Okay, it's the last chap! Sorry about the wait. School started, and this was a lot longer than normal. It's actually the longest chapter, so I hope that makes up for my slowness. OK, I really like this one, but I hope you guys will too, but I can't promise you that you will. But, it does have some action and other stuff, so I hope it's all right.
Warning: Character Death.
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Itex- the reason we'd been created; the reason were mutant freaks. As I stared at the building, I could feel something burning inside me. I was glad we had come. I wanted to destroy the thing in front of me.
"That's it?" whispered Gazzy.
"That's it," confirmed Fang.
I could feel the flock beside me; sense the tension radiating from them. I'd never even thought that we might get some kind of emotion from the building. Adrenaline, yes; emotion, no.
"We need to get inside," I reminded the others, snapping out of my thoughts. I quickly started forward, listening to the crunching twigs as we got closer to the building.
"How do we get in?" asked Nudge.
I frowned and looked at Fang. He subtly shrugged and looked back at the Itex building. I returned my gaze to the building, as well. The flock stayed silent as I contemplated possible routes into Itex.
Finally, I decided. It probably wasn't the best way to go, but we were running out of time, and this would be quick and easy.
"Come on," I told the others, motioning for them to follow me.
We flew up, above the canyon wall, and straight toward the building. As I approached the roof, I turned sideways to slip through the metal cage meant to keep helicopters and jets away.
After the Gasman had guided Iggy in, taking extra precaution incase the bars were electric, Fang said, "The roof?" He paused, giving me a look that clearly told me I belonged in an asylum. "Gee, Max, aren't you creative?"
"Shut up," I muttered. "At least I got us in." Better than you could do, I added silently.
"Max? We should start," Angel reminded me.
"Yeah, Angel. You're right." Giving Fang one last glare, I walked over to the door that led into the building. When I got there, I discovered, to my surprise and delight, that it wasn't locked. We wouldn't be setting burglary alarms off today.
I stepped inside and realized that I wasn't in a stairwell, as I'd suspected. We stood in an enormous elevator. Little unlabeled buttons decorated one part of a wall.
"Which floor?" asked Gazzy. I didn't answer because, honestly, I had no clue. If we pressed the wrong button, we could end up on the wrong floor, where Erasers waited to ambush us.
"Here," said Nudge, sounding bored as she slipped past me so she could stand in front of the buttons. She lifted her fingers to each circle, waited for a moment, and continued. Finally, she settled on a floor. With one glance at me to make sure we were really doing this, she pressed the button.
The elevator slowly started moving and I felt my stomach tighten. Elevators were something I wasn't accustomed to, and I could definitely live without them.
With a jerk, the elevator stopped, and I thanked the Powers that Be that no one else had called the machine. As the doors opened, I felt the flock tense beside me, ready to spring into action.
When no one jumped forward in an attempt to kill us, I was surprised. For a company that planned to destroy the world, Itex didn't have very good security. There wasn't a person – or creature – in sight.
I took a cautious step into the large room before us. The lights were on, so someone had probably been there not too long ago. As the flock filed in behind me, I studied the equipment.
Computers took up every inch of space on the shelves. Colored wires hung from the ceiling, draped across the room, and littered the floor, creating a maze we had to get through in order to get out of the room.
There were two doors- one on each side. I chose the left. Hurrying through the mess of electronics, I tried not to strangle myself with the many extension cords that were hanging off various shelves. When I finally reached the metal door, I stopped, waiting for the flock to catch up to me.
As Nudge made her way around the final shelf, I opened the door- and felt my blood to ice.
"Well," muttered Fang, "at least we know where the security is."
I glared at him while trying to keep my head pointed forward. Nice time to be optimistic.
Bringing my eyes back to the hundreds of people who were now gaping at us, I realized why no one had intercepted us.
"Bail," I ordered, slamming the door shut just as the Erasers started moving toward us. "It's a trap." I hurried around one of the desks in the room and shoved it against the door, pushing anything I could against its legs.
While I was blocking the door, the sound of metal being crushed sounded from behind me. I turned around to see about ten Erasers burst in, the elevator's crumpled door lying at their feet.
We couldn't fight. The second we beat these Erasers- if we beat them- we would have more on us. Quickly looking over my options, I yelled, "The door!"
Racing to the door, I prayed that there would be no Erasers on the other side. My prayer was answered.
