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Chapter 1

'Home sweet home' Max thought bitterly as she entered her small grey walled cell. Looking around at the miniature cell which contained nothing but a cot with chains so it could be anchored if needed to sleep in, Max felt like crying. Ten years she had tried to keep away from this place, ten years she had spent hiding and looking over her shoulder, but here she was back where it all started. Ten years completely wasted.

"Wow this sucks" Max spoke to the empty cell. As she lay on the cot she examined her new room at Manticore and all the memories came flooding back, the training, the sparing, the propaganda and brainwashing classes, the tank, Ben, Tinga, and Zack.

"Oh god…Zack" she whimpered. Shutting her eyes tightly she lay in a foetal position as sobs racked her small body; thoughts of Zack bombarding her thoughts.

She remembered waking up in the infirmary with Renfro standing over her with a sick smile on her face obviously pleased with herself for capturing two 09 escapees, something Lydecker had been trying to do for the last ten years and had failed immensely.

"You've both come home to us" Renfro had said

Guilt cursed through her. It was her fault that Zack was dead. If she had been more careful and hadn't got on shot Zack would not feel the need to sacrifice himself to save her.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry Zack" she whispered softly to the empty cold cell.

"Lights out 452" the guard told her as he looked through the bars on her cell door. The guards go around checking the cells to see if the occupants were still there. Ignoring him she turned to face the wall so her back was to him and forced herself to stop the tears. She had been back at Manticore for two months, the first few weeks was the recovery period, this was the time when they left her to rest and to let her body restore itself after the heart transplant. Recently it had been the torture 'why the hell doesn't she just brainwash me, what's with all the torture techniques, I'm sure she has no problems with me becoming the perfect soldier' Max thought sourly.

'My life sucks everyone thinks I'm dead that's probably why Syl and Krit won't pull any rescue missions. OC, Sketchy, Herbal and Logan, I just hope they're all ok.'

"Logan" Max murmured the name of the man she loved to the dark cell. She had wondered how he was and how he had taken the news of her demise. Knowing that he was safe back at his penthouse thanks to Syl and Krit she felt a bit better.

'I gotta get out of here' she thought determinedly 'I want my strange little life back, I miss everyone OC, Sketchy, Herbal heck even Normal with his bip bip bip and missy miss all the time, I miss Logan, I need to get back to Logan.'

Jumping off the bed she folded her bunk to the wall and anchored it up. She removed a tool from the springs of the bunk and crouched on the floor. Max uses the tool to poke and saw at the cement between the large bricks in the wall.

Working away for a few hours she finally decided to get some rest knowing she would have to wake up early tomorrow to officially start her training.

Next morning

"452 and 595 on the mat now" A trainer screamed. Max got out of the circle and made her way to the mat. Turning to face her opponent she noticed that he was taller and probably had fifty pounds on her, his jet black hair and blue eyes made him quite good looking. Max made the first move; she blurred towards him and threw a punch at his head which he side-stepped, before she could recover his leg connected with her stomach hard causing her to bend over the wind momentarily knocked out of her.

Standing upright she moved towards him again and managed to get in a kick and two punches, furious at letting the 09er get some hits in, the X5 went into a fury of powerful punches and kicks successfully knocking her down to the ground.

"What's the matter 452? Still recuperating?" he taunted

"Bite me" Max retorted, disgusted at herself for being on the ground and at his mercy.

"Must've given you a lousy heart" he sneered as if she hadn't spoken.

Enraged she tried to manoeuvre from under him but failed, he was good he left no way of escape. Frustrated she resulted in fighting dirty by drawing her head back as far as possible from her position on the floor and slamming it into his nose. As the blinding pain overtook him he jumped up and released his hold on her and clutched his now broken nose.

"Jesus you stupid bitch" he hissed as blood gushed down his front. Not taking any chances Max flipped herself to her feet and faced him hatred shining on her face.

"452" the trainer screamed coming to stand before her forcing her to stand at attention "what the hell was that?" he questioned.

"I'm sorry sir, I got carried away, it won't happen again" she informed him.

"See that it doesn't, dismissed" he spoke roughly to the circle of transgenic's.

Walking through the training ground X5's 494 and 510 walked side by side laughing and talking quietly, both enjoying each others company. Since Manticore discouraged socialization within its grounds unless for training purposes they had to be careful to not be heard or to be seen getting carried away. They attracted a lot of attention from the female population as they walked past each flashing charming flirtatious grins. 494 was tall, lean and muscular with captivating hazel green eyes and dirty blonde hair. 510 was a few inches shorter with jet black hair, brown eyes and a mischievous grin. Leaning against the wall they watched the groups of transgenic's spar.

"Hey that's the 09er right?" 510 asked his best friend pointing to a small dark haired female who had just got into a fighting stance on the mat

"Must be I've never seen her before" 494 replied as he watched the girl and 595 circle each other. They watched as she threw a punch which did not connect and receive a strong kick to her stomach and double over.

"Ouch that's gotta hurt, knowing how painful his kicks are I really feel sorry for her" 510 winced sympathetically. 494 did not answer but carried on watching the scene, there was something about this girl that he could not place his finger on. He watched as she slammed her head into 595's nose and laughed slightly, yep she was different alright; none of the other females at Manticore would have ever done that.

"Looks like she has quite a temper" 510 said

"I'm sure I can tame her down" 494 replied confidently

"Should've known" 510 replied walking away shaking his head and laughing.

That evening

Max lay on her bed reminiscing about her life outside Manticore. OC and Logan were the one's she missed the most probably because they were the only ones who knew about her being transgenic. She waited for the guard to pass by her door for their nightly inspection before jumping off, folding the bed and crouching on the floor to saw the bricks to create the hole that would aid in her escape.

Hearing footsteps near her door she quickly restored her bed and planted herself on it waiting for whoever was to enter her cell. The metal door opened loudly and a male X5 entered looking at her. Shocked speechless Max stared at the familiar stranger, uncertainly she asked

"Ben?"

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