A/N: Okay, so I'm pretty excited about the excitment that'll be picking up from now on. I like this chapter better than the last one, so enjoy!
Previously: (Max) "That's my father."
My mouth opened and closed and opened again. I covered it with my shaking hand, like prissy girls do in horror movies when they first see the monster. This whole situation definitely felt like a horror movie. Abby stared at me, seemingly not knowing what to say about this shocking news.
"B- but that's impossible, right? Jeb wasn't a marine!" protested Nudge weakly. The thickness of her voice suggested that she was about to cry. This was a time when I was supposed to be the leader and the big sister and tell her that everything was alright. I was supposed to tell my family that everything was alright, while the man that saved us and acted as a father to us for almost ten years was lying cold on a metal table in the very same building we were in. With that thought came the horrible image of Ducky, carefully taking his scalpel and cutting into my father's dead body. I tried to push it away, but then came the squishy ripping sound of his skin tearing away.
"No, Nudge, we don't know anything about what he did when he was younger." I hadn't even meant to speak. The words sounded far away, like they hadn't come out of my own mouth. For that moment, I was a ghost, detached from my body. Watching myself and family suffer the loss of a man we hadn't even trusted. But he had been my father. He had raised me, taught me how to fight, and taught me how to fly. To think that he was gone… I couldn't think about that. I couldn't think at all. I just needed to relax and get a grip. That was something I couldn't do while cramped into Abby's loud, confined lab. With a mumbled, "need some air," I tore away from that room like I was a rabbit, who just saw a hungry fox. That fox had stared at me from a computer screen, face blank and pale, eyes closed forever.
Not really noticing where I was going and not really caring, I found myself in the tiny elevator, pressing a random button. Whatever it was, it would take me somewhere that wasn't here. Under normal circumstances, I would have jumped or braced myself for a fight when an unexpected hand shot in between the elevator doors before they closed. Right then, I couldn't force myself to care. If I'd been able to feel anything at that moment, it would have been surprise that it was Gibbs's face that followed the hand into the elevator. He stepped in without a single word, coming to stand next to me and fold his hands in front of him. I swallowed, my eyes sliding shut.
There was a shutter, and the elevator suddenly stopped. Just my luck, I thought bitterly. But when I opened my eyes, the emergency stop switch was flicked on, and Gibbs was looking to me expectantly. "What do you want me to say? If you followed me so we could talk about my feelings, I'm so not in the mood right now." He continued to stare at me. "What? Is there something in my teeth? Like a bug or something? 'Cause I totally hate when that happens."
"Are you sure you want to do this, Max?" he asked, unexpectedly. Couldn't people just say what they mean anymore, instead of throwing me vague hints at what they want me to know? Why not just get it out there?
"Do what? Testify against Itex and all the other mad-scientist companies that made me and my family suffer for the good part of ten years? Or go to a crappy school with jerks and bimbos and creepy teachers? Or maybe you meant live with two complete strangers, who happened to be adults, which have never done us any good in our lives? You've got to be more specific, Gibbsy," I replied. His expression was apologetic as he put a hand on my shoulder, which I immediately flinched away from.
"You pushed the button to go down to autopsy. I meant, are you sure you can handle seeing him?" he explained, simply. I knew he wasn't talking about Ducky or, as Tony likes to call Palmer, "The Autopsy Gremlin". I nodded grimly.
"I have to. I think it'll help me to realize that this is really happening. I need to come back to reality. I need to know," I told him confidently. He gave me a reassuring smile.
"Just want you to know that you're not in this alone. I'll stand by you as long as you want me there. Okay?" And I couldn't help but return his smile.
"Okay."
Ding! My hands trembled as Gibbs and I exited the elevator. I took a deep breath, remembering what he told me. I knew that I wasn't alone.
The doors to Autopsy opened to Ducky and Palmer poised over a lump under a white sheet. It was obvious that they were about to start… doing what they do. Ducky looked up at us when we walked in.
"Jethro! Max! What are you two doing down here? I am afraid I don't have anything for you yet. Mr. Palmer and I were just about to begin," he announced cheerily, like what he was about to do was very normal practice. Granted, it probably was for them. After giving both me and Gibbs a thorough examination, however, he seemed to notice that there was something going on. He looked to me first. "What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost, my dear." Swallowing a lump in my throat, I spoke in the same empty voice I'd used earlier.
