Los Angeles, California:

3:18 a.m.

Darien sighed as his dark eyes skipped over his weary band of travelers. He was uneasy, he didn't want to be responsible for all of these lives... he was terrified that he would do something wrong, screw up somewhere, and somebody would pay... but he felt obligated to take care of them.

Some of them were too young to be on their own, others, the transhumans, the ordinaries wouldn't accept. Darien had to choice but to accept the mantle of leadership.

Stormy, Kara, Chaise, Andy, Joss, and Kylie. Those were the kids he originally escaped the flames of Manticore with. Three fellow X5's- Stormy, Kara, and Chaise, two X6's Joss and Andy, and Manticore's unique experiment gone awry. Kylie. Their medium. But Darien liked Kylie, even though the girl was very naive. So when she left the group to go to Seattle, Darien sent Joss to shadow her, fearing for his naive friend. Because the medium had no battle training, unlike X-series.

On that note...

He picked up his cell phone and was surprised and worried to see that he had one message. He pushed play and Joss's voice filled his ear. It was uncommonly weak. Strange for Joss, who usually had the energy of a puppy on caffeine.

"Hey. Calling All Freaks, Calling All Freaks. This is Joss, Dari... and I got a situation in Seattle, in Terminal City, with Kylie. I need you to come here right away, and bring all the medical stuff you can...'cause I got hurt. And bring the sibs."

Darien stared off into the distance for a moment. This was definitely not good. Joss sounded hurt, bad. He walked over to where Stormy was sleeping, and shook her, carefully, not wanting to get hit, but quickly.

"Huh? What?" she snapped, as she lunged to her feet, her shoulder-length black hair falling into her face.

"We have a situation." Darien said, and he explained, hurriedly.

"Damn." she replied.

"Do you think Angie will watch the younger kids why the rest of us go?" Angie was a three-month pregnant X5.

"Yeah. Who do you want me to get?"

"Kara, Chaise, Andy, Jordan, Will, Sean, Gabby, Lauren, Andrea, Katie, Roman, Lem, Ally, Cass, and J.T., ones I know we can trust in a fight." Darien said.

Stormy frowned, "We going to war?"

"Dunno. Joss's been hurt, and I don't know what's up with Kylie. I want to have support. If it's overkill, so be it. Better to be safe than sorry."

She nodded, and disappeared into the night, presumably to wake the others. Some, Darien knew, would still be awake. Jordan would be, and Will...

"Joss, Kylie, what have you guys got yourselves into?" Darien muttered.

He flipped the phone back open, checked the last number dialed. It wasn't Joss's cell. He called, and waited...

******************************************************************************

Max was sitting by Joss, and wiping off the feverish X6's forehead, when her phone rang. She sat the washcloth down in the bowl of water, and grabbed the cell, "Go for Max."

"Who the hell is this?"

Max frowned, "'Excuse me?"

"Where's Joss?"

"Oh. Are you Darien?"

There was a pause, "Again, who is this?"

This guy was starting to remind her of Logan. Paranoid.

"My name is Max. I'm at Terminal City. Joss is right here, but she's got a fever, so I don't know if she'll make any sense... hold on."

Max knelt by the wounded girl, "Hey Joss," she shook her shoulder gently, "Joss."

Her jade green eyes, glassy with fever, opened slowly, "Huh?"

"Darien's on the phone...at least I think it's Darien." Max handed her the phone.

Joss blinked, as if trying to clear her head, "Hello."

She listened for a minute, and a wry, if loving smile crossed her sweaty, pain wrinkled face, "Well, I love you too Dari."

"What happened... well, we were helping a brother, and some assholes decided to shoot at me... and they took Kylie and Alec."

She sighed, "Alec is the guy we were helping. He's an X5."

"Yeah, I know I was supposed to make her lay low. But the only way I could make Kylie do that was to lock her in a closet."

"Yes, we know where they are. Some rich guy named Robert Berrisford. Yeah... okay, see you then."

She hung up the phone, handed it back to Max, and let her head sink back on her pillow.

"He's coming. And he's bringing medical supplies and reinforcements."

"How many?" Max asked.

"Sixteen, X5's and X6's." Joss said.

"Wow."

"Yeah."