NeoGenesis

Chapter 9

Somewhere between NeoGenisis facility and Manticore

It was strange when it happened. Max had her cuffed to a rail in the hallway. She was so angry knowing what Max and the others were doing she wanted to kill her sister with her bare hands. If only she could free herself, but her efforts were wasted, the cuffs were too tight. Suddenly everything shook with a sudden explosion. Plaster was flying off the walls, people were running, screaming, it was chaotic. A second explosion ripped the rail out off the wall and Brin was slammed against the opposite wall. She could not remember much after that. She woke up a few days later, having suffered a major concussion and was delirious. Things eventually came back into perspective. The knock on the head must have rattled her re-indoctrination slightly, because Brin started remembering things long forgotten. Things her re-indoctrination have twisted in her head to make truths, lies, and lies, the truth. Things that she vowed never to forget. Things such as family, forged through hardship, endurance and blood. Family not in the traditional sense, but family as those who stand by you in the face of death. The days that followed were hard to bear. She had to pretend to be 734 the re-indoctrinated soldier. Obedient without question or hesitation. There was no escape, so she played the part, and she endured.

That all changed the day they dragged her sister in, and began prepping her for the tank. She was unconscious, in a vegetative state, but alive. They tried to re-indoctrinate her but her seizures did not allow for continuous treatment and therefore the process was unsuccessful. They then performed surgery on her spine to remove an implant that was supposedly increasing the severity of her seizures. After surgery, the brain damage was severe enough for them to reconsider their options. It was all just a front, an excuse to get her into the Neogenesis program without too many questions asked. Half dead no one cared what they did to her. Any science experiment could be overlooked as necessary so that strong healthy soldiers can survive. She watched as they filled the tank and transformed her sister, not interfering not questioning. Brin watched and waited for months for her sister to die, like all the others before her that were placed in the tank. Waited for her immune system to reject the new artificial cells, but it didn't, and she did not die. She adapted.

Confused with amnesia from the brain surgery, Max survived the tank. For almost a year she was just a patient wandering the hallways not sure where or what she was. Slowly she recovered, believing all their lies as truths, turning once again into the perfect soldier. The guise would have lasted if Manticore didn't become impatient and forced Brin and two others to beat her up. That was the worst part, hurting the only person she knew still cared about her. The one person that risked all to save her from the explosion. It was hard, but Brin was proud of her sister. Her shear ability to heal, gave her the endurance to fight on. To cheat death once more and survive.

After that day Brin really started noticing the changes. The secret smiles on her sister's face as she wandered down the hallways, the glares she gave the guards and scientists, the pity when she looked at Brin. Max was remembering. She knew who she was, where she was, she remembered where she used to be, the people who shared her life.

Problem was, Manticore also knew. They knew that re-indoctrination and mind probing was impossible with Max's constant irreparable seizures. But they also knew that Max was determined and desperate to get out. So they let her out. With the tracking device installed in her spine they could track her movements to the other side of the globe. All they had to do was wait and watch until Max lead them to her brothers and sisters, to eyes only and Lydecker.

But Brin could not let that happen. Max was their only hope. The only one they could not turn, the only one who was strong and brave enough to fight back. She had to save her, at all cost. So she sped faster the tress flying by in a blur. She had to get to max before Manticore did.

Logan's penthouse

Logan was determined not to be late for work, again. He set his alarm early and moved it away from the bed so that he'd be forced to get up to turn it off. He even kept the wheelchair close so that he would be able to move out of bed quickly. Then he can shower and shave and be off to work in no time. He had everything perfectly planned. So when his alarm went off at five, without even bothering with lights, he switched the alarm off and reached out for his wheelchair, which wasn't there.

He sat up and turned the light on. Yes the wheelchair wasn't there, and his exo was still in the living room where Krit had dropped it off. Annoyed Logan shifted in his bed unsure what to do. To get to the exo he would have to shuffle towards the living room, on his butt, which could lead to potential embarrassment since his penthouse is currently occupied by several people. Rachel and Emily were asleep in the spare bedroom, Hannah was sleeping in the living room on the couch. Luckily Krit and Asha went home late last night. Ironically it was Krit who offered Asha a lift. Logan hoped he didn't drag her off for interrogation somewhere.

He was just about to shift his weight to climb off the bed when he heard a soft "Oh" at the door. He looked up to see Hannah wheeling herself over in his wheelchair.

"Sorry I couldn't sleep, and it was so painful to walk, I thought I'd just borrow it for a bit." She engaged the brakes and was about to stand up when Logan stopped her.

"No, you shouldn't be walking on those" he said indicating her feet. They were healing well, but constant walking quickly turned them puffy and red. He couldn't help but feel somewhat responsible for that.

