Part of the Flock- (Flock x Reader)

Axel

A dark figure tore across the dusk sky, a shadow trailing after it. The sound of a gunshot echoed off the red canyon walls and the two figures shot towards the clouds, their wings brushing together as they dipped and dived in perfect synchronization. Another gunshot rebounded off the rocky walls and one of the figures turned and dove toward the source. There was a yell cut short by the sound of bone snapping, and the shadow shot back up to rejoin it's partner.

* * *

"How was I? I was awesome, I know." The boy ran his fingers through his black hair, with an air of slight arrogance surrounding him.

"Yes, Axel, you were very precise and, well, you were very good today. Though it still seem's suspicious that there was only one shooter.." Max looked concerned, but the boy, Axel, lightly punched her arm.

"Don't worry about it. It was just the two of us. I doubt that, if there were others, they wouldn't have taken their chance at attacking us when the rest of the flock was gone." The boy shed the jacket he was wearing and draped it over the back of a dusty couch. After a look from Max, he picked it back up and threw it in his room on his bed.

The flock had settled into a temporary abandoned cabin in the woods, not far away from the Grand Canyon. Nudge had pestered Max into finding a place close to the tourist attraction so that she could visit and fly in the canyon at night. The place was beautiful, Axel had to admit. And the color that the sunset turned the rocks took his breath away. But he hadn't really had time to marvel at the phenomenon, you know, with being shot at and all.

The rest of the flock came out of their rooms at the sound of Max and Axel's voices. "How did it go?" Fang asked, leaning against the wall that separating the living space and the kitchen.

"It went well. Axel definitely has a warriors potential in him." Max said, sitting down on the dusty red couch.

Axel beamed at Max's praise, and Fang looked at him, seeming to measure the newest member of the flock with his gaze. Axel looked at Fang, seeing the split-second where the taller boys eyes flicked back to Max. Axel stared at him levelly. Fang was only a few inches taller, but the air of silent power around him made Axel feel like he had to fight harder for Max's attention.

It had only been six months since the flock had rescued Axel from 'hell'-- the flock called it 'the School'-- and when Max had burst through the door with the light of an explosion illuminating her dusty features, Axel thought she was an angel, come to deliver him to... wherever mutants went after death. He wasn't positive that it was Heaven.

Turns out he wasn't dead after all. He was being rescued. And, since then, he had been a part of the flock. Fighting 'Erasers' and sleeping in caves and old, broken down cabins.

"Fang." Max looked at Fang, who nodded and walked out the front door, snapping out his black wings and jumping into the air. "Alright, guys. We'll be back in a bit." Max said, following after Fang. Axel knew what they were doing. Cleaning up the evidence. Can't have a dead body disrupting a famous landmark.

Axel stretched, groaning as his tired muscles relaxed. "So, what's for dinner? Desert rat? Rattlesnake?"

"First, you gotta tell us how your lesson with Max went! How many people were there? How many guns? Was it hard? Did you use your wings?" Nudge asked question after question, eyes opening wider as she asked the last one. Axel's 'power' was shooting feathers out of his wings. He thought it was awesome, and so did everyone else, but Max had warned him, 'use up too many feathers, and you won't be able to fly.' Annoyingly, he also had to wait a month in between to let his feathers grow back.

"There was only one guy, with a hand gun, but I did use my wings! I'm getting better at aiming the feathers. He had no idea what hit him." Axel grinned, sitting down and leaning against a wall. He'd rather not sit on a couch that puffed up dust whenever a stiff wind blew in it's direction. Nudge plopped down next to him. Iggy, Angel, and The Gasman sitting down around him as well. Axel replayed the events of his hunt with Max in detail until Max and Fang reappeared in the doorway an hour later, looking worn and dirty.