A/N- As promised, here's the next chapter. After this one, there's only the epilogue, which I'm going to put up Thursday. Enjoy.

*************************

Logan once again bolted out of his daydream. This time it wasn't from something loud, but rather, from something soft. I could have sworn that was Max talking. Logan shook his head. I've got to get down from here. These heights are making my mind play tricks on me. Logan looked past his glass chamber to see Agent Travers looking extremely stressed out as he talked to Silver. If only I had Max's sense of hearing. Then I could tell what those two were talking about. It seems kind of important.

************************

"What!?!"

"That's right sir. Agent Joshua has had some kind of overdose or something. I'm taking her to the hospital right now."

"How could *I* of all people not know about this? I thought you knew everything about everybody that worked for me! I can't afford to have something like this slip by!"

"I'm sorry sir. I don't know how she hid it for so long."

Silver ran his hands through his hair. "Fine, I don't care. Just make sure that you get her to a hospital."

Agent Travers nodded. "Yes sir. Right away sir." Travers turned to go, but stopped when he heard Silver's voice stop him.

"And you know what to do if she happens to tell anything about me to anybody, am I right Agent Travers?"

Travers closed his eyes and nodded. "Yes sir. I'll take care of her if she lets anything slip." Travers started walking towards the elevator, never once looking back at his employer. As he neared the elevator, he stopped to look at his former employee. She sat shaking uncontrollably on the floor, sweating profusely, looking as pale as a ghost. Bending down, Travers, scooped Joshua into his arms, and continued on towards the elevator.

*********************************

Jondy slowly opened her door, and peered into the room in front of her. From where she entered, she could see Zack entering from the opposite side, and Max, coming in the front. Just as she was about to smile and signal an ok to her siblings, the wall in front of her exploded open, with armed men pouring out of it. A quick glance over her shoulder, Jondy could see that something similar was happening to both Max and Zack as well. Jondy fell back into her fighting stance and carefully watched the men as they surrounded her. She made sure she knew where every weapon was, and where every man was taking a stance. As soon as the first one flinched, she was prepared and began the fight of her life.

*********************

Zack watched helplessly as the men surrounded Jondy. Soon, he couldn't see her anymore. His view was blocked by both the men surrounding her, as well as the melee that was about to occur in center court with Max and a bunch of guys. He could almost feel the wall next to him come alive with bodyguards and such. Before he could react however, the but end of a gun was brought down on the back of his neck, causing him to fall to his knees. He looked up to see four men with their weapons trained on his skull.

*********************

Max watched as the men circled her. She was able to count around ten, with more further back. "Come on guys, I know it's human nature to join a line when you see one, but do you really want to be in line to have your ass kicked?" The only response that she got was a swipe of a knife from one of the lead guys. As he lunged for her, she grabbed his arm and used his momentum to propel him into a couple of his buddies. "I guess you do." Max watched the next guy launch himself at her. Correctly guessing his timing, just as he was about to grab her, Max leaped into the air, and kicked her legs behind her, connecting with the man's head, sending him flying out the glass doors. Thank god for Manticore genetics and their quick healing. Without them, there's no way my ribs would have been healed enough to do that. Max's display of athleticism stunned the rest of the group for just a second, and she used that second to focus in on how her siblings were doing. Her heart tensed for a split second as she could hear silence coming from Zack's side of the room. She immediately eased a bit once she heard chaos erupt once again. Focusing in on Jondy, Max let out a small laugh.

**********************

"Didn't you ever learn that hitting a girl on the first date *isn't* going to get you any sex? I mean come on!" Jondy grabbed the lead man and threw him into a couple more, causing them all to land in a heap unconscious. Jondy swiped her hand across her face and felt the warm wetness of blood. Sniffling, she could taste the metallic liquid in her throat. She lunged forward and ripped the shirt off one of the men. She wiped her nose with it, thankful once again for her genes that allowed her to heal quickly. Her nose was already repairing itself, and had stopped bleeding. Looking at the man she had stolen the shirt from, Jondy raised an eyebrow as she swept her gaze over his chest. "You been working out there? Cause, damn!" Taking the chance given to her as he looked down at his own pecs, Jondy spun around and kicked him square in the ribs. She could feel a few of them give way, and as he clutched at the area, Jondy knew they were broken, and more than likely had punctured his lungs. Jondy looked over the area and could see only two more guys in her way. She looked at them and smiled. "So what, you guys want to feel the same kind of pain?" Jondy had to laugh as she watched the two look at each other and then run from the building, down the street, and off into the distance. "I thought not."

*********************

"Jeez, how many of you guys are there?" Max looked around and could only see more and more men coming from somewhere. She could hear the sounds of the fight to her left calming down, and she knew that Jondy would soon be joining her in her fight.

