Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter One
A Job Offer

“You start Monday.” The Itex director, Marian Janssen, announced. She was intimidating, I’ll give her that, with piercing dark eyes that seemed to say “I know what you’re hiding”, and her ever-present smile. I blinked in surprise.
That was fast.
Jeb didn’t know all of the details, and the closer he got to the inner workings of the building, the sketchier this unmarked building seemed. Seriously? What building is in the middle of Death Valley, and isn’t on any maps, anywhere. A shiver went up the scientist's spine. What exactly is Itexicon?
Something’s off here.
“Is something wrong, Jeb?” The Director looked at him in mock concern.
“Of course not. I’m perfectly fine.”
“I’m glad. If you could just sign this paperwork for me.” She handed a stack of paper to him, and the man set it down with a thump, glancing quickly at the document, then grabbing a black Papermate pen and signing.
It should've felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest, but instead it felt like 20 pounds had been added.
“Here you go” Jeb handed the papers to the Director. She grabbed them out of his hands, and dropped them into a file titled “Jeb Batchelder”.
“Thank you for your time. I’ll see you in a few days, Jeb. Be prepared” Marian eyed him suspiciously. As Jeb walked out of the building, he could've sworn he heard the sound of a scream. Who was he kidding, of course it wasn’t that. His brain was just making up things. Right?

Chapter Text

Monday came quickly, and Jeb walked into the building with a nervous smile. The Director was waiting for him, and she nodded with recognition at him. Her face seemed to be molded together out of clay, with unusual symmetry and perfection.
God, this woman freaks me out.
“Welcome back, Jeb.” Said Dr. Marian Janssen with a smirk. “I have instructed one of your new colleagues to show you around the facility.”
Almost on cue, a woman walked into the room. She was pretty, with honey-brown eyes and dark hair. She was wearing a white lab coat, much like everyone else here, but it was styled with a pink scarf and embroidered flowers. Still, she had a familiar aura to her, and the scientist couldn't place it.
“Hiya, Jeb” She said with a sweet smile. Her eyes stared directly at him, and Jeb felt slightly unnerved. Nevertheless, the man ignored her attempts at flattery. He wasn't about to compromise his job. “My name is Ariana Roberts. I’m so glad to finally meet you. I’ve heard so many things about you!” She gushed.
“Ariana-” The Director interrupted.
“Got it, got it. Show the new guy around.” She sighed. “Well? C’mon.”
It took him a second to realize that she was talking to him. Jeb followed her around the corner, only to see a set of large metal doors. The woman swiped a key card that was clipped to her coat, and the doors opened to reveal a typical science lab. Nothing out of the ordinary, yet somehow entirely wrong, in a sense.
Jeb felt he was being watched out of the corner of his eye, and turned around to see a small white security camera in the corner of the room.
“Standard protocol.” Ariana explained. “The cams are everywhere. Just ignore them”
She spoke in a slight southern accent, softed over time. How had he not noticed it before? Her words seemed to slur together, with accents on certain letters. It was kind of- cute? Oh god, what was he thinking? Jeb had never called anything “cute” in his life.
He was a serious man, in theory, and rarely showed any sort of affection towards, well, anyone. The man had hazel eyes, and dirty-blond hair, and wore wire-rimmed glasses, which only seemed to add to the businessman look. Still, the way he gazed at her was enough to- ugh, snap out of it!
Ariana looked at him strangely. “Ya good?”
“Yeah, fine” Jeb shook out of his sudden daze in an instant, emotions turning off, almost robot-like in a sense.
“There’s more than one room, you know.” She laughed light-heartedly. She grabbed his hand, and her palm was strangely soft in his rough one. “Let’s go.”
They walked into the next room. It was full of- cages? But wait. There were people in them. Oh my god, not just people. Children.

