Authors Note: According to my clock, I'm technically updating two days later . . . but oh well. I'm only eleven mintues off from publishing this chapter the next day.

Chapter Twenty Five

- Confrontations -

He didn't move one bit. In fact, he seemed to freeze entirely. Even his chest wasn't going up and down like it should have been.

"Didn't you hear me?" I asked. "I said I love you too."

"I heard you," he whispered through his fingers. "I'm just not sure I believe it."

I recoiled like I had been slapped. How could he say that? How could he, after everything we had been through together . . . Why would he not believe what I claim to be the truth!

I shot to my feet, brushing away the tears in my eyes. No way was he going to see me crying! I might as well die before that happened. With a shaky breath I said, "Well thanks for that. I really fricking appreciate it."

I turned away bitterly, wrapping my arms around my torso like that we keep me from breaking down. He could go ahead and be like that. Yeah, go right on ahead and tell me you love me, but act like it's a lie when I say it back. How very mature.

"Max?" he inquired in confusion, and I heard him clambering to his feet fluidly. Yes, only Fang could be able to manage clambering fluidly.

I swallowed thickly, around the lump in my throat. I swatted at another tear, running my hands through my hair angrily.

"Wait a minute, why are you crying!" Fang exclaimed, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Because you're a jerk," I mumbled, my lower lip quivering. "And I'm not crying!" I stated defiantly.

Oh God.

"How did we go from saying the three words I thought I'd never hear you say, much less to me- to you telling me I'm a jerk!" he demanded, walking around so that he could look at my face.

"I'm just not sure I believe it," I mocked him. "Yeah, that's just great. Why would I even lie about it!"

"What? No . . . I mean, that's not . . . that's not what I meant," he insisted, forcing me to look straight at him.

"What else could you have possibly intended to mean?" I whispered.

"I didn't think you were lying, Max. I just find it hard to believe that someone like you loves someone like me. You could go out and find somebody ten times better, but yet you still say I'm the one you love," he explained.

"Well then you're incredibly dumb," I stated after a few moments of contemplative silence.

"Uh . . . thanks."

"Fang, there's no one better suited for me than you! You've been my best friend since forever. Heck, we even became best friends during our brainwashed year together. That's how strong our relationship is. We somehow get sucked together even when we don't seemingly know each other."

"Well, when you put it that way," he said, grinning.

He was such an idiot . . . but I loved him, after all.

- }{ -

I stood outside the door to my father's house. I wondered if he knew we had our memories back . . . like maybe there was some trigger that monitored us, and it was set off when we realized who we really were.

I had to shake that thought off though. We were going to find out momentarily after all, because the big confrontation was looming . . . just as soon as I mustered enough courage to ring the doorbell.

Turns out, I wouldn't have to make that decision.

"Oh for God's sakes, would you just knock already!" Iggy demanded, stepping forward and rapping on the door three times.

"Iggy!" I hissed, but it was already too late. I could hear footsteps coming closer. My time to formulate a good attack plan had run out. I would have to use every ounce of my quick wit to weasel answers out of Jeb now. Good thing I had a lot of that going for me, huh?

"Max, I figured you would be coming here sooner or later," Jeb said grimly as he opened the door and caught sight of me.

"So you know we know." Oh, I was good with those words, wasn't I?

"Come in," was all he said in reply, making room for me to pass. I glanced back at Fang, and he nodded assent. His eyes said, 'you don't have much of a choice, so you might as well go'.

Reluctantly I stepped over the threshold, the flock following closely after me. I made a quick assessment of all possible exits. The house, however, was a bird-kids dream. There were huge windows everywhere, sunlight streaming in. Hopefully, they would be easy to kick down.

"Would you like any refreshments? I'm afraid your visit was sooner than I thought, so I didn't have time to buy any food for everyone," Jeb said casually, as if we were back in the E-shaped house in Colorado.

The thing was, we weren't.

"We didn't come here to sit down for tea, Jeb. We came to get some answers, and I intend to do so, or else there'll be some . . . consequences," I threatened, giving him my meanest look.

"You are in no position to make threats, Maximum," was all he said in return, taking a seat in a high-backed chair. "Now please, sit."

He gestured to a cluster of chairs and a couch. Angel went over and plopped down automatically, and I glared at her pointedly. She just smiled angelically up at me, which kind of annoyed me. What the heck did she think she was doing!

"I think we'll stand, thanks," I snarled.

"This doesn't have to be quite so hard, Maximum. I'll tell you as much as I possibly can, I promise you that."

"Assuming that your promises actually meant diddly-squat to me, why would you do that?"

"I'm your father," he said simply.

I made fake retching noises. "Don't remind me."

He just continued to stare at me, unfazed.

"Been reading some parenting books lately? 'How to handle your rambunctious teenager' and the like? Because I must admit, you're doing a fabulous job of staying calm."

"Get to the point Max," Fang whispered in my ear.

"Right," I said, taking a deep breath. I fixed my shoulders straighter and turned my icy glare on Jeb. I wanted to strangle him so badly, but the physical violence would have to come after I got my answers. Then I might not be able to stop myself from knocking him out, the stupid noob.

