I groaned theatrically, even though on the inside my stomach was churning and my heart rate was speeding up. It was her again – my fake mother who had almost wrecked my life with the belief that I was actually related to her. She also had, apparently, arranged something important for today. Joy.

"Big day? Today?" I asked, feigning innocence. "No, I don't think so, somebody forgot to tell me. Oh my gosh – is it prom?"

Her expression changed to one of slight annoyance. Ha. "I see you haven't changed a bit," she said in her classic clipped tone.

I raised an eyebrow. "Neither have you. Same drab fashion sense, I see. Such a waste – do you know what you could do with that figure after you lifted all the wrinkles and frown lines off of it? You keep covering them up with those baggy suits and skirts, don't you want to-"

"Shut up," she snapped, her fake control already gone. "We have things to do, and you're going to be our guests of honor. I don't suppose that you remember the Chinese scientists that you met?"

"Aren't the ones that wanted to use us as weapons?" Nudge piped up. Fang glanced at me, and I remembered that he hadn't been there for that.

The Director looked at Nudge and frowned. She obviously hadn't expected her to speak. "Yes, those are the ones," she replied after awhile. "They will be here today. They are still interested in the three females and perhaps the other half of you as well. There's no need for one half of you to escape looking for the other half, is there?" She smiled thinly, but it didn't even come close to reaching her eyes. Witch.

"Well," Nudge started, but I glanced at her to stop her from saying something that could hurt us somehow.

"We don't have time for idle chatting," the Director continued, narrowing her eyes at me like I was the one that was going to try to destroy the world. She obviously had things backwards. "Everyone will be arriving here shortly."

"Wait, everyone?" I blurted out. "What's going on?" All my senses cranked up one more notch, sending me into hyper awareness. Whenever someone from Itex says those words, chances are that something really bad is going to happen. Like, worse than normal bad.

"I'm holding a debate," she said, her tone ice cold. "This nonsense has gone on for far too long. You need to be either exterminated or kept prisoner until you are convenient. There will be no more freedom. You must be reined in."

Hate surged through me, but I managed not to jump up and punch her lights out. It wouldn't do us any good. My fists clenched and unclenched, itching to be wrapped around her neck. "I knew we should have let you drop," I said through gritted teeth.

"Quiet!" she commanded, her own temper flaring. She tried to calm herself by taking a long, slow breath, but it obviously wasn't working. "Get up from the table," she said in a low voice that sounded even angrier than the one she'd used before. "Now."

"Why?" I asked cheekily. "We're so comfy here."

"Because humans need those seats," she answered me, her eyes narrowing into slits. Nudge and Angel looked at me in unison, identical looks of mixed anger and hurt on their faces. You know how on those TV shows, when the busty girl says, "Oh, no she didn't?" Even though I would never say that, this was definitely one of those moments.

"I'm sorry," I said, just as coldly, nearly shaking with rage. "But I don't see any humans in here besides my flock."

A red flush burned her cheeks. "Get out of the chairs," she ordered again.

"No."

She opened her mouth, and then closed it again, looking smug. She went on to say, "Stay here. Do not try to escape or you will be killed, debate or no debate." She stalked out of the door, and I could see that the back of her neck was red with anger. The door slammed behind her, leaving us with silence.

No one spoke for a second before Iggy broke the quiet with, "Well, that went perfectly."

I glared at him, hating again the fact that he couldn't see it. I opened my mouth to tell him exactly what I was thinking when the door opened again. More of the super humans poured inside – six…eight…twelve…twenty. All of this for six little mutant bird kids? They really must not want us to escape.

In unison, six of them lined themselves up behind our chairs. I guessed what was coming and tried to throw myself under the table, but the stupid thing caught me underneath my shoulders and hauled me out of the seat, apparently not caring that he was gripping my arms so tightly I could almost hear the tendons being squeezed. I could see glimpses of my flock being lifted up and out too, and could hear them struggling against the hold. I kicked my holder repeatedly. Why the heck wasn't he letting up? Those kicks should have cracked the kneecaps of an Eraser. These super humans were pretty obviously built tons tougher. Lucky us.

Then, with no warning, he dropped me, and my head cracked against the wall. I saw stars, and blinked my eyes rapidly to try and get my sight back again. Fang and Iggy were dumped next to me, and I could see Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel across the room. Gazzy's eyes met mine, and I could tell that even though he was trying to be brave, he was scared. We all were scared.

