A/N: Okay, I know I'm a couple hours late but I ran into a dilemma. I'll let you guys read it first so you're unbiased, and at the end fill you in on the problem.

Just thought I'd remind everybody that I do not own Maximum Ride, or Fang. But I can always dream, right?


The pieces fell into place. Sort of.

"Angel?" I repeated.

"Yeah," he said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Though why you all call her that I've no idea. She's no angel. In fact, quite the opposite."

I struggled to understand, but the fuzziness in my head still hadn't gone away.

"She… she's not with Max?"

"Nope."

"And she's after you?"

"Us, that's correct."

"Because…?"

"We were hoping you could tell us."

"Back when you though I was one of her…agents."

"I'm still not convinced you're not," he pointed out.

"Huh."

I mulled all this over. They thought I was acting under Angel's orders. Or more likely, her influence. She could easily get someone to come after these people if she wanted to. Why she would want to was anybody's guess.

He said she had other people following her, others that had found them for her. For a moment, I wondered what happened to those others.

Nightwing was watching me closely.

I stared back.

"Did you think of anything we didn't?" he asked.

"Hard to think clearly when you're in pain," I said, "Plus, I'm a little disinclined to help you out anyway. You do have me tied to a chair."

He scowled. "We fixed your wings. That should count for something. We did it as a sign of trust."

I scoffed. "You fixed me so I'd trust you, and then tied me to a chair… to confuse me?"

He took a step back.

"And, who dislocated my wings in the first place?"

"Well…" he said.

I knew the truth. He had needed me healthy so he could interrogate me. Not because he wanted my trust. Beyond that, it was hard to figure out his motives.

"Did you guys drug me?" Perhaps that was why it was so hard to focus.

His eyes shifted to the Eraser and back. "Yeah, for the pain."

It was a lie.

He cocked his head to the side again, like he had before. Listening.

"Shut up," he muttered.

I had seen behavior like that before, when Max listened to her Voice.

He must have a Voice like Max. And Angel.

He spun to look at me critically, his eyes narrowing. Then he turned to the air next to him and spoke to it.

"No! I was supposed to be in charge of that!"

"Well, you're not doing a very good job," a girl appeared next to him, just stepped out of the air. I wondered if that's what it looked like when I became visible from nowhere. Could she have the same power as me?

I recognized her voice. It was the one I had heard before. She had told Nightwing not to hit me. She looked about as old as I was, with dirty jeans and a black v-neck t-shirt. Her hair was cropped short, a very shiny coppery brown.

She walked up to me, and I waited for her to say something. Or hit me. Either seemed likely.

"Nightwing, why don't you go check on Blue? She's worried about you. I'll keep asking Fang some questions."

"Are you asking or telling?"

She shot him a look and he pouted but walked angrily to the door. He paused next to the Eraser.

"Keep a close watch on him," he told the big man, "Don't let her untie him."

The Eraser nodded and the boy walked out, slamming the door behind him.

The girl sighed. "I'm sorry about that. I told him we could trust you. I told him you were telling the truth. He's … paranoid."

She shook her head sadly, "Although in my experience you don't live long without a healthy dose of paranoia."

She sighed again. I twisted my hands against the ropes, which were starting to burn. And I watched this strange girl who shared command with a fourteen year old.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she crouched down so we were at eye level. "I didn't introduce myself. I'm Penny. I'd shake your hand, but…"

Penny. Fitting. Her hair was exactly the color of a penny.

She laughed. "Actually, it's not my real name. Nightwing's isn't either. But I'm not named for my hair."

She straightened up and as she did a pair of wings spread out behind her. They were the same color as her hair. Amazingly shiny. The shape was a little different from mine. They were narrower, came to a sharper point. She probably had to work twice as hard to stay in the air.

"Yeah, well. I'm not the best flier anyway." She smiled.

I thought as I scrutinized her wings. Perhaps this had something to do with why Angel was looking for them.