The room in front of us was empty of people, though it was filled with even more electronics. After barring the door, we ran down the aisles of this well-organized room to an exit on the other side.
We emerged into a narrow hallway leading straight forward. As I sprinted through the passage, I realized we were running to a dead end. There was no door on the other side of the hall. What was the point of a hallway that didn't lead to anything?
"Up there!" yelled Fang, pointing to the ceiling where an entry to the floor above us could be seen. I took a quick second to note Fang's extremely irregular breathing before I grabbed Angel and lifted her to the ceiling where she could open the latch. She quickly scrambled through the hole, and as she did, I heard a crash from the room behind us. They were coming.
The Gasman and Iggy quickly climbed through the hole, leaving me to watch the door burst open as Fang shoved Nudge upward to safety. With one glance at Fang, I jumped up, swung the door closed, and locked it, ignoring the outraged cries from the flock above. At least they would be safe.
I watched as the group of Erasers, whitecoats, and Itex scientists advanced on us. Hunching down, I sprung forward at the leading Eraser, beginning a hopeless battle.
As I fought, I saw Fang being thrown against the wall behind us and hoped he'd be okay. I quickly turned, swinging my leg into an Eraser's, temporarily getting rid of him. A strong hand lashed out at my back, hitting the small space between my shoulder blades. I spun around, clapping my hands over a female Eraser's ears, and heard a satisfying yelp.
I glanced back at Fang and saw him standing still- staring at the wall. He slowly reached forward to touch it. Just as I was about to yell for him to help me, I realized Fang wasn't touching the wall- his hand had gone through it.
I stopped and blinked, earning a hard hit to the back of my head. But sure enough, Fang's hand had disappeared, leaving his wrist connected to the wall.
He slowly turned to me, taking his hand back. "Max!" He motioned for me to go over, so, shoving Erasers off me, I slowly made my way to him. Fang reached for the wall, making a door swing open, revealing a passageway. Not questioning him, I jumped in and started running, listening to the door slam before another set of footsteps joined mine.
Racing down the passage with Fang mere inches behind me, I hoped the rest of the flock was okay. I could fell my heart pumping way too fast, my lungs burning, and I knew we had to stop. When the hall opened into a large room- a storage room, by the looks of it- I slowed, lurching forward as Fang failed to stop himself from running into me.
"We need to hide," I told him after we'd come to a complete stop. Without waiting for his answer, I veered off down a path between the stacks of boxes.
"The shelves," suggested Fang, his voice husky with lack of air.
I quickly glanced up at the area he was motioning to. Four large metal walkways encircled the room, holding even more crates and equipment. Nodding to him, I headed over to the wall and started climbing the ladder that led up to the first walkway. Once there, I moved on to the second.
"We should stay here." I gave Fang a questioning glance, so he continued. "If we go up to the fourth, we won't have any way down. I guess we could always jump, but… that would give them a pretty good shot at us." He paused and looked at me, then added, "If we're here, then we can jump and use the boxes for cover."
"Okay," I said, nodding. "Then we should probably hide now." I led the way to the space on the walkway just above the room's exit.
Crouching down behind a large crate, I let myself take a few good breaths before saying, "Now we wait."
When Fang settled down beside me, I noticed for the first time since we'd entered the building that he had lost more color in his face. He was almost as pale as he'd been when we'd left the School less then forty-eight hours ago.
"Hey," I said, catching his attention. "You okay?" He nodded slowly, his eyelids drooping. "Fang?" I could hear the urgency in my own voice.
"I'm okay, Max." His deep voice was soft, tired.
I leaned over to him. "Hey, Fang, we'll be out of here soon. Stay with me." I glanced around for something, maybe a glass of water, to keep him awake. When nothing stood out, I turned back to look at him. "Fang. Come on, it's not time to sleep."
"I'm not sleeping," he murmured, his voice completely contradicting his words.
I watched his mouth move in order to produce the few words, and just like that, I'd closed the small space between us. I felt his hard body lurch forward in surprise, but I didn't budge. Several seconds passed before his lips started responding, and by then I was sure I'd fully woken him.
Although Fang had tried his hardest to ignore any feelings he'd had toward me- feelings I'd tried not to return- I knew he didn't care at the moment.
After a long moment, we broke apart, and I realized I could hear footsteps coming through the hallway after us. They'd found a way in, but it had given us some time.
