Sorry about the delay. If you want details as to why it's so late, PM me, but I won't bore those who really couldn't care less.
!!!:
Sorry, but sleep comes first. You won't like me when I'm sleep deprived.
)(*wings*)(:
Him glaring will be explained in this chapter... kinda. I knew there was a reason I posted the sequel first...
Maxwriter452:
Here's the next chapter!!
JNP NP JJP JP:
Huh??
Izzy:
Thank you!!
Sholdbedoingmyhomeworknow:
I agree: that's what I should be doing too, but I don't feel like it. No, Fang glaring is generally not a good thing.
Samantha Lyons:
Um, you should find out this chapter, even though it might not be fully explained.
Candice P:
Yep, you were my 31st reviewer!! Sorry it took a while, but life popped up.
Max POV
What. The. Heck. Seriously, he left me two years ago, I haven't heard from him since, then I'm kidnapped and all of a sudden, he pops up out of nowhere, and he's glaring at me. I am the only one that sees something wrong with this scenario?
"My beauty just taking your breath away or are you explain just what the heck's going on here?" My voice was dripping with sarcasm with a dash of bitterness, but it didn't seem to faze him. He glared at me for another minute, then "Let her go." The arms holding me down disappeared and I felt fingers ripping the duct tape off me (Just FYI, it hurts) and when that was over with, a boy, maybe about 10, moved to stand next to him.
"Who are you?" He piped up, his eyes curious. I hesitated, examining him. He was Oriental, with dark, almond-shaped eyes, a semi-wide face, and although his head was shaved, the stubble I could see was jet black. He was also super-skinny and bruised all over, sure signs he'd been here for a long time, most likely his whole life.
"I'm Max," I wound up saying.
"Oh! So you're-" he was cut off by Fang making a growling noise somewhere deep in his throat.
"I'm what?"
"Nothing." He backed away into a corner where he curled up like a cat and fell asleep, or at least pretended too.
I fixed my gaze on Fang "I'm what?" I pressed, glaring at him.
He matched my glare. "Drop it, Max, it's none of your business."
I bristled. "Au contraire, bird-boy. It became my business when we were thrown into the same room when we were babies! It became my business when we swore to be best friends forever! It became my business when you kissed me and told me you loved me! And, dang it Fang, it became my business when you left me two years ago with no explanation more than a freakin' CD you burned!"
He snarled, literally snarled at me, and for a moment I was honestly scared of him. This was not the Fang I'd known. Although being on the run had never really encouraged personal hygiene, Fang was dirtier than I could ever seen him. His head was shaved, reveling a large, ugly-looking bruise above his right ear. He was taller now, about 6' 5", and I swear, I could see every bone in his body. His chest and feet were bare: his only clothing was a pair of filthy, ripped sweatpants. The skin I could see was covered in cuts, bruises, and other various boo-boos. In short, he looked like crap.
"Don't you growl at me," I snapped at him after I'd recovered from my shock. He drew himself up to his full height and I suddenly felt rather tiny.
"Don't tell me what to do. Things have changed, Max."
My smart-mouth retort was cut off by the door to the cell slamming open. There was some sort of commotion outside, and me, Fang, and the 'sleeping' boy all glanced up.
"Yow! You little-"
"Ouch! She freakin' shocked me!"
"Gerroff me, you freak!"
A clear female voice cut through the rough male Shredders'. "Freak!? Looked in the mirror lately Shaggy? Oomph!" A lumpy bundle came soaring into the room and landed with a thud. Ouch. That must've hurt. As the bundle shifted and sat up, I realized it was a girl about eleven years old. She glowered at the door.
"Poopy jerkiots," she muttered under her breath.
"You ok?" Fang asked her. She nodded.
"Fine." She probably would've been a bit more believable if she hadn't been pressing her fingers against a large cut on her arm as she spoke. Fang grabbed her wrist and stretched out her arm, examining it.
"Fine," he mocked her. "What happened to you?"
"Nothing," she replied, avoiding his eyes. He narrowed his eyes.
"You can't say anything, hypocrite," she pointed out rather smugly.
"Don't antagonize him," the small boy piped up. He pointed at me. "That's Max."
He said my name like it meant something. The girl's eyes widened in comprehension. Oh, so you're Max," she remarked to me. She seemed to be sizing me up, and I could feel my ire rising.
"Yes, I'm Max. I think we've confirmed that. Now, can I get your name?" I replied snarkily. She half shrugged.
"I'm Shock, this is Manni," she gestured at the boy, who raised a hand. Before I could reply, the door opened again and a young, nerdy-looking whitecoat entered the cell. I'm talking full out nerd here: frizzy, greasy hair, bad acne, big, thick-lensed glasses, and incredibly wimpy.
"You are Experiment 3, self-proclaimed Maximum Ride?" He asked, reading off his clipboard. I sighed exasperatedly.
