Authors Note: Thanks to everyone for the reviews they made me smile! Sorry I haven't updated in forever. This chapter is for those who stuck with this story and demanded another chapter :)

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It was then Max realised something was wrong.

"Where's Alec?"

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"You don't have to worry about him anymore Max." The same cold calculated look came over Ben's face that Max had seen on Alec's millions of times and a sliver of fear ran through Max.

"What did you do?" A wave of sickness washed over her in a manner of seconds and chest felt tight.

"We did what was necessary. Forget about Manticore, we're going to take you somewhere safe." Ben reached out for her but Max stepped backwards avoiding his touch.

"Where is he? Ben? Answer me," Max could hear the slight hysterical tone in her voice but couldn't prevent the panic from flooding her senses.

"Forget about him, he can't hurt you anymore. We have to go now and meet the others."

Ben's soothing tone did nothing to alleviate Max's distress, "Alec?" Max started moving from room to room in the tiny apartment.

"He's not here," Ben had remained motionless in the centre of the main room watching her.

"I'm not going anywhere until I know what happened to Alec," Max had never thought she'd be afraid of one of her siblings but right now Max needed Alec to appear from behind some door way and make some stupid crack.

"We've been looking for you since we escaped Max. It's been our only mission. My only mission. You're the reason we stayed together, we never forgot about you. Come with me, it'll all be okay I promise."

Max's heart was torn. This was her family. Her mind flashed back to the day Zack had first mentioned the idea of escape. "We're family; we do this together or not at all." These were the people who taught her how to trust, hope, love…

"I'd rather go back to Manticore than leave without you."

She'd already made her choice.

"I won't ask again, where is he?"

Ben's face contorted with rage as he turned and punched the wall. "He's one of them Max. All they have done is hurt us, chased us. He's not one of us. Can't you see it?"

"You're wrong Ben, he may not be one of us but he's not one of them either."

"He's not me. He may look like me but he's just like the rest of them," he spat out.

"If he's one of them, then so am I."

"Max no…"

Tears streamed down Max's face as she approached him. "I never forgot about you, any of you. He's not who you think he is. Ben please…"

"You're choosing him over us, him over me?" the pain on Ben's face ripped through Max.

"Only if you make me," she whispered.

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Alec awoke to one hell of a headache. What the hell had he been doing… hang on why was he one the floor?

He sat up gingerly and was abruptly aware of the shooting pain radiating from his entire body. His head felt fuzzy and he realised the room was spinning somewhat. He felt bruised all over and could smell the metallic smell of his own blood. His hand gingerly touched the back of his head as he confirmed the reason behind the killer headache. It was then he notice his left leg was chained up to a lead pipe in on the floor.

He was a prisoner.

He remembered going back to the apartment, waiting for Max…someone had been in the apartment.

Alec's eyes snapped open as he sensed the intruder in his bedroom. He silently moved towards the door. He counted to three before pulling the door open…

And then came face to face with himself.

Trust the 09'er to fight dirty. Alec silently berated himself for not noticing there had been a second man in the apartment.

He quickly assessed his body. Other than a few bruises he was fine however he still had one hell of a headache and his body felt sluggish. Looking around at his surroundings he took in the room in which he was being held. It was a small and dark room that appeared to be a cellar of some kind, he could smell the dampness in the air and his eyes were having difficulty adjusting to the dim light that appeared to be coming from a set of stairs on the right.

"You're awake" a voice from the far left corner and Alec noticed an exotic looking girl leaning against a chair. She appeared to be studying him.

He scanned the room and once satisfied there were no other threats in the room he turned back to the girl who hadn't moved, "Who are you?"

"I'm the one you have to thank for that lump on your head," she smiled.

"How long have I been out?"

"Bout three hours," she smiled as Alec attempted to stand, "We gave you a little something to help with that."

Well that explained the increased dizziness he felt as he stood and the sluggish response his body was giving him as he attempted to stretch out his muscles. He tested out the chains and the strength of the pipe he was attached to.

"I wouldn't try anything if I were you," Alec saw the girl flash a gun briefly before it disappeared again. Apparently Maxie's siblings didn't share the same distaste for gun as she did.

"What am I doing here, why haven't you killed me yet?" he said trying to clear his head. Hopefully his body wouldn't take too much longer to metabolize whatever drug they had given him, he needed to be more alert.

The girl tilted her head to one side still smiling, "Why do you think we'd kill you?"

"I haven't been inducted into the special escapee club."

"Funny. We need to know how much you know about us before we decide what to do with you." The girl started walking around him in a wide circle careful not to get too close to him. "Also you're kinda interesting, you look exactly like Ben."

"Take a picture it'll last longer."

"Cute. How long have you known Max?"

"Since you left her behind."

The girl frowned.

"Where's Max?" Unease washed over Alec as he realised Max would have arrived back at the apartment by now.

The girl came closer a strange look on her face. "She's with us now."

"I wanna see her."

"Like I'm gonna let that happen. You and Manticore can't hurt her anymore; she's not one of your precious little soldiers. She's safe."

"Here I was thinking brother dearest was the dense one. I. Don't. Want. To. Hurt. Max. And if she really was with you you'd know that."

She laughed out loud, "Don't think for a minute I actually believe you give a shit about my little sister. I'm not letting you go, so you can stop playing that game."

Alec sighed, "And you think we're the ones brainwashed!"

"I'll start again. How long have you known Max?"

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Zack was standing on the landing above as Jondy exited the room. She looked back down at the door leading to the cellar, she could still hear 494 yelling below, demanding to see Max.

"Well?"

Jondy was hesitant to answer. She had been the one who had questioned the order to directly dispose of 494 and she was beginning to believe she was right; there was more to the story than they knew.

"He knows a lot about us, said Max told him everything. He keeps maintaining that he cares about what happens to her, that they're friends." Jondy had spent hours listening to 494 listening to the same story again and again.

"He's lying, telling you what you want to hear."

"Zack… I don't know…"

"It's just a story. Jondy you should know better than to believe his lies," Zack interrupted.

Maybe Zack was right. Maybe she just wanted to believe that Max had been looked after, looked out for when they had left. That someone had cared for her that she'd had family. But something was still nagging her…He called her Max like he didn't even have to think about it. And he had flinched ever so slightly, so slightly that only another X5 would have pick up on it, when she'd called him 494.

He had said his name was Alec.

"Maybe we should talk to Max before we do anything."

"We don't know how loyal she is to Manticore. She's been there for so long…," Zack looked away but not before Jondy saw the look of pure guilt that appeared in his eyes. "I don't want any reminders for her."

"Maybe he's telling the truth. We wanted out. Is it so hard to believe that there are others in that place that hate Manticore as much as we do?"

"It's too late for him. We only came for Max. Only Max. Look I did what you asked, I gave you time to question him but he's too much of a risk. He is not a part of this family. He is not Ben," Zack said lowering his voice, "I know it's hard but we can't risk everything we've worked for over some solider we don't know. I'm doing this for us."

"Zack," Jondy reached out to touch him but he stepped back.

"I want him out of here tonight. Can you do that or do you want me to get someone else to do it?"

Jondy looked down at the door to the cellar.

"No sir. I'll have it done by tonight."

She needed to talk to Max