Ok, now the 5th book's come out I have to say: is after MR 4! Don't make me repeat that! I'll set my purple monkeys on you! For those of you who are wondering why I'm so touchy-feely today, I have to wait until MAY to get the book!!! That's ages away! I burst into tears when I logged on and saw fanfictions saying 'after MR 5' in the summary. Anyway…

Disclaimer: If I really owned it Fang and Max would be together by now and Angel wouldn't be such a freaky, manipulative six-year-old.

Giant bunnies to the rescue

Max POV

It was the MRSEB that finally convinced me, beyond doubt, that the whitecoats had absolutely no social life at all. Ever. Basically, it was my life, stuffed into a box. Each corridor (and there were a lot of them – believe me, I did them all) was lined with bits and pieces of each year of my life. First there were pictures of me at the School; in dog crates, strapped to operating tables, fighting newly-created Erasers. Next to it was an amniocentesis machine, which I remembered was how they got the bird genes implanted in the first place. Next there were photos of life at the E-house, with objects that had survived the Eraser attack underneath. I jolted to a sudden halt as I recognised an object I never thought I'd see again.

"My Mickey Mouse clock!". I whirled around and glared at Iggy. "But you said you used it for your bomb!"

To my astonishment he threw back his head and roared with laughter.

"Max, we're in the middle of an enemy study, with stalkerish pictures plastered all over the walls, and you're worrying about a clock!"

Even Fang cracked a smile at that one, which I did not find even remotely amusing. I glared at them all sourly until the Mickey Mouse clock was out of sight and the rest of the Flock sobered. After that came our life on the run. Setting Crystal free at the Institute, me staring in shock at an Ouija board, fighting Omega, seeing Ari killed, twice, knocking over penguins in Antarctica and even the dock scene was up there. At that last photo I felt heat rise to my cheeks and hurried the children past as fast as I could. Thank goodness Iggy was blind. I risked a quick glance at Fang and saw him smirking with a faint blush on his cheeks. Instinctively I smiled back before acknowledging what I had seen. Fang never blushes! It's like, looking up and seeing a Barbie-pink sky! It just doesn't happen. Snapping back and focusing on his face I saw he looked as calm and impassive as he always did. His poker face was so good I almost thought I'd imagined the whole thing.

We reached the end of the corridor and were made to wait. I put on a good show of boredom, yawning exaggeratedly, and all that. Once again I was disappointed by the Alphas' lack of humour. The rest of the Flock thought it was funny though – at least, until Gazzy laughed so hard he let rip one of his gifts. Then they were just disgusted. Finally, after Gazzy's gift had long since left the hallway (which meant a very long time), whatever it was we were waiting for arrived. Dr Carter, the very icon of a geek, stepped out. He ordered the Alphas to place the Flock in 'Cell SW4', whatever that meant, and Crystal in the 'Control Room'. That made my blood boil. They couldn't split up the Flock! True, she hadn't been in the Flock very long, and I'd hated her for most of it, but now we'd accepted her and we weren't gonna let some dumb whitecoat take her.

"And how do you suppose you do that?"

"Do what?" asked the whitecoat. He obviously hadn't been informed of our raptor hearing and vision.

"Split us up. I hate to burst your bubble but asking nicely just isn't gonna do the trick."

He smiled, "I had no intention of asking nicely."

25 minutes, around 100 Alphas and numerous cuts, bruises and broken bones later, we had been safely contained in our cell.

"Oh well done Max. 'And how do you suppose you do that?'. Did you have to ask?"

"Shut up Ig," I growled, glowering.

"Cell, sweet cell. It's a good life."

"I said, SHUT UP!"

As you can tell Iggy was not being the most helpful person right now. The most annoying thing, however, was that he was also not being the least helpful. Fang hadn't said a word since coming in here, which, though normal for him,was not for Gazzy and Angel, who had also become sudden mutes. Nudge could not silenced no matter what the situation, so she had found another way to be unhelpful. She had started drawing up battle plans to help us get out of here. I know what you're thinking (Angel told me – only kidding), isn't that good though. Well, it would be… if they hadn't consisted of giant bunnies rescuing us. No, seriously, they really did. And that was one of the more realistic ones! This place sent her completely round the bend. If that wasn't enough to drive me crazy she proceeded to tell me about her plan in great detail.

I was on the verge of completely giving up, sticking my fingers in my ears and squeezing my eyes shut when something new finally happened. My Voice decided to speak up.

Ah, so you are finally here.

Any chance you'll tell me where here is? And what do you mean 'finally'?

As I waited for a response I realised Angel was tugging my sleeve.

"What is it, sweetheart?" I asked, concerned.

"What do you mean? Didn't you hear it?"

"Hear what?"

"That voice. It was all drone-y and said we were finally here."

My mouth dropped open. How was that possible? She had just described the Voice. Looking around, I could see from their expressions that the rest of the Flock had heard it too. I guessed it hadn't been just in my head when I heard from it a second ago. Did that mean it couldn't hear what I was thinking to it anymore? Was that why it hadn't replied? Did this mean I was close to it now or what? Does it mean it really has a body? So many questions had been raised by that simple statement it was hard to keep track of them all.

I turned to the rest of them and said, "I… I think you all heard the Voice. You know, the Voice in my head."

