Okay, I know I'm late I'd like to apologize for the delay but for a change I have a good excuse as I've just come home from three days in my own little Manticore. Forgive me if you can, please.

Taeniaea: Thanks again. I'm always surprised how fast you are ;)

452max: Hm, you will find out some good things in this chapter, but also some of the bad sort. Read and enjoy and thanks to you, too!

Dutch: Welcome on board and thanks for the review. I hope you'll like the rest of the story to and I'm looking forward to hear from you again.

roseyangel: Thanks to you, too! Are they going to be in trouble? Sure! Sooner or later! Hey, I mean, you know me, right? ;) I understand that the idea of X5s together can be a little bit difficult at first and I've been thinking a lot about it. But after all they're not related to each other on a genetic level (with a few exceptions like Max and Wolf, of course) so this isn't the problem. Considering them as brother and sister is understandable but here also I tried to show that they are really, really close friends. I made my decision after I thought about a very good friend of mine who married a girl he knew since his childhood. His situation was very much like Kyla's and Wolf's; he has seen that girl almost on a daily basis and they did a lot of things together but still they didn't see each other as brother and sister and so I think it is possible. I don't know yet if I'm ever gonna write my own story, not today and not tomorrow, that's for sure, but perhaps sometimes in the future, who knows? Thanks again!

Okay, thanks to everybody and here we go!

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.

The flight was amazingly calm in an almost surreal way, Alec decided for himself while he was listening to the pilot talking about their route and estimated time of arrival. The solution to their problems had been incredibly simple compared to their original problem. After they had made it out of Montpellier, stealing a car and driving through the night they had arrived at Marseille in the morning and in a bold act the five transgenics had contacted the US embassy. That wasn't just unusual, it was highly forbidden! Revealing himself and his team to the official ambassador of the United States in a foreign country could cause diplomatic problems nobody could exactly predict.

Until now they seemed to be fine, though, at least when you considered the circumstances. The local CIA officer and the ambassador himself had breathed fire and brimstone after Alec had identified himself as a Captain of the US army spec ops and had told them was a military operation going on in their area of responsibility without their knowledge and the male X5 was sure he would be in trouble when they came home but there simply hadn't been another option.

Bringing his injured team members to a hospital hadn't been an option; unlike in Joliet their enemies were much too numerous and certainly had enough manpower this time to watch out for them at every hospital they could get to in time. And they had needed medical attention, badly. By the time they got to the embassy Brin had been feverish; not even her transgenic immune system had been able to fight back the infection her wound had caused and Max's lung really had been punctured, making it not only very painful and difficult for her to breathe but the injury could also become a threat to her life if not treated properly.

Upon seeing how badly wounded the two young women were, the ambassador – a veteran of the second Gulf War himself – had calmed down a little bit and the embassy's physician had done his best to help the transgenics. Somehow the older man had even managed to get the embassy's plane ready within two hours and now Alec and his team were on their way home and – hopefully – to safety.

Alec nodded towards the pilot when the man had ended his monologue and excited the cockpit, walking through the small corridor towards the passenger cabin. Jace and Jondy, whose hand was in a cast, looked up upon his entrance but he signaled them to be quiet and proceeded towards the two other members of his team who still were asleep upon two of the small couches. Brin looked a little bit better; not as pale as before and with her eyes closed in her sleep almost peaceful. Max on the other hand still looked hurt, her beautiful features harder than usually even while she was not awake. The embassy's physician had done everything he could but without the equipment of a hospital he had only been able to stabilize her; the lung was still injured and breathing a painful duty for her, but at least she would make it now until they reached Manticore. Or so he hoped.

He felt frustrated and anxious; not being able to do more for her bothered him to no end. He had to admit that while that brown haired '09er girl had unsettled him a little bit at the beginning and had been the cause of some major trouble he had developed a deep friendship towards her after some time and right now, after this mission and the talk they'd had before last night he also felt something else. It was more than a CO's concern towards an injured soldier and something else than simple friendship.

