Well this is my first foray into writing a MR fic, now it's mostly going to follow my own characters through their own story. There will be interactions with Max and the Flock but don't expect them to be in it all the time. The time line will take place starting from "The Angel Experiment", so leave a review and tell me what you think. Enjoy.

The Maximum Ride series is owned by James Patterson, all new characters that you don't know are mine.

Cobalt Streak

Chapter 1

The dream, it's always the same dream. Running half beaten to death through the woods, the sound of wolves at my back, their howling getting closer as I stumble along. I look back and see their breath rising like fog as they get closer to me, my own breath sputtering as I try to catch it.

It's no use. I think to myself as I cradle my broken arm. Why do I always think that, I don't usually say "Hey I'm giving up go ahead and beat me to death." That's not the kind of person I am, but the dream me always gives up there. I watch as the wolves finally come into view and as usual they are enormous, easily towering over me.

I see the blood dripping from their mouths, staining their bared teeth as they stalk closer to me. I hear the howl of another wolf, only it's farther away and in pain. My heart always goes out to that one seeing as how it tried to save little dream me from the pack about to tear me to shreds. The pack leader brings itself right in front of me and I stand my ground. Fight or flight? The question whispers through me and before I choose the wolf lunges.

It's usually at that point that I wake up and just like usual I do. I find myself sitting up right in my bed, sweat running down my face and my hand covering my eye. If I went to a psychiatrist I'm pretty sure he/she would tell me that I have some weird repressed memories from my childhood. Well let me save you the trouble their Doc, I do have troubled times in my childhood but hey I got over them. It's true I got over it about as easy as any other kid would if they were created in a lab just to be tortured to see how you worked, but hey that's just me.

The clock on my nightstand read 06:00 and after a nice session of dream slaughter I don't think sleeping in is a choice, so I got out of bed and went about my usual morning routine. I grabbed my eye patch off the nightstand and put it on, switched off my alarm since I wouldn't need it, got dressed, threw a pair of sneakers on and headed downstairs to the kitchen. The scent of eggs, bacon and coffee was already wafting its way through the cabin, meaning Dad was up. No matter what time I get up Jack, my dad, is always up and making breakfast, not that I'm complaining mind you. A hearty breakfast waiting for you when you get up is something I look forward to, especially after the dream.

"Morning Co," Jack said as he fixed a plate with generous portions of food, "you're up early son. Another one of those dreams again?"

"It's not a big deal Dad, it's just a dream." I can lie pretty well if I do say so myself, of course the dream creeps me out every time I have it. Still no matter how good a liar I am, dear old Dad can tell.

"Co you know that you can talk to me about this if you need to." Jack said putting a plate in front of me and a hand on my shoulder.

"I know Dad and you'll be the first person I talk to if I need to," I started digging into my eggs showing that I wanted to drop the subject, "but it's just a dream so nothing to worry about."

As always Dad picks up on my oh so subtle hints and we change the subject of our breakfast discussion. If there was a dad of the year contest Jack Streak would definitely get a nomination from me. He is always there for me if I need him and he knows when to give me my space, not a better dad around than that. While we talk I inhale my breakfast and have seconds just as quickly, thanks to my personal wake up call I had a little adrenaline buzz going and I wanted to work it off. Finished with my plate I put it in the sink, "I'm going out for a little exercise Dad." I said as I headed out the door throwing my jacket on. "Ah breathe in that crisp mountain air." I said to myself as I let the cold morning air fill my lungs. I stretched my arms out and unfurled my wings to their full span; oh sorry I forgot to mention the wings.

Well I guess I should say something now so how about this. Hello my name is Cobalt Streak, I'm 16 years old, about 6ft. tall, I have dark blue wings with black tips, one eye and I'm a snappy dresser. Ok I'll admit I'm not really that snappy of a dresser, but the other stuff is true. See I'm an avian human hybrid created by some not so nice scientists, we'll refer to them as whitecoats or just simply jerks. I was created in a place called the School in Colorado, which is kind of funny since I'm still living in Colorado with my dad. Jack Streak, my dad, found me when I was eight in the woods and he's raised me ever since. I used to have some friends like me, but I lost them around the time Dad found me. If you're connecting the dots then yeah the dream has most of its roots from the School days of my life.

Anyway back to the crisp mountain air and the clear blue sky. After stretching out I took off at a run, lifted my wings up and pushed down hard and fast taking off into the air. With a steady beat of my wings I cleared the tree tops and was soon soaring free. Flying is definitely the way to travel and I suppose it really is the only thing that I can thank those jerks at the School for that is if they didn't try to kill me and all.

