AN: Thanks Enigma and Rowe for bouncing around prophetic ideas with me! And thanks to the people who are reviewing - please continue! I really appreciate the feedback!!
Your target's a little more than just a girl.
452 is a threat to everything we've worked for throughout the generations. Her death is our highest priorityDays had passed since my confrontation with 452, and the itch to get my hands on her scrawny little neck and wring it, was growing worse by the minute. For now, government was content to let the transgenics remain in their pen, while they tried to decide whether they could reap any kind of financial gain from the mess. The current idea being tossed around within the White House was to give the creatures a false sense of security, allow them to believe they had amnesty, then round them up and sell them for spare parts. That idea was fine with me, as long as I could have the chance to mess up a certain few in the process.
But the Conclave was growing impatient with the wait. 452 was a threat to our existence and they wanted her head on the sharp end of a pike. And not just figuratively speaking. Senator McKinley was trying through the corrupt channels of government, to gain us official permission to raid Terminal City and seize the leaders of the rat hole.
But the idea wasn't sitting well with those whose loyalty we hadn't succeeded in buying. It was a delicate issue - especially when we were supposed to be in negotiation with the freaks. Believe it or not, there were actually some sympathisers for the transgenics holding seats of power. Not many, but enough to make an abrupt move for their annihilation far messier than what it was worth.
So as usual, I had to do the job unofficially.
There were two teams. One, the ordinary men who had worked with me back in the good old covert days. These men were assembled at the mouth of the tunnel where I had found 452. The other group were waiting within an abandoned building outside of Terminal City. They were the Phalynx. And they had some payback to do.
Once I'd given the covert group of humans the all-clear to proceed with the mission, I ripped off my headset and laughed. They were going to be running around like headless chickens all morning.
I knew without doubt that the transgenics would have blocked the tunnel they had been passing through up until now. Though just to be on the safe side, I'd had a slight memory lapse when sending my men to the area. Whoops. Now I recalled it being a mile or so in an entirely different direction.
Giving my group of Phalynx a nod, all but the redhead dissolved into the fading darkness. Thula waited for them to leave before turning to me. "I'm going to tear that transgenic bitch to pieces."
Shaking my head, I suppressed a grin. Her voice was so monotone it was comic. "No. Leave her to me."
"I don't think so. That one's mine. Besides little brother, I think you're a little too fond of that transgenic bitch to follow orders with a clear head." She set her expression in a self-satisfied smirk, thinking to belittle me.
Angered, I stepped forward and grabbed her throat, squeezing the flesh tightly although it had no effect on her anyway. "For someone who claims to be a topline warrior, your last attempt to eliminate her was somewhat humorous to say the least. Leave her to me. Once I get what I need out of her, you can play with your little friend all you like. But until then, find yourself another freak to bounce around the room."
This time she did laugh as she grabbed my wrist and twisted it away. "Whatever little brother. Let's see who gets to her first."
Flashing a humourless smile, she stepped back, turned and leapt out of the four story window, leaving me so enraged I wondered just how satisfying it would be to see the X5 kick her ass. Picking up a decrepit desk and hurtling it into an already damaged wall, I then stalked over to the object and drove my boot into it a few times until I could see another colour other than red. Then I took the same exit as Thula. Out the window, over the fence and into Terminal City. It was so damn easy.
"Okay guys, we need to do another supply run. As much as I love Joshua's culinary delights, I'm beginning to wonder if there's more to life than mac and cheese."
"Don't forget the lil' lil' hot dogs."
From the rafter's, I watched 494 and the pet dog joke around as they sat at a table amid an assorted group of lifes little abnormalities. At the head of the table, 452 sifted through a small pile of papers, occasionally stopping to hit one of her little pal's across the head. Mainly 494. The circus clown in the freak show.
For now at least, I was content to stay in the rafters and watch the scene play out below me. There was no doubt I was learning something of these creatures from watching them. In fact I was willing to bet the key way to get 452 spill the beans on the whereabouts of Ray, was to torture her friends. My pick was the dog boy. Her tone softened significantly every time she directed a comment to him. But he was the one animal in the pack that I didn't want to go up against. I hate to admit fear, it's certainly a feeling I don't make a habit of experiencing, but that one was a challenge I wasn't keen to take up. He had a strength that I doubt even his friends were aware of. And if it weren't for 452 calling on him to let me go at the conclusion of the Jam Pony saga, I surely would have died that day.
