Chapter 11
Fang woke up from a dream of confused images. He saw a white room with a wall of glass looking in. Brigid in a control room looking through a window down on something or someone. Max's face, the wing-girl from New York, and more pictures he couldn't understand. He groaned when his head began to hurt again. So this is what Max felt like when the Voice first started coming to her mind. All of his body ached from hitting the ground but it was nothing he couldn't handle. He had almost been killed a few times in his life. Falling on the ground was easy.
"Bought time you woke up." Fang's eyes darted up and he sat straight up. The familiar voice ringing through his ears and never letting go. His heart beat spiked as he looked around the room for the person he had been missing. She stood with her arms crossed leaning against the door frame. Tawny wings were visible just over the arch of her back. Brown hair with some golden twinge fell down in her shoulders. Tall and awkward angles that he had memorized the moment he fell in love with her were there like always.
Fang jumped to his feet and began to rush towards her. The pounding in his head was lost to the beating of his heart. He was ready to hug her and sweep her up in the air like in all those old movies they had watched together when there was nothing to do and nothing to worry about...the good old days. But he stopped, her hair was slightly cut shorter than it was and was in some sort of fashion. Her eyes were narrowed a bit, glaring almost and harsh, pretending to be tough. Her lips pressed in a hard line as she frowned. Before him wasn't his Max.
Max II stood up straight and glared at Fang. She hadn't seen the bird boy since the fight back in Florida. Her encounter with the original Max in Germany had for some strange reason not involved him. When she had studied them, to try to be Max and replace her, she thought those two would never split apart. "Why are you here?" She demanded, with a serious tone that she had learned from Max. Her voice was cool and collected to hide that she was nervous and worried to why the flock was here...without their precious leader. "Your little bird girl said she wouldn't tell me until you woke up. It's been a few hours."
Fang flinched at the sound of her voice, just like Max's in the tone but not in the way she spoke. "I don't know. Max told us to come here and we have to find someone." Max II rolled her eyes and waved her hand in the air for him to follow. Fang ran a hand through his hair, took in a deep breath, and walked up beside the Max impersonation. "Why are you here?"
Max II snorted and gave him a quick glance. She had forgotten how he was handsome. She could see why the original Max was pining away for him all the time. "For surival reasons, your flocks aren't the only experiments that Mr. Chu wants. I've been dodging bullets left and right. You being here doesn't help." They were walking down an empty hallway with white walls and wooden floors. The place smelled like one of Gazzy's indigesting problems that had been left floating about. "So, Fang, what have I missed? Last I saw Max, she was flying off with half the flock to go meet you. I asked to her to keep in touch but I haven't gotten any letters."
"Really?" Fang muttered, placing his hands in his pockets trying to avoid looking at her. She didn't smell like Max either. Max was soup and fresh air but Max II just smelled of hairspray. Closer up he saw how her hair barely moved as if she had used an entire can of the stuff to keep the strands stiff. "Maybe they got lost in the mail," he answered. Max II smirked. "Mr. Chu has been going after you as well?" They took a right turn into a large room. Fang had to wonder how they were in the little house he remember standing in.
In the large kitchen, Gazzy and Iggy were chowing over what looked like piles of bacon and eggs. The cabinets and fridge were silver. The lights were bright and there was plenty of counter space for eating. A few feet behind the kitchen the area dropped down into a living area. Nudge and Angel were sitting on the coach, Total in between them, watching something on a large television. "How did you get a place like this?"
Max II shrugged, "Jeb can be quite nice when he's trying to apologize. Plus, a few of us experiments live here now. Sort of a safe haven for the mutated beings of America...or the world now." Fang's eyes saw two kids walked by with scales on their skin. One of them had golden eyes with black slits like a snake. "Mr. Chu is after all of us Fang. We think he's trying to make an army." Fang sighed, no longer surprised of the motives of evil people. His senses were numbed from ever being shocked again. "So where is your Max?"
Fang went rigid and defensive. The flock, now aware of his presence, had all come to stand in front of him and Max II. Angel was smiling up at him and he placed his dark eyes on her for a moment. Don't worry, we can trust her. She's the one Max needs for the plan. This time, it wasn't the Voice but Angel who had entered his mind. "Can we talk somewhere private?" Fang turned to look at Max II, trying not to flinch or show distaste towards her. He knew it wasn't her fault that she looked like Max. But then again, he couldn't shake off the moment when Max II had been ordered to replace her. "There's something Max needs you for."
Max II shrugged. She was calm and collected. The feathers of her wings lighting moving with her. Her head tilted a bit and she gave a smirk. "Max needs a favor?" For a moment, Fang saw her look up at the ceiling as if contemplating her options. His heart beat, hoping that she wouldn't say no but he would understand if she did. He would've said no to her. Max would've said yes. That was the difference between him and her, he had told himself. That's why he loved her. Max II finally connceted her eyes with Fang's, "Sure, of course. I owe her my life."
Fang gave her a smile, "Don't we all?