The Rockies are really a sight to behold, especially from the air. I flew some lazy circles to get myself warmed up and then I went into some real tight flying. Banking, dropping, sharp cuts I went through some of the maneuvers I had learned over the years. I was in the middle of attempting a quick turning barrel roll when a black Hummer caught my eye. It was moving through the woods toward my house, but cars don't usually come to my house. It's a little on the remote side being so far away from lets see civilization and all, but hey teenager with wings does not really fit in well with the civil norm so it works for me.

Dad would have told me if any one was coming up to the cabin today, so I decided to follow our surprise guests and see what they were up to. I angled down and stayed in what I hoped was a blind spot above the Hummer. As they drove further along it looked certain that they were heading to the cabin. From my spot above the Hummer I couldn't tell who or how many people were inside and decided that flying ahead to the cabin would be the best plan. I would warn Dad and then see what he would have to say, because if the Hummer was carrying some unfriendlies then I needed to warn him quick.

I beat my wings as fast as I could and in minutes I was back in my yard running as I hit the ground. I ran into the house and found Dad still sitting at the kitchen table drinking his coffee. He saw the look on my face and put his mug down, "What's wrong Co?"

"There's a Hummer coming toward the house and I don't think their selling Avon."

Dad got up and went to the windows closing the shades and looking outside. "Any idea how many people were inside?"

I shook my head, "I couldn't tell from where I was, but I would have to guess that every seat was taken."

Dad came back and walked into the den, I followed right behind him, and he went right to his gun case. Now I'm not crazy about guns, but Dad was in the army for a long time so he developed a certain fondness for them, of course I never saw him do anything with them except clean them. Now he was loading a hand gun and sliding it into the back of his waist, he looked at me for a minute like he was considering whether to give me one or not. I made the choice for him and walked over to a window to check outside, no way was I going to shoot anything at anyone. I much rather prefer punching their face in, that is if I ever get into a fight of course. A moment later Dad came up and joined me and we watched as the black Hummer came into view.

"Ok Co here's the plan," Dad started and I listened while still looking outside, "I'm going to go out and see if this is really a problem. If whoever is in that vehicle is here to cause a problem then I want to know who we're dealing with."

"Great plan Dad but shouldn't I go out with you, what if these guys are serious trouble?" I shot my Dad a smart grin, "It's not like you're a young recon officer any more you know."

Dad smiled at the joke I made about his age and went to the front door. "I may not be young but I'm still recon trained and your father. So wait here unless I give you a sign that I need help, understand?" Dad gave me one of those parental stares that say "The answer better be yes and you better mean it." So of course I say what he wants to hear and I watch him go out the door. Then I run upstairs, slip out a window and make myself comfortable on the roof while I watch the show down below.

The Hummer was parked in the front yard and just like I thought it was packed because seven men in black suits got out. The driver walked in front of the others as they made their way to our home. Dad stood with his arms crossed and just watched as the men came toward him. Having seen these guys now I could definitely say that they were not selling Avon, not unless Avon was trying a new strong arm approach to selling makeup. About half way between their car and the house the suits stopped, "Well Jack Streak we finally found you. You know that you are a hard person to track down Mr. Streak?" the leader spoke.

Dad kept his composure, "I don't see why anyone would need to track me down, and after all I'm just a military man trying to enjoy his retirement."

The leader sneered and said, "You're much more than that Mr. Streak and I believe you do know why we're here for you. So why don't you come with us peacefully and no one will get hurt."

"I think that I'll have to refuse fellas." Dad said.

The group of men spread out and the leader walked toward Dad again, "Our orders are to bring you in Mr. Streak, but they didn't say in what condition." When he finished talking the leader lunged at Dad and the rest of his group did the same. I was about to jump down and help him when I caught a look from Dad, how he knew I was up on the roof I never knew. The quick glance and shake of his head were signals to stay were I was and wait. Apparently he didn't need my help as I watched him palm strike his first attacker in the face, the guy went down sporting a bloody nose. In the hole that was made from the downed man Dad rushed out as the other six men tried to dog pile him. Two of them got up and dove to tackle Dad, one going high while the other went low. It would have worked if Dad hadn't jumped over the low guy while kicking the other. Of course the guy on the bottom didn't get away unscathed since Dad kind of stomped on him when he landed.

The leader laughed even though half of his goons were taken down by one man. "You really are remarkable Mr. Streak, just like the Director told me. But I'm afraid that we have a job to do so." and to my horror I watched as the three goons still standing began to grow larger, hairier, and more wolfish.

