A/N; This is the one before Sunny side up in the Moving Ahead world, I'm all caught up now! So the next time I post you'll get both this and that…aren't I good to you?

Chapter 3 Games and Names.

starts pre Sunny Side up but post Open mouth…insert.

"So?!" 555 leaned over "How come you got to sit with the elite this morning?"

"Oh I met one last night when I was out looking for something to do."

555 made a sympathetic face, she knew all about 511's nocturnal wanderings "DNA?"

511 nodded "Anyway I met this girl and she has the same problem. We ended up back at the gym talking all night."

555 was impressed, she knew how difficult it was to get 511 to open up and talk, if she stayed talking with this new girl all night then she must be something special.

"What's her designation?"

"452. She was real nice."  511 gave a small smile "She reminded me of you a little, I think you'll like her."

"Good, we could use a better class of female." 555 wrinkled her nose at 360.

511 giggled a little. They shared similar thoughts on 360.  The tall slim X5 with dark features and toffee coloured skin was twinned with 361 which had apparently come as a shock to Manticore. They had been expecting twin boys from the surrogate but after 361 she had popped out and was, in fact, a girl. Seeing it as a unique learning opportunity they kept the siblings together to see what reaction it had. They often took 360 aside for testing and it had given the older girl a sense of uniqueness and an ego.  Or to be blunt, like 555 often said, she was a bitch.

They didn't get along with her very well, which was a shame because with only a few female X's they should have all stuck together.

In Unit 8 there were only four females, 511, 555, 360 and 202 and while 555 and 511 got on well the others didn't. Not that 202 wasn't sweet but she seemed to like her own company more than anything and was quite content to sit by herself for hours at a time.

511 snapped her eyes back to her computer screen and concentrated on trying to crack the code as the IT tech walked past her. She didn't want to go back to Punishment this soon.

After he had gone 555 turned back to her.

"So she was Special Ops?"

"Uh huh, they are all really nice." She thought of 418 "Some are funny."

555 was pleased "Well next time invite me to the table, some of those guys are seriously good looking."

511's thoughts turned to 418 again and she felt a small blush rise up in her face. She cursed her easy response and tried to lose herself in the code in front of her.

555 watched her friend as she tried to hide a blush and was amused. The poor girl was so easy to read it was almost funny. She obviously liked the Special Ops team a lot and hoped to be friends. Unfortunately she found making friends hard because she was so shy. This had been the fault of them all really and 555 kicked herself everyday for it. They had teased 511 relentlessly as a child for being clumsy and instead of making her stand up fro herself used her as the baby of the group and mothered her. Instead of making her spoilt or dependant she had very little confidence in herself and her abilities. 555 believed that she could have made Special Ops if only she had a little faith in herself but she was so used to being teased about her clumsiness that she believed she was a walking disaster area. This made her self conscious which made her shyer which made her clumsier and the cycle continues.  555 had been trying to wean her off being so withdrawn but it was a slow and painful process, especially when 510 still teased her.

Pix waited in the corridor. He had been waiting for about twenty minutes just staring at the dull grey walls and was about to give up and walk away when he heard soft footsteps. He grinned and ducked out of sight.

She passed him and he jumped out.

"Hey!"

With a strangled scream 511 spun around into a fighting stance, only just managing to keep her balance.

"Eep!"

He stifled a grin at her flustered face.

"Whoa there!"

511 glared at him "Not funny."

He was immediately solicitous "Sorry, just wanted to say hi."

Her lips twitched showing him that she wasn't really mad.

"It's okay and hi."

"So 511 how was your day?" he couldn't believe the inanity of that question. But he couldn't think of anything else.

 She smiled "Fine thanks. Yours?"

"Great actually. I got beaten up by a girl in Training, I was ambushed by a squad in escape and evade and my computer program fizzled out in Tech skills." he cocked his head "Probably shouldn't have told the computer to eat its own circuits huh?"

511 burst into laughter "You didn't?"

He shrugged one shoulder "Seemed like a good idea at the time."

She covered her mouth with her hand and bit her lip hiding her amusement.

"Sounds like a hard day."

"Well I met you again so it wasn't a total bust."

"Bust?" she frowned.

"Common verbal this morning, means waste of time." he explained and she bowed her head as she realised what he meant.

He reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear marvelling in how soft it was.

