Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Maximum Ride characters. I DO, however, own the Court and No… who will be introduced in this chapter.

Canary: Hwaaa! New character today!

Calamity: Sweet. Now get on with the story.

Can't Cry

Chapter Eleven: No

Max ran through the hallways with a speed she hadn't used in a while on foot. She pushed through anyone and anything, not caring if any alarms sounded or what. She had people to rescue and that was on the top of her list of things to do. Luckily, she had only run into a few white coats, which were always easy to knock unconscious.

She continued to run, her legs burning with each step. She knew she would have to find Angel before she entered Fang's mind. She knew she would have to find Fang before he died… but how?

Her thoughts were interrupted as a piercing scream echoed through the halls.

That scream sounded a lot like Angel.

-+-

Iggy gritted his teeth and spoke again to Angel, only to have her not respond. Nudge began to sob hysterically and the Gasman simply stared at his sister's body in shock, unable to respond. Iggy released her shoulders.

"I…" he started, but it simply mixed in with Nudge's sobs. Gazzy finally responded… by turning away and vomiting.

"Ang… Ang… An…" he kept trying to say, only to fail every time and sob with Nudge. Iggy closed his eyes and tried to comfort the two children, but it was no use. A pair of running footsteps suddenly drew near. Iggy opened his blind eyes and hushed the two kids. They tried frantically to stop their crying.

The footsteps stopped in front of the door to the closet they were hiding in. Iggy, Gazzy, and Nudge all held their breath. The handle slowly turned and began to open, the light flooding in. The three braced themselves for an eraser attack.

Suddenly, Iggy remembered.

Erasers don't wear sneakers.

"Max?" he asked blindly. Nudge and the Gasman looked into the light as their eyes adjusted. Sure enough, there stood a huffing, angry Max.

"MAX!" Nudge and Gazzy shouted together. They tackled the older girl and hugged her with renewed intensity.

"Max…" Iggy said in relief. He then gently placed his hand on Angel's body. She must not have noticed yet. He picked up Angel's body, cradling her like when she was younger, and walked out towards Max.

"Nudge! Gazzy! Thank god you guys are okay!" Max said with relief. She sat up, a smile on her face. She must have got to them in time. "So, where's my Angel?"

"Here…" Iggy said, stepping out of the utility closet. Angel lay there, lifeless in his arms, her eyes still open and the blood tears still on her face. Max's eyes widened and she stood slowly so as not to collapse from exhaustion and terror.

"Angel…" she said quietly. She gently took the child from Iggy's arms and held her close. Her fragile and cold little body lay there, limp. Max felt tears in her eyes, but didn't bother to hold them back. "My precious Angel…" she murmured. Iggy sighed, his own eyes tearing up.

"We tried to talk to Fang…" he began.

"Fang did this?" Max whispered, pain straining her voice. Iggy shook his head.

"He didn't mean to, Max. Angel…" He faltered slightly. "Angel managed to tell us that his mind was shattered and acting against Fang's will. It mistook… It mistook her for an intruder," he finally stammered out. Max looked at Angel once more, her tears falling and mixing with Angel's blood red ones. She looked just like the child Fang had unintentionally scared to death in his chamber. Was this the fate of everyone who crossed his path? She thought. To die of sheer terror?

She held Angel's body close, hugging it with all her might and the strength of all humanity, refusing to let go of the little one. Then, that's when she heard it.

…badump…

…badump…

…badump…

A heart beat.

Angel was still alive.

"Iggy!" Max shouted. "Her heartbeat! It's still there! Just barely, but she's still alive!" Iggy frowned.

"Impossible… I checked her pulse only a moment before you arrived. There was nothing…" he said. Nudge and Gazzy looked at Max with hopeful eyes. She grabbed Iggy's shoulder.

"Listen closely! It's so faint that she shouldn't be alive… but she is!" she said. Iggy nodded and leaned forward, placing his ear against Angel's chest. Sure enough, a faint heartbeat resided there.

"No wonder I couldn't feel it… it's hardly there…" he said. Nudge jumped up and hugged Max again.

"Oh, Max! We were sure she was dead!" she said. "And now… and now she's alive! Angel's alive!" The Gasman only stood there, tears pouring out of his big eyes.

"Angel…" he whimpered, grabbing his sister's hand. "Angel… I knew you would be okay. I knew it… I knew Fang wouldn't kill his own family…" Iggy grabbed his shoulder and smiled at him. Gazzy sniffled and wiped his face.

"Well, we still have a few problems, I hate to say," Iggy said. Max nodded.

"We still need to find Fang… And Angel…" she said, closing the little girl's eyes. "And Angel is still unconscious. I don't know how to bring her out of this, but Fang might. So, we need to find him." The other's nodded. They were willing to go wherever Max went. Separation can do that to someone.

Nudge cleared her throat. The others looked at her as she stepped forward. She glanced at Angel one more time to reassure herself that this suggestion of hers was the right thing to do.