It wasn't the same he had felt towards Rachel, though. With Rachel it had been a pure, straightforward attraction. With Max however it was more like a constant emotional roller coaster ride. One moment he felt like snapping at her, the other one he wanted to pull her close and comfort her. He knew she felt confused sometimes, mostly when something reminded her of her past outside Manticore. There were times where he could almost feel her inner conflict, the feeling of loyalty towards Manticore against her wish to be free and decide on her own what to do. Until now she had always chosen Manticore and he prayed that it would stay that way; he didn't want to have to see her as an enemy and a deserter again, not after everything they had gone through together until now.

To be honest he was quite sure he wouldn't be able to do so even if the order would come from Lydecker himself.

She suddenly flinched and grimaced in pain and he could hear the barely audible moan that escaped her lips but she didn't wake up. Out of instinct he knelt down at her side and took her hand in his and had to hold back a surprised frown when she unconsciously squeezed his hand. His eyes softened as he watched her relax just a little bit and he smiled without really noticing it.

A few meters away Jondy grinned and elbowed Jace slightly in the ribs and the other woman frowned and followed her teammates gaze, then an understanding grin appeared on her face as well.

They stayed like that for about half an hour until the pilot announced they had entered American airspace. Alec sighed and moved to stand up but stopped when Jondy silently signaled him to stay and proceeded towards the cockpit herself. The brown haired transgenic sighed when she put on the headset and adjusted the radio to the encrypted frequency Manticore used. Now this would be an interesting conversation.

When Lydecker entered Manticore's comm room a few minutes later his face was an unreadable mask. The team that had gone to Edinburgh had returned the previous day and reported that they'd found nothing; apparently the men they were after had already left the place before his soldiers had arrived. He was almost sure by now that there was a traitor in his organization.

The second team however had not contacted them until just now and that meant they had run into trouble. When no word was heard from them Lydecker and his subordinates had started to search them, but until now there had been nothing. When he had heard they'd made contact over wireless he'd breathed a sigh of relief and was now eager to hear what they had to say.

He wordlessly greeted the officer on duty and put on the headset.

"This is Lydecker!"

"Sir, X5-210 reporting, sir!" Even over all the static he recognized Jondy's voice immediately and a small and relieved smile appeared on his face.

"It's good to hear you, 210. What's your status?"

"We're on our way home, sir, we've entered American airspace a few minutes ago." How had they been able to get on a plane without him knowing it? They had looked out for them after all! "The ambassador in Marseille borrowed us his jet."

"Say again, soldier!" Lydecker ordered Max's sister sharply after a second of shocked silence.

"We had to contact the US embassy in Marseille and are on our way home, sir" Jondy repeated with a stoic voice.

"What made you contact an official embassy of the United States? You better have a damned good reason for that, soldier!"

"We have, sir." She still sounded calm but the old Colonel could hear the small undertone of stress in her voice. "Our team ran into a hostile TAC unit. There were at least thirty of them and from what I've seen they were all enhanced. We had to retreat and 734 and 452 were critically injured; we had no other possibility to get them immediate treatment and a fast way to get home."

"How badly are they injured?" Despite his anger that they had broken the rules – again, as he added subconsciously – he knew there were always two sides to a story and hearing that two of his children – one of them Max – were injured was enough to let him hold back his anger at the moment.

"734 has a broken leg and a severe infection, but it is under control. 452 has a few broken ribs and it seems that one of them has punctured her lung. She's stable at the moment but she will need surgery."

"Understood." His voice was cold and focused; although hearing about Max's severe wounds made him worry about her even more he knew he couldn't allow himself to let his fear cloud his judgment. They had to be quick now. "I'll instruct your pilot where to land and a team will be there to pick you up and bring you back."

"Understood, sir!"

"Over and out!"

He turned towards the officer on duty and they quickly worked out where to direct the plane. While the other man gave the pilot the coordinates Lydecker was thinking about what he had just heard and although he was worried about his kids the anxious mentor and father in him was quickly replaced by the military tactician. Their problems seemed to grow each day; not only was that mysterious fraction of bioengineered men bigger than they had expected and apparently aggressive enough to execute offensive operations but there were also some rumors about some strange kind of breeding cult and the Red Cell seemed to grow more ambitious again, too.

He sighed and left the room after the comm officer had assured him everything was going to work like planned. At least this time everybody would come home alive; unfortunately only to face the next threat sooner or later.

