Chapter 6

Rose walked down the hallway with her hair tossed back, gazing at the ring on her finger. Thula had found it on the body of a Transgenic, and decided that since it didn't fit her she would give it to Rose.

Thula looked up as Rose entered the room. She hoped the girl would be okay, seeing as how pale and thin she looked. She had been working hard. Although that had not found 452, 17 X7's had been caught, along with all the defective X9's. She was a real gem, Thula thought, even though Ames White strongly disliked her.

"Fe'nos Tol," said Rose as she walked to her chair in the corner of the apartment that overlooked Terminal City.

"You're up early," said Ames, "It's only noon. You're usually not up till at least two."

"Leave her alone Ames," said Thula, "She's the reason you're not out in the cold. She's found all the Trannies so far."

"There's one, in the sewers," said Rose, "No….There's two. The big one, the one they call….I don't know the name…"

"That's useful," said Ames, "You don't know his name."

"It's something like Unicorn or Pixie."

"Dragon?" said Thula, scanning through the names she knew some of the X series went by."

"Yes!" said Rose, "And the other one is that little bitch 584."

"What do you have against 584?" asked Ames.

"Aside from the fact she's helping 452," said Thula sarcastically.

"I'm older than her by one year. That bastard Sandman took MY DNA to make her. She and I share chromosomes and it scares me. Someone could confuse me and that little bitch."

"So?" said Sandman.

"So nothing," said Thula, "I would hate to share DNA with one of those freaks."
"He's in pain…." Said Rose suddenly, "The Dragon thing…He's….wounded? He's slow…We should go get him now!"

*+*+*

"All right," said Finn, staring at his cards intently, "I'm calling you on it Trigs. You're going to get it now!"

"Whatever," said Trigs.

"Be careful," said Frankie, "Trigs is good."

"I still think Finn has the mad skills," chimed in Cree.

"All right," said Finn, "Trigs! Got any twos?"

"Go fish," she said, cracking a small smile, then bursting out laughing at the defeated look on Finn's face as he picked up from the pile.

"I will never understand it," said Logan, "The ultimate series, the great and independent X5's, now free, gather together each night for a rousing game of Go Fish?"

"It's simple," said Max, "Being a super-soldier doesn't help you at Go Fish. It's pure Luck. Poker, Black Jack, Rummy, they all have skill involved. Go Fish is all a matter of pulling the right cards."

"I see," said Logan.

"Got any twos Finn?" asked Frankie. Finn slammed the card down and stormed off in the direction of Max and Logan, then flipped open his cell phone to listen to a message.

"You okay Finnigan?" asked Cree as he watched his little brothers face drop.

"Dragon," said Finn, "He called. He's hurt, BAD. Adam had to save his ass. He needs us."

"Let's move," said Trigs without a missing a beat.

"Where?" asked Frankie, pulling a gun out of the holster on the inside of her leg and inserting a round of ammo.

"In the sewers," said Finn, "Didn't say where. He did say our dear friend from the conclave was on his tale."

"We're going to need more than the four of us," said Trigs.

"I'll go," said Max, looking to Cree, "I can help."

"She knows the sewer system," said Finn.

"Even number only," said Frankie.

"Alec," said Cree, looking to the Ben-look-alike, "You in?"

"Sure," said Alec, "Dragon used to help me get stuff from the outside. I owe the guy."

"Cree," said Frankie, "You know who I'm with."

"Fine," said Cree, "Finn, you go with Alec. Max, you stick with me."

"Aiight," said Trigs, "I've seen the maps. There are three outlets in Terminal City. All you have to do is each take on of them. Rap out the numbers for a recall to base."

"I know them Max," said Cree quietly, "Doncha worry."

"Find him," said Trigs, "We'll each have a cell phone to check in. Max, you got one?"

"Yeah," she said.

"Cree, take princess and head out the south exit."

"Yes Ma'am," said Cree as he dragged Max away by her arm.

*+*+*

"So where is the little beast," said Thula as she, Ames and Rose trudged through the sewers.

"Dragon!" said a voice, "Dragon, is that you?"

"There," said Rose, "Ames, say something."

"Here I am!" he said. The voice's body rounded the corner to reveal a small girl with long white-blond hair dressed in rags. Her eyes, the same blue as Rose's were wide in fear as she saw the shotgun Rose carried.

"RUN AWAY!" she shrieked as she bolted down the hallways with the three members of the conclave at her heels.

*+*+*

"That was Adam," said Cree, listening as he and Max ran down another endless pipe towards what looked like a small area where the pipes crossed. Upon reaching the entrace, Max and Cree watched in horror as Ames White, Thula, and a Blond woman tied Adam to a chair and threw Dragon across the room.

Dragon was a shadow of his former self. Max had seen him a few times at Manticore and he was always a big boy. Now he was thin and gaunt with stubble all over his bruised face.

"I won't talk!" shrieked Adam.

"Dragon!" screamed Finn as he burst out of one of the other tunnels. The girl with blond hair raised her hand and held the transgenic out like a little puppet.

"Finn," said Cree quietly, rushing forward and pulled Dragon back to the hole where Max looked on.

"Max," said Thula as she stood over Adam, "Good to see you."

"Let her Go," said Max, coming into the dim light of the room.

"If you come here, we'll let her go."

"No," said the blond woman, "Not her. For that other one. 734."

"Brin?" said Trigs as she stood to the side.

"Brin," said the woman, "Oh right, that's her name. Little chink bitch. I think that she'll be real fun to cut open."

"Who are you?" asked Frankie.

"My name is Rose," she said, "And I supplied the genetic material for the little knockoff here."

"Bastard," said Adam, spitting on Rose's shoes.

"You WILL regret that," said Rose, smiling evilly.

"Let her go," said Max stepping forward slightly.

"One more step and she dies Max," said Rose, glaring at Max with an evil glint in her eye.

"What the hell do you want?" said Dragon.

"The conclave is tired of this little war," she said, "I'm here to kill all of you."

"No," said Cree, rushing forward.

"Do it," said Ames. Thula reach over and grabbed Adam's head on both sides.

"I'm sorry," said Adam. To the five X5's who had known her, time stood still as Thula pulled Adam's neck into an odd angle. The anguish on their sisters face was obvious as she realised she was not going to live.

CRACK

"ADAM!!!" screamed Cree. Alec dashed out and quickly grabbed Rose and held a pistol to the side of her head.

"You let us go and give us Adam's body or else I shot her."

"Do it!" said Rose, "We still have their sister."

"Fine," said Ames, kicking the chair with the limp body of Adam towards Cree. Cree grabbed the chair and broke the cuffs. He gently lifted his dead lover out off the floor, the reminants of cuffs still dangling from her wrists.

"Move," said Alec, motioning with his gun. Max and the other took off down the pipes, and were soon joined by Alec.

"Adam…" sobbed Frankie quietly as she reached over and touched her dead sisters hand.

*+*+*

That night, a few X6's stayed up late and wandered around the compound. The came to a small room called the cold box and looked in to see a body laying on a slab. The Transgenics had found that putting the dead in the cold room until they could dig a grave helped people find a sense of closure.

"Who is she?" asked Ralph, looking at the girl with white-blond hair.

"Adam," said Dalton, "She was a psy-ops member."

"She's beautiful," said Fixit.

"She was a good soldier."

"What was her designation?" asked Zero, looking at the Barcode on her neck, "583?"

"584," said Dalton, "I saw her sister Max today. She was real upset."

"I must be forgetting my Manticore Lessons," said Zero, "I thought her code said 583."

"It doesn't matter what her code was," said Ralph, "She was Adam. She was a person."