Nudge the Quileute20
Rescuing Dr. Martinez and Sending Max to Denali to help Tanya and Kate deal with the death of their sister, Irina
Nudge's POV
Ed and I flew to Hawaii, almost immediately after the battle, promising the Denalis to send Max to Denali to help them and learning that Chu Corporation had taken over the castle in northern Germany from Edward, who had heard it in Max II's thoughts. Of course, we'd have to fly twice as fast as normal to get to Hawaii and still be able to save Dr. Martinez and spend some time with the flock. We got to Hawaii and then while Gazzy was being treated for a man-of-war jelly fish sting, Max told me about the plan to go to Forks and launch a surprise attack on the Volturi. Angel looked up at me and suddenly said, "I don't like Caius." I grinned at her and said, "I agree, but you guys missed it. Ed will tell you all about it." Iggy looked over at me and said, well actually, it was more like demanded, "What we'd miss?" I shrugged and said, "I told Caius off, kinda like Max does with every authorative figure we've ever met." Angel giggled and said, "Tell me about it." "I'll think about and then you can send it into everyone, except for Ed, else's head." "The Volturi all just stared at me for a few seconds and then Caius scoffed and said, "You're just a kid. You have no life experience. Plus, you're just a kid and should have a guardian." I hissed in my breath and snarled back at him, "You're kidding. We've escaped from top-security prison, lived through mental and physical torture, lived on our own for years, made tons of smarty-pants grown-ups look like fools with even trying, eaten desert rats with no A1 steak sauce, and you're telling me we're minors and have to have guardians? Listen, pal, I grew up in a freaking dog crate, I've seen horrible part-human mutations die gut-wrenching deaths. I've had people, mutants, and robots trying to kill me twenty-four/seven for as long as I can remember and you I'm gonna cave to state law? Are you bonkers? Life experience? Big picture? I've had more life experience in eleven years than you've had in—what are you, like, three thousand." I noticed Caius shifting his weight uncomfortably and continued. "You're the ones who don't have the life experience. Have you ever woken up with your mouth duct-taped shut, not knowing where you are or where your family is? Are you afraid of everyoneand everything? Have you foraged for food in Dumpsters? Do you sleep with one eye open, because at any second someone might try to kill you? Have you ever opened a pizza box only to find a bomb? You guys don't have any idea." I noticed that everyone who was supporting Carlisle freeze and identical looks of horror crossed their faces and I also heard Esme's gasp of horror at what I had to live through on a daily basis. Even among the Volturi, some of them looked horrified. Even Marcus, who had maintained a bored expression throughout the entire event, looked horrified. "Angel's only six. But ten bucks says she's been in more fights to the death than any of you, than anyone here. You!" I snapped, pointing an accusatory finger at Caius. "You are a pointless, pathetic, wastoid, of a parasite, leech, bloodsucker, blood drinker, cold one, and vampire, who, when you die, are going to spend the rest of eternity roasting in hell alone." Caius spat back at me, "You can't hurt me." I shook my head and said, "Yes, Caius, I really can." Caius walked over to me and slapped me, but then I glared at him and snarled, "Why don't you go take a flying leap off a cliff. That would solve most of our problems right there." Everyone, including Marcus, and except for Caius, who was still glaring at me, all gawked at me when I said this to Caius. I glared at Caius and he said, "We need everyone here to be somewhat civilized, unless, of course, that's beyond you dog, because fair is fair." I stared at Caius and snarled, "You're kidding, right? Please tell me you have a stronger motive for me than 'fair is fair.' Life isn't fair, Caius. Nothing is fair, ever. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. I need to be civilized, because far is far. Try 'I need you to be civilized so I won't rip out your spine and beat you with it.' I might respond to that. Maybe." Of course, Esme was horrified again, but if anything about Caius changed, his eyes only grew colder throughout our entire exchange. Suddenly he looked as if he would be blushing with embarrassment or anger. Then he snarled at all of the watching vampires and shape-shifters, my family, "You will all forget this ever happened. I glared at Caius and snarled, "Take it back!" He asked, "Take what back?" "What you said about the Cullens breeding mutants here." "NO!" I glanced at Embry and he nodded and disappeared into the forest. I rocketed straight up into the air and said, "I'd so hate to do this, but you forced me to, Caius." He shrugged and then Embry joined me. We swooped down, grabbed Caius, and flew steadily upward. "Where are you taking me?" he demanded, furious. "Mostly just up. Now take back what you said or else Embry and I will drop you from way, way up here and watch you go two dimensional—a little something we like to call 'flock splatter art.'" "I'll never take it back." "Okay," I said, and I let him go. He yelled in terror and screamed, "I'll take it back." "Say it like you really mean it and be serious." He gulped and said, "I, Caius Volturi, take back what I said about the Cullens breeding mutants here in Forks. They do not breed mutants." "Thank you." We landed and Embry and I let Caius go and Caius quickly ran over and rejoined his two brothers—Aro and Marcus."Everyone laughed at how I'd completely and utterly embarrassed Caius in front of, not only his two brothers, his wife, his guard, but also just about almost every single vampire in the world and sixteen giant wolves, two of whom would join Max's family as half-siblings-in-law, not that she knows that, yet—she knows Ed will be her half-brother-in-law, but she doesn't know she's going to get a half-sister-in-law, Leah Clearwater.
