Er, hi. *holds up shield*

Okay. I realize that it took me way too long to update. Reason: I was in China! Without a computer. There was wifi, but no computer because of an idiot called my brother.

So, I wrote a SUPER LONG chapter as your treat. And... Answers! Yes. You get a lot of answers in this chapter (:

I wrote a lot of this while listening to "Love the Way You Lie" by Eminem. I can't stop listening to that song... And Spain better win the world cup! Because stupid Netherlands beat Brazil and if they win, I'll punch someone in the face. Plus orange is the most gay jersey color ever.

Anyways... i dont own Max Ride.

Enjoy~

Previously:

I landed right between Fang and Villandi, staring at her with a "gotcha" look.

"Max?" she asked, with just a tint of irritation in her voice. Yes. Max won.

"So," I started, dragging it out to make her more annoyed.

She stood there patiently, with a smile plastered on her face.

Fine, I'll get to the point, I thought.

"You know how to get us out of here," I said, raising an eyebrow.

Max POV

For an instant, the kind mask disappeared off of her face. It was as if she was a computer, and my words had just unwired her brain.

Literally. Her face and her eyes went BLANK, as if shut down.

Then, a second later, the façade was back up.

"I don't understand," she said, frowning.

"You know full well what I'm talking about," I pressed, glaring at her even stronger than before.

"You must be mistaken." She kept up that confused look.

But it didn't fool me. I'd already seen behind the mask, and it was so easy to see her lies now. Same way you can't see light until you've known the dark.

"I'll give you a day to consider your options. I know you're mortal, Villandi. And I finally have a reason to hurt you."

Right after I said it, I knew that it was a bad move. Yes, I was a snob, but I had more tact than that. Direct threats make you lose the intimidation you pose on other people.

Maximum Ride was losing her influence. That was bad. Really bad.

-(Time Break)-

"Night, Fang," I whispered.

No answer.

"Fang?" I said.

No answer still.

"FANG!" I shouted

"What?" he responded, annoyed.

"What is wrong with you?" I snapped.

"Shhhhhh," Villandi's distant voice said.

Oh. My. Freaking. God.

"You shut up!" I yelled back at her.

What the crap? I shouldn't have said that.

"Max," he growled. It was a real, offensive growl, which he'd only used on erasers before.

"Fang," I shot back, coldly.

"Stop it."

"Stop WHAT?" I exploded at him. I stood up, aggravated, and stomped my foot.

"That," he responded, closing his eyes.

I stopped. Had I really been that moody? Wasn't I always like this?

Okay Max. Calm down. Breathe in, breathe out.

"Sorry," I muttered, after a short pause.

No answer.

He was already asleep. No goodnight, no kiss, no nothing.

I walked back to my hammock, and sat down.

I felt so unsettled now, with all that jazz about Villandi. I didn't need an enemy, especially one who didn't need to sleep.

I lied down, and closed my eyes, trying to coax myself into sleep. But my body refused to cooperate. I turned this way and that, trying to find a comfortable position.

But my mind wouldn't shut down. I kept thinking about the growl Fang had directed at me. It replayed in my head, over and over, like a broken record. Being in this god forsaken cave thing was messing with my mind. No fighting, no running, no stealing cars, no… no flock. I sighed.

After about 10 minutes, I couldn't take it anymore. I jumped out of my hammock and walked to the window hole thing. I stood in the frame for a few seconds, looking around at the cavern. How could it possibly be inpenetrable?

"Max?" Villandi called. "Go to bed." She was floating in the air, at the top of the cavern.

Who did this girl think she was? My mother?

"I can't sleep," I responded, rolling my eyes.

She didn't say anything (thank god) and I jumped out the window hole thing (I needed to come up with a better name) and flew to the wall of the cavern.

How could we possibly be stuck in here? This was rock. Just rock.

But it wasn't.

I remember…. A door closing, the water turning into stone as soon as I entered the cavern…. It was all a blur now, but one thing was clear in my mind: This place was modified. Planned. Part of the "test" that Jeb always talked about.

But… how to get out? That was the hard part.

Villandi would know. She knew that I knew that she knew, so she would spill. Wow. I used a lot of "knew"s.

"Max!" someone screamed.

I gasped, and without even knowing it, I screamed back, "Angel!"

And then, like that, I felt like I was knocked head over heels, electrified, set on fire, and kicked in the gut – Angel. The flock.

Reality hadn't really set on me in this stupid cave. I mean, the flock was out there, on their own, probably following Angel to stardom again, maybe in cages already at this point…

I was sitting here. I've been freaking sitting here for god knows how long? Obsessed with Fang, Jealous of Villandi…

You have no idea how much I wanted to punch myself in the face at that moment.

