this chapter goes all out crazy now. back-stabbing, spying and bringing in the big guns...not to mention more trouble. i know, max isn't playing such a big role...but i have to write this! r&r!

Chapter Seven
It was pitch dark when Mugen returned to the facility. It wasn't hard this time around since she already had some experience with the men. But that wasn't the problem; the problem lay with the X-10. As much as she was enhanced to be a perfect match against them, she lacked the spine to kill them.
They were alive, after all.
Damn, I knew I was freaking holy at heart, she thought. I should have been raised a nun then.... heh heh...but then again, here I am, at the heart of a dangerous mission, ready to kill if necessary.... mental note; go to confession once this is over.
She snuck through some bushes towards the farthest side of the fence possible where no one was guarding. She looked back and forth, using her special abilities to check the area. She knew that these men were extremely smart and that she could be surrounded in a moment's notice.
There's always a risk involved, huh? she wondered.
One, two three, jump!
She leapt silently towards the chain fence and made her way up. She swung over the barbed wire without much of a problem as she did a somersault and landed silently on her feet, searching around, her hand gripped on her taser that sat at her side.
Silence.
Hmm, good enough. She slowly got up and quickly sprinted to the wall nearby, where a light was shining from the window, a good nine feet over her head. She looked up, estimating a way to get up there without a grunt. She then nodded and leaped, her feet defying gravity as she sped up. Her hands met the sides of the window's bars and pulled up.
It was the window of a personal office..
Lydecker was in there.
Hmm, so this is the famous bastard's office....not bad for a front seat, she thought. At least I found it...nice situation in the complex, Let's listen closer... shall we? She squinted her eyes and used her stretch her mind power out to what they were talking about.
"She is growing impatient, Deck..." said a black man.
"I know," Lydecker said ominously.
Mugen squinted. She?
The black man blew out some air from the cigarette and threw the buts onto the ashtray, walking around. "She is not going to be one happy camper, Deck, you know that," he said. "Sure, you got three of the X5 members...but why can't you beat the others' hiding places out of them?" The last words came out as an angry shout.
Lydecker spun around, glaring at him. "These things take time!" he shouted angrily. "You think I can just go and torture---" These words made Mugen shudder, "---them like they were nothing! They were like my children..."
Children, like he knew what that was, Mugen thought.
"Yah, well, I hope you do what you were meant to do," the dark stranger told him. "As for those X10s...the ones patrolling your perimeter? I was told that someone was examining the place some time ago and defeated one of your men...She knows, Deck, and she's coming in tomorrow...."
"Damn!"
"I know..."
"Why did you tell her?" Lydecker demanded.
"......"
"I thought so...." Lydecker said, his fingers prying onto something on his desk, something Mugen couldn't see. Then he quickly spun around before she could react and pointed a state-of-the-art gun at the dark man's face. He stopped smoking. Lydecker smiled crudely, deceptively. "You think you can run off and stab me at the back without me knowing? You know me far better than that....you know that isn't...um, honourable."
The black man narrowed his eyes. "She's coming, whether you like it or not...I suggest you prepare yourself for her wrath, Deck." He blew air out from his cigarette and towards Lydecker, making him scrunch his nose. He then turned and began to walk towards the door when he stopped and face Lydecker's confused face. "And Deck? Put away the gun...there's no use for that."
Lydecker looked down at his gun, speechless.
Mugen dropped down. Damn, their head was coming in tomorrow! What now? How will Logan and her sneak in without alerting any military jarheads, those creepy X10s, Lydecker and his supposedly pissed-off boss? It would be hard to sneak in and safely get Max and her "siblings" out without anyone noticing was going to be harder. And Mr. Cale just coming out of hospital...this was going to be tight.
She slipped past the security and made her way back through the forest. If things got rough in there tomorrow, she would have to be armed with some heavy artillery....

Max was looking at the ceiling, thinking.
I wonder how Original Cindy is doing, she thought. I mean, I don't even know how long I've been gone...I hope she hasn't messed up the place while I was gone...how long have I been gone? It feels like forever...I wonder how Logan is doing...I hope he isn't taking things to hard on himself...
She couldn't remember how long she had been inside the cells now. She couldn't recall how many sunrises and sunsets had passed by since she and her siblings were caught. Her mind was all jumbled from the drugs and the tortures.
"Max."
"What do you want now, Zack?"
"Let's bail outta here."
Max glared at Zack, who was still swollen from the tortures. He didn't look like a sight for sore eyes, but then again, so was she. "You are crazy if you even think so," she told him harshly. "If we follow what this contact of ours say, we'll live to see tomorrow. Besides, you think you can pass by those X10s?"
"Where'd you hear that from?" Zack demanded, his eyes glaring.
She sighed. He was just trying to be optimistic in the idea of escaping. In truth, she had conjured up some ideas, each one dismissed with reluctance. The men who had dragged Brin into her cell like a sack of nothing were X10s. They looked like the ones the professors used to scare them about, making them swear allegiance only to them or face the consequences. No questions.
She shuddered slightly, remembering the past and trying hard not show Zack her weakness to the thought. No, she shouldn't make a fuss on her theories. Max jabbed a finger at the other cell, where Brin lay sleeping.
"She could be hallucinating," Zack explained callously. "Besides, she hasn't talked since she had returned to the cell from the bastard of death. Now, I still say we go try and escape this hellhole. And I say, why we still have feet." He glared at her again, the anger and irony gleaming in his eyes.
Max shot another glance at him, a fiercer one. "And I say, we will wait. You wanna die, go right ahead. I'm waiting for Logan and his friend." She looked away from his glare and settled back to looking at the ceiling in silence.
Zack groaned. "By the time he gets here, we'll be dead."
She looked at Brin, who was lying silently in her cot. She sighed heavily. Logan, whatever you're doing, hurry up, because we're dying inside here....

