History Main / SecretProjectRefugeeFamily

A BreakfastClub and often a FamilyOfChoice, expect one to be [[PromotionToParent (self)-promoted to the role of parent]]. Commonly the SecretProjectRefugeeFamily will become {{Phlebotinum Rebel}}s as they either try to elude or take revenge on their creators... and [[PsychoPrototype elder siblings]]. Or hey, they're just one EvilOverlord recruitment away from becoming a QuirkyMinibossSquad. Not to be confused with GuineaPigFamily.

%%* Grace and her "brothers" from ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' form one, at least after Damien is killed.

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

%%* The Franchise/MarvelUniverse's ''{{ComicBook/Livewires}}'' and Franchise/TheDCU's ''ComicBook/LabRats.''
%%* ''ComicBook/{{Gen 13}}''. [[GeodesicCast Mirrored by]] [[ThePsychoRangers DV8]] and the Mongolian Barbeque Horde.

** Spinning off from their Titans title, the ComicBook/New52 label had ComicBook/TheRavagers. Metahumans who got abducted for an experiment, that turned out to be cover for a metahuman-hating terrorist from the future who wanted to make them ChildSoldiers, before they got sick of that and set out on their own.

* The second ComicBook/NewsboyLegion (the ones that helped ComicBook/{{Superboy|1994}} escape}} were clones of the originals plus a clone of another Cadmus scientist and Guardian's great-niece who hung out together at all times, regularly escaped from Cadmus and didn't fully trust anyone outside of their group. Understandable since they'd originally been made to be used as spare parts.

* ''VideoGame/{{SUGURI}}'' has the Shifu Brands, i.e. the game's stage bosses, all pull a HeelFaceTurn and settle down on Earth after their boss [[BigBad Shifu]]'s defeat.

* ''VideoGame/{{SUGURI}}'' has the members of the Shifu Brand, i.e. the game's stage bosses, all pull a HeelFaceTurn and settle down on Earth after their boss [[BigBad Shifu]]'s defeat.

* A typical throng of TabletopGame/PrometheanTheCreated characters -- not exactly lab projects most of the time, but often abandoned by their creators, spurned by humanity, and seeking someone for tea and sympathy.
* This is also how a motley or Freehold of [[TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost Changelings]] can tend to look in ''Changeling: the Lost''. They can afford to be a little pickier than the poor Prometheans, but honestly, when you've been kidnapped by beautiful and terrible Eldritch Abominations, tortured into a more pleasing (and utterly ''not'' human) form to suit their whims, survived this process, escaped back to Earth, and then found at ''best'' some ''Thing'' with your face in your place, and at worse found that Time has screwed you over quite severely in the bargain... well, as the book says, Changeling society tends to be pretty dang forgiving of its members' little.. ''quirks''. Oh, and of course, we have the Summer, and to a lesser extent, Autumn Courts....
* And in ''TabletopGame/HunterTheVigil'', one of the playable factions is the Merrick Institute. Runaways from a now-defunct government project , they decided to use their new DreamWalker powers to fight astral monsters.
* For another TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness example, the upcoming ''TabletopGame/DeviantTheRenegades'' deals with people who were changed by scientific experiments (or, in some cases, occult rituals) who are on the run from the people who made them, trying to gather the power to strike back.

* ''VideoGame/{{SUGURI}}'' has the Shifu Brands i.e. the bosses whom the title character fought, who all pull a HeelFaceTurn and settle down on Earth after their boss' defeat.

* ''VideoGame/{{SUGURI}}'' has the Shifu Brands i.e. the bosses whom the title character fought, all of whom pull a HeelFaceTurn and settle down on Earth after their boss' defeat.

* Though it doesn't come up much in the series, the Bandicoot family in ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'' are basically this (namely Crash and Coco, and later on Crunch), since they were all created by a MadScientist to be his footsoldiers for world domination only to turn against him and thwart his evil plans time and time again.
* ''VideoGame/{{SUGURI}}'' has the Shifu Brands, all of whom pull a HeelFaceTurn and settle down on Earth after their boss' defeat.

