6
Ari sat staring at the computer terminal, not even acknowledging Inferior Max's attempts to talk to him. It had only been a day or two since they were at Itex, inches away from death as that bomb went off. Stupid bird kids, Ari thought, they almost killed us all. Now here they were, just the two of them, stranded back at the horrible School, waiting for Jeb to boss them around some more.
"What the hell are we waiting for?" Max 2 asked. Ari liked the new name. He found her inferior to the real Max and loved watching her beaten up by her superior counterpart. But she was still so damn annoying. "Why did Jeb send us back here? This place is disgusting!"
Letting out a frustrated sigh, Ari turned in his chair, breaking his gaze from the important documents on-screen, and glared at Max 2. "Just shut up. My 'father' wants us back here while they continue to hunt down the real Max." He said the word "real" with a tone that made Max 2 flinch with anger. "He told me to bring us back here in the chopper so we could wait for them to catch her. Once they've eliminated the flock, they'll bring the real Max back."
"But...why?" Max 2 looked infuriated that they would bring her real self back here. "I can't face her again."
"You'll be dead anyway" is what Ari almost said, but instead he just turned back around in his chair to stare at the computer screen. "They want her so they can run some stupid tests which will probably kill her anyway." In his mind, Ari knew, of course, that Max would survive the tests, but he couldn't let Max 2 know. Not yet. "Then maybe my dad will actually appreciate me with her gone."
Max 2 was silent for a moment. "You really hate him, don't you? I mean...your father? Jeb?"
Ari didn't respond. After a few moments of silence, he flicked a button on the keyboard of the computer and pointed to something on screen. "When we were at Anne's house the other day, I happened to notice some papers that Max had left there." The seven-year-old-Eraser-boy suddenly took on a much softer and almost sad tone. "Some of the papers talked about a scientist that was arrested for illegal human experimentation."
Max 2 stared at Ari, her eyes widening with realization.
Ari continued. "Since we've been back here, I've been looking through some of Jeb's old files...and I found some stuff. Stuff about him, stuff about me, stuff about the real Max, and stuff about you. All in one file on this very computer."
"I don't get it...so that means..." Max 2 was speechless. On the computer screen where Ari was pointing was a picture of Jeb Batchelder. She knew his face all too well to know it was him. But there was something wrong.
"I don't understand it all either. That's why I want to find Max. I don't want them to kill her, 'cuz I think she can help me." Under Jeb Batchelder's picture was a name: ter Bocht.