Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Anise and Raav

"Can I have a description of this girl?" said Logan.

"Brown hair, brown eyes, in a wheelchair," said Asha as she and Logan walked around the area. The area was crammed with people looking at stalls and arguing over what to barter with. Logan and Asha walked freely among the people until Asha pointed over to a young boy standing on top of a Dumpster. Asha walked over and tapped his boot. He whipped out a gun and pointed it at Asha without a change in the blank look in his eye.

"Whoa now," said Logan, "He must be one of the Manticore escapee's."

"Manticore?" he said.

"He would be about what Max told me is the age of the X7's."

"I am G2-366."

"G2?" said Logan.

"Dan, you're not fooling me," said Asha, "I helped your mom when Jack and Eva were born. Do you remember me?"

"Asha Barlow," said Dan with a very metallic quality to his voice, "Member of the S1W organization. Age, twenty-nine. Status, friendly."

"Dan!" shouted a voice, "You are not G2-366 for the last time now put the gun away and get down here. I got what dad wanted."

"I found Asha," said Dan sheepishly.

"I'm not surprised," said Anise as she rolled towards them. She was a stunningly pretty girl with long brown curls and innocent eyes.

"Long time no see Anise," said Asha.

"I know," she said, "Last time I saw you, we saw eye to eye. Now I'm in this damned chair."

"Mom…"

"But I'm okay," she said as she quickly motioned for silence from Dan.

"That's great," said Asha, "Cause I need a big favour."

"That depends."

"It's for my friend Logan here. You see, his girlfriend has this virus that makes them unable to touch, and he wants it fixed."

"This girl has a genetically targeted retro-virus that is activated on contact and you want me to 'Fix' it?" said Anise, "Asha, I expected a challenge from you."

"Not much you can do in your chair…" said Asha.

"I don't need it from you too," said Anise, "Get me a lab and a blood sample and I can get it fixed by tomorrow."

"Mom, our mission was to return to base as soon as we acquired the target. We have FAILED!" said Dan.

"The only thing you'll need to do for me is get your friend Logan to get me a lab I can work at and find me a place to leave Dan."

"Mom!" objected Dan.

"Dan also has some errands to run for his father so I would appreciate it if someone could take him to the market," said Anise.

"There's a lab on the south side of town," said Logan as he tossed Anise a sample of blood, "Asha can take you there."

"I am going to warn you," said Anise, "That I can't cure your girl, but I can make you an antibody that, if you take it religiously, will allow you to touch. It will take me a while to actually fix it though."

"I can deal with that," said Logan.

"Asha, shall we go?" said Anise as she rolled towards her car.

"You're going to start now?" said Logan.

"My husband is going to freak if I'm not home in a week. I owe Asha this, and I'm sure my son wants me to go away," she said as she rolled away.

*+*+*

"Logan!" shouted Max as she entered the apartment, "LOGAN! You called and said you had something for me."

"I do," he said as he walked out. On his heels was a little boy of about ten. He had reddish-brown hair, tanned skin, one blue eye, one green eye, and was dressed in khaki's and a sweatshirt.

"Who's this?"

"This may be your nephew," he said, "Any of your brothers look like this?"

"Why?" asked Max.

"Who is she?" asked Dan.

"I'm Max," she said.

"Max? I have an aunt named Max."

"Really?"

"But Aunt Syl told me she was KIA a few months ago."

"What…" said Max.

"She tried to help Aunt Syl, uncle Krit and Uncle Ralph take down Manticore."

"How do you know about Manticore."

"My father was an X5," he said, "Logan, NOW can I have a cookie?"

"Yeah, go on Dan," said Logan. Dan turned around, and Max saw that he had a barcode on the back of his neck.

"He's the son of two members of S1W. Anise is a doctor in a wheelchair. Her husband Curtis is a huge brute of a man who likes to hang with his sister Jondy."

"Jondy…" said Max, "But then which of my brothers…"

"X5-631," said Logan, "Dan I asked Dan if his dad had a barcode. He promptly repeated it, and it ended in 631."

"X5-631, that's Kurt," said Max, "One of the oldest boys. He was the biggest of us all. He always hung with Eva and Little Raav."

"I see. Does he look like Kurt?"

"Not at all."

"Well then I don't know."

"I need to see this Anise."

"Good luck. Asha and I spent hours trying to find her in one section of the city."

"I can find her."

"You won't," said Dan, "Mom has a habit of making sure she can't be found. Dad taught her that."

"Did he?" said Max.

"Father taught her to mind what she did, to make sure she was always safe before she revealed anything to anyone."

"What's the difference between father and Dad?" asked Max.

"My father left mom. My dad stayed with her and loves me even though I'm not really his kid."

"How old are you?"

"Ten years old."

"Little Man," said Max, "So you need to go to market?"

"Yeah," said Dan.

