Chapter 3-Back At Manticore

Two months, Autumn thought, from her bed in med bay, she's been back at Manticore for two months. She was allowed out of her room for routine pregnancy checkups and then for some general training provided she was escorted by armed guards and it wasn't too strenuous.

"499," Lydecker said coming into her room.

Snapping to attention, Autumn regarded the Colonel. "Sir."

"You are going to be receiving a roommate. You will assist in his recovery in any way necessary, up to and including assisting in his care. Here is his file; you really need to read this."

"Yes sir," Autumn tells him as a bed is rolled into her room.

"No, Ben!" Autumn whispered going to stand beside his bed. "Colonel, permission to speak?"

"Granted."

"What happened?"

"Someone broke his neck in an attempt to kill him. We found him in enough time to save his life and are attempting nerve regeneration. Psy-Ops will be in daily to retrieve him for brief periods of time while he is comatose."

"They're going to try reindoctrination while he's recovering from nerve regenerative therapy?" Autumn gently questioned.

"Not exactly. You have his file, you can read about everything he's done the last 2 months, but they're trying to fix his psychotic tendencies. Fix the breaks in his mental health; see if he is even worth the extra money to continue with his care, if not, he'll be terminated."

"Psychotic breakdown?"

"Yeah, apparently when we took away his pregnant female, you, he snapped, lost control of reality. Once the baby's born, you'll both be reindoctrined at the same time, if he recovers. Until that time, should he come to, you'll be housed together in order to control 493. Congratulations 499, not only are you our experiment in X5 pregnancies, but you two get to be our trial subjects on reindoctrination of a mated pair."

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Autumn could here Ben talking in his sleep. Snapping awake, she quickly made her way to her place at the edge of his bed. He'd been in a coma for six months now, even though his nerves had been repaired for a month now. Doctors thought the extended coma was more mental than physical. Holding his hand, she comforted him by sitting beside him and brushing the hair off his forehead. "Come on, Smartass. If you're talking, you can wake-up."

"Max, please don't let them take me. You know what they'll do to me," he mumbled over and over again.

Autumn had read Ben's file, she knew that Max, X5-452, was one of his unit mates who'd escaped with him. Lydecker's file had indicated that it was highly likely that another X5 had snapped Ben's neck, possibly Max. Autumn's assumption was that Ben's knee had been broken and he'd asked Max to kill him to keep Manticore from dragging him back.

Silently Autumn let the tears fall as she brushed her lips over his forehead, whispering, "Please wake up Ben. I need you to wake up. Please Smartass, let me see those beautiful hazel eyes. You know, I hope our boy has your eyes. He'll be incredibly lucky to have even half your strength and courage. I don't care what you did after I left you, it wasn't you. I know it wasn't."

"Autumn," Ben whispered.

"Yeah, come on you have to wake-up."

"Hurts," he tells her.

"Just focus on my voice. Can you feel my hand in yours?"

"Yeah," Ben says, clenching his hand around Autumn's.

"Good, I want you to tell me if you can feel this," she says placing his hand on her swollen abdomen, hoping that he could feel the kicking against his palm.

"What's that?" Ben asks, trying to find the strength to open his eyes. Everything hurt and that more than anything let him know he was back at Manticore. As he became more conscious the memories of what he'd done became more prevalent in his mind. "What have I done?" he asked himself, disgusted by his actions. The images of killing those men swimming behind his eyes, why did they save him, he didn't deserve to be saved.

"I needed them to save you," Autumn tells him, letting Ben know he's talking out loud. "And if you open your eyes you can see what you're feeling against your palm."

Groaning, Ben forced his eyes to open. The first thing he saw was Autumn sitting beside him. The second thing he noticed was that she was still pregnant and it was his child kicking against his palm.

"They let you keep the baby?" he asked, trying to sit up.

"Careful Smartass, you've been in a coma for 6 months. They've been doing their best to keep your muscles from deteriorating but you need to take it slow."

"Autumn, the baby? Please tell me."

"Renfro decided that since both parents were X5's it would be interesting to see how the pregnancy progressed."

"What about Psy-Ops? I heard Lydecker tell you they were sending you there."

"Couldn't, it would have been too stressful on the pregnancy. Renfro figured the pregnancy was more valuable than you were. They plan on sending both of us after the babies are born. First mated pair to go through the process of reindoctrination or some such bullshit. I think they want to see if they can make us forget each other."

"Can we get out?" he whispers leaning close.

"We're both on lock-down in Med Bay, and you're in no condition to be going anywhere."

"What happened?"

"Broke neck, nerve regenerative therapy."

"Max," Ben remembers, "How did they revive me?"

"It's fucking Manticore; they created us, what's a broken neck and severed spinal column."

"God, it hurts to move," Ben said, lying back down.

Smiling, Autumn slides off the bed, "Try to rest."

Reaching out and grabbing her wrist, he gently pulls her back down, "Not without you." Rolling onto his side on the narrow bunk, Ben pulls Autumn against his chest so he can wrap his arms around her.

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One month later, Autumn was resting while Ben was out with the trainers. They were trying to determine where his training needed to be reinforced and what he still needed to learn. Looking up as she heard the door opening, she was immediately on guard. Ben wasn't due back for another two hours or more, and anytime they took her children, she was afraid it would be the last time.

"499," 494 says smiling as he entered the room. "They told me that the pregnancy was a success, and as your CO I should congratulate you on a successful assignment."

