Me: I just posted Twilight hate on Tumblr just to see if anyone would get pissed off.
Fang: ...Why are we discussing Twilight here?
Me: I need to find something interesting to say in the A/Ns, and this is all I've got.
Fang: So...
Me: So... Yeah, that's kinda boring. Ummm... I just ate pasta.
Fang: So did I...
Me: I'm reading The Serpent's Shadow! Really good, so far. :D
Fang: Kane Chronicles, right?
Me: Correct.
Fang: Yeah... Uh... You're gonna borrow a book from Niki, you said?
Me: Fifty Shades of Gray. :D
Fang: I don't want to know...
Me: Heh...
Fang: Yeah...
Me: I give up, let's just start the chapter.
Lark's POV
"So, from what I understand, you guys have no definite leads?" Fang asked, reaching for a piece of toast.
It was our second attempt at joining the two 'Flocks' since last night with Fang's brain attack and it seemed to be going a bit better, though that may be because there was food involved. Surprise, surprise, we mutants are less likely to fight each other if you put a table of food into the mix. How could we risk missing a perfectly good meal?
"We've got nothing." Max answered, leaning back in her chair. "We've got suspects, obviously, but we haven't been able to proove anything to back up our suspicion, so the feds won't help us."
"Dr. G-H?" Fang asked.
Max shook her head. "We've had his place searched and everything. There's no evidence to pin it on him."
"Oh, like he'd be keeping her at his house." Fang said, rolling his eyes.
"I know that, but try telling the feds." Max said.
"We figure, if he has her, he's probably keeping her in a facility that has no connection to him directly." Dylan chimed in. "That way, not only will no one probably look there for her, if she was found, it would be pinned on someone else."
"And you can't tell us where his facilities are?" Fang asked him.
Dylan caught Fang's gaze with a steady glare. "I've already told the feds about every facility I know of and they've been searched. I doubted the doctor would use a facility I knew of, anyway."
"So... Back to the drawing board, huh?" I said, picking an apple out of a basket of fruit on the table and giving it a crunch.
I noticed Max and Dylan both felt mildly startled when I spoke, probably still not used to the idea of me and the other two members of Fang's Gang here.
"Well, we're still pursuing him as our number one suspect." Max said.
"But you're looking at other people too, right?" I asked. "I mean, you guys are known for making more enemies than friends."
"But Dr. G-H is our best bet." Dylan said. "Who else wants the Flock for testing?"
"Ummm... About every curious scientist, philanthropist, politician, and concerned citizen on the planet." I answered. "I mean, this doctor is the perfect cover-up. While you're going after him with all you've got, this person is getting away without a second glance. You can't just go with the most obvious, especially if that's not working for you."
"Lark has a point." Fang said. I immediately wanted to clap a hand over his mouth. The stabs of anger and jealousy coming off of Max were almost painful. "Have you guys looked into anyone else?"
"A bit." Max answered after a short pause. "But I usually tend to go with instinct, and instinct is telling me it's this epic jerk."
"What if your instinct is off, Max?" Fang asked. "Can you risk losing Ella or ending up with the entire Flock being lab rats just because instinct makes you think it's this guy?"
"He makes the most sense." Max told him.
"Exactly why we should look into others as well." Fang answered. "Everyone expects you to go after him."
"Wow, Fang, if you're so smart, why don't you take your little "Flock" and you can look into all the other possibilities." Max said sarcastically. "In the meantime The Flock and I will go after the real bad guy. Sound like a plan?"
Fang sighed, dropping his fork onto his plate. "Is every conversation we have going to come back to this? You're mad at me? Fine. Be mad at me. But at least focus on being madder at the guy who kidnapped your sister so we can save her. Then you can give me as much crap as you want."
Max threw her fork down on the table. It bounced on its end and catapulted itself into the scrambled eggs. Any side conversations that had still been going on automatically ceased at the sight of impaled egg.
"I'm so sorry if I find it hard to work with the person who told me to my face that he would never leave me, that he loved me, that this Flock meant more to him than the world, and then LEFT ME TO GO IT ALONE WITHOUT SO MUCH AS A GOODBYE! WHO HASN'T BOTHERED TO EVEN LET ME KNOW HE'S ALIVE!"
