Max chewed on her bottom lip, pacing outside the doors that led to the makeshift operating theater they had cobbled together inside one of the main buildings. They had managed to find a transgenic who specialized in medicine, someone Manticore had designed to ensure the survival of whatever team they were attached to in high-risk operations, and Verna had taken to her newfound role of Chief with gusto. As soon as she had seen Mole with a hole in his shoulder, she had pushed Alec and Max aside and told them to give her the floor. Max had watched helplessly, Mole's blood still staining her fingertips, as Verna had placed the gruff transhuman onto a metal table and wheeled him away.

That had been three hours ago and still there was no word.

'Hey Little Fella,' Joshua's voice made Max halt in her tracks.

'Hey Joshua,' Max answered, feeling tired. Joshua laid a large hand on her shoulder, bending down slightly so that they were eye level.

'Medium Fella need you at Command.'

'Yeah. I figured,' Max breathed out. She glanced over her shoulder and felt Joshua squeeze it in reassurance.

'Will tell what happen to Mole. Don't worry. Go handle before FUBAR.'

'Okay. Yeah,' Max sighed, patting Josh's hand and reluctantly heading towards command. She squeezed her eyes shut, remembering what had happened after they had found Mole on the floor.

'The hell did you shoot him for?' Max yelled, stepping over Alec and towards the Sector cop who still had his weapon trained on Mole. The instant he saw her move the muzzle swung towards her. She felt rather than saw Alec stiffen in warning and she gave a gentle flick of her hand to tell him to stand down, to let her handle this.

'He had a shotgun,' the guy finally said and Max saw a few of his friends exchange uneasy looks.

'You have a semi dumbass,' Max shot back, feeling her fists clench. This time there was no mistaking the sneer that painted over the man's features and it made Max sick to her stomach.

'Be thankful I didn't put more than one hole in that freak's body then.'

It wasn't hard to spot the numerous X-series lining the streets, all of them staring at her. Max wasn't a fool. She knew that many of them still resented her for what she was, what she represented. Alec had mentioned it before, once or twice, about how the twins of those who had managed to escape had suffered through mental and physical re-indoctrination. Manticore was anything if not thorough and Max wouldn't have been surprised if the rest of the soldiers had been subjected to the same treatment.

Why is it my fault that I managed to escape that hellhole? Not like life after Manticore was a sweet deal anyways. Whatever. Now ain't the time for this.

'Colonel Jackass is on the horn,' Dylan, a tall X-5 that had filtered into Seattle after the big reveal, said out of the corner of his mouth. With his shaggy brown hair and hunter green eyes, Dylan had formed some kind of weird friendship with Alec. Put them side by side, Max mused, and it wouldn't be hard to mistake them for brothers. While Alec was of a stockier build, Dylan was rangier.

And boy did he have nice arms.

Max touched Alec on the shoulder, noting the way his jaw was flexing. There were still smears of blood on his shirt and Max nudged him gently aside so that she was positioned directly over the phone.

'-armed and dangerous. Officer Clay had no choice but to ensure the threat was effectively neutrailized,' Colonel Rumsfield was saying. Max felt her fists clench, saw some of the other transgenics huddled inside Command start to frown. Rumsfield had been put in charge of the siege and with the delicate task of negotiating with the freaks that had staked their own little piece of paradise in Seattle. Instead of sending someone like Clemente, who Max thought was at least able to see some kind of reason, they had cherry picked the most hard-nosed anti-transgenic within fifty miles and placed him squarely in their path.

'Mole was armed because we've got guys packing AK-47s and semi-automatics prowling the fence,' Max cut in and there was a brief pause as Rumsfield registered her voice. The other man also had a problem with women being a charge. Racist, chauvinistic bastard.

'Ah Ms Guevara,' Rumsfield addressed her, voice slick. 'I see you've finally taken the time out of your busy schedule to join us.'

'I want to talk to someone higher up the food chain,' Max demanded.

'We don't negotiate with terrorists,' Rumsfield replied.

Max felt herself blink slowly, digesting that little piece of information.

'Terrorists? You've got to be kiddin' me!' Alec mumbled.

'This isn't an ideological crusade Colonel,' Max finally said, tone flat and hard. 'All we want is to be left alone. We don't want any bloodshed. But Officer Clay's just painted a giant big bulls eye on every single guy you've got patrolling the fence. How hard do you think its gonna be for genetically empowered super-soldiers to knock you guys off one by one?'

'Is that a threat?' Rumsfield sounded heated.

'No it's a warning. You've got six hours,' Max said before ending the call.

'This is bullshit. I say we go out there and-' Dix started, the genuine rage colouring his words startling Max a bit.

'What? We start shooting and then they start shooting back? And what happens in the end then huh?' Max interjected, planting her hands on her hips. She glanced at Alec out of the corner of her eye but the other X5 was looking straight ahead.

'We're caged in like animals here,' Blackwater retorted. 'I say we go all biblical on their ass. An eye for an eye.'

'Since when do you read the Bible?' Alec asked, raising an eyebrow. Blackwater shrugged, his bald head gleaming under the harsh lights.

'Saw it on TV.'

'Look we want to show everyone out there that we aren't dangerous. How do you think its going to look if we go put a cap in Clay's ass?' Max tried to reason.

'News flash 09er, we are dangerous,' Blackwater sneered and Max felt her hackles raise.

'Hey calm down alright?' There was a note of warning buried within Alec's tone and Blackwater glared at Max, holding his tongue nonetheless. 'You don't talk to your CO like that? We clear soldier?'

'Whatever,' Blackwater muttered. 'I'm going to pull our guys along the perimeter back away from the ordinaries. Won't want us walking scaring the folk.'

'You go do that,' Max shot back, not even bothering to keep her anger in check. She swept her eyes along the room, meeting each person's gaze without flinching. 'Anyone else got a problem?'

There was a ripple of sound, indecipherable to her ears. Max turned to regard Alec. 'Go check on Mole.' She didn't miss the grateful look that flittered across his hazel eyes. 'I expect a status report every hour. Dylan, go make sure we have some kind of contingency plan in place. You got an hour before I need to be briefed.'

'Yes ma'am,' Dylan said with a smirk. Max rolled her eyes. She saw Alec open his mouth as if to say something.

'Go change your shirt. Verda'll freak out if you contaminate your waiting room,' Max told him with a forced smile. Alec hesitated before nodding, giving her a jaunty salute before following Dylan down the steps. Max heaved out a sigh, catching a glimpse of Dix scrutinizing her.

'I'm not letting this go,' Max said defensively, shoving her hands into the pockets of her cargo pants. Dix gave her a wane half-smile.

'I know Max. I'm just angry, you know?'

She wondered why everyone found it so hard to believe she was too.