AUTHOR: Northern Star – Formerly known as White Kittie -
Summary: An unexpected event drastically changes the lives of Max and White.
Rating: PG-13 cause I think the content isn't all that bad. And you know what I say – if you don't like it, then don't read it.
Timeline: After Fuhgeddaboutit, the virus was cured by me. That's not what the story's about, it was just, cured. Then Exposure happened, which straight bolted towards the runes. Now, we live in an AU. Yay!
A/N: I want to thank a few people before I start this trilogy.
First off, Glenaan. Thanks for letting me use the 'Golden Fleece' theory in my story. The Golden Fleece theory comes from her story 'In from the Cold', one of the best reads I've had in a while, and I think you will enjoy it too! (Unless you're not M/L, that is…)
Second comes alowlypotato, for her support in writing White, and giving me some ideas. Also for the late-night chat conversations when I couldn't sleep. And Black Rose for her help with some scenes I couldn't seem to figure out.
Third… The entire M/W clan at TBW for encouraging me to write this… Thanks :D.
This has turned from M/L to Multi-shipper to totally nuts. Read at your own risk.
This first chapter mostly consists of a flashback, but it's crucial to the story.
Now, on with the story!
Chapter #1 – Not only a memory
It's too bad,
it's too bad
Too late, so wrong, so long
It's too bad that we had no time to rewind
Let's walk, let's talk
Let's talk
~Nickelback – Too bad~
It was a usual rainy night in Seattle, and it fitted Max's mood. The pounding of the water against the window intermingled with the sounds of thunder. It was a perfect description of her thoughts: Total chaos.
Logan stopped by every once in awhile to ask if she wanted to talk, or eat something. All she wanted was some peace and quiet. She didn't even know what had driven her to come to Fogle towers after what happened a few days before.
A bright light filled the room, and she looked up just in time to see a huge wave of lightning in the distance. Sighing, she wrapped her arms around her knees. It had always been like this in her life… Just when it seemed that things where looking up, something would happen and give her a setback.
She was vaguely aware of Logan standing behind her. It was when she felt his hand on her shoulder that she looked up. She knew she looked like hell, and that the concern in his wasn't for nothing.
"You haven't eaten anything all day," He began, but she cut him off.
"I'm not hungry."
He sighed, but did not retreat to the computer room as he'd done earlier that day. Instead he stayed behind her, watching the rain fall down. She'd been like this all day, and it was seriously starting to worry him. When she'd gotten here, she hadn't wanted to talk about anything. It worried him not to know what had brought her into this stage. The only time that he'd seen her like this was after the whole Ben fiasco.
Max leaned her forehead against the cold window, sighing deeply. She wanted to tell Logan everything that had happened when she'd disappeared one and a half month ago, but so far hadn't been able to get a word past her throat. A tear trickled down her cheek.
Logan noticed her distress, and calmly wrapped his arms around her slender form. She leaned against him, sobbing softly. He dropped a tender kiss on the top of her head, softly rocking her as she cried.
When her sobs died down, Max angrily wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her bathrobe.
"Max, what happened?" Logan softly whispered, holding her tight against him.
"So much," She paused, taking a deep breath, "I just don't know where to start."
"Just start at the beginning."
Max nodded, and took a deep breath, and began her story.
1 Week ago
Max slowly opened her eyes, and was immediately overcome by a killer headache. Her vision was foggy, and she blinked a few times, before moving to sit up. She observed the room she was in, and nearly groaned as she recognized it to be a cell.
The last thing she could recall was fighting White, who had somehow managed to track her down to the street she was making a delivery to. The fight had been long and gruesome, and he'd managed to knock her out in the end.
Which offered a good explanation for the cause why her head was hurting so much.
She moved of the cot, attempting to stand on her legs. No sooner was she overcome by a nasty sense of nausea, and she heavily leaned against the wall to keep herself from falling onto the floor.
Laughter sounded from outside the cell, and she moved her head to look up. She let out a low hiss, as her eyes met those of Ames White.
"Comfy, 452?" He mockingly asked, leaning against the wall that faced her cell.
"No, I want my money back. They clearly said that it would be five-star hotel, but only by the sight of you they can degrade to minus one."
White only smiled at that,
"Stop, 452, really, you're hurting me." He said this in a bored tone, while stalking around her cage. Her eyes followed his every move.
"What, fearing I'll kill you?"
"Considering that's what you have been trying to do since the first time you saw me, I'd consider a yes."
Just as White was about to respond to that, the doors on his left burst open to reveal two men. They walked in without saying a word to White, and unlocked the cell door.
Max tensed up, ready to fight. The two familiars merely smiled, acting quickly. Before she could even react, one was behind her, holding her arms in a tight grip. With the drugs still taking effect, there wasn't much she could do but co-operate.
One of them aimed a gun at her head, and she could see he wasn't going to have a problem with it. She felt White's eyes on her the entire time as they led her down the hallways. After a little while, they got to a big hall, which Max recognized to be the hall of Ray's old 'School'.