Oh my god they're Erasers. The cold thought chilled me as I watched the wolfish features appear on the men's faces. Suddenly the images from the Dream were hitting me even though I was awake; wounded, afraid and alone against the blood thirsty wolves. I think I would have been trapped by the images if the roaring sound of gunfire hadn't shaken me back to reality. Down back on the ground Dad had taken his gun out and had fired off two shots, but the Erasers were faster than him and dodged the shots easily.

Alright appearance of Erasers on the field changes the whole game, as tough as my Dad is he's not tough enough to take on three Erasers by himself. Like the old saying goes 'You have to fight fire with fire' or in this case mutant against mutant. See Erasers are made at the School just like I was, but these monsters are spliced together with lupine DNA and they are nasty pieces of work; note the traumatizing dreams with monster wolves in it and you get my point.

I leapt from the roof, unfurled my wings and crashed down on an unsuspecting Erasers head. "Whoops sorry buddy I forgot to yell Geronimo." Now that I made my grand entrance I leapt at one of the other Erasers with a snap kick, he blocked it and knocked me to the ground in the same motion. Hitting the ground I tucked my wings in and rolled to get some distance between me and the Eraser. I sprang back onto my feet and the Eraser and I began to circle each other.

"Well, well what a surprise we come looking for Mr. Streak and we find a bird freak to play with." The Eraser leader said while he paced in front of me. "I guess we get to have some fun after all."

The Eraser leapt at me claws ready to slash me to ribbons, now I'm stronger than a regular person but Erasers can put me to shame so I went with one of my other strengths. I leapt about eight feet straight up in the air and watched as the Eraser sailed right under me. I turned in the air and flapped my wings so that I was kind of hovering just above him. A gunshot sounded again and I saw Dad doing his best trying to fight the other Eraser.

Dad fired another round but the Eraser dodged again and got too close for comfort. He swiped his claw like hand at Dad who brought up his gun and used it like a shield, twisting the Erasers arm away from him. I took advantage of the Eraser being off balance and dove at him from the air, I tackled him and heard a satisfying crunching sound as we crashed to the ground. Dad rushed over and pulled me back onto my feet then gave me a stern parental look.

"I told you to wait for my signal before jumping in."

Can you believe this he's mad at me for saving his life, typical parental reaction though. "I think the revelation that these goons are Erasers kind of trumps that Dad, besides you don't know what these guys are capable of."

"Don't assume that I don't know what Erasers can do Cobalt, remember never assume anything get the facts before you make a decision." I wasn't listening to the little piece of advice Dad was giving me, I was too focused on the first thing he said. Not only that but he didn't react like a person should when seeing an Eraser morph for the first time, plus they were here for him and not me. Ok it looks like I'm taking Dad's advice to heart after all because I don't have to assume here, all the facts point to Dad having some connection to the School.

"Dad why are the Erasers here for you, what haven't you told me?" I asked and Dad just looked at me for a minute, a kind of look that showed he was ashamed about something. Of course he didn't get a chance to answer because the Eraser I had left howled as he plowed right into me. I forgot how hard these guys hit, the air left my lungs forcibly as I hit the ground.

"Don't worry little birdie this will only hurt for a few minutes." The Eraser on top of me said as he drew back a clenched fist, my guess would be that said fist was going to be connecting with my face.

"I think you better get off my son if you know what's good for you." Dad said as he held his gun right at the Eraser's head. The Eraser stayed like he was for minute, probably trying to figure out if he could dodge a bullet so close to his head, and smirked showing off his sharp teeth.

Some times having special powers can be a curse because I would give anything right now to not have a photographic memory. The moment it happened everything seemed to slow down; the Eraser leader that I thought I knocked out just appeared behind Dad. He roared as he slashed my Dad across the back, blood following his claw in an arch from the wound. Dad turned around, his face was so white, and the Eraser took a second swipe at him leaving a jagged wound across his chest now. The scene was burned in my mind now, but I kept telling myself this wasn't happening.

It's just a new twisted part of the dream, that's all it is I'm in my bed having a nightmare. But the truth was I was pinned to the ground watching my Dad, the man who saved me and cared for me, being killed. I couldn't take it anymore, I didn't know where it came from but somehow a surge of strength flooded me and I knocked the Eraser on top of me to the ground. My body moved on it's own as I ran up and struck the pack leader in the face. I hit him again and again, the ferocity of my attack taking him by surprise for a second. I didn't think about anything but wailing on the bastard that had hurt the only family I had left, maybe that's why I didn't see the other Eraser coming at me. He hit me in my ribs and the pain brought me back to myself for a second.

