"Max, Micah is back!" Angel yelled. I sat up. I think I had fallen asleep on the couch. Whoa. Since when does Maximum Ride take naps? I looked at my watch. Since two hours ago. I threw my hair into a ponytail.
"How do you know?" I asked sleepily.
"Because he's walking up to the door right now!" I nodded.
"Hide all the boxes," I whispered. "Tell the others." She nodded and ran to the back room. He knocked on the door.
"What do you want?" He looked at me blankly.
"I've been giving the fact that you have wings some thought, and it doesn't bother me." I shrugged.
"I personally don't care if it bothers you or not," I hissed. "I have a new life. I hate you. You almost killed my boyfriend, you try to rape me, and you get drunk at a party, so why the hell would I ever go back to you?" He sighed and looked up at me with apologetic eyes.
"Max, I'm really sorry," he whispered. "I don't know what's gotten into me over the past few months."
How about the past few decades? I thought snidely. I rolled my eyes.
"Micah, I never loved you. Ever. What part of that don't you get?"
"The part that you actually lied about it. Max, I'm not leaving until you take me back," he protested. He crossed his arms.
"You better get cozy because that's where you're going to die." Fang walked up beside me. He put his arm around my waist.
"Max, your mom needs you to come do her a favor," he said quietly. I nodded and shut the door.
"The bastard won't go away unless I come back to him," I whispered. I heard a low growl build up deep inside his chest. "Just so you know, I told him to get cozy cause that's where he's going to die." Fang grinned.
"Are you going to let me kill him?" Fang asked hopefully.
"No I meant of natural not leaving a spot causes," I said sadly.
"Oh he will move." He had a mischievous grin on his face. Was this going to be good or a disaster? I frowned.
"Don't do anything stupid," I ordered. He nodded.
"Since when do I ever do anything stupid?" I rolled my eyes and he smirked at me.
"Uh…just about everything you do!" I exclaimed. He made a sarcastic gasp and put his hand over his heart.
"I'm hurt," he said, then sniffled.
"Aw. You'll live. Wouldn't you have to have feelings for that to have hurt?" he frowned.
"I've got more feelings than you. Damn. I love a bitch like you."
"I'm so going to kick your ass," I warned. His eyes lit up.
"Or you could just try that other thing instead," he suggested with a grin. I rolled my eyes and walked to find my mom.
"What did you need?" I asked. She looked confused.
"I…huh?" I sighed.
"Never mind." I walked to find Fang.
"Was that just a save to get me away from him?" He nodded.
"He's still here," he whined.
"What's your idea to get him away?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. He grinned.
"Put Nudge out there to ramble on with him, and then release…Gazzy on him." He had a funny look on his face.
"Okay." He nodded to the two of them, and they went outside.
"Now, we just wait for—"
"AHH!" We heard Nudge scream. We ran outside, but Micah, Gazzy, and Nudge were gone.
"Oh my God! This is all my fault!" Fang whispered. I shook my head.
"No it isn't." He looked up.
"Then whose is it?" he hissed. I sighed.
"Micah's." I had tears streaming down my face, but I quickly wiped them away. It was time for me to be strong. Bring the old Max back. The one that didn't cry. The one that was a great leader who never told anyone when something was wrong. Okay, well, occasionally Fang, but that was still rare. To save Gazzy and Nudge, the old Max is just what we needed.
"What are we going to do? He has my brother!" Angel shrieked. I nodded. She was crying.
"We're going to find them. They're going to be okay. I promise." She nodded, and Iggy walked in.
"Hey guys, have you seen Gazzy? I need him to help me with something…what's wrong?" Fang walked over and silently explained our situation. Iggy's face turned stone cold.
"That son of a bitch! He's just asking to die! First, he calls Max a lying little bitchy bird-freak, then he won't sign the damn papers, and then he…never mind.
"Then he almost has Fang killed, betrayed us all, created us into what we are now, and now he's kidnapping Nudge and Gazzy? He is going to regret everything he's ever done. I am going to rip that bastard to shreds." He stormed out of the room, and everyone just blinked. Angel quit crying, but she was shocked. None of us had ever heard Iggy talk like that.
The door flung open and Flyboys started pouring in.
"What the fuck?" Fang yelled. I rolled my eyes.
"Iggy get in here!" I shouted, but by the time I was, he was standing by my side.
"Let's take them down!" he exclaimed.
'Max, shouldn't we save one and follow it back to wherever it goes? That'll be where Gazzy and Nudge are.' Wow. Angel had a good plan. I nodded and she must have told Fang and Iggy because they nodded.
One jumped on Angel, but she flung it off of her. She did a roundhouse kick in the spine, sending it to the floor. Mom and Ella were just staring wide-eyed at us.
Fang was slamming two of their heads together. They looked confused for a second, and then he elbowed them in the spine, causing them to fall too.
More ran through the door. They jumped on Angel, trapping her, and I ran to help her. Something hard collided with my head, but I stayed conscious.
"Stay—away—from—them!" Fang growled. I picked the unconscious Angel up, and I started to hand her to Mom, but then when Iggy screamed, I changed my mind.
"What?" I shot around to see one with a gun pointed towards them both, and then me. They were holding Fang and Iggy back with their arms behind their back.
"Come with us now,
and we won't hurt you." I looked at Fang.
"Max, no!"
They punched him in the stomach, and then two more pointed guns
towards Ella and Mom. Iggy let out a snarl. I wiped every expression
off of my face except one…anger.
