A/N I was told that if I posted a looong chapter I would get more reviews…lets see if this works.
Anyway I need help here. If you go to my web site you will see in Left Behind that we have a picture of Bill. I would like to have Pics of all of my characters so if anyone has a pic in their head or from the web of someone that would be perfect for Sunny or Pix or any of them please email me and let me know. (fayth82@yahoo.co.uk)
Lecture you.
Exactly 25 minutes later Sunny was dancing in front of Max's door waiting for her to come out to walk to Room 15. Zan and Pix were in deep discussion leaning against one wall while Carrot stared in bemusement at the bouncing blonde.
"Isn't this great Max?" she enthused and all three men looked at Max who shrugged.
"Don't look at me." Max said "I think they put Kangaroo in her cocktail."
She smiled at them and suddenly had the startling realisation that she had smiled today more than she had done on five years at Manticore.
She marvelled at that and her new friends as they made their way to Room 15. It was a large lecture hall that could easily fit about a hundred people in. Five soldiers were sitting in there already, looking somewhat uncomfortable and Max and the others walked past them to the back of the room where they sat and chatted while waiting for superiors to enter the room.
Five more soldiers came at the same time as Renfro and Sandoval who were accompanied by three other men.
Max assumed that these were from right here in Seattle as they walked more casually and looked more at home and natural than the others had been.
"Welcome to Special Ops." Renfro said as they took their seats "You were selected from each of our three facilities." She began to pace in front of the room "For the most part you will train alongside the Seattle soldiers to learn how to lead and initiate you into dealing with Commanding roles, but you are undeniably separate. You will have certain privileges that the others are not privy to but make no mistake you will earn every privilege several times over. Your training will be longer and harder and more demanding. Some of you will not make it and will be bumped back to your previous roles but for those of you that graduate you will be cleared for Solo missions and General positions in the chain of command."
This was news to Max who thought that transgenics were only allowed to advance to the level of Commander.
"Daily is as follows, roll call and inspection and 0730 and breakfast at 0800 hours. Training commences at 0830 followed by lunch at 1300 hours. Training will continue until 1900 hours and lights out at 2230. Any questions? No? Good." She said without pausing.
"This is Trainer Banns and he will be taking through what you will be learning."
The tall broad trainer stood up dwarfing the blonde woman without even seeming to try but she still managed to look intimidating.
He grinned at them "Some of you know me." He nodded to the Seattle transgenics "But most don't. I oversee all of the training that goes on here and for Special Ops we have extended facilities and a delicate but advanced program almost replicated to the first year of CIA and other covert ops. You will learn infiltration and assimilation, how to evaluate your targets psychologically as well as the fine art of imitation. You will learn common verbal, human customs and culture; advanced cultural, literature and educational studies. Stealth and advanced escape and evade, I.T skills like hacking, encoding, advanced arms and tactics. You will deal with command issues from Generals right down to grunt work. How to run everything from a field op to a small city, a siege and order supplies, weapons, defence. Deep cover missions, in and out missions, prolonged exposure…"
X5-494 tuned out as Banns went on and on. He knew first hand about how long the guy could go on without stopping when he was talking about his favourite subject- the military.
He discreetly glanced around at the newcomers seeing that they were just as bored as he was, even though they hid it better.
He wished that 510 were here to share in the misery and maybe make him laugh but 510 hadn't managed to become one of the elite. Still he'd see him all of the time anyway it wasn't like he had been transferred out of Seattle.
At least there were some fresh faces to look at now and some very nice ones, he thought as he stared at a buxom red head in the front row. He shot her a charming smile and watched her look away flirtingly.
Banns finally finished reeling off his list of what they had to learn and handed the reigns over to another trainer who went through what he expected of them and the rules for this facility.
494 rolled his head on his shoulders and tried to peek at those at the back but they were mostly in shadow. Still he had managed to ascertain that there were more males than females, a trend in Manticore it seemed.
In his unit there were also more males than females, not that that really mattered. Manticore discouraged them from trying to form relationships within the unit anyway so they weren't particularly bothered about the male to female ratio and until they'd reached teenagers, neither were the transgenics.
Of course that all changed once the issue of heat arose and 494 had to intervene in more than one fight to recover his unit from the grip of their hormones until he, too, had succumbed to the pheromones and had some vaguely disconcerting thoughts about some of the girls.
Then they had been taken aside and given them sex education which existed of a detailed explanation, some clips and a video and from then on the vaguely disconcerting thoughts turned to disturbing dreams and he knew he wasn't the only one from the way that many males blushed whenever certain females walked into the room.
