The Angel Experience
By Holly-Batali

Authors Note: Again, thank you so much for the reviews, I really appreciate the feedback. If you read this story, please review! Here's chapter six. Also, this is after New York, but this had no Total. So please keep in mind that the events in The Angel Experiment already happened.

Disclaimer: All credit for everything--except Kat--goes to the genius that is James Patterson. Maximum Ride, no matter how awesome, is not mine. Much to my dismay.

Chapter 6: New Friends

After the flock had eaten, some place called Elliott's, they sat down at an ocean-side table and discussed what they were going to do next. Everyone seemed to have a different opinion. Max wanted to check out the area and see if they could find anything Itex-related, and Fang wanted some time to work on his blog. Iggy wanted to kick back and relax for a while, Gazzy wanted to find an arcade, Nudge wanted to go shopping, and Angel wanted to run around somewhere for a bit. They argued quietly for a while before they finally reached a conclusion in which everyone was somewhat satisfied.

"Okay," said Max, "so Fang and I will hit a cafe; I can work on Google for Itex and stuff, and he can do his blog. Nudge, Gazzy: you guys can head to the mall. Nudge can shop, and it has an arcade. Iggy, you and Angel can take a park. Iggy can kick back and Angel can play all she wants. Sound good, guys?" Everyone seemed enthusiastic, and the group split into their groups of two. But Max had had other reasons for the pairing; she was, as always, nervous of an attack or drawing attention. She and Fang worked well together, and she didn't want to put Iggy and the Gasman together, they caused too much trouble, and with them, trouble equaled attention. So it was Iggy and Angel and Nudge and Gazzy. She just hoped they wouldn't get into trouble anyway.

Max and Fang sat down at adjacent computer booths, opening up Internet browsers. Fang pulled up his blog and Max pulled up Google. They were both soon immersed in their work, and only got up to get more coffee or muffins. It was slow work, since neither of them could spell worth crap. Max kept a consistent stream of curses flowing under her breath, and Fang just narrowed his eyes at the computer monitor.

"Fang," Max whispered.

He blinked to show he had heard.

"How do you spell Czechoslovakia? I've already tried three times, I can't get it."

Fang raised an eyebrow, but showed mercy. "Hang on a sec'." Max heard him typing for a minute, then, "Okay, it's C-Z-E-C-H-O-S-L-A-V-A-K-I-A. Got it?"

"Yeah, thanks."

Fang paused his typing to hear a quiet, "stupid grammer-impaired Czechs."

Nudge squealed as she and the Gasman walked through the entrance to the mall. "Oh my gosh, Gazzy!" Breathed Nudge, gleefully taking in her super-sized surroundings. They had walked into the Seattle Pacific Place, and Nudge decided that she had never seen anything cooler than this.

"I am so off to the arcades. See you later," said the Gasman in an awed and reverent tone.

"Okay," breathed Nudge absently, not really noticing. "I'll be in every shop I can get to. I'll start over there," she pointed to a kids clothing department, "after I'm done with that section I'll tell you where I'm going next, 'kay?" Gazzy just nodded and sprinted to the video games store as quickly as he could without attracting too much attention.

Nudge took one more look around herself, then said quietly and to herself, "I am in heaven." Time to shop.

Iggy sat down heavily on the bench in the park, stretching out on it. He could hear Angel running in the opposite direction, playing in the grassy park. He couldn't remember the last time that they had a day off. It felt so incredibly good to just stretch out and take a well-deserved--in his opinion, anyway--break. He felt the sun on his face as he closed his eyes, not that it made a difference whether they were closed or open. He lay back all the way on the bench and relaxed, falling into blissful sleep. Hope Angel can take care of herself for a few minutes...

Staying out of sight seemed slightly pointless to Kat. The erasers hadn't come after her, and she didn't want to spend her new life hiding and hoping they wouldn't remember to come after her. She was sitting at Elliott's again, this time without food. The nice thing about being part cat, she thought absently, was that raw fish didn't make you sick. All she had to do was take a walk on the wharf and voila! Breakfast at Tiffany's. In fact, she actually enjoyed eating raw fish. The taste was unusual but still pleasant, and it made her feel like a real tiger, fending for herself in the wild after a life of boring captivity.

She got up and stretched her legs, deciding to take a walk. The weather was cloudy and gray, just the way she liked it, and she felt like enjoying it. She still had the same clothes, and was wearing her now much-adored hat. She walked easily down Alaskan Way, completely at home in her surroundings. She spent almost all of her time down here, and liked it very much. She decided to head for the park. She already knew about pedestrian lights, traffic, bus stops, and taxi's. She was a quick learner, and an eager one at that. She caught the bus between Madison and Marion, on Alaskan, and sat down on one of those comfortable rubber seats she loved so much. She stared out the window, smiling as the familiar buildings rolled past her, then got off, thanking the driver, at Yesler and Broadway. She could have walked here, it was only slightly over a mile, but she enjoyed taking the bus.

