Me: OH GOD, SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT!! I'm not even going to bother with an explanation…Anyways, I don't own Maximum Ride. I do own my characters. Oh, and the poll is closed, so if you want to see the result, just go to my profile.
Quote of the update: "If it's surprising, it's useful." Tom Hirshfield
Chapter 22: Surprise
Max's POV
"I'm going to park here," I heard Shadow say. She slowed the motorcycle to a stop and looked around. We were on a mostly deserted street. Important looking buildings rose around us and the cars that were parked around were almost too nice looking. Judging from the surroundings, I'm guessing we were in the financial district of town.
I slid off the motorcycle and she jumped off after me. I started to scan the area around us. My eyes landed on some people coming out the building. Coming in our general direction.
"Shadow," I hissed. I could feel her eyes land on me as I searched for somewhere…anywhere…AH HAH!
I grabbed her wrist and ducked behind a car, dragging her with me.
"What the hell-"
"Hush!" I cut her off. "There are people coming!" She looked around and saw them. I heard her curse.
"Great job picking this car," she whispered. I couldn't tell if that was sarcasm of an actual compliment until she said "This is the car they're coming to!" I hissed the curse and tried to find somewhere else to run to.
"They're too close! No way can we find another place to run NOW," she said.
"So what the heck are we supposed to do Shadow? Be sitting ducks?" I jeered, my stomach dancing around. This was not a very good place we were in right now.
"I prefer sitting hawks," Shadow muttered. I rolled my eyes. She chooses the best times to be a smart ass. I heard footsteps coming closer and quieted. Shadow stiffened next to me.
"-so that's how it works. Any other questions?" a female said. She sounded very curt and in control.
"How well is the security in the area?" the male said. He sounded old and boring. Yawn.
"Well, there are security guards that check the area every half an hour, cameras, and there are still workers in the building," the female said.
"Okay, good. The last thing we need is to get the documents taken," the male droned. I could hear the car door opening.
"Ladies first," the man said. The woman slid into the seat. I heard the door slam shut and footsteps coming closer. Shadow looked at me desperately and I pounded my fist into my open palm. She nodded and braced herself.
The man came around the corner. He looked like he was in his 60's and he was wearing a suit. His cloudy blue eyes landed on us and widened.
"What are you-OOF!" I swept his feet from under him before he could say anymore. He fell onto his back and Shadow came from behind towards him. She covered his mouth.
"Quiet or I'll snap your neck," she hissed viciously. I shot her a look and she smiled innocently at me. The guy started flailing and making sounds.
"Benjamin? What's wrong?" I heard the lady say.
"I swear, you bite me and I'll rip your spine out and beat you with it," Shadow growled.
"Benjamin?" the lady called again. I looked toward the lady, starting to fidget in the car, then toward Benjamin who was starting to thrash even harder.
"Knock him out," I muttered.
"Gladly," Shadow said. I looked away and the guy made a sound and stopped moving. I looked back over.
"You didn't kill him, did you?" I whispered.
"Hopefully," she answered. I glared at her and checked his pulse. He was alive, thankfully.
"He's alive, Ms. Violence, thanks to you and your miracle work," I said.
"Thank you for the sleep easer, Ms. Sarcasm," Shadow muttered, standing up. My eyes widened.
"What the hell are you doing?" I hissed.
"Hello, who's there?" the lady said.
"Just watch," Shadow said. She stood up and then, her face changed. It looked pained and she stumbled to the other side of the car. The lady yelped in surprise and Shadow banged on the window. The lady rolled down the window.
"Yes?" she said in a shaky voice.
"H-help me," Shadow said, her voice in hysterics. "S-some guys j-j-just ROBBED me!" I couldn't help but chuckle a bit. Shadow is such a drama queen. Apparently, a believable drama queen.
The lady's eyes widened and her hand flew to her mouth. "Robbers?! HERE?!"
Shadow nodded fiercely. "Yes and some old guy went after them since they stole some files I was bringing to the building." Now the lady gasped.
"Where'd they go?" she asked. Shadow straightened up and pointed from where we came. "That way." The lady exited the car and looked at Shadow, up and down.
"What did they DO to you?" she asked. I almost howled with laughter. I was SO going to bug her with that later.
"Beat me up," Shadow sniffled. "All of them jumped me, it wasn't fair."
"You poor girl…I'll go after Benjamin, he might get hurt," the lady came out the car, took Shadow by the arm and sat her by the passenger seat. "Just stay here. Everything's gonna be alright."
Shadow hiccupped. "Okay." I could hear the rushed clicking of the lady's high heels fade into the night.
"It's clear now," Shadow's voice was emotionless as always. "Bring the old guy." I sighed, picking up the old guy and bringing him to where Shadow was. She had opened the backseat of the car.
"Should we put him here or in the trunk?" Shadow said.
"What are we, from the Mafia?!" I said.
"The Mafia is a very successful-" I cut her off.
"I'm going to put him in the back seat. We're NOT the Mafia, and we're going to try to keep the illegal stuff at a minimum," I said, putting him in the back seat.
"Fine," Shadow pouted. She walked to the back of the car and opened the trunk. My eyebrow went up.
"What are you doing?" I said.
"Score!" she shouted. She took out a bunch of white coats. "Want one?" I nodded and took one, throwing it on. Shadow put on one, and straightened out the sleeves.
"How do I look?" she asked. I looked her up and down.
"What did they DO to you?" I said, imitating the woman's horrified voice. Shadow narrowed her eyes.