"I think I can help find out where Fang is," she stated. Max raised an eyebrow, Iggy doing the same.

"How so?" Max asked. Nudge cleared her throat again.

"I can touch Angel and search her memory… maybe she was able to see a glimpse of where Fang was," she mumbled on. Max stepped near Nudge and spoke, her voice stern.

"No. You are not getting sucked into whatever happened to Angel…" she said. Nudge looked at Max with a bit of relief. Max smiled. "Nudge… You don't have to put yourself in harm's way to be helpful… What happened to Angel was an accident. We can find Fang the old fashioned way. We look until we find him." Nudge nodded.

"So… on with our search to reunite the Flock?" Iggy asked, a smile on his face. Max grinned.

"Yup! Away we go!"

-+-

The hallway had cleared of smoke a long time ago, but only now did the Court finally awaken from unconsciousness. Jury stood right away, searching for any of the bird kids that might have been hit with the blast as well. She had managed to blow most of the debris away from her, causing her and her sister to get away with only a few scrapes and bruises.

Judge coughed and sat up, dust falling off of her blond head. She quickly glanced around to make sure Jury was okay. She was met with relief as she spotted her sister standing not but a few feet away.

"They escaped?" Judge asked. Jury nodded. Judge got up and walked over to her sister's side.

"It's not your fault, Jury. They used bombs, it wasn't fair play," she said, trying to reassure her comrade. Jury sighed and hung her head.

"We shouldn't have let them escape… I shouldn't have let them escape…" she said. She faced Judge. "They wont be happy with these results… We were supposed to capture them… and now I've failed us both… they'll cast us into fire! They'll kill us for sure!" Jury exclaimed, dropping to her knees. Judge knelt down to comfort her sister.

"It's okay… I'm sure if we explain the situation…" she said, uselessly lying for her sister's benefit. Jury looked at Judge and smiled sadly.

"Heh… you were always the gentle one. I guess we really do balance each other out," Jury said. Judge smiled and patted her sister's back.

"I was never a fan of war," she stated.

"But… you both are faced with it," said a male voice. The two sisters whipped around to face a tall youth, approximately seventeen in appearance with tan skin and shaggy short sandy blond hair. His eyes were gray and empty as they looked at the two girls. He wore no uniform of sorts, only a halfway buttoned up white shirt and white cloth pants. He didn't even wear shoes.

"No," Jury said, greeting the boy with acidic tones. The boy, No, gave no acknowledgement or happy greeting.

"You both have failed your mission. Failure to complete any mission can put you on death row," he said. Judge stood, her arms outstretched.

"They used bombs! We weren't informed that the enemy could be wielding weaponry, let alone explosives," she said in their defense. No's placid expression didn't change.

"You should be prepared for anything. That is what we are created for," he said. Then all was quiet. Jury stood by her sister.

"You were sent here to exterminate us, weren't you?" Jury asked. No nodded.

"I have been charged with the responsibility of eliminating anything that is deemed unworthy of serving under this operation," he said. Jury nodded.

"I see…" She faced her sister. "Judge… you aren't meant for combat… You never were. Even your power is meant to help others, not harm them… When I say go… Run. Run as fast as you can and get out of here… get away from these people and go somewhere on the outside… be free…" she said. Judge's eyes widened.

"J-Jury…" she said, tears forming. Jury looked away from her.

"I'm sorry, No, but I can't let my comrade and me go to extermination without a fight. I apologize, but that's why we were created, to fight. You understand, don't you?" she said, a smile on her face. No sighed and nodded, his first actual show of expression.

"I understand… that you choose to rush to your death," he said. Jury was grinning now.

"I guess you don't understand!" she shouted, unleashing a powerful gust at the boy. "Go!" she shouted. Judge stood there for a moment. "Go, Judge!" Jury shouted again. With tears in her eyes, Judge slowly backed away from her sister, who was sending gusts at No. Amazingly, he was doing a fine job at dodging them. "Get the hell outta here!" Jury shouted again. This time Judge listened and ran.

She was only a ways down the hallway, but her sister and No were already out of sight. Suddenly explosions erupted behind her.

"Explosions?" she asked herself. She stopped a second, then shook her head and ran forward. She knew what the fate of her sister would be. Tears flowed from her eyes as she thought of this. Her sister had sacrificed herself so that she could live. She had to honor that sacrifice and run away as fast as she could. She had to find a way out. She had to defy this organization that murdered her sister… She knew what to do.

She had to find the bird kids…

…and she had to help them.

-+-

Suuu… I know, no Fangy in this chapter. But the next one is gonna involve him a lot, so I kept this chapter Fang-free… besides… he needed a break. (realizes that if these characters really did go through everything she wrote and were real that they would murder her). "You don't have to put yourself in harm's way to be helpful…" Guess Max shoulda told that to Fang, yeah?