Yay, I'm back! Real short A/N today. Just want some feedback on the before and after sequel idea. Onto the story. Oh, and thanks to Whisper13 for the OC in this chapter!

Fang POV

The nurse had disappeared so Iggy was alone, but his head was cocked. He was listening to something. Fang gave him a questioning look, then realized it was useless.

"What's up, Ig?" Fang asked, sitting beside Iggy.

"I hear crying, over there." Iggy's hand shot out and he pointed directly at a girl across the hall.

Fang saw the girl and was almost shocked. The girl was short and hunched over in her seat. Her shoulders were shaking. She had long-ish auburn hair and she was really skinny. She looked like a younger Libra.

Fang stood and walked over to the girl, he crouched in front of her. He smiled at her and tried to get her attention.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked gently.

The girl raised her head and gasped, she hugged her knees to her chest. Her brown eyes grew wide. She shook her head wildly back and forth.

"Do you have a name?" Fang continued, speaking softly, like he would to Angel or... Libra.

The girl nodded, "Lizzie." she whispered.

"Now, what's wrong? You can tell me." Fang whispered, moving to the seat beside the girl.

"It's, it's- it's my whole life!" Lizzie was sobbing now, "My dad, he was killed, like, years ago. And I was left with my mom, and now- now- now-" she started to cry harder.

"Shh shh." Fang put an arm around the girl's shoulder, "Now, what?"

"Now, she's gone too!" Lizzie wailed, "The cancer took her, now I have nothing. Absolutely nothing!"

She cried, harder, almost out of control. She buried her face in her hands. Fang tried to think of something to say, something he could do to help.

"Hey, it'll be okay. Everything will work out. See, my friend is hurt over there and she's going to fin. You'll be fine, I promise." he told the girl, he felt odd promising something to a stranger, but it felt like the right thing for him too.

"You really think so?" the girl whimpered.

"Yes, I know so. My family's had a lot of bad things happen too, and we're fine now." Fang reassured.

"Thanks, uh, I didn't catch your name." Lizzie said, wiping away her tears.

"It's Fang, glad I could help you." Fang replied, standing.

The girl smiled and waved as she went into the room next to the bench. Fang smiled to himself and returned to Iggy, who was smiling slightly.

"Quite a new person, aren't we, Fang?" Iggy chuckled.

"I guess."

"So, we staying here tonight?"

"Sure."

"Sweet."

The nurses and others let them stay in Libra's room. They slept on the floor. Fang lay thinking about Libra and Lizzie, the girl from the hall, and how they were alike. He drifted to sleep, thinking vaguely of Libra's smile.

Libra POV

I was awake at night, watching Fang and Iggy sleep in the corner of my hospital room. Fang looked calm when he was asleep. His eyes weren't cold and calculating, his face was hard and emotionless. He was relaxed. I smiled at him, slightly shaking my head.

"Oh, Fang..." I mused.

'CRACK!' 'SQUEAK...' 'TAP, TAP, TAP.'

There was sudden murmuring beyond my door, then the squeak as my door cracked open. Fang and Iggy were up in a second, eyes wide. So much for relaxing.

"Stand down, birdies. Then no one gets hurt." a snarly voice growls.

And in walked an Eraser, Jeb, and two other whitecoats. Fang stood ready to fight like hell, I would have too, but I was- you know- trapped in a hospital bed.

"F off, Jeb." I snarled, it sounded overly raspy though.

"I'm sorry, Libra." he whispered, and he nodded to the Eraser, "Go ahead, Ari."

The Eraser walked casually to my bedside, gripping my hand in his clawed paw. He sneered and yanked the I.V. from the back of my hand. I screamed from the sudden pain and surprise.

"Libra!" Fang yelled.

"Take her." Jeb ordered calmly, to the other whitecoats.

"The two whitecoats scurried up to me as I sat up, ready to put up a fight. But they surprised me by stabbing a needle in my neck. I gasped at the sudden prick of the tip. Fang growled and charged the Eraser, Ari. But, Ari had access to the same thing the whitecoats did, and he plunged a needle into Fang's arm. Almost instantly Fang's dark eyes rolled into his head and he collapsed on the tile floor.

"Fang!" I screamed, straining against the whitecoats' grasp.

Ari repeated this with Iggy and soon my only two friends were out cold on the floor. I screamed and pulled against the whitecoats. My eyes started to droop and I was extremely tired. My words slurred and became incoherant.

"I. Hate. You. Jeb." I spoke each word slowly to make sure I was understood.

"I know, Libra. I know." Jeb whispered, his voice faint, " Pym, Banner, bring her. Ari, leave the Avians."

Then everything was quiet and dark, my eyes had shut and I was alone. At least in my head. My head ached, but my body felt absolutely no pain. Ugh, where was I? The ground beneath my back felt cold, but the air above me tasted stale and smelled sterile.

When I opened my weary eyes and blinked at the blurry bars of a cage, it dawned on me. I knew exactly where I was. I was in the School.

