And...they're off!

Fang and Nudge are back with us in New York City. I hate to admit it, but I actually missed that dork and his annoying ways. Ick. (Tell anyone, and I'll deny saying it.)

Saccharine aside, it's now or never time. If we don't go to Washington with the information that we have, we're never, ever going. I'm sucking it up. It's time.

Now that we have some more information about the area, even MORE suspicions about the Erasers than we did before (the HECK?), and a whole wad full of cash (...I'm not even gonna ask!), how can I argue?

The one person I could pick a fight with right now, however, is the Voice. "Knowledge is a terrible burden," whine, whine...blah, blah.

Ever hear, "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say it at all?"!

I don't expect things to be sugar-coated for me (they never have been), but I UNDERSTAND the dangers, believe me. So put yourself on mute for a minute, annoying pseudo inner-monologue!

I'll miss New York. Not gonna lie. It's been the closest thing we've known to a home for over a year now. I went around a took some pictures to appease the sentimental sap in me.

Even in the darkness and rain, New York shines. I hope we can, too. (Man, that was cheesy.)






-Max

Pizza, Bad Guys & More Pizza

We got to the Institute for Higher Aeronautics from the dead guy's business card & it was filled with Erasers! Wall to wall ERASERS!!!

Fang wanted to stir up a bit of trouble (Not much new there!!), so I provided a bit of a distraction....Setting off car alarms. ;-)

I jumped from car to car in the lot as hard as I could, making alarms blare everywhere. I kinda dented a really nice red convertible (Whoops?), but a psycho wolf guy shouldn't have a car that nice anyways! (. . . .I should!!)

I flew up into a tree and let those dorks figure out what all the noise was about down below. It was so funny to watch them run around, scrambling & covering their stupid ears.

I saw Fang croutched behind a desk & a bunch of erasers listening to some kind of lecture in a classroom kinda place. (I'm sure it was boring, whatever that old dude was telling them.)

Before I got inside to check it out for myself, I swiped a cell phone from the passenger seat of one of the cars and made a few phone calls. Pizza, Police Department, more pizza...Fire Department. You know - the basics. ;-)

A few more donuts (pink ones!!) and back to NY after this to gather up the flock and make the real trip down here.

I miss Max & Iggy & everyone. I can't wait to see everybody again!!

~NuDgE

Exhibit A!

Fake ID Club

This dude has the most bogus wallet I've ever seen!

The name on this thing says "THOM CRUIZE," no lie. Riiight. (And Nudge is "K.T. Holms.")

Isn't that a little, I dunno, WEIRD?

This business card is a little sketchy, too. Institute for Higher Aeronautics? I'm on that like...like a...whatever that dumb cliche is about rice. That one.

Man, I'm hungry. Thanks to our fried Eraser buddy "Thom," I can afford to buy lots of dollar menu meals - 100 of 'em.

Nudge and I are gonna follow this Aeronautics address. What's next? Erasers who fly PLANES and HELICOPTERS? C'mon. That's cheating, dude.

-Fang.

DC: District of Craziness!

While I was trying to solve that crazy Metro map, Nudge managed to find a closed maintenance station we could crash in for the night on the red line. Or was it blue? (I'll never figure this dumb thing out!!!)

Doesn't matter. It's too early to think. WAY early.

Besides translating hard-to-decipher charts and maps, Nudge has some other notable talents for an 11-year-old, like single handedly cracking the ribs of a 250 lb Eraser. (This is the scene I awoke to at 3AM. It was AWESOME. Awesome in that "scary" kinda way, mind you.)

The next thing I know, I'm kicking the crap out of this ugly beast, blood all over the place, and BAM! Exploding Eraser! *Remember, kids: Never EVER touch the 3rd rail.

We couldn't very well just leave him like that.

...so we lifed his wallet first.

He'd probably want it that way. And, he probably wanted us to eat these fine glazed doughnuts, too. All 24 of them. Mmm.

Enough about food. There's some weird stuff in here, man. Credit cards, business cards...and I'm getting chocolately goodness all over them.

I wonder what all THAT is about?

Metro = WEIRD.

Ever been to Disney before? I saw a whole TV special once about the day it first opened...blah blah.

For those of you who have never been there, don't bother going JUST YET. Why? Cause the DC Metrorail system is exactly like that Space Mountain ride thing. (But way cheaper, and no people in dumb mice costumes.)

Courtesy of the Fang Cam:



And could this place be more confusing? Lotsa different colors, weird names (What the HECK is a "Ferragut?"), intersecting lines. . .this probably looks like something from inside of Max's head when she gets those wacked-out headaches.

WHAT DOES THIS EVEN MEAN?!

Gotta jet and get back down there before it closes. We have an odd feeling that our beloved tree house is being watched a little too closely, if you know what I mean.

-Fang.

Stay clear of the closing doors...to your hideout!

What do ya know? ...The Metro closes at midnight. (Thanks, public transportation dudes.) We did, however, find an alternative hideout in a cool little tree house, located in a nearby ritzy suburb. If this is the TREE HOUSE, I wonder what the inside of the HOUSE, HOUSE looks like! This thing is uber-sweet.

Scoring this place wasn't easy. It's not like there's a realtor for bird kid temporary housing we could call. We had to crisscross all over the map until we spotted it overhead.

300 miles in 12 hours isn't something I ever want to go through again, especially when I'm forced to carry Nudge's sleeping body for the last leg of it. Not cool.

I sound like an old man, but I need a nap.

-Fang.