Hey guys! If you're reading my other stories, don't worry I'm not giving up on them. I wrote this a while ago and decided it's time to post it. It is not part of the Family series if you've read that one, it's something completely different. I hope you all like it!

He was nobody. He was just a number in a sea of other numbers just like him. Everyone was the same and he was no exception. There were tweaks in each of their DNA sequences, different animals and different combinations, but they were still raised the same and they were expected to be the same. They were soldiers. He was built to follow orders and to be the best.

They were standing in line. He didn't know why and he wasn't allowed to ask. Talk without permission- punished. Step out of line- punished. Follow the rules, don't talk and you won't get punished. He had a lot of problems following the rules, but he was used to the punishment. He should try to follow the rules more, but he could handle the punishments. They didn't want to permanently damage him because then he would be useless.

He had no friends. It was a lonely existence, but it was the only thing he knew and it was every man for himself here. He had a unit, but he watched his own back. It was up to him to keep himself safe, not his unit. He only had a unit to complete missions, not to have friends. The only person he could trust was himself.

No one went out of their way to help him and he did the same to try to stay out of trouble. Everyone kept to themselves and kept their eyes down. As long as he wasn't looking then he wouldn't see, and as long as he didn't see what was happening he wouldn't get in trouble. They weren't people and trying to help anyone else was a bad idea. All he had to do was stay out of trouble and follow the rules.

But he'd never been very good at following the rules.

He didn't know why, but he couldn't help glancing up. He was startled to see a boy, identical to him, staring back. Thanks to his training he managed to keep his face clear of any emotion. The boy kept his gaze locked on him as if searching his face like that would tell him who he was. He wanted to laugh and tell the strange boy that he was nobody. They were all nobodies, and searching him would tell the other boy nothing.

The guards called them to attention and the boy looked away. His line turned to leave. He was supposed to look forward, but he couldn't help his wandering eyes. He zeroed in on the back of the boy's neck. His barcode read 493. His eyes widened slightly; his own barcode ended in 494.

He wanted to break ranks. He wanted to run to the boy and find out who he was. Why did they look alike? Were they twins? Did he have family? Family was a foreign concept to him, but it sounded good. He'd heard the word somewhere and he wanted it to be true. Maybe he wasn't alone in this world after all. If he had a brother then he wasn't nobody. He would be somebody, or at least, somebody's brother. He would have more of a label than 494; he would be more than just a number.

He couldn't do anything now though. There were too many guards; he'd get caught and punished for sure. He'd have to wait until tonight and come up with a plan to find the boy. It was going to be risky, but he had to find out who the boy was. He had to know if he had a family.

He had a twin! He knew he'd been missing something, but he hadn't known what it was until he saw the boy identical to himself. He had a brother and he couldn't wait to meet him. He needed to come up with a plan to find the boy and he needed to do it fast.

He wouldn't be able to do this alone though. He needed one of his unit mates to help him out. He couldn't ask Zack. He would shoot this plan down before it even left his mouth. Zack was adamant that they stick together no matter what and risking any one of them for someone else was out of the question. His brother wasn't in their unit, so there was no reason to go find him.

Tinga would say he imagined it. That he made up having a brother because he was lonely. She would say it was a fool's errand and she wouldn't want to get caught for someone she didn't even know. Jondy would sort of go along with him, but then she would try to talk him out of it. She would try to reason with him and get him to change his mind.

Syl and Krit wouldn't want to risk it. They were both cautious and wouldn't want to draw attention to themselves. The others, Zane, Brin, Vada, Kavi, and Seth, wouldn't go unless Zack approved it, and he wasn't going to Zack.

He needed Max. She would understand about wanting to find his brother and she wouldn't care how crazy it sounded. She'd been out of their bunk before too. She had seen what they had done to Jack and come back to report it to them. She would be able to help him find his brother.

He waited until they were back to their bunks before he approached Max. Talking outside of their bunk was too dangerous; here they had a very small amount of privacy, but it would be enough.

Max was sitting cross-legged on her bunk, but she looked up when he walked over. She smiled and greeted, "Hi Ben."

He sat down next to her and didn't waste any time getting right to it. "Max, I need your help. I saw a boy today in line who looked identical to me. I think he's my brother and I want to find him."

Max's eyes widened in surprise. He didn't think she was going to go for this; he wasn't even sure if the boy was his brother or not. The only thing he had to go on was the eyes; they were the same bright green as his own and he'd never seen anyone with those same colored eyes before.

Max nodded after a moment and said, "Ok. What's the plan?"

