Story time!

[{ tessa }]

lol with Vaughn thank god, but that was like at the very very end of the series.

[Roxie !]

Title: Untitled, as of yet.
Author: Yours truely.
Rating: PG-13ish. Violence, language, you know.
Fandom: Ready for this? -deep breath- Maximum Ride / Alias. Izz a crossover.
Pairings: Fang x Max, A little bit of Iggy x Original Character, and Sydney x Vaughn.
Chapter Summary: Sydney decides to disregard all common sense, drop all pretense, and kick some ass. What else is new?
Notes: So this chapter is a result of a three hour drive from Phoenix to Flagstaff...my internet connection on this darned computer is iffy at best, but there's always WORD! Such a wonderful invention xD. On a more random note, we were gonna go to the Grand Canyon on Sunday, but guess what? OBAMA decided to crash our vacation and go the same day. So it's gonna be closed that day(who knew you could even close the Grand Canyon?)

One more thing. Anyone else find it weird that Sydney NEVER has a gun on this show? Unless she like, steals one off some unaware guard.I can't even count the number of times she's been shot by some random bad guy like. Anna, or some terrorist, or her own mother. [/rant] I kinda poked fun at that in this chapter xD.



Chapter Four

I faked a ditzy grin that literally hurt my face as both of the kids pushed past me and headed up the stairs. But the moment they were out of sight, I dropped it and turned away. “Was that them?” I whispered under my breath.

“There should be more of them than that.” Vaughn’s voice rang through.

“Did they split up?”

“Maybe. Why else would two teenagers be sneaking out onto a building roof?” Vaughn pointed out.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. To make out? Do drugs?” I half-joked. I heard him laugh.

“At a party like this, I don’t think they’d need privacy to do either of those things.” Vaughn’s visual on the situation was thanks to Marshall. During Op Tech, he’d equipped me with a hidden camera disguised as an earring, as well as several other gadgets he decided might be useful. Except I didn’t get a gun.

“Only building security are permitted weapons. They’ll throw you out if they find you with one.” Dixon had said. “Besides, the plan is to get to them before Anna does. No fighting necessary.”

I never got a gun.

Speak of the devil, Dixon came online shortly after. “Better check it out, Syd.” He advised.

“Got it.” I brushed aside my bright pink bangs(someone’s idea of a joke back at base camp, I guess) and turned back to the door.

“Sorry, miss.” A deep grunt came from behind me. I jumped back and crashed into the huge, square frame of one of the security officers.

“Hi!” I smiled at him sheepishly. “I was just admiring the, uh…doorframe here. It’s very…decorative.” Not one of my best covers. But after adding a bit of slurring, I was good to go. Rule number one at an eighteen year old’s party: act drunk, and no one gives you a second glance.

The man raised an eyebrow. “Party guests are not permitted back there.” He told me bluntly.

I forced a blank look onto my face. “Okay. I was gonna go get some more punch anyway.You look like you could use some too.” With a crooked grin, I patted him on the cheek, then sidestepped him and forced my way back into the crowd. I could feel him staring suspiciously after me, but I was distracted by the repressed snort in my ear.

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” I mumbled.

“No, no, I’m just…glad you’re so good at your job.” Vaughn’s smiles are just so audible. It’s kind of cute.

I turned back to watch the door, waiting for the guard to walk away. But he wasn’t walking away. In fact, about a dozen or so more security officers were slinking along the wall, and when the first opened the door, the rest followed him inside. They attracted a few curious glances, but no one seemed to really care much. No doubt they assumed that this kind of thing was normal—either that, or the majority of them were too wasted to think about it. But I knew what this had to mean immediately.

“Security forces have been compromised. Anna’s men are in the building.” I reported urgently.

“Damn,” swore Dixon, “She’s not going to waste time here. You’ve got to get up there.”

I was already pushing back through the crowd towards the door. I didn’t really care who saw me this time. This many reinforcements; an attack in front of so many people? Anna really knew how to piss me off. Why had she organized this in a place as public as this? I thought it over as I headed through the door and up the stairs. Knowing her, there had to be a reason other than plain stupidity.

“Sydney, wait!”

I skidded to a stop mid-stair, wincing as Vaughn practically screamed in my ear. “Ouch! What is it?”

“We have a visual on the rooftop. The kids you saw earlier are up there—and so is Anna. But her men aren’t. They must be on the stairs still.” He explained quickly

“What?” I looked up at the flights of stairs that were still above me, and realization struck. “She’s waiting for something.”

“Most likely because she’s trying to bribe them into cooperating with her somehow.”

I frowned. “What’s going on up there? Do we have an ear?”

“No, just visual.” Vaughn replied. “But our scanners are picking up a rogue helicopter nearby.”

There was a grim silence as we both realized the same thing. “She’s going to trap them.” I spoke aloud. Biting my lip, I looked around. “I’m going up.”

“No.” Vaughn sounded alarmed. “You can’t take all of them at once!”

“Vaughn—“

“Wait there, Syd.”

“No,” I shook my head, even though he couldn’t see me. “I’ll—I’ll do something. Create a distraction, or—“

“You can’t leave Anna alone with them up there.” That was Dixon’s voice, a sharp warning.

A long, painful moment of silence passed. I stood there seething with frustration and confusion until Vaughn’s voice came through the earpiece again. “Okay. They’re going out. They’re armed.”