You and your fellow {{Artificial Human}}s[=/=]kidnap victims[=/=][[GuineaPigFamily siblings]] have just [[EscapedFromTheLab escaped from]] the [[PlayingWithSyringes lab you all grew up in/were experimented on]]? Where the heck do you go now? Chances are slim that any of you still have a family in the normal world. If that wasn't bad enough, not many people will want to put up with [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer freaks like you.]]

* The Schiff in ''Anime/BloodPlus''.
* The cyborg characters in ''Manga/{{Cyborg 009}}''.

* Holland's crew in the ''Anime/EurekaSeven'' movie.
* Although some still have some family left, most [[Manga/OnePiece Straw hats]] are orphans, and they consider the crew their family.

[[folder:ComicBooks]]
* John Byrne's ''ComicBook/NextMen'' comic.
* The Franchise/MarvelUniverse's ''{{ComicBook/Livewires}}'' and Franchise/TheDCU's ''ComicBook/LabRats.''
* ''ComicBook/{{Gen 13}}''. [[GeodesicCast Mirrored by]] [[ThePsychoRangers DV8]] and the Mongolian Barbeque Horde.
* The Morlocks from ComicBook/XMen.
* The Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles. And [[TeenageMutantSamuraiWombats various imitations]].

* ''ComicBook/{{Nocturnals}}''. Some are refugees from secret projects. Others are supernatural entities. All of them have nowhere else to go.
* A particularly unusual (and nonhuman) example: ''ComicBook/{{We3}}''.
* ''ComicBook/ScareTactics''.

* Cloud, Seraph and Harridan initally appeared as this in ''ComicBook/TheDefenders''; being on the run from the Secret Empire. Cloud would later join the Defenders.

[[folder:Fanfic]]
* The title group in the Manga/{{Naruto}} fanfic FanFic/{{Hakumei}}.
* In the MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic fanfic FanFic/FreedomThroughHarmony. After being trained and used as human weapons by Celestia, Twilight and Phil stuck together.

[[folder:Film]]
* The gang of runaway robots in ''Film/AIArtificialIntelligence''.
* The three precogs at the end of ''Film/MinorityReport''.
* The replicants in ''Film/BladeRunner''.
* A case could be made for the surviving members of ''Film/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'', in the film at least.
[[/folder]]

* The Flock in James Patterson's ''Literature/MaximumRide'' series. "The School" genetically engineered them to be {{Winged Humanoid}}s, they escaped, they formed a family.
* The mutants who live in the fringes in ''Literature/TheChrysalids'' seem to adopt each other as a sort of 'tribe'/family.
* Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'':
** The Durona sisters are ''clones'' of their progenitor Lilly Durona, and are escapees from one of Jackson's Whole robber barons.
** ''Literature/EthanOfAthos'' has Terrance Cee, whose history is a pointed example of why these often don't work in real life (ie, they make you easier to find).
* Another (and more warlike) example is Audubon Ballroom from David Weber/Eric Flint, in the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' series, who are less of a family and more of a guerrilla army of escaped Mesan slaves. It does help that their organisation is pretty big and have powerful allies.
* Connor, Risa and Lev in Neal Shusterman's ''Literature/{{Unwind}}'', though what they are running away from is not a secret. They are running away from being "unwound", or having every body part taken away from them.

* The clone commandos who desert in the ''Literature/RepublicCommandoSeries'', though the [[StarWars Grand Army]] is far from secret by that time.

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]

* ''Series/BabylonFive'': Telepaths who were not in Psicorps attempted to run away. Some were more successful than others.
* Kyle and Jessi from ''Series/{{Kyle XY}}'', initially.
* In later seasons of ''Series/ThePretender'', Jarod was joined at various points by a young fellow escapee and his own father, a former Centre employee.
* The clones in ''Series/OrphanBlack'' (well, except for [[AxCrazy Helena]] and [[EvilTwin Rachel]]).

