Taeniaea: Thanks again, Taeniaea!
452max: Part of the mission you'll find here but the more important part will be in the next chapter.
tylee17: Sorry, am I too fast for you? ;) Thanks for answering my questions, too, after this mission's over you'll never where I'm heading. You'll also see more about Logan and perhaps W/K, just be a little bit patient. Aw, damn! Me and my knowledge about the human human body *blush* thanks for pointing this one out for me!
JOUNOUCHI sama: Thanks to you, too. I've already thought about that but as I said to tylee, a little bit of patience and you will see *gg*
Okay, thanks to all of you and here we go again!
_______
Char list:
X5-494 aka Alec 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 smart ass sometimes but he usually knows when to stop.
X5-439 aka Artemis 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.
X5-526 aka Bear 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.
X5-194 aka Blade 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 aka Havoc 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.
X5-210 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 and her unit but this doesn't 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.
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.
X5-258 aka Nitro Member of unit two. The young blond man adores every sort of vehicle. He's one of the more unsettled X5.
X5-154 aka Nova 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.
X5-451 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. Calm and almost always controlled his self-discipline and his knowledge about almost every kind of combat make him a very dangerous enemy.
Max was beginning to feel frustrated. It had been three days since they arrived in Joliet, a small city near Chicago, and started their search for the missing X5. Since three days none of them had rested or even slept and it started to affect Alec, Nova, Havoc and Bear who didn't have any shark DNA and even the others didn't feel much better. Nevertheless her teammates didn't complain and only seemed to intensify their efforts. They'd split up to cover a larger ground. She was with Jondy and Blade. The three of them had checked on a possible lead but it had turned out that they had been running riot. Again.
It had been like that during the whole time. Although Joliet was not a big city it was by no means small. There were hundreds of possibilities where you could hide four transgenics. Unit two couldn't even be sure if the four X5 were still here or if somebody had brought them somewhere else. Sure, Manticore's tactical analysts thought that there hadn't been enough time to relocate four transgenics who certainly were not acting cooperative without anybody noticing it but they couldn't be sure. And of course it was also possible that the detachment of unit five was already dead.
"All units, this is Alec." He had been paired up with Havoc and Nova and they were currently searching a sector about half a mile west to where Max was at the moment. He stated his exact position. "I think we have found something. Request backup."
"How much backup?" Max heard Wolf's voice. During the last days it had become clear to her why he had been chosen CO of her unit; all X5 were designed to be natural leaders and act like officers and Manticore had done a great job there, but Wolf was different. He didn't need to yell at his subordinates to get them to do what he wanted; when he talked with his CO face on everybody around him listened. His voice was stern, but not loud, his posture and body language made it clear to anyone that he was in charge. His planning was simple but effective, his way of communication direct. If one of his team members made a proposition he listened calmly but in the end it was him who decided and he did it a way none of the others felt insulted or left-out.
They were a team, they tried to reach their goal and accomplished their mission together but it was clear to anyone that he was the team leader.
The only person who he allowed to scrutinize his decisions was Kyla and even she didn't do it often and when she did she waited until the two of them were alone. It had been two days ago when Max had overheard one of these conversations by accident.
"I don't think we should spread out the teams so far, Wolf, they will be too far away from each other to provide help if necessary."
"We need to. We must cover a larger ground if we want to find them soon. I know what you want to say" he added quickly before she could add anything, "but I think the risk is justifiable and that's a final, understood?"
"Understood."
Neither of them had sounded defiant or bossy, they were just a CO and his 2IC trying to find out how the mission could be accomplished best but never losing the respect for each other's abilities. Max began to understand why they worked together so well when just the two of them were on a mission.
"As much as possible." Alec's answer to Wolf's question surprised her. The sometimes cocky X5 wasn't somebody who asked for help very often.
"Roger, hold your position, we'll be with you soon!" Wolf ordered. "All units, all units, this is Wolf. Rally point at Alec's position, I repeat: Rally point at Alec's position. You have fifteen minutes!"
"Got it", Kyla's voice sounded calm as usual.
"Wilco" Jondy confirmed. She had been given command of their team and Max could tell her sister appreciated the trust Wolf showed towards her with this decision. She glanced at Blade who was driving. "You know where to go?"
"Hey, I'm not Nitro but that doesn't mean I don't know how to drive a car" the Asian X5 retorted while accelerating.
"Just like to be there on time" Jondy grinned, "I don't want to miss the party."
