Dear Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman, and Angel,

My name is Rip. That's the name given to me by the Erasers, but I'll tell you more about that in a minute. For now, I'd like to say thank you, on behalf of all of us, for freeing us from the Institute. Also, you're higher than us on the priority list, so thanks for keeping the Erasers from coming after us. We'd all be dead now if it wasn't for you.

At the Institute, we were the "what-if experiments", so to speak. Most of us were created to answer questions. How quickly could a human body repair itself? What about this type of wing? Could they make larger bones? I guess that's what happens when mad scientists have unlimited funding and access to genetic splicing equipment. Go figure.

We're not so different from you, in some ways. For example, I don't have wings, but I do have an extraordinarily high rate of regeneration. Sound familiar? I'm called Rip because the Erasers used to tear off my limbs so that the whitecoats could see how fast they'd grow back. It takes about a month, usually. It's a defense mechanism, like geckos; if someone grabs me, I can pull myself lose, and they're left holding a twitching limb. Your abilities are less pronounced than all of ours, but then again, you were created for an entirely different purpose

Even though we were kept practically at opposite ends of the country, we used to be told that you, the Flock, despised us for being failed attempts at improving you. I think the whitecoats were afraid that we would team up with you or something. But they can be extremely stupid sometimes. After years of being ripped apart by wolf-men, I kind of got the idea that they weren't on my side. Just a hunch, I guess…

We would've stuck with you after you freed us, but you were the ones the Erasers wanted, so we decided to go our own way. Besides, six is probably enough flock members, and you needed to be able to fly quickly, not to have to carry those of us who can't. We've made our own flock/pack/herd. Flyte's a lot like Max (in more ways than just the wings) so she's a natural-born leader. About 50 of us made it out of the Institute, but there are only a dozen of us who are still alive. The rest would have died soon anyway, in those cages, but because of you, they got to see the sky before the end.

I'm not sure how we can ever repay you. We're reading those books of yours, and rooting for you every second of every day. If you ever need us, see if Angel can get in contact with Savvy, and we'll help you however we can.

Thanks again,

Rip, Kite, Twitch, Savvy, Night, Kit, Eros, Flyte, Eve, Bingo, Una, and Calvin