I didn’t wait for anything else. I sprinted the rest of the stairs quickly, my heart pounding at the thought of what I might find at the top. It turned out that they’d left one unlucky guard to watch the door while the rest of them went out. I guess he heard my footsteps, because he had a gun pointed at me before I even saw him.

I froze. He hesitated. “Who are you?”

“There’s some… kind of riot going on… down…downstairs.” I told him automatically, pretending to be out of breath. “Someone said to get security…up here.”

He frowned, and lowered his weapon slightly. “What kind of—“

I grabbed his wrist and twisted hard before he could even finish his sentence, and his gun went flying over the railing and down the stairs. He shouted in alarm, and it turned out he was quicker than I thought. In the next second, his other hand was gripping me tightly by the neck. Gagging slightly, I grabbed him by the shoulders; knee’d him hard in the stomach, and slammed him even harder into the wall. He was out like a light. Surprisingly easy…except that I probably wouldn't have as much luck taking the rest of the men by surprise.

As if on cue, I heard shouting coming from outside. I guess the kids were putting up a fight. I pried the guard’s limp hand off of me and let him sink to the ground, and then wrenched the door open.

It was utter chaos. Not two, but six winged kids were diving around the roof top. Some of them in the air, some of them on the ground, all of them zipping around to avoid the gunfire of Anna’s men.

But where was Anna? It seemed impossible to find her in the mass of fighting. I darted forward and all but tackled one of the guys who was shooting at a girl that looked like she couldn’t be more than six or seven. It wasn’t the most refined battle strategy I’d ever come up with; I was pretty much clinging to his back, hitting and kicking blindly, but it worked. I was only trying to distract him.

But it worked a little too well. With a rabid-sounding snarl, he threw me off him and onto the ground. I groaned and tried to stifle the newfound throbbing in my head, but a moment later I froze again. From upside down, I spotted the blonde teenager I’d seen before, locked in battle with an all too familiar opponent…

I struggled to my feet and ignored the fighting surrounding me. All that mattered was that I get over there. From the looks of things, Anna and the girl were pretty well matched in hand-to-hand combat, but then the girl would fly up in the air out of Anna’s reach. When that happened, the Russian would fire bullet after bullet wildly into the air until she landed, and the struggle would start all over again.

“Anna!” I hissed furiously, grabbing her by the hair and whirling her violently around to face me. Just as I aimed a punch at her, she sunk her nails into my arm, right over my injury, and shoved me away from her when I gasped.

“Sydney Bristow.” Her tone was mocking, but her eyes were narrowed in cold hatred that matched mine. “I was wondering when you’d show up and try to ruin my fun.”

“What are you doing?” I demanded instantly. I was seriously not in the mood for her games. “What do you want with them?”

Anna smirked. “Why don’t you watch and find out?“ She turned and fired another shot at the girl she’d been fighting

I was just about ready to lunge at her again, but someone else beat me to it. The dark-haired boy from earlier dove out of the air and all but bowled Anna over. In the moment that I hesitated, watching them, the winged blonde girl slammed into me hard.

These kids were a lot stronger than they looked. I was too dazed to react immediately. “Wha—“ Before I could speak, she threw a punch at me, which I only just managed to block. Then another.

“Wait!” I choked out as I tried to dodge her various attacks. “I’m try to—“ I blocked another punch. “—help you!”

The girl drew back. Though she looked unconvinced, she hesitated. “Who are you?”

Before I could respond, a guard charged out of nowhere and fired at her. She leapt out of the way only just in time, and the bullet was driven into a nearby vent box. I did a double take. Those weren’t bullets they were firing…they were darts. I stared. All of the guards, except for Anna it seemed, were carrying tranquilizers…which meant…

“They want you alive!” I turned back to the winged girl frantically. “Get your friends out of here!”

“You think we’d still be here if I could?” She shot back. “The Russian lady has a bomb.”

It took me a moment to register this. “What?!”

“She said if we leave, she’s gonna blow the whole place up.”

“It’s a little too late for warnings, Maximum.” Anna had somehow shook the dark-haired boy, and now she was making her way towards us. In her hand was something that looked a lot like a detonator. I felt my heart skip a beat as she pressed the button. “You have exactly two minutes.”

Anna seemed to realize that things were getting a little too messy—I guess she wanted to go out with a bang. I stared at her in horror. “Vaughn!” I blurted out, not caring who heard me. “Anna has a bomb somewhere!”

“What?! Where?”

I rounded on Anna. “Where is it?” I relayed the question furiously. She raised an eyebrow. Normally I would have smacked that smirk right off her face, but I was in too much of a panic.

Vaughn didn’t wait any longer for an answer. “We’ll never find it in less than two minutes anyway. The backup team will make sure the building is evacuated.”

“But—“

“Sydney, get out of there now!”

Wham!

Some guy had actually swung his tranquilizer gun at me. I stumbled back, seeing stars, and only just prevented myself from falling over the roof’s edge. I instinctively launched a flying kick at him. He caught me by the ankle and flung me to the ground. He then advanced murderously, and I was guessing his intentions were somewhere close to kicking me off the roof. Using all of the strength I could gather in my rather awkward position, I wrapped my legs around his waist and flipped him over me.

I had to block out his yells as he toppled over the edge. I had to focus on getting out of here. I guess the kids had the same idea, because most of them were already flying up into the air. I paused. I could only count five of them.

