Okay, so here's chapter two! Thanks WithoutWings for reviewing it made me happy :)

Fang

I sat by the fire we had made to keep warm in the desert nights. And those things can be friggen cold. I sighed as I poked the flames, unable to sleep. Every time I tried, I just kept thinking. And the last thing I wanted to do was think. I thought about Angel, Max, the flock. And I kept comparing them to this new gang. They were cool, but not my flock. I had left it, so I guess it wasn't even mine anymore. I needed to accept this new life and I knew this was the only way I could figure more about the 99% plan and what they were up to. After the disaster of Paris, there was no way that both the flock and my gang could work together. There was no way Max and I could work together anymore. I was kidding myself when I thought that we could be together again. It was sad, but impossible.

And then there was Angel. I had practically killed her. I was down in the tunnels with her and I had left her. I was so stupid, foolish, awful. I couldn't even protect Angel. How was I supposed to protect this gang? I remembered the look on Max's face when she realized Angel wasn't with us. She was so devastated and enraged. She literally looked like a mother whose baby I had killed. I loved Angel too, so much. She was like my little girl as well. I deserved all the misery I had felt. All of it. As my thoughts became more and more troubled, I had noticed I started to stab the fire angrily, causing sparks to fly everywhere. It took me a minute to return to my natural, calm, emotionless state. I was a rock. And that's the way I liked it.

Too caught up in my thoughts, I hadn't noticed Maya creep up behind me. "Fang?" She whispered as she put her hands on my shoulders. I sighed heavily at the touch. It was so familiar, yet so different. Hands I had known my entire life, but so gentle, delicate, unsure. Max's heart was hardened and complicated. Being with Maya was just so simple. But it screwed with my emotions like no other.

"What are you doing up?" I asked.

"I could ask you the same thing." She said sweetly as she invited herself to squeeze into the chair with me. I looked over at her. Her face was so similar to Max's, but she had a short pixie cut for hair. She said it was easier shorter so she wouldn't have to deal with the snarly, wind-blown look, but I suspected it was to help differentiate herself from Max, the girl she was cloned from.

I shrugged, "Couldn't sleep."

"Me either." She sighed, moving over and pressing into my side, slightly shivering. Her body pressed into mine just felt so good. So right and yet so wrong at the same time. This girl wasn't Max, but when I looked at her felt her, listened to her, all the memories of Max came flooding back to me. "Isn't the desert so peaceful at night?" She asked dreamily. I wasn't sure what she was doing, but it made me uncomfortable.

"Uh, yeah." I replied, waiting for an eraser or flyboy come jumping out of the darkness at us. Talk about peace.

"Hey, why don't we go back to bed?" She asked, standing up and tugging at my arm. "We'll just put the fire out and go back into our sleeping bags." I looked wearily over and decided to give in. We made our way over to our sleeping bags that were next to each other and crawled in, our bags pressed up against each other's.

Out of habit, I woke up early the next morning and decided we needed to get a move on before we found ourselves facing trouble. As I was cleaning up and putting away my sleeping bag, Maya began to stir. "What are you doing?" She mumbled sleepily. She gave me an adorable early morning look that kicked up emotion in my heart. At this point, I wasn't even sure whose face that was. Was it Max's or Maya's?

"I'm getting ready to leave." I answered, "We need to get out of here and keep going on our mission as soon as possible. Help me wake the others up." I continued to move around, being quick and orderly, just like I had watched Max do a thousand times. Sure I was her right wing man, but she was always the leader. I had a new appreciation for her now that I was the sole leader of this little gang. "Come on, wake up." I began to go around shoving everyone with my foot. I was met with the middle finger from Ratchet, groans from Kate and Star, and a simple "no" from Holden. They were such average teenagers it scared me a little.

Once I had finally gotten them up and moving, the sun was all the way in the sky. I exchanged a glance at Maya and knew we were thinking the same thing. If only we could just fly out of here. But instead, we had to drive all the way to San Francisco. I suspected there was a lot of suspicious activity based on what I'd been reading on the internet. Now, we were about a six to seven hour car ride west. Again, it would have been much easier to fly, but only Maya and I could do that and we couldn't leave the rest of them. As annoying as they all could be, they were mine and I liked having them around. "Alright, everyone get in the car, we're leaving." I ordered as I started up the engine. Maya sat in the passenger's seat while the others piled in the back of the hippie van. Yes, we stole it from a bunch of whackjobs who lived out here.

