Maximum Ride: Saving the World?

Part One: Rebellion

Chapter 12: Alien Youth, Plus One

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." -JFK

Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride, or anything else mentioned in this story.

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I yawned and walked into the kitchen. The rest of the Flock, sans Fang, were there, and so were Sam and Vic. Austin was still at the EMC, and Paul and Kevin were there keeping him company. I grabbed a plate and sat down at the table. Iggy had put out a lot of scrambled eggs, so I heaped some onto my plate and started chowing down. "Hey Iggy, we gonna have anything else?"

"Pancakes and sausages on the way, oh bossy one," Iggy replied sarcastically.

"Har-dee-har-har. On a completely unrelated note, has anyone seen Fang?" I asked.

"Nope," answered the Gasman.

"The Prince of Darkness is probably still sleeping in his royal bed of emo-ness," Iggy laughed.

"I didn't see him in his bed," I pointed out.

"Yeah, well, doesn't he disappear if he stays still long enough?" Nudge said. "I mean, I don't think he, like, runs a mile in his sleep or anything. Most people stay pretty still, and if anyone is gonna stay still forever, it'd be Fang. Hey, if Fang went into a coma, would anyone notice? I mean, maybe Angel could hear his thoughts and figure it out. Angel, have you ever read anyone's mind while they're in a coma?"

Angel didn't respond. Instead, everyone stood up and moved to the couch.

"What?" Nudge complained. "I don't talk that much! I mean, sure, once I get going, it's hard to stop me, but, I mean…"

"Nudge! Shut! Up!" Iggy yelled.

I would have intervened, but the doorbell rang. Yeah, our cabin-thing has a doorbell. It's a legit home, except no peephole. So I had no idea who would be at the door.

It was… one of them.

"What do you want?" I asked the Alien in the doorway. The Alien Youth guy just looked at me, right into my eyes.

"Hello?" I asked. "Earth to painted-face? Anyone home?" I swear, I think I saw an emotion change. Imagine that! An emotion change, in one of those freaks!

"Max," he said sadly, almost begging me, but for what, I didn't know.

"How did you.." I started, then something clicked. At the same time, I felt something breaking inside me. "F- Fang?" I stuttered.

It was him. He had traded in his normal black for their white hoodie, and he wore the unmistakable black face paint of the Aliens.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier," he said. "But we're leaving here today, and I made the choice last night. I didn't get the chance."

"We?" I asked venomously. "We? Are you serious? You're… you're…" My voice started cracking. It felt like someone was tearing my heart out with a rusty spoon, one scoop at a time.

"Max," he begged, "I want you to know…" He brushed some hair out of my eyes and pulled me closer. "…that this is the right path for me. And, no matter what happens, I'll always love you." He gently pulled my chin up to kiss me.

"No." I tore myself away and said, "I love Fang. I don't love you. I'll never love one of you." I saw my words stab his heart like a dagger. I felt tears coming, so I slammed the door in his face and ran through the kitchen.

"What the-" I heard Iggy say, but I was already past him, already into the girls' room, face down on my bed, crying my heart out.

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"Max?" someone asked.

"Go away," I mumbled into my pillow. I heard the door open anyway, and someone sat down on the bed next to me. I looked up and saw Sam, the hated Sam from Virginia, sitting next to me.

"Come on," he said, and helped me up into a sitting position. "What happened? Did he really-"

"WHY?" I screamed and started sobbing into Sam's shoulder. He was surprised at first, then came around and started to comfort me.

"Come on, don't worry about it. All us guys are like that. If he's going to leave like that, then you're better off without him. We all are."

I looked up at him. "Really? Are you…"

"Yes," he said, "Now relax. Let him go." And I admit, I started to do just that. It'll take a while, I thought, but I can forget him.

Max, The Voice warned, slow down. Don't-

Shut up Voice, this was his decision, not mine. I was starting to feel happy again. Sam was rubbing my back lightly, and then he surprised the crap out of me when he kissed my forehead.

I jumped up and looked at him like he was crazy. "Sorry," he said. "I went a bit too far there."

"No, it's okay, I was just surprised." I leaned back up against him and closed my eyes as the comfort began again.

"Max?" Sam asked.

"Mmhmm?"

"Look at me." I did. "Look, I'm sorry about everything. About Fang, about how I've ignored you since you showed up a few months ago, even about what happened years ago in Virginia. I just want to go back to where we were back then, before all of this happened."

I didn't really grasp exactly what he meant immediately, I was just relieved he didn't say something like, "I'm gay." "I do too," I said, and was honestly shocked when he pressed his lips against mine.

My mind shorted out for a minute, as about a million emotions tried to connect themselves to thoughts in my head. Finally, one pulled itself together and wandered into my consciousness. Oh, that's what he meant.

Max, The Voice cautioned.

Hmm, The Voice, here to offer more annoying advice. What was it you once said? Go with the flow? Okay. And I did, wrapping my arms around Sam and kissing back. I needed to escape, and escape had changed its name to Sam.

And interruption had changed its name to Iggy. We both froze as he walked into the room. For once, I was happy he was blind. But he sensed I was in the room. "Max? You in here?" He reached forward and touched Sam. "Oh, sorry Sam, I thought Max was in here…" His hand slid downward and touched my wing, which was wrapped around Sam. When did that get there?

"Wait, Max? This is her wing…" He moved his hand from San to my wing and back, putting two and two together. Then he turned and stormed out.

"Crap," I said, and I immediately ran after him.

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"Iggy!" I called, running to catch up with him. He was outside, storming down the path in a fit of blind rage. Okay, well it's always a blind anything with Iggy, but you get the picture.

"No, Max!" he yelled. "I'm done!"

"What? What do you mean?" I asked, genuinely confused.

"I can't believe you! Why can't you think of anyone else for once?" He was madder than I'd ever seen him before. "First Fang leaves, and I swear, I'll kill the bastard if I get the chance, and now this? Are you trying to tear us apart? Did you even consider what the others would think? Did you think about anyone other than yourself? Do you ever? I'm done. I'm going to take Nudge, Gaz, and Angel, and make sure they're alright. I'm going to do what's best for them. If you want to join us, that's up to you, but you're not calling the shots. Not anymore. I'm keeping the Flock together, no matter how little of the Flock is left." He turned and stormed away, leaving me standing there, my mouth wide open in shock.

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I just wandered, not paying attention to anything. I had no idea where I was going or why I was going there, as long as it was somewhere else.

I didn't notice Kurt until I ran into him.

"OHMYGOD! I'm soooo sorry," I said as I helped him up. Jeez, this guy has the knack to show up just when you need him, or just when you don't.

"Oh, it's no problem," he said, dusting himself off. "In fact, I was just looking for you." His cheerful attitude suddenly turned somber. "I know you're going through some tough times right now, and I know you probably want to get away. Well, the "incident" in Washington kinda is forcing us to accelerate our schedule. One area that needs help is Colombia."

"Colombia?" I asked.

"Mmhm. We're backing one of the rebel groups there, and we need them to overthrow the government sooner than planned. The thing is, they're not ready. They need help from someone who's trained better than they are."

"Wait," I said, "Are you saying I should go and take over for them?"

"Yes and no," he said. "It's safe to say that Squad A1 will be out of commission for a while, so I'm asking you guys to go down there and help them, train them, and lead them. It'd be a huge help. You're not required to do it, but-"

"I'll do it." Anything to get out of here.

Anything to escape.

And that's how I ended up on a military plane flying south, running away from my old life.

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