Maximum Ride: What If?

Okay, I've been getting a lot of feedback about people worried that Ghost is somehow going to singlehandedly turn this story into a Mary Sue. Rest easy, I'm deliberately, painstakingly making sure that this doesn't happen.

I'm going to give you guys a few spoilers here as proof that this is not a Mary Sue: He doesn't fall in love with anyone (romantically anyways), the only humor he has is the graveyard brand, which no one in the flock finds funny in the least. He's not near as smart as any of them (this is comparatively here. He's still way smarter than a human). He can't fly gracefully or quickly, and it is very hard for him to fly for long periods. His only abilities are is craftiness, muscle strength, and healing. He is not destined to save the world or any of that junk, and he is not some how going to solve every thing. He is not omnipotent, nor is he wise. Just because some 8-year-old decides to include him or her self in their story doesn't mean all OC's are the product of that line of thinking.

The spoilers you might have skipped above are over. I hope that everyone is satisfied that I'm trying my hardest to keep him a minor character but still relevant enough to explain the change to the storyline.

This story takes place in Maximum Ride, right after Angel collapsed on the treadmill at the lab and is being carried back. Max has just returned to Fang and Nudge after being patched up by Dr. Martinez.

NEW:

P.S. I know I should have posted this sooner- it's now at least a month old, but I'm A) Lazy, and B) I wanted to get 700 hits before I upgraded anything. I guess 697 hits is close enough to that goal, and I'll update chapter 2 at 700. I also did this because there's a huge drop-off after chapter one, so I'm assuming no one will really miss the old version, will they?

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Maximum Ride: The Beginning

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Angel pretended to be asleep as she was roughly carried like a sack of potatoes back to where she assumed her cage would be. She had regained consciousness as soon as this Eraser who had somehow still retained his ape-like appearance and demeanor, had picked her up off of the filthy floor. She'd been forced to run on that treadmill for hours, and every extremity ached with a dull pain. She wasn't meant to run, she was meant to fly. What sort of idiot wanted to see how far she could run if she could fly?

The Eraser paused for a moment. He seemed to be confused, and raised something in front of him with one arm before looking back up, then double-checking. He took a right instead of a left, Angel noted. They weren't heading back for her cage. Had the Eraser somehow gotten lost?

No, that was unlikely, because they stopped in front of a steel door a full minute later. It looked older, and smelled bad, but had the same room number as the one Angel had been in before. Angel remembered she was supposed to be unconscious and let her head fall back down against his shoulder. The Eraser froze again, read something out of the paper in his hand, looked at the door again. Angel took the opportunity to check her surroundings. The only security she saw was a single sleeping guard, well past its prime. The Eraser had apparently made up its mind before Angel could pay attention to much else. He opened the door quickly before throwing his cargo inside the pitch black room. The lights didn't turn on, and he made no motion to hit a light switch before slamming the door shut with a mumbled curse, bathing the whole room in total darkness.

Angel let herself collapse into the dark room like a rag doll, too tired to do much else. Her whole body was numb. 'Sadistic bastard' she thought to herself as she painfully pulled herself into a kneeling position and began massaging her sore leg muscles. They still felt like they were on fire. She waited for her eyes to adjust before she realized that everything pitch black, to the point that it was hopeless trying to adjust when there was absolutely no light to see with whatsoever.

Angel closed her eyes and began to focus on her other senses to get a feel for what was around her, thinking of how Iggy figured out his surroundings. Then she stiffened, gulping her air and holding her breath. She could hear someone else breathing. She wasn't alone.

Evidently, the room's other occupant had noticed the exact same thing she had. "Who's there?" it asked, beating her to the punch. The voice's owner was obviously male, fairly mature, meaning a good deal older than Angel, so she elected not to answer. She was more than a little scared. The voice sounded a tiny bit caught off guard, too, and so she wondered if opening the door had woken him up.

"I know you're in here, somewhere." What if they had they thrown her in with an eraser? Could she bluff and say she was one too? If she could, should she? Would it make things worse for her? The voice insisted. "I know you're here…you are still breathing," the voice said steadily. Angel held her breath in again, not realizing that she'd resumed breathing. A whole five seconds passed, which seemed to take an eternity. The voice began to speak again. "I know that you're in here. I woke up when I heard you hit the floor. And from what I heard, you need to work on your landings."

Angel couldn't help it. She giggled. "I knew there was someone in here!" The voice's owner said victoriously. Angel mentally berated herself for the slip. She'd forgotten what it was like here at the school. Life was all about not letting your guard down. If you let it down, you died, or gave the whitecoats what they wanted, which was just as bad, if not worse than dying.

"What's your name?" the voice asked, this time a little quieter. Of all the things that she'd been expecting to hear, that one had been pretty low on the list. She'd expected a bit more ranting, a bit more gloating about how oh-so-clever he was. Actual interest was…unexpected.

"Angel," she said after a pause.

"Nice." he commented to himself, just before he gave a short burst of unrestrained laughter. There was something about that laugh, something slightly not quite right. Angel tracked the boy's laugh to the corner on her right. "Now that is interesting." He sounded very amused over something she didn't understand.

"What's so funny?" she asked, turning towards where she assumed he was, a little angry at the stranger. She liked the name Angel.

"It's an irony. Two people with the names for departed souls meet," he said in one breath, previous mirth seemingly gone, along with the disconcerting laugh. "My name is Ghost."

Angel laughed. "I guess that is sort of funny. I'd hold out my hand for you to shake it, but I doubt you could find it. Still, it's nice to meet you." she joked back. She felt relieved that she had someone friendly to talk to, even if she couldn't see him. Things weren't so bad if she had someone to talk to. At least, that's what she kept telling herself.

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So ends my slightly shortened chapter one. Please review so I know what everyone thinks I need to change. I promise, the next chapters are all longer, so far up to 6,000 words.

The chapters will get longer. And probably much better. I've written this on an empty stomach, and this is really a first draft. It'll be revised and replaced with something a lot better when I get the time. (That'll be tomorrow. I just don't know when I'll get around to posting it).

I think I might make this a semi-crossover with another of James Patterson's novels, when the wind blows, and its sequel the lake house, both of which have a very similar plot (the main character is named 'Max' for starters).

I'm not sure where I got the idea for the name 'Ghost', but I think I got it from starcraft, which I played a long time ago as a little kid. I found the CD while I was trying to find a name, and the name sorta popped into my head.

PLEASE REVIEW!!!