Disclaimer: I do no own Maximum Ride or Nikita
Previously...
I walk down to the park and pick up a newspaper from a stand. I read the headline.
Ter Borcht, Rolland. Geneticist arrested for Human Experimentation. I looked at it and smiled. Oh yeah, bring it on Jeb, bring it on.
"No, no commission. Yes, I understand. Again I apologize. Okay, goodbye." Jeb says frustrated and he buries his face in his hands. This was not over, not by a long shot.
My name is Maximum Ride. 18 years I was created and forced to become an assassin for a covert unit of the government. 2 years ago, I escaped and have been hunted ever since. I was the first recruit to ever get out and I'm going to make certain I'm not the last. They destroyed my identity and they destroyed the man I loved. I'm going to take them down and the last word they'll breathe before the end will be my name.
Maximum Ride
I was doing some research on the invincible item Fang kept telling me about, the one item that made Jeb immune to all the rules. As I do research I come up across an interesting article about a break in at the bank. I gasp when I see the picture. No way.I grab a jacket and launch myself out of the closest window. I pray hoping I'm not too late.
Angel mind reads in on the conversations of Fang and Nudge in the Intel room.
"Why would Jeb care about a bank robbery?" Nudge asks Fang.
"I don't know Nudge! I don't know!" Fang says exasperated.
"Well, he sure was anxious to get out of here; he caught the first flight to Saskatoon." Nudge says.
"Well, pull up that article again. Try a different news source." Fang suggested.
"Wait, here's another article, this one has a picture." Nudge says and then gasps.
"It can't be." Fang says and Angel looks at the picture. It was of an 18 year old boy, sandy blond hair and hazy blue eyes.
"Iggy?" Nudge gasps. "Oh Ella will be so happy to hear about this."
"I already did." Ella says, walking into the room.
"What happened after he went rogue?" Nudge asks.
"I don't know, Iggy was taken into Jeb's office after Operation Phoenix. I never saw him since." Ella says sadly, "Well, at least until now that is."
"So that means Jeb didn't kill him?" Nudge asks.
"Iggy was always so loyal to Jeb I don't know why he behaved the way he did." Fang says.
"You mean like you?" Ella asks hitting below the belt. "Doesn't matter, I'm going to check it out."
"I'm coming with you." Fang says.
"But…" Nudge says.
"Put all the recruits in lockdown." Fang orders and grabs his jacket while heading for the door.
"But Fang…" Nudge whines.
"No buts." Ella says walking out after Fang. They take the elevator to the surface and exit out of a skylight.
Nudge whispers to herself, "But I want to see him too."
Angel looked at Gazzy and saw something was troubling him. Angel went over to him.
"Gazzy? What's wrong?" Angel asks.
"Nothing." Gazzy lied and Angel searched through his mind.
"Who is this Iggy everyone keeps talking about?" Angel wonders out loud and Gazzy looks at her with wide eyes.
"How did you? What did you?" Gazzy stutters.
I can read minds. Angel tells him and Gazzy's eyes widen even more if that were possible. Oh and I can mind speak too. Angel adds.
What have they done to you? Gazzy asks with a grim expression.
I don't know. All I know is when Lissa attacked me, they experimented on me to make me more compliant, and they didn't expect me to gain another power. Angel tells him. Then she thinks to herself, Lissa had looked awfully hollow and her eyes were blank most of the time. Something told Angel that Lissa wasn't as lucky as she was.
I swear if they- Gazzy begins and Angel cuts him off.
Tell me about Iggy. Angel says to Gazzy and Gazzy nods once.
Remember when I told you I got away? Gazzy asks and Angel nods. I didn't get away on my own. Gazzy confesses and Angel looks at him confused. At the time, I was in a lab in Phoenix, Arizona. Gazzy says his eyes clouding over remembering what had happened. I had been moved from several labs and every time at the end of three months, I would bomb the place, set the experiments free and run for my life but they would always catch me and take me to a new lab. Gazzy says. Angel sees the pictures through his eyes and she shudders.
Why? Angel asks.
I have a tracker. Gazzy explains. The tracker is a chip in my arm that also comes with a code. Once activated, an expiration date appears on the back of my neck and I would have until that time to live.
Do I have one too? Angel asks eyes widening.
