JOUNOUCHI sama: I have been thinking about it. Coming later, promise!

c00kieMonster: Sorry about the last cliffie, I just love them *gg* You'll see about Lydecker's plan in this chapter and I hope you like although I'm quite sure you're gonna hate me for the next cliffhanger ;)

Taeniaea: Thanks again!

Divine Fighter: Thanks to you, too. You'll see more about Renfro and Brin in this chapter but I'm afraid you won't like Wolf as much as you usually do. Don't kill me, you'll get more about it later.

roseyangel: Alec alone on a mission with four women? That can't be good! No, just kidding, he'll behave :)

tylee17: There you are! Haven't heard from you in some time, welcome back!! As I said before, I'm always glad when a reader points out where there seem to be problems. About Logan: Sorry, but I had to make it clear Max wants to stay at Manticore. It's something you don't read very often so I can very well understand you think about there goodbye to be abrupt. About Max: I can see your point and I must say you're partially right. I'll try to show you in this chapter what she's thinking concerning that special topic and I hope I'll get it right. You sure don't have to tell me soldiers usually are allowed to have families ;) but remember, it's Manticore. They are sometimes acting inhumanly but for most of their superiors the end justifies the means. And for the BSG-thing: I just liked the colonial way of believing in several deities, you'll see about the transgenics' beliefs later. I really am glad to see you back and I hope you'll find enough time to read this chapter, too. Thanks!

452max: Updating as fast as I can ;) hope you like it!

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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. Over the years she has developed a strong affection towards Wolf but being soldiers first and inexperienced with this kind of emotions none of them has had the courage to make the next step yet.

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. Just like his partner Kyla he had been developed for combat operations. His intense grey eyes and very short black hair clearly let him look like the soldier he is and his knowledge about almost any sort of combat makes him a deadly enemy. Over the years he has developed a strong affection towards Kyla but being soldiers first and inexperienced with this kind of emotions none of them has had the courage to make the next step yet.

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.

"451, 301: What I will tell you now has to stay in this room! I haven't assigned you to a team because your mission is unofficial. And I mean totally unofficial. Not even the committee knows about it. During the last months some of our missions have been compromised, you know about the Joliet mission, but that was only the tip of the iceberg. Recon missions were discovered, some of our targets suddenly vanished as soon as we moved to take them out and so on. I am afraid there is a traitor among us and it has to be someone who is sitting at the top of the food chain, that's why nobody outside this room knows where you will be going. Nobody knows you will be deployed at all, to be correct. We found out about a third location where our new friends have been operating from; a small town called Saint-Vincent in the north of Italy near Aoste. I've contacted an old friend, he knows you're coming and he has agreed to help us. Don't anger him; he sometimes has a short temper. I want you to go there, infiltrate their base and capture as much information as you can. If possible try to avoid contact with the enemy but be prepared for a fight. I know how this has to sound for you but there is no other possibility. We need to know who is behind this and if I make it an official mission our enemy will disappear before you even arrive or worse. I'm asking a lot of you two, I know about that, but you're the most experienced operators we have and I trust you to accomplish even this sort of difficult operation. Good hunting and most of all good luck!"

Wolf had an unpleasant feeling in his stomach when thinking about their mission briefing Lydecker had given them. This was the blackest sort of black ops, even for Manticore. He knew if they got caught there would be no help, no rescue team. The Colonel himself would most likely be put under arrest and he and Kyla would be forgotten or worse. He looked at his partner and could tell from the look on her face she was having the same thoughts. Nevertheless she smiled reassuringly at him and he nodded.

"Captain!" Lieutenant Linder shouted over the noise of the helicopter's engine, "one minute!"

Wolf nodded and looked out of the small window but all he could see were a few trees and the rocky surface of the Alps. The Cougar helicopter suddenly came to a halt and was now hovering about fifteen meters over the ground and slowly started to decline.

"No offence, Lieutenant" Wolf shouted back, "but where are we supposed to land? I can't see a landing place out there."

"Well, that's the trick in it, sir!" the young man grinned. Before Wolf could reply anything the ground beneath them suddenly moved and what had looked like a solid plate of granite turned out to be a carefully camouflaged hangar roof that now opened up. Both transgenics watched in surprise as the helicopter declined further and landed inside a huge hall nobody would even suspect to be there when looking at that mountain from the outside. The noise from the engine slowly died away and Linder opened the door and jumped out.

