AN: Hello everyone! I'm Dawn. This is a Maximum Ride fanfiction and it's my first fic. Please feel free to review and give your feedback. Hope you enjoy!

These are the ages:

Max- 16

Fang- 17

Iggy- 17

Nudge- 16

Gazzy- 17

Angel- 10

Ella- 16

Dylan- 17

No wings! (Don't get me wrong, I think their wings are awesome, but they just don't go with this story)

Iggy is not blind!

Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride or its characters. All credit to James Patterson.

Chapter 1

Max POV.

So, apparently, I missed that part in my life where luck decides to jump on my side and make everything seem amazing.

Maybe it's just me, but being chased by some douches with guns just because I stole some candy bar is just not cool. I mean, that bar means nothing. One second its there and the next it's eaten.

I dart into another ally. Plastic bags are scattered here and there, and broken glass litters the damp ground. It's dark between the two aging buildings, so I blindly pick up my pace, hoping not to face plant into the ground.

Once I'm on some street again, I take out the candy bar from my hoddie pocket and shove it in my mouth. What if they do catch me, and then I wouldn't be able to eat it. Better wolf it down now.

I shove past the people, all rushing somewhere. They all have impassive faces, not even slight smiles. No compassion whatsoever. That's just how New Yorkers are.

I look behind my shoulder, and see that the cops are rapidly catching up.

Crap.

I push myself to run faster, but my feet are giving up on me.

I spot yet another ally, and promptly turn there. I press my back to the cold wall, and try to catch my breath. I think I got away.

They have been on my case for a while now. A couple of years.

I'll admit, stealing that candy bar wasn't the real reason I'm being chased.

I'm being chased mainly because I was caught spying at some important meeting that had to do with the government. I didn't even spy though. I was set up by some criminals.

I still remember them quite clearly. There were two.

James and Nick.

Damn, I cringe when I think back at how naive I was to trust them.

They said that if I go into the Minueta, which is where that fancy shmancy meeting was held, and get some ring, which is apparently wicked valuable, they would give me shelter and food.

I believed them since I was a desperate clueless idiot, and was caught. I managed to get away with the ring, and get to the boys. But that incident ruined my reputation forever.

The boys ditched me with the ring, and I haven't seen them ever since. We were around 13-14, so it's been quite a while.

I peek out of the ally. No one.

Slowly I start to walk back to my friends. Well, they would be more like acquaintances. Not quite friends.

I brush off my worn jeans that started to tear along the stitchings. My old black hoddie isn't in the best shape either. The newest thing I'm wearing is my black boots. I "borrowed" them from the corner store near my place. They keep me somewhat warm during this bleak New York winter.

I yank my honey-colored hair into a messy high ponytail. It already reaches my waist. I haven't had a hair cut since I lost my parents. And my house. And my everything…

I shake the depressing thought out of my head. No need to make my crappy mood even crappier. If that's possible.

I reach the small shelter and walk inside.

"Oh good, you're alive," Gazzy says.

"Yup, still breathing," I roll my eyes. " So where's Nudge Angel and Ella?"

"Left," he shrugs.

"Where? To the corner store again?" I ask, flopping down on our only chair.

He nods and takes out a cigarette. He sticks it in between his teeth, and I jump up and snatch it out.

"You think that's cool, or something? Where did you get it? You know we can't be wasting money on this kind of crap," I wave the cigarette in his face.

He groans and yanks it out of my hand, "I wasn't going to smoke."

I raise an eyebrow, and he cranes his neck to the left, gesturing me to look there.

I turn around and see a pile of fabric, some kind of powder and a few bars of soap.

Before I can respond, Gazzy lights the cigarette and tosses it in the pile.

"Gazzy! What…" I start to scream, but he drops to the ground, and yanks me down with him. We roll out of the shelter, and in seconds it bursts into flames.

I stand up, in shock.

"Gazzy! What the hell! It took us forever to build that!" I exclaim.

"It's for the best, Max," he calmly says, cracking his knuckles.

"How the hell is that for the best?" I scream at him.

"I saw some people snap pictures of this place. They were suspicious so they most likely will call the police to inspect our shelter. Then, we would all be screwed. My bomb blew up the leading indication of our whereabouts," Gazzy explains.

I just start at him, surprised at the fact that for once in him life he did something smart.

"Wow," I say, "I guess the rumor of you missing a brain is proven otherwise. Congrats."

He glares at me, and I just push past him and head to the corner store.

I have to find Nudge, Angel and Ella, and tell them that we are not semi-homeless anymore, but completely homeless.

Fang POV.

"Yo Ig," I shove Iggy off the bed.

The poor alarm clock has been trying to wake him up for half an hour now. He kept slamming it.

"Iggy!" I violently shake his shoulder.

He groans loudly, but keeps his eyes shut.

I sigh. "Alright. I guess I have the girls all to myself then."

This got him up.

"Girls? What girls? Where?" he springs to his feet, his eyes wild.

"We're going to school, remember?" I smirk.

"Oh, right," Iggy realizes.

"Get ready. School starts in ten," I say, and walk out of his room.

I head to the kitchen to grab something to eat. It's in a different building than Iggy's room and mine.

