Fang drummed his fingers on the table, feeling nervous. He and his gang were sitting at the ol' rendezvous point Max had described- a city park, at midnight. Beside him, Maya watched him closely.

"So, why are we meeting with her again?" The way Maya mentioned Max implied her disgust of the girl she'd been cloned from.

Fang shrugged, feigning nonchalance. After his phone call with Max, he realized, with a leap of anxiety, that Maya might have one as well. But then he remembered what an Itex scientist had mentioned when Maya and Max had duked it out a long time ago- something about "kill the old one- she has an expiration date!" From which he could almost be certain that Maya didn't have one. (Check the second book guys- this is actually in the fight scene! :D)

Close to him, Ratchet was attempting to impress Kate with his jokes, which were, frankly, pretty lame. "Yo' momma's so fat, even Dora couldn't explore her!" he said to Holden, then shot a look at Kate, who looked repulsed. Star rolled her eyes, looking bored.

Maya's shoulder touched his briefly as she shifted in her seat, and the small touch sent lightning around Fang's body. He still couldn't get the hang of the fact that Maya was so much like the girl he'd been with and loved for so long, and it was hard to remember sometimes that this was a totally different person.

"Isn't that them?" Ratchet said suddenly. Fang squinted at the night sky but saw nothing. Not that he expected to; Ratchet's senses far exceeded his. A moment later, though, he saw what he was talking about. In the sky, five figures were slowly growing larger and more defined. Fang sighed. Superboy- Dylan- was still hanging around with them, eh?

Max landed first, her maple syrup brown hair tousled, sharp brown eyes taking in the surroundings, her slim body tensed. When her eyes went over Fang, she visibly relaxed. Nudge flapped down a moment later, followed by Dylan, The Gasman, and Iggy.

"Fang," Max acknowledged. Her eyes were hard. "Maya." God, she looked exactly the same. Well, she'd trimmed her hair some, but other than that, she was the same. And just as breathtakingly beautiful as he remembered.

Of course, Maya looked exactly the same. And the good thing with Maya was, she wasn't as hard, as tough-enough as Max. Less obnoxious- a definite plus.

The flock strode forward, sitting down at the picnic table across from Fang's gang. Dylan nodded to Fang. Max gave a subtle nod to the others; Nudge gave Fang a huge grin and hug. "I miss you sooo much," she chattered. "Yesterday, Gazzy almost set a house fire 'cuz he was testing some new explosives n' stuff and- "

"We did not!" Gasman protested. "Not even close!"

"Don't exaggerate," Iggy added. "It wasn't even a blaze."

Max rolled her eyes, a very small smile lifting one side of her full mouth. Just like how Maya did it. And vice versa.

Dylan sat next to Max, their shoulders barely touching. Max didn't move away. "Anything new?" Max asked, her voice guarded. She'd never guarded her voice before around Fang. He supposed this was just another sign of their growing apart. Unfortunate, really.

"Why are we even meeting?" Maya asked in reply. Max glared at her. "I just thought we could spend some time together. We're going to have to work together to defeat the Doomsday Group."

Dylan made a noise of agreement. Fang felt like punching him, but according to Dr. Gunther Hagen, Dylan was a lot stronger, quicker, and all around better fighter than him. Unless that serum Dr. God injected Fang with (that had nearly killed him) had actually worked. Well, Fang wasn't about to test it.

"So," said Fang finally, after a long silence. "We've got hotel rooms. Not far from here. Shall we go?"

"Lets," Max said. The way she looked at him made him feel... empty? Like she was looking at him the way she'd look at any stranger, not the way she used to look at him, her chocolate eyes warm and open. She was closed off. Again.

And with the new relationships going on, Fang was pretty sure she'd never be open to him again.