A/N I understand Max has changed, but it's been ten years, and her world was too much pressure. Just read, and you'll understand. Read it. Read it. Read it. Why are you still reading this when you could be reading that? READ.

I'm Max. I have a history of flying and saving, but lately, I've been falling. I live in my own home, in Antarctica. No one knows where I am-not even my family.

So you caught me. I'm hiding from my Flock. But I discovered I can't trust anyone, and they haven't thought to look in a submarine near Antarctica. I'm now a scientist (I know, the bitter irony), and I go by the name Edirjya Mumixam

By call me Di. I've developed a sense of prophecy, and often what I predict does come true. So my team calls my Dire-ya. But that got shortened to Dirjya, and then Di.

I'm twenty-four, and I've got (dyed) black hair and (color contacted) black eyes. Everyone thinks I was an orphan that chose my name (kinda true) and I just happen to be gifted with science (HA! As if!) and I just want to be anonymous (but I actually want to stay anonymous because I don't want the flock to find me…or Mom…or Ella…or the School…or Jeb… But mainly the flock, since they'll want the old Max back).

So I'm here, studying global warming and radiation. It's a very beautiful place, Antarctica, and so vital to the whole world.

I guess I should introduce you to my team. There's Molly O'Reilly, our ice and air quality specialist. She's got fiery red hair, green eyes and a temper to match. Everyone thinks we should be twins because we know each other so well, we practically communicate telepathically. She's the only one who knows about the flock and everything. The wings included. She's promised never to tell anyone, and I know she'll hold true to that.

Then there's Mart Billings. Goof-off, etcetera… But he's really caring towards any and all animals. He studies polar animals, particularly, which is why he's here with us. He looks enough like me to be my brother, but we're nothing alike. I take everything literally, and he assumes everything's a joke. We have fun trying to keep him from understanding anything.

Tommy, or Dag, as we call him, is our archeologist. He checks for possible history links and things like that. But Dag, although he usually comes with us on trips like this, couldn't come. He had to work on a dig in South America, and besides, there's precious little history to be found here.

Basically, it's just us three, Molly, Mart and me, Di, but then there's the sub crew, too. Captain Jane Binks. And no comments about the Star Wars character-she's actually quite the opposite. Smart, skilled, and completely not clumsy, like Molly (or Jar-Jar, the Star Wars character). She's very fun to be around, not rigid at all!

The crew is Ricky Baker, Nolan Hughes and Girasol De Los Reyes. All of them are great fun and quite good in a fight.

Unfortunately, we've had to test that, over and over. M-Geeks have activated mysteriously in the past year, and we've been attacked. We've triangulated their base of origin to Antarctica. Since we were already there, we're checking it out, as well as getting the data we need. No comments, please. I can't handle it right now.

"Jane, we there yet?" Molly yelled.

"No, we've got about three days to go!" Jane and I were in the control/map room, plotting our course. Molly was…somewhere, we don't know where, and everyone else was scattered around the submarine.

"Then let's hurry up!"

"We can't!"

"Of course you can!"

"Shaddup, Molly!" Mart yelled. "Some of us gotta work!" The entire sub rocked with laughter.

"You don't work, Mart! You giggle and hunt and peck and get nothing done!" Girasol yelled. She had a slight accent, but it just made her words sound more musical.

"I DON'T GIGGLE!" Mart roared. "I CHUCKLE! I'M A GUY!"

"Are you sure, Mart?" Nolan called.

"Of COURSE I'm sure!" Mart gets very touchy when they pick on him like this.

"We'll take your word for that." I intervened. This gets wildly out of hand, so I had to stop them.

"Jane, shouldn't this take only a day to reach them?"

"Yeah, but we're picking up some people. They're supposed to be really good fighters, and heaven alone knows how much we may need them at this…place we're going." Jane wasn't so sure if we should go to the point, but we all decided, as a submarine crew, that we should. Jane knew we had to go, but the condition was that we had a backup crew.

I was ready for it. I had set up extra bunks for three people, and whatever happened, we were going to get through it.

