The Wings of Wrath by AvengingMyInnocence

The Wings of Wrath; Part OneA Gross Underestimation; Growing Up

Chapter 1; Pale Male

NEW YORK CITY, CENTRAL PARK

Fang had read an article in National Geographic about the falcon. He'd likened himself to Pale Male on many occasions and now it felt as though he and the falcon were the last remaining bit of untamable, ancient wild in the new, user friendly world.

There was a small crowd thronged around him on the sidewalk, which on any other occasion would have bothered him. He hated being in crowds, he hated being around people who were "normal". Part of him resented the "perfect" people. The ones who walked about and took airplanes instead of flapping their genetically implanted wings and flying off on their own.

It was these "perfect" people who had changed him. Who had spliced his human DNA with avian DNA, these "perfect" people were responsible for everything he'd been though, for everything The Flock had been through.

It bothered him on a very deep level, although he would never admit it to anyone.

He ran a hand through his hair and a woman with a video camera pushed in front of him, nearly knocking him back into the street.

He tore his gaze from the building long enough to step onto safer ground a few feet away from the crowd snapping pictures and whispering "isn't he beautiful" like a group of school children at a zoo.

That's all this is ... A zoo, a big, concrete and metal ZOO!

Fang looked over his shoulder at Central Park, disgust wrinkling his youthfully handsome face. The expression aged him, turning him into an old bitter man instead of a teenager. He hated the city ... This Urban Zoo ... Even the trees were on display here, trimmed and pruned into attractive shapes and sizes so as not to take away from the "beauty" of the big, hard, cold city.

The smell of car exhaust was thick, mingling with the stench of steaming sewer grates and briny wind coming off the near stagnant seawater in the harbor.

He wanted to fly.

He wanted to leap into the wind and fly away from this city, back into the wild, back into the mountains, into the open, welcoming arms of Mother Nature.

Fang couldn't help but smile at that. Who needed actual parents when you had Mother Nature?

Mother Nature who was constantly shrinking, receding into nothingness as Brother Development and Sister Technology ate away at her lush green expanses.

And where was Father Science?

Fang scoffed and turned back to the building, shielding his eyes against the sun as he peered up at the balcony Pale Male now perched on triumphantly.

Father Science was at work creating genetic-hybrids like Fang and The Flock. Father Science was running mad, creating things that were not born of Mother Nature, but were created in Madam Laboratory and kept in dog cages so they would never get to know Mother before Brother and Sister killed her.

The woman with the video camera bumped into him again and Fang ground his teeth together, his hands curling into fists by his sides.

Fine, I'm going! He growled in his head and briskly walked to the corner. Not like anyone wants me around here anyway.

He crossed his arms over his chest and waited for the little sign protruding from the side of a metal pole across the street to display the WALK light.

He heard the sound of cars and traffic diminish to a dull throb as he headed deeper and deeper into the park. He looked to his left and right warily to make sure no one was watching, and he left the path slipping into a dense grouping of bushes.

"Where have you been? We've been looking all over!" Max stormed up to him scowling, her lower lip out defiantly.

He smiled inwardly. He loved it when she got flustered. For some reason it amused him. Making her flush and splutter made him ... Happy.

It was as if seeing Max on unfamiliar ground, ground she didn't control made her seem all the more viciously attractive. Just a hint of feminine uncertainty, the slight pout of her lower lip, the way she twisted a loose tendril of her hair around her finger. The fierce, hunter/warrior like gleam to her big brown eyes.

He loved the way she could be vulnerable and menacing at the same time. She could loose all control but would never let the look of complete dominance leave her face.

She scrunched her eyebrows down and her eyes flicked to his midsection for half a second then back to his face.

He wasn't stupid, he knew what she'd been looking at, anyone with half a male brain would know what she'd been looking at. And it made him feel powerful knowing that he could distract her in such a way.

And the fact that she'd let her guard down long enough to throw a glance THERE on HIM, made Fang feel like the most powerful bird-boy on the face of the planet ... Though he'd never tell anyone.

"Was out," He shoved his hands into his pockets and brushed past her, his elbow barely grazing her arm.

She turned on him scowling. "We thought you'd been captured or worse! You shouldn't just DISAPEAR like that!"

He shrugged again, throwing an innocent glance over his shoulder.

A slight red tint crept into her face and Fang knew that if he hadn't seen it grow there he never would have noticed the slight change in her skin.

She pursed her pink lips and tried to give him a scathing look, but it came off more as a 'I can't believe this is amusing me' half grin.

She didn't talk to him for the rest of the day, which didn't particularly bother him. In fact, it pleased him. Not because he couldn't hear her voice, but because he'd caused her to become so emotional she couldn't speak to him. He loved knowing he could cause such a reaction in her. It made him feel like he knew her better than the rest of The Flock. He knew that this silence was his and his only. He was the only one of the six of them who could get THAT silence.

They slept in the thicket that night. Hiding as best as they could among the sparse brush and prickly pines. Fang was on watch when it happened.

He was perched in a tree, invisible from the ground, which for him was not that difficult. He was dressed entirely in black, as usual, and had the hood of his sweatshirt up, shadowing his face. He completely blended in with the darkness in the tree, a feat he'd perfected in the short expanse of his pseudo-freedom.

He heard the slight whooshing of night air on wings and turned his eyes to the right scanning the clearing just beyond the trees.

Big wings...

Big pale wings fluttered and something landed on the branch beside him.

Fang stiffened, it wasn't a bird-kid, it was a regular bird, but not just any regular bird. It was a falcon, a pale falcon with bright golden eyes. He thought of the hawks he and Nudge had flown with a few days before and his chest tightened.

The bird turned his head, his eyes adjusting to the dim light. He clacked his beak and ruffled his feathers, lifting his wings to appear larger, more menacing.

Fang felt himself shrink back eyes dropping to the ground so as not to seem intimidating. He may be able to fight, but he was no match for a falcon. Falcons had talons all Fang had were dirty little half-chewed fingernails and teeth that hadn't been brushed in two days.

The falcon sidestepped toward him, its head down a soft almost chirping sound shivering in its throat.

Fang felt the little feathers on his wings stand on end and he realized which particular falcon was on his branch.

Pale Male lifted his wings a bit higher and bobbed his head his beak partially open the spear of his tongue exposed.

Fang had a fleeting thought that Pale Male was trying to communicate with him.

The falcon twitched his wings again and bobbed his head.

Fang imitated him warily not particularly sure why Pale Male wasn't in his nest instead of having a rudimentary conversation with him on a tree limb.

The falcon's head cocked to the side and he extended his wings and flapped twice coming off the branch before settling back onto it closer to Fang.

Fly?

He felt a smile creep over his face and he slowly raised his hand his fingers out.

Pale Male hissed at him and lifted his wings as if to say, 'HOW DARE YOU!'

Fang lowered his hand and realized he'd just tried to touch the 'pretty birdie'. He had shown no respect to Pale Male, he'd acted ... Human. Pale Male was NOT human, therefore he didn't understand.

Fang raised his hands again and slid the hood of his sweatshirt off his head. A lock of his black hair fell into his face. He slowly eased his wings open so the bird could catch his scent and see that he didn't mean any harm. He dropped his eyes, showing submission. This was, after all, Pale Male's turf, not his.

The Falcon's wings lowered slightly and the beak closed. He turned his head from side to side and the soft chirping sound began again. The flaxen feathers on his throat swelled as he breathed and the soft, leathery lids flashed twice over his golden eyes. He studied Fang intently, the no doubt complicated workings of his brain scrutinizing the part avian creature perched beside him as if he were something startlingly familiar yet frighteningly alien.

Pale Male twitched his wings and jumped onto Fang's back, his razor sharp talons cutting into the hood of his jacket, yet amazingly never scratching Fang himself.

Fang sat absolutely still, terrified that perhaps Pale Male thought he was a female, or maybe something that would taste very good if eaten. His fingers dug into the limb and he contemplated calling for Max to look at him and perhaps help but then Pale Male shifted, his tail swiping the side of Fang's face as he turned.

The soft chirping didn't waver as the falcon lowered his head, his eyes inches from Fang's wings. He inspected the shafts as if appraising them in their quality. Then to Fang's surprise Pale Male took one feather in his beak and gave it a slight but firm tug.

Fang slowly turned his head and tried to see exactly what the falcon was doing to him. The golden eyes connected with his for a moment before Pale Male simply hopped off his shoulder and side stepped along the branch facing the clearing.

The big ashen wings spread and he lowered himself on his powerful legs, readying his body to leap into the air as his kind had done for hundreds if not thousands of years. But he hesitated, turning his head to the dark bird-boy beside him. For a moment there was no sound and the keen intelligent, hunter's eyes probed Fang's.

Fly.

Fang turned on the limb slowly his wings lifting, ready to propel him into the cool night air on the down stroke.

The Falcon almost seemed to smile and he sprang forward sailing off toward the moon.

Fang followed silently, knowing that he shouldn't have left The Flock there alone, guard-less, but a sense of peace stole over him as he ascended and slowed to a glide beside Pale Male.

Some kind of primal link had been created between them and Fang knew this link was a bond. As long as he and The Flock were in Central Park, no Erasers would get near them. Pale Male would make sure of that.

The golden eyes turned to him and he looked back into them confidently, knowing that to the falcon he was small, despite his size. He was young, inexperienced ... A fledgling.

Pale Male folded his wings and dived, rolling over in the air and Fang followed, imitating him, feeling the cool air rush up past his face and knowing that this time it was somehow different. It was like the first time he'd flown, the first time he'd maneuvered in a hairpin dive. The first time he'd spread his wings and shot upward so fast he had to close his eyes for a moment to keep the wind from drawing tears from him.

His wingtips brushed the dew damp grass and he wanted to laugh, to hear the wild joy he felt from flying with Pale Male. He wanted Max to feel this ... Feeling this happy would do her some good. Maybe lighten the load of finding the New York branch of the School. Give her a moment's respite before she had to go back to work, before she had to face THEM.

He glanced over at the falcon and flicked his eyes downward at the thicket where The Flock slept. Pale Male seemed to understand him because he tucked his wings and dove, rolling over in the air.

He landed as softly as he could on shaking legs and turned to watch the falcon gallop across the grass to him, wings raised. Pale Male stopped, folded his wings and cocked his head at Fang, chirping in his throat.

Max rushed out of the shadows her eyes wide. "Fang? What are you doing? Is it Eras-" She stopped mid-sentence and stared at the falcon her brown eyes squinting, "Is that ... Is that a-"

Fang raised a finger to his lips and motioned her forward, "Be quiet."

Max lowered her head and slowly crept to him staring at the big raptor uneasily. "What's going on?"

"SHH!" He scolded, "Sit down, wings out."

She glanced at him untrusting but complied.

Pale Male turned his head side to side and flapped his wings at Max clacking his beak.

"What's he doing, Fang?" She hissed nervously out of the corner of her mouth.

"Establishing dominance..."

Max didn't move until the falcon began to circle her. She stiffened and her feathers stood on end.

Fang watched as Pale Male took one of Max's feathers in his beak and drew it across his tongue and a smile came to his face when he realized what Pale Male was doing.

"What is happening?"

"He's preening you, just don't move, you might offend him."

"Why is he preening me?"

Fang nearly laughed but was able to bite back the sound. "He's accepting you ... Kind of ... Uh ... He's making friends with you."

"And he preened you?" She cast him a rather disbelieving look and cocked an eyebrow.

Fang nodded, and nearly jumped out of his skin when Pale Male flapped a few feet away and began beating his wings impatiently, jumping upward with a kick before closing his wings and settling back onto the ground.

FLY!

Fang crouched slightly and sprang upward seeming to hover about six feet off the ground, swooping this way and that waiting for Max and Pale Male to join him.

Not long after that Fang felt his heart leap when Max gave a short, enraptured laugh as she rolled over in the air following Pale Male on another bombing run across the clearing.

He watched her break from the dive and sail up toward him majestically the falcon's slightly darker wings casting a perfect shadow across her back. For a moment Fang envisioned a second, black falcon flying along with them and that strange sense of peace fell over him again.

There were no worries, no cares, no problems as long as this moment never ended. As long as Max's laugh never ended...

The pre-dawn glow was lightening the sky and Fang found himself sprawled on his back in the grass watching Max and Pale Male swoop over him again, their wings beating in near synch to thrust them upward into the air. She was smiling. A rare, genuine smile and he wanted to capture the raw beauty of it and never let it go.

Girl and falcon circled the park once more before landing in the clearing. Max approached him, her arms dangling, a thin layer of sweat making her face, arms and the exposed 'U' of her neck and chest shimmer. She turned her brown eyes to him and the intensity in them nearly burned Fang into a cinder of need.

Max lowered herself beside him on her stomach panting her eyes closed, face flushed. She smiled again and sighed, a soft, delicious alto sound that rumbled deep in her chest and throat and Fang could think of only one word for it...

Ecstasy...

He wondered absently if perhaps she made that sound when she was alone, thinking private, feminine ... Special things. When no one was looking and idle hands wandered...

What would that sound taste like...

She opened her eyes and gave him a hungry look that told him exactly what that sound tasted like and he had to sit up, his legs crossed shoulders hunched to hide what it did to him. That was a new look, and Fang wasn't entirely sure if it was for him or the falcon.

The falcon...

Fang looked around searching the clearing but Pale Male was gone-

Papers, falling like rain, drowning him. Envelopes and, stamps all lined up and ready for him ... Endless hallways of cold, empty mailboxes... The dumpy little postmaster standing behind the desk shaking his head...

"Dear, Mr. Hutchinson ... My name is Nick-"

Chapter 2; Flying in The Dark

Fang woke from the dream. It was a good dream, he'd had it before but not recently. He rolled over in bed and stared at the rain streaking over the window.

How long had it been since that night in New York? Five, six months ... A year, two?

He sighed and pressed his left forearm over his eyes. So long ago ... Such a short time...

His hand drifted down under the blankets, over his bare chest, over slightly raised scars across his stomach. Scars that hadn't been there that night in New York, scars that shouldn't have been forced upon him at all.

But, he was glad it was him and not Max.

Max...

Fang lowered his left arm and his eyes turned to the wall his bed was sitting against, that was Max's wall. On the other side of that wood and plaster was Max. Sleeping in her bed, her soft long hair splayed out on her pillow, her even softer pink, sassy lips parted.

Calm, slow breathing, big brown eyes closed, long lashes fanned on her cheeks...

He turned away from the wall, away from Max and yanked his hands from under the blankets clasping them behind his head, tangling his fingers in his hair.

He'd begun letting his hair grow just after Itex fell. At first it had been because they were too busy to stop and get hair cuts and he didn't like the idea of Max holding a knife that close to his neck but then it was because Max gave him looks over it. Deep needy, 'you are so annoying' looks. He liked those looks ... They amused him.

It was just long enough to curl into his mouth when he tried to eat, which got annoying sometimes, especially at the public school he and the flock attended with Ella. And there was nothing like Max's mom's chocolate-chip cookies topped with hair.

He let out a sigh and started rubbing a few strands of his hair between finger and thumb a grin starting to form on his face. High School... It made him proud, made him feel important somehow that he was in High School now... It almost made him feel normal.

Almost...

He only had this last year ... This final year and he'd graduate. Something that, two years ago when Itex fell, hadn't mattered that much to him... But now ... For some reason it DID matter. He yawned and wondered what Iggy and Max thought of Graduation...

Max...

He stifled a groan and covered his face, scratching the little hairs growing on his jaw and chin, trying to focus on anything but Max. He tried thinking of the post office, his new favorite place. Or of the letter he'd sent out three weeks before, his very first letter. The letter that had somehow found its way into his dreams... But that distraction didn't help, it only made him even more edgy. He looked back at the window and was glad to see the rain had stopped finally.

He nearly jumped out of bed, tossing back the sheets and creeping, bare footed across the rug to the window. He thrust up the sash and stuck his head out into the cool Arizona night air. It smelled clean, slightly like moist dirt and leaves and the sound of night insects softened the harsh darkness into a cool, soft velvet.

It was a perfect September night...

He didn't care if he was only in his boxers, being out of the house, away from Max's wall, away from his idle hands and thoughts of 'The Letter' made being practically naked seem less important. Besides, he'd be back before anyone realized he was gone. Just a quick cruise around the forest...

He perched himself on the sill his wings raised and pushed outward. He felt a sharp tearing sensation in his right wing and hissed, turning his head in time to see a few of his feathers see-saw to the roof.

He shook his head and struck out, sailing over the Martinez house, car and yard and he swooped down into the forest. He felt stray raindrops falling from drying brown leaves strike his body, cold little taps on his skin and he zigzagged around trees, barely able to see them until he was practically rubbing his nose on the bark.

Okay, a rain drenched forest on a moonless night ... Great idea! He thought and angled himself upward toward the night sky ... only to bash the top of his head against a rather large tree limb.

He bit down hard on his tongue and everything went white for a moment then began fading into gray. He felt himself falling head over heels and he awkwardly opened his wings trying to flap his way out of the dive, hoping to slow his fall but he hit hard and his left wing crumpled like paper, bending completely backward until he could see his feathers by his ear-

He felt a vicious pop and pain exploded in the wing, knifing up and down its length and into his back.

That didn't feel good... And everything went dark.

Max woke with a start. Her whole body tingled unpleasantly, her mouth was dry and a name was on her lips.

She'd been having a wonderful memory/dream of a night nearly two and a half years ago in New York. The night she and Fang had flown with Pale Male. That had been a good night. She'd seen a familiar look in that falcon's eyes. A look she'd seen in Fang's on many occasions. Some of them when he was fighting Erasers, or Flyboys, others when he was alone thinking and believed no one could see him sitting in his bedroom window staring out over the treetops.

She'd been dreaming of that night and that look when suddenly something white had exploded in her mind. Not one of her Brain Explosions, but something like it. She had felt pain, a great deal of it only ... It was someone else's pain.

"Fang."

Her chest felt hollow as if part of her was being pulled away, through her wall and to the northeast. She crawled out of bed rubbing her arms not because she was cold, but because she was scared.

Something was wrong.

She walked across her room, decorated with maps whereon little colored dots were drawn, scratched out or circled. Little messages were scribbled beside each scratched out dot but one in particular in Germany had been scratched out multiple times in different colored ink and a little smiley face with wings drawn above it, its tongue out.

There were also pictures all over the walls. Pictures of Max, her younger sister Ella and their mother, pictures of The Flock enjoying cookies, playing baseball, having their first real birthday parties. Silly pictures of Fang, Gasman and Iggy having a food-fight while eating hotdogs, mustard and ketchup smeared on their faces and in their hair. And one Fang had taken of himself where he was grinning widely, his hair in his eyes.

And there was of course Max's favorite picture of Fang. He'd also taken this one of himself and he was reclining in his bedroom window. His eyes were distant, yet incredibly intense, hungry for something Max was sure was NOT chocolate chip cookies, no matter how heavenly.

She paused under this picture and tapped gingerly on the wall, "Fang?" She whispered and pressed her ear to the map she'd pinned up, "Fang, are you OK?"

He didn't answer and she couldn't hear the uncharacteristic soft snoring sounds he made when he slept in a safe place.

He wasn't in his room.

Max walked to the window and opened it, staring across the way to his. Hoping to see him perched on the edge of the roof as she had many nights before, but all she saw was four little black feathers.

Fang was gone.

Chapter 3; Broken Dreams

"Dear Mr. Hutchinson ... My name is Nick-"

Fang pried his eyes open and tried not to think about how much pain he was in. All he wanted to think about was how he was going to get back to the house and get help.

He ground his teeth together and contemplated trying to sit up and examine his wing. Just to see if he was hurt as badly by his fall as he believed himself to be. He was about to risk the pain and sit up when something in his head popped like a raw egg squeezed in a tight fist and the sudden pain left him lying there choking on what was left of his last meal.

He lay there for a few minutes in the mud and early autumn leaves and shivered. He had to get up, he had to get home. He had to get help.

He was stupid for leaving in the middle of the night. So what if he had had to lie there listening to Max breathe on the other side of the wall? He'd done it for months now and only given into the temptation of his idle hands twice ... Maybe five times... No more than ten...

He could have restrained himself tonight, but no ... He had to go flying in the middle of the night in his underwear.

Why didn't I at least put on pants? This wouldn't be so bad if I were wearing pants... He thought weakly and sat his jaw forcing himself to his feet. He nearly screamed when the sensation of having a handful of broken glass ground into his wing knocked him back to his hands and knees in the wet dirt.

He was alone, alone, practically naked, covered in mud ... His head hurt, his tongue hurt and he was injured, possibly badly. He set his jaw and turned his head, intent on getting rid of the evil 'possibly'. Possibly was that terrible place all his fears lived...

It didn't look that bad until he noticed his wing was twisted, the soft downy feathers underneath turned out to the air. And there was something sticking out between the feathers ... Something that was wet and dripping with blood.

Then he knew that there was no 'possibly' left in his list of complaints. He was alone, practically naked, covered in mud, his head hurt, his tongue hurt and his wing was injured ... badly.

He broke out in a cold sweat and his vision blurred. A sudden permeating chill possessed him and his legs began to shake. He thought for a moment he was going to be sick again but he swallowed the bitter liquid filling his mouth and staggered forward.

Tired ... No, not tired, I have to get home ... I have to get help.

He wanted to sink into the warmth of the forest floor and go to sleep. Sleep would feel so good. He didn't feel pain when he slept, there was nothing, just sweet dreams. Flying with Pale Male in Central Park or watching Itex burn to the ground. Or he'd even dream of that powerful feeling he'd gotten when he'd picked up that Flyboy's gun in the airplane hangar and blown them all to kingdom come.

And on the odd occasion he would have a special dream, and he'd wake up and think of that sound and that look Max had given him in the clearing. Then, he'd lie awake trying to remember what that look had said her passion tasted like.

He wanted to lie down and dream of that ... He wanted to dream Max was there, giving him that look and making that sound just for him. He'd even be happy to dream of that stupid letter, as long as the pain stopped.

He took three steps forward and sank to his knees shaking. He was cold, he could only remember being this cold once, not to long ago and that memory made him want Max there even more...

He wished desperately that he weren't alone and he lay down on his right side trying to coax some kind of warmth into his body. I'll get warm, then I'll get help ... Get warm, then get help...

Sometime later, after he'd lain there long enough to grow deathly cold despite attempts to draw even the smallest amount of heat from the ground, he felt her soft, warm hands on his cheeks and looked up into her earthy brown, tear filled eyes. He smiled weakly at her and tried to lift his hand to smooth away the little wrinkle forming between her eyebrows. That wrinkle that meant she was distressed, but he couldn't lift his arms.

She was smacking his face and shaking him, calling his name, trying to rouse him but he was too far-gone and he faded away from Max's frightened cursing and into the warm embrace of dreams.

Chapter 4; Consequences

Antiseptic and blood...

He bolted straight out from where he lie on the little operating table, curled on his right side.

Drawing his knees up to kick, arching his back and throwing his arms out, he was as lethal with his eyes closed as he was with them open. Hands grabbed him, holding him firmly, pushing him down onto the table. He opened his mouth to scream and curse but someone clamped a hand over his lips, holding his head still.

Voices rose and fell as soon as he was back on the table and he felt something move in his left wing. Not ON his wing ... IN it... And he tried desperately to draw it back, to fold it as close to his body as possible.

They're cutting them off! Oh, God, they're cutting my wings off! He screamed in his head and started twisting again, fighting with all he had.

The voices rose again but he didn't pay attention to them, he knew where he was. He knew they were hurting him, even if he didn't feel any pain.

His stomach heaved and the hand covering his mouth jerked away. The other hands moved him, turning him slightly so his head hung limply over the edge of the operating table and the watered down bile that came up when he retched splattered to the tile floor.

"Is he dying? Oh, God, please don't let him die!"

"Just hold him still ... He didn't rip out the IV did he?" An older woman's voice.

"No ... Jeez, he pulled those straps right off the table!" A new female voice...

"Oh, God, I think he puked on me!" The first voice again.

"Just keep him still ... Max, try to talk to him, he MUST stay still!"

Max?

He pried his eyes open, nauseated by the brightness of the room and the way everything seesawed back and forth with its twin. Max's face swam into view above him that worried wrinkle still between her eyebrows. "Just squeeze my hand and don't think about it, OK? Can you hear me, Fang?"

He wanted to answer but all the strength drained out of him, leaving him weak and shaking.

"He's shivering, get a blanket..." Max's head turned and she looked at another person in the room.

The someone holding his legs released him and rushed into view. Ella tore open the metal cabinets lining the far wall and pulled out two sheets rushing forward her lip between her teeth.

The sheets didn't help, in fact he felt as if they made the shivering worse but he didn't say so, he just squeezed Max's hand and looked around, trying not to feel the slight tugging sensations from his wing.

The room was familiar he remembered it now. The last time he'd been in it his and Max's roles were reversed.

He was lying on that little operating table ... That's why they were holding his legs, otherwise he'd be hanging off of the stupid thing like Max had...

He felt a particularly firm tug and the voice he now recognized as Dr. Martinez spoke again. "How are we doing, are you OK, Nick?"

He grunted in response, a rather pitiful sound considering the relief he felt at knowing he was not at the hands of white-coats.

"You're going to be fine but I need you to take a deep breath for me because this might feel weird."

He grunted again and that same scary, there-is-something-under-my-skin feeling returned in his wing.

"Okay, deep breath."

He inhaled slowly and saw Max's face go pale, her eyes widening.

"Okay, its out ... Don't move, I just need to clean this up, you're going to be fine."

The calm confidence in her voice was a comfort and he relaxed the pressure he was applying on Max's hand.

"Jeez, that's a lot of blood..." Nudge whispered and Max gave her a scathing look.

He drifted for a few minutes his eyes half-open, whole body shivering.

"Nick, I need you to move your wing a little, would you do that for me?"

He shook his head.

"You can't move it?" Panic made it into Dr. Martinez's voice.

He rolled his eyes and gave Max's hand a squeeze.

"I think he's too scared or too tired right now..."

He was scared, but he tried anyway, just so no one else would know. It felt like he was trying to lift a car with it! And for some reason it kept trying to fall backward on the joint...

"That's wonderful ... Now just relax for a minute and let it rest."

Relief flooded Max's face and the little wrinkle between her eyebrows faded away.

"I'm going to give you a tetanus shot, it might burn a little at first but it'll fade."

He didn't feel it at all, what he did feel was Max's hand in his and the quick kiss she pressed to his knuckles.

The ride home was even less pleasant than he expected it to be. The pain medication he'd been given was wearing off thanks to his extremely fast metabolism and every turn or bump in the road felt like someone was stabbing him in the wing with a red-hot poker.

He just wanted to go home, to climb into bed, lick his wounds and sleep, to forget this had happened... To forget that not only had Max and her mother seen him in his underwear, but so had Nudge and Ella.

The whole wing operation, which he'd been too anxious to ask about as of yet had been followed by a brief painful probing of the knot on his head. Thankfully he hadn't suffered a severe concussion or, as Ella put it, he would be 'in deep puppy-doo'.

He'd made Max, Ella and Nudge leave the room during the last examination. He'd felt quite absurd sitting there with his tongue poked out while Dr. Martinez assured him that he had not bitten it off although she could see his teeth marks.

Iggy and Gasman were sitting at the kitchen table when they returned, both of them wearing near identical worried expressions.

"Is he OK?" Iggy said when the door opened. His blind eyes searching.

"He'll be fine, but he needs rest," Max whispered as she helped him inside

"And some water would be nice," He shuffled to the sink the sheet he'd taken from the clinic wrapped tightly around his shoulders so no one else would see he was only wearing boxers.

His hands were shaking as he took down a glass and filled it.

Max watched the way his arms trembled as he drank and before he could sit down at the table she took him by the elbow and steered him toward the steps. "You need rest," And we need to talk. But she didn't add that last bit

His head was pounding by the time they reached the top of the stairs and little silver specks were floating in the corners of his eyes.

"Do you need to go to the bathroom?" She whispered. He shook his head and she breathed a sigh of relief.

Max lead him into his room and gently pulled the sheet from his shoulders.

He crossed his arms over his chest for a moment wondering why it suddenly bothered him that he was standing there in nothing but his underpants in front of Max. She'd seen him practically naked on many occasions, why was this one any different?

"Sit," She straightened the blankets and stepped out of the way.

He sat, wondering why he was suddenly taking orders from her. He didn't protest when Max briefly left the room and returned with a wet cloth.

She didn't speak so neither did he. He just sat there and let her wipe the dry and cracking mud from his back, stomach arms and legs.

"Don't get used to this, Little-piggy," She scolded when his eyes began to droop. "You owe me big time."

He let her know how much he appreciated her tenderness by showing her one of his fingers.

"That's the Fang I know ... Lie down on your stomach ... Like now, before you get a chill."

He mumbled incoherently and sprawled himself on his face. He cleared his throat and eyed her as she pulled the blankets to his waist and sat on the edge of the bed.

She was quiet for a ten-count then she balled her hands into fists. "I should kick your ass, Fang ... Do you know how scary that was?"

He grunted and closed his eyes, not really caring that he was about to be given a 'Max Lecture'. He'd heard it all before.

"I thought you were dead when I found you! You were just lying there and your wing was all twisted..." She paused and took a deep breath before she continued.

"Why were you out flying in your underwear in the middle of the night?"

He grunted, "Was hot..."

She sighed. "You should have told someone before you left ... What if I hadn't woken up when I did and noticed you were gone? You would have lain there all night and died of exposure."

He licked his lips and turned his head so he could see her. "How bad was it?"

"You tore a few muscles and stretched some ligaments..."

"What did she mean by 'it's out'?"

"You had a stick coming out of your wing! I thought you'd been impaled! Like the world's biggest kabob or something!"

He couldn't help but smile.

"How's your head?"

"Hurts."

"Good."

He smiled again and cleared his throat, wondering why it was suddenly tight, "Wasn't broken?"

She shook her head, "No, just bent backward."

"I didn't know that could happen." He whispered and nestled his aching head into the pillow.

Then she spoke...

"I didn't know you had abilities."

Chapter 5; Walls

He stared at her for a minute before he spoke. "What are you talking about, I don't have any abilities. I wish I did."

"Then how did I know you were hurt? I was fast asleep and you were in the woods ... I woke up and I knew you were hurt. I could feel it."

"That sounds like YOU have a new ability, not me. You can spy on me in your sleep."

She shook her head.

"If I could communicate with you like that why couldn't I tell you what was going on when I woke up back there? Why couldn't I tell you I was so freaking scared that I'd open my eyes and you guys would be whitecoats trying to cut my wings off!" His voice had lowered to a mere whisper.

Max blinked. He was right. If he'd been the one controlling the ability she would have been able to feel that fear, she could see that now. But ... If SHE had been the one doing it, why hadn't she been able to calm him down?

"It wasn't me ... So, what was it?"

"Beats me..." He yawned. "I'm really tired, Max ... You can stay if you want, but I need sleep, you said so yourself."

She nodded and placed a hand between his wings, stroking the soft, dark feathers and trying not to move the bandage her mother had spent nearly ten minutes affixing to his wing and shoulder.

He was staring up at her slightly confused but not protesting. "You're going to stay?"

"Do you want me to leave?"

"No." He breathed, before he even knew what he was doing.

She blinked twice and stood, pulling over his desk chair to sit in and propping her feet on the edge of his bed. "I thought you said you were tired."

He closed his eyes but cracked them open to slits so he could watch her as he fell asleep.

Having an injured wing had its advantages he realized the next day. Though he could barely remember WHY his wing was injured. In fact, he was having trouble remembering anything that had happened the night before. He blamed that on the concussion. But the advantages were still there. Max was behaving civilly, nobody said anything when he showed up to Saturday lunch shirtless and Angel even let him win at checkers, although, when playing against Angel, winning was impossible unless she let you.

But, one of the problems that he found even more annoying than the pain and not being able to fly was that Dr. Martinez and Max were constantly hovering over him, so that meant he couldn't go to the post office.

He hadn't let anyone know about the post office. Which was hard to do because he had been going every day for the past three weeks and keeping a secret that involved you flying into town every day after school was harder than it sounds. Especially when you lived with a talking dog, and five other winged people, one of which was a mind reader.

At two-forty five that afternoon he was becoming irritated, pacing around his room cursing himself for not staying inside the night before and cursing his cautious nature for not having all his mail sent directly to the Martinez house but instead sent C/O the postmaster.

But, if he'd had his mail sent to the house everyone would have known ... And what would he do then if the reply was bad? So, at three his irritation and anxiety became too much and he pulled his injured wing in as far as he could and put on his oversized hooded sweatshirt.

"Hey, Iggy! You want to go for a walk?"

Iggy, who'd been acting strangely since the previous Monday, stranger than normal for a blind-mutant-bird-kid. Jumped at the chance to be alone and speak with the only other male in the house who understood what it was like to be a teenager. "Where are we going?" He fell into step beside Fang his hands hanging loosely at his sides.

"Town."

"Why?" They reached the edge of the yard and cut through the forest that separated the house from the city.

"Because I'm bored."

Iggy nodded. Just thinking about not being able to fly made him feel bored. He felt the urge to speak and beg Fang for help with his secret problem...

If being a teenaged boy wasn't bad enough, Iggy had to live under Max Rule, Which meant no flirting with girls, and no salivating over mental pictures of Beach-Bunnies, Gasman had described to him years before in Hollywood...

He smiled remembering that the then eight-year-old Gazzy hadn't understood why the other two boys had been so interested in the scantily clad bronze 'Beach-Bunnies'. Then he realized nearly twenty minutes of walking had elapsed and neither of them had spoken.

"Man, this is a long walk! Why didn't you ask Max's mom to drive you?"

"What? You don't like being around me anymore?" They stumbled out of the forest and into a vacant lot, circling a small concrete storage shed and passing through a chain-link gate.

Iggy rolled his eyes, "That's not what I meant and you know it."

They were quiet for a while, the near silent sound of Fang's easy footsteps on the pavement and the sound of his breath the only reminder that there was indeed someone else walking beside Iggy.

"Fang?"

"Huh?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did."

"Shut-up ... You- You and Max have like, kissed ... Right?"

Fang smiled to himself. Whenever Max and the girls weren't around Iggy was a normal teenaged boy. He guessed the 'sexist-pig' in them was calm enough to come out when Max wasn't around to scare it off...

"Once or twice..."

"Well ... How do you do it?"

Fang laughed out loud. "Who are you planning on kissing? It's not me is it, 'cause Ig, you're not my type!"

Iggy shot him double birds and made a face. "Do you swear never to tell?"

"No ... Who is it?"

He took a deep breath and spilled his guts...

Fang's feet made an awkward stumbling sound against the sidewalk. "Jesus, Iggy! You just stood there!"

He nodded.

"Why the hell didn't you kiss her then? Why did you just STAND there? She probably thinks you don't like her now!" They passed through a parking lot and another chain link gate. "Jeez, you're DUMB."

"I didn't know what to do! I mean I'm standing there butt naked and she's standing there ... What was I supposed to do!"

"KISS HER!"

"Why didn't you tell me that before, huh? Like when I could have actually DONE something other than just stand there like a statue while she's got her hands on me!"

"She had her hands on you?" Fang turned and walked backward gaping at Iggy.

"Well ... On my chest..."

"At least tell me you SAID something."

"I told her she smelled good."

Fang shook his head, "As opposed to smelling bad?"

"I ... I didn't think of that."

"Listen, try kissing her if you ever get a chance to, you know, be alone with her again- You have ZERO chance of that happening if Max is around though-"

"That's why I was hoping you could like ... Take Max out or something, give us some time alone."

"Right ... The day I take Max on a date is the day I get abilities."

"Do you not like her or something?"

Fang sighed and fell back into step beside Iggy. "Listen ... Max is different, she's not like other girls. Yeah, you can take her on a date like that guy did in Virginia, but ... I don't know. Max is different. You can't push her into being a girl, she's a girl when she wants to be and only then."

Iggy nodded, "That made no sense."

"Shut-up ... Anyway, if Max finds out she'll kick your ass into next year."

"So, will you help me? Will you like ... I don't know, distract her?"

"Oh, yeah, I'll create the diversion while you do your thing," He could picture Iggy sneaking off behind the bushes grinning like the devil. Like a horny monkey he'd seen on a nature special sneaking off with a girl monkey. "She'll kick both of our butts into next year if she finds out that I know ... And, incase you forgot, I got my butt kicked by a TREE last night, Ig. A TREE! I've had my fill of beatings for one week."

Iggy grinned, "Did you really go flying naked last night?"

"Who told you I was naked?"

"Angel ... She said Nudge was thinking it."

He rubbed his forehead and turned the street corner toward the post office a hand on Iggy's arm to guide him. "I wasn't naked."

"Where are we?" Iggy said as they started up the walk.

"Post office..."

"Why are we at the post office? Our mailbox is just at the end of the driveway!"

Fang shrugged, "I told you I was bored ... That and they got new stamps."

Iggy giggled, "You collect stamps?"

"You can come in or you can wait, your choice."

"I'll wait..."

Relief washed over him. "Your loss!"

The postmaster, a short balding man in his late fifties, was standing on a ladder affixing a new dangling advertisement for Federal Express to the ceiling when Fang walked in.

"Hi ... Uh, did a letter come for Nick Ride?"

The postmaster shook his head. "Sorry, kid ... No letter today ... Are you sure you had the right address?"

His heart sank and he shut the door, leaning gingerly against it praying it eased the ache of his wing. "Yeah..."

The postmaster climbed off the ladder and shook his head. "It's been three weeks, Nick ... Maybe he moved..."

He sighed and rubbed his neck. He felt tears in his eyes and for some reason he was unable to hold them back.

"Listen, I know its rough ... But give it one more day. I'll keep an eye out for anything with your name on it ... If you don't mind me asking ... Who should be sending the reply?

Fang wiped his eyes on his sleeve and snuffed back the tears. "Bernard Hutchinson."

Chapter 6; The Diversion

"Okay, try moving it slowly."

Fang was seated backward in a kitchen chair while Dr. Martinez inspected his wing. It had been five days since his 'accident' and thanks to what the good doctor called 'weirdly-rapid healing abilities' not only could he move his wing he felt as if he could fly into town to the post office. Which he hadn't seen since he and Iggy had walked there three days earlier.

He'd tried flying around the yard a couple of times two days before but had woken up after his post-lunch nap and found his whole left wing stiff and throbbing from the strain.

"It was a muscle injury, Max says they always take longer to heal than bone," Nudge said grinning at him from over her Algebra book.

But those three days of sitting around dwelling on the fact that the letter he'd been waiting practically a month for could possibly be waiting for him in town, had made him reckless and a bit obsessed. As soon as Dr. Martinez finished examining him he yanked his shirt and jacket on.

Max was sitting on the steps with Ella taking a rather silly quiz in a Teen Magazine Ella's friend Lynn-Dee had given them, and laughing when Fang dashed out of the door and leapt into flight right over their heads. The wake he created snatched the magazine right from her hands and she watched him fly stiffly across the yard and disappear into the forest.

"If he slams into another tree I am not going to save him ... It's his own fault if he gets hurt this time," Max said.

Ella rolled her eyes a reclined on the steps, "Go after him, you know you want to."

She didn't need to be told twice.

She spotted Jeb's car pulling onto the driveway as she zoomed across the yard and he beeped the horn twice to say 'hi'.

She didn't wave because part of her was still mad at him over the hell he'd put her through, but she was starting to forgive him so she didn't flip him the bird.

The town was just as she remembered it, she flew over the vacant lot where she'd saved Ella from the goons all that time ago, she flew over the super market and circled the school she and the flock now attended with Ella. She saw a few older teenaged boys playing basketball on the court behind the gym and contemplated buzzing them to see if any of them remembered her but shook the thought from her head.

She circled the flower shop, still looking, wondering where Fang could have gone when she saw something small and black dart out of the post office and rush across the street to the park.

She knew it was Fang immediately just by how quickly he moved so she landed on the deserted side of the post office and ran across the street toward him grinning.

He was standing there beside the jungle gym, practically leaning on it, a piece of paper held up to his face nearly touching his nose. If he heard her approaching he made no indication of it. His brow was wrinkled and his lips pursed in that, fighting-a-scream kind of way she'd seen before.

He was shaking like a dry leaf his fingers slowly curling on the paper as if he were going to rip it in half. When she got ten feet from him his head snapped up and he stared at her. And what she saw in his eyes scared her more than the thoughts of him sprawled on the ground all dead looking like he had been a few nights before.

He was crying...

Chapter 7; Realization in Black and Bruise

She couldn't stop staring at him. She'd never seen him cry. Not since he was very very little at the School. He'd always been The Emotionless Fang and now he stood there before her his face contorted in anguish tears rolling down his cheeks his lower lip trembling.

"Fang?"

And he ran. He turned and ran into the forest bordering the park snapping open his wings and sailing off into the shadows where he disappeared like a fog.

She started to follow him, sprinting across the playground but she fell short of the trees.

She hated it when she cried and every time it happened she wanted to be alone so no one saw her. This urge to be alone to vent feelings was one she'd been accustomed to and had never thought odd. She was the leader, leaders had to be strong at all times, no weaknesses.

But, she had always believed, deep down, that Fang was the only one who never let his emotions weaken him because he had been the only one she'd never seen cry ... Until now.

And it broke something in her. Fang could feel. He got scared and hurt just like anyone else ... And something on that paper had hurt him terribly. Worse than flying into the tree had, worse than Ari had...

Fang was hurt and she didn't know how to help him. She had no plan...

So she left him alone and she went home.

Chapter 8; The One Called Dad

It had been quick and painless. It had to have been or else Max wouldn't have let it slip through her defenses so easily.

They had been alone in the room, everyone else had gone to bed. Fang, who had walked through the door at close to ten that evening and gone straight to his room without looking at anyone or even getting something to eat, included.

But this lack of a crowd hadn't been what caused the drop in her shields, it was that her mind was still preoccupied with Fang, and that was the only reason those two little words slipped between her lips.

"G'night, Dad."

She stopped on the stairs and her heart had leapt into her throat. Had she just called Jeb dad?

He seemed to have been as shocked as she was. He had tears in his eyes even, and she was tempted to tell him to grow a backbone but then she saw something else. Relief and something like ... Love?

She had stared at him for a long moment, tense, waiting for him to say something but when he did it wasn't at all what she expected.

"Good night, Max."

She nodded and ran up the steps wishing she could fly away and never have to think about it again. She'd called him dad. She'd let her guard down and called Jeb "dad".

Yes, he'd explained it all to her, yes, it made a sad sick bit of sense, yes, Angel said it was OK to trust him. No, she didn't trust him as far as she could throw him!

She supposed her mind had been so distracted by thoughts of Fang on the playground earlier that day, his face wet with tears, that she hadn't been thinking about how angry she was with Jeb, or how much she hated him. She was worried about Fang and that was it. Jeb didn't matter.

WHY DID I CALL JEB DAD!

She shut herself in the bathroom and turned the sink faucet wide open, hoping the sounds would drown out her panicked panting. She fanned her face and tried not to let the tears that were burning in her eyes fall.

She'd spent years wishing she could call Jeb her father, and now that he was and she could, it brought her to tears to do so.

All she could think of was Ari. Of how she wished Jeb had reconciled with him before the boy expired.

Expire ... She scoffed and wiped at her eyes. Expire was such a general term. Milk expired, food expired, checks and drivers licenses expired. People died. Poor little boys who were turned over to mad scientists for genetic alterations DIED. Little bird-kids DIED.

She plopped herself down in the floor her wings against the wall and sobbed as quietly as possible. She'd been crying a lot lately. Crying for Ari, crying for the time she'd known Dr. Martinez and not known that the woman was her mother.

And she cried for her Flock. The ones who didn't know where or even who their parents were.

She heard Jeb leave. Heard him walk out the door, climb into his car and leave ... But did she care?

Kind of ... Having him there reminded her of the good times, of the time she Jeb and the Flock had spent in the mountains. But those memories brought her back to Itex ... back to The School.

She was glad Itex was gone. She was glad that no more children would be turned into freaks like her, like them. She was glad The Director was locked away in a dungeon with her precious Omega. She was glad there were no more Flyboys or Erasers. She was glad there was no more reason to fly away. No more reason to fight ... No more reason for her to be here.

She'd saved the world ... Now what?

Sit around and wait to 'expire'? Watch her friends die one by one when their dates showed up on their necks? Watch Fang crying and clutching a piece of paper as if it were gold or poison?

She stood, slapping at her cheeks furiously. She turned off the water and bent over the sink staring at her reflection through her hair.

The world is safe ... Who needs Maximum Ride?

She bared her teeth at her reflection half-expecting Eraser Max to make an appearance but her reflection stayed the same, she pulled open the door and stormed face first into Fang's bare chest.

He made a surprised little sound in his throat and grabbed her by the shoulders. He held her away from him his eyes closed lips pursed.

For a moment Max believed he was still crying like he had been earlier the way his lower lip was trembling but then he let out a long pent up breath and turned his eyes to her, two slightly bloodshot, sea hued eyes.

She melted. She'd never melted just by looking in his eyes ... Well, she hadn't lately. They hadn't officially 'made up' since he'd left with Gazzy and Iggy before The Fall of Itex.

"Are you OK?" She whispered just loudly enough for him to hear her.

He rolled his eyes, "Heard running water."

"What? And you thought you'd storm into the bathroom and catch me in the shower?"

He shook his head and his hair fell into his face. "No," He moved her slightly to the side and stepped into the bathroom shutting the door behind him.

She heard him mumble something that sounded like lottery numbers and Max shook her head. She went to her room and changed quickly from her jeans and T-shirt into a soft pair of plaid lounge pants and a sleeveless shirt she'd modified to accommodate unfolded wings.

She crawled under the blankets and lie there on her stomach her wings out, feeling the cool late summer night breeze blowing in through her open window. She dozed for a moment, nothing more than twenty minutes then lie there listening, every muscle tense.

She could hear someone on the porch roof.

She climbed slowly and quietly out of bed and tiptoed to the glass staring out at the dark silhouette perched on the edge of the roof.

Her mouth opened to speak but then she saw him bend forward, a hand over his face. He had that same wrinkled piece of paper in his other hand that he'd had earlier and she closed her mouth tightly wanting to take it from him and shred it so he'd stop crying.

His shoulders shook silently and the dark wings drooped the left moving stiffly. He unfolded the paper slowly, tenderly and held it close to his face examining what looked to Max like a long handwritten letter.

From the Red Haired Wonder no doubt...She sighed. That's why he's crying, he misses her.

He whipped around his eyes boring into hers and for a moment something was different. His eyes reflected some light and red danced where dark blue had always lived. Then it was gone, the flash hidden by his hair.

Max gasped in surprise then she saw the fresh tear lines on his face and her hand dropped to her throat.

"Fang?"

He scowled at her his lips pressed together so tightly they seemed to disappear. He didn't speak, but to Max he seemed to be radiating a thick, enraged aura.

"Fang, are you OK?"

A shiver ran through him and he sucked in a sudden hissing breath, as if he had just woken from a rather bad nightmare. "I'm fine, go away," His voice was horse.

She didn't have to have Angel read his mind to tell that he was lying. Seeing him in the park had told her all she need to know. He was hurting and he was NOT OK.

She carefully climbed through the window and walked to him her wings out to catch her should she fall. She sat gingerly beside him and laid a hand on his bare arm. "What's with the paper?"

He seemed at first to want to hide it from her or rip into shreds, but then he sighed and handed it to her his head bowed.

The fact that he would trust her enough to see something that caused him to cry sent a tingle of fear running up her spine. She took the paper hesitantly and unfolded it. It was a letter after all, but it wasn't from The Red Haired Wonder. It was a letter from a man named Bernard Hutchinson.

She didn't read anything more than the name on the envelope, "'Bernard Hutchinson...'

"Fang ... Who is Bernard Hutchinson?" She turned to him, searching his half-shadowed face.

He remained emotionless for all of ten seconds then he took a shuddering breath and his lower lip trembled.

"He's my dad."

Chapter 9; Enigma

She felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. Fang had found his father? Why wasn't he happy? Why did he look like, to say the least, hell?

He turned from her rubbing his face with his fist, "Go on and read it, I don't care."

She didn't hesitate.

"Dear Nicholas..." She gave him a sideways glance, "Nicholas?"

He rolled his eyes and motioned to the paper.

"The first thing I want to say is how proud I am of you. You've grown into such a strong young man. I can't believe you found us, you have your grandmother's detecting skills no doubt.

"Since this is hopefully not going to be my last letter I want to start off by asking a few questions. How are you doing? Do you sleep well? What do you do when you aren't running around? Think about that.

"Do you have any hobbies or play any sports?

"Well, I suppose you don't have time to play sports, do you...

"Maybe I should leave those kinds of questions until later. I suppose I should tell you about your family now, since you've searched so long and hard to find us.

"This may come as a shock to you, but, you have brothers ... I was able to smuggle them out when I found them. You see, they're just like you ... Wings and all..." Max stopped reading and stared at him her mouth open.

"You have brothers! Fang, you have brothers and they're like us!"

He didn't seem so happy so she turned back to the letter her mind still reeling. Fang with two brothers ... Two more kids who had been turned into freaks like them.

Her stomach twisted and she realized why he wasn't so happy about it.

"All three of you were taken from us. Kitty and I spent every waking second trying to find you. But by the time we did you had been transferred to a different instillation and I was only able to find David and Aaron.

"I did try to rescue you but all I had was your numbers I didn't have your name and all your other information was gone. Turned into some kind of computer gibberish I don't understand.

"Your younger brother, David, he's turning fifteen in September, got your email. He knew instantly what he had to do.

"Aaron, nineteen, and a large group of his friends stormed the Itex building in Mississippi and I could do little to stop him. I couldn't be more proud of you boys and your friends.

"I would have liked to see you though.

"David and Aaron have been reading your ... 'Blog' is it? And they say they would love to kick butt with you one day. Personally, I hope there are no more butts to kick, I hope from now on you don't have to worry about being chased.

"But, since we can't be sure we're trying to keep this all a secret. You'll all be safer if we keep our secrets under our hats. That's why I've sent this letter in such a way. I'd hate to see you get hurt, or to see one of your friends get hurt.

"We're leaving Washington in the morning and should be arriving in Montana on Saturday morning. You know when to find us.

"I do love you, Nick. Very much, despite the fact I've only just met you. If your mother were still alive I know she would be so very proud of you. I'm sorry for everything that has happened to you and I hoped that I could make peace with you, but my time is up.

"I love you very much.

"Keep your friends close ... Bernard Hutchinson."

Max's voice died in her throat and she turned to Fang her brow scrunched, "Why are you so upset? He actually seems nice, not like he's going to try to turn you into a circus freak! AND YOU HAVE BROTEHRS! With an 'S' PLURAL!"

He shook his head and turned his eyes to the starlit sky.

"Fang, please tell me what's wrong ... I can get Angel out here to read your mind if I have to, you know I can."

He sighed and dropped his shoulders. "I can't."

"You can't what?"

He turned to her with a sigh, "I can't figure it out."

"Figure what out?"

He growled and took the letter from her pointing to various deviations in the man's curving script. To Max it had only looked as if Fang's father had bad handwriting. But as he pointed to each one she realized that it was not just poor penmanship, it was intentional ... It was a code.

Chapter 10 ; Sherlock Holmes "Rides" Again

"Nicholas ... I told him my name was Nick, not Nicholas. That's the first clue ... Then grandmother's detecting skills. That's the second, that is what really tipped me off. He doesn't mention my grandmother again.

"'How are you doing? Do you sleep well? What do you do when you aren't running around? Think about that.' So I thought about it, 'run around' we don't 'run around' we fly," He pointed to a rather sloppily written word, "Time," His finger moved down the page, "To find us ... That's easy, 'time to find us'."

Max nodded and watched in awe as the simple letter became something powerful, something ... Covert.

"Then he wrote 'three' weird, so I picked that up, as well as 'find David and Aaron' then later 'numbers'. Well that didn't make sense, and THAT'S when I realized he didn't mean the word 'numbers' he means NUMBERS.

"Three, fifteen, nineteen. Then he wrote 'little' and 'stop' which led me to believe that maybe this is a system of numbers like a date. Then there is 'ones' take the 's' off ... 'One'.

"He mentions the email I sent, and my Blog, so I'm guessing there are hints there too. He said something about Aaron and a group of his friends storming the Itex building in Mississippi, then he changed the subject completely ... 'I would have liked to see you though'?

"That made me believe something was wrong. Something wasn't right when he was writing it. He didn't say he would have liked to see Aaron, he said 'you' as in ME.

"Then there is this," Fang pointed to the next lines. The way the angle of the pen had changed in his father's hand on a few words.

"David and Aaron ... are ... being chased."

Max felt her stomach tighten, and Fang's finger slipped lower on the page. He inhaled sharply and she heard him biting back tears as he whispered the last few words into her ear. " 'My time is up ... I love you very much ... Keep your friends close.' "

"And your enemies closer..." Max turned to him and for half a second, such a short amount of time she wasn't sure she really saw it, that mysterious red light reflected in his eyes again.

"He said goodbye, Max. He wasn't alone when he wrote this letter. There was someone in that room with him and it wasn't one of my brothers. I ... I think he's-" He couldn't bring himself to say it.

She bit her lip and nodded. She knew what he was thinking, part of her was thinking it too.

Fang had finally found his father only to have someone steal him away.

They were silent for a long time and Max watched his hands tighten on the piece of paper, tempted to rip it to confetti in his anguished fury. But then he carefully flattened it, his fingers lingering over the slightly smudged words as if it would somehow make everything better.

She spoke quietly barely above a whisper. "When did you get the letter, Fang?"

He let out a strangled sigh, "This morning. That's why I flew off, I was trying to figure it out. I got the 'Nicholas' and detective parts but it took me all day to figure out the rest of it ... I've read that stupid thing about a million times and it hurts even more each time.

"I know he was telling me I need to find David and Aaron, that they're on their own and are being chased, but what I don't understand is the numbers ... three, fifteen, nineteen, one."

Max blinked. She'd never heard Fang talk for so long. It was amazing and scary at the same time. "Are there any other numbers in the letter?" She scanned the writing and pointed to the word September, "That's significant, September is this month. Why didn't he just say 'this month'?

"Three and fifteen come before September so let's add them together. Now, you have eighteen instead of three and fifteen," She continued down the letter and pointed to an extra 'one' in the last few paragraphs.

"Eighteen, September, nineteen, one, one!"

Fang's eyes went wide and he shook his head. "Three-fifteen is a time ... September nineteenth! Or September twenty-first if you add the two ones. He mentioned Saturday morning ... Which date is on a Saturday?"

Max's mind went blank for a moment and she made a hollow, 'uh' sound in her throat before she was able to jumpstart her brain. "Saturday the fifteenth, not the nineteenth..."

He went pale, "Max ... What's today's date?"

She grabbed his wrist and checked the glowing green dial of his new watch, "Thirteenth ... We'd have to leave tomorrow."

He shivered, his fingers were inches from her throat. He could almost feel her pulse.

"Fang, why are your hands so hot?"

His tongue felt numb and he gave his head a little shake. "Huh?"

She cupped a hand to his face, "You're hot!"

He looked down at his bare chest and feet then drew his hand away from her and wiped his palms on the legs of his jeans. "I know you think I'm hot, Max," He grinned and wiped at his face again.

She shook her head, "No ... I mean your temperature ... You're temperature is up!" She was blushing.

He put his hands over his face, "Is it?"

"Why are you so warm when it's only sixty-five degrees out here?"

He shrugged and climbed to his feet. He didn't feel any different, maybe she was just trying to take his mind off things. "We have two days to get to Montana ... Or Washington ... Or Mississippi, he mentioned all three and I don't know if he was telling the truth or sending whoever was with him on a wild goose chase."

Max nodded, "Where was the letter sent from?"

He glanced at the postmark on the envelope, "Washington."

"Then that marks Washington off the list ... He mentioned the Itex building in Mississippi that was too specific," She took the letter from him and scanned it again.

"Fang, you were never transferred ... Were you?"

He hesitated, his lip between his teeth. "No."

Chapter 11; Why Dogs Sniff Other Dogs' Butts

He'd lain on his bed his face in the pillow for close to two hours knowing that Max was lying in her bed just on the other side of the wall sleepless as well. He'd been tempted to go to her for comfort. To search for that look, that look of compassion he'd seen in the hospital shortly after Ari had nearly disemboweled him.

Ari ... God ... He was still mad at her over Ari. Why did she have to pick HIM over me? He sighed. Because he was dying and she was probably the first person in his whole life to actually be nice to him. Even though he'd tried to kill her before, tried to kill ME. ALMOST KILLED ME! He growled and flopped over onto his back staring up at the ceiling with distaste. His hand traced the scars on his stomach again and he bit into his lip.

She was supposed to pick me ... She was supposed to love m-

He sat up and stared about quite startled.

Love? LOVE! I'm jealous of HIM! I was jealous of ARI!

He physically smacked his palm against his forehead, the blow making a sharp, skin on skin sound.

Why am I jealous of Ari? He's dead ... He expired. Fang groaned loudly and lay back on the bed pulling the blankets over his head. If she had picked me Ari would have gone off and died somewhere cold in the middle of nowhere thinking everyone hated him and that he was useless, just a freak with no one to call a friend. God ... I would have done the same thing in his position, I'd have gone off and thrown myself in front of a car!

He scoffed. He was her brother ... Her blood brother ... What am I? I'm Fang ... Just Fang.

I'm crazy ... Why am I talking to myself? Maybe I should ask Jeb for a voice in my head like Max ... Then maybe I'll get some answers.

GOD IT IS HOT! He threw back the blankets and stretched his legs out. WHY IS IT SO HOT! He climbed out of bed and shoved his pants to his ankles standing before the window in naught but his boxers for a few minutes relishing in the cool night breeze.

He pressed his left hand to the window facing and his right to his face, drawing his fingers back dripping with sweat. What's the matter with me?

He kicked the pants from his feet and crept across the room to his door, steeling down stairs for a drink and praying that no one was down there to see him in his underwear.

After the tree incident the last thing he needed was to be caught wondering the house in his 'man-panties' as Ella had called them.

There was no one in the kitchen thankfully and he was able to fill a glass with ice water and sit at the table for a few minutes rolling the cool frosted surface over his forehead. Then he heard the little clacks of Total's feet on the hardwood steps.

Total jumped when he saw Fang sitting there and smiled. "I didn't expect to see anyone down here, I was afraid I'd have to jump on the counter again!"

Fang closed his eyes and continued to rub the glass back and forth on his brow. "So, I'm not the only one who's burning up?"

"Well, Kid, I've got a fur coat, you've only got on boxer shorts. Who do you want to bet is hotter?"

Fang stood and filled a short round glass for Total and sat it on the table. "I propose a toast."

"To what, pray tell?" Total rested his furry head on the table beside the glass and seemed to grin.

Fang hesitated then raised his glass, "To dead parents."

Had Total had eyebrows he would have raised one. "What do you mean?"

Fang told him about the letter and why he believed Bernard Hutchinson was dead then took a big drink of the now room temperature water in his glass and cocked his chin on his hand.

Total remained quiet for a moment then shook his head, "At least he said he loved you ... All my parents would be able to say is 'Arf arf'!"

Fang couldn't help but smile. "I guess ... But I don't know what to do about David and Aaron. Max suggested we should fly out to Montana and look for them, but I don't even know what they look like!"

Total nodded again, "Well ... I've noticed something about you guys."

"What?"

"You smell."

"What?" He was tempted to sniff himself to see if he should take a shower or something but Total chuckled.

"You smell different than regular people, I think it's the avian part of you. I can tell who is where just by the smell."

"You can smell avian DNA?"

"Its complicated ... I can smell you and I know what you've been doing, who you've been in contact with and what you did with that person.

"Angel and Gasman smell similar because they're related ... Max, Ella and Doctor Martinez smell similar because they're related. That's how I know I'm not related to that DOG outside, thank GOD..."

"Oh, so I'm going to take you to every person in Montana and say 'excuse me, can he smell you?' "

Total shook his head. "They're coming from Washington, right?"

"I guess so."

"Then they should be on the road. They wouldn't be flying if they're being chased, flying is way to obvious, they'd try to blend in."

"Okay ... So how are we going to find them on the road? Let you sniff the car tires?"

Total rolled his eyes, "I'm sure there'll be something to tip you and only you off."

Fang sighed and thumped his head against the table three times in despair. "I hate riddles."

Total lapped up the last of his water the ice in his glass tinkling, "Really? I kind of like them."

Chapter 12; Father Figure

Max woke up early, but seeing as how she went to bed at four a.m. and got back up at seven 'early' was a relative term. Doctor Martinez was downstairs cooking breakfast when Max stumbled down the steps scratching her right wing sleepily.

"Morning, Max ... Did you sleep well?"

She shook her head, "No ... I have to leave for a few days, something's come up and we have to go sort it out ... You don't mind having a few more of us around do you?"

"Well, that is definitely a new way to say 'good morning'. Would you mind telling me what's going on?" She put a plate heaped with fresh pancakes before Max and turned back to the stove to fry more.

"Fang got a letter from his dad."

The spatula hit the floor.

Max looked up and mumbled 'what' around a mouthful of pancakes.

"He found his dad? That's wonderful!"

Max sighed and swallowed, "Its really complicated. You see-"

A hand appeared right next to her face, a hand clutching a slightly wrinkled letter.

"You should read it," Fang put a hand on the back of Max's chair.

How is he so quiet? It's like he's nothing but a shadow sometimes! Max scowled up at Fang then turned to her mother. Her eyebrows drew down as she skimmed down the page. Her long, fingers curled slightly and her big brown eyes, so much like Max's turned to the dark haired young man before her. "I see.

"You've been going into town every day for the past month hoping that this would be there?"

"Yeah ... Only I thought it would be different somehow ... I don't know," He sat in the chair next to Max and hung his head. He looked exhausted.

The woman seemed to have an intense struggle within herself but after a moment she let out a long, deep sigh. "I want a phone call when you find them ... And please, PLEASE, take care of yourselves."

Max smiled and lunged across the table to hug her mother.

They had opted to leave just after lunch, which allowed Max a few more hours sleep before they had to fly all the way to Montana. Flying from Arizona to Montana wasn't such a big deal. Not when Max, Angel, Nudge and Total had flown across France.

Fang on the other hand hadn't slept much at all and his wing was still incredibly sore. The muscles tight and aching where the stick had torn through his skin. Part of him kept wishing he were back at the Martinez house dozing in his bed, or at least had a few of the miraculous pain-pills he'd been given.

At breakfast he had made Max tell the Flock about the letter and about his family. Simply because he didn't think he could speak of his father just yet. It had taken him a long time the night before to accept the fact his dad was most likely dead. Killed by whoever had been in the room with him.

Before they'd left Fang had seen Max searching the house. He'd asked her what she was looking for but part of him had known.

She was looking for Jeb and Jeb wasn't there. Fang had seen the man rush from the house late the night before pulling on a jacket as he went. He'd jumped into his car and sped off cell phone to his ear. Mumbling, "I got it, I got it, just have the airstrip ready when I get there ... Jesus, I can't believe they found him ... No, no, I'm OK, I'll handle it, just don't touch ANYTHING."

At first Fang had thought, good riddance, but then something had started to bother him. Why had Jeb gone so suddenly? And why did he take only his phone and wallet with him? Jeb's familiar smelling clothes were left in the guestroom closet, as was his laptop computer forgotten on his desk.

Fang pulled gently on the straps of his backpack feeling the two computers sliding around. He'd only taken Jeb's computer for one reason. When he'd peeked into the man's room that morning the file open on the screen had been his.

He hadn't told Max, nor had he told anyone for that matter. He'd kept it out of his mind until now and as he glanced back over his shoulder at Angel he wondered if he'd let it slip a little to far into his train of thought.

But Angel seemed preoccupied with the I-Pod. She was weaving left and right mouthing the words to a song and watching the land roll away beneath them seemingly content with the world.

As he turned his face back to the sky before him something that felt like a shock wave hit him. His skin went cold. Not, hot, as he had been the night before, but cold, as if he'd just flown through a snowstorm. He gasped and turned his face away, not sure why his temperature had just dropped what felt like one hundred degrees.

The air in his chest felt thick and before he realized what was happening his left wing crumpled and he was spiraling down, both toward the earth and into a deep dreamless sleep.

Max's head whipped right and she saw him sag in on himself, his eyes fluttering closed. Then, he simply stopped flapping his left wing going limp and twisting straight up from his back. Then he fell. She gave a short, frightened cry and dove after him, catching his limp body around the waist and dragging him back upward, slowing his fall.

"DOWN! DOWN, EVERY BODY DOWN!"

He wanted to tell her he was OK, that he was just very, very tired but before he could manage to say anything he was on the ground and she was bending over him. Smacking his face and shaking him awake.

"WAKE UP!"

His eyes snapped open and he stared up at her blankly. What had just happened?

She held a bottle of water to his lips. As soon as the water hit the back of his throat the arctic embrace faded.

"Sorry ... I just ... Just got a little tired all the sudden."

"When I grabbed you, you were freezing!" Max said taking the empty bottle from him.

He gave her a genuinely surprised look. "I was freezing?"

She shoved another bottle at him. "Are you feeling all right? How's your wing?"

He nodded, "I'm fine ... It was just like a wall hit me-"

Angel stiffened and laid a hand on Max's arm, "Someone's coming!"

Fang turned his head and stared as a young boy ran into the clearing they'd landed in. The boy grinned broadly and Fang was startled to see he was covered in blood.

"Gotcha!"

He looked to be about seven years old, four and a half feet tall with dark blonde hair and big blue eyes. He was wearing a green T-shirt that was stained with both dried and fresh blood. There was a vertical cut over his left eye and it was bleeding, dripping red across his tanned skin.

Other than the blood he seemed like perfectly normal little boy, but then he laughed, a half crazed terrified titter, turned and jumped into the air, spreading two light brown wings. He struggled to stay aloft, circled them twice awkwardly, jabbering away and pointing. "I can't believe I got you! You should have seen your face! It was so funny! I can't believe I GOT you!"

Then, as if he'd been shocked his face fell and he landed, stumbling to his knees on the ground beside Fang crying into his bloody hands. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to get you so bad! I didn't mean to make you fall! Please get up ... Please wake up!" He grabbed the front of Fang's shirt with his blood stained hands and stared at him without really seeing.

Fang stared at the boy slightly frightened, "David?"

He jumped to his feet his hands pawing at his shirtfront, "We have to go! We have to go NOW! They're coming, they're gonna get me!"

David was shaking and his eyes were unfocused, his lids drooping. Fang reached out to him, to check the boy for wounds but David screamed as if he'd been stabbed and fell to the ground curling in on himself sobbing. "They're coming! They're coming! They're coming!"

"Angel, what's wrong with him! Is he hurt? What's wrong?" Fang had his hands up and he was trembling. There was something terribly, terribly wrong with David but he could do nothing except watch and try not to scream in futile terror.

Angel bit her lip and concentrated very hard on the boy lying on the ground. She was quiet for three seconds then tears came to her eyes and she shook her head her hand going to her mouth. "He's in shock ... Something happened. All I can get is he was in a car with another person and then the car was rolling over and over ... And there were ... Monsters."

Fang started to say 'there are no such things as monsters' but he knew better. He'd seen monsters before. Erasers, Flyboys, and the mad scientists who created such things.

"Angel, calm him down, PLEASE! For God's sake do something!"

Angel tried with all her strength to calm the boy but somehow he kept pushing her back, resisting her abilities just like Fang did.

Fang growled and, in a moment of utter desperation grabbed David and pulled him into his arms, holding him tightly.

David screamed once, a wild, petrified wail, and went limp, shivering and mumbling his eyes half open. He peered up at Fang blankly then a smile crept over his face and he raised a bloody hand brushing it along Fang's cheek smearing red under his eye. "You look just like dad," Then David's eyes rolled up to the whites and his head fell back against Fang's arm.

"Angel?" He cleared his throat and snuffed back tears.

"Yeah?"

"What can you get from him? Can you find out where Aaron is?"

"I ... I'll try."

Chapter 13; You and Me ... And Wizard Makes Three

Angel's words haunted him.

"Itex is back."

He'd sat there and stared at her in numb shock David's unconscious form clutched to him as if the boy were merely an extension of himself.

"Omega brought it back for one purpose only ... To kill us. He's taken the Flyboys and ... Improved them."

She didn't have to say anything more. The first three words were enough to make all of their blood run cold. "Itex is back."

Genotex, as David's memories called it, created only two things. The 'monsters' and the things the monsters flew around on.

As soon as he'd made sure the boy was OK Fang had left, trying to find the cliff David's memories last placed Aaron.

"There!" Nudge yelled and pointed to the overturned camper wedged precariously between a tree and a two-hundred foot drop.

It was a small motor home with black wings spray painted on the sides. The whole thing looked to have been partially crushed. And the entire up-facing side was torn open, as if a can opener had been roughly used to pry the metal sheets apart. There was blood everywhere along with bits of fur covered flesh and to Fang's horror there were also bloody feathers scattered amongst the debris.

They landed on the cliff and Fang held up his hand in a 'wait' signal. He peered over the edge of the cliff and down into the torn open motor home. Right away he saw a body and he nearly retched down on top of it.

It was a hideous thing, dark furry skin stretched over a metal Flyboy body. But the face ... It was a smooth metal mask with diagonal slits for eyes. Long, coarse black hair grew back off the head and long, billowing black robes swathed the creature from head to ugly, clawed foot.

Then he saw what looked like a small jet engine attached to a long slightly curved metal staff and he grinned, pointing down at it, "They're Wizards! They wear robes and fly on broomsticks!"

Then he saw its hands ... Or, its claws. Six inches long, razor sharp white and red glistening talons on black scaly hands.

Fang shivered. It was a monster ... The Wizards were plucked right from his worst nightmares.

He stepped off the cliff and gently fluttered down landing hesitantly on the side of the motor home. It rocked unsteadily and the scream of metal against stone reached his ears.

The whole area reeked of blood and some kind of mechanical fluid mixed with something that reminded Fang of Gasman Special. He looked up at the worried faces of Nudge Gazzy and Iggy then slowly lowered himself into the overturned vehicle.

He looked left and right in the demolished home searching for any sign of another bird-kid. His eyes strayed to the Wizard lying crumpled under the table. His fingers twitched and he grabbed up the nearest thing he could find, a broken broom handle.

Fang inched forward using the broom handle to slowly and carefully flip the metal facemask off of the Wizard. Unsettled by how smooth and flawless it was.

The mask made a metallic clacking sound as it tumbled backward to the mess of broken dishes.

As soon as the light hit the Wizard's tiny eyes they began to fade into blind white pus filed orbs.

It was hideous. Like a cross between a bat a lizard and a vole. It had a large mouth, which dropped open when the mask fell away and Fang jumped back frightened. The jaws were lined with four rows of long jagged needle like teeth, which grew at odd angles.

The broom handle touched the Wizard's tongue and Fang was appalled to see it was sticky, like a frogs and could stretch for what he guessed to be about ten feet.

It hits you with that tongue and just reels you in... Fang shuddered and began slowly making his way back through the rent in the side of the motor home.

"FANG! GET OUT OF THERE! ITS LEAKING GAS!" Iggy screamed shrilly.

Just as he was about to climb out something caught his eye.

A picture in a broken frame...

He hesitated, fighting the urge to duck back into the trap of a camper and get that photo. But the fight was short lived and he growled, grabbing the picture. The broken glass cut his palm but he didn't care. He climbed out and flew back up to the top of the cliff.

"Did you find him?" Nudge groped at his arm but he shrugged her off.

He stared down at the picture in awe. There was a thin young man with glasses and jaw length red-brown hair standing beside David, who was clinging to a thirty-something man's back a wide grin on his youthful face.

Fang knew the boy with glasses was Aaron because other than David he was the only other person in the photo with wings.

But, what startled Fang even more than how happy the three of them appeared to be, was the fact that the man David was clinging to looked exactly like him.

"FANG!" Gazzy screamed and pointed over the side of the cliff.

He looked up and saw what the boy was pointing to.

Sprawled at the bottom of the cliff, almost hidden because of the coloring of the landscape, his dappled white wings limp, was Aaron.

Chapter 14; Brother Mine

Max checked him over, cleaning and bandaging wounds, wiping the blood from his face, hands and torso, and to her surprise, washing the tan right from his skin.

"He isn't tanned at all! He's just covered in dirt!" Angel proclaimed, "He's even dirtier than Gazzy!"

Angel decided David was cute ... Under all the blood and grime.

He was simply younger version of Fang with sandy blonde hair and freckles. And Angel LOVED freckles. There had been many times she wished she herself had freckles. She thought they were neat.

She brushed her hair behind her ear and helped Max put one of Gazzy's clean T-shirt on David, because his had been torn beyond repair.

"How old is he, Ange?"

"He just turned seven yesterday."

"So he's about a year younger than you," She took his un-bandaged right hand, rubbing it between her own, trying to coax him into awareness.

As if he could hear her thoughts his eyes sprang open and he stared up at her in horror. "Where am I? Where's Aaron?"

Max gently stroked his hand, "You're safe ... the others went to find Aaron and bring him here."

David struggled for a moment but a dazed expression came over his face and he relaxed, caught in Angel's mind control.

"You don't understand," He whispered weakly.

"What is it?" Max breathed, trying to sound as reassuring as possible.

He took a shuddering breath and turned his eyes to Angel. "We're all going to die."

Fang landed in a run, sprinting toward Aaron's limp body his breath held.

Blood ran from a nasty gash on the side of his head and the right lens of his glasses was cracked. He didn't look to be too badly injured, minus of course a few missing feathers and scratches on his hands and arms.

Aaron looked young, his jaws and chin covered with a thin layer of hair, much like Fang's. With his eyes closed Aaron didn't look a day over seventeen...

But as Fang drew closer, fearing his brother was dead he realized something startling ... Aaron was snoring.

"He's asleep!" Nudge said loudly.

Fang dropped to his knees by Aaron and politely began shaking the daylights out of him. "WAKE UP!"

Aaron's whole body went rigid, his eyes flew open and his hands jerked up, tightening themselves around Fang's neck in a vice like grip.

Fang tried to call for help but he couldn't force air past the knot Aaron was trying to tie in his throat. He was frightened, terribly so and the fact he was able to admit to himself that he was scared caused the emotion to triple in intensity. His vision was going gray and Aaron's grip on his neck was so tight he could almost feel the pressure on his spine.

Don't let me die like this! Please, don't let my own brother kill me, I love him too much to put that kind of burden on him!

And he felt particularly odd. As if he'd just opened a box and found answers to every question he'd ever asked. A sudden, eerie calm fell over him and for half a second he didn't mind that Aaron was choking him to death. He was dying and he didn't care, death would be so much easier to deal with, he wouldn't feel anything if he died, he wouldn't experience the resounding sadness and fear that suddenly gripped him-

Or the longing to see Max's face just ... one ... more ... time...

He heard Nudge scream somewhere in the distance and he pictured the scene he and Aaron created on the desert floor. A bleeding frantic bird-boy choking another bird-boy who was putting up no fight whatsoever.

And it all came crashing back.

Fang struggled back through the curtains of unconsciousness that were layering themselves upon him and did the only thing he could do. He weakly grabbed both of Aaron's little fingers and bent them backward with all his quickly waning strength, prying his brother's hands away from his windpipe.

The pain brought him back and Aaron's eyes focused on the person he was strangling. He stared in horror at the dark-haired, winged apparition before him then released the boy with a high-pitched, child like cry. He flapped his wings as he scooted backward across the ground away from them. Then sat there hugging his knees and staring, rocking back and forth his whole face sheet white.

Fang dropped back on his behind his hands to his neck gasping. "What was that for!"

Aaron didn't answer, he just sat there staring and trembling like a leaf in the wind.

There was a horrible screeching sound from above and Fang stared in awe as the suspended motor home broke free of the cliff and started falling, quite fast straight at Aaron. His brother was going to be squashed!

"GO!" He screamed at the others and then dove at Aaron his wings beating the air the tips of his feathers kicking up a whirlwind of dirt.

Aaron gave a frightened gasp as Fang grabbed him under his arms and swept him up as easily as if he weighed nothing at all.

The motor home hit and exploded. A mushroom cloud of flames boiled upward nearly enveloping Fang as he zoomed a good hundred yards into the sky.

The shock wave that came with the explosion almost knocked him out of the air and Aaron screamed in his ear, though all he heard was the near deafening 'BOOM!' of the demolished automobile.

"PUT ME DOWN, OH GOD IN HEAVEN, PUT ME DOWN!" Aaron bellowed in a thick British accent, clawing at Fang like an angry cat.

Fang shook his head and released him.

Aaron's face went ash gray, his mouth opened into a wide 'O' and he clawed at Fang's hands his wings beating awkwardly, out of sync. He screamed and started falling.

Fang dove at him again, catching him by one arm and trying with all his strength to slow Aaron's plunge quickly enough to keep his brother from becoming the world's biggest bird-kid pizza on the rocks below. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, AARON!" He bellowed and Aaron's fingernails dug into his wrist, bring blood.

He looked up at Fang terrified, tears rolling down his dirty, bloodstained face, "I CAN'T!"

"WHAT!" He screamed and nearly dropped him.

"DON'T DROP ME, NICK! PLEASE DON'T DROP ME!" His voice sounded very thin, harmonizing with Fang's nearly perfectly.

"WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU! JUST FLY!" Fang landed below the rocks, where Iggy, Gasman and Nudge were standing, their mouths open in shock.

Aaron stumbled a few feet away gagging as if he were going to be sick his feathers on end, face deathly pale. He collapsed, both hands on his stomach and then looked up at Fang in a mixture of envy and rage;

"I can'tfly, you stupid git!"

Chapter 15; Confessions in the Dark

The camper burned almost as well as sticks and twigs Gasman realized sometime later as they sat huddled around it the dark at their backs.

Nudge was pressed against him from the right, her wing around him comfortingly. Fang was to her other side and Iggy was on his left gnawing on a granola bar, bored out of his skull.

Aaron was almost ten feet away, alone, his head bowed broken glasses reflecting the flames back at them. He hadn't spoken since he'd made his confession hours before.

Nudge, surprisingly, had remained silent and Gasman had only gaped at him.

Iggy on the other hand had said only one word. A short four letter word that, had Max heard him, would have gotten him punched in the arm.

Fang, like his newly found big brother hadn't spoken since ... That was until now.

"What do you mean you can't fly!" He spat, releasing all his pent up anger and astonishment in those seven little words.

Aaron sighed and hugged his knees, giving the boy across from him a rather hateful look. "Well, if you had spent your entire life locked in a cage instead of flapping about as you pleased you'd be a bit behind in the aeronautical department also!" His voice was deeper, more controlled and adultlike than it had been earlier.

Fang was on his feet, his eyes reflecting the brilliant red of the fire. "For your information we were ALL stuck in cages, we've only been OUT of cages about ten months."

Aaron shook his head, "According to your BLOG you've been out a few years actually."

Fang decided Aaron's accent sounded quite pompous and he wanted to smash his fist into his brother's mouth. But for some reason he regretted that thought as soon as it popped into his head. "How long have you been out then? How long were you with HIM before all this crap started?"

Aaron sat his jaw and returned Fang's deathlike stare, "I was at the Institute in London my whole life. Da- Mr. Hutchinson rescued me two days before your friend Max apparently got there."

Fang's stomach clenched ... Max...

"I'd been locked in a kennel for thirteen years, Nick. I'd never seen the sky before he found me. I've never had the opportunity to fly, let alone the room to even straighten my wings properly."

"What about David?" He felt himself ask even before Aaron stopped speaking.

Aaron chuckled darkly, "We found him at the Itex headquarters in Yazoo three days after I was rescued. Dad got your E-mail and we went in for the kill. David was due for extermination because his powers were ... Unstable, and we were able to grab him and release four others before we were noticed."

Something clicked in Fang's mind and he gave his head a little shake, "David has abilities?"

Aaron nodded slowly, "Yes, he does, doesn't everyone?" He made a circular motion with his index finger, "Everyone, as in; all recombinant life forms present."

Fang shifted on his feet uncomfortably and opened his mouth to speak but Gasman jumped up and dashed forward grinning, his hand out.

"Pull my finger!"

Fang gagged, "NO, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY DO NOT PULL HIS FINGER!"

Aaron stared up at him an eyebrow raised his hand extended, barely an inch from Gazzy's index finger. "Dare I ask why?"

Fang pointed to the blonde, "'The Gasman' ... THINK about that name for a second."

Aaron's lips curled back, and he withdrew his hand. "Oh."

He stared up at Gazzy slightly amused, but mostly horrified, "You and David should get along famously."

Gasman plopped down beside Aaron grinning, "Why?"

"Well ... er ... You see, David's nickname is 'Sandman'."

Nudge snorted, "Sandman?"

Aaron nodded, "He can make people fall asleep just by thinking it ... Though he has been known to blow imaginary sand into your face as he does it. Bit annoying actually."

"Is that why you were konked out when we found you?" Iggy said, still gnawing on the granola bar.

Aaron sighed but nodded, "He was afraid, he didn't know what he was doing ... Is he all right?"

Fang nodded, "Max and Angel are with him."

"Are you sure it's smart to leave two girls alone like that?"

Fang laughed out loud.

"BIG fire. BIG-BIG-BIG!" David yelped and began scooping sticks into the flames, bent at the waist, behind to the light, throwing the twigs between his legs like a dog.

Angel laughed and turned to Max, trying to see her TRUE reaction, but all she got when she peered into Max's head was worry.

Where are you Fang? PLEASE be OK...

"Why does the fire have to be so big?" Angel said turning her head to the side.

"The monsters don't like the light ... It hurts their eyes."

Angel nodded. It seemed logical enough. "You really should sit down and rest, you're gonna make your arm bleed some more if you aren't careful."

David shook his head and marched around the fire, arms crossed over his chest. "Nuh-uh ... They'll get me."

Max sighed and climbed to her feet. "Why don't we just go find Fang and Aaron, then we'll all be together and you won't have to worry so much?"

David shook his head and turned to her, "We gotta stay here, Nick said he was gonna come back here. We gotta wait for him. He said he'd come back, he promised."

Max growled and sat back down beside Angel. This kid was NOT listening. He was NOT taking orders either. They had tried to convince him to come with them when they decided to go out looking before the sun sat, but he'd gone into hysterics and put Angel to sleep for two hours.

So, now they were waiting for Fang, Iggy, Gasman and Nudge to get back with Aaron. If Aaron was even still alive...

David's memories had shown the 'monsters' grabbing Aaron and dragging him back into the motor home as it rolled over a cliff, blood and feathers flying.

David had been too afraid to stick around and he'd accidentally knocked Aaron unconscious with his ability and flown awkwardly away then crashed into a tree because he didn't know how to land. Max wondered if unconsciousness had spared Aaron any pain.

"David, we have flashlights ... We can take light with us and you can stick close to me."

David shook his head and dropped into a sitting position across the fire from them, "Can't, we gotta stay here."

Angel sighed and whispered to Max, "David doesn't really know how to fly that well, Max. He's tried a few times but Aaron screams at him when he does."

"I can fly just fine!" David said defensively, "Aaron's just scared I'll fly too high and get hit by lightning!"

Max nodded, not believing a single word he said, "How high can you fly?"

David puffed his chest up and pointed to himself, "I flied so high once I was in space!"

Max made a faux-surprised face, "Really!"

"Yeah, I did! I fly up into space all the time. I even been to the moon once!"

Angel giggled.

He smiled at his audience and curled his fingers, wiggling them like tentacles. "And all the aliens and moon men that live in the moon came out and I fighted them all like this!" He gave a savage kick and nearly fell. "And they're all really scared of me cause I can fly all the way to the sun and I made friends with the dragon that makes the sun burn!"

Angel burst out laughing her hands over her face.

It struck Max as odd that David was such a normal seven-year-old and Angel was more like a little adult.

Perhaps Aaron hadn't taught David enough about survival to make him understand-

Something screamed in the night, a deep, animalistic, angry wail.

David went rigid and dashed at Max, his arms out, little bruised face pale. He wrapped his arms around her and started crying. His whole body trembling.

Another scream answered the first, quickly followed by four more from different points in the darkened forest around them.

Angel backed up, pressing her wings against Max's side.

"What is that!" Max whispered picking David up, since he was smaller than Angel she didn't have much trouble scooping him into her arms.

Angel shivered and spoke in a low, creepy monotone voice, "They're very hungry..."

"Bloody Hell!" Aaron climbed to his feet. "Look at this!"

Fang turned to him, staring as he continued to throw sticks on the fire. Aaron walked to him and grasped his shoulders turning him around so they stood back to back.

Fang felt that odd sense of peace fall over him again and he thought of Max, her hair blowing in back of her as she flew, her eyes closed feeling the majesty of flight-

Aaron placed his hand on top of his head and stared at the differences in their height. "You're nearly twenty centimeters taller than I am!"

Nudge couldn't contain her laughter.

Gasman leaned over and whispered into Iggy's ear, "Fang's practically a foot taller than him!"

"Right, you look 'bout my height!" Aaron motioned to Nudge, "What's your name?"

"Nudge," She said between giggles add climbed to her feet pressing her back against Aaron's. She felt giddy standing next to him and she couldn't look him in the face without feeling a red tent flow to her cheeks.

And then she knew ... He's lying!

"AH! See, finally I'm taller than someone!" His voice shook, cracking. He cleared his throat

"Only by an inch!" Gasman crowed and jumped to his feet pressing between Nudge and Aaron to be measured also. Aaron gently grasped his shoulders and smiled.

Nudge stumbled a few feet away, her arms wrapped tightly around her stomach, her eyes wide.

He's lying-lying-lying-lying!

Gazzy felt as if he'd known Aaron his whole life and he wanted to fly around and chase fireflies and bats with him like he did back at the Martinez house. He wanted to laugh and jump and run and fly and teach Aaron how to throw his voice so they could make noises behind Max's back. Because somehow he knew Aaron couldn't throw his voice...

"You're only six inches taller than me ... Come on, Iggy, you have to check this out!" He laughed and puffed his chest out feeling important and grown up, even for an eleven-year-old bird-kid.

Iggy clambered to his feet knocking dust from the seat of his pants.

"Blimey..." Aaron mumbled, "Makes me feel quite the dwarf he does!"

Iggy's face turned red. He'd never liked being so tall, seeming to tower over everyone else even-though he couldn't see the others below him.

Aaron circled him, he could hear his shoes crunching across the dirt and pebbles. He chuckled and stood behind Iggy, raising his hand to the top of his head to press directly between his shoulder blades.

Iggy felt something thin and chilled tickle behind his eyes, spinning him briefly into a deep, dark, bottomless void. Then he saw faces in his head, a young man's and a woman's bending to peer down into a small box at him then he was pulled back through this void and he stumbled away from Aaron sick realization settling into his stomach like a lead weight.

It all made perfect sense now...

His hands shot upward, covering his sightless blue eyes, fear and anger closing on his heart as if rusty jaws had been sunk into his chest. He blundered backward with the force of it all and bent nearly double a sob catching in his throat.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!"

Everything went deathly quiet and Fang put his hand out, grabbing Iggy's shoulder steadying him.

Aaron didn't move. His arms hung limply to his sides his fingers twitching uneasily. He was staring intently at Iggy, a hint of anger in his pale, bruised face. He took a shuddering breath and licked his lips his voice coming out thin...

"No ... No, I don't think I will."

Chapter 16; Fly or Die

Fang stood there agape. Tension was so thick in the air he could barely breathe and he gave Iggy's shoulder an affectionate squeeze.

As soon as the redhead had made his outburst Nudge and Gasman had rushed over and cowered behind Fang their eyes wide.

"What happened, Iggy?" Fang whispered, still staring at Aaron unsure what to do.

"I felt something ... In my head, something cold that shouldn't be there ... Oh, God, I'm gonna be sick!" His stomach heaved but he didn't uncover his eyes.

"Did you do something to him?" Nudge spat staring at Aaron in shock. All the time wanting to tell Fang that Aaron was lying, even though she didn't know about what...

Aaron shook his head, "No ... They did it to him ... I just showed him what it was."

"Did what? What's wrong!" Fang felt an unfamiliar panic rising in his chest and again he felt twice as frightened by actually admitting he was scared. It was as if he was suddenly unable to control his emotions ... Or he finally had words to describe what he'd been feeling all along.

Iggy let out a small groan and sank to his knees whimpering palms still firmly pressed over his face. He trembled and just as Fang was about to rush past him and attack Aaron he grabbed him by the hand, halting the fractional lunge Fang made at his brother.

"It's ME ... Oh, God, Fang it was me all along!"

They huddled by the fire together, Max in the middle David on her left Angel on her right.

The monsters were standing just out of the circle of light cast by the fire but Max could see their eyes reflecting back at her. Little floating red pinpricks encompassing them.

Every once and a while they could hear shrill shrieks in the night and a monster would slink closer then scurry back.

Max kept Angel's and David's faces pressed firmly into her shoulders so they wouldn't have to look at the creatures surrounding them. But what she herself had seen would lurk in her dreams forever.

Black, billowy shadows with pale smooth faces, ghosts shifting in and out of sight like a fog. It was more of a creepy, bump-in-the-night kind of scared than a facing-down-a-maniacal-scientist-and-her-most-prized-experiments kind of frightened...

This was the kind of odd, not-really-scary scary that gave Max nightmares sometimes. It was an eerie sight, pale oval shaped faces drifting in and out of her vision...

Part of her had simply wanted to stride forward and kick butt, but David had gone into hysterics and literally curled himself around her leg wrapping his wings around her knees to keep her from going out of the circle of light.

And of course, he'd given her frightened little Bambi-eyes so she'd sat there holding him and Angel, a little worried that Angel was so frightened of them when she'd stared down Flyboys and Erasers without so much as batting an eye. These 'monsters' didn't look half as scary as either of THEM.

But then the fire started burning lower and lower ... And the pale, eerie faces got closer and closer while the shrieking became more and more frequent.

"Angel, can you get anything from them?" Max whispered into the girl's blonde curls.

Angel shook her head, "A few have minds, Max ... But there's something wrong with them ... When I look in ... So do they," She shivered, "They look into ME ... And they're so hungry..."

Max kissed the top of Angel's head and turned to David, who was deathly still, every muscle in his little body tight like a bow-string his eyes wide open, but terribly blank and empty.

Max had seen this distant, hollow look in Fang's eyes every time she'd looked at him back at the School ... He closed in on himself, finding the only comfort he could, within his own mind.

What had the whitecoats done to David? What atrocities had they perpetrated on this small little boy? This pale, blonde version of Fang...

She shivered, realizing that David looked nearly identical to Fang when he'd been seven years old... The only differences were David had blonde hair, freckles and light brown wings ... But that hollow, lost betrayed look in his eyes was the same and it haunted her.

David also had a fury in him, a wild, deadly ... Insane, fury. She could feel it when she'd looked into his eyes as he'd run into the clearing hours before.

He'd been insane, oh yes ... David had been crazy when he'd knocked Fang out of the air, a terrifying, helpless kind of insanity that he couldn't stop, that spread like a virus throughout his consciousness...

Another wail went up, this one closer than ever and Max felt the little hairs on her neck stand on end. She glanced up at the sky, gauging the time by the position of the moon and stars, then she looked back at the fire and her stomach clenched.

They would never make it... The fire would burn out hours before the sun came up and those monsters would be able to get them.

She made a decision, one of her famous, split-second-spur-of-the-moment decisions and climbed to her feet, pulling Angel up with her. David remained limply rigid and she had to grab him with both hands and forcibly lift him to his feet.

Angel alone was half her weight now. Two years had added about six inches and ten whole pounds to Angel. She was no longer a little girl, she was growing up ... Now the age Gasman was when all of it started...

When the Erasers had nabbed Angel during a strawberry picking expedition...

"Ange, when we get up there I want you to grab my belt, do you understand me? Grab it and don't let go, just keep your wings ready and your eyes closed," She scooped David into her arms and bent at the knees. Readying herself for what could possibly be a flight for not only her own life, but the lives of her little girl and Fang's baby brother...

Angel was so very glad they'd left Total at home. She made sure her backpack was securely attached and readied herself.

Max sat her jaw and pushed down with her legs and her wings, shooting skyward into the darkness, urging herself, Angel and David into hyper-speed.

Angel gave a small surprised squeak and her hands latched on to Max's belt.

It was a frightening feeling, she could feel Angel's weight slowing her, could hear David screaming in her ear, but all she could do was fly.

Grab my waist and flatten out! She thought to Angel who complied with out thinking, wrapping her arms tightly around Max's waist and, in a moment too frightening to comprehend, tucking in her wings.

They shot forward but Max could feel Angel's weight still pulling on her. Thankfully David had stopped screaming and was clutching her and sobbing uncontrollably.

Something white glinted to her left and she turned her head staring in horror at the fluttery monster flying not ten feet from the tip of her wings. A blue cone of flames following it.

A rocket! They travel on rockets!

Max screamed in fury and tucked David's head under her chin, diving straight down and praying that Angel didn't slip off of her when she braked to stop.

Then she saw a white dot five miles to the north west and her acute raptor vision honed in on a large bonfire ... And the four people standing in front of it.

She tilted, one hand going behind her and grabbing Angel by the strap of her backpack.

The monsters were gaining on them. She'd never seen something go so fast, they seemed to be able to keep up with her as easily as if she'd been walking!

That's when she noticed the smooth, shining white faces were gone, replaced by a ghastly countenance of leathery black skin, thick bristly fur and an enormously wide mouth ringed with row upon row of four-inch long needle like yellow fangs.

Beady black eyes glinted in the moonlight and Max could only stare in horror and scream in her head; Move faster, Maximum! Move FASTER!

The seemingly enormous mouth opened and to Max it appeared that the thing's lower jaw came unhinged, dropping down to its chest exposing a huge, gaping cave of a throat that she realized could quite literally swallow a basketball without difficulty.

They're very hungry...

Angel's words made perfect sense now and David twisted his head and stared blankly at the monster for a full two seconds before he screamed and jerked free of Max, seeming to fall upward his wail fading into nothingness behind her.

"DAVID!" She screamed and threw out her wings, screeching to a halt just as something pink and nearly as thick as Max's wrist shot forward out of the monster's mouth, extending through the air a good twenty feet before snapping back into the things mouth with a wet, grotesque THWACK!

Max felt Angel's weight as a sort of pendulum, swinging her forward and down at the same time. She saw David, flailing above her as he plummeted, arms and legs out as if he were doing a cartwheel, wings twisting and trying to flap. And she felt Angel's hands slipping as the downward momentum pulled at her.

Max's hand tightened on the strap of Angel's backpack and she heard Angel give a quick, exasperated little grunt as she slipped free and started falling.

Max felt herself split ... One hand reaching downward to Angel, the other upward to David.

She saw Angel's snow white wings snap open and she zoomed like a bullet through the air pulling out of the dive at barely five feet to spare, kicking up a line of dirt and sand as she shot forward the monsters chasing her.

Max caught David by the legs as he plunged past her screaming in a high-pitched, terrified child's voice.

"DON'T KNOCK ME OUT, DAVID OR WE'RE BOTH MONSTER-MASH!"

He blubbered something incoherent and latched onto her leg with both arms. She ignored his screeching and stared at the little white slash below them that was Angel, still flying toward the bonfire the rest of the flock stood around.

"Go, Angel! GO!" She whispered, praying the girl heard her thoughts.

Angel tucked in her wings collided with one of the standing people and rolled to a stop in the circle of light. She was safe...

The monsters pulled up, executing a fighter-jet type of banking maneuver and rocketing straight back at Max and David.

"Oh, CRAP!" And she pulled at David, turning him in her arms so he clutched her about the chest, not the knees.

"Hang on, sweetie, and if you can knock out those monsters do it!" And she angled herself downward and laid on the hyper-speed.

"Its ME ... Oh, God, Fang it was me all along!" Iggy didn't have time to finish his sentence before a scream split the night.

Fang's eyes shot heavenward and he saw seven shadows moving quickly toward them.

Then he heard Angel's voice in his head, HELP ME I CAN'T STOP!

"WINGS OUT!" He screamed, praying she heard him.

And the center shadow expanded, two white wings bursting from it.

She was moving so fast!

He saw her face, tears tracking the dirt on her cheeks and he ran at her his arms going out. He saw her big blue eyes go wide and as she appeared to be on the verge of shooting past him he leapt into the air. Grabbing her around the waist and throwing out his much larger wings, braking. Pain tore across his back and his left wing threatened to turn backward again, but he dug his heels into the dirt ripping twin troughs through the sand nearly fifteen feet long.

They crumpled to the ground and the monsters Fang had named Wizards zoomed straight up screeching and then aimed back into the night at a forlorn shadow hanging in front of the moon.

"DAVID!" Aaron's voice was high, near frantic and he started running, his wings snapping out.

Fang stared in awe as his older brother, who had never before flown, leapt into the air and began flying upward, chasing the Wizards his big, white and black tipped wings beating in perfect sync.

And Fang felt himself following pulling up beside Aaron, who he realized was cursing bitterly in a child's voice and staring down at the ground his eyes wide. "I am going to die!"

"Just keep going!" He shouted and passed Aaron, flying as quickly as he could toward Max and his younger brother.

The rope like tongue wrapped itself around her ankle and started pulling her backward, slowing her, but she continued to flap as if her life depended on it ... Which, she realized, it did.

She kept flapping, praying the whole time that the monster's tongue wasn't as securely attached to its throat as she believed it to be.

"You're not going to eat me!" She screamed and banked sharply to the left.

The moon and stars swiveled as she turned, David clutched to her chest. She wished he'd stop screaming it was giving her a headache. Another shadow loomed out of the darkness before her and her head split in two.

Everything went a blinding shade of white. All sound faded to a soft whispering, like the wind blowing past her as she soared high above everything, a lone bird-girl in a world only she and her flock would ever experience.

All fear faded and all motion stopped. She heard herself inhale, she felt David trembling in her arms and she looked down at him but saw nothing except the same dazzling whiteness. She was a small spark of a thought floating in the entire expanse of the universe.

Am I dead? She thought, and her voice whispered in her ear, soft, young, feminine ... and she pictured her own lips moving the sound was so real. Did I die ... Did I get David killed?

Somewhere in the brightness she felt someone smile, a tender, loving, fatherly smile and she heard her Voice. Calm, cool but firm.

You're not dead Maximum, you didn't get David killed, not yet ... But you have to trust me, do you understand? You MUST trust me this time and do what I say or you ARE going to die.

I understand ... That same, whispered, soft girly voice.

The brightness started to fade and the tingling feeling of motion began to return, slowly, like a rusty film projector beginning to spin a movie after decades of neglect.

Sound started to filter back in, softly, as if heard through feet of solid concrete.

She felt the tongue wrapped like a shackle around her leg, pull taut and everything started moving again, very quickly.

The monster started reeling her in, like a fish, its beady eyes glinting in evil happiness and then, to Max's sickened delight the thing's head suddenly exploded and a loud BOOM! Echoed in the night.

She whipped her head around and saw the last person she ever expected seated on one of the weird rocket-powered sticks.

"JEB!"

He didn't look at her, but instead worked the cylindrical mechanism on the bottom of the shotgun in his hands and expelled a red casing, which fell out of sight. He cocked the shotgun and took aim at another monster firing again and again.

"GO MAX!" Voice and Jeb screamed at the same time and she didn't hesitate, she shot downward, aiming herself at the two shadows moving on near silent wings toward her.

Two of the beasts turned to follow Max and Jeb felt rage explode in his chest and he fired at them, taking off the top of the first monster's head in a spray of gore, brains and computer chips.

He hit the second in the small of the back. It toppled out of the sky soundlessly and made a small mushroom-cloud of flames when it hit.

He cocked the gun one last time to finish off the remaining creature as it streaked toward him, mouth opening to strike.

He raised the gun and aimed along the barrel, placing the tiny silver bead right between the thing's beady black eyes, "Say, hi, beautiful!" And he pulled the trigger...

Nothing happened. He felt himself go cold with shock and he sat his jaw, grabbing the shotgun by the barrel and swinging it like a baseball bat right at the thing's head.

He felt the impact and the spray of blood as he crushed its face, smearing its tiny sensitive eyes into a paste of pus-yellow and antifreeze green.

It made a series of horrid bat like chirping noises and screamed like a child as it fell.

Jeb leaned forward on the 'broom' panting, his heart hammering in his chest. He saw, far below him, Max landing in the firelight with the others and he gently angled himself on a downward slope to join them. To explain himself and his actions for the second time but he felt something wet, sticky and hot tangle itself around his arm. He felt himself gag in revulsion at the exquisitely alien feeling of it and he sent Max one final thought as he was pulled violently from the 'broom' into an all to short free-fall.

I love you, Maximum Ride ... Thank you for calling me 'dad'...

Aaron landed on his knees and fell to his stomach skidding on his chest laughing hysterically, "I did it! I actually flew!" Fang scooped David into his arms and held him tightly, his lips pressed firmly into the boy's hair.

They were safe ... His flock AND his family were safe.

Max stood there smiling and then suddenly her face changed ... Turning slightly pale and a shudder ran through her. Then she was on her knees, her fingers digging into her scalp screaming as if her wings had just been ripped off.

Aaron scrambled away from her cursing and Fang shoved David into his arms. He leapt at her, pulling her to his chest... "MAX!"

A brain explosion, she'd gone two and a half years without having one, why was she having one now! What had happened? They'd gotten the chip out and she swore it didn't hurt anymore when Jeb used the Voice...

He cradled her for close to ten minutes while she trembled and groaned and then she started sobbing, blubbering and trying to speak but not getting anything more than a 'J' sound out before dissolving back into tears. She took a deep, strangled breath and turned terrified, bloodshot brown eyes to Fang's face. Her hands tangled in his shirtfront and she mouthed a name.

'Jeb...'

And he pulled her tightly against his chest wishing there were someway to take all her pain away, to make it all right ... To change it. But there was nothing he could do...

"I'm so sorry, Max ... I'm so sorry," He whispered, barely making any sound at all.

She didn't know how long she bawled into Fang's chest, but when she raised her head she wished she could bury herself in his strength for ten times that amount of time, but she just didn't have anymore tears left...

She stared blankly around for a moment, breathing slowly, tasting the insanity that had been David's earlier that day...

She expected her Voice to chime in that she had to suck it up, had to be brave, heroes had to be brave, had to stay strong, even in the face of death...

Everything is a test...

But her Voice didn't intone within her a Confucian-like bit of wisdom, and she knew it never would again.

She forced herself to sit up and wipe her eyes, she couldn't let this break her, no matter how tempting it was to just give up ... Give in. She had to be strong ... Even if she didn't feel like it, everyone was counting on her.

She chewed her lip for a moment and noticed everyone was looking at her compassionately, except Iggy, who had his hands clamped firmly over his eyes. But she could see tears streaming from beneath his palms.

Chapter 17; Stool Pigeon

"Why are you covering your eyes, Iggy?" Max whispered, turning to him.

He whimpered and licked his lips. "I ... I know how they found us. How they were tracking us," He hesitated, "I know why I'm blind."

Max blinked and walked to him dropping to her knees, her hands going to his shoulders. "Tell me."

"They ... They're using me like a camera ... They put things in me ... They were watching us through my eyes ... Through my EYES, Max!" He stifled a sob, "Who would ever expect the stupid blind kid of being a spy! The stupid fu-"

"You're not stupid!" She said firmly and he went quiet his lip between his teeth.

They'd been watching them through Iggy's eyes!

Fang coughed and he remembered when he Iggy and Gasman had split from the Flock, going their separate way. Flyboys had been all over them, as if there were some kind of beacon drawing them!

He had wondered how the Flyboys found them so quickly yet had somehow been unable to find Max until she was within 'The Snake's Head' as they had called the base in Germany. And then she could have been noticed running in the gate!

It all made sense, frightening, terrible sense.

Iggy. It had been Iggy all along.

Just because HE couldn't see didn't mean someone couldn't be seeing THROUGH him. And NO, they hadn't expected Iggy because Iggy was blind and how many blind bird-kid spies were there?

Max hugged him tightly, "Its OK, we're going to fix this."

Iggy sobbed, "I know how to fix it!" And he scrambled to his feet and took off on a run into the darkness intent on flying away and never coming back.

He'd endangered his whole family all this time. It was his fault, it was ALL his fault!

Fang tackled him, forcing him to the ground then sitting on him, pinning the redhead's wings between them. "Now you're being stupid!" He growled.

"It's my fault!" He shrieked, hands still firmly clamped over his eyes. "Fang, its ALL my fault!"

Fang smacked him upside his head hard, "Knock it off!" He turned and shouted over his shoulder. "Nudge, give me your hair ... thing!"

He pointed to the bright pink bandana Nudge had tied over her unruly hair and she yanked it off and threw it to him without a second thought.

Fang caught it against his chest and had to use his teeth to untie the knot. "Okay, Iggy, listen carefully. I want you to keep your eyes closed, but I want you to uncover them OK? Is that too hard to understand?"

Iggy shot him the bird.

Fang wrapped the bandana around Iggy's head and tied it, completely covering his eyes. "There, now you're safe and you don't have to be stupid and run off."

Fang climbed off of him and helped him to his feet. "You're spy proof."

Iggy wrung his hands, "I feel ridiculous... What color is this thing? It's not pink is it?"

"No, its blue," Fang grinned evilly and patted him on the back. "We'll have Max's mom take a look at you when we get home, she might be able to undo whatever they did."

Iggy nodded and shuffled back toward the warmth of the flames. He sat down tentatively, his shoulders hunched.

After all this time they finally knew how the School had tracked them and he felt so stupid for not realizing it. Those doctors hadn't wanted to enhance his night-vision. They had wanted unrestricted access into his world. And what better way that through the eyes of a bird-kid.

He wondered absently if perhaps the white-coats had chosen him specifically to receive the operation or if perhaps they had done an 'enee-meenee-miney-mo'... Or if they'd just flipped a coin and he'd won the prize of becoming a surveillance system.

He started crying again, his lower lip trembling and he felt Angel creep up to him then hug him tightly around the neck. "Its OK, Iggy ... Please don't run away ... If you run away who'll make breakfast in the morning?"

He couldn't help but smile and he felt Aaron's eyes on him. He turned in the direction he remembered Aaron being and spoke bitter words in a rather emotionless tone, "So, your ability is showing people what's wrong with them?"

"No..." He whispered, "I'm not quite sure what this ability is. Its different with everyone I've ever come into physical contact with."

Max turned questioning eyes to Aaron, "You're British?"

Aaron shrugged in a very Fang like way and Max couldn't help but think of the dark haired boy standing by himself to her left.

David jerked weakly in Aaron's arms his eyes barely open. Aaron cooed softly and stroked the sweat damp hair away from David's forehead.

"What's wrong with him?" Gasman whispered eyeing David's twitching body uneasily.

Aaron shook his head, "He puts himself into a dream and all he does is have nightmare after nightmare ... When he gets frightened he can't control his abilities and people usually start dropping like babes coming off of a sugar-high or he goes to sleep like this. That's why they were going to kill him, they believed his powers are too unstable ... Defective they called him, poor little tyke."

Angel climbed slowly to her feet her eyebrows drawn down, wrinkling her nose. She wrenched open her backpack and rummaged inside for a moment. Then she drew out a slightly stained little brown teddy-bear wearing a white gown and little angel wings.

Chapter 18; Mother

Max's breath caught in her throat and she watched in awe as Angel strode hesitantly forward Celeste clutched in her hands like a priceless heirloom ... She knelt beside David and ran her hand lovingly over his forehead then leaned forward and whispered in his ear.

"David ... I have nightmares too sometimes ... You just hold Celeste and your nightmares will all go away," And she tucked the bear into the crook of David's arm.

His hands groped weakly until his fingers found the soft furry face of the bear then he let out a small sigh and pulled Celeste to his chest, hugging her. The heavy lines that had marred his little face melted and his eyes closed. He was still, his breathing soft and even.

Aaron turned wide blue eyes to Angel and blinked, "That was brilliant! Where did you learn it?"

Angel smiled, "He needed something to make him feel safe. To make him feel normal," She hesitated. "When I found Celeste in New York I saw a bear just like me, she made me feel safe."

Max bit her tongue, If I'd only know that, Ange I wouldn't have said 'no'.

Angel turned to her smiling sadly, "I didn't understand why I needed her until now, Max."

Fang shifted on his feet and strode quickly away into the darkness.

"Someone stop him! Those things could still be out there!" Aaron said in a strained but urgent voice.

Max rushed after him, all of the sudden unable to look at Angel or anyone. She couldn't see him anywhere and part of her was afraid there still WERE monsters flying around then she heard a soft choking sound to the east and took of on a run toward the outcropping of rock.

She found him collapsed in on himself, curled into a tight ball rocking back and forth biting back sobs.

The same fearful dread she'd felt when she found him in the park came over her. As if she were looking at someone else someone that wasn't really there, not brave, fearless Fang.

He didn't try to hide himself, or wipe his eyes and act as if he were merely sitting in the dark much like he would have done on any prior occasion. He didn't struggle when she knelt beside him and pulled him to her, stroking the back of his head. He didn't make a sound for close to ten minutes.

"I'm sorry about Jeb," He breathed, "I saw him up there with the gun ... I didn't believe it at first, but... I don't know, he just seemed so much like he used to and I-"

"Don't talk ... Just relax for a minute, I want to be quiet for a while, OK?" She said in a strained whisper.

He nodded and thought about it all. He'd lost his real father before he even met him, and he'd lost the closest thing to a father he'd ever known ... All within three miserable days.

He felt slightly envious of Max, which startled him. Why was he envious of Max? She'd had a mental connection with Jeb and that connection had been severed violently. She'd had to feel him die...

He remembered when Jeb had driven off three days before. He'd been happy to see him go.

Good riddance...

He felt like such an inconsiderate ass now and he wondered absently if Aaron's abilities had somehow turned him into this emotional train-wreck or if it had happened on its own. After years of being 'The Emotionless Fang' the dam of feelings he'd built had broken and now the flood was almost too much to bear.

When it rains it pours, He thought and sat up rubbing his eyes. He held his knees for a minute, staring across the desert at the large bonfire the rest of the flock was seated around.

Max stood and held out her hand, "Come on, everyone's probably starving, let's go back."

He took her hand and let her pull him to his feet, not because he couldn't get up on his own, but because he needed the contact.

Max walked around the fire to where Angel had left her backpack and began rummaging in it for food.

Fang wiped at his eyes again, not particularly looking at anyone and unzipped his own backpack looking for something other than granola bars...

Jeb's computer ... Jeb had been reading HIS file.

"Max!" He wrenched out the computer opening it and waiting for it to resume its open programs. Maybe Jeb had left some clue, some priceless bit of information that would make everything so easy to understand.

The screen faded from black to blue and his file popped open. Max walked over handing out granola bars on her way.

He pointed and showed Max the file and she yanked it out of his hands "Is this the stuff from the computer in New York?" She sat heavily on the ground. "Jeb had this the whole time?" Her voice was barely above a whisper and she knew only Fang could hear her.

"I'd be willing to bet my file is not the only one he's got on that thing Max."

She clicked on another file and stared at it awe. It was a girl, an older photo of a girl with long curling light reddish-brown hair, brown eyes and black wings. She looked so frighteningly familiar. That darkly intense gaze in her near black eyes...

The first line of the file was in red, "Terminated," And then her eyes fell on the girl's name. "Kitty..."

Kitty ... Where had she seen that name before?

She clicked back onto Fang's file and noticed something different about his name. Something that hadn't been there on the files in New York;

Fang, Gen2

Max looked at the bottom of the screen and opened the last two programs staring in openmouthed shock as David's and Aaron's files sprang open before her.

Sandman, Gen2 ... Constantine, Gen2...Gen2...

She wished desperately that Jeb/Voice would clarify it all but she knew that would never again happen. Jeb was dead...

Kitty and I spent every waking second trying to find you-

And then it all hit her like a ton of bricks.

Max clapped a hand over her mouth and made an exquisite coughing gag sound in her throat.

Gen2 ... GENERATION 2.

The girl looked to be about her age a teenager, just like they'd said, just a teenager ... She stared at Kitty, in awe, horror and a kind of dumbstruck humor.

They'd always joked about this but she'd never- NEVER expected to actually face the facts of it.

"What? What is it?" Fang tried to take the computer from her. "Did you find my expiration date or something? Am I going to die!" His voice was strained.

Max shook her head, "You're not going to believe this, Fang. You're just not going to believe this."

"What?" His voice cracked and he put a hand to his throat suddenly aware of how high pitched that sound had been. Had Aaron damaged his voice-box trying to strangle him?

Max licked her lips. "I just found your mother."

His eyes went wide and his jaw worked up and down soundlessly. He snatched the computer away from her and stared at the picture for close to a full minute. It was the same young woman from the other picture he'd gotten from the lab in New York but this time he could see-

"She ... She has wings ... M-Max, she has wings!"

He swallowed and stared down at the picture in awe then looked at his brothers' files. "We were hatched..." It came out monotone, in barely a whisper.

His head snapped up and he stared at her in the pale light from the computer screen. "Oh, my God, M-Max I was hatched!"

He clambered to his feet and rushed forward.

"Guys! Guys, look at this!" He said his voice shrill, his feathers on end.

Gasman, Nudge and Angel gathered around him staring at the computer screen mouths open. Iggy clambered to his feet, "What, what is it? Hello, blind guy wanting to know what he heck is going on!"

Gasman turned, still pointing at the computer, "Fang's hatched!" His blue eyes were round as dinner plates.

Iggy's jaw dropped and his eyebrows shot up from behind the bandana tied about his head. "Fang's HATCHED!"

"My mom was one of us, Ig!" He said loudly, wishing Iggy's eyes worked so he could see how beautiful his mother was in all her teenaged, winged, NON-crackhead glory.

Aaron threw a sizable rock at Fang and it bounced off his thigh, "There's a photo of our mum in there?"

Fang nodded a wide, teary grin spreading across his face.

"Then what the hell are you doing standing there like the royal-sodding-guard! Bring it to me, I want to see her too!"

Chapter 19; Amaranthine

They'd all taken turns staring at the picture of Fang's mother and Aaron had even woken David up to see her. Then they'd all sat solemnly heads bowed, and mourned her.

"He didn't talk about mum much ... Not until that night ... The night he got your E-mail and realized the person we'd seen in the news papers was you. But he never mentioned this! He only said that he and mum were just kids. Sixteen years old and married with a babe on the way..."

Fang wiped at his eyes, at first pretending merely to rub dust from them then openly drying tears on his shirtsleeve.

"I've never met him, but Dad said we have an uncle living in Oklahoma ... Allan. Dad said that Allan helped him and Kitty shortly after they were married. I never understood why they would need help ... But it all makes sense now. I'm not sure if Allan is even still alive though ... Maybe we could look into it once we're ... Once we're wherever we're going."

Max nodded, "If he's still alive we'll find him."

The sun was coming up and the camper-bonfire had burned out, leaving smoking ashes and bits of melted metal behind.

Max rubbed her eyes and stretched looking out over the desert, her heart breaking. So much pain. So much death...

Jeb's body was out there somewhere. She could just picture it flattened like a pizza- She turned her head, pushing the thought from her mind almost as quickly as it came to her.

No ... She was not going to remember him like that she would not. She would remember him as she saw him ... Her father.

She wondered if someday she would tell this story to her own children. Would she tell them of the brave man who gave his life to save a couple of mutant bird-kids? Or would she even be alive to tell the story to anyone when it was all over. Would there be a world left to hear her?

Chapter 20; Johnny, Get Your Griddle Hopping

Max had been cajoled into standing with her back to Aaron so everyone could gape that she was a good six inches taller than him.

It was funny.

"Just my luck, befriend a group of ruddy giants!" He crossed his arms over his chest and made a face so much like Fang that Max did a double take to assure herself Fang had not shrunk and sprouted white wings.

Aaron didn't mind flying all that much, as long as he didn't look down, or open his eyes ... Or forget to flap, which happened every once and a while when he got tired. He confessed, via Angel's mind reading powers, that he was afraid of heights.

When Angel had whispered that to Max, Aaron had turned, eyes closed tightly, and shouted, "OI! I am not!" But they all knew better.

David seemed to actually enjoy it and had already started attempting the delicate turns he'd seen Fang execute when he circled back to make sure they weren't too exhausted.

Rest breaks came regularly, every hour. Which threw them off schedule but was easier than trying to push David, Aaron and Fang's injured wing past their endurance.

They were barely six hours from home when the sun started to set and Gasman shouted in Aaron's voice, "OI! I'm British! Crackers and cheese! Tea and crumpets! Tallyhooooooo!"

And then Aaron grinned and shouted forward using Gazzy's voice, "I'm an annoying little tosser! Look at me!" Then he made a rude wet-spluttering sound by blowing air between pursed lips.

Gasman's eyes got round and his mouth opened in delight, "Hey, Aaron can do voices too!"

Max glanced over at Fang as if to say, Not another one... But Fang just laughed and shouted back, "Do another one! Do Max!"

Aaron cleared his throat, screwed up his face and began singing Max's voice, "She rocks in the treetops all the day long, hopping and a' bopping and a' singing this song. All the little birdies on J-Bird street love to hear the robin go TWEET TWEET TWEET!"

Iggy roared with laughter and David laughed shrilly, pointing at his brother.

"OH! I'm Nick! I'm all tall dark and mysterious! Did I mention tall?" Aaron called using a slightly British version of Fang's voice, which sounded oddly natural coming from his throat...

Max shook her head but couldn't keep a small grin from spanning her face. She stopped flapping, coasting on a warm updraft and feeling the wind rush past her, trying not to think of Jeb, or his last words to her.

It didn't seem real, but the silence in her head told her that it was. He really was gone this time. And Max felt sad knowing she wouldn't have any help this time. She truly had to save the world by herself. Alone...

Aaron cracked open his eyes and motioned to Nudge, who fell back beside him and they whispered quietly for a few moments wingtips brushing on the down stroke.

Fang watched them intently, wondering if he could talk Angel into telling him what they were saying, but thought better of it when Nudge's eyes grew wide and her head whipped forward.

She starred at him in shock then turned quickly back to Aaron her mouth working quickly, but Fang couldn't catch any words before the wind snatched them away.

What were they talking about, and why did Nudge seem so astounded?

"I know we're almost home," Angel shouted, "But, I'm REALLY hungry and I smell food."

David called loudly forward, "I'm HUNGRY! And I have to PEE!"

And then everyone but Fang and Max were complaining of hunger pains and the need for bathrooms. Whining like kindergarten children refused recess.

"Can we have tacos? I would LOVE a about a dozen tacos and a BIG milkshake with fries and apple pies!" Nudge crooned still flying right beside Aaron, who had his eyes shut again.

Max just wanted to go home and flop into her bed, in her own house and forget everything that had happened. But the sun was setting and it was still going to be at least six more hours at the rate they were going, before they reached home. She bit her lip and started scanning the town below. "Okay, stop whining you bunch of heathens!" She saw a few of the less expensive restaurants in town were still open and angled down, "All right, come on!"

Nudge hung back, taking Aaron's hand, which was awkward, and helping to control his descent.

"I can trust you?" Aaron whispered in a very small voice.

Nudge smiled sweetly and nodded, "You're secret's safe with me." She turned and watched as David mimicked Fang's movements almost exactly, bobbing up and down in the air a few yards behind the near black figure, only once forgetting to flap.

"God, we're high up!" Aaron whispered, trying not to think about the altitude and focusing all his attention on flapping his wings.

"Can I have a toy with my food?" David shouted.

Angel's mouth dropped open, "They give out toys with the food? I want one!"

"Me too!" Gasman shrieked and shot downward his wings bent maneuvering with a slight twitch of his feathers.

They landed, or everyone but Aaron landed, behind a shopping center. Aaron made what Gasman called a 'Dive-bomb' into a dumpster, and had to be helped out again. They merged with a crowd filing out of the adjacent theater and walked across the darkening street to the 24-Hour Dine Inn, which looked deserted save a single bright blue truck parked in front.

The diner was built to look like a railcar and had a counter stretching the length of the building with birthday-cake shaped blue-green stools lined up along it.

Max dug in her pocket and pulled out the battered credit card inscribed with her name but Aaron laid a hand on her shoulder.

"I've got cash."

She turned to look at him in awe, her eyebrows drawn down as if she were going to shout at him but something stopped her. Why did she care if Aaron paid for dinner?

He shoved his hand into his right rear pocket and pulled out a worn and faded leather wallet. He hummed to himself and opened it pulling out a handful of wrinkled bills, "You lot saved our lives ... Least I could do is pay for dinner."

Max stared at him for a moment, as the chubby waitress waddled up in her pink and white uniform, "Hello, how are you folks this evening, can I get you something?"

Aaron smiled at the waitress flirtatiously and Max couldn't help but feel a bit of a tremble run in her spine. She wished Fang would smile at her like that, she would be the absolute happiest bird-girl on the face of the planet if Fang smiled at her like that!

Max made a small surprised sound in her throat. She'd always been drawn to Fang ... He was so ... It was as if he only let himself feel anything around her, and it made her feel special because he was so comfortable with her, so at ease around her, that he allowed himself to be vulnerable in her presence. That he trusted her with his helplessness...

And just like that she knew, and she wasn't afraid or embarrassed to admit it

I love him...

"Right you lot, anything you like ... And I'm sorry to say, Madam that I've brought eight people who have bottomless stomachs," Aaron patted David's head and the child grinned brightly, "I've personally seen this one eat an entire sheet-cake."

The woman's eyebrows shot up and she turned her head slightly to the left shouting back at the large man in the kitchen, "You'd better get the big frying pan, Johnny, we've got an army to feed!"

Chapter 21; The Rest EZ Hotel

There was a small hotel just on the other side of the immense parking lot as the 24-Hour Dine Inn and thankfully the walk was well lit. But it was the longest walk Max had ever experienced.

Angel and Gasman were clinging to her and she wouldn't have been surprised if Iggy and Nudge had shrieked and jumped onto her shoulders.

Aaron had taken one step outside of the diner looked up and whispered, in a perfect imitation of the lead actor from The X-Files, "We are not alone."

Nudge had giggled at first, then she'd looked up and seen a dark figure looming down at her from about one-hundred feet and silence had fallen.

There were twelve of them. Zipping silently back and forth overhead as they walked under the lights to the hotel. Every once and a while a hideous clawed foot would appear in the light then disappear.

David was crying and jumped into Aaron's arms at the first chance his thumb between his teeth Celeste hugged to his chest.

The only one who seemed to be unaffected by their presence was Fang. Who walked behind everyone else staring at the ground his hands hung leisurely in his pockets. He stopped twice, picked up a discarded soda can or a rock and tossed it upward a curious expression on his face...

Neither rock nor can came back down.

The hotel lobby was decorated to look like a hunting lodge, mounted animal heads on wooden plaques, glassy, dust covered eyes staring down at them.

As Max noted every exit and every piece of furniture that could be used as weapons David stared transfixed at a mounted deer's head.

He squirmed his way out of Aaron's arms and rushed forward staring. Then he peered around the wall expecting to see the rest of the deer. After three repetitions of glancing back and forth at the head and the other side of the wall he realized what had happened. He ran to Angel whimpering and squeezing Celeste tightly.

Angel stared at him for three full seconds before she put her little arm around his even smaller shoulders to comfort him.

Aaron smiled at the female desk clerk and Max saw Nudge tremble, her knees practically knocking her dark face seeming to grow darker, like a storm cloud. Max shook her head and as she walked past Nudge, tapped the back of her hand. The girl thankfully listened and turned around, though begrudgingly, to watch Fang, who was still outside staring upward at the circling Wizards.

"Two adjoining rooms would be fabulous, thank you, Sally," Aaron said in a hushed, masculine voice that sounded oddly like cross between Sean Connery and Johnny Depp.

Sally, a blonde girl about eighteen years old, blushed and opened a ledger her eyes round and Bambi-ish her lips parted, "Who are these rooms registered under?" She breathed, in a thick sultry whisper.

Max wrinkled her nose and gave her head a little shake, Aaron is the BIGGEST Sexist-pig I have EVER seen! But part of her wondered what she would do if Fang looked at her like that, with a confident, cocky gleam to his eyes.

She decided she would either punch him or kiss him ... Most likely not the punching, but she wasn't sure.

Aaron opened his wallet and pulled out, to Max's surprise a credit card and a driver's license with his picture on it.

"Aaron Bond, darling," His voice practically dripped lust and Max wanted to turn and be sick.

Sally giggled and swiped his credit card then filled in the ledger with shaking hands. She held the cards out with his receipt her lip between her teeth. But when Aaron reached for them she pulled them back and grinned, "I get off work in about thirty minutes ... Why don't you say we..." And she leaned forward whispering in Aaron's ear.

He shivered and his eyelids fluttered as if he were about to faint. His pulse quickened and he took a deep steadying breath, although it did very little to calm him.

To Max he looked years younger with his eyes closed.

Sally leaned away from him, a rather ... Smug grin on her face.

Max felt bloodlust rise in her veins and she was tempted to lunge over the counter and grab that stupid little blonde by the ears and scream at her. But instead she propped her elbow on the desk casually and leaned in so just Aaron ... and the desk girl, could hear her.

"Did you remember to take your Valtrex this morning, Aaron?"

Chapter 22; Grudges

Fang watched them in silence and they watched him, every so often turning their heads and making a high pitched clicking noise in their throats. Communicating...

They didn't seem to regard him as interesting because they didn't get within two-hundred feet of him in any direction and he thought it quite odd. Why didn't they get closer to him? They were practically diving into the light after David and Aaron.

Did they just not like recombinant life forms that didn't possess abilities?

He bent and scooped up another rock, tossing it up and watching as one of the Wizards darted forward and caught the rock forcing its mask up and licking the stone where his fingers had touched it.

He shook his head and turned, walking back toward the hotel when something struck him in the left wing hard enough to knock him to his knees with a short scream. The wing was still very sore and whatever that thing had hit him with, hit right where the muscles were the most tender.

He staggered to a crouch one hand on his back, teeth ground together breath not seeming to come fast enough to drive away the pain. After a minute he stood and stumbled into the lobby not making eye contact with the desk girl as he asked which way his brother had gone.

"He can go straight to hell, for all I care," The girl said under her breath and handed Fang a keycard to the room. "Third floor, rooms twelve and thirteen."

He opened the door to room twelve and saw Aaron sprawled on his face in the nearest bed David curled to his side asleep.

"Don't speak to me, I'm not in the mood!" Aaron warned even before Fang opened his mouth. "Your girlfriend has just ruined my life!"

Iggy and Gasman were on the other bed suppressing giggles.

"She's not my girlfriend," Fang growled and walked across the room, his hand still on his back.

The door adjoining the two rooms was open and Angel and Nudge were jumping up and down on the beds wings out. Max was standing by the mini-fridge eyeing the large candy bars sitting in a basket on top.

"Max, can we talk?" Fang ground out walking toward her.

She nodded but didn't look at him.

"Alone?"

She glanced up at him and nodded again, following him into the bathroom where he shut and locked the door.

She could still hear Angel and Nudge laughing quietly and bouncing around. "What's up?"

"One of those Wizards hit me with something..."

"With what?"

"It felt like a rock."

"Okay ... What do you want me to do about it? Kiss it and make it better?"

He growled, "It hit my wing ... My left wing."

She bit into her lip and nodded, "Let me see it."

"If you tell anyone, I swear..." His voice faded as he pulled his jacket and shirt off, turning his back to her.

"Its already bruising..." She ran her fingertips over the skin and parted his feathers to look at the little bright pink line where her mother had cut him to get the stick out.

"Can you move it?"

He flexed the wing stiffly, "Its like those things knew or something ... Like they were waiting for me to turn my back so they could hit me..."

"Yup ... You're going to be really sore tomorrow ... Maybe you should take a hot shower and go to bed, I'll take first watch."

"You sure?"

She nodded, "Yeah, besides, Aaron deserves a cold shower, he can go last."

Fang turned and smiled at her, "What did you do to him?"

She shrugged and a devious smile crept over her face, "Lets just say Aaron won't be such a sexist-pig anymore."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 23; Home Coming

They landed in the yard late the next evening and Aaron made another dive-bomb and crashed into the tree by the back porch.

Ella ran out her arms extended, "You're back! Oh, my GOSH I missed you so MUCH, I-" She stopped mid step her arms falling to her sides. "Who the heck are you?"

Aaron gave his head a little shake and plucked leaves from his hair, "If she's got wings as well I'll have a coronary."

Ella's eyes lit up, "Oh, my GOD your British!"

Someone behind Max growled and she turned but didn't see anyone of the Wizard or Flyboy persuasion.

Nudge eyed her untrustingly and stepped between Aaron and Ella, as if to protect the other girl from Aaron's sexist-pig-ness.

Aaron blushed and leaned closer to Iggy as they walked toward the house, "I'm getting the death glare from two girls ... Help me!"

Ella's hands twitched and she crossed her arms turning to the house, "Mom, they're back!"

David, Celeste clutched under his arm was walking beside Angel and without warning slipped his free hand into hers.

Angel stopped and turned to look at him, "You don't have to be scared, that's just Ella, Max's sister, and that's Max's mom."

Dr. Martinez dashed out of the house and crushed Max in a hug. "Thank God you're OK! I thought I asked for a phone call?"

Max hugged her mother tightly and whispered into the soft, warm sweater her mother was wearing. "Jeb's dead ... He ... He died protecting us."

The hug changed from happy to comforting, "I made cookies ... Lots of cookies."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 24; A Change in Living Arrangements

Everyone was seated around the table eating cookies except Aaron, who stood stupidly by the door wringing his hands.

"Aaron, is something wrong?"

He turned to them all and Max noticed he was trembling. "Its dark out ... And you don't have very many lights on the premises."

Everyone stopped chewing and David whimpered, "You gotta have lights or they'll come in..."

Dr. Martinez gave her head a little shake, "You can turn on the porch lights if you'd like ... But what could come in?"

"Wizards," Fang said simply, his voice hushed. "Real ugly things with sharp teeth and tongues like a frog's but they're afraid of the light."

Her eyebrows raised and she gave her head another little shake. "Okay, I can get a few more lights outside."

Aaron was still wringing his hands and shaking.

"Aaron, are you OK?"

He chewed his lip and shook his head then sighed and nodded. "I need a fag."

Iggy choked and Fang had to pound him on the back.

"Excuse me?" Max said louder than she meant to.

He shifted on his feet and wrinkled his nose, "Not THAT! My, God, what is it with you Americans ... A cigarette!"

Dr. Martinez scowled at him, "No smoking inside ... Are you even old enough to smoke?"

Aaron nodded and continued to wring his hands, "I'm nineteen, I've got the ID to prove it ... I just don't have anymore fa-cigarettes and I haven't had one in two days."

David turned to Angel and made face, grinning as if to say, 'I hid them really good!'.

Iggy laughed, "Maybe that's why you're so short! Smoking's stunted your growth!"

"Go on then, laugh ... But its not the size that counts, its how you choose to use it!"

Iggy turned bright red beneath the pink bandana and mumbled, "Do I need to mention the desk-clerk at the hotel?"

"Touché," Aaron whispered and turned back to the window.

Ella giggled and yawned, "I'm going to bed, I'm glad you're home guys, it was really boring around here without you ... OH! Kevin brought over your, Max's and Nick's homework, Iggy, I left it on your desk."

He nodded and turned his head to the table.

Aaron was still standing by the door staring out into the yard when Max went to bed some two hours later, long after Nudge and Angel had gone to their room and fallen asleep.

She lie there staring up at the ceiling for a long while, the little lamp on her desk burning brightly. She turned her head and saw the light from Fang's room also... And his shadow as he sat in the window staring out over the yard. She heard him cough a few times and her mind began to wonder.

So far there had been no sign of Wizards but this small glimmer of hope did nothing to make Max, or anyone for that matter, less scared.

She watched Fang's shadow move as he stood and walked across his room, then his light went out and she listened intently, wondering what he was doing and wondering if maybe she should call to him and say good night again. Even though they'd all stacked and tapped hours before when Angel and Nudge had stumbled upstairs to bed.

Her door cracked open and her head whipped to the left staring as he poked his face into her room. His eyes were bloodshot and his lip was between his teeth.

"Max?" He cleared his throat and it sounded like he'd been crying.

She didn't answer at first she was shocked that he looked so frightened. She'd never really seen him that frightened before.

When she didn't answer he slipped in and shut the door behind him. He crept up to her his arms crossed over his chest, wrinkling the words, "Senior Prank Week" on the front of his black T-shirt. "I just wanted to check on you, make sure you were OK, you know ... Yeah."

She cocked an eyebrow at him and rubbed her eye, "You can't sleep either?"

He shook his head and looked at the floor.

The air seemed charged ... Like he wanted to say something but was too afraid to actually say it.

"Do you want something, Fang?"

He glanced up at her, his lip between his teeth eyes screaming 'yes' but no words coming forth.

She felt herself blush but didn't look away. The moment seemed to stretch and he scuffed his bare foot against the carpet to make some kind of noise, hoping to alleviate the tension.

"Well, if you're going to stay at least open the door so my mom doesn't freak out," She tossed a pillow to him and the extra quilt from the foot of her bed.

He didn't speak but the seemingly electric sensation to the air passed and he pulled her desk chair to the bedside, propping his feet beside hers just as she had done a week before, after his accident. He coughed a couple times more, a muffled hacking sound then after a few moments he was asleep, his head turned in her direction lips slightly parted hands folded calmly on his stomach.

She smiled to herself and closed her eyes.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 25; A Fake and A Shake

Max had three people she considered her 'friends' other than the members of her flock. One of these people, who was actually more of Ella's friend, was a girl named Lynn-Dee, who was twice Max's weight and had a slight acne problem.

Lynn-Dee was droning on and on about how much her older sister annoyed her when Fang and Iggy walked up carrying lunch trays and rather sour expressions on their faces.

The bandana that had been tied around Iggy's head, had been replaced that morning by gauze and a pair of dark sunglasses and they had agreed to tell everyone that Iggy had had a minor surgery over the weekend. To hopefully give him back his sight. Sadly that little lie was more believable than the truth.

"Mind?" Iggy said in a rather uninterested tone.

Lynn-Dee shook her head and continued talking. "But, I mean, O-M-G! She's in the bathroom for HOURS and her school uniform? Puh-leeze. She looks like a slut!"

Iggy was piling the mashed potatoes on his tray into a tower and humming the theme to an old movie when Lynn-Dee turned to him her round face bright red, "What is your problem? Why are you kicking me?"

Iggy dropped his fork, "Sorry, I thought I was kicking Max."

Lynn-Dee rolled her eyes and stood, leaving them to sit beside a few other girls from Max's class.

"So what's up?" Max smiled not as interested in Lynn-Dee's conversation as she'd been pretending to be.

Iggy shrugged, "Its really boring here I hate it. Part of me wants to jump up and scream 'FIRE!' At the top of my lungs..."

Max giggled and Fang eyed the pickle on her tray. After staring at it a moment he discretely took it keeping it hidden in the palm of his hand.

"You're just jealous that I got to be lab partners with Cindy Dillon and you're SO in love with her," Max said quickly.

Fang choked, his hands going around his neck his eyes watering.

Iggy thumped him on the back twice, returning the favor from the night before.

"Okay, maybe Fang's in love with her," Max mumbled and skewered a piece of meatloaf on the end of her fork, staring at it distastefully. Then she noticed her pickle was gone and she scowled at Fang, "Did you take my pickle? You deserve to choke if you did! You pickle thief!"

He glared at her still coughing, his hands around his neck.

Iggy hit his back again wondering why Fang was still coughing and wheezing, "Jeez, just spit it out already!"

He turned and stumbled away hacking.

"Where's he going?" Iggy whispered.

Max watched him stagger out of the cafeteria and toward the boy's bathroom, followed by another boy with severely short brown hair. "The bathroom in the hall ... Kevin's going after him. That was the last pickle too!"

Iggy nodded and turned back to his meal, picking around the fruit salad for a full minute before cocking his head in his hand. "I really hate this school, I don't care if we are graduating in June, I want out..."

Max nodded, "Would you rather be back at THE School?"

Iggy went pale and shook his head, he scratched at the gauze and let out a loud sigh. "When did your mom say she could take a look at my eyes?"

"Tonight," Max mumbled around her meatloaf.

Iggy shifted impatiently, "Would you mind if I complained of a bad headache and went home? You know, since I was supposed to have had surgery and all?"

Max opened her mouth to tell him that she wouldn't mind when Kevin ran back into the cafeteria and straight up to her, "You'd better get to the office, Nick just got sick in the bathroom."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

When she rushed inside she expected to see Fang seated in one of the chairs in front of the principal's desk complaining of an upset stomach as he'd done a few times before, not sprawled white-faced on the couch the school nurse bending over him.

"His heart is racing ... I've already called your mother, Max, she's on her way."

"Nick?" She dropped to her knees beside him taking his hand. His skin was hot and the only color on his face were two red splotches high on his cheeks, from coughing so hard no doubt.

She said his name a little louder and gave his hand a shake. His eyes cracked open and he stared up at her blankly his eyes not really focused.

"Is he fevered? He feels so hot!" She cupped a hand to his face amazed that she could feel the heat radiating from him.

The nurse pressed the back of her hand to Fang's forehead and nodded. "I tried to get him to drink some water a few minutes ago but he said that it hurt too much to swallow."

Max nodded, "He got choked at lunch, could that be it?"

"Choking wouldn't cause such a fever, or the rapid heartbeat for such a long period of time. Though it might explain the vomiting ... Does he have a heart problem?"

Max shook her head, "No."

She wanted desperately for the principal and the nurse to leave the room so she could check the back of his neck ... To assure herself he was not expiring...

Five minutes later Dr. Martinez showed up took one look at Fang and had the school nurse help take him to her car.

"I'll take him to the hospital to get checked out and call you later, Judith."

Max watched her mother drive away with Fang slumped in the front seat and she wondered if she really was going to take Fang to the hospital or not.

The fast heartbeat could be explained easily, the whole flock had rapid heartbeats, as well as higher temperatures ... But that didn't explain why Fang's temperature had suddenly gotten hotter.

She wondered what was wrong with him ... Was he dying? Was his expiration date approaching?

She'd never known Fang or any of her flock to get sick like that ... Never so much as a cold. So why did Fang suddenly have a raging fever?

What was wrong with him?

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

When they got off the bus that evening they ran directly to the house and inside expecting to see police swarming their rooms, but they only found Aaron playing chess with David, who was winning.

"Where's Fang?" Max said as soon as she was through the door.

Aaron looked up, mildly perturbed and jabbed his thumb over his shoulder. "He's in there."

"Where's my mom?" Max dropped her book bag into the corner and kicked off her shoes.

"She drove into town for some ice-cream, she'll be back in a few."

When she got into the living room she noticed the TV was on and a man and woman were kissing passionately on the screen. It took her a moment to realize what she was seeing.

Fang was lying on the couch under a blanket his chin propped in his hand watching a soap-opera.

"Wow, Fang I didn't know you liked 'The Young and The Restless'!"

He turned his head lazily to her scowling. "I can't find the remote." His voice was no louder than a strained whisper.

"Did you fake all that today, or did you really get sick?"

He shrugged, "The whole fainting thing was an act, but I really am sick."

Max hit him over the head and plopped down on the couch beside him. "Sick in the head is more like it ... You had Iggy so scared, I should kick your butt!"

He shook his head, leaned toward her and opened his mouth wide, hooking his index fingers in the corners of his lips.

She stared at him revolted then shook her head, "You're gross, what are you doing, trying to be a Wizard?"

He shut his mouth and scowled at her, "Your mom says my throat is all red and gross looking. She said it might be my tonsils," He licked his lips and continued in a whisper. "I bit into that stupid pickle and it felt like I'd swallowed a handful of razorblades."

Max rolled her eyes and fished in the couch cushions for the remote, "Is that why you choked? I thought it was just excellently timed karma."

He sighed and settled back against the couch arms crossed. "Coughed till I threw up, then decided, what the hell, let's add fainting ... So I just kind of ... Flopped over."

She eyed him and a tingle of fear ran up her spine, "You really passed out, didn't you."

He hesitated then gave a small nod.

Oh, God, why couldn't he have lied?

Total leapt onto the couch between them and settled himself on Fang's lap. "If you don't learn to control that big brother of yours I am going to bite him, that's your warning and his."

Fang stared down at him for a moment then shook his head, "What did he do?"

Total rolled his eyes, "He called me a 'pooch' I am NOT a 'pooch'!"

Fang swallowed again wincing and nodded unwilling to tax his voice further and speak.

"I don't like him ... He smells funny," Total shifted uncomfortably and eyed Fang, He sniffed absently at Fang's chest then settled down across the boy's lap, head on his knee.

Total remained seated for a few more minutes then sighed and climbed off of Fang's lap depositing himself on Max's. "He's too hot!"

Max turned and flattened her hand on Fang's forehead again then made a disgusted face when she drew her palm back moist with sweat. "Ew! You're all clammy!" She wiped her hand on his shirt.

Fang gave her a scathing look and turned back to the TV wondering absently where the remote was and if the two people groping on screen were making Max as uncomfortable as he was becoming.

"Why are we watching this? This is weird ... Change the channel to Animal Planet, I love watching those crocodiles," Total grumbled and jumped off the couch, trotting across the room digging under the nearest chair for the remote.

Aaron and Gasman tiptoed into the room and jumped in front of the TV.

Gasman threw his arm up, the back of his hand to his brow and he tossed his head dramatically, "Oh, Fangie-poo! I love you dearly, true!" He said in a breathy version of Max's voice.

"Oh, Max! My dear, come to me! Come to me, do!" Aaron said loudly in a slightly British version of Fang's voice. Which sounded oddly normal coming from him...

Gasman tipped backward, in a faux-swoon and Aaron caught him laughing loudly.

Fang growled and threw off the blanket, taking after his brother intent on strangling him.

Aaron squeaked, dropped Gasman to the floor with a loud 'THUMP!' and his voice instantly changed to Max's, "Oh, yes, CHASE me! I'm such a tease!"

Max growled and leapt over the back of the couch.

"Oh, boy!" Total said loudly and began chasing Aaron also, barking loudly and growling, "I'm gonna get you, you stinking bird-brain! No body insults Max!"

Aaron looked over his shoulder and his face fell. "Bugger me!" And he started running faster than ever toward the door. "Out of the way!" He dove between Iggy and Ella and out the door, sprinting across the lawn toward the trees, never once remembering he could fly.

David and Angel laughed loudly as he streaked across the yard Total, Max and Fang at his heels. As he neared a rather large tree at the edge of the yard he jumped, grabbing the lowest limb with both hands and clambering atop it.

Total growled up at him, "Now that we've treed him, what are we going to do? Tar and feather perhaps? Nah, he's already feathered. I say we tie him to two teams of horses and let them pull-"

"OI! Yeah, real nice, you've had your fun, now bug-off! I didn't mean any harm!"

Fang sat his jaw, extended his wings and with a single downward stroke leapt onto the branch beside his brother. His voice sounded strained as he walked slowly forward tottering dangerously, wings out to keep his balance.

Total growled again, "You're in for it now, bud! I knew there was something fishy about you!"

"Tell Max you're sorry."

