Only Rain and Evie are mine ( And the other X5s that are mention. Maple is from Mystics stories (I think) and I just have this idea that Maple is the name of an X5 – ditto on Limona's Micah from 'The Ties that Bind'.

I'd like some constructive criticism on this chapter – I'm thinking of adding to it. And what diretcion I should go in…..

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Chapter Two: Meanwhile, Back At the Penthouse AKA Max Cale's Thoughts on Life in General

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When I called Jondy, it was very unlikely she'd turn up or even call back – she hasn't returned any of our calls in the last…four years. But I kind of don't blame her – after that whole wedding debacle, she just left.

Ages ago, when Zack tracked down Zane, Tinga and Brin, he set up this voice mail they called and left messages for each other. He checked them once every 24 hours, to make sure they didn't reveal their positions to each other. Of course, Syl and Krit made up riddles to where the other one was and Zack was forever trying to crack the code. I was never given the phone number – being irresponsible and all.

Logan and I are married and have an eight-year-old daughter, Evie. We decided naming her 'Eva' would bring back too many bad memories, so Evie was chosen.

She's got dark curls to her shoulder and Bling calls her 'Mini Max' – which I hate for some unknown reason. But she's very girly – I can thank Tinga and Original Cindy for a daughter that enjoys manicures and ballet lessons. But Evie and Logan are my life. My heart.

Tinga hasn't seen Case since Charlie ran off to Canada and no one has traced him yet.

There's Rain – Zane found her as a ten-year-old slumped in a ditch. I think her real name is Lucy or Helen or something like that, but Zane never told us anything. She has epilepsy and her fits seem almost enjoyable compared to what we have. But she's got long red hair and loves baby sitting Evie.

Logan still makes those cable hacks and … well, we destroyed Manticore eight years ago – more than eight years ago. All the X5s reunited – all the escapees plus the ones we left behind – Jax, Mia, Corey, Kent, Micah, Maple and heaps others. We destroyed – the single most satisfying moment in my life – other than holding Evie for the first time,

I haven't seen any of the others – you know, Jax and Mia etc – since that day. Zack said they all contacted him once about three months after that and then they vanished. Probably trying to wipe the slate clean. But while Manticore ruined my young life, it did do a lot of good things for me. It created me as a person, without that fantastic climbing ability I wouldn't have tried to rob and meet Logan Cale and I probably wouldn't have such a fantastic and close knit family group.

After Jondy got the hell out of dodge and all, the others hung around more. Even Zack was accepted back in the group – I guess he never told the others the real reason he broke off the engagement with Jondy – cause he certainly never mentioned anything to me.

But, the sad fact is Logan found out that some people from Manticore are back – and they want to start with new guinea pigs; not interested in the rogue X5s any longer – but the rest of the X series. At least, those are our guesses – the files Logan found are pretty sketchy.

They are looking for several X series prototypes that must have escaped – X8-534 and X10-5452. Must be another one of those creepy clone people. Manticore had three clones of me – the bitch that shot me, an anomaly version and one that died in the attack.

So, we've set up to find the wanted Manticore prototypes. We've called on Jace, Alec and Jondy. Three people who left – one for reasons unknown to me. Baby Maxine is now ten and at boarding school in Canada. I heard Jondy went to medical school, but maybe that was her plan before Zack ruined her life. I hope she doesn't hate me. I hope she comes.



Feedback always helped me write faster. Was that a subtle hint?