Chapter 4

Logan brought the casserole out from the kitchen. The two X3s looked up at the sent of food, from where they had been standing by the window. Logan set the dish down on the table and began to lay out plates knifes and forks. Nick grabbed Kitty's elbow and pulled, rather than lead, her across the room to sit down.

"You know," Logan said, "I have a bottle of pre-pulse wine somewhere that would go really well with this." He wheeled across to a cupboard, and started glancing at the labels of bottles.

Kitty glanced up hesitantly, "Actually, I … I don't drink."

Logan looked up slightly, his eyebrows raised.

"Don't ask," Nick shrugged, "Alcohol does something to her metabolism. Gives her stomach cramps. I'll have some with you though, if your gonna open that bottle. Shame to let it go to waste."

"It's probably better that way. At least you don't have worry about her coming home tipsy," Logan smiled, "So a bottle of 1960s red wine for us and what can I get the lady?"

Nick smiled knowingly, "Oh - a cup of tea, English breakfast or similar. Don't ask. Doesn't like coffee either."

"Or milk or water or whatever you've got," Kitty added quickly, flushing with embarrassment.

Logan filled the kettle up with water. "So, what happens next in this story you're telling me?" he called across from the kitchen.

Kitty smiled, she was back in her element. All business, no social. "For most of the kids we did the first couple of years of training ourselves, but once all of them got past a certain age they took them away from us for further training."

Logan frowned. Max still had been very young at the time of the escape, but she remembered Manticore quite well and yet she hadn't ever mentioned Kitty or any other X3, even though she must have seen them if they were training Zack, not to mention other siblings, around her, "How old's a certain age?"

"As soon as they could all walk well unsupported. Obviously, just being able to toddle around a bit wasn't quite good enough for them. Too slow and unstable, no good for drills or exercises."

"Oh right," Logan mumbled.

So that would be what? Three? Four? Damn, that was young! He knew the X5s had been trained from a very young age, but he'd just never realised exactly what that meant. Damn that was young!

"We put up a fight when they took them," she shivered and Nick put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Logan guessed that there was a story behind that too, but they didn't seem to want to talk about it and he didn't need to know, so he didn't ask them questions about it, "But they won in the end. The battle at least. We couldn't even go near them after they became sufficiently estranged from us. Ben had them all convinced we were 'Nomalies. Bless him."

"'Nomalies?" Logan asked confused. This wasn't something Max had spoken to him about.

"For Ben, those we're the imploded X2s mainly. They scared them, I suppose. But somehow X5s tend to paint all the old series with a very broad brush, so we're all 'Nomalies to them. Even those of us who are sane and look human. I guess that's Lydecker's influence for you."

Logan nodded, that explained why Max had never mentioned the carer X3s. He rejoined his guests at the table, bringing a steaming cup of tea for Kitty with him. Nick was slumped silently against the window, a glazed look on his face, listening to his sister tell a tale he already knew; but Kitty … suddenly there was a light in her eyes, fire in her voice, passion in her features, a smile on her lips. Logan was amazed at the transformation.

"Naturally though we didn't let that stop us from trying to look after them. While they were at Manticore there wasn't much we could do, but as soon as they escaped it was different story."

"Not all the X5s escaped in '09," Logan frowned.

"No, but nearly all of our charges were escapees. The charge program was a limited experiment. It had to be, there were only ever nineteen X3s to start with – a tiny amount compared to the number of X5s – and not all nineteen became carers, so there weren't actually that many charges either, but those who were where generally better soldiers than their fellows.

"The program gave them something of a head start, you see, because it had gotten them used to the environment so much younger. Our training had been continued as normal despite their presence, so they had already experienced shouting officers, drills, training, the war games in the forest. All with someone there to protect them and make them feel secure. So they were generally hardier, far less easy to scare and had a working knowledge of tactics and training etc. When they took Zack from me, for example, he already knew how to behave in a gunfight and he could fire a gun himself."

"My God!" Logan breathed speechless.

Kitty smiled sympathetically, "Sounds awful now, I know, but back then … Heck, he got sent out for training in the woods with me, with live bullets flying about the place, if I hadn't have taught him something he would have been killed a millions times over. Staying low just isn't always good enough, though he knew stealth tactics too of course. He was damn good at it actually."

Logan shook his head. Amazing. Being loved and raised by someone in Manticore ended up meaning you became a soldier even younger than you would have done before.

He couldn't guess the parts Kitty had omitted. The fact that teaching him how to use a gun had been an order form Lydecker and one that Kitty had been reluctant to carry out; the fact that while leaving him in the barracks out of harms way had been an option, it would almost certainly have meant returning to find that Manticore's scientists had let loose on him, breaking bones and running experiments until he was in a far worse state than if she simply had taken him with her; the fact that that was the fate of all the X5s without carers.

If Kitty hadn't cared for Zack, he may have been spared the disciplines of a solider for a while longer, but he would have been forced to make up the time as an infant lab-rat instead.

Then there was also the fact that, while X3 training continued as normal most of the time, because of the difficulties of creating an X5 and the increased risk of harm coming to the baby by an inexperienced carer in a stressful situation, the entire unit was put on 'Adjustment Time' after the birth of an X5 to allow the new carer to become confident with the baby.

Training during these periods was reduced to mere morning drill and fitness training, with weekly one-on-one combat thrown in for good measure. Still though, but it left most of the day to be spent at leisure in the X5s nursery, where the young X5s learned other lessons, such as how to socialise and play together; to look after each other and to love each other. That was almost certainly the birthplace of the X5 'family' that those in the unit that had once had carers took for granted and none of the others ever experienced.

"So once the little ones had escaped," Kitty continued, as soon as every one had food on their plates, "We were able to help them, partially by making sure very little of the information gathered about them passed up the food-chain to Lydecker, but also by using our outside missions to …"

She paused suddenly. Something was vibrating in her pocket. She slid her hand into her frayed tracksuit bottoms and retrieved a battered looking pager.

"Damn," she said.

Nick looked up from his plate, "What is it, sugar-kitten?"

"From Raven, 911, Syl," came the reply.

"Damn!" he said.