Max propped her hands on her hips, "I can stand up for myself, Fang I don't need your help!"

He turned to her his wings drooping visibly and grimaced as he swallowed, "Well, what if I want to stand up for you too?"

Her tongue felt thick in her mouth, thick and useless, just a hunk of immobile muscle and taste buds.

Aaron took the moment of distraction and jumped from the tree, gaining altitude with every beat of his wings. He flew toward the house and dive-bombed the yard, landing hard on his hands and knees. He was on his feet and running inside before Max could make her tongue move again.

"I can stand up for myself..." And she turned, running back to the house red-faced.

She locked herself in her room and didn't come out until dinner.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 26; Iggy

Fang, David, Gasman, Angel and Aaron stayed behind that night when Dr. Martinez took Iggy Max, Nudge and Ella to the clinic.

The gauze that had replaced Nudge's pink bandana was removed and Iggy lay on his back on the X-ray table his legs hanging off the end into space toes tapping nervously.

When the X-ray came out Nudge explained to Iggy what she saw. What was now obvious to everyone ... There were two one-quarter inch, round computer chips in Iggy's eyes.

"I can't get them out... They're IN there ... Kind of like a lens replacement but..." Her voice trailed off and she shifted on her feet examining the X-ray more closely. She pointed to the two little hair like wires leading from the computer chips back into Iggy's head. "Those wires are tapping directly into his optic nerves... If we could somehow disable those wires-"

Iggy jumped off the table and started feeling around on the walls.

"What are you doing, Iggy?" Ella said quickly.

"It's a computer chip ... How do you overload a computer chip?"

Max shrugged, "Put all your weight on it?"

He shook his head, "If a computer gets hit by lightning what happens?"

Ella put a hand to her mouth, "No, you can't be serious!"

He grinned, "If a computer gets hit by lightning the motherboard gets fried and it won't work anymore."

"You are not going to electrocute yourself!" Dr. Martinez said loudly. "You could be seriously hurt or killed."

"I don't want to electrocute myself ... Just a shock, just enough to fry those things!" He pointed to his temple. "I've been shocked before and it obviously didn't work so it will have to be something a little bigger this time ... Do you have an extra car battery lying around here?"

"NO!" Max barked.

"There is another way..."

Max turned to look at her mother.

"I could talk to Merrick White..."

"Who is Merrick White?" Iggy said his hands twitching at his sides.

"He's an opto... An eye surgeon."

Iggy tensed.

"His wife is the secretary here."

"I'd rather electrocute myself!" He said and began feeling the walls again.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 27; White, Lights and a Fire

Fang and Iggy stayed home from school the next day. Iggy because he now had an appointment with Dr. White and Fang because he literally couldn't speak or swallow.

He'd made high-pitched rasping sounds that morning instead of cursing when he'd banged his bare foot into the doorframe. And when Dr. Martinez peered into his mouth, shining a flashlight in so she could see his throat the first thing she'd done is tell him to go back to bed and stay there.

That whole day at school was excruciatingly dull. Nothing interesting happened, save Nudge making a perfect score on her spelling exam. After which she'd proudly sported a sticker on her notebook that said '100 Club!'

That evening when they got home Max found Fang still asleep in his bed, huddled under a mound of blankets and Aaron on the phone trying to get David enrolled in School.

"Yes, he's my younger brother and I have legal guardianship over him ... He was enrolled in Montana under Joseph David Hutchinson. Yes, that's one 'I' N-S-O-N... He was in first grade last year ... Yes, he was promoted ... Yes, I have all his identification ... All right, thank you, goodbye."

Aaron shook his fist at the phone after he hung it up then collapsed in the kitchen chair. He looked up at Max exhausted, "If you ever EVER have children, promise me that you'll keep better track of their records than I have David's."

Max plopped down at the table beside him, "You and David have records?"

Aaron smiled and pulled out his wallet again, handing Max his driver's license. "David has a social-security number and everything. All my identification, though, is from England save that."

His age said 19, but the longer Max stared at his photo the younger he looked. "How'd you get it?"

Dr. Martinez and Jeb had gone through all kinds of trouble to get the flock enrolled in school and on the road to a semi-normal life.

Max's chest tightened when she thought of Jeb.

Aaron bit into his lip, "Well ... Dad-Mr. Hutchinson had a bit of help from a few priests in London to get mine ... And, well, he had David's all set up when we found him. Don't ask me how."

Total jogged into the kitchen and began sniffing Aaron's shoes.

"OI! What are you doing?" Aaron glared down at Total his teeth clenched.

Total's ears perked and he glanced untrustingly up at Aaron then ran out of the room his short little black legs pumping. Tail as far between his legs as he could manage to tuck it.

Max shook her head. Total had been acting oddly since Aaron and David showed up, and he'd even voiced his dislike for Aaron the day before when Max and Fang were watching TV.

Max sighed and changed the subject. "Have my mom and Iggy been gone all day?"

Aaron nodded, "Since you lot left," He peered out the window where Angel was zipping around overhead showing David a few mid-air fighting techniques.

"What about Fang?"

"I only saw him out of bed twice and one of those times I woke him up to make him eat something, the other time I think he was sleepwalking..."

Max nodded, "So, he's really sick?"

Aaron shook his head, "He's not THAT sick ... He's just ... Well, he's a bit embarrassed I believe."

"Embarrassed?" She felt anger building in her chest, "Why is HE embarrassed?"

Aaron glanced up at her, smirking, "If you don't know the answer to that question by now then you don't know him half as well as I believed you to."

She grew quiet and looked down at her hands. What was that supposed to mean?

But before she could scream at him that eerie sense of calm stole over her and everything seemed to make sense, except for the reason Fang was embarrassed.

Nudge stuck her head into the kitchen her eyes wide, "Iggy's back!"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

When she led him into the office there was no one else there but Dr. White. He smelled slightly of peppermint candy and soap and his hands were gentle when he led Iggy into the exam room.

Panic had seized him, making him want to run, to fly away and never come back. Why hadn't he just stuck his fork in the power outlet behind the toaster that morning like he planned to do?

Why did he let Max's mom drag him all the way across town to this strange, antiseptic smelling place?

This place where a doctor would soon be examining his eyes... The last time a doctor had operated on his eyes he'd ended up blind with cameras in his head.

He didn't want to be here, he wanted to leave. He didn't want to go through the disappointment again ... Not again.

He sat stiffly in the reclining chair that was supposed to relax him, his fingers dug into the arms ready to run if he had to. The door was five paces to his left, then thirty paces down the hall to his right, through a door and another five paces across the lobby and out the double doors...

He heard Max's mom talking with Dr. White and he heard the man holding his X-ray up to a light that made a slight buzzing sound by the door.

"Well ... It looks just like the lens-replacements, you're right about that ... But ... Val, I could be arrested if anyone finds out about this... We could BOTH go to jail..."

"I know that Merrick ... But he's miserable ... Wouldn't you be too, in his situation?"

How much did this Merrick know about his situation?

"He's already blind, what harm could it cause to remove them?"

The man scoffed, "He could loose his eyes completely!"

Iggy sat straight up in the chair, and had it not been reclined he would have bolted. "Loose my eyes? Like they're gone! Empty sockets GONE!"

Merrick sighed, "That's just a worst case scenario."

"But it's a possibility?" He was shaking.

"Yes, it's a possibility."

He felt nauseous. "But you can get them out?"

Merrick examined the X-ray again, "Yes, I can get them out-"

Iggy leaned back in the seat and stripped off the gauze from around his head. As long as they were out, as long as the little cameras were gone he didn't care.

"Then do it, and do it now."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

He'd lain there in the darkness for a long while. Dr. White had put an IV in each arm and he'd lain there feeling his muscles relax, the slight tingling numbness creep across his body. Then he'd felt Max's mom's hand in his and heard her voice, "You don't have to do this you know, Iggy. There are other ways."

"No, there aren't and you know it. Unless you call me walking around with a bandana tied around my head for the rest of my life 'another way'," He hesitated and his thoughts strayed to the day he and Fang had walked to the Post Office.

When he'd told Fang what had happened to him ... He wished he'd taken the time to kiss Her. To run his hands through her brown hair, bend down and kiss her. He'd been naked and wet, fresh from the shower ... But what did he care ... She'd wanted him...

Who cared if she was a younger than him? Max was older than Fang and Fang himself had admitted to kissing her.

It was only a year...

I don't want to die until I've kissed her, He whispered in his head. Just once...

"This might feel a little warm at first but just relax and count backward from one-hundred, Okay?"

He nodded and something hot shot into his veins, warming him from the inside out, heating a few hidden places as he started counting, "Ninety-nine ... ninenee-hate ... Twelf-furfdee-seven."

He remembered laughing in his head and thinking, Twelf-furfdee-seven doesn't come after... Then everything was dark and when he woke up his nose was running and the bandage around his head felt scratchy against his skin.

"Fordry-pinedreen..." He mumbled and felt Dr. White's gentle arms lifting him, carrying him out the door and down the hall as if he weighed nothing at all.

He wondered absently if Dr. White could feel his wings through his shirt but it didn't really matter for some reason.

"Val, call me immediately if he fevers, if he feels pain or if there is any discharge."

"I will, Merrick, I promise ... Thank you so much for everything. Thank you."

"Frankshoe!" Iggy slurred, although he couldn't quite remember why he was thanking this man. This surprisingly tall man with gentle hands...

Then he remembered, as if someone had whispered it in his head. "Iwantem!" He shouted weakly and clawed at Dr. White's shoulder. "Iwan those THINGS!"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Iggy's back!"

Max stood up so fast the chair she'd been sitting in slid across the floor and fell over. She rushed outside and stood on the porch staring as her mother helped him out of the car.

His face was white, blending near perfectly with the fresh bandage around his head. He held onto her arm tightly and a satisfied grin spread his lips. He stumbled and almost dropped the little paper bag clutched in his free hand.

As he passed Max he spoke, in a thin quavering voice. "You and Fang come to my room later."

She nodded.

His hand shot out and grabbed her by the wrist, "Oh, and, Max ... Bring a hammer?"

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 28 Eye of the Devil

At nearly midnight, Fang, finally awake, crept into Iggy's room and leaned himself against the wall scratching at the little dark brown hairs on his jaws and chin. His hair was terribly mussed and standing on end and he made a horse sound in his sore throat to alert Iggy of his presence but the boy seemed to already know he was there.

He was sitting at his desk when Max crept in, a hammer in her hands. She glanced at Fang from the corner of her eye and wasn't entirely surprised to see his cheeks were still slightly red.

Iggy spoke under his breath, "I wanted you two here with me 'cause I don't know if I can do it on my own."

Max opened her mouth to speak but before she could Iggy tore open the little paper bag and emptied its contents onto his desk.

She was sickened and from the little strained grunting sound Fang made behind her she knew she wasn't the only one.

Two little round computer chips clattered across Iggy's desk, both slightly bloody looking.

He reached out with shaking hands and turned the chips toward his face and bent over them his teeth ground together.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

The view changed and The Director stared into the observation screen anger building in her chest.

She saw his face looming down at her, large and pale ... His eyes covered with a thick bandage.

She saw his lips moving then he leaned backward and lifted a notebook, on which words had been written in black ink.

"Like the view now, bitch?"

The anger in her rose and her chest grew tighter. She felt more than heard Omega's hands clench into fists beside her and as she watched the pale, red-headed experiment before her dropped the notebook and snatched up a hammer.

She saw his angry, agonized face grow even whiter as he brought the hammer down on one of the chips.

The screen went to black and white static then automatically switched to the second camera-chip.

The view had changed yet again and she saw the red haired experiment stumble out of the room his hand over his mouth.

Max followed him her mouth moving but the dark one stayed ... HE stayed.

He peered after Max and the redhead for a moment then crept to the desk and looked down at the camera-chip.

His face was calm, slightly curious and then the corner of his mouth twitched and he raised his hand, effectively flipping her the bird before he picked up the hammer and dashed the last chip to dust.

The Director saw, a split second before the hammer crushed the camera, a deadly red light shining in the dark one's eyes...

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Max held his hair up, even though it wasn't long enough to be in the way. He didn't fight her and she was glad.

She knew it had been hard for him, she'd heard it in his voice when he told them what he was going to do. That he was going to blind The Director as effectively as she'd blinded him for most of his life.

After his gagging had given way to uncontrollable sobs Max spoke, gently petting the back of his head. "That was so cool, Ig ... Really hardcore."

He snuffed back tears and mumbled, "R-Really?"

"Yeah, really," Fang said stepping into the room. His voice was broken, off key. "I loved that note, 'like the view now, bitch?' Classic, Iggy, beautiful, it almost brought a tear to my eye!"

Iggy's hand twitched and he contemplated giving Fang the finger but sobbed weakly instead. "It scared me ... It really scared me ... Did I hit it at least, I didn't completely miss it did I? God, it would have looked really stupid if I missed it."

Fang smiled and dropped to his knees beside Iggy, placing a hand on his back. "You hit it, completely crushed the both of them in one try!"

"B-both of them?"

"Yes, it was awesome."

"Really cool, Iggy. You were really virile, very impressive."

Iggy turned to her, "Virile?"

Max nodded, "Really manly and tough ... I don't know if I'd have been able to do that."

Fang's eyebrows shot up and he gave her a, 'you're provoking the pig' kind of look.

She rolled her eyes and gave him the finger;

"Okay, maybe I could have done it, but it really was brave ... I'm really proud of you."

He snuffed and raised his hand to rub his eyes but lowered it again, "I'd better tell your mom I was crying ... That doctor guy said I wasn't supposed to."

Max nodded and helped him up although he didn't look like he needed any help.

Fang climbed to his feet and stood beside her watching Iggy walk down the hall and slowly make his way down the steps.

"Virile?" His voice cracked as he spoke and Max turned to him glowering.

"Shut-up, Squeaky!"

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 29; Here Piggy-Piggy!

"Just hold still a minute, Iggy!"

He was bouncing in his seat lip between his teeth. "I'm trying, but what if it worked? What if I can see?"

Dr. Martinez smiled and continued to carefully snip at the bandages. "It has only been three days, and even with your healing abilities it might take longer, so don't be disappointed if nothing has changed, OK?"

"Okay..." But he kept bouncing, his fingers curling and uncurling.

It was a tense moment as the last bandage fell away...

He wished they were back from school ... He wished SHE were back from school. He wanted her face to be the first thing he saw. And he would risk having his butt kicked into next year as long as he got to see her, to hold her face between his hands and stare into her eyes...

He wanted to see her eyes...

That is, if she still liked him...

What if she'd found someone else in the weeks since the 'incident'. What if walking in on him standing there in the bathroom naked had been a one-time affair? What if she didn't want him anymore?

"Well, are you going to open your eyes or not?" Aaron said impatiently.

"What time is it?"

"Its half-past three, Gazzy should be home any minute."

"Come on, open your eyes, I can't take the suspense!" Aaron whined beside him.

Iggy shook his head, suddenly afraid to open his eyes and see ... If he could see...

"Take me outside, I want to be outside..."

Aaron mumbled something under his breath and patted his own shoulder so Iggy could hear where he was. "Come on then, bloody hell, you've gotten me so worked up I'm about to snap!"

He could feel the warm September air on his cheeks and smell it, the beginnings of that cool, earthy autumn smell...

He heard the bus slow and stop, heard David shrieking happily as he ran up the driveway shaking a paper, "I got a 100!"

He heard Gasman shouting, "I LOVE FRIDAYS!"

And he heard her feet on the gravel. That soft, hesitant sound ... He heard Max laughing at something she said and he heard Fang walk up the steps silently and disappear inside.

Angel laughed and called for Total...

He opened his eyes and...

His knees shook violently and his mouth was dry.

Everything was dark in his left eye, still blind and useless...

Color... Dazzling blue smeared with yellow and red. Indistinct shapes, one yellow tipped and dark in the middle, one dark with a splash of bright pink across the middle, and a slightly lighter blob in green...

BIG! The world was so big!

He whimpered and turned, running back into the house hands out before him. He didn't know where he was, everything was alien, strange and harshly bright.

He hit the steps and fell scrambling up on his hands and knees his breath catching in his throat. His mind felt torn, two frighteningly different senses suddenly existed where there had only been one. It was hard to comprehend that he was seeing the things that he'd only been able to identify by touch days before...

"Iggy?"

Gasman's voice to his left and he turned. Another yellow tipped shadow this one in blue.

He continued crawling up the steps until he made it to the top, his hands out, stumbling in the direction he remembered the bathroom to be.

Something rectangular lit up before him and a black specter loomed out at him. He shrank back from it with a cry but hands grabbed him and Fang's voice was loud and scratchy, slightly melodic.

"Iggy? Iggy what's wrong?"

Iggy shoved his way past the specter and into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.

A red topped shadow was to his right and he lashed out his heart hammering in his chest.

His hands came to a stop pressed against something cool and smooth and his breath died in his throat.

The mirror...

Now that he could feel it, he knew it was the mirror, he recognized it... He pressed his face close his eyes open wide.

He touched the red on the mirror then put his hand on his head...

His hair ... He was seeing his own hair!

He laughed, he laughed and tears rolled down his face.

"Iggy? Are you OK?" Max called from the other side of the door.

"I'm fine ... I'm OK, now," He turned reluctantly from the mirror and cracked open the door pressing his face into the opening and grinning out at her.

He could make out the differences in the color now, he could tell the difference between her hair, her skin and her clothes. He opened the door the rest of the way and stood there smiling. "Don't move."

"Why not?"

He stepped forward slowly and raised his hand. His grin widened and he pressed the tip of his finger against the tip of Max's nose.

"Because I want to get a good look at you!"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Okay, my hand eye coordination could use some serious work," Iggy said wiping ketchup off the leg of his jeans and front of his shirt.

They'd built a small fire in the backyard and were roasting hotdogs over the flames, celebrating the 'miracle' as Total had called it.

He had no depth perception and was still blind in his left eye but he could see color, he could see shapes and if he concentrated hard enough he could find things without being told at what o'clock they were sitting.

David rushed out of the house and presented Iggy with a picture he'd just got finished drawing. It depicted a crude stick-figure with flaming red hair and wings standing beside a smaller brown haired stick-figure with wings and a large heart floating above them both.

"I'm really happy you can see now," He hugged Iggy tightly around the neck then jumped away laughing, "Can we go chase fire-flies?"

Iggy stared around trying to see the little flickers of green light in the darkness and was awed when he could.

He spent the next hour wondering around the yard gently cupping the few fire-flies that hadn't died in the waning summer coolness, in his hands and staring open-mouthed as they blinked and then flew away.

"This is so cool!" He said under his breath and scooped up another watching it blink before letting it go.

David jumped around slapping at the little bugs but never managed to catch one and at about ten thirty he rubbed his eyes and announced he was going to bed.

Aaron, who'd been inside most of the night scrounging around with Gasman suddenly came out of the backdoor carrying an armload of what looked like Roman Candles and assorted other fireworks.

"Ladies and Gents ... And Totals, of course," He added when the little black head raised and white teeth flashed.

"The Gasman and I are proud to present a show of lights!"

"Aaron, smile!" Ella said and lifted her camera.

She'd been taking pictures all night and now when ever she said the word 'smile' everyone froze and grinned comically because they weren't particularly sure who she was pointing the camera at.

Aaron gave her a cocky grin and closed his eyes so as not to be temporarily blinded by the flash.

Iggy sat back down in the lawn-chair he'd claimed and prodded the fire with a stick watching the brightly colored flames dance before him. Then there was a loud screech and a firework shot upward into the sky, bursting in a bright flash of green.

Everyone 'Oo'ed and 'ahh'ed and Iggy felt a small hand slip all four fingers into his palm. He grabbed the fingers for a second, giving them a little squeeze before they retreated.

Iggy swallowed hard because he knew what those fingers had meant...

She still liked him...

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Max went to bed before the fireworks display was over. She'd been just as excited as Iggy when he touched her nose and told her he could see...

Because I want to get a good look at you! She'd nearly squeezed him in two she'd hugged him so tightly.

Everything was going well, things were finally looking up.

The Wizards had not made another appearance, Iggy could see, David and Aaron were settled in nicely ... The only problems were Total's aggression toward Aaron and the fact Fang had stopped talking to her

She'd caught him looking at her during class the day before, but he hadn't said anything ... He just stared, and when she caught him he looked away. She supposed he was staring at Cindy, the busty brunette she'd been made lab partners with... Since he was SOOO in love with her.

She ground her teeth at the thought...

It was as if, since she decided it was OK to 'likelove' Fang he'd decided she wasn't worth the effort...

He hadn't spoken to her since the night Iggy crushed his camera-chips. And from how happy Iggy seemed now, that day could have been years ago.

It was close to four AM when she woke up her bladder screaming. The party had been over for nearly an hour and she was beginning to regret all the juice she'd drank. She rolled out of bed and yawned scratching her head and trying to shove the remnants of a dream from her mind.

As she reached for the bathroom doorknob a brief fleeting thought skittered across her brain before disappearing like smoke.

The door is closed, there's probably someone in there...

But she opened the door anyway...

It was like watching a live version of that soap opera she'd caught Fang watching...

He had her pinned against the wall and he was shirtless, his lips crushed against hers, hungrily. One arm was braced above his head the other on her upper thigh, holding her tightly against him Her knee was cocked over his hip. Both her hands were in his hair, making the red locks stand on end. Eager little moaning sounds were escaping her... Were escaping them both ... One of her hands slipped down his chest, around his back and tangled in his feathers ... Drawing a shivering groan from him. He threw back his head and started kissing her again, ravenously...

And they seemed to be too engrossed in each other to notice Max was standing there gaping at them so, after giving her head a shake she made herself known.

"Is that my SISTER!"

Iggy's head whipped to the left and he stiffened staring at the blurry form of Max standing in the doorway.

Ella's hand tightened in his hair and she slowly lowered her leg so she didn't look so ... Disheveled. Letting loose of his wing she leaned forward and pressed against the door. "Can you give us a few minutes please?"

A door opened behind Max...

"Wha's goin on?" Fang mumbled groggily rubbing his head. He stepped into the hall, took one look at Iggy, Ella and Max bit his tongue and quickly shut himself back in his room.

Max gaped at them her hands clenching and unclenching. She opened her mouth to speak but the only sound that came out was a half-choking growl. She held her rigid index finger under Iggy's nose and ground her teeth...

Iggy nodded and his knees started knocking, "I'm a sexist-pig, I know."

"Sexist-Bacon ... Pain ... VERY MUCH PAIN!" Max snarled shaking her finger under his nose.

He stared at her hand, never realizing that a finger could be so intimidating. "I understand that, but I'm willing to risk it."

Max shifted on her feet impatiently. She hissed as she exhaled and the bright redness that had risen in her cheeks faded. "I have to pee too badly to deal with this right now ... Just get out of my way," And she forcibly pushed Ella and Iggy out of the bathroom and locked herself in.

The word 'Tense' didn't even begin to describe Iggy the next morning. He was creeping around the kitchen trying to keep a hold on his coffee cup but his hands were shaking too badly.

He'd been caught ... Max knew... But at the same time his fear was over run with feelings of- I just had a HEAVY make-out session with Ella! WHOOT, for me!

He flexed his shaking hands for a moment before he attempted another drink of coffee.

Max stumbled into the room, awake but looking worn. She glared at Iggy and sat down beside David, who was pinching his waffles between his fork and his left index finger, trying to get them to his mouth before syrup dripped on his clothes.

As far as Max could tell, he had yet to be successful.

Angel giggled from across the table and grinned at Iggy.

He could just make out her blurry shape as she raked her index finger across her throat and hung her tongue between her lips.

Nudge sauntered into the room grinning. She sat down directly across from Max and took an apple from the large bowl of fruit that had been a permanent addition to the table and crunched into it.

"So ... Iggy and Ella were sucking some serious face in the bathroom last night?"

Iggy spat coffee out his nose and coughed into the sink.

Dr. Martinez dropped an egg and turned, her arms crossed over her chest a rather Max like expression on her face. "You and Ella... You and Ella were 'sucking face'?" She actually made quotation marks in the air with her fingers.

Iggy's knees began to tremble. He could take Max's wrath, but Ella's mother's? He whimpered but nodded. He couldn't deny it ... So he did the first thing that popped into his head.

Fang walked into the kitchen yawning sleepily.

"FANG TOLD ME TO!"

He froze mid step, his right foot still raised, and turned wide eyes to Iggy.

Every eye in the room turned to him and two sets of brown eyes pierced him like icicles.

"You told him to?" Max seethed.

"It was just kissing, it wasn't like they were having s-"

"That's it!" Dr. Martinez's hand came down hard on the counter making everyone jump. "I was hoping it wouldn't come to this but you boys have given me no choice ... David, go get Aaron and Gazzy, tell them to meet me in the den NOW.

"You two, follow me, no arguments..."

Fang felt himself smile nervously. He'd always wondered where Max got her 'Commanding Leader' voice.

Thirty minutes later Aaron, Fang, Iggy and Gasman were seated in a row on the couch all four nauseated and red faced.

"Now, do you all understand, or do you want me to explain it over again."

Total laughed from under the couch and crawled out the remote in his teeth. He dropped the remote and spoke, "Tell it again, I don't think Aaron was listening."

"Oh, Hell," Aaron dropped his head to his hands and seemed to fold in on himself in misery.

Gazzy raised his hand, feeling for some reason as if he were in school. "Can I go back to my room ... Please?" He looked positively frightened.

"Yes, you can go."

He leapt over the back of the couch and darted out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Fang and Iggy started to get up but Dr. Martinez snapped her fingers and pointed to the floor. "I'm enacting a curfew. No one of the male type in a girl's room after sundown, or before eight AM."

"They were in the bathroom, not a bedroom," Total jumped onto the couch sniffing Aaron.

"Thank you, only one person in the bathroom at a time, understand?"

Iggy hung his head his hands clasped between his knees.

Dr. Martinez sighed and ran a hand through her hair, "I was a teenager once myself, shocking, I know ... I understand that the feelings you have are intense, that's why I'm not forbidding you from seeing each other. You would just sneak around behind my back and do it- And don't look at me like that because when I was seventeen I would sneak behind my parent's back all the time to see this boy-" She stopped short and cleared her throat.

Fang shifted uncomfortably.

"If you and Ella want to continue this relationship then by all means, do ... But, PLEASE, do it where you can be supervised ... I am NOT ready to become a grandmother."

Aaron giggled and bit his lip.

"Can I go now?" Iggy was still staring at the floor.

"Fine ... Aaron, I need to speak to you and Nick for a moment, thank you."

Iggy scrambled out of the room, leaving the door wide open.

They were quiet for nearly half a minute.

She sighed in frustration stood and grasped Fang under the chin, lifting his face and turning his head from side to side.

He felt self-conscious. Why was she looking at him like that? Like she was appraising him ... Why was she looking at him like there was something wrong with him?

"You'll be turning seventeen in a few weeks, right, Nick?"

He nodded, but her hand remained under his chin.

Her eyes turned to Aaron and she jerked her head toward the stairs, "Go teach this boy to shave, he's starting to look like Total."

And the little talking dog burst out laughing.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 30: The Invitation

Total jogged out of the den barely withholding laughter.

"What's so funny?" Max said stacking her dishes on the counter by the sink.

Total jumped onto the chair beside Angel, who put some bacon and eggs on a smaller plate, just for him.

"I feel so sorry for your boys..." He laughed and shook his head, "Your mom just gave them THE talk."

"What?"

Angel laughed and Total shook his head.

"Angel, why don't you and David go and get the mail?" Dr. Martinez stepped into the room smiling calmly.

"Okay, come on, Dave, I'll show you how to do a roundhouse kick," She winked at Max as they walked outside.

"Max, would you Ella and Nudge come into the den for a minute, please."

"Oh! I have GOT to hear this!" And Total scampered ahead of them.

Just as they disappeared into the den Gasman crept back into the kitchen and piled a napkin full of bacon then started toward the steps. Just as he passed he heard Nudge shriek;

"OH, MY GOD! EW-EW-EW! That is SO gross! I mean EW!"

Total literally barked with laughter.

Gazzy wondered why Nudge was saying 'EW', if ANYTHING was disgusting it was that terrible thing that happened to girls every month.

He shuddered and ran up the steps chewing on his bacon.

"ELLA! ELLA, YOU GOT A LETTER!" Angel squealed excitedly and rushed into the den waving the envelope about an hour later.

Ella disentangled herself from Iggy, who had a red cheeked drunken grin on his face. She sat up, still straddling him and took the letter from Angel.

Angel cocked her head to the side and probed Iggy's mind then scowled and shook her head, "If Max knew you were thinking things like that she'd kick your behind!"

Iggy nodded, "I'll give you a quarter if you swear not to tell."

"Show me the quarter," Angel cocked a hand on her hip and tapped her foot impatiently.

Iggy sighed, "There's one in my desk drawer you can have it if you swear not to tell Max."

"I want one quarter a day or I spill."

"Can you believe this?" Iggy grumbled up at Ella who wasn't paying a bit of attention, then sighed and flung his arm over his eyes. "Fine, but weekends are only five cents."

"Cheapskate."

Ella suddenly screamed happily and jumped over the back of the couch running upstairs, "OH, MY GOD! WE GOT INVITED TO LYNN-DEE'S HALLOWEEN PARTY!"

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 31; Bump in the Night

Aaron dropped himself across the folding bed he'd been sleeping on for the past week and threw his arm over his face. He cleared his throat to loosen the muscles and took off his glasses, staring at them for a moment before dropping them unceremoniously to the floor.

He heard the little clicks of Total's feet in the hall and raised his head to watch the little black talking dog poke his head into the room.

He lowered his head and stared at Aaron silently for a moment then spoke under his breath;

"When are you going to tell them?"

Aaron stiffened, "What are you on about?" He whispered in a very small, child's voice.

Total merely stood there, his head lowered and glared, "I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I can smell, pal. And I finally figured it out."

Aaron bit his lip and flopped onto his stomach. He fiddled with the edge of the pillowcase.

"You're not who you say you are," Total said, still not moving.

Aaron glanced up at him frightened, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't play Do-Do with me, Aaron ... Just like I told Fang, you guys smell ... I can tell by a person's scent when they're lying ... And, bud, you reek."

Total looked threatening with his head down like that, as if at any moment he'd roll back his lip and lunge at Aaron's face. Aaron stiffened and stared down at the little dog. Part of him wanted to shout for Angel to come and collect her pooch but he stopped himself.

"What else can you smell?"

Total's eyes shifted to the glasses lying on the floor, discarded. "I know you don't really wear glasses, those things aren't even prescription. But you don't need to smell to figure that out."

Aaron nodded and started fiddling with the pillowcase again. "And?"

"And I know you, Iggy, Fang and Max all have more in common than you've let on."

He nodded again and raised tear filled eyes to the little black dog before him, "Do they really have to know? I mean, this place is great, they don't treat me different here. If they know everything will fall apart."

Total sighed and trotted into the room jumping up onto the bed with Aaron, "Kid, they need to know. They don't deserve to be lied to."

Aaron bit his lip, "If I tell them they will hate me ... They'll be angry because I lied. Oh, God, Nick will never forgive me," He stifled a sob and buried his face in the pillow.

Total licked the boy's hand, "But you're part of the flock, Max will understand ... So will Fang and everyone else. Just tell them WHY."

"But they'll hate me. They won't get it, they won't understand ... Its not my fault, Total, its not!"

"I know that it isn't your fault ... Angel will understand, in fact, I'm surprised she doesn't know already, being able to read minds and all."

Aaron raised his head and rubbed tears from his eyes.

Total smiled and licked Aaron's chin. "So ... Are we going to tell them?"

"We?"

Total scoffed, "Do you think I'd let you do it alone?"

Aaron shook his head, "Let me have a fag and we- Stop sniggering, a CIGARETTE. Is that better?"

Total nodded and jumped off the bed, "So, in the morning?"

Aaron nodded and scrounged around in the desk drawer for his cigarettes. "In the morning."

Exactly like Dr. Martinez said, Fang found a way to talk to Max in private without going into her room after sundown.

He positioned himself directly outside her window then made faces at her through the glass to get her attention.

"What, you finally decided I'm worth talking to again?" She scowled at him as she opened the window and climbed part of the way out, sitting on the sill and staring out at the spectacular red sunset.

He grinned, "I found out why my throat was so sore."

She nearly fell backward through the window. "Oh, my God, your voice changed!"

He rolled his eyes, "In more ways than one ... Aaron explained it to me ... Apparently the Avian DNA kind of delays puberty for a while in boys..."

Max shrugged, "So that's why Gazzy still sounds a lot like Angel."

He choked on a laugh and turned away, his cheeks red.

"Yep, don't worry, mom gave us the sex-talk too."

He buried his face in his hands, "Was that embarrassing or what?"

Max giggled, "Learned a few things you could have gone a lifetime without knowing, huh?"

He nodded vigorously. "Did she whip out the pictures on you guys too?"

Max shuddered, "Oh, yeah ... And all I have to say is..." She stuck out her tongue squeezed her eyes closed and shivered violently.

He smiled, "Well, that's a shock ... You find the male body repulsive ... After you practically gave me a bath the other day?"

She growled, "I was wiping the mud off of you, you were really dirty."

He gave her a tightlipped grin but didn't say anything about how much of a dirty boy he was...

She eased herself onto the roof beside him and hugged her knees. "So ... You finally reached puberty."

He rolled his eyes, "Oh, yes, make fun of me, that's real mature."

"What did you do to your face?" She pointed at a slightly bloody looking spot on his jaw.

He sighed and touched the spot, "Your mom made Aaron teach me to shave ... But he did a piss poor job of it I cut myself three times and he sprayed shaving cream all over the place then said 'Don't panic! Don't panic!'" He mocked Aaron's accent.

She made an, 'Aw, ain't him special!' sound in her throat.

"Shut-up."

"Make me."

He stared at her, and she thought for a moment he WAS going to make her and her heart caught in her throat.

That same, charged sensation settled over her and she wondered absently if she could trust Fang ... She wondered if she could trust herself around him...

God, he's gorgeous ... I wonder what he'd do if I kissed him for a change...

She leaned in slightly her lids drooping but he turned away from her staring out over the yard.

Max felt rejected and she settled back against the windowsill with a sigh.

The porch light came on and Fang heard the door open. He saw Aaron storm out into the yard smacking a pack of cigarettes against the heel of his hand then scratching his chin and throat.

Then the door opened again and to Fang's surprise Nudge ran out in her fluffy green house shoes and robe.

Max shifted on the roof and watched in silence as Nudge jogged to Aaron and gently laid a hand on his arm.

"Hey, can we talk a minute?"

Aaron lit his cigarette and exhaled a ring of smoke into the night air. "I just finished a fascinating conversation with the dog," He sighed and turned to her, "You can talk all you like, but you know my answer already."

Nudge hugged herself and turned in profile to the porch. Her deep chocolate eyes were shining and for some reason, even though she had her super-curly hair in two braids on either side of her head and a pink bandana tied over them, to Max and Fang she appeared to be shining. Her arms crossed elegantly over her chest.

She smiled and Max wondered where Nudge learned to smile like that...

"I know what you are, I saw it when you touched me back in the desert, and I can feel it now ... I know what we-"

Aaron hissed and turned to her his cigarette dropping to the gravel path. "I know what you saw ... I saw it too damn it! I can FEEL it too, and it scares the hell out of me!" He shook his head and his hands trembled at his sides.

"But, its OK ... It's RIGHT!"

"It is bloody well NOT 'OK'!" His voice was strained and he was trying very hard not to talk louder than a whisper. His hands shook and he buried them in his own hair, pulling back the jaw length reddish-brown locks so his face stood out starkly against the darkness surrounding him. He closed his eyes and growled in his chest a sound nearly identical to the one Fang made when he was severely annoyed.

"You're only fifteen years old, Nudgie!"

"And you're only sixteen!" Nudge spat.

Fang's blood ran cold.

Aaron clapped his hand over Nudge's mouth and his voice changed. He was still British, but his voice was no longer that of a twenty-year old. "You ninny! What if someone hears you!"

She pulled his hand away and glared at him, "Why did you tell Fang you were twenty? You don't even look twenty ... You're not Fang's older brother, you're his twin, and you lied to him! That's why you couldn't teach him to shave this morning, because you'd never done it yourself!"

Aaron's hands curled into claws and he stood there shaking for a moment before he dropped his hands to his sides and sat heavily on the ground. He propped his chin in his hand and started tossing small pebbles down the path.

"Fine mess I've gotten myself into," He mumbled and Max was startled at how much he sounded like Fang, and how unstrained his voice was now.

Nudge sat across him and held her knees. "You should tell them."

Aaron tittered, "That's exactly what Total said ... He's got it in his head that I'm going to tell everyone at breakfast."

"Well, why don't you?" Nudge elbowed him gently and came to her knees, fixing the mussed strands of his hair.

He laughed, "Right, THAT would go over well. 'Good morning, All, lovely day! OH, just thought I'd let you know that I'm NOT twenty-years-old, I'm actually about to turn seventeen and I'm Nick's twin brother! Could you pass the bacon?' " He hung his head in his hands then snatched up the cigarette he'd dropped and crushed it out against a rock.

Nudge started playing in his hair again and he let out a contented little sigh.

Max could feel Fang trembling beside her but she didn't dare turn her head and look at him.

Nudge hugged Aaron tightly still petting his hair, "I understood."

Aaron sighed and lifted his eyes to her staring deeply into her face. His hand slowly raised, gently cupping Nudge's cheek. He leaned in and gently kissed her...

Fang growled and lunged off the roof snapping out his wings. He seemed to roll forward, onto his hands and knees and dove right at Aaron. Eyes reflecting some kind of red light.

Aaron turned his head and stared. He made a frightened squeaking noise, leapt to his feet, threw out his wings and shot straight up into the air.

"Fang! Fang, NO!" Nudge screamed and threw off her robe, lunging into the air after them.

Max took a running leap off the roof and flew upward.

Fang had his hands wrapped tightly around Aaron's throat and Aaron was trying to pry his brother's fingers away choking and coughing, his blue eyes pleading.

They flew upward in this fashion, Fang clinging to Aaron's neck then Aaron forgot to flap and they started falling, cart wheeling through the air wings out like Max had seen fighting eagles do on nature programs.

It was beautiful their bodies silhouetted against the night sky. And, yet, because Fang was trying to kill him it was the most frightening thing she'd ever seen.

"Fang, STOP IT!" Max grabbed him by the arm and pulled. Nudge grabbed Fang's other arm and they managed to pry his hands away before Aaron lost consciousness.

His white wings began beating frantically and he crashed into the yard, skidding on his stomach coughing both hands on his neck.

Nudge and Max forced Fang to the ground and pinned him, holding his wings closed but still he fought, trying to get away and get to Aaron.

Max was panting and her heart hammered in her chest, she heard Fang mumbling and leaned down to catch his words,

"Sonofabitch! Goddamnyou! Fuckingliar! FUCKINGLIAR!" Then his words dissolved into gut-wrenching sobs and he went limp his face pressed into the grass.

Aaron crumpled in on himself his wings curling around him, hiding his face, but Max could hear that he was crying too.

Dr. Martinez ran out of the house, followed by Iggy, Gasman, David, Angel, Total and Ella.

"What the hell is going on!"

Fang raised his head and stared at Aaron his lower lip trembling, "Why didn't you just tell me? Why the hell did you lie to me?"

Aaron forced himself to sit up and he wiped his eyes, a dark bruise shaped like Fang's hands beginning to form around his neck. "Because all the paperwork and identification I have says that Aaron Bond is nineteen years old..."

"But you're not Aaron Bond, are you?" Max felt herself say.

Aaron shook his head, "Aaron Bond was the young man that helped Dad rescue me ... He died trying to get me out of the London Institute and Dad used his identification as mine so we could fly to the US. It was the only way to get me out of England since I didn't know how to fly and Dad didn't have wings. And we had to get back immediately because they were going to kill David, we didn't have a choice...

"Aaron Bond was sixteen at the time I was rescued and didn't have a passport or photo ID. So it was quite easy to pass me off as him. Dad got the glasses to make me look older and a priest got a Passport over night, don't ask me how ... Probably granted absolution to some Government worker or the like...

"But Dad and I didn't have enough time before he left to procure an American ID for me as he'd done for David, so I've just continued to use Aaron Bond's..."

Fang's face fell back to the grass, "That's no excuse ... You should have told me ... You should have told me, I wouldn't have cared..."

Aaron stifled a sob and looked up at Max and Nudge, "Let him up ... If he wants to beat the mortal crap out of me let him do."

Max and Nudge exchanged glances and let Fang up.

He didn't move at first, but then he slowly climbed to his feet and walked forward, his hands curling into fists. He stood over Aaron shaking his lips pressed together so tightly they almost disappeared.

Aaron looked up at him and wiped his eyes, he slowly climbed to his feet and stood there looking up into Fang's face preparing himself for blows he knew were coming.

Rage ... He'd never been so hurt in all his life, but as he dove and grabbed Aaron all that anger faded, replaced by compassion. And his grip around Aaron's chest loosened, changing from a tackle to a hug and they hit the ground, skidding on the wet grass for five full feet.

All the air woofed from Aaron's lungs but he didn't fight back, he deserved a beating ... But Fang wasn't beating him ... He was hugging him tightly...

Fang snuffed back tears and rolled to his knees.

"I'm sorry I lied, Nick ... I'm so sorry."

"Shut-up."

Aaron sat up, his lips pressed together. He waited with baited breath.

Fang drew back his fist and punched him hard in the shoulder.

Aaron grunted and grabbed his arm, falling sideways into the little flower bush growing by the steps. He sat up, tears rolling down his face prepared to be hit again but Fang only shook his head and stood.

He held out his hand to help Aaron to his feet and sighed, "You have a hell of a lot of explaining to do."

Aaron nodded and took Fang's hand letting the taller boy pull him to his feet, "I'm up for it, if you are."

Total shook his shaggy head, "I've always loved happy endings."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 32; Truth

Aaron stumbled into the kitchen followed by Fang and the rest of the extended Flock. He sat down heavily at the table and let Dr. Martinez look at his throat, which had turned a miraculous shade of purple.

"I'll get some ice, and you start explaining..."

He nodded and rubbed gingerly at his arm waiting for the others to sit or take standing positions around the room.

Dr. Martinez returned with an icepack and handed it to Aaron, who instead of putting it on his neck, pressed it to his arm where Fang had punched him.

"I ... I'm not sure where to begin."

"How about with your name? Your REAL name," Nudge whispered and rested her chin on folded hands.

Aaron cleared his throat, "I-I don't really have one ... The scientists at the Institute called me Constantine, after the historical figure ... I'm not quite sure why though ... I think it was because of my abilities..."

"If we were born like this and Avian DNA wasn't purposefully implanted in us then how did you get abilities?" Fang said and leaned against the stove his arms crossed.

Aaron smiled, "You forget that they DID implant Avian DNA into mum, they gave her abilities so the same things they did to her carried on to us."

"Okay ... What are your abilities?"

He sighed and scratched at his head a moment before he continued, "Well, I've got the touch thing ... But I don't know what to call it, I'm also able to mimic any voice I hear, just like Gasser. And I've got a knack for making the females weak in the knees. That and I can talk to birds."

"You can talk to birds?" Iggy scoffed.

"Yeah, and I'd be willing to bet Nick can if he were to try."

Fang's mouth went dry again. Was it possible? Could he really have an ability? "How will I know if I can do it or not?"

"Well, if you can look at a bird and think 'come here you little bugger!' and they come to you then you've got it down I suppose. I can't really explain it."

"So its like mind control?"

Aaron shook his head and chuckled, "No, because sometimes they'll say 'piss off!' and fly away."

Fang nodded and decided that tomorrow morning he WOULD find a bird and see if he could talk to it. No matter how stupid he looked.

Max bit her lip and spoke, voicing the question burning in everyone's minds. "Are you and Fang really twins?"

Aaron nodded.

"If you two are twins, then why don't you look anything alike?" Gasman said loudly.

Aaron sighed, "Because we're not identical twins ... I take after mum and Nick takes after Dad."

"Then why are you so much shorter than him?" Angel crossed her arms.

Aaron smiled and pointed an accusing finger at Fang, "Because he bloody well pushed me out of the womb!"

Ella laughed, "What?"

"I was born small anyway ... Dad said mum had two contractions and there I was," He shifted the ice against his arm, "Because of his constant shoving we were born in a truck."

Fang grinned, he didn't know why, possibly because part of him remembered it, or maybe because he got a fantastic mental image of a baby version of himself shoving a baby version of Aaron out of the womb.

"Yeah, laugh it up, Nicky, but I'm six minutes older than you!"

He had a relaxed smile on his face and Max wondered how she could have gone so long without knowing that Aaron was only sixteen. He didn't look any older than Fang without his glasses.

Fang's face slowly crumbled and he looked at the floor, "How long was it after we were born that the whitecoats got us?"

Aaron shook his head, "I don't know ... Dad wouldn't tell me, he just said that all our secrets are safely hidden under our hats."

Fang's head snapped up and he stared at Aaron, "What did you say?"

Aaron's eyebrows scrunched together and he repeated himself, "Dad said that all our secrets are hidden under our hats. I thought he'd misspoken at first but he insisted that what he said was right. Our secrets are hidden under our hats."

Fang started frantically digging in his pockets. He pulled out a crumpled piece of paper and unfolded it.

Max recognized it immediately as the letter from his father, but she noticed something else in it this time. A picture of David and Aaron with a dark haired man who looked startlingly like an older version of Fang.

"He said that in the letter," Fang whispered. "'You'll all be safer if we keep our secrets under our hats.'"

Aaron leaned forward, trying to see the letter for himself, "That's the letter?"

Fang nodded.

Aaron grinned, "Would you give me a lemon, Ella?"

Ella's eyebrows shot up and she opened the fridge removing a bottle of lemon juice and passing it to Aaron, "Why do you need lemon?"

Fang stared at him for a minute that curious expression on his face.

"Nick, would you please give me the letter?"

Fang hesitated pulling the paper closer to his chest as if to protect it.

For a moment Max expected him to hiss and scream, 'MY PRECIOUS!' but he didn't. He slowly handed the letter to Aaron who laid it flat on the table and completely covered it in Lemon juice.

They all leaned in and stared in awe as brown letters started forming on the paper, letters that hadn't been there seconds before.

"Are you ready to see how deep the rabbit hole goes?" Iggy mumbled, quoting a line from a movie. Max elbowed him and he was quiet.

"Meadowlands National Bank, Greenwich Village New York, safety deposit box 0187B. Father Donovan has the key."

"Wow..." Angel whispered and stared up at Aaron and Fang her blue eyes wide.

Fang cleared his throat, "I guess it's back to New York."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

PART TWO SUMMARY; The Goings on of Things

Coming full circle happens to us all, so going back to New York wasn't all that surprising. Only this time, things are a little different. The Flock is still searching for answers, but this time those answers are going to be a little more than they can swallow...

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

The Wings of Wrath; Part TwoBringing Down the House

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 33; Pale Male ... Dark Male

NEW YORK CITY, CENTRAL PARK

They landed in a very familiar part of the park at close to midnight and bedded down in a slightly denser thicket.

Fang perched himself in a tree and stared out over the park feeling a little more nostalgia than he would have liked to admit. He pulled his jacket tighter around himself not used to the chill of the northeast and turned his head, spying the flock, all huddled together for warmth.

It had taken a five whole days to fly cross-country, but of course, they had an extra passenger. One who had somehow weaseled her way into coming even though she had no part in the quest.

Fang scowled at Iggy, who was lying on his back in a nearby tree the interloper sprawled ontop of him.

Ella sighed contentedly in her sleep and snuggled against Iggy's chest.

How she had managed to talk her mother into allowing her to come along was beyond Fang, and he had a sneaking suspicion that Angel had something to do with it.

Max hadn't been to excited about the idea at first, but had been dragged on board when Ella flashed her driver's license and a credit card. Again, Fang suspected Angel was involved...

Fang sighed. At least Total had stayed home with David. David hadn't wanted to come, he was too interested in school and his Best Friend Bobby.

Besides, all they had to do was go to Greenwich Village, find this Father Donovan and the Meadowlands National Bank. It wasn't like they were trying to sneak into another secret lab.

He hoped not anyway...

He shifted against the limb and his mind wondered. Was Pale Male still around? If he was, would he know that Fang was back? Would he remember that night when they'd flown together?

Fang swallowed hard. He'd been unable to get close enough to a bird since that night in the kitchen to try and talk to one, and that had annoyed him terribly ... What if he found Pale Male again and the falcon did remember him? What if he COULD talk to birds?

What would the big raptor have to say?

"What are you thinking?" Max's voice floated on the wind and she looked down at him from a limb above his head smiling sadly.

Fang shrugged, "Just stuff..."

Max sighed and climbed down on the limb beside him smiling out at the clearing her brown eyes shining with withheld emotion.

"I remember that night ... When that falcon came and we flew with him..." She bit her lip, "I've never felt so free..."

Fang nodded but remained silent.

Max edged closer to him, "Have you tried talking to a bird yet?"

He shook his head.

"Why not?"

He shrugged.

"I thought we'd gotten past this silence?"

He shrugged again but gave her a smile.

"I'll keep watch if you want to go out for a few minutes ... Just keep a look out for those Wizards ... We haven't seen them in a while, but I know they're still out there somewhere watching us."

Fang nodded, "Thanks," And he soared out of the tree, zooming around the park twice looking for nothing in particular, but hoping all the while that he'd see a familiar pale shadow flying beside him.

The moon glinted off something to his left and his head snapped in that direction expecting to see a Wizard flying toward him at full tilt but instead he saw something different.

Golden eyes connected with his and for a moment something like fear jolted his chest. But that fear suddenly melted into joy as a pale bird flew at him, head down golden eyes flashing.

Fang swallowed hard, working past a lump in his throat, he took a shuddering breath and thought to the bird, trying to push the words forward hard enough to be noticed but gentle enough not to seem threatening.

Hello...

The falcon banked sharply to the right and circled above him, then dove down at him with an impatient screech, slashing with its talons.

Pain lanced across his left wing and arm. His wing buckled, but he was able to straighten it, aiming himself at the ground to land, the falcon diving at him again and again, slashing.

He didn't know why but he found himself apologizing again and again through the pain.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry!

He landed hard and fell to his knees arms flung up over his head to protect his face.

He heard the raptor land not very far from him and clack its beak impatiently flapping its big wings.

He heard Max calling behind him, "Fang, are you OK? Fang, answer me!"

He parted his fingers and stared out at the big bird. It was Pale Male, but he looked pissed.

Its because I'm not a kid anymore ... I smell different, I'm a threat.

(QUICK AUTHOR'S NOTE; DAMN YOU PUBERTY!)

Fang slowly lowered his wings, his left aching from where the falcon had hit him. He stayed calm, taking deep breaths and letting them out slowly, lowering his arms and bowing his head.

The falcon hissed again and flapped his wings angrily.

Fang tried one more time, pushing a thought forward, feeling quite stupid as he did.

Hello ... I mean no harm ... You're in charge, I'm just visiting.

The falcon fell silent and Fang glanced up, not moving his head.

The bird's head was cocked to the side his big ashen wings raised, beak open. But his eyes... His eyes had lost the bloodlust Fang had seen in them and now they held curiosity.

Fang felt something tingle in the back of his mind as he stared at the falcon ... And then it happened.

It wasn't words ... it was emotion...

An emotion that reminded Fang of the feeling he'd gotten when he saw the big golden eyes coming at him.

Fear, joy, longing ... I remember you...

His breath caught in his throat and for a moment he thought he was going to be sick. Every muscle in his body suddenly began shaking and he fell backward, sitting heavily on the ground his wings limp at his sides.

He understood now ... It wasn't the words, it was emotion ... Birds aren't human, therefore they don't speak human language ... But they do speak feelings...

Fang realized with a little laugh that he'd done this before. He hadn't considered it an ability to talk to birds because he thought it was just commonsense to treat birds with respect.

He'd picked up on the hawks' feelings at Lake Mead, he'd even picked up on Pale Male's emotions the first time he'd flown with him. That odd urge to fly hadn't been his, it had been Pale Male's...

The falcon trembled and lowered its wings. He side stepped forward and chirped in his throat.

It was a questioning, uncertain feeling that came this time and Fang sent back a calm, 'I won't harm you' kind of feeling, hoping that Pale Male wouldn't attack him again.

The bird ruffled his feathers and seemed content because he started galloping toward the thicket where Max was now standing hugging herself.

"Are you OK?" She called softly.

Fang slowly stood but felt something running down his hand and he sighed when he realized not only was his jacket torn, but so was his arm.

Max sat on the ground, remembering how Fang had told her to greet the falcon and waited until he tugged at her feathers before she went to Fang.

"Are you OK? Did he hurt you?"

Fang didn't answer at first, he watched Pale Male stare into the thicket where the Flock was.

Aaron was awake staring down from his tree wide-eyed at the falcon, Nudge, Ella and Iggy were awake, but Gasman and Angel were still asleep. Which surprised Fang.

"Did he hurt you?"

Fang lifted his hand away from his arm and showed her the blood staining his palm, "Not bad, just a scratch."

She growled in her throat, "Last time you said that you almost bled to death."

Pale Male flapped his way into the tree and turned to the clearing, sending Fang an 'I am lord of all I survey' kind of feeling.

"Well, did you try talking to him?" Max whispered.

Fang licked his lips and nodded.

"Did it work?"

Fang nodded slowly.

Max stared up at him in awe her eyes shining, "What's it like?"

He looked down at her and grinned, "Cool."

"That wasn't why he attacked you was it?"

Fang shook his head.

Max smiled, "Wow ... The Great Fang has an ability after all."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 34; Putting on the Ritz

He carefully peeled off his jacket and let Max inspect his wing and arm.

Pale Male turned to watch and as soon as he saw the blood the big raptor began chirping in his throat rocking back and forth nervously.

"Your wing isn't hurt, thank God, but those slashes could use stitches, they're pretty deep," Max whispered to him then elbowed Aaron so he'd hold the flashlight still.

"Just bandage it, I'll be fine without stitches."

Max sighed, feeling an almost overpowering urge to smack Fang on the head but she didn't and instead resigned herself to drizzling antiseptic over the four gashes.

He ground his teeth and looked away, but didn't once cry out even though it did hurt. He knew that if he did Pale Male would lunge at Max and tear her to shreds and that was enough to keep him quiet.

He could feel the compassion, fear and anger rolling off the falcon and he wondered why the bird felt so strongly about him.

By the time Max had finished cleaning him up the sun was starting to rise and early morning joggers, baby stroller pushers and dog walkers were beginning to bob along on the paths.

"I'm hungry," Nudge whined, "Where's Mighty-Mighty-Peanut-Guy when you need him? Can we PLEASE stop of Fifty-Avenue this time? I SO want to go shopping."

"I second that motion!" Ella said loudly.

Angel climbed to her feet, dusting off her jeans. "As long as we stay away from The Garden Tavern I'm up for it ... Unless we want to like, I don't know, make a stunning reappearance?"

"NO! We are keeping as low key this time as possible, no flying and Angel, PLEASE, no mind control this time, deal?"

"Can we go to Fifth-Avenue?" Angel tapped her foot her curling blonde hair falling into her blue eyes.

Max growled. "Okay, a QUICK look, then we're SO gone."

Nudge, Angel and Ella squealed happily and jumped up and down. Gasman looked miserable.

Even though Max didn't think it was a long walk Aaron paid for two cabs to drive them to Fifth-Avenue, which made everyone but Ella feel quite claustrophobic.

But when the cabs stopped and they all piled out like clowns from a tiny car Nudge felt like she'd never seen a more beautiful place.

"OH MY GOD!" And she dashed forward into the nearest store, followed quickly by Ella, dragging Iggy by the hand, and Angel.

Max hung back waiting for Aaron to pay the cab drivers and watching Fang stare at the sky a grin on his face.

"What are you looking at?" Max whispered, staring up into the cloudless blue sky. Then she saw it. A tiny little speck, but when she looked harder she recognized Pale Male's form circling them.

"He's not going to let us out of his sight while we're here," Fang whispered and gave his left arm a discrete squeeze.

Aaron sighed and stepped up beside him, "What's he following us for?"

"He's protecting us ... He thinks of us like his kids I guess," Fang said then strode easily into the store.

Max scowled and followed him.

"Gasser?" Aaron whispered, twisting his hands nervously.

"What?" Gasman turned to Aaron.

"I don't like this place."

His blonde eyebrows drew down, "Why?"

"It reminds me too much of London."

Gasman sighed and patted Aaron's arm. "Come one, let's go ...We can make fun of the desk clerks or mess with people's heads ... Have you ever put off a stink bomb?"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"I am GORGEOUS!" Nudge said under her breath, staring at her reflection in the mirror.

Aaron paused beside her and stared.

She was wearing a pair of designer jeans that cost more than Aaron had paid for the motor home the Wizards had demolished.

But, OH did she look GOOD!

The jeans were tight in all the right places and Aaron started to salivate. THOSE JEANS! NUDGE MUST HAVE THOSE JEANS! I MUST HAVE NUDGE IN THOSE JEANS!

"How much are they?" He whispered trying to sound casual.

Nudge cocked her hip and stared down at the tag. Her eyes went wide, "Four-hundred dollars!" She shivered, "Okay, I have to go take these off..."

Aaron almost protested but thought better of it and waited outside the dressing room as Nudge changed back into her fourteen-dollar K-Mart jeans.

Nudge sighed and stared at the pants for a moment before she handed them back to the woman behind the desk, "Thanks for letting me try them on..." And she slunk away.

Aaron followed her slowly, lamenting the fact that Nudge loved the jeans so much but knew she couldn't have them. He felt that Nudge deserved to have something pretty, something she could brag about, and feel special wearing...

Without thinking he slipped his hand into hers.

She stared at him for a minute, unsure, but a smile crept over her face and she blushed, her fingers lacing with his.

Ella only tried on brightly colored things that she knew Iggy would be able to see. She loved the way he tapped his foot, his whole leg seeming to jump as she came out of the fitting rooms each time. And that glazed over look in his eyes made her feel like a queen, even though she would NEVER wear a lime green dress with large red flowers on it in public.

Gasman, after having Aaron stolen from him by Nudge and his attempt to convince a sales rep he was famous foiled, was following Angel around while she looked at sweaters and hats. He even stayed silent when she held up a fluffy blue sweater to him and said, "You would look so good in that!"

They all met an hour later, as planned and moved on down the Avenue stopping for about three minutes at a jewelry store that had a large tiara in the window with diamonds on it as big as Nudge's thumb.

Nudge even crouched down in front of the window and let Ella take a picture of her so it looked like the tiara was on her pink bandana-clad head.

They bought hotdogs from a street vendor and walked along eating and looking at the towering buildings, Max and Fang feeling a lingering bit of sour nostalgia.

"There were these jeans back there that I absolutely LOVED, but they were like four-hundred dollars, isn't that crazy?"

Ella sighed sadly, "I bet you looked fabulous in them too."

Nudge nodded, "Yeah, but no big deal ... I've got a pair of new jeans at home."

And then Aaron stopped them. "May I steal Nudge for a few hours, Max?"

Max pursed her lips, "Fine, we all meet..." She looked around and pointed across the street, "At that Starbucks at two and then we go to Greenwich to find this Father Donovan, OK?"

Angel, and Ella, who was still dragging Iggy, dove across the street and into another store. Nudge and Aaron turned and walked back up the street holding hands, looking content just to be in the other's presence.

But Gasman stayed, his arms crossed over his chest. He looked up at Fang and Max. "What are we gonna do? I'm bored."

Fang nodded, "That Starbucks has wireless ... We can just hangout there till they get done and you can show me that monkey video you were talking about."

Max hugged herself and looked up, not surprised to see Pale Male still circling them. "Fang, can you like, tell him to keep an eye on everyone, incase something happens? I've got a really bad feeling that I can't shake."

Fang grinned, "I can do better than that," And he strode forward onto a side street his hands out, fingers working as if he were trying to snap them.

A pigeon flew out of an alleyway and started following him cooing softly.

Max pictured a scene from an old TV show her mother had introduced her to ... The Carol Bernett Show, and she muttered, "Here, pigeon-pigeon-pigeon! Fang's lost his pigeon," To Gasman who covered his mouth and giggled.

To Max's surprise dozens of pigeons started coming out of nowhere gathering on the parking meters or in the little trees growing in cages along the sidewalk.

"Wow, this is just like a scene from the movie 'The Birds' only the pigeons aren't like attacking him and he's not in a phone booth," Gasman whispered.

After a few seconds of Fang staring at them one half of the assembled pigeons flew off. Heading back up the street Aaron and Nudge had disappeared on, the other half flew across the street and dispersed themselves in a nice sized radius of the building Iggy, Angel and Ella had gone in.

Fang walked back, hands in pockets, a rather cocky, full of himself grin on his face.

Max pursed her lips tempted to call him a pig, but didn't.

At five-till-two a pigeon pecked on the window Fang was sitting in front of and he looked up.

Angel, Iggy and Ella were walking across the street, all three carrying small shopping bags. As soon as they entered the Starbucks the pigeon pecked twice on the glass. Fang nodded and it flew off.

"Max, we had such a good time, it was SO awesome!" Ella fished around in her bag and pulled out an expensive looking little handbag, "I got this for mom ... It was on sale for thirty-dollars because of this," She turned the bag over and pointed to a slight discoloration in the black leather. "It was two hundred before, but because it was faded it was THIRTY. Do you think mom will like it, even though it was cheap?"

Max still believed thirty dollars was a lot of money to spend on a bag you couldn't even fit your clothes in, but she nodded, "Mom will love it."

Angel pulled a light blue knit cap out of her bag and shoved it over Gazzy's head, covering his eyes, "These were only five dollars so I go us each one," She pulled a pink version of the same hat on over her blonde hair and smiled sweetly.

"Since everyone else is sharing, take a look at this," Iggypulled a pair of sunglasses from his bag and put them on, making an 'Aren't I cool?' face. "I actually NEED them now."

Another pigeon landed outside the window and pecked once on the glass.

Fang nodded, the pigeon pecked twice and flew away.

When Nudge entered the coffee shop Max's jaw hit the floor.

She and Aaron slid into seats beside them and Nudge gave everyone a rather innocent look.

"Oh, my, GOD! Nudge, I LOVE your jeans!" Ella said excitedly.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 35; Father Donovan

"Those aren't the four-hundred dollar jeans you were talking about earlier, are they?" Max said as they sat in the back of a cab on their way to Greenwich Village.

Nudge shook her head, "No ... These were only one-hundred and fifty. Besides I like these better they aren't as tight on my butt."

The corner of Aaron's mouth twitched and he gave Fang a sideways glance.

"You made Aaron buy you a pair of one-hundred dollar jeans?" Max felt sick to her stomach.

Nudge shook her head again, "No, he said he wanted to buy the four-hundred dollar jeans for me ... I couldn't let him do that, so we compromised."

"Where did you get all that money, Aaron?"

"Dad made sure David and I were taken care of before ... Yeah."

"Oh, so he gave you like a million dollars and forgot, F-Nick?"

Aaron shook his head, "He didn't forget him. We're going to the bank, remember?"

Max bit her tongue.

Finding the Cathedral where Father Donovan presided was not as hard to locate as Max had feared, because there was a blatant clue staring them in the face as soon as they saw the first church.

A sign hanging above the door read, "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer ... Pray for those fighting overseas."

Fang shivered and his hands tightened into fists. "Okay, maybe dad wasn't so bad at writing in code as I thought."

There were three people inside, two priests kneeling in the first pew and a young pregnant woman in the back pew praying.

Max could hear the young woman's words and her stomach twisted, "Please, let my baby be healthy ... I'm so afraid I'll have another miscarriage..."

Max bit her lip and tried not to let anyone know she'd heard the woman's prayer but Angel grabbed Max's hand and stopped her, pulling on her arm until she bent.

"Max, that woman ... I-" She shivered.

"Ange, what is it?" Max pulled the girl into the pew with the others and knelt, so they could whisper and not make a scene.

"That woman is so scared. I want to help her, Max. She's so afraid."

"How can you help her, Angel, you don't know her."

Angel turned blue eyes to Max's brown ones, "I can see in her baby ... I don't know how ... But I saw it and it's not sick, it's really healthy..."

One of the priests from the front row knelt beside them, "The Lord welcomes you."

Angel turned to the priest and quickly probed his mind then licked her lips, "Sir ... That woman ... Who is she?"

The priest glanced over his shoulder then gave Angel an understanding smile, "I don't know her name. I've never seen her before. Do you recognize her?"

Angel licked her lips again nervously, "I want to go talk to her."

Max's stomach tightened. Why was Angel talking to this strange man? Why did she want to go talk to that woman, she'd never done anything like this before.

The priest smiled and stood crossing himself, "When the Lord compels you to act, you should act."

Max wondered if maybe it wasn't Angel's mind reading ability instead of the Lord but she said nothing.

Angel gave a quick nod and walked hesitantly to the woman sitting beside her then taking her hand. The woman's head jerked up and she stared at Angel dumbstruck. Then Angel smiled at the woman and started whispering in a soft voice.

Nudge tapped Max's hand and hissed in her ear, "What is she doing?"

The priest that had greeted them walked to the front of the cathedral and spoke quickly to the other priest kneeling in the front pew. This kneeling priest nodded, stood, crossed himself and disappeared through a doorway near the altar.

Max watched these two scenes unfold with equal apprehension.

The woman Angel had been talking to sobbed and hugged her tightly whispering, 'thank you' over and over. She smiled, her eyes shining and stood, one hand on her stomach one wiping her eyes. She touched a lock of Angel's hair and slowly walked out of the church, pausing briefly in the doorway for a last glance at Angel before she left.

The standing priest strode quickly to the back of the room and paused before the pew Max and the others were kneeing in.

Max glanced at him warily, still pretending to pray. But then she found she was praying, Please don't let him be a whitecoat, please don't let him hurt us.

The priest's eyes were glued to the side of Fang's head and Max watched as the man rubbed a hand over his mouth before he spoke, "Do you know how much you look like your father, when he was your age?"

Fang's eyes turned lazily to the priest but he didn't turn his head.

The priest smiled and noticed Aaron kneeling on Fang's other side. "And you have the look of your mother, save your eyes ... You both have your father's eyes."

Fang swallowed hard and a shiver ran up his spine. "Are you Father Donovan?"

The man nodded, "I take it your father's told you about me? Where is he by the way?"

Fang licked his lips and his eyes flicked to Angel.

She nodded as if to say, 'You can trust him.'

"Dad's dead."

Father Donovan's face fell and he crossed himself twice tears coming to his eyes. He sat heavily in the pew beside Max for a moment bowing his head. "Your father and I went to school together ... It was your mother that convinced me I should become a priest," He smiled sadly and after a moment nodded and climbed back to his feet. "But you are still alive, and you're here and that means you need my help."

Fang didn't move.

Father Donovan held out his hand, "If you would all follow me we'll go someplace we can talk."

Angel was the first one to move, walking quickly to keep up with the priest. Then Max stood and they filed out of the pew walking slowly up the aisle.

He led them through another door and into a small classroom. He motioned for them all to sit.

Fang and Aaron were the only ones to remain standing.

Father Donovan cocked his hip on a desk and folded his hands in his lap. "Alright ... Why are you here?"

Fang pulled the paper from his pocket, glad that the hidden letters were still brown on the page. He handed the letter to the priest and crossed his arms over his chest.

Donovan smiled, "Oh, that," He swept the little black hat from his head and turned it wrong side out pulling a small key out of a hidden pocket. "I'll have to go with you, because they check your identification, is that alright?"

Fang nodded.

Donovan quickly counted the people in the room, "It might be safer if most of you stayed here, we don't know what will happen if eight teenagers and a priest walk into a bank.

Gasman smiled. "The teller would probably think it was some kind of a joke."

"He's right," Max whispered. "Fang and Aaron need to go-"

"If Aaron goes, I'm going," Nudge said and scrambled forward, wrapping both arms around him.

Fang glanced at Max but didn't say anything.

Iggy looked over at Ella, "Travel to the possible bank of death or stay here?"

"I'd like to stay here, my feet are killing me," Ella whispered and yawned.

Iggy shrugged, "I guess we're staying here."

Angel shook her head, "You guys might need me, so I'm going."

Gasman scratched under his hat, "I'll stay and make sure those two keep this place holy," He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder at Ella and Iggy.

Donovan chuckled and every eye in the place turned to Max.

She paled for half a second then sighed, "There's no need for me to go, I'll stay."

And Fang's face fell. He cupped a hand over his left arm, feeling the bandage beneath and wondered why Max was electing to stay behind where it would be really boring instead of going where the action was.

He remembered feeling rejected by her before ... When she'd chosen Ari over him. He felt hurt, and angry and he wanted to storm off like he had the first time but Aaron laid a hand on his shoulder and he remembered when he'd been lying in bed a few weeks ago.

How stupid he'd felt looking back on it. Yes, he had a reason to be angry then, Ari had tried to kill him, but now...

What did he have to be angry about? Just because Max didn't want to add to a crowd and go to the bank?

She didn't know how he felt about it ... She didn't know that her 'no' hurt him. So he bit his lip and told her.

"I want you to go with me."

The corner of Max's mouth twitched and her eyes softened, flicking quickly to his midsection before turning back to his eyes. "Then I'll go."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 36; Meadowlands

Meadowlands Bank was a big two-story building about two blocks away with armed guards posted outside at all times.

Both guards nodded to Father Donovan as he passed and seemed to ignore Max, Fang, Aaron, Nudge and Angel.

There wasn't much of a line and when they got to the teller and Donovan explained that he was there to open a safety deposit box the woman went to get the manager.

After that things happened quickly.

The five of them were led into a private room while the manager went in back with Donovan to get the box.

For what seemed like an eternity they waited, and then the two men came back in the manager carrying a large box. He sat it on the table and said he would give them a few moments of privacy.

Donovan started to open the box but stopped himself and instead handed the key to Fang, "You boys should open it, it's not my place."

Fang looked at Aaron who shook his head and pointed to the box, "You open it, last box I bloody well opened nearly killed me."

Fang swallowed and looked sideways at Max then slid the key into the lock. He half expected the box to be empty but what he found inside was definitely not what he expected.

Inside was a photo album and a sealed manila envelope with a black wing drawn on the front of it.

Instead of going for the envelope, much as Max expected him to do, Fang pulled out the big photo album and opened it staring down, open mouthed at the hundreds of pictures inside.

The first ten pages were completely empty, but after those Max saw color and black and white photos covering every page. She wondered why the first ten pages were empty...

Aaron was the one to pick up the envelope and open it, "Oh, my god..." He whispered and emptied it onto the table.

A little note, two bundles of money, each holding five thousand dollars, as well as seven blank Social Security cards and a book entitled '3,000 Names and Their Meanings' fell to the tabletop.

Fang gave his head a shake and stared at it. "Is that what I think it is?"

Aaron picked up the note and read it aloud, "'Seven new lives for those who want them ... Call Maria to make it final' ... And there's a phone number."

"Okay, Fang? Your dad ROCKED!" Nudge picked up the book of names and grinned.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 37; Namesake

They took everything out of the box and placed inside it Aaron's old identity. Finally laying Aaron Bond to rest ... Which was saying something because the REAL Aaron Bond had been dead for nearly three years...

The phone number turned out to be a Virginia phone number, which complicated things seeing as how they were in New York and the number was from Norfolk.

"We'll swing past on our way home," Max said, though no one heard her. They were too engrossed in the photo album and the book of names.

Nudge was grinning, "Okay, so ... We each get a Social-Security card ... But they're blank, so my guess is that we get to pick our own names."

"Well, the book was a clue," Iggy said trying to snatch it from Nudge, who'd been the only one to read it as of yet.

Surprisingly she let him have it then rushed to the front of the little classroom off the main chamber of the cathedral. She found a slip of paper and scribbled on it a moment. "Okay, I think I've got my name ... What do you guys think?" She cleared her throat, "Tiffany-Krystal Amber Montgomery-Ward, born April 13, 1995 New York, New York."

"You weren't born in New York," Angel said crossing her arms over her chest.

Nudge poked her tongue out at her, "The note said 'new lives' so I can be born wherever I want."

Iggy and Ella were looking through the book now, Ella reading the names out in a hushed voice. "What are you going to pick, Max?"

Max plopped down in a pew by herself and twiddled her thumbs, "I picked my name a long time ago."

Ella looked up smiling, "But don't you want a middle name? Like 'Jane' or something?"

Max rolled her eyes, "I'm happy with my name the way it is."

"Can I be born in New York, Max?" Angel said.

"Whatever you want, it's your new life," Max discretely gnawed on one of her fingernails then mentally kicked herself and stopped.

Iggy sighed in frustration, "I don't like anything ... I mean, this is BIG, I'm naming myself ... How did you come up with 'Maximum Ride' huh? Was it easy or did it take a while?"

Max shifted uncomfortably, "Well ... Uh ... 'Maximum' means 'greatest' and everyone knows what 'Ride' means ... I guess I was kind of full of myself when I picked it, but the more I think about it the more I realize I wasn't thinking about myself, I was naming my life. What I want my life to be, I mean."

This answer seemed to confuse and yet appease Iggy because he shrugged and turned back to Ella, "What were you saying about middle names?"

Fang stood from where he'd been sitting against the wall looking through the photo album for the millionth time. So many of those photos seemed random ... Like mistakes.

There was one of a pair of sneaker shod feet standing in a graveyard ... One of a dog sniffing around a street sign most likely about to relieve itself on it. There were a number of photos of various buildings ... Like gas stations, a church ... An abandoned warehouse.

A fishing boat called the "Desmond" sitting near a dock in the Autumn, multicolored leaves hanging in trees in the background.

A picture of a bakery called "Marty's" ... A large water tower reading "West" something, the rest of the name was obscured by a finger.

Dozens upon dozens of random pictures, some of them not even in focus or in bad lighting...

He needed air, he needed to think ... He wanted to get hold of that book...

Fang glanced over at Iggy, pretending not to be in any rush and noticed Ella had only just laid the book aside and was writing on a piece of paper. He moved quickly, creeping over silently, picking up the book and sneaking away, leaving the room without being noticed.

He rushed up the side aisle staring around for anywhere he could hide. Anywhere he could sit and be alone and think...

He pushed his way through a curtain and stumbled up a dimly lit flight of stairs, pausing every so often to listen and make sure, no one was following him, and that he wasn't about to pop into a room filled with Wizards and Whitecoats.

At the top of the stairs another door blocked his path. He tried the knob but wasn't all too surprised to find it had been locked. He wished Iggy were there, just to unlock the door. He sighed and bent at the waist staring at the lock.

There was no way he was going to be able to pick that lock without tools, and the only tools that could possibly have done the job were tucked safely away in Iggy's back pocket.

So he elected to just sit there at the top of the stairs hunched over that book.

He felt like a fool. Sitting holed up in a corner reading through a book of names, afraid to be caught.

Why had Max had to say something? Why couldn't she have let him feel emotionless about picking his name.

'Naming my life'...How am I supposed to name my life ... I've had a crappy life. Stolen from my parents, raised in a lab ... Treated like a lab rat ... I don't want to name my life ... I just want a name ... What did my parents call me? Did they have time to give me a name before the Whitecoats got me? Or have I always been just some number...

Did Max think of these things when she was picking her name? Had she even wondered what Dr. Martinez had wanted to name her when she'd found out the woman was her mother?

Fang propped his chin in his hand and stared down at the cover of the book. Iggy's parents had called him 'James' ... Would the boy take that into account when he was picking his own name? Would he choose 'James' over 'Jeff' or 'Iggy'? Or would he pick something completely different?

Fang didn't want just any name ... He wanted a good name, HIS name... But ... Part of him just wanted to pick something and get it over with ... He didn't want to be the last one to choose. That would just be embarrassing ... Wouldn't it?

Nudge had picked her name in less than three hours, of course, Nudge was easy to please. She wanted something epic sounding and pretty ... Like a queen...

He ran a hand through his hair and winced when the motion pulled at the bandage around his arm. How would he know when he'd picked the right one?

He knew Max had wanted to feel important when she'd picked her name, she'd practically admitted to that...

Maybe he should ask Max what she thought ... Or Nudge ... Maybe even Ella, since Ella already had a name.

He stood, holding the book between his hands, then with a sigh descended the steps and peered out from behind the curtain.

Max was wondering around the inside of the chapel heading down the aisle toward the big double doors under the 'EXIT' sign.

"FANG!" She hissed under her breath, but the sound carried well in the cavernous room.

He pursed his lips and crept from behind the curtain, pausing at the head of the church, poised to descend the last few steps to the floor and walk toward her.

"YO!" He whispered loudly enough to make the sound echo eerily in the room.

She turned quickly and stared at him relieved, yet annoyed. "Where'd you run off to?" She stood there by the doors staring up the aisle at him arms hanging loosely at her sides.

Fang motioned to the curtain, "Just taking a look around ... There's a locked door at the top of those stairs."

Max cocked a hand on her hip, "That's the belfry, of course the door is going to be locked."

He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder, "The bell tower?"

She nodded, "Are you turning into Quasimodo or something?"

He wrinkled his nose and gave her a 'you're so funny' look.

Max's raked her eyes over him, his overly long, shoulder length black hair that curled into his face ... The seemingly bottomless eyes that could be either beautiful night sky blue, or cold arctic, depending on his mood.

Right now they were somewhere between arctic and stormy sea ... An odd, troubling color.

She glanced around at the church behind him ... The altar, pulpit, innumerable candelabras. It really was a beautiful building ... Not as pretty as the one they'd been in the first time ... Of course, the first time had been just that ... They'd never been in a building with statues of winged people in it before ... People like them.

Max remembered she'd been a little light headed the first time she'd seen one, and part of her had wanted to snap out her wings, lunge into the air just to see what would happen, how people would react...

But she hadn't.

"Fang?"

He grunted to let her know he was listening.

"Do you believe in God?"

He hesitated, running his fingers over the spine of the book in his hands. "I want to..."

Max nodded and hugged herself, turning from him and walking back to the classroom the rest of the flock was bedding down in.

Fang watched her go, watched as she gently shut the door behind herself and left him alone in the chapel.

He looked around, feeling small and insignificant in the big, big room with the stained glass faces staring down at him. He didn't like feeling small. When he did all he could think about was The School and the horrible things the Whitecoats did to him ... All the tests, scans, obstacle courses.

He hadn't been able to defend himself, he was helpless, and the Whitecoats didn't let him forget it ... He wasn't human, therefore he didn't have feelings, he didn't have a soul.

He was just an experiment to them...

An animal...

But he knew better ... He was a person.

Fang jogged down the steps, making barely a sound. He sat heavily in the third pew and bowed his head, resting his brow against the back of the pew in front of him.

The other priest, the one Father Donovan had been praying with earlier that day came out of another antechamber, walking with his eyes to the floor hands clasped together.

He was younger than Donovan and when Fang called to him the young man closed his eyes tightly.

"Yes?"

"How long does this place stay open?"

The young priest answered without opening his eyes, "If you'd like to go out for a bit I can let you back in."

Fang nodded, "Why are your eyes closed?"

The priest smiled, "So if anyone asks me if I've seen you I can truthfully say 'no'."

A smile crept over Fang's face. "Clever."

The man smiled, "I try my best."

"Hey ... Is the bell tower open?" Fang whispered after a moment.

"What?"

"I mean, is there like a door on the roof so you can like go out onto the roof?"

The young priest nodded, "Yes ... Why?"

"If you could unlock that door and the door to the belfry I'd appreciate it."

"Of course ... But, dare I ask ... Why?"

"So I can get back in when I come back."

The priest's mouth opened to speak but his jaw merely opened and closed a few times before he sighed. "Alright, though how you're going to get onto the roof without falling to your death is beyond me."

"I have my ways ... Thanks," Fang climbed to his feet, leaving the book of names in the pew where he'd been sitting.

He wasn't planning to go very far ... He just needed some air. Although barely half a second after the doors swung shut behind him and he heard them lock he realized the air in New York City was not the same as the air in Arizona.

He'd nearly forgotten the sewerlike-briny stench of the air. His heightened sense of smell made it all seem so much worse than it really was. He ran a hand through his hair, wishing he'd gotten a new elastic band from Ella before he'd left. The breeze blowing in off the harbor was throwing his hair in every direction.

He descended the steps and stood there on the sidewalk looking around, glancing upward at the dwindling light of the sun wondering if Wizards respected holy ground or not.

He shoved his hands into his jeans pockets and his left hand came into contact with a few of those crisp one-hundred dollar bills that had been in the safety-deposit box.

He had money ... He had a LOT of money...

And yet, he'd give it all to have his father back ... Even though he'd never met the man...

He sighed and started walking away from the cathedral, down the street in the direction of the Meadowlands Bank. He didn't know why at first, but then he remembered. They'd passed a little grocery store on the way to the bank earlier that day.

His stomach growled.

Fang shook his head. If a normal seventeen-year-old boy had six-hundred dollars in his pocket the last thing he'd be thinking of was buying a Snickers Bar and a Coke.

A normal seventeen-year-old boy would most likely think of video-games or something of the like.

The little grocery store was open and an older balding man was behind the counter. The man narrowed his eyes menacingly and craned his neck to watch as Fang walked back to the cooler and found a bottle of Coke then strolled to the front of the store and picked up three King Size Snickers Bars.

The old man eyed him as he scanned the barcodes and punched a few buttons on the register.

Fang handed him one of his six, one hundred-dollar bills and watched as the old man frowned, held the bill up to the light then marked on it with a little pen that looked like a high-lighter.

"Do you not have anything smaller?"

"I'm sorry, I just got paid this morning, that's all I got," He lied.

The old man grumbled, I'm not supposed to accept C-notes after five P.M. Unless the purchase is over twenty-five dollars."

Fang rolled his eyes, "Okay, give me a second," He was tempted to just ask for his money back then leave, but he really was hungry ... And that Coke was nice and cold...

The old man handed him back his money and waited, arms crossed, "Hurry, I don't have all night."

I'm hurrying you cranky old turd... Fang thought bitterly.

Band-Aids ... We can always use Band-Aids ... What's this?

He picked up the little box and turned it over in his hands.

"They're tampons ... I doubt a young man like yourself needs tampons," The man said, growing increasingly impatient.

Fang felt his lip curl upward in disgust and the whole lecture Dr. Martinez had given him, Iggy, Gazzy and Aaron came flooding back. He shivered and gently placed the carton back on the shelf, moving as far away from them as possible.

He grabbed a can of mandarin oranges off of a shelf, and a jar of instant coffee, then adding it all up in his mind picked up a disposable camera and headed toward the front of the store.

Were those Snickers a dollar eighty or a dollar thirty?

The old man rang it all up, "You're still two dollars short."

Fang raked a hand through his hair and pointed over the man's shoulder, "Can I have one of those notebooks?"

The old man took one down, scanned it and shoved it unceremoniously into the bag then begrudgingly took the 'C-note' and counted out Fang's change.

"Have a nice night."

Fang scoffed in his head, "You too," He grabbed his bag and left the store quickly, shaking his head.

Jeez, all that for a Coke and a couple Snickers Bars.

And then he realized what he'd done and he stopped dead in his tracks...

He'd just spent some of the money his father had given him ... He'd just ... He didn't know why it bothered him so much. Maybe it felt as though he were giving part of his father away ... Or that he'd somehow lost all his sense...

Fang opened the bag and stared down into it for a minute feeling quite disgusted with himself. He closed the bag tightly and started walking again at a very fast pace.

He arrived at the church a few minutes later ... Just long enough to call himself an 'idiot' seven-hundred and fifty-six times.

He slipped onto a side street and glanced up, noticing for the first time that Pale Male was perched on the steeple, shifting from side to side making that same soft chirping noise.

Fang smiled and, looking around to make sure no one saw him. He unfolded his wings and leapt into the air, flying up the side of the big building, past the stained glass windows and over the slanted roof.

There was a door leading out onto the roof, but Fang ignored it at first, instead circling the steeple and taking a look at Pale Male.

The big raptor turned and flapped his wings at Fang, hissing.

A wave of uneasy, angry, frightened feelings washed over him and Fang backed off, landing in front of the door head bowed.

"Do you believe in God?" Max's voice replayed softly in his head and he glanced back up at the falcon perched easily on the steeple looking around triumphantly.

Do you believe in God?

Fang hadn't meant to propose the question to the Falcon, but somehow he had and the big bird turned to him silently, eyes shining. And Fang truly believed that if Pale Male had had lips he would have smiled.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 38; Tell Worthy Tales

The first thing Fang did when he woke up in the morning was to take out that big notebook he'd bought the night before. He turned it over in his hands and examined, wondering if all those things were worth parting with a one hundred-dollar bill.

It was a black five-subject spiral bound college ruled notebook. And the first thing he did with it was to start writing, using an ink pen he'd found in one of the pews of the cathedral. He sat there in the back row his head bowed writing. Words seemed to come from nowhere but everywhere at the same time.

Aaron walked up a few times and asked him what he was doing but Fang simply shook his head and moved so his brother couldn't see the pages.

Then, when Max called that they were getting ready to leave he hid the notebook at the bottom of his pack with the can of mandarin oranges, the Band-Aids, the disposable camera, and the jar of instant coffee, then he shoved the ink pen into his pocket. He stepped outside the church and sat on the steps, looking up to see Pale Male perched in the bell tower sending calm feelings.

Fang asked him to come down but the bird didn't, instead he sent slightly frightened angry feelings down and Fang knew. Smells like people and cars. Bad. I could get hurt.

So Fang said his goodbye from the front step and watched as Pale Male bobbed his head three times and flew away.

He felt quite alone after that ... Not having those constant loving sensations from the big falcon, but he knew. My world is not his and his is not mine...

Father Donovan cornered them before they got a chance to leave and gave them all little sliver medallions on silk cords.

Aaron was the one to explain what these medallions were as they were flying over New Jersey.

"They're Saint Christopher's medals ... Saint Christopher is the patron saint of..." He paused when he realized nobody knew what the heck he was talking about. "It's for protection."

Max wasn't that impressed with hers but Fang tucked his beneath his shirt close to his heart.

Ella loved flying, even though she was pinned to Iggy's chest. "This is SO cool!" She put out her arms and closed her eyes, "I wish I had wings so you wouldn't have to carry me," She whispered to Iggy.

He smiled and kissed the top of her head, "I like carrying you."

"You would, like, catch me if I fell, right?"

Iggy nodded, "Of course."

"Good."

"Max, you should take her to hyper speed."

"Oh, my GOD! Can you?"

Max shook her head, "Sorry, I can only carry half my bodyweight."

Ella's eyebrows drew down, "But I weigh more than half of Iggy."

Iggy shrugged, "It doesn't bother me for some reason."

So Ella contented herself with closing her eyes and spreading her arms out into the wind. "Its kind of hard to breathe up here, mind if we go down a ways?"

Max shook her head and they dropped a few hundred feet so Ella could breathe easier and the sunset colored the sky orange...

Aaron cleared his throat and started singing loudly, in Iggy's voice, "On top of spaghetti, all covered with cheese, I lost my poor meatball, when somebody sneezed! It rolled off the table, and into the floor. My poor little meatball, rolled right out the door!"

Iggy sneered at him, "Very funny, you're making me hungry. Are there any restaurants around here? What is it with you guys and teasing me with spaghetti and meatballs?"

Max scanned the ground seeing quite a few, "Yeah, but lets go a little farther before we land, there's a hotel about five miles farther along."

Fang shook his head and swooped down so he was barely three feet above Max. "So ... What do you think I should name myself?"

She sighed and turned her head smiling, intending to tell him something particularly rude but...

Fang saw her eyes shining up at him, and her mouth opened to speak but then her face changed, her smile faded and her eyes went wide.

He turned his head sucked in a sudden painful breath and shouted, "GO-GO-GO!"

Ella turned her head looked up and screamed.

Twelve Wizards were diving at them in a rotating circle, and stretched between them was a large net.

"Subway-SUBWAY!" Max screeched and dove downward toward the restaurant. She looked back over her shoulder and saw her flock shooting off in zigzag directions Iggy with Ella clutched tightly to him.

She saw Aaron look up at the wizards and simply fold his wings in, falling, head down toward the pavement.

Aaron streaked downward and at the last second snapped his wings out and buzzed the parking lot. A few shoppers dove to the sides as he banked executing a hairpin turn Max hadn't thought him capable of and frightening a rather large flock of pigeons congregating on the top of the building.

The pigeons flapped aimlessly for a moment then all seemed to move as one, turning and following Aaron.

Max heard him shout as he shot past her, "All for it now, Lads. TALLYHO!"

Despite the danger Gasman laughed loudly.

The pigeons shot forward and started attacking the Wizards, scratching and flogging the facemasks, necks and heads. Cooing angrily.

Five Wizards dropped the net and started swatting at the Pigeons, throwing off their masks to try and grab one with their frog like tongues but when that proved ineffective they turned and sped off into the growing darkness the storm of pigeons following them.

Seven wizards continued forward, chasing Aaron, the net stretched taut.

And then Nudge screamed, "BACK OFF MY MAN!"

Max stared as Nudge zoomed past her, fingers curled into rigid claws teeth bared. She'd never seen Nudge look so ... MURDEROUS before.

A Wizard screamed and came at Max, its jaw opening, but Max dropped and the thing's tongue missed her, yanking out a few hairs from her head, but missing her. She looked down and saw Iggy coming back to help. He'd left Ella on the ground with Gasman and Angel, who were doing a pretty effective job of protecting the wingless girl.

Nudge flew straight at the Wizard that had threatened Aaron and dodged its tongue by rolling completely over in the air, folding her wings and falling for a dozen or so feet before snapping them back open and lunging at the beast.

Its tongue shot out and to Max's horror Nudge grabbed it with both hands, planted her feet firmly on the Wizard's chest and started pulling.

The Wizard roared and in a fit clamped its jaws down on its own tongue, severing it in a spray of blood.

It snapped at Nudge again, seeming not to notice that it no longer had a tongue but Nudge didn't relent, she raised the severed tongue above her head and started beating the Wizard with it, kicking and screaming in rage, "You do NOT touch MY MAN!"

She landed a savage kick to the Wizard's jaw and dove, grabbing the broom it rode on and giving it a swing, throwing the Wizard off where it fell screeching and clicking to the pavement.

Another Wizard made at Nudge but she turned the jet engine part of the broom to it and set the creature on fire, melting its face in a gross mess all the way down to its metal skeleton. But by that time the thing was dead and it flopped forward onto the broom and joined its fellow with a large SPLAT on the sidewalk.

GO NUDGE! Only five left! Max thought and continued fighting her own Wizard, kicking and finally grabbing the end of the broom and throwing the thing off. Four left!

Iggy engaged a particularly fast Wizard, following it with his one working eye, catching the blackness of it against the sunset, but the Wizard didn't seem to want to fight him. It was studying him, circling him and making rapid clicking sounds that hurt Iggy's ears.

"What, you don't want to fight someone who isn't 'perfect'?" And he reached over his shoulder pulling one of the leftover fireworks from the party Dr. Martinez had thrown for him, from his pack. He pulled out his lighter and lit the wick.

The Wizard seemed to know what he was doing and opened its mouth to strike, but the firework went off first, and disappeared right down the Wizard's throat.

The Wizard gagged and barely two seconds later its stomach exploded, showering Iggy in gross Wizard gore.

Since none of the other Wizards seemed intent on fighting him he flew off to help Aaron, colliding with one of the Wizards still holding the net and knocking it to the ground where it made a series of computer like groaning noises and fell silent.

Nudge streaked past him, chasing a Wizard that had decided it didn't want to fight her anymore. "Come back here you!" She shrieked swinging the severed tongue around her head like a lasso.

And then the Wizards banked, turning mid-air and streaked upward into the sky, abandoning their chase of Aaron.

Aaron hovered there for a moment panting staring after them then growled and lifted his left hand giving the retreating Wizards what looked like a backward peace sign. Then he turned and flew right at Nudge who was hovering about fifty feet away practically foaming at the mouth.

Aaron came at her and grabbed her around the middle, spinning her upward through the air laughing. Nudge dropped the tongue, grabbed his shoulders and looked down at him her mouth open in shock and delight.

"That was bloody brilliant! You were fantastic! You are THE Ferocious Nudge!" He laughed again a wild elated sound and buried his face in her neck.

Nudge screeched with laughter and grabbed his hair, trying to pry his head away from her neck but at the same time never wanting it to end.

Max turned her head away, jealousy bubbling her stomach, only to meet an equally mushy scene on the ground.

Iggy and Ella were seemingly locked together at the lips and Angel was tapping her foot impatiently.

Poor Gasman looked utterly disgusted.

Angel shook her head and walked up to the crowd gathered around them and thought three simple words, You saw nothing.

Then she sprang into the air, followed quickly by Iggy, still carrying Ella and Gasman last, his arms crossed over his chest.

(NOTE; Here's a hint for you ... None of the Wizards would fight Iggy, you might want to keep that in mind.)

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 39; Stupid Soap

They had to fly for another hour to find a hotel, and whenever Max glanced over her shoulder she expected a Wizard to be looming out of the darkness at them.

It was a cheaper hotel this time and Max got two rooms, one for the girls, one for the boys. Max even let Ella and Aaron join in on the Stack&Tap, which was something she'd never done before. But she felt was appropriate since the fight...

Iggy was the only one who was "terribly" hurt. He burned the backs of his hands shooting the firework at the Wizard and they were bloody and swollen by the time they landed.

He didn't complain until Ella went in the bathroom to shower then he practically fell over onto the bed and begged Max to put him out of his misery.

She disinfected and smeared a burn ointment on his hands then wrapped them lightly with gauze. "No getting your hands wet."

"How am I supposed to shower?" He raised his hands over his head, "You can't expect me to do this!"

Max grinned and taped two liners for the ice bucket over his hands and sent him to his room to wash.

"YAY! Deformed mittens!" Iggy waved his hands over his head and winced.

Aaron laughed.

Max took a long shower after the other girls had gone to bed, relishing in the warm water running over her face chest and wings ... She could hear one of the boys showering on the other side of the wall.

"Shit-" A growl, "Stupid soap..."

Max stiffened ... Fang was showering just on the other side of the wall ... A shiver ran through her and settled low in her stomach at the thought and she rinsed her hair as quickly as possible, drying and dressing her lip between her teeth. She brushed and braided her hair smoothing her nightgown before crawling onto her side of the bed. She started to turn off the light but Ella whispered...

"Please leave it on ... I don't want those things to come back..."

Max nodded and left the light on.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 40; Strategy

Fang's arm was bleeding...

That's the first thing Aaron noticed when he woke up at about three thirty the next morning. He'd sat up in bed and turned to look blearily around as he did every time he woke up from a nightmare, when he noticed the sheets were stained and so was Fang's arm.

"Nicky, wake up a second," He gently laid a hand on Fang's shoulder and gave him a little shake.

Fang's eyes came slowly open and he blinked up at Aaron and licked his lips. He didn't have to look to see what was wrong he could smell it. "Are Iggy and Gaz awake?"

Aaron shook his head.

"Help me up."

It was a slow tedious process, trying to help him up without making enough noise to wake the other two boys asleep in the next bed.

Fang crept near silently across the room to the door, Aaron behind him almost as quiet.

Aaron propped the door open with his shoe and knocked hesitantly on the door to the girl's room. He knocked again quieter and after three seconds the door opened and Max stood there looking very sleepy. "Wha-" Her glazed brown eyes focused on Fang's arm and she looked left and right down the hallway making sure no one could see them.

"Get in here before you bleed all over the carpet. Go in the bathroom."

Aaron crept back to the boys' room and stripped the bloody sheets off the bed, glad there was a plastic cover on the mattress so he could just wipe off the blood.

Max found her bag and slunk to the bathroom, shutting herself inside with him. "Get your shirt off."

Fang didn't argue, he peeled it over his head and dropped it into the sink.

"You got it wet didn't you. When you showered."

"Only a little."

Max shook her head and rummaged in her bag, pulling out the large First-Aid kit her mother had given them. "I told you before you could use stitches."

He shrugged, "Then stitch it up, I don't care."

Fear glistened in her eyes for a moment but was gone faster than it could glow. She shook her head, "It doesn't really need them now, it's practically healed. It's just ... This shouldn't have happened, it should already have healed ... Something's wrong."

"What?"

"It doesn't look very good."

"What like it's infected or something?"

She shook her head, "No, but all the strain from that fight yesterday must have reopened it and you getting it wet ... But it should have completely HEALED by now..." She looked up at him, biting her lip. "You just look like you could use about a week of rest, that's all."

He nodded and changed the subject, "So, other than the ongoing fight to save the world what's happening in Max World?"

Max rolled her eyes, "You really want to know? This is a first..."

He shrugged. "Got nuthin better to talk about while you're pokin' around my arm."

She finished washing the blood away and was opening the bottle of alcohol, "Well, other than my lingering shock over the whole Iggy and Ella thing I'm starting to wonder why those Wizards are after Aaron. I don't think they're after David because when he flew off from Aaron back there in the desert they didn't follow him."

Fang nodded and ground his teeth at the smell of antiseptic. "Why would they want Aaron?"

Max shrugged and rocked back on her heels. "Maybe there's something else he's not telling us ... I mean , he didn't tell us about being your twin and all, so what's to stop him from keeping something else a secret?"

Fang chewed his lip. "I don't think he's keeping anything a secret."

"Well ... Maybe its something he doesn't know about."

He didn't reply but stared at the bathtub while Max finished tying the bandage around his arm. It bothered him that he didn't know why the Wizards were trying so hard to get Aaron. But what bothered him more was just when they could have captured him in that net the day before the Wizards just flew off as if they were only trying to scare him.

As if they were only teasing him ... Playing with him like a cat does a mouse...

"Okay, you're all finished."

Fang looked down at his arm, prodding the bandage and carefully flexing the muscle. "Does it look bad?"

Max shrugged, "I'll leave a pretty cool looking scar, really works with your bad-boy image."

He rolled his eyes, "What about my shirt?"

"Let it soak in the sink for a while then wash it with soap ... Its black so it won't show if there's a stain. Huh, is that why you wear black all the time?"

He nodded and rolled his eyes at her, tempted to grin. "So ...What's the plan?"

Max shrugged again, "I'm not sure its safe for us to go back to Virginia just yet ... I'm pretty sure the headhunter and that WOMAN are still on the lookout for us. So Maria will have to wait ... Aaron said something about you guys having an uncle in Oklahoma ... I was thinking we'd swing past there, call mom, so she'll know Ella's OK, then head home and try to figure out what the heck Itex is up to this time."

"Sounds good."

"Oh ... And, uh ... About that question you asked me before."

"What question?" He played stupid, but he hadn't forgotten.

"I think you should take your time picking your name ... My mom has it worked out at the school-school that we won't need ID."

Fang nodded, "Yeah ... But we're going to graduate in June, Max ... I want to graduate. I-" He hesitated, unsure if he should let Max in on this little tidbit of information. He was still unsure of it himself, but seeing as how he could actually have a social-security card ... A REAL Identity as soon as he named himself made his dreams all that more real. Made them a possibility, not an illusion.

"You what, Fang?"

He licked his lips, glancing down at her hand where it rested on his knee before he answered. "I want to go to college, and I can't do that if I don't hurry up and pick a name for myself. You have to put your name and social security number on college applications and right now I don't have one. We're blips in the educational system. The only reason we haven't been found out is because the superintendent is friends with your mom."

Max was shocked. College? Fang wanted to go to college? He wanted to leave her and go someplace strange with hundreds of people he couldn't trust... She swallowed back her fearful reply.

"Okay."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 41; Naming Your Maker

The wind was with them and Max was surprised to reach Oklahoma just before five in the evening the next day, especially since Aaron was still uncomfortable in the air, and often would call for breaks just so they could walk for a while. Iggy was acting strange too. He was beginning to look worn, flying slowly his eyes kind of glazed, but Max assumed it was only the fact he had to carry Ella, who was, as she had so delicately put it, WAY more than half Iggy's weight.

But, they still made good time and decided to take an early night to look for Fang and Aaron's long-lost uncle Allan.

That night at the hotel Max was only able to rent one room because the hotel was booked. Which broke her mother's curfew rule like a stained glass window.

Fang pulled out both laptop computers and while everyone else slept, squished on the beds or lying spread out on blankets on the floor, he and Max started searching.

Max for any word on what Itex may be doing, Fang for his uncle.

"Well, this sucks," Fang growled, "There are about a hundred Allan Hutchinson's in Oklahoma."

Max nodded, not really listening, "We have to find a library tomorrow, there's some stuff here I want to print out."

He abandoned his search for a moment to lean over and peer at her computer screen, "What stuff?"

She pointed to the screen, "Remember our old friend Omega?"

Fang nodded.

"Well, I asked Father Donovan about the word Omega while we were in New York and he told me that another name for God was 'Alpha and Omega'..."

Fang felt a shiver run down his spine, "Alpha?"

"The beginning and the end," Max finished just barely above a whisper. "So, I typed in a file search for the words Alpha and Omega ... And this is what I found..."

It was a project schematization much like Omega's file, but there was no picture with this one, only paragraphs of medical lingo and numbers, referring to other projects Max didn't recognize.

"Apparently Omega was created because Alpha was a failure. BUT they used the same techniques and DNA splices to make Omega that they did Alpha, so I don't understand how one worked but the other didn't."

"Maybe it was different people ... You know, like when Ella and your mom got the flu last year, Ella got really sick, but your mom didn't ... Same illness, but it manifested differently."

Max turned to him, "That makes sense ... Alpha's reaction to the experimentation could have been completely different than that of Omega ... Like take the crock-a-doggies at the school. There were three of them, one was a crocodile with a dog's head, another was a dog with a crock tail, and the last one, the one they liked, was a super strong scaly dog with a kind of flat head..."

Fang nodded. He remembered that thing, he'd been stuck in a cage right beside it for a week, until it chewed through the bars and came after him. Then the white-coats had moved it to another room.

"Do you think your mom would be home yet?"

Max looked at her watch, which was still set at Arizona time and nodded, "She's probably putting David to bed about now."

"Good, do you want to call?"

Max nodded and climbed to her feet, stepping over Aaron's legs to get to the phone. She had to call Collect because they'd forgotten to buy a telephone card and she didn't want to walk across the street to the 7-11 to buy one in the dark.

She heard her mother answer in a wide-awake voice and accept the charges, "Max? Max, is everything OK?"

"Yeah, we're OK, had a little trouble yesterday but everyone's fine."

"Is Ella OK?"

"She's fine, everyone's asleep right now so I have to stay quiet."

"Okay ... I'm so glad to hear from you, I've been so worried."

"We're fine, how are David and Total doing?'

"Total and the mailman got into an argument."

"Total was arguing with the mailman?" Max's stomach clenched.

"He and David stuck their heads out the window and were barking at the poor mailman."

"Total and David were barking at the mailman?"

Fang's head snapped up and he cocked an eyebrow at her.

"He and David have been going a little crazy without you guys. I caught them having a tea party in the dining room talking about gothic archetecture... and they'd dressed up ... In DRESSES!" She hissed the last few words, as if it were a big secret. "MY dresses..."

Max felt her eyebrows raise.

Her mother sighed. "Speaking of David, is Nick or Aaron awake, I'd like to speak to one of them, just don't mention the tea party thing, OK?"

Max scowled and handed Fang the phone.

He scowled and rolled his eyes, "Yeah?"

"Nick, your brother got in quite a bit of trouble at school yesterday."

Fang licked his lips nervously, "What did he do, he didn't like start flying around the gym did he?"

Max paled.

"No, its nothing like that, it's just ... Well, got into a fight with his friend Bobby, and ... And roundhouse kicked him in the stomach."

Fang's eyes bugged, "He didn't..."

"He did... He's suspended for a week... Not only that, but he made his teacher go to sleep and the whole class stayed outside on the playground all day..."

Fang shook his head and rubbed his temples. He now understood why Max had been so angry with Angel over the whole mind control thing.

There are rules that must be followed, you can't just do whatever you want whenever you want. As for the roundhouse kicking? Well ... What had Bobby done to deserve it?

Dr. Martinez sighed, "Total and I had a long talk with him when he got home. He didn't understand that it was wrong."

"How did he take it?"

"Pretty well actually, when Total explained it to him ... I think he's afraid of me, I started to tell him how wrong it was and he started crying," Her voice fell and Fang heard her snuff back tears. "I don't want him to be afraid of me, Nick ... He needs someone to be here for him when you guys aren't around."

Fang nodded even though she couldn't see him over the phone.

"He won't even fly without someone here, Total said he's afraid to..."

"He's afraid he'll crash I think," Fang whispered. "Aaron made him so scared of crashing and lightning I'm surprised he can fly at all..."

"I hope you don't mind, but he slept in your room last night. He had a nightmare and he and Total curled up on your bed with one of Aaron's shirts and Ariel's bear."

"I don't mind."

Dr. Martinez snuffed back more tears and changed the subject. "OH, the school counselor wants to test him for ADHD. I wanted to get your and Aaron's permission before I said yes or no."

"ADHD?"

"Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. It would explain why he's so easily distracted but so ... ON all the time ... Even when he is upset."

Fang smiled to himself. The irony ... A kid with ADHD has the ability to put himself and people to sleep using only his mind. "As long as it isn't like a blood test or anything its OK with me."

He felt suddenly very sad and part of him wished David were there so he could hug him. He wasn't usually one to want to hug someone. He could only remember desiring that kind of physical contact with someone on seven different occasions in his whole life.

Most of them had been recently. When he'd gotten the letter and Max had found him in the park had been the worst ... All he had wanted was for Max to hold him and say that it was OK. But he'd been so angry with himself for appearing weak that he'd flown away instead, hiding in the forest all afternoon reading that letter over and over trying to figure it out. Then he'd broken a limb out of a tree in his anger ... A rather large limb too ... And he didn't really remember doing it. One minute he'd been standing there, the next the limb was weighing him down, making him touch his toes ... How had he done that?

He shivered and licked his lips, "Is David awake?"

Dr. Martinez sighed, "He went to bed an hour ago."

Fang nodded, "Will you tell-" He stopped himself and cleared his throat, unable to continue.

He heard her smile, "I'll tell him."

"Here's Max," And he shoved the phone into her hands, rushing back to his computer.

Search Results for Allan Hutchinson; 145

Allan A Hutchinson

Allan A Hutchinson & Nina Yang...

Fang sighed and gave his head a shake, then typed in something completely different just on a whim. Kitty Hutchinson

Search Results for Kitty Hutchinson; 60 J Kitty Hutchinson

Kitty Hutchinson's Animal Rescue

Bernard & Kitty Hutchinson...

Fang groaned loudly and his stomach twisted.

"JAILBREAK!" Aaron sat up blinking stupidly and four pairs of wings sprang open.

Gasman toppled off the bed when Iggy's wing hit his head and he let out a strangled cry.

"WHAT HAPPENED?" Nudge said, practically diving off the bed reaching for Aaron.

"Who's shouting?" Ella mumbled sleepily rubbing her head.

Aaron's face turned red and he seemed to shrink in on himself, "Was dreaming ... S-sorry, all."

Angel growled and shoved her head under her pillow mumbling. Iggy collapsed back on the bed with a groan and Gasman simply curled up on the floor where Fang had spread a blanket for himself.

Fang didn't say a word. He remained rigid in his seat staring at the search results before him his heart in his mouth.

About five minutes later Max returned to his side, taking up her own computer. "Mom says hi ... She thinks she saw a wizard hanging around outside the house but I think she only saw a deer or something, because Wizards aren't light brown."

Fang turned to her, a rather nauseated expression on his normally placid face.

"What?" Her eyes turned to the computer screen and grew quite large.

Bernard and Kitty Hutchinson ... Soaring Eagle Farms Highway 6, Abraham Oklahoma

Kitty Hutchinson's Animal Rescue ... Soaring Eagle Farms Highway 6, Abraham Oklahoma

Max searched a map and looked up Abraham Oklahoma.

"Fang, we could be there by lunch tomorrow..."

"What if its not them..."

She turned on him. He'd been so optimistic up until this point, so ready to follow every lead set before him, but now ... Now he looked afraid ... Green in the face, as if at any moment he was going to be sick.

"What if its not them and we show up and it isn't the right place and it isn't them," He was trembling, "I know they're dead but what if it isn't. What if its just some old people who don't know who the hell I am ... Who don't care ... I-I can't-" He turned to her and tears he didn't know were even on the way over flowed. "Max, I can't take it if it isn't them..."

She took the computer from him and closed it then closed her own and turned off the lamp. The only light in the whole room coming from the bathroom. She took his hand and led him across the room then sank to the floor on the blanket she's spread out for herself. "Sit."

He eased himself to the floor beside her, barely an inch between them, and hugged himself, resting his chin on his knees.

Max sighed and put a hand on his back, gently rubbing between his wings, careful not to press to hard on his left. It seemed to relax him because he didn't protest when she pulled him to her, tucking his head under her chin as she'd done Angel's and Gasman's for years.

He remained stiff at first, but his arms snaked around her and he let out a shuddering breath, "I don't know what's wrong with me ... Its like since I got that stupid letter I lost all control I ever had over myself."

She could barely hear him but she refrained from speaking because it wasn't every day Fang said anything about what he was feeling. Sometimes she wondered if he even had feelings...

"I don't like feeling like this ... I hate it," He gave her a little squeeze to punctuate exactly how angry it made him, to feel in any way helpless.

She just kept running her fingers through his hair, feeling his closeness and relishing in it.

She knew what he was talking about, ever since Aaron had touched her arm in that diner she had been unashamed to tell herself that she likeloved Fang. And for some reason, seeing him like this made that feeling stronger ... And she wanted to share it, to tell him that it was all OK that she would be there even if it wasn't them, she'd love him no matter what.

But she stayed silent because she knew the last thing he needed was her confessing her true feelings toward him. He needed someone strong, someone fearless. She laughed to herself, Fang needed a Fang...

So, she decided she would be what he needed. She would be strong, she would be silent and let him say what he was feeling without worrying about what she would say ... Even though Fang would have sneered and made sarcastic remarks at her if their situations were reversed... Fang would have given his head a little shake so his hair would fall into his eyes and he would have kissed her so she would shut-up and relax...

She slipped a finger under his chin and lifted his head.

They stared at each other for a few breathless seconds ... His eyes looked a little glassy from the tears and the little hairs on his chin tickled her finger.

She kissed him gently and he shuddered in surprise.

Max leaned back, searching his eyes. He shuddered again and licked his lips but he didn't look away.

She thought she saw something dark swim into his eyes, like a shadow but dismissed it as a trick of the light and the moisture in his eyes.

"I'll take the watch ... You get some sleep and don't worry about it, we'll find what we find."

He didn't nod, in fact he didn't move. She stood and went back to the chair she'd been sitting in and reopened her computer.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw him lift his fingers to his lips and glance at her, his eyes curious, but she made no indication that she saw.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 42; Kitty

He didn't speak to her at all the next morning. To tell the truth, he didn't even let her catch him looking at her, which he loved to do because she would then give him that 'What are you looking at?' expression. He packed his things, and double checked the address then stayed in back of them when they walked into the lobby, taking full advantage of the 'Free Coffee and Donuts' offered to all patrons up before 9 AM. The hotel would rue that sign before eight thirty.

They checked out of the hotel and walked nearly half a mile down the road to a vacant lot to take off.

They started on a south western heading and, just as Max predicted flew over the town of Abraham at 11:35. Since they didn't really know WHERE Soaring Eagle Farms was they followed the tiny little black line of Highway 6.

About seven miles from Abraham was quite a large farm, on which was sat an old fashioned white farmhouse, a stereotypical red barn and a newer looking building the size of a small Wal-Mart.

There were acres of green field on which horses and cows roamed, and as they watched a brand new green truck pulled out of the Mini-Wal-Mart building drove toward the house a big baying dog in the back.

Fang stared as the truck stopped and out climbed a woman… A woman with long light brown hair and a slight limp. A jolt ran through him, as if he'd been shocked and for the first time since he was learning to fly, Fang forgot to flap.

He dropped straight down, spinning slightly for almost a full hundred feet before he straightened his wings and realized Max was screaming at him.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THE MATTER WITH YOU!" She saw the dazed look in his eyes and shook her head then angled herself downward. "Land behind the barn."

Fang hung in the air for a few seconds, watching Max, and the others shoot downward then do a small circle and land. He heard someone beside him and turned his head.

Aaron was looking very nervous. "There's nothing to land in … I could be injured!"

Fang sighed, "You scared too?"

Aaron twisted his hands and nodded, "Yeah … Did you see the woman get out of the truck?"

He nodded.

Aaron shuddered and sat his jaw. "If I break my neck I'm coming back to haunt you," And he zipped downward followed closely behind by Fang.

Unlike he believed he would do, Aaron did not face plant behind the barn, he tried to land in a run, tripped and fell, scraping his hands open and tearing his jeans in both knees.

"Aaron, are you part albatross or something?" Iggy said quirking an eyebrow.

Ella giggled.

Aaron was less amused and gave Iggy the backward peace sign again.

"What's that?" Ella said making the same gesture back at Aaron.

"Same as that," Aaron flipped her the bird, "Just the proper English version."

Ella poked her tongue out at him and finger combed her hair to straighten it.

Nudge brushed dust from her expensive jeans and took Aaron's hand inspecting his bleeding palm, then she pressed her cheek against his shoulder. "Poor Mr. Albatross!"

"Okay, on we go!" Max said tucking in her wings. She walked hesitantly around the open front of the barn, peeking in to make sure no one was watching them. When she was sure no one was there she twitched her hand to let everyone know it was safe.

The big white dog leapt out of the truck and ran at them barking loudly, making loud, "Bawl-row-rowser" kind of noises.

"Duncan! Hush!" A man growled and jogged around the other side of the barn. He took one look at Max and the group behind her and did a beautiful stumbling double take his big green eyes sweeping them then honing themselves on Fang and Aaron.

"Holy SHIT!" He screamed and politely sat himself down in the dirt beside the still barking dog.

"Allan? Allan, what is it?" The woman stepped onto the porch and stared her brown eyes widening to practically the size of dinner plates.

Fang trembled as he stared at the woman…

She stepped forward slowly a hand creeping to her mouth…

"M-Mum?" Aaron's voice shook slightly and his eyes welled with tears.

Allan dove to his feet and grabbed them, wrapping his arms around their necks pulling them against his chest and bursting into deep wracking sobs. "I can't believe it! I can't believe you actually came here!"

Max's jaw hit her chest and she gaped at the woman on the steps. The woman who was staring at them as if something were terribly inappropriate about their existence … something dirty.

Max turned her head and watched Allan hugging Fang and Aaron as if they were his own sons, but then she noticed something … Something very wrong with the picture.

Fang shoved off from Allan, took one stumbling step back threw out his hands, spinning completely around, then fell over like a tree.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Be gentle with him … Oh, God, be gentle with him!" Aaron shrieked.

"Jesus, he doesn't weigh much does he?"

"What's wrong with him?" Aaron said.

Fang pried his eyes open and stared around. Everything looked very funny upside down and he wanted to laugh at how absurd the world was, but something didn't feel right. He felt, to put it lightly, like hell.

Every muscle in his body ached, his wings hurt … Even his eyes hurt.

He saw her out f the corner of his eye and reached weakly for her, he wanted to touch her, to assure himself that she was real, that she wasn't a figment of his imagination.

She jerked away from him and scowled.

Allan looked over his shoulder, "The rest of you come in and take a seat," He gently lie Fang down on a large, extremely soft sofa and rushed into a small adjoining kitchen, taking down a glass from a freestanding white cupboard.

"What is wrong with him?" Max sounded pissed.

Allan filled the glass with water then walked forward as if he intended to deliver the water to Fang himself, then he hesitated, handed it to Aaron and turned away.

The woman sat heavily on a straight back chair and cupping her forehead.

"Sit up and drink this, Nicky … Slowly, last thing I need is to be vomited on."

Aaron seemed eerily calm … Almost disappointed and he wouldn't look at the woman sitting just behind him.

Max was perplexed. Why was Aaron not paying attention to his mother? Why was he ignoring her? She was alive and sitting right there … Wasn't she?

Fang choked and was nearly sick but managed to cough the water out again and sit up.

Allan cocked his hip on the back of the sofa and rubbed his neck. "Feeling better?"

Fang nodded but didn't take his eyes off the woman. His hands twitched feebly and Max could tell just by the way he was sitting that he wanted to jump across the room and crush the woman in a hug, possibly even bawl his bottomless blue eyes out.

The woman sighed and wiped her eyes then stared directly into Fang's and shattered his world.

"I'm not your mother, so stop looking at me like that…"

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 43; Truth, Again

"Is that anyway to tell him!" Allan said loudly and turned on the woman his eyes narrowed. "I mean, JESUS!"

Fang's body shook and his shoulders sagged. His lip trembled and he made a strained noise in his throat, his eyes filling. "You look-"

The woman shook her head and spoke over him, "I'm not your mother. My name is Amy Howard … And it's my second you're after, not me. I am NOT your mother."

Fang just stared at her, that same, lost expression on his face.

Aaron spoke, "Second?"

Amy stood and peeled off her over shirt dragging her hair to one side so they could see her back … And the two tiny little hand sized black wings protruding from her shoulders. "I'm a good ten years older than your mother … When I didn't turn out right they tried again because they wanted my DNA for something. But they kept me alive … I'm not sure why though. I escaped two years ago when our transport truck crashed."

"So genetically you are his mother?" Iggy said staring at the tiny wings on the woman's back and wondering why they were so small.

The woman pulled on her shirt as if the miniature wings on her back were a great embarrassment, "Genetically, yes … But NO, I am NOT their mother and I never will be. Its bad enough that I have to be so ugly, I don't know what I'd do if I had to have freakish kids."

Fang's hands tangled in his hair and he bowed his head his chin nearly touching his knees. He wanted to hurt something ... He wanted to break something … breaking something would feel so good right now, watching destruction … The power of knowing he was causing something like that to happen, causing something to feel the same pain he was…

But he remained still, gulping in lungful after lungful of air his teeth ground together so tightly his head hurt. A deep, permeating heat building in his chest…

Max was on her feet, her finger pressed to the end of Amy Howard's nose eyes narrowed and burning;

"Freak? Let me tell you something lady, Fang and Aaron are not freaks, you are freakish … Who the hell do you think you are calling US names when you have inky-dinky wings of your own … You think you're so great. So powerful because you're older than him, because you can 'control' him … Because you have information that you think can HURT him. Well, lady, you can't control me! And guess what?" Max snapped out her wings, towering over the woman like some kind of vengeful pagan goddess, all her feathers on end, "I don't need information to hurt you!"

The woman trembled, "Get out … All of you FREAKS get OUT!" And she pointed at the door.

Fang jumped to his feet, rushing out the door followed by Aaron calling his name, begging him to stop.

Max growled and stalked out, feeling murderous … But Ella stayed, her arms crossed over her chest, "You're the freak, lady … You're the first person I've met who doesn't have a soul." And she rushed after Iggy, who swept her into his arms and was air born.

Allan ran out of the house after them screaming, "WAIT! GUYS WAIT, I NEED TO TALK TO YOU, IT'S IMPORTANT!"

Max swooped over him, her arms crossed glaring angrily. "Then say it, we never should have come here, in the first place."

Allan stared up at Fang's back, tears rolling down his face. "Please, stay … I haven't seen you in so long."

Fang's body stiffened and Max watched as he seemed to shrink in on himself, his back still to the man, black wings beating to keep him aloft.

Aaron turned on Allan, scowling, venom flying with each word, "What the hell is the matter with you … Having that bloody WOMAN about?"

Allan hung his head for a moment then looked up his dark blonde hair mussed and sticking up in the front. "She has nowhere else to go … I had to do something. Please, PLEASE stay!"

Fang rubbed the heel of his hand over his eyes.

Allan shook his head and motioned to the barn. "We can talk in there and SHE won't come out."

Aaron laid a hand on Fang's foot, the nearest part of his brother he could reach, "Come on, Nick … Let's at least hear what the man has to say."

Fang hesitated, wanting desperately to fly … To never come down again. What was the point? But at the same time, that little voice of reason Aaron implanted in him every time his brother touched him wore his doubt and fear down. It was that WOMAN who he was mad at, not Allan. Allan hadn't done anything hate worthy except welcome HER into the house…

He glanced over his shoulder at Allan and sighed, his body visibly relaxing. He nodded and angled himself toward the barn, landing just inside the open double doors. He didn't pull his wings in, but stood there with them out, hugging himself.

Aaron swooped in and crashed into a stack of hay bales beside a tarp-covered piece of equipment. He tumbled out and scrambled to his feet, brushing hay from his hair and the oversized jacket he'd borrowed from Fang.

Nudge walked toward him wringing her hands her lip between her teeth. "Remind me to teach you to land, you're really going to hurt yourself one of these days, Mr. Albatross."

Aaron rolled his eyes and walked to Fang, standing beside him and looking tough, even though he was a good foot shorter than the dark haired boy.

Allan rubbed his hands together, looking as if he wanted to fling himself at them and crush them in another hug. He shook his head and walked past, motioning that they should follow him farther into the barn.

"I have some of your parents' things back here. I couldn't keep them in the house because … Well, I didn't know who would be coming to look for them," He unceremoniously threw a few five gallon buckets off of a rather large antique trunk and dug an equally antique looking key from his pocket.

Max expected the contents of the trunk to be packed in mothballs and dust, but instead everything was sealed away in vacuum bags. Most of it was clothes, a few odds and ends. A picture or two and another envelope with a black wing drawn on it.

To her surprise, the first thing Fang took from its vacuum bag was a soft blue sweater that upon closer inspection was not made for boys. He rubbed the fabric between his fingers then pressed it to his face, inhaling deeply, his eyes closing.

Raspberries… His mother had smelled like raspberries…

"You boys can have anything out of here you want, its yours by right…" Allan rested his hip on a saddle that was draped over a sawhorse.

Fang handed the sweater to Aaron, who smelled it also then slipped it back into the vacuum bag and laid it carefully aside.

"What's this?" Aaron held up the bag containing the pictures.

Allan smiled, "Those are your parents' wedding pictures. Bernie used to have them in a big album but-"

Fang tore his backpack from his shoulders and yanked the album from inside.

Allan laughed, "That's it, God, I haven't seen that thing in years … I think there's also some-"

Aaron gave a little cry and his white feathers stood on end. "I WAS YELLOW!"

Everyone crowded around and stared down at the picture. Two little babies were lying on their stomach's asleep. Both about the same size, but both with tiny down covered wings.

The baby on the right had bright yellow wings, much like a baby chicken, while the other baby's wings were a soft gray.

"Oh, wow!" Nudge said, "They were babies!"

She made a high pitched 'awwww!' sound and Max was tempted to elbow her.

Allan laughed, "I thought that one was in there."

Fang looked at Allan, his face slack, "How old were we when the white-coats got us?"

"Three months … And when I found out what Kathy had done I…" He grew quiet.

"Kathy?" Aaron turned to him also, the picture dropping to his lap.

Allan sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Kathy was your aunt … She died about a year ago of pneumonia … She … She drugged Bernie and Kitty and stole you."

Fang's fingers tightened on the photo album until Max was sure he was going to rip it.

"I'm not going to make any excuses for her, she was stupid for doing it and none of them spoke to her again afterward. Your grandpa even cut her out of his will."

Angel was creeping toward the trunk, staring down into it. "So, do you have any kids?"

Allan was taken aback, "No … I had an accident when I was a boy … I'll never have kids of my own."

The screen door slammed and Max watched as Amy Howard stormed out of the house her arms crossed over her chest, a smug grin on her face, "Duncan!"

The dog loped over and climbed into the back of the truck wagging his tail. Amy glanced up at Max and gave her a scathing, 'I'll get you my pretties' kind of look, then climbed into the truck and drove away.

"She won't be back," Allan called. "Not today anyway. I only let her stay here because she's not got anywhere else to go … She's kind of snotty if you ask me…" He wrinkled his nose, "Nothing like your mother…"

Max nodded, but something bothered her. Why had that woman been grinning when she left the house? Why had she been smiling?

The fistful of photos were placed gently into the picture book and Fang put the album lovingly into his pack. "Angel, would you hand me that envelope?"

The girl seemed to be more interested with something still in the trunk because she didn't even look at him when she handed the envelope over.

Inside was another ten-thousand dollars in cash, "Was our dad like rich or something?"

Allan grinned, "When your grandpa died he left all his money to Bernie and Kitty and he left me this place, which was a big shocker. But I didn't feel right about it, I promised to keep it safe for Kitty and Bernie, then stayed on like a grounds keeper while they were away," He pointed over his shoulder at a large canvas tarp spread over something Fang had suspected was farming equipment.

"You boys were born in that truck."

Aaron was on his feet, pulling the tarp off the truck. It was an old thing, red and rusted in places with a dented hood and a broken headlight.

Fang laughed out loud. For some reason he could picture it.

"Your father loved the color red," Allan chuckled then leaned over and pulled another vacuum bag out of the locker. He tossed the bag to Aaron with a grin.

"That might fit you better than the jacket you've got on … It was your dad's about the time he was your age. He wore that thing all the time."

It was a red jacket, which taking Allan's last statement into account, made perfect sense. It was terribly out of fashion but Aaron put it on anyway, feeling somehow closer to his father than he ever had been before.

Angel fell headfirst into the trunk with a short gasp.

"Angel!" Max shrieked and dove at her, "Angel, what are you doing?" She grabbed the girl around the waist and hoisted her out.

Allan laughed when he saw what was in Angel's arms. "That was Bernie's when he was a kid, I'd forgotten I'd put that thing in there!"

"David would love this!" Angel said enthusiastically, "Then I can have Celeste back," She shook the plush dog at Max and grinned.

"Listen, you guys can stick around here if you want, I was just about to go get lunch."

"Lunch?" Nudge said a grin spreading across her face.

"I am getting kind of hungry, Iggy," Ella said, reclining against him.

Iggy merely grinned, his hands on her knees.

Gasman was standing off by himself, his arms crossed over his chest looking out across the yard at the horses near the fence. He had tears in his blue eyes and when Max called to him he simply ignored her.

"What's his name?" Allan whispered to Max.

"Ga-Zephyr…"

Iggy chuckled, "Okay, first its FNick, now GZephyr?" Max sent him a scathing look glad he could now see what a scathing look was. He fell quiet.

Allan nodded and stood, "Zephyr, why don't you come with me and we'll go get lunch."

Gasman looked over his shoulder at Angel, who shrugged with a grin.

The blonde boy nodded and shuffled forward his head down.

Allan drove a rag-top Jeep with no doors. It was dented and scratched and had mud caked in the wheels. Gasman saw the jeep and thought automatically that it was the coolest car he'd ever seen, but he didn't say anything.

"You OK, Kid?" Allan said as they pulled onto the road.

Gasman nodded, but tears unexpectedly flooded his eyes and he slapped them away with a growl. Angel had said he could trust this man, but how much could he trust Fang's uncle with?

"Are you mad?"

Gazzy nodded, "Yeah," He growled … Then he couldn't stop talking.

"Nick didn't even want to find his parents a month ago … Now not only does he have parents that loved him. That wanted him. But, he's got pictures of them, baby pictures, brothers AND an uncle.

"Even Iggy and Nudge have someone … Iggy's got Ella and Nudge has Aaron and who have I got? No one. I don't have anyone…

"Yeah, I've got a sister, and I love her … But, WE don't have anyone. We don't have parents that want us … They sold us to the stupid Whitecoats … They didn't love us, they didn't care. They SOLD us. I just feel so-" He dissolved into tears and Allan pulled the Jeep onto the side of the road.

Gasman wondered what on earth the man was doing when suddenly he was pulled into a tight hug. It startled him, but he didn't fight, Angel had said he could trust Allan.

"I know how hard that is, kid … Feeling like no one wants you … When I was a boy my parents took off and left me with Bernie's folks … I've only seen them twice since and they didn't even recognize me. And that hurt … My own parents didn't even recognize me."

Gasman looked up at Allan's face, "You-you and Fang's dad aren't brothers?"

"No … We're not related at all. But when we were growing up I was always so jealous of him. His parents were actually around, actually wanted him. Mine were never there and when they left me the last time they stopped being my parents and became strangers who just so happened to share my blood … I was really angry but Bernie's mom pulled me aside and told me that a family doesn't have to be blood. A family is people who care about each other enough to be there through thick and thin."

Gasman fell quiet his arms still wrapped around Allan. He felt a little better, not great, but better.

It was nice to be hugged … To be loved.

"So … How about lunch, huh?" Allan said a few minutes later, releasing the boy, them rubbing his hand over Gazzy's hair, mussing it even more than it already was.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"What are we going to do about the girls clothes? Neither of us wear girls clothes," Aaron said holding up a pair of girls jeans. Staring at the little designs that had been drawn all over them in permanent ink.

Little wings like on the envelope, interlocking rings, clouds, crescent moons and stars. Dogs, airplanes, little stick figures and sailboats, hamburgers and clocks.

Fang smiled. Those were his mother's jeans … To him they held a kind of mystical power. They were holy relics, size eight.

But what good would they do shoved in the bottom of a pack taking up room when no one could use them. They might as well be packed away and never looked at again…

"What size jeans does Nudge wear?"

"Tens … She's got a fantastic arse," He whispered this last so Max wouldn't hear.

Fang grinned and turned his head to make sure Max wasn't listening…

She was standing in the door her hands on her hips watching storm clouds start rolling in over the fields the long primary feathers on her wings trembling slightly in the suddenly chilled wind blowing into the barn.

There was a screeching mechanical noise and Iggy laughed from where he and Ella sat in the truck. He twisted a knob and the radio became louder.

"See the stone set in your eyes. See the thorn twist in your side … I will wait, for you … Sleight of hand and twist of fate, on a bed of nails she makes me wait … And I wait, without you … With or without you, with or without you…"

Iggy giggled, "There's an old U2 cassette stuck in here," He pecked on the dashboard a few times, climbed quickly from the truck bringing Ella with him and they started dancing across the floor, shuffling steps arms around each other.

Ella giggled and leaned her head against Iggy's chest. "You are SO taking me to prom, got it?"

"Yes, dear…"

"Through the storm, we reach the shore. You gave it all, but I want more, and I'm waiting for you. With or without you. With or without you … I can't live, with or without you."

"Aw … I wanna dance!" Nudge whined under her breath and pouted at Aaron.

Aaron rolled his eyes and climbed to his feet, dusting off the seat of his pants and taking her hands, "I've never danced before, just a warning."

"You just put your hands on my waist and rock back and forth … Yeah, like that," Nudge grinned at Max and clasped her hands behind Aaron's head. "OUCH! Don't step on my toes."

Fang watched them for a moment a smile on his face then his eyes strayed across the barn to Max … She was looking at him, lips parted hair blown by the wind arms hanging to her sides.

He thought she looked very … 'Max', like that… Standing there, facing down a storm with a ferociously determined look in her eyes…

"My hands are tied, my body bruised. She's got me with nothing to win, but nothing left to loose."

Why was he staring at her like that? With that … expressionless expression on his face? That deep, hunger … That very falcon-ish look like she'd seen in Pale Male's eyes a few days before … And years before when they'd flown together…

The song ended and Fang blinked rapidly then turned away, unable to look at her anymore. He didn't even like U2 that much … They were a little too mushy for his taste … But… Well, he couldn't deny that the words had feeling. Just not the KIND of feelings he particularly enjoyed…

The jeep Allan and Gasman had driven off in about an hour before came back and they climbed out grinning. "There's a big storm coming … But we got pizzas, tacos, chicken and spaghetti and meatballs."

Iggy's head snapped up, "Spaghetti and meatballs?"

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 44; Dissolve

The 'big storm' turned out to be bigger than expected and together Fang and Aaron carried the trunk of their parents things into the farmhouse where everyone else was eating.

Iggy devoured the entire family sized spaghetti and meatball dinner Allan had brought, then reclined on the couch with his head on Ella's stomach. He had a contented smile on his face and Ella was running her hands through his red hair, every so often braiding a few locks then combing it straight again with her fingers before he figured out what she was doing.

Allan had made it into Nudge's Favorite People book by buying a vegetable pizza entirely for her, because she was a 'vegetarian'.

"You kids are welcome to stay the night if you want there are four bedrooms upstairs mine is down here. The bathroom is just to the left of the kitchen there," He pointed, "I've got to go get the animals in, so … Make yourselves at home."

"Can I come?" Gasman said jumping out of the chair he'd been slouched in.

"I don't see why not," He smiled and disappeared outside with Gasman behind him. They climbed back into the jeep and drove around the house.

"You want to drive, Zephyr?" Allan grinned.

Gasman's eyes went wide. "Really? Can I?"

"I have to open and shut the gate, this thing is automatic, so all you have to do is wait until I give you the signal then slowly push on the gas to make it go forward … That one there is the gas, that one is the brake. Got it?"

"Got it!" Gasman grinned broadly and positioned himself behind the wheel, the safety belt snapped firmly over his hips.

Allan opened the gate and stepped clear, "Okay, slowly."

The jeep bounced and jerked forward through the gate then slid a little on the grass when Gazzy slammed both feet on the brake. "That was so cool! I drove!"

Allan shut the gate and ran up, climbing into the passenger seat, "Now all we have to do is drive around and look for the horses."

"What about the cows?"

"The cows came in already, they don't like the storms much … AH! There they are!" He pointed, "Just stop here and I'll go get them."

Gasman was getting wet sitting there in a Jeep with no doors, but he could drive! Max would go crazy!

Allan was waving his arms at the horses and they were running around nickering and rearing onto their back legs. "Go on! Get your butts back to the barn before you get hit by lightning!"

The horses slowly dispersed and galloped off toward the gate.

Allan climbed dripping back into the Jeep and instructed The Gasman on how to turn around.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Oh, My GOD! Max, Gazzy's driving!" Angel said loudly, her face pressed to the window.

Max ran over and soon found herself squished to the glass by three other bodies. Iggy and Ella were curled on the couch asleep and didn't move.

Allan chased three big horses into the Mini-Wal-Mart building and came back out a few minutes later shutting the big double doors. He leapt into the Jeep and Gasman pulled it expertly beside the porch and parked it.

A few seconds later they both ran in laughing. "He's a pretty good driver!" Allan declared and mussed Gazzy's sopping wet blonde hair.

Max rolled her eyes and searched out a change of clothes for the Gasman. He rubbed his forearm across his nose and dashed into the bathroom to shower and change.

Allan sat down at the table and rubbed his face with a hand towel. "I can show you guys the church where your parents were married after this storm blows over."

Max gave Fang a sideways glance but he was too engrossed in that mysterious black notebook he'd bought in New York.

She walked over and tried to get a look at what he was writing but he hid the pages from her and gave her a 'Can I help you?' kind of look.

"What are you writing?"

He shrugged, "A romance novel."

Max rolled her eyes, "You're a pig, you know that?"

He grinned and turned to Allan, "You know a lot about our parents?"

Allan nodded, "I know how they met and most of what happened between then and when they were married, then they disappeared for a while and came back with you two."

Max turned and sat on the arm of the chair Fang was seated in.

Allan smiled, "Your father, Clark Donovan and I were walking home from school when we hear these dogs going crazy in the lot where the Mullens Place used to be. It's a big fenced off field with a dilapidated house on it. Local haunt for all the horny teenagers of Abraham … Well, your dad was the first one to hear the screams and he climbed over that fence and took off. Clark and I followed him and there were these big wolf-things jumping into a tree after this girl.

"She wasn't wearing much more than a hospital gown and she had these cuts and scrapes all over her.

"Well, we started throwing rocks at those wolf-things and two of them came after us. So we climbed up in another tree beside the one the girl was in. Your dad, he was always the fearless type, jumped across from our tree to hers and then this van showed up and these guys came out. There was a blonde woman who looked a lot like your friend there," He pointed to Max, "And a guy with dark hair and a German."

Max shivered. She knew exactly who Allan was talking about … The Director, Ter Borcht and Jeb.

"The blonde and the German didn't want to go over the fence so the little dark haired man clambered over and walked up his hands raised to the wolf-things, and he talked to them … And they listened. He looked up into the tree and I know he saw the girl, but he also saw your dad.

"The guy gave a kind of shiver and shouted over his shoulder, 'Its just a bunch of boys, its not her.' And he called to the wolf-things again and they took off, jumping clear over that fence and climbing into that van.

"I remember I saw that man make a 'shush' sign to me as the van pulled away."

Max reeled. Jeb hadn't turned her in? He had called off the wolf-things, which she suspected were Pre-Erasers, some kind of wolf with a semi-human mind perhaps.

She wondered absently when they'd come up with Erasers, the ones that could morph.

"Well, we finally got her out of the tree and Clark was the first one to notice she had wings. He kind of went into shock … You see, when his father died Clark lost his faith, but when he saw your mother that day he dropped to his knees and said that he knew what he had to do, he said he knew he was supposed to be a priest. Something about asking God to show him an angel and he'd know.

"He went home and told his mother he wanted to be a priest," Allan laughed in his throat tears in his eyes.

"Your dad and I brought her home with us and his mom cleaned her up-"

"Wait," Fang said softly, "'His mom'?"

Allan nodded, "You and I aren't related, my parents left me here with Bernie's mom when I was little and never came back. But your dad and grandpa claimed me as part of the family, so for what that's worth I'm still your uncle."

Fang sighed and seemed to shrug, although he didn't really move.

"But, back to my story … Those wolf-things came back a few weeks later and Bernie and Kitty ran all the way from the house to the church about two miles west from here.

"Bernie got bitten pretty bad and your mom lost a few feathers when one of those things jumped at her.

"We didn't know what had happened to them until we got a call from the preacher saying that Bernie and Kitty were safe but in hiding … They took off in the night on the same bus Clark Donovan took to Seminary School."

Fang remembered the wedding picture he'd slipped into the front of the photo album.

A boy who looked nearly identical to Fang was standing in front of a girl, barely two inches shorter than him, her round pregnant belly rubbing against his stomach, their eyes locked, both smiling as if they didn't know the meaning of the words sadness, or fear.

"Three months later they showed up and she was pregnant with you two. She wore your grandmother's wedding dress and two days later those wolf-things came back and they left in that truck…" Allan sighed, "I always thought of them as Bonnie and Clyde for some reason. Outlaws but in such a wild kind of love that not even wolves could stop them."

Fang's eyes kind of glazed over and his hands twitched on his notebook.

"Then four months later they stopped by on their way to visit Kathy… That was the first and last time I saw you boys until now … We tried everything to find you … Clark sent us a picture from the Post about four years ago, taken in The Garden Tavern-"

Max laughed out loud and turned to Fang, "Here I was so worried about that but if it hadn't happened…"

Fang smiled and covered his face.

Aaron chuckled nervously, having no idea what was going on and Angel smiled proudly.

Allan rolled his eyes, "It was the photo where one of you had just bounced what looked like a roll off a guy's head."

Nudge roared and doubled over her arms around her stomach.

Gasman came out of the shower then rubbing his head with a towel his wings out. "What's so funny?"

"Remember the Garden Tavern Incident?"

Gasman nodded timidly.

Max grinned, "If that hadn't happened Fang's dad never would have found him."

Allan shook his head and continued, "I saw that picture and I knew. I sent a copy of it to Bernie and we sent Clark off to look for you. But he couldn't find you … Then about six months later you showed up again in Maryland, we saw your pictures flying over some kind of school and we took off for Maryland.

"That's where I stumbled across your BLOG."

Fang looked at Max a wide cocky grin on his face, "I told you that starting that BLOG was a good idea."

Iggy grunted in his sleep and mumbled something about, "Mushrooms, my precious."

Angel giggled at him and Ella and turned back to Allan.

"You mentioned Itexicon in your posts and I started looking. Not long after that we got in touch with a young man named Aaron Bond whose mother worked for the London branch of the Institute and he stole files from her, which led us to Aaron and David within a week.

"I met with a woman named Maria and got identification set up for David but before we could do anything for Aaron, Maria and I were arrested for 'suspicion of mischief' and thrown in jail.

"They searched us but couldn't find anything to charge us with and your father posted our bail and sent me home so I wouldn't get into trouble if something went wrong and he had to send David and Aaron to me.

"I got a phone call from him about a year ago, he said that when you boys showed up I was to tell you everything."

Fang shifted and let out a sigh. When, not If…

"Then he told me that everything he knew was happening was 'hidden under our hats' … I don't know what the hell he was talking about. He sounded like his dad to tell you the truth-"

Aaron sat up, his hands going to Fang's bag, pulling out the big photo album. He opened it to the first page and a grin spread over his face, "Under our hats," He pointed to a picture.

It was a photo taken of three baseball caps, one black, one white and one brown lined up on the steps of an old dilapidated house and lying on the step below the hats was a single midnight black feather.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

It wasn't raining any longer, but ominous black clouds hung low over the horizon.

Allan was in front, driving his jeep, Gasman, Iggy, Ella and Angel with him. Aaron was driving the old red truck, Nudge, Max and Fang crammed into the cab with him.

The Old Mullins place was exactly like Allan remembered it, the roof had practically collapsed but the steps were the same. The road was deserted so Allan parked the jeep beside the ditch and climbed over the fence.

Fang and Aaron passed out the shovels and a few pick-axes and they fluttered over the fence.

Aaron stumbled on his landing beside Fang holding the shovel tightly but Fang threw out his arm to keep him from falling. "Bend your knees a little when you land … You're too stiff."

Allan and Iggy literally pulled the steps off the porch and threw them then attacked the ground with shovels, slopping the muddy soil aside.

It was messy business and Nudge was glad she'd changed out of her expensive jeans and back into a pair she wasn't afraid to get dirty.

They piled the mud high behind them, making a little mountain of dirt, rocks and the odd plant root.

Fang and Aaron dropped into the hole, which was now nearly six feet across and one deep. To Aaron it felt like they were digging for treasure long buried and extremely valuable. To Fang it felt like he was digging a grave…

Aaron pulled off his red jacket and handed it up to Nudge for safe keeping, wiping sweat out of his eyes despite the chilled air.

After a few more minutes of digging Fang pulled off his own jacket throwing it up for someone, he really didn't care who, to watch.

Max felt useless, watching Fang dig, watching Aaron dig … She couldn't do anything but stand there and watch like everyone else. Stand there like a Whitecoat and watch her experiments toil. Watch watch watch…

After nearly five feet of downward movement Max was beginning to wonder if there would ever be something in there … Or if they were wasting their time…

Fang must have been thinking the same thing because he lifted the shovel up and drove it point first into the ground his face contorted in rage.

The shovel hit something and the blade bent…

Aaron went still, his gray T-shirt stained with sweat and the drizzling rain that had started falling a few minutes earlier. "Bugger me … What is that!" He scraped some of the mud away with the side of his shovel and stared down … "It's a box…"

Fang dropped to his knees in the mud and scraped the soil away with both hands, "Its not a box … It's a safe!" And he started clawing at it, trying to pry it out of the ground…

Aaron fell into a crouch beside him, scooping at the mud also, smearing it across his forehead when he wiped at the sweat and rain that mingled there. After a few seconds he stood and took up the shovel, carving the wet earth away from the safe with urgent stomps and flicks.

