A/N: Hey guys! So you're probably wondering why I decided to repost this story. I felt like it was going in the wrong direction a little bit. Since the docs expired, I'll try to get them all back on my account tonight. Wish me luck!

If you asked Ella Martinez what she would like to change about herself, she would answer nothing. Everything about me is awesome, and it's just the way I want it to be, she would say. People looked up to her for her high spirits in every situation and optimism, something that could be rivaled by Nudge on most occasions, and she was also known to look up to the Flock, Maximum Ride especially, who was her older sister. Nudge, Iggy, and Max were her best friends from the Flock. And they'd visit more often then not.

Ella to be with them all the time, wanted them around all the time.

Unfortunately if she asked the Flock, Maximum included, they'd immediately reject the idea of a road trip, even if they got to fly along the way. That's just the way the Flock was: touchy about tight spaces. They had, however, opened up and told Ella and Dr. Martinez about their horrific past. And Dr. Martinez had insisted on giving them a closed-doors checkup. Everything was good, and the vet suggested that the Flock take daily flights and train in flying (Fang had told her about the hawks turning their feathers), including co-op flying and singular flying.

This was why Ella was on the roof of her house, wishing more then ever that she was a mutant, a grey-tailed hawk/human hybrid to be exact. She could imagine it now: soaring in the sky with her fellow Flock members, sleeping up in trees and flying all over the country…

She smiled wanly to herself; that dream was never gonna happen.

Sighing to herself, Ella stood up and started to walk down on the roof, holding her arms up. In response, Max swooped upwards, did a pirouette in midair, and started flying towards her half-sister, holding her hands downwards. Max caught Ella and she was swept off her feet. It was a routine they had practiced day after day, and they still haven't gotten the last part perfect; it was in case Ella got caught in the crosshairs of a battle by accident and she needed to get out of there, fast.

"Alright, sis." Ella loved when Max called her that. "Ready for phase 2 of this?"

"Maybe," Ella said. It was lucky she was good at gymnastics… no… she really wasn't. Max was better at everything up high. But Max and Fang had taught her to se her momentum to swing around. The full trick was that one of the Flock would swing whomever was up into battle into the air by their hands, and then wing them up onto their backs. The first time Max had attempted this with Ella, the girl had swung right over her entire body, stumbled backwards, fell on her back, and fell to the ground, having to crawl over to a bush to throw up.

Ever since that day Maximum had not wanted to do that again, but Ella had somehow convinced her, albeit reluctantly.

The mutant chuckled. "Neither am I. Tell me when you're ready."

Two seconds later, Ella said, "Now."

Max swung her little sister upward and over. The final destination was on Max's wings, and the mutant knew how to angle her secondary feathers- Fang and Nudge had taught her- so that she could make a quick escape away from the battle. Max held onto Ella's hands until the girl reached her head, and let go. It was all up to Ella now.

Ella twisted in midair, like an ice skater, and landed on one foot in the middle of Max's back. She waved her arms madly like they were wings, balanced on one foot. That foot was currently in the position a ballerina would take when they were balanced on a stage. Fall to your knees, Ella, it'll save you, a mysterious Voice said inside her head, and Ella obeyed, falling to her knees on her sister's back.

"Are you okay, sis?" Max's alarmed shout brought Ella back to the present. She shook her long black hair out of her eyes and looked at Max's head, which was turned slightly.

Ella nodded. "Yeah, I'm good!" Ella shouted back. She lowered herself gingerly until her arms were around Max's neck and her legs around her sister's waist. They had established it when first trying it out; Max could still fly.

Max, said the Voice, Ella's about to go through a difficult time. I'm in her head as well.

"Voice," Max said aloud, "what are you doing in my sister's head?"

The Voice didn't answer. Max and Ella looked at each other as Max landed, and Ella got off her back with some difficulty. "Voice!" Max shouted, and the rest of the Flock, from down below, looked downwards in puzzlement.

"Did I just hear something?" Gazzy asked, nipping Nudge's rant in the bud.

