---transcend---
chapter3: truth revealed
"So you're saying we do nothing?" Krit asked incredulously.
Avery shrugged her shoulders as she polished one of her many guns. "That's exactly what I'm saying. Zack was foolish to rush in with only four of you. You two were lucky to get out. He got careless and he got caught and took Max down with him."
"We can't just leave them there." Syl's anger soaked into her words.
Finally Avery lifted her eyes from her work. "Why not? We don't even know that they are alive! You wanna risk all of us for a couple of worm eaten corpses?"
Zane joined the conversation. "And what if they are alive? How could you live with yourself knowing you just abandoned them to be turned into mindless drones?"
"How would you live with yourself when they grab you and turn you into a mindless drone?" Despite the three of them ganging up on her, Avery was holding her own. "It was evident last time that even with help from Logan and Hitler's mentor over there," Avery nodded her head at Deck who had been laying blindfolded and strapped to an old hospital bed for the past six hours, "you couldn't succeed. What makes you think we will make it this time?"
"There are more of us this time…" Zane added.
"More of us for them to capture. They may have lost their DNA lab but they could easily make up for that by taking us in. In the end, we would be helping Manticore by giving them access to our genes so they can rebuild what they had lost. Is that what you want?"
"Why are you so sure we will fail? There are four of us with two more on the way. Manticore is probably still reeling from our last attack, so our chances of success are good." Syl tried to rationalize.
"Syl. You are talking about Manticore. By the time Cam and Jondy join us they will have already recovered, if not fortified themselves from a second assault." Avery had a point. "And what about this Logan? How do we know he wasn't working with Lydecker to try and trap you while you were all in the compound?"
"Max trusted him…" Krit edged in before Avery cut him off.
"And look where that got her. Why put a wolf I do not know at my back?"
"He was a huge help while we were in there." Syl would not tolerate Avery speaking of Logan that way, he was a great asset during the first attack and she would not let her sister sow seeds of doubt in her mind. "He looped the cameras and when he guided us through the compound he sent us through a path of least resistance. He is excellent at the computer."
"There is nothing he can do that Krit can't do ten times better I'm sure."
Krit wanted to take the compliment, as it was so rare to hear such a thing from Avery, but he was growing tired of her resistance. Avery was the closest thing to a leader they would get. She was essentially a female Zack. "You can't make me stay behind. Logan is just as good as I am, and he knows his way around his own computer better than me. We can utilize his talents to maximize our chances of success."
"I still don't like this, any of this. There are too many things we are leaving to chance here. For God's sake we are getting help from that bitch over there…"
Syl corrected her sister, "That bitch over there knows Manticore inside and out and hates the new people in charge."
"We are letting some whack-job radical cyber journalist watch our backs…"
Krit once again jumped to Logan's defense, "He is the best there is out there that already knows our situation and he wants Max back probably even more than we do."
"I don't like it…" Her anger was beginning to falter.
"You would really just leave them?" Zane, who had stayed silent for most of this fight, spoke with a calm collected voice. As he held eye contact with his sister something unspoken was passed between them.
Avery huffed in defeat. "Prove to me that there is something to save and I will go. But I will not risk my life and my future for nothing."
*****
She did not seem upset but then again the director rarely showed any sort of emotion. "Her vision is clouded with a hallucinogenic."
XI5-603 had silently chided himself this whole conversation. He knew those damn guards would rat on him and he shouldn't have taken such a direct route to the prisoner. But he was careless and irrational with curiosity and he did not think the visit fully through. Last night when he returned to his bed he thought everything went well, but when he got the early morning phone call from the director herself he knew things hadn't gone as smoothly as he first thought.
"She is seeing things that are not there. Just as she sees someone else's face in yours."
"So then who is this Zack person she speaks of?" He was already in trouble it could not hurt to ask.
"Who knows?" she paused slightly to shrug her shoulders, emphasizing her apparent lack of knowledge, "But I don't want you to see her again. If you do remind her of something in her past then you are impeding the reprogramming process."
"Reprogramming? Who is this prisoner? Is she another X series?"
"She is no longer your concern soldier," she dismissed his questions, "You will not visit her again, is that understood?"
"Yes ma'am."
"You're curiosity is no longer, understood?"
"Yes ma'am."