"That body on the table is my father, Jeb Batchelder. I've come to give a positive ID on the body." That had sounded a bit too official, so I added, "I just need to know that this is really happening. That it's not some kind of sick joke." The room went silent. Ducky nodded and stepped aside from the body. I took a hesitant step towards it.
Closing my eyes and puffing out a deep breath, I approached the table where my dead father lay. When I opened them, I was staring at the seemingly sleeping form of a familiar man. A man who used to push me on the tire swing outside our house in Colorado, who secretly snuck me cookies in my dog crate when I was little, who changed baby Angel's diapers and picked twigs out of all of our wings. This man betrayed me and tried to tell me who I was. Seeing him there, with his eyes closed and face blank and strangely peaceful, pale as one of those puffy clouds that only show themselves on sunny days, brought it all into perspective for me. This was happening, and I needed to do something about it. I had to comfort my Flock. I had to be the leader. Taking one more glance at the bullet hole resting in Jeb's head, I turned back to the three silent men in the room.
"Okay. I've seen enough. Let's go back to-" I was cut off by a familiar voice and ding of the elevator opening.
"Max! What were you thinking, just running off like that? The kids are in pieces- Uh- i-is that him?" Fang uncharacteristically burst into the room, followed by Gazzy and Angel. Their faces were sunken and tear-stained. Poor kids. I was about to reply but was interrupted, once again. This time, it was Gibbs who spoke.
"Duck, Palmer, You stay with Max and Fang and the kids. I've gotta go fill the director in on the details of our case," he announced. Ducky nodded, and Palmer sank further into the wall. Obviously, he hadn't gotten over the whole talking dog and kids with wings thing. What a wimp.
The sight of Fang had straightened my back and pumped my chin up a little higher. I am Maximum Ride. I am headstrong, kick-butt, and made to save the world, for crying out loud! I am not going to let this little mishap stop me from doing so. Angel gave me a smile of approval from across the room, which I returned confidently. I can so do this.
"Hey, guys, where are Nudge, Iggy, and Total?" I asked, after doing a quick headcount.
"They wanted to stay with Abby. Apparently, she's going to show Nudge some weird computer geek thing to cheer her up, and Iggy didn't want to go into the elevators again. He says they annoy him 'cause they're so small, and he prefers stairs, which are better exercise. One night, he went on this whole rant about how elevators should be banned because they're unhealthy death machines. Total's just lazy," explained Gazzy. I feared he'd been spending too much time around Nudge.
For a few minutes, they stood by the door awkwardly, and I realized that the dead body of my late father was lying on a table beside me. And there were two little kids in the room, staring at me expectantly. Don't get me wrong; Angel and Gazzy are tough as nails and awesome fighters… but they're also kids. Kids who don't need to be scared by the sight of the mangled body of the man who raised them. It's alright, Max. I told Ducky to put the body away. Gazzy and I will close our eyes.
Sure enough, the two of them squeezed their baby blues tight while the Medical Examiner and his assistant stuffed the body back into one of the little refrigerator things they keep them in. "Alright, guys, you can open your eyes, now. It's gone." Their eyes popped opened. "Well, I guess we're not going anywhere right now… This would be a good time for a deck of cards."
"Oh! I think I have some in my desk! Uh- hold on!" Palmer exclaimed, fumbling noisily through all of his personal items. "Got 'em!" We all stared at him for a second. Figuring 'Ol Jimmy could use some encouragement, I spoke up first.
"Well, alright then, Jimmy! Let's play some cards!"
After five riveting games of crazy eights (Angel won every time- little devil child), Gibbs finally returned, with a crease in between his eyebrows and a hurried manner.
"They're gone!" he yelled, as if we would all know exactly what he was talking about.
"Who? What do you mean, 'gone'?" I asked. He shook his head, motioning for us to follow him to the stairs.
"No time to explain! I'll show you," he replied, already heading for the stairway. Apparently, the elevator just wasn't fast enough anymore.
When we finally arrived to Abby's lab, huffing and puffing, we found a total mess. Papers were ripped and tossed around, monitors were smashed in, and Total hunched in a corner, growling, hackles raised. Can you guess what we didn't find? That's right. No Iggy. No Nudge. No Abby.
"Where'd they go?" I asked. Angel gasped.
"Vance- he works for Itex. He kidnapped them!"
A/N: Dun Dun Dunnnnn! More stuff that only I knew about! Hee-hee! I've had that one saved up since before I even wrote the idea for this story down!