Disclaimer: I don't own it.

A/n: I said I'd have a new story up soonish, so here it is. Hopefully quite a short one, because I really want to get Blitz and Maple Syrup finished before my exams. But this idea has been keeping me awake at night for a week, and if I don't get it out I'm going to turn into a total basket case (if I'm not one already).

It's yet another alternate ending to AJBAC, and kind of angsty. Starts as the X5s are running away from Manticore after blowing it up. Enjoy...

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And Jesus Brought a Question Mark...

Chapter 1

Zack ran through the forest, determined to outrun the X7s in hot pursuit. The day old bullet wound in his thigh screamed at him, but he ignored the pain through adrenaline and long practice. His enemies were close now; these kids were clearly far more advanced than the X5s. Guess Manticore learned from their mistakes, thought Zack grimly, firing off a burst towards them.

Then a bullet ripped through his shoulder and the X5 was down, a dozen of the younger transgenics all around him, their weapons aimed at his head.

Zack knew he was caught, again, as he stared into the familiar faces of his attackers. Himself, Krit, Syl, Jondy, Zane, Brin, Tinga... his whole family. Except for Max. Zack sent out a heartfelt prayer that she would survive, and escape to the life she'd always wanted, even if he could never share it with her.

It was the silence that was worrying him now. The X7s hadn't exchanged a word; at least, not one he was capable of hearing. Not even a hand signal.

Then, suddenly, as if the move was choreographed, they all flinched in unison. The group exchanged a single glance, then nodded as one, and all but two blurred into motion, vanishing into the forest.

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Max watched in shock as a girl clearly recognisable as a nine year old version of herself stepped into the clearing.

"Do you know who I am?" She asked.

In reply, the girl only raised her weapon and aimed it at her chest.

Max's usually lightning reflexes abandoned her and she froze, just staring at the X7 before her.

She didn't even blink as the shot echoed impossibly loudly through the clearing.

The X7 collapsed to the ground in a mist of blood, lying on her back in the dirt.

Max tore her eyes from the sight and looked around for the source of the bullet. Even in the half light, the tall, shadowy form, still with his gun arm outstretched, was unmistakable.

"Logan?" She said.

The soft word seemed to break the spell of silence following the shot. The gun dropped from Logan's suddenly nerveless fingers and he stumbled to the fallen child's side. He gathered her into his arms, cradling her head on his lap, before checking her wound and putting pressure on it.

"It's ok," he told the girl, voice trembling. "This isn't bad. I'm so sorry..."

"Why? You're the enemy," she said, confusion mingling with the pain in her voice.

"I'm not your enemy," said Logan softly, stroking her close cropped hair. "We came here to help you."

"But... you shot me..."

"I couldn't let you kill her..." A tear spilled onto his cheek. "Forgive me."

Max came to kneel beside them, placing a hand on his back. "Logan, we have to go. They'll be on to us any minute."

"No... I can't leave her. She'll bleed out."

"She's a soldier, Logan, not a child. She would have killed me without a thought."

"I know, Max; but I'm not... and she's so young... she looks just like you..."

"She's a clone. Recycled DNA. There's probably a dozen more just like her looking for us. We have to leave her."

"Like you left Brin?" Asked Logan, his words burning through Max.

"That's different and you know it," she snapped, controlling her emotions. "Come on, we have to get out of here."

Logan stood, lifting the injured girl into his arms as the exoskeleton protested at the extra weight.

"What the hell are you doing? Your legs are unreliable as it is!"

"I'm taking her back. They can fix her up in there. It's ok, honey, you'll be fine," he told the child reassuringly as he began to walk towards the burning building.

"Logan, that's suicide! Are you totally insane?"

"Go back to the van," he said. "I'll be there in a few minutes."

The sound of unnaturally fast feet in tiny army boots reached Max's sensitive ears. In desperation, she wrapped her arms around Logan's neck from behind in a knockout hold.

"I'm sorry, Logan," she told him, just before he blacked out. She took his weight as he collapsed, lowering him to the ground and prising the X7 from his grasp. His clothes were dark with her blood.

Max lifted the unconscious man onto her shoulder, sparing one last glance at the confused child still bleeding on the forest floor. Two pairs of identical dark eyes locked for a moment; and then Max was gone, running for the van as fast as she could under the burden of the man she loved.

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Zack's two guards were the X7 versions of Tinga and Ben. Despite the departure of the rest, Zack knew he had no chance against them. He was wounded, exhausted, and these were his dead siblings, as he remembered them from so long ago. He'd hesitate to hurt them, and it would cost him his life.

Then again, death would be better than going back. Images of the torture he'd endured during his last stay at Manticore flashed through Zack's head. He gathered himself for one final effort, watching Ben carefully as he tensed his muscles, one by one.

Ben's gaze flickered and Zack seized his chance. He grabbed the barrel of the rifle aimed at him and tried to wrench it out of the boy soldier's hands. Zack had barely turned the weapon on it's owner when he felt Tinga take him from behind, the butt of her gun thudding into the back of his knee. Automatically he dropped, still aiming the gun at Ben and pulling the trigger as the boy began to dodge.

The bullets went wide, only one grazing Ben's arm. Tinga began to throttle Zack with her gun as Ben delivered a series of dazzlingly fast punches and kicks to his body. One of them smashed into the gunshot wound in Zack's thigh and he cried out, the sound seeming loud in the silent forest.

It was a sound that saved his life.

Syl somersaulted into Tinga, throwing her forwards over Zack's head, while Krit dropped out of a tree overhead to land on top of Ben, knocking him to the ground.

Two and a half X5s against two X7s, thought Zack muzzily, as they squared up to one another. Let's see how much progress you've made in the last ten years, Manticore.

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Lydecker looked up to see Max running into the rendezvous clearing, carrying an unconscious and bloodstained Logan.

"Where's he hit?" He asked, reaching for the first aid kit as she laid him gently in the back of the van.

"He isn't. Just out cold. Any sign of the others?"

"Syl and Krit should be here any minute. Zack's ceased communications."

"Last known location?" Max asked, ready to go out and find her brother.

Just then, Syl dashed into the clearing, closely followed by Krit who was supporting a wounded Zack.

"Let's get the hell out of here," said Syl, as they all piled into the van.

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So? What did you think?