I nodded quickly and headed for the door. This wasn’t good. We needed more time. Alec and I weren’t even fully healed yet. But we had no time. CAT wasn’t going to wait patiently outside our gates for a few days until we felt well enough for a fight.

“Are you sure you’re up for this?” I asked Alec, scrutinizing him closely as I held the door open for him.

“Always.” Alec replied firmly. He caught my look and smiled reassuringly, “Don’t worry, Jess. I’ll try to keep the hand to hand at a minimum. Maxie may have an aversion to guns, but I don’t.”

I nodded again, silently praying that he would be alright.

We headed quickly towards HQ, noticing the abounding numbers of transgenics in strategic positions as we went. No one simply walked the streets. No one stood around and talked. The city was silent, ready.

I followed Alec into HQ. Max was hanging over Dix’s shoulder, looking at a computer screen. As we got closer, I saw that it showed the area just outside the gates of TC. Arrayed in front of our gates was something other than the usual protestors and police. A military squadron was deployed outside our gates, assessing their position before they attempted to penetrate our perimeter.

“Do we have audio, Dix?” Max asked quickly.

Dix shook his head.

“We don’t have that kind of equipment.” he apologized.

Max simply nodded and narrowed her eyes as she stared at the picture. I assumed she was trying to read the lips of the commanding officer.

“...Team Bravo. Once they return from circling the perimeter fence, we can move out. Bravo team will probably have detected some weaknesses in their perimeter. If this is true, we will be dividing our forces and attacking from multiple fronts. Is that clear?” Max looked over at us with a sardonic grin, “We obviously didn’t receive the same training.”

“Max,” Alec cautioned, “the fact that they’re splitting isn’t necessarily good. We still don’t know where those points of penetration will be or how many of them there are.”

“I know.” Max said, “But they don’t know how many of us there are either.”

Alec nodded in understanding. Apparently, Max was hoping that CAT hadn’t figured on there being a city teaming with transgenics and hadn’t brought enough manpower to deal with all of us. The problem with that assumption, though, was that it was only an assumption and we had no way of proving it either true or false. Either way we would have to fight.

“What’s the plan?” Alec asked.

“Gee, Alec. I thought some of us knew how to do this shit because we were trained in it.” Max snapped derisively.

Alec was about to reply, but I stopped him by placing a hand on his arm. Max was on edge enough without Alec provoking her and besides, this was definitely not the time.

“What do you want us to do?” I asked.

Max almost instinctively responded to my request for orders, turning towards us with her chin up and her eyes determined.

“The Southeast side could use more people. I’ve got Katie stationed on the old two-story building with the black doors. Go help her.” Max instructed, referring to an X-6 that I remembered as having been a part of the Alpha Team on the Hotel mission.

“Got it.” I nodded, turning towards the door and tugging on Alec’s sleeve to get him to follow.

“Max.

“Alec.”

They spoke at the same time.

“Don’t get your ass hurt again.” Max warned in a threatening tone.

“Worry about your own ass.” Alec snapped in reply.

The two exchanged a quick look before Max turned back to the computer screen and Alec turned towards the door.

“She’ll be okay.” I offered him reassurance as we headed towards the Southeast side.

I was becoming 613 again, falling back into the habits of my training. I could feel it. But I didn’t fight it. I would need to be 613 for this.

“I know.” Alec said stiffly, but it was obvious that he was worried about her still.

“Focus.” I reminded him gently, knowing that his worry for Max would only be a hindrance to him in the coming battle.

He nodded and I saw that he, too, was reverting to his Manticore self. The steely, cold eyes of 494 replaced the sparkling orbs belonging to Alec. A slight shiver ran through me as I remembered the last time I’d seen those eyes.

I dispelled the memory from my head, instead taking stock of my condition. My leg was holding up well, taking my weight easily at a walk. But at a run? Or in a fight? I wasn’t too sure how much it would take of that. It would be best to do as Alec had said he would and attempt to take out our opponents from a distance. I hadn’t been too bad of a shot, never having been punished for lacking in that area. Hopefully I would prove adequate today.

I spotted the building with the black doors long before we reached it. Likewise, we were spotted approaching, long before we reached the building. I could sense eyes on me despite the fact that Alec and I had stuck to the shadows provided by yet another overcast day and the alleys on our way over. We were close to the fence and we couldn’t be too careful.

“Hey, Alec.” a voice whispered from somewhere to my left.

Alec and I turned quickly as Katie materialized from out of the alley we were passing. She was dressed all in black and a black hat covered her blonde hair so that it wouldn’t give her away. I thought briefly about my own light hair, but remembered that it was still dark and damp from my shower. I’d never even gotten the chance to brush it.

“Katie.” Alec nodded, “Max sent us to help you.”

Katie nodded, looking both of us over quickly, her eyes lingering on Alec’s abdomen and my leg. Obviously, she knew about our injuries.

“Come on.” she gestured and began to walk down the alley.

Alec and I followed. She led us into a building next door to the one with the black doors. We walked through the empty building, out a back door, over to one of the black doors in the neighboring building, and discretely slipped inside. Waiting inside were three other transgenics and a lot of weapons.

“You two take the roof.” Katie said, throwing us both rifles.

I nodded. We were snipers. Understood.