Chapter Text

Jeb stared at the kids in disbelief, eyes wide and mouth agape. He took a shaky step backwards, panicking. (Well, wouldn’t you be too?)
“Ariana, what exactly is going on here?” He asked.
She sighed heavily, eyes cast downward. “Jeb, you have to understand that-”
He whirled around to face her, face red with pure, undiluted rage. “Understand what, Ariana. What am I not getting besides the fact that you have children in freaking cages. And I’m supposed to work here? I- I can’t hurt kids.”
“I understand that. But you have to understand, these aren't children.”
“What do you mean by that?” He looked at her, and to his horror, his scientific curiosity started to take over.
“She means that we’re experiments. Still mostly human, in case you’re wondering” A girl that looked to be about seven stared at him through the metal bars.
Jeb looked shocked. I didn't expect one of them to speak, for some reason. He thought to himself.
“Mostly?” He asked.
Ariana interrupted. “Meet Subject Two. Avian-human hybrid. She has wings and whatnot, i’ll show you all of the diagrams later. What you need to know is that this girl was created to- well, to save the world.”
“Her? She's a child, she can't save the world on her own. Also, save it from what?”
“All will be explained in time, Jeb. But to answer your first question, she's not going to do it alone.” She nodded to the cages next to Subject Two, and he followed her gaze.
Sitting on both sides of her were two boys that seemed to be the same age as the girl. One of them was asian, with dark hair and brown eyes. The other was pale as can be, and had strawberry-blond hair. Across from them sat a toddler with brown skin, and beside her was a crate that, alarmingly, had two children.
They would look almost identical if it weren’t for their ages. The boy looked at least a few months (maybe a year?) old, while the other kid looked practically newborn.
Sensing his confusion, Ariana added “Those two are siblings, actually. While the rest of them were made here or brought here by Itex, Subjects Ten and Eleven were donated. ”
“Donated by who?” Jeb had a lot of questions, and judging from the look on the woman's face, it seemed some of them might not be answered at all.
“Dr. Adams. About a month ago, he brought in his children, asking if he could trade them for some money. It seemed that, at the time, they were in a bit of a tight spot, and they needed some cash. We accepted, obviously, and, well, here we are. He retired shortly after.”
Jeb stared at the baby, mystified by what seemed to be-
“Are those….wings?”
Ariana laughed. “Why of course, Jeb. I mentioned it to you earlier. All of the children in this room have them”
Jeb looked at the kids again, realizing that the kids did, in fact, have large wings folded against their backs.
“Woah” His expression changed from concern to a much neutral one. He grinned. “I would like to see their files, if that's even possible? Sorry, it's just that I have so many things I want to know. I’m a scientist after all.”
“I would expect nothing else from you.” She smiled kindly, but it was different than before. This was the smile that made the girl in the cage curl up into a ball, fearful of her.
“Welcome to Itex, Jeb Batchelder.”

Chapter Text

ONE YEAR AFTER JEB JOINS ITEX

Two looked at him with wide eyes. (He had taken to calling them by just their numbers simply because it was easier).
“Anything I want?” She asked.
“Of course.” Jeb nodded.
“Uh, ok! I’m gonna go with Maximum. And then- what should my last name be?”
“Whatever you want. It’s your name.”
Her face dropped at that, Two had wanted him to say “Batchelder.” But if she couldn't have that then-
“Ride! Like Sally Ride.” She finally decided.
“Well, hello, Maximum Ride. And you guys?” He pointed at Four and Seven.
“Uh.” The raven-haired boy considered this for a moment “Fang. Call me Fang”
“I wanna be called Iggy!” Seven attempted to pinpoint Jeb’s location for a second, then locked his eyes on him.
Maximum broke the silence, and burst out laughing. “We should name him Gasman!” She pointed at the blond haired toddler. “Y’know, because of his issu-”
“Maximum Ride, that is enough.” Jeb said, sounding like a disappointed parent.
A head full of curls poked out from one of the cages. “Maxmum, I wanna be called Nudge!” The girl said. She couldn't quite pronounce long words yet, but she sure tried to. Barely a kid and already she was a chatterbox.
Maximum spoke up. “So, I’m Maximum, that’s Fang, Iggy, The Gasman, Nudge, and...what should we name her?” She pointed at the golden-haired baby with tufts of pure white wings.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Jeb asked. “We should name her Angel.”
------------------------------------------------

“Jeb, I have to talk to you.” Ariana jogged over to him.
“Yeah, what up?”
“There’s something that Itex, and me, neglected to tell you.” Her expression was one of regret, and Jeb’s stomach sank.
“Ok, what is it?”
“Remember when you donated some of your DNA to science?”
“I never told you about that. How would you know about that? Unless-” He paused. “What exactly happened to that DNA, Ariana?”
“I’m so sorry Jeb, but the reason you were recommended for this job was because- well, your DNA, mixed with the DNA of another doner, and-” She sighed.
“Jeb, Subject Two is your daughter.”