This was it … This safe held the answers Fang had been looking for all his life… This safe was IT. He knew it, he could feel it. This safe held all his secrets, it held his dreams…

Aaron wedged the end of the shovel under the safe and put his weight on it, prying the great mud covered vault from the ground…

Fang leaned forward, and pushed his fingers in with the shovel, lifting with all his strength.

Aaron leaned all his weight on the shovel, his teeth ground together feet coming a good two inches off the ground. His arms hurt and as he watched Fang he saw his brother's arms, though caked with mud were trembling with the strain. And his face was grim, his lips pressed together so tightly the flesh around them was as white as Aaron's wings…

The safe lurched and a wet squelching sound came from the earth as the vault came free of its dirt prison.

Aaron and the shovel fell to the ground, Aaron gasping for breath. Fang rocked backward and sat in the mud panting, the little safe clutched to his chest.

Everything was still for three seconds then thunder rolled in the distance and it started raining again, large wet drops pounding down on them, rinsing the mud from their faces and filling the hole turned pit with chocolate colored water…

Fang tilted his head back and let the rain fall on his lips and for the first time in the month since he'd gotten the letter from his father he felt at peace…

Aaron slowly climbed to his feet, hands on his knees staring into Fang's face. "You alright?"

Fang nodded but didn't open his eyes. He just sat there in the mud smiling and letting his arms rest. Letting the feeling return to his hands and fingers … When he finally did open his eyes the first face he saw was Max's looming out at him in the semi darkness.

He clambered to his feet and with Aaron's help hefted the vault out of the pit then pulled himself out. Aaron pushed himself up with shaking arms and they dragged the safe into the shelter of a nearby tree. The same tree, Fang realized, that their mother must have climbed years ago…

"It has a combination … Look at that, it still works…" Aaron said scraping the mud away from the little knob. "Only a flood would have gotten the ground wet enough to get to this thing … Or a couple of bird-children with spades." He twisted the knob twice then looked up at Fang, "What's the combination?"

Numbers…

"Three, nineteen, eleven."

Max looked down at him suspiciously, "Eleven?"

"Two ones."

Max rolled her eyes.

Aaron twisted his hands, "I'm shaking too badly, someone else do it."

Iggy rolled his eyes and knelt beside Fang his hands going to the knob. He leaned close so he could see the color of the numbers then started twisting away, his tongue poking out of his mouth.

Iggy grasped the handle and gave it a tug.

The safe swung open…

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

(I just realized I'd left a mistake in this chapter, it's fixed now, so you might want to re-read it.)

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 45; Broken

Angel clicked on a flashlight and shined it into the safe.

There was a single plastic bag duct taped shut with what looked like merely ten pieces of paper inside. On the front page were drawn three wings in a circle; a white one with a slash of black on the tip, a light brown one, and a black one.

Aaron stifled a sob, "That's us ... That's us..."

Fang pulled the plastic bag out and started to open it but stared at the rain, knowing that if he did open it here all the pages would be ruined.

As he held it a heat began to build in his chest ... This was it...

Thunder rolled, this time closer and Allan shifted on his feet, "We should head back before it gets any worse ... Is there anything else in the safe guys?"

Nudge leaned down and peered inside, pressing her hand to it for a moment before shaking her head. "No, nothing else."

They hurried back to the truck and crowded inside, muddy, shivering and exhausted.

Aaron followed the Jeep's taillights back, his mind elsewhere.

It was utterly dark outside by the time Max rushed through a near arctic shower and dressed. She had a towel tied around her head and was barefooted when she came out, rushing across the living room into the kitchen where everyone else was waiting.

"Did I miss anything?" She snuffed and rubbed her nose taking a seat at the large table.

Fang shook his head and ripped into the plastic bag, unable to wait any longer.

He lie the first page aside and stared at the header on the second.

Genotexicon, Parent Company of Itexicon Laboratories, Angotexicon Industries, Phoenotexicon Laboratories...

"Wow, that's a mouthful," Nudge whispered.

Fang read in silence, Max reading over his shoulder. She finished the page before him and snatched up the next her eyes wide.

"Come on you guys what's going on? What does it say?"

Max licked her lips but never lifted her eyes from the page, "This is from the Director ... Its how they're going to do it ... How they plan to end the world..."

"Well, how are they going to do it?"

Max shivered, "They're going to release a virus, and the only ones immune to it are them and the experiments they created."

"Like us?" Gasman said his fingers curling on the edge of the table.

Max shook her head. "No ... They've made something new... They mention that I kicked Omega's behind and they've mentioned his flaws, he can't focus on moving objects, he has a sensitive stomach and an allergy to salt...

"They've made a race of super kids they call The Immaculae ... They're super strong, like stronger than us ... They have eyes like ours and cat-reflexes ... The only problem with them is their temper and they've been described as, and I quote, 'Just plain creepy'..."

Fang shoved a page at Max, "Keywords ... A whole list of keywords, go get Jeb's computer!"

Max lunged away from the table and across the room, pulling the notebook computer from her bag and rushing back to the table.

There wasn't a 'whole list' it was three words. Alpha Gene ... Phoenotexicon ... Project Edge.

Search Results for Alpha Gene; 2

Project Profile, Subject; Sphinx

Project Profile, Subject; Omega

Max shivered and clicked on Sphinx's file, and came face to face with a picture of Amy Howard. At first Max thought it was Fang's mother, but then she saw the second photo, the photo of Amy's wings. And then at the bottom of the document highlighted in blue because she'd searched for it were the words IMPLATNED ALPHA GENE; DORMANT

Only on Omega's was the phrase, IMPLANTED ALPHA GENE; ACTIVE present.

She felt herself shiver, "Crap..."

"What?" Fang turned to her.

"I-I just found out who Alpha is."

"Who?"

She looked up and swallowed hard, "Amy Howard..."

His face went pale, "What?"

"She was 'Alpha Gene; Dormant'," She pointed to the screen.

"What does the Alpha Gene do?" Fang said trying to take the computer from her.

She pulled up a new search and typed in the word Angotexicon.

Search Results for Phoenotexicon; 1

Phoenotexicon Massacre

Max quickly skimmed the MEMO wondering what the words 'unfortunate accident while handling Project Edge.' Were all about.

When she searched Project Edge the same article popped up along with a Project Profile that held only two words, "Project Terminated".

"Okay, that only brought up more questions..." Max grumbled and shut the computer. She rubbed her forehead a moment. "But, at least we know what's happening, when its happening, and WHERE the REAL Snake's Head is..."

Fang nodded but Max's words still rang in his head, 'That only brought up more questions.'

(NOTE; This chapter was meant to be confusing, just keep it all in mind because it's very important.)

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 46; "By the pricking of my thumbs … Something wicked this way comes…"

Fang woke to a rather loud and close crash of thunder and sat up only to be plunged into complete and total darkness. Aaron mumbled in the bed next to him and sat up, rubbing his face. It was then that Fang became aware of a hideous noise

The horses, dogs, cats and cows in the big metal barn were making a horrible racket, screaming…

Fear tangled itself around Fang's heart and squeezed.

A light in the hall whipped his head left and he heard Allan's voice, "Everyone OK? Everyone alright?"

There were murmured 'Okays' and Max walked into the hall wearing only a mid-thigh length T-shirt with a frog on it. She scratched her head, "What was that noise?"

"Lightning must have hit the power pole outside, I'll get flashlights, you guys better stay put so you don't run over each other.

Then Iggy's voice rose above a whisper, "Oh, cool! I CAN see in the dark!"

Ella giggled, "Stop tickling me!"

Allan returned with a few flashlights and passed them out and a stray beam fell on Angel's ash-white face.

"Ange? Angel, what is it, sweetie?" Max said from her side.

Fang climbed out of bed and absently scratched himself, glad it was dark or Max might have seen him. "What's going on, Angel, are you OK?"

"T-the an-animals," She pawed at Max's arm her eyes wide.

Everyone went quiet listening to the horrible screaming coming from the barn, the high pitched, unholy wail of innocent animals in great pain.

Ella groaned, "The lights! OH MY GOD, THE LIGHTS!"

Angel's fingers bit into Max's arm and she turned her tear streaked pale face to Max and whispered three words in a low monotone, emotionless voice;

"They're very hungry…"

And the wall behind Fang exploded, sending him forward through the air, crashing into Aaron, who fell against the wall all the breath gone from his lungs.

Rain blew in, bringing with it a Wizard, void of its mask.

A flashlight's beam fell on it and Angel screamed her little hands clawing at the bloodcurdling sound escaping her lips as if it were a living thing.

The Wizard roared at Angel and the sound shook the walls, knocking pictures from their nails, its mouth flopping open.

Aaron gave a shout and tried to shove Fang off of him to protect his brother.

The Wizard's tongue shot forward like a bullet and wrapped itself around Max's arm, yanking her away from Angel with a revolted cry.

Fang lunged at her, grabbing her other hand and latching onto the doorframe with his free hand.

Max froze for three seconds, her fingers slipping in Fang's her brown eyes wide staring deeply into his and then she slipped free and the wizard caught her and was gone, leaving a thick trail of steam behind it where the rocket broom evaporated the rain.

Fang ran and leapt out of the now gaping hole in the side of the house and was in the air, flying after her screaming her name, but the Wizard was only a little yellow pinprick of flame in the distance.

"MAX!"

Aaron grabbed his foot and gave it a yank, "NOT THAT WAY YOU BLITHERING IDIOT! YOU'LL BE STRUCK BY LIGHTNING!"

Fang turned his head and starred at his brother in contempt his eyes reflecting the red of a lightning bolt as it hit the earth half a mile away. He nodded and they streaked downward back into the house.

Fang grabbed his bag and took off at a run, leaping down the entire flight steps and out the door followed closely by Aaron in a hastily donned pair of khakis carrying his and Fang's shoes in one hand his pack and truck keys in the other.

"You guys get HOME NOW!" Fang screamed as he slammed the truck door and Aaron planted both bare, muddy feet on the gas, shooting the truck forward through the gate and field, following the shrinking dot that was Max and the Wizard.

"Bloody hell, I HATE standards!" Aaron shrieked and shifted the trick into gear, jumping forward across the field and through the back fence heading north-north-west…

"They'll stop at dawn and we'll be able to catch up," Aaron said.

Fang had one hand on the ceiling to keep his head from banging into it at every bump and rut they hit. The other hand was clutching the safety belt to save himself a slit throat.

Max … They'd taken Max … His Max…

If they hurt her, I swear I will KILL THEM ALL! He ground his teeth together in rage and squeezed the safety belt so hard it cut into his hand. Heat began to build in his chest again.

Aaron grumbled beside him and rubbed his palm over the windshield to clear away the fog. "They knew it was her … Why didn't they come after me? Why didn't they come after ME?" He sniffed absently, "Do … Nicky, do you smell smoke?"

Fang gave his head a shake and sniffed at the dashboard noticing the smoky smell was coming from around the radio. He lifted his fist and slammed it down on the dash above the cassette player.

"SUNDAY, BLOODY SUNDAY!"

Aaron growled and punched the dashboard, "NOT NOW, BONO!" And the tape went quiet.

Fang suddenly grabbed his head his eyes squeezed closed and something flashed behind his eyes, stabbing down to his ankle. Cold … Wet … PAIN! And then it was gone, leaving him with a sickened fear in his stomach … And a suddenly deeper, more painful need to move straight ahead, to follow that Wizard.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Max clawed, kicked, scratched, punched and tried to bite the Wizard but he had her firmly around the waist, dangling her over the side of the broom into the wind her wings pinned under its arm.

A thick vulgar string of curses was dripping from her mouth but she didn't stop fighting, she even grabbed the broom handle and tried to turn the thing, attempting to crash the Wizard but it kept a firm hold and the trajectory didn't budge.

She chanced a glance over her shoulder and saw a single light bobbing around on the ground about two miles behind her and she realized it was the truck … It was Aaron's truck! Her courage doubled, Fang was coming. Fang was coming to help!

She continued to beat and punch and kick the Wizard, screaming and cursing all the while. She lashed out with her right foot and kicked the back of the broom.

HOT!

She shrieked and tried to pull her leg away but it kept burning even as she drew it up close to her. She'd touched the stupid flames!

Oh, God, it probably burned my leg off!

She didn't turn to look at her leg the pain was beginning to spread upward past her knee and down to her ankle, stabbing into her over and over and the cold ran kept falling, soaking her and stinging her leg.

Then the Wizard started diving and for half a second Max had the sensation she was weightless as the Wizard swooped low and slowed lifting Max over its head roaring and clicking in victory.

And then they were everywhere … Hundreds of them, seething around in some kind of knot on the ground mouths open hideous clicking gurgling sounds coming from them. They parted and Max saw a van.

The Wizard roared and threw her right into the back of the van. The last thing she saw before the van doors slammed shut was Amy Howard grinning like a demon amid the swarm of Wizards…

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Aaron had the gas pedal to the floor and was bouncing through a field then onto a road, turning the wheel sharply to the left so he didn't go right off the road and sail into a pond.

"I HATE standards!"

Fang saw the little light of the Wizard's broom start to drop and he pointed, "OVER THERE! IT'S OVER THERE!" That sickened sense of dread hadn't left him, neither had the urgent, 'I have to move', kind of feelings that had come with that odd pain a few minutes earlier.

Aaron growled, "Well, I can't get there from here! There's a bloody POND in the way!"

Barely a minute later a black van shot out of nowhere onto the road and nearly crashed into them. Fang caught a fleeting glimpse of the person driving and the little hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.

It was her … It was Amy Howard!

"TURN-TURN-TURN! THAT WAS HER!"

Aaron didn't argue, he stomped on the clutch and smacked the gearshift with an open hand, "HOLD ON!"

Tires screamed and the truck turned, the left two wheels coming completely off the ground.

Fang gritted his teeth and both hands curled into fists on the upholstery tearing ten finger-sized holes in the black vinyl. The world swiveled on its axis and everything looked like a dark blur highlighted when the lone headlight swept over it.

The truck rocked back to four wheels and shot forward like a bat out of Hell, and Aaron cackled like the Devil himself.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 47; Driven

Dr. Martinez was looking at the X-ray from a little poodle that's leg had been run over by a three-year-old boy on a tricycle when Sharon White tapped her on the shoulder. "Val, I just got a phone call from your daughter Ella … She said that you need to come home right away."

Fear curdled her stomach and she nodded, trying to remain as emotionless as possible. "They've probably misplaced the remote again," She smiled, "This is what happens when you have a house full of sick kids," And she hung her lab coat in the closet and puled on her fleece jacket. She took her purse from her locker and slowly walked out of the building, trying not to look hurried.

She took her time climbing into her car but as soon as she was out of sight of the clinic she pressed her foot on the gas and made it home in about five minutes.

Nudge was lying across the steps bawling her eyes out, Angel, Total, David and Gasman were trying to comfort her but it wasn't doing any good.

"What happened? Where are the others?" She felt nauseous. Why was Nudge wearing pajamas and no shoes?

"ANGEL, WHAT HAPPENED?"

Iggy and Ella rushed out of the house hand in hand Iggy carrying a backpack.

"Where are you going?" Dr. Martinez shrieked, "Where are they, where is Max?"

Ella paused in front of her mother, "Mommy, I love you," She flung her arms around her mother's neck and kissed her cheek. "I love you so much, but we have to go. Angel and Gazzy will tell you everything but we have to go, now."

Iggy wrapped his arms around Ella and sprang into the air.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Max banged her fists against the doors, trying to break them open so she could get out. She had to get out so she could murder Amy Howard!

Her right leg hurt terribly and she'd been afraid to move it since she'd been thrown into the back of the van lest she should hurt it worse than it already was. She was sweating and shivering and she knew that if she stopped moving, stopped trying to escape even for a second she'd slip into shock.

She had to get out!

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, holding it and focusing all her energy onto pounding that door with her fists and kicking it with her left leg as hard as her bare feet could stand it.

She'd searched the door for a latch of some kind, but had been unable to find one… She was trapped.

Max screamed in rage and kicked the door hard with both feet.

Everything went white and she woke up sometime later sprawled on her back numb with cold, her leg throbbing fingertips tingling…

Had she fainted?

She giggled in her head at the thought.

How long was I out? What day is it?

She could tell by her inner sense of direction that they were a good distance to the west from where she remembered being last. She was in New Mexico now, and they were facing a near perfect West.

She's taking me home, that's funny.

And then the van slowed to a stop and a few seconds later the doors flew open and Max was roughly grabbed and yanked out by a Wizard.

The Wizard stood her up and she found herself staring into its eyes. It had surprisingly large eyes, and unlike the eyes of other Wizards, these appeared to be almost human. But before she could open her mouth to scream and curse it her leg crumpled and she fell onto cool grass.

I'm in shock, that's what's wrong with me… She thought. I'm in shock and I'm going to die. She stifled a sob and curled onto her side, listening to the earsplitting clicks of the Wizards.

What is it like to die, Jeb? Does it hurt? Were you scared? If you were still here I'd feel better, if you could talk to me I'd feel better then… I know what you'd say … You'd tell me that everything is a test … And you'd ask me why I'm just lying here instead of trying to fight…

Why am I just lying here?

And she rolled to her knees, ignoring the sandpaper, glass in the wound feeling as the grass raked her burned leg. She snapped out her wings and started running trying to get into the air.

The Wizards shrieked and suddenly they were surrounding her, a circling dome of Wizards closing in on her, their beady black eyes glistening in the darkness of early evening mouths open in hideous grins of delight.

They're very hungry…

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Aaron's every nerve was shot and he was running on pure adrenaline. He hadn't had food or water in almost twenty-four hours and the only time they'd stopped is when the van had stopped to get gas. His bladder was even near bursting again…

There was only Amy driving, but when Fang looked up he saw what he first thought was a small black cloud hovering in the sky, but what he soon realized, with sickening clarity, was Wizards, their masks keeping the sun from melting their eyes…

There would be no saving Max at the gas station and Fang watched Amy, barely restraining himself from leaping across the parking lot and taking Max then murdering Amy Howard. She'd been right, she was NOT his mother, she was an evil bitch!

Fang watched as she leisurely filled the tank and paid with a credit card right at the pump.

Fang fumbled in his backpack and found a pair of Max's jeans. He verbally thanked God when he found her credit card in the pocket. Since they'd lain Aaron Bond to rest Aaron's magic little credit card was gone as well.

As he was about to stow the jeans back in his bag something fell out of Max's pocket. The little medal Father Donovan had given her…

Fang shivered … Could these things really protect us? Is God really… He shivered again and hung Max's medallion around his neck with his own. What could it hurt?

All they could do was follow the van and hope the Wizards didn't dive in and carry it off. They knew Amy had seen them and understood that she was being followed, but she seemed amused by it and even waved at them smiling sweetly.

Fang felt rage building inside of him and as if Aaron could read his mind they both flipped her the bird. Both American and British styles.

As the sun started to set Amy decided she'd played cat and mouse with the two bird-boys behind her long enough. And actually tried to loose them, but Aaron was a much better driver than he was a flier and the truck was easier to maneuver than the box-like van.

"Slow down…" Fang whispered a plan forming in his head, "Let her think she's lost us."

Aaron nodded and when the van swerved around a truck Aaron didn't follow her. Fang rolled down the window, stuck out his head and squeezed his eyes closed for a moment.

"NICK!"

Aaron grabbed him by the hair and pulled his head back in just as a pigeon dove into the truck. It flopped around on Fang's lap a moment then ruffled its feathers and looked up at him indignantly.

Fang smiled gently at the pigeon and let it perch on his hand as he carefully explained to the bird what he wanted it to do. "Okay, pull up behind the van again."

Aaron nodded and passed the truck speeding up the left side of the road, until he could pull in behind the van.

Amy scowled at them and cursed under her breath.

Fang let the pigeon get a good look at the van and when the bird turned back around in his hand and bobbed its head he smiled, "Okay, Aaron … how about a flat tire?"

Aaron grinned and violently jerked the wheel weaving the truck back and forth before steering it off the road and into a field, dirt flying, giving the impression they'd just blown a tire.

Fang held his hand out the window and the pigeon took off speeding after the van its gray and white wings beating rapidly.

Aaron sighed, his chest tightening with worry, "I hope this works, Nick … Or we just lost your girlfriend."

Fang smiled halfheartedly self-doubt paling him. "I hope it works too."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

They were in New Mexico, flying away from Albuquerque heading east from there toward the place Max said Genotexicon had its base. Toward the place Iggy and Ella both believed Max to be.

"Iggy, are you feeling OK? You're panting."

"I'm fine."

Ella crossed her arms and looked over her shoulder at him. His skin looked waxy and his lips looked pale, "Don't lie to your girlfriend."

He hesitated then squeezed his eyes closed for a moment as if in deep concentration. "My head hurts … Like hell."

"Okay, how about we land for the night, huh? You're looking kind of sickly."

He rolled his eyes and focused on her slightly blurry face. She was right. If he fainted from this pain not only would he fall to his death but so would Ella … And he didn't EVER want to hurt her. "Okay…"

They landed in a deserted looking schoolyard and Ella took his hand walking close to him incase one of those horrible Wizards showed up … She shuddered. She'd never be able to read Harry Potter again after this…

His hand tightened on hers and he swayed on the spot, "El-Ella, I need to sit," And he plopped himself down on the curb his head between his hands.

She was afraid … She was in a strange place and Iggy was scaring her. "What's wrong?"

"My head hurts … Oh, God, if I'm getting a voice like Max I'm going to scream. I don't think I'll be able to take having brain-explosions."

Ella sat beside him more terrified than ever. She was petting his hair and biting her lip when she noticed the sweat trickling off of his face. "Maybe you're having a migraine … Lynn-Dee's mom has migraines. She says they feel like your head is gonna split right in two…"

"I-is there a hotel or a bench or something around here? I want to lie down I feel sick."

Ella had to practically pull him to his feet. "There's a hotel just down the street. Lean on me and we'll get there together."

Iggy shuddered, "I can't lean on you … You're too tiny!"

She elbowed him gently and gave him a smile. At least the headache hadn't made him loose his sense of humor.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 48; Slip-Sliding Away

Aaron parked the truck beside the highway and hung a T-shirt in the window so, should the State Police drive by they would know the truck had NOT been abandoned.

The pigeon cooed angrily from the limb above Fang's head and ruffled her feathers.

They were in the air and flying through the darkened forest following the little pigeon in less than two seconds.

Fang felt a laugh build in his throat. A worried, half panicked laugh … The last time he'd flown in a forest at night he'd ended up getting injured. An injury that still plagued him from time to time.

They got to the clearing just in time to see the Wizard throw open the van's back doors and drag Max out.

Her right leg was bloody and swollen. When Fang saw it he wanted to dive out and grab her, he wanted to hold her … He wanted to kiss her and tell her that everything was going to be OK.

Aaron pointed to Amy Howard.

She had a gun in her hands and was staring warily at the wizards, as if at any moment she expected them to forget the bird girl now lying unconscious on the ground and dive at her.

The Wizard that had pulled Max's limp body from the van walked forward and stood before her.

It opened its mouth and Fang expected it to click at Amy but instead it spoke in a familiar deep voice that made bile rise in his throat.

"If he was following you then where did he go? Why is he not here?"

Aaron shivered by Fang's side and turned frightened blue eyes to him, "They weren't after Max … They were after Nudgie … They DO want me! They were going to use her to get to me…"

"They got a flat tire about an hour ago, they should be here any second, I left a pretty good trail for them to follow."

Fang felt rage bubble in his throat and he turned back to the field, his eyes reflecting the same red as the van's brake lights. He wanted to see Amy Howard pay for this…

And then Max was on her feet, running toward them her injured leg dragging. She threw out her wings and the Wizards swarmed her.

Fang heard her scream and something popped in his head like a raw egg being squeezed in a tight fist…

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Max screamed and started fighting, kicking, punching clawing and cursing, but the Wizards tore at her, ripping her nightshirt, practically ripping it from her body. She felt their claws stinging the skin of her back, stomach, arms, and legs but still she fought, screaming in fury, her world shrinking into a soft gray.

Then there was a black and white blur and the Wizards parted, screeching in fear.

"GET HIM, GET HIM!" Amy Howard screamed.

Max hit the ground hard and lie there curled on her side, bleeding knees drawn to her chest, clutching the tatters of her night shirt to her shivering body.

Fang and Aaron swam into view over her and she felt their strong arms lifting her. Then she saw the head Wizard, the one that had spoken to Amy, open his mouth, shooting its tongue forward like lightning, but to Max it took a long time for it to actually happen.

Aaron saw the tongue stretched forward, closing the distance between them in a nearly eternal instant, but it didn't go for him as Aaron expected it to. Instead it went straight for Fang…

Fang…

And it all made sense.

Aaron threw out his arms trying to shield his brother, all the fear he'd felt melting away, replaced by an overwhelming need to protect Max and Fang from that THING.

The tongue curled around his left elbow and Aaron was jerked to the side. He saw Fang's frightened face and Max hanging limply in his arms, turned his head and stared straight into the almost human, dark blue eyes of the Wizard … and then he was in pain … More pain than he had ever experienced in his entire life.

Fang watched in horror as the Wizard reeled Aaron in. He couldn't do anything BUT watch … The thing was too fast and he had Max in his arms.

Aaron gave him a quick startled glance and turned to look at the Wizard as the thing's jagged yellow teeth came down on his arm.

Fang heard the sharp crack of breaking bones and Aaron bellowed, pounding on the Wizard's face with his right hand, gouging at the thing's sensitive eyes and kicking it.

Amy could only stand there shaking, the gun hanging uselessly in her hands. "Oh, my GOD!"

The Wizard jerked his head and threw Aaron toward the forest then turned on Amy with a screech, eyes wide, horror filled and angry.

All the Wizards moved at once, diving for Amy, their mouths open.

Fang heard the woman screaming in pain but he didn't care, he stumbled to his feet Max held tightly to him and ran at Aaron who was lying in a crumpled heap screaming.

"AARON, AARON, GET YOUR ASS UP!" Fang roared and mercilessly kicked his brother in the behind, feeling guilt as a physical pain in his stomach.

Aaron blubbered as he crawled to his feet his left arm hanging crooked and useless at his side blood dripping off his fingertips.

The Pigeon was back, guiding them through the forest to the truck.

Fang had to stop twice to wait for Aaron, who was staggering blindly around his eyes glazed body shaking as if he'd only moments before been strapped to a paint mixer.

"Get in the truck, Aaron," Fang said firmly as he wrenched open the door and slid Max inside.

Aaron complied and groaned when Max fell against his arm.

Fang climbed behind the wheel and panic stole him for five seconds. For five mindless seconds he merely sat there and stared at the wheel, his hands so tight on it, his fingernails cut crescent shaped patterns in the hard plastic. Nausea curdled his empty stomach and he shivered as if possessed by chills.

He gave his head a shake and turned the truck around, heading away from the horrid scene he'd just witnessed.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Iggy?" She shook him but he didn't respond.

"Iggy, this isn't funny," Ella pulled him into her arms, stroking the side of his face. He was clammy … And he wasn't answering her.

"If you don't answer me right now I'm going for the doctor!" She threatened her heart hammering in her chest.

He remained limp, as he had been since he'd fallen face first across the bed ten minutes before. Ella knew then that he wasn't sleeping. Iggy was a light sleeper and the word 'doctor' frightened him enough to do anything for her.

She rolled him slowly onto his stomach, propping a pillow under his side so he wouldn't roll off the bed then she ran to the door lingering for half a second in the threshold to stare back at him her lip between her teeth. She pulled open the door and rushed out thumping on the elevator button seven times in her anxiety.

The door opened and a man stood there, he threw out his hands and caught Ella just before she plowed into him.

"I'm so sorry!" Ella said her hands over her mouth. She stepped backward and waved her hands like little wings and bit into her lip, "Do you know where I can find a doctor?"

The man's bushy eyebrows drew down, "Vhy do you need zee Docktor? Vut hez hep-end?"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

He felt almost normal when he woke up. Well, as normal as a bird-kid could feel, he supposed.

Ella was leaning over him when he opened his eyes, he could see the color of her dark hair and brown eyes against the white of the ceiling. "Iggy?"

He opened his mouth to speak but there was a noise beside him and he turned.

The blurry form of an older man stood beside him, gray grizzled hair and bushy eyebrows. What looked like a small suitcase was on the bed next to his hand and Iggy could smell antiseptic coming heavily from it. He sat up and backed away from the man, his eyebrows drawn down.

Ella's arms were suddenly around him, cupping his forehead and holding him. He knew he could have gotten away from her easily if he'd wanted to but he sat very still, the back of his head against her shoulder.

Who was this man? Who was he and why was he in their room?

Before he could open his mouth to speak the man put one knee on the bed and slipped a hand between Iggy's scalp and Ella's shoulder, effectively turning his head to the right, away from him.

He felt the man's fingers probing his hair, lifting it away from his neck and fear tingled down his spine.

"What the hell?" Ella mumbled under her breath, "Iggy, what have you got on your neck?"

And then the man spoke;

"Zat iz zee expiration date."

Iggy screamed and dove off the bed, clawing at the window trying to get it open while staring in horror at the man standing over the bed, the man within grabbing distance of his Ella. He growled and launched himself at the man, at Ter Borcht, but Ter Borcht was faster…

Unnaturally fast … And he caught Iggy's arm and twisted it behind his back, pinning him face first to the bed.

Ella shrieked and tried to shove the man away, pounding her fists on his arm, trying to wrest Iggy free but Ter Borcht growled and stepped backward, releasing the redhead and rubbing his eyes.

Iggy scrambled to Ella, standing on the opposite side of the bed as the gray haired man. "You stay the hell away from us!"

Ter Borcht raised his hand palm out and sighed, "Let me explain … Zer iz no need for zis, I vill not harm you or zee girl…"

"BULLSHIT!" Iggy said, his hand going to the back of his neck, praying that there wasn't anything there but his pale skin. No numbers … No expiration date, just his skin. "You are the one responsible for this!" He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder at his wings. "You and that psychopath of a Director!"

"Yes … She iz a zychopath, zat's vhy I am here!"

Iggy put himself between Ella and his tormentor, wishing his eye worked better so he could see the man's face and possibly spit in it.

"You are not zee the only vun, zat has been betrayed," He rolled the sleeve of his shirt up and exposed his arm … His heavily scarred arm…

Iggy didn't speak, he kept his mouth firmly closed and his right hand on the back of his neck.

Ella peeked out from around him staring, "What happened to your arm?"

"Bitten…" Ter Borcht sneered and Ella caught a glimpse of his teeth… All four of his canines looked longer … More sharp than usual canines…

"By what, a werewolf?" Ella spat all compassion gone.

"By her luftejungen!" He spat in German and pointed out the window.

"Looftie-yoongen?" Ella whispered.

"Flying-children … Zee monsters," He held his hand over his face, imitating one of those horrible masks the Wizards wore.

"The Wizards…" Iggy mumbled and his knees started to tremble. "Y-You were bitten by one of those things?"

Ter Borcht nodded, "Zer poison iz in me. Like zee vervulf, I shall become like zem or die."

Iggy trembled. Was this the virus Max had spoken of? The virus Genotexicon was going to release into the world?

"You'll become one of them?" Ella's voice trembled.

Ter Borcht nodded, "Zat is vhy I am here," He strode forward and dug in his suitcase pulling out a large vial of a clear bluish liquid. "Zis is zee vaccine, it vill only help zose who have not yet been bitten," He pulled another vial out, this one barely the size of his thumb filled with a near black substance. He held it out to Iggy, "And zis is your cure."

Iggy took a step back, nearly squishing Ella against the wall. "Cure for what? Will it make you go away?"

"Zis vill stop your expiration, if I had found you before zee date appeared, Purge vuld have vurked."

Despite the fact he didn't trust the man before him Iggy's fingers twitched toward the vial. But how could he know it wouldn't kill him faster? How did he know Ter Borcht wasn't lying?

"It iz your decision, but make it kvickly, you could die at any moment."

Iggy bit into his lip, "El, I need you to look … Is there really something there?" He moved his hand, his stomach doing flip-flops, a peculiar ringing in his ears.

Ella's cool fingers touched his neck, parting the hair that fell onto his collar. She sucked in a hissing breath running her finger over the numbers that stood out black against the pallor of his skin.

10-93-08

He shivered. Knowing the answer before she'd said anything. So, this was it … He was going to die before Halloween. He was going to die before he turned seventeen…

Max, Fang and Aaron were older than him … Had their expiration dates shown up also? Was Max dead? Was that why the Wizard had taken her?

Ella stifled a sob and wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him tightly. "I love you, Iggy!"

He trembled and his heart rose into his mouth.

He'd waited so long to hear her say that … He'd sat for hours thinking about it, about how it would happen. Would they be at Lynn-Dee's Halloween party, dressed in elegant costumes? Perhaps he'd be the Phantom of the Opera and Ella would be in a long flowing white gown with flowers in her hair. Maybe they'd be at Prom and he'd be wearing a bright green tux like he'd teased Ella about doing a week earlier on Fifth-Avenue. And she'd be in a soft lavender dress.

Or maybe they'd be hiding in secret, faces pressed close together, bodies tangled as he'd dreamed…

But he never expected this … He never expected hearing those words just seconds after he realized he was about to die. As he was staring down a hated enemy … Protecting the woman he loved from a fate worse than death…

Ter Borcht looked genuinely shocked. His eyes were wide and staring, the vial of black liquid still extended. "It iz your choice to make."

His voice trembled when he spoke, "W-what are the side effects?"

Ter Borcht sighed and started rummaging in his case again, removing a syringe. "Lie down und I vill tell you."

He was moving forward without conscious thought, sprawling himself on the bed Ella beside him, holding his hand tightly, fearfully. But Iggy was past that point, he was too afraid to be frightened.

"Zis serum vill eradicate zee programmed expiration from your DNA, zee only problem vis zis is zat it also vipes out all ov your developed abilities. Again, if I had found you before, a Purge would hev vurked much better."

Iggy stared at him a moment, not quite understanding what the man had said, "What? My abilities?"

He calmly filled the syringe and tapped free a few bubbles with a flick of his index finger, "Your advanced senses of hearing, touch, smell, taste und sight."

He sat bolt up right but Ella kept him from falling off the bed. The advanced ability to see was the only reason he could see at all now. If that was taken away…

"No," He choked, "You can't be serious … I'd rather die- Not again!"

Ella pressed the side of her face against his back and bit so hard into her lip she tasted blood.

"El … El, I can't! Not again … I-I just got it back, I don't want to be blind again. Please, not that."

He sobbed and turned away from Ter Borcht, as if by not looking at him he would disappear, everything would disappear and go back to the way it was earlier, before that stupid date had shown up on his neck…

Ella sighed and tightened her hold on him tears rolling down her face. She didn't want to loose him. She wouldn't be able to go on if Iggy weren't there. Sweet Iggy with his wondering hands and innocent face … His ornery smirks and that wicked sense of humor … If she had to live without him she'd go crazy … But if she had to live with him minus all those things. Minus that happy grin he got when she took his hand or when she hugged him. Or when she let her mind wander and locked herself in the bathroom with him…

If she had to live with an Iggy who had no happiness then it was just like being without him. Would it be easier to let him go or to live with a shadow of him?

"Iggy … Iggy stop crying and listen to me. Whatever you choose I'll be here, I'm not going anywhere no matter what you choose."

He lifted his head and held her face between his hands, staring deeply into her eyes, memorizing each eyelash and the way they fanned on her cheeks as she fought back the tears. The little tendril of her hair that fell across her forehead … The tiny freckle in her left eyebrow … Her perfect little button nose and her rose petal pink lips.

He struggled and found himself uttering words he'd never spoken before. Not in a meaningful way as he did now, not in the deep soulful kind of way he meant them to be heard.

"I love you, Ella."

She smiled at him and cupped his cheek her eyes sparkling as if she were looking past him-

And he shut his eyes tightly before he saw fresh tears spill down her face.

He hadn't been so afraid when Dr. White had removed those chips from his eyes and it had been all he could stand to even let the man touch him. But now … This was Ter Borcht … This man WAS a whitecoat, and he realized that Dr. White was a fluffy bunny compared to this man, this man who was going to take away his sight for the second time in his life.

Iggy snuffed back tears and rolled onto his back Ella's hand clamped tightly in his, "Ella, I … I want you to leave."

"No…"

"I want you to go, please…" He didn't open his eyes, he didn't want to ruin the picture he had of her in his mind by seeing her face contorted with fear. "Just for a while…"

"I said 'NO', Iggy, I'm not going. So you're just going to have to live with it!" She squeezed his hand tightly and he couldn't help but smile.

"You remind me too much of Max sometimes, you know that?"

"Maybe that's a good thing," She smoothed his hair and prepared herself for anything. This man could either help Iggy, or kill him. The only way to find out was to let events unfold and try not to scream when whatever was going to happen happened.

"I must varn you, zer iz pain."

Iggy nodded his eyes still closed tightly. Why was he trusting him? Why was he letting Ter Borcht touch him? Why?

Because I've got nothing left to loose … If I don't at least try something I'm giving up, besides I'm dead meat anyway. The worst that could happen is I die … No, the worst that could happen is I turn into one of those THINGS and kill Ella, THAT is the worst thing that could happen…

Jeez, great way to stay optimistic…

Ter Borcht swabbed his arm and for a moment Iggy was afraid he was going to be sick and he tried to jerk away but stopped himself, biting down hard on his tongue.

He felt the pinch of the needle and what felt like liquid fire spread through his veins which was almost immediately followed by a deep penetrating chill and he felt himself come off the bed and then there was nothing…

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 49; DesertedThis is great…

Fang thought bitterly, Now not only do we have a talking dog I've got pet pigeon!

The pigeon was perched on the steering wheel before him cooing happily. And every so often when Fang turned it, the pigeon would walk along the wheel.

Max's eyes opened and she blinked up at Fang through a fog. "What happened?"

Instead of half dead she sounded to Fang as if someone had perhaps slipped a little something in her juice…

"We're getting out of here … Are you OK?"

She smiled up at him drunkenly, "I am as long as this is real, because if it's a dream I'm not sure I want to wake up."

Aaron groaned loudly beside her and she wobbled her head in his direction her glassy eyes locked on his left arm. He had his eyes closed tightly and his teeth bared as if growling at the pain would frighten it away.

Max gave her head a shake and forcefully dragged herself from the daze, "Aaron, what happened to you!" She started to reach for him but noticed her shirt was ripped to shreds, barely covering her so she clutched at the scraps of cloth instead. "What happened to me?"

"You were almost Wizard food," Fang growled and the pigeon cooed acquiescently. "We got you out but one of them got Aaron."

Max nodded and glanced down at her leg, expecting to see nothing but a curled blackened piece of meat below her knee but instead found an ugly blistering red burn running the length of her calf.

She was surprised that it didn't hurt but wasn't about to touch it or move it to figure out why. She turned back to Aaron, staring helplessly at his arm. "I … I think it's broken, Fang, his arms all crooked."

Aaron groaned again and rolled the window down, sticking his head out. "Don't l-look at me … I'm gonna be s-sick."

The pigeon turned on the wheel and started cooing into Fang's face angrily, then lunged at him as if it wanted to peck his nose.

"OKAY!" Fang said loudly and the pigeon ruffled her feathers. He turned to Max his eyebrows raised, "She's almost as bad as you!"

Max shook her head, noticing the pigeon for the first time. "Since when do we have a pigeon?"

Aaron gagged and succeeded in becoming sick then leaned back into the cab and motioned to the vomit splattered on the shoulder of his shirt with a hapless giggle. Then his eyes rolled up to the whites and he slumped heavily against Max his injured arm pinned between them.

"Oh, jeez, Fang, pull over!"

He bit his lip, inspecting the road behind them, making sure there was no one following them then he started shifting down, slowing the truck and pulling it off the road. He drove slowly through the brush and weeds then nearly crashed into the remains of an old chimney. He parked the truck and killed the motor climbing out and rushing around the front, momentarily obscuring the headlight with his body.

As he squeezed between the truck and the chimney Max saw his face, how frightened he looked despite the stubborn determination pursing his lips. He faltered at the door his face wrinkling.

"Oh, God, he puked all over the door…" He bent and scooped up a handful of leaves, using them to protect his hand from the drying smears of sick.

Max turned to him her lip between her teeth, "Fang, hurry up and get him out of here he's on my leg."

He shook Aaron calling his name but he didn't respond.

Fang growled and hefted Aaron out of the truck, looking somehow graceful even in the awkwardness of carrying his unconscious brother.

Max took the opportunity to dig in the backpack her leg had been resting on and yanked out a new T-shirt, trying to pull it over herself before Fang turned around and saw her. The scratches on her body stung as the cloth rubbed against them but she didn't care, she'd rather have stinging scratches than be exposed.

When her head popped through the neck of the shirt she saw Fang kneeling beside Aaron his cheeks red his lips pressed tightly together. He was fumbling with the laces of Aaron's boots, untying them, propping both feet up on a small pile of rubble. Then he was unbuttoning his brother's khakis and loosening his belt.

Was he undressing him?

Max climbed stiffly from the truck trying not to scream when the dry grass outside swiped her leg. She pulled the backpack out with her and limped forward, holding the tail of the T-shirt down in front of her so no one saw her underwear. "What are you doing?"

"He's in shock … Anything tight will shut off his blood flow," Fang said not looking at her. "I need the bag."

She handed it to him and wobbled on her feet, trying not to put weight on her leg, still holding the shirttail down.

Aaron looked dead … His skin had taken on a sickly gray color and she could barely see the movement of his chest when he took a breath. It reminded her too keenly of Fang when Ari had ripped his stomach open and she had to look away.

Fang tore into the bag, throwing things out to each side in his frantic search. He pulled out something black with little red curls of flame printed on it and threw it at Max. "Put those on and come here."

She caught them but let go of the shirttail and nearly showed Fang the only piece of pink lacy clothing she owned. "Are these boxers?"

"Yes, now put them on … Pretend they're shorts."

At least they would cover her. She pulled them on, grinding her teeth when her weight came down on her right leg.

"Now get over here, I need your help," He hadn't once looked at her and even when she eased herself down beside him he wouldn't meet her gaze.

The headlight cast elongated shadows to their right and Max eyed them warily, afraid one would come to life and try to grab her…

"Max, if you aren't going to help me then go back to the truck!" He snapped and turned burning eyes to her.

She shook herself and looked at Aaron, following his arm down to the unnatural angles above and below his elbow. "We need to set that before he starts healing."

Fang nodded, "He isn't gonna like it much," He felt sick to his stomach. He'd never sat a broken bone before. When he'd broken his fingers months before punching a concrete wall in agitation over the letter he'd cornered Iggy to help him snap the bones back into place.

Max found a T-shirt in the pile of things Fang had thrown aside and twisted it, pressing the cloth into Aaron's mouth incase he woke up and decide he was going to bite something. "You'll have to pull, I'll … I'll," She grew quiet, "I'll put things back where they belong."

Easier said than done, Fang thought and hooked Aaron's arm under his own. Please, PLEASE don't let him wake up until it's over.

Aaron moaned around the cloth and Max took hold of his forearm, "Okay, pull."

It was kind of sick to watch but it was better than watching Aaron's face. He may have been unconscious but he looked like he could feel every bit of it.

The pigeon fluttered out of the truck and landed beside Aaron's head cooing softly in his ear and pacing around.

"F-Fang, there's something sticking out of this!" Max pointed to one of the little holes in Aaron's arm.

Fang leaned forward and rubbed his thumb over the wound frightened when something long and pointed slid out into his palm. "It's one of its teeth … Must have come out when it bit him."

He inspected Aaron's arm and found six more teeth. He flung them into the fireplace and pulled the first-aid kit from his bag, practically emptying half the bottle of alcohol onto Aaron's arm. Grimacing when he made a pathetic wailing sound around the gag and the pigeon started preening him, trying to comfort him. Gently pulling at the reddish brown hair on Aaron's head and cooing gently.

"Max, do you see any boards we could use to make a splint?"

She looked around but shook her head, "Maybe there's something in the truck."

Fang nodded and finished bandaging Aaron's arm, "Watch him," He climbed to his feet and rushed back to the truck. Leaning the seat forward and digging around, He came back with a collapsed cardboard box and a roll of duct tape.

"It's not pretty, but its effective," He used his little pocket knife to cut the box into four inch wide strips then taped them together, fashioning two surprisingly sturdy card-boards. As he was tying the splint in place he finally looked at Max.

"How's your leg?"

"It hurts."

He checked Aaron's pulse, pressing his ear to his brother's chest for a moment before he pulled the gag from his mouth.

"Let me have a look."

Max bit into her lip, not entirely because of the pain, but because the first thing Fang did was take her leg, one hand behind her knee the other on her heel. The callused skin on his hands and fingers surprisingly gentle as he lifted and turned her leg to the light so he could see the burn.

He glanced up into her face then rested her foot on his hip, her toes against his ribs. "I've got to wash it off."

She nodded, still biting her lip, glad she was wearing 'shorts' or he'd have gotten quite a show of her undeniably girly possessions.

She watched as he rummaged in the bottomless pack and pulled out a bottle of water. He opened it, his eyes on her leg, then dribbled the water over the burn, washing the little flecks of dirt and dry grass from it.

The burn ointment was on top of everything in the kit, thankfully, and Max wondered absently if everyone was OK. "Did everyone make it out?" She whispered, watching Fang's strong nimble fingers gently rub the ointment around.

He nodded but didn't speak.

"Are they OK?"

He nodded again and Aaron moaned beside them.

The pigeon cooed and hopped onto Aaron's chest fluttering her wings, fanning his pale face. His clouded blue eyes slowly came open and he blinked about miserably before becoming fully aware.

"What the hell's happened?"

"Just lie still for a while, Aaron," Max said, leaning over him. "You're fine, you just need to lie still and rest."

"My damnable arm hurts," He muttered and raised his head a fraction of an inch but the pigeon fluttered in his face, forcing him to lie back down.

"Nudgie is going to murder me…"

"Why do you say that?" Fang said under his breath, gently wrapping a thin layer of Gauze around Max's leg.

"Told her I wouldn't get hurt, I did, now look at me."

Fang stiffened and bowed his head. He didn't speak for the longest time, he just finished his ministering and taped the gauze down then stood, giving the pigeon a look before he stalked off to find sticks for a fire.

Max disinfected all the little scratches on her arms and legs she could reach without help but didn't mention the ones on her stomach and back. She'd have to wait until she was alone to get them.

She stretched out her wings for a while, sitting there letting the breeze blow through her feathers and listening to Fang pile sticks and twigs in the fireplace then walk away again silent as a shadow…

"Is he always that quiet?" Aaron grumbled and shifted uncomfortably against the ground.

Max nodded and wondered why Fang was always so quiet but Aaron usually blundered along like some kind of gangly albatross. Was that why Nudge called him Mr. Albatross?

Max started re-packing the bag because she couldn't do anything else and felt entirely useless. The big photo album had just enough room to sit on top but Max left it out, paging absently through it looking at all the photos of Bernard and Kitty…

She loved their wedding picture. Kitty, nearly as tall as Bernard standing in front of him in an old wedding dress that hung to just above her bare feet, her round pregnant belly pressing against Bernard's middle, a soft smile on her face…

Max cocked her head to the side. She'd seen a smile like that on Nudge's face … That gentle, contented smile that knew no sadness.

And the same smile was on Bernard's face … A face that looked so much like Fang's except the black hair hanging into his eyes was ruler straight, not curling like Fang's.

She couldn't hold back a smile. Fang had gotten his mother's curling hair and Aaron had gotten his father's straight hair … She wondered why that mattered but couldn't remember why.

"What are you grinning about?" Aaron whispered trying to sit up. The pigeon fluttered at him again and cooed loudly so he relaxed against the ground with a growl.

Max turned the book so he could see the picture. "Your parents' wedding day."

Aaron smiled, "She looked ridiculously pregnant there. Like she had a ball under her dress. Odd that she was only three months pregnant…"

Max shook her head and glanced over her shoulder at Fang who was kindling a small fire in the hearth.

"They really loved each other…" Aaron whispered and pulled at his right earlobe. "Dad said that he and mum were connected … Like they could feel one another's joy and pain…"

Max turned to him her eyebrows nearly touching, "What do you mean?"

Aaron tried to shrug but failed when his left arm wouldn't move correctly, "Dad said mum 'GOT' him, whatever that means. But he also said that he could FEEL when she was in pain."

Fang had stopped poking the fire and had his ear cocked in their direction.

"He could feel her pain?" Max thought that was a little cheesy but she believed it, simply because she firmly believed she'd felt Fang's when he'd hurt himself in the woods all those weeks ago.

Aaron nodded, "That's what he said anyway … Part of me believes him. Part of me prays he was full of it, because if he could feel her pain and she his … What if Nudgie can feel mine? What if she knows I got hurt and tries to come after me? I'm terrified she will and then she'll get hurt or killed and I'll have to feel it in return … I-I don't know if I could handle that…"

Max licked her lips and turned staring at the corner of Fang's eye.

He looked away as soon as he noticed she was looking at him but it wasn't fast enough and she saw the shocked expression on his face.

"It's most likely utter nonsense, but I can't be sure … Are you alright, Max?"

She turned back to him and nodded.

The pigeon cooed and flew toward the fire, perching herself on Fang's shoulder. She ruffled her feathers and started preening Fang just as she had done Aaron, fixing his hair so it stood out nearly at right angles from the little place in front of his ear.

He didn't seem to mind because he took up a stick and prodded the fire twice his head bowed in the pigeon's direction.

Max shook her head at him and turned back to the photo album.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 50; Flying Blind

"Hello, Room Service?"

He heard a voice … A soft hushed voice close to his head.

"I was wondering if you have any soup, like maybe chicken noodle, something easy to digest? You do? Would you send some up to room 4-17? Thank you."

Something was wrong, he didn't feel right.

The bed shifted beneath him and a weight came down beside his left hand but he didn't move to figure out who it was … He already knew, just from the sound of her voice.

A hand went through his hair and the fingers were cool on his cheek, but still he didn't move. He just lay there and tried to remember where he was.

And that's when he figured out what the something wrong was … He didn't know where the hell he was. He didn't know which way was north, which was south, east or west … That comforting familiar sense was just GONE, as if his inner compass had been stolen by some midnight thief.

And he panicked. His eyes came open and blackness greeted him, complete smothering blackness.

Gone … It's all gone…

He flipped over, crawling forward on the bed then falling head first off the foot into the floor, which suddenly felt miles away.

He scrambled to his knees his hands out searching, finding nothing but empty air. He heard someone calling his name franticly but he was gone…

Gone…

He heard her feet on the carpet and he flung himself away from the sound, bashing his head against a chair and he grabbed it, flinging it away and shoving himself as far as he could into the corner under the table, cowering under it his head in his hands.

He covered himself, his left wing sheltering him from the big BIG world outside this little cave he'd squished himself into.

Gone… It's all gone…

He heard his own breath rasping in and out of his mouth and he felt like his throat was closing, choking him.

It's all gone…

And he started laughing. A high, shrill sound… That broke the sane stillness of the room into a million mirror like shards…

Ella stood there her hands over her mouth staring at him wishing he would just STOP giggling, stop laughing, it bothered her. Something was wrong with him, very wrong.

He was curled up under the table his wings out and wrapped tightly around him his bare feet looking small from where they protruded between his feathers.

She slowly dropped to her knees and moved the flipped chair out of the way.

He'd lost it, his mind was broken … Could she live with him like this? Could she stand to look into his face and see the insanity she heard in his voice? In that off key cackling?

She crawled forward slowly, not sure if it was safe to or not. Everything was uncertain now … Nothing was definite anymore. He could turn and harm her and he wouldn't even know he was doing it…

She gently put both hands on the ridge of his wing and applied a little pressure, pushing it slightly downward. His laughter had quieted to hectic panting and he lowered his wing slowly, letting it droop to his side.

He'd scratched three long bloody furrows down his cheek and Ella leaned in slowly, letting the backs of her fingers caress the unbroken skin of his jaw. He shuddered and lifted his own hand touching her wrist. He took a long deep breath and closed his eyes tightly, tears stinging the scratches on his face.

There was a knock on the door and he stiffened pressing himself firmly into the corner.

"Room Service!"

Ella cursed bitterly under her breath, "Iggy, I'll be right back, I promise, just don't move, and stay quiet OK?" She scrambled to her feet and jerked a blanket off the bed, throwing it over the table, shielding Iggy from view.

She smoothed the front of her nightgown and walked to the door, quietly pulling the bathroom door shut before looking out the spy hole. It was an older woman with her hair twisted into a tight bun on her head.

Ella put on a brave smile and opened the door, "Hi, thank you so much," She stepped out of the way and let the woman wheel in the little trolley. "He's in the bathroom right now, but I'm sure he appreciates it … I don't want to be a nuisance, but you wouldn't happen to have a first aid-kit around would you? I was supposed to change his bandages earlier but I ran out of gauze."

"I can have someone at the front desk send some up for you," The woman said smiling politely.

"You could? That would be awesome, thanks … The doctor gave me some after his surgery but we weren't expecting our flight to be canceled…"

The woman nodded, "Yes, lots of flights have been canceled lately … Can I bring you anything else, Ma'am?"

Ella shook her head, "No, but thank you so much."

The woman smiled politely, "You're welcome, I'll ask someone at the front desk to send up some gauze for you. Have a nice day Ma'am."

Ella collapsed against the door her hand on her forehead. She'd never told such a big lie in all her life. Surgery? How were they going to pull it off? If one of the hotel people got a look at Iggy's face they'd know he hadn't had surgery, he'd clawed himself … And possibly had a complete mental breakdown…

She crept forward pausing just outside the little tent she'd made by throwing the blanket over the table, "Iggy, I'm back, I'm coming in, OK?" She knelt down and pulled back the blanket peering in before she joined him.

His wing was still lying limply beside him but he seemed calmer, his hands clasped tightly between his knees his head leaned against the wall, ear cocked in her direction.

"Iggy?"

He didn't move as she crawled to his side, placing a tentative hand on his shoulder. He didn't jerk but simply sat there.

She bit her lip … He was gone … Iggy was gone-

"I'm sorry…" His mouth moved but barely a sound came out.

She moved closer positioning herself so she could look into his face and not have to crane her neck.

He took a shuddering breath and continued; "I'm sorry I freaked out."

She laid a hand on his arm, staring at the little bruised puncture in the bend of his left.

"I'm just scared, Ella, and I …I-"

He choked on a sob and she rocked forward wrapping her arms around him but trying not to crush his wing at the same time.

"You don't have to explain anything…"

He lifted his wing, wrapping it around her and pulling her closer. "Who had surgery?"

Ella smiled, "That was the lie I told the woman who brought the soup … That way me needing some gauze to patch up your face would be explained and no one would be suspicious. So, if anyone asks, you had your appendix taken out while you were away at college and me, being your faithful girlfriend, I came to get you and take you home to recover."

He chuckled, "Kind of an elaborate lie, don't you think?"

She rolled her eyes and gave him a squeeze, "I've always had a flair for the dramatic…" She bit her lip and changed the subject. "Do you feel like coming out and eating something?"

He sighed and nodded, waiting for her to crawl out before he did. He crawled a few extra feet so he'd be sure not to hit his head again, then planted himself on the foot of the bed and pulled in his wings.

Ella straightened the blanket on the table incase Iggy changed his mind and wanted to go back into hiding. She pushed the little trolley forward, "Spoon is at three O'clock, crackers at ten."

He nodded and touched the trolley, running his hand over the cold metal before picking up the spoon and praying he didn't miss his mouth. Which had happened a few times when he wasn't paying close attention.

He heard Ella pad softly into the bathroom and he could faintly hear her running water in the sink. Then she was back, patting at his cheek with a wet cloth, "Don't mind me, just keep eating."

"Kind of hard to do when I need my face," He grumbled then diverted his eyes, as if part of him still believed he could look away, "How bad is it? Am I disfigured anymore than usual?"

She swatted him, "You're not disfigured … And no, it's not bad. I thought it was but it really isn't. Nick cut himself worse shaving … Speaking of which, ever thought about giving it a try?"

He smiled halfheartedly, "Am I too hairy for ya?"

"No … I like it, it makes you look all macho and hot."

His smile widened, "Hot?"

"Piggy alert!" Ella said from the corner of her mouth and stepped back to inspect how noticeable the scratches on his face were. If she could keep that bloody-ness from returning, by evening she might not be able to tell, as long as she didn't look too close…

Someone knocked at the door and Ella stiffened.

"Try to look like you just had your appendix removed, OK?"

"Okay … Where's your appendix?"

"Just below your navel on the right," She hissed and peered out the spy hole again.

A young woman in a front desk polo shirt and black slacks was standing outside holding a little paper bag with the hotel insignia on it. She knocked again, "Ma'am, It's Ginger from the front desk, I've brought you those things you needed."

Ella opened the door and smiled gratefully. "Thank you," She took the bag and looked inside. It looked like Ginger had given her a mini-first-aid kit, antiseptic wipes, gauze, a few individual packets of pain-killer and even a tube of antibiotic ointment.

"Is there anything else I can get for you?" Ginger said in a well-practiced hostess' voice.

"Do you have any more of this soup?" Iggy said, still bent over the bowl. "Its really good … Heck of a lot better than hospital food … And maybe like a hamburger or two?"

Ella pursed her lips, "The doctor said soft foods that you can digest easily," Great, I'm denying him food because of a make believe appendectomy. Next time a little lie, not a big one, big ones are TOO hard to deal with.

Iggy sighed and rubbed his stomach in faux-pain.

Ginger hung around for a few more seconds, seemingly interested in Iggy's 'operation' and the whole time Ella was grasping at straws, trying to remember everything she could about what she'd learned of appendectomies on TV and apply it to her lie.

Then Ginger smiled and said she had to get back to the front desk and disappeared.

Iggy was laughing under his breath when Ella shut the door. "You are SUCH a good liar," He said sarcastically.

Ella plopped down on the bed beside him and finished bandaging his cheek. Then she lay back her hands behind her head. "Are you OK?"

He sighed, then after a moment brushed his hand up the back of his neck, lifting his hair, "Tell me if it's gone or not, then we'll talk."

Ella sat up and inspected the back of his neck. Where there had been black numbers the day before was now just his pale skin. She thought that if she looked close enough she might be able to see them but the closer she moved her head to his skin the less she thought that statement true.

He shivered, "Y-you're breathing on my neck…"

She hesitated for a moment, just long enough to take a breath then she placed a hand on his shoulder, "It's gone … Nothing there but a few freckles.

Relief washed over him and he rolled onto his back beside her, his feet dangling off the end of the bed. So … Ter Borcht hadn't been lying … His expiration date had been 'eradicated' he was free … No more worry … He literally had his whole life ahead of him now.

His whole life in darkness … A blind bird-kid with no abilities at all … Even Fang had an ability now … Iggy was alone…

"I don't remember how to get home…"

Ella ran her hand through his hair and lay down, her feet to the head of the bed. Their bodies in a kind of yin-yang position eye to eye, "I do … I remember the places we flew over."

"But, I can't see, El…" He whispered and seemed to curl in on himself, ashamed, afraid. "I don't know where we are."

"I do…"

"You'd be my eyes?"

She kissed the tip of his nose, "Of course."

He grew silent, his lip between his teeth, blind eyes turned in her direction. He remembered her face, that soft loving smile…

"I love you, Iggy … I'd do anything for you, all you have to do is ask."

He felt the words rising in his throat but stopped them before they passed his lips. Where had they come from? He'd never even thought about it before so why had he come so close to asking her something like THAT.

But suddenly it was all he could think about … Ella in a white dress.

And then he was speaking and for the first time in his life, he didn't feel like a freak…

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 51; The Wizard's Curse

Fang had to cut Aaron's shirt off. Which wouldn't have been a big deal if he'd had scissors, but all he had was that wicked little razor sharp pocketknife he rarely went anywhere without.

Aaron sat there rigidly as Fang slashed through the fabric of his shirt in a downward motion away from his neck, "Bloody hell … You could decapitate me with that thing and I wouldn't know it until I saw my own severed neck!"

Fang didn't seem to be listening and managed to get the shirt cut off without decapitating anyone. "How are you feelin?"

"Considering how wretched I felt last night, I feel fabulous," He tried to wriggle his fingers but couldn't quite manage it. "It aches and my hand throbs. Is that normal?"

"I don't know, I've never had a broken arm before," Fang said under his breath, "Does it hurt as bad as it did last night?"

Aaron shook his head.

"Then I guess it's normal."

Max limped up wearing Fang's hooded sweatshirt and grinning, "Fang, would you mind telling me whose boxers I'm currently occupying?"

Aaron burst out laughing, "Don't look at me, all of mine are solid colors and they're not silk … Silk gives me terrible rash."

Max's face turned red and she eyed Fang for any reaction but he gave her none, save to not let her see his face.

Aaron chuckled and let Fang help him to his feet. He gripped his arm for a second and stood on shaking legs then stumbled toward the truck grinning.

Just before she turned to follow Aaron, Fang took Max by the arm, turning her toward him.

His head was bowed and after a moment he drew a black cord from around his neck and looked up at her. "You have to wear this for it to work I guess."

He slid the cord around her neck and walked away, squeezing between the chimney and the truck grill to get to the driver's seat.

Max's fingers went to the little medallion hanging on the cord and she bit her lip. She'd hidden this because wearing it hadn't felt right … Even after all these years she wasn't sure she believed in God … But looking down at it now and knowing that Fang had found it, worn it about his own neck to keep it safe just for her…

She shivered and limped toward the truck rubbing the little thing between her fingers. For some reason now she was afraid to take it off…

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Iggy had never realized exactly how much he depended on his internal GPS before… That odd sensation of just KNOWING which direction he was facing and if he was heading toward home. He hadn't known how it worked, or even if he WANTED to know how it worked. He just knew it did and it was really nice to know…

But now…

Now he was in a vacuum. Air rushing past him, that near overwhelming sense of vertigo tugging at his insides, Ella clutched to him her hands resting lightly on top of his.

"Okay, you want to like turn a little to the left up here, I remember that gas station because that's where that yummy pizza-smell was coming from."

Iggy nodded and tilted his wings slightly, raising the right and lowering the left so he coasted slightly in the direction Ella said he needed to go.

"You're squeezing me really tight, are you OK?"

"Fine," He squeaked.

He'd never been FULLY dependant on someone like this before, especially when that someone didn't have an internal GPS of her own OR wings.

Before, when he'd been blind, he could still tell where he was going, and if he didn't know his destination then SOMEONE did. There wasn't all this "a little to the left" "kind of to the right, but straight ahead to the left," business. It was all in terms he could understand.

"One O' clock" "North-north-east" "Follow my voice" Ella was more of a "Off to the right, no more to the left" no definites no specifics kind of person…

Jesus, we're never going to get home!

"Maybe I should buy a GPS … You know, like those the rock climbers and hikers have?"

Iggy gritted his teeth and tightened his hold on Ella. He'd be happy if she just had a compass!

"Iggy, we've been flying for hours, can we stop? I REALLY have to go."

Boy, oh boy, THIS is gonna be fun.

"Okay … Where can we land?"

She went quiet and her hands tightened on his. "Uh … Iggy?"

He grunted to let her know he was listening.

"How are we gonna land if you can't see how far away the ground is?"

He laughed out loud.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Max was uncomfortable… More uncomfortable that she'd been in a while, and that was saying something because she'd been carried under a Wizard's arm through a thunderstorm and burned her leg…

Aaron was shirtless and pressed against her right side, and Fang was pressed to her left … And both of them were sweating as if it were a million degrees outside, and both of them had the windows rolled down.

The pigeon had perched herself on Fang's right shoulder and cooed indignantly every time Max scooted a little bit closer to Fang to put more room between herself and Aaron's splinted arm.

She didn't like the pigeon … And she didn't like that she was the only one that seemed to notice it was COLD outside.

"Can we like, turn the heat on, I am FREEZING!" She rubbed her nose again fully expecting to find icicles hanging from her nostrils but she didn't.

Fang wiped sweat from his face and leaned over her to turn on the heater.

Max pressed herself as tightly back against the seat as possible and held her breath terrified that Fang's sweating had caused another common problem that was associated with perspiration.

But she knew even before she'd taken that deep breath that she had nothing to worry about. Fang rarely if EVER smelled bad anymore. Not after they'd decided to stay with Dr. Martinez. In fact, she'd found him quite pleasant smelling on a few occasions … Not something she could say about The Gasman…

"I feel ill," Aaron grumbled his uninjured arm going around his middle.

"If you're going to puke again warn me first, I don't want to have to wash the truck AGAIN."

Aaron sneered at him and shook his head, "My bloody arm hurts."

"You whine too much … I haven't heard Max complain about her leg all day."

"That's because Aaron's been complaining over me," She said as-matter-of-factly.

"C-can we stop, please, I feel really ill."

"We've only been driving five hours!" He snapped and glared at Aaron as if he were tempted to punch him. The air crackled with tension and Max shrunk into the seat, folding her hands on her stomach, trying not to be noticed.

What am I doing? Oh, nothing, don't mind me, I'm not even here…

Max had never seen Fang so irritable and she'd seen him in PRETTY bad moods before.

The day he'd gotten the letter he'd been particularly moody. He'd even snapped at a teacher at school … Which was VERY unlike him … Unless the teacher deserved a good snapping…

"Can we please stop, I feel nauseous…"

And he broke…

"You're nauseous? YOU'RE NAUSEOUS! I've had a freaking MIGRANE of Vesuvian proportions since we found Max! I haven't slept in three days, I haven't eaten in two! AND I can't THINK with you bitching about your damned arm all the time, so shut-the-hell-UP!"

And he cupped his forehead with his left hand wincing, his eyes on the road.

Aaron went quiet.

The pigeon cooed reproachfully and walked across his shoulder and perched herself on Aaron's, as if to say 'if you're going to be like that, I don't want to sit on you anymore.'

They drove in complete silence for nearly five minutes before Fang sighed and pulled the truck into the parking lot of a small grocery store. He killed the engine and rested his head against the steering wheel his lips pursed, eyes closed.

He didn't move for close to ten minutes, and then it was just to look over at Max and Aaron apologetically with bloodshot dark blue eyes.

Max sighed, "Look, guys, we're almost home … We'll drive till sundown, get a hotel room, call my mom then fl-drive the rest of the way home, deal?" She whispered, hoping Fang didn't yell at her too, because unlike Aaron, Max didn't take Fang's crap. She'd yell right back, and maybe even punch him if she felt so inclined.

Fang nodded and turned the key in the ignition.

"I … will be with you again-" Bono's tenor voice crooned from the speakers.

Fang growled and punched the dashboard. The radio went quiet…

Max stifled a giggle and the pigeon cooed melodiously.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

They landed in the back yard shortly before sunset and Ella stumbled away from him as he landed but her hand tightened on the sleeve of his jacket to keep him upright.

"GABRIELLA MARTINEZ!" She ran out of the house her hair pulled back, a furiously worried expression plastered on her face.

Ella sucked in a hissing lungful of air and pressed her back against Iggy, who stopped in his tracks his hand in hers.

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN, I'VE BEEN WORRIED TO DEATH!"

Her mother crushed her in a hug, "Are you two OK? Angel told me about the Wizards attacking … Where are the others?"

Ella bit her lip, "I'm not sure where Max is, but Nick and Aaron have gone after her so she'll be fine."

Iggy heard Nudge giggle in the background, "I just realized they were named that … Nick and Aaron … Reminds me a little TOO much of the Backstreet Boys…" She hesitated before she continued, cutting both Ella and her mother off before they could speak.

"Iggy what's wrong with your eyes?"

He bit his lip and squeezed Ella's hand, wishing he could suddenly turn invisible so no one would look at him.

Angel gasped and he heard her clap her hands over her mouth. "Oh, Iggy!" And she rushed to him, hugging him around the waist and sobbing into his ribs.

He flexed his aching wings and peeled Angel away from him long enough to shuffle forward to the porch steps and sit down. He hung his head in his hands and took a shuddering breath.

"Did I do the right thing?"

Angel hugged him again tightly, "You're alive aren't you?"

"But for how long?" He whispered, "He could have lied to me and just made the visible date disappear … I could still die."

Nudge made a soft hissing sound and sank to the steps beside him, placing a hand on his back. "Iggy, I'm sorry."

He shrugged, feeling that same panic he'd experienced early that morning in the hotel room. But this time he didn't let it show, he bottled it deep inside … But he knew without a doubt that he'd more likely than not lock himself in his bedroom later and bawl his eyes out…

He'd felt useless before … But now he really was.

"That man said that this was a vaccine against the Wizards … Apparently the Wizards transmit the virus through their bite, but this will protect you if you haven't already been bitten. He offered it to me but I said no … I want to figure out what it is first," She held up the large vial then searched out the smaller one.

He heard Ella rummaging around in the backpack and he shrank in on himself, feeling increasingly useless and in the way…

"And he said THIS would like, stop you guys from expiring, but it takes away all your abilities because the expiration date is programmed into the genes that gives you the abilities … Or something like that, I wasn't paying attention…"

"It takes away your abilities?" Gasman whispered and laid a hand on Iggy's shoulder.

He shivered and was tempted to turn and shout 'DUH!' but he stopped himself. He didn't want anyone to feel sorry for him, he just wanted everything to go back to the way it was before … He just wanted everything to be OK again.

David sighed and squirmed his way into the crowd, hugging Iggy from behind, both tiny arms wrapped around his neck. "That's OK, I still like you!"

The phone started ringing and Dr. Martinez dashed back inside rubbing her eyes. "Hello?"

Iggy strained his ears, but was unable to hear who was on the other end of the line as he'd been able to do before…

"MAX! Oh, my GOD! Are you OK? Are you hurt? What ha-" She paused for a ten count, "Are you sure you're OK, other than the burns and Aaron's arm?"

Nudge was on her feet her hands clenched into fists, "Aaron I am going to KILL you when you get home, you SWORE you wouldn't get hurt! Do you know how scared I've been?"

Dr. Martinez waved Nudge off and turned away from her. "Okay, we'll expect you home by tomorrow evening … Are you sure you're OK? Yes, I am being a worry-wart, its what mothers do … Okay, I'll see you tomorrow … Bye, Max…" And she sank to the floor crying, her head in her hands.

"What happened to Aaron's arm?" Ella asked, trying to draw her mother out of the crying fit.

Her mother blinked a few times and snuffed back tears, "Max said that it was broken … Something about a Wizard biting him-"

Iggy was on his feet, stumbling down the steps arms waving. Ella grabbed him before he fell and turned to her mother her brown eyes wide, "BITTEN? Aaron was BITTEN!"

"That's what Max said … Why? Do they carry rabies or something?"

Ella groaned, "The man who helped Iggy- Ter Borcht, was bitten by one of those things. He said that it was like werewolves, once you're bitten you become one of them or die transforming."

David groaned his little hands going to his mouth, "Aaron's gonna become a Wizard too?"

Nudge choked, "No … That can't happen! Not my Aaron! Not my-" She turned and ran into the house, yanking the phone off the hook and dialing the number on the caller ID … But the gas station attendant said that the three young people had already driven off…

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Aaron shifted uncomfortably against the cheap hotel mattress and pulled the blankets tighter around him, trying not to disturb his arm. He felt cold … Incredibly cold and from the look on Max's face as she glanced at him from the other side of the room, he knew he was the only one who thought it was a bit chill.

"Aaron, are you feeling OK?" She walked to him, the almost healed burn on her leg standing out slightly pinker than her skin. She flattened her palm against his forehead and her eyebrows drew down.

She turned and pulled the blankets off the other bed, spreading them over Fang's brother then knocking loudly on the bathroom door, "Fang, hurry up in there, Aaron needs some hot water, he's freezing."

Fang grunted to let her know he heard and a few seconds later the water turned off.

"My bloody h-head hurts," He grumbled and stared miserably up at Max, searching for some kind of pity or compassion, at the moment he'd be happy with either as long as someone paid attention to him and acknowledged he was sick.

Fang came out of the bathroom at that moment, rubbing his sopping head with a towel wearing only his boxers and a pair of loose fitting sweatpants that hung off his hips. He approached the bed warily making a perplexed face much like Max's, "Jeez, you look like crap!"

"Oh, well done … If I didn't feel bad enough, now I know that I look a mess as well," He forced himself into a sitting position and the room span around, all the colors seeming to melt into one gigantic blur. The next thing he knew he was staring up at the ceiling and Fang was bending over him, smacking his face rather roughly.

Get the boy … Get number seven … Get the boy, the special one … Kill the other one … Kill the girl … Get the boy … Get the dark one…

Aaron shivered and the hackles on the back of his neck stood on end. Those sickeningly sweet … Demented kindergarten teacher voices rang in his head like little bells…

Get the boy … Kill the other one … Kill the girl … Rip them open … Eat them alive … Make them scream … Get the dark one … Kill the rest…

"Aaron?" Max hovered over him.

He's already dying … He's too weak … Won't accept the change … Too weak … Poor little Aaron … Daddy can't save him now…

He shivered again and that vice like pain he'd felt in his head let loose, possibly deflating him, releasing all the strength he had managed to accumulate and he clawed at Fang, grabbing his brother's shirt collar and drawing the dark haired boy down.

"T-they want y-you … Y-you're s-special."

Fang gave his head a shake and glanced up at Max from the corner of his eye, "Aaron … There's nothing special about me, Ter-Borcht said so … He read it right from my file."

Aaron's head wobbled and his hands fell away. "Tell Nudgie…" But no more words would come out and everything faded into a dark gray…

"A-Aaron?" Fang laid a hand on his brother's chest, his arm trembling and he came to his knees his eyes wide, fingers tangling in the dark blue T-shirt Aaron had pulled on after his bandages were changed.

"Max … Max, he's not breathing!"

She pressed her fingers to the side of his neck but Fang had already bent forward and put his ear to Aaron's chest.

She shivered … Nothing…

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 52; Panic

Nudge woke with a scream, her hands tearing at her nightshirt. Angel was up like a shot, lunging across the room to her, blue eyes wide.

And then everyone was in her room, thronging around her, trying to calm her, but she could only scream and clutch her chest.

"Not Aaron, Oh GOD, not Aaron!" And in the moment Nudge felt Aaron's heart stop she also felt what could only describe as having your bones suddenly turn to jelly and then back to bones in one instant. And then David gave a shout and knocked her into a deep dreamless sleep.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Fang choked and that uncontrollable hysteria seized him again, only this time he didn't freeze, in fact he did the complete opposite … He clamped his hands together over Aaron's heart and started CPR, cursing under his breath.

Aaron couldn't be dead … It didn't make any sense, he'd been fine earlier, just before he'd climbed into the shower Aaron had been fine, he'd even made a rude joke and earned a 'sexist pig' label from Max…

Aaron couldn't be dead…

"He needs air," Max whispered, wishing now more than ever that Jeb-Voice was there to tell her how to save Aaron's life just as he'd done all those years ago when Fang had gotten those horrible jagged scars across his stomach…

She had started to do it herself, remembering how she'd been taught in health class, knowing in the pit of her sickened stomach all the while that it wasn't going to work., but Fang was there first, trying with all his might to save his brother … To save his twin.

Max watched, feeling completely and utterly useless and anxious … Hoping that Aaron would move and take a breath and Fang would be able to stop breathing for him…

But it had been nearly a minute and Aaron hadn't moved…

"Aaron, Goddamn you … Goddamn you," He mumbled and continued pressing his hands down over his brother's chest, forcing his heart to pump then forcing air between his lips.

Two minutes…

"Fang…" She whispered, her voice thin.

And the air started charging … Becoming thick with tension and Max felt a deadly pressure starting in her chest and Fang's composure started crumbling with every second Aaron was lifeless … Dead.

Dead, Aaron's dead…

Three minutes…

"Fang," She said a little louder but he ignored her. And then, to her horror he seemed to loose all control and he thumped Aaron hard on the chest before resuming his frantic compressions…

"Fang, stop it…"

He shook his head and hit him again.

Max shuddered and her hands went out, grabbing Fang's wrists, "Fang, STOP!"

He looked her in the eyes … And she saw something dark swim into them, something vicious, something deadly and he took a shuddering breath his teeth grinding together so tightly she heard his jaws creak.

"Let me go, Max … I swear to God, if you don't let me go-"

And the light bulb in the lamp burst, showering the left corner of the room in shards of glass.

The only light left was that from the bathroom, but it was enough for Max to see Fang set back to work, pounding on Aaron's lifeless chest.

Four minutes…

For a moment she thought she smelled burning cloth and then Aaron's body went stiff. She jumped out of the way, knowing what was coming even before Fang rolled him over.

Fang thumped him repeatedly on the back when he choked and Max stared in a mixture of joy and revulsion…

There was an unholy screech from outside and Aaron bellowed in pain his hand going over his ear. The screech faded into the night and Aaron curled onto his side shivering, his teeth chattering.

Fang shuddered violently and for a moment he seemed to go rigid, his teeth ground together and he rocked to his knees, his head thrown back hands curling into fists.

Max heard him make a grunting noise and for a second she wasn't sure who was the one in more trouble. Aaron because he'd been dead for close to five minutes or Fang, who looked as if he were having some kind of fit.

That smoky, something-burning smell reached Max's nostrils and she turned, expecting to see the lamp in the corner in flames. But nothing was wrong.

Fang collapsed in on himself and nearly fell across Aaron. "H-Help me…"

She wasn't quite sure who he wanted her to help. So she bit back her need to pull Fang into her arms and went to Aaron, untangling the sick splattered blankets from him and sitting him up. "Just breathe for a few minutes and relax."

He nodded right hand on his chest, face wrinkled in pain.

"Do you want some water?"

Aaron shook his head, "W-want a stiff drink."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 53; Back to Basics

It was close to seven-thirty and the sun had disappeared behind the trees. Nudge flipped the light switch and admired her handiwork … Well, Iggy and Gasman had helped … They'd wired everything … But SHE put in the light bulbs.

"How is it?" Iggy said rubbing his hands together.

"Its perfect … Just like that parking lot, only … Less parking-lot-ish," Nudge said and stepped out onto the porch. Dr. Martinez had put up a few more lights outside, but they were all tied into the electric … So, upon arriving back home Angel and Nudge had insisted on getting solar powered lights. Believing that if the power were to go out as it had at Allan's the Wizards would still be fended off.

"MAX!" Angel screamed and ran into the yard.

A dirty, rusted and just plain beat looking red truck pulled into the driveway and Nudge's stomach clenched. She lunged right off the porch snapping her russet colored wings open and zooming straight at the truck.

She saw Aaron's face go pale and she landed on the hood as the truck stopped, her teeth ground together, "You died? You DIED … DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW FREAKING SCARED I WAS!"

Aaron climbed out of the truck and stood there on shaking legs clutching the door, "Sorry … Was a bit preoccupied with the afterlife…"

She slid off the hood and hugged him tightly her cheek pressed against his. "We need to talk about your arm … It's important…"

Max climbed out and jogged to her mother, wrapping her arms around her neck.

Fang just sat there behind the wheel staring at his hands the pigeon on his shoulder.

"Nick, Allan called and left his cell number for you to call any time you wanted," Ella said sticking her head in the window, "Wow, nice pigeon, where'd you get it?"

He shook his head and opened the door, climbing slowly out and heading inside without speaking to anyone.

"Max, what's up with him? Is he OK?"

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

PART THREE SUMMARY; Hark, the End Approaches…

Life is like the seasons, constantly changing. Things happen that you have no control over, factors aren't applied to the equation, variants change and mutate, feelings bud, blossom and die. It's a domino effect, the strong triumphs over the weak, the evolved destroy the rudimentary lives of those under them.

Life shifts like the desert, tragedy strikes like a storm, without warning, as quick and lethal as a sting, its edge as sharp and yet blunt as the blade of a scythe…

Who are we to tempt the fates? Who are we to challenge their decrees, their choices? Because, when the thread of life is cut, it cannot be reunited…

(WARNING! YOU MIGHT NOT LIKE THE STORY FROM HERE ON OUT BECAUSE IT TAKES A DARK TURN! SAY WHAT YOU MUST, BUT YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!)

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

The Wings of Wrath; Part 3

What Dreams May Come

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 54; Halloween

Two things kept bugging her. Two BIG things … Well, if you wanted to get right down to it … THREE big things.

Since coming back to live with Dr. Martinez nearly three years before, Max and the Flock had become accustomed to a 'danger free' life while hiding from the waning number of Flyboys and renegade geneticists that still wanted them dead.

School, on the other hand … The NORMAL school that the flock now attended with Ella was just that … Normal.

Well, normal as long as you didn't know that four of the Seniors were not exactly human … But Fang, Aaron, Max and Iggy tried to blend in as best they could. And apparently it had worked because not only were Fang, Max and Iggy going to graduate in May, but Fang and Iggy also had managed to make it into the Top 20 Graduating Students, Fang himself number ten, Iggy, number thirteen… A fact that both stunned and thrilled them in their own unique ways.

And made Max jealous and green in the face with envy because she'd only managed number thirty-six… She guessed her English teacher hadn't liked her report on the state of the world…

But, what else was she supposed to write! She was destined to save the world for crap sake! It would have to be in PRETTY bad shape for its fate to be intrusted in a seventeen-year-old girl…

Even if that seventeen-year-old girl WAS Maximum Ride…

The good thing about this NORMAL school was there were no Headhunters, or white-coats in disguise. It was just a normal … Boring school where they learned a lot of 'useless' stuff and where Gasman spent every Friday evening in detention until four PM for setting off a new 'stink bomb' in the boy's bathroom. Even though he didn't even GO to highschool yet…

Max had often thought about buying The Gasman some Beano but what would be the point? The boy wouldn't take it and who knew when they would need his special abilities?

Max knew that every so often it was nice to have a person capable of emiting toxic vapors around. Especially when everything got particularly boreing…

Everything had gone perfectly … A droning, unexciting perfect… Well, not COMPLETELY unexciting. In the almost three years since coming to live with Dr. Martinez they all got their own, REAL birthday parties, with presents, cakes, balloons and the like … But those were the most exciting things that happened…

Until a month ago when THING one had popped up in the form of a letter addressed to one 'Nicholas Ride".

The OTHER exciting thing that happened, which ALSO happened to be the one of other two THINGS that were constantly on Max's mind, slowly driving her to the brink of teenaged insanity, just so happened to be banging on the bathroom door Max was leaning against.

"Lemmein-lemmein-lemmein!" A shrill voice bellowed followed by more frantic pounding.

"NO!" Total shrieked and hid himself behind the toilet, and time seemed to unwind like kite string… Sound, and sensation slamming into Max's brain like a hammer against an anvil.

Max clasped her head between her hands and pressed her back against the door, trying to ignore the earthquake like shuddering every time a fist collided with the wood.

Things were frantic tonight. Everyone was getting dressed in various Halloween costumes so they could all attend Ella's friend Lynn-Dee's 'famous' Halloween Party.

Max had seen Ella and Lynn-Dee hanging out together at school. She didn't mind. Ella was after all Max's half-sister and they got to spend hours upon hours together at home.

"Total, what is wrong!" Max dropped her hands to her sides, giving up on trying to calm the boy beating the door in. The whole house was in an uproar and there was little she could do to escape the hustle and bustle of it all. Aside from tying everyone up and duct-taping their mouths shut…

But she didn't have any duct-tape…

She'd been particularly agitated since they'd gotten back from New York/Oklahoma weeks before. Things got on her nerves faster than normal, Iggy and Ella's constant 'togetherness' made her insane and she'd found herself hunting them down just to point at Iggy and narrow her eyes. Giving him a 'you are sexist bacon!' look.

And he would automatically swallow and clutch Ella tighter to him, giving her a petrified paranoid look… Even though he couldn't see anymore… Which was another reason Max wasn't in a good mood…

Max had thought SHE was being paranoid… But Iggy and Ella's sudden downright apprehensive anxiety in the last few weeks had not only driven Max off the edge, but also the Gasman, who had given up and politely punched Iggy in the head the night before at dinner. Telling him to 'stop acting like a nut!' that the only people out to get him were Whitecoats and Wizards…

"I look hideous!" Total peeked out at her from behind the toilet.

"It isn't that bad…" She rubbed her forehead, feeling her anger building to a constant jack-hammer like thumping behind her eyes.

Total rolled his eyes and trotted out to her, "I look stupid!"

Max ground her teeth and willed herself not to snap at him, which she'd done to just about everyone of late… She'd even overheard Aaron calling her a 'bitch' and asking Nudge if she were 'experiencing the PMS'… needless to say he was now walking around with wounded pride … As well as a print of her shoe on his butt.

"Just be glad it isn't Tinkerbell!"

Total put a paw over his face. "Why couldn't I have gone as Batman? Why do I have to be Underdog?"

"Igottapeeeeee!" The voice squealed from the other side of the door.

"DAVID!" Max slammed her fist on the door. "I swear if you do NOT stop banging on this door I am going to sic Gazzy on you!"

The boy stopped pounding and began dancing around outside holding himself. "Okay, but I REALLY gotta go!"

Max rolled her eyes. She was more than angry now… But, she couldn't shout at them… She had to put up with it for a little while longer. Just a little while… God help the person who sent her over the edge… "You couldn't be Batman because all the Batman costumes that would have fit you were sold out. Besides, you make a really sweet Underdog."

He glared up at her and bared his teeth, "If you call me sweet again I might just show you exactly how sour I can be."

Max opened her mouth to tell him exactly what he could do with his sour attitude when David gave up on waiting and forced the door open. Practically squishing Max against the wall. Total stumbled back as David ran in, his light brown wings out, mummy costume under his arm.

"WATCH IT!" Total screamed and dove between David's legs and into the crowded hall.

Max barely made it out of the bathroom before David dropped his pants.

The hallway was a flurry of movement. Angel was prancing around in her witch costume her face painted green her untidy black wig and pointed hat hiding all of her golden hair. She had a Snickers bar in one hand and a half-eaten lollypop in the other, her filled to bursting cauldron shaped Treat-Bucket over her arm. "It should be Halloween EVERY DAY! I LOVE trick-or-treating!"

"You love SUGAR!" Nudge said and walked past wearing a beautiful floor length red dress and white satin gloves, her wings barely hidden by a cleverly arranged faux-fur stole. "Has anyone seen, Aaron?" She ran a hand through the long flowing hair weave Dr. Martinez had taken her into town to get earlier that day and started calling again, "Aaron?"

Iggy was standing in the corner twiddling a button on the jacket of his pirate costume blind eyes on the floor looking paranoid and self-conscious… Gasman was pulling on a black cape and stuffing glowing vampire teeth into his mouth-

"Max, can you help me, my hair is caught in this button!" Ella appeared in front of her.

"What are you going as again?" Max gently began unwinding the strand of hair from the button.

Ella rolled her eyes, "I'm supposed to be Elizabeth Swan … You know, from the pirate movies? But this costume is kind of tight on my chest now… It's weird, it wasn't tight when I tried it on at the shop… It's really annoying…" She screwed up her face and grabbed the costume, pulling it away from her chest and wiggling around, trying to loosen it.

Max shook her head and glanced over at Iggy. "Let me guess, Iggy is Will Turner?"

Ella blushed, "Spoilsport … Who are you going as?"

Max shrugged, "I'm not going."

Everything seemed to stop and everyone turned to Max, eyes wide.

"You have to go!" Ella whined. "We've had these costumes for weeks! You HAVE to go!"

She shook her head, "I'm not very good with crowds, you know that. Besides, I have work to do, Genotex is NOT going to stop itself, no matter how much we want it to."

David yanked open the bathroom-door and threw back his head wailing as if someone had stomped his favorite toy. "I don't want to be a mummy!"

Max turned to him then closed her eyes when she saw the boy was standing there in nothing but his Spiderman underpants and tanktop undershirt. She inhaled deeply, "David, where are your clothes?"

"I don't want to be a mummy, I want to be MUMMY!"

Max growled and raked a hand through her hair. That was the same argument David had given them in the costume shop. Nearly screaming at the sales associate that he wanted to be a MUMMY not a mummy. And Angel had refused to tell them what the boy meant. Saying in a rather unconvincing voice, "I don't know… Don't ask me!"

"Gazzy, can you do something, please?"

"I'm on it!" The blonde grinned, glowing incisors lighting up his smile, literally.

A door opened to Max's left and THING three poked his head out of the room. "Would someone PLEASE tell Nick to get his useless recombinant life-form arse up here and give me a hand?" He sounded ridiculously British tonight.

Max turned to him. He was shirtless, his brown hair hanging into his face, his left heavily bandaged arm in a sling.

"As soon as we find him I'll tell him. Nudge is looking for you, Aaron."

Aaron grinned warily, still worried that she'd kick his butt again, and shook his head, "I'm not Aaron … Tonight I'm Ichabod 'Crane'," He grinned and pointed at his wings. "Tell Nudgie I'll be down in a moment."

(QUICK NOTE; Makes nasily nerdy/retarted laughing sound I just noticed that… Wow, future of America here people! If I ever have a son I'm naming him 'Ichabod'!)

Max rolled her eyes and shut herself in her room.

The thunderous noise from the hallway resumed and she clasped her head between her hands. She wondered absently where exactly Fang was, and at the same time … A weird since of calm, cool amusement swept over her… She could just picture a horrible wide smug grin on Fang's face…

She'd barely seen him in the weeks since they'd returned, let alone talk to him… Let alone wring his neck like she wanted to … Who did he think he was ignoring her like that!

She was Maximum Ride, NOBODY ignored her!

Not usually… But there WAS that one time…

She sighed and sat heavily on her bed.

When Fang wasn't wondering around aimlessly in the yard kicking sticks or raking leaves, or working on his BLOG or scribbling in the Mysterious-Black-Notebook he kept hidden from them all, he was in his room with the door locked or sitting on the roof his nose in a book.

Max's fingers went to the large costume bag lying on her pillow and she sighed.

It wasn't that she didn't want to go to the party. It was that she didn't feel particularly comfortable going to the party in THAT costume. Why couldn't she have picked something a little less … Dramatic? A little less … Girly…

She cringed and cuped her forehead with both hands… Yes, she was a girl, DUH! But, did she have to fall into a mold? Did she really have to be a 'Girly-girl'?

There was a knock on her door and Nudge walked in. "What's all this about you not going?"

Max raised her head. "I don't want to go … What if something happens here?"

Nudge cocked a hand on her hip, looking sassy and sleek. "What if you don't go and something happens THERE."

Max sighed, "If I go in THIS!" She shook the costume bag, "We'll REALLY be in trouble."

"You'll regret it if you don't go, you know that. Imagine all the candy … Imagine Aaron in that Ichabod Crane costume!" She practically salivated, her eyes glazing over…

Max couldn't help but smile, "He's not my boyfriend Nudge, he's yours-"

"I KNOW! Isn't it GREAT!" And she left.

Max sat there for a few seconds her eyebrow raised, confused a little by what had just happened, but chocking her confusion up to her unwillingness to accept the fact everyone was seeming to turn into sexist pigs before her eyes…

Horny teenagers, every last one of them…

At least Angel, David and the Gasman had yet to express 'FEELINGS' about the opposite sex…

There was still a LITTLE bit of sanity in the world.

Max sighed and leaned forward, hanging her head between her knees. Why was it that just when she'd made up her mind that it was OK to SOMETIMES act 'girly' that everyone decided to go past the 'cute shoes' stage and right into full-blown hormonal-horny-teenager mode?

She wasn't going to deny the fact … To herself, anyway … That her own feelings were changing, that she was starting to … wonder about things.

It was normal, it was part of nature!

Wasn't it?

If it was nature she could handle it. She could handle nature…

But, if it was UN-natural… If it was some genetic flaw of her recombined DNA that made THINGS happen sometimes when she was alone… If it was something THEY had done to her, then she wanted nothing to do with it… EVER…

But still… Secrets such as these breed in your skin… They leave their mark on your dreams and in your eyes…

Max rolled onto her back on the bed, her upper half practically being swallowed by the gargantuan costime bag on her pillow…

She could hear the rustle of toule against the plastic and she sighed again…

Sometimes it absolutely SUCKED to be a girl…

Especially a bird-girl who was destined to save the world…

Why was it so ungodly hard to choose one and stick to it?

Every time she tried to be a 'girl' something would happen and she'd have to throw off the gloves of femininity and pick up her boxing gloves… And every time she put the boxing gloves on … She dropped her teacup…

Why couldn't she just PICK already?

Was she going to be a girl, or was she going to be a hero?

If she chose to be a girl the world would end… If she chose to be a hero… She'd have to live her whole life alone because heros lost everything… Heros were tortured souls who'd had their every hope, dream and ambition stolen from them. Which leaves them bitter, jaded and cold…

And Max didn't want to be cold… She liked that warm feeling… She liked having someone there with her… She didn't like being alone… When she was alone, it was like she lost her self as well…

Could there possibly be a balance between 'girl' and 'hero'? Was there some common ground she hadn't yet discovered?

Maybe this was why super heros had secret identities… So they could have both, in separate, untainted bubbles…

But that didn't help Max at all… Her life wasn't untainted, and it wasn't in a bubble. Danger permiated every cell of her body, and every corner of her life…

There, she thought to herself. I have a middle name … And it's Danger…

It was semi-quiet for a twenty count then something pecked lightly on the window and Max sat up quickly, her heart in her throat.

Fang was sitting on the roof, just beside the glass, a rather emotionless expression on his face. He jerked his head and pointed to the roof beside him.

Max was climbing out the window before she even realized she'd stood. "Have you been sitting out here the whole time?"

She forced herself to scowl, to retain the angered appearance she'd had all day… But it was hard to do… That eerie since of calm was steeling over her again, and she wanted to find the source of it … And PUNCH it for ruining her wonderfully foul mood.

Fang nodded and scratched at the little hairs on his cheeks and chin. The pigeon, who had practically CLAIMED him, was perched on his shoulder as always, preening his lengthening hair.

He had an open book in his lap that looked like a dictionary and an ink-pen pushed behind his ear. Max looked around for the Mysterious-Black-Notebook but couldn't see it anywhere. He's probably sitting on it or got it shoved up his shirt… She thought with a laugh. He'll do anything to keep someone from reading that thing, the dumb PIG…

"I had to get away from them … David is driving me insane," He rubbed his neck, as if he had a crick in it.

Max smiled, her bad mood seeming to melt, she was glad he was talking to her again. He'd seemed to refrain from speaking all together since they'd gotten home and it had worried her. She liked hearing him talk, especially since he'd finally reached puberty and all. She laughed to herself.

His voice was slightly rougher, deeper. And it gave her a secret thrill to hear him speak. Although she would NEVER admit that… But, then again… he was just so much more … She didn't really know a word to describe it!

It was his mere presence… The fact there weren't any other girls around for him to gawk and make eyes at… Even though Max wasn't sure she'd seen him actually make eyes at anyone before…

She sure had seen Iggy do it though… Boy, oh BOY did he ever!

Aaron too!

"He's your little brother, of course he's driving you insane. And the fact he has ADHD, AND depression doesn't help much."

Fang rolled his eyes and shoved a hand through his hair, brushing its length out of his face. "Aaron is worse."

Max scoffed, "Aaron is worse because he's hurt … But again, HE'S YOUR BROTHER!"

He flinched and bowed his head, "It's also my fault he got hurt."

"No it isn't…" Guilt tugged at her stomach and she wanted to put her arm around him, but wouldn't allow herself to do so because she was 'mad' at him for not talking to her in WEEKS.

He turned to look at her his hair falling back into his face. After a second he sighed, rolled his eyes and pushed it behind his ear, an innocent act that startled Max at first because she'd never seen him push his own hair from his eyes. Usually he kept it in his face, like a curtain … Or a veil from that story … What was it … 'The Minister's Black Veil'…

Max pondered this for a moment, staring at him. In that story the Minister had worn a veil as a physical representation of his secret sins…

What secret sins would Fang have to represent?

She glanced at his hands, folded lightly across his stomach…

What were those hands capable of?

Those long, thin, slightly calloused, strong hands of his… What kinds of secret things had they done in the dead of night as he lie there in his bed… Breathing… Breathing... on the other side of her wall…

Max's stomach tingled and she drew her lower lip between her teeth, staring at his knuckles, her mind wandering… She glanced at his face… Taking in his profile in the dying light…

Thin, straight nose… Despite being broken no less than four times… His cheeks, his dark eyes… His forehead… His lips…

Slightly parted as he gazed out over the yard to some fixed point on the horizon… Some unknown distance away that could have been a lifetime, and yet … Right in front of him…

His lips slowly came together and a red tint crept into his cheeks…

Very slowly he turned his head and stared at Max with an … expressionless expression on his face… And fire in his eyes.

"Max?"

She opened her mouth to speak, felt her throat tightening, and cleared it before the words would come. "Yeah?"

His mouth opened, words forming… And yet all that came out was a soft half choked sound, barely above a whisper… His eyes flicked over her, raking up from where she sat to the top of her head, and with a sigh he changed the subject he was about to initiate to the first thing that popped into his mind.

"Are you going to the party?"

"No."

"Why not?" He shut the dictionary and turned to her again dangling his arms between his knees, folding his hands over the toes of his boots, hunched at the waist, shifting uncomfortably a good four inches away from her. The pigeon cooed and fluttered to his other shoulder.

She shrugged and crossed her arms over her chest, turning so that she was pointed slightly to the left from center… Away from him, "I'm not in the mood, besides I have all those files to look through," She picked at a roofing shingle with the nail of her thumb, calling herself fifteen different names in her head…

She felt him grin and turned her head to look at him. And she didn't think it was possible for something so horrible to look so good.

"You just don't want to wear a dress in front of everyone."

"Well, would you?" She couldn't help but smile, even though she turned so he wouldn't see.

No matter how depressed, angry, or immersed in the fight against the 'Tex' corporation she felt Fang could always make her smile. She was tempted to just fling her arms around his neck and kiss him … Or kick his butt, she couldn't decide.

Why did Fang make everything seem OK? Why did he make her feel like she wasn't a complete failure? Why did he make her feel so, so … Hot…

It was his turn to shrug, even though he didn't move himself from his hunched position. "It's a costume party … You're supposed to be uncomfortable and look stupid."

She pursed her lips and scowled at him, "I do NOT look stupid in a dress."

He rolled his eyes a little grin brightening his face, "Okay, you just keep telling yourself that."

She climbed to her feet, ready to literally kick his behind, "Are you going?"

He shrugged again the smile fading and leaned back against the siding, the dictionary now firmly planted in the middle of his lap, "I don't know, I doubt it."

She crossed her arms. "If I go, you're going, and we'll see who looks more stupid."

She was assuming Fang had chosen a rather childish costume like the other boys, Aaron not included.

Iggy had his pirate costume, Gasman and the vampire teeth, David and the contraversial mummy suit … She could just picture Fang showing up in a fluffy pink dinosaur costume...

But, to be perfectly honest, she didn't know WHAT Fang's costume was. And she wasn't going to let him know that she cared!

He turned his head to the right, looking away, out over the garage, and started drumming his fingers nervously on the dictionary in his lap, his foot tapping lightly in the air, "Whatever."

She climbed back in through the window, closed it and dropped the blind. She stared at the costume bag for a moment then sat her jaw and started getting dressed.

She'd show him… She'd show HIM!

By the time she had finished putting all the costume on, and fixing her hair and makeup the house was quiet. Except for the pigeon, who was nesting in Fang's top drawer amid his socks.

She peeked outside and saw Dr. Martinez's car was gone, as was everyone but Aaron, who was standing just off the porch in the shadows smoking a cigarette.

Max was tempted to tell him that he wasn't seventeen until morning, and he wouldn't be legally old enough to smoke for another whole year, but she didn't… Everyone had their secrets…

But, he did look drool-worthy in his costume. And yet, Max couldn't look at him without thinking of Fang. To her, Fang was first, Aaron may be his twin brother but Fang was her favorite, Fang was IT.

Fang was … was … He was FANG for crap sake! Mr. Emotionless-Dark-as-Night!

"They've gone…" He stomped out the cigarette and pressed the palm of his hand over his upper arm for a moment before he turned to her. "Morris Minor! You look fantastic!"

She rolled her eyes and hiked the dress up and showed him she still wore her sneakers. "I may look like a damsel but I can kick butt."

Aaron chuckled and motioned to his truck, "Was going to go with... Someone had to stay … 'Case something happened."

Max wondered if the inability to speak in full sentences was somehow a genetic trait in Fang's family.

She gathered the bulk of her dress in her arms and duck walked to the rusted old truck, "Incase Wizards decided to crash in and drag me off again?"

Aaron nodded and climbed behind the wheel. He had to fight Max's dress to get to the seatbelt. "God, there's more dress than Max!"

She tried unsuccessfully to flatten the overwhelming 'poofiness' of the dress but failed miserably. "Just get us to the party … You didn't happen to see Fang's costume did you?" She tried to sound disinterested… Tried really hard too…

Aaron shook his head, "No, he left before everyone else. Just flew off and yelled back that he'd meet us there."

"So, you didn't see his costume?"

Aaron shook his head and steered the truck one handed down the driveway and onto the road. Then he switched on all the lights, effectively bathing the night in brightness.

"Did Iggy and Gasman wire this up for you?" She squinted through the windshield.

Aaron grinned, "Yeah, the more light the fewer Wizards we'll see!" He was squinting also.

"Jeez, it looks like he put half of New York on this thing!" She wished she'd brought sunglasses.

"Yeah, well, it works," He winced and rotated his shoulder. "They're out there, I can…"

Max bit her lip and turned worried eyes on him. She felt just as guilty if not more so than Fang. I was HER fault Aaron had been bitten by the Wizard Fang had named 'Big-Hairy'. She'd been the whole reason Aaron and Fang had been out there in the first place.

She'd been the one to find out about Genotex, about the new experiments Omega and The Director were performing. She'd been captured and because of that Fang and Aaron had to come to her rescue.

It was her fault Aaron had been bitten, it was her fault he was now infected with what Gazzy called 'The Wizard's Curse' … She guessed he came up with the name after watching 'Curse of the Werewolf' with Iggy and Ella at the theater. Though Iggy and Ella did very little 'viewing/listening' of the movie…

"Are you OK?"

He glanced at her and smiled transparently. "I'm fine."

"You don't have to go … You can go back to the house and rest. I'll be okay, just give me a flashlight."

Aaron shook his head, "I promised Nick … Fang that I'd make sure you got to the party safely."

She slouched back in the seat, her arms crossed over her chest eyes narrowed. "He just wants to see how stupid I look."

Aaron chuckled, "You don't look stupid, you look better than I do."

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah. That REALLY boosts my confidence."

He smiled genuinely and slowed the truck, pulling into Lynn-Dee's driveway and parking as close to the home as he could. "Make it quick! Don't want to be caught out in the dark!"

Max rolled her eyes, "That's my line, thanks."

They jumped out of the cab and dashed forward into the house. She could hear the 'Monster Mash' 'Disco Inferno' mix playing loudly in the background and she looked around in awe.

The house was built on a hill, slanting downward into a gully. The whole 'front' of the house was a wall of windows looking out over the garden and swimming pool, which had a large inflatable spider floating in it.

"The party is downstairs in the den and on the deck, the bathroom is down the hall to your left," Lynn-Dee's mother said, gently fingering her Bride of Frankenstein wig. "Max you look beautiful … I should know this … It's not Little Bo Peep … I can't place it …Who are you?"

Max smiled and smoothed the front of her dress then her hand went to her hair, gently stroking the dangling light brown ringlets. "Scarlet O'Hara."

"MAXIE!" Lynn-Dee squealed and rushed up the stairs her arms out. She crushed Max in a hug then stepped back at arms length her eyes wide. "OH MY GOSH, YOU LOOK GORGEOUS!"

Max wasn't entirely surprised to see Lynn-Dee was dressed up in some kind of school uniform and carrying a stick, and when she chanced a look over the girl's shoulder she saw nine or so others dressed nearly the same as Lynn-Dee, but with varying colors. As well as almost twenty people in pirate costumes.

But as her eyes honed in on a boy with furry arms her stomach clenched and she thought instantly of Ari. But it wasn't him … It was some boy she had Math class with dressed as a werewolf.

Stupid … STUPID STUPID! She felt something akin to remorse tighten her chest and she had to look away blinking rapidly so as not to ruin her makeup. Which on any other day she couldn't have cared less about. But she was trying to show Fang that she could look good in a dress… Even one as poofy as this one…

"Is that Nick's brother?" Lynn-Dee whispered. "I hardly recognize him!"

Max stifled a laugh and watched the young man as he stood there in the corner Lynn-Dee's older sister Chelsea, who was wearing a rather skimpy witch's costume, flirting shamelessly at him, practically pinning him to the wall. He looked positively … Mortified.

"Does Chelsea know Aaron has a girlfriend?" Max whispered, barely withholding giggles.

Lynn-Dee shook her head, "No," She pointed to Nudge, who was stalking toward the unsuspecting Chelsea, murder in her russet eyes. "But I think she's about to find out."

Lynn-Dee laughed and pulled a camera from her pocket, "I have GOT to get a picture of this!"

Max stood there at the top of the steps for a moment staring down and feeling claustrophobic without Lynn-Dee there to take her mind off the crowd.

I can do this … Its just a party, I've been to a costume party before … I can do this.

She scanned the crowd for any sign of her Flock. Angel and David were in the corner, David looking on the verge of tears wearing Angel's witch's cape over his mummy costume, Angel bobbing for apples and Max wondered exactly how long she had been underwater. From the looks on the other kids faces, she'd been under a while. Max wasn't surprised, Angel could stay there all night!

Iggy and Ella were talking with a few other kids, Ella clinging to Iggy's arm, bright proud smiles on their faces… And Total was looking kind of bored and pretending to be a service dog while wearing his Underdog costume.

Nudge now had Chelsea pinned to the wall, shaking her finger under the other girls nose.

And…

Someone was staring at her … Max could feel their eyes roving over her as well as an excited tightening of her lower stomach, and quickening of hear pulse. She looked down at the foot of the steps, her breath catching in her throat.

He was giving her a very Rhett Butler like grin indeed!

She paused, not quite sure if she could take another step closer to him without melting into a puddle on the floor!

His hair was loose, hanging down past his shoulders, a good four inches longer than Aaron's and with just enough curl in the ends to make the black tresses look almost wild in their combed neatness.

He was wearing a long black coat, black boots and pants, and a slate gray sweater. He had a wide brimmed hat in the hand that wasn't draped seemingly carelessly on the rail and a gray bandanna tied loosely around his neck. And OH that smirk on his face! She thought only Iggy could smirk like that!

It took her a moment to realize she wasn't breathing, and she was … Ogling him. She felt the near overwhelming urge to leap over the banister and tackle him! Smother him with kisses … Or kick his butt for being a sexist-pig and staring at her as if he'd seen her naked … She remembered when she'd changed shirts in the truck weeks before and color rose to her cheeks.

Had he peeked!

She slowly began walking again, taking each step slowly, terrified her suddenly weak knees would fail and she'd fall flat on her face and make an utter and complete fool of herself. She looked away as she neared the bottom of the steps, trying to act as if she didn't care that he was there, or hadn't seen him… Although they'd been staring at each other for the last half a minute! But a smile crept over her face and she couldn't help but glance at him from the corner of her eye.

He was not dressed as Rhett Butler, she wasn't really sure WHO he was supposed to be, but she wasn't going to ask. But OH did he look GOOD!

But, she was NOT going to give him the satisfaction of knowing she cared! Who, me? I don't care! NOPE! Not at all!

"Why, Scarlet!" He may not have been in the right costume, but Fang could definitely give Max chills just as Captain Butler had Miss O'Hara.

She turned slowly, casting a very Scarlet-like, demure look over her shoulder as she did. Her red painted lips curling into a smile. He was swaggering up to her that intense look on his face his hat in his hand, a horrble, chill inducing smug grin on his face…

She didn't speak, she couldn't. Her heart was crowding her voice-box. She swallowed the palpitating sensation and tried to sound as un-rattled as possible. "Do I know you?"

Fang smiled and bowed, "The Hunter VanHelsing, at your service."

She tried not to laugh nervously. He did look somewhat like the character he was portraying. Only VanHelsing was older than Fang and nowhere near as handsome.

Hugh Jackman had NOTHING on Fang…

"I didn't think you were going to show up, I was about to fl-run back to the house and find you."

Max felt herself blush. "You're no VanHelsing … You're FangHelsing."

He laughed and the sound brightened her heart. He donned his hat. "Well, lets just hope FangHelsing doesn't have to fight any monsters tonight."

After a moment of staring at her he chuckled, and poked her skirt with a rigid index finger. "Jeez, if you get tired all you've got to do is lift your feet off the floor, this skirt'll keep you upright from now until the end of the world!"

She swatted his hand when he poked the skirt again, his tongue poking out in a rather idiotic childish type of amusement.

He made a rude sound with his mouth, like air being let out of a balloon, "Oops! Popped it…"

"Pig."

He made a faux hurt face and pulled the gray bandanna he had around his neck up over his mouth and nose, just his dark eyes sparkling at her.

She twisted her mouth in frustration and grabbed the end of the bandanna pulling it down so she could see that awful grin on his face. "Jerk."

He rolled his eyes and poked her dress again for good measure then took a step back when she tried to hit him. He put up his hands in surrender and slowly rocked back to her side, like a punching bag, Mas thought, and was tempted to hit him just to see if he sprang back as quickly, but thought against it when he didn't poke her skirt again.

Max shook her head and shifted uneasily on her feet. "So … What now?"

He pursed his lips and looked around his mouth quirked slightly to the right. "Wander around and eat the free food?"

"Sounds like a plan."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Angel must have manipulated her mind sometime later, because she didn't know why she was out on the dance floor dancing around with Nudge, Angel, Ella, Lynn-Dee and a few other girls in various pirate costumes.

She was sweating and her hair was loosing its curl but she didn't care. She was having too much fun doing the Mashed Potato with Nudge to the third playing of the 'Monster Mash' 'Disco Inferno' medley. That seemed to be the favorite dance song of all the kids there.

Even Fang was tapping his foot by the staircase where he'd stood for most of the night.

Iggy was by the snack table his head turning nervously, dropping finger sandwiches down to Total, whispering, "Not a WORD, understand? Not a word…" And Total was wagging his tail catching the sandwiches in his teeth, then practically swallowing them whole.

Gasman and David were talking in the corner, the latter still wearing Angel's cape and yawning, big surprise.

The only member of her slightly expanded Flock Max couldn't see was Aaron, and that was beginning to worry her.

Aaron had told her in the truck that Wizards were close by, and Lynn-Dee's parents didn't have that many lights on.

Max broke away from the 'dancing' group of girls and began to slowly make her way to Fang. As she got closer to him she saw that Fang was not tapping his foot to the music, he was tapping it impatiently and looking rather nervously at the wall of windows to her left.

Was he channeling Iggy's abrupt paranoia?

"What is it?" She had to nearly shout to be heard over the music.

Fang shook his head, "Aaron's been out there a long time."

Her stomach clenched, "Out where?"

He motioned to the darkness outside the glass. "He told me he was getting a headache and was going out to get some air … He hasn't come back yet and that was almost ten minutes ago."

She turned and stared at the deck, she couldn't see anyone out there at all. "Fang, as he was driving over here he told me that the Wizards were close, that he could … Feel them."

Fang nodded and his lips pressed together so tightly the skin around his mouth became very pale. "Something's wrong … I need to go find him, you stay here."

She grabbed his shoulder as he pushed past her and turned him around, "Don't tell me what to do! I may be wearing a dress right now, but I wear the pants!"

He hesitated, his breath catching in his chest. For a moment his eyes reflected the same red light from a spinning light sphere on the drinks table.

Her hand tightened on his shoulder and she took a shuddering breath. "I'm coming with you if you like it or not. We're in this together… You and me."

It happened quickly. He turned, his left hand going to her neck cupping the back of her neck gently, angling her head just so … And his lips crushed against hers.

His right arm snaked around her, pulling her roughly against him long enough for her to tense then relax against him releasing a soft, needy moan.

He broke from her and started weaving his way across the floor, her hand in his.

WHAT WAS THAT! Oh, my GOD! I just got MUCHO kissed by FangHelsing! The feminine side of her brain screamed. The warrior half merely stood there agape, club in hand.

The night was chill and an ominous wind blew from the northeast.

As soon as they descended the stairs on the deck and dashed into the garden Max could tell something was terribly wrong. The air was thick … Charged.

Fang's palms were sweating and his hand felt incredibly hot in hers, or perhaps she was only cold. His fingers grew rigid and he stopped short of the path.

Max paused behind his shoulder, holding her dress off the ground. There were little lights moving around in the forest in front of them. Little sets of orange lights, bobbing up and down or side to side soundlessly.

"What are they?" Max whispered to him, fear tugging at her stomach. She needn't have asked, she already knew what they were…

He seemed to go rigid, his breath stopping in his throat with a sound like a gag. His hand started tightening in hers, squeezing her palm so hard the bones in her fingers rubbed together.

"Fang, stop it you're going to break my hand!" She jerked away from him and took a step back.

His hands continued to curl inward and she saw little droplets of blood begin pattering to the ground from where they oozed between his fingers.

"Fang?" She put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze, terrified because the flesh below felt like stone.

"Fang," she stepped between him and the forest, staring deeply into his eyes. His pupils were unnaturally large but the color around the blackness was not bottomless azure, as it had always been, but was a deep blood red…

It was only then that she noticed there was no light around them, save the full moon peeking through the clouds behind her. She tore her gaze from Fang's face and honed it on the house.

The sound of music had stopped and all the windows were pitch black. The wind howled, and Max listened to the sound building behind it.

Somewhere in the forest stretching endlessly before them, Aaron screamed in agony…

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 55; Nothing Special

Aaron stumbled out of the house his right hand cupped to his forehead. He was getting a very bad headache … Just like the one he'd had the day his heart had stopped. He walked to the pool and crouched, scooping up a handful of water and rubbing its coldness on his face.

He stared down at his hand, noting how violently it shook…

Maybe he should go inside and get Nick … Nick knew what to do…

Aaron…

He stood up and stared toward the moon his breath catching in his throat.

Someone laughed. A sweet, high pitched girly giggle and Aaron tore himself from the moon to stare into the garden…

A young woman with long brown hair was standing there in a calf length hospital smock her hands clasped expectantly under her chin…

Aaron felt his heart rise into his mouth … He knew that girl…

"Mum?"

The girl laughed again, turned and ran into the forest her hair fanning out behind her. Then two black wings snapped from her back and she was gone. Flying into the forest leaving nothing but her taunting laughter…

Aaron ran down the steps, his foot catching on the last one, nearly causing him to face plant in the dirt, but somehow he was able to stay on his feet, running after her.

"Mum- MUM WAIT!"

He ran after her, cursing his costume because there was no way to get his wings out without taking off his jacket, vest and shirt … And that meant taking off his sling…

So he kept running smacking limbs and twigs aside as they threatened to gouge his eyes out.

The forest was bright … As if halogen lamps hung from the canopy, illuminating everything with an eerie orange glow…

The girl laughed again and Aaron slowed to a stop realizing he had been chasing nothing at all… There was no girl … It had been in his head. He took a shuddering breath and stared around, wishing to make his hallucination real, but knowing all the while that nothing was going to happen.

Aaron…

The hackles on the back of his neck stood on end and he turned slowly, coming face to face with a frightening familiar creature with jagged teeth and almost human eyes…

Big Hairy…

Max stepped away from him her hands up fingers curled.

His eyes … His EYES!

Fang shuddered violently and his eyes rolled up, fluttering for a moment before he fell to his knees in the path, forehead pressed against the ground arms tightly around his middle.

"Fang … Fang, get up!" She bent and grabbed his shoulder, pulling, trying to get him to his feet, but he suddenly weighed a ton…

"FANG, GET UP!"

Aaron's scream broke and everything went quiet.

The door flew open and Nudge ran out, followed quickly by Angel and Gasman, "Where is he! Where is Aaron?"

Max pointed to the forest, "He's in there!"

Kids swarmed on the deck shining flashlights around and calling, "What's wrong?" "What happened?" "Where's Aaron?" "Is this part of the party?"

Ella and Iggy ran out next but David stayed behind his thumb between his teeth, clinging to Total's leash.

Nudge jerked off her high-heels and darted into the forest. Angel and Gasman ran after her.

Max tugged on Fang's arm once more and contemplated kicking him. "Get UP!"

He moaned softly and clambered to his feet swaying side to side. They started running toward the forest.

Ella turned to the crowd, "Sorry, we just really need to find him, Aaron's shouldn't be left alone like this," And she and Iggy started to run into the forest. "We'll be right back!"

David cried out and ran down the steps his arms out tears streaming down his face, "Don't leave me!"

Total grumbled and ran after him barking so as not to blow his cover.

Ella stopped and waited her hand on Iggy's arm.

Total politely head-butted Iggy's shin, "Pick up the leash stupid!" He growled.

Iggy dropped to his knees and felt around for the leash as soon as his fingers closed on it Total shot forward. Iggy grunted and stumbled after him, left arm out, incase the little dog decided it would be funny to run him into a tree. Which wouldn't have been the first time…

Everything was dark but Ella kept running, following Iggy's retreating back and Total's shouts of 'TREE! ROOT! WATCH THE BRANCHES!'

After twenty or so feet Iggy seemed to fall back into his groove and he was running after Total rather steadily. Though hunched over because the little dog's idea of head height would hit him right in the knees and God only knew how many branches were hanging down that could actually hit him in the face.

David's hand tightened around Ella's and he screeched to a stop.

"David! David, come on!" Ella gave his arm a tug but the boy wouldn't move.

"We need light," He said under his breath and started to pull her back toward the house.

"David, we don't have time for this!" She said and stamped her foot impatiently.

"ELLA!"

Her head snapped up. "Iggy! Iggy, what is it, where are you!" She pulled on David's arm one last time and the boy relented, allowing her to pull him along.

She found Iggy standing stock still his left hand flattened against a tree.

"Iggy, what is it?" She laid a hand on his shoulder and he held up his hand.

"Listen…"

She went quiet, holding her breath so she wouldn't miss anything…

It sounded like someone was walking around … They could hear shoes crunching on the dry leaves ... And then it stopped, followed by the crackling snap of a branch being broken out of a tree.

The footsteps resumed, only this time they were surrounded by the sound.

Iggy shivered and leaned over, whispering to Ella in such a hushed voice she could barely hear him.

"Does this remind you of something out of that movie 'The Blair Witch Project'?"

Ella shivered. "Yeah…"

David pressed himself against Ella's side his eyes shut tightly, fighting the urge to use his powers and make whatever it was go to sleep. But then he had another idea … Why didn't he just use his OTHER power? That power that Aaron said wasn't a good idea to use…

Just because Aaron didn't like his other power, didn't mean it wouldn't be useful at this moment.

He gently pulled his hand from Ella's and walked forward.

Total shook his head, "Kid, come back, we don't know what's out there!"

But David didn't listen, instead he simply cupped his hands to his mouth and blew into them.

And the world melted around him…

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 56; King of Dreams

Ella felt the ground tremble beneath her and the air changed … Becoming somehow thick. She stared at David's back and tightened her hand on Iggy's.

"David, what did you do?"

He turned and walked quickly to them, "I put us all in a dream."

"YOU KNOCKED US OUT!" Iggy said louder than he meant to.

David shook his head. "No … It's kind of like what Angel can do, only different. I can kind of make us all dream the same thing without being asleep."

Ella's eyebrows shot up. "So we're awake?"

He nodded, "But if I can stay consin-scrated you can do anything now that you can do in your dreams."

Ella's throat clenched. She could do anything right now that she could do in her dreams? She felt Iggy's hand tighten in hers and he licked his lips.

"David … If I can see in my dreams … Would I be able to see now?"

"Yeah."

Iggy trembled, "As long as you stay concentrated we can do anything we can in our dreams?"

"That's what I said," He put his hands on his hips and scowled, "Weren't you listening?"

"And who is this affecting?" Ella said glancing around, wondering if the Wizards or whatever was out there were able to do it too.

"Everyone but the bad guys..."

Ella felt a grin sweep over her face … Anything she could do in her dreams… "We have to find the others."

Iggy pulled his hand from hers and walked toward David, "How do we do it?"

David shrugged, "Just do it!"

Total puffed out his furry chest, opened his mouth … And breathed fire.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Max was running, supporting Fang, who for some reason was on the verge of collapse. "Come on!" She elbowed him in the ribs, hoping to spur him into awareness but he just wouldn't move fast enough to keep up with Nudge, Angel and Gasman.

And then the earth rocked beneath her feet. The air became thick and the trees seemed to sway back and forth as if Wizards were bouncing around in the boughs.

She growled and slowed to a stop, letting Fang slide to the ground. "This stupid dress has got to GO!" She reached behind her and pulled the zipper, shucking off the poofy dress and hanging it over the limb of a pine tree.

She felt so much better running around without that thing … Even though she was running around in replica Civil War era under-garments and a pair of low-top Converse.

She dropped to her knees beside Fang and smacked his face rather roughly, trying to rouse him. Which to her surprise, worked.

"What happened?" He looked around blearily and up at her, "What are you wearing?"

She scowled, "It's called a chemise and bloomers, now get up, we have to find the others."

"Why?" He trailed a finger up the length of her arm and a very Aaron like grin came over his face. "We could just stay here you know … No hurry … Unless you like that kind of thing…"

Max felt her stomach twist. She'd wondered what she'd do if Fang had looked at her all macho and lusty…

She punched him … Hard in the right shoulder, "You PIG!"

His mouth came open eyes narrowing and he clutched at his shoulder.

"You're brother is out there, possibly being torn to bits by Wizards as we speak and you're lying there being all…" She faltered in her anger, "PIGGISH!"

He stared up at Max in shock, "Well, this is deffinitely new…"

"NEW?" She hit him again, harder this time. "WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM! GET YOUR ASS UP AND HELP ME FIND THE OTHERS!"

He blinked rapidly, shook his head as if to clear it and stared up at her in shock, his cheeks bright red … And not just from where she'd smacked them either. He rolled to his feet and started running rather quickly toward the sound of Nudge's shouting;

"AARON! AARON, WHERE ARE YOU!"

Max shook her head and sprang to her feet dashing after him. Had she given him a concussion when she'd smacked him? Was he getting sick again … Why had he looked at her like that? What was he thinking? Was he dreaming?

And if so WHAT kinds of dreams had he had before? Ooooh, his ass had a date with her FOOT!

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Total was running in the front, his leash dragging behind him. He laughed maniacally and darted off into the underbrush.

David ran past, seeming not to notice that Total had just abandoned them. He was trying to concentrate, keep his ability working until they found Aaron.

As long as he kept his ability working he didn't have to be afraid of the dark, or the Wizards. In his dreams, when he held that stuffed puppy Angel had brought him from Oklahoma, He could do anything. All he had to do now was pretend he had that puppy and he'd be OK.

Iggy was still running along behind Ella, unsure how to use the 'dream abilities' David had given him.

He closed his eyes tightly and focused all his strength on remembering how he saw in his dreams. He pried his eyes open… Everything was dark … But…

He saw David, the way he'd last seen the boy. Dressed in jeans a T-shirt and those weird hot pink sneakers, running along in front of him.

And he saw Ella's face, just as he'd last seen it, smiling, mournful … Full of love … And she was wearing a white dress…

"Come on, we have to hurry!" They dodged and a tree suddenly sprang up to his left. Just the trunk of it, a flat, near cartoon version of a tree-trunk because he didn't know what kind of tree it was.

And then the ground started appearing in tiles under David's feet and when he glanced down he saw his own. The red-high-top Converse shoes he'd gotten from Max's mother for his sixteenth birthday seemed to be running on nothing but blackness, even though he wasn't wearing his Converse… He was wearing boots and a pirate costume … Wasn't he?

Then the ground seemed to rush up beneath him. He stumbled and the world started taking shape around him. Cartoonish trees, cartoonish ground and sky … Ella and David were real, running along this animated landscape which slowly became more and more real…

And then Ella turned to him again, "Ready to fly?"

He nodded and watched as Ella seemed to simply lift of the ground of her own accord, laughing.

He snapped out his wings and followed her, taking her hand.

"Oh MY GOD! THIS IS SO COOL!" Ella shrieked.

She'd flown in her dreams before, but to actually do it … To actually jump into the air and take flight without wings was amazing.

The wind rushed up past her and she laughed, despite the danger. David shrank away beneath them, running along, concentrating on simply finding the others and keeping his ability going.

The world seemed to fade from the bright cartoon colors into more dull, realistic colors and everything was real.

Ella gave Iggy's hand a squeeze and poked her tongue out at him playfully.

Just like in her dreams she glided along beside Iggy, feeling the wind from his wings and wishing she had her own…

And suddenly … She did.

Wings collided and they dropped a few feet. Iggy turned his head and stared at her with a smirk, "Impressive wingspan…"

Ella glanced over her shoulder. Not exactly what she'd had in mind … But … She didn't mind having butterfly wings … As long as they kept her aloft.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Max followed Fang closely, and they burst into a clearing … Only to find a giant castle surrounded by Wizards.

"What in THE HELL!" Fang shouted staring around eyes wide.

Nudge turned to stare at them, "This was NOT here a second ago! None of this was here a second ago!"

Gasman turned to them, tears in his eyes hands over his mouth. "I didn't mean to! I don't know how it happened. I was thinking about that movie I went to see with Iggy and Ella … Max … I think I can make buildings pop out of the ground!"

Max stared. Gazzy making buildings pop out of the ground? No … Not buildings … CASTLES! Gasman making CASTLES pop out of the ground!

"I think I'm dreaming," Gasman went on, hands still over his mouth.

"Why do you think you're dreaming?" Max said, and an odd tingling started at the back of her mind.

Gazzy hesitated then dropped his hands and opened his mouth.

Where only a few moments ago there had been a pair of plastic glowing vampire teeth there were now REAL fangs.

"I think I'm dreaming because I think I just turned into a vampire."

Fang clapped a hand to his forehead and spoke through clenched teeth, "David … David's knocked us out. When I find him I am going to murder him!"

Max turned to him … Was she dreaming? Was all this just a dream? She didn't feel like she was dreaming. Everything felt real. Especially the chill seeping through her nineteenth-century imitation under clothes.

"Okay … If you're dreaming we all are and we're ALL having the same dream, which is highly unlikely," She said, trying to rationalize what was happening.

Nudge was still staring at the castle but then her eyes honed in on Angel. She stared, and for the first time in a long time, Nudge was speechless.

"Oh, my God!" Angel said and stared down at her hands. Her usually golden locks were now black ringlets hanging around her green face, "I'M A WITCH!" She turned to Max in shock and pointed at her now bulbous wart tipped nose. "I'M GREEN!"

"Don't be silly, you're wearing make-up!" Max said and strode forward. "Stick out your tongue."

Angel did.

Max wetted her thumb and rubbed Angel's cheek … But none of the color came off.

"We're turning into what we're dressed up like!" Gasman said loudly, "I don't want to be a vampire! I don't want to suck people's blood!"

Nudge threw off her faux-fur stole and reached behind her for the zipper. "I'm wearing shorts and a tank-top, can someone please get this dress off of me? I REALLY don't want to turn into Jessica Rabbit!"

Max jumped at her and undid the zipper.

Nudge kicked off the dress and extended her wings. "Okay … Now that I'm safe how are we going to get Aaron?"

"Where is he?" Max said.

Nudge pointed to the castle. "When we came into the clearing he was sitting right there just looking kind of dazed," She pointed about ten feet in front of them. "Then Gasman made that castle appear and Aaron dis-appeared."

"Okay … So, where did he go, he couldn't have just disappeared."

"Maybe he's IN the castle," Angel said.

Max nodded and a thought struck her, "Okay … Angel, I want you to tell me if we're asleep."

Angel wrinkled her nose and shook her head, "That's why I'm so worried … I'm GREEN, Max … Gazzy's turned into a vampire and there is a castle, a CASTLE in front of us."

Max cupped her forehead. "Okay … Well … Uh…" She just wanted to go home … She wanted to go home, see her house, maybe sit on the porch with Fang … She wanted her house, her land, her home-

OH, MY GOD! I'm turning into Scarlet O'Hara!

Max hastily put out her wings … Or tried to.

Her hands went to her back, running up and down the places beside her spine where her wings were … But all she could feel was the smooth skin of her back.

Her wings were gone.

And then Gasman groaned loudly and pointed to Fang his hand shaking. "He-he's VanHelsing!"

Max turned, still in shock that her wings were missing and saw Fang standing there kind of shocked, eyes wide, fearful…

"We … We should run," Angel said green face gone pale with fear.

Max didn't take her eyes off of Fang. "Why?"

"Because VanHelsing is a werewolf."

Max's eyes flicked upward and she saw the moon looming out from behind thick ominous clouds hanging overhead. The very full moon…

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 57; VanHelsing … FangHelsing

He bared his teeth and balled his hands into fists, "I'm not VanHelsing … Max made that clear to me earlier, I'm FangHelsing. Big difference."

"What kind of difference?" Nudge said untrustingly.

Fang extended his wings, "VanHelsing doesn't have wings, does he?"

Nudge relaxed. "And FangHelsing isn't a werewolf."

"Now you've got it," Fang smiled deviously then licked his teeth and quickly shut his mouth, glancing at the moon nervously…

Gasman was still pointing, his mouth open … But he wasn't pointing at Fang any longer…

Ella and Iggy were flying toward them … And Ella had the biggest pair of butterfly wings the Gasman had ever seen.

Ella landed laughing, "THIS IS SO COOL!"

Iggy landed, staring at the castle. "Whoa … Where did THAT come from?"

"Y-you can see?" Max said, her mouth dropping open in awe.

Iggy nodded and pointed to the little pale shape running toward them. "David has some pretty cool abilities."

Max's jaw tightened. David … She knew David had something to do with this.

David ran up to them grinning, "HI!"

"What did you do!" Max said in a very breathy Scarlet like voice.

Ugh, now I have to have the accent too?

David frowned, "You guys can do anything now that you can do in your dreams … That's my good power … Aaron never let me use it before because it would do this to you … If you don't know what's going on you'll end up putting yourself in a nightmare."

"So I'm not really green?" Angel said helplessly.

David gave her a sweet dimpled smile, batting his eyes at her, "No, silly."

"So, when this is over I won't be green anymore and Gazzy won't be a vampire?"

David nodded.

Max sighed and concentrated. I am NOT Scarlet O'Hara, I am NOT Scarlet O'Hara, I am NOT Scarlet O'Hara, I am NOT Scarlet O'Hara.

But her wings wouldn't move, it was as if they really weren't there. It reminded her of the terrifying few seconds after the isolation tank fiasco.

Max opened her eyes with a growl and stared around. Gasman was still running his tongue over his teeth and Angel was still very green.

"Okay, we have to go get Aaron," Nudge said and turned toward the castle. "And since this is a dream castle … We have a dream Army to storm the castle!"

Fang rolled his eyes, "Or, we could just be the owners of the castle. Less trouble that way…"

Nudge faltered and glared at him. "Aaron may be your brother but he's MY boyfriend and if that were our castle then why the Hell would we have Wizards flying around outside?" She pointed and cocked her other hand on her hip.

Fang fell quiet and as if to spite Nudge, turned and jumped into the air, flying toward the castle.

Nudge growled and followed him.

Iggy and Ella exchanged glances then took off also. Ella beating her gigantic butterfly wings.

Gasman made a half cough, half gag sound in his throat and Max turned to him.

He had his hands over his face, but his wings, yes, he still had wings, were not feathered as they normally were, but were leathery bat's wings.

"David, this had better be a dream!" Gasman leapt into the air and was gone.

Max looked at Angel, who was standing there quite puzzled.

"Max?"

"Yeah?"

"Are your wings gone too?"

"Yup."

Angel sighed and turned to the forest, which now seemed to stretch on forever. She snatched up a long sturdy looking stick then yanked up a handful of grass shoving it at the end of the stick.

The grass turned into straw and the stick into a broom.

"Since I'm a witch, I should be able to do this…" Angel threw her leg over the stick and kicked off from the ground.

Max laughed. Angel looked quite menacing astride a real broom while those grotesque Wizards zipped about not very far away.

David took Max's hand, "Don't leave me?"

She glanced down at David, noticing he looked different… His hair was longer, his body slimmer… Eyes larger, brighter…

Max shook her head, wondering what was up with him changing his apperance with his new powers but didn't think much of it and instead turned to watch the others flying away.

Max sighed. Scarlet O'Hara may have been a heroine, but she didn't have any powers. Then again … Elizabeth Swan, the character Ella had been dressed up as, didn't have butterfly wings…

Max thought briefly, that if she could do anything from her dreams … Why couldn't she do anything from her nightmares?

What was to stop her from, just for a while … Becoming something she'd only seen in the mirror?

"David?"

He looked up to her smiling brightly.

"I want you to listen very carefully."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

(BIG NOTE! PLEASE READ! There are HUGE hints in this chapter, they're subtle but if you find them they'll help unlock the big puzzle. Speaking of the big puzzle, a friend of my brother is actually drawing the pictures in the big photo album Fang has. WHICH IS SO COOL! Can you believe that? She's going to put them up somewhere and if she gets it done soon you'll actually be able to go and look at it! She's got a few pictures done already and I LOVE them, they're fantastic! I'll put the link up at the beginning of a chapter when she gives it to me.)

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 58; Storming Castle VonGasman

Total bounded out of the forest smiling, and ran up to David. Who was standing alone in the middle of the field petting his longer hair and humming a little childish song.

"Hey, where'd everyone else go?" Total said and sat beside the boy.

David smiled, "They went inside … Max told me to wait for you and then to tell you she wanted you to stay here with me and she wanted me to say 'The Gingerbread Man's 'little' friend.'"

Total threw back his shaggy head and laughed. "She wants MUNGO Total!" He ran a few dozen paces ahead of David, stubby legs pumping and started growing at an alarming rate.

He grew larger than a goat … Larger than a Great Dane, a cow, a horse … And before David's eyes Total the little talking dog grew to the size of a house before he stopped and turned to the boy dressed in a mummy costume.

"What to go for a ride?"

David laughed out loud, "You're Total the Big Black Dog!" He ran forward and wrapped his arms around Total's tree trunk sized forepaw. He remembered the little stuffed puppy sitting on his bed at home. The one Angel had brought him from Oklahoma, the one that used to be his daddy's.

For this dream … For this night, David knew Total could protect him far better than that stuffed puppy.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Fang, Iggy, Ella, Nudge, Gasman and Angel landed inside the castle grounds. Running for cover as three Wizards swooped overhead.

Fang glanced around looking for Max but couldn't see her. He knew she could take care of herself but that didn't stop him from worrying about her. She was Max for crap sake … She'd made it perfectly clear last time he'd stood up for her that she didn't want or need his help.

Still … He was afraid he'd feel that odd pain again … The one he'd gotten in the truck when the Wizards had kidnapped her.

And then Aaron had said their father had felt their mother's pain and something clicked in Fang's head.

But Aaron had to go and say that Nudge had said she could feel his…

And that same 'click' had happened. His parents had been in love and able to feel each others pain, Nudge and Aaron were able to feel each others pain … It had something to do with love…

And he realized that the reason he'd felt Max burn her leg was because he was doing it too… He was feeling her pain. He could feel Max's pain … And it bothered him because he loved her and she obviously didn't like him at all… She made that clear every time they talked… She was his friend, nothing else.

Any time he even hinted at something else she'd run away… Leave him to sit there and regret it, sit there and feel stupid for feeling as he did… It was as if she was saying 'shame on you for loving me! Bad, Fang, BAD!' Half the time he expected her to hit him on the nose with a rolled up newspaper…

He felt like such an idiot sometimes… And yet there was nothing he could do about it. He'd tried to change how he felt. He'd tried to think of other girls… But everyone he found reminded him of Max…

How she tied back her hair… How she wrinkled her nose when she smiled, how in control of everything she acted, even when it was falling through her fingers… Her fiery intelligence, stubborn nature…

When it came down to it, every girl he'd ever talked to, flirted with or 'gone out with' was just a substitute for Max…

He wished desperately that he could remember the rest of that night after he'd been hurt… What he did remember was just little snippets … A sound or two here, a picture there…

The one thing he did remember vividly was Max washing all that mud and dried blood from him. But after that everything was hazy … Nothing made sense. He supposed it was because he'd had a concussion. But he wasn't sure… Yet, there'd been something that night… He'd said something, and she'd said something back… Something that had made him feel so good… So glad he'd told her… But now… Now it was harder than trying to keep his mind from wondering over that VanHelsing movie and thinking of werewolves and Erasers…

Why couldn't he have picked a different costume?

It wouldn't be so bad if he could just STOP thinking about it…

He just hopped he was able to find Aaron and get out of this tangible dream world David created without getting hurt, or feeling Max get hurt … Or feeling her horror and revulsion when he was unable to keep himself from thinking of werewolves and Erasers and dream Morphed in front of her…

He shivered… That was his worst nightmare… His absolute worst nightmare…

A bat screeched out of nowhere and nearly collided with his head and he jerked backward, al,most bashing the back of his head against the Gasman… Who was leaning ever closer to his neck…

"Can you get rid of the creepy castle?"

Gasman screwed up his face, "I don't think so … I think it's like, once its here it's here until David pulls us out. Because other wise I wouldn't be like really wanting to bite someone right now…"

Fang stopped and turned, "Maybe you should go first , Count VonGasman."

Gazzy scowled and rolled back his upper lip, "You think you're funny?"

"No, I'm thinking I really don't want to get bitten by a vampire," He rubbed chill bumps from his neck and motioned the boy forward.

Gasman flipped him the bird as he passed.

The inside of the castle was just like the movie, Gasman realized. It was even in black and white.

"If a wolfman jumps out at us I am going to scream!" Ella hissed in Iggy's ear and latched onto his arm.

Iggy nodded and even though he'd seen a 'wolfman' before in real life, fought with them and nearly been killed by them he still swallowed hard and whispered back, "Me too," Simply because he'd been so jumpy and anxious lately… Keeping secrets did that to him… Especially one as big as his…

And then they saw Aaron, standing before the fireplace staring into the black and white flames leaping in the hearth.

"Aaron!" Fang hissed loudly enough to be heard. "Aaron, come on, we have to leave!"

Aaron turned to him slowly and Fang got a look at his brother's eyes…

All the blue was gone, replaced by a filmy blackness, just like Big Hairy's eyes … And when he smiled, one of those insane, 'they're coming to get you Barbara' kind of smiles Fang saw that all four of Aaron's canines were longer that they should have been.

Iggy inhaled sharply, not really believing what he 'saw'. He was changing … Aaron was changing into one of those things … Just like Ter Borcht.

Fang approached Aaron slowly hands out so as not to appear threatening. "Aaron, its OK … but we have to get out of here. There are Wizards flying around outside, we have to go."

Aaron cocked his head to the side still grinning and turned from the black and white fire burning in the hearth. "Does it feel good?"

Fang glanced at the fire then up at his brother. "Does what feel good?"

Aaron smiled, "Does it feel good to be special?"

Fang chuckled and continued forward, but as he did Aaron started taking steps backward.

"I'm not special, Aaron. Ter Borcht read it right from my file. There's nothing special about me."

Aaron threw back his head and laughed, "At the time he was trying to sell you lot to those Chinese blokes wasn't he?"

Fang didn't have to nod, Aaron knew it was true so did the rest of the flock.

"Tell me, Nick … If you had something really special … Really unique, would you want to sell it?"

Fang didn't answer.

"What could you possibly do to dissuade someone from buying something like that?"

No answer.

"You tell them it doesn't work … That its junk … That there is nothing special about it…" Aaron laughed under his breath, "You lie … You lie through your teeth."

And then the castle wavered in Iggy's sight and everything went black.

Iggy's hand tightened on Ella's. What had happened? Why couldn't he see? David had said that he would be able to see!

He turned to Ella, opening his mouth to tell her something was wrong when he heard a voice screaming at him.

"HEY! DUMKOPF! Vat iz wrong vis you! Vat iz happening? Vat iz everybody looking at?"

Iggy bit into his tongue to keep from shouting in rage and fear. "What the hell do you want!"

He gave Ella's hand a shake, trying to position her behind him but she wouldn't move, wouldn't acknowledge that he was even there. "Ella, Ella, we have to go!" He put a hand out, expecting his fingers to brush Ella's fragile butterfly wings but instead his hands came into contact with only air.

Ella didn't have wings at all.

"Vat iz going on?" Ter Borcht's voice was much closer now.

Iggy turned back around, fear curdling his stomach. Fang was still talking.

"Aaron, we have to go! There are Wizards all over the place, it isn't safe."

Aaron laughed, "Safe? I'M not safe, Nicky … I'm going mad. I can hear them, I can FEEL them … All day, all night, every waking second, and even when I'm asleep I have no respite from them. I can't escape it … They won't shut up until I do what they say! They won't stop … SHE won't let me stop."

"She?" Fang's voice again.

"HER … That bitch in my head … Ever since that thing bit me she's been there, whispering … Always whispering … I can't take it anymore, why didn't you just let me die, Nicky? Then I wouldn't be in this hell … I wouldn't be putting you lot in danger … Why? Why didn't you just let me die?"

"Aaron, stop," Nudge's voice, frantic, near tears. "Aaron, just put down the gun, please…"

Gun? Did Aaron have a gun?

"Gun? Vair iz zis gun?" Ter Borcht's voice was right by Iggy's ear now. "I do not see a gun."

Iggy turned to the man, wanting to punch him but realizing his enemy was now the only person who recognized he was there.

Ella suddenly screamed and dropped to her knees wailing. Iggy followed her, running his hands up and down her arm, to where her hands were tangled in the grass.

"Get up, Iggy, get up! Oh, GOD!"

He felt her yanking up handfuls of grass.

What the HELL was going on?

"El, Ella, I'm right here, I'm fine!" He took her face between his hands and he felt tears rolling down her cheeks. "Baby, I'm OK!"

"Iggy, wake up! Someone help me!"

Angel was beside her now, hands on the same spot of grass, "There's so much blood!"

"I'M RIGHT HERE! I'M FINE!" Iggy grabbed Ella's shoulders and gave her a little shake, "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON! ANGEL, I'M FINE!" He found the girl's hands and lifted them, pressing them to his chest to show her that he was whole, he was OK.

"Zay are hallucinating … How interesting," Ter Borcht said in a near giggle.

Iggy turned toward the man but caught other sounds drifting on the breeze. Fighting.

"What's happening, who's fighting?"

"Vell … Zee female, Max iz it? Max iz fighting notzing at all … It iz quite comical … Und zee two males are fighting … Zough zee odds are irrevocably in Zee Dark Vun's favor."

"Fang and Aaron are fighting?"

"Yes … Und zee ozer female … Ah … I see number nine iz coming along quite nicely."

Iggy heard Nudge scream, but something sounded different about her voice. It was more high pitched, more of a screech than a scream. He heard the ominous popping sounds of bones relocating and a chill ran up his spine. He knew that sound … That was the sound of Morphing…

Nudge was Morphing.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

(MORE BIG HINTS IN THIS CHAPTER!!)

(NOTE: I'm going to go ahead and post the rest of this scene, simply because my little brother said that sectioning it up like this was 'uber confusing' Yeah, he actually used the word 'uber'.)

Chapter 59; The Queen of Nightmares

Fang had to get that gun away. He had to stop Aaron before he shot someone else.

He could still hear a sharp ringing in his ears and he chanced a glance over his shoulder at Ella and Angel.

