Alec and Kylie/Rachel were taken to separate rooms.

Robert Barrisford came into Alec's, his face hard and set.

Alec stared at him, blinking past the blood that had dried on his face from his head wound. Like last time, he was tightly bound to a chair.

Can't do anything original, he thought.

Barrisford walked over until he was standing directly in front of Alec. He stood there for a moment, then delivered a hard slap across Alec's face.

"What were you doing in my daughter's room?" Barrisford's eyes were glistening with anger.

Alec remained silent.

"Answer me!"

"No matter. Guess what? I have a surprise for you," Barrisford sat down on an adjacent chair, "When your former home, my former subcontractor Manticore has burned to the ground, and all you little mutants escaped, it got me thinking. Why don't I reopen Mercidyne, and pick up where Manticore left off? I still have the data, and when all of you freaks starting popping up here in Seattle, it only strengthened my idea."

Alec knew outwardly he looked calm, but on the inside, he was panicking. What had he just done?

"And now," Barrisford leaned forward, "I have you, and your little friend in the next room as subjects. The other one got away, but," he put a finger to his lips, "Now that I thought about it, I'm sure she'll send someone to rescue you. So . . . more transgenics for me."

Alec swallowed hard, he knew that Barrisford was all too right. Joss would go back to Terminal City, and Max would try to launch a rescue attempt.

And get herself captured in the process.

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

Darien rode his Ducati at a breakneck pace, even though his mind wasn't on driving.

His thoughts were far away. What had Kylie gotten herself into? With an X5 named Alec.

Darien sighed, his dark brown eyes narrowing, and unconsciously he leaned forward as if trying to make the motorcycle go faster.

Jordan pulled up beside him, her long mane of silky jet black hair flying behind her.

"So . . . do you have a plan?" she yelled.

Darien shook his head, "No, I'm making this up as I go!"

She laughed, her almond-shaped brown eyes twinkling, "Aye, aye Captain."

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

Max paced, every few seconds, glancing over at Joss pain-wracked form huddled on a bed that they had procured for her. Much more comfortable than the cots everyone else slept on.

Not that the poor girl could get comfortable, she thought. Her fever, already high, was rising, she was in considerable pain, and was terribly weak from blood loss.

Max stopped pacing to wipe off the girl's forehead again with cold water. She moaned softly.

"I'm sorry Joss." Max said quietly, although the girl didn't hear her.

Logan suddenly appeared from the shadows, "You're doing all you can, Max."

She didn't answer, just wrung the rag out tightly, and wiped Joss's face again.

"She's gonna be okay. You guys are made out of strong stuff." Logan said.

"I hope so . . . damn it, where is this Darien of hers? She's dying Logan!"

Logan sighed, "Well, they had to come from L.A.? They probably won't make it for two days, tomorrow at the latest."

Max wanted to scream, and was about to voice her nervous frustration when she heard a glorious sound outside the gates.

The familiar rumbles of motorcycle engines.

"That must be them! Thank god!" Max bolted for the fence.

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

Darien quickly followed the other female X5, Max, he thought, to where Joss was lying on a bed, unconscious, her pretty face pinched with pain.

Max turned and said something to a man who was standing nearby, and he disappeared.

"What?" Darien asked.

"I told him to go get our resident medic, Luke, and some guys to carry the stretcher. Luke's gotta take the bullets out, now that you brought the stuff."

"Does he know how to do this?" Obviously Darien didn't want Joss in the hands of an incompetent medic.

"Yeah. He's done it before, back at Manticore. Don't worry. He's very good." Max assured him.

After a moment, the man reappeared, with more transgenics. A potato-headed guy, a tall, broad-shouldered dog-like man, and a lizard guy with a cigar.

Trans-humans, Darien thought.

The potato-headed guy came over to him, "Are you Darien?"

He nodded.

"I'm Luke. Did you bring the medical equipment?"

"Yeah," he whistled, and Jordan, Stormy, and Chaise lugged the various stuff over.

"Okay. This is great. Thanks." Luke selected a vial of morphine and a syringe and carefully injected it into Joss's elbow. Watching him, Darien's fears slowly began to ease. The guy was a very good medic.

"Okay. I have to get those bullets out of her now. While I do, Max can explain the situation, and when I'm finished, I'll come get you," he turned around, "Joshua, Mole, can you lift her, carefully, on the stretcher? Don't jar anything."