Soon after they were separated into single units and the dreams died down as did the fuss about male and female…except when the females went into heat but they were usually astute enough to realise when that happened and took themselves off to isolation. The great thing about single units was that then those who did wish to could have privacy to break the Manticore no partner rules if they wished. 494 as C.O. should report any infraction but he figured that the best way to gain cooperation was to turn a blind eye unless it interfered with their performances. It didn't, so he wasn't going to come down hard on them and they respected him for that.
Still he had grown disillusioned with the Manticore females, they were so focussed and intent on their mission that all else seemed dull to them. Their eyes would go blank if he tried to discuss something else and they'd humour him but there was no…spark. They fawned after him because he was apparently good looking…well more so than your average Manticore, after all they were all engineered to be perfect, and he enjoyed the attention but after a while it did get a little tedious.
It came to his attention that he hadn't listened to a word of what the last speaker had said and so he tuned back into hear
"Dismissed."
He got up with the rest of the transgenics and thought about offering to show that redhead round but recalled that he had promised to fill 510 in on what Special ops was all about since his friend hadn't made it.
He sadly waved goodbye to the woman and made his way down the hall to find 510.
510 had become his best friend after 2009 and he had come out of Psy- Observation and operations for what his twin in Wyoming had done. Everyone had stared at him as if wondering what he had done to merit such treatment but 510 had walked right over, slapped him on the back and damned those 09'ers. Everyone else had followed suit but it was the fact that 510 had been the first that really made him 494's friend.
"Hey." He caught sight of 510 standing with another X5.
"Sir!" 510 mocked a salute at him with a cheeky grin on his face.
"Knock that smirk off your face soldier." He ordered jokingly and slapped 510 on the back.
"You two are strange." 202 remarked dryly as she rolled her eyes at the two of them. 494 was tall and lean, muscular without being beefy and had a gorgeous mop of soft, dark blonde hair. By any woman's standards he was gorgeous, especially when coupled with his attitude and authority. 510 was a lovable rascal who was shorter that 494 by about three inches and had unruly dark brown, almost black hair. He had a cheeky grin that ensnared more than one female and a sweet temperament. The pair together was a recipe for trouble, and heartache.
"You know you love me." 494 said with his disarming grin and 202 shook her head.
"You're so full of yourself I'm surprised you don't implode, sir!" she knew that he wouldn't mind her taking such liberties but she added the Sir on as a token of respect. She flicked her hair over her shoulder and waked away well aware that they were staring.
510 smacked his arm as she sashayed out of sight.
"So tell me about the newcomers."
"More male than female." 494 reported sadly.
510 pouted "Not fair." He brightened "what were they like."
494 laughed "I didn't get to meet them all personally."
"Well that's hardly enough to go around."
494 slapped his back "You can have my share."
510 put a hand over his heart and mocked shock
"494 giving up girls?" 494 shook his head at his friend's theatrics.
"Just giving you a head start." He sighed "and just Manticore girls anyway. They're all about the mission; even director Renfo has more personality than most of these."
510 shuddered "Please don't go there that's a very disturbing visual."
494 shrugged off a disturbing visual of his own and tried to utilise Manticore's own brand of selective forgetting to erase that image.
"Maybe one of the new girls will be different but I doubt it. Even the guys look a bit dull."
"Hey I heard that one of them is a 09'er."
494 stood stock still "What?"
"I heard a trainer say that he couldn't believe that a 09'er had made it."
"I thought they were all classified as flight risks?" he frowned deeply thinking of the evaluation that he had undergone as a result of those bunch. He had understood their reasons for wanting to runaway and couldn't blame them. What he did blame them for was for not coming back to let everyone else out and he was bitterly envious of them.
"Well one of them apparently made it into Special Ops."
"Probably coddled all the way."494 said disgustedly "Otherwise there wouldn't be a chance."
"Speaking of chance." 510 winced "511 is in solitary."
494 sagged "Again?" he sighed "What did she do this time?"
511 was in his unit and was a real sweetheart, but for a genetically enhanced transgenic she was also accident prone.
"Tripped over her own feet in drill and knocked over the training master."
494 rolled his eyes and 510 bristled.
"How do you think I feel? She's one digit away from me, we're family, and we shared the same test tube." He grimaced "Not my fault she's a klutz."
"I'll creep out and see her tonight." 494 promised.
He crept along the darkened passage, not really worried about being caught by the guards. They knew him as 494 the C.O and most had respect for him, especially since he had stopped an X5 in heat from ripping one of the guards open when he had stopped them from mating against the wall in the quad. He had been to see 511 in solitary and had managed to calm her down. She hated the dark and hated being put in solitary. She was miserable and had been crying when he went to see her and he had talked to her until she had finally fallen asleep.
