A/N: First of all, sorry about the wait. Now, on a completely different note, you may find this chapter plays more to the darker side of my writing style. Not by much, though, and only in parts. And it kind of reads like filler material...

Anyways, I love clones. In case you can't figure it out yourself, Britney is an Angel clone. Whoot.

"Max, I need you to take care of the situation in Florida. The information's all on this PDA; password's 'gaping wounds,' not capitalized. It's a long flight, so you'd better get going," Maxwell said, handing her the PDA. He looked distinctly harried; a sure sign that taking over the world was proving more difficult than he'd expected.

Max took the PDA from his hand. She turned it on and was about to enter in the password when she hesitated. Did she really want to play as Itex's pawn?

"You know what, screw you," Max said. "I'm outta here."

"You don't want to do that, Max."

The clone snapped her gaze to the door. Threats, honeyed or not, didn't go down easily with her.

The girl by the door glared at Max, an unpleasant sneer ruining her deceptively innocent features. Max smirked maliciously. She knew how to deal with this failure.

The blonde girl's face filled with disgust.

"What is wrong with you?" she demanded, looking as if she wanted to throw up. "How can you stand to fantasize about those kinds of things?"

"Stay out of my head," Max said, insolent smirk firmly in place. "It's a sick, sick place."

Maxwell threw up his hands and stalked out of the room. "Britney," he called from somewhere out of Max's sight, "could you deal with this? I need everything in Florida taken care of, and with Phoenix disappearing to God knows where, I don't have anyone else to send on these kinds of missions."

"I'd love to," the six year-old replied sweetly. "You know how Max is like a sister to me."

Max growled and dove for her. The younger clone sidestepped easily, and Max crashed to the floor.

Britney sighed and shook her head, golden ringlets bouncing. "You're just too predictable, Max."

"Predict this," Max retorted, pushed herself to her feet, and sprinted for the window.

Britney paled, already seeing Max's plan. Max grinned; there was no way the brat could stop her now.

Ten feet left.

Six to go. Max prepared to smash through the window, covering as much of her face with her hands as possible.

Suddenly, her feet abruptly stopped moving, and she tumbled face down to the floor. She struggled to stand up, to move her limbs, but they wouldn't obey her. Max looked up to glare at Britney, perfectly aware of who was responsible.

"You idiot," Britney hissed. "You know perfectly well that they'd have five bullets in your brain before you could even whip out your wings."

"They?" Max asked quickly, raising an eyebrow.

"We," Britney corrected, irritated.

Max spoke quietly, so that any hidden listening devices would find her words impossible to make out: "It's not too late to change sides, you know. You could save your brother."

"I am saving him," Britney retorted. "Besides, what do you care? You always thought you were too good for us, oh Maximum Ride."

Max flashed an arrogant smile. "I am, but that doesn't mean I want you dead. Just out of my way."

"That's too bad," Britney replied airily. "Because I do want you dead."

Britney knelt down beside Max and gently placed her hands around the older clone's neck. Her palms were frosty against Max's skin, and comprehension slowly flooded into Max's mind. Max automatically tried to stiffen, but found herself completely immobilized.

You can't do this, Max screamed inside her head, unable to move her jaw.

"It's easy enough," Britney informed her quietly. "A simple jerk sideways would do it, or maybe a quick strangling. You can even choose if you want."

Maxwell will know you did it.

"Not if I don't want him to. Besides, I could say you attacked me, which is true, and that I had no choice, and he'd believe me."

Why?

Britney's hands tightened. "Do you honestly not know?"

"Ha ha! Eat rocket, scumbag!"

Britney whirled around, removing her hands from Max's throat. Before she could even see the newcomer, a fiery projectile swept her off her feet and sent her across the room. An explosion resulted, albeit a rather small one.

Max shot to her feet. With Britney either unconscious or dead, she had regained control of herself.

"Don't move," ordered her rescuer from the doorway. "You have no idea how much I enjoy using this thing."

Max froze obediently, taking the opportunity to study the speaker. He was lean, young (Max estimated around her own age), and apparently amused by the whole situation. His clothes were torn, smoky, and, in some places, blood streaked. He had obviously had to fight his way this far into Itex's German castle. Eyes blue enough to seem insane complimented his strawberry blonde hair.

Most importantly, though, in Max's opinion, he had portable rocket launcher pointed directly at her torso.

"Why don't you put the deadly weapon down?" Max asked cautiously.

He grinned. "I still have to decide whether to kill you or not."

"You have serious ethical problems," commented someone with a low, calm voice.

Another person walked into view, and he firmly took the rocket launcher away from the boy. He was in an equally ragged condition, and Max assumed he'd been storming the castle as well. It was clear that this one was older than her, perhaps in his mid-twenties. His olive skin and dark hair made him attractive, but once again Max was more focused on weaponry, this time a large handgun resting in its holster.

Max wondered briefly why the weapon wasn't aimed at her, but then noticed a rather important detail. The man had only one arm.

"What happened to you?" she asked.

The blue-eyed boy snorted. "I love how you seem more interested than sorry."

"Long story," the man said, ignoring his companion. "Now, let's move out; fast."

"Wait –we're taking her with us?"

"Yeah, Griff. We need her."

"Why?" the boy, Griff, asked in frustration.

"Trust me."

A/N: Yeah, trust me, too. It all makes sense a few chapters down the road.

Anyways, for those of you that haven't already, read Lakeside, Why Couldn't I Save You?, New Powers, and Guardian's Angel.

But The Cliche is better than most of those. Read that one first.

And review. Now.