10 – Replica

"Good," said Luxie looking at everyone in turn, holding her gaze on Two for the longest. "Seems we're all in the same soap bubble now."

"Soap bubble?" Styl asked confused.

"It's an expression, babe, don't worry about it," Luxie said with a lax wave. "What next?"

"I suggest we go home," Alec said more an order than a suggestion. Luxie looked around.

"Hey, I'm sure Maxie would love to see you again, Zack… ie?" Zack gave her a look.

"Good idea, Lux," Alec said with a snigger. "Oh, you know who else would like to see Zack?"

"Who?"

"Uh, Heresy and Leo," Alex said trying to let Luxie know she was being an idiot.

"Leo?" Zack said confused. "I haven't heard from him in…"

"Forever. He's told us… or I forced it out of him," Alec said slightly guilty.

"And Heresy? I thought she was dead. Wasn't White out to get her?"

"Oh, she sorted him out alright," Alec said with a knowing nod. "She really has a grudge against that guy."

"She should grab a ticket and stand in line," Luxie said shaking her head. Blaze was feeling slightly uncomfortable under the gaze of her brother. Sure, he could accept the fact that it was now his mission in life to kill Alec, not Zack, which would surely be easier but he still couldn't get over the fact that she really did like Alec. That guy was just… such an idiot.

"Hey!" Luxie said snapping her fingers between the two of them. "Let's all squeeeeze into the car and get back to Seattle. You can come too, Miss Shiny Hair. What's with the hair?"

"Hello, Lucy," said one of the figures looking down at the girl. She had light brown hair with natural blonde highlights and her eyes shimmer a brilliant blue. She dressed fancy and quite sophisticated.

The girl looking down on her was tall and slim with black hair and brown eyes. Her hair shimmer red and her eyes were streaked with the same colour. Next to her was another girl. Short for her age with blonde hair tinted red and deep dark brown eyes.

"We've finally found you. Took us long enough," said the girl with black hair.

"What now?" Lucy asked, calm even under the pressure. She stood up glaring at her opponents.

"Good question, Luce," said black-haired girl. "Now that Manticore is gone, we have no purpose."

"I suppose," Lucy answered with a shrug. "So, no killing me?"

"Nope," yelled the last girl. She had been silently staring at Lucy until now. Her mood had changed completely and she grinned at the other two like an idiot.

"Do you know how hard it is to get this girl to do what I want?" black-haired girl asked. "I tell ya, Luce, Cinder is not one of the greatest Manticore projects around." She ran her hand over the barcode on her neck.

"I guess," Lucy said. "But still… what now?"

"I guess we could send Miss Rich-and-Famous back to where she belongs," the other girl suggested. "But, then you'd probably kill me."

"There's a good chance of that," Lucy answered with a shrug. "No more Little Miss Lucy Walker."

"True."

"So, Abby," said Lucy. "What next?" She really wanted to know. Because now that she had no where to run and no one to run from there wasn't really anything going on. Her life was better, sure, no more Simon Walker, but it was sure as hell pretty boring.

"It's Abyss. Don't give me that stupid human name when there's no one around."

"I'm round," Cinder said and puffed her chest out. The other two rolled their eyes.

"You're bored."

"I'm a board," Cinder said and pretended to be stiff as a plank. Abyss shrieked in anger at the girl.

"Don't make a cow, Abyss," Cinder said with a snigger and a sly grin. Gone was the childishness and here was a more mature version of the previous person.

"Have, Sin. It's don't have a cow."

"Don't have a cow, Abyss."

"I'm still bored," Lucy interrupted. "I really don't feel like sitting on this stupid building for the rest of my life and having to listen to you two bickering."

"I have a job for you," came a French accent from behind them. The three girls turned around and stared at a young man of 27. He was bald and had dark almost black hair.

"A job? With money," asked Cinder. She looked forward to having money.

"If you like," said the man. "Are you… X6-848, X6-010 and X5-630?"

"We go by other names now, Frenchie," Abyss said and thought for a moment. If he knew their Manticore designations, why not give him they're mutant-freak names. "Lucy, Cinder and I'm Abyss."

"Pleased to meet you," he said with a low bow. "My name is Colin Alexandré."

"About this job," Lucy said suspiciously. She wasn't very fond of Europeans and after having lived in England for some time, she'd gotten to hate the English the most. "Does it involve us dying in any painfully, horrible and gruesome way?" Think Manticore was always one of her mottos. The strangest people always wanted you to die… eventually. Colin shook his head.

"Au contraire, mon Cherie," he said with a smile. "Not if you do it the right way."

"So, yes," Cinder translated arrogance in her voice. "Lemme guess, kill some people who have a lot of guns?"

"I don't think they use guns."

"Smart," Lucy muttered and turned around. The other girls followed suit and then she turned around again. "Better not listen, Frenchie!" she yelled back at Colin.

"I could do with some cash," Cinder said smiling.

"They really messed up with that brain of yours," Abyss said rolling her eyes. "But I wouldn't mind killing some people. Apparently I'm really strong."

"What do you mean apparently?" Lucy asked. She'd seemed pretty strong back in Florida and England.

"All I got to beat up were those bodyguards of yours and they're only human. I think this guy wants us to go for Manticore things. He smells like a snake, so…" Abyss cut herself.

