X: A Rainy Day
When I woke up an hour later, I found myself on the floor wrapped in a blanket that I didn't remember going to sleep with. I got to my feet after tripping on the damn thing and sat on the couch. Then I noticed Max's bed was missing its blanket.
Wait a minute.
That meant that someone had taken the blanket from her bed and put it over me. It couldn't have been Fang. But it couldn't have been Max. Neither one of them seemed like the kind of person who would drape a blanket over me. How did it get there? Who put it there?
I turned on the TV to distract myself from the questions rattling around in my head. It didn't take long for me to get distracted. The first thing that came on was a news story about the branch of Hell in New York.
"…Hitchens Organic Research and Development Center, located in upstate New York, is making headlines yet again," said the female anchor with genuine enthusiasm. "The highly praised laboratory has received a $500,000 federal research grant for use in developing 'software updates', the informal term its scientists coined for a specialized virus they believe could be used to genetically engineer fully-grown organisms! Jack Jennings is reporting live from the complex with one of the facility's top scientists. Jack, can you tell us more about this and why it's such a breakthrough?"
The camera switched to two people, an older man in a white button-down shirt, and a smiling younger guy wearing cargo shorts and a t-shirt emblazoned with "Geneticists do it in their genes." Looks like CNN correspondents don't have a dress code, I thought. Then I noticed that the older guy was the one holding the microphone.
Wait, how is the kid a top scientist? If anything, it should be the wrinkled old man. People who look like they're still in high school have no business being associated with Hell.
Good morning, Ed! Angel's cheerful voice sounded in my head. We're seeing this too over here! Max wanted me to wake you up and tell you to turn on the TV so you could watch it, 'cause it's about the place in New York.
"…I understand that these so-called 'software updates' are actually nothing more than engineered viruses," said Jennings, "but aren't viruses dangerous? How have you managed to turn them into something that can be used to help people?"
"You've got to be shitting me," I blurted out, facepalming. Anybody who knew anything about biology could see everything wrong with that statement. Fortunately, the kid on TV was more patient.
"They can be dangerous," he said, "but that only depends on what kind of nucleic acid- we call it 'code'- they carry. If you create a virus with beneficial code and inject somebody with it, you can do anything from curing HIV to boosting-"
Jennings dropped his microphone, flustered; the Demon smiled apologetically at the camera before picking up the mike and handing it back. "I-I'm sorry, did you say this technology can cure HIV?!" he spluttered.
"In theory, yes. It's proving to be a little more difficult than we thought; to make it viable for human usage, we need to understand human genetics completely. Once we know the human genome back-to-front, we can work on the cool stuff like curing innate genetic diseases and weaknesses, and, yes, HIV."
Jennings's eyes widened to the size of golf balls. "A-a-and how long, would you say, how many years before you can do that?"
The kid smiled. "Give us five or six months and we'll finish it completely."
Angel, did you catch that? That's so cool! We have to go there as soon as possible!
I know! I know! Everyone's looking at the TV here! Except Iggy. He thinks it's just Gazzy pulling a prank.
How's Max?
She's fine… oh, she just told me she wants to know if you want her to bring anything over for breakfast.
…really? Um, okay, sure. Tell her to get me some black coffee and something with steak and eggs. And tell her I said thanks.
She smiled and told me to say, "You're welcome".
…What's up with her? She's been so mean to me. So why is she being so nice to me all of a sudden? Can you peek at her thoughts and see?
I can't. She doesn't like it when I peek at her thoughts. And besides, she's thinking pretty loudly about that boy on CNN and how cute she thinks he is.
WHAT?!
I, um, sorry, I was reading Nudge's thoughts instead. So, so, you wanted black coffee, bacon, and eggs?
Steak, not bacon. Thanks. I guess I'll see you guys in a bit.
I switched off the TV and sat on the couch for a while, thinking about New York and listening to the rain thrash against the balcony door.
I was in the shower for a good half hour or so, letting the hot water and suds wash away all the damns I gave over the last few days. I made sure to give my wings a deep cleaning, along with the rest of me, since I didn't know when my next shower would be. I shut off the water, stepped out of the tub, and toweled off.