I don't know. Gazzy says, eyes darkening. Anyways, they were sending me to a final lab where they would activate my chip and test me for three months, give or take, until my body shut down. There were three others with me, each labelled as dangerous.
What happened? Angel asks.
We were being escorted by two people. One girl, Hispanic with brown wings, like a Canadian Goose, and the other, a guy, blond hair, blind with wings as well. The guy, as you can guess was Iggy. On the trip he talked to me like he had known me forever and when a sudden bomb went off. He took me to a safe place and removed my chip. Then he left and promised he would come back for me someday.
Did he? Angel asks.
He did. The next time he came back he had a few bruises and scars more than I had remembered. He took me in as an apprentice and trained me to take down Division. One day, I came across a slip of paper with a name of a bank on it and an address of an apartment building underneath. I asked him about it and he closed up immediately and I never asked him again. Before I knew it, it was time. I made my move and got caught purposely. The School saw talent in me they had never seen before and decided I would make a good weapon. Here I am now. Gazzy finishes.
That's ironic. I'm here for the same thing. Different person though and different story. Angel says.
Who's your mentor? Gazzy asks.
Maximum Ride. Angel replies smirking at Gazzy's wide eyed expression.
No way! She's like enemy number 1 on every School list! Gazzy says. Are you sure you can trust her?
Angel's expression darkened. Trust me; I have more than enough reason to trust her.
I arrive at the docks hoping it wasn't too late.
He's on the west side of town, in a house close, Hampton Village. My voice says. Glad to know it's good for something other than confusing me.
I arrive at a grey bricked house with big windows and a Mercedes in the driveway. I whistled Iggy was loaded. Iggy with his superior hearing heard me before I get to the door.
"Who are you and what do you want?" Iggy growls as he flings the door open.
"I'm Maximum Ride." I say and I kick him in the stomach and quickly have him in an arm lock.
"What the hell Max! Get off!" He yells at me and I pin him against the floor and hold a gun to his head.
"You get 5 seconds to explain yourself before I blow your brains out." I warn him steel in my voice but smirking because he couldn't see and that I could still kick his butt. Suddenly he jerked upwards bring and elbow to my gut and rolled me over so that had me pinned.
"Certainly Max, I missed you too." He laughs and I growl as he pushes my face into the carpet.
"Where is his current address?" Ella asks Nudge through the comm.
"One moment, still loading." Nudge exclaims frustrated, Nudge cared for Iggy too. She was much better a friend to him than Ella ever was. Why did he have to like Ella?
Flashback
"Hey Nudge, I was wondering…" Iggy begins nervously.
"What's up?" Nudge asks blushing slightly.
"Would you like to…? Can I…? Will you…? Grraghh!" He says not finding the right words. Nudge giggles.
"Iggy! You're wanted in Jeb's office ASAP!" Ella says to him and Iggy growls in frustration.
"Isn't he so cute?" Ella asks Nudge and Nudge's heart sinks. Ella was beautiful and smart, how could she ever compete with that?
"If you say so." Nudge says dully and goes back to her computer, I mean why would Iggy ever like me? Nudge asks herself.
"Ella, ease up on Nudge. We'll find him okay?" Fang says trying to calm Ella down. He had rarely seen Ella like this, flying off the handle. Ella bites her lip and nods. They head over to Hampton Village. Fang sees many black cars driving around Saskatoon trying to find Iggy. Jeb was in one of those cars. Fang knew that he wouldn't find Iggy unless he wanted to be found and right now, he didn't.
Then Fang frowned, wondering why Jeb went out on this mission personally. He never ever went out and when he did, it was usually pretty serious. Fang wondered what he was hiding.
"What is Jeb hiding?" Ella mutters to herself and Fang looks at her surprised. She never doubted Jeb, well at least not openly and now Fang was seeing a whole different side of her. Not the cold, steel voiced Ella with her methods of "helping" recruits. Not the dark frightening Ella, the inquisitor. No, this was the first time in a long time Fang saw her show any care. Since Iggy "died".
Fang gritted his teeth knowing what it felt like. He didn't agree with Jeb, not even close to 100% but Fang had no choice. Lately though, he had begun to break the rules more and more since Max rose from her ashes. No, he didn't agree with everything Jeb told him but on the other hand, he can't disobey Jeb.
