Me: Faster update this time! And…I've changed my penname…again. Oh well, that's just me and my indecisiveness. XD This will probably happen a few more times, knowing me. Anyways, I don't own Maximum Ride. I own my characters. On with the story!

Quote of the update: "Memory is not wisdom; idiots can by rote repeat volumes. Yet what is wisdom without memory?" – Martin Tupper

Chapter 19: Conversations Gone Wild

Max's POV

"So, you brought me here. Ask what you're going to ask," I said. Okay, that came out really angry sounding. Fang looked unaffected. Then again, he almost always looked like that.

"What do you remember about your past?" Fang asked.

"Nothing much," I answered. Fang looked at me expectantly, wanting me to elaborate. I sighed.

"What do you want me to tell you? I'm not a mind reader," I said. Like Angel, I added mentally.

"Where did you first wake up?"

"The house where I live at," I answered.

"Who else was there?"

"Our Head, Shadow, Ella, Nudge and Angel."

"And when did the others come?"

"Crystal and Cassandra came with our Head a few days later. They had been thrown out of your group because they were too soft," I said with a smile. Fang frowned.

"Our Head said they ran away," Fang said. I rubbed the back of my neck.

"Chris and Cass would never do that," I said.

"Well, that's what our Head said," Fang answered.

"Well, he's an idiot," I countered. What? Chris and Cass were great people. They would never run away from a task. Our eyes met and Fang looked to his left. I looked also.

A waitress was headed our way. I scanned over her. She was tall and pretty. Your typical waitress. And, here's a plus, she didn't look like she was about to pull a gun out and shoot my brains out.

But looks can be deceiving.

"Hello," she said, looking over both of us. "May I take your order?" Why? So when I get soda you can slip poison or tranquilizer in it? Or if I order a sandwich, you can put a micro tracking device in it?

"Um, no thank you," I said. I had just ruined my appetite. Stupid paranoia…

"Just water," Fang said coolly. The waitress shot him a charming smile and walked off. I couldn't help but notice how she strutted out of there. And be a bit annoyed by it. Oh, for goodness sakes! Fang is probably the same age as me!

"Max?" Fang said. I focused back to him.

"Yes?" I recovered quickly from whatever just hit me. Why should I care? It's just Fang, not anyone special…

I love you…

Why does that stupid dream always come back to haunt me at the most inappropriate times?

"What are you thinking?" Fang asked. I looked at him in surprise with wide eyes. That question was really unexpected. And why would he care what I was thinking of?

"Stuff," I answered him. The side of his mouth twitched.

"That's a very educated response Maxine," Fang teased. I glared at him. He called me Maxine!

"Shut up," I growled. He snickered and my eyes narrowed. He was really starting to test my patience...

The glass of water slammed onto the table, making me jump. I looked up at the waitress and saw an angry expression on her face. Damn, what the hell is her problem?

"Anything else?" she said, anger apparent in her voice.

"No thank you miss," Fang said. She marched off and the door swung shut behind her. I rolled my eyes. People these days…

"What's her problem?" I muttered. Fang shrugged and poured the water into the pot of the plant that was sitting next to us. I stared at it as the water hit the dirt. He placed the glass back onto the table.

"Did you actually think I was going to drink that?" Fang asked. I shrugged.

"I don't know the inner workings of your mind," I said, brushing back my hair that was getting in my face.

"Touché," Fang said, rolling his shoulders. I started to play with his glass.

"What else do you want to know?" I asked.

"We know that Shadow's an avian hybrid." I stopped playing with the glass of water. Damn Hunter and his big mouth! Why'd he have to tell the whole group?!

Did you really think that he was not going to tell the rest of the group? That little annoying common sense voice said. I bit my lip.

"What I want to know," Fang continued. "Is if you're one." I felt each of my muscles freeze up. This was not good. I mean…I could lie…

But I knew that 95 percent of the time, especially in situations like this, lying comes back to bite you in the ass.

"Why do you want to know?" I asked, crossing my legs.

"Because I just do," Fang countered, crossing his arms across his chest.

"You can't always get what you want Fang," I teased, smirking. "Because then that's not fair to the people who have to work for what they want." Fang frowned.

"I got you here, didn't I? That's a hard enough task." He said. I snorted.

"The 'hard task' you did was cornering me in a forest! And that was only by luck!"

"You must've wanted something as bad as did to give into my terms like that," Fang said. I narrowed my eyes. How can he read me like that? I haven't hung around him for more than an hour, yet he can read me like an open book!

"So what, I want to know about my past," I said.

"And so do I," Fang said. Our eyes met and we stared at one another. His coal black eyes felt like they were penetrating my soul, sifting through my mind's contents.