I think it was when I tied the towel around my waist, bundled up my clothes, and started flapping my wings to dry them that I heard the noise, but I assumed it was someone out in the hall. I continued my wingbeats, shaking my hair to dry it too…
…and then Max stepped in the bathroom, her hair and clothes sopping wet from the rain, wearing a tank top and jeans, and started to take off the tank top, all while looking backwards and saying, "I might take a shower for a little bit, I'll meet you guys down in the rec room, ok- hurkkk!" She turned her head and saw me, and she choked up, her hands freezing just as she was pulling the damn thing up past her waist.
We stood there for a few seconds, me trying desperately to fix my gaze on Max's face and not… not the rest of her, while Max stammered and flushed until her face was the color of the hoodie currently wadded up in my hands.
"I, uh, uh… h-hi, Ed," she choked out. "Did-didn't think y-you were, um… drying your… uh…" She mumbled incoherently and stared at me.
"Wings?" I offered, successfully nailing my gaze to Max's face and not any other part of her. "My hair?"
"Yeah… that."
"Do you want me to leave?" I asked, making sure the bundle of clothes was in front of my waist.
"N-no, I'll just… um… use the shower in the other room. Sorry to, uh, bother you," she stammered, and ran out of the bathroom. I heard the door to the other room slam shut and a few seconds later, the water in the other bathroom was turned on.
What on earth could she have been staring at? I wondered, wiping the condensation off of the mirror so I could see myself. I was treated to the sight of myself, drenched in water and suds, my hair a dripping mess, and a few feathers stuck to my body… and as soon as I noticed it, I started blushing too. Shit. She's probably running the water to cover up the sound of her laughing. Why didn't I just lock the damn door?!
Later on, when Max and I were both showered and dressed (and she had a shirt and jacket on over her tank top), we ran into each other on the way downstairs to the rec room. She started to get flustered again, but I just told her, "Max, I don't blame you for staring earlier. I was a freaking mess. You were probably laughing about it, but I won't get mad about it."
She stared blankly at me for a few seconds, her mouth partially open, before she closed it, forced a laugh, and said, "Oh. Yeah, I guess you looked funny. Um, are you going to the rec room?"
I sipped my coffee. "Yep."
We walked down the stairs. I ate my steak-and-egg sandwiches and drank my coffee, while Max talked about the plans for the day. "…it's too rainy to fly, obviously, so we'll be staying here today. We've got the rec room and TV to keep us busy- there's a gym too, if you want to use that- and we'll order Chinese and pizza for lunch and dinner, you know, either pizza for lunch and Chinese for dinner, or Chinese for lunch and pizza for dinner. We might need you to make a gold run to the jeweler's, though, just so we have enough cash left over for food on our way to New York. How's that sound?"
I crumpled up the sandwich wrappers and tossed them into a garbage bin. "Sounds good, I guess."
"Great!" She turned to me and smiled. "So are you feeling up to a game of pool?"
Clack! Clacka clack…
"Looks like you're solids and I'm stripes, Ed."
I downed the last of my coffee and chucked the cup across the room into a bin. "Right."
The six of us were the only ones in the rec room; Gazzy was off in the arcade with about $10 of our money in quarters. Max and I were playing pool, and the rest of the group was playing table tennis, with Fang and Angel on one team and Iggy and Nudge on the other. Iggy was surprisingly good at the game, only missing the ball a couple of times.
Max and I played our game in silence and awkward glances- how do you make small talk with someone you barely know? I was about to say something when she looked at me and said, "So, um, Ed, do you want to tell us about yourself? I haven't thought to ask you before, but now that we have time, we should get to know you better."
I was suddenly aware that everyone was looking at me.
"…Okay."
I lined up a shot and took it, sinking the 7 in a middle pocket.
"I think you guys already know that I have amnesia. Well, it's true. I can't remember anything from more than two years ago. I don't know what caused it, but Jeb told me it was because they tested a nootropic drug on me that went wrong- but given that dream I had and what you told me, Max, I'm starting to disbelieve it."
Max paused in the middle of drawing the cue back, raising an eyebrow and looking up at me.
"My earliest memory is of signing some kind of testing contract. In exchange for my full cooperation and allowing them to look at my arm and ankle, they'd give me special treatment and set aside some kind of trust fund with my earnings that'll mature when I turn 18-"
"Which is?" asked Max, thrusting the cue forward and smacking the 11 into a cluster near one of the pockets.