"You can keep the chair, just fetch my exo from the living room", he said pointing out the door, trying hard to hide his emotions and slight embarrassment. Well at least she could get his exo now without him butt shuffling. 'Not such a bad morning after all' he thought as he watched Hannah wheel out to retrieve the exo, a grateful expression on her face.

Once Logan was clean and dressed for work he found Hannah in the kitchen preparing breakfast. She was remarkably capable with the chair and since everything was already packed into the lower cupboards for easy reach, she managed to prepare breakfast without much hassle.

He lifted an eyebrow at the plate she shoved in his direction. "Looks good" he said picking up a fork to try the very colourful dish. It was delicious. "I should keep you around, this is really good cooking" Logan commented as he shoved some more stir fry something into his mouth.

"Thought I should make up for the chair that I stole. I also cleaned the living room while everyone was sleeping, seems you don't get much time to do things around here?" Hannah said as she was cleaning the frying pan.

"No not really, since I started working, I guess most things just got left behind. And Bling being away for a couple of days, maybe I can use an extra hand around here."

"Well I don't think I'm going anywhere anytime soon" she said finishing with the pan.

"Great it's settled then. I'll ask Original Cindy if she can hook Rachel up with a job, maybe a place to stay, you can stay here, help me out. Let's see how it goes."

"Sounds good"

Logan was off to a good start, he phoned OC who agreed to help Rachel out at the coffee shop as well as provide some accommodation in Max's old room. Hannah was going to clean his apartment and also help him with his filing, which has been a total mess these last years. He was also in time for work; actually he was early and still had some time to fill a cup of coffee before he had to start. Things were really looking up for Logan Cale.

Somewhere in the woods

Max was deliberately stoking the fire with wet branches to increase the amount of smoke. They were not being pursued, as far as she could tell, which didn't make any sense at all. Handson suddenly woke up with a coughing fit. Max had forgotten about the old man and suddenly realized that the smoke was blowing in his direction.

"What are you doing?!" He said scrambling away to a more breathable area.

"Sorry, no one seems to be following us" Max said helping the old man to his feet.

"Then why?" he gestured toward the smoking fire with a questioning look.

"They're not following us. You can see this from miles away and yet no one has reacted to it. It doesn't make sen … unless they already know where we are."

Max began examining the seams of her clothing, her hairline, her forearm but she couldn't find anything that might have been a tracking device.

"You think they got us bugged?" Handson asked dumbly examining his own clothes, not quite sure what he's supposed to look for.

"Must have something on us?" Max said as she helped Handson.

"More like in you!" Brin said as she climbed onto the fallen tree.

Brin was carrying a rifle but she wasn't pointing it at them so Max ignored her and opened her senses to the surrounding area. She couldn't hear any other movement, or breathing, or smell anything that was not the forest itself. They were alone.

"Just me sis." Brin said detecting her sister's awareness. "Nice job on the signal fire, guess they won't be needing that implant to find you." She threw an instrument in Max's direction. Max caught it and examined it. It had a small screen that showed a map with a small blinking light indicating their position.

"We don't have much time." She lifted her hand as Max was about to ask something indicating that she should be quiet and said "I don't have time to explain everything. They sent me to bring you back in, but I'm not going to. I'm getting you out of here, but we have to keep moving. Here take this, trust me you'll need it!" She shoved a small armband into Max's hands. It had a small green blinking light.

Handson was just standing there gawking at her. He was too shocked to even move.

"What am I supposed to do with this" Max said, looking at the funny band.

"I don't know, eat it" Brin shot back sarcastically as she shoved one of the rifles towards Max.

Max instinctively took a step back. "I don't do guns, and why should I trust you? You tried to kill me! Now you suddenly want to save my life, not buying it" Max said taking a cocky stand with her arms folded and leaning on her right hip.

"You'll be dead if you don't!" She yelled anger in her eyes. "They have a tracking device in you skull. You try and take it out, you die. You don't, they find you and you'd wish you were dead. Either way, you'll never see daylight again. So here are your options, we go and try and live or we stay and die!"

Her anger suddenly changed to fear. She locked eyes with Max before she said: "I owe you one. I just betrayed Manticore to help you, don't let it be for nothing. That shot wasn't meant for 752 you know. If I go back without you they kill me. This is my last chance; I'd rather go down fighting."

"How much time do we have?" Max asked, her heart softening. She could never really hate her sister, they were family after all. At least this gave her a chance.

"An hour maybe. It took me longer to find you than I thought. You better put that on. It will suppress the signal from the tracker. Let's hope no one notices the signal is gone, otherwise, we better get going."

"Uh, what must I do?" Handson was still standing in the exact same spot. He looked slightly frightful.

