Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.
--
Sophi ran down the vacant halls, the sound of her bare feet slapping against the linoleum echoing throughout them. She was desperately looking for the room where Kelly could've been in. When she was still in Iggy's hall, she was too scatter-brained to remember to go back to his and that slut's room and get her gun.
Wait!
Sophi skid to a halt, the heels of her feet getting warm at the friction. He was probably already following her on the floor under this one, and if he was, she could take a different route to his room, get her gun, corner him somewhere and have him tell her where Kelly was. What a dunderhead she was at times like these!
She quickly turned back, to where the elevators were, why exactly would Iggy take those? She may as well. Luckily, it got to her floor just as she was going to press the button. It must have been one of those new elevators that went to every single floor if it sensed it was empty to pick up others without having to press any buttons.
Sophi stepped in and punched in the button that marked the twelfth floor, and she stared ahead, intense brown eyes glaring at the sliding doors.
She wasn't going to be the damsel in distress again. She couldn't be. That was pretty much what got her into this mess in the first place, six years ago.
Maybe if she stood up for herself against the guy she'd only known for less than an hour, maybe the real one wouldn't have had to save her, maybe she wouldn't have gotten pregnant, maybe she wouldn't have gotten engaged at 21, maybe her parents would've still loved her, maybe... she could have had her life back.
Before Sophi knew it, she was leaning against the doors, her fists in her hair, her nails digging into her scalp, and tears running down her face.
She quickly pulled back, sniffling and wiping away the tears.
She couldn't do this. Not now, anyway. First she had to get Kelly, then they could cry together all they needed to.
--
Iggy stalked the halls calmly, his eyes staring straight ahead, almost as if he were some robot, which he pretty much was, after that chip was done with him.
Everytime it sensed that he was getting back to his old self, it would do the ol' mind controlling, and bring back a memory or two just to fuel the fire in him.
It was just using him. They were just using him. After this, they were planning to throw him out, his expiration date was to come up soon, so, why not?
Soon, Iggy got to the thirty-second floor, and immediately, the strong scent of his target came up. His eyes widened quickly, his trues senses coming up and the monster in him awakening.
He smiled to himself, She was just here... Perfect...
He traced the smell towards the elevators, growling lowly in his throat when her scent became stronger. It led him to actually sniff the outer layer of the elevator doors. She was definitely here.
Now seemed to be the perfect time to test out his new skill. Walking through surfaces.
He gently placed his hand through the doors, seeing if it would stay on his arm if he tried to get it out. It would. He quickly unfurled his wings to keep himself elevated in case the vehicle came under or top of him.
It was rather dark in there, he noticed, but with the red eyes, came the even more advanced night vision than other bird hybrids. He began his search for the elevator, but it didn't take long though.
Just a few meters from under him, Iggy could see the small blinking light of one of the elevators, coming down. He smiled wickedly when her scent rose up again, and so he fluttered down towards it, stomping particularly hard on the metal once he got there.
As soon as he did, a scream erupted from inside, already telling him that this was definitely Sophi.
He pried the emergency exit door and looked in, smiling hugely with his fangs. Sophi was at the buttons, pressing for the doors to open, as the lights flickered. She turned to Iggy, eyes widening and fingers pressing even faster on the buttons.
" Oh, Sophi?" Iggy sang. Sophi decided the buttons wouldn't do much, so she turned to Iggy completely and went into her fighting stance, a look of total anger and hatred on her face.
Iggy only laughed, hopping into the elevator, casually strolling towards her, his boots scuffing against the linoleum.
" You seriously think you stand a chance against me?" He asked, as Sophi swung at his cheek, but his hand caught hers just as it was a few centimeters from his cheekbone. Sophi gulped to herself, as Iggy pushed her up against the corner of the elevator. Sophi stared up at him, as he smiled widely, his fangs sticking out and making him look even more vicious. His hand came up and began carressing her cheek, as she only slapped his hand away.
He laughed low, to himself, looking down, before quickly coming back up and holding her neck, pinning her to the wall. Her hands came up and tried desperately to get his off.
" You are way in over your head, Soph. After all the crap that you've given me, did you really think I was going to let it go? I'm not the same old pushover that I was. Always letting people walk all over me, well, it's all over, now." Iggy said, as Sophi's face began to turn into an unnatural shade of red, her choking and coughing desperately for air. Iggy smiled wickedly, before looking down and reaching into his pocket, as Sophi quickly realized it had to be a gun. But instead, Iggy pulled out a needle filled with a clear liquid, which Sophi only thought could be euthanasia.
