I don't own maximum ride.

Fangs POV

My large, black wings beat the blue sky; I soared silently in front of the rest of the Flock, my wing tips skimming the clouds. My face was grimacing in unspeakable pain. I had been hurt before, broken bones, knocked out teeth, had huge chucks of flesh ripped out by tearing wolfish teeth, but that was nothing like the pain of losing Max. My heart yearned for her face, her voice, her smell. Every second since we had discovered her disappearance, my mind had been bombarded with images of Max being hurt, tortured, experimented on, or even, the unspeakable. Finally, Nudges shaky voice jolted my into reality.

"Uh, Fang, shouldn't we be descending?"

It was true; the patchy dirt-and-grass landscape had given way to the bleak, rocky Death Valley desert.

"Yeah, okay, c'mon guys, going down." I shifted some of my feathers and the effect was instantaneous. We drifted down slowly, our eyes searched for the School, it was Gazzy who saw is first.

"Look down there." He muttered blandly. I looked down and winced as the glare from the Schools metallic roof hit my eyes. It occurred to me we hadn't really worked out a plan of action.

"Um, let's land a mile away and prepare." They obeyed, and we landed smoothly in a dried riverbed, near an out crop of rocks.

"So, what are we doing?" Asked Iggy, who was positioning himself on a large claw-like stone protruding from the dry, cracked earth.

"We're . . . we're going to-uh-break in. We'll, stowaway in the next truck heading in." I said with a sudden flash of inspiration. Angel looked unsure, but stayed quiet. The rest of the flock nodded in unenthusiastic agreement.

We launched into the air once more. Angel probed the area, checking to see if we were noticed by Whitecoats, Erasers, and anything else that may want to kill us. Our wait for a truck was not long; the stream of vehicles transporting people, medical supplies, and failed experiments in and out of the facilities was almost ceaseless. We each clung to the bottom of a truck with relative ease, though not quite as much as they display in the movies, and prayed silently until the vehicle stopped in a garage. Once the Whitecoats emptied the truck of its contents and brought them inside, we broke in. It was so easy I was almost worried.

The moment we entered the School, the entire Flock froze in there tracks. Paralyzed with fear, the white hallways, so pale the reflecting light made my eyes ache, stunk of the to-clean odor of a hospital, carts adorned with medical supplies were positioned along the walls. It was like a living nightmare.

"Okay, c'mon," I whispered, gesturing for the others to follow me. We wandered hall after hall until Angel 'heard' Max thinking.

"She's in here," murmured Angel, pushing open the door. The well oiled hinges swung open without a sound.

My heart skipped a beat as I surveyed the room. Two levels of cages lined the walls on one side of us, and the corresponding files and clipboards on the experiments hung on the walls opposite of them. The top row of cages was filled with depressing, failed experiments, on the bottom, only one cage was occupied. It held a thin, human looking experiment, her tan wings filled up the space behind her, her beautiful face was covered in yellow tinged bruises, and ... blood.

"Max," I gasped, the words came out choked, "Oh God, Max."

Angel, Gazzy and Nudged all broke down in tears and rushed forward, Maxed glanced up exitedly, "You came! Thank you, I was so-" but the rest of her sentence was cut off with an oof as the little kids sprung the lock and embraced her.

"I was so, so, scarred," sobbed Nudge, "I thought I might never see you again! Oh, God, I hope we never, ever split up again! Are you okay Max, what happened to you?" We didn't bother whispering, we couldn't have if we tried.

"Max we-"

"How are you-"

"What-"

All of their questions overlapped, I stood back awkwardly. Max's eyes met mine and we moved towards each other. I didn't plan it, I didn't even think about it. I just walked foreword and kissed. I don't know how long we stood like that, kissing, it could have been a second, It could have been a century, but then Max broke away and buried her head in my shoulder, crying softly.

"I was so scared, Fang." She murmured her voice muffled by the material of my hoodie. I stroked her hair soothingly, until she broke away again.

"We have to go now." Her tough guy exterior restored other than the redness around her eyes.

I nodded and she gestured to the rest of the flock.

"Okay, no need for quietness, just try to get out of here, c'mon." And the flock burst out of the room. We ran as fast as we could (pretty dang fast), and were down the hall in seconds. I heard some shouts, and yelled to the others, "Keep going, just get out of here!" But there was no need, they were still running.

"Stop!" exclaimed a whitecoat, standing in front of us, trying to block our way. We Pushed him aside, and sprinted down another hallway. A few bullets shot above my head, just as we were running through the door, it was still unlocked since we broke in. Easy, again, now I really was worried.

We took off to the sky, flying as hard as we could. I saw Max wince as she spread her wings, the muscles must have been strained.

We didn't dare slow down, not until we were thousands of feet above the school, and several miles away.

"Fang," Said Max, "Fang!"

I flew up beside her "What's up?" Her limp hair hung in clumps around her sweaty face.

"It's the chip." She said, tersely, "Fang, they put it back.

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-choco