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Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. Plain and simple.
Together we freed most of the Institiute. I won't go into much detail on that subject, it's not one of my favorites. Then I contacted Jeb for some more money and set up camp in a house a bit north of the city. Our house, affectionately called Ride Manor, is comparatively far away from most everyone else, so we can keep our wings out a lot of the time. For those who have them that is. Some of us are wingless hybrids, some humans, some ex-Erasers, etc., all of them sworn to secrecy.
But I still hadn't heard from Fang. Even after 4 years. All this time, I kept thinking about how he'd look if I saw him today, what we'd be like if he hadn't ran out on me. If I wouldn't have to be in Broadway, if we could take out Itex together. But I wouldn't get the chance to find out. He's gone, I told myself for the millionth time. He's gone and he's not coming back.
"Reinhardt, get out here and start warming up. You've got fifteen minutes before we open the doors."
Works been slow in the theaters lately, so I'm doing a jazz night at a local coffee house. It pays pretty well, and it keeps my voice in shape. I've died my hair a dark auburn with henna, just so no one can recognize me, and the slinky green dress fits well so most of the guys will probably be staring at me. No biggie. They do it a lot. Not that I like it. Please, their stares make me feel like I've got "person with wings" plastered on my face. So when they asked me to sing L-O-V-E, I felt great. People weren't going to be looking at me! They'd be dancing, which, in some cases, makes me laugh more than it makes me claustrophobic.
After warming up, the owner opened the doors for the night to begin. I sang a couple of pieces before the big number so the most people would hear it.
L is for the way you look at me
O is for the only one I see
V is very, very extraordinary
E is even more than anyone that you adore can
Love is all that I can give to you
Love is more than just a game for two
Two in love can make it
Take my heart and please don't break it
Love was made for me and you
trumpet instrumental
L is for the way you look at me
O is for the only one I see
V is very, very extraordinary
E is even more than anyone that you adore can
Love is all that I can give to you
Love is more than just a game for two
Two in love can make it
Take my heart and please don't break it
Love was made for me and you
Love was made for me and you
Love was made for me and you
Right as I stopped singing I noticed a pair of eyes looking at me from across the room. They looked familiar, but I couldn't quite place them. They were dark, matching the man that came with them. He had jet-black hair and olive skin, and I knew him. I don't know how, but I do.
On my break, I walked over to him. "Hey, what's your name?"
I spoke, "Marienne Reinhardt. I work here."
" I knew that much… the part that you work here, I mean. You have a really good voice."
" All the better for filling my stomach."
He laughed, and it was like the tinkling sound of bells, except he was a perfect baritone. His eyes lacked any sparkle, though. It was like he'd lost somebody, or something, and he couldn't get the light to come to his eyes. Don't ask me how I even try to know that, because I have absolutely no idea. " So what's yours?"
"Daniel Black."
Fang's POV
I was at a coffee house in New York. Why? I heard about this group, a rival group I might add, that was trying to take out Itex. Something like the Outsiders. Cut throat and dangerous, they are, and that's why our group wants to take them out for the count. Sure there are other groups, there will always be other groups. But these guys are like where legends are born. They go in, do their job, and come out, without anyone even noticing. All there are are rumors, little trickles of information. So today's my day of R and R before I go off to my most certain doom at the hands of ghosts.
It was jazz night at this particular place, not that I like jazz, it's okay, but what was really interesting was the singer herself. She had long dark auburn hair that was layered around her face and curled around down beneath her chin. She was tall and a light tan. You could tell she definitely did not go to a tanning salon, it was too natural a color.
And her light brown eyes spoke the most about her. they brimmed with feeling during the big number, like it really hurt her to sing it. It was some sappy love song, so I wasn't listening. I mean, let's face the music, I'm a fourteen year-old guy who looks like a model in my 20s. Like I love sappy love songs. I'm more interested in the people staring at me.
