Given to Fly (PJ/MR Crossover)

Book 1: Chapter VI

A/N: As promised, here's Max and the gang.

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Maximum

Flying was the most exhilarating, breathtaking, liberating experience in the entire world. The sun beating down on your back, gliding along a warm thermal air current, the strong muscles in your wings beating so powerfully that it feels like nothing could ever stop you... Yes, I said wings. And no, I hadn't meant on an airplane or one of those hang-glider things. I meant fourteen foot, feathery, brown and white Bird of Prey wings attached to my back.

Let me introduce myself: my name is Maximum Ride, and I'm just your average teenage recombinant life form. My life story is long, riveting, and down right terrifying at times, so I'm not gonna go into much detail. Trust me, if I did, it would take an entire book series. Basically, I grew up in a dog crate and was tested on by crazy scientists called whitecoats; a man named Jeb - who turned out to be my dad - rescued me and five other bird-kids. Jeb eventually went AWOL - assumed dead - but it turned out he was just a traitor, and then we figured out that he was a spy working against the whitecoats. Makes your head hurt, don't it? It sure did mine.

Anyway, then a Voice in my head tasked me with saving the world. Sounds like a heavy load for a fifteen-year-old to bare, right? The flock and I had just been going around saving the planet one step at a time. First, we helped to take down Itex, the evil corporation that created mutants like us; then, we went to Antarctica to help with all the global warming problems; and recently we just put a stop to a big company that had been dumping toxic waste into the oceans surrounding Hawaii.

Now, it had been three months since we rescued my mom from the clutches of Mr. Chu. After the whole kidnapping situation with my mom, the flock and I decided to lay low for a while for some well needed R&R time. So, one week later, my mother decided to enroll us all in the Lerner's School for the Gifted in Virginia, a school that the government made specifically for 'gifted' kids like us. Nudge had been ecstatic at the news. The rest of us? Not so much. But, we decided to suck it up and attend - on one condition: we wanted to live in the same house as Mom. Needless to say, everyone was pretty happy with this deal, even if we bird-kids had to be forced into uncomfortable school uniforms.

So that brings us back to the present. Me, my flock, and the clear blue sky. It was Friday evening. After a whole week's worth of some hard-core learning and waking up at an ungodly hour, we were all trying to blow off some steam. And what better way to blow off steam than flying over the Atlantic where all there was, was miles and miles of uninterrupted sea?

Around me, the flock flew in a loose formation. Fang was at my side, forever my right-wing man. His large black wings brushed up against mine every once in awhile, sending chills up my spine that had nothing to do with the brisk wind. A little behind us were Angel and Nudge, the latter talking avidly about the latest school gossip and fashion trend. Angel, for her part, nodded every once in awhile, but wasn't too interested. She was probably missing her dog, a winged, talking Scottie named Total who was away on his honeymoon with his newlywed, Akila the Malamute. Why a dog needed a honeymoon - or a wedding for that matter - I didn't know, but don't tell Total I said that. Iggy and the Gasman took up the rear of our little group, occasionally going into steep dives to see who could get the closest to the water without getting wet.

The six of us glided on the warm ocean currents for a couple more minutes before Fang turned to face me. "You see that?"

"See what?" I traced the horizon with my raptor vision. Sure enough, my eyes could just make out a small strip of green among the blue. "An island?"