"…well, I don't exactly know. But Jeb had the Demons run some tests, and they guessed that I'm about 16, taking into account height, hormone levels, body structure, and a few other things. They couldn't figure out my birthday, so they just told me to pick whatever day of the year I wanted. I chose-"
Nudge perked up. "That's what we do! Max said-"
"Nudge, shush! Ed was talking!" Max turned to me. "Sorry about that. You were saying?"
"Never mind, it doesn't really relate to what I was trying to say. I got off track," I said, taking a gamble and using the 8 to knock the 2 into a corner pocket.
"As I was saying, for the past two years I've been helping them out with endurance tests, testing new medications, testing artificial organs, and letting them look at my limbs… I guess you could say I'm proud of it. They kept me up-to-date on how the results of my tests were being used, and let me give suggestions…"
Something clicked in my thoughts.
"…now that I think about it, everything they've done, everything they've said has seemed a little inconsistent to me. But that's for another time."
Max walked around the table to my side and looked up at me. "I think I know what you mean." She turned to the table and made a shot. "So that's it? Nothing in the last two years but testing and testing?"
I smiled. "Well, towards the end I met you guys, which was a nice break."
Nudge giggled.
"When I wasn't testing, they'd let me use their gym and look through old lab reports. I guess that's it, except for the dreams I have every so often, which I think might be memories coming back."
Iggy looked in my direction. "What's the story behind your arm and leg?"
"I don't know, and neither does Jeb or anyone else at the facility in California. Every few months they'd replace a few parts to make them the same length as my nonmetal limbs. For a little bit, they were talking to me about replacing the things, bit by bit, with something lighter and stronger- but then I kind of escaped with you guys. They did tell me that it's advanced- really advanced- and since they were telling me about reverse-engineering it, that means that it isn't Itex technology."
Angel raised her hand. "Um, what was it you were saying back at the School about eating more than you, than you poo?"
"I… I'm not sure. They put it to the test once, when they made me eat two pounds of food and weighed both my waste and me, and somehow, a few ounces of food just disappeared. That was also one of the things they were going to look into right before I left."
I added some chalk to the tip of my cue and unsuccessfully tried to bounce the 6 into the pocket nearest me.
"What's up with that power of yours?" said Fang.
"No idea," I said bluntly. "I only found out about it right before we left. But from what slipped out of me, it has something to do with the Earth's tectonic energy, and it can't create or destroy matter. Just change it."
"I think that's enough about me," I said, and watched Max take a shot at the 9. "What about you guys? What have your lives been like?"
"…You have no idea," said Fang.
Fang, Angel, Nudge, and Iggy told me their story, and Max and I finished our game- she won, but only through a trick shot that I was sure was illegal. We sat down on a couch near the others' ping-pong table and watched them play.
"Hey, Max, can we get pizza?" asked Angel. "I'm getting hungry."
"Of course," said Max. "Can you ask Gazzy what he wants? And make sure to tell him that he isn't getting anything with banana peppers. Not after what happened last time."
"…what happened last time?"
Everyone who was not me smiled.
"It was a few years ago," said Iggy, snickering. "Jeb had ordered us pizza and wings after we spent the day with him planting rosebushes outside the house. Gazzy wanted to try something new, so he got Jeb to order a large pizza with banana peppers for him."
"Yeah, I got that," I said, rolling my eyes. "But what happened?"
Max looked at me and giggled. "It took about four hours for the stuff to make its way to Gazzy's colon. And when it did… hoo boy! I mean, lots of stuff gives Gazzy gas, but the banana peppers made the stuff downright awful! We had to sleep outside that night and opened all the windows to ventilate the house! We had to wait… oh, about four days for both the house to be tolerable and for the pizza to get out of Gazzy."
"And thus we vowed: never again shall we make the mistake of letting Gazzy near spicy food," said Iggy, holding his arm out in a dramatic pose.
Max found this hilarious, and we shared a laugh for a few moments, but it was cut short.
"Oh, Maaax, I like you soooo much," said someone who sounded just like me.
"WHAT?!" said Max, Fang, I at the same time, Max blushing heavily.
"That's it, you son of a bitch," snarled Fang, and stomped over to me, his fist pulled back.
