Getting back to normalcy, or whatever constituted normalcy in the hospital, was the hardest part. Max had gotten so used to talking with Steve every day that his absence was stronger than his presence.
Max stood from the hospital bed, the clunky plaster cast on her leg replaced with a slimmer walking cast. The x-rays had proved that there were nothing but a few hairline fractures left and approve the leg to bear weight.
She tried the door handle and pressed her weight against it. Nothing. It wouldn't budge. There was a card scanner to go in, but not out, making it nigh impossible for Max to pull an Escape from Alcatraz unless she suddenly developed to power to tunnel through metal.
Leaning up against the door, Max sighed. This is useless, she thought to herself. She was going stir-crazy being cooped up in solitary confinement all of the time. Lena came to visit to check on her vitals and administer pain pills, but what she needed was some actual human interaction, not someone who is paid to look after her.
My hospital bills are going to be astronomical after this, she thought to herself with a chuckle as she glanced about the room. Even though she barely knew anything about the hospital besides the fact that they're pretty aware of mutants and do routine tests on superheros, it would be the kind of place to mail her an invoice once their done monitoring her for whatever they feel like.
The cast made a scratching sound as she slid to the floor, her feet splayed out in front of her. Max wiggled her toes, a few chips of leftover nail polish from when Nudge decided to paint them in her sleep glinted in the light. The ugly black velcro obscured much of the rest.
She became overwhelmed with longing, something that'd been happening more recently. Nudge would know what to do to make this cast look better. She'd draw swirls with puffy paint and glue on some rhinestones so it was more of a fashion accessory than a show of how much pain she was in. Iggy would create an interesting pair of crutches for her that don't crush her wings and then Gazzy would blow them up a day later. Fang would carry her to bed whilst she was protesting the entire time. They'd get into a fight that would end in bruises and black eyes and ultimately, a very romantic McChicken foraged from a dumpster. And Angel... Angel would just be there, and that makes all the difference.
The love for them, the pain she felt, it was what paralyzed her when they'd first taken her to this place. It's what made her want to waste away into nothing. Now, it's what fuels her. It's what makes her want to get back out and fight. If by some miracle she was allowed to live, she should make it count for something. Max never was one to believe in miracles, but she might just start.
It was in the fifth week that she began to notice that security wasn't completely airtight. She was surprised that they didn't do more to detain her after her small jailbreak to go see Steve; the only thing that was added were restraints on the wheelchair but even those would be embarrassingly easy to break out of. She was starting to get stronger and eat more and more every day.
The bathroom door swung shut behind her and, like every time she entered it, she felt for a lock underneath the door handle. It was never their. It made a modicum of sense to not put locks so the patient couldn't lock themselves in or out but it still annoyed some small part of Max. Privacy was never an issue, she felt it was more about control.
They controlled everything. From what she ate to when she walked to the type of milk she was allowed to drink (screw 2%). Max hadn't seen the sunlight for weeks because of the lack of windows in her tiny hospital cell and her only source of entertainment has been beating Lena at gin rummy every day and aimlessly drawing swirls in all of the notebooks she keeps filling up. She still hasn't talked to anyone besides Steve; that's one thing she'll keep control of.
Water splashed over Max's hands and she looked up into the mirror. The cuts and bruises had all but faded from her face, only a few pink scars remaining across her cheek and nose. She eld her cold hands up to her neck and leaned back, the process of it all calming her. When she glanced at the ceiling she noticed that the usual pattern of beige-on-beige was interrupted by a crack in one of the tiles.
Max cocked her head to the side and pulled herself up onto the sink to get a better look. The cast made it a precarious perch, but she managed to hold onto the top of the door and not slip off. Max pressed her hand against the cracked tile, jimmying it this way and that, before it came loose in her hand.
A smile spread across Max's face. Jackpot, she thought to herself triumphantly.
At first she thought it was just going to be concrete behind the tile but it was actually a false ceiling, which would allow her to crawl anywhere she wanted to in the building. Max put the ceiling tile back in with a grunt and climbed off of the sink basin's edge.
