Rose Red: Welcome on board! Thanks for the compliment, I hope I can keep up to meet your expectations.
roseyangel: Jap, Deck has a hard time with his kids, but don't worry, the sly old fox still knows how to handle them. But yes, Renfro is still out there and you're gonna hear from her very soon. Thanks for the review!
452max: Okay, I get faster again concerning my updates, hope the suspense hasn't killed you yet. Read and enjoy!
Divine Fighter: Glad you liked it. I wasn't sure if I got the picture of Max being part soldier but still part sister/sibling to her old unit right. What Manticore's gonna think about it? You'll find out in this chapter.
JOUNOUCHI sama: Oh, don't be jealous :) You're gonna find out in this chapter, too.
Taeniaea: Thanks to you, too!
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char list
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. Has no shark DNA.
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. Has no shark but snake DNA.
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.
X5-258 aka Nitro Member of unit two. The young blond man adores every sort of vehicle. He's one of the more unsettled X5. KIA after the mission in Joliet.
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.
X5-367 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. Has no shark DNA.
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.
X5-451 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.
X5-494 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. Has no shark DNA.
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. Has no shark DNA.
X5-734 aka Brin After her return to Manticore she underwent a very brutal reindoctrination which left her brainwashed and only partly able to make independent decisions. She has been under Director Renfro's command until Renfro had to leave the Wyoming facility. Currently Brin's not part of a unit but assigned to where she's needed.
X5-798 aka Jace She was the only one staying behind during the '09 escape out of her free will. She's currently a member of unit five.
0450 Manticore Headquarters, Gilette Wyoming
To any outsider not familiar with the military it would have appeared that the base was in major turmoil. Everywhere X5 were running to and fro gathering around their commanding officers and 2ICs, instructors and guards were shouting orders and a considerable amount of vehicles was prepared to leave the facility in a few minutes. It looked like utter chaos but having been trained for years or – in the case of the transgenic soldiers for their entire life – every man and every women knew the tasks that had to be done and so everybody did his job without disturbing the other finishing the preparations in an amazingly short time.
"Unit two reporting, sir!" Wolf announced his team to Major Coleman. They were wearing civilian clothing and hid their weapons under their jackets but still they were the very picture of a military unit. Yet. Wolf knew his fellow X5 were quite good actors and if necessary more than able to deceive almost any ordinary human they would encounter outside about their real nature.
"Very good, as you already know you'll be doing recon in the town east of this facility. If you…" The instructor suddenly stopped and frowned looking at the young soldiers he had known for almost twenty years. "Where are 210 and 452?"
"Advance recon, sir" Wolf explained calmly. It wasn't really a lie, after all. "They've left the base a few hours ago."
"And what on earth made you decide to split your team, 451?"
"I've seen X5-599 in action, sir." Wolf behavior was controlled and no one would have thought the black haired transgenic was in very cold sweat at the moment. "He's very fast and I thought it would be best if I have some spotters on place as soon as possible."
"Has this been authorized?" Coleman looked at the young man warningly. He knew 451 was not as loyal to him than to the Colonel but almost.
"Negative, sir, I made this decision myself. We'll meet with 210 and 452 as soon as we've reached the operational area."
"We will see about this when you get back" Coleman growled not happy with that answer at all. If he'd been a little bit more observant he would have seen the brief flicker of fear in the X5's eyes and the concerned glances the whole unit exchanged. "You are to move out in ten minutes, Humvees will bring you and the other teams as close to your respective operational areas as possible, after that you have 36 hours to accomplish your mission. Any questions?"
"SIR, NO SIR!"
"Good hunting! Dismissed!"
Wolf saluted again and the whole team made its way to the waiting vehicles. Kyla looked at him in concern but he shook his head dismissively. They didn't have time for that now.
While Zane drove to their hideout the others were in the back of the old van and Zack checked and double-checked both Max and Jondy for any kind of hidden transponders or micros to make sure nobody would be able to follow them. All the time Syl was watching her two sisters with alert eyes; the tazer in her hand was not aimed at them but Max knew it would only take a slight sign of aggressiveness – even a sudden movement would be enough – and Syl would make good use of that weapon.
