A/N: Hehe, once again I have made you all wait a ridiculous amount of time for this update. I apologize, this year has just been crazy. But this story is almost reaching it's end. There are two more chapters and a prologue after this!
Warning: Extreme language, violence, and mental trauma. Please do not read this chapter if any of these offend you. I have still written with the restriction of T but please be aware.
Chapter 18: The Beast Within
Fang POV
'Click' the unmistakable sound of cocked gun had Iggy, Nudge and I frozen where we stood. A vile chuckle of purely malicious intent echoed around the stainless steel penthouse sized office of the one, notorious, infamous Edward Clarke. Note the sarcasm and don't judge, it's an involuntary copping mechanism and habit that I got from Max.
"Well my fine feathered friends…" Edward hissed softly as the blonde haired man with steely grey-blue eyes finally made himself apparent. "When the power went out I suspected we had pest in the building. Though I must say, I'm rather pleased that saved me the trouble of finding you myself." Clarke mused, and spoke with a heavy English accent that stressed on the vowels.
The three of us remained impassive as Clarke pompously sauntered around his office in a deliberately slow and showy gait. He took out a neat handkerchief and began polishing his small black pistol with a look of admiration in his eyes. Something in his words then clicked for me.
"You had no idea of our whereabouts?" I say through gritted teeth. Clarke didn't bother looking away from his shiny gun; instead he casually stuffed his handkerchief in his pocket and raised the pistol in our directions. He closed one eye, the other trained on us like predator stalking prey, and he grinned mischievously as his finger itched towards the trigger.
"Pshew!" Edward exclaimed, jerking the gun in mock firing. "Not one iota, you've saved me the trouble of finding you myself." he continued pretending to fire at our heads, providing his own sound effects and commentary. He giggled perversely at his past time and pulled out his handkerchief once more. I curled my hands into fists.
"Let Bridget Dwyer go." I demanded slowly and as patiently as my temper allows. I hadn't been in this guy's presence for more than a minute and he already managed to piss me off. Clarke seemed to have twisted talent for knowing how to push one's buttons.
"I'm afraid I cannot. This little birdie here-" Clarke circled around Bridget as he spoke, stroking her vivacious red hair. "is going to turn my little Maximum Ride into a breeding wh—" I growled and made a lunge for Clarke. Nudge and Iggy both struggled to hold me back.
"Calm down Fang!" Nudge hissed. "He's got a gun, he could hurt Bridget. Give me five minutes; I think I can disable his gun."
"Without touching it? You're really pushing your limits Nudge." Iggy whispered in a rush.
"Just shut up and keep him entertained." Nudge responded snappily. Having no choice but to take Nudge's word, I willed myself to calm down a glared furiously at Edward Clarke. The nefarious man sported a wicked, amused grin; he twirled the gun in his hand as though it were toy.
"I'm sorry, did I pull a feather?" Clarke guffawed at his own joke. I scrunched my nose in disgust. Leave it to us to get stuck with the wierdos. In Clarke's mad laughter, he'd unwittingly woken up Bridget. She blinked blearily, took one look at us, and dropped her jaw.
"Fang…" She whispered disbelievingly.
"Oh you know each other! How delightful!" Clarke clapped his hands. "Saves me the pain of an introduction. Introductions are so dreadfully boring, aren't they? My idea of an ideal greeting…is gun to the head and BAM!" He had the gun pressed to Bridget's cheek, and yanked her head back by the hair. Bridget's brow was covered in sweat, and her eyes became bloodshot with terror.
"Is the dude even speaking in English?" Iggy asked obnoxiously. I raised an eyebrow at him. The hell, was that idiot asking for a death wish? Iggy nudged me in Nudge's (haha, punny) direction, and my jaw dropped to form an "ohh!" kinda look. Iggy rolled his eyes and made a face that said: Play along, idiot!
"Give him some credit Iggy. He's doing rather well for a talking refrigerator." I smirked coyly. Edward gapped rather comically.