And then Gazzy ran into the room, snickering, and slapped a high-five with Iggy.
"…oh. Don't do that," muttered Fang, trying to regain his stoic façade.
Everyone was looking at me, Max, and Fang, until Fang broke the awkwardness by saying, "So… pizza?"
Within three seconds of it arriving, we'd coated every table- including the ping-pong and pool tables- with boxes of delicious, delicious pizza, packed with hot grease and toppings; one table was dedicated to holding the boxes of wings and bottles of soda.
"Hey, Max, is it considered cannibalism for us to eat chicken wings?" asked Nudge, attacking a slice of veggie-laden pizza. "Iggy says it is."
Max sighed. "Iggy, for the last time, stop grossing out Nudge. It's only cannibalism if what we're eating is the exact same species as us. Birds eat other birds all the time, but it's only cannibalism if they eat a bird of the same species. It's like saying… eating a hamburger, for example, is cannibalism, just because cows are mammals like us. Kinda."
I paused mid-chew. "What do you guys consider yourselves?"
Max shrugged. "Avian-Americans?"
I smiled.
"What do you consider yourself, Ed?" asked Nudge.
"Normal amnesiac human with metal limbs, matter-stretching powers, and a pair of wings welded onto his back."
Max blinked. "It looks like that's not all. Your eyes… they're gold-colored."
Nudge looked up from her pizza, looked at me, and squealed. "Oh they are! They're so pretty and beautiful!"
I scowled. "I don't want my eyes to be pretty! I want them to be sharp and steely like a spear! Pretty eyes are for girls."
"How sexist," spat Max around a mouthful of pepperoni and extra cheese.
"It's not sexist! I'm saying I don't want my eyes to be girly!"
"You're saying that girls can only have pretty eyes. That's sexist."
"I-I did not say that!"
"Did too!"
"Screw you!"
"Fuck you!"
"Eat shit!"
"Eat shit and die!"
I was dimly aware of Angel and Gazzy paying close attention to every profanity Max and I exchanged, probably saving them for future use.
"Shove it up your ass!"
"Blow me!"
"Blow yourself!"
"Suck yourself!"
I opened my mouth to tell Max to engage in sexual congress with a certain piny fruit, but stopped when I noticed Iggy, Nudge, and Gazzy leaving with some of the food. "Where are you guys going?"
"We're gonna go up to the room to eat before you two start kissing," said Iggy.
Max choked violently on a mouthful of pizza; I coughed and sprayed my soda all over the room. Just before they left, I saw Iggy turn to Nudge and say "She's cute when she can't spit it out, isn't she?"
We ate some more of the pizza in silence. Max did everything possible not to look at me for the rest of the meal.
Fang, meanwhile, was attempting to rip me apart with a Look that was failing miserably. I think it was because of the smears of tomato sauce on his face that looked like a handlebar moustache and goatee. I kept my mouth shut for a few minutes, but I had to say something.
"Hey, Max," I said. "Check out Fang's facial hair."
"What are you… oh, oh my gosh Fang! There's tomato s-" She fell off the couch, laughing.
Fang flushed and scowled. "I'm going upstairs."
"I'm coming with you!" squealed Angel. "SpongeBob comes on TV soon!"
Max and I were left alone in the room with a couple of half-empty pizza boxes. After three seconds of awkwardness, she ran for the door, yelling "Last one out of the room has to bring the food up!"
I sighed and stacked up the boxes before making my way upstairs. "Asshole."
I got to the room and opened the door with only a little difficulty, but the room was empty. As I put the food down on a table, I noticed that the pillows had been taken from the beds. What is this?
"You're gonna pay for that!" Whump!
Laughing and giggling issued from the adjoining room. I smiled and opened the connecting door…
…and saw Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel engrossed in a pillow fight, shouting and laughing, while a cartoon blared from the TV. That, combined with the rain pounding against the building, presented me with a cacophony of energy and noise.
Nudge paused in mid-swing. "Max! Max! Ed's here! Can he play?"
Max smiled. "Come on, Ed! Grab a pillow and join us!"
"I… I don't think…" I stammered, only for Fang to clock me in the head with a pillow (and probably some pent-up anger too).
"Oh, that was SO uncalled for!" I shouted, smiling, grabbed a pillow, and nailed Fang right back. I waded into the fight and started swinging, laughing like a little kid.
