The alarms blared to life, the windows had been shattered as the X5's rolled down the banks of snow in their attempt to get away. X5-452 and X5-766, Max and Eva, stood at the window watching. Their unit leader looked to Eva, waving her to hurry and come but she shook her head and retreated into the shadows of the building. Zack's, also known as X5-599, face grimaced as he looked to Max, waving for her to come, now. Max looks down at him and shook her head. Zack's face crumpled as he realized that their Maxie or Eva wasn't going to escape with them. X5-626, Tinga looked up and noticed Zack not moving, looking up further, she noticed Max wasn't moving, just watching them. Tinga started climbing back up the hill, wanting to get to Max, to pull her with them. Tinga got half way before Zack grabbed her arm, signalling for her to run. Ordering her, to run. Max shook her head, signalling for them to be safe.

Tinga let a tear fall before Max was yanked back, and Lydecker looked out. Tinga ran with Zack, avoiding the military guards. One by one, a few in pairs, the transgenics escaped, heading out into the ordinary world. They stayed together for some time, unsure of what to do, where to go. It had become hard, keeping twelve kids under the radar together. Zack had split them up, Tinga, Ben, Brin and Syl in a remote part of Florida. Kavi, Zack, Zane and Jondy in a small part of Connecticut. Krit, Seth, Vada and Jace at a small farmers land in New York. They had it pretty decent. Until the pulse hit and everything went to hell in a hand basket. They had regrouped in 2020, by then, they were all 20-21.

In an abandoned warehouse, the twelve escaped transgenics stood around, all of them wearing a serious, down to business face as their CO stood in the middle. "Alright, listen up everybody, we've been hunted down for almost twelve years. Those Manticore assholes don't know when to quit. To top it all off, those bastards still have Maxie." Zack said with venom in his voice. As soon as Maxie's name was brought up, a chorus of growls and swearing were heard. They had spent years trying to figure out why Max had decided to stay behind, especially when she was starting to seize, why hadn't she left with them? Some of them thought it was because Eva had refused, but in a way, they all knew she wouldn't have gone through with it, she was to committed to Manticore. Other ideas were that she was afraid, but with Max, she was never really afraid of anything, except guns. She hated guns.

They finally concluded that the four days she had seemingly dissapeared from weapons training and other training, was when she was in Psi-Ops for debriefing. They had refreshed her allegiance to Manticore and Max was under their influence for the time being. "So how do we even come close to infiltrating Manticore? They must've upped their security detail after we escaped." Tinga said and Syl clicked her tongue "I've talked to some of the old retired guard detail after a couple X5's attacked him. Got information out of him pretty quickly as soon as I showed my barcode. He brought me a pretty up to date map of Manticore in hopes of his life being spared." Syl said and Zack snarled "You got rid of him, right little sis?" Ben said, seeing Zack's dissatisfied face and Syl rolled her eyes. "Obviously." She said and the rest sighed "We're supposed to be ordinary. Acting like assassin soldiers outside of Manticore wasn't the point of our escape." Brin said and Jondy agreed close after. Zack looked around at his brothers and sisters who had spread themselves out, but still close. They were one huge family, and being apart for years had worn them down.

Zack had drawn out strategies for over two hours with Ben, Krit, Kavi and Vada. Thinking over the pros and cons of each mission strategy. Brin, Seth and Jondy went out to find uniforms for the twelve of them, to help them blend into the night, which is when they planned to have their attack. Syl, Tinga, Zane and Jace worked on ammunition and weapons.

It took them another two days until the plan was solid. They each got dressed in black outfits, easy to move in and easy to conceal and hide weapons. After stealing a few cars, they set out to Manticore Base. Ready to save their sister and take down Manticore.

*a few years before the pulse*

Max stood in line as the CO went through her unit. "STATE YOUR DESIGNATION" Her CO yelled "X5-452 Sir!" Max answered, her voice neutral and her face blank. Her CO nodded and moved on to the next. Max kept her eyes straight, not daring to look anywhere but where she was told. Her body stiff and straight with her arms down her sides. "At ease soldiers!" Her CO yelled and they fell into the 'at ease' position. "Today is going to be a relatively easy day for you. Today, Colonial Lydecker is here to observe. So for the next six hours, we will be having an escape and evade exercise. After that, around the world Sparring." Her CO said "Is there any problem with this schedule?" Her CO said "Sir NO Sir!" Her and her unit yelled out. Max is currently seventeen, and in the highest ranking unit there is. After her old units escape, Max had spent eight months in Psi-Ops. Would've been longer, but Lydecker had intervened. Said if she had wanted to escape, she would've, yet she remained here. Max realized they sent Max to Psi-Ops to debrief her, to make sure she wasn't a flight risk, and if she was, to restore her back to the soldier she was. They would've done the rest of them, but they had only gotten to Max before they chose to escape. Although, Max wasn't sure if she would have left. The world was dirty and corrupted. Inside Manticore, they were safe and protected and well fed. Max could pin the blame on Psi-Ops all she wanted, but when it comes down to it again, Max couldn't stomach the idea of actually leaving Manticore unless It was for a mission.

Max was SIC in her old unit, and by some sick joke, she was also SIC in this unit. Her unit went through and each picked up their ear piece and a stun gun. Max and her CO huddled in a corner and came up with a strategy for their escape and evade. They were going against some X8's who were about four years younger than her. "Alec, you think we should split them all up into two's?" Max asked and Alec nodded. "We can send 398 and 402 up north, 444 and 721 south east, 321 and 654 south, and 289 and 777 north east. We'll cover the west side since we're faster." Alec said and Max smiled "It's escape and evade babe, not capture the flag." Max said, and soon covered her mouth as she realized she let the wording slip. Alec winked at her and smiled "I know, but if you think about it, the X8's are going to be looking for the CO and SIC, if they catch wind we're in the west, then we can evade and slip to the north or east side of the woods." Alec concluded and Max nodded.

Max stood up and looked around

" 'Tention" She yelled and all of her unit cleanly ran to their respected lines. Alec and Max split them up and after giving orders, they ran into the woods. Alec and Max blurred into the woods around Manticore. Once deep enough into the woods, Alec grabbed Max around the waist and hugged him to her. "You're beautiful." Alec said smiling and Max blushed "And I'm glad you're all mine." Alec said, placing his lips over Max's in a gentle kiss.

Eva (X5-766)

Ben (X5-493)

Brin (X5-734)

Jondy (X5-210)

Kavi (X5-101)

Krit (X5-473)

Max (X5-452)

Seth (X5-386)

Syl (X5-701)

Tinga (X5-656)

Vada (X5-344)

Zack (X5-599)

Zane (X5-205)

Jace (X5-798)

Hope you liked the first chapter :) Eyes Only will be introduced in the next chapter!