AN: Hello peoples! I have to take my driver's test tomorrow. Wish me luck! Oh, and I don't own Maximum Ride. You guys are awesome!

(Fang's POV)

"So, why didn't Max come with us again?" Nudge asked. All of us except for Max were coming back from shopping. Nudge had found this three day sale at one of her favorite stores. Apparently, she thought that meant she had to come back each day.

"Because she said that if she had to spend one more day shopping, she's going to strangle you." Angel said. It was weird. She said such a harsh-sounding sentence in such an innocent way. Note to self: Angel might not be as innocent and angelic as she seems.

"Why couldn't I stay home with her?!" Iggy said. Gazzy and I nodded in agreement.

"Well, Max told us that Fang had to watch over us, and he dragged you two along." Nudge said.

"When did it become my job to watch over you two?" I grumbled.

"Because Gazzy is too young and Iggy is too irresponsible." Nudge said. At Iggy's protests, she raised her hands defensively and added, "That was in her own words."

We saw mom pull into the driveway as we walked up to her house. "I thought you were staying home with Max." Nudge said as we walked up to her.

"I had to go to the grocery store. I had to get–" She was cut off by a crash inside that sounded suspiciously like glass breaking. We all rushed inside and were shocked at what we found. One of our lamps was currently on the floor in about a hundred pieces. Standing beside it was Max, so it was obvious that someone had thrown it at her. But it was the someone that shocked us.

The thing was at least six feet tall. It had this wolf man body shape, with the fur, fangs, and claws. It was huge and growling at Max like it wanted to bite her head off. Max was glaring right back at him, although hers was more frightening. Was this another experiment? Duh, Fang, that's kind of obvious, I thought to myself.

The things head snapped around when we burst in through the door. It grinned at us, showing off its fangs. I saw the others shiver out of the corner of my eye, and it took everything I had to keep a blank look on my face.

"Well, well, well Maxie. Who are these idiots?" he said. His voice sounded wrong, all guttural.

"Does it matter?" Max asked. When the thing didn't answer, Max snapped her fingers. "Hey, Dog Boy, pay attention. I thought dogs were supposed to be loyal and obedient."

The thing growled and launched himself at her. Max jumped out of the way, hitting him in the back with a kick. He only staggered forward a couple of steps. And Max had given him a kick that should have crushed a normal human's spine into powdery white dust. Max quickly backed out of his reach as he took a swipe at her with his claws.

"Come on, Ari, just give it up. You and I both know you can't beat me. I've got seven years more experience than you." Max said, sounding bored.

Ari gave her a feral grin and slowly walked towards her. When he got to close, Max started to move back, towards the kitchen. "That might be true, Maxie, but I'm bigger, faster, and stronger than you are. I'm the big bad wolf, and you're just the little defenseless birdie."

Suddenly, he lunged, so fast my eyes couldn't follow him. He grabbed Max by the shirt and threw her across the room. She landed on the table and it broke underneath her from the force of the blow. We heard all the breath knocked out of her lungs with a whoosh! She got her breath back and stood up again.

"Thanks to you, Dad's in jail now. I'll save him the trouble of putting you in the grave." Ari said, stepping closer to Max.

Max smirked at him, but it was dark, nothing like the one she usually gave us. "What? You think killing me will make Daddy like you better?" she asked in a voice like she was talking to a little kid. Then her voice changed as she snapped, "You can have him. Batchelder isn't any father of mine."

Ari punched her in the stomach and the breath left her again, this time with an oof! Max kicked his legs out from under him and moved out of the way. "How can you say that?! He gave up everything for you! He gave up me for you! His only son, with his actual wife!" he yelled at her as he picked himself back up.

"Yeah, after he turned both of his kids into mutant freaks! At least I was born a mutant freak! He turned you into one! You were born a normal little boy who would have had a great life, until he turned you into a hairy freak!" Max yelled back.

"You might be my sister, but you're nothing like me." Ari growled. I saw the others jaws drop and felt my eyes widen a fraction of an inch.

