Chapter Two

"The more I live like this the more I just want to get out of here!" Max groaned and Nudge sighed.

"Max, you know we can't leave. I love hanging out with your mom and Ella! Plus we just need a break after saving the world." She noted and Max stopped pacing and looked at her.

"Break? Did you just say break? I can't handle a BREAK Nudge- Angel is still out there without me and I need to go find her!" Max shouted and Nudge cringed back a little bit.

"Max please go easy on her-" Dylan started to say.

"Shut up Dylan." She snapped. "My baby is out there. Still. It's been weeks and we haven't found her!" she noted stomping her foot on the ground kicking up a cloud of dust. The rest of the flock looked at her and she looked at each of them in return, lingering on Dylan the most. "What would you do if you lost me?" she asked and he looked at her dead on.

She really played the old heartstrings card didn't she? He thought and sighed heavily. "I'd do everything and anything in my power to go looking for you." He admitted and she smirked a little bit.

"Exactly- so why are we still here after two weeks? I do love my mom and Ella I do- but we need to find her." She said, her voice getting caught in her throat a little bit.

"Come on guys. Dylan and Max can sort this one out on their own." Iggy said, taking charge at the third- second eldest in the flock. Max still counted Dylan as a baby since he was the newest to join the ragtag crew.

"But Iggy…" Gazzy said sniffling and Iggy took his hand.

"How about we go get some stuff from the kitchen and go blow something up in some random forest eh?" Iggy asked and everyone was a little shocked at this. Iggy never was this sweet, it even shocked Max. Maybe it was because Angle was Gazzy's little sister and growing up he had become so protective of her; just maybe… But Iggy's tone of voice and the expression on his face, even in his ice blue eyes. We all knew they could see nothing but this time to Max at least- it looked like they could really see Gazzy in the despair that he was in over this.

But Gazzy looked up at him and sniffled, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. "Alright." He said softly and took Gazzy's arm, leading him back into the house and to the kitchen and naming off all the chemicals Dr. Martinez had underneath her sink.

"It's nice of Ig but I really have a bad feeling about this." Dylan commented and Max looked at him, her own eyes grave like Gazzy's.

"You have a bad feeling- I think mine if worse. I've seen what they can do with just a potato, some wire and a clock." She sighed and a tiny half smile crept up onto her lips but vanished just as fast. "What are we going to do if we…" Max just couldn't say …if we don't find her… out loud. It was too hard too soon.

"We'll find her Max. I promise you that." Dylan said softly, touching her arm and she jerked away.

"I'm tired or people making false promises to me. Fang promised he'd always be there and he's not. Jeb promised he'd always love us and protect us, and he was back with The School and now he's working with Dr. God. I just want people to stop making promises I know that can actually keep." I said and walked further away from the house and further away from Dylan- needing her Max time alone right now.

"She'll some around to get that you're really trying to help her." Nudge said softly and Dylan looked up from the ground.

"I really hope so Nudge." He said and sighed, looking in Max's direction to see her unfurl her wings and kick off into the sunset. "I should go after her, make sure she doesn't do anything stupid." He stated and started to follow, unfurling his own wings and Nudge grabbed his arm.

"Let her be Dylan. She's like- a loner when she's like this. Sure we miss her when she doesn't come back for a few days but we have Ella and Dr. Martinez for the time being. And Max will come back on her own terms." She explained to him and smiled a bit, her teeth a dazzling white against her caramel skin.

"I don't know Nudge…" he said hesitantly and she let go, crossing her arms and cocking a hip at him.

"Listen Dylan, we- the rest of the flock- counts you as family already. Max on the other hand still sees you as a threat, an um… Computerized clone made to take the place of Fang because it's his uh, uh uh… What do you call it? Oh yeah- destiny. It's his destiny to make his own flock, or well that's what Angel said." She shrugged and looked at him through her mop of messy curls. "Just give her space or she'll punch your nose again." She smiled a little bit again. "Now if you don't mind, I have Project Runway waiting for me on the TV, so bye!" she said and skipped off, her sunny disposition leaving a bit of a bright spot on Dylan.

"Maybe Max will be alright with time…" he sighed and kicked off anyways, just flying in the opposite direction.