(A/N): FINALLY!!! A chapter of suitable length! I'd like to take the oppurtunity to thank everyone who reads this. I know I'm really dragging it out, but I do know what's going to happen, so now there should be an actual plot. So, a million 'thank you's' to anyone who's stuck through it, I hope it's okay.

Fang and I broke apart at the speed of light. Standing in the doorway was a woman of about 21. She had thick, way, dirty-blonde hair down to her waist and stone cold green eyes. She was wearing a red shirt with white flowers on it, a plain white jacket, and jeans.

"Lily," Fang snarled.

"Hello, traitor," sighed Lily, sounding impossibly disinterested. "Sorry to interrupt but Dr. L needs to see your little girlfriend." She grabbed my shoulder, her long, dark-purple nails digging into my flesh, and dragged me away.

She took me to the same office that Fang had brought me to when he had first found me. Lily didn't release her grip on my shoulder until we were inside and the door was locked. Smart girl, I'll give her that. I thought about trying to fight my way out, but the door required a code to unlock it, which I didn't know, so if I did take them out, I'd just be stuck in here with them until they came around, and then they'd be even madder. Damn.

"Hello again... Maximum," Dr. Licorne said dramatically.

"Do you know how tired I am of being dragged here by the arm?"

He scowled at me. "I had hoped that some time in solitary would take a healthy toll on your attitude. But I see you're still as arrogant as ever."

I grinned. "You'd better believe it."

"She was fraternizing with 092597 when I walked in to collect her," Lily put in. They say first impressions are usually wrong, but I didn't think the 'mega-bitch' vibes I was getting from her were misread. Plus I didn't know what 'fraternizing' meant.

"Is this true, Maximum?" Dr. Licorne asked.

"No! We weren't fratenizing, we were hugging!"

Licorne rolled his eyes and Lily snickered, so I'd probably just said something stupid.

"We will deal with him later," Licorne said dismissively, playing with his cape.

"What? It's not his fault! I hugged him!"

"It does not matter now," he said coldly, locking his eyes on mine. "All I need from you right now is information."

"Information you'll never get, but go ahead and take a crack at it. This should be funny."

"Listen, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Easy way: you tell me where you're from, I take them down, and you can get out of my sight. Hard way: you choose not to tell me, I send you back to solitary, and we try this again another day. And believe me, it will not be so easygoing. Either way, I don't see much humor in your life right now."

"Hmm," I said, pretending to think it over, a malicious gleam in my eye. "Let's go with... the Hard Way."

Lily stepped, forward, looking furious. "You stupid little-"

Dr. Licorne held up his hand for her to stop. "She was given a decision, and she made it." Turning to me, he said, "You are now free to return to your chamber. Please send 092597 in on your way out."

Lily, punched in the code, blocking the keypad protectively with her body so that I couldn't see, and I left.

Fang was sitting against the wall outside the door, his knees to his chest, head titled back.

"They want to see you," I said through a nervous lump in my throat. Dropping my voice, I added, "What are you going to tell them? They want to know why we were-"

"Fraternizing?" he grinned. Eavesdropper.

"It's a long word!"

He shook his head, then said calmly, "Don't worry. I'm going to lie." Then I walked past me into the room.

I started to walk back, then hesitated. If he could listen in, I decided, so could I.