I motioned to Max and said, "Max, can I talk to you, alone?" "Sure, Nudge." We went over to a bench, not too far from the others and then Max asked, "Nudge, what's wrong?" "While I was at the Cullens, I met this really nice family. They're vegetarians, so they abstain from human blood, like the Cullens. They're called the Denalis. Two of them—Kate and Tanya—saw their sister—by blood and venom—get murdered by Caius. I could see that watching their sister, Irina, die was really hard for them and you're the only person I know who knows what it's like to lose a sibling, no, to see them die in front of you and I kinda told them that I'd send you to Denali to help them. If you're mad at me, I'll understand. Just don't be mad at them. Be mad at me or at Caius." Max nodded at me and said, "Rescue my mom. Go to Denali. I'll go, but Fang will be in charge while I'm with the Denalis, at least until I think that Tanya and Kate will be okay." Then I said, "Oh, yeah. Um, I almost forgot, I saw Max II and Chu Corporation—they've taken over that castle in Germany. Either that or Max II was lying, but she'd looked pretty freaked out when she came to warn me and was, obviously, recaptured. "
Max stared at me, eyes wide with horror, and then we left for our sub and went to rescue Dr. Martinez. I was a little worried that something bad might have happened to her, that maybe we were too late to rescue her. I really, really, hope not. Of course, I hate the uniform I have to wear, though. If only I could wear something that was, I don't know, a little cuter. Then, while we were on the sub, I edited the outfit, so that it seemed cuter to me—not like they care, now that the Navy knows we have wings. Yep, the Navy's helping us rescue Dr. Martinez too. So yeah. No need to worry about learning how to breathe under water for a while, for me, anyway. I was still worried about what would happen if we let the Volturi ever find out that the flock knows about vampires, but not everyone believes that these stories are true.
Then Angel went swimming underwater a couple of times even after Max yelled at her the first time and then Max and Fang got the ability to breathe underwater like Angel. That meant it would be that much easier to find and rescue Dr. Martinez which means it won't take as long to save her, either. So that's really, really good. I couldn't wait to Dr. Martinez again.
Max and Angel went underwater again, this time to find Dr. Martinez and talk to some really, freaky, mutant fish. Then Angel and Max found Dr. Martinez, and with the mutant fish's help were able to rescue her. We got Dr. Martinez back onto the sub and returned to Hawaii.
We all waited in the hospital for Ella and Jeb. When Ella arrived, Ed hugged her and led her, along with Max, to Dr. Martinez's room. Jeb went with them. Max and Ed let Ella and Jeb talk to Dr. Martinez alone, but as they came to rejoin us, they saw Mr. Chu talking to Brigid. If you ask me, that was an obvious sign that she was one of THEM now.
We all hung out at the beach and I waved to Max and Fang, where they were finally holding hands and somewhat dating. Max flew down to me and asked, "What?" "When are we leaving for Denali? Tanya and Kate are expecting us, you know." Fang frowned at Max and said, "What's Nudge talking about?" "Um," Max hesitated and I nodded at her to explain to Fang and said, "Angel's told everyone but Fang. We agreed to let you explain." Max nodded and faced Fang. "You see, Fang, there are these two girls—Tanya and Kate. They both saw their sister, Irina, get murdered by Caius Volturi, and since I'm the only one who has had any experience in watching a sibling die in front of me that Nudge could think of, she promised the Denalis I'd come and help them." Fang nodded and a few days later we left for Denali.
On the way to Denali, we stopped at the Cullens to see Nessie, Jake, Quil, Claire, Paul, Rebecca, Jared, Kim, Sam, Emily, Carlisle, Esme, Bella, Edward, Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, and Alice, and to find out where exactly in Denali that Tanya, Kate, Garrett, Carmen, and Eleazar lived because I had no idea where to go. The Cullens agreed to help us, and within five minutes, I had come up with SIX different routes to get to the Denalis and I'm only eleven people. So we decided that Max would take the quickest route there, so that way she'd be there first, because the Denalis were only expecting her. We'd all go using the same route/routes, doubling back as necessary, and Max would use her super-speed to get there first. Then I'd arrive, introduce Max to Tanya, Kate, Garrett, Carmen, and Eleazar, and prepare the Denalis for the arrival of the rest of the flock and then they'd arrive.
