Here I am again.
throwerpro: Welcome back and thanks. About what you wrote about me not changing the characters: good or bad thing? Anyway, glad to see you're still reading.
Taeniaea: Sorry, not the first this time *gg* no, just kidding. Thanks to you, too.
Okay, I'm gonna make some sort of time jump now, it's not too much, just read and find out.
Four months later
Max was on her way to Lydecker's office. She wore jackboots and a black combat suit, one of the many uniforms she had been given the day before and she had to admit that it felt good to have some real clothing after all the time she'd had nothing but that stupid grey nightgown. At her side she could feel X5-451 – Wolf – looking at her with concern.
"You okay?" he asked.
She turned her head and smiled briefly at him. "Yeah, I guess so."
It was the truth, she felt better than she had in ages. After her wounds had healed she had been released from sickbay and was allowed to go back to her cell. She had expected to be put back into PsyOps but instead the day after a bald man with glasses had arrived. She had learned that his name was Benjamin Forster and that he was a psychiatrist. At first she had been reluctant to even talk to him but he didn't seem to mind and after some time she had opened up to the smaller man with the gentle smile. Somehow he'd made her feel better, let her know that she could trust him with her fears which she eventually did. He had visited her daily but hadn't started to talk about PsyOps until after two weeks. Naturally she'd tried to hide from her fears and wanted to forget about the two months of constant torture but Forster managed to get her to talk. She'd had several breakdowns but eventually Forster convinced her that none of it had been her fault, that she shouldn't blame herself one bit and that she didn't have to be afraid anymore.
At first she had only laughed at it sarcastically, almost being the old Max again until she finally began to understand what the calm psychiatrist was trying to tell her. It had been a long process but eventually the nightmares had stopped and she didn't flinch anymore at any movement or sudden sound. She'd begun to trust again, starting with Doctor Forster and the two X5 that were always with him.
Most of the time it had been Wolf. Officially he'd been there for Forster's safety but she knew better; he wanted to make sure nothing happened to her anymore and she could still see that he blamed himself for not having saved her from PsyOps earlier. She felt grateful but after some time his behavior started to annoy her until one day she held him back after Doc Forster had left. She smiled melancholically remembering the conversation that had taken place then.
"Stop doing this!" she demanded.
"What?" He looked at her clearly not understanding what she was talking about.
"Treating me like I was made of glass."
"I'm not!"
"Of course you are!" she growled angrily but calmed down. "It's not your fault."
"What are you talking about?"
"Look, Kyla told me already, okay? Don't blame yourself for what has happened. It was not your fault."
He straightened up finally understanding. He shook his head. "Yes it is, at least part of it."
"Oh come on! What could you've done?" Max exclaimed. Why did men always have to be so difficult? "Storming into PsyOps and kidnapping me before their eyes?"
"It's pretty much what we've been doing at the end."
"After Lydecker told you to do so! If it hadn't been on his order you would not even have made it into that room in the first place. I survived so could you please stop looking at me like I'm going to die at a moment's notice?"
"You were my responsibility" he kept insisting.
"No, I was PsyOps' responsibility at that time." Max glared at him frustrated. Was he masochistic or did every male X5 just like self punishment? "I want you to stop blaming yourself! It was the work of some crazy scientist's and there was no way you could've known what they were doing to me, will you finally get that through your thick skull?"
"One day perhaps" he answered turning towards the door, "but I will never be able to forget it."
Max kept smiling when thinking about that day months ago. Wolf remembered her of Zack in more than one way. He was strong and determined but he also deeply cared about his fellow X5s and thought of everything that went wrong as his personal mistake. It surely made him a great leader but it also made him annoying sometimes.
At least he had started to relax a little bit after that conversation perhaps finally understanding that Max's two months in that hell really hadn't been his failure.
