Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or any of its characters. I do, however, own original ideas and names (including the Agency and Lyndotia) used in this fanfic.

A/N: Really sorry for disappearing… I love writing this fic but unfortunately between lack of internet and 17 credit hours plus 6 work study hours a week, I haven't had much time to do that. And finals are May 4-7! D: I'm seriously paranoid I'm going to get a C in chemistry… even though my grades aren't that much worse than they were last semester but whatever… the final is over Gen Chem I and II! That means I have to remember stuff I learned 8 months ago!

Okay, sorry; none of you care about me ranting about school. Actually, I'm not sure how many of you still care about this fic now that MAX is out… -sigh- But whatever. On with the story!

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Chapter Thirteen – Methods of Interrogation

Max was sick of waiting. For three hours since breakfast, Jeb had been helping Valencia clean up, talking to the Gasman about some football team on TV – everything but going somewhere she could talk to him without Lyndotia overhearing. Finally when he volunteered to take out the trash for Dr. Martinez, Max took the chance and offered to help.

"You know," Jeb said with a short laugh as soon as they were a short distance away from the cabin, "I'm happy that you're willing to be within ten feet of me again, but I really am capable of carrying two bags of trash outside by myself."

"This Agency she keeps talking about," Max said, cutting straight to the chase. "Is it real?"

Jeb sighed. "No beating around the bush, as usual. But then again, you've always been like that." He smiled faintly for a moment, but under Max's 'get-to-the-point-already' stare, his expression turned serious again as he said quietly, "The Agency is quite real, yes."

"It… is?" Max asked with a rather shell-shocked expression. "You mean there's another lab out there making bird kids and you're just now telling us about it!?"

"Why would I tell you about a rumor?" Jeb asked with a long-suffering air of patience. "I was a scientist for Itex, Max. I know the Agency exists because one of the School's head researchers left years ago and went to them. After that, every scientist at Itex had to sign agreements that they would never share the knowledge they gained at the Institute with anyone outside of it, and the Agency was mentioned in the contract. Of course, it wasn't the legal system we had to worry about if we did, and everyone knew that, so not many chose to disregard it."

"Then you don't know anything about it either," Max said slowly.

"I know it exists. I know that Francisco Dubois went there and did something Itex considered heinous enough to send Erasers after him for it. But I didn't know they succeeded in creating recombinants. Not until that girl showed up with you."

"So why didn't you say anything then!?"

"Haven't you been listening to me, Max?" Jeb asked, sounding tired all of a sudden. "Yes, I had my suspicions that she might have come from the Agency, but there was no way of knowing that. It was entirely possible that Shelley Hughes or Brandon Ledford had started a program somewhere – they both disappeared and were hunted down by Erasers."

Max was dumbfounded. "You mean there could be other labs like the Agency and the School we don't even know about!? Why the heck haven't you asked her!? Why aren't you trying to get answers like I have been!?"

Jeb sighed. "Max, you're too direct. If you confront her and start interrogating her, she's not going to say anything. Haven't you noticed by now what's the best way to learn what she knows?"

This time she paused for a moment to think. What was he talking about? Max hadn't learned much from this girl at all except that she was extremely paranoid. When she did talk, she was extremely tense and guarded, so it was very unlikely that she would say anything she didn't mean to. Even when Angel had been listening to Lyndotia talking to Iggy…

And that was when it hit her.

"Iggy?" Max asked, and if it was possible, she looked even more confused when Jeb nodded. What did he mean? How did they learn anything more when Iggy talked to her than when the others did?

"She's less guarded with him than with the rest of you," Jeb answered, the edge of a scientist's curiosity to his voice again. "Probably thinks he's less of a threat since he's blind. Why do you think I've been hanging around the living room all day? Surely you heard what she was saying about the way the scientists at the Agency viewed the experiments, right? They actually created them for purposes, and used them for something besides test subjects –"

He stopped dead when he caught the look on Max's face and then shook his head. "You know I don't agree with creating life and keeping them in cages, Max. But don't you think we can learn from what she has to say?"

Max set her jaw and glared at the cabin. Maybe Jeb had a point, but that didn't mean she was about to admit it, or that she was going to give up trying to figure out everything this girl knew.