As soon as they'd entered the vehicle her siblings had handcuffed her and Jondy with an apologetic look in their eyes.
"Sorry" the blond transgenic had said, "I hope you understand."
Max couldn't blame them, she would have acted exactly the same and she felt Jondy didn't feel insulted either.
After Zack was sure they didn't carry any kind of hidden electronics or weapons he relaxed a little bit and sat down. None of them spoke a word until they reached their destination a few minutes later. It turned out to be one of those cheap and rather shabby hotels that somehow had survived the pulse. Without a word Zack opened the door and Max and Jondy jumped out of the vehicle suddenly finding themselves face-to-face with Zane. Her siblings remained silent but rushed them across the small parking place and into the hotel with Zack leading the way and Zane and Syl behind the two Manticore X5.
When they entered the hotel the grey-haired man in the porter's lodge barely looked up. He was used to have strange folks around and as long as he got paid he didn't mind if their behavior was weird or not.
When they entered the small living room of the apartment Max got aware of several weapons laying on the table as well as empty ammunition boxes, maps of the surrounding area and communication equipment. Even somebody with much less military training would have recognized that this room was some sort of command center. She could feel the presence of at least two other people in the bedroom.
"Hold still" Zack said in a quiet but stern voice and a second later the handcuffs were gone. Syl did the same to Jondy and the two Manticore soldiers subconsciously rubbed their wrists. She noticed her siblings had positioned themselves in a way it would not be possible for her and Jondy to get out of the door or lay a hand on one of the weapons without a fight. For a moment they all stood in awkward silence until Max noticed somebody had entered the room and was looking at her. She turned around towards the bedroom and got aware of an exotic looking woman smiling at her.
"Tinga!" she whispered happily and seconds later the two women embraced each other in a tight hug.
When Krit excited the bedroom a second later Jondy followed her sister's example and the male X5 found himself in a crushing hug he happily returned. After that the ice was broken. The '09 escapees somehow just felt their two sisters weren't a thread to them. The lost siblings welcomed each other back, most of them feeling really happy again for the first time in years.
The emotions Max felt could not be put into words when she finally found herself amongst her siblings again for the first time in almost a decade and her eyes were filled with tears of happiness.
When she finally let go of Krit who had welcomed her last she got aware of Logan standing in the door to the bedroom looking at her with a happy gleam in his eyes. She quickly made her way over to him and embraced him so hard she could almost hear him wince.
"Max" he managed to say after a few seconds, "You know some of us have to breathe once in a while, right?"
She let go of and grinned at him, then looking at Jondy who looked just as happy as she felt and then at the others.
They were all smiling broadly, even the always serious Zack and the usually so calm Zane.
Unfortunately they all were aware of the seriousness of the situation and Zack finally snapped back into his CO mode. Max exchanged a worried look with Jondy but the others seemingly didn't notice it or didn't recognize what their sisters were thinking about.
"We have to go" Zack announced and everybody turned to look at him. "Get whatever you can; we have to be out of here in fifteen minutes."
Logan just nodded and disappeared into the bedroom again where he probably had set up his computer network while the others started to box the equipment that was lying around.
"We won't come with you." Jondy's voice was but a whisper but every X5 stopped dead in their tracks and stared at her in first in surprise, then in shock.
"What…" Krit began but didn't dare to finish his sentence.
"She's right" Max spoke up after several seconds of silence and again tears glistened in her eyes but this time her expression was one of terrible sadness. "You must go, but we won't come with you."
"We don't have time for this" Zack tried to sound stern but everybody could hear the fear in his voice. "We have to go. Now!"
"You go" Jondy insisted, "we will stay."
"You can't be serious!" Syl exclaimed. She dropped the box she was holding and took a step towards her sisters but didn't dare to touch them and instead shared a worried look with Zane.
The calm X5 only watched his two sisters and although there was the same sadness in his eyes Max felt she also could see he was already beginning to understand.
"Max, Jondy" Tinga tried to reach them looking at them with the same terror like the others, "you can't think straight for the moment, believe me, after we're out of here you'll understand!"
"No, Tinga" Max shook her head and smiled sadly, "you don't understand. I know you think we've been brainwashed and all but that's not true. We will stay here no matter what you're gonna say. Not because some scientist in PsyOps told us to but because we want to."