"Welcome to Fortress Delta, sir, ma'am" he said with a satisfied grin.

"Thank you, Lieutenant" Wolf replied when he had excited the helicopter and looked around. There were four more Cougar helicopters standing in the hangar, some technicians and soldiers moving around them.

He got aware of an older officer approaching them. When he was close enough Linder snapped at attention, saluted and said something in a language that sounded remotely like German. The older man just nodded and turned towards the two X5.

"Welcome to Fortress Delta, Captain, Lieutenant" he greeted them and while polite both transgenics could hear the raw undertone of a war-torn soldier in his voice. Wolf watched the older man closely and understood now what Lydecker had meant when he had said that they better not angered him. Colonel Meyer, former French Legionary, veteran of Mogadishu and Bagdad and one of the few surviving defenders of Chur during the Russian-European war; this man was considered a hero in this country. And like most heroes he had seen more than enough of war. "My name is Colonel Meyer, I'm the commanding officer of this fortress. I have already been informed of your arrival by your superior. The mission briefing is in six hours, until then I suggest you take some rest and eat something. Lieutenant Linder will show you your quarters. If you have any questions, ask him. You have to excuse me now, but we are a little bit busy at the moment."

He turned towards Linder and the young man saluted again before the Colonel left.

"Sir, ma'am" he then addressed the two transgenics. "Follow me please and try not to get lost. Fortress Delta is a maze."

"Is he always like that?" Kyla asked while they followed the young officer out of the underground hangar.

"What? The Colonel?"

She nodded.

"Most of the time, but you get used to it. We are lucky to have him as our CO."

After that nobody said anything while the trio made its way through the labyrinth of corridors and caverns. It was a military base, no doubt about that, but it almost seemed to be a small city, too. They came past quarters, storage rooms, a mess…she couldn't help it but somehow it reminded her of her own home back in Wyoming although some of the corridors they came through were definitely very old, over thirty years, while others looked just like the grey corridors in Manticore's headquarter. She had known this kind of bunker existed but had never been in one before. Many of them had been built at the time of the Second World War; they were old, yes, but history had proved they still were dangerous. During the Russian-European war in 2014 after having been stopped in the north of Europe by German and British forces Russian tank and infantry divisions had broken through the Austrian defenses and had tried to pass through Switzerland to attack the northern Italian defense lines and the NATO's airfields. The heavy artillery and defense capabilities of the dozens of bunkers in the Alps just like this one had stopped the Russian attack and after having sustained high losses the Russian commanders had decided to abandon their immediate attack and move further to the south which had cost them time and manpower.

After some minutes they came past a section that seemed to be different from the others. From one corridor came the smell of antiseptic, sweat and fear and she caught a glimpse of a long white corridor and two soldiers who dragged a young man about her age through it. She stopped dead in her tracks. He looked very weak and exhausted but she couldn't see any injuries. She felt a cold shiver run down her spine. This looked just like…!

"Lieutenant!" The sharp voice of Lieutenant Linder brought her back to reality. He looked at her and his usually gentle eyes were cold as ice. "You are our guests, but there are some things that are not meant for your eyes!"

After a few seconds she nodded and caught up with Wolf and the young officer again. She briefly looked at her partner but his expression alone told her he had seen just the same things she had. Shortly afterwards they reached their quarters.

"It isn't much" Linder said almost apologetically. Two beds, two lockers and a small table with a reading lamp. It looked similar to the quarters they had back home at Manticore. "We're not used to have visitors."

"It's alright, Lieutenant" Wolf assured him.

"Very well. If you need anything: My own quarters are just at the end of the corridor."

"We'll be fine, thank you."

"Sir, ma'am!" The young officer saluted and left the room closing the door behind.

When they were alone Kyla immediately turned towards her partner.

"What the hell was that?"

"I don't know and I don't care." His voice was tense.

"Come on!" she exclaimed. "It looked just like…"

"Kyla!" he interrupted her sharply. "I know what you've seen but stop thinking about it! It's none of our business. This fortress is not our mission! We have about five hours until we have to prepare for the briefing and I suggest we use that time."

