A/N: YES!! TWELVE DAYS BETWEEN UPDATES!! Okay, sadly, that has got to be like, a record for me or something....wait, no, my record is five. but it's not on this story so it doesn't count. I would just like to point out that the upload feature on here currently isn't working - but I had a brain wave and am just replacing the chapter 8 document with this one and uploading. Bwa ha ha. I beat the system.

Speaking of updating, I am going to try and get on a weekly schedule. I want to try and start updating every Friday or Saturday. I NEED YOUR HELP WITH THIS! Harass me, send me angry PMs, make sure I'm making progress, FORCE ME to write. I am trying to reform my procrastinating ways.

Anyways...last chapter recap: The Flock is on their way to China still (Fang wants to check it out), Iggy and Max had a little fight over her leaving, Nudge asked Max why she left and opened up a huge well of memories that Max doesn't want to relive, and Fang has a secret that we don't know about. Dun dun dun.

Here is chapter 9!

It took us a few days, but we had finally, finally made it to Fang's destination - China. If you don't remember from about a year ago when we figured all of this out, China is the Itex behind global warming. Remember, we went on those websites, found all that information...yeah, anyway. If you don't remember, go read, I wrote it down. So Fang's brilliant plan was to go to China. At least, that was all that he'd told me. So we had achieved his goal.

That just better not be his entire plan, or I will kill him.

The little guys' eyes were huge as we walked through Beijing. Even I, the perpetual killjoy, was impressed. It would have been better if I could actually read the signs, but hey, I'd take what I could get. And I wasn't about to learn Chinese.

Anyway.

The only things that really marred the cool part about being in a new country were the telltale signs that World War III was currently going on - and that's no exaggeration. People seemed even more stressed and tired as they made their way through the streets. The general attitude was...grey, at best, and war propaganda was everywhere. How do I know this, you ask, if I can't read Mandarin? There were pictures of grim soldiers grasping guns accompanying the ads. It was dead depressing. Was it really like this almost all around the world? Had Itex taken things that far?

I realized that I didn't really, truly want to know the answer to that question.

Where was this Chinese Itex, anyway? Kept in the dark as I was, I didn't know anything about what we were doing, and it was slowly driving me out of my mind. I didn't know how much more of this that I could take. A flash of memory came back to me - Chinese scientists with clipboards, pricing Angel, Nudge and I so that we could be weapons for them. I sent a silent prayer up to the current ruling deity that they wouldn't remember us. Yeah, like that's going to happen.

With a sudden desire to know something - anything - I changed my pace to match Nudge's. Maybe I could weasel something out of her. "Hey, Nudge," I whispered, hoping the noise of the city would cover our conversation from Fang and Iggy. Unlikely, but it was worth a shot. "Do we know where this Itex is?"

She glanced at me, opened her mouth, but then suddenly her expression shut down. Damn. Back to square one with Nudge, then. "I...I can't tell you," she said evasively, and turned away. I knew it was no use wheedling information out of her. Next victim, then. I needed to know. Was this childish, in a way? Yes. Did I care? Psh. Of course not!

I dropped back a couple steps to walk beside Angel. Hey, babe, I thought. Any idea where the Itex is?

There was a pause, and I was afraid that she hadn't heard me, but then I heard her say, Not far. In the city, somewhere. I think Fang wants to stake it out.

I stopped myself from nodding and giving away the fact that we were having a silent conversation that Fang would most definitely get mad at us at. Thanks, I sent back, feeling only slightly guilty about conning a seven year old into giving me information. It's not like she's not an abnormal seven year old girl, right? Right.

"Yo," Fang said from up ahead, making me jump. Had he figured me out already? But he was only drawing the flock's attention. He jerked his chin forward at a sign slightly to the right of us. I didn't see anything abnormal about it at first - it was just another unintelligible sign - and I was about to tell Fang that, when I noticed something else. In the top left hand corner, something was clearly visible -the Itex logo. As I looked around, I could see that it was everywhere - on new car license plates, on building signs, on billboards, everything.

Whoa.

"Not making much of an effort to stay undercover, are they?" Iggy said, once Fang had described what we were gaping at. Major understatement, I thought.

"Well, there's no need, is there?" I spoke up, making everyone turn to look at me. "They were out in the open before, remember, we used to have things made by them. Like Angel's diapers. And I mean, they've already started this war. They're pretty sure that everything is going to go according to plan. So why stay hidden?"

Iggy raised one eyebrow, but Fang considered me for a moment and said, "Good point." I had to stop my jaw from dropping. Personal victory - Fang has complimented me. Progress?

But in the next second, he crushed that by turning from me to Iggy and discussing something quietly so the rest of us couldn't hear. The hopeful part of me slunk away with its tail between its legs.

Fang and Iggy pulled us away from the hustle and bustle of the street and into a side alley that was relatively deserted. Fang looked at Iggy and nodded, giving him permission to start talking. "Okay," Iggy began. "We're not far from the Itex headquarters. We're planning on staking it out-" Told you so, said Angel in my head, and I had to keep from snickering - "and we're going to have to split up, do it in two hour shifts so it doesn't look too suspicious."