As he edged down the hall he saw one of the guards he knew by the name of Pete standing looking into one of the training rooms.
"Hey Pete."
"Hey 494." he said glancing over his shoulder. "Shouldn't you be in bed?"
"511 is in solitary again." he said and the guard nodded
"Heard about that, poor girl." they often heard the poor girl crying at night because she hated being in solitary. They also wondered why a soldier was crying but they knew better than to report her or the Commanding officer who left his warm bunk to calm her down.
"Yeah, what are you looking at?"
Pete nodded into the room "New girl, I heard she was one of the 09'ers. Designation 452."
"Really?" so it was a girl who had survived then. 494 peered into the room and could see a figure in black standing by the open window letting the breeze drift in.
"Hey Thanks for those tips on exercises for biceps." Pete said and flexed "Getting some of my old body back." 494 smiled at the tiny ripples
"That's great Pete. I'll give you some more later." He peered closer at the still figure in the room. "What is she doing?"
"Far as I can figure? She's been standing there for the past half an hour." Pete shrugged "Women!"
"Yeah." 494 nodded "I can't believe she got in to Special Ops."
"Well from what I can tell, she's been through Psy-Ops a few times."
494 shivered at the very name of the place that gave him his nightmares.
The moonlight fell through the open window casting the room in shadow and her hair swayed in the breeze.
"Great so she's a zombie then. Figures."
"I better tell her to get to bed." Pete sighed and put his hand on the handle to the room but 494 stopped him.
"I'll do it; I have a few words to say to our resident 09'er."
Pete agreed, not wanting to tangle with a 09'er and having too much respect for 494 to argue with him.
"Okay but both of you off to bed. Separate."
"Of course." 494 smirked "Besides I'm not into necrophilia."
Max couldn't sleep again. Put it down to Shark DNA or whatever but the fact that she was hundred odd miles away from Wyoming and everything there was finally hitting home and she wanted to be here and awake to savour it; her first night away from "home".
She looked out of the window of the first empty room that she had come across with an open window and looked out over the hills. Not mountains. No ice or snow to be seen but honest to Manticore hills and green grass and warmth instead of bitter cold.
She heard voices nearby and tensed as she heard the door handle turn.
"You know if you squint hard enough you can see the space needle."
She ignored the dry male voice hoping that he'd take the hint and go away. She wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone right now; she wanted to be alone to relish her freedom.
He waited a few minutes "Well, be rude then. Of course you are. You'll be 452. The 09'er."
Max stiffened.
"Well you made it here, to Seattle. Welcome. Do you really think you can keep up with the elite? I'm only concerned for your welfare; after all I wouldn't want you to run away if it got too hard."
His tone was slightly chiding and she felt all of her hackles rise and her temper spark. She had had enough of people calling her a traitor because she was a 09'er. She had enough of being beaten and berated, bullied and banished and she wasn't going to take it any more.
"Thanks for the warning." She said dryly "But you can take your welcome and shove it up your ass."
She turned with one hand on her hip to face the man who had spoken. No more than fifteen like she was, he had a lean figure and dark blonde hair and a shocked look on his face.
"Hey now, I was just," he began indignantly.
"Let me guess, you were just told that 452 was a 09'er and an easy mark and you didn't have anything better to do so you figured to come and give me some grief huh? Well nuh and uh pretty boy. I have put up with bigger and better than anything you can dish out and I'm still standing. But if you want to try me feel free, just don't complain to me when I put the smack down on your ass."
He opened and closed his mouth a few times.
"Gee, they can't talk if you take away the bravado, not expecting an 09'er to be so alive huh, I'm not an easy mark so you can go back and tell your unit or who ever the hell put you up to giving me a hard time that I can and will give as good as I get."
494 had been expecting a soldier. Like the girls in his unit and every other unit in Manticore. When she hadn't replied he wondered if they had damaged her brain in Psy- Ops and she wasn't all there. Then she had replied with that sassy mouthful and he felt his own mouth drop. She had turned and looked at him and his world spun.
Most at Manticore, male and female were soldier through and through. From their ram rod straight posture and regulated speech through to their blank facial expression and dead eyes.
It was more apparent in drill or training, in the presence of a superior officer but it was always there, even in down time. All it took was one command or the wrong tone and all life and expression leeched from their face. It was the mask of experience and had always given him a chill, even as he knew that he had the same one.
But this girl, one who he had expected to be more blank and expressionless, and one who he expected to be a lifeless drone, this girl had eyes that shot with fire.
Her hand on her hip and her weight leaning on one foot held a stance that told him in no uncertain terms that she was in charge.