"A refrigerator? I beg your pardon young lad, but you must be out of your mind." He responds in faux contempt. "Even your little bird brain can't mix up this handsome face for a…refrigerator." He finished with disgust.
"Dude! We're in America right now! No one knows what you're saying!" Iggy exploded. Hmm, note-to-self: Iggy can't stand British accents.
"Shut up you buck-bill, you stupid American's would be nothing without us." Clarke snapped. I was starting to get irritated with this small talk, and I could see the Bridget was just as agitated in her bindings, but we had to keep talking until Nudge gave us the clear.
"First, you're bird jokes suck. My seven year old can do better than that. Second, this isn't the 1780's, get off your frikken high horse!" I snapped impatiently. My comment seemed to have done it. Edward's eyes flashed dangerously, and he sharply pressed the gun to Bridget's head.
"Enough of this foolish talk, I will end her life right now, and you're foolish little Maximum will become my bit-"
"You finish that and I kill you!" I snarled at him. Edward's lips twisted up into a wicked grin, and he pulled the safety off the gun. It made an audible click. Bridget began trembling in her seat. A sudden chill swept the room and I suddenly realized the seriousness of the situation. That frikken mental piece had a gun to Bridget's head. We were strong yes, but even we are defenseless against bullets, much less bullets straight to the noggin. Edward seemed to see the change in my stance, and he knew that I was taking him seriously now. My attention briefly, and might I add discretely, flickered to Nudge. She held five fingers out against her thigh. Five minutes…Edward didn't seem to notice the exchange.
The door behind us opened with a loud crack. At first all I saw was a whole LOT of skin, and skimpy clothes barely er…covering up. She had red hair, lots of it, and face that looked like it was smeared with paint. Her sultry lips curved into snarky smile and her eyes rolled over me, ravenously. I felt shivers run down my back.
"Lissa…" I hissed, not so politely. She pouted, making big green eyes at me.
"Oh Fang darling, is that any way to treat your old girrrl friend?" She practically purred. Oh right, part cat. Lissa made a clawing gesture as she spoke and I noticed her claws painted blood red. I scrunched my face in disgust, Iggy made gagging noises next to me.
"I'd call you a bitch but then I'd be insulting dogs everywhere," Iggy snapped at her. I stifled a snicker. This is a SERIOUS situation Fang, get it together! Lissa narrowed her eyes at Iggy.
"It's good to see you too Piggy," She snapped.
"Oh hell no! You did not just call me that you two-bit skank!" Iggy growled and lunged at Lissa. I acted quickly, roughly shoving Iggy back.
"Calm down," I hissed and gestured to Clarke who was still holding the gun to Bridget's head. But Clarke wasn't even paying attention to Lissa, if anything he looked irritated that she showed up here. I could see the similarities between Lissa and Clarke, they had the same predatory glint in their eyes, and as dumb as Lissa was, she seemed to figure out that Iggy and I had our hands tied at the moment. So with gritted teeth, I let her approach me.
"Oh Fang," She said sugary-sweet like, batting her eyelashes. "I missed you babe." She purred and ran her claws down my chest, stretching the fabric of my t-shirt thin under her nails. The fnick—she's trying to tear my shirt! I glared at her as menacingly as I could….and she laughed at me!
"Oh Fangie, don't look at me like that, I know you missed me too!"She cooed all childlike in a tone that made me want to bang my head against the nearest wall.
"Remove your hands, or I'll remove them for you." I told her coldly. Lissa flinched for a moment, but it was quickly disguised. Instead, she moved closer and closer until I could practically feel her disgusting breath on my face.
"Don't tease Fangie, you'll hurt my feelings." She says in that stupid baby voice again. Iggy made retching noises beside me, and –thank god—broke the fnicking moment between me and Lissa. Lissa glared at Iggy in disgust. She looked like she was about to whip up a storm. Thankfully, and I can't believe I'm saying this, Clarke decided to interject his pompous-ass voice into the conversation.
"What are you doing away from your position, experiment 00852?" Clarke snapped irritably at Lissa. He surprisingly looked as disgusted with Lissa as Iggy and I did. Wasn't he supposed to be her father or something?