She had her hands in her pockets, and looked up to see the park. Instead, she saw something else. She stopped dead in her tracks, fear freezing her muscles. There were Erasers, here, in a quiet Seattle park. They hadn't noticed her yet, and she intended to keep it that way. She walked swiftly toward the benches, hoping against hope that they wouldn't notice her. They were talking quietly amongst themselves, and were apparantly totally engrossed in the conversation, since no one noticed when she walked past not five meters away.

There was a batch of trees behind the benches, and she headed for them. There was a little girl playing in the field, and a young teenage boy sleeping on the bench. He was gangly and tall, with strawberry-blond hair and slightly dirty clothes. Suddenly, the Erasers behind her yelled.

"Hey, you! Get back here!" The boy on the bench sprang to his feet, and the girl ran over to him. Kat broke into a run, heading for one of the trees. The little girl jumped out in front of her, blocking her path.

"No, go for the ones over there," said the girl urgently, pushing Kat towards a thick grove of trees to the left of where Kat had been running. "Iggy," she said urgently, to the blond boy. "Over here, in the trees." The boy's head snapped toward the little girl, who was still pushing. He sprinted over to them, just as the little girl pushed Kat against the trunk. "Here," she said urgently. "Climb, fast." Kat unsheathed her claws, hoping they wouldn't notice, and sprang up the tree exactly like a housecat would. The boy, Iggy, pushed Angel up the tree and scrambled up after her. They climbed as high as they dared, then hid themselves in the branches.

Underneath them, Kat could hear the Erasers running. "Must've gone this way."

"...she's fast."

"...go. Maybe she went over there."

After a minute or two, the boy, Iggy, whispered, "Alright, they're gone." The three of them climbed down the tree quietly, not taking chances. When they were on the ground, the two others turned to Kat expectantly.

"Thanks," she managed to get out. "I owe you one. Well, I'd better get going." She started walking swiftly away, but Iggy called her back.

"Why were those Erasers chasing you?" Kat froze, and turned slowly around.

"How do you know about Erasers," she asked suspiciously. Iggy turned to the little girl, her golden curls blowing slightly in the wind. She nodded and Iggy started talking.

"Well, they've been chasing us for a long time. We're kind of different, if you know what I mean. Why are they chasing you?"

Kat decided that she didn't care about her security and secrecy anymore, she was too curious. Curiosity killed the Kat, she thought. Ironic. "Well, I'm also pretty different, thought I bet in a different way than you." Iggy and the girl smiled.

"Oh, I doubt that," said the girl in an angelic voice. She skipped up to Kat and held out her hand. "I'm Angel, and this is Iggy; who are you?"

Kat took her hand with surprise. "I'm Kat."

"That's a cool name. Why are you called that? I'm called Angel 'cause I guess I'm like an Angel. And Iggy--"

"Let me guess," said Kat, seeing Iggy fiddling with a box of matches, "It comes from the Latin word Ignis, fire." Angel smiled in that angelic way of hers and waited for Kat to talk about her name. "I'm called Kat 'cause of a few things really." Like, a tail, and ears, and claws, and fangs...

Angel waited patiently. "You really want to know?" asked Kat, already knowing the answer.

"Yep," said Angel and Iggy in unison.

Kat sighed, and took off her cap, her hair tumbling messily out to reveal a pair of ginger and black tiger ears, the inside fur a dirty white. Angel gasped in what appeared to be delight and Iggy looked confused.

"What's going on Angel," he said, sounding miffed.

"She's got cat ears," squealed Angel, and Iggy looked surprised. It was then Kat noticed that Iggy's eyes were a strange whitish color. Oh; he's blind. Okay...

"I've actually got a lot more than that. But what about you?"

"Oh, we have wings," said Angel in an off-hand but-enough-about-me-what-about-you sort of voice. Angel turned to Iggy. "You were asleep for hours Iggy, we have to go find Max now."

They started off, then Angel turned around. "Kat? Aren't you coming?"

Kat was caught off gaurd, but said, "where are you going?"

"Max told us to meet her at some place called Elliott's. We'll have to check a map or two--"

Kat smiled. "Don't sweat it, I know the way there by heart. Come on, we can walk or take the bus."

"I say walk," said Iggy. "I don't really like buses."

"Follow me. I know my way to Elliott's in my sleep. That's where I spend all my time, actually. If you want, on the way, we can grab some raw fish, it's pretty good. I can catch it quick so we don't waste time. Do you guys like fish?" She got it all out quickly, not really registering that she had just made her first friends.

"Raw fish?" That was Iggy. "Uh, ew."

"But she's part-cat, Ig. Of course she eats fish. All cats eat fish, right Kat?" Angel said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Actually," said Kat. "I'm a human-panthera-tigris-tigris hybrid, not a domestic cat, you know, a house cat."

"And all that scientific crap would be..." Iggy asked sarcastically.

"Bengal tiger," Kat shrugged it off, trying not to show how smug she was feeling. Bengal tigers were pretty darn cool. She smiled at their surprised expressions, and turned away, laughing quietly. "Come on, Elliott's it is. But if you really want to, we can skip the raw fish."

Authors Note: I'll update soon, please review! Happy holidays everyone!