With Kyla things had been much easier. Whenever Wolf wasn't around she had accompanied Forster and slowly the two women had started to develop some sort of friendship. It was not like it had been with OC or Kendra but it was the friendship between two soldiers, between to X5. Of course Jondy had visited her, too. It had been awkward at first seeing her sister being all Manticore again but Max had found out that this was only a façade she kept up in front of the instructors and Lydecker. She was completely loyal to the idea of Manticore and her superiors but that didn't stop her from making comments about them that were more than just unfriendly. Max had come to understand that her older sister really had chosen to stay here out of her free will.
After a month in her isolation cell and the daily visits from Doctor Forster he had informed her that it was time to go back into PsyOps. She had vehemently refused to even leave her cell until Forster had promised her that it was only psychological reindoctrination, nothing invasive, no needles, no drugs, no knives. He told her that he would be there all the time and even Kyla and Wolf would be there, too. The scientists were not Renfro's anymore but those Lydecker himself had chosen. Still she didn't dare to move until Lydecker himself had come to her cell and promised her that it would be up to Doctor Forster how long the sessions would last. Max still was distrustful towards the older Colonel but she had started to trust Forster and she definitely trusted Wolf and Kyla so she finally agreed although the fact that nobody had tried to force her back into PsyOps when she had refused to go by herself was already reassuring.
They had kept their word. It had been the laser. Hours, days, weeks and months of that cursed red light tearing into her mind. It had been hard to say the least but it was bearable compared to the things she had suffered before. When the first session had been over and her mind returned to the real world she got aware of Doctor Forster standing right before her trying to smile reassuringly. To her left and her right were Kyla and Wolf both looking at her with concern and holding her restrained hands.
This became sort of a ritual. Every time she had to undergo a reindoctrination session – which was almost daily – Forster and at least one of the two X5 she trusted were there, too. Officially Wolf and Kyla accompanied her for the safety of the PsyOps staff but everybody knew it was because Lydecker wanted the process supervised by one of his soldiers.
After about two months when she awoke on the examination table once again she saw that not only Forster and Kyla were with her but there was also another person in the room. Lydecker saw her glaring at him and left the room quickly. The next day Max had asked a guard if she could talk to the Colonel and surprisingly a few hours later he had come to her cell.
They sat in awkward silence until the older man finally spoke.
"You said you wanted to talk to me?"
Max just nodded, looking at him precariously.
"Does that mean you trust me?" he asked very well remembering what he had said to her in sickbay weeks ago.
"I don't know" she honestly replied and saw how the older man's face lit up when she spoke her first words to him since she had been in PsyOps for the first time. "Somehow I feel like I can but then again I cannot forget what you did to us, to Jack, to Eva, to all of us. I understand that you were trying to train us to be soldiers but still I remember my childhood not being very pleasant."
"I understand" he nodded sadly. "We made mistakes back then; the biggest one was that we didn't talk to you. We taught you to be soldiers but we never explained to you why we had to do what we did."
They sat in silence again until Max reluctantly continued:
"Can I…ask you a question?"
"Of course."
"I remember when I was little I had seizures once and had to go to the infirmary. I'm not sure, I think I was feverish at the time, but I remember you being there, too, talking about how you would like to take me away from Manticore."
"You remember that?"
"Sort of, but I don't understand it."
Lydecker laughed sadly but finally nodded. "I remember that night. I shouldn't have been there, you know, showing affection. But you were always special to me, Max."
"Why?"
"I don't know." Of course he knew but it wasn't only the fact the she was his prodigal daughter, he had to come to realize that there was more but he didn't fully understand it himself and didn't want to scare Max. "I always cared about you, Max, not only about you but also about the others."
"You have a strange way of showing it."
"What do you mean?"
"Jack. Eva."
"There was nothing we could do for Jack and Eva…" he sighed remembering that night that still haunted him in his dreams. "I only saw her holding a weapon and aiming at the guards. I just…I did what I've been trained to do."
"Trained?"
"I'm a soldier too, Max, I have been for longer than you have. I saw a threat and acted like I was trained to but I would give everything I have if I could go back to that night and prevent Eva from getting her hands on that gun."
"You really are serious about this" Max said after a few seconds sounding surprised.
"Of course I am. I know you probably don't trust me entirely but tell me, when did I ever lie to you?"
