Recicup: yep and mores coming along the way.
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Season 4 ep. 10
"Heard you were with some X5's last time out." I remarked looking at his face. He looked awful...like he was sick or something. Something with the transgenic blood maybe… "I helped them, they helped me." he responded nonchalantly. Definitely not the man I used to know. Dr. Carr did mention personality changes when he was talking about Logan's possible psychosis…
Then he looked to my stomach. Shock encompassed his features before he looked from me to Alec then back to me. "You're…" I could feel Alec ready to say something before I grabbed his hand. A warning not to. Logan chuckled…a little mad if you asked me before regaining himself, and smiled. But then as if he just thought of something he grimaced as if the sight of me pregnant disgusted him.
"Let me guess it's his." When he said 'his' it couldn't have been more full of spite and
hate than ever. "Logan - " I started, "Yeah he or she is OUR baby. You got a problem with that?" Alec's 'macho man' attitude may do more harm than good right now. Logan stopped leaning and took a step forward. His gun not wavering as the transgenic blood in him gave him more courage – or cockiness – than what he really had, with the barrel of the gun now pointing at Alec.
"I kind of do, yeah." He remarked with anger edging in his voice. "She was supposed to be mine!" a shot went off from his gun. Alec barely dodged the speeding bullet. Any other case it only would have nicked him in the arm. But still the gun went off. Clearly Logan didn't have a great handle on his temporary abilities. "What the hell is wrong with you? This is a nice place! You don't go around shooting people!" Alec shouted in protest, slight shock in his features.
Not it did much to the wall seeing as it already had a couple of hundred holes in it from White's men's guns. "Question is what are you doing up in here?" I asked trying to veer the subject elsewhere. "I lived here remember?" Logan smirks off. "Well considering this place was abandoned over a year and a half ago I didn't think you'd come back." I told him honestly.
He frowned, "I came here to get some…things." Like we didn't think it would sound ominous that you said it that way? "Right…" I answered…looking back up with angry eyes Alec finished it off with "Anyways she was NEVER yours. Max is her own woman in case you haven't noticed. No one tells her what to do. Well…not unless your in be - " I smacked his arm, this wasn't the time to be bragging about our sex life.
He shrugged. Still I felt like standing a little bit taller… "He's right whatever we had ended long before it started." I continued on, slipping the disks Alec slipped to me behind our backs, into my back pocket. Logan was too focused on my face to notice the hand movement. "Max has always been her own woman, but she was mine first!" his focus shifted to Alec whom only tightened the grip on his gun. "You plan on lowerin' your weapon any time soon?" he asked him.
Logan merely smiled, "And why would I lower my weapon on a highly training killing machine as Max so often has stated." His glance went right back to me, "I said since your quoting me that 'she or he might catch onto the fact that I'm a genetically engineered killing machine', quote." I crossed my arms over my chest in agitation. "What you were didn't stop me from me loving you." He said bitterly.
"No but your 'love' for me stopped you from living your life." Before I could continue on he started to laugh out loud. Now he sounded mad, not angry mad but psychotic mad, "Max I lived my life for you, and Eyes Only of course. Can never stop righting those wrongs. So many people needing to be saved." He started to loose focus and Alec took it for what it was.
Blurring in front of him Alec grabbed the gun and before another shot could be fired, he grabbed the 9mm as I'd I. it, pulled the slid back to kick out any bullet in the chamber, then in a move to fast for a human to see, pulled the pin out that held the slid to the gun, before he pulled the slide fully off and smashed it into Logan's face. Logan stumbled back a bit but didn't go down as easily as he would have.
I already knew what was fueling him on. The transgenic blood giving him enough bounce back to regroup faster than he normally would have. "Logan don't! Alec will take you down and you're not in your right mind to fight." I warned him, "Right mind or not I can take him down…" Alec muttered under his breath, "We'll see about that." Logan uttered recovering fully.
Alec's gun still trained on him just in case. I felt a slight shift on that note. Logan had some of our senses, as well otherwise he couldn't have heard that. "Logan come with us to Dr. Carr's he can help you." I offered. Alec's face moved to the side slightly and asked me, "Are you nuts?" True we did have a psychotic man, hopped up on trannie blood' brandishing who knows what else on him other than his gun. However it's what we – Alec and I heard – that got our attentions enough to wanna bolt.
"Alec…?" he inched us closer to the door seeing as Logan was no longer in front of it. "I know…" he didn't dare say anything else though. Logan couldn't hear from to far away but we could. The cops had been called and my guess was the response time for the rest of the guards was only a minute away. "We'd love to stay and chat but were on a dead line." I blurred out with Alec hot on my ass as we high tailed it out of there.
We were out of the building five minutes later with the disks stored safety. "What do you say we make this bitch work for us?" I inquired, "You got my vote." He remarked as we headed off back home. Getting to HQ – nearly two hours later – Dix uploaded the files to his own computer. "How long before you decrypt it?" I asked hoping that Logan's decryption wouldn't be too bad. "With what I'm looking at…a few hours…maybe…if that." The response had Alec confused.
"I thought Logan was supposed to be really good with computers? How come it's not longer – NOT that I'm complaining but Max you yourself have praised his computer skills several times." He defended looking from Dix to me. "Yeah but he was trying to keep regular brainy hackers from getting the jump on him, or even government ones trying. He didn't very well count on the best of the best transhuman or transgenics getting the jump on him." Alec conceded.