Iggy turned to her and saw her eyes widen, her face with a slight tint of purple. He smiled and looked down at the needle, then back at her.
" Hey, it's either this or you could be suffering for the next few minutes. Don't you just want to end it all?" Iggy asked, with a ghost of a smile. Sophi looked down with her bloodshot eyes and realized she really did. She was suffering so much, why go through it?
" Thought so. Now, this will sting for just a second." Suddenly, a thought of Kelly went through Sophi's mind, and her eyes snapped open, just as the needle came in contact with her skin. At that same exact second, Sophi's foot came up and kicked at Iggy's stomach, his body coming back and hitting the elevator wall behind him. The needle he had in his hand mere moments ago, was at the far corner of the elevator.
Sophi punched in the button to open the doors, just as they began to slide. Iggy looked up, his hand rubbing the back of his head. His eyes widened when he saw Sophi already walking out of the elevator.
" Oh, no, you don't!" He screamed, reaching out and taking her ankle into his hands. Sophi shrieked and slid to the floor, her cheek hitting the linoleum. She turned and saw Iggy pulling at her ankle.
" Let me go!" She screamed, pulling at the floor and pushing at the doors as they began to close. They collided with her waist, eliciting another scream from Sophi's throat. Iggy smiled wickedly, as he reached for the needle. Sophi turned and gasped when she saw the needle closing in on her leg. Iggy saw that and raised it over his head and was ready to pound it into her leg, but at the last second she kicked at his chin and pulled away, and let the doors close on his hand when he tried to get her back.
" Fuck off!" She screamed, kicking and punching at the doors, and continued to scream.
After a few minutes of the screaming and attacking the elevator doors, Sophi sat against them, her eyes glazing over the walls of the hall, her lips slightly apart, heavy breathes coming in and out as her chest heaved, composing them.
--
" Aaah!" Iggy kept kicking at the doors and walls of the elevator, screaming and yelling.
" I had her! She was there! Aaah!" Iggy punched at the doors and threw himself against them, furious at himself for losing her. He was through playing games.
The next time he ran into her, he'd just kill her. He won't even give her enough time to breathe.
He'll just have to finish it, once and for all.
--
" Now, where should we start?" One scientist asked the other, who stood at Kelly's other side, scalpel in hand. Kelly was dressed in scrubs, her formal outfit folded neatly in the far corner of the room. The scientist at Kelly's left turned to the other and shrugged.
" The wings, maybe? She was born of an avian hybrid. We can see how more of that is possible."
" Nah. Let's start at her air sacs, let's see if she even has any." The other said. And so, they began to cut at Kelly's side, as she breathed in and out, her eyes shut while a respirator machine stood next to her, pumping anesthesia and air into her lungs, and air sacs.
--
In the next room, Kylie stood at the incubators where Fang and Max's children were sound asleep. She gently stroked at the girl's chubby cheek.
" So small... and fragile... I wonder what your mother felt like when... when she first saw your faces... I wonder..." Kylie muttered, biting her lip briefly when tears began to form. One slid down her cheek and landed on the girl's little nose, causing her to shift a little and open her eyes, staring up at Kylie, who seemed extremely suprised at the tear, reaching up and passing her finger along the purple skin.
" Eeh..." the baby whined, waving her little hands gently. She looked back at Kylie, who stared back, at a loss of words when she peered deep into the baby's eyes. Warm... she thought.
" Mmm?.." the baby reached out, as if asking for Kylie to pick her up. Kylie looked down at the child, confusion across her face. She didn't really know how to do this all. She was sterile; incapable of producing offspring. Many months ago, those horrible scientists kept forcing other mutants on her. Nothing. Even with Iggy... nothing. Kylie really felt good about him. She really thought he could be the one. She may have even... fallen for him, in her own sick way. He was different from the others. They all were rough and not caring when it came to the sex. But, with Iggy, or rather James, the name she liked to call him, he was gentle. Even in his vicious and blood-thirsty state, he still remembered to be gentle. Also, it was the best sex she ever had. The only issue she had was that almost every time she and him did such an act, she'd scream his name and he'd scream... her name... that, that wretch's name. He wouldn't even know that he did. She'd never say anything, the moment was just too perfect to ruin with a question like that.