What he didn't know at that moment was that the danger was much closer than he suspected.

Washington D.C.

"Ladies and Gentlemen" Renfro's voice echoed through the large room, "I've requested this hearing to protest against repeated and severe violation and noncompliance of the regulations of the Manticore program in our installation in Wyoming."

She was standing behind a small table looking at the six men and women sitting behind their own tables in front of her with a calm focus. The two high-ranking officers and four politicians who represented the committee looked at her with a mixture of interest and suspicion; they knew about the power struggle between her and Lydecker.

"During the past weeks and months the head of the Wyoming facility has ignored several violations of the rules this committee has enacted for the genetically engineered soldiers of the X-series. Several transgenic prototypes have ignored orders and directives and there was almost no punishment. In one case Colonel Lydecker ordered a commanding officer of a unit into PsyOps, but reinstated him in his old position immediately after his release. Those facts alone are – at least in my eyes – serious and even dangerous mistakes." She paused and let her words sink in before she presented her best argument: "And the last and most serious incident has taken place not even 48 hours ago. A unit of the Swiss Special Forces has attacked and destroyed a target in Italy; before their attack they got intel on the target from Colonel Lydecker and during the attack they were supported by at least two X5. No official order had been given, no such mission has ever been approved by the committee. This mission has been ordered and carried out in Colonel Lydecker's personal interest."

To say the committee members were stunned after her last piece of information would have been the understatement of the century. They looked at her with shocked expressions and none of them seemed to be able to speak a word until one of the officers finally cleared his throat.

"Donald Lydecker is a very experienced and highly decorated officer. I'm sure you know that we will need more than just your word on this if you want us to investigate your accusations. Do you have any concrete evidence you can present us?"

"Of course, sir" the blonde Renfro nodded and opened the envelope folder she had placed on the table before her, handing over several documents to the man.

During the next minutes nobody said a word while the men and women went through the files but the expressions on the committee members' faces and the darkening looks in their eyes told her more than enough and while she waited with a stoic expression on her face Elizabeth Renfro felt an overwhelming joy inside herself; the attack on Saint-Vincent had been a disaster for her organization but it seemed that something good would come out of this whole affair in the end.

Donald Lydecker was finally going to fall!

Fortress Delta – South of Switzerland

Wolf looked at Kyla who was still asleep with kind eyes and listened to her shallow and even breathing. They were still lying in his bed; her head rested on his chest and her right arm around his upper body, like she wanted to make sure he wasn't going anywhere. Not that he intended to do so at all.

His eyes wandered over the parts of her perfect body that weren't covered by the thin blanket and back to her beautiful face while he thought about what had happened last night. He couldn't help but grin upon remembering their shy and clumsy behavior at the beginning. It had been something new for both of them and neither one had really known what to expect or to do. He had known it would be something intense and intimately pleasurable but he'd had no idea it was going to be that pleasurable. And most of all the feelings he'd experienced when he finally had been together with her had almost overwhelmed him; they were confusing and of an intensity that had almost scared him at first. But no more. His grin turned into a warm smile when the memories of the passion and most of all the love they'd felt towards each other came back to his mind.

Yes, it was love, he was sure about it. He would do anything for her, to protect her, to hold her close, to make her feel better. It wasn't the kind of fluffy and exaggerated love he'd heard and read about outside Manticore, the one ordinaries spoke about so much. As a matter of fact he didn't think that such a feeling really existed at all.

No, what he felt towards Kyla was a deep and warm affection, calm and comforting but without compromise, the knowledge of the other's feelings and needs and the absolute certainty that they belonged to each other. They were bonded now, there were no boundaries between them anymore, no secrets.

Suddenly she stirred and after some seconds opened her beautiful green eyes and looked first at him and then at her environment sleepily. He couldn't help but grin again when he saw her like that; this was nothing like her usual self; she looked so pure and innocent in this moment.

She looked at him again, this time a little bit more awake.

"Hey" she whispered with a tiny but happy smile.

"Hey yourself."

She let her head sink back onto his chest and closed her eyes again but he could see from the concentrated look on her face that she was thinking intensely. He just kept looking at her, giving her time to think while his fingertips tenderly caressed over her back.

