Disclaimer: *insert witty disclaimer here that tells you I don't own Maximum Ride*

Claimer: I will claim the plot as mine!

Chapter 21

I was in the girl's bathroom brushing my hair after a luxuriously hot shower, staring into the mirror. It was strange seeing my own reflection. (After all, being on the run for so much of my life I never really had time to care about appearances. I didn't have time for mirrors either.)

But now that I was taking the time to actually look into one, I realized how much older I looked compared to how I looked just a year earlier. I looked… more like a teenager and less like a kid. I could've easily passed as a seventeen-year-old with a little bit of effort.

My hair had long since grown out of its short haircut that I'd gotten in New York and now fell in long waves to my shoulder blades. It was no longer as blond as it had been a few years ago, and had changed to a dark gold streaked with lighter blond and brunette. My face was thinner and more angular. My neck was long and thin, my shoulders set back in a proud way. My nose, a feature I'd never really cared about, was small and perfectly straight. A few freckles dotted it, but they weren't as noticeable as they had been before. I'd filled into my figure. My waist was tiny, my hips rounder than they'd been a year ago.

I pulled my hair away from my neck and turned slightly, trying to see every angle of my neck. There was no expiration date. No black markings to indicate that my time was up like Ari.

Why has Fang's contact slated me for death? I wondered. I sighed and walked out of the bathroom to the galley, where Iggy and Maya were making lunch.

It had been two weeks since Doctor Martinez and Jeb had joined us. Since then, we'd learned that they'd been held at a Doomsday Group base in Japan. They couldn't remember much, but all they knew was that something big was going on at that particular base. Like, end of all humanity big.

It had also been three weeks since we'd set off. We were about five miles from Rio and Fang had said, given that it had stopped storming, we'd be there by five in the evening.

"Max," Mike said, waving me over, where he, Fang, and Holden were hunched over his computer.

"'Sup?" I said, peering over his shoulder. The screen was covered in plans, schematics, and cross-sections of a circular building.

"I found all of this on the DG's website," he explained. "It's all plans for the base where Ella is. From what I've been able to decipher, there's only one entrance if you don't take a submarine. I think you'll want to study these maps in order to make a plan on just how we're going to bust Ella out."

I nodded, studying the plans carefully. One showed security measures (cameras, traps, etc.) and another depicted the electrical layout of the place, among many others. "Print this stuff out," I told him. "I'll need all of it."

Mike nodded and typed in a command for the maps to print. Then he exited out of the screens after they'd printed and started to type in a command to deactivate the hack he had on the site. But something caught my eye first.

"Stop, stop, stop," I said quietly, studying the screen. A file, tiny in comparison to the others, labeled Funding was what I saw. Of course! Why hadn't I thought of this before? The Doomsday Group had to get their funding from somewhere and I knew it probably wasn't from simple donations. They had to have sponsors, people who were under their mind control and wanted to give away every penny they had for their cause.

Fang glanced at me and I nodded. He understood that this could be key to defeating the DG in the long run. Take away their funding and then they didn't have money for their schemes. Then where would they be? Broke and unable to feed cash into their system.

Mike clicked on the icon for the document and a screen popped up filled with transactions with more zeros than I'd ever seen in my entire life. Not thousands, not even millions. We're talking in the billions here. Holy shit, I thought, my eyes going wider than dinner plates. They're loaded. Obviously this plan would take longer than would be logical. Who had the money to fund these guys?!

"Who's funding them?!" Holden asked in awe. "They've gotta be richer than anyone else in the world!"

That was when it hit me. I gasped and everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at me. "What is it, Max?" Kate asked. "Is something wrong?" Everyone had been on edge about my possible death since Fang had told them.

"I know who's funding them!" I cried. "I can't believe that I didn't realize it when I saw the numbers! Oh my—!" I stopped and sat down heavily in a chair. It all made sense now.

"Who?" Nudge asked, sitting on the edge of her chair with excitement. "Is it an entire country or is it several people?"

I shook my head. "No. It's just one person." I looked up at everyone's anxious faces. "Holden gave me the idea when he said that this person has to be richer than everyone else in the world."

Iggy stared at me in shock. "Nino Pierpont," he whispered. I nodded solemnly. Nino Pierpont was the richest guy in the world and had helped the CSM on several occasions. He'd also helped out the flock occasionally but we'd never met the guy.

"But why…?" Dr. Martinez murmured. "Why would he help the flock and then turn against you to fund the Doomsday Group?"

I shrugged. "I honestly don't know." I turned to Mike. "Print out that funding sheet. Also, do some research and see what you can find out about Nino Pierpont."

He nodded and did a mock salute. "Aye aye, ma'am," he said. I rolled my eyes.

