Chapter VII: Into Darkness
"Fang!" Max's voice was sharp and harsh, though the brunette couldn't imagine what had gotten her so worked up. It seemed a perfectly quiet morning, at least, from his particular point of view.
"Five more minutes," he moaned, rolling onto his side and doing his best to block out both the light from his eyes and Max's voice from his ears. He'd been dreaming, pleasantly this time. About flying with Iggy. It was quite a change from his usual nightmares, and a welcome one at that.
Max needed to learn to appreciate quiet morning, not ruin them. Why couldn't she just go back to sleep and mind her own business? Or was this an estrogen thing he didn't know about? Wake everyone up simply because you can't get back to sleep? It'd better not be, because honestly, there was nothing Fang wanted more than to curl up in Iggy's arms and go back to his quiet dreaming.
The blonde girl groaned in an annoyed way at Fang's seemingly innocent protest and slapped him upside the head, "Erasers!" she hissed angrily, not unlike a snake.
"Holy shit!" he swore, shooting upright. The first thing that crossed his mind, How could this have happened? It seemed impossible! They hadn't seen nor heard for an Eraser or the School since the day Ari died. Heck, they were almost starting to relax about the whole thing! But no, it seemed they'd spoken too soon. While they were relaxing, taking trips to the City and watching the days go by the School was watching them.
Obviously, they were getting sloppy. All of them. Whatever happened to "constant vigilance"? Watching your back? They'd grown so accustomed to the quiet life they'd completely forgotten why they weren't still living like hermits in Colorado, or like some type of second rate slaves in the School.
He felt his heart begin to race, even faster than usual, thinking of everything they had to lose. The younger ones' innocence, happiness, life itself! This was not good by any means.
Max rolled her eyes sarcastically before running to wake the younger ones, her expression obviously saying something along the lines of "shut up and don't talk that way." Fang could imagine his probably mirrored hers.
"Ig," Fang whispered, looking over to his left, where Iggy had been sleeping peacefully at his side the night before. But, he spoke to the air, because it seemed Iggy gotten up long before, and had been up for some time since then. He didn't know how he'd missed that, because usually the minute one of them woke up the other quickly followed. But now it seemed Fang had slept right through it.
He glanced over to his right, and saw the tall, blonde figure bent over Nudge, attempting to shake awake the sleeping girl. So far, his attempts seem to have been in vain.
"C'mon!" Max yelled at him, pulling Gazzy up out of bed. Fang realized he'd been sitting up in bed, staring at everyone else like an idiot for the past few moments, when he should have been helping Iggy and Max prepare for the Erasers to breech their door. Talk about out of practice.
Quickly, Fang hopped out of bed and shoved the mattress back into the couch. He checked in his emotions, as he should have done when he'd first woken up, and took a deep breath to slow his pulse, mapping out escape routes, plans for emergencies and running everything Jeb had ever taught him in his mind. Dammit, why was he so nervous?
Total, the annoying little pest he was, was running in circles barking and whining like some type of idiot dog. "Shut up!" Fang hissed, picking up the little dog and attempting to soothe it's clamor.
It was still hard to register, that this really was happening. The Erasers were storming their home (for lack of a better word.) Even in Colorado, they hadn't ambushed them at home, they'd gotten them when they went out. This was... well, somewhat disrespectful. Not that the Erasers were respectful in any manor, but this was certainly the crowning blow. Attacking them in their own home.
"Fang!" he turned around to the sound of his name a second time this morning, but this time instead of Max's angry glare he came face to face with a worried looking Iggy.
"What?" he asked, shooing Total towards the back door, hoping there weren't Erasers standing right outside the door waiting for the little dog. No matter how annoying Total got, he had to admit, he didn't want Angel's prized possession to end up as Eraser food.
"Don't just stand there!" He sounded scarily like Max at first, then Iggy's voice turned quieter, softer more like himself, "I heard them this morning, they're right down the street, lots of them and they're coming quickly."
Ah, Fang thought to himself, so that's why he was already up. Obviously, he'd been the one to warn Max about the Erasers, the blonde herself hadn't seen nor heard them. But, thankfully, she'd chosen to take Iggy's word. Though Fang found himself disappointed Iggy hadn't told him instead of the older girl.