Jeez. This guy was making me into a poet.

Fang broke the eye contact, and then looked back at me with new resolve. "I have this feeling that you were involved in my past. I want to know."

"You want wisdom," I whispered, looking down and playing with the edge of my napkin.

"I want to know all the facts," he agreed. We sat in silence for a bit. I sighed and relaxed the wing bones on my back a bit.

"Are you sure you don't want anything else?" The waitress came back with a vengeance. I jumped in my seat and whirled around to stare at her. She had a smirk on her face, like there was an inside joke that we didn't know of.

"No, we do not wish to eat anything," I said through gritted teeth. I really hated being caught by surprise like that. Scratch that, I hate surprises in general. Unless that surprise involves a fun, relaxing party and cake. That's when surprises are A-okay in my book.

The waitress frowned. "Okay then. Just call for me when you need your check." She walked off. Fang sent me a puzzled look and I shook my head. He wouldn't understand.

"Do you want to know anything else?" I asked.

"Yes baby. I want to know if you can come over to where me and my buddies are hanging out." My head shot up and look to the side. This guy was there. He was large, and absolutely reeked of beer. Well, I guess it's half-time, if came over to talk to little old me.

Wait a second…did he just ask me for me?

What the hell?!?!

I know I looked at least 17 (Bird genes at work) but still! Ick!

"Excuse me?" I hissed.

"Well, my mates and I are lonely and would like a bit of entertainment." The jerk smirked and leaned closer to me. I backed away. "Would you like to come and play?"

Gross. That was just…EW! Talk about a pedophile!

"How nice of you to ask me in…such a manner," I said through gritted teeth. "And the answer is no buddy." The man looked at me, anger and confusion written on his face.

"Excuse me little missy?" he said, indignant.

"You heard me. Take your offer and shove it." The guy looked surprised, then angry.

"You watch your tongue around-"

"You heard her," Fang spoke up. Anger was apparent in his normally impassive voice. "Take your offer and go. She doesn't want to do what you call fun." The man stood up straight, glared at Fang, and walked off, grumbling.

"Good riddance," I muttered. Fang looked and glared at me.

"What is your problem? Do you want to get raped or killed?!" I scoffed at his "concern."

"Please. If I can take on big, out of control wolf hybrids, then I can take on a few drunk guys, no problem," I said.

"You need a babysitter for that mouth of yours," Fang muttered darkly under his breath. I rolled my eyes in annoyance.

"If I can take care of a group of kids that are 14 and under, then I can take care of myself."

"Fine Max," Fang sighed, looking out the window next to us. For some odd reason, I started to remember me and Shadow's conversation in the garage earlier.

"Max…just be careful," she said, walking over to me. For some reason, that made me a bit annoyed.

"Hey, if I can take care of the Angels, then I can take care of myself," I said.

"Fine Max," Shadow answered. "But in an hour, I'm going after you."

Oh crap.

In an hour, I'm going after you.

I'm going after you.

I'm going after you.

I'M GOING AFTER YOU.

I slowly turned my head to look at the clock.

It was midnight.

(Enter state that I live in here, because I am too paranoid to tell you in case you work for Itex and are out to get me), we have a problem.

"Crap!" I exclaimed, jumping up from my seat. Fang looked at me in mild surprise.

"What?"

"Shadow's coming!" Fang's eyes widened a bit, telling us that he was shocked.

"Why?!"

"She said that she was coming because she's worried and oh gosh!" I jumped when a girl dressed in all black passed us. I stood up and started to walk outside. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I felt Fang following me. I whirled around to face him.

"You can't follow me. She'd go ballistic," I said. Fang looked down, and then back at me.

"Let's meet next week, at the same spot," he said. "I didn't get to finish." I nodded and marched outside. It was dark and I felt Fang's presence behind me, but that didn't matter. I heard a crash come from inside the club, but that didn't matter either.

I walked over to where the motorcycle was located. It didn't have any traces of Shadow being here. I shook my head. Maybe she forgot…

But Shadow would never forget something like this.

I sighed and shook my head. Maybe she's just on her way.

"Oh crap," I heard Fang mutter. I looked at him and saw him power walking back towards the bar. I heard a crash, louder this time, and a scream.

Then a long howl that made my blood freeze.

Erasers had been in the club. And whoever's in there now is in trouble.

I started running back there with Fang and then the window practically exploded.

Fang jumped in front of me, protecting me by opening his jacket in front of our faces, and glass fell around us. When it settled, I looked over Fang's jacket to see who-or what-went through a window.

And saw Hunter and Shadow, bruised and bloody, lying unconscious on the ground.

Me: And there goes the evil cliffie. Now review!