A/N: I'm so happy that everyone's enjoying this! For clarity, yes, 510 IS Biggs. Some people write him in as 510, some as 511, but in this fic he's 510. Please keep reviewing everyone and give me some feedback!
Mina walked into the rec room and immediately went over to sit beside Max, who was lounging in a couch staring out a window with a wistful expression on her face. She didn't acknowledge Mina's presence as she sat down but kept staring blankly into space.
"You alright 452?" Mina asked. She didn't dare use Max's name in a room full of X5s who would have heard it as clearly as a bell.
The use of her designation had snapped Max out of her stupor and she turned to look at her friend.
"I'm fine 839," Max said. "Don't worry."
But Mina did worry. She saw the sadness in Max's eyes. She knew that Max wanted to be out of Manticore, to escape, but Mina had never seen her this way before. She had always been witty and sarcastic, burning everyone who dared cross her. Now she looked older, nonetheless beautiful, but still. She looked tired and that worried Mina even more because she knew that Max had shark DNA and didn't need much sleep. She, herself, hadn't been blessed with that gift. Then again, to Max, it was probably more of a curse than a gift.
Mina studied her and realized that the sadness emanating from her friend was not because of lack of sleep, or at least that wasn't the majority of the reason. She looked a little longing, ever since earlier on when she, Mina and 663 had been walking to classes. She looked like she was missing something very badly.
Obviously her life on the outside, Mina thought. It surprised her for a moment when she realized that she didn't know very much about Max's life on the outside. When they had been talking, Max always had managed to steer their conversation away from that. Sure, Mina knew about what ticked her off and what she liked to do, but Max had never talked about the people she had had in her life before she had been recaptured.
Probably because it would bring her too much pain, Mina thought. She didn't push it, however, because she knew that some things should be left alone, and that maybe, in time, Max would reveal things to her. It wasn't like Mina had told Max everything either, the things that had really effected her from her past. They were best friends, though, in a way, they knew absolutely nothing about each other. Both had revealed a lot, but at the same time, nothing had been of importance. Mina had had a dark life in Manticore, and she suspected not everything was peachy keen outside either for Max.
Mina dropped the subject and said nothing else on her behaviour. She started talking about a completely different topic.
"So, you and 510 sure were chatty this morning," Mina said.
Max turned her head to look at Mina more closely. Was it just her or was there a tinge of underlying jealousy that she didn't think even Mina knew was there?
Max shrugged. "He's actually pretty nice. A big flirt, but he's just joking around. I guess some of these people are pretty decent once you get to know them. Though I have no idea how 510 could be the way he is while hanging out with 494 all the time. That guy is a completely egotistical, idiotic, smart aleck who thinks he's a gift to all women on earth."
"Now you're laying it on too thick," 494 said, appearing right in front of them. "But it's nice to know you think of me."
"Speak of the devil," Mina muttered while Max said, "Those thoughts weren't exactly warming."
494 shrugged. "You still were thinking of me." Max rolled her eyes with a small snort.
"Get over yourself, dumbass," she said.
"I will as soon as you do," 494 said cheekily.
Max gave a small grunt of annoyance and tensed for a full-fledged verbal fight.
Mina hid a small grin. Now that 494 was here, at least she snapped out of whatever funk she'd been in for the day. Trust the blonde-headed, hazel-eyed transgenic to be the only one who could turn Max from a disparaging woman to a hot-headed, raging X5 female. Those were always dangerous. Although she didn't like the guy, she wished him luck. An angry X5 female was something she wished on no one to try and handle. The key word being try.
"You sure do get angry easily, 452," 494 remarked. "And I thought 839 over here was bad."
"I was quite fine until you showed up," Max said. "Is it your personal mission in life? To ruin mine?"
494 put his hand to his chin and rubbed thoughtfully. "Now that you mention it…" He jumped backwards to avoid Max's offending limb. "Violent woman. You need to get your anger out, lady."
Max smiled sweetly. "I will if you be my punching bag."
494 shivered. "No way. I'd like my body to remain intact, thank you very much."
"I'll let you keep your ass, since it's so dear to you," Max offered and 494 smirked.
