I apologize for the long wait. This chapter is slightly shorter, but definitely moves the story along.
The thing that Max thought she could never get used to was monotony, but as it turns out, she's pretty good at it. Weeks passed by in a hazy blur of strict regimens and doctors visits. If Max wasn't sleeping, she was training at the gym or having her wings tested or sitting on the couch, slowly eating Tony and Pepper out of house and home. She discovered Netflix for the first time and quickly marathoned everything she could get her hands on. Her favourite show was Bojack Horseman, her favourite movie Funny Face.
Max couldn't tell if they were beginning to worry about her or not. She became so predictable that it was almost as if she was a part of the furniture, but no one dared disturb her. Pepper tried to make Max food every once in awhile, but she found that stocking the fridge with frozen meals worked a little bit better.
She felt like she was floating through her day to day life. Max was kept largely separate from society; the only two places she was allowed to be being SHIELD HQ and the tower. She took to making her room her safe haven, even if she couldn't really tell what she was doing. Her brain felt almost...fuzzy. Max would take pieces from around the main floor and stick them in her room like a nest. She felt almost comfortable.
But nowhere was comfortable. Not for very long.
Tony stared at Max through the window from the living room to the balcony. She was perched on the edge of the railing, eyes closed, facing the sun. He sipped his coffee, observing her with a blank expression on his face.
"She's been like that for five hours now."
Pepper came up from behind him and wrapped one arm around his waist, sneaking his coffee away from him.
"Hmm?" Tony tore his gaze away from Max for a moment to look at Pepper, making a face at the stolen mug.
"I found her when I got up for my run," Pepper replied, sipping on Tony's cup. "She can't be moved."
Tony shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, there's weirder things she could be doing. Like imprinting on Steve or laying eggs."
Pepper shoved the cup of coffee back in Tony's hands with a disgusted look on her face. "You took her into this house, Tony. You should at least give her some modicum of respect."
"Hey!" Tony replied, the coffee sloshing onto his t-shirt. "I'll give her some respect when she stops freaking out everyone who steps into the tower. None of our usual cleaning staff will even step foot in her room. Who knows what's going on in there?"
"Maybe you should ask her," came Max's voice from outside on the balcony.
Pepper and Tony whipped their heads towards Max's completely still form. Tony set his coffee down on the counter and walked towards the sliding door that led to the balcony. He cracked it open.
"How about you come down off of that railing?" Tony leaned on the doorjamb.
Max didn't even open her eyes. "You're going to say that with a coffee stain on your shirt? Go get cleaned up, old man."
Tony narrowed his gaze, glancing from his shirt to Max's blonde hair being ruffled by the breeze. He stepped out onto the balcony, the cold tiles chilling his feet immediately. "What are you even doing out here?"
"What does it look like?" Max asked.
Tony scoffed. "Like you're convening with your master bird in the sky."
"I'm meditating, you dumb shit," Max retorted. Her formerly placid facial expression contorted into a scowl.
"For five hours?" Tony approached her, his hands in his pockets. Pepper watched the entire scene from the kitchen, amused. "You're going to fall down off that railing."
"Really? Me, the girl with wings, is going to plummet to her death off of your tower?" Max laughed. "Highly unlikely."
"Just come inside, get some coffee, and join us for breakfast." Tony grabbed her elbow and lightly pulled her in the direction of the kitchen. "Be civilized-"
His words were cut off with Max's high-pitched scream as she turned and pinned him to the ground. "Don't touch me!" she shrieked. "Don't touch me."
Tony saw the strangest spark of something in her eyes. It was almost as if Max reverted to an animalistic state from years ago. She seemed all at once like a child and an unstoppable force of nature. Tony was, for the first time, afraid.
Pepper rushed out onto the balcony in an attempt to break up the scuffle, but she was hesitant to dive in head first with Max's erratic tendencies. "Max?" She asked, her voice raised slightly from her normal register.
The voice broke Max out of her reverie. It was a small moment, but Pepper took advantage of it.
"You want some pancakes or something? I'm sure I could make you something." Pepper's face was perfectly composed, her tone tinged with apprehensive comfort.
"Yeah." Max's muscles relaxed and she sagged slightly, as if she was exhausted. "I'd like that." She released Tony and stood, following Pepper through the sliding doors.
