Max sighed and set the hair iron on the wooden stand. It had been nearly half an hour, and her wings finally felt clean and well-groomed. She stretched one out and looked at her reflection in the mirror. Sleek and elegant. Finally, she was back to her normal self.
She left the room and was greeted by the sight of the main room of the motel. The dark-brown carpet stretched across the floor, with a small T.V. on one side of the room and a ratty black couch on the other, where Dominic and Fang sat. A short, shiny T.V. table was set next to the couch, and a pair of cream-colored beds filled the rest of the room.
Facing the beds was a long, clicking line of metallic machines. Some were the size of the T.V. and others were small, about the size of her fist. All of them were laced with wires and tiny blinking lights.
"Hey Max," Fang said, eyes on the screen. Dominic sat next to him, with a liter-sized Coca-Cola gripped tightly in his hand. With a start, Max noticed Ari, sitting on the floor by the couch near Dominic. He was half-hidden by the huge armrest and Dominic's massive form.
"Hey," Max said. "How's it going?" Max was rooming with Vortex, but the guys had made the room their home base, on account of the food. Three boxes of pizza lay open on the stout T.V. table. The juicy smell of pepperoni wafted to Max's nose, and her mouth watered.
"Goin' good!" Dominic said, his eyes glued to the screen. With a wave of his hand, he gestured at the pizza boxes. "We saved a box for you, Max," he said, glancing at her. He turned back to the screen. "Please help yourself." Max scrutinized Dominic's face, then looked at Fang's and then Ari's. All of them had a look of intense concentration.
Fang reached forward and grabbed the remote, then increased the volume. "Breaking News," the anchor said. "Just last night, an unbelievable series of events transpired in the farm country surrounding the city of...
Max's eyes turned to the screen, and her mouth fell open. Hovering next to the anchor's head was an aerial image of a cratered blastzone surrounded by farmland.
"...And so we turn to our newscaster, Mark Crilley. Mark?" The camera switched to a grey-suited reporter standing in front of an empty field. The rich dirt stretched off into the distance, where a vague smoke plume was barely visible. The reporter nodded. "Thank you, Brian," he said. "As we all know, the mysterious sequence of events happened at approximately midnight last night. Residents in nearby farmhouses reported a series of three amazingly loud explosions, each of which lit up the night. We obtained this video from a witness of the event."
The screen switched to a grainy video. The video was black, with excited voices in the background. Then, suddenly, a large, glowing-red fireball appeared, pluming its way up to the sky. Moments later, a scratchy boom sounded and the grainy video shuddered. The camera switched back to the grey-suited reporter in the field.
"Local authorities are not commenting on the incident, and attempts to film the explosion site was thwarted by FBI officials. Local authorities have said that the explosions were caused by an aircraft of some sort. The scene is currently under investigation. Brian?" The camera switched back to the news anchor. "Thank you, Mark. That's Mark Crilley, reporting live from the field. In an interesting development regarding the incident, the United States Defense Department held a press conference early this morning..."
Max turned and looked at the three guys. "We did this..." In a way, it was great. Max felt like they were getting revenge against Itex.
Ari grimaced and pointed at the screen. Max glared at him for a bit, and suddenly realized that he looked slightly more human. A confused feeling spread through her heart, then she turned and looked back at the screen.
It showed a group of suited men and women, standing behind a podium bristling with microphones. A series of loud flashes and snaps sounded, then stopped as the woman behind the podium raised her hand. It was the Department of Defense Spokeswoman Lucy Marionnel. She smiled at the cameras, then said slowly: "We come here today to discuss the circumstances surrounding the crash of the governmental research aircraft, the B-70684. Investigations are currently underway. However, we can say with certainty that the crash was related to a highly-sophisticated hacking incident. This incident affected a major aircraft control center..."
"Can you believe this?" Fang pounded his fist on the table. "She's covering up. TELL. THEM. THE F***ING. TRUTH," he said, accentuating his words with viscious fist-pounds. "Ssh, listen," Dominic said quietly, his eyes glued to the screen. He raised a blonde eyebrow and took a sip from his liter of Cola.