"Ahem." They turned to see a cute red head staring at them with interest. 511 dodged his hand and he drew it back to his side with a small smile.

555 raised an eyebrow at the way that gorgeous man was touching her shy friend.

"Oh 555, this is 418." 511 made the introductions. "He's Special Ops. This is my friend."

"Nice to meet you." 555 shook his hand and bit back a smile at the way his eyes drifted back to 511. Well now this was interesting.

"You too."  He said almost absently and then turned back "I'd better be going, it's early."

"Early?" 555 looked at her watch "It's almost lights out."

"Early for mischief makers." He grinned and even 555 was taken aback at how great looking he was when he smiled like that.

"Anyway see you later."

"Bye." 511 watched him as he walked away.

"Cute." 555 nodded approvingly "Very Cute."

511 elbowed her and blushed.

~~~~

Pix sat listening to Sunny talk to 344 and trying to look like he was paying attention while his mind was miles away.

Pix had tried to come up with another way of getting 511 alone to talk to over the past three weeks but he was thwarted at every turn because she was surrounded by her Unit. They seemed to think of her as the baby of the group and she was constantly with them.

 To his pleasure her unit were often paired with his for trainings and lessons so he was able to see her but not talk to her. It was annoying.

He got up and walked away from the conversation and over to where Max was engaged in a thumb war with Zan.

"Hey Pix." Max said as she tried to wrestle her tiny fingers away from Zan's larger ones.

"I've been thinking." He said decisively.

"Good to know." Max shot back.

A smile played around his mouth, see that was why he liked Max, she had the same sense of humour and inability to take life seriously as him…at times.

"About 511."

Zan started in surprise which allowed Max to pin his thumb down.

She crowed in triumph "Thanks Pix."

Zan poked his tongue out and fixed Pix with a look.

"What about 511- isn't she the cute one. 510's sister?"

"Yeah that's the one." Pix nodded "Anyway I was thinking about a name."

"Cool." Max turned to face him "Ideas?"

"Not really."

"How about Prone…as in accident prone." Zan said with a grin that irritated Pix.

"She's not accident prone." He defended

"She met you and Max by walking into you both. She dropped a tray of dinner over 133 and she tripped over her own feet yesterday in gym."  Zan argued "She's sweet but dangerous."

Pix frowned and mentally added Zan's name to his black book.

"She's gravitationally challenged." he amended "And there's nothing wrong with that."

"Yeah back off." Max elbowed Zan who held his hands up in mock surrender.

"Sorry Max."

Pix grinned at him as he realised how whipped Zan was by Max.

"Besides it was chance that she banged into both me and Max, like fate."

"Pure chance." Max agreed and Pix started to smile.

"What?" Zan saw the grin.

"Chance." Pix decided "That's her name."

Max nodded "I like it."

Zan threw an arm around Max's shoulder "It's a name worthy of Max."

"Suck up." Pix threw over his shoulder as he pushed Zan who fell back laughing.

~~~~

Their first training mission as Special Ops had gone off without a hitch…if you could count their C.O coming back limping as without a hitch.

Pix watched as Alec glared at a smirking Max and shook his head. He loved their banter it was just so amusing, even as it was infuriating that they couldn't get along; always vying for C.O and 2IC posts.

Some of their rejoinders had him in stitches.

344 rolled his eyes whenever he was assigned as aide because he would undoubtedly have to break up a fight between Max and Alec. They had actually renamed the position as "peacekeeper" rather than aide. It just fit more.

344 didn't have an enviable job, Pix thought watching 344 wince as Max elbowed Alec in the gut. Try keeping the peace around them was a dangerous job; still it had given him his name -Aiden.

They were dismissed and he followed them to the dinner table grinning charmingly at the dinner lady who glared at him suspiciously. She was obviously beginning to be wary of the practical joker…which was a shame. It wasn't like he had played a lot of jokes on her after all.  Well not that many.

He slipped in besides Sunny who was doing her whole cheerful perky routine which gave him a headache. The girl was sweet but damn could she talk. Right now she was chattering away ab0ut some fact that they had learned in world history and application.

He looked up as 511 came into the room with her friend, that redheaded girl who was as blunt as can be.

She picked up her tray and walked across the room; meeting his glance she ducked her head shyly.