We sped off across the open land. While the others talked the whole ride, I was focused on the goal ahead. We needed to get to San Francisco as fast as possible. Maya could tell that I was tense and tried to talk to me to calm me down. That was the thing about Maya; she was so nice and calming. She tried her best to be comforting to me, but could kick some serious butt when she had too. And I appreciated that about her. I could just talk to her and everything would become less stressful.

We had been driving for just over an hour when disaster struck. Maya and I were talking about our plans once we reached San Francisco and the others weren't paying attention in the back and goofing off when out of nowhere, something fell out of the sky and landed on the hood of the van with a loud thud. As it hit, Star let out a high-pitched scream of terror and Ratchet had to put his hands over his ears. I slammed on the brakes and looked forward in shock. What had fallen out of the sky and onto our car was a giant, winged Eraser by the name of Ari. My eyes widened. I had seen this dude die twice! Heck, I'd even buried him one time. How did he keep popping back up?

"Hello Fang." He sneered, "Want to come out and play?" Knowing I had no other option, I ordered everyone to remain in the car while I shut it off and slowly stepped out.

"What do you want Ari?" I asked coolly.

"Well, you know I've been hearing lots of interesting gossip about you kids lately. Quite interesting about Max and Dylan right? I even heard they were moving to Germany and having children, is that correct?" He laughed as I clenched my jaw at his words. I remembered the day Gazzy had said it casually, not knowing the amount of stress it would put on us. Like I needed to be reminded about Max and her perfect boyfriend. It was actually one of the most painful thoughts I could imagine. Max and Dylan running off and having children together. I shuddered at the thought. Ari kept talking, though, "But the most interesting one I heard is that you were going to be the first to die. Now, that one I just couldn't pass up an opportunity to do it myself, if you don't mind." As he spoke other Erasers began to land around him. "You ready for this Fang?"

Suddenly, the rest of my gang bolted from the van. "You're going to have to go through us to get to him." Maya snapped defensively as they all stood by me. She stood incredibly close and as we unfurled our wings, they touched. I was confused as to what was going on, but there was one thing I did know and that was how to fight. And I knew there was a fight coming. Ari just shrugged, "Fine." He waved an ugly hand-paw to his gang, "sick 'em boys." And with that, an all-out battle began. Three wolf hybrids jumped on me at once as Ari went after Maya and the others attacked. "Looking pretty rough sissy." I heard Ari growl to Maya as they descended upon each other.

"I'm not your sister!" She spat back angrily.

"Oh, right, you're the clone!" He exclaimed as he pinned her down, "I knew there was something wrong with you. Max isn't this weak." He taunted.

"That's it!" She shrieked as she jolted up into the air, Ari following right on her tail.

The idiots that had leaped on me had all the brawn, but no brains and I adjusted easily back into fight mode. I actually felt good to be kicking the living snot out of Erasers once again instead of all the emotion fighting that seemed to be happening lately. This was much easier to handle. The only real threat here was Ari, the others just clumsy, dumb clones and I knew I had to get him away from Maya. Around me, the rest of them fought bravely and used all their skills and strengths like I had told them. As I was shaking Eraser blood off my wings and was about to take off into the sky, he heard a shout from Star who was pinned under a large Eraser, his teeth too close to her throat. I lunged over and grabbed him with all my force, using my wings to push me. I was able to through him off long enough for Star to regain herself and we took the bozo down together. "Nice work Star" I panted.

"Thanks. You too. Now go help Maya, I've got it down here." She replied as she lunged onto another one, punching him square in the jaw. I nodded as I turned around to find them hundreds of feet up battling it out. Panicked, I prepared to takeoff, but as I was about to, Ari got in one good whack at her neck and gauged it with his powerful claws, knocking her out of the sky. She let out a quick yelp of pain, but then was silent as she fell. I swooped up and caught her midair as Ari remained where he was.

"Maya?" I grabbed her and held her close, but there was no response. Her brown eyes remained opened and her mouth was twisted in pain. She had blood all over her and huge scratches in her neck. She was gone. And the more I looked at her, the more I saw Max. Dead. This is what a dead Max looked like with open lifeless eyes and a limp cold body dripping in blood. It sickened me and I descended as fast as I could.

As I landed, though, she gasped hoarsely. "Fang. I couldn't…do it. I'm sorry. I'm just not Max."

