Riddle 1: The dark rings around her eyes are not from lack of sleep. They're a mask. She is the darkness, and when day casts upon her face then the boundary is broken (Hint: Moonlight's, the raccoon/avian, betrayal). Night's demons (The Dark Angels) meet day's angels (The Migration and The Flock). The world's fate falls into the hands of one. One with a dark past. One who is half and half. One who isn't afraid to stand up (This will be further explained in the next chap.).

No Longer A Bird In The Bush

*23 hours later*

Max's P.O.V.

I woke up to the chilling sound of rusty metal grinding. A cage door had been slammed and locked, the being behind the bars was very familiar. A wave of confusion washed over me.

Where was I? How did I get here? Who was laying in a fetal position beside me? And most importantly, Why do I feel like I've been pitched into a blender set on 'chop'?

Then it hit me like a five ton hammer, plowing through my brain like a locomotive.

"Angel?! Angel sweetie!" I tried to shout, but my voice came out as a croak while I rolled to my knees to face the body laying in a heap to my right.

"I can't!" She wailed, burrowing her golden topped head into her thin, frail arms.

"You can't what? Where's the others?" I asked quickly. Words rolled off my tongue at such a pace that Angel had to turn her big blue eyes up to face me. She was, miraculously, unharmed for the most part.

"I can't use my telepathy..." Angel sniffled, "And everyone's..."

She was cut short by the sudden flashing of fluorescent lights. I covered my face in attempt to shield my eyes from the harshness of the rays. I felt a sudden aching and coiled tight into a ball.

"You're tricky. I'll give you that, Maximum, but even the slyest old fox steps on a twig." Jeb, I'd know the voice anywhere. Cautiously, I opened my eyes, only to slits, and peered out at him. His hair had grayed, and his expressions were furrowed with slight wrinkles. He was growing old; we all were, yet the scene felt oddly familiar. Déjà vu, as some might say. Even though I was no longer a littler girl scared of love and death I still felt the eery, memorable, gut churning feeling of fear. That's the only word I have for it. Fear. But I had to stay strong. Even if I had no courage I still had to act like I was in control.

"Move, old man," Flair sneered; her fists curling.

"That's no way to talk to your father, young lady," a feminine voice called. Then I saw her, Bridget Dwyer, push past two guard Erasers. She had aged some, too. Her eyes scanned over Flair and Alex, who were side by side in identical medium metal crates. Alex cowered under the glare and sunk back in her cage. Flair raised an eyebrow.

"What the heck are you talking about?" Flair snapped as she met Bridget's glare with an even more threatening cold stare. Bridget pulled out a folded piece of paper and tossed it to Flair.

Pushing a lock of red hair behind her ear, Flair carefully unfolded the paper and I barely caught a glance of the title 'Certificate of Birth'. Her face contorted into a disgusted expression. I knew she had figured it out. The secret. I never told her because I didn't want her to know. I didn't want anyone to know. That's why I sheltered her, why I cried so hard when she left. What kind of big sis would I be if I just lost her? She looked at me in confusion. I bit my lip and sunk back further into the shadows.

Bridget let out a cold laugh as she snatched the paper back from Flair. Alex, who had apparently also seen the document, opened her mouth to question, but was quickly cut off with shouting from outside the room. I glanced to the rusty metal door that was locked shut. The noise continued, almost like a riot had formed outside the door. Chu's menacing voice rose over the chatter. He sounded furious and he pounded on the door with a tightly balled fist. Jeb already had the door open, glaring down at his shorter peer.

"She must be eliminated!" Chu spat, tiny beads of saliva shooting from his mouth.

"We will never find the Epic if you destroy her! She is the key to this all..." Jeb shot back.

"She is a piece of s*** that your worthless dogs failed to contain!" Jeb bit his lip at the man's words. "You failed to complete your mission, Batchelder."

"At least the Dark Angels can obey orders and carry out a task. The Herd comes running home with their tails between their legs. Face it, if it were The Herd versus the Dark Angels it would be like a six-inch blade up against an AK-47."

"Say what you wish. I, however, prefer to put smarts over brawn, and your beloved freaks have cornmeal instead of brains."

"Who has the most successful captures?" Jeb growled as he walked out.

Chu opened his mouth to protest, but his words were cut off by Bridget slamming and locking the door behind them. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding in. My thoughts quickly switched over to my girls.

"Where's Ava and Eva?!" I panicked as I looked around. Storm joined in, calling for an emergency role call and injury report.

"Max!" Fang called from somewhere not to far away.

"Fang! The girls! Where's the girls?!" I shrieked as tears welled in my eyes.

"I-I don't know," that's the most worry I've ever heard in his voice.

Another uproar started from the Migration.

"GWEN?!" Kale called, hopelessness ringing in his tone.

"SPARKS?!" 24 screamed.

"Oh god..." Ebony whispered.

There was about an hour of panic, mourning, and realizations.

Gwen and Sparks are, for now, presumed dead. They're not in any of the cages, we checked. The Humans may be dead along with them. No one knows. Mysteriously, our powers stopped working, and we don't know why. And my babies are no where in reach. I'm in tears now. My girls, my Mom, my sister, my sister-in-laws, and a few others could all be dead.

I think I have an excuse to cry, no?

Storm, oh don't even get me started. This is not something you want right after you've been sworn in as 'leader'. The kid is freaking out a little, but he's held it together so far. His first action was to think of a way out, immediately. Order number two, everyone stay calm. "We don't know if they met that fate, guys. They could just be AWOL. Keep your hopes up." He had announced. The Migration was now trying to pick locks.

Surprisingly, the Whitecoats had separated the cages of me and my Flock from the Migration. I looked out at my group, taking in the worry etched on each's face. Angel had streaks down her face from tears. She looked a little flustered, but nothing major. Nudge, however, had a huge gash on her forehead. It had already started to scab over. Her eyes were wide and questioning. Like she was in shock. Gazzy had scratches and a few claw marks here and there, but my little trooper could live with blood stained clothes. The Gasman was worrying me, along with Nudge, at his lack of communication. Iggy tried to give a shaky smile, but failed miserably. I knew he was nervous about being here again. He wanted Ella to be ok, and he wanted out. He shot of a few sarcastic comments earlier, but now his attempt to keep his chin up has dulled. Fang sat back, leaning on the skinny, grey bars of his cage.

"The girls are fine. Didn't you hear them? They said they needed to find the Epic," he whispered, assuring himself more than me. The Epic. Yah. I assumed the Epic was the first born. The problem? I can't remember who was born first, and neither can Fang. So how the Whitecoats are gonna figure that out beats me.

"My neck is sore," Melee grumbled.

"Mine too," practically everyone added. My fingers grazed over the side of my neck. It felt like a mosquito bite, but I knew it wasn't. It's where we had been pricked by a needle. There must've been something to knock us out in the syringe. That's why everyone appeared dead. And then I remembered Gwen fighting off Night. Did she get killed? Did Gwen die because...because I couldn't protect my own family?

There were to many questions, but the time I had to sort through them all was interrupted by the door flying open and a Whitecoat pushing in a TV on a stand. What the frick was this?!

I know it's short, but the next chapter will answer all the questions. Please review, that is if there's someone still reading this...