Operation: NudgexIggy

Chapter Two

Max, Fang and the Gasman

"Look, it wasn't my fault!" the Gasman cried. Max rolled her eyes, trying to suppress a grin. She and Fang had agreed to keep it professional and not burst out laughing. They had to be the adults in the situation and punish Angel and the Gasman for their wrongdoing, right? But unless you were a sadist, it was hard to penalize and laugh at the same time.

"We know, Gazzy," Fang said having a hard time keeping his laughter in check. Fang flipped through the manila folder, and something inside brought a wider smile to his lips. The Gasman cringed. "Charts, diagrams?" Fang pulled out a paper that had been scribbled on thoroughly. "Is this a script?"

The Gasman nodded and showed his contempt for Angel's folder in the dirty look he gave it. Max knew it was Angel's plot and not his. Only Angel would be this thorough and had proved her meticulous scheming skills in her obsession over getting Max and Fang together. Max's gaze flickered to Fang and she was visibly relieved that Angel had found a new obsession. But then she felt sorry for Iggy and Nudge who were now the victims of Angel's overly imaginative mind.

"Yeah, that's a script. I say this again: Everything was Angel's idea. I just wanted to blow something up!"

Fang patted the Gasman's frantic head. "We know, Gazzy." He was still reading through the papers that he and Max hadn't read yet. Often, Fang saw evidence of how detailed a job Angel did and he'd feel the urge to guffaw. However, that wouldn't be the Fang way so he just chuckled slightly to himself and occaisionally emitted the light giggle.

"Just tell us where they are." Max ordered, "So we can stop this mess. Can't you just learn to back out?"

"She's awfully persuasive…" the Gasman muttered.

"Ew," Fang said, hurried to clamp the manila folder shut.

"What?"

Fang shook his head, grabbing his laptop bag from its place by the coat rack, and stuffing the manila folder inside. "Nothing. Let's just say she's very detailed."

Max didn't want to dwell on it. If it could faze the ever static Fang, she didn't think she could handle it. Instead she motioned for Gazzy and Fang to follow her with two flicks of her index and middle finger, and headed out the door.

"Where are they?"

"The Movie Theater."

Angel, Iggy and Nudge

Yawn. Angel ordered through her mind.

What?

Just do it.

For the fiftieth time, Iggy chastised himself for taking love advice from an eight year old girl. How had she convinced him into this? She was awfully persuasive. Iggy yawned, or at least opened his mouth wide and made an obnoxious yawning type noise.

No you imbecile, do you never watch the movies? Yawn, making a big dramatic show of it and stretch out your arms. One will go around her chair forcing her into a decision. To lean into you or not. I'm 67.62 percent sure she'll lean. Now YAWN.

Don't you think that's a bit clichéd—?

YAWN!!

Gosh. Iggy opened his mouth wider, and stretched out his arms melodramatically. Unfortunately his arm collided with something. It might've been Nudge's head. "Yow!" Identity confirmed. Nudge's head.

"Sorry," Iggy said.

"S'okay," Nudge said a bit suspiciously. She continued her explanation of the movie, but Iggy hardly heard it. He was too busy screaming at Angel in his mind.

There! I yawned! I smacked her in the head!

I didn't think you'd be so… wow this might be harder than I thought. Why can't you be smooth, more like Fang?

Don't you have any clichéd tactics that fit my handicap?

Well…

Iggy waited, tapping his foot impatiently while Angel tried to come up with one.

Stick your hand in the popcorn bowl.

Not hungry.

Idiot, you're not trying to get popcorn. Just stick your hand in the popcorn bowl and keep it there.

What purpose will that serve?

When Nudge goes to get popcorn, your hands will meet sending one of those sparks throughout both of your arms. You know, the kind that makes you realize you're right for each other, and the kind that make you always blush like mad? You might even end up holding hands.

In the popcorn bowl?

Just do it!

Iggy did. He searched around for the popcorn bowl until he found it and then he stuck his hand on top of it. He waited. And waited. What was wrong with her? Why didn't she want to enjoy the stereotypical movie time snack? Why didn't she put her hand in the fricking popcorn bowl?

Easy, Ig. Angel coached. So Iggy waited some more. Finally after eons, he interrupted Nudge's story-telling and scream-whispered, "Don't you want popcorn?" He gathered that he sounded a little bit harsh from the bewildered and guarded tone of Nudge's answer.

"Uh… no. I'm all out of drink, so if I ate some popcorn, and I happened to get thirsty there would be nothing to quench my thirst."

"Here, take mine." Iggy searched for his drink, when found, he stuck it out in Nudge's general direction.

"Er… Thanks." Nudge said, some suspicion still hanging on her voice.

Oooh, indirect spit contact, nice. You're finally showing some initiative.

Yup. I thought about it all by myself. Proud of me?

Very.

Now she'll get the popcorn, and touch my hand to hers. OMG I'm so excited!

Uh… Iggy?

Yeah, I'll stop now.