Iggy was sprawled out on the floor his head in a growing pool of his own blood. Both girls were bent over him, arms to the elbows stained red. But it was useless, there was too much blood… The bullet had hit him right in the throat…

Aaron growled and clawed the back of Fang's hand then wrenched the gun around bashing his brother across the top of the head with the grip.

He collapsed with a feeble grunt and was still.

Aaron rolled to his feet and looked around, breathing heavily. He saw Nudge standing there, staring at him in horror and sadness. But for some reason, he wasn't as sorry as he should have been.

"I have to do this, don't you understand … If I don't when it happens, when I turn into one of those things I'll kill you all, don't you understand that?"

Nudge's face fell and her hands dropped from her face, hanging loosely at her sides, as if her shoulders had come unhinged. "Why did you do it? Why did you shoot Iggy? What did he do to you?"

Aaron faltered. Why had he shot Iggy? He couldn't remember. He couldn't even remember where he'd gotten the gun, or why it now seemed so imperative that he kill everyone. That he put down the gun and go kill everyone … No, not everyone … Fang, he had to kill Fang.

He shook his head and glanced back up at Nudge then turned to Fang, dropping to his knees beside him. Aaron rolled him over, taking a moment to stare into his face before he wrapped his hands around his brother's throat and started to squeeze.

And then he heard Nudge scream and his blood ran cold.

He turned his head and stared, wide eyed at her. Not believing what he was seeing, even though it was happening right in front of him.

Nudge bared her teeth and snapped out her wings, raising them like some kind of vengeful angel. She had never been so angry in all her life. She loved him, but she wanted to rip out his throat and beat him to death with his tonsils!

She bent at the knees readying herself to spring and it happened. She felt her bones begin to pop, to change position. She felt her fingers elongate … Curling into razor sharp claws … Her back arched and her teeth popped.

Blood flooded her mouth and she felt those four little pointed teeth, her canines, grow, sliding from her gums as if someone or something were pushing them down. And the feeling of it was so alien yet so familiar that she laughed.

Feathers sprouted on her arms and shoulders where, seconds before there were none and her eyes changed from dark russet to a bright, lime green.

Nudge screamed. An earsplitting, super high wail that seemed to shake the very ground beneath her feet … And she dove at Aaron, claws extended

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Max ran at the castle ready for anything, knowing what she had to do. As soon as the first Wizard swooped down at her she did it. Just like in her nightmares … She became an Eraser.

The Wizard seemed genuinely shocked and banked to the left, but Max had the advantage and hit the Wizard, knocking it off the broom and spiraling to the ground.

It was an odd feeling, kind of like when she'd seen herself 'Eraserfied' in the mirror all those years ago, but this time she knew what it felt like to Morph.

It hurt.

And the pain made her angry, made her think of Ari, how much it must have hurt him to Morph like that…

And she attacked the Wizards screaming in a startlingly sweet, melodious version of her own voice, "Max has come to Hogwarts, Bitches!"

She laughed and rolled her lips back, exposing her teeth and snapping out her wings, flying toward the castle at an alarming speed. She looked down at herself and laughed. An Eraser in Scarlet O'Hara underclothes…

Wizards swarmed at her and she growled, turning to fight them, knocking them off their brooms left and right in retribution for what they'd done to her and her flock … For killing Jeb, for biting Aaron … For humiliating her and making her feel helpless.

She laughed as the Wizards seemed to fall away like leaves in the autumn. With a single effortless roundhouse kick in Eraser form she was able to knock four or five Wizards off their brooms and to their mechanical deaths.

It was such a powerful feeling, knowing that she was invincible. These Wizards couldn't hurt her now. One wouldn't drag her off as they had before. She was no longer powerless against them.

The last Wizards fell away and Max looked up at the moon, and just for fun she howled at it, laughing when she heard the terrifying sound of her own wolfish jubilation echoing back at her.

She wanted everyone to see how powerful she was. How great… She was Maximum Ride, Queen of Nightmares…

But somewhere, deep inside of her, she hoped no one else saw her, because at that moment Max wasn't just a dream Eraser … She was the real thing…

A cold, brutal murderer…

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Iggy sat riveted to the ground listening to the horrible sounds Nudge was making. The others may still be in a dream, but Nudge had really Morphed. She had developed a new ability and Morphed into something terrible from the sound of it. Something with long sharp teeth and claws.

Iggy tried not to picture an Eraser version of Nudge but it did very little good.

Where was David? Why hadn't the boy pulled them out?

How was HE out and nobody else was? How was it that he was sitting here listening to everything the others were hallucinating.

He could even hear Max in the air fighting nothing. He'd even heard her imitation of a howl, which wasn't that pathetic… Not really… What was Max hallucinating? Did he really want to know?

"Where is David? We have to stop him, if we don't stop him right now Nudge is going to kill Aaron!"

"David? Who iz David?" Ter Borcht said.

Iggy clambered to his feet, hands out before him. "DAVID!" He screamed, knowing all the while that the boy wouldn't answer him.

"Who iz David?"

Iggy growled, "He's a little blonde boy wearing a mummy costume," He stumbled forward hands out. After a few paces, once he realized Ter Borcht wasn't following him he turned and called back. "COME ON! I'm BLIND I can't find him on my own!"

He didn't particularly like the fact that Ter Borcht was there, let alone that he had to trust him… But he didn't have much of a choice… If he didn't keep track of the guy Ter Borcht would have free reign over the others, and God only knew what he would do to them… Iggy wanted to keep him close by so he'd know what the man was up to… And could kick his head off if need be…

"How iz stopping zis David going to help?"

"David is the one controlling this hallucination its one of his abilities."

"AH! The Thirteens! Thirteen vuz vun of my favorite experiments alzo mortally defective. The brain vuz horribly damaged during seperation from zee fraternal-"

"HIS name is DAVID!" Iggy turned and punched Ter Borcht in the face. Surprised that he actually managed to hit the man, further surprised when he heard him fall to the ground. "HE is not damaged! HE is not a THING! WE are PEOPLE, you stupid freak! We may only be ninety-eight percent human but we're still more human than any of you narcissistic Whitecoat bastards will ever be!"

Ter Borcht was silent and Iggy hoped he'd at least bloodied the man's lip if not broken his nose or jaw. He didn't care which, as long as it was painful…

"You know what? I don't need your help, I'll find David on my own!" And he marched forward hands out sweeping before him to fend off trees and branches.

After about fifteen paces his foot hit something and he fell on his face. He rolled over cursing and came to his knees, feeling the grass and then something soft, something that wasn't grass and shouldn't be lying on the ground in the middle of the night in October.

Iggy's breath caught in his throat and he followed this soft thing upward, his fingers tangling in a strip of cloth. He felt a small chest, neck and chin and he realized what he'd tripped over … Who he had tripped over.

Iggy may have been blind but he knew it was David … And he knew the child was dead.

(NOTE! There were big BIG hints did anyone catch them?)

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 60; Sandman

"Oh, Jesus, oh JESUS!" Iggy took David's face between his hands for a moment forgetting that there was anything but the little body before him.

David, Fang's baby brother was dead, he was gone ... DEAD.

"Oh, God, oh God! David ... David, wake up!"

"You imbecile!" Ter Borcht's slurred voice came from close by. "Don't you know anyzing!"

Iggy opened his mouth to shout back but someone else answered first ... A girl.

"I know more about them than you do, Old Man!"

Iggy felt his pulse quicken. So, Max Two was in on this?

"Ig!" Something hissed.

Iggy turned to the sound.

"Iggy, don't worry, he's OK," Total's voice came again from near by.

"How is he OK, he's DEAD!" Iggy whispered back.

"He's pretending ... Just go with it, trust me."

This didn't comfort him in the slightest. "Total ... TOTAL!"

But he got no reply.

"I told you not to harm zem, don't you know zee meaning of zee word 'diversion'? You ver not zuppoused to KILL any of zem!"

"I didn't kill him! I touched him and he fell over dead!" She let out a growling sigh, "Well he's going to STAY dead if you don't do something soon!" Max Two yelled back.

"Fine ... Call in zee helicopter, vee must get zem out before zee virus iz released. I hope you know zee last rezurection job I did left zee experiment vis lingering pain und a drastically shortened life expectancy."

"Well, seeing as you're working on DEAD experiments who are already DEAD the life expectancy is drastically LONGER than it was before."

Ter Borcht growled in an animalistic Wizardish way and Iggy heard him stomp forward.

"It's no coincidence that you're here is it..." Iggy felt a shiver run down his spine.

"No," Ter Borcht dropped to his knees in front of Iggy.

He shivered again and lifted his head, and if he would have been able to see he would have been looking Ter Borcht in the eyes. "Since you've got us and all ... Would you at least tell me what you're doing?"

Ter Borcht sighed and Iggy could almost feel him smile.

"Vhy don't you ask me vat you really vunted to?"

He nodded wracking his brain for questions, "The files we had access to said Edge had been terminated. Is that true?"

"A small lie. The Edge Series iz still up und running."

Iggy remembered that little speech Aaron had been giving Fang about feeling special and he wondered if Aaron had been telling the truth. "You lied ... What else did you lie about? Who is Edge?"

Ter Borcht laughed, "You expect me to reveal my entire scheme? Do you sink zis iz some kind of movie? Do you sink zat I em zat stupid?

"Ven vill you learn. I am smarter, und bigger zan you ... I gave you life, und I can take it avay." He patted Iggy on the head and climbed to his feet.

"Did you really cure my expiration date?" Iggy asked, on a whim.

He heard the man stop and turn around, "Yez ... You are no good to me dead."

"And it wiped out all my abilities?"

"Yez."

"Then why keep me alive if I'm blind, and I have no special abilities ... I'm just a kid with wings."

Ter Borcht hesitated and within that hesitation Iggy saw two possibilities. One, Ter Borcht was contemplating killing him because he was indeed useless, and two there was a reason he was being kept alive. A reason that might also answer the question ... Was he lying when he said there was nothing special about Fang... But before Iggy could ask this, his real question Ter Borcht laughed again... But Iggy caught something in his voice this time...

Fear.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 61; Exodus

"You go und get zee helicopter! I told you zis all ready!"

"You can't tell me what to do, Mom said that I am in charge, NOT you. I'm the only reason you're not DEAD right now! So you can go get your own damn helicopter!"

Despite the fact Max Two was an evil version of Max, Iggy wished she would tell Ter Borcht off some more. He wished HE could tell Ter Borcht off again ... It had felt so good to punch him ... To finally tell him exactly what he thought ... Even if he did end up in a cage. He would have that memory to keep him company ... until they disected his brain anyway.

He put a hand on David's still chest and a deep overwhelming sadness crept over him. There was no way the boy could be pretending. You couldn't stop your own heart, and David's heart was definitely NOT beating.

"David, if you're pretending ... Please be pretending."

And then all of the sudden Iggy felt an explosion of soft fluttering from David's chest. He jerked his hand back and his mouth came open, forming a silent scream. Unconsciously he imagined Gasman beside him screaming in Gene Wilder's voice 'IT IS ALIVE!'

"Don't move," David hissed under his breath.

Iggy swallowed hard and froze. Meditating on a mental image of a statue ... One of those angel statues in big churches or in graveyards. I ... am ... STONE...

"I don't care who your mozer iz go und get zee-"

And Iggy heard two muffled thuds as Max Two and Ter Borcht fell over, victims of The Sandman.

Total ran out of the thicket laughing, "That was so cool, they were all like, 'TIMBER'!"

Iggy heard David clamber to his feet on unsteady legs and walk forward.

"Where is everybody?"

Iggy turned his head, as if he were able to see, "They're fighting, we have to stop them," He jumped up and ran forward. "How were you dead? What did you do to keep your ability working while you were ... You know."

"I told you," He said happily. "I can die whenever I want! I can do anything that I can in my dreams! That's my good 'bility!"

Iggy ran after the boy's voice, nearly tripping over the snoring forms of Ter Borcht and Max Two He paused only long enough to kick one of them, he wasn't sure which.

"So, this is all just part of a ... a dream?"

"No," David said cheerily. "I gived them dream powers with my good 'bility so they can go save Aaron. And when the bad guys showed up I taked myself out and put them in too and made 'em think I was dead. But first I had to take you out too, a'cause I needed your help getting away from the bad man and Bad Max."

"Why me? Why not Max ... Good Max or Fang?"

"Cause he wanted Nick, I had to keep him far 'way in the castle... I knew you'd be safe, you would be able to help me ... And Max makes a scary werewolf."

"Wait ... Max is a werewolf? Max is an ERASER?"

"Yeah, I gived her the 'bility to turn into a werewolf cause she does it in her dreams..." Quite suddenly his little face fell and his hands came up in fear, "Hey, where'd the castle go? Why is everyone fighting each other?"

"David, you can't really GIVE us powers ... Its all a dream, a hallucination."

Total skidded to a halt and his mouth dropped open. "Stop them, David, for the love of God, stop them! They're killing each other!"

Iggy could hear Ella ... He could hear her screaming and cursing, so he ran at the sound, praying there were no trees in the way for him to run into.

He slammed into something and he knew it was her because she was the only one of them wielding a plastic sword. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and picked her up, holding her off the ground.

She screamed in fury and scratched him but he held on tightly, not letting her go.

Iggy didn't like hitting girls, in fact, he'd only hit one girl his whole life and that was Max. And sometimes he didn't really see her as a girl. She was just Max.

But when Angel grabbed him by the throat and tried to tear out his Adam's apple he hit her. Not hard enough to injure her, but hard enough to knock her to the ground.

Ella was fighting him now, punching, scratching and kicking, all the while cursing like mad.

Iggy nearly dropped her when her heel connected with his inner left thigh and he let out a high pitched, near feminine scream stumbling away cupping himself thanking God that he was so much taller than her or he could have been castrated by her horribly sharp shoes.

"David! STOP THIS! WAKE 'EM UP!"

Then Gasman was on him, clinging to his back, and in a very vampire like move, the Gasman turned Dracula and bit him, though rather ineffectively seeing as how he only had plastic glowing fangs in his mouth.

"OUCH! YOU LITTLE-" Iggy swung around and snapped out his wings, knocking Gasman off of him and sending the blonde boy sailing across the field.

Angel was up again, grabbing him around the feet and Iggy realized that he wasn't going to be able to stop this. Not alone, "DAVID, IF YOU DO NOT WAKE THEM UP THIS INSTANT I AM GOING TO KICK YOUR ASS!"

Aaron was hissing, like a cat, making feeble slapping motions at Nudge as he came at her trying to bite her. But Nudge was too fast, and much too angry to allow that to happen. She slashed at him again and again with her claws, tearing his jacket and gouging five long bloody grooves across his shoulder.

"DAVID!" Iggy screamed, still wrestling with Ella, Angel and Gasman. He could tell from the sounds of the battle that Aaron wouldn't last very long against Nudge. "She'll kill him!"

David didn't reply and Iggy wondered if the boy would ever answer him, or he'd simply knocked himself out so he wouldn't have to face his fears.

But if Iggy had been able to see he would have caught David as he lifted two fists into the air, squeezed his eyes closed and bring his fists down, as if to throw handfuls of dust at the ground.

Ella went limp in Iggy's arms and Angel slid off of his legs. He heard the Gasman hit the earth a few feet away and Iggy crawled to his feet running toward the origin of the 'Pissed off Nudge' sounds.

He slammed into her and she turned on him, slashing him across the chest. Iggy recoiled but jumped at her again, grabbing her around the shoulders, which he realized were covered in feathers.

He laughed to himself. Nudge hadn't gone Eraser as he feared she had, she'd gone Harpy!

Nudge shrieked again but Iggy held on tightly, lifting her off the ground so she kicked the air instead of his legs.

"DO IT NOW, DAVID!"

But David had turned to Aaron, who was in the process of running forward with a stick, intent on bashing Nudge's brains out, as well as Iggy's.

Nudge herself wasn't paying any attention to anyone other than Aaron, even though Iggy was holding her nearly two feet of the ground.

Aaron stumbled, shaking his head. "What happened?" He said in a heavily slurred voice and turned to Iggy.

"OI! What the hell do you think you're doing!" And he strode forward, intent on kicking Iggy's arse for holding HIS Nudge that way.

But Nudge had other things on her mind and she lashed out, kicking Aaron square between his legs.

He didn't make a sound. He merely folded in on himself and fell over, his face as white as a sheet, lips slightly parted eyes squeezed closed.

Nudge was aware of something heavy lifting from her and she felt someone holding her tightly around the shoulders and she snapped out her wings, grabbed one of the arms and flipped the person over her head, twisting their arm behind their back.

Iggy cried out, not out of pain but surprise that Nudge had reacted so quickly when usually she was so docile.

And then she saw her hands... Her claws ... And something in her broke. She sank to her knees staring and running her hands up and down her arms, over the feathers that had sprouted out of nowhere and were falling out as quickly as she ran her claw like fingers over them.

She ran her tongue around the inside of her mouth and felt her teeth as they shrank back into her gums...

And her fingers softened, loosing their claw like sharpness. Where was the castle? Where were the Wizards she'd been fighting?

And then she saw Aaron curled on his side a few feet away and she remembered kicking someone as she was waking up...

She crawled forward frantically hands going to Aaron's pale face, "Oh, Aaron! I'm so sorry!"

He grunted but didn't speak. He'd speak when he was sure he wouldn't sound like Mickey Mouse...

Iggy climbed unsteadily to his feet and walked toward the sounds of Max and Fang fighting.

It sounded like an intense fight ... Even more so than Nudge and Aaron.

"DAVE! Stop them!" He stopped dead and fell to his face when he felt the wind of Max's flying kick dangerously close to his head.

She was growling and Iggy pictured her foaming at the mouth. And he heard Fang ... And Fang didn't sound good.

And then something hit him, falling across him like a sack of potatoes. Iggy scrambled forward, fearing Max would mistake him for Fang and possibly make real her threats to kick his ass. But the dead weight sprawled across his legs wasn't moving.

Iggy crawled from beneath what he knew was Fang and turned, his hands finding the other boy's chest. He could feel Fang's heart hammering behind his ribs and the shallow gasps of breath filling his lungs... Cracked ribs ... BROKEN ribs... Bruises, cuts-

"IGGY!" Ella screamed.

He turned and caught her as she fell to her knees beside him. Her hands were on his chest, smoothing his shirt, on his neck adgitating his adam's apple and forcing him to swallow. She ran her hands over him, feeling, assuring herself he was alive. "Oh my God, who scratched you!"

"Its OK ... I'm OK."

She burst into sobs, "I thought you were dead ... Oh, Iggy, it was awful!" She kissed him, "I love you, I love you so much!"

Iggy tried to pull away, tried to call for Max to check on Fang but he couldn't.

"I ... Love ... You ... Too," He managed between her kisses and intermittent sobbing.

He heard Gasman and Angel moving around and Aaron groaning as Nudge helped him to his feet.

And then he heard Max shuffle up to Fang and gently kick the bottom of his boot. "Come on, Fang, get up, this is no time for sleeping.

No answer.

"Fang, get up!"

Silence.

"This isn't funny, get your ass up!" She dropped to her knees beside him.

At first she was afraid to touch him because a thick line of blood was running from his nose and the corner of his mouth but then she realized she had to wake him up, if she'd hurt him...

"Fang, get up!" She shook him.

He moaned and Max's hands went to his cheeks ... She didn't even have to touch him to feel the heat coming off of him.

And then she remembered ... Before that little tremor ran though the ground he'd been only semi-conscious. She gave him another shake and brushed his hair away from his face. "Fang, wake up!"

Aaron limped up, one hand on his privates the other going stifly back into the sling. "Is he alright?"

Max shook her head, "I don't know what's wrong with him, he's burning alive and he won't wake-up!"

"We have to get out of here before they get up," David said pointing across the field at Ter Borcht and Max Two.

"What the hell are THEY doing here?" Max said indignantly.

Iggy grasped Ella by the shoulders and pulled her away from him for a moment. "They're releasing the virus tonight, Max. They were here to get us out ... They knew we were here."

"Tonight? They're releasing it TONIGHT!" She jumped to her feet a hand going to her forehead. "That memo said they weren't going to do it until next Thanksgiving when people are traveling around ... Jesus..." She fell silent. She couldn't do this. She couldn't freak out, not now. Not with Fang sick and the fate of her flock and the world on her shoulders. She had to be strong. She had to be the leader.

Max took a deep breath and let it hiss from her lungs. After a moment she nodded, "So this is it ... It's either save the world or die trying..." She rocked back on her heels. "Mom isn't going to like this."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 62; The Beginning of the End

Before they left the clearing Nudge and Aaron tied Ter Borcht and Max Two to trees. Using strips of Aaron's shredded costume they bound them and with the tube of red lipstick Nudge had hidden in the pocket of her shorts they wrote 'Bird Kids Rule!' across Ter Borcht's face and 'Wings 4-Life' on Max Two's.

Total even hiked his leg on Ter Borcht's Rolex.

"Who broke his nose?" Aaron called over his shoulder.

Iggy grinned but remained silent ... At least for the moment.

Iggy and Max carried Fang back to Lynn-Dee's house, which they found abandoned, streamers, paper cups, candy wrappers and the odd pirate prop strewn about...

There were burns inside on the walls and Aaron voiced what everyone else already knew. "The Wizards were here ... They've taken everyone..."

All the cars were still parked outside Lynn-Dee's house but since Dr. Martinez had gone into town to pick up the birthday cake she'd ordered in secret for Fang and Aaron the SUV wasn't there.

"Put him in the back," Aaron said and dropped the tailgate.

With Iggy's help Max was able to maneuver Fang into the back of the truck. Ella and Iggy climbed into the cab with Aaron and everyone else climbed into the back with Max and Fang.

"Its going to be a bumpy ride," Aaron called out the window and turned the key in the ignition.

The truck rumbled into mechanical life and pulled out of the driveway.

They drove slowly, heading back toward Dr. Martinez's house. Toward safety...

Halfway down the road they encountered the first body ... A woman, about thirty years old with blonde hair ... To Max it looked like she'd fallen to her death and she had to look away.

She guessed the Wizards had that net they'd tried to catch Aaron in. She could just imagine them carrying it, completely full of people in Halloween costumes, through the skies.

The road was deserted ... Every house was dark. No life, nothing...

"Oh, jeez ... I don't want to sound morbid but ... This is just like something out of Dawn of the Dead!" Gasman said under his breath. "If people like start swarming us, trying to eat our brains I'm taking off!" He jabbed a thumb at the sky.

Max rolled her eyes, but at the same time she was wondering exactly what this virus did to people. Could they really turn into zombies?

A car horn blasted and Aaron slammed on the brakes.

Max lifted her head and saw a rag-top jeep coming around the corner at them. She couldn't turn completely around, so she had no idea who it was until she heard his voice.

"Thank GOD!" Allan said and jumped out of his jeep, running at the driver's side door eyes wide. "I was so worried."

"Allan!" Gasman said happily from Max's left and the boy leapt out of the truck. He grabbed Allan around the waist and hugged him tightly.

Allan hugged the Gasman in return then mussed the blonde's hair and stepped to the truck, peering in at Fang. He flattened a palm on the boy's forehead. "Is there someplace you kids can go that's safe?"

"We were going back to my mom's," Max said as-matter-of-factly.

Allan nodded, "I'll follow you, anyone who wants to can ride with me."

Angel and David climbed out of the truck and let Allan carry them, one on each hip, to the jeep.

Max pursed her lips. She felt somewhat as though Allan were encroaching on her territory, trying to take charge ... But she understood why.

Max maybe the leader, but it would be safer to be in a jeep with seatbelts than in the back of a truck. Especially if they did get swarmed...

As they started off again Aaron flipped that little switch Iggy and the Gasman had installed on the dashboard and bathed the night in light.

It was eerie to drive along and not see a single person, even though a clear path of papers, and the odd discarded Halloween costume said that indeed everyone had passed this way.

Max looked to her left at the row of houses leading toward her own and noticed windows had been broken ... Doors stood open ... And the dogs that usually barked at night were silent.

A shiver ran up Max's spine and she absently stroked Fang's cheek, feeling the slight roughness of the little dark hairs on his chin ... And the horrible heat rolling off of him.

What was wrong with him?

Max remembered when she was developing her 'Light Speed' ability, how she'd felt incredibly hot all over ... Maybe that was happening to Fang. Maybe he was developing a new ability, other than the talking to birds thing... But that didn't explain why the heat hadn't disipated. Why was he so sick?

Could there be another, more sinister explanation?

She shook her head, refusing ...But ... She had to be sure.

She braced herself for the worst, tilted his head to the left and lifted his hair, peering at the back of his neck...

Relief flooded her. No date ... He wasn't expiring.

She looked up then and saw another body lying on the grass ... Then another and another, these though, had not been trampled to death ... Their skin was torn ... And Max recognized the jagged puncture wounds of Wizard Bites...

Fang stirred, shifting his head against her thigh, dark blue eyes fluttering for a moment before they came open. He clearly didn't know where he was because he looked up at Max as if she were an alien for a full five seconds. Then he relaxed and a smile came over his face.

"You really did look Peking-"

She swatted his shoulder, "Shut-up."

Surprisingly he listened to her and grew quiet, staring up into her face a moment before his eyes closed again.

Aaron pulled the truck into the driveway and Max heard him curse bitterly.

She turned her head and stared in awe and horror at her home ... Or what was left of it.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 63; Anywhere but Here

Ella was the first one out of the truck, and as soon as Max had shoved Fang aside she leapt out as well, running as fast as possible to the body sprawled out on the grass.

The solar powered lights illuminated the yard and Max saw the birthday cake her mother had gone into the city to pick up lying there by the stone path as she ran past it...

'Happy Seventeenth Birthday Nick and Aaron'

"MOM!"

Ella was on her knees beside her mother sobbing, trying to roll the woman over but she was crying to hard to do it.

Max collapsed beside her sister and together they rolled her onto her back and the horrible truth hit them like a bolt of lightning...

Max broke, clapping a hand over her mouth to hold the sound of her scream in.

Allan was beside them in half a second, pulling both girls into his arms, "Don't look, don't look..."

But Max had looked ... She had seen, and that image would haunt her until the day she died.

Her mother was gone, she was dead ... and Wizards had done it. They were responsible for it all.

Iggy stumbled over, following the sounds of crying and he fell to his knees beside Ella, pulling the girl into his arms-

Ella shuddered and shoved him away. She sprang to her feet, her brown eyes wild, hair falling into her face. "GET AWAY FROM ME!"

Iggy flinched and his hands fell to his sides.

"DON'T TOUCH ME AGAIN! All of you! Just get away from me!" Ella backed up the steps of the front porch, "It's your fault! If you hadn't come here none of this would have happened! NONE OF IT! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT! YOU KILLED HER!"

"Ella, come down from there, the gas line is ruptured, can't you smell it?" Aaron said and strode forward. "Please come down-"

"Ella, please-" Iggy started to stand but before he could Ella turned wild, hate filled eyes to him and he could feel her gaze as a physical, tearing pain in his chest.

"SHUT UP!" She screeched and curled her hands into fists beside her ears. "I trusted you! I can't believe I trusted you! I can't believe I let you-" She shuddered violently, eyes going quite wide. Her arms tghtening around her stomach, groaning loudly, as if in the throes of some great, soul crushing pain. "You did this to me! You've ruined my life! YOU'VE RUINED ME! You've taken everything away! EVERYTHING! It's ALL YOUR FAULT!"

And she turned, running into the house and slamming the door.

For a moment it felt like all the air was sucked away, toward the house and then light flashed and everyone standing was thrown off their feet by the force of the explosion. Tongues of flame shot out, singeing Max's hair and then the light blinked out and Max saw the house was in flames. Orange pillars shooting out the bottom windows like hands, scraping to get them.

Iggy screamed, and ran at the house hands out, blind eyes wide.

Allan, Aaron, Nudge and the Gasman darted after him and Allan ran right up onto the porch and grabbed Iggy before the boy could jerk open the door. The little window beside the door broke and flames shot out.

Max wanted to cover her ears and disappear but she couldn't move. All she could do was sit there and listen to the roar of the flames and Iggy as he wailed into the inferno. Clawing at Allan and howling as if someone had just torn out his heart with a rusty spoon...

"ELLA!"

But there was no answer.

Max simply sat there staring, tears rolling down her cheeks. It wasn't real ... It couldn't be real, it just couldn't ... She glanced over at Iggy, who was still writhing around sobbing, then down at her mother's body. It couldn't be real ... It just couldn't.

When was David going to wake them up? She was tired of this nightmare...

Iggy fell silent and Max heard him suck in a spasmodic breath before bursting into sobs...

She heard Allan dragging the boy back down the steps, making soft shushing noises. But then Iggy shouted, "NO!" And she heard the sound of his feet as he ran across the yard, snapping open his wings and taking to the skies ... Without a compass, without eyes ... Without...

"IGGY!" Gasman screamed and ran after him followed closely by Angel.

Let this be a dream ... Please, God, let this be a dream.

Max felt fresh tears rolling down her face and she stared up at the sky. Watching the plume of smoke rise up and out of sight. Jeb, Ella and her mother all gone... Everything...

Gone.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Fang kneeling beside her, his eyes fever bright tears on cheeks.

"How am I supposed to save the whole world, Fang ... When I couldn't even save my own..."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 64; Run Away

Fang landed on the porch roof, the gray bandana that had been part of his costume pulled over his mouth and nose. Smoke was rising all around him and he forced the window to his bedroom up. Glad that, like Max, he had taken one of the two rooms at the back of the house.

Black smoke billowed out and Fang took a deep breath before plunging into the room. The smoke burned his eyes and he turned right and left, unsure even in very familiar surroundings which way to go.

He saw his backpack lying on his bed where he'd left it and he snatched it up, shoving his black notebook inside and then going to his closet, grabbing the pack he usually carried to school. He walked back to the window and climbed out, dropping the bags down to Allan, who handed them to Nudge.

He knew he shouldn't have gone inside, especially with a gas leak ... And the fact he felt like hell didn't help matters. But he had to do it ... For some reason he HAD to.

Feeling Max's anguish through the last fifteen minutes had been nearly enough to kill him, but the numbness he got from her now was even worse. Waltzing into a burning building would be better than standing there FEELING that.

Fang walked lightly across the roof and opened Max's window ducking inside with a deep breath of 'fresh' air in his lungs. He picked up Max's backpack and started shoving her pictures into it, knowing that those pictures were all Max had left. He'd rather be singed than let those pictures go up in flames. Then he opened her closet and started grabbing her clothes, shoving shirts and jeans into the pack before heading to the window. He threw the bag out to Allan and went back inside. He paused at the door and pressed the back of his hand against the surface.

It was cool...

He slowly opened the door, ready to slam it shut again if he needed to.

"NICK GET OUT OF THERE!" Allan called from outside. "IT COULD GO AT ANY SECOND! GET THE HELL OUT!"

Fang ignored him and dashed down the hall to Angel's room, throwing open the door and rushing inside.

His lungs were starting to burn but he pushed on, grabbing that little winged bear of Angel's off the girl's bed and turning to leave...

Nudge's jeans ... Why was he leaving Nudge's jeans?

If he was taking the time to get Celeste and Max's pictures Nudge deserved to have her jeans...

He span around and blinked back smoke induced tears... They were lying folded gently on her desk. He grabbed them up and rushed from the room, making one last stop at the room Iggy, Gasman and David shared.

He filled Iggy's backpack and ran for Max's room, choking, black specks swirling around behind his eyes. He needed air ... He couldn't breathe! Heat began to build in his chest and he dove out the window. He rolled down the roof and sprang into the air, flapping in a circle coughing.

He landed by the truck and pressed his forehead against the cold metal. He felt so HOT! He tore his sweater over his head and stood there in his T-shirt wishing it would start snowing so he could get cooled off. What he wouldn't do for a freak snowstorm right about now...

Aaron was scanning the sky looking for any sign of Iggy, Gazzy and Angel.

Fang turned to him, feeling sick to his stomach. "Aaron?"

He grunted.

"Do you remember anything that happened back there? With that ... Castle thing?"

Aaron nodded, "It was like someone else had control of my body, and I was just a wee voice screaming in the back of my own head..."

"You're turning into one of those things ... Aren't you..." It wasn't a question.

Aaron nodded.

"And you'll end up trying to kill us just like them..."

Aaron nodded again.

"If we can stop the Wizards ... We can keep them from spreading the virus ... There has to be a cure... There has to be. If we can stop the Director we can end it."

Aaron glanced at him from the corner of his eye, "If you mean kill her then say 'kill her', I'm not a child."

Fang hesitated and after a moment he nodded. "If we can kill her we can stop it."

"We don't know how to get near enough to stop her... She's got the whole town held hostage ... She's got an army of Wizards you saw what they can do ... Look what they've done already!"

Fang turned and looked, as if to punish himself, to burn the image into his brain for the rest of eternity.

"They've killed Max's entire family ... They killed our dad ... They killed Ella..."

Fang nodded and glanced over at Max where she sat in the cab of the truck staring at her hands.

"If you think we can stop this tell Max," He motioned emphatically, "You lot may have to do me in before this is all over so you'd better tell her 'bout it..."

Fang fell silent. 'You lot may have to do me in before this is all over' "We're not going to kill you, Aaron."

Aaron glanced up at him mournfully, "If I turn into one of those things ... If I completely loose my mind you'll have to kill me or I'll kill you ... I nearly did when I was out of it before. Next time, don't hesitate to stop me, because I don't know if I'll be able to stop myself..."

Fang couldn't believe what he was hearing ... He couldn't believe that Aaron was right.

"Promise me that when it comes to it either you or Max'll finish me off before I hurt someone," Aaron stared deeply into his eyes and Fang wanted to punch him. To tell him that he was nuts, that he wasn't going to promise to kill him. That everything was going to be OK

Max had made him promise the same thing years before when she believed she'd turn into an Eraser, when she feared she'd turn into a monster and hurt her family...

He'd told Max he'd do what he had to do if the time came ... Part of him had meant it ... Another part had been lying through his teeth ... He didn't know if he had it in him to actually kill someone. Flyboys and Wizards were one thing ... But to actually kill a person?

He could kill the Director, he wouldn't mind doing that ... After what she had done, after all the pain she had caused...

... But it was a lie. He wasn't even sure that if he got the chance he could do it ... Hell, he couldn't even tell Angel 'no' half the time...

"If it comes down to it ... I'll do what I have to do," And he knew that if the time came he would ... He would do what he had to do to protect his family ... Even if that meant killing his own brother.

Aaron put his hand on Fang's shoulder and would have hugged him if at that moment, the Gasman hadn't landed in the yard.

"I-Iggy's ... Iggy's pretty messed up, he's perched himself on the radio tower just out of town and he's threatening to jump."

"And you left Angel with him?" Aaron said in a louder voice than he meant to.

"Angel's got mind control power ... All I got is gas!" Gazzy screamed "What the hell would you rather me have done? Angel can keep him sitting still, I can't!"

"Its OK, Gaz, you did the right thing," Fang took a running leap into the air and was gone into the night.

Allan and David climbed into the jeep, Aaron, Nudge and Max in the truck.

As they pulled away Max glanced up at what had that morning been her home... What if she hadn't gone to the costume party? Would she have been able to stop it? Would she have been able to save her mother and her sister?

Everything is a test ... She told herself ... You can't get every answer right ... Now you have to live with the consequences...

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Fang got to the radio tower in less than two minutes and the first thing he saw was Angel's wings. Two white slashes against the blackness of the night sky. Then he saw Iggy.

Sitting on the north-eastern side of the metal structure his arms wrapped around his middle, legs dangling.

Fang circled the tower and hovered in front of Iggy, prepared to catch him if the boy decided to jump to his death. "Iggy?"

He raised his head at the sound of his name and his sightless eyes turned to Fang. "She's dead, Fang... She's dead."

"I know..."

Iggy's lip trembled and he smiled haplessly, "I can't ... It hurts ... It hurts too much."

"I know it hurts," What else could he say?

"I love her, Fang."

Fang said nothing, instead he angled himself a bit closer.

"You've got David and Aaron, Nudge has Aaron, Angel and Gaz have each other ... You don't know it, but Max has you ... Who have I got now? Ella is it ... Was it ... She l-loved me," He dissolved into tears, "Did you know that I asked her to..." His voice faded off and his face fell.

"Asked her what?" Fang inched closer preparing himself to grab Iggy should the boy jump.

Iggy leaned forward a sad, nostalgic smile coming over his face. It was an odd smile, one Fang didn't think Iggy could manage. Secretive, pained, lost ... Betrayed.

"Do you know how good it feels to be loved?"

Fang hesitated. He knew David and Aaron loved him, they were brothers for crap sake. They may annoy the hell out of each other from time to time, but they loved each other. But he'd never had the kind of love Iggy was talking about. He knew that just by looking at him.

Iggy was talking about something much different...

"It's like a drug ... Once you've had it you never want to be without it again ... You never want to be without that person again. It's like the world, for one minute, doesn't exist and there's only what you've got in front of you. Only what you've got ... What you're doing and what she's doing, what's happening inside you ... I can't ... I can't be without her. It hurts too much..."

"Iggy ... Why don't you come down ... Please."

He lowered his head, as if contemplating the drop and the chances he actually had of killing himself with Fang there to catch him ... Whether he liked it or not...

"Iggy, please come down," Fang's voice trembled.

Iggy seemed to have a brief, intense inner struggle but after it was over he extended his wings and slid back along the side of the tower to the little footpath Angel was standing on.

Angel grasped his hand like a vice and held it tightly as he stood.

Fang circled back to Angel and watched silently as the girl and Iggy stepped off the tower and hovered there for a moment beating their wings in near sync.

Aaron and the truck pulled up at the foot of the tower followed by Allan and the jeep.

They did a spiral descent and landed not far from the truck, Iggy following Angel back to the jeep and climbing inside, Fang going to the truck and sliding in beside Max.

Allan lead the way out of town and before long the only thing in front of them was the seemingly endless expanse of blacktop and an uncertain future.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

(NOTE!! Someone asked me why I've used the name 'Allan' in both of the 'bigger' fics I've written. The answer to that is; it's my little brother's middle name and I use it to annoy him.)

Chapter 65; Displacement

They drove for nearly three hours, going much faster than the speed limit because there wasn't a single person on the road.

Allan pulled off into the parking lot of a cheap hotel just inside New Mexico shortly before four that morning, ushering everyone out of the jeep and truck and into one of the two rooms he rented.

Allan had intended for the girls to have a room to themselves, but when he realized it was going to take more than a mere word to separate Nudge and Aaron this time, he let it be and in the end Allan found himself alone in one room.

Fang pulled all the clothes from the bags he'd rescued and divided them up, though he wasn't surprised that they all smelled like smoke and nobody wanted to change into them. In fact, Fang wished he'd merely left them there.

When Allan realized what the problem was he herded everyone outside and back onto the road, driving a good fifteen miles to the nearest 24/hour Super-Store.

Allan supposed they looked affright because when the door greeter saw them she didn't say a thing. He guessed it was for the best … If she had said anything welcoming Max may have launched an attack.

She had a right to be angry, to be hurt, scared and possibly vengeful, but the door greeter didn't deserve to bear the brunt of Max's wrath.

"Okay, you guys go on, I'll take care of these three," He motioned to David, Iggy and Angel.

Angel gave him a dirty look, "I can take care of myself."

Allan's eyebrows shot up, "I'm sure you can, but you shouldn't have to all the time."

Max stiffened when she heard this and she glanced up at Fang.

"Sometimes its nice to have someone take care of you. Especially after something like today," Allan took Angel's hand with a soft, comforting smile.

Nudge grabbed Aaron and they went off, hand in hand looking solemn

The Gasman went off by himself, after swearing not to let off any 'stink bombs'.

Max watched Angel, Iggy and David follow Allan away in numb silence. She was supposed to be the leader ... She was supposed to take care of everyone … She was supposed to save the world…

"Come on," Fang gently laid a hand on the small of her back, trying to act as if it were no big deal that she was still only wearing those Scarlet O'Hara under clothes.

Max didn't protest when he pulled her toward the women's clothes, even though she hated shopping. She was always afraid that when she was trying something on someone would open the door and see her wings and she'd be stuck fighting for her life in nothing but her panties.

"Here, what about this?" He held up a plain blue T-shirt.

She didn't even look at it, she just shook her head.

"Okay … What do you want?"

She shook her head. What she wanted Fang couldn't give her…

"Do you care about what clothes you get?"

She shook her head.

"Okay…" He pulled a few random T-shirts off a rack and dropped them into the big metal buggy he was pushing. "Uh … Do you want to get your … 'things'?" He motioned to a display of undergarments.

Max glanced up, crossed her arms over her chest and shuffled away to collect her 'things'.

It wasn't like he'd never seen her 'things' before, it was just he'd never actually taken the time to examine them to figure out what KIND of 'things' she wore. The size and such … Mostly he just noticed the color and tried not to think about anything else until he was alone.

She came back dropped something into the buggy then seemed to fall into a trance because she picked up a pair of jeans and said in a semi-normal voice, "This is crazy … Look how small these pockets are, you couldn't fit anything good in there. Hell, you couldn't even fit a lighter in there!"

He couldn't help but smile, Max was still in there somewhere … She was just kind of lost for a while.

She folded the jeans and sighed in disgust then put them in the buggy and pulled it away from Fang, "Okay, your turn, FangHelsing."

He scratched at the back of his neck and sidestepped her. He wasn't picky, if it was black and fit he liked it … And most of the time it didn't even have to fit well. Usually, when shopping became necessary he'd just get one of those cheap packs of three or four T-shirts. He'd only had to buy two pairs of new jeans since Itex fell, and both times it was because they'd been destroyed somehow…

The first time Iggy had gotten the idea he wanted to learn to iron clothes and had burned a hole in them. The second time had been jumping over a chain link fence. He'd ripped the whole seat out and couldn't fix them…

Max watched him in a kind of reverent fascination. He walked into the men's clothes, found a pair of black cargo pants, pulled a package of T-shirts and one of boxers off a display peg as he passed by and dropped them into the buggy.

"Wow … New record, thirty seconds … You're good," She said sarcastically and examined the size of the pants he'd grabbed, "Too bad you're not a size forty."

"Oi, budge over!" Aaron said trying to push past Fang.

"Did you say something?" Nudge said tiptoeing to see over a tall rack.

"No, dear," Aaron said with a grin.

"Where'd you two come from?" Fang turned to his brother.

Aaron jabbed his thumb over his shoulder at the jewelry department. Then he pushed his hair behind his ear and pointed, "She said it looked 'hot'."

This made Max look up and she saw Aaron now had a little sliver stud in his ear.

"Iggy's got his ear pierced too."

"I know," Aaron said and prodded his ear gingerly. "I let her talk me into the craziest things…" He went to the same rack Fang had and pulled down a pair of khaki colored pants. "You said those were forties?"

Max nodded, "He wears thirty-twos."

"How do you know what size pants I wear?" He didn't know if he asked out of embarrassment that she knew something so intimate about him or because he just wanted to argue and lighten the mood.

"Because I bought you your last pair of jeans, or do you not remember sitting in the bushes with the seat ripped out of your pants?"

Aaron withheld a giggle.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The first stop Allan made was in the men's department, "What color pants?"

"I don't care…" Iggy whispered arms crossed over his chest. He felt absurd. He was still wearing that stupid pirate costume and more than anything he just wanted to tear it off and fly away. He didn't care where he just wanted to go, to be away from everyone and everything … He just wanted to go away … He wanted Ella…

He was afraid here, alone in the dark. And for some reason he wanted to turn around and go back … It was near overwhelming … He wanted to go back to the house, he wanted Ella and Ella was at the house…

She's dead … She's not there, she's DEAD. He kept telling himself. But that urge was still there, tugging at his mind and his heart.

He had to go back … He NEEDED to go back … But he couldn't … If he went back the only thing of Ella he'd be nearer to was her body…

But still, it was like he suddenly had his internal GPS back. Even though he knew it was not north, that it was just where his heart was pointing…

Just ignore it, she's dead, she's not there.

"Iggy, are you listening?" Allan laid a hand on the boy's arm.

Iggy's head snapped up, "Huh?"

"What size clothes do you wear?"

His tongue felt thick, and that horrible burning sensation enveloped him again. That burning he'd felt when the house exploded … He rubbed his arms to try and force the sensation away and shook his head to clear it. "Thirty-four…"

"What color?"

"Doesn't matter."

Allan shrugged and grabbed a pair of olive colored jeans with numerous pockets on the legs, and a pack of white T-shirts size large, just big enough to cover the boy's wings easily. "What about a jacket?"

"I don't care…"

Allan sighed. He knew boys were difficult to shop for, but this one was particularly difficult. He wondered how Max had done it for all those years. She's a tougher nut than I thought…

"I'd get better answers letting Angel read your mind, wouldn't I?"

Iggy didn't answer.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Angel liked Allan, he was an OK adult. He genuinely wanted to help and he actually let her do things by herself. He'd even trusted her to help David find clothes. Though he only did it because Iggy was being difficult and kept drifting off.

She'd tried to read Iggy's mind to find out what was wrong and why he seemed to be more interested in daydreaming than hurrying up. But all she got when she looked into his head was what felt like a vacuum. Pulling her in an unknown direction, which was odd because she always knew the direction.

She didn't like this feeling, and she didn't like the fact that Iggy was experiencing it. But there was little she could do to help aside from having David knock him out.

"What do you think of this one?" Angel said and held up a T-shirt with the Kare Bears on it.

David nodded, "Yeah, you're definitly 'Lucky'…" He walked over and took the shirt, holding it up. He pouted for a moment and glanced over his shoulder at the shoe department wondering if they had those springy laces he'd seen when his daddy was still around.

Allan and Iggy showed up about then pushing the cart, Iggy looking out of it once again. He found it astounding that life could go on when his had lost all meaning. When everything he cared about was stripped away…

MOVE…

He shook his head again, trying to ignore that near painful urge and the burning sensations running up and down his body. Was he in shock? Had Ter Borcht lied and he was expiring. It was after all, now Halloweeen. Fang and Aaron's birthday … The day after Ella's death…

MOVE!

He covered his ears, and as if he no longer had control over his body, turned and started walking back down the aisle past the display of socks Allan had been asking him about.

"Iggy!" Angel ran up and stopped in front of him, pressing both hands against his chest. "Iggy, where are you going?"

He didn't answer her, all he heard was a roaring in his ears, and that need to move NOW. How long could he ignore it? How much longer could he take this pain?

"I'm going to take him to the jeep," Angel said and took his hand, leading him out of the store.

Outside Iggy felt as if someone had slapped him in the face with the wind. It blew his hair around like a tornado and when Angel urged him into the jeep Total was waiting for them.

"What's up?" Total said, licking his forepaw.

"Iggy needs some rest."

Total moved over in the rear seat and allowed Iggy to pet him all the while wishing he could say something to make it easier for Iggy to handle. But, he supposed, what use was being able to talk if he couldn't say what Iggy wanted to hear?

Allan and the others came out a few minutes later carrying bags. And as they drove back to the hotel that urgency Iggy had been feeling faded and before he knew what had happened he was asleep, exhaustion, both mental and physical washing over him like a wave on the beach.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 66; Tongue of Angels

She didn't think she'd ever be able to wash out the smell of smoke from her hair. She'd been the first one to shower and now that her hair was dry she realized it still held that smoky smell. Maybe it was only her subconscious or maybe her hair really did still smell, either way when Max woke up she was appalled.

Iggy had showered and was still asleep, curled onto his side in the other bed, the Gasman beside him, David curled up between them.

Max had been able to hear him crying in the shower and it broke her heart. When he'd come out of the bathroom wearing only a pair of the new boxers they'd bought and flopped himself across the bed she hadn't bothered to tell him to put on a shirt. She'd wait ... Let him be for a while, until everything felt easier to bear...

But she was starting to think, as she smelled her hair that, things would never be easier to bear. She sat up in bed and looked around. Nudge and Angel were beside her, Total lying curled behind Angel's knees. Fang and Aaron had taken up positions in chairs, their feet propped up on the end of the bed.

Aaron was fast asleep, head lolled to one side, mouth open. But Fang was awake, looking at her. He'd pulled his hair back after his shower and now that it was dry a few strands were falling into his face.

Iggy moaned in his sleep and Max turned to look at him. To make sure he was OK, then she turned back to Fang.

The sun was up, but someone had drawn the curtains and the whole room was sparsely lit. Veiling everything in a soft, orange-ish light.

Max eased herself out of bed reaching for the jeans she'd gotten the night before and pulling them on, trying to keep herself hidden. She got them pulled up, but they wouldn't button.

"Damn it," She hissed.

"What is it?" Fang whispered.

"Apparently I no longer wear size threes."

A small, Aaron like smile crept over his face, "Maybe you're getting ready for the big 'P' word, huh?"

"'P' word?" A million words that started with the letter 'P' ran through her mind.

"'Puberty'?" He said with a grin. "You made fun of me, so you'd better prepare yourself..."

She scowled at him and pulled the hem of her shirt down over the zipper, praying that would cover it.

She pulled on her shoes and turned, walking by him. Swatting him on the head as she passed.

His hand snaked from beneath the blankets and closed around her fingers.

Max froze and turned her head, staring at him. What was he playing at? What did he want? Was this some new kind of torture? Staring at her with those bottomless eyes of his? Giving her that emotionless, heartbreaking look...

He'd practically forgotten she existed in the weeks since their return from New York/Oklahoma, and now ... Now he was holding her hand?

"Stop it..." She tried to pull her hand away but for some reason she couldn't move her arm. Maybe the nerves had died again and she would be without the use of her left arm again... Maybe she just didn't want to let go...

He folded the blankets away and sat up, the fingers of his right hand still curled around hers.

He scratched lazily at the back of his head and Max wondered why his hair was a mess, was he channeling Nudge? She wished he'd hurry up and do whatever the heck he was going to do because standing here linked at the hands watching him go through a ritualistic scratching was irritating her beyond all reason...

She wanted to kick his butt and rant at him for a few minutes. Ask him just who the hell he thought he was ignoring her and then suddenly asuming that it was okay to hold her hand. She wanted to ask him why he'd been too good to talk to her two days before, but now she was suddenly worthy of his attention...

Thankfully he only scratched his head and chin, because if his hand had dipped lower than his navel Max would have probably squeezed his hand so hard the bones in his fingers rubbed together. That would have brought him out of this morning stupor...

He stood, rather slowly and shoved his feet into his shoes, not even bothering to tie them. Then he shuffled after her as she left the room, still holding his hand.

Which in and of itself was unusual. She didn't make it a habit of holding hands with anyone, let alone Fang. Especially since he was SOOOO much better than her...

She ground her teeth and considered punching him in the head...

It was about noon and the halls were deserted, not a soul in sight.

Max didn't know exactly where she was going, but Fang followed her without protest. Seeming to predict her movements and angle himself accordingly.

The elevator surprisingly, wasn't as bad as Max imagined it to be. It shuddered once and made an awful screeching sound but that was it.

Like the hallway above, the lobby was empty. The news playing in the background, something about widespread power outages moving in from the west. Books and magazines fanned out on the coffee tables... A discarded sock in the middle of the floor...

But Max kept walking toward the exit, Fang's hand in hers. Somewhere in the back of her mind she wondered where the heck everyone was, but she was too overwhelmed with sadness and anger to pay attention at the moment.

The air was cool and a few cars passed on the highway. Zooming away from them, to the east.

All the cars seemed to be packed to bursting, driving at an alarming speed... As if they were being chased.

A low, rumbling sound started somewhere to Max's right and she turned her head in that direction, at first expecting to see a lawnmower or something ... Not a helicopter...

Max hated helicopters. She'd hated them for years, since Angel had been tossed into one and flown off. Her first reaction when she saw this one was to turn and run inside, but the second was to stand and watch as it flew over head, bathing her and Fang in dust and the whine of its rotors.

It was a news helicopter and it was flying in the opposite direction of the cars.

And then Max saw why...

Smoke rose in numerous pillars in the distance, black billowy columns standing there accusingly ... Declarative...

The end is near...

Judging from how tall the smoke towers appeared Max gauged the fires, and what she knew was the virus and Wizards, to be about four miles away.

"I'll go wake everyone up..." Fang said, breaking the near silence of the morning. He released her hand, turned, and dashed back inside.

Max nodded, still entranced by the smoke. It was an odd sensation. She felt angry that the Whitecoats would be so evil, she wanted to go kick butt... But at the same time she wanted to run away screaming...

Fang returned a few moments later followed by everyone else, lugging backpacks.

Fang took her hand again, pulling her toward Aaron's truck, "Come on..."

Stubbornly she refused to move, instead watching the helicopter, which had suddenly banked straight upward. A cloud of black specks chasing it, swarming all over it. She felt hypnotized. Brainless... Watching the helicopter shudder and rock as the tiny Wizard Specks seemed to cling to it.

"Max, Come ON!" He gave her hand a sharp tug but she ignored him, watching in a sort of sick fascination as the helicopter jerked to the side and started spiraling to the ground. It disappeared behind the trees and a few seconds later a ball of flames shot upward, followed nearly instantly by a large 'boom'.

"MAX!" Fang pulled her arm again, hauling her by the hand to the truck, then forcibly picking her up and shoving her inside.

She wanted to curse at him, but her voice wouldn't work and all she was able to do was squish herself as tightly as possible against Nudge's side and grab the dashboard as Aaron slammed both feet onto the gaspedal even before Fang was fully inside the truck. Digging her fingernails into it to keep from being flung to the side as the truck span around.

Fang clamped his arm over the door to keep from being thrown off, for a moment hanging there, his feet flying in the air behind him, before he was able to swing inside, his teeth gnashed together, nostrils flared, eyes wide and glaring. He slammed the door and his hand went to the safety belt. "Learn to drive, you lunatic!"

Allan and the jeep were already speeding down the road and Max saw Angel's face in the back window looking toward the fires dumbstruck.

Max then became aware that she could smell smoke and she wondered if maybe she hadn't misjudged how close the fires were. Could the end be closer to her and her family than she believed?

Could the Wizards have actually succeeded in sneaking up on them?

The radio screeched loudly and Max clapped her hands over her ears.

"I wanna run, I want to hide ... I wanna tear down the walls, that hold me inside. I wanna reach out, and touch the flame, where the streets have no name!"

Fang growled in his throat and brought his fist down on the dashboard, right above the cassette player. The tape screeched, but continued playing.

"I wanna feel sunlight on my face, I see the dust-cloud disappear without a trace-"

He hit the dash again and the tape made a hideous sound, much like a cat who had just been trodden on.

"I wanna take shelter from the poison rain ... Where the streets have-"

Fang lifted his fist a third time, intent on bashing the radio into bits but the tape fell silent and soft noises ... Like a live microphone being passed from hand to hand...

"How does it work?" A female voice, "Is it working?"

Fang froze, his heart in his throat, fist raised to land another blow mouth twisted to the side. His eyes looking as if they were staring out over the horizon at a large robotic chicken laying giant diamond eggs... Disbelieving and terrified...

"Yes, its working, all you have to do now is talk into the mic," A male voice ... An eerily familiar deep male voice.

"Okay..." The distinct sound of lips being pressed against a microphone, "HELLO!"

Laughter, "No, Kitten, you have to hold it away from your face. Like that or it sounds funny..."

"Oh ... Bernie, I feel really silly doing this, maybe you should."

Aaron's eyes went wide and he stared at the radio his mouth open. "Bloody hell..."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 67; Follow The Yellow Brick Road

"Okay ... If you are listening to this you've either stolen our truck, you're Allan Martin, or you boys have made it out and we haven't..."

Max sat stone still, unconsciously gripping Fang's knee.

"Before we go any farther I guess we should introduce ourselves ... I'm Bernard Victor Hutchinson..."

"And I'm Kitty Hutchinson," She sounded uneasy, but genuine...

"Today's date is July seventeenth nineteen ninety-nine and Kitty and I have decided to make this little tape incase things don't go as we've planned ... First of all, if this is Allan, Kitty and I have left something for you at the house. We'd like for you to keep up the Animal Rescue Center ... Uh ... If you've stolen this truck I want you to know that it has already been reported stolen ... And if you boys are hearing this your mother and I want you to know that we're proud of you for making it out and we hope you're ready to go on a big adventure..."

Fang swallowed hard and cast Aaron a wide-eyed look.

"First of all ... If you're hearing this boys, that means your mother and I are gone. I gave Allan explicit instructions to take this tape out if Kitty and I lived ... Well ... uh..." Bernard cleared his throat and Max heard Kitty's voice cooing softly in the background.

"Y-your mother wants me to start this off by telling you your names ... I'm sure you've both picked names for yourselves by now ... But still, this is what we called you before you were taken..."

"How will they know who is who?" Kitty whispered, "I mean ... If they go by different names ... How will they know?"

Bernard made a hollow sound in his throat, "Uh ... Okay ... The one of you with light colored wings ... We called you Wesley."

Nudge squealed and hugged Aaron around the chest, "Oh my GOD! You're WESLEY! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THAT MOVIE!"

Max rolled her eyes and averted all her attention and strength into hearing the next words that came from the tape player ... Though she didn't know why.

"The one of you with dark wings ... Kitty wanted to call you Sheridan-"

Max made a disgusted face.

"But we decided to name you after my great grandfather, Lorcan..."

"Lorcan?" Nudge giggled and Fang turned on her, making an angered yet pouting face and Max couldn't help but smile.

Kitty cleared her throat, "We left a package for you in New York ... There should be a photo album in it ... If you have the album now you should get it out ... If not, then the next place you want to go is New York. Find a man by the name of Clark Donovan ... You'll know him when you see him ... Or he will know you..."

Fang was digging in his backpack, throwing out articles of clothing as if it didn't matter that Max and Nudge were sitting there beside him.

Nudge grunted in discomfort, a pair of Fang's new underwear lying over her head and Max turned to her, helping the girl gather the clothes and shove them back into his bag, once he'd extricated the photo album.

"If you have the book, there are some photos in there that will help ... you only have to find the hidden messages..."

"Don't bother asking Allan, if he's still around, for the answers because he doesn't know. Bernie and I left this trail long before we pulled Allan into the picture ... I love you boys very much ... Please be careful and please ... PLEASE don't let yourselves be caught ... We love you very much..." Kitty choked back tears and Bernard's voice came back. A voice so much like Fang's it was frightening.

"I wish we could tell you more, but we have to leave it kind of general incase someone else gets hold of this tape before you do ... I love you boys ... Just don't get caught..."

The tape went quiet for three seconds.

"-Blown by the wind... And when I go there, I go there with you ... Its all I can do..."

The tape stopped and Max felt Fang trembling. She turned to him and saw he was staring into the photo album his eyebrows drawn down, lips pursed.

"What is it?" Max leaned over and peered into the book at the pictures.

Most of them were just random pictures ... But there was one in particular of a worn and haggard looking Kitty holding up an old U2 cassette and pointing.

"I never knew I'd say this, but ... I love U2!" Aaron whispered.

"They're out of order ... Damn it ... I didn't put them in the right order!" Fang said through gritted teeth.

"Okay ... How do we get them in the right order?" Max released his knee, which she'd still been clutching at.

He shook his head, "I don't know ... Why did I have to look at them first?" He peeled back the transparent plastic and started removing the pictures, mumbling to himself, and reshuffling them until he seemed mostly pleased with their new order.

"It still doesn't feel right..." He handed them to Nudge. "You can read emotion coming off of things ... What order do they go in?"

Nudge bit her lip and cradled the pictures, at first hesitantly moving them around in the stack, then faster, her eyes drooping and finally closing.

Aaron tried to watch her, while keeping an eye on the jeep ahead of them.

After a few moments of nail biting silence Nudge opened her eyes and stared down at the pictures, "I think I've got them right ... They feel right..." She handed them over and watched as Fang slowly started fitting them in the pages.

"Okay ... What now?" Aaron said under his breath

Fang raked a hand through his hair, pulling a few strands out of place and finishing off his tousled, psychotic's ward look. He let out pent up breath in a sound like a hiss and flipped back and forth through the pages. "It makes no sense whatsoever..."

Nudge leaned the side of her head against Aaron's arm with a sigh. She was quiet for a moment, then, as her eyebrows drew down she turned back to Fang, "Didn't they leave a name dictionary in that box? I want to look up Aaron's new name."

"It is NOT my new name ... Just because my parents called me that when I was a baby, does NOT mean I will allow anyone else to call me 'Wesley'."

Fang nodded and fished it out of the bag, handing it to her. "Come on, Wes, let her have some fun."

Max bit back a laugh and Aaron threw him a scathing look, "Shut up, Lorcan."

He shut up.

Nudge took the book and started flipping through the pages. "Wesley ... Wesley..." She grinned.

"Aww! It means 'west meadow'! How cute!"

"What does 'Lorcan' mean?" Max leaned closer to Nudge and peered down at the pages.

Nudge flipped back to the 'L' section and scrolled down. She scoffed, "Huh ... It's fitting," She handed the book to Max and crossed her arms.

"What does it mean?" Fang tried to get a look at the pages but Max flattened the book against her chest.

She grinned at him, "I thought you didn't like it?"

"I never said that ... What does it mean?" He tried to take the book but she held it out of his reach.

"I'm serious, Max ... What does it mean?"

"It means, 'Silent'."

He snatched the book from her and read the meaning for himself then handed it back and propped his chin on his hand. Staring out the window thoroughly annoyed.

Max sighed, and on a whim started flipping through the pages scanning various names and their meanings.

"Okay, my name is going to be, "Buttercup Elisa Margaret Victoria Rosemary Diana Jasmine Lily Amber Montgomery-Ward."

Aaron choked and coughed into his shoulder for a few seconds before turning wide eyes to her. "How do you expect me to remember all of that? Hell, how do you expect to remember all of that yourself!"

She grinned, "B-E-M-V-R-D-J-L-A-M-W."

"What?" Fang said squinting at her, "Bhem-verdge-lam-wuh?"

Nudge scowled, "I think it's pretty."

Fang opened his mouth to argue that the names were pretty by themselves, smashed all together like that they were just a disaster, waiting to trip someone's tongue. But before he could speak Aaron spoke first.

"I think it is pretty ... But so is 'Nudge', and personally, 'Nudge' is so much easier to remember than, 'Buttercup Elisa ... Mashed potato Helsinki!"

Nudge chuckled and rested her forehead on his shoulder, "Mashed potato Helsinki?"

Aaron gave her a crooked grin, "Yeah, Mashed potato Helsinki."

"West Munster."

Nudge turned from Aaron and stared at Max. "What did you say?"

Max pointed to the picture of the fishing boat, "Desmond."

Fang followed Max's finger until he saw the picture of a fishing boat. It was sitting near a dock in the Autumn.

"Desmond means 'West Munster."

"West Munster?" Aaron wrinkled his nose. "Munster is a province in Ireland ... Dad was telling me, when we were still in London, that one of the priests who helped us was from Munster."

"You mean we have to go all the way to Ireland?" Nudge said impatiently. "I don't want to go to Ireland, the last time we went over there we nearly got killed, or do I need to remind you of the Germany affair?"

Max shook her head and tried to quite Nudge, but she seemed intent on finishing her elongated thought.

"You remember, don't you? All the psycho doctors, and Omegas? Spot the Leopard girl and the like MILLION Flyboys that got fried?"

"Yes, I remember ... But I don't think we have to go to Munster," Max took the photo album from Fang and looked down the page. "Maybe we aren't even supposed to use this thing with the pictures, but you never know ... I'd rather try and come up with nothing than not try and have all my answers in here!" She shook the book at Nudge and then flipped through it.

"Okay, 'Marty's'... Marty means 'Martin' and Martin means ... Something that isn't in this book."

"Martin ... Max, Martin is Allan's last name," Fang said and tried to take the photo album from her but she wouldn't relent.

"Okay..." She searched the ten pages that had been rearranged but didn't find any other names. "Okay, this name dictionary is useless," She handed it to Nudge.

Fang pointed back to the picture of the boat. "Maybe it wasn't the name of the boat that they wanted us to look at ... Maybe it was the boat itself, or where the boat is."

Max rolled her eyes, "Okay ... The boat is old ... It's dinged up and it's sitting in the water."

"What kind of water?"

Max scanned the picture, trying very hard not to growl in frustration. "It's in a harbor."

"As in the ocean," Fang grinned, "You can see my mom's reflection in that mirror and the clock. It says that it's nine-thirty ... And since it's daylight, I'm guessing that it's nine in the morning."

Max pointed to the ball of the sun visible in the upper right corner of the picture. "This isn't the Pacific Ocean ... This is the Atlantic..."

"The Atlantic Ocean in the fall..." He pulled that mysterious black notebook from his bag and turned to the very last page. He scribbled this bit of information down and went to the next picture.

Kitty standing on the dock Bernard behind her, holding her. Her rotund, pregnant belly poking out the front of her sweater.

"Check the date here!" Nudge pointed to the date visible on a calendar in a nearby boat. "October 25 ... Oh, my gosh ... You guys could really have been born on Halloween!"

Max swallowed hard, wondering all the sudden why she felt on the verge of tears ... Why was she suddenly unable to hold her emotions in check?

It's because your sister and mother died last night! She shook her head, forcing the thought out of the way. Yes, her mother and sister were dead, but there was no use crying about it, she couldn't change it.

She cleared her throat and turned to the third picture. Bernard with a woman who bore just enough resemblance to him for Max to instantly know this was Kathy ... The woman who had drugged her own brother and stolen his sons. But how was it that they were with Kathy and Kitty was still pregnant if Fang and Aaron had been three months old when they were taken?

"What the..." Fang pressed his face close to the picture, "That ... That's Kathy, isn't it..."

Fang scanned the rest of the page, "This is nuts ... They were on vacation?"

Max saw a new picture this one seemingly taken on accident of Kathy eating a slice of pizza. The woman's pupils were red and she had her mouth open. It reminded her of photos she'd taken of Fang, Iggy and the Gasman.

There were a few more pictures, Bernard and Kitty standing on the dock beside the 'Desmond' Kitty with her arm straight out pressed against Bernard's shoulder. Bernard floating in the water laughing.

Max caught Fang smiling out of the corner of her eye and she wished she could bottle that smile up ... Fang's smiles came too few and far between lately... Even if he was a jerk who ignored her...

Aaron slowed the truck, turning left off the interstate following Allan, who parked by the road and stuck his head out to speak with Aaron.

"We'll reach the farm at about six this evening if we stay on this road ... But do you guys WANT to go back there?"

Aaron turned to Fang, Max and Nudge.

"Ariel and Zephyr aren't so sure they want to go back."

"Where else could we go?" Fang called out the window.

Allan chewed his lip a moment before he answered. "If we turn south we'll end up at your Evil-Doctor's HQ in about three hours ... And my guess is you guys don't want to go there until you've made a plan. Rushing into a place like that without one will get you killed."

Max nodded, "We'll need time to prepare ... An idea of the building's layout would be great."

Allan nodded, "I think we should head north ... But it is up to you, I'm just the driver."

Max wanted to say that they didn't need a driver, that all of them had a perfectly good set of wings, but then she remembered that half the reason they hadn't yet been found was because they hadn't flown anywhere.

Wizards could track them easier in the air than on the ground. And as much as she hated being in a truck with three other people, driving was their only option for the moment.

"What's north from here?" Besides the cabin... She thought

"A few Indian Reservations and some National Parks ... Then of course, a lot of nothing."

"Max, can we go to Roswell?" The Gasman poked his head out of the jeep and grinned widely.

"No."

He scowled but didn't argue.

"How long would it take to get back to Colorado?" Fang held up his hand, shielding his eyes from the sun.

"Two, three hours tops. As long as we're going about eighty..."

"Who said anything about going back to Colorado?" Max interjected.

"Well Colorado is north from here, I was assuming you wanted to head north. But I guess I was wrong!" He narrowed his eyes, his lips coming tightly together.

The air practically crackled with tension

"Listen, I just want to get someplace safer than here. Someplace we can defend if need be. The virus is moving a LOT faster than I thought it would and there is no way we can fight it until we figure out what it does and how its spread. Until we find out HOW to stop the Director."

"Then let's do it," And Fang stowed the photo album in his backpack and climbed from the truck.

"Lets go kill the bitch."

"How?" Max wanted to leap from the truck and choke him. She didn't want to become a murderer... She was sick and tired of death. She just wanted to ... Wanted to...

Fang pointed at David, who was asleep in the back of the jeep with Angel, clutching the stuffed puppy he called 'Frank'.

"David can use his ability ... He can do that thing and we'll be able to do everything in real life that we can in our dreams. And we'll finish it!"

"Uh, Fang?"

Fang turned to Iggy, at first surprised the boy had spoken, then annoyed that he had. He gave the redhead a, 'what are you bothering me for?' look even though Iggy couldn't see it.

"David can't do that."

"What are you talking about? I've seen him do it, he conjured a castle out of thin air when Gazzy thought of it! He turned Angel green-"

Iggy shook his head, "It was all in your head ... David's ability doesn't make it possible for you to do things in real life that you can in your dreams ... All it does is put anyone within a five-hundred foot radius of him into a kind of dream ... A hallucination."

All the color drained from Fang's face. "A hallucination?"

"It's linked into the same ability that allows him to put people to sleep just by thinking it. Only with this you're wide-awake ... Its complicated I think..."

"How do you know it isn't real?"

Iggy sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Because last-night when David let me out of it I couldn't see anymore and you guys thought Aaron had shot me. Don't you remember?"

Fang raked a hand through his hair, effectively pulling half of it out of the band he'd drawn it back with. "I thought you'd come back from the dead to tell you the truth..."

Iggy scowled at him and turned away, resting his chin on the heel of his hand.

Great, now I feel like an ass ... A big winged ass. Fang thought to himself and flattened his hand against his forehead.

"Iggy, what did you do with that bottle of vaccine Ter Borcht gave you?" Max said, trying to alleviate some of the tension building in the air between the two young men.

Iggy turned to her slowly. "It probably doesn't work."

"Where is it?"

"I put it in the truck," He climbed out of the jeep and walked toward the sound of Max's voice. "Pop the hood, Aaron."

Aaron gave Iggy a sideways glance and did as he was told.

"I rigged up a containment unit which is fed through the air-conditioning system ... It creates a kind of refrigerator that keeps the vials cool twenty-four-seven."

"How did you do that?" The Gasman said wrinkling his nose, "How did you do it without being able to see?"

Iggy shrugged, "I just did it."

"And you didn't get wires crossed?" Gasman climbed out of the jeep and jogged to his friend, peering under the hood at what looked like a water bottle attached to the air-conditioning... "That is so cool!"

Iggy smiled, "Literally."

"You wired all that up by yourself?" Fang said peeking over Gazzy's head. "With no help?"

Iggy nodded, "It was a spur of the moment thing a few days ago. I was worried ... You know, that we may have to leave on short notice, and I know how much Aaron hates flying so I knew Aaron would take the truck. It seemed logical so I came out before breakfast the other day and just ... Did it."

"That's creepy," Nudge whispered half to herself.

"Well, the vaccine is right there when you want it," Iggy said and turned back to the jeep.

"How did you build that without help?" Max wouldn't relent.

"I just did it," He said and rested the heels of his hands against the hood of the jeep.

"Did you like SEE it, or FEEL it or something?"

He sighed, "I can't have abilities anymore, I can't SEE anything, or FEEL anything like that. I can't even tell who people are by feeling their fingers or feathers anymore. I can't do anything!"

"How do you know?"

Iggy growled and turned on Max feeling an odd heat building in his chest alongside the terrible burning sensations he'd been feeling, "Because I expired, OK? My date showed up, Ter Borcht injected me with that black stuff and it wiped out all my developed abilities. I can't do ANYTHING anymore, I'm a useless-"

He fell silent his mind turning over everything he'd just said and everything Ter Borcht had said the night before ... Especially that fearful hint to his last laugh...

His fingers went to his lips, slightly amused but hesitant... The man hadn't said ALL his abilities ... He'd said all the DEVELOPED abilities, meaning Ter Borcht believed he was going to get another...

"Oh, my God..." He whispered to himself. Could it... Was it possible?

That terrible burning sensation washed over him again and he had to bite his tongue to keep from making any noise. At least that urge to move was fading... That was a plus. He guessed his brain had forgotten which direction home was because of all the turns they'd made. Perhaps it was for the best...

"Iggy?" Max called softly. "Are you OK?"

"Yeah ... Its just ... You could be right ... I could be getting an ability of some kind ... He said all my DEVELOPED abilities would be wiped out, not ALL of them."

Maybe that urge to move was part of this theoretical new ability. Perhaps it was pointing him toward safety ... Or greatest danger ... Maybe the burning sensation was also ... Hadn't Max felt like she was burning up when she was developing her abilities?

Maybe that was what was wrong with Fang, why he kept keeling over from that mysterious fever?

Iggy leaned back against the jeep his hand still over his mouth. What kind of ability would he get? Would he be able to see again? Would he get to look into Ella's face...

Ella...

MOVE...

"Iggy, are you sure you're OK?"

"I'm fine!" He snapped and turned around, intent on climbing back into the jeep, but he walked right into the front fender, banging his thighs.

He cursed bitterly, and in a fit of anger he raised both fists and brought them down on the hood of the jeep. He wanted to run, to throw things, scream and blow something up... He wanted to FEEL something burn...

How could he be so stupid as to think Ella was still alive? She was dead DEAD.

He was too horrible and ugly to have something as beautiful and pure as Ella ... The world would make sure of that... The world would take everything away from him one day, and then he wouldn't have anything of himself left but hate...

He shoved off from the hood, making a deliberately large circle around it then finding his way back to his seat. He guessed it wouldn't be so bad if that stupid need to move wasn't there. If he could get rid of that then maybe Ella's death wouldn't be so hard... Maybe then he could forget everything ... Forget the feel of her lips, her hands... The sound of her voice...

Her body fitted tightly against his...

He knew what he had to do, he knew he had to somehow change his feelings from sadness to anger. Anger could be your ally, especially when you're fighting, and Iggy knew he was in for the fight of his life against these Wizards, against the Director.

They'd taken so much from him ... But, now, he was going to take something BACK... He'd make them pay ... Somehow...

Angel laid a hand on his arm but he shoved it away and thought at her; 'If you want to keep that hand you'll put it back on your lap.'

Angel jerked her hand away and pursed her lips. She had to get to the bottom of this. She had to find out what was wrong, she had to find a way to fix it, and if she couldn't, she had to find a way for Max to fix it.

Max could fix anything...

She peered into his mind...

Darkness ... No direction ... MOVE ... Ella ... Gone ... Pain ... Anger ... HATRED ... Burning ... MOVE-MOVE-MOVE!

Angel shook her head and turned to the little plastic window beside her. Gazzy was walking toward her, ready to climb back into his seat. Fang was dropping the Truck's hood back into place still looking embarrassed and pale. He wiped his wrist over his forehead clearing away a sheen of sweat as he scrambled into the truck.

Just as Allan pulled back onto the road Angel saw something different about Fang. Something fleeting, something she would have missed had she not been looking at him when it happened.

For half a second, long enough for her to see it as it faded away, Fang's eyes turned red.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 68; The Z Virus

Colorado was a beautiful state. Forests, jagged mountains rocky ravines... Long twisting roads. Just like Max remembered it.

It was nearing dinner time when Allan pulled off into a gas station. They'd been sucking fumes for quite a while and Allan himself was getting pretty hungry. He couldn't imagine how hungry the kids were, since they had to eat much more and more often than he did.

"You guys have a choice, we can get stuff here or we can wait until we find a restaurant and get burgers or something."

Allan could almost see the gears in their heads turning things over, weighing their options. Gas station junk food or nice juicy hamburgers?

"Burgers," they nearly said in unison.

Allan smiled inwardly and went toward the door to pay for the gas. The doors were locked and the man behind the counter raised a ball bat at him.

"You stay out there, I don't want no sickness from you, man!"

Allan was taken aback, "Sickness?"

The man pointed to the TV screen perched on the counter. Allan froze and listened intently to what the news caster was saying but the red Emergency Alert banner flashing at the bottom of the screen was enough tell him want he needed to know.

"Massive Nation Wide Quarantine; All roads crossing the Mississippi closed, no traffic is being allowed to cross. Western and Central States locked off from rest of the Country."

"Mysterious illness sweeps the South West. The Centers for Disease Control have labeled this event a pandemic. Sources say that the illness causes those infected to act like rabid animals. The disease is said to be spread by bite or blood to blood contact. The President has declared a state of emergency and urges all citizens to stay in doors and avoid contact with infected persons. Church leaders are calling this a 'Sign from God'. And one church leader from New York had this to say about the disease."

As Allan watched a very familiar man appeared on the screen, via taped recording from earlier that day.

"This illness is a sign ... Honestly, unless whatever is spreading it is stopped I don't believe we will survive," Clark Donovan looked particularly worn, green about the gills, so to speak.

Allan ran a hand over his mouth, feeling for a moment as if it were hanging open to his knees.

"Just go, dude!" The man with the ball bat said loudly. "I don't want to be zombiefied ...Yeah, the news can word it however they want, but this isn't some rabies virus ... This is ZOMBIES man, frick'in ZOMBIES! Dawn of the Dead shit, man!"

Allan nodded, turned and ran back to the jeep. He climbed inside and turned to Aaron and Fang, who were standing at the front of their truck stretching.

"You guys better get back in the truck, I just figured out what your Wizard Virus does and it isn't pretty."

Fang and Aaron looked around shocked for a second then climbed back into the truck.

"What does it do?" Max called out the window.

Allan looked at her for a second, wanting to see her expression change when he told her, because he knew it would, drastically. "Zephyr was right ... It turns people into zombies."

It was like watching a building fall in on itself. Max's face first went pale then slack as her mouth opened a little.

"Zombies? Like, rise from the dead ZOMBIES!" Gasman screamed from the backseat.

David's head snapped up and he rubbed a bit of drool from the corner of his mouth. "Zombies, where are the zombies ... I don't like zombies," He shivered and clung to Angel.

Angel rolled her eyes and patted the top of his head.

Allan glanced into the back of the jeep. "They're not going to get us. We're too fast for them ... And zombies are stupid, remember?"

"Well, where do we go, where will we be safe?" Nudge said loudly, hoping that Allan heard her.

Allan sighed and leaned back in his seat, gripping the steering wheel. "I don't know," He turned to Max, "Where do we go?"

Max was quiet for a moment then she nodded, "First we need to find like a hospital or something. We need to use that vaccine ... Iggy do you remember how much he gave you?"

Iggy didn't answer at first but then he realized he had to. Even if it did scratch open a still fresh wound.

"Ella said that it was one of those tiny syringes, and it was only half full."

Max nodded, "Okay, we need to find some of those tiny syringes and get each other vaccinated. If that stuff works then we won't have to worry weather or not we get bitten. And since the Wizards are spreading this virus it will keep us protected from their bite as well."

"As well as mine," Aaron said. He hadn't thought about it before, but he was infected with the Wizard's Curse ... But ... If he was, how come he wasn't a zombie?

Max seemed to have had this same thought because she turned to him, her eyebrows drew down. And then realization melted her features into a lax, shocked mask.

"The Wizards aren't spreading the virus..."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 69; Darwin's Law

And suddenly, they had a new enemy. A faceless, virus spreading enemy that was bringing about the end of the world.

"Give me the computer," Max said without even looking at Fang.

He was already pulling it out of his seemingly bottomless bag even before she finished speaking.

Max stared down at Jeb's computer in a mixture of shock and nausea. Please, please let there be something ... We have to know how this virus is being spread.

She pulled up a search page and typed in the word 'Virus' then hit Initiate.

The little hourglass icon turned over, and over and over and over.

Search Results for 'Virus' 2 Files Found;ImmaculaePhoenotexicon Aves

Max opened the file marked 'Immaculae' not entirely surprised to recognize the name. The Immaculae were the Director's new favorite experiments. The memo they had found in the 'Under Our Hats' Safe had said the Immaculae were perfect. Their only flaws were their extremely short temper and tendency to be violent, and the 'creepy factor'.

She hadn't thought to look up the Immaculae on Jeb's computer simply because she didn't think Jeb still had contact with the Director.

As soon as the file sprang open she realized what they were dealing with.

The list of abilities seemed to go on forever. Every Immaculae could read and control minds, they could run at super speed, they could lift up to seven-hundred pounds, all of their senses were so far in advance of the Flock's it was said they could hear a human heartbeat through three feet of solid lead.

And Max didn't doubt it for a second. The picture that came along with the file was of two children. One male, one female ... They had curling black hair, dark brown eyes, pale ivory skin, straight thin noses ... They looked like something out of a child models' portfolio.

But their eyes... They had dead eyes, soulless, deathly intelligent eyes. Like an animal...

And they were immune to the virus...

"Oh, my God ... They're just kids ... Evil little children!" Aaron mumbled.

Max glanced up at Aaron then back down at the computer, "It's spread through touch... It's like the flu. It gets on your hands and you touch something, put something in your mouth ... Jesus, how do you stop something that's spread like the flu?"

She clicked on the other link 'Phoenotexicon Aves' and noticed the first words were; 'PROJECT DISBANDED AS OF DECEMBER 17, 1994'

Below this there was a short paragraph.

'Regretably, through the loss of the entire Phoenotexicon Genetic Team, the Ave Series will be disbanded henceforth and surviving viable subjects auctioned. Surviving Viable Subjects include, two females, two males and one male infant...'

But the list of subject names was missing... As if it had been deleated.

Max shook her head to clear it. There was no mention of the virus in this file at all...

Why had it shown up in the search? Why was almost all of the file itself missing?

"We have to figure out how the Director and the Immaculae became immune to the virus. Then we have to somehow get it into the populous. That should take care of that ... Then we only have to worry about the Immaculae-"

"How do you stop something that's bigger and more powerful than you?" Nudge said pointing.

Max hesitated, pretending she had a plan. "They have to have a weakness ... You can't just NOT have a weakness."

"Maybe they're allergic to birds," The Gasman said. "If they are, all we'd have to do is have Fang and Aaron call a bunch of pigeons on them. We'd be safe cause we're two percent bird."

Max nodded, although she didn't like it when anyone said they were part 'bird'. Bird was such an undignified word. She preferred 'avian' it sounded better.

"I doubt they'd be that easy to deal with, I mean there are birds all over the place, I'm sure they would have thought of that."

Gasman fell silent for a ten count, "I could gas them to death."

Surprisingly Max nodded, "We may need that. They have advance senses of smell, that could really help."

Nudge's ears perked up, "Max, my new ability ... I can scream like a banshee, that would REALLY hurt their ears if they can hear a heart beating through lead."

And a plan started to form in Max's head. A team, they'd work as a team...

Gasman could handle their smell ... Nudge their hearing ... David could confuse them with that waking nightmare thing ... Or even knock them out...

But all that was only temporary. They had to STOP these things ... Whatever they did would have to be permanent, but what...

Unless they're being controlled like puppets we'll have to kill them. That's the only way they'll stop. We're going to end up being murderers no matter what... Max hated it. She hated that to save the world she would have to kill or be killed. It was survival of the fittest, and so far the Immaculae were in the lead...

What could be wrong with the Immaculae that they could use against them? What was their weakness?

Max gnawed her lip a m oment, thinking. Hating the fact that the things running through her head were sounding very Whitecoatish...

Find the Immaculae, find their weakness ... And exploit it...

"Well, we can't sit around here all day conspiring, we have to get someplace safe," Allan said under his breath.

Max nodded feeling sickened, "Get us someplace safe then."

Allan nodded and started up the jeep, pulling quickly onto the deserted road and heading farther north. Aaron followed him silently, lips between his teeth.

There's no dishonor in living to fight another day. Yeah, that's what Jeb would say ... Either that or he'd give me a riddle like Fang's photo album...

Max glanced to her right and saw Fang had the big book out again, staring at the photos his whole face appearing slightly gray/green.

"Idiot ... You're going to get car-sick," She put a hand to the side of his face and he looked up at her, though she wondered if he was really seeing her his eyes looked so glazed over.

"You feeling okay?"

He nodded and turned back to the book, flipping the page so he could stare at these photos as well. He was quiet for nearly thirty seconds and then, without looking up he spoke in a whisper;

"I think I'm dying."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 70; Coming of Age

Max blinked stupidly for a moment. "What?"

He looked over at her and smiled sadly, "I think I'm dying ... Iggy's date showed up and he's younger than either of us ... What if that's all that's wrong with me, I'm just expiring."

Max felt the almost overwhelming need to punch him ... And draw him into her arms, but she didn't. She was NOT going to freak out over this... "You're not expiring, I checked last night, you're fine."

Please, don't let him be expiring... I don't think I'd be able to take it if he died too...

He scratched his chin, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," She took his head and turned it, grabbing the mangled ponytail he'd tried unsuccessfully to reconstruct and lifting it, her heart in her throat. She let out a sigh, running her fingers over the back of his neck.

"No date, just hair and some dirt ... You should really wash more thoroughly, Fang, or you'll leave a ring around your collar," She hoped the joke disguised the relief and fear in her voice.

He shoved her away gently and chanced a small smile. It had been a while since he'd felt this uncomfortable. His face felt overly hot, his eyes super sensitive to the light, his finger tips numb and tingly... And the fact Aaron and Nudge were right beside them did little to alleviate his growing claustrophobia.

He hated small spaces, it reminded him of being in a dog crate. Locked away like he had been for most of his childhood. He knew the cages were gone, and that he was free, even if just for a little while longer. But the bars in his mind were harder to tear down than the ones that had been trapping him so long ago.

"Are you sure that you're okay?" Max said again, giving him the Max version of a sympathetic smile.

He didn't feel OK. Since he'd woken up that morning his back had been cramping. As if someone had kicked him. Of course, he and Max had gotten into a rather intense kick-boxing match when they'd been hallucinating the night before. But the pain was torture ... And so was the pounding headache building behind his eyes as well as his ribs...

"Fang?"

He turned to her, opening his mouth to speak but her hands came to his face, one on each cheek. "You look terrible."

He pushed her hands away irritated by her closeness. By her 'friendly' attitude... He wished she'd stop sending him mixed messages. If she liked him then that was cool... If not, then why wouldn't she just stop making him feel like she did?

He was getting sick of it. It was too hard to tell truth from reality at the moment, and he didn't need THAT screwing with his head too. He turned back to the window, rolling it part of the way down so the breeze hit his face. He closed his eyes against the brightness of the sun and propped his chin on his hand. "I'm just tired is all..."

He knew she didn't believe him and he fully expected her to argue with him because Max liked arguing with him, liked to agitate him... Turn him on then throw him down... But this time she sighed and left him alone, pulling the photo album off his lap and taking up where he had left off, staring at those seemingly random photos.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Allan pulled off at what looked like a clinic turning to David and Angel with a smile. "You two up for some fun?"

Angel looked skeptical but David grinned and nodded his head vigorously.

Aaron pulled up beside them and Allan turned, at first seeing Fang's pale face leaned against the window. The boy had the hood of his sweatshirt up and his right arm folded under his head. Poor kid, Allan thought. He looks exhausted ... Exhausted and sick.

"What are we doing?" Nudge called and Max gave her a scathing look.

"Well, I was going to send David and Ariel in to get some of those tiny syringes we'd need to use that vaccine."

"So you've got a plan for that?" Max said, challenging him.

She knew she shouldn't have used such a hateful tone, but she'd been sitting wedged between Nudge, who wouldn't shut-up and Fang, who was just plain irritating at the moment, for almost five hours.

"Well, I was going to have David knock everyone out and Ariel will go and get the things."

After a few seconds Max nodded, "Okay ... But have them look around in there for something for Fang, he isn't doing too good."

"'m fine," He mumbled under his breath.

"You're not fine, and don't argue with me, everyone can see you're not fine."

He cracked his eyes open and peered out at them. The Gasman was nodding, "You really do look like crap."

"I'm just tired," And he closed his eyes, pulling the cords on his hood to close it, leaving only his mouth and nose exposed.

Angel worked quickly. Seeming to pounce on him while he was unaware, probing his mind before he had time to close it off again with pictures of things she thought disgusting. Like worms and giant rats roasting on a spit.

Pain ... Cold ... Worry ... Anger ... Sadness-

And then he shut her out, as if he knew she was looking in. He conjured up a mental picture of a snake eating a rabbit and Angel pulled away. She would have to talk to Max, soon. But right now she had to go in and get the syringes. She had to get the things Max needed to help save the world.

"Come on, David," She climbed out of the jeep and straightened her jacket so her wings weren't sticking out.

Angel liked being in charge. It was a welcome change. "Don't knock anyone out unless I tell you. I might be able to get what we need without having to put anyone asleep.

David nodded, "Okay."

He followed her closely. Watching her beautiful blonde curls bounce as she walked. He loved her hair. He wished he had hair like hers.

But he hated being in that clinic ... It smelled too much like that horrible room, what Nick called, 'Whitecoats' had kept him in in Mississippi. And he didn't like the woman sitting behind the desk when they entered. She was wearing an all blue outfit AND, a white lab coat.

"Hi," Angel said sweetly.

The woman raised her head and smiled, "If you have any questions about the sickness you'll have to go to the emergency room, we're not prepared to treat victims here."

Angel shook her head, "No, we just need some things."

The woman's face seemed to grow slack for half a second and her eyes fluttered. "What do you need?"

"Syringes ... Good ones, Max needs to give us a shot."

The woman nodded and climbed to her feet, disappearing for a few minutes.

David felt uneasy. He hated this place, he wanted to run away ... He wanted to fly away and never come back. It smelled too much like Mississippi here.

"Its OK, David," Angel took his hand and he pressed himself close to her, as if being in physical contact with her would protect him.

The woman came back carrying little packages. She dropped them into a little drawer at the bottom of the window and Angel collected them. Holding them away from her body as if they were poisonous.

"Are you a doctor?"

The woman nodded, that dazed expression coming over her face again.

"What's right here?" Angel slashed her hand across the middle of her back.

"Your back."

"No, I mean inside."

"Lungs, spleen, kidneys, spine, ribs..." Her voice trailed off. "Why?"

Angel smiled sweetly, "No reason," She turned to David, "Your turn."

The woman's head lolled back and her mouth fell open. After a few seconds she was snoring.

Angel and David left the clinic proud that they'd fulfilled their mission without a hitch. Angel really did like being the leader...

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 71; You Know, the Other White Meat?

They camped out at first that night. Not because they wanted to, but because every hotel they passed was either packed or closed. So, they found a secluded part of the woods and bedded down. Agreeing to sleep in the cars incase something happened and they had to make quick on the ground, get away.

Allan drove to the nearest grocery store and picked up a few pork chops and some cans of fruit cocktail, hoping to retain his position on Nudge's 'Five Favorite Adults Who Bring Me Food' list.

When he got back Fang was still asleep, as he had been since the stop at the clinic. He hadn't even bothered to remove his safety belt.

"Shouldn't we wake him up for dinner?" Allan said, fixing a pork chop on the end of David's roasting stick.

"He'll wake up when he smells this cooking," Nudge said turning her own stick. She had apparently 'forgotten' about being a vegetarian because she had two 'chops' on her stick. Both of which were looking a lovely shade of nearly cooked.

Max decided roasted pork chop wasn't such a bad thing. It was pretty good. Once you got over the scorched meat smell there in the beginning.

She glanced to her right at the truck, taking in Fang's dark form slouched in the seat. He looked small sitting there. Small and helpless...

Worry churned up the contents of Max's stomach and she stopped herself from going to him. She would NOT let him win. He hadn't wanted to talk to her for WEEKS, then FINE! She was going to give him a taste of his own medicine! The pig deserved it!

Iggy had taken up the vegetarian challenge and had devoured four cans of fruit cocktail and a granola bar and was, at that moment, sitting off by himself his arms wrapped around his middle, head bowed, trying to force himself to stay put, even though he wanted nothing more than to leap into the air and fly back to Arizona...

That burning feeling had changed somewhat ... He wasn't sure it was pointing him to Arizona anymore... It felt like it was ... Moving...

The Gasman and Angel were seated side by side Gasman roasting two chops on his stick, Angel munching on a can of mandarin orange slices. Every so often she'd sigh and poke one into her brother's mouth and he'd blink for a moment startled, then chew and swallow.

Aaron was seated on the hood of the jeep a few yards away smoking a cigarette, even though Allan had scolded him, saying that he wasn't really old enough to legally do it. And Total was sitting by Allan looking into the flames bored out of his little doggie skull.

"This is nowhere near as entertaining as our previous camping trips. And I've even taken into account the whole 'end of the world' thing too..."

"Nudge, would you go check on Fang?" Max said around her food, trying to drown out Total's comment.

Nudge sighed, irritated, and climbed to her feet pulling one of her finished chops from the stick and gnawing on it. She walked slowly around the bed of the truck kicking a few stones and knocked on the window until Fang raised his head and blinked at her hatefully.

"Hey, Lorcan, you still with us?"

"Don't call me 'Lorcan'," He grumbled and begrudgingly forced himself to climb out of the truck, since Nudge had woken him up and he doubted very seriously he was going to be able to go back to sleep. His whole body hurt, his head felt light, his eyes swollen... He slid out of the truck and stood there, holding onto the door because his legs felt as if they were merely two sticks protruding from his hips. He looked up, wincing as he did, leaning heavily on the door.

"What is that?" He motioned to the chop Nudge was chewing wrinkling his nose.

She smiled and held out her stick, her eyes sparkling, memories from years ago flooding back like a tidal wave. "It's pretty good surprisingly... Want one?"

He stood there for a few seconds, staring blearily at the hunk of meat on the end of her stick, his stomach doing a weird kind of dance... Up and down ... Up and down...

Nudge was amused that he looked so childish standing there clinging to the door, eyes half closed lower lip out, nose wrinkled up like a cat.

Up and down ... Up and down...

"What is it, Nudge?"

She grinned broadly narrowing her eyes and gave the stick a little shake, hoping to entice him into taking it. "Sewer Rat."

He blinked, for a moment his face registering no emotion. Then he simply batted the stick away with an open hand, turned his head and was sick.

Nudge jumped back startled, eyes wide, and she heard Aaron scrambling off the jeep hood cursing.

"Jeez, Fang, I was kidding, it's just a pork chop!"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

(BIG NOTE!!This is the last chapter in Part 3, I thought I posted it last time, but I guess I didn't... SORRY. And BRAVO to those of you who figured out part of the puzzle!! Fang is NOT an Immaculae, but he IS connected to them in a way that could not only kill him, but his whole family. insert foreshadowing here. I've given the answer away to this near the beginning of Part 3, if you go back and make sure to follow every single word Ter Borcht says while he's talking to Iggy in the 'Castle Von Gasman' sequence, you'll figure it out, and trust me, it's a shocker. Paul almost threw up on me when I gave up and told him.)

(Oh, and WARNING... You will be shocked, rocked and angered by the end of this chapter. But, you might get a few more chapters out of me in a few days. I've got a sunburn so bad I'm going to lounge around and skip work until I can put on more than my bikini top. Just thought I'd warn you... SHOCKED, ROCKED and ANGERED!)

Chapter 72; A New Development

Iggy had done a lot of things, meaning he'd picked quite a few locks in his lifetime. He'd even managed to pick the lock on Max's closet years before, though she had caught him in the act. But picking the lock on a hotel was a completely different matter.

"Are you sure there aren't any security alarms?" He mumbled around the little utensils he'd stuck between his lips.

"Yes, I'm sure," Nudge growled. "The lady that worked here last left before she turned them on. She was too afraid of the virus."

Iggy was glad for the distraction. He didn't have to think about the burning sensations, or that weird vortex thing in his head when he was doing something... It was all easier to bear if he was just ... DOING something...

He wondered absently if there was anything in the hotel he could use to build a bomb...

"How's it coming guys?" Max called from the truck, "Can't we move a little faster, I thought your record was under a minute now."

Iggy wanted to flip her the bird but didn't. He needed to concentrate, he may not have abilities any longer but he could sure pick a lock. Especially when he didn't have to think about other things while he was doing it...

Fang moaned again and Iggy nearly bit one of his little picks in half. He had to hurry, he had to hurry...

Click...

"I got it!" He shoved the door open and ran in on his hands and knees to get out of the way.

Nudge ran in, vaulted over the counter and started looking for keys. "Here, room one-thirteen," She leapt back over the counter clutching that little key card in her fist. Angel and David were already inside, flipping on light switches and moving furniture out of the way.

Despite all the apprehension and downright fear everyone was working as quickly and efficiently as possible.

"No, Fang, don't move... Just calm down!" Iggy heard Max say loudly and boot shod feet walked dangerously close to his hand.

"What room?" Allan's voice.

Nudge's feet ran past him and Iggy crawled a few more feet away to stand glad he didn't hit his head on anything when he did. He leaned his hip against the wall and waited. His part of this was over for the time being, so he wanted to stay out of the way and let everyone else do their job. Even if that meant he was alone with his thoughts...

Aaron was the last one to come in. He shut the doors and patted Iggy on the shoulder then walked down the hall somewhere off to Iggy's left.

"Don't, just don't ... Leave me alone, please leave me alone."

Iggy walked toward the sound of Fang's voice, his hand grazing the wall, following it until he found an open door and Gazzy pushed past him, rushing back toward the lobby.

"Stop moving ... Now where does it hurt?" Max was using her 'motherly dictator' voice.

"It doesn't. Now please just leave me alone."

"Don't lie to me ... It hurts right he-"

"OW! STOP! Get off me, your hands are cold."

Iggy wondered what Max had been prodding but he didn't say anything.

"Nicky, we're just trying to help, but if you don't cooperate how are we going to be able to?" Aaron was doing a pretty good job at hiding the fear in his voice. "Now, we've established you've got a stomach ache-"

"Stomach ache? It felt like someone stabbed me you jackass, and-"

"Yeah, jackass!" David said, trying to help.

"Iggy, why don't you keep David out of here," Gasman said passing him again as he reentered the room. "Unless you want to be the fetcher of ice."

"I don't NEED ice and it isn't a stomach ache."

"Not a stomach ache? Then what is pain that makes you grab your stomach and scream?" Aaron said.

"David, why don't you and Iggy go find the pool," Angel said and as she pushed David's little hand into Iggy's.

Iggy was about to protest that EVERYONE wanted him to stay out of the important things when David jerked his arm forward and they were jogging down the hall.

Allan ran a hand through his hair, "Alright then, what hurts? Is it your side?"

"No," Fang grumbled and buried his face in the crook of his arm. It was bad enough he'd thrown up after Nudge's little 'sewer rat' joke. But the grabbing his stomach and screaming thing ... That was downright embarrassing. And curling up in the fetal position on the bed was just as bad, although it did feel pretty good...

Max bit her lip and put her left hand on his cheek again but he shoved her away. "Why do you keep doing that, Fang? It's annoying."

"Doing what? You're the one who's annoying, you obviously can't keep your hands off me."

She balled up her fists to punch him but chose to wait until she was sure he wasn't going to die.

All the muscles in her stomach and lower back were tense, aching. It was happening again, that weird sense of Fang's pain. She kneaded her back with rigid fingertips hoping to make the pain stop, but she knew even while she was doing it that the only way to make it stop was to help Fang.

How was she going to give him a taste of his own medicine when he needed her help?

He ALWAYS found a way to draw her in, didn't he... The manipulative shit...

"Max?" Angel said tentatively.

"Yeah, sweetie?"

"The doctor we got the shot things from ... I asked her what was in here," She put her hands on her back, "And she said that it was your spleen, spine, ribs and kidneys."

"Kidneys..." Allan said and after a moment he said it again, "Kidneys ... Nick?"

He grunted to let Allan know he was listening.

"Have you been drinking a lot of soda or coffee lately?"

"'Couple pots of coffee in the mornings..."

"Why that much?"

Fang cracked an eye open, "'cause I stay up late, then I gotta go to school in the morning ... You try going on two-hours of sleep in such a boring situation and see how easy it is to stay awake."

Allan nodded, "How long has it been since you've gone to the bathroom?"

Fang groaned, "I'm not hearing this..."

"How long?"

"Yesterday morning," He growled.

Allan sighed and walked quickly toward the door.

"Where are you going?" Max said near frantically. She may be the leader but Allan was an adult, and he was the only one of them who could drive legally.

Even though they didn't really NEED someone to drive...

Allan was just the only one who was semi-level headed at the moment...

"I think I know what's wrong with Nick."

"What's that?"

Allan stopped in the door looking back with a pained grin on his face, "Do you trust me?"

"Not as far as I can throw you," Max said, meaning it to be more hurtful than it sounded.

Allan smiled yet wider, "I knew you'd say that ... Just trust me this once. If I'm right, he'll be okay by morning. If not and I let you down you can kick my butt, deal?"

Max hesitated. "You'd better not let me down, because I can kick VERY hard, ask Aaron."

Allan was gone a grand total of ten minutes. He came back carrying a single brown-glass bottle and about four LARGE bottles of water. "You guys might want to leave ... David and Jeff are down at the pool. I should have him fixed up in a little while and I'll come down to join ya'."

Max glanced at Angel who nodded her assent and they left.

"What's he doing, Angel?" Gazzy said, falling into step beside his sister.

"He said that he had something that would make it easier on Fang, whatever that meant. But he knew what he was doing."

"He isn't going to hurt him?" Max said.

Angel shook her head, "Not intentionally."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"YAHOO!" David screamed shrilly and leapt off the diving board, curling himself up and landing with a gigantic 'SPLASH!' for such a small boy.

Max pushed open the door to the 'POOL HALL' and looked around.

Iggy was sitting by the edge of the pool the legs of his jeans rolled up past his knees, feet in the water. And David was swimming toward them grinning widely. He'd stripped down to his Green Lantern Boxers and tank top, and he looked like he was having the time of his life doggy paddling around.

"Can I swim too?" Total said looking up at Max expectantly.

Max looked around for cameras, ensuring herself that there wasn't a security risk if she were to allow her talking dog to swim around. That and she was afraid that someone had caught David's wings on tape.

There was one camera but Iggy's sweatshirt had been draped over it. So it was about as useful as an unlit candle.

She realized that since the virus was going around and the hotel had been abandoned it didn't matter if a dog went swimming in the pool because by the time people got back here the water would need changed and the pool cleaned anyway.

"Yeah, go ahead have fun, all of you. Just please, keep it quiet, we don't know who or what could hear us."

Gasman whooped and started shucking his clothing as if no one were standing there to see.

Max started to protest after he'd gotten his shirt off, about to say that it was OK for David to run around in his boxers because he was only seven, but the Gasman must have been thinking the same thing because he jumped in still wearing his jeans.

Angel pulled off her jacket, socks and shoes then with a jubilant little squeak jumped into the pool and sank from sight.

Max doubted she would see the girl again until 'Swim time' was over.

Nudge and Aaron looked at each other then glanced to their left in near unison at a particularly inviting looking hot tub.

"Mind giving me a hand with these ruddy bandages?" Aaron said and slowly pulled of his sling.

"Come on in, Max, this is fantastic!" Gazzy said loudly, then splashed David by swooping his wings forward.

David spluttered and splashed him back indignantly.

Max shook her head and walked around the pool to Iggy. "Mind if I join you?"

Iggy shook his head.

Max kicked off her shoes and rolled up her pants legs then sat gingerly beside Iggy and stuck her feet into the water. She felt an odd sense of awkwardness stealing over her. As if she'd overstayed her welcome simply by sitting down... Yet she stayed put, simply because she felt she needed to somehow comfort Iggy... Somehow she needed comfort herself and right now Iggy was the only one who understood even half of what she was experiencing.

"You want to talk?"

He shook his head and Max noticed he had a far off look on his face. She wondered what he was doing locked in his head. Then decided she probably didn't want to know, lest it depress her further.

Max sat there for a few minutes watching everyone swim around laughing and splashing each other, feeling oddly detatched and numb to the joy of it. Jealous of it even... While keeping an eye on Nudge and Aaron, who were getting a little too close for Max's liking in the hot tub.

Nudge's right hand was slipping under the water and Aaron had a bewildered, enraptured look on his face...

"I'll be back in a minute," She said to Iggy and climbed quickly to her feet. She extended her wings and flew across the gymnasium sized room. It felt so good to fly again. Even for just a short distance. She landed beside the hot tub and crossed her arms over her chest. "Do you two need a chaperone?"

Nudge and Aaron disentangled themselves from each other and Aaron looked up at her kind of dazed. "Uh ... Possibly..."

Max didn't turn from them, afraid if she did Nudge might pounce on Aaron again. "Hey, Total, they've got a hot tub over here!"

"Hot tub? HOT TUUUUUB!" Total practically howled. He lunged out of the pool and ran toward the hot tub, his black fur slicked and dripping. He dove in and started paddling around tongue lolling from his mouth. "This is awesome!"

"Just keep an eye on these two for me, make sure they don't get too close. And hands stay above the water," She pointed at Nudge, who seemed to darken with blush...

"Gotcha!" Total continued to paddle around happily amongst the Jacuzzi bubbles.

As Max walked back to the pool two things happened. One, she staggered, and two, she laughed out loud. Quite suddenly, she felt a great penitrating sensation of relief, her muscles relaxed, the headache that had been plagueing her suddenly evaporated, the pain in her back was melting down and away... It felt absolutely fantastic. So good in fact...

"CANNON BAAAAAALL!" Max screamed loudly and she jumped into the pool, pulling her knees to her chest and hugging them.

David laughed loudly, in his shrill seven-year-old voice. "I give it a nine!"

Max resurfaced, "A nine? A NINE, are you kidding me, that was a ten if I ever shaw one!"

And then the moment was over and Max wondered what on earth had made her feel all of the sudden giddy. Was the lack of sleep finally getting to her? Was everything getting to her?

Had she finally gone off her rocker?

She wiped water from her face and smiled at David, "Ask Gazzy to teach you to do a flying dive."

David's face lit up and he turned in the water, doggie paddling to the Gasman, "Hey, HEY! What's a flying dive?"

Max calmly swam to the edge of the pool and climbed out wringing her hair out as she did.

Allan slipped into the room and when Max cocked a questioning eyebrow at him he held up both fists, his thumbs raised and grinned, his hair standing proudly up from his forehead in a dark blonde tuft.

For half a second Max thought he looked startlingly familiar, and a sick sense of déjà vu slipped through her head, wafting away almost as quickly as it had appeared.

"You guys don't hang around in here too long, okay?" She called over her shoulder to her extended flock.

"Got it!" "Okay!" "AWW!" Were her answers.

Max sloughed back down the hall and climbed over the desk searching out another key card. She found quite a few and chose one near Fang's room for herself.

She chanced a quick journey outside to gather everyone's bags then lined them up outside rooms and laid key cards on top. Once she was sure everyone's sleeping arrangements were taken care of and she had developed a chill in the air-conditioned hallway, she opened the door to her room and slipped inside, locking the door and heading directly to the shower.

That ache in her back was gone now, which mean Fang either wasn't in pain any longer or was asleep, so she took a long shower, testing all nine of the showerhead's massage settings on her wings and back.

When this is over I want a shower like this ... This is fabulous.

Max had never been one to take long showers. But this time she did, and she was glad she had a room to herself because she didn't want anyone to hear her crying. It had been bad enough when she'd been able to hear Iggy crying. But to be the one being heard... She supposed that was why Iggy didn't want to talk. Because he knew they'd heard him.

She heard the others coming back. Laughing and whispering as they walked to their rooms. She heard Nudge and Aaron take about ten minutes to say good night to each other before Allan separated them. And she heard showers turn on and off.

She dried her hair. Brushed and braided it then dug in her bag for something to sleep in. Her stomach growled petulantly as she pulled on a pair of lounge pants and a sleeveless shirt cut to accommodate unfolded wings.

She didn't bother putting on socks as she crept out of her room and down the hall, Glad the kitchen was on the first floor. She just numbly enjoyed the feeling of carpet between her toes.

She didn't want anything fancy. Just some toast would be wonderful. A couple pieces of toast... Maybe a chocolate bar or something sweet...

She wanted chocolate chip cookies... She wanted her mother's chocolate chip cookies...

Max stopped in the door and covered her face. Willing herself not to cry, pleading with anyone who would listen to not let her cry. Why had this happened? Why had ANY of this happened?

It didn't make sense. It wasn't fair... Life was taking everything from her piece by piece... It was stealing everything she loved...

Max leaned back against the wall and sank down, holding her knees.

It wasn't fair... It was WRONG...

She didn't want to be a hero... She just wanted to be alive... Alive, unhunted ... Free...

Did she not have a choice in her own life? Did she not have a say in the making of her own destiny? If this was it, why had she been so worried about having to 'make the choice' ... It was obviously being made for her...

Why was life so cruel? Why couldn't it just leave her alone... She was tired of fighting it. She just wanted to be left alone...

For once in her life, she just wanted to be left alone... Somebody else could make the decisions, because she was done... DONE!

She climbed to her feet and rushed back down the hall toward her room before someone walked in and found her sitting there in a useless-girly-blubbering heap!

"Damn it..."

Max froze and pressed her back against the wall peering around the corner. Her heart hammered behind her ribs, her breath hissed in and out of her throat.

Fang was standing in the hall before her room door, his arms braced against the wall above his low hung head. His face was screwed up... His lips compressed into a nonexistant pale slash.

A feeling of agonized, heartbreaking need swept over Max and her breath caught in her throat as she looked at him.

What was going on?

Why did he look so miserable? He wasn't in pain... HE had nothing to be upset over...

He shifted uncomfortably on his feet and rocked back into an upright position. One of his long, thin hands raked through his hair and he growled in frustration when it mussed the ponytail he'd pulled it back into. He jerked the band free and shook his head then politely flipped the band down the hall at his room door where it disappeared against the carpet.

For half a second Max felt overwhelmingly apprehensive, as if she were being watched and she slipped back around the corner for fear that he'd seen her and knew she'd been spying on him.

At the same moment Fang turned his head and glanced at the corner she was concealed behind, his eyebrows drawn down wearily.

Max wiped angerily at her eyes and waited, listening with bated breath as his feet made soft scuffing sounds on the carpet.

She'd never known him to make sounds when he walked before and she hesitantly peeked around the corner again, lip between her teeth- And saw him standing there, a hand over his mouth, the other outstretched, as if reaching for something dangling in the air in his peripheral vision. His feet braced shoulder width apart. He seemed to be looking for something because he started walking like this down the hall away from her.

He giggled.

Max cocked an eyebrow. Fang giggling? What was going on? One minute he'd been standing there outside her room looking ... Miserable... The next he was giggling?

She summoned courage she didn't know she possessed and called to him in a hushed whisper; "Fang!"

He span around as if she'd screamed at him, arms flailing in wide pinwheeling archs and he stumbled backward in an overexadurated fashion. Though he managed to keep his feet gracefully connected with the floor and he giggled again. As if amused by his own antics.

"Fang, are you okay?"

He grinned, that same Aaron like grin that he'd introduced her to the night before.

She'd never seen him like this, staggering around all awkward and ... Giggly.

"Are ... You ... Oh ... Kay?" She walked toward him, not entirely sure that it was the smart thing to do.

He nodded vigorously and gave her the "OK" sign by pressing the tips of his thumb and index finger together his other fingers splayed behind the circle they created.

"Are you sure?"

He giggled yet again, this time louder and Max felt aprehension bubbling in her stomach. What was going on? This all felt like a bad vaudville act... Then saw that look in his eyes. A glassy, keen kind of awareness... Like he'd been crying... Or was on the verge of it...

She was about to shove all her emotions down and call him a pig and tell him not to hang around outside her door because it was creepy and stalkerish but he spoke first.

"Guess what," He said under his breath.

"What?" Max said, playing along for the moment.

"I-I'm drunk."

Max felt like her eyebrows had just shot through the roof. "How did you get drunk and WHY?" She walked to him, because it looked like at any second he might fall over. And she didn't want the others to hear their conversation.

She'd never seen him act so strangely. Did someone have a camera on her? Was this just a practical joke? She wasn't sure what was happening. But she didn't like how he was acting ... She perferred him acting sick.

"G-guess what..."

"What?" She hissed.

"Allan says I gots kidney stones."

"Allan says you 'gots' kidney stones..." Okay, she thought to herself. He's out of his cotton-pickin-mind...

He tittered to himself and slowly straightened, his eyes clearing somewhat now that he had her attention and that unconscious action told her that he'd been acting all along... Though she didn't know how... Nor did she let him know that she knew.

"Don't tell anyone?" He said in a semi-normal whisper.

"Don't tell anyone that you might have kidney stones?" She said, hoping she'd put enough 'I am SOOO onto you' in her voice without actually saying it.

He shook his head, "No ... Don't tell anyone about this," And he kissed her.

Max shoved him violently away, so violently he bounced into the wall behind him, punching a hole in it with his elbow. And she wished desperately for a toothbrush, "What have you been drinking?"

He let out a sigh and leaned casually against the wall, giving up the act... After a moment he spoke in what she considered a snide tone, but was actually him trying to be funny. "I really had you going there, didn't I."

Max growled and punched him in the shoulder.

He put his hand to it, mouth coming open, nose wrinkling, but he didn't punch her back. As she expected him to do... As she wished he would do so she could kick his butt for sure.

"Are you really drunk?" She glared at him.

He shook his head, "No, after I drank enough water to fill a pool Allan gave me one beer and said to drink it. I thought it tasted intolerable so I poured it out ... Like rotten apples," He licked his teeth and shivered. "Almost made me puke again."

"You're a jerk, you know that, a real jerk. I thought you'd gone crazy ... No, you ARE crazy."

He crossed his arms defensively. "I just wanted to make you laugh, OK? I'm tired of everyone being so depressed-"

Max scoffed, "Need I remind you of what happened last night? Have you really forgotten?"

He shook his head. "No ... But," He shifted uncomfortably and scratched at the back of his neck. "I don't like it when you're upset, alright?"

"And what do you care if I'm upset, huh? My whole family is dead. DEAD. I saw my own sister get blown up, do you understand that? I saw my mother lying dead with her throat ripped out. I think I deserve to be a little upset!" Max had discovered she had perfected the art of whisper-screaming. It was something she prided herself in, but she wanted nothing more than to really scream at him. Beat him to a pulp for having the audacity to say she needed to laugh, needed to stop being so depressed when the world was taking everything she cared about away.

Who did he think he was! Acting all stupid and drunk, trying to make her laugh! Didn't he care? Didn't he have a soul? Did he not feel ANYTHING!

She was trembling and she wanted to go back to her room and hide under the blankets until morning. Until forever... So she wouldn't have to see anymore pain or death...

"Max?"

"What?" She glared at him, putting as much anger and hate into it as she could...

A soft voice echoed from the other end of the hall and Max instantly identified it as the Gasman watching TV.

Fang rubbed his neck again nervously and with a frustrated sigh took her hand and walked right to her room, opening the door and pulling her inside so they didn't run the risk of being discovered.

His heart was pounding against his ribs and he shut the door. Locking it behind him then lowered his voice to barely a breath.

"Don't look at me."

She gave her head a shake, taken aback, her stomach churning into knots. "What?"

He growled and took a step closer to her so she was practically pinned against the door and would have to push him away to see anything more than his chin and throat... And the hectic thrum of his pulse in the side of his neck...

He swallowed and she watched his Adam's apple bob.

For half a second he felt more real to her than he ever had before... Simply because she could see his heart beating as fast, if not faster than her own... Because he'd swallowed to steady himself before he spoke...

He didn't seem so mysterious now. So forboding, dark and emotionless...

At that second, he seemed like a scared teenager, running the last legs of the race between child and man. About to leap over a frighteningly high hurdle that could either face plant him in the dirt, or liberate him from the chaos... A gigantic risk he'd jumped at fearlessly, only to realize he was scared shitless and there was no way to stop now. Inertia had him in her icy grasp...

Events were unfolding and he couldn't stop them until they'd played out, to his defense, or his defeat... Only time would tell.

But Max shoved the emotion and thought away, to angry and hurt to think about or experience it... To angry to believe in anything but pain.

"I can't do it if you're looking at me with your eyes, Max, I can't stand it."

"What am I supposed to look at then?" She stared into the corner by the bathroom door and crossed her arms over her chest in a last attempt to put some kind of barrier between her and Fang. Trying to protect herself from his emotionlessness. "You're acting weird."

He breathed heavily for a moment, bracing his hands flat against the door above her. He leaned forward, as if he might collapse and spoke, his breath, hot on her shoulder. "I can't stand it when you're upset, Max ... And don't say you're not, I KNOW you are, OK? And it does something to me. It ... Hurts me..."

"It hurts you?"

She wanted to shove him. To kick, and punch and beat his head in. How could he do this? He couldn't stand to see her upset... He'd upset her more than once himself!

That redheded girl in Virginia ... Lissa had been one such upset. So had Faith, Hannah, Debbie and Laura, the four girls he'd 'gone out with' in the three years since the 'Germany Affair'. Had it 'hurt' him then? Or did he do it just so it would hurt her... Was he doing this now, saying these things to hurt her? So he'd know how upset it made her?

Was he purposefully trying to make her cry?

"Let me go, Fang... Just get out... Leave me alone," She pressed against him, trying to make him leave and guilt stabbed through her stomach.

"Why won't you ever listen, huh?" He lifted his head and glared at her, bending a little at the waist so he looked her eye to eye. "Why do you ALWAYS run away! Am I that disgusting? Am I really that terrible!"

His eyes shone like cut obsidian and for half a second Max was too angry to look at him.

She turned her head, staring at the floor and something bubbled in her stomach... Shame and a longing to call him crazy and pull him into her arms... Make him understand that she didn't think he was disgusting, or terrible. That she was still overwraught with guilt over her family's death and ashamed of how she felt about him when he so obviously would flirt at and chase any girl who batted an eye at him!

What made her think that he would change for her? Who was she to him?

Just another girl...

And she refused to be 'just another girl' to anyone. She wasn't 'just another girl' she was Maximum Ride! She deserved respect, she deserved someone who wouldn't treat her like 'just another girl'...

And, as much as she wanted it to be, if that person wasn't Fang then she'd just have to suck it up and live with it... Even if it hurt... Even if she regreted letting him go...

Max snuffed back tears, refusing to wipe her face when they fell anyway.

"Just go, Fang ... Please, just go away..."

But he didn't...

He stood there, a puzzled look on his face... As if he'd just heard everything she'd thought.

"No."

She rolled her eyes, but refused to look at him. Refused to play along with his sick, tortourous game. Refused to give him the satisfaction.

"I'm gonna say this... And you're either going to listen to me, or ignore me. But, either way, Max, I'm saying it, understand? This is my choice. My life. My ... My feelings, OK? And I don't care what you think or do right now. I'm saying it because I can't take looking at you, and feeling this way anymore without saying SOMETHING!"

Her stomach churned unpleasantly. "You're an asshole..."

"And you've treated me like crap... Every time I want to talk to you, you've got more important things to do."

"I've got to save the world, Fang. That's pretty freaking important!"

"Yeah, but unless you live a little, Max, you won't have a REASON to save it," He pressed the tip of a trembling finger to the center of her chest, where her heart continued its frantic pounding. Almost like Iggy playing the drums in the school marching band... But without the talent the redhead had.

She did look at him then. Staring hatefully into his face. "You ARE drunk, aren't you? I can't believe this... I should kick your ass into next year!"

He hit the door with an open palm right by her head but Max didn't flinch even though the sound was sudden and hurt her ears. She heard the Gasman calling softly from his room down the hall. 'Max, is everything OK?'

"I'm NOT drunk..." Fang growled through his teeth. Barely a sound leaving him...

"You smell drunk," She growled back. Equally as quiet...

His lips came together tightly, his eyes blazing a reddish color around the edges.

Max stared at him, her anger growing twice as fast as it should have. But she recognized something odd about it... Only because she was trying to stuff it down and she needed to categorize it first. It felt weirdly like she was angry with two people...

She was angry because one wouldn't listen and was avoiding the subject and the other because he was drunk and trying to hurt her for his own amusement...

But who was avoiding the subject? The only one who was avoiding the subject was her! Rage bubbled in her chest... Along with something else... Fear?

Why was she afraid? Why did she suddenly feel like she'd said the wrong thing? Why were strange conflicting emotions rapidly sweeping over her?

More anger, fear, betrayal... Sadness, and pain...

"Fang, I want you to leave, now, or I'll MAKE you leave, do you understand THAT!"

He bared his teeth his eyes more hurt than angry and the hurt made him dangerous. Max knew this only because she'd seen what he could do when he was hurt... "Try it. Go on, TRY IT... I promised you a long time ago I wasn't ever gonna leave you again, and I'm NOT going to break that promise now... Not now, not EVER..."

He said this with a kind of finality that made Max shudder, but she continued staring at him. Unwilling to admit that he had frightened her.

Fang leaned close to her again, his forehead barely inches from her own his dark eyes boring into her face and Max saw deep within them, a wounded, bloody flicker of sadness ... and pain...

Her breath stilled in her throat. She couldn't breath! She couldn't move-

His fingernails scratched against the door and he spoke through his teeth, glaring at her, daring her to try and throw him out. Try and make him leave before he'd said what he'd come to say.

"I've tried to ignore it, I've tried like hell to ignore it, Max. I've gone with other girls, I've tried to ignore it, but I can't. It ALWAYS comes back to YOU! And it's killing me..."

Max felt bile rise in her throat and she wanted to look away... She wanted to tell him that his 'other girls' could have him! She didn't want him because he was a jerk. A mean, hurtful jerk... But she remained silent. She'd let him finish... Simply because it hurt too much to drag it out any longer...

It would end tonight... She knew that now. Everything would end tonight...

"You can call me a sexist pig all you want, you can laugh at me and tell me that I'm crazy, I don't care anymore... I really don't..." The hurt in his eyes said otherwise, but she didn't speak. "You act like I'm your toy or something. Someone who is there when you need them and gone when you don't. Well, did it ever occur to you that I've got feelings too? That I might need someone sometimes too? Or did you ever pull your head far enough out of your butt to even notice me?"

She stiffened, wanting to pummle him, but she stood her ground. He wanted to talk, she'd let him talk ... Then she'd beat his no good bastard-pig-jerk head in and spit in his face!

"You might be Maximum Ride, bird-girl hero, but I am FANG, and I'm NOT just some emotionless THING you can play around with whenever you feel the notion. I have feelings, I have my own thoughts, my own desires... And I can't take feeling THIS from YOU and hearing something else come out of your mouth, so please," He took a shuddering breath, blinking and almost turned away from her but he ground his teeth and made himself continue to stare straight into her eyes... Because to do anything else would cow him... "Please, Max, just tell me the truth. Tell me the fucking truth so I can stop FEELING... like I'm being used. I'm tired of feeling like a lab-rat... I may not know everything but I know I'm NOT a lab-rat... You taught me that... You helped me realize I'm a good person, despite the wings on my back, BECAUSE of them..." He swallowed again, his mouth dry. "I know who I am now, and I know that when you hurt I hurt and I can't stand it anymore I can't take it... I can't handle knowing you're in pain and there's shit I can do about it ... So just..." He tightened his hand into a fist and let it fall against the door. "Just make it stop ... Or tell me how to do it because I-I just don't know how anymore ... It keeps me up at night. Max ... I can't sleep because of how afraid I am. I'm afraid something will happen and I'll feel you die like Iggy did Ella ... I don't know if I could live through something like that!"

They stared at each other for the longest time in silence, both shaking as if it were freezing in the room.

Max was silent for a few more seconds before she cleared her throat. "Y-you can feel ... Me," It was not a question. But almost a declaration...

He nodded, and turned away from her, ashamed, wanting nothing more at that moment, than to run away. To be able to stop Inertia in her frigid, arctic steps.

"I feel like I'm talkin' to two different Maxes sometimes..." He chuckled humorlessly, almost as if the confession pained him. "One second its normal and I get ... good feelings from you. I think it's safe enough to ... Feel, I guess... And the next second you act like I've got the plague or something... Am I really so crazy that I've got all this mixed up and you do like me? I've just got like ... something between my teeth or ... Or..." He stumbled over the words, and it came out more as a hapless titter, "Morning breath or something at the time?"

He sighed then and spoke, almost to himself, "Or am I in love with a ghost?"

She took a shuddering breath and his stomach tightened up painfully when he realized he hadn't spoken to just himself...

What had he just done?

He'd crossed that line between frendship and relationship and now it was over. It was all over... There was no going back. This was it. Inertia was having her way with him, his feet were touching the ground...

Everything he'd ever wanted now ballanced on a threadlike line that was slowly being sheered away like a glob of mud in a rainstorm.

Oh, God, he was going to be sick again ... Right here, right now ... all over the floor...

Her voice was cracked, as if it took a great effort to force it out; "W-What do you feel now?"

He shook his head, unwilling to look at her. She didn't care. She was making fun of him, teasing him as usual. She was being Max. Picking on him because they were friends and nothing more. Putting him in his place ... Friends, nothing more.

"Afraid ... Kind of sick to my stomach," He chuckled dispondantly, "Kind of like the world's about to end, but that might just be me..." He sighed all his courage, for the first time in his life, abandoning him. Snatched away like an umberella in a storm. "You know what? Forget I said anything ... I am drunk. Drunk and stupid... Very stupid," And he shoved back from the door, turning his head away and reaching for the knob, intent on leaving as quickly as possible, praying that Max had ignored him and would forget everything or chock it all up to him being 'drunk' even though he wasn't.

Max put all her weight and strength against the door, keeping it shut tightly, staring up at him wide eyed. The feminine half of her raising the warrior's club to knock him on his butt if she had to.

As long as she kept him in this room she didn't care if she had to break his bones.

He leaned forward again, hands braced on the door, shaking, eyes averted. "I'll leave if you move, Max."

She spoke very quickly, now, more than anything wanting him to stay. Because she knew, if she let him walk out that door, he wouldn't be there in the morning.

She'd let him say what he'd come to say ... Now it was her turn.

"You ... You... YOU..." She swallowed, forcing herself to speak, even though she wasn't sure she even spoke English anymore. 'You' seemed to be the extent of her vocabulary.

"You ... MAKE me hurt."

He didn't look up, but seemed to shrink in on himself.

"Every time you shrug something off ... Or-or laugh at some other girl's joke... Or smile at them... Or talk about them..." She swallowed again, her throat feeling like it was swelling shut, strangling her, turning her voice into a choked high rasp, betraying her, announcing that she'd lost control over the situation long ago... Even though she wouldn't EVER let her body show it. "The fact you can look at me and try something like ... Like THAT, then go off and look at some other girl without even batting an eye HURTS me more than anything... The fact that you don't see any difference between me and THEM ... HURTS... THAT'S why I run away, THAT'S why I can't even look at you sometimes... Because you don't respect me at ALL!"

He was silent a moment, then, without moving, he let out a little sigh, his lips forming words, although almost no sound came out save the hiss of his breath.

"You don't respect me enough to listen when I try to talk to you."

She ground her teeth. "Well, maybe if you TALKED to me sometime instead of ignoring me for a MONTH I'd listen!"

He gave his head a little shake and that was the only movement he made save a slight parting of his lips.

"I do respect you, Max ... I just don't know how to ignore what I feel anymore... I'm sorry..."

She paused. Blinking at him, wondering exactly what had just happened. Had he just apologized to her? Apologized for ignoring her?

No...

He was apologizing for loving her when she 'so obviously didn't love him'...

She'd lost him...

It was over...

Max felt sick and she wanted to fall apart. The world had done it. It had taken away everything she cared about. Her parents, her home, her sister, her life ... And now Fang.

Why was this happening?

Why was everything going so wrong?

A chill rushed up Max's spine and she felt her eyes start to over flow. The chill of lonliness was eating away at her and anger built within it... Surrounding it... Crushing that shard of ice in her chest with its fire...

She would NOT let this happen. She would NOT let someone else decide her fate. It was HER life, HER choice. HER destiny and she was NOT going to be cold and alone... It was unacceptable! She would NOT allow it!

NO!

"When you went flying that night and hurt yourself ... I woke up because I ... I felt you get hurt."

That nauseous feeling swimming around his stomach turned to lead and a jolt went through him. He wanted to start laughing because he knew she was doing it again. Teasing him... She had to be! Life was too cruel to allow him to be right about her. To allow what he'd felt from her to be true. But he remained emotionless... On the outside at least...

"You did..."

She nodded, and slowly, still afraid that he'd leave and she'd never see him again, she put a hand on the back of his neck, holding him in place, pressing her forehead against his, praying that he was able to feel what she was at that moment. To feel the panic and joy and nausea melting that lonely chill, and forcing her anger and resentment out through her toes...

"It was like I had a compass in my head, kind of pointing ... And there was this feeling. I had to go ... I NEEDED to go in that direction. Then I realized you were gone and I knew something had happened. So I followed this feeling and I found you ... Fang, I was so afraid you were dead and that I'd lost you," She hesitated, swallowing the urge to raise her voice from the whisper screaming tone she'd been using. And shout the next few words for everyone to hear. Her other hand went to the side of his face, feeling the tense muscles of his jaw and the roughness of those springy little dark hairs...

Feeling his flesh, his bones... His weakness and his strength...

"I don't want you to go... You are more than just Fang, I know that ... And I don't know what I'd do without you... You big... dumb sexist-pig-"

It happened very quickly. One moment he was just standing there, arms propped against the door to either side of her, head bowed into her embrace, the next his hands were in her hair and he was kissing her. And to Max it was as if she didn't know where the pleasure she felt ended and what she felt that belonged to Fang began ... It was a never ending circle that spiraled higher and higher... Flying higher and faster than she'd ever done alone...

There was no stopping it, she wouldn't have even if she had wanted to ... But she doubted she could ever want this ride to stop...

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

PART FOUR SUMMARY; Cruel Decisions

History can and will repeat itself, those you thought you knew, in whom you placed your undying trust, are found to be liars.

The responsibility of growing up, of adulthood, comes with a hefty price, and sacrifices are expected and demanded, to pay for childish sins.

What chance do you have of cheating destiny? What chance do you have of saving the world?

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

The Wings of Wrath; Part FourPurgatory Station

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

(FYI!! Because this comes up later... At this point in the story everyone's ages stand thus...David 7, Angel 8, The Gasman, 10 soon to be 11, Nudge 15, Iggy 16 will be 17 in February, Max 17, Fang 17, Aaron 17, Allan 27, Bernard 33, Clark Donovan 35... Just thought this was a semi-useless bit of information you'd like to know, if not, ignore it.)

Chapter 73; Breaking and Entering

(Two Weeks Later)

"Iggy, help me..."MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE!

Iggy sat up in bed, tearing at the blankets. He let out a small cry and Gasman was suddenly there, shoving him down against the mattress.

Voices hovered over him, familiar voices. Aaron, Nudge, Angel and Allan. But HER voice over powered them all; "HELP ME!"

"What happened?" Allan sat on the edge of the bed and flattened a hand on Iggy's forehead. Pinning the boy's flailing arms so he wouldn't get punched.

"I don't know. I woke up to go get something to eat, and when I came back past the door I heard him shouting, so I opened the door and he was tossing and turning. So I tried to wake him up and noticed he was fevered," Gasman said stepping away from the bed nervously. "He's doing the same thing Fang is isn't he!"

"What's going on?" Max's groggy voice came from the direction of the door.

"How's Nick?" Allan turned to her.

"I got him back to bed. He's resting now."

"What ever this is it must be contagious..."

"Do you think it's the Z-Virus?" Gasman said under his breath. "Oh, jeez ... Do they have the Z-Virus?"

Iggy tried to fight them off, he wanted to be left alone. He felt fine, but that horrible burning sensation was killing him. Eating away at him from the inside out. He'd been able to ignore it mostly for the past two weeks, but now... Now he was at his wit's end. It had to STOP and STOP NOW!

Allan tried to cover him up but Iggy managed to push the blankets away.

"I gotta get out ... I gotta go!" He fought against the hands holding him to the bed and managed to get one foot from beneath the blankets before David came into the room and pressed two cool little hands to his cheeks.

After that Iggy didn't remember much but that haunting voice, begging him, pleading with him to help ... Save her, Iggy...

Save her...

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Chapter 74; Memories

Max sat gingerly down at a table in the dining room. She covered her face and bowed her head, pressing her brow against the table.

Her mind wondered, replaying the events of the last two weeks. More specifically, things that had happened two weeks ago...

Exactly thirteen days, seven-hours and fifteen minutes before Fang had tried to make her laugh in the hall, to distract her from the pain of having lost her family... He'd ended up distracting her alright ... Distracting her in a way she never thought she'd EVER be distracted ... And it had been good. Not perfect, but good. It was rarely perfect the first time ... She knew...

But she didn't regret it ... How could she regret something that had felt so right...

But, things had gotten ... Weird... Even more so than usual...

Neither of them had spoken about what had transpired, or even been together long enough for the conversation to become awkward.

After it had happened, they'd lain there in utter silence. Staring up at the ceiling through the darkness of the room. Then they'd merely ... Dressed in silence and separated. Not a single word spoken... The tension had been too thick to allow even a single syllable to slip.

Fang had gone back to his room and she'd gone into the kitchen, scoured for baking supplies and made six dozen chocolate-chip cookies the size of soft-balls... Then proceeded to sit up the rest of the night eating them and staring at her bed. Everything replaying in her head like a movie...

He'd started kissing her, and she'd kissed back, a tight spiraling sense of pleasure starting in the base of her mind and seeming to ignite whereever Fang touched her.

She'd supposed then that she understood what Fang had been thinking about back at her house... While he... breathed on the otherside of her wall...

She didn't need to say it, or even admit it to herself that she'd been thinking basically the same thing...

But this...

His hands had slid down her back and she'd simply wanted to grab his shirt and rip it open, like something out of those movies she, her mom and Ella had watched one weekend. Scattering buttons like raindrops... Only he'd been wearing a T-shirt... And his chest wasn't bronzed, bulging and glistening like in those movies...

He was thin... His chest paler than the rest of him, his muscles there, but not bulging... He had the chest of a seventeen-year-old bird kid... Not Fabio the bleach-blonde-beach-god... And that's just the way she wanted it... She wanted Fang's chest, not Fabio's...

She wanted Fang's mouth, his chin, neck, shoulders... His hands, fumbling and awkward in their innocence... His movements nearly frantic with inexperience...

She wanted this... She wanted HIM...

She'd been intoxicated by the smell of him... A new smell, something thick that made her toes curl and a whirring start in her stomach. And a needy kind of aggression overwhelmed her.

Pheromones... She'd thought... Holy GOD!

And she'd pulled him tight against her, wishing she was only a few inches taller so he wouldn't have to bend over so...

He'd made a startled sound. She'd never forget it... Almost like a whimper and for a few minutes he'd been all thumbs... As if his hands had gotten crosswired or something equally annoying... But he'd yanked his shirt off, shaken his wings free and...

And after that... After that it had been quick... Quick, wild... Good...

She'd promised herself that she'd talk to him about it the next morning, but the next morning came and went and now... Two weeks had passed and they had yet to speak to each other about what had happened. What they'd done...

Every time she'd gathered up the courage to go near him he'd been asleep... He seemed to do nothing BUT sleep...

And the odd terrible pain had returned... Nagging at him and Max had been able to feel it when it got particularly strong but there was nothing she could do about it... Not without revealing to everyone that she could FEEL him in her heart... And, as far as everyone else was concerned, Max simply didn't feel those kinds of things... Ever... She was Max!

A state of Mind not just a name.

Then, early that morning she'd knocked on the door to his room again cracked it open... And found him huddled in his bed shivering, barely conscious. His face as white as alabaster with hectic red smears high on his cheeks.

After the initial shock of finding him in such a way had been crammed down by her commonsense she'd gone for Allan. Waking the man up where he'd fallen asleep in the TV lounge watching a DVD of 'Foamy the Squirrel' he'd found in the hotel Lost and Found, and telling him that she'd gone to check on Fang and found him in a bad way... With their combined strength they had managed drag him into the bathroom and forced him to lie in a tub of cool water.

And that had started this morning's scream-fest...

No sooner had they gotten Fang's temperature down than Gasman had rushed out of Iggy's room saying that the latter was having a fit.

Max raised her head slowly and peered out at the dining room.

Angel and David were sitting off by themselves whispering, David on the verge of tears.

Max wondered if maybe Angel didn't know what had happened. If the girl knew what had transpired between the two eldest members of the flock. If maybe Angel didn't know that when Max had found him so sick, her fear had taken over and all she could think about was the fact she would never feel him against her again... Never hear the rasp of his breath in her ear or feel the pressure of his hands again...

Her fear nagged at her still, but she tried with all her strength to fight it. To convince herself that there was nothing to be scared of... Fang still didn't have a date on his neck, he wasn't expiring ... He was just sick.

Very sick...

But why? Why was he sick? What had happened?

But before she could wonder about it too long Angel turned and called for her.

"Max, can you come here?"

Max nodded and climbed to her feet, crossing her arms over her chest as if fending off a chill.

"What is it sweetie?" And then she noticed the book lying open on the table between the two children before her.

"Is David helping you pick your name, Angel?"

Angel hesitated, glancing over at David her lip between her teeth.

And then Max noticed what was wrong with the picture before her... Or, what was finally right, if you thought of it that way...

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Max slowly opened the door to Fang's room and looked in.

Fang was lying on his side, right arm up under his head, left holding the blankets to his bare chest.

Max could tell he wasn't asleep, he didn't smell asleep, but he wasn't awake either. He was hovering someplace in between ... Dozing. She stared at him for a minute, fear tugging at her stomach, afraid that when his fever had broken earlier that the reprieve had been only temporary and he was only going to heat back up again.

And at the same time, watching him sleep, she remembered his face hovering over her as they moved... His eyes had never left hers until the very last when he'd squeezed them closed and bitten back a choked cry... And she'd held him for a few seconds afterward, petting his hair and wings as he'd lain there gasping for breath... Kissing little beads of sweat from his forehead that had dripped to his eyelids...

He'd been so still, and it had felt so right...

She didn't even care that he'd dozed off for a few minutes. She'd just relished in the feel of him.

But, now, his eyes were closed again, underlined with a bruise shade of purple, his face was waxy. His lips were pale and the talon shaped scars Pale Male had left on his arm stood out bright pink on his skin.

She didn't want to wake him, because he did look like he was resting peacefully. Just like she hadn't wanted to move or disturb him then, but she had a pressing matter now that needed tending, and seeing as how Aaron, Total, Nudge and Gasman were swimming again she had little choice but to wake him. Even though her stomach was turning cart-wheels and her heart was fluttering in her throat.

"Fang?" She whispered loud enough for him to hear.

His eyes came open to slits and he stared up at her blankly for three seconds before he came fully to his senses. "Max? What's wrong?"

His voice sounded so alien, and yet as familiar as her own and Max licked her lips self-consciously because her eyes automatically slid down the length of his body.

She opened the door wider. Angel and David slipped in, David holding the dictionary of names to his chest.

"We have to talk."

She could tell by the horrified look on his face that the first thing that came to his mind was that Angel knew what they'd done, but Max shook her head at him and that terrified look faded back into his mind.

Fang shifted, rolling stiffly onto his back and forcing himself to sit up.

Max was glad Allan had put some pants on him at least. She didn't know what she would have done if he'd still been naked from his dousing earlier that day. She probably would have made Angel and David leave for a few minutes...

Wow, she thought to herself. I am such a sexist-pig! What a first!

"What's going on?" He rubbed sleepily at his face and pulled the blankets around his shoulders, covering his bare chest, as if somehow, her gaze bothered him.

David whimpered and climbed up onto the bed, curling up on Fang's lap.

Fang glanced up at Max, giving her a 'what's wrong with him?' look but before Max could say anything Angel cleared her throat;

"Go on and tell him ... Just like you told Max."

David pursed his lips, wrapping his thin little arms around Fang's neck. And Fang hugged him, trying to comfort the boy, thinking that his brother was just afraid because he was so sick but something stopped him before he could speak. Like a tickling in the back of his mind.

"Y-you won't hate me?" David whispered.

"I could never hate you, there is NOTHING you could do to make me hate you."

"You p-promise?"

"I promise."

David unwound his arms from Fang's neck and opened the book of names, pointing. "That's what I want my name to be."

Fang took the book and Max watched as his dark eyebrows shot up and he flicked his eyes at her and Angel, giving them both an 'is this some kind of joke?' look.

"You want this to be your name?"

"Y-you h-hate me, d-don't you..." David covered his little face and sobbed into his hands. "Y-you ha-hate me just l-like B-Bobby when-when I t-told him!"

Fang practically threw the book and wrapped both arms tightly around David, tucking the little light brown head under his chin, "I do NOT hate you. There is nothing in you to hate."

David continued to sob and Fang gave Angel a pleading look. The girl nodded and quickly left the room shutting the door behind her.

Max turned to leave, but something stopped her and she glanced over her shoulder.

Fang was looking at her, asking her to stay with his eyes.

She approached the bed slowly. Sitting on the edge of the mattress and putting a hand on David's head, petting his hair, then, because Fang hadn't said anything, she spoke.

"David, would you tell us what happened when you and Bobby got in the fight?"

David snuffed back tears and looked up at Fang mournfully. "I-I w-wanted to p-play house ... A-and I told Bobby h-he could be the daddy, and I could be the mummy-"

Fang's head shot up and he gave Max a wide-eyed look, "The mommy..."

David nodded, "That's what I said ... The mummy! And B-Bobby s-said I c-couldn't be the m-mummy a'cause I'm a boy ... But I'm not ... I'm NOT!" He hid his face in Fang's chest again.

"I'm a girl ... I know it... B-but every-everyone treats me l-like a b-boy 'cause I look like one. But its wrong... My body is WRONG!" And he disolved into tears...

Fang opened his mouth to speak but closed it again and turned helpless eyes to Max.

I know ... Max thought, wishing he could hear her. What the hell do you say to something like that?

"I j-just w-want every one to treat me how I am! D-Daddy kn-knew. He bought me my pretty shoes a-a-and pretty t-things for my hair!" He fumbled at his shirt collar and pulled a thin chain on which was a small gold cross Max hadn't noticed before, from under his shirt, "He even gived me this ... He s-said it was Mummy's... B-but he told me that it would be better to wear b-boys clothes so the bad guys wouldn't f-find me. He said it was a disguise...

"Please... I-I don wanna be disguised no more... PLEASE!"

Thin little arms went around Fang's neck and he sat there holding the child to his chest, making quiet breathy 'shhh' sounds until the sobbing subsided. Then, after a moment of silence, and a deep breath Fang nodded and cleared his throat. "Okay..." He swallowed hard, obviously uncomfortable with the situation, but at the same time more than happy to do anything David wanted him to, as long as the child stopped crying. And looking up at him with that horribly pathetic expression. "If you're sure this is what you want."

David pulled away and stared up at Fang. "You mean it?"

Fang nodded and swallowed hard. "If its what you want then its OK with me..."

David hugged Fang tightly, a big dimpled smile brightening his face, fat wet tears rolling from his eyes. "THANK YOU!" And he jumped off the bed, running outside to Angel.

Max could hear them talking excitedly.

"Am I dreaming?" Fang said looking up at her. "Hallucinating maybe?"

Max shook her head a slight smile coming over her face. Her stomach tightening. The first time they've spoken in two weeks and she's not mad... In fact, she was relieved... "No, you're not dreaming."

Fang pointed to the closed door, "So my baby brother just became my baby ... sister?"

"In a way, yes ... I remember reading about this in a magazine ... David's body may be a boy, but his mind and how he feels is a girl... It's really complicated."

