Alright, here I am with the chapter you've all been waiting for! :D Sorry I'm a little late updating, but, well, I wanted to leave you in suspense for as long as possible. *snickers* But my friend Leela convinced me to post tonight. :/ Of course, considering I'm the only person on the planet who seems not to be in EST sometimes, you're probably all in bed already, so I kind of win on that level. But whatever.

Anyways, here we go!

36

Rewarding Excellence

"Excellence is not a skill. It is an attitude." – Ralph Marson

I could tell the Doctor was amused by my rage, but I was seeing too much red to care. He was wearing Fang's wings, that monster was wearing Fang's wings! It was an intrusion, an invasion of all Fang had been and all we were as human-avian hybrids; to take his pride and joy and sew them into the flesh of an ordinary human, and then flaunt them in front of me like they were some sort of carnival trinket. It was abominable! It was like ripping the wings off of a butterfly and gluing them onto an ugly, warty toad.

I clutched the gun even tighter, my hands shaking. "How dare you," I said in a low, shaky voice. "Didn't you take enough from him already?"

The Doctor looked at the wings, and stretched them out a little more. "Too much? I know, it would have been years before I was able to augment myself enough to actually fly with them, but I've transplanted and reconnected enough of the accompanying muscles that I'm able to flaunt them a bit." He flapped them mockingly. "It makes for a nice party trick, don't you think?"

I cried out at him in wild outrage and steadied my gun, re-aiming its barrel more narrowly in his direction. "You deserve to die for what you've done," I growled.

"Perhaps, by most people's standards," the Doctor conceded, his face now devoid of emotion, "but you are not most people, Maximum Ride. So tell me, can you be better?"

There was that phrase again. How could you not be better than a monster like this? He had caused so much pain; not just for me, but for many people. How many people had died trying to reveal the truth about his island of horrors? How many people had gotten just a little too greedy for their own good and paid a consequence far too great for their actions? I thought of Gracie, the little girl I had met when I first arrived on the island. This man, this Doctor, couldn't have cared less if she had died when that explosive detonated early and damaged her house. I should think anyone could be better than him.

Max, you don't have to sink to his level, the Voice chimed in, you've already unravelled his operation; not even the government can ignore the large flock of ships landing on the coast of Honolulu because of the evacuation. He knows his time is up, and he's trying to get to you, Max. Don't let him break you.

He broke me when he unwound Fang, I retorted bitterly.

But you weren't broken beyond repair.

"Well?" the Doctor asked.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a few moments. I saw Fang's life with me flashing before my eyes; Fang at the School, Fang in the E-shaped house, Fang over the last few months. He'd had so much left to live for, so much left to do and see. And now, he was gone. Nothing could ever bring him back.

"You deserve to die," I told him coldly.

"I see," the Doctor replied, as calm as ever.

"But," I said, "you're not worth the blood on my hands." I dropped the gun onto the floor, and then I kicked it over to the Doctor before I could change my mind. I had made my decision; I was going to be a better person than him by refusing to take a life out of vengeance. I had to let my anger go.

The Doctor carefully picked up the weapon, and he grinned at me. "Very good, Max," he told me. He played with the gun in his hands as he spoke, "This is a special gun, you know—I designed it myself. It's reversed, you see; if you had tried to fire it, the bullet would have flew out in the opposite direction and shot you straight through the heart." My blood ran cold at the thought, yet at the same time I felt relieved that I had made the right choice. I had solved the puzzle.

"And, as I promised, I shall reward your excellence with a gift. Check inside of cabinet 101 once I'm gone." The Doctor bobbed his head in farewell. "Have a nice life, Maximum Ride." Then with a flap of the wings on his back he turned around and walked away. I was still too stunned to move.