Me? I was immediately opposed to this whole notion of 'splitting up'. I automatically opened my mouth to object, but then I remembered that my word didn't count and I shut up, mentally muttering to myself about how stupid splitting the flock up was. Didn't the idiots realize that while one or two of us is watching the Itex, they could be waiting for a chance to get us?

My self control is going to be perfect by the time this is over.

"So," Iggy decided. "We're splitting up into pairs. Nudge and Gazzy, Fang and Angel, and...me and Max." I didn't miss his reluctance in that last statement and raised my eyes defiantly to meet his, daring him to complain about staking out Itex with me as a partner, but it seemed like he was determined not to meet my gaze.

"Clear?" asked Fang, taking over. "Max and Iggy, you're first. We'll wait." He shot Iggy a meaningful glance, which I took to mean that they had a predetermined spot where we would meet up after our shift was over. I felt a wave of jealousy overtake me before I could press it down again. This wasn't getting any easier.

Fang and the three youngest went down the alleyway, away from the street, and Iggy turned to me, resignation in his face. I had a feeling that it would be an awkward two hours, especially since our recent fight over why I'd left. "Itex is three more blocks down," he told me.

"Okay," I answered. He stood there awkwardly for a moment. I was about to tell him to get going when I realized that this city was entirely new for him, and he was waiting for me, the one with sight, to take the lead. And he was probably doing some major pride swallowing as well. Quickly, to cover up my mistake, I led the way back out of the alleyway and turned back onto the street. I heard Iggy behind me, keeping a close ear on my footsteps to make sure he was following me and not someone else.

Despite being miffed at him, I kept close.

Iggy had been right - the Itex was only three blocks away. It was easily spotted; I don't know how I hadn't seen it before. It was a good five or so stories taller than the buildings around it, rising black and sleek above Beijing. The Itex logo was visible smack in the center of the building. I did a quick preliminary scan. "It looks like there's only one door," I mused out loud to Iggy. "Oh, yeah, we're in front of the Itex now."

"Gee, thanks for the update," Iggy said sarcastically. "And really? Are you sure that's right?"

I rolled my eyes, glad for once that he couldn't see it. "I'm positive, Iggy. I'm one of the most paranoid people on the planet, do you really think that I would miss a possible way for someone to attack us?" I took his silence to mean I had a point.

"That makes our job easier," he said, dropping his voice.

"Mmhmm..." I said absently. "Come on. We need a place to sit." I could feel him seething at having to listen to me, but the sad truth was, he had no choice. I led him by the elbow - I was still kind of ticked, too - to a bench slightly to the right of the Itex building.

Iggy began speaking as soon as he sat down; I guess to make sure I knew he still knew more than I did. "You're going to watch and see if anyone we recognize comes out of that building. Also, take note of any escape routes, possible weak spots, and possible sniper spots."

Duh. What did he think I was, stupid?

"I'm going to listen and see if I can pick up anything useful," he said, but I could hear the doubt in his voice. Good as our hearing was, it would be beyond difficult to try hearing snatches of conversation from across the street.

"Kay," I agreed, and we lapsed into silence, neither of us willing to breach the distance between us. I ignored him and stayed alert, making a mental note of every person that walked in or out of the building and committing it to memory, just in case. When there was a break in the stream of people, I checked over the building. Fifty windows on the side facing the street. Possible hiding spots for good snipers on the roof, though it would be difficult to try anything in this crowded city. Again, no doors except for the main one. Not a problem for kids with wings.

Even with all of my discipline, with my super sensitive senses, with my paranoia, after half an hour of this I was dead bored. Iggy and I were still sitting in our uncomfortable silence, and I couldn't start a conversation in case he was listening to something important. I resisted the urge to sigh. I could make it through this. I would.

Another hour crawled by. In an attempt to kick myself out of boredom, I had started paying even more attention than before, which only resulted in my nerves being on hyper alert, which resulted in me being twitchy. I just couldn't catch a break, could I?

The door opened, and I immediately focused on the people that were leaving. First, a man walked out, with a sanguine face and slightly doughy frame, followed by a taller woman with brown hair. I focused on their faces and immediately gasped. Either Fang had a psychic vision to come here or this was pure coincidence.

"What?" Iggy asked immediately, focusing on me. "What is it?"

"We are most definitely in the right place," I breathed. "You'll never believe who's here."

The two people were none other than Anne and the Head Hunter.

A/N: Ta da! I'm so proud of myself, I finally sat down and wrote the outline that I had in my head. So now it is (basically) set in stone, and we see some plot development. Beast.

Oh, right, about the Itex being out in the open thing - if you go back and look in the 2nd book when the flock first discovers Itex, Max mentions that she remembers seeing the Itex logo 'everywhere' - so they're a well known company in JP's world. People just don't know the evil, mad scientist side of them.

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