Fang gave his head a shake, "As if we weren't weird enough already."

Max smacked him on the side of the head so hard for a moment some of his hair stood on end, "Not weird. David is not weird ... He ... She's different."

"She..." Fang sat there for a moment, staring off into space his lips pressed tightly together. "Same person ... Just different..."

"Yeah."

He sighed and raked a hand through his hair, "It is definitely going to take some getting used to."

"Yeah it is."

Fang shook his head and glanced up at her, gnawing on his lip and feeling like a complete and utter fool. His mind turned abruptly from his brother/sister to Max and he ground his teeth, cursing himself... He really was an idiot wasn't he... Thinking that what had happened not even fourteen days before had been real. That it had been genuine... She'd only done it to shut him up, hadn't she... She'd only done it to keep him around. Keep him from running off...

He pulled the blankets back around his chest and looked at the floor, unwilling to look at Max and remember what they'd done. He wished he could just fly away forever now... Things had been awkward before... Well, now it was just plain unbearable... Cruel... He'd tried to face it, but... It was just too embarrassing...

Which angered him because he couldn't remember ever being so embarrassed... Couldn't ever remember caring...

"Fang, are you OK?"

He didn't look at her when he raised his head, but chose a spot just between her eyebrows. "I'm fine."

"I believe that for half a second..." She cocked her head to the side and gave him a 'concerned Max' face. "Do you feel OK?"

He nodded, unnerved by the feelings he was getting from her, and his own pessimistic doubt.

The feelings were all there, were all right. But still he held back...

"I'm fine."

"Liar... What's wrong?"

He did look at her then, right in the eyes. He didn't like being called a liar. It was just like saying that everything he felt was stupid and wrong. And he'd spent his whole life secretly feeling stupid and wrong... He wasn't going to let it continue any longer.

"What are we going to do about it?"

Max bit her lip and tilted her head back upright. "What do you mean?"

"About what happened."

"About David? Or ... what we did?"

He looked away and ground his teeth but didn't say anything. He'd been called a sexist pig one too many times, he didn't need it again, especially when he was starting to feel better. He wasn't going to say anything until he knew how she felt about what had they'd done. His embarrassment could only be hidden by anger for so long... That and he was tired of feeling used, and if Max didn't think what had happened was important ... Then ... Neither did he...

She hesitated, biting her lip and shifting against the bed. Her eyes drooped to her knees and she crossed her arms. "Do ... Do you regret it or something?"

He didn't speak.

Her stomach churned and she looked up at him. He was tense again. More than tense... His teeth were ground together, his lips compressed. His expression completely blank... Save his eyes...

His eyes were dark, as if someone had pulled a shade behind them to block out the sun... Or to veil what was really going on inside...

Max opened her mouth. Prepared to say, 'I regret it, it was stupid and just our hormones, it meant absolutely NOTHING to me...' but she couldn't bring herself to lie to him like that... Because she didn't regret it. It had been far from perfect, but it had felt right... She had no nagging regret or qualms... She felt almost the same as she had before.

This moment was a little awkward, and Max wasn't sure if she'd be able to bear the rest of her life with this feeling streatched between them...

She still felt incredibly sad for her family, for the loss of her mother and sister... Worried about Iggy's mental wellbeing ... And, oddly at peace because Fang's steady, constant emotions were there.

HE was there...

And now ... He was here... Beside her...

And he regreted it...

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

(NOTE! I can't believe nobody figured that out about David! And if you did, why didn't you say something! I was so worried that I was playing it up too much! This is half of what Ter Borcht was talking about in the Castle Von Gasman scene. HALF of it... Can you figure out the rest?)

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 75; Wake Me Up Inside

(WARNING!... This chapter isn't happy. It explains the reason Iggy was paranoid, and there's also hints and foreshadowing.. Say what you must You've been warned... For those of you who figured THIS puzzle out, I applaud you.)

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Help me..."

Iggy dug his fingertips into his scalp and gritted his teeth against the burning pain that kept sizzling his nerve endings. Why wouldn't it just stop! What the hell was wrong with him?

He felt hot ... His face, his chest ... His whole body was just hot...

"Help me ... Please, Iggy, save her."

And that voice in his head wouldn't stop ... He'd tried everything. Including putting the I-Pod's earbuds in his ears and listening to that screeching, lemon-juice-in-a-paper-cut kind of music Fang had put on it to annoy Max, but the Gasman had taken a liking to, full blast.

But that hadn't drowned out the voice ... It had only given him a headache.

He climbed slowly to his feet, hands out, and felt his way to the bathroom. Locking himself inside and stripping all of his clothes off. Kicking them into a pile in the corner.

The tile floor felt cold beneath his feet but Iggy didn't care. He just wanted it to end ... Just make it stop...

He turned on the shower, and stepped into it. Trying not to scream when the icy water hit him full in the chest. He bowed his head into it, wishing for anything but this horrible burning pain and that voice.

That voice that sounded so much like Ella's it was frightening.

A shrill ringing started in his ears. Building like a flood, the voice started again. "Iggy, help me ... Please, please help me!"

And that ringing sound enveloped him...

It was the same sensation he'd gotten the first time Aaron had touched him. That vacuum. Being tumbled backward down a twisting, spiraling tunnel in his head. He heard voices from memories. Saw flashes in his head of that brief time he was able to see.

That day in New York when Ella and Angel had dragged him off into that store ... It was so real it was like he was reliving it...

Angel and Ella had grabbed him and pulled him across the street into that store and Angel had instantly disappeared into the dresses...

Ella had taken his hand and ...

"Stay quiet, stay low."

He bent at the waist, following her on a zigzagging path through the store and into a kind of antechamber marked 'Lavatories'.

She giggled and shoved him into the girls' room then locked the door.

"What are we doing? I'm not supposed to be in here!" He hissed

"Just don't scream," She shoved him backward into a stall and locked that too, pushing him down until he sat on the toilet. Then she straddled him, tangling her fingers in his hair.

And he'd been powerless to stop her. It was like an electric shock, and a pounding inside his skull. Nothing had ever felt this good and he didn't want her to stop. Whatever she was doing, however she was doing it, he didn't want her to stop.

He wondered absently what it was with her and wanting to make-out in bathrooms, but then he realized ... He didn't care!

His hands tightened on her hips, holding her against him and her hands trailed down the front of his shirt, over his stomach and to the fly of his jeans.

He'd envisioned this ... He'd wanted this for so long...

"I know you two are in there, I can read minds remember?" Angel's disgusted voice came from just outside the bathroom door. "And ... I can hear you."

Ella growled in her throat and Iggy's stomach clenched painfully. He loved it when she growled ... He wished that he could make her growl...

And then he was tumbling again. Falling through time and it was that night Ter Borcht had found them in the hotel...

The old man had just injected him and he had been in so much pain lying there...

"What did you do to him!" Ella screamed climbing onto the bed, trying to hold him still. But she couldn't. His muscles just wouldn't listen and kept trying to bend him backward. Like a magnet, drawing his heels to the back of his head...

"Yez, vell ... Zee ozers ver already dead by zee time I got zem so zis didn't happen ... But zis iz a rezurection drug. He vill be dead in a few minutes from zee shock..."

He opened his mouth to scream at the man, to lunge across the room and kill him. But Ter Borcht was gone. Leaving only his suitcase.

"El ... Ella," He put his hands out, taking hers in the darkness. She lie down behind him, holding him around the chest, trying to keep him still, keep him from breaking his own back in the throes of these convulsions.

"You're going to be OK ... It's all going to be OK."

And then he felt himself go limp in her arms, felt the breath leave him in an elongated sigh. And he was paralyzed. He couldn't move, couldn't breathe ... Everything was fading and he could feel his heart beating ... Feel the palpitations slowing as the world melted.

His outside consciousness gave him a fresh perspective and he felt his own heart stop and Ella gave him a gentle shake, "Iggy? Iggy, are you OK?"

Could she not tell? Couldn't she tell he was dead?

Hadn't Nudge been able to tell when Aaron's heart stopped? What was going on?

Nudge and Aaron could feel each other and Aaron had said something to him, when he mentioned that he could feel Ella's pain, he'd discovered this when Ella had gotten her 'Monthly' the week after Max had caught them 'sucking face' in the bathroom. He'd been able to feet those terrible cramps she experienced. And Aaron had laughed then told him about how Kitty and Bernard had been able to feel each other's pain and pleasure...

But why couldn't Ella feel his?

She didn't love me...

And Iggy felt himself come to the end of this tunnel and he was looking into Ella's face ... He could see it so plainly in his head despite the fact it was covered with bandages. She was on an operating table, there were burns on her face, and a tube going down her throat, breathing for her.

Whitecoats were all around her. He recognized Ter Borcht's voice, and the face of the director as the woman bent by Ella's head.

What was happening?

And then he was being spun again, but part of him could still see what was going on in this operating room.

For some reason Ella was showing him another memory...

The same night Ter Borcht had been in the hotel room and he'd expired ... After his heart had started beating again and he'd regained consciousness.

Ella had ordered the soup for him ... And they'd been lying on the bed talking...

"But, I can't see, El, I don't know where we are..."

"I do..."

"You'd be my eyes?"

She kissed the tip of his nose, "Of course.

"I love you, Iggy ... I'd do anything for you, all you have to do is ask."

He hesitated, thinking ... Afraid...

"Will you ... W-would you..." He shifted uncomfortably against the bed and wished he could see, so he could see the look in her eyes. He'd give just about anything to be able to see that look in her eyes right now.

"Iggy ... Are you trying to ask me to marry you?"

He bit his lip but after a few excruciatingly long seconds he nodded. "Yeah..."

She leaned in and kissed him, "Of course..."

He kissed her back, cupping the back of her head. He'd never been so happy... Never...

"Iggy ... I need to tell you something ... It's important..."

He pulled away from her and the memory seemed to fade out ... He could feel her pressed tightly against him. Feel her breath on his neck. But, he wasn't remembering it anymore. He was back in that operating room, hovering over Ella as the Whitecoats performed some kind of surgery on her.

And yet, she was holding him, her arms wrapped around him, their bodies pressed tightly together, her face hidden, her breath hot on his ear... As if somehow there were two of her, a tangible, yet invisible version, clinging to him, and the visible, tangible version on the table.

"Iggy, you have to get out of that hotel ... You have to get to a place called Laurel Ridge Colorado. There's someone there who can help keep her alive..."

"Her? Who is 'her?' Why are you doing this? You didn't love me at all did you! You were using me!"

He felt Ella smile sadly and the memory started playing again, like a movie he could feel. And he hated every moment of it... Had it really been a movie he would have got up and left... But he couldn't... He was as powerless to stop the flood of his own memories, as he was powerless in Ella's ethereal arms.

She breathed his name against his lips and they were up on their knees in the bed, hands tearing at clothing, still kissing, still trying to be as close as possible. Fingers fumbling at buttons and zippers...

She'd found the waistband of his boxers and shoved them down-

Iggy wanted to be able to close his mind, wanted to be able to shut it off, make it stop because he knew what was going to happen next. He remembered it. It was all he had now ... A memory... Now that he knew what was real. Now that he knew Ella had never really loved him, not as he'd loved her. Not with all her body, mind and soul. Now it was as painful as having his sight taken again... More so because this was part of his soul...

Part of her had loved him for who he was. For his personality, his determination ... Another part had only loved that he was so much like the others, and that he fulfilled the fantasies she had about another ... A dark haired bird-boy who had ignored Ella's advances ... Who hadn't shown the interest she had...

Iggy felt sick, knowing that the whole time Ella had been with him she'd been thinking about Fang. He felt betrayed, dirty, defiled ... But he held on. He allowed the memory of the one night they'd spent together to play in his head as punishment for how stupid he'd been.

Who could ever love him? He was a useless, blind bird-boy who was reliving memories like an old pervert sitting at home watching dirty movies in his basement.

And then the 'movie' was over, and he remembered ...

He lie there in her arms, his heart hammering against his ribs, panting ... Letting sensation slowly start tickling back into his arms ... Feeling Ella pet the back of his head, running her fingers through his sweat damp hair...Making gentle shushing noises when he tried to speak.

Her fingers were soft, hesitant, as they stroked over his wings, down his back. Hesitant and sweet... "I love you..."

He shivered and stared down at Ella on the operating table in contempt. Wondering if humans were even capable of 'love' or if to them it was just some twisted word, which meant to betray and hurt.

Every human he'd ever known had betrayed him in some way. Had hurt him somehow...

At that moment he cursed himself. Cursed the ninety-eight percent of his DNA that bound him to the human race. He hated it with every fiber of his being. He wished to tear the very veins from his arms so his vilely tainted blood would run freely out so he wouldn't feel so... So raped and dirty.

They wanted an animal... Well, then he'd be an animal... A soulless, angry animal...

She'd lied. She'd taken how he felt about her and used it. She'd hurt him... She'd used him, just like the Whitecoats had, but in a way that was much worse... Much more hurtful...

She'd said that he'd taken everything from her ... But in all actuality, she'd stolen everything from him... Including his humanity... She'd taken his heart and given him nothing but lies in return... He had nothing left... It was all gone...

Gone...

He heard a dull pounding somewhere in the distance and it reminded him of a big bass drum, like a girl he couldn't remember the name of, played in the school marching band, like the drum he himself had played. But that boy, that human, was dead now... He was no longer that person... He was no longer that foolish.

"Iggy, I'm so sorry ... I'm so sorry..."

He didn't say anything, he just hung there and stared down at her, listened to Ter Borcht and the other Whitecoats talk behind him because it hurt too much to listen to her...

"How's it looking?"

"We've got her stabilized, but we don't know for how long. We need to take into account the fact that she won't survive long enough for the-"

Ter Borcht's voice rose above the young man who'd been speaking, "Zat iz not an option! I vill not looze zis girl OR her child!"

BOOM!

He was sure he'd been shot. The words hit him that hard ... Realization tasted like bile and Iggy could only stare down at Ella and let it all sink in, like a boat slowly being devoured by the ocean. His body ached... His throat constricted and his heart twisted into a fist sized knot in his chest.

Ella was pregnant ... And it was his baby...

"IGGY!"

A voice pounded his head like someone was trying to drive nails through his skull. A voice he dimly recognized as Allan's but Iggy held on. Willing himself to stay ... It couldn't be real. He had to stay with Ella. She might not love him as he did her, but she was carrying his child... He had to save her... He had to save her!

Falcons mate for life... Even if their mates do not...

"Ella, where are you? WHERE ARE YOU! I'LL SAVE YOU! I PROMISE! I PROMISE!"

Something that felt like a little explosion wracked his brain and Iggy sat bolt upright, feeling something thick dragging him back into its arctic, deathly embrace. His eyes came open and it was like he was reborn. He saw a flash of light. Actually saw it in his head as it washed over him...

And within it he saw a flickering golden flame set into a rainbow shot circle... He heard a roaring in his ears and water splashed everywhere as he sat up in the tub, gripping the rim as if his life depended on in. He coughed and water gurgled up from his throat. All the sounds of the hotel hit him like a punch to the face.

The shower was running, water was spilling over the rim of the tub and into the floor. Allan was cursing. And the others were in his room, all of them making some kind of noise. Colors danced in his head, like fireworks ... Like video of the Northern Lights he'd seen on the internet when his eyes still worked...

The colors lunged in and hands grabbed him, pulling him out of the water.

Someone else turned off the shower and Iggy heard someone crying, he thought it was Angel, but it wasn't her voice ... David maybe?

"Get a blanket, he's freezing!" Allan shouted. "What the hell is the matter with you boy? Are you trying to kill yourself?"

The colors blurred into one dark, pulsing shade of gray in his head and seemed to dissolve into nothingness.

Allan picked him up and Aaron's voice was by his ear, "Jesus, he's blue!"

A warm, dry blanket came around him and Iggy felt like screaming what he'd just learned.

Ella was alive ... She was alive and she was pregnant...

But nothing came out, it all seemed to go into his head in a small, weak version of his own voice, as the world faded;

Ella's alive and she's having my baby...

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 76; Daisy-David

Excitement wasn't the word for it. Angel was ecstatic.

It had been a long day and Iggy was still asleep. Resting after his near death experience earlier that morning. Aaron and Nudge had been formally separated in the 'Pool Hall' and were not allowed to sit next to each other without Total between them. And hands were to remain above waist level at all times.

Fang had gotten out of bed and silently helped Max make more cookies in the kitchen. Which brought more than one person to tears.

And then, of course ... Josephine David was making her appearance.

Gasman had laughed when Fang, Max and Aaron gathered the flock together, minus of course Iggy, who was sleeping soundly, and told them what was happening ... What had happened to David.

Needless to say, when Gazzy realized that Fang was serious he stopped laughing and admitted he thought it was a little odd. But if it was what David wanted then they would all have to live with it.

So now here it was. A quarter after three and they were lingering in the hallway waiting. All feeling varying degrees of apprehension and doubt.

Thinking that Angel was going to come out with David and the poor child was going to be wearing layers of badly applied makeup, a stuffed bra and a nightgown.

But when Angel opened the door and led David out nobody said anything.

Angel had combed David's hair and pinned it back to the right with one of her little pink flat clips. That and the light blue Care Bear T-shirt David now wore were the only differences. Other than the proud smile, of course.

"So ... What do we call you now?" Gasman said crossing his arms uncomfortably over his chest.

"I don't know ... Can I have a nickname? Like you guys?"

Fang glanced over at Aaron, "What kind of nickname?"

"Well ... You're name is 'Nick', but everyone calls you 'Fang' ... Can I have a nickname too? Me and Aaron?"

Fang's jaw worked up and down and he turned to Max eyebrows raised.

Max hesitated, "I ... I don't see why not ... Uh..."

Her mind drew a blank. Everybody else's 'nickname' was their NAME. What they'd always been called. 'Nick' was the name Max had just blurted out when Fang had been injured and rushed to the hospital.

"We'll have to wait until Iggy wakes up ... Everyone has to help pick it, Okay?" Fang said, pulling Max out of a hole of 'uh's.

But that tactic of diversion didn't work very well, because, at that minute Allan peeked into Iggy's room and noticed the boy was sitting up in bed.

"I think he's awake actually..."

Everyone seemed to move at once, swarming the door to Iggy's room and trying to squeeze through as one giant entity.

"OUCH!" Nudge said as she was smashed against the doorframe.

Iggy was awake, and when he heard what had happened a small joyless smiled came over his face. "You guys are much bigger than the door you know."

But they squeezed through anyway and landed in a heap in the floor.

"Can you help pick my nickname?" David said bouncing up and down.

Everyone took places sitting around the room and soon everyone was talking at once. Throwing around names and laughing at silly ideas. Everyone except Iggy, who seemed to be in some kind of trance, his jaws clenched arms crossed.

Angel had tried to read his mind, but all she'd gotten was that strange black-hole sensation again, so she'd left him alone...

"Alba Tross!" Gasman shouted pointing at Aaron. "Your name should be Alba Tross!"

"No-no NO!" Max said laughing. "That's just too funny, no one would be able to say it with a straight face."

"How about Truck?" David said grinning.

"OI!" Aaron said, "I've got the perfect one for you!" He pointed to David, "Now that we've gotten the real story behind the whole mummy costume, this would be PERFECT."

"What? What is it?"

"Wendy."

"Wendy?" Fang wrinkled his nose. "What does it mean? Where's the book?" He started looking around for it.

"I know it!" Nudge said with a grin. "Wendy means 'little mother'."

David cocked an eyebrow, "Maybe ... But I got a good one for you?"

"Well, bring it on then!" Aaron smiled and inched closer to Nudge.

"Poopie Head!"

Angel cackled.

Max rolled her eyes. "That's silly ... Aaron's abilities ... What's something that encompasses his abilities?"

Fang groaned and rolled his head on his shoulders grinning widely, "Casanova!"

"What? No, you can't be serious!" Aaron's face was turning a little red.

Nudge leaned over and kissed his cheek, "I like Mr. Albatross myself. Its cute..."

Angel sighed. "We could just call him Aaron, you know... He doesn't even want a nickname, am I right?"

Aaron shook his head, "Not really."

Iggy raised his head, seeming to come out of the trance long enough to throw out a suggestion, "I think Daisy's a good nickname for David."

Angel smiled and turned to David. "What do you think?"

"Yeah!"

"Anybody else have a comment?" Max rubbed her hands on her jeans.

"No." "Nope" "Huh-uh."

"Good ... Then we've settled," Max stood, and started to leave but Angel stopped her by throwing a thought at her.

Say something all ceremonial and stuff! Make it official...

"Uh..." Max turned around and looked down at the two little faces standing before her. "Okay," She hesitated, then squared her shoulders and put her right hand over her heart. Thinking Cerimonial thoughts...

David did the same, face alight with pride.

Max licked her lips nervously, "'I hereby declare that your nickname is 'Daisy' because you liked it ... And everyone else liked it ... And it suits you...' Yeah."

Iggy had to poke his fingers in his ears to block out the sound of Angel and Daisy-David screaming in joy. He was glad when everyone left ... After of course they'd checked on him. Put a hand on his face to make sure he wasn't fevered and told him to get some rest.

Allan was the only one who stayed and that was because he wanted to make sure Iggy wasn't trying to hurt himself. Which he thoroughly believed the near drowning had been an attempt of.

So he sat there by Iggy's bed for close to thirty minutes and watched the red-headed boy doze.

"Allan?" He said under his breath.

"Yeah?"

"Would you get me a pop? I'm really thirsty."

Allan nodded, "Stay in bed, hear me? You need rest."

Iggy nodded. He had every intention of getting some rest ... As soon as he found this person in Laurel Ridge ... Wherever that was...

He heard Allan leave the room and he jumped out of bed, throwing back the blankets and pulling on his clothes and shoes. Not even taking time to notice he'd picked up one of the Gasman's shoes instead of his own until he had it halfway on his foot. He growled, threw the shoe across the room and found the other one of his own. He grabbed his pack and was at the window, forcing it open. Banging his shoulder against the metal frame until he could slip out.

"Iggy?" Angel's voice came from right beside him.

He fell back through the window lunging at the sound and his hands found her face, covering her mouth and holding her by the throat, squeezing just hard enough to make her tense. He didn't want to hurt her. But he had to go, she had to understand that ... So he showed her. He pressed his forehead against hers and ground his teeth.

"READ IT!"He hissed.

He felt her shaking in fear but then she relaxed and nodded her head.

He released her and started through the window again.

"You can't go on your own, you don't know how to get there!" She hissed.

"I'll figure it out!" His foot caught on the sill and he nearly fell but caught himself by grabbing an evergreen bush by the window. "I have to find her ... Angel ... Ella's pregnant with MY baby! I have to save her!"

Angel was silent but Iggy could feel that she was struggling with herself. With her loyalty to Max and her need to stay close to Daisy ... And the need to keep Iggy from hurting himself... "Iggy, just wait here a second."

He heard her dash out of the room and a few seconds later he heard another voice.

"WHAT!" Daisy hissed.

"Listen, I know its weird, but I need you to do it so we can leave and won't be noticed ... Please."

"They'll get mad at me! I can't!"

Iggy stuck his head back in the window, "Then come with us."

After a moment Daisy growled and stamped a foot.

"Okay..." She was quiet and Iggy heard the distant thumps of people dropping in the halls.

Angel's feet ran out the door and a few seconds later Iggy heard her return and he helped the two of them climb out the window.

They took a running start and leapt into the air behind the hotel and Iggy found himself in that direction-less void again. Only this time he heard Angel's voice to his left and Daisy-David's to his right.

"What do we do when they wake up?" Daisy.

"Don't worry about it," Angel said. "Just keep on the look out for Wizards and those Immaculae."

"I'm scared..." Daisy again.

"Me too," Iggy said just loud enough for them to hear. He tried to ignore that homing beacon type sensation that told him where Ella was, and instead tried to follow Angel's voice.

"There's a town down there, about ten miles to the north-east. We can start there..."

Iggy nodded, "Angel?"

"Yeah?"

"You're the leader."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 77; Hysterics

Max woke sprawled on her face in the hallway Fang lying on her right arm. Which had long since grown quite numb. As she opened her eyes she noticed everyone else was stirring as well.

"Dasiy!" Nudge was calling as she climbed unsteadily to her feet, "Angel, where are you two?"

Allan clambered to his feet and ran down the hall jumping over people when he had to. "DAMN IT! They're gone!"

Total darted down the hall tears welling in his eyes, "No ... She couldn't just be gone ... They wouldn't leave me!"

"They're gone and so is Iggy!"

Max and Fang looked at each other and darted into their rooms, gathering their packs. "Come on!" Max yelled, slinging her pack on over her jacket. "We have to find them ... We should split up into groups and we'll all meet back here, okay?"

Everyone nodded. "How long did Dav-Daisy knock us out for?"

Fang looked at his watch. "It's almost eight ... We've been out for three and a half hours."

Max nodded her mind immediately shifting into 'leader mode'. "Gazzy, you and Allan head south. Nudge, you Total and Aaron head East, Fang and I will head North."

"Got it."

Max ran into Iggy's room followed closely by Fang and they slipped out the window and within seven steps were air born.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 78; Good Vibrations

The Gasman didn't know which was worse. The fact that it was dark and Iggy was out there with his sister and Daisy-David, flying God knew where for some unknown reason. Or the fact that it was DARK and his sister was out there with Daisy-David and Iggy flying around where there could be Wizards!

Gasman had never been trusted to do something like this 'alone' before. When Angel had been taken years before he and Iggy had been left behind. He'd always resented Max for that. Because she hadn't thought him strong enough to take part in the mission...

But through the years he'd realized something. The day Angel had been taken he hadn't been strong enough to handle something like what Max had had planned. He would have let his emotions get the best of him and he would have ended up getting himself or Angel killed.

The experience he and Iggy had building the bombs and protecting their home had made them stronger. And everything he'd been through since that day had made him a better person. Yes, he still had moments of childish emotions. He'd get jealous, and spiteful ... But now, now that he realized Max DID trust him ... It scared him.

What if he did something wrong? What if he missed something? What if he got sick like Iggy and Fang or got captured?

What if he messed something up and caused someone to be hurt?

"It looks like its going to start raining soon," Allan motioned to the sky.

Gazzy nodded but didn't speak. He was trying to concentrate, looking for anything that would tell him where his sister, Iggy and David were. Daisy, he told himself, he ... SHE wants to be called Daisy!

"Allan?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you as confused by Dav ... Daisy as I am?"

Allan chuckled, "Yeah, I am ... I'm not sure what to think. Is it a phase or is it for real ... I guess Ariel and Daisy are the only ones who know for sure," He turned the truck onto a side street. "My advice is to indulge the kid ... If it's a phase sooner or later it will wear off. If not, then it doesn't."

"Yeah ... Well, I always though David was a little ... feminine ... You know, just his body language. And when Angel brought him out made up like a girl it was fitting ... He became Daisy, and I looked at him with his hair pulled back like that and all I saw was a little girl."

"So I wasn't the only one..."

Gazzy smiled and scratched his head. "Can I tell you something ... And you swear never to tell anyone?"

"Of course."

"I've thought about it before..."

"About what?"

Gazzy shrugged, "What it would have been like if I'd been born a girl. I mean, I'm glad I wasn't ... Girls have all these problems. They have to worry about how their hair looks, how their clothes look, and then they have to worry about those gross things that happen every month," He shivered. "But sometimes ... I wonder if I'd be different if I were a girl ... Is that normal?"

Allan shrugged, "I suppose, I mean, I wondered that once or twice when I was younger."

The Gasman nodded and glanced up at the sky. He'd never be able to see them with all those clouds rolling in.

"Allan?"

"Yeah?"

"Why can't you have kids?"

Allan faltered, licking his lips nervously then turning to the boy beside him. "Well, uh ... You see..." He sighed, "I had an accident when I was about seven working with Bernie's dad and the doctors said I'd never be able to have kids."

"Have you ever tried?"

Allan laughed nervously, "Uh, no, I've never been married."

Gazzy shrugged. "That's sad ... I think you'd make a great dad."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 79; Wedding Bells

"No touching!" Total barked and growled at Aaron, showing his teeth.

"Well, how the hell else am I supposed to hold her hand?"

Nudge giggled, "Total, there isn't any harm in holding hands.

Total growled again and pinned his ears back, "Hands only, got it?"

Aaron saluted and turned his eyes back to the road, watching the windshield wipers splash water to both sides.

Nudge ran her fingers over his palm in slow little circles and watched out the window. "Okay ... it is really storming now, there is no way Daisy is letting anyone in the air. With as much fear as you put into that kid about being hit by lightning I'm surprised she hasn't flipped her lid."

Aaron nodded. Still not comfortable with the thought of calling David 'Daisy' or 'she' even though it was obviously what the child wanted.

"Nudgie?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you love me?"

"Of course."

"Do you love me enough to say ... I don't know ... Say yes?"

"Say yes to what?"

He hesitated, "To giving me a big wet snog?"

Nudge wrinkled her nose, "What's a snog?"

Total burst out laughing. "He means a kiss."

"Oh ... Not while you're driving."

Total shook his head, "You two are worse than rabbits!"

Aaron scowled down at the little dog, "Oi, how 'bout you poochie? Worse than rabbits my arse!"

Total lowered his head and rolled back his lip, growling deep in his throat, "Don't call me 'poochie', bub. Or I'll have your 'arse' on a platter."

Aaron cocked an eyebrow, "I didn't mean it ... I was just playing..."

"Sure you were, Brit Com, sure you were."

"There is no way they're still in the air, maybe we should scope out a hotel. They've probably stopped for the night."

Aaron cast Nudge a sideways glance, "Are you thinking that THEY'VE gotten a hotel room, or are you hinting at something?"

Nudge rolled her eyes, "I told you already, separate rooms unless you're willing to put a rock on this finger!" She held up her left hand and pointed at her ring finger.

"And I've already said that I would if you would let me just pro-"

Nudge covered her ears and started making repetitive, "LALALALALALALALA!" sounds. "I just turned fifteen not four months ago, Aaron, I am NOT ready to get married or to even THINK about GETTING married. And you might feel grown up being seventeen and all, but you aren't ready to get married either."

Aaron sighed. "Why not?"

Nudge grinned, "Because I want to be an actress, and I want to be an actress before I get married. I want to be able to have a BIG wedding. Like a Fifth Avenue dress and a choir and a chocolate fountain right beside the cakes."

Aaron grinned at her. "A wedding fit for a queen?"

"Exactly!"

"In a castle I suppose?"

"YEAH! That would be SO awesome!"

"With a horse drawn carriage and footmen in white satin suits-"

"YEAH!"

"You want a Cinderella wedding?"

"No, I'm not Cinderella. I want a NUDGE wedding, thank you."

"And who is the groom?"

Nudge pursed her lips and pretended to think about it for a moment.

"Is that why you won't let me prop-"

"LALALALALALALALALALA!"

"Oh, Hell! Why won't you even let me say the word?" He smiled.

"Because!" Nudge reclined in the seat stroking Total's furry head.

"You two already act married," Total grumbled. "But, if you do get married can I help you plan it?" He lifted his head and stared at Nudge his mouth hanging open tongue poking out the side of his mouth.

Nudge giggled, "Sure, Total, you can be my wedding planner."

"Seriously?"

"Sure, why not."

"SWEET! I was thinking Paris! I absolutely LOVE Paris!"

Aaron shook his head, "I hope you've booked a bloody boat, because I am NOT flying across the ocean!" He turned back to the road and for a moment he could do nothing but sit there clutching the wheel. Then his mouth came open and he sucked in an involuntary lungful of air.

Nudge glanced at the road and her arms tightened around Total. Clutching the little dog tightly to her chest.

A large dear was coming across the road. It paused right in front of them, turning its beady black eyes to them, its antlers seeming to wreathe its head in a crown of spikes.

"AARON!"

Both feet came down on the brake and Aaron twisted the wheel to the left, trying to avoid the deer, but the wet pavement was too much for the old tires still on the truck and he lost control.

Nudge saw the trees and the ground tilt up to a near right angle to the hood as they came unhinged from the ground, but all she could do was squeeze Total and scream.

She saw the forest turn upside down and the truck hit on its top. The windshield shattered then her window and Aaron's. She heard the dull thuds of the truck as it rolled ... Once ... Twice ... Three times. Before coming to rest some sixty feet away on its top.

And after that she only heard a low, animalistic wail, fear lanced across her chest, tearing her heart in two, and everything went black.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 80; Close Call

They flew for about forty-five minutes before it started raining. Big drops hitting them at such great speeds Max was sure her face would be black and blue before she would be able to land.

Fang wobbled in the air next to her and she chanced a glance at him. He had a very angry look on his face. And she recognized it. It was the 'I am not actually angry, I'm just worried' look. She had her own version of it.

"We should land, they wouldn't be able to fly in this weather, especially with Daisy so afraid of being hit by lightning."

Fang nodded once and they started down, heading for a particularly dense area of forest.

"Look for a cave or a cabin or something dry. We don't need you getting a chill such a short time after-"

"I'm OK, we don't need to make any special arrangements."

"We are going to stay in a dry place. I REALLY don't want you to get sick again."

He opened his mouth to speak, to argue with her, thought better of it and pressed his lips together.

"Thank you."

He rolled his eyes and they swooped low over the trees. "I'm not seeing any caves or cabins or anything but trees."

"Me neither," Max sighed and turned her eyes a little farther on the horizon.

"There's a clearing about fivemiles or so north-west."

"Where, I don't see it?"

She cocked an eyebrow at him, "You can't see that?"

He rubbed his sleeve across his eyes and shook his head, "I've got water in my eyes, I can't see much," He lifted both hands to his face and scooped water away from his eyes. "Okay, yeah, let's go."

And he angled himself North East in front of her, heading away from the clearing...

Max shook her head and gave three hard flaps, getting ahead of him by about a foot and leading him in the correct direction.

The air changed ... The barometric pressure suddenly dropping and Max picked up a thick, familiar scent just seconds before Fang grabbed her.

"GET DOWN!" They dove strait down into the trees.

Max saw a bright flash and a sharp crackling sound, like static on the radio and then they hit the ground, rolling, limbs tangled skidding through the mud. She heard Fang grunt in her ear and he went one way, she the other.

Max rolled to a stop. After a few seconds of panting up into the rain she started laughing. "HOLY CRAP! AARON WAS RIGHT!"

She heard Fang start laughing from a few feet away and she raised her head.

He seemed to be rolling back and forth in the mud and after a few minutes he gave an exasperated little cry, "BAH!" And flopped his arms and legs down in the mud. Splashing it everywhere.

"Are you okay?" She called.

He chuckled, "Yeah... I'm soaked ... And now my wings are filled with mud ... I feel like a frickin' turtle..."

Max laughed and rocked herself back and forth pulling in her wings inch by inch. She could feel the mud between her feathers, and although it did alleviate the normal itching she felt from her wings the squishy mud felt a little too cold and gross for comfort. She managed to roll to her stomach and force herself to her feet. Feeling top heavy from all the added mud-weight. She shuffled over to Fang and bent, extending her hand to help him up.

"On three ... One-two-three!"

Her feet slipped when he started pulling on her arm and she fell right on top of him.

The air woofed from his lungs and he started laughing again, "Get off me! Get off me!"

She rolled off him and wedged her hands under his back, prying him up. "Okay, now what?"

He shook his head and then shook his wings, loosing some of the mud. Enough so that he could climb to his feet. "I need a bath or I'm going to really be miserable later."

"Me too," She said and gave her own wings a shake, trying to get as much mud from between her feathers as possible. But she couldn't get enough out to completely fold in her wings.

Fang gave up trying and put his out, letting the rain run over his feathers. "Okay, now we've got to get out of this storm before we really DO get hit by lightning."

Max nodded and strode forward, bumping playfully into him as she passed glad that most of the awkwardness of earlier that day was gone. "Try to keep up."

"Like you could loose me."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 81; Accident

Total was whining, licking her cheeks.

Nudge groaned and pried her eyes open. She saw the rain splattering upward against a black asphalt ceiling. The windshield was shattered. Making the surface look like hundreds of little individual cubes of glass, all glued together.

Total was soaking wet and standing in front of her his eyes mournful, afraid. He was shivering and his eyes were large, sorrowful in his dark furry face... "Nudge, are you okay?"

She grunted to let him know she was alive and realized that her seatbelt was crushing her right shoulder and that side of her chest. She felt tied down, restrained, captured.

Pain tore across her stomach every time she breathed, but, somehow, she knew the pain wasn't hers...

Aaron groaned beside her and she glanced at him, noticing a thick dark line running upward from the corner of his mouth. His eyes fluttered and he groaned again, arms twitching where they hung above his head.

Nudge struggled for a moment wedging her arm to her side and clicking the seatbelt release, then flopping heavily to the roof on her shoulders. Total limped away as she wiggled around and managed to right herself, her breath coming fast fear curdling her insides.

"Aaron, hold still. I'm gonna get you out."

He didn't answer her, he didn't seem to have heard her either. But as she came to her knees, ignoring the bite of broken glass she noticed something awful... The stearing wheel was pressing sharply into Aaron's stomach and lower chest. He was being crushed! And if she were to unbuckle him he would fall with all of his weight against it.

"Everything's gonna be fine," She took his hand, holding it between her own, petting his head. "I'm gonna get you out, just don't move."

He nodded weakly and Nudge flattened herself, squeezing out through the shattered windhsield, ignoring the glas as it scratched her palms.

The rain was still falling, quite hard and Nudge felt a fleeting moment of panic as she dropped into a crouch and yanked Aaron's upside down door open, her hands going to him again. Cupping his face, rubbing at the blood running upward from the corner of his mouth.

His breath was shallow and with each one he took it felt to Nudge as if her chest were about to rip open... Her fingers fumbled, one arm slipping around his shoulders to catch him when she released the belt and in the instant her fingers found the latch she heard a soft, yet harsh clicking sound and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end... Soft russet feathers sprouted on her shoulders and she slowly turned her head.

Tears blinded her and rage started to build with that thumping in her chest. She was shivering and her teeth were chattering. And then she heard it again ... Clicking ... Wizards clicking...

And then they seemed to be everywhere. Screeching, clicking and swooping at her out of the darkness.

Nudge screamed and her arms went around Aaron, shielding him with her body.

The sound of the Wizards was like a train, a screeching death train from hell. They swarmed around her like angry bees, spinning and clicking...

And then she felt horribly cold, clawed hands grab her by the hips and yank her backward, throwing her through the air.

She screamed again, this time in rage as another Wizard grabbed her by the leg, dangling her over the ground as it flew higher and higher away from the truck, away from Aaron. Rage blinded her and she kicked, shrieked and fought with all her might, snapping out her wings and catching air as the Wizard tossed her across the swirling cone of Wizards to another.

She managed to dodge this one and as she streaked down toward the truck she saw a horrible sight...

Three Wizards were dragging Aaron from the truck, by his left arm, his wing and his hair. He was screaming, throwing punches and blood was foaming in his mouth as he cursed them, tears rolling down his face with the rain.

Nudge tucked in her wings and shot downward with a roar, knocking two Wizards sprawling but another seemed to matarilize before her and the next thing she knew, despite her desperate thrashing, kicking, punching and screaming. The Wizard had her in a tight embrace, pinning her wings closed between them...

The other Wizards continued to swarm around them, the flames from their brooms casting an eerie light on everything.

The rain spattered down, sizzling in the heat of the flames and Nudge saw something small and pale standing not fifteen feet from her, long dark hair blowing around like the tenticals of a flailing squid.

For half a second she could only stare, the fight for freedom forgotten.

It was a little girl, no more than four years old. She had long, curling black hair and big deathly intelligent black eyes. Her face was dirty and scratched. And the only clothes she wore were a little white T-shirt and drawstring pants.

"Why are you crying?" The little girl said in a gentle, curious voice.

Nudge let her breath hiss between her teeth in anger. She was staring into the eyes of an Immaculae. One of those evil little children Max had told her about.

"I'm not evil," The little girl said and shook her head, then wiped her nose on her wrist. "Why are you crying," She shivered and wrapped her arms around her chest, her little teeth chattering.

Aaron shouted in a choked, wet voice and Nudge turned to see him hanging between two Wizards to her right, his knees had buckled and they'd grabbed him by the wings, holding him up... And he didn't look to have the strength to fight them...

"Let him go!" Nudge cried and twisted in the Wizard's grip, trying to get to him. "Let him GO!"

From the corner of her eye Nudge saw the Immaculae girl before her give a slight nod and the Wizards simply dropped Aaron, letting him fall to his knees...

He crumpled and knelt there panting, blood coming back up with every breath...

Nudge couldn't help but stare at him as she fought to get away. He was hurt... He needed help...

"I know you," The girl said in a soft, curious voice. "You're the one they were talking about..."

He shivered and Nudge saw his face go slack, just like anyone who was getting their mind probed by Angel usually did...

And then, quite suddenly, the girl let out a little shocked gasp and her face twisted in anger...

And Aaron gave a little shudder and slumped forward into the road without a sound...

A cold, hollow chill seeped into Nudge's chest and her mouth came open in a scream.

No...

It wasn't possible...

"AARON!"

But he wouldn't answer... And he wouldn't move...

"What's the matter?" The little girl said in a curious, yet emotionless voice.

Nudge felt herself shaking, felt a cold shard of ice forming in her chest... She couldn't say those words and make them real. She couldn't admit that she no longer felt Aaron.

A deep penetrating chill came over her and Nudge became aware of a thumping in her head.

"Aaron, damn you, answer me! WAKE UP!"

The Wizard's skin felt cold against her arms where they held her, their claws biting into her flesh but she wouldn't relent. She kept screaming, kept fighting, thrashing and stomping.

"WAKE UP!"

The little girl glanced over at Aaron blankly. She turned her head from side to side like a cat, "You liked him?"

Nudge fell silent, her voice choked off as she stared at Aaron, lying there lifeless in the road... Crumpled on his side, his face slack, wings limp, feathers bent... His lips were parted and blood continued to run from between them, just as his eyes seemed to still see everything despite the fact there was no light behind them...

Nudge breathed through gritted teeth, tempted to let herself become 'Ferocious Nudge' and rip this little girl to bits. Rip everyone to bits...

She felt mad... No fancy words... No eloquent phrases... Nudge was, hurt and she was mad... A bad combination...

The girl looked back over at her, emotionlessly shrugging off Aaron as he laid there as if he were no more important than a pile of garbage. "Are you my mommy?"

Nudge gave her head a shake, her throat too tight to allow her to speak. Mommy?

The girl closed her eyes tightly and Nudge felt something like a fist lodge itself in her brain. Her memories seemed to play behind her eyes like a slideshow. Everything so fast she barely had time to register what she was seeing before it moved on.

She knew what was happening. That Immaculae was reading her mind, and Nudge ground her teeth against it. Throwing out one single thought toward the girl with enough force that the child-horror stumbled backward clutching her head.

"I am the darkness behind all things. I am the eye glowing in the shadows. I am the creature screaming in the night... I am pain. I am sickness. I am insanity. I am deliverence and I am damnation ... Look at me, remember this face, because next time, it will be the last thing you ever see!"

And then there was nothing...

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

(NOTE!! That quote there at the end of this chapter is from a short story Paul wrote and he let me borrow it, so, I don't own that line but it worked SOOO well I had to use it. So, THANK YOU PAUL!!)

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 82; Awkward

They'd been walking through the rain for close to an hour and a half. And for the first hour Fang had been OK. He hadn't felt that cold, and he was able to keep up with Max as she walked, despite that horrible pain in his back, taking long strides and searching for a cave or a cabin, or just someplace dry to spend the night.

But within the last half an hour something had happened. He'd done just what Max feared he would do and caught a chill. And now here he was huddled under an outcropping of rock, Max's wing draped over him shivering like a palsied old man.

"When you're warmer we'll go a little farther North. Does that sound good?"

He didn't answer. Max was making the decisions and as long as they meant he could stay still right now and get warm that's all he cared about. He didn't care about appearing weak, or frail, or not in control of his body and emotions. The only thing he cared about was getting warm.

Max dug in his bag and pulled out a flashlight. "I'm going to go look around, you stay here and keep this on, okay? So I'll know where you are."

He nodded and took the flashlight, trying to work the switch with numb fingers. He hadn't been this cold in a while. Not since he'd injured his wing. And realizing that brought back all the fear he'd felt that night. Fear that he'd never be warm again, fear that he'd die, and fear that he would never see Max again.

"Don't..." Was all he got out, but Max didn't hear him and she disappeared into the darkness of the forest.

He sat there. Clutching that flashlight and trying not to shiver so hard that he actually moved. His teeth made a near buzzing noise and he pressed his lips together to deaden the sound.

Fang wasn't entirely sure how long Max was gone, but he must have dozed because when he opened his eyes again she was shaking him, "Hey ... Wake up, no sleeping."

He tried to answer her but the sound didn't come out right.

"I found some place dry a ways to the West. Are you ready to walk?"

He shook his head. If he held still the cold wasn't so bad, but every time he moved the cold bit back into him and he could only take being bitten so many times before he learned not to anger this icy dog.

"Come on, you have to get up, you've got to move around."

"Fi' morminiss..."

A blatant worried expression settled over Max's face and she gave him a rather vicious shake, "No, we have to go now, so suck it up and stand!" She grabbed him by the shoulders and practically dragged him out from under his protective rock and back into the arctic rain. "I know it's cold, I'm cold too, but we have to move or we'll die of exposure, got it? Can you spell hypothermia?"

He tried to flip her the bird, but his fingers were imoble and instead she draped his arm over her shoulder. His mind had abandoned him, and the cold had leeched away not only his bodyheat, but all other thought, all previous notion of desire, or personality as well. And he was left alone in his head with nothing but the need to stay put, to stop moving and lie down left to him.

Why couldn't Max see that if he were only to lie down he would get warm? He didn't care if he was dry as long as he was warm!

"Fang, NO!" She growled and wedged her shoulder under him, trying to keep him upright when his knees decided to give out. "I swear I will never let you touch me again if you don't stop this and WALK!"

He straightened his legs and managed to stand on his own while Max rubbed his cheeks and asked him repeatedly if he was 'OK'. He nodded and she hooked her arm around his waist and let him drape his left arm around her shoulders again.

After the first five steps he fell into a kind of trance. Placing all his effort and strength into moving first his left leg and then his right watching the toes of his shoes drag through the mud. If he kept doing that Max wouldn't yell at him and she might even let him touch her again ...

Although at the moment he wasn't entirely sure what she meant by that.

"Okay, we've got some steps here, come on!" She gave him another little shake and he pried his eyes open staring up at the looming building before him.

"Wha..."

"For God's sake, Fang, don't argue now."

It was a small cabin. Not quite a house, but not a shack. It reminded him of the old mining cabin that had been close to their first home. THEIR cabin ... Only this one seemed to be a summer home because there was a small fishing boat under a tarp near the steps.

"I found some blankets and things inside."

His feet felt like chunks of ice in his shoes but he managed to get up the steps and inside. Feeling that it was a very large accomplishment, seeing as how bad he felt.

"Okay," Max stepped away from him to stack wood in the little potbellied stove in the corner. "Get your clothes off."

He let his pack fall to the floor and he shed his jacket watching the water drip from it as he held it at arms length. By the time he'd worked his shirt over his wings and thrown it down with his jacket Max had a fire going and had dragged a mattress out of the small adjoining bedroom and dropped it beside the stove.

"Come on! What's the matter with you! Get undressed, do you need my help or something?"

"No," He grumbled. "Don't look."

Max shook her head, "What is with this modesty? You sure weren't very modest last time," She came at him with a towel and started rubbing his back with it.

He scowled over his shoulder at her and finished undressing, feeling quite absurd standing there wearing nothing, letting Max rub him with a towel. It was very uncomfortable and brought back too many memories of the night they'd spent together.

Too many memories he'd been fighting to forget...

"Okay, lie down before you fall flat on your face!"

He took the towel from her and wrapped it tightly around his waist then sat gingerly on the sheet she'd spread over the mattress. He positioned himself as close to the fire as he dared and extended his wings to dry.

He heard Max undressing and sat stone still until she joined him, wearing a pair of silk boxers with little puffs of flames on them and a floppy T-shirt that had two slits in the back for her wings.

"When you're warmer you can get dressed too," She threw another blanket around his shoulders and he had to rearrange it so his wings stuck out into the air.

"You're going to get frost bite and all your feathers will fall out!" She scolded and scooted close to him.

He couldn't help but smile. "You're really funny, you know that?"

She grinned, "I try."

They were quiet for a few minutes and Fang sat there trying not to tremble.

"Max?"

"What?"

"Can we talk?"

She turned back to him, aprehension tying her stomach up, "About what?"

He hesitated, a pale, uneasy expression placing a wrinkle on the bridge of his nose. He swallowed hard and shook his head.

"Nevermind..."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 83; The Exiles of Laurel Ridge

Surprisingly Laurel Ridge was only eighty-four miles North-North-East from the hotel and they made it there in a little less than an hour. Just as a storm front was moving in from Canada.

Angel and Daisy landed first and Angel took control of Iggy's mind, landing him simply because he was hanging there looking completely miserable.

"Angel, that was creepy, don't do it again!" He said once she'd given him back control over her body.

"How do we find this person, Iggy, how will we know them?"

"I don't know."

"I can see that ... But ... What if there isn't anyone here ... What if-" Angel bit her lip and gave her head a shake. There was no use arguing with him. His mind was set. He'd sooner listen to a tree than to her right now.

"Why are we here? What's going on?" Daisy-David said under her breath.

Angel turned, "I can't tell you right now, but I will soon, I promise."

Daisy nodded and scuffed the toe of one dirty pink sneaker against the ground.

Iggy pressed a hand to his forehead his lip between his teeth, mind racing. He had to find this person ... He had to find this person so he could save Ella ... So he could save the child they'd created.

I'm going to be a dad...

Iggy felt the thought as a physical force. A shock running through his body and settling in his stomach, seeming to boil its contents. He felt sick and the saliva in his mouth became bitterly hot.

Ella may not have loved him in the same way that he loved her, but they'd created a little life between them ... And he would do anything he could to save that life and to save Ella.

That black hole like drawing sensation was still there in the back of Iggy's mind, but it was fading. Ella was dying ... He was loosing his family...

Iggy cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, as loudly as he possibly could, "We're here! I'm here!"

Angel grabbed his arm and yanked it down, hissing at him, "What is your problem!"

Iggy shrugged her off, "I'm here!"

Angel grabbed his arm and pulled it away from his face again, "You're going to get us killed!"

Iggy growled in his throat and started walking forward, heedless of anything that he might run into.

"What's around us?"

"Not much, the whole town is deserted, and I don't say that lightly ... I can like ... Sense people's minds if I look for them, and I'm not getting anything in our immediate vicinity."

Iggy nodded and kept walking. "Tell me if I'm about to run into anything."

"Okay."

They walked for a long while in the rain, Angel telling Iggy to step to the left or right to avoid running into things. It really was hard work, being the leader. You had to have a plan ... Of, which Angel did not. She wasn't even sure who they were looking for. They were just walking around in the rain waiting for something to happen. Meanwhile Iggy's mind was doing that odd thing again. That whirling, black hole thing. Where he seemed to be sucked off into oblivion and not hear anything that was going on...

Angel knew what this black-hole thing was now. It was that connection he had with Ella. And it was through this connection that Iggy had gotten the directions to Laurel Ridge and the knowledge of Ella's true intentions ... And the truth about why Ella had been so frightened the week before...

It all made sense to Angel now, now that she was looking into people's minds again.

She wondered why she had stopped looking for a month ... Why did she stop reading people's minds all of the sudden? And why did she suddenly start again?

Iggy's mind started wandering ... At first hovering over the memories of when he could see then slowly turning to the night Ter Borcht had taken his sight again.

Angel pulled back her powers. Deciding she should leave Iggy alone for a while and let him remember in private. She glanced down at her feet, at Daisy's feet and noticed they were walking in the same pace, left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot.

Angel felt herself smile and she sent Daisy-David a thought, 'You know ... I'm glad you told everyone ... Now we really can be sisters.'

Daisy smiled and took Angel's hand and started humming and dodging mud puddles so her pink shoes wouldn't get any dirtier.

Angel did like being the leader ... But she still had a lot to learn about leading...

Like, 'Never let your guard down in a strange place'...

One minute Angel was walking along, watching her and Daisy-David's feet as they made synchronized left-right-left-right-left-right steps ... The next she was aware of two minds. Two terribly frightened minds right ahead of her.

Angel's hand tightened on Daisy's and she threw her arm out to stop Iggy but the boy didn't stop, he just plowed past her and kept walking, his arms crossed head down, water running off the shaggy tendrils of his red hair, his chin and the tip of his nose.

Angel's eyes went wide when she looked up at the second story window of a building dead ahead.

There was a boy leaning out the window, aiming right down the long barrel of a rifle.

Angel opened her mouth and screamed...

"IGGY!"

She saw his feet give an almost hiccup and is steps faltered his head turning toward her, his body slowing...

And the boy with the gun pulled the trigger.

Angel saw Iggy turn, half of a degree back toward the sound of the shot his blind eyes going wide and his right arm jerked back, spinning him as he fell.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 84; Evolved

Angel screamed and suddenly she found herself unable to move. Her knees were shaking and Daisy was stone still by her side one hand over her mouth the other tight in Angel's.

Iggy hit hard on his side, hand going to his upper right arm and he expelled a pathetic wailing sound, curling his body in on itself until his knees practically touched his chin.

The boy with the gun cocked it again and shouted out the window, "Nobody move or you're next!"

Angel just stood there trembling, forgetting that she could control minds and that Daisy-David could knock people out just by thinking it. The only thing she knew at that moment was, 'I was the leader ... I was supposed to be able to keep him safe!'

Another boy ran out of the building holding a handgun in his left hand, the hood of his dark red sweatshirt pulled up over his head... Something long and gray protruded from the seat of his pants...

Angel's eyes went wide when she realized what this long gray thing was...

The boy had a tail! And not just any kind of tail ... He had a wolf's tail!

This tailed boy ran up to Iggy, the gun shaking in his hands. His lip between his pointed teeth.

"Kill it, KIX! Kill it!" The boy with the rifle screamed.

Angel stared at him, noticing how young these two new people were. The boy in the window couldn't have been any older than her!

But the boy with the tail ... He looked to be about four or five.

Iggy lie there on his side quivering, his right hand clamped tightly over his arm, blood running from between his fingers.

Then the boy with the tail lowered the gun and stripped the hood backward off his head and Angel felt as if she might throw up.

His hair was grayish blonde and he his ears were not human ears, but were those of a wolf ... But there was no mistaking his face ... Angel would never forget Ari's face as long as she lived.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 85; Threat

Max shook her wings, almost sneezing when a cloud of dust came from them... Fang was still asleep, lying curled on the couch under a pile of blankets. He'd refused to sleep on the mattress with her, and she'd almost punched him for it, but restrained herself... Barely...

The near purple blackness of his wings was dull with clumps of dried mud and as Max watched he twitched his left as if it itched.

She strode forward and flattened her hand on his forehead, checking his temperature, gauging it to be slightly elevated ... Warm enough to keep him in bed, but not so bad that she was thinking about stripping him naked and dousing him in cold water.

There was no way they were going to be able to continue the search for Angel, Iggy and Daisy-David now. She only hoped that either Nudge and Aaron, or Allan and Gasman found them because Fang wasn't in the shape to go anywhere but to sleep.

He twitched his wing again and shifted uncomfortably against the couch.

The dried mud was itching him too?

Max wasn't one to deny herself the odd dust bath when her wings got particularly itchy but all this dried mud was driving her crazy. It had dried around and in her feathers and every time she moved her wings it felt like her feathers were being pulled. And that made them itch even more.

"Fang," She put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a little shake, "Come on, step outside and let's shake some of this dirt out, you'll sleep better then."

He made an 'I'm still sleepy' noise and cracked his eyes open, staring up at her for a moment before he begrudgingly climbed to his feet.

"When are we leaving?" His hand went toward his bag but Max spoke before he could grab it.

"We're going to stay here for now. You went and got sick again so we're stuck here," That and she was absolutly SICK of the stupid hotel... Talk about cabin fever...

He winced, "I feel OK ... Just achy, I've flown when I've felt worse."

Max shook her head, "I don't want to risk it ... I'll call Allan's cell phone and tell him what happened."

"How are you going to do that?"

Max shrugged, "I'm going to fly into town and get some food, this place is empty, except for a jar of Pickled Pig's Feet and some bay leaves."

"Pickled Pig's Feet?"

Max wrinkled her nose, "It is an actual pig's feet, I've eaten my share of weird stuff, but that? I honestly thought I was going to blow chunks when I realized it was actually a pig's feet."

Fang gave a visible shiver, "Kind of makes Nudge's sewer rat joke tame, doesn't it?"

Max couldn't help but smile, "Come shake some of that dirt out of your wings, you'll feel better."

Fang stood and stared down at his bare feet a moment, swaying a little. Then he walked stiffly toward the door, all of his usual grace gone.

Max glanced at him from the corner of her eye, her heart aching...

Why hadn't he said anything? Didn't he care? Had it not meant anything to him?

She looked at the ground and let out a sigh, deciding she wasn't going to think about it. If she thought about it she would get sick... She was feeling sick to her stomach anyway... But that could just have been the residual shock from finding the pickled Pig's feet...

The silence was thick, just like the low hanging cloudcover. Thick and ominous...

Max thought she was going to go crazy from the quiet... It was terrible...

Her feelings for Fang had come to a head and now he was ignoring her again... Pretending that nothing had happened...

And it hurt...

Was she nothing more than another girl to him after all? Had she allowed herself to be used?

"Fang?"

He grunted and turned to her, his eyes distant...

She opened her mouth to speak, to ask him why... But nothing would come out... Her heart raced as she looked at him... Remembering the feel of his skin, the heat of him... The sound of his breath in he ear ... The taste of his mouth against hers...

Words failed her in the worst possible way. They had proven inadiquate ... There were were no words to describe what she felt... And no matter how she searched for them anyway, or begged them to come out, the silence remained. So she closed her mouth and looked away, shaking her head. Hoping he would draw whatever conclusion he desired from the sound of her brain rattling in her skull.

He stared at her ear for a moment, his lip between his teeth then he crossed his arms over his chest and looked away...

After a moment, in which the awkwardness solidified, Max cleared her throat and said the first thing that popped into her head.

"You should go back inside and get some sleep, I'm going to go get food."

He nodded, not really hearing or understanding what he'd just agreed to until Max had leap into the air and was flying away.

He stared after her for a second, feeling fear tearing at his insides. Fear and an overwhelming sense of sadness and betrayal...

Why hadn't he said anything? Why was he allowing it to happen like this?

There's a time for every purpose... And this isn't it... You know that...

He shuffled absently back into the cabin and sat heavily on the couch, his head between his hands, alien, uncontrollable emotions rushing and spinning thruogh him...

Everything he'd ever wanted was falling away through his fingers and he was standing there watching it blow away like dust in the wind...

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Max came back about an hour later, her eyes bloodshot and red rimmed, lip between her teeth. She tried to put on a brave smile when she came inside, but Fang could see right through it...

He wanted to go to her... To pull her into his arms, but he didn't... If he did, everything would go up in flames... He had to curl his fingers around his arms to keep from reaching for her.

He hated it... He hated everything he was feeling because he knew it could never happen again...

She made sandwiches and he ate, just so there'd be a reason not to talk and when she started packing he did too... Pulling on his jacket and shoes... Not even bothering to speak or even look at her...

If he did he'd end up doing something stupid...

But he didn't know how long he could keep himself from touching her... Or saying her name... Saying anything so this horrible feeling between them would go away...

He wanted everything to go back to the way it was... But he knew it never could... Not now, not ever...

"Come on, we'll make it back to the hotel by six if we leave now..."

He nodded and followed her in silence. Her emotionless right hand man...

"You're awful quiet," She said as they left the cabin.

He shrugged.

"Not this again..." She looked up at him mournfully. "Fang, please, don't hide from me..."

"I'm not hiding."

"Bull crap... Please, please, just tell me what's wrong..."

"Nothing's wrong," He licked his lips and motioned toward the clouds. "I thought you wanted to leave?"

She stared at him for a minute, tears forming in her eyes. Then she turned and took a running leap, shooting directly into super speed and zooming off into the clouds. Fang followed her, cursing himself, scanning the sky for her, but his eyes felt gritty, not wanting to focus on anything farther than thirty feet away.

It was frightening, suddenly not being able to see anything past thirty feet. The trees looked like a dull gray-brown smear below him. The sky naught but a cold gun metal blue smudge. Something was wrong...

Why couldn't he see right?

"M-MAX!" He hovered, for the first time in his life afraid of the world above the ground... She'd left him, and he didn't know where to go... He couldn't remember any of this landscape. Nothing was familiar. His internal sense of direction was spinning... Making him unbelieveably dizzy...

"MAX!"

He frantically swiped at his eyes, hoping to clear them, but it didn't work.

His heart hammered in his chest. Had she left him? Had she really, honestly left him?

What was he supposed to do now? There was something wrong with his eyes, there was something wrong with him and he was alone.

Why hadn't he just told her why he was staying away? That every time he looked at her he felt the smoothness of her skin, smelled her hair. And thinking of it hurt... Knowing hurt...

He couldn't get her out of his head, she took away all his control. Every time he closed his eyes he saw her face... Heard the sound of her wings-

He wiped at his eyes again, hoping this time that they would work and he realized he really could hear her wings...

"Max?"

He turned around, looking for her and saw her shape materialize out of the fog off to his left...

"What's wrong? I was halfway to the hotel!"

He scrubbed his face again, too frustrated to speak.

"What is it?"

She inched closer and he was able to locate her face.

"There ... There's something in my eyes..."

She squinted at his face, staring at his eyes, but the only thing unusual she could see about them was that the color looked blurred and it was almost as if he couldn't focus on anything...

"It's probably just dust from your wings, ignore it..." She turned to leave again but he called out.

"Don't go..."

"What?" Her nose wrinkled.

What was he playing at. One minute nothing was wrong, the next he was all 'oh, don't leave me, oh!'

She wanted to punch him...

"Please, Max..."

"If there's something you want to say, Fang, then say it. I'm tired of all this. I thought that you actually meant what you said the other night, but I guess I was wrong."

"What?" His eyebrows rose in shock.

She shook her head, "Let's just go, alright?" She wiped at her face, smearing tears that were threatening to fall. She flew away, just fast enough that Fang couldn't get any closer than sixty or so feet and she ground her teeth, wishing she'd just kept flying and left him there... Although she would have regretted it afterward...

It really didn't mean anything to him, did it? It had just been a game...

"Max... Max, stop..."

His voice came to her above the wind and she turned her head, seeing him decending quite fast toward a parking lot, the same parking lot where hours ago she'd stollen food and supplies from a pharmacy.

She watched him land and he stumbled, almost pitching forward onto his face. She landed beside him, considerably more graceful... and put a hand on his arm. "Are you OK?"

He shook his head and plopped down heavly on the curb his head in his hands.

"I meant every word I said the other night, Max. You know that."

She stared at him for a moment before she spoke, "Then why have you been ignoring me again, huh? If you love me so much then why have you been ignoring me?"

And when he looked up at her Max felt her anger beginning to fade, but she crossed her arms over her chest, trying to hold it in. She should be mad at him... Not wanting to pull him into her arms.

"Because it just happened so fast, okay? I mean, we went from friends to ... to THAT in one night!" He rubbed his eyes again, grinding his teeth.

"You didn't seem to care then... And it was considerably shorter than one night, Fang... If I remember correctly IT was only about thiry seconds!"

He scowled up at her, visibly hurt. "Fine... All hail Fang and his ability to last thirty seconds!" He threw up his hands and pursed his lips tightly together, a bright reddish color rising to his cheeks. "But, my God, Max, don't you understand what we did?"

"More so than you apparently!"

He didn't seem to be angry, in fact, to Max, he seemed to be more... hurt and sad than anything else, as if she'd broken his heart...

"Fang, do YOU understand what we did? Do you understand that WE made a decision? WE chose ... Do you understand that there is actually a WE now?"

"Yes!" He hissed between his teeth, a forlorn expression coming over his face. "Yes, I understand that... And I understand that WE didn't use any protection, Max, okay? I understand that the world is ending and I could have just knocked up its only chance of surviving!"

And his words hit her like a blow to the stomach... Along with a distant roll of thunder...

"How the hell are you supposed to save the world if you're pregnant, Max? I can't live with the idea that not only could I have cost you your life but the life of a baby, okay? Now do you understand? I can't think of 'US' because when I do ... Jesus, Max ... 'WE' could have condemned the world to oblivion!" He raked a hand through his hair and continued speaking, his voice shaking, his eyes telling her that he hated saying the words.

"Max, I love you, alright? I love you, but there can't BE a 'WE' right now... 'WE' need to save the world... 'WE' can't be worrying about things like this, okay?" He paused taking a deep breath, and spoke as if he were trying to convince himself of it also. "Sometimes... Sometimes there are more important things than love..."

She stared at him... Hurt. But at the same time knowing that he was right.

The idea of fighting for the world's survival with a huge pregnant belly made her sick. She couldn't bear the thought of possibly harming an innocent baby. She couldn't handle it...

But, how could there be anything more important than love? Love was the only thing she could think of that was important enough to fight for...

She wiped her eyes and after forcing herself to choke down her tears and protests, she nodded. "You're right..."

And he flinched...

A cold shard of ice started to build in Max's chest and she wished it would hurry up and stab her heart so it wouldn't hurt so much...

Fang let out a sigh and laid his hand on her leg, looking up at her apologetically. "Max-"

She shrugged him off. "There's a sporting goods store two doors down."

He stared after her... Feeling a cold hollow sensation enveloping him, and slowly, he climbed to his feet, dusting off his behind. Knowing that he'd done it... He'd told her why he was worried... And now he wished he'd just kept his stupid mouth shut...

"What do you need with 'sporting goods', Max?"

Max turned and looked at him solemnly "I need you to teach me to use a gun."

Fang stopped beside her, itching to take her hand... "You want to use a gun? Since when do you allow guns?"

"Since I saw how a Wizard catches its prey. You can't kick a Wizard to death when it's thirty feet from you. But it can grab you with that tongue, and by the time you're close enough to kick it, it's already bitten you."

Fang nodded, "You still don't like guns, do you."

"No, I don't. You don't have to be brave to use a gun, you just have to be able to lift it."

Fang stopped her before they got to the sporting goods store, still feeling cold and hollow, and pointed into the seemingly untouched store between it and the pharmacy. "That right there seems more 'Maxish' than any gun."

Max didn't even look, "Fang, I need a gun," She walked to the sporting goods store and peered inside, realizing too late that the store had already been emptied, leaving only a few stray shells and nothing else. "Well, this SUCKS!" She kicked the door and crossed her arms over her chest, feeling rage bubble in her chest... Nothing was ever easy, was it...

She heard glass shatter and her head whipped to the right staring at Fang. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"

He had picked up a sand filled ashtray and thrown it through the front door of the untouched store. "Just trust me," Was all he said before he disappeared inside.

Max couldn't believe it. What was he expecting to find in there? It was a junk store! A flea market! They sold secondhand clothing and badly made tablecloths!

After a few seconds Fang stuck his head out the door, "Come on, you'll like it, I promise."

Max rolled her eyes. The only thing she would like at this moment was to cry and tell Fang that right now she didn't want to save the world. All she wanted was him... And possibly some chocolate, but that was beside the point.

She heard the glass crunching beneath her shoes and she walked to him her arms crossed over her chest so she wasn't tempted to touch him. "What am I going to like?"

Fang was standing over a glass case. He pressed the tip of one finger against the glass and looked over his shoulder grinning. "This is definitely your style."

Max stared down into the case with a sigh. "It isn't very practical ... I mean, a gun is going to do more damage at a greater distance than that."

"Yeah, but you have to have guts to use this ... And you've got guts, I know that for a fact. Any teenaged girl who can take on the responsibility of saving the world has either got guts or the crazies ... With you, it's both, but, yeah."

Max wiped at her eyes, "You're crazy, you pig ... Finding weapons in flea markets..."

He shrugged and tried not to look at her. Forcing himself to focus on the task at hand and forget his feelings. Forget they even existed... Which was harder than anything he'd ever done...

"Were there any guns in the other store?"

Max shook her head.

"Then this is the best option we've got for the moment."

Max shook her head and walked around the counter, sliding open the little door on the back and taking out the sword. She stared at it for a minute. Feeling absurd. "What kind of sword is it, Oh, Great Fang?"

Fang took hold of the tag and stared at it, "Well ... It says that it's full tang."

Max giggled.

"Shut up," He felt himself grin, "Tang means-"

Max giggled again.

"Shut up or you'll make me laugh!" He glared at her and cleared his throat, "It means the metal the blade is made of goes all the way to the end of the hilt."

Max pulled the sword out of its sheathe, "It isn't even sharp."

"Well, we'll find a way to sharpen it then ... There, hand me that one," He pointed to another sword at the very front of the case. "They may turn out to be junk, but I'd rather be armed with junk than nothing," He wiped his sleeve across his forehead, for the first time noticing the sweat dripping into his face.

Max pulled this sword out also and handed it over. "You feeling OK?"

He nodded, "I'll be alright," He took the sword from her and gave his head a shake. "I'm just tired... Are you ready?"

Max shook her head and quickly turned, jerking a blanket off a nearby shelf and spreading it out on the counter. "I'm taking a few more of these, so we'll all have one," And she started going through the swords. Testing their weight and inspecting them before making a decision on weather or not she liked it. "You ... You lay down somewhere and rest, OK? I'll wake you up when I'm ready to go."

Fang, sighed and planted himself in the corner on top of a stack of 'hand made' quilts his head on the pillow of his right arm. Feeling the beginnings of another headache building behind his eyes.

For a few moments a harsh ringing invaded his senses and he felt crazy because of the shrill sound of it and then-

"Fang? Fang, put this on, you're shivering."

He opened his eyes just in time to see Max kneel before him holding something black with a hole in it. She shoved it over his head and helped him get his arms into the sleeves.

"I already cut slits in the back, so don't worry."

He glanced down beside him, squinting because the ringing sound made his eyes water, and noticed a large bundle of what he guessed to be swords and knives. "Jeez, you're done quick."

"Quick? We've been here for two-and-a-half hours! No, don't look at me like that, just lay back down and get some rest. Do you feel OK?"

He nodded, "Yeah, it just got cold all the sudden, didn't it..." He wrapped his arms around his middle, feeling the bite of the cold for the first time.

Max hesitated then sighed and leaned her back against the wall beside him. "Just rest for now. I want to leave soon."

He nodded and rested his head on his arm again.

"Max?"

She turned and looked up at him again, "Yeah?"

He still looked exhausted but his color was returning, "Are you OK?"

She nodded, "Just worried about you..."

He smiled, "Worried about me?"

"You over did yourself, you need to rest, go back to sleep."

He shifted his head against his arm and was quiet for a few minutes, just looking up at her mournfully.

"Max?"

"Fang."

He hesitated, wanting to tell her that as soon as the world was safe he'd be happy with the 'we' arangement, but thunder rolled from outside and he glanced toward the entrance. Trying to block out that intolerable ringing noise, and noticed that it had started raining quite heavily again. He thought he saw something move, like a shadow, but before he could say anything, his eyes closed, his body went limp, and for a while he had only dreams to talk to...

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

(NOTE! Okay, I'm posting the rest of PART 4 today because I feel like it. AND, it makes more sense if I just get it out there because there a LOT of answers in these few chapters... I hope you enjoy it! READ AND REVIEW OR ELSE!)

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 86; Resurrections and Insurrections

Angel couldn't stop staring at him. It was Ari ... It was his face ... But he was so different ... He had a TAIL and EARS!

He cocked his head to the side and turned toward her a rather curious expression on his face. Then slowly ... Ever so slowly, he extended his wings ... His gray, white and dark blonde wings.

Angel moved just as slow, scanning his mind but finding nothing that she'd found in the real Ari's mind... No unhealthy desire for Max ... No jealousy...

This Ari was different in more ways that just his appearance. This Ari didn't know who she was ... Didn't really know who he was, except for the fact the boy called him 'KIX' and that this boy had saved his life...

Angel put out her own wings and gave them a little shake.

The new Ari smiled and flipped the little switch on the side of his gun, turning the little arrow to the 'locked' position. He waved a hand over his head at the boy in the window and the rifle was removed.

The boy in the window shouted down, "Is he gonna hurt us? Is he sick?"

This new, younger Ari dropped to his knees beside Iggy, "Are you OK?" He had a sweet voice ... But not sickly sweet as an Eraser ... It was just ... Sweet.

Iggy recognized the boy's voice and tried to draw away from him, tried to shove the boy away but he couldn't move his right arm, and the pain was so intense, stabbing up into his jaw and down to his thumb, he didn't want to move period.

"Where'd you come from? I thought you were dead!"

Those small, furry hands tangled in his shirt, "Wait ... You know who I am?" Fear and joy bubbled in his voice, making it tremble.

Angel watched his ears perk up, just like Total's.

Iggy ground his teeth, "Yes, I know who you are ... You tried to kill me a hundred different times ... But you're dead ... You died in Max's arms..." He felt the boy's hands tremble.

"What? Who is Max? What do you mean I DIED! Who am I?"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Pain ... Cold ... Bright lights hovering overhead...

An ache in her chest and stomach, growing stronger with every beat of her heart...

I'm alive ... Don't leave me ... Please, don't leave me...

Machines beeped and spluttered, faces loomed out of the brightness above her, eyes hidden deep in blue masks...

Gloved hands poked and prodded her stomach, her arms and legs, her neck...

"We've got a pulse!" A woman's voice...

More faces ... Machines screaming...

"Hey, we've got a pulse over here!" A man's voice... Shocked.

"This is incredible ... I've never seen anything like it!" A familiar woman's voice. "Are we stable? Are they stable?"

It was quiet for a few seconds, only the whirring machines.

"Stable..." The first woman again.

"We're stable!" The man's voice, shocked, jubilant...

"Okay ... I want this documented, I want everything that just happened to be documented, alright? NOBODY leaves until we figure out what just happened!"

"What about Subject Seven B? He's just received a Purge, they don't know if he's going to make it."

"I don't care about him right now... I want THIS figured out... I want to know WHY HE came back, he was NOT given a Rez-15. Figure this OUT!"

The Director's face swam into view above her and then there was only a smothering blackness.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Max opened her eyes slowly, taking in each sense as it came to her.

She could smell the slight mustiness of the blankets that Fang was lying on ... She could feel the chill from the outside air... And she could hear something... But what was it?

Fang pried his eyes open, noting that it took considerable effort and he blinked around, gazing into Max's face helplessly. Feeling like his eyes were trying to pop from his head. He opened his mouth to speak but something stopped him. The look in her eyes...

She could smell something.

And so could he...

It was odd, he thought, that suddenly he could smell something that shouldn't be there. Something wet, like a dog, and yet slimy smelling, like stagnant water... or frogs.

He felt overwhelmingly tired... The ache in his back from his kidneys had reached an unbearable appex and he wanted to roll over and scream about it but was able to restrain himself, simply because that's what he'd been taught to do. Even if he was in pain, when he sensed someone that shouldn't be there, he went still and quiet.

He wanted to move, wanted to U and A, but he stayed still, partially because of the pain, and partially because he didn't think he had the strength to move. Everything felt so terribly... Odd. Like a mild version of sleep apnia... Where it felt like he wasn't breathing and he couldn't move at all... Only, this just felt like he was sinking deeper into himself... It was a relief, but somehow he knew it wasn't the good kind of relief... Something was telling him it was bad...

He supposed it was Max... Her feelings were being superimposed over his own since at the moment all he felt was sick... Very sick.

He was useless if he was in a lot of pain. He wouldn't scream and shout like other people when he was hurting... He usually got very quiet and tried to hide it... Tried to get away so he could be alone and lick his wounds so to speak... So nobody else would have to worry about him. But this was different. He didn't want to be alone this time... Something about this feeling made him want to pull Max close, even as it drained all his strength... and because of it he wasn't sure if he could get away if Max suddenly told him to run.

He stared up at her pleadingly, wishing he could speak... He wished he could talk, wished he could project his thoughts into her mind like Jeb had ... Wishing he could move or do something without that THING knowing. He wished he knew what the hell was so close to them so he could figure out how to kill it!

Then he heard a small sound, like a cloth something falling to the floor and his eyes flicked toward the opposite corner, near the door. And the hackles on his neck stood on end.

He saw a thin, long black thing protruding into the room through the broken door and his arms went up, grabbing Max and there was a sharp sound. A little 'POP' and something slammed into his forearm. Stinging him.

Max made a surprised, terrified sound and threw herself over him, barely half a second before there was another 'POP'and Fang saw a little red flower blossom on Max's left shoulder.

She stared at it shocked, her eyebrows up.

Fang wanted to scream, to throw himself over her and protect her, but he just couldn't move... All his strength was fading faster now and he noticed a similar red flower protruding from his own arm...

Darts... Tranquilizer darts...That's funny...

Max reached up and plucked the flower from her shoulder, staring at it slightly bemused.

Her fingers slipped on the dart and she dropped it, sinking onto her stomach staring Fang in the face still quite surprised.

Fang wondered if maybe, just maybe it was a good thing that he couldn't move... Because if he had been able to move, when Ter Borcht crunched over the broken glass and walked into his line of sight he would have literally torn the man to shreds with his bare hands.

"Vhy are you just lying zair? Zat dart did not hev enouv trankvillizer in it to e-feckt you ... Get up ... I vant to see how vell you are doing."

I can't get up you screwy old man... You tranked me...

"Number Seven, I vas speaking to you..."

You ken speak all you vant! No amount of talking is going to make me un-paralyzed!

Ter Borcht strode forward and bent over him, grasping him by the arm and giving him a shake.

"Vat is wrong vis you?" He put a hand to Fang's face and lowered him back to the stack of quilts turned mattress. His glassy eyes widening.

"What's going on? I thought there was only enough juice in those things to knock her out?" Max Two bent down staring, "He stinks ... What's going on?" She nudged Fang with her foot surprised when he didn't react. "What's up with him? Is he dead?"

Get away from him! Max snarled in her head, you get away from him!

She wanted to hurt something. Wanted to kick ass...

She was mad... More than just angry mad, she was crazy mad too. These Whitecoat freaks wouldn't leave her alone would they! Would she actually have to demean herself and kill one of them to make them stop?

And as she thought this she felt a horrible, chilling fear rush over her... And she realized it wasn't her own fear...

It was Fang's...

He was absolutely petrified...

Max raised her eyes, staring at him and her stomach bubbled. She recognized that fear... That was the kind of fear she saw in the eyes of wild animals caught in hunters' traps... It was the kind of fear that made rabbits run into traffic, and birds to fly into windows when they were trapped in houses...

It was the kind of fear that got you killed...

Concentrate... She told herself, concentrate ... Focus...

She had to let him know she was OK. She had to let him know something ... She had to do SOMETHING. Freaking out would do them absolutely no good. And considering Fang's curent condition, it could hurt him dearly...

She focused all her strength into isolating that connection ... That little part of herself that would forever be in tune with Fang. She had to somehow communicate with him...

But ... She didn't actually believe that she'd be able to do it...

It felt like she was squeezing through a little door in her head. Like searching frantically for a single tidbit of information and then suddenly, inexplicably finding it amid the clutter.

And then a whole other world was opened to her ... A world that was, at the moment, over run with fear, anger and a screaming voice

GET AWAY FROM HER! DON'T TOUCH HER YOU SICK FREAK! GET AWAY!!

Fang?

His eyes squeezed closed tightly and all thought abruptly stopped. Cut off by an explosive stab of pain that shot through their heads, seeming to blow each cell apart in fiery agony. But Max went on anyway, forced herself to do it, knowing all the while what she was doing to him because years ago Jeb had done it to her...

But this time it was worse because Fang couldn't do what she'd done... He couldn't grab his head and hold the two pieces of his brain together ... He couldn't scream, or curl into a ball and cry ... All he could do was lie there and take it and pray it didn't kill him... Or did, and just did it quickly so the pain would stop.

Max closed her eyes wishing she could somehow make it end, but she had to do it ... She had to let him know...

Fang, we're going to get through this ...I promise.

His eyes came open and he stared at her and Max felt something new ... Something hot building in her chest, a pressure, fighting to get out but being smashed behind his ribs... Choking her...

And as she watched Fang's eyes seemed to swirl, the dark blue turning for a moment black ... spinning, as if his pupil had just swallowed all the color and then his eyes fluttered closed and his mind went terribly, terribly blank...

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 87; Solidarity

Max screamed for him in her head, using this new connection, using her Voice, the Voice she'd put in his head, trying to rouse him but he wouldn't wake up... The stubbon jackass... He always had to make things diffucult didn't he...

Ter Borcht pressed two fingers to the side of Fang's neck then quickly bundled one of the quilts around him and scooped him effortlessly, almost tenderly, into his hairy arms.

Max looked up at her clone, at Max Two in disgust, wishing she could move so she could kill ... herself ... Max Two ... But she couldn't. Part of her was glad because she didn't want to sully her soul with Max Two's death...

The girl knelt down, glancing over her shoulder to make sure Ter Borcht wasn't within hearing range, then she did something unforgivable.

"Listen very closely ... I know you can hear me ... I know how to stop them."

Max's throat tightened and for a moment she couldn't breathe.

"I know how to stop the Immaculae and if you can help me, I'll help you."

Max stared up at this version of herself. Max Two had changed a little. Her hair was much longer than Max's, her ears were pierced, eyebrows perfectly plucked, makeup flawless... And she was wearing a necklace ... What looked like a remote control for a garage door.

"Look, blink once for yes, twice for no, got it?"

Max blinked once.

Max Two glanced back over her shoulder then turned to Max. "All they want is their mommy ... If you win the fight and become their mommy they're harmless. Right now, their mommy is named Belladonna... She's crazy weird, but she can't stay in the air for very long... She has to breath water every so often or she dries out..."

Max cocked a mental eyebrow. How could someone dry out?

"They'll do anything for mommy. Even kill themselves, but you have to have the right voice codes to turn off their programing or they'll keep hunting their quarry until they kill them and-"

Ter Borcht walked back into the room and bent, scooping Max up and carrying her out the door, lying her in a hammock like net stretched between two Wizard's brooms.

It was a very uncomfortable ride. The wind was cold, biting through her sweatshirt and she was practically on top of Fang, who was still limp and dead looking as ever.

Max didn't know how long they flew. She just kept her ear to Fang's chest, listening to his heart beating and his labored breath.

She was getting a terrible ache in her leg and she tentatively tried to move it, surprised when she found, with some effort, that she could.

The tranquilizer was wearing off. But she didn't let on, instead, she elected to remain limp, lying there, her head on Fang's chest listening to his heart and breathing, assuring herself he was alive.

She realized, not long after, that they were starting to descend, and Max saw a dark building looming up at her over Fang's shoulder.

It was, what looked like an old factory, with two large smokestacks issuing foul smelling smoke into the air and a building the size of an airport hangar. There were numerous little buildings surrounding this bigger one and Max saw an area of green under a glass dome ... And inside she saw little figures moving ... New experiments.

Ter Borcht and Max Two landed them inside the airport hangar building and Ter Borcht started barking orders to two younger looking doctors that came rushing up.

"Get him up to Exam, I vunt a full battery of blood tests ... I vunt to know vat is wrong vis him, und vhy he haz not yet developed."

Fang ... If you can hear me, don't fight them until I tell you to, please, please don't fight them until I tell you to.

She wasn't sure if he could hear her or not but blinding pain lanced through her head telling her she'd just given him another brain explosion, even if he couldn't hear her.

The two young doctors rushed over and one rolled her away from Fang while the other dragged over a gurney and lifted him onto it, but she couldn't see where they took him...

Max felt the new doctor, a female give her a little shake, "Hey, can you hear me? Borcht, I think something's wrong with the female, her heart rate is elevated and she's in respiratory distress."

"No, zat iz normal for zem. But zee trankvillizer is vearing off ... If you do not inject her vis more she vill attack you."

The young doctor rocked back on her heels and stood, staring down at Max in horror. She fished a vial and syringe from her pocket and filled it her hands shaking.

"I'll do it," Max Two said in a rather annoyed voice, "I'm not scared of her."

The young doctor handed over the syringe, "I'm just an intern, I didn't think we would actually be handling experiments solo, this early in the program."

Max two shrugged and bent making sure to catch Max's attention when she squirted all of the tranquilizer out onto the ground then pricked her arm with the empty needle.

"There, just be sure to get her in her cage before they bring the other one in, if she sees him in distress she'll go really crazy."

The young female doctor nodded and with Max Two's help they got Max onto a gurney.

Max lie there wondering why Max Two was helping her, and trying to be 'unconscious' which wasn't that hard considering she'd stopped her own heart once to get out of an isolation tank.

"So you're the director's daughter?" The young doctor said.

Max Two smiled, "Yeah ... I wouldn't be around without this place."

"So that's why..." The young doctor glanced down at Max with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah, you know how clones are."

Yeah, I do... Max thought, they're very unpredictable. One minute they're trying to kill you, the next they're helping you. Who knew?

"So you're part avian?" The woman smiled.

"No," Max Two lied, "I'm all human."

"Do you work with your mother?"

Max Two shook her head, "Not usually, Mom just needed my help for a few days, while her secretary is off with the flu."

Max mentally rolled her eyes. She wanted to lunge off the gurney, crack these two numbskulls heads together and go save Fang... But just as she was thinking it the female doctor's beeper started screaming. "They're starting the reanimation already? Jeez, I didn't think they were going to do that until tomorrow..." She shook her head, pushed the gurney onto an elevator and walked away.

"Don't move..." Max Two whispered from the corner of her mouth. She played with the little remote around her neck. "You have to remember this, OK? The parking garage is level two ... The red button sets off the alarm, the green one unlocks the doors the blue one locks the doors, got it? Keys are in the ignition."

Max blinked once.

Max Two moved to the left, bending and fiddling with something on the underside of the gurney, and when she raised up she slipped an identical remote right into Max's hand.

"Why are you doing this?" Max breathed, barely loud enough to be heard, even with super sensitive ears.

"Because despite what you may think, we're on the same side... I don't want the world to end any more than you do... Just promise me one thing, when you get out of here ... You'll let me kill 'Mom'."

Max tightened her hand on the little remote.

"You might not be able to kill, Max, but I can ... And I want to see the look in her eyes when I choke the life out of her."

"Why?"

"For killing my best friend ... For letting Ari expire."

Max's throat tightened but she didn't nod. Didn't agree to anything simply because she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she did. Even for the likes of the Director.

The Elevator stopped and Max Two wheeled the gurney down a long hallway, "You'll have to get in the cage, I'm sorry, but I can't get you out of that."

Max slipped off the edge of the gurney and stared into the dog crate sickened. Then she sat her jaw and climbed inside. Wishing she were anywhere but here ... Back in a dog crate.

"Where's Fang?"

Max Two bent and looked into the cage, "I'll find him, I'm really sorry about all of this. I tried to delay it as long as possible but when you beat Omega up Mom got so pissed ... And when you let her live ... I mean, I thought she'd be glad, but she wanted you to kill her ... She wanted to know she'd created something that could kill. Something that was greater than humans."

Max didn't blink, "That's why I had to let her live. To show her that she may have created me, but she didn't own me."

Max Two nodded, "Well, that's where we're different ... I know she owns me," And she stood, pushing the gurney out of the room.

Max heard the door shut and for a long time she was completely alone, feeling that odd thrumming that was Fang's mind behind her eyes. She closed her eyes and focused on this sensation...

He was lying on his side ... It was like she could see out of his head...

He was lying on his side and a Whitecoat was putting an IV in his right arm.

Max could hear voices, as if they were under water.

"What did the tests say?"

"It isn't good ... His organs are shutting down... He's in renal failure, but we're trying to get his kidneys working on full capacity again, major infusions of fluids... He's severely dehydrated and his body seems to be generating three different kinds of G-inhibitors."

Ter Borcht came into Fang's line of sight and jerked the papers from the seemingly faceless doctor. "Zees should not be here, vair did zay come from?"

"Doctor we've identified one of the undocumented G-inhibitors ... You're never going to believe where it came from," Another female Whitecoat appeared this one carrying two different files.

Ter Borcht took the files and stared at them a moment his eyes bulging out of their sockets. "How did Number Six's G-inhibitor get into him?"

Number six? Wait ... I'm number six... Max thought. How did her G-inhibitor ... Whatever that was ... Get into Fang's body?

The blood transfusion ... Iggy and I gave him blood, that's how it happened ... I saved his life only to kill him!

"Zay must have had blood to blood contact ... Didn't zee Director say zat he had a transfusion, three years ago?"

The female doctor flipped through his file, "Yes ... Apparently Number Six AND Number Eight took part in that ... What do we do? How do we proceed?"

Ter Borcht looked solemn for a moment and Max feared he would say to 'expire' him or something.

"We can't start over, he's unique, and the fact his DNA has been compromised-"

Ter Borcht turned to her and growled, baring his pointed teeth, "His DNA vus compromised from zee day he vus born! Don't you see zat? He iz unstable, und has been from day vun! I told her, I told her to let me get rid of him before his abilities developed, but she vouldn't listen to me, und now look vat has happened!"

Abilities?

Max felt herself trembling as she listened through Fang's head...

"Hiz mozer vas bad enough on her own, but HIM! He vill be tvice as bad! HIS MOZER killed forty people, my brozer included und SHE let her live, she let her ESCAPE!" Ter Borcht's face was darkening, like a rain cloud And Max wondered if Fang was even conscious to hear it.

"I say let him die like zee ozer vun, und be done vis it!"

A door slammed and Max jerked her head, opening her eyes but the room she was in was still empty. She shut her eyes tightly again and found Fang's mind.

The director was kneeling before him, looking tenderly into his eyes, stroking the side of his face. Ter Borcht was gone. "You're going to be OK ... I'm going to make everything OK again ... Just lie very still ... This might hurt a little bit."

Max watched in shocked silence as the director stood and backed up a few paces, still smiling. More Whitecoats came into view and Max felt Fang's anger building like a hot pressure in her chest ... She felt her own anger feeding it...

Something stabbed into his back ... Something hot, digging deeper and deeper, but Fang couldn't move, couldn't even scream ... All he could do was lie there and let it happen.

Somewhere, near the very back of his mind he thought he heard someone screaming ... Someone that sounded so much like Max it scared him...

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

(HINT!! Why was Ter Borcht saying that Fang's DNA had been compromised? If Fang's so special why does he want Fang dead? Or was he talking about Fang at all?)

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 88; Not Alone in My Head

Max woke up sometime later to voices. She pried her eyes open and saw feet standing very close to her cage. And a dangling sheet turned hammock, which looked to have a body in it.

A million things assaulted her senses. The smell of antiseptic, sweat and sickness. Lingering tendrils of fear wrapped around her heart ... And an excruciating pain in Fang's head ... In his whole body...

Fang?

The person in the sheet jerked and made a short pathetic sound, somewhere between a gasp and a scream.

Max grabbed her own head and she realized the person in the sheet just outside her cage was Fang. Her stomach bubbled.

"How is he?" The Director's voice.

"We can't get his temperature down ... It just skyrocketed after we injected him with the Purge ... He's already had two seizures from it ... If we don't get him cooled down soon there will be irreversible brain damage."

"Pack him in ice," The director again.

"We've done that three times and there's no effect, he just melts the ice. His body is still treating the serums like a virus. If this fever doesn't break his new abilities won't be able to develop and he'll ... He'll end up being cooked from the inside out by the heat."

Max hooked her fingers through the bars of her cage and noticed a bandage on the inside of her arm. Someone had drawn blood from her. She ground her teeth and peered out, trying to get a look at Fang, trying somehow to comfort him, but all she could see was that sheet.

The Director sighed, "If he dies we can always clone him..."

"But cloning of males has been unsuccessful."

Another Whitecoat chimed in; "Actually, they say they've worked out the kinks... Something about a-"

"I don't care!" The director rubbed her forehead, "Move him to an isolation tank, we don't-"

Max glared up at the woman and before she could stop herself she'd spoken, "NO!"

Everything was quiet, except for the noises faint Fang was making.

The Director crouched down and glared in at Max, "Excuse me?"

"Don't move him ... He did this before, please, I can help him, just don't move him!" Why in the name of all that was winged was she doing this? She hadn't done something this spur of the moment, this radical since she'd ... Since she had done what she did at the hotel...

The Director's eyebrows drew down, "He's done this before?"

Max nodded, feeling ashamed, "He did something like it a few nights ago, let me help him."

The woman seemed to have a brief, internal struggle, but she relented, pulled a key from her pocket and unlocked the door to Max's cage. "If you can help him then do it, because we've tried everything."

Max crawled out slowly ... Unsure if it was some kind of trap or if it was real... She could bolt... She could run and escape right now and there would be nothing the Whitecoats could do about it... But, then again, if she DID... She would have to leave Fang... And from what she guessed, based on the noises he was making, he was in no condition to do ANYTHING.

She stood, stretching sore, cramped muscles and peered over the edge of the sheet, fearful of what she might see, but knowing that if she didn't look she would somehow be betraying herself and him.

She HAD to, because sometimes fear was worse than the truth.

His hair was plastered to his flushed face and every inch of his skin, save the two bright red places on his cheeks was a gray waxy color and shimmering with sweat. Max could tell he was naked, but they'd covered him in a sheet and he'd managed to tangle himself in it.

One wing was out, lying limply behind him, some of the gloriously long black feathers crimped and broken from his thrashing. His left wing was trapped beneath him and Max knew that it couldn't be good for it. He may be healed but that wing would never truly be the same.

She stood there trembling and staring down at him, thinking that he looked like some poor dying little bird and she cursed herself, biting her tongue for thinking such a thing.

Dropping to her knees beside him she put one hand on his bare chest, the other on the side of his face, wiping away sweat from around his eyes with her thumb.

The heat from him was exquisite. Max nearly jerked her hand away because of it, but forced herself to remain in contact with him. Hoping her cooler hands would bring him some sort of relief.

"Fang..." She whispered, "Fang, you need to wake up, understand? You've gotta wake up now!"

But he wouldn't.

Not because he didn't want to, but simply because he couldn't...

The sickness that had infected him, that had plagued him for the past two months in growing intensity had reached its crisis and now... Now, there was no going back... He was no longer sick...

Fang was dying...

The smell of it clung to him like a cologne and Max almost gagged.

"Is there a bathtub around here ... Or a shower?" Her voice sounded strained, near hysterics, but she forced herself to remain calm... She had to be calm... She just HAD to. She couldn't comprehend anything else...

"There's a shower in Seven-G..." One of the Intern Whitecoats said from behind her and Max looked up.

"Okay ... Can you get him to that shower?"

The Whitecoats seemed to move as one, catching the edges of the sheet and picking him up, carrying him in a sort of sick procession down the hall, the Director trailing behind carrying the two IV bags above her head.

Max didn't have time to think how funny it was that the Whitecoats were taking orders from an experiment. At the moment she couldn't even consider breaking out one of the windows she passed and escaping. The only thing she could think of was getting to that shower. Getting Fang's temperature down so they could escape TOGETHER.

She wouldn't leave him when he was so sick... When he had no way of defending himself.

A shower wasn't exactly what Max found in Seven-G. What was actually there was a wall of showers spaced about four feet apart down the length of about twenty feet.

"Anything that can be ripped out needs to either be taken out or taped down," Max walked forward and angled one showerhead to point straight down, glad that it didn't break off in her hand when she forced the rust flaked pipe to bend.

The Intern-Whitecoats nodded and lowered him to the ground. Then started wrapping tape up his arms in bands spaced about three inches apart, all the way to his shoulders, so he wouldn't be able to jerk the IV wires out of place.

Max ground her teeth and yanked off her jacket and jeans, balling them together and throwing them out of the way so they wouldn't get wet ... And the little remote Max Two had given her wouldn't get soaked.

She slid down the wall, trying not to make a big deal out of the fact she was standing there in a T-shirt and panties. At the moment it mattered very little. She positioned herself, sitting under the showerhead and made 'come here' motions with both hands, "Bring him to me."

She was terrified. Staring, feeling her stomach tighten when she realized how limp he was as the Intern Whitecoats carried him toward her. Like a doll... All his joints unhinged... His head flopped back on his neck, his lips parted. There was no strength in his body now... Just pain and terrible, murdering illness... It was sick... Utterly and completely sick to look at, but she couldn't turn away. She wouldn't let herself.

This was Fang! Even though it hurt and scared her to see him so dead looking, she had to help him, had to protect him when he couldn't do it himself because she knew he would do the same for her... No matter what...

When she and Allan had forced Fang into a cool bath at the hotel he'd gone into hysterics, splashing about and cursing ... They'd had to hold still until he calmed down enough to realize it was only to help him...

But this time ... This time was worse, at least before he'd responded to her ... He'd been somewhat aware, forcing himself to sit still when she told him to. Trusting HER above his own instincts... But now? Right now Fang wasn't there... His mind and spirit were somewhere else. Everything she loved about him was somewhere else, hovering between life and death. And to bring it back ... To bring HIM back, she had to bring that fever DOWN.

Max felt like she'd just wrapped her arms around a furnace and the smell of sickness was almost overwhelming. But she couldn't let him go. She couldn't let the last good thing she had, Fang's love, be stripped from her. She would NOT allow it...

She readied herself, throwing her right leg over both of his own so he wouldn't be able to kick and hurt himself, then locked her arms around his shoulders, holding his wings closed and supporting his head.

She braced herself and nodded to the man standing by the door her heart pounding in fear.

The man flipped a switch and the shower gurgled ominously and spat cold water down on them.

Fang's whole body arched upward, his mouth coming open in a wide 'O', breath hissing as it was sucked in... and he wailed...

A soul tearing, haunting sound that made everyone in the room step backward in fear. The director included...

Max ground her teeth against the pain, both hers and Fang's. All she could do was squeeze him while he thrashed and listen to him scream, or make shushing sounds into his ear and hope he heard her. Hoped he believed her when she said it was going to be OK, even though she wasn't sure if she believed it herself.

The water coursed over them, running down his chest like a little river, over the scars on his stomach and under the sheet tangled around his waist.

Max invisioned all the sickness, all the pain and fear being washed away with that water, washed away down the drain. Cleansing him... Cleansing them both...

She pled with him, begging him to fight. To stay with her because she loved him... Because she'd found a reason to save the world... And he was it. Every part of him...

His silence ... His arrogance ... His stubborn nature... Even the things that drove her crazy because they were all parts of him. All parts of what made him Fang.

She opened her eyes and for a moment she was not sitting there in Seven-G under a cold shower fighting for Fang's life... The world flashed before her as it had not so long ago when she'd been flying away from the Wizards, the night Jeb died...

She heard her own breath, her own heartbeat, and Fang's... But there was something else... There was something in the whiteness this time... She could see figures moving along within it... Throughout it... Part of it...

Who these figures were was a mystery, but their meaning was the same... To her anyway... They all seemed to be moving toward the same spot... The same point on the horizon and as the whiteness faded the first thing Max saw was that odd round silver medalion Father Donovan had given Fang, lying within the stream of water flowing over his chest...

Come back, Fang... Come back...

Time lost all meaning, her world narrowed down to him ... To simply keeping him alive and ignoring everything she was feeling. Ignroing his screams and how he fought... She had to stay put, no matter how hard it was, she had to stay put, she had to keep him still ... She had to protect him... Even when his body suddenly gave a series of violent bone breaking jerks and his howling was reduced to gasps.

She was vaguely aware of one of the Whitecoats shouting, 'He's seizing!' but she didn't pay any attention to it. She couldn't let him go for anything...

And then he went still. His head falling back against her arm his lips parted...

For a moment the pain ended and all Max could feel was his breathing ... Those shallow wrenching breaths he took between weak shudders. She tucked his head under her chin, petting his cheek and whispering into the wet hair on his head. She wasn't really sure what she was whispering but she was saying it just the same.

Time passed, it moved on even though they stayed in the same place. The Whitecoats slowly filtered out of the room, going about their business, going to check on other experiments, other projects ... Or possibly going home for the day...

The only thing Max knew was when the Director shut the water off she couldn't feel her arms. All she could feel was Fang's pulse against the side of his neck and the labored sounds of his breathing.

The Director knelt beside her and pressed something just inside Fang's ear, taking his temperature. She looked utterly astonished when she read the numbers.

"I don't know how you did it ... They had packed him in ice three times and it had no effect. Then YOU sit here with him in a shower for a few hours and his temperature is below normal!" The Director shook her head, "Too bad his reproductive system's shot now... I would have liked to see some Gen Threes out of you two..."

Max stared at her, "What?"

"Anyone whose temperature was as hot as his for as long as his was suffers damage to their reproductive system..." She stared at the shocked, horrified expression on Max's face then shook her head;

"He's sterile."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 89; Return

Two days ... Two days and no one had yet to come back.

Gasman sat there at one of the tables in the dining room stabbing the soggy cereal left in his bowl with his spoon. Where were Angel, Iggy and Daisy? Where were Nudge, Aaron and Total? Where were Max and Fang?

Allan walked down the hall slinging on his jacket. "I'm going back out to look some more, you can come if you want."

Gasman nodded, "I don't like staying here, its creepy ... Like something out of an old movie..."

Allan motioned back down the hallway, "Go get your jacket, it's chilly."

Gasman jumped out of his chair and ran to his room, he pulled on his jacket and took a moment to search out his picture ... That picture he'd stolen from Fang so long ago now it seemed stupid.

He hated the picture, he hated everything about it. But it was the only picture he would ever have of his mother, the closest thing to knowing his family that he would ever have ... He shoved the picture into his pocket and jogged down the hall to Allan.

"Which direction are we going?"

"I was thinking I'd drive and you could fly around up top and tell me which way to go. He handed the Gasman a walkie-talkie. "You can fly around and see if there's anything we should look into and if you need backup you just call."

Gazzy nodded and gave his shoulders a shake, forcing his wings out through the slits in his jacket. He started to go, to turn when he looked out the window and noticed a forlorn little black shape huddled under Allan's jeep.

It took him a moment to realize what he was seeing and then fear bubbled up in his throat with a short cry, "TOTAL!" He flung open the door and ran out, falling to his knees before the jeep, staring under it at the little dog.

"Total, what happened? Where are Nudge and Aaron?"

Total didn't answer, but turned his head toward Gazzy and whined, his whole little furry body shivering with cold and fear.

"Total, Total come to me, what is it?"

The little dog crept forward and when the Gasman opened his coat Total climbed into his lap, snuggling against his heart.

"What happened?"

Gasman looked down into the little furry face and his whole body went cold, "Where are Nudge and Aaron?"

Allan was over his shoulder, bending down a hand to his mouth.

Total lifted a paw and rubbed it over his eyes, "The t-truck ... It was rolling ... Over and over and over..." He hesitated giving a shake of his head, "Aaron was hurt ... He couldn't breathe ... He was choking..."

"Are they hurt? Where are they?" Allan said, wanting to grab the little dog up and shake him.

Tears welled in Total's little eyes, "I couldn't help him ... I tried, I really tried..."

Allan was on his feet, grasping Gazzy by the back of his jacket and hauling him into the jeep. "Where are they?" He turned the key in the ignition and slammed the jeep into gear, heading west, crashing through a fence and down over a muddy slope then back on the road.

The tires made whirring sounds on the wet pavement and Gasman wondered if he'd ever gone this fast. He'd never seen anyone drive so fast.

Total stifled a sob and continued, "He was in pain ... And then he was all still ... And he wouldn't wake up..."

Gasman felt as if someone had punched him in the stomach and when he looked over at Allan he saw the man's face had gone ash gray.

Total shook his head and turned to Allan, "They're dead..."

Allan took his foot off the gas and the jeep rolled to a stop he turned the key in the ignition and sat there, his arms hanging limply at his sides his eyes distant tears rolling down his pale face.

Everything was quiet and Gasman could hear Allan breathing. Could hear the sounds of the air as it shuddered from the man's throat.

Nudge and Aaron were dead?

Gasman felt sick to his stomach and he couldn't stop his mouth from opening and closing like some kind of fish out of water.

Nudge and Aaron couldn't be dead ... What if Fang and Max were dead too? What if ... What if he was alone?

What if he was the only one left?

Allan licked his lips and opened his mouth to speak. Feeling as if somehow he had to explain himself. Somehow he had to redefine the moment by saying that it was all going to be OK ... But he couldn't do that ... He physically couldn't say that it was going to be OK, because he knew it was a lie.

Things were not going to be OK ... There was no such thing as OK anymore. The white area was gone ... And all that was left was gray and black...

How could he recolor the world when those were the only two crayons he'd been given?

Allan licked his lips, tasting salt and he felt himself speak. "I had a sister..."

Gazzy stared up at him in awe.

"She was six years older than me ... She ran away and-"

Gasman shook his head, "Stop."

Allan looked away, ashamed.

"Allan ... Allan, Iwannagohome," Gazzy couldn't breath and the words came out all slurred together.

Allan nodded and started the jeep again, letting it idle, "I didn't mean to upset you, Zephyr ... I ... I'm just not good at handling death..."

Gazzy shook his head and wiped his eyes. "And I don't want to think about my sister being hurt or maybe even dead..."

Allan nodded, "We're both carrying around hurt ... Like a badge or something ... Maybe we ought to let go, huh?"

Gasman nodded, "I have to find my sister, she has to be alive..."

Allan stared at the boy before him for a moment, then nodded and raked a hand through his hair, making it stand up in the front, then he started the jeep.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

It was raining again and Gasman was sitting in the jeep while Allan ran to peer into a gas station, just to see if anyone was in there. He growled in his throat and turned to Gazzy in the rain, "This is the problem with the world today, people encounter one apocalyptic virus and everyone decides it's a holiday..."

Gasman cocked an eyebrow at Allan and shouted to be heard above the rain. "Was that supposed to be a joke?"

Allan gave his head a shake and chuckled. He couldn't get anything past this kid. He ran back to the jeep, pulling his jacket over his head.

They had been driving for three hours now and he had managed only to lighten the mood fractionally. Convincing the boy to search through the book of names and consider what he would want put on his Social Security card.

That and he'd found those cheap looking 'rag' covered doors he'd stashed away under the back seat and put them on the jeep to keep the rain from blowing in. The heater kept it nice and warm inside and Allan was starting to see the bright side to things again.

At least his jeep was warm and dry. At least he was still alive ... At least Zephyr and Total were still alive. Now all they had to do was find Ariel ... IF the girl was still alive...

Allan climbed back into the jeep and shook his head like a dog, splattering water everywhere.

Zephyr made 'EEWWW!' sounds and Total sighed from the backseat, where he'd curled himself into a ball on the boy's coat. He raised his head, resting his furry chin on his outstretched paws.

Gasman turned back to The Big Book of Names and continued to scour the pages since it was getting dark and there was no way to see whether or not anyone was flying above them.

"So you really named yourself 'Captain Terror'?" Allan said, trying to lighten the mood yet again, though he didn't think he could lighten such darkness without poking fun at sensitive subjects and possibly bringing down another black cloud.

Gasman nodded, "Yeah ... I was little and stuff."

Allan nodded, glad he hadn't brought back too many memories. "Bernie, Clark and I had nicknames for each other ... We always called Clark 'Batman' Bernie was 'Robin' and they called me 'Alfred' a lot, though I preferred 'Spider Man'."

Gasman grinned, "That's silly..."

"Even more so than I care to admit ... But we were kids, you know," He glanced down at the book in Gazzy's hands, "Have you picked anything?"

"I don't know ... It all seems wrong..."

Allan nodded, "Well ... I like 'Zephyr' it fits with your personality."

Gasman snorted, "What, that I'm full of hot air?"

Allan laughed.

"Well, what's your name, we'll find out what IT means!"

Allan shook his head, "Allan Stuart Martin."

"' Noble' ... 'Keeper of a household' ... And the book doesn't have a meaning for 'Martin' but I know A martin is a kind of bird ... An English sparrow ... They're kind of vicious when attacked."

Allan shrugged his shoulders, "Bernie's mom always said 'Allan' meant 'rock' but ... Well, there it is."

Gazzy smiled, "You know ... You really are what your name is ... You're taking care of Fang's mom and dad's business and all, that's kind of like a house."

Allan shook his head. He hadn't thought of that...

"Hey! Look up my name!" Total said, for the first time in a while seeming to act normally.

Gasman knew 'Total' wasn't in the book but he turned to the T section anyway. "Well ... Total isn't in here, but it means 'all ... complete'."

The little dog sighed in frustration and settled back down on the coat. "You know, you two act enough alike to be father and son. Why don't you just adopt him and Angel? That would make choosing a name a lot easier."

Gasman turned his head and stared at Total his mouth dropping open.

"Well it would..."

Allan glanced over at the boy in the seat beside him then back at the road, he slowed the jeep to a stop, sitting there staring his heart thumping his ribs. Everything was silent for almost a full minute then he turned to look at the boy in the jeep beside him.

Total rolled his eyes and poked his snout into the boy's coat pocket, pulling out the picture hidden there. He turned and jumped into Allan's lap.

"Look ... That's their mom, she sold them, so if you wanted to adopt them-"

Gasman reached for the picture but Allan snatched it up staring at it wide eyed.

"Where did you get this..."

Gazzy's heart leapt into his throat.

"Zephyr, where did you get this photo?" Allan turned to him, his eyes wild, angry.

If Total had had eyebrows they would have shot up through the roof. "That's him, when he was a baby," He backed slowly off Allan's lap and eased himself under Gazzy's arm.

Allan ground his teeth and turned the picture, pointing to the woman sitting there, holding the baby Gasman. "And that's MY sister."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 90; Walk Like an Egyptian

When she opened her eyes she knew something was different. This wasn't the same choking blackness as before ... She was in a crate ... A dog crate...

She was in hell...

The Director was kneeling in front of her smiling brightly, showing her perfectly straight teeth. "There you are! I was wondering when you would wake up! Do you remember anything? Do you know who you are?"

Her tongue felt thick in her mouth ... Thick and covered in glue. Her right shoulder and the right side of her chest hurt most viciously but for some reason THAT pain didn't matter as much as the OTHER pain she felt in her chest and stomach ... That deep ache...

She tried to open her mouth to speak but she couldn't ... That stuff on her tongue made it impossible.

"I've got a surprise for you," The Director said unlocking the dog crate and opening the door. "Just follow me."

She didn't trust her ... She wasn't sure why at first, but then things started filtering back...

This woman was evil ... This woman had hurt her, and couldn't be trusted...

The Director's eyebrows drew down and she pursed her lips after a moment she tried again, "Do you know who you are? Do you remember anything?"

She did remember something, but it was fuzzy ... Fuzzy and black ... Like a little dog clinging to the ceiling, staring down at her with that sad, sad look in his eyes...

"Give her some water," The director said and a few seconds later handed her a small cup filled with cool, clean liquid.

She gulped it down and slowly, slowly started to climb out of the cage ... She crept forward, her hands against the tile fearful of this bright white place ... She looked down at her hands ... Her dark hands against the pale floor and she remembered her hand in the wet rain ... Her fingers tightening around another hand ... A pale hand ... A boy's hand...

And then she felt very cold ... She remembered Second Period History class, sitting behind a boy who had seriously bad dandruff and smelled like cheap after-shave.

She remembered reading Romeo and Juliet in English, and reading about a queen in History who had killed herself because her true love had been murdered ... She remembered HIM...

She stared down at her hands and her fingers tightened against the tile, scratching ten long grooves in them as she slowly rose to her feet, staring this woman in the face her eyes fading from deep russet to bright green.

She held her head high, for the first time KNOWING who she was. KNOWING her name.

"Where is he..." It wasn't a question, it was a demand.

The Director's face went pale and she blinked rapidly for a moment before she gave herself a shake and led the girl down the hall. "He's not in very good condition, he just got out of surgery but he's doing much better considering all that he's been through."

The Director tried not to look over her shoulder at the girl following her. Knowing that if she did, if she looked into Number Nine's face again she would shrink back on herself in fear.

There were only two experiments that scared her ... One of which was dead ... But this one ... This one made a third, and she was possibly just as terrifying as the one The Director personally had killed seven years before.

It wasn't Nine's abilities that frightened her ... It was her attitude, her determination ... And sometimes those two things were more powerful than any genetically enhanced ability could ever be.

She had hoped that by regenerating these two that some of that determination and attitude would be gone, but she'd been wrong, it had doubled...

The Director couldn't help herself and she glanced back at the experiment behind her.

She walked with a cat-like grace, a grace and superiority that hadn't been there before and was compliments of the new 'additions' as Ter Borcht had called them. Which basically meant Borcht had been tinkering with her DNA before he reanimated her.

What had he done? What had he changed? Why did it bother her?

The experiment was different ... The way she walked, carried herself ... The way her burnished wings stood out proudly from her back ... She was menacing, and beautiful ... A fifteen year old Nubian Goddess on the prowl for her lost love...

What had Ter Borcht done?

"He's in there," She pointed and stepped out of the way as Number Nine walked past her and into the room.

SHE stepped into the room, expecting to see him on a hospital bed ... Not in a cage like she had been. She dropped to her knees and poked her fingers through the bars, reaching for him. Cooing softly.

He pried his blue eyes open and a crooked smile came over his gray face ... He was on his back in the bottom of the cage, his legs bent as if someone had shoved him roughly inside and forgotten about him.

They'd cut his hair, shortened it to barely two inches long all over and he had small little electrodes stuck to his scalp, measuring his brainwaves. A tube disappeared into his left nostril and dried blood marred that side of his face.

Bandages were wrapped thickly around his chest and stomach and she saw a few places where they were stained with blood.

He raised a shaking hand and hooked two fingers on hers, as if even this minimal contact brought him some kind of relief. Then he relaxed his head against the floor with a sigh and closed his eyes. His strength gone.

"Nudgie..."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 91; Awakening

Max gathered up her clothes and wrapped the blanket she'd been offered around her shoulders. She followed the new procession of Fang bearers down the hall silently. Her mind clinging to those two words The Director had said, obsessing.

"He's sterile..."

Fang sterile? Unable to have children? EVER?

It couldn't be true.

Max had been terrified when Fang mentioned pregnancy. She'd been petrified of trying to save the world with a huge pregnant belly ... Of possibly hurting a baby. She wouldn't admit it to anyone, but she liked babies... They were better than cute shoes... And the fear of causing one harm was the only reason she'd agreed that the 'WE' had to wait...

Yes, Max wanted kids ... SOMEDAY ... Now that she and Fang had 'confessed their true feelings' toward one another. If you called what had happened that ... Max thought it was more of an explosion...

One minute she'd been telling herself she was full of it for having feelings for someone who obviously didn't like her. The next he'd told her that he loved her and after that ... After that the part of herself she'd always tried to deny, tried to hide came out and she found herself ... INVOLVED ... Hot, wild INVOLVMENT...

But the more Max had thought about having children, the more she hoped that maybe, if everything worked out alright, and the world was saved... Maybe the 'WE' factor could come back into play and Fang would have kids with her...

But now ... If he was sterile, that meant she and Fang wouldn't be able to have kids together ... No little blonde haired sassy kids with black wings ... No little baby Fangs running around causing mischief ... The secret hopes and dreams she had were gone...

She stared down at him, how pale and dead he looked hanging there suspended in that sheet. She felt sick to her stomach. What would she tell him? How could she tell him?

Max stepped into the room her cage was in and found another had been placed right beside hers and the Whitecoats were getting ready to put Fang in it.

"You can't put him in there ... What if he gets sick?"

The director, who had been following them, back from a brief mission two 'levels' down, waved her hand, "They go in the same cage ... She seemed to know what she was doing back there so she's in charge of him ... If he dies, so does she."

Max turned on the woman her mouth flying open. Both of them in the same cage? She could barely fit in one by herself! If he dies so does she? "Are you insane!"

The Director only smiled, "You're in charge of him ... He's your patient, how are you supposed to take care of him if you're in separate cages?"

The other Whitecoats seemed to be siding with Max, which was a first...

"Ma'am, there is no way two specimen of this size could fit in one cage-"

"Are you questioning my competence?"

The man who'd spoken shrunk back but didn't relent, "I'm only saying that if we put them in a larger cage there would be a better chance of him surviving."

"Put them in the same crate or I'll put you in one with a Type Five!" And she turned and left.

Max had a feeling, from the look on the young Whitecoat's face, that a Type Five, was a Wizard.

One of the female Whitecoats in the room shook her head and stormed out, coming back a few moments later dragging a much larger dog crate. Though it too was not quite big enough to house two 'specimen' of their size.

"This is the biggest one I could find," She sat it down and motioned for Max to crawl in it. "If you don't mind, I really don't want to be put into a crate with a Type Five."

Max stood there, her arms crossed over her chest. "You can't be serious."

"Jesus," The man from earlier said, "Just get in the crate!"

Max sat her jaw and ducked into the box, a plan forming in her mind, one that, had he been awake, Fang might not have approved of. She concentrated all her energy into putting her Voice back into Fang's head, knowing what would happen when she used it.

Fang, you better start fighting now!

He cried out weakly, the sound broken, and the Whitecoats dropped him all of them running from the room and shutting the door, terrified that he was waking up and would kill them.

Pain seared its way through Max's head and she gripped her skull between her hands horrified that she had caused him to feel THAT! She heard Fang being sick and she crawled out of the crate making sure he was turned on his side so he wouldn't drown. Petting his head, trying to comfort him in any way.

She hated the fact she was hurting him, especially when he was ill, but with him unconscious it was all she could do to get him to react when she needed him to. She wondered if Jeb had had the same problem with her...

Max managed to get back into the crate before the Intern Whitecoats came back. She waited while the two remaining Intern Whitecoats maneuvered Fang inside with her. It was terribly uncomfortable and cramped and no matter how she moved her wings were crushed against the hard, unforgiving metal bars behind her.

"Can I get a pillow or something please? Doesn't this place have Room Service?"

The Two Intern Whitecoats who had returned whispered fervently back and forth and in the end the woman with short hair ran off and came back a few seconds later with a pillow and an extra blanket.

"How is he doing?" She bent and peered inside.

Max gave her a scathing look, "He's sick, he's in pain and he's stuck in a dog crate with me, how would you feel?"

The woman bit her lip and Max saw her reconsidering her career choices in the pained look that settled over her face.

"I'm sorry..." And she stood and left, followed by the male Intern Whitecoat.

Max took a moment to curse herself, to curse the Whitecoats and to curse the cage kicking the door a few times. Glad that Fang was still unconscious and couldn't hear her shouting such vulgar words at the walls. She wriggled around and managed to get into a semi comfortable position sitting up with that pillow between her wings and the bars of the cage, Fang sitting between her outstretched legs his head against her chest.

She checked him over, taking a few minutes to carefully straighten the bent feathers on his wings and smooth them, rubbing them lovingly between her fingers. She stared at the IVs in his arms then read the labels on the two bags hanging outside the cage.

Fluids ... Just plain fluids, no pain medication or antibiotics ... Just saline...

She found a small place on his back, on his spine actually. And she noticed a terrible bruise was forming there. What had they given him, a spinal tap?

"We can't get his temperature down ... It just skyrocketed after we injected him with the Purge..."

What had those Whitecoats injected him with? What was the 'Purge'?

She must have dozed because her eyes flew open when someone opened the door to the room and stepped inside.

It was a young man with short blonde hair carrying what looked like a bag from MacDonalds...

He looked around then dropped to his knees in front of the cage and smiled, "Hi ... I'm Jamie, listen ... I brought you a hamburger ... That and I need to get a few vials of blood from him ... To run some tests."

Max wondered why there were all these young Whitecoats running around ... All these Interns. Had The Director fired her usual staff? Or had she put them in cages with Type Fives? Or were they the Type Fives?

Max felt her arms tighten protectively around Fang's shoulders. As if to complement the situation his eyes came open to slits and he blinked about stupidly for a moment before his eyes drifted shut.

"All I want to do is see if the medication we gave him is working or not..."

Max still didn't answer him. She was just waiting for something to happen, sizing up this Intern Whitecoat ... Waiting for him to make just ONE mistake.

He seemed to take her silence as compliance because he unlocked the cage and slowly opened the door, pulling on a pair of rubber gloves. He held out the hamburger but Max didn't take it so he sat it aside, "Listen, I need to get these vials ... If the medicine we gave him is working then he'll be fine, if not ... If not then we're going to have to take him away."

"And that's supposed to be incentive for me to let you take his blood?"

Jamie hesitated but then spoke, "If the medicine is working then I'm authorized to move you both. No more cages."

Fang pried his eyes open again and blinked at Jamie. He tried to sit up but Max's arms tightened around him, holding him in place. But he did manage to flip the young man the bird before he was out again.

Jamie shook his head and gently took Fang's closest arm, swabbing a silver dollar sized area of skin then jabbing the needle into a vein. "I'll bring some water on my way back through ... Have you noticed if he's ... Has he asked to go to the bathroom yet?"

Max shook her head, "He hasn't asked anything, he's unconscious, you idiot."

Jamie nodded, unruffled, "He'll need a catheter then..." Then he looked around the room. He ground his teeth then turned back to the cage, "I didn't want this you know? I was supposed to be working for a research lab ... Not this ... I was thinking monkeys and rats ... Not kids..." He shut the door and locked it then stood there scratching his head for a minute before he left.

Max sat there for the longest time thinking. Thinking about what Jamie The Intern Whitecoat had said ...

They'd tricked him?

And then, again thinking about what The Director had said.

Fang couldn't be sterile ... Could he? He had to be able to have kids.

Yeah, he was only seventeen but ... This was forever ... If he was sterile that meant he would NEVER be able to have kids...

Jamie came back about an hour later a smile on his face. The other Whitecoat he was with lingered in the doorway with a cart. Jamie unlocked the cage door and held out a bottle of water. "I've got good news ... The medicine's working, he's going to wake up soon."

Max scowled at him and braced herself when the other Whitecoat entered the room and between the two of them, hefted the cage onto the cart then threw a sheet over them.

Max wondered why they'd been covered up, she could practically see through it so what was the point?

Fang made a soft grunting sound and raised his hand, as if batting at some kind of curtain before his eyes. After a few seconds of swishing his fingers through space his hand fell back to his lap and he was still.

Max watched illuminated rooms pass by as the two Whitecoats pushed them along. She thought that this place looked more like a hospital than a lab. Like an old hospital with white antiseptic walls and big white marble tiles.

She saw empty rooms, and rooms with curtains pulled inside, hiding the implied occupant from view ... She saw rooms filled with empty cages and one room in particular with four Whitecoats in surgical gear standing around a bed on which there was an oxygen tent.

Max wondered who would need an oxygen tent, but before she could get a second look into the room they were passed it. She saw one room in particular that tickled her fancy. What looked like a Dojo ... And some plain clothes Whitecoat was teaching Karate to fifteen or so three-year-olds, who seemed more interested in playing with each others hair or sucking their thumbs than learning karate.

Max thought it was funny as hell...

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 92; Fighting for Air

(NOTE: JFYI; See the note on everyone's ages at the beginning of Part 4 and this will make more sense.)

"What?" Gazzy's voice trembled, shaking somewhere between panic and hysteria. His fingers closed on the corner of the picture and he gave it a little tug, hoping to pull it from Allan's grasp before the man wrinkled it.

Allan didn't let go. "I don't know where you got this ... Or if this is some kind of joke but that is my sister ... She ran off when she was thirteen with some guy named Claud. She's the reason my folks left me with Bernie's mom and dad when I was seven. My parents got drunk and beat the crap out of us. She ran off and they left me at Bernie's so they could find her but they never did. And they didn't care enough about me to come back..."

The Gasman stared up at Allan in a kind of reverent fear. And he heard the rain splattering down on the jeep's hood and rag-top. Thunder rolled somewhere in the distance and a chill ran up his spine.

"T-that's my mom," Gasman tried to pull the picture away from Allan but the man held on tightly with three fingers. Tears burned his eyes and he shook his head biting back the frightened little sounds he knew he would make if he opened his mouth.

"If this is your mother, Zephyr then I have some very bad news for you."

He shivered.

"About five years ago she was killed. And I'd be willing to bet it was Claud who did it."

He couldn't keep his mouth closed and when it came open he sobbed. It couldn't be true ... She had to be alive. If she was dead then what hope did he have left? What could he tell Angel? That the woman they'd spent so long looking for was gone? That the person they'd directed all their anger to was actually a victim?

"The police identified her by her dental records because her face was all cut up..."

Gazzy gave the picture one more little tug, and Allan released it curling his hand around his eyes and gritting his teeth.

"Her name was Melody," Allan looked out at the rain his eyes seeming to burn and shine at the same moment.

Gazzy bit his lip and held his breath. Staring at Allan.

Allan closed his eyes tightly, so tight a wrinkle formed between his eyebrows and his face turned red.

Could it be true? Could this man, Fang's Uncle be his uncle too? His REAL ... BIOLOGICAL UNCLE?

Allan shook his head and turned to the pale, shaking little boy and the little talking dog beside him. He felt as if he were dreaming. His heart was pounding, his throat burned and all he could do was sit there and stare at the boy ... And wonder how on earth he hadn't seen it before... The kid had his sister's eyes. And Ariel did that same thing Melody had done ... That little pout where she tapped her foot and cocked a hand on her hip...

"I-I didn't even know she had kids ... Jesus, Zephyr I didn't know ... She took off and the next time I saw her-" He took a shuddering breath, "The next time I saw her she was dead."

"It doesn't matter if she was your sister ... Me and Angel are still alone-" His voice was strained and he could barely understand himself. "We're s-still alone," He looked down at the picture, feeling that childish spite bubbling in his stomach again, he wanted to tear the picture up, wanted to shred it so it couldn't possibly hurt him again.

But at the same time, he touched the picture lightly. Part of him thinking that if he could only touch it gently enough he'd be able to make it come to life. Maybe his mother would look at him and smile. Maybe the world would be merciful and give him and Angel a second chance to be with their mom.

His lungs burned, begged for air, but still he held his breath so he wouldn't make any sounds, so he wouldn't look weak and childish ... The time had come for him to stop dreaming. To stop imagining. Stop living a lie...

It was time to grow up...

"You're not alone anymore."

BREATHE!

He sucked in a jerking breath and coughed it back out, wrapping both arms around Allan's neck and hugging him. Sobbing and bawling like a little baby. But he didn't care.

His mother may be gone ... The search for his parents may be over ... But somehow, for some inexplicable reason, a letter that hadn't even been addressed to him and lead him right to his family.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 93; Dominion

Max knew there had to have been a loophole. No cages? Okay, they hadn't lied there, she wasn't in a dog cage any longer ... But they hadn't said anything about a prison cell.

There were two separate cells right across from each other. There was a locked door to her right and one to her left that stood propped open with a chair. She could see windows in a long hallway, the hallway leading to the elevator she and Fang had been brought up to 'level nine' on.

Max raked a hand through her hair and looked into the other cell. The cell they'd put Fang in.

He had woken up, they hadn't lied about that ... He'd woken up, looked around and torn both IVs out of his arms, then realizing he was naked, discretely pulled on his clothes. Which had been conveniently stacked by the door of the cell along with his shoes...

He still looked like hell, he was pale and had dark circles under his eyes, but he was awake. Awake and sitting there on the bed with that hopelessly blank expression on his face. The face he normally wore when he was in a crate, or knew he was at the hands of Whitecoats.

Max stopped directly in front of him and hung her arms through the bars leaning forward, resting her back. "Fang?"

His head snapped up and he looked at her his eyebrows up, surprised, the smallest hint of a smile in his eyes.

Max licked her lips, wanting to fall apart. She'd been so afraid that he was going to die and the 'WE' factor lost forever. But he was alive, sitting there... And he was trying his hardest not to look at her...

"Are you feeling better?" Not what she'd wanted to ask, but it was something...

He rolled his eyes and cleared his throat, he wanted to say 'I've got a hell of a headache and I feel kind of tired' but he didn't. All that came out was. "I'm fine."

Max nodded and let out a sigh. She wished things could go back to the way they were... Like they'd been the night of the 'incident'... She wished he'd talk to her... Say that he loved her... Touch her... But she knew why she couldn't. They were saving the world. There wasn't time for love... so, she decided she'd better spill the beans about what she'd done to him, because it was his right to know she could hear his thoughts. She would pay him the respect Jeb had denied her years ago. "Do you remember anything?"

He nodded, "I remember everything up until we went into that flea market ... Then after that," He pressed his fist to his temple, "After that there's not much until I woke up here."

"Okay ... Well, uh ... You have a Voice now."

His eyebrows shot up again, even farther than before. "Really?"

"Yeah."

He was silent.

Okay, who decided it would be funny to get in my head, huh? Who thought it would be cool to spy on the bird-kid? Come on, I'm not putting up with this shit like Max, did. Who are you and what do you want?

Max felt the corner of her mouth twitch upward.

Oh, come on, do you really have to ask?

PAIN!

He jerked upward, pressing down with his feet and standing up on the cot, smacking the back of his head against the wall. He tangled his fists in his hair, rolling in on himself and grinding his teeth so hard he felt his jaws pop.

Max grabbed her head. Even though the pain she felt from him was muted, it still hurt like crazy... She'd forgotten that it hurt at first, though she didn't know how she'd forgotten. "Fang, I'm sorry! I forgot!"

His eyes flew open and he stared at her, "YOU! Its YOU!"

Max nodded, realizing she'd added another to a short list of apologies she'd made in her lifetime.

Fang groaned and righted himself, still holding his head, his face a little green. "Don't do it again!"

Max shook her head, "It'll stop hurting in a few days, I promise."

He looked at her untrustingly, "How did you live through that?"

"I don't know, I guess I'm tougher than you are."

He shot her the bird.

"Don't tease me like that!"

And he choked, staring at her wide-eyed. Shocked.

Max felt her cheeks go bright red and she scowled at him, "See what you made me do? You've turned me into a pig!"

He sighed and slowly released his head, "So, how did we get caught?"

"Ter Borcht got us with Tranquilizer darts."

Fang nodded, "Tranks... That's perfect..." He pictured himself in the near future, while he was ecaping, catching Ter Borcht unaware and shoving a whole fistful of those tranquilizer darts into Ter Borct's ass, then performing a number of hideous tortures on the man while he was paralized... Then he noticed the 'you can't be serious' disgusted look on Max's face and he felt sick to his stomach remembering that Max could now hear his thoughts. So he shifted against the wall, rubbing his temples and changed the subject, "How are we going to get out of here?"

"I've got a plan, but I can't tell you what it is right now ... Just trust me ... And if you get the chance to get us out of these cells then do it, because I've got us covered once we're OUT of them."

Fang nodded. "How did you get your Voice in my head?"

Max shrugged, "I was tranquilized, I couldn't move, I couldn't speak ... All I could do was blink ... So I kind of like, concentrated on you, and then POW!" She smacked her fist against her palm, "I gave you a Voice."

He flinched. Still not liking the idea that Max could hear his thoughts. He had quite a few thoughts that could get him slapped or kicked, and negate the entire conversation they'd had about the 'we' factor... And he'd had enough pain in the past few weeks to last a lifetime.

"Fang?"

He grunted to let her know he was listening.

"I think you have abilities now."

He stared up at her wrinkling his brow, "What?"

She hesitated, "I heard Ter Borcht talking through your head ... And he said something about your mom ... And how she'd ... She'd killed a bunch of Whitecoats and escaped ... He said that she killed his brother..."

Fang sat there staring at her, his fingers digging into his knees, his lips disappearing into the pallor of his face.

"And he said that you were going to be twice as bad ... Twice as powerful..."

Fang's head jerked to the left half a second before the soundproof door to Max's right opened and a woman stepped in. A blonde, slender woman with a smug, victorious expression on her face.

"She's right you know," The Director said, walking forward her arms crossed over her chest. A rather emotionless, snide grin on her face."Then again, to be twice as powerful as Project Edge, Alpha would indeed have to be something truly special..."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 94; Rage of The Son

Fang just sat there staring, his exterior calm, emotionless ... But Max knew better now. The Voice she'd put in his head and the connection she had to his emotions gave her a front row seat to the fury that was Fang.

It felt like a fire burning in his chest, building, but unlike before when Max had felt it, it didn't stay in his chest. It expanded and enveloped him.

Max saw him shiver and for a moment fear swam into his eyes ... But then the fear was gone sinking back into his mind and all that was left on his face was an emotionless stare.

He started shaking and Max could feel somewhere in the back of his mind that blind fear that had swam into his eyes and she heard his thoughts.

What the hell is going on ... Oh, Jesus, what's wrong with me? It's so HOT!

But he remained still, sitting there casually on the cot, one arm propped up on his knee.

The Director just smiled and stopped right in front of his cell her arms crossed over her chest.

"But you already knew that didn't you ... That you're special..." She turned her head and shouted, "Bring him in!"

The sound proof door flew open again and two Wizards dragged in a body. A mangled body. Torn open and trailing blood.

Max felt her stomach rise into her throat. It was Ter Borcht ... Or what was left of him...

"He gave quite a confession before the Type Fives killed him."

"How he'd kept your true identity a secret... How he'd secretly hidden your bloodtraits."

Fang's eyes flicked down to the body then up to the Director and Max saw his eyes started fading back and forth from blue to red.

Its so hot ... Max, it's so hot!

"It seems that Borcht had quite a few side experiments that he never told anyone about. He would manipulate the projects that we were closing down and hide his results ... And since he was in charge of the regeneration department he would resurrect Expired specimens and hide them from us. Perform his own alterations right under our noses... Project Edge was one such series that we were supposed to eliminate. But he decided to continue it ... Alter it."

Max, help me!

"But his alterations went a little too far ... The first hybrid Subjects of Edge died from it ... But then he found HER ... The clone, Kitty... Sphinx, the original had been implanted with the Alpha Gene before birth but for some reason it hadn't taken, and it had dwarfed her wings. Which left her useless. Just a girl with miniscule wings ... No abilities whatsoever... But, because, at the time, it was hard to get fresh genetic material, we cloned her, twice... The first was a failure and had to be exterminated, but the second ... The second was exactly what we wanted... Kitty was exactly what we wanted, but, we got more than we barganed for. She was too emotional, wouldn't attack or kill... She was useless... So, we decided to scrap the project, and Borcht got her..."

Max's stomach tightened.

"He injected her with the Edge serum ... It was supposed to be like the Alpha Gene, but we'd only known it to work on animal subjects, wolves, dogs, and cats, if you will. It killed hybrid subjects rather quickly ... But it had a completely ... Unexpected, effect on Kitty. She took on characteristics we'd never seen before. She was aggressive, she was cold ... She was soulless! Without her we never would have perfected the Erasers, her uniquely altered genetic makeup made it all possible," The Director laughed in her throat. "She killed thirty of my greatest geneticists. Including Helmut Ter Borcht. And I took great pleasure in retiring her myself."

"BITCH!" Max felt herself scream Fang's thought.

And Fang snapped. He was off the bed, running at the bars. He collided with them so hard Max was surprised he didn't break every bone in his body. But his arms went through the gaps, straining at the Director, and he started screaming, trying to somehow break the wall down so he could get to her. So he could kill her.

Max felt only rage coming from him, blind unabashed rage. And that heat she felt kept building, seeming to control him ... Her hand went to her mouth and she backed up against the wall her wings trembling. She'd never seen him like this ... Never seen him so out of control...

Fang continued to ram himself against the bars of his cell screaming profanities and clawing at the air trying to get to The Director, trying to grab her so he could literally tear her apart.

"There is no use trying to fight it ... Your mother opitomized Project Edge. She escaped and killed thirty people ... When Borcht got you he found the same genes in you that we'd implanted in her. As well as an Active Alpha Gene, but he told no one. He told no one WHO this new project was ... Who this Alpha was. But I've seen your DNA, I've SEEN what he had hidden from me for seventeen years and now I know ... YOU are Project Alpha ... You are our greatest achievement and our most terrible. You are the weapon of distruction!"

Fang stumbled backward and lunged at the bars again, and to Max's horror the metal screamed and started to bend. A steady stream of blood began to run from his nose, dripping onto the floor and the front of his shirt, staining his face a ghastly shade of red...

The Director smiled, "You are my pride and joy and my nightmare..." She paused and motioned to Max, "We created Max to withstand anything, but when we found you ... She became our backup plan. She is nowhere near as important as you. That's why, we never really tried hard enough to catch her...But, you ... You are the greatest genetic accomplishment anyone has ever made ... You ARE the future ... Why else would I have let you live, knowing how destructive your powers are? You were made to destroy the world, Alpha... You were made to set it all right!"

Max watched his eyes, knowing that everything The Director had just said was meant only to make Fang angry ... To bring out his 'inner-self' that part of him he'd managed to keep hidden his whole life, and force his abilities to develop... The Purge had knocked out the reason he was sick... It had knocked out the G-inhibitors. And now there was nothing between Fang and all the power of his Alpha DNA...

Everything the Director was saying was all a mean, terrible plan to bring out that dark part of him that swam into his eyes sometimes. The part of him that her blood and Iggy's had somehow managed to overpower ... but in the process of restraining it nearly ended up killing him...

Fang stepped back from the bars again and Max feared he was going to bash his brains out against them, but he stood there for a moment, blood dripping from his hands and nose.

His eyes seemed to swirl red then black, red then black, as if someone were stirring different colors of paint together...

It was hypnotizing and Max was afraid to look away afraid that the little bit of sanity Fang still held would be lost if she turned from him. He was so angry ... So hurt ... So far gone...

Please ... Please, Fang don't listen to her ... You're your own person, you're not a lab-rat ... You're NOT what they said you are. You chose a LONG time ago who you were, and this isn't him ... Please, come back ... Please don't go ... I need you...

His head jerked and Max knew she'd just given him another brain explosion, she felt a weaker version of it in her own head. His fists started flexing open and closed ... Open and closed, and his breathing became shallower, his nostrils flared. Fang shuddered and his arms went limp at his sides, his eyes closed tightly.

Was he going to pass out? Had she knocked him out? Max started to step forward but then it happened. That heat she'd sensed building inside him erupted and Max felt something like an egg squeezed in a tight fist burst in his head and she went cold.

She could feel his heart beating, feel his jaws creek as he clenched his teeth, feel his bloody hands clenching into fists ... So much power ... So much hate... All of it fading back into a feeling of need...

The need to kill.

He breathed spasmodically for a moment then his eyes snapped open and he glared at the Director murderously his eyes as red as the bloodlust in them.

"Alpha, do you hear me?"

Fang shuddered and nodded and Max's throat tightened.

No ... NONONONONONO, FANG, NO!

She felt no pain from him this time ... Only hatred.

The Director smiled and stepped forward pulling a key from her pocket. She unlocked Fang's cage and then Max's, leaving both doors open.

"I want you to kill her ... She's of no use to anyone now, especially you."

Max's eyes widened in rage and horror. This is NOT good ... Jeez, Max, that's the understatement of the millennia!

Fang took a shuddering breath and walked slowly forward his red eyes locked on Max.

So ... This is how it's going to end ... This is how the great Maximum Ride is going to die ... At the hands of her best friend ... Her boyfriend... Max thought to herself, biting back tears.

Fang, please ... Please, come back ... I love you...

Max stifled a sob but stood her ground. She'd never backed down from a fight ... Especially one that Fang started. She didn't accept defeat. Yes, she'd live with it if it happened, but she'd never accept it... She was stubborn that way...

It happened in a matter of a second. The red in Fang's eyes turned dark blue and he whirled around, grabbed the door to his cell and shoved it backward on its hinges, pinning the director against the wall with its solid steal bars.

Max heard bones crunch and break and The Director screamed, anger twisting her agonized face into contradicting lines.

Fang turned his head and shouted, "RUN MAX!"

She didn't hesitate, she dashed past him and slammed the door to her cell, running into the hall. She picked up a near by chair and threw it through a window, shattering the glass in a spray of heavily tinted prisms.

Just as she leapt through the window she heard the soundproof door blow open and the sharp report of a gun...

And Fang screamed...

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

PART FIVE SUMMARY; No Home for the Damned

What is life without hope? What is faith without a little doubt?

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

The Wings of Wrath; Part 5What I've Been Calling Hope

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

(WARNING!!You guys are most likely going to hate me before the end of this Part... Paul actually called me a 'bitch' when he read it. So, if you have choice words to relay, please use a PM.)

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

(NOTE! Most of Part Five is going up today, simply because it takes place over only a span of about two days and each Chapter is contingent on the next. So ... Get ready, because the 'end' is coming...)

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 95; Citizen of Hell

It was spitting snow into her face... Practically blinding her as the sharp little crystals tried to stab her eyes out.

Max gave a cry of frustration, swatting at the snow and rubbing tears from her eyes at the same instant. The world was silent but somewhere in the back of her mind she heard Fang breathing, and she felt a terrible pain growing in her right hip. It took her nearly two full seconds to realize this pain wasn't hers ... And neither was the overwhelming anger that seemed to drown out her fear. The anger that continued to grow, numbing her from what Fang was feeling. It was like he was fading away... And she wondered if maybe he wasn't... Maybe he was leaving her...

Maybe what she loved about him was dying, replaced by that horrible emptiness that was Alpha.

She didn't dare turn around ... She didn't want to see what he was doing, feeling it in her head was bad enough. All the anger, and the hate... So much hate.

She ground her teeth and shouted at him with her Voice.

FANG, STOP IT! GET OUT OF THERE!

But he didn't listen ... Had he ever really listened to her?

There was another loud pop, another gun shot and more pain took her breath ... More of Fang's pain.

STOP IT! GET OUT! YOU'RE GOING TO GET KILLED! GET THE HELL OUT!

Max kept flying away, heading deeper into the jagged mountains that loomed up at her like sharp snow capped teeth. It reminded her of an Eraser's teeth ... Only if they had had good oral hygiene.

Max saw something black shooting up from the ground at her and she nearly screamed in fury, knowing it was a Wizard even before she saw it's flat ugly face. She waited until the very last second then banked sharply to the left. As she turned she saw it...

A lone, winged black figure leapt through the pinprick of a broken window, flying straight for her at an alarming speed. Max felt a small laugh building in her chest.

Fang could fly at super speed! And OH were his wings moving FAST!

He seemed to cut through time and space, coming at her his eyes locked on the Wizard, teeth bared and as Max watched he threw his legs up as if he were going to kick the Wizard. But his arms were still out in front of him, his fingers curled like claws his hair flying around his head like something out of a movie...

And the Wizard turned, lifting one claw tipped hand and everything seemed to slow to a crawl.

A million things screamed through Max's mind.

This shouldn't be happening ... This shouldn't be happening. We should be getting home from school ... We should be eating my mom's cookies or left over Halloween candy ... We shouldn't be here...

She thought that the scene before her was very familiar, and she remembered fighting a similar battle over a stretch of beach in Deleware and Max could only watch... that sick sense of déjà vu curdling her empty stomach.

The Wizard's clawed fist rocketed forward in a slashing motion and Fang's mouth came open in a vengeful cry just as he kicked forward.

They collided with such force the broom the Wizard was on cart wheeled through the air straight at Max's head. She barrel rolled backward and felt the heat of it singe the hairs on her arms. She saw the world arch above her, and the Wizard as it tumbled, screeching and clicking to the ground.

