Disclaimer: Sky does not own any of the Maximum Ride series. At all. Zip. Zero. She does have all the books in her home library, though, if that counts for anything.

"A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down."

- Arnold H. Glasgow

I stared at the file on the floor, trying to process what this was exactly. This file could be anything. I knew Max worked at the same company back in New York, but what was a file for her doing here, in California? It made no sense at all.

My hands shook as I picked up the file again. Should I open it? I mean, we did sign a contract saying we wouldn't open any unauthorized files, and this one had a huge UNAUTHORIZED stamp going across it. If I opened it, I could get fired…

Ah, what the heck am I talking about? Of course I was going to open it.

But not here.

I stuck the file up my shirt and made my way back to Dr. Emerson's office. I had to check this out in private.

Walking into the office, I was surprised to find it empty. "Uh, guys?"

"Oh, hello Fang!" I whirled around as Dr. Emerson entered his office, followed by a rather perturbed looking Iggy. "I was just giving Iggy here a little chat about our different company policies." He forced a smile. "We're at a mutual understanding now, aren't we, Mr. Griffiths?" I saw Iggy nod, rather reluctantly, it looked like. Huh, this was weird.

"Well I think you boys have worked enough for today. What do you say about me treating you to some coffee? I won't accept no as an answer." He shooed us out the door. "Just wait in the reception room. I'll be down in a minute."

"But-" I couldn't even fit in a response, because he shut the door in our faces. I turned to look at Iggy. "What the heck was that about?"

"Not here." Iggy looked around furtively. "Come on, let's ditch this guy. There is no way I am ever going to go get coffee with him."

"Wait, I know he's creepy, but wouldn't it be polite to just have coffee with the guy?" Okay, I admit, that was a load of crap. I really just wanted to try and get some answers out of this guy as to why a file about my best friend was here.

"Are you nuts?" He looked at me like I was crazy. Honestly, I don't blame him. This was very out of character for me. "That's it. Something's up. You need to see a doctor or something." He grabbed my arm and started to drag me towards the exit.

"Wait, Iggy, listen. Something's up with this place. Look." I pulled out the file from under my shirt.

"What the-" Iggy stared. "Okay, now we really got to get out of here."

"But this guy might have some answers."

"Oh, trust me, Fang. You don't want to talk to this guy." He started to drag me away again. We were about to pass Brigid when he shouted, "Hey, Brigid! We quit!"

"We what?"

"Yep, the Fangster and I are done here! See ya around!" We didn't even wait to hear her response as we headed out the door and towards the truck.

"What the heck! You just blew our chance of ever figuring out what on earth is going on. We had an in, and now it's gone. Great. Thanks, Iggy." Leaning against the truck, I crossed my arms.

"Come on. Get in the truck, Fang."

"I'm not getting in until you admit what a bonehead you are for doing that."

"Oh for crying out loud. You're just as bad as Max sometimes, I'm telling you."

I glared at him, although I admit that Max and I are both pretty stubborn. But don't tell her I said that. "Say it."

Iggy hit his head against the steering wheel. "Fine. I'm a bonehead. But really, I have a reason. Just get in, and I'll tell you."

"Fine." I climbed in, and we sped off. "You want to tell me what happened now?"

He let out a breath. "Okay, so, while you were off doing whatever, I found something in Emerson's office."

"And?"

"It was a file."

"Okay, and? Really, you can be a bit more detailed."

"It had your name on it."

I paused. Interesting. Files with my name and with Max's name. Okay. This was weird. "Do you have it?"

"That's the thing. Emerson stepped out of the office for a minute, so I took the chance to open it. I didn't get very far when he came back and caught me.

Oh, that explained that whole episode from when I got back. "What did he say?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure he threatened me. Unless he actually meant that he would teach me a lesson, like, math or something. I don't know. He seems more like a science-y kind of guy…"

"Wait, he actually threatened you? What did you see in the file that was so important to make him do that?"

"Honestly, I saw about three words before he came in. I have no idea what's in it, but it must be something pretty juicy. What have you been hiding, Fang?" He wiggled his eyebrows at me.

I rolled my eyes in return. "This is serious. What were the three words you saw? There's got to be something we can go off of."

"I don't remember. It was more like a bunch of numbers or something. 100 or something like that."

Well that wasn't something we could work with. "Let's just get to school."

"We have an hour and a half before it starts, Fang."

Oh, right. We didn't stay at work for the normal two and a half hours. "Great, that means we've got time to look at this," I waved the folder, "before class starts."

"Awesome, that also means we've got time to crash at Sam's place."

I groaned. "You know I can't stand that guy."

"I don't get why. He's awesome. Besides, he's smart. Maybe he can help us with all this." He gestured wildly.

Hesitating, I finally gave in. "Fine, whatever, but we get out of there as soon as possible."

So, I probably seem like a jerk that just hates random people. I'm not, trust me, but there was something about this Sam guy that rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe it was the fact that he just started school this year. Maybe it was that he had somehow weaseled his way into our video chat group. Maybe it was how he always looked at Max weird…

Nah, must be something else.

Anyway, we arrived at his house half an hour later (blame traffic), and Iggy took out the spare key from under the welcome mat. Yeah, Iggy was over here a lot nowadays. Might have to do with the fact that Sam was loaded and had an indoor swimming pool and hot tub.