*+*+*

"Anise, can I ask you a question," said Asha as Anise wheeled around the lab.

"What?"

"Your legs…"

"Asha…"

"You moved them. You can move them, can't you?"

"I'm a paraplegic."

"Anise, I know you better then that. I watched you dive out a six story window and hit the ground running. I don't think a little bullet could hurt you Anise, if that is your real name."

"My name is…"

"Anise, don't insult my intelligence. Logan, that guy, he has an X5 working for him. She escaped in '09 with twelve others. I know about ten of them. One of them, Raav, she was a great doctor. I wonder…"

"Asha!" said Anise, "Would I lie to you?"

"Yes."

"I'm not lying to you about this."

"But Curtis…"

"Curtis… Curtis will not be commented on."

"He IS, isn't he."

"I said…"

"Wait till I tell Max and Logan!"

"Max?" said Anise, "Logan? OH NO YOU DON'T! Kurt will LEAVE me if I tell anyone."

"Why?" said Asha, "He loves you!"

"He loves his kids more and I accept that. He's so protective of him."

"Anise, you could do better."

"And what if I don't want better. I love Kurt, even though he's a muscle bound moron, he's not what most think. He's a sweet, sensitive guy with a big heart."

*+*+*

"Brin gets taken down," said Kurt, "I don't care what you say Jondy, she goes. She's a threat to all of us."

"This is stupid," said Jondy, "She's our sister."

"She nearly killed Max," said Syl.

"I don't CARE!" said Jondy, flipping her long red hair back, "She's not our enemy."

"Raav said this would happen," said Zane.

"Raav?" said Jondy, "When did Zack find Raav?"

"Years ago," said Krit, "He just never bothered to tell us because he knew that we would find her and she would find the rest of us."

"Does she have my…" started Jondy. Kurt nodded.

"She's fine," said Kurt, "And just so you know, Raav is out there being bait for Brin."

"Bait? Raav agrees with this?" said Jondy, "Are we talking about the same Raav?"

"Yes," said Kurt, "Raav and I agree on many things."

"He scratches her itch," said Syl quietly.

"I don't need to know that," said Zane, "Syl, keep what you and Krit do QUIET PLEASE!"

"It's me and Raav," said Kurt, "We've been together since Ben went out of his head…"

"How is Dan?" asked Zane.

"Dan is fine. He and Trigs are hanging out a lot more now. He's turning into Zack, but Trigs is the image of her mother."

"Just what we need…" muttered Syl.

"So about the MISSION!" shouted Kurt, "We'll head out in a sweep tonight. She can't hide from all of us!"

"What if we come across anything else?" asked Syl.

"Like what?" asked Jondy.

"You know how Manticore burned down and all the freaks got out," said Syl, "Well if any of you remember, some of those freaks were our family who didn't make it out. Kiri, Gidra, Gorl, Tammer."

"Gorl was KIA a few years back," said Krit, "Tammer was taken out during a mission a few weeks before Manticore died. Gidra has her own unit to train, and so she's either dead or with them. Kiri, well, god knows where that girl is."

"Fine," said Jondy, "So what do we do now?"

"We wait until I get the signal from Raav."

"Where is Raav?" asked Jondy.

"I told you before," said Kurt, "Seattle. She's out there as bait."

*+*+*

At midnight in Seattle, no one but the sector Police care what you're doing. Raav used that to her advantage as she picked her way through the streets of Seattle to the old medical office of Doctor Vertes. Raav had found out that Jace had been told to kill her, so she figured that Brin would go there first.

Raav jumped across a few buildings until she spotted the old building where she suspected Brin would be. She took a deep breath and walked forward. Brin was stronger than her, More Agile than she would ever be, and likely armed. All Raav had was her trusty mind, her incredible speed, a rusty knife Kurt made her carry, and a really screwy plan.

"If she turns out to be like Zack, I will kill her," whispered Raav to herself as she snuck in. Brin was standing over a pair of bodies looking proud of herself. Raav focused in on it and gasped. Her baby brother Hack was laying in a crumpled heap with her baby sister Kiri lying next to him.

"Who's there!" shouted Brin, whipping around.

"Blue Lady save me," whispered Raav as she jumped up to the Catwalk above.

"X5-734, REPORT!" shouted a mean voice.

"Someone's here," said Brin, "Someone it watching me."

"Find them and kill them. I will deal with these two X series."

"There are four more X6's in the back. These are X5-324 and X5-237."

"Find whoever is making that noise."

"Yes Sir," said Brin, saluting and jumping up to the Catwalk. Raav watched her, and quickly jumped out onto the roof.

"X5-734!" shouted Raav.

"Who are you?"

"I am X5-584. You called me Raav, remember?" said Raav, moving forward a few steps into the light.

"584?" said Brin, "584, it IS you."