"So you have wings and you're a telepath. Surprised this group lets you stick around. Those are the same abilities Angel had before she went bad."

Her eyes narrowed in anger. "You don't know me, so I'll let that go for now. And for your information, I'm not just a telepath. Or, if I am, I'm a very advanced one. I was blocking your brain from picking up sound before. That's why you couldn't hear us. And you couldn't see me because I selectively made it so you couldn't. Plus, I can do this."

She looked at me intently and suddenly we were standing on a dark, dry pitted surface of rock. I looked up and saw the earth. We were on the moon.

We snapped back to the room with the floodlights.

"Or…" she trailed off.

We were on a beach. I was standing. I could feel the sun on my skin. Then I noticed a dark shape flying towards us over the water. I watched with horror as it touched the earth, started running toward me. It got closer and I could see it was her. Max.

"Stop!" I yelled.

I was back in my chair. Still tied up. Gasping for air.

Penny was standing in front of me, her hands on her hips.

"I would have thought you'd be happy to see her again. I didn't realize…"

I glared at her.

"I'm sorry," she said in a small voice.

I believed her. But that could have been because she made me believe her.

"It's not!" she said angrily, "I mean, I'm not! I did that for you, honestly! I was just showing you that this thing I can do, I could drive someone crazy. But I don't. I could control people, like Angel does. But I don't. That's what makes me different from her. She chooses to be evil," she met my eyes defiantly, "But I don't."

She stood there quietly for a moment.

"I'm going to go convince Nightwing that it's safe to untie you," she muttered, and headed for the door, "Without any kind of mind control," she added quickly, turning to look at me again.

I nodded and relaxed against my constraints.

She left and the Eraser stayed in the room with me.

I considered the strange situation I was in. Who were these people? Why exactly was Angel after them? Would they let me go? If they did, where should I go after this? Should I maybe warn Max that Angel seemed to be gathering an army?

Or was I just looking for an excuse to find Max?

Very likely.

I waited for about twenty minutes before anything happened. Then the Eraser suddenly pushed off from the wall he had been leaning against and walked over to me. As he did, he pulled out a switchblade from his pocket.

I leaned back in my chair, shifting my weight so I might be able to head butt him if he got close enough.

He kneeled in front of me and cut the bonds that held my feet together. Then the rope that tied me to the chair. My hands were still tied together, with a foot of rope to act as a leash.

"Nightwing says to bring you up to the house," the monster informed me. "He said to shoot you if you try to fly. So don't."

I watched him flip the knife closed and put it back in his pocket. Then I leaned forward and stood with some effort.

He eyed me warily. "You walk?"

I grimaced. "Barely. You land on me, remember?"

My mocking was lost on him, "Sorry. S'posed to flap. Forgot."

He shrugged his shoulders and wings unfolded behind him. They were massive, as they'd have to be to hold him up, at least eight and a half feet tip to tip. The feathers seemed ruffled, like they were new. There was no pattern to them. He had feathers of every color, mottled and not very pretty. I wondered if they had been grafted on like the other Erasers, or if this was some new version.

He leaned forward to take the length of rope attached to my hands and I got a pungent whiff of him. The fur and stink I normally associated with Erasers was there, as was something else.

"You're drunk," I pointed out, a little surprised. I'd never known an Eraser who drank before. It explained his slurred speech.

He jerked on the rope. "Still shoot you outta the sky. Don't try nothin'," he grumbled.

I wasn't planning on it. I wanted to find out more about this weird group of kids and one extra weird Eraser. I wanted to know what had happened to that little girl. I wanted to know if these people were a threat - to me or Max and her mission.

Because if Angel was planning some kind of world domination, then the world definitely needed saving now.


A/N: So the thing is, I think I need to make a part three to this part. I need to either continue a medium length chapter explaining a little more about the ragtag group of kids or I can just continue with the story and throw facts in there kind of randomly. Which would you guys prefer? I'm leaning toward the extra chapter, just because it will be easier to follow that way. Let me know what you think.