Sure enough, Max, as well as several of the men, looked up to see Jondy, cartwheeling through the air. As she was upside down, Jondy grabbed the head of one of the men, and used her downward momentum to slam him to the ground. She backed up so that she was back to back with Max. "Who ever said Zack was a better fighter than me?"

Max grinned. "Not me little sister. Not me. But how about we finish these guys off and get my boyfriend out of here."

"You said it, not me." Jondy grabbed the fist that was aimed at her face, and quickly twisted the arm into a hold, effectively slamming the owner of the arm into the wall. Jondy leaned into his ear. "You know, it's not polite to interrupt a girl when she's talking." Jondy kicked backwards and felt her boot hit the soft area of a guy, that when hit, does a lot of damage. "And it's also not nice to have your friends sneak up on me when I'm talking." Jondy grabbed the hair of the guy that she was holding, pulled back, and slammed his head into the wall. She turned around to see Max finishing up on her two guys. As they finished, Zack finally came to help. "Where ya been bro?"

Zack raised an eyebrow. "My guys had guns."

"Sure, sure. Excuses, excuses." Jondy looked down at her nails. "Do you think we can hurry this up? I broke a nail back there and I really want to get back to the car where I left my nail file."

Max rolled her eyes at her sister as Jondy started to laugh. "Come on. I want to get this show on the road too." The three of them walked to the elevators and pressed the button. Luckily, one was readily available, and they all climbed in. As the doors were closing, all three heard the unmistakenable ring of a bell one floor up, announcing the arrival of the other elevator to the exit level. The elevator that carried Agents Travers and Joshua. None of the three paid much notice to the sound however, as they began their ascent to meet the man who seemed to know so much about them.

***************************

Max looked up and watched the number slowing gaining. As they neared the top, she looked at her siblings. "Ok, I'm going after Logan. You two cover me, got it?"

Both Zack and Jondy nodded. As the bell rang, announcing their arrival, the three took a collective breath, and jumped out of the elevator as soon as it opened.

Max took a quick few seconds to get her bearings. Seeing that there was no way Logan was straight ahead, she took off towards her right. Behind her, she could hear her siblings. Almost instantly, they came upon a flight of stairs, ones which Silver was now slowly descending, clapping as he did.

"Very nice 452. I didn't think you'd figure it out this soon. You're smarter than I gave you credit for, which will fetch me a lot more money."

Max narrowed her eyes at the individual. "Who are you, and where's Logan."

"Very unobservant though. That might hurt me in the long run."

Max didn't understand the man's comment until she glanced to her side. There, in an old office, she could see Logan, tied to one of the chairs, barely conscious.

"That's right, there's your boyfriend, but that's all you're going to see of him. You see, I've been expecting you, and now that you're here, well, everything just works out perfectly."

Max took one last look at Logan, and then returned her attention to the man on the stairs. "That still doesn't explain who you are."

Silver reached the bottom of the stairs and walked right up to Max. Leaning into her ear, he whispered. "Andrew Silver. Learn it well, because that's the name of the man that finally captured you."

Max leaned back, as much to get Silver out of her personal space, as out of fear. Her fear was quickly replaced however, and she was about to grab Silver and hurt him as much as possible, when the room erupted in gun fire. Max looked behind Silver, as he did the same and she saw a few men running towards them, firing. Max took a quick look to see that Silver was distracted, and took her chance to dive into the office to get to Logan. She ran up to his chair, and leaned into his ear to whisper to him as she quickly untied him. "It's ok baby, I'm here, and I'm going to get you out of here."

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Silver yelled and waved his arms in the air. "I don't want them dead! Stop shooting you idiots!"

As soon as Silver spoke, the room became silent. No one moved.

Out of the corner of her eye, Jondy could see Max drag Logan out of harms way, and down the stairs, the elevator long since gone on its descent to the ground floor. On her other side, she could see Zack moving towards taking care of the shooters, so she knew it was up to her to take on Silver. As they circled each other, Jondy could tell that this guy was going to give her some problems. The gun that was hidden beneath his coat that she could see occasionally wasn't helping her nerves either. But then again, the one that she had tucked in her pants was helping to calm her down a bit. Thrusting her chin towards him, Jondy finally spoke to Silver. "So what's the dealio with this water thing and capturing us?"

"You don't really expect me to tell you, do you?"

Jondy shrugged as she looked around her. "Well, by the looks of it, you've basically got us, and we don't have much time left here, so, why not?" Jondy then let out a little laugh. "I bet you lost a bundle on the water thing, didn't you."

Silver nodded. "I'll give you that. The truth serum didn't exactly go off as planned. It cost a hell of a lot more than it should have, and I didn't nearly get the gains out of it that I was expecting. It didn't help that Lydecker was sniffing around in my business either." Silver smiled and looked at the ground. "I got rid of that problem though."

Jondy raised her eyebrows at that. "You killed him?"