"Yes, I'm Max, we've established that. Find some new questions, Whitecoat 723, self-proclaimed Nerdy Dork." the whitecoat managed to look both insulted and confused.
"Um, I'm here to collect you for experimentation, and you're to put these on." He held out what looked like a shock collar and an tracker to go around my ankle. I raised an eyebrow.
"You seem to be laboring under the delusion that I will... what's the phrase? Oh yeah, 'come quietly'".
He looked surprised. "Well, yes."
I snorted. "You're kidding me, right? Did they not fill you in on the 'rebel' section of my file?" He didn't reply. "Go on, then, scoot. Go tell your superiors that they can bite me."
He looked reluctant, but then Fang snarled at him.
"Get out."
The whitecoat was out of the room as fast as his short little toothpicks could carry him. I looked at Fang, my mouth open to thank him, but he had turned around and was laying down next to Shock and Manni. They cuddled up into his side like two little puppies. I almost went to join them, but something stopped me. I was an intruder. It was a strange feeling, but it was true. They had it all worked out, and I was the outsider in their little world that they'd learned how to deal with.
Eventually, I curled up in a corner, trying to block out the pain I felt at Fang's reaction to me being here. He obviously didn't care for me any more: the looks he gave me made that clear. If looks could kill, I'd be rotting six feet under right now.
The two kids began snoring softly and I shifted round, hoping to get a private word with Fang, but when I turned to face him, he glared at me and turned so his back was to me. I winced silently. I wanted to say something, but talking to Fang when he's already furious at you is never a good idea, so I just sprawled there, watching his back rise and fall rythmatically.
Although I hadn't planned on going to sleep, I was feeling really tired. So tired, in fact, I didn't realize the weird smell in the air before I closed my eyes and passed out.
*-*-*-*-*
Something was poking in the the ribs. I swatted at it, and then it jabbed me so hard it might've broken a rib. I jerked up, using words that would've made a Marine blush.
"What the-" I was in a white, clearly sterile room. Gee, it's nice to know that some things never change. A tall, good-looking man stood in front of me. I blinked, allowing my eyes to refocus. Really good-looking. Not obese, but clearly muscular, with dark hair and skin. His eyes unnerved me though. Usually, the evil psychos we meet are cold, evil, noncaring yada yada yada. This man... his eyes were warm, intelligent and friendly.
"Ah, Maximum," he greeted me civilly, "or do you prefer to be called Max?"
I swallowed heavily. "Max."
"Max, then," he acknowledged, smiling, "how are you?"
I narrowed my eyes. "Fine."
"Good to hear. Now, I am sure you are wondering what is going on here. Well, because I felt that it would be cruel to leave you in the dark, I am going to explain."
Oh boy. Here it comes, the egotistical autobiography and rant on how 'you will never escape' and 'I will take over the world and no one will stop me mwhahahahaha!'
"You are here to be studied, that is all." he said bluntly. I blinked. Well, there's a shocker.
"I have no grand plans about taking over the world, conquering the universe, whatever it is that today's megalomaniac's aspire too. I simply wish to learn more about the world, about the human body, about the boundaries of science. I am an intelligent man, Max, I am extremely inquisitive. I am always thirsting for knowledge. You are a virtual treasure trove of knowledge, Max. So much can be learned from you. You really are a remarkable experiment."
"I. Am. A. Human. Being." I gritted out, spitting on his shoes at the end for emphasis.
"Of course, Max, of course," he soothed, pulling out a handkerchief and delicately wiping my saliva off his fancy Italian boots. He carefully folded it up and turned to address me again. "Now, I'm sure you are wondering what you are doing here. Maybe – more importantly – what your friend... or should I say boyfriend, yes?"
"Apparently, I'm here to teach you stuff," I spat out.
"Yes, you are," he agreed, "but haven't you wondered, why your lover is here, with us, two years after he abandoned you? Why we only took you, not your entire flock? Why we have left your family: your mother, father, brother, sister, alone even though we knew where you were the whole time?"
"Not really, but I get the feeling you're about to tell me."
He smiled slightly. "You are smart, Max. not book-smart, but you are able to think on your feet, or, more often than not, your derrière." He leaned forward, like he was about to share a real important secret. Ooh, I think my self-esteem just shot up a few points (Sarcasm, people). "Max, this is all an experiment."
"Oh, like I haven't heard that a few dozen times before."I rolled my eyes.
He pulled out a remote, pointed it at something behind me and hit a button. He grabbed my arm and spun me around to watch a screen pop down out of the ceiling. Another click of a button and an x-ray appeared on it. "Do you know what this is, Max?"
After a moment of awkward silence, he pressed on. "This is an x-ray of your lover's chest." Another click, and a second photo popped up. This is an x-ray of Experiment 5's back. Do you notice anything about these pictures?"
I gave the x-rays the same scrunity I usually reserved for Gazzy's hands after he used the bathroom. That boy has something against soap, I tell you.
