Chapter Nine

Not a single one of us eased up from our fighting positions. It wasn't very hard to calculate after a while: Jeb plus the flock equals a lot of trouble for us. Fang's body leaned slightly in my direction, as if getting ready for Jeb to leap out and try to grab me. I knew Jeb wouldn't do anything, though he was a big part of Itex, he never did any of the actual dirty work. He had hordes of Erasers at his disposal. That was what I was worried about. Jeb looked at each of the flock in turn. His eyes looked at Fang's bandaged and splinted wing with a slight look of pain. He glanced in my direction, not meeting my eyes. He looked away instantly.

He looked at his feet and back up in our direction. He cleared his throat and attempted a weak smile. "Hello all," he said quietly.

His smile faltered and disappeared as we stared at him in silence. He was obviously becoming uncomfortable, shifting his weight from foot to foot. Mom finally offered him a seat, looking as she didn't know why he was here. He eased himself down into a seat, thanking Mom before she sat down next to us again. Jeb looked older and more stressed than ever. There would have been some sympathy, but after all we had been through with the man, it was impossible.

"What are you doing here?" I finally asked.

"I actually would like to speak to you and Fang alone," Jeb said, looking to Fang. He glanced in my direction again, still not meeting my eyes.

I shook my head. "No. We decided a long time ago that anything someone has to say to one of us, you can say to the rest of us. They aren't going anywhere."

"Max—"

"We can handle it, Jeb," Gasman cut him off, practically spitting venom at his name. "We're not kids anymore."

"We stopped being kids a long time ago," Iggy said, nodding.

Nudge and Angel held their stares, glaring at him. I heard Fang exhale awkwardly, knowing he was trying to keep from laughing. Our flock, once young followers, were now standing their ground. I had a feeling that even if I had agreed to talking to Jeb with just me and Fang, the others wouldn't have moved. Jeb sighed again, pinching the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes tightly.

"What's going on?" Fang asked.

"Well, I'm sure all of you have figured out that the Erasers are back . . ." he began.

"Well, no shit," Gasman said sarcastically. "I was wondering what attacked us outside of the hotel and what messed up Fang's wing. Thank you so much for enlightening me."

"Gasman," I said pointedly.

He looked at me and crossed his arms in front of him, continuing to glare at Jeb. Wow, that surprised me. I never knew Gasman to be so blunt about anything, let alone say a curse word along with it. I shook my head and looked to Fang. The corner of his mouth was turned upward just slightly, which was surprising, too. Fang wasn't a smiler, not even when most of us were laughing. Wow, he had changed, just like the others.

"But they seem to be more aggressive than last time," Jeb explained. "They attacked you in the middle of a town street, well in the open and at the risk of several bystanders. It seems like their purpose have been magnified, and they aren't going to be taken down as easily. They've been equipped with multiple things that have been altered to the best of your abilities."

"Like what?" Nudge asked.

"They have invisibility chips embedded in their skin. That was why they appeared out of thin air in front of you. They have guard plates in their heads so Angel can't read their thoughts or control them. Their flight skill and speed has been heightened to be nearly equal to Max when she uses her 'super speed,' as you all call it. They're almost completely silent, so Iggy can't detect them from far distances. And these aren't your 'Flyboys' anymore. They're back to morphing people."

"Kinda figured that out when I broke bones," I sighed.

"Me, too," Gazzy answered with a slight grin.

I smiled weakly at Gasman, then returned my look to Jeb. "Why are they back, then?"

"They're after you," Fang said as Jeb opened his mouth.

All of us turned to look at him. I inhaled sharply and looked to his mended wing.

"Max II," I whispered.

He nodded, looking at me. "She said all they needed was you. They were going to use me as a kind of collateral, I guess. I would be okay as long as you did what they said. She didn't say much else. Well, I didn't let her because I got mad and went after her."

"Then she did that to your wing. You big idiot."

His eyes flashed in my direction. "I wasn't about to go down easy. She said she was going to take me, so I figured I better make her work for it."

"Why would they use you?"

"Uh, duh," Nudge sighed, rolling her eyes. "Please, Max, it's obvious you and Fang are in love with each other. You would give up anything for each other."

I looked at her, shocked. "I would do that for any of you."

"Well, yeah," Iggy said. "We know that and so do they, but Fang is different. He seriously is your other half. Knowing he was in danger would be even more painful to you. Even more than if one of us was in trouble."

"Guys, I could never choose one over the other with you. I never could . . ."

"Weknow that, Max," Angel said sweetly, smiling at me. "We just know you and Fang love each other. It's okay."

I shook my head again, unsure of what to say. It was true, I did love Fang, more than most of them knew, but to actually have the kids think I could choose him over them . . . It actually pained me knowing my flock thought that. I held my head on my hands, rubbing my temples with my fingers slowly.