"You're joking, right?"
Mugen shook her head sadly as she finished packing her supplies into her knapsack. "Negative on that, Eyes Only," she told him gravely as she fixed the medical packs one more time and prepare the three cots for their incoming visitors later on that evening. A full day had passed since she had inspected the perimeter. "His boss is coming in today...well, she should be here right now."
Logan sighed. "This is not good," he told her. "She's after me."
"So I have heard."
Noting the sarcasm, he said, "This is serious, Mugen! And I mean it! She's like, the head of Manticore or something and she's after my head for what I did, helping Max find her siblings and helping them escape. She considers me potential enemy....waitaminute, did you say she was coming in today to that branch? Max is in there!"
She snapped a glance up at him. "No, duh!"
Silence.
She sighed, reaching into her pack again. "Are you sure you could do this?" she asked, more gently this time. "I mean, you just got out of the hospital and your operation was just been broken a week ago...you sure you can handle it? It might also break your cover as..."
"I can handle it. What are you getting?"
Mugen did not say anything. Instead, she reached in and revealed a silver gun, probably a taser, up-to-date, modern. Came with some bullets for extra charge. She loaded it and then pocketed it in her side, burying it under her cotton white t-shirt. Then she adjusted her gloves, fixed her hair, reached out for two things wrapped in velvet and tucked it under her bootlegs.
Logan watched this transaction with strange curiosity. She was silent in her little doings as she loaded her taser, slipped it under her shirt, and did the same with two things wrapped with velvet under her pant legs and onto her boots. She was wearing black pants, white sleeveless shirt, black heels gray gloves that ran up to pass her elbow, and a long, sleeveless gray jacket...trench...whatever. She looked rich. She looked ready to kick ass.
Why is it that the girls can appear to kick my ass?
"Is all that---necessary?" he asked dryly.
"It is."
"You're expecting a big fight?"
"When it comes to it."
Logan blinked at her. She seemed suddenly calm and dead silent. Like she was going to face a clear summer day. He suddenly felt useless as he said, "So, what do you want me to do?"
"Save your energy. You'll need it. We head out this evening."

"Mr. Lydecker."
"Madame."
Blonde hair, big, bright eyes. She stepped out of her black car, her heels splashing onto the wet pavement. She walked straight up to him, ignoring the officers, her business suit tweed and cut in the face of the evening sky. Her face meant only one thing; business.
In Lydecker's case, his ass.
"What's your current situation?" she asked. Straight business.
Lydecker straightened. Business is business. "Yes. They're inside. We're giving them time to recover before we..."
"Why?"
"Well, you see, they need to be healthy enough to..."
"No excuses. Show me."
"Um...yes, um, ma'am." He twirled around and guided his boss inside the structure. He felt a bottle of rage slowly beginning to over pour whenever she was around. Boy, did that woman make him ever made! She was thinly tolerant, a veiled-veiled patient woman with no sense of thought, only direction and order.
Damn! he thought. Just my luck!
They walked down the hallways silently, flanked by officers.
"So...these are the X10s," Madame mused.
"Yes."
"Excellent structured-personas," she complimented. "Works good if we are to gather the rest of the X5s and that menacing Eyes Only persona. He is giving me the creeps now with all his free-world idealism. It's becoming so...nauseating."
So are you. "Yes, ma'am. Here we are."
He gestured the X10 soldiers aside and opened the door to find a janitor sweeping up the floors in front of the cells where Max, Brin and Zack lay, bored to death. She didn't seem to pleased at what she saw as Lydecker quickly scooped up the guy to the wall.
"Have you conversed with the prisoners?" he demanded.
"N-No," he stammered.
Lydecker tightened his grip. "Are you sure?!?!?"
"Yes! I swear it!"
Lydecker threw him aside, making him stumble and fall to the ground. "Beat it! Before I change my mind!" Lydecker shouted, making the janitor stumble to his feet and run to the exit, pass her.
She looked at him. "No need to be harsh. It's just a janitor."
Lydecker stared at Max, who was now up and about. "Max. Child."
"I am not your child."
"Funny, I always considered you were," he countered.
Now Zack was up as well. "Well, forget about it."
Lydecker pretended to be hurt. It was all a game; a game of insults. In the end, he would win and they would be---well, he didn't know yet. At the corner of his eyes, he could see that she was pretty amused there. Funny. Hah hah. What about a punch into your smeary face? He cleared his throat. "Well, I suppose you met..."
Max's eyes narrowed. "You."
She blinked, mockingly. "What about me?"
Max was ready to leap at her if it weren't for the bars. Her hands were past the bars, trying to swipe the boss with pitiful attempts. She felt raged. "You son of a bitch! You were the one who initiated the program that created us!"
"Don't try to kill me, it's no use," She quipped coolly. "So maybe I did---what's your point?"
Max fell silent, but the rage never left her eyes.
Zack stared at her silently, dead cold. "What do you want?"
Lydecker batted his eyes at Zack. "Why, what else?"
"If you're asking for our siblings, the answer is no."
Lydecker sighed. "Ahh, too bad, we could've---"
Boom!
"What the hell was that?!" She asked.
"What's going on? Men, check it out!"