Max thought about it for a second before she nodded. "Never."
"And I will not start with it now. I know we probably betrayed you and the others, we took away your childhood, we hurt you and I want you to know that I'm not proud of what I've done but you have to see the big picture: Manticore's operations probably saved hundreds of thousands of lives."
"How can you be so sure about that?"
"Well, think about it" he looked at her intensely. "We lost Hawaii five months after the pulse, Miami got attacked only a month later and the first attack on Alaska was only about a year later. Our operations showed to our enemies that we still were able to defend ourselves."
"What kind of operations?"
"The one you will be carrying out again when you're ready. Infiltration, search and destroy, neutralization. For example we have prevented a nuclear attack against this country six times until now, those missions alone saved countless lives."
Max sat still for about a minute and Lydecker watched her closely. She looked better, the bruises gone and most of the scars on her skin already fading. He knew that physically she would be ready soon but the scars on her soul were another thing.
"I would like to have access to the mission reports" she suddenly said surprising him.
"Why?"
"I would like to know if we really could do something good, if we make a difference" she explained and added after a short pause: "I would like to know if I can make a difference."
A few days later Max had been given full access to the archives and between her reindoctrination sessions started to read through every report she could find since 2009. She had been surprised at first, sometimes she was even shocked or disgusted but altogether the Colonel had told the truth; there had been dozens of missions against foreign intelligence services or even high officers that became a little bit too ambitious and of course Manticore had been one of the major instruments to fight the international terror. She started talking with Wolf and Kyla about their missions whenever she could and tried to find out everything she could about the last ten years.
Sure, there were times when she thought about her old life, about her friends, her work, about their nights at Crash. And she also thought about Logan. Those were the most painful memories but she was good at hiding it and over the weeks and months she began looking at those memories like she had been looking at her first time at Manticore as a child: Like it had been in another life. She remembered it but it didn't pain her anymore, at least not very often.
Six months after Kyla and Wolf had brought her back Doctor Forster suddenly informed her that her time in PsyOps was over and that she would be released and assigned to her new unit. That had been yesterday and at first Max had been overwhelmed with relief. Finally she wouldn't have to worry about that laser and PsyOps anymore but that was when her gaze found Wolf and she suddenly realized she probably would not see him much anymore. She had learned that he technically was the CO of unit two but that he and Kyla were away very often. He saw her worry and smiled reassuringly but while she lay awake in her cell during the night she couldn't help but wonder to which unit she would be assigned and who would be her new CO.
She was still thinking about it when she approached Lydecker's office now.
"Relax" she heard Wolf chuckle and shot him an annoyed glance before she knocked.
"Enter!" they heard the Colonel bark. Once inside they stood at attention in front of their CO.
"X5-451 and X5-452 reporting, sir!" Wolf said.
"At ease" Lydecker ordered with a slight smile and watched the two of them. "How do you feel, 452?"
"Never been better, sir." Max composure and voice was the image of a perfect soldier but Lydecker noticed that her voice was not as cold and emotionless as Brin's. That was a good sign.
"Very good. You will be assigned to unit two and 451 will be your new CO. You need to catch up on your training but I'm sure this won't be a problem."
"Not at all" the female transgenic answered with an almost invisible smile. She had been getting antsy during the last few weeks and was aching for some action.
"I see" Lydecker nodded. "As from now on you are to report to 451 but if there's a problem you can come to me anytime, Max, understood?"
The two looked at him in astonishment. Did their CO really just say that? But they were not about to argue their superior's choice of words and Max simply responded after a short pause of surprise.
"Understood, sir."
"Very well, dismissed."
The two X5 saluted and left the room.
"Well, that was odd", was all Wolf said when they were walking towards the main entrance.
"Huh?"
"Well, the Colonel using your name and all that."
"We have a history" Max shrugged. It had surprised her too but it was nice to be addressed by her name for a change.
"So I've heard" he chuckled but quickly became serious when they left the building. It was a sunny day and Max closed her eyes for a moment feeling the sun on her skin for the first time in half a year. "Okay, time for you to meet the others. Are you up for a run?
