Onyx. I liked it. It fit me perfectly. From what I'd learned during the research time at the School, onyx was a rare stone, black and usually used in jewelry. Perfect for me, a rare person, who was used for someone else's liking. To my immense pleasure, the director hadn't made a visit in my mind since I'd joined the group, though I could tell that she was documenting the whole thing. I'd been hiding my thoughts from Angel, covering them with false worries about the Flock liking me. To my surprise, I'd begun to like the little blond girl. She'd read my thoughts when the group were talking about their plans and put in my wants under her own, making me have a say. Plus she had the habit of giving me hugs and sitting next to me during out meal.

After eating a quick breakfast, the Flock clued me in on what exactly they were doing. Apparently, Angel had gotten information on their parents, and they had wanted to get to the Institute in a place called New York, to do some investigating. I thought they were nuts for wanting to even get involved with the School again, but I went along with it. I didn't want to know anything about me, let alone whose DNA I had been crafted from. Max had continually made snappy remarks to me, and they were starting to get on my nerves.

I understood that I was the outsider here, but Max seemed to make-sure that I knew that fact every minute I was with them.

I couldn't believe how quickly they had let me in though, it took like maybe two hours to completely win them over. Fang had been making side-ways glances at me. I could tell that he was the big-protector of them, and despite having his vote, I knew he wouldn't hesitate to kick me out if I made a wrong move.

After breakfast we packed up. The boys put out the fire, while the girls picked up the various wrappers and put them under a rock or two. I had brought over my back-pack and distributed the food I had. I didn't need it anyway, I'd learned to live off the land. It was all due to a self-survival experiment they'd made me undergo at the school. I'd learned what plants to eat, how to make a bed, and they'd even brought in a deer for me to kill and butcher. I'd done it to my displeasure, but it had just made my hate for the white-coats increase.

Finally everyone was saying goodbye to the hawks that were neighboring us, apparently they'd watched them and learned a few moves. Then Max turned to me after saying her farewells.

"You ready to go Bat-girl?", she asked, her voice filled with malice. I opened my mouth to say yes, I'd chosen to just put up with her, though she was starting to go a bit far. Bat-girl? I could be calling her Bird-Brains, but I bit my tongue. Thankfully Iggy came to my defense finally.

"Seriously Max, dim down on the insults, I would've taken a swing by now if I was her", he said exasperatedly, pulling a back-pack on. He was weird that Iggy. He was definetely blind, not meeting peoples eyes when he spoke to them, but he seemed to be able to manuver around the campsite without even stubbing his toe. His sense must really have been over-developed.

Max glowered at him, but nodded in an understanding. I told her I was ready, slining my own back-pack over my shoulder. I stood there and waited for someone to jump into the air, until I looked around at them. No one had moved and all eyes were on me, making me nervous.

"We want to see you take off", Angel told me, her childish face smiling innocently. My eyes widened, talk about being in the spot-light. But I couldn't argue with them and I braced myself before taking off. If they were going to watch then I might as well make it interesting by jumping off the edge of the cliff. I took a deep breath and sprinted to the cut-off and leaping into the air, pushing my toes off the edge of a rock.

I did a swimmer's dive, my hands pointed in front of me, aiming down, before I let my wing slide out and catching the air. I laughed as I went up and over them. They were looking up at me in surprise, except Angel and Izzy who were just grinning.

"Come on slow-pokes, what are you waiting for, the air's perfect", I shouted to them, laughing as I did a loop-de-loop in front of them as a show. The little kids grinned and took off, their feathers spreading out, unlike my leathery ones, which made me wonder how it felt to have those small things that were attached to them, moving in the air. Was it painful? The older ones took off, and I even saw Max grinning a little.

Max's POV

She was a natural, just like us. It made me envious how easy she moved through the air, it made me feel like she was in on a secret that only me and the Flock knew. The secret was how wonderful it felt to fly. The little ones took off after she had laughed at us standing there looking at her in awe.

Even I was impressed, she looked like an angel of death with those bat wings and dark clothing. It made me look over at Fang and see that he was also looking at her with wide eyes. I felt a jealous pang go through me, but I pushed it away and I leapt into the air, Iggy following me and Fang close behind. She was currently doing spins and nose-dives. I got her attention and pointed the way we were going. She nodded, grinning, making a small smile on my face form. It was hard to not smile as I looked at the happy faces of the people around me. The entire Flock was happy with Onyx flying with us, the bat in a bunch of birds.

Throughout the flight we were laughing at some jokes that Gazzy and Iggy started telling us, Onyx would look at them and crinkle her eyes in a way of laughing. I could tell that she was holding back how fast she could fly, while we had feathers and were stable in the air, her wings sliced through the air, jerkily and swiftly. Just then she looked back at us and asked a question that was profanity in our minds.

"What ever happened to that scientist that helped you guys escape?", she questioned, loud enough to go over the sound of the wind. I saw the rest of us tense and I was the first to speak.

"He went back to the School and actually talked to us about rejoining the place", I grimaced at her, "He's a traitor, and no offense but it's a touchy subject". She shrugged holding up her hands.

"Sorry, I'll keep that for future reference", she said. It was then that it happened, a pop and I was thrown into a headache of the millennium, my skull was being crack in two, I felt myself start to fall and suddenly I was in someone's arms, Fang's. Another wave went through me, blindingly painful and I clutched onto Fang in an attempt to stop from screaming.

Onyx's POV

I watched as Max fell and Fang caught her. She was clutching her head and her body was rigid in pain. I flew closer to see what was wrong when I felt the shocker in my neck go off. I stopped in midair and started to fall as the shocks went through me. My wings were wrapped around me as I dropped like a dead weight.

"Damn it! Iggy! Gazzy! Catch her while I take Max to the ground!", I heard what sounded like a panicked Fang's voice. I felt four sets of hands on my back and my legs and I wasn't falling anymore, I was floating down slowly. The shocker was still going on and I wondered if this had something to do with Max, but that thought was quickly driven from my head as the shocks increased, making any mental workings unable to happen.

"Hello Onyx", a voice went through my head, much like the director's, but this was sexless, I couldn't even tell if it was young or old. It was confusing to think about it while I was in so much pain but I asked it what it was.

"Think of me as your's and Max's conscience", the voice said clearly and I felt surprised at Max's name, why just her and me not the other's?

"Because you two were designed to save the world", it answered, causing even more surprise to shock me. I suddenly felt relief as the shocks stopped, yet I could still feel the voice. Saving the world?

"Don't think of that now, just know that the director can't message you while I'm here. I know you can't tell the Flock about the communicator, but try to stop her from getting information about them, you and they are the key to saving the world, without you we're doomed",suddenly the voice was gone, leaving me exhausted and looking now and seeing Iggy and Gazzy above me. I realized that I was on the ground with Max next to me. I hadn't even felt me touch the ground. I lifted my head and saw Max looking at me and me at her.

"Did you hear something?", I asked her, my voice steady despite my shaken mind. She nodded, swallowing hard before trying to get up. This was a weird day and it was still going on.