Kyla looked at him for a few seconds with a harsh response on her lips but she finally nodded. She knew he was right and if she was honest he didn't act differently than he had during all those years she had known him before they'd found Max. After all it was the Wolf she had known since they'd been children; focused, straightforward and when in the field an uncompromising soldier and officer. She actually liked those characteristics but perhaps she needed some time to fully acknowledge her old partner was back. Still he was right and she knew it. It was none of their business and there surely was nothing they could do about it.

Still she couldn't stop thinking about that bright corridor while she started unpacking her bag. Back home was a place where she always had the same feeling she had felt a few minutes ago, only its walls were not white, back home they were grey.

PsyOps.

"I really could get used to this kind of mission" Jondy sighed and took another sip from her coffee. It was early in the evening and they were sitting in a coffee shop near the building they would enter in a few hours.

"Don't let Coleman or Lydecker hear that" Alec grinned. "Otherwise you'll be sent to Russia next time."

"Don't say their names, 494!" Brin hissed. "We're in the public."

"And you don't use my designation while we're out here" Alec warned her sounding only a little bit reprehensive but Max saw the look in his eyes and decided it was time to step in.

"Jondy, Brin? Up for a walk?"

"Sure" Jondy quickly agreed and stood up. She had felt the rising tension, too. Brin on the other side looked at Alec and waited until her temporary CO nodded before she got up herself.

The three women left the small coffee shop and walked through the streets of the old town without a real goal. After a while Max finally said out loud what had been on her mind since this mission had started.

"Do you really not remember anything, Brin? I mean, before you started working for Renfro."

"Like what?" The first time Max had almost flinched upon hearing her sister's unemotional voice but by now she was almost used to it.

"Your time outside Manticore, the escape" Max continued "our old unit."

"No!"

"I don't believe you" Jondy said looking at her Asian sister. "You very well remembered your own name, Brin!"

Brin pressed her lips together but didn't say anything. She had known from the beginning a conversation like this one was bound to happen but she was determined to end it quickly. Whenever she had allowed herself to think back about how it had been before she had been caught the scientists in PsyOps had used some new kind of torture on her. She had forced herself to forget and whenever just one tiny bit of memory threatened to work its way back into her consciousness she had forced it back into the dark abyss where she hid all of former life. It had been painful at first but now she knew it was better like that. She was a soldier; she didn't need memories of emotions, of her relation to her siblings. She didn't need anything than the information that could be useful to her in a tactical way.

"Brin", Max said again her voice soft and almost soothing. "It's us, Max and Jondy. You can trust us. We've always trusted each other, don't you remember?"

"I don't need those memories" Brin finally said angrily. "And neither do you. They just make you weak and unfocused!"

"But they also tell us who we are."

"We're soldiers. We are transgenic commando units." Brin sounded more aggressive now but at the same time she could feel how her defenses got weaker with every word her two fellow X5 said. She couldn't allow that to happen, she had to stay strong. She was X5-734, nothing else. "That's what we are and that's all I ever wanted to be."

"Didn't look like that to me when I last saw you with Zane" Jondy casually said. Brin stopped dead in her tracks, her body frozen and her face a mask of silent shock.

"Brin?" Max asked alarmed. She and Jondy had stopped, too, and both looked at their older sister worried about the sudden change in her behavior. "Brin, talk to us!"

"Zane" the Asian X5 whispered her voice not cold anymore but hoarse and Max cringed upon hearing the suppressed emotions. "I remember him."

"Oh, Brin" Max exclaimed sadly and full of joy at the same time and embraced her sister into a tight hug. Jondy was quick to follow her example. Max could feel how Brin fought to keep up her composure and she felt a wave of anger rush through her when she thought about that witch Renfro who was the cause of all that pain.

After a few seconds Brin took a step back and looked at her siblings. Max could see it wasn't the Brin that she had known once but it wasn't the brainwashed drone anymore either.

"I'm sorry" Jondy said quietly. "I didn't want to hurt you."

"I know" the Asian X5 said and Max's face lit up in joy when she saw her older sister's lips curl up into a tiny smile. It was gone in the blink of an eye but Max knew she had seen it. Brin tried to look like the cold and controlled X5 again but her eyes were not empty anymore; Max could see some tiny bit of her sister had found its way back to life. "If you don't mind I would like to go back."