"What d'you think they're going to do?" he asked, taking a step closer, he discreetly took Iggy's hand into his own. He was wondering if perhaps Iggy had been able to hear their plans for the attack. It was unlikely, of course, they'd probably been speaking in code, or at least muffled their voices somewhat. Still, if he had that would give them somewhat of an advantage over their Eraser foes. Or leastways make them more or less evenly matched.
"Kill," Iggy reported plainly, "Nothing out of the ordinary there."
"Does Max have a plan?" he wondered aloud.
"Get out as soon as possible."
"That makes sense." Fang nodded to himself, thankful she wasn't going to try to play hero like she usually did. Knowing, though, if the opportunity to avenge their years at the School arose she'd most likely take it.
"Amazingly, it does." Iggy seemed to be thinking along the same lines.
"But, don't just stand there, she'll have your head!" he said, urging him towards the doorway, mostly for show of course, trying to make sure Max wouldn't find a reason to head their way.
He then quietly added, "I've got to take the younger ones out now."
"Be careful," Fang warned, and discreetly squeezed his hand. He couldn't help feeling a bit like a mother hen, worried about Iggy and the rest of the Flock. Iggy mostly, of course, simply because of their closeness. All the same, he could imagine Max felt much of the same way. Seeing as she was self-appointed mother of the Flock.
"I'll try," Iggy said and his hand quietly slipped from Fang's own as he stepped off to get the younger ones and lead them out. And not too soon at that.
Crack! The sound was earsplitting, and the site was veritably horrifying as one huge Eraser paw came crashing through the boarded up front door.
Crack! Crack! The second two came without pause, one right after the other, with two bloodied fists sticking out of the door like some horrible decorative plaque. Bang! The door fell over loudly, then bounced back up as if the floor were made of rubber and not solid, cold concrete.
"Welcome to the party," the voice was a deep, rumbling growl of an Eraser, but the shrieks of delight were that of humans. Whitecoats, interns, and the bastard himself, Jeb Bachedler.
"No crashers allowed," that, of course, was Max. Her typical, tough sarcasm still reigned through even as she delivered a hard kick to the Eraser's stomach. But instead of falling over, wheezing and gagging, like they usually did, the Eraser grabbed her foot in either hand and gave it a good, hard twist.
"Ah!" she cried, pulling away and gingerly placed weight on the ball of her injured foot.
"Max! Run!" that was Gazzy, running towards her and pointing wildly at a small, bleeping machine he'd attached to the wall. Realizing they had no time, Fang and Max both turned and covered their face with their arms. Hoping to protect themselves from the explosion.
Boom! As usual, Iggy and Gazzy's homemade explosives went off without a hitch. Several whitecoats fell to their knees, coughing as they inhaled bits of brick and dust. The Erasers only spit the white chalky stuff out of their mouths before advancing forward.
"C'mon, sweetheart, we need to get you out of here," One thought crossed Fang's mind as Jeb spoke, you bastard.
"Shut up!" she yelled, punching an Eraser hard in the jaw with the crack of breaking bone.
Fang, who'd been busily throwing punches at a smaller Eraser the whole time, felt his breath catch as a furry hand landed on his shoulder.
"Move aside," Fang turned quickly before the voice could register with his mind, executing a quick chop to the Eraser's neck before he had time to recognize the face.
But when he did, time seemed to stop, Ari.
"I," Fang began, giving him a sharp kick in the ribs, "Thought," Fang's fist met Ari's neck, "You," fist to nose, "Were," foot to cheekbone, "Dead." fist to temple.
"You know what they say," Ari said casually, pushing his fist hard into Fang's stomach, "some things never die."
"Shame," Fang answered through gritted teeth, he closed his eyes shut, trying to block out the feeling of Ari's fist tearing into his organs. He took a deep, hard breath, and then uppercut Ari's jaw so hard his neck nearly snapped again.
As Ari started to fall back he flailed his arms wildly, his claws catching Fang's upper arm and slicing through his skin.
He swore, pulling away just enough so he could check the damages, "You are an asshole!" he told Ari, stepping firmly on his hand, he could hear all the little bones snapping as he did so.
