Disclaimer: I own none of these characters except for Xandra. If you'd like to borrow her for your fics, ask me first. Don't sue me, I'm broke.
It'd be a total waste of your time.

Author's Note: If you'd like me to add a character, please specify different characteristics. If you have ideas for future "ANOTHER"
installments, let me know. I like to hear what you think. Thanks, and enjoy reading. 

Chapter 5

The phone rang. Once. Twice. Xandra picked it up, "Hello?" she asked. Silence. "Hell-o?" she asked again, sounding annoyed.
"Xandra."Said the voice on the other line. A male voice. It wasn't Logan, he rarely even called her, and she wasn't sure that Zack even
knew the number. "Who is this?" she asked apprehensively, making a face. If someone knew who she was, and it wasn't Max, Logan or
Zack, she was probably in danger. "David." Said the voice. She didn't know a David. "Who? From where?" Xandra asked, walking into her
room, standing in front of the full-length mirror. "David. From Manticore." He said flatly. 

Xandra hadn't known any of the others from her group, XX. They had been separately trained since they were seven, and she barely
remembered that there had been any others. She didn't think any of them would have been able to escape. Xandra had always been the
strongest, the most determined, out of all of them, when they had been trained in a group setting. Always stronger, better, faster, more
reactive than the others. She was one of Lydecker's few prized possessions, the one he would have done anything to get back. Just like
Zack. He had told her that he had been the leader of X5. Always better, and if someone progressed past his level, he pushed himself
harder, striving to be the best. The same kind of thing that Xandra had gone through. Engineered to be perfect, trained to be better than
the rest. The two of them were so similar. 

Xandra shook the thoughts from her head. "Really?" she asked suspiciously, turning and walking toward the only window in her
half-furnished apartment. Silence. Then, "Yes. I need to talk to you." David said bluntly, giving her directions of where to meet him. She
hung up the phone. It was already two hours until midnight, the time when she was supposed to meet him. She slipped on her silver
jacket, climbed out of the window, down the fire escape and ran up the alley. 

***

"So this guy, whoever he is, wants you to go and meet him in an hour?" Logan asked Xandra, staring up at her from his wheelchair.
"Yeah," she replied pacing around the linoleum floor, "Says he's from Manticore. My group." She explained. "And..." Logan began. "I don't
remember that much. I know there might have been others, but..." she trailed off. She wasn't sure if she wanted to go through with all of
this. Xandra was sure if there were others, others that had the ability to escape, that had escaped, she would've remembered. She
would've brought them with her when she escaped if she could have. Actually, she wouldn't have. She was trained to operate individually,
alone, she wouldn't have known how to deal with taking care of anyone but herself at the time. She wouldn't have even known them
anymore. By the time that she had escaped, she was fourteen. It had been three years since then. 

Logan had been talking to her for a few minutes when she snapped back to reality. Lost in her thoughts again. Figures, she thought.
"Whatever," she concluded, "I'm going. Be back sometime. I don't know when." 

She threw her coat back on and strode purposefully out the apartment door. 

***

Xandra paced back and forth in the darkened alley, stepping in fresh puddles along the way. It was raining. Again. It was a dangerous
part of Seattle, not that she wasn't used to danger. Zack would've killed her if he'd known she was doing this. He was so not into putting
yourself or other ex-Manticores in danger. But she had to know whether this guy was telling the truth or not. 

A soft splashing sound came from behind Xandra at the far end of the alley. A man-shaped shadow stepped cautiously out from the
shadows behind a tall, brick building. Xandra stepped confidently, or what she tried to exert as confidence, forward. "Xandra." The man
said, stepping out of the shadows. He was a few inches taller than she was, with short, dirty-blond hair and a muscular frame. "David."
She said flatly, raising her eyebrows and striding forward to face him. Just by looking at him, she decided he was probably what she
should've expected. If he hadn't been someone that she had supposedly been raised with, she might have thought he was good-looking. 

She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I suppose that's all?" she asked him, sounding annoyed. Bright floodlights lit parts of the alley
just enough to see David's face. He rubbed his stubbly chin, and lifted his gaze to the back end of the alley. Shadows of people walking
toward them reflected on the wet brick walls. "Not now." He said quietly, so that no one else would hear. Xandra sighed, and shook her
head. "I'll find you. Later." He said, disappearing into the shadows again. Figures, she thought, spinning around and heading back out into
the street, on her way home. 

***

Xandra wouldn't have headed to Logan's afterward if he hadn't asked her to. I shouldn't have ever gotten a pager, she thought. So now
she stood in the middle of Cale's office, waiting for him to get off the phone with Max. She shouldn't have come. Or involved him with this
in the first place. It was stupid, and now he was probably going to interrogate her about the meeting. 

"So how'd it go?" Logan asked, hanging up the phone. "How'd WHAT go? He showed up, said nothing, and left. Actually, all he said was
that he'd come find me later. It was a waste of my damn time, if you ask me." Xandra grumbled angrily. That damn asshole had her come
all the way across town to meet him, then said almost nothing and ran away. And now she was here. She had tried to avoid the rest of
them so they wouldn't have the misfortune of seeing her in a bad mood, but somehow Logan had managed to get a hold of her, and she'd
actually shown up. Dammit, she thought, I didn't even give him my number. Someone should really steal his computer system or
something. Maybe then he won't be able to hack into mine. 

Max showed up a few minutes later, striding in the door without knocking like always. Xandra had to repeat herself again. The whole
damn situation with David just seemed too stupid for words. If he was only here to waste her time, then there really was no point in even
seeing him again. But she had a feeling that he was going to show up whether she wanted it or not, so it really didn't matter. And in
about another hour, she finally left.

***

Zack burst in through the door to Xandra's apartment. The music was blaring from the stereo in the next room. He nearly knocked her over
when he ran into the room to meet her. "Well, if it isn't the infamous." She greeted him, "And you didn't knock because?" She turned off
the music, and strode into the next room. She felt a lecture coming on, and the best that she could do was run to the next room trying to
avoid him for as long as possible. 

"I heard from Max that you saw another one of your kind." He said, making it sound like she was some kind of different species. Gee,
thanks Zack, she thought. "Yeah. So?" she said, a little annoyed. He followed her into the next room, "So, you could be putting yourself in
danger by even talking to him!" he raised his voice. I knew it, Xandra thought. "Yeah, okay! But I'm not even sure that he is one of us. I
wasn't trained with the others in my group after you guys escaped! I don't remember them." Crap, she thought, now there's something
else for him to yell at me about: letting a complete stranger know who I am. She sat down on a wooden stool, bracing herself for a good
screaming marathon. Zack made a few strange little angry noises before he started lecturing her. She wasn't exactly listening to most of
it; she figured that she could probably recite the entire thing by heart by now. She just watched intently as he paced back and forth,
half-screaming at her, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

***