A/N: Well, I've done it. By the time I post this, it'll be a year since I started this story. Thanks for everyone that's ever reviewed this story, I really appreciate it. A world of thanks to Aimee, my beta, a fantastic magician that's perfected the art of disappearing. :p Couldn't have finished it without you! Apologies to Sorrow Reminiscence, and anyone else that didn't want certain unnamed characters killed off. Thanks to Kyre, your episode transcripts are fantastic. And thank you to Abregaza, who pushed me to finish this fic.

As for a sequel…

This was a huge effort for me, so the sequel (or semi-sequel) will not be as involved or long. I think of it more as a light-hearted snapshot into Zane, Brianna, Max, Logan and co's lives in this AU. The jumps through time will be bigger, the updates probably more sporadic. (Yep, it's possible.) Look for it soon. I haven't titled it yet, haven't written it yet, but it's coming.

It has been said that I didn't resolve the M/L relationship enough. (Or it will be said once this is read by more people.) I have an extra chapter waiting in the wings that I'll post separately to this story, so look out for it.

Finally…

I hope you enjoyed my first fanfic, and the world I created to replace season two. On with the epilogue!

Epilogue

*** Zane ***

It's strange to see Max holding a weapon.

I see her, almost out of sight, the gun trained on an enemy just out of my field of vision. She turns and gives me a hand signal saying that she has the target in range. I give her one back, telling her that it isn't time. She rolls her eyes at me, but does as I want, and keeps her weapon trained on the target. I hold my own gun ready. I'm the lookout, and my eyes are peeled for the enemy. I can feel the familiar surge of adrenalin starting to pump through me. This is what I was made for. Jondy stands nearby, covering another weak point in our location. I can't see Kia, but I know she's close, as Max has just signalled to me that she has another one in sight. It's time to move.

I feel the enemy before they make themselves known, the hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention, and my heart quickens. They've seen us. Max is gesturing frantically that Kia is in danger. They've found us. Something hits the back of my neck and I spin, just in time to watch Jondy get hit.

I see them. They've tricked us all along; they knew our location and were watching us long before we were watching them. With a sinking heart I realise that the ones Max and Kia were aiming at were decoys, planted there to lull us into a false sense of security. These people are professionals, I remind myself as I'm hit again. I try to fire back, but my attacker is in a tree, protected by the leaves and branches. It's impossible to know if I've hit them. Max lets out a shriek, she's hit too. I only hope she has time to use her own gun, so that the enemy does not go unpunished.

They have won.

Brianna is the first to stop firing; leaping from a tree and landing with the grace that made me think she was Manticore when we first met. She has on her face a satisfied and extremely cocky smile as she surveys the damage she has done. The next to show herself is Syl, falling from the same tree and firing at me as she does so, with an expression of glee and absolute joy. Jai follows, emerging from Kia's hiding place with her in tow, soaked from head to toe with water. She's giggling, and still pointing her gun at him, spraying him with bursts of water. Krit and Logan emerge, the decoys, smiling at each other in victory, though soaking wet due to their sacrifice. Max follows a little way behind, and has caught up with Jondy. The pair are whispering conspiratively.

"Victory!" Syl yells, and her team mates cheer happily. Max looks at me with daggers in her eyes. She's never been one that loses well.

"You had more soldiers." She grumbles at them.

"You had more X5s" Logan points out gleefully. In answer to that, Max removes the cap from her gun and empties the remainder of her 'ammo' over his head. I haven't known Logan for too long, but I've learnt that he loves to win. This has made for interesting arguments between him and Max. He takes off his glasses and wipes them in defeat, and Max waits until he replaces them before she takes the bucket from Jondy and empties that over his head as well. He gives in and pulls her to him playfully. I watch them, thinking how lucky they are to have found one another. I sneak a look at Brianna, who is talking with Kia. I definitely don't understand her. Max says that's a good thing.

