Chap. 10: Surprise
Ed groaned as he woke up, sunlight filling the room he was in and falling on his eyes. The last of his nightmares faded as he began to become more aware of where he was. It took him a while to realize that he wasn't at his old home.
Sitting up, he looked at the clock on the wall and found that it was past 2 in the afternoon.
"Damn, I overslept." He muttered and got out of bed. Going to the bathroom, he took a quick shower and then went out to find some food in the nearby area. He'd seen a whole area covered by strawberries.
It was slightly over grown with weeds and a few other plants, but he was able to get to the sweet vegetables- as they were vegetables- easily enough. He used his duster to put them in and once he had enough to last him a week, he carried the load back up to the house and washed them.
Sitting down to eat, he turned the TV on again, checking the news and finding that so far, nothing has changed with his sudden death. He then switched to another channel.
He chuckled to see Bill Nye. He was dressed in his muscle suit and talking about light, how fast it was, and all that. Ed liked Bill. He'd met him quite a few times, and became close friends. He was actually one of the few people that knew where he actually came from, as well as how he got his wings and tail and about Envy. He was really the only person in the world currently that knew that much.
Jake knew of his wings and tail, but not where he actually came from, or about Envy. The flock of course knew about the wings and tail, and Envy, but not about where he came from. The only other people he'd revealed that he was from a different world was Bill Nye and another man he'd met.
His name was Wolf Bracken, a German that studied plants. He had actually been from the other side of the gate as well, but his soul was the only thing that'd made it through, just like when Ed first traveled through to the other side. He'd been good friends with him. But that had been 70 years ago. The man had long since passed.
Thinking about this made Ed realized that he really was alone. Hardly anyone really knew him. They knew his personality, and that was it. And even if they had known him, they'd not be able to truly relate to him. Not even Bill. Wolf was the closest he'd had to having someone that related to him.
He wondered how those kids were doing. He had no doubt that they had gotten away, but what if they were pursued? Ed had faked his death, so the hunt for him would be delayed until Tucker realized it was a setup. But those kids didn't have that. They'd surely be hunted down, even if Ed had been the main target.
He grumbled. It was one thing he hate; to have to ponder and worry about something or someone, and know that he really can't do anything about it. There was little chance that he would ever see them again. And if he did, would they even let him near them? He was still a bit broken over their reaction the other day when they'd found out about Envy.
He looked up at the ceiling feeling bored. After a minute, he groaned. "Man this sucks! I hate just sitting around!"
Max looked behind her at Angel, who was flying a bit behind everyone. She was still depressed about the news of Ed's death. When Max had asked her why she was taking it so hard, Angel only shook her head and said that they didn't know him, what he'd been through. Max could only wonder what it must have been, compared to their past.
"It must have been really bad for her to act this way…" Max muttered to herself. It honestly made her feel a bit sadder about his death, but as Angel had said, they didn't know him, so it wasn't enough to drag her down.
Shaking her head, she looked around at the landscape before them. They were actually pretty close to their old home, about an hour and a half away. But they weren't going there. They had decided that they would not return to a place unless a sufficient amount of time had passed, and anyway, they had no need to go there. They were headed for another branch of Intx, planning to free more kids.
But she had to admit, it was tempting to turn east and head right for that house up in the mountains.
"Max?" came Fang's voice over the wind. She looked to her left and saw him looking at her questioningly, as if asking, "What's on your mind?"
"Just thinking about home… Tempting to go there, huh…?" Max replied.
Fang nodded, a sad smirk, just barely visible, on his lips. "Yeah, same here. Don't worry. One day we will have a home, a permanent one."
Max smiled. She knew they would. But when? How much would they have to go through before they could all just settle down and live a normal, mutant life?
"Max! We got company!" Iggy yelled, and we all looked down to see a large truck, josling on the dirt road. On top of it were five Erasers.
Max frowned. What use was an attack like this? They're on the ground, and we're up in the air. If we just stayed up here, they'd be useless… Unless….
She looked behind her and saw the new type of Erasers. The ones with wings. And they were closer than expected. They must have been riding on the truck until they go close enough to fly near us…
"Everyone, great ready!" she knew there was no escaping this fight. Swift as a hawk, she turned and bolted head on toward the oncoming enemy, her Flock closely behind.
She saw something in their hands, poles of some kind. "So, their going to use blunt weapons of us… I'll bet they'll be aiming for our wings. With that thought, she called back to the others, "Watch out for your wings, they might try to hit us with those rods!"