"I have given you another day off. You need your rest XI5-603, there is another assignment lined up for you next week, debriefing will take place three days from now. But for now, you are dismissed."
With a quick nod he turned on his heel and left.
*****
His mind still boiled over with questions. Madame Renfro may have told him to forget about it, but he could not do that so easily. Every time he blinked, even for a split second, he could see her fiery eyes looking at him, a hope shining from the depths of her despair. He could not just throw her aside like an old rag.
Was she another X just like himself? In the compound he had been in contact with the X3s, 4s, 6s, and 7s. He always wondered why there were no X-5's. Judging the gap they would have been about his age. There was a section of the compound on the far side that he was never allowed to visit, and though they told him all the X-5's died he always thought they lived there.
Maybe she was one of these X5s. This Max looked about his age… could it be?
When he finally got back to his room, he pulled out his laptop and hooked it up to the phone line. He had never hacked into the Manticore Data Annex before, as he never had the need, but now… he needed to know. Who was this Max? And this Zack person she thought she say in him, who was he? Was he another X-5 as well?
Question after question plagued his mind as his fingers worked the keyboard. He would satiate his curiosity whether the director approved or not.
*****
Logan had only slept for five hours before he woke to once again continue his seemingly never ending search for the elusive Manticore. He knew where it was, and how to locate it, but virtually speaking it was an impenetrable fortress. Long ago he had concluded that there was no way to get in except for direct access from the base itself. But that was out of the question.
Finally a window of opportunity. He almost missed it as a user on the base was trying to access the main files. It seemed that whoever it was, was trying to hack in as well. "I think I got something," he called over to Krit who was the only one left at the warehouse. The others had left to get some food and fresh air.
Krit was at his side with an unnerving speed and stealth. "What is it?"
"I don't know yet, but this person could…" he stopped talking to concentrate on what he was typing. Logan had to do this quickly or miss this opportunity and waste another week… a week they could not afford.
\[init]904432-889[scramble]
{control}-tactic-leach-link\\ %598085-200
##FLAG = tracer*run$$constant? HyperTrue
begin running dl = Manticorefiles.scan
Krit nodded his head, understanding exactly what Logan was trying to do. He meant to "piggyback" onto whoever was hacking into the data annex from the inside. Once linked to that user he unfortunately had no control over where to go, but if he was able to remain hidden long enough while still attached he could gather access codes that would allow him to get past the firewall by himself later.
*****
The hack was easy enough. He used the knowledge he acquired after seven years of training and field experience and it was simple enough. Sometimes he found himself breaking into the most guarded data files in the world just for the fun of it. But never before would he have thought that he would be hacking into Manticore's files.
For being such a secretive and covert government operation their online security was surprisingly weak. Finally he searched for the data on the prisoner in H-16. Max.
*****
Logan leaned back and waited, he was downloading whatever this fellow hacker was accessing as well as the codes. Krit too, loosened up, sitting on the edge of the desk. But both came to attention immediately when they saw the first file that was pulled up. The woman in the picture at the top corner of the screen had pale skin, her eyes were tired, and her hair was limp, but there was no mistaking who it was.
"Max," Logan whispered to himself. He was excited beyond words that she was alive, but to see her in such a state almost broke his heart. What were they doing to her? She would fight them, for as long as she could, this much he knew, but by the way the ever-present passion was gone from her eyes… how much longer would she last?
Unlike Krit, Logan didn't take the time the read the information on her. He could not take his eyes away from Max's face. 'I shouldn't have left you there.'
"Look who we found roaming the streets…" Zane said, his arm around Jondy. But once he entered the door he could feel the tension weigh him down as Logan stared intensely at the screen and Krit gave them only the briefest of glances before he too, turned back to the computer..
"So she is alive." Syl's voice had come from behind them, she used her eagle eye vision to see the screen from across the warehouse. Putting the food down, she too used her speed to get to Logan faster. "Guys," she called over her shoulder to the others, "Check it."
Less than a second later they were all crowding around Logan staring at the screen. Jondy gasped. She could not bare to see Max that way. They had always been closer, what some would consider best friends, and to see her so pale and weak nearly brought Jondy to tears.
*****
Under the notes of prisoner H-16 he saw a twelve digit number. Searching for the number returned one data file.
