"We need to get your head checked," she said decisively.

"How?"

"Well, ideally a CAT scan…don't you think?" He agreed, and he was scared. "As soon as possible…" Jeb nodded. He didn't say anything more and the color drained from his face.

The next day, they made an appointment to see a doctor, a friend of Val's. It wasn't exactly an appointment. This friend was just letting them use the machine. Nervously, Jeb lay down; Val and her friend were looking for anything unusual on the screens.

They found what they were looking for-immediately. When the machine turned on, Jeb felt a terrible pain at his scar. He didn't know it yet, but something had been ripped from his head by the machine. He became aware that he was bleeding profusely.

"Shit!" Val cursed as she ran into the room over to where Jeb was groaning and clutching his head. "Jeb, oh my god, are you okay?" She gasped when she saw the blood running down his face.

"Jesus…next time, knock me out first." It was a joke, but he really would have appreciated that.

Normally Val would have laughed, but she was concerned…Angel couldn't have known she guessed.

"Um Val, perhaps this might be what you were looking for?" After careful inspection, her friend produced a small chip, the size of an SD chip.

"That was …in my head?"

"Afraid so…"

"This is what we get for using a giant magnet, Jesus Christ."

"But what was it for…?"

Thinking quickly, Val cut him off, "Thank you so much Dr. Scott, we'll be on our way now…"

"Oh no, how about we stitch up your friend first?" He paused then added, "I won't tell anyone." He chuckled at how absurd all this was. Jeb was bleeding a lot, and it would be strange to walk out with blood streaming out his head like that. She put the chip in her pocket and agreed to that.

They got him cleaned up and rushed home. When Max saw the blood on Jeb's shirt she questioned them, "Did you run into trouble?"

"No, we just ripped a microchip from my head, no big deal," Jeb said bitterly. His head still had a dull ache, but it wasn't the odd kind anymore. He looked for Angel. She found him. He kneeled and nodded at Angel. She reached up cautiously, her hand rested on the dressing on his head, but there wasn't any pain this time…just a faint tingle, leaving them both bewildered.

"That was the thing then…" Angel said quietly, she hadn't wanted him to get hurt.

"Then what was it doing?" Jeb looked away and lost himself in thoughts.

"Maybe that was a tracker," Max wondered aloud.

"No I don't think it was that, they would have come by now, wouldn't they?" Jeb responded.

Valencia was pulling his arm towards the couch; she wanted him to rest more. Jeb didn't resist and let her lead him. He lay down and she took his glasses and set them on the table. She was going to leave when he caught her wrist. She sat back down by his side, he held her hand, she gave it a squeeze and stayed until he fell asleep. I like having him here, she thought, I don't want him to leave.

Peace and relative quiet didn't last long. A little while later, unwelcomed guests showed up at the door. Val tensed; through the window she saw their white coats and name tags. She called out to the flock to be on guard, they remained out of sight but near. She opened the door and smiled. "Can I help you?"

One of them laughed, most disturbing, "Yeah lady, you got a Jeb Batchelder here…he's ours."

"I don't know who you're talking about," she responded. They pushed her away and stepped inside.

"Don't lie to us, we just want to take him back and fix something…you might have broken our experiment," the other one said.

"I need you to leave." But it was too late, Jeb was stepping into view. He remembered these two.

"Get out," he said firmly.

"Oh ho, you're not one to boss us around, I'm afraid! Come here like a good boy, or else you'll break." They stepped towards him, his heartbeat quickened. He didn't think he could take two people in a fight in his current state.

"I think he'll come willingly…" the other said and turned around…towards Val. He grabbed her wrist and she slapped him. He was quicker though and pulled out a gun as his accomplice restrained her. "Now come…or your girlfriend gets it."

"Mom!" Max shouted, the flock stepped out.

"Oh! Wonderful! One big happy family, bird kids…cute. Erasers will bring you back with us. I'll get a promotion."

Jeb could feel his heartbeat booming in his chest, Val…

Suddenly his vision changed…the colors faded away…it all looked like a sketch, the lines shook vibrantly. He was shocked when he moved without thinking. It's like those two didn't get it, they had a look of shock on their faces, but they didn't move. Why?

When he took the gun and sent it skidding across the room at Fang's feet, he also saw the shock on his face. What is it?

He took both of them down and his chest was heaving when he stopped moving. His vision returned to normal and he fell on his knees. The room was spinning again.

The whitecoats laughed after they got back to their feet, "See! Broken…but we'll let you stay that way, new variable in the experiment, we'll be watching, toodles." And they left.