"Well, what's so special about these people? Don't you trust us?" She glared at me. "Don't you trust your crew?" I amended.

"Yes, but these people specialize. They used to be the famed flock, you know."

"I thought there were six in the flock. What happened to the other three?"

"Um…The leader, Max, vanished, and two of them decided they wanted to stay above water, since they've got a bit of claustrophobia. Don't you read Fang's blog?"

"No…should I?"

"Well, yeah! It tells you a lot of interesting stuff, and a lot of what they used to do when they were younger. They're very nice, from what I hear."

"All right. I'll finish setting up, okay?"

"Sure. And Di?"

"Mm-hm?" I asked as I pushed open the door and stepped over the sill.

"If your prediction sense starts tingling, let me know."

"Don't I always?" I shut the door before she could reply. But I understood her concern. She knew I was always right about bad things or good things happening. I felt like something bad was going to happen-but I couldn't tell her about that. I didn't think my family would recognize me, but I hoped against hope that they wouldn't. But what was worse was that they'd almost surely know who I was.

So with a heavy heart, I neatened up the bunk room, checked the rest of the sub, and then, when we docked, I was the first one out, as always, and ready to meet my ex-flock. Three of them stood there-Nudge, Angel, and Gazzy. Iggy and Fang were there too, but they weren't coming aboard.

I'm the one-woman welcoming party, so I got to do the honors.

"Hi, I'm Edirjya Mumixam," I said, carefully pronouncing my name correctly. Aay-Dah-ree-jah Mum-Mix-Zam. "But call me Di."

"I'm Monique Ride, but I go by Nudge, since, well, I don't know, but that's what I'd always been, really. I don't know why, but I guess I could change my name, if I wanted, I guess." Same old Nudge, still chattering incessantly. I shook her hand, and she didn't notice a thing.

"I'm Angelina Ride. Angel." Not-so-little, sixteen year old Angel shook my hand. My mind blocks were up, so she would only hear a normal mind, not Max's mind.

"I'm Zephyr. But Gazzy's what my family calls me." I nodded and shook his head.

"It's nice to meet all of you. Are you the three that are coming with us?" I asked, being polite.

"Yes. Zane and Jamie are staying on land."

"All right then. Why don't you say goodbye and then I'll show you around the sub?" They nodded, and I watched as Nudge, Angel and Gazzy hugged Fang and Iggy goodbye. With a backwards glance and a wave, Fang and Iggy launched into the sky. It too, my breath away, seeing them soar so gracefully. It's such a shame. I mean, I used to be able to fly better than them, and now…I'm scared to lift off and fly.

"I know. It is beautiful, isn't it, Di?"

"It is. I wish I could fly." I whispered. Angel smiled at me.

"Maybe someday you can." I led them into the sub and showed them to their rooms. I offered a tour to all three of them, but the only one who took up my offer was Angel.

Angel POV

Di is really nice. She seems familiar, but I'd remember a Edirjya. I mean, she's got such a unique name.

"Di, how did you get your name?" I asked. She smiled at me.

"I was orphaned when I was four. My parents died in a horrible accident. I went to an orphanage, and I was given the name of Tammy Erickson. I hated it, and as soon as I turned eighteen, I changed my name to the most unique name I could come up with. Hence, the name Edirjya Mumixam."

"That's really nice. I mean, it's really sad that you lost your parents, but I mean, you got to choose your own name."

"From what I've heard, you got to choose your own." I suddenly felt sad. I didn't choose my name.

"I didn't choose mine." Surprisingly, a tear leaked out of my eye. "It was given to me by my big sister, Max. But…she ran away, seven years ago. We don't know if she's even alive anymore. No one knows her, I barely remember her, but I miss her a lot. I know the others do too, but they won't show it at all." I smiled up at her, even as I cried silently. "You seem a lot like her."

"No…I hate flying. It might be nice, once or twice, but in a sub is where I belong."

"I guess you're right. Max was really claustrophobic. We went on a sub, once, when she was still with us, but she hated it. I liked it, though." We went into the control room.

