They couldn't believe their eyes. They just couldn't! Except Iggy, that is. He didn't even have to see to know that Max was near. Her voice was unmistakable! Fang was looking at her, wide-eyed, almost unable to comprehend what was happening. He almost forgot to keep flapping, dropping a few feet as he watched the blond-haired angel streak upward in the sky. Aiming straight for them.
He made note of every inch of her. Every bruise or scratch. The dirt and leaves clinging to her tattered clothes and hair. She looked unhealthily skinny. He could see her cheekbones jutting outward slightly, her arms bony, but her wings scared him the most.
They were no longer the beautiful brown speckled gossamer wings he had seen growing up. Feathers were bent, a filthy gray color, and seemed to be missing in some areas along with apparent scars where someone had obviously broken them and the bones jutting out at one point in time. They seemed awkwardly bent at an angle as she flew. He couldn't put his finger on it why they looked that way.
It wasn't until she had reached them, her ashen face brimming with a relieved smile and tear-filled eyes, that he realized why they looked that way.
They had bound her wings. Tied them together.
Oh my God…
"Max!" Nudge launched herself through the air to cling to Max dangerously in midair. Tears were streaming down both their faces as they released each other and Gazzy had a turn to throw himself at her. Angel, Total, and Iggy were circling them. They were cheering, laughing, and crying. They had Max back! She was alive!
"You're back Max!" Angel cried. "You're back!"
Iggy hollered, shaking a fist at the earth. "Take that bad guys! We've got her back!"
All of them but Fang were weeping uncontrollably now. The reality of it all came rushing in all at once, smashing the insides of their minds with enough force to knock them out of the skies forever.
Max had obviously been captured. She was held captive all this time. That meant, they all held their breaths, thinking the same thing--the School was back.
After the reunion in the sky, they banked toward a nearby lake. Fang was leading, his dark eyes searching the trees below them as they prepared to land. He wasn't about to let anyone jump then now that they had Max back. There was no way in hell.
"Max!" Nudge wheezed practically the second they touched ground. The motor was revving. "Where were you this entire time? Did you get captured by…you know...the white coats? Are they back? What did they do to you in there? Are you okay? How did you get out? Were you being chased?" She looked around, wide-eyed. "Are we being watched now? Are we gonna get jumped?"
Fang looked at Max, his dark eyes watching her intently. Searching for any signs that she may be weary, exhausted, or even inured in any way. Besides her wings and lack of food, she seemed all right after she got the mud washed off her. She didn't even seem in the least bit worried that they may indeed be targeted, ready to be pounced on by some unknown, unseen enemy. Instead, she seemed distant from everything. As if she were trapped in some dream. A daze.
"Max?" he called to her, his voice as calm as he could make it. She blinked a few times, waking up, and looked at him. Her face showed no emotion other than a slight hint of exhaustion. She had been running, flying, for her life. That seemed normal. He moved closer to her, feeling the eyes of the flock on his back as he did so, then sat next to her on a log. "Are you okay? Your wings…" With a careful hand, he felt down her spine then up again, stopping along the joints connecting them to her shoulders. It disturbed him greatly how bony they felt.
Very quickly, he watched as she subconsciously stroked something silver around her neck. He noted this in the back of his mind as she responded quietly, "I'm fine. Thanks. Just tired. Hungry." Actually, she wasn't hungry. They fed her more food that same day then she ever had before since she arrived at the new lab. By tomorrow, her bony frame would be back to her normal, muscular, and lean form. She would be the real Maximum.
Nudge and Angel crowded her other side, their eyes wide with worry. "Did they hurt you bad? Is anything…hurting?"
Gazzy was behind her, as well as Iggy. The Gasman had seen how misshapen her wings were in flight. He was scared. "Max. Your wings looked…broken. Are they?"
"If they were, I wouldn't be flying Gaz." She looked back at him, a warm smile forming from her worn expression. This act was by far her best yet.
Iggy trailed a crafty hand where Fang had done the same thing not even a minute ago. She unfolded her wing just slightly, knowing that was what the real Max would do. The real Max cared for these freaks, these losers. She had to as well, for now. A troubled look took hold the blind boy's face as he felt along her wing. His sensitive fingers could pick up any irregularities in her feathers. He had her texture memorized down to the very last follicle. What he felt was very bizarre. "Max, did they bond your wings?"
Her shoulders stiffened. How did he know? Nodding silently, she just remembered he was blind and replied, "Yes."
"And certain parts…I can feel scars. Long ones…" His fingers continued to trail along her wing, his expression growing more and more troubled by the second. The flock was hanging on his every word. Scared to death for their beloved leader, their friend, their sister. Without her, there was no use going on. Nothing else to live for. "Did they break your wings, Max?"
Angel gasped silently, her little mouth hanging open as she stared at her oddly outstretched wing. She just imagined them bounding her big sister's wing, tying them together as if they were a bundle of sticks, and then breaking them. Even in her short existence living in the world, she had yet to feel what it was like to have her wing broken. She never wanted to.
Nudge looked on worriedly, for once her mouth not spewing out sixty words a minute. She was silent, stiff, ready for the worst. A long while ago, back home, she had fractured her wing once and was held up in bed for at least a week because of the pain. Even with her recombinant DNA and extra speedy recovery cells, the pain was still there long after it healed.
The air was thick as they waited for Max to answer. She was stiff as she sat there on the log, her head bent forward in exhaustion. Silently, she was begging, pleading for them to just leave her alone! She was fine! Yes, they had bound her wings. Yes, they had broken them, but for good purposes behind it! It was to make them better! If she was to be just like Max, she had to be able to move exactly like Max. Since she could not hit the two-hundred speed boost in the air, she had to have a special surgery on her wings to help her along in her evolutionary stage. It was unknown whether the operation was a success.
To tell the truth, she was kind of afraid to find out.
A calloused but firm hand touched her shoulder, scaring her a little. She turned slightly to find herself staring into the dark one's eyes. Fang's. He was giving her the most intense, protective stare she had ever seen in her life. "Max, did they?" Even though he meant nothing to her, she couldn't help but melt slightly at the deep concern in his voice for her.
If only it were truly meant for her…
What are you thinking Max? Stick with the program! Get your head out of the clouds! After her mental scolding, she nodded again and whispered, "Yes. They broke my wings." It was scary how convincingly scared and sad she sounded. Maybe, just maybe, she really was hurt by what they did.
Just maybe.
Nudge, Angel, Gazzy, Iggy, Total, and Fang had matching looks of horror and disbelief. Angel wrapped her skinny arms around her neck as the rest of the flock, besides Fang and Total, surrounded her in their own hugs, wings unfolded and all. Faintly, Max felt something tug at her heartstrings. A feeling she never felt before.
She felt…loved. Belonged. Never before had anyone ever given her the opportunity, the pleasure, for her to ever feel this way. She liked it.
Too bad. She was going to kill them anyway.