I'm in her head because she needs the guidance… and so do you.

Later that night, Ella laid in bed, bored out of her mind, facing the far wall. She couldn't fall asleep, the events of today rippling in her head. The nearly failed trick, the Voice, and her nearly failed landing.

She turned over towards the nearest wall and thought about herself and Max. She was nothing special, only human. Now she had a Voice in her head. And Max… Max was a mutant. She was a leader. She had an entire team of mutants by her side, and she loved her and her mother.

She loves me and my mother… that's the most valuable thing anyone could ask for, Ella thought with a sigh. She smiled.

Family is forever, the Voice chimed in.

Ella relaxed, her hair splayed out on her pillow. But then her body went rigid again as she heard smooth, angelic voices. She squeezed her lips together so tightly all the blood drained out of them, and forced her legs to relax: her muscles were going to cramp if she held them any more tense.

Voice, what happened to Max and the others? Shouldn't Angel have woken up by now? Ella asked the Voice.

They've been gassed, and so has your mother. But your mother has been taken. You'll have to survive this on your own. I'll tell you when to run, the Voice answered back, and Ella nodded. She forced her breathing to become deep and steady and for her body to relax. But her senses were still on full alert. Eventually she heard the Erasers walking up the stairs, and kept on chanting in her head Run when it's time run when it's time run when it's time. The Erasers eventually reached her door, and a lead Eraser opened it.

Ella kept her ears perked; she had no one to help her now, no one but her.

She heard the Eraser chuckle and heard his heavy boots on the floor as he approached, threw off the covers, and scooped her up in his arms, holding her bridal style. He shifted one arm to touch his right ear, and said, "Tell the Director I've got the merchandise." In the moonlight filtering through Ella's bedroom window, she could make out that he had a sadistic smirk on his face, and he had a scar that stretched from the beginning of his eyebrow to the end of his eye.

Ella waited until he started down the stairs. Now! She and the Voice screamed in unison.

It was all Ella needed for the adrenaline to start flowing. She snapped her eyes open and tucked her legs and her upper body upwards; she fell through Ari's outstretched arms and landed on her tailbone. The Eraser snarled and swiped at her, but Ella used her smaller size to her advantage, ducking around him and wall jumping. It was another thing she used to her advantage, and Max and her mother had stressed this: Use your smaller size to your advantage and go on the defense. She wall jumped and then landed on the banister, sliding down on it and then grinding on it to increase her speed.

Ella landed in the kitchen and saw a jug of water her mother had kept out. Ella raced over, popped the cap, and threw the jug on the floor, right in Ari's path, slicking the floor with water. Then she got her socks a bit wet herself to block the scent and took off running.

Seconds later she heard Ari slip and fall on the water, or the cap, or something. She was almost to the front door- she could make it-

Ella burst out the front door and skid to a halt. There was a wall of 6 Erasers…

She was trapped.

Suddenly a paw knocked into the side of her head, and she hit the sidewalk so hard she saw stars, and blacked out.

Ella struggled to surface to consciousness, trying to register where she was just by the smell and sounds of the place. Don't open your eyes yet, The Voice advised her. Use your other senses. Can you move everything? What about focused hearing?

Someone's coming from the northeast, Ella responded. She blinked into white lights, hospital lights, prison lights. She moved her eyes without moving her head, and tried to process what she could find out without moving at all.

She was wearing a hospital gown. Luckily she was wearing underwear. She was strapped down. Not good.

A man walked in. Ella turned her head, and recognized him immediately.

"Ari," she whispered. The Eraser smirked, and two other people entered. Both whitecoats.

"You're saying this is Subject 33?" The female asked, looking at Ella with doubt. Ari grinned. "This little girl?"

"Yes, you're looking at it." The other whitecoat, a man, raised a syringe. It was filled with blood.

He injected it into her chest, straight into her heart. Ella screamed.

"This was your dream," Ari said, smirking, "and now you're living it."

He's been watching you, the Voice said.

The torture had only just begun.