Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. Too bad, so sad.

We went to a Wal-Mart that we found and got some things. Back-packs, some food, you know, back to the basics. All the time we didn't say much. We were all still a little down, especially Asch. He was virtually mute.

When we were finished getting our supplies, we headed back to the park. It was still late afternoon. The rain had stopped.

We all just kind of hung around. We were full of things we wanted to say, but we just couldn't day them. What was there that could be said? Itex got us. They finally did the one thing we were afraid of. They found us and killed us. Well, not us. Just some of us. And our spirit.

We ate in silence and in our own little spots. I just couldn't believe how depressed we were. That I was.

Nighttime came and everyone went in various spots in some of the trees. I had the first watch. I sat in a branch with a lantern that we bought at my side on low.

Asch came up to my branch and sat next to me. "Can't sleep, huh?" I asked.

"Can you?" he asked.

"Why do you think that I took the first watch?"

Asch sighed and put his face in his hands. After a few seconds, he slid hi hands down and said, "You know, this is the first time I've ever not known what to do."

"Welcome to our world Asch," I said.

"Oh, man. It was going to be Conrad's birthday in a couple of weeks. I was gonna get him a synthesizer. He wanted to learn how to play piano too."

"Look, Asch, I'm really sorry for your loss. I know they felt more like family to you than me because I've been gone so long, but now is not really a good time to mourn. Now, we need to figure out what our next move is in stopping Itex and rescuing Angel and Lily."

Asch was silent for a moment, as if he was thinking about what I was saying. I continued.

"I can understand how you feel Asch. But right now, you need to focus on getting back what you still have left of your family. You need to get Lily back."

"Yeah, I know," he said, "You're right Max. Thanks."

"When this is all over, we'll recover their bodies and give them a proper burial."

"Thanks Max."

"You really shocked me when you asked me what we should do. I thought you were out of it."

"Maybe I was. But even so, I'm not surprised. I've always kinda looked up to you Max. Just like your flock does."

"You do?"

"Well, yeah. I guess you figured I kinda took over when you came here. If I did, I didn't mean to. I'm just so used to being a leader."

"And you're a whole lot better at it than me."

"No Max, you're doing great. Like I said, as long as you keep 'em alive, you're doing your…" Asch paused for a few seconds, realizing what he was saying, "…job. And I just failed miserably."

"Asch stop beating yourself up. It's not your fault, its Itex's fault. They're the ones to blame, not you."

Asch nodded his head. "Yeah, you're right. Sorry about that."

"It's okay. So, you gonna go to sleep?"

"Nah, I don't think I can. If you want to though, go ahead. I'll take your watch."

"That's all right. I'm not gonna be able to sleep either."

So we both stayed up. Eventually, my tiredness caught up with me and I fell asleep. Asch kept watch until whoever the next person was to take over for him.

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The next morning, we woke up to a clear sky. We all came down from the trees. We decided that we would go out for breakfast using the card. We found a nice, little restaurant and we were seated quickly.

As per usual, we had to order a whole lot of food. Thankfully, the waiter didn't put up a fuss about and we didn't need a repeat of the restaurant in New York.

After we got out, Nudge asked, "So what do we do now? We don't have any leads. How are we gonna figure out what to do?"

"Max?" asked Asch.

"Yeah?" I answered.

"Could we just go back to… my house one more time? There just something I need to check for."

"What's that?"

"I just need to see if something survived. Where I kept it, it might have, and it's really important."

"All right, but let's not hang around there."

"This shouldn't take too long."

We walked back over to the wreckage. We couldn't fly because I was enforcing my "no flying in cities rule".

When we made it, Asch started looking around through the rubble. The firemen had put out the fires that were still going yesterday. And it looked like they cleared out the bodies.

I walked up to Asch. He seemed to be picking up what was left of a drawer. Through the char, I was able to recognize it as his. He was searching through it.

"So, what is it you're looking for?" I asked.

"A little bottle," he said, "I found it in an Itex building and me and Sebastian were gonna study what was in it." After that, he let out a huge sigh. He put down the drawer and said, "It's gone."

"Sorry, Asch,"

He had a look of disappointment on his face. I guess whatever it was he was looking for was pretty important.

"Okay, let's get out of here," he said.

We turned around to head out when Gazzy cried out, "Max, look!"

