Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters (except Xandra). They belong to James Cameron, FOX, and the writers of the show.

Author's Note: If you have any ideas, or want me to add a character, please notify me.

Chapter 7

When Xandra finally woke up, she was face to face with David. She didn't know what was going on. She tried to move her arms, but
stopped as an acute pain shot up her arm. She had to bite her lip pretty hard to stop herself from crying out in pain. Her wrists were
bound together with a strange kind of rope, which was digging into her skin. 

"What the hell is going on?" She growled through her teeth. She tried to wrench her wrists out of the binding rope, but it was no use.
David laughed lightly, which made him seem even more evil than he clearly already was. Damn, she thought. Her head hurt so badly that
she could barely see straight. He laughed, watching her struggle unsuccessfully to get out of the metal chair she was tied to. 

He knelt down so that he was inches from her face, "You're a very valuable person, Xandra." He said, unable to wipe the sadistic grin off
his face. "So I've been told." She snapped, glaring coldly at David. "So you wanna explain," she began, raising her voice to a scream,
"What the fuck I am doing here!?" "Well, ya see Xandra, you're such a valuable resource, if you could call it that, that we just couldn't let
you elude us this time." He said, chucking evilly under his breath. 

"I knew it. You're not really from Manticore, are you, Mister Asshole?" Xandra retorted angrily, trying again to squeeze her wrists out of
the knotted rope. "Oh no, I AM from Manticore. I even have the little designer label to prove it, ya wanna see?" he asked her, showing her
the small, black barcode on the back of his neck. Xandra's eyes opened wide in a combination of sadness, confusion and anger. He WAS
from Manticore, possibly her group. Why would he do this to her? Xandra was his sister! No, you're not going to cry, she told herself
angrily. As long as she didn't show him that maybe she had the slightest chance of being human, she was at least a little safer. He clearly
wasn't human, a good actor though. 

"Anyways," he continued, "You were way too valuable to lose, so they sent me to get you back. Did a good job, didn't I?" David answered,
pacing around the cement floor. Xandra looked around, she couldn't see much because her vision was too blurry, but other than that, she
couldn't recognize whatever the place was that they were at. "You were in my group weren't you? Before were turned seven." She said
flatly, staring him in the face. "Oh, of course, it was the easiest way for Lydecker to find you. They just recruited someone from your own
group, someone that you would've trusted." He laughed gleefully. 

"Now I remember," Xandra said surprised, "I remember you. You were the little, weak one. The one that Lydecker was going to have put
out of its misery. That was the year I ran away." She laughed, "You always tried to be so much better than the rest of us, didn't you? Tried
so hard." David started backing up, shaking his head vigorously, clearly unable to accept what Xandra had remembered. "But you couldn't
do it, could you? Ya see, I was always so much better than the rest of you, and you just couldn't take it. I was Lydecker's prized
possession, and you idolized him so much that you would have done anything to take my place." She continued, a emotionless expression
on her face. Fury burned in David's eyes, as he stepped forward, and drove his fist into the side of Xandra's face.

She straightened her head, and laughed, "Damn, you always were the psychotic one. They really brainwashed you, didn't they? You
probably volunteered for this shitty job, didn't you? You wanted to see your own sister dead, or worse. The worse being back in
Manticore." David hit her again, and bright red blood flowed from her open lip. 

Xandra struggled with her hands behind her, reaching for her back jeans pocket. That was where she always kept on of those Pre-Pulse
Swiss Army Knives. She scooted back in her chair, trying to reach it, almost falling over as David hit her again. She almost dropped the
knife on the ground when it finally came out of her pocket. She opened the blade, and slid it over the fraying rope, being careful not to
accidentally slice her wrists. Next she worked through the rope that bound her legs to the chair, but David didn't seems to notice, he was
too busy ranting and punching her and almost crying. Weak, thought Xandra. The rope around her legs fell to the ground. "Hey asshole."
She yelled at him, as he ran over to her, preparing to deliver another blow to the face. Xandra lifted her leg, and extended it, kicking him
hard in the balls. David doubled over in pain, his eyes crossed and his mouth formed a wide 'O' of surprise. 

Xandra wasted no time, and drove her fist into his surprised face, and then delivered a hard kick to the ribs, which sent David stumbling
backwards, landing against the concrete wall. She lifted him up by the shoulders, and slammed him against the wall. Xandra gripped her
bony hand around his throat, lifting him against the wall, about two feet off of the ground. David gasped for air, clawing at the concrete
wall that he was pressed up against. Xandra unhinged her hand, letting him fall onto the cement floor of the building. He sucked in a
lungful of air, staring in disbelief at his 'sister.' "Don't you even try and fucking mess with me again." Xandra growled at him. David nodded,
and Xandra ran out of the building.

***

"So we were right." Zack acknowledged, staring into Xandra's face, as cut-up and bruised as it was. "Yeah, well not exactly. It turns out
he WAS one of my group. Sort of the 'weak link' so to speak. David would've given anything to be Lydecker's prized possession like I was.
They were actually going to kill him off at one point, because he wasn't trained well enough to do simple tasks. Turns out that he
volunteered for this, to get me and take me back to Manticore." Xandra explained, trying to wash the dried blood off of her face. "Oh."
Zack said understandingly. 

"Hey you don't mind if I crash here, do you?" she called from the other room. Zack's eyes widened. "It's kinda not safe for me to go back
to my place yet. Not until I move everything, and I know how you'd hate for any of us to be put in danger." Xandra said persuasively. Zack
shook the thoughts from his head, "Uh...yeah, sure." He wasn't sure that it was him that said it until he heard the words. "Thanks!" she
called from the 'living room.' Zack didn't know how he was going to handle her sleeping in the same room as he was, he didn't even know
how he felt about her yet. Oh shut up, he thought, just shut up.