"I saw you!" the wolf-boy wheezed, swinging his foot around and catching Fang behind the knees, bringing him down effectively.
"I saw you," he said again, clambering to his feet, "You and that other freak- the dead weight- alone together. What is he, your boyfriend?"
Fang gritted his teeth and set his jaw, determined not to let Ari get a reaction out of him. Instead, he quickly picked himself up and landed another quick kick to Ari's rib cage. This time, hard enough to send him reeling unto the ground.
"Jealous?" Fang sneered. It was taking every muscle of his will power stop himself from screaming "You got a problem with that?" and pounding Ari into a pulp, and then pounding that pulp into the ground. But he knew that Ari deserved a slower, more painful death than simply being beaten senseless, so, instead, he quenched his thirst for Ari's suffering by driving the heel of his foot hard into the wolf-boy's trachea.
From this angle he could see why Ari hadn't pounded him into the floor yet, he looked much more patchwork-y, less smooth Eraser and more Frankenstein monster. His dad obviously hadn't done a very good job putting him back together.
"Of you two fa-" But Fang cut him off, giving him a hard kick in the head and crushing his neck as best he could.
"Shut up," he said, spitting at Ari's unconscious body.
He turned around, careful to stay arms reach from Ari's body, should he suddenly regain his senses. He could see that Iggy hadn't the time to shoo the little ones out the door before the attack, seeing as Angel was busily controlling the mind of a young intern, who had turned on her Eraser creations and was now lunging at one with a long, thin needle in hand.
Gazzy had disappeared behind the couch, Fang suspected he was setting up more explosives. He could see Nudge, hovering just above the grasp of a few whitecoats, dropping bits of plaster on their heads. Iggy he assumed was setting explosives with Gazzy, and Max was locked in a bitter battle with yet another Eraser.
"Here," Fang said, cracking a metal rod over the back of the thing's head.
"Thanks," she mumbled reluctantly, turning and breaking the jaw of another one with a well placed windmill kick.
"You're welcome!" he rolled his eyes at her ingratitude, finding himself face to face with an Eraser on Eraser battle, obviously one controlled by Angel.
"Did'ja see who joined us?" he said, directing his comment to Max, who he was standing back to back with.
"No, who?" He could hear her manage another strong punch to an Eraser's stomach.
"Your old friend, Ari," he smiled, pulling the long, gorilla like arms of an Eraser behind their owner, twisting his shoulders till the wolf-man howled in pain.
"The dead one?" she asked suspiciously.
"You guessed it," he answered, giving the same Eraser a strong uppercut.
"Crud," was all she said.
Fang smirked to himself as he watched three Erasers knock heads at Angel's will. No matter how creepy her powers got, one had to admit they were extremely useful.
"Get out!" Gazzy's small voice rose over the crowd, "Get out, now!" Time for the Big Bang, Fang thought to himself, snapping his wings out and shooting up, just escaping the grasp of a very confused intern.
"Out now!" Max echoed Gazzy's words, scooping up Total, who'd locked his jaw around the wrist of a whitecoat.
Quickly, the flying bodies shot out of the great hole in the wall, still left behind by Gazzy's first explosion.
"How long do we have?" Max called to the blonde boy over the roar of the panic below.
"Ten seconds!" he called back.
She didn't even need to say anything, they all shot forward, flapping and banking as fast as they could possibly manage, pitying the poor Erasers and whitecoats who'd be left behind for the Big Bang.
"Something went wrong."
"Didn't work.
"Horrible complications."
"It was too soon."
"Dunno if he'll make it."
"Shame he was so young."
"Such a tragedy."
Fang could hear the voices rushing past his door, their footsteps clamoring after each other, not even bothering to check on the experiments like they usually did. He could hear a lot of shouting and whispering, people's voices turned grave and others turned angry. He had no idea what had happened, he suspected it was another failed experiment. All he knew was that something had gone horribly, horribly wrong.
"Head count!" Max's voice was loud and forceful, honestly she could have had a wonderful career in the military.
"One!" Angel pipped up, "And one-and-one-third, and one-and-two-thirds!" Celeste and Total's honorary numbers.