I winced with each word. The air around Max was picking up an orange tint, my empathy power's color for rage. I closed my eyes, rubbing my temples to try to prevent the inevitable headache. This was exactly why I hated working with people. They were so... Volatile. And totally inconsiderate of the empath in the room.
"Yeah, you've missed me so much. I suppose Dylan's been there to wipe your tears and pick up all your loose pieces." Fang answered, sounding more bitter than I'd ever heard him sound. The orange colors were beginning to pulse behind my eyelids. "But since I mean so much to you, am I invited to the wedding? Can I be your kid's godfather?"
"As if." I heard Dylan mutter.
"Oh, like you have any right to talk!" Max's voice had reached a high pitch that reminded me of a bird's screech. It was not helping my head. "What about you, running around with another red-haired wonder?"
My eyes flew open and I felt my face slightly flush.
Oh, Hell no, dudet. You did not go there.
I blocked out the rest of their fight. I blocked out whatever the two Flocks were saying or feeling about Max's little... Theory. Instead, through the sea of orange Max and Fang had created, I pulled forth a cloud of blue. I took a deep breath, imagining the cloud getting bigger as I inhaled. When I let the breath out, I blew the cloud straight at Fang and Max.
I watched the two of them as they almost immediately fell back into their chairs, muscles relaxing, breathing becoming more regular. Fang shot me a look and I just rolled my eyes back.
"What... Just happened?" Max asked, sounding bewildered.
"Lark projected." Fang explained.
"Lark can project emotions onto people." Toby added. "She's a hit at parties."
"As if I'd go to a party." I said, my voice sounding slightly strained. Way too much emotion to handle in this room.
"And you felt the need to mess with my emotions, why?" Max asked, turning a glare on me. I noticed her eyes suddenly widen slightly, probably at my sudden change in eye color. From what I was feeling, I was pretty sure I was rocking a lovely shade of annoyed yellow.
"You were giving me a headache, dudet." I snapped. "And accusing me of stealing one of your little boy toys. Look, I could be about a million other places right now, but I'm here because Fang's done good by me and I think I owe him one. But I'm not gonna sit around and listen to either of you try out for an episode of Jerry Springer." I made sure Fang caught my glare as well. "Get your acts together so we can save the girl."
I dropped my own fork onto my plate and hopped out the nearest window,
Right now, all I needed was clear, colorless, emotionless air.
Toby's POV
After finishing up breakfast in awkward silence, Max and Fang got up and went their seperate ways, Fang out the window after Lark and Max to her room, probably to brood. Dylan followed her shortly after. I swear, he didn't let her leave his sight for five minutes. I wondered if he stood outside the bathroom door when she had to go.
That left the rest of us sitting at the table, poking awkwardly at our plates.
"Should probably, um, update our blog, let the world know Fang arrived." The mocha-skinned girl, Nudge, finally said, breaking the silence. She looked my way. "Should I... I mean, would you guys mind if I mentioned you were here with Fang? Like, tell people he's got some other... Hybrids with him? Can I mention names? Powers? Or should I just keep it short. I understand you guys are probably on the run from stuff, too, so I can keep it pretty anonymous if you want. Or just not mention you, though I think they'll find out eventually. And I won't take pictures or anything, I'm not crazy but I just need to know."
I blinked a couple times, letting the air clear a bit as my brain processed the stream of words it had ingested. "Ah, probably shouldn't mention too much yet. I'd keep it simple. You can mention we're here, but no identifying information. Wait 'till we have Fang and Lark here to make a final decision."
"Sounds like a plan to me. Thanks. I'll go type up that blog now." Nudge was off in a flash. I may not be an empath like Lark, but I got the feeling Nudge wasn't big on awkward silences. Actually, I didn't think she was big on silence in general.
"Wow, most people don't take their first conversation with Nudge that well." Iggy said. "She usually has their heads spinning after the first five run-on sentences."
"I still don't know what she said." Anita said next to me.
I shrugged, taking my last bite of scrambled eggs. "Seemed easy enough to get. Just had to take the time to process." I threw down my fork and leaned back in my chair. "So, what do you guys do for fun around here, anyway?"
"Fly." The youngest boy with the flatulence-related name answered automatically. Gazzy? Right, Gazzy.
"Ok, well, since I'm lacking certain necessary apendages..." I made wing movements with my hands. "Anything else, shortstop?"
