Authors Note: Wow I am shocked! An hour or so after I posted my first chapter, I was getting reviews! Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed/favorited me or my story! I really really really appreciate it! It means so much to me :) Well enough of my blabbing, on with the story! Disclaimer: Have you seen this plot anywhere in the MR series? No? Then I guess I don't own Max Ride

Twisted Hope

Chapter 2: It Must be a Mistake

Fang PoV

My eyes flickered open. It was still dark out, and the sun hadn't risen, far as I could tell. Everyone else was awake. Oops. Iggy was gazing out of his cage, watching for any whitecoats. Oh, right, it was his day to be tested on.

"Iggy, you'll be fine," Max reassured him.

She was always doing stuff like that, trying to be the bravest and everything. Maybe it was because she was the oldest, but she was almost like the unofficial leader of our little gang. Of course, we all consider each other family since we have the same mutations and stuff, but that doesn't mean that we can't die at any time. Plenty of experiments die daily, and we are no different. Max could die, then maybe me or Iggy would have to take her place, since we are the next oldest.

"Max, maybe we could follow Iggy, and stop him from getting hurt. The whitecoats don't let us out of our cages though, except for tests, or Jeb when he wants to talk to us and teach us stuff. Or we could ask the whitecoats nicely, although they seem really mean so they would probably ignore us. I hope Iggy isn't hurt too bad. I don't really know what cruel experiments are like since I haven't gone for anything too bad yet; the worse was when I had to run on that stupid treadmill for hours. It was so boring and I was getting tired. Maybe they are gonna make Iggy do that. I hope so, that doesn't seem too bad compared to some of the stuff you and Fang told me about."

Nudge took a short breath.

"Hey what color are Angel's wings she's so small I can't really tell, they look kinda white, but of course we are all so dirty we can't tell if white feathers are white, or actually brown, or maybe even grey. I know Fang's are black, that's kinda obvious, but Iggy's I can't tell, and I think mine are sorta light brown. Yours look like two different colors, Max. Our wings are so interesting, I wonder if we can fly on them. I want to, and I would fly so high, and maybe touch a cloud, they look so soft and fluffy. I wonder if we could all land on a cloud, and maybe sleep on it, or if it would taste like it looks. Clouds look like they would taste yummy, all white and puffy and good, hey I wonder if we could feel a cloud. They look white, but are they really? They could be grey, or tan, or pink, or-" Nudge babbled on and on.

I started to tune her out; it was so easy, especially when she seemed to jump from topic to topic without taking a breath. She always talked so much, it was sometimes annoying, but it always kept our minds off some of the darker topics.

"Nudge, please," Iggy moaned, clutching his head. Nudge stopped and giggled, embarrassed. "Sorry, Iggy," she apologized.

An Eraser stepped into the room. "Shut up, birdies," he growled. He marched over to Iggy's cage. Iggy froze and shrank back to the far corner.

The Eraser laughed and marched over to Nudge's cage. Nudge was mute for once, trembling silently. The Eraser grinned and raked his claws down the bars of her cage, creating an awful screech. Nudge winced but stayed silent.

The Eraser walked over and bent down near Gazzy and Angel's cage. He whipped out a pair of shiny new keys and unlocked the door, pulling out Angel. Gazzy began to cry. "Shut up, freak," he muttered, slamming the door.

Angel looked up at the Eraser and smiled. He snarled and poked her, but not enough to hurt her. She giggled and squirmed in the wolf man's arms. The Eraser grunted in annoyance and tugged at her new wings, making her whimper pitifully. The Eraser chuckled.

"Now that's more like it," he smirked, setting her back down in her cage. "You're way too happy, we're going to have to break your little heart soon enough. Or maybe we'll just make it so you know exactly what everyone feels about you. Then when everyone feels hateful toward you, I'll like to see you laughing then."

The Eraser spat scornfully and strutted out of the room, calling behind his shoulder, "Oh, and it is your testing day, freak, I'll be back in a minute to grab you." I gaped at him in shock. He was pointing at me, not Iggy! It was Iggy's testing day, not mine!

"Fang, why was he pointing at you? I thought it was Iggy's turn today?" Max gasped.

Iggy's eyes stretched wide, and he looked stunned. "I, maybe he meant me?" Iggy whispered. "How is it your turn?"

