Disclaimer: However much I wish it weren't true, I do not own Max, or FANG, or anyone else in my stories that relate to the JP series titled MAXIMUM RIDE

ok, lets continue

Fang's POV:

Listening to the younger flock members' sleep, and continuously doing 360s of the surrounding area of our cave, I couldn't help wondering what it would be like had Max never died…

I would never forget that horrible day, when we unknowingly trapped ourselves inside the school.

Flashback:

"Max!" Angel cried, falling out of the sky. I had been too preoccupied with my own five flyboys to notice how many were surrounding Max. As I went to catch Angel, I heard a piercing scream from above. I couldn't see above me due in large part to the hundreds of flyboys swarming all around me, and also to the fact that I had a six year old mutant bird kid in my arms. I couldn't see anything, but I could only imagine what happened after that. I woke up in a white room, which is never a good sign if you've grown up living in cages and being subject to multiple horrible tests done to you daily by crazy-ass scientists. Scanning the limited space, I was grateful to see four other bird kids waking up at the same time, all wearing the same worried expression. There were only four of us. Max was gone. How?

At that moment when I realized that one of our flock members were missing, the most important and dominant member of our family, nonetheless, the door opened to reveal none other than Anne Walker. "Hello, gang." She greeted us. "How are we?" She asked, addressing the entire flock. None of us answered, with the exception of the astonished chuckle from Total that clearly said 'what the hell are you talking about?' "Well…I have some bad news for you." She said, still keeping up the friendly tone that was ever so annoying. Wait, she said bad news. God, please let it not be what I think it is. "That's a shocker." I heard Iggy remark, keeping a strong cover on his emotions. I could tell though, that he was thinking the same thing I was. "You realize, I assume, that one of your family members is missing?" She asks, ignoring Iggy's comment. "No, really? That explains why I didn't see her when I got up. Wait, I didn't see anyone when I woke up! I'm blind!" That got a chuckle out of Gazzy, and a snicker from Nudge, but Angel and Total and I were too nervous and tense to even appreciate Iggy's attempt at loosening the stress of the moment. "Yes, well, Max was terminated." Anne finally said, putting it as bluntly as you possibly could, and succeeding in knocking us all speechless. "

Wh-Whaat?" Nude asked, and I must say that was the shortest sentence I had heard her say like…ever. "The test we put you all through was to see how strong she was fighting on her own, and she failed miserably. The result was death, unfortunately. I am terribly sorry." She didn't sound sorry at all, might I say. In fact, she seemed rather pleased with herself that she finally killed off The Maximum Ride. "Bull Shit!" I yell, speaking up when the rest of the flock still stood in shock. "There is no way Max would have died. We all survived and she a much better fighter than all of us!" Looking at me almost apologetically, she motions for us to follow her. We comply with no other option, as she leads us to a room full of crazy machinery and wiring and crap. Then she points at a camera screen on one of the many Television sets, and I see a box in the bottom corner dated the previous day. There, on the screen, was a replay of our fight. It was zoomed in on Max, with some fifteen flyboys surrounding her. Instead of focusing on them, though, she looks over to see Angel falling from the sky. Just as she screamed Max's name a second time, a flyboy comes up in back of her and stabs deep into her chest. We could see her eyes roll into the back of her head, and her body went limp. I was in total shock, and finally came to my senses when I heard both Nudge and Angel break into tears, sobbing uncontrollably. I tried my best to comfort them, but at the same time thought of how much better Max could have done in doing so, and had to hold back tears of my own. She was my everything. And now she's gone.

End Flashback.

After seeing the tape, Anne took us back to our cell. We all cried for what seemed like days, and then finally came to our senses when the white coats came in to do tests on us. We quickly planned an escape, and broke out with the usual methods of bombs and windows. (Don't ask how, I have no idea how Iggy does it.) After escaping the school, we made as much distance as we could between anyone who had contact with all of us before the incident, not wanting to put anyone in danger and afraid ourselves of trusting anyone who we shouldn't. So as I sat in the cave, watching the flock, I reminisced on how things used to be.

It was at that moment, remembering how this situation came about, that my cell phone rang. I had acquired a cell phone out of necessity after the third time flyboys found us, as I was out grocery shopping with Angel. Separating the flock was never a good idea, but when it had to be done we needed communication. So with the use of the…Max…card, I bought each of us a cell phone to use in an emergency. Looking at the caller I.D, it was a private name and number. Curious despite the unnerving feeling that it couldn't be good, I answered. A mechanical voice said immediately upon the dial tone "She is not dead. Go to New York. To the Max is said to be a good band." And the line went dead. I don't know what made me believe it, or why I trusted that mysterious voice to be telling the truth, but I suddenly felt compelled to go to New York City. So the next morning I woke everyone up, and announced that we were flying to New York. "How far away is that?" Gazzy had asked, and I informed him that it was less than a three hour flight from where we were. (No, I will not tell you where that was. Top secret information.) As we began our flight, I explained why we were suddenly changing plans. Nudge was ecstatic, given that we might possibly find Max and that we were going to the fashion city of America, but Gazzy and Iggy were skeptic. Max's voice had always given her indirect direction, but this was different. It came from my cell phone, and for lack of my better knowledge the sender was untraceable.

