Chapter 37

"Here it is, Max," Danny said. "My deadliest weapon: the BRB."

It didn't look very deadly. It was a simple black box with a red circle on the top. "Big Red Button?" I guessed.

"That's right," Danny said. "My plan has been unfurled." He gestured to his computer display, which had been wheeled out into the field. "We simply wait for the Survivors' base to move to a convenient location—anything within the BRB's range should suffice—then we press the Big Red Button and… well, it's a surprise." He turned to his cohorts. "Who wants to push the Big Red Button?"

"Let's all do it together," Ram said. "The five of us. Like old times."

Danny's eyes sparkled. "Yes, let's."

Danny put the BRB down on the ground, and the five surviving members of the ICBG gathered around it. Ram gently placed his hoof atop it… then Ray's wing, Albert's webbed foot, Danny's tentacle. Finally, Felicia rested her chin on top of the stack.

And they watched. I didn't know what qualified as within the BRB's range, but the determination on their five animal faces was beyond inspiring.

The tower continued to blip around the world. It stayed in every location for exactly eight seconds—that was the only pattern that anyone had been able to figure out. Finally, it appeared in England—right across from the whatever-the-hell-you-call-it from our base in Ireland.

"We'll never get a better opportunity than that," Danny said. "Go!"

All five of them pressed down on the button, yelling "KA-BOOM!"

And ka-boom it did. As soon as the button was pushed, hundreds and hundreds of missiles appeared out of nowhere and started flying to the east at an impossible speed. About half of them were powder-blue, the other half spring-green. That was all I registered before they all vanished. Then I saw them on the computer display.

The blue ones were shaped like geckos, the green ones like tree frogs—tributes to Laura Kris and the Big Guy. The ICBG truly was reunited.

I watched the tower. The missiles started to bombard it. I was about to shriek—they were about to blow up a building that Angel was in!—but the missiles crashed and disintegrated around a force field, that crackled with red electricity every time a missile hit.

After a while, the shield gave out, and the missiles were hitting the tower instead. But they weren't destroying it… all of them were hitting a very specific part of the tower. What could that mean?

Finally, all of the missiles were depleted. Danny stared at the display, breathing heavily. I wondered what had been accomplished. I waited for someone to tell me.

But then I figured it out… the tower hadn't moved. It had been over eight seconds, and it hadn't zipped off to some other part of the world. It was right there, within a day's flying distance for us, and it wasn't going anywhere.

"The tower is disabled," Danny said with satisfaction. "Now we can get 'em."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

John Abate gathered the entire CSM to discuss the plan of attack.

"It won't take long for them to repair," he said. "So we're best off sending a small party quickly, as we won't have time to mobilize troops."

"The flock is a small party," I said innocently.

He looked at me, surprised. "Max, you can't…"

"Yeah, I can," I said. "Lighten up, John. I think we both know I was gonna charge off no matter what you eventually decided. It's good that we're meeting halfway! See you around." I whipped on a backpack. We'd already packed.

"Max, it's not necessary—" John began.

"John, I'm beggin' ya, don't pursue a lost cause," I said. "People have been trying to control me for eighteen years, it's never happened once."

"You don't know what you're—"

"Don't I?" I said, nearly shouting him down. "Why don't you look me in the eye and say that? I know what I'm doing. Look, you've got a lot of scientists, inventors, economists, mercenaries, veterans, and so on…"

"AND MISTA T!" bellowed a deep voice in the crowd.

"Of course," I said, nodding in the general direction of the shout. "But how many of those people really know what's out there? That's where the flock comes in. We're out."

I hopped off, bouncing lightly off the heads of the crowd before flapping to the borders of the CSM base, where I touched the ground. Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Max II settled down right behind me.

"Are we ready?" I asked them.

Iggy tightened the straps of his pack. "It doesn't get any readier than this," he said.

"Good," I said. I jerked in surprise when Imogen dropped down in front of me, and her three followers behind her.

"You coming, Immy?" I said.

"Aye," she said. "I must."

"Great," Fang said. "This fits in perfectly with our plan. Now we can have Sean be the bait, draw their fire, while the rest of us sneak in the back."

Sean raised an eyebrow. "Ooh, I don't like that idea much. How about we send Fang in, guns blazin', and the rest of us give him an hour's head-start?"

"How about you suicide-bomb the place?" Fang countered.

Sean raised two fists. "How about I crush yer head between me fists?"

