I woke up to somebody shaking my arm. "Michael" They uttered my name almost un-audible. Don't be seen, don't be heard—the golden rule of the lab. "C'mon, wake up" It was Lucifer. We shared a cell together only because he insisted. Lucifer was the favorite here, and for some reason, he always seemed to get what he wanted, within reason. The scientists favored Lucifer's genetics; he was the easiest to modify.

I blinked the sleep out of my eyes, turning over to face the blonde teen. He was fourteen, though it would only be a couple months before he graduated to the next year. "Luce" It was hard to speak; my mouth felt sticky and my throat was raw from screaming. He gave me a sad smile. I hated when he pitied me, sympathized me, call it what you want—I hated it. I was supposed to be the strong one and I surely didn't need anybody's—especially not Lucifer's—sympathy.

"You look terrible. What did they do to you?" He whispered again, pushing a strand of hair behind my ear. It was an endearing gesture; I shouldn't have pushed his hand away.

I shuddered. "I... Alistair" My voice was hoarse and I could barely speak, but the message was clear. Lucifer made an "O" shape with his mouth as he turned his head for a fleeting moment. He put his hand on my shoulder, rubbing it gently with his thumb.

"You're okay now. I've got you, you hear that?" He murmured in my ear. "Nobody can pull us apart; I don't care how many stupid tests they run on us, we're together." I envied his strength. He was superior to me in every way. His power, his intellect, his way of playing words all put me to shame. I would always wonder why he stuck around me; it never dawned on me that I was his support. I was a big brother to him, his leader in a way.

"Yeah, okay" I croaked. I hated the sound of my voice. It only proved how weak I was. Lucifer wouldn't have screamed, but then again, they always used anesthetics on him. They wouldn't want their prized mutant feeling any discomfort. We sat there for a long time in each other's arms before any of us uttered another word.

"Any news of Cas or Sammy?" Lucifer asked, pulling away from the embrace. Castiel and Samandriel were the youngest, at twelve, and all of us felt it was our responsibility to protect them. They were very much the baby brothers of the freaky-mutant-angel family.

I shook my head. "No, but Gabriel should be watching them. God I hope they're okay" I couldn't put my finger on the last time I had spoken to Gabriel…or Raphael, or Anna, or Samandriel, or Castiel, but I knew it was no less than a week. They mostly kept us separate unless they wanted to take notes on our 'interactions'. We couldn't make much of an escape plan then because of the cameras and Scientists with clipboards. I was glad that the mostly left the youngest alone, though. The monsters at least recognized they were far too young to have all of that bad shit happen to them. I thought about that and realized that they'd never gone easy on me, but then again, I was the first successful hybrid. You'd think that would have gotten me on the favorites list, but it didn't. My DNA was hard to control, hard to change. Sure I had a big pair of wings, but I didn't have abilities like the others.

"They should be fine. I overheard that the government was coming the check this place out soon. They're going to have to hide us if they want to stay running." Lucifer always knew what was going on. Azazel seemed to drag the teen around by a leash.

"So, we're going back in the crates?" I shuddered, but at least my voice was coming back.

"I didn't say that. They'll just likely move us to another facility"

"Oh Joy" He said sarcastically. I stretched out my wings. It wasn't the same color as my hair like most of the other subjects; it was a goldish colored wing with brown and red speckles. They resembled a hawk's wing, maybe because they hadn't gotten as good with their genetic engineering, maybe because they didn't want to bother making them pretty due to the fact that they didn't know if I would work. Oh, Lucifer's wings didn't match his hair either. His were pure white, almost blinding. Well, they would be if they let us bathe here. That was a three times a month—if—occurrence. I looked forward to it just so I could see those beautiful wings.

There was shouting from the hall outside. Both of us tensed, staring at the door in silence. There were loud booming noises, which I soon realized were gun shots. I shared a worried glance with Lucifer. What was going on? He stood up from his metal-slab-called-bed and worked his way to the door, pressing an ear against it. "What do you hear?" I yell-whispered a demand.

He put a finger up to his mouth. I watched in silence as his face contorted it's self into a mixture of emotion, fear, anticipation, anxiety, and most of all courage. Something was going on out there. We were being rescued! At least I hoped. Lucifer stepped away from the door and sat back down on our bed. "What is it?" I demanded.

"Calm down Mika" He looked at the door warily. "We're getting out of here if they win."

"If who win?!" I hated sounding so much like a child, but I had to know.

"I don't know. They're just coming." He subconsciously put his hand over mine. Our wings brushed up against each other.