Flashback
"Why? Why did we have to kill her?" Max asks after a hard mission and killing a witness.
"They were orders Max you don't have a choice." Fang says through gritted teeth.
"How about you Fang, huh? Do you have a choice?" Max shoots back at him. Fang ignores her.
"Answer me!" Max yells.
"No I don't! You know why? Because I owe Jeb my life. My whole fucking life!" Fang yells at her and slams the door behind him. Max stood there shocked. It was the first time she had ever seen Fang so angry.
"Okay, he's at 6251 McCallum lane. Be careful, he will be armed." Nudge's voice is strained with impatience.
"Got it, Fang and Ella out." Fang says and takes off in that direction.
I look around Iggy's house. Everything was painted white and in perfect order. Of course it was painted white, Iggy could see things on a white background but I didn't know he was the clean type. I whistle again. "Iggy, man where'd you get all the money?" I ask him admiring his professional kitchen. "Oh wait, don't answer that. I know." I mock him. His face hardens.
"Max, I didn't steal money. In the time that I left the School, I became the famous chef James Griffiths." He says.
"Then explain to me why you were robbing a bank?" I ask him.
He sighs, "When I was going to be cancelled, Jeb instead put me on a new mission. To guard a black box." I look at him in shock.
"Wait, you have the black box?" I ask him suspiciously.
"One of them anyway." Iggy says and my heart drops.
"How many are there?" I ask.
"About six or seven." Iggy says face scrunching up in concentration.
"What does this have to do with the bank?" I ask him and Iggy looks at me as if I were stupid. Sometimes, I swear if he weren't blind, I wouldn't know he was.
"That's where I was keeping the black box." He says and I look at him.
"Why did you rob the bank then?" I ask him.
"I didn't! That's what I've been trying to tell you! The School sent people to take me down as I was retrieving the box and I had to take them down." Iggy says and I look at him sceptically.
"Why were you retrieving the box?" I ask him.
"I went after you screamed at me and the charged off." Iggy says. "I decided it was time to end this."
"I do not charge off!" I say insulted.
"Uh, yeah you do, it's your middle name. Max Charging Off Ride." He says smirking and I punch him in the arm but he blocks it. Dang, he's good.
"Well what were you going to do with it?" I ask him.
"I hadn't gotten that far yet." Iggy says and I roll my eyes. Suddenly I spot a red dot on the carpet. I tap Iggy's hand twice. He sits up alarmed and stays completely silent I know he's listening but he doesn't notice the red dot. I watch as the red dot travels up and locks in on Iggy's chest. I pull him up and a bullet flies in and hits him in the leg. Iggy bites his lip in pain and I drag him of the house and up out through a sky light. I go into hyper drive and fly out of the province as fast as I can. I pass by Fang and I can't help but leave him a little message. I zoom right by him, so close that only a feather brushes his face. I land us both on top of an apartment building and Iggy winces as he lands on his leg. I examine the wound.
"Through and through." I say. "You got lucky." I comment and tie a tourniquet on his leg.
"Sure I did." He says and I sigh. His phone rings and he answers it.
"Iggy?" A male voice comes slightly inarticulate as if it were a text to speech converter.
"What's left of him." Iggy says and I smile. Even in times like this, Iggy can still crack a joke.
"Fang and Ella left for you. So did Jeb. Are you okay?" The voice asks.
"I'm fine. Stay on the down low, encrypted chat, later. 2000 do you understand?" Iggy says.
"Copy that." The voice says and hangs up.
"Who was that?" I ask him.
"My informant." He says and I think of Angel.
"Speaking of which." I say and open a tiny laptop I carry around with me. I open my shell box hoping Angel is there. I had gotten really worried about her the last time she disappeared. She contacted as soon as she got her memory restored and out of Ella's grasps. She told me the whole story and I was burning with anger by the end.
Are you there?
Yes I am. Did you get Iggy?
How did you know about Iggy?
Gazzy told me.
Who's Gazzy?
I'll explain later. Oops sorry, g2g.
I closed the shell and sighed. What was going on?
"What were you doing?" Iggy asks me.
"Talking to my informant." I say and smirk at his reaction. Then he winces and I remember his cut.