"Why did you do it?" I pressed, my voice hard and my gaze deadly. I was like a snake, poised to strike. Any wrong moves and I would have him by the throat.

"Do what?" Jeb asked innocently.

"Take away our memories and ship us off to different parts of the country, you nimrod!" I shouted, not being able to stop myself. My anger was building, and I would no doubt spout things like this throughout the entire conversation.

Fang put a restraining hand on my shoulder, but Jeb told him it was alright, and that he understood my frustration towards the situation; which only made me more mad. I hated when people talked about me like I wasn't there! He of all people should know that.

"It was a long and hard decision to make. There were many who opposed to giving you a second chance. Those who wished to terminate you were overruled though, by a brilliant idea to wipe your memories and let you live out normal lives. After all, we had the technology and means to do so," Jeb explained calmly, as if we were talking about something as petty as the weather.

"You didn't have all the means though," I snarled. "You didn't have our permission, for starters."

"We did you a favor, Maximum. If I hadn't convinced the panel to let you live, you wouldn't be standing here before me now," Jeb insisted, something finally sparking in his eyes.

"You may think you were doing us a favor. You may think stealing away our memories was the right thing to do. You may think giving us a normal life was best. You may think losing the only family we had ever known was a small consequence in the bigger picture . . ." I trailed off, giving him a solemn look.

"The thing is . . . you thought wrong."

"Perhaps you're correct," he conceded, tilting his at at an angle as he examined me curiously, as if seeing me for the first time.

"So that's it? You're just going to sit there and agree as if you weren't to blame in the first place!" I exploded. "If what you say about being my father his true, and trust me, I have my doubts, then how could you have lived with yourself? How could you see me and not feel guilty about what you had done. Even before I was born you were the world's worst father! You turned your children into experiments. Lab rats. You even pinned two of them as enemies, watching them froth at each others necks. You cloned your own son once, then did it again; this time making him what he should have been . . . A nine year old boy with a jubilant heart and a wild imagination. Not some mutant freak that you decided to Eraser-ify. Was he your spy, Jeb? Is that what little Ari is? Your eyes and ears to the flock. Was he sent to watch for development? Don't lie to me, or I swear I'll-"

"He was at first," Jeb set tightly, and I could see the tension in the way he glared tersely at me.

Good.

It seemed that perhaps my speech had really struck at nerve. To make it even better, every word I said had been true. Years and years, almost a lifetime, of pains at flowed out of my mouth.

Major word-barf.

"What do you mean, he was at first!" I demanded.

"He traveled around from member to member, just a normal orphan being tossed from home to home. He didn't know it, but he fed me valuable information concerning you all every visit he made. After awhile though, he was becoming too emotional . . . too attached to the places he stayed. When he stopped in to check on Cam I made sure that was where he stayed. He was of no use to the facility any longer."

I gaped at him.

"He's your son. How could you leave him out in the cold that way? How could you ever have left him behind? All he ever wanted was to please you. His biggest wish was to make his daddy proud. Instead you turned your back at his attempts. Then you fed him to the system after re-creating him when he was probably better off where he was. I'm sure there was a lot less pain and disappointment," I grumbled bitterly.

Jeb jumped to his feet, breathing hard. I almost smiled in triumph. Finally I was getting some kind of reaction out of him, other than a blank, nonchalant stare that made my skin crawl.

"I may not have been the father you've always imagined. I know I've made mistakes, and I regret ever bringing you two into my line of work. What they say about mixing business with pleasure is true. One thing though will always stand the same, and that is that I've always been proud of my children. No matter what happened I was never disappointed in either two of you. Never accuse me of anything different!" Jeb shouted, his eyes blazing.

"The worst part is . . . back in the E-shaped house when I actually thought I could trust you -depend on you in fact- . . . I wished you were my dad. I thought it would be so cool. You were our savior, after all. You helped us escape the hell we had been born into. You taught us how to fight and fend for ourselves. You showed us how to live."

"Max, I-" he started to say, his expression softening.

"Then you betrayed all the trust we had in you; revealing the traitor you had been all along." My expression hardened into an unreadable mask, and I crossed my arms over my chest defiantly.

"I don't know what else to do Maximum," he said dejectedly, his shoulders sagging. For the first time I noticed how old and tired he was getting. "I've tried to make you understand . . . I've done everything I could. I'm trying to help, but-"

I couldn't stop myself from cutting him off.

"If you really want to help, then you'll fix the damage you've created," I said scathingly, determined to get from him what I wanted. After that I could leave and this whole thing could be over and done with.

"How?"

"Jump-start Mom and Ella's memory-" I started.

"It's not that simple, Maximum. Once you've lost your-"

"Lost. You keep using that word!" I exclaimed. "We didn't lose our memories Jeb. You took them. Don't mistake the two ever again. Understood?"

He nodded with a sigh, slumping back into his chair.

"As I was saying," I continued. "Fix Mom and Ella's memory, and anyone else's you've tampered with while you're at it. Then . . . well, you only need to do one more thing."

"What's that?" Jeb asked.

"Give us back our wings."

Authors Note: I know it might not seem realistic to you guys, but the next chapter's the last one . . . So review, please?