I am so so so sorry to everyone out there who still reads this, for the horrible-ly long wait until this chapter! I've just come back for a swim camp/holiday in Poland that lasted for almost 3 weeks, and I thought I had posted this, so when I got home to check it and stuff, I felt terrible when I saw it hadn't worked... And then the whole damn thing deleted itself and I was freaking out. Seriously.
I'm back now, though, and ready to make up for it! Hope you like this chapter...

Nudge:

I struggled to wade through the darkness, choking back a horrified scream as I felt someone's arms restraining me. My eyes flicked open, showing blurred shapes and a white room. Too white. I struggled for a split second, until I heard Collin's slight gasp and his arms tightened around me. He murmured things I couldn't hear into my hair, his eyes fixated something with an intensely horrifying expression showing clearly on his face.

A sharp glance at the focus of his attention showed a teenage girl that looked really familiar, with layered brown hair, a hospital gown that showed she was an experiment in the School and a weirdly crooked ankle that she was clutching tightly. The most striking thing about her –to me, at least- was the way she was staring at Collin. My Collin. Her eyes were fierce, yet soft at the same time, with a terror in them that seemed almost thankful.

I turned my attention to the other people in the room. A boy –dressed in complete black- looked like he was about to throw up as he stared at me, a raw pain clearly visible in his dark pupils. The younger boy had been pacing, stopping to look at me with a painfully confusion. His bright blue eyes were full of agony, and his fluffy blonde hair was sticky with blood and... Soot?

Beside him, sat another teenage girl- looking as though her legs had collapsed under her. Her hard brown eyes searched mine with a frenzied panic, as if begging me to tell her it wasn't true, that i wasn't the one she had long given up looking for. She cradled a little girl in her arms, holding her tightly, and the kid looked as if she was about to pass out.

Well, they all looked like they were going to pass out, to be honest.

The last person I studied made my heart stop. He was slumped against the wall, holding his head, but looking as though he could be a model. I gasped as my gaze ran over the messy strawberry blonde hair, the long lanky body, the amazing eyes, the perfect lips...

Iggy. Iggy. Iggy. Iggy. Iggy. Iggy. Ig-

The name ran through my head like an alarm blaring out. I started choking as reality kicked in. God, if this was I-Iggy that could only mean... my head whipped around to see the others again, praying that it wasn't true. No, no, no.

My breath caught in my throat as I finally copped (realised) it. Iggy. The Flock. The Flock are in this very room with me. Iggy. The Flock. Right here. Right now. I tried to suck in air to say something, anything, but my brain was in shock. I ended up making a weird gasping sound like a fish, which had Collin breaking out of his trance.

My breathing grew fast and panicked as Max started to move towards me. Sparks of purple energy flew from my fingertips as the others (bar Iggy) began to move, scraps of metal from the floor rising up to hover around my clenched fists. I knew what this meant – Revenge.

'Nudge. Nudge! Answer me,' Collin propped my unmoving body against the wall and grasped my shoulders in his bloody hands. I watched with a detached interest as the major cuts on his face (and there were a lot of them... what the hell had he been doing?) started to ooze blood as he began to freak out. 'What did you do?' He yelled at the Flock who were frozen once again in shock, probably at the sight of my little break-down.

'C-Collin,' I managed to force out between tight gasps. He immediately dropped down beside me again, and waited for me to say more. 'I-The ... Flock.' He waited for a few more seconds until something clicked. Realisation dawned on his face, and his expression changed from confusion and worry, to horror and reckless anger that seemed to take over him like a demon.

He stood suddenly, and began to walk over to them, his black eyes unreadable. I rose to my feel unsteadily, and put a shaky hand on his shoulder, making him stop immediately and try to support me. I brushed his hands off, my eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. I was ready.

I squared them all up, their expressions showing confusion, Collin about to burst form anticipation and adrenaline. I was in no hurry though, I had waited almost four year for this moment, and I planned to enjoy it. Every second.

