Okey-dokey. so. chapter 20. drama, drama, drama. hope you like. as always, please review!

Chapter 20; Me?

Ari whirled me around by my hair and dropped me on the ground. My chin cracked against the asphalt, making me see momentary stars. Then someone was tying my hands together and yanking me roughly back to me feet. I looked around for the others.

Angel, Nudge and Gazzy were all in the air, hovering tauntingly just out of reach of the Erasers, who were jumping and snatching at their ankles. They had tranquilizer guns, but the kids just kept dodging whenever they fired. Maximum was locked in a furious battle with Ari, neither side gaining any ground, but they were both turning black and blue fast. Fang and Iggy were both fighting other Erasers on the ground.

As I watched, Iggy grabbed the front of one of the Erasers shirts, then rolled away fast, dodging under the picnic table. A second later, the Eraser and the ones on either side of him exploded, raining fuzzy Eraser bits down all around. I wrinkled my nose as the smell of burnt flesh and hair reached my nose.

The Eraser who had tied me up dragged me backward toward a semi truck. I dragged my heels in and thrashed around, but no go; I was stuffed unceremoniously into a dog crate in the back of the truck. Maxwell and Mollie were shoved into crates on either side of me. I was disappointed to see Iggy, Fang and Maximum stuffed in other cages a moment later. The younger kids were nowhere to be seen.

We didn't drive for very long, maybe twenty minutes. Then the truck stopped and the back doors were thrown open. They loaded our crates onto a cart and wheeled us into a big brick building. From the few quick glimpses I got of our surroundings, we seemed to be in some kind of heavily wooded area in the middle of nowhere. An electric fence ran around the building.

The inside of the building was a lot like how I remembered the School. Sterile white hallways, an antiseptic smell that stung my nose, men and women wearing white lab coats, and something else, something in the air that I couldn't quite identify.

They stopped outside one room, and the door slid open with a soft hiss. They took Maximum's crate off the cart and unlatched it, dumping her casually into the room. I caught a brief glimpse of the room before the door hissed shut again; small, white, a bed attached to the wall on one side. Then we were off again.

One by one, the others were all dropped off in similar rooms. Finally, it was my turn.

The door hissed open, my cage was swung off the cart, unlocked, and I fell, headfirst, into the tiny white room. The door shut again before I could right myself.

I sat up, glaring at the door and rubbing my head angrily. I got back to my feet slowly, inspecting the room.

It was even smaller than I'd realized. The white walls came together seamlessly in the corners. There were no air vents that I could see, and the air was freezing. I kicked the wall angrily, then sank down on the bed. It was bolted to the wall, with a white pillow and blankets. The whiteness of the room was sort of blinding.

Well, I might manage five more minutes of this before I started tearing my hair out from the boredom.

I gritted my teeth and flopped back on my bed. After a few seconds, I started singing. I went through every song I knew, in the loudest, most obnoxious voice I could manage. I figured, what the hey. Maybe they had a camera or something in here, and maybe not. Still, at least it gave me something to do.

As it turned out, I didn't have to wait much longer for entertainment. Just as I finished my favorite song from Shrek (All Star by Smash Mouth), the door hissed open again. I sat up fast, turning to face my visitor. My eyebrows pulled together as Jeb entered the room. He came to stand in front of me, hands clasped together behind his back, regarding me wearily. I returned his gaze, with a healthy amount of hate thrown in.

"Hello again, Alex." he said. I remained silent. Jeb sighed.

"Alex, you and I need to talk." he said seriously. I raised my eyebrows, but still said nothing, opting for caution rather than scathing retorts. Jeb took a seat next to me on the bed. I moved to the floor on the opposite side of the room. He looked disappointed, but didn't comment on the new seating arrangements.

"Okay. Look. Alex, I don't know what Max has told you about herself, but-"

"Well, she's not really the sharing type." I interrupted conversationally. So much for caution. Jeb looked faintly annoyed by my interruption, but continued without comment.

"But she is going to save the world someday." he said. My eyebrows shot up again.

"No shit?" I said, impressed. Hey, why go for delicacy when you can just use sarcasm. Jeb's eyes narrowed. I held up my hands and pretended to lock my lips.

"You may not believe me, but it's true." he said. I raised my hand. I was starting to have fun with this. Jeb sighed, appearing resigned.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Who exactly is she supposed to save the world from?" I asked, trying to sound polite.

"I can't tell you that. Not even she knows yet." he said.

"Then how is she supposed to save it?" I asked, puzzled. Jeb looked really fed up now, even going a bit pink in the face. Good.

"I can't tell you! Max has to figure it out on her own!" he said. I held up my hands again.

"OK, fair enough." I said, even though it wasn't. Jeb took a deep, steadying breath.

"Some of my… superiors," he said the word with great distaste, "Think that Max might not be… up to the job." he said reluctantly. I nodded.

"Which is where you come in." he said. I frowned. Me?

"Um… question." I said, raising my hand again. Jeb nodded.

"Uh, me?" I said, with my usual amount of delicacy and tact. Jeb inclined his head. "I don't get it."

"If, for some reason, Max should fail, you are… her replacement." I gaped at him.

"Her replacement?" I said. "Are you serious?" I demanded. I thought of Maximum, or what little I knew of her. She was strong, determined, and, most importantly, genetically enhanced. I held up a mental picture of myself. Not a exactly a thrilling comparison.

"Alex, right now, you know very little about who you really are. This isn't entirely your fault; You don't yet have all the knowledge or skills you need to fully understand a lot of the things that have happened, or are going to happen, to you. In time, you will understand. We can fill most of the gaps in your knowledge, and your memory. But you have to help us." he said. I shook my head.

"Wait. Gaps in my memory? What gaps? What are you talking about?" The rest of his words caught up with my brain then. "Help you? Okay, you really are crazy." I shook my head.

"Why the hell would I help you, of all people?" I demanded. I was starting to work up some serious steam, but before I could really get going, Jeb cut me off.

"Our childhood memories are not always correct, Alex. There are things in you childhood that you don't remember correctly, or that you were simply never told about." he said. "And, yes, you do need to cooperate with us. I think we can be very useful to each other. Even if Max saves the world, you could still be very influential." Jeb said calmly. I shook my head slowly, numbly.

"Look. I have no idea what you're talking about, but I know this; I won't help you. You've kidnapped me twice, put me through all kinds of hell back at the School, and, on top of everything else, you're evil. Not only is it physically impossible for me to save the world, I don't want to! I want to go home, go back to school, grow up, have a normal life." I jumped to my feet.

"I don't know what you mean about my childhood, but I'm sure you're lying anyways. So either let me go, or GET OUT!" I shouted. Jeb got to his feet slowly, calmly. My shoulders rose and fell angrily, my heart beat faster, sped by the pure fury pumping through my veins. Jeb looked me in the eyes. I was almost surprised he didn't turn to ash on the spot.

"You have no idea what you're saying." he said in a voice of deadly calm. "But I'm not surprised. I know things about you that that you have never even heard mentioned. Things about your brother, for instance." I frowned.

"Max? What about him?" I asked, wary. Jeb smiled thinly.

"Not your younger brother, Alex. Your twin brother." he said. I shook my head, eyeing Jeb warily.

"I don't have a twin brother." I said in a voice barely above a whisper. Jeb smirked.

"He supposedly died at birth." Jeb said, turning away. It took me a minute to find my voice again.

"Who…" I started to ask uncertainly. Jeb had already crossed to the door. He paused with one hand raised to touch it.

"You've already met him." he said calmly. "Fang."

The door slid open at Jeb's touch, and he left the room, leaving me in an almost indescribable state of shock.