That's another thing that surprised me about her. she was the only person who didn't stare at me when I came in. I was just another audience member to her. And I liked that.
After she was finished singing she noticed my stare, which I just noticed, too, and walked over to talk to me. We talked to each other for a bit before I had to go and start a bit of my work early. I just chomp at the bit to get away from my guys sometimes. They're lovable, but they can get on your nerves in less than half a second.
I walked into the club called the Myriad. From local info it's got the Counterculture in the basement, and that's exactly where I needed to be. Thank someone for my good looks, I'm not being selfish or egotistical or anything, but good looks can save you from bad stuff, like being carded on your way in to a club. I looked into the brightly lit place to see loads of swirly colors flowing around on the walls and ceiling. " Digital wallpaper. Cool, huh?"
A girl who looked like she was in her very early 20s with really long black hair and deep brown eyes walked up to me in a navy blue sparkly tank top and a ripped short denim skirt. " My name's Natalie, what's yours?"
Woo-hook. Second girl tonight! This is going to be fun up here in New York. I thought they were used to beautiful people. " Oh, we're used to them. Newcomers however, they're a different story. You're not here to party, are you?"
" I didn't say any of that."
" But you looked like you were thinking it. You're here for the…," She switched to a whisper, "Counterculture, aren't you?"
" Yeah, that obvious?"
"Yes. No tourists come to the Myriad. Only business people and residents. So follow me… You're here to see Momma Celia, right?" A/N: that's pronounced say-LEEuh
I nodded in agreement as she led me towards the back of the stage. Behind it was a set of stairs and two younger people, both in suits and dark glasses. One looked really tall, about my age, and the other was way younger, probably about 7 years old. That kid shouldn't be here.
" Hey, John. Hey, short stuff," she greeted the two of them.
" Hey, Nat," they replied, grinning like fools.
" You didn't… you DID. She's going to be pissed. You know she's working late tonight! Oh, well, I'll talk to you about it later. We've got a newb."
The little guy looked really excited. " Really? We do? Where is he?"
"You're wearing I-John's glasses aren't you?"
"That obvious?"
Oh so weird! That kid sounded just like me! Okay, breathe. So there are probably hybrids… You're a hybrid! Just because one person mimics your voice perfectly doesn't' mean you get to flip out. The kid, I still don't know what his name is, took off the glasses and looked at me. "Check him, John. He's a newb, alright."
His face changed to a serious look and John took my hand, searching it carefully with his fingers. I must have let my emotionless mask drop, because Natalie looked at me funny and said, "John's blind. He needs to be able to identify you."
John grinned again, and made a fake ping sound of recognition, pulling a card on a lanyard out of his pocket. " Day pass," he said.
I was lead to Momma Celia's, I don't know what to call it, lair, throne room, chambers, something like that. Even though that doesn't even come close to describing it.
Celia herself was a tall, lean black woman in a scarlet dress. I looked around and, sure enough, the stereotypical everything-matches-the-big-shot's-clothes-thing came out right. The walls were painted black and had scarlet tulle draped in small little arcs near the ceiling. On the ceiling itself there was more of the same, dipping down in certain places. The floor was a mixture of black and scarlet carpet, leading up to a raised platform that held one solitary carved oak chair.
Celia rose from her seat. "What's your name?"
"Daniel Black."
" Well then, Mr. Black, what brings you here?"
" The Outsiders. I want information. Information that I know you have. My group wants to confirm any and all suspicions."
" We don't talk about the Outsiders here."
Natalie spoke up. " She won't mind, Celia. Not as long as you don't tell everything. But you can confirm what he guesses."
Celia looked at me. " Start asking, Black."
" We've heard they're all hybrids, that they can disappear. We've also heard about their leader, a girl I'm presuming, an avian hybrid right? We've heard she can blend in anywhere. Any of that true?"
" Some, but that's all I can say."
"Are some of them with us right now?"
Natalie and a couple of others came out of the shadows, cracking their knuckles. " What exactly do you want with the Outsiders?"
