"We did train you well but I'm afraid not well enough," Donald Lydecker mused aloud as he checked Zack's vitals for the third time that minute. Two more interrogation technicians were checking equipment as Zack groaned into the leather strap in his mouth. A prod nudged his back again with several thousand volts of electricity causing his young body to spasm.

Lydecker stepped back into view as the electric arc subsided but Zack's eyes were to blurry with sweat and tears to see him properly. "We know you were the one behind the escape. It's useless to resist. We just want to protect them and bring them home safely. You have no idea what it's like out there." It had been three days since the escape but to Zack time was meaningless as the only tangible sensation was pain. A deep pain that bored into him.

"Just tell us where you were planning on meeting and it will all be over," Lydecker kneeled down next to Zack and wiped at his brow, "it's just not worth it son.

Zack gritted his teeth to the point that his jaw clamped shut on it's own volition. The word "son" echoed in his head and he used it to block out any thoughts of his brothers and sisters. He felt like he was being enveloped by a sense of nothingness and then there was nothing but black.

Lydecker stood up and shook his head sadly. He rubbed at his weary eyes and forced a yawn back down into his chest. It had been almost four days since he had last had any rest. The technicians automatically began shutting off the equipment as Zack lapsed into unconsciousness. "Guard," Lydecker called to the soldier outside the door, "take this X5 up to the mess hall. Bring him around and start him cleaning it top to bottom. Take someone else up with you to watch over him. When he's done keep him working until he's asleep on his feet. Then bring him back to me."

Zack's eyes were shut as he scrubbed the floor to the mess hall with a small toothbrush. The two guards with him were off against the wall to his left but escape wasn't anywhere in Zack's mind. It took all his mental and physical effort not to collapse on the floor. He knew what would happen if he were brought back down to Lydecker. Someone else had been on the other side of the large room cleaning the North Corridor and was just entering the mess hall. He could just barely imagine the relief of whoever had been given the punishment of cleaning the North wing to find him on the floor scrubbing at it.

With a heavy sigh, Zack hoisted himself up and tried to see to the other end of the building. All he could see was a blend of shapes and colors that seemed to spin on their own. Suddenly a heavy weight slammed into his chest and sent him tumbling into a table next to him. Zack wasn't sure what was going on but he felt as if intense pressure was being applied to various places over his body. Finally, when the pressure reached his head, he lost consciousness again.

Holden McNeil dropped the five cards in his hand on the ground and swore as he lost another hand. A crash sent him spinning around to see one of the X-6's slamming his fists into the X-5 on the concrete floor of the mess hall. The guard he was playing cards with, Banky Edwards, was already rushing towards them. It took both of them to pry the X-6 off of the X-5 but it was too late. He looked as if he had beaten to death. His face was mottled in different colors of red, black, yellow, and blue. The crumpled mass barely looked like the young child it was.

Jacen didn't resist as the guard tore him off of Zack but he didn't need to. A look of grim satisfaction took hold of his face at he looked down at Zack's limp form. That look of satisfaction faded as Zack involuntarily coughed up blood and let out an animalistic groan.

Jacen awoke with a start and he found himself sitting in his favorite chair in front of the fireplace. The crack and hissing of the fire caused his senses to come alive as he shook his head vigorously and pawed at his eyes. As his vision clarified he found himself staring at his right hand that had just been rubbing his eye. A long burn scar ran down the underside of his arm and he traced it with the fingertips of his left hand. He felt how it curved and moved down his skin with no definite destination but to reign burning pain down his arm. After the night with Zack and Lydecker and all the others, Jacen found himself unwilling to have the scar removed.

Sometimes he hated that he was made the way he was. That he was made to be as close to perfection as humanity would ever get because for all of his genetic perfection he still retained the flaws that afflicted all of his species. Flaws that varied from person to person and that could never be healed, broken, or fixed. The scar on his arm was a flaw that was not part of how he was made. But it was a strong part of who he was. It scared Jacen that someday Manticore might achieve the impossible and create someone who was devoid of compassion, emotion, and was completely calloused.

Yawning and stretching out Jacen stared into the fire and mentally noted how chaotic its movements and actions were. There was no set path for it to follow and no way to stop it once it had what it needed. A soft, content smile passed over his face and he pulled a blanket up to his neck and leaned the reclining chair back even further. Seclusion gave Jacen much time to think but perhaps, he wondered sometimes, it was too much time to ponder what he should leave alone. It was all a matter of time.

Times change and people do as well. The question that he had to ask himself was whether he was willing to change. It's an interesting thing to consider: Is it possible to prevent change? Jacen was one to hope so but in the end he found himself a different person. No longer X-6 645 but simply Jacen Parker, average man. He still had trouble remembering his own last name even with his Manticore hive mind. He had to check his sector passes to ensure he was who he was.

If one were to take everything that mattered to Jacen at the time he walked away from his family he would be left with nothing. It was one of the hardest things he had ever done to abandon them. No, Jacen thought, not abandoned. Set free.

It wasn't as if they had to start their lives over but they had to start their lives. Never did they have so many options open to them and at first it seemed like a daunting task to pick a place and settle down. In the end Jacen did what he thought was most unlikely for someone like him to do. He found that he couldn't get more secluded having his nearest neighbors over fifteen miles away.

He no longer marched but tried to copy the walk and actions of those around him. Blending in was something he was going to have to get better at. Especially knowing that Lydecker would eventually find out the truth and would be searching for him. He could imagine the rage in Lydecker's eyes when he learned the news that they were alive and had abandoned Manticore. In the end it was better than any act of defiance Jacen could think of but there was more to his exodus from Manticore than just hatred. He knew it was the best choice for his family as he had known since he originally planned to escape.

It saddened Jacen that sooner or later they would be found out by Lydecker either through announcing their own presence or by Lydecker tripping and kicking the rock they were hiding under over. Jacen's mind flashed with images of his family both dead and alive and his eyes turned cold once more. It was so hard to believe that in one night he had lost so much. All that was left was the four of them and a part of him told him to quit while he was ahead but the other side screamed that vengeance was needed. Wait, Jacen though to himself, not vengeance, justice.

Being dead did have its advantages as he eventually found out. It's amazing how few people bother you when you don't have a government sanctioned bounty on your head. Jacen had withdrawn from life to look at himself more clearly and focus on who he was becoming. In the end he regretted not taking the time to make sure Seth, Jared, and Wren settled down but then again it was tense enough telling Wren that he wouldn't go with her.

She had left with a look of rejection in her eyes and nothing Jacen could say would change that. Jacen stopped worrying after the first few weeks since he knew Seth would look after her well enough and Jared could easily fend for himself. It was just a matter of losing someone so close to you. They were all he had and in one night a well laid plan turned out to be a funeral for several of those he loved the most. In the end he had to honor them in some way and Jacen knew that the time would come when retribution would be dealt out in a swift manner.

Just not this soon. There is a time and place for everything and as Jacen sat in his reclining chair and stared at the fire crackling in front of him he knew that the time would approach sooner than he wanted.