AN: Hey! Almost on time! Thank you again for all of the reviews, they definitely get me writing faster. Yes, Dan forgetting that Max was said to be a guy was done on purpose. It's glazed over in this chapter, and will become significant later, probably several chapters down the road. And again, Alec will not be in this story. There will not be any romantic interest with Dan. Logan will be in the story several chapters down the road, and M/L will be obvious, but since it's through Dan's observations, and isn't the purpose of the story, just an aid, it will be very light. (No offence to anyone, but thank you very much for requesting that, even though I planned him in when I first thought of this plot. I'm also getting very tired of seeing nothing but M/A stories. M/L all the way.) Anyway, it's light enough that it shouldn't be offensive no matter what your shipper preferences. Logan helps the story, but is not a major player. That out of the way, please enjoy and review Chapter 5. The next chapter should be up in 3-4 weeks.

Chapter 5

Left foot. Right foot. Left foot. Right foot. These things have absolutely no concept of what hour of the day is decent to travel. Left foot. The sun hadn't even come up yet and they were shaking me, shoving more sawdust and water at me, and telling me to walk. Right foot. Not that they bothered to tell me where I'm expected to walk to, I'm just randomly placing my trust in a bunch of super-weapon captors. Left foot. I wonder if they even know where they're going. Right foot. We don't seem to be going in any particularly straight line. This is probably their idea of fun, watching me suffer like this. Left foot. I am not a morning person.

"I don't give a damn whether you're a morning person or not, if you don't pick up the pace to something faster than a crawl, I'm gonna have Terk carry you. You really don't want to do that to yourself." A mocking, painfully cheerful voice comes from the transgenic beside me, the same one who brought me dinner last night. I dare a glower out of the corner of my eye, and just barely have time to dodge the swinging hand that comes from my other side. Jumping clear of the blow results in my stumbling backward and almost landing on my face, earning a snort of laughter from yet another one, and several smirks and grimaces, respectively. Oh boy. More fun with scaring the mere human. The one who tried to hit me spreads his fingers wide, a small smile half-formed on its face.

"I wasn't trying to hit you." Liar. I give him long enough eye-contact to let him know to not even try to make up some excuse, then turn and keep on walking, faster than before. Prolonged eye-contact could be perceived as challenging. If I want to get this story and stay in one piece, that's the last thing I need.

"You really can relax a little, you know." The annoying female who'd spoken to me first isn't ready to ignore me yet. Just keep my head down and keep on walking. "You act like you're expecting us to jump you or something. We're not gonna hurt you." That's the second time they've told me that. It's like calling yourself 'Honest John' or something. It extends its hand slowly, still keeping perfect stride with my now-very-brisk pace. "Look, I'll keep it simple. I'm Jondy. What's your name?"

"Dan." Leave me alone, I'm not worth your time…

"See? Successful initiation of preliminary contact." It goes on conversationally. The male jumps in sarcastically.

"And look. You came through it without a scratch. What a guy." Actually, now that I think about it, the more they talk, the more I have for the story. As long as they stay civil, it's probably in my best interests to do the same. I glance at the male.

"So…what's your name?" One small step for man… It graces me with a half-smile. Its eyes are…twinkling? What is it about me that is so d@mn funny to these things?

"Zane. Nice to meet you, even if the pleasure's yours." Huh? Oh. Following them. I should definitely stay away from that topic.

"What about the others?" Zane gets a pleased look on his face.

"The guy who was throwing a temper tantrum last night was Terk. He doesn't like you being here, you should probably stay out of his way."

"Not that he'd hurt you." Jondy cuts in hastily. "It would just make everyone's life a little easier if you two didn't cross paths any more than is absolutely necessary." I eye the olive-skinned brown-haired male a few yards in front of me. Or the back of him anyway. It must have been able to hear them, but it gave no indication of any reaction whatsoever. Zane and Jondy seem docile enough, at least for the time being, but that one is broadcasting the kind of calm and patience that a stalker does. I'm not sure exactly how he manages this, he holds himself differently than the rest or something. I didn't need to be told to stay away from him. I turn my attention back to Zane as it continues.

"Syl's the blonde girl up there in front, Krit's next to her, Sean's the next one over, and Tess and Max are in front of us. Tess is the girl on the left, Max is on the right.

"That's the one who…" I didn't mean to blurt that out. Need to tread carefully here. "Had me stay?" I finish lamely. Zane smirks a little like it knows how carefully I phrased that, but nods. Jondy doesn't seem to share his amusement. It looks at me sternly.

"You should be grateful she's being so easy on you. A spy might as well be White as far as Terk's concerned, and Syl's almost as bad. They would have gotten who you work for out of you whether you got hurt in the process or not. Max talked them down." It gives me a hard look, and for a second its eyes flash, briefly sending my pulse up again. Then the look fades. "Much as she hates to let anyone see it, Maxie has a heart of gold. Unless she finds hard proof that you've already screwed us over, nothing's gonna happen to you, and even if she did find proof, you'd probably still get let off the hook somewhere where you can't do more damage. You should be thankful."

All I can do is blink, marveling at Jondy's speech. There wasn't anything in the reports about any of them having a problem with killing people, but I suppose it's possible that Max could have less of a taste for it than the others. The thing that interested me was that a 'heart of gold', however exaggerated, was seen as a good quality by something that has been raised to kill 'coldly, efficiently, and happily' by their commander what's-his-name, Lydecker. Besides that, the immediate strength of Jondy's defensive response implies that there is some kind of bond between the two. It does make sense that a unit would be designed to have some degree of loyalty among them. I must have overlooked that section of the reports, I should have gone over them better. Jondy is ignoring me again, but curiosity for myself and for facts for the story cannot be denied.