452 seemed particularly fond of hitting at 494 - or perhaps hitting on? I couldn't be sure. Although she treated him with less respect one would allocate to a household fly, he seemed happy enough to put up with it. Perhaps it was some kind of little sex game they had going - a bit of public humiliation to stoke the fire? Shit. If I weren't so secure in my perch I could have fallen right onto that table below at the mental image gained from that one. Grimacing, I reminded myself to never think such repulsive thoughts of the mating rituals of animals ever again.
This soldier was definitely one I had to watch out for however. I'd seen him cage fight, and I grudgingly had to admit he'd put up a good effort at Jam Pony despite his injury. I looked forward to seeing just what he was capable of when he and I at last came face to face. As we undoubtedly would - 494 seemed to be Max's shadow. But the guy was so slippery I almost wondered if he had a bit of snake DNA in him. Already he'd wriggled out of certain death after I embedded a micro-explosive into his skull. There must be truth in the saying of cats and their nine lives.
Sitting opposite 494 was the overly large lizard who I'd fought once before during the Jam Pony fiasco. Leaning back on his seat, a cigar dangling from his mouth, feet on the table, and shotgun cradled in his arm, he was the perfect image of absolute disrespect. If this was the transgenics' usual morning meeting, I was astounded at the complete lack of formality. Weren't these creatures trained to be soldiers from birth? Weren't they taught orderliness, discipline, and respect?
Obviously times had truly changed for them since leaving Manticore and foolishly too. The smallest military procedure had flown straight out the door, no doubt their fighting skills weren't so finely tuned anymore either.
Were they that keen to escape the memory of their former home, that they would let self-discipline run so quickly into the ground? It seemed the answer to that question was a firm yes, and I silently chuckled at how my father would react if he were to see his failures now. This transgenic nation was more like an empire of dirt.
Filing that revelation away for another day, I quickly came to the conclusion that the lizard and 452 had little affection for each other. From what I could see of this meeting, he was constantly undermining her 'authority' and seemed more content to contradict her with insults than to pay attention to anything else being said. I decided I could almost like this creature. There was a little more depth to him than what he revealed. Between his various and creative curses regarding 452's lineage, he was taking in everything that was being said. And I had the feeling that no matter what she decided, he was going to do his own thing anyway. Judging from the contemptuous looks he occasional exchanged with 494, they had their own game running of which 452 had no idea.
The man who sat opposite 452 I knew to be the Eyes Only contact whom Wendy had initially sought to recover Ray. Judging by 452's ignorance to the sub-plots taking place around her, there was a good chance he was the one who knew where my son was.
There were two others sitting at the table. A couple of the ugliest anomalies I'd seen. I knew there were quite a few mutants who'd never made the grade. From what I had so far learnt, they had been forced to live forever in the cells beneath Manticore. These two creatures below me had obviously traded their basement existence for an equally pathetic life within this hole. I ommited them from my list of possible threats. Judging by the semi-organised chaos I'd so far witnessed within Terminal City, I doubted anyone had ever bothered to give them much more than basic self-defence training.
As I waited for my team to take their positions, the conversation turned from supply runs at last, and I listened with interest to what was being said.
"Luke has any progress been made yet on contacting someone who can read the runes?" 452 was studying the newest batch which had begun appearing over her arms.
"No not yet Max. The alphabet has never been properly deciphered. In fact there's little known about the Minoans at all. Why Sanderman didn't use a language we could actually work with, I don't know." The question was answered by the scrawny little creature with the pixie features.
"Well obviously he never anticipated that he would suddenly have to pack up and leave before he had the chance to teach her. We've been over this before Luke." The Eyes Only contact stifled a look of impatience and folded his fingers together as he leant back in his seat.
The anomolie with the misshapen head and lens strapped across his eye, jumped in on the conversation. "Yeah but - why didn't he just start teaching her from day one? Why wait? If she's walking around wearing this prophesy on her skin, wouldn't he be capable of some sort of foresight?"
The canine growled, and I watched as 494 shot out a hand to hold him in place. "Stay doggie-dog."
"Father wasn't stupid. He knew what he was doing."
It never ceased to amaze me that these things could talk, but it certainly made me cringe to hear this dog call my father his father. The suggestion of me sharing any sort of family with this... insult to life, was enough to make me want to pull out my gun right now and land a bullet between its eyes.
