Richard
Richard opens his eyes and groans. After the last set of tests, the pain is lasting longer than what it normally does. He rolls over and onto his hands and knees. The cage was only big enough for him to crouch. The scientists and Erasers didn't want him to have even enough room to run in a circle much less a straight line.
Max is going to kill me, Richard scolds himself. I got myself caught again. Hopefully she'll understand that I was trying to save those kids.
"Look who's finally awake." An Eraser hisses in a soft chuckle. "How'd those last tests go? Looked like they hurt." He shifts a bit causing the keys attached to his side jingle.
The jingling attracts Richard's attention. He grins and moves towards the Eraser. The Eraser crouches down to Richard's level and grins a toothy grin.
"I can't wait to see what they have in store for you next. I hope it's more painful than the next." The Eraser hisses gleefully.
Faster than the blink of an eye, Richard reaches through the bars and grabs the Eraser by the throat; with a flick of his wrist, the Eraser's throat is ripped out.
"I hoped that hurt." Richard growls. He reaches down and grabs the keys. After a minute of rifling through the keys, he finds the one he's looking for. He unlocks the cage before zipping out of the cage. "It feels so good to be out of that accursed cage." He stretches hearing his joints pop.
A scientist strolls into the room with a clipboard. As soon as she sees Richard and the dead Eraser, she screams as loud as she could. She whirls around slamming her fist into a red button next to the door. An alarm blares throughout the ITEX building.
A stream of curses pour from Richard's mouth as he zips from the room. Everyone around him seems to be moving in slow motion as he uses his enhanced speed to find the exit. He whips around a corner to see a large grey-skinned guy standing between Richard and the exit.
"Strongarm…" Richard growls, sliding to a stop.
The guy, Strongarm, smirks. His stone-grey eyes glint with amusement. He wears a simple white tank top, blue jeans, and black combat boots. "Did you really think it was going to be that easy to escape? You know better than that, Richard." He cracks his knuckles.
Richard chuckles. "You also know that you can only stop what you can see." He shoots forward watching Strongarm sluggishly swing a massive fist towards him. Richard drops to the ground at the last minute and slides under Strongarm. He then uses his momentum to yank his feet out from under him as he rushes out the door into the forest surrounding the facility. He smirks when he hears Strongarm hit the ground and curse.
Richard streaks into the woods. He didn't know which way he needed to go to get back to his flock, but something told Richard that he needed to go this way. The trees are a blur as Richard's feet pounds the ground at an astonishing rate.
He slides to a stop to see a clearing up ahead. With his enhanced senses, he could make out a group of kids around his own age surrounded by jeeps. An Eraser stands across from them holding a rocket launcher. His hearing could only barely make out what they're saying.
"Ari?" The dark haired boy in front of the group asks sounding confused. "But Max and I watched you die!"
The Eraser who must have been the leader chuckles. "You both should have learned by now that I don't stay dead." He hefts the launcher further onto his shoulder and aims it at the group. "Any last words?"
Richard growls as he shoots forward. He snatches the launcher out of Ari's hands before coming to a stop behind the group of kids. "I've got a few words." He snickers at the look of astonishment on Ari's face. "What was that you were saying?" His hands fly across the launcher taking it apart piece by piece. In the next moment, the ground is littered with gun parts.
Ari glares at Richard. "Who the hell are you?" He growls.
Richard chuckles as his eyes change to those of a cheetah and claws shoot out of his fingertips. "I'm just your worse nightmare."
"Another experiment! Capture them all!" Ari shouts. Up to twenty Erasers jump out of the jeeps and rush towards Richard and the group of kids.
"It's go time." Richard smirks as he zips towards the closest Eraser. Once again, everything and everyone is moving in slow motion. He slams his fist into the first Eraser's jaw before whirling around and delivering a roundhouse kick to another Eraser. Richard glances towards the kids in the middle.
The dark-haired boy was using his wings attached to his back to maneuver above the Erasers landing punch after punch. There's another guy on the ground knocking Erasers around like ragdolls. He's wearing a grey hoodie with the hood pulled down over his face; his face is hidden in shadows. A younger girl is using her body to shield a kid no older than 6. He didn't have enough time to study the other members of the group because at that moment, Ari comes out of nowhere and swings a metal rod towards his legs.
Richard snarls leaping over the rod and rolling to his feet. His fist comes up and clocks Richard across the jaw; Richard howls in pain sliding across the grass. He comes to a stop by one of the jeeps. Ari stomps over and kneels next to him.
Ari studies Richard for a moment. "I recognize you. You're apart of my sister, Max's, new flock." He grins evilly. "I wonder if she'll miss you." He raises the bar above his head.
Right before Ari could strike the final blow, A ball of fire slams into his back; Ari flies over Richard's head slamming into the jeep behind him. Richard groans before shooting to his feet and yanking Ari to his feet. He slams Ari into the door of the jeep.
"I'm going to be merciful this one time, Ari." Richard growls. His hair shimmer from a dark brown to a blazing red. Richard glares at him with now black eyes. "Go on and run while you can, Dog Boy."
Ari shivers and bolts after the remaining Erasers that were still standing. Richard then turns to study the group.
The dark-haired boy is checking on everyone in his group. The hoodie guy had a slash across his chest that went down to bone. Richard could swear that instead of seeing bone, he saw steel instead. A girl with large red wings is standing facing him. The girl and the young boy are talking to the dark-haired boy assuring him that they're ok. There are another three girls, but they were on the other side of the clearing chatting amongst themselves.
The dark-haired boy approaches Richard. "Thanks for the help. I'm Fang by the way. And that's Drac, Ivory, Lion, AJ, Rose, and Midnight. This is our flock." He points to each of them in turn.
"I'm Richard. I have a flock, but I was taken from them. Our leader is Max." Richard explains. His eyes dart around keeping a look out for anymore Eraser.
"As in Maximum Ride?" Fang asks. When Richard nods, Fang smiles. "So she got herself a new flock too? What happened to the other? Iggy, Dylan, Gazzy, and Angel?"
Richard shrugs. "I don't know. Max told us that the School took them. We were raiding a different branch of the school thinking they were there when I was caught. I should be heading out to find them."
Fang places a hand on Richard's shoulder as he turns to leave. Richard glances at him.
"Give this to Max." Fang hands him a small sheet of paper with a phone number scribbled down on it. "Tell if she ever needs me and my flock's help, just to give me a call. We'll be there."
Richard stares at him for a second before nodding and taking the number. "I'll let him know." He winces and grips his head.
"You alright?" The guy, Drac, asks softly. He didn't seem to be fazed by the claw marks, but his posture told the whole story.
Richard shakes the pain away before nodding. "Yeah. Just a really bad headache. I'll be fine." He give them a reassuring smile. "I'll see you around." He takes off into the forest as fast as he could. He leaves only a trail of leaves in his wake.
I don't know why these headaches keep popping up, but something tells me that they're not a good sign. Richard tells himself as he shoots towards where he thinks Max and the rest of his flock are laying low.