Ta-da! Here is the first, brand new chapter of the sequel to "The Missing Piece"! You new people, if you didn't read it, it's ok, because all will be explained, but if you want more detail, you should check it out sometime! Anyways, I can promise to update at least once a week. School's been a nightmare.
Disclaimer: Ok, I don't own the Maximum Ride series. At all. I just own the OC's.
Chapter 1: one year later…
Max POV
I was flying, flying through the bright blue sky, with the wind in my face and the sun on my back. I was thousands of feet above ground and freer than a bird. Ha, the irony.
No, I'm not dreaming, me flying through the sky is very, very real. All too real, sometimes. My fourteen foot wingspan spread through the clouds as I glided. Flying is amazing, but not as much fun if you're alone.
Thank God that I'm not the only human-Avian hybrid on earth; otherwise I would've died a long time ago.
True, there aren't many flying kids in existence, but I happen to know a few of them, and am glad to call them my family.
Over the span of a year, my family, or Flock, has grown considerably. There's Courage, Gazzy's almost-girlfriend. Courage and Gazzy were two ten year olds who had a strange relationship. They act like two best friends, but I'm not stupid and can see that they will be more than friends in time.
Then there's Talon, who is Nudge's boyfriend. These two started dating about a month after he joined the Flock. Talon has light brown hair, with green eyes. Oh, and he has a British accent, since he's the world's first British bird kid. So far, He's proved that he's not a traitor, but with my screwed up life, I can never know.
Finally, there's Ella, my half-sister. Ella and I share the same mom, but that was the end of the similarities. Well, until a year ago, when she was attacked by an evil scientist named Brigid and given wings like the rest of us.
I don't even know how that's possible, because us normal mutants, (Ha, you get it? 'Normal' and 'Mutant' are two opposites! Oh, never mind.) have to be fused with Avian DNA before birth. Things get stranger and stranger in my life, but it's really a miracle that Ella survived, because those demented whitecoats hardly know what they're doing.
Anyways, Ella is dating Iggy. Nudge used to like Iggy, but ever since Ella and Iggy got together and Talon came along, it seems that the only relationship between Nudge and Iggy is of the brotherly sisterly sort.
So it seems that everyone has a so called, 'perfect-match' in the Flock, except for the youngest, Angel.
Angel, who used to be my baby, my sweet, innocent little six year old, is now a power hungry, solitary, and just plain creepy eight year old. Her blue eyes used to be light, and full of happiness, well, when they weren't full of fear. Now they are as cold and dark as an operating table at the School.
I shivered at the memory of the cold steel table where I was strapped to so many times in my early childhood. Goosebumps rose to my skin at the thought of that horrible place.
Then, all of those thoughts melted away as a warm, strong hand took hold of my hand.
Fang was silent, dark, and appeared out of nowhere. Literally, now. He just loves to use his new power of completely disappearing. He used to just fade into the background, but now, there's one second and he's gone.
I look up above me to see him flying silently, his emotionless, onyx irises boring into mine.
My heart involuntarily fluttered as I gazed at that face that I loved so much.
Yes, I Maximum Ride, am in love. Hard to believe that miss un-girly herself fell in love. Well, yeah, if you want some of the details to prove it, then read 'The Missing Piece'.
Fang wasn't big on talking, or emotions, but it was kind of redundant anyways. He knew me and I knew him like I knew myself, and sometimes it was like we could almost read the other person's mind.
He and I flew and watched the other members of the Flock enjoy their freedom.
Gazzy was teaching Courage a complicated, triple loop-de-loop corkscrew in the air and Courage attempted it. However, she faltered in a wing beat and began to plummet.
Me, being the wonderful caring leader that I am, wasn't worried and watched with mild interest. I already knew what was going to happen next. I was right.
Gazzy tucked his wings in and dived after her. He was a shooting blur, and then caught her by the hands, helping her regain her balance and wing beats again. As usual, he held her hands a little bit longer than necessary. Her long black hair whipped around in the wind of the high altitude and her green eyes shimmered with silent thanks.
She then rapidly pulled her hands away as if he shocked her. Gazzy smiled timidly, and then Courage bumped him with one of her honey and cream colored wings and smiled back. Gazzy bumped her back with his gray and white wings and they flew off in a game of aerial tag, their moment together forgotten, for the moment anyways.
"It looks like we have another mutant pair on our hands." Fang said in a low voice. I didn't really like the thought of the Gasman growing up and getting a girlfriend. I remembered him as a tiny, tough little toddler. He can't go growing up and falling in love.
"They grow up fast." I agreed, not letting my voice crack. I definitely considered the Flock my own kids, and seeing them growing up was hard. Not to mention that I felt really old, like middle age. I was only sixteen and felt like someone in their mid to late forties. That was just another example of how messed up the life of a bird kid was.
I mean, I noticed changes in all of us over the past year. Iggy was a whopping six feet and four inches at sixteen years old. His strawberry blond hair was getting shaggier and his blue eyes were no longer clouded over. He could see. His sight was just a by-product of expiring and being re-booted. Again, if you want all of the heartfelt details, please read 'The Missing Piece'. He was flying below Ella's wings, which had a hundred shades of brown, and were speckled with white. They were having a nonchalant conversation.
Nudge was chatting away to Talon who was listening to her every word, and commenting every now and again.
Angel, however, was the only one without company. She trailed behind the group, alone, scowling slightly like she usually did.
I sighed, because I really felt bad for her.