Alec led the way up the stairs to the roof. I followed. I was irrationally struck by the fact that I was on a mission, partnered by 494. That was a privilege. Or it would have been if I was still in Manticore.

Alec stopped just before we reached the door that led to the roof. He turned to me and signed some instructions to me. Reminding me to cover the other transgenics, reminding me of my training, warning me not to stay too focused on one area. I nodded quickly, hardening my resolve. I would not fail.

Alec pushed the door open slowly and we stalked carefully across the roof, keeping low. Alec moved to the left and I moved to the right, both setting up on the side facing the fence. I lowered myself slowly to the ground, stretching out on my stomach, my elbows flat on the rooftop, rifle fitted to my shoulder. I trained the gun along the fence line, getting used to the weapon. I looked closely for any sign of movement along the perimeter.

“You are predators. You will hunt out your targets and eliminate.”

Lydecker’s voice was in my head.

“Movement is the give-away. It is impossible to attack without movement. The key is to detect that movement as it is about to happen. The tensing of muscles, an intake of breath, the clenching of a jaw. You must be able to detect these give-aways.”

My eyes searched.

“You’re rifle is an extension of you. There is no excuse for not hitting your target.”

My hands were steady on the cold metal.

“The mission is everything. Nothing else matters.”

There. Five hundred yards from my position, along the outside of the fence line. There was movement. My eyes narrowed as I focused on the source of the movement. It was a soldier in a black uniform. The movement had been his head turning to his right. I followed his line of sight. More soldiers were approaching ever so slowly and subtly. Trying to avoid detection. They had failed.

I smiled and took aim, waiting for the perfect moment.

“Timing is essential. Be patient. Don’t rush. Be alert. Don’t be late. You must strike at the right moment. If you do not, you will fail.”

There were more of them than I had at first detected. More were coming in from the left. Counting quickly, I saw twenty-three of them. My smile turned into a frown. There were a lot of these guys.

The X-5 next to me on the firing range fired too early and missed his target. The target continued moving down the line and I waited patiently until it was in the right spot. I fired, hitting the mark perfectly. The target continued down the line.

I had, too. I waited, determined not to make the same mistake 761 had. I waited, watching as the fence line was cut apart and the team started through. I waited as they assessed their surroundings. I waited as they approached the building. I waited until the soldier at point was almost too close for me to get at. Then, I fired.

“When you are on a mission, you do not kill people. You eliminate targets.”

The bullet hit my target in the forehead, eliminating it instantly.

Next to me, Alec fired. A second target went down. The others were alerted to our existence, but as of yet did not know our whereabouts. I fired again, taking out a third before he could reach the cover of the buildings.

Katie and the other three transgenics, appeared in the alleys and around the buildings, meeting the scattering team. I watched closely as a soldier fired at Katie. She dodged the bullet, speeding in towards her opponent. She elbowed him in the face and wrenched the weapon from his hands. Blood began to trickle down the soldier’s face from his nose, but he showed no signs of feeling any pain. My eyes narrowed.

Katie socked him in the stomach with the MP-5 she had taken from him, then kicked him hard in the groin. Any normal man would have hit the ground. But this guy just stood still with a twisted smirk on his face. Katie stared at him, frozen in surprise for a moment. He punched her in the face, sending her reeling backwards. I trained my gun on him, prepared to take him out.

But I never got the chance to fire. Katie recovered quickly and fired herself. Four quick shots to the chest. However, the soldier continued to stumble forward towards Katie. My brain demanded to know what was going on. Even a transgenic would be down and out by now.

Fortunately, the soldier never made it all the way to Katie. He finally fell to the pavement and stopped moving. But he never showed any sign of being in pain.

I wanted to ask Alec what was going on, but I knew there was no time. I checked once more on Katie and the other transgenic with her before rising slightly to a crouch and moving over to the other side of the building to make sure no one came up behind us.

I took out two soldiers attempting to do just that. That left seventeen more.

A yell drew my attention. I looked up and saw a soldier on the roof of the building across the alley from my perch. He was alerting the others to our position. I quickly aimed and took him out, but it was too late. We had been made.

“Alec!” I yelled.

Alec fired two quick shots before jumping to his feet and running over towards me.

“We need to relocate.” I said quickly.

He nodded, and signaled for me to follow him back down stairs.

Alec kicked the door open and immediately fired twice. I fired once over his shoulder. Two more bodies littered Terminal City. The count was now twelve.

Alec moved silently and stealthily down the stairs. I followed him closely.

The second story was clear. We proceeded on to the first. Here we encountered a transgenic with some lizard DNA fighting three soldiers. He was cornered. Alec and I both fired simultaneously, each hitting one of the transgenic's opponents. Alec’s went down, but the one I had hit did not. Either I hadn’t been very accurate, or this was another one of the soldiers like the one Katie had fought. I didn’t waste time trying to decide, but unloaded another two bullets into the guy, the last of which entered his head. That took him down.

The transgenic I didn’t know was able to take down the other soldier in the mean time with some well-placed attacks. Alec and I headed outside.

Outside, the streets were eerily quiet. Alec and I exchanged a look. I signaled that we should split up. Alec shook his head no, but I insisted. Reluctantly, he agreed and we headed in opposite directions.