"No Maya. Listen to me. Yes you are, you…" My voice trailed off as her eyes shut and I realized she was really gone. "I'm sorry Maya." I whispered as I laid her down.

It was then I realized all battling had stopped and the other members came running and limping over. Ari descended slowly from the sky. "Oops." He said offhandedly. "I killed your ex's clone."

Rage filled up inside of me as I stepped forward, but Kate beat me to it. In no time, she had hurdled a freaking car tire at his head. He had fast reflexes, though, and ducked just in time.

"Well, I suppose we should be going now." He mused, "Let's go mutts. Get up and move your lazy asses!" He began to walk away, but Holden stepped out.

"This isn't over!" He snapped, "We will meet you again! And we will kill you next time!"

Ari just chuckled as he took to the sky, "Can't wait! I'm counting on it!" We watched the mutants go, angry and sad over what they'd done. Ari was going to pay one of these days, I vowed.

We ended up burying Maya right there. We didn't have many tools, but did the best we could and gave her a proper grave and burial. She didn't deserve any of that and I felt numb over losing her. Once we were finished, we just sat around for a while, beat up and trying to wrap our minds around everything. Finally, Kate spoke up, "I don't think I can do this." She said quietly. "I'm sorry, but I just…can't. I'm not cut out for this life. Those things freaked me out enough and frankly I'm done with life or death situations. I'm sorry Fang, but I have to quit." She bent her head down as she spoke and I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"M-me too, Fang." Star spoke now. "I can't do this either. I'm going to quit now." She chimed in.

I snapped, "Fine. Leave then. Any of you who want to leave can do so now. Go on!" I said sternly, trying to control my anger through clenched teeth. I looked at the boys.

Ratchet shook his head, "Dude, I'm staying with you. We've got a job to do and I've got nowhere else to go. No one else to live for." He shrugged, "I'm here until you kick me out or I die."

"Yeah, same here." Holden agreed, "I'm not going anywhere Fang."

Now our gang was down to three. "Alright then." I stood up, "You two. Let's get in what's left of the van and continue on our way. You two," I looked over at the dirty, shaken girls, "bye." I was done and if they didn't want to come with me, I wasn't going to wait around for them to find their ways home.

Injured, tired, and dirty, we hopped in the van and took off to continue our journey to San Francisco. I looked over at the boys and wondered what would become of my only two remaining followers. Being a leader was hard work, I had no idea how Max did it.

Max

I stifled a yawn as I looked down into the forest, searching for a sign that a lab existed. It had been almost five days since we left Oregon to find Angel. I just knew she was here somewhere, I could feel it. Over and over I imagined the things they could be doing to her in there and it made my heart break every time I thought of it. It was starting to get dark and we had another day scanning the skies with no luck. I was so tired; I was ready to drop out of the sky any second. The rest of my flock seemed tired too after all this searching, but they still had a lot more energy than me. Not like I would ever admit that to any of them. I had no idea what was wrong with me, but I was miserable. I was tired, cranky, sick, uncomfortable, and I swear to God I had gained weight despite all that. I just felt gross and I tried so hard to keep it all to myself. It was especially hard to keep it from Dylan who had eyes like a hawk (no pun intended). But seriously, he watched and monitored every move I made. I knew he was worried, but I just played it off like it was nothing. Now that I was good at.

"Hey guys, it's getting dark. How about we land and call it a night?" I asked and they all nodded in response. We descended into the trees and began our search for a good place to sleep. We could have stayed in a hotel or something, but I had decided we better stay low profile and I knew the School would be nestled in the woods somewhere. I spotted a small clearing and swooped down, my flock in tow. We landed with quiet thuds, not only tired physically, but mentally and emotionally. We had been at this for days and nothing had been found. I was starting to get frustrated. What if I was completely wrong and I was leading them on an endless goose chase for a place that no longer existed. Besides, the schools were probably replaced long ago with much more technically advanced labs. I felt my jaw twitch in irritability as I opened up my backpack to find something to eat. Around me, everyone did the same, pulling out sleeping bags and provisions.

"Max, I ran out of water." Gazzy informed.

"And does anyone have extra food in their bags?" Iggy asked out loud. "I'm hungry and I've got nothing left."

"I need a new sleeping bag." Nudge mumbled as she pulled out her ripped one.

I sighed, "I know guys, I'm sorry." I looked over my flock. "Come here, Gazzy, I've got some for you." I told him as he slowly padded over.

"Thanks Max." he said as he gulped out of my bottle.

