Maximum Ride Fan Fiction / Maximum Ride Fan Fiction ❯ If I Asked You To, Would You Kill Me? ❯ Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend ( Chapter 11 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Irene Sharda
Fang gets an unlikely visitor who gives him the chance he needs to escape, but can he really face the flock again with his body and head in such a mess?

Non Anime: Maximum Ride Fan Fiction / Maximum Ride Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Suspense / Sci-fi / Romance / Adventure / Action | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 05.23.2008 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.9K | Visits: 174 | Status: Work In Progress

Chapter 11
Fang could not believe pain like this existed. It was agony beyond anything he had ever felt before. Boy, when he got out of here, he was going to make Jeb sorry he had ever even thought to scramble with his genes!
He was going to strip the flesh from his bones piece by piece, then suck out his blood right before his eyes, savoring every drop…
ZURRM…
Fang flicked his eyes open…the pain ebbing away. Either, they were having a power outage—which was very unlikely in a place like this, who made it their business to have at least, 5 backup generators—or someone had turned off the IHSL.
The world outside of his watery prison was still shrouded in darkness. However, in the receding glow of the laser's dying beam…a shadow moved.
“W-who's—who's there?”
At first, only silence greeted him, and the machine had wiped away a major amount of his strength. He was too weak to ask again.
After a couple seconds, a voice answered him from out of the darkness. “I should kill you, you know…”
The voice was so familiar, that it seemed to jerk Fang from out of his fatigue. That voice—! It was slightly altered, but so femininely recognizable… It couldn't be!
“Max?”
A single halogen can-light was turned on, lightly illuminating the mysterious figure from out of the shadows. His night vision came back as well, better than ever.
The female smiled, as her features were subtly revealed. “In a, shall we say, manner of speaking…yes.”
Fang watched as a girl who was, yet was not, Max, stood before him.
She had Max's face, and her build, but something was distorted about this girl. Her wings were gone, probably hidden under her clothes, and her hair was the wrong color—deep black, rather than dirty blond. And her face, though it was the exact copy of Max's, it was marred by a long scar that ran straight vertically along her right eye. She stood there wearing a black ops suit, like that of the security Erasers.
He knew who she was, even though she still looked different from the last time they met.
“Black hair looks good on you…Max II.”
She smiled, “Thank you. It's my natural hair color. And my name's been changed since the last time I saw you. It's Virgo, now.”
He tilted his head in acknowledgement, “Nice to see you trying to make your own image, Virgo. The scar—your own design?”
She shook her head, “No…that was a result of your brothers, Iggy and Gasman's, handiwork.”
He nodded, remembering the explosion that had released them from the Florida Itex facility, last year.
“So, Virgo, for what do I have the honor of your company?”
Max II a.k.a. Virgo, smiled covertly and leaned against the control panel nonchalantly, examining her nails. “You know, Jeb sent Ari to take care of your little `family.”
“That doesn't surprise me, he'll fail, miserably, like usual.”
She shrugged in response, “I don't know, he took my cellmate with him, and she'll definitely give Max a little something to worry about.”
“Max knows how to take care of herself.”
“I know. I trained for weeks to act like her. Humph…still failed horribly.”
Fang sighed in impatience, “This pep-talk is nice and all, but you still haven't answered my question. What do you want?”
Virgo suddenly became serious, “I have a proposition for you, Fang.”
He looked at her curiously, “And what would that be?”
“I get you out of that aquarium prison, and back to your little flock.”
He raised his eyebrow in surprise, “And why would you do that? What's in it for you?”
“Well…of course, there's something you must do for me.”
“Which is?”
She answered his question, in as fully an explanation as she could; speaking almost in a whisper.
He nodded as she spoke, and he was both astonished and not surprised, at her request. “This is a tough request. You're not sure about any of this. There's a chance that…”
She shook her head, cutting him off. “I know. But I also know he's real. It's just instinct, you know?”
He did understand about that. Sometimes instinct was all he had to keep him going. Instinct powered his hopes, and his hopes drove his faith—and his faith kept him going. However, he still had questions.
“Why ask me to do this? Why not do it yourself?”
“I can't. They have me under lock and key here. I leave here, and the Erasers will take me down almost instantly. Like Max, I have a locater chip in me too. You on the other hand, have no such thing, and have a better chance fighting the Erasers than I.”
“They'll be after me, the instant they find me gone.”
“So you'll have to hurry, won't you? Put as much distance between you and this place as possible.”
