forever blowing stuff up. Gazzy and Iggy were the ones who got us out of ITEX alive. They blew a giant hole in the side of it." she shook her head "And Fang..... We were supposed to get married!" she shouted "We were supposed to get married this Friday! And they killed him! They killed all of them." Max stood shakily and turned to face Tony and Steve, who were deeply in shock at Max's admission. Tears were pouring out of her eyes. Steve pulled her to his chest and hugged her. When Tony came out of his initial shock he joined in. Peter came back into the house, shielding his eyes and holding a spade.

"I figured we'd need one of these to dig the graves."

"Thanks Peter." Max took the spade from him and went outside, glad for a moment that this place was abandoned. She started digging the graves in the back yard. The ground was soft and by the time she had moved onto grave number two, when Steve, Tony and Peter came up beside her and started to dig aswell. In less than fourty- five minutes, all four graves had been dug out and Max and ,made little wooden crosses to go on top of them. She carried Iggy out first, as he was the oldest, and layed him gently into the first grave, whispering goodbye as she piled the dirt back into his final resting place. Next, she carried Nudge out, folding her wings as best she could so they didn't stick out of the grave. She kissed Nudge's forehead before she placed her in the second grave. Max then went back into the house and carried out Angel after putting the scarf back on her neck, but instead of putting her in the third grave, she laid her in the grass and picked up a spade, knocking down the wall between the third and fourth grave, to make one big grave. She laid Angel in one side and dashed back into the house before returning with Gazzy. She laid him in the other side and moved their arms so that Gazzy and Angel were holding hands. Max cried as she piled the dirt on the youngest members of the flock. When she was finished, Max placed a wooden cross on each of the graves, each with a different saying.

IGGY- THE MUCH LOVED CHEF AND PARTNER IN CRIME

NUDGE- THE MUCH LOVED FASHION LOVIN' ASS KICKIN' MOTOR MOUTH

ANGEL- THE MUCH LOVED MIND-READING BABY OF THE FAMILY

GAZZY- THE MUCH LOVED PIE STEALER AND PARTNER IN CRIME

Tony, Steve and Peter had stood back and watched as Max buried her flock. As she said a final goodbye, Tony made a promise to himself and to Max. "I'm going to find the Bastards who did this and I'm going to make them pay in a very painful way."

Steve nodded, agreeing with him. 

"I'll help you," Peter whispered so only Tony could hear him. "I may have only known her for a day, but this is just cruel and inhuman." He stopped talking as Max shuffled back over to them them, holding Fangs wings.

"Let's go back, Please."