But Iggy couldn't stop himself from being excited. He was like a school kid on a field trip. Only better. He felt like he had a mushy stomach, and that he had to wee both at the same time. His foot tapped with excitement now rather than impatience. He could feel her advancing hand. This was it. This was it...

And her hand did clamp down on his. Only Iggy had to ruin it by being an idiot. As soon as Nudge's finger so much as brushed him, Iggy snatched his hand away. He tore it away so quickly that kernels of popcorn fell from the bag, and Nudge questioned him. "Iggy?"

But Iggy's mind was not on Nudge. It was on the strange sensation that he'd felt jutting up and down his arm once their hands had touched.

You feel it?

Yeah.

The spark?

Yeah.

I TOLD Gazzy it was the fate of the Flock!

What?

Er… nothing.

Max, Fang and the Gasman

Ha! For once it was going to be on Angel's head! For once she would be the one getting in trouble, and punished, and the Gasman would be the one standing in the background with the mocking grin. He rushed his pace, trying to get to the movie theater before the movie was over. There was still fifteen minutes left he concluded from Angel's timetables. He could still catch them in the act. He only faintly heard Max and Fang's giggles behind him. They were taking their own sweet time, going a little too slow for his taste. From out of Fang's laptop bag came the manila folder. They still ogled at some of the things Angel had discovered, as impressed as the Gasman had been at first, and ten times more creeped out.

"Where did this picture come from? Iggy looks like he's Romeo and Juliet in love with Nudge."

"That was from last Christmas. But Iggy's blind so he wasn't really looking at Nudge; he was taking in the smell of chicken. What's this?"

"Iggy's birthday present for her."

"When did he give her a locket?"

"You're so out of it, Fang. Hmm… that is a stunning piece of jewelry. Looks like something a boy might give to the girl he likes…"

"You don't think—"

"Maybe."

"So he might—"

"According to Angel's probability scans, that's a 98.27 percent yes."

"We're here." The Gasman looked at his watch. "And with five minutes to spare." Ooh, he couldn't wait to see the look on Angel's face when she realized she was busted. Maybe now Max and Fang would crack down harder on his little sister so that the Gasman wouldn't be dragged into every plot that hatched into her head.

Iggy and Nudge

The movie ended. Not like Iggy had been paying attention to half of it. Angel left prematurely, before the lights even came on again. While she bounded away, probably to be rid of her disguise, Iggy stewed in his chair.

"Come on Iggy, time to go." Nudge said tapping Iggy's hand. Iggy didn't get up, still in his stage of penitence. And now who knew what Nudge thought of him? He examined their conversations from Nudge's point of view and grimaced. He'd whacked her in the head. He forced her to eat popcorn. And then when their hands met, he'd jumped away as though she had leprosy. Who knows what was going on inside Nudge's head? Suddenly he wished he had Angel's power so that he could at least know if she thought him a freak.

"Iggy…?"

He was aware that he'd been in the same seat five minutes after the lights had come back on. He was aware that Nudge was getting impatient, and was about ready to leave him. But he did his best thinking while sitting completely still, and right now he really had to think.

He'd screwed up all of Angel's plans, so now he had to come up with one of his own. Because he knew, now that he'd admitted it out loud of his feelings for Nudge, that the Spark would never let him go.

"Iggy!" Nudge said impatiently. Wait! He almost had it…

"Hey, Nudge, in three words describe me."

Nudge paused before declaring, "Wha? What does this have to do with anything? Why—"

"Just answer."

"Fine. But I really don't see… Blind. Vanilla. Tall."

"How would you feel if I told you I was in love with Max?"

"Have you been talking to Gazzy?"

"Answer it."

"Sad, because Fang would kill you. What is this going to prove?" Iggy chose to ignore her question and instead shot his final question at her.

"What's your favorite color?"

"Blue."

"Why?"

"Because it's the color of the sky. Are these questions for Fang's blog? Honestly, you're going to have to come up with more interesting ones than—"

"You like me don't you?" Iggy grinned, but then toned it down a little when silence followed his question instead of an answer. Angel couldn't have been wrong. She read Nudge's mind! Minds don't lie. Iggy's fingers fidgeted. He didn't want Angel's power now, not being blind would be enough, if only to see Nudge's expression, or her body language. In her expression would be the answer that he now had to wait centuries for her to say aloud. But then she said it.

"Yeah, so? I mean…" Nudge's guard had flown way up. She didn't know whether or not Iggy liked her back, so she'd put on this attitude of 'I don't care'. But all of Iggy's guards were reduced to rubble, and any macho suave attitude that he had before was quickly replaced by the sappy grin he now displayed on his face.

"This." Iggy leaned forward, praying that he didn't miss this time. He didn't. His lips were right on target.

The Flock

Angel felt that special twinge in the bottom of her tummy. It was the same one she got when one of her plans fell perfectly in place. Iggy would have been the hard part, and look how easily he gave into the Spark! This was a beautiful, beautiful thing.

