Hey people, sorry I took so long to update this, I've been busy.

Oh and I seriously need to get into the habit of this but I'm putting a claimer/disclaimer on my stories now.

Claimer: I own this plot line/all the original characters... so back off you pack of thieving jackals! They are my cool fictional family! -fights of jackals with a pointy stick-

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you've heard of before... Maximum Ride and all the characters in those books... telephones... girl guide cookies... radios... chocolate... cheese... any and all of that stuff... I don't own that stuff. (Even though I do own a telephone, a radio and there are about 7 different types of cheese in my fridge... seriously... my brothers LOVE cheese... so do I actually... I'm going to go eat some cheese....)

Chapter 7
(Lilith's POV)

I sat in the living room with Iggy as the others tried to figure out what to do. I clung to him and he hugged me close. I was so scared, someone had kidnapped Fang, and I wanted him back!

I didn't even realize that I was crying, but Iggy shushed me and rocked me as he tried to comfort me. "Come on Lili, Fang will be okay, trust me. Oh, don't cry, please, stop crying," he started to beg.

I tried to stop, I really did, but I couldn't. I couldn't stop thinking about him. I felt another set of arms wrap around me and Kari lifted me up and held me close, "Come on, sweetheart. Are you hungry? Do you want some cookies?"

I shook my head, tears still streaming down my face. "Fang wouldn't let me eat cookies at this time of night," I said, my voice breaking and she bounced me a little on her hip.

She smiled, "Ya, but when girls are upset, they usually eat junk food and watch TV to get their minds off their troubles. Come on, we'll go watch a movie and eat cookies with Nudge and Casey. Would you like that?" She asked me and I nodded.

Iggy shook his head at Kari, "That's the worst lesson I've ever heard, when you're upset: stuff yourself with junk food and watch a movie."

"Hey, shut up, I happen to not be some sort of super enhanced bird kid who has lived on the streets. I still get upset and cry so you just leave us alone," Kari said, her eyes swimming with tears.

"Are you upset 'bout Fang too?" I asked her, my sobs quieting a little.

She nodded, "He helped save me, and there is no way to repay him for that. Now he's gone and I can't shake the feeling that it's my fault." Tears left her eyes and she looked at me, almost expecting me not to understand.

I didn't understand how it could be her fault, after all Randle was after me. I broke into silent sobs at the thought that someone would take away Fang because of me.

(Fang's POV)

In my dreams I drifted all over the place, my mind was jumbled in a haze of chaos. Memories and visions fazed in and out of each other and my mind rebelled against it. I could see Lilith crying in Iggy's arms and I wasn't sure if it was a memory or if it was happening right now.

Some of the pictures were getting blurrier, fading and changing. It hurt my head as if I was trying to see something through fogged glasses. The harder I tried, the more annoying it was and the more my eyes strained. I wished I could just rip the glasses off.

My head pounded and somewhere in the distance I heard the words, "Hey, freak, wake up."

I groaned as I broke through the faded memories and visions and found myself in the same room as before. My blood was still on the sheets and the cut in my wrist stung, but it had stopped bleeding.

I looked at the man there and he looked down at me. It was Kari's dad for sure. "You helped my daughter get away from me, right?"

I nodded; I didn't feel like speaking was a good idea right now.

"You know where she is then, right?" Kari's dad said looking down at me.

I slowly shook my head, yes, I was lying, but I wasn't about to give away that information.

I was punched hard across my face, but I didn't show the pain. "Yes, you do, you lying scum. Where is she?"

"I don't know," I said and I felt a hard punch to my gut. I sucked in a breath, he had successfully winded me.

"Don't lie to me, where is she?" he demanded again.

"I don't know!" I yelled in anger and got another punch to the face.

"Michael," Randle's voice startled me and I struggled to breathe even though my chest ached. Kari's dad looked at him, anger and surprise on his face. "Leave," Randle said; his eyes full of anger and Kari's dad left.

"Sorry, he shouldn't be in here, but whatever, how are you today, Fang?" Randle said cheerfully.

"Bite me," I growled.