Lissa pouted. "But Fang's here Daddy! I didn't want to miss out on the op-perr-tunity," She purred and licked her lips wetly, her claws wove around my waist and dug into my jeans. Her other hand was under my chin, forcing me to look into her disgusting glinted green eyes. I glared at her as hard as I could. Stupid bimbo didn't seem to be getting the message though. Clarke sighed irritably at Lissa's actions.
"How many times have I told you not to call me that?" His voice low and deadly.
"But Daddy—"
"Oh do shut up! I have more important matters to deal with than your filthy skin ruining my project." Clarke hissed at her.
"Uhhh…I'm not sure what's going on but…I'm with him. Get your skanky ass outta here!" Iggy jutted in.
"Shut up Iggy!" Multiple voices told him. Iggy pouted but didn't seem affected. I sometimes worry about the nerve of that kid. I glanced at Nudge and shot her a desperate, pleading look. If Lissa dug into my jeans any harder….I might need to replace my boxers…after I burn them first. Nudge shook her head, she wasn't ready yet.
"Daddy you said I could have Fangie!"
"No, I told you that if you bring me Maximum, I would spare his life!" Clarke snapped. Lissa's fingers dug into my pants.
"Oh my god! Again with Maximum Maximum Maximum! What is so special about her anyway?" Lissa whined in screechy high pitched.
"Maximum Ride is greatest scientific breakthrough of the twenty-first century! Surely even a simple-minded failure like you can understand that," He sneered at her. Lissa's hands tightened around me again and I finally snapped.
"Stop raping me!" I shouted and pushed her away sharply. Lissa gave me a half-pouty look, her attention half divided between me and her deranged father.
"Finally! I thought you were enjoying this or something Fangles." Iggy tsked disapprovingly.
"Shut up Iggy."
"Why does everyone keep telling me to shut up?" Iggy whined, with a wink. It was stupid way to stall, but one look at Nudge and we could both see that she was still in deep concentration.
"Cuz you're annoying!" I replied, playing along.
"I'll give you annoying!" Iggy shouted and made to charge at me.
"Enough!" Clarke roared over the two of us. Iggy and I froze, and Lissa –who was trying to get closer to me—stopped moving as well. I noticed a flash of movement from Nudge, she had put three fingers down already.
"You fledglings will one day appreciate the world that I am about to create. With Max's original avian-human hybrid DNA strand and my superior blue blood, we will create the greatest generation of superhumans to walk upon this earth. I will bring this world to its knees, and have it begging at my feet for their place in the world I'm about to create." Nudge put down another finger. I edged forward without realizing it. The stupid Brit was too caught up in his little speech to notice how close Iggy and I had gotten, Lissa was too busy scowling at Clarke praising Max in his own twisted way.
"I'll start with this one right here…" He continued his blackened eyes turned to Bridget's, who had been all but forgotten in our little squabbles. "You overestimate yourself dearie. There are plenty of geneticists of your caliber where I come from. No…I'm afraid your only purpose was draw out these precious ducklings." Edward's fingers hovered over the trigger, and Bridget's breathing came out in breathless gasps. There was some panic in her eye, but I felt there was something more. Her eyes weren't at all directed on Clarke, they were on us, screaming her apologizes. Oh Bridget…Nudge closed her fist.
The blonde haired man whirled his gun in my direction and pulled the trigger, once, twice, and a third time. It never fired.
"Now!" I shouted and shot forward towards the red headed bitc—I mean witch. I had Lissa pinned to a wall in two seconds flat. Her hand smacked the plaster with a resounding thud and her eyes nearly rolled back. I vaguely heard Iggy tackling Clarke and Nudge rushing to Bridget's side. But my focus was on Lissa.
"I ought to kill for that little stunt" I snarled.
She trembled under my strength. "I know you can't do it Fang….you love me too much." She whispered coolly, her eyes confident despite her tremor. Then I saw it; for a split second, her pupils narrowed into slits like snake eyes and then dilated back. I felt like I had screw driven through my head. Well, fnick, she's trying control me again!
