Hey, Hey YOU!

So I know I'm, like, the worst updater in the history of everything, but I can assure that eventually, you'll get a chapter. It might take months and I won't guarantee it's not crap, but I'm going to post something eventually. It's getting harder and harder for me to write, the ADD is getting worse and I just don't have enough time, but I'll keep cranking out the chappies ;) Don't give up on me yet!

WE HAVE REACHED THE INESCAPABLE CHAPTER FOUR!

I have bad luck with fours... None of my fanfics have ever made it past four chapters. The last one that did was adopted by KaylaAnonymous. Hopefully, Winging It breaks the curse.

A side note: This story takes place roughly around School's Out - Forever. Therefore, flying Erasers are kind of a new thing and the year is 2005.

In the meantime... Here's this.

Snow POV

Judging from what I've seen on TV, there are lots of ways normal teenagers like to spend their Saturday nights. Usually this doesn't include A) Homework, B) Chores, or C) Trudging blindly through the underbrush in some dark, godforsaken patch of mosquito-infested Pennsylvanian forest.

Guess which one I was doing?

If you guessed C, then ding ding ding! We have a winner. And I'm not happy about it.

I made an exasperated noise as I tapped on the screen of the tracker. On one side, two pulsating green dots symbolized Livvie and I. On the other, another dot symbolized the girl named Energy. A little ways away from her was the dot for Rhaksha Vi. If you poked one of the dots, all this genetic information popped up on screen. It gave me the creeps just thinking about it.

So it was totally a piece of cake, finding this 'Energy' person. NOT.

"Why won't it work!" I half-yelled. Zelda and Livvie shushed me.

"I told you," Zelda explained, though she looked pretty annoyed at it too. "It's an older model; it doesn't give exact coordinates. We just have to wander around until we find them. We know they're around here somewhere."

"Ugh." I sighed.

"Cheer up," Livvie said. "It's not so bad."

I had to agree. Under normal circumstances, we probably wouldn't even be in the right state, let alone the right patch of woods. "Let's go this way," Zelda suggested, taking the tracker from me and pointing in a random direction. We set off that way, trying to be stealthy but failing miserably because of the underbrush.

Thirty minutes of searching with nothing to show for it later, we were pretty much back where we started: Nowhere.

We'd waited for night to fall in case Rhaksha or Energy were blended with something nocturnal. Even if they weren't, they probably hid during the day anyway. That's what Livvie and I did. The darkness was a great cover.

Of course, now I was mentally kicking myself for that. It would obviously be harder to find them now.

Great, I thought bitterly. If I make mistakes like this now, what'll I do when I have a whole flock? And, that's IF I ever get a whole flock. Why should they trust me?

"Well, this sucks." Zelda commented, interrupting my silent pity-party.

"No dip," I snapped. Livvie shot a look at me. Don't piss off the informant, Snow. "I mean, um, yeah." I recovered.

Livvie, who had the tracker now, consulted it again. I leaned against a tree and sighed. I was being difficult again.

Suddenly, I heard Livvie suck in her breath. "Guys -" she started in, but got cut off by an all-too-familiar sound: The metallic click of a loaded gun.

I whipped my head around, looking for the source of the sound, or more importantly, the person holding it. "Don't move," an unfamiliar girl's voice growled. From behind the trees stepped the speaker, a petite Asian-looking girl, around thirteen-ish with blue hair (What?) and gold eyes (What?). She was holding a small but lethal-looking pistol. Energy.

"I want to know who you are and why you're looking for me." She stated quietly. "Now."

"How long have you been following us?" gasped Zelda.

Energy said nothing, only gave Zelda a look. The sentiment was all too clear: I asked first. I glanced around at the others to see them staring back at me with looks of pure What do we do now?

Good question.

I looked down at my dirty sneakers, then back up and sighed. Blunt was always a nice approach. "I'm Snow." I began. "This is Livvie, and Zelda. We're here because we want to build a team of mutants and take down Itex."

Something flashed in Energy's eyes at the last few words I said, but it was gone before I knew what it was. She lowered the gun a little, cautiously. "I'm listening."

"Me and Livvie were rescued from a lab in New York City - The Institute for Higher Living? - about a month ago. Two days ago, we were attacked by Erasers and the place where we were staying was blown up. Zelda found us with this tracker-thing -" I tapped on the tracker. "- And a plan."

She looked at us, searchingly and said "What are you?" The gun was down by her side now, but she still looked ready to spring.

"I used to be an avian-Eraser," Zelda piped up, surprising me. "I mean, I still am, but I don't work for them anymore. Things were bad. They were going to kill me. But I ran away." She bit her lip, looking off to the side.

It also surprised me that she didn't mention her friend, Danny, the one that got killed, but I guess everyone deals with grief differently and whatever. I mentally shrugged.

"We're avian," Livvie spoke, pointing at herself and me. "Two percent. I've been at the Institute for as long as I can remember."

"Me too." I added. "But I got out. Once."

December, 2001, to be exact. Four years ago. I was ten, I had just been taken out of my cage for some test. I was surrounded by Erasers so I didn't escape, it was a routine thing, when suddenly all these alarms started going off and all the scientists and Erasers ran for one of the doors, presumably toward the source of the crisis. Completely forgetting about me. I didn't know what set off all the alarms and I still don't. All I know is that for the first time in my life, I was completely unguarded and the way out was screaming at me.

I ran for it.

I don't remember going up topside, but I guess it would be the same way we took when we were rescued. Through the sewers, then subway tunnels, then up to the streets. It was really, really late at night and it was snowing. Like, big holiday-movie flakes.

When I said I didn't remember how I'd gotten my name before? I lied. It was to remind me about being free when I got dragged back to the Institute.

"Hello?" Livvie was saying. "Earth to Snow. Come in Snow."

"Uh, yeah, sorry." I said, blinking back to the present. "What's up?"

"I got out from a lab about six months ago," Energy said with quiet intensity. I noticed that was generally the way she was so far. "My younger brother was killed during the escape." Her voice got harder when she said that last part, like she was battling to keep the emotions out of her voice.

Jeez, that's bad. I thought, then, What is it with Itex and murder?

Zelda shuffled her feet and glanced off to the left, biting her nails. I looked at her, wondering why she was acting strange. I finally decided she was nervous about, I don't know, acceptance? Trust? Maybe she thought Energy would have something against her, her being an Eraser and all. Whatever. I had bigger fish to fry.

"That's terrible. That's really, really terrible." Livvie deadpanned, saying what we were all thinking. Energy nodded emotionlessly, looking at the ground.

"Look," Zelda said impatiently. "Are you in or what?"

Energy looked up, meeting Zelda dead in the eyes. "I'm in."

One down, who knows how many more to go.

There. Finally done.

RnR? ConCrit appreciated.