"Angel, this is Captain Jane Binks." I giggled. "And no, she's not related to the Star Wars character. I'm getting tired of explaining this! She's Captain Jane or Jane!"

Captain Jane hugged me. "You're not like normal teen-agers, are you?" Angel shook her head no. "Well, you with your mind-reading, and Di, with her future-reading, should get along fine." Di scowled. I don't know why, but I guess she doesn't feel the same about her future-seeing talent as Captain Jane does.

"Oh, you tell the future?" I was very curious now. I really wanted to know-if she reads the future like I read minds, she should definitely join the flock, wings or no.

"I don't read the future, per say. I get feelings if something bad is going to happen, or if something good will happen. It's just an advanced instinct." Oh. "I also have a bit of empathy-I'm just unnaturally good at knowing how people feel, and I just have to make them feel better."

"Our Di has a bit of a hero complex as well." Hm. Like Max. She couldn't let anyone in trouble just pass-she HAD to help them.

Di grinned at that. "It's why I'm down here in Antarctica. I don't really agree with the cold, but then again, neither do most people so I'm not always running off to save someone. And it's not normally big stuff, but I usually end up getting sick and then our whole mission is scrubbed because the leader came down with a serious case of the flu." We laughed.

"ARE THEY HERE YET?" Someone yelled, from somewhere beneath our feet. I agree, that was weird and unexpected. I didn't expect ANYONE to yell from beneath my feet..

"SHADDUP, MART!" someone else roared at…Mart, I guess.

"CUT IT OUT, YOU TWO! ONE, MART, YES, THEY'RE HERE, AND TWO, GIRASOL, DON'T YELL AT MART FOR NO REASON!" Whoa. Di just went from a happy, calm, smiling lady to a furious, dangerous and terrifying lady. I'll keep on her good side. I think she could take me down if she wanted, and that's saying a lot. I think she could take down Fang-Zade. I keep forgetting he refuses to be addressed by Fang, ever since Max left. He goes by Zade. We have no clue why.

"Yes, Edirjya, ma'am."

"OFFICERS ON BRIDGE!" Captain Jane yelled. Three people scrambled to attention, neatly lining up.

"TEAM IN COMMAND CENTER!" A black haired head poked up from the floor right in front of us. A woman with red hair in a braid slid down the hall and leapt over the sill, landing on top of the black headed person.

"MOLLY!" the black haired person yelped.

"Sorry, sorry!" Molly replied, struggling to stand up. Di grabbed her hand and hauled her up, then lent a hand to the black haired man.

"Mart, one, warning before you climb up from the bottom of the sub, Molly, no sock sliding on the sub."

"Sorry, Di."

"GUESTS, FRONT AND CENTER!" Nudge and Gazzy hurried down the hall.

"Wha…?" Gazzy asked.

"Okay, introductions." Captain Jane said. "I'm Captain Jane. What I say on this ship goes." Everyone nodded, but for Di. "Of course, Di is exempt from this rule, her knowing these waters better than I."

Di grinned. "What can I say? My adopted family practically lived down here. I even took online college courses down here. This is as much a home to me as I have!"

Captain Jane groaned and continued. "The crew for the Endeavour is Girasol De Los Reyes." She gestured to a pretty, Hispanic looking lady with her long black hair in a braid.

"Girasol was the one you heard yelling, 'Shaddup, Mart'." Di pitched in.

"Then, there's Ricky Baker, our handyman. You need anything fixed, go bug him, not me or Di." Ricky had curly blonde hair and wire-rimmed glasses. He was taller than me, but shorter than Di and Captain Jane.

"Just don't ask him to fix the ice machine. Last time, he broke it worse, and it took me AND Mart six weeks to put it back together." Ricky hung his head, but he was silently shaking with laughter, as was the rest of the crew.

"The last member of our crew is Nolan Hughes." A brown haired man, with caramelly eyes and a nice smile waved. He seemed nice enough.

"Everyone else on this sub reports to me." Di took complete command. "Unless I defer you to Captain Jane, you answer to me or my second, Molly. But I'd come to me first."