Their way back to the coffee shop was quiet. Max and Jondy kept looking at their older sibling with a mixture of calm happiness and slight worry but Brin was too occupied to notice any of it. Jondy mentioning Zane had been like somebody had opened the floodgates, like his name had been the code to unlock the barriers to her past. Even if she had wanted to she wouldn't have been able to hold back all the memories and emotions that were flowing through her mind right now and although she didn't understand all of it yet and felt more confused than ever before she also didn't want to. It was like she finally began to live again and she didn't want that feeling to stop.

When Alec saw them approaching he waved for the waiter and paid the bill. Just when the three women arrived he and Jace got up and joined them.

"There you are" the only male transgenic in the group said. He looked at Brin and frowned but said nothing as he saw the small sign Max gave him. "We have to go back to the apartment and prepare. Let's go."

When they started to walk towards where they had set up their improvised command center Max signaled him to stay back a little bit. They waited until they were about ten meters behind Jondy, Brin and Jace before Alec quietly spoke up.

"Max, what's going on with Brin?"

"I don't know exactly" she whispered back. "Jondy mentioned Zane – X5-205 – it looks like that made her start to remember."

"Whoa, wait a minute!" he exclaimed loud enough for Jace to hear it and look back but continued in a more quiet voice, "you mean: Remember like: Remember what PsyOps made her forget? That's impossible!"

"Apparently not."

"Do you have any idea what that means? If that's true she's not operational anymore!"

"The hell she isn't!" Why did he always have to do that? It was a good thing Brin finally got past those barriers PsyOps had put in her mind. "She'll be fine!"

"Max" he insisted, "calm down. I know how you feel about her and please don't misunderstand me. If she gets past what PsyOps has done to her I will just be as glad as you are but you know yourself how you felt after PsyOps and she has been reindoctrinated far more intensely than anybody else I can remember. I can't let her go into that house like that. What if she has a breakdown while you are in there?"

Max sighed deeply. She hadn't thought about that.

"You're right" she admitted. "Can't you give her something else to do? If we treat her like she is weak and not functioning at the moment she'll retreat again. Please?"

"Stop giving me that puppy look" he tried to defend himself but knew it was futile. And Max was right after all. He really would be glad if 734 got her memory back. Sure she was from another unit but she was an X5 too and nobody deserved what had been done to her. "Alright, I'll find something. But that stays between us! It's not the standard procedure. Don't tell the Colonel or he'll have my ass."

"Always worried about your precious backside, hm?" She gave him a mock flirting glance but feeling grateful at the same time.

"Yeah, as if it would be your problem" he snorted. At that moment a man in black leather clothing drove past them on a motorcycle. Max stopped and looked after him and Alec didn't like the look he suddenly saw in her eyes. "Max, everything alright? Max?"

"Huh?" She seemingly hadn't heard his question.

"I asked if you're alright. You looked like you just saw a ghost."

"It's nothing. It's just…" she trailed of and cursed silently. She really treasured Alec's friendship but why did he have to know her that well all the time? "Before I came back to Manticore I had one of those motorcycles myself. I really liked it. I guess I just had some kind of flashback."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"It's just…I know we're soldiers and all and I don't have a problem with that. It's what we've been designed to be and what we live for but…it would be nice to be somebody else sometimes. Not for long, just a day or two." She looked at him almost timidly. "You're not gonna tell this anybody, right? Wolf would be furious as hell."

To her surprise Alec chuckled slightly but looked at her with a calm seriousness. "I've known your brother for a lot longer than you. He would understand, don't worry. And I understand it, too. You're not the first one to have thoughts like that. Sometimes I'm wondering myself what it would be like to just lay down our burden and be ordinary humans."

She looked at him with a mixture of slight surprise and understanding. It was not often she got to see this serious and thoughtful side of the usually cocky X5. So she wasn't alone with this sort of thought. She felt relieved.