"Hell yeah!" she smiled. "Where are we going?"
"Firing range. Come on!" And with that he started running. She was quick to follow him and together they ran through the forest around Manticore's main base. She felt that she really would have some training to do to get back into her usual shape again. When they approached the firing range Wolf could see his unit in their black combat suits standing around Major Coleman; apparently he was just commenting their results. On a table behind them lay twelve sniper rifles. When he approached with Max at his side Coleman looked up and smiled.
"You're coming right on time, 451" he said, "I've just finished. The firing range is yours for the next three hours and I suggest you use it. Welcome back, 452."
He nodded towards Wolf and left.
"What the hell does that mean?" Wolf demanded to know looking at his unit, "'I suggest you use it'? What have you done again?"
"Oh, not much" X5-439 answered. The female transgenic with the cropped short brown hair looked at him innocently and pointed behind her to the rifles. "Let's just say I'm apparently the only one knowing how to use one of these."
"Oh, come on, give me a break" the biggest X5 in the group groaned, "or at least a real weapon. A rocket launcher would not be bad!"
"Those are real weapons!" 439 snapped glaring at him.
"A rocket launcher?" A rather small blond woman looked at him incredulously. "You gotta be…"
"Okay, okay, stop it!" Wolf interrupted them. "Before you restart your bickering, this is X5-452, she will be in our unit from now on."
Max looked from one to the other and smiled almost shyly when everyone looked at her. So, this was her new unit.
"Okay, 451, you already know 301 and 210." Wolf nodded towards Kyla and Jondy before pointing at the woman who had spoken first. She had very short hair just like Wolf and Kyla and eyed her with a calm curiousness, "Now this is 439. As you probably have found out already she's our sniper."
439 smiled and nodded
"The other one here is 526." The X5 who had talked about a rocket launcher grinned broadly. He was big, very big but somehow Max could see that he wasn't as dangerous as his figure could make you believe.
"To the left we have 154 and 367. 154 is our medic while 367 is our expert when it comes to explosives, give him a firecracker and a bottle and he will make a bomb out of it."
The blond woman and the black haired man smiled kindly and Max couldn't help but wonder if there was something going on between them as they stood very close to each other.
"And to your right you have 258 and 194. He's into vehicles, so don't give him anything with wheels or he'll be gone in a second" the blond 258 grinned and nodded almost viciously, "while you have to watch out when sparring with 194 or she will kick your ass!"
The Asian X5 smiled and was actually the first to speak. "Nice to meet you, 452. I've heard a lot about you."
Max could only nod thankfully.
"Oh yeah" Wolf said as if he just had remembered something, "and last and I'm almost inclined to say least 494. He's my third in command and the biggest smartass you'll be able to find on this continent.
"Is it my fault that I'm smarter than you?" 494 retorted grinning. He had short brown hair but not as short as Wolf and kind eyes. He seemed to be a nice guy but Max could already understand what Wolf meant with him being a smartass. So he would be the unit's leader when Wolf and Kyla were away.
"Smarter than me?" Her brother looked at 494 with a skeptical look on his face. "You know, somehow I doubt that because saying something like that to me after I kicked your ass during our last sparring lesson does not appear to be a very smart thing in my eyes."
Some of the other X5 snickered at the astonished face 494 made after this and Max couldn't help but wonder what was going on. Sure, all of them had greeted her in a very friendly way and seemingly did not see her as an outsider or even a traitor. She even had a feeling that she would like working with 194 and 439 but this clearly wasn't the Manticore she remembered from her childhood. There was not instructor around and the X5 were talking and bickering like usual people and not like the killing-machines they were. How did Wolf even manage to maintain discipline in his unit? She was about to learn quickly.
"Ok, enough chit-chat!" He suddenly said sternly and everyone became dead serious again. "We still have three hours to train and we will use them. 439, you're our sniper so you know best how to use this kind of rifle. Show Max how she has to handle them and then start training her, she has a lot of catch up to do."