X5-332960073452 aka "Max"
So she was an X5! He had been lied to his whole life. Why would they do that? Why would they keep him isolated from the X5 like that? He could have worked with them like the X6s and 7s. He could have been part of a team.
Instead he had spent twenty years working alone, training alone, fighting alone.
According to her records Max and many of the others had escaped in May of '09. Which meant there were still X5's on the base. Maybe that Brin girl he had had brief glimpses of was one of them. She too was about the same age.
Now his interest was peaked. At the end of her file before the logs on her reindoctrination, was a strange log entry.
---
With the help of three other X5's, infiltrated the compound and destroyed one of the southern DNA Lab which contained the X-5 genetics. The loss was great, but with three other DNA labs intact Manticore will survive.'
---
He had heard of the lab that was destroyed when he returned the other day.
---
'She was shot by an X7 and brought in flatline. An emergency surgery took place after X5-330417291599 voluntarily donated his heart and she has since recovered nicely.'
---
*****
"Zack is dead…" Krit had to say it aloud to believe it. "He sacrificed his heart for her…"
"What are you talking about?" Logan did not read as quickly as Krit and was many paragraphs behind.
Krit pointed out the sentence and read it again still not wanting to believe. "Voluntarily donated his heart. He's dead…"
The other X5's read in silence. It was horrible news that met Jondy when she rejoined her family. But she had suspected that a gathering of this magnitude which was a huge risk to all their safety would only be arranged under such dire circumstances.
Their C.O. was dead. The one who vowed to protect them at all costs had paid the ultimate price for one of them. None of them wanted to believe that he was really gone, and the loss threatened to overshadow the relief that Max was alive.
*****
After reading through he whole file XI5-603 searched for the second X5 number. When the file came up he stared at it in disbelief and his breath caught in his throat.
The number was not his. The data was not his. But it was his face.
'What the fuck is going on here?'
Then he read the name: aka "Zack"
Status: Deceased
And it all fell into place. He skimmed through the data but there was no mention of his own designation. This X5-599 was his twin, there was no doubting that, but why would there be no mention of him in this person's file?
Absently, he traced the picture on the screen with his finger. Those were his eyes. That was his jaw. What the fuck was going on here? Was this his clone? Or was he the clone?
Under the name there was a link to video footage of some kind. It was a strange fascination that led him to access the footage.
*****
Logan and the X5s watched in horror as Zack stood over Max's lifeless body and shot himself. Syl's hand made its way to her mouth to cover her shock. Zane shook his head, not wanting to acknowledge Zack's death. Krit studied the footage trying to see if it was doctored at all; looking for any tell tale traces of editing software.
Jondy could feel her knees weaken. She was not the strongest of the bunch by far. Max had always helped her. To this day she didn't understand how she could have survived on her own. If Zack and Max, two of their best, had failed, what hope did she have?
Avery stood like a stone. Watching, believing and accepting Zack's death. They had to move on. If they wanted to save Max or take the others who had not escaped back with them they had to keep their head in the game.
As the others dwelled on the death scene Avery's mind pushed all emotion aside and she became the hard hearted soldier they were all trained to be. Instead of feeling grief for Zack she questioned who exactly this user was that Logan had latched to. Who ever it was was going straight to the information they needed. That couldn't be a coincidence.
*****
It was like watching his own death. Zack's feelings for Max were so strong that he gave her his heart. Maybe something like that was predestined in the genes. Maybe that explains why he couldn't get Max of his mind. This was too much. At the sight of Zack, XI5-603 lost all sense of his identity. For a brief moment, watching X5-599 kill himself, he almost thought that he was dead as well.
If this person had his face and his place among the X5, did that mean that he was a mistake? There were too many questions. His whole existence, something he never thought he would question, was now in doubt.
Finally, he decided there was only one way to answer this.
//[search*filter] XI5-603
The screen challenged him.
--Access denied. Authorization level 10 needed.--
It was easy enough to get through, he was already hacking at a level 9 security code. And nothing could keep him from the truth this night. But why would his data be in a more secure section than the rest of the X series?
Finally he got in and a cover sheet filled the screen.