"Yeah right. You only want me to keep it so that you can keep looking at it all day long," he told her.
"Why would I want to look at yours when there are so many other fine ones in this facility?" Max asked. "We're all supposed to be genetically perfect, remember?"
Mina watched them, amused, but stayed out of their argument. She saw 510 watching them as well and they shared a little conspiring look. Noticing what she had done, Mina looked away once again, refusing to look in his direction.
Why's she acting this way? 510 thought. It's like she thinks that she's going to betray someone if she looks at me or something.
He watched the still bickering transgenics before his eyes returned to 839's. He saw the guarded look on her face, a smooth Manticore mask. Everyone has secrets. I just wonder what hers are?
Logan sat at his desk, furiously ruffling through a bunch of papers in front of him, when he heard the door open. He tossed a glance at who had come in then resumed his shuffling of the papers.
"All work and no play makes Logan a dull boy," a woman's voice said. "You haven't been out of this apartment for weeks. You need to relax. That's the only way you're going to find this Manticore place."
Logan stopped and turned around to face the newcomer. Asha Barlow, a blonde activist part of a group called the S1W stood in the middle of his living room, hands on her hips.
"I don't even understand why you're so hell bent on finding this place," Asha said, raising her shoulders slightly. "I've never seen you more focused on an Eyes Only case. It's just like all the others… right?"
Logan looked at her a moment. "It's actually a personal favour to me that Eyes Only is doing," he said quietly. Asha nodded and took a seat on a nearby chair.
"You knew one of them, didn't you? One of these soldiers," Asha said.
"Her name was Max," he said, his voice even quieter if that was possible.
"They killed her," Asha stated.
"I watched her die," he replied, then stood up. "Though I don't believe she's dead."
"Logan," she said, her voice full of reason, "you watched her die. How can she come back from something like that?"
He turned around and leaned against his desk. "It's just a feeling. I know she's out there somewhere. She needs me. And she wants me to find her."
I hope Logan doesn't find out where I am, Max thought. If he goes looking for revenge, they can find him and find out they have Eyes Only. With all the dirt he has on Manticore, it would be a wonder if they didn't kill him.
She lay in her bed in her cell, thinking about all the people she cared about so much back in Seattle. She missed them all, and the impact they had made on her life was great. She missed their funny little ways and quirks, the things that made them them. Like Original Cindy wouldn't be herself without speaking in third person and in slang. Sketchy wouldn't be himself without getting into trouble with gangsters. Herbal wouldn't be himself without speaking so oddly no one could really understand him. Logan wouldn't be himself without his save-the-world attitude. Normal wouldn't be himself without being an idiot. And lastly Kendra, her ex-roommate who had moved in with her cop boyfriend who used to shake them down every month for the rent pay... well that's just something in itself. All the people who had been there for so long weren't there now, couldn't help her. At least not physically.
Max had been having lots of thoughts about her friends lately, but she was also reminded that she was starting to make friends here too. Months ago, if she had been given an opportunity to escape, she would have leapt at the chance, but given the same opportunity now? She wasn't so sure. Original Cindy's face melted into Mina's, Sketchy who was somewhat of a flirt, a bad one, but a flirt nonetheless, melted into 510's face, and Logan's face melted into… 494's?
Max jumped off her bed, discarding her thoughts for her friends just now.
That was too weird. I need a walk; I need to clear my head.
She knew she wasn't supposed to leave her cell after lights out, but then again, she had never been one to listen to rules. Her cell door was mechanically locked shut, but Mina had told her one day that all the X5s in their unit knew that if you jimmied the hinges a little bit, it would screw up the circuitry for a second. If she shoved something in it for a minute, it would temporarily be out of the control room's control, so she slipped a knife out from under her mattress and jammed it into the slight crack at the side of the door. She heard a small click and opened the door quietly, slipping the knife between the door and the wall so that it wouldn't close behind her.
She crept up the hallways, ducking in and out as she saw the guards. She quickly peeked into Mina's cell and saw that she was fast asleep. A small smile found its way onto her face. Not all of them could have shark DNA. She continued down the halls until she saw a door. She opened it and frowned when she saw the steps leading down.
