WARNING!! MEANT FOR AFTER 5th MR BOOK. DO NOT READ IF NOT DONE WITH MAX.

Dr. Brigid Drywer was in deep trouble as she paced back and forth. Her red hair was pulled back in a ponytail, her glasses were perched up high on her nose, and she was nervously biting her lip. Before her was Mr. Chu waiting for an updated report on the notorious trouble making flock. But what could she say? They had flown off into the sunset with their stupid dog trailing behind and no one had heard from them in five days. That was the longest the flock had gone since the begining of their adventures against Itex. Mr. Chu and Dr. Drywer both knew that something was up but neither of them knew what. Brigid was worried, her job was suppose to watch them.

"Report," Mr. Chu demanded. The guy was old, maybe mid-forties or early fifties. Too short really that even Brigid stood over him. The older bird freaks would double over this guy they were so freaking tall. Mr. Chu glared at her from a center seat that was raised up on a ledge so that he could stare down at her. Since the last fatal disaster to his submarine, had turned towards the more comforting land base for their work. Brigid figured it was only a matter of time before the flock burst in through the glass stumbling in on them.

She could picture the leader now, with her hands on her hips and her wings flaring out, Oh, I'm sorry but if you're supposed to be hiding then you should make your evil lair a little less obivouis. Then she would turn her head to look at her flock with the brighest, triumphent grin as if she had saved the whole world. Brigid shook her head, stupid children.

Brigid stopped pacing, "We lost track of them sir but I'll be able to gain contact with them as soon as possible." She wished she could sound more positive but something really had gone wrong and she couldn't figure out what. She never did have the eldest on her side but the younger ones were always willing to talk to her and play simple games with her. The younger one did cheat her out of money during a game of poker but eventually she had even grown to like Brigid. The second oldest, the leader's right-hand-man, had even shown interest when she flirted with him. He especially trusted her and probably even liked her until the flock's undersea adventure.

Maximum Ride was a disgrace to science. She was a DNA human-avian fourteen year old and she was wasting her life trying to save a hopeless plant. Brigid admitted to herself that although Ride's intentions were good they always faltered. She didn't make sacrifices. She refused to let the little one die in the water. She goes around kissing Fang instead of focusing on her future. She let the two other boys build bombs. And then, she made the other girl Nudge, stay behind just because Nudge wanted to. She was no leader of the future that would save the world. In fact, Maximum Ride might as well be destroying it.

"What do you plan on doing?" Mr. Chu ordered, his face a deep red of fury. He was ready to kill her right then but Brigid was a scientist. She always calculated a second escape route. "What are you going to do to get Maximum Ride prisoner?" Brigid smiled at him which flabbergasted the man. He was not looking for smiles or pleasant conversations. He was just looking for the answer to his giant, bird kid problem.

"The dark one," she said using the term for Fang that the M-Geeks used. She refused to use their names in front of Mr. Chu. She had to prove that the flock was not important to her because they weren't. Even though she had witnessed their gifts and their kindness, the freaks were a different kind of pollution to the world. "Capture him, don't kill him. You thought Max was dangerous when you took her mother just see what happens when you take him. She won't be able to think rationally." Then, oddly enough, Mr. Chu smiled. "And don't worry, they'll be back any day. Their dog is getting married."

Mr. Chu's grin went wider in a little chuckle but the man made no sound. He coughed to erase his smile, "Plan forward. Take the M-Geeks, you'll need them." Brigid nodded her head. One thing she knew about the flock...Maximum Ride was a wreck without her second in command.

Chapter 1:

All right, I have to admit, having a pair of wings is pretty dang useful. I mean, if everyone had them, there would be no polluation from cars or airplanes or trains, etc. So, I would like to say that I, Maximum Ride, was indeed very "green" as you call it. We were busy just flying about, the flock and I. Eventually we would have to turn around and head back to Arizona where my mom, Dr. Martinez lived with my half-sister Ella. They had begged to be a part of Total's wedding which was coming up in a few days.

Right now we were coasting over the Rockies enjoying the view of the mountains. My mind was worrying about a list of things that as you probably know never go away...except for certain occasions.