"You don't know what you are saying!" Everybody looked at Logan who had left the bedroom again. "Max, you told me yourself that Manticore messes with your head until you can't remember what's right and what's wrong! You don't know what you're doing!"
"I remember everything, Logan" Max insisted in a grave voice. "Everything. Why I escaped from Manticore the first time and Lydecker chasing me around for the last ten years, how I met OC, my time in Seattle, meeting you and all the time we spent together. They didn't make me forget."
"Same with me" Jondy added. "I can remember every day since we left in '09, every feeling I had, every experience. We did not forget. They just made us understand."
"Understand?" Zane sounded worried and sad, too, but also curious.
"We didn't understand what was going on in Manticore when we were children" Jondy explained. "Why they were doing those things to us, why we were trained."
"And what has changed?" Instead of sounding worried or anxious Zack had returned to the only feeling he felt safe with: Anger. "They killed Jack, they killed Eva! They tortured us and they will do it again if you go back there! I will not let that happen!"
"Always trying to protect us, aren't you, Zack?" Max looked at her older brother with an almost melancholic smile. "It's not as simple as you'd like it to be. Manticore has changed, we have changed. We're not children anymore, we're soldiers. It's what we've been designed to be, it's what we are. I know you don't understand and I also know you never want to come back again, but you have to accept that Jondy and I will not leave with you. We will not betray our unit and we won't leave Manticore."
"Then why did you come here at all?" Tinga wanted to know.
"Because we knew you would try to get us out and that would have resulted in a battle and we couldn't risk that. Please believe me when I say that we still care about you, but we couldn't risk that you would eventually attack us. That's why we came here, not because we want to leave."
"That's PsyOps talking, Max, and you know it!" Zack growled. Instantly both Manticore soldiers looked at him and everybody in the room straightened up when they saw the looks in their eyes.
"Careful, Zack!" Jondy warned him sounding much more sternly than only seconds ago, "This is not PsyOps, this is not X5-210 or 452 talking to you, it's Max and Jondy, your sisters. You finally have to get through your thick skull that whatever you think or try you can be damned sure we will do everything we can to prevent you from attacking our family or our home!"
Everybody except for Max stared at her in disbelief.
Our family. Our home.
For about a minute nobody said a word before Syl finally spoke up.
"You really are serious about this, aren't you?"
"Yes, we are" Max nodded. "We still care about you and you will always be our family, too – that's why we came here. But you have to understand that we belong to another unit now. They care about us just like you do, they have risked their lives for us and without them I wouldn't be alive anymore. I know you probably can't believe us but Manticore is our home now. We have accepted that we're a part of it. It's where we belong, all of us."
"Max…" Logan began in a hoarse voice but when Max shook her head he stopped.
"Logan, you're one of the best friends I ever had." She smiled sadly. "And I will never forget you but our journey has to end here. I have changed; I'm not the Max Guevara you knew anymore. You have to stop looking for me and move on. I know this seems terribly unfair but I'm an X5, a genetically engineered soldier and you're an ordinary human being, a man of great values, a crime-fighting cyber-journalist. We're not living in the same worlds. You, all of you, have to accept that whatever you will say or do: We don't want to leave Manticore and we will not. Not out of our free will. You have to stop looking for us or you will get hurt or even worse."
"This is not you, Max" Logan tried again. "You're not a soldier."
"'On account of you Sonrisa didn't get to kill the judge or buy the jury'" Max recited the words Logan had said to her after she had dealt with Sonrisa all that time ago. "'He's gone, once and for all. It was a war, Max, and you won.' You remember that?"
She gave him a few moments to remember and understand what she was trying to say. Finally she continued.
"So you see, Logan, in some weird twisted way I've always been a soldier. It's what we are. Manticore and Eyes Only; they're not that much different. Sometimes their intentions are almost the same, only on different scales. I know what you want to say, but please don't; I will not change my mind."
"I will not let that happen" Zack insisted and everybody looked at him upon hearing the desperate undertone in his voice.
"What do you want to do?" Krit asked. "They already made their decision."
"No, they didn't! They've been brainwashed and reprogrammed! We take them with us! They will remember!