"HEY!" Molly yelled. It echoed loudly.

"Okay, you've met Molly. Nickname: The Wonderful, Redheaded Klutz. Don't insult her-she's got a fiery temper that doesn't belong underwater OR in Antarctica." Now Molly looked abashed.

"Sorry! I thought the snow and water would cool my temper. They don't, so just be careful!"

"The last member of my team is Mart. Usually, we have a fourth member, Dag, but Dag was unable to make the trip. Let's just say that the Brazilian Ruins hold more interest to him than a lot of ice and snow."

"Now, we know you're Nudge, you're Gazzy-and please, if your name is any clue, keep your gaseous abnormalities to yourself. We do have to live here, you know, and once we get close to the point, surfacing is out of the question. Lastly, we know Angel."

"Now, who's on duty?" Captain Jane asked.

"Ricky and I were officially on duty, and Mart was…well, being Mart. If one of the three want to stay, they can. Everyone else should either a), hit the sack, or b) stay on deck with us. We have three shifts, period. No regular sleep schedules at all. Since there's hm…now, there's eleven of us, one person will have to run double shifts. We try to have three or four people on at a time. Everyone else sleeps. You were lucky-you arrived when we were all up." Wow. Di had a long breath span. She's like Nudge-she managed to say all of that in one breath.

"I'll stay on deck." Nudge volunteered. "I think it'll be fun, being on a sub again."

So that's how I ended up lying awake, but with my eyes closed, in the bunk room, listening to Di and Nudge's minds.

Di POV (one shift and a half later)

They've changed so much…I don't know if it's because of me or not, but they're not who they were.

Sitting on the bridge by with just me and Molly (who had taken a single shift, me on double), I pulled out my guitar. I'm not much of a singer, but I just relax when I play guitar.

"I wish I could fly,

In the sapphire sky,

Like the birds of old,

Spread my wings of shining gold,

And touch the sky so blue

A beautiful sight, brave and true,

Touching the sky so close to you,

Dipping and swirling in the amber light

Finding the daylight so bright

Head in the clouds, feet in the sea,

A freedom, a generosity

A simple life is mine.

But under the sea

Is where I'll be

Now, forever true

Ocean blue and peaceful through

My home beneath the deep blue waves

My home where I stay.

Diving and swirling and stroking home,

My home the place where'er I roam

And I can be

So free

I'm home, home.

Home.

Welcome home."

I was playing my song, currently untitled, seriously, that's what I'm calling it, and I didn't notice anyone on the bridge, but for Molly. We had completely random conversations. Tonight, she was asking about missing the flock.

"You miss 'em, Di?"

"I'll always miss them. They were my family. But I can't change what I've done." I strummed my guitar lightly. "Even if I told them, I don't think they'd accept me back."

"So you don't the flock would forgive you, their leader?"

"I ran away, and let's face it; I ditched them because I was scared. I was supposed to be the fearless one."

"But you're not perfect, Di."

"No one is. But I had to come close for them. I mean, I was their mom, their sister, their leader, and basically I was responsible for their lives and what happened to them. It was too much." I saw nothing weird in this-Molly and I had discussions like this on a regular basis. She would try to convince me that I should go back and be Max again. But I wasn't Max anymore. I was Di, through and through.

"I think you should go back. I mean, three of them are here now. You could tell them. Jane knows, I think. She just doesn't say anything out of respect for you."

"I'm not going back, Molly. I'm not Max anymore. I don't think I ever was, really. Di was always below the surface. I'm more comfortable as Di."

I strummed my guitar again, chords playing through my head.

"Molls, you wanna wake up Mark and Ricky to practice the quartet?"

"Nah. It'd be too late. They just got off their shift. You should be asleep, missy."

"I always take the double shift when Jane can't. She needs sleep more than me, since she's so worried about, well, you know."

"We can wake one of the newcomers."

"Not happening. I know them-the only way to wake any of them up is with a blaring siren."