"Aww, don't be like that, Fang, this will be over within a few days tops. You're vampire family will be dead, the flock will be in the school, Kari will be back with her dad and you, your little 'sister,' all the others with weird powers, and I will be up in the school's secret lab in the mountains figuring out what makes you tick. Oh, and your little human friends might just come along for the ride. Who knows, they could prove to be useful in experiments," he said smugly.

I felt sick, they were going to destroy everyone I loved and cared about. I didn't say that about every single flock member had 'weird powers' but that made me worry. How far would they go to figure out what it was that made us who we were?

I needed to get out of here. I pulled on my restraints and he laughed, "It's only a matter of time Fang."

"Go to hell!" I yelled at him and he chuckled and patted my leg, which my leg responded to by pulling against my restraints and trying to push his hand away with my leg. Randle chuckled, his head shaking back and forth and he left the room.

(Max's POV)

I didn't get back until early in the morning. I'd been searching all night, flying above Forks for the slightest hint of Fang, but there was nothing.

I landed in the backyard and nearly collapsed I was so tired. Alice was with me in a second. Her cold skin made my nerves jump awake a little, but not enough. I leaned onto her. "Are you okay Max? You look completely wiped out," Bella said, gracefully walking down the steps from the back door.

I nodded, as Alice brought me inside. I sat down on a chair, my head in my arms. "I couldn't find any trace of him."

Alice nodded, "I saw a few visions, but nothing to tell me where he is."

"What did you see?" I asked her; maybe I could tell where he is.

Alice glanced at Bella, "Um, well… Randle was there, and Kari's dad… and Kari's dad wanted to know where Kari was, and they said something about a wolf called Blaine… but there is no wolf in the pack by that name…."

"Not in your pack," Emeric said, sighing. He walked through the kitchen door and sat down at the table and sighed, "We've got a problem."

"What?" I asked sleepily.

He took a deep breath, "My brother's name is Blaine. He's the leader of our pack and he doesn't like the fact that you and Fang are buddies if you know what I mean. Basically, he's going to try to catch you guys with Fang as bait."

"You didn't say this before because?" Alice said, sounding extremely frustrated.

"Well, one I thought I could convince him to do otherwise, and I thought I could save Fang without having any problems. I failed unfortunately," he grumbled.

Alice sighed, "Well, do you have any idea where he would be?"

"No, my brother is smart enough to know not to trust me with too much, but I assume he's still in town somewhere," Emeric said, sounding very frustrated with himself.

I closed my eyes, "Max, you need to go sleep." Alice said and I felt her cold arms around me; lifting me from the chair.

In a millisecond I was being tucked under covers and she brushed hair from my face, "Sleep now Max, we'll tell you everything when you wake up."

Her voice faded into oblivion and the second it was gone bright lights burned my retinas.

Maximum, the voice echoed through my head.

Oh, crap, here we go. I mentally sighed, and I was so sure I was through with you.

Not quite, you still have to save the world, and to save it you need 002. The voice said as pictures flashed sickeningly fast across my eyes. They were too fast to see clearly, they were merely lights flashing at me.

002? I wondered.

You know him better as Fang, the voice added.

Why would you call him 002 anyways? I asked as the lights started to make me a little dizzy.

Well, it's his knowledge of the school that will help you save the world, the voice said as if it was obvious.

What knowledge does he have that the rest of us don't have? I asked feeling a little worried.

He is the only one who knows about Project Careo Gaudium, the voice said.

What's 'Project Careogaudium'? I asked the voice feeling like a complete idiot.

Not Careogaudium, its two words, Careo Gaudium. It's a project the school had been working on for a while when you were younger. Do you remember a time when Fang would be taken from the group? And after they brought him back he'd lie in his cage, just staring into space for about 2, 3 hours and he'd stay like that?

I felt like shuddering. I was starting to get used to the bright lights, Yes, I remember, it freaked the crap out of us. What was the point of the project?

The project centered on the brain. They wanted to try and stop a certain amount of brain waves that emit a certain amount of energy. These brain waves make us different; they make us who we are. They depict how we react and how we cope with things.

Okay you really need to specify. What kind of brain waves are we talking about? What are they exactly? I asked, feeling very confused.