Max's head snapped up and she saw Fang hovering there, his long sleeved black shirt torn, blood running from his nose and the little puncture wounds on his hands from the IVs. The right hip of his jeans was soaked with blood and his leg seemed to dangle a little looser than his left...

But what Max saw, what frightened her most, were the five long gashes slanting up his right arm from his wrist to his chin, marking his cheek and below his right eye.

He gave a shudder and turned to her. He tried to move his right arm but the appendage seemed to be entirely useless.

Max glanced down at a swirling mass of darkness boiling below them and realized there were about a thousand Wizards on brooms seething in a disgusting, distorted knot on the ground infront of the building. She saw a little car moving on the road off to her right and she heard some kind of super loud music wafting up from it through the falling snow.

"Fang?"

He grunted to let her know he was listening and raised his left hand to his throat, pressing the flat of his palm over the wound on his neck.

"Why aren't they attacking us?"

They eat their wounded... Fang's voice rang in her head. They'll come after us once they've ... Cleaned up...

Max shuddered and turned to him, taking in those horrible tears in the right side of his face. They would scar ... He would have three, thick scars across his cheek in a few days... If he lived a few days, his eyelids were starting to droop and his lips looked so terribly pale...

"Fang, stay awake!"

His eyes snapped open and he looked over at her mournfully, "We g-gotta go back ... I gotta finish it ... They didn't deserve this-"

Max's mouth dropped open and she shook her head, "No! Bad idea! You... You just killed like ten people in there! We are getting OUT of here."

His eyes fluttered and he started to descend, wings beating weakly.

Max followed him, flying below him incase he did faint.

They made a not so soft landing in a forest bordering the fenced off area of this new "Institute" and Fang's right leg gave out, sending him skidding on his shoulders on the ground.

Max hooked her arms beneath his left and yanked him up, forcing him to run, or hop as fast as he could TOWARD the Institute.

What are you doing? You're taking us BACK! I thought you said we were leaving!

I told you I had a plan to get us out of here if you just got us out of our cells, so STOP talking and let me find this thing!

She leaned him against a tree at the end of the fence then pulled off her jacket, draping it over his shoulders. "Stay here, stay awake, I'll be right back."

What if the Wizards come?

Max hesitated, "If they come back kill them," She took off running, and within seven steps was air born, flying right over the fence and at the building. Though she wasn't entirely sure why... It would be smarter to just fly off wouldn't it?

Then again... Wizards tracked things easier in the air than on the ground... They couldn't see well in the light, but they could smell you like bloodhounds.

Max flew right up a spiraling ramp and onto 'Level Two Parking' she fumbled for a moment, digging in the pocket of her jeans for the remote and started flying up the rows, pressing the "Unlock" button, at every car she could see. And finally, three cars down on the second row lights flashed and a double beep echoed through the garage.

Max landed in a run, dashing to the bright yellow car and yanking the driver's door open. She jumped inside and turned the key in the ignition.

"Come ON!"

The car sprang into life and Max threw it into reverse, backing out of the spot, trying to remember how her mother had said to back a car onto the road. She turned, barely missing a large SUV and she sped out of the garage, down the ramp and to the place she'd left Fang.

The Wizards were in the air, searching for them, having 'cleaned up' their mess and Max climbed out of the car motioning to Fang. "HURRY UP!"

Why didn't you tell me you had a car?

Fang's voice sounded weak even in her head. Max shouted in his head, MOVE IT!

He winced and had to take his hand away from his neck to force himself to his feet. He cursed bitterly and started limping toward her, his right leg dragging, leaving a trough in the silver sheen of snow collecting on the grass.

He stepped off the curb and fell to his knees on the asphalt. He nearly flopped over but Max rushed to him and jerked him forward mercilessly by the back of his shirt an the seat of his pants. She pulled open the passenger door of this ridiculously bright yellow car and shoved Fang inside. Stay quiet! She slammed the door and ran to her own. She climbed back behind the wheel and sped out of the parking lot, following the twin trails of the other car's tires on the slush covered road.

Fang ground his teeth. His hip was hurting so bad he was beginning to see stars ... Or maybe that was from the blood loss... Max ... I can't sit like this!

Max tried to ignore him as she drove, but she glanced back over her shoulder at the back seat, wondering why she didn't put him back there so he could lie down. She spied a duffel bag in the floor and she leaned back, grabbing it and hefting it over the seat. She growled as she plopped it down on the seat between herself and Fang then glanced back up at the road. She unzipped the bag, peering inside, half expecting to find a bomb or something, but instead she found a First Aid kit and two changes of clothes, one men's one women's.

Howzuhbout givin me some of that gauze to stick in my neck so I'll stop bleedin' to death?

"You're not bleeding to death," Though she didn't deny him the gauze, in fact she was glad to be able to cover those gaping rips in his skin. Looking at them made her nauseous... "You're one lucky Pig, you know that? It missed your carotid artery by like this much," She held up two bloody fingers pinched together. "Hold that there and don't let up the pressure."

He stared at her, his teeth ground together. The intimacy was unnerving... He couldn't allow this to happen... He couldn't... They had to save the world. They didn't have time for this... Even though it was all he wanted...

His right arm was pressed up against the window and he was sickened by the redness of the glass with light playing behind it. He looked down at his right leg, noticing how limp it was and trying to ignore the burning, throbbing, pain shooting between his knee and his ribs.

We gotta pull over, Max, I'm bleeding really bad. And I can't sit like this.

Max bit her lip and pulled the car over, turning in the seat to get to him. Her hands went to the fly of his jeans, "Jeez, you'll do anything to get me to take your clothes off, including getting shot."

He rolled his eyes at her and waited until she'd exposed his hip, grinding his teeth from the pain. "Well?"

She raised her eyebrows and gave her head a little shake, "It went right through ... I'm guessing it's only muscle damage ... Can you move your foot?"

He thumped the toe of his boot against the door.

"Did you get hit anywhere else?"

He hesitated then nodded.

"Where?"

He shook his head.

"I can hear your thoughts now, so you'd better just tell me."

Fang sighed, "You'll laugh," His voice sounded odd coming from between gritted teeth.

Max concentrated, focusing on Fang's pain and her cheeks went very red half a second before he told her.

"I think I got shot in the ass."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 96; Brand New Day

He woke to the sound of something growling. Something growling like a wild animal...

Aaron cracked his eyes open and blinked about, not quite sure if he should be seeing or hearing anything since he was dead ... Or had been earlier... Hadn't he?

Nudge threw her arms over the top of the cage and glared out of the corner of her eye at the Whitecoats standing not ten feet from her. One had a tranquilizer gun in one hand and was staring at her wide-eyed.

These Whitecoats were going to hurt Aaron, they were going to hurt the man she loved.

But she wasn't going to let that happen.

"Shoot it. We need to get it back in the cage ... The Director wants the male's brain dissected by five."

The Whitecoat with the gun nodded and raised it, aiming for Nudge's right thigh. But, at the same second he pulled the trigger Nudge moved, slashing her right hand through the air and grabbing the dart before it hit her.

She held it in her fist staring at it, just as shocked as the Whitecoats that she'd actually caught it ... But then again, Nudge did feel different. She felt ... So very different.

The Whitecoat with the tranquilizer gun stared, his mouth dropping open and another Whitecoat, this one holding a clipboard, scribbled notes

"Its reflexes are through the roof..."

Nudge threw the dart at the little plastic garbage can in the corner and impaled it.

"Incredible," Notetaker Whitecoat said and scribbled some more.

"What are Seven-A's stats?"

"He's stable, which is amazing seeing as how he has a collapsed lung ... They had to remove its spleen and the left peripheral air sac because the internal damage was so extensive."

Nudge tightened her grip on the cage, digging her claws into the plastic. So that was why his breathing sounded funny...

"They didn't put in a chest tube?" A male Whitecoat said from the rear of the little group.

"They couldn't do much of anything because he kept pulling out the tubes ... He had an arterial feed in his neck and he pulled it out ... Stupid freak nearly bled to death."

Nudge sank her claws into the top of the cage, cutting ten long grooves in the gray plastic. "Don't you DARE call him a freak again..." She bared her pointed teeth at them and a chill ran up her spine. "You puny, pansy-assed fuckers..."

All the Whitecoats shrank back from her and Nudge caught the pungent smell of urine as a woman in the back crept from the room.

"They had to sedate him to put in the feeding tube," Notetaker continued, "He has three pints of supplement blood in his system. A donation from Six, Number Seven-B and Nine herself."

"Seven-B? I thought Seven-B was compromised!"

"They gave him a Purge, it wiped out all the genetic-inhibitors, AND his expiration date."

"Aren't Purges dangerous?"

"More so than even I care to admit," Notetaker chuckled. "That's why they Purged these two before reanimation. There's less chance of a Whiteout. Luckily Six wasn't programed with an expiration date or we would have been in REAL trouble, let me tell you!"

"What's a Whiteout?"

Notetaker sighed, "Didn't you pay any attention to the Phoenotexicon Memorial Lecture?"

"Unless you forgot, Simmons, I don't speak German."

"Well, then, there you go."

The others laughed nervously.

The doors opened and Nudge whirled around her mouth dropping open.

Max stood there holding the door open blood marring the front of her shirt, a bandage wrapped around her left hand.

It took Nudge only three seconds to realize this was NOT the REAL Max, but was the evil little clone called Max Two ... And the smell coming from the girl's hand said not only had she been bitten by a Wizard, but her body was not 'adapting' to the new genes being introduced to her system.

Max Two was dying...

"What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in quarantine!" Notetaker shouted.

Max Two gave them a smile, "Quarantine? Why would they quarantine me? I'm the Director's daughter!" She lifted her hand, "Or was until she figured out what Borcht and I were doing..."

Nudge tightened her grip on the cage, contemplating jumping up and tearing Max Two a new belly button.

"I am happy to report that Ter Borcht is no longer with us ... If you want to see his body you can go up to level nine ... Mom's giving a mission to Project Alpha and I have a sneaking suspicion that you won't want to miss his reaction."

The Whitecoats stood their ground for all of five seconds, then they all ran out the door.

Max Two stood there for a moment, watching them go then strode calmly forward and unlocked Aaron' cage. "I'm only helping you because I've got no other way to screw up Mom's plans now."

Nudge growled at her untrustingly, feeling very Eraserish as she did.

Max Two rolled her eyes, "Save it, I've heard enough growling and hissing to last a lifetime..." She stood and pulled hastily folded papers from her rear pocket holding them out with her uninjured hand. "You'll need these, it's a list of places we've sent the Immaculae and Type Fives. There is also a keycard to get into The School. Find the redheaded guy ... Uh, Iggy, I think his name is, you'll need to take him where that map leads. It's important... Like SERIOUSLY important, if he gets too hot he could ignite, that's what happened to the others... Just get him there and-"

Nudge wrenched her claws from the top of the cage and took the papers roughly from Max two. "What about Aaron? He can't go anywhere like this!"

Max Two nodded and stepped out into the hall, motioning for someone.

Nudge heard footsteps and the squeaky wheel on a gurney and she felt herself growl.

A young man with a long light brown ponytail shuffled into the room pulling a gurney along behind him. He had wide eyes and a dusting of stubble on his cheeks ... And a gun sticking out of the waistband of his jeans.

"Who the hell is this?" Nudge said, louder than she meant to.

The young man rubbed his hands on the thighs of his pants and set about taking the top off the cage Aaron was in. "Don't mind me ... I'm just the repair man..."

Nudge hit his hand, knocking his arm out of the way, she growled deep in her throat and she felt those reddish brown feathers start sprouting on her shoulders and arms... "Who are you..."

He cradled his arm a moment then shook his head, "This is rich. I save your lives and you can't even remember who I am."

Nudge bared her teeth, feeling them slide from her gums like knives.

The young man shook his head. "Its Sam!"

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

(HINT!! Anybody have any idea what Max Two was talking about?)

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

(NOTE; Just as a refresher, you might want to go back and reread 'Chapters 8...' and 'Chapters 12...' before you read this chapter. Just a suggestion because this takes place just hours after Jeb leaves the Martinez house in 'Chapters 8...'.)

(SPECIAL NOTE TO READER SANDY; My name is NOT James Patterson. It is Honora Crane... I am 24 and live in Virginia... Also, I am a GIRL, so, please understand why I was worried about your review and why I had to leave this note for you... If you're even going to bother reading... If not, my conscience is clear because I tried to straighten it all out... As for everyone else.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING AND I HOPE YOU CONTINUE READING!)

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 97; K-IX

Two Months Before... (September)

He was flying ... Or trying to, flapping his wings frantically, trying to remember to push the air DOWN, with his wings. Trying to remember to flap...

It was dark, clouds hung low above him and the night was still. But his sensitive ears could pick up the few sounds that were there. The sounds of his sobbing ... The sounds of the monsters flying behind him clicking and laughing in sickeningly sweet voices ... Their cloaks flapping and clapping like thunder ... and the sound of his wings.

Where was his daddy? Why wasn't his daddy there to save him?

One of the monsters dove at him clicking angrily and as he glanced over his shoulder he saw it raise its claw tipped hand, slashing at him, tearing through his jeans and deep into his right leg...

He screamed, his wings loosing the air and he started falling, still trying to catch the wind again, trying to push the air down.

The monsters followed him, spinning around him. Catching him by the front of his shirt and holding him out like a prize...

He screamed again, trying to pull away from them, trying to kick them, flapping his wings...

But the monsters only laughed and showed him their ugly teeth, their tiny little eyes shining in the darkness. The monster holding him threw him through the air to another monster, who caught him by the wing, tearing out a few of his, nice new primary feathers before lobbing him through the air to the next wizard like some kind of grotesque living doll.

He tried to fight back, clawing and kicking, punching and screaming ... But they wouldn't stop ... The world started fading away, as if he were being pulled deep within himself and he felt so tired...

He knew he was dying, he wasn't sure how he knew, but he could feel it, and it felt so familiar...

He heard a voice, two octaves too low and much slower than normal and light flashed to his left...

Thunder roared and the monster let him go. And he was falling. It was such a good feeling ... Watching the world shrink into nothing above him. Then he felt someone catch him, and the impact of his little body landing in this person's arms jarred him as if he'd hit a brick wall.

For a while after that everything was dark, and numb...

Then sound started filtering back in ... Someone was crying, holding him, rocking him back and forth, one hand on the back of his head, tangled in his hair, the other on his back, holding him tightly to the person's chest...

"I'm sorry ... This wasn't supposed to happen ... This wasn't supposed to happen, They weren't supposed to find you ... I'm so sorry."

It was his daddy's voice and he felt safe. His daddy was there, his daddy was going to take care of him ... Was going to make everything better.

He wanted to move, wanted to hug his daddy and let him know that everything was OK. But, for the moment he could only hang there and breathe and hope that his daddy knew how much he loved him...

Jeb shifted against the tree he was leaned up against and he peered down into the little face ... The little face almost completely hidden by scratches and bruises and strands of shoulder length gray-blonde hair that fell across it...

He gently, almost fearfully touched the ridge of one wolfish ear that was still turned away from him ... That was still turned away from the sound of his voice. They looked to be pinned back as though the boy might snarl at him, just as he had the first time Jeb had laid eyes on him...

Jeb knew that cloning the boy had been wrong ... Ari was dead and there was no changing that ... But part of him had been crazy when he'd taken the sample. When he'd cloned his only son. Especially since Ari's DNA had been so badly degraded when he'd done it ... Two percent avian and more than twenty-five percent lupine DNA had gone into this boy, which was a frightening thought, seeing as how only two percent had turned the real Ari into a monster...

But he'd wanted his son back more than anything ... More than life itself ... So he'd done it ... And he'd ended up with a little boy that looked more bizarre than anything he'd ever created, and that included quite a few Croc-a-doggies...

But it was his son ... This boy, this wolf tailed, wolf eared little boy was his son ... And Jeb couldn't bear the thought of loosing him a third time...

He bit back another sob and ran a hand over the little head, pressing down the springy ears he'd come to think of as cute ... How they would perk up at the sound of his voice ... How they would droop when the boy felt sad, or ill. How they would pin themselves back when he was angry, annoyed or heard a loud noise.

Jeb petted the boy's head again, feeling a hollow sadness tearing away at his insides. But when he lifted his hand this time the little ears quivered, and slowly swiveled toward him ... Two clouded, ice blue eyes cracked open and a small, animalistic whimper trembled on pale lips.

"D-don't move, you're okay, daddy's here!" Jeb drew the boy close, holding him, trying to comfort him and inspect his injuries at the same time. "You were so brave, flying away from them ... You flew really good..."

The boy's tail thumped weakly against his leg and his ears drooped eyes shining. Really? I did good?

Jeb shucked off his jacket, wrapping it around the boy and slowly climbing to his feet. "Everything is going to be okay, daddy's going to take you someplace safe," He dug frantically in his pocket for his cell phone, holding it up and pacing around trying to find a signal. Feeling the weight of that shotgun against his back, the strap of its sling around his shoulder.

About three-hundred feet to his right he found a semi-good signal and dialed the phone number of one of the two women he hadn't seen in three years. One of the two women who had helped him clone his son.

The phone rang six times and Jeb started shifting his weight nervously from one foot to the other, trying not to listen to the pitiful whimpering sounds the boy was making...

"This is Margo and Thomas Reed, we're not able to come to the phone right now so, please leave a message after the beep!"

Jeb growled and in a fit of desperation threw his cell phone against a tree and turned three complete circles trying to get his bearings. "Which way is north?" He stroked the boy's face with the backs of his knuckles, hoping to get some kind of reaction from him other than whimpering.

His left hand twitched, pointing and his eyes closed, his little ears drooping backward...

Time passed, how much he didn't know ... He was aware of wind blowing past him, rushing in his ears, and he pinned them down, tucking his head into the jacket his daddy had covered him with.

And the next time he opened his eyes he was alone, and a thin beam of sunlight was shining through a tiny opening above him, right into his face. It took him a few long, aching, muzzy moments to realize he was in a box. A cardboard box siting on the ground ... He could feel the moistness of the earth seeping upward through the jacket, wetting his shirt and his jeans...

It felt cool and he felt so hot...

Where was his daddy? Why wasn't his daddy there making him feel better? Why wasn't his daddy petting his head, telling him that he was a brave boy, a good boy?

"D-daddy?"

His voice seemed so loud inside this box and he pinned his ears back, afraid of the sound ... Why was this box holding him and not his daddy? He scratched at the cardboard in front of him with his sharp dark fingernails, too tired to sit up, or to even move his leg, which hurt more than anything he'd ever felt...

"Daddy?" He whined, scratching furiously, trying to dig through it, trying to get out ... And then he heard a noise ... Socked feet moving cautiously, but quickly across a hardwood floor. The grate of a lock as someone drew it back ... The swoosh of a door opening and the sharp intake of breath.

He held absolutely still, feeling very afraid of the person these noises belonged to.

"MOM!" A young boy's voice called from not very far away. "MOM!"

More footsteps, these louder, larger. "Tommy, what is it?"

After a moment he heard the sound of paper rustling.

"Oh, my God..."

And the lid of the box flew open, brightness stabbing into his sensitive eyes, two faces loomed out of this brightness at him. A woman's and a young boy with brown hair.

"Tommy, go inside and get a blanket."

The boy named Tommy ran off and the woman bent forward, cooing softly, holding out her hand, flat, unthreatening.

"Its OK, I'm not going to hurt you..."

He shrank back, baring his teeth and growling deep in his throat.

The woman withdrew her hand slowly. "I'm not going to hurt you ... My name is Margo. Your daddy wants me to take care of you."

"Daddy?"

Margo's eyes went wide and she nodded.

Tommy came back with a blanket then stared down into the box, "What is it?"

Margo put a hand on her son's chest, pushing him back, "Stand back," She unfolded the blanket and bent forward again, reaching for the child in the box. "I won't hurt you."

He was small, and when she scooped him up he howled weakly in pain and bit into the blanket as if he believed it was harming him. Twisting his head as if trying to tear a chunk from the fabric. He turned to her glaring angrily with his bright blue clouded eyes.

"Mom, what IS it?"

"Tommy, don't argue with me just get rid of the box, go drop it in the river by the park ... DON'T let anyone see you!"

Tommy nodded and ducked past her, snatching up the box and running with it.

Margo carried the boy inside, trying to keep him from biting her, or squirming out of her grasp. She was a fertility doctor, not a veterinarian! How was she supposed to know that this poor misshapen boy was the child she'd managed to give to a couple two and a half years before? How could she trust this man after what he'd done? How could she believe this little boy had a dog's ears and a tail! It wasn't possible! But then again...

Here he was, in her arms, growling like a wild animal and bleeding...

She should call the police, she should call the hospital! But where would she be with out the man whose little boy this was supposed to be? If it hadn't been for that man her son Tommy would be dead. The car crash that had killed her husband two and a half years ago would also have claimed the life of her son.

The crash had left Tommy clinging to life, his spine broken in four different places ... But that man had shown up out of nowhere, and made an offer she couldn't refuse ... "You make this woman pregnant with these embryos and I'll give you your son back exactly as he was"...

So she'd done it, she'd given the woman a shot, artificially inseminated her. And a week later Tommy was sitting up in bed laughing ... It was a miracle...

And now, she was paying for that 'miracle'. She was looking at the child that she'd given the man and she felt sick ... She should have known that his offer was too good to be true. She hadn't asked what kind of side effects her then six-year-old son would have to endure. She'd only wanted her little boy back. And that's what she got ... Her son, and a big secret...

The back door opened and Tommy ran inside, shutting it and standing there with his arms braced against it his eyes wide.

"What happened? Were you seen?"

Tommy shook his head, "No one saw me ... But there are ... THINGS in the park ... Big things ... Like those Ringwraiths in The Lord of The Rings..."

Margo felt herself choke, "What?"

Tommy turned to her and pointed, "I saw them with my own eyes, mom ... There are monsters in the woods."

The boy in her arms moved restlessly and Margo turned, lying him on the kitchen counter, cooing softly, trying to calm him, "I'm sorry, just lie still, you're going to be OK."

She worked quickly, pulling a pair of scissors from a nearby drawer and cutting off the boy's jeans, inspecting the slashes in his thin little leg. "Did those monsters have claws perhaps?"

Tommy nodded and walked forward, staring, his nose wrinkled, "They're after him, aren't they..." He paused, his face slackening and he stepped around his mother, catching the hem of the boy's shirt and lifting it.

Margo's blood ran cold and her eyes flicked from the little boy lying on her kitchen counter to her son. Well, this certainly makes things interesting! She thought.

"Mom ... Mom, he has wings!" Tommy's voice was thin, barely above a whisper. "He has wings, just like me!"

Margo swallowed hard, cursing that man. Until two and a half years ago her life had been normal, her son had been normal ... But now she knew. Some offers were too good to be true...

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

(REGULAR STORY TIME)

Angel opened her eyes, her whole body tense, and then she heard it again.

THRUMP!

Laughing, "Oh, my GOD! THAT IS SO COOL!"

Angel leapt out of the bed and ran at the window staring out into the street her mouth open wide.

Iggy was standing there holding a bow and arrow, his right hand still poised at the corner of his mouth, fingers splayed.

Angel followed the direction his left arm was pointing and saw what looked like a mattress with a large target spray painted on it, leaned up against the side of a building. And there were quite a few arrows sticking out of the bull's eye.

Iggy lowered the bow and flexed his right arm a few times before he turned around. "Angel? Are you Okay?"

Angel ground her teeth, "Can you SEE!"

Iggy hesitated, "It depends on what you classify as 'seeing'."

KIX ran across the street, jumping up and pulling arrows from the mattress. He looked quite droopy this morning. Of course having two people who knew who you were keep everything from you was indeed quite depressing...

But Angel had her reasons for not telling KIX who he was. When she'd read his mind two days before she'd seen only what he remembered.

He'd been living in a basement, locked in a little room with a bathroom, a bed and a few toys ... And every few days Daddy would come to see him. Daddy would bring him up out of the basement and they would watch movies ... The Flintstones, The Fox and The Hound, Mickey Mouse ... And Daddy would hold him while they lay on the couch and he'd curl up and fall asleep listening to Daddy's heartbeat.

Then after a nap they'd eat lunch ... Hotdogs, hamburgers, sandwiches or they would microwave a freezer pizza. Then they would play hide and seek, or color and Daddy would teach him his letters and numbers ... Then he would go back to his room and Daddy would go to work... And a few days later Daddy would come back and the whole thing would start all over again...

It was odd... KIX's memories didn't recall Jeb ... 'Daddy' ever calling him anything other that 'Good Boy' 'My Special Boy' or 'Silly Boy' ... And when ever Angel saw Jeb/Daddy's face in KIX's memories the man always looked sad, as if he were regretting what he'd done. As if when he looked at the boy he only saw the ears and tail, he didn't see the human beneath...

Jeb had treated him more like a pet than a son ... And it made Angel sick ... So she hadn't told him ... And she'd made Iggy promise not to tell the boy either ... He just wasn't capable of understanding. He may have looked five, he may have acted five ... But he was barely two years old ... And on some level his brain was more animal than human ... He just wouldn't understand...

Angel shifted on her feet, staring down at Iggy and the furry version of Ari.

She'd also figured out why Tommy, the boy who'd shot Iggy, called him KIX. It seemed as though KIX had a tattoo on his inner left arm that read 'K-IX' Angel, who knew some Roman Numerals, knew that the 'IX' meant 'nine' so out of the ten embryos Jeb had had Tommy's mother implant in this mystery woman, only number nine had survived. The genetically implanted ID mark was proof of that.

KIX's real name was K-9, which Angel found kind of sadly ironic, seeing as how he looked to be part dog...

Angel ducked out the window and extended her wings, fluttering down to land behind Iggy. "Okay, explain to me how you can 'see'.

Iggy nodded, "Okay ... Well, it's happened before, but it went a way ... But, I woke up this morning and kind of rolled over, you know? Well I knocked something off the foot of the bed ... I think it was my shoe because last night I tried to kick them off but I think I only got one-"

"Can we get back to the point?" Angel pursed her lips and tapped her foot.

Iggy shook his head, "Sorry ... I don't know how it's working exactly but ... When something makes a noise, like my shoe did this morning when it fell off the bed. I can like SEE it in my head ... See where it is, and what it is ... Like ... Well, I can hear you breathing, I can see a colorful blob in my head-"

"Really nice, calling me a 'blob', thank you."

"You're welcome, but I can see a blob of you, and when you talk the blob lights up, like with different colors..."

"So its in your head?"

Iggy nodded. "I can see things that make or reflect sound ... I think its kind of like echo-location, but I can actually SEE an outline of it in my head. It's not detailed or anything. Its kind of like a silhouette, but with like ripples of color coming from it ... SO when you talk, I can see the colors coming from about where your mouth is.

"And when KIX throws a rock at that mattress," He pointed over his shoulder. "I can see it when it hits, and all I have to do it shoot where the sound comes from."

Angel nodded, it sounded logical. "Okay, then what's with the bow and arrow?"

"The arrow makes noise ... They've got whistling tips on them," He held one up and blew against the sharp point. Sure enough there was a high whistling noise.

"You just like making noise so you can see, don't you?" Angel crossed her arms over her chest.

Iggy nodded, "Kind of, yeah ... I mean, it's really pretty ... Being able to see sound, I mean."

"Does it work with all sound? Like, could I walk three blocks away and whisper and you'd be able to see me?"

Iggy shrugged, "I can see your heart beating."

Angel's mouth flew open and she covered her chest, feeling quite violated, "STOP LOOKING INTO MY BODY!"

He turned his head away his face pale, "Its not like X-ray vision or anything, I just see a fluttering reddish light from your chest..."

"PIG!" Angel shrieked and leapt into the air flying back up to the window and ducking inside.

Iggy shrugged and turned to KIX, who was holding out the arrows. "When is Tommy's mom coming back?"

KIX shrugged and stepped behind Iggy, scooping up a rock and throwing it at the mattress. It hit and half a second later Iggy hit the same spot with an arrow.

"She should be back really soon, Tommy said that she went to find my Daddy ... But he won't answer his phone."

Iggy nodded and bit into his lip. He'd promised not to tell the boy anything because of what it might do to him. The kid was only two. He wouldn't understand it. He wouldn't be able to understand that his daddy was dead ... That HE was dead, or should have been. KIX wouldn't understand that he was a clone ... All he knew was that he was a special little boy who missed his daddy, the only other person he'd ever known...

"GUYS!" Tommy's voice exploded in the upper right hand corner of Iggy's mind in a bright flash of greens and blues. "MY MOM'S COMING!"

Iggy glanced up at the source of the colors and saw the blobby outline of a winged boy perched in the very top of a near by tree.

"HAS SHE GOT MY DAD!" KIX screamed and bluish purples burst to Iggy's left.

"She's alone," Tommy said and dropped out of the tree, tucking in his dappled brown and white wings.

Angel had said that Tommy's wings were still not fully grown, that he still had quite a bit of light brown and white down near his back and the top ridge of his wings. Which meant that Tommy shouldn't be flying around on his own, he was still in what Max had said was 'Fledgling stage' which meant he could fly, but shouldn't do it unsupervised, his wings were still growing...

And Iggy had laid a hand on KIX's wings, the boy was in the same boat as Tommy. Fledges who shouldn't be flying but were because they were alone...

Iggy heard a car rounding a corner three blocks away and browns sizzled upward from the source in his mind.

The car stopped about fifteen feet from him and a woman climbed out, "Who are you? Tommy, who is this?"

"This is Iggy ... Angel and Daisy are inside. They're just like me mom, they're like us!"

Iggy hesitated then stuck out his wings to prove it to the woman. "Are you Margo Reed?"

The woman hesitated, "Yes."

Iggy hesitated licking his lips before he spoke, despite the fact he wanted to just jump at her and say, 'Come on, Lady, you've got to help me save my girl!' but he couldn't do that... Angel already thought he was crazy... In fact, he was starting to believe that himself... He didn't need anybody else thinking he'd lost it.

"I was told you could help me."

"With what?"

He took a deep breath, watching the sound of it and he wondered what was the best way to say it. Should he just ... SAY it, or should he ease in to it?

"I need your help saving my girlfriend's life," He paused, simply because his heart hurt that he could still call Ella his 'girlfriend', especially since he knew the truth of their relationship now. "And our baby's life..."

He could hear Margo inhale sharply, "What's wrong with them?"

He was tempted to start screaming at her that there wasn't time to answer so many stupid questions. They had to get moving NOW... That terrible pain was fading off, he hadn't even heard Ella's voice in his head begging him to save her in two days... If he didn't get there soon there wouldn't be a point to go...

Iggy would, at that moment, gladly have kidnapped Margo and flown her off against her will, as long as it meant he could save 'Her'...

"I can explain on the way, just please... Please, help me save them..."

Margo hesitated, biting her lip. "How do I know I can trust you? How do I know you're not just some agent after my boys?"

"The only thing that I'm an agent of is justice."

Margo didn't reply.

"It's not fair what happened to us, it's not fair what I did to her... It's not fair what she did to me... But our baby shouldn't have to suffer because of our mistakes... It should grow up loved, and out of danger. It should have everything that I didn't because something so innocent and small does not deserve the hell I feel right now..."

Angel fluttered back down from the window and approached the woman, "He really loves her, and she needs your help ... We all need your help."

Margo hesitated, staring down at this blonde winged girl and the little child in the window she wasn't entirely convinced was a girl. "What if those things come back, what if they come back looking for my boys?"

Angel smiled, "I know how to scare them off, they're afraid of light."

Daisy-David stuck her head out the window, "They really hate big fires!"

Margo chewed her lip then nodded, "Okay."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 98; When the World Turns to Gray; Part One

Iggy was flying as fast as he could, which remarkably was pretty darn fast. He had Margo clutched to his chest, just as he'd done Ella not so very long ago. He could hear Angel, Tommy, Daisy and KIX flying behind him, and he could hear Tommy and KIX panting ... They'd never flown for this long before and they were getting tired ... But Iggy couldn't stop ... He just couldn't stop. If he did he knew he would never get Margo back into the air. The woman was terrified of heights, and the fact she was flying with a blind pilot was almost more than she could bear.

"How much farther?" She said in a small voice.

Iggy tried to ignore the swirling colors he saw in his head as the air rushed past his ears, "It's not that much farther, they're really close..." He turned his head and shouted back at Angel, "Take them to the hotel, they'll be safe there."

"What, no!" Margo screamed.

"Lady, they'll be safer there, we're going to a really really dangerous place, they'll be safer at the hotel with the others."

"Others?"

"The other members of our flock ... Max, G-Zephyr, Aaron, Nudge, and F-Nick," He shook his head wondering why he was having so much trouble speaking...

"Do you swear that it will be safe there?"

Iggy nodded, "I swear on my left ... Leg."

"Tommy, go with them, if anything happens you and KIX go home, understand?"

"Okay, mom," And he followed Angel and Daisy motioning to KIX.

Iggy gritted his teeth, flapping his wings as hard as he could, flying as fast as he could. I'm coming, El ... I'm coming!

Margo tucked her head into the hood of her jacket so she could breathe, "We've been flying for an hour, how much longer?"

Iggy didn't really know, "It's a while..."

Margo gave her head a shake, "You'll kill yourself flying like this, your body isn't made for it!"

Iggy ground his teeth, "Lady, if your son was in danger would you do it?"

Margo didn't hesitate, "Yes, I've done worse ... I let a man inject him with god knows what kind of stuff to bring him back to me and now he has wings!"

Iggy wasn't listening, he was concentrating on flying, getting as high as possible then diving at such an angle that he propelled himself forward at a frightening speed. Such a speed that Margo thew her arms up over her face so she could breathe. "YOU'RE INSANE! YOU'RE GOING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED FLYING LIKE THIS!"

Iggy ignored her completely, swooping back up into the air and rocketing forward like the hawks Fang had talked about seeing on a National Geographic TV special...

He knew he was being reckless, but the knowledge that he was going to be able to save Ella, save his baby made it all worth while, made the danger seem less some how.

And that beacon in his heart grew closer, so close he thought that, had his eyes worked, he might be able to see it.

"Is there a building in the distance?"

Margo shifted, "I don't see anything."

"Well, as soon as you do, tell me."

"Okay."

And they kept flying. Making scalloped swooping patterns in the air, shooting downward at one-hundred and thirty miles an hour or greater then zooming straight out and up, repeating this pattern, flying faster than Iggy had ever flown in his life ... For the longest period of time he'd ever flown at one time...

Margo hung there in his arms, scanning the horizon, then ducking behind her arms to breathe...

His wings burned and ached, but he pushed on, forcing them to move, refusing to let himself slow...

Twelve and a half-hours...

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 99; Here We Go Again

Nudge stared at the boy her mouth dropping open in shock. Sam? The boy Max had gone on a date with in Virginia? The boy who had shouted 'You can trust me' as they ran from the Head Hunters?

It couldn't be possible that they could ACTUALLY trust him, could it?

Sam rolled his eyes, "Don't let the hair fool you, I'm not shady or anything," He leaned forward again and finished taking the top off Aaron's cage, then started removing the little electrodes stuck to Aaron's scalp. "I've got an ambulance waiting outside that's going to take you to where ever you want to go."

Nudge found her voice, "What the hell are you doing here?"

Sam shrugged, "My parents work for the government, it's not like they don't know about you, they just didn't know WHERE you were."

"WHY are YOU HERE!" Nudge said, grabbing his arm and squeezing.

Sam stared up at her shocked, "I came to help, Max told me you two were here, so I came to help ... I do have my driver's license you know. I'm not a little kid."

Nudge glanced up at Max Two, wondering if Sam didn't know that this wasn't really Max.

Max Two gave her head a little shake and tapped her thigh twice with two fingers.

Nudge recognized the sign and a cold stillness settled in her stomach.

'Listen'

Nudge went over what Sam had said, picking each word apart. 'My parents work for the government' Weren't there reps from the government there when the Director was auctioning them off in Germany?

'It's not like they didn't know about you, they just didn't know WHERE you were.'

BINGO! We have a wiener! Nudge thought. Your parents DIDN'T know where we were ... But they do now!

Nudge had a pretty good idea where that ambulance was going to take them, and why Sam needed a gun...

Sam turned and lowered the gurney then carefully, though Nudge still thought he was rather rough, he slipped one arm beneath Aaron's shoulders and lifted him.

Aaron grunted in complaint and blinked around, staring up at Nudge pleadingly as Sam positioned him on the gurney, pulling blankets up under his chin. "We have to move quickly, we've only got one window of opportunity."

Nudge nodded, playing stupid. And she climbed to her feet following Sam as he lifted the gurney and started pushing it down the hall toward an elevator.

Nudge knew better. They had all the time in the world ... She jogged along behind Sam, acting complacent and when Max Two tried to push past her Nudge put out a hand and tapped the girl twice on the back of her uninjured hand.

'He's mine'...

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

(NOTE!! Okay, I wrote this originally with some random Whitecoat as the government snitch, but I REALLY didn't like the character of 'Sam' in MR2. Simply because he gave me the literary creeps and I personally just didn't trust him, so I changed it and made it 'Sam' because I wanted to put in a Sam/Max Two sub-plot just for fun. As if this story didn't have enough sub-plots on its own... (Enter Sarcasm Here)...

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 100; The Ashes of a Memory

Angel found a note taped securely to the door of the hotel that read, "To; FLOCK ... From; GASMAN AND ALLAN ... We're out looking. Call Allan's cell when you get back so we'll know you're OK."

Angel pulled down the letter and flew up to the top story of the hotel where she'd left a window open a crack, "Come on!" She called and pulled the window open, scanning the inside of the hotel for Wizards or anyone else. There was no one save a few mice in the laundry room.

KIX, Tommy and Daisy flew up and Angel helped them through the window then lead them down stairs to the pool to rest.

Angel used the Pool Hall phone to call Allan's phone, which miraculously still worked.

"Hello?" Gazzy's voice sounded strained.

"Hey, you left a note?" Angel tried to sound casual.

"ANGEL!"

She jerked the phone away from her ear and held it at arms length.

"ANGEL, OH MY GOD! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?"

"I'm fine, Gazzy, and Daisy's OK, we're at the hotel and we've got a few more of us too."

"What, a few- What are you talking about?"

"Well, I can't explain over the phone ... Gazzy, are you crying?"

"Angel, I'm so glad you're okay ... But you have to listen, its really important..."

Angel turned from the people in the pool and pressed her shoulder against the wall, "What, Gazzy, what's wrong?" She wished she could read his mind over the phone.

He snuffed back a sob, "N-Nudge and Aaron are dead."

Angel felt like she'd been punched in the chest. Aaron and Nudge dead? No ... It wasn't possible ... She didn't believe it.

"T-Total s-saw them..."

Angel heard the little dog's voice over the phone, "Angel, I'm so sorry, I tried everything, I really did..."

"It's okay, Total..."

Angel glanced over her shoulder at Daisy, Tommy and KIX, who was doggie paddling around the pool, ears pinned back tail floating on top of the water along with his wings...

"How did it happen?"

Gasman snuffed back more tears, "The truck flipped ... Angel, I can't talk about it right now ... Allan and I are coming back, we'll be there in the morning.

"Gazzy," She sounded so afraid even to her own ears, "Please, please be careful..."

"I love you, Angel ... And I do have good news, but I can't tell you over the phone."

Angel nodded, even though her brother couldn't see it. She was still in shock. Nudge and Aaron dead? Dead? She wanted to scream, to throw her wings out and stomp, kick things, scream and throw pool chairs across the room ... but she forced herself to stay calm, she couldn't cry in front of Daisy, or Tommy and KIX. No matter how unjust it was she had to stay strong until she was alone ... She had to tell Daisy ... Oh, God, she had to tell Daisy that one of her brothers was dead...

"I love you too, Gazzy ... Please be careful..."

"We will ... Don't leave the hotel," And he hung up the phone.

Angel knew her brother was never good at goodbyes, for that matter, neither was she ... But she wished he'd stayed on the phone longer ... So she didn't have to tell Daisy, so she didn't have to pull her out of the pool and say that Aaron was dead...

Angel felt cold and she slid down the wall, holding her knees the phone still in her hand.

The room was quiet and Angel looked up, seeing three wet heads peeking out of the water at her.

"Angel, what's wrong?" Daisy-David said, wiping water from her face.

Angel opened her mouth but closed it again and rethought her words. Let them have fun for a little while ... Then you can tell them ... Give them one more night of joy...

"Nothing, sweetie, nothing at all."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 101; And Just When it Hit Me

Nudge followed Sam as the boy pushed the gurney out the front door, toward a waiting ambulance.

Max Two glanced around nodding in the direction of an out building a few yards away.

Nudge took a deep breath and found she could smell the Wizards waiting there ... And she could also smell the near one-hundred Wizards waiting on the roof of the very building she'd just walked out of. She smiled and turned an ear to Max Two ... She could hear the girl's heart thumping in anticipation...

So ... We've got double-double crossing, huh? Nudge thought.

Sam smiled back at her as he opened the back doors of the ambulance. Two men jumped out dressed in EMT uniforms, though Nudge could almost smell the apprehension coming off of them. They moved too uniformly to be EMTs. It was too well rehearsed, but not natural enough to be real...

Nudge bared her teeth and stepped forward, lifting one clawed hand to knock some sense into these Faux-EMTs.

And then Sam drew his gun, aiming directly between Nudge's eyes. "You've got a choice to make, Tiffany, you can come with us quietly, and help save the world, or you can stay here. Either way, we're taking him."

Nudge didn't lower her arm. "Do it ... Do it and see what happens," She smiled, fear bubbling her stomach. She knew she was bluffing. She didn't know if she could actually catch a bullet as she'd caught the tranquilizer dart earlier. For all she knew it would burst through her hand and lodge itself in her brain ... But Sam didn't know that. So she used his ignorance to her advantage.

And at that moment the Wizards in the out building pounced, rushing out on their brooms.

Sam turned to them his eyes wide in horror and he rotated a fraction of an inch to the left, his hands tightening on the trigger of the gun.

Nudge didn't move, and the bullet whizzed past her, barely missing her hair. She heard a grunt and turned, her green eyes bulging.

Max Two was standing there a knife raised, poised to strike Nudge in the back. Her brown eyes were wide, her mouth hanging open in shock ... And a little black hole marked the place over her heart.

As Nudge watched the hole seemed to grow, turning bright red and the girl dropped the knife, took two shuffling steps forward and crumpled onto her face on the sidewalk.

Sam screamed and dropped the gun, lunging at Max Two, still thinking the girl was Max.

Nudge heard glass shattering and her head jerked to the right in time to see the real Max lunge out of the ninth story window she'd just thrown a chair though.

Nudge wondered absently how Max could have ended up here, but at that moment the one-hundred Wizards from the roof swooped down, smelling blood ... Both Max Two's ... And Aaron's.

Nudge screamed in furry when she saw the Wizards going for Aaron, trying to drag him off.

The two Faux-EMTs jumped back into the ambulance and screeched off, Wizards chasing them and Nudge did the only thing she could think of...

She scooped up Sam's gun, jumped onto the gurney with Aaron and started flapping her wings, propelling the gurney across the parking lot like some kind of demented go-cart. They crashed into a little blue car and Nudge jumped off the gurney, yanking on the door handle, nearly laughing when it came open.

She grabbed Aaron by the shoulders, ignoring his cries, and shoved him inside, slamming the door behind them.

The Wizards scratched at the windows and started flying around in circles over them, clicking like mad.

Nudge clambered over the front seat and plopped herself down behind the steering wheel. She fumbled around in the glove box, searching for a spare key, growling when she couldn't find one. "Aaron, baby, how do you hot wire a car?"

Aaron groaned, clutching his middle. "How the hell should I know? I'm not Iggy!"

Nudge continued to scour the front seat, then rolled her eyes and honed in on the man who owned the car's feelings by closing her hands around the steering wheel.

She opened the door a crack and felt beneath the car, just under it ... A little box, magnetized to the frame. She jerked the little box out and slammed the door, locking all four with the little switch on her door.

A loud thump echoed through out the car and Nudge knew a Wizard had just landed on the roof.

She stabbed the key into the ignition and twisted it. The car roared into life and the radio started playing some old Funk song Nudge had never heard, but a smile crept over her face and she turned in her seat glancing at Aaron who'd curled in on himself in the back.

"Are you in too much pain to help me?"

He growled, "I've been cut open, I've had organs removed ... I was DEAD for two days ... No, Nudgie, I'm not in too much pain to help you ... So long as I don't need to move or breathe deeply to do it."

"Good, cause if they start trying to get in, I want you to shoot the fuckers," She handed him the gun and smiled at his shocked expression.

Aaron took the gun staring at it then glancing back up at her, eyes blazing, "I love it when you talk dirty," He pulled back on the sliding mechanism on the gun, cocking it.

Nudge jerked the shifter into reverse and slammed both bare feet onto the gas ... And the Wizards went crazy. Slamming themselves into the car, screeching. Denting the doors inward and smashing in the fenders.

Nudge turned the radio up simply because she wasn't in the mood to listen to the Wizards shrieking. She heard a window break and she flinched, turning the radio up full blast.

"COME ON YOU BLOODY SAVAGES-" And Aaron started firing the gun out the window at the Wizards. His hands bleeding from coming into contact with the broken glass.

Nudge steered the car out of the parking lot laughing in her throat, and she found herself singing along with the song that was blasting from the car's speakers;

"Play that funky music, Whiteboy!"

The back glass and another window shattered and two Wizards landed on the trunk and pried the roof up like some kind of sardine can lid.

Aaron twisted himself and screamed, out of pain and rage, firing the gun and wedging his shoulders between the driver's and passenger seat, his feet braced against the back of the rear seat as if he were in labor.

The Wizards jerked and toppled backward off the car their claws making loud screeching noises against the painted metal, and Nudge pulled the car on to the road, the tires screaming, some old Funk song playing loudly on the radio like an anthem to the gory scene they created.

"Lay down the boogie and play that funky music till you die!"

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

HINT!! Why did the government want Aaron?

(NOTE; Okay, I think this chapter is influenced a LITTLE by Quentin Tarrentino / Robert Rodreguez, but I LOVED writing it, so I make no apologies..)

(Paul's voice in Nora's head; "Can you say 'Pulp Fiction'?")

(Erin's voice in Nora's head; laughs "Pulp Fan-Fiction!")

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 102; Break Away

"You think you got shot in the ass..."

Fang's face went redder than the blood staining it and he nodded, "I gotta move, it hurts, and I don't like hurting there."

Max leaned over him, trying not to look at his arm, she pulled the little lever on the side of the seat, reclining it.

He growled and forced himself onto his left side his hand still cupped over his neck. "I don't wanna die, don't let me die."

Max's eyebrows shot up, "Since when is Mr. Fearless afraid of dying?"

He stared up at her all the blue leaving his eyes, replaced by near black. He stifled a sob, "The director was screaming at me after you left ... She said they'd found two experiments dead-"

"Fang, that wasn't us ... We're not dead-"

He did sob this time, squeezing his eyes closed tightly, "No ... Max, it was Aaron ... Nudge and Aaron..."

Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth, slowly sliding back down her throat, choking her.

"What?"

"Ter Borcht was going to res-resurrect them b-but he's dead ... M-Max their dead I didn't want to believe it but it's true. I saw them i-in her mind ... They're gone..."

She sat there staring, feeling sick to her stomach and choked by that hunk of useless muscle and taste buds in her mouth. She shook her head and climbed out of the car, leaving her door open.

Fang heard her walking around the car and after a few seconds he heard her being sick, and when the sound of that had faded he heard her kicking the back tires of the little yellow car. Cursing vilely and promising pain to anyone who had anything to do with it.

For a few moments Fang wondered if she hadn't flown off back to the Institute to murder everyone and he called softly to her through his head.

Max? Max, come back, please...

How many people did you kill?

He took a shuddering breath, "I didn't ... I wanted to, oh, GOD, Max I wanted to ... But I didn't. You-you were there, in my head ... And you were so afraid, and I couldn't, cause I knew you were afraid of me and I don't want you to have a reason to be a-afraid of me."

Max reappeared standing there outside the car, "You didn't kill anyone?"

He shook his head, "I broke a few legs and I think I cracked one guy's skull, but that's it."

Max sighed, "What about the Director?" She spat the last word.

"I-I s-so crushed her legs ... She won't b-be giving anyone orders for a while, unless she in-intends to do it while in traction, the evil bitch..."

Max nodded, part of her wishing that he had killed them all so they could be done with it, another part of her glad he hadn't tainted his soul just for the likes of a few Whitecoats.

"Max, please shut the door, it's cold."

She glanced mournfully back over her shoulder at the Institute, and the looming cloud of Wizards searching for them. She shook her head in disgust and climbed back in the car, shutting the door and pulling out onto the road. Following the fading tire tracks of the other car, the one with the super loud music.

She turned on the heater and pushed the first-aid kit toward Fang, "Get your arm covered, you're bleeding all over the seat."

He nodded weakly, and started tearing open packages of Gauze, pressing the patches over the cuts, "Max?"

She glanced over at him. "Yeah?"

"D-do you believe in God?"

She hesitated, her stomach doing flip-flops, "Do you?"

He licked his lips, "I think so ... I mean, there's gotta be something better than all this shit. 'Cause if there isn't and this is all we're gonna get I'm gonna be really fucking pissed."

Max smiled and shook her head, "Since when do we curse like this, huh? Two years ago 'Crap' was a dirty word."

Fang ground his teeth, trying to shift to a less painful position, "Since I realized I can say it and my tongue won't fall off."

"You do it because you can?"

"Yeah."

"The Whitecoats did what they did to us because they could..."

He went quiet for a few seconds, "I won't do it again..."

"Thank you."

After that it was nearly silent and Fang discovered he was either falling asleep or passing out because his head kept falling to the side uncontrollably, and his eyes wouldn't stay open. He wasn't sure how long he kept this up, but the pain was eating away at him, seeming to grow higher and higher like a wall every time he jerked his head back up and pried his eyes open.

"Max..."

She pulled over again, digging around in the duffel bag and producing a prescription bottle filled with pills marked 'Percocet'...

"Take one of these..." She shook three out into his palm and before she could stop him he'd popped them into his mouth and swallowed them without water.

"I said one, that was three, dummy," Max continued to rummage in the bag, this time pulling out a few little packs of saltine crackers. "Eat these, you're supposed to take them with food."

He flipped her the bird and ground his teeth.

"Eat 'em or I'll shove 'em down your throat."

He grumbled but chewed two up and swallowed, hating the dry sensation they created in his mouth and throat.

A little while later, time had lost all meaning, so he wasn't sure how long it was, he was fighting to stay awake and he became aware of a small, faint little sound building in the back of his mind. A soft sound that, without thinking hard about it, he could only describe as 'funny'. He thought this sound really was funny and he felt himself smile.

"Fang? Are you okay? What's so funny? Why are you laughing?"

His voice came out higher than he meant to, in a dreamy kind of far off slur, "Kun-ya hear it?"

"CAN, I hear what? What do you hear?"

He thought about it for a moment, his brow wrinkled. "Is swashing muhsheens," He giggled, "Is srilly funny," Another giggle.

"Washing machines?"

He glanced up at her lazily, feeling the world had a very funny shine to it now, "Yeah, you know," He imitated the sound, "'shwoosh-shwoosh-shwoosh' ... Washing musheens..." He twirled a finger in the air a rather drunken smile settling over his pale face. "Is srilly funny..."

Max took one hand off the wheel and flattened it against his forehead. "Are you in a lot of pain?"

He sighed, "Yeah ... My butt hurts a little."

Max glanced down at him, fear beginning to build in her chest along with some badly timed humor. Those pills must be working...

"We're just about three miles away from the place where Ter Borcht got us ... If you can hang on we'll get our stuff then head to the hotel with the others..."

"Hokay ... How long we been drivin?"

"About three and a half hours ... You passed out on me there for a while, are you okay?"

"Yeah," He smiled up at her weakly, his eyes drooping. "I feel kinda good ... Light..."

Max nodded. "That's those pills you took."

"Max?"

"What?"

"Yer so pretty..."

"Oh, God..." She cupped her left hand over her forehead her face turning a miraculous shade of red. And prayed that he would just go to sleep already.

"I mean it... Yer rilly perddy."

"Thank you, Fang."

"I love you..."

"I love you too, Fang. Now go to sleep."

"D'ya rilly love me?"

Max sighed and turned to him, promising never to let him live this down. He'd teased her over the Valium thing years ago, well, now she was going to tease him about the Percocet thing. "Yes, I really love you, now, please go to sleep?"

He smiled and laughed dryly, then cocked his head to the side and made a soft twittering sound in his throat.

Max stared at him. She'd never heard him make a sound like that before, was he choking? "Are you OK?"

He grinned, "I'm Fangshastic," He giggled and shifted against the seat. He tilted his head back and made another soft chirping sound much like the one Pale Male had made not that long ago but this was a deeper, happier, relaxed sound...

Max felt a soft excited fluttering in her stomach and she turned to stare open mouthed at him. She pulled to a stop in the parking lot of the pharmacy she had 'rummaged' through a few days before. "Oh, my God, you're stoned, aren't you..."

"I'm happy!" He laughed and reached for her, curling his stained and bloody fingers gently around her right wrist then pressing his cheek to it.

"You're HIGH!" Max couldn't help but laugh. "Note to self, if you give Fang Percocet he does tricks!"

He gave her a lopsided grin and tittered to himself, blissfully unaware that he was what Max was laughing at.

"How do you do that?" She motioned to his throat, "Do it again?"

He chirruped again, "Pull your tongue back and up ... Then kind of tighten your neck and do it."

Max felt really stupid sitting there straining her throat and when she did it, it came out more like a melodic cough than what Fang was doing.

He laughed drunkenly, "Pertend yer glarglulling."

"Gargling? Oh, really nice mental picture, thanks," She cleared her throat, and tried again. Pleased when a very soft 'chee' came out instead of what had earlier.

Her stomach fluttered excitedly again and Max shifted uncomfortably.

Fang smiled and his eyelids started drooping as he fought to stay awake.

"Go ahead and sleep ... I'm going to run into the pharmacy for a minute and get some more gauze if I can find any, please stay put."

He gave a weak nod and was still, his mouth coming partially open, breathy near snoring sounds coming from his throat.

Max climbed out of the car, running into the pharmacy searching out anything she could use as bandages. As she was searching she tried chirping again, and by the time she'd collected what she needed she had a pretty good melody going on that eased the funny buzzing of her stomach. The sound was something close to a sparrow but slower, softer, like a dove.

She chanced a trip back into the flea-market to collect the things they'd been forced to leave and snatch a few more blankets and a pair of black cargo pants in Fang's size. He may not like them, but they'd cover his butt at least.

She made it out to the car and found Fang still asleep and decided it would be better to leave him alone for a few more minutes before she attempted to make him fly. She checked him over, dribbling some water on a piece of gauze to wash the blood from his face.

There wasn't that much blood, which surprised her, because when she'd seen it happen it had looked like gallons.

She cleaned him up as best as she could, amazed that he didn't wake up as she was bandaging his arm, washing out the gashes with antiseptic. She even climbed out and opened his door, trying not to think too hard as she did a brief visual inspection of the little hole in the right rear pocket of his jeans.

"Yup, you got shot in the butt..." She couldn't help but giggle at that. Then she climbed back into the car and spread a blanket over him then sat there, letting the heater run to keep him warm.

She sat there for close to a full hour just watching him sleep and wondering how he could look so peaceful with all that blood caked on his clothes.

He mumbled something about the washing machines again and the sound of his own voice woke him. His eyes came open and he looked around blearily. "What happened?"

Max grinned, "Well, you confessed your undying love to me and told me how 'perddy' I was."

His face went slightly pink, "No I didn't."

Max rolled her eyes, "Oh, yeah, you did ... Or do you not think I'm 'perddy'."

He shifted hesitantly against the seat, wincing as the motion caused dimmed pain to brighten. Then pushed the tip of his nose up with the end of his finger, imitating a pig's snout.

Max laughed under her breath and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, you are..."

He shifted again, grinding his teeth, "Where are we?"

"About an hour from the hotel."

He nodded stiffly, "Okay, now what?"

"Now, we get moving. I checked you out and made sure you're OK ... You did get shot in the butt, so we're going to have to take care of that when we get back. I can't do it here or I would have while you were asleep. Then we go back to the hotel and get some real sleep ... Then, after we've had some sleep, we go save the world ... Again."

He nodded, "Only one problem with that plan."

"What?"

"I gotta pee REALLY bad..."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

(NOTE; FIND THE HIDDEN CLUES IN THIS CHAPTER! HELP SOLVE THE PUZZLE!)

HINT!! Fang; "Ter Borcht was going to res-resurrect them b-but he's dead ... M-Max their dead I didn't want to believe it but it's true. I saw them i-in her mind ... They're gone..."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 103; Choosing a Name

Aaron groaned loudly, both arms wrapped tightly around his stomach. The world seemed to shimmer in a kind of haze around him and he called out weakly, hoping for someone to help him, to make that horrible, gnawing pain in his stomach and side stop...

Nudge's face swam into view above him and he thought for a moment he was looking into the face of an angel ... And then he realized he was, his own personal angel, sent by God to ease his suffering.

"Nudgie," He put out his hand, trying to capture her fingers but she was gone again, lost in the mist that seemed to envelop him.

He felt like he was drowning, like he couldn't get enough air ... And every time he took a breath every muscle in his stomach would spasm. As if there were microscopic little Whitecoats under his skin, trying to pull him open again. He heard an awful groaning sound and he called for Nudge again, hoping she would make that sound stop, hoping she would make him feel better.

"Hush ... Aaron, hush!" Nudge tried to quiet him. She bent over him, pressed kisses to his face, held his hand and even talked to him about weddings ... But he didn't seem to understand anything happening around him. He would be fine for a few seconds, then he would dissolve into tears, practically screaming, calling for his mother, his father ... He'd even called for her a few times, begging her to make it stop.

But Nudge had done all she could. She didn't have anything to take his pain away, she didn't have anything to cover him with ... She had nothing, they were stuck in the middle of nowhere and the car was out of gas.

He cried out again, calling for her, begging and Nudge nearly screamed herself because she could feel exactly what was happening to him. She felt those horrible muscle spasms in his stomach and the penetrating cold that had gone so deep into his bones it felt like he had ice for marrow.

"Aaron, please, you're OK. I'm here, I'm not going anywhere."

His eyes came open and he stared up at her, his breath becoming increasingly shallow by the second. He was so tired and so cold. He just wanted it to end. "Nudgie ... I think I'm dy-"

She silenced him by pressing the tip of one finger against his lips. "You're not dying ... I am NOT going to let you die."

He looked up at her mournfully but she spoke again, not letting him say what he wanted so desperately to say.

"I picked my name ... And if you turn all Roman on me I'm gonna kick your butt!"

He cocked an eyebrow at her and ground his teeth when he had another spasm.

She petted his face, making soft calming noises. "The first thing I remembered when I woke up was this History class I have ... Had. I remembered our teacher talking about Egypt, and the pyramids and the sphinx..."

Aaron nodded, still not understanding exactly where it was all going.

"And I realized that when the truck crashed ... When I realized you were dead I did the same thing that she did..." Nudge smiled softly and lay her wing over Aaron to keep him warm. "I wanted you to be the first person I told my new name to ... Because one day I want to share yours..."

He didn't look like he understood he just licked his lips hoping to draw some kind of moisture from the air. His thirst has gone from annoying to excrutiating but there was nothing. And even though no sound came out he mouthed words anyway, just as a distraction. "Are you going to tell me, or are you going to keep the suspense going indefinitely?"

"Cleopatra Nudge."

Aaron grinned still wider and cleared his throat, "So, I suppose that makes me Mark Antony?"

"Yeah, only you're not going to die, you're going to get better, and we're gonna help Max save the world and then, once I'm a successful actress we'll get married, OK? But you can't die, alright?"

After a moment he nodded and cupped a hand to her face relaxing into unconsciousness.

Nudge gathered him into her arms and turned the knob on the car's heater up full blast, refusing to allow the cold to come in through the broken windows. It was not going to end like this, she was not going to let him go just when she'd gotten him back. She refused.

She turned on the radio, looking for a station that was still on the air so she could hear SOMETHING. Anything ... So she would have some kind of distraction, so she would know how far the virus had spread, how much of the world now lie in ruin...

She turned the volume down low and listened intently to one broadcast station that was still up and running. The only one she could find.

"This is VirusWatch on K. N. O. B. FM ... I'm Kenneth Williams here at the K. N. O. B. Station in Brighton Colorado. Anyone who's got a CB radio can reach us. We've got our radios on and we're waiting to hear anything from anyone at all who's still alive out there," Kenneth licked his lips and after a moment spoke again, "Okay, it's nine PM now, so we're going to read the survivor's list that we've gotten so far. So listen up people for anyone you know ... Maggie Arnold and her three kids are alive and safe here at K. N. O. B. Studios ... Josh, Michael and Evan Greenleaf are alive and are at the Red Bear Radio Station on the Rez. They wanted me to send out a message to anyone who's near by that they've got food, clean water and Evan is a doctor, so if you're nearby and need some help there's where to go. We've also gotten word from the Norwick High School JROTC who are holed up in the old high school gym there in Norwick. They wanted to give a shout out to their parents so if anyone's listening the Norwick High School JROTC is OK everyone is alive ... That's all we've gotten so far, so ... If you're alive get word to us, and we'll let everyone within broadcast range know."

Kenneth took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "We got word from the East earlier today ... The Virus has reached Chicago and is spreading from there. We've also gotten reports of 'Things' flying around the night sky over Washington DC, though we don't know much more than that ... As you know, last week we lost contact with our friends out in Little Rock on the Ham radio. If anyone can get reception or has heard from them let us know... Again, this is VirusWatch on K. N. O. B. FM and I'm Kenneth Williams. If you're just tuning in we'll be connecting with our friends out in Red Bear in a few minutes for the latest news from that way. And we'll be reading the survivor's list again at ten, so keep your radios on and we'll keep broad casting..."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 104; Paradise in a Nutshell

After about ten minutes of arguing, she managed to get him into the air, which in and of itself was an accomplishment seeing as how he couldn't put weight on his right leg... She'd found this out earlier as she had to help him into the pharmacy to find a bathroom... Then stand there, with her back against his to keep him upright until he was finished... That's what the argument had been about.

Max flew under him, incase something happened and he started to fall. The cold wind bit into her neck as it seeped under her collar but she turned her head anyway, glancing up at him.

He was pale and the cuts on his face stood out dark against this pallor. He looked down at her and drew his eyebrows down.

What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?

Max wondered if she would hurt him trying to use the Voice now, or if she should wait until they were on the ground. She angled herself upward until they were flying only about a foot apart wings beating in sync. "You sang the prettiest song back there in the car."

She could feel him tense.

"I sang?"

She glanced over her shoulder and chirped at him, a wide grin coming over her face when he rolled his eyes.

"Oh, THAT ... Yeah, uh ... Don't pay attention to that."

Max hesitated, "Why? And when did you figure out that you could do it?"

He shrugged and quirked his mouth to one side before he answered. "I figured out I could do it a few months ago ... The day Iggy got his bandages taken off ... I was at school in gym of all the places," He shook his head embarrassed. "Well, I coughed a couple of times and then..." He chirped and shrugged his shoulders.

Max rolled her eyes, "So your voice REALLY changed then, huh?"

He nodded and chewed his lips a moment. "I was surprised no one heard me ... It was kind of loud."

Max laughed, "You? Loud? Give me a break..."

He gave his right arm a little squeeze and inspected his fingers. Fully expecting to draw them back bloody but thankfully he didn't. "Max?"

She grunted to let him know she was listening, but he didn't say anything.

He was overwhelmingly sad, she could feel it hidden deep in him.

His brother ... His TWIN brother DIED, of course he's sad... Max thought to herself. She was sad too but she just wasn't sure how to deal with it. She and Ari had been civil for less that a month and she was still mourning him. And Ella? Max couldn't even think about her mother or Ella ... But Nudge?

She had known Nudge all her life. Nudge was practically a sister...

Why is everyone I care about dying? She didn't mean to think this to Fang but it happened anyway.

He inhaled sharply, his teeth grinding together. It didn't hurt as badly this time ... Just a little stab of pain behind his eyes. He wished she hadn't said anything. He could tell that Max was sad. He could feel that ... But he didn't want to feel her fear as well. He had enough of his own to deal with.

Everybody dies, Max ... Sooner or later, every one will die. It's part of life, if you can believe the irony in that ... All we can do is hope that there's something else left to do when THAT happens. Otherwise, what's the point? And, personally ... I'd rather keep hoping...

She grew still, her wings beating softly along with his.

Hope... That's what she was living for ... The Hope that one day the world would go back to the way it was. Children could go to school, parents could go to work ... And she could live with her flock without fearing for their lives.

Life was Hope ... Blind, fearless hope...

Hope that tomorrow the sun would shine and the darkness would be driven back into the deepest pits of the earth. Hope that life would spring anew, hope that the world would be saved and she could have children with Fang...

But...

That hope was gone...

And before she knew what she was doing she was crying her eyes out.

"Max? Max, what's wrong? What is it?" He laid a hand between her wings, feeling the strong muscles working beneath his fingers.

She shook her head and angled herself downward at the cabin, which had seemingly appeared three hundred yards ahead of them.

Fang followed her warily, not quite sure what to think of these conflicting emotions coming off of her. Sadness, fear and joy all rolled into one.

Max landed on the porch collapsing onto her knees hands over her face and Fang landed beside her, grasping the railing to keep from putting weight on his leg. He sank down beside her. Ignoring the pain erupting from his hip and behind as he did.

For the longest time they sat there, arms wrapped about the other barely a word passing between them. Then slowly, the fear, sadness and joy gave way to an enveloping sense of calm.

Max sat there for a moment, feeling Fang's strength, and feeling her own strength reflected in him. But this time there was something more ... Some small little something there hadn't been before. She wasn't quite sure WHAT this something was, but she could feel it in her mind ... A new kind of connection ... Something fragile but unbreakable at the same time ... Like a little spider web made of steel...

She nodded and leaned out of his grasp, wiping her face on the sleeve of her shirt. She looked at him, trying to see past his skin, trying to figure out if he felt this new thing as well.

His eyebrows drew down and he raised a finger to his lips, I think there's someone in the house...

Max felt fear rise in her stomach but it didn't show on her face.

I can hear the washing machine running...

Max cocked an eyebrow and strained her ears but couldn't hear anything, then she realized what he'd said and she shook her head, "Fang, there isn't any electricity ... And you said you heard washing machines earlier while you were all loopy on the Percocet."

He gave his head a little shake, "But I can hear it ... C-can you hear things I do?"

Max nodded, not quite sure where he was going with this.

He pointed to his head, "Well ... Listen."

Max focused, closing her eyes ... She saw herself through Fang's eyes, blurry and dream like and she noticed she had mud smeared across her forehead.

She wiped at it self consciously and continued to 'listen' trying to figure out what on earth-

Her eyes came open. It did sound like washing machines ... Underwater washing machines...

"This is creepy..." She said, a smile coming over her lips. "You get God knows how many abilities and instead of being able to like, hear a Wizard's thoughts, you get stuck listening to their laundry."

He flipped her the bird and forced himself to his feet, ignoring the pain. "I'm being haunted by phantom spin cycles."

Max climbed to her feet and helped him inside, "I need to get a look at your ... Yeah, so you'd better get undressed."

"Now, who's being the pig?"

"Yeah, and look! There's my feet in that jar!"

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 105; Fangshastic!

"It's not funny..."

He watched her closely as she walked around the edge of the mattress and crouched at his hip.

"I know its not, now lie still." Max knelt beside him, antiseptic in hand.

"Then why are you laughing?" He glared at her over his shoulder, grating his teeth.

"Because you got shot in the butt ... I'm not laughing because you got SHOT, I'm laughing because you got shot in the BUTT."

"It's still shot..." Fang grumbled and buried his face in a pillow trying not to think about what she was doing ... Or where she was doing it.

"Hey, if you'd been about three inches farther to the right we wouldn't be having this problem!" She said, trying to lighten the mood.

He growled and decided he'd live with having a stupid bullet in his behind. He wasn't letting Max continue with this 'operation'. "Stop it, just leave me alone..." He swatted at her hand, trying to force her away and pulling the quilt back up to his waist.

Max rocked back on her heels and stared down at him, "Do you want the bullet out or not?"

"Not if you're going to be hovering around my butt like that..."

"I haven't even started yet!"

Fang raised his head and glared at her, "Then what was with all the touching, huh? If I didn't know better I would swear you were trying to feel me up!"

Max scowled at him her mouth falling open in anger and shock, and she pulled the quilt back down roughly, "Did you even pay attention when we were learning first aid? I'm disinfecting ... It."

He grabbed the edge of the quilt and pulled it back to his waist, his eyes never leaving hers. Defying her to try it again.

She threw the gauze into the fire ignoring the momentary blaze of it, "Jesus, Fang, just lay back down and let me do this, OK? Unless you want to go in the bathroom and do it yourself!"

She could hear the faint murmuring of his thoughts as he actually considered it. But he pursed his lips, looking quite comical and childish, turned and shoved his face back into the pillow hard enough to make a 'thump' sound, when he realized he'd have to somehow suspend himself over a mirror and practice a little contortionism to be able to even reach the wound.

I am never getting shot someplace I can't reach again... He vowed to himself.

"I'd appreciate it if you never got SHOT again," She whispered, hoping he didn't know she'd listened to his thoughts, and stood, wrapping a towel around her hand so she could pick up the little kettle of water she'd sat on top of the pot bellied stove.

She sat the pot down and went to the fire, holding the 'tools' she'd need into the flames with a pair of kitchen tongs she'd found. Fang raised his head fractionally watched her from the corner of one eye. She could feel the unpleasant churning sensations he was experiencing in his stomach.

He was nervous.

Jeez, pliers? What does she think I am, mechanical? She can't honestly be thinking of using pliers on me...

Max knew she shouldn't be listening to his thoughts. There had been times when she'd feared Jeb listened in on hers. She didn't want Fang to think the same thing so she turned her mind back to what she was doing.

"Max?"

She grunted.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"Yeah ... Would you give me your knife?"

She heard him move, riffling through the pockets of his discarded jeans. He held it out to her.

"How's your hip?" She sneaked a glance at him.

"If I weren't lying on my stomach it'd be fine, but in this position ... Not so good," He hid his face again and his voice was muffled.

God, I can't believe she's doing this ... Get me out of this, please ...I'm not sure I can handle her poking around in me with a pair of old pliers... This sucks... Like REALLY sucks... Sucks-sucks-sucks... Ruined my good pants too... Crap... That's the forth pair of jeans I've gone through this year... Is she gonna hurry up or not? I'm getting tired of waiting... If she's gonna do this she'd better hurry up or I'm gonna go find a mirror.

Max rocked back on her heels and turned to him, trying to ignore the thoughts she wasn't supposed to hear. She'd never realized how much he thought. He had always seemed so emotionless on the outside, yet, on the inside it was a different story. "Its gonna hurt, so if you gotta scream just do it. Nobody's going to hear you but me."

He nodded, his face still pressed tightly into that pillow his left hand tangling in the sheet.

Fang thanked God she at least hadn't stripped him naked. Cutting up the side of his boxers was bad enough ... But at least he wasn't naked. He'd feel a hell of a lot worse if he was naked.

He ground his teeth and concentrated on that faint, 'underwater washing machine' like sound. Using it as a distraction from the the thoughts of Max getting ready to dig around in him with pliers and his pocketknife.

It took him a few minutes of lying there trying desperately not to move, but then he noticed something about this 'funny' sound. It was actually multiple sounds. He still thought it was a funny noise, whatever was making it. It made him feel lightheaded ... giddy.

He must have made a noise because Max called to him, her voice sounding very far away behind a ringing that had claimed his ears.

"Hang in there, Fang! I know it hurts, but it's almost out, I've almost got it..."

He thought it was sadly funny that Max had developed that calm, reassuring confident tone her mother had used when the woman had treated his wing.

He had liked Max's mom. She was one of the nicest, coolest adults he knew. She'd been strict though. And Fang supposed that's why he'd liked her ... He guessed that was where Max got her strength to lead. It was inherited...

Maybe when they were older and the world had been saved he and Max would have a child that had the same stubborn determination. The same willingness and strength...

If they were still around... The world did have a way of taking the things they held most dear...

Max was beside him petting his head, making shushing noises. "Its over, I got it."

He pried his eyes open, his face feeling hot and wet, wondering why Max was treating him as if he'd been screaming his head off ... Had he screamed his head off? He couldn't remember... He couldn't even remember her starting!

"Wha..." Done already?

She sighed in relief. "Jeez ... Don't scare me like that ... I thought you were going to like keel over on me. I'm sorry it took so long," She gently repositioned his right arm and shifted the blankets and pillows he'd been lying on so that he could roll onto his side. "How do you feel?"

He shrugged and let her inspect his arm and the side of his face where the Wizard had clawed him. "My arm itches."

"That's good, it means you're healing ... Do you want something for the pain?"

He knew he was in pain, on some level he could feel it, but at the moment he wasn't paying attention to it. His mind was somewhere else, conjuring up a fantasy of himself and Max teaching a little dark haired kid with hawkish wings to fly.

"I'll be OK," He let out a sigh, glancing around, and since his mind was preoccupied with visions of himself and Max with children he wasn't entirely aware he was speaking. "Max ... What are we gonna do after we're done saving the world?"

Max shrugged, "I don't know ... Probably go into hiding I guess ... Either that or call that woman... Maria. And get ourselves some real identities..."

Fang nodded and watched Max as she moved about the room. She cleaned up the mess she'd made 'operating' on him. Tossing bloody pieces of gauze into the fire, washing off the 'instruments' and putting them away. Stepping outside briefly to empty the pot of hot water she'd used. Then she sat gingerly on the mattress beside him, pinching his wrist to take his pulse.

He watched a little wrinkle of concentration form between her eyebrows as she counted the almost vibrating beats and he shifted his head against the pillow watching her.

"I want to go to college and maybe have kids..."

Max stiffened fractionally. She opened her mouth to speak but shut it again, staring down at him her beautiful brown eyes clouded.

He looked up at her. Not really noticing the look of fear in her eyes because he was too preoccupied with his fantasies, which at the moment, felt more real than anything. Those fantasies were his only reason for allowing things to happen. They were his only reason for justifying having told Max the 'WE' factor had to be put on hold. "I mean, if you'll have 'em with me when the world's saved and all... I do like kids ... so long as they aren't mean ... and I don't think our kids would be mean. Not with you as a mom..." He smiled drunkenly, "You'd make a great mom. I mean ... You practically raised Angel and Gazzy and look at them. They're really strong and they can kick ass-"

"Fang?" Her voice was barely above a whisper.

He blinked up at her silently, for the first time seeing that mournful look on her face. "What is it?"

She hesitated, maneuvering herself so that she lay in front of him, their faces close together even though it hurt and she knew that she shouldn't do it because he'd made clear two or three days earlier that they couldn't be together. "You know I love you, right?"

He smiled and brushed the backs of his knuckles against her cheek, catching a tear as it overflowed her eyes. Her fingers found his arm, holding it, wishing that he would hold her... That they could say to hell with the world and be together...

"What's the matter, Max?"

Max closed her eyes tightly. Not wanting to say anything. Not wanting to ruin it ... But he had to know.

Maybe it would have been more humane to not tell him, or to wait until a better moment. But Max knew that sometimes it was better to do it quick, like a band-aid...

"You can't have kids..."

He stared at her blankly for nearly six whole seconds, his smile slowly fading, the dull black color swirling from his eyes, replaced by the normal bottomless azure...

He shuddered and when he spoke this time his voice was low, rough and angered. "What?"

Max spoke in a low tone, knowing that if he really wanted to know what had happened he would have to calm down and listen, and if he simply wanted to freak out he could do so and not have to endure her shouting things he didn't want to hear.

"When we were captured you got really sick and you had a very, very high fever. The Whitecoats thought you were going to die from it ... You started having seizures and they just couldn't get your temperature to come down," She paused, taking a deep breath, "It was too high for too long and it just..."

He closed his eyes and shifted against the mattress, trying to hide his face, but he couldn't, "Like hardboiled eggs?"

Max gave her head a little shake, "Not how I was going to put it, but in essence ... Yeah..."

He lie there for a few seconds, breathing heavily and Max could feel the anger and hurt building in him like a brick wall, but before she could knock it down he was moving. Throwing back the blankets and forcing himself up. Limping pathetically across the room and outside.

She called to him pleadingly but the only reply she got was the sharp sound of the door slamming and the sound of his wings in the night...

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 106; Yes, I'm Still Running

Nudge opened her eyes and found she was alone in the car. Her body jerked and she threw open the door, lunging out screaming, "AARON!"

"Don't shout!" He called somewhere off to her left.

Nudge turned and started walking toward the sound, "What are you doing?"

"DON'T COME OVER HERE!"

Nudge stopped dead in her tracks, "What's going on?"

"J-just stay there ... Give me a minute ... I-I've got it under control..."

Nudge was surprised that he was even able to talk after last night. He'd been delirious with pain, "Are you OK?"

"Yeah," After a few more seconds he appeared from a clump of bushes, one hand pressed firmly on his side.

"What were you doing out here alone? You could have passed out and then where would you be?"

He shrugged and ran his free hand over his drastically shortened hair, "I'd be passed out I suppose ... I was just ... Watering the trees, nothing too hideous. Though I'd watch out, I nearly tripped over this ... Root thing back there, it was really-" He held up his hand in a bent, twisted position and wrinkled his nose at it, "Gnarly..."

Nudge gave her head a shake and looked him over. She noticed the tube was missing from his nose ... He'd probably pulled it out himself ... The stupid ass. "Are you feeling better?"

He nodded, "Still hurts like a bastard but, I'll live..."

That was the first time Nudge noticed he was loosing his accent. So long of listening to the rest of the flock speak was wearing away at his lovely British accent. She stared at him. Taking in the stained bandages on his stomach, the thick patch on his neck and the patches on the inner portions of both arms.

He rubbed his hair again, obviously missing its length, "I feel naked up here."

Nudge shook her head, "You look good with short hair. You'd look even better with some like, blonde or black highlights..." She paused, running her hands over the white sleeveless smock the Whitecoats had put on her. She ran her hands up and down the back to make sure her rear wasn't hanging out before she turned her back on Aaron and bent into the car. "We should be moving ... As long as you're up to it. We need to find the truck and get Iggy's vials."

Aaron nodded with a slight groan. "I wrecked my truck, didn't I?"

Nudge nodded.

"Was it bad, you think?"

Nudge nodded again, making her eyes wide.

"Nicky and I were born in that truck..."

Nudge didn't add that he'd also died in it ... He was probably thinking the same thing. She had a feeling they thought the same thing a lot...

"I saw Max at that Knockoff School."

Aaron's eyebrows shot up, "Max was captured as well? Jesus, you don't think Nick was..."

"I don't know, I didn't see him," Nudge pulled the keys out of the ignition and turned to the trunk, unlocking it just to see what was inside. "But if Max was captured that means the hotel isn't safe anymore ... I suggest we head east."

Aaron leaned heavily against a tree. "Now I'm bloody well worried to death," He ground his teeth against another muscle spasm in his stomach and pressed both hands on it.

Nudge found quite a few things in the trunk, very few, of which could help them. But of the things that could, there was a small emergency kit of flares and a few granola bars. A pair of men's boots, a blaze orange hooded sweatshirt and a gym bag ... And a hunting rifle.

Aaron limped over slowly and peered into the trunk. He leaned his hip against the bumper and watched the sky as Nudge unzipped the gym bag and pulled out the clothes, tentatively sniffing them to make sure they didn't smell like sweaty Whitecoat. Thankfully they didn't and Nudge hastily pulled on the sweats so she didn't have to worry about showing off her 'girly bits' as Aaron had called them jokingly.

The sneakers were two sizes too big but Nudge didn't care. As long as they kept her feet warm. "Okay, your turn," she shoved the T-shirt over Aaron's head, helping him get his arms into the sleeves then made him put on the boots, which were also too big for him.

"Who gets the jacket?" He held it up. "Wow, what a fantastic color!" He rolled his eyes.

"You get it."

"Why?" He stared at her, "You've only got on that dress thing."

"And you had MAJOR surgery. You get the jacket," She held it as he put it on, "I get the gun," She started stuffing the pockets of his jacket with shells.

"Oh, very fair trade, well done," He said playfully then scratched at his back, "This stupid bandage is over my wings ... Bugging me to death."

Nudge poked her tongue out at him and tucked her wings in as far as they would go. "We have to look normal incase we meet anyone."

He looked down at himself, then scanned Nudge, "Yeah, we look REALLY normal..."

Nudge slung the rifle over her shoulder and took his hand, "We're about three or four miles from the truck, do you think you can make it?"

He nodded, "I hope so, because I don't want you to leave me here."

They started walking and after a few hundred paces fell into a kind of rhythm. Their too big shoes making clomping sounds on the asphalt.

"Where ... Where are we going ... After we get the vials?" He said between breaths.

Nudge eyed him, noticing how his mouth came open when he would inhale. "Are you OK?"

He nodded, "Just hard to breathe is all..."

"You had to have your spleen and one of your air sacs removed, of course it's hard to breathe!" She stepped a little closer to him just incase he fell. "Do you want to stop and rest?"

He shook his head, "We've barely gone fifteen meters, I'll feel quite stupid if I have to rest after only fifteen meters."

"Well, I'll feel really stupid if you pass out trying to make it past fifteen meters."

He stiffened, his teeth gnashing together. "Someone's coming," He pointed in the direction they were walking.

Nudge swung the rifle into her hands and flicked off the safety. She felt her teeth sharpen in her mouth and she wanted to throw out her wings and look big ... Big and scary.

She growled and was surprised when the sound was more feline that pissed off bird-girl.

"Bloody hell, Nudge!" He said from the corner of his mouth.

The noise ahead of them changed and Nudge heard the distinct sound of a school bus, seconds before it rounded the corner ahead of them.

Jesus, if that thing decides to run us over we're dead meat! Nudge thought to herself. There was steep hill to either side of them and Aaron was in no condition to be running, and the fact the bandage tied around him was holding his wings closed made worry bubble in Nudge's stomach.

If that bus came at them Aaron would get hit ... And Nudge was not going to leave him, so she'd get hit too.

But the bus slowed to a stop and a teenaged boy leaned out the driver's window. "Are you infected?" He shouted.

Nudge hesitated. Aaron was infected with 'WC' but neither of them had 'Z-Virus' as Gasman had called it... Not that they knew of anyway...

"No ... Are you?" She pointed the rifle at him, ready to pull the trigger if she had to. And that scared her. She'd kill this boy? She had the ability to kill a person?

The boy shook his head and turned off the bus. "Where you two from?"

Nudge swallowed, "Arizona ... You passed our truck on the way up the road there."

The boy's eyes bugged, "Damn, you two survived THAT!"

Nudge was tempted to tell the boy the truth. No, they hadn't survived it, "Yeah ... We broke out of the hospital when the doctors started going crazy," It wasn't a complete lie.

The boy whistled low in his throat. "Well, come on, I'm gathering up survivors."

Nudge shook her head, "How do I know I can trust you?"

The boy nodded, "Well, you can choose, I can either take you back to Red Bear or you can keep on walking, your choice ... But the nearest town back there is deserted. There were a few folks in the hotel, a man and his kids but I don't know if they're still there or not, they looked like they were packing."

Nudge's heart leapt and Aaron stepped around her holding his stomach tightly as he shouted, "Was there a little b-girl," He held out his hand, "Short brown hair, blue eyes ... Looks a bit like me?"

The boy nodded, "Maybe."

Aaron took three shuddering breaths before he continued. "There should have been a blonde man, a boy with a cow lick, a girl with long curly blonde hair and-" He paused a moment, his breath coming quickly, his legs shaking from the effort of shouting.

"Yeah, and there were two more boys ... One kept his hat on, and then there was a boy with brown hair and a loud mouth ... And they had this weird little dog. They were raiding a grocery store when I stopped," He seemed to relax a little and a smile crept over his face.

Aaron had no idea who these two other boys were, and that fact bothered him, he put out his arm and Nudge was beside him the rifle slung back over her shoulder.

"Take it easy, breathe."

"Is he OK?" The boy called, his smile fading.

"Does he look OK?"

The boy cursed and Nudge heard him throw open the door. She glared at him threateningly as he ran up.

"My older brother is a doctor, he can help, we just need to get him back to Red Bear."

Nudge remembered hearing that name before. "Red Bear? Who are you?"

He was a tall boy of about eighteen and Nudge could see in his face that he was at least fifty percent Native American. In the strong line of his jaw and the angle of his nose...

"Josh Greenleaf," He started to lift Aaron's arm around his neck but stopped when he hissed in pain. "How badly was he injured?"

"He had to have his spleen and ... Part of a lung removed."

Josh's eyes went wide, "And he's up walking? Jesus, how long ago did this happen?"

"Three days ago."

Josh's jaw dropped, "You should still be in bed! Hell, you should probably still be under anesthetic!" He watched in awe as Nudge and Aaron limped to the bus and paused at the door.

"I've got a wheelchair lift, just hold on and you won't have to climb the steps," Josh jumped up the steps and disappeared down the aisle. "Jesus, up walking around three days after that!"

"Can we trust him?" Nudge whispered.

Aaron nodded, "I don't smell Wizards on him ... He just smells scared."

"Okay then," Nudge breathed, "I've got a plan."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 107; Break Down

Fang woke to the sound of washing machines. He didn't open his eyes, he simply lay there listening to them and thinking that, despite the oddity of the sound, he liked it. It really did calm him in some way.

He could hear Max's breath from a few feet away and he raised his head, seeing her curled into a tight ball on the mattress in the floor. His heart ached but he ground his teeth against it and forced himself up.

By the time he'd gotten back from his 'flight' the night before Max was asleep, and from how tearstained the pillow had been she'd been doing the same thing he had. Though he wouldn't tell anyone, ever.

He forced himself to look away from her as he climbed unsteadily to his feet and limped toward the potbellied stove, poking at the fire for a few seconds, rekindling it before he went outside.

He circled the house a few times. Verbally cursing himself in two languages other than English.

That had been one of the things he was proud of... Being able to curse in multiple languages... When he got bored he'd sometimes try and see how many words he actually knew in Japanese and Spanish...

He wasn't entirely surprised to notice almost all of them were curse words or other words for parts of the female anatomy...

Boobs mostly... In the three years since they'd saved the world the first time he'd become almost obsessed with boobs... Iggy too...

So much, that Iggy had outdone Fang's two languages and learned the word for 'breasts' in fifteen different languages aside from English...

"Piss load of good that does you now, dumbass..." He said aloud to himself and covered his face with his hands executing a dive toward the forest below him. Exercising his wings because in the time he'd been sick it felt as if he'd lost half his stamina.

He wondered if Max wasn't listening to his thoughts and quickly changed them to something else... Basketball...

He and Iggy had liked to sneak off from the Martinez house at night, fly to the elementary school and play basketball... And Fang didn't know how, but Iggy most usually won... All he'd have to do was hear Fang make one basket and the rest of the game was his...

It was scary sometimes...

Occasionally they'd catch the Gasman spying on them from the trees and ask the kid to join them and he would, grinning like an opossum... And then he'd kick both their rear-ends, because, somehow the kid was even better than both the older boys combined.

Fang wondered absently if they would ever be able to do that again... Just go shoot hoops at night without having to worry about Wizards, or the end of the world...

Or being sterile...

He supposed not...

The world found a way to crush everything innocent, everything that they enjoyed or loved...

Fang pried his eyes open and snapped out his wings, pulling out of the dive barely fast enough to keep from crashing into the treetops...

He'd never gotten to play basketball with Aaron... He'd never gotten the chance... Now he never would...

Just like he'd never have the chance to hear a little kid call him dad...

Everything he'd ever hoped for was gone...

And he could feel in his heart that Max felt that her hopes had been crushed also...

But...

Maybe there was still something...

Max could still have kids someday... Her future was still whole, untainted... She could still have kids...

Just not with him...

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

HINT! CAN WE SPELL "FORESHADOWING"?

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 108; Queen of Denial

Angel was sitting curled up in a chair in the hotel lobby when Allan and The Gasman came back. She ran at her brother, wrapping both arms around his neck and hugging him, all the while trying not to cry over Nudge and Aaron.

"I couldn't do it ... I couldn't tell her..."

Gasman put a hand on top of Angel's head, "I think it would be best if Allan told him-her ... But, Angel I've got some good news too."

Angel shook her head, "I don't want to hear it ... All the good news turns bad around here, I can't handle it anymore..." She bit back a sob, "First it was Jeb, then Dr. Martinez, now Aaron and Nudge... I'm so tired of everyone dying..."

Gazzy shook his head, determined to tell Angel the good news, because he could only keep it to himself for so long. "I found our parents."

Angel's head shot up and she stared into Gazzy's eyes both jubilantly and horrified. "You ... You found our parents? What are they like? What's mom like?" She grabbed two handfuls of Gazzy's jacket and pulled her brother down so their noses were practically touching.

"Well ...Mom and Dad aren't ... Around ... Uh ... But, we have an uncle who wants to adopt us," He smiled, trying to pry Angel's attention away from the fact that their mother and father weren't alive.

Angel didn't relent, "If you don't tell me I'm gonna read your mind!"

Gazzy pointed to Allan, "Our mom was Allan's sister."

Angel's face went slack and she stared up at Allan blankly for nearly six seconds, "You ... You're our uncle? Our REAL UNCLE? Not like you're Fang and Daisy's uncle?"

"Real, by blood Uncle," Allan said, his throat growing tighter with every breath.

Angel gave her head a shake, "You better not be lying to me..."

Allan shook his head, "You can read my mind if you want."

Angel flung herself into Allan's arms, squeezing the man around the neck, "You're our real uncle and you're not mean, and you're not gonna put us in a circus and you're not gonna put us on TV and-and-and..." She couldn't finish the rest of her thought.

Nothing else mattered at that moment. Angel had a family, she had an Uncle who wanted to adopt her, she had her brother back, everything was perfect ... Except...

"W-we have to tell Daisy ... We have to tell her about Aaron and Nudge..."

Allan lowered Angel to the ground and stood there for a moment, his eyes distant ... Then he nodded and he let Angel, Total and Gazzy lead him into the hotel to tell Daisy what had happened to Aaron...

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 109; Key to the Kingdom

"Has anyone seen Daisy? We really need to talk to her," Angel poked her head into the kitchen where KIX and Tommy were scrounging around in the fridge.

KIX nodded, and jumped onto the counter with a package of bologna. He swung his feet a couple of times then spoke around a mouthful of processed meat substance, "She says she was going to look for a radio, cause of the Virus Watch."

Angel gave KIX a befuddled look then turned to the Gasman, who was standing there gaping at KIX as if he'd never seen anything like him.

"That-that's Ar-"

And Angel clamped a hand over his mouth then forced him backward out of the room, "You can't tell him. He doesn't know who he is and we need to keep it that way, alright! No back talking!"

Gazzy cocked an eyebrow at his sister, "Since when did you turn into Max Junior?"

"No telling!"

"Fine, FINE, OKAY!" He said quickly, unsettled by the commanding look in Angel's eyes.

"Where would there be a radio?"

Allan jerked a thumb over his shoulder, "The maintenance closet or the laundry room most likely."

Angel nodded and squared her shoulders, wiping at her eyes before she turned. They found Daisy-David in the laundry room, sitting on a desk in the corner, fiddling with an old CB radio, trying to get it to work.

Angel felt a wave of apprehension wash over her and she wanted to lunge across the room and hug Daisy. Let her know that everything was going to be OK before Allan told her what had happened to Aaron.

But just then the CB screeched and a voice started coming over the other end.

"-illiams, and this is Virus Watch ... It's nine-thirty AM and we've had some pretty interesting developments since last night. We've been in touch with our friends in Red Bear and they've picked up two more survivors. We've also regained contact with our friends on the Ham radio out of Little Rock, and they say that they've had a breakthrough with the Virus."

"Daisy, we need to talk to you, it's very important."

Daisy put a finger to her lips, "SHHH! Not now!"

"Danielle, our lovely lady friend from Little Rock was infected, BUT ... And this is a big BUT people ... No pun intended ... But now she's cured. She said her brothers locked her in her bedroom for a few days and the virus wore off. She's OK, I talked to her myself last night while Seth was on. So, we'll keep you posted on this interesting turn in events..."

Allan stepped forward and knelt beside Daisy-David, taking the child by the shoulders. "Sweetheart, we need to talk to you, it's very important, so you're going to have to listen, alright?"

Daisy's smile faded and she tried to shrug off Allan's hands, "Why do you look so sad? What happened?"

"Okay, back to the two new survivors in Red Bear. We've got a message here, just let me find it ...Uh..." And there was the sound of frantic hands running through papers. "AH! Here they are ... Okay," Kenneth cleared his throat.

Allan lowered his voice, "Aaron and Nudge were in an accident and they didn't-"

"'Attention, Max, Nick, Daisy, Allan, Jeff, Ariel and G-Man!' Can you believe that? 'G-Man'? I mean, WOW..."

Allan's blood ran cold and his mouth dropped open.

Everything was quiet and Allan calmly reached over and picked up the mic, keying in. "This is Allan ... Who the hell is this?"

Kenneth cursed bitterly and his chair scraped on the other end of the CB.

"What was that, Ken, are you OK?" Another boy's voice came across the line.

"I'm fine, just give me a sec..." His voice got louder as he sat back down beside his mic. "Okay, Allan, uh, God, I didn't know you were listening ... Uh-"

"Who gave you the message?"

"A-a guy named Aaron ... He and his girlfriend were picked up by one of the Greenleaf brothers early this morning."

"Anything I should know about this Aaron?" Allan's stomach was in knots, but he kept it out of his voice.

"H-he said to tell you that he's OK and to tell Ariel he's sorry for loosing her dog, and he's sorry for wrecking the truck."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah ... he had a funny accent, like English."

"Where is Red Bear?"

A new voice came across the line this time, a familiar, sassy female voice, "About thirty miles due west from your current position, Allan! And you don't know how good it is to hear your voice!"

Daisy laughed loudly, "Nudge is on the radio!"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Fang's leg hurt. Not as badly as it had the day before, which was a plus, but it still hurt to put weight on it. And his face was itching like mad.

Max had woken up and found him circling the house like a buzzard. She hadn't said anything, so neither had he... What was the point? She could hear his thoughts for Christ sake...

And now they were flying back toward the hotel when suddenly Fang saw something that made his stomach rise into his mouth and all his previous regrets flood back.

Max heard him make a groaning sound and he was dropping like a stone toward the thin curving line of the road. All his thoughts circling around one thing that to her, made no sense.

BASKETBALL!

"WHAT IS IT!" She screamed, and angled herself so they were side by side.

He didn't answer her, but from the pinched expression he wore Max knew it wasn't good. Even if all he was thinking about was basketball...

They landed in the middle of the road and Fang hopped a few paces hissing, a hand on his thigh. Then he limped toward the overturned red truck in the road.

Max covered her mouth and her vision was instantly blurred.

Fang limped up to the truck, running his hand over the crushed front fender. The soft 'shwooshing' sounds of the washing machines a constant thrum behind everything he heard. He peered in at the motor and noticed someone had taken the little 'refrigeration unit' Iggy had rigged up to keep the vials cool. Their vaccine was gone ... His brother, Nudge and their vaccines were gone...

"Fang?"

He didn't answer her. He didn't think he could without screaming.

"I saw another car about three miles back ... I'm going to go check it out, OK?"

He didn't answer and Max nodded. She could either stay and witness what she knew was going to happen and possibly make the situation worse, or she could go, let him do what he had to do and come back when he was calmed down a little, when he would feel more comfortable, or...

She walked to him and gave his hand an affectionate squeeze, "Do you need some help?"

As if in answer to her question, he shrugged her off. Then hooked his fingers on the bed of the truck, trying with all his strength to flip it back onto its wheels.

Max watched him in complete silence, the way his arms trembled with the strain. How his face turned red and that little vein on his temple that started throbbing as if there were a little creature inside of it, pounding to be released.

After a few more seconds of this he took a step back, and in an enraged fit, drew back his injured leg and kicked the truck, giving an audible cry of frustration and dismay.

And afterward he limped in a little circle until he could walk semi-normally.

"I hate this place ... I HATE it..." He growled between his teeth, his eyes tinged red.

Max nodded, "I saw another car, do we want to check it out or no?"

He didn't answer, but simply made a short shambling kind of run down the road and sprang into the air.

They didn't fly for long. Barely a minute, and then Max was landing, awed by how badly the Wizards had torn the car up.

The roof had been peeled back the rear two windows were broken and there was blood on the back seat ... As well as a large white feather.

"Fang, look at this..." She handed the feather to him and watched how his eyebrows scrunched down.

It looked like one of Aaron's feathers... White with an opalescent blue/green shine to it... All of Angel's feathers had a pinkish purple shine, the Gasman's were more golden, and they didn't know anyone else or anything else that had feathers that large.

She continued rummaging in the car while he was staring at that feather and she found a fistful of papers in the driver's seat. Being a curious bird-girl had its uses and when Max unfolded the papers her jaw dropped.

"What is it?" Fang leaned in the open door and stared down at the pages Max held in her hands.

'IT' was a list of names. The names of world leaders, and an address where they could be found. And beside each name was the capital letter 'I' and a number, from one to one hundred and a random word. Ranging from 'ostrich' to 'heliotrope'

It didn't take Max very long to realize that the 'I' stood for Immaculae.

"What's with the words?"

"I don't know," But then Max saw something new, well old, depending on how you looked at it.

It was a print out map of the sixth floor of the school. The floor Max and the flock had been held prisoner on.

And on room 6E there was a large red 'X'.

"More questions?"

Fang nodded, "Too many to ask..."

And then something fell out of the stack of papers. Landing right in Max's lap.

A keycard ... The Director's keycard...

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 110; Breaking and Entering

They landed in front of the hotel about ten minutes later and found the place deserted. There looked to have been a note taped to the door, but the wind had snatched it away, leaving only the ripped top edge sticking to the glass.

Max didn't take such a chance with her note. She dug a permanent marker from her bag, and scrawled, "F and M OK. Be back soon, M." in big letters on the cork board just inside the door.

And then they were off again, racing toward a place they never thought they'd ever want to see again.

Fang was still flabbergasted that he was able to keep up with Max while she was flying at 'light speed'. But he didn't voice it. He kept it to himself. Bottling everything down as he had his whole life. Supressing his fear, anger and apprehension... What else could he do?

He'd follow Max to the ends of the earth... Even though he didn't like the idea of following her back to the School. But, he knew from the look on Max's face that it wasn't his decision whether or not they went.

Those papers had explained a lot. Most of it made him nauseous to think about. But the most terrible thing that it explained was why the Whitecoats had bumped up the 'end of the world'.

The Immaculae hadn't been released. They had escaped. They had escaped before they could be given the 'aging drug', that's name Fang had trouble pronouncing, to make them all grown up and more powerful. Which meant there were a bunch of three-year-old kids running around that didn't know how to survive.

And their 'Mommy' was a renegade experiment of Ter Borcht's that was supposed to have been 'eliminated' two years before, but the now deceased Ter Borcht's side experimentation had been 'improved' and allowed to live...

And now 'Mommy' was the leader because Ter Borcht wasn't there to keep her under control.

The memo that had been with the pages said that the Immaculae were being dealt with before they could attack the world leaders they'd been created to destroy. "Type-Fives" had been sent out to dispatch the Immaculae, and that hadn't sat well with Max.

She didn't like the evil little children one bit ... But they were still children, they didn't deserve to be torn apart by Wizards.

But because the Immaculae had escaped, the director's plan had to be pushed ahead so that the populous wouldn't come into contact with them.

Which meant that things hadn't been done, precautions had not been taken. Everything was off kilter and it would be so easy for Max and the flock to knock it spinning and crashing into oblivion...

All they had to do was get into room 6E and get this new, mystery project out. It was that simple. Get 6E and the director will have nothing to repopulate her 'destructo-tots' with because she wouldn't be able to clone it.

Whatever IT was...

It took them a little over an hour to reach the school, and when they got there all they saw was dirt. The building was gone.

"WHERE DID IT GO! It couldn't have disappeared!" Max shouted frantically.

Fang shook his head and started descending, and as Max watched ... He simply disappeared.

She gave a short little strangled cry and dove after him. Hands out, not really expecting ever to see him again.

One minute she saw nothing but stagnant Death Valley scenery, and then everything flashed and she saw Fang standing in the parking lot with his hands cocked egotistically on his hips.

"Ever hear of holographics, Max?"

She braked and landed beside him. "Pig ... How did you know they had holographics?"

He gave her a very nonchalant look. "I could see through it. Kind of like a film negative."

They stayed to the shadows, and Max crouched down and unwrapped her bundle of swords. Shaking her head as she did. "These things aren't even sharp, I don't know how the hell you expect them to do any good." She handed Fang his then unsheathed her own, feeling absurd and nauseous as they crept forward, pressing themselves tightly to the side of the building.

"Gee, this is great, really good. Sneak in the front door!" She pulled out the director's keycard and was about to swipe it so they could get inside when the doors opened. And a red headed boy holding a gun to a woman's head backed out of the building.

Max's mouth went dry and she stared at him completely shocked.

"IGGY!" Fang screamed.

A shadow fell over them and Max's eyes jerked up. A Wizard was streaking down at them. Only this wasn't any ordinary Wizard, it wasn't wearing robes and wasn't on a 'broom' ... this Wizard had wings. Ugly, slimy bat's wings...

Max's jaw dropped open and somewhere in the background she heard a woman scream.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

(THIS IS A BIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGG WARNING! JUST BECAUSE YOU MIGHT NOT LIKE THE REST OF THE STORY AFTER THESE LAST 3 CHAPTERS OF PART 5, DOESN'T MEAN YOU SHOULD STOP READING... I AM A VERY TRICKSY WRITER AND THINGS HAPPEN AFTER THIS THAT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND AND MAKE YOU WONDER IF YOU SHOULD BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ that i've typed about certain things anyway... SO PLEASE AFTER THESE THREE CHAPTERS ARE READ, JUST WAIT, BECAUSE THE LAST PART OF THE WINGS OF WRATH IS GOING UP VERY SOON AND TRUST ME, YOU WILL BE SHOCKED...)

(ps; ITS NOT OVER TILL THE FAT LADY SINGS... AND ERIN'S ALREADY TOLD ME SHE'S NOT PLANNING ANY PERFORMANCES.)

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 111; When The World Turns To Gray; Part Two

Twelve and a half hours was a long time, Iggy knew that, but, at the same time it had no meaning to him. He wasn't aware that time was passing. He wasn't aware that Margo had asked him twice to stop but he'd ignored her.

He didn't care anymore. The only thing that mattered to him was getting to that feeling. Getting home...

There was no 'Travel Time' It was just 'There' and 'Not There'. That was the only two times he was aware of... The eternity he spent flying had no meaning and no place in his world, so he ignored it...

And then he was 'There'. The urgent 'MOVE' sensations gone ...

Gone...

He was here, Ella was here ... He was home...

Iggy decended, screaming to Ella in his head, 'I'm coming, I'm coming!'

But there was no reply... Just a sick feeling of doom in his stomach...

"Where are we? Where's the building? Where can we land?"

Margo gave her head a shake, "Iggy, this can't be the right place."

"What?" He was tempted to squeeze the woman, "What do you mean? This IS IT! Where do we land, we have to get in the building and save her!"

"Iggy, there is no building!"

His blood froze in his veins. No building? How could there NOT be a building, this is where Ella was, he could feel it! He let his altitude decline until he could see the ground in his head, see the sound of his wings reflecting off of it. He landed and his legs gave out.

Margo fell to the right and he fell to the left, scrabbling on his hands pulling up handfuls of dirt and letting it fall through his fingers.

It wasn't possible ... It couldn't be possible... Ella was HERE! He could FEEL her.

His wings burned and after a few seconds of lying there his face pressed into the ground he realized he couldn't move them ... Couldn't even retract them... He couldn't move ... And something broke inside him. Something small and fragile... He wasn't sure what to call it, but he knew what it was. It was his patience, his hope... His sanity.

He lifted his head and screamed, closing his eyes tightly and balling his fists into the dirt.

"ELLA!"

The sound echoed and Iggy saw a flash of green in his head as it bounced off something about thirty feet away. It was about a foot off the ground, shaped oddly upside-down bowl like...

A yellow blob illuminated itself a good sixty yards beyond this upturned bowl thing and Iggy's hands went out, pointing to the things. "What's there."

Margo sat up, brushing herself off, "There's nothing there but more nothing! You've landed us right in the middle of Death-frickin-Valley! Jesus... I have to piss so bad I can taste it! Ever heard of potty-breaks, Mr. Iggy?"

Iggy coughed and forced himself to his feet, his wings dragging. He suddenly knew where he was, and that knowledge tasted like bile. He was back ... He was at The School.

Iggy pulled the bow from his shoulders, then forcing his heavy, burning wings back into a folded position he knocked an arrow in place, gritting his teeth. The School had Ella... The School had his baby...

He would make them pay... So dearly ... So very ... Very ... Dearly...

He heard Margo suck in a surprised breath, "Do you know who you remind me of?"

Iggy shook his head.

"Robin Hood, going into Notingham to save Maid Marion."

"What happens at the end of the story?" He started forward his senses on high alert.

Margo followed him cautiously. Feeling absurd that she was following a blind bird-boy with a bow and arrow around in Death Valley. "They die."

"Sounds like a lovely story," Iggy ground his teeth, walking forward slowly, "What's in front of us now?"

Margo opened her mouth to say 'nothing', but at that same moment the air changed, as if she were looking at some kind of computer screen. Every color suddenly switched to its opposite and faded away behind her and she found herself standing on the edge of a parking lot, staring at a little compact car directly in front of her, and a white building beyond that.

"Holy crap ... What is this place?"

Iggy turned his head, listening, hearing the gravel crunch beneath his feet, hearing Margo breathing behind him. Hearing the hologram projectors whirring in the trees behind them.

"How many cars are there?"

Margo glanced around, "About ten ... Then there's a ramp going down ... A multi level garage?"

Iggy nodded remembering when he and the Gasman had blown the structure up, "When we get in there, as soon as you can get a weapon, do it, these freaks are not going to fight fair..."

Margo nodded, "I'm glad you talked me into letting Tommy and KIX go back, this is no place for kids."

Iggy laughed inwardly at the irony in that statement but didn't let Margo know. He could hear his own heart pounding, and the red flashes coming from his own chest partially obscured all the other 'sights' of the School.

But it wasn't hard to get the attention of the people inside.

As soon as he got within thirty feet of the building Two Wizards zoomed around the corner at them.

Margo screamed and ducked behind him but Iggy was faster than the Wizard's anticipated and he ducked, just as they swooped over him ... And he ran, Margo scrabbling to keep up with him.

He'd seen the Wizards come from around the corner ... There had to be a door.

It bothered him on some deep level that he was trying to break INTO the School. He'd never tried to get IN before. He'd only managed to get his way OUT.

He wasn't even sure WHAT he was going to do when he did manage to get in. But just as he rounded the corner he saw what appeared to be a small garage door about four stories up ... And it was closing.

He could see browns and yellows coming off of it and he ground his teeth, forcing himself to focus on each individual sound before he reacted.

And it was like his mind zoomed in on the sounds...

He could see the motor that was closing the door ... And then, that same thing happened that had when he'd rigged up Aaron's truck to circulate the air conditioner around the two vials ... He just knew EVERYTHING about that motor ... As if he'd downloaded a blueprint in his head. He wasn't sure what everything was called, but he could almost picture it in his mind.

And the next thing he was aware of was the whistle of an arrow as he fired at the motor.

Orange flashed from the door and it stopped moving, the brown fading into black.

Sirens started shrieking, bathing the whole scene before him in bright yellows and dark reds. Blinding him...

Margo was beside him, screaming something but Iggy didn't listen to her. He grabbed her and launched himself into the air. Forcing his aching, numb wings to move.

Where was that door?

Margo growled in his ear and kicked him in the right shin, "MOVE!"

He turned right and eased forward ... And then Margo jumped out of his arms.

Iggy gave a soft cry and reached for her, expecting her to be falling down the side of the building but she wasn't ... And he felt her hand tangle in his hair, pulling him. He reached out and his hands collided with the sides of that garage door. After that he just forced himself through, tucking in his wings and grabbing Margo's hand.

The homing beacon like feeling returned. Pulling him upward and to the left. He pointed in that direction, "We need to go there!"

Margo nodded and started running forward, her feet making bright gold sounds against the floor.

Iggy held the bow in front of him, knocking another arrow into place as he ran.

He heard voices screaming behind him but he kept running, following the sounds of Margo's footsteps.

She jerked him to the right and into a small confined space and Iggy ran face first into a wall before he realized they were in a little room, not in the hallway. He felt something warm and hot running from his nose but he ignored it, feeling around on the walls for a door.

"Where are we!"

"Elevator ... Which floor?"

He turned and found the button control panel and raked his fingers up and down the rows of buttons, pushing them all. He knew it was stupid and it would slow them down, but he wasn't sure which floor Ella was on. And he'd rather be slowed down than miss her.

They went up two floors and he jerked Margo forward, running down a hallway, bow and arrow before him...

This hallway was silent... And a chill hung in the air. This was the sixth floor. The same floor they'd been detained on for most of their lives...

The sound of his footsteps echoed green around him, bouncing off the walls and stretching outward for a long time before hitting a wall at the end of the passageway.

He could feel her to his left and he dropped the bow and arrow and they made a yellow sound by his feet. His heart pounded in his chest and his breath rasped from his throat. He couldn't breathe, there wasn't enough air...

A cold, permeating fear stole into his chest and he stumbled forward, feeling along the walls. Cold tile ran along under his fingers. His skin making slight squeaking, screeching sounds as he rubbed his hands against it.

He kept walking, hearing Margo's breath close by, fearful, hesitant.

"Where are the doors?" He'd never really wondered around the School before. He'd always been escorted or pushed on a cart in his crate...

Margo didn't answer.

He kept walking. Feeling the tile stop and become a window he stared through this window and saw a single, tiny little red spark fluttering away so fast it seemed to be vibrating...

There was a dull gray throb above this little red spark and the brown ripples of machinery.

He felt hollow, ripped in two, hot and cold all at once.

He couldn't breathe ... where had all the air gone?

Iggy pressed the flat of both hands against the window and leaned his forehead against it. He opened his mouth to speak, to ask Margo where the door was but at the same moment he started to speak his throat tightened in a near sob and what came out was much different than any sound he'd ever made.

It was a sad, apologetically mournful sound. And he recognized it as the same kind of noise he'd heard Pale Male making after the falcon had attacked Fang. ...

The little red spark changed ... Turning bright white and silver and for a moment Iggy felt a flutter of joy in his chest. He heard Margo walk quickly past him but he didn't turn to see why. He could only stare at this little white and silver light flickering behind his eyes.

A door opened somewhere off to his right and a few seconds later he saw the bright red throb of Margo's heart in the room with this little shimmering white light. He pecked on the window, "What is it?"

"There's a door open about fifteen feet to your right..."

Iggy nodded and bent, crawling on the floor, hands out searching for his bow and arrows. He found them then climbed back to his feet, his left knuckles running along the wall until he found this door.

The room smelled awful ... antiseptic, stale unchanged bandages and blood. He would never forget the smell of blood.

Margo touched his shoulder and led him forward until he stood over the dull gray throbbing thing.

Iggy wasn't sure what this gray throbbing thing was ... But he knew that the drawing sensations he was feeling, the homing beacon, was coming from that little white light.

Was this dull gray pulse his baby? Was he seeing that little life as he could see his own and Margo's hearts beating?

He turned and focused down in the little white glow, drawn more to it than the gray light, feeling quite cold all of the sudden. Why was the white light so small?

"How far along is she?" Margo whispered.

Iggy cleared his throat, not sure if he would be able to speak or not. Part of him thinking that maybe he'd forgotten how to speak. "'bout two months..."

"Do you know how long the gestation period for ... Someone like you, is?"

Iggy shook his head. He didn't know anything about babies except that they liked to eat and cry and poop and sleep... And that he wanted his baby very much. He wanted to hold it, feel its fingers and toes... Kiss the end of its little nose... Even change diapers because even that felt like a gift...

He had someone now. He had someone who was actually a small, living part of him... Someone who was sweet and innocent, and somehow, the knowledge that such innocence could come out of the likes of him made everything worthwhile.

Margo was quiet for a few seconds and Iggy heard her flipping through papers.

Somewhere in the background he could hear the sirens still wailing and when he looked down at the floor he could see dull blues of people rushing around on the level below him.

"She looks much farther along than just seven weeks ... Was ... Are you sure she wasn't pregnant before you two-"

Iggy shook his head, "She wasn't ... I ... She and I were," He couldn't bring himself to say it.

"You've only ever been with each other?"

He nodded and glanced back up at the gray thing pulsing away. These two lights were so similar, yet so different. It reminded him of a fire. The little white one was a strong flame, the gray one was not. It was burning out, nearly gone. If he were to try and fan it, it would go out faster than if he just left it alone...

But still, the little pyromaniac in him wanted to feed this little gray flame and make it strong like the white one... Even though, deep down, he knew it was a lost cause.

Margo was tearing papers out of something and folding them up. He could hear them crackle as she shoved them in her pockets. "Accepting the risk of sounding dumb; what are you staring at?"

Iggy felt a shadow of a smile creep over his face. He was blind, he couldn't stare at anything, but then again he was 'looking' at something. Though he wasn't sure what.

"I ... I can see these lights," He held his hands up letting them hover over the lights. "There's a really faint gray one and then a bright white one."

Margo stepped closer to him, "What are they doing?"

Iggy wasn't quite sure WHAT the lights were doing, "Shining."

Margo took his right hand, the hand over the little, bright light and gently pressed it down.

He felt bandages ... and skin ... A firm, protruding roundness beneath...

"That's your baby."

His mouth was very dry and his legs started shaking. If this bright shining light was his baby ... Then the gray guttering light was Ella...

He groaned and his legs gave out, sending him to the floor on his knees, one hand still on Ella's stomach, the other lying limply at his side. He couldn't feel Ella anymore. He could only feel what was alive...

"You can't save her, can you..."

Margo lowered herself beside him. "Her chart says that she was pronounced brain dead three days ago..."

Iggy ground his teeth. The day he'd heard her in his head. The day she'd told him the truth.

He felt like such a failure... He hated himself... He couldn't do anything right, could he... Couldn't even save Ella... "They're keeping her on machines so the baby will survive ... But she's gone."

Margo gave his right arm a squeeze. "Yes ... She's gone, but your baby's still alive, and healthy."

He wanted to cry. He wanted to pick up one of those machines and throw it against the wall, just so he could see the explosion of color it made when it hit. He wanted to hurt something... Make something, ANYTHING feel even a shred of what he was feeling...

But he controlled himself. Only because he had to protect his baby... If that little baby, that little flickering white light, hadn't been there, Iggy knew with all his heart, he would not have been able to stop himself from demolishing the room... From waking up every single Whitecoat in the building...

Had the baby not been there, Iggy would have lost himself surely...

His baby was the only thing he had left that he could count on... And his baby had only him... He would not fail... To fail would be unforgivable.

He would not...

"What can you do? How can we get the baby out of here? We have to go, they're gonna come up here with guns or worse..."

"Her chart also says that they gave her an aging drug ... a high dose of thyroxine and a few others ... Like what they must have given KIX to make him grow faster ... That would explain why she looks so much farther along that just seven weeks... But I've never seen something like this ... Seven weeks you say? And they only got her two and a half weeks ago!"

She hesitated and in her silence Iggy could almost hear the gears in her mind turning over a plan.

"I could perform an emergency c-section..."

"You can do that?"

"I'm an OB with emphasis on fertility... I completed my surgical internship but dropped out before the boards when I got pregnant with Tommy. I can do it, just not legally, then again, I doubt any of THIS is legal ... But the physical stress of the operation would-"

Iggy didn't hear the rest of her sentence.

She could do the surgery ... She could save his baby, but Ella's body wouldn't be able to handle the strain...

"She's already gone ... She's not there anymore, those machines are living for her, Iggy."

He felt sick knowing that by saving the baby he would kill Ella. But, Margo was right Ella was already gone ... Everything that made her who she was, was gone. All that was left was flesh and blood ... Her soul was not there anymore. He would have been able to feel it had she still been there...

Iggy nodded and sat his jaw. He may not be able to save Ella, but he WOULD save their baby ... Even if it killed him. He climbed to his feet, bringing his bow and arrow with him. "What do you need?"

Margo nodded. And he saw the sound of her hair as it fell from her shoulders into her face. "An operating room, and a nurse would be nice ... But I don't trust these people, they've already tried to kill us once."

Iggy nodded and slung the bow over his shoulder, "What machines need to go?"

Margo moved around him checking machines, muttering to herself.

Iggy didn't move, he stood there by Ella's head and slowly lifted his hand, his fingers brushing thick bandages and tubes.

How could this have happened? How could this be his Ella? The girl who'd walked in on him just as he'd stepped from the shower such a seemingly short time ago. How could the girl he'd shared his first everything with be dead?

Somehow, for some reason... He didn't believe it... He couldn't allow himself to. It couldn't end like this... It all seemed so wrong...

Standing here over the table brought it all back. The overwhelming wave of emotion from nights before when she'd turned on him, called him a freak and told him not to touch her. Told him it was all his fault ... That he'd ruined her...

He pulled his hand back, curling his fingers in the front of his shirt. He would respect her wishes. He wouldn't touch her. He'd stay away from her ... But he would never stop loving her. Not ever...

"We need to find out where the operating rooms are."

Iggy's head snapped up, "Third floor."

"How do you know?"

"I grew up in this place, I know where the operating rooms are," He stepped out of the room, leading Margo back toward the elevators, surprised when they met no resistance.

It was almost too easy. Almost like the whitecoats weren't even trying.

Iggy rubbed his forehead. He was getting a headache. Great, just what I need.

The ride down in the elevator was cramped beyond all reason. Iggy had climbed up onto the railing and was standing there balanced, spread eagle, feeling for some reason like a Chippendale dancer.

He laughed to himself, remembering a movie called 'The Full Monty' that he and Ella had watched one night ... Well, she had watched it, he had listened to it. He'd thought it was slightly odd that he should be 'watching' a movie about male strippers, but Ella had assured him that it was funny, not dirty.

That hadn't helped the matter at all, especially when the Gasman had walked in on them. The boy had teased him nonstop after that, coming up behind him and humming the theme just loud enough for everyone to hear. No doubt making rude hip grinding motions at Iggy's back where he couldn't be seen.

But now Iggy was standing guard outside the operating room, feeling like the world's biggest joke. A blind bird kid on watch...

His headache had risen from an annoying ache to a hard throb and it was taking all of his strength to keep from dropping his bow and clutching his skull. He'd never had a headache so bad... Never had such a sharp, stabbing pain shooting around behind his eyes...

It had been nearly an hour and ten minutes now and nothing had happened. The Whitecoats hadn't retaliated for their breaking in, and other than the two wizards that had flown at them in the parking lot Iggy had yet to see any.

He could see little blue and red blobs from the floor below, but that was it. It was like the whitecoats didn't even know they were there. Or they had been expecting him...

And then he heard the elevator. He turned his head and saw the orange brown glow of the car moving back up the shaft and inside it the brownish green heartless blobs of two Wizards.

"Speak thee of the devil and lo, shall he appear..."

Okay ... Piece of cake ... Two Wizards, one stone... He backed down the hall a few paces and knocked a second arrow above the first, turning the bow on its side.

It was about time a wizard showed up, he was getting tired of everything going so smoothly. It was just unnatural.

He only had three arrows left after these. He would have to find a gun somewhere, even though he didn't really like them and doubted he'd be able to see/hear anything after he used it ... But he didn't have a choice. He wasn't going to allow those Wizards to hurt his baby.

The elevator stopped and the doors opened.

The Wizards took two steps into the hall and the one on the left shot its tongue at Iggy with an ear-piercing screech.

And Iggy let the other Wizard have both arrows right into its beady black eyes.

The first Wizard's tongue caught him around the left arm and started dragging him forward. Clicking in sadistic hunger.

It felt like the thing was wrenching his arm out of its socket and Iggy grabbed the tongue, wrapping it around his fist, pulling back. Feeling like he was having a kind of grotesque tug of war match with it. He dug his heels into the tile. His shoes screaming against the floor sending bright red sparks shooting around in his head like fireworks.

He was not going to let that thing anywhere near his baby. He would never let one of those monsters so much as breath on his child before he killed it. Ripped it into shreds with his bare hands.

The Wizard screamed in anger and bent forward, digging its claws into the floor, breaking the tiles and becoming some kind of sick, furry, robed anchor.

Iggy knew what was going to happen even before it did.

The Wizard started reeling him in, the elasticity of its tongue winning out over the tread on his sneakers and the red headed bird boy went down hard on his stomach, all the breath woofing from his lungs. And he started sliding forward, seeming to speed along as if he had wheels on his chest.

His right arm seemed to move of its own volition and he grabbed one of the remaining three arrows from the quiver resting between his wings.

He didn't bother knocking it, his bow was long gone, lost as he had been jerked forward. He simply held the arrow out before him like a knife and when the Wizard roared at him, he roared right back, his voice echoing in the hallway, vengeful, enraged, determined.

A split second before the wizard could bite him Iggy stabbed it. Shoving the arrow as hard as he could into the roof of the things cave like mouth.

It jerked violently and its teeth came down hard, not only on its own tongue, but also on Iggy's left hand. He felt bones pop and break and blood burst outward, spraying him.

He didn't scream, the only sound he made was a surprised little grunt as pain knifed up his arm.

Everything went very still and he lie there a moment, clutching the plumed end of the arrow in his right fist, his left hand still in the Wizard's mouth, panting. Breath seeming not to come fast enough.

The thing didn't move and when Iggy looked up he noticed all the brownish color of mechanical life was gone. He'd killed it, his baby was safe ... But his hand was still in its mouth and it wasn't letting go of him.

Iggy forced himself to his knees, ignoring the fiery pain jolting up and down his arm. He felt the length of the arrow and realized the Wizard had bit into it so hard, it had bent the metal shaft in two. Pinched it in half like a well-cooked spaghetti noodle.

Iggy was shaking and simply because he didn't know what else to do he started hitting the Wizard as hard as he could. As if should he hit it in the right place it would release him.

He thought he'd heard somewhere that if a person suffered a severe and sudden brain injury that said person would bite down so hard one would have to use a pry-bar to open it again...

Oh, God, why wouldn't it let him go!

For some reason he wasn't worried about catching 'The Wizard's Curse', it was as if something inside him said he didn't HAVE to worry. He wouldn't be infected because this Wizard was a robot... But that didn't change the fact that the thing had his HAND and wouldn't let go of it!

His headache seemed the least of his worries now. How was he going go get home with a dead wizard clinging to his hand!

He hooked the fingers of his right hand on the thing's lower jaw, in a gap where a few teeth were missing and he started pulling with all his strength, trying to pry its mouth open so he could get his hand out. He could feel a hot sticky liquid running from this opening and he knew it was blood ... His blood, but at the moment it didn't matter. All that mattered was getting his hand out of this thing's mouth so he could get back to guarding the operating room door.

He heard a motorized groaning as he finally forced its mouth open wide enough to yank his fingers out. Iggy jerked his arm back and the Wizard's jaw snapped shut again. He held his bleeding and mangled hand against his chest then climbed to his feet, his whole body shaking, sweat dripping into his eyes. He kicked the wizard, as if to avenge his hand, then searched out his bow and went back to the operating room door.

As he stood there, shivering in the air conditioning and feeling the blood soak his shirt front he realized finding the bow again did him very little good because he couldn't shoot it with one hand.

He'd been disarmed...

"Damn it..."

And then he heard a sound, echoing from the operating room. A shrill screeching and before he knew what he was doing he'd burst through the door and was standing there leaned against the scrub sink his face pressed against the window as if he could see what was going on.

What was making that heart wrenching noise?

And then he saw that fluttering white light within a fiery red, blue and yellow sound, so much brighter than before and all he could do was stand there and watch the light pulsing in his head his mouth open in shock.

And Margo's voice came to him, muffled, but he saw an explosion of rainbow colors and bright silver in his head when she spoke.

"It's a girl!"

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 112; Flight of the Failures

Margo moved quickly.

She'd washed the baby and wrapped her up in blankets, so many blankets that the little girl looked like a doll.

It was the most amazing thing, a perfectly formed little baby, with fluffy little down covered wings and a tuft of flaming red hair on her head.

Margo had seen Iggy when he'd rushed into the scrub room. His bloodstained face pressed against the window like a child peering in at a Christmas toy display. But as soon as she'd called to him the boy's face had changed.

It had gone from a childlike joy and fascination one second, to the dreamy proud look she'd seen on every father's face the first time they laid eyes, or ears, on their child.

It was a magical moment, but at the same time worrying, because Margo had also seen his hand, and the stains on his shirt. She'd expected worse from the sounds of the fight that had wafted into the room. She'd expected so much worse. But what had happened was bad enough.

Margo didn't even bother changing out of the surgical scrubs and back into her regular clothes. She cradled the baby to her chest with one arm and pulled on her jacket with the other, zipping the tiny little winged girl next to her heart. And then they left the room.

Margo quickly bandaged Iggy's hand feeling nauseous when she realized his pinky, ring and middle finger were missing, as if someone had roughly hacked them off where they joined with his palm. She wrapped gauze around that part of his hand, padding it as best she could under the circumstances and they stepped to the elevator. She'd take better care of it later...

Iggy put out his injured hand as a warning and looked up and down the elevator shaft noticing the lone red pulse of a heartbeat coming up in the next car.

Iggy motioned Margo back and the woman scurried away, hiding a little ways down the hall in a doorway. Iggy ground his teeth and pulled one of his last two arrows from the quiver and held it in his fist, ready.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened and Iggy lunged at it, holding the arrow like a sword, point first, pressing directly over the explosion of red heart-fluttering.

A woman gasped and Iggy pressed her back into the elevator with the point of the arrow.

"Don't kill me, please, God, don't kill me!"

Margo climbed onto the elevator, one arm around the baby, the other searching the woman over for a weapon but she found none. Was this some kind of ploy? WHY WAS NOBODY TRYING TO STOP HIM!

Iggy ground his teeth and tried to ignore her pleading. "Do you work here?" He put a little pressure on the arrow and heard the woman inhale sharply.

"Yes."

"Good ... Then you're going to be a good little hostage, understand? And if you don't, I'm gonna shove this through your chest!"

Iggy didn't know he'd had it in him, to make such a threat ... And to mean it. But he did... He meant it with every fiber of his being...

If this woman didn't do what he said, or tried to hurt his daughter ... He'd kill her. Without hesitation, without second thought, without regret...

Margo tapped his shoulder twice and Iggy wondered if she even knew what that meant, but he didn't question her.

The Elevator eased to a stop on the first floor and Iggy pushed the woman off with the tip of the arrow now against her throat. He looked around and saw that there were four red pulsing blobs hiding around the corner ... And he could see that all four of them were armed... And he suddenly knew everything about the guns they carried... Though he wasn't sure how...

Two Glock nine mils... A Smith and Wesson and a police issue .357 Magnum with hollow point shells... Death in steel...

"COME OUT SLOWLY OR SHE DIES!" Iggy wrapped his arm around the woman's waist and pressed the arrow even tighter against her throat. He could feel Margo creeping along behind him, and had she only had wings he would have told her to run.

"FAT CHANCE, KID! Let her go and we won't blow you to smithereens!"

"I'LL KILL HER! DON'T THINK FOR A MOMENT THAT I WON'T!" And just for emphasis he raked the arrowhead across her skin, cutting a sizable gash above her clavicle.

"Jesus, he's serious ... What do we do?" It was a whisper, but Iggy could hear it... How could he hear it? All his advanced senses were gone...

A ringing started in his ears, behind that awful headache and his fingertips tingled.

Oh, God, I'm gonna pass out, don't let me pass out yet...

"PUT YOUR GUNS ON THE FLOOR NOW!"

The female whitecoat choked back a sob, "Do it, for God's sake just do it! One Gen-Two is not worth this shit! I don't care what the Director said about it!"

Iggy listened closely and he heard the guns clatter as they were lain on the floor. "Kick 'em over!"

They did and Iggy inched forward, watching as the four men's fluttering hearts went backward a few steps.

Iggy heard the baby make a soft sound in her throat and he wanted desperately to hold her. To make that chirping sound as he'd done earlier so he could watch her little heart light up like fire.

Her heart is like a flame... Her eyes just like the earth... Her tongue, as cold as snow fall... Her spirit like the wind...

Margo scooped up the guns, sticking one in the waistband of Iggy's jeans then handing one to him, and he pressed the barrel right against the whitecoat's head. "We're going to leave now. And if ANYTHING follows us I'll kill her, understand?"

And they moved cautiously right out the front doors.

"IGGY!"

And when he turned around to stare at the owner of this frighteningly familiar voice he heard Margo scream.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Iggy's head snapped up and he saw a stagnant brown blob dropping down on him. For a moment he felt his heart beating in his chest, and then something frightening happened.

His head exploded. Light flashed behind his eyes and for a moment the pain was so intense his jaw clenched so hard his teeth popped. And then he was thinking, terrifyingly fast, strange, near vibrating sensations flowing through his whole body...

Get 'em...

And he threw the female Whitecoat to the ground, lunging up into the air his fingers curled like claws.

He was not going to let this demon near his daughter. He wasn't going to let it hurt her.

Max watched, slightly fascinated, mostly terrified as Iggy jumped into the air, going at the winged Wizard as if the thing were no more frightening than a dragonfly.

Fang growled at her side and when she turned she saw his eyes had gone red again, and then he was in the air too, going at that winged Wizard as if he had a death wish, which Max wasn't entirely convinced he didn't.

She started running, snapping out her wings as she'd done a million times before and taking to flight. Circling back and heading for that winged Wizard, sword in hand.

Iggy started shooting at that blob, but he would have been better off throwing the guns at the Wizard for all the good they did. The thing seemed to absorb the bullets rather than be injured by them. And when he ran out of bullets, he did throw them at the Wizard if only to distract it.

And then Fang was beside him, shouting in that odd, near gibberish language they'd invented and Iggy acted on instinct, banking sharply to the left zipping straight up past the flying Wizard and grabbing it's right wing, just as Fang grabbed its left.

A forbidden move, but an effective one ... Had their attacker not been ready for them.

As soon as their hands tangled in the thick, slimy leathery skin of the Wizard's wings the Wizard kicked back, pulling its wings straight up, causing both bird boys to be jerked towards each other, their heads smacking together with enough force to smash a pumpkin into jelly.

Iggy heard a high CRACK and metal scraped on stone as Fang dropped his sword. And Iggy fell, his wings limp, both hands over his head. Stars exploded in his mind and for a moment he feared he'd been knocked unconscious. But then he heard Fang growling deep in his throat and he shook himself into awareness, straightening his wings and soaring back up to where the Wizard and Fang were battling.

More of the wretched winged abominations were dropping from the top floor of the building and Iggy felt the wind of Max's wings as she shot upward past him.

He heard her shout "One O'clock!" and he jerked in that direction, only to see another brown blob coming at him. He didn't wait for this Wizard to form a plan, or anticipate his movements, he just dove at the thing, intent on ripping it to shreds for daring to exist in the same realm as him and his child.

The Wizard shot out its tongue and Iggy dodged it, zooming upward, catching the thing about the waist and crashing into the side of the building with it, punching and kicking, tearing with his fingers, gouging at the things eyes before it had time to react to being tackled mid-air.

He was mad... Past angry, passed pissed, past furious... He was MAD, and it was about damned time SOMETHING payed for what evil it had done to him, and his family.

He heard it scream and felt its eyes pop like little grapes beneath the pressure of his thumbs and then nothing mattered. A blind, consuming rage overwhelmed him and he wrapped his hands, both the ruined one and the one that still worked around its throat, tightening his grip like a vice. He didn't pay attention to it as it made feeble clicking noises and sank its claws into his arms. Tearing through his shirt nearly ripping his arms from his torso. He didn't even stop when his right hand closed over his left and he realized three of his fingers were gone. A sudden heat swelled in him, burning outward to his hands and he smelled smoke, scorched flesh, and hot metal but he didn't stop, the heat flooded him, seeming to run along the nerves in his wings, through his feathers and into the air... He didn't stop, didn't even care that he could smell something burning. He just kept choking that Wizard until he felt the metal column of its spine crunch like an aluminum can between his hands, until it's arms fell to its sides and it slid down the side of the building, a dead brown heap.

Then he turned and shot upward to help Max and Fang, not seeming to care that he'd just killed a Wizard with only seven fingers. Not caring that he'd just used a new ability ... All he cared about was protecting his daughter. His family... His purpose...

Max had already dispatched one winged Wizard and was in the process of handling her second when she noticed Fang was simply hanging there in the air looking stunned. None of the Wizards would fight him for more than five seconds before screeching and flying off. And all of the winged abominations were flying away from Iggy... Who seemed to be trailing a cloud of smoke behind him.

It was as if they'd all taken an oath not to bother fighting with the boys. And Max could hear the hum of Fang's thoughts in her head.

Why won't they fight us? What's going on?

And then he was remembering something and Max had to turn her focus back to the Wizard she was fighting with so she wouldn't get bitten. Because the last thing she needed was to be bitten, especially after what had happened to Aaron.

And thinking about Aaron and Nudge spurred her into an enraged determination she'd experienced once before. When she'd been fighting Omega. She was not going to give up. She was not going to let some no good robotic monster, get the best of her. And she brought her sword down in a chopping motion. And despite the fact the blade wasn't sharpened, despite the fact Max thought it was a worthless piece of flea-market junk. The force she put behind it was enough to make the piece of flea market junk into a deadly weapon, and she bashed in the top of the Wizard's head like a melon...

But when she looked up she saw a black cloud hanging over the School, a black cloud of Wizards and she knew she'd never be able to get rid of them all by herself.

"Max!" Iggy was by her side, buzzing at her like a humming bird, trying to get to a flower that had been put under glass. She kept backing away from him because every time he bobbed forward they nearly collided and he smelled so strongly of smoke Max was having trouble breathing. He seemed to be giving off an incredible amount of heat and yet he didn't seem to notice.

He couldn't get close enough to her without his wings tangling in hers so with a frustrated growl he hovered five or so feet in front of her a wide toothy grin on his blood stained face.

"Where are Angel and Daisy!" Max snapped, and was tempted to put her sword to his throat but was able to control herself. It was something in his eyes...

Iggy faltered, "I dropped them off back at the hotel, but that can wait-"

"There was nobody at the hotel!" Max snapped, cutting him off a second time.

Iggy didn't seem to hear her. He continued rambling on insanely then to Max's surprise did a black flip in the air, twittering loudly like a jubilant blue bird. "I'm a dad, Max! I'm a DAD!"

She spluttered and then shook her head; "What are you talking about, have you flipped your lid! How can you be a dad!"

Fang appeared flying just a few feet above her, still half-absorbed in watching the cloud of Wizards hovering over them holding his injured hip, "What's going on? You're a dad? How the hell are you a DAD!"

Iggy laughed again and pointed to the ground with his mutilated hand. "Go look at her, she's so beautiful!"

And there was a loud crack from the ground. The sound of a gunshot, and Iggy heard Margo scream, and the shrill, pained shriek of his baby.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 113; Epitasis of a Hero

Anger didn't come close to what he felt when his feet hit the ground. Rage wasn't even an adequate phrase. He was past feeling all of that. The only thing Iggy felt when his feet hit the ground running was a deep penetrating heat rising in his chest, encompassing him, feeding all the hatred he felt toward the School and every Whitecoat and human that had ever hurt him.

He heard Max and Fang land behind him but he didn't turn. He just followed the bright yellow and red flame like wails of his daughter and ran right at the heartbeat standing over hers.

He knew this person wasn't Margo because Margo was lying unconscious on the ground. It didn't take him long to figure out who it was. It was the female Whitecoat he'd held prisoner ... And she had one of Margo's guns in her hands.

Oh but fell creatures rule this day... Hell's gates are breaking open... The wrath you have bred will fall today... On the wings of heaven's angels...

For a moment he knew that Tommy's mother was hurt because of him, but at the same time he knew that if he didn't stop this Whitecoat woman everything he'd just done; Running away from the hotel with Daisy, and Angel. Finding KIX and Tommy, getting shot in the arm, convincing Margo to come with him, the rescue mission, fighting with the Wizards, loosing his fingers, letting Ella go ... All of it would have been in vain if he didn't get that woman away from his little girl.

He saw the woman turn and raise the gun and in the background he heard Max scream his name frantically;

"IGGY, NO!"

But he didn't pay any attention. Iggy no longer existed. He wasn't a person, people were evil, they lied, tortured and hurt him. He wasn't one of those trecherous creatures. He was a falcon. And falcons didn't take shit from people. Falcons didn't have fantasies about other falcons while they were in bed together. Falcons didn't know how to lie, wouldn't know terchery even if it were to pull out their tail feathers, and they wouldn't allow an outsider to hurt their families. They just didn't take that kind of shit!

And that's all he knew... He was going to kill this woman.

He was going to kill her for making his daughter scream like that. He didn't care what the cost was. It was worth it, as long as his baby girl was safe.

The gun jerked in the whitecoat's hand-

once

twice...

three

four

five

six

seven

eight...

Click-click... Empty

-times but Iggy didn't stop running. He growled in his throat and tackled the woman. Forcing her to the ground ignoring how she screamed, called him a freak and pounded on his chest and clawed his face. He didn't speak, he simply grabbed her by the chin, twisting her head to the side, and he didn't stop until he felt the sick, jarring wet pop of her neck and she went limp.

He rocked back into a sitting position, astride her chest, his wings out, feathers raised in agitation. Listening to the deafening waterbell like hum in his ears. Hearing Max and Fang as they ran across the parking lot toward him. Gravel popping beneath their shoes. Their voices calling to him frantically... In terror and shock...

There... All done...

He was panting, his heart hammering painfully against his ribs like a bass drum...

Didn't he used to play the drums? Back when he was human?

Didn't he used to be young? Naïve?

Didn't the world used to scare him? Didn't everything used to be strange? Didn't he used to be shy?

He would gladly take on the world now... He was ready for it.

"Bring it on mother fuckers!" He choked, and slid weakly into the dirt beside the dead whitecoat.

He could hear his daughter crying. He tried to stand, wanting to find her, hold her for the first time. Count her fingers and toes... Watch the sounds she made when he chirped at her and let her know that everything was going to be OK. The bad woman was gone...

But his strength was fading, and his legs wouldn't support him as he tried to stand. He was oddly numb, his fingertips tingling. Listening to his daughter wail and wishing he just had the strength to hold her, to assure himself that she was real and to let her know that he was going to make everything OK.

Her daddy was going to make everything right...

...But he was just... so tired... so very... very ... tired...

And the front of his shirt felt so cold...

When he found the strength to put his hand to it he could feel holes in the fabric and it struck him as odd that he'd managed to tear his shirt and not realize it. But what was more odd, what he thought was almost funny, was when he ran his hand across his chest, the first two fingers on his right hand disappered into what felt like holes in his very flesh...

He raised his head and looked down at his chest, seeing the fading red of his own heart flickering throughout the cage of his chest, and eight little black holes in the shimmering color that still remained.

And then Max was bending over him, speaking in a low, calm voice. Holding his head between her hands, wiping at his cheeks.

"Don't move, just lie still ... Can you hear me? Iggy, can you hear me?"

He nodded and motioned toward the sound of his daughter's voice. "She's so scared ... Help her."

He felt Max move, lowering his head so he saw the brilliant sounds of the sky and the wind... He heard her turning and her cursing bitterly under her breath.

Then Fang was bending over him, pressing both hands over his chest.

"Don't move, Ig, please just don't move. You're gonna be OK!" He could hear the fright in Fang's voice and he shook his head, feeling something hot running up the back of his throat when he would exhale. He tried to ignore it, but it tickled in his throat and he coughed, turning his head away so he could spit out what came up.

And then Max was back, her breath coming out in little whimpers as she held the baby, staring down wide eyed at a little pink hand curled into a defiant fist, the perfect little pink nose ... And the shock of red hair lying on her forehead. Her voice was thin, strained and she looked down at Iggy. Knowing the answer even before she asked the question.

"You and my sister..."

Iggy tried to nod but he found he was much too tired.

"Ig, hang in there, don't go ... Jesus, Iggy don't go!" Fang's hands tightened on his chest but it was like fighting a battle with sleep.

You just couldn't win.

Iggy smiled up at Max, feeling something hot running from the corner of his mouth but ignoring it, instead, focusing all his quickly waning strength into talking, even though no sound came out.

"I couldn't let them have her ... I couldn't, Max ... It's my job... I had to save her... You-you gotta understand."

He heard Max choke back a sob, "I understand ... Now don't talk, just lie still, I'm g-" She'd started to say that she was going to go get help, but the only help near by was Whitecoats, and Iggy had just killed one.

There was no help...

He licked his lips, smearing color on them and his eyelids drooped, nearly closing. His breath gurgled in his chest and he was speaking again. His voice coming out as just a breath with syllables.

"I-I named her Ember ... Because the first time I heard her voice ... I saw her l-like a f-fire," he motioned to his forehead and then slowly everything started to change.

The world revealed itself in a throb of the most beautiful bluish green, smeared with reds gold and purple...

Like wings...

And Iggy could see his daughter's heart beating in her chest. He could see Fang's heart, and Max's...

And he could see three little red sparks below Max's belly button...

He chuckled softly to himself, a wet bubbling sound as it came out around the gush of blood that ran from his mouth and Max called his name. Pleadingly...

"Iggy?"

But, just like a flickering flame, he was there one minute...

And then he wasn't.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

(I'm so sorry I haven't written in so long. Things have been really hectic. A very dear friend's mom is in the hospital, Paul and Erin are having issues, and my computer got stollen! Don't worry THE WINGS OF WRATH is on my flash-drive not my computer. But not having a computer means I have to ride the bus across town to the library and I've been REALLY swamped at work lately.

And for those of you who would like to help. I'm in the process of writing MY OWN book, any suggestions would be great, juts e-mail them to me! Again, thanks for your patience, and sorry it took so long!... LOVE NORA!)

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

PART SIX SUMMARY; The Final Breath

What is the meaning of life? What good could possibly come out of something so bad? So tragic? How can we ever expect to see the light of day when the world is shrouded in such darkness?

Who has the courage to save us now? When all the heroes have gone to their graves?

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

The Wings of Wrath; Part 6

Heir to the Throne

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 114; Room 6E

Fang rocked back on his heels, raking a hand through his hair and smearing a thick splotch of Iggy's blood across his forehead. He didn't feel anything save cold.

Max was still holding the baby, and the little girl was still crying but right now it didn't matter. What mattered was getting Iggy's body out of the parking lot because the Wizards were starting to come down, looking for the source of the blood they no doubt could smell.

Fang didn't want those THINGS eating his friend. But when he tried to stand he found he couldn't. He was shaking too badly and his right leg just didn't want to work. And then he heard Max crying. Cradling that little baby and sobbing.

It wasn't fair. It was NOT FAIR!

And there was nothing he could do to change it.

