Hey guys, wazzup? Thank you soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much for your reviews, they have literally made my weekend. I was kind of down even though it's Friday night as I write this, because I've got a whole weekend of revision ahead. A. whole. Weekend. Of. Revision. Thanks so much guys, you've really cheered me up, and given the inspiration to keep on writing.

Onwards ho!

Fang's POV.

Iggy and I were frozen in place. If we moved one muscle, Jeb would slit Max's throat.

They backed away slowly, and I heard Max say something to Jeb. He said something back, and when she replied, he whacked her over the head, knocking her unconscious instantly.

Iggy made some kind of distressed noise, and I sucked in a tight hissing breath through clenched teeth.

Jeb shoved Max into the back of the car, making sure she was hidden, and then shot a pointed, evil glare in our direction before ducking into the car and reversing as fast as he could, the car speeding out of the little alleyway/street we were in.

I looked at my feet, anger brewing inside my chest, so strong it felt like it was going to explode out of me if I didn't release it soon.

My fists clenched, and I closed my eyes.

I was going to get Max back, no matter what.

We went back to the apartment in silence, rage in the air around us.

When we got in Iggy slammed the door as hard as he could, making the wall shake.

He released a frustrated scream before kicking the wall, hard, making him gasp in pain.

He limped over to his mattress on the floor, leaning over to pick up a battered rucksack. He strode over to the kitchen, still limping slightly from his angered lashing out at the wall.

I stood by the door as he shoved supplies hastily into in, swearing under his breath.

After about a minute, I think he remembered that I was there. He looked up, anguish and anger brewing a dangerous combination in her eyes.

"You don't have to come. I'll give you some money, If you don't want to get involved. It's fine."

I shook my head. "Nah, I'll stay with you, help out. If you don't mind."

I shrugged. "I don't have anywhere else to go anyway, so….." I trailed off, putting my hands in the pockets of my battered black trousers.

His eyes softened slightly. "It's good."

He went back to packing food and other items I didn't really look at.

"Can I help?" I asked.

He nodded. "Get Max's knapsack, by her bed."

Max's POV.

My head throbbed along with my heartbeat, racing and pounding. With every pulse, it felt like a drill was being brutally hammered into my skull.

I opened my eyes, the first beam of light sending a new slice of pain through my head, and I winced.

Where am I?

It took me a while to figure out that the pure white I was seeing was a shiny, polished ceiling. If I squinted, the ceiling was so polished that I could see my extremely distorted reflection in it.

I coughed, my breath rattling in and out as I breathed.

I lifted my head slowly, battling against the protests of my head and neck, to look around.

I was strapped down to a metal table thingy, and I couldn't move at all. My back was killing me, the metal digging into my spine. I had probably been slammed down on my back. I never lay on my back, it always hurt, so I slept on my side, but mostly on my stomach, all stretched out.

I looked around me, taking in my surroundings slowly, groggily.

On the tables around me were three kids…. All matching the kids I'd seen in my dream the other night.

Can we say wtf?

I felt cold, like ice was freezing the blood as it moved down my veins as I thought about how this was the second time something that I'd dreamed had come true. Once, with Fang, and then again now.

Technically, I'd actually done it before, way back when I was 11 or 12. I shuddered at the memory, and of how Jeb had acted that one time, the day I'd dreamed it. But let's not get into that dreadful day, back in the early days of Jeb's abuse.

I shook my head, as if to physically expel the memory from me.

The girl to my left lifted her head, and I snapped my own around to look at her.

Her eyes widened when she saw me.

"What… where are we?" I asked.

"I…. I don't know." She replied, her eyes filled with fright.

Anger filled me at the sight of these innocent kids being terrorised for no reason.

"How long have you been here? How long have I been here?" I said, having a desperate thirst for information.

"I'm not sure…. I've only been here a 'couple days, and I remember they brought you in before I fell asleep, so only a couple of hours."

I nodded, processing the information.

"He-hello?"

The voice came from behind me, and I twisted my head around to look.

It was the little fair-haired boy, his beautiful bright blue eyes filled with fear.