"Come on, let's go." I say to him as I haul him up and speed for home. It takes another two hours but I haul him into my apartment. Lay him down in the Guest bedroom and give him some blood. He was lying in a room and I looked over and saw Celeste, tears welled to my eyes as I thought of Angel. I shouldn't have sent her into the School.
Flashback
"No Angel, you can't. It's too dangerous." I tell her.
"No Max, you listen. You don't have to protect me anymore." She says and is about to take off I grab her arm.
"Angel no, if you want to do this, let me train you first." I say and she smiles.
"I knew you would come around." She says.
I never should have given in. No Angel is in so much danger every day.
Fang feels a small whizz of wind past his ear and the tickle of a feather. Then he sees a spot of blood on his jeans. Max. He thinks softly to himself and Ella senses it too.
"Max was here." She says coldly. Fang nods.
Flashback
"What's the deal with you and Ella?" Fang asks.
"She's my sister." Max answered shortly.
"Why do you hate her so much?" Fang asks.
Max sighs, "I'm the eldest child. Valencia Martinez was my mother. Jeb is my father."
"What do you mean by was?" Fang asks.
Max's eyes harden. "One day back when I was still at Anne's place. I was flying home when I saw these two street thugs corner Ella into a wall. I saved her from the street thugs but one of them clipped me with a bullet."
"Well then why does she hate you so much? You saved her life." Fang asks confused.
"Well after I was shot, I walked and I tried to get some help. I couldn't go to a hospital obviously and I wandered around the neighbourhood until I saw Ella again. She waved at me and smiled and I waved back. Then her eyes opened in horror as she saw the blood on my hands and the blood that was quickly seeping through my white t-shirt. She brought me into her house and her mother, a veterinarian helped me." Max says.
"But she didn't hate you then?" Fang asks.
"No she didn't. After a while she became like a sister to me and her mom a mother to me as well. I spent more and more time with them, trying to get away from Anne as often as I could. One day I discovered a picture of me as a baby in one of Valencia's bird books. She finally broke down and told me she was my mother. I was ecstatic. Unfortunately Ella was not. She always saw me as competition. I didn't know. I told them about where I worked and my plan to escape. They were absolutely shocked but helped me nonetheless. One day Ella showed up home with a pair of wings. I realized that she was working for the School and she knew all of my secrets and she told the School about Dylan. They terminated him immediately and you know what happened after that. I can't believe my own sister, someone I trusted everything with betrayed me like that." Max says.
"What about your mother?" Fang asks.
"Ella hid her, I haven't seen her since the day she took out my chip and then baked me a batch of cookies." Max says wiping a tear that had escaped from her eye.
I got up from the bed and walked over to my window overlooking a beautiful sunset on a cityscape. I sighed and drew the blinds. Then I took a shower and went to sleep.
I woke up to the smell of eggs frying on a frying pan.
"Good morning Maxie." Iggy calls from the kitchen.
"What the hell Iggy! Go back to bed, you're still injured remember?" I yelled at him for being so careless.
"Relax Max, It's already scarred over. Why don't you sit down?" He says and I relax.
"So what are you making Iggy?" I ask him.
"Bacon and Eggs." He says.
"Is that how gourmet the famous James Griffiths can cook?" I tease.
"Shush, you didn't have anything else in your kitchen. Also, what are those burned dishes?" He asks.
"My attempts at cooking, which is why I usually eat out." I reply remembering the time I almost burned down the kitchen.
"Exactly, so don't complain." He says as he expertly slides some eggs onto a plate and passes them to me then he slides the rest onto another plate for him. I take a bite and it was absolutely delicious. Iggy really had a talent for cooking.
"Max, people usually close their mouth when the chew." He says smirking and I look at him in shock. I forgot how non-blind he acted.
"You need to teach me." I say.
"Sorry Max, but you're a lost cause. This is funny because usually women are the cooks in the house." He says and I smack him on the head for being a sexist pig. I gobble down the rest of my food and steal a piece of bacon from his plate.
"Hey!" He exclaims. "Stealing food from the blind guy."
"Oh Puh-lease. When have you ever acted blind Iggy?" I ask him and he shuts up immediately. Then his cellphone rings.
"Iggy where are you?" I hear Jeb's voice coming through the phone.
"What do you want?" He growls.
"You know what I want." Jeb replies calmly. "Now as for giving it to me, I have Tess." Iggy growls.
"You wouldn't dare." Iggy threatens.