Then I heard a voice shout “Angel! NO!”. I whipped around to see that three men had managed to restrain the six-year-old. To credit her, she was kicking and screaming viciously, but it didn’t stop a fourth man from approaching her and sticking a needle full of some kind of thick, green substance into her arm. Angel let out an ear-shattering scream.

The blonde girl, who seemed to be their leader, was the first to dive at the men. To my surprise, they scattered instantly. Then I heard Anna’s voice.

“It is over! Let’s go!”

The helicopter had landed, and the few remaining men were making for it. I’d been counting the seconds until the bomb went off—I guess Anna had too.

Thirty…

Twenty-nine…

Twenty-eight…

The winged kids had gathered around the six year old urgently, and my mind raced. I had to get to Anna. If she escaped, there would be no fixing what had just happened. I spotted her just as she was disappearing into the chopper, one of the last people in.

I raced towards them, but the helicopter was starting to fly again. I had one chance. Taking a running leap, I managed to grab onto the bottom of it as it rose higher.

Twenty-two…

Twenty-one…

Twenty…

I struggled to climb up the rest of the way, but I didn’t have a strong enough grip. I glanced back down at the ground, which was getting further and further away. I could see the girl, Angel, just lying there, her friends trying to wake her as the seconds ticked by…what could Anna have done to her?

Anna. She was suddenly framed in the helicopter’s doorway, smirking down at me.

“Give me the antidote!” I shouted over the wind, tighting my grip even as I felt myself slipping. I didn’t even know what the green liquid was, but I knew that Anna could fix it if she wanted to.

She sighed. “I don’t think you’re in a position to be making demands.”

I bit my lip as her grin widened.

“It’s been a pleasure, Agent Bristow.”

“Anna—“

With a sickening stomp, she slammed her boot down on my hands and twisted. I felt my grip loosen completely, and with a barely suppressed scream I was suddenly hurtling towards the ground.

Eleven…

Ten…

Nine…

[{ tessa }]

SYYYYYYDNEEEEYYYYY!!!!!! lol.

Wth did they put in Angel??! argh. you left me hangin!

BTW, thats sooo true about her not having a gun. I guess since shes A spy and all, she does better with like physical combat.

[le Dawnz]

Awesome!

But I have to admit the first thing that popped into my head was Why didn't Angel use her mind-controlling power to make them let go?

I have to say, I love Vaughn! ^^ He's like a grown-up, non-bird-kid, slightly more talkative version of Fang. xDD


Edit: OMG VAUGHN DIES?!?!?!!? He DIES in Season 5??!?!?!?!?!?!??! It's not true is it?!?!?!

Re-Edit: Oh, lol, nevermind. I figured it out.

[/size]

[Roxie !]

...You know what, I don't even have an excuse for that. xDDDD Other than it was a hot, long car trip and I was very, very tired. Oopsies. Well, we'll say that it happened too fast xP -pats Angel- Also, I think I was too caught up in the mindset of what was about to happen to her...well, you'll see.

Vaughn rocks! But wow. I haven't seen season five in like, fifeteen trillion years, and you seriously scared me. I was like "OMG DID HE SERIOUSLY DIE AND I FORGOT ABOUT IT?!" xDDD. How'd you know? I remember being sooo completely confident that no one who was actually awesome ever 'really' died on Alias...until the series finale. -sobs over Jack and Irina-

[{ tessa }]

I always hated that she lost both her parents in such a short time like that.
& lol wow, I never even noticed the Angel thing. good point Dawnie.

[Roxie !]

Title: I'M GOING TO THINK OF A TITLE FOR THIS. I AM. I SWEAR.
Author: Yours truely.
Rating: PG-13ish. Violence, language, you know.
Fandom: Ready for this? -deep breath- Maximum Ride / Alias. Izz a crossover.
Pairings: Fang x Max, A little bit of Iggy x Original Character, and Sydney x Vaughn. Oh, and Total x Marshall. xP. Juuust kidding.
Chapter Summary: A very narrow escape is made, questions are answered, and it becomes clear that Angel could be in very real danger. Damn you, Anna!
Notes: I just realized, when I was writing this, that I love Gazzy. So much. =) Also, I hate writing stuff like this. Exposition-y chapters. They're just so much darned work.

By the waaayy, check this out. I made a youtube video that happens to be an Alias tribute. Or an Alias tribute that happens to be a youtube video. Uh. It's not actually all that great, considering I had like, no video clips to use, and it's really, really short. But oh well. www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxvlgK1gh6c


Chapter Five

"Angel! NO!"

The words left my mouth automatically. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Angel struggling against the goons--four, five, I couldn't stop to count them. All I knew was that before I could respond, before I could even think, one of them was injecting a needle into her arm. One thing I'd learned from a life on the run from crazy scientists: needles were never good.

The rest of the Flock hovered around me. It was like we were all frozen in place from the shock of what just happened. It was only a few seconds, but it felt like hours that we hovered there, completely disbelieving what had just happened, and helpless to reverse it.

And just like that, my brain started working again. I felt rage hit me like a ton of bricks. Those guys were definately dead. I dove down straight for them, but before I could reach them, they scattered. For a minute, that threw me off. I expected them to try and shoot me or grab me as I lunged at them, but they were completely backing off. Scumbags! Fight back! I was fully prepared to go after them, but then I caught sight of Angel. My heart stopped.

She had collapsed on the ground. And she wasn't moving.

"Angel!" I called again, and suddenly I forgot all about the fight we were still right in the middle of. All that mattered was that Angel, the youngest member of the Flock, was hurt. Maybe worse.