"I'm not saying he was stupid Joshua. I'm just saying that there's got to be more to this than what we realise. Max, you said CJ was familiar with the language, and that White appeared to read it fluently, right?"
452 nodded her head, a puzzled and somewhat hesitant expression on her face, no doubt wondering just what the creature was getting at.
"Well if Sanderman was one of the good guys, why did he use their language?"
"Because once upon a time he was a big bad familiar of course."
"Was - or still is?"
"Whatever you're trying to say Dix, I'm not liking it. Sounds to me that you're trying to suggest that I - we - tie in more with these cult loonies than we realise. And I think you're taking this entirely out of context."
"But think about it Max! CJ told you that Sanderman wanted to change things with science and technology right? He wanted to test people for their strength against this pathogen without facing possible death?
"Yeah, because he knew CJ wouldn't survive the initiation. But the Familiars objected the suggestion - said it was heresy." 452's facial muscles twitched with the effort of holding back her frustration at this round of questioning, and I almost wanted to clap for this genetic oddity. Who could have known something so ugly could posess so much perception?
"Exactly! It doesn't mean that he was against the whole idea of world domination or whatever the hell it is that they're striving for. He could have simply wanted to bring the breeding cult away from their old fashioned methods. Sounds to me like he was simply more cynical about the religious side of things than the rest - that and the fact he didn't want to lose his son. They didn't like it so they kicked him out. Then he went elsewhere to continue with his idea of making Familiars with a built in immunity..."
"Stop it Dix! I don't want to hear anymore!" 452's calls for silence were seconded at last by the others at the table. All except 494 who wore a speculative look on his face.
I knew what the quasimoto was getting at, and I'd heard enough reminders of my father's betrayal for one day. Sandeman's talk of the meek inheriting the earth set him apart from my kind. His cause was one of complete opposition to everything we'd worked for. Of that I had no doubt. There was no place in this world for those who weren't strong enough to survive what was coming. He'd used a few spare parts to engineer these freaks to be like us and given them the addition of instant immunity. And then he'd expected us to embrace such a cutting edge scientific breakthrough. Yeah, right. Without any doubt, the transgenics were opposition, and they had to be destroyed. And the first step in going about this task lay in taking out those that sat below me now. The leaders. Once they were out of the picture, the rest of this transgenic nation would collapse.
"Max - are you okay? What's wrong?"
As I looked down to see what the drama was now, a sensation washed over me, a blur of thoughts and voices. The building I was in faded into blackness, and for a moment I felt completely detatched from my body as my mind touched upon those of my fellow Familiars. It was time. The Phalynx were ready.
But all of a sudden, I'd developed a really bad feeling.
Snapping my eyes open, I looked down into the face of 452. She was staring straight up at me, a wild look of horror on her face. How could she have suddenly seen me?
"Everybody scatter- now!"
I was astonished - what the hell was happening? Without question to her command, the transgenics began to flee to positions of defence.
Just as my group came crashing in.
I dropped from the rafters and landed upon the back of the lizard. He collapsed to the ground beneath my sudden weight and I immediately drove my elbow into the back of his neck. It dazed the creature but his skin was like armour and he shook me off. I leapt to my feet before he had a chance to regain his own, and kicked his legs out from under him when at last he did.
Pulling out my gun, I prepared to shoot when his foot came up and sent it spinning across the room out of reach. Then rolling away before I could kick him once more, he jumped to his feet and met my next move with a block before stepping forward and swinging a punch. I smacked it aside only to have his other fist drive into my face, sending my head rocking backwards from the force of the blow. Smiling at the lack of pain it caused, I dropped to a crouch and lashed out a leg, bringing him to the ground again.
Effortlessly picking up the table around which the transgenics had been sitting, I sent it crashing over the top of the lizard, hoping to knock him out long enough to finish my original task - reaching 452 before Thula did. A bullet whizzed by to my right, and I spun around to see that wolfboy had spotted me. From the look on his face, I gathered that he was still harbouring resentment over the death of his blind friend in the sewers.
There was definately a bad feeling developing in the pit of my stomach.
This was all wrong. We should have taken them out without any noise or mess. Not this banging and crashing and gun fire that was going on now. Any moment now they'd have backup - surely not a set of ears in Terminal City could be oblivious to our fight. I could just get hold of 452...
"Ah White! Buddy!"
