A/N: These chapters just keep getting longer and longer. Anton and Jeremy are mine. All mine! I wish Fang was, but unfortunately not.

Chapter 4

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"Nobody can hurt me without my permission," – Mahatma Gandhi

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The Scientist crept along the aisles, between the sleeping cages. Actually, he thought, it would probably look less conspicuous if he walked normally, rather than creeping, but the situation seemed to call for it. Every so often he'd look furtively over his shoulder, even though he knew there was nobody else there. It was like he was trying to hide from himself.

He knew he was being a traitor to the cause, but he just couldn't live with this guilt. And anyway, he tried to reason with himself, they wanted the Avian hybrid alive, so really he was doing them a favour. What they were doing... they were killing it!

His eyes passed over the experiments sleeping fitfully in their crates. Some his gaze lingered on; the one's he had created, but his had all been failures. He just wasn't cut out for this, he decided, and he couldn't bare to watch another creature die at his hand. They may not be human, but they were living.

He readied the formula, his hand twitching on the end of the syringe, and his white coat billowed around it as he darted around the final corner. He crouched in front of the Avian Hybrid. Whether it was sleeping or unconscious he couldn't tell, but it was still breathing. It was hunched up at the side of the cage, with it's black wings, that it still couldn't retract, pressed up against the mesh. It looked like it should hurt, but maybe, he thought, the procedure was working, and the hybrid could no longer feel them.

"Fang?" he tested the name gingerly, but there was no response.

Sighing, he brought the syringe up from his side, staring for a moment in thought at the straw coloured liquid sloshing inside. Then, with shaking hands, looking around again, he brought the key out of his pocket. Inserting it into the lock, it turned smoothly and silently, and the cage door sprang open.

He waited again to see if the hybrid moved, perhaps sensing the chance of freedom, but there was no change. The scientist reached inside the crate, leaning his body backwards, like he wanted to get as far away from the experiment as possible, but then stretching his arm out to reach it. He positioned the syringe correctly, hitting the vein, even from this distance, and watched it empty. Then he drew his arm out quickly, half closing the crate door, but waiting.

Fang was half asleep, caught between dream and waking, but he was aware of the prick in his arm and the slow feeling of energy crawling up through his body. Soon he felt fully awake, back to near normality. No, that was a lie - he felt better than normal. He felt newly invigorated, like he'd just got an adrenalin kick, endorphins, and happy pills all at the same time, but he was careful not to show it.

His body, without visibly twitching a muscle, slowly tensed, and he cracked his eye open a slit. Through the slither and curtain of eyelashes, he could just see the scientist that had lead his torture crouched in front of his cage, the door held open slackly in his hand. The rush of excitement he felt at that sight was almost uncontrollable. Almost.

Fang waited, slowly breathing in and out, preparing. He didn't want to wait too long, and lose this chance, but he was trying to see if there were any traps or tricks he was missing, without moving, or opening his eyes - A difficult task.

Eventually he couldn't stand it any longer. He caught sight of the door, and the obscuring scientist. His muscles bunched, his eyes snapped open, and he pounced.

There was no warning look, or vengeful roar. There was just the silent ten seconds as Fang leaped from cage to corridor, and then the dull thump as he hit the barrier that was the scientist in the middle. The two fell backwards onto the tiled floor, the only noise being a small clatter and the gasp of surprise from the scientist.

Fang couldn't fight very well - he felt so jacked up he wanted to do everything all at once and couldn't do it fast enough, so a punch would stop halfway, wanting to turn into a grab or a twist. He felt like he was vibrating, but then his wings felt slightly awkward, like they were cramping up, so he wasn't as agile as usual.

Even with all these conflicting stimulants, he still got all his weight heavily on top of the scientist, and within seconds, soundlessly, Fang had the guy's head held firmly between his hands, ready to bring it smashing down on the floor, and hoping his stupid brain would spill out all over the tiles.

The scientist stared up at Fang's face, looking terrified, like he knew he deserved all the pain Fang could be, and was considering, causing him. Fang, breathing hard, knelt heavily on the scientist's chest, hating the fact that he half enjoyed the gagging noise it resulted in.

"Wait," Came a low, husky voice, but surprisingly, it didn't come from the scientist.

Fang turned his head quickly to see the New Yorker in the cage next to his, staring out at them with a level gaze.

"Don't hurt him," And there was something about the way he said it - it wasn't frightened, and didn't sound like he cared whether or not Fang took his advice, but there was a sort of order resonating somewhere in there.

Fang, even as he did so wondering why, let go off the guy's head, letting it drop and hearing him swear as it hit the floor, hard.

He backed up off the scientist, but didn't relax his stance, circling round, away from the open door of the crate. The scientist stood up himself, dusting down his white coat, like he did this every day. He turned to the shaved teenager watching them. "Thank you Anton," he said very politely.

"Whatever Jeremy," The kid drawled back, like he couldn't care less.

Jeremy turned to Fang warily, "I suppose I should have expected that,"

Fang said nothing, but felt the new energy fuel the already bubbling hatred for the man.