"Yeah, that's because, whoever my mom is, I'm more like her than Batchelder. And you're the same way. Why can't you see that he's a backstabbing (insert swear word of your choice here)? Ari, you're going on a worthless goose chase for nothing." Max said. Her voice was more gentle now, but still firm, like how she'd talk to Angel or Gazzy. "You should've stayed with the government."

Ari growled and slammed into Max again. They crashed into the wall leaving a dent in it. Ari punched Max in the gut three hard times. On the third one, we heard a loud, horrible crack! The sound of one or more of Max's ribs breaking.

Max kneed him in the stomach, trying to get out from between him and the wall. "Leave her alone!" Iggy yelled. Ari turned to face us. We were about to get in the fight when Max kicked him from behind, sending him crashing to the ground from the unexpected blow. He must've forgotten she was back there.

"Stay out of this!" Max growled, her voice slightly strained. "This isn't like Jeb! He'll break you in half like a twig!"

Ari stood back up. Max punched him hard in the gut, then smacked her hands over his ears. Ari howled in pain as his ear drums burst. Max shoved him back and he hit the counter. He reached out for something, then turned and charged at Max, again too fast for me to track. Max tried to get out of the way, but Ari ended up slamming her into a wall.

Max's eyes widened in shock and then she coughed up blood. What the…? Ari moved back and grinned down at her. A butcher knife was in Max's side, blood already blooming on her shirt. Max slide down the wall, leaving a trail of blood behind her. She grimaced in pain and looked up at Ari with shock in her eyes. I looked over at the counter and felt my shoulders slump. The butcher knife was missing from the knife rack. When Max pushed him into the counter…

"Looks like brawn actually beats brains." he sneered. Suddenly, Max slammed into him, a last ditch effort to get him down for the count. He fell back and his head smacked the counter. There was the sickening crack as he fell. His head lolled to the side at a wrong angle. Max stared at him in shock, then looked away, looking like she was going to be sick.

Max took out her phone and tossed it to me. "There's a number in there…Victoria. She's a doctor who knows about the wings. I trust her." she said, her breathing labored. "Just tell her I need her help."

I handed the phone to Mom and rushed to Max. I took off my jacket and pressed it around the knife wound. Max sucked in a breath and whimpered. "I'm sorry." I murmured. "I'm so sorry, but I have to." Max nodded. She was starting to drift out of consciousness. Even after she was fully unconscious and leaning against me, I didn't let up on the pressure I was putting on her wound. I knew that, if I did, she'd bleed to death.

Victoria showed up in less than ten minutes. I took Max and went with her to Victoria's house, where all of her "special" doctor equipment was. The others stayed behind, saying they'd take care of the house and Ari and that I was to give them updates regularly. Victoria swerved into her driveway and I held onto Max tight. The speedometer hadn't gone under sixty the whole ride. I don't blame her though.

We quickly took Max inside, and then I was ordered to wait in the living room. This is torture. The girl I'm in freaking love with got stabbed by some insane, wolf-man beast, and now I don't know if she's okay or not.

An hour passed before Victoria came out. I shot up off the couch. "How is she?" I asked. I can't believe I was actually letting my emotions show. What was this girl doing to me?

"Relax, Fang, she's going to be fine." Victoria said, smiling.

"Thank God." I said, flopping back down on the couch. I sunk into it. "Geez, I'm going to kill that girl."

Victoria smirked. "I think there's something else you want to do too." she said. (AN: Not like that, people. Get your mind out of the gutter.)

I glared at her, but didn't deny it. "When will she wake up?" I asked her, worried.

Victoria smiled. "Probably in a hour or so." she said, giving me a knowing smile and a wink before she walked towards the kitchen.

I went into the room Max was in and sat down. I grabbed Max's hand. I was determined to stay by her side until she woke up, at the very least.

AN: There, that wasn't a bad cliff. Alright, I don't think this chapter is very good. Review and tell me what you think. Please review and tell me. I wanted to put Ari in there, but I wasn't sure how to write it. Hope this is good enough! Review!