Lydecker refused to look at Renfro for a moment or two as the snow slicked road proved to far more interesting than the hideous bitch beside him. He walked in slow circles around her, watching the movements of his feet with numbed toes. Left, left, left, right, left…He continued moving until his mind was calm enough that he could talk to Renfro without choking her on sight.

"You realize what just happened-don't you?" he asked, stopping a couple feet behind her.

Renfro tensed, shoving her hands deeper into her trench-coat pockets. She didn't turn around and answered to the air in front of her. "I understand, yes."

"Then, what happened?"

She paused, swallowing, before replying. 'Deck would shoot her without hesitation if he wanted to; she had seen it done by him before.

"Manticore is gone."

"And whose fault is this?"

"I don't know."

Lydecker inhaled deeply, letting the frigid air condense in his lungs and halt his breathing. Exhaling, he walked around to the front of Renfro, staring holes into her head. Maybe he should just kill her and be over with it.

"The entire structure that Manticore has been based on is dead," he hissed, spewing hot steam into her face. "Flattened into smithereens. Now, I have not had the chance to view it, but I have an uncanny feeling that nothing is left. Nothing. The DNA lab is gone, any surviving X-series, all files are gone. Do you understand this?"

"You can't treat me like I'm one of your soldiers," Renfro said, blinking for the first time as she met Lydecker's eyes.

"And how am I supposed to treat you?"

"Figure it out. I didn't cause the explosion. I don't know who did. Ok? It was my dream too-"

"Bullshit. You," Lydecker seethed, stabbing a finger at her, "tried to kill those kids. X5-656. Glad to know that she was all right."

"You don't know how to handle them."

"I don't know-" Lydecker laughed hoarsely, shook his head, then exploded. "Dammit, Renfro! They were my kids! My kids!"

"You don't think I know that 'Deck?"

"You kidnapped X5-656, went against military commands, tried to capture X5-599 and X5-452 as well. Only you managed to capture 452. X5-734 is dead now. Dead. Do you understand that?"

"Yes. But it wasn't my fault."

"Of course it was. If you hadn't kidnapped 656, then you wouldn't have gotten in that Jeep with 734 to go to the place where 656 was being kept. Therefore, it all comes down to the fact that you went behind my back, behind the Committee's and everyone's back to do what you damned well pleased."

"And suddenly it's my fault for your career going downhill?"

"My career hasn't gone anywhere."

"Really? Well, then, I had 656 in my possession, along with 452. Under your order, 452 was put with X3-452, and now they are both presumably dead. If X5-452 had stayed where she was at, she wouldn't have died, nor would 656 have escaped. Do I make myself clear?"

Lydecker looked shocked for a moment, but was pretending to be so. "You're giving orders now?"

"Always have, 'Deck, you were just too deaf to listen."

"Really?"

Renfro nodded as the snow began to fall, coating her silver hair with ice. "Aren't you planning to turn me over to the Committee?"

"Wouldn't make a damn bit of difference. You'd weasel yourself out of it someway or another."

"Unlike you."

"Look!" Lydecker snapped, walking sharply up to her. "They weren't your kids! You didn't create them! You didn't lo-"

"What was that 'Deck?"

"Nothing."

"I didn't love them? Is that what you said? My, my, my, that's certainly weak of you. No wonder your kids are full of sentimental shit."

At that moment, Lydecker, filled with unimaginable rage and hate, grabbed Renfro's head, placing his fingers underneath her cheekbones. Right before she screamed, he, in one violent motion, snapped her head cleanly off her neck without any trace of blood or gore whatsoever.

The head, with eyes still blinking, rolled in the thin layer of snow that was just beginning. Renfro's thin lips grinned maliciously up at Lydecker as the remainder of her body slumped to the ground. As the head stopped, a couple inches away from Lydecker's big toe, she, the head of Renfro, smiled at him, "You know, 'Deck…"