"I…Fang, we have to." He looked up and sighed.
"You…you're right." They all shoved us out the door.
"Don't try anything," I heard them warn Mom and Ella, who were in tears. I shook my head at them and then smiled.
They tried to take Angel out of my arms, but I wouldn't let them.
"Don't touch my baby," I spat. They growled but listened. Fang walked beside me.
"This is all my fault," he said again, a little louder.
"Hurry up and get them in the van!" I heard Micah yell. I laughed.
"You know, I was expecting this. Ever since I found out you're a traitorous bastard, I knew something like this was going to happen." He smirked at me.
"I always knew you were a bird-freak," he said shaking his head.
"Yeah. You should since, you know, you made me!" I screamed. They put us in the back, and slammed the doors.
"Max!" Nudge squealed. I let out a sigh of relief and nodded. She hugged me, and Gazzy did too.
"What are we going to do?" Gazzy whispered. He looked down at Angel and gasped.
"She's just unconscious," I assured him. He nodded, but still looked really concerned.
"Max, guess what!" Nudge squealed. I looked at her.
"What Nudge?" I was afraid she was going to ramble.
"I have a new power!" I looked at her.
"What is it sweetie?" she sighed.
"I can see the present." I raised an eyebrow. "That's not happening where I am. Right now, they're setting up cages at the School for us," she whispered sadly. I took a deep breath and then nodded.
"That's really great Nudge," I said encouragingly. She nodded.
"Where am I?" Angel whispered. We explained out situation, and she just curled up beside Gazzy. He put his arm around her, and she hugged him. It was so sweet. If it wasn't for the fact it was because we were headed to hell. Not literally because at this place, that would have been a blessing.
"Fang, this isn't your fault," I whispered, sliding over to where I was beside him. He nodded.
"Yes it is. If Nudge and Gazzy had been inside, we could have taken them. Who put them outside to get taken first? Me." He hit the back of his head against the side of the van. I put my arms around his, and I laid my head on his shoulder. There was no way to convince him. We all sat in silence.
What were we going to do? There wasn't really much we could do. We just had to wait and see. Would we all get new powers? Who knows. Jeb said we were developing things they hadn't done. There was no way to tell if we all would or not.
This is bad. How are we going to get out of this? They're expecting me to know, but I have no clue. I guess that's what I need to do. Think of a plan.
"Max, it's going to be okay. It always is," Angel assured me. I nodded, and Fang laid his head on mine. He grabbed my hand, and he started rubbing circles on the back of it.
"I hope Mom and Ella are okay," I said sadly. Iggy nodded, and a tear rolled down his cheek.
"They better be or someone's going to pay."
"All right, get out," Micah hissed as he yanked me out. He had grabbed my arm.
"You are going to
die and rot in hell," I spat. He shook his head.
"This is
for humanity," he said simply. I head butted him.
"Ow," I whimpered putting my hand on my forehead.
"You little bitch," he yelled. He had his hand on his too. I took my hand off mine, and smirked.
"Aw, did that hurt?" he snarled, and Fang stepped in front of me.
"Touch her, and I will kill you. Right here, right now. I should have taken care of you a long time ago, but if you touch her, I will kill you." Micah smirked.
"You try that bird-boy." Fang snarled and punched Micah in the nose.
"You'd think an ninety-seven year-old man would quit asking to get his ass kicked. I have to give you your props. I don't know how you managed to play football at that age," Fang retorted. I grinned. Micah was holding his nose now. We had all heard it crack.
"Get them inside!" he shouted. I grabbed Fang's hand, and they pushed us in, with the barrel of their guns. It hurt.
They put us each in our own individual cages.
"Ow!" Nudge exclaimed once they shoved her in hers. She had slammed into the back. I opened my mouth to say something.
"Are you okay?" Gazzy asked, before I could. She nodded.
"I'm fine," she assured us all. I looked at the cage across from mine. Fang's. He was staring at the floor.
"Fang, it's not your fault!" Angel said quietly. He nodded.
"Is too."
"Dude, no it isn't!" Iggy shouted. "Whose idea was it to put
them out there in the first place?"
"Mine." Iggy frowned.
"Damn. I was hoping it was someone else's." I smiled and then looked back to Fang.
"Fang," I whispered. He looked up at me. "You were trying to get Micah off the porch. This is not your fault. It's Micah's." He sighed, defeated.
"Okay."
"Max, look," Angel whispered beside me. In the cage beside me. She was pointing towards a guard. Gazzy was laughing.
"What is so funny?" I asked curiously. He was jumping up and down, trying to swat a bug off of him. Everyone looked at him and laughed. Okay, so that was funny.
"He doesn't have anything on him," Angel whispered. I frowned.
"Then what's he doing?" I asked, dumbfounded.
"Gazzy can make people hallucinate things," she explained quickly. Then he started screaming.
"Pain," Gazzy muttered. Wow. He could be so evil if he wanted to be.
"Gazzy, that's so cool!" Iggy exclaimed. We all nodded, and then the guard started crying.
"I have no use in life! There's no reason for me to live!" Then he pulled out his gun and shot himself. We all froze.
"Oops. I didn't mean for him to do that!" Gazzy insisted. I blinked.
"Did he just shoot himself?" I asked, before laughing quietly to myself. They all nodded. "Wow. Gazzy, you could be so evil."