Disclaimer: James Patterson owns them all, except Orphius, he's mine.
Chapter XXIV: The Next Stage.
Total POV
I laid my head on Angel's lap and stared at the wall. It wasn't really that great of a wall, it's just I had nothing better to look at. It was a plain beige color, that's all.
What was really spectacular to look at was the mosaic in the main hall. It was massive. The design was slightly creepy though. It was Max and what seemed like Ari while morphed standing back to back with that strange wolf of Max's in the middle. Talk about stalkerish.
The fluorescent bulb that hung suspended from the ceiling flashed sending a brief bolt of light through the room. Someone really needed to get the light fixed. The first couple of times was fine, but when it started to go into the hundreds, it starts getting annoying.
Yes, I did count. There's nothing better to do here.
Nudge was out taking a look at the mechanics that run the place. Poking her head here and there. I'm surprised they hadn't thrown her out yet. She's probably looking at the hydraulics that run the platforms that carried us here.
Gazzy was out and about helping the scientists down here with their bomb building. Better explosives. Somebody must have mentioned Gazzy and the bomb he used to blow up the plane. No sooner had he arrived then they pounced. I suppose he did pick something up from all that time helping Iggy build bombs then. Probably not as good as what Iggy could make, but better than most.
Orphius had appeared here and there. Every time he was busy to talk though. Some "errand" he had to do. It couldn't wait either. It always had to be done now, not later, but now.
As for Max. Well, we've got no idea where she is. She appeared screaming so loudly that the stone shattered before falling unconscious. Well, the stone didn't shatter literally. It was really close though.
And that left Angel and me to mind our own business. There was nothing for us to do. Orphius kept on informing that there was something special that we had to do, but so far we've got nothing. Zero. Zip. Nada.
Talk about being bored out of your mind.
The door opened and a pale Gazzy came through the door. Deep circles had formed around his eyes. He looked terrible to put it mildly.
"What's wrong?" asked Angel concerned.
"Nothing a good nights sleep won't cure," he replied tumbling to the ground in a heap. "Where's Nudge?"
"Out with the mechanics," replied Angel with a wave of her hand.
He chuckled softly to himself. "Hope she's as tired as I am."
"You're a horrible person you know that?" I demanded of him.
"What are you talking about?" An innocent look plastered all over his face his weariness momentarily forgotten.
"Did you make bombs the whole entire time?" I asked curious as to what he had in the last day or so.
"Well they asked what I had done to make the bombs so powerful with the limited ingredients I had," he explained leaning back trying to get comfortable. "Then I spent time going over the schematics I was using for the base design before helping them make bombs."
"What is it that you use?" questioned Angel. "I've always wondered about that."
"Oh, this and that," he waved off the question. "Whatever's handy."
Angel opened her mouth to demand a straight answer. Luckily for Gazzy, a voice called out from the other side of the door. The look she shot him though spoke very clear. This was far from over.
In the years Max had been in charge, she hadn't been able to get a straight answer. Angel was going to get it, even if it was the last thing she did. The same went for where all of the bombs went.
"What?" she called out.
"The Arc leader wants to see you and the rest of your Flock," replied the voice through the door. "He says it's urgent."
With a gesture of her hand, we got up and followed her out the door.
"I was told there was one more," questioned our guide looking at each of us in turn.
"The mechanics have her holed up somewhere," replied Gazzy with a shrug. "I barely managed to make it out alive."
"I'll go find her, you guys know where the room is right?" he replied. When he saw our nods, he continued. "Good." Turning on his heels, he strode away muttering under his breath.
Exchanging a glance between the three of us, we shrugged. What can I say? Some people are crazy.
"Who wants to go in first?" asked Gazzy looking between the two us.
Neither me nor Angel decided to take him up on the offer. We didn't know who the leader of Arc is, but he seemed like someone important and until we knew more about him or her, neither of us wanted to be the first one to meet him just in case we offended him or her in someway.
"I will," I found myself saying despite my reservations.
Wait a second. Something didn't add up here. I swear I didn't say anything and yet I heard myself. Something is going on here.
"Thanks Total," exclaimed Gazzy looking at me. "As seen as you can't open the door, I'll do it for you and you can go in first."
Before I had time to react to my 'spontaneous' acceptance the door started squeaking open. By now, I had guessed who it was that had made me accept Gazzy's offer. I'm sure Angel knew as well, but she didn't bother coming to my rescue.
Stepping through, the first thing I noticed was that on the desk was the photo of a girl. A girl that was hauntingly familiar. It was Max.
She was sitting on the ground next to Angel picking strawberries for a strawberry shortcake. Max dominated the scene though. Dirt smudged her face, but in some way it seemed her to look her. . . radiant. Yeah, that's the word. Radiant.
I had seen that photo before. It was before I had joined up, but Fang kept it on him at all times. I don't know how he had managed to hide it from everyone, but he did. I only found out when I walked in on him when Max was out on her date with Sam.