"Hello 734," said Raav, "I finally found you. Do you know how hard you are to find."

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm here on orders from Director Renfro. I've been sent to redirect you to the new Manticore Base."

"Manticore?" said Brin, "Are you serious?"

"Yes! Despite what you've been told I am here on orders."

"You escaped like me."

"I made a mistake, but I realized it when I was told how badly you beat Max. I needed that power, that speed, that agility. I gave myself up. Renfro fixed my genetic disorders and I was on my way BACK to Manticore when it was attacked."

"It really is you," said Brin.

"It's me baby sister."

"I'm a soldier."

"We're still sisters in arms."

"It's good to see you 584."

"You too 734. My orders are to get you to the rendezvous point at nineteen hundred hours tomorrow. You, as well as any of the other escaped X series."

"All I have is a young X8 down in the basement."

"I saw two X5's in the room."

"You saw?"

"I'm a spy, what can I say?"

"They deserved to die."

"Hack deserved to die?"

"He didn't have to. He gave his life up for X5-237."

"How could you?"

"I had orders. I am leading the X7's to bring down all the transgenics in this area, and trust me, there are a lot."

BANG

"Sorry Brin," said Raav as she leaned over her sisters broken body. With one powerful set of strikes, Raav had broken Brin's legs, and her arm in one fowl swoop, "But you forget how much I loved Kiri and Hack."

"Bitch!" spat Brin.

"No. Doctor. I swore not to hurt any other human, but you don't count you inhuman MONSTER."

"584!"

"RAAV! Raav, my name is Raav. Now if you will excuse me, I have to go save my siblings," said Raav as she pulled out a roll of duct tape and duct taped Brin's mouth shut. Raav quickly looked away from Brin and hopped back into the room where Kiri and Hack lay on the floor. She looked around, then took out the knife and cut open her wrist, letting the blood fall on Kiri and Hack's wounds. In the blink of an eye, both wounds were gone, leaving smooth skin with a blood trail all around them. Raav reached over and held her wrist tightly, and felt the pain subside.

"Ravioli?" said Hack as he opened his eyes slowly. Raav motioned for quiet and pointed to the next room.

"What the…" said Kiri. Raav smacked Kiri and motioned for quiet. She nodded and got shakily to her feet.

"Brin said you had an X8 with you?" asked Raav.

"She killed one and left one alive in the basement," said Kiri, "Why?"

"I left my sister behind once, I'm not putting anyone else through the grief of losing a sister," said Raav. She snuck forward and silently opened the door to the basement. She focused her eyes and saw the form of the shaking X8 girl. Kiri followed her, but Raav motioned to her to leave.

"Why?" asked Kiri.

"Get to Portland. There's a bakery on east forty-second street. Ask for Curtis. He's there with Jondy and some others."

"Not without you."

"You're hurt and no good to me now."

"Fine."

"I'll be there in a few days, I promise," said Raav as she walked down and picked up the little girl.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I'm Raav."

"Are you going to keep me safe?"

"Yes," said Raav, picking her up and holding her tight.

"What about my mission?"

"What mission sweetie."

"My mission was to retrieve X8 621."

"What happened to him."

"He told X5-734 his name was Bugler and she shot him."

"We'll get him out too, okay?"

"Okay…"

"Not so Fast!" said a sinister voice. Raav turned around to see Ames White standing behind her with a gun.

"GREAT!" said Raav, "Another man in my life who wants me DEAD!"
"Who are you?"

"Your worst nightmare," said Raav, launching forward at him. White let off a shot and caught Raav in the upper knee. Raav was flung back, but managed to throw her knife and land it squarely in his foot. She then grabbed the limp body of X8-621 and jumped out the window, motioning for the female X8 to follow. The two Transgenics ran through the streets of Seattle until they reached a small apartment that Raav had found earlier. The X8 jumped in through the window and dragged the body of her brother in after her. Raav walked in after her, blood streaming down her leg, leaving a large smudge on the carpet.

"Are you okay?" asked the X8.

"No," said Raav as she lay down on the couch, "No I am not. I've lost a lot of blood. I need the blood of an X5."

"Where are we going to find an X5."

"Listen…Ummm….What's your name?"

"375285709701. X8-701."

"Your Syl…"

"No, I'm X8-701."

"Listen, your out now, you need a name."

"My Commander has a name."

"Does she now?"

"She's not supposed to thought."

"Why?"

"She's an X5."

"I'll meet her Later Via."

"Via?"

"That's your name. My sister is Syl, and your Via."

"Okay…"

"I need you to go to Fogle towers. It's the big glass building we ran past twenty minutes ago. I need you to find G2-366 and X5-452, aiight?"

"Aiight?"

"Just say yes or no."

"Yes Ma'am."

"Yes RAAV!"

"Gidra got mad at me when I called her ma'am."

"Go get X5-452!"

"Yes Raav."