XI5
Experimental In-vitro Gestation Project
The report read:
---
With the evolving technology of in-vitro fertilization we have found it theoretically within our capabilities to experiment with in-vitro gestation. Our scientists have created a specialized tank that will hold the zygote, which will be encouraged to attach to a specialized lining that will serve as the uterine endoderm…
One hundred and thirty-eight fertilized genetically spliced eggs were chosen…
Fifteen of the zygotes successfully attached to the bio-engineered lining. Three hundred percent more than expected…
Unfortunately ten only made it past the first trimester…
Three survived "birth"…
Only one survived past the first three years. Embryo 330417291603 unlike the others has grown and proven to be a strong child…
In-vitro gestation was deemed a failure, but Manticore has found it in its best interest to continue to pursue this course. The mothers are a factor which must be eliminated. Yet until this technology is refined the surrogate mothers are a necessity. They will be used to create the X5 team.
XI5-603 will be isolated in the best interests of the future X5s. XI5-603, at the age of four is already too old to be incorporated into the X5 team. As well, there could be difficulties if he were introduced at this stage. He will be trained to work alone and used on solo missions. The only success of the XI5 experiment.
---
So that was it. That was who he was. XI5 stared at the screen a little longer. He did have a group. At one point he did belong to a family… it's just that they all died. Though he never knew them, he found himself mourning for them.
The next page held all his information and a picture of him which he remembered posing for. Nothing had changed, yet everything had changed.
*****
Too many shocks in too short a time, the X5s despite all their multitasking mental capabilities could barely take it all in.
There was another Zack. No, it wasn't Zack, it was someone who looked like Zack but was probably fully under Manticore control. They had to remember that. They watched Zack die. They would have to remind themselves that if them met this XI5-603 that it was not the person they knew. It was a stranger, an enemy, wearing Zack's body.
Manticore was no doubt going to use the clone to try and break Max down. The thought ran through all their heads. Even Logan understood that was a highly likely possibility.
"How will she fight someone she trusts?" Logan said quietly to himself but they all heard.
Only Avery answered in a voice so cold Logan felt a chill up his spine. But they knew they could not dismiss what she said. "She won't. Max will think it is Zack and she will escape with him. Manticore will let them go with only a little fight. XI5-603 will feign memory loss and Max will lead him to us... We cannot let that happen."
chapter3: truth revealed
"So you're saying we do nothing?" Krit asked incredulously.
Avery shrugged her shoulders as she polished one of her many guns. "That's exactly what I'm saying. Zack was foolish to rush in with only four of you. You two were lucky to get out. He got careless and he got caught and took Max down with him."
"We can't just leave them there." Syl's anger soaked into her words.
Finally Avery lifted her eyes from her work. "Why not? We don't even know that they are alive! You wanna risk all of us for a couple of worm eaten corpses?"
Zane joined the conversation. "And what if they are alive? How could you live with yourself knowing you just abandoned them to be turned into mindless drones?"
"How would you live with yourself when they grab you and turn you into a mindless drone?" Despite the three of them ganging up on her, Avery was holding her own. "It was evident last time that even with help from Logan and Hitler's mentor over there," Avery nodded her head at Deck who had been laying blindfolded and strapped to an old hospital bed for the past six hours, "you couldn't succeed. What makes you think we will make it this time?"
"There are more of us this time…" Zane added.
"More of us for them to capture. They may have lost their DNA lab but they could easily make up for that by taking us in. In the end, we would be helping Manticore by giving them access to our genes so they can rebuild what they had lost. Is that what you want?"
"Why are you so sure we will fail? There are four of us with two more on the way. Manticore is probably still reeling from our last attack, so our chances of success are good." Syl tried to rationalize.
"Syl. You are talking about Manticore. By the time Cam and Jondy join us they will have already recovered, if not fortified themselves from a second assault." Avery had a point. "And what about this Logan? How do we know he wasn't working with Lydecker to try and trap you while you were all in the compound?"
"Max trusted him…" Krit edged in before Avery cut him off.
"And look where that got her. Why put a wolf I do not know at my back?"
"He was a huge help while we were in there." Syl would not tolerate Avery speaking of Logan that way, he was a great asset during the first attack and she would not let her sister sow seeds of doubt in her mind. "He looped the cameras and when he guided us through the compound he sent us through a path of least resistance. He is excellent at the computer."
"There is nothing he can do that Krit can't do ten times better I'm sure."