"You can drive!" Brin said as she was heading back towards the road.

Cindy's coffee shop

Asha was heading towards OC's coffee shop at midday, contemplating if she should buy Logan a take away or not. She kind of felt sorry for him, losing his girl, not having legs, living alone. He seemed such a jerk at first but the more she got to know him the nicer he seemed. The coffee shop wasn't as packed as usual which was strange.

"Mornin what can I get ya?" OC asked as Asha headed through the door.

"The usual double caf with cream." She liked her coffee strong. As she sat down she asked "why so quiet today" glancing about at the few people that occupied the shop.

"Got some extra hands to help me out" OC said just as Rachel came in with some supplies tucked in under her arm.

"Hey" she greeted heading to the coffee machine to refill it.

"Popo's didn't give you trouble at the checkpoint?" OC asked Rachel as she was preparing Asha's drink.

"Nah, said I was heading to OC's with fresh supplies, if they wanted some they had to let me go make it, so they let me through, no problem"

"Emily is still washing the cups or so I hope. Probably watching TV again" OC said giving Asha her drink. Rachel headed back to go check on the girl.

"You think Logan would like a cup of strong black?" Asha asked just as the door opened again.

"Wouldn't mind" Logan replied from the door, smiling at Asha and OC. "I'm having such a wonderful day, everything seems to be working out just fine. Even managed to finish my repairs early. Great day!"

"Hufh, yeh then you can come help me with this camera, things been acting up again" OC said indicating the security cam in the corner.

"Since his day is going so well I guess he has time for coffee first, right" Asha said smiling invitingly at Logan.

Logan shifted hesitating for half a second before he told OC with a nod "strong black!"

Somewhere on the road towards Seattle

"So what happens if the battery dies" Max asked Brin examining the small device in the armband around her wrist. The light on the tracker disappeared as soon as she put the armband on.

Brin was sitting in front next to Handson who was driving. "Manticore swarms you like a pack of dogs after prey. They'll dig you out of any hole you try to hide in. Luckily I got an extra stash, you can wear a new one every week, and the batteries are rechargeable. So don't worry about it. Just don't ever take it off." She looked back at Max to make sure she heard before returning her focus to the road.

Max sat back slightly disgusted. She reached up and touched the spot right above her barcode. Yes it did feel different, slightly longer than the red implant. She instinctively looked behind them making sure no one was following. The road was empty.

They've been diving for quite some time now. They just stopped over briefly to refuel and get a change of clothes before they were off again. Brin supplied some Manticore special ops uniforms and gear for both Handson and Max. She also had some fake military orders that they were using to get through checkpoints. So far they have crossed two border checkpoints without any confrontation. If they kept up the pace they could be in Seattle before midnight. Max was hoping to go to Logan as soon as she got into the city. With his regular working hours, he might still be up. Something to look forward to, but instead she felt nervous. Two years is a long time.

That wasn't her only worry. She was still unsure about Brin. Sure she helped her escape and the jamming device was keeping Max alive, but was she really intent on helping or was this just some ploy to get Max to trust her. Only time would tell. In the meantime Max was determined to be constantly alert.

"So what's your story" Max asked Handson who was driving with a dreamy expression on his face. "My story?" he asked looking puzzled by the question.

"How did you end up with Manticore, you don't seem the Manticore type." She said scanning the road ahead, while listening for any pursuit.

"Oh, long story." he said.

"So you said but we have time" Max replied glancing behind them again to make sure it was still clear. Great now she was being paranoid. She forced herself to look forward.

"Well, um, I studied to become a physician at Oxford University, back in the day when universities existed for everyone not just the rich and famous, or politically influential. Things were still and calm in Europe until the pulse hit America, then everything went crazy. We all thought the world was going to end. If they can target the world leader, the rest of us are in no less danger. Markets crashed, there were riots, and many lost their jobs. But as time went by things recovered. I was naive, wanted challenges in life. Wanted to help people who really needed me. So I came to America, to the heart of the crisis. I started working on tissue regeneration to help burn victims, amputees and people with cancer. I was somewhat financially independent. People were very willing to donate to my cause, here and from overseas and across borders. I made some great breakthroughs." He shook his head in wonderment as he was reflecting on his successes.

"Let me guess, Manticore was all too eager to enlist the great Doctor Handson with his regenerative technology."

"Not Manticore, although now I know they were indeed at the heart of it. They posed as a medical suppliers company, HealthMed incorporated, or HM inc. for short. They invested more money than any of my other sponsors, helped me fund NeoGenesis. We were doing good work, helping people who were really sick and in need. We weren't very profitable but our research pleased our benefactors. If I knew back then what they were doing with it, I would never..." He broke off, like he suddenly lost the ability to speak.

