The moment they were back to TC, Max knew that something wasn't right. "Something's not right," Alec voice her concern. Zero stumbled as he got off the bike, and Alec quickly put a hand on the young X6's arm to keep him from falling to the ground. "Where's Joshua?"
"I don't know," Max said, as she looked around. "Someone should be here." She then froze when she saw an unknown X6 coming towards them. "Heads up."
"I'm here to take in the rogue X6," the X6 said, as he looked at Zero with a blank face.
"On who's orders?" Alec asked, as he looked at the young man. Biggs shrugged as he picked up a very tired Dakota, who looked at the X6 in question. "'Cause I don't remember giving those orders out. Do you Max?"
"No, I did not," she replied, as she looked at the X6. "You got a name?"
"Yeah, they call me Syke," the X6 replied, as he looked at the X6. "Now I'm supposed to bring Zero in so he can be brought in for the charges."
"What charges?"
"For hurting the others."
"Listen, Syke, you may not know this, but Max is in charge her," Alec said, as he came up to the X6. "You listen to her orders."
"I don't think so," Syke snarled as he launched himself at Alec. Alec dodged the attack by jumping to his left and Max quickly was there to slam a kick into Syke's back. The X6 went down hard into the ground. "How dare you attack me?"
"Stand down!" Max ordered, as she and Alec came up behind him. "You had no right to attack Alec. We are your superiors."
"Does it look like I care?" Syke jumped to his feet and turned to face Zero. "You betrayed your own kind, by attacking another. You are nothing. You might as well be a normal human."
"Okay, that's enough," Alec said, as he came up and grabbed onto Syke's collar. "You and I are going to have a little chat."
"I don't think so." Syke swung at Alec again, but this time Alec was ready, and soon had both arms pinned behind the young X6's back. "Okay, okay, I get it. X5s are better, they're stronger, smarter...yada."
"Plus, we've been around a smidgen longer than you have kid," Biggs added, as he looked over at Syke, as he reached out a arm to a teetering Zero. "You okay there, Zee?"
"Oh, yeah..."Zero began, as he looked over at Biggs and Dakota. "I feel like I took on a truck in a fight and lost."
"Yeah, you did," Alec said, as he looked over at him. "That truck's name is Ames White."
"Ah, right, how I can forget that." He ran a hand through his hair and caught movement through the shadows. "Someone's coming."
"I see them," Biggs replied, as he came closer to Zero's side, and he tightened his hold on Dakota, only to smile, when he saw that it was CeCe. "CeCe?" The others turned to see her and they shot her a smile. "How you doing?"
"I've been better," she replied, as she shot Syke a look. "What's he doing?"
"He's trying to play hero," Alec said, as he struggled to keep his hold on the struggling X6. "Nothing out of the ordinary." He tightened his grip on Sykes' arm and the X6 stopped fighting him. "That's better."
"So what's his problem?" CeCe asked Biggs as she came up to his side. "Haven't really seen that X6 around here before."
"He wanted to bring Zero in for charges," Pip answered, as she looked over at Cece. "For hurting the others."
"How you doing, little one?" CeCe asked, not really wanting to talk about the attack.
"You should have been there, CeCe," Pip said, as she turned her attention on CeCe. "It was amazing. Zero and White were fighting."
"As in actually fighting, and not just in words."
"Yeah, actually fighting." Biggs shot CeCe a smile. "But I don't think he would have won the fight. White is stronger than he is."
"Oh, thanks, Pip," Zero said, as he looked over at her. "Here I thought you had my back." He shot her a smile, as he looked over at her. "You just gave me up."
"Sorry, but he was kicking your but."
"I could have taken him, if I had more training."
"Neither Alec or I could take him," Biggs pointed out, as he looked over at him. "And we've had the training."
Zero let out a low chuckle. "That's just creepy."
"No, he's just that strong," Max said, as she came up to stand next to them. "How are the others?" she asked CeCe.
"They're okay for now," CeCe replied, as she turned to face Max. "But others like him are causing trouble."
"I bet they are," Alec said, as he brought Syke up to their sides. "And why would that be, Syke?"
"Cause we don't trust him," Syke answered as he looked over at Zero. "Him or the other outsiders. Or even her." He pointed a hand at Pip and she glared back at him. "White wants her for some reason, and that means trouble for us. We don't want that."
"I hate to spoil your idiotic mood, Syke, but White's always out for us." He released his hold on Syke. "We don't have time to worry about you and him. You leave him to us to worry about."
"And them?" Syke asked, as he looked over at Zero and Pip. "Who will take care of them?"
"They don't need to be taken care of?" Max said, as she stepped in front of Syke. "You will leave them alone. If I even see you staring at them wrong, I'll have you backside. You understand me?"
All three X5s, Zero, and Pip exchanged a smile, as they looked over at each other. "Yes, Ma'am," Syke said to her, as he looked over at Zero and Pip. "But be warned, you're being watched." He then took off in a dead run away from them.
"Oh, he was nice," CeCe muttered, as she watched him run off, before turning her attention to the other X5s. "You're needed in HQ."
"We're there," Max said, as they started to head towards there. "We would have gotten there sooner if we hadn't been stopped by a certain X6."
"You can't entirely blame him for his actions," Zero muttered, causing them to look over at him. "My actions have caused others to question my presence here, including Bullet and Bugler's. I didn't think of that."
"When someone else had control of your mind, Zee," Biggs said, as he put a hand gently on his shoulder, trying to reassure the young X6. "No one has the ability to think on their own. You do stuff that you don't even remember."
"So this has happened to you guys?" Zero asked, as he looked at the X5s, as they walked towards HQ with a puzzled look on his face. "You're not pulling my leg?"
"We would never pull your leg," Alec said, as he looked over at him, and reached out to take Pip from Biggs. "It's not the X-series way."
"Ah, there's an X-series way?"
"Yep," Alec replied, as he looked down at Pip and she smiled. "We come in unwelcome. We your food. We leave on our accord. We take things that seldom don't belong to us. We like to do things that are dangerous. We like to fight." He then turned to look over at Biggs and CeCe. "Did I leave anything out?"
"We like to go fast?" Pip added. Alec shot her a confused look. "Blurring."
"Ah, we like to blur, as the young and talented Miss Dakota, other wise known as Pip pointed out."
"Now that's funny," Biggs said, as he looked over at them. "Cause I'm sure that's not what Alec was thinking."
"Biggs, you need to get your head out of the gutter," Cece growled, as they entered HQ only to freeze when they saw Bullet and Bugler on the ground, unconscious. "Oh, no."
"What's going on?" Max asked, as they made their way towards their sides only to freeze at the side of the sound of guns cocking.
"Freeze, 452," a voice commanded. "And no body gets hurt."
TBC
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