You see, we are working for the police. We search for criminals, catch them and bring them straight to jail. It's basically our job, but we don't get paid in money. We get paid in our freedom.

We ourselves are pretty much criminals. We ruined our reputation utterly, back when we were young and idiotic guys. We were always being chased, and could never really live a normal life. That was a result of making really stupid decisions like robbing and selling illicit things.

We only did it to survive, but were still considered criminals. Even though we were all around 11.

By 14 years of age we were tiered of being runaways and decided to bribe someone with the power to close our case. To get money, we had to steal something valuable and sell it.

Of course, we couldn't steal it ourselves since we were known throughout most of New York. So we found this girl, Maximum Ride, and made her steal the Minueta ring. She was caught, but got away.

She was stupid to believe us, and we were stupid to ditch her after she brought the ring to us.

I feel a little guilt for setting that girl up and ruining her life. Just a little. She should have been smarter.

We sold the ring, and got the money. We eventually found a man named Mr. Janner willing to close our case in return for it. He also gave us this job. He's the main chief of this police station, and he may seem like a horrible cop judging by the fact that he accepted our bribe, but he's not.

He himself was a runaway and he knows what it's like to be hungry. You would do anything to get food. He closed our case and offered us this job, since he knew we did what we did only to survive. He also enrolled us in a school.

Ever since, we've been living here and going to school like normal teens. We changed our names from Nick and James to Fang and Iggy. No one knows we are that Nick and James that were one of the most wanted, except for Mr. Janner. You can say we got lucky. Very, very lucky.

I grab a banana and some rise crispy treats.

Once I'm out the door, I get in my car and drive to school.

"Hey Fang!" I see Lissa wave in the hallway.

This is our first day from our two-week vacation, and she already annoyed the crap out of me. Yes, just her hello annoys me.

"Hi! I missed you so much!" she shrieks and throws her arms around my neck, lifting her feet from the ground.

"Hi," I mumble, awkwardly shoving her off me.

She just stands there and smiles like an idiot, slightly pulling down her skirt. Or is it just a piece of fabric? I can't tell.

"See you around," I quickly say and side step her.

Whew! Just looking at her is punishing my eyeballs.

I barley make it to my calculus class, and get a dirty look from Mr. Jenn. He's always in a bad mood.

"Alright class, do this worksheet and pass it in," he mumbles lazily. "J.J. pass this out," he flops the papers on J.J's desk since she's in the front row, and goes back to his desk.

He has a grotesque and fat body. And no, he doesn't have a double chin, he has a freaking quadruple chin.

Pretty disgusting actually.

Truly, the class can run without him and nothing would change.

J.J. comes to my desk and hands me the paper. She flashes a white smile, and I nod my thanks.

She's a cool girl. Iggy and I sit with her at lunch and hang out occasionally.

I start doing the problems, but before I can finish the front side I'm called on the intercom to the office.

I look up, surprised but at the same time somewhat worried. Worried because Iggy was called also. What if it has something to do with our dark past?

I wipe my hands on my black jeans and get up. I feel the whole class looking at me as I weave through the desks.

I get out of the class and walk to the office, taking my sweet time. Eventually though, I arrive.

The door is wide open, so I softly knock on the wall.

"Oh! Fang is here. Come in, dear" I here Mrs. Privel trill. She's the principle of this school.

Mrs. Privel is always calm and affectionate. Everyone loves her.

I come in, and find Iggy already there.

"Hey man," I greet him.

"Janner is here," he whispers.

I raise an eyebrow, and Iggy jerks his chin towards the farthest corner of the room. Just as he said, Janner is right there. He and another officer.

Mr. Janner, the police chief.

A million thoughts pass through my head of why would he be here. I look at Iggy, and he looks as confused as I feel. Although I know my face is impassive.

"Hello boys!" he comes up to us.

"Good morning sir," we greet him.

"Sorry to pull you out of your class, but I have an important matter to discuss. Please follow me," he gestures with his hand and walks through another door in the office and into another smaller room. The other officer comes with us.

We all sit down around a small table, and Mr. Janner starts to go though his folder.

Just the sound of ruffling papers and the ticking clock is somewhat intimidating.

Finally, Mr. Janner starts to explain. "I know you boys work really hard. You blend in, you are experts at catching whom you need to catch. So, I have a proposition," he looks at us, waiting for some reaction.

He won't get one from me, since my face shows about as much emotion as a brick, but Iggy looks genuinely interested.

Mr. Janner continues, "We have been trying to catch a certain spy for a long time now. We always fail, unfortunately. She was last time seen in this city, New York. She is 16 and has been on the loose for three years. We are trusting you two to find her and bring her to us. Here are her files. Look through them and get ready. You're leaving tomorrow," he slides the papers across the desk towards me.

I open the files, and start skimming through them. There were a bunch of medical records and statistics, but what really held me was her image.

She's looking behind her shoulder, a fierce scowl on her face. Her unkempt sandy hair is fallen in her eyes.

I know her. I know this girl. I can almost say her name. I just can't remember completely.

I swallow. "What's her name again?" I think out loud.

I flip through the files for her name, but Mr. Janner says it, and it hits me like a bus.

"Maximum Ride."

Please review and tell me what you think :D

~Fly on, Dawn J