If that sentence didn't appear weird to you in any way, I hope you are securely locked up in the madhouse where you belong. As expected, jaws dropped, eyes bulged, eyebrows shot up, etc. Nudge was the first to break the silence (shock, horror) as she spewed out a multitude of questions, many of which were the ones I had been asking just a second ago. I had more in common with her than I thought – scary. Fang got up unexpectedly, tipping Angel onto the floor, and started searching by touch for cracks in the walls. Or at least that's what he told me. I just looked at him blankly until he explained what he thought. He said there might be a speaker or something so the rest of them could hear the Voice. I asked him if he was sure he had heard it with his ears, not his head.

No, Max. Fang is correct this once. I am able to project my voice into your cell using a simple microphone. However, if you promise not to act against me I shall be able to approach you in bodily form, cutting out many unnecessary steps.

Again, it was a shock to see the others jump at the same time as I did.

"Why would you ask us to promise if you didn't think there was any reason for us to fight you? I don't trust you."

Any other time your caution would be valid and useful. Unfortunately, this time it is hindering your mission. If you wish to save the world you will promise.

I thought about that for a moment. I'd always wanted to know the identity of the Voice and after all, what's to keep me from breaking my promise if it turned out I needed to anyway. Plus I'd done what it told me before, it could have killed me a million times but it hadn't. I shared a glance with Fang, instantly showing him my decision and reasons for it. He nodded very slightly, showing he agreed with me.

"Okay then, we promise. Come in."

Ah… we are two sides of the same coin, you and I. United by our ultimate outcome of a saved world.

"Yeah, yeah, quit the fortune cookie rubbish and show yourself."

It was quite annoying me now, if you hadn't noticed. I waited for another agonising few seconds until I heard the unmistakable creak of a door opening. A section of the wall opened inwards and in stepped…

A boy of about six or seven. He turned slightly and we could see the feathers protruding from his back, brown speckled with black and grey dots. They looked absolutely adorable. In fact, almost everything about him was adorable. His brown hair was messily tufted and his expression was similar to a week old kitten left out in the rain. Yeah, that cute. Then I saw his eyes, and everything changed.

They were like shards of ice, looking down at the world with contempt. They held a sea of cruelty, cruelty done to him and cruelty he had inflicted on others in retaliation. Loathing that made you shiver even thinking of it, filled them up to the brim. Yet that was not the worst of it. The worst was the knowledge that if you had been through the same amount of pain as he had, your eyes would look the same. We had thought we were seeing monsters when we saw Erasers morphing into giant wolves, but this was the real monster. And this monster was entirely part of human nature.

Now I understood his comment about not acting against him. Some primal instinct of mine spoke up, wanting to rid the world of him. Not for any noble reason, such as preventing this evil from being let loose on the world or to put him out of his suffering, but because I couldn't bear to see the truth. With great effort I overrode that part of me and extended my arm for him to shake. What can I say, I'm incredibly polite when I'm struggling to control an instinct that tells me an alliance with him is wrong, and to kill him instead. He stared at the arm pointedly until I dropped it.

"Uhh, I'm Max, although you probably knew that, seeing as you were talking to me in my head and all that and yeah… So who are you then?"

Ugh, could I have possibly have made a lamer start? Judging by the snickers behind me, I guessed not. I started when he spoke, not used to actually hearing the voice being spoken. It seemed… wrong somehow, coming from that mouth.

"Who I am does not matter. I have come to inform you that the hybrid known as Crystal is a liability to your mission. You must leave her."

I put on a pretend pout.

"You've come this far only to tell me you won't say who you are! You could at least say 'I am your father, Max' like in Star Wars. Although I already know who my father is – unfortunately – but you could say 'I am your uncle, Max' I suppose."

Then I lost the pout.

"And we're not leaving Crystal behind, no matter what you say. She's part of the Flock now and the Flock comes as a package deal; you take one, you take all of us."

I spun round and walked back to the Flock. From behind I heard the boy reply.

"I shall now instruct you to do some idiotic things concerning a certain Flock member and make Max save the home-made chocolate chip cookies."

I spun round again, thoroughly mystified. I searched his expression for humour but all I could find was confusion. I heard the rest of the Flock cracking up and suddenly it clicked. Now weak from laughing myself I congratulated Gazzy on his mimicry. The door slammed shut as the boy left but no-one seemed to care. Gazzy imitated him again and I collapsed on the floor with laughter.

Crystal POV

I had been locked in here for several hours now. The Alphas had shoved me in, hooked me up to some tubes and left me, alone in the darkness. I soon realised the tubes were zapping my strength so I couldn't leave. As my fear and adrenaline levels dropped I became calm again, which was good at first but soon became boredom. And so I waited, hanging in the darkness. Alone. Always alone.

Finally the door swung open and light poured in, blinding me. Blinking, I made out a shape blocking the light. I focused on the shape and gradually made out its face. My whole world came crashing down around my ears.

Happy Easter everyone!!! Many chocolates to you all! I think I did quite well with updating this time, seeing as I was writing a one-shot called He Makes My Fly Away at the same time. 'Fly Away', Maximum Ride, geddit? Oh never mind! If you can guess who Crystal spotted when the door opened I'll put you in my story! Just put your guess at the end of your review.
Thanking: wierdpeopleruletheworld, MissStud and Brambleberry or Lionflight for reviewing! More people should follow their example.
Zeorzia