"Max, maybe we should keep going," advised Fang. "We caught our breath for a few seconds, and we can go now."
I didn't know what he felt, but I certainly hadn't caught my breath. If anything, my lungs were burning even more that they had when we'd been running.
"But then we would have wasted all this time," I muttered.
"No, we took a break- that's not a waste of time. Anyway, they'll probably follow our scent, which goes into the box aisles at the front of the room," he explained. "It will take a little while for them to get to where we are, with all of the clutter. And that will give us time to get further away."
I stared at him. Sure, we were in a potentially fatal situation, but had he forgotten that we'd just kissed? Well, if he had, I would too.
Making a quick decision in order to keep him from guessing my thoughts, I said, "Fine. Lets go." I got up and went around the large crate. Pulling my wings out just a bit, I leaped off of the walkway and hurried into the hall opposite the one we had entered through.
As the sounds behind us drew nearer, we hurried through the hall, opening random doors and hoping they would lead to something other than a closet. None of them did. Finally, we turned a corner and were forced to stop in order to keep from crashing into the door at the end of the hall.
"I guess that's where we go," I muttered. Moving forward and, half expecting it to be locked, turned the knob.
With an almost silent creak, the door slid open and I stepped inside. When I looked around, I could feel my mouth involuntarily drop open.
The room was filled with tanks of colored liquids, all with some kind of experiment inside of them. The smell of cleaner flooded my nostrils as I stared. X-rays plastered the wall, showing people with long necks or way too many toes.
"Do you think these guys could be any more connected to the School?" I asked, frowning. Jeb had always made it seem like Itex was an evil company that the whitecoats wanted to destroy, but I was having extremely vivid flashbacks to my time as a lab rat after seeing all of the familiar equipment.
"Max," whispered Fang, his voice seeming far away. I turned to see what he was looking at and realized that the School was definitely in contact with Itex.
I studied the X-ray, staring at the outline of the wings that were growing from the person's back. Although I couldn't be completely sure it was one of us, I had a strong feeling that it was.
"Come on," I told Fang, walking across the room to sit at a computer I had just spotted. Realizing I had no clue what to do, I asked, "Do you have any idea how to work this?" I had the average knowledge of computers, but I knew that this would probably be well protected.
Fang reached over and turned the monitor on. He frowned. "Max, everything's already open." I glanced at the screen. Sure enough, windows containing pages of information were pulled up, ready for our use. "Someone's been here recently."
"That's right," a voice behind us called out. "Someone's been here very recently." I spun around and watched a man step out from behind one of the metal tanks. He held a small pistol in his hands, pointing it straight at us. "Did you really think you could get away with this?"
"Max, this guy is nuts," whispered Fang. "He probably doesn't even know how to fire that gun. If we move fast enough, he's not going to hit us." He paused and thought about that. "And if he does… well, it probably won't be in a vital area."
"I don't care. We can't risk it yet."
"Hey!" When we ignored the man, he yelled again, "Hey! No whispering over there! I can here you!"
Knowing perfectly well that he couldn't, I whispered, "Just wait a minute."
"Stop it! I swear I'll shoot!"
"Okay, okay." I lifted my hands into the air and stood up, as far from Fang as I could get without making it look obvious. "We give up." I took a slow step to the side, making it look like I was simply shifting my weight. I noticed the man looking from me to Fang, not sure where to aim. His gun was pointed somewhere between us.
With one glance at Fang, I dove to the side, sliding behind a tank. The man fired, and I heard a loud crack from above me.
Quickly jumping up, I spread my wings and drifted further from the armed man, watching the tank's contents spill onto the floor. I stared at the liquid, watching it bubble on the floor. Then I noticed the computer. Obviously the most important thing in the room, it was now hissing as steam and sparks flew out of it.
I watched Fang go up behind the man and punch him, knocking him unconscious. Letting myself drop down, I made sure I avoided the large amount of acid, a difficult task after seeing all of the places covered with the substance.
"Max, we have to go," Fang suddenly told me.
"I know," I replied. "Hurry." I looked up, and sure enough, another door could be seen in the ceiling. I spread my wings and leaped into the air, flying up and quickly removing the padlock from the door as the sense of danger in my chest continued to grow.