But why her name? It wasn't even a nice name, for the love of God! She wasn't even that pretty. So what if James thought she had a cute nose, and pretty hair... and nice curves... and dainty hands... and...--
" Aah!" Kylie screamed, covering her ears and sliding down the babies' incubators and shaking her head, gritting her teeth.
" He loves me... yeah... he loves me and only me, he loves me, he loves me, he loves me!" Kylie screamed, bringing her knees up and hugging them, burying her face into them, as she sobbed hysterically, her body shaking.
From up in the vents, Max stared dumbfounded at the sight. Fang stared dumbfounded at Max to see her actually not crying for the first time in the entire day.
" Wha...?" Max muttered, staring as Kylie slowly stood, wiping away her tears, before turning to the baby girl again and hesitantly and carefully picking her up. Max almost broke in there, but Fang held her back when he saw Kylie gently rubbing soothing circles into the baby's small back. Max stared, getting a little jealous, for not being the one to be doing that.
Kylie smiled at the warmth of the little girl's body.
" You're so warm... I hope to get a little girl like you someday," Kylie brought the baby to her face, their noses touching, Kylie rubbing hers against the baby's to make her giggle, which she did, " maybe I will... your uncle James will probably do that for me," Kylie's face fell a little at the hope. There was really no possibility. The little baby girl reached out and began to pass her tiny fingers on Kylie's nose, as Kylie smiled, tears welling up in her eyes. She brought the baby back to her shoulder and hugged her tightly, but careful not to squeeze the baby too hard.
" You're so beautiful..." Kylie whispered, as the baby mumbled its own little language against her shoulder.
" Nnn..." The baby began to hit her little fists against Kylie's shoulder, almost as if telling her to put her down. And Kylie did, shutting the incubator door as the baby girl drifted off to sleep quickly. Kylie sighed and leaned against the incubators, rubbing her hand over her face, before looking up, tears welling in her eyes... when something caught in her vision.
She squinted to look deeper into the vents, but before she could make sense of whatever was in there, two black figures swooped down and one ran her into the wall, while the other snapped the doors off the incubators and carefully took the babies out of them, and for a second held them close. Kylie took that second to look at the face of the figure, and once she did, her eyes widened. It was the children's mother.
She tried to stand when the figure began to walk towards the door, but the figure holding her back, the children's father, pushed her back against the wall.
" Euh!" Kylie kicked viciously with her heel against the father, running over to the mother, gripping her ankle.
" Let me go!" The mother screamed, kicking and thrashing against Kylie, landing a blow to her jaw, but Kylie didn't think to let go at all. Instead, she stood and latched tightly onto the mother's waist.
" I won't! I can't let you take my children!"
" Your children?! I gave birth to them, I claim them! Now, let go! Fang, get her off me!" The mother screamed, as the other figure came over and gripped Kylie's elbow, trying the best he could to pry her off.
" I don't want to lose them! They're my last reason to live! Give them back!" Kylie kicked at the mother by the ankle, causing her to fall back, her grip on the children loosening just a smallest bit. Kylie scooped them up and held them close to her bosom, before running out of the room, not even glancing behind to check if the others were following her.
She took a left towards the elevators, then thought better of it and decided to just hide in the supply closet a few feet from them.
She shut the door quietly, hiding behind the many wooden crates and shushing the babies who began to whine.
" Check the stairs. I'll look in here." Muttered a deep voice, most likely the father, before the shuffle of footsteps could be heard coming into the closet.
Kylie held the children close, and froze when the footsteps came close to the crates. She held her breathe, as the footsteps began to walk over to the door again, until the baby girl whimpered softly, causing the footsteps to stop short. The feet turned on their heels and soon the crates flew across the small room.
There in their wake, stood a tall dark figure, the same figure that held her back against the wall just a few minutes ago. She stood, distressed, tears running down her face.
" Please! Don't take them away from me! I love them too much! I've got no other reason to live except for them! Don't take them, please!" Kylie fell to her knees, bowing her head in some sort of begging motion.
She expected rough hands to push her and pull the children away from her, but instead, those rough hands reached out and held her shoulders, giving them a warm squeeze, causing her to look up. There on the father's tan face, was a smile, warm and kind. The father crouched to Kylie's height, still holding her shoulders.