As he did that Fang turned to me and muttered under his breath, "Are you sure about their funding coming from him?"

I gave a barely perceptible nod and murmured back, "Yes. It says that it comes from one guy and no one else in the world has that much money."

"But why he be on our side one minute and then change sides?" he asked.

I thought for a second and pursed my lips. "He's Wall Street's biggest risk taker. He probably thinks he can make a profit out of these guys and that their cause will succeed better than ours. But to be honest, I don't know. Maybe he was just spying on us and then feeding the info to the DG later."

"But the DG hasn't been around that long." His dark eyes were piercing and I fought fiercely to control my blush. "From the research I've done they've only been around for two or three months."

I shrugged. "Let's just play it by ear then. We'll get more info when we break into the base."

He nodded and remained emotionless. However, there was a glimmer of some emotion behind his eyes. Whether it was hope, anxiety, or something else I couldn't tell. I looked away and let my hair fall in my face in an attempt to conceal my blush.

"So according to what I've read," Mike said, interrupting the conversation, "Mr. Pierpont got rich off of some oil he found up in Alaska in the 1960s. Since then he's gone into the mining industry, prospecting for gold in Canada and Alaska. After that he formed Pierpont Industries, which makes weapons for the military." He paused. "This is weird. It says here that in the late 1970s he stopped going out in public and hasn't been seen since then. He uses his secretaries to tell branches of the company what to do and uses them for meetings and stuff."

My eyebrows scrunched together. "I can understand the weapons development," I muttered. "He's obviously arming the DG as well as funding them. But why wouldn't he go out in public? Does it say if he has any deforming diseases or cancers?"

Mike scanned the page quickly and shook his head. "No. There's nothing here that says anything about being sick or having cancer. It just says that he never goes out in public. Nothing about why."

This shit keeps getting weirder and weirder, I thought, rubbing my forehead. Nothing was adding up; there was no pattern, no rhyme or reason. My whole life, once again, felt like a giant thousand-piece puzzle. The moment I found out how two of the pieces fit together there was another one that was called to my attention and its partner seemed to be missing. Great.

"Yo guys," Ratchet said. He pointed out of a porthole, his face filled with awe. "We're here. Welcome to Rio."

I stood and walked up the stairs to the weather deck. (Translation: the deck that is exposed to the weather. So basically outside.) The entire city was laid out before us. The beach was covered in multicolored umbrellas and sun tanning vacationers. Boats lined every dock. It was an explosion of color and sound. Above the city, on a hill a few miles out, stood Christ the Redeemer, his arms outstretched as if to give the entire city a hug.

We were close. Very close. I thought about Ella, only a couple hundred miles out under the waves. We're coming, Ella, I thought, as if she could hear me. We're going to save you.

After we docked and paid the fee to the dock owners (who were much nicer than Mr. Cortez) the others wanted to do a bit of sight-seeing. Fang and I were inclined to say no, since the city was most likely overrun with DG-ers. However, Nudge and Gazzy pulled out the Bambi eyes so we couldn't say no, much to our frustration.

They left with Dr. Martinez. I was still cautious about her but at the same time I knew she would never hurt them in any way, shape, or form.

The older kids (Iggy, Mike, Dylan, Ratchet, Holden, Maya, Kate, Star, Fang, and myself) decided to walk around in a big group. Ratchet and Iggy had managed to make the others agree to finding a party. (Turns out they hold a lot of those on the street here.) For some reason, I agreed to it. My guard slipped, okay? This city seemed a little too fun for DG-ers to be running the show. Jeb agreed to watch over the boat while we were out and oversee the transfer of fresh supplies into the galley.

After us girls changed into something a little more party-worthy (I'm not entirely sure how, but they managed to wrestle me into a red lace tank top with a tiny black tube top underneath and black short-shorts.) we hit the streets, smiling and laughing as Ratchet and Iggy cracked jokes.

It didn't take us that long to find a party. Within a few blocks we found a large party where a DJ was blaring bands like Three Days Grace, Linkin Park, and 30 Seconds to Mars.

Kate and Star ran off somewhere to find guys to dance with and they were out of sight in seconds. Holden, Mike, Ratchet, and Iggy went straight for the nearest mosh pit, leaving me, Maya, Dylan, and Fang alone. Bad choice, let me tell you.

As they started to play "Monster" by Skillet, Fang said, "Wanna dance? Figured I owe you for Total's wedding."

I stared at him for a moment before smiling and taking his hand, leading him into the throbbing, jumping crowd.

The chorus started and we took off, jumping and head-banging to the beat, even singing along on occasion. (We'd gone to a Linkin Park concert for a date once, so we were familiar with how stuff like this worked.) I silently was thankful that the other girls let me wear my combat boots (brown, super dusty, and scuffed beyond belief) instead of the four-inch heels that they wanted me to wear. My feet would have been dead otherwise.