"No." The pain in Zane's voice made Max cringe but she could see he had realized what she and Jondy were talking about and he reluctantly began to accept it. "When I saw Brin I knew she was brainwashed. Her eyes were empty and she moved like somebody else controlled her body. Zack, it's Max and Jondy, the sisters we haven't seen in almost ten years. Not reprogrammed drones, not 210 and 452. It's them and you know it. You feel it. All of you do! If we take them with us by force they will escape and return as soon as possible and we will not be able to keep them with us forever. I came here to free my sisters but it's their decision to stay. If it would be 210 and 452 I would force them to come with us, but they're Max and Jondy. I will neither make them to do something they don't want to do nor will I allow any of you to do so."
His siblings looked at him and suddenly Zack shook his head, seemingly defeated. Tinga was the first to move.
"You're sure this is what you want?"
Max and Jondy nodded in unison. "Yes, we are" Max's older sister answered quietly.
"Oh God, I'm so sorry we lost you!" Tinga whispered in a hoarse voice when she hugged Max and Jondy.
"You didn't lose us" Max tried to assure her although she knew it was a futile attempt.
One after the other their brothers and sisters followed Tinga's example. Max could feel they were trembling, all of them had tears in their eyes and Syl sobbed quietly. Before she had left the base Max had already known her siblings would perhaps accept her and Jondy's choice but would not understand but seeing them like this now – so utterly defeated – it almost broke her heart.
Zane was the last to say goodbye to his sisters. He hugged them tightly.
"I really hope you're making the right decision. Take care of yourselves" he whispered. "And if you can, please take care of Brin, too."
"We will" Jondy assured him quietly and Max nodded.
Finally Max turned towards Logan who still looked at her with a pained expression. She placed her hand upon his chest and he shuddered trying to control his emotions.
"You are a good man, Logan Cale" Max said with sympathy in her voice, "but you have to move on. I hope you won't forget me, but please, stop trying to free me. I am already free."
Logan suddenly took a step forward and embraced her into a tight hug. He trembled and Max could almost physically feel the emotional pain he felt and she hated herself to be the cause of it but she also knew she was doing the right thing. Logan was a friend, a very dear friend and although she knew she hurt him right now her actions would protect him and – she hoped – allow him to move on after a while.
Finally he let go of her and took a step back trying to hide his tears.
Max looked around and saw sadness and defeat in her siblings' eyes but also some sort of realization and understanding. She didn't know if they really believed she and Jondy were acting out of their free will but she knew they would let them go.
And she hoped they would stop trying to get them out of Manticore.
"I'm sorry this has to end like this" Jondy quietly said, "but we're not escapees anymore. We have a new unit and a family we care about and they care about us and trust us. I really hope you will understand one day."
She silently signaled Max to follow her and without another word the Manticore soldiers made their way towards the door. Before she opened it Max turned around looking at her siblings one last time.
"As an X5" she said, "I hope I will never see you again for I would have to fight you. But as your sister I hope we will meet again one day."
One last time both transgenics smiled sadly at their old family before they left the small apartment.
Five hours later – Debriefing – Manticore Headquarters
"Unit two's CO has reported that the hostile force has left. It appears that your mission was partly successful. Unfortunately they destroyed their equipment before we could retrieve it" Lydecker informed the present X5. "While I'm inclined to agree with X5-451 units 5 and 6 will stay on guard duty until we can be sure nothing's gonna happen. The rest of you will resume training. Are there any questions?"
When nobody said something the old Colonel nodded. "Unit two: Stay in here! The rest of you: Dismissed!"
Everybody stood up and the other transgenics left the room until only the members of unit two were left. After the doors were closed again Lydecker turned towards Wolf and suddenly his face was full of anger.
"Now" he began slowly clearly fighting with himself not to shout at the young man, "tell me once again what has happened!"
"210 and 452 left the base the previous night. They made contact with the hostile forces and managed to convince them to abandon their plans and leave." Wolf's voice sounded calm but the others could hear his suppressed fear.
"And what the heck were you thinking when you allowed two of your subordinates to leave this base and contact the enemy without an order from a superior instructor?" Lydecker's face was white with rage and his hands were clenched into fists.
