A/N: Okay, here's the first real chapter. Hope you like it. I don't mind flames, since they'll help me fix my story. Oh, and that pun was unintentional. (Points for you if you get it.)
Disclaimer: I don't own anything that has to do with Maximum Ride, but I do my own group of experiments and the Thrashers.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. The clock above my head kept its rhythm slowly as the cat tail that served as a pendulum swung back and forth. I snapped my bedside light on, basking the room in a soft, golden glow. My bed looked like I had just finished a war with my blankets, which, for all I know, could be true. Comics, clothes, and toys were scattered on the floor and on my desk, dresser, and rolling chair. My computer screen was glowing, which was my kind-of night light. Groggily, I stood and got dressed, glancing at my cat clock in the process. 7:00 am. It was almost time for my training.
After getting dressed, I left my room and went right into the living room. On the front of my bedroom door, which I closed behind me to hide the disaster zone, was my nickname: Flame. Beneath that, in parenthesis, was written Noah, my real name. The living room was large, and also kind of messy, but not as much so as my room. There were small things scattered here and there on the couch, coffee table, and chair. There was a stack of DVDs on top of the TV. Two more rooms led from this one - the kitchen and the bathroom. Both were shrouded in darkness and the doors were shut.
There was a knock on the door. I didn't bother to go and open it, since everyone that visited me invited themselves in anyway. Just as I suspected, my seventeen-year-old brother Eric entered. Eric was two years older than me and had a wild look in his eyes all the time. "'Morning, Noah. Ready for combat training?" Eric asked, leaning against the door frame.
"Yup. Completely ready," I said with what most people would call an evil smile, but what I thought of was a normal smile. I followed him out of the door, which we naturally closed behind us. I found myself in a brilliant white hallway. The rest of the lab was white - I thought they needed a painter to come in and color the place eventually. Oh, yeah, you probably have a few questions, right? Like, why is a fifteen-year-old living in his own home, which is in a lab? Let me explain.
See, for the first three years of my life, I lived like a normal little boy. I had a mother, a father, and my older brother Eric. When I was three I lost my mother, and when I was four my father suggested bringing Eric and me to work with him. He was a scientist in a lab in Wyoming, where we lived. When we got there, Eric and I both got shots for some reason. Dad explained what he had done it for right after. He had injected animal DNA into our systems.
Eric had gotten wolf DNA, and I had gotten bear. Both of us had kind of the same power with our DNA. Eric could turn into something like a werewolf, called an Eraser. Erasers were big, mean wolf guys that chased after escaped experiments, that the whitecoats, or scientists, created tons of each year. I could turn into a werebear, for lack of a better work. My group - there were more werebears than me - were called Thrashers, a new breed of Erasers. Both Eric and I had willingly started working for Dad, and we both pretty much had the same jobs. Patroling, searching for new experimental victims, and going after those that escape. The combat training I did every morning helped a bit.
The maze of hallways could get very confusing if you didn't know where to go. All were white and there were numerous twists and turns in it. "Have fun, bud," Eric said, leaving after about five minutes and going left down one hallway to start his patrol while I went right, the direction of the indoor arena. Most of the time it was too cold outdoors, since we were in the mountains, for us to do combat outside, so there was a built-in arena.
Halfway there, after Eric had left, I heard shouting up ahead and cursing. Turning yet another corner, I saw a girl a few years younger than myself struggling against two fully morphed Erasers. They looked kind of like walking dogs, but the girl looked pretty conspicuous, too. Her whole body was covered in fur, and she lacked human hair. She had cat ears protruding from the top of her head and a tail from her rear. She also had whiskers growing from her cheeks, and claws from her fingers and toes. They reminded me of the claws I sprouted when I turned Thrasher.
"Where's Python?!" she was shouting at a whitecoat, who didn't seem to hear her. She was struggling to break the hold of the Erasers and I smirked. She didn't stand a chance, and it was quite humorous to watch. "Where the hell is my brother? What did you do with him?"
"Take her back to her room," the whitecoat said like he didn't have a cat hybrid yelling at his face. The Erasers led her down the hall towards me. As she caught sight of me, she glared. She knew what I was - it was obvious. All other experiments here had escorts, like her, when they left their cages. I was wandering around freely...and the two fangs kind of gave it away, too. "Oh, good morning, Noah. Maybe you could try and get experiment 104231 to be quiet about her brother after your training?" the whitecoat asked, motioning towards where the girl had just been dragged away.
"Yessir. I'll get right on that after combat," I promised, giving a salute. I listened to the whitecoats - they were my bosses. Anyway, they wouldn't be too happy if I didn't listen, since I worked for them. But I didn't have any intention of disobeying - I liked my job.
Again, I made my way down the hall, still thinking about the cat girl. She was interesting - and if she was, what was her brother like? I know for a fact that boys are way more interesting that girls - which I why I normally ignore the female versions of Erasers, Thrashers, or just random experiments.
