The Angel Experience
By Holly-Batali
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the original Maximum Ride; Kat and Feng Chi are mine only. All credit to original characters goes to James Patterson.
Chapter 2: Termination
Kat was woken by a careless scientist loading her back onto a cart, grunting with the effort of lifting her cage. She waited patiently as she was deposited outside a maze, and her cage was unlatched. Another maze—what else was new?
After an hour and a half in the maze, two hours on the treadmills, and then another three in the pools, testing the scientists theories of 'can the cat swim.' She would have thought this was an obvious 'yes,' since she had swimming for years, and hadn't drowned yet. But these scientists were either very stupid or very bored, possibly a combination of both.
After she had finished all three tasks, she was allowed to go back to the storage unit where all the experiments were held. She curled up in her cage, trying to take a nap. Feng Chi had told her a few years ago about "The City" outside of the lab. "It's the most beautiful place in the world," he had said, "and they have some of everything; great food, music, weather... And the buildings are incredible! The apartment buildings alone..." of course, he had to describe music, architecture, and apartment, but then Kat thought she understood: there was an entire world outside of hers that she knew nothing about. There were whole countries--another word Feng Chi had to describe--that she had never even heard of! Of course, as a test subject, she didn't hear much of the local gossip, but still...
Then, she had asked the million-dollar question: "Does it have a name?" It did: Seattle. Seattle...
She was startled out of her musings as a burly scientist came up to her, reached in and grabbed her by the scruff of her neck, and dragged her out of her cage. She gave a surprised yelp--a high-pitched mew for her--and then began to hiss furiously. The scientist ignored her and threw her into another cage, this one doubling as a cart.
"I don't suppose you're going to tell me what's going on," she hissed vehemently, and was shocked to receive an answer.
"You're scheduled for termination," he said with disdain, beginning to wheel the cart away. Kat fought more violently, shaking and kicking the bars; she even tried to bite them, her small but razor-sharp fangs having no affect whatsoever. But she was desperate to find an escape before it was too late to run for it.
She could hear Feng Chi behind her, desperately pleading with the scientist, using any excuse he could think of. "...but we still have so much more to learn from her! We have only scratched the surface; if we were to start all over, it could take years to get results such as hers, if we ever got them at all! She could still change some, and we wouldn't be able to observe it!" His Beijing accent became more and more obvious as he became quickly more upset. The scientist got his fingers too close to the bars and Kat sunk her claws into his fingers, drawing blood. He yelled and slammed her head against the bars, drawing back his head rapidly.
They were in the basement now, and Kat could see that they were now joined by three others. They were all male; tall, muscular, and evil in appearance; they were also somehow...wolfish. She found the word, one that Feng Chi had taught her long ago: Erasers. She knew why they were here, and it made her fight even harder. They were here to terminate her.
The scientist dragged her out of the cage, this time with leather gloves. Kat hissed menacingly and felt a pang of proud satisfaction as she saw him flinch and glare. Despite Feng Chi's fervent objections, she was then--quite literally--thrown to the wolves. She smiled a little at Feng Chi, who was practically in tears at this point, and gave a last death glare at the burly scientist. Then she turned to the erasers.