He almost smiled but it was short lived as he saw her start to trip.

511 winced as she felt herself fall forwards, her tray tipped perilously and even as she tried to grab it, it slipped out of her grasp and fell to the floor with a loud clatter.

Her face took on the colour of the tomato soup that covered the floor and she bit her lip in embarrassment.

"Well at least we'll never have to worry about Unit 8 sneaking up on us." One of Unit 5 who they had fought this morning remarked dryly.

She flushed harder as there were laughs around her.

"And yet didn't they kick your ass in the field today?" 418 strolled up to them "In fact I believe it was 511 who bypassed your computers and grids that let us all sneak up on you and catch you with your pants down. So to speak." He grinned widely at those who had spoken as they shifted uneasily.

"And look at that." they turned to see 452 with a tray of food and twelve cakes in front of her. "While you were staring at 511 someone else managed to sneak up and steal your food."

They glanced down and realised in anger that she had stolen all of their desserts. The one who had insulted 511 also noted that it was his tray that 452 was holding.

"511 is our best weapon. Misdirection and I have to say she's perfect at it." 452 finished.

She walked over to 511 and held out her tray "Here ya go, courtesy of Unit 5."

511 was torn between blushing harder and being insanely pleased at their defence.

It wasn't that 510 and 494 had never defended her before but they had always made it seem that it was always her fault whereas 418 had brought up the fact that it was her who had taken their defences away with her computer and 452 had told them that she was their best weapon.

She let a smile slip.

"What the hell is going on here?" a trainer appeared at the noise and took in the spilled soup on the floor and the players around, his eyes fell on her.

"511 I might have known, what did you screw up this time?"

511 withdrew chastened which was why she missed the bristling of 418.

"Actually SIR." He mocked and all eyes fell on him "If you'd care to look you'd see that 511 still has her lunch therefore it can't be hers spilled on the floor."

The trainer looked down and then up at her, his face tightened.

"Immediately assuming that it was 511 smacks of favouritism or discrimination. Now what was it that happened to ALL of the trainers in Wyoming due to suspected discrimination? 452?"

She grinned nastily "Oh they were all put under review and I believe a few of them lost positions."

Her tone was coldly satisfied and 511 felt a shiver of fear at it. 452 had always seemed sweet and nice to her but her tone had a cold dark edge to it. 452 sounded almost pleased that the trainers had been punished.

"That's what I heard happened to Trainers who showed…wilful neglect."

The trainer blanched and the silence of the hall of everyone who had stopped to witness this was deafening.

"That's right." 418 continued conversationally "Maybe we should take this higher?"

"Enough!" called the Trainer "Apologies to 511 for jumping to assumptions."

511 was taken aback and then her stomach dropped as the trainer rounded on 418.

"I don't like your tone 418. Maybe a night in solitary will help you get proper respect for our superiors."

"Hasn't yet." 452 mumbled by 511's side.

418 snapped off a salute and marched to the doors, as he turned he winked at 511.

"Back to what you were doing." Trainer snapped out and the levels of conversation grew.

Max took Chance's hand as she stared after where Pix had left.

"Hey 511 come on."

The girl turned wide eyes to Max.

"Why did he do that?"

Max grinned "He likes you."

"But now he's in punishment."

Max shrugged "He likes it in there. Gives him time to think up new mischief."

But she could tell that Chance wasn't convinced so she patted her arm and offered.

"You could always go ask him tonight. We can sneak by solitary on the way to the gym."

511's look of gratitude was all the thanks that Max needed as they headed to their table.

Sunny shook her head as Max made her way back to the table with Chance.

"Did Pix just get sent to Solitary?"

"Yeah I can't believe he beat me!" Max said sarcastically "I wanted to be first."

"You wanted to be in Solitary?" Chance's face was a picture of shock and Sunny laughed.

"She's joking…I think." The truth was that she was never sure with Max. They hadn't known each other that long and she sometimes thought that Max was more complex than she had time for. Like all of her fights with Alec. Max seemed to thrive on the challenge and Sunny didn't know how she could.

It wasn't that she was naive but she couldn't understand how fighting verbally was as satisfying as physical stuff.  She exchanged glances with Carrot who nodded. He had similar trouble with Max, they were never sure if she was joking or not and were too hesitant to ask her.

510 had no trouble as he frowned "Are you joking?"