We all looked up to see something that almost knocked me off my feet. Up ahead of us, standing by the wreckage, was Anne Walker. The head honcho, or at least one of the major big wigs, was standing here, menacingly.

"Hey you!" I yelled.

"Now Max," she said, "I think we've known each other long enough to be on a first-name basis, rather than just calling me 'hey you'."

All of us walked up to her. She didn't move though. She just stood in the position she was in.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. "Last time I saw you, you were at your house with your puppets Jeb and Ari."

"I'm just here to survey my success," Anne said.

"What success?" asked Iggy.

"Destroying part of the Counter-Breed of course."

I couldn't believe how coldly she sounded. This was the same woman who said she wanted to be part of my "becoming". Now she was talking about killing people as if it was mowing the lawn.

"What did you with Angel and Lily?" I demanded, "And where's Fang?"

"Angel and Lily are just fine," she said coolly, "But they're with Jeb. So I wouldn't know much more. As for Fang, perhaps you should ask your friend there."

She pointed and I looked to where she was pointing. She was pointing at Asch. He was giving her a death stare.

I looked at Asch for a few seconds. Could he have really known where Fang was? Could Asch have been lying to me about him all this time? No, why would he do such a thing?

"Well, I have to go," said Anne, "so farewell for now."

Suddenly a rift opened up behind Anne. It was Lily's rift. Now what was going on? Anne backed up into it.

"Oh no you don't!" yelled Asch. He started running after Anne. Anne disappeared in the rift and then Asch less than a second later. The rift closed up and they were both gone.

"No," I said, "they're gone."

The others walked up to me.

"What was that about?" asked Iggy.

"Do you guys think Asch really knows where Fang is?" asked Nudge, "If he did, then that would mean that he was lying to us all this time. Why would he do that?"

"I… I don't know," I said.

"Way to fall into their trap Max," said a voice a distance. I looked over to where it came from. It was Max II.

"What… what are you doing here?" I asked.

She started walking over to us. "I can't believe you fell for it. Even I didn't think this plan would work, but you walked right into it."

"And I suppose you're just here to rub it in, huh?"

"Yeah, pretty much. Plus, I thought it was time we settle the score from Florida." She got into a stance like she was ready to fight when another voice called out.

"Max," it said.

We both looked over and another rift showed up right near us and none other than Jeb came out. "Max, I specifically told you not to come back here and pick fights. This is insubordination."

"Screw you," said Max II, "this is personal. It's none of your business."

"If it involves Max, then it is my business." A rift opened up beside him. "Now go back, right now. I'll deal with you later."

Max II had a very annoyed look on her face. With a scowl, she walked past Jeb and into the rift. The rift closed behind her and all that was left was Jeb.

"I'll ensure she receives the proper punishment," he said.

"Like I care," I said, now completely frustrated, "What have you done with Angel and Lily? And where's Fang and Asch?"

"You have no need to worry about the two girls. I can assure you we're taking very good care of them. We're continuing our experiments on Angel that you so rudely interrupted a few years ago. And Lily is proving to be quite useful. We've persuaded her to use her ability to help us get from place to place."

"Persuaded her?" asked Iggy, "What did you do to her?"

"Nothing. It's what we'll do to Angel if Lily refuses to cooperate. As crucial as Angel is to our research, we could manage without her."

"You bastard!" I yelled, "How can you do such a thing to a couple of little girls? How do you sleep at night knowing you do such horrible things to people?"

"Like a baby."

"I bet. You better take me to them you little creep."

"They certainly seem very important to you to want to save them so badly." He slowly walked up to me until he was mere inches from me. I was on the verge of being pissed off beyond the point of no return, and he was coming closer to me. I had to give him points for bravery.

"Of course they're important to me. Where have you been for the past few years?"

"Show me how important Max."

"What?"

"Show me how important they are to you, and perhaps I'll let you see them."

My emotions were going crazy. I wanted to burst out into tears about how much I wanted to save Angel, my baby, and her friend. But at the same time, I didn't want to break down in front of Jeb. That would just make me look weak and he'd go on to say what a failure I am for giving in so easily.

My mind was racing as to what to do. Jeb and what was left of my flock were just staring at me, waiting to see what I was going to do.