"210 and 452 know the '09 escapees better than we do. It was a logical decision to try and use this advantage. They were sure they could convince her old unit to leave and so they did" Wolf tried to explain. He already knew it was pointless but his military training forced him to answer his superior's questions. "And besides that you ordered us a few weeks ago that we were not to attack Logan Cale who was also there."
"You did not know he would be there when you let them go!" Lydecker shouted finally losing his self-control and Wolf flinched slightly. "You disobeyed a direct order and you knew it!"
After a few seconds the Colonel calmed down a little bit.
"With your actions you have left me with no choice. I want 210 and 452 in PsyOps in one hour" he said through clenched teeth. "Dismissed!"
"Sir, if I may…" Wolf began but Lydecker cut him off.
"I said: DISMISSED!"
The black haired transgenic didn't move.
"Sir, with due all your respect" Max's brother said not looking away from his CO once, "I think you're making a mistake!"
Every transgenic in the room shot him a shocked glance. What was he doing? No X5 ever talked to the Colonel like that when he was in such a mood.
Lydecker's facial expression suddenly became all controlled and calm again but out of the corner of her eye Max could see the look of pure coldness he gave her brother. She had felt utter terror when Lydecker had ordered her and Jondy back to PsyOps but now she suddenly was even more afraid of what would happen next.
"What did you say?" The older man's voice was blank of any emotion.
"I said: I think you're making a mistake, sir" Wolf repeated.
"Explain!"
"Sir, it was my decision to let 210 and 452 leave the base. If they made a mistake because they left it was my mistake because I allowed it."
Finally Max understood what her brother was trying to do.
"Colonel Lydecker, sir", she said trying to get the older man's attention, "can I…"
"Shut up!" Lydecker snapped.
Max opened her mouth to protest.
"Silence!" Kyla hissed angrily at her. Max looked at her 2IC and the look the shorthaired woman gave her was enough to convince her it would be best not to say anything else.
After Lydecker was sure Max wouldn't speak up again he returned his attention to 451. The young man was still standing in front of him without moving a muscle and his eyes staring at the wall.
"Do you know what you're saying, 451?"
"Sir, yes sir!"
"And you are aware of what will happen if I agree with you?"
"Sir, I do, sir!"
Lydecker nodded slowly and then looked first at Max and then at Jondy. "210 and 452?"
"Sir!" the two women said in unison.
"You should be really glad to have 451 as your CO. I gave you some liberties, but apparently too much." The older man watched both of them for a moment before he addressed Kyla. "X5-301."
"Sir?"
"You will take command of unit two for the time being!"
"Understood, sir!" The black haired woman briefly looked at Wolf fearing what this would mean for him.
"And you, 451" Lydecker continued with a voice as cold as ice, "you will report to PsyOps immediately!"
"Sir, yes sir!" Wolf tried his best not to show he was afraid. He had known this would happen after all.
"Get out of my sight, all of you!"
The whole unit was quick to leave the room. Wolf was the last. If he would have looked back he would have seen that Lydecker was watching him leave and instead of anger or disappointment there were other emotions in the old officer's eyes.
Compassion and fear.
"What have I done!" Max whispered to herself when she had reached her cell and sat down onto her bed. She knew Lydecker would punish them for their insubordination but she had thought it would be her and Jondy. Now it was her brother who had to suffer.
"Max?" She looked up upon hearing her name and got aware of Alec standing in the door. "You alright?"
"Peachy!" was her sarcastic answer.
"You knew this would happen, didn't you?"
"I knew I would be in trouble, but I never wanted Wolf to suffer! God, what have I done?" She returned her gaze to the floor feeling guilty, ashamed and frustrated at the same time. Alec watched her for a few seconds and although he had been a little bit angry with her before upon seeing her like that he suddenly wanted to comfort her.
He sighed and sat down at her side.
"Wolf knew what he was doing" he began. "He took the blame because he felt it was right thing to do. That has nothing to do with you or Jondy."
"And how should I ever again be able to look at him? He's down there because of me and God knows what they're gonna do to him! How could I ever be so stupid? This is all my fault."