When I landed beside her, I realized that the rest of the Flock was right at my heels. As we gathered around Angel, I felt a rush of relief as I realized that her eyes were open. She looked around at all of us, and I bent down next to her. "It's okay, sweetie. It's okay." I was trying to convince myself as much as I was trying to convince her. There were a million and one things that were rushing through my head, but somehow one of them managed to push through the most clearly. The bomb. There couldn't be much time left. I had to get Angel--and everyone else, some place safe. "Can you walk?" I asked her gently. I was trying hard to disguise the urgency in my tone even as my voice cracked.

Angel had to struggle to answer. "I...can't...Max. I can't move." She was trembling from head to foot, and I wasn't sure whether it was from shock and fear or from some horrible effect of whatever had just been injected.

"Max, we need to get her out of here. Now." That was Fang, but I barely heard him.

Gazzy struggled to push his way closer to us. I couldn't even look at him. I couldn't take his expression. Angel was his sister. I mean, with most of the Flock, it's kind of like we're siblings anyway, but Angel was his biological sister. "I'll carry her." He said bravely. "I can do it. Let me carry her."

But even as he said it, Fang bent down and scooped up Angel in his arms. "I've got her." He said, in that reassuring, but very, very rare gentle tone he has.

Sick shock was still hanging over all of us like a thundercloud, but it was wordlessly agreed that before we could deal with anything, we had to get away from the immediate danger. But just as we all began to rise into the sky, a scream rang through the air. Even as I kept flying, I looked back. For about half a second, maybe even less, I could see 'Bubblegum' dangling from a helicopter that I assumed was Anna's means of getaway. Before I could even blink, she was falling, and fast.

You just don't stop and think about these things. Not when you've been saving the world time after time. Muttering a curse under my breath, I performed my second head-first dive of the night, sped toward her, and managed to grab her about eight or nine feet above the ground. The momentum of the fall started to drag me down, but then, amazingly, Iggy was beside me.

Iggy's blind, but sometimes it feels like he can see more than the rest of us. He can pick up on the slightest of sounds, like my wingbeats, and would certainly be able to pinpoint a sound as loud as a scream. It only took him a second to find me, and then he was supporting Bubblegum with a short nod that said "I've got this.'. No questions asked. Because there just wasn't time.

I left him to carry her in a half-fireman's lift, and we soared up to join the rest of the Flock, who were waiting for us high above. Only seconds later, the sky was lit up brilliantly as a thunderous noise signalled that Anna hadn't been bluffing. I didn't look back.




My first priority was to find any kind of shelter, and stop to make sure Angel was alright. With the Flock in this state, we weren't going to make it back to our safehouse right away. We ended up stopping under a small bridge, a place that was mostly hidden by the shadows of the night. When we landed, Iggy dropped Bubblegum a little ungracefully--she seemed a little shell-shocked, but we left her alone. Right now, everyone's main concern was Angel.

Fang set her down gently, propped up against one of the bridge's walls. Gazzy, who had never left her side, sat down close to her. I bent down.

"Angel?" I asked quietly. She was still concious. That had to be good. Right? "How do you feel?"

She stirred slightly. "I dunno. Tingly. Sleepy." She managed. I exchanged a worried glance with Fang, but kept my cool both for Angel and the younger members of the Flock who were watching.

"Don't fall asleep. Not yet, okay?" I told her gently. Angel nodded. I reached out, and brushed some hair out of her face. I had to reassure her, even though I was falling part. This was my fault. It was just hitting me now, through the fading adrenaline. I was so stupid to drag everyone into this when we had so little information.

Fang has a talent for detecting this sort of thing. I felt him reach out for me. "Hey. Max, listen..."

But I didn't want to hear it. I couldn't break down in front of the rest of the Flock. "Not now." I gritted, leaving us all to fall into heavy silence. Finally, Nudge spoke up.

"Max? We--we're gonna help Angel, right? She's gonna get better?"

I closed my eyes. What could I say? I had no idea. No idea how to fix this.

But maybe someone else did.

I stood up, eyes narrowed, and turned to Bubblegum, as I had decided to dub her. She was watching us from a few feet away, but seemed hesitant to get any closer. I cleared my throat in hopes of finding my voice.

"What did they do to her?"

She blinked, suprised. Uncertain, she didn't say anything. I didn't have time for this, so I repeated through my teeth. ""What did they--"

"I don't know."

The whole Flock was staring at her now. She took a deep breath. "It could be anything. From a tracker serum, to..."

I raised my eyebrows. "To?"

Bubblegum paused. "...A lethal injection."

Well, that was blunt. I wasn't even willing to think about that option. I shook my head, even as Iggy stepped forward.

"So there's nothing you can do to help her?" He asked.

Once again, she hesitated, as if she were hesitating to reveal something. "No, I can't." She said finally. "But I know people who can. I work for the CIA."

Immediately after those words left her mouth, I snorted. "Okay. Sure."

Bubblegum was quick to try to back herself up. "I know how this sounds. I'm sure Anna told you the same thing--"

"Actually, she told us she was working for some K-Directorate company." I corrected her. "Not like it matters."

But apparantly, it mattered, because for some reason Bubblegum was looking both confused and disturbed. "She told you what?"

"And how do you know her, anyway?" I went on without paying attention. Angel could be dying, and I needed answers. Now. "Are we supposed to believe that you just happened to see us at that party, and then just happened to show up exactly where she planned her ambush?"