Once again at the same time, the super humans produced gags out of – well, somewhere – and tied them around our mouths without much difficulty, even though we were fighting against them tooth and nail. No matter how many punches I landed on them or how many scratches Nudge raked into one with her nails, they didn't seem to feel any of it. The gags were forced into our mouths and tied tightly. Mine was so tight that it was impossible to breathe through my mouth without gagging. I guess that's the point, I thought, rolling mental eyes. Ha ha. I don't see the humor.

I was also really antsy. I wanted to get out of here now while the Director was gone, but there was no way that we could take twenty of those super human things. We'd be eaten alive – probably literally if they were as bad as Erasers.

"Yes, this room here," I could hear the Director say in an overly important voice. Her voice was muffled through the door. I tensed. She was obviously bringing back people. "Oh, Maria, I love those shoes…Yes, feel free to sit anywhere." It was all I could do not to gag at how much she was sucking up. Puh-lease.

A long line of men and women in fancy suits or skirts filed in to the room. Most of them were eying us like we were something tasty to be eaten. The few who weren't staring apparently decided we weren't worth the time of day, and barely glanced at us. All of them looked like they had some major sticks up their butts. I could spot the Chinese scientists – they were among the people staring – and other people that were definitely not from the U.S.

Marian Janssen came in last, a fake smile plastered on her face. Her eyes flicked toward me for a split second, and I swore I saw a flash of smugness at the sight of me on the floor. At that moment, if I looked into the Mirror of Erised like in Harry Potter, I swear that I would see her dead. Well, okay, not dead. But suffering in some way.

Marian took her place at the head of the table, nearest to the projector screen. The fake smile was still stretching her face. It hurt me to watch her. She looked like a less busty Barbie smiling like that, seriously. "Welcome," she said in a sugar sweet voice that matched her smile. "You – the Directors of all the major Itexes – have come here today to decide the fate of what were once our most important experiments." She glanced at Angel quickly, and I frowned, wondering what was going through her head.

"I present to you," she said to the assembled goody goodies, "a video of these failed experiments. Watch closely." She clicked a remote, and the lights dimmed. One more click, and the projector screen rolled down and lit up. The people shifted to get a better view, and one lady moved her chair right in front of me. I tried to sigh in exasperation, but it was hard with the gag. So much for seeing whatever video she was going to show.

Even though I couldn't see it, I could hear the video start. I could hear echoing sounds of a fight going on, and then I heard my voice. "Get them out of here!" my voice yelled. Then it clicked, and I realized what they were viewing. The echoing, the fight sounds – they were watching the sewer fight. The fight where I had killed Ari.

I felt suddenly sick, and was glad that I couldn't see the screen.

I could feel Fang turn to look at me, and I cocked my head slightly so that I could see him out of the corner of my eye. He was looking at me with as much concern as Fang does, and I knew that he had recognized what they were watching too. Are you okay? He asked me with his eyes. I tried to let the corner of my mouth droop as much as it could with the gag. He could take that as whatever he wanted.

It was right then that I heard it – the stomach turning crack that meant I had just broken Ari's neck. I blocked out Ari's strangled whisper – hearing it once was enough. I closed my eyes briefly and took a long, deep breath. It only helped to ease about a millionth of the tension that was coiling my muscles, cramped in a sitting position against the wall. I opened my eyes again, and immediately looked over at my little kids. Angel and Gazzy were staring at the screen, eyes wide, and I realized what they had just watched all over again – their leader, mother stand in, Max, killing who was supposed to be –

"You killed your own brother!" yelled Jeb on the projector.

Right on cue.

But Nudge wasn't watching the projector screen. She was watching me, her big brown eyes locked on to mine. I could tell that she was trying to reassure me, and I felt horrible that she was the one trying to reassure me that it would be okay.

Finally, finally, the clip ended. It couldn't have happened sooner. The woman in front of me shifted her chair again, and I could see Itex's logo on the screen now. The lights came back on, and Marian stood back up.

"Now, let's open the debate," she said. "It is open to anyone who wishes to participate."

"Excuse me," said a man with a heavy Russian accent. "Could I ask just one question before we start?"

"Of course," the Director said. Her tone was so nice I rolled my eyes. That was so obviously fake.

"What are these guards that you have here?" he asked, his voice interested. "I've never seen anything like them."

"Ah," she said, and I could tell that she had been hoping someone would ask. "Those are our latest achievements. We call them Animins, a combination of the Latin words animus and minor."

All of the scientists in the room stirred and began talking amongst themselves excitedly. Obviously these words meant something to them, but to me, the bird kid who never learned Latin, they were all gibberish to me.

