A/N:  I FINALLY UPDATED.  YAY.  I'VE BEEN DISTRACTED WITH OTHER PROJECTS AND UNFORTUNATELY IGNORED THIS ONE.  WELL, HERE IT IS.  NOT THAT DIFFERENT FROM THE ORIGINAL THOUGH.  THE ITALICS ARE THOUGHTS, BTW.  ENJOY.

~*~

Max forced her eyes open and stared at the bleak ceiling overhead.  She had long established that she was in Manticore.  But it didn't make sense.  She had brought down Manticore and let all the transgenics escape.  Refro was supposed to be long dead and White was her new found enemy.  She tried to process the information in her mind like Lydecker had taught them many years ago.  It's a puzzle, he once said.  All she had to do was put everything in their rightful place and she would see the big picture.  But even with her enhanced mental capabilities, nothing added up to Max. 

She sat up on the bed with a heavy sigh, leaning her back against the cold white wall.  Max folded her legs underneath her, knowing that there was no point in bringing them up because her jutting stomach would just get in the way.  She put her hand over it and sighed.  This was not how she pictured being pregnant, not that she envisioned playing mommy a lot.  Despite her desire for a normal life, Max didn't think much about having children.  Zack's warning words and Tinga's painful experience had left a mark on her. 

She wondered how far along she was.  Everything was still hazy.  She had missed a lot of days, weeks even.  Brin had explained it was the drugs.  It kept the baby healthy but it put Max to sleep.  Max guessed she was at least seven months pregnant.

How time flies, she thought bitterly, feeling guilty she that hadn't even made an attempt to escape.  

"We'll be alright." Max whispered looking down at her stomach as if the baby could understand her. Perhaps it did.  Her words brought Alec to mind. He was always alright. He had told her. Max's mind drifted back to him, to their friends, to the life she had. "You better be looking for me Alec or I'll kick your pretty little ass when I get out of this hell hole." She mumbled and when she realized what she had said Max chuckled a little.

She wondered if he was worried about her or if he even noticed that she was gone. In her mind, Max begged that he cared. She had hurt him but she wanted him to care. He was Alec and whether she admitted it or not, he was family. And he was closest to her ever since Manticore went down despite their differences.

"I hurt him a lot you know." Max whispered. "I hurt your daddy a lot. But I promise you baby, he loves you." She continued. It was incredibly uncharacteristic of her to talk to her stomach. If Renfro knew this she'd be sent straight to Psy-Ops. Max was willing to take her chances. "I'm going to make it up to him." She smiled wryly. "You're going to be one hell of a looker." Max thought proudly. Manticore sure knew how to make them pretty. With Alec's good looks and her perfect DNA this kid was going to be beautiful. Her and Alec's baby was going to be beautiful. Max was so proud. Despite where she was now she was proud of this kid. She would hold on to that.

Her door opened and Brin walked in, with her shiny black hair tied in her trademark ponytail, swinging right behind her. "Hey." Max said softly. Brin gave her sister a tight smile and sat down next to her on the bed. "The baby is fine." Max said. Brin was here for a progress report.

This has been their routine ever since Max's body slowly adapted to the drugs for the baby and she was able to stay awake at certain times while on the medication. Brin would come in and talk to her. Max knew that this was Renfro's doing. Brin was sent as a spy to retrieve information about the other 09 escapees and their location. She wasn't here on a sisterly visit. This was a tactic. Renfro couldn't take Max to Psy-Ops just yet because it might do damage to the baby.

But once the baby is born, the pleasantries would be over.  She could only imagine what they would do to her.  She was running out of time.

Max didn't care though. Having Brin around was better than talking to no one and almost going insane. Max wasn't going to tell them anything. She would talk to Brin but Max wasn't going to mention anything that would compromise the people she cared about. The truth was that she didn't really know a lot. She knew where Zack and Jace were. Alec was in Seattle. Case was in Canada with Charlie. The locations of the rest of them were all suspicions. Zack didn't really trust her to tell her anything.

She couldn't really blame him.  It was his nature.

By talking to Brin, Max has come to find out that she was held in a second Manticore facility. Where this was, she didn't know. They were somewhere in the forest because all Max can see outside her window are trees. "I thought I brought Manticore down for good." She whispered to Brin sadly.

"Manticore is strong. It can never be taken down." Brin explained in her usual quiet voice.  She was proud and if Manticore hadn't brought them so much pain, then maybe Max would be proud too.  But she wasn't. 

That was what Max was afraid of. If they had another facility, then there would be more. "So, what do the doctors say about my baby?" Max inquired standing up to stretch her legs.  The baby was kicking again.

"It's a healthy baby. It'll make a perfect soldier." Brin smiled.

Max cringed at the thought. She didn't like it. She didn't want her child to be a soldier. I want this child to have what I couldn't. "Why is it so important?" Max continued.

"Because its parents are both X5s." Brin replied.

"I never told you that the father of this baby was an X5." Max stated but with Manticore's technology it wasn't surprising that they knew.

"We already know. The genetic make up of the baby shows no 'normal' human DNA.  It's not tainted." Brin replied. "It's perfect."

"Perfect?" Max echoed curiously. She was dreading what Brin had to tell her.

"Unlike X5-656's son." Brin answered.

Max sighed. "Tinga's boy." Max whispered. She remembered. Case was sick. There was something wrong with his genetic make up. Something in human DNA wasn't compatible with an X5's.

Brin stood up to leave. The visit was over. The door opened and Max was left to her thoughts again. This child was perfection. What Manticore had always wanted but never achieved. It was the most important one of all.

Max looked around her frantically and tried to come up with a plan. She needed to get out of here.

~*~