From my elbows down erupted in purple flames, I used my magnetic power to burst the bars that were on the window into millions of little metal pieces, metal scraps rising like a tidal wave. Then I extended my wings, somehow getting my powerful purple flames to dance along my feathers. Now that is what I call a dramatic start.

They just stared at me, dumfounded, until Fang found his voice. 'Nu-Nudge, is that really you? I- we- you- dead-' He stuttered, Max and Angel rising to stand beside him and Iggy, who was still on the ground. Typical.

I flinched at the sound my name made coming from his lips, and I sent a hot shard of metal flying out to hit him. It grazed his check, drawing blood, but he didn't move, just continued to search my eyes like a madman. Idiot.

I gathered up my strength, taking a deep breath, ready to get revenge for three years of hell that they had put me through. Just as I was about to start slowly torturing them, Iggy spoke up, as if being snapped out of a trance.

The first words he said were, 'Nudge. Nudge. She's here. Alive. Right?' His blind eyes darted around the room, desperately trying to see someone. Me. I felt my temper flare up even more. How dare he ask about me after he freaking betrayed me? They left me. They put me through hell, left me to die, and now all they can say is my name?

I didn't realise I was crying until I felt the hot tears run down my face and drip onto the ground. I didn't even try to wipe them away – there was no point. They deserved to know broken they had made me. I was a completely different Nudge. They had destroyed the old me.

'You really have nothing to say to me? Nothing at all after three years of betrayal?' My words rang out in the silent room. 'I- You left me here to die, die, and now you have no words to say apart from "Is that really you, Nudge"? Really?' I was getting slightly hysterical, my voice growing higher and higher, feeling light-headed as using my purple energy for so long so soon after I had been hurt started to take it's toll on me.

Silence.

'We thought you were dead,' The Gasman's eyes were thick with unshed tears and his small body shook silently. 'How are you a-alive?'

'We saw you die.' Fang's voice was emotionless and rock-hard.

I paused for a second; I had never considered that possibility. 'Okay, so you guys saw me 'die'. But are you really saying the no one of you had the slightest inkling that I might be alive? That I might be stuck here and in unbearable pain? That- that-' I couldn't go on. It was just too painful. I looked into each of their eyes, tears streaming down my face, daring one of them to tell me I was wrong. Daring someone to tell me that they knew, without a doubt, that I really had been "dead".

No one said anything.

I drew in a ragged breath, hating the way I felt so weak. The room was starting to spin a little. Adrenaline was pumping through me, pain slowly overcoming me, revenge so tantalizingly close. But I had to know. 'Why? Why didn't you come looking for me? Or at the very least my body? Please, don't give me that line about "thinking I was dead" because I know that's not completely true now. Just- why?'

Iggy:

Nudge. I could hear her. Nudge. I could almost see her. Nudge. I could reach out and touch her if I really wanted to. Nudge. She was alive. Nudge.

I listened to her my heart smashing into billions of pieces and being crushed by the biggest digger-things known to man every second. How could I have just sat back and not tried harder to convince the Flock that she was alive? How could I have not risked them questioning my sanity? I was the worst wannabe boyfriend (and let me tell you, I wanted to be) ever.

She sounded different, as if the "Nudge" part of her was still there, but buried under agony, pain, betrayal, loss and heartache. How could we? How could I? My hands tightened into fists as I heard the small gasps that escaped her lips everytime she finished a sentence. She was crying.

There were other people in the room, two strangers, but I wasn't concerned with them. I just wanted the old Nudge, my Nudge, to be back. All I cared about was the fact that Nudge was alive and standing right in front of me. Nothing else mattered to me. Nothing.

I grunted softly as a small tremor racked my body, bringing pain with it, making me grasp Gaz's shoulder for support. I was forced to lean on him as my body ignored my demands (God-damnit, just STOP and be freaking still!) and spasmed like there was no freaking tomorrow. I heard everyone pause and I could feel their eyes on me. I heard Nudge gasp, and half-smiled through the unbearable pain, she cared. At least, that's what I hoped she was gasping for.