Darien was surprised, they were very gentle as they moved his sister.

The big dog-man kneeled by the stretcher, "It'll be okay Joss. Luke will take good care of you."

"Yeah I will, Joshua. Now let's go."

Darien watched as the three of them, and Joss on the stretcher, vanished into the darkness.

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

Max bit her lower lip nervously as they carried Joss away. She had become fond of the girl, and would be devastated if she didn't make it.

She turned back to Darien, who was now staring at the ground.

He was, predictably, handsome, with olive-toned skin, longish black hair, and dark eyes.

She swallowed, "Well, I guess we really haven't been introduced. I'm Max."

He looked up, "Darien. So . . . you're the one that torched Manticore, huh?"

Max nodded, and braced herself for a possible tongue lashing. She had received a few of those . . .

Like from her clone, Sam. She had hated Max with a passion, accused her of simply running away when things got tough.

But unexpectedly, he grinned, revealing startlingly even white teeth, and dimples, "Thanks. I'd been trying to bust outta that place for years."

Max returned the grin.

"So let me introduce you to the crew I brought with me. There's Chaise, Kara, Jordan, Gabby, Will, Sean, Lauren, Ally, Roman, Lem, J.T., Katie, Andy, Cass, and Andrea."

"So Joss told me you guys are all X5's and X6's?" Max asked.

"Not quite. We have one IT concentrate . . . Andrea." Darien said, and motioned for the girl to come forward.

"I know an IT. His name was Brain." Max said softly. Brain had, unfortunately, been fatally shot.

"Brain was in my group at Manticore." Andrea said as she finally broke free of the crowd. She was a tall, slender girl, with curly sandy colored hair, wide blue eyes, and full lips.

"So you got any statistics for us?" Max lifted an eyebrow.

"Well, I don't have all of the data, but . . . this Barrisford man probably knows we're coming, he'll have lots of guards and firepower. So any rescue attempt has a 65% fail rate," she grimaced apologetically, "Sorry."

Another female voice from the crowd said wryly, "Those sounds like great odds."

Max watched as a tall, slender girl came emerged. She was pretty, with a silken curtain of long jet black hair, olive-toned skin, and almond eyes.

"Hi, I'm Jordan . . . and you're Max?"

"Yeah."

Jordan dug out a pack of cigarettes, and shook one out, then paused, "You mind if I smoke?"

"No. But you know those things will kill you." Max said.

Jordan lit up, inhaled, then jerked a thumb at the hazard signs posted on the gates of Terminal City, "You live in a toxic waste cite, and you're warning me about my health habits?" she gave a low chuckle.

Max grinned, "Yeah, but it doesn't hurt us."

Jordan shrugged, "Well, we all gotta go sometime," she let out a small plume of smoke, "You want to fill us in about this situation?"

Max swallowed, wondering what she should say. She didn't want to say anything, because if they figured it was Alec's fault, they might kick his ass if they did get him and Kylie out safely.

But Darien solved her dilemma for her.

"Does this have to do with Kylie's particular talent?" he asked.

"Um . . . yeah."

Darien kicked at the dirt, "Figures."

She sighed, "Look you want the long version, or the short?"

"Long's fine."

She took a long breath, "Okay. Back at Manticore, Alec was picked for a deep-cover op. The operation was close surveillance on Robert Berrisford, CEO of Mercidyne Corporation, which was one of Manticore's subcontractors. Manticore's intelligence had indicated that he had been poking his nose into their business, I guess. So, you know the procedure, they established a cover for him, he became a piano teacher named Simon Lehane for Barrisford's seventeen-year-old daughter, Rachel. Alec did what he was told, he spied on Barrisford . . . but developed a relationship with Rachel. And as time went by, it grew more intense. Alec got the information Manticore wanted, and they decided that Barrisford needed to be taken out . . . along with Rachel. To put a bomb under their car. But Alec couldn't do it, he couldn't kill the girl he had come to love, nor her father. So he told Rachel the truth, and naturally, she was horrified, and ran to get her father, who was in his car," Max swallowed hard, "Unfortunately, even though Alec hadn't planted the bomb, Manticore must've sense that he was weakening, and they planted one. Rachel got her father out in time, he escaped unharmed. But Rachel . . . she was knocked backwards by the force of the blast, and hit her head. It put her in a coma, and she died a few months later."

The group was silent.

Darien sighed, "You always could count on Manticore for a happy ending."