"Our lives are dedicated to combat and military operations. We've been trained to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves and as long as we have to we will continue to be soldiers. But you shouldn't only think about that, at least not when we're at home and safe. It does you no good, believe me." Max looked at him and she could see he spoke from his own experience. "You should also think about the good things. You have a unit who cares about you, a family who understands you. And you have Wolf. Your brother would die to protect you."

"I know" she replied in a grave voice, "but I don't want to think about it."

"I understand. Just keep in mind that none of us is just all about killing and achieving military objectives all the time. Almost all of us wonder from time to time what it would be like if we wouldn't have to be soldiers anymore. I'm almost sure even Wolf and Kyla have thought about this, too" he continued seriously. "And who knows, perhaps one day we can do so; step back and let somebody else do the job."

"Yeah, perhaps one day" she agreed with a soft smile. "Thank you, Alec."

"You're welcome" he answered and flashed her his trademark grin. "But it will not be this night. This night we're gonna kick some cyborg ass!"

Wolf checked his SIG 554 assault rifle again but like the times before found out everything was alright. He knew how to handle this kind of rifle; they were considered to be some of best assault rifles in existence, after all, but he still preferred the guns he usually got from Manticore.

"Don't worry" Lieutenant Linder's voice caught his attention even over the noise of the Cougar helicopters engine. The young officer was sitting in front of him and grinned. Just like the rest of the thirty-five soldiers that would be on that mission and Wolf and Kyla themselves he wore full combat equipment and his face was covered in dark green and black camouflage color. "I've worked with the 554 for years. Never had any problems."

"I'm not worried" Wolf shouted back, "just want to be sure everything's ready."

Linder nodded and leaned back, allowing Wolf to look around for a moment. There were twelve people in the Cougar, not including the two pilots and the loadmaster; he, Kyla, Linder and nine of the Lieutenant's soldiers. What he saw reassured him. Although all of the soldiers were not older than he was their calm seriousness showed him they knew what they were going to do. He was almost sure they all had combat experience and while he would never say it out loud he felt glad Colonel Meyer had decided to attack their target with a whole platoon. They would land rather close to the house where they suspected their enemies base but the scouts the Colonel had deployed two days ago had reported that there were almost no guards outside so it shouldn't make any difference if they heard the helicopters coming. And besides that there was an Italian airbase near the small town so whoever the men were they should be used to the noise of aircrafts nearby by now.

But something still bothered him: During the mission briefing Wolf and Kyla had filled in the Swiss soldiers about their enemy, about them being able to react and move faster than the ordinary human due to bioengineering. He had expected at least some of them to be disbelieving but every man and woman in the Briefing Room had just acknowledged the facts and nodded. They had either seen much more than you would suspect from soldiers this young or there was more about them than met the eye. Or both.

He wasn't given time to ponder about that any longer. The pilot turned back to them and shouted:

"Three minutes! We're going dark!"

Immediately the lights changed from a bright white to a dark blue and outside he could see the two other Cougars almost disappearing into the darkness of the night when they switched off their position lights.

"We're entering Italian airspace" the pilot suddenly announced. "Two minutes."

Wolf could feel how the mood in the helicopter changed. Until now it had been a rather calm but attentive waiting, now he could sense how the soldiers' bodies prepared for battle. Heartbeats rose, breathing quickened. He felt his own body responding to those feelings and his feral side growled in anticipation. This was a combat operation, the sort of mission he had been designed for and his enhanced body was aching to do what it had been made for.

"One minute."

He glanced at Kyla and she flashed him a feral grin. She was feeling it, too, the rush of adrenaline and the excitement every soldier felt before battle.

"Touch down!" The pilot announced and the loadmaster opened the doors. "Good luck!"

The soldiers jumped out into the dark night and quickly secured the perimeter around the small clearance that was their drop zone. Wolf could see the other two helicopters landing nearby and the rest of the platoon quickly secured its own respective areas. Not twenty seconds after they had touched the ground the three Cougars took off again and disappeared to the north where they would wait for the radio signal to pick them up again.

"All units, this is two-six" he suddenly could hear the Lieutenant's whispering voice in his ear. "We're going to the south. Blue team, you take point, red team, you are with me and green team takes the rear."

The three team leaders voiced their affirmatives and without a sound thirty-six soldiers and two transgenics made their way through the woods. Wolf briefly wondered how the human soldiers were able to move so stealthily and quietly as none of them had any sort of night vision gear but he quickly let go of that thought as he knew he had to focus on the task that lay before them.