Standing in the middle of it, she saw the same Priestess that had held the ceremony. She was led onwards, until she was facing the woman. Behind her, the heavy wooden doors were closed, and from the corner of her eyes she could see Ames White pulling a heavy bolt chain around the knobs. They obviously weren't letting her get away.
Still not ready to give up, she fiercely struggled against the two men holding her down.
"Now, now 452." The Priestess spoke, in a tone more likely to be deserved by a child.
Max stopped her struggling, meeting the Priestess' gaze with an ice-cold glare of her own.
"My name's Max!"
"Fine 'Max'" She mockingly said, smiling, "You're probably wondering why you're here-"
"If it's because I need to have a bullet through my head, I'd like to get it over with."
"That can be done." White spoke behind her. The Priestess glared at him, and he silenced.
'Probably the only person who can shut him up,' Max thought, willing herself not to smile at what she'd just found out.
"You are much too valuable to be killed, you see 'Max', with your special DNA, you have become totally immune to the coming-"
"Yeah, I sorta noticed." Max said in a bored tone.
"Which was supposed to be used against us… But with a slight twist of the plan, it can be very much useful to us."
At Max's blank stare, she added,
"We have chosen you to become our breeder, 452."
Max's eyes widened, and suddenly her strength leaped back to life. She struggled with all her might, kicking one of the men of her. White rushed to help his race, managing to hold her down long enough so the other man could sedate her. She locked a hateful glare on White, before darkness overtook her. From far away she could hear a shout coming from White, but what he said was lost to her, as she faded into an empty void.
When she opened her eyes again, she was in an operating room, with doctors moving around her. A woman, looking to be in her late thirties set her eyes on her, and then turned to the other two standing nearby her.
"She's awake."
There was rustling behind her, and when she attempted to turn herself to see what was happening, she found herself being held down by strong bonds. Fiercely, she pulled her arm, testing their strength.
They weren't made of metal, but the material came quite close to the strength of it. There was no such chance as getting out of here, but she had to try. The Priestess' words kept running through her head, and they gave her a pretty good idea of the reason she was here.
The doctors approached her calmly, but she didn't trust them a bit. The woman that had first acknowledged her to be awake calmly spoke,
"You can choose to co-operate –"
"Bite me!"
"Or not." She continued, grabbing a needle from the table next to her.
Max immediately tensed up, not quite ready to make this easy on them. She moved her arm in every angle she could, even if it were just a few inches. The doctor sighed, looking rather bored.
"Now, now 452, there's no need to fight a battle you can't win…"
The two doctors who hadn't even uttered a single word to her ever since she'd woken up held her arm down, and the woman plunged the needle into her arm. Max watched the liquid move down into her veins.
There was sigh of relief from the doctor, who turned to her colleges.
"Get everything ready. We're damn lucky that the methods have improved since the 80's, but timing is still crucial."
The two promptly nodded, moving to gather tools. The woman turned to Max again, and then check her watch.
"1 minute, 452…"
"Why are you doing this?" Max asked, starting to feel drowsy from the sedation.
"Because I want continuation of my kind," A smile flashed across her face, "Even if it means I have to treat freaks like you."
Max didn't even get a chance to respond to that, as the familiar blackness once more took her over.
It seemed as if hundreds of hours had passed when she woke up again. She slowly opened her eyes, immediately taken aback by a soar, low thumping in the back of her head.
She gazed up at the ceiling of her cell, for a moment trying to remember what had happened. Then the memories came flooding back, and she gasped in realization of what must have happened. She moved her head up, ignoring the burning pain, and checked her surroundings.
The cell she'd woken up in when she'd been brought here looked the same, but she was on a different bed, surrounded by IV drips. Her thoughts were stopped abruptly by the sound of the iron cell door being opened.
"Good, you're up." The voice sounded familiar, and as the person moved to stand in front of her, she sighed, recognizing her to be the doctor that had sedated her earlier.
"Never thought of you to be a sleeper 452," She mused, pushing in a small tray.
That raised a question in Max's head.
"How long was I asleep?"
"4 days."
4 days. She'd never slept that long in her entire life, hell, she knew no human who had slept that long in his entire life. The drug must've been very strong, which would explain why it hadn't taken immediate effect on her.
The doctor moved around the bed, simply checking the IV drips.
"You'll need to stay down a few more days, then we'll run some tests on you… Luckily methods have improved, we'll be able to determine things much faster."
"Determine what?" Thought she had a pretty good assumption, she still wished her thoughts were wrong.
"Whether you're pregnant or not." The doctor put it bluntly, and Max felt her insides go cold at the words. The doctor smiled at her reaction, ignoring the glares she was getting from her.
The tray was pushed to the side of the bed, and she looked at it. There were several countless pills, and some sandwiches that barely looked eatable. But, even if she refused to eat, the woman watching her like a hawk would surely shove it down her throat.
She slowly ate, and then downed all the pills with a glass of water. The doctor smiled at that, and after Max had finished eating, she took the tray and walked out of the door.