"Got it!" the shorthaired woman said and motioned for Max to follow her. While the female sniper started explaining the weapon's ballistics to her Max could hear Wolf shouting commands and soon after that everyone was behind their rifles again and started training.
Yes, she thought, Manticore has changed, but it was a change she clearly began to like.
In Seattle Logan was looking at his computer screen where he could see the face of a blond and rather slender man. He didn't look threatening at all, more like a business man but behind him Logan could make out the figures of two other men and those looked like walking wardrobes.
"Your cable hacks first made the government quite nervous, Mr. Eyes Only" the blond man said looking at what he could see of the famous cyber-journalist –his eyes, "but now they seem to have figured out that you have nothing you could use against them and partly lost interest."
Logan couldn't help but cringe at that comment. It was true; at first his cable hack had troubled some of the officials in and outside Seattle, Lydecker had even sent a TAC team just like he had predicted but he hadn't been able to follow them instead two of his informants had vanished. He was frustrated and had already thought about going public with everything he knew about Manticore, the few names he had and the barcodes when this man had contacted him.
"What do you want from me?"
"I want you to help us getting a DNA sample from one of Manticore's soldiers; in exchange we could offer you our help."
"Your help?" Logan felt more than just uncomfortable with this offer. This man didn't look like he was an angel at all and the two behind him actually looked dangerous.
"Nobody, not even Eyes Only, takes on an organization like Manticore just like that" the blond man answered. "You want something from them."
"And if that were the case you would help me getting it?" This conversation was weird.
"Yes." The answer was simple and the unknown man on Logan's monitor waited a few seconds before he added: "I understand that you need some time to think about this and make arrangements. You know how to contact me. But don't wait too long."
The man rose from his chair but Logan held him back. "Wait, one last question. Who are you?"
The enigmatic man just smiled. "We call ourselves the Red Cell. Have a nice day, Mr. Eyes Only."
Yes, the reds are coming. Was about time, wasn't it?
Okay, here a short list about the X5s in Max's new unit. It's not much but should be enough for the beginning.
And yes, before you ask: Of course Max will name them *gg*
Okay, drop me a review, please.
X5-451 aka Wolf CO of unit two and Max's genetic brother. His intense grey eyes and very short black hair clearly let him look like the soldier he is.
X5-301 aka Kyla 2IC of unit two. Usually paired with Wolf during their missions. The two of them have the most experience throughout the X-series when it comes to combat missions and search and destroy and both of them are very well trained in close quarter combat and hand-to-hand fights.
X5-494 Member of unit two and third in the chain of command. He has become sort the unit's unofficial leader as Wolf and Kyla often are on outside missions. He can be sort of a smartass sometimes but he usually knows when to stop.
X5-154 The blond transgenic is the medic of unit two. She's one of the smallest X5 but nevertheless can take care of herself just fine. Other than that she's one of the X5 with the most experience in missions outside Manticore.
X5-439 Member of unit two. She's the sniper of her unit. Her rather calm and controlled self helps the others from getting out of hand too much. Like Wolf and Kyla she keeps her brown hair very short as she thinks it would hinder her otherwise.
X5-258 Member of unit two. The young blond man adores every sort of vehicle. He's one of the more unsettled X5.
X5-194 Member of unit two. The Asian woman is one of the few that could actually beat her CO or her 2IC in a hand-to-hand combat. She is almost obsessed with any sort of blades and usually tries not to use firearms.
X5-367 Member of unit two. The black haired and tanned transgenic is the unit's expert when it comes to explosives. He is almost as calm as 439 and is known for his subtle sense of humor.
X5-526 Member of unit two. He's the biggest and strongest X5 in the unit and prefers heavy weapons. Nevertheless he's very gentle and almost never gets angry.
X5-210 aka Jondy As children Max and Jondy had been in unit one and escaped together in '09. Jondy got caught by Lydecker months before Max and has joined unit two. She is loyal to Manticore but this doesnt mean she likes everybody around the base. Eventually she even refers to Lydecker that he 'can be an asshole sometimes'. Nevertheless she chose to stay out of her free will and hopes Max will be in her unit for she deeply cares about her younger sister.