Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue, thank you.
My first Maximum Ride fic, with a bad summary. This was just a little idea I had, mainly "What if Max could hear everyone's thoughts, like Angel can?" If it's liked I will carry on with it; if not, then oh well. I know this chapter isn't particulary exciting but if there's more, then it will be. Promise. Now, read on.
(Max POV by the way)
I groaned as I woke up and rolled over on the soft, warm, comfortable bed. Wait a minute… hadn't I fallen asleep in a tree? So how was I in a bed now?
I immediately feared the worst. But the bed was far too cosy to be at the School. So where was I? I readied myself for anything: Flyboys, Erasers, anything else that could be thrown at us.
Cautiously I stretched one arm out and opened one eye, hitting something solid and dark.
"Ow," came Fang's voice and I sat up, wide-awake in an instant.
I was in a bed, in a very familiar room, mostly empty except for one chair that Fang sat in next to the bed.
"What happened?" I demanded. Fang frowned.
"You don't remember?" he asked me, and I rolled my eyes.
"If I knew I wouldn't be asking, would I?" I sighed. Where the hell were we? And where was the rest of the Flock?
"The School got us." To my surprise, Fang didn't look too concerned. He just held his usual serious look. "We were all unconscious and woke up here, after the Erasers attacked us in the national park."
"But?" There was always a but.
"But the white coats did something to us…" Fang said uneasily. My eyes widened and he hastily added, "Nothing major, Max, don't worry."
"So what did they do?" I asked, "And where are we?"
"We're in a house. Actually we're in our house, the house we lived in with Jeb." I looked around. Sure enough I recognised the place; it was actually my room. It felt like years since I had last woken up here.
I gazed around the room and sighed. Suddenly I could hear Nudge, Iggy, Gazzy and Angel from somewhere in the house, all talking at once.
I hope Max is awake soon, Angel was saying, Fang can't stay next to her forever.
I frowned and looked at Fang, but he hadn't moved. Hadn't he heard Angel?
"Erm, so what did the white coats do?" I asked him. He met my eyes with a glance.
"Well, you know how we used to be able to, say, turn invisible," he motioned to himself, "and you had super speed?"
I nodded.
"We don't anymore."
"WHAT?" Those damn scientists. I hit the headboard of my bed with frustration. "What happened?"
"Those sick-minded freaks thought it would be fun to switch all of our abilities around," Fang replied, "Iggy is going insane with the Voice, Nudge is talking the fish to death and Gazzy is causing havoc with a computer and Nudge's computer hacking skills."
"What about you?" I asked and Fang gave me a rare smile.
"I have your super speed," he smirked. "And the Gasman can now turn invisible."
"And Angel?" Could she still read minds? That was one useful ability I perferred to have around.
"She's finding it a bit weird having only one voice in her head, but is loving Gazzy's mimicry."
So that just left me. What could I do now?
The background noise of the rest of the Flock talking suddenly increased and I shook my head to try and clear it. I was angry with myself for letting this happen, but so relieved that the Voice was gone. No more annoying voices in my head.
Or so I thought.
Shut up! Get out of my head! Iggy was shouting at the Voice.
"Can you tell them to be quiet?" I asked, placing my hands over my ears. How could they be so loud? It was like they echoed inside my head.
"Who?" Fang frowned.
"The others." Fang still frowned.
"They're not talking," he said, but them he smirked again "I think we just found who has Angel's mind-reading ability."
As it turns out, we couldn't escape from the house, which had been my first priority. All doors and windows were securely locked; completely bird kid proof, not even Gazzy could blast them open. Cameras watched us in every room, and the white coats could hear every conversation we had.
To make matters worse all of our old stuff was still in the house, right down to the pictures of Jeb. I had half a mind to burn them all…
In a few days the claustrophobia would be killing us, but until then we all had new abilities to get used to. The younger kids were truly wrecking havoc; Nudge spent all of her time conversing with the fish in the fish tank. Two had died already.
Gazzy, for once, sat still until he was invisible, watching as I frantically ran round the house looking for him. He found it hilarious. I didn't.
And Angel well, let's just say she's becoming just like her brother in the pulling pranks department.
But I had growing respect for the six year old. Having six voices in my head instead of one (well, two actually, if you count the Voice) was a complete nightmare. I could hear everyone's thoughts and most of the time they forgot I could hear. And some of the things Fang and Iggy thought were just... wrong, to say the least.
All I knew was that if any person wearing a white coat came within 10 miles of this house, I couldn't be held responsible for my actions.
"Iggy! Censor your thoughts. Please!" I placed my hands over my ears as if that would help. Ah, the mind of a 14 year old boy. I felt so sorry for Angel…
Day Three of our incarceration and we were all ready to kill somebody. Me, I was ready to kill everyone who had a thought in their head, and that was including the surviving fish.
"I will if you tell the Voice to shut the hell up," he growled.
Voice, stop annoying Iggy, I said into his mind. And Iggy, watch your language! Although I felt sorry for Angel, part of me loved her mind control ability. Now the kids actually went to bed when I told them to and Iggy made what I wanted for meals. Although I had no affect on the Voice, but it never used to listened to me anyway.
"MAX!" someone screamed from the kitchen and Nudge and Gazzy came running in. "The white coats are here!"
I forgot whatever it was I had been doing and ran to the kitchen window to see a black sedan stopping outside of the house. The rest of the Flock joined me and they all had similar thoughts. Now's our chance to escape!
"Guys, try to keep the thinking to a minimum, please," I whispered, focussing on the scientists thoughts instead.
"Max, what do they want?" Angel asked in a hushed voice, tugging my sleeve.
"They want to…" I frowned, "Ask us some questions?" We all frowned.
"That seems pretty nice for them," Nudge commented. "I was expecting some more evil experiments."
"Would be nicer if they let us out of here," Iggy murmured.
So, please review and tell me what you think. I have loads of ideas for awkward situations and action etc. All ideas welcome. Thanks :)