Insensitive

Summary: A young experimental soldier escapes Manticore and searches for clues to a memory she can't quite piece together. Logan, with the help of the escaped X5's, plans an attack in memory of Max. S1, postAJBAC, AU, no evacuation of Manticore or 'nomalies, but plans for Alec. Implied ML, R&R Please!

Pairing: ML implied. No virus.

Rating: K+

Notes: I'm having issues writing, but Jo is always present in my head. I'm working hard on getting this story out into the universe, but updates may be slow. I'm still here, I'm still trying.

Chapter 1:

Nobody Knows

Manticore wasn't just about embryonic gene therapy, or creating perfect specimens and having them carried to term by surrogate mothers. There was a whole separate department for altering the DNA of average human bodies, and some were more successful than others.

Around 1995, a team of scientists discovered that a gene in the body known as SCN9A was responsible for perception of pain, and the absence of this gene caused a disease known as CIPA. Manticore was enthralled to knock pain out of the formula, and started experiments immediately. In multiple cases, overheating caused death within months, in other cases, the experiment was rendered useless due to repeated and unavoidable injury.

After fourteen years, a female child found alone in Cheyenne, Wyoming just days after the pulse was taken to Manticore and underwent gene therapy to become the perfect pain free soldier. Following the recovery and long, extensive tests, the child was the equal to an X5 while at the same time able to endure the elements, and all forms of physical pain. After discovering an absence of sensation in the hands, the soldier had changes made to the somatic sensory system, enhancing the sense of touch, leaving her with such abilities as reading a sheet of paper by running her hands across the indentations from a pen.

Colonel Lydecker, distraught after losing a dozen of his prize X5's, became the sole commander for the soldier, who was known of as Soldier 0 in place of a designation or barcode.

Thirteen years in Manticore later, with her commanding officer on the run, Soldier 0 was on sentry duty for X5-452 when she decided to leave Manticore. Due to the lack of command over her at the time, she merely walked into the outside training area, hopped the fence, and was gone. The only thing that stuck with her through her 'programming' and 'conditioning' was two names, Jo and Marty. She had no idea what either of the name meant, but decided that Jo would be better fitting for herself than Soldier 0 or Marty.

Days later, in Seattle, Jo looked up at a high rise in front of her and let out a long breath. It was almost as hard to get to Seattle as it was to figure out what she was coming for. She stood there, in the middle of the sidewalk for several long minutes, letting the people walk around her without noticing them. The front door seemed too easy, she was sure she needed to sneak in the back, or climb up the side...

But she was trying to appear normal. That was proving to be difficult. Being both the prized possession of Lydecker, and the youngest soldier at her level, Jo had never been on a mission outside of Manticore. The world was truly new to her.

X5-452 had been repeating a name in her sleep for days. 'Logan'. Jo recognized the name. She had no idea how, but she knew that 'Logan' was something important to her, and knew that 452 had come from Seattle, so she set out for some random 'Logan' in Washington. She had been in Manticore since she was about 2, no one knew exactly how old she was at the time of the pulse. .

Besides, her CO had gone rogue, so why didn't she?

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a tall man walk with his head down towards her, making his way towards the front door. Her heart skipped a beat- she was SURE this was him. This was Logan.

Logan was aware that everyone he had spoken to in the last 3 weeks was strongly suggesting that he start looking over his shoulder... or at least taking his eyes off of his feet. But he couldn't. Everyone he looked at looked like Max. And he couldn't handle that.

He made his way into the building, not noticing Jo at all, entered the elevator and finally looked up expecting to see someone staring at him. He was fairly certain he had been followed through the lobby, but no one was there.

In the lobby, Jo pressed her back against a wall near the reception desk, and peeked around the corner and saw that the highest floor was highlighted on the elevator. She rolled her eyes. Of course- it couldn't be on the second floor, that'd be too easy. She saw the door to the stairwell just down the hall and sighed before leaving her spot.