Swinging the door open, I climbed up through it and stepped into a small room, almost empty compared to the others that we'd seen. As soon as Fang stood beside me, I started toward another door. When my hand reached the doorknob, a tremor ran through the building. I turned around and looked at Fang.
"Woah," he muttered. The floor shook again, this time harder. There was a pounding from the level above us. "We should keep moving," advised Fang, looking up at the spot where the sound had come from.
"Yeah," I agreed. I quickly pulled the door open and was just about to jump through when something fell in front of me. A crumbled piece of debris lay on the floor. Looking up, I saw a hole in the ceiling. "The building's falling down."
"Come on." Fang pushed past, grabbing me to make sure I kept up with him. We burst through the next door, emerging into a control room. Fang stopped.
"Fang, we have to go," I urged him.
"One second." He moved toward a few levers on the opposite wall. They were labeled, but I couldn't see what they said. I walked over to the wall as well, and started reading the labels.
"Power, water pumps, lab power…" I murmured aloud. You'd think a company planning to destroy the world would be a little more discreet.
"Max, a little help here, please." I looked over to see Fang pulling on a lever that seemed to be resisting him.
Moving over, I saw that it was labeled X184. I smirked. "That's not what I meant by discreet." Fang gave me a strange look, making me realize I had spoken aloud again. "Oh- sorry."
Ignoring the rumble in the ground, I grabbed the lever and pulled down. To my surprise, it barely budged. Fang reached for it again as I pulled, and slowly but surely, we pushed it down. I finally let go, breathing hard.
"Okay, now lets go," I said. Fang nodded and we hurried to the next room.
Bright light filled my eyes, catching me off guard. We couldn't be outside yet. I looked up and saw what had happened. The ceiling on the next few floors had caved in; we could fly out, as long as we avoided the remaining bits of ceiling.
I turned and smiled at Fang, signaling that I was going up. We spread our wings and I took off, avoiding a few falling pieces of debris. When I was barely two floors up, I heard and almost inaudible breath from behind me. I turned around and looked down, feeling my eyes widen when I saw what had happened.
Fang was bent over, still on the floor, with his left wing trapped under a large piece of the ceiling. He looked up, saw me waiting and said, "Go, Max! I'll be out in a second."
Was he insane? I wasn't going to leave him there. Just as I was about to go back down, he pulled his wing free. He glanced at me and nodded, telling me he was okay, and stretched his wings out, ready to fly. I turned my gaze back to the hole in the ceiling and started up again.
When I finally reached the place where the roof had fallen in, I pulled my wings tight to my back and lifted myself up, with one glance down to make sure Fang was okay.
I smiled as I reached the fresh air. Turning around, I was about to say something to Fang when I noticed a large part of the roof crumbling. As if in slow motion, it broke apart and slowly started falling.
I looked down at Fang, saw him staring up at me with his dark, sad eyes. He gave me a little half-smile, and I watched a piece of the building hit him, pushing him down and through the floors below.
I could feel myself blinking as warm tears fell out of my eyes. I couldn't think; I couldn't move. My arms and legs felt frozen, making my rapidly blinking eyes the only control I had over my body.
Fang. He was gone. He was really gone. I saw his face in my head again, that sad smile he'd given me. He was right behind me. How could it happen?
I fell forward as my foot broke through the roof. Automatically, I spread my wings, thankful that they'd followed my instruction this time. I took off, through the cage, and into the sky, not looking at the crumbling building under me. I saw four small dots on the ground and headed toward them, completely numb.
When I reached the others, they bombarded me with questions I couldn't even register, much less answer. "Max," Angel said, "what happened?"
"What took you so long?"
"Did you save the world, Max?"
"Max…" Iggy trailed off and instead asked, "Where's Fang?"
With one look at my face, the others fell silent. Angel's eyes slowly welled up with tears; Gazzy was frantically looking around him, blinking quickly; Nudge didn't bother to stop the tears as they rolled off her chin; and Iggy had a look of pure shock on his face.
I didn't say anything. Instead I turned and stared at the ruined building that I now hated so much more than I had just a few hours earlier.
It was over. It was finally over. But then again, for people like us, it could never truly be over.
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Well, that's it. I hope it was all right. Please don't hate me because Fang died. He's actually my favorite character, so I wouldn't have killed him if it weren't necessary. Okay, well, thanks for reading my story! Please review and tell me what you think. - Dringer