Max inched closer to the anomaly, but still was wary of touching its decaying flesh. After all, it was still an anomaly, also known as "the monster in the basement". Finally, she swallowed some of her fear and asked, "What do you call yourself?"

The creature paused, as its dying brain comprehended what she had said. "Thing," she finally grunted.

"Thing?" Max echoed, then shook her head in disgust. "I can't believe they call you such a cruel name."

"Cruel? That name?"

"No," Max replied, realizing that talking with this creature was going to more difficult than she'd assumed, "that's not your name. You need a real name. Like me. You see, I'm Max, do you understand that?"
"Max," the anomaly repeated. "Max. You Max."
"Yes, very good. I have a friend named Logan, that's a real name, and Cindy too, not to mention Herbal and Sketchy." She smiled sadly, as the stark truth came to her that she may never see any of them again.

"Friend? What…friend?"

"You don't know what a friend is?"

The anomaly shook its scarred scalp where medical instruments had been dug inside and out to perform more brain operations than should have been done on a normal human.

"Well," Max said, staring off into the distance as she tried to think as how to define what a friend was to such a thing. No, she thought again, this isn't a thing. It's a person. A person who's just…trapped within their own body. "A friend is someone that you can trust more than anything in the world. You can laugh with them, talk to them whenever you want and they'll always listen. And," she finished with a crooked smile, "they'll always be your boo."

The anomaly contemplated what Max had said to her. Although a friend was still new to her, the anomaly considered it to be a nice thing to have. At least they sounded like they wouldn't hurt you like the people had done to her. "Will you be friend?"

Max paused. "To you?"

"Yes. To me."

Tentatively, Max reached over and clasped the creature's bleeding hand firmly in her own so that they were joined. The anomaly gasped slightly, having never felt such a loving gesture before. The feeling was new and strange to her. "First of all," Max began, "your name is not going to be Thing, we're going to call you…"

"Boo."

"Boo?" Max smiled, then nodded, agreeing with the creature, now named Boo. "Yes, and Boo, I'll be your friend. Perhaps, you can even help me."

"Help you? How?"

"I need to get out of here."

"You can't."

"It's not possible then?"

"No."

"Crap," Max hissed and laid her head in her hands, frustrated.

Boo watched Max closely, trying to understand why her new friend was so upset. After all, she had lived down here all her life and didn't think that it was too bad. But then again, this Max seemed like someone who had had a better life than she.

Suddenly, Boo perked her head up as the elevator hummed, approaching the basement. "Listen," she said to Max.

"What the-" Max began, but abruptly stopped as she realized what it was. Rising to her feet, she limped heavily over to the door and peered out.

When she saw who was coming, she smiled broadly. "Boo, it's Tinga, my friend, she's come to help us."

Tinga saw Max peering out of the anomaly's stall at her. So this was Max after all, the girl that she was supposed to bring to Madame X. Well, the girl didn't look that evil, but then again, perhaps she had committed some horrendous crime that Tinga was unaware of. Therefore, sister or no sister, she needed to be punished. Crimes can't be left alone.

She walked up to the heavy iron door and pulled out a ring of keys, searching through them to find the one to X3-452's room.

"Tinga," Max said to her sister, trying poke her head out between the iron bars. "Tinga, listen to me."

Tinga didn't flinch. After all, she had forgotten that her real name was Tinga. It was X5-656 now-not Tinga.

"Tinga," Max repeated, more urgently. "What have they done to you?"

This time, Tinga looked up, realizing that Max was talking to her. With a sharp flick of her arm, she opened the door, sending Max toppling to the floor due to the fact that Max had been leaning against it beforehand.

"Come with me," Tinga ordered.

"What? Oh God, no, they've brainwashed you. Just like Brin."

Bending down, Tinga clutched Max by her wrists. "Come with me."

"No, I won't."

"You have to, soldier."

"I'm not a soldier," Max snapped, trying to wriggle out of Tinga's grasp.

"You are too."

"Never."

"Quit arguing," Tinga growled and began to pull Max along by her wrists. Max curled up and kicked her legs into the back of Tinga's shins. This action, unfortunately, hurt Max with her bandaged foot more than it hurt Tinga.

"Tinga! What have they done to you? It's me, Max, please listen, just listen," Max pleaded through pained tears, knowing that she would be unable to reach Tinga through fighting. As it was, she was hurt, while Tinga not only was in good health, but top training quality as well.

Tinga turned around to see Max, who, by this time, was lying on her back staring up at her big sister. Maybe Madame X was wrong, maybe X5-452 wasn't the evil enemy that she had been claimed to be. Suddenly, Max's words reached through Tinga's muddled head: "It's me, Max."

Pausing, Tinga blinked. "Max?" she echoed, her voice hoarse.

"Yes, it's me, Tinga. Tinga, it's me, Max."

"Tinga?"

"You're Tinga."

At that moment, Boo, unsure if her new friend was being hurt by Tinga, sprang out of her cell, screaming as loudly as she could. Tinga resembled the evil men who had hurt her all of her life and Boo wasn't about to let Max get hurt by the same people. Grabbing Tinga by the throat, Boo pushed Tinga to the ground, fighting with what little knowledge had been given to her at the beginning of life.

On Tinga's intercom, which was fastened onto her jacket, Renfro could hear her precious soldier's gasps for air.

"Boo, no!" Max cried, struggling to stand. "Let her go!"

Despite Tinga's efforts to fight back, she was no match for the anomaly. Lydecker had created his earlier X-series with far more strength than the later X-series. Although such power resulted in chemical imbalances and enzyme mutations, the creatures were far stronger than any X5 could hope to be.

Boo had her grimy fingertips clutched around Tinga's throat, banging her head against the cement floor, no knowledge of true fighting. "Don't hurt Max!" Boo screeched, her scream suddenly melding with other voices of soldiers that had heard Renfro's plea to help her soldier.

"Stop right there, you thing!" one of them yelled at Boo.

"I not Thing!" Boo cried and, forgetting Tinga, turned on the soldiers, trying to attack them. Unfortunately, she was not quick enough to move out of the way of the tayzers and fell to the ground, her broken body trembling.

Tinga, by this time, was unconscious, and Max, too, had diverted her attention onto the soldiers. She screamed a hideous cry filled with more rage and terror imaginable and launched herself at the men.

Just in mid-jump, the tayzers came at her, freezing her body and sending it falling to the ground below. She joined Boo on the harsh cement floor, unconscious and sick.

On the other end of the Alpha leader's intercom, Renfro was asking, "Are they alive? They'd better be, because I want the pleasure of destroying them myself."