Of course, Iggy had been a coward with the whole hand thing, and the movie finished without him making another move. But there was always another day. There was always another plan.

Angel exited the theater with a bounce in her step, making sure she rushed ahead of Nudge and Iggy. She ducked into the bathroom, morphed into her normal face, and then exited. She took maybe two steps out of the bathroom before a heavy hand clamped down on her shoulder.

"Busted!" chanted her traitorous little brother. Angel turned to the owner of the hand and flashed Max a holy smile as if she hadn't done anything wrong. And she hadn't. C'mon, making the world a safe haven for love was a GOOD thing! And it hadn't been Max and Fang this time, so they couldn't really be mad could they?

And either Max and Fang realized this, or Angel's I'm-So-Innocent smile was working, because Max was trying not to suppress a grin. She was even laughing in her mind. Angel thought for a brief second that maybe Max was laughing at the thought of the torturous punishment she was about to give Angel, and Fang was chuckling right next to her. Okay, now she was creeped out. Either this was really good, or really bad.

"Hi guys," Angel said innocently, "What brings you to the movies?"

"Max? Fang?"

The gathering of schemers and disciplinarians looked over to the two bird kids who were just now exiting the theater. Angel's eyes first went to Iggy who was flushing deep red and looking very proud of himself, then to Nudge who was grinning excitedly, and finally in between Nudge and Iggy where there hands were intertwined. Angel didn't have to read Iggy's mind to know what happened, but she did anyway. It was filled with very school-girl like squealing, and some private things that I'm not allowed to disclose. Put it simply, Iggy was very happy.

"What are you guys doing here?" Nudge asked, coming over. Iggy let go of Nudge's hand, suddenly embarrassed with the entire Flock showing up to witness him and Nudge uniting. But Nudge grabbed his hand again, bumping him slightly with her hip as though telling him not to be embarrassed. Although she wasn't exactly looking Max and Fang in the eye.

"Uh…" Fang seemed to not have any words. He looked over at Max to see what she was going to do, but Max didn't know what to say either. Max looked towards Angel whose grin was even broader than before. Yup. She'd done well.

"It worked," Max said in disbelief.

"Yup," Angel said as though she'd never doubted her plans. And she hadn't. It was the Gasman who'd acted so incredulously. Angel turned to the Gasman, her Benedict Arnold of a brother. The Gasman was looking disbelievingly from Nudge and Iggy to Max and then to Angel. Angel set her face into her scariest most I'm Going to Get You look. She saw Gazzy swallow his spit in fright. She would deal with him later. For right now she'd act as angelically as her name, as though butter couldn't melt in her mouth. Whatever that meant.

"But wait a minute!" the Gasman cried, holding out his hand to stop things. "You're not going to just… let her get away with this are you? I mean, here she was MESSING with people's minds again! You told her you couldn't do that! After the Fondue Episode you told her that the next time she did anything like that, she'd be in severe trouble!"

Max looked thoughtfully from the Gasman to his sister before deciding.

"Hmm. Well we can't really punish her as she did have evidence."

The Gasman's jaw dropped open while Angel smiled heavenly. "What? But—"

"And it did turn out alright, didn't it?"

"Well, yeah, but—"

"Look. She had a folder, Gazzy. Obviously it wasn't like her Max/Fang schemes where there's no hope of us ever being together."

The Gasman's face turned to one of desperation. You don't know about the filing cabinet that Angel has on Max/Fang 2007 alone! He cried out in his mind. Angel's eyes widened. No. Max couldn't find out about that. She had to stop him before he said something really stupid.

"You have to stop her before she does anything else! And she'll pull me down with her—"

Angel focused all of her mind power on the Gasman. Technically she wasn't supposed to do this either, but what Max didn't know wouldn't hurt her. It would, however, bring much pain to her elder brother.

You are going to shut-up.

I am going to shut-up…

Good.

"So… for once, is this a happy ending?" Fang asked, unsure.

"Wait," Iggy interrupted. "You mentioned something about a folder?"

"Nothing!" Angel said suddenly. "They said nothing!"

"No, I heard that too…" Nudge said in suspicion.

Angel sighed. She really didn't want to do this, but it was for the fate of the Flock! If they started getting suspicious now, then Angel couldn't work her matchmaking magic on Max and Fang.

You are going to kiss Iggy now.

I am going to kiss Iggy now.

His lips locked in a sudden embrace of passion, Iggy could do no damage. Hopefully his new relationship would distract him from ever thinking about the folder again. Speaking of the folder… a gleam appeared in Angel's eye as she thought about a new scheme. Of course this one would be filed in Max/Fang 2008's filing cabinet. She would need water, a violin and a bed sheet.

Fang's voice knocked her out of her planning. In a mix of admiration and fright he said, "You are one scary little girl."

Angel grinned, grabbing Gazzy and rushing out of the theater to set her plan in action.

Author's Note: This is the end. Hope you liked this brief peek into their world.