Max lifted her eyes to Fang, feeling as if everyone she'd ever cared about were being stolen from her. Ari, Jeb, her mother and sister, Nudge, Aaron and now Iggy, who would be next? Who would be taken from her next?

It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair. It was all ... WRONG!

And she felt an anger, much like the enraged heat she sometimes felt from Fang building in her chest. She shifted, and held the baby out, putting her in Fang's strong arms. And she took off running right at those terrible winged Wizards who were flying straight at the ground, intent on devouring the dead bird-boy that lie there, or ripping his body to gory shreds.

But Max was not going to allow that. She was not going to allow one of those creatures to touch Iggy. And she took to the air, a new heat burning under her skin, seeming to center in her face and her rage built higher, until she was sure it was going to shoot out the top of her head and then it happened. She remembered when, while hallucinating nights before that she'd changed into an Eraser.

And she channeled that Eraser like fury now.

She opened her mouth and screeched. Pushing all the air she had in her lungs and air-sacs out through her syrinx. That little place in her throat that she'd first used days before learning to chirp.

And the sound that came out this time was not a pretty little cooing, it was the angered, soul tearing shriek of a mad-as-hell bird of prey.

She felt her stomach tingle and the feelings egged her on.

And suddenly she was flying as she'd never flown before. Spiraling upward faster and faster and faster, and the humming sensations from her stomach grew, filling her with a purpose.

She was not going to let those THINGS get away with this... They would PAY!

Fang heard her high, ear piercing sound and his jaw fell open. He watched her wondering if ever there could be anything more tragically beautiful than a severely pissed off Max... His Max.

A state of Mind, not just a name...

"Get 'em, Max, get 'em!"

And she did. She flew straight into that cloud of Wizards and attacked. Her mind a blank, vicious slate of pure Eraser-like brutality. She shot upward and rolled over in the sky, folding her wings up, maneuvering with just the slightest twitch of her primary feathers. Shooting down so fast the wind pulled more tears from her eyes.

And she hit them like a missile.

She grabbed wings, tore flesh with her bare hands and Wizards started dropping like flies around her, falling, clicking to their mechanical deaths.

And Fang sat there watching her, in awe. Thinking of ancient Norse mythology he'd learned in History class.

If Nudge could turn into a Harpy ... Then Max was a Valkyrie, a very pissed off Valkyrie.

Within three violent minutes the remaining Wizards had taken to flight, flying as fast and as far as they possibly could from this terrifying girl.

And Max hung there in the air, feeling as though she should fly after these retreating things and finish the job, but at the same time she knew they were on a mission. They had to get whatever experiment was in 6E, they had to finish their mission ... Not just so they could save the world ... But to somehow right the wrong of Iggy's death.

For half a second Max wondered if Ter Borcht could possibly resurrect Iggy, but then she remembered. Ter Borcht was dead, and even if he'd still been alive. You could only be resurrected once, and Iggy had used this chance when he'd expired. There wasn't another way to bring him back... Was there?

I'm going after 6E. Max thought at Fang.

Be careful. Was his reply.

Max didn't bother wiping the vicious expression from her face or the smears of oily Wizard blood. Simply because she wanted to be as damned frightening as possible when she found this whatever. She wanted to scare the thing to death as punishment for the trouble it had caused.

Because of this thing Iggy was dead. Because of this thing, everyone was dead. Part of her wished she really could turn into an Eraser, then she truly would be too frightening for words.

There was what appeared to be a garage door standing open on the forth floor and Max fluttered through it, landing in a run. Cursing whatever project could have caused Iggy ... Everyone to be killed.

What could be so precious to cost the lives of her family?

6E wasn't very far from the door she'd entered the building through. She ran up two flights of stairs in the maintenance wing and when she wrenched open the door she expected to find some Omega like child playing tea party. Not an empty room.

She stood there flabbergasted then noticed a file lying open on a waist high counter. She stalked forward and grabbed it noticing at first that pages had been torn out. So, she ripped out the remaining pages, folded them and shoved them into her pocket. Staring around the room and noticing a smudge on the viewing window. A smudge that looked like a face had been pressed to the glass.

She stepped forward slowly peering at this slightly greasy spot on the glass a moment before she realized what ... And who had made it.

She put a hand to her mouth, feeling all her anger toward this new mysterious project bubble away.

"I couldn't let them have her ... I couldn't, Max ... It's my job... I had to save her... You-you gotta understand."

She closed her eyes tightly. She hadn't known ... If she'd known...

Iggy's daughter was the Key Project. Ember was the experiment that would foil the Director's plans ... Saving Ember, making sure the girl lived and was kept from the Whitecoats...

To save the world, Max had to save Iggy's daughter...

But why had the Director chosen her? What could possibly be so special about a tiny, just 'hatched' little baby bird-girl?

Think BIG Maximum ... Think BIG...

Max wiped her eyes and quickly left the room, pausing a moment to check the other rooms on this wing of the sixth floor for any new experiments that she could free, and possibly forestall another of the Director's plans. She had to do something... If she went back out side, she didn't know what would happen. Ari's death had been bad... But this was Iggy...

She'd loose her mind if she had to go back out there without making SOME KIND of difference. Without somehow making the Whitecoats pay...

When Max opened the door to 6F she saw a single cage stuffed back into a corner. And a half-naked little girl crouched behind the bars.

The girl expelled a hiss and a breathy little scream then pressed herself back into the crate, covering her head and curling in on herself making quite little sobbing sounds.

She couldn't have been anymore than two years old.

She was a slight little thing with strawberry blonde hair. And when she turned her back, Max noticed that the girl had a thin trail of ginger colored fur down her back, which disappeared beneath the waistband of her shorts, but reappeared when her tail came through a slit in the seat of her pants.

Max thought immediately of the leopard girl she'd encountered in Germany then strode forward, searching for a moment, finding the key to the girl's crate and opening the door. "Come on out, I'm here to save you."

The girl crawled warily forward her pupils large and round, and Max saw she was built much like a cat, her feet were long and slender, her rear legs shorter above and below the knee, and she crept forward slowly on the balls of those oddly distorted feet.

She scooped the girl up and left the room, pausing every so often and using the Director's keycard to open other rooms she came to, searching for other experiments.

6D was empty, so were 6C and 6B.

But when she swung the door to 6A open-

"OH, MY GOSH, MAXIE!" Lynn-Dee screamed happily from where she was stuffed into a large dog crate. Her eyes bugged, "M-Max ... Y-you have WINGS!"

Max ground her teeth and looked around the room noticing that not only was Lynn-Dee in here but so was fourteen or so other people from her class. All of which were still wearing their Halloween costumes.

And they all started talking at once.

"Get us out of here!" "Max, get us out!" "Please, please get us out!"

Max was tempted to simply shut the door and run. Her secret was out. They knew she had wings, but she couldn't. The part of her that made it impossible to deny anyone a helping hand made her enter the room and unlock all their cages. Ignoring their comments about her wings, and trying to ignore the odd hand that crept over her feathers.

"Where is everyone else?"

Lynn-Dee shook her head, "We don't know ... They took us to this air port and divided us into groups. All the grown-ups were put on one plane and all us kids were split into groups of sixteen and sent off on different planes ... Max, where is Ella? Where's everyone else?"

Max felt her body stiffen and she turned hollow brown eyes to Lynn-Dee. "Ella's dead ... So are my mom, Aaron, N-Tiffany ... and Jeff."

Lynn-Dee's mouth fell open and she covered the cave between her lips with a plump hand. "No!"

Max ground her teeth. "Jeff's out-outside, F-Nick stayed with him ... His body," She felt her throat close and she couldn't say anything else.

Lynn-Dee crushed her in a hug, and the cat girl hissed indignantly and tried to wriggle out of Max's grasp.

"We'll help. These people deserve to suffer after all they've done."

"Yeah... Pay them back, western style!" And a boy from the back of the room drew pretend guns from pretend holsters on his hips and started humming the tune to 'Bonanza'...

Another boy, the one standing in front of him, turned and punched him in the mouth. "Shut-up."

Max handed Lynn-Dee the Director's keycard, "Check every room on this floor. I've gotten 'E' through 'A', and if you come across a guy who calls himself 'Omega' kick his ass and tell him that Max says 'hi'."

Lynn-Dee nodded, "You've got it," She wiped a tear from her eyes, "W-what are you and Nick going to do with Jeff?"

Max bit so hard into her lip she tasted blood. She hadn't thought about it. Part of her was still refusing to believe that he was gone. That when she left the building she was going to have to deal with Iggy's body.

When Ari had died, Jeb had taken care of the boy's body. But Jeb was gone, so was her mother. She was the next one in line to bear the responsibility.

What was she going to do? She had no plan. They'd never talked about it before. 'What do you do when you die?'

Max had seen graveyards, she'd seen funerals ... From a distance. Though she'd only attended a 'Service' as Jeb had called it. Which was basically just crying and listening to Jeb cry.

"We-we're going to take him home," What else could they do?

Lynn-Dee nodded and gave Max one more hug before she, and the others rushed from the room.

They found a room 6M, which contained twenty or so Wizard's brooms and Lynn-Dee passed them out. Knowing that using the contraptions wouldn't be that hard. The whole ride to the air port in that stupid net the night of her Halloween Party she'd been studying those brooms.

Lynn-Dee was a HUGE Harry Potter fan, thus her Ravenclaw Prefect Halloween costume, and the idea of flying around on a broom, even if said broom was rocket powered, would be the absolute COOLEST thing EVER. SQUEE!

So, after they'd finished checking all the rooms they went down two floors and followed the feel of cool air into what looked like a loading bay of some kind. Lynn-Dee, being the fearless type, had been the first one to mount her broom and turn it on. Manipulating the little buttons under her fingertips. "Okay, right thumb makes it hover. Left thumb turns it off and on, right fingers make it go faster, left fingers make it go slower, Just moving the stick like this points you in different directions. Just like a video game... Everyone got it?"

There were assorted answers and Lynn-Dee plucked up courage she didn't know she had and soared through the little door in the side of the building, jerkily turning the broom and heading to the ground ... To the place she saw Max, Nick and some strange woman kneeling.

She'd never seen a dead body before. Especially the dead body of someone she knew. Someone she'd talked to and poked fun at... And secretly had a crush on... But when she landed she noticed something terrifying...

There was no body...

Max was sobbing, clutching at a squawking little baby, Nick's arms wrapped around her. The little girl who looked to be part housecat was huddled in the strange woman's arms and Nick looked ready to pull someone's head off and punt it across the parking lot.

"I tried ... Max... I tried, but there were too many of 'em..." He ground his teeth and hid his face in her hair, his shoulders shaking.

Lynn-Dee cleared her throat and looked around, noticing a puddle of bloody dirt a few yards away. "What happened?"

The strange woman turned and shook her head but Lynn-Dee was a persistant girl and she would ask until someone told her what had happened. Even if it was rude and heartbreaking.

"What! Happened!"

Nick turned to her then, his face twisted up in anger and he spoke in a frighteningly hushed, calm voice.

"Big Hairy's what happened, you stupid f... Fleshy-beach-ball! Those THINGS came back ... They came back and took him!"

Lynn-Dee covered her mouth and swallowed a bitter taste in her mouth. She didn't want to know why those things had taken Iggy/Jeff's body... The horrified, bereaved looks on Max and Nick's faces were enough.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 115; What is Home?

Allan woke to the sound of his phone ringing. Which in and of itself was a miracle. But, of course when dealing with high tech satellite phones it was one of the luxuries. You very rarely DIDN'T have reception.

He rolled groggily from bed and answered it, "Wha..."

"Allan?" It was Nick's voice, and the kid sounded like hell.

"Nick, are you OK? What's wrong?"

"Where are you guys, when we stopped at the hotel you were gone ... We thought you'd left a note but someone or something tore it down."

Allan cursed under his breath and raked a hand through his hair, "Yeah, we left a note, but its OK, uh ... Where are YOU?"

"Is everyone OK?" His voice was thin, barely above a whisper and Allan could hear the boy's breath.

"Yeah, we're all OK, but where-"

"Allan ... A-aaron and Nudge are dead."

For a moment Allan forgot where he was and what he'd done in the past twenty-four hours and he spoke before his rationality came back to him, "What?"

"They flipped the truck and they're-"

Allan sighed, regaining his wits and he rubbed his temples, "Nick, Nudge and Aaron are fine. Nudge told me that after she and Aaron were 'resurrected' they escaped and she saw Max breaking out of a window and thought you'd been captured too."

Allan heard a flurry of noise as Fang collapsed in the phone booth, sliding down one glass wall into a sitting position, his legs no longer strong enough to hold him upright. And the soft sound of Max's voice, from just outside the booth.

"Fang? Fang are you OK? What is it?"

But Nick spoke in a strained voice into the phone. "They're alive?"

"Yes, I had to separate them so they could go to bed. Aaron's a little beat up, but they're fine. We're at Red Bear Station. There's a doctor here who's taking care of him. AND DON'T worry, they've sworn 'the most holy swear' that they will never tell your guys' secret."

Allan heard Fang draw a shuddering breath.

"Are you OK, Nick? Are you, Max and Jeff OK?"

And Fang stifled a sob, his voice a strained whisper. "Iggy's gone," He cupped a hand over his eyes, still not able to get the image of Iggy as he ran toward that woman out of his head

He'd jerked as the bullets had hit him but he hadn't slowed down. He'd barreled right into the woman then snapped her neck with his bare hands...

And then the Wizards swarming and flying off with the boy's body... It was too much... Too much...

"Jesus ... Nick ... Oh, God..." And Allan went quiet, the only indication that he was still on the other end of the phone was the rasping sounds of his breath. "How?"

Fang opened his mouth to speak, to relate the entire horrifying story but he couldn't. All he could do was lift his fist and let it fall against his left thigh a few times while making a near choked stuttering kind of noise.

"Where are you? Do you need me to come get you?"

He nodded, and even though he knew Allan couldn't hear him do so the man knew what he'd done.

"Where are you?"

Fang knew where they were but he didn't trust himself at the moment and he turned to Max his expression blank. "Where are we?"

"We're about twenty minutes from the cabin ... Tell him that we've sent some people to pick them up."

Fang repeated this, running his knuckles under his nose. He listened to Allan speaking, listened to the man as he woke everyone up then listened to the dead air on the other end of the phone when Allan hung up about fifteen minutes later as Lynn-Dee and two boys showed up toting extra brooms.

It took what felt like an hour of sitting there in the darkness of that parking lot, Fang still hiding in the phone booth, Max sitting just outside, her cheek pressed to the glass. Thirteen other children sitting around all staring in a kind of silent anguish at the ground, mourning Iggy's loss.

Every so often Margo would shush the baby, or make a soft hissing noise as she probed the wound on the side of her head, but other than that there was no sound.

But then Max heard a soft voice in her head, "We're coming, Max."

And a few seconds later she heard the sound of wings in the night.

The kids on the ground around her started to stir, looking around frightened. Then one by one, out of the darkness Max saw her Flock and seeing them alive made Iggy's death that much more real and terrible.

She'd never be able to scold him again for being a sexist pig, she'd never see him smirk at her or hear him complain, or laugh, or shout, 'I may be blind, but you are deaf!' when no one would listen to him.

They didn't even have his body to mourn. The Wizards and Whitecoats had taken him away... They'd taken everything away... and now there was a hole in her life. An Iggy shaped hole in everyone's lives. And they would never be able to fill it again, because there was only one Iggy and now he was gone...

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 116; Sic Transit Gloria

(This is the exact date of when this story is supposed to happen, yeah, it's all supposed to be taking place in 2012! I finally got the dates out!)

December 20, 2012

It was snowing again and Fang was alone. Something he found quite rare lately. Usually there were up to eight people around him. Asking him questions, giving him ideas for the 'Take Down' plan. Asking him to explain the 'Take Down' plan...

Which consisted of mainly hiding out. Protecting Ember and every so often shooting down a few stray Wizards that happened to show their ugly heads within the 100 mile 'No Fly Zone' surrounding the cabin...

But, for a moment, he was alone. Standing out in the snow staring down at a little wall of stone Iggy and the Gasman had built years and years ago to hide behind when testing bombs, and swallowing past a large, burning lump in his throat.

Time had tested him, and he had risen to the challange. Max had isolated herself, flying off in the middle of the night, disappearing for days on end... Telling everyone that she was searching for answers by going through the stack of papers they'd collected and scoping out places where there was possible Whitecoat activity. But, Fang knew better... He could feel the anger and sadness she hid so well from everyone else. He could feel how whenever she looked in the mirror she mentally cursed herself. Told herself that everyone would end up like Iggy if she didn't find a way to make them leave. Didn't find a way to make them understand that if they stayed, they would all die...

She believed that somehow, she was poisoned... She contaminated everyone she ever came into contact with... She believed that Iggy's death was her fault, that, since she was the leader, she was responsible.

And ontop of it all the connection he had with her was slowly fading... Her emotions weren't as clear... Her joy faded from his senses, her fear melted from his...

She was pulling away from him... And he was pulling away from her...

And now it had been a month, and Fang had found himself playing WWMD again. Just as he had years before... when the flock had separated. But, for the time being, he was in charge of everything and everyone... And things had become increasingly strained, stretched and massively complicated.

And it was moments like this, the few, scant moments a day that Fang got to be alone. That made Iggy's absence, and the depression all that more real.

When times had gotten tough before Iggy had always been there to say something, or make a face, or blow something up unexpectedly, and that something would lighten the mood. But now ... Now the mood was stagnant. It was always the same. Dull, dark and hopeless.

And it was only getting worse...

Food was beginning to run low... And so was firewood... Hardly anyone went outside anymore... Except Fang, and that was only so he could be alone...

The wind blew and icy snow flakes hit Fang's face, clinging to his eyelashes and the few little hairs on his chin he hadn't managed to scrape off the day before when he'd shaved... Halfheartedly... He couldn't stand to look at himself in the mirror anymore... It made him sick.

He felt like a useless half-person... An unproductive converter of oxygen into carbondioxide...

He felt like a machine...

Fang didn't say anything to the waning light. He didn't have the words. Of course, he didn't think there were words in English, Japanese, Spanish or in Flockish that could express what he was feeling.

Hey ... The Fledges are looking for you...

Max/Voice whispered faintly in his head.

He wiped his eyes quickly and composed himself. The Fledges, as Max had started calling them, had formed a little Flock of their own, electing Angel as their leader. They usually shied away from everyone not of THEIR Flock, everyone that is except Fang and on the odd occasion, Max. When Max was around to show her face...

Tommy, KIX, Daisy-David, Cat, and Angel appeared through the trees. Flying on near silent wings, all except Cat, who was being carried by KIX.

Angel landed first, and approached Fang slowly, crossing her arms over her chest.

Cat, jumped from KIX's arms, swishing her ginger colored tail and finger combing her hair. The girl had adapted pretty well to living with Avian hybrids. She never spoke, though nobody doubted she could, but she did purr, hiss, and sometimes scream if she got mad enough. And she obviously liked sticking close to KIX, because he was the only other one who had a tail.

She liked to sneak up behind him and pull on it...

"They were wondering if you'd give them another flying lesson before it gets dark. They said that you could explain it better than I can," Angel cocked a hand on her hip and rolled her eyes. Obviously thinking that they were crazy, because she was the leader and nobody could be a better example than her.

"Not now, maybe tomorrow after it stops snowing."

Angel nodded and turned to her flock, "We'll come back later, he's not feeling very good right now."

Fang wondered why they needed a translator. They had ears and could hear him just fine. But they listened to Angel, turned and took a running start.

He watched them go, and chewed on his lip. Angel was turning out to be a pretty good leader. She was still learning, but wasn't everyone?

He remained still for a few more minutes, standing there staring down at the little wall of field stone, remembering Iggy and the Gasman lying flat on their stomachs behind it blowing up snow-men made to look like Erasers...

This was one of the last physical reminders that Iggy had ever existed in the first place. Fang supposed that this was the reason he came out here when he got time to be alone.

Iggy had made this, it was one of the few ways he'd never be forgotten.

Fang snapped out his wings and took off, heading back to the cabin. Back to the real world.

Lynn-Dee, William, Erica, Jack and Zach, five of the sixteen they'd rescued from the School had stayed. Becoming what Max 'affectionately' called 'The Broom Brigade.' All five were such big Harry Potter fans that they'd taken to calling themselves a 'Quiditch Team'.

Fang thought they were all crazy. But who was he to call anyone crazy ... He talked to dead bird-boys when he got time to be alone.

The house was in an uproar, as usual. Lynn-Dee and her 'Team' were cleaning up the kitchen furiously discussing Quiditch. Nudge, Aaron and The Gasman were sitting in the corner with Allan pouring over diagrams. The Fledges were sitting by the fire with their wings out talking about various fighting moves, Tommy and KIX absently scratching at the down on their wings, which was starting to fall out.

Everyone tried to stay away from eachother... So long stuck up here in the mountains had made everyone irritable... Fang had made the mistake of crossing Aaron a few days before by asking that he and Nudge not get too 'touchy-feely' and they'd ended up rolling in the snow fists flying...

Allan had literally thrown water on them to make them stop...

Fang could still remember the look of anger, and hurt on Allan's face as he'd pulled them apart, his hands tangled in their hair, squeezing and twisting their ears until all they could do was grab at his wrists and grind the teeth against agonized cries. While glaring hatefully at each other.

"For God's sake, what kind of example are you two setting for the kids? You're acting like humans, knock it off! You're smarter than this..."

And Allan hadn't let them go until they'd made peace... Which was basically just saying 'Yes, we'll stop, now leggo my ear!'

Fang shut the door behind himself quickly and knocked snow off his boots then started upstairs to do ... Something... He wasn't sure what at the moment... Probably more writing... He was doing a lot of writing lately... Especially since one of his new abilities made it impossible to see anything but smudges of color when he looked at the computer screen... Which wouldn't have done him any good because the batteries had died weeks before...

Margo was pacing the hall with Ember, trying to calm the crying child, and Ember seemed intent on screaming until her voice decided to take a vacation...

And Max ... Max was nowhere to be seen. Which lately, wasn't that unusual. She was probably off on her own again... Doing whatever it was she did now...

Fang tried to plug his ears against the noise of Ember screaming, mostly because it sounded like the girl had learned to use her syrinx early... but, when he did he could hear the sound of underwater washing machines and that sound was driving him insane... It bothered him to the point of distraction that he still couldn't find that sound. Even though, over the past month it had grown louder and more defined.

Fang sighed and held out his arms to take Ember from Margo. Who looked like she hadn't slept in a week, and probably hadn't. "Go get some sleep, I'll watch her."

Margo didn't even reply, she just put a hand to her forehead and shuffled to the room she Angel and Nudge shared.

The tiny red-haired girl didn't stop crying when Fang took her and she flapped her tiny, down covered, chicken wings impatiently. Schreeching at a deafening level and trying with all her might to twist out of his arms.

Fang sighed and cradled the little child close one hand on her behind, the other on the back of her head, and made a soft chirping sound in his throat.

She snuffled but went still, curling up into his arms tiny fingers curled into the front of his shirt. He paced back and forth with her, still making that soft sound because he knew that was the only way to make her stop crying without making noises at her. And he was tired of noise... He wanted some peace and quiet... But that wasn't going to happen anytime soon... He knew. So he stood there and and waited, gently rocking Ember in his arms until he was sure she was asleep. Then for a while longer he stood there holding her... His nose pressed into the crown of her little red head...

It was odd... But he thought Ember always somehow managed to smell like popcorn...

His stomach growled...

He gently carried her the rest of the way up the stairs, holding her to him with one arm as he stopped and opened the door to Max's room to see if she was there.

The bedclothes were mussed and everything had a stale, unused smell...

She wasn't there...

But, that didn't stop her Voice; You were singing again, weren't you...

He nodded and a silence stretched between them. He opened his mouth to say something... To ask where Max was, and if needed any help, but shook his head and let out a sigh, leaving the room as quickly as he could without appearing eager and trying to block Max from his mind.

It hurt too much to think about Max... It hurt too much to be anywhere near her anymore... Even in his head. Every time he looked at her, or even thought about her he remembered his fantasies... His hopes and dreams... And he had to relive them being crushed...

It was too much to actually feel, to think about... And he didn't have to even think about it to know Max felt the same way. They'd never be able to have kids... And Max would never stop wanting them... Even if she didn't mention it... He could feel it and he thought that feeling the want of it was worse than actually saying it...

Hope had passed them... It's golden aura fading, tarnished by despair and longing for things that could never be.

She deserved someone who could indulge her maternal needs by giving her as many children as she could possibly want...

And he couldn't.

Fang knew Max deserved someone who could give her everything she'd ever wanted. She deserved someone who would never hurt or scare her...

And he couldn't offer her that... He'd already hurt her... He'd already scared her...

He was not perfect... He was stubborn, he was withdrawn, antisocial, self degredating, and some would argue he was a masochist... Putting himself through hell by staying away from her, by trying to ignore her because it was 'better' that way... Because she wouldn't get hurt by him anymore if she had nothing to do with him...

Their connection had decayed so completely he was beginning to doubt what he'd felt all along... He was beginning to doubt everything he'd ever believed...

It couldn't be real... Because if it was, he was throwing it away for nothing...

He was so blinded by his own pain, by the feeling of somehow failing her because he was sterile, he couldn't see what he was doing to her.

It was one of his flaws... He was arrogant, and selfish... But he was also a good person. And those three things created a volatile and deadly mix... A mix that would very soon end life as he knew it...

The only reason he was able to stand being around Ember was because he had disconnected himself again. He didn't think of Ember as a baby... She was just a part of Iggy that was still around... Stil there to see, hear and make laugh...

That's how he saw her... That was the only way he could see her without feeling even more depressed...

"Who wants to baby sit, we're going after food," Fang called.

The Gasman, who surprisingly, had offered to baby sit quite a few times stood and walked forward.

Fang knew quite well that the only reason Gazzy volunteered was because he too believed Ember was somehow a gateway to Iggy. And Fang had often caught him showing the little baby diagrams he and Iggy had drawn of bombs and motors and such. And Ember stared at them with rapt, infant attention. She even laughed a few times and made burbling sounds. Slapping her plump little palms onto certain drawings and making loud noises that were almost screeches.

The Gasman would pick them up, stare at them, and put them aside again... Wondering why it was always those same five drawings that made her act so...

Fang carefully handed the baby over watching as the Gasman propped her on his hip and made his way to the kitchen for a box of applejuice and Ember's bottle. And in the hall, the Broom Brigade suited up. Pulling on coats, hats, gloves, and boots.

When they'd lived in the cabin before, feeding six people had been tough. But now, feeding eighteen people and a talking dog was hell. They made trips like this once a week, raiding the local stores and sometimes flying a good fifty to a hundred miles north to find food.

For the past few weeks Max was good to go flying, she proved this to everyone by leaving often, and rarely staying when she came back. She seemed cold, hardened. Shouting when she was trying to explain something and someone happened to make a noise, or look into the corner while she was talking. She constantly wore a frown, her eyes dark and steely, and the muscles in her jaw had taken on a near permanent rigidity.

The sweet, compassionate leader was gone... Max was not acting like herself... And everybody saw it...

The last time she'd spoken face to face with Fang she'd lowered her voice to a half whisper and called him an idiot for coming back from 'shopping' with so much peanut butter, frozen seafood, and Onion Chips. She told him point blank that if she even smelled those things again she'd end up 'heaving her wheaties'.

Fang had been staring at her forehead, his eyes distant, hands tightened into fists, and he'd nodded... It was all he could do...

Then Max had stared at him for a long time, her lower lip between her teeth, staring as if she had something more to say... Something important, but he'd turned his eyes to her, cold, dark and bottomless and said; 'Is that all?'

And she'd flinched, nodded, and flown away...

They'd only shared a handful of words since, and that had been two weeks ago...

Depression played a big part in it, he KNEW, what else could it be? The truth finally coming out? The truth that she'd only used him? That she was sick of playing his 'stupid games' and wanted out?

He decided that had to be it... Because he could think of no other explination for her actions... Or for his own...

His behavior over the past month had gone from abnormal to bizarre. And taking into consideration Max's new routine, this was saying something...

Mostly it was just little things... He'd make a sandwich or something to eat, only to realize he wasn't even the slightest bit hungry... So, because he didn't know what else to do and he didn't want it to waste, he'd brave the emotional torment and take it to Max's room, leave it sitting on her bed then go fly around for a while, until he did get hungry. Praying he didn't see Max coming back... Then he'd raid a store and grab some potato chips or a few Snickers bars and thaw out a bottle of Coke that had frozen in the winter chill.

It was most usually flat, but the taste was still there, and that was fine with him... He supposed...

When he and the Broomers got to a super store about forty or so miles away Fang went into 'Ninja Mode' as Jack had called it. Flying around the inside of the store, searching for any form of life other than the odd wild animal.

Deer, maybe a coyote or a wolf...

Thankfully they had yet to come across a Wizard or anything like that... Although the evidence of their presence was sometimes seen... A burn mark here, a shred of tattered cloak there...

The store they stopped at that day was dark, so flashlights were a must, and half the things in the building were frozen. The entire electronics section of the store had been ransacked. Along with the pharmacy, half the clothing department, groceries and most of the toy section.

So what they did find was usually a box of crackers or the dreaded jar of peanut butter...

Fang, himself didn't mind peanut butter that much, so, most usually he'd snatch up a jar of Extra Crunchy as he passed by and eat it while they walked around gathering food. Spooning it out with his bare fingers until he couldn't shove his hand deep enough into the jar to scoop out the rest... Then he'd find a spoon or something.

If he was asked, he'd share... But ONLY if asked...

Eating on the run had become second nature again. Just as it had been for the year he and the Flock had been homeless, after Angel had been captured.

It was calming somewhat, less complecated...

If he was hungry, he'd hunt... If he was thirsty, he'd thaw out a bottle of water or munch on a handfull of snow...

He'd rediscovered the wild in himself... And it felt like he was coming home...

The silence had returned... And sometimes, he saw Lynn-Dee or someone else staring at him as if he were an animal... It reminded him of all the people standing on the street corner in New York staring up at Pale Male... Ogling the predator...

His survuval instincts were stronger now than they ever had been. He'd proven that to everyone two weeks before when he and the Gasman had flown off to go hunting.

Meat and protine had become a dire issue... Almost everyone in the house was sick. 'The Spam had gone bad' so to speak...

So... they'd done the only thing they could do. They'd embraced the nature of the raptor within...

Fang could remember it so clearly...

The stillness was almost tangible... The stars had been bright as holes poked into the frabic of the night sky and the moon's light gave the impression the sun was still out and shining.

Fang had intetended to go alone because he'd had enough people staring at him like he was an animal to last a lifetime... But he'd found the Gasman outside sitting on the roof next to the chimney his eyes turned to the sky, simply watching the stars glide across the heavens.

"What are you doin, Gaz?"

He hadn't moved as he spoke and his voice was void of emotion, "There aren't any airplanes... I've been sitting out here for two hours and there still aren't any airplanes..."

Fang had looked up, noticing the boy was right... It was startling, as if they'd gone back in time, but he knew. There weren't any airplanes because the world was ending...

There was nobody around to fly them...

"I'm going out for a while, Gaz."

The boy had turned to him blinking away tears, "What for?"

Fang supposed the Gasman could see it in his face.

"I wanna come, Fang... I gotta do something. I feel useless here."

After a moment he'd agreed and they'd struck off, scanning the ground for movement...

Their shadows had passed over the frozen surface of a lake and to Fang they hadn't looked like bird-kid shadows, but the shadows of two falcons...

Then they'd seen it...

A deer... Leaping through the snow... Head thrown back, steam puffing from its nostrils...

The vision it created below them was spectacular... Haunting because it was so quiet they could hear the crunch of the deer's hooves as it punched through the crust of snow.

It hadn't taken Fang long to realize it was a male deer, so he'd had no qualms about taking it. He wasn't going to leave some poor little baby deer alone in the middle of winter...

He'd given the Gasman the 'watch me' signal, folded in his wings and dove at it, hitting it hard on the back of the neck, a clean kill... And pulling up before he smashed into the ground... The very move he'd learned from Pale Male years before...

He didn't even graze the snow with his wing tips...

Fang had expected the Gasman to start protesting when they'd landed and he'd taken out his knife. He remembered the way it glinted in the moonlight. As his boot shod feet punched holes in the very crust of snow the deer had lain on... But the actuality of it had been quite the opposite.

Fang had seen a grown up kind of understanding in the boy's face.

The deer had died so they could live...

The cycle of life...

Something had passed between them then, something primal and yet profound. And the only ones there to witness it were the dark heavens above and the cold fire stars twinkling in the obsidian madness above them.

Some deep secret part of Fang had hoped that Iggy had been there too... Watching them...

That maybe the redhead's spirit had lead the dear into their path... Maybe there really was an afterlife for bird-kids... Maybe there really was a God after all...

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

It was almost dark by the time they returned from 'shopping' and the house was much like they left it. The Fledges were sitting in a circle talking in hushed voices. Nudge and Aaron were curled together on the couch asleep, Margo was slumped across her bed asleep, Allan was doing a crossword puzzle in an old magazine, and the Gasman was sitting on the only other chair in the room with Ember making faces at her. And the little child was laughing like an angel.

Fang and the Broom Brigade carried the perishable food outside and packed it into wooden boxes they'd constructed and wenched them into the trees to keep bears from getting into them.

Not having any electricity had its downsides. It's many, many downsides...

Lynn-Dee and her Team went back inside after the last box was hidden safely in the trees and Fang was left alone again. He brushed snow off the edge of the porch and sat, dangling his feet into the air.

It was quiet, and the sun sank below the tree line. Hiding everything in deep purple shadows. The sanctity of night...

Aren't you going to go back inside?

In a minute...

He stared down at his hands, pulling off his gloves and counting the little creases in his palms. Listening to the sounds of Ember laughing from inside.

The world was quiet, still and chilled save for that sound. The high, innocent laughter of a little girl who would never know her father...

And I thought being sterile was bad ... That poor kid's going to grow up alone. Maybe it's a good thing I can't have kids. Then I won't leave anyone alone when I die.

Except Max ... But he'd already pushed Max away. Even though she was all he had ... They were all each other had, and he'd pushed her away... Tried to push her away...

Part of him wished he hadn't... That he'd said screw the world, and let their relationship unfold while they'd had time... But at the same time he knew that if he had, things would have been different now... And not necessarily for the better...

Then and there he made up his mind. Made his first decision as surrogate leader of the Flock...

He didn't want anyone else to have to be alone...

He didn't want anyone who didn't have to be, to be in danger. He'd made his choice... He'd made the decision that saving the world was more important than love and he regretted it... But there was no changing it now...

But he could save everyone else from having to make that same decision.

They deserve the right to fight too, Fang... Isn't that what you told me last week?

Yes, but they should be told the truth. They're just kids, and I don't want them to end up alone. You and I have to be here. We've made our choice... We have to end this ... They don't. They're not obligated.

Neither are you really ... Not anymore...

I am because I choose to be. The Director killed my parents... They took everything away from me, just like they did you... I'm not going to let them get away with it... I don't want to bury anyone, Max... I don't think I could handle it...

Max/Voice was silent for a moment and Fang could almost hear her sighing.

I don't want to bury anyone either, Fang, but you were right... They do deserve to make the choice for themselves. You don't have the right to make it for them. Neither of us do...

He blinked at the sky for a minute, hearing the sound of the washing machines rise in his head, then he climbed to his feet and went inside.

Then we should let them make it...

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 117; Separation of the Flock

Everyone was crying openly. Clinging to each other and whispering regrets and apologies.

Of course who, for one minute, believed that it would be any different? That life would be fair and guarantee that all of them would live through it. Who honestly believed that for the Flock, it would end on an up-note.

Fang had walked inside the night before, gathered everyone around and laid it all out. Calling on his Max-like leader voice... Which to him sounded stupid and forced...

"You guys have a choice to make. And I want you to think about it, because it's a life or death decision ... This is a war. Not a fight, not a skirmish ... This is a war, and there will be casualties. Iggy was not the first and he won't be the last ... You can either stay and fight and possibly die ... Or you can go to Allan's where you'll be safer and have a smaller chance of dying. I'm not going to tell you what to pick, I'm not going to ask you to stay, because that wouldn't be right. It's your lives it's your choice. Max agrees with me ... She may be the leader, but neither of us can order you to risk your lives if it's not what you really want to do."

And now it was morning. Max was still gone on 'business'... She hadn't even returned to say goodbye...

Fang didn't have to know what she was feeling to understand why...

Bags were packed, goodbyes were said and this was how it stood.

Allan and The Fledges and Total were going to Oklahoma. Margo, and that also meant Ember, were going too...

Max/Voice had rationalized that the whitecoats would think Ember was with THEM... With Max, since she was the leader... She was the one destined to save the world... They would come after HER first, this would give the others the chance to hide Ember.

'The closer we are to danger, the farther we are from harm...' The Gasman had said, quoting a line from the Lord of the Rings.

(QUICK NOTE!; My Ickle Brover is in the process of writing a spoof called 'Lord of the Wings' so no stealing the idea until he's got at least one chapter posted, got it? Or I'll put a hex on you!... Love, Nora!)

Lynn-Dee and Jack were staying, Erica and Zach and William were going their own way.

Nudge was going ... And Aaron was staying.

And the Gasman was staying.

But they'd made a deal. At Christmas the following year the survivors would meet here, at the cabin. And those who had lived would reunite, and those who had not would be mourned...

And that's how it stood, that on December twentith they separated. Families split, friends left, lovers were torn apart, and the Flock was broken...

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 118; The Mysterious Black Notebook

Max returned day after the Flock was split, she didn't even have to step one foot in through her window and she already hated the silence of the house... Silence drove her crazy... She was dressed in a pair of sweatpants and one of the overly large sweatshirts Lynn-Dee had stolen for everyone's Christmas presents while they were 'shopping'. The sweatshirt was so large Max truly believed it would have appeared tent like on even Lynn-Dee's rotund frame.

She circled the house in the darkness and found Fang sitting outside on the roof leaned against the chimney to stay warm, scribbling away in that beaten old notebook of his.

She had intended to talk to him when landed... Intended to tell him what was now obvious to her... So she landed in front of him, wings out to keep balanced and bit her lip, suddenly wanting nothing more than to fly away and hide for the rest of the time she had left...

But, she forced herself to stay put, simply because being without him was more painful than looking at him and knowing that he'd lost his reason.

His hope had been taken from him and now he refused to look for it again, even though it was right under his nose...

The whole reason she was here to see him was just another attempt to make him realize that she was still there... And she needed him now more than ever.

Couldn't he see that? Or was it already too late?

She could hear his thoughts... She knew that lately, any time he was alone he was thinking about Iggy... Blaming himself... Or thinking of what had happened because of his illness... And telling himself that he deserved to be alone...

That was why Max had made her decision to come talk to him... She wasn't going to let him beat himself up over it anymore... Not now that she knew...

"The point of 'watch' is to watch for intruders, Fang."

He nodded and hid the notebook against his chest. "I know ... And the point of ME being on watch is so that YOU can... Can go do your thing..."

"My thing?"

"Fly around, or whatever..." He mumbled bitterly under his breath.

She stood gingerly on the roof by his feet her arms crossed, eyeing the notebook, wishing he would look at her... Wishing that he would just open his eyes and SEE... "What do you write in that thing?"

"'already told you."

"'A romance novel', I remember ... And I don't believe that for a second."

He sighed then closed the notebook and stuffed it inside his jacket. "Does it really matter?"

Max opened her mouth to argue with him, "I just want to know what's so important to you that you can't tell me what it is."

He shifted, digging in the backpack he'd stuffed behind him. He pulled out the thick photo album they'd found in the safety deposit box in New York. "It's complicated."

"If it has anything to do with this photo album then I KNOW it's complicated," She took it from him, all the while hoping he would somehow be spurred into looking at her... Acknowledging she existed. She'd spent the last few weeks on her own, looking for any clues she'd taken from his stupid photo album that could help bring Genotex down. She'd spent all that time away from her family, hoping they would be safe because they were far away from her, and all she'd ended up doing was missing them so badly she was destracted by any little thing that reminded her of them.

She opened the album, staring down at the pictures saddened. "But what does this have to do with your 'romance novel'?" She glanced back at him, expecting to see the same, slightly annoyed expression on his face. But instead he was red in the face and was picking absently at a loose shingle under his foot. Still not looking at her...

And it hurt more than anything. The fact he wouldn't even look at her anymore...

She suddenly just wanted to fly away again... Ignoring her completely would be better than this... At least when he'd ignored her before he would still sometimes look at her or touch her... Now he wouldn't even do that...

She was starting to wonder if she even remembered the color of his eyes... Or the feel of his hands... His skin... His strength...

"You'll laugh at me and think I'm a pathetic looser."

"You're not a pathetic looser, and seeing as how I don't know what it is I can't say I won't laugh."

After a moment he nodded and to Max's surprise he pulled the notebook from inside his jacket and handed it to her before he could change his mind.

"It's not finished, and you know that my grammar sucks so ... yeah."

Max held the notebook between her hands a moment, "Do you really want me to read this? 'Cause if you don't I won't."

He sighed and scratched at the back of his head, "Go on, but I'm warning you, if you laugh I'll take it back and..." His voice trailed off and he sighed, leaning back against the chimney and crossing his arms. His eyes still averted.

"Is it funny? Like does it make you laugh?"

He didn't answer, he just drummed his fingers on his arm.

So Max prepared herself, biting into her lip, and she opened the notebook...

Very little of what teenaged boys talk about when alone is 'G' rated. In fact, most of it could qualify under the 'R' category or possibly even 'NC-17'. And we were no different, even though I was only ten at the time...

We cursed like sailors, ogled cheerleaders then ran away from them when one would happen to walk our way, because we were dorks. We were the Star-Wars, Dungeons and Dragons kind of geeks.

We spent most of our time reading comic books and making up stupid little nicknames for each other or skipping school to sneak into town and watch a movie at the cinema where they sometimes played The Rocky Horror Picture Show on Saturday nights. Always dreaming that one day we'd have a big adventure. That we'd end up doing bigger things than talking about comic books and TV shows on our walk home from school.

Of course we never expected to actually FIND adventure. We were just kids. I mean, I was ten for crap sake! Things like that don't happen to kids in Oklahoma. The most amazing thing to ever happen to a kid in our town was when Lyndsay Bertram won the lottery with her first ticket.

But then we heard barking and screaming coming from the lot where the old Mullens Place I and-

Max felt her chest tighten and she looked up at Fang seeing his face in profile to the moon reflected illumination of the night. "This is what Allan told you about what happened the day your dad and mom met..."

He looked at his feet ashamed. "I just wanted to find out what had happened ... What I couldn't find pictures for ... I kind of ... Made up what I thought had happened," He gave a frustrated sigh and reached for the notebook and for half a second their eyes connected and Max's mouth opened to speak. To spill everything... But he looked away before she could get anything more than an 'I' sound out.

"It's stupid," He shoved the book back into his pack and stood up, spreading his wings as if he were going to take off.

She wanted to stop him, but that single glance told her everything she needed to know, because she'd seen no love in his eyes... No longing...

Just regret... And darkness.

They'd made their choice... How could she go back on it now? Even though she was scared... It was a mistake. She never should have come back. She should have just kept flying... Kept going until she had nothing left...

But Max didn't give up on the subject, simply because she couldn't bring herself to leave him thinking that his writing was bad, even if, when she spoke, she wasn't talking about the contents of the notebook, "Don't hide it from me," She bit her lip.

He flinched, his hands tightening into fists on the sleeves of his coat. His jaw clenched and the muscles twitched... But he didn't look at her... He couldn't, simply because as she was sitting there he could have sworn he was able to feel some kind of desperate emotional need... And feeling that made him wish he wasn't so numb anymore...

Max faltered and spoke again; "Maybe we should do that... Write down everything that happens to us so SOMETHING will be left to let people know what we've done ... I've always said you've got a way with words. It's like when they come through your fingers it's easier for you than if they come through your mouth... You've got poetry in you ... You should let it out before you start talking in iambic pentameter."

He didn't react in the slightest...

The Emotionless Fang...

Max gave her head a shake and continued paging through the photo album. Fidgeting when an odd fluttering pressure settled into her lower stomach. Like she'd have to go to the bathroom suddenly... But... Not...

She knew what it was... And it brought her almost to tears... But she bit them back because now she knew... Even though she hadn't even asked to talk... She'd gotten the answer to the question she'd wanted to ask...

Fang was different.

He wasn't the same person he'd been the night they'd spent together.

There was no hope left for the 'WE' factor because the dreams Fang had to keep it alive for him were shattered...

Just like he'd said days before...

Maybe it's a good thing I can't have kids. Then I won't leave anyone alone when I die.

But he had no idea... He didn't know... And if he did, if she told him... What wrath would she incur because she'd kept it a secret for so long? Even though she herself had only figured it out three days before... And what a shock it had been!

She was the leader, yes ... But she didn't control Fang, or his emotions. They both knew that... And her secret was the ultimate betrayal to a person who'd been lied to their whole lives...

Any hope she'd hidden away of there ever being a 'WE' was now gone...

Because Fang had learned to feel...

She stared down an odd photo of Kitty and Bernard kissing passionately, in silence, tears rolling down her face because now she understood...

It was goodbye... It was GOODBYE!

The pages flipped back through her fingers and she found herself staring down at the photo of the 'Desmond' and the one beside it, sneaker shod feet standing in a graveyard...

There was something about these pictures, something similar...

And then ... She saw it...

"FANG!" She pointed at the picture of the boat. At the interior ... A mirror hanging there, reflecting the person taking the picture.

It was Kitty. And in the picture of the boat she was standing alone, holding the camera up to her eyes, and her miniscule reflection was wearing blue sneakers. And in the picture of the shoes in the graveyard, there were her blue shoes and the name 'Bennett' on the gravestone... The same shoes in the 'passionate' photo...

But what caught Max's attention was the jeans Kitty was wearing. She herself had worn those jeans and never noticed anything unusual about them until now.

Max felt herself trembling and her mouth came open. "Go get those pants!"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Barely two minutes later Fang had a flashlight tucked under his ear and was bent over the kitchen table, Max beside him, his mother's jeans lain out on the tabletop.

Max started on the right leg, near the foot. A little cartoon sailboat with stick figure standing on it. "See, she means her reflection..."

Then, rotating around the cuff of the jeans was a little headstone with the letters 'RIP' drawn in it. "That's self explanatory."

Then was a hamburger with a letter 'M' on it. "A restaurant with a letter 'M'?"

A toothbrush... "Something with a toothbrush."

After that was a little cartoon dog. "The dog peeing on the street sign."

Fang moved quickly. Taking all the photos mentioned and arranging them on the countertop as Max dictated. Every once and a while glancing over her shoulder to try and identify what kind of drawing was on the jeans.

It went quickly. The only times it took a while was when there were two pictures with basically the same subject.

But as the sun was rising Fang was standing over the counter, exhausted, staring down at an arrangement of pictures that at first glance made absolutely no sense. But with those Magical Mystical Pants, was like reading a book.

And together, with all the photos arranged Max stepped away from the jeans on the table and stood beside Fang, staring down at a message that had been encoded nearly eighteen years before and had come alive because Max had been staring at the right pair of shoes.

"'Kitty' 'Bennett' ... That sounds like 'been AT' like she's 'been AT' a place... a McDonalds' And a picture of your dad brushing his teeth," Max rolled her eyes at the photo and pointed at a picture of the dog at the street sign suppressing a yawn. "'Farmer Avenue' ... A white Church, the sewer grate in the middle of a street, 'West' something-or-other. A lamp post with a bench attached to it across the street from a dry cleaners ... 'Pullman's Pizza' and a stop sign..." She said, finishing the group of pictures that went with the right leg of the jeans. "Then we've got a gas station ... 'Second Street' and another building beside a stop sign ... Then it's various buildings until you get to this warehouse that has a big clock outside.

"Then there's a picture of your mom and dad kind of ... Making out, and I don't know what that's about."

Fang took the picture and wrinkled his nose at it, turning it left and right staring at it from different angles. "I don't want to know..."

Max stood there for a moment, rubbing aching muscles in her lower back. And then Fang spoke.

"I'll figure this out... You should get some sleep..."

She hesitated, staring at him, tempted to say; 'You know, just because it's your photo album doesn't mean you're the leader of this outfit! I may be-' and everything flooded back from the night before.

And the same sadness settled over her again...

Even though they'd figured out part of the mystery he still couldn't look at her... Couldn't see what was right under his nose because he was to absorbed in his own feelings...

She wanted to sock him in the back of the head, but stopped herself because she knew if she did because Fang was Fang, he'd shove her back and then where would they be?

Right where there would be the worst problem...

He'd SEE... And he'd hate her for not saying anything...

"Yeah, you're probably right..." She cleared her throat, turned and shuffled toward the steps, her head down, arms wrapped around her middle. She thought she heard him call softly to her as she disappeared up the steps, but she honestly wasn't sure if she imagined it or not, so she ignored it and locked herself in her room, sliding into a heap in the floor, her back pressed against the door.

It wasn't fair... She hated it... She wanted it to end.

She wanted to run down stairs and grab Fang by the head and shake him. Scream and shout at him... But what good would it do?

He may still be physically there, but he was already gone...

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 119; Inherited

Fang pushed the Gasman into the bathroom ignoring the boy when he grumbled about having to take cold showers.

Fang threatened to kick his butt, simply because he was irritated and wasn't in the mood to listen to anyone complaining. He was tempted simply to strip the Gasman naked and shove him outside. That would teach the kid to stop grumbling... He paused briefly outside Max's door and was surprised when his hand raised to the knob... But he stopped himself before he could turn it, even though it took every ounce of willpower he possessed and some he knew he'd borrowed from Max. And he went down stairs to ration out breakfast...

He had to keep busy. If he was busy he didn't have time to think, or feel...

Then he could brood over the Pants Code for a while and see if anything came to him... He wondered if pouring lemon juice on the pictures would do any good... But as he opened the door two things happened.

A small, fluttering thing hit Fang right in the head, knocking him backward, sprawling him on his back in the doorway, and Aaron, who was building a fire in the hearth, burst out laughing.

Fang pried his eyes open, feeling for a moment disorientated when he looked up at the ceiling and saw a giant pigeon's head.

It took him a moment to realize that it was THE Pigeon, and it was sending him angry 'I should peck your eyes out for leaving me' kind of feelings.

Then it fluttered across the room and landed on Aaron's shoulder, and started tugging at his shorter hair.

Aaron laughed, "She thinks you're an arse for leaving her."

Fang rolled his eyes and climbed back to his feet. He walked outside and lowered one of the boxes of food from the trees, taking out part of the second deer he and the Gasman had killed shortly after Allan, Angel and the others had left, and two cans of frozen biscuits. He paused a moment, staring out through the trees to the little stone wall. Missing Iggy's cooking terribly ... Missing Iggy PERIOD.

He heaved the box back into the tree then walked inside and handed the meat and biscuits to Aaron since he felt too nauseous and depressed to try and cook it himself. Then holding out his hand for the pigeon he walked upstairs and let the bird into his room. Again, unconsciously he paused outside Max's room and almost opened the door, but he stopped himself, instead pushing open the big window and simply leaping out into the sunlight, flying as high as he could, then rocketing forward, feeling the icy wind slap his face, freezing his cheeks. Roaring in his ears like a train...

He wasn't entirely sure why he was out flying... It was seriously cold... But he needed it. The cold cleared his head...

And if he needed anything it was a clear head. The Pants Code needed his attention... He HAD to figure it out... But he didn't think about the Pants Code ... Not really... Mostly he tried to rationalize what he'd seen earlier that morning as Max was heading back upstairs...

He could have sworn, as she'd turned from him to go back to bed, that the thickness of her body was somehow greater than it had been weeks before...

But it didn't make sense... It must have been a trick of the light, or that gigantic hoodie Lynn-Dee had given Max...

Yes...

That had to be it...

Because he couldn't cope with the other possibility...

He couldn't even bring himself to think it...

Heat started in his face again and his stomach twisted into a tight, painful knot and he turned his face away from the wind because he feared he'd be sick...

He knew Max could feel it too because she called to him in his head. But he didn't want Max to hear his thoughts or even know what he was feeling, so he forced his mind to quiet. Forced all thought away... She'd seen him being weak enough lately. If it wasn't while he was so sick, it was when he'd gotten shot.

Why hadn't she wanted to be around him since then? Why had she practically ignored his existance until that morning? He didn't know, but now ... At this moment ... He just wanted to be alone.

Fang?

Max called to him again but he forced himself to ignore it ... trying to hold the heat that was building in his face, chest and hands, in check.

The wind roared in his ears, a deafening howl and yet, somehow the sound of washing machines drowned it out...

Anger flooded him...

Why wouldn't that sound just leave him the hell alone! He couldn't take what it reminded him of... It hurt too much. Hearing that sound made him physically hurt now that he'd told himself it sounded more like Ember's heartbeat instead of washing machines... Like multiple heartbeats throbbing at super speed in his ear every second of every day...

And he hated it because it made him so mad... Made him feel like a freak all over again...

Fang, sooner or later you're going to have to talk to me, you can't ignore me forever...

And he snapped...

"STOP IT! JUST LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! YOU'RE DRIVING ME CRAZY! JUST... LEAVE! ME! ALONE!"

His voice seemed small compared to the scream of the wind, but he knew he'd yelled... He could feel an odd, muted sense of sadness coming from Max, and then...

Okay, Fang... Okay...

And everything went quiet save the scream of the wind in his ears...

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 120; Confessions

Fang landed hard in the back yard, running toward the house, not even bothering to pull in his wings.

He yanked open the door, the warm, toasted smell of biscuits and fried deer meat hitting him in the face, almost as fast as Aaron's shout.

"DON'T SCARE ME LIKE THAT! I thought you were a bear!"

But Fang didn't answer him...

Panic had siezed him barely half a second after everything in his head had gone quiet. Cold, icy panic... He'd flown so fast returning to the cabin he was sure he could have actually beaten Max's fastest super speed.

He stood there in the doorway long enough to draw a breath, then made a frantic lunge across the room and up the stairs, nearly crashing into Lynn-Dee who'd managed to force herself out of bed.

She made a frightened squeaking noise and slapped at him as he rushed past, shouting.

"Don't make that face again! You scared me!"

But he ignored her, his mind blank and quiet ... So very quiet...

He made it to the top of the steps and tore open Max's bedroom door, yanking the sliding lock clean off the wall, eyes wide, breath stilling in his throat when he was confronted with only an empty bed and an open window...

For a moment it felt like he came a good three inches off the floor because he knew, without even looking at her closet that Max was gone. He knew because she'd taken her blankets... And his T-shirt...

The one he'd given her months before when he and Aaron had rescued her from the Wizards... Along with the boxers...

She was gone... And he was alone not only in his head, but in every sense of the word...

Maybe it's a good thing I can't have kids. Then I won't leave anyone alone when I die. I'll die alone to save everyone the heartbreak...

But what about me?

I don't want to die alone...

A scream bilt in his thoat the kind of scream he'd heard coming from a wounded animal. The kind of sound he never believed he himself would make.

The next second he was at the window, forcing himself through it and into the open air, shooting through tree limbs, feeling them tear at his coat, hair and his very flesh. But he flew on. Pleading with anyone and everyone who would listen, be they evil or benign. He flew so fast his eyes lost the ability to focus and he merely shut them tightly and felt the wind tearing at his face. But there was nothing... The sound of washing machines was gone, the constant pull of Max's emotions and presense was gone. Almost as if it had never been.

NO, he swore to himself. It was real it IS REAL!

He couldn't stop. He wouldn't. Not until he found her. Not until he made it absolutely clear that he didn't have a reason to fight unless she was there. She was one of the only reasons he had fought so hard over the years to stay free. His family needed protection. Without his family he had no purpose. He could have just as easily given up years and years ago at the school had they not all been there. He could just have easily stopped flapping and ended it all had he not believed he was needed.

A selfish reason, yes... But who ever said that Fang Max and the flock weren't all in some way selfish? Flawed to the point of perfection?

He'd made a promise, years ago... He'd made a promise not to ever leave Max.

And he would stop at nothing to keep that promise.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 121; Maximum Ride; Girl in Progress

(December 31 One week later)

"Another day, another frozen bathroom ... Can you believe this?" Max spoke mainly to no one and yet the most important people in her life.

She had an advantage, she knew... But she also knew she was being an idiot using it as she was.

Having access to Fang's thoughts gave her his exact position twenty-four-seven.

She knew where he was. That's the only reason he hadn't found her... And what he was doing... Which had become a problem when she wanted to check up on the 'Fang-Cam' and discovered he was in the bathroom...

His thoughts seemed to circle constantly in the back of her mind. A comfort... Eventhough she was alone, he was there...

He was there... And he was thinking about her... Always, it seemed.

Wondering where she was, if she was OK... Why she didn't answer him when he called for her... Wondering if she even still heard him... If she even still cared... Why she'd left...

His worry had evolved into anger, jealousy, self-hatred, sadness and back to worry all in a matter of seven LONG days...

And she still hadn't answered him.

At first it had been because she was hurt that he'd told her to leave him alone... And then it was because she was ashamed for leaving... After that it was spite... Revenge for him not looking at her, and not touching her... Now ... Now she was afraid to answer him...

He'd spent hours ... Days ... a WEEK, looking for her... Begging her to come back... Actually begging...

And she'd ignored him...

She'd done the same thing he had to her...

And he was so scared... So angry... But she had to do it... It was the only way...

She just wished it was easier to do.

She was afraid of what he might do when the secret she'd been keeping was revealed... Max had battled with abandonment issues all her life. When she was young her flock was all she'd had... And now her flock was broken, and she was facing the possibility of being abandoned by the one she loved... By the one she'd trusted her everything with...

Just the thought of it put a fearful spite in her and she'd left before he could leave her again...

'Better HIM than ME,' had been her rationalization...

And it had been hell to uphold...

The first three days afterward, she hadn't strayed more than twenty miles from the cabin... Hiding when she knew Fang was getting closer...

If he found her, he would know and then HE would leave... Even though she knew that was most likely the safest thing. Everyone would be safer if she wasn't around...

But now... Now running was almost second nature again, sleeping in a cave, stealing food... Even if the majority of it was crackers and jelly...

She'd become so sick of jelly she'd started holding her nose to eat it, so she wouldn't taste it and risk throwing up... It was so bad that barely two hours before she'd done something she hadn't even thought about doing in years.

She'd gone fishing...

She'd found a river, a place where running water had broken through the ice and painfully hovered over it with a sharp stick, watching large fish, trout she believed, swimming up to nibble at crackercrumbs she dropped down for them...

And as much as it pained her, she'd stabbed one... Flipping it from the water onto the shore where it continued to flop and fight for its watery breath while she waddled around trying to catch it...

She hated killing any living creature... But, she needed food. She needed her strength... Not just for herself, either...

God would understand... She prayed he would anyway...

She'd killed the fish quickly, sobbing as she did... Repeating that one little word that she rarely ever used like a litany...

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

After it was over... She wasn't sure to whom she had been appologizing... The fish, God ... Or Fang...

She'd cleaned fish before... Jeb had made sure to teach all of them, save of course Angel and the Gasman, who had been much too young all those years ago at the cabin...

Max had remembered that Nudge had thrown up and Iggy had nearly cut his thumb off...

And then she cried for Iggy again, wondering if it was possible to created a sorrier sight than she had at the moment...

A poor, dirty, half frozen bird-girl, beginning to tent out the front of a quadrouple-XL sweatshirt, roasting a fish and sobbing her eyes out...

"It's your hormones, Maximum Ride... It's just your stupid, freaking hormones..." She'd told herself as she ate the fish... Savoring the un-jellyish taste of it...

"You're tougher than this... You're a hell of a lot tougher than this."

Afterward she'd scattered more cracker crumbs to the fish, appologizing... Then started walking...

Walking because flying now was almost impossible... The tenderness that had started in her chest had worked its way into her wings and the effort it took to beat them to fly was just too much to handle, compounded with the extra stress her body was undergoing...

That and part of her didn't really want to go as far, as quickly, as the other part...

But now, she was waddling into another in a long line of frozen bathrooms after having broken into an abandoned home to find one.

One thing she'd been unable to relearn was the ability to pee in the woods. She hated admitting it, but it was true... She could no longer pee in the woods.

The good thing about the house though? There was plenty of food in the cabinets... and a sled on the screened in backporch. A child's plastic snowsled... Perfect for pulling supplies that she couldn't carry... Supplies like ... Canned fruit, canned veggies... And even a can of Chef Boyardee Three Cheese Ravioli, all of which she opened and devoured in less than a minute.

And afterward, she unrolled her travel blankets and snuggled down on the couch, her aching feet up, wings wrapped around herself...

It felt good to sit. To hold as still as possible...

"It's coming... You know that ... It'll be soon..." She whispered to herself... And everyone else she couldn't see. "You're gonna have to either go back or find help... You can't take much more of this being alone business... You'll go stir crazy..."

She bit her lip and decided to take a peek on the 'Fang-Cam' to see where he was... How long she had until he got too close for 'comfort'...

The world was clear, though slightly filmy, as if she were watching a movie on a TV that hadn't been dusted...

His thoughts had been whirring non-stop all day, indistinct thoughts Max couldn't keep up with... Fearful mostly...

And when she 'tuned in' to the 'Fang-Show' she saw a horrible sight...

For half a second she almost pulled away, but then realized what she was seeing, wasn't actually what she was seeing.

He was in the bathroom again, that's why she'd almost pulled away... But he was leaning over the sink... looking at his reflection in the mirror.

And he was cutting his hair...

All his long, beautiful dark hair...

And before Max knew what she was doing she'd already done it...

WHAT ARE YOU DOING!

And it was like something out of a cartoon...

His eyes went as round as saucers, his lips came tightly together and the hand holding the scisors jerked, stabbing both blades three inches into the nearest wall...

And then he went absolutely still, this awkward position held perfectly, like a statue.

Max?

She didn't answer, she herself was stone still. Thinking that, if she didn't move he would forget she'd 'spoken' to him. Sadness and regret flooded her and she had to physically put a hand over her mouth to hold in a sob.

She'd said something to him... He'd replied... What should she do?

She couldn't stop thinking about his hair... His poor, poor hair...

You... You don't want me to cut my hair?

She hadn't even realized she'd been using her Voice...

Slowly, he moved... Releasing the scisors, his eyes still very wide.

Don't go quiet on me now, Max ... Please.

She couldn't bring herself to reply...

Max? I'm so ... so sorry I yelled at you... Please. Please, tell me where you are? Are you OK? Are you hurt?

She hesitated, but the silence stretched onward past a mere pause. Into an awkwardness and she couldn't bring herself to break it.

She saw his reflection... Saw the look of shock on his face give way to hurt and he turned from the mirror, sinking into the floor, his wings pressed against the wall, and for a moment there he sat. Mourning the silence. Then, as if deciding she'd left again, as if it were possible to draw back from him and not hear or feel him, he deftly punched the wall to his left, crashing his fist to the wrist through the sheet-rock and into the insulation.

Max winced, feeling the blow rock through her core and she climbed to her feet, rolling her blankets back up, tying them together inside a length of plastic tarp, then caught the lead rope on her new sled and started out the door, her mind still focused on Fang.

She was tired... She was fed up...

She'd forgotten why she left Fang in the first place. It didn't seem significant anymore... The longing she felt herself, and the longing she felt from him made the worry and fear superfluious and she stopped dead in her tracks in the snow, turned her face to the clouds and the few, fat fluffy flakes that were starting to fall and closed her eyes.

The snow felt like fairy kisses on her face and eyelids and for half a second she pictured herself not wearing three pairs of sweatpants, six shirts, a gigantic sweatshirt and a knit hat, pulling a sled of supplies...

But she pictured herself as she'd been that night, months ago, standing at the back of a cathedral in Greenwich New York staring at Fang as he'd stood there before her...

She knew it was false, but in her memories, he'd had his wings out, and all the candles around him had been lit... There weren't any words to describe how he'd looked to her... Menacing, gentle... Captivating... Forlorn...

Fang...

A state of Mind, not just a name...

She spoke his name aloud to the stillness, to the trees... To those she couldn't see, but knew were there...

And to her, it felt like a ripple went out, through everything, expanding not in a complete circle, but just to the rear and right of her in an arrow straight path...

The shortest path between two points...

Her heart... And his...

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

(NOTE; Why Maxand Fang are so Out of Character; I pictured a LOT of stress, and I don't care how brave you are, if you're under a lot of stress you don't act like yourself. How do I know this?

Paul flipped out during class the other day and had to be escorted from the building, when I asked him why he'd flipped out he said 'I was stressed out!'. There's my proof.)

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 122; Diplomacy and Plans

Fang appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

Aaron hadn't heard him coming down, so he didn't really have time to hide the fact that he was sitting on the counter drinking soda straight from the big bottle. Which was a death worthy sin lately...

He gulped and was squinting, preparing himself for a nicely placed brotherly punch to the head but Fang didn't even look at him. He swung on his coat, popped his wings through the slits in the back and tightened his grip on his pack.

"'goin out..." Was all he said before he walked to the door and seemed to go through it instead of out it he opened and shut it so fast.

Aaron watched him, letting out a sigh.

He'd been searching non stop for Max all week. And the exertion it put on him showed.

The fact he'd been upstairs hacking on his own hair with kitchen scisors told Aaron all he needed to know.

Fang was going a little crazy...

"Idn't that right, Nudgie!" Aaron said smiling to the empty chair at the kitchen table. After a few seconds of staring at it he sighed and reached for the soda bottle again.

"I'm the crazy one... Talking to the dining set... Bloody lunatic, that's me."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Fang flew, scanning the ground below him squinting because the sun glinting off the snow was blinding.

And then, much as he'd seen the deer doing not too long ago he saw Max and his heart swelled. He'd found her. HE'D FOUND HER!

And he was PISSED!

The anger seemed to overwhelm him and he shot downward, folding his wings, wobbling in the air a little because the left was slower. Her form seemed to grow as he sped toward her. Intent on knocking her down so he wouldn't have to chase her.

He wouldn't hit her hard. Just hard enough to make her fall down. Just hard enough to make her mad enough to stop running and face him.

That's all he wanted.

If he got her mad enough she would say what she was actually thinking. Say what she really meant.

That's something he'd learned about Max. If she got mad enough she lost control and said the first thing that popped into her head. That left her spluttering and flushed...

And some deep dark part of him wanted to see her flushed and spluttering. Wanted to make her pay for running off...

He saw her look over her shoulder, her brown eyes wide and fearful...

She was afraid of him...

Something inside of him shook. Shook so hard he wasn't sure that he had not been shot again.

The same kind of fear glowed in her eyes now that had the night she'd been taken by Wizards in Oklahoma.

She was absolutely horrified...

But this realization came too late because he hit her hard, and she started to fall, just as a scream tore free from her lips and her arms went instinctively around her stomach...

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Angel liked Ember just fine. She'd practically claimed the little girl as hers from as much time as she spent with her.

Ember was growing quite nicely. Her hair was long enough to put little bows in and she was beginning to identify people. Angel could tell. She could read the little girl's mind.

Ember knew who she was, she knew her name and could react when someone said it. She knew she liked Angel, she liked Total and she especially liked KIX and Cat. She thought Tommy was loud, and Allan liked to sneak her little bites of cake frosting or grape jelly. Margo and Angel and Allan changed her and fed her and gave her baths. Daisy-David would make faces at her and put bows in her hair.

And Angel knew something else. Something that saddened her...

Ember could remember Iggy.

She didn't know who Iggy was, but she remembered his face when Max had been holding her ... She remembered when Iggy died ... She'd felt it.

Angel wanted to somehow make the little girl forget this memory, but at the same time she never wanted her to. But, shortly after Angel had made this descovery, she'd found something else as well... Something that was more odd than anything she'd had ever seen or been exposed to...

Ember had a connection with someone... Her little mind sometimes did that odd blackhole, vortex thing Iggy's had done...

Ember was connected to someone... Angel didn't know who, and that someone was very much alive.

She'd probed Ember's mind, tried to follow this 'vortex' herself, but she couldn't go very far before her head started hurting fit to burst. She'd made herself go quite far a few days before and for a moment she'd actually seen something... Well, more like she'd felt a memory...

Being cradled in a surprisingly tall man's arms... And that was it... She'd had to pull back because it felt like her head was going to split into terrible shards... She'd gone the rest of the day with a headache.

But, today, Angel wasn't that interested in searching out the origin of Ember's Vortex, she merely sat beside Ember's crib and made faces at her. Listening to the little girl laugh, watching her beat her tiny wings happily.

And Angel loved to see Ember happy. She loved to see Ember beating her wings ... She loved Ember and her wings period...

The top ridge of her wings, was pink, which meant they would be as red as her hair ... Then the colors changed into a grayish blue...

When she grew up she would have beautiful wings... Beautiful.

Angel lowered the rail of the crib and stroked Ember's feathers until the little girl went to sleep, curled amongst her blankets. Then, lifting the rail back into place Angel went into the living room and sat at the table, bending over the paper she was scribbling out notes for her plan on.

So far it was coming along nicely, all she had to do now was make sure that everyone knew their parts. Then they would be ready incase the Wizards came. They would know what to do how to survive.

Angel had learned a lot from Max over the years, she'd learned even more over the past few months without her. She'd learned what it really meant to be the leader. That the responsibility went much farther than just giving orders.

You had to have a plan that covered every outcome. You had to be prepared for anything and everything. It was a lot to do, and it was very stressful. But Angel was up for the challenge. She was going to do everything she could to protect HER Flock, and her family. And that now included Ember.

Ember was her little girl. Ember had to be kept safe, because if the Whitecoats got hold of her there would be no chance to save the world. It would be over.

So Angel sat there at the table and worked on her plan until she could find no variant not covered. No scenario untried. She used all her genius and experience from executing Max's plans. She'd gathered and applied all of Allan and Margo's input she could get and she'd even consulted Erica and a few of the Broomers who had stayed, who had read countless books, and had even taken survival courses with the High School JROTC.

Angel had made a plan. And it was a good one too...

"You can't save everyone, so don't bother trying..."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''- .-''-. .-''-.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 123; More than Feathered Friends

Fang landed hard, in a run, his arms tight around Max, holding her to him so that she wouldn't fall. Panic bubbled his stomach and for a moment he stood there holding her, fighting to breathe.

In his head he was screaming apologies, but his mouth was naught but a thin line on his equally pale face.

Max twisted in his arms shouting nonsensical words at him, pounding on his chest with balled fists.

"You rotten-nogoodmeanlittleshit!"

She pushed off from him, hair falling into her wide, accusing eyes, breath coming in rapid puffs of fog from her mouth.

She looked like a crazy person standing there bent forward as if contemplating an attack.

But he didn't give her the chance.

"Me? I'M A WHA..." He couldn't seem to catch his breath and before he knew what he'd done he shoved her, watching callously as she stumbled back three whole steps holding her stomach. Her rage pinking her face.

"YOU LEFT! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO LEFT ME, MAX!"

"I HAD TO!" Her hands shook and she came at him, standing so close her breath hit his face and he could smell ravioli.

He scoffed, "You had to. Yeah right! You didn't HAVE to, you left to make me feel bad, make me feel like I'd hurt your feelings! What feelings Max, if either of us is emotionless it's you! You abandoned everyone! You didn't even come back in time to tell Angel goodbye! Do you know how hard that was? Watching Angel's face crumble when she realized you weren't going to come back? When she realized the person she thinks of as her mother wasn't even gonna come back long enough to say goodbye? What are you, a replacement! The Max I know wouldn't have done that! Do you just not care anymore or are you such a freaking ice queen that you don't know HOW to feel anymore!"

Her eyes went wider still and he didn't even see her fist. Didn't even know she'd thrown a punch at him until he was sitting dazed in the snow and staring at a palm full of blood.

She was pacing in front of him holding her fist and cursing, turning to shake her bruised knuckles at him and making deep gutral growling noises when she did.

"You have no idea how hard that was, Fang! You'll NEVER know how hard that was for me!" She kicked snow at him, satisfied in a hurt, ashamed way when he flinched. "I did what I had to do to keep everyone safe. That's all I've EVER done! My family is my LIFE! I wouldn't have put up with half the crap I have in my life if it hadn't been for you guys! I wouldn't be out here now if it weren't for them!"

"Don't you dare blame this on them, Max," He growled around the blood.

She turned on him, "Blame? BLAME! For God's SAKE, Fang, I'm doing this to PROTECT them!"

"Then your definition of 'Protection' and mine are two tragically different things!" He clambered to his feet wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth and wiping it on the leg of his pants.

Max shook her head, hugging herself, her eyes angry and yet hopeful. "You won't ever understand what I've given up on to keep you guys safe."

He rolled his eyes, "Oh, come off it. It wasn't your fault! You're punishing everyone for something you had no control over!"

How could she still think that Iggy's death was her fault? It wasn't anybody's fault. It had happened, it was horrible, but there was no changing it.

"You're not the center of the universe, Max! Iggy died protecting Ember! I don't like it any more than you do. In fact I HATE it. I miss him more than you know, but it wasn't your fault! Stop being so frickin' EMO and just come HOME!"

She shook her head, looking as if he'd just tried to pry open an old wound. "Fang, I can't."

The sound of underwater washing machines rose in Fang's head and he welcomed it. He'd gone a week without hearing it. A week of sleepless nights, and to have it back now calmed him in some basic fundamental way.

He sighed, "Why not?"

She shook her head, blinking back tears and it started snowing again. Heavily.

"Max."

She let out a sigh and turned from him, "You should go back before the storm gets too bad."

He felt anger building again and he reached out, taking her arm, "I'm not going anywhere without you."

She tried to shrug from his grip but his hand tightened on her arm. So tight she was sure she'd have bruises shaped like his fingerprints. "Fang, let me go."

"And if I don't?"

She turned to look at him, slightly amused, mostly annoyed, "Oh, Please... What are you gonna do, dislocate my shoulder again?" She wrinkled her nose in disgust and shook her head and purposefully closed off her Voice so he wouldn't hear.

Really good, Max, don't give him any ideas. The last thing you need is a dislocated shoulder, pregnant ladies don't need dislocated shoulders.

And he went absolutely still, his face frozen into a sheer, palid mask of absolute terror.

His voice shook in the stillness, quiet and wounded;

"What did you say?"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

(NOTE! I'm hopefully going to be posting new chapters every friday from now until I'm finished... Like I'm ever going to be finished...)

(SPECIAL NOTE! I have written sequels!! Notice the plural! They will start going up as THE WINGS OF WRATH finishes! I'll let you know when and where! And for those of you who have reviewed this story, THANK YOU SO VERY VERY VERY MUCH! You really don't know how much I appriciate it! Jeez, my spelling really sucks today...)

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 124; Breaking Point

NO!

It wasn't possible! She had made sure not to use the Voice. She made SURE!

Horror rushed through her, so thick and so pure she could do nothing but stare. She couldn't even breathe.

It wasn't happening... This just WASN'T happening!

His hand pulled so quickly from her arm it was as if she'd burnt him where they touched.

His eyes were wide. His mouth open in shock, and the look on his face...

There were no words to describe the hurt, betrayed expression transforming him.

She knew when it happened...

She saw it, and she felt it, and she hated it...

His eyes followed her hands where they'd unconsciously went to her middle and he went down to his knees in the snow, his eyes squeezing shut so tightly she was amazed and horrified that tears could still seep between his lids as the bottom dropped out of his stomach.

For almost a full minute he was utterly quiet. His shoulders arms and hands loose, as if unhinged, fingers gently twitching... His heart raced and seemed to stop beating at the same time, his mouth was suddenly dry, and in the expanse of that one-minute his whole world shuddered with the impact of understanding... Crumbled, cracked and collapsed with it...

His mind raced so fast Max could barely keep up with it, let alone try to explain herself.

Pregnant-babies-tiny kids with wings... Ember, Iggy... It can't be mine. I'm sterile... It can't be mine... Whose is it? Who... Why? Make it stop... Please, make it stop...

Slowly, as if he'd lost consciousness, he slumped forward and buried his face in the snow, his dark wings curling around him, shrouding him in his little death.

And Max could do nothing but stand there in shock, her mind racing, probing his thoughts...

Fang, did you just read my mind?

Yes... Was the only answer she got amid all the mental confusion.

She stood there for a moment, trying to find the courage and the words to speak. Slowly she stepped forward and sank to her knees before him, leaning her body over his trying to comfort and reassure him at the same time.

He stiffened and she heard the echo of his breath from somewhere beneath the chilled feathers.

"Fang... You don't understand..."

He didn't move. Didn't speak, and the silence was more terrible than anything she'd ever heard.

She struggled for words, opening her mouth to tell him. To tell him exactly what had happened. That she was pregnant. Pregnant with his babies.

She opened her mouth to tell him that it had happened before he got sick. That it was true. He was going to be a father. He wasn't useless, he wasn't-

"Get off me... Get off me now, Max."

She rocked backward to her knees and stared at him as he rose, staring at her, his face reddened with the cold and pale where tears had streaked it.

She could plainly see the sadness in his eyes as he stared at her. Stared at the little protruding roundness of her stomach... And behind the veneer of despair everything... His hopes, dreams and uncertainties were reborn... Stronger, brighter and more secure than ever before...

She took a breath to speak but she could see it in his eyes... In the light seeming to shine from them... Melting the shard of icy fear in her chest faster than the heat of a flame.

There was no talking to him... He wouldn't hear her even if she did. He was shutting down, withdrawing from her... From himself.

Slowly, fearing her resolve would give out and she would burst into tears, Max put out her hand to him, not entirely surprised when he made a soft grunting noise in his throat and leaned away from her.

The initial joy was there, but so was a growing hurt feeling of betrayal and fear.

So she knelt there in the cold, breathing deeply, waiting, feeling the snow falling, melting as it hit her flesh...

It was Fang's decision now, what would happen... He had every right to leave her, just as she'd done him... And she wouldn't blame him if he did... She'd abandoned him... And Fang had the same fear of abandonment that she did...

She'd hurt him by keeping it a secret and it was his choice whether or not to forgive her.

His hands curled into fists and for a moment he knelt there shaking all over, his eyes over flowing, anger, resentment and sadness whirring around in his head...

She didn't move... She'd never backed down from a fight... And, if he flew off she wouldn't follow him... She didn't think she could even if she wanted to; She hesitated, shaking, "Are you mad?"

His voice broke, trembling like a young boy nearing puberty, but he didn't make a move toward her. "How could you... How could you POSSIBLY think I WOULDN'T be mad!"

She flinched, readying herself for a fight. Readying herself to scream at him, to explain herself. She knew she was wrong. What she'd done was horribly wrong, and she couldn't justify it, but she'd try like tell to make him understand WHY she'd done it. Why she'd felt she had to do it.

She didn't take crap from anyone... And it had taken her a while to realize it, but Fang shouldn't have to take HER crap...

But he didn't start shouting... He just knelt there, his head turned to the side, trying not to look at her, his mind spinning, thoughts howling so fast it sounded like a high school cafeteria.

His thoughts screamed like he was dying, sobbed uncontrollably, shouted in joy... Every single emotion Max could name and some she couldn't rushed through him, rushed through them both...

A hurricane wailing about in the shrouded silence of the little snow blown clearing as they knelt there, twelve inches apart, and yet miles away...

Slowly, it went quiet... The roar from his head quieting, and all she could hear was his breath as it hissed through his flared nostrils... All she could feel was a pressing kind of emptiness emanating from him...

And then... Very slowly, his eyes locked on her belly... Their darkness shining with unshed tears... His hand raised, fingers uncurling...

...And the flat of his palm came to rest gently on the side of her stomach...

Slowly, almost as if she feared he'd pull away, Max lifted her hand and placed it gently over his.

For a moment he felt nothing but the thickness of her shirts and the firm roundness of her stomach beneath...

She drew her lower lip between her teeth and bit it, then gently maneuvered his fingers a little to the right and cleared her throat, "There's a foot..."

And everything seemed to align itself in his brain...

Foot?

The foot bone's connected to the ankle bone, the ankle bone's connected to the leg bone, the leg bone's connected to the bird-kid...

Foot FOOT FOOT!

His eyes widened, mouth falling open and he went terribly rigid. A choked, highpitched whimpering noise coming from his throat. He'd meant it to be words, but what came out wasn't anything at all like any word, in any language that he knew, or pretended to know.

He couldn't help but stare at her... And yet, he wanted to scream in her face... Ask her why the hell she thought it pertinent to leave when she was in such a condition... Why she hadn't told him, why she'd lied, why she'd ignored him, why-why-why-why-WHY!

But he didn't say anything... He could tell by the look on her face that she could hear everything he was thinking... And was sorry for leaving. Even if she didn't say it... He wouldn't make her say it.

He didn't really NEED to hear it... Feeling it was more than enough.

And he knew, no ammount of yelling or argueing would change anything... Max had found what she'd always wanted... Who was he to try and make it out to be wrong...

"Who... How did this happen? Who did you... How did you get pregnant?"

To Max, he sounded hoplessly lost and she understood why he suddenly looked so dispondent.

He was sterile, he couldn't have gotten her pregnant... And he was wondering who the hell she'd found to MAKE her pregnant... And why she hadn't told him first... Told him that she didn't want him because he couldn't give her what she wanted...

She knew he was thinking this, because he'd been thinking it all along. Thinking she deserved someone who could give her what he couldn't. Thinking he deserved to be alone...

BUT! She screamed at herself. We did it BEFORE he got so sick... We did it BEFORE!

He shuddered and wrinkled his nose and Max felt a tickling within her head, was he reading her mind again? Would he finally realize that it had all happened before he got sick... She'd been pregnant all this time... She pushed these memories, these thoughts and emotions forward gently, but with a rough kind of egerness.

His eyes closed tightly, his lips going tight together to try and keep his lip from trembling, trying to keep the little shaking sigh of understanding from making it past his teeth...

Relief, fear and joy flooded him, building within him, seeming to, for a moment, consume him.

Max expected him to shout in joy, but he didn't... He had nothing left, the stress of the last few months had worn it all away and all he could do was cover his face and lean into her embrace as he wept.

Max's chest tightened and she reached for him, pulling his head to her shoulder and petting the oddly cropped locks of his hair. She didn't say anything, there wasn't anything she could say. All words seemed somehow pale in comparison to how she felt. There were no poetic phrases to describe it, nothing she could compare it to... It was just a mixture of heartbreaking sadness and elation, two simple emotions that colored the little world surrounding them...

It was the only emotion she and Fang had left after all the heartbreak... It was overwhelming relief, and in essence that's all it was...

"My mom's in heaven right now trying to talk God into making it rain condoms, you know that, right?"

A smile came over his face, small at first, growing wider, and he choked on a helpless, mournful chuckle, coughing it out between breaths. Compulsively he put a hand on her stomach again, grinning to himself when she placed both of her own ontop of his and let out a little sigh as he scrubbed his face with his wrist.

Max released him, watching as he straightened, hand still on her belly. She felt his fingers beneath her own, thin and strong and gently she moved their hands again, rocking to her knees so more of the bump was exposed; "That one's a hellion... Likes to kick me in the lungs and headbutt my bladder... Thinks its funny to see me scrambling to find a bathroom before I pee myself..."

"Have you peed yourself?"

"Don't ask..."

He smiled and glanced up when she took his hand again, moving it over the seemingly impossible roundness of her stomach to rest somewhere under her left ribs.

"THIS one... This one absolutely LOVES to scratch their foot on my ribs... I'm SOO sore I cry every time they do it. They can't be any more than this big-" She held up her fingers, indicating only about three inches, "And I swear to you they act like they're Ember's size."

He chuckled stupidly. "You said 'one' twice..."

She hesitated, still holding his hand to her belly her eyes locked on his.

"No, Fang... There ... There's more than one."

For a moment he looked dazed, as if he were about to faint. "Huh?"

"More than one, Fang... I'm gonna have bay-BEES, PLURAL... Why do you think I'm so huge when I'm only two months along? Are you hypothyermic or something?" She knocked snow from his hair and put a hand to his face to gauge his temperature, but her hands were too cold and shaking too badly to do anything but hold him.

He licked his lips nervously and looked right into her face in a kind of blank fear.

Babies?

Is that what pregnant meant?

He shook his head and rewetted his lips again. All the fear he'd felt after the act itself flowing back on him like a ghost come to haunt his mind.

Ember was a baby... The Whitecoats had wanted her terribly... Iggy had died protecting the girl from them...

What if the Whitecoats wanted their babies!

Max was in danger!

Their babies were in danger!

"Is that why you didn't tell me? Because you were afraid I'd go all heroic and end up getting killed like Iggy?"

She hesitated... But nodded, glad he'd figured it out so she wouldn't have to say it.

The whole reason she'd left the cabin wasn't because Fang had yelled at her, but was because she was afraid of loosing him... Of loosing what they'd created.

If anybody knew... If the Whitecoats found out that she was pregnant they would try and take her babies away, just as they'd done to Iggy and Ella, and Fang's own parents...

He licked his lips again and Max wanted to tell him to stop or he'd end up causing them to chap and the only balm she had was bubble gum flavored.

After a moment he gave a final nod, as if solidifying his resolve; "How are we gonna do this, Max... How are we gonna save the world when you're pregnant?" He shook his head staring in a mixture of awe and fear at her stomach.

This is exactly what had scared her not so long ago. Exactly what she'd dreaded. Trying to save the world with a giant pregnant belly... She wouldn't be able to live with herself if something happened and one of those poor babies were hurt because of her...

But, this is what she'd been planning for since the day she figured it out...

"We go into hiding... Just like your mom and dad did. That's what I was trying to do when you turned all Superman and swooped down on me from the sky!" Apparently he didn't think it was funny so she continued. "As long as Ember's safe, the whole 'Destroy the World' plan is out of service."

Hiding... He could do that. He could handle that... Being on the run from Whitecoats was something he could handle. It was something he knew how to do...

Babies?

Well, considering their current position he'd have to learn about that... He could read, there were plenty of books out there on babies and how to raise them... It wouldn't be that hard... Could it?

He nodded, "Can you fly like this?"

Where would they go? Where could they start? Someplace the Whitecoats wouldn't look for them, or wouldn't be able to find them because they were able to blend in with the population...

"Not very well, no... Otherwise do you honestly think I would have stayed this close to the cabin?"

"I was kind of hoping you'd stayed close to... I don't know ... stay close to me I guess..."

She sighed, "Well, you're half right."

"So, flying's a big 'NO' huh?"

She nodded, "You should have seen me fishing earlier, it was laughable... I felt like a turkey... I'm sore, I'm swollen, I have to pee every half an hour..."

He was grinning.

"Stop looking at me like that..." She scowled at him.

"Like what?"

She pointed at his nose indignantly, "Like that."

He didn't stop so she rolled her eyes and tried not to look at him, even though it was one battle she couldn't win... She struggled to her feet and dusted snow from her body as he climbed up beside her.

They started walking without a word. Side by side silent in the snowfall.

"Max?"

She grunted to let him know she was listening...

"Don't leave me again..."

A calmed smile crept over her face as she felt his fingers slip into hers, guiding her through the haze of snowfall. And a wave of emotion swept over her... Forgiveness, acceptance... Protectiveness...

I won't... Not ever...

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 125; Dream a Little Dream of Me

Aaron was asleep. Lying on his back on the couch before the dying fire wondering where in the hell his brother and Max had gone.

Even though he was asleep he could still think, because part of him. The part of him that was connected with Nudge was still awake.

He'd flown about sixty miles to the east with the others, and they'd landed in the parking lot of a grocery store. Aaron had seen the electricity was on first thing, which was amazing. And John Lennon was singing 'Imagine' over the radio and then ... Aaron had seen the pay phones. And he's spent his last eight dollars in quarters to call Allan's cell phone to talk to Nudge.

He'd sat there, on top of a child's riding automation shaped like a truck and talked to Nudge until he'd ran out of quarters. Then on the way home he'd cried, and he'd cried himself to sleep missing her.

But now ... Now he was asleep, and the part of him that was still awake in her was having a field day, because somehow ... He'd connected himself to her in her dreams...

And OH, dreams were so sweet, especially when it was all he had at the moment. He knew they were dreaming, and so did Nudge and that put a bitterness to it, but at the same time, having the dream was better than having nothing at all.

But then Nudge was leaving him, saying that she had to go, it was morning in Oklahoma and she had to get up.

Aaron laughed, "Why get up when I already am?" But he'd known he had to wake up. Nick and Max weren't back yet, and he was supposed to be worried about them... Supposed to be anyway...

And Nudge had kissed him, fading back into the real world, back to Oklahoma and Aaron woke slowly, lying on the couch in the cabin, alone, aching, and frustrated.

He lie there for a few minutes, staring up at the ceiling, throbbing all over, his face feeling as if it were on fire. Then he got up, staggered upstairs to the bathroom and locked himself inside for a while.

When he came back out the sun was coloring the sky a mottled gray, and it was still snowing. And Aaron was now, actually worried. Where was Nick? Where was Max?

Why had Nick been gone so long and not left a note. Yes, he'd gone out to look for Max before... But, he'd never stayed out this long...

Aaron went to his room and pulled his bag out of the closet, rummaging around and finding some clean clothes. Then he went back to the bathroom, intent on showering and washing all the gross sweat off before he started to stink.

He undressed, taking a moment to stare at his reflection. Marveling at the faded scar from his operation, surprised that he was missing two major organs but felt perfectly normal ... For a bird-boy.

One of his air sacs and his spleen were gone, but he felt fine. He ran his fingers over the scar that slashed from the center of his body downward to the left, still oddly freaked out that it was numb then stepped into the shower. Smiling up into the warm spray glad he'd finally thought to light the freaking gas water-heater in the downstairs closet. He washed quickly still missing his hair, even though most of it had already grown back. Then he climbed out, dried, dressed and went back down stairs to rebuild the fire.

He'd been careless and let it go out. A beating worthy sin in this house, he'd come to discover.

And then he heard a scream from upstairs and he was running to it. Skidding to a halt in front of the Gasman's room staring inside expecting to find a Wizard had crashed through the side of the house. But instead he found something quite different.

The pigeon was perched on Gasman's head, pecking him repeatedly, angrily. Flogging him.

"GET HER OFF OF ME!" The boy screamed and swiped at the bird, spinning in circles, still tangled in his blankets.

Aaron lunged into the room thinking, 'Get off of him you barmy bird!' in a very aggressive tone.

And the pigeon dove off of Gasman's head, aiming herself straight at the front of Aaron's sweats.

Aaron gave a shrill cry and started running, throwing open the hall window and diving outside into a snowstorm.

The pigeon followed him and Gasman stopped in the window staring wide eyed.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?" Aaron screamed back at the boy, circling the house, trying to get far enough ahead of the bird to dive back inside and lock her out.

"I-I mocked her! And she didn't like it!"

Aaron turned and stared back at the boy, cocking an eyebrow. "What did you do?" He banked sharply and dove into the house slamming into the opposite wall, leaving an Aaron shaped dent in the drywall. Gazzy closed the window quickly, still thinking that it wasn't quick enough.

The pigeon started attacking the window, cooing in a fury, beating the glass with her wings and dirty little birdie feet.

Gasman rubbed the top of his head glancing at his palm to make sure he wasn't going to bleed to death, "She came into my room cooing at me. I didn't even know what I was doing, I just cooed back at her. Just part of the same way she did at me, and she went nuts!"

"What did she do exactly?"

Gasman opened his mouth, as if to belch and a wild cooing noise came from his throat. So fast Aaron's eyebrows shot nearly to his hairline.

"Bloody hell! You're a mocking bird now?"

"You can talk to birds, what does it mean!"

Aaron propped his hands on his hips, wrinkling his nose. "I can talk to them in my HEAD, I don't SPEAK bird!" Then he turned and focused on the pigeon, "She's angry ... Whatever you said must have been a dirty-birdie-curse-word."

Gasman shook his head. "How do I tell her I'm sorry?"

Aaron turned to the window and apologized repeatedly but the pigeon wouldn't stop sending him angry, hate filled thoughts.

"Where was she before she came into your room?"

Gasman pointed across the hall to Max's room. The door stood open less than three inches.

"Her nest is in Nick's room ... What was she doing in there?" Aaron pushed open the door slowly and saw the last thing he expected.

Max's room had been completely demolished... In a pigeon sense... It looked like the pigeon had had a field day destroying her bed and the notebook on it. She'd pulled out pages from the notebook, scattered confetii pieces all over the floor, she'd torn open Max's pillow and yanked out part of the stuffing ... she'd even left little black and white birdie-doo on Max's night stand.

And Aaron could feel the emotion in the room. Both Max's and the Pigeon's. "Oh, my God..."

Gasman peeked in under Aaron's arm, "What happened to Max's bed!"

Aaron stepped into the room gently letting his hands graze the dismantled notebook, catching a few words on the semi-intact pages... And he saw things in his head...

He saw Max lying there curled into a ball like she'd been before she'd taken off the first time. And he could feel her emotions...

She'd been happy about something, something she didn't know the name of, a fluttering in her stomach... And yet incredibly sad...

And the pigeon had come in after Nick had left two days before and she could smell something ... She could smell Nick ON Max ... She could smell part of Nick IN Max...

And boy had she gotten mad ... Nick was HERS. Not Max's, Nick was HERS.

"Aaron? Aaron, what happened?" Gasman whispered, terrified to touch anything, because the whole room felt somehow wrong to him. Like a crime scene. He felt a kind of pressure from the room itself. A forbodeing kind of energy that leeched out all his courage.

Aaron turned slowly and pushed Gazzy out of the room, shutting the door behind them. "The pigeon is jealous of Max and Nick."

"Why?" The Gasman cocked an eyebrow.

"I don't know ... Because Nick and Max are," He waggled his eyebrows, "Twitter-pate-ted." He over pronounced the word so the younger boy would understand.

Gazzy wrinkled his nose and made an absolutely disgusted face, "UGH! YUCK!" He shivered, wiping his hands on the front of his shirt, "You mean they've..."

Aaron nodded his head. He hadn't caught the potent, bright feeling of that particular emotion when he'd stepped into the room. That volcanic NEED of passion... But, he'd caught an afterimage of it... He'd caught the MEMORY of it...

"AAARRRRGHHHH!" Gasman's feathers stood on end and his pupils shrank to nothingness, "I SLEEP RIGHT ACROSS THE HALL! AND THEY'RE IN THERE HAV- DOING THAT!"

Aaron cocked an eyebrow, "No no no... Not here... BEFORE... Sometime before we got here... And what are you wailing about? It's not THAT bad..."

Gasman covered his mouth as if he might be sick. "You and Nudge too!"

Aaron shook his head, embarrassed, "No ... Nudgie and I have NOT."

"Then why are you defending them! Oh, my GOD, I'm gonna throw up!" He sat heavily in the floor cupping his face.

Aaron crouched beside him, "Are we talking about the same thing? You know it's not that bad, its not like they're performing demonic rituals, it's just ... Relations. Relations are nothing to be disgusted over."

Gasman looked up, still slightly nauseated, "Dr. Martinez said that you only do it because your hormones are going crazy and you can't keep your pants on!"

Aaron shuddered, "I know what she said ... But I also know that not all of it is lust and feeling good, alright? One day you'll find someone and you'll feel ... Well, yeah, you'll feel good with this person. You'll feel..." He scratched his head. HE felt foolish. "One day you'll fall in love and you'll understand. It's OK to think its gross now, but one day you won't think that anymore, and when that day comes you'll understand why they're ... doing what they're doing."

"You and Nudge are in love and you don't do IT."

"Because we're waiting until we're ready. Nudgie wants to be an actress, and I'd like to have an identity of my own before I get married. And yes I said marriage... I'm Catholic, I'm not gonna do THAT before, so shut up... We're waiting because we're not ready to do IT yet, alright?" Aaron didn't mention that he wanted to, that he felt ready. Because he knew Nudge didn't feel ready yet, and he didn't want to push her into anything she wasn't ready to do, ESPECIALLY THAT...

He was waiting. If Nudge wasn't ready, neither was he...

"What do you mean you're not ready?" He wrinkled his nose at Aaron. "You both have gone into the puberty already."

Aaron rolled his eyes, "Physically we're capable, but not emotionally. I mean, could you lead all of us up against the Wizards right now?"

Gasman paled. "No ... Not without a plan-"

"Exactly ... You have to prepare yourself. You have to make a plan. If you run headlong into it without a plan you end up in trouble ... That's why Nudgie and I are waiting. We're ... preparing ourselves. Because we want everything to go perfectly when and if we are ready together," He had said 'if' only to prove a point. He felt that he and Nudge were meant to be together, but he wanted to let the boy know that other people who were ready together might not be meant for that. That possibly, for others, it might be more smart NOT to do it simply because they were ready.

Wow, I actually said something intelligent for once! He thought to himself. Then he laughed in his head... God, what a load of PARP! GOD IN HEAVEN! I'm starting to sound like a real adult! HAHA! Someone give me a pipe and a monacle and I'll be in business!

Gasman shook his head, wrinkling his nose, "I still think its gross."

"Well then you can think its gross ... I think you're too young to have to worry about it anyway. But, you've got nothing to worry about ... They haven't ... Haven't done that here... To tell you the truth, I didn't even know they'd done it at all... They seemed to avoid each other whenever I was around..." Aaron climbed to his feet and peered out the window at the pigeon. Who had settled herself on the porch roof, still sending him hateful, 'I will peck out his eyes when he comes back!' feelings.

Gasman stopped by his side staring at the pigeon... Feeling somehow that he was staring at a very, very angry woman like off of a COPS special... "What are we gonna do about her? She's so mad."

"She's mad because she thinks Nick is HERS. She's a jealous girlfriend ... Only Nick was never hers to begin with."

"She's gonna attack Fang when he comes back, isn't she..."

"More likely she'll attack Max... If Max ever comes back..."

The Gasman bit his lip... He missed Max... He missed Max a lot. Lynn-Dee wasn't any fun... She and Jack spent all their time locked away in their room talking about Harry Potter...

And Aaron wasn't much fun because he was always sighing and moaning over Nudge...

There was nothing to do, and since Fang had left the Gasman had been on his own... He'd even gone hunting by himself... Even though he hadn't caught anything but a cold...

Thankfully it hadn't lasted any longer than a few hours or he really would have been miserable...

He'd spent most of his time since Max left stealing glances and peeks at Fang's photo album... There were quite a few pictures in there that looked funny when you held them close together. And four in particular that when you laid them in a cross pattern the sky portion formed the letter 'A'... He'd tried that with a few more and come up with the words 'CLEAR' and 'b-13'... It was kind of funny... Like a giant jigsaw puzzle... And if there was one thing The Gasman was good at, other than creating intollerable smells and building bombs, it was jigsaw puzzles...

"Max is going to come back... She has to... So does Fang. They wouldn't just abandon us..."

Aaron nodded and was silent.

After a moment the Gasman spoke again. "Maybe we should go looking for them, incase they're in trouble."

Aaron shook his head. "They're big enough to take care of themselves... I'm sure they're fine."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 126; Liberation

(One Month Later)

The snow was a crisp white icy sheet on the ground below him. The city streets were pale lines, no cars, no sign of life... And Fang was flying up Peyton Street about thirty feet above the ground, swooping over and under the dead traffic lights singing so loudly, so badly off key that the deer that had been the only other living thing in the whole city, raised their heads and ran off.

He wasn't sure what he was singing, the fact he'd found batteries tha worked with the almost antique CD player he'd found was in and of itself a miracle, he didn't really care what kind of music was blasting in his ears, or that his own voice was echoing around him like some kind of cataclysmic death knell. It was just good to hear MUSIC again. ANY MUSIC!

So, there he was, flying around with his backpack on backward, tapping out the beat on it with near frozen hands.

He sailed around the Peyton Street Forth Avenue intersection and started to ascend, corkscrewing around the building watching his reflection in the glass.

Colorado was so pretty in the winter, and he loved seeing himself played out a dark blot against its pristine whiteness.

Once he was clear of the big building, soaring above the city he pulled the hood of his jacket over his hair, stuck his sunglasses on his face to fend of the cold wind, and laid on the hyper speed.

He'd thought flying at normal speed was fun... But this was a BLAST!

No wonder Max liked it so much...

Yeah, I'm comin! I'm comin... He said in his head, knowing she could hear him. He tapped out the beat on his pack and continued to hum but didn't dare open his mouth for fear of getting frostbite in his mouth...

He was 'Home' in less than five minutes. Back in the wilderness, slowing and descending toward a small peak set amid more, larger peaks. A really nondiscript place...

The only thing that set this place apart from the rest was the small black dot that was a cave entrance. A cave that had become their new home.

For the time being anyway...

He landed softly, ducking in and having to weave his way around an outcropping of rock that protected them from the elements, and there was Max... Sitting propped up amid a mound of blankets looking absolutely, positively-

"It's about time you got back..." She grumbled bitterly, scowling at him from her bed.

He only smiled and narrowed his eyes, "Nothing you can say or do will ruin my mood, Max, so give it up already."

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her distended belly. He could hear a murmur of her thoughts, but nothing distinct, he wasn't that good at controlling the whole 'mind reading' thing yet. It just seemed to flare up every so often like an old injury.

He rotated his shoulders and walked up to her grinning still, a horrible grin if ever there was a wonderful one that could be called horribly so... His hands on his pack, playfully mocking her.

"Pig," was all she said, and she did so halfheartedly.

He just kept smiling as he emptied the pack, handing her packages of cookies and ready serve sandwiches he'd stollen off a wrecked refrigerator truck he'd found some one-hundred or so miles west.

The only thanks he got was the contented sigh from her as she ripped into a package of Beef Jerky and inhaled deeply.

But, coming from Max, that was all he needed.

"Did you have a good day?" He said, looking her over and realizing she was wearing a different outfit than she'd worn earlier that day.

She glanced at him, and the sudden flash of her thoughts nearly made him laugh.

Smarty-Pants headbutted me in the bladder again... Does that constitute a good day?

He absently fiddled with the blankets before collapsing on his back beside her, his feet propped up on the rim of the 'bed'.

"You know, Max..."

She grunted and handed him the package of jerky.

"You're a champion nest builder," He shook the package glancing at her from the corner of his eye.

She let out a sigh and deftly punched him in the thigh.

"I'm serious..." He chuckled, rubbing the spot, "We get some twigs in here, you'd make an owl proud!"

She hit him again, playfully, and reclined so her head was on his somache and she could hear him swallowing. "I think I figured out why I'm so huge at only three months along."

He grunted and his hand went, seemingly of its own accord, to her somach, his fingers searching for one of the odd lumps that moved about beneath her skin. He found one and smiled at it, sending happy, proud thoughts to it, and relaxed his hand as the lump moved about excitedly.

"Why's that?"

"Well," She started, "We heal three times faster than normal humans... It makes sense that THIS would happen three times faster too..." Her voice trailed off.

He blinked, and looked down at the top of her head. "Then you could like... Do your thing any day now?" He swallowed.

She nodded, her hands roving over her own stomach, frowning at the almost jello-jiggler like movements it made. "They seem to be quite excited about something!"

"Yeah..." He said softly. But his eyes locked on her belly and worry flashed in them.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Max... Max, wake up a second... Take a look at this..."

She begrudgingly pried her eyes open and glanced up at Fang, giving him a rather irritated look.

He was grinning like a monkey and pointing.

Max forced herself to raise her head, feeling as if everything south of her lungs had decided to cramp up and kill her. She'd been feeling this dull nagging pain since Fang had shown up the night before. She supposed the she'd jerky she'd eaten had been bad, just like the Spam at the cabin...

When she squinted across the room and noticed what was now sitting, not five feet to her right she rolled her eyes and tried not to groan and call him a big winged idiot. "What did you do?"

He grinned yet wider... Another wonderful horrible expression if ever there was one. "You should be sleeping in a bed, not on the ground."

She forced herself into a sitting position. "That's not a bed... That's a nest, Smart-one. A real nest..."

His grin got yet wider, if that was possible. "Just call it pay-back for putting me through hell..."

It was made entirely of pine branches. The boughs stacked, and woven together delicately with all the long, soft needles to the inside, creating a thick, soft, sented mattress, overwhich Fang had draped a number of the thick blankets and sleeping bags Max had collected. The whole thing was about the size of a queensized bed... if a queensized bed was round and slightly bowl shaped...

Surprisingly, it looked quite inviting... Eventhough Max felt like she'd be fulfilling some kind of weird cliché and demented Fang-minded-revenge-tactic if she were to climb into it.

"You're a freak, you know that?" She said playfully, as she stiffly climbed to her feet, hands braced on the small of her back.

"You want some worms? I can get LOTS of worms!" He said in a singsong voice, grinning even wider.

"Oh, God... I'm never gonna be able to live with you after this... You pig... You're like... You're mean... Picking on a pregnant lady. You're sick... You and all of your other personalities." She scowled at him eventhough it turned into more of a wince as a sudden pain gripped everything south of her bellybutton and north of her knees.

"Max?"

His voice lowered from the taunting, sarcastic tone of his worm comment into a concerned, worried whisper. And at the same moment he stepped forward, his hands came up.

His right going to the small of his back... His left to his own stomach... And a surprised little sound escaped him. He bent at the waist, his face a cross between confusion and pain.

And then something happened... Something quite unexpected...

Fang noticed it first ... Mostly because he saw it happen... And when he did he shook himself.

"Max?"

She didn't answer, but instead her eyes became larger and larger with each second, and her hand was tightening around his with such a force his fingers popped.

"Max, please tell me that you just peed yourself..."

He glanced at the front of his pants to make sure that he wasn't the culprit, discovered he was still dry and looked back up at her, a growing sense of unreality and fear tightening in his middle.

Slowly, she straightened, her hand still clamped on his eyes wide, fearful, and yet knowing...

"W-what's happenin'!" He stammered, his hand still on his own stomach because he could suddenly feel the full force of her pain again... And it wasn't pleasant.

He trembled and his mouth came open, a single surprised, panicky sound with syllables coming from him;

"Aw dang..."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

(JUST THOUGHT I'D GO AHEAD AND GIVE YOU GUYS WHAT YOU WANT... THAT AND I DON'T KNOW IF I'LL BE ABLE TO POST ANYTHING ON FRIDAY... SO, HERE IT IS!)

Chapter 127; Abracadabra

Max was pacing again, every so often making gutrial noises and doubling over, holding her stomach.

And Fang was right by her side... He'd sworn not to ever leave her, even if he was only going to go for help, and he wasn't going to... Not ever... Even though he was on the verge of sheer panic...

He'd sworn a long time ago he wouldn't leave her. He'd promised... It was a vow!

A vow she'd made to him what felt like an eternity ago but had only been a meer 4 and a half weeks.

So far their time together as 'WE' had turned out being a test of his sanity and Max's endurance.

She'd been out of commision, and he'd been in charge of doing everything for Max, and their unborn children... Which was starting to take its toll...

He hadn't had a good night's sleep since he'd found her that day in the clearing, and he hadn't had a good meal in almost 3 full months... He'd lost weight, his feathers weren't as shiny or full as they should of been...

He looked like a wreck! And Max, although he secretly thought she was absolutely beautiful the way she looked, even though she was swollen, bloated and cranky...

Max was about ready to pull his wings off...

They'd been pacing back and forth in the cave all day... Every so often pausing while Max bent and growled... or shouted ... or cursed at him... or screamed...

And he'd stand there, grinding his teeth feeling the shadow of her pain, trying not to scream himself when she gave his hand a rather vicious squeeze.

She was pretty strong for a girl...

Who was he kidding... She was pretty strong for a freaking ANYTHING!

His bones were particularly tough, so were hers for that matter. And yet, he was sure she'd broken a few of his fingers!

But somehow it didn't matter. All that mattered was trying to keep her calm...

And trying to remember everything he'd learned in health class about pregnancy and the things that happen between pregnancy and babies...

He supposed things could be worse... At least no Wizards had shown up to drag them off...

Max had found a good spot. Unless they were seen coming into or going from the cave nobody would know they were there.

Or unless they heard Max screaming...

Which he was starting to think everyone still left in the world could...

Max doubled over again, seeming to become a different person in the throes of this pain. Seeming to loose herself in it and become a brutal, angry animal...

Which frightened him... Max had never acted like this before... She'd never been utterly helpless... And now that she was he'd done the only thing he could... Disconnected himself for a few moments and said;

Okay, Fang... Suck it up! No freakin' out now! This is serious! This is MAX! And now he was determined. He was NOT going to freak out ... He was NOT going to 'hide' as Max called it and let her make the decisions.

Max was in freaking LABOR! She couldn't MAKE decisions right now!

So, while they paced, he was on autopilot. Relying on instinct. At the moment, more bird than boy... Just like he was when he was hunting. And Max herself knew this and wouldn't have been surprised if he'd brought her a dead mouse or something...

But he stayed right by her side. Keeping her upright, petting her wings and speaking in a no-words language of shushes and strength that only they could understand.

They were together... And Max supposed that on some level they'd both known this would happen. That they would end up here... Alone in the cold, heartless wild of a world that was ending... Bringing new life into it. Bringing new hopes and dreams into a place that was falling down around them.

Some sixth sense had told them what to do but the human part of them had ignored these signs and now look at what had happened. They'd spent the entire time fighting with each other... Ignoring each other.

They'd been human and hadn't embraced the wild, untameable feelings that made them who they were.

But now... Now they knew.

It didn't matter that the world was ending, love would happen anyway because that was the constant that kept everyone and everything together, aligned in the chaotic harmony of life.

Love and Hope give the world wings...

How could something so innocent, pure and simple have survived the ravages of time and evolution?

It survived because love and hope are the pillars onwhich the world was built. They are engrained too deeply within the souls of everyone and everything to be bred or 'cut' out of human or animal DNA...

Hope springs eternal? No... Hope IS eternity. Without hope there is no tomorrow... And love doesn't conquer all... Love appears in its simplistic feral glory and everything else stops... And kneels before it in awe...

And Max felt her mouth open when the next pain hit. Felt a scream in her throat, but she didn't hear it. She didn't even know she was making it until Fang had scooped her up into his thin strong arms and was sitting down with her amid the soft blankets underlain with pine.

He held her tightly for a moment, petting her hair and wings, pressing kisses to her forehead, wiping sweat from her face...

And she knew the time had come... She could feel it... The time for her to let go, to embrace the unknown. To relenquish her control to someone else.

Fang hadn't disolved into his head, distracting himself as he usually did in tense situations he couldn't fight his way out of. He had stayed with her. He'd taken the reins... He wasn't in control anymore than she was, but he was there. He was silent, calm, collected... On the outside anyway...

Max knew she could make it through what was about to happen if he was there, if he kept his head. Within him she had dominion of the situation even if it was only in her head.

She tangled her fingers in the front of his shirt and gently drew him down so she was looking him right in the eyes. Seeing how small his pupils were, and feeling her own contract.

"You better have paid more attention to my mom's lecture than I did or we're going to be in a HELL of a lot of trouble."

He swallowed hard and nodded.

He'd paid attention. Enough attention to know that he was in deep shit... But he didn't let it show.

He'd never panicked before. Not really. He'd never been so blinded by fear that he could do nothing, not unless you counted those few seconds in the truck not so very long ago. The night he and Aaron had rescued Max from the Wizards.

But he'd never experienced a fear like this. An all consuming paralyzing fear.

He wondered if maybe, this is how his parents had felt, too afraid to do anything but try and make everything quiet and ease the 'symptoms' as they happened.

"Everything's gonna be OK, Max... I promise..."

And she moved, turning onto her back and coming into a near sitting position holding her knees her teeth bared, bracing herself for the pain.

God it felt good to sit up like this ... The pain wasn't half as bad when she sat like this. If she stayed in this position she could bear it.

She watched him, grinding her teeth against it and knowing that sometime in the near future she would be holding a baby ... BABIES that she and Fang had brought into the world together. She would be holding her hopes and dreams in her arms... Counting fingers and toes...She would be holding Her babies, Fang's babies, THEIR babies.

Fang shook himself again, feeling those little feathers near his spine stand on end. He didn't know anything about himself. He didn't know anything about Max. Yes, the sickos at the school had given them physicals, and measured and prodded parts of his anatomy that he didn't let anyone see.

He knew Max had been given physicals, he knew she'd gone through the same things he had if not more, and yet he knew nothing.

Could Max lay an egg? Was she going to lay eggs now?

Could Max have a real, live baby like Ella had? Like his mother had? Was this it? Was she going to have it now? Was she going to have THEM now?

And an eerie sense of hyperawareness stole over him. He was in tune with everything. Conscious of Max's pain, but he didn't feel it, not in the sense that he was in pain too. But more that he felt a pressure or spasm, somewhat like a muscle cramp... And a mild curiosity flitted into his brain.

What did having a baby look like?

He felt quite stupid and piggish, but he peeked under the edge of the blanket he'd draped over her to ward off the chill... his eyebrows drawn down and-

Max knew what he was going to do, she could see it in his face and she wanted to hit him for it. Wanted to smash her fist into his face so hard it came out the back of his head... But she knew that someone was going to have to. There was no way they were going to be able to do this without that.

Looking was an innocent enough act, pinching the edge of the blanket and lifting it. Peering in as if he was feeling more investigative than afraid, turning his head to the side questioningly ... His eyes going wide, pupils shrinking rapidly, mouth falling open-

And then Max heard Fang make the most exquisite noise. Somewhere between a pained little cry and a choke and his eyes went even wider, his pupils seeming to shrink into nothingness.

Max felt a jolt of fear stab through her chest and she forgot about everything except that there was something wrong. Fang could see what was happening and he could see that there was something wrong with her, with their babies.

"WHAT'S WRONG!"

He opened his mouth, trying to force his lungs to inflate, trying to breathe.

"FANG!"

He gave his head a shake, still unable to tear his eyes away from what was happening, what he was seeing ... It was frightening, and it made every muscle under his stomach tighten, as if trying to force his liver out through his eyes.

He couldn't speak. He was too afraid, too overjoyed, too nauseated to do much of anything.

And he looked up into Max's eyes, for the first time not seeing the fearless leader he'd always encountered, but seeing the frightened eyes of a teenaged girl.

And he went beyond his own shock into a part of him that belonged more to Max than him because she was the one who'd given it to him. She'd given him hope. A deep, resounding well of hope when he had nothing, not even the will to live, and he heard his own voice, as if it were coming from someone else.

"You're gonna be fine, just relax and when you feel the next one, push."

She saw a calm in him now. A kind of understanding and acceptance of what he had to do and she focused on it... Wanting to feel it herself because she hed to stay calm... She was Maximum Ride... And he was Fang.

She laughed inside knowing that's exactly who they were supposed to be... Together, a team.

Tag you're it!

Max squeezed her eyes closed tightly, grinding her teeth together against the pain. It wasn't a hollow pain as it had been earlier. Not a terrifying, hopeless pain ... Pushing changed it.

She didn't have to be the leader now, all she had to do was focus. Focus and push... She vaguely heard Fang's voice as he whispered, or as he thought things to her. Part of her wanted to tell him to shut up so she could concentrate but she didn't. She just glared at him. Knowing that when it was all over she was kicking his ass and possibly reviewing that horrible lecture her mother had given her. Maybe even tattoo the word 'condom' somewhere where he'd always be able to find it. She didn't even care at the moment that he was sterile... She'd remind him anyway...

She was mad, in pain and scared to death...

But, at least she wasn't alone... He hadn't left her. He'd stayed... And as long as he was there she would survive. She'd spit in the face of anyone or anything that tried to separate them again. Life would NOT tear them apart... Not after this!

And that terror washed away, the fact that he wasn't scared anymore, his calm emotions flowed through her, calming her as well and breathing became easier. Her vision sharpened, and her grasp on control strengthened. As long as Fang was calm she could be too, because, after all, she was Max. She was the leader, even though, at the moment, she'd given all her power over to the babies she and Fang were trying to bring into the world.

If Fang could be calm, so could she... She wasn't going to be shown up by any boy... Even if it was Fang... ESPECIALLY if it was Fang...

She felt his hands tighten on her knees and he was talking again, very quickly, in an excited highpitch voice.

"Jesus! Max, I can see it! You're doing it!"

DUH! YOU BLOCK HEAD! She wanted to scream at him but she was grinding her teeth too hard, so all she did was meditate on the mental image of an Eraser and growled at him.

She could feel what she was doing, she knew, and she'd never wanted anything more in her life.

Then the pain ebbed and Fang was moving around, laughing happily his face seeming to glow like a candle. And sharp little cries echoed in the cave. He turned his head and wiped his nose on his shoulder, still laughing, and a moment later he was holding something up, tears rolling down his face. "She's all slimy! Oh, man, listen to those lungs!"

Max didn't know what he was reaching her, but she wanted it and she took it, feeling the blanket writhing around as she drew it to her chest, looking down into a reddened little face ... And tendrils of dark hair clinging to her forehead.

Max stared down in awe at the little girl's face ... Her little girl ... And then her eyes opened.

And Max saw the color shifting, swirling from blue to brown and back again. She knew without even looking that the baby in her arms had dark wings, just like her father ... And she had her father's abilities...

Then she was in pain again and Max cradled the little bundle to her chest and bore down on it, feeling a new strength she didn't know she had.

"Here it comes!" Then he was laughing again, sobbing at the same time, "GIRLS! I've got two daughters! Oh Max, and she looks just like you!"

Then Fang was beside her, crying and laughing, holding the other bundle. This one pale and thrashing. Angrily waving little fists around, blazing brown eyes. Squirming right from her blanket, flapping little, soaking wet wings.

"Jeez, she's strong!" Fang looked over at Max, how pale her face was yet how bright her eyes were. "I think we're gonna have a handful with these two!"

Then Max's face changed, her breath coming quicker and she shook her head, realization like a silence in her mind.

"No ... Not two- Three."

Fang thought at first she was joking, but the look on her face told him otherwise and he lie his second daughter in Max's arms and moved quickly. But he wasn't fast enough and he barely caught the third baby. Grabbing thin, tiny little ankles and cupping the back if a dark little head. Sprawling himself on his back with his feet in the air...

And his eyebrows shot up, completely surprised, his mouth falling open.

Three?

A third?

Little eyes opened. One blue, one brown staring deeply into Fang's face and for a moment Fang couldn't breathe.

He could see the fire he'd built in the middle of the room reflected in this child's eyes...

"Fang, what is it? Is it another girl?"

He sat up slowly, still in awe, shaking with it, wrapping a blanket around the little body, gently touching the tip of a tiny nose. Then a small mouth opened wide in a deep yawn...

This baby didn't cry, or even make a sound other than to take a deep breath, inflating tiny little lungs and air-sacs.

"Fang? Is it OK? What's wrong?"

He looked up into Max's flushed face again and shook his head.

"It's a boy."

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 128; Baby Mine

Fang counted them again, for what was probably the millionth time, but it never got old.

One little baby ... Two little baby ... Three little baby. Three little babies...

Max smiled up at him, her eyes shining. Three little babies.

She looked better now, having slept for a few hours and swallowing a few of the leftover Percocet tablets Fang had stuffed in the very bottom of his pack. She still looked tired, but Fang decided that giving birth to three babies without any prior pain medication WOULD tire someone out. Even Max!

He'd only left to gather more wood for a fire and when he'd come back Max was awake awkwardly feeding the girls, holding the little boy on her shoulder, petting his wings. Looking as worn and downright tired as he'd ever seen her...

But there was something different... It was the look in her eyes...

He didn't know what to call it... But it suited her...

So now here they were. Max and their babies curled up in the bed/nest.

They'd taken time a few moments before to inspect their children. Mostly because it was fascinating, even changing diapers, that Fang had flown nearly thirty miles to find, was an adventure because the children were so small. Like little dolls. The smallest diapers he could find were still too big for them... He'd had to break into an abandoned hospital and steal packages of 'Premie' diapers that were small enough to fit in the palm of his hand.

None of the babies had had umbilical cords. But they all had little belly buttons. Max suggested that perhaps, like an egg, they'd grown in separate little 'bubbles' that weren't connected to her internally. It made a little sense. Enough that Fang didn't argue with her, but Max thought he was too busy watching the babies sleep and fighting back his excitement.

"I can't stop looking at them! I mean ... Look at 'em!" He put a hand on either side of his face, massaging his cheeks, "My face hurts from smiling so much."

"Don't make me laugh!" Max scolded and swatted at him where he sat outside the bed/nest his chin resting on her shoulder. "I'll kick your ass if you make me laugh!"

Fang giggled, then did it again when he realized what he'd done. "Wait till Angel sees them."

Max sighed, "Who elected you the leader of this outfit?"

"Well, seeing as how you've just ... Given birth, I was assuming you'd want to take it easy for a few days."

She rolled her eyes, "'Take it easy' isn't in my vocabulary... But, yeah ... Angel'll freak."

He nodded smiling, "Besides, it'll be safer there. Margo is a doctor after all... And that drafty old cabin is no place for babies. We'll stay there for a few days, find a car or something and take off..." He sighed, "We're gonna make it, I promise," He then reached into the nest, gently trailing his fingers across each little wing and over sleeping little head, vowing to protect them with his life. After a moment he sighed, "What are we gonna call them? We can't call 'em 'one, two and three' forever... I mean, they deserve names... GOOD names... Not like weird names either... GOOD ones, bird-kid names..."

Max rolled her eyes, "Thank you, Mr. Talkative... I've been thinking about that actually. I had some time while you were out and I was looking through your book of names there."

Fang saw the corner of the worn book peeking from the blankets.

"And, anything pop out at you?"

Max nodded and gently laid a hand on the little dark head of their first born, "She looked at me and her eyes did the same thing yours do."

"And what is that?"

"They changed color."

His eyebrows shot up. "I can make my eyes change color?"

Max nodded, "They go from blue to black to red, and sometimes ... Like right now, they're kind of purple."

He rolled his eyes. "My eyes are not purple..."

She narrowed her eyes, "Do you want me to continue, or should I wait?"

He bowed his head and made a flourishing hand gesture.

"Anyway... I found a few names that had something to do with the dark, but I found this one and I knew, alright, so no laughing."

He smiled, staring into her eyes with such a childlike glee Max almost laughed herself.

"I was thinking, since she's got your eyes and all... 'Iris' it means 'colorful, like a rainbow'."

His smile widened, "I like it. "

Max put a hand on the little blonde head, "The little hellion that liked to headbutt me... And since we both are sure she's going to be a handful, 'Epiphany'."

He chuckled and nodded vigorously. "Iris, Epiphany, and..."

Max hesitated, lying her hand gently on top of their little boy's head, "I've been calling him Iggy."

Fang was still. So still that it frightened her.

"But it's up to you."

He turned his head slowly to the side and raised his hand, touching the downy little feathers, the miniscule little fingers that twitched and curled around his own seemingly giant thumb... It puzzled him that they could be so small, and yet so perfectly formed... It didn't seem possible... Staring at them was like staring into the face of God... He couldn't believe it, and yet, it was right in front of him...

His chin trembled, "I like it... Iris, Epiphany... And Igneous."

"Igneous?"

"It's a type of stone... Volcanic stone, some of the strongest there is..."

Max felt her throat burning and she reached for him, tangling her fingers in his hair tasting the salt on his face. "Good names... Strong names..."

He chuckled under his breath and looked into her eyes, his own a dark shade of midnight. "They're part of you... Of course they're strong..."

She was quiet long enough to appriciate the complement then she smiled, "Can we spell Sappy?"

He quirked his mouth to the side his cheeks turning pink, "F-A-N-G..."

Her eyes rolled in her head and she swatted his arm, "Your sarcasm exhausts me... Go away."

He chuckled, "We're parents, we're supposed to be exhausted... And No... I'm not going away, you're gonna have to live with me forever."

Max giggled to herself mostly because everything seemed amusing at the moment, "Was that a threat?"

"No... I know better than to threaten you... You'll kick my head off."

"I'll kick something off."

He yawned, his mouth gaping open so wide Max could see down his throat. How his uvula twitched and it must have been the Percocet kicking in because she giggled and whispered 'Dangle-dangle-dangle!' and waggled a finger at his mouth.

He cocked an eyebrow at her. "Oh wow... 'Note to self; if you give Max Percocet she does tricks.'"

She rolled her eyes and let out a sigh. "Well, Daddy-Fang, why don't you come to bed, huh? Get some shut-eye with our babies and Mommy-Max?"

After a moment of careful consideration he kicked off his boots and carefully eased himself into the nest turning on his side so that all three of the babies were between him and Max. For a minute he just stared at them... Feeling protective and giddy at the same time.

Was this how Iggy had felt?

No wonder he'd done back flips...

Ig... If you can hear me, we'll take care of Ember... I'm sorry I didn't say that to you before... I should have promised then... But, I just didn't know...

Then he extended his wing and covered his family, falling into a deep sleep.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

(MORE CHAPTERS ON THE WAY! BUT THERE'S ANOTHER TIME JUMP AND I WANTED TO GET ALL THIS OUT BEFORE I HEAD INTO THAT.)

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

(The last chapter before the time jump! Enjoy!)

Chapter 129; Panoply

It was snowing again and Aaron had perched himself on the roof of the house near the chimney, growling at the cold and wishing, praying that Nick and Max were alright.

He'd let his hair grow out, and his face was scruffy, his eyes wide, and terribly... TERRIBLY alert. Like a small animal that had been horribly frightened and knew it's time was about up...

Was this something new? Was it normal forNick and Maxto fly off for long periods of time and not come back? Was he just worrying about nothing?

Were Max and Nick real to begin with?

Where had they gone, and why couldn't they send some kind of word that they were OK? Had they been captured, had they been killed?

NEARLY TWO MONTHS!

He was going mad. The Gasman was going mad ... Lynn-Dee and Jack? Well, they were just plain crazy! EVERYONE WASSTIR CRAZY!

Lynn-Dee had lost a LOT of weight and was parading around in her Harry Potter robes almost constantly, waving a length of dried twig, trying to make things float.

Jack, Jack had grown out a moustache and started calling himself Gomez Addams and on occasion he would go sit on the roof in nothing but his underwear.

The Gasman had become obsessed with the photo album, taking out all the photos and arranging them on his bedroom floor, then tiptoeing around them like a ballett dancer and scribbling notes in a tablet he'd found with a kitten on the front.

And Aaron?

Well, Aaron had discovered that the squirrels were trying to steal his soul...

He'd seen them in the little clearing behind the house, gathered in the trees, surrounding them... Plotting.

Always plotting...

He'd caught one of the mangie littlebuggers in the house, spying onhim.Sitting on the mantle before the fire staring at him as he'd perched himself vulture style on the kitchen counter in his boxers one night while on watch.

He and the squirrel had had a rather nasty conversation...

The bloody little satanic nutchaser wanted his soul...

And Aaron was NOT going to be lurred in that easily to the black arts...

Nope, no NO!

But, above all, even the perilous fight to keep the squirrels from stealing his everlasting soul Aaron missed Nudge and when he missed Nudge he got depressed and he didn't like being depressed. He hated it. He was still depressed over Dr. Martinez, Ella and Iggy.

There was only so much that a guy could take without going bonkers!

He was terrified that the squirrels would hurt Nudgie, he was terrified that Nick and Max wouldn't come back... That he would have to dig a grave ... Two graves.

He'd only been to one funeral in his whole life... And it had been a terrible experience, putting someone in the ground like that... Throwing dirt down on them...

He still felt nauseous over it! Remembering it ... Trying not to remember it.

Aaron covered his face with half frozen hands and bit back a sob. Cursing the squirrels and cursing the distance between himself and his family...

This is why he hated watch. When he was alone he thought too much. Even though Gazzy had told him that thinking was the absolute last thing he wanted to do while on watch. But Aaron's mind worked differently than Gazzy's. Aaron hadn't been raised as the Gasman had. He'd literally spent his whole life in a lab. He'd only been out of the lab for-

"What was that?"

He jumped at the sound of his own voice then shushed himself because for a moment he felt as if someone else had spoken, maybe the squirrels were making their move; "SHHHHH!"

He felt foolish so he sat very still, straining his ears, listening... Knowing that if it was the squirrels he'd be able to get back inside before they could swarm them... All he had to do was dive through the hall window...

When Aaron had been bitten by the Wizard his senses had gone through the roof, and that was saying something because they'd already been highly advanced. And after the accident he'd been given Nudge's blood, which meant he also had a few of her abilities as well. He could sense the emotion from things he touched. But at that moment he had Nudge's rarely used ability to seemingly shrink into nothingness and listen, using his Wizard heightened sense of hearing he caught a small sound on the wind that, at any other time he would have missed, even with his usual advanced sense of hearing.

Laughter...

"What are we going to tell them, Mister-Man?"

"Do we have to tell them?"

"Oh, yeah, right, we'll just act like nothing happened! Really good there, Fang, really good."

Aaron was on his feet his arms going out to the darkness, all his jubilation, fear and sorrow coming out in a mindless, half-crazy cry. That once he'd released it made absolutely no sense to him or anyone that heard it.

And then they appeared, sloughing through the snow and Aaron burst into tears, sobbing and holding his arms out to them like a small child who thought he'd been abandoned but had only been unable to see his parents for an eternal, terrifying few seconds.

The hall window flew open and Gasman leapt out in a T-shirt and his underwear, "WHAT!" Then he did the most beautiful double take his head jerking to the side, staring wide eyed at the two specters appearing out of the darkness. And he crashed right into Aaron, nearly knocking the boy off the roof.

Fang laughed as he climbed onto the porch and held out a hand to help Max up the stairs. "Come inside, before you freeze your butts off!"

Lynn-Dee and Jack were already down stairs, staring flabbergasted at what Max was holding and when Fang came inside carrying two more Lynn-Dee let out a squeal, wrapped both arms around Jack's neck and started jumping up and down. "OH MY GOD, THEY'RE SO CUTE!"

Gasman and Aaron looked at each other then dove at the hall window, nearly coming to blows trying to get through.

Gasman ended up letting loose one of his signature 'airs' and Aaron flew backward gagging, holding his throat, "You little septic tank!" Then he dove in the window after the boy, intent on strangling him... Or fitting him with a cork, he wasn't sure...

Max and Fang were on the couch, Lynn-Dee making high pitched, estrogen induced 'AWWWW!' sounds.

Jack was fidgeting nervously, tugging at his moustache...

Aaron and the Gasman tumbled down the steps, sliding across the kitchen floor on their shoulders like children fighting to get onto a playground, then righted themselves and ran at the couch breath held.

They arrived at practically the same time, leaning over the rear of the couch, staring down at the three bundles Max and Fang were holding. The Gasman's nose wrinkled in delight and his mouth came open in a surprised gasp, "BABIES!"

And Aaron slid to the floor in an unconscious heap.

A guy can only take so much!

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

(More chapters on the way next week!)

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

(Okay, I'm having some personal problems, so I'm going to be posting a bunch of chapters to make myself feel better... And in reply to a comment, Yes, I read every review, and if a good question is asked I answer the question. And here's the answer to one such good question...

I am NOT finished, I don't think I ever will be. Not until the story has run its course. As long as there is still a story to tell, I'll keep posting.)

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 130; Visitors from Another World

(Four and a Half Months Later) Early June, for those of you who must know...

Allan was cooking breakfast. And the sun was just peeking over the horizon, bathing the whole room in soft amber light. He could hear the kids moving around upstairs and a few seconds later Angel came down the steps, scratching at her head, eyes clouded with sleep.

"Morning!" Allan said cheerfully.

Angel mumbled something and plopped herself down at the kitchen table, still looking as if she were half-asleep.

Allan scooped the bacon out of the frying pan onto a plate with the eggs he'd prepared, put two pieces of buttered toast on the side and sat the plate down in front of his niece. Then he went back to the stove, pausing a moment to glance out the window at the soft new leaves on the trees.

Things had changed. The world was beginning to right itself. Now that they were no longer afraid of the Z-Virus, since it had been found that it simply wore off after three to five days, like a mild case of intestinal flu. People were coming back home. The Broomers had gone off on their own adventures. His neighbors were back, the store in town was restocking. The TV was even broadcasting again, though it was all news, no cartoons.

Allan missed the cartoons...

So that meant no more flying lessons outside. All flying was to be done in the Animal shelter. Which Allan's stubborn survivalist neighbor, Ira had done a very good job of maintaining while he was away.

Ira was an older man who lived a few miles away. He didn't stick around long and preferred to be left alone in his bombshelter of a house with his 'John Wayne Westerns on the Dee-Vee-Dee' so Angel and her flock didn't really mind him that much. As long as he didn't happen to see their wings ... Cat's tail or KIX's.

Allan had found a way for KIX to be in public with his wolfish ears out and not draw a crowd. He'd found an old racoon-skin hat in the attic, cleaned it up and made little cuts in it so KIX's ears could stick out. And it didn't really look that odd. As long as he didn't take the hat off...

And he could stick his tail down the leg of his pants to hide it. Though he didn't like doing it. He thought that if people couldn't live with his tail then he didn't want to live with them. So anyone who didn't accept his tail got growled at when they came near. Or got something of theirs stolen and buried... But thankfully, Ira had since found his wallet...

Cat was the same with her tail. But Cat spent most of her time in the animal shelter anyway playing with the fifteen new kittens that had arrived a few weeks earlier. SO nobody really minded...

KIX came downstairs next, Cat trailing behind him, shuffling around in a pair of shoes that didn't fit her well.

"Morning," Allan sat two plates down for them, eggs bacon and toast on KIX's plain bacon on Cat's since the girl would eat nothing but meat or dairy products.

Daisy-David and Tommy came down followed by Margo, carrying Ember.

"Morning, Uncle Allan!" Daisy said grinning, skipping up and hugging Allan around the waist.

"Morning, Sunshine, would you get the orange juice out of the fridge?"

Daisy skipped off humming and came back with a bottle of juice. "Angel, can I wear your lavender dress today? Please? I'm feelin' pretty."

"Yeah... You should flip your hair up too. Nudge'll help you."

It had gotten to the point that Daisy-David answered to both 'he' and 'she', because the child was so fed up with being called 'He-SHE'. And nobody was surprised anymore by what the kid did so they just let it go.

Margo walked over to the sink smiling at Allan, "What's put you in such a good mood this morning?"

Allan rolled his eyes but didn't spoil the surprise. "Anybody want seconds? We've got a lot of bacon left."

"Me!" "Oh, I do!" "Yes, please." 'Purrrrrrr!'

Allan divided up the remaining bacon and poured Margo a cup of coffee, then found the jar of Ember's applesauce he'd put in a pan of water to warm. "We're going to have to go into town today, so who wants to stay and watch the animals?"

"Cat and I'll do it," KIX said, gnawing on his toast contentedly.

Nudge rolled her eyes, "I'll watch them."

"Okay, you three, just don't let Ira see you messing around. He'll be coming over at about twelve-thirty and I don't know if we'll be back yet."

KIX nodded and pulled on his racoon skin hat, poking his ears out and yawning. "Better?"

Allan flicked his eyes at the boy's tail.

"Not while I'm sitting. If I sit on it, it hurts."

Allan didn't press him.

After breakfast was finished Allan loaded all the dishes into the dishwasher and made sure to explain to KIX why the boy had to make absolutely sure to hide his tail.

Then everyone that was going piled into Allan's jeep and they started driving.

"Where are we going?" Daisy said practically bouncing in her seat, fingering the lengthening locks of her freshly curled hair.

Allan shrugged, "You'll see."

"Angel, read his mind!" Tommy said grinning.

"It's a surprise," Allan said before the girl could peek into his head, "I'd appreciate it if you just waited to see."

Angel rolled her eyes, "You're lucky I'm in a good mood or I SO would have looked," She grinned.

Ember started making burbling noises swaying back and forth in her car-seat, "Bah-ba ba!"

Angel leaned forward and checked on the little girl, straightening the bow on her head and making sure the yellow little dress Margo had put on her covered her wings enough so as not to arouse suspicion. "Look at you, Ember, you look so cute today!"

"MAAAAA!" And she kicked her little legs excitedly. Then she poked out her tongue and made a rude spluttering noise and held up her little hands.

"Yeah, you're always cute!" Daisy said sticking her finger into one of Ember's little hands and giving it a gentle shake.

"Hey, turn on the radio!" Tommy said drumming his hands on the back of his mother's seat.

Margo rolled her eyes and turned on the radio.

Daisy groaned loudly, "NOT THIS SONG! EEEWWW!"

"EVERYBODY WAS KUNG-FU FIGHTING! HI-YAW!"

Angel laughed and turned to Tommy, who was making hand motions and mouthing the words, waggling his eyebrows at her.

"THOSE CATS WERE FAST AS LIGHTNING! HE-YUH! AND IT WAS A LITTLE BIT FRIGHTNING!"

Ember laughed and clapped her little front teeth showing when she smiled.

Margo changed the station.

"-A little dance! Make a little love! Get down tonight! Get down tonight!"

Tommy started mocking the Hustle and Angel joined him laughing at the jubilant look on Ember's face.

"Is it 'Disco Day' or something?" Daisy said, trying not to smile.

Not long after that, halfway through 'Surfin' USA!' Allan eased the jeep into a parking spot. "Okay, you guys go on and have fun, we'll meet back here in half an hour, OK?"

"ALRIGHT!" Tommy said, "I call the arcade!"

Angel rolled her eyes and turned to Margo, "Can we take Ember with us?"

Margo hesitated but after a moment agreed. "Watch her carefully, she'll wander off if you're not careful."

Angel nodded and sat the little girl down and held her hand as they wobbled up the walk to the store entrance.

Margo watched them go, noting how Tommy and Angel stuck close together, each holding one of Ember's little hands so the toddler could walk.

"Bah-ba ba-BOOM!" Ember laughed and started working her little legs faster, wanting to run, but Angel and Tommy kept her going at a steady pace.

"Slow down, sweetie," Angel said in a very Max like tone.

Allan chuckled, "They grow up so fast, don't they?"

Margo rolled her eyes, "Tell me about it."

They walked along quietly, entering the store and watching as Angel lifted Ember into a shopping cart and buckled the little safety belt so the child couldn't wriggle free and fall.

"MAAAAAAAAAA!" Ember shouted indignantly and threw up her little hands as if to say 'See what I put up with!' to a sales associate who happened to walked by.

Margo made sure that the four of them were safely in the arcade before she and Allan slipped away.

"Are you going to tell me what this surprise is or do I have to throw my vote in with Angel and have her read your mind?"

Allan smiled, "We're going to get some visitors later this evening."

Margo stiffened, "What kind of visitors?"

"As in Nick, Aaron, Max and Zephyr ... Oh, that Lynn-Dee girl and that other boy, what's his name?"

"Jack?" Margo put in finding an empty shopping cart and pushing it in front of her.

"Yeah, Jack, they say hi, but they're going back to Arizona ... Something about finding a lab of some kind... I don't know." He waved his hand dismissively.

Margo nodded, "Well, its about time they decided to come in! It's been what? Six and a half months?"

Allan nodded and directed Margo into the groceries, pushing his own cart. "I may have to drive some groceries home before all of us will fit in the jeep."

"We could also have Angel, Tommy and Daisy fly some stuff home," She whispered, "That's one of the bonuses of having kids with wings."

Allan laughed, "We might have to do that ... I have to buy another crib."

Margo choked and glared at him from the corner of her eye, "Crib? As in a baby?"

Allan grinned widely.

Margo clapped a hand to her forehead, "Who had a baby! Lynn-Dee, she sure looked pregnant last time I saw her!"

Allan laughed again, "No, Lynn-Dee's just kind of ... Round." He made a rotund motion with his hands in the air, visualizing her.

"Max! Max and Nick!" Margo's jaw practically hit the floor.

Allan nodded, "You can't tell anyone though, alright, it's a surprise. I just thank God I understood his code talk... That kid's almost as bad as Bernie was with code talking... But he said they were three of the cutest little surprises ever."

Margo's eyes bugged. "THREE!"

Allan nodded, "Yep, but, please, don't tell, alright? I promised I'd keep quiet."

She felt as if she were going to explode! "I am not changing their diapers, I hope you know! I can take care of Ember, Ember's no problem, but ... JEEZ! Have these kids never heard of condoms?"

Allan laughed and flapped his hands at her, "It's alright, Nick and Max are capable and have been taking care of them since February."

"FEBRUARY!"

Allan couldn't help but chuckle. "Don't worry about it! They're just coming for a visit."

Margo rubbed her forehead, "They're not even eighteen yet!"

"Actually, Max turned eighteen, on the fifth," Allan said and started filling his cart with baby food. Mostly fruits, since that's what Ember liked. He prayed that Nick and Max's kids liked it too...

"Well, crap ... Do they have clothes and things for them?" Margo leaned forward on her buggy and crossed her arms.

Allan nodded, "Nick said that they're really little."

"Are they premature?"

"Apparently not, they're just ... little."

"Do you know their sexes?"

Allan shook his head, "It was code talk, remember? All he said was 'Me and Max had three of the cutest little surprises ever. Too bad Aaron crashed the truck huh?' Then my phone battery finally died. Six months, can you believe that? Nokia has really stepped it up!"

Margo didn't mention that she'd been secretly charging that phone battery every other day. "So this is why you were in such a good mood?"

He grinned deviously.

"Jeez, you're as bad as Angel sometimes, keeping secrets."

"I'll get the rest of the food from Jerry's," He said and turned his over flowing cart, "Do you want to go tell the kids they can ... Take nature's way home?"

"Okay, can you get another crib by yourself?"

Allan nodded, "I can manage, I'll meet you out front."

And they separated, Margo heading back to the arcade, Allan to the Infant and Toddler Department.

Margo arrived at the arcade in time to see Tommy pop two quarters into a Claw machine, going after a funny looking stuffed creature in the far-left corner.

"You're not gonna gehhhht it!" Daisy said in a singsong voice, grinning from ear to ear.

Tommy's tongue poked out of the corner of his mouth and he narrowed his eyes. "Just watch!"

As Margo watched the Claw drop she noticed something odd about it. It wasn't dropping straight down, it was dropping at an angle ... As if it were being guided right down over the plump furriness of the stuffed creature.

Daisy must have noticed it too because the child's eyes went wide and she pressed her face against the glass. "Uh-Tommy..."

The claw pulled the toy from the mound of other toys and dropped it right down the chute into Tommy's waiting hands.

"I told you I'd get it!"

Daisy backed away from the game and pointed, turning to Margo, "Did you see!"

"Yes, I did..."

Margo walked to her son, bending so she could whisper into his ear, "Tommy, did you see what you just did?"

Tommy shifted uncomfortably then held up the colorful stuffed rabbit. "I got the bunny?"

"Tommy," Margo fished a quarter out of her pocket and held it in the flat of her palm.

Angel walked up, pushing Ember in the cart, "What's up?"

Daisy put a finger to her lips and pointed at the quarter in Margo's hand.

Angel leaned in and watched.

"Tommy, I want you to pick up this quarter."

He reached for it.

"No ... I want you to think on it ... I want you to think on this quarter and see if you can pick it up without touching it..." Margo felt obscenely stupid, but she held her hand out anyway.

"Mom, you're crazy..." Tommy said, but when he saw the serious look on her face he shivered and turned his eyes to the coin. "This isn't gonna work."

"Try it," Margo whispered and drew her lower lip into her mouth.

Tommy stared at the quarter, forcing all his energy into trying to move it with his mind, trying to pick it up...

