Tinga was sitting down on the snow beside Boo and Max, watching the two of them carefully. By this time, she knew that Max was indeed her sister and people by the names of Charlie and Case did exist. But, now came the difficult part of explaining to Max about Lydecker and Renfro.

"I was down in the basement with Renfro after you were taken away," Tinga explained, nodding her head in Max's direction. "She was trying to get me to wake up so we could go and 'kill that damned creature', as she put it. Sorry," Tinga apologized to Boo.

"It ok," Boo replied.

Tinga smiled warmly at the anomaly's childlike innocence. "Anyhow, I finally awoke, groggy and in pain. Renfro shoved some pills in my mouth, told me to swallow them and get to work. Needless to say, I was on the verge of a migraine and she wanted me to go and fight the monster in the basement." Tinga snorted angrily. "I was her slave. Her little robot." She clenched her fist tightly, brandishing it like a sword. "If only I could show her who was the slave…"

"Tinga, chill," Max said to her older sister. "Just tell us what happened."

"Ok, so I was down in the basement with Madame Psycho, ready to kill her, when Lydecker steps in. I didn't hear the elevator come and apparently Renfro didn't either because she looked equally as shocked."

"Who Lydecker?" Boo asked, interrupting Tinga.

"He's the man who created you," Max explained.

"Bad man."

"Very bad man," Max answered.

"But he comes down there, while Renfro stands up all smiles like nothing has happened. I'm still lying on the floor, hardly able to breathe or think because of the pain. I don't think he had seen me by that point. Or, if he had, he sure didn't show it. Anyhow," Tinga continued, "she smiles like nothing has happened and tries carrying on a regular conversation with him. 'Hello 'Deck,' she says.

"Then he goes, 'What the hell do you think you're doing?'

"'I don't have the slightest clue.'

"'Like hell', he says and walks up real close to her so that they're nearly kissing. I'm not going to voice my opinion on that matter, but you get the picture. From what I can understand, some computer for Eyes Only had its wires meticulously cut. He thought that she did it. Naturally, I wasn't going to say anything because I didn't want to defend her, nor him. Let them kill each other was the way I looked at it."

"Would've been for the best," Max said.

"You're telling me. But then, somebody would have had to clean up the mess."

"Good point."

"I must have moaned or something because suddenly he looked over at me, lying there pitifully on the floor, and his eyes just bug right out of his head. He points to me and hisses at her, 'Is that X5-656?'. Renfro doesn't answer, but Lydecker walks closer over to me. 'It is,' he says and then turns to her. Then he says something about all of us taking a nice trip to the Committee. I guess, from what I figure, he was blamed for my loss and wanted to make sure that the Committee realized who was really responsible."

"Good old Lydecker, caring only about himself," Max laughed.

"Yeah, so he loads all of up into his Jeep and we head out onto the road. It's about twenty minutes later when we hear this awful explosion from behind. He slams on the brakes, turns around in his seat and looks behind him. We can all see these huge flames from deep in the woods. Lydecker jumps out of the car and throws the door closed, cursing with words I didn't think he was capable of. Renfro follows and pretty soon they're standing out on the road, screaming furiously at each other for 'whose damned fault it is for blowing up Manticore'. During this time, I managed to slip away and come here."

"Where are they?" Boo asked.

"Now?"

"Yes. Now."

Tinga shrugged. "I don't know. Probably still out there."

Max waited, letting a moment of silence pass before breaking the news to Tinga. "You realize that Logan was in there."

Tinga's face fell drastically. "Oh Maxie…"

"And Zack."

This time, Tinga couldn't say anything. A couple minutes with only the hissing of the twisted wood and brick as background noise passed before she finally rose to her feet, brushing the snow off her pants. Her face, once hardened by brainwashing, was now soft and gentle, but accepting of the tragic truth that Max had bestowed upon her. No one would ever accuse Tinga of being overly weak, but at the same point, they could never say she wouldn't show sympathy. Despite it all, she wore the look of a soldier who has just seen the worse of bloody battle and knows the truth, but will no longer run from it.

"Maxie?"

"Yes?"

"I think it's time we went home."