Before me appeared X5-494, grinning away like an idiot. Foolishly, I was taken aback by the cheerful facade just long enough to not even notice the hard fast fist, until it slammed into my head. You know, I almost had to admire him for that one.
From what I had seen of 494's cage fights, I had an idea of what I was up against. I came at him hard, throwing punches as rapidly as he, matching him blow for blow, sometimes on the defence and sometimes the offence. His skill was better than 452's, his moves more aggressive. He wasn't one for fancy flips. His tactics were that of a well oiled machine. I deflected a punch that came at such speed it would have grounded the average person - permenantly.
As he took his next swing, I caught his wrist, tired of the game at last. Twisting his arm, I jerked it up before bringing my elbow down upon the limb, grinning as I heard the snap and then laughing as I watched his face crumple in pain. Knowing that wouldn't be enough to stop 494, I threw my fist into the side of his head with enough force to cause a human to slip into a coma, and then stepped over his body as he collapsed to the ground unconscious.
Turning away, I searching the room to check on the status of dog boy - he was still fending off the Phalynx. Momentarily secure from my only real threats, I then focused my attention on finding my target.
Thula had cornered 452 and was busy attacking her as if life were one big wrestling match. 452's catch phrase may have been 'I'll kick your ass' but Thula was more like, "I'll grind your bones to make my bread'. The fact the transgenic had lived up to her own motto the last time was pure fluke.
I strode towards them as the red head was about to drive the X5's head into the concrete floor - again. Pulling Thula away, I flung her backwards and back into the fray. Her eyes were aflame and I groaned inwardly, realising she had no intention of adherring to the orders I'd given her earlier. Shoving past me, she flung herself at 452 again. The transgenic was still in the process of crawling to her knees. She'd kept up fairly well to be able to claim a hold on consciousness still, but the Phalynx had obviously given her a work out she wasn't ready for. It was funny how tables could be turned when she didn't have a pair of handcuffs to slap on her enemies wrist and tape to bind.
"Enough already!" Once more I pulled the Phalynx away and held her back from the transgenic. "You'll get your turn later - now back off."
Thula stood panting like an enraged bull, while 452 stared up at us, hardly daring to move. I blocked her out of my peripheral vision, focusing my full attention on the Phalynx before me. She was reluctant to take orders, especially from me, a fact that made me half wish once more, that I could have had the satisfaction of seeing 452 get more than a few good shots in.
Backing away, the Phalynx wiped away the blood that trickled from the corner of her mouth. "Don't kill her before I do."
I nearly pointed out the complete lack of sense in the sentence, but opted to let it slide. Her genetic line was bred for fighting, not intelligence. Instead I was thankful just to see the Phalynx's retreating back. Walking over to 452, I crouched before her and fixed her with a smirk. "Now, shall we chat about my son?"
With a sudden smirk of her own, she replied, "I don't think so."
Sensing someone behind me entirely too late, I began to turn but a hand reached down and saved me the effort. Instead I found myself being picked up and hurtled across the room. Rolling and coming back to my feet meters later, I began to take a defensive stance, but the canine was right before me, lifting me by the throat and forcing me to stare into eyes engulfed by rage and shining with the knowledge of my now certain death.
As the fingers around my throat began to squeeze, I was glad for the training that had conditioned my brain so that I couldn't feel pain.
"You killed Annie."
Three words. Damn I could really regret doing that right about now. But I refused to try and choke out an apology. It wouldn't save me, and I'd rather die than give him the satisfaction of thinking I would try and bargin for my life with words we both knew to be empty. His grip tightened further, the blackness of unconsciousness began to chase out any attempt at coherent thought.
"But Max is right. Killing you isn't going to bring back Annie. It'll only make me just like you - an animal."
His words broke into the darkness as he released me, allowing me to fall into a pathetic heap on the ground. As I gasped for air, I realised his mercy was a double edged insult. He has insulted me by allowing me to live, and he had insulted me by suggesting that I were the animal, not him. Smart mutt. I hoped that some day soon I'd get a chance to put the damn thing down.
As I began to stand, I noticed there were a significant amount of transgenics now in the building, but the Phalynx were out of sight. What the hell was going to happen now?
The question was quickly answered when the lizard stepped forward from the crowd and strode towards me.
"Aw fuck this Joshua, what are you showing him mercy for?"
Before I could react, the reptilian raised his fist and brought it crashing into my temple, and that's when the blackness took over at last.