"Feline DNA got your tongue? Now who's being rude?"
Her sassy tone shot him back into reality.
"I'm not being rude, I was being courteous and waiting until you finished your rant."
She raised an eyebrow above the gorgeous chocolate coloured eyes and smirked with her full pouty lips
"And here I thought you'd missed gentlemanly behaviour 101 when you barged in here without knocking."
"It's a communal class room, sweetheart." He used an endearment that he had heard the guards use and was pleased when she bristled.
"Don't call me that." she ordered and he inched closer
"Well then what other sweet nothings could I whisper in your ear?" he teased and moved that little bit closer.
Max braced and before he could say a word she kicked him in the chest pushing him back against a table.
"What the hell was that?" he demanded affronted
"It's called personal space buddy, look into it."
He rubbed the sore point on his chest and looked up into her face which was once again alive. She was cute when she was mad.
"Alright sweet-452. I think we got off on the wrong foot here." He glared down at the offending limb "Yours. But hey I can be the bigger man and all is forgiven."
He offered his hand and moved closer to introduce himself. "I'm 494."
Her eyes narrowed and she ignored the hand "494? I knew a 493."
494 nodded glad that they were talking now instead of arguing. This was one girl he wanted to get to know.
"We were twinned."
Max looked him up and down, so this is what Ben would look like now.
The guy might be obnoxious but he was cute. She started at her reaction to him. In all her years she had never found any of the guys at Manticore even remotely appealing, they were the enemy. Maybe since she'd left Wyoming she had dropped her defences some. Well she had to change that right now.
"Whatever." She slammed her guard back into place and affected the same toneless voice she let the trainers and guards see. "Are we done here?"
494 watched as a screen slammed down in her eyes and the mask that all transgenics seemed to procure came screaming to a halt on her face. He sighed, almost disappointed until he looked closer and could see that spark still alive in the depths of those beautiful eyes of hers. What would it take for her to lose the screen again?
"That depends? Do we kiss and make up?" he gave her his best grin, hoping that she would take him up on it.
"In your dreams." She spat and then caught herself pushing back the emotion again.
494 grinned, oh she had a temper.
"Well I have to admit that you've given me some dream material." He winked "Wanna share?"
She rolled her eyes; he was such a smart ass.
"No thanks."
"Does every Manticore guy have such an ego?" she demanded "I hope you're nothing like my bro-493."
He grimaced at the memory of being tortured for his twin's sins "Me too, I'm not a traitor."
It was the worst possible thing that he could say to Max. For the past six years everyone had tried to tell her that what her family had done was cowardly, that they were all traitors, betrayers, deserving of every sort of despicable act of retribution.
"Not a traitor." She clenched her teeth, her eyes flashing.
"Wha-?" he was distracted by the sight of her clenched fists as she advanced on him.
"Listen up pretty boy and listen up good, me and mine were not traitors and I ever hear you saying that again and I will lay a world of hurt on your ass."
He smirked "You have a thing for my ass don't ya?" Any one of his unit, he knew, would be shocked at his teasing manner. He was known as a fair and kind C.O, one with a good sense of humour but rarely playful but damn if this girl didn't bring it out of him. He wanted to see her flushed in anger; she was so vibrant that he couldn't resist aggravating her a little more.
"You are such a," she clenched her teeth "You think that a wink and a smile is going to entice any girl into your bunk? Think again Romeo maybe it works on brain dead bimbo's who match your I.Q but not me."
"Hey!" he said vaguely insulted "I'm not a Romeo and the girls are not brain dead." He stepped closer "Just because you seem to have a problem being nice doesn't mean that the rest of us weren't gifted with charm."
"You call that charm?" she scoffed "You've obviously been in Psy-Ops one time too many."
494 found his temper rising. He had been in Psy Ops too often.
"Well if I have its thanks to you and your little 09 buddies. They put your twins through hell because of you traitors."
"Suck it up Soldier." She yelled "You haven't even begun to know hell, and for the last time we were NOT TRAITORS!"
They were standing nose to nose screaming at each other when the gentle clearing of a voice broke the spell.
Pete stood in the doorway watching them with a nervous look on his face.
"Uh I hate to interrupt you guys but if Renfo finds a screaming match on my watch I'm in serious trouble."
494 stepped back and readjusted his top "Right sorry Pete." He brushed himself off and shot 452 a smile.
"Shall we?"
She tossed her head and stormed past him, slamming an elbow into his side before striding to her quarters.
Pete put a hand on 494's as he made his way out of the door.
"Hey '94, stay away from that one she's bad news."
494 rubbed his chest as he watched her disappear down the hallway.
A grin graced his features. "Yeah."