"You're horrid," Shadow said, tossing her hair and starting to march inside the building. I ran to catch up to her.
"At least I didn't threaten to snap an old man's neck," I said. Shadow rolled her eyes.
"You're still horrid."
TFA
"Identification please," the lady at the front desk said, sounding SO INTERESTED.
…That was sarcasm by the way.
"Our professor said to come in and meet him now," I said as sweetly as possible.
"At two in the morning?" the secretary said. The boredom in her voice was now laced with suspicion.
"He said there would be less people and we wouldn't get in the way," I said.
"Okay then, what's your professor's name. I'll call him and verify that you're supposed to be in the building," the secretary said.
"What are you hiding?" Shadow asked. I shot her a look and the woman looked surprised.
"What?"
"You won't let two teenage girls into a building. What are you hiding?" Shadow said, leaning closer to the lady. She rolled back her seat.
"Miss, this is just security procedure and-"
"What the hell do you mean, 'security'? This neighborhood is one of the safest in the planet!"
"Because of the security that we keep. Now, identification please," the lady said, full blown annoyance in her voice.
"Listen, how about we go through and then call you when we're upstairs," I put in.
"No. Identi-AH!" Shadow leaned across the desk and banged the lady's head on the table hard. My eyes widened as Shadow picked her head up again and brought it down hard.
"SHADOW! ARE YOU-"
"HUSH!" She hissed. She brought the ladies head back up. Her nose was broken and blood was streaming from her mouth and nose. Shadow went to the other side of the desk and stuffed the lady's body underneath. She sat down at the desk and gave me a big smile.
"Hello, I'm Itex's new secretary. I received notification that you were coming Ms. Maxine Ride and you may go upstairs. Meanwhile, I shall stay downstairs and keep a lookout for Mr. Brian and Mr. Nicholas. Any questions?" she said. I stared at her in disbelief.
"I…you…why…ugh, later, okay?" I said, trying to sort through all the thoughts in my head.
"Yes. Now get your ass upstairs before we get caught," she said.
I shook my head and ran part the secretary desk to the main lobby. It was completely deserted. It had a bunch of windows, sculptures, plants and even a fountain in the middle. Talk about luxurious.
I walked toward the elevators and pressed the button to go upstairs.
What exactly are you doing here…oh crap.
I yanked my cell phone from my pocket and called Cass.
"Hello?" she answered.
"Yeah, it's Max. What am I supposed to do here?"
"Oh, hey Max. Do where?" I rolled my eyes.
"Remember…you called and said me and Shadow had a mission…"
"Oh yeah! You were supposed to go to the 108th floor and go to room 5935. Get the blue folders from 3rd drawer in the cabinet on the far left, next to the flower statue and then get out of there," Cass said. Who gets a STATUE of a flower? Why not keep a real flower…
"Alright, bye," I said, hanging up the phone. The elevator dinged and I sighed as I stepped in, bracing myself for the small space I was going to be in for a long time. The doors closed behind me and the elevator started shooting up.
Why the heck would someone build something so dang tall… I thought to myself and leaned against the elevator wall. I felt myself lean against and push a button. Oh crap.
I gasped. Suddenly, I could see through the elevator. I could see outside. I was really dark, only like 2 in the morning. Stars were glimmering against the dark night sky. I could see where the city ended and the forest began. It was a nice sight.
I've seen it a thousand times before, but never like this.
I suddenly felt trapped. I could feel myself starting to hyperventilate. I slid down to the floor. The elevator seemed to be getting smaller and moving slower and slower and slower…
Suddenly, a silver mass streaked the elevator. My eyes widened and I stood up, unsteady.
Shadow, my mind registered. The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. I ran out, glad that it was over and ran to the nearest window. I looked up and saw Shadow there, hovering, glaring at the ground below.
I slid the window open. "SHADOW! OVER HERE!" I yelled. She looked down and nodded, flying toward me. I stepped back and she squeezed through the small space.
"Report," I said, studying her appearance.
"Fang and Hunter are heading up," she said, breathing hard,
"Oh," I said, my eyes sliding the other elevator. It was on floor 68.
She laughed and I looked at her, mentally questioning her sanity. "They actually thought I was a secretary here."
"They didn't recognize you?" I said, surprised.
"Nope. I had tied my hair in a bun and put on the girl's glasses, so I guess I looked different," she said, shrugging.
"Those idiots. Anyways, let's go before they come," I said, grabbing her wrist and dragging her to room 5935. It wasn't locked so Shadow and I just slipped through. The lights were off, but thanks to our raptor vision, we could see better in the dark than regular humans.
"What do we do now?" Shadow whispered.
"We go to our left," I said, walking in said direction. The room seemed so eerie.
"Watch out, there's something right there," Shadow said.
"It's a sculpture of a plant," I said, matter-of-factly.
"Why would someone make a statue of a plant?" Shadow muttered.
"I have no clue," I said, looking over the cabinet and yanking the third drawer open even though it really required a key. See how gentle I am?
I skimmed through the files and Shadow shone her cell phone light on the files. I took all the blue ones and closed the drawer back up.
"Need the cream?" Shadow said. I nodded and she took a tube of cream out of her pocket. She uncapped, squeezed and rubbed it all over the door handle. Cass had invented it to eradicate any fingerprints left behind. Shadow closed the drawer with her elbow.
"Let's-" she started but never finished.
The door opened.
And two male avian hybrids stepped in, looking none too happy.
Me: O: AHMYGAWSH! What will happen next? Stay tuned for the next (and sooner, hopefully) installment of The Fallen Angels!