Tony watched them leave. Pepper turned at the last moment to shoot Tony a look. He knew that look very well, she wore it every day.
You can't fix this, Tony, it said. You can't fix something that's already broken.
Tony had left the building shortly afterwards and Max knew it was because of her. For a guy who was seemingly indestructible, a little girl looked to be his kryptonite. She wondered if he would ever truly become comfortable around her, but she doubted it. She never became comfortable around anyone, so why should he?
Max finished the last of her pancakes, scraping syrup from the bottom of the plate. She felt small again; Pepper had a way of making her feel that way. Max wasn't necessarily a daughter to her, but at times it felt more like they were family than strangers.
"Sorry," Max said through a mouthful of food.
Pepper turned towards her, stopping mid-motion as she put a plate in the dishwasher. "What for?"
"Almost destroying Tony," Max said. "I know how much you like his face."
Pepper laughed. She took Max's plate and rinsed it in the sink, putting it in the dishwasher. "He had it coming. Even I could have guessed you didn't like to be touched."
Max recoiled at her statement. As much as she tried to hide it, they all knew that she was a ticking time-bomb. There wasn't enough oversized sweatshirts and TV show marathons to cover it up.
"Still," Max shrugged. "Sorry."
The apology hung in the air between them. Pepper wasn't sure what to do with it and Max didn't want to have it hanging over her anymore.
"Alright," Pepper shut the dishwasher door. "Apology accepted."
Max nodded and stood. "Do you know where Tony is?"
"He might be down in the fourth floor laboratory," Pepper said. "Don't sneak up on him."
Max smirked. "I'll try my hardest."
In the fourth floor laboratory, she found what she'd come to deem as the complete opposite of Tony. Jane. The scientist had been here starting a week before Max's arrival and they'd only crossed paths once before. If she had to tell the truth, Jane's existence has completely slipped her mind until now.
"Oh, hello there," Jane said as she looked up from the data she was compiling on one of Tony's many hologram tables. Stars and planets swirled together before Max's very eyes. It distracted her for a moment.
"Uh, yeah, hey," Max replied. "Do you know where Tony is?"
Jane shook her head. "No, can't help you there. I can call him if you like?" She fished her phone out of her back pocket.
"No," Max put her hand up. "Don't bother. He's probably run off to do some genius stuff somewhere."
Jane nodded undecidedly and turned back to her work. She kept an eye on Max as she walked through the room.
"I didn't think you were still here," Max said as she observed all of the tech spread out across the tables.
"We haven't finished observing the stars in this section of the city yet," Jane replied. "It's where the portal opened and I think there might be something to help open it up again."
"Really?" Max turned to look at Jane and her date; the beautiful, sparkling data. "I hear those portals can do anything. You can go to other planets, see other stars. Even turn back time."
There was a longing covered by Max's stilted nonchalance that made Jane look up from what she was working on. Max seemed so terribly sad for a moment after she spoke, but it was quickly covered up by a blank expression. She seemed to be a master at those these days.
"No, they can't do that just yet, Max," Jane said softly.
"Oh," Max paused, contemplating the repercussions of her statement. "Well, it'd still be cool to punch an alien in the face and all that."
Jane chuckled. "Yes. As you do."
"What's this about punching aliens in the face?" A girl with dark hair and a boisterous attitude burst through the lab doors with a Big Gulp in hand.
"Hmm? Nothing." Jane said absentmindedly. "Max, Darcy. Darcy, Max."
"Cool." Darcy waved and spun towards Jane. She held out a similar Big Gulp to the scientist. She spoke in choppy, fast-paced sentences. It was almost like there was a full stop every time Darcy's brain had to figure out what word was coming next. "Here's your drink, boss. Selvig is still held up at the corner store because they didn't have his brand of deodorant and Ian... Ian's lost somewhere. He'll turn up."
Jane looked disappointed but amused nonetheless. She took the Big Gulp from Darcy's hands. "Thanks."
A pocket of Max's jeans vibrated and she pulled out the SHIELD phone she'd been issued as part of her training. She sighed.
"What is it?" Darcy asked as she pulled herself up onto one of the empty counters.