"Well, what did they say?" I frowned, not liking how little information I was getting.

"A lot of orders. Uhm," He thought "They said their looking for subjects thirty to thirty-seven. Which you know are us." Twenty-nine children dead or terribly deformed before they could make me. He gave me a smile, but I could tell he was just as nervous as I was. Who knew about us and what did they want with us?

"That's good, isn't it?" My voice held little confidence, the phrase wrung out to carry on the conversation. Then there was silence. I squirmed uncomfortably. Before, the hall resounded with battle, with yells, now it was silent. Had they failed? Were they dead now?

The door to our cell opened. She was a fairly tall woman with short red hair. She was in a blue cotton suit with the button up shirt, tie, everything. "You must be the Angel Project." She gave us a warm smile, but her eyes held business. "Where are my manners? I haven't properly introduced myself. My name is Naomi." She held out a hand but nobody took it.

"You're here to rescue us?" I asked, my posture reaching its fullest. I do that when I'm nervous. I'm always trying to make myself seem tough.

"Oh, but of course. I heard how they were treating you and I just couldn't let that happen." Her sympathy sounded scripted, her face forming something that was supposed to seem sincere. I would have believed it if it wasn't for her rock cold eyes. I shared another glance with Lucifer. We understood each other's thoughts. We would let her take us out, then first chance we got we would fly off like there was no tomorrow.

"The others?" Lucifer asked, standing up, our hands still interlocked. I squeezed his hand to give him confidence.

"They should be fine" She said simply, waiting for me to stand up. I did. "I sent others to retrieve them." She stepped out of our holding cell with the two of us following. "We have to make this quick, they're going to send reinforcements."

Reinforcements, great. This wasn't going to be a walk in the park, but had I expected it to be? We kept up with her as we guessed our way around the labyrinth of the Lab. The structure was called 'Research Lab of Aerobiology and Somatology', which didn't sound as evil as it truly was. In all honesty, most of the people here didn't know what was truly going on. It was just in the 'super-secret underground section' that the experiments were constructed. Anxiety started to build up as I stepped in the elevator. I had the same trapped feeling as I did in the crates. My breath quickened. I didn't know it would feel so great to leave the cursed box.

As we entered upon the first and ground floor of the structure, I felt the eyes of young and old scientists bore into my wings. I looked at the floor. Then my eyes darted to a window; reality washed over me. I hadn't left the lab in, well, forever. My breathing became hard as if I was sucking in sand. What would it be like out there? What would fresh air feel like to my lunges? Was it a harsh world? It was now Lucifer's turn to squeeze my hand. "You boys ready?" Asked the one called Naomi. I nodded.

We stepped out into the sunlight and I laughed maybe a bit hysterically. You can't blame me. This was the first time I'd been out. The first time I'd seen sunlight. I breathed in the air and spread out my wings, feeling the warmth on my feathers. Lucifer did the same. I wouldn't have cared if I died that very moment. I would have been happy.

"We're wasting time." Naomi reminded us, walking over to a helicopter. We couldn't flee yet, not until we regrouped with the others. I didn't see them out yet.

"Where are the others?" I asked, looking around. Maybe I just didn't see them. They had to be out here.

"Don't worry about that." She almost snapped, walking rather fast to the chopper.

"We're not going anywhere unless we know they're safe." Lucifer seemed to have planted his feet into the ground, crossing his arms. I stood by his side. Would a 'yeah' not fit the mood? I decided not to say anything.

"They're fine, I promise you" She sounded uncertain, as if this wasn't part of the plan.

"Can you prove it?" Lucifer wasn't about to leave any family. He was very much the leader, of course behind me. He loved them all like brothers, as we all did. He would especially not leave Gabriel. They were both fourteen and had birthdays in the month of May, so we joked they were twins. They acted like it; they even had the twin bond thing going.

"Don't make me force you into this chopper." She warned, losing patients. Something told me she only intended to take the two of us—the first two successes.

"Don't make me shove your ass into one of the holding cells." He threatened, fists clenching. "I can assure you I am much, much, more powerful than you, so I would suggest you get the others as well."

She swallowed, fists clenching and unclenching. Her dignity was obviously being stepped on. "Very well." She finally said. "Rob, go retrieve the others." One of the men by the chopper walked to the building. "John, go on with him." Another rushed to his side. Lucifer and I watched as the two men disappeared into the building.

About twenty minutes later the men came back with a very angry looking Raphael, a waking up Samandriel, a suspicious Anna, and a confused Cas, but when wasn't he confused? I smiled widely, running over to meet them. Lucifer did the same. "Hey guys." I laughed happily, glad to see them alright.