"Hey." I said softly, my heart going out to him instantly.

"I'm the Gasman, or Gazzy for short." He cracked a small, hesitated smile. "You don't want to know why. The girl to your left in Nudge and-"

A small blonde head popped up next to him. It was the little girl on the table next to him, her beautiful curly hair bouncing as she moved her head, her eyes identical to Gazzy's.

"And I'm Angel, Gazzy's sister."

She gave me a tiny little smile, and my heart literally melted.

The girl on my left –Nudge- coughed slightly.

"I don't mean to be rude or anything, but we've told you our names and you haven't told us yours. I bet I can guess it. Is it-"

"Nudge." The gasman said severely, cutting her off.

"She talks way too much." He explained.

"I- I'm Max."

"What's Max short for? What's your full name?" Angel said, her voice sweet and innocent.

"Maximum Ride. Maximum Ride is my name."

We talked for a while, sharing information. Gazzy, Nudge and Angel had all been captured two days ago, and were put in here on the same day, and nothing had happened since then, they'd just been given tiny

"Why do you think we're here?" Angel said worriedly.

I had no clue how to answer, but the door creaking open saved me.

Or not.

Jeb walked in, his lab coat flowing out behind him. We'd known that he was a scientist when Iggy and I were younger, but how was four kidnapped kids related to science?

Probably in ways I was about to find out about.

I felt my eyes narrow and my teeth clench, instantly going onto defensive mode.

"Hey. Fancy meeting you here." I practically spat at him. "Funny how coincidences happen, Isn't it. Small world! Oh wait-" began, but I was cut off when he raised his hand.

"It's you." Angel said, fear in her voice.

"You're the man who took us!" Gazzy said, anger and fear showing in his voice.

"And me!" Nudge cut in.

Jeb raised both hands. "I know that you're probably wondering why you're here." He said calmly, his voice showing no emotion whatsoever.

"But it was for a reason. We will be conducting an experiment. Yes, it will be conducted on you. Think of it as a chance to lead a revolution, to break people into a brand-new scientific world. You could-"

"Yada yada yada. Cut to the crap, Jeb." I cut in angrily, just wanting to hear my verdict.

His eyes fell on mine, and his gaze froze me into spot, turning each and every cell in my body to stone.

"You will be the first of a new generation. But there are more to come. We can't start until we have all of you."

"What do you mean?" Nudge asked, confusion plain and undisguised in her voice.

Jeb gestured widely with his hands.

"There are still two more to come."

The pure horror of the realisation sent chills down my spine.

"Iggy and Fang." I whispered.

Jeb nodded, an evil smile taking shape on his face.

"No." I breathed. "Please."

Jeb shook his head. "It's too late now, Maximum. They're already on their way."

"No, not them." I whispered. "Please."

"I can't stop them. They're coming. They're coming for you, Maximum. But You will be the first experiment. You will be upgraded before they get here, as a little surprise."

He slammed the door on the way out.

Fang's POV.

"Where would Jeb have taken Max?" I asked as we ducked into a shop to buy a map quickly, since Iggy didn't already have one.

He sighed as he picked up the first map he saw off of a stand and we went up to the counter to pay.

The person working behind the checkout was a surly teenage girl, looking around 18 or 19, with white earphones in, the music so loud that we could hear it from where we were standing. She blew a bubble with the gum in her mouth as Iggy handed over the money, and scowled as us, mid-chew, while giving us the change.

"Let's go to Jeb's house first. Maybe there are some clues there or something." He said as we headed out of the shop.

"Do you know the way there?" I asked.

"Vaguely."

I nodded, looking down at my feet.

"How far away is it?"

"I'm not sure, Max and I left it two years ago, so my memory isn't exactly crystal clear. But it will probably take us at least a couple of days, I remember it took Max and I about three weeks to find this city, but we weren't that far away from it."

I nodded, cracking my knuckles.

Iggy winced. "I hate it when people do that."

"Sissy."

He cracked a half smile and punched me on the arm, but I could see that it was all a façade, that underneath the smile there was a strong storm of pain and worry.

Max's POV.