I jumped back from the two Erasers and took in my situation. Ok we have me bruised and battered against two Erasers, Dad is on the ground bleeding profusely, and I'm just a little tweaked out on rage; I think I can work with this. I yelled as I charged the Erasers who were laughing at my little show.

"What's the matter freak, mad that we hurt daddy?" One of the Erasers mocked and I ran faster, letting the anger give me a boost.

Jack Steak's rules of combat say that a surprise attack is an effective attack and that was what I had planned. Running at two Erasers in a rage who could probably tear me limb from limb easily is not the smartest thing to do, lucky for me I wasn't completely in a raging mindset. The Erasers were all ready to fight me head on, but I wasn't so I leapt into the air flipping over the two now slack jawed idiots. I passed over them and when I was behind them I shot both feet out with all my strength and connected with the back of their heads. Since both of them were tensed and ready for a frontal attack the quick strike to their heads sent them flailing to the ground quick. Not wanting to lose my advantage as soon as I landed I ran over to Dad, picked him up and carrying him did a running take off and flew the both of us out of their.

I couldn't carry Dad for long so I took us someplace high up and out of the way. The spot I landed at was a cliff on the mountain side that I sometimes come up to watch the birds fly, it's were I learned a lot of my own aerial tricks. I laid my Dad down and looked over his wounds, I felt sick to my stomach seeing the claw marked gashes across his chest. His breathing was getting shallow and the bleeding wasn't stopping, I took off my shirt, balled it up and used it as a make shift bandage. I put some pressure on the wound and Dad grimaced in pain.

"Co I need to tell you something." Dad said in between deep breaths, his face was losing color quick.

"Don't try to talk Dad, just hold on a little while longer once the Erasers leave we can swoop down and get you some help." I tried to sound brave but I've been down this road before. I've had someone slip away from me and I was afraid that history was about to repeat itself.

Dad grabbed my arm and pulled me close, "Don't have much time, bleeding too much. Just listen." I nodded my head and listened. "Floor safe in the den, use the third combination I showed you. Remember it?"

"16 right, 7 left, 21 right." I remembered the combination like he showed it to me years ago.

"Good boy." Dad let go of my arm and just laid on the ground, his breathing was slowing down. "Co no matter what remember that I love you son." And just like that he was gone.

I couldn't take it anymore I just broke down right there and started to cry, I took off my eye patch and let the tears flow. I hate crying because it hurts when the tears run down where my missing eye should be, but the pain of losing Jack Streak hurt more than anything I could think of. I don't remember how much time passed before I stopped crying, but I did stop and looked out over the horizon. The wind blew icy chills up onto the ledge; I shivered realizing I was standing there bare-chested. I didn't want to put my shirt back on; it was covered in Dad's blood, so I threw my jacket on and zipped it up.

I looked back at my Dad, lying on the ground motionless. I needed to do something, this was murder and the monsters responsible needed to be punished. Dad told me to go to the safe back home; did it have answers to some of the questions rolling around in my brain? Why did the Erasers want Dad and not me? How did Dad know about them, besides from what I told him? Who sent the Erasers? All these questions had to have answers and I hoped that whatever was waiting for me in that safe would give them to me.

I knelt down next to my Dad's body, "I'm going to find out what's going on Dad. I'll get the answers for both of us." I turned and walked to the edge of the cliff, putting my eye patch back on as I went. I looked back one last time before leaping off the edge, snapping open my wings to catch an up draft that lifted me into the sky. I stayed close to the tree tops on my way back to the cabin, in case I need to hide really quickly. As I got closer to the cabin I landed in a tree to scope out the area before I tried to get into my home, a quick scan of the area showed that the Erasers had pulled out and gone. Stealthily I made my way to the cabin's roof and snuck inside through a window.

Now that I was back in the cabin I made my way to my room and quickly packed a few things like clothes, money, IPod, you know the essentials. I threw all of my stuff into a backpack, and then I made my way down to the den. Apparently the Erasers had gone through the cabin because everything was knocked over, things were broken and smashed, it looked like they were looking for something or they were just pissed that they messed up their mission. Luckily though the idiots didn't find the floor safe which was hidden under a Persian rug in the middle of the den. I pulled the rug aside, dialed in the combination and opened the safe. Inside were some files and laptop, which I hastily threw in my backpack, plenty of time to look them over when I was out of there. I made one last stop in the kitchen taking as much food as I could carry bolted back upstairs and out the window I came in through.

