A/N: I'm sorry, again, about not updating for like, months. Here is a pretty long chapter that can hopefully make up for it! It's summer now, so I'm gonna -try- to update more frequently. It all depends on how softball goes, and whether or not my family goes on vacation. And I would really appreciate reviews, because this chapter was SOOOOO hard to write. waves around a fresh batch of virtual cookies

Chapter 6

Fang POV

Ok, if I was mad before, now I was universes past furious! How dare that little twerp haunt us all our lives, and threaten my family. Max was next to me, shaking. I couldn't quite tell you why. She could be sad, seeing her little brother alive after he died… the second time. She was probably fuming over his threats too. She could even, deep down inside, be scared. Who knew when we'd see our daughter again. I knew that she was going through old fighting techniques. So was I. She needed me though, and I wrapped my arms around her. She glanced up at me before wriggling out of my arms.

She whispered, "I need to be able to react."

She had a point so I nodded, a pained look in my eyes. I decided that now was the time to attack.

"One my count. One… Two…"

We sprang at him. Max was kicking viciously everywhere she could and I was punching at his head. He fell to the ground and we backed off. Then he slowly stood up.

"Thought that would work huh, big sis? Oh and you." He turned to me. "I'm assuming you're my brother in law now. You guys were always so predictable. But now to the point. Give me your daughter and I'll leave you guys alone. Maybe." He chuckled a dark laugh.

My hand shot out again to punch him more, but he was to fast. Inhumanly fast. He grabbed my wrist and threw it away from him, hard. Max gasped, and when we looked closer at him we saw it. The faint shimmer of metal under his skin. He was a robot, in Ari form, to toy with our minds. And he wanted our daughter.

"You're never getting our daughter!"

Robo Ari rolled his eyes. "I knew you would say that." And he lunged at us.

Max POV

He wanted little Sky, and both Fang and I knew that wasn't gonna happen. As Ari lunged, I felt the adrenalin and self protection kick in. And that old maternal instinct I had when I used to fight to help protect Angel, that kicked in too, but a hundred times more now that I also had Sky, my own daughter. And I knew that we would never let Ari III survive.

Whoever keeps building these always leaves a weak spot. It was always really obvious. So when we were countering his attack, I was watching. He seemed to have a lot of upper body weight, so I decided to go for his knees. While Fang kept him occupied, I circled around back, and sent a kick to the back of his knees. He instantly buckled.

"Now what?!" I asked fang frantically as I jumped on Ari III's back to hold him down.

He thought quickly. "I think we need to try to crush his head, because part of his system is up there, and also his torso because they probably put controls there too."

I grimaced. His use of the word crush brought out the softy in me, but we had to, for the sake of our daughter. I tear slid down my cheek as he trod to Gazzy's room to grad his baseball bat. Ari III was struggling under me, but face down, he had far less strength then me. When Ari III's system in his head was disabled, he stopped moving. I got up while Fang disabled the rest of his system and I trod to the closet. I saw that all the emergency kits had been grabbed. My heart swelled with pride. They were always one top of things, my little flock. I told myself to stop being so emotional. I silently went to all the rooms, grabbing anything useful or important. In the past I would never have condoned packing heavy, but now that we had so much more, I knew the kids were going to need some stuff.

Angels stuffed animals had been left behind. I knew it must have killed her. I grabbed Celeste, now quite worn, and put it in the bag I was holding. I grabbed a few more small things she would want, and some more clothes for her to travel in, and moved on to Nudges room. I grabbed her hidden diary, some pictures and clothes. By now, Fang had finished and he was doing the same for Gazzy and Iggy. I moved to Ella's room. He pictures of Iggy were first, then her childhood blanket. Clothes for her too, and I was off to Sky's room. I started crying.

Her soft pink carpet and matching walls, her furniture, her toys. Everything I had never had, I had given to my daughter. And now I was going to have to leave it all. I grabbed her baby book, which I had put pictures of the room in. I grabbed more items for Sky, but she was a baby and needed more, like diapers and pacifiers. Fang slipped his arms around me, and I turned into him and sobbed into his chest. He rubbed soothing circles on my back, and I started to calm down.

"All these years have turned me soft Fang." I murmured.

"Never think that Max. We just have more to lose now."

I nodded. We grabbed our bags and headed to the kitchen to grab any extra food. The rose petals on the floor made that stupid lump in my throat come back. I couldn't understand how things had gone so wrong, so fast. As we grabbed non perishable foods I remembered that we needed to grab the house papers and stuff. Things we never had to worry about before, suddenly were important. Then I realized Mom and Dad would have put those in their kits. It made me smile that I had parents now to help take care of the little things.

When we were just finished, I heard the soft swoosh of wings. My flock had come back as reinforcements.

A/N: Ok, semi cliff hanger. Sorry! Next chapter, I will try to put in some flock POV. Please review!