"Nice try, but it won't work again." I smirked and lied coolly. Lissa glared and her eyes narrowed again, the pounding in my head was now hammering up, but I pushed her out. Lissa's eyes widened and I saw the pure animalistic panic in them.
"I-it's not fair." Lissa chocked. Steady tears rolled down her face as the hopelessness of her situation finally seemed to hit her. For some reason, I froze. I realized that perhaps for the first time, I was seeing how vulnerable and messed up Lissa really was. Somehow, I got the feeling she had it as bad as we did, if not worse. From a far I saw Lissa's disgustingly perfect and mechanic features, but now like this, I could see the lines of surgery done on her face over and over, and the scars that looked like thin intentional knife wounds—torture no doubt.
She suffered a lot.
"I should be the one with, y-you were supposed to love me! Not that b-bitch Maximum! She was supposed to rot in a f**king breeding house like the f**king whore she is!"
But then again, so did we. The only difference was that our minds weren't twisted. I leaned in close, so close that her disgusting breath was on my face. I didn't even want imagine the expression on my face right now.
"Max isn't the whore. You are." I drew my fist back and punched her heard. Her nose snapped with a sickening crunch and her eyes rolled behind the lids. Lissa never stood a chance. She was out like a fnicking light bulb.
For once, I felt no sympathy. I felt nothing but regret for allowing such a spineless girl to so inexorably ruin our lives. It was almost pitiable. Lissa was so defenseless and stupid yet she somehow managed to worm her way in, control my life, break Max's heart, cause Max to lose her memories, and drive a wedge between my family. Some superhumans we were.
My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of gunshots, followed by a howl of pain.
"Iggy!" Several voices shouted. I charged in the direction of his scream. Iggy was collapsed on the ground, blood pooling under the hand clutching his forearm. I rushed to his side and grabbed his arm.
"Ugh, Fang. Forget me, Bridget is…" Iggy gasped through the pain. I cursed and searched for Bridget. I found Clarke fumbling his gun as Nudge stood directly in front of him using all her power to prevent anymore bullets from going through. There were tears of blood rolling down Nudge's face and I realized she'd finally reached her limit. If she used her powers anymore…she would die.
I think something in me finally snapped at that moment. All the anger, all the anxiety, all the sadness and worst of all, all the fear I'd been trying so hard to control finally came bursting up all at once. I saw red and black.
I left all sense of rationale behind and charged at Clarke, roaring thunderously in a voice that I hardly recognized as my own. My fists connected with his collar, and instead of punching his like I intended to, my feet kept moving under me and I was pushing Clarke back. I had charged so quickly that Clarke hadn't been able to react in time. I grabbed him by the collar and rammed him into the thick glass windows like semi crashing on a freeway.
The glass shattered under the force. Clarke coughed up blood as we both spiraled out the window from the twenty-fifth floor of the building. The wind rushed to meet us, cutting into our flesh like thousands of tiny whips. Over the roar of the wind, I heard Clarke's blood curling screams of fear and watched him flay around in the air like a fish that leapt out of the water. I smirked and dove forward to catch him by the collar.
"Save me! I SAID SAVE ME DAMNIT!" The blonde haired man screamed desperately, clinging to my arms like a leech. I grunted when his fingers dug into my shoulders but somehow managed to get a grip on him. I opened wings and we were both sharply jerked upward and then into a gentle glide. "huh—I knew—huh—that you were the more—huh—reasonable one." Clarke panted.
I didn't respond, I kept flying, higher and higher and higher.
"What-what are you doing? Bring me down! Bring me down this instant you feathered mongrel!" He screamed in my ear. "Do you not hear me? I said, BRING ME DOWN!"
But I didn't. I knew what I had to do. And I knew that once I did this, there was no going back. When we were finally high enough, I wrenched Clarke off me and held him by the cuff.
"No! Stop! Don't let go you fool!"
"Shut up!" I finally snapped. Clarke stopped struggling and went limp in my arms. His face remained expressionless and prideful as always but the way he was sweating beads told me otherwise.