Gazzy's eyes narrowed at my nickname, but I just grinned and he went on. "We've got TV, a computer, board games, books. You can go outside..."
I held up my hand. "Shush, child. You had me at 'TV'. Where is it and does anyone else want to lay a claim on it first?"
There was no response from the Flock, except for the slightest movement of Angel's head, pointing me into the other room. I got up and Anita followed me closely from behind. Poor kid was a nervous wreck around these people. I was sure, once she got past the initial silence, she'd give that Nudge girl a run for her money with conversation, but for right now, she was gonna stick with what she knew.
Which was exactly what I was going to do. And what I knew happened to be TV programs.
I wouldn't say I was addicted to TV. It's not like I felt withdrawals or anything when I was without it. But I was the only one out of our group who watched it regularly when I could. I was adopted at the age of four out of my sixth foster home by two scientists posing as loving parents. From there, I was injected with things and tested until I was the human form of an ant. I can lift at least ten times my own body weight, if not more. It's how I escaped in the first place. Idiot science nerds didn't know the strength of their own experiment. The only thing that my foster homes and the science lab had in common was TV. All the foster homes relied on TV as their babysitter and the scientists would keep a TV on in the room I was kept in to keep me quiet. Unfortunately, they gave me a remote and I found 'The Hulk' movies. Not a good idea in hindsight.
But TV felt like home. And as I hit the on button on the remote, I sunk easily back into that feeling of familiar.
"What're we watching today, Toby?" Anita asked, crawling up onto the couch with me.
"Well, travel channel's doing something on Russia, so that's out." If it's not sunny and warm, I don't wanna hear about it. "So... Wonder if they've got Disney..."
"We do." Angel said, walking in. I swear, she's the friendliest of Max's whole Flock, and I still wasn't sure if that was good or not. "But they mostly play kinda dumb shows. I don't really get them."
"Yeah, Disney's not the Disney I grew up with." I said, flipping through the channels mindlessly. "Oh, God, I thought they only played Glee at night... Oh, it's just a clip on Ellen."
"You don't like Glee, either?" Gazzy asked.
"Iggy says he doesn't like it, but when Nudge watches it, he listens." Angel said. "I think he likes the music."
"Glee's more Lark's thing." I said. "It's the only TV show she'll really watch. I think she has a thing for that Puck guy."
"Puck's, like, a man-slut." Nudge said, walking in. "Computer's being stupid again, so I'll post on the blog later." She sat down next to Anita. "Oh my gosh, I love Ellen! She's probably one of the best talk show hosts ever."
"Agreed." I said, leaning back on the couch. I heard it creak slightly under my weight. I hoped it wouldn't break, I hated when that happened.
"What're they doing?" Gazzy asked, jumping up next to Nudge. Angel sat on the floor as Total, who had been outside with the other dog, Akila, came over.
"Interviewing that kid from Glee, by the looks of it." Total said, bending his head towards Angel for a scratch behind the ears.
"That's Kurt." Anita said.
"Actually, his real name is Chris." Nudge told her. "But he plays Kurt."
Anita shrugged. "Oh. I like Santana."
I rolled my eyes. "You would."
"I wanna grow up to be like her." Anita said.
"Like Santana?" Nudge asked. "She's, like, mean."
"People like her." Anita answered. "She kinda looks like me, too. But people aren't afraid of her. At least, not 'cause she's a freak. And she has Brittany."
"Can't say I don't relate to that." Nudge said.
"Yeah, it ain't easy being part of the Freak Show, huh?" I asked.
"At least we're not alone." Angel pointed out. "There's others like us."
"Yeah." I said, turning my attention back to the TV. Well, there is now, at least.
Me: I was gonna end the chapter with Lark flying off, but I felt like it needed more and I wanted to see how the two groups would react to each other without their fighting leaders nearby.
Fang: Finally! Something relevant in the A/Ns!
Me: It's easier at the end, when there's actually something to say.
Fang: Did you have to add Glee into the chapter?
Me: Yes, yes I did. :P I don't get to watch a lot of TV currently. Glee is what I know, television-wise.
Fang: We need cable.
Me: We have Netflix and Hulu.
Fang: Cable's better.
Me: -eyeroll- You dish out the cash, we'll get cable.
Fang: ...Internet's fine.
Me: Thought so.
R&R?