"Michael?" Raphael's one word had so much meaning. What the hell is going on? She had little room for humor, as she always was down to business. Her dark hair fell onto her shoulders, her blue wings—Yes, her wings were the exception too— folded behind her. She was the only one not enjoying the sun to its fullest.

"We're gunna fly, we're gunna be free" Lucifer said quietly to the others, so that Naomi couldn't hear. "Wait for the que" The others nodded as they eyed the red-headed woman. She gave us all a cold stare.

"Are you willing to cooperate now that we have your friends?" She asked us, tapping a foot with her arms crossed. She didn't seem much better than Alistair right now, and that was saying a lot.

"About that." Said Lucifer, pacing back in forth. He was the barrier between the six other mutants and Naomi.

"What is it?" She sighed, looking at her watch.

"One!" Lucifer shouted running and lifting off. It was our little joke. Never was there a three-two-one, but always just one. It was less suspicious and pissed OCD Raphael off. The rest of us followed suit, though I was the last one off. Being the leader, I wasn't always the front man. I had to make sure the rest of the flock got out safely. I heard a boom! as a gun was fired. It would have got my wing and shoulder if I hadn't moved out of the way fast enough. Luckily for me, we were all fast flyers, except for Gabriel.

Gabriel had three pairs of wings, as something went wrong in the lab when the 'grew' him. He was always a clumsy flyer, never being able to control the mess on his back. Raphael offered to cut them off with a creepy no sympathy, but sadly to her, we all refused. I flew next to said little brother, helping him regain balance. "Are you going to be okay?" I asked him. We were probably about a mile away from the chopper by now, they would likely look for us.

"Fine." Gabriel muttered, hating anybody telling him he couldn't do anything. He was determined in that heart of his that he could do everything ten times better than the world, and I'm sure he could if he put enough time into it. He was just that way.

"Hey, Luce!" I called over to the second-in-command.

"Yeah Michael?" He answered, not bothering to turn around to face me.

"You take the rest up to…" I looked around. "That mountain over there." I pointed to the peak of a snow crested mountain. The fresh air felt so good, flying not in a simulator even better. The view was amazing. "I'll stick with Gabriel and meet you guys up there."

"Sounds good to me." Said Lucifer as he increased his speeds faster than any bird, maybe any plane. The others followed. Gabriel gave me a dark look.

"I can keep up Michael, stop babying me." He crossed his arms. The three pairs of wings clumsily flapping themselves with no apparent order said otherwise. He looked like a drunken dragon.

"Yeah, right." I let out a breath, shaking my head. "It's not always a bad thing to accept help, Gabe. You can't always be good at everything." I hoped he listened this time, but these types of words never seemed to find a place in his heart.

"Whatever." We continued flying in silence in our dreadfully slow pace. This was probably the fastest Gabriel could go, but my wings urged for me to soar, to dip and dive into the wind currents. I wouldn't though, I was a good brother. It took about an hour to reach the rendezvous point and the others already set up camp. We saw them near a cave and the two of us circled, lowering our altitude. Samandriel waved to us.

They had a fire going with a rabbit burning over it. Who had caught a rabbit? Never mind. "Hey guys." I said weakly, hunger burning at my stomach. The smell of meat wasn't helping.

"Hello Michael" Castiel looked up from his seat on a log. The camp looked pretty nice. Enough Log-seats for all of us circled the fire pit. Who knew how to do this? I sat down next to Cas. Lucifer walked over with another rabbit, skinning it with a pocket knife he must have stolen from some sort of lodge. There had to be a camp site in this area of wilderness. I looked away from the scene, the skinned rabbit enough to make me want to go vegetarian.

"Who's hungry?" He smiled at all of us, putting the other rabbit over the fire. It wouldn't feed the seven of us enough to satisfy us, but it was better than nothing. There was an assortment of I's from people. I didn't say anything. Lucifer sat down too. Pretty soon all of us were around the fire, the sun finally setting behind the mountain. The fire illuminated our faces, the light flickering playfully across everything, almost threatening to break free and reign havoc on the dried pine needles.

All of us enjoyed our rabbit. I made sure to give Samandriel and Castiel the most food. I didn't eat very much, the flock was my responsibility, and I would go hungry if I needed to, to keep them afloat. We retreated to the cave as soon as the fire died down, the stone floor not too much less comfortable than the metal slabs. I slept almost instantly, and I soon realized that one of us should have kept watch.