"I don't know. How would I know? I don't pick who goes and who doesn't," I snapped irritably.

Iggy looked put out. "Hey, sorry Iggs, I'm just… confused and worried, okay?" I apologized. I shrugged off Max's concerned stare and tuned out the Flock's comforting words. I wasn't in the mood.

A whitecoat slinked in the room. Her vivid red hair shone in the dim light, it was glossy and shiny. I gulped, it was my turn. An Eraser stepped in with the whitecoat, and the two headed towards my cage.

"Fang," Nudge whispered tearfully, she looked like she was about to cry.

I glared at the Eraser as he unlocked my cage. I would be brave for my family. The whitecoat glanced at me and signaled to the Eraser. He reached in and yanked my arm, pulling me out. I stumbled and landed on my knees. "Get up," the whitecoat demanded, kicking my leg. She was weak, it hardly hurt. I stood up anyway and walked from the room.

I turned around. My eyes fell upon my friends, the only family I had ever known. Baby Angel and Gazzy, watching me, not really understanding. Nudge, her eyes filled with fear and concern. Iggy, his sky blue eyes filled with sorrow. "It should have been me," he silently communicated. And finally, Max, her eyes filled with pain and understanding. "You'll be okay," she murmured.

I nodded briefly to all of them, before turning back around and leaving the room. "This one," the whitecoat ordered, pointing towards a large operating room down the hall. Surprise, just like everything else, it was mostly white.

I was shoved and then strapped down to a cold metal table. Another whitecoat with slicked back brown hair, cold grey eyes and a large round nose approached me.

"Young man today is an important day for you," he began. I rolled my eyes. Just get to the suffering already. "You are undergoing an important test, because we are improving your night vision, so your vision will be better then ordinary raptor vision."

I gasped. They were going to test on my eyes?

"You are the first of many to undergo such an important experiment, and your data, whether failed or a success will help many in the future."

Oh, great. So now not only were my eyes to be tested on, but it might fail now? And I was to be the first?

"Fortunate for you, we were going to test it on the pale one, but we figured your eyesight would benefit more from this experiment and that you will have more of a success. Now, we need you to relax, and it will be over soon."

So Iggy really was supposed to be tested on. Figures it would be me instead. But they actually thought I would go voluntarily? Fat chance.

"Shut up," I hissed, struggling on my restraints. "Can't you just get to the torture already? And this has to be some mistake, usually you jerks go in order, I was already tested on this week!"

Red hair laughed at me. "This isn't a test, this is an operation. And since you plan to fight, we will fight just the same," she sneered.

She reached behind me and yanked my wings out, so they were spread out instead of tucked in. My restraints tightened and a creepy machine reached for my face. It grabbed my eyelids and forced them open, so now I couldn't blink. My eyes began to water and tears spilled down, streaking my cheeks.

"Okay, insert the needles," a voice behind me demanded. I felt needles prick the skin on my right hand. Tears blurred my vision.

I struggled to remember the faces of the Flock. I would imprint them into my brain. I refuse to let the last thing I see before this is over to be that ugly whitecoat. Max. Iggy. Nudge. Gazzy. Angel. Max. Iggy. Nudge. Gazzy. Angel.

I froze suddenly, their faces melting out of my head. A surgical blade was heading towards my eye. No. No. No. "Get away," I screeched.

The blade touched my eye. Pain exploded. My eyesight faded. All I felt was the burning in my right eye. That blade was slicing it now, and I felt something warm trickle down my face. Tears? Or blood? I writhed on the table, screaming violently.

I dimly heard concerned voices mumble in the background. More pain burst, this time seemingly from the back of my skull. I shrieked again, begging and pleading. My eyes were stinging, and everything was black.

I felt liquid and something cold on my hand. Ice? It didn't hurt as much as my eyes. The icy feeling spread up my arms and through my entire body. It turned warm, hot now. It was relaxing. Somewhere deep in my subconscious I knew I was being drugged. My body stopped thrashing and I felt my mind begin to lighten.

Images swirled through my head, and I felt blissful. My eyes weren't stinging, and I was floating, unaware of anything, not caring. I was flying on my own private cloud. Suddenly, I stooped thinking any kind of thoughts, and I was lost in a veil of darkness, silence buzzing in my ears. One fuzzy thought echoed through my brain before I was gone completely. "I bet Max will love me now that I have super vision."