He found his boys. After nine years of searching for them he finally found them. His twin boys were prisoners in the sadistic military compound call Manticore in Gillette, Wyoming. It was just luck that he'd found them. He'd been on a hunt and had overheard the locals talking about the compound. No one knew what exactly was out there; it was clouded in secrecy and he just knew this was his first real lead on his boys.

He contacted an old friend, Donald Lydecker. They were military buddies from back in the day. He'd called his friend asking if he knew of any jobs in the area. He needed some money to support his other two boys. It'd been hard ever since Mary had been killed; he hadn't been able to keep a job. It was easy to spin his story for Lydecker; he would do anything to get to his boys. His whole focus was on finding his boys and finding Mary's killer.

Lydecker understood, having also lost his wife. He didn't mention his missing twins; they had been declared dead, but he didn't believe it. They had been alive and he'd held them in his arms before the hospital had taken them away. He and Mary had been told they had both died in the night, but they weren't allowed to see the bodies. His boys were still alive; they had been taken from him and it was his job to find them.

Lydecker set him up with a job in security at the military compound. It was top secret, but Lydecker knew he could keep his mouth shut and do the job. Lydecker had said it wouldn't be as exciting as it was back in the day. The compound ran smoothly and they rarely had any incidents to worry about. He didn't care; it was money and it was his way into the compound.

He'd caught a glimpse of one of his boys after a week on the job. His boy's head was shaved and he had a barcode tattooed on the back of his neck, but he had the brightest green eyes. The same eyes of his missing boys. He knew immediately this young boy was one of his missing sons.

He kept an eye on the boy, unwilling to let him slip away again. But he needed to find his other boy and get them both out of there. He wasn't sure if it was Eric or Hayden, but if he had to guess, he'd say it was Eric. He'd only held them once, but even then their personalities shone through. Eric had been quiet and had looked around the room as he held him, while Hayden wailed and kicked in his arms.

Eric was a quiet boy. He did his training and exercises without a word. His unit mates seemed to like him well enough from what he could tell. Eric did what he was told and never caused any problems.

He worried about his other two sons while he was away, but he knew Dean could take care of Sam. He could trust they would be ok, and if anything did happen, Dean had an emergency number he could reach him at. His main focus was on his twins. But he couldn't wait until they were all together again, until Sam and Dean could meet the boys.

When he finally found Hayden, he nearly blew his whole operation. Hayden stepped out of line and one of the guards pushed him back in place. The boy had retaliated and pushed back. He could clearly see the boy realizing his mistake right after he had done that. The guard raised his fist and hit his boy and it took everything in his power to just stand there and watch. Hayden had gotten back in line after the guard had hit him four times. His boy stared straight ahead like he was supposed to and didn't move another muscle.

He now had confirmation that both of his boys were here. It was time to get them out of this place and take them home.

His heart was pounding. He'd done some stupid things before, but this one topped the list. If he was caught this time, it would be psy-ops for sure not just a beating. He was doing all of this just because he saw someone that looked like him. And now that he thought about it, he wasn't even sure if they really did look all that alike. He'd seen one glimpse of this kid and now he was risking everything just to get more information.

He could really blame Manticore for his inquisitive personality. They're the ones who gave him cat DNA. They really should be expecting him to act on his curiosity. And it was their fault for letting him see the other boy in the first place.

This was his first time sneaking out of his bunk. He wasn't known for following the rules, but he'd never gone this far. Maybe if he did get caught, he could talk his way out of punishment. It sometimes worked, but sometimes blew up in his face and made his punishment worse. If he found a guard with a sense of humor then he would be fine, but the others would make his life miserable.

The halls were quiet; everyone was asleep. It was weird walking around without an escort and without the rest of his unit. He almost felt free, which was a stupid thought because he obviously wasn't free. He didn't even know what that would mean to be free. Freedom meant being outside of Manticore, but there was nothing out there so it was pointless to be free. He shouldn't even be thinking about this because if he went to psy-ops and they read his mind then he'd be screwed.

He didn't know how he was going to find the boy, but he decided to think about that later. For now his main focus was to not get caught. He could sneak around the halls and peek inside rooms to hopefully catch a glimpse of the boy and if he didn't find him tonight then he'd try again tomorrow night and the night after that. He would look until he found the boy that was identical to him.

He walked down the halls on silent feet. The tile beneath his bare feet was cold, but it didn't bother him. It was exciting to walk around without permission; it was like this was an op and he had to find his target without getting caught. It was almost fun.

He peeked inside windows as he walked, but so far there was no sign of the boy.

He had to stop suddenly when he heard footsteps headed his way. They weren't an X5 that much was certain. X5's were silent when they walked and this guy had on boots and was stomping down the halls like he didn't care who heard him. He must be a guard.