Mugen smiled. "Phase One, completed."
Logan raised a brow. "So soon?"
"Mr. Cale, I work very, very fast."
"Um, right...."
"Let's go," she said, checking her weapons for the last time before getting out of Logan's car, through the passenger section. Logan did the same thing as they walked carefully to the same chain-linked fence that Mugen crossed the night before.
Logan was now gloating at the barbwire.
Mugen rolled her eyes. "You can do it."
"No...I can't."
She glared at him. "I will throw you across, if I must," she declared defiantly. "Mind you, I am as strong as those jar headed X10s, y'know. So don't start with me. As I said, you can get over that. You don't need to be a super genetically-enhanced being to do so."
"Heh, easy for you to say," Logan responded dryly. "I'm the one who was in the hospital a little while ago, remember? And besides, how can I come over again if I'll have Max and someone else on my shoulders or somethin'?"
"Don't worry, I have an idea," she assured.
Logan rolled his eyes. "Does this involve flying?"
She glared at him, dead serious.
"I guess not," he said faintly as he watched Mugen leap onto the chained fence and up she went, no hassle, and over the barbed wire without any difficulty. Logan gulped; how can he get over the blasted thing without looking like a fool in front of this...of this...kid?!
Mugen shrugged. "You're turn...and make it spiffy. Time's ticking."
"Right." He sighed, prayed to God and started his way up the chain link. It wasn't so bad, he thought, considered it happens to be like a fourteen-foot chain-link fence. He sighed. This was not in the job description, he thought.
He was faced with the barbed wire. "I can't do that!"
Mugen groaned. "C'mon, we don't have all year, y'know!"
He breathed in deeply. This is it, Logan, he thought. The hour to show your manly hood has just arrived. Don't screw up. He then nodded and then prepared for a leap, buckling his knees and then taking a dive to the other side.
Slash! There went the brand new t-shirt.
Rip! There went the sleeve.
Logan fell down flat onto the ground, with a loud thud and a groan.
Mugen hovered over Logan's crushed face that was on its side on the grass, blinking like a fool. She scowled slightly, he eyes lit with a faint amusement. "Y'know," she said, "once this is over, you will be going to a gym---right?"
"Great, I've been made a fool by a child."
"Not any ordinary child," she countered coolly. "Not, enough chit chat. You'll thank me later for this. Now put on the hoods; we must now play the kidnappers. Let's go."

Boom! Boom! Boom!
"What the hell is this, Lydecker? Answer me!" Madame X shouted.
"I will explain when we get you to a safer location, Madame," he said breathlessly as he dragged the enraged boss over to a safer location in the complex. He sighed; how could something so right go to oh-so wrong? He was about to find out.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
"What the f---" Madame X cried but was cut off by Lydecker.
"Men, check the perimeter, stat!"
Madame X glared at Lydecker. "Once...this is over, I will have you note of all this, Mister." She was now gasping for breath; she obviously hadn't done a lot of weight and cardiovascular training. "Do you think it is...wise...to leave the X5 lying there in the cells?"
"I have the X10 units guarding their unit," he told her. "Besides, the drugs are too stiff for them to try anything foolish." He looked around. "This is crazy! What kind of idiot would try and do this? I mean, this is insane!"
"Eyes...Only..."
"Ma'am?"
She was cut off again by another explosion right beside her that knocked the breath out of all of them. Madame X fell to the ground, her arms flaring and covering her head as Lydecker took a lying stance on the ground as the explosion popped their eardrums.
Lydecker was close to going insane. The explosions were driving him insane. Was some fraction of the military going against them? Or some rebel citizens giving an example to the sloppy and up-tight government? Something was going on, and he could feel it under his nose. Suspicions...it wasn't something new.
"Lydecker..."
Right now, he was in so much trouble with his boss, he could hear his gravestone calling.