As always thanks to all my reviewers, I love you all. And to those who read but not review, please review.

Also please read Silver Barcode, I'm trying out first person POV

Alec and Charlie spent almost a half hour telling funny stories about Biggs while he tried to 'correct' where they had gotten the stories wrong. Charlie was laughing with tears streaming down her face at the end of a particular story involving Biggs, a French girl and a rainbow-colored umbrella in a snooty Parisian restaurant. Alec was holding his ribs and about to fall off the couch as he related the last few words of the tale.

"So she tells him; 'that's not how that's pronounced.'" He says between gasps for air. Charlie wipes back the tears as she tries to stifle her laughter with one hand. Biggs doesn't look too happy.

"Listen Charlie, um…" He tried to think of an excuse to get them off the topic of his 'hilarious' fumbles. Then he got a blast of inspiration. "Where's Mace? Shouldn't he be around here somewhere?"

Charlie looked at him knowingly. "Fine, we'll head back to the command center and get Big Brother." She looked over at Alec. "Biggs started calling him that after the second time he walked in on us, this time when we were…"

Biggs hurriedly cut her off. "Let's get going. We both know Mace isn't one who likes to be kept waiting. And when he's grumpy he can give Mole a run for his money."

Charlie perked up. "Oh, Mole. I can't wait to meet him." She got up to go out the door but Biggs pulled her into his arms. He wrapped his arms around her waist and placed a kiss on her silver barcode. She laughed, ticklish.

"Get a room." Alec grumbled laughingly, and then led the way out of the apartment.

When the trio walked into the command center they were surprised to find it completely packed. Mole sat in the middle of the room, straining against the bulky arm of a huge, young blonde man. The rest of the transgenics were in a huge circle around the pair as they arm wrestled. Some shouted for the lizard-man, some shouted for the younger man.

When Mace caught sight of Charlie he winked at her with one of his trademark green eyes and proceeded to push Mole's arm to the table-top. Everyone was surprised when Mole actually smiled at Mace and clapped him on the back with a laugh as he stood up. They had never seen Mole crack a smile when he wasn't mocking someone. To be honest it was downright unsettling.

Mace walked over to his sister and the other two transgenics after agreeing to share a drink with Mole and the others later. After shooting Biggs a glare, he completely ignored him. Charlie rolled her eyes. Then he turned to Alec.

"So you're the famous Alec." He offered his hand out to the other man. "It's great to finally meet you." He gave the other man a friendly smile.

Alec smiled back and returned the handshake. After what he had heard he would've thought the heavily-muscled man would've been unfriendly, but apparently only to Biggs after walking in on him and his sister in the throes of passion. Terminal City's leader could easily see the family resemblance between the two teenagers.

The sound of orders being barked out drew the attentions of every transgenic to the front of the command center. Max stood there, wearing her 'cat-burgling' outfit, ordering the Xs who were goofing off to get back to work. She'd been planning this heist for weeks and didn't want anything to get wrong.

Mole, with a grimace on his face, stalked past Alec, Charlie and Mace. They could hear him grumble as he went back to his post. "The bitch is back. Ugh."

When she caught sight of Biggs she hurried over. She gave him a crushing hug. "I've missed you man. I'm so glad you're back." At Alec's confused look she shrugged her shoulders. "I saw him before you and he went off to talk. I'm guessing I got the condensed version because you two were gone for awhile."

She turned to Charlie and stuck out her hand. "Thanks for bringing him back to us."

Charlie returned the other woman's warm smile as she shook her hand. "We would've been back awhile ago, but we were delayed by…"

A shriek and a trio of blurs streaking towards them made the group turn. One of the blurs bounced and smacked into Biggs' chest, knocking him over. The culprit, a raven-haired toddler with emerald eyes, giggled and flashed a wide grin at the man he had just knocked over. A silver barcode glinted on the back of his neck.

"I thought I knew all the kids in T.C." Alec said with a curious expression on his face. "Who's this little bugger?"

"PX5-1133!" The little tyke said between giggles as Biggs got to his feet.

"PX5?" Max said, surprised. "I've never heard that designation before."

Charlie took the boy out of Biggs' arms, after kissing him on the cheek. "Luke here is an experimental model. He's a cross between a psy-ops soldier and an X-5."

Max looked at the child closely, then at Charlie and Biggs. "He's yours isn't he?" Biggs nodded.

"Whoa!" Alec exclaimed. "I knew you two got together quickly, but I didn't think you could speed it up to this level."

Max rolled his eyes. "I'm guessing he was a test-tube baby like the rest of us, dummy."

Charlie nodded. "He was being held in the same facility Biggs, Mace and I were in. I didn't realize his parentage until the day after we had escaped."

Luke started wiggling in his mother's arms, trying to get down. It was then that they all noticed the other two toddlers standing there. Max and Alec recognized them as a pair of twins from T.C.'s daycare.

Alec crouched down. "How did you all get out?"

The two-year-old girls, blonde hair up in pigtails, stared at him for a moment before the one on the left spoke up. "We wanted to play, so we made a distraction then escaped." But her finger was hooked over her bottom lip, so it was hard to make out what exactly she had said.

Alec stood slowly. Then he looked over at his mate. "I guess we better set another watcher at the daycare." He leaned over and kissed her on her cheek. "I'll go take care of it." He turned to Biggs. "Can you help me get these tykes back to the daycare?"

Biggs nodded and picked up one of the girls. Then Charlie handed him Luke. "Better take him back too." She smiled widely.

Alec picked up the other girl and they headed out to the daycare.

Charlie turned to Max. "I know you're planning a heist tonight, do you need some help?" After she shared a look with her brother she continued. "Mace and I would be glad to help in any way we can."

Max nodded gratefully. "That'd be great. I'm sure your skills will come in handy for this tricky job."

Charlie smiled. "Great."

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And What the World Needs Now is...