"The hacking incident was extremely powerful, as it managed to bypass major firewalls and defense systems that had been put in place." Marionell paused, and the cameras flashed. "It is with increasing certainty that the hacking was caused by a foreign governmental power, namely, the country of Malta." She paused again, and the cameras clicked.
"WHAT? This is freaking outrageous!" Max glared at the woman onscreen. "What is she doing? I thought her job was to prevent fighting between countries, not to provoke it!" Max pointed a quavering finger at the television screen. "Do you see what she's doing?" she asked, staring wide-eyed at the trio before her. "She's lying about what happened!"
Ari moaned and put his head between his knees, rocking back and forth. "It's started," he muttered nervously. "It's already begun, already, al-ready..."
Dominic reassuringly patted Ari on the head. Fang reached forward and lazily grabbed a slice of pizza from the box. He bit into it and sat back on the couch, arms and legs akimbo. "Mmf, that's her problem," he said nonchalantly. "And hey, where's Vortex?"
"Watch," Dominic said sternly, brow furrowed. He pointed to the screen and set the Cola down on the floor, resting his chin on his fist and staring intently.
Ari slyly reached around the couch and grabbed it, then surreptuously uncapped it and started to chug.
"...therefore, steps are being taken to secure the country from further attacks. It is our duty to ensure the safety of the country, and we will do everything we can." With that, the Spokeswoman stepped back, and a flurry of camera snapshots reflected off the wood of the podium. Reporters began to call out questions, and a cool-looking FBI dude with black sunglasses and a wired earpiece stepped up and took her place.
There was a knock on the door, and everyone jumped. "It's Vortex," the muffled voice said through the doorway. "We now have a year's supply of batteries!" Fang leapt up from his seat and dashed for the door, unlocking the deadbolt.
Vortex rushed in, her arms full of strange paper bags. "Hi everyone," she said breathlessly. She carefully placed the bags in the corner of the room, then straightened up, brushing off her hands. "Like I said, a year's worth of batteries. This'll power the machines very well." Fang sat back on the couch and Vortex briskly walked back to the doorway. "I have several bags of food and other supplies, also," she said cheerily. She left and carefully closed the door.
Max glanced at Dominic and saw a grin hovering near the corner of his mouth. "What is it?" she asked curiously. He grinned. "Ah, Vortex," he said, shaking his head. He caught Max's questioning gaze and pointed to the paper bags, in the corner next to the dimly clicking machines. "She bought raw chemicals." He beamed at her and turned back to the television.
Max sighed and made her way to the bags. Kneeling next to a microwave-sized, caged spinning apparatus, she opened the bags and peeked inside. Colloidal copper. Silver and platinum plates, 3/4 inch. Copper wire; sodium bisulfate powder... magnesium oxide, ammonium chloride, pure-grade graphite, aluminum foil... "I don't see how she does it," Max said, in awe and slightly annoyed.
"WHOA!" Fang and Dominic leaned toward the screen as one. "What is it?" Max said in shock. She noticed Ari was staring at the screen as well, arms wrapped around his knees. The empty Coke bottle stood, capped, by his side.
"IT'S GUNTHER-HAGEN'S WIFE!" Fang croaked in disbelief. Max's jaw dropped.
An elegant, brown-haired woman with short-cut hair was standing behind the awesome FBI man, hands behind her back. She had severe eyebrows and a piercing gaze that drilled into the cameras like a hawk's. "Wow... what does she do?" Max said. She sat against the couch armrest near Fang and helped herself to a slice of pizza.
"She is the Communications Director for ITEX, I am certain of it," Dominic said thoughtfully. Fang chewed a pizza crust. "Weird," Fang said, "but I can actually see Hans and her getting along." He raised his eyebrows and reached for another pizza slice.
Vortex entered the room again and deposited a load of groceries by the television, then smiled and left the room again.
Ari grumbled something, and Dominic patted his head again. "Ari, my man! Eat! This food is yours as well!" Ari glared suspiciously at the pizza over his folded arms and buried his head between his knees again.
"Ungrateful wretch," Fang muttered. "Ari, guess what? You could walk away from here, from us, and no one would stop you. So why don't you?" He stared at the wolf-man hybrid. "Well, why not?"