After four minutes they came to a checkpoint but the sector police quickly let them pass when Jondy flashed them her pass which identified all of them as military spec ops. They often had used their false identities as a special operations group during the last few days and Max had to admit that it was quite handy. No dumb questions.
When they arrived at the coordinates they could already see the rest of the team waiting for them at the corner of an old house. Around them they could see the rest of what had been a growing industry before the pulse. Now the factories around them were all abandoned and some had started to derelict already. They didn't see any people although when looking around the signs of the drug traffic and other illegal things that took place there at night could not be missed.
"Okay, Alec" Wolf began when they had gathered together. "What do you have?"
"We were talking to some of the homeless around here and heard something about a bunch of strange people being around since a few weeks." For a change Alec was totally serious. "We followed a tip we got from one of them and came here. You see that old factory building down the road, the one with the red doors?"
Wolf peeked around the corner. "Yeah. So what? I can't see anything."
"Look closer. The window next to the fire escape, third level."
Wolf did as told. The building was quite far away but it was no problem for his transgenic sight. His pupil dilated and suddenly he could see what Alec was talking about; behind the dirty window was a man looking through something that almost looked like a camera but he recognized immediately what it was. The X5 disappeared behind the corner again before that look-out would see him.
"Why is somebody using thermal image equipment in this part of town?" he mused looking at the other transgenics and they suddenly all had a predatory smile on their lips. It seemed like they finally found their target.
"It's not gonna be easy" Alec warned them. "We checked it and there are look-outs on each side of the building and at least one guard on the roof. Unless we find a way to get in underground I can't see how we should get there without being noticed."
Wolf seemed to think about it for some seconds and looked around. Suddenly he chuckled and looked at Jondy with a very nasty smirk on his face.
"What?" the brown haired X5 said looking suspiciously at her CO. "Wolf, why are you grinning like that?"
"I think I just found out how we'll get into that building. I hope you're in for some shopping, Jondy."
"Why do I already know I'm not gonna like this?"
"You gotta be out your mind!" Zack hissed at Logan but the cyber-journalist returned his glare calmly.
"Not at all, Zack. It is our only chance to get her back. You saw how she reacted at the docks; do you want that to happen again?"
"And you think attacking Manticore will solve our problems? You are crazy!"
"Zack, wait", one of the other transgenics – Syl – spoke. "I want to hear what he has to say."
Logan nodded towards her and briefly looked at the five transgenics in the room. Zack had kept his word and contacted the other '09 escapees. A day ago he had called Logan and they agreed to meet.
Zack, Syl, Krit, Zane and even Tinga had come. For the latter it had been extremely difficult to come without her husband getting suspicious but somehow she'd managed it. It had been a shock for all of them to hear that Max was back at Manticore but when trying to reach Jondy Zack even had to learn that she most probably had been caught, too. He had been furious and felt more than ever that he had failed in his mission to protect his unit and his mood hadn't improved yet, he still was aggressive and all in all in a bad temper.
Syl and Krit on the other side had been upset, too, about hearing their two sisters being back in the hole they had escaped a decade ago but they had calmed down quickly and were now trying to figure out what to do next. Tinga had been the most kind towards Logan from the start not distrusting him at all just because he was an ordinary human. Perhaps this was because the exotic-looking X5 was married and had a little son.
Zane had been quiet most of the time. His attentive eyes almost never left Logan when the cyber-journalist talked but he didn't appear to distrust him, it was just the fact that Zane had never been one to talk much. He observed, listened and only spoke when he was absolutely sure it was necessary and he had all the information he needed.
It was strange to have five highly trained super soldiers in your living room but for what Logan had in mind they were just perfect.
"Thank you" he said to Syl before continuing. "Okay, listen. The main reason why we lost last time is because we weren't acting proactive. We waited for Manticore to make the next step and then reacted."
"You said that already!" Zack snapped.
"And you weren't listening!" Logan mentally shook his head. Sometimes this X5 really gave him a hard time. "We had no backup plan, we didn't know where exactly the action would take place, we relied on the Red Cell whose intentions we didn't know either and so on. In other words: We were almost blind. Attacking Manticore itself is something they do not expect and that's why it will work."
"You are crazy!" Zack exclaimed again. "Even if your friend Sebastian is not right and there are no new X-series there are at least between sixty and eighty X5 on that base, probably even more. That's suicide! We won't do that!"
"Perhaps I will." Zane's voice was calm and he looked at Logan clearly interested. It seemed like this ordinary wasn't talking about something he hadn't thought through.
"Oh no, Zane, you won't!"
