A/N: At the moment we're going with longer chapters and longer updates. Big thanks to Toxic Rain42! Yeah, Iggy was kinda depressing, but I think you might like the part he has later on in the story.
Sorry about the long update, I didn't mean to take that long.
This chapter is dedicated to What? because... well... What? knows why. Thanks for your support!
Chapter 6 goes to What?:
Max's POV
Guess what happened when I tried conversing with the Voice.
A. The Voice kindly gave me a reasonable explanation as to why I had been tricked and lied to.
B. The Voice completely ignored me. And then I was struck by the complete lunacy of yelling at a voice in my head. Because, yeah, there was quite a bit of mental yelling and swearing.
If you picked A, you're an idiot.
So here I was, stuck in some Itex place, where I could look forward to reliving my years at the School.
Thank God the rest of the flock wasn't here.
Because even though I was in absolute hell, at least I was doing it for my flock. I could only hope this new Itex director would leave them alone, because they deserved a normal life, assuming that life as we know it isn't going to be completely destructed. And yes, it's absolutely insane that one organization has the power to do that.
Since the Voice pulled its disappearing act, I realized I had absolutely nothing to do but wait until the director summoned me. Not to mention I had no way of telling the time in this windowless room.
"Kill me now," I groaned out loud, throwing myself onto the cot, as I prepared myself to wait for 24. Freaking. Hours.
Angel's POV
Sometimes it really sucked being able to read people's minds. Like now. We had just broke the news to Max's mom and Ella, and it was horrible listening to their thoughts. Dr. Martinez gave us a smile though. "You guys must be hungry. You're welcome to anything in the kitchen, and of course you can stay here as long as you want."
Oh, God, I have to talk to Jeb. He has to know something. Why the hell would he want to leave in the middle of the night otherwise?
I winced, and worked to tune out her thoughts.
"Where's Jeb?" Fang asked warily.
If he has anything to do with any of this, I'll kill that son of a-
I tuned his thoughts out too.
"He left a little bit ago," Dr. Martinez said carefully before changing the subject. "Want me to cook something? Ella and I already ate."
"It's okay, I'll make something," said Iggy heavily. Nudge wordlessly took his hand and led him to the kitchen. The rest of the flock followed, Total and Akila trailing after us.
"Hey Gasser, what's available?" asked Iggy, who was obviously unable to explore the kitchen's contents.
The Gasman opened up the fridge. "There's not much. Eggs, milk, some leftovers…"
Nudge looked through some of the other food. "Ravioli, Spam… some beans… and some rice. Do you know how to make rice, Ig?"
"Yeah," he replied, setting to work. Nudge and the Gasman aided him when possible, while Fang leaned against the wall, silent as usual. I didn't have to read his mind to know what he was thinking about.
I hopped up on one of the chairs, and Total leaped onto my lap. He looked at me with his little doggy eyes. "It's okay, Angel. She's Max. She can survive anything."
I knew he was trying to cheer me up, but I wasn't a little girl anymore. Max was really strong, stronger than Fang even, or at least that's what the whitecoats used to always think. But either way, she wasn't invincible.
"Yeah, you're right," I lied.
Total looked rather unconvinced. His face seemed to be frowning. I usually didn't read his mind because he used a lot of big words and sometimes thought about stuff I didn't get.
"Max'll be okay." Total repeated, nuzzling against me.
"Yeah," I said again, looking away from his black eyes. I felt the tears coming.
"It's all right," came Fang's soft voice. He put his arm around me. "Max will find her way back to us. Somehow."
The rest of the flock was watching us now. Fang was usually not a cuddly person, but it felt really nice to snuggle into him right now.
I buried my face into his shoulder, and Fang held me, just like Max used to, as I cried.
Nudge's POV
Ella, Angel, and I were in Ella's room, while the boys were in another, with Total and Akila. We were sitting on Ella's totally awesome bed, which was blue and purple.
"Wouldn't that be so cool if we could live in a house again?" I couldn't help saying. "Since I guess Jeb isn't a traitor anymore, do you think we could go back to that house we used to live in? Or maybe Itex or the School or something would be able to find us there. Or maybe if Max-"
I bit my lip. What if Max didn't come back?
"I'm sure she'll be all right," Ella said, but she looked like she didn't believe what she was saying.
"I'm worried about Fang," Angel said distractedly.
"Why?" I said, startled. "He seems fine to me."
I was still shocked at seeing Fang open up like that. While comforting Angel, Fang had looked really, really sad. Like he didn't think we'd ever see Max again. I quickly pushed that thought out of my head.
"Yeah," said Ella. "He wasn't all tense and closed off like before. Wouldn't that be a good thing?"
"He thinks Max doesn't like him," Angel said, her blue eyes troubled. "I mean, like like. You know, love."
"Well of course she likes Fang!" I didn't get how people got all weird when they loved each other, but it was sort of obvious with Max and Fang. I still remembered how Max kissed Fang that day on the beach. "He smiles more when he's around her and he likes teasing her and Max gets all annoyed with him, but it's different then when she gets mad at Iggy. I mean, you can just tell."
"I know," agreed Angel. "And especially with the Valium thing-"
"The huh?" I asked uncomprehendingly. "What's Valium?"
"Um," Angel said. "I forgot you wouldn't know about that."
"Valium is some kind of drug used to make people relax. My mom used it on Max," said Ella.
"Is this something you found out about by reading minds?" I asked Angel suspiciously.
"Well, yeah," Angel admitted. "Just don't tell the boys. Max would kill me."
"Let's hear it!" I said eagerly.
"Well, when Max got her chip removed, the Valium stuff made her say funny things," Angel giggled.
Ella grinned at me. "She told Fang she loved him."
My jaw dropped. "Max said that?"
"Uh-huh," confirmed Angel. "But Fang thinks she didn't mean it. He thinks it was just the Valium."
"Oh!" I squealed. "But they would be so cute together!"
If Max was still alive, I couldn't help but think afterward.
"I know," said Angel, looking straight at me.
A/N: You guys could still answer that question from the last chapter, about whether longer or shorter chapters are preferred. Thanks again, Toxic Rain42, for being the only person to answer that.
And seriously, reviews make an author type faster...