And then they were on them.
And it was pretty much over from there.
Max's first thought was, "What's that crackling, zizing sound…?" and then she was poked in the hallow of her shoulder with the tip of the rod, and she froze as she became unaware of her body, only able to feel it twitch violently as she plummeted to the ground.
"I feel like the TV screen when it goes snowy…" she thought before hitting the first tree, and continuing to fall through to the ground.
Angel looked around it panic as the other members of the Flock went plummeting down. They only reason she'd not been hurt yet was because she'd read the Erasers minds just in time to find out what the rods were. Instinct took over and she made herself plummet with the rest of them, pretending she'd been hit.
As soon as she was hidden by the tree leaves, she grabbed onto a branch and hugged the trunk, staying hidden from the others.
She looked down and watched as the others were gathered and put inside the truck.
She felt the hotness of tears welling up, but reached out to Max's mind.
"Max! Are you okay?"
"Angel? I'm… kinda fuzzy right now…"
"But do you think you're okay? Can you tell what's going on?"
"Yeah, I think I'm fine. Their tying us up I think. What about you?"
"I'm up in a tree. I can only see the truck. It's a heavy duty one…"
"So you didn't get hit?"
"No… I saw what they were thinking and found out what those rods were. I'm sorry I did say anything sooner, I was only realizing it when you-"
"It's fine, sweetie, don't worry. I'm just glad you're safe. Look, I want you to go to our old home."
"What? Why?"
"Because, you're too small to be able to do anything right now. Don't worry, we'll be fine. We've escaped before, we can do it again. When we do escape, we'll come get you. If we're not out within a two weeks, I want you to contact Dr. Martinez."
"But Max, what if I can help you?"
"Angel, if you could find some way to help us get out…. Well, I can't stop you. But I want you to stay safe, no matter what. Don't do anything rash. Stay safe. So long as I know you're safe, I won't give up on getting out. You can count on that."
"But…. Okay… Max, please stay safe! I'll find help somehow."
The truck had started moving, and the connection went out. Angel wasn't sure if Max had even heard all of what she had said.
Before they realized that they were missing a member of the Flock, Angel flew off, heading east, keeping under the cover of the trees, as well as making sure she wasn't being followed. Once she'd traveled at least three miles full of zigzagging through the trees and making it to where any pursuer couldn't possibly keep on her trail, she emerged from the trees- after checking the area above first, of course- and found the true distance she'd traveled from her starting point to where she was now was really only two miles.
She continued on, flying as fast as she could and resting every now and then as she was still unable to strain herself and last for as long as the others.
It the sun was setting by the time she saw the house, nestled into the mountain side. Regrettable joy swept through her as she sped for it. She felt guilty that she had to leave the Flock to the Erasers, but couldn't help but be happy to see the house after such a long time.
She landed on the small patio and paused, looking at it. Something felt off. She tilted her head a bit and heard something. Talking and laughing, but not from someone that was actually in the house. It sounded like it was coming from the TV.
But how was that possible? The house was practically impossible to get to. And it was also hidden, only able to be seen from the air. The chances of some hiker stumbling upon it were slim. But someone was obviously inside.
She went over to a window to peer inside, and saw that the TV was indeed on. She looked at the couch, only able to see the back of it, but sticking off of it, propped on the arm of the couch, was a foot. She saw it twitch and then it was gone, but before she could think that the person was getting up, she heard an audible snore.
Sighing in relief, she took the chance to slip inside now. She knew that if she were dealing with a human, she'd be able to manipulate their mind easily enough, and just have them leave and forget about her.
She went back to the door and turned the nob, glad that it was unlocked, and pushed it open slowly, wincing whenever it creaked. Finally, when it was open, she slipped inside and left the door open.
Creeping down the hall, familiar with the different spots that creaked the most and avoiding them, she made her way to the living room. She was behind the couch now. Taking a breath, she moved forward, preparing her mind to compel the stranger.
And then stopped as she saw familiar, golden hair.
AN: Well, what do you think? I kinda came up with this idea for Angel having a connection with Ed. Kinda sets it apart from most other fics, if I do say so myself. And before you jump to conclusions, nothis is not a pairing of the two.
Also… We reached double digits! Finally! I truly am sorry for how long it had taken me to update, but I've updated so much since then, and I'm glad its back on track. I've lost some of my plot, so I've kinda been having to come up with things, like with Angel, but that won't stop me! :D
So! R&R and tell me what you think ^_^