"It's my day off today," Max said. She hated having free time anymore. "Pepper told me to just do... whatever."
A bloated silence filled the space between the three woman. Jane looked from Darcy to Max before coming up with an idea.
"Darcy, why don't you take Max out to that diner on fifth?" Jane suggested as she jotted down a few notes. "She's new to the city and could use your help."
Max nearly asked if she was even allowed to leave the building without a SHIELD escort but kept her mouth shut. It might be good to shake off the handlers for an afternoon.
"Yeah, sure." Darcy hopped down to the floor. "I could go for some fries."
"There's worse people you could be offloaded on," Darcy said. She grabbed a fry from Max's plate. "I mean, I just want to eat food. You could have been shoved on Jane or Banner and made into a science experiment."
Max raised an eyebrow and Darcy noticed her misstep.
"Sorry," She cleared her throat.
"Happens all the time," Max replied.
Darcy pointed at Max with a fry. "You know, I like you. You're cool."
"Okay?" Max shrugged.
"If I think you're cool, you're cool," Darcy said with a surprising amount of conviction.
"Glad to be finally validated," Max said dryly. She flipped through the menu, deciding on ordering something a bit more satisfying than a plate of fries. Max flagged down a waitress.
"What can I get you?" the waitress asked.
"A number twelve," Max said simply as she looked over the menu. "And a coffee, too."
"That's a party platter. It serves four to five people," the waitress said with an apprehensive expression.
"Oh good. I'm glad you can read the menu," Max shot back.
The waitress turned to leave, taking Max and Darcy's menus with her. Darcy lightly slapped Max's hand. It startled her and she grabbed Darcy's wrist and pressed it into the table top.
"Woah, trigger happy," Darcy said. "Slow your roll there."
"You touched me," Max said. "Which Tony should have told you is always a bad idea."
"And you were disrespecting the wait staff, which is my number one on my "would not date" list right above intergalactic manslaughter," Darcy retorted. "You're not in some rough and tough SHIELD facility anymore. A please and thank you wouldn't kill you every once and awhile. Hey, it might even make someone's day."
Max looked at her surroundings with sudden uncertainty. The diner was filled with New Yorkers. There were families, lovers, businessmen, and old couples. It was the type of place the Flock usually picked to get a quick snack on the road, except Max's situation was completely different now. She wasn't being hunted, she might even go so far as to say that she was relatively safe. Safety wasn't a state that she was used to.
Max released Darcy's wrist reluctantly. "Alright."
"And party platters?" Darcy asked incredulously. "Seriously?"
Max shrugged. "I'm hungry. You can have some too, if you want."
Darcy shook her head. "I don't know what I'm going to do with you."
She truly didn't. When Max's order came, she ate every single mini burger and party sandwich that was put in front of her with barely a word. From what Darcy had heard of Max's stay in the hospital, this was especially astonishing.
"Are you somehow part cow as well?" Darcy stared at Max with open curiosity.
"I don't have extra stomachs if that's what you mean," Max smiled. "Just an interesting metabolism."
"Wow," Darcy said. "Give me some of that."
Max opened her mouth to answer when the bell above the door clinked lightly, indicating that someone had entered the diner. She turned to look, but no one was there. By the time Max had returned to face Darcy, she heard a click that awakened a base instinct she hadn't had to use for a long time.
Detonator.
"Get down!" Max yelled. She threw herself across the table and dragged Darcy down to the floor.
The blast rocketed through the diner with a crash. The seat where Darcy had been in a few moments before flew over their heads and smacked against the window. In the scuffle, Max had pushed the table to block most of the blast, but despite Max's body shielding Darcy's, both girls were flung to the ground. Max's ears began to ring.
"Max," Darcy said as she slowly rose from the floor. She reached for Max's hair, which was darkened with blood along the scalp.
The ringing wouldn't stop. It just kept going and going and going. In the split-seconds of clarity between the hellish noise she could hear her name being called. Nudge would say it, then Gazzy, Iggy, Angel, Fang.
Max, Max, Max, Max...
"Max!" Darcy said more forcefully. She pulled Max up into a sitting position.
Max's head swam with images of the dead, but Darcy's hand helped to ground her, even if she couldn't tell what parts of the attack were reality or just her imagination.
