The Disbanded: Divided We Stand-Chapter 12
By MyNameIsCAB
--Iggy's POV--
Every Sunday, Tom closed the circus so everyone could have a day off. Most of the people never went anywhere because they had no family left. Like Tom had said, he had saved most of those people from broken homes.
But I always traveled into the city. Sometimes Tom would accompany me like today. We sat on a bus, into Los Angeles.
"So Jeff, Max, is her name right?" Tom always asked me about the flock. "Your leader, did you ever, like have a relationship with her?"
I almost laughed. Sure, I loved Max, but probably not the way Fang did. Max was more of a sister to me.
"No, she's more like a sister to me," I told Tom. "I think she had something going on with Fang."
"Oh, I see," Tom nodded like he understood everything.
But maybe he did.
--Max's POV--
The beach was beautiful, even though it was so cold that Fang had wrapped his jacket around me. Messina and I had carried him to where the funeral was going to take place since wheelchairs don't exactly roll in the sand.
"You sure you don't want me to get a chair?" Cal asked as Fang put his arm over my shoulder for support.
"Max?" Fang looked at me.
"No, the cars are parked so far away. Don't worry about it," I told Cal.
She nodded and we stood there watching the waves go in and out until the priest began to talk.
It was a short ceremony. I don't think Mary wanted to have a long one anyway. She seemed so miserable, like she just needed to get all of this over with.
Then, to everyone's surprise, the box of Carter's ashes was passed around and we all had a little bit, leaving a lot for Mary, and we stood at the water's edge, letting go of the ashes as they fell into the ocean and washed out to see.
"Goodbye, Carter," I heard Chuck mutter as Kerry let go of his handful.
I let go of mine, trying not to cry. As much as Carter could be a nuisance, he also completed our team. Watching Fang release his ashes, I felt a tear trickle down my cheek.
"It's okay Max," Fang whispered as he wiped my tears away.
Maybe it would be.
Messina and I struggled to get Fang back to the car. Fang now looked very embarrassed that we were going through all this trouble to carry him. In fact, Messina started laughing after a while, saying how ridiculous we all probably looked.
But at least we weren't crying anymore. Really, there wasn't much to cry about. Carter was gone and we couldn't bring him back. That was reality. It wasn't worth it moping around forever, wishing we could have done more.
"Here, you want to stop for a minute," Fang said.
"What? We're almost there," Messina said, pointing to the parking lot.
I realized Fang was breathing heavily. Looking at his heart rate monitor on his wrist, his pulse was almost to 160.
A/N: Okay, I'm no scientist about heart rates or anything. So I'm sorry if I'm wrong, but it's a story, so don't all worked up if I'm wrong about what makes your heart beat fast.
"Yea, let's stop, Ted," I agreed with Fang.
We sat down on the sand, not really caring whether our clothes got all sandy or not.
"Thanks," Fang whispered, looking at his monitor.
"What time is it?" Messina asked. "My watch is busted."
Fang glanced at me, hoping I would have a watch on, but I guess I didn't.
"Sorry, it's not a watch," Fang answered truthfully as he took in a deep breath of air. "Heart rate monitor."
We watched Fang's heart rate drop over the next few minutes until he was back at resting rate.
"So what are you monitoring for?" Messina asked as we lifted Fang back up.
"You know I got shot," Fang said to him. "Yea, the bullet punctured my lung. Supposedly, according to my doctor, if my heart rate gets up to 170, my lung is overworking. If my heart rate gets up to 200, I'm dead."
"That's tough," Messina commented.
"Yea, it doesn't beep often because I'm always stuck in that wheelchair," Fang nodded.
We reached our cars and Fang sat in the passenger seat. He looked tired now.
"Well, I'll see you guys around," Messina sighed.
"By, Ted," I said.
Then we were off, driving back to my apartment.
A couple days passed and the captain called us to headquarters. He said it would be a quick meeting, so Fang said he would just wait in the car because we were going to lunch after with Ted and Cal.
Captain Ramirez stood in front of us. Something told me what he was going to tell us was not going to be good.
"I have orders from our higher ups to disband this team," Captain Ramirez announced.
"What?!" Barry asked.
"We'll look for other places where your skills will do good, I promise," Ramirez said.
"So that's it?" Messina asked.
"I'm sorry, Messina, but our job is done here. This headquarters will become nothing more than storage for the military now. Make sure you clean everything out of your desks before you leave today," Ramirez answered.
"What jobs could you possible give us that's better than this?" Will asked.
"Other FBI, CIA, I don't know, I'll be in contact when an offering comes up," the captain replied.
Messina pulled off his badge and handed it to the captain.
"No, keep this. You guys are still part of the FBI," the captain insisted.
I watched Messina hold it out for a few more seconds before putting it in his pocket.
"So where are you going to go now?" Messina asked as he looked at a picture of Cal.
"I'm going after my other friends. The ones like me," I told him. "Now that I have time to find them."
"Well, if you ever need help, it looks like I have a lot of time on my hands now," Messina smiled.
"Thanks, Ted," I nodded. His help could actually be good. He and Cal were probably the only good humans I've ever really met.
I found a picture of me with the entire flock. It was from when we had found a camera and timed it so we could all take a picture in front of the rocky mountains when we were flying over Colorado. I smiled at the picture. Gazzy, Angel, and Nudge must have grown so much over these two years, if they were alive.
"Is that them?" Messina asked.
"Yea," I answered, softly. "I gotta find them."
"Hey, Messina. I need a word with you!" the captain called from his office.
I wondered what the captain could possible want from Messina. But I guess, that was none of business.