Krit wanted to take the compliment, as it was so rare to hear such a thing from Avery, but he was growing tired of her resistance. Avery was the closest thing to a leader they would get. She was essentially a female Zack. "You can't make me stay behind. Logan is just as good as I am, and he knows his way around his own computer better than me. We can utilize his talents to maximize our chances of success."
"I still don't like this, any of this. There are too many things we are leaving to chance here. For God's sake we are getting help from that bitch over there…"
Syl corrected her sister, "That bitch over there knows Manticore inside and out and hates the new people in charge."
"We are letting some whack-job radical cyber journalist watch our backs…"
Krit once again jumped to Logan's defense, "He is the best there is out there that already knows our situation and he wants Max back probably even more than we do."
"I don't like it…" Her anger was beginning to falter.
"You would really just leave them?" Zane, who had stayed silent for most of this fight, spoke with a calm collected voice. As he held eye contact with his sister something unspoken was passed between them.
Avery huffed in defeat. "Prove to me that there is something to save and I will go. But I will not risk my life and my future for nothing."
*****
She did not seem upset but then again the director rarely showed any sort of emotion. "Her vision is clouded with a hallucinogenic."
XI5-603 had silently chided himself this whole conversation. He knew those damn guards would rat on him and he shouldn't have taken such a direct route to the prisoner. But he was careless and irrational with curiosity and he did not think the visit fully through. Last night when he returned to his bed he thought everything went well, but when he got the early morning phone call from the director herself he knew things hadn't gone as smoothly as he first thought.
"She is seeing things that are not there. Just as she sees someone else's face in yours."
"So then who is this Zack person she speaks of?" He was already in trouble it could not hurt to ask.
"Who knows?" she paused slightly to shrug her shoulders, emphasizing her apparent lack of knowledge, "But I don't want you to see her again. If you do remind her of something in her past then you are impeding the reprogramming process."
"Reprogramming? Who is this prisoner? Is she another X series?"
"She is no longer your concern soldier," she dismissed his questions, "You will not visit her again, is that understood?"
"Yes ma'am."
"You're curiosity is no longer, understood?"
"Yes ma'am."
"I have given you another day off. You need your rest XI5-603, there is another assignment lined up for you next week, debriefing will take place three days from now. But for now, you are dismissed."
With a quick nod he turned on his heel and left.
*****
His mind still boiled over with questions. Madame Renfro may have told him to forget about it, but he could not do that so easily. Every time he blinked, even for a split second, he could see her fiery eyes looking at him, a hope shining from the depths of her despair. He could not just throw her aside like an old rag.
Was she another X just like himself? In the compound he had been in contact with the X3s, 4s, 6s, and 7s. He always wondered why there were no X-5's. Judging the gap they would have been about his age. There was a section of the compound on the far side that he was never allowed to visit, and though they told him all the X-5's died he always thought they lived there.
Maybe she was one of these X5s. This Max looked about his age… could it be?
When he finally got back to his room, he pulled out his laptop and hooked it up to the phone line. He had never hacked into the Manticore Data Annex before, as he never had the need, but now… he needed to know. Who was this Max? And this Zack person she thought she say in him, who was he? Was he another X-5 as well?
Question after question plagued his mind as his fingers worked the keyboard. He would satiate his curiosity whether the director approved or not.
*****
Logan had only slept for five hours before he woke to once again continue his seemingly never ending search for the elusive Manticore. He knew where it was, and how to locate it, but virtually speaking it was an impenetrable fortress. Long ago he had concluded that there was no way to get in except for direct access from the base itself. But that was out of the question.
Finally a window of opportunity. He almost missed it as a user on the base was trying to access the main files. It seemed that whoever it was, was trying to hack in as well. "I think I got something," he called over to Krit who was the only one left at the warehouse. The others had left to get some food and fresh air.
Krit was at his side with an unnerving speed and stealth. "What is it?"
"I don't know yet, but this person could…" he stopped talking to concentrate on what he was typing. Logan had to do this quickly or miss this opportunity and waste another week… a week they could not afford.
\[init]904432-889[scramble]
{control}-tactic-leach-link\\ %598085-200
##FLAG = tracer*run$$constant? HyperTrue
begin running dl = Manticorefiles.scan
Krit nodded his head, understanding exactly what Logan was trying to do. He meant to "piggyback" onto whoever was hacking into the data annex from the inside. Once linked to that user he unfortunately had no control over where to go, but if he was able to remain hidden long enough while still attached he could gather access codes that would allow him to get past the firewall by himself later.