We landed in central park, deep enough into the woods not to be noticed by park-goers. "Alright, guys." I say, "We need to find an internet café so I can find the address of wherever we need to go to meet this band." "Well it's good to know you have this all planned out." Iggy replied sarcastically. I ignored him, and we resituated our backpacks to look somewhat presentable in New York. As we walked into a pretty ostentatious coffee shop, the waiter gave a look of disgust. I smiled at him as he walked over, trying to look natural, as if we belonged here. "Listen, man. You can't come in here looking like that. Across the street is a salon. Tell them Mike sent you, and they won't charge you anything." I nodded, trying to decide whether to be offended or grateful. I knew we all looked like shi**, but there wasn't much I could do about it until now. We took Mike's advice and got cleaned up, and he eventually let us back into the café. Nudge looked like a typical teenage girl, her hair straightened and trimmed to shoulder length, wearing a miniskirt with bright red leggings and converse, a purple zebra-striped t-shirt and that stuff you put on your eyelashes-mascara? Gazzy was wearing a light blue polo with baggy jeans, and black and white D.C's. His hair was trimmed short and spiked up all over the place, making him look like a very well-behaved nine year old. Iggy wore a green T and brown cargos, with green and brown air walks, and his hair was cut in skater-type shag. Angel looked-angelic. She had on a bubblegum pink skirt and a white ruffled-type shirt (A.N called a blouse, but Fang wouldn't know that.) and her shoes were sparkly pink. Her long curly blond hair was adorned with daisies, placed randomly on her head. I got my hair cut similar to Gazzy's, but more mature. I wore long-sleeved button-up shirt, black skinny jeans, black grey and white checkered vans, and a light grey spiked belt. Pretty sick, I know (A.N sick as in cool.)

When we first walked in, Mark didn't even recognize us... "Whoa. You clean up good!" He said when if finally dawned on him that it was us, winking at Nudge. She blushed, and I glared at him. What kind of pervert hits on my little sister, however non-blood related she is? I quickly found the address and we left to go find the place as soon as I did so, much to Nudge's disappointment. It wasn't far from central park, maybe three blocks west and then a few blocks over to the left. A huge building that looked like it should be a hotel had the street address I had written down, but it was so huge I was sure we had the wrong building. "Keep an eye out. Be ready for U&A." I said before we walked in. A not-too-friendly receptionist greeted us at the front desk, probably thinking we were trouble makers or something. How observant, right? "Hi," I said, thinking if I were polite she would catch on. "I'm looking for To the Max studios. Could you point me in the right direction?" She laughed humorlessly before responding in a creepily friendly tone "You came to the right place! Are you looking for someone in particular?" I was startled by how willing she now was to give out information, and silently hoped it didn't have to do with Angel's mind reading. (What? You mean you don't have a seven-year-old mind reader? They're common practice to have these days. (;) "Is the band here?" I asked, having no further plan as of right now. "We have a meeting with the lead singer." Nudge interjected before the lady could answer. "We weren't scheduled until later this evening, but our plane got in early and we came to see if Maximum was available earlier. As in now." The receptionist looked confused at first, but assuming we were someone important said "Of course, miss. Let me find out if she's here. One moment. What did you say your name was?" "I'm Monique Waters," Nudge answered, "from Blue Winged Studios." She sounded completely confident, and I had to hold back a smile at her clever studio name. The lady left to go call someone down, and motioned for us to sit at the couches by the desk. We sat, not wanting to be rude, and talked quietly so she wouldn't hear our meeting. "How did you know she was the lead singer?" I asked nudge, frustrated that I hadn't known but also grateful that she did. Nudge replied somewhat sarcastically "You aren't the only one who's computer savvy. Just stay quiet and play along. Shh!" She ordered, and none of us had a choice but to comply, because the receptionist then called "Monique," bringing our attention to a rather tall man in a business suit. His hair was dark brown but graying around the neck; he was probably in his late fifties. "This is Jeff, Max's agent. He wanted to talk to you before bringing you up to see her." "Hello, Jeff." Nudge greeted him, sounding very businesslike. The receptionist then left a second time, and Jeff proceeded to sit in the chair across from us on the couch. "Who do you really work for?" He asked, "How did you find us? Why are you here?" Jeff continued, all in one breath. It reminded me a lot of when Nudge tried to interrogate us. We all gave him blank expressions, and Nudge replied, "We are from the Blue Winged-" "No you're not." Jeff interrupted, sounding annoyed. "There are five of you. All juveniles. And a black dog. I know who you are." He said, successfully scaring the crap of all of us. "Tell me your real names to confirm what I already know, and I'll bring you up to see her. I must warn you though," He said, "She has no idea that you're even alive. According to Max, she watched you die helplessly." I was shell-shocked. Absolutely flabbergasted. There was no way in hell he could know so much, and yet he did. "Uhm," I began, silently giving permission for the rest of the flock to expose themselves. "I'm Fang." I said, and my admission was followed by everyone showing their true identities. "Thank you, all of you, for being so understanding. Max described you all as very stubborn." I laughed when he said that, already giddy from the thought of seeing Max, alive and well. "One moment, I will bring you up. I have to call up and tell Max."