Jo stopped on the last stair and smoothed her hair before slightly opening the door. The long but quick paced trek up all those flights of stairs had given her time to calm her nerves, and go over a list of actions to avoid so she didn't seem like a soldier. Leaving the stairwell, Jo silently and slowly made her way towards the only door facing her, but noticed the door handle turning when she was only half way there.

She frowned and shot forwards, ending up sitting next to the door with her knees pulled up to her chest just as Logan opened the door and once seeing her, furrowed his brown at her. Jo held her breath and looked up at him, still deciding on a plan.

Logan had come out into the hallway to greet an expected visitor, but was surprised to see a young girl on the floor. "Can I help you?" He asked, and all but scoffed at her.

Jo fought the urge to roll her eyes at him. He was incredibly unwelcoming. "Um..." She said and stood up nervously, brushing off her blue jeans as she went.

Logan looked at her, straight brown hair, blue eyes, a black coat and a pair of jeans that obviously weren't hers... Something seemed familiar, but also a little alarming about her. "Who are you?"

Jo let out a falsely nervous laugh. "I was hoping..." She cleared her throat and shoved her hands in her pockets. "You'd help me with that."

Logan stepped the rest of the way out of his apartment and stared at her, unbelieving. There was no way he was going to let her in his house. Hell, she was probably some Manticore assassin sent to do him off.

Jo raised an eyebrow and bit her bottom lip, recognizing Logan's expression. "I... don't necessarily remember the last few years...but, I heard your name... and I had to find you. My- my name is Jo."

That was mostly true. She really didn't know why she had run off to find him. She wanted to get killed, probably, because that's what was going to happen. Jo also didn't know how she knew his name, and she only knew his first name. But after she made her way to Seattle, and caught a glimpse of him in a crowd, she knew she had to talk to him.

"You heard my name." He said with disbelief in his tone. "Who'd you hear my name from?"

"Well, that's the thing. I heard someone who had been in Seattle say 'Logan' and... started having all this..." Jo removed her hands from her pockets and held them out, searching for her words. "Déjà vu stuff... I guess."

"That's pretty far fetched." Logan said, crossing his arms over his chest, looking down at her menacingly.

Jo cocked an eyebrow and was about to open her mouth to shoot back a remark when the hairs on her neck stood up, and she turned around to see someone standing at the end of the hallway, mirroring Logan's position. She saw his face, and she spun back around with wide eyes and looked at the floor beside Logan's feet. That was 712... how did he get out?

"Problem?" The man asked Logan, and Jo waited for him to reveal who she was.

"Not sure yet." Logan answered and looked down at Jo once again. She looked around the floor in front of her then back up at Logan and gave him a tight smile. "I have a visitor that says she knows my name, but doesn't remember who she is."

The man Logan had been initially waiting for walked down the hallway and placed a hand on Jo's shoulder to turn her towards him, 'This was a really short trip,' Jo thought to herself before giving him a sideways smile.

"Well she looks innocent enough. Let her in."

Jo raised both eyebrows and cocked her head to the side as she was ushered into the penthouse.

"I'm Krit. And you are?"

"Krit?" Jo repeated, confused. No one at Manticore gave each other names... that she knew of. That's why she still had to go around being called Soldier 0

He grinned and shook his head. "That's me, little girl, what's your name?"

Jo stared, dumbfounded, at 'Krit'. Was this a rogue X5? There had been rumors that all the X5's had clones after X5-493 came back dead, and X5-452 was captured. Jo knew the designations of all the escaped soldiers, and knew that they were 1 off of most of the contingent in the west ward...

"Name?" Krit asked again. Was this 711?

"Jo." She spit out, pulling herself out of her daze. "Jo, my name is Jo." She pasted on a smile and allowed herself to be led into a great room of sorts, full of people. Jo looked from face to face, now recognizing them all as X5 rogues.

A small part of her feared for her safety, but an even smaller part of her, the part that still strived to impress Lydecker no matter how hard she fought it, was almost proud. But then again, Lydecker had turned against Manticore and had lad an attack...

Jo bit her lip and looked up at Logan. What exactly had she just found?

Alrighty, more coming soon, lemme know how it is!