He nodded in agreement.
She put her hands on her hips, restless and impatient. “So, do we have a deal?”
“Why should I trust you?”
“Why should I trust you?
He smiled beneath his breathing mask, “Good point. You've got yourself a deal.”
She smirked, then went around the controls, pulling a switch here, and typing in directions to the computer.
The vacuum seal on the huge tank broke, sending up hissing steam. The top of the cistern rose up, and the shackles on his hands and legs released, along with the sensors on his wings.
Taking a deep breath, he removed the mask from his face and swam briskly to the surface. Once he got up there, he gasped his first breath of free air. Then pulling up from the edge of the tank's side, he somersaulted down to the ground in such perfect form, a gold-medal Olympic gymnast would be jealous.
The saline fluid dripped from his body, creating a large puddle on the floor. Virgo came forward and looked at him, “Well, you're going to give yourself away, tracking all that water.”
She threw him a towel and another standard black ops uniform, identical to hers. “Put those on and hide your wings beneath them. Tie your hair back too; change whatever you can about your appearance.”
She turned her back to him, indicating she was giving him what little privacy she could.
He quickly stripped out of the bodyskin suit, and threw it into the floor with a splat. He quickly slipped into the black pants. “So why did you trust me? I'm your enemy, remember?”
She responded amusingly, “`Enemy of my enemy, is my friend.' After the fiasco of last year, my position was dropped astronomically. I was given to Batchelder, to be used as he wished. He doesn't like me much, to say the least. He hates me for my purpose, as an imposter against his precious Max. He has me put or used anywhere he doesn't have to see me. He has me a second-rate lab rat at worst, and a slave at best. I hate him, and anything he does, I want to destroy. You're his pet project for now, and I figure a way to put a big monkey wrench into his plans, is to release his project from his grasp. “
Fang nodded, noting the fact, that though she spoke of the events with amusement. Her words were not exaggerations, but cold, hard truth. Yet another thought came to him, “You're going to get the wrap for this, they'll take out my disappearance on you.”
“I know how to change the camera's feed. When this is all through, they'll think you just disappeared. My locater chip is simple and doesn't track where I am in the building. The most it will do, is say that I haven't left the complex.”
The boy shook his head. There was no way that would work. Even if she changed all the cameras, there could still be the offhand witness accounts that'd break under pressure. Also, this girl didn't know Jeb. He wasn't one to think anything just disappeared…even the rabbits from a magician's hat.
Virgo moved her head slightly, and looked at her new “partner” with her peripheral vision. She couldn't help but take in a breath…
She watched as Fang put on his shirt. His chest, though scarred, and his skin, definitely pallor gray in color, he had to be one of the most handsome males she had ever laid eyes on!
All the Erasers here, and a lot of the male scientists, were all attractive, but you've seen one, they all start looking the same to you. Fang was something different all together. She had noticed him at first, when she had gone on her first and last mission in Florida. However, it wasn't a time to think about such frivolities. But seeing him now, she could see that he had changed a lot, but to her, it didn't seem in a bad way. In fact, his new silver look, accented him well, making him more striking, mysterious, and alluring.
She suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder, bring her back to reality. She turned around and gave Fang a once over, trying to ignore toned biceps and pecks that were very apparent under the thin cotton shirt. “You should pull some of your hair forward to hide your face, and wear the jacket, all personal other than the doctors do. And all the doctors wear white lab coats.”
Fang nodded and shifted into the jacket he'd been holding. It confined his wings, and it would make it hard if he ever had to take off quickly. He decided to just leave it open, that way he could drop it quickly when need be.
Virgo began to walk toward the door, “Come on, we need to make time.”
Dark looked after her as she walked, and Blade began to talk within his head.
Touch her…
What?
You don't need her anymore. You won't be able to do anything with her traveling with you. She's a risk to both you, and herself…
I don't know the layout of this place. How am I supposed to find a way out?
Just touch her, and I will do the rest…
Fang knew that what he was about to do, Blade only thought of it as self-preservation, but he tried to placate himself by saying, that he was doing it for Virgo's sake as well.
Fang placed his hands on her shoulders…
Virgo had been checking outside the door; making sure there was no one around for the moment, when suddenly she felt Fang's hands on her shoulder. When flesh connected with flesh, large amounts of energy began to shoot through her! She could feel her body going into shock, convulsing at the electricity that was shooting through Fang's glowing hands. She didn't scream, it wasn't so much that it was painful, but draining…it was like nothing she had felt before. Her first thought, was that she had been betrayed. However, that thought began to dissipate, as she remembered the look on Fang's face when he'd agreed to the deal—his vow had been genuine…
Fang felt the sudden energy flow through his arm and out of his hands. His limbs began to glow and crackle with large blue sparks. Virgo appeared to be almost electrocuted at the connection!
