Chapter 4
We had our breakfast of jerky. Though none of us had dined that poorly for a while, we were not yet spoiled—nobody complained.
Fang dripped some water into Brigid's mouth. She was still out cold, and she stirred only a little at the drink. I didn't know why Fang had wanted to spare her, but plain and simple, he gets what he wants. I trust his judgment. Not blindly, but because he's earned it. He's earned the trust of the entire world.
"So, are we heading home, then?" Iggy asked.
"I guess," I said. "Gazzy, rig something up so we can carry Brigid."
I turned, uncertainly, to the Cell. "We can't take you with us, but maybe we can send a plane for you after we get back to base."
It huffed and rocked uneasily.
"It really wants us to kill it, Max," Angel said. "Maybe we should."
"No," I said. "Helping someone die is never a favor, and the flock always does the right thing."
The Cell snorted angrily.
"Suicide isn't the answer," I said.
"That refers to people," Angel said. "People who can have a life. What kind of life can the Cell have?"
"Any kind it wants," I said. I reminded myself to address the Cell directly. "Your mind, your thoughts, that Angel is reading, that proves that you are a person, and your life holds value. Stay where you are, LC. The plane will come for you."
"LC?" Fang said, smirking.
I shrugged. "Why not?" I said.
"You know, I think she's right," Angel said to the Cell. "I've been withholding stuff for you to give you what you want, but Max is right, that's not helpful to you." She turned to me. "It can come with us right now."
"Really?" I said. "How? It's got to weigh hundreds of tons."
"Show her," Angel said.
The Cell contracted slightly, as if with disdain. Suddenly it melted into a slick black liquid that rolled across the ground to me. It all formed together at my feet, and the sides of the Cell were now barely a foot square.
"It can change its size?" Fang said, awed. "That's unbelievable. Where does the mass go?"
"It doesn't know, exactly," Angel said. "But it can get its mass back any time it wants."
I picked up the Cell. It was light enough to carry now. I couldn't help but think that it would make a nice paperweight.
"You're a special little thing," I said. "On my watch, you're not going to die."
"I've got it set up," Gazzy called. "Brigid's in a little gurney. It'll need two people."
"I'll help," Max II offered.
Gazzy looked a bit uneasy, but hesitantly said, "Um… okay, yeah. We'll lift it together… you and me."
She smirked. "You don't have to be so frightened of me, idiot."
"Max, be nice," I commanded.
She shrugged, probably as close to an apology as she could manage at the time, and helped Gazzy lift Brigid's stretcher. Gazzy was staring at me.
"What's up?" I asked him.
He tried to search for the words for a moment. "The ease with which you called her 'Max'," he finally said.
"Well, that's her name," I said. I hefted the miniaturized LC and lifted myself into the air. "Let's go, everybody."
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Italy was only a hop, a skip, and a jump away. Keegan had known what she was doing when she had put us in that forest—after all, the proximity to where Max was searching for us was certainly no coincidence.
For the first time, Keegan knew what she was doing… and that made me swell with pride for my friend.
We weren't flying in such a tight-knit formation anymore. Fang and I were holding hands, as were Iggy and Nudge. Angel flew alone on the side, as far as possible from where Gazzy and Max II were bearing Brigid. Whatever her gripe was with my clone, she was trying not to be too obvious about it. But still, I caught her scowling pretty much every time I looked at her.
We swooped in on our base at around twilight. Ray was keeping a resolute guard.
"How'd it go?" he asked.
"Well enough," I said. "I think we've gotten everything done that we had to do."
Ray opened the doors for us, and joined us inside. We were immediately waylaid by Jeb.
"Max, I've got the solution," he said. "I only need a DNA sample from each of you, and I can stamp out the expiration date in an instant. I tried it on Total, and by every estimation I have, it worked."
"Great," I said. "But you don't need to hook me up. I've gotten rid of it already."
"Really?" he said, stunned. "How?"
"Doesn't matter," I said. "But if it works, use it on this gal here." I pushed Max II forward.
Jeb beheld her, his customarily peaceful face dropping into a scowl.
"That's not a good idea, Max," he said.
"I don't care," I said. "She's one of us now, and her expiration date is the same as mine was. Fix her."
"You need to understand, Max, that this clone of you isn't supposed to exist," Jeb said.
"I'm right here," Max II snarled.
"Max, please…" Jeb said. He took me by the shoulder and led me a few feet away. He began speaking with his hand on my shoulder, but I glared at the hand until he removed it.
"This clone, this Max II," Jeb explained. "She's… she's an aberration of nature."
"Yeah? Guess what? So am I. And you've got no problem with saving my life at any time."
"Yes, but you're… you," Jeb said. "You're Max. You're…"
"Oh, don't whip out the 'only one Max' thing again," I snapped. "Fix her!"
Jeb gripped my shoulders again. "Max, this clone can't truly thrive in the world. She lacks significant development. You'll notice she's clumsy, or that she has trouble with simple mental tasks. She never got the opportunity to develop. When the two of you met, when you were the age of fourteen, she had only existed for a couple of months."