I flew back toward the cliff, the thought that I wouldn't see my home again just hitting me as it shrank into the distance. Today was definitely joining my list of worst days ever. I can't believe I could lose so much in such a short span of time; apparently life just doesn't like me for some reason. I let my funky mood linger until I saw the cliff come into sight, at least when I touched down I would get some answers. Yeah but remember about life not liking me well it proved it again because with my raptor vision I spotted something I didn't want to see. The Erasers were all over the cliff and that meant that they had Dad's body, but how did they find the place I was sure that I wasn't followed.

No time to dwell on it now Cobalt, now you have to find some place else to hide. Sure telling myself that made me feel loads better, yeah right I wanted to charge right in and bust some heads. But that wouldn't get me any answers and right now answers were what I wanted, so I swallowed my pride and took off in another direction. I flew for half an hour before I found someplace to land and hide out. My new digs was a cave that seemed to have the nicest smelling odor, ah yes I love nature and all its fragrances. I set my backpack down and took out the files and laptop, as well as a can of fruit to snack on.

I opened the laptop; apparently it was in hibernation because the screen came on and prompted me for a password. Wonderful now all I have to do is figure out the password, I hoped I didn't have to read through all these files to find it first though. I was about to start leafing through the files when I noticed that the login screen had a hint icon on it, all right maybe my luck is changing. I clicked the icon and a textbox popped up containing a question.

What is your birthday?

Well ok that's not exactly a brain buster of a password, but I guess it works since the only other person who knows my birthday was Dad. So I typed in Feb. 13, 1989 and the login screen was replaced with the usual desktop screen. Before I could see what exactly was on the laptop a media file began to play and there was Dad looking back at me from the screen.

"Hello Cobalt, if you're watching this then chance is I'm dead." Well I'm amazed; he actually had a plan for something like this happening. "I've made this video with the intention of telling you everything that I have kept hidden from you these last eight years. First it was no accident that I found you in the woods, I was on assignment to find all the escaped experiments and bring them to a place where they would be put into a real life living simulation."

No way, Jack Streak my Dad was involved with the psychos who tortured me for their own twisted ideas on science. This didn't answer my questions it just made more for me to worry about.

"I was a soldier like I told you and I am retired, but I joined a group who worked for some people that needed discreet jobs performed." The video continued. "I was told that the work being conducted was for the betterment of mankind, although I didn't know just what kinds of experiments were being conducted. When I was told to round up some experiments that were allowed to escape I didn't think anything about them, I just followed orders. Then when I arrived at the site you were the first one I found and I could not believe what I saw." Dad covered his eyes on screen and shook his head, "They had sent me to capture a child, which meant that they were experimenting on children. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, there you were beaten and bloody about ready to collapse. I was told that the work we were doing was for the betterment of mankind and this was their result."

"I've done some things that could be considered horrors when I was in the service, but I did them because I was soldier following orders. This however was something I couldn't let stand, so I did what I could and hid you from my employers. Sadly you were the only one I could save Co, your friends were found as planned and turned over to someone to be raised as outlined in the experiment."

I stopped the recording feeling shocked at what I was hearing, my friends were alive. The other avian hybrids that I grew up with in the School weren't dead. I don't know whether to be angry or happy, but I'm feeling both right now. On one hand everything I knew and believed up to now was essentially a lie, but on the other I'm not alone anymore my friends, who are like family to me, are alive somewhere. I started up the video again hoping to find out more about the others.

"The other children have been raised with the knowledge that you are dead, which worked out for them and the people running things. After the children were placed I disappeared with you and set up our home in the Rockies. Cobalt you must understand that I am truly sorry that I could not help your friends, but I raised you so that you could." Dad's tone changed to one I found familiar from when he would teach me something, the tone was stern and serious yet it always had a certain kindness to it.

"The projected life of this experiment was about eight years, in this time the scientists would learn the abilities of your friends so that they could perfect their data. However I have learned that they have finished the experiment and have put the children back into a controlled setting. Co your friends are back in captivity, but the tough part is that they have been separated and placed in different facilities."

Yet another shocker, there's more than one School just what the world needs more of.

"I've prepared dossiers on all the Schools that I believe the children are in because knowing how you are you would just rush in without thinking things through first."

That's not entirely true, I would think a little before rushing in.

"Co I just want you to know that I am sorry for deceiving you for so long. I did what I thought I had to do and I am not ashamed of it." Dad smiled on screen as if he could really see me. "You are the best thing that ever happened in this old man's life and I know that you will do the right things in life. I'm proud of you Co, goodbye."

The video ended and I just sat there, things were streaming through my head and I was trying to make sense of it. What Dad was involved in did upset me but was it really a betrayal? I don't think I'll ever get an answer to that because he was gone and not coming back. All I had now was the files and the knowledge that the others were alive and that alone is enough for me right now.