She remained infuriatingly calm. "You have a lot of questions," She sighed. "I get that. But you need to understand that I'm not authorized to talk about it--not here. All you need to know is that I was sent there to stop Anna. I don't know what she was trying to do with that injection...but if you come with me, I can try to fix it."

I didn't even have to look at the others. I could feel their skeptical disbelief. When I spoke again, I can safely say I was speaking for all of us. "First of all, you should know that even if you're legit, it doesn't really matter. We've had too many bad run-ins with the government to trust them again." I said flatly. "Second of all, we'll decide exactly what we need to know." This was sounding way too familiar. Anna told us to come with her for Angel's sake. And now this woman was telling us the exact same thing. "If you want us to even consider listening to you, you'd better tell us exactly who you are, and what you want."

"And what Anna wanted with us." Fang prompted, suprising me by speaking at large for the first time. "She mentioned a prophecy."

Bubblegum looked at each stubborn face in turn. "Anna...didn't tell you anything?"

No one answered. Our expressions were answer enough.

She took a deep breath. "Okay. But we have to make this quick. My name is Sydney Bristow. I work for the CIA, and I was assigned to your case...yesterday."

"We have a case?" Nudge piped up, mildly interested.

Sydney nodded. "If an enemy of the United States is interested in you, then yeah. You have a case. And that's exactly what Anna Espinosa is." She looked around at us, and then continued. "Have any of you ever heard of Milo Rambaldi?"

"Bless you." Iggy muttered from behind me. Sydney either didn't hear him, or chose to ignore him.

"Who?" I replied more seriously.

"Rambaldi was an inventor and a prophet from the renaissance period." She explained. "His ideas were...way ahead of his time. Some of them are still ahead of our time."

Oookay. What did any of this have to do with what just happened? "Like what?" I asked skeptically.

"Like genetic experimentation." Sydney's gaze shifted to my wings briefly.

There was a loaded pause as we realized what she was hinting at. "Wait," I said, trying to put all of this together. "You think this...guy had something to do with...us?"

"But that was like, a gazillion years ago." Nudge pointed out, folding her arms. "We know who made us like this. The School did. They--"

But I silenced her with a look. This definately wasn't the time to get into the story of our lives, especially in front of someone we hardly knew. Besides, I didn't like talking about the School at the best of times. Even though they were fading away into a memory, it was the kind of memory you just don't forget.

"Yes, they did." Sydney was saying patiently in response. "But they were able to because they were in possession of Rambaldi's notes. That's what gave them a jumpstart on their research."

I saw Fang frown deeply. "Where are these notes? Can we see them?" He demanded, quietly but firmly.

Again, Sydney hesitated. "I'd have to get you clearance for that. And to do that, you'd have to come with me."

Once again, that was just a tiny bit of a problem. I was not about to endanger us again by taking another risk. Still, we didn't know everything about this yet. "Let's just say for a second that this somehow makes sense. Why would someone like Anna or whoever, care about the School's research?" I asked.

"Because of the prophecy." As soon as that was said, I opened my mouth to respond, but Sydney quickly cut me off. "No, I don't know what it is. The CIA only has Rambaldi's notes, which Anna stole from the School. The prophecy is what motivated her to steal them in the first place. It's...complicated. But apparantly, Rambaldi made several different prophecies, and now it looks like one of them is about you. That's why Anna's interested. She's a devoted follower of Rambaldi--practically obsessed with him. And she's one of the people that believe that if all of Rambaldi's artifacts are collected, and all of his prophecies are completed, then it would achieve some kind of huge end result. And that would be very, very bad."

Personally, I didn't care what a prophecy said about us. And all of this stuff about this Rambaldi guy was making my head spin. But if this was the reason Anna was after us, if this was the reason she hurt Angel, it suddenly became a concern. I suddenly remembered something Anna had said. "Yeah, she did tell us about a prophecy. She also told us that Angel wasn't a part of it. She said that she had some kind of virus...that something was wrong with her. That's why we went to meet Anna in the first place." I cast a glance back at Angel, who still hadn't moved, but was watching us with wide eyes.

"Did she give you any proof?"

I turned back to Sydney. "What?"

"If she didn't prove it, there's a good chance she was lying." Sydney explained as if this was just casual conversation. We all stared at her blankly. She shook her head. "That's what Anna does. She lies. She doesn't play by any of the rules. She was willing to blow up a whole building publicly just to get her hands on you. And if she said that your friend isn't part of her prophecy, then that's most likely the reason Angel was targeted." She bit her lip, and looked at Angel, adding with a hint of desparation, "They could have been trying to get rid of her. Which means we don't have much time."

I suddenly felt icy cold, even though it was a warm night. Without answering, I walking back over to Angel and knelt next to her again. "Sweetie? How do you feel?"

Angel looked less pale than she had a few minutes ago, and she had stopped shaking. But now, she looked completely terrified. "I can't feel my wings." She whispered to me. "I can barely move them."

Oh god. I inspected her wings closely, like I expected to see some physical sign of the damage done. I couldn't leave her like this. I stood up, and faced the rest of the Flock.

"Okay. You guys, take cover. Don't follow us. I'll take Angel and go with her." I tilted my head in Sydney's direction. "And if she's not who she says she is...well. Fang, you're in charge."

Fang stared at me grimly. "No." He said at once. "Not going to happen. We're not splitting up. Not again."