" May I see her?" He asked, gesturing to his daughter in Kylie's left arm. She complied, allowing the girl to turn and look at her father. A gummy smile immediately appeared on her tiny lips, as she reached out with her free hand.
" Do you see that?" The father asked, inserting his finger into the little girl's hand. " She knows me. She knows I'm her father. And she'll know that she's missing something in her life, if you don't give her back. I understand your pain--"
" No, you don't!" The father seemed surprised that Kylie began to talk in their time together. Kylie looked down, gritting her teeth, tears rolling down her face.
" You don't know what it's like to have to hear that you had another failed attempt to get pregnant. You don't know what it's like to have people you don't even know forced on you. You don't know what it's like to love someone, and not have them love you back..." The father sat there, staring at Kylie's tears hit the tiles. He didn't expect her to tell him that. He didn't even expect her to speak. She looked up again, her teeth locked together again, as more tears streamed down her face.
" That's why I can't give you these children back! I'm their parent now! Not you, so just go away!" Kylie screamed, before holding the children closer and burying her face in between them, as they began to whine from having to lie next to someone who just kept screaming. The father furrowed his eyebrows, almost at a loss for a words. He turned to see his wife at the door, her hand on her mouth, tears coating her cheeks.
The father looked down and tried hard to think of something to get his children out of there, safe and sound. Then he remembered where they were. At a lab, in the middle of nowhere... those kids will do nothing but suffer here if they stayed with Kylie. If she truly loved them, she would let them go, to live the normal lives their parents had started for them.
The father looked up again, to find Kylie looking down at the baby girl, smiling sadly, tears falling onto the baby's outstretched hand. He held Kylie's shoulders, giving them a gentle squeeze.
" So, you're going to keep them?" She looked up, holding the children tighter against her chest, a fierce but desperate expression across her face.
" Yes."
" And where are you staying?" The father asked. Kylie's eyes widened, at her realization. She seemed at a loss for words, her lips slightly open, gentle breathes sweeping in and out. She looked down at the children, before her eyes caught something beneath them. Her own hand. She took a better look of it, as if just realizing that her skin was purple. She realized that if she kept the children here, they would suffer just as much as she did.
She drew in a hissing breathe, and gritted her teeth, before looking down at the children again, giving each a small kiss on each of their foreheads. She hesitantly held them out to the father, as he let out a sigh of relief, the mother immediately scurrying over and reaching out to hold her son, holding him close to her shoulder. She turned to Kylie and mouthed a 'thank you.' Kylie smiled slightly, and sadly, before getting up, and beginning to walk past the reunited family, tears streaking down her face.
" Wait." Kylie turned, seeing the mother reaching out. She continued to speak.
" Do you really hate this place?" The mother stood, walking over towards Kylie, balancing her son on her hip. The father came over as well, cradling his daughter on his arm. " Do you really hate all they've done to you?" She continued. Kylie looked down, furrowing her eyebrows. Painful memories of the many tests and phases Itex made her go through. More tears welled in Kylie's eyes, as she began to shake with anger, gritting her teeth.
" You can join us if you want. If you're really serious about this." The father said firmly. A rough hand soon took Kylie's elbow with an amazing force, making her turn to her captor in shock.
" But if you slip up, even once, I swear to God I'll bash your brains in." The father ground out threateningly, his glare making Kylie go weak at the knees, and not the romantic way. She gulped and quickly nodded, as the father roughly let go of her elbow, turning to his wife again and taking his daughter into his arms again. He turned to Kylie again, his glare still shadowed in is dark eyes(A/N: Ooh, that sounded cool! Sorry, continue.)
" Come on, we have to get the kids back into the car. You, you're going to take this," he placed in Kylie's hand a walkie-talkie, the mother's walkie-talkie. " This is in case you have any news on where Kelly is." Kylie seemed confused at the name, as if she never heard it before, which she didn't. " The other girl your friends took." The father clarified. Kylie nodded, remembering the girl that was... her daughter. She was thinking whether or not to just ignore the idea of returning her daughter, just to make her suffer.
No.
She can't do that. Not anymore. Even if she did hate her with a white-hot passion, she couldn't take it out on the child. That was just wrong.
--
I was going add more, but I have to get to sleep, and I want this up NOW.
Next chapter in a week or so. Possibly in just a few days. I'm in my writer mood again.