I was the cause of the fear in Clarke's eyes. I was the cause of that look of absolute terror, and it terrified me. I realized then that anger was like a poison. Once you succumbed to your primal base emotions you truly become a heartless demon like the man I held in my hands. I wonder if this is how Max always felt. Right now, I wanted nothing more than to let this man die in cold blood. I wanted him to pay for the pain he put all those experiments through, the torture that Ari faced, the lives he took, and lastly for dragging Max back into a world that she fought so hard to free us from.
I could only imagine how many times Max was in a situation like mine where the most rational decision would be to kill the man threatening us. It was the most rational, but it was not the most humane. The flock and I were anything but innocent. We have blood on our hands. But never have ever killed in cold blood. Max especially never killed anyone in the way that I was about to kill Clarke. I wondered, if I went down this path, could I still face Max. Would she forgive me for killing in cold blood to protect her?
Probably not.
I closed my eyes and forced myself to take a deep breath. I was not about to become a monster to deal with Clarke. Not for him.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't drop you right now." I said slowly. Clarke watched with amused eyes. I wondered if this idiot realized the situation he was in at the moment. We were hovering thousands of feet in the air. If released his collar he would probably die mid fall from mere shook. A smirk stretched across Clarke's face and he grabbed my shoulders with his meaty hands and brought his face real close to my right ear.
"I have—none." He whispered. Clarke threw his head back and began laughing. "Hahaha, how you amuse me, Fang. If it were Max in your shoes she wouldn't have hesitated to drop me right away. THAT is the difference between a perfected experiment like Maximum Ride and a pathetic failure like you. Maximum can turn off these disgusting human emotions of love and guilt and sorrow. YOU on the other hand cannot." He tsked, chuckling at his own explanation. There was no fear in Clarke eye's now. He looked as arrogant and confident as he did back in his office.
"I know you cannot kill me Fang. You'd regret it too much. You fear your own primal instinct too much…and now I see that the truth has left you speechless. You truly are a hopeless failure aren't you?" He shook his head with faux sympathy. I guess it was finally my turn to talk.
"Pft—HAHAHAHA," I laughed harder than I ever had in my life. I laughed so hard that I had tears rolling out of my eyes. I bet if Iggy saw me right now he'd go into shock. "That is the biggest bullshite I've ever heard in my life!"
"W-what are you talking about?" He stammered. I laughed even harder. I couldn't believe how confused Clarke actually appeared by all this.
"Either you are just plain dumb or you're just the worst evil scientist we've ever faced." I chuckled as the laughter finally died down to a coherent level. "Max can be an emotionless beast? Don't make me laugh. I've never met a more emotional, mood swing changing, dramatic and fierce girl in my life!"
"Maybe there was a time that Max could turn her emotions off on a command. But the Max right now…she can't do that. And you know what the best part is? It's all your fault!" I snickered.
"What do you mean?"
"You're precious little daughter not only delayed your plans to capture Max by nine months, she also caused Max to erase her memories. Max the Beast is no longer. And it's all thanks to you, I'm afraid you dug your own grave this time buddy." I explained without sympathy. I watched realization dawn on Clarke face and I swear I heard the sound of shattering glass in the background. Though that just might be my imagination.
"No….NOOOO!" Clarke shouted into the skies and viciously struggled against my grip.
"Stop—I'm gonn- drop—you!"I hissed and tried get a firm grip on him.
"I WILL HAVE MAXIMUM RIDE! YOU WILL NOT DENY ME HER BODY!" Clarke shouted at the top of his lungs. I raised an eye brow.
"Oh really?" I smirked and let go. Clarke tumbled downwards like a doll whipped by the wind. I hovered for a moment longer and when his body became the size of a blond speck, I made a sharp turn and began my fly back to the Lab. I still had some children to save after all. Starting with Iggy…
Don't think this is the end, because I promise you it's not. Here's a hint: Edward Clarke is not the enemy they should be the most worried about.
Review, review, review!
Kiki1770