It took them about half an hour to reach their target, an old mansion near the border of the woods. Linder whispered some quick orders into his micro in that strange language that sounded almost like German but Wolf was only able to understand some of it. Apparently green team which had two snipers would stay back and provide cover while blue and red team – the one he and Kyla were with – would attack and enter the building.

When he felt the Lieutenant was about to give the order to attack he briefly looked at Kyla and nodded at her reassuringly, a gesture she returned.

"All units, this is two-six" Linder finally ordered and his voice was as hard as stone. "Attack! I repeat: Attack!"

In Washington Renfro was sitting in her office going through the latest reports on her computer. She was in a good mood. Tonight the teams in Europe would attack and while they would find nothing more in Edinburgh than an abandoned safe house there were two teams in Montpellier which were just waiting for their attack orders from the observation base in northern Italy. Suddenly she frowned and opened a file that had been sent to her only minutes ago. It was the report of two transgenics who had boarded on a flight to Europe almost three days ago. As far as she knew there was no mission scheduled in Europe except for Montpellier and Edinburgh. She scrolled down until she got to the designations of the two X5.

X5-451 and X5-301.

She felt confused for a moment and then it hit her. She paled and froze in shock.

But only for a second. She quickly put out her cell phone and dialed the number she knew by heart.

"What?" the male voice snapped in an annoyed tone sounding tired. "We agreed that it's me who makes con…"

"Shut up and listen!" she interrupted him rudely. "There are two X5 who have been deployed to Geneva, Switzerland. I believe they're going to attack Saint-Vincent!"

"Are you sure about that?" Any sort of tiredness had vanished from his voice.

"There is no other reason for Lydecker to send them there. He hasn't even told the committee about it."

"I'll inform the emergency response teams!"

Without waiting for her answer he hung up.

On another continent Max had just finished dealing with the alarm system. She nodded towards Jace and the female X5 opened the door carefully with a gun in her other hand and Jondy right behind her.

"All clear" Max announced over wireless. "We're going in."

"Roger that" she heard Alec's calm reply. He was sitting in their command center monitoring every action of his team. "Brin, status?"

"I can't see anything" the Asian X5 announced. She was currently on a rooftop on the other side of the street watching the dark apartment through her scope. Alec had decided that would be the best spot for her and Max had agreed, feeling grateful towards her friend; like this Brin still was part of the mission but not directly involved. "It looks like there's absolutely nobody."

"Roger. Max" Alec continued, "you are free to proceed, but be careful."

"Wilco" the female transgenic answered and terminated the connection. She hadn't missed the tense undertone in the male X5's voice and she fully knew what he was thinking for she had the same thoughts.

This was too easy.

The two teams approached the mostly dark building quickly and silently and had almost arrived when a guard rounded the building and got aware of the two dozen soldiers. Before he could even raise his gun a rifle cracked behind the attacking teams and the man fell to the ground.

"Green five, one down!" the sniper announced.

And that was when all hell broke loose. Out of nowhere enemies appeared, out of the main door, at the windows, almost from everywhere. The green team did his best to cover their advancing comrades but two of the Swiss soldiers suddenly cried out in pain and fell to the ground.

"Take cover!" Wolf heard Linder's voice. Everybody ducked behind whatever cover they could find and the X5 cursed silently. If they stayed like that they would be pinched down. But he got surprised. Linder shouted as loud as he could into his micro: "Launchers! Clear me that goddamned first floor! Green team, cover the second floor!"

There was no verbal answer but after some seconds four of his soldiers with grenade launchers suddenly stood up simultaneously and launched their grenades at the windows on the first floor and the green team showered the second floor with a volley so intense their enemies had to duck for cover themselves. The four grenades exploded in the building and suddenly the transgenic could hear the screams of panic and pain.

"Blue team!" Linder roared. "Cover us! Red team: Get in there! NOW!"

No more words were needed. While the blue team made sure nobody would shoot at their charging comrades from the first floor the red team with Linder at its point and Kyla and Wolf in tow stormed towards the building and took position left and right to the main entry door where they were safe for the moment.

