Maximum Ride: Picking Up the Pieces (A Maximum Ride Fanfic)

Chapter Twenty-Three: To the Rescue

After having left their anonymously booked hotel room at 2 am, the remainder of the flock, with Fang and Ratchet in the lead, left for the military prison which was the sanctuary of The Greater Good. The boys had already donned underling uniforms, and, upon reaching the workers' entrance, the girls and the boys split up, Gazzy following the boys but leaving the older ones in order to open the incinerator tunnel.

Fang, Ratchet and Iggy went to Bunker I-3815, which currently contained the imprisoned Dylan. Opening it with Ratchet's ID card, they pulled Dylan out and onto a gurney. They bound him to it and gagged him. Dylan started to panic and struggle against the bindings, but then Fang leaned down to whisper in his ear.

"Max is okay, and we're gonna take you home with us," he hissed. "Just keep up the act. We're gonna get you outta here." Then, upon rising, he winked, and Ratchet led them down several corridors, turning right and left, here and there. Then, they reached the dead end of a tunnel, and grabbed a sheet from the shelf.

"Play dead," Fang mouthed to Dylan. Dylan suddenly went limp, his eyes remaining open and unmoving. He didn't even blink.

"Ah, shit! Another one! Gone! Just like that. I guess we're just gonna have to take him to the incinerator. Here, help me with the sheet," Ratchet said, loud enough for the other underlings to hear, but not too loud so as not to make themselves obvious. He and Iggy covered Dylan with the sheet, then went down to the incinerator tunnel. Gazzy, who had posed as the midget who usually guarded the incinerator tunnel, opened it for them, then followed them through. They met with the girls, as planned, when they reached the maintenance door. They took the maintenance tunnels out under the fences and several miles away from the prison, into a landfill. Pulling the gurney up from under the tunnel, they unstrapped Dylan and took the sheet off of him. Then, tossing the gurney up into the landfill along with the sheet, they flew off, Iggy carrying Ratchet and Fang carrying Dylan, whose body was still limp. He had probably fallen asleep.

Heading towards home, all Fang could think about was Max.

---

A week and a half later, what remained of the flock arrived at the Martinez house in Arizona at around three in the morning. Dr. Martinez immediately took Dylan upstairs to her office to fix him up. The rest of the flock went to bed, Ratchet taking the couch for the time being, and Fang heading to his bedroom, hoping to find Max still pregnant. Still alive.

---

I woke up around four in the morning. Fang was curled up in bed with his arms around me. I immediately reached around and hugged him. He woke up, and whispered into my neck.

"Hey gorgeous," he said. "Still got the tyke, I see."

"Yep. I kept my legs crossed for you."

"Well, I kept my fingers crossed hoping that I would be able to do this," he said, pulling a simple, single-karat diamond ring out of his back pocket. I gasped, and he looked at me expectantly.

"Of course, Fang, of course I will!" I kissed him, and he took my left hand from his face so that he could put the ring on it. Then, I pulled away gently, realizing that he had gone in the first place for a reason.

"Is he?" I asked. Fang sighed, and he nodded, pointing up. "I'll take you."

We went up the stairs to my mother's office, where my mother was stitching up a rather bad cut on Dylan's face. He looked awful; he was skinny (and that was saying something), and had scars, bruises, and cuts all over his body. His eyes were sunken in and closed, his hair greasy and matted to his face. His wings were battered, dirty, and caked with dried blood. When my mother saw us coming in, she backed away slowly and nodded to me. Fang stayed behind while I went to grab Dylan's hand. I took it in my own gently, hoping not to wake him, yet, at the same time, hoping the opposite. He stirred, and I patted his hand gently.

"Max..." he murmured, drifting in and out of consciousness.

"I'm right here. It's okay. You're safe now," I whispered.

"Is.. is your baby okay?" he asked softly. His voice was hoarse and dry. I laughed softly.

"Yeah. There's three of them. Two boys and a girl. And, thanks to Gunther-Hagen and his torturous bastards, I'm having another one too. He left a fertilization device with me." Dylan growled and started to get angry. His grasp on my hand grew tighter.

"That bastard... I'll kill him. I'll kill them all! I'll -" But then he was cut off, pain overtaking him. He cringed.

"Don't get angry, it'll only make it worse."

"Can I see one? Of the babies?" he asked gently. Fang began to scowl, but then I called him over.

"They wouldn't be here without him, you know. Let him see one. Bring Aidan," I whispered in his ear. He left the room and soon returned with little Aidan, who was sleeping soundly in a little pink onesie covered in pictures of turtles. I gently laid Aidan on Dylan's bare chest, and she whimpered a little bit, uncomfortable. He gently laid one of his hands on her back, and she calmed down a bit.

"Thank you, Max."

"No, Dylan. It is I who should be thanking you."