The hallway finally ended at another white door which I pushed open. On the other side was a very small room. Across the room was another door, and there was a viewing window to the left big enough for two people. There was a metal staircase to the left that led to a ledge above. There was a giant viewing window there, where whitecoats could see into the arena. On both floors there was countless electronic equipment designed for testing different things that I didn't know about. I didn't have to.
A man in his early fourties was standing in front of the small viewing window, scribbling some notes onto a clipboard. His hair had some grey strands to it and like every other whitecoat, he wore a long, uh, white coat. Hearing the door slam behind me, he turned and then smiled. "Noah, I was starting to think you weren't coming," he said.
"Sorry, Dad. Got held up in the hallway. Another experiment, number 104231, was causing a commotion. It was sorted out," I said simply, shrugging. Dad nodded and seemed to have brightened even more at the girl's serial number. "She was yelling something about her brother." Dad nodded again.
"Yes, I assume she would be," he said vaguely. "Now, are you ready to start? Your opponent has just been led in, I just have to do a few more things before you start. I'll tell you when." I nodded and went through the other door.
On the other side was a giant, round room. Built into the walls were small rooms, like little pens, where my opponents would be put before the fight started. They were normally left there to get frightened for a little while, and then would be sent out minutes later. After Dad had gotten some information from them, like serial number, powers, DNA, etc.
"Okay, Noah. Your first fight is against two experiments - number 104232 and 104472," Dad said over an intercom unit wired into the room. If I was the two unlucky experiments, I'd be frightened. "Get ready." I started my morph. Fur sprouted from my skin, more fangs filled my mouth and my original two grew longer. My fingernails grew out and to sharp points for claws. At the end, I looked like a demented bear, also walking on all fours. A cruddy side-effect. "GO!" Dad shouted. Two of the gates that led to the pens opened.
From one of them jumped a small eight-year-old girl who looked oddly determined, as if she was going to beat me up. She looked almost normal, except for a random feather in her hair and talons for feet. From the other pen came a twelve-year-old boy, the exact same age as the cat girl. I assumed that this was her brother. He looked as conspicuous as his sister. His body was covered in green scales, he lacked a nose - there were two nostrils on his face that were slits instead. His eyes were yellow with slits for pupils and he had a flicking tongue. He looked nervous, but also pretty determined.
The bird girl struck first, running right at me. I swatted her away but she just got right back up. I sighed and stood on my hind legs and roared like a bear. The snake boy looked like he was about to run into the pen, and would have if the gate hadn't closed back up after him. The girl looked unmoved. I lunged at her first. Grey wings sprouted from her back and she managed to launch into the air, so I turned to my other target. Snake boy looked terrified now that I was moving towards him.
Suddenly, his look turned smug, and I could tell something was up. I tried to stop, but before I could I ran into some invisible wall separating me from the boy. I growled. Time for extreme measures.
Normally, I didn't have to use fire against my opponents - especially not an eight-year-old or anyone younger than ten. I turned back into myself - I was still bigger and stronger than both of the kids at least. With a snap of my fingers, though, fire sprouted up from my palm out of no where. The girl paled. I drew my arm back like a pitcher and let it go. The girl was too slow and the fire hit her wing - she shouted out in pain, hitting the ground hard. I turned away from her - she wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon and I didn't want to knock her out yet. I turned back to snake boy.
The boy still looked confident in his force field - I guess he didn't expect it to melt like plastic when hit by fire. He went to a different tactic instead. Direct fighting. Before I knew exactly what was going on, he had launched at me with a eerie snake-like hiss, his momentum making me fall. He tried to bite me with his poisonous fangs, but I pushed him off of me before he could. In second I was werebear again.
Snake boy glared and went at me again, his fangs this time going into my leg. Stupid slow reflexes! I roared out in pain and swatted at him. If I wanted to, I could have knocked his head so that his neck broke instantly, but I liked to play with my food. I managed to leave four long scratch marks in his scales and give him an absolute concussion. Now back to the girl. I limped over to her, my back right leg dead already from the poison that was spreading slowly through me. Now to finish this, so that I didn't die from poisoning before I got the chance.
I limped up to the girl and hit her head hard enough for her to get knocked out. She also had a burnt wing, with half the feathers missing, a broken leg, and four scratches on the side of her face. "Now your turn," I said, my breath now coming in short pants as the edges of my vision started to blacken. The boy looked up at me worriedly and I knocked him out with one hit. Just as I did, the darkness took over my vision and I fell to the ground as well, turning back into myself at the same time. The last thing I remember was someone running in to take the knocked-out experiments back to their cages and then strong arms picking me up to bring me to a hospital room for a poison cure before I died.
A/N: Okay, please review. I would like to know what you think of this so far. You'll meet Tally and Taw (better) later, so just be patient. I'll update soon. I had to work on this chapter again - it had a lot of typos. Stupid things.