Iggy and Nudge sat out after a few minutes and watched (well, Iggy listened to) the cartoon; meanwhile, Angel leaped on top of the other bed and jumped into Max, squealing "Flying hug attack!" I snatched up Angel's pillow with my other hand and smacked Gazzy with them.
After a few minutes, the fight had ended and everyone was laying down on the beds or the floor, catching their breath and watching the TV, where an animated squid was trying to form a marching band.
"I'm hungry," whined Angel. "Max, can we get dinner?"
"But we just ate, sweetie," said Max. "And besides, it's only 3:00 or so. It's still lunchtime."
"I wouldn't mind some food either," said Iggy.
"Me too," said Gazzy. Fang got up and went into the other room and came back with the pizzas and soda.
"I want some of Nudge's pizza," said Angel.
Fang opened the boxes and started passing out the remaining slices.
"What kind of slice do you want, Iggy?" asked Max, picking up a meat-laden piece.
"Not that one," said Iggy. "That has too much pepperoni on it. The one next to it is okay."
Everyone froze and looked at Iggy.
"Which one do you want, Ig? The one to the left or to the right?" said Max evenly.
"The one to my left and your right… wait a minute…" Iggy paused. "How did I know that?"
Nudge squealed and hugged Iggy. "You can see again! That's so cool!"
Iggy blushed. "No, I can't see… it's like I can sense where things are. Like, I can tell there's more stuff on the slice to Max's right than the one in her hand."
He covered his eyes with his hand.
"It's not my eyes... but how can I see?"
Nobody spoke for a few seconds. Then Nudge frowned. "What's that noise? It's like a buzzing or humming or something. It's... is it coming from Iggy?" She leaned in to Iggy's neck (he blushed even more) and put her ear to his Adam's apple. "There's a noise coming from your throat!"
"I don't hear anything," I said.
"Me neither," said Iggy.
"I can hear it," said Max. "It's almost impossible to hear... it's really high. Like a ringing sound."
"It's echolocation," said Fang. "You can see the echoes bouncing off of objects."
"Not quite sight," I said.
"But you can still see!" squealed Nudge. "That's so awesome! I'm so happy for you!" She hugged Iggy tighter, completely ignoring how his face now resembled a tomato.
We ended the day in Max's room, eating Chinese food and sitting around the TV, watching five people sit around a TV and eat Chinese food while taking shots at each other (one of them, a skinny guy with a big nose and a bowl cut, seemed to be getting the most abuse) and talking about science and someplace called the Cheesecake Factory.
Ed? asked Angel.
Yeah?
Do you think we'll find what we're looking for in New York?
I don't know. Maybe. But today's gotten me rested enough to face anything. What does Max think?
She wishes we could stay longer, but she's excited to see what we'll find there. And she's happy that she got a day to relax and not worry for once.
...I think I am, too.
Author's Note: Whoo! This marks the tenth chapter of the story! (Technically, the prologue counts too, but seeing as how that was mostly lifted from Fullmetal Alchemist, I don't really count that.) After two years, seven months, three weeks, one day, 14,927 words, and 37 reviews, my writing has come a long way, and I have you, my readers and reviewers, to thank for that. So, I'll thank as many of you as I can. (I might list you more than once.)
Thank you to Mcat9905, Darkness Incarnated, Doctor Frostybuscus, Aeonaxx, SteelLark, and DreamweaverAki for reviewing Chapter 10/IX. I really appreciate it, and your comments are always welcome.
As for my favorites list, I'd like to give shout-outs to Aeonaxx, Captain RAGE, ChaosShay, CrimsonLaurana, CrimsonPrincess123, DreamweaverAki, Eron Elric aka the malchemist, Gentsmaster 3000, J-chan and Co, John Imagine, Lost in Reality's Mirror, Moemoepl, NekoTaku24433, Pounce the Cat, RinzlerIsTron123, Seiga Niko, Shortalch, Spartan058Linda, SteelLark, T'086421, WeWereCaughtInTheMoment, WingedBirdy, WingedHero540, cooking samurai, darkwolf1662, fly to the heavens, gydragonwing, rainstripe, servant of matryoshka, theRogueHatter, and verylexiful. You guys mean the world to me, and I very much appreciate your readership.
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