Things I'm worrying about:

1) Mr. Chu and the M-Geeks, it's been five days since we last saw them and saved my mom

2) Brigid, I saw her discussing something with Mr. Chu and they seemed on close terms

3) Total's wedding, I mean I was the maid of honor and I had to wear a dress

4)Angel, the girl seemed less under my control as the days grew longer

5) Fang, I'll get to that part later

So of course, my flying is perfect and fine even though my mind is traveling elsewhere. I guess eventually flying is just a reflex that doesn't require much thought...like breathing. And if you are now joining the great and horrible story of my life than I guess you have now figured out that yes, I am a mutant with wings but I prefer the term Avian-American. If you would like to read more please read the previous installments. I'm done referring back to the past. I have a future to worry about after all.

Nudge was rambling on about the things she had learned. Iggy was listening mainly because he couldn't enjoy the sights around him. Gazzy and Angel were up front playing a game of wing tag. Total was still obsessing over his upcoming nuptials with the pure-bred love of his life Akila. Seems like a lot of that feeling was going around...I'll explain later. In fact, I was so focused on my thoughts that I hadn't checked on my flock. There were seven of us in all, including Total, but in front of me I only saw four bird kids and one bird dog. One of us was missing and believe me, that always scares me.

Now, adrenaline rushes pretty fast through my blood. I don't know why but I can instantly enter fighting mode in a blink of the eye. I searched first for any signs of M-Geeks, the lastest, updated series of robotic humanoid thingies that are pretty much the new failures sent out to kill us. I mean please, if we could handle Eraser, Flyboys, and sick o path Omega than why were silly little robots going to kill us off. Of course, they did have guns and as cool as our superpowers seem to be we are not Superman. We can not let bullets just bounce right off of us.

Surely, I was overreacting because the one person missing could take care of himself. I mean, Fang had always been the second best fighter of the flock next to yours truly. He had even gone off on his own and managed to protect Iggy and Gazzy at the same time. If anyone could get by without help, it would be Fang...even before me. But only because I needed to make sure the flock was okay all the time. I couldn't be alone without knowing their safety first. Not that Fang wasn't like that either but still, I'm the leader and it's my job to do the worrying.

Angel was now searching the skies too looking for Fang. The little girl with her cute blonde curles and big blue eyes was so darn cute but sometimes, I was worried about her. She had obviously read my mind when she caught on to my hysteria. We had just been under the sea for the longest time and no, we did not come across singing crabs and mermaids although Nudge and Angel would've loved that. Instead, we had found Gor and his family of mutant fish who were just like us since they too would be labeled freaks. So I'm thinking, come on, just one little break from all of this mess but I'm Maximum Ride and my life is not like you normal humans. If I go two hours without fighting, it's a pretty nice day. It's been five days since the M-Geeks and the submarine attacks so I'm pretty sure that everything is bound to go wrong. It's like Karma has been built over these past days and now, it's just spilling out all over us.

We aren't normal so obviously our lives aren't. Now we were all searching for Fang because it had been minutes since we had last seen him silently flying with the rest of us. To us, minutes is like hours. Our lives so far had only taken about nine months to go through which is a lot for us. I pushed lower to the ground among the crevices of the mountains searching maybe for a cave or opening where Fang could be. Not once did I spot an M-Geek which worried me. I stopped for a moment just flapping my wings turning in a circle to look around. Even with my raptor vision I couldn't find a sign of a battle. Not one rock was covered in robot guts. Adrenaline was pumping in more now.

I looked back up towards the sky only to see the rest of the flock was gone, Total included. Now, let me just say, my flock doesn't just disappear if something bad is going on. We fight first, always, and even when we're held captive, we fight some more. It was programmed into our blood I guess you can say. I mean, if you were 98% human and 2% bird your natural instincts to survive would easily kick in right? Exactly, so why was everything so quite.

I found my way to a familar part of the mountains. From where I flew I could see Lake Mead just silently undisturbed with the sun glinting off it. I couldn't just call out for them, it would give my position away to anyone who was hunting us. How had my flock gone down so fast? They had been there in the blink of an eye.

Then, my eyes caught it, the tiniest flicker of movement in the woods. Panicking I rushed toward it ready to kick some M-Geek or whoever it was butts. I pushed through branches, one even managed to cut my cheek. Then, I felt myself fall as my wings fumbled among the trees. Unable to control myself, I landed smack in the middle of an open area. I expected to hear some M-Geek pronounce my name wrong all over again. Instead all I heard was...