Angel drew in a hissing breath when she saw the quarter twitch in Margo's hand ... And then lift about six inches into the air and start twirling.

Ember laughed and started clapping bouncing in her seat, the back of her dress moving as she tried to free her wings.

Angel turned to calm her then flicked wide eyes to Tommy. "You have an ability!"

Tommy turned to her scratching his head, "I'd rather have the quarter."

Margo shook her head and grabbed the coin out of the air before anyone saw it, then handed it to her son, "Allan wanted me to tell you three that you can 'Take nature's way home' if you wanted to."

Tommy grinned, "Really?"

Margo shrugged, "As long as you're not seen it's fine with me ... Why have them if you don't use them is my philosophy."

Tommy grinned wider, "Does that mean I can make things float too?"

"Not in public."

Tommy shrugged and turned to Angel, "So, do we want to head home or stick around and go in the jeep?"

Angel smiled, "I say we embrace nature ... Are we taking Ember too?"

Margo shook her head, "Allan and I will take her home with us. She wiggles too much, you could drop her."

Angel handed over the cart Ember was sitting in. "Okay then, we'll see you later," She kissed Ember on the cheek, "See you later, baby!"

Tommy smiled and shook the colorful bunny at Ember then tucked it into the little girl's arms and waved.

Daisy took a moment to straighten the bow on Ember's head, hug Margo then ran to catch up with Angel and Tommy, "BYE!"

Angel lead them around the back of the store, sneaking up a hill and out of range of the cameras then she snapped out her wings and took off running, leaping into the air Tommy and Daisy behind her.

They flew straight up into the sky, shooting through clouds until they were high enough only to look like pinpricks to the human eye.

Tommy laughed, flying in circles, "THIS IS SO COOL! I CAN MOVE THINGS WITH MY MIND!"

Angel poked her tongue out at him, "Move this!" And she flew past him, her wingtip brushing the length of his face. "I'LL BEAT YOU BOTH HOME!"

"NO FAIR!" Daisy said and shot after her.

Tommy laughed and followed, "KIX and Cat are gonna be SO jealous!"

"Hey, watch this ... Daisy, fly right below me, Tommy right above me, then look down at our shadow!"

Daisy slowed down, falling into place below Angel, Tommy above her.

Daisy laughed loudly, "LOOK IT! We've only got one shadow!"

"One shadow with six wings!" Tommy laughed, then reached down and tapped Angel on the top of the head.

Angel turned to look at him.

Tommy motioned down to Daisy and held up two fingers, pointing at his eyes, then down.

Angel slowed down a little, falling back about three feet so she could watch.

Tommy cupped his hands to his mouth, "Uh-oh, I'm gonna puke!" Then he made a rude "BLUUHG!" sound.

Daisy shrieked and covered her head zigzaging left and right to escape the rain of 'sick'.

Angel couldn't help but laugh.

Daisy turned her head and poked out her lower lip, "That was SO not funny!"

Angel rolled her eyes, "Okay, apologize, Tommy."

Tommy laughed, "Okay, I'm sorry. But I had to do it once!"

Daisy stuck out her tongue, "I'll get you one of these days!"

Tommy held up his hands as if he were shaking, "I'm really scared!"

Daisy narrowed her eyes, "You should be..."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Mr. Ira?" KIX said gently prodding the older man in the arm.

Ira turned and raised his eyebrows at the little boy, his eyes looking impossibly big through the lenses of his glasses. "What is it?"

"Would you please reach me a glass? I'm really thirsty."

Ira turned from where he'd been washing the cooking pan he'd made himself a grilled cheese sandwich in and lifted down a cup. "Where'd you get that hat? I've never seen a raccoon skin hat with wolf ears before."

KIX hesitated, "Mr. Allan got it for me."

Ira pushed his glasses back onto his nose and took one of the wolfish ears between his finger and thumb.

KIX grew very still.

Why had this man grabbed his ear? What was he going to do? Did he REALLY think that they were part of the hat?

"I've never seen such soft wolf fur before..."

KIX bit his lip, trying not to growl as the man gave his ear a little tug. Trying desperately not to move his ears so the man wouldn't know they were real.

He hated this ... Why was he so much different than Tommy and Angel? More different that Cat even... Cat had a tail, but she didn't have ears like him...

He liked Ira, but he didn't like it when the man got so close to him. It made him really angry ... Angry enough to bite him.... Or bury his wallet again...

Nudge walked down the steps, noticing what was going on and her stomach tensed, her mouth opening words comming out quickly, "OH! Mr. Ira! Allan wanted me to ask you if you could check the horse's shoe, he thinks it's loose ... Or something."

Ira looked up and nodded, "Which horse is it?"

Nudge drew a blank. Allan hadn't asked for the man to do anything but feed the cows. She'd just said the first thing that popped into her mind so the man would let go of KIX's ear.

"The ... big ... one?"

This seemed to please Ira because he nodded and walked out the door.

As soon as the man was out of sight Nudge went forward and patted KIX on the shoulder, "Sorry I didn't come sooner. Are you OK?"

KIX had his ears pinned back now, his eyes wide and tinged Eraser red.

Nudge sighed and propped a hand on her hip, "Do you want a sandwich? I want a sandwich."

The boy's ears perked up and he nodded his eyes fading back to their normal icy blue color.

Nudge leaned into the fridge and pulled out a package of bologna.

As soon as she'd opened the package Cat came running out of the bathroom grinning and sniffing the air.

"Cat, can you like smell when someone opens the fridge?"

"PURR!"

The girl hugged Nudge around the waist.

"We have GOT to teach you to talk," Nudge handed the girl a piece of bologna and shook her head when she scurried off and jumped onto the couch, draping herself across the back bonelessly, to eat it.

"Cat, fix your tail, sweetie."

Nudge felt as if she'd turned into a mother. Of course Angel was a pretty good leader to the Fledges ... But Nudge got bored without Aaron. She and Total were usually left alone and mostly they just talked.

Total lamented the fact Angel seemed too busy to play with him, Nudge lamented that Aaron wasn't there for her to worry about ... So they 'hung out' a lot. Sometimes going flying at night when no one could hear or see them leave.

Thankfully no Wizards had shown up or their secret trips about ten miles away to a gas station for ice cream at night would have to be canceled.

Total waddled down the steps and jumped onto the couch, hanging his head and letting out a breathy sigh.

"Total, do you want a bologna sandwich?"

"No thank you..."

Nudge took three bites of her own sandwich then gave the rest to KIX, who seemed to eat three times as much as any of the others.

"Thank you..."

"I'm going on a walk, do you want to come, Mister-T?"

Total gave half a chuckle and slid off the couch following Nudge.

"Can we come?" KIX said coming to his tiptoes expectantly, his ears drooping, pupils enlarging to nearly the size of the bright blue portions of his eyes.

Nudge hesitated, then shook her head, "If you stop giving me Bambi eyes you can both come."

KIX smiled and showed his pointed little teeth.

Nudge stuck her head out the door, "Mr. Ira! We're going on a walk, we'll be back later, OK?"

Ira raised his head from where he was leaning over inspecting the 'Big' horse's shoes. "Alright, but be careful you hear? I don't wanna have to claim you at the morgue!"

Nudge rolled her eyes, wanting to shout something indignant at the man but she didn't. Instead she clicked the leash onto Total's collar. "I know it's annoying, but people around here don't know you like we do."

They walked for a while, heading out toward the old Mullens place, the place they'd found the safe and Nudge let Total jump over the fence, KIX went over next, not putting out his wings, instead, crawling up it growling. Nudge put out her arms to help Cat over but the girl simply leapt over the fence, landing on all fours on the other side.

Nudge rolled her eyes, looked for anyone that might see them, then climbed over also.

"Who wants a flying lesson?" Nudge said with a smile.

KIX and Cat both raised their hands, even though KIX was the only one of the two of them who had wings.

Nudge put out her own wings and an odd sensation stole over her. She could feel something drawing close to her. And she felt so happy that she sprang into the air and circled the house.

"Okay, come on!" She hovered about four feet off the ground and reached for Cat, "Come on sweetie!"

Cat gave a little jump and Nudge caught her.

KIX scooped Total up and they started flying high into the air.

"Where are we going?" KIX said pinning his ears back so air didn't rush into them.

Nudge glanced over at him, "I was thinking that you guys have been so good, you deserve ice cream."

"ICE CREAM!" KIX said loudly, a bright smile coming over his face.

Nudge thought that he looked so much like a younger version of Ari that she nearly called him that, "Ar-KIX ... Do you like ice cream?"

"YEAH! WHO DOESN'T LIKE ICE CREAM!"

Cat gave him a rather thin, grinning-squinty-look as if to say, 'Indeed, who doesn't like ice cream?'

Nudge laughed. She'd always pictured Cat as having a very sophisticated New York Executive kind of voice. If the girl had been able to talk that is.

"WHERE ARE YOU GOING?" A voice shouted from overhead.

Nudge looked up and saw Angel, Daisy-David, and Tommy swooping down to meet them.

"We're going for ice cream!" KIX called happily.

Angel swooped down beside Nudge, "Are you buying for everyone?"

Nudge nodded, "Yeah ... I'm sorry I took them out of the house, but Mr. Ira had KIX by the ear."

"Are you alright, Mr. K?" Angel called.

KIX gave her an 'OK' sign, one hand wrapped around Total.

"Where are Allan, Margo and Ember?" Nudge said, turning toward the blonde girl flying beside her.

"They're still at the store, Margo was looking in the frozen foods as we left."

Nudge didn't bother to ask if Margo had known weather or not they'd gone, she was pretty sure she did... She hoped anyway...

"Okay, we're going to have to land in a pretty small spot, so you guys stick close to Angel," Nudge said and started down.

Angel shouted something to her Fledges and they followed Nudge in a tight line, landing one after the other in a group of trees behind the gas station.

"Did anyone see us?" Tommy called.

"No, we were fast and I made sure no one looked up," Angel sighed "Tails and wings in, everyone!"

Cat pulled on the hem of her shirt, dragging it out of her stretch pants and Nudge realized the girl was wearing a dress as a shirt.

KIX gave his tail an impatient shake in the leg of his trousers. "Why can't I have something like that?"

And Cat spoke in a calm carefully pronounced, as-matter-of-fact voice, "Because you are not a girl."

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 131; Advantageous Youth

The checkout clerk looked Nudge up and down as she stacked the ice cream bars on the counter before him.

"How is it that you can eat so much ice cream and not gain like a million pounds?" He said.

Nudge smiled politely, "I exercise a lot."

The young man shrugged, "I wish my girlfriend could do that, you should see her, she's the size of a house."

KIX poked his nose up onto the counter, "How can she be big as a house! She wouldn't fit IN a house!"

Nudge patted the boy between his ears. "He didn't mean literally."

"WOW! Cool hat!" The boy leaned over and stared. "I've never seen one with ears before!"

And KIX narrowed his eyes his teeth gnashing together. He put his hands up over his ears, flattening them to the top of his head then turned and left the store standing outside where Tommy was waiting with Total.

Angel walked up behind Nudge carrying three more ice cream bars. "What happened?"

The clerk shrugged, "I just commented on his hat!"

Angel sighed, "It's an over sensitive subject for him."

The clerk nodded and rang up the ice cream, "Did you guys clean out the whole freezer?" He chuckled.

Cat approached eyeing him untrustingly she paused at the counter, standing on the tips of her long toes and staring at the boy, "You smell like cheese."

Angel started laughing.

"That wasn't very nice, Cat," Nudge said, "Please say that you're sorry?"

Cat glanced over at Angel and waited for her leader to give the OK then she turned to the boy behind the counter and made a pathetic, sorrowful face and used her new calm, over pronounced voice. "I am sorry that you smell like cheese."

And the boy started laughing then waved at Angel and Nudge who were looking as if they were going to scold the girl, "Don't worry about it. Its because I dropped a half-gallon of milk and it got all over my shirt," He handed Angel one of the bags of ice cream bars and watched her go then slowly started counting out Nudge's change.

Angel, Cat, and Daisy-David, who had been looking at the soda, went outside and started handing out the ice cream.

"So ... You got a name?" The boy said, glancing up at Nudge a crooked grin on his face.

Nudge's stomach churned unpleasantly. "Cleopatra."

"You got a phone number?"

Nudge felt her hands clench into fists, "I got a boyfriend."

"Oh ... Uh ... Sorry," The boy went pale gnawed his lip and handed her the change for her twenty, "Dollar seventy-five is your change..."

Nudge stuffed the money in her pocket and left quickly, her throat tightening, eyes burning. She missed Aaron, even though he could be a sexist pig sometimes. Especially when his irresist-ability came into play when other girls were around.

She knew he couldn't help it, but it still bugged her ... And she still missed him.

"Do we have to go back to the house?" KIX said in a near whining tone. "I swear I'll bite the next person to say something about my ears."

Nudge looked at him and noticed how his ice cream was melting and dripping down his chin. He looked like he had rabies! She dug around in her pocket and pulled out a tissue, giving it to him so he could wipe his face.

They walked back to the grove of trees and lounged about in the branches for a while, eating their ice cream and Nudge was even coaxed into playing tag with KIX, Cat and Daisy-David while Daisy-David conjured up an illusion for everyone that they were on the moon.

Total curled up on Angel's lap and went to sleep, his feet in the air. And Tommy hung upside down from a tree with his shirt flipped up wings out, "LOOK AT ME! I'm a BAT!" He wrapped his wings around himself and Angel rolled her eyes.

"You're a NUT!"

He looked up ... (Down) at her and rolled his eyes, then very carefully, made the sleeping Total lift from her lap and hover about four feet off the ground.

"OH MY GOD! LOOK!" KIX screamed and pointed.

This woke Total and he gave a jerk, realizing that he couldn't turn over and started screaming. "Hey, what's going on! PUT ME DOWN! WHO'S HOLDING ME!" He snarled and snapped at the air. "THE ALIENS ARE ABDUCTING ME! SOMEONE HELP!"

Nudge was flabbergasted. "TOTAL, YOU'RE FLYING!"

The little dog rolled his head on his shoulders so he was looking at the ground and gave an excited little bark. "I'm FLOATING!"

Tommy concentrated really hard, "Okay, Total, which way do you want to go?"

"You're doing that?" Nudge said gaping at Tommy.

The boy grinned.

"Flip me over!" Total said obviously forgetting about the 'aliens' and Tommy flipped him slowly in the air so his feet were pointing down.

Then he made Total zoom around the little clearing like a missle.

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

Chapter 132; Premonitions of War

(NOTE; The name of this chapter is also the name of a band that I suggest everyone look up, I absolutely LOVE their music)

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

It was close to four that evening by the time Margo, Allan and Ember came back. Ira nodded to them and asked where the other three kids were.

"They're playing around, they'll be home soon," Allan said, and made it a point to talk to Angel and Daisy-David when they DID get back and let them know that a word of warning. A 'we're going to fly around a little before we go home' would be nice next time.

"Where are the others?" Allan started unloading the jeep, which looked to have been packed for a large move.

"They went on a walk a few hours ago, the older girl ... Cleo, went with them."

Allan nodded. He trusted Nudge. She was a very smart girl and knew how to take care of things ... And she was pretty powerful too. As long as she didn't get distracted by something shiny...

"Hey, Ira, do you mind giving me a hand setting up this crib?" Margo said motioning to the large box sticking out of the back of the jeep.

Ira rolled his eyes, "What do you need another baby crib for?" But he carried it inside for Margo and helped set it up in the 'Nursery', one of the rooms that hadn't been affected by that weird lightning strike the autumn before.

The room was small anyway but they managed to set it up at an angle to Ember's.

Allan had finished bringing in the groceries and putting them all away in the big freezer on the back porch. And was currently sitting on the couch letting Ember stand on his knees and bounce around while singing little babbling baby songs.

"Bah-ba ba-BOOM!" And Allan would lift her into the air.

Ember would laugh hysterically, waving her little arms and kicking her feet, the back of her dress seeming to move like an animal was inside it when she would beat her wings.

"I re-shod your horse, there, Allan," Ira said, "Cleo said that they looked a little loose."

Allan nodded and thanked the man then handed Ember to Margo and climbed to his feet, his eyes for a moment unfocusing, then honing in on Ira. "Oh boy..." He wiped his palms on his pants legs, "Well, Ira, I want to thank you for coming over and watching the place today."

Ira nodded in Allan's direction, pulled his glasses off his face and rubbed them on his shirt. "Happy to do it ... You need me over again just call." He looked at his watch, "Well, I'd better be heading back, don't want the wife to get suspicious."

Allan chuckled and patted Ira on the back, "Thanks again, Ira ... You should come over tomorrow, my nephews are coming in and Nick's bringing his new family."

"If I can I will," Ira waved and climbed into his shambled old truck, driving back to town. The truck backfired as it rolled down the driveway.

"BOOM!" Ember said loudly twisting in Margo's arms. She sat the little girl down and let her walk around the coffee table, her little hands on the flat surface. Every so often she would squat and smack her little palms on the table then she would stand, wobble around and continue her shuffling-half-falling like walk.

"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"

* * *

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

They circled the house twice, Nudge watching Ira's old truck drive back to town.

"Okay, coast is clear!" Angel called, and they started to descend, landing behind the barn.

As soon as his feet touched the ground KIX dropped his jeans, kicking them halfway across the yard growling. Then he stalked over and picked them up, dusting them carefully off. Not even seeming to care that he was standing there in his underpants.

Nudge couldn't help but giggle as KIX pulled his jeans back on, taking a moment to carefully thread his tail through the buttoning little slit in the back.

Allan stuck his head out of the back door, "The surprise is going to be here soon, you guys better come inside!"

"Surprise?" KIX said, tripping over the leg of his jeans, "I didn't know there was going to be a surprise!"

Allan heard what sounded like a little explosion in the living room and he turned his head, staring at the pile of children just inside the door, "You know, the reason a door is skinny is that so only one person at a time can fit through it."

Angel was still standing outside with Nudge and she shook her head at the sight of her flock. "What's the matter with you guys? He said it's going to be here soon, not that it was here already."

Tommy raised his head from the midst of the group, "Well, 'soon' is only a few letters away from 'now'. Read his mind!"

Angel rolled her eyes and she and Nudge disentangled the kids. They went inside, helping Allan fix what looked like Thanksgiving dinner there was so much food.

"Jeez, I know we eat a lot, but I think you've gone overboard, we don't eat THAT much!"

Allan grinned mischievously. "I know you guys eat a lot, that's why I made so much," He glanced out the window and smiled, "Go wash your hands."

Angel ushered her flock toward the bathroom but Allan laid a hand on Nudge's shoulder, "I think I left a bag in the jeep, why don't you go get it for me?"

Nudge nodded, for some reason her stomach clenching expectantly. She looked around and saw Total heading back to the bathroom to wash his paws.

The jeep was parked right outside as Allan usually did and Nudge searched through the back looking for the bag, but couldn't find it. So she bent into the back of the jeep, dangling over the rear fender and started rummaging under the seats.

The hairs prickled on the back of her neck and she rocked backward, coming to her feet, her fingers curling into claws incase she had to fight...

He was standing beside the steps, seeming to vibrate anxiously his eyes wide, "I've always said you've got a FANTASTIC ass!"

"Aaron, you PIG!" And Nudge ran at him, leaping into his arms and grabbing him by the hair. She knew he was trying to speak, but at the moment all she knew was how good it felt to be in his arms. How good he felt to have her there, to kiss her. To put his hands on her.

She never wanted to let him go again... EVER.

He stumbled and sat down on the steps cradling her against him all his words coming out in either grunts or frantic stumbling hand movements against her back, hips and wings.

"Eeeewwwwww!"

Nudge turned her head and saw Gazzy standing there with his nose wrinkled. His hair was longer, brushing his shoulders, but somehow it still managed to stand up in the front. "Get a room!"

"Oh, leave us alone, it's a happy reunion!" Aaron said waving the boy off.

Gazzy scoffed, "A reunion? More like a 'bash-together-like-you-haven't-seen-each-other-in-a-decade!'"

Aaron rolled his eyes at the boy and grasped Nudge under the chin, whispering, "Okay, you must keep your mouth closed for a minute, alright? Because we don't want to ruin the surprise."

Nudge nodded and put a hand over her own mouth. She didn't know if she were going to be able to stay quiet but she managed it, even after she'd seen what Max and Fang were carrying. Although she squeezed Aaron's shoulder so hard he'd made a noise.

They slipped inside and when Ember saw Gazzy she started laughing and reaching for him shouting loudly in her tiny little toddler voice, "BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"

Gazzy felt his throat tighten when he saw her and he wanted to scoop her into his arms and hug her but he remained still, pressing a finger to his lips.

Ember rolled her big brown eyes and pressed one little palm to her forehead as if saying, 'Duh!'

Angel was the first one into the kitchen from the bathroom and she did a double take staring at who had managed to slip into the house without her knowledge. Which when dealing with Angel, was a feat worthy of a major award.

"OH MY GOD! MAX!" She rushed forward and her bright blue eyes bugged when she saw what was in Max's arms.

"BABIES! Y-YOU HAD BABIES!"

And another explosion like sound echoed through the kitchen as Angel's flock tried to wedge themselves as a whole through a door at once.

"Everyone's having babies!" Angel said loudly and covered her face with her hands. She sat on the couch beside Max and stared at the three little children spread out on Max's and Fang's laps.

"They're SOOO CUTE!" Nudge said bending over the back of the couch grinning. "What did you guys name them?"

"Do you want the full names?" Fang said gently running the tip of his index finger over the miniature fingers of the nearest baby.

"YES!" Daisy-David hung herself over the back of the couch also, so she could look into the babies' faces. "They're so TINY! They're a lot smaller than Ember!"

"That's because Fang and I are both Avian-Americans," Max cleared her throat and patted the couch beside her, "Come on and I'll let you hold them."

Daisy-David flipped herself around and sat smiling expectantly. She did like babies. They were cute and as long as someone else changed the diapers she was cool with babysitting.

"Her name is Iris Shadows," She gently lie the baby in Daisy's arms feeling a burst of pride in her chest.

Nudge and Angel vied for position, hoping to be able to hold the last two babies.

Max sighed and carefully lifted the little boy into Angel's arms, "We named him Igneous Hawk ... But we've been calling him Iggy."

Everyone was quiet for a three count and Nudge rubbed her eyes. She looked up, her lower lip trembling. She studied the baby for a moment, "I think he would have liked that..."

Angel snuffed back tears and turned her eyes to the blonde baby still in Max's arms. "Is that 'Max Junior'?" She chuckled to herself at the little joke.

Fang rolled his eyes, petting the side of the little face with his fingers,

"This is Epiphany Strong."

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

Chapter 133; Sorcery

"Are you sure you guys want to do this?" Allan said under his breath as they pulled the jeep to a stop in a parking spot at the airport.

"Yeah, if we don't ... Well, if we don't then there won't be a point trying to fix anything up, will there?" Fang said propping his feet on the dashboard and picking at a little hole in the knee of his jeans.

They were alone in the jeep. All the others still at home, about forty-five minutes south-west as the bird-kid flies.

Allan nodded and leaned back in his seat folding his hands on his stomach. He was quiet for a little while then he smiled. "I still can't believe you bought the old Mullens place."

Fang shrugged, as if spending almost half of the money his parents had left him in one day was no big deal. "Well, if we can build the house like I'm wanting it will be a worthy investment. Besides, the flock needs a real home. And I think Max will finally agree with me. They don't need to be running anymore."

Allan chuckled, "Look at you ... You've been back for two days and you're a completely different person."

Fang shrugged again and a smile tugged at his lips. "Yeah, well I've got three kids, Allan, I don't want them to grow up like me and Max did. That's why we've got to do this... We've got to get out of here as soon as we can, and the only way we can blend in with the world is if we do this."

Allan didn't try to correct his grammar. Nick may have three babies waiting at home for him, but he was still a kid himself, a kid who was quickly becoming a man.

"I think you did good. And don't worry, I'm going to help you guys anyway I can."

Part of Fang couldn't believe that he now owned five acres of fertile Oklahoma farmland. He owned the land that butted right against Allan's on the western side. And all he had to do now to finish the transaction was to show up at the city courthouse and present two forms of identification. A Social Security Card and a photo ID.

Which was why they were at the airport.

Fang let out a pent up breath and watched a small commuter jet land on the runway, laughing inside at what lengths people would go to, to be able to fly. All he had to do was snap out his wings and start flapping!

A small group of people got off, all of them stuffy business types come down to help 'rebuild' the state.

Fang looked them over, wondering which one was the woman they'd been waiting for.

The group walked toward the terminal and a few minutes later reappeared out the front doors.

Allan climbed out of the jeep and walked forward and Fang saw quite an interesting thing happen.

One of the stuffy suits walked right up to him and hefted a large suitcase into Allan's arms with an indignant huff.

Fang stared. The woman was about five and a half feet tall with shoulder length hair and round deep green eyes.

And what scared him the most was how angry she looked. Angry and frustrated...

"Well come on, I don't have all day!" She scoffed.

Allan sat the suitcase in the back of the jeep and helped the woman inside. "Maria, I have to say that you look fabulous."

"Shove it up your ass, Allan. I just want my normal clothes, my girlfriend and a beer." She collapsed into the back seat and crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at the back of Allan's head as if to stare a hole into it. "The lengths I go to, to help you people."

(Quick Note... Maria's a bitch, just telling you that now, so don't get to like her unless you like bitches...Yeah, that's a clue.)

They started driving, and after about three miles Maria started fidgeting in the back seat, "Stop looking at me, kid, it's creepy! You look too much like your dad!"

Fang turned back around in his seat and stared out the windshield his breath held. What had made this woman so angry?

They drove in complete silence the rest of the way home.

The Gasman was sitting on the porch when they got back looking at the paper on which Fang had written the 'Pants Code', paging through the photo album. His eyes wide and near feverish, and every so often he shook his head and whispered, "Oh, man..."

And all the while he was holding Ember's little hand while she bounced up and down beside him singing the 'boom' song, as Margo called it.

'Bah-ba ba-BOOM!'

"Are you the ID lady?" Gazzy said glancing up at Maria then back at the photo album.

Maria nodded and walked forward staring down at the baby, her eyes softening. "She is just too cute. Carol would just FREAK if she saw her... Does she have a name, or is she one of the few I've been called to help?"

Gazzy shrugged, "She has a name but no papers."

Allan hefted the suitcase down from the jeep and started inside. "Did Margo order food?"

"Yeah, she's got like eight pizzas in there," Gazzy carefully lifted Ember into his arms and gathered the photo album and the papers he'd been looking through and carried everything inside.

Max was sitting on the couch half asleep all three babies lying either on her lap or on her chest, snoozing as if the world around them didn't exist. When she saw Fang she narrowed her eyes, "What are you grinning about, Mr. Pig?"

He shrugged and sat gingerly on the couch at her feet, "You look absolutely exhausted."

She rolled her eyes, "What was it that you told me about being tired?"

"'We're parents, we're supposed to be tired,'" He smiled to himself.

Fang liked this new side of Max. Well, it wasn't really a NEW side, it had always been there. In the way she took care of the Flock over the years. Coming out mostly around Angel or the Gasman. Sometimes around Iggy ... When she used to secretly push things closer to him so he could find them.

She was kind and soft ... But she could also be vicious and hard when the time came, her eyes still held that warrior gleam. She held no inhibitions toward kicking serious butt when she had to.

Fang looked at her hands, thin, long fingers curled gently against the diapered bottom of their son as the little boy slept on her stomach, little hands curled under his chin soft, fuzzy, down covered dark wings peeking through little cuts in his tiny T-shirt.

The girls were on Max's lap facing each other, seeming never to be without the other, even in sleep.

The first few days after their birth had been hectic. Fang had been in the air more than he'd been with them. Flying out to steal diapers from an abandoned super store. Blankets, 'THINGS' for Max. Fire wood, more diapers.

They had seemed to take shifts crying. As soon as one stopped another would start. They had no plan and for the first time Max hadn't known how to even begin constructing one. The babies had been so unpredictable. She didn't know anything about taking care of little newborn babies. Especially babies as small as their children. Ember looked like a giant next to them. Even at four months they were barely five pounds each!

But after three days of this chaotic regime a pattern emerged. Epiphany seemed to be the instigator. Whenever she did something, Iris did it too. Epiphany started crying, Iris started crying. Epiphany wanted to be fed, Iris wanted to be fed. The same with changing.

And Igneous was the quiet one. He would sniffle and make a pathetic face his chin all aquiver but the only time Max had seen him actually cry was when he was asleep. Unless either she or Fang had their hand on him as he slept he would go into hysterics and it could take up to an hour to calm him down again.

"What are you looking at?" She scowled at Fang.

Fang's head jerked up and he smiled at her. He didn't say anything, there weren't words to describe what he saw. Max lying there with a lovingly fierce look on her face cradling their children? Yes, he saw that, but he saw something more than that. He saw everything in the world that meant something to him...

Lightly he laid a hand on Epiphany's back and the girl stirred, prying open a brown eye and peering up at him curiously. Then as if saying 'oh, its only you,' she closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep.

It was an odd feeling. He knew that it was all too rare that the three of them slept at once, but he still wanted to wake them up so he could play with them, make them laugh and smile at him. Watch them be tiny little babies and suck on their tiny little fists. Knowing that the three of them were more his than anything. The three of them were a physical part of him and Max. A little piece of their souls...

Iris opened her eyes, yawned and looked up at him, seeming to cock an eyebrow, 'Jeez, you need to get a life!' Then settled down with a soft, infantile sigh.

"MAX! MAX, LOOK!" The Gasman whispered and tiptoed to them. He puffed out his chest and held up a little bluish green card, an esteemed look of pride and satisfaction coming over his face.

"Zephyr Seamus Martin," Max rolled her eyes, "Where did you get 'Seamus'?"

Gazzy grinned and narrowed his eyes, "That was mine and Angel's grandpa's name ... But, I gotta talk to you and Fang later, OK? It's important."

Max nodded. "Okay."

A few moments later Angel came over and showed off her card, "Angel Elizabeth Martin ... I just liked the Elizabeth part, you know, like Queen Elizabeth?"

Nudge was next, though she didn't keep her jubilation as quiet as either the Gasman or Angel. "Oh, my GOSH! I LOVE my name! Lookit! Isn't it SOOO COOL!"

Max took the card and then, with a smile, handed it to Fang. "It's really good, Nudge."

"Cleopatra Nudge ... Now THAT'S a name people will remember!" She danced around in a little circle and both Max and Fang found themselves entranced.

There was something different about Nudge. The way she moved was somehow more graceful and striking than before. She even looked smoother than before. Her hair was laying smooth and untangled. Her eyes were bright and tinged with green...

Aaron made a groaning sound from across the room and Max tore her eyes from Nudge to stare at him.

He was sitting rigid in his chair, his fingers biting into the arm rests his left foot bouncing. Max knew that look ... That was a very sexist pig look.

Fang shifted on the couch, turning away from Nudge, "Max ... Is she OK?"

Nudge laughed and threw back her head, "I got a new ability! I've got the female equivalent of Aaron's irresist-ability!" She laughed again and danced up to Aaron, shaking her hips at him.

His hair stood on end and his eyes went very-very wide. His foot tapping so fast Max was surprised he didn't put it through the floor.

"Look at him!" Nudge doubled up laughing.

Aaron sat there for a few moments panting, then with a shake of his head spoke in a quavering voice, "I've got two words for you Nudgie ... 'Victoria's Secret'!"

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

Chapter 134; Resurrection

It was dark by the time Fang got into the kitchen.

Maria had set up a computer with an elaborate system of wires and things coming out of the back of it. And an old typewriter with some kind of silver metal railing on it to hold the card in place.

It wasn't hard to pick his name. Although it had taken a long time... It was the only name he'd wanted. The only one that meant anything, and since he knew who his parents were and they'd both had IDs it wasn't hard to get him into the system. Not for Maria anyway.

He didn't have to make up his genealogy like Nudge and Cat had. He knew who his parents were, and he knew who his family was. And just like he'd told Max months before... He knew who he was.

But when Maria handed him that little card and he shuffled back into the living room holding it he realized what it meant. He realized that, had the world not 'ended' it wouldn't have been possible.

The Government's computers had crashed, so Maria was able to sneak in and do her thing while they were sorting everything out.

Fang sat heavily down on the couch not looking at Max, who had draped herself in a blanket to retain a little modesty while feeding one of the babies.

"No whooping and screaming? Did she misspell it or something?" Max tapped him in the behind with her foot.

He turned, bit his lip, and handed her the card.

Max took one look at it and a soft smile came over her face. "I'd call you a pig for even assuming ... But I'd be lying through my teeth if I said I didn't like it," She composed herself beneath the blanket and sat up, lifting the baby to her shoulder and patting his back. "Okay, wish me luck."

Fang smiled. "You don't need luck."

Max rolled her eyes at him and disappeared into the kitchen.

All was quiet for nearly fifteen minutes. Nudge and Aaron were squished together in a chair watching Epiphany and Iris and making faces down at them. The Fledges were playing a video game. Total was lounging on Angel's lap. Margo was walking upstairs with Ember to put the little girl to bed.

Allan was sitting on the porch with the Gasman talking fervently about something in the photo album...

Then Max reappeared, "Diaper duty, Daddy-Fang."

He rolled his eyes and climbed to his feet, carefully taking the squirming bundle from Max.

He didn't like diaper-duty ... Diaper-DOODIE, as he called it. But it was a responsibility he had to his children, so he accepted it and performed it as best he could ... Unless he got too nauseous.

Igneous didn't like being put on his back. Of course, Fang didn't blame the kid. His wings weren't fully developed yet and he couldn't pull them in very far. Lying on his back had to be uncomfortable.

He could feel Margo watching him, but he didn't turn to look at her. He was being responsible. He wanted to show Margo he could do it...

He wanted to show Max she wasn't the only one who could do it without gagging...

Diapers and spit-up were his two least favorite things, but at least those two things meant his kids were working inside. There was nothing wrong with them. They were perfectly formed little bird-kid-babies.

"Bah-ba!" Ember called from her crib, "Ba-ba!"

Fang turned to look at her. She was standing up watching him. Her white little front teeth showing in a very Iggy like grin. She shook her head and waved at him then rubbed her eyes.

"Yeah, it's bed-time, g'night, Ember."

She sat heavily in her crib then laid over, grinning at him her little pink and bluish-gray wings flexing.

Fang smiled and scooped Igneous up stepping over to Ember's crib so she could see his son.

Ember cooed up at the little boy and he blinked down at her then smiled and hid his face in Fang's shirtfront.

"You're shy? Jeez, since when are you shy?"

Margo chuckled from the doorway, "She'll never go to sleep with him in here you know."

Fang nodded, "She's really interactive for a baby, isn't she?"

Margo scratched at her neck. "Angel says she's a genius... And she's maturing fast too. She has the mental capacity now of a child twice her age. The thyroxine she was given must have sped up her growth... But it's slowing down now, thankfully... Evening out."

Fang remembered Max talking about a baby she'd seen at the School that had done a very complicated math problem on a dry-erase board.

Was this one of the reasons the Director wanted Ember so badly?

What uniquely important abilities could Iggy's little girl hold?

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

CHAPTER 135; Darkness Falls

Max was sitting on the couch with Iris across her lap when Fang got downstairs. The little girl had her head up and was looking around her blue eyes wide and attentive. She cooed and burbled and laughed at Angel, who was making faces at her from the floor by Max's knee.

Allan had Epiphany in his arms and was dancing around the room to some music playing on the radio. It seemed that Epiphany loved moving around while Iris was content lying still and watching things.

When Fang came into the room Allan looked up, "I just got done telling everyone, since we've got to go to the DMV tomorrow anyway I'll let Aaron and Nudge take their Learner's License test."

"Yeah, I've got to start all over again! I had my license, remember?"

Fang rolled his eyes, "Yeah, but now you're your own person."

Aaron grinned, "I am, aren't I ... Hey, Nudgie will you-"

"LALALALALALALALALALALALALALA!" She covered her ears.

"What was that about?" Fang sat by Max, turning so Igneous was between them.

Max rolled her eyes, "Anytime Aaron hints at the word 'marriage' or 'wedding' or anything like that Nudge-"

"LALALALALALALALALALALA!"

"He's only doing it to tease her right now," Angel said.

Tommy groaned and tossed the video game controller, "How does he do it! He doesn't even have thumbs!"

Total laughed and started dancing in circles, "I don't need thumbs! I got TALENT!"

"Okay, who is next?" Maria called from the kitchen.

Angel sat up, counting in her head, "KIX is the only one who hasn't gone ... Where'd he go?" She climbed to her feet, dusting off her behind and went outside.

KIX was sitting on the roof alone ... And he looked angry.

"Mr. K, what's up?" Angel landed beside him. "Are you going to come inside and get your card?"

He shook his head, just as Angel knew he would. "I don't want a new name ... I want my real name. I want the name my Daddy gave me..." He drew his knees to his chin.

Angel felt a tug of regret on her stomach. She wanted to tell him who he was, but if she were ... If she were to tell him that he was really Ari, what kind of implications would that hold? What consequences would she have to face as his leader if she told him that he was actually the clone of a dead Eraser?

What consequences would be put in front of her if she didn't tell him?

Angel sat down beside him and let out a sigh, "What did your daddy call you?"

He hesitated, gnawing his lip, then he turned away, tears burning in his eyes. His daddy had called him 'special boy' or 'good boy' and sometimes 'brave boy'.

Special, good, brave ... There was a name.

KIX slapped angrily at his cheeks, smearing away the wetness of tears. Where was his daddy? Why hadn't his daddy come back yet? Maybe his daddy was lost...

Angel put her arm around his shoulders and gave him a little hug. "You are brave, your daddy would be really proud of you."

KIX snuffed back more tears and shook his head, "I am not brave ... I'm not. I want my daddy..."

Tommy and Margo came out of the house then, Tommy flying up to them, sitting on KIX's other side. For a few moments he sat there and listened in his head when Angel sent him thoughts.

Angel also sent these thoughts down to Margo, who after a moment crossed her arms and looked up at them.

"KIX, sweetie ... Since your daddy isn't here, would you settle for a mommy?"

KIX eyed her untrustingly. "What do you mean?"

"Why don't you come down and get your card and you can have my and Tommy's last name. Would you like that? Then you and Tommy can really be brothers?"

Tommy laughed loudly, "Yeah! Come on! You can be a Reed!"

A hopeful little smile came over his face but his eyes were still clouded and a bloodshot. He nodded.

Tommy rubbed his hands together, "This is so cool!" He stood and jumped off the roof flying down to his mother and hugging her.

She mussed his hair and looked up at KIX, "Come on, sweetie."

The boy hesitated, gnawing his lip and pinning his ears back uncertainly, but he stood and extended his wings.

What would it hurt? That one little word? What harm could one little word that by itself held no connotations, no implications possibly cause?

At the last second, before he jumped into the air Angel put a hand on his. He paused and turned to her, his clear blue eyes questioning, his ears perked upward in an innocently curious manner.

Angel felt her throat tightening so the next few words that came out were strained, barely above a whisper but she spoke them none the less;

"Your real name is Ari."

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

(NOTE: Did anyone catch that foreshadowing? There are BIG hints in the last few chapters, look for them to help solve the puzzle...)

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

(Well guys, I'm gonna post the rest of The Wings of Wrath this week. I'm telling you this now. It's not over though. I'm writing sequels that I'm going to start posting this week too. I'll post the links at the bottom of the last chapter.

Thank you guys so much for your support. And please PLEASE stay tuned because the story is not over, Erin still says she has no intention of singing and God knows I am NOT going to be singing anytime soon, so just hang in there. This Story will span many Fics, but when it's done, trust me. It will be awsome. I promise.)

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Chapter 136; Doom's Day

"Don't rub it in," Aaron grumbled as they left the DMV. He crossed his arms over his chest and scowled at his feet feeling like the world's biggest fool.

Nudge hugged him from behind, looking like some weird leech protruding from his back, or perhaps making their bodies from afar look like some mythical half man half horse beast. "It's OK, I still love you ... Even if you DID flunk you're learner's license test," Then she bounded around in front of him brandishing her ID. "Look at me ... I am SO cute in this picture! OH! Can I drive home, Allan?"

She ran to the jeep grinning widely and bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Max held her ID up to the sun so she could stare at it. "God, I look awful! Look at this! I look like I haven't slept in MONTHS!"

"You haven't!" Fang took her ID when she offered it to him and stared at the picture a grin coming over his face. "You've been taking care of the chicks."

Max swatted him, "They're babies, not chicks," And in one deft motion she pulled his ID from his pocket and inspected it. "You look stoned! Just like you did when I gave you the Percocet!"

"Hey," He tried to take the card away from her but she held it out of his reach.

"Say it! SAY IT!" She poked the tip of her tongue out between her teeth, wrinkling her nose at him, feeling quite impish.

He sighed and rolled his eyes knowing he wouldn't get the card back without an argument, and even though he loved arguing with her, he was simply too tired today, "'You're real perddy...'"

She grinned and Fang thought it was the most horrible thing he'd ever seen... But at least she gave him his card back.

"So, Mr. Licensed-To-Drive are you going to let this go to your head?"

"Maybe ... But I've still got one stop to make."

She cocked an eyebrow at him and sent him a thought, Since when did you start keeingp secrets from me again?

Since I figured out how.

"I am not riding in the jeep if Nudge is driving!" Total called.

"Would you rather I drove?" Fang called and waved his ID in front of the little dog's nose.

"I've been in the car when you've been at the wheel. Yeah, I'd rather you drove."

Nudge poked her tongue out and slid behind the wheel, "You're a sexist-pig, Total."

"No, I'm a talking dog who doesn't want to DIE."

Aaron patted the dog's head, "Dying really isn't all that bad, it's coming BACK that hurts."

"What would you know about it?" Nudge stared at him in the rearview mirror.

He rolled his eyes, "Have you forgotten that two day stint in which we were deceased? Shall I mention that I currently have two fewer organs than I was born with?"

"Yeah, his right and left-"

"TOTAL!" Max warned.

"What?" He looked up at her innocently, a grin spanning his furry, doggie face.

* * *

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Max saw him come out of the County Courthouse grinning in that horribly smug manner that made her smile inside. But he wasn't thinking of whatever he'd just done because all she could hear going on in his head was a muted, off key singing that she realized was her own voice.

Are you making fun of me singing in the shower? YOU ARE! I should kick your butt!

He climbed into the jeep beside her, "So, now that we've got our papers and everything's as legal as illegal can get, what's the plan?"

Max sat there for a few seconds wracking her brain. The only plan she had was to get home to her babies, get them fed, get them down for a nap ... Then take a nap herself. Hell, she might even pull Fang to bed with her. They hadn't been alone together since she'd given birth and anything 'romantic' was ... Well, they'd only been 'romantic' once!

She wouldn't particularly mind to add a few digits to that number...

But she forced herself to think of the future that didn't count in the 'romance'.

There were still Wizards around. The Director was still out there somewhere, along with almost a hundred Immaculae.

The Z-Virus was still a problem, though it did seem to wear off after about a week. And they had to figure out how to keep Ember as safe as possible, and the whitecoats as far away as possible from all the kids... From everyone.

"We'll stick around Allan's for a few more days ... Then I guess we head back to the cabin to pack up our stuff then ... Then go into hiding again."

Fang could feel the apprehension rolling off of her in waves. "What if we started over... New lives under the radar, blend into society. The Whitecoats wouldn't be able to find us if they didn't know where to look," He paused to take a breath, "What if the Flock didn't have to run anymore."

Max stared at him for almost thirty whole seconds while Allan navigated the parking lot and pulled back onto the road. "What do you mean?"

"We've got real identities now. The whitecoats don't know what they are..." Fang hesitated then pulled a thick envelope from inside his jacket and held it up. "And don't tell me I'm crazy either. I already know I am..."

Max took the envelope and opened it, drawing out the papers and staring. Her eyes widened and her lips parted. "Y-you bought the Mullens place?"

"I bought it ... And I'm going to build a house on it."

She turned to him, looking deep into his slightly purple hued eyes.

"No more running, Max ... The Flock deserves a home ... And our kids deserve a home, even if we are on the run, they still deserve a place to CALL home..."

She gnawed her lip her mind whirring conflicting emotions nearly overwhelming her. She'd never been presented with such a real choice before... Never been able to say 'for you, it'll be safer to settle down'. And in the end all she wanted was to keep her family safe, out of harms way... So, with a sigh she opened her mouth and let out a whispered reply;

"What kind of house?"

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

INTERLUDE; A Defining Moment

(THIS IS NOT A CHAPTER, IT IS SOMETHING THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE EDITED OUT, BECAUSE IT'S KIND OF NAUGHTY AND NOT MUCH HAPPENS... But, Paul said I should leave it in as an Interlude because it was 'cute'. Lots of foreshadowing.)

(IF YOU WANT TO CONTINUE WITH THE STORY SKIP THIS CHAPTER. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ SOMETHING FUNNY THEN GO ON.)

(You've been warned.)

.-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-..-''-. .-''-. .-''-. .-''-.

Fang told her of his plans, his lips never moving. No one else hearing a word they said because not a single one was spoken. He told her how he was going to build a house large enough to fly in and he was going to call it 'The Aviary'. He told her how he was going to make it a veritable bird-kid paradise and smiled at the proud, dreamy look on Max's face.

You're gonna sleep out there tonight aren't you! In that dilapidated, falling down house!

That dilapidated falling down house is OURS, Max. We OWN it.

She rolled her eyes, I hope you're planning to bring blankets, because I'm not staying out there with you without a blanket.

He rolled his eyes playfully, Who said I wanted you to stay with me tonight.

Fine then, I'll stay in the house and you can stay out there alone with your hands! She felt her cheeks go red but she didn't let him know.

He sat there staring at her for a minute his mouth open, Did you just ... What I think you did?

She shrugged, I'm in your head, I know everything you do ... And it includes THAT... Gross and piggish as it is.

You did! You meant... He licked his lips nervously, I haven't done that in a long time!

Oh, sure ... Can you say Pinocchio!

I haven't!

Right, just like you didn't used to lay there in bed back at my mom's and listen to me on the other side of the wall! I don't need to have access to your mind to know you did it then, I could hear you just as good as you could her me.

His mouth fell open, And it takes you a year to tell me this?

She grinned at him, It was cute ... In a creepy, gross way.

"You're weird, you know that?" He was trying very hard not to smile.

* * *

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Margo was in the living room dozing on the couch when they got back. Ember sitting on a blanket in the floor watching re-runs of Seasame Street. Iris, Epiphany and Igneous were all curled together in the play pen asleep, Igneous between his sisters their little hands on his little back.

Fang paused long enough to check on them, gently petting their heads and wings. Assuring himself they were OK before he followed Max upstairs. He yawned deeply, covering his mouth and shaking his head, forcing his eyes to stay open.

He stumbled into the hall and saw Max had already pulled the curtains closed in her room and was looking out the door wondering if maybe he'd decided to leave her alone with her hands. She smiled at him, "What took you so long?"

He grinned at her and jabbed a thumb over his shoulder, "Did you see them?"

Max nodded, her mind switching gears, "It's like they can feel when something's wrong."

Fang nodded, still not comfortable with thinking there was something wrong with his son, but then again, the poor kid wasn't even four months old and was already having hideously bad nightmares. Nightmares that Fang would be willing to bet rivaled his own.

The night before Igneous had had yet another bad dream and Fang had sat up all night holding him, calming the poor little kid down. He wished he could take all the bad dreams away, all the fear and pain in that tiny little body. But all he could do was hold his son until the boy calmed down and went back to sleep.

Max laid a hand on his arm her other hand going to the back of his head, fingers tangling in his hair. "You bought the Mullens place without even asking me, you pig."

He smiled against her mouth, "And you're just assuming that I'm okay with THIS? With sneaking off in the middle of the after noon for a quickie? Who is being the pig, Max?"

Max rolled her eyes. "Right, and that's a flashlight in your pocket!"

And then things happened very quickly. Fingers fumbled for buttons and zippers. Mouths crushed together all the while Max was pushing him backward toward the bed.

Everything about the sensation was circular it seemed. Fang could feel Max's excitement she could feel his and this amplified the sensations with every beat of their hearts.

Max pushed him onto the bed, climbing on top of him fingers slowly working the buttons on his shirt. She trailed her fingers over his chest and stomach, over slightly raised scars and his hands came to rest lightly on her hips, his eyes closing, remembering.

"Are you just going to lay there?"

He grinned, holding her tightly to him.

They separated long enough for Max to slowly pull her shirt over her head and then everything ground to a halt.

She sat there for almost fifteen seconds before she spoke.

"Fang?"

He was still.

"Fang..." She shifted her weight against him, leaning forward so her ear hovered over his mouth and nose.

"Fang, are you asleep!"

She sat up staring down at him in shock her mouth coming open. After a moment she sighed and rolled off of him, pulling an extra quilt from the foot of the bed over him then curling against his side her head on his shoulder.

He didn't move and she rolled her eyes listening to the soft breathy snoring sounds he was making and wishing she had a voice recorder so she could prove once and for all that he did.

"You're a pig ... Falling asleep when I'm trying to seduce you ... I'm never going to let you live this down I hope you know... I'm gonna kick your butt later..."

She lay there for a few minutes listening to him breathe then sat up and kissed him lightly, "What am I going to do with you?"

He grunted softly and shifted his head against the pillows his hands opening and closing. Then he was still again.

Max shook her head, and searched out her T-shirt, pulling it back on then sitting on the edge of the bed watching him sleep. He looked peaceful when he slept. Save he always kept a hand curled into a fist. She said his name one more time but he didn't respond.

She'd only seen him sleep so soundly once and she hated to wake him up. He'd been running on even less sleep than she had lately. He'd stay up all night with Igneous, she'd heard him pacing in the downstairs living room, making soft little chirping noises until the boy had gone quiet.

He was a good father. And he had a connection with all three of their children it seemed. He knew when Igneous was going to have a nightmare, he knew when Epiphany was going to have a little fit and start kicking things or throwing little baby punches. And he knew when Iris was going to try and escape the crib.

Max smiled down at him then slowly climbed to her feet, pausing a moment to press a kiss to his forehead and playfully call him a pig before she went downstairs.

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

(NOTE: This is where things go bad...)

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

Chapter 137; Loosing the War

Max yawned and gave Angel her third hug of the evening as the girl climbed the steps, pushing a few members of her little flock up the stairs to bed.

"I'm glad you're back, Max..." Angel whispered then turned and practically swung Cat onto her back and headed upstairs.

"Come on, guys... You can't sleep on the stairs... That means you Tommy."

"You're a spoilsport..." Tommy grumbled sleepily and stumbled the rest of the way up the steps and out of sight.

Daisy-David wrapped her thin arms around Max's waist and squeezed happily. The child didn't say anything, but Max thought that there was nothing that needed to be said.

For a long moment they stood there embracing and Max couldn't help herself when she whispered into Daisy-David's ear. "You're a great Auntie, Daisy... A really great Auntie."

Daisy smiled into Max's hip, "Thank you..." Then climbed the steps.

She paused halfway up and looked back down at Max and waved, then disappeared upstairs.

Max thought suddenly, that the wave was somehow final and barely stopped herself from calling to the child and asking what was wrong, but at that moment Epiphany began to fuss and she had to turn to the playpen and lift her daughter into her arms, cooing softly into the downy soft hair of her golden head.

The apprehensive feeling never left Max, even as she tucked Iris into her arms and silently thanked Allan when he scooped up Igneous and helped her tuck the babies into bed...

The tripletts usually slept in the bed with Max and Fang, nestled between them, but for some reason, Max found herself putting them down in the nursery with Ember.

Ember was wide awake. Her dark eyes seemingly alight. She watched Max's every move, her little hands twisting together, wings twitching nervously.

When Max looked over at her there was a brief moment... A sudden flash of whiteness in her head and everything span around her.

Allan's hand tightened on her elbow and his face appeared through the fading white haze. For a few seconds Max stood there, a hand to her forehead wondering what that flash had been... But at the same time she knew what it had been...

It was the same flash she'd seen not so very long ago when she'd been sitting in that cold shower with Fang, trying to bring his temperature down...

Only this time it had been more detailed...

She'd seen figures moving about in the whiteness... Hundreds of them, all running toward her, past her, out of sight... And then everything flashed, and a great black and red tower loomed up before her, swallowing everything in flames...

Her stomach churned because she knew what she'd just seen... Knew suddenly what those white flashes were...

They were the future...

And Max had just seen the end of the world...

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

He waited. Silvery eyes locked on the single lighted window as he'd been waiting every night for the past three days. Since he'd gotten word from MOM that an old informant had resurfaced and told them of the failures' whereabouts...

"I'm heading down in three days," She'd said, "They think I'm gonna be helping them... Well those freaks got another thing coming!"

Omega was calm. His mind working turning over calculations, checking wind velocity, the angles from ground to window. Where he would have to stand so he could jump through said window and not make a sound.

They kept the babies in one room. Right across the hall from HER room. The Queen Failure...

Getting the babies wouldn't be hard, but Omega didn't want things to be easy. He wanted to see the look on HER face as he choked the life from her children. He wanted her to know that he was the best, he was perfect. The world was his.

The only reason she'd beaten him in the first place was because she cheated. She didn't fight fair... So now, neither was he.

Omega was smart, he could adapt, and he'd adapted quite a bit to be able to get where he was now. Standing not fifty feet away from the house where SHE was hiding her children.

When he'd called Mom earlier that day and laid out everything, the new developments, the arrival of THREE Gen-Threes, she had been ecstatic. She'd told him that Max's weakness was her emotions. She let her heart get in the way of her head. So all he had to do to defeat her was to compromise her heart. Play on her emotions. She 'loved' her family, threaten her family and she's powerless.

Mom had said to collect the Gen-Threes, but Omega had other plans...

Mom still thought she controlled him. Still thought he was her little boy... But he'd grown up. He had his own ideas... That's what made this so wonderful. Mom was superfluous and Max was leaving her family in the open, vulnerable. Thye'd both exposed their weaknesses. Mom thought she was still in control, and Max let her emotions take over... And now it was time to strike. To deal that deathly blow and finish Maximum Ride and 'Mom' once and for all.

The light went out and he waited.

Ten minutes later Omega gave the signal and the Type Five-B's rose into the air, beating their wings. The sound of them like distant thunder.

A few of the animals in the barn began making noises and Omega nodded, telling the Type Fives that it was time to move in. It was time to take it all down...

Omega took off in a sprint, right at the side of the house. He'd grown in the three and a half years since he and 'Max' had first met. He was almost fully-grown, almost at the peak of his performance level.

As he approached the house his mind whirred through equations. Physics told him that fifteen feet from the house wouldn't be far enough, not with this wind velocity, not with these soil and weather conditions, he needed to jump at seventeen point three-three feet to be able to get into the house through that upstairs window soundlessly.

He hit the spot with both feet, bending his legs, his arms going straight out to his sides. His supremely dense muscles coiling as he propelled himself upward, the peak of his arc about eight feet from the house. He flipped as he went through the air balling himself up as he came through the window, rolling forward and into a crouch and he was still. His hands flat on the floor, eyes scanning the room once it rocked back into focus.

It was completely empty. He'd done well. No one was there to see or hear him.

Slowly he rose to his feet and crossed the room his hand going to the knob. He felt it turn in his fist and a smile came across his face. He moved slowly down the hall, like a cat... A death cat come to deal out vengence, his hands balling into fists and he peered into the room where the babies slept eyeing the cribs and the little blanket covered bumps within.

He crept forward grinning, delight bubbling in his stomach. This was it, her babies were lying here unprotected and it would only take one little squeeze to end them.

His hand went out, fingers curling toward the first little bump. He'd waited for this for years. Waited to pay her back for humiliating him...

Maximum Ride would pay tonight. She would pay with the lives of her children... Oh, vengence was so sweet...

Something cold poked him in the side of the head, just behind his ear and Omega went stiff his fingers tightening in the blanket.

"Put one finger on my nephew and I'll blow your brains out," Aaron whispered under his breath, the points of his canines exposed in a sneer. His face seemed to tremble in barely contained rage and he pressed the barrel of Allan's rifle a little tighter against this strange young man's head. "Step back slowly or this room's gonna get a nice coat of 'Cream-of-Brains Soup'."

The door across the hall, HER door, opened and Max stepped out her eyes wide and full of rage. The tall dark haired experiment stepped out behind her his eyes flashing bright red.

Omega ground his teeth. How had they known? How had they known his plan?

"Are there still Wizards around?" Max whispered, stepping forward and gently scooping up her children, handing Iris and Igneous to Fang.

Aaron nodded, "There's about eighteen of them flying around outside."

Omega stared at the boy holding the gun to his head, taking in the slight furriness of his jaws, the elongation of his teeth and deathly shine of his darkening eyes.

This boy had the look of a Type Five and the scars on his arm told Omega all he needed to know.

This boy had been bitten, but the only thing that could have kept him from changing, kept the chemicals in the Type Five from altering his DNA was if he had been injected with a counteragent. Of which there were only two. A preventative and a strain of DNA used once before in a now extinct series of experiments that made them immune.

And if this boy had been bitten then the DNA was the only thing that could have kept him from making the full transformation.

Where had he gotten that DNA? Mom would not be happy...

Aaron felt rage building in his chest and he wanted to tear this stranger a new belly button but he forced himself to stay calm. He had to stay calm... Everything depended on his ability to keep a cool head...

Max called down the hall and the little blonde girl Omega remembered being called 'Eleven' came into the room.

She stared at him for a minute her lips pursed eyebrows drawn down in a scowl. "There's someone else outside ... A girl, she's waiting ... She wants Ember."

Max nodded and Angel walked forward and possessively scooped up the little redheaded girl who was awake and standing there staring reproachfully at Omega.

Ember twisted in Angel's arms until she could get her hands out, pointing at him accusingly, "Boom boom boom!" She said angrilly, still staring at Omega as if she knew him.

There was movement in the hallway as the others came out of their rooms walking swiftly downstairs carrying backpacks.

They'd been ready for him.

Omega growled to himself but held very still, counting the minutes. It was time to let Plan B unfold.

"Mom didn't tell you what you were capable of ... Did she."

Max stopped mid step. "What are you talking about?"

Omega smiled and turned his sickly silver eyes to her, "I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to my dear sweet brother..."

Max felt her stomach tighten. "What?"

Omega turned slowly until the barrel of the rifle pointed right at his throat. "Mom didn't tell you what you were truly capable of, did she, Alpha?"

Aaron ground his teeth and Fang stiffened and turned in the doorway, still holding his children close. Which looked a little awkward but he was still somehow able to do with a near angelic grace. "My name is not Alpha, dip-shit."

Omega chuckled, "Alpha and Omega ... The two greatest achievements in the history of scientifically advanced evolution ... One created to destroy the world, the other to save it."

Aaron growled and pressed the barrel of the gun against Omega's neck flicking off the safety.

"Oh, I get it. You've got a GOD complex! Alpha, the first son, born with the power to kill all those who stand in his way. Omega, the second son, born with the ability to save those willing to follow him."

Fang stood there for a minute holding Iris and Igneous staring at Aaron and feeling something unpleasant bubble in his stomach. Something was starting to bother him, something odd and meaningful in what Aaron was saying.

"You know, when I was growing up in that God awful institute in London the scientists would tell me the most interesting stories while they 'trained' me..." Aaron was walking forward, pressing Omega toward the wall with the end of that rifle his whole body seeming to radiate an uneasy, nay, EVIL aura... "They'd tell me about how I was supposed to FIX everything... How I was so far evolved ... They were trying to give ME a God complex. Then they'd lock me in a dark room in a cage and leave me for days on end but I didn't care, because I knew something they didn't!" And he leaned forward, pressing his hand right to the side of Omega's face.

Max felt her stomach rise into her throat. As she watched Omega's eyes seemed to go as round as dinner plates, unfocused and then focus again on a point over Aaron's shoulder.

"I could see the truth behind their lies every time one would touch me. Just like I can see the truth behind you right now."

Fang's mouth came open as he realized what was about to happen but before he could do anything Omega had already moved, brought the heel of his hand right up into Aaron's chin and jerked the gun from Aaron's hands.

Aaron slumped lifelessly to the floor and Omega brought the gun to bear, right at Max's head and pulled the trigger.

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

Chapter 138; Falling From Grace

Max seemed to arch backward as the gun swung forward and when Omega fired, the bullet barely missed her head. A tuft of her blonde hair hung in the air long enough to twist in the wake of the bullet and Max continued on her arch her right leg curling up and out as she span.

Fang had never seen anything like it, how she moved so gracefully delivering the kick with a sleeping baby in her arms.

The kick landed right in Omega's jaw and snapped his head to the right with enough force to break his spine. He dropped the gun and started to fall and as Max righted herself. Pulling Epiphany closer to her because the child was waking, Epiphany's little mouth opening to scream at the horrible sharp sound of gunfire. Max's right foot came down on the rifle so, should Omega reach for it again he'd find his way blocked.

She kicked the gun backward, right out the door between Fang's feet and into the hall Then stood there a moment, arms wrapped around her daughter lips pressed into the little golden crown of Epiphany's head.

"It's OK, baby."

Aaron rolled to his knees groaning and spitting blood from where Omega had caused him to nearly bite the tip of his tongue off. "Well, that's never happened before."

Max stared down at Omega for a minute, noticing how still he was laying then turned to Aaron and kicked him in the behind. "You-are-so-STUPID!" She punctuated each word with a kick.

"You could have gotten us killed!"

"Ow-OW!" Aaron crawled away from her and clambered to his feet. He rubbed his behind for a minute scowling and watched as Max left the room. He shut the door as he followed, leaving Omega in a crumpled heap on the floor moaning.

Cat and KIX were in a frenzy, the latter standing by the window his furry hands opening and closing into fists.

Max came downstairs still holding the snuffling Epiphany. Fang with Iris and Igneous who were both whimpering and holding his shirtfront.

Angel was standing by the door with Ember and when Max came into the room she got the shock of her life, even though she could read Max's mind.

"Okay, Angel, what's the plan?"

But about that time the girl, a beautiful pale blonde with black eyes called Belladonna... Who had been waiting outside for Omega's 'OK' signal to start Phase Two, took the reins and raised her haid, giving the signal, and eighteen Wizards crashed through the top of the house.

Angel didn't have time to lay out her whole plan she just opened her mouth and screamed one word in a very Max like voice;

"MOOOVE!"

The door came open and they were running, taking to the air simply by leaping off the porch, wings grazing the dirt as they streaked upward.

Nudge and Aaron leapt into Allan's jeep and shot off down the road, hoping to draw the Wizards away because both of them were carrying blankets bundled up to look like babies.

This had been part of Angel's plan and she was glad to see that it was going on spectacularly. Nudge and Aaron were to drive and lure the Wizards away, then Part Two went into effect, hopefully ending the whole ordeal.

Max turned her head and saw Fang flying after her a determined look on his face and as she looked down she saw the Gasman land on top of the electricity pole about three hundred feet from the house. As she watched she saw him yank something sparkling from his shirt and shove it at the large trashcan shaped transformers on the electricity pole then take to the air again laughing satanically.

"THAT'S FOR IGGY YOU STUPID ASSHOLES!" He turned midair, his longish blonde hair blowing about his head and shot double birds back at the Wizards fighting to get out of the house. Then made a rapid twittering sound, much like chickadee.

There was a high pitched sizzling sound and the transformers burst in a bright flash. The scent of Ozone was thick in the air and Max felt a shock wave bat her around.

The Gasman was still laughing as they flew higher, "Electro Magnetic Pulse, can you creeps say that! It FRIES computers!"

Max turned to look and saw all but three of the Wizards were crumpling stiffly to the ground in fried computer heaps.

Belladonna let out an enraged scream from the ground and Max looked down in time to see her point something compact and black at the blonde boy flying not far behind her.

"GAZ, LOOK OUT!"

It wasn't much of a sound. A small little pop ... Two more and the Gasman gave a little jerk in the air his face going white. He didn't turn to look at Belladonna, but simply shot straight up into the air after Max his wings beating hard.

Max kept telling herself that he was OK. That he wouldn't still be flying if he wasn't OK but as she watched the white feathers on his right wing started to darken and he started loosing altitude.

"M-Max..." He said fighting to stay beside her, looking into her face, his eyes wide, a near fire like determined light glowing in them. "I figured it out... I figured out the Pants Code... I know where you're supposed to go."

Max's mouth came open and she stared at him in shock. He'd figured it out! "WHERE!"

Allan, looking most uncomfortable on one of the rocket-powered brooms, maneuvered himself under the Gasman and whistled up at him.

The Gasman shook his head but before he could do anything else, before he could even open his mouth to say anything more than ,"It's a m-" a Wizard came out of nowhere and grabbed him.

Max felt herself scream as one of the other two remaining Wizards. Ones that were actually alive not robots, grabbed her, wrapping furry clawed arms around her chest and pinning her wings closed.

Epiphany started screaming and the Wizard rolled over in the air.

Max saw Fang fighting with the last Wizard but it grabbed him too, screaming and clicking as it flew, as if holding him caused it great pain.

"ANGEL!" Allan and Margo swooped down after them, "ANGEL, HELP!"

Max wriggled and fought, screamed, kicked, cursed, and head butted. She had to save her babies. She had to get free for her babies! She had to get to the Gasman!

Allan was beating the Wizard over the head with what looked like a wrench and cursing the thing. Screaming for it to let go of her.

Max saw Margo tearing at the Wizard's wings, trying to get it to let go of Fang. She had a kitchen knife and was literally cutting its wings! Slicing them open every time she got close enough.

"Let-Him-Go-You-Over-Grown-BAT!"

But then the Wizard turned on her ... And kicked her right in the chest.

All the breath in Margo's lungs came out in a loud 'OOOF!' and she sailed backward off the broom.

Allan let out a little scream, "MARGO!" And dove after her.

Max saw the Wizard holding the Gasman suddenly release the boy and she watched in heart wrenching horror as he start to fall. He was too quiet. His face slack, eyes closed ... And she noticed something terrible.

His right wing was soaked with blood ... He wasn't moving. He was just falling limply through the air like a beautiful, winged ragdoll...

"ANGEL!" Max screamed, staring at her little girl, pleading with every fiber of her being. "ANGEL, OH, GOD HELP HIM!"

Angel turned in the air and stared back, Ember clutched to her chest. And the little redheaded girl was twisting frantically, screaming in a shrill infantile voice...

Max could see the beautiful sky blue of Angel's eyes as the girl watched her brother falling, saw the Wizard that had been holding him shoot after Allan and grab the man, just as he was about to save Margo.

"ANGEL, HELP!"

And as Max watched Angel turned in the air and flew away, her flock hovering there staring for half a second longer before they turned and followed her off into the night.

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

Chapter 139; Reduction ... Redemption

"Aaron! Aaron, stop they're not following us!" Nudge clawed at his shoulder and pointed.

The jeep's tires screamed against the road as he stopped the car and turned to stare.

The Wizards were flying about three hundred feet off the ground and as he watched he saw a light flickering where Allan's house was. It was nearly a mile back but he could see everything perfectly.

"They've sat the house on fire!" He turned the jeep and started speeding back to the house. The Wizards were flying off, he could see them... And he could see Allan on his hands and knees in the front yard bending over something ... Or someone.

"Oh, God, Nudgie!"

The house was in flames by the time they got to them. The jeep slid on the gravel but Nudge had already leapt from it, running to Allan with her wings out.

She saw Margo first. Lying a few yards from the house her left leg twisted beneath her, her head lying at an odd angle...

And then she saw the Gasman.

Allan was cradling him to his chest sobbing, a strangled whine coming from his throat.

Nudge's hands flew to her mouth and she felt Aaron pull her into his arms, pressing her face into his shoulder, silently urging her not to look... But she'd already looked... She'd seen...

"Sh-she just flew off... She didn't come back..." Allan said between sobs. "She saw what was happening and she just flew away ... She left him ... She left him even though..."

Allan dissolved back into tears holding the boy to his chest, "What kind of person just leaves someone to die like that?"

Nudge stiffened. Angel had left ... She hadn't come back to help.

Guilt tore Nudge's heart in two. Why hadn't she herself come back, or even stayed to help? She could have saved them...

Aaron made a shushing sound, "Its not, stop thinking like that!"

"They took Nick and Max... And the babies..." Allan ground out, his tears changing into rage. His hands tangling in the dirty, bloodsoaked front of the Gasman's shirt. "I'm not ... I WON'T let them hurt them..."

A truck suddenly pulled into the driveway and Nudge turned toward it, throwing out her wings, russet colored feathers seeming to simply appear on her shoulders, claws growing from her fingertips and she screeched at the truck, as if daring it to make another move.

Ira leapt from the driver's seat, his wife from the passenger seat their eyes wide and terrified.

"Jumpin-Jesus-on-a-pogo-stick!" Ira shouted at the sight of Nudge, "I told you! Sally, I told you these kids had wings!"

Sally, Ira's wife, didn't pay that much attention to Nudge, instead she ran to Allan and dropped to her fat little knees beside him, her hands going to the Gasman. "Ira, get over here this boy's hurt!"

Allan wouldn't let the Gasman go when Sally tried to pry the boy from his grip. If he let him go he would have to admit that when he'd touched the boy all he'd been able to think was 'Dead... He's dead and it's my fault... Just like Kitty!'.

Sirens were starting to wail and Nudge looked up at the road, seeing the faint flicker of a fire engine screaming toward them.

"Allan, give him over! I need to help him he's hurt!" Sally was saying, trying to pry Allan's fingers away from the Gasman. But Allan was only shaking his head, his sobs returning.

Ira raked a hand through his hair and simply tossed his keys to Aaron, "You two get going, go find your friends."

Aaron stared down at the truck's keys.

Ira growled in his throat, "Get goin, boy!"

Aaron tossed the keys back and snapped out his own wings, "Thanks for the offer, but I've had my fill of driving trucks for a lifetime," He took Nudge's hand and they started running.

Ira watched them go, feeling his heart flutter in his chest as he watched them take to the air in the shadows. He didn't believe he'd ever seen anything more beautiful or more terrifying in all his life.

Kids with wings...

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

Chapter 140; A Very Dangerous Thing

Max threw her weight against the door again, even though she was sure her shoulder was going to pop out of socket any second.

If they were trying to drive her crazy they were doing it. If they were trying to kill her it wouldn't take much longer.

She could hear her babies screaming. And if she looked through the broken window in this tiny little door she could see them too.

Max slammed herself into the door again, screaming in rage. She didn't care how hard this door was. She didn't care that it was steel and the walls were concrete. She would tear through anything to get to her babies. She'd gotten out of that dog crate easy enough. Something she'd never been able to do before.

She'd kicked that cage and kicked and kicked and kicked and kicked and bent the damn thing all out of proportion until the door snapped off and flew across the room. Now she was working on the room's door. She'd already broken the glass out of it, but it had had chicken wire in it and the chicken wire was electrified. But she tried again anyway, because she didn't care. She tangled her fingers in it and pulled. Burning agony tearing through her arms, chest and head when the current struck her body. But she didn't care.

She was going to get to her babies if it was the last thing she did.

A steady stream of curses had been flowing from her mouth ever since the Wizards had grabbed her. They'd flown over the Texas Panhandle and she'd cursed and fought. They'd flown into New Mexico and she'd cursed and fought. She'd cursed and fought until Belladonna had stabbed her with a tranquilizer and she'd woken up here, in a dog crate.

The rest was anger and curses.

Anger over the Gasman, over the injustice of what had happened to him. Anger for her children's screams, and anger for being captured.

She could see the Whitecoats in the other room, the room where her babies were. One was holding Igneous, stretching his little wings out, measuring them and he was screaming ... His little hands balled into fists, little legs kicking.

Max felt like her heart was being torn out. She roared at the Whitecoats, wishing Eraser Max wasn't just a dream. She wished, oh how she wished she could morph and tear those freaks a new belly button!

Nobody ... NOBODY made her babies scream like that!

She wondered if this was how Iggy had felt ... Iggy had taken eight bullets in the chest, then snapped a Whitecoat's neck for making Ember scream like that.

Loss coupled with the anger bubbling in Max's chest.

Iggy had died to save his daughter and Max would be willing to die to save her babies. She'd do it gladly if it meant they would be free, never bothered by Whitecoats again. And she could tell from the feelings she got from Fang that he would do the same...

The Whitecoats in the lab were staring at her in absolute horror and disgust. And a few were fascinated having never seen someone so angry, or determined that they would try tearing through a steel door with bare hands ... And succeed...

Of course, they'd never seen Max this angry. They'd never seen Max fully determined to rip through walls.

"It's fascinating! Look at it!" A male whitecoat with gray hair said, pointing.

"I've never seen anything like it!"

But Max only cursed at them and tore at the chicken wire ignoring how the current in it had burned her hands, and the glass had cut her.

Those Whitecoats were hurting her babies, and Max was going to make them stop. That was all there was to it.

With a scream she tore the chicken wire from the door and reached for the nearest Whitecoat, her bloody and burned hand swiping a ruddy smear on his white coat.

He jumped back as if she were poisonous and made notations on his charts.

"Incredible!"

Max, just hang in there, we're going to get out of this! She heard Fang's thoughts and she pulled her arm back into the room before the Whitecoat could stick her with another tranquilizer.

She continued cursing, sucking in lungful after lungful of air in preparation for her next move. Knock ... the door... DOWN.

Hearing the babies screaming was Max's torture ... But she knew very well that it was only half of Fang's torture.

Fang after all, WAS 'Alpha' ... His abilities and powers were unspeakable, and Max wasn't entirely sure she knew what they all were. They hadn't tried to use them since the Director had proclaimed him her greatest achievement. Part of them was too afraid...

But the Whitecoats hadn't been stupid enough to put him in a simple dog crate, no. Fang's prison was much more elaborate than a mere dog crate.

Max closed her eyes for a second, seeing the world through Fang's eyes.

He was shackled, heavy chains on his wrists, ankles, waist and even a collar around his neck. He was chained to the floor, sitting on a folding metal chair in the middle of a concrete and steel prison cell. Two Whitecoats were on guard, one with a gun, the other with a stun-gun, that had already been attached to Fang's chest.

He made one move and he got zapped. He'd already been shocked no less that fifteen times. Omega had come in to his cell once already and challenged him to a fight. Having been deeply disturbed by the truth Aaron had showed him. Whatever that was...

But, surprisingly Fang hadn't fought him. Doing so would have given Omega too much satisfaction. Winning in a 'fair' fight.

So Fang had just sat there. After a while Omega had gotten tired of hitting him and had left.

So, now here he was. Listening to his children scream from the next room, and listening to Max fight and scream to get to them.

When you get them, Max, get out of here. Don't worry about me, just get them and get out. Once you're safe I'll get out of here in half a second. But I don't want to try anything until you guys are safe.

What are you going to do?

Don't worry about it, just get them and get out if you can, OK?

What's with the 'if' huh? There is no 'if'!

She could feel him smiling, and she could feel something else. He was determined. He was going to make sure this never happened again.

Fang ... Don't do anything stupid, OK? You can't leave me to raise three kids on my own, got it? You swore a long time ago you wouldn't ever leave me again.

And I won't ... But you have to get them out, understand? We can't let these freaks hurt them.

I won't I promise....

And she opened her eyes, running at the door and slamming all her weight and strength against it.

Don't worry, my babies, Mommy's gonna to save you ... Mommy's gonna save the world.

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

(OH MY GOD! I JUST REALIZED I LEFT A MISTAKE IN CHAPTER 45!!! OH CRAP!!! It's fixed now, so please go back and re-read that chapter if you don't mind... It's a HUGE mistake... OH MY GOD!

Instead of Angotexicon Massacre, it was supposed to be Phoenotexicon Massacre... All that mentioning of Angotexicon at the end of that chapter should have been PHOENOTEXICON! Crap, I'm such a bad writer...)

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

Chapter 141; A Plan is Born

Nudge and Aaron had two things in common besides their mutual attraction to one another. Nudge could read the emotion coming off of things, so could Aaron, Nudge could smell the Wizards that had Max and Fang.

So could Aaron.

That's how they tracked them. They stayed out of range of Aaron's 'Wizard Senses'. Almost three miles behind the Wizards. But the wind was blowing right into their faces, bringing with it the scent of their prey.

So now, almost ten hours after starting their hunt, Nudge and Aaron were perched on a hilltop looking down at the city below.

The Snake's Head was right in the open. Masquerading as a University. In fact, it was on a University campus. There were no fences, no guard dogs running around foaming at the mouth.

Aaron hadn't entirely been convinced they had the right building until he'd smelled the Wizards.

And now here they were, watching the place. And trying to make a plan.

"One of us has to get in there ... We've got to get in there and find them..."

Aaron nodded and let out a sigh then turned to Nudge, "I'll do it."

Nudge cocked an eyebrow at him. "No, I'll do it, I can fight better than you, I'll be able to get away easier."

Aaron shook his head, "They don't recognize me ... Listen, let me go in and find out where they are and how many Wizards they've got, I can smell them, remember?"

"That's why you can't go in! You're part Wizard, you'll give yourself away," She gnawed her lip a moment and stared out over the city, rubbing her arms. She wanted to make those Whitecoats pay... She wanted to make them hurt as much as she was... She'd lost five of the eight most important people in her life in less than a year... She wished she could just blow up the whole stupid-

A sly smile came over her lips. "Come with me," She snapped out her wings and took to the air, flying high over the city and landing in the shadows behind a gas station half a mile away.

"What are we doing?" Aaron said, trying to make a soft landing without falling down. Which failed. He tripped and skidded on his knees, kicking up a cloud of dust. "Bend your knees ... BEND your knees."

"We're going to put on a show..." She winked at him and marched toward the truck stop, eyeing some of the large trucks parked near the building.

"What? What kind of show?"

She grinned at him and shook her hips.

His throat went dry, very dry. "Nudge, you can't be serious! Those are truckers. BIG, mean truckers in there..." He felt sick to his stomach. His Nudge going in there to ... Entice those truckers?

"Please don't do this," He took her hand and started pulling her toward the trees.

"Are you a boy or a baby, Aaron?" Nudge turned to him scowling. "Stop acting like a sissy and start acting like a man!"

He flustered. "I'm not a sissy. I just don't want you going in there and ... Shaking yourself at truckers!"

"'Big, mean truckers'," She shook her head at him and threw open the door her voice raising as she entered. "How do YOU expect to handle me if you can't handle THAT! You're acting like a big, Baby!"

They entered the store and Aaron looked positively livid. "Now you wait just one minute, Nudge! I-I don't approve!" He wanted to tell her that if she did it he'd leave. He thought she loved him. He thought that she only did that for him ... Only to tease him...

But if she could come in here and use her irresist-ability on truckers without it meaning anything, did that mean that it didn't mean anything when she did it for him? When she danced at him?

Was it all a lie?

She turned on him, pressing one finger to the middle of his chest and giving him a little shove. Her brown eyes shimmered with green. "You don't approve of it? You don't APPROVE? Aaron Hutchinson, who do you think you are!" She walked her fingers up his chest, throat over his chin and let them rest on his lips her eyes flicking to the left at the truckers all turned to stare at them from their meals in the restaurant.

Aaron knew then what she'd meant by bringing him in here. By putting on a 'show' She'd meant to distract the truckers so she could pull off some prank. So she could do something. But that's where the truth stopped in his head.

Worry crowded his stomach when he saw a familiar look in her eyes that he'd seen months and months before. A look he'd seen in her eyes as they were driving away from the 'knockoff school'.

She couldn't possibly mean what he thought she meant! Not here...

But the look in her eyes was egging him on...

And for a moment he thought he heard her voice in his head, Show me what you're made of...

He ground his teeth and, took a deep breath because he knew he was going to need it.

And the next thing he knew he had her pinned to a table and the truckers sitting there were staring dumb founded eyes wide, shocked. But Aaron was lost. Lost in the moment.

He didn't care that eight large, tattooed truckers were watching him. He didn't care that he was only supposed to be doing it for show. At the moment he was having the most intense make-out session he'd ever experienced.

He pictured the Recycling symbol in his head. Arrows turning in a little circle. He put pleasure into it and Nudge sent some out. And it kept building, higher and higher until he knew that if he didn't stop now he'd end up breaking his promise to her and not waiting until marriage.

And from the noises she was making, she might not have minded at that moment.

Nudge ground her hips upward against Aaron's and he literally had to push himself away from her or else he would have started stripping her naked then and there.

He stumbled backward, his legs trembling and watery and sat heavily on a table panting. His jeans felt nearly four sizes too small and the constriction was painful. So painful in fact that he was positive he'd have to lock himself in the bathroom for a while later to get rid of the pain.

He flicked his eyes at a man to Nudge's left indicating that that was the one she'd been looking for.

Nudge was slowly rising, her cheeks looking flushed in their darkness, her eyes a blazing shade of earthy green. And she smiled... A deep, seductive smile and she glanced over at the man Aaron had looked at, whose mashed potatoes she'd crushed with her elbow.

"Would you mind giving us your truck?"

Her voice was deep, husky... And Aaron ground his teeth wondering if it was possible to explode just from hearing her voice.

Dear, GOD in HEAVEN! If I don't get to a bathroom I'm going to have to wash my jeans!

The trucker nodded, his eyes wide and fished his keys from his pocket. "Tanker rig... Big red thing..."

Nudge smiled, "Thanks."

The man nodded, although Aaron doubted he had any control over the action.

Nudge slipped off the table, sauntering toward Aaron in a way that made him think someone should have put an 'NC-17' Black bar over her.

He'd never seen someone walk that way before and he thought that if she didn't stop he was going to do something very ... Very stupid...

She had him by the ... Sexist Pig ... And she knew it...

"Come on, baby..."

Aaron groaned, a zombie like sound and shuffled after her, his legs still shaking, his eyes wide. He was helpless, she'd made him hornier than he'd ever been in his life and although he knew it wasn't true, it felt like he was going to die from it.

"N-Nudgie..."

She turned to look at him over her shoulder. Noticing how pale and sweaty he looked. "Are you gonna have a heart attack?"

He nodded, "Feels like it..."

"I should have warned you what I had in mind, huh..." She took a graceful little leap and landed on the running board of the semi truck, unlocking the driver's side door and climbing in.

Aaron shuffled around the truck and climbed into the passenger side, sitting stiffly since he felt like he had a rock in the front of his trousers.

They sat there in silence for a few seconds listening to the rumble of the truck's engine then Nudge turned to him... "Go on..."

He rolled his head on his shoulders, still panting his mind racing. Go on what? What do you mean? 'Go on' can mean a LOT!

She rolled her eyes and gave her head a little shake. "Jeez ... Aaron ... If we live through this, if we get Max, Fang, Iris, Epiphany and Igneous out of that place ... If we win..." She paused and gnawed her lip a moment, at a loss for words. She sighed then held up her left hand, her eyes narrowing. "Alright, Mr. Albatross, where's my rock!"

And Aaron started laughing. "Did you just propose to me?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I think after THAT, you'd BETTER make an honest woman out of me!"

He smiled, tempted to grab her and resume what they'd started in the restaurant, but stopped himself because he knew there was more pressing matters to attend to. "Right ... Now, let's go help save the world, shall we?"

Nudge smiled and slammed both feet on the gas, and the large hulking truck shot forward pulling a tanker of gasoline behind it.

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

Chapter 142; Elaboration of Fate

Max slammed herself against the door yet again.

And the door rattled violently.

Nearly there ... ALMOST THERE!

One of the Whitecoats said something to another, shaking their head, then picked up Igneous and held him up so Max could see him. See how he squirmed and shrieked beating his little wings futilely.

"Watch this, Henry," The Whitecoat said grinning.

Another turned and watched as the first walked forward holding the baby boy out.

"You've got two unique children there, Max ... They're going to be the Director's favorites!" The man glanced over his shoulder at 'Henry'.

"Too bad this one's a dud ... The Director wants us to put him down, but I'll tell you what! If you can get out of that room in the next fifteen seconds I'll give him to you!" He tucked Igneous under his arm like a football and lifted his wrist, staring at his watch... "Fifteen seconds ... GO!"

Max started screaming. Not words, but shrill, screeching sounds of rage and panic as she bashed herself against the door, grabbing the edges of the broken window with her burned, and cut hands and wrenching. Shaking the door in its frame.

If there was one thing that could make her loose control this was it. Her family was her life without it she had nothing... And the whitecoats now knew that...

Concrete dust started falling from the hinges as she shook the door, trying desperately to wrench it from the wall, or at least tear a hole in it large enough to squeeze through.

Had the hole already in it been big enough to squeeze her head through she would already have gotten out. Even if she did tear off her breasts and wings. She didn't care, as long as she got to her babies. Her babies were the most important things in the world to her and she wasn't going to let anything stop her from saving them.

"TEN SECONDS!"

She shook the door, her mind dissolving into a pea-sized kernel in her head, her body raging on auto-pilot as she wrenched and tore at the door. She was loosing control... She was loosing everything...

No no nonononono!

She had never wanted Eraser Max to show up worse.

"FIVE SECONDS!"

She screamed and shook the door like a crazy animal.

"THREE SECONDS!"

She wanted to morph, to become one of her most hated enemies and rip the door off the hinges, but she didn't have to.

Muffled screams echoed in the adjacent room and there were gunshots, more screams...

The other door. The door across the room flew apart as if someone had fired a cannon at it.

And smoke filled the room.

But through this smoke Max could see a figure, a tall dark figure with black wings wearing a collar trailing the twisted and broken ends of chains. The figure grabbed the collar and it turned a molten shade of red and pulled away from them as if it were no more substantial than a handful of modeling clay.

Fang's eyes were a swirling mixture of black, midnight blue and red. The smoke boiling from the room behind him spewed out flickering cinders into the air and smoke alarms started screeching, sprinklers spewing water out onto everything.

He glared up at the Whitecoats through this indoor rain, his lips rolled back in a hateful smile that distorted his usually handsome face into a terror worthy sneer.

And he growled deep in his throat;

"Get away from my kids or you're gonna have a really BAD day!"

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

Chapter 143; Final Test

The Whitecoats stared in shock and horror at the specter before them and suddenly the hall door burst open and the Director and Omega stormed in flanked by two Wizards. One a Type Five B with wings, the other, one of the older Wizards, cloaked in black robes.

Although to Fang all the Wizards looked alike he recognized this one by its large, human like dark blue eyes. This was the Wizard that had bitten Aaron ... This was Big Hairy, still alive and well it seemed.

Fang decided to correct this vile mistake as soon as possible...

The Director shouted at the Other Whitecoats, limping stiffly around the room. "Get out of here you maggots! OUT! LEAVE THE GEN-THREES!"

The Whitecoats scurried toward the door, pushing past the Wizards and running down the hall.

The Director turned growling in her throat and pointed to Max with a rigid index finger. "It ends HERE! NOW! You ruined my plans once, the inaptitude of my staff ruined them the second time! NOW I'm taking matters into my own hands! THIS ENDS TONIGHT! ALL OF YOU FLYING FUCK-UPS WILL DIE TONIGHT!" She turned and pointed at the still screaming babies, "I WILL NOT ACCEPT THESE FAILURES! I WON'T! YOUR PRECIOUS BABIES ARE NOTHING MORE THAN GARBAGE! THEY ARE MISTAKES!" She ground her teeth and seemed to shake with rage, "THEY ARE WORTHLESS LITTLE FREAKS!"

She turned to Omega, water splattering off her chin, the flashing strobe lights on the fire detectors casting an eerie light over her face. "Kill HER last! I want her to WATCH!"

Omega gave a curt nod.

The Director took a moment to compose herself and crossed her arms over her chest. Standing stock still beside the wailing writhing forms of Max and Fang's children. She didn't even look at the babies, but instead, wiped water from her nose and jerked her chin in Fang's direction;

"Kill him."

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

Chapter 144; War

Omega let out a vengeful scream, his eyes ablaze with silver light. And he lunged at Fang.

Fang stepped back, one hand disappearing into his pocket, the other lifting and coming down on the back of Omega's neck with enough force to knock him out cold.

The Wizards stepped out of the way The Type Five B flexing its wings nervously, teeth chattering in excitement.

Big Hairy seemed to stand there, shifting on his feet in muted curiosity... Staring at the babies, nostrils flared... Smelling...

Omega rolled to his feet and turned to Fang, crouched low, hands up, equations whirring through his head as he calculated his next move.

Fang raised his feathers, his wings appearing to grow to twice their size then shrinking back as he lowered the feathers again. His left hand slipped from his pocket and he pulled out that wickedly sharp pocketknife he rarely went anywhere without, holding it tightly in his fist...

And Max's voice whispered in his head.

He can't focus on moving things ... He's allergic to salt and he has a sensitive stomach.

Glad to know you've got my back... Now, get the kids and get out.

Max ground her teeth and started pulling on the door again, intent on getting out of the room. She pulled until she couldn't pull anymore, then slammed herself against it.

The hinges screeched and the Type Five B turned and slashed at her through the broken window, clicking like a jammed copier.

So, Max grabbed its arm and twisted it, satisfied when she heard a metallic snap and wires stabbed through its Bio-Mesh skin.

The Wizard withdrew from the window then politely pulled off its mechanical arm and dropped it to the floor, then turned and watched the 'Staring Fight' between Fang and Omega.

Neither of them had moved save Omega shifting his weight from foot to foot.

The babies continued to scream, and the sprinklers gurgled to a stop, the sirens bleeping out, and floodlights clicked on.

The light acted almost like a motion and Omega's eyes for a moment unfocused and Fang lunged at him, punching him in the face with the fist that held the knife. Slicing Omega from eyebrow to chin on the right side of his face.

The skin fell open in two distinct flaps and blood gushed outward.

Omega toppled backward and righted himself with a growl, then while Fang's arm was still lowered from the blow, brought his knee up in a seemingly impossible high kick and caught Fang under the chin.

Expecting a blow to the groin Fang had rolled backward half a step, and this is what both prevented him from getting a broken neck, and opened him up to a roundhouse kick to the ribs.

The knife flew from his hand and clattered across the floor, kicking up a little rooster tail of water as it slid away.

Max threw herself against the door again and again, her eyes closed, watching the fight through Fang's eyes and trying to block out the stab of pain she felt lancing across his chest from broken ribs.

He slammed into the wall, his shoulders hunched to soften the blow, then he pushed away from the surface, keeping his arms tight to his body fists raised. He moved from side to side, trying to make Omega's eyes go unfocused again and as soon as it happened he punched him right in the mouth, splitting his lips and loosening his front teeth.

But Omega didn't seem to notice, because as soon as Fang landed his punch, Omega lashed out and kicked him hard in the stomach. An adaptation that negated the fact he couldn't focus on moving objects.

Fang stumbled back three whole steps bent double gagging his eyes seeming to bulge from his head. Then he ground his teeth and straightened himself, just in time to dodge a punch to the temple.

He brought his right fist up into Omega's stomach and for half a second he thought the jarring 'POP' he felt was one of Omega's ribs breaking, it only took him half a second to realize it hadn't been Omega's ribs, it had been his own arm.

He rolled to the left, cradling his arm to his chest and came to a crouch, chancing a look at the appendage and noticing what looked like a large knot had risen under his skin, about two inches above his right wrist.

He didn't really think anything of it, but when he looked up and saw the look of sheer terror on Max's face he realized that he was hurt.

It was then that the pain hit him, and it was then that Omega made his move.

Omega ground his teeth and as he dashed forward, scooped up the knife Fang had dropped, closing it in his fist.

Max had time to slap a scream back into her mouth as Omega and Fang collided, sailing backward through the air, crashing through a window.

A semi truck blew its horn, there was a sickening screeching thud, and Max felt a sharp, stabbing pain in the left side of her chest...

Then nothing...

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

(NOTE: I fully suggest that you go back and re-read Chapter 96 before you read the rest of this story. I just realized I had completely pulled a J.K. and only mentioned a Whiteout once, so to refresh your memory, please go back and re-read Chapter 96, THANKS!)

(The two young men you meet in this chapter are supposed to be two of my fellow soon to be interns, Jason, who always has to have a smoke break, and Will, who never goes anywhere without his Blackberry. The two of them really helped me out last year when I was sick and stuck in my room writing Part Six and I promised to put them in somewhere.)

Chapter 145; Whiteout

There were two men standing on the street corner one smoking a cigarette, the other sending text messages on his cell phone to his girlfriend and reading aloud the replies to his friend...

"Shit, she's all hot now ... 'P lin off M un Ds' ..."

His friend laughed to himself, "You're weird ... Havin Text-Sex on the street corner."

A red semi truck shot past them, kicking up a cloud of wet pavement smells as the tires rolled over it.

"WHAT THE HELL!" The cigarette smoker shrieked, "LEARN TO DRIVE!"

And as he watched the truck turned, slamming across the grassy median, skidding on the front lawn of the Science and Research Building of the University, and started blowing its annoying 'WAH-WAAAAAAAAH!' horn.

The Texter and the Cigarette Smoker, both medical students who worked across town, started running toward the building, knowing that at any minute there was going to be an explosion and people were going to need help. And as they watched a window on the fifth floor shattered... And two boys dropped out, landing in the path of the truck.

The Cigarette smoker let out a terrified scream and he heard the impact of a body against the grill of the truck, and a few seconds later said body rolled from under the truck as it continued driving, following the 'O Ring' as the road that circled campus was called.

The Texter and the Cigarette smoker dashed up, the latter quickly dialing 911, saying that some crazy trucker had just hit some kid.

The boy was dressed in a light gray jogging suit and was lying there on the ground curled on his side...

And as the Texter dropped to his knees to see if the kid was dead, the boy groaned and shifted into a sitting position, rolling his head on his neck, gently probing the cut side of his face.

Omega glared up at these two strange men, deciding they were both rather unintelligent and weren't worth the time to kill then climbed to his feet. Only to be knocked to his knees again when something hot and bitter flooded his mouth.

He hurt all over, which was a surprise, since it took a lot to hurt him and when he was through being sick he stared at his hands. Seeing that there was quite a lot of blood splattered on them, along with bile and the slimy remains of his last meal...

He groaned and forced himself to his feet, looking for his adversary. Where was 'Alpha'? Where had his dear sweet 'brother' gone now?

"Hey, hey, dude, you should sit back down! The Ambulance is coming."

Omega glared at them, shook his head, and continued walking, shuffling back toward the Science and Research Building, whimpering with every step.

"M-mom!" He called, his voice sounding more like a canine howl than a person. He ground his teeth, his legs shaking.

It felt like his insides were on fire and he sank back to the ground on his knees, coughing up more blood and a thick substance that tasted worse than anything he'd ever tasted before.

"Mom!" He called again, the sound a terrible, mournful howl.

The Director, dripping wet, stuck her head out the window and glared down at him, her fingers curling on the windowsill. "You little TWIT! WHERE IS HE!"

Omega shook his head, wanting nothing more than the tearing, scorching pain in his stomach to stop. He'd never felt pain like this before! He hated it. It made no sense. The numbers didn't add up right. Nothing made sense!

"YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO KILL HIM!"

Omega shook his head again, feeling something hot and wet starting to run from his nose as he did. "Mommy!"

Didn't she see he was hurt? That there was something wrong?

Didn't she see that something had happened to him!

"Don't 'Mommy' me you useless freak! I ORDER you to find him! And FINISH THE JOB!"

He sobbed weakly and flopped over in the wet grass his knees drawn up, arms around his stomach.

The Texter had out his phone and was filming the whole thing for police evidence. Swearing on his life that when he got home he was going to call his mother and tell her how much he loved her for being a kind and loving parent to him all his life.

* * *

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Max was clawing at her own chest, breath not seeming to come fast enough to keep her conscious.

She couldn't breathe... She couldn't feel...

She couldn't feel Fang...

She stifled a sob, her composure and control falling between her clutching fingers like drops of water.

No ... No no no no no!

FANG! FANG, ANSWER ME! ANSWER ME!

But he wouldn't answer, and she couldn't feel him...

Was this how it had been when Nudge had felt Aaron's heart stop?

This sudden absence of emotion? Of feeling?

She hadn't felt anything she could associate with death, what she'd felt hadn't been anything like when she'd felt Jeb die. This time she'd felt a tearing, ripping pain in the side of her chest, as if he'd been cut by glass or the knife Omega had picked up ... But nothing at all like what she'd felt when Jeb had died.

It was as if suddenly, she was alone. As if Fang had just left the room.

But that couldn't be true...

If she couldn't feel him, that must mean he was dead...

And she then felt more angry than she had felt in a long time.

She was even angrier than when Iggy had died. More so that when the Wizards had grabbed the Gasman... This wasn't fair... All three of her boys?

Iggy, The Gasman and now Fang!

No ... No no no no

"NO!"

And the next thing she knew she was pounding herself against the door again, once ... Twice, three, four, five...

And the door gave a terrible screech as the bolts in the hinges tore free from the concrete and it fell off the hinges.

The Director was standing by the window, arms crossed a bright, condescending smile on her face...

And it was then that Max realized something was wrong ... The room was too quiet.

Her eyes flicked to the three plastic bassinets and she realized her babies were no longer crying... They were quiet... TOO quiet...

There was no decision, no plan, no thinking of any kind.

Max looked at the bassinets, realized her babies weren't crying. And then had the Director pinned to the floor and was sitting on her chest, cursing, punching and bouncing the woman's blonde head against the tile like a hairy rubber ball.

The Type Five B screeched and lunged at Max, grabbing her by the hair and hauling her off the Director. Then politely chucked Max out the window and followed her.

The Director climbed to her feet slowly, feeling angry beyond all reason. She paused a moment and looked down into the cradles her lip rolling up in disgust, then she turned and stormed out of the room.

Leaving the three very empty cribs behind.

* * *

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Nudge was sitting rigid in the driver's seat her eyes wide fingers turned to claws, digging into the steering wheel. "I hate driving, I hate it I HATE IT!"

Aaron nodded and petted the back of her head, "You did fine, you did fine, Nudge. It's OK!"

Fang stuck his head in the passenger side window his eyes dull and yet darkly intense, "Nudge, you probably just saved the world, you know that?"

She glared at him out of the corner of her eye, "BY WHAT! RUNNING OMEGA OVER!"

Fang nodded and leaned out the window, clinging to a bracket shaped bar on the side of the truck, his right arm held to his chest, wings pinned back.

(Quick Note... ] THAT is a bracket.)

He no longer felt any pain, in fact, he felt very little. And yet, he was aware of everything. The air as it rushed past him, whipping his hair out of his bruised face, the rustle of his feathers as the wind tickled through them. The scream of the truck's tires against the pavement...

He could smell everything, the rain that had fallen a few hours before, the exhaust from cars on the interstate, the truck's exhaust. He could hear the gasoline sloshing around in the tanker behind him.

And he could sense everyone... He could feel the whir of their thoughts whispering through his own head.

It was terrifying, and yet, he wasn't frightened by it. He didn't feel anything. He wasn't even angry any more. He was empty, he was hollow. All he wanted to do now was circle back to the Science and Research Building, kill a few whitecoats, snap Omega's neck, if it hadn't been snapped already when Nudge ran him over. Then maybe, maybe he'd ... He'd do whatever he came to do... He couldn't really remember anymore...

Something had happened when Omega knocked him out the window.

He'd felt a funny little pop in his head, and everything had evaporated. He'd felt this sensation before a few times, but never to this extent... Never this numbness...

The answer was so clear now.

All he had to do was kill all the minds he felt! That was it, just kill all the minds that he felt, and it was all over! Then he could do ... Then he ... could ... Could...

fang answer me... answer me

A soft, breath of a voice tickled in his head.

Who was this voice? What did they want?

He was puzzled by it. This odd, emotional voice...

He shook his head, feeling an uncomfortable pressure behind his eyes. He didn't like this. He liked the numbness better. The numbness where all he had to do was kill those minds.

But then emotions started pouring into his head from an outside source.

Rage, mourning, loss...

My babies! MY BABIES!

"NICK!"

Aaron leaned out the window, grabbing his brother by the shirt, holding him tightly to keep the young man from falling to his death.

"Oh, GOD! AARON WHAT'S WRONG!" Nudge shrieked, still driving the truck along, looping back toward the 'School'.

Fang was limp, his head fallen back on his neck and Aaron prayed he didn't slip, if he were to slip now Fang would fall and be run over by the truck's rear tires.

"NICK! NICK SNAP OUT OF IT!"

Aaron didn't even need to touch him to know what was happening. What was going on in his brother's head, he'd experienced it once himself, while he and Nudge were escaping the 'knock off school'.

When he'd had that gun in his hand in the back seat of that car. Everything had seemed to disappear except the urge to kill, to kill as quickly and efficiently as possible, every mind he came across.

It was called a Whiteout. Named for the urge to make everything clean, to exterminate everything that wasn't 'good' that didn't fall into a certain set of guidelines and ideas that at the moment of the Whiteout created the barrier between 'good' and 'evil'.

If one were to have a Whiteout at say, a football game, everyone rooting for the opposite team would fall on the 'evil' side of this sudden drastic distinction.

It was a terrible thing that was a curse of their genetic make up.

Animals would Whiteout frequently. Attacking anything that was different or that broke a 'rule'.

And the two-percent 'animal' DNA they'd been recombined with included this trait.

Birds did it, wolves did it, every animal did it, and occasionally those who were one-hundred percent human did it, drawing on the roots of their evolution, or drawing on the demon within if one so chose to believe that way.

Fang was having a Whiteout, and if he wasn't broken from this trance he would end up doing the same thing their mother had done. Massacring everyone who got in the way. Using his unmatchable strength and agility as 'Alpha' to tear the people limb from limb.

The Edge serum, years ago had changed their mother's DNA, introduced a chemical into her system, which heightened her senses, and made her more susceptible to Whiteouts. And this also gave the Director what she'd been trying for years to perfect.

A promoter gene that gave the subject recombined with it, the ability to morph.

In effect, Kitty had been the key to creating the Erasers, and the splice that gave Nudge the ability to go 'Harpy'. It also gave Kitty and now Fang the ability to 'Morph' into Alphas...

Terrifying, fearless, soulless, cold machines of death... Stronger and faster than any other experiment known.

"FANG!"

Aaron shook him, praying that his brother didn't slip free of his torn shirt and become a grease spot on the road.

Dark eyes snapped open and Fang's left arm swung forward, tangling in the sleeve of Aaron's jacket. He made a strangled sound and pulled himself up, his right arm dangling crooked at his side. For half a second his eyes connected with Aaron's and the truth Aaron's ability allowed him to see flashed in their minds... then he was shouting.

"Circle the building again, and when you pass the front doors, crash this sucker right into it!"

"WE'LL BLOW UP!" Aaron shrieked.

"FIGURE SOMETHING OUT!" His eyes were dark, the color of mourning and he bared his teeth, "JUST MAKE SURE YOU BLOW THAT FREAKIN' BUILDING TO HELL!" And he snapped out his wings, catching the air and zooming straight up and out of sight.

Aaron leaned back into the truck and punched the dashboard, "WHY THE HELL DOES HE DO THAT!"

Nudge rolled her eyes, "I've got a plan, you just go now, figure out if anyone's in the building ... Like experiments or something, get them out. I'll circle the building again, then we're roasting marshmellows, got it?"

Aaron nodded, kissed her quickly on the cheek and opened the door, lunging out and into the air with a frightened little shout when the wind snatched him upward. "THAT FELT WEEEEEEEEEIIIRRRRD!"

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

Chapter 146; The World Shall End

Max felt the back of her head rake the windowsill as the Wizard threw her out and she grunted, momentarily stunned. She snapped out her wings, flapping to keep from breaking herself when she landed.

She saw Omega lying curled on his side in the grass a puddle of blood and bile beside his head.

He wasn't moving, but Max wasn't entirely sure he was dead either. Not yet anyway.

But she couldn't see Fang anywhere.

The Type Five B flew at her screeching and Max growled, balling her hands into fists and screaming the first thing that popped into her head.

"My babies! MY BABIES!" And she attacked the Wizard, gouging at its eyes and tearing at its wings.

She was more than angry. She was crazy with grief.

Tears blinded her but she didn't care. She didn't need to see to clobber the Wizard. She didn't need to see to tear it apart with bare hands.

She didn't need to see to kick its no good robotic ass!

She would save the world. She would save the world even if it killed her. And she would do it gladly. Max was done. She was ready to die now, just so she could be with her babies again.

Because what was the world if her babies weren't in it?

Her beautiful little babies.

There was a sharp crack and a bullet grazed Max's left shoulder, raking upward and barely missing her wing. She turned her head and saw the Director standing outside not far from Omega, who was still lying there quite still, dying.

The woman took aim again and Max pulled the Wizard forward.

The bullet smashed into the back of the Wizard's head and lodged.

It twitched feebly and Max threw it, trying to crush the Director. Trying to end her miserable rotten life.

The Director dodged, rolling in the grass, her gun flying from her grip and skidding across the pavement.

"WAH-WAAAAAAAAAAH!"

And that same truck from earlier shot around the corner.

Max saw a familiar face in the driver's seat and had she not been so enraged she would have laughed.

Nudge had her tongue poked out the corner of her mouth, and when she saw the Director's gun slide into her path she swerved the truck to run it over.

The truck straddled the gun and drove on, making its final circle of the campus.

"HEY! HEY OVER HERE! OVER HERE!" A strange voice shouted.

Max turned her head and saw two men standing on a street corner a block away waving at her and pointing at the ground but Max ignored them, scanning the city.

She saw police cars and firetrucks a few miles away, zooming toward them and she gnashed her teeth.

Let them ALL see, it'll all be over in a minute anyway...

Max turned and saw Aaron swoop low over the building then pull up and zoom past her, "You'd better get out of here! Nudge's gonna blow the place up!"

But Max just hung there in the air sobbing uncontrollably.

The Director was hobbling down the sidewalk, into the street, and Max's eyes followed her. Feeling an unrivaled anger pounding in her chest, in her head ... In her whole body.

This woman ... That BITCH was responsible for it all.

It was her fault...

That woman had taken her babies away...

She saw something dark out of the corner of her eye and she curled in on herself, diving at the Director as the woman stopped in the street and picked up her gun.

The anger and hatred pounding through Max doubled and she turned her head a fraction of an inch, seeing Fang swoop in beside her, his face a grim, bruised mask.

She didn't ask where he'd been, or why he hadn't answered her, she didn't care. He was here now, and that's what mattered.

They would go down together. They would go down as one.

He was here with her at the end of the world, and that's all she cared about.

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

Chapter 147; End of the Ride

The Director stumbled backward, her stiff awkward legs carrying her at an odd angle as she brought the gun up, pointing it right at Max's head.

She ground her teeth her finger tightening on the trigger.

This is the end, it'll finally be over! It'll FINALLY be OVER!

And then an arm snaked around her neck and she felt thick, super dense muscles coiling into a fist, and Omega whispered two words into her ear.

"Bye, Mom..."

Something cold raked across her throat and she flinched, the gun jerked in her hand and she felt Omega sagging, pulling her down, just as the coldness from whatever he'd pulled across her windpipe turned quite hot and she tried to turn her head as she fell. But found it was nearly impossible...

The world began to fade and everything below her chin went numb as the back of her head hit the sidewalk.

She saw Omega's face, torn and bloody as he rolled onto his back coughing weakly, blood spilling from the corners of his mouth. His eyes fluttered for a moment, his hands curling into fists, and then he slowly relaxed.

She saw a growing dark stain spreading outward from her and then everything was gone ... Melted, and nothing mattered...

Blackout...

* * *

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Max saw what was happening, she saw Omega climbing to his feet, stumbling toward the Director...

And she saw Fang's satanically sharp pocketknife gleaming in his hand.

Omega moved quite quickly for someone who was dying, wrapping an arm around the Director's neck ... Then sliced her head nearly clean from her shoulders.

The gun spat fire in the Director's hands. Hands that were already dead but didn't know it, and Max felt a sharp pain tear over the back of her left shoulder, gouging deep into the thick muscles of her left wing.

She gasped from the pain, realizing it felt oddly muted and pulled straight up, just as the big red semi-truck started its kamikaze eighty-mile an hour race toward the Snake's head.

Nudge grinned at her handiwork as she leapt from the cab of the truck, admiring how she'd stacked what felt like hundreds of dirty-magazines on top of the acceleration pedal and aimed the truck straight at the building's main entrance.

She beat her wings hard, shooting away from the truck, seeing Aaron hovering a few hundred feet above her, two blocks to her left.

She flew to him grinning, "GET READY!"

She saw Max and Fang flying straight at them and realized...

They weren't carrying the babies...

And Max looked as if she could tear herself apart in her agony.

Nudge covered her mouth and tears welled in her eyes.

"HEY! YOU BIRD-PEOPLE! DOWN HERE!" Two men were shouting at them.

"THEY'RE NOT BIRD-PEOPLE DIP-SHIT! THEY'RE ANGLES!"

The Police rounded the corner three blocks away lights flashing, sirens wailing, and the truck crashed into the front of the building, plowing all the way to its core before it exploded.

Flames shot four-hundred feet into the air, windows shattered, car alarms went off and the resounding BOOM echoed so loud Max wondered if maybe she'd ever be able to hear again.

She hung there hands curled into fists, tears rolling down her face and she started sobbing again. Unable to do anything else but cry and try to stay in the air as that terrible pain in her left wing gnawed at her, and a sudden weakness pulled at her insides.

For half a second she felt incredible vertigo. As if she were spinning head first down a dark tunnel... And then something brushed her leg and the feeling was gone. Replaced by a hollow sense of dread.

She looked down and saw Fang falling limply below her. She didn't have enough time to lunge after him, they weren't that high off the ground.

He crashed into a large tree, the limbs breaking and snapping as he tumbled through them and he hit the ground hard in a bent, lifeless heap.

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

Chapter 148; Never be the Same

Max landed in a run, stumbling and falling to her knees beside him, bawling so hard no sound escaped her. She was incapable of making sounds any longer. She grabbed Fang by the shoulders, rolling him onto his stomach petrified of what she would find when she did.

Aaron and Nudge were beside her then, their voices drowned out by a high-pitched ringing in Max's ears that sounded to her like the shrill screams of her babies.

She felt sick thinking that, and she felt sick when she saw Fang's left wing. Crumpled and broken beneath him, a large gaping bullet hole torn through the thick muscles that enabled him to fly.

Blood was everywhere, staining the grass, staining the sidewalk, on his hands, his face...

She was shaking her head from side to side in negation, refusing to believe what she was seeing. Refusing to accept the travesty and down right ugliness of what had happened to Fang's beautiful wings.

Wings that her beautiful babies would have grown if they were still there...

She put out her hands, trying to somehow smudge the false image she must be seeing because it just couldn't be real. It just couldn't.

It was his left wing ... The wing that had been injured a seeming eternity ago.

It hadn't been the same since his first accident, and now... Now it was over. Max could tell just by looking at it, how bent and distorted it looked, that he would never be able to fly again. It was too much... The bones were broken, the feathers bent and crimped.

It reminded her of a raven she'd seen lying dead by the side of the road so long ago and the thought made her sick, made her crazy.

She wailed, bending over him, cradling his head as if trying to protect him, make it all better, heal the unholy wounds he'd unfairly been dealt. But she knew it wouldn't work.

It was over, her dark angel was hurt, her babies were gone and there was no way to fix it...

It was all over...

One of the strange men was beside her, shouting to his friend but Max didn't hear it, that shrill shrieking was still tearing her head in two.

She couldn't bear that sound anymore. She couldn't... It wasn't fair, it just was NOT fair! She was used up, she was done... DONE!

And then someone grabbed her roughly, turning her around and shoving a bundled black cloak into her arms.

"Lady, take your kids!"

Her stomach lurched and her eyes turned frantically to the three little faces protruding from within the bundle. A sheet of paper fluttered to the ground as the blonde little body threw it but Max ignored it. Nothing existed but what she was seeing before her. Wrapped in a Wizard's cloak.

Epiphany and Iris were on either side of their brother, curled to his shoulders, tiny little hands petting at him, trying to calm his ear piercing cries.

"Oh, my babies!" And Max burst into renewed tears, pulling her babies to her chest and hugging them, assuring herself that they were alive, alive, whole, unharmed...

"Oh shit..." Nudge said under her breath...

Max swiveled her head and saw the absolute last thing she expected standing not twenty feet away in straight, perfectly formed ranks...

Rows upon rows of evil little children...

The Immaculae...

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

Chapter 149; Immaculate Rejection

None of the children moved, they stood completely still staring at Max with a sickeningly blank expression on their faces.

Aaron shifted uncomfortably, trying to put Nudge behind him to protect her.

Max sat there staring, confused and repulsed.

They were just little kids. None of them over four years old...

How could such small, innocent children be made to cause so much suffering?

And how was she going to stop them from continuing to do so?

She climbed slowly to her feet, handing the bundle containing her babies to Aaron and Nudge, and she slowly strode forward, rubbing her sweaty hands on the legs of her pants.

She couldn't defend herself against them, they could read her mind. They knew what she was thinking, how she would react... They could kill her with one glance.

What else could she do? Was there anything else she could do?

Her body tensed, anticipating the death-thought to come and take her away. But the longer she stood there, the more she wished something would happen. She felt as if she were going to die from the inaction. Why wouldn't they MOVE already!

Licking her lips and shifting uncomfortably on her feet she spoke, in a firm, yet unsteady voice; "W-What do you want?"

They moved as one unit. Turning dark eyes to her and when they spoke they used many voices.

"I want my mommy..."

Max shivered. Terrified.

She'd faced down Erasers, Flyboys, Evil Scientists and Wizards, all of which were scarier looking than the little kids before her. And yet, she'd never been more frightened by any adversary... She stared out over the crowd of them awed by how many she saw, and how many of them looked sick. Starving, their thin bodies merely skeletons with skin stretched over the bones.

It was unfair, it wasn't right that the Director had made them like this. Their brains so far in advance of their bodies...

They were still only kids. And little kids didn't know how to take care of themselves.

Max couldn't look at them, how small and sick, cold and hungry, and not feel guilty. She couldn't look at them without feeling sorry for them. Without wanting to feed them and kiss their hurts away.

She couldn't look at them without seeing her own children.

Even though they were the enemy. It was the same compassion that flooded her at that moment that had over taken her years before and allowed Ari to join them... The same compassion that wouldn't allow her to kill.

It was also this compassion that saved her life...

The Immaculae saw her, felt her compassion, her guilt, and filed her away in their brains as 'good' and therefore not a threat...

Max stood there heaving for breath, her mind racing, her near overwhelming maternal instinct pushing thoughts that moments before would have astounded her, into her mind. The school was gone. Genotexicon was gone... And now all the experiments were her responsibility...

She had to help them, they would die if she didn't, and Max couldn't have that kind of guilt on her conscience. She wouldn't be able to sleep at night... She wouldn't be able to continue to call herself a good person if she didn't try and save them all...

Her heart wasn't that of a human, decietful and easily corrupted, it wasn't that of a bird, high flying and care free...

Max had the heart of a hero. She had the strength and the courage to try... And the unfaltering, stubborn determination to succeed...

This is what Jeb/Voice had meant years ago by saying that she was so much different from Fang. Fang had a hero's heart, yes... But he was too easily corrupted by power... To easily won over by his brutal, animal instincts.

Max was not.

And then there was a soft noise and Type Five B's started landing around them, standing calmly behind each Immaculae.

Belladonna, sitting on one of the rocket powered brooms landed sofly at the head of this new group and scowled at Max.

She was a tall girl with pale grayish skin and ashy blonde hair. Her eyes though had no color, jet black orbs in her head and as she glared at Max two things happened.

She shivered, cowed by the gall of the bird girl before her to even attempt to stand against one hundred Immaculae, her mouth came open a little, exposing a mouth full of jagged shark like teeth and slits... GILLS opened up on her neck then flattened themselves again.

She didn't speak, instead she smiled demonically at the babies, mounted her broom and cast Max an 'I'll get you my pretties' look as she shot off into the darkening sky.

The Type Five B's crouched, picked up the Immaculae they were standing beside, and sprang into the air their wings barely making a sound as they followed the shrinking orange pin-prick of Belladonna's broom.

Max shivered again, shaken and astounded by what she'd just done, and yet, sadness swept over her because she knew it wasn't over.

It would never be over... The world would always be on the verge of destruction. Blowing up the Snake's head hadn't done anything. It hadn't saved the world any more than it had ended it.

All it had done was bought them more time. The world would never truly be safe. Just less dangerous...

Max stifled a sob and turned slowly, seeing Fang still sprawled on the ground, but his eyes were open, staring up at her weakly in approval a piece of paper clutched in his hand.

Max dropped to her knees beside him, petting the side of his face, telling him that it was all going to be OK.

One of the strange new men was bending over him, holding something tightly over the bullet wound on his wing. Whispering that everything was fine and an ambulance was on its way.

Fang gave a weak smile and pushed the paper he'd been holding toward Max with his fingertips. "You ... You won't believe this," His voice was barely a whisper.

Max hesitantly took the paper and quickly read it, staring in awe at the familiar handwriting, her stomach churning unpleasantly when she realized what it meant....

"Dear Nick... I'm so proud of you... I know in my heart that if your mother were still alive she would be as happy and proud as I am right now.

"Time and sickness has changed me, warped me into a monster and I rarely have a moment of rationality any more among these screaming demons in my head. But I have enough rationality to do this one small favor for you ... And get your kids away from that madwoman.

"Tell Aaron I'm sorry for what I did to him, that I'll regret it until I die. The only solace I take from it is that they were able to get your blood into him.

"I've learned quite a lot in here. And it's taken some time but I finally got all the pieces...

"When you were hurt all those years ago you were given a blood transfusion from two of your closest friends... This wouldn't have done anything to your DNA had your mother not been who she was.

"Something in your mother's blood was a kind of key if you will. A key which made it possible to join certain strands of DNA rather easily. Because of this, because you Aaron and David carry her DNA in you as well as mine, you got this ability too.

"Which is why you took on some of your friends' skills instead of just your own.

"When Aaron was hurt in the car accident during his surgery the doctors gave him blood from three people. Yourself, Nudge, and Max.

"Now I bet you're wondering what made your blood so special if you and Aaron share the same bonding ability... Well, your blood had something Aaron's didn't. Something that Max and Nudge didn't have...

"When YOU were hurt all those years ago you were given blood from Max ... And Iggy.

"And Iggy's blood was the key... Iggy was the last of his 'breed' if you will. The last living specimine of the Phoenotexicon Aves...

"And I believe if you paid attention to your friend, and the name of the company mentioned above you'll find the hidden connection that plagued me for so long...

"Phoenotexicon ... Phoenix...

"Your friend was a master of fire and explosives, am I right?

"The Phoenotexicon Aves were famous for that. They created a unique chemical in their bodies that could be released at will, usually through special glands under the wings and in the hands, that is harmless unless it is mixed with sweat, but once its mixed with sweat it causes anything its put on to burst into flames.

"The combination of chemicals that allow this to occur in the body counteracts that of the Type-Fives. It stops the transition in its tracks, killing the virus that mutates the DNA.

"This is the only reason I can peacefully go. Because I know Aaron won't turn into a monster like me. Because your friend, years ago saved your life...

"It's giving me a headache to think about it, so I'll leave you like this. Leave your beautiful children in safety, because they are so precious and special even the monster in me couldn't bear to see that woman hurt them.

"I love you Nick. Tell Aaron and David that I love them also, you kids are my life. You are the reason I fought to save the world from monsters like me...

"All my heart's love, congratulations and admiration... Bernard Victor Hutchinson."

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

Chapter 150; Closure

Max hated the smell of hospitals. She hated hospitals ... She hated the NEED to be IN a hospital, but here she was, for the third time in her life pacing around, her stomach in knots because Fang was in surgery.

But this hospital was odd. It was a 'teaching hospital' every one of the doctors was either a student or a teacher.

And NONE of them had even so much as called the police yet, saying that there was a group of winged people in the waiting room. Including three tiny winged babies.

None of the doctors or nurses had said anything, even if they did happen to see feathers. They kept their mouths closed and eyes averted.

What happens in the teaching hospital, stays in the teaching hospital.

It was a code of honor and experience.

The doctors currently operating on Fang had agreed never to breathe a word... As long as they were able to ask as many questions as they wanted.

Max thought it was a small price to pay, especially now that there were no more Whitecoats. And the doctors hadn't said they had to answer the questions...

Igneous snuffled indignantly against Max's shoulder and she couldn't help but smile at the sound. That was his 'I'm hungry, please feed me?' sound. An adorable little urgent grunting that Max just loved to hear.

She settled down in a chair in a corner of the waiting room and draped her jacked over her shoulder for privacy as she fed her son, petting his soft little wings and making calm chirping sounds at him.

He grunted contentedly and curled into the crook of her arm.

Iris and Eipihany were asleep, facing each other, nestled down amid soft blankets in Nudge and Aaron's arms.

Max watched as Nudge and Aaron whispered back and forth, gently touching the other with hesitant fingertips.

Aaron looked confused, teary, and Nudge was calm, stroking the side of his face, trailing her fingers down his arm.

Then Aaron would shake his head and whisper, "I thought he was dead... I thought they'd killed him..."

And Nudge would shush him and stroke his face.

One of the two men from the street corner, The Texter, stepped into the room in surgical scrubs, he shut the door and shifted uncomfortably on his feet.

"He's out, that's the important thing, he's out and we were able to save his ... Wing ... But I don't know if he'll ever fly again. The bone was broken in four different places. We had to put in a few plates and some pins, and the tissue damage ... Was extensive..."

Max nodded, her stomach churning, "Can I see him?"

Doctor Texter nodded, "It might be best to leave the kids here, they might get scared."

Max nodded and composed herself, leaning over to hand Igneous to Nudge but the little boy opened his eyes wide and held out his hands pleadingly, begging Max not to leave him.

And she couldn't. She physically couldn't.

She'd been stretched too thin and she couldn't bear to be apart from her babies. Especially Igneous. The mere memory of that Whitecoat holding him up, saying how the boy was going to be 'Put Down' was enough to draw tears from her.

Seeing her sweet, innocent little babies put through anything like she'd gone through as a child traumatized her to the point of hysterics.

She couldn't live without them, she would shrivel up and die if something happened to them.

She loved them with all her heart and soul.

And Doctor Texter saw this in her face because he nodded and motioned down the hall. "Please don't let them make a lot of noise. We have other patients recovering also."

Max nodded and held Igneous close to her chest, feeling him curl up so small and tight against her he felt like a little doll in her arms.

Fang was in a room by himself, lying on his right side, his left wing bound tight to his body with a series of elaborately coiled bandages. There were pillows behind him, propping him up so should he move he wouldn't roll over and injure himself further. His right arm had been put in a cast and tubes or wires seemed to be attached to every other available portion of skin.

His eyes were dark and glassy, and to Max he was lying much too still. She sat by the bed and gently took his hand, giving it a squeeze. "How are you feeling?"

He glanced lazily up at her and his mouth opened to speak, but before any sound came out his eyes fluttered shut for a few minutes.

Max scanned Nudge and Aaron's faces, then saw Iris and Epiphany were gazing down at their father, wings twitching anxiously.

Epiphany made a soft mewling sound and her small little arms went out to Fang, her large brown eyes filling with tears. And when her little mouth opened she made a small sound, an infantile little chirp and Aaron moved as if his mind were being controlled, maybe it was... He leaned forward and lie the child on the bed with her father.

Fang's eyes came open blinking down at Epiphany then he smiled weakly and lifted his left hand, resting it on her back below her wings.

Epiphany lifted her wings, beating them then nestling down with a little sigh, tangling her little fist in the blankets.

Iris made an 'I'm going to cry!' sound and reached for her father also and Nudge gave Max a pleading look.

As if to answer her unvoiced question Max lie Igneous on the bed beside his sister.

Nudge nodded and gently lowered Iris down beside them.

Everything was still for close to five minutes then Fang turned to Max his voice broken and froggish a mournful kind of understanding darkening his eyes. "When they get older ... You gotta teach 'em to fly where I can see 'em... Where I can watch..."

Max nodded, her throat closing off and she leaned forward, pressing a kiss to his lips, "I will... I will, I promise."

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

(NOTE; For all you people out there who just HAVE to have a real ending and weren't satisfied with the last chapter. Namely PAUL and my brother...)

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

Epilogue; All Shades of Gray

He was hovering somewhere between sleep and awareness. Eyes closed, lips parted, soft breathy sounds escaping him. His body, even after all these years, was still on Watch.

He was lying on his stomach, his head turned to the right, his right arm dangling over the edge of the bed into space, his fingers relaxed, the scars on his wrist and arm faded a near translucent silvered pink.

He was aware of the presence in the bed with him, a soft but well muscled leg draped over his, a hand lying just under his left.

The whole house was quiet in the darkness. Even the snow falling outside was silent.

He lie there listening to the sounds of his own breath, finally believing that he indeed, did snore. Though nowhere near as loudly as she'd claimed. But he knew by morning he would have forgotten those sounds and would go back to arguing with her when she would poke him playfully in the ribs and say that he sounded like an ocean liner.

It was here, in this semi-conscious place somewhere deep in the recesses of his mind that he became aware of a soft tingling on the back of his neck, a prickling of the little hairs on his arms, and a lifting of the small feathers on his wings.

Someone was watching him...

But he lie very still, not reacting to this sensation. He continued breathing, knowing he would forget the sound of his own snoring as soon as he shook himself fully into consciousness.

He felt a soft little tug on his hand and his brain awoke, sending electric like impulses down his nerves, cracking open one bleary, sleep clouded blue eye.

He felt another little tug

He grunted, acknowledging that he'd felt the gentle pulling on his index and middle fingers and was now awake ... Or partially awake. His eye drifted closed again, because in the darkness of the room, having his eyes open did very little good.

"Daddy?"

A faint, hushed, frightened little voice.

He sighed and pried his eyes open, blinking out at the darkness, shifting his head against the pillow. "Wha?"

Three little shadows loomed darker than the gray of the room. All huddled together, all trembling with fear.

"W-we had a b-bad dream..."

He sighed, a groan really and hefted himself into a sitting position.

The leg that had been draped over his moved and the other occupant of the bed came awake. "What is it? Is something wrong?" Her voice was sleep slurred, groggy and faint but he heard her just the same.

He rubbed his face with both hands, yawning into his palms, then scratched at the back of his head. He stretched, still watching the three tiny figures before him then folded back the blankets and one by one lifted their shivering bodies into the bed; One little baby ... Two little baby ... Three little baby...

But he knew they weren't really babies anymore. They were nearly five years old.

He yawned again and rolled onto his right side, pulling the blankets up over his shoulders and tucking them under each little chin. Then settled himself back onto the pillow, releasing a sigh. Willing himself to sink back into that half-asleep place he'd been a few moments before.

"Daddy?" A voice, a mere whisper, but loud since the child was so close to his ear.

He grunted to let the boy know he was listening.

"Tell us a story?"

A giggle, a very girly sounding giggle from the woman across the bed, "Yeah, Fang, tell us a story?"

He sighed again and shook himself awake enough to recall something worthy of calling a 'story' that wouldn't frighten his children or turn into something novelesque like one of his books. He peered across the bed, seeing four sets of eyes trained on him in the darkness, all shining and attentive.

And his mind started fading back, years and years before when he was barely fifteen. Then he started speaking, in a hushed voice, his eyes closing, conjuring up memories as fresh and new feeling as if they'd happened merely a day before.

"I was standing on the sidewalk looking up the side of a big building, trying to ignore all of the noise from the street behind me, cars, people shouting ... But through all that chaos I could still hear him way up there, on the top floor. I could hear the wild in him ... I could see it in him, and he could see it me ... And that was enough-"

He remembered the falcon, the look in his golden eyes, the fury at being spied on like some kind of zoo attraction. He'd felt that fury himself as he'd walked across the street and back to the park where everyone was waiting for him.

He remembered the face she'd made at him. That pleasantly angry face that she only made at him...

He remembered the sound of big wings in the darkness, and the air as it rushed through his feathers, each one wired directly into his nervous system, and the currents they caught sent waves of tingling pleasure rushing through every cell of his body... Through his very soul...

And then he was flying again ... By God, was he flying...

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

AUTHOR'S NOTE; The phone conversation I had with Paul when he finished reading this Fic.

My cellphone rings, 'Elaphantine' my ringtone blasts right in the middle of the library stillness and I jerk the phone from my pocket, answering before the librarian sees I didn't turn my phone off. "Hello?"

"It's over? It's OVER, just like that? Wuh-what-thuh-hell! NORA, I HATE YOU!"

"God?" I love my sense of scarcasm/humor sometimes, even if it is wasted on Paul.

"Your fic! You just ended it all sudden! What happens after? What about the Gasman? Is he dead? You didn't say he was dead! You didn't say! AND you didn't say what happened to Angel and the Fledges or Iggy's body! What happened to the Bernard Wizard? What about the Pants Code? COME ON, you've got to give me something! You're givin' me literary blue-balls!"

"I don't want to hear anything about your balls, Paul, blue or no."

"Well, what happens next?"

"They all live happily ever after until they die."

"I don't care about that, I mean the story!"

And about that time I get a text message from my brother which read, 'WTF, H! NO ND? Y U do th! :'('

Apparently I'd made a mistake sending the last three chapters to them when both of them read at like a hundred miles a minute!

"Cripes, Paul, I'm writing another story, but I'm right in the middle of studying for a test. Which would you rather me do, get my doctorate or work on FanFiction? PLEASE, just ... Go work on your book, and know as soon as you get it published I'm writing FanFiction on it! I will be the first person to write FanFiction about your book, I swear it..."

"Fine ... But no slash OK? It's bad enough you wrote slash Fics with Erin the other night ... She scared me to death."

(Conversation disolves into a rant about how I'm contaminating his girlfriend and how she's become a dominatrix and is scaring him, even though I think he secretly enjoys it.)

So, there you have it, The Wings of Wrath is NOT finished! I'm writing sequels to finish the story I'm open to suggestions and input, so, here's to hoping!

Coming Soon! Angel and the Fledges and A Bitter Wind . BecauseI just don't know when to stop!)

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

(NOW, for your reading pleasure... A Preview of The Wings of Wrath prequel; Big Sky.)

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

For a moment, he stood there staring shocked, horrified, and enraged by what he saw huddled in the cage before him.

It was a boy, fourteen years, two months and fifteen days old, his hair was brown, ruler straight and a mess of knots and sweat. He was terribly thin, his bones seeming to jut proudly beneath his skin, giving him a sharp, angular look. His wings looked too large, the white feathers dull and unhealthy, seeming to clump together and yet come apart at the same time.

He wore only a pair of pale blue shorts that looked not to have been washed in the whole extent of time the boy had been locked in this hellhole.

But when sunken, yet horribly large dark blue eyes pierced the curtain of dirty, unkempt hair they screamed outward with madness and all Bernard could think was a single word.

Disease...

And just looking into his son's bruised, near imaciated face, seeing the pain and fear in those eyes tore a scream from him, and in the next instant the boy in the cage was thrashing around in a panic. His mouth hanging open far too widely his thin bony hands tearing at the bars of the too small cage, his sick thin wings beating against his confinements, feathers flying...

Bernard didn't know what to do... Didn't know how to calm the child... Didn't know how to start.

When he was a very young boy, his mother had kept parakeets in a cage by the window. When the birds had gotten terribly frightened his mother had thrown a towel over the cage and the birds had calmed down.

But there was no towel now... No sheets...

And if the child in the cage, if his son was not calmed down quickly he would be come so terribly, so intensely frightened he would have a heart attack and die, just like the parakeets had the night of the tornado...

Bernard searched frantically, tearing through cabinets for something... ANYTHING... But there was nothing but terrifying implements of torture in those cabinets. Nothing but tubing, syringes files and paper surgical gowns...

Things that would only increase the boy's terror...

So he did the only thing that, at the moment, seemed rational... He unlocked the cage and dumped the boy out into the floor.

His head bounced against the tile and his wings opened hitting each wall, the ceiling, the floor, as he beat them, feathers flying around the room like snow flakes.

He scrambled, trying to climb to his feet, but his legs shook and he fell every time, seeming to flop around like a dying pigeon...

It was ugly to watch, ugly to witness, but Bernard could only press himslf against the wall and stare because he knew to touch his own son now would be to drive the boy over the edge into madness.

So he merely stood there watching, his eyes wide, wondering if there would be anything he could do after the child was calmer. Wondering if there was any hope for this boy outside of a cage...

Captivity was all he'd ever known, would he be able to live in the real world? Or would the mere sight of it kill him...

Wings suddenly folded and the boy crawled quickly into the corner and huddled there under a counter, silent, shaking as if he were having a seizure, his eyes wide and unblinking, mouth open wide sucking in whooshing breath after whooshing breath, hands clawing at his own throat...

And then, blessedly, he sagged forward and was still. His thin chest heaving, eyes locked on Bernard's own.

For a moment it felt as though some kind of connection passed between them, some kind of bond...

But then it was gone and Bernard realized the full scope and futility of his actions...

The boy didn't know who he was... The boy thought he was the enemy...

.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._.-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-._ .-'*'-.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

HEY ALL! Nora, here! I just wanted to update this with Previews for the Sequels! Just like I said I would! So, here, without any further adeu, Previews for TWoW's Sequels!

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

ANGEL AND THE FLEDGES;

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Ember shrieked in horror and was on her feet, running after the white slash that was Angel's wings shouting.

"DON'T GO! DON'T GO! PLEASE! I NEED YOU!" She took to the air, flapping hard and fast, trying to keep up with Angel. Trying to stay with the only person in the world who loved her, who could possibly take care of her. "I don't want to be Wizard food!"

Angel paused mid-flight, and turned, hovering her arms crossed over her chest, her blue eyes rimmed with tears.

Ember's arms were out, begging, and she flew right into Angel, knocking the larger girl spinning before she was able to regain stability.

Sobs, seemingly wrenched from Ember's very heart were muffled by Angel's shoulder and thoughts whispered through her little red head.

Don't leave me... Don't leave me too. I don't want to be alone... Who'll take care of me? I'm sorry, I'M SORRY! I PROMISE I WON'T EVER back talk you again... I PROMISE!

Angel's indifferent grip tightened lovingly and she pressed a kiss to the top of Ember's head. Smiling, her eyes somehow disturbingly proud that Ember, the weakest link in the flock had broken and come after her... It was a testament to the child's loyalty.

Everything Angel did had a purpose, a plan behind it. Everything she said was a test, everything she felt and demanded from her flock was all part of an elaborate plan. A plan that would keep most of them alive in the fight to come... Whenever it decided to come.

Her flock had to be unerringly loyal to her. Willing to do anything and everything she said without question or second thought. That was the only way her plan would succeed...

As long as she controlled the flock, she had nothing to worry about.

"It's OK, Big Girl... It's OK... Mommy'll never leave you... Never."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

The Wedding

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Fang sighed and made an incredulous face, his frustration at being ignored evident, but he remained silent, instead trying to focus on Max's head and see if he could somehow peer into her mind again.

It was nice some times to just be able to know what she was thinking...

But, mostly it happened while she was in class and he was at home with the kids lounging on the couch watching cartoons... He'd suddenly hear Max's thoughts, almost like the voiceover for a TV comercial...

Did I give Tyler back his notes? Did I remember to send Lynn Dee that E-mail... Jeez, what's up with this professor? Is he trying to bore us to death... Ugh... What I wouldn't do for a couple hamburgers and a nice dip in the Jet Stream...

And then her thoughts would disolve away like a coating of light foam eroded by water, or she'd realize Fang was listening in and ask 'Having fun?' or 'So, what are you fixin' for dinner?'

And he'd be snapped back to reality and quickly have to herd the kids into their room to pick up their toys and clothes and he'd have to put on pants and order take out.

But, this time, he couldn't see past that amused little wrinkle forming on her forehead.

"You need to get a hobby, Fang," And when he opened his mouth to let loose with a snippy retort... She poked a popcicle between his lips, patted his head, and walked away with a grin on her face.

He stared after her for a few seconds, annoyed, bit off half of the popcicle and chewed it up... Then turned his head and noticed something from the corner of his eye... Something that sent a horrifyed jolt through the bottom of his stomach.

Epiphany was standing ontop of the tall dresser in the bedroom with her wings out... And as he watched, the girl gave an excited squeal and leapt off, her back inches from the ceiling...

In the half a second it took him to leap across the kitchen and knock open the bedroom door, Epiphany seemed to hang in mid air... All two feet of her suspended, wings out, her arms above her head, legs thrust back as if she were doing a swan dive.

He knew he shouldn't have been so frightened, but he was frightened anyway. He could just see Epiphany landing face first in the floor and breaking her neck. He could just see one of his children killing herself while trying to fly in the dinky little apartment he'd rented while he and Max attended college...

And if she died, he would never forgive himself... It would be his fault primarily because he'd been the one to buy the stupid highboy dresser at the Goodwill down the street...

The door slammed open, Igneous' hands tightened on his father's shirt so he wasn't slung free or dropped on his little head, and crushed half his watermellon popcicle against Fang's chest.

Epiphany no longer seemed to hang in mid air... But seemed to glide through it, fluttering her wings madly a bright jubilant smile on her face as she landed on her belly in her parents' bed... Where Iris was already bouncing, flapping her own wings and seeming to stay in the air longer each bounce.

And the second the girls saw their father their faces went from elation to terror and Iris landed on the bed on her knees her eyes flashing multi colors in her horror.

Epiphany went pale, and swallowed hard, rolling into a sitting position both hands over her bottom because she just knew she was about to get a whipping.... Even though she'd never really had one before...

"You done it now, Piffy..." Iris mumbled from the corner of her sarcastic little mouth.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

A Bitter Wind

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

The Water...

The walls were covered with it, it rained down on the black cotton sack pulled over head and neck. It dripped into ears and parched mouth...

Water Water everywhere... And not a drop to drink!

Memories suddenly screamed. Violent images flashing... Fire, a dark haired girl in a white dress, blood dripping from the empty sockets where her eyes should have been... Her flesh hanging off her bones in putrid, rotting, green pus filled strips...

Teeth, yellowed with age and madness bared, dry and splintering like old wood in slimy rotting gums... Blood dripping, running in clotty rivulets from the horrid flaps of a broken chest.

Gloved hands covered in gore, paper gowns splashed with blood…

Bare hands raking down a dark concrete wall so fast, so frequently that the flesh was stripped back and the bone raked against the blocks with a sick scratching sound like sticks...

Burried alive... The walking dead...

Zombies... Just like he said...

Realization came like a stark wall slapped upward out of the wet boggy ground and slammed into an unsuspecting, unprotected, unprepared mind.

There is no death, this realization said... There is no life either...

It's all a paradox... Everything is a joke...

And the Paradox flashed before wide empty eyes, seeing in the darkness... Awake and yet unconscious, Alive and yet dead...

Panta Rhei

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Ember screamed as she awoke and almost instantly the light was on and two faces were looming over her in the haze of tears that practically blinded her.

"'Ber, what is it?" The darker smudge whispered and cool hands came against her bare arms.

"She had a nightmare, what do you think!" The lighter one said reproachfully.

The door opened and a figure came in, pale like the smaller one before her, and Ember rubbed her forearm across her eyes to hide the wetness as she sat up staring around stupidly while she got her bearings.

"What's wrong?"

"She had a nightmare."

I'm home... I'm in my bed... I'm safe... Just a bad dream.

With a shake of her head Ember focused on the people around her, counting them off in her mind.

Iris, in dark blue slik pajamas, her black, near purple hair pulled up into two braids on either side of her head, her CoolGel sleep mask shoved up high onto her forehead.

Epiphany wearing her Championship Bowling jersey and a pair of plaid boxershorts, her short blonde hair sticking up at all angles out of the midge of a ponytail she'd pulled the back into.

And then there was Max... Aunt Max wearing what looked like Uncle Fang's sweatpants and an old T-shirt with cuts up the back. She was bare footed, her hair in a loose braid halfway down her back, brown eyes calming, controlled... And wave after wave of some odd calming emotion rolled off of her... Seemed to come from her very physical presence.

Ember was glad they were there... But she didn't say it. To say it would be to let everyone else know... Even those who may be listening from the outside and meant them harm...

Ember shrugged the consoling hands from her shoulders and shrank back against the wall, rubbing her face with the sleeves of her shirt.

"I'm fine..."

Epiphany yawned and rolled her brown eyes, "You always say that... And we always end up in this same exact position again... Just like I told you."

Iris rolled her eyes, their color swirling from their natural midnight blue to a violent brown as she glared at her sister, "Oh, be gone ye Spawn of Satan... This conversation is now restricted to those of us who actually HAVE feelings!" Her slim little hand cupped compassionately around Ember's and Ember couldn't help but look down at their fingers, wondering how such a small hand could bring so much reassurance.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

I hope you liked the previews! The stories are comming soon!

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Category:	Maximum Ride
Genre:	Adventure
Language:	English
Status:	In-Progress
Published:	2008-03-28 11:26:13
Updated:	2009-12-03 22:06:27
Packaged:	2021-04-04 13:28:38
Rating:	T
Chapters:	111
Words:	260,120
Publisher:	www.fanfiction.net
Summary:	The World’s Longest FanFic EVER. Has literally been called an ‘Epic’. SUMMARIES inside…

The Wings of Wrath by AvengingMyInnocence

Table of Contents

1. PART ONE Summaries and Prologue

2. Chapters 1 and 2

3. Chapters 3 and 4

4. Chapters 5

5. Chapters 6 and 7

6. Chapters 8 and 9

7. Chapters 10

8. Chapters 11 and 12

9. Chapters 13 and 14

10. Chapters 15 to 17

11. Chapters 18 and 19

12. Chapters 20 to 22

13. Chapters 23 and 24

14. Chapters 25 and 26

15. Chapters 27

16. Chapters 28

17. Chapters 29

18. Chapters 30 to 32

19. PART TWO Chapters 33 and 34

20. Chapters 35 and 36

21. Chapters 37 and 38

22. Chapters 39 to 41

23. Chapters 42

24. Chapters 43 and 44

25. Chapters 45

26. Chapters 46

27. Chapters 47 and 48

28. Chapters 49 and 50

29. Chapters 51 to 53

30. PART THREE Chapters 54

31. Chapters 55 and 56

32. Chapters 57

33. Chapters 58

34. Chapters 59

35. Chapters 60

36. Chapters 61 and 62

37. Chapters 63

38. Chapters 64

39. Chapters 65

40. Chapters 66

41. Chapters 67

42. Chapters 68 and 69

43. Chapters 70 and 71

44. Chapters 72

45. PART FOUR Chapters 73 and 74

46. Chapters 75

47. Chapters 76 and 77

48. Chapters 78 and 79

49. Chapters 80 and 81

50. Chapters 82

51. Chapters 83 and 84

52. Chapters 85

53. Chapters 86

54. Chapters 87

55. Chapters 88

56. Chapters 89 and 90

57. Chapters 91 and 92

58. Chapters 93

59. Chapters 94

60. PART FIVE Chapters 95 and 96

61. Chapters 97

62. Chapters 98 and 99

63. Chapters 100

64. Chapters 101

65. Chapters 102

66. Chapters 103

67. Chapters 104

68. Chapters 105

69. Chapters 106 and 107

70. Chapters 108 and 109

71. Chapters 110

72. Chapters 111

73. Chapters 112

74. Chapters 113

75. PART SIX Chapters 114 and 115

76. Chapters 116

77. Chapters 117

78. Chapters 118 and 119