-I'd say that deserves a well earned line break. Enjoy! Line break time.-

I lay exhausted on the floor of the dog crate. The whitecoats had just returned me after making me run tests, and I had put a fight. The whitecoats deemed that worthy of electrocution. They had zapped me over and over. The pain was almost unbearable. When they tossed me in the crate, I had just lay where I'd landed.

My breathing was heavy, I was covered in sweat, bruises, and blood. In my head I was still strong, but my body was weak and slowly dying. Now, you may ask why exactly I didn't just blast my way out with my powers. Here's why: the whitecoats weren't stupid, the air was laced with chemicals. If I breathed in the chemicals, which I couldn't exactly avoid, then my powers were in 'off' mode.

Just then, a door opened and I sat up. It was a whitecoat, a female. She strode next to my crate. She knelt down and rested her hand on the bars. I snarled at her, and she jumped back startled. I snapped at her hand and she pulled it away.

"Get away from me!" I growled.

"You don't get it, I'm trying to help you." the whitecoat whimpered.

"That's what they all say." I snapped.

"I'm sorry, Libra." the whitecoat whispered, then she scurried away.

I flopped back down on the cage floor, then cursed because hard-floor-plus-my-head-equals-ouch. I groaned and covered my face with my hands. I tried desperately not to cry, I actually succeeded, surprisingly. I heard the almost silent clang of the door opening...again. In walked my arch enemy, Jeb Batchelder. I wearily climbed to my feet, hunched a little in the crate. I snarled at him, and he unaffected as always. I lunged half heartedly at the bars, reaching for him. I wanted to wring his neck and get out of here.

"Good evening, Libra." Jeb called calmly.

"F off, Jeb." I snarled, my voice hoarse.

Jeb smiled sickly, "I have something rather important to tell you."

"I could care less, cause you're a son of a-" I screamed.

"Now, now. Play nice, Libra." Jeb said, still smiling, "I hope you realize you never left the School. You adventures with the Avian hybrids was all a dream."

"Lies!" I snarled.

"Fine, Libra. Look at your hand, is there a puncture from the I.V.?" Jeb denied.

I glanced at my left hand and where there should have been dried blood and a tiny wound was smooth skin. I gaped, no way. The Eraser had ripped out my I.V., I had bled forever. I remembered it. It had hurt, I swore it had been there a second ago. I quickly composed my face into a glare of hatred.

"It's still a lie." I hissed.

"Libra, your friends are safe in Iowa. They never left, there is no house in Colorado that is home to Avian hybrids. There is no such thing as an Avian hybrid."

"F off, Jeb. I've had enough of your lies." I scoffed, trying not to believe him.

"Libra, I can't leave. You are required for testing." Jeb ignored my snarl.

"I'm not going to do any flippin' tests! I'm not a lab rat, I am a girl! A living, breathing, feeling girl. You stole my life, you b-!"

"That's enough, Libra!" Jeb bellowed, finally angry, "You will come for testing, or I will make sure your unaffected friends become very affected." his voice was low and threatening.

I snarled audibly and lunged at Jeb again. He just chuckled knowing there was no way I could get him. I wanted to tear his throat out and laugh as he slowly died. I wanted revenge for the life he stole from me. I wanted him to die because of the hell he put me through.

No, I wasn't a murderer. I wouldn't kill for no reason. I would have to live with what I was and just deal with everything. Even if I was a freakish mutant now. My mind backtracked again, I wasn't a freak in anyone's eyes except my own. Fang had said that: "Freak?" he snorted, "You're no freak. Not in my eyes, or anyone else's.

I smiled involutarily, Fang. I knew he had to be real, I hadn't dreamed up the Avians. My mind was no where as complex as that, I didn't even know DNA recombining even existed before the School got me.

"Libra, you come with me. I don't want to sedate you." Jeb broke my thoughts.

Liar, I thought, but I spoke a different phrase, "Fine, I'll go take your damn tests, but I want rest when I'm done. Or you won't have your lab girl anymore, 'cause I'll be dead." I growled.

"Jeb nodded as if he understood, then quickly unlocked the crate. As I stepped out willingly, I snarled at him. Again, unfazed. Oh well, Jeb locked his grip on my wrists and led me down the sterile white halls. To the labs, I let the numb sensation take over. I'd feel the pain later, in the cage. I wouldn't give the whitecoats the satisfaction of seeing my pain.

What felt like hours later I was back on the cold steel floor of the cage. I was sore, my legs could barely hold my weight. The whitecoats made me run on the "Treadmill of Doom". They had to drag me back to the cage room, I couldn't stand or walk. I had barely managed a half hearted snarl when the whitecoat, Banner, snapped at me. My head hurt, because he had punched me for the snarl.

I fought how tired I was, I didn't trust the whitecoats to do something to me while I slept. My thoughts wandered, I thought of my friends: human and mutant, which I knew now existed. The whitecoats were trying to turn me into a weak shell of who I was. Convince me there was nothing left.

"Not in a million years." I whispered as I drifted to sleep.

Like it, love it , hate it? Let me know, hardest chapter to write. So sad, not much hope in it... :(