There was no way the people that built this place were that short-sighted. So far they'd covered nearly every base possible, but left her bathroom with a false ceiling? It was either a trap or it led to nowhere. Either way, Max may have just found a glitch in the system.
"Good morning, Max."
The straw dropped from Max's mouth and back into the cup of juice she'd been drinking. She tilted her head to the side with a sneer at Dr. Bahar. His white coat was pressed clean, too clean, which made her doubt if he did an actual work around here besides wearing a smug look on his face.
Another man came in through the door after him, Lena soon shuffling afterwards with Max's chart. The man was tall, lanky, with a crop of dark curls that spilled over to his forehead. He was not wearing a white lab coat like Bahar, but a simple pair of scrubs.
"This is your new physical therapist, Dr. Gregory. I trust you'll cooperate with him today." Bahar's expression didn't budge, the plaster mask of pleasantry masking anything that might be misconstrued as human within him.
Like I cooperated with you? Max resisted the urge to roll her eyes at Bahar and instead pointed to her leg with raised eyebrows. They had worked on it before, just small stretches, but Max had gotten injured in the past without needing any physical therapy to speak of, so she found the entire notion ridiculous and pedantic.
"No," Bahar shook his head. "We won't be exercising your leg today, Max. I'd like to take a look at something different."
"If I may," Gregory cut in, exchanging a knowing glance with Bahar. He then turned to Max, looking her straight in the eye. "I'd like to take a look at your wings."
Like hell you are.
Max's first instinct was to recoil back into her bed and press her wings as far away from the cold, clammy hands of any doctors that may touch them, but she knew better now. Showing emotion to them was a sign of weakness and she needed to be strong. If she gives them what they want they'll become content, like fat, old cats. Then, she can slip away in the blink of an eye.
Without saying a word, she returned Gregory's gaze coolly and leaned forward ever so slightly. Tugging on the first tie on the hospital gown, she pushed the flaps of fabric aside to reveal the feathers of her wings underneath.
With great reverence bordering on awe, Gregory stood by the left-hand side of her hospital bed and lightly touched her wings. She took a sharp intake of breath and swiveled her head to monitor him as best she could underneath an icy glare.
"Extend them," Bahar instructed.
Gregory grasped her wing by the join and pulled gently. The pain nearly knocked the breath out of Max as she was forced to bend over more. She gritted her teeth as he pulled more. It had been over a month since she'd extended her wings and since then the bullet wounds and fractures bones had healed incorrectly. She could feel her muscles trying to overcompensate for the skewed structure she'd been left with.
Bahar approached the hospital bed and looked at her wings, marking something down on a clipboard. "Very interesting." He leaned in closely and touched one of her feathers.
Hands off, buddy. Max's head shot up, her eyes boring into Bahar's side as soon as she felt him touch her, but she needed to maintain her composure for as long as possible. She needed them to trust her, even for a little bit.
Bahar stepped back a few paces to observe Max's wings further. "Extend them farther."
Gregory nodded, obeying Bahar's instructions. Max was forced even further onto the bed to accommodate the space of her wingspan. She bit her lip, trying to prevent tears from coming to her eyes from the pain. She began to regain a bit of feeling in the joints and attempted to bring her left wing back in but Gregory held it fast.
"Further," instructed Bahar.
Max let out a cry of pain, her muscles locked in a struggled for power against Gregory, who she could tell was beginning to have an ethical conflict within his mind. Her wing was only halfway extended at this point.
"Further," Bahar told him.
"Sir, she's in too much pain-" Gregory began.
"I said," Bahar stuck Gregory with a stern gaze and an even voice. "Extend the wings farther."
Max was haggard, the pain sapping much of her strength, and she looked at Gregory with warning. Touch me one more time and you're done with, she thought in her mind. The glint behind her eye was almost animal.
Gregory ignored this, grasping her left wing once again and steading pulling it farther and farther.
Max gasped, the bones in her wing popping and shifting, cracking so loudly it blocked out all of her thoughts. All she could hear and see and feel was the stretch of her wings and the indignation that he had the sheer nerve to even dare touch her; that he felt himself worthy enough to lay his hands upon her, nonetheless her wings. Her wings were the most precious part of her, but also the abnormality that made her a freak. They're why she was created and why she was fated for death, but a coffin never looked very good on Maximum Ride.