"Yo, Sam! Mind if we crash here for a bit?" He yelled up the stairs. No answer. Huh, guess he was still sleeping. "Why yes, Iggy, make yourself at home. And feel free to eat everything in the fridge." Iggy mock spoke as he opened the fridge and took out a jar of pickles. Plopping on the leather sofa, he gestured towards the folder. "So, let's take a look at this thing, shall we?"

I opened it up. This thing was stacked with papers. There was no way we could get through it in just an hour. Dividing the stack in half, I gave a pile to Iggy. "Here, look for something important."

"You got it, sir." And with that, we got busy.

The first pages I looked at were not helpful. It was all just a bunch of code, not anything I could understand. It wasn't until I got to page sixteen when I found something I could look at. It was labeled "BIOGRAPHY: EXPERIMENT 108A AND ITS HISTORY." Well that was certainly eye-catching. What did all this mean? I looked at the next page.

"4/18: Experiment 108A has been fully developed. DNA suppressors have been applied. Expected emergence: eighteen years."

"5/30: Experiment underwent testing. Regenerative capabilities. Suppressors applied. Reemergence in: eighteen years."

"6/15: Experiment 108A shows attachment to companion, as expected. Studies show strong link. Must undergo further testing."

"7/12: 108A shows high problem solving skills. Protective nature over other experiments."

"7/21: 108A shows quick development rate.

"7/23: Drug found to counteract overdevelopment. Administered to all 108 types. Expected results: regular growth rate."

"8/01: Developmental drug: success"

"9/17: Link between 108A and 108B still strong. Appears to be growing with further interaction."

"10/16: Members for test #250 assigned."

"10/17" Experiment 108A begins test #250. Physical separation: eighteen years. Communication separation: six years."

"10/20: Experiment 108A becomes domestic. Acts normal in natural environment."

"!0/22: Full Implementation of test #250. Parents: Dr. Jeb Batcheldor and Dr. Marian Janssen. Siblings: N/A Given Experiment Name: Maximum."

There was more after that, but I couldn't tell you what it was, because that's when I stopped reading.

"So, Max is an experiment."

I nodded.

"She's not normal."

I nodded.

"There are others like her."

I nodded again.

"Man, this is just too weird."

Once again, I could only nod.

It was a little after nine in the morning at that point. Iggy had fallen asleep as soon as I handed him his stack, so he had no new information to give me. We had also missed our first hour of school, but I didn't care.

Max was an experiment. Of what, I had no idea.

My best friend, the one I knew since first grade, was not the girl I thought I knew.

Had she been lying to me this whole time? Did she know what she was and not tell me? What if she didn't know? Do I tell her? Of course I do, she deserves to know. But how would that impact her? She would fall apart. I know I would if it were me.

After I had gone through the little biography of Experiment 108A, or better yet, known to me as the Maximum Ride, I sat there for the last forty-five minutes, looking through it again, processing the information. It was all a little much to take in, and we hadn't even gone through the entire folder yet. Who knew what was waiting for us in the rest of it.

"So, did Sam ever come down?"

I looked up at Iggy. "Uh, no, I don't think so." Honestly, I had completely forgotten about Sam.

"Oh, I'll go see if he's in his room. Maybe he just slept in because his parents are out of town."

I nodded, not really paying much attention. I reached for the file again, afraid to look inside, but unable to keep myself from doing so. There were so many mysteries in here, so many secrets, and they all started unraveling before me. Who knew about these things? Not many, I figured. The public probably wouldn't be cool with human experimentation. How were these scientists able to pull it off without anyone knowing? They must have some serious funding. Probably some corruption somewhere. How far up the chain of command did this go? There was no way they could pull this off on their own.

My phone rang, startling me from my thoughts. Pulling it out, I noted that it was Max. Oh goodness, here we go. "Hey, Max. I was just-"

"Fang?" I heard her voice crack a little bit. Was she crying?

Max never cries.

"Max, what's wrong?" My voice turned serious.

I heard her voice crack again. She was crying but trying her best to hide it, I could tell. She coughed over the phone. "Angel, she's-I don't even know. Something weird is going on, Fang. I can't find my dad. Marian's dead, I don't even know what I am anymore-"

"Woah, Max. Slow down."

"I can't. Look. I know this is a lot to ask you, and I wouldn't if it was really important, but could you- wait." Her voice was full of surprise. "What are you doing here?" She wasn't talking to me anymore. "I had no idea you were in town. He- wait. Angel? Oh- what? What are you- No, you don't want to do this. Stop. Seriously, put that down or I will dropkick your-" Her sentence was cut off when I heard a loud boom on the other end. I heard the phone fall from her hand. "Fang." Her voice sounded distant and weak."I-" The phone went dead.

Well crap.

I was still standing in the middle of the room with the phone plastered to my ear when Iggy came back down. "I don't think he's home. Oh well. We'll just- hey, what's up? It's like you just witnessed a murder or something."

I put the phone down and looked Iggy straight in the eye. "I think someone just kidnapped Max." I took a breath, trying to calm myself down. "We've stumbled into something big, Igs. We gotta get her back."

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