I mean, Angel was all alone. She could read minds and could feel how happy everybody was. She knew that three was a crowd and everyone was already paired up. Even Total, her dog, was married to Akilla and living with my mom in Arizona. Heck, he was busy with his latest litter of puppies.
My mom had sent us pictures of Total and Akilla's puppies and even I admit, they were kind of cute. My mom said that the puppies had yet to start talking, and I was hoping that the only words that those puppies ever speak were in doganeese, because one talking dog was more than enough.
I sighed and tried not to look homesick, if that's even possible, since I've never been in one place longer than a month, well, besides the School and when Fang, Iggy, Gazzy, Nudge, Angel and I lived in a secluded house in the mountains with Jeb. That is, until he stabbed us in the back by returning to the cesspool of evil known as the School.
Anyways, I haven't seen my mom in a year. My awesome mom, who I had just found and I couldn't see her. All because of that stupid DVD that Jeb gave me the day that Fang and I broke out of the School. For the last time, if you want details, please read 'The Missing Piece'!
On that DVD, were things that made me see the world completely different, and made the School look more evil, heartless and just plain sick and twisted. They couldn't control my destiny like that. Not anymore. I made my own decisions and won't jump through hoops just to satisfy their disgusting 'scientific' desires.
Ok, I don't think that I've ever told you what was on that DVD. Well, here it goes.
*Flashback*
As soon as the Flock and I got home, the kids went to eat. Hey, we're bird kids; we eat a lot, so get used to it. Fang and I, however, snuck off into my mom's home office and to the desk where Fang's old, untraceable laptop was charging. We popped the DVD into the slot, and watched the screen.
Jeb's face popped onto the screen.
"First of all, Maximum, err, Max, I just want to apologize. I've always believed that by being with the School, I was helping you. But now that I've discovered their new plans, I know that they have no good intentions. After I saw the pleasure that they took in your emotional pain, I knew that I had to put an end to it. First, I will tell you their plan. After that, there are some video clips that I'd like you to see."
Jeb smiled unexpectedly.
"I'm sure that you will appreciate them. The Director intends to test the reproductive capabilities of a recombinant DNA experiment. Particularly, a human-Avian hybrid." Jeb grimaced.
I felt my stomach churn. I really felt sick, like I was going to barf. The whitecoats wanted me to have a freaking baby! At the time, I was only fifteen! I wasn't prepared to have a baby! I wouldn't! That is just so sickeningly too far for words.
Jeb's voice continued, this time faster and more urgent, as if he was running out of time.
"Maximum, this is the climax of the whitecoats plans that they've hidden from me for years. They want to see if you can save the world, yes but they don't know if you would survive the process. So they also want to see if a child of yours is also capable of saving the world. You would also be the first recombinant experiment to reproduce, and they find that very intriguing." Jeb continued.
Those sick twisted…I couldn't even think strait. I was shaking with anger. Suddenly, Fang put his arm around me, comforting me. I pulled him closer, but not without peeking over to see his reaction to this… monstrosity.
His face was pale, and his lips were tight with anger. His eyes were noticeably colder.
He and I were snugly together. We continued watching this horror movie.
"I find this repulsive. Yes, Max I've pushed you hard. I've made you do things that you didn't want to do. This, however is extremely too far and unnecessary. What I made you do was for your own good, but this is just for their curiosity and would be devastating to the Flock and you." Again, Jeb allowed a tight smile.
"I understand, you and Fang will eventually want children, but not now. The Flock isn't ready, the world still needs saving, and you aren't ready. You are simply too young and I, unlike the Director, believe that you are a person, a person who matters, and that is why you are so great. I know that this is surprising, but you Max, were not only created to save the world, but to be the mother of a new species. Fang, you may believe that you aren't important, not created for a greater purpose and it is just by chance that you and Max have formed a relationship. But that was planned all along. You, Fang, were designed to be the father of a new species, a new generation of Avian-humans." Jeb said.
At this point, my jaw was at the floor and I heard Fang swallow. This was a lot to take in. We'd always believed that the whitecoats had never cared if got together.
We thought that love was not intended. But now knowing that I was created, that I was designed to have children? I thought that I had a greater purpose to be something other than a housewife. What the whitecoats had planned for me was worse than that, they wanted me to be like a freaking show-dog, to breed and give all my offspring 'purebred' genes!
"Max the rest of the Flock was given a…mate as well. The Director has the same thing planned for them as they do for you, but you are of greater importance. If you wish to escape this fate, run. I know that I've always trained you to fight, but you have to run Max .Leave and never return to the same place. Destroy Schools and the branches of Itex, because only then will you be safe. Don't underestimate the Director; she has horrible, but effective ways to get what she wants." Jeb said at last.
"One more thing, beware of Angel." Jeb finished, and then the screen went dark. There wasn't another segment like Jeb said that there was going to be. Maybe he forgot, or that it just wasn't working. Never mind that, Max stared at Fang with a sad, but determined expression.
Jeb didn't appear to be lying; he risked his life as it was just to give Max the disk, so why would he lie about it? No, this was the School's real plans, and they had to run. If they were going to save the flock's freedom then we would once again, become fugitives.
*end Flashback*
Yep, after a year, we are still on the run. We've cleared out Schools and Itex branches in the rest of Europe, Russia, China, and the rest of Asia. Sorry, I'm horrible at Geography.
We were still together, we were still free.
If only I knew how short lived or freedom really was.
Yeah, so that's the first chapter. Please, please review! Please, Please! I'm here begging you to review! Any questions or comments are greatly appreciated! I worked hard on this, and hope that you enjoy it! Sorry for the tardiness.