I sank to my knees, my eyes tightly shut to keep tears of agony from spilling over, and I grasped my head in my hands as I shook involuntarily. Max's hand was suddenly on my shoulder, squeezing it tight, and I moaned slightly. At last they started to fade, leaving me lying on the floor, breathing heavily. I picked myself off the ground after a few seconds of just trying to breathe normally, determined to show no more signs of weakness, and leaned against the wall, looking nonchalant.

'So... Where were we?'

'W-what was that?' Nudge blurted out after a few moments of awkward silence. She sounded shocked and more than a little freaked, which made my hope soar – Maybe she does care, just a little.

'Pssht...' I snorted, trying to sound normal, 'Uh, you know, just your average bird-kid seizure-thing...?' I really needed to get the stupid thing fixed, for Pete's sake! It was getting on my nerves, big time.

She coughed, trying to conceal her shock. 'So, um, anyway, why would you assume I was dead when you didn't really know for sure?' Wow. That girl knows how to stay focused.

'Nudge-I- he told us you were dead. He told us that there was no possible way you could be alive. So-so we –' Max broke off sobbing. Max. Crying. Max never cried over anything. This wasn't just anything though. Hell, I was about to burst into girlish sobs too.

'Who. Told. You?' a different voice, tight with anger joined our merry little conversation. It sounded like the kid who had been captured with us. Yeah, the creepy, weird one. He sounded like he needed anger management classes, or at the very least a stress-ball... or ten.

'Jeb. Jeb Batchelder.' Angel's voice was shaky and it sounded like she was trying to stop crying. It took a second for the knowledge to sink in, but when it did I felt like an idiot. Jeb had been lying to us. A-freaking-gain.

At the sound of that traitor's name, we all reacted differently. Then, another unfamiliar voice gave the slightest sound of a sob (I doubted anyone else could hear it but me, it was so silent) and then came the sickening sound of flesh hitting solid wall.

Well, that was unexpected.

Collin POV:

I stood there in silence, fuming with myself. If I hadn't let us get captured, we wouldn't be here. Nudge wouldn't have to talk to this mindless scum of a Flock and she wouldn't be hurting like this. They might only see the tears that streaked down her smooth brown cheeks, but I could see past her tough exterior and see how painful this was for her.

I stayed quiet through almost the whole conversation, not wanting to get involved if Nudge didn't want me to. But I was constantly on guard, determined not to let my guard down for even a second, in case one of them made a wrong move. The whole time, the girl (Lindsay, I think her name was) clung to my arm, staring up at me with eyes that portrayed thankfulness.

The only thing was though... I had no idea who she was.

I only knew her name was Lindsay from the clothes shop where we had met her in New York. But somehow I suspected she knew me from a long time ago. Maybe they messed with my memory or something when they were experimenting on me, but I just had no idea who she was. I glanced down at her, confused and curious, just to see her staring adoringly up at me.

I blanked, and gave her a half smile. She beamed, as if I had just gave her a winning lottery ticket and asked her to marry me. Shoot. When I blurted out her name as she came in, I hadn't been in control of myself. Like, not in an I-can't-control-my-mouth-cuz-I'm-on-drugs-and-am-completely-out-of-my-mind way, or something stupid like that, in a Crap-someone's-controlling-my-mouth-against-my-will kinda thing... You get me?

Anyway, either way, I had no idea who this girl was. I was so screwed.

I tore my attention from Lindsay just in time to hear Jeb Batchelder's name. Bastard. I narrowed my eyes in hate, watching the others reactions. Some looked angry (the little blonde boy reaching in his pocket for a box with wires poking out, which he immediately started to alter, connecting the different wires with amazing speed and accuracy – he looked skilled in that particular area), Max looked betrayed – and scary as rage started to take over.

Fang's expression darkened, making him look more and more like a fallen avenging angel of death. Creepy. The little girl, Angel started to cry. As soon as it started, her tears had stopped, her face taking on a dark side, similar to Fang's but not as terrifying. Iggy casually picked up a shard of metal that had fallen from Nudge's tornado of metal and purple energy, and calmly stabbed it into the wall, his eyes glinting darkly. Hate to be the wall...

