Chapter 36

I slept until the sunrise. You could tell it was sunrise over New York because it got noticeably darker in a matter of seconds.

Just making that up. Seriously, New York at night sucks, especially if you're on a skyscraper roof.

I would have slept longer, but Airy began nudging me. Kind of odd, I'm used to Nudge being the one who does the… never mind.

"Mommy," Airy whispered. "Somebody's hungry."

"Who's hungry?" I asked.

"Everybody," she said, gesturing.

I opened my eyes. One at a time, like I do. A majority of the sixty-seven people on the roof were awake and moving around. I could name forty-eight of them who were extremely malnourished… along with six who were pampered and spoiled and still sleeping. Guess. Yup—our ass-wipe soulmates.

"The guys from the cages didn't get to eat much," Airy said with a pout.

"Hmm, I'll bet," I said. "What do you think, Airy?"

"I don't know," Airy said. "Where do we get food?"

"Lots of places in New York," I said thoughtfully. "Do we take the chance to separate and scrounge? We've got money, right Nudge?"

"Sure," Nudge said, fiddling with the Heartbeat. "I've got a better idea." Tapping it, she produced a large, flesh-colored sphere. "Doesn't look like much," she said. "But I've set it up for every nutrient that a starving experiment needs."

"The, uh, the Heartbeat does that, huh?" I said.

"It does everything," she said. "I'm never gonna unlock all these secrets, not even with the hacker hands!" She displayed her palms, then activated the Heartbeat to produce a six-pack of the nutrient balls. "So, let's pass these out."

"I'll do it," Airy said. She picked up the Heartbeat and began fluttering around, delivering the food to everyone.

"God, she's sweet," I said.

"Yeah," Angel said from behind me. "How's that possible, that something related to you could be that adorable?"

"Well, that's—HEY!" I said, turning to glare at her. "Put a cork in it, Angel. I raised you until you were about seven, and you turned out okay. I mean, you're odd, sure, but… whatever, I like you."

"Cool, cool," Angel said. "Hey, um… what's up with the chick from the end of the first book?"

"You mean Evan?" I said. I turned. The girl was sitting with her arms wrapped around her knees, looking out into the city.

"Yeah, her," Angel said. "I forget her name. She's… she's got some stuff on her mind."

"Like what?" I said. "Like the way she wants to get Fang alone?"

"Oh, come on, Max," Angel said. "Show some sympathy. Like you've never had to retool your entire existence."

"Okay, fine," I said. "I'll go talk to her. I suppose I am accustomed to confronting deranged women after my hubby's…"

"Heart," Angel said quickly.

"Heart. Yeah. And about your 'first book' remark—break the fourth wall again and I'll kill you."

"Noted."

I made my way over to Evan, sitting next to her, my feet dangling off the edge of the building.

"Hey, Ev," I said. "What's going on?"

"Not a whole lot," Evan said. "My life is without meaning. My future is without hope."

"Oh, come on," I said. "You can't let them program you."

"They already have!" Evan snarled, turning to me. "Okay? I've been programmed already. I was only born to be with Fang. I can't possibly envision a life without him."

"Well, envision it," I said. "Work your way around the programming, would ya?"

"Oh, real sensitive, Max!" Evan said. "Why are you fighting this? Why did you take Fang from me? How COULD you?"

I tapped my claws. I was ready to strike if necessary.

"Evan, no," Fang said, taking her wrist. He'd popped in silently and without warning.

"Fang," Evan said with a light sob.

"Evan, I really don't know what your life has been like," Fang said. "But you're not what you think. You are… human. You can live your own life. I believe that. You're not mine. You belong only to you."

Evan glared at Fang's hand on her wrist, then sighed. "Whatever," she said. "I can deal. Don't expect everyone to be this reasonable. Some of these guys might be pretty close to losing their minds."

"Ugh, I've had enough of this," I said. "LISTEN UP!"

The enormous group of people on the roof went silent.

"I've made my decision," I said. "On my contribution to your ultimate fate. I'm never going to presume that I'll take charge of your lives. But here's my plan. The CSM will set up a sanctuary for you. A place where you'll be protected, where you'll learn how to operate in society."

"So, a school?" someone called.

