Chapter 11

As the cool wind blew through Mackenzie's hair, she reveled at being in the air again. It had been far too long since her last flight and she had missed flapping her wings freely in the clear blue sky. The rest of the Flock had come to join the, their breakfast forgotten. She played air tag with Angel, Gazzy, Total, Nudge, and Iggy, who had insisted they play Marco Polo so it would be fair.

The wind rushed past her ears as she was flying away from the other players. She was looking behind her to make sure no one was following and didn't notice the person in front of her until she crashed into them.

"Oof!" Her wings fluttered and she stopped flapping her wings momentarily, dropping a few feet. She looked up to see Iggy rubbing his head and muttering something under his breath. She flew back up to where he was and brushed the hair out of his face.

"Iggy, are you okay? I'm sorry, I was looking the other way," she said as she checked his head for injuries. Iggy slowly pulled her hands away from his head, but not letting go.
"I'm fine," he replied, before leaning in extremely close to Mackenzie's face. She was relieved at the moment that he was blind so he wouldn't see the light blush that had spread across her face as he continued leaning in, stopping when they were nose to nose and she could see the crystal blue in his cloudy eyes,

"What are you doing?" she asked quietly. Iggy leaned in even closer, if possible and said, "You're….."

"IT!" he tapped her on the shoulder, turned around and flew away so fast that he left several feathers floating in the air where he once was. Mackenzie couldn't help but feel a small twinge of disappointment before pushing it away and flying after him yelling, "Get back here!"

By the time they had decided to head back to the ground, the food Iggy made was already cold, but it was still one of the best meals Mackenzie had ever eaten. She moaned in appreciation as she took another bite. Max chuckled and said, "Iggy, I think you just ruined any chance of Mackenzie eating anything else ever again."

"It'll never be as good as Iggy's." Mackenzie confirmed.

Iggy had a grin on his face that would make the Cheshire Cat envious. "Was it that good?"

"Better than food from heaven itself." she reassured him.

"That's Iggy's cooking for you." Angel said.

"Does he cook often?" Mackenzie asked.

"When we're not on the run and we have the time."

"Max," Mackenzie suddenly remembered something. "Nudge said something about your mom. You know who your parents are?"

"Yeah," Max nodded, "The first thing we did on the run way find out about our parents. I found out my mom was somebody that I already knew. She's really cool. I have a sister named Ella too."

"What about your dad?"

Max's expression changed to one of anger and disappointment.

"He turned out to be a traitorous white coat. A scientist, name Jeb Batchelder. Ever heard of him?"

Mackenzie froze. Jeb Batchelder? A suspicious memory came creeping to mind. Several days before the fire…

Flashback

Mackenzie woke up drowsy and unaware of her surroundings. The lab coats had drugged her again. She hated the experiments. The sting of the ice cold needle piercing your skin, the horrible feeling of the chemicals injected in your body running through you veins. It sickened her. Which was why she always resisted. As long as there was a living breath in her body, she was determined to fight back. That's was why they always knocked her out. Whether it was forcing her to swallow a drug to render her unconscious, or having an Eraser beat her unconscious, the lab coats had always found a way. At least she managed to send several lab coats to the hospital before she was knocked out.

The rest of the V wasn't in their cages so she assumed they were still being experimented on. She nonchalantly made her way over to the bars of her cages, strumming her fingers over them, when in reality, she was slowly loosening them from the floor of the cage. She and the V knew that the lab coats had installed security cameras so they could watch what they did, but they also found out that the cameras only filmed their actions, and not the sound. This made it easier to prepare a plan. A plan to escape the Lab.

The slow creak of a door made her look up from playing with the bars of the cage and step back into the middle of the cage. Two men walked through the door and toward her cage. Mackenzie recognized one of the men as a lab coat that usually overlooked her experimenting. At the sight of him, she tightly clenched her fists. The other man however was a mystery. With brown hair, blue eyes, and a seemingly warm and kind expression, the stranger looked to be a caring father. But Mackenzie knew better than that. The moment he had walked into the room, she had smelled the odor of chemicals and other foreign substances on him. There was even a hint of something else. What was the thing Nina had told her about? Cookies. Yes, the other smell was definitely cookies.

He didn't appear very dangerous or harmful, but she knew behind those dorky glasses was a manipulative and calculating scientist. One capable of killing her. She kept her expression cool and stony as they arrived in front of her, both examining her to the point that she wanted to just cover herself up. The lab coat finally spoke.

"This is experiment ERIF-003. She was the first experiment to come out 100% successful and has been with us for many years." He said as he gestured to Mackenzie.

She scoffed and crossed her arms. "Experiment ER-whatever has a name you know."

The stranger, she was going to call him 'Cookie Man' for now, raised arched an eyebrow, making him look like a scientist more than ever.

"And what," he asked, "would your name be?"

She rolled her eyes. "Like I would tell you."

The lab coat quickly ended the dispute by glaring at Mackenzie before turning to Cookie Man and saying, "I do apologize Mr. Batchelder. This experiment has a, uh, small rebellious streak."

Cookie Man nodded. "I assure you, it's okay. We have an experiment back at our place that is almost exactly the same way. All you need is a little trust and respect."

Mackenzie held in the snort that had threatened to come out. Yeah right. She would trust him the day kids could fly- Oh wait. Never mind.

"If it's alright with you," Cookie Man continued, "I'd like to have a private chat with this young lady."

She almost did a double take. Did he just call her a lady? 'All in his plan', she reminded herself, 'All in his plan'.

The lab coat nodded and left the room, leaving just the two of them.

"Look," Mackenzie said, "Let's get somethings straight, huh? I am, and will never be a 'lady'. And if you think your stupid 'trust and respect' plan is going to win me over, then you have another thing coming."

Cookie Man smiled and replied, "Of course. I just wanted to let you know that you are very special."

"Why thank you. I think you're special too. Special needs that is. Don't bother wasting your time with me."

Cookie Man nodded and handed her a small card. On it, were the words: Jeb Batchelder. Let the fire grow within you. You were meant to burn bright. And tell Maximum Ride I send my love.

Mackenzie looked up, confused and perplexed at what his words meant, only to find the room empty again. She tucked the card inside her shoe. She would tell the V about the strange man later. Right now, she had cage bar loosening to do.

Only she never got a chance to tell the V about the strange man, who smelled of foreign chemicals and cookies. Because several days later, the Lab burned down, destroying everything and everyone in it. Except for her.

You were meant to burn bright…

I decided to post this one earlier than planned so the next chapter may be slightly delayed.

I had fun writing the flying scene for Proudhollow. I hope I did it justice.

If you have scene suggestions, please tell me in a review or just review in general because you love me. ^_^ (Not in that way...)

Thank you for your kind reviews and please review if you have the time.

Ugh... I just took the ACT so I feel like crap. Happy Chinese New Year and hope you had a better Saturdy than me！

Less than three,

PalmerPie