The weirdest reaction came from the teenager beside me. Her body tensed at the sound of his name and, at a glance up at me, she reached out and punched a hole in the wall before assuming an emotionless expression. A. Freaking. Hole. In. The. Wall. What the hell was this girl made of?

Feeling the weight of all our stares, she looked up from behind her glossy fringe. 'What?' She spat, 'You think you guys are the only ones allowed to hate the bastard? Well, newsflash, you're not the only ones whose lives he's messed up.' And then she proceeded to extend all 14 feet of her jet black wings... Seriously, that honestly happened.

Everyone's mouths dropped, their eyes popping out of their heads. Even Nudge looked faintly surprised. 'For Pete's sake,' I muttered, 'does everyone have freaking wings but me?'

Nudge flashed me a half grin at that, the Flock proceeded to stare at me, as if only noticing I was still there now. Lindsay, however, tried to shift her weight to her injured ankle, falling to the ground in a heap, her dark wings shielding her from our eyes.

'The bastard took Collin away from me,' Cue a confused look from Nudge, which I shot right back at her. I had no idea what was going on, 'I went after him, only to be captured and experimented on. I was a prisoner. Then one day the sick, sadistic freak that is Jeb Batchelder came in and told me he'd get Collin back for me. I just had to do a few jobs for him. One of them was to give you guys the clothes that had trackers in them. Then I had to tell the Flock horrible stuff. Sorry, by the way.'

At this point she was slamming her hand against the ground. I could hear tiny cracks each time she did it. Ouch. That gotta hurt.

'But then, Jeb took me into his office and- and- I was sent to the labs again, and then to rot and die in the damp. I busted out, roundabout the same time Nudge was picking a fight with the Erasers, tripped and messed up my ankle, got caught and dumped in here with you guys. I recognised Colin almost straight away, and then for a second when he said my name, I thought he knew me. But you don't, do you, Collin?'

I shook my head wordlessly, 'I'm so sorry, Lindsay, I don't know what they did to me, but... I don't know you.' The words made me feel sick to the stomach, and I felt like such a jerk.

She just gazed at me with those perfect eyes. 'I know. It's not your fault. I was stupid to think they wouldn't pull some kind of trick on me, well, I knew they were going to but I never expected this.' She looked so sad, I found myself racking my memory for any memory at all of her. Nothing. C'mon!

Lindsay:

Everything was silent after I made my little speech thing. I watched Collin's face carefully for any signs of recognition. None showed. The poor guy, he looked like he was torturing himself, trying so damn hard to remember. That was my Collin, though, he always tried to please everyone – at least the old Collin I knew.

Just as Max was trying to muster up something to say, the devil himself walked in. Oh yeah, you heard me, Mr Jeb-freaking-Batchelder in the flesh, ladies and gentlemen. I was immediately on my good leg and starting towards him, when I felt a hand on my shoulder, indicating me to stop. I shook it off, limping heavily towards him in a run.

I reached him, starting off with a spectacular right hook (ouch, my hand! Not to self: Don't slam your hand repeatedly into solid floor with all your strength, just before the enemy comes in!), and moving on to wrap my hands around his neck, all the while screaming obscenities at him. 'You cheating, lying, bastard! I'm going to kill you – You took Collin away from me, you –' At this point, his guards had come in and were pulling me off him. It only took them a few seconds to have me in a tight hold, the others screaming at them to let me go.

I squirmed, bit, kicked, punched – basically, I tried like hell to get free. When they finally released me, I was a panting mess on the floor, everywhere hurting.

I opened my eyes to see everyone staring at Jeb with intense, ready-to-get-in-a-fight faces on.

Then Jeb started talking.

Hey guys! As I said above, I feel like the meanest person ever... I honestly don't think anyone's still reading this story, but if you are please let me know! I'm having a bit of writer's block so if you review; please include whatever suggestions you might have :)

I'll try and update within a few days if I get a good response!

Peace out,
addicted-2-oxygen X)