Whether he noticed me or not, I'm not sure, but I managed to catch a glance at the photo before I disappeared.
A single person paced the room muttering under his similar to the person before us. The only difference was that he had a cell phone in his hand and was actually talking to someone.
"Hey Fang, you going to talk to us or not?" I demanded rather sharply.
I admit, it was a shot on the dark. But I've had my suspicions and the photo only added to them. If it wasn't him, it was Iggy and why would Iggy have a photo if he's blind?
Angel and Gazzy looked at me surprised when I had called that out. Shocked would have been a better term. Flabbergasted is probably the best though.
"Fang?" whispered Angel looking at him with wide eyes.
"Is that really you?" added Gazzy.
Looking away, he started muttering to who ever was on the other side of the conversation.
Annoyed, I advanced on him with my teeth barred. Growling once in annoyance, I leaped forward trying to tackle him to the ground. Sure it was a bit unorthodox, but what could I say? If it was Fang, we haven't seen him in over four years, the least he could do was acknowledge us in some way.
Shuffling to the side, he pivoted on his right heel making me sail past harmlessly. All the while talking on his phone.
The door behind us slammed open. Startled, we turned around and saw Nudge run panting in to the room.
"What have I missed?" she demanded looking from one person to the next. "Oh my god, is that Fang? Fang? Hello? It's me Nudge." Turning she faced us. "Does he have amnesia or something or is he deaf? Why isn't he responding? What the hell is going on here?"
"Calm down Nudge," soothed Angel.
"How can I calm down when Fang is standing right there and yet he's not responding? And why the hell is Total lying all the way over there in a heap? Also. . ."
Before she could finish her sentence, a hand clamped over her mouth shutting her up. She struggled for a couple of seconds, but couldn't break free of the persons grasp.
"Finally some peace and quite," sighed a voice right next to my ear.
Springing back on to my feet, I spun around to see whom the voice belonged to. The wolfish grin that greeted me was all the answer I needed.
"Orphius," I stated simply.
"The way you say it makes me seem as if I'm some unwanted guest," came the mocking tone.
"Stop fighting like children," demanded Fang in that slow deliberate way of his. The way he spoke made us all stop talking and turned to face him.
"It's bad Fang," started Orphius confirming our guess. "Low pressure system of 975mb, wind speeds well over 100km/h and torrential rain fall likely to drown us all is what's install."
"How sure are you?" He leaned forwards.
"65," came the reply after a few seconds of deliberation.
Nodding his head, he leaned backwards. "You got that?" he asked the other person.
After a few seconds of silence, he nodded his head and turned off the phone. Strolling over towards his desk, he ruffled through the bottom drawer pulling out a bottle of pills.
Opening the lid, he drowned a couple dry. He let out a sigh of relief before looking over at us. He seemed to be scrutinizing each of us in turn. His gaze lingered longest on Max. In turn, she returned it without even flinching.
Personally, I was surprised that Max hadn't killed him yet. After all she hates him a lot. And that had to be the understatement of the year.
"What's going on?" Nudge sounded perplexed which really sums up the atmosphere pretty well.
"Nothing much," replied Orphius for Fang seemed incapable of speech.
"Just planning on how to over Itex," replied Fang with a shrug.
Did anything faze Fang at all? How could he be so calm about something like this? Over throwing a major evil corporation is not an easy thing to pull off after all.
"Wait I'm still confused," interrupted Gazzy. "We were sent here to see the leader of Arc. Where is he?"
"Fang's the leader of Arc Gazzy," replied Angel trying to break the news to him easily.
Gazzy looked at Fang with newfound respect shining in his eyes. Every since he was little, he had admired Fang. I guess he had become Gazzy's idol or something. When Fang left though, Gazzy went through a rough period. Now that Fang was the leader of Arc, it was a whole different matter.
Angel opened her mouth to ask a question, but before it even left her lips, Max interrupted. "Can we get on with this?" she demanded impatiently. "We've stated all the obvious facts don't you think? Or maybe you'd like to go on to say that the chair is brown and the grass is green. How about, the sky is blue? I'm sure we don't know that either."
She really needs to get all of the sarcasm under control. If she's not careful, she could kill someone. Literally.
"Okay here's the deal," announced Fang. "I called you all here because we're going after Itex and you're all needed to accomplish the missions."
"Missions?" demanded Gazzy. "As in more than one."
One of Fang's rare smiles decided to grace us with its presence. "Any good plan comprises of more than one plan."
Striding purposefully towards a cupboard hidden in a secluded corner of the room, he pulled out a couple of large sheets of paper.
Rolling them open on his desk, a detailed map laid in front our eyes. It even had security schedules and where surveillance equipment where placed. The bomb room was even marked out.
"Okay here's the plan. . ."
A/N Reviews would be nice.