Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. Oh, no. I can't think of anything clever to say.

I was in the living room watching television, but I really couldn't concentrate. I kept thinking about Itex and their new Re-evolution plan. All I had were pieces of the puzzle. Asch kept telling me to not stress out about it, but I couldn't help it.

We had looked through Sebastian's computer several times, but there wasn't really any more than we found with the files. The thing that worried me the most was the Subatomic Energy Core. I knew what subatomic energy was and if Itex was using anything that had that kind of energy, it couldn't have been good.

The others were on the first floor in the training rooms. The only ones who were upstairs were me and Asch. He was on the computer looking up recipes for him and Iggy to try.

I continued flipping channels. I switched from cartoons to reality TV (yeah right) to courtroom shows to a couple of movies.

A few minutes later, Asch came into the living room.

"Can't decide what to watch, huh?" he said.

"No, it's just that I can't focus. I've got too much on my mind."

Asch leaned up against the wall, "Look, I know I've said this before but you need to relax."

"It's hard for me Asch. As much as I like periods of rest and relaxation, I'm used to them only lasting a short amount of time. I just can't sit around. I'm a 'get up and take action' kind of person, y'know. It's who I am."

"There's just no keeping a good Maxie down, is there?"

"Not this Maxie."

"Well, I do have an idea. I was planning on going by myself just as a little recon mission, but I guess you could come if you want."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to the School."

I sat up quickly and glared at him in total amazement. "What the hell are you thinking? You can't go there."

"Why not?"

"The only way anybody ever gets in there is unless they've been bound, gagged, and knocked unconscious, which has happened to us. The closest we've ever gotten not unconscious was to get into an exercise yard outside of it."

"So you're saying that it's impossible?"

"Pretty much."

"Then our odds can't be that bad. Last time I checked, we do the impossible on a daily basis. We fly."

"Asch, this isn't like the other time. This is serious. This is the center of it all. It's not like we can just fly over there and say 'hi' to the guard and waltz in." I couldn't believe how easy he thought breaking into the School was. I know he'd broken into some Itex buildings before, but nothing like this. I felt like Chief Brody telling Quint that he can't kill the shark. Then again, I shouldn't think like that. The shark ate Quint in the end.

"What happened to the 'get up and take action' Max that was here a couple of minutes ago? Did she hide under the couch?"

I gave him a glare. This conversation was going nowhere fast, or at least it wasn't going in my favor. It was starting to get to me.

Apparently Asch got the message because then he said, "All right, all right, I'll meet you halfway. How about this? How about we just go over there and look at what might be going down on the outside? Maybe we'll see something worth taking a closer look at."

I thought about it for a moment. I suppose there couldn't have been any harm in just surveying the area. It was possible to get near the place without being detected. It could work.

"That could work," I said, "I could go for that."

"All right, then, let's go."

"Right now?"

"Right now. I'll just leave a note for everyone else. He grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and wrote:

'Went for a flight. Be back soon.' – Max and Asch

He left the note on the table in the living room.

We went to the stairway and climbed up to the roof. Before we took off, Asch asked me a question, "Hey, Max, how are you doing with your super-speed ability?"

"Okay, I guess," I said, "After seeing you do it, I think that mine was meant for long distances while yours is for short distances, like for quick movements while fighting."

"That could very well be. I can use mine for long distances, but then I get really tired."

"My only problem is that I have a little trouble stopping. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, I was just wondering, in case we ever did need to make any long distance trips. C'mon, let's go."

And go we did. The trip to Death Valley didn't take that long. I still couldn't get over the irony that the School was in Death Valley. It was just… wrong, and yet, appropriate.

It took less than an hour to reach it. We went into some trees that the building was behind. Something didn't seem right. There weren't any sounds of movement or machinery or anything. It seemed a little weird. And then I saw it.

"So, this is the big, scary, dreaded School," said Asch sarcastically.

It was hardly a time to be funny. I stared with my mouth hanging wide open. There was no School. The School was nothing more than a pile of rubble and ashes.

"I don't… I don't understand… what happened?" I managed to sputter out. I just couldn't believe it. The School was gone. It was just… gone. The most evil place in the world that I had ever known was now nothing more than a black spot on the ground.

"You smell that?" asked Asch.

I took a couple whiffs of the air. "Yeah, I smell it," I answered, "Napalm, this was done recently."

"We might as well go down there and see what's left. Maybe we can salvage something."

We flew down into the wreckage and walked around. I shuffled through a bunch of wood and metal that was nothing more than scrap, blackened with char. There was absolutely nothing that could be salvaged. Whoever did it made sure that the place and anything in it was beyond recognition.

But what I didn't understand was why. Why would they do this?

"Who could have done this? And why?" I asked out loud. I didn't realize it until Asch answered me. I was so shocked.

"My guess is somebody was on to them so they had to cut and run, or…"

"Or?"

"Or… maybe Itex thought that they were no longer… adequate."

"Adequate?! This is the most advanced building in the Itex Corporation. This is where I was born, where almost every other hybrid was born. This is the center of all of it. Or it was."

"What if it wasn't?"

The question sent waves through me. What if the School wasn't the center of it all? Holy crap, that was a scary thought.

"If not," I said, "then what is?"

"It could be that place we read in the files, the Facility."