I was in definite trouble. While the operatives from the outsiders called up their leader, I was being babysat by the guards, John and the kid. They seemed like best friends. the way they stick together. "What's your name?"
The kid looked up at me, his bright blue eyes shining in the fluorescent light. " My name's none of your business, mister."
That was a bit surprising, not that anything in my life wasn't. the phone rang on the desk John sat at, his sightless eyes glaring daggers in the general direction of the obnoxious noise. He picked up the receiver with relative ease, talked a few codes into the phone and handed it over to me. "Leader wants to talk to you."
" What's your name?" The voice on the phone crackled to life.
" Daniel Black."
" Real name, please."
" That is my name."
I noticed I was talking to somebody who was using a voice changer. And I found it was getting on my nerves.
" Don't lie hybrid. Your kind disgusts me."
John half grimaced and half smirked in my direction, making me think he's a hybrid, too. " My name's Fang, okay?"
" No, that's not okay.Put me on speaker phone." I did. "John, or whatever you're going by at the moment, keep him in there, get the twins and make him talk about what he's been up to lately. Inform Will and Natalie. I'll be down there in a half hour."
Max's POV
I didn't hear what I thought I just heard. Fang is in New York, after my group. Is he really that stupid? And that fake name, man, even Ari and I came up with better names than Daniel Black. Ours are currently Marienne and Connor Reinhardt. Top that, Fang.
I rushed over to pick Ari up from school. The cute little kid is 7 now, and his smiles are just the cutest. "How's your day, Ari?"
" It was good, Max. Do we really have to go on your motorcycle?"
" Yes. I've got some business to do over at the Counterculture, you know, the normal. But we can pick up ice cream afterwards, how does that sound?"
I was answered with a quiet exclamation of joy and a fist punched into the air. It makes me proud how he's grown up. And just thinking about what he'd be like if we left without him just makes me shudder. He climbed on to the back with his cute little backpack and put his tiny helmet on, getting ready to ride down to one of his least favorite places.
We arrived, and I immediately felt him tense. It would be easier if he could focus on something else. I did a 360 and found an ice cream stand. He's always liked vanilla, so I bought him a cone to focus on. Ari really doesn't like the bright colors and loud sounds, but more than anything he hates being closed in with a thousand other people. And believe me, I know the feeling well.
We walked to the back where I found Talon talking to Terra and Trixie, all of them wearing identical faces of worry." What's up?"
"The sky, dufus," the twins said at the same time. Their black hair was cut short except for bangs that flopped in front of their cute tan faces.
But even for being 9, those twins get on my nerves." I meant what's going on, anything new?"
" Not since you called, but the prisoner…"
"Fang."
"Yes, Fang, knows you're coming. So be prepared."
" Me, as in Max, or me, as in Leader?"
"Leader."
" Thank God."
I went down and put on a costume with a mask and wig. Like hell I'm letting him know who I am just yet. Gasman showed me which detainment cubicle we had Fang in before going to talk to Ari, and I went in the room, waiting for the inevitable explosion of emotion. But it didn't come. He sat there silently as I entered and relieved Iggy of his duties. In my costume of Henry the 8th there's no way he can recognize me. I had a voice changer, too. But him seeing me physically would have given it away more than my voice.
" Long time, no see Fang. What've you been up to lately?"
" I know you?"
He still looked as good as he had before. Better, even. Bad, Max! Remember what he did to you!" No, but I know you, and that's all you need to know about me. So answer the question."
" Well, I won't."
" You will, just give it time. You don't get to leave, or eat, or use the bathroom until you answer my questions. I'll go on to the next one anyway. Who do you work for?"
" I'm not telling."
" Fang, make yourself a choice, make it easy on yourself, or be a martyr. And remember, martyrs usually don't get remembered in the family newsletter. I'll give you a minute."
And with that I left the room to give out some orders to the twins.