"Wolf?" she suddenly spoke up but kept her eyes closed. She tried to sound calm but he could hear the tense undertone in his voice and with her body against his own he could also feel her strain. "Do you…did we…?"

She trailed off apparently lost for words.

"Look at me!" he demanded softly and she reluctantly opened her eyes. He knew what she was thinking about and he could understand her but she had no reason to be afraid. "Kyla, I want you to know that I regret nothing and I really hope neither do you. You're the most important person in my life and I will do everything I can to make you happy because I love you with all my heart. I do not regret anything."

It was true. He knew it was forbidden, Manticore, his training, his very instinct as a soldier told him that it was wrong what he was doing. She was a part of his team, they were not supposed to be together. And they were X5s, their mission was not to love but to fight. But they were not soldiers anymore, not in that room, not when lying in each other's arms. In here they were just two young people in love with each other and nobody should even think about taking that away from them.

She looked at him, the serious look on her face not gone yet but the anxious and questioning look in her eyes had vanished and he could see a small but quickly growing spark of happiness.

"Neither do I" she finally answered quietly. For a few moments they kept looking at each other until both of them suddenly grinned unsure what to do or say next and out of a sudden Kyla giggled and tried to hide her face from him. He just grinned and subconsciously noticed that he'd never heard her giggle before. It sounded good; carefree and happy. When she had calmed down she looked at him again and every sign of worry or doubt was gone and she beamed with happiness. She gave him a weird smirk. "We are one weird couple, you know that?"

"Yeah, but a good one" he agreed.

She nodded. "Yes, we are. I love you too, Wolf, more than I can explain."

They kissed again, not passionately like last night but slowly and tenderly, enjoying the closeness to each other. When their lips parted none of them moved, green eyes kept looking into grey ones. No words, no explanations were needed and they rested like that in calm and happy silence for a long time.

After a while they unfortunately heard the sound of somebody approaching their quarters and got aware of the fact that they were not alone again. Only seconds later there was a knock on the door.

"Captain, Lieutenant?" they heard Linder's voice. "I'm sorry to wake you up but you only have half an hour left before the Cougar will bring you back to the airport."

"Yes, thank you, Lieutenant" Wolf called holding back an annoyed groan. "We will be with you in a few minutes."

"Take your time, sir!" was the answer and they heard the young officer leave.

Wolf sighed and looked at Kyla with an apologetic look in his eyes. "Looks like we have to get up."

"Yeah" she sighed.

A few minutes later they were dressed and left the quarters and joined the young platoon leader who was waiting for them at the end of the corridor. He gave them a look Kyla couldn't really identify and grinned mischievously. She didn't say anything but somehow she couldn't get rid of the feeling that the young man knew exactly what had happened between his two guests.

A while later they were officially dismissed by Colonel Meyer and sat in the Cougar and were headed towards Geneva again where they would board a plane and fly home. This time Lieutenant Linder was their only escort and the fact that the young officer didn't talk and just shot them an amused glance from time to time was beginning to get on Kyla's nerves but she chose to ignore it. They arrived at the airport and the helicopter landed almost exactly on the same spot where they'd been picked up not long ago.

"It's been an honor, Lieutenant" Wolf said and the two men shook hands.

"The honor's all mine, sir" the young spec ops officer replied nodding towards Kyla, too. Just when the two transgenics turned around to leave the young man asked something none of them had expected. "What's your designation?"

Even with all their training and experience the shock on their faces was very well visible. Nevertheless Wolf tried to play the incomprehension-card.

"What do you mean?"

"I'd like to know your designations."

"I'm Captain Anderson and this is Lieutenant Myers, we've told the very first time we met."

"Oh, please" Linder sighed sounding disappointed and a little bit impatient. "After you have seen what my unit is able to do and how we reacted to your own special 'abilities', do you really still believe Manticore is as secret as your superiors would like it to be? Or as unique?"

Both transgenics watched the young man in shock and Kyla felt her body tense, preparing herself for a battle. None of the two Manticore soldiers moved but they shot each other a confused and worried glance. It was no big surprise after all that Linder and his soldiers were enhanced, too, they had known about that after the battle in Italy. But that they knew about Manticore and claimed to be similar to the X-series surprised and confused them. Linder continued.