Why can't I get up? Max thought to herself. Get up!
Darcy shook Max's shoulder again but got no response. She reached for her phone in her pocket and frantically dialed one on speed dial.
The other line picked up. "Darcy?"
She nearly wept with joy. "Jane? Something's happened at the diner. A bomb went off and Max- something's happened to Max. She won't get up and there's- there's so much blood in her hair and I-" Darcy's voice caught in her throat. "I don't know what to do."
"Okay, stay where you are," Jane said on the other line.
Max could vaguely hear Jane's voice from Darcy's phone. It seemed far off, like another world that she didn't belong to. Darcy tried to muffle her sobs, but it was becoming difficult.
Max touched her forehead where a small cut had already begun to heal. Her ears were ringing and her vision was swimming so much that she nearly missed the figure in black entering the diner through the hole left by the bomb.
The heavy boots seemed familiar to her. She raised her head slightly to see their face and for a moment she swore the bomber had the muzzle of a wolf, but in the blink of an eye it was gone. He was just a man. Max was slightly relieved that Erasers hadn't found her yet. For all they knew, Maximum Ride was dead.
The man reached for a weapon strapped to his thigh and another base instinct in Max overrode her paralyzing fear. Protect them.
Oh no you don't, Max thought.
She darted out from her spot from behind the table and latched onto his legs, pulling him down to the ground. He was larger than she was, but that had never been a problem before. He struggled, but she managed to pin his arms away from the gun. As they grappled on the debris-strewn floor of the diner, the bomber flipped his weight to overpower her, but Max slipped through his arms like water and tried to grab his gun.
He lashed out with his feet and kicked her in the stomach, hard. All of the air was forced out of Max's lungs and she tried to stop the next hit but could barely block her face in time to avoid his fist. She rolled away and tried to recover herself just as he came in for the final attack. Max stared in horror as he opened his mouth.
The bomber's mouth was lined with rows and rows of glittering teeth filed to be razor sharp, like a shark's. He snarled, the pink of his lips curling back.
Max ducked as the man launched himself at her. She dived low like she'd seen Natasha do before in training and grabbed the gun from the man's holster. With shaky legs, Max stood up, pointing the gun directly at the man's back.
"Why are you here?" Max said.
The man turned around slowly, a grin on his terrifying face. A sound bubbled up from his throat that sounded like the approximation of a laugh.
"Who are you?" Max asked. She cocked the gun to make sure he knew she meant business.
The man only continued to laugh even louder. The sound filled the diner and echoed off of the walls.
"Who are you?" Max screeched. Her emotions had betrayed her yet again as she kept seeing the faces of her family, of the whitecoats, of Erasers, in place of the man's gaping maw.
His voice sounded like sandpaper against silk. "You won't do it."
Max leveled the gun at the man's head. "Oh yeah? Try me."
"That's not what I mean," the man said. His eyes bored into Max's skull with a hypnotic curiosity. "Your time is running out."
The question caught Max off guard and she loosened her grip on the gun for a moment only to tighten it again. "Who are you?"
The man didn't answer, but turned towards the broken shards of the door and fled. Max fired the gun twice after him, but none of the bullets hit their mark. She suddenly felt weak and sank to her knees, the gun clattering to the floor. Moments passed and Max couldn't tell if they were hours or simply minutes.
A hand fell on her shoulder and she looked to see Darcy, her face marred by a light splattering of blood.
"He was..." Max began.
"What?" Darcy asked. "What was he?"
Max was too exhausted to explain. Maybe it was all in her head. The sharp, glittering teeth. The thick, rancid smell of his breath. Like rotting meat. Like flesh.
"Let's go home, Max," Darcy said.
Max nodded distractedly and let Darcy help her up and lead her out of the diner. The man's words filled all of the space in her head, leaving little room for thinking.
Your time is running out, he had said. But what time was that?
As always, the same rules stand. If your review has over four sentences and it doesn't include the words "please update," you get a sneak peek at the next chapter which will (not even a spoiler alert, I'm just excited) include a drunk pizza night with the Avengers. And I mean all of them.
Make sure to check out the new trailer on Youtube at /watch?v=FqMlq6aUpZc.