"I'm very sorry," Jeremy continued, "But I'm honestly trying to help, against Miss Darthmoore's wishes. I've given you a mixture that should delay the effects, but only for a little while,"

There was a pause.

"Delay what effects?" Fang asked quietly.

"I imagine you'd want to spend the remaining time with your... flock," Jeremy continued haltingly. "You should...fly off, whilst you still can,"

Jeremy looked incredibly nervous, his eyes shifting. Looking slightly childlike, he shoved his hands into his pockets. "I'm sorry," he said again, before turning on his heel and walking swiftly back down the aisle - he was almost running.

Fang was still standing in the middle of the aisle, feeling slightly confused about why that hadn't turned into a fight, and why exactly he was set free. As usual he decided not to dwell on the mysteries, focusing on the more substantial task of getting out. Jeremy had made it clear that this was his chance to escape, but he wasn't exactly going to get any help. The only thing making Fang pause was Anton.

"Bastard," Anton muttered from the cage, but loud enough for the retreating scientist to hear. "He likes to think he's different. Likes to think he's helping us, but he isn't," Directing his next remark at Fang, he added, "He's let you out, but he doesn't think about anyone else, and anyway, you'll just get caught again and then punished. He only makes things worse."

Anton ran his hand over his shaved head, still spitting out insults after Jeremy. The sickly yellow tag on his wrist swung back and forth."Are you gonna let me out then?" He said suddenly.

"No key," Fang shrugged, distractedly because 'He doesn't think about anyone else.' was repeating itself inside his head.

How many times had he got out of this building without thinking of helping the others trapped here? By now he could have at least given them a hint on how to escape. He could have left instructions. He could have written a manual on it, but he hadn't stopped to think about anyone but himself, and Max, and the flock.

"This is the key," Anton said, waving the little yellow tag, that whipped against his wrist.

"Right," Fang muttered, moving forward. Anton held his arm out so the tag dangled just above the electronic lock. Fang grabbed it, pulling it down to swipe the lock - there was a little red flash, but nothing happened.

"Error message," Anton said, "Go again,"

"Why is yours electrical?" Fang asked, annoyed, trying it again.

"Because they don't like me," Anton said, grinning.

There was a beep, and the lock clicked open.

Fang walked backwards away from Anton, who was climbing out. Somehow that had felt weird, and not at all heroic. There was just something about the way Anton was - like he was doing you a favour, by letting you rescue him.

Anton straightened up, stretching out his long arms and legs. Like Fang, he also had trousers, but no shirt or shoes - Strange uniform, Fang thought, very different from the usual medical pyjama suit. Probably Miss Darthmoore's idea. It made him feel very self conscious, not to mention chilly.

When Anton had finished shaking out the cramp, he yelled "Hey Jeremy, wait a minute,"

Jeremy had now reached the door, but to Fang's surprise actually stopped at the call and turned back.

And then in the blink of an eye, with a noise like Whoomph, Anton was suddenly standing in front of Jeremy, fist raised. He landed the punch, and Jeremy sank to the floor, blood pouring from his nose.

"But I created you," Jeremy pleaded, although with the bust nose you might as well replace all his 't's with 'd's.

"Exactly," Anton growled over him. "I just wanted to hurt you myself," And then in another whoomph he disappeared and reappeared beside Fang. Fang felt very glad he managed not to jump in surprise.

"Teleportation," Anton explained, "That's why my cage is electrical. Thanks man, you'd better get goin' right?"

Fang shook his head. "First, everyone else," he said. Fang wasn't going to leave again without trying to help the others. Damn experimentation - it screwed with your morals.

"I hoped you'd say that," Anton grinned again, like a Cheshire cat, bringing out from his trouser pocket a ring of keys. Across the room, Jeremy looked up from the floor at the keys and then his hand flew to his pocket. 'Thief', he mouthed.

"Better do it quickly," Anton said.

Fang nodded hurriedly. He wanted it to be fast, so he could get out quickly. 'Fly off, whilst you still can', had worried him. He rolled his shoulder muscles, trying to dislodge the stiffness, ready for flight. Also there was the added problem of Jeremy getting to his feet, glaring at Anton, and opening his mouth to shout.

"Go hit him again," Fang said mildly.

"Gladly," was Anton's response, another whoomph, another crack, and Fang set about unlocking all the other cages. He worked quickly down the aisles, leaving the door open and moving on - what happened next was up to them, but he had to do something before he left. And he was leaving, despite the alarm bells and warning lights that had just started up. Despite the shouts and running feet now charging towards them down the corridor.

Fang adopted a tight, controlled fighting stance. He was almost looking forward to it, wanting to expel some of this pent up energy. Fair enough letting Anton dispose of his nemesis, but now Fang was going to really give them hell. He was going to leave the place in ruins damn it, because they deserved it - he was leaving, now.

A/N: A bit of Jumper in there for you - I love teleportation. I'm not sure I like the second half of this - I might rewrite it, but I put it up to see what you think. Also, I have a question. I want to bring in Max soon, but I'm worried doing it from Max's POV would disrupt the nice descriptive flow I've got going here, because let's face it, Max isn't all that wordy. I could do Max in 3rd person, but that's not very Maximum Ride. What do you think?