She stared at both of them, her teeth grinding against each other in her attempt to block out the pain. It felt unnatural to just have one wing open, her right straining to match her left. God, you guys suck, she thought. The popping and cracking grew louder in her ears until it drowned out all other thoughts, her muscles stretching, stretching to meet Max's strong will. She couldn't take it any more, her wings wouldn't pull back into her and she only had one choice.
Max's wings shot out with full force, wrenching her left wing out of Gregory's grip and sending him flying against the wall. It was painful, oh god was it painful, but it also felt liberating to have her wings extended once again, even if it was forced by a doctor. Max rose from her bed, a murderous glare on her face, and began walking towards Bahar, who was standing near the door.
He looked at her in awe, but it felt less like he was regarding her as a person, more as a miracle. Bahar's jaw had dropped as he witnessed Max's wings in their full glory, so enraptured that he didn't even notice how close she was until she had her hands wrapped around his throat.
Max shoved him against the wall, sliding him up until he was a few inches taller than she was. Bahar pulled at her fingers, his eyes beginning to bulge slightly, but it was useless. Max had regained her power enough to know that what she wanted wasn't this; it wasn't this hospital, this life, or this organization. She opened her mouth, her voice dripping with poison and rage. "Leave."
She released him and he dropped to the floor, coughing and clawing at his throat. He recovered for a few seconds, long enough punch the exit code and leave the room. Max calmly returned to her bed, her wings shifting back into place with a few difficulties. She opened up her notebook and scribbled something to a shell-shocked Lena who was frozen in place after having witnesses the whole ordeal.
May I have some water please?
"She's progressing well, sir, but faster than I thought she was going to." Bahar said, clipboard in hand.
He was in a dark room, the walls plastered with screens showing live feeds from various rooms around the hospital and other levels where different operations took place. It was dark, the only light coming from the blue-tinged flicker of the televisions and the blinking buttons on the control panels. Three agents sat observing the screens, their ID badges proclaiming them to be security personnel.
"That's good. She seems to have regained strength from the self-starvation period," another voice said. He turned and the lights illuminated his features, the most prominent being a deep black eyepatch covering one side of his face. Director Fury.
"Yes, she's adjusting to the facility, but we're afraid if she becomes too used to it she might escape. She's much stronger than we realized." Bahar touched the light purple bruises on his neck absentmindedly.
"And you said she spoke to you?" Fury turned to look at Bahar, his hands clasped behind his back.
"Only one word, but I don't think that's what we should be focusing on-"
"Did or did she not speak to you?" Fury asked with more force behind his words.
Bahar hesitated. "'Leave.' She told me to leave."
Fury considered the information for a moment and then chuckled slightly. "That's progress. She called Rogers a bitch."
"She what-?" Bahar's mouth was agape but he shut it quickly, masking any surprise in a split second. "I'm surprised you even let him close to her, Director."
Fury stared Bahar down. "Are you questioning my decisions, Dr Bahar?"
"No sir," Bahar replied. "Simply confused. From what I've seen and, er, experienced, she could have done major damage to him."
Now Fury chose to laugh loudly, making Bahar flinch in the process. "There's no way she could do anything to Rogers, believe me." He stepped up towards the security screens, picking one out in particular.
Max sat on her bed, tossing and catching a wadded ball of paper from one of her old notebooks. She threw it and it hit the far wall but didn't do any damage, the ball itself too light. She repeated the process, tearing off pages from her notebooks and throwing them, this time into the trashcan. She made every shot.
"I want her transferred," Fury told Bahar as he stepped back from the security screens.
"Sorry?" Bahar asked, startled.
"You heard me. I want her transferred to a secure sector," Fury said. "She's healthy and strong enough to have her mutation monitored."
"Of course, sir." He headistated. "If I may," Bahar said uncertainly. "What are you planning to do with her?"
Fury glanced at the security screens again, his eyes drawn to Max. "That will be mostly up to her, whether she cooperates or not, but SHIELD could always use another agent." Fury turned to leave the room, opening the security door. "We need all the weapons we can get."