"Hey, Gaz." I looked at him, "We're going to find her. I promise I will not stop searching until I find an answer. I know she's here somewhere, I can feel it."

He nodded, giving me a little smile, "I know. I can just feel it too. She's close, isn't she?"

I returned his smile, engulfing him in a hug, "Yeah she is."

Later that night, I sat perched high in a tree, looking over my flock whose spirits had improved and were getting ready for the night. It was quiet all around and strangely, there was no sign of evil mutant trying to kill us. I was pretty sure this was a new record. I mean, they are everywhere we freaking look! I saw Dylan flapping up to come sit by me and scooted over so there was room. We still were pressed up close against each other on the branch, though. I could feel his head radiating off his body and I pressed into his side fully. I allowed myself to calm down and accept his presence. We were becoming closer and I started to rely on his calming presence, accepting that I needed some emotional support.

"How are you doing?" He asked me as we gazed down.

"Fine." I said tightly, "We just need to find Angel. That's all. Once we find her everything will be okay again." I really wanted to believe that. I knew it wasn't going to solve all our problems, but I was pretty sure finding her would solve most of my emotional problems I'd been having lately.

"It's okay, Max. You don't have to be so strong all the time. I know it's been tough." His soothing voice brought tears into my eyes. I needed to stop being so damn emotional.

I sniffled, "But I just feel like I have to be." My voice caught as I tried to speak. "I can't stop and think about how I feel because when I act on my feelings alone everything just gets all messed up. I need to be a leader. Because if not, I'm just weak and useless." I don't think I had ever spilled so many feelings all at once before.

Dylan grabbed my hands in his and pressed in even closer to me. "You know I will always be here for you."

"I know Dylan, thank you." I nodded as we sat together in the tree, my head rested on his shoulder. We opened our wings and they overlapped, fitting around us perfectly. Like we were made for each other. And I felt content, safe even. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end.

It was in the middle of the night and we were all sleeping, except for Gazzy, who had been keeping watch. I was awoken by the noise of crashing around us and hands grabbing at me. I heard the screams and attempts of my flock to fight back at the surprise attack. I looked around and saw that Gazzy, who was supposed to wake us up if there was trouble, was lying on the ground with a tranquilizer arrow in his neck, as if it had been shot at him from a distance so he wouldn't be able to warn us of their arrival. I kicked and thrashed as Erasers pinned me down and tried to stab me with a needle while putting a sack over my head. We were caught off guard, though, and there were so many of them. As they managed to stab me in the back of the neck, I was paralyzed and began to slip into sleep. In my face sneered and ugly Eraser that I knew so well. My blood froze. Ari. He was alive. "Hello, sis. One Max down, one to go." He laughed, "Oh imagine how poor Fang must be feeling now." I then passed out to his laughter with one thought in my mind. Fang.

I awoke in a dog crate. As soon as I opened my eyes, smell that I knew so well invaded my nose and made my heart pick up speed and my stomach churn. I knew exactly where I was. The School. Panic set in as I fought to keep down last night's meal of leftover sandwich and granola bars. It was a fruitless fight, though, and the dizziness and nausea overwhelmed me, causing me to loudly puke in my own cage. Disgusting. I began to quietly hyperventilate, hoping that if my flock was around me, they wouldn't hear me struggling. I looked up, though, to see Dylan's facing mine, his large blue eyes wide and filled with panic. "Max!" He let out a distressed cry. Unable to speak or process anything, I just stared at him. Trying to snap back into leader mode, I looked around and attempted to analyze my surroundings. We were in a small room, surrounded dog crates that I assumed to hold the rest of my flock. Other than that, the only thing I could tell was that the room was lit by blinding florescent lights that hung overhead. The floors were a creepy white that glowed under the lights.

I quickly did a role call to be sure my whole flock was there, well minus the two obvious ones. I had to constantly remind myself not to call their names in my usual call and instead add Dylan's. "Iggy?"

"Here!"

"Dylan?"

"Right here."

"Nudge!"

"I'm okay Max!"

"Gazzy?"

"All good!"

"Total?"

"Here."

I sighed in relief at their safety. But then, someone called my name. It was quiet and unsure and came from my direct right. "Max?" It was a high pitched whisper and it made my heart soar. I knew who belonged to that voice.

I little bit of a cliffy there! I hope you enjoyed and if not let me know why! Please review so I know if you like it or not! Thanks!