After closing it, the lights were turned off, leaving Max alone with her thoughts. A tear silently trickled down her cheek, landing on the hard cotton sheets covering her body. This couldn't be happening, but the pain she was feeling was a straight up sign that it was.
The days that passed by after that were filled with silence, only broken by visits from doctors with food and pills. It was a silent waiting game, and Max was feeling more anxious every day.
On the sixth day after the operation, she was wordlessly hauled to her feet by one of the doctors, and led down the same path she had been when she'd 'arrived'. In the hall, the positions were ironically the same as before, apart from the fact that was just one familiar holding her now.
She spotted Ames White leaning against the door in a rather tense manner. His eyes were trained on her the entire time, and she shivered.
There was a calm silence, before the Priestess spoke.
"Take a blood sample, now."
Max didn't even fight the needle, which obviously surprised both the Priestess and Ames White. She was just too tired to argue, let alone to fight. As soon as the syringe was filled with her blood, the doctor left her alone in the hall with White and the Priestess.
Max didn't even utter a single word to either of them, just content with standing still. The only sound she heard was the wind howling outside, a distracting, but peaceful noise. There was still a world outside, and she'd get away, no matter of the odds. But first, she'd have to overcome this obstacle. Complete the… 'No!' She scolded herself, realizing what her mind was taking her to.
She didn't have much time to think anymore, as the lock from the door was removed, and the doctor came walking back in. The sunny, happy expression on her face made Max's stomach turn. And was it just her, but did she see White flinch behind her?
The Priestess read the test results handed to her with skilful eye, a smile spreading across her features.
"It's positive, 452. Positive."
However much she'd wanted to break down right there, she wasn't going to give them the satisfaction. Instead, she glared at the Priestess, ignoring the burning sensation forming behind her eyelids.
There was a cough from behind her, but she was completely oblivious to it. The doctor escorted her down the hall again, leaving her with her own thoughts in the cell. She curled up in a ball on her cot, finally letting the tears come.
She didn't know how long she'd been sobbing when she heard a voice behind her.
"452?" The voice was questioning, and she immediately recognized it to be Ames White's.
"Go away. I don't need see your face. I never had to see it in the first place."
"Getting all emotional 452?" His voice missed the usual sense of hatred, and she turned to face him.
"Why don't I feel the slightest need to answer that?"
He shrugged his shoulders, opening the cell door. He slowly entered, and she moved to sit upright.
"You do know I have the burning need to kill you right now, right?"
He let out a chuckle at that, obviously laughing at her.
"I'd save my energy for tonight if I were you."
"Why?" She asked, confused.
"I'm asking the questions here, 452."
"My name's Max!" He ignored the statement, instead reaching for something inside his pocket. Pulling it out, she saw it was a small key.
"This is the key to this cell. I don't want to hear any questions about it," He handed the key to her, and she gazed up at him, genuinely confused, "Just take it, and meet me at the parking lot behind the school at 2200." He made her check his watch, before turning to leave.
When the door closed behind him, Max blinked, sitting against the wall, wondering what the hell was going on while counting down the time.
At five to eleven, she checked for any sounds coming from outside the room she was in. Hearing none, she used a bit of skill to open the cell door. She crept out of the room in silence, checking the hallway to make sure it was fully abandoned.
After a few minutes of holding her breath, she had reached the doors without being detected by the security system. She breathed in and out, before opening them. There were no sounds of alarms blaring, and she took a step outside, ready to hear the sound of a gun's safety being released.
No sounds came. She sighed in relief, moving quickly. After two long minutes she finally reached the parking lot, finding Ames White's car standing there. He himself was leaning against it, and she walked towards him with slow paces.
He sighed at that, holding out his hand. She handed him the key, and he pocketed it.
"Why are you helping me?"
"You have no need to know."
"Damn straight I do," She paused, blurting out another question at that, "Whose is it?"
White stubbornly remained silent at that, and Max took another step towards him.
"Tell me!" She said rather loudly, glaring at him.
"It isn't that hard of a guess."
Max fell silent, looking him down.
"Bastard." She breathed.
"It wasn't my own choice, now I disconnected the full security system, run, get rid off it, and never come back." With that he closed the subject.
Max sighed, but nodded.
"Wasn't planning on returning. The service's crappy… And why aren't you killing me?"
"That'll come later." He answered. Max took the answer, and turned to wards the fence. She ran, and jumped over it. As soon as her feet hit the ground she took of running, never once looking back.
Max looked up at Logan when she'd finished telling her story. Fresh tears covered the dry, salty paths of the old ones on her face. Logan had his fists balled together, knuckles white.
"God, Max…" He whispered.
"Please, don't get angry at me…" He let out a hoarse laugh at that.
"It wasn't your fault." He softly said.
"It was! I should've fought more. I shouldn't have let them capture me in the first place –"
"There was nothing you could have done Max," He paused, sighing, "We'll get through this Max, together."
Max mutely nodded.
"I'm just… Scared."
=-=
A/N: What do you think?