Chapter One

In the glow of the computer's electronic light, Valencia sighed and rubbed a crick out of her neck. She had been researching for over thirteen hours straight for the fourth time in as many days, but it was finally going to pay off.

Idly, she wondered where Max was, then shrugged the thought away. Her daughter came and went as she chose. Dr. Martinez had long since decided that it was better if Max's enemies knew as little about Max's habits as possible; five years hadn't erased her memories of being held captive by the evil Mr. Chu.

As she scrolled down the page a small, bright smile illuminated Valencia's face. With a little bit of luck, soon her daughter wouldn't have to worry about being hunted, experimented on, and being unaccepted by society. Soon, she would find a way to get her out.

I eyed my mom uncertainly. Sure, I might be living proof of the wonders of science, but this was another thing entirely. What Mom was saying was impossible.

"And so," she concluded, "You will then be transported to a parallel universe and be entirely safe!" She beamed at us, hope shining in her eyes. Hope that I was going to trample on like an elephant on a mouse.

"Mom, I'm glad you're all gung-ho to do so much research and stuff for us," I started, "but I really don't think that this is gonna work." While I totally understood why she wanted us somewhere safe, I didn't see why she wanted to go to such lengths to do so.

After all, there was no guarantee that this would work. Even in the stories Mom cited as evidence, this had never actually happened, merely been mentioned as an afterthought. I would never risk my flock's safety on a 'Maybe this will work.' Not any more.

Nudge turned to me, her lips pulled down in a pleading pout, puppy-dog eyes manned and ready. "Please Max? It couldn't hurt anything and we're already in Japan so we don't need an airplane and could we pleasepleasple-"

I cut her off. "No." When I had agreed to move to Japan and lay low while Mom worked as a vet, I had no clue that there was a hidden reason Mom had wanted us to be here.

I turned to my mom and said, "Thanks for trying Mom, but this isn't going to work." And with that I turned and walked away, trying desperately not to see the hurt look I knew was on her face.

As I walked out the door and into the cold winter air, the Voice whispered to me, "Caution is advisable, Max... You will need to leave eventually. Keep an open mind." Yeah, real specific, as usual.

Unconsciously my gaze wandered to the 'Wanted' poster on a telephone pole. I thinned my lips and walked away before I could get a good look at it. It didn't matter if I saw it or not. I knew whose face was on that poster. Mine.

Half a decade had passed since my glory days as a fourteen year old. As long as we had the back story of an abusive childhood, Itex had been in the wrong in the eyes of the public. Suddenly though, the year I turned sixteen their opinion had changed. Now my flock and I were the freaks.

Deciding we were "unnatural" they turned to the mega companies for guidance. And of course, Itex was right there to hold the public's hand. In only a month, wanted ads were up. Anything with a defect was to be culled, and us mutants were no longer safe. It's been that way for three years.

One time I had let my attention wander, and as a result, Total had been captured and killed. I remembered that day perfectly, the details burned into my brain. Angel and Gazzy had been playing with Akila and Total's year old pups when the news came. Angel couldn't stop crying for a week.

Angel shook me out of my depressed funk. "I think we should do what Dr. Martinez said," she told me seriously. "I don't want you to have to be sad and afraid any more."

Fang came up from behind me. "You should do it."

"Tough luck," I muttered. "This isn't your decision." I sped up my pace.

"Oh great," Iggy rolled his eyes. "Now she's going all emo-leave-me-alone."

"Shut up," I growled. I tried to glare daggers at him, but, yet again, his blindness came in handy- I had never been able to properly intimidate him. A stifling sense of being watched spread over me and I automatically did a visual 360, looking for any danger. My eyes widened and I grabbed Angel's hand and started walking even faster.

Right behind us was a team of Flyboys. Those things were everywhere now. I swore that you could even see them in homeless shelters.

"Shoot! They saw us!"

My flock began hauling it now. Slowly, we began to gain a lead- Flyboys had never been able to move very fast on land, and they had hardly been improved on at all.

As I dragged my family into an alley, I realized something. We had left some one very, very important behind.

"Where did Gazzy go?"

We had left the Gasman at my mom's office.

"Dammit!" I hissed. Quickly looking around for civilians, I pulled Angel out of the alley and took off at a dead sprint.

As soon as we reached the room I stuck my head in and froze. There was an unearthly turquoise glow emanating from a perfect circle. Tripping over my own feet in my hurry, I caught only a glimpse of a spiky haired silhouette before the light vanished and the figure with it.

Gasping for breath, muscles tight with fear and adrenaline, I asked my mom, "Where's the Gasman?"

A brittle smile passed through her lips. "I gave him what he wanted," she said. "I sent him to a place where all of his enemies are dead."

"What?" The words fell out of my mouth. "That's.... impossible."

"Oh, believe me. It definitely happened."

I slid to the floor, shell-shocked. Beside me I heard Iggy start to yell, but I couldn't make out the words. My mom, my rock, had gone behind my back and sent Gazzy to God only knew where. This had never happened to me before. Jeb, yes. Dr. Martinez, no.

I was forcefully yanked to the present by Iggy's demand.

"Let me go to the same place as him," he growled. "Gasman needs me."

My traitorous mother turned to me. "Well Max? What's it to be?" Her lips were still turned up in that smile, mocking me. Mocking my ability- or was it inability? - to lead my flock.

"Isn't it obvious?" I snapped at her. "C'mon, guys. We're following Gazzy."

I pulled myself to my feet. Striding over to the circle, I let a sour expression pass over my face when I saw how eagerly the flock scrambled in preparation to leave Earth.

"It'll be okay," Fang told me quietly. "We'll find the Gasman and maybe stay a while and it'll be okay Max."

I snorted. "Feh."

"You'll see." He turned away from me. This was bringing back memories from when Fang had decided that we should go and live on a deserted island. Just like now, he had thought that it would be best to escape reality and let the world rot.

"Alright," Dr. Martinez said. "We are all set and clear to go. Now let me just power this up.... and...."

That same bright blue-green light filled my eyes. I envisioned where I wanted to be- "withgazzywithgazzywithgazzy" when suddenly a squad of Flyboys marched into the room. Horror-struck I stared at my mom, incapable of moving. This was definitely not supposed to happen. How had they found us? And what was going on?

Valencia Martinez gave a last sad, sad smile to her ungrateful daughter. This would surely turn out for the best. Failure, after all, was not an option. "All systems clear and... Go."

As I was blinded by the flashing light I barely managed to make out a glimpse of my mom being struck down by a Flyboy. A thought flew across my mind, carried on wings of guilt.

"I want to make my mom proud."

Hello there! Um.. I just want to clear something up... Some of you may have noticed that this story is already published. This is because I was formerly Solitaire Alliteration and then... um.. -Screws eyes up in embressment- Iforgotmypassword!

So there. Yeah. And if any of you are new to this story, here's some things you need to know:

A) This story is not Fang compliant. This is partially because I find it a pain to write Max and Fang as lovey dovey fluff-monsters and partially because I really hate writing Angel as evl and everyone and their mother's reaction to that. Also, Fang was't out when I wrote the first draft of this.

B) My writing schedule is very inconsistant. I still go to school, which means most of my time is sucked up. And I'm a little (coughcough a LOT) lazy.

That's it folks!

Sincerely, Spring Forest