We were swept away by the music, enjoying ourselves more than we had in a long time. The sun was just beginning to set when the DJ announced, "Okay, okay settle down. We're gonna kick off any blooming summer romances by playing your favorite song: 'Guardian Angel' by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus."

The crowd cheered and the various couples began to slow dance. I turned bright pink. What should I do? I wondered frantically. Stay or run? Stay or run? Stay…?

Fang held out his hand. "If my memory serves me correctly I owe you a dance. And I mean a real dance." I turned brighter red but took his hand. He pulled me close and put his right hand on my waist. The other clasped my right hand gently.

The music surrounded us, creating a sort of shield that protected us from the rest of the world. I numbly felt his hand on my waist and his rough, calloused fingers enclosing my hand tenderly. Our bodies were pressed together in a way I hadn't thought possible since he'd left so long ago now.

"I'm sorry," he murmured.

"For what?" I asked, staring into his dark eyes, which expressed nothing but the deepest sorrow.

"For everything," he said. "For betraying you like that. It's my fault that Selene is dead. I know how much she meant to you and the flock. She meant a lot to me, also."

The hand which I had placed on his shoulder reached up and touched his face gently. "It isn't your fault, Fang," I told him. "I would have done the same thing if it were you. In the end, I think Selene knew what you had done and knew that it was how it was supposed to be." I paused. "And for as long as I live I will always forgive you for it."

We were silent for a few moments.

"I still love you, you know," Fang finally said quietly.

I blinked and looked up at him. "Fang this isn't the best time—"

"Please, Max," he pleaded. "Just hear me out. We can't keep avoiding this. You know that I love you. Do you love me or not?"

I was at a loss for words. He still loves me… I thought vaguely. "I do love you, Fang," I replied. "But—"

"But what?" Fang asked, his voice turning cold.

I avoided looking into his eyes as I said, "We have to focus on finding Ella and Angel. And you said yourself that us being together is a distraction from what we both have to do: save the world and destroy the Doomsday Group."

"We can find a way," he told me. "Once all of this is over we can be together again."

"But what if we've changed?" I countered. "What if this ordeal has changed us so much that by the time it's over we no longer love each other?"

"I doubt that," he said.

Before I could get another word in, he leaned down and kissed me.

This kiss wasn't like our kisses before. This one was pleading, begging for another chance. It was passionate, yet soft enough to be reassuring. His arms wrapped around my waist tightly, holding me to his lean, strong body. My arms slowly reached up, my hands running along his chest, and wound around his neck. My fingers tangled in his dark, overlong hair.

No! the rational part of my brain thought. You're not supposed to do this! No distractions.

But this feels so good, the irrational voice in the back of my head whispered. And I love him.

Before either part of my brain could win the battle of rationality, we broke apart. We were still tightly pressed together, our arms still wrapped around the other in our passionate embrace. We stared at each other, both at a loss for words.

"Max," Fang said. "Please. We can find a way to make it work."

"What if we split up again?" I questioned. "What if you leave? Am I really going to have to wait twenty years like you said?" He winced, remembering his promise. "If we split up, it will be the same pain. I don't want either of us to go through that again. The flock was torn up about it. Fang, you leaving affects them just as much as it affects me. Think about that. The dangers far outweigh the benefits."

"Then I won't leave," he murmured. "I won't put you through that again, Maximum, I swear."

I felt Dylan's eyes on us, and a blush coated my cheeks. "What if one of us dies?" My arguments were getting weaker and weaker by the minute. I felt my resolve crumbling just by looking into his eyes.

Fang smirked, like he was ready to start laughing. "Max, we'd both take the bullet for each other. Do you really think I'd let you die? Or vice versa?"

At that moment, all hell broke loose as a giant wave burst into the city.

In honor of Nevermore being released today, this chapter is up. It's dedicated to Guest (you should have left a name!), Discombobulator3029, and then my long-lost sister Let's Cry Over Sad Songs. You guys are all amazing!

The next chapter should be up in a couple of days. (I start school next week. Damn.) It took me forever to get it off the ground but thanks to Two Steps from Hell I've found the motivation to keep working. :) This is where I really start getting into the plot, since we really haven't seen anything serious yet. (I suck haha.) But within the next two chapters I destroy a lot of stuff. I'm evil. We're nearing the end of part 1! (This story is four parts but it's all one fic.) Part Un sets the stage, Part Deux is where shit gets real. Part three is leading up to the finale and Part Four we see the end of the journey. :) I've had this all planned out for the last year. (I've already written the climax for this fic! And part of the end...)

~A$h