He pressed himself against the wall and blended into the shadows. He watched as the guard walked past him. The guard didn't see him and continued on his patrol. He breathed out in relief and started sneaking again.

Ben let Max lead; she knew her way around better than he did and she was more confident in their search than he was. They waited until everyone had fallen asleep before they snuck out. The door had been locked, but Manticore hadn't put in all of the security measures that they usually had. They weren't worried about them escaping because they knew the transgenics wouldn't risk it.

Max held up her hand to signal for them to stop. A guard walked by without noticing them and they continued after a moment.

He wasn't sure how they were going to find his brother. He didn't know how many transgenics were even here so finding one in particular was going to be next to impossible. Just the chance that they even saw each other was astronomical. But he didn't care how long it took; he was going to find his brother. He didn't know what he would do after that, but it was really just one step at a time right now.

"What are we going to do if we find him?" Max asked, practically reading his mind.

"I don't know yet, but I'll think of something," Ben replied. "Maybe we can figure out a meeting spot or we might be able to hide him in our bunk somewhere…"

Max huffed, "I guess we'll just figure it out when we find him."

He nodded and they continued walking. They went down different halls and around many twists and turns. He was thankful for his advanced memory; otherwise he would have no idea how to get back to their bunk. Luckily, he remembered every new direction they took and if he and Max had to split up, he would have no problem finding their bunk.

Max stopped suddenly and he ran into her back. She turned around and he saw panic in her eyes. He looked over her shoulder and saw a guard a few feet in front of them. He turned towards them and it took a moment for him to register what he was seeing.

"Hey!" The guard yelled when he snapped out of his shock at seeing them out of their bunk, wandering the halls.

"Go!" Max yelled.

He didn't need more than that before he took off in the opposite direction of the guard. Max ran close on his heels as they weaved their way further from the guard chasing after them. They quickly pulled away from the guard since he was just an ordinary, but they didn't slow down.

He turned a corner blindly, but he ran right into someone else and fell back in surprise. He heard the person he'd run into grunt before they too fell to the floor. He looked up to see who he had run into, just praying that it wasn't a guard.

His mouth dropped open in surprise when he saw his own eyes staring back at him. He had literally run into his brother.

"It's you!" The other boy exclaimed as he shook himself out of his shock. He stood up and brushed himself off before he went over to Ben and helped him up too. "I was looking for you everywhere!"

"You were looking for me?" Ben asked surprised. "I was looking for you too!"

"We should hide somewhere," Max whispered to them. Ben had almost forgotten she was there; he'd been so focused on his brother.

His brother nodded his agreement. Max grabbed both of their arms and led them over to what appeared to be a supply closet.

"Great, no one will think to look for us in here," his brother said sarcastically once Max closed the door. Max glared at him, but he shrugged back and said, "A supply closet is super original. Absolutely no one ever hides in supply closets."

"I'm already regretting looking for you," Max quipped back.

"I can tell you're gonna be a handful," his brother said with a smirk.

Max's eyes narrowed so Ben stepped forward and asked, "What's your name?"

His brother's eyebrows drew together in confusion, "I don't have a name. I'm X5-494."

"Well we can't call you that," Max said. "It's too much of a mouthful."

"Oh yeah? What do they call you? Bossy?"

"I think your name should be Alec," Max said with a decisive nod. "As in Smart-aleck."

He thought about it for a moment, and then a wide smile started to spread across his face. "I like it. And I will proudly live up to my name."

"I bet you will," Max muttered.

"My name's Ben and that's Max," Ben introduced before Alec could start up their banter again.

"And I'm guessing we're brothers," Alec said.

"Twins probably," Ben said. "Or clones."

"Cool," Alec said with a smile. "I've never had a twin or clone before."

"Me either," Ben said, his own smile growing.

"So how are we going to do this? Are we going to meet here on certain days or do you have another place in mind?" Alec asked.

"We can meet here. I don't think it was too far from my bunk."

"Mine either. Let's meet again tomorrow at 0300 hours," Alec said.

"What if you get caught?" Max asked.

Alec and Ben both looked at her as if just remembering that she was there.

"I don't get caught," Alec replied with a cocky smirk.

Max scowled at him and Alec stuck his tongue out at her in reply. Ben ignored them, "How about we agree to wait for 30 minutes. If you're here and I don't make it then leave and if I'm here and you don't make it then I'll leave. If they catch us we'll probably get off easy the first time so we can try again the next night."

"Deal," Alec agreed.

Hope you like it! If so, let me know so there can be more soon!