"Do you mean to say-" began a woman in an English accent.

"Yes," Marian said proudly. "We have succeeded in locating the soul and removing it from the body."

My stomach dropped out from my body and my blood ran cold. It made sense now, that deadened look that I had seen in Little Boy Blue's eyes and Jeb's words at Mom's, back when he had told me that we were the only mutants left with souls. He really had meant that literally. It wasn't that the new experiments were stupid or even just cruel. They didn't even have souls.

Fang and I looked at each other in shock. This was way low, even for Itex. It made me wonder. What would it be like, to be alive without a soul?

"Now," the Director started again. "If we could begin the debate…"

"I, for one, think that they should be terminated immediately," said the Russian man, and I made a mental note that he was on the extra bad side of Itex.

"Are you insane?" said a woman with an American accent. Her voice sounded way too familiar. I craned my neck and saw with a jolt that it was Anne – looking extremely official and worried for our sake. It was probably an act. "We can't just terminate them, there's so much that we can learn – and you do realize that we're talking about their fate right in front of them?" I blinked in surprise. I hadn't thought that she would actually care about that. A quick glance at Iggy and Fang showed that they felt the same shock.

"And exactly what can we learn?" asked the Russian man again. "We already know from reading the reports that they resist experimentation; they openly mock the scientists; what more do you want me to say?"

"It doesn't mean that we should kill them!" Anne exclaimed. "Let them go, what harm are they going to do? I could monitor them!" Whoa, whoa, whoa, lady, hold up. We're not going anywhere with you. Not after last time.

"I, for one, agree with Anne," said the woman with an English accent.

"Thank you," said Anne, leaning back in her seat as if that settled everything.

"But," the woman continued. "I don't think that they should be released, or that Anne should be their sole monitor. I think that they should be kept alive at the England Itex branch."

"I believe that you're mistaken," said yet another man coldly. He had no accent, but he was obviously Asian. "They should be immediately terminated. And Anne, if I may be so bold, the last experiment at your home did not exactly go as planned." Anne's face flushed, and she shrank back into her chair looking pretty ashamed. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. On the one hand, she was sticking up for us living, which, you know, I was all for. On the other hand, she was probably all set up to betray us back to the School.

Choices, choices.

"Couldn't we just dissect them all and end this nonsense?" asked the Russian man. "This is ludicrous, honestly. Why are we even taking in to consideration the feelings of experiments?"

Marian stood. "I think it is time to escort said experiments out," she said, glancing our way. She clapped her hands twice, and the Animins hauled us to our feet and practically dragged us to the door. The faces of all the directors followed us in unison as, one by one, we were tossed out into the hallway. The door slammed behind us, and sadly, the six Animins didn't leave. So much for being able to untie our gags.

Max. Do it now. Kill Fang. It would be easy…just reaching out. A well placed kick or punch would end it forever. It was that voice, back again. And, to my horror, I could see it for a split second – my hands closing around Fang's throat. I shuddered violently away from it mentally. No. No, no, no. There was absolutely no way.

But how much more could I take of this?

I could tell that this was going to be the longest few minutes – or hours - of my life.

Marian's POV

"The debate is now closed," she said imperiously, standing from her chair. "It is now time to take a vote." She surveyed the Directors with varying degrees of interest. "All in favor of exterminating the avians, please raise your hand."

One by one, several hands around the table rose. There was hardly a need to count them. They were quite obviously in the minority. Gorbachov, the Russian Director, had obviously voted for this option. His red, pudgy face was livid as he viewed that he had not won the vote. She allowed herself a brief flash of satisfaction before returning her focus to the task at hand.

"Those for keeping them for experimentation?" More hands were raised. There were slightly more than the hands raised for termination, but still not a majority. A surge of anger swept through her. She had been counting on that! She had specifically influenced the English, Australian, and Japanese Directors to vote for this option, among others, and yet it still had not won. She fought to keep composure. Control. She must be in control.

"And those," - she fought to keep to keep her voice steady and anger-free – "that believe they should be released and monitored?"

Hands went up. Marian counted, her anger growing with each hand. Twenty. Twenty people believed that the flock should be released. It wasn't right. How could this have happened?

"Fine," she said, her teeth beginning to grind. "The flock shall be released."

But not for long. Not if I can help it.

A/N: A HUGE thank you to all who have stuck by me in my slow updating. I apologize profusely. I throw myself at your feet. I PLEAD with you to review!!

Look, I even gave you a seven page chapter! It's extra long!