"Okay, so they want Max," Nudge concluded. "That's not a big shock. So why are they suddenly so desperate then?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out," Jeb sighed, pinching his nose again. "The next problem is it doesn't even seem to be Itex after you this time."

"There's another mass company making human gene experiments?" I asked, feeling anger surge up my throat.

"It doesn't seem to be a company. They're off the radar. I have yet to find traces of mass purchasing."

"So you're saying it's an independent buyer," Mom said.

Jeb nodded, looking at her. "Somebody wants this all to themselves. They're either extremely rich with a large plot of land or siphoning money from somewhere and using an abandoned location. There's a lot of places they could be and a lot of ways they could be using those Erasers."

"What about Max II?" I asked. "I thought she was taken care of when Itex was taken down."

He didn't even look my direction as he answered. "Apparently not. Though she wasn't as strong as you are, she did seem to cause a lot of problems for all of you, so they may have thought she would be a good asset to keep around."

"So we're back to running again," Angel said quietly. She looked on the brink of tears as Total came over and curled up in her lap.

"Yes, you're going to have to," Jeb muttered. "You can't stay in one spot for long."

"Because they'd find us in no time," Iggy grumbled. Ella put a hand on his arm gently.

"What about Fang?" Nudge suddenly burst out loudly. "He can't fly yet. We have to wait until he's better to get any good distance . . ."

"He could stay here until he's healed," Mom offered. "I can keep an eye on him to make sure the wing heals properly. The rest of you can go and come back after a while . . ."

"No way," I said immediately. "We aren't leaving until Fang can come with us."

"Max, you realize how irrational that is," Jeb shook his head. Again, he didn't meet my eyes, which got me even madder.

"How is it irrational? We decided we were never going to break the flock up and we aren'tgoing to."

He focused on his feet intently. "So you would rather risk your mother and sister and all of the flock then leave Fang here so he can heal in peace?"

"So you would rather have this house attacked by hordes of Erasers with only Fang, Mom, and Ella here to defend themselves with Fang's wing messed up and Mom and Ella being cut down in a matter of seconds by an Eraser?"

Still no eye contact. "You know that wouldn't happen if you and the others left. The Erasers would go wherever you went. To them, the rest of the flock are just gnats."

Now I was pissed off. "They probably have orders to take every one of them out and then keep me. Plus, if Fang is their means of making me work for them, wouldn't it make more sense to keep him with us so they can't just grab him and go on their merry way? We're staying together until Fang is better. We can leave the house so Mom and Ella aren't in danger, but there's no way we're leaving Fang behind."

"You can stay here as long as you need to," Mom answered. "Besides, I would like to stay close to Fang to make sure his wing is okay."

"You have to leave," Jeb muttered, shaking his head. He looked at his feet like his shoes were going to slip off and walk away on their own or something.

"Why won't you look at me?" I demanded, fed up.

The room was quiet. Jeb dipped his head lower.

"Jeb, why won't you look at me?" I asked slowly.

He didn't answer, or look in my direction. I sighed heavily.

"Fine. But the flock stays here until Fang is better. That's not going to change. If anything comes this way, we'll take care of it so Mom and Ella aren't in any danger. We stay until Fang can go with us. Guys?"

Iggy, Gasman, Nudge, and Angel all answered in unison while Fang nodded. I could tell he didn't like the idea, but he knew better than to argue with me for right now. Ella and Mom looked relieved and happy while Jeb seemed to pale more than he already had.

"I don't think . . ." he began.

"If you aren't even going to look at me, I don't really give a damn what you think, Jeb," I snapped. "You can go whenever you feel like it. You know where we'll be if you need us or hear anything."

Jeb stood up and looked around, still not looking at my face.

"Well, I guess the matter is settled for now," he said quietly. "I'll leave you to your breakfast and I'll contact you if I hear anything. Goodbye, all."

Mom got up and walked him out of the living room. The rest of the flock looked at me.

"What?" I asked after a long moment of silence.

"You're such a bitch," Nudge answered, braking into a full smile.

Soon, the rest of us were laughing hard. Ella and Iggy were practically leaning against each other while Gasman almost squirted milk from his nose. After we all settled down, Mom came back and sat with us, laughing and smiling. Gazzy immediately started imitating my voice and kept repeating "If you aren't even going to look at me, I don't really give a damn what you think, Jeb," making everyone laugh again. As we went back to our little happy band again, Fang squeezed my side gently. I looked up at him and could tell what he was trying to say by his eyebrows.

We're going to talk about this later.

I made a face back at him to try and say, Why? There's nothing to talk about.

Fang shook his head and left it alone for the time being. But I knew later today was going to be rough. Ah well, for now, I was just happy to be home.

A/N: Hey, guys, sorry for the long delay! Hope you like the new chapter and hopefully I'll have my butt back in gear to write the next ones a bit faster! Reviews are greatly appreciated and thanks to those of you that already have! Until next time, y'all!