Hahaha. I'm an idiot.

So, in chapter 38, I was like, "Yea! I'll put the date I posted the chapter! Great idea!"

Guess what I forgot to do in Chapter 39... lol

Oh well.

Posted: 11/4

CHAPTER 40

Fang POV

My head was throbbing. The last thing I remembered was the evil scientist in front of me, the Gasman, and Max.

Max! Where was she? What happened? And the Gasman. Where were they?

I finally opened my eyes to find that I was locked in a stupid dog crate. Iggy, Angel, and Nudge had their own crates as well.

"Fang?" Angel cried from the crate next to mine. "Are you awake, now?"

"Yea," I groaned.

"Oh, Fang!" I heard Nudge say with relief. "We were so worried! Where's Max? How did this happen to Gazzy?"

"Nudge!" Iggy snapped. "Chill! Fang, how're you feeling?"

"Headache," I mumbled, trying to sit up.

"Dude, what happened?" Iggy asked. "The Gasman came back with a hole in his wing, and you were unconscious."

"Did Max come, too?" I asked, completely ignoring everything else wrong at the moment.

There was a short pause and Angel whispered, "No. Only you and Gazzy…"

"We were hoping you could tell us the story," Nudge finished.

I let out a heavy sigh.

I may as well tell them, I thought.

"We tried finding you guys, got caught in a trap, attacked by Flyboys, Gasman got shot in the wing, some lady that knows Max came, then, I was knocked out."

Nudge gasped before the room fell silent again.

"Now, where is the Gasman?" I asked after a short moment.

Angel pointed to the other side of the room, and, sure enough, the Gasman was strapped down and sleeping on the metal bed with a bandaged wing.

"How long has he been out?" I asked the others.

"The entire time. Like you," Nudge answered. "They gave him some medicine or something for the pain, I guess, and he's been sleeping ever since."

They were helping him? These white coats that have been trying to kill us for years! And, now, they are helping keep us alive after seriously injuring us. What did they have planned? I was going insane.

I did a quick scan of the others, making sure everyone was relatively unharmed. Then, Angel's head shot up, facing the door.

"Someone's coming," she muttered.

Her eyes brightened a little as the footsteps grew closer.

"Who is it, Ange?" Nudge asked below a whisper.

"Max?" Iggy asked, listening carefully to the sounds of the steps.

"Max!" Angel cheered almost silently.

Max POV

Finally, the Flyboys, with me in tow, reached the room where the others were. Fang, Iggy, Nudge, and Angel were all in separate cages, and the Gasman was strapped down to a "bed." There was one empty crate next to Fang. Guess who gets that one?

Suddenly, I was struck with a plan! The white coats forgot one small, fatal problem with sending Flyboys with me: Nudge.

"Angel," I thought quickly. "Send this message to Nudge! She needs to use her abilities on these Flyboys when they open my cage. You all know what to do from there. Hurry!"

She gave me the slightest nod, and, a moment later, Nudge's mouth twitched into an evil grin.

One Flyboy unlocked my crate while the other roughly threw me in. Before they could close it, limbs started crashing to the floor. In about a minute and a half, all that was left was a pile of metal.

"Way to go, Nudge!" I smiled.

"New personal best," she beamed with pride.

I pulled myself up, rubbing my shoulder where it painfully smashed on the floor of the crate.

I then proceeded to unlock each crate, ending with Fang's.

"You ok?" he asked as he stepped out and gently placed a hand on my shoulder.

"More or less," I replied quietly. "We can talk later. We need to get Gazzy and go. Do you think you can carry him?"

He nodded and ran to release Gazzy's restraints.

"I don't think we have much time, guys," I said quickly. "Marian Janssen wants us to—"

"Wait!" Nudge interrupted. "Marian Janssen? As in, the turtle lady?"

"What?" Iggy asked in total confusion.

I sighed and said, "The evil witch from Germany. Now, stop interrupting! She wants us to steal from the government or something. We need to book it out of here and get to the Lerner's School!"

"Why back there?" Fang asked with a sleeping Gazzy in his arms.

"I have to make sure my mom and Ella are still ok," I replied. "Now, let's go!"

"Max," the voice chimed in. "Your mother is safe. You need to finish your business here. You need to bring down Itex once and for all."

Are you absolutely sure my family is safe?

I had to be positive.

"Yes," the voice answered. "Now, quickly! Find your aunt and end this."

"New plan, everyone," I announced, stopping in the middle of the hall.

The others stopped abruptly and gave me curious looks.

"Mom and Ella are fine," I stated. "We have to destroy this place. Now. Iggy, we'll need bombs. Use whatever you can find! Flyboy parts, lab equipment, whatever. Take Gazzy and Angel with you back to that room."

"What about us?" Nudge asked.

"We have to be on guard for them. It's only a matter of time before the idiots running this place realize we aren't there right now," I decided. "Once he's finished, we can make a quick get-away and bomb the place to smithereens."

"Right!" she nodded.

And so began the first step in the destruction of Itex.

AHHHH!!! Only 2 more chapters! (...and an epilogue...)

What's going to happen???

Haha. Sorry. It's been a long day already. I'm a little sleepy. I went to bed pretty late last night, and the fire alarm went off early this morning (...early for me). Not so exciting. And I've been working on a business report project thing all afternoon.

At least Glee comes on tonight!!! =D
((Or at least it better. Since they decided not show it last week. :( ))