"I shudder to think that there's a place more advanced and sinister than the School."

"That's what it's lookin' like. I guess you were right Max. This is bigger than we thought. This isn't just a re-invention of Re-Evolution, it's a huge improvement, especially to not need the School."

That was just great. An improvement of Re-evolution. As if the original wasn't flawless enough, as well as crazy, but now it was even better. The last time was hard enough, but Fang had used his blog to gather a bunch of people to help. This time it was just me and the flock. No blog, no people, no Fang.

"Man, this is soooo bad," I said, "So incredibly bad."

"Let's head back," said Asch, "We're wasting time here."

So we headed back to San Francisco. We came into the Counter-Breed building. Calypso greeted us in the kitchen, "Oooh, where'd you guys go, alone?"

"Shut up," I said.

"We went to the School," said Asch.

Calypso almost choked. "What?" she coughed out. Everyone else who was in earshot came into the kitchen to ask the same thing.

"Well, actually," I said, "we were going to go to the School, but there was no School to go to."

"What do you mean?" asked Iggy.

"I mean the whole place was obliterated, destroyed, there was nothing left but ashes."

"What?!" everyone said with absolute disbelief.

"It's true," said Asch. "The place was just a grease spot."

"But why would they do such a thing?" asked Nudge.

"That's the awful question," said Asch.

"We better figure out what they're up to," said Sebastian, "fast."

"But we've got no clues," said Conrad, "nothing to go on. Where do we start looking?"

"I'd really like to get back into that new Itex building and get more files," I said, "I don't doubt that there's more info in there we could use. But there's no way we could get in now. They must have beefed up their security by now."

"We're in a real bind," said Calypso, "Itex is up to something huge, and we don't even know what it is."

"They're making sure to clean up their tracks," said Asch, "not make the same mistakes they made last time. They're not dummies."

"Sometimes I wonder," said Angel.

That made everyone giggle at least a little bit.

"Okay," said Sebastian, "Max, get those files. No more foolin' around. We're gonna dissect those files up and down and make sure we didn't miss anything."

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It was dusk. We had researched our butts off all day and we couldn't get any closer than where we were. Sebastian even managed to hack into an Itex website but he couldn't find anything. It was so infuriating, knowing that we couldn't do anything. Itex had really cleaned up after themselves.

I came up onto the roof just to get some fresh air. I felt like I was being suffocated with all the Itex junk around him.

Asch had left to go on the roof about an hour earlier. I guess he was feeling the same way.

I looked around and couldn't find him. But then I figured that maybe he was on the roof of the other building, so I flew up there. I saw him sitting on the ledge over by the binoculars that we used to see the Itex building. We could also see the sunset. It was beautiful.

I walked over to him and sat down next to him.

"It doesn't feel good, does it?" he said.

"What?" I asked.

"Not knowing what to do."

I sighed. "Yeah, it's so frustrating. I have to save the world. It's like it's programmed into my brain. But I don't know what to do. The voice is gone, the blog is gone, Fang's gone. I have to do it myself."

"No, you don't. You've got us."

"Yeah, that's true."

I looked at him and he was giving me a smile. I couldn't help but smile back. "We'll figure it out Maxie. I know we can."

We looked back out at the sunset. I was suddenly reminded of the last time me and Asch were together. When we were on the roof of the ShawCorp lab; when we had made that promise to each other.

"Hey Asch," I said, "Do you remember the day before I was kidnapped? When we were on the roof?"

Asch laughed to himself a bit. "Max, there wasn't a day that went by that I didn't think about it. We made a promise, to see the world with everyone else, after we saved it. And I still want to keep it."

"Oh, Asch."

"Of course, there are more people than I originally intended but we'll make due."

I laughed. "You were always good for that Asch. You were always there for me; you always made me feel better. You're my best friend."

"I really missed you Max. Losing you felt like I lost a part of myself."

I looked into his eyes. They were so strong and kind. The first twelve years of my life he was always at my side. And then we were just ripped apart from each other.

I found that we were leaning closer to each other. And the next thing I knew, our lips were pressed against each other's. We were gently kissing. For a couple minutes, it seemed right, but the reason it did wasn't right, so then I pulled away.

"What's wrong?" Asch asked quietly.

"Nothing's wrong," I said, "it's just… it's just not fair."

"What do you mean 'not fair'?"

"It's… when you're sitting here next to me, you're my absolute best friend. But when I'm kissing you, I'm… I'm wishing you were someone else."

After a moment, Asch said, "Ouch." I thought he was doing it jokingly, but I couldn't tell.

"I'm sorry."

"No, no, don't be. I understand. I really do. You really love him, don't you?"

I nodded my head. "Yeah, I do."

"He loves you too. I know he does. And you're right, it is unfair to him."

"How would you know if he does?"

"I… call it my bird instinct."

"Thanks for understanding Asch."

Asch got up and put his hand on my shoulder. "Hey, Maxie, I'd be the bad guy if I didn't understand. We'll find Fang. And that's a promise I will keep. I'm going inside."

He took his hand off my shoulder and flew next door. I was so glad that I had a friend like him to understand me, who would never leave my side. I trusted him as much as anyone. But I loved Fang. Asch was like my brother. But that was how I first felt about Fang. Oh, man.

Suddenly, defeating Itex seemed a whole lot simpler.

Please R&R