Before I realized it, I was getting down on my hands and knees. "Please, please let me see my Angel. Take me to my little girl."

I couldn't believe what I was doing. And the worst part was I couldn't deny it. Everybody around me, except Iggy, saw it.

"I see," said Jeb, "you really do care for Angel. And you'll probably do anything to help Lily, right?"

I nodded my head.

"I see. In that case, the answer is no."

Everything thing I was feeling just then all turned into rage. I jumped back up to my feet and screamed, "You frigging bastard!"

Without thinking about it, I slugged Jeb right in the mouth and he went down. Damn, it felt good.

Just then, several rifts opened up and a bunch of Erasers came out of them, surrounding us. They must have been making sure I didn't do anymore damage to Jeb.

Jeb got up, holding his jaw. "That was a test Max," he said slightly muffled, "and you failed."

"I am so… FUCKING tired of your TESTS!"

"You allow your emotions to govern you Max. You let them affect the decisions you make. And your emotions allow you to be attached to other people. A true leader wouldn't let that happen. You're too attached to those you work with."

"Well that's your opinion. What would you know about being a leader?"

For once, Jeb didn't have an answer. Instead he said, "It's such a shame Max. You held so much promise. Wait a second… where's Asch?"

"I don't know. He jumped into a rift after your boss and disappeared."

"Did he now? This should be quite interesting." A rift opened up behind Jeb.

I whispered into Iggy's ear, "We're gonna jump in after him."

"How come?" he asked.

"Maybe he could lead us to where the others are."

"I heard that Max," said Jeb, "And you don't want to be reckless. Do you want to end up like Fang?"

"What? What do you know about Fang? What did you do to him?"

"It's not what I did to him; it's what he did to himself. He's a lot like you Max. He lets his emotions govern him too. And look what it got him."

"What are you talking about? What happened to him?"

But all Jeb did was back through the rift.

"Hey, come back here!" I shouted but the rift closed.

The Erasers that surrounded us started to close in. I figured it would be good for me. Beating the crap out of them would help me work off some frustration.

The others and I backed up against each other. Suddenly a rift opened up from beneath us. We fell through it and into a hole, screaming from the surprise as we did.

We all fell down on our butts and we were in some sort of bluish-grey portal thing. All around us was some sort of swirling mix of blue and grey.

"Where are we?" asked Gazzy.

"What just happened?" asked Nudge

"I really wish I knew," I said.

I looked around until I saw a figure nearby. He was wearing a black hoody sweatshirt. The hood was up so I couldn't really see his face. He was holding a white box in his hand. He didn't say a word.

We all walked up to him. When we reached him, he handed me the box. I looked into his hood. The shadow from the hood shrouded his face.

"Who are you?" I asked.

The figure said nothing. He merely shook the box in his hand, indicating he wanted me to take it. I did. After I did it, he took off running.

"Wait," I said, my voice echoing.

But the person didn't stop and he soon disappeared. I opened the box up and we all looked at what was inside. The first thing was a photo. I picked it up and recognized what the photo was. It was a photo of the manor in Montana. The second thing was really strange. It was a DVD package of the movie Birdman of Alcatraz.

"That's strange," said Nudge.

"What do you think they're supposed to be?" asked Gazzy, "Some sort of clue?"

"What is it?" asked Iggy.

"The stuff in this box that some guy gave us," said Nudge, "There's a picture of the manor we were in and a DVD of a movie called Birdman of Alcatraz."

"You're right. That is odd."

"I'm wondering who that guy was," Gazzy said.

After a moment, I had a thought as to who it might have been, "You think it might have been Fang?"

"You think?" Nudge said enthusiastically.

"I don't know. It's just a feeling I have. But if it was him, why would he run away from us? Wouldn't he stay?"

"Good point."

"So how do we get out of here?" asked Gazzy.

I looked around the swirling vortex we seemed to be in, "Well, that guy got out. So can us."

We all started walking down in the way the mysterious figure took. Eventually we came to see a rift that was open. It looked like Lily's rift. Could she have been the one who brought us here?

We all kind of looked at each other and mentally agreed to go through.

We did. When we came out the other side, I recognized where we were. "Hey, I know this place," I said, "We're near Ella's house."

What happened to my reviewers? Don't be afraid. Say anything you'd like about my story. Just no flames.