"I would and you know I will. Meet at point A, 0900." Jeb says and hangs up. Iggy stands up to leave.
"Where are you going?" I ask.
"To the grocery store." He answers flatly and walks out promptly.
I stare after him.
Fang and Ella arrive back in the School HQ.
"We need more information." Fang says to Nudge.
"I can't get anymore, unless we get it from Jeb's office." Nudge says helplessly.
"Well then we you need to do." Fang answers. Nudge looks at him with wide eyes.
"No. We can't." Nudge says fearing Jeb.
"We don't have any other choice." Fang says and Nudge presses her lips into a thin line.
"Nudge come on, please?" Ella begs and Nudge sighs.
"Fine." Nudge says.
"Target is in range, he is bringing in the package." Ratchet tells Jeb.
"Good get ready to move." Jeb orders.
"All positions, green light, exterminate." Ratchet gives the order and shot fires out and hits Iggy with something that knocks him out.
Iggy wakes up in a dark room.
"Where is it?" Jeb growls at him.
"What?" Iggy asks.
"You know what I'm talking about." Jeb answers. Iggy looks away.
"Give me the package and I'll let Tess go." Jeb says.
"No." Iggy says.
"Fine." Jeb says and he shows him a T.V. screen. On the T.V. screen is a little girl who looks exactly like Iggy. She is trapped in a cage and looks dead tired. "Begin." He says into comms and Iggy watches as a thousand different needles pierce her skin at the same time. He hears her cry out in pain.
"Stop!" He screams at Jeb. "Stop! Stop! Stop!"
"It's too late for that now." Jeb says and it doesn't stop. Each one of the needles begins drawing blood out of her slowly and painfully.
"I'll give it to you! I promise!" Iggy screams, "Just stop hurting her!" Jeb ignores him. The girl's cries get weaker and weaker and they finally fade. Her eyes remain open and unblinking.
"No Tess, come on don't die on me now. I love you." Iggy says to the little girl as tears start rolling freely. "Daddy loves you."
"Take her away." Jeb says and two scientists come in and roughly pull the needles out of her skin. They take her unmoving body away.
"You bastard!" Iggy yells at Jeb. "She was an innocent little girl! She was innocent!"
"I told you there would be consequences, besides, her life or yours. Don't forget I saved your life many years ago."
"This was not part of the deal." Iggy says through gritted teeth.
"Ah but I define the deal Iggy, not you. And contracts are subject to change." Jeb says and walks out promptly from the room.
Flashback
"What you have done Iggy, is betray us. You know this treason is punishable by death." Jeb says.
"Yes sir." Iggy says flatly.
"However, I have seen you to have great potential. I will spare your life." Jeb says and Iggy looks at him confused.
"On one condition. You guard a tool for me and you provide a donation." Jeb says.
"What kind of donation?" Iggy asks.
"You'll see." Jeb says, smirks and leaves.
He finds her, he finally finds her. He hears her little voice and her swinging on the swing set.
"Daddy?" The little girl asks.
"Are you Tess?" Iggy asks.
"Yes!" The little girl yells and lunges for Iggy. Iggy's grin widens and he picks the little girl up and spins her around. They have a nice long chat. Tess is adorable with her sandy blond hair pulled up into pigtails, her small grey wings. Iggy asks her about school and friends she's made. He finds his daughter that the School had created.
"Will you come visit me again?" Tess asks and Iggy promises her that he will. Then he sees someone watching them from an apartment. A guardian. Iggy frowns and leaves. The next day he goes back and he finds the apartment empty.
"No." He whispers to himself. "No!"
Sneak Peak
"Iggy, I'm going to ask you one more time. Where is my black box?" Jeb asks. Iggy looks at him with unseeing eyes. Jeb sighs and Ratchet proceeds to pick Iggy up by the hair and shove him into a cage.
"Nighty night bird boy." Ratchet says cruelly before he injects something into Iggy's bloodstream. Iggy lets the familiar darkness surround him like falling on an endless blanket of midnight.
Awee so now I feel sad. Please review! Since you guys have been super awesome lately, my goal is to have 3 reviews. Tell me what you think of Iggy's daughter! I might post another chapter tomorrow, definitely over the long weekend though! Happy Thanksgiving guys!
Random Question: What is your favourite subject in school?
