"Angel, Angel wake up!" I heard faintly, right before I felt water being poured on my face.
"Cut it out!" I yelled, jolting upright. Fang was standing next to me looking pretty beat up, and behind him Max was sitting on the ground, sobbing. "What happened?" I asked, looking around anxiously. "Where's Frannie?"
For a moment Fang said nothing. Then, he suddenly turned around, screamed, and kicked a rock into the lake as hard as he could.
"They took her," he said through gritted his teeth, "they took our baby!"
Oh. Em. Gee.
"They took Frannie?!" I exclaimed. Looked around frantically, still not quite believing him. When I saw a teddy bear with wings and a halo lying by the side of the river it finally clicked. It was Celeste, my old bear. I'd given it to her for her third birthday. "Which way did they go?" I asked resolutely. Fang pointed wordlessly. East-southeast.
Immediately I jumped into the air and spread my wings. I was about to shoot up after the robo-dames when I noticed Max for the second time. She looked like she had taken a worse beating than Fang had, I even saw a couple of bloodstains on her clothes.
"Max," I said gently, "are you going to be alright?"
"I don't know," she sobbed, "I just want my baby back."
'I'll get Frannie back, Max,' I thought to her, 'I promise. I won't stop until I get her back for you.' I gave her a hug and turned to Fang. "Take her back to Dr. Martinez," I told him as I took off for the second time. As I headed over the top of the trees I saw Fang pick up Max and fly away with her in his arms.
As I flew off in the direction Fang pointed I couldn't stop thinking about Frannie, how scared she must be right now. It really hurt thinking about that. It hurt even more because I'd felt exactly the same way when the Erasers kidnapped me, so I knew exactally how she felt.
Two minutes later I saw them. They were headed east-southeast, traveling next to a highway, and they were running. Yes, running. Like, with their feet. Really fast. Wow, these things were really hardcore. I mean, even the Erasers had used cars.
"Auntie Angel!" Frannie cried when she saw me coming up behind them. (Thank God she was still alive.) Unfortunately, it also meant the Robo-divas knew I was there too. While I was rethinking my approach strategy, I saw a small, roundish object suddenly flying straight towards me. It kind of looked like a-
"Oh, crap," I said softly, just before the grenade went off three feet away from my chest.
I was really having a bad day.
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