Just in case anyone's confused about the time between POV's... everyone's on the same time scale now.

Blackmail

Are you freaking kidding me?" Anastasia burst out, at the same time as I shouted, "Are you on crack?"

The corners of her mouth jerked, as if she was about to retort, but a moment later, she was smiling patiently again. This new addition to the crap that is my life apparently took Subject twenty-seven by surprise, too, if the way he leapt out of his chair was any indication.

"S, I–" he started, but broke off, lost for words.

"I take it you want to know why," she went on.

Three heads bobbed up and down in unison.

"Well," she said. "I'm tired of torturing the flock, as well as other mutants, and I honestly felt like settling down with–"

I cut in, my voice flat. "Bullshit."

"I…"

But she looked at our faces, realized that we all suddenly knew she was lying.

And… she went right back to the giant überbitch she had been all along.

"Fine," she snarled. "You're right. I don't give a rat's ass whether you to live or die. But I want you to cooperate with me."

"What makes you think we're going to?" Anastasia snapped back.

"Well," she began, with a bittersweet smile. "I had the impression you'd do anything for the flock."

"That's foul," I growled. "You can't do that, they're already free. You can't just… go back on your word like that."

She snorted. "Why not?"

"Because."

"You, at least, should know me better than Angel does, Anna," she said, turning to Anastasia.

"Don't," she hissed, "Call me that ever again, if you at least want to live another minute."

"Touchy, are we? I always liked that about you," she went on. "You never failed to amuse me."

"If it weren't for these god damned handcuffs…" Anastasia warned.

The Superior laughed. "Hilarious. But we must move on. So, if you two do not do as we say, I'll have no choice but to torture and kill the flock one by one. I'll leave your dear Maxie to be last. It seems only fair to save the best for last."

My jaw dropped. "You couldn't –"

Anastasia's eyes flashed. "You wouldn't –"

"We can and we will," she said. "And don't count on the flock coming after you anymore, you two. We're keeping track of them. Tee–" Subject twenty-seven was called to attention; his head jerked upwards. "Tell them we've been keeping an eye on the flock."

He sniggered. "Oh yeah. Erasers hanging after them, wherever they go."

"Don't they notice?"

"They have a kid now; who notices a couple of mutants when there's a screaming, sobbing, shitting child around?"

"Thank you, Tee." The Superior turned back to face us. "They've done exactly as you said. They've left for a nice time in Venice. They've left you behind."

For some reason, my heart dropped deep into the pits of my stomach. I gaped. No. I should be happy. This is what I wanted.

But… the flock always stood by each other. Didn't they even want to come?

The Superior smirked. "Angel?"

"That's great," I said, forcing myself to speak with a voice – any voice – that didn't give away what I was feeling. It came out sounding like a man.

Anastasia was better. "So? That's what we wanted. We wanted them to leave. Angel wrote them a freaking message, remember?"

"But you still care about them?"

We nodded, looking at her as if to say duh.

"So you won't like it much if we torture and kill them."

I swallowed. I didn't even want to think about it.

"So–" The Superior flashed a grin. "– You will cooperate."

It was for the flock. It was always for the flock.

I glanced over at Anastasia. Her eyes were locked on mine. We both knew exactly what we had to do.

I turned back to the Superior, gritted my teeth. "Just tell us what we have to do."

Fang POV

"Shut up."

Max was furious at Gazzy again. I was glad. If I hadn't been a zillion percent certain that she wasn't going to, I just might have raised my voice myself. But then, I would've risked both of them staring at me for the next hour like Oh my god. Fang just shouted... Is the world about to end?

Not something I'd like to go through.

So I let it slide. Next thing I knew, she was the one shouting.

Well. Not quite. Hissing really, more than shouting. But if we weren't hidden in a tree, trying to keep our cover… undercover, then I'm sure she would be. All you had to do was look at her face. Yes. There we go. It was going all red, especially at the tips of her ears.

She was so freaking cute.

"– Just never, ever, poke your foot out the tree again. Ever. Do – you – under – stand – me – Gasman?"

Gazzy blinked. Then he nodded.

"Sorry, Max," he mumbled. "Never again."

She inhaled deeply, let it go. "Right then. Fang, how's it going? Seen anything unusual yet?"

Oh. Forgot to mention. I'd also been posted as 'main lookout'.

Let me explain.

There was me, the 'main lookout', who had the best view of the wreck that was once the hellhole, through a tiny parting in the leaves, just big enough to squeeze two eyes and sometimes a nose – but never the whole face. Then Max and Gazzy were apparently, according to Max, 'secondary lookouts', and they just glanced out in other directions now and again.

Sure, we swapped every couple of hours. Otherwise – hell – I'd go nuts.

"Nope," I said.

First thing I'd said since coming to this tree. No wait. There had been one Jeeeeeeeeeesus Christ, when the Gasman had got a tiny splinter in his finger, and had made a huge deal out of it.

So third word, I guess.

"You know," began Max. "I was thinking about going to California, and it seems like a good idea. There's no way they're here."

The Gasman was instantly desperate. "But Max–"

"I think that we–"

"Please–"

"–Should just go over there, since–"

"Freaking hell!" the Gasman all but roared. "Why won't you listen to me, damn it?"

Max was taken aback. She regained herself in an instant. "Because we know what you want, and we've tried it your way. But this isn't working well, Gaz. I'm sorry for being such a pain in the ass, lately, but I'm just so worried about them and – and –"

I felt a tug at my heart, a sensation quite familiar to me nowadays, but still always takes me by utter surprise. I'm Fang. Fang. And when Max is concerned, I get heart-tugs.

The world is so strange sometimes.

"Max," said Gazzy. "I'm sorry, too. I'm worried as well, and… I guess I just…"

I looked away for the big, cheesy hug. Not my type.

Not Max's type, either, but she went along with it for Gazzy. The poor kid had a lot of things going wrong for him recently.

So there I was, staring out across the Gasman's mass ruin, when I saw something that made me say my fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth words since I'd been in that freaking tree.

"Max, Gaz, you have to see this."