Chapter Three: The Calm Before the Storm
It was too early, in Max's opinion, when she hauled herself out of bed a few hours later. Max quickly went about relieving Silver from patrol duty and flipping through a review of the new recruit, Force. Finally, after an informative meeting with Nudge (who had been appointed head of public relations) about some visiting dignitary and Angel (who, despite being only thirteen, was head of medical sciences) about moving the sick bay into a larger cavern to better accommodate their needs, Max was finally free to go about her own business, which today included checking up on Iggy… and Fang.
After refilling her coffee cup, Max head down the land route between the caves, which actually consisted of an extremely narrow stretch of rock up against the face of the mountain, but when you can fly, a few thousand foot fall is really not the top of your worries.
Max walked slowly across the path, quietly enjoying the leisurely moment it allowed her, when that tell-tale shiver ran up her spine. Looking up on instinct, Max spotted Fang not ten feet above her, somehow balancing on the side of the rock face.
"What are you doing?" Max asked, immediately wondering if she really wanted to know.
Fang cocked a smirk. "Watching you." He said nonchalantly, as if this was a perfectly normal, suitable way to occupy his time.
Max felt another shiver coarse through her and desperately tried not to show it. "Why?" She asked, eyes on the ground, making her question less fierce then she intended. She needed to get out of here before she did, or said, something stupid.
Max swore she could feel his smirk widening. "Because you're interesting to watch." Fang replied, and then as if he could read her mind, dropped down and landed gracefully in front of her, effectively blocking her escape. To her immense annoyance Max noted that Fang didn't even look remotely like he'd had to be up all night, in fact he looked very… very alive.
Max shifted uncomfortably under Fang's gaze. "Uh… so how's Iggy's toy coming?"
Fang didn't avert his eyes, instead his gaze only grew more intense. "You know how Iggy is, convinced he knows everything. But he's come to some amount of sense and gotten someone who knows more about temporal-whatevers then he does. So now he and this feline hybrid, Tiger's Eye, are cracking hard at the poor thing." Fang leaned up against the wall, moving him even closer to Max, his gaze never breaking. It was so intense… Max wondered if she was dreaming. "he was going to call you in this morning, but I figured you had enough to handle for the time being. Besides," Fang was still staring at her, and to her horror Max found she couldn't bear to look away. "I think Iggy likes her, a lot. Not that the girl's noticed. She's too wrapped up in helping to save the world to get involved in personal relationships." Was it just Max's imagination that Fang had a hidden meaning behind those words?
Fang was leaning even closer now, voice getting lower and lower till she had to lean closer to, straining to hear. "Yeah... funny how life tends to deal the cards like that." Max said. They were mere inches apart now. The coffee cup slipped out of her hands and shattered, but neither really noticed.
"All work and no play makes Max a dull hybrid." Fang said teasingly. Teasingly?! FANG?! Now she knew she was dreaming.
"You need a holiday." Fan g said decisively.
Max frowned. "I don't have time for a holiday. I'm trying to save the world."
Fang was less than an inch from her face now, they didn't have much room left.
"FANG!"
Max winced and took a shaky step back, almost falling off the edge; Fang caught her around the waist, pulling her towards him, towards safety.
Max swore she forgot she could fly, swore she forgot everything she'd ever known looking into Fang's eyes just then, so close to her own. Standing here, in Fang's arms, she found it extremely difficult to remember her own name, much or less why this was a bad idea.
Her eyes were slowly closing shut in anticipation, when the voice sounded again.
"FANG! WHERE IN BLAZE'S ARE YOU?!" Fang looked longingly into her eyes, and then stepped back, muttering colorful curses and death threats as he went.
"Yes, Iggy… of course… yes, I found her… be there in five… no, I'll do it… fine." Fang barked into the radio, taking off swiftly down the path toward Iggy's cave as Max stumbled along behind, struggling to keep up with both Fang and her confused jumble of thoughts.
They continued on like this for about a minute, till they reached the entrance of Iggy's cave. Maxwell, Cannon and Sparkler were standing there, looking equal parts peeved and bored.
"Morning, Boss… Madam, what happened to your leg?" Cannon asked, stepping forward.
Max frowned and looked down. Sure enough, a small gash was seeping blood out her lower leg. "Oh, it's nothing. I probably caught it we I tripped over by the…" But her protests went ignored, Fang, suddenly concerned, leaned down next to her leg and examined it carefully. Max shivered as hi gentle hands tore her pant leg to get a better look.
"It's not nothing. You need to go see Angel in sick bay." Fang said firmly, standing up to look her in the eye.
Max frowned, "No, Fang. Seriously, I'm fine. It's just a little cut. I've had a lot worse and..." But Fang wasn't paying her any attention.
"Cannon, Sparkler, you two go on ahead and tell Angel she's got injured incoming. Maxwell, you carry her." The two smaller hybrids gave but a curt nod before taking to the air. Maxwell scooped Max up and prepared to disembark.
"I'd take you myself, but Iggy said it was urgent. I'll finish up here and come brief you ASAP." Fang reached up and touched her arm. "Please don't do anything stupid, Max. It's not like the world is going to end while you get your leg checked." And with that, Fang nodded and Maxwell took to the skies.
One Hour Later…
"Seriously Angel, I'm fine!" Max protested as Angel fussed about her.
"I'll be the judge of that, thank you." The little blonde said with a smile, weaving in and out between Team Fang and various pieces of equipment.
"You guys can go you know." Max said, turning to the body guards. At least her could get her way in something today.
But Cannon shook his head, as Fang's second in command he was in charge in Fang's absence. "Sorry Madam, but Boss would want us to stay here." Sparkler nodded in agreement. "Sorry, Madam. But you know how the Boss is when it comes to you, he'd be here himself if he could be."
Max groaned and fell back against the hard pillow of the hospital cot, trying to block out the searing pain in her right leg. Funny, how she hadn't noticed it before Cannon mentioned it.
She'd been laying around here forever as her not-so-little baby fussed about, first binding her leg then going off to consider this or that, to tell the truth, Max wasn't sure what Angel was up to.
"WARNING. SECURITY ALERT. WARNING. SECURITY ALERT. WARNING…"
Max shot up, then grabbed her head to stop the room from spinning.
"Madam?" Sparkler asked. Max waved her off and reached for her headset.
"Nudge, report!"
No response, Max began to panic. "Nudge…"
"I'm here, Max." Nudge responded curtly. "It's sector fifteen, one of the newer ones. I'm not sure what's…"
But Max wasn't listening anymore; she had taken off running full speed, ignoring both the pain and the shouts of Team Fang behind her.
Sector fifteen was Iggy's lab.