"In this country were and are some of the mightiest and best pharmaceutical companies, do you really think they never tried to produce enhanced soldiers as well?" He sighed again and looked at the two worried transgenics. "I don't know much about Manticore, only that it exists and that it is very similar to us. Don't worry, we won't tell anybody or we would be in the same trouble like you. Our countries are not really allies, but we certainly aren't enemies either. I'm not a threat to you. We have fought together and I probably owe you my life, Captain; you know you can trust me so please, what's your designation?"

When neither of them answered the young officer rolled up the right sleeve of his sweater until both transgenics could see a black tattoo on his shoulder. It read:

D-26

"Mine is Delta two-six, nickname Mike Linder. Born and grown up in Fortress Delta. Platoon leader in the genetically engineered Silent Response and Tactical Unit" Linder continued and his voice was void of the carelessness that had been there seconds ago but instead he sounded calm and serious. He expectantly looked at the two transgenics who seemed to have calmed down a little bit. "Your turn."

"X5-451" Wolf reluctantly answered. He knew he shouldn't but Linder was right; somehow he knew they could trust him and although finding some kind of distant relative on the other side of the planet had not been something he had seen coming he felt some kind of joy. And denying the truth would serve no purpose anymore. Linder knew about them already and just wanted to know at whose side he had been fighting and Wolf could understand that very well. "Nickname is Wolf. Manticore."

"X5-301, Kyla" she said. Somehow the old saying seemed to be true. If you have fought the enemy together with someone else you just know this person and she could feel Mike Linder would not betray them. "Manticore."

"That was not so hard, was it?" Mike grinned again and the two Manticore soldiers had small smiles on their lips as well. "Okay, let's get you inside this airport; the Colonel would kill me if you miss your flight."

"How did you get to know about us?" Kyla asked while they were slowly walking over the airfield towards the huge Terminal Hall.

"I stole some of the Colonel's documents." Kyla snorted and looked at their new soul mate who grinned upon her reaction but nodded. "No, really, I did. I was about seven or years old and I, well, I just stole them because I wanted to know what somebody like Colonel Meyer would get to read. There was a small report on a Project Manticore in the US. I didn't understand much of it, but after Meyer found out what I had done he decided that it would be best if we learned about others that perhaps were like us; faster and stronger than the usual adversary. I'm quite surprised you've never heard about us before. I'm almost sure your superior knows about us. He and Meyer even seem to know each other."

Kyla nodded and mentally noted to ask Lydecker about this when they got home.

"And you pulled off this whole operation by yourself?" Wolf wanted to know, referring to the research and development that was needed for a project as complex as genetically enhanced soldiers.

"No, we didn't. As far as I know it was some sort of joint project. Us, the Germans, the French and some guys from Britain. All of them have at least one installation like Fortress Delta in their countries, but don't ask me details, I don't know." They had arrived outside the Terminal. "So, this is it. I was looking forward to have this talk. It's nice to know that we're not the only ones of our kind."

"It is indeed" Kyla agreed and smiled. "Until next time, perhaps."

"Yeah" Wolf agreed. "I admit I would like to work with you again."

"So do I" Mike Linder assured the two Manticore soldiers while they shook hands a last time. "But even if we won't see each other for a long time, always remember that you have friends out here now."

"We will. Thank you Mike and goodbye!"

They nodded towards each other and while Mike walked back to the Cougar Wolf and Kyla entered the terminal to get on their plane that would bring them home. Little did they know that they would see each other sooner than any of them thought at the moment and under circumstances much more dangerous than this time.

For all of you who are screaming at there screen now "YOU PROMISED NOT TO MAKE IT M/A!": No, I didn't. I said I wouldn't do it at the moment but this moment is long gone. And second I said that if I made it M/A it would not be some fluffy kind of relationship. So even if you're not an M/A fan I can assure you you can continue to read this story.

Then you probably have noticed that I'm getting near to the end of this story. So their relationship will not be too deep already because that's something that needs time in my opinion.

And third: For those who would like to read more about unit two, his members and enemies, I'm planning a sequel, so if you want to comment that plan: Please, feel free to do so, I'd appreciate it.

And yeah, even while I'm getting closer to the end I still need motivation. You know what I mean, right? ;)