"It's not your fault" Max said although she was devastated. This man might have had an indirect role in her creation.

"No I guess not." His voice was suddenly hoarse. He cleared his throat then continued. "It was only when that red head appeared on the scene that I realized something was seriously wrong. Unfortunately it was already too late." He was looking away again, ashamed perhaps.

"So you're the one running this whole setup?" Max asked curiously. She glanced at Brin quickly. She could see that she was fuming internally, but kept herself composed and silent. For that Max was grateful.

"I was initially, till they started bringing X5's in. Demanding that we enhance their regenerative properties or they would close us down. I refused; I would rather leave my life's work than use people to experiment on. When I realized what has already been done to them … I …... couldn't." He couldn't look at Max so instead he was gazing at the plants and wild flowers next to the road.

"But ….. you stayed?" Max said trying to get his attention back to the conversation.

"You don't leave Manticore alive. I had a choice, help or die. I fear, I chose the cowards path." he looked at Max with shame. "They of course got someone else to lead the research effort, a Doctor McAdams. What an ugly man. Half my size, can't speak properly and has no sense of humor or consideration toward humanity." He shook his head. "They kept me around, left me to do my test tube work, but confiscated all my research notes. Later on I started working in the Hospital, or what they called the hospital. It was fine at first. Soldiers with minor injuries, a few technicians and scientists with the flu." Handson just sighed and continued staring at the road while he drove.

"Let me guess, they dragged me in?"

"Yes from the main facility. They took you straight to the tanks so I only saw you when you came out. Asked me to do all sorts of tests. See how well you healed. Sorry about that needle, they wanted me to do that" he glanced back apologetically.

Max remembered the needle incident. Handson tripped and stuck it right through her arm. As soon as he pulled it out it healed almost instantly. Just a little spot remained, which also disappeared in a short time. She didn't think much of it then.

"Another checkpoint and we'll be in Seattle. Slow and steady doc" Birn said as they neared the next check point. Handson complied slowing the car as he sneaked by the line standing at the entrance. Official vehicles didn't wait in cues like everyone else. Two officers stepped up to check their papers. They were already well ahead when Max saw them. Two Manticore special ops patrolling the walkways above the border gates. They were speaking animatedly into the communication devices on their wrists. Did Brin betray them?

"Doc, I think you better step on it" Max said indicating the watchers.

"Shit!" Brin said as she saw them. She leaned over towards Handson and added her own foot to the throttle.

"No wait!" Handson wailed trying to get control of the vehicle as it sped towards the border gates.

Suddenly all hell broke loose. The officers and the Manticore personnel were all firing at them from all sides. They smashed through the gates only to be greeted by more Manticore people on the other side, all standing around a blockade waiting for them. Brin moved her foot and slammed on the brakes.

"What are you doing?!" Max asked as they safety glass of the front windshield finally gave in to the onslaught of gunfire. Max yelped as a sudden pain pierced her shoulder. Everyone ducked down as bullets rained the inside of the vehicle.

"We're not getting through there!" Brin said as she opened her door and fired at the nearest guards.

"Where are you going?" Max asked slightly alarmed as Brin was getting out of the vehicle. She squatted down then suddenly dove back in, grabbed Handson by the collar and dragged him out of the car. "You coming?!" She yelled back at Max.

Max opened her door just as Handson was half climbing half falling down a manhole just below Brin's door. Brin continued to provide cover fire as Max dived down the hole after Handson. Handson managed to make a somewhat respectable landing at the bottom of the ladder but was too slow to move out of the way as Max came down head first. They were both drenched in filth when Brin landed neatly on her feet next to them. She didn't hesitate but grabbed them both and hauled them back to their feet. Before they could sprint down the tunnel the car they just left exploded and forced them all back down into the muck again.

Brin cursed with meaning then dragged Handson behind her through the tunnel. Max only sloshed after her without comment. Her shoulder felt like it was on fire, she had to clench her teeth not to scream.

Everything was blurry after that. They waded through muck for hours until Brin finally chose a manhole through which to climb back to the surface. The car blocked their entry so their pursuers were slow to follow them down. They did eventually follow through other manholes but they escaped easily through the dark maze of tunnels.

Max slowly followed Brin and Handson op the ladder. Her right arm was numb and painful so she only had her left arm to climb up. When she reached the top, she had to call to Brin to drag her out.

"Maxie you should have said something, I would have slowed for you" she said as she examined Max's arm with concern.

"No better not, we have to keep moving. Where are we?" She sat upright to look around. She recognized the area. "This is close to the warehouse we used to assemble before we attacked Manticore. Should be a safe enough place to hide out for a while."

Brin helped her up and supported her as she led them to the warehouse.