"And whose fault is that?" I said. "Not mine. Certainly not hers. You're saying put her out of her misery? No. All life is sacred, and if the people don't like the results of genetic experiments then quit doing it! I won't leave anyone to die, not Brigid and not the Living Cell and not Max either. Fix her, or I'll break your neck right here and now."
Through the entire conversation, I'd literally felt Angel behind me, poking at my brain smugly to accentuate every point Jeb made. And, I suppose, to annoy me. After my final speech ended, she withdrew, apparently finding herself defeated.
Jeb sighed. "You're so remarkable, Max," he said. "You ought to watch your temper, though. By your own declarations, I think you would have felt bad in the morning if you had killed me."
"Maybe," I allowed. "Just know that I don't regret Laura or Mr. Chu, not that you're at their level. So, you're going to do this, then?"
"Of course," he said. "I only… I only meant for you to see what she represents to me."
"And what's that?"
"Only that she isn't you," he said. "You know you're like a daughter to me."
I nodded. "Yeah, I know that. Just don't expect me to tell Airy to call you Grandpa. You haven't won me back just yet."
Airy's little eye peeked around the corner. She fluttered over to give me a hug. I noticed that since she'd started flying, she almost never walked anywhere. Most of the halls in the base could accommodate her wingspan.
"I missed you, Mommy," she said. She saw Jeb approaching Max II and did a double-take. I had to giggle at her expression.
"Who's that?" she whispered.
I knew, then, that she had a little something to learn. "Airy, you're different from most of your family. Most of us were made by a lot of… bad people. You've met some of them. And the bad people who made us… well, they also made her. She's a copy of me. They made her so I would kill her."
"But you didn't do it," Airy said wisely.
"That's right, I—"
"Cause we're good people," she finished.
I couldn't help laughing again. "Yes, we are. I'm glad you know that."
Airy flew out of my arms and perched on Max II's shoulders. "Hi," she said. "I'm Airy."
"Hi," Max said uneasily. "You're… wow, you're so much prettier in person."
"Thank you," Airy said.
"How old are you?"
"I'm four."
"No you're not," I said. "You're three."
"I'm four," Airy insisted.
"No, kid, you're three. I've got the documentation."
Fang rolled his eyes. "Don't debate with her, Max."
"I've got to go now," Max II said, setting Airy down. She looked bravely up at Jeb. "Lead the way."
Before leaving, Jeb paused to look at me and Fang. "When is the wedding?" he asked.
I shrugged. "We'll let you know," I said.
They departed.
"You know something?" I said. "I can't really make myself trust him, but I'm thinking maybe I'm on the track towards it."
"I don't know if that's a good idea," Fang said. "I've gotta tell you, the other day, I told him to fight me…"
I eyeballed him. "Why would you do that?"
"I just needed to clear my stress," he said. "Anyway, his fist… it was like getting hit by a comet. I've never been hit that hard."
I frowned. "Do you think he's not entirely human?"
"I have no idea," he said. "But… hold back on the trust for a while." He looked up at me and wagged his eyebrows. "Say, Max, when is the wedding?"
I found myself overcome by girlish laughter. "I don't know," I said. "It kind of just hit me that we're having one!"
"Are we making plans now?" Nudge said eagerly. "I've got so many ideas!"
"That's okay, Nudge," I said.
"You haven't even heard my ideas!" she protested.
"No, but I know what goes on in your pretty little brain, and I'm thinking something more humble."
"Humble?!" Nudge shrieked. "Why don't you just shoot me?"
Iggy tapped Nudge's shoulder. "Relax, Nudge. You can whip out all your great ideas when we get married."
Nudge brightened, but only momentarily. "But you can't see," she whined.
I snorted and sat down at the conference table. "What are you thinking, babe?" I asked Fang.
He turned to the rest of the flock. "Privacy," he said simply. The small crowd melted away.
Fang sat with me and put his hand on mine. Some internal organ of mine skipped slightly. Might not have been my heart, but it was close enough. "You've really got something on your mind, huh?" I said quietly.
"Well… I'm thinking, I'll be eighteen in two months. We could wait until after that."
I cringed. "Two months? I am not waiting that long."
"It'd be a bit more traditional," he said. "We'd both be adults."
"You know what else would be traditional?" I said. "Abstinence. You think we could do that for two months?"
He leveled a stare at me. "You're bluffing. You can't hold out any more than I can."
"Fine," I said. "But I still don't want to wait! Let's just get married here in the base. How about the day after our double-date with Keegan and Niles?"
"I guess," he muttered. "I want you in a gown, though! You're not denying me that."
My heart fluttered a little bit. "Yeah, okay," I said. "Like… like a wedding gown?"
He pushed his face in close to mine. "Yes," he whispered. "You, in a wedding gown, walking slowly towards me. I've been dreaming of that for as long as I can remember. That's all I ask. The rest of this is entirely up to you."
We slipped into a kiss. His demands wouldn't so hard to fulfill. Because in the end, he'd be mine. And that would be worth everything.
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ATTENTION: This is a long chapter. And I didn't write a long chapter to hear about how fluffy it was. Write a long review to correspond with the long chapter, lest I whoop you.