She sounded utterly despaired and although Alec hadn't known her for a very long time it pained him to see her like that. When he got suddenly aware of the silent tears running down her face something snapped in his head and out of an instinct he put his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. In any other situation she surely would have hit him on the head already for something like that but now she didn't have the strength for it; she didn't know why but somehow she trusted him. She had her head on his shoulder and cried silently. It felt good to have him at her side, not being alone in her desperation anymore and she was glad he tried to comfort her although it didn't make the situation any better.
They remained like that for several minutes until Max had calmed down.
"Alec? Are you angry?" she finally asked after a long time of silence. "With me and Jondy?"
"No" he shook his head still holding her close."No, I'm not. I never agreed with your plan but I can understand why you had to do it."
She nodded. It wasn't much, but it was a start.
"Max" she suddenly heard Kyla's stern voice and the X5 in question cringed. A second later their temporary CO entered the cell and looked at them for some seconds before she continued. "We have to report to Coleman in fifteen minutes. Hurry up, both of you!"
When she wanted to turn around and leave again she caught the worried and almost anxious look in Max's eyes. Wolf's partner sighed and took a few steps towards Max.
"Max, listen up!" she said in a softer voice and to her surprise the younger X5 looked up at her and she could see the girl had been crying. "We all knew something like that would happen. And still we all agreed. I know Wolf better than anybody else, I should have known he wouldn't let you or Jondy take the blame. It was his decision."
Max exchanged a worried and confused look with Alec before she looked at Kyla again almost timidly and the momentary CO of unit two could also see the guilt in the younger soldier's eyes. She sighed again.
"Listen Max, and listen good because I'm not gonna say this again. Wolf did this because he thought it would be best for you, for Jondy and for the whole unit and everybody knows that. We're not angry with you or Jondy, none of us is, but you can't expect us to love you for what the two of you have done. Now we have to move on and in a few weeks your brother will be back with us again, okay?"
Reluctantly Max nodded, still not fully convinced but a little bit relieved that at least Alec and Kyla did not hate her.
"Good" the other female transgenic said. "And now get up, we have work to do! That goes for you, too, Alec!"
In the basement of the main building Wolf lay on the table of PsyOps. It was odd, it had been almost ten years since he had undergone a PsyOps session for the last time but the room looked almost the same.
And the feelings were definitely the same, too.
Despite all the fear he felt he knew he had done the right thing. Jondy would perhaps have been able to endure PsyOps but with her recent experience with the scientists around him he doubted his sister would have made it.
Okay, they were not the same scientists anymore but others, carefully chosen by Lydecker himself but their mission still was the same.
One of them, a woman with shoulder length blond hair made sure the restraints were in place before she adjusted the laser. When the female scientist was sure everything was ready she gave a sign to one of her co-workers.
Without warning the red light came to life and Wolf bit down on the rubber thing in his mouth forcing himself to hold back a scream of agony.
He didn't manage to do so very long.
Okay, before some of you start threating me with bodily harm READ THIS!
First of all I know some of you probably won't like the thought of Max choosing her new unit over her old siblings, but I had always a problem with that. I mean, come on she hasn't seen any of them in a decade except for Zack and to be honest she wasn't always glad to have him around. And as you know she has accepted unit two as her new unit. For the moment she will stay at Manticore although I can promise you she will eventually leave. But not now and not in the next chapters!
Second: Okay, now you know it, this is not gonna be a M/L. For those of you who fear it's gonna be a fluffy M/A I can give you the ALL-CLEAR! For now he has never been more than a friend and IF I decide in the future to make it M/A it's not gonna be one of those fluffy-and-totally-in-love things either. I just don't believe in this and I certainly don't believe in it with soldiers. Sorry to have to say that but this is speaking from my own experience. So for every hardcore M/L shipper: Sorry. I hope I won't lose any of my readers with this but the decision had to be made.
Third: No, this chapter does not mean I'll forget about Logan, Zack, Syl and all the other '09ers. Neither did I forget about Brin or Jace. I plan to bring them up again along with a several other suggestions you made in your reviews soon. Stick with me for one or two chapters and you'll see it.
I really hope to hear from all of you again although I know there have been some rather extreme decisions in this chapter.
And last but not least: Yes, I DO love reviews ;)