"Eh, I try not to say that word," I said. "It has negative implications on mutant-kind, doesn't it?"

There was a general murmur of assent.

"You guys can be normal," I said. "That's all I've wanted for my flock. It's too late for me, but most of you are pretty young. In the CSM sanctuary that I'm envisioning, you guys will have a chance. A chance to be real people, with the potential to integrate into society. People with career aspirations and fierce crushes on Jack Skellington."

"Jack Skellington?" someone said.

"Yeah. Teens think he's hot, right?" I turned to Nudge, who shook her head. "Crud, I don't know. I mean, Angel has a thing for him."

"Eh, you know, I'm odd," Angel said.

"Right," I said. "But this sanctuary of yours? It's not going to be a prison. You'll be free to come and go, but I hope most of you embrace the opportunity… to learn. About the world as it truly is, not the way your scientists told you it was going to be."

Gazzy tapped my shoulder. "Is this wise, Max?" Gazzy whispered. "Have you forgotten what happened to the Day and Night School?"

I shook my head. "I'll never forget. But the people who would have the desire to blow up a school full of mutants… they're all in one place, guys. We're getting rid of them." I addressed the crowd again. "So… let's get all this harem drama out of our minds and back into freaky anime where it belongs. I want to see you guys living your own lives. That would mean more to me than seeing us avian-humans as the supreme race. A lot more."

Fang grabbed my arm suddenly. "Max," he said. "What is that?"

I followed his gaze. Climbing the outside of a nearby building was a thin girl with short black hair.

"Is that…?" I muttered. My hands went to the hand-shaped scar on my face. "That's impossible."

Fang and I took off, alone, and gripping the ledges of the building blocked the path of the climbing girl.

"Madeusa," I said. "Didn't I kill you?"

She looked from me to Fang. "You're Maximum Ride," she said. "Yeah, you might have. There's a lot of me."

"What the holy hell does that mean?" I muttered.

She got up onto a ledge and leaned back next to us. "The name is 'Madeusa'," she said. "Didn't you ever consider what that meant? The first one of us made it up. Partly named for the Gorgon of mythology, sure, but mostly…" She bowed her head, revealing the tattoo on the back of her neck: "MADE IN THE U.S.A.".

"Made… usa," I said thoughtfully. "Madeusa. What… again, what the holy hell is that about?"

"You, my friend, are looking at a trademarked, mass-produced mutant," Madeusa said. "Corporations are making us, selling us. The world of genetic engineering has become… remarkably mainstream since you entered the public eye. I'm privileged enough to have been born a 'Madeusa', the top brand."

"So…" I muttered. "There are hundreds of mutants who look exactly like you being distributed around the country?"

"Worldwide, actually," Madeusa said. "And yeah, there are very few successful titles, but there's no variation within one title." She leered. "You're going to have to face many of us, I'm afraid. The little handprint on your face is merely the first bump in the road."

Fang and I swapped glances. "Look, you're obviously a very intelligent person," Fang said. "Have you considered…?"

"Shh," the Madeusa said gently. "Believe me, the big companies are making the same oversights as your tiny little research labs. You simply can't separate the soul and its free will from a living thing, no matter how many perfect copies of it there are." She smirked. "I can handle myself, folks. You do your thing, I'll do mine."

And with that, she continued to scale the skyscraper.

"Well… that's a surprising development," Fang said dryly.

"Yeah, I'd say so," I agreed.

"What if Sean is right?" Fang asked. "What if it doesn't really matter whether or not we fight? Maybe the world really is going to stay the same regardless."

"No," I said. "That can't be. If we don't stop the Survivors, the world will end, I'm sure of it. And if the we triumph… I'm not going into my grave thinking I didn't make this world a better place."

"But these mass-produced mutants," Fang said. "Why would people be selling them if…?"

"Look, life went on as usual while we were thwarting the By-Half Plan, right?" I said. "It just wasn't made public, is all. Whoever's building these mutants, whatever evil force it is, Disney or whoever, they're probably just not in on the whole 'Survivors' thing." I looked back up at the gathering of winged people on the roof of the nearest building. "Either way," I said, "it's one more thing for us to deal with after the Survivors are gone."

"There's always one more thing," Fang said bitterly.