"Max! Go to bed!" Villandi called again. Ugh.

Then, I yawned. Turns out, I was sleepy. I hated it when other people were right.

-(TIME BREAK)-

I glared at Villandi.

"Spill," I spat.

She floated there, in front of the cabin, trying to look calm and collected, but I could tell that she was practically cowering in fear.

"M-Max," she stammered, with pain in her voice. Fake pain, of course.

"I don't want a sob story," I snapped.

She gulped, looking unsure.

"Villandi," I said, in a dangerously calm voice.

Meanwhile, Fang just stood there, looking uncomfortable.

Alright. That kid was having issues. I was head over heels in love with him, but something wasn't right. He wasn't that strong, by-my-side, right wing man anymore. It was something to do with Villandi, I knew it.

"I will speak the truth," she finally decided.

I nodded, waiting for her to continue.

She took a deep breath. She kind of wobbled in the air… if that's possible.

I saw some crazed fear in her eyes… she was becoming easier and easier to read. And more and more like a real person.

"Max, Fang, I was raised the same way that you were. An experiment in a dog crate. They created me to be the image of perfection, as was Dylan."

I nodded. That made sense.

"But I've been alive for 16 years, unlike Dylan. They modified me, chopped of my limbs and attached new ones without using any morphine, changed my eye color, enhanced my brain, made me run 35 miles nonstop, shot me in the heart to see if I could heal… well, it was hell. You should know."

She smiled sadly at us.

"But then, a mysterious man came, and they released me from my cage… He smiled at me. You know, it was the first time anyone had smiled at me. I mean, not a 'Ooo, this is going to be the most painful thing you'll ever experience' kind of smile. A real, sincere smile."

I sighed. Villandi was… an experiment. She was one of us. It was hard to still hate her.

Villandi got a sad look on her face, and her eyes became unfocused.

"And he said, 'Do you trust me?' and I said, 'No. You're one of them.' You know what it's like. Trust doesn't exist to us. But all he did was smile again with an understanding look in his eyes. And then he took me to a room and made instant ramen for us."

It was really weird hearing Villandi say "Instant ramen."

"He asked me questions, and he was just – just so easy to talk to. At the end, he asked me if I wanted to go to live with him. Like, as his daughter. And I said yes."

I nodded, remembering how much I'd wanted Jeb to be my dad.

"He took me to another building. It wasn't unlike the place I just left, and I felt betrayed."

She sighed, pointedly, shaking her head.

"But it wasn't. He never ran stupid tests on me. He taught me things… how to heal others, how to fly like this, how to create things."

She waved her hand, and a small bird appeared in her palm. Then, she waved her hand again and it disappeared.

"My healing powers became so strong that I didn't need to sleep or eat. I could heal a tired mind or an empty stomach."

That was something I definitely envied.

"You're probably wondering who this guy is," Villandi said, looking right into my eyes, as if suddenly snapped out of her story.

"Yeah," I answered.

"I call him Mr. Richard, but you know him as Dr. H-G."

My teeth clenched involuntarily. Why did this guy just keep showing up in my life. Dr. H-G. The one who created Dylan, my 'perfect other half.' Who KILLED Fang (until I brought him back). The one who stole Angel, ruined my Vegas vacation, forced us to live on-the-run again… He was a direct descendant of the devil. Okay, maybe that's kind of harsh. Maybe a descendant of the devil's first cousin twice removed or something.

"He was the kindest man I've ever met," Villandi continued. "But then, he found out about you."

She spat the last word, and I saw anger flare up in her eyes.

"He was obsessed with you. Your wings, your mission… Heck, even your clothing style." Her eyes flashed briefly to Fang.

"He all but forgot about me. He spent every living minute researching you, watching you through his cameras, sending –"

"Cameras?" I exclaimed, my voice cracking a bit. He'd been watching us through cameras?

"Yeah, you didn't know?" she said casually.

"No! He has cameras? Where?"

Villandi rolled her eyes. She was becoming more and more of a real person and less and less of a machine. More and more of a real-life bitch, that is.

"He practically owns the world," she said, with a 'duh' kind of tone. "Yeah. He has access to every camera in the world. Well, at least security cameras. I mean, he knows how that tracking chip from before totally failed, so he decided to use cameras instead. I mean, you couldn't remove all the cameras, right? Like, he had his men put cameras on animals, trees, random mountains, in houses, on airplanes, helicopters… you get my point. And he has little minions everywhere."

