Sorry for the long wait, I got terribly distracted, but I plan to do some more work on this story now. -Tygger3389

Everyone's jaws dropped and Max sputtered, "W-what…?"

"That's right, Maximum," he smiled at her, snatching the photograph from her hand, "Our dear, special little Mathew here, is your very own little brother. And I made you forget him, your parents too, forgot their only son. As for the rest of you, all I had to do was make you believed that Max had been with you your entire lives. Easy, if you have the right equipment, which naturally, I do."

"But then…?" Fang frowned, "How long has Max been with us?"

"A little over two years." The man shrugged.

"Why?" Max demanded, "Why would you replace our memories? Why not just kill me?"

"Simple." He shrugged, "Itex paid me a lot of money for your recapture when the bought out The School. Don't ask why. I didn't."

"What do you want with her now?" Jeb glared at him.

"That's also simple," He shrugged, "You see, Max, your little family has up and disappeared. I need you to remember where they would go."

"Let me get this straight." Max gave him a look of disbelief, "You just told me that I at one point had two children and of those two children, one is still alive. And you want me to help you find her? Are you nuts! Wait, no, don't answer that!"

The man raised an eyebrow, "Is that a no?"

"I may not remember having kids," Max snarled, "But that doesn't make me any less of a parent. So take me very seriously when I say, if you so much as look at my kid or anyone I care about, I will hunt you down and kill you in the most painful way imaginable."

The man said nothing more, he simply nodded, turned and strutted out of the room. Dr. Martinez turned to Max with a look of appreciation, "Keep that speech in mind for when this daughter of yours starts dating."

"I think I played the over protective parent very well," Max nodded, "Now, we need to get out of here so I can find this mystery child."

"And your brother," Jeb added, frowning a little, undoubtedly thinking of his other son.

However, Max wasn't cutting him any slack because Ari had died, she glared accusingly at her father, "You're sure you didn't know about this?"

"He didn't know, Max," Angel cut in, sounding unsure about weather or not she actually wanted to defend Jeb. She sighed, frustrated that she'd been fooled for so long, "I would have told you if any of us knew."

For the first time in ages, Angel sounded like her sweet little girl again, but then, had she ever actually been her little girl? Max couldn't stop herself from reaching out to pat the child's perfect blond curls, anyways, "I know you would have, sweetie."

"So, uh," Gazzy hesitated, "How exactly do we get out of here?"

Max surveyed the room and thought, there were no windows, only one door and walls that with a quick rap of the knuckles, revealed themselves to be metal reinforced. Unless they started finding really big vents somewhere, the only way out was to open the door. Iggy scoffed when she said as much, "No vents? That explains why it's so stuffy in here. Gaz, try to control yourself, okay?"

"Ew! Oh my god, yes!" Nudge squealed, "I didn't think of that, Ig! Please don't, Gazzy, that would be so gross!"

"Nudge," Fang frowned, "He won't, he'd gas himself too."

Nudge quieted down a little, but she kept giving Gaz little sideways glances. The look he returned made Max consider the idea that he'd risk his own lungs just to stir up some trouble. Max strode over to the door, casually trying the handle, though as expected, the door was locked. "I don't like the idea of going out there blind but… Ig, do you think you can get this open?"

"Can fish swim?" He countered, "Everyone empty your pockets."

Doing as he said, they all dug into their pockets, dropping the contents on the table. There wasn't much that would be useful, mostly garbage, gum wrappers, elastic bands, a pen, bits of electrical wire and pocket lint, but Ella managed to yield a bobby pin. Curving the pin into a slight hook, Iggy set to work on the door, his sensitive fingers barely seeming to even move as he gently nudged the lock tumblers into just the right places. After what seemed like hours, but was probably only minutes, Iggy stood up, satisfied with his work, "That should do it. Ready?"

Max grabbed the file of pictures off the table and nodded, "Lets do this."

Seemingly in slow motion, the door handle turned easily in Iggy's hand and, with a gentle push, swung freely open.

Review please :D appreciation makes me write faster. -Tygger3389