"Shut up, Zack!" For the first time Zane sounded annoyed and he looked at his brother warningly. "We're not your unit and you're not my CO! You're not at Manticore anymore and I have stopped taking orders ten years ago, understood?"
Everybody was looking at him and the transgenics – most of all Zack – seemed to be shocked; Zane had never been one to defy authority. Only Syl was grinning slightly.
"Attacking the Wyoming facility is suicide, even with the surprise on our side we won't be able to take on every guard and the black ops stationed there", Zack tried to explain. "And I'm not even talking about the X-series yet."
"That's why we won't be going against all of them" Krit said trying to ease the tension a little bit and then looked at Logan. "Right?"
"Exactly" Logan replied and looked gratefully at the tanned X5. "I have been thinking about how we would be able to split up their forces without even firing a single shot. Now, rumor has it that I don't know much about the military and its tactics but I'm quite sure about this one: What would happen if Lydecker thinks that there was an attack about to happen?"
"The guards would be alerted and every X-unit would take defensive positions around the base" Syl answered not understanding at first what Logan was trying to say when it suddenly dawned on her and she started grinning. "Oh, now I get it. Sneaky!"
"Am I the only one who doesn't understand what you're talking about?" Tinga demanded to know feeling a little bit left out. Syl grinned at her sister but Krit who finally understood as well what Logan's plan was answered first:
"Do you remember what happened when those two hunters came too close to the facility in '08?"
"Of course" Tinga answered. That night had been fun – well, at least the sort of fun she had known back then. "All hell broke loose and we chased them down. I had not seen somebody so scared before."
"Right, now imagine how Lydecker would react if he doesn't just see an ordinary hunter with his rifle near his precious base but instead…"
"One of us" Zane finished the sentence and nodded with a small smile.
"No offense" Zack interrupted, "but how is this gonna help us?"
"One of you will have to show himself to the guards, let them discover who you are" Logan explained. "After that Lydecker will be alerted and if we are lucky one of the rest of you who will be hidden around the base will spot Max and Jondy. So, when we know which positions they go to in case of an alarm we wait about two weeks until we repeat our little game again but this time you will already be waiting for them when they come and try to man their position. I think with the surprise effect on your side you should be able to take out the other X5 and capture Max and Jondy."
"It's a good plan" Krit finally said. "Risky, but possible."
"How are we gonna take them out?" Syl asked. "The rest of their unit, I mean. I know, they are Lydecker's drones but I will not kill them if I don't have to, we would be the very same if we hadn't escaped."
The others nodded except for Zack who looked at her not really happy with that comment; like Max Syl had apparently forgotten that she was a soldier but he wasn't about to argue with her about that now.
"I don't know yet, perhaps we can use tazers or some other kind of non-lethal weapon, we'll see about that." Logan looked at the five transgenics. "We still have time. We will need to do some recon first. We must to know exactly what we're going up against this time. No offense, I know you've been there before but it has been a long time."
They all nodded in agreement, even Zack. He didn't like Logan – not at all – and in his personal opinion he was one of the main reasons Max got caught in the first place but he had to admit the man had skills.
"Well, I suggest we start packing then." Tinga grinned. "It's a long way to Gilette."
"I swear to god if you ever tell anybody about this you're a dead man!" Jondy growled.
"Why not?" Bear was wearing jeans and a dark blue jacket and was grinning from ear to ear. "You look good!"
The female X5 growled again and shot him a glance that would have intimidated even the Colonel but Bear just continued grinning. She had known she wouldn't like Wolf's plan when he had looked at her earlier that day but this was just too much.
She was wearing knee-length black boots, a very short black skirt and a blood red belly top. In addition she had put on some make-up and eye liner. Blade had found her a red purse and to make the cover perfect Max had even painted her nails. In red.
It was night and they were standing behind the same corner like that afternoon but this time the two of them were alone, the rest of the team was waiting hidden in the shadows for them to complete their mission.
"Jondy, Bear" she suddenly heard Wolf's voice in her ear. "Ready?"
"All clear" was the male X5's answer.
"Sure" Jondy growled. "But you better hope this is gonna work or you'll pay for forcing me to dress up like this for nothing!"
"All in the name of god and country" her CO answered in a serious voice but she could practically hear him grin. "Everybody else ready?
She heard the others voicing their affirmatives over the wireless.
"Okay then, Jondy, Bear, let's start the show!"
Jondy looked at the tall X5 at her side and sighed heavily. "I'm never gonna live that one down. Come on!"