"So he's a Manticore out to kill Manticores?" Cinder asked confused.

"We were," Abyss said with a grin towards Lucy who smiled back. Over the years of trying to kill her Cinder and Abyss had actually become friends with their prey. "So?"

"Sure," Lucy said with a shrug and the three girls turned around. "Alright. But we'd like some cash up front and…" she glanced at the other girls. "A silver Porsche Cabriolet, the 2008 version, and, er, a new outfit for each of us." Lucy still looked fancy but Abyss and Cinder looked kinda raggedy. New outfits always did a body good.

"Very well," Colin said with a smile. "If you'd like to come to The Paris for lunch I will give you your assignments, have your car, cash and we can go shopping for your wardrobes." The girls looked at each other. Okay, rich guy… maybe they could get a whole lotta other things outta him before they dumped him into a river. I mean two cats and a wolf could surely take on that little snake.

"What?" White growled into the phone. He was on his way back to Seattle and this had better not be someone reporting a Terminal City revolt.

I've done some recruiting, sir, came a voice from the other end. It had a French accent and sounded very pompous.

"What do you mean?"

I've found some transgenics who are going to do me a favour.

"What kind of favour, Colin?" White hissed. He did not like being kept in the dark, especially not by that rich French wannabe.

Those two new girls in Terminal City… they're going to be terminated, he said and White suspected a grin on the other line.

"Good," White said and slammed the phone down. "That's one problem out of the way. Finally."

"Max," Logan said when she entered his room. She smiled for the pure reason of his being there. "Alec called. They're on their way back. They have some people with them, he didn't say who because Luxie was yelling at him not to. He says Heresy isn't with them."

"Oh. How many people? Transgenics?"

"I think it was three, or two. Luxie sure packs a lungful when she wants to. And yeah, I think they're transgenic," he explained. "I mean, would they bring any of my kind in here?"

"I'm sure they'd ruffle up some people," Max said with a grin. "I hope they didn't find Two and bring him with. Wasn't to please about what he did in the med room last time."

"I don't think Blaze would allow it," Logan said. "About Heresy?"

"Little sister can take care of herself," Max explained with a grin. "Have you heard about how Alec saved her from White's cluthes?"

It was a massacre when I got there. Bodies everywhere and most of them scattered from their limbs. This X must really not like the outside world. Sometimes I think Maxie made a mistake in letting some of us freaks out. I mean, I know I'm better off out in the real world, but this freak…

"Hello," I called out. Sure it wasn't of the greatest tactics but I really didn't feel like looking for a maniac on the loose. He could be hiding behind a door with an axe and I personally like my limbs on my body. I looked around and spotted a door. It was open if only a little bit. Totally a trap, but if I was to make Maxie gimme a cookie, I had to bring psycho-X back to Terminal City.

She's really trying hard to get us all back there and it sounded like this one was prime choice. Too bad she was busy finding that Leo guy on the other end of time. Lucky Alec gets to go straight to White HQ.

Carefully I walked over to the door. I looked around and grabbed the closest weapon I could find in the dark. I gagged when I looked at the arm I was holding. Maybe I could disgust the X into following me back home.

I pushed the door open and when I jumped in arm at the ready, I almost stumbled onto my face at the sight I saw. It seemed that psycho-X was a girl with freaky hair and a guard's head trapped under her arm. When she turned to see who had come into the room, she ripped the guy's head clear off.

"Oh," she said and dropped it. Then she stood straight and looked me up and down. Despite the fact that she'd just killed a guy in a single tug, she seemed kinda hot right now. Okay, splattered with blood is not the greatest fashion accessory, but if I had the chance, I would… "Wanna have sex?" she asked and I looked around for any other signs of a dream. Nothing.

"Er…" I managed to say.

"If not, you end up like that," she said jerking her finger towards headless guy.

"Sure, I'll have sex," I said throwing the arm to the floor. She walked up to me and I was certain that something about this whole scenario was very, very wrong. "Wait," I said before she was close enough to reach any of my limbs. She stopped, looking really upset that there was no sex. I was too, but Maxie wanted this girl first. Oh, that came out wrong.

"Can I get you back to Terminal City and then we can have sex?"

"If you're trying to con me into not having sex, I will rip your head off," she said. She sounded very serious. "Have you see a guy around? Tall, dark, kinda handsome? Pissed off about this." She waved around at the limbs.

"A whole guy? Not really."

"Hm. If you do, let me know, he has some limbs I'd like to rip off." Her gave fell to my crotch and I really wasn't feeling very comfortable with this whole situation. "Name's Heresy," she said and looked back at my face. "You're pretty hot."

"I appreciate the compliment, but let's get back and we can have sex we were talking about." Why was I constantly thinking about sex? Wait… I sniffed. She was in heat. "You in heat?" I asked just to make sure.

"All the time, baby, all the time," she said and walked passed me moving her ass in just the right way. Damn, how was I gonna stay sane on the ride home?

Yes, that is how Alec and Heresy met…

So you see those three new girls I introduced, see slightly familiar (looks not personality). Cookies if you're not Monica, cause I know she knows

Next chapter everyone gets back to Terminal City and the second part really gets started…