"Two!" Gazzy bellowed from behind, where he was spearing a worm on a stick. How easily his mind wandered.
"Three!" Nudge called cheerfully, she'd just been happy to kick Eraser ass again.
Then, there was a pause. A long, torturous, heart-wrenching pause.
"Four?" Max called unsurely, as if she were just hoping she hadn't heard. But even she had been listening at the time, and she'd heard the silence. She knew what it meant. Even if she wasn't ready to admit it.
Her voice wavering in dread, then said the name, "Iggy?"
She said something after that, something Fang didn't hear, because his heart had dropped into his stomach, pounding so loudly that he couldn't hear anything but the sound of Ari's voice taunting him.
"What is he, your boyfriend?"
"Kids?" the voice was soft, strong, not at all like the usual whitecoats. Who spoke firmly, but with the constant fear that their charges were going to use their mutant powers to attack.
"What?" Max looked up at him with round eyes, perhaps wondering why the man was speaking so kindly to them.
They'd been sitting in a small room with three other kids for the past fifteen minutes or so, just kind of goofing off. There was one black girl a couple years younger than them, she said her name was Nudge. She was nice, but she never kept her mouth shut.
Then there was a little blonde boy, he was nice too, but he smelled awful. There was also a baby, about a year old. A little girl, according to the blonde boy they were siblings.
"Hi," he smiled, holding his hand out for her to shake. He was a tall man, one with dark hair and a strong chin, "I'm Jeb." Max shook his hand, and then he held his and out to Fang, then the talkative girl, the little boy, and he smiled at the cooing baby.
"Most of you know Iggy, the boy who went into surgery today, right?" They all nodded, except the baby, "Well something went wrong, I'm afraid..."
Wrong? Fang wondered to himself, What could have gone wrong?
"Iggy's not going to be able to see anymore."
When they'd first realized Iggy was missing, for the first time in months, Max felt on the verge of tears. Because she felt like she'd failed him, why hadn't she noticed he was gone in the first place? Why didn't she pull her head out of her bitter feud with Jeb long enough to check on everyone else?
But she wasn't the worst of the group, Angel was distressed, that was for sure, Nudge was oddly silent, Gazzy kept staring off into space as if waiting for him to come back, but Fang seemed to have lost all purpose in life.
He'd sat alone in the corner ever since they'd returned to the warehouse, half of which had survived the blast. Thankfully, the side with the supplies.
She'd asked him about halfway through the night if he was okay, he shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut, as if he didn't want Max to see his eyes. But no matter, she could tell just by looking at him he was on the verge of tears. Which was an amazing feat as far as Fang went.
In fact, as she looked over at him, she realized he looked a lot like he might kill himself. She hoped he didn't.
Half an hour ago, the younger ones had gone on a mission to clear away as much residue from their battle as possible. The Erasers had cleaned away a lot of their debris. Namely the bodies, but the rest it seemed was left up to them. No matter how worked up they all were, this was no time to get sloppy and let themselves get discovered.
Now it was just Fang and Max. Normally, they would have all gone, but seeing as Fang would not move she thought it'd be best not to pester him. And she'd stayed behind to make sure he didn't hang himself.
There was something different about Fang, she knew. She just couldn't put her finger on it. He'd always been a loner, but lately he and Iggy had grown close, very close. Why, though? Not that it bothered her, it was just so damn sudden and the way they looked at each other-
"Max! Max!" her head snapped up to see Angel picking through the debris.
"What, sweetheart? What happened?" she asked, coming to her feet to take Angel's hand and make sure she didn't fall.
"He's breathing! Nudge says he's breathing!" she cried, jumping up and down excitedly.
"What? Who?" Max's brow furrowed.
"Iggy!"
Fang looked like he was going to die from pure shock and happiness.
A/N: In regards to the flashbacks, my envision of the School is more or less like that of When the Wind Blows (which, for the record, is not a prequel to MR:TAE), as opposed to MR Max's description of living in a cage. Just clearing things up. In regards to the flashbacks, my envision of the School is more or less like that of (which, for the record, is not a prequel to MR:TAE), as opposed to MR Max's description of living in a cage. Just clearing things up.
I thought I put this up Monday...