My jaw dropped. He could watch us. That explained EVERYTHING. My mind flashbacked to the Eraser attack at the house, Dylan and Jeb just randomly arriving, Hunka-Gunka just appearing in Las Vegas. That was how he always found us.

"Is he watching us now?" I said in a small voice.

She shrugged. "He's not supposed to be."

Wow. That was really, really convincing. Obviously, Villandi wasn't supposed to be telling us this… was she?

"Max," she said. Her voice was calm and forceful at once, like a huge boulder being slowly lowered on me.

"What, Vills?" I snapped back. Vills? Creative nickname there.

She sighed, exasperated.

This whole time, Fang had been staring at Villandi intently, as if expecting her to say something.

All this time, there had been something going on between Fang and Villandi. Well, not like that (Really? Fang wouldn't dare.), but they'd been exchanged worried looks every now and then, as if they knew something that I didn't.

I tried asking about it a few times, but both always ignored me.

"Max?" Villandi's voice jerked me back to reality.

"Uh, yeah?" I said, pretending to be very interested in my fingernails. (That would actually look pretty convincing with most girls, but for me, no.)

"Max," Fang said in a playful tone, rolling his eyes.

"Anyway, he said that I had to keep you two in here. I didn't even think about it. I hated you and your flock, your guts, how you took my life away from me." She seemed like she was going to cry. She looked down at her hands, which were clasped together, and shook her head.

"Villandi?" Fang asked, tentatively.

"M-My name's not Villandi," she stuttered. I saw her ball her hands into fists.

Fang and I both waited expectantly.

She looked up at us, and her eyes seemed 10 years younger than they seemed before. "I don't have a name."

I frowned at her. "You lived with Hunka-Gunka. What did he call you? Like, Shawty or something?"

Fang rolled his eyes.

Villandi laughed a bit. "You know, I wasn't the only one. There was another boy, and another girl. They were like me – they had the same powers, molded to the same image of perfection. But we didn't have names. Richard called us by our experiment numbers. Mine was 247."

I clenched my fists. That was utterly inhumane. That was like my mom saying "Hi, 349, would you like a cookie?"

"I never knew that I should have a real name. I mean, I considered 247 my identity. Even after the other two died, I still thought of myself as 247." She nodded to herself.

"Well, anyway, I said that I'd stay in here. I wanted to make Richard happy. He was like my father. The only person who cared about me."

My mind automatically flashed to Jeb, how much I had loved him.

"And he led me to this cave, made me memorize everything that I was supposed to tell you about it. And then he –"

"Wait," I interrupted. "You memorized all this, didn't you? You're telling us this on purpose."

She looked shocked. But there was no 'you got me' kind of look on her face.

"Max," she said steadily. "I don't hate you the way I once did. It's not your fault."

I cocked an eyebrow at her.

She took a deep breath. "Max. I hated you. I hated you with all of my heart, you need to understand that. But what you need to understand more is that I realized… It's not because of you. You can be… uncooperative at times, but that's just you. I know why he was obsessed with you. You're… magnificent. I mean, you're such survivors, so perfectly imperfect. Both of you."

It was kind of awkward, actually, to hear her say that. I could see Fang shifting around out of the corner of my eye.

"So I changed my mind. I'm going to help you get out of here and find your flock."

I nodded, keeping a skeptical look on my face. It's hard to just believe someone when they tell you that their idol is your worst enemy, and then they tell you that they're going to help you. Especially when the base of all your beliefs is 'Don't trust anyone.'

But… There was something different in her eyes. They weren't blank like they were before. It was the first dose of real emotion that she'd ever shown.

"You know what?" I said. "I'm going to believe you."

Both Villandi (I should stop calling her that) and Fang looked shocked. Of course, Fang's eyes widened about half a millimeter, but whatever.

"So, how do we get out?" I asked casually, breaking the awkward silence.

She sighed, looking pained.

"This cavern is a real cavern," she said. "A real cavern in this mountain. Well, Richard enhanced it. So only certain specimens can travel in and out."

"Can you?" I asked. I wasn't sure what answer I was hoping for.

"Sadly, no," she replied.

No one talked for a moment, letting it sink in. Maybe we were stuck in here forever.

"So…?" I said slowly, breaking the silence.

"We can still get out of here, though."

That helped my mood. "How?"

She smiled smugly, with a new light in her eyes. "You up for it?"

How'd you like it? Not much of a cliffie, I know. Actually, I wasn't exactly sure how they can bust out.

I. NEED. SUGGESTIONS. Please. Or else this story isn't going to continue.

Review! Suggestions/Feedback would be very, very helpful. Thanks.

Hugs and Fang,

Tammy