Wolf watched the interaction and movements of the soldiers and he had to admit that for ordinary humans they were good. A little bit too good for his liking. When the team was in position Linder kicked the door open and immediately two of his soldiers threw grenades into the new opening. There were two deafening explosions and the whole team charged into the room; a few shots were all it took to neutralize the enemies that had survived the grenades. After a few seconds there was a soldier at every door in the room and somebody announced: "Room one clear!"

Breathing heavily the young Lieutenant looked around to make sure everything was alright for the moment. The room was totally wasted, several dead bodies lay around and the smell of gunpowder and blood was almost too much to bear.

"Blue team, move up! Green team, status?"

"Green team, no casualties, no wounded. Ammo: 60 percent."

At this moment blue team entered the room.

"Status?" Linder barked.

"Two wounded" the team leader announced. She had a nasty gash on her cheek herself but as it looked the shorthaired brunette women didn't seem to mind. "One got hit into the shoulder, one into the arm. Medic says they're gonna be fine."

The platoon leader looked at the medic and the man gave him a thumbs up and proceeded to take care of the one soldier who had taken a bullet to the shoulder.

"Okay, listen up" Linder finally ordered. "Blue team, you're gonna clear this floor, red team, we're going upstairs. Green team, call in the evacs, I bet we don't have much time left until the Italians show up. Everybody move out!"

Quickly the teams split up and the one Wolf and Kyla were with went upstairs. As soon as they arrived on the second floor they got greeted by a hail of bullets and had to duck for cover once more. Just when the Lieutenant readied another grenade a tall figure appeared behind him and Wolf could see the knife in the man's hand. Without thinking he blurred forward, threw the officer against the wall and out of harm's way and grabbed the attacker. They struggled for a few seconds until Kyla came to his aid and shot his enemy. Breathing heavily Wolf retreated behind their cover again.

Suddenly he got aware of how Linder was looking at him, but instead of seeing surprise or disbelief at how inhumanly fast he had moved the young officer suddenly grinned and opened a radio channel once again.

"All units, all units, this is two-six. Full combat engagement authorized, I repeat, full engagement authorized. Over and out."

After that everything happened very quickly. The soldiers who had been acting like very well trained but still human spec ops until now gathered around their CO and team leader and launched their attack. Their cybernetic enhanced enemies had been better than the attack teams due to their enhanced strength and reflexes despite the fact that they seemingly had no grenades and most of them only used handguns only the surprise effect and superior firepower had allowed the soldiers to make it this far. But not anymore. With movements much faster than everything Wolf had ever seen it outside Manticore and a cold but perfect teamwork the soldiers started to clean one room after the other.

He was so surprised himself at first that he didn't move. One look at Kyla told him she was as astonished as he was but the heat of battle quickly took over his thinking again and he rejoined the advancing team. When Linder saw the two Americans had joined his soldiers again he flashed them a knowing and grim smile before he proceeded to the next room. The next few minutes were a blur of explosions, shooting, shouting and soldiers driving back their enemies in perfectly trained moves. It was hell and if it hadn't been for the adrenaline that drove back almost any sort of conscious thinking and allowed the soldiers and X5s to act out of instinct it would possibly have been too much for any sane mind. But like this they just did what they were trained to do, it was their operation, their mission and nothing else.

When they came to the last room Wolf and Kyla were the first to enter after the grenades had detonated. There were two enemies lying on the floor but one look told him they were dead.

"Room clear!" the team leader announced.

"Room clear, second floor clear!" Linder announced into his micro then looked around at the mass of computer equipment, breathing heavily and giving the two transgenics a weird look. "Well, looks like their command center to me. What do you think, Captain?"

"I think you're right!" the male transgenic growled not missing the hint. They knew already more about each other than they should and Wolf already knew that after the mission there would be a long and extremely unpleasant conversation. But not now. He turned towards Kyla. "Lieutenant?"

"On it" his partner said and quickly went to one of the terminals that hadn't been destroyed in the fight and connected her external hard drive to it. "Okay, I start the download…what the…Captain!"