"I was just asking." I hadn't meant for my voice to come out that unstable, but it should smooth ruffled feathers. I clear my throat. "Does that make…Max…your leader then? C.O., I mean?"

"Not exactly."

"Sort of." They both answer at the same time, then fall silent, waiting for the other to finish. Zane finally rolls his eyes and continues.

"She'll settle debates…and really important decisions, like what to do with you…if we need a decision, and can't work it out logically, she makes it, but…not like a C.O. No one appointed her there, she just happens to have the personality to fill the need whenever it comes up, and we accept it because she's usually right." He raises his voice and calls to the back of Max's head. "But not always." Max ignores him, and he grins as he turns back to me. "The rest of the time she's just our baby sister."

Baby sister? That even tops Jondy's line. And why had I thought that the Max Hensky told me about was a male? Hensky's never been wrong about a single story detail yet. I must have just heard the name and assumed. Why and where they got names would bring up another discussion, but the X-5's have lapsed back into silence, and I'm not going to push it. I've already gotten a lot in just a few minutes. And I'm definitely going to have plenty of time to get more. This is going to be so big by the time I'm done. Hensky's heart might stop cold just thinking about how big this story could get. National maybe. And I'm the one who's doing it, the one who's going to have their name attached to it forever.

I keep almost silent for the rest of the day. The X-5s drop in and out of low conversations, always moving at the exact same speed. Hours pass, and with the addition to the effects of yesterday's runs, every step becomes torture. I don't even want to think about what reaction I'll get if I slow them down. The birds, trees, even the X-5s fade out of consciousness as I focus on the progression of each searingly painful step.

I don't notice the sun steadily sinking in the sky, or the slow decline in the level of light coming through the trees. It comes as a complete shock when we stop for camp, and I consequently walk into Max's back. It whirls like I'd attacked it, fists half-raised before it even look at me. That's enough to jerk me back to reality, and I stumble back, hands spread to show I don't mean any harm. Max blinks as if it hadn't even seen me before, then drops its fists, letting its whole body relax.

"Sorry. I thought…" Max scans the trees, then turns back to me apologetically. "You scared me." Jondy slings Max around the shoulders.

"You really gottta work on that startle reflex, girl. Nobody's getting anywhere near us without us knowing about it. Even if they did, there's eight of us. They wouldn't get very far. Relax." I stare. Jondy's tone is lightly bantering, but its eyes show deep concern. You don't, well I never, thought of these things as ever looking or acting like that. It's almost unnerving in a way, like watching a hawk swim.

"Handle it like we handled it yesterday?" Max's voice rings with a slight, almost imperceptible challenge as it watches Jondy's face somberly. A flash of…guilt? Crosses Max's face.

"Don't you dare start talking like that. We did all we could. If you want to blame somebody, blame White and his lapdogs." Jondy pauses, and her fingers tighten around Max's shoulder. "You did the best you could, Max. Mickey won't be forgotten." Mickey. My best friend. The kid that was killed yesterday, obviously, but it rings home for me.

"I'm sorry." Everybody turns and looks at me. I swallow hard. "About the kid I mean. He must have…been a friend, and I'm sorry." The others are still watching me, but I keep my eyes on Max, the leader. She looks at me consideringly.

"Thank you." She says carefully, then turns and nods at the others.

"It's time to start." Start what? But it apparently means something to the others. All with solemn or somber faces, they come and sit cross-legged in a loose circle, me slightly to the outside. Max nods at Syl, and slowly, calmly, and carefully, it begins to speak.

"The first time I met Mickey, I had no idea why. At first I thought he was into women that were older than he was, and was trying to hit on me in some weird, inventive way." She laughs a little, smiling distantly at the ground. "He had to tell me he was Manticore. Just saying that word scared me half to death. I made him show me his barcode…I never would have guessed cause, he was so smiling and friendly and joking. I mean you can count on most of us to be pretty reserved, especially with complete strangers but, Mickey wasn't like that. He liked everybody, and he was so excited, so starstruck about everything that's so much better out here. He was so full of life. Even when the hunts started, he was so optimistic that he'd be able…to live like everybody else. He really believed that he could, and that he'd be able to put everything else behind him. That all this would blow over. We all hope for that, but even before White got out his soapbox, I always had a hard time convincing myself that it would all stay behind me where I left it, that I'd be able to live like everybody else for the rest of my life. He could, and that always amazed me about him. This kid could push the Manticore dragons and nightmares aside, and be so happy, and believe more in a world that he'd lived in for nine months than I could after twelve years." She pauses and seems to collect herself. "Of everyone that Manticore cooked up, that I've met, Mickey was…the most fun to be around. He would always do his absolute best to make you smile when you were down, was always breaking any tense mood. He was one of those people that makes any place, any situation, seem not so bad…just by being there." She stops and turns to Krit, and he starts. When I first sat down I'd been glad just to get off my feet, and stop my muscles from aching so much. All the pain is gone now. I'm above that now, almost trancelike, taking in Syl's words, and hanging on all of Krit's.

I'd barely even seen him, but I feel like I should be mourning him now after Syl's description of him. This must be their version of a funeral service, remembering the dead. It wasn't even in their unit though, it's so…startling…that they would feel bad for losing it. I didn't think they were programmed for that much depth of emotion, especially for someone who isn't one of their own. The tests said that they didn't usually. Maybe they picked this up from humans and mimicked it? Still, they sound sincere enough, and I listen respectively to each of their accounts of it, and then more, recounts of experiences with it, recaps of conversations with it, until, by the time it's over in the pre-dawn hours, I feel like I knew him.