I closed my eyes. I was tired. I didn't want to argue with him. "Fang, this is the only way--"

"No. You don't get to put your life on the line like that. If we don't all go, then no one's going."

Before I could reply, Gazzy spoke up. He still hadn't left Angel's side. He stared at me, his big blue eyes identical to the six year old's, and said, "I'm not leaving my sister."

I realized I couldn't ask him to. That kid darn near broke my heart. But now, I had no idea what to do.

"You all can follow me...from the sky. From far away, if you want." Sydney broke the silence gently. "You don't have to walk in to the CIA until you're sure that's really who they are. Do you really think the U.S. government would try to kill you?"

To be honest, it really wouldn't quite suprise me. But I didn't say that, because this was beginning to look like our only option. I looked at Angel. Then I looked at everyone else. No words were exchanged between us. We were agreed. I looked at Sydney again. "Fine. But if you try to hurt any of us in any way, we're going to have a big problem." I narrowed my eyes.

Sydney smiled faintly. "Fair enough."

Silence. Iggy shuffled. "So, do you have some kind of private helicopter we're going to follow?" He asked eventually.

She looked at him. Blinked. "If you don't mind, I think I'll be drive." She said slowly, looking vaguely uneasy. "I've had enough flying for one day."

[{ tessa }]

awwwwww poor Angel Idk why Im so emotional today, but Gazzy almost made me cry in this chapter. youre not gonna kill Angel are you??? & I want to know what that injection stuff is!

PS - nice video. Short but I thought it was touching. do you know the song In my Daugters Eyes by Martina McBride?? Ive always wanted to make a video about Irina with that song. its soooo perfect for her lol.

[Roxie !]

Angel is...well, you'll see soon enough. xD I hate to give you that typical mysterious answer, but I'm not going to say much about her or the injection at this point. And Gazzy's a sweet little guy, isn't he?..Most of the time. xD

Omg. I listened to that song just now, and I was officially inspired to somehow squeeze Irina into this story. I don't even care. I'll find a way. Actually, that might kinda work with the crossover...I feel like her and Jeb would be the type to be conspiring on something together.

[le Dawnz]

First of all, totally awesome. Write another chapter soon!!
Second of all, seriously? Where the Wild Things Are? I didn't realize it the first time I saw the preview, but the next time I saw "based on one of the most beloved books of all time" and I was like "Wait, THAT Where the Wild Things Are? The childrens' book?!!?!?!? Wooooooooow..." xDD
THIRD of all, I know this movie's been out a while but I heard about a project someone at school is doing like this, and then I ran across it on YouTube while looking for a song, and thought it was the most awesome thing I have ever heard of. It's in my siggy. The movie's called Pay It Forward (and of course it has to have Haley Joel Osment in it because otherwise it wouldn't be nearly as awesome, xD).

[Roxie !]

I know! This is such a random time to be making a movie out of that book. But it's supposed to be really good though. And omg, I've seen that movie! We watched it in school a couple years ago. It was really, really sad..

[Roxie !]

Title: Broken Wings. (There. Settled.)
Author: Moi.
Rating: PG-13ish for violence and language.
Fandom: Maximum Ride / Alias
Pairings: As of yet, hinted Max x Fang and Sydney x Vaughn. More on that later. In later chapters, expect Iggy x OC and possible Irina x Jack.
Chapter Summary: The CIA works out where to go from here. Sydney and Jack squabble, Max is stubborn, and everyone gets nice and stressed out.
Notes: Well, yeah. Things are starting to move towards the main idea of the story. But...wait and see.


Chapter Six



I was tired. I was grouchy. I really, really wanted to go back to my apartment and sleep. But right now, I didn't have that option.

I more-or-less slumped into the CIA Los Angeles base, and was confronted in less than two minutes.

"Sydney!"

I turned to see Vaughn walking briskly toward me, looking uneasy but relieved. I felt some of the tension leave my shoulders even as he stopped a few feet away. I smiled slightly. "Hi. Is everyone okay?"

He nodded. "We got the building evacuated in time. But...I mean. It's gone. Anna completely destroyed it." He shook his head as if he couldn't believe it. "And we thought...we didn't know if you..."

I lowered my gaze apologetically. "I tried to contact you after I got out. Communications shorted out or something."

"It was the explosion that did it." Vaughn confirmed. He let out a breath that he seemed to have been holding in. "How did you get out of there?"

How exactly did you explain something like this? I could have gone the "long story" route, but I knew Vaughn wouldn't buy it if I did. "...I...flew."

Vaughn stared at me blankly, as if he thought I was joking. "You flew." He repeated skeptically. He puzzled this for a moment longer, and then I saw it dawn on him. "Wait a minute. You didn't...those kids...?"

"They saved my life." I said simply. Glancing at the door, I added, "And they agreed to come with me. But they're waiting outside, I think. One of thems hurt." Because I didn't stop Anna in time. I added silently.

Vaughn sensed that something was wrong. "Syd? What happened?"

I sighed. "There's this kid--she's so little. She can't be more than six, maybe seven. And I think Anna tried to kill her, Vaughn." I told him. The very thought made me sick. "I didn't stop Anna, and I couldn't help them, and I--I'm a mess." I veered off, suddenly overcome with a wave of frustration. "I'm covered in dirt, and blood, and my hair's pink--"

"Hey." I was startled slightly as Vaughn reached out and touched my arm. "It's okay. Don't worry about any of that right now. You go get cleaned up, and I'll send someone out to get the kids in here, okay?"