Max had decided to escape on Friday of that week. She'd been looking at the cracked ceiling tiles and chinks in the windows for hours and she could almost see the plan take form in her mind. She'd request to go on a walk and go down to the elevator with the large windows on it. When Lena had allowed her to go with her crutches down there yesterday she's noticed that there was a small spiderweb of cracks at the base. It was tiny, but it was something. She'd smash the glass at the weak spot and fly out of there. From what she could tell, the skyline seemed like it was New York City, but she hadn't been there in years. All she needed was something sharper than the rubber tip of her crutches and she was home free. If home even existed anymore.
And Plan B? Well, she hoped she didn't have to do that one because then some people would get hurt and one of those people would be Lena.
Lovely Lena. Max knew she was less of a friend and more of a mother to her, but she didn't care. Every time Lena talked about her nieces or her sisters she lit up inside. Lena was always so nice to Max and cared for her much better than the other nurses. When this was all over Max hoped to a god she rarely believed in that Lena would be alright after she escapes.
Max was shaken from a nap at three that afternoon. Her strength had been sapped after the physical therapy session that left Gregory with a concussion and Bahar with a bruised trachea. She blinked her eyes, momentarily disoriented before she focused on Lena's face as she crouched by Max's bedside. Max made a confused noise before Lena shook her head and put her finger to her lips.
"You have to be quiet, mija. I know you're good at that," Lena said, her eyes twinkling with a speck of some emotion Max didn't recognize. Was it apprehension? Fear?
Is Lena...afraid?
"They're moving you to a secure sector," Lena said in a hushed tone. "I don't know where, but it's not in this building. I-" She licked her lips, hesitating. "I was with another boy. A mutant like you."
Max sat up more, suddenly alert. If there was another mutant in the building, she needed to see them. Maybe they were Itex-mad. Maybe they had wings.
Lena shook her head at Max's excitement. "They took him where I think they're going to take you and he never came back. He still had major injuries, burns everywhere, but they wouldn't let us treat them. He just...disappeared."
Now the fear was evident. Max leaned closer to Lena, not speaking, but placed a hand on her shoulder. Her eyes did all of the talking. What do we do next? they said.
"I'm supposed to administer a sedative," Lena told her as she pretended to inspect Max's IV. The motion told Max that they were still watching. "They said you're too dangerous, mija, that you'll escape if you're not asleep." She produced a syringe with a clear liquid in it from the pocket of her scrubs. "This is a saline solution. When I put this in your IV, I need you to pretend to drift off, pretend to sleep."
Max nodded, understanding the gravity of what Lena was saying. She was helping Max to escape and her help was invaluable. Max suddenly felt a swell of pride for Lena, especially for what she was doing. She'd be fired if anyone found out about this, but resisting the sedative could just be chalked up to mutant genes metabolizing it too quickly. It would make it look like the doctors had slipped up. Max suddenly wished she could take Lena with her, but she knew it would be too dangerous. Going back to avenge the Flock is something Max had to do on her own.
"They'll wheel the hospital bed out into a waiting ambulance for transfer. That's when everything is up to you, mija," Lena said. She lightly touched Max's cheek. "I don't know what they're going to do to you if they catch you, Max. Run fast and run far."
Max reached up and clasped Lena's hand, a look of pure determination on her face. Tears began to well up in Lena's eyes but she managed to make them go away quickly, just in case anyone noticed reddened eyes when they saw her. Max squeezed Lena's hand one last time and released it as the nurse stood up.
"Thank you," Max said softly, the only words she'd ever spoken to Lena and the only words she'd ever need to. She didn't know if she could repay what Lena did to help her, but she'd certainly try.
It caught Lena by surprise as she was administering the saline solution to the IV. "You're welcome, mija. Always welcome."
Max decided to begin to play her part. She was never good at drama or acting when they'd gone to school for that short amount of time, but she'd always managed to pull one over on Jeb or Nudge. The rest of the Flock was harder to fool. Her eyes fluttered and eventually closed. She allowed her mouth to go slack and her head to rest on the pillow like it normally did when she was sleeping. Max was tense even in rest, but a sedative would rid her of that. It took a lot of self-control to relax her muscles, but she eventually did it just as a group of nurses came in and began wheeling her into an elevator farther down the hall.