We reached Denali and Max, the rest of the flock and I landed not too far away from the Denalis' house. I'd warned the flock that they might be away hunting, unless Alice had told Tanya and Kate that we were all on our way. I trotted forward, half-dragging Max with me, because she was reluctant to leave Fang's side, and walked to the front door. I knocked and Tanya opened the door, still looking just as upset as she had the last time I'd seen her. She gave Max one look and called, "Kate, we have company. Come, in Monique, Max." Then she stiffened and caught the scent of the rest of the flock. "Have your friends come in as well." We all hurried inside and Tanya said, "I'm sorry, Carmen, Eleazar, and Garrett are all away hunting. We didn't know when to expect you." I shrugged and said, "Sorry about the lack of communication." Then I motioned to Max and said, "This is Maximum Ride, the girl I'd been talking about. Tanya and Kate, Max. Max, Tanya and Kate." Fang glanced at Max and herded the rest of the flock out the door, allowing Max to talk to Tanya and Kate, alone.
After we left, Max started talking to Tanya and Kate. "I'm sorry about your sister." "It's okay, but it's hard to remember her, to think about her." Tanya muttered. "Especially her last few moments. If I were human, I'd be having nightmares about it," Kate mumbled weakly. Max nodded and said, "Like it is for me to think of," Max gulped in a deep breath and said, "Ari." Tanya and Kate both stared at Max and said, "It looks you had it worse off than we did." Max nodded and asked, "Do you mind if I rant for a little bit, because Ari's death is partly my fault?" "No," Tanya replied and Kate quickly said, "Go right ahead, just don't destroy anything." "You, see, Ari was my half-brother. We shared the same "father"—Jeb Batchelder, and you can believe those quotes around father. He really didn't notice Ari, only saw me. He liked Ari tagging around, following him, but hated having Ari and me and in the same room. As if he were trying to keep from noticing any similarities between the two of us. I'd never really noticed anything that was similar between me and Ari. All I saw was a normal boy, who had a father, Jeb. I'd wanted to be the best to be loved. Then Ari helped me escape from the School and he joined us. We went to Germany. He seemed a little scared, but still determined and ready to fight. I was going to watch him carefully, in case he suddenly turned on me, but he seemed more interested in protecting me. During the trip, I'd wondered if there was something about the two of us that he knew and I didn't. It had troubled me for a little bit, but then we reached Lendeheim and were captured inside a giant castle. We met the Director who claimed to be my mother, but really wasn't, thankfully, and threw us in jail. We saw Jeb a couple times and then the second time, he came and told me and Ari that we were half-siblings. I then felt horrible for all of the awful names I'd called Ari, everything insult I'd thrown at him, and I imagined he'd felt the same way. Then during a riot that Angel had started in the middle of my final test, Ari died. I was there, holding him as he choked, dying. When I realized that he was gone, that he was dead, I felt horrible. He was a little kid, my baby brother, my half-brother. Every time I think of when he died, I felt and still feel horrible. I felt and still feel like a failure, even as a mutant freak. That I wasn't a good sister. That I had failed my baby brother. I should have been there, I should have protected him. I'm practically the world's worst older sister. I should have insisted that we bring him with us. I can't believe I let this happen to him. And now, every time I think about him, it bugs me, and makes work harder to protect my other half-sibling, my little sister, Ella Martinez. And as for the nightmares, it's always the same, Ari and I are racing after the Director, when he suddenly chokes and dies, in my arms." Then Max abruptly clamped up and she realized that she was crying. She looked at Tanya and Kate and Kate said, "It wasn't your fault. Tanya and I were there when Laurent never came back. Irina just about had a fit and ran away. Maybe it meant that she didn't want to be here anymore, but why would she turn on her own cousins?" Max paused and thought hard and then said, "Maybe because she thought that it was because the Cullens could no longer be trusted like Fang reacted to Ari when he first joined us." Kate nodded and Tanya hugged Max and Tanya said, "Thank you." Max nodded and said, "Do you want me to stay longer? I can stay for a while, I think. My family and I will hide far enough away that no one will know we've been here, and I'll come in and go by different routes. My friend, Nudge, I mean, Monique, can find me several routes her." Kate said, "Thank you Max for offering, but thanks to you, I think that Tanya and I will be much better now that we know that sitting around and being mopey won't help us get anything done, now will it?" Max shrugged and then said, "Yeah, but can I borrow a sheet of paper and a pen. I've got a number I want to give you—my cell phone number." Tanya nodded and handed Max the sheet of paper and the pen Max had asked for. Max quickly said thanks and quickly wrote her number down—1—(248)—163—2642 (a/n—this is a phone number that I made up for this story. Max's cell phone number is never given in the book series. She is said to have one in book four, but the number isn't given.) and scrawled under it—Maximum Ride—cell phone, and ripping off the sheet, she tossed it to Tanya and said, "Hopefully we'll all meet again under happier circumstances, and when it comes to the final battle to save the world, you, the Cullens, the packs, and the vampires who'd helped Carlisle will be among the first to know." Tanya and Kate nodded and Kate said, "Thank you for everything. We'll be ready and farewell, for now, Max." Max waved and took off and then called toward us, "Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, Angel, Total, time to go." And then, as soon as we were a good distance from the house, we were captured, again.