He tried to lift his hands away, but the pull had been set. It was like a completed circuit that was powering its own juice. Until the power was turned off, the circuit could not be broken.
Then, just as he had thought of it, the power within him began to ebb. The electric bolts and luminescent glow slackened, then went out all together, the power gone, and the process finished.
He released his hands from her shoulders, and Virgo automatically collapsed into his arms unconscious. Suddenly, he felt all the plans that Virgo had made, all the blueprints she held, all her computer finesse she had held in her head, run through his own. It was like his new power had allowed him to pick her brain for necessary information, and then download it into his own mind! He knew where to go now to escape. He knew where the booby traps were, and the security he would run up against. He knew how to wipe the cameras clean, and avoid all the other techno-traps. Amazing!
Still, now that he knew what to do about saving his own skin, he had to think about the clone in his arms. He couldn't just let her take the blame, and he couldn't take her with him. Blade's voice butted into his thoughts.
You know what to do. Stop wasting time; you'll be free soon …
Leave me alone. Do you think that makes me feel better about this?
He laid Virgo on the ground, and paused a minute to admire her beauty. Though she looked like Max, she was distinctly different—and he found himself appreciating the differences.
We don't have time!
Stop hurrying me! I know how much time I've got!
He quickly began to undress the unconscious teenage girl, trying to conquer the enormous embarrassment he was feeling. Stripping her down to her underwear, he reached for the bodysuit he'd discarded. Slipping it on her quickly, he hauled her over his shoulder and took her over to the tank.
Thanks to his newly acquired knowledge, he knew exactly how the prison worked. Taking her to the tank's edge, he hooked the mask over her face, making sure it was working. Then, with on simple heave-ho, he pushed her over the side into the liquid. She sunk slowly, and the shackles automatically picked up her heat signature. They swam around in the water like snakes, and clasped onto her wrists and ankles.
Fang went around to the computer and began keying in the correct commands, and flipping some switches. The top switched in place, and the seal was put back on. He hadn't put the sensors on her wings, but he hoped no one would notice initially. With her black hair and the bad lighting, it was easy to mistake the two of them, even if she was a female. He short-circuited her mike though, so she couldn't give anything away with her voice. He could do more on the outside, and her chip wouldn't give her away; they'd know she was still in the building.
Now they both had a way out. Once they found out that it was Virgo in the tank, they would think that Fang had escaped and ambushed her, placing her as his replacement. But by the time they figured this out, he'd be long gone.
He quickly cleaned up any evidence that was left over, and hid her clothes in the trash. He went through the computers with his newfound expertise, and began wiping the camera tapes. He replaced them with footage from yesterday, and then put the outside hallway security sensors on a shutdown timer. In 2 minutes, everything this complex had in security would shutdown cold, only 5 minutes after that, they would turn back on in force, but giving him enough time to make his escape.
Looking over everything, he gave everything a last once over. The only thing out of place, was the missing green glow and hum, of the IHSL.
They'll notice it's off. You have to turn it back on before you go…
I can't…
You have to.
Blade's influence, led him over to the machine and had him put his hand on the power switch. His hand began to shake as Fang tried to fight against his other side's manipulation.
Don't get weak on me, Fang.
I'm not weak…I'm just not a monster…
He lifted his shaking first, and brought it down hard on the machine. The machine's casing was extremely hard and didn't make a dent; however, the insides were not so lucky. They were jumbled around so much; it would be a miracle if they would ever be able to untangle the mechanical mess.
You're so pathetic…
No, I'd say empathetic. I wouldn't want anybody, even Jeb or an Eraser, to be on the receiving end of that thing. Ever…
He walked up and looked at unconscious, beautiful Virgo through the glass, sad but not regretting, that he had deceived her. It was better for both of their sakes.
“I promise to keep up my end of the deal, Virgo. I swear it…and…I promise to return to you. I'll get you out of here.”
That'd be a stupid move…
Shut up. Nobody asked you, Blade.
With that, he turned around without a backward glance, and headed silently out the door; marking that his two minute window was up. He had 5 minutes and counting—4:59, 4:58, 4:57…