"Yeah, I get to stay with them for the first two weeks, antibodies in the breast milk."

"They tell me the father was an X5."

"Yes Sir; however, I'm under strict orders to not talk about him," Autumn says standing as her son started to fuss. Autumn wasn't sure how long it would take 494 to learn about 493 once they'd been cleared for duty, but Renfro did not want her CO to learn about his twin being the father.

"I see. Well then," 494 tells her, looking down at the sleeping female infant, "Did you hear they captured one of the 09ers?"

"Which one?" Autumn asks, trying to sound curious. She was truly hoping he hadn't found out about Ben.

"Female. X5-452. They captured her after they blew up the DNA lab a few months ago, and now since Renfro knows about successful breeding between X5's, thanks to you, we're being paired off based on genetic markups."

"Wait, we're being paired up?" Autumn asked, baffled. That made no sense if they wanted her to get pregnant again why not just let Ben do it, seeing as how the two males had the same DNA.

"No, the 09er and myself have been paired off. Renfro says you will be in the next cycle of females in order to give your body time to heal. I just figured you might have some advice on how to handle them, seeing as how it had to be an 09er who got you pregnant. See 452 or Max refuses to cooperate, and I don't want to end up back in Psy-Ops because of her. So want to tell me how he convinced you."

"I can't."

"Go ahead, 499. Tell 494 the truth," Director Renfro tells her walking in the room.

"Ma'am?" Autumn asks, as both she and 494 come to attention.

"At ease. I came to check up on the twins, since they are the first of my next round of X-series soldiers. You know you actually did a good thing her 499. Because of you, I now know copulation between X5's is not only successful but fruitful."

"Thank you ma'am."

"Now, I'm giving you permission to tell your CO how the traitor convinced you to have a relationship for not just one night but 6 months," Renfro tells the two soldiers as she leaves.

"I fell in love with him before I knew the truth."

"Truth?"

"I thought he was someone else," Autumn tells him sitting down.

"Who?"

"Please don't make me tell you, after Psy-Ops erases my memories in two weeks, it will be hard enough that I won't remember him, but for you to know and not be able to tell me, please don't."

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One week later, Autumn and Ben were shaken awake when explosions rocked the compound. They quickly crept to the door to find it not only unarmed but unlocked. "Get dressed, now," Ben tells her, grabbing his pants and boots. Getting dressed in record time, he grabs both children and heads for the door. Feeling Autumn close behind him, he slips outside and sees soldiers running scared as Manticore is burning to the ground. Ben gives their daughter to Autumn, and motions for her to follow him into the night. He immediately heads for the tree line away from the gunfire the X7's are firing into the fleeing transgenics. Reaching the gate, both parents pull their children close and run at the fence leaping at the last minute. Ben knows they need to get as much distance between Manticore and themselves, and Seattle was the nearest city meaning many transgenics were going to head there. The secret to avoid getting caught was to go as far as possible, meaning Seattle was out.

"We need a car," Ben tells Autumn after they'd been running all night. He had friends in Portland if he could just get his family there. Reaching a highway, they'd started following it. Ben was sure they were nearing Kent, and after another 3 hours, they found a rundown diner with a few cars in the parking lot.

"Keep heading down the road for another 5 minutes," Ben tells Autumn handing her their son. "I'll get a car and come get you."

"But..."

"Autumn!" Ben growls, "The doctors said I'm in excellent physical condition. I need you to protect our children. Now move your ass."

Ben waited for Autumn to disappear into the tree line before he headed into the parking lot. It took him less than 2 minutes to find the perfect car and hotwire it. Heading away from the diner, Ben grabbed the cell phone sitting between the seats. Dialing a number from memory, he waited for James to answer the phone.

"Hello."

"James, it's Ben. I'm headed your way, should be there before nightfall since I'll be travelling the back roads."

"What's coming for you this time kid?"

"The whole damn place burnt down last night; I'm the least of their worries. I just need a place to crash for a couple of days til I get back on my feet. You think Patrick will hire me back?"

"Are you kidding, Patrick loved you like his own grandson just like I loved you like my own son. What do you need from me before you arrive?"

"Honestly?"

"What do you need Ben?"

"I need a new birth certificate, you still have all my old info?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Now grab a pen and write this down. I need a birth certificate for an Autumn Devon MacShea, born a month or two after me. I need a marriage certificate for us dated about a year ago."

"Gotcha."

"Dad?"

"Yeah kid?"

"I'm not done yet. I need two birth certificates for my newborns. They were born 10 days ago. Hold on," Ben tells the man on the phone. "Autumn, I need names for the twins."

"Katherine with a "K" Elizabeth and you name your son," Autumn says getting into the backseat with both infants.

"You hear her Dad?"

"Yeah," James tells him chuckling. He can't wait to meet the woman who captured his son's heart, and then stuck around to put up with his smartass moody shit.

"Nickolas Benjamin also with a "K"."

"I'll have everything ready for you when you arrive. Key will be in the usual place if I'm not home. Where both kids healthy?"

"They are absolutely perfect."

"How are you and the mother? That's a big responsibility for two 20 year olds, even genetically engineered twenty year olds."

Smiling, Ben glances in the backseat to where Autumn was sitting with both kids on the seat beside her, "We're good."

"I'll see you in a few hours. Do you want me to tell your Mom about becoming a Grandmother or do you want to surprise her when you all arrive?"

"You can tell her, the suspense will be good for her. Thanks Dad."

"Anytime kid."