*****
The hack was easy enough. He used the knowledge he acquired after seven years of training and field experience and it was simple enough. Sometimes he found himself breaking into the most guarded data files in the world just for the fun of it. But never before would he have thought that he would be hacking into Manticore's files.
For being such a secretive and covert government operation their online security was surprisingly weak. Finally he searched for the data on the prisoner in H-16. Max.
*****
Logan leaned back and waited, he was downloading whatever this fellow hacker was accessing as well as the codes. Krit too, loosened up, sitting on the edge of the desk. But both came to attention immediately when they saw the first file that was pulled up. The woman in the picture at the top corner of the screen had pale skin, her eyes were tired, and her hair was limp, but there was no mistaking who it was.
"Max," Logan whispered to himself. He was excited beyond words that she was alive, but to see her in such a state almost broke his heart. What were they doing to her? She would fight them, for as long as she could, this much he knew, but by the way the ever-present passion was gone from her eyes… how much longer would she last?
Unlike Krit, Logan didn't take the time the read the information on her. He could not take his eyes away from Max's face. 'I shouldn't have left you there.'
"Look who we found roaming the streets…" Zane said, his arm around Jondy. But once he entered the door he could feel the tension weigh him down as Logan stared intensely at the screen and Krit gave them only the briefest of glances before he too, turned back to the computer..
"So she is alive." Syl's voice had come from behind them, she used her eagle eye vision to see the screen from across the warehouse. Putting the food down, she too used her speed to get to Logan faster. "Guys," she called over her shoulder to the others, "Check it."
Less than a second later they were all crowding around Logan staring at the screen. Jondy gasped. She could not bare to see Max that way. They had always been closer, what some would consider best friends, and to see her so pale and weak nearly brought Jondy to tears.
*****
Under the notes of prisoner H-16 he saw a twelve digit number. Searching for the number returned one data file.
X5-332960073452 aka "Max"
So she was an X5! He had been lied to his whole life. Why would they do that? Why would they keep him isolated from the X5 like that? He could have worked with them like the X6s and 7s. He could have been part of a team.
Instead he had spent twenty years working alone, training alone, fighting alone.
According to her records Max and many of the others had escaped in May of '09. Which meant there were still X5's on the base. Maybe that Brin girl he had had brief glimpses of was one of them. She too was about the same age.
Now his interest was peaked. At the end of her file before the logs on her reindoctrination, was a strange log entry.
---
With the help of three other X5's, infiltrated the compound and destroyed one of the southern DNA Lab which contained the X-5 genetics. The loss was great, but with three other DNA labs intact Manticore will survive.'
---
He had heard of the lab that was destroyed when he returned the other day.
---
'She was shot by an X7 and brought in flatline. An emergency surgery took place after X5-330417291599 voluntarily donated his heart and she has since recovered nicely.'
---
*****
"Zack is dead…" Krit had to say it aloud to believe it. "He sacrificed his heart for her…"
"What are you talking about?" Logan did not read as quickly as Krit and was many paragraphs behind.
Krit pointed out the sentence and read it again still not wanting to believe. "Voluntarily donated his heart. He's dead…"
The other X5's read in silence. It was horrible news that met Jondy when she rejoined her family. But she had suspected that a gathering of this magnitude which was a huge risk to all their safety would only be arranged under such dire circumstances.
Their C.O. was dead. The one who vowed to protect them at all costs had paid the ultimate price for one of them. None of them wanted to believe that he was really gone, and the loss threatened to overshadow the relief that Max was alive.
*****
After reading through he whole file XI5-603 searched for the second X5 number. When the file came up he stared at it in disbelief and his breath caught in his throat.
The number was not his. The data was not his. But it was his face.
'What the fuck is going on here?'
Then he read the name: aka "Zack"
Status: Deceased
And it all fell into place. He skimmed through the data but there was no mention of his own designation. This X5-599 was his twin, there was no doubting that, but why would there be no mention of him in this person's file?