"What?" Upon hearing the intensity in her voice he was at her side in a second looking at one of the screens she was currently staring at. He swore and took out his cell phone. It was something he usually didn't take with on such missions but when being in a foreign country he usually did. Frantically he dialed the number and prayed he would get a connection. Linder looked at him in confusion but one look from the transgenic told him enough and he remained silent while the rest of red team made sure nobody would attack them.

"494" Wolf finally got an answer.

"This is 451! Identification alpha-three-nine-two-delta-sierra-two-six!"

"Wolf, what the…"

"Be quiet and listen! Abort your mission right now!"

"What are you talking about?" Despite his experience the other transgenic sounded confused. "Where are you?"

"I'm in Italy and currently looking at a screen which just shows Max, Jace and Jondy doing recon in an apartment! Sounding familiar?" Wolf hissed trying to convince his third in command of the truth of his words. "Alec, you've been compromised! Abort and pull out! Now!"

There was a second of hesitation. "Got it, we pull out!"

The line went dead and Wolf could do nothing than look at the screen which showed his teammates and his sister who were currently several hundreds of miles away from him. That was by far one of the weirdest and most disturbing situations he had ever been in.

"Captain" Linder announced. "Forty-five seconds to exit. The Cougars approach and command has intercepted radio messages from the Italian air force. They're about to launch their quick response fighters."

"I need more than forty-five seconds" Kyla growled. "There's just…oh you gotta be kidding me!"

Just when Wolf wanted to ask what was wrong the screen before him suddenly went black just as did every other screen in the room that hadn't been destroyed.

"What's going on?"

"It's shutting down" Kyla exclaimed trying to stop the process. "The whole damned network is destroying itself."

"A virus?"

"Negative, I've checked that and I've established a safe line. The command is coming from somewhere outside."

"Can you track it?"

"With a computer who's currently trying to commit suicide? Are you kidding?"

"Kyla…"

"Captain!" Lieutenant Linder interrupted. "We gotta go. Now!"

Wolf looked from him to Kyla and back with clenched teeth. He knew the young officer was right but without the information from the computers the whole mission would have been for nothing. But he could already hear the Cougars approaching and he knew if they waited too long the jets of the air force would make it impossible to escape. With an angry growl he signaled Kyla to move out and followed her after she'd yanked the hard drive from the now 'dead' computer and left the room.

The young Lieutenant and the rest of his team followed and just when the first lights of the approaching helicopters could be seen in the distance they started to run away from the old mansion into the open field were they secured their perimeter once again and made it possible for the three Cougars to land. As soon as the aircrafts had touched the ground they all retreated and jumped into the huge helicopters as fast as they could one after the other.

Kyla was one of the last together with the Lieutenant, two of the soldiers and Wolf. Just when she turned around she heard a gunshot one of the soldiers cried out and fell to the ground clutching his leg.

"Sniper!" somebody shouted and everybody frantically tried to find the hidden shooter, first of all their own snipers using their scopes to scan the area around them. In the blink of an eye the female transgenic made her decision and she started running towards the wounded soldier. It was more than just dangerous but she was the closest to him and during this night he was one of her unit. She wouldn't leave a member of her unit behind. She could hear Wolf shouting at her to come back but she knew she couldn't; usually they would locate and neutralize the sniper first but they didn't have the time to do so this time, they had to evacuate now!

She arrived at the wounded soldier. The bullet had torn up his thigh and he looked at her with a pained expression. She grabbed him and tossed him over her shoulder ignoring his cries of pain and carried him back to the nearest Cougar as fast as she could. Just when she got there and the other soldiers took their comrade from her shoulder she heard somebody shout:

"Over there!"

And then there was a movement behind her and another shout: "Get down!"

She wanted to turn around but was too slow. Before she could do anything she heard the sound of a gunshot and felt a painful hit against her back.

Anybody still thinking I'm getting old? Yeah, I know my endings can be mean sometimes *evil grin*

For those who think Wolf was behaving a little bit strange in this chapter: You are right. Why? You find out later.

For those of you who would like to see Max kick some ass: Wait for the next chapter.

And for those who still want to see what Logan's doing in the meantime. You'll have to be a little bit patient.

Now, I don't know yet if I will be able to update again soon for my unit has a training exercise out in the woods and I'll probably not return before 04-02. I'll try but I can't promise anything.

Just remember: Reviews are life! ;)