"Ooh! I know!" I mock-squealed, "they're black and white!"
A muscle flexed in his jaw, but other than that, there was no sign he'd heard me. He took out a fancy-dancy laser pointy thingamabob and used to to point at a tiny white rectangle in the middle of Fang's spine.
"This is a tracking device. There is no way to remove it, as even if the organism survived, it would be paralyzed from that point down."
"And you're hear to tell me that the whole flock has got one and we'll never escape, yada yada, yada, right?" I guessed.
He smiled, shaking his head slightly. "Not quite, Max. The five youngest members of you 'flock' do indeed have one, but you, my dear, do not."
I raised an eyebrow.
"Seventeen years ago, we would have killed you – our first viable experiment, if we had tried. When Experiment 5 was delivered to us a premature infant, we were sure he would expire anyways, so we determined to proceed to attempt to place one inside of him. Imagine our shock, when not only did the process not immediately kill or paralyze him, but he continued to grow and mature, each day becoming stronger, until he was the strongest of all our experiments."
I snorted. He smiled condescendingly.
"Max, you are strong, I will not deny it, but your mate is stronger. He should be dead at least a dozen times over by now, but he is still here."
He paused. "Any questions so far, ma cherie?"
"Can I go to the bathroom? Are we there yet? What is the square root of pi? What is the meaning of life? How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?"
"I'll take that as a no. Well, as I have said, you are here so we can learn from you. Two years ago, I was recently promoted to this position of authority. I was going over your files, when I noticed a minuscule footnote in one of the reports, saying that the dark one, Experiment 5, appeared to be rather protective of you, the leader. This was shocking to me. You, The Maximum Ride, allowing a mere male to protect you? What was happening?
I decided I must know. I issued orders. We would bring in the dark one for questioning. It would also be a new experiment, seeing how his flock would react to loosing one of their own. Imagine our surprise, however, when one night, we saw his tracker leaving the others rapidly. We followed him for two days, and when he showed no signs of turning back, we captured him. It was not hard. He seemed to know there was no hope.
When he woke up, he did not seemed disoriented or scared. He simply seemed to accept his fate. I questioned him. He did not tell me much, but my spies brought back news of you, and I fitted the puzzle pieces together. At first, we had hoped that you two had mated, and, consequently, that you were pregnant. However, when months went by and you had not changed, we determined that was not the case, however the both of you may have been involved. Since Experiment 5 – Fang, you call him? - has arrived, he has not attempted to break out, but merely to cause as much trouble as possible for my workers. It is nothing we cannot handle, and frankly, we welcome to opportunity to calculate his creativity skills.
But, now you re wondering why we did not immediately snatch the rest of your flock? Well, we wanted to learn. We wanted to see what an affect it would have on you, but after two years, I decided we'd learned all we could from you. We took you, and now we shall;l learn more from your 'flock's' reaction. That is all. Any questions?"
"Yeah. What are the chances you would choke to death on your own blood if I smashed your teeth out?"
*-*-*-*-*
"What did they want?" Fang asked, barely glancing at me out of the corner of his eye.
"To show off their lack of a sense of humor."
…
"They wanted me to meet the head honcho. Pleasant guy."
"Yeah. Real friendly."
"He told me about them capturing you."
…
"Said that you kept going for two days without showing signs of turning back."
…
Am I the only one noticing a pattern here?
"Why?"
"Max, drop it. It doesn't matter."
Wrong move.
"Doesn't matter?! Doesn't matter that you left me with no explanation? Doesn't matter that you destroyed the flock? Doesn't matter that Angel cried herself to sleep for months because her father figure abandoned here? Don't you have a heart anymore?"
"No. I lost it years ago."
"Dangit, Fang! Just when I thought you were starting to grow up, you went and pulled that stupid stunt!"
"Drop it Max! You have no clue what is going on!"
"Explain then! Explain it to me, because I just can't seem to figure you out!"
"Like you care!"
"Yes, like I care! I freakin' care about you, much as I hate it! I just can't bring myself to believe that you care about us, the way you treated us!" We were on a roll now. A veritable force of nature, there was no stopping us.
Don't you dare ever think I didn't care about you! You see, this is what I was talking about! You don't understand, and you don't even try to!"
"I am trying! But you have to help!"
"Forget it!"
"No, I won't forget it! Why the heck are you so angry about me being here? Thought you were finally rid of me? Is that it?"
".. goodnight, Max." His voice was clipped and cold. I started to protest, but he glared furiously at me. "I said goodnight!"
He turned his back and curled up alone in the corner farthest from me, pointedly facing the wall. I flinched and stalked away to the opposite corner. Fine. Let him freeze his butt off tonight, all alone over there. See what I care.
Sorry again for the delay. I know I don't deserve them, but all the reviews you can scrounge up would be absolutely wonderful. Please and thank you.
--Dallas
PS, they motivate me to write faster!! Just saying...