Relapse- Chapter 21
There was a knock on the door of our temporary living arrangement. I walked over and peered through the peep hole to see Jeb. I took a deep breath then opened the door just enough for him to step in.
"Hello Maximum." He said in a subtle voice.
"Jeb." I said in a strictly business tone.
"Where's the rest of the flock?" He asked looking around, his eyes meeting Fang's.
"Around." I said coldly. "They don't need to hear any of this."
"Then why is Fang here?" He asked even though I knew he had a good idea why.
"He's second in command." I said meeting Fang's eyes. "Do you want him to leave?"
"We both know you wouldn't send him away if I requested it." He said with a knowing grin.
"Agreed, so let's drop that subject and get down to the reason you're here." I said crossing my arms. "Who is it, Jeb?"
He walked over to the chair Gazzer was in just an hour ago and sat.
"You may want to sit down." He said motioning me to the couch.
I glared at him as I sat next to Fang. This was Jeb's tactic of stalling.
"Ok, I'm sitting… spill it." I said looking him dead in his eyes.
"Well, at first we considered many options the father could be… then we narrowed down the perfect sperm donor after taking into account all of the negatives and positives." He explained leaning forward slightly.
"How many choices?" I asked furrowing my brow.
"Well… there was an eraser, a very strong one, mind you, one of the best we've got. Sam…"
"Sam?" I questioned in shock.
"Yes, for awhile he was our top selection." Jeb answered, nodding.
"What changed that?" I asked feeling the curiosity oozing from myself.
"You hate his guts." Jeb said in a slightly 'duh-ish' tone.
"Like that would stop you." I muttered in disbelief.
"You'd be surprised." He said meeting my eyes.
I simply glared.
"We also took into account other experiments, but they were quickly ruled out." Jeb said shaking his head.
I felt disappointed. That meant the father wasn't Fang… or even Iggy.
"I said other experiments, Maximum." He said noting my frown. "Meaning besides human avian crosses."
I felt the flicker of hope come alive in me again.
"Iggy and Fang were both top choices all along. Choosing between them at the end was hard." Jeb explained nodding to himself.
"Wait a minute… are you telling me Sky's father is either Fang or Iggy?" I asked feeling very good at the moment.
"That's precisely what I'm telling you." He said adjusting his glasses.
"Which one of us is it?" Fang cut in.
"Just look at her, you can see the similarity."
I looked at him for the longest time before going and retrieving Sky from Nudge and coming face to face with Fang and Jeb.
"Tell me Maximum… who do you think she looks like?" Jeb asked keeping his eyes locked on me. I fidgeted under his stare. Way to put me on the spot!
I took a good look at my daughter. I noted her light brown hair and brown wings. She got that from me. I looked into her eyes and something was there… the similarity.
"Fang." I breathed out staring down at Sky, wide eyed.
Fang's head snapped up to look at me.
Out of the corner of my eye I could see Jeb nodding.
"It came down to who you would want more, Maximum." Jeb said confirming my statement. "Fang was the obvious winner."
I sent Fang a smile and I could see a hint of one on his lips as well.
"Now, can I hold my granddaughter?" Jeb asked holding out his arms and standing.
I handed her over reluctantly, but stood close. My eyes traveled to Fang to see the word 'granddaughter' had surprised him. I hadn't filled him in on my new findings. I looked at Jeb who was practically glowing as he held Sky. Maybe he wasn't SO bad. Yeah right.
"Can I ask you something else?" I asked Jeb.
He looked up at me, still smiling.
"You want to know how the voice came back?" He questioned raising an eyebrow.
I nodded.
"When Ari handed you over to us, we emplaned the chip in your arm. We felt you were safer with me to guide you. That's why we put it back in. You shouldn't have taken it out in the first place… it was reckless." He reprimanded.
"Well, you didn't give me much of a choice after all the brain explosions and vague statements." I said bitterly.
I looked at Jeb again and that's when I noticed it…
"Jeb…" I whispered feeling breathless.
He looked at me questionably. There was a red dot pointed at Jeb's forehead, like from a laser.
"Fang, do you see it?" I asked feeling him stand.
"Yes, get down!" He said running over.
It was too late though. The gunshot rang out and I could hear glass shattering in the background. It all played out in slow motion, at least it seemed like it.
Jeb fell to the ground, Sky in his arms. I had threw myself to the ground, as well as Fang.
"Sky!" I shouted crawling over to where Jeb lay, motionless.
Erasers began pouring into the house.
"Flock, get out!" Fang yelled hurrying toward me.
"Jeb, is she…?" I trailed off as soon as I saw the blood. I turned Jeb onto his back and gasped at what I saw. Jeb had been shot in the neck and he was bleeding out. Sky was under him, unharmed and I snatched her up quickly.
Fang was fighting Erasers and thankfully, there wasn't more than twenty.
I placed two fngers on Jeb's bloody neck for a pulse… but there wasn't one to be found. Jeb was dead. My father was dead.
I rose to my feet feeling dizzy and breathless. How could this happen? Why would the erasers turn on him?
I would have to ponder those questions later, because something hit me on the back of my head… and all went black.
AN: Hope you enjoyed! And yes... Jeb is really dead! The site to vote for an MR4 is www(dot)maximumride(dot)com and you don't have to reload to vote again... you can simply click over to the Max choices tab beside it then back to the counting tab and it will let you keep voting. SO GO VOTE! And when you come back... review! Because you know you love me... and... there's only four more chaps left!