Sunny was relieved that he asked.

Max chuckled and shrugged "It's a prestige thing."

"You are strange." 810 said "But I like it."

Sunny watched him as he leaned over and touched Max's shoulder. She saw the way Alec glowered and fought back a smile of her own. Max had named 810 Flex because of the way he loved to flex his muscles when the girls were around. That had made them all laugh. Max's names for everyone were getting funny and Sunny often wondered if they shouldn't tell them what they were being called but when she mentioned this to Carrot, he said that until they knew each other better it probably wasn't such a great idea.

She saw Chance nibble nervously on her bottom lip and leaned over.

"He'll be fine." She tried to reassure the girl who just nodded.

Sunny sighed. Maybe Max could make her feel better.

Max walked into the punishment block and gestured for Chance to follow her.

"Come on honey."

Chance followed her warily. Max wondered at the fact that those who had less reason to fear Psy Ops were more scared of being punished than she did and she knew what horrors it wielded. Maybe that was it- better the devil you know. She had a healthy fear because she knew whereas theirs was a fear of the unknown.

She gestured to where Pix was in solitary and then she went to stand watch at the door and give them some privacy.

511 crept up to the door and peered in the small window.

"418?"

"511?" he had been laying on his back on the small grey blanket that was spread over the small bunk; the only furniture in the room. At hearing her voice he sat up on the bed and peered to the window.

"Hey." her shy smile tugged at her lips "You okay?"

"Great I've come up with three new ways of inciting mischief and mayhem. That Trainer will never know what hit him." He rubbed his hands together in glee and she giggled. It faded as the reason for his incarceration drew on her.

"What's with the frown?" he asked quickly "I refuse to allow sadness around me, it interferes with my muse."

"It's just…why did you do that? They would have laughed and then it all would have been over. You didn't need to get into trouble because of me."

He laughed and she felt irritated "What?"

"You think this is trouble? Sweetheart this is nothing. You try slipping pink food dye into the Trainers shower cap and see what they do to ya."

She burst out laughing at the thought of Trainer Banns going around with bright pink hair.

Pix grinned at the change in her voice. That was much better, her light hearted laughter was better than the sadness that permeated her voice all too often.

Chance moved against the door and he could hear her clearer.

"You know I should thank you."

"What for?" she was puzzled

"Making my day more interesting." He cursed the bars wishing he could see as the colour chased up her features in that adorable blush that she had. He briefly wondered how far down the blush went but pushed the thought aside- he wasn't sure that there weren't camera's in solitary and he may like attention but he wasn't an exhibitionist.

"So what are your plans for retribution then?" she asked with a smile and he grinned and got ready to tell her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks to everyone who reviewed.

Ganko- I never thought that Pix was like Alec but I can see it now… huh Thanks for that. J I think both Pix and Alec have similar trouble when it comes to their mouths!

Sigma1- So glad about that! She is adorable aint she?

Lyndsay- Thanks for telling me which parts you enjoyed, it helps me to keep those types of scene in. Glad you think that my characters are well rounded.

Messymissy- I know, their reactions make me laugh too. This site is really getting on my nerves too, it keeps cutting out on me. Grr. As for enemies in Seattle, I'm not so sure- probably not as outspoken as those in Wyoming- after all she is Special Ops. Ideas for tricks?

Ting- Thanks, although she is so not a Juliet! LOL.

Et- thanks but I did have to introduce the others too. She will be in it although obviously on the edges.

Dokuskoka79- Yeah Pix's black book is his trickster guide. Wonder how he got that? Thanks for the kudos, you are a sweetie.

Elfie- Gorgeous! Thank you. Pix is funny isn't he, his one liners crack me up too (seriously I have no idea where they come from!) Its great that I haven't wandered OOC yet. If I do let me know and I'll pull them back into line again.

Feenian- Thanks darling- I only named it drama because I'm not sure what category it would fall into!

GivenAlias- Thanks pet, glad you think so.

Darkangel562- Pix is cool, and a great trouble maker. More soon.

Moonlight- I am fast but I hope speed doesn't diminish the quality.  Alec will ask 511 for some insider help. And the pics have been a life saver- I couldn't recall who was who- but thankfully they all get named soon! As for Dek and Ash…wait and see!

Gamegirl452- I updated quick, hows that?