Does this go to the basement? But there are Nomalies there.
She caught her thought and shook her head. I'm being such a child.
An X5 woke up and peered out the window in his door, hearing light footfalls outside. He quickly found a thin utensil and jammed it at the side, slipping out into the darkness to follow the figure descending the steps to the basement.
Max scrutinized her surroundings, walking around softly. It looked a little like a boiler room, with machinery set up around her. As she walked forward, she didn't notice silent footsteps treading behind her. She saw a book on a chair and reached towards it, but jumped back with a small scream when someone, or rather, something smacked her hand away. Her head snapped up to see a huge figure looming in front of her, snarling. Her next scream got stuck in her throat.
The enormous dog-man trapped her path in front of her so she turned around to escape the way she came from only to find that that way was blocked as well. Standing in front of her was 494, with surprised eyes looking at the dog-man as well. Max looked between the two. On one side was a scary anomaly that may very well end her life. On the other was the worst X5 for her to have there at the moment, who would probably tell on her that she had been out of bed resulting in her being put through more torture. Even though she knew she was being foolish for seeing 494 as an equal threat to the dog-man, she couldn't help it.
She was trapped.
A/N: I hope you liked that. Sorry it was shorter but I was trying to get at least one chapter in because next week I'm probably going to go away for a couple of days. I'm going to try to fit in another chapter before then, so if you push the little review button down there, another one might appear. LOL Please give me some feedback on this.
Thanks so much to –
elle6778 – Yes, 510 is Biggs. Thank you so much for reviewing!
w1cked angel – I hate Logan a lot too. LOL Well, that's something we have in common. You think it's funny now that Biggs and Mina know that Alec and Max like each other? LOL It'll be nothing compared to how funny it is when the whole unit knows it. LOL Thanks!
Ro – Thanks! Jealous Alec is always funny to read.
calistra – Thanks! I read your story. It's really good so far.
Random Rose – LOL Thanks! Hey lookie, you got mentioned again! LOL I always like to mention all the fabulous people who review my story. It'll be cool when Max and Alec get together, but for now I'm enjoying writing all the UST.
Synthera – Thanks! A new reviewer! Yay!
HoneyX5-452 – Thanks! Don't worry; this is definitely going to be MA. Biggs is just flirting with Max to get Alec riled up. And it's definitely working. LOL
L80bug – Thanks! You read the 6th book too? I knew before I read it who was gonna die. It was kinda obvious for me. LOL Or maybe it's just because I'm so obsessed that I knew. I read all of the books repeatedly, the 1st and 2nd 12 times! LOL
meri24 – Thanks! About 510 and Mina… damn, you're too smart. That's all I've got to say. And hmm…
Gabbie760 – Thanks! A new reviewer! Hurray!
Gamegirl452 – Thanks!
Iridescent Twilight – Thanks! LOL I know how much you hate Logan, you told me so in my "Whose Love" story, remember? He died in that story, in this one… I dunno. Don't want to give anything away. You'll just have to read on and see. LOL
NoAngell – Thanks! A new reviewer! You made my day! 510 is gonna be Biggs.
Kelzaa – Thanks! Yes, if you read my notes at the beginning, 510 is Biggs.
Cora – Thanks! About spelling Logan wrong, LOL Oh well. If I have the time, I'll go back and correct it. But since I don't care too much for Logan, I might not. Besides, Loan is a better name for him, don't ya think? Since he's all broke now. LOLZ
Aur – Thanks! There will be much more of Biggs flirting with Max to get Alec jealous, but he's not going to be the only one. LOL Dun dun dun…
Lotamoxie – Thanks! Yes, 510 is Biggs.
Alana84 – Thanks! Logan annoys me too. And about your Biggs/Mina comment, you'll just have to see… LOL
shygirl1 – Thanks!
Pillow of Doom – Thanks! LOL Love your pen name. Biggs and Max will definitely be friends.
Thanks you to everyone and please review to give me feedback! If you can, please check out my other stories, you might find them entertaining! –aod78