Absently, he traced the picture on the screen with his finger. Those were his eyes. That was his jaw. What the fuck was going on here? Was this his clone? Or was he the clone?
Under the name there was a link to video footage of some kind. It was a strange fascination that led him to access the footage.
*****
Logan and the X5s watched in horror as Zack stood over Max's lifeless body and shot himself. Syl's hand made its way to her mouth to cover her shock. Zane shook his head, not wanting to acknowledge Zack's death. Krit studied the footage trying to see if it was doctored at all; looking for any tell tale traces of editing software.
Jondy could feel her knees weaken. She was not the strongest of the bunch by far. Max had always helped her. To this day she didn't understand how she could have survived on her own. If Zack and Max, two of their best, had failed, what hope did she have?
Avery stood like a stone. Watching, believing and accepting Zack's death. They had to move on. If they wanted to save Max or take the others who had not escaped back with them they had to keep their head in the game.
As the others dwelled on the death scene Avery's mind pushed all emotion aside and she became the hard hearted soldier they were all trained to be. Instead of feeling grief for Zack she questioned who exactly this user was that Logan had latched to. Who ever it was was going straight to the information they needed. That couldn't be a coincidence.
*****
It was like watching his own death. Zack's feelings for Max were so strong that he gave her his heart. Maybe something like that was predestined in the genes. Maybe that explains why he couldn't get Max of his mind. This was too much. At the sight of Zack, XI5-603 lost all sense of his identity. For a brief moment, watching X5-599 kill himself, he almost thought that he was dead as well.
If this person had his face and his place among the X5, did that mean that he was a mistake? There were too many questions. His whole existence, something he never thought he would question, was now in doubt.
Finally, he decided there was only one way to answer this.
//[search*filter] XI5-603
The screen challenged him.
--Access denied. Authorization level 10 needed.--
It was easy enough to get through, he was already hacking at a level 9 security code. And nothing could keep him from the truth this night. But why would his data be in a more secure section than the rest of the X series?
Finally he got in and a cover sheet filled the screen.
XI5
Experimental In-vitro Gestation Project
The report read:
---
With the evolving technology of in-vitro fertilization we have found it theoretically within our capabilities to experiment with in-vitro gestation. Our scientists have created a specialized tank that will hold the zygote, which will be encouraged to attach to a specialized lining that will serve as the uterine endoderm…
One hundred and thirty-eight fertilized genetically spliced eggs were chosen…
Fifteen of the zygotes successfully attached to the bio-engineered lining. Three hundred percent more than expected…
Unfortunately ten only made it past the first trimester…
Three survived "birth"…
Only one survived past the first three years. Embryo 330417291603 unlike the others has grown and proven to be a strong child…
In-vitro gestation was deemed a failure, but Manticore has found it in its best interest to continue to pursue this course. The mothers are a factor which must be eliminated. Yet until this technology is refined the surrogate mothers are a necessity. They will be used to create the X5 team.
XI5-603 will be isolated in the best interests of the future X5s. XI5-603, at the age of four is already too old to be incorporated into the X5 team. As well, there could be difficulties if he were introduced at this stage. He will be trained to work alone and used on solo missions. The only success of the XI5 experiment.
---
So that was it. That was who he was. XI5 stared at the screen a little longer. He did have a group. At one point he did belong to a family… it's just that they all died. Though he never knew them, he found himself mourning for them.
The next page held all his information and a picture of him which he remembered posing for. Nothing had changed, yet everything had changed.
*****
Too many shocks in too short a time, the X5s despite all their multitasking mental capabilities could barely take it all in.
There was another Zack. No, it wasn't Zack, it was someone who looked like Zack but was probably fully under Manticore control. They had to remember that. They watched Zack die. They would have to remind themselves that if them met this XI5-603 that it was not the person they knew. It was a stranger, an enemy, wearing Zack's body.
Manticore was no doubt going to use the clone to try and break Max down. The thought ran through all their heads. Even Logan understood that was a highly likely possibility.
"How will she fight someone she trusts?" Logan said quietly to himself but they all heard.
Only Avery answered in a voice so cold Logan felt a chill up his spine. But they knew they could not dismiss what she said. "She won't. Max will think it is Zack and she will escape with him. Manticore will let them go with only a little fight. XI5-603 will feign memory loss and Max will lead him to us... We cannot let that happen."