I managed to nod, realizing that my exhaustion had brought me dangerously close to breaking down. Vaughn smiled at me, and I returned it before heading down the back down the hall.



Once I had effectively gotten the one-wash hair dye out of my hair, and scrubbed the almost gothic amount of make-up off my face, I headed back out to work. My room-mate, Francie, was still at her own job--thank god. I could only imagine her expression if she ever saw me walk in the door dressed the way I was a half hour ago.

Back at the CIA, I immediately went in search of Vaughn, Dixon, or anyone who could fill me in on what was going on.

"Hey, Syd!" At the desk just ahead of me, Marshall leapt up from his seat, sending papers flying anywhere.

I tried not to look too amused as I bent down, picked up several of the papers, and handed them back to him. "Hi Marshall."

He smiled sheepishly at me. "Vaughn told me you didn't, like, get blown to pieces or anything. Good job!"

I couldn't help but grin at his choice of words. "...Thanks. Listen, have they told you anything yet?"

Marshall looked momentarily confused, until--"Oh! Those kids they just brought in? I saw 'em. They're kinda cute, actually...well, the little ones are. The tall one with the black hair kind of scares me." He confessed. I waited patiently for him to continue, which didn't take as long as it usually did. "The medical team was doing some tests on the youngest one, and I guess her friends didn't want to leave her alone, which I thought was kind of nice, you know?. But anyways, they took a blood and DNA sample. And then they took one from the oldest girl too--I guess she's their leader or something--to compare it to. I was just about to analyze the DNA now, actually." Marshall looked slightly proud of himself, before adding. "Oh! By the way, I think they want you in the meeting room."

Up until this point, he'd been talking so fast that if I hadn't known him, I'd have been completely lost. Luckily, I was, like most people here, fluently trained in 'Marshall-Talk'. "Great. Thanks, Marshall. Good luck with the DNA." I replied, smiling distractedly at him.

He shrugged. "Aw, you know me. Luck's got nothing to do with it!"



I opened the door to the meeting room, and paused. The first thing I noticed--and it was kind of hard to miss--was that all six of the winged kids were already in the room. Most of them were standing tensely, except for the youngest, Angel. She was perched uneasily in a chair, semi-surrounded by the others protectively. She still didn't look so good.

Dixon and Vaughn were seated at the other end of the table. There was one other person standing, and it only took me a second to recognize him. My father.

"Sydney," Dixon had noticed me standing in the doorway, and nodded to me. "Take a seat."

Hesitantly, I sat down across from the scene unfolding. No one in the room looked too happy.

"Right," Dad said shortly, addressing the kids. "My name is Jack Bristow. I assume you've met my daughter." He motioned to me without so much as a glance. A few of the kids cast a curious look my way, but if the news suprised the oldest girl, she didn't show it by so much as a flicker of her eyes.

"This is Marcus Dixon, and Michael Vaughn." He continued, motioning to each of them in turn. I glanced at Dixon curiously. Why had he put my father in charge of questioning them? After all, he wasn't exactly the most tactful person in the world. In fact, Dad was pretty much the definition of blunt and cold. But no one said a word as he continued. "Would you please identify yourselves?"

There was a pause. Finally, the blonde spoke up. "Max." She said shortly. "This is Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy...and Angel."

Dixon made a note on a sheet of paper. Clearly, he was taking all of this down.

Dad acknowledged this information with the tiniest of nods. "Would you please tell us exactly what happened tonight?"

Max sounded slightly impatient as she relayed the events leading up to and including Anna's ambush. Dixon took more notes, Vaughn looked like he was struggling to believe a single word of this, and Dad carefully hid any reaction at all. In fact, he frowned at them for about four seconds before continuing on with his next question.

"Why don't you tell us about the School?"

The tension in the room immediately rose. I could almost physically feel it, and the way that all six kids tensed up at once sent a shiver down my spine.

"How's that going to help you catch Anna?" Max demanded sharply.

Dad cast her a calculating look. "We're only trying to gather information to update files on both you and Anna Espinosa--"

"Whoa. Whoa whoa." Max held up a hand, her eyes narrowed. "Our files? You have no right to be making files. Our business is our business. The only reason we're here is to get Angel help." She pointed out.

"Which will be extremely hard to do if we don't have your fullest cooperation!" Dad shot back, looking more sour than ever.

I stared. Max was bristling, Fang had stepped forward tensely at her side, and the rest of them looked kind of worried. This was getting ridiculous. I stood up, and cleared my throat. "Sorry to interrupt," I addressed Dixon, though I glanced briefly at my father. "But right now, I think any questions that don't concern what happened tonight can afford to wait."

Dixon looked up at me, then gave a brief nod. I could feel Dad glaring at me, but I didn't look at him again.

"Right now, we need to decide the best course of action." Dixon agreed, intertwining his fingers.

"What about Angel?" Gazzy, the little blond boy, blurted out.

"Once we finish our tests and find out what's wrong with her, we can decide how to treat her." Dixon told him a little more gently. "But in the meantime, I'll need to ask you and your friends to stay under CIA surveillance. We already have a safehouse picked out for you."

Max shook her head immediately. "No way. We're not staying cooped up in one place with a bunch of guards. You can't just hide us away like that."

Vaughn spoke up then. "I know it sounds hard right now." He told her. "Frankly, it sounds like it pretty much sucks. But it's only until we get Anna into custody."

"We can take care of ourselves!" Max argued. "We've done it before. We've been through worse."