Ari looked up and glared at Fang with a look of pure hatred, which quickly turned to one of embarrassment as Dominic leaned over and eyed the empty Coke bottle. "Excellent," Dominic said good-naturedly, "I left that there on purpose, because I wanted you to get sugar into your system. Here, eat, Ari my friend." He tore the cardboard lid off the box and placed five pizza slices on top of it, then balanced it on the couch armrest.
Ari groaned and waved away the slices. "You people are too nice," he hissed weakly, and hid his face between his arms, shaking his head.
Two Hours Later.
Max lay sleepless in her bed. Vortex snoozed in the other bed across from the nightstand. The guys had left the room long ago, with Ari rooming with Dominic and Fang sleeping out in the car. Max had tried to sleep, too, but was constantly being haunted by the strange clicks and whirrs coming from the weird machines across from the beds. It reminded her of the School, and she hated it.
With a groan, she rolled out of bed and squinted at the clock. Eleven-thirty. She was bone-tired, but she knew for sure she couldn't sleep in here. Heck, maybe she'd sleep out on the roof. Or in the trees bordering the parking lot. She'd slept outside before, and it wasn't too bad. But the noisy highway across the parking lot might be an annoyance...
She grabbed a key from the nightstand and tiptoed across the room, careful not to wake Vortex. Vortex snoozed soundlessly, the black eyemask making her look like a drowsing raccoon.
Max slowly opened the door and stepped outside, closing the door behind her.
The cool night air brushed against her face. Dull yellow light washed across the edges of the building and spread across the pavement, while the nearby highway brightened occasionally with a passing truck.
The night sky was overcast, but in the watery streetlights shone on the dim silhouette of Fang, perched atop the Subaru. He was staring at the highway and the city lights beyond.
"Fang?" Max said. She walked up to the car and looked up. Fang looked down, saw her, and grinned. "Heya Max. How's it going?" He slid down from the car's roof and landed lightly by her side. Max looked up into his dark eyes, and he looked softly down at her. "We should talk," Max said lightly.
She nodded her head towards a security camera, mounted at the base of the low-hanging roof. "Oh. Sure," Fang said. "Where should we...? The roof?" Max nodded, and she walked with him to the side of the motel. An empty dumpster sat beside the building, and she jumped onto it, then clambered onto the gently-sloping, shingled roof. Fang followed behind her.
They sat on the roof and stared at the lonely highway below. "Not much traffic," Fang said quietly. He put an arm around Max, and she felt his warmth flood through her shoulders.
Max sighed. "Fang... I've been thinking." She paused as Fang rubbed her shoulder, then she sighed again. "Fang... we have to find the rest of the Flock. I mean, Vortex and Dominic are a great help, but... I think it's time we split off from them, and set off on our own."
Fang rubbed her shoulder in silence, staring up at the clouds blanketing the sky. "I was thinking the same thing," he said.
"So should we do it?" Max clutched her knees to her chest, and felt the chill air blow through her hair. Vortex and Dominic could help them, that much was certain. But now that they had Ari to work with, the two siblings seemed distracted and almost disorganized. Fang dropped his arm from around Max's shoulders and wearily rubbed his face, then stared back up at the sky. "We can't say goodbye to them just like that," he said gently. "They saved my life, and took down a drone from Itex. They've done a lot." Max nodded her head and stared at the highway. A lone semi appeared and zoomed into the distance, tires humming.
"Dominic and Vortex are geniuses," she said softly, "Complete and utter geniuses. So...I think we should break free from them, but stay in contact. Talk to them and stuff. They can help us find information about the Flock, and about Itex." The thought of the institution flashed memories through her mind. She huddled her knees closer to her chest and sighed again. "It's been gnawing at me," she said suddenly. "Thoughts of the School..." She felt Fang's arm around her shoulders, drawing her close. Warmth radiated from his body. And all of a sudden, she knew everything was going to be alright.
Fang's hot breath tickled her ear, and she closed her eyes.
Then, with a warm tenderness she had never felt before, Fang gently kissed her, holding her softly between his arms.