Silver looked back up at her. "Oh no. I'd never think of doing that. With him out there trying to find all of your siblings, and with my power, if he ever found one of you, I'd be able to get my hands on you so fast Lydecker would never know what hit him."

Jondy narrowed her eyes. "That's a shame. You killing him would have given you an extra point in my book. Well, maybe not a full point, but definitely a half point."

Silver smiled at her. "I'm glad you think so highly of me."

"Hey buddy, you didn't kill him, so you're still in the negative points in that book of mine."

Silver grinned at Jondy. "You're a lot sassier than I gave you credit for. I think a lot smarter too."

"Gee, thanks."

"You're welcome. That knowledge of yours will give you a few extra days to live."

Jondy was confused again, but knowing that she finally had Silver talking, she kept asking questions. Maybe something useful would come out of his mouth before she had to shut it up for good. "A few extra days?"

Silver nodded. "With my buyers, they only want the best. And now, I can see that you're one of the best. Instead of simply using your body for experiments, they'll use your mind as well. It won't hurt as much. I read somewhere that the premature aging of bones is actually quite painful."

Jondy felt as though she was going to be sick, but she needed to know more. "But, why?"

"Why? Because, when I sell a few of you to my buyers, I stand to make a lot of money. And then, once we know how your brains work, I'll have you working for me. With the best of the best X5s completely under my control, the world is mine. Nothing can stop me."

"So basically this was all just an elaborate attempt to take over the world?"

"In a nutshell, yeah, that's right. And it's not just an attempt, it's a triumph, because you're here aren't you?"

"You won't win Silver."

"Oh, I think I already have."

Jondy took a quick glance over at Zack, and that's when Silver attacked, or rather, his bodyguard that had appeared beside him attacked. Jondy was totally taken off guard by his sudden appearance, but as soon as he grabbed her around her neck, and pulled her off the ground, she attacked. Kicking downwards, she lodged her boot into the guard's knee, causing him to drop her. As soon as she was free, she jammed her thumbs into his eyes, blinding him to her attack on every guy's weak spot. As he fell to the ground, Jondy remembered Silver, and saw him reaching for his gun. She reached for her gun, but only grasped air. During her fight with the guard, it had fallen out of her pants, and was now on the floor. With her super human speed, Jondy lunged for it, and whipped around, holding her gun out, coming face to face with Silver. Both of them had their guns trained on the other's head.

Silver allowed a wicked grin to play across his lips. "Well, it looks like we have a standoff."

Jondy tilted her head and bit, and narrowed her eyes. Without even flinching, she pulled the trigger on her gun. She closed her eyes to block them from the spray of blood. When she opened them, she walked over to the body now laying on the ground in front of her. With the cold steely eyes of a killer, Jondy spoke to the body. "I don't do stand-offs." Jondy jumped when she felt a hand lay on her shoulder. She whipped around, ready to fire again, but whoever it was, ripped the gun out of her grasp.

"Jondy."

Jondy shook her head and snapped out of her soldier mode. "Let's go."

Zack nodded, and led Jondy to the stairs. They made their way down in complete silence. Once they reached ground level, the two quickly began looking for Max and Logan. As they stepped outside, they saw the two of them leaning on each other for support.

Max looked up as Jondy and Zack made their way out of the building. "Let's say we get out of here. Sound good?"

"It's got my vote. Come on Zack, let's hot wire that car over there. It's lookin' pretty nice to me." Jondy grabbed Zack by the hand and led him over to a car, leaving Max and Logan to themselves.

Logan tried to get his brain to focus, but it absolutely refused to do so. He looked to the person holding him up, and right away he knew who it was. "Max."

Max turned her face to Logan. "It's ok baby, I got you now. Just hold on for a couple more seconds, and then you can sleep all you want in the car. We're going home."

"Aiight, it's not my idea of a dope ride, but it'll have to do. Besides, it'll give you two room to snuggle in the back."

Max looked up at Jondy who was leaning out the driver's side window, and shook her head. A grin worked its way across her face even with everything that she had been through. Instead of her normal sarcastic reply, Max simply agreed with Jondy. "Damn straight. Now let's get the hell out of here, and back home." Max balanced Logan as she opened up the back door. She helped him get in, and then slid in beside him. As Jondy peeled out of town like there was no tomorrow, Max could feel herself drifting into sleep, as the warm body of her lover was safe beside her.

Jondy looked into the rearview mirror, and then over to Zack. "Ya gotta admit, they're kind of cute together."

Zack only grunted.

"Ah come on. Look on the bright side, at least Max didn't kill you."

Zack looked over at Jondy and let a small laugh escape his lips. "You're very right there baby sister. Very right."

Jondy smiled and looked off into the distance. They had a long trip ahead of them, but it would be alright, because everything was right in the world for the four of them for the time being.