Nothing happened that day. And nothing happened the next day either. Then, on my third day in this hell, a scientist walked in in a big white lab coat.

"Oh finally." I said, putting on a bored tone. "Some entertainment."

Nudge snorted with suppressed laughter next to me.

The scientist in front pulled his glasses down onto the bridge of his nose, looking down at me disdainfully as if I was a huge, disgusting insect that needed to be wiped right off the face of the earth.

He pressed his finger up to an earpiece. "Yes, bring in the cage now." He said, speaking into it, that one phrase sending cold shivers down my spine.

After two seconds of him glaring at me, some guy strode through the doors, pushing a trolley with a cage on it in.

He smirked at me, yanking the door open and gesturing to it widely. "Your carriage awaits." He said, executing a mock bow.

I smirked. "Nah, you're alright."

He walked up to my metal table, roughly undoing the leather, buckle straps which were holding me onto the table. Before he undid the straps, he looked at me.

"No funny business." He said, holding up a knife. My mind flashed back to the day in the fight, the day Fang saved my life, and came into it. The day that all this started.

"Just walk slowly to the cage, and get in. Or you won't live to see another day."

I nodded grimly.

When he was done, I stood up shakily, my legs trembling from the weight. I hadn't walked or used my leg muscles at all in the past three days, and I still needed crutches, so walking was a real challenge.

I ducked into the cage, swallowing nervously. I needed to break out of this hellhole of misery, but now wasn't the time.

I needed to plan.

He slammed the door shut, locking it.

Claustrophobia kicked in immediately, and I was panicking as I was wheeled out of the doors and down a long hallway, with cages on either side of me.

I looked around curiously, and then screwed my eyes shut quickly. There were some things in those cages which nobody should ever have to see, ever.

After a short while, I was wheeled into a room with one singular metal table in the middle, with the straps on it. There was someone polishing it, and when he took the rag away, it was bright red. Blood.

I took in a deep breath, gathering my composure.

Around the table was what looked like doctors equipment, and there were a bunch of scientists around the edges.

The guy who had been pushing me opened the cage, grabbing my arm and hauling me out, making my band my head on the side. I winced.

He held on to my shoulders tightly and marched me to the table, throwing me back onto it, literally.

He strapped me down, and then, as he walked out of the door, he turned around, grinning manically at me.

"Good luck, kid. You're gonna need it." He said, beginning to laugh a deep, rough laugh as he shut the door.

The doctor/scientists pulled on some gloves, and one pulled a small ish metal table on wheels up to my table. I looked at it, and saw surgical equipment, like scalpels, syringes and vials of liquid along with various different instruments which looked like torture devises.

Fear scattered through my chest like sparrows and one lady picked up a huge needle, flicking the end of it like they always do in movies.

They all gathered around me.

The lady nodded at them all, and plunged the needle into my arm, pushing the syringe down and injecting me with some bright blue liquid.

I let out a quick yell of pain, biting my lip.

"Now for the next two." She said. "These will change the blood, and some other things in the organ system. Then we will move on to the hard part." She said, addressing the others.

I gulped and then, without warning, she stuck two needles into me at the same time. I bit deep into my lip as she plunged on into my neck, and the other right into where I assumed my heart was.

She pushed the plungers down on both of them, injecting me with weird coloured glowing liquid.

I felt hotter all of a sudden, all flustered like I had an awful fever. I broke out in a sweat everywhere, and my thoughts became dizzy and disconnected. Pain broke out in patches all over my body and I let out a whimper of pain.

Through blurry eyes I saw the woman pass everybody knives and scalpels, and then leaned down.

They all leaned down with her, and I felt the cold metal pressing lightly onto my skin in different areas.

She nodded at them. "You all know what to do. By the time we're finished, it should be a masterpiece. Go" It. She called me an it.

I didn't have too much time to think about it though, when my brain shorted out.

I let out a bloodcurdling shriek of pain, every nerve feeling like it was on fire, and being stabbed repeatedly.

They were experimenting on me.

Phew, that was tense. I really hope you guys like this chapter, and remember to review!

Fly on

-Raven.