The Angel Experience
By Holly-Batali
Disclaimer: I own Kat. I do not own the flock, Itex, or any of that good stuff.
Chapter 11: To Talk or Not to Talk
When Kat woke up, she was right back where she had started from: in a cage in a dark concrete room smelling of damp and disinfectant. She swore a few times, and that made her feel a little better. Her head was still a little fuzzy, and she still couldn't move much; she lay on her stomach, on the floor of the cage with her hands tied behind her back.
Where was the flock? Probably lost in the city... They would never admit it, but they were pretty bad at finding their way around Seattle by themselves. Max had told her about when they were in New York, and Kat knew they could find their way around there, but in Seattle they were hopeless.
"Iggy?" She called out, trying to turn her head to see anything. "Angel? Max? Fang, Nudge, Gazzy? Hello?"
"Kat!"
"Nudge! Where are the others?" Kat couldn't see Nudge, but her voice seemed to be coming from her left.
"Right here. Where are you?"
"I don't know, you tell me." There was a small silence.
"Kat?" Nudge asked.
"Yeah?"
"...Are we in Itex?"
"Yup." Nudge swore. "Hey! You can't cuss, Max'll kill me if she finds out."
"You cuss all the time in Chinese!"
"How would you know?"
"Well, it sounds like cussing, so you probably are!"
"Prove it!"
"Both of you, can it!"
"Iggy!" Nudge and Kat exclaimed.
"No, it's Bill Gates," Iggy replied sarcastic and bad-tempered as always. "Of course it's me morons."
"Where are the others," Kat asked. "Are they in here?"
"How should I know? S'not like I can see 'em."
"Well I can't either, I can't move. Nudge?"
"Same." Kat and Iggy swore.
"Hey!"
"Max!"
"Yeah, me. Report."
"I'm here," Iggy said.
"Me too," said Nudge.
"It sucks, but yeah, I'm here," Kat said.
Max waited a minute. "Angel? Gazzy? Fang?"
There was a groan. "I'm here," said Angel.
"Yeah, me too." There was Fang.
"Yup," and Gazzy.
"Okay." Max let out a deep breath. "So what now? And Kat and Iggy, quit swearing, you'll give Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel ideas."
They were all spared from answering when the metal double doors opened and a group of scientists and erasers walked in. Kat growled deep in her throat, only slightly placated when one of the erasers' eyes twitched.
"Sterquilinium," Kat spat out.
"What?" Nudge muttered.
"Crap."
"Oh, okay."
"Stop talking!" one of the erasers shouted at them. He glanced down at Kat. "Welcome back, mutant."
Kat couldn't think of a decent comeback yet. "Nĭ shì dà naĭ niŭ," she spat at him. You're a big cow.
"What?" Nudge muttered.
"Couldn't think of anything else to say."
"What do you--nevermind."
"I SAID SHUT UP!"
"Well, technically, you said 'stop talking,'" said Kat, mouthing off while she still could. "But I suppose it could be interpreted as--"
"SHUT UP!"
"Then again, talk is pretty overrated. I suppose it's not going to matter at all in the 'Grand Scheme of Things' so why bother?"
"SHUT UP!!!"
"Then again, it's probably just to pass the time," agreed Iggy, nodding sagely.
"Yeah, you're probably right," said Max.
"Well, maybe a while ago, but why do you think they invented chess?"
"For old people to look smart without any physical exertion," answered Kat, totally deadpanned.
"You won't be laughing when we're done with you!" Promised the eraser, and the small group left, leaving the hybrids behind.
"Well that was certainly entertaining," muttered Fang sarcastically.
"Yeah, exciting," said Iggy.
"Welcome to my world," said Kat.