"I step and find

My wings to fly,

Soaring through the blue

I reach and try

To kiss the sky

Flying straight to you

Flying fast is trying hard,

An ice-cold sliver and icy shard

So hard to fly without my wings

So I raise my voice and sing

I'll catch my breath

And stop to rest

Flying through and through

To find my way that's true.

If I can spread my wings of gold,

Swoop and soar, like birds of old,

I'd be forever free,

In the sky, just me!

Unfurl your wings and touch the sky

Lift your voice and fly!

Lift your voice and fly.

Fly, Fly, Fly,

Lift your voice and fly."

"I've never heard that one. Is it new?"

"No. I've always known this one. I wrote it back when I was still new on the sub. I was reflecting on it, and I decided to write the song about flying." A beeping on one of the monitors made me open my eyes. Briefly, I saw someone staring, then they were gone. I whirled on my chair and ran some codes through the computer. Then I slammed my hand down on the bright red alarm button.

Molly POV

Di and I were actually having a conversation about who she used to be, and I was recording it for future purposes (if I need to tell them, I'm going to have evidence, okay? It's not blackmail or anything for Itex, geez!) when the computer started beeping. Di whirled and started running tests. As far as I could tell, nothing bad was happening, but I was proved wrong when Di swore violently (and she doesn't swear lightly, thinking only a bad people resorts to swearing) and slammed her hand down on the alarm button. Within seconds, the sub was blinking red lights and blaring out an alarm.

Well, Ricky and Mart weren't getting any beauty sleep tonight, not with that alarm screaming.

Angel POV

I was woken at some random time by a loud alarm. I raced to the bridge after kicking Nudge and Gazzy awake. I saw Di punching codes into computers, Molly running scans, Captain Jane spreading charts out, and Ricky and Mart working on some random thing. A guitar lay under the table-I wondered quickly who played. Then I tapped into my power and scanned their thoughts.

What's up with Di? She won't tell me, 'cept for that whole "We've got a Def-con six thing". That's garbage, and she knows it. I'm just annoyed. Di has reasons and rhymes for what she does. I know that. Breathe, Molly. Okay, code seven. 1KI3NTN0jIl3985xU2lI. Molly was stressed and entering codes.

I quickly started to scan Di's mind, but retreated quickly, since she was just swearing internally, running on autopilot.

I hope this works…Di said that I should keep the oxygen nitrate and phosphorus (A/N I have no idea if that explodes when mixed together, but I thought it sounded cool. Scientists, don't blame me.) separate…I wonder what happens when I mix them together…A small explosion boomed in the small space, echoing loudly. Oh. That happens.

"What was that?" Molly asked. She sounded scared.

"Nothing." Mart and Ricky said together. Di sighed.

"You mixed the nitrate and phosphorus together, didn't you?"

Oh, my God, they've found us! I'm glad we picked them up a day early-we would be dead if they weren't scared of them! Oh, God, I wish Di would just admit it and help us! What the heck? Di? Why is she popping up in everyone's thoughts? And why does Captain Jane want Di to admit something?

I'm so scared. I can't figure out what's wrong! I should know! A voice, calmer but more frustrated than anyone else flitted through the chaos in my mind. I'm Maximum Ride! I should know how to do this! I've been in this situation dozens of times! I grasped onto that mind. But when I tried to trace it back to Max, I found only air. Ghosts don't have thoughts-I know that much. But Max was here. So the question of the day was…who is Max now?

Di raced for the airlock and tossed something in. She pushed a button to close it, and took cover under the bridge table.

"IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIFE, GET THE HELL DOWN!" She screamed, her voice echoing in the sudden silence. Everyone flattened themselves down. She pushed a button and a blast exploded right outside the hull.

"Nice, Di!" Mart cried, then ducked to see Di. She was dead unconscious.

A/N I wrote the songs, and I'm sorry for Di screaming, but it's crucial to the plot. Max isn't Max anymore, and Angel knows that Max is on the ship, she just doesn't know who. I'll post the next chapter when I get...three reviews. That's not too much to ask, is it?