"Normal procedure, then?" one of the orderlies asked. Max couldn't open her eyes to see what they looked like. It frustrated her to stay so still.
"Yeah, the driver should be there. Fury wants her in holding, or so I've been told," said another. "I heard she strangled Bahar."
"No way," came a third voice. There were at least three humans, a group she could easily take out with surprise unless a few of them were staying silent. "That's just a rumour."
"Nah, I saw him just an hour ago with some crazy scarf around his neck. He doesn't have someone to give him hickeys, so she must've choked the guy. Serves him right."
Max nearly smiled at that. At least somebody else hates him as much as I do.
The elevator dinged and she was wheeled out. The air was different down here, denser. She could tell that they had entered some sort of garage. A light breeze blew in from her right. They were close to the entrance, which was good. A click alerted her to the fact that someone was opening the back doors of the van she was going to be put in. Time to spring into action.
Max leapt up from the hospital bed, tearing the IV from her arm and the blankets off of her legs in a single move. The orderlies were startled and it took them a few seconds to react, which is just what she needed. Max didn't waste time taking in her surroundings as the hospital workers made a grab for her. She located the exit ramp and jumped from the edge of the hospital bed, over the orderlies' heads.
While they weren't formally trained to be assassins like the agents that had tried to question her weeks ago, she knew that this team had to have some sort of self-defense course. A woman grasped Max's hair, tugging her back, but Max elbowed her in the rips and she was let go. The walking cast was still on her leg and she decided to get rid of it once she was in the air. All she needed to do was to get out of the garage.
She was still fast, faster than any normal human, and cleared the exit ramp quickly. It had deposited her on a back road between two buildings but she could hear the hum of the city just around the corner. Once there were people to see her, she was toast. Max needed to get in the air now.
With a running start, Max extended her wings and managed to get high enough that she could maintain herself. The orderlies had run to get backup, but by the time anyone came to shoot her out of the sky, it would be too late. Max undid the velcro on the walking cast and let it drop to the ground. She felt lighter, both physically and metaphorically, as she gained altitude, zooming away from the hospital.
A few pedestrians noticed her and she could hear shouts from below. Dear god, I hope that's not because I'm wearing this stupid gown, Max thought to herself. Next stop is a JC Penny's. She didn't bother concealing herself, though, as she flew farther into the city.
Her wings were sore, but the pain wasn't unmanageable and she could feel the smaller fractures and scrapes healing within minutes. She flown past a few skyscrapers that confirmed where she was. Maximum Ride, back in the old NYC.
There was one building, though, that she didn't recognize. It was tall, standing out from a few others, with a large A wrapping around the top floors. She swore she saw something glint on the balcony, but as soon as it was there, it was gone.
Except not.
Hesitating was Max's downfall as she rounded the strange tower, and she was soon face to face with someone else who could fly, but it wasn't with wings. A man in a metal suit painted a brilliant red and gold stood before her. She recognized him from somewhere, but couldn't put her finger on it.
"You should really watch where you're flying, bucko," came a voice from within the metal man's suit. "This is restricted airspace."
Max rolled her eyes and ducked, flying underneath him and packing on speed so she could get out of the city, but he was faster. She didn't know how. Maybe it had to do with the energy coming out of his hands and feet, the strange blue glow that was both enticing yet dangerous. He reached out to grab her but she sensed him, wiggling out of the hold.
"And you should learn to take a hint," Max quipped back. "The lady doesn't want to dance."
The man casually lifted one of his hands and blasted her with energy. It hit her square in the chest and took the breath out of her. She nearly slammed against the windows of the tower as she fell, but he caught her.
"I wasn't asking," he said with humour in his voice. He held her tightly and flew away from the tower.
Whatever he had blasted her with was beginning to drag her under and the realization came to her too late. The man in the metal suit was one of them. He was Iron Man.
Goddamn superheroes.