She linked arms with him and they rounded the corner walking casually towards the factory building. During the day this part of town had been abandoned but now they could see a few people from time to time, most of them probably drug dealers who waited for their clients and also some women dressed similar to Jondy, prostitutes hoping for a john.
One of the shady men whistled at Jondy but Bear glared warningly at him and the other one backed off.
"You look good, Jondy" Artemis suddenly said. The sniper was somewhere behind them watching the building and the look-out on the third floor through her scope.
"Oh, you're so gonna pay for this" Jondy groaned. "All of you."
She could hear the other woman chuckle before she became dead-serious again. "The look-out has spotted you, he's talking to someone over wireless. Shall I take him out?"
"Negative!" That was Wolf again. "We need Jondy and Bear taking care of him without alarming the rest."
"You really know where you are going, suga?" Jondy said when the two X5 approached the building looking at Bear seductively. "I know better places to go, you know?"
"I'm in a hurry" he grumbled. "And besides that we have everything we need in there. I know the place. Have been working there."
They had reached the factory building and Bear tried to open the front door. Locked. Of course!
"The look-out has left his post, he's probably on his way to you" Artemis announced.
Very good, Jondy thought, half of their job was done.
"Which idiot has locked the goddamned door again" he growled faking anger. They had expected that and were prepared. While he started working on the door with his picklock Jondy chirped.
"You know, we could go to a hotel. I know one which isn't far away from here."
"Be quiet, honey" he seemingly interrupted her when the door opened. It had taken him about as much time an ordinary person would need to open the door with a key. "I said I know the place. Come on, it's not that bad."
The two of them entered and suddenly were face-to-face with a pair of guns which were pointed right at their heads.
"Woah!" Bear gasped like he was frightened. Jondy pressed herself against him looking intimidated.
"Please", she whispered, "don't hurt us!"
"What are you doing here?" one of the two men holding the guns asked coldly. They both wore dark suits and could almost have been brothers from what they were looking. None of them was injured but they had a smell of blood on them. Bingo!
"I just came here to…well…uhm…" Bear started and looked at Jondy with an embarrassed expression.
"You're a whore?" one of them asked looking at her. She nodded after a second of hesitation and the two men relaxed a little bit lowering their guns.
"We are sorry if we have scared you." His voice was cold and emotionless. "This is government property, you must leave now."
"Of course, of course" Bear agreed hastily. "Come on."
"You are from the government?" Jondy said smiling and taking a few steps towards them. "Cute."
"Ma'am, stay back" one of them ordered and both men tensed up a little bit.
"What? You don't like me? She looked at them innocently. "Somehow a girl has to make a living."
"We're not into that kind of…amusement" one of them said and looked at her with disgust.
"Oh, that doesn't matter", she still smiled. The former construction hall was huge and it had taken the two X5 some time to scan it completely without the two morons before them noticing it but now Jondy was sure there was nobody else around. She reached into her purse. "But perhaps you'll like what I have in here?"
In the blink of an eye her smile vanished and her eyes suddenly were cold as ice. Without hesitation she squeezed the trigger of her gun two times. The silencer made sure nobody would hear the shots and the two suits never knew what hit them. They were dead before they hit the floor.
"You know" Jondy said with a stone-cold voice dropping the now useless purse, "I'm not into group jobs at all.
"Remember me that I never anger you when you're armed" Bear said and despite his words looked at her seriously. That girl had come back from the outside not even a year ago and she was already acting as efficiently as almost any X5 who had spent his whole life in Manticore. "Bear to all units: The lobby is clear!"
Outside eight figures in black battle dresses and tactical vests left the shadows they'd been hiding in and quickly slipped into the building.
"Good work" Wolf said when he saw the two dead bodies. It bothered him that the whole thing was going on so easy. If they were right those men had kidnapped or killed four transgenics after all, he'd expected more resistance. But then again: Nobody was fast enough to avoid a bullet, even if they'd been X5 they wouldn't have survived Jondy's attack. "Nitro, Jondy, Bear: Secure this room! It is our fallback position and it stays ours at all cost. Kyla, Alec, Max and Havoc, search the basement, Blade and Nova, you're with me, we search this floor first and then take care of the other look-outs. If you encounter anything do not engage if not absolutely necessary. Wait until the rest of the team is with you, you got that?"
Everybody nodded.
"Okay, Artemis, something out there?"
"Nothing, everything's quiet" the female sniper answered.
"Good, questions?" Nobody spoke up. "Move out!"
So, not really much new here except for Eyes Only finally making his next move.
Drop me a review and I drop an update (subtle, I know *gg*)