"How about I break your skinny little arms?" Fang snarled.

"Boys, stop it!" Imogen snapped. "Stop it now! We need to get along!"

"I don't know if that's possible," I said honestly.

"Well, I'm comin' along for this, no matter what," she said. "Ye were right, Maximum Ride. About havin' to know what's out there. I want to know what the real world is like. I need to. I've never been in a fight. I've never seen what truly evil people can do. I've never even been off of Ireland."

I sighed. "Look, the flock and I resigned ourselves to all of this long ago, but I don't want to drag somebody else into it. Are you sure this is what you want, Imogen?"

She nodded. "I've got these wings for a reason. I'm gonna use 'em and find out what me purpose truly is."

I gripped her hand tightly. "Welcome aboard, then, comrade. Let's go."

"MOMMEEEEEEEEEE!"

I spun around. Airy was rushing toward me, going sixty miles an hour with her body barely an inch above the ground. A car was pursuing her, but couldn't possibly catch up.

She hit me as hard as one of the Big-Guy-shaped missiles and hugged me tight. "Don't go without me, Mommy," she begged.

I laughed. "I know, I know. I'll miss you, too, Airy, but we'll be back as soon as we save your Auntie Angel, okay?"

The car pulled up; Mom, Brigid, and Ella came out and approached.

Airy dropped to the ground and crossed her arms, glaring up at me. "I wanna come too," she said firmly.

"Oh," I stammered. "I didn't… no!"

"Yes," she countered instantly.

"Airy," I said sternly.

"Mommy!" she shrieked, stomping her foot. "I'm part of the flock. I'm your daughter. I'm special. I'm Airy. I'm gonna help get Auntie Angel back home."

I was alarmed. I looked up and Mom, Brigid, and Ella, who seemed just as taken aback as I was. They knew they couldn't tear Airy away. I then turned to Fang, and he laughed aloud.

"What do you want from me?" he demanded. He tapped Airy's head. "I can't turn Airy down when she looks exactly like you."

I looked down at her. "I don't know. With that evil scowl, she looks more like her Auntie Angel, actually."

Fang smirked at me. "And where do you think Angel got her dirty looks from?" Before I could retaliate, he started walking toward the three people at the car.

"Well, I guess you're coming, then, aren't you Airy?" I said.

Airy hugged me tight, her anger completely gone.

"He can't turn her down because she looks exactly like you," Max II mused. "I'm gonna have to remember that and use it against him, huh?"

"Yeah, that'd be great payback, actually," I admitted.

I looked at Fang. He was bidding farewell to Brigid…

"I'll miss you," she said quietly.

"I'll be back," he promised. "I'll be back for you. You're the only thing bringing me back."

She nodded, her eyes welling up. "I love you, Fang."

He sniffled, almost imperceptibly. "I love you too, Brigid. Take care of yourself, okay?" He hugged her. "I won't let anything happen to you," he said quietly. "Things have been pretty fucked-up between us, I know, but… I hope you know that you're like my daughter."

He extracted himself from her hug with some difficulty, and marched himself back to the rest of the group. "Let's go," he said.

We took to the air. We ran a couple of laps around the base to get the proper altitude. I stared at Fang the whole time.

"Hey," he said, noticing. "Listen, Max, if you're not comfortable with what's going on with me and Brigid…"

"No, no, it's fine," I said. "I… maybe I don't understand it, but it's you. So of course I support it."

He smiled. "Well, then, the least I can do is help you understand it. What do you want to know?"

I thought. "Well… I don't know. I just don't get it. I mean, you already have a daughter."

"Yes, I do," he said happily, looking at Airy, who was keeping perfect pace with the rest of the flock. "Of course Airy is my only real child, but she doesn't… I don't know… need me, the way Brigid does. Airy can take care of herself—everybody I love can take care of themselves. But not Brigid. She needs me to look after her. And I… I guess I like the feeling of being needed."

I flew underneath him and reached for both of his hands. He took them. "I need you," I reminded him.

He nodded. His face didn't move, but I knew what he was feeling—uncontained, bountiful, endless happiness. I knew because I felt it too.

Finally, we broke off from our circling and headed straight east, straight toward the Survivors' domain. From below, I heard a rumbling sound… the CSM were applauding us. Right on.

"Let's book it, everybody," I called. "We've got a ten-year-old kid to save."

"And a planet," Nudge offered.

"Right, sure. That too."