Maximum, think about it! For a long time what did Fang lack? Why did he not feel the need to speak? Why did he not want to become closer friends? Why did he not open up until only a while ago? Why did he not trust anyone? I could tell the voice was getting frustrated with my slowness.

Look, I don't know all the answers. Fang is Fang; he is just the strong and silent type, that's that, I said back, nothing was ever wrong with Fang.

Maximum, they tried to stop his emotions. The voice said and I think it actually sounded upset. The Latin translation of Careo Gaudium is 'to be deprived of happiness.' They started out trying to stop him from thinking positive thoughts and slowly started trying to take away all emotions. They tried to make him not have any happiness, joy, trust, love… all those are positive thoughts and they tried and halfway successed in turning them off… in Fang anyways.

After the flock escaped they turned to another experiment and succeeded in taking away all emotion from a living being, but it's not permanent, you would need to be given the shot at least twice a month. You fought the final result of the experiment in Germany. Omega had no opinions, no happiness, he couldn't be depressed and he had no conscious. He just did what they told him to do.

They are now thinking about giving it to soldiers so that they will not be traumatized after war. They are also thinking about using what they did to Fang as a weapon. When a person is depressed they don't perform as well as they should. That was the point of the project, to find a way to take away a person's happiness and make it a weapon.

My thoughts instantly tried to deny it and prove it. Fang was silent, he kept to himself and he didn't trust anyone because we grew up like that. We all did, but that would explain so much. His lack of feeling towards other people could be because of that project. How until a while ago he wouldn't have help people unless he knew them, or I told him to. Is that why he's changed? How come he never told us what happened in there?

Well first of all, there are side effects. Fang has what the whitecoats have now called 'silent nightmares.' They're nightmares that extremely frightening, but the person's body doesn't react; only the brain reacts. Usually when people have nightmares they tend to try to move or scream; Fang simply didn't react.

Also, they told him the only way they'd stop testing was if he died and if he ever said anything about the project, they'd stop testing on him and start on a different member of the flock, if you get what I mean. Plus the fact that one of the project's side effects is minor memory loss.

The reason why it's stopped over the years is that he had lack of exposure. They couldn't make it permanent; the only way to keep him unfeeling was the weekly sessions that he went to, and even that was an overdose of it. He only needed the treatment once a month but they gave it to him once a week.

After a few years of being away from the treatment he started to feel more, open up more, trust people more. All the feelings Fang is feeling now are relatively new to him, but he can't really tell, because it's been so gradual. The voice said as the images were slowing down. I saw a younger Fang; pictures of his childhood in a lab were passing through my head.

Ever wondered why Fang is afraid of needles? The voice asked me as several pictures of Fang being given shots with whatever toxic crud they were putting in him by whitecoats passed by my eyes. Now you know.

Urgh, I think I'm going to be sick. I thought in disgust. My mind suddenly had an epiphany. Is this why his visions didn't show up until now and why he suddenly lashes out with emotion?

Yes, it's kind of ironic, because repressing his emotions actually saved him from many years of the whitecoats poking and prodding him as they tried to figure out his natural gift, the voice said.

Okay, so how does his knowledge of Project Careo Gaudium help me save the world? I asked the voice.

Well, as you saw in Germany the school has pretty much perfected it and is now trying to find a way to make a deal with the military to give the serum that takes away all emotions to their soldiers and use the serum that takes away people's happiness as a weapon. If they do the world will be thrown into chaos. People will be so depressed they can't move. That's why Fang couldn't move for so long after treatment, it overpowers your brain and all you can think about is depressing thoughts.

The picture froze just then, and I wanted to cry out in agony at the picture in front of my eyes. This was Fang in the present. He was lying restrained in a bed, a deep cut in his right arm and a pool of blood around it. He looked pale, way too pale, I'd guess from blood loss or lack of food. He had a bruise starting on his left cheek; from what I don't know.

In order to save the world, you have to save Fang, and time is running out.

A/N: Ooo suspense... kind of... not really... but sort of... ANYWAYS... hi... reviewing time now? Yes? No? Yes?? Yes? Come on... you know you want to... -creepy smile- yes? I'll stop creepy smiling if you review...

...no guarantees though.