It's been months, and we still haven't found Brin. Kia is settling into her new job, but I know she misses her old one. The upside is that she still has Brianna as a friend, which makes things easier to bear. I'm still getting used to the idea of Kia and Jai. It's strange, but as long as they're happy, I don't really mind. I've been seeing Brianna off and on, she stubbornly refuses to move to Seattle, and I just as stubbornly refuse to leave my family here.

Max and Jondy are almost as inseparable as Max and Logan. Actually, I think even more so. It's great, her being here so often. Zack would have a heart attack if he knew how many X5 reunions we've been having. We know that they aren't looking for us, well, at least not as the 'rogue X5s' that they spent so many years chasing. I don't think it's even the same 'them' anymore. Now we're hunted as transgenics, and that's a long way from being over. A sad sign of the times is that we all have someone in our lives that is getting proficient at removing our barcodes on a regular basis- I suppose it's not really that sad- the fact that we each have someone in our lives that we trust enough to do it is a really good thing. From my perspective anyway.

Rush didn't check in on the contact number. I asked Logan to stop broadcasting the message after our rescue mission, and he did. I've changed the number several times since, but still keep the old one live just in case. I like to think that he's ok, and that he's out there, and just doesn't own a television. That he never saw the message. Or that he's trying to forget Manticore's existence, and us with it.

Sebastian is still figuring out the ends of the information in the briefcase. Max and I really don't know what we want to do with it yet. It's extremely dangerous, but it also contains the answers to our questions, and to questions we haven't asked yet. We're all in there somewhere, and Manticore's operation and plans are all there, neatly stored in the intricate mazes of information and scrambled encoded pathways the thing is composed of. For the moment we're content to let Sebastian play around with it – it's a complex database and he's still having fun with it. I'm happy to let him be our Manticore guru. In any case, it's helped us get a little closer to finding Zack, so keeping it around has worked out there.

I'm not a perfect CO. I let Brin get away – I don't know if she's alive or dead, loyal to Manticore or to herself, or if she'd try to kill her brothers and sisters if she ever ran into any of us. But I know she's out. It's not enough for me, and certainly not enough for Max, to know that. Max carries around an incredible amount of guilt over Brin. She blames herself for the others too, Eva, Tinga, Ben, and especially Zack. We're unsure about Zack. How to find him, the condition that he's in, it's mostly a mystery. It's the most important reason for the briefcase. We know he's alive. It's not enough. 

The animosity people harbour towards transgenics is escalating, and I don't know when it will end. We've become the scapegoats for everything, especially in Seattle. Logan has broadcasted about us again and again, but the only thing to come of that was more enemies for Eyes Only. Logan is considering leaving Seattle, for Max's sake. Of course, when he tells her that, she won't be the reason, but I know the truth. He worries. We talk about it endlessly. I don't know if she'll leave her friends, but talk of war between transgenics and the 'true' citizens of Seattle is increasing, and has all of us concerned.

So I'm not the perfect commanding officer. In fact, most of my brothers and sisters, like Max, have told me in unmistakeable terms that I am not their commanding officer. That they don't even need commanding officers. That sits okay with me as well. It doesn't stop me worrying about them. They've become accustomed to me ringing at odd hours of the night to check in. Syl once unplugged her phone just to annoy me. I made it there in two hours. She always leaves it plugged in these days.

I've brought them back together, for which most of them are extremely grateful. I don't think that many of them have forgiven Zack for keeping us apart. They understand his reasons, but they don't forgive him. Especially since we've decreased in number since the escape.

I can't know what's waiting around the corner. Maybe I should write to Manticore and ask them for a lend of a brain unit.

I have my family, and they have each other. I have friends, (albeit borrowed from my sister) a job, a place to call home, a few hangouts, and a dog. I also have my unit; Max, my 2IC, Jondy, Kia, Jai, Syl, Krit, Jace, Rush and Brin. Then there's Zack. He left me in charge of them. I would gladly exchange my life to save any of them. They may not want it or need it, but I will always look after them. They are my family.

And like it or not, I'll always be their CO.