Chapter Six
Max stalked, still fuming, into what used to be the X5 barracks, now basically the female chimeras changing room. She stalked to her locker and ripped it open, only then noticing the auburn haired female standing next to it. "Oh, hey Jondy."
Jondy leaned back against the locker behind her, arching a brow at Max's greeting. The way she had just ripped off her jacket and crumpled it into a tiny ball meant only one thing. "I take it your mission didn't go well."
Max snorted as she started to unbutton her dress shirt. "Actually, the mission was fairly successful after the little mishap I told you about in my email."
Jondy nodded, her deep blue eyes narrowing as she recalled Max's email. "The godson, set off an alarm or something, right?"
Max nodded as she pulled a small black tee shirt over her head. "Get this. Zack and I are getting our stuff out of the helicopter, Lydecker standing there, which is weird because this wasn't a high-risk mission or all. It was really a waster of our time."
Jondy held up a hand to cut Max off. "If it was so simple, why did you have to have an emergency alpha evac?"
"Because of that evil b**tard walking in on me." Max kicked off the pants of the business suit, turning to talk to her sister as she pulled out a pair of slim black pants. "This only gets better. Like I was saying, Lydecker is standing there, we go over to talk to him, we get to his office, and guess who is there? Logan F**king Cale." Max snapped, pulling off her necklace.
Jondy laughed. "No way! What the hell is he doing here."
Max gritted her teeth. "For whatever reason, Lydecker is letting the son of a b**tch do an article in his little freedom fighting magazine."
Jondy's mouth dropped open in shock. "You mean…"
"Yep."
"On us…"
"Uh-Huh."
"What the hell!" Jondy shouted.
"My thoughts exactly." Max finished as she pulled on a formfitting black vest over the tee shirt, her head pounding in the early dredges of a migraine.
"How in the hell does a person that f**ked up your mission get to do what could potentially be the article of a century in a top secret military facility?"
"I don't know, and I got the authoritative bitch slap when I pointed all this out. Lydecker pulled rank and told me to get over it."
"What's Zack think about all this, him being the CO and all."
Max smiled slyly. "He was to busy holding me back from snapping Cale's interfering little neck to make much of a comment."
Jondy smiled back. "Nice, Maxie, nice." Jondy stood silent as Max tied back her hair. "They shipped Tinga off this morning." She said quietly.
"Damn." Max whispered. "I meant to be back before they sent her out."
"Don't worry about it, I'm sure she'll be in touch." Jondy said, brushing a hand over her dark red hair.
Max finished pulling the last of her clothing on, the finishing touch being the blue-lensed sunglasses out of her locker and hooking them onto the collar of her shirt. "Aiight, Syl, Zane, and Krit already here?" Max asked as she stretched her arms over her head.
"Yeah, they are waiting in the conference room, the Sixers are waiting in their barracks." Jondy replied, both of the women easily transitioning from their relationship as siblings to that of fellow military officers.
"Standard Hand to Hand, right?" Max asked as they walked out into the hallway, falling into step next to Zack, who had also changed into similar combat clothing.
"Hey Zack." Jondy said.
"Hey Jonds." Zack replied, and that was as much of a greeting as they would have time for, as the three pushed through a set of doors into a small room where three other similarly dressed people where waiting. There was Syl, with her long blonde hair knotted on top of her head, Zane, with his feet propped up on the table, and Krit, looking pissed at everything as was his usual style.

Logan and Lydecker sat on the other side of the two-way glass, observing as Max and Jondy fell into formation along the table, Zack standing at the end delving out orders.
"This is a basic Hand to Hand exercise." Lydecker explained quietly. "The X5's will be competing against the X6s. A Fiver and a Sixer will enter this room," Lydecker gestured to another room behind him, clear glass window portioning the two rooms. "It is one on one hand to hand, no weapons. Each of the prototypes are trained in several forms of combat. We try to pair them on level. The X5 hand to hand expert will go against the expert from the X6s."
Logan nodded his understanding silently. Lydecker turned to gesture to a set of eight televisions behind them. Lydecker leaned over and pressed a button, speaking into a microphone. "Ok, X5 452 and X6 196, your up first."

Zack, Max, Jondy, Zane, Krit, and Syl sat in a small room, silent, as their training over took instinct to talk amongst themselves. Max heard her name called, then stiffly stood, pulling her jacket, leaving her in a form fitting sleeveless shirt. She tossed her jacket on the conference table as she walked out of the room.
Logan turned to watch a tall blonde female walk into the room, obviously Max's upcoming opponent. "That is Caryn, commander of the X6s."
Max stepped into the room, shutting the door behind her. The two females went trough a quick series of stretches, each going through their own pattern of preparation of the fight they were about to engage in.
Logan stared, transfixed, as Max slowly stretched her bare, well-toned arms over her head.
Caryn and Max walked to opposite corners, standing at attention as they waited for the command to start. Max stared ahead, her stony, her eyes ablaze with the anticipation of her upcoming spar, hand to hand combat being one of her favorite exercises, and one for which she had always excelled. And now she was going to have the opportunity to kick the crap out of the one person out of all of the X6s that she hated with a passion. It was not humanly possible to speak badly about one of Max's siblings and get away with it. It just wasn't possible.
Lydecker's voice echoed out of the small intercom. "Begin."
Max took five leaping steps forward, immediately spinning into a roundhouse kick, Caryn blocked Max's kick, grabbing her leg and pushing her back. Max quickly flipped backwards into a back handspring, landing solidly as she rushed forward again. Caryn threw her fist forward, her first mistake, as Max grabbed her arm and swung her around, throwing her arm over her shoulder and tossing her to the ground. In a whirl of motion, Caryn had flipped onto her back and onto her feet, her arms raised in a defensive stance.
Logan watched expressionless as the two females jumped forward again, their movements almost untraceable to the human eye. 'The human eye.' He thought wirily as Max swept her feet under Caryn's, her plan only being foiled by Caryn's rolling flip over her head. 'Well, I don't really know what to call these people. Can they even be considered people?' He didn't have time to analyze his current situation as he watched Max land a kick solidly in Caryn's stomach. Caryn's flinch was momentary and fleeting at most, but it was the exact timing that Max needed spin Caryn around and lock her arms around her neck in a punishing grip. "Kill!" Max shouted.
"Confirmed. X5 599 and X6 240 up next." Lydecker answered into the intercom.
Max dropped her arms from around Caryn's neck. "B**ch." Caryn muttered out of breath as she stood.
"Oh, same goes." Max said sweetly as they walked towards their respective exits. Zack was just stepping into the room as Max reached the door. "Nice job, Maxie." He whispered as they passed.
As Max pulled the elastic band from her hair and shook her curling brown locks, she sincerely hoped that Cale had stuck around for her little show. He was quickly finding himself at the top of her personal hit list, plus, it was always nice to see snobby trust fund babies squirm.