"Think of it this way," Dixon interrupted calmly. "Until Angel gets better, you can't afford to be too far away from the medical care she needs. I also don't think you want to put any of your other friends in the same kind of danger you faced tonight. The safehouse would just be a place to rest and recover."

Max still looked pretty unconvinced, though I have to say Dixon does have a way of reassuring people.

"If it bothers you--if having the place surrounded by guards 24/7 seems too claustrophobic, then we can compromise. Security cameras on every entrance of the house, to make sure no one breaks in, and one agent there with you to ensure things run smoothly." He continued.

Max was still frowning, but I saw her cast a glance at Fang, as if she were silently asking his opinion.

"It can't hurt to try it out." Vaughn pointed out. "We're not asking for a perminant commitment."

There was a pause. Max grimaced. "If we're unhappy there...if anything seems off--or if Angel gets worse, we get to leave. No questions asked."

Dixon nodded to her shortly. "Then it's a plan. All that's left to decide is how to pursue Espinosa."

"Dixon?" I inquired immediately. "If you don't have a preference, I'd like to be assigned to this mission."

Dad spoke up so quickly that he almost cut me off. "Absolutely not. That's insane. We'd need a trained team to track Espinosa and her men." He growled.

Irritated, I tried to ignore that. "A team would be too noticeable." Even though I was talking to Dixon, I was clearly speaking out against my father. "I have experience with Anna. I know how she thinks, how she works. I've fought her before."

Suddenly, Dad rounded on me. "My point exactly!" He snapped. I blinked at him, startled. "You don't think when it comes to her, Sydney. You're blinded by a personal rivalry grudge, and something like this is much too dangerous to have you go charging in without thinking."

I glared at him furiously. Spluttered for a moment. Then found my voice. Completely disregarding the fact that we were in the middle of a meeting, I snarled at him. "Charging in without thinking? Is that what you think I was doing?"

"What else would you call trying to jump into that helicopter tonight?" My father demanded. "You could have died. It was stupid."

"Who the hell do you think you are?!"

"I'm your father! Your recklessness is my responsibility!"

I clenched my fists. "I don't. Need you. To protect me." I gritted out slowly.

Dad flared up, but before he could say anything--

"ENOUGH!"

We whirled around to see Dixon, who had gotten out of his chair and was glaring sternly. "From both of you."

I suddenly realized where we were, and stopped short. I took a deep, steadying breath to try to calm myself, and turned away from Dad. "Look, Dixon. You know I can handle this." I told him softly. Back when I was a double agent at SD-6, Dixon was my partner for the majority of the time there. We'd been through a lot together, and he knew I could take care of myself.

Dixon surveyed me searchingly. "I agree." He said at last. "You should be assigned to this case."

I let myself relax. Dad snorted.

"You'll be the agent to go to the safehouse." Dixon continued calmly.

"I--what?" I did a double take, but Dixon wasn't joking. I stared at him blankly. Anna was still at large, and we knew she was planning something big...but he wanted me to go hide with these kids and do nothing except, what? Make sure Angel got to bed on time? I couldn't believe this. "Dixon--"

"We need someone to make sure they're safe." He cut me off.

"I don't think--"

"It's not going to be as easy as it sounds. But seeing as they already know you--"

"Barely."

"Syd." He raised his eyebrows. "I need you to do this for me."

I looked at him pleadingly, even though I knew there was no argueing with him. After a long moment, I sighed and glanced at Max and the others. "I'll need a cover. My roommate's going to be a little suspicious if I disappear for a couple of weeks."

"Already taken care of." Dixon announced. "All we need you to do is make the call."



The meeting seemed to last forever. Once it was finally over, I walked outside the room, pulled out my cell phone, and quickly dialed the number to my apartment. After a few rings, someone picked up.

"Hello?" A familiar voice answered.

"Hey Francie." I greeted, trying to sound relaxed.

"Hey, nice timing!" Francie chirped, realizing it was me. "If you can actually manage to get off work for awhile, Will and I were planning a movie night thing. You up for it?"

I sighed inwardly, knowing that once again, I was going to have to blow her off. "I--I can't. I'm sorry, it's just...the bank. They're sending me as a representative to one of their branches in Madrid. It looks like it's gonna take awhile. I was just calling to tell you." I told her guiltily. This wasn't the first time I'd been forced to lie to my friends to keep my cover, and I was sure it wouldn't be the last.

I could practically see Francie rolling her eyes. "You're kidding me. They're sending you on another trip?"

"I'm sorry, Fran." I repeated quietly.

"Oh, no. Nevermind." Francie's tone softened. "I'm just jealous you get to go to Spain while I have to stay hear listening to Will whine about having to watch Footloose." She was joking, but I could tell she was dissappointed. I smiled sadly.

"Look, when I get back, I'll make it up to you. We can go to a spa or something, okay?" I offered. Then, more lightly, "At least Will won't be able to whine there."

Francie chuckled. "Okay, sounds good. And Syd?"

"Hmm?"

"Tell that bank to stop overworking you, or I'll have to come over there and kick their sorry asses."

I grinned. "I'll do that." I replied, imagining Dixon's expression if he ever heard Francie talking about his 'sorry ass'.

"See ya."

"Bye." I clicked the phone off, then let out a sigh. Over my shoulder, I cast a look back into the meeting room. Max and the others were still standing, and all of them looked wary, irritable, and overall unhappy about the general situation. It was already turning out to be a long night.