[[folder:TabletopGames]]

[[folder:VideoGames]]
* This is the backstory for Kadaj and his gang in ''Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren''.

* [[spoiler: Jack, the Little Sisters, and presumably Tenenbaum]] in the good ending of ''VideoGame/{{Bioshock|1}}''.

* The Black Mage Village from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX''.
* Pretty much the whole premise of ''VisualNovel/FamilyProject''.

[[folder:WebComics]]

* Grace and her "brothers" from ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' form one, at least after Damien is killed.

[[folder:WebOriginal]]

* The animals from ''WesternAnimation/IAmNotAnAnimal''.

** Spinning off from their Titans title, the ComicBook/New52 label had ComicBook/TheRavagers, former metahuman ChildSoldiers for a metahuman-hating terrorist from the future, until they decided they were sick of that.

%% * The main characters in James Patterson's ''Literature/MaximumRide'' series.

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' features two approximate examples. SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker's Royal Flush Gang was a group of metahuman teens (modelled on the powers of the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' and using the same voice actors from that show) which the Joker had liberated from the government's Project Cadmus and trained in supervillainy. The Ultimen (who were in turn a pastiche of the EthnicScrappy characters from ''WesternAnimation/{{Superfriends}}'' (and the Wonder Twins) are a borderline case, since technically they never quite succeeded in escaping the secret project.

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' The Homunculi are a mixed bag. Lust showed affection for Gluttony like one would for a "pet" and he was likewise fond of her, and Wrath looked upon Sloth as a mother-figure. However, Greed had severed all ties, Pride was more of a boss, and Sloth was an assistant. In the manga, the other homonculi are outright terrified of Pride, and Sloth is really just a slave. The entity they call "father" seems to be called as such more out of fear than affection.

** A fair number of the ComicBook/XMen themselves. Wolverine, X-23 . . . I'm sure a bunch of the others.

** A fair number of the ComicBook/{{X-Men}} themselves. Wolverine, X-23 . . . I'm sure a bunch of the others.

* Kyle and Jessi from ''Series/{{Kyle XY}}'', to some extent. Partially subverted in that they had a normal, human family as well, and probably didn't see each other in quite such a brother/sister way in the end...

You and your fellow {{Artificial Human}}s, kidnap victims or [[GuineaPigFamily siblings]] have just [[EscapedFromTheLab escaped from]] the [[PlayingWithSyringes lab you all grew up in/were experimented on]]? Where the heck do you go now? Chances are slim that any of you still have a family in the normal world. If that wasn't bad enough, not many people will want to put up with [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer freaks like you.]]

You and your fellow {{Artificial Human}}s, kidnap victims or [[GuineaPigFamily siblings]] have just [[EscapedFromTheLab escaped from]] [[PlayingWithSyringes the lab you all grew up in/were experimented on]]? Where the heck do you go now? Chances are slim that any of you still have a family in the normal world. If that wasn't bad enough, not many people will want to put up with [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer freaks like you.]]

* For another NewWorldOfDarkness example, the upcoming ''TabletopGame/DeviantTheRenegades'' deals with people who were changed by scientific experiments (or, in some cases, occult rituals) who are on the run from the people who made them, trying to gather the power to strike back.

* The cast of ''Comicbook/{{Runaways}}'' sort of fits this trope. After running away from their evil parents and not being satisfied with the foster care system they adopted each other as a family.

* The ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' from 1996 were half-human, half-alien sleeper agents that instead banded together to fight the aliens. They then stayed together, with a deaged Atom as their mentor. Other DCU characters would join them over the course of the series.
** Teen Titans: Earth One has the Titans consist of this trope, each member of the team having gained their powers from 'Project Titan' before escaping.

* The cyborg characters in ''{{Cyborg 009}}''.

** It's consciously averted in the first season of, as the escaping X-5's decide to split up to avoid capture. However, Max acquires one of these in the second season with Alec and Joshua and later a whole city of transgenics.
** It's also played straight, with a squad of younger transgenics who stayed together (giving Max a chance to be MamaBear).