A/N: I know you are all tired of reading my apologies for not updating sooner, but here's another one anyway. I'm sorry! To make it up to everyone, I'm gonna try really, really hard to maybe, possibly finish the story this week. Hopefully, someone out there is still reading this. If you are, enjoy it and please review!

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The Beginning of the End

"What do you mean 494 and 452 are missing?!"

Director Renfro paced back and forth across her office, seething in anger; the Commander of her "clean up" team cowered in front of her.

"We found the body of X5-275 buried beneath the building rubble, but 494 and 452 were not there, ma'am. They must have escaped the blast somehow. We found a trail of blood leading away from the scene which we believe belonged to 494, but the trail went cold after a few blocks. I have 2 men still out there searching hospitals and doctor's offices for anything suspicious. I'll keep you informed, ma'am."

"You do that, Commander. X5s don't just vanish into thin air, no matter how well trained they are. Find them and find them soon, Commander or there will be hell to pay. For now, you are dismissed."

"Ma'am, yes ma'am" The Commander turned and open the door to leave, but he was knocked down when an X5 came barreling in unannounced.

"Soldier, you'd better have a damn good reason for barging in here like this" Director stared hard at the X5 in front of her.

"Yes, ma'am I do. I apologize for the interruption, but you asked me to let you know if anything turned up about Eyes Only." The X5 handed a piece of paper to the Director and then stepped back to stand next to the Commander who was hovering by the door.

Director Renfro read and reread the paper in front of her several times. Her smile grew bigger with each reading. It was a medical autopsy report for a civilian by the name of Logan Cale, someone Manticore had long suspected might be the elusive Eyes Only. Now it seems they had proof. Director Renfro looked back up at the Commander and she passed the paper over to him for a moment. "Well Commander, it looks like your trail just warmed up again. Have your people find out where this man lived, X5-452 was there less than 24 hours ago. I'll bet money 494 was with her. I want those X5s back, Commander, don't fail me again."

The X5 spoke up again, "Ma'am, 494 and 452 are back. The gate guards checked them in 15 minutes ago." The Commander glared at the kid standing next to him, but the Director beamed.

"Excellent, have them report to me immediately." The X5 saluted and walked out of the office. Renfro turned to the Commander who was still standing in her office. "Didn't I dismiss you already?" He too, saluted and walked out leaving the Director alone in her office.

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It was almost dark when Alec and Max made it back to Manticore. They were hot and tired and dusty. Max couldn't bear the thought of Manticore commandeering her beloved motorcycle so they had decided it would be safest to hide it in an old barn a few miles away. All they really wanted now was to take a hot shower, get a quick bite to eat with their teammates, and then fall into bed. No such luck.

"X5s 494 and 452, you are ordered to report to Director Renfro's office immediately." Both soldiers groaned softly.

Alec turned to the soldier that delivered the message "Thank you, 692. We will do so. Can you do me a favor, though? Let our unit know that we're back and we'll catch up with them as soon as we've finished debriefing." The soldier nodded and hurried off.

Alec glanced over at Max for a moment. She was trembling, but whether it was from fear, anger, or exhaustion he didn't know so he gave her hand a quick squeeze as they headed off towards the lion's den.

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Alec knocked on the door of the Director's office.

"Enter. Ah, 494 and 452, welcome back. Your teammates have been worried about you."

"Thank you, Ma'am!" Alec said. "We're sorry about the delay. We got separated from the team and I was wounded by some gunfire. 452 and I had to lay low for a while to avoid the sector police."

Director Renfro smiled, "Well, it's a good thing 452 was familiar with the area then. Did you happen to drop in on any old friends while you were in town, 452?"

The smug look on the Director's face told Max everything she needed to know. Manticore had known about Logan all along, they had set her up from the start and they knew he was dead now too. Something inside Max snapped; she was done being the good little soldier, now she was out for blood.

With an animalistic shriek Max launched herself at Director Renfro, knocking her to the ground. Max knelt over her, preventing her from rising or from defending herself as she was pummeled by Max's fists and nails. Max was out of control, tearing at the Director's hair, gouging at the eyes, slamming her head into the floor over and over and over again. It took Alec plus 5 large soldiers with tazers to pull Max off of her.

Max struggled against her captors as Renfro slowly got to her feet. She wiped the blood from her eyes and spat "Take her away and feed her to the nomalies."

"No!" Alec cried out, trying desperately to help her as she was dragged away. He succeeded in pulling one or two of the guards off and then the whole world went dark.