"I guess so how's this plan going down? I don't figure you for really giving Ray up…are you?" He asked me. I walked towards the stairs to go to the table we had set up for floor plans and infiltration. Grabbing a large piece of cardboard I took a black marker sitting on a computer terminal and started to draw. "Remember the area that we first met White in?" Alec nodded in remembrance.
Mole gathered around same as Joshua and Cece with Daniel right on her ass, "Okay here's how I see this goin' down. We're not actually handing over Ray to White." Mole looked on a little off, "We're not?" I looked to Mole, "Just because the kid has a psychotic father doesn't mean were sacrificing him. He shouldn't have to suffer for what and who his dad is. Right now he safe living with his aunt" Mole snorted. "So what in the hell is the intel for?" he asked pointing at Dix.
"Cause one we don't know all that Logan had on us to begin with, and two I'm using it to see if I can get Ray FURTHER from his psychopathic father. Luke can you grab me the map with the forest preserve closest to the old Manticore site?" "On it Max." he ran over to the maps that we had acquired and not entirely legally either. Pulling it from its small little curly cue home in the corner of the room I take it and open it up grabbing various weighted objects to keep it opened up from its curled position.
I look at the area where White and I – and sub sequential got reunited with Alec - got acquainted. "These are the woods right outside of Manticore. It's where White and I had our first meet and greet." I grab a pencil from nearby and circle the small clearing where White had set up his own camp. "Here's where White and his band of merry trannie hunters had their own little party set up."
Alec's one little, "Great party by the way…. killing off Manticore soldiers night by night, fun times." Rejoinder was in there as well. We both remembered the kids that were now here saved that night. "Point is this is where the meet will go down. We're not having Ray there. What I was thinking about doing was re-simulating a video chat with Ray. I know the technology is out there it just needs to be tweaked."
I look over to Dix. "Think you can simulate Ray's voice through a recording, something that we could take chunks out of and make White believe he's here in Seattle?" I wasn't about to have over that poor boy to his fucked up father. "Maybe, if I had a voice to go off of." I nodded thinking of a way to contact Ray and trying to think about what his dad might wanna say or hear from him.
"What makes you think we can get that all together in a few days?" Mole asked, cigar stub in mouth the thing wasn't even lit yet. "We have to. We're not having Ray coming down here, were going to contact him on a controlled server and talk to him for a few minutes, get the necessary reactions out of him." but even Alec seemed to not buy it, "What if Ray and his dad had a secret way of communicating?" "Like a lingo…" Daniel commented on.
"Right." It did hold its merits… "We make sure the convo is kept short and simple. It'll be enough for White to know his son is safe and alive. That's all. Either way we need to get that recording of him." Alec twiddled his fingers against the table before saying, "Okay we'll get back to that one later, in the mean time what about back up units?" I nodded, "Of course."
I point out to the best possible places to have guards up and around, even for a sniper in the event of an emergency, "I don't want to take any chances. Sides this is White were talking about. He won't expect a double cross from the good guys but we know HE'LL be the one to do it. Let's surprise him by being one step ahead." A lot of everyone seemed to be in agreement.
Except for Daniel. He looked to me in confusion, "Umm…if were not killing him then what's the double cross, other than not showing up with his son?" Meeting his eyes, "Once we get Deck in the clear we'll make sure to take two identical vehicles out of the area so if they do end up following one they follow the wrong one to a bad area…. even in Seattle." A few grimaced at that thought.
"Then once Deck's vehicles in the clear, we high tail it out of there leaving behind to much gun fire for them to counter." I knew Alec knew what I meant. Gun fire yes, but no deaths we couldn't handle the accountability. "Make no mistake though since these guys are more than likely familiars don't hesitate to wound, just don't kill. They can't be readily I. as something from a lab like we can be." I prepared them.
"All they have is a funky snake mark on their forearm, we have a barcode and screwy DNA that is a sure fired way to brand us." I finished off. "She's right…" Alec backed me up, "These guys have no real reason to not be seen as human to the DNA markers. If things go sideways…" he then looks to me, "Wait we can make this work even with them dead." I frown, "What?"
He actually smiled, like it was almost funny. Well maybe for him…but this was a serious matter. "Yeah if anything - forbid - does go wrong then people would just see it as a side deal gone wrong." I wasn't so sure… "Don't get me wrong Max takin' 'em down is good but if things get out of hand we may not be given a choice. They might not give us a choice." I sighed…he was right.
What if things got out of hand? White's band of no pain, no gain freaks were equal to us in strength and could take a beating for a LONG ass time. A lot like those stupid RED soldiers. I just didn't need to have any more blood on my hands I already had enough… "If there's no other choice then use deadly force BUT only then!" I shot my eyes to everyone at the table, "Getting what we need is one thing but sending a message of blood is another." I wasn't fond of it.
"We're better then that. We're better than them." Alec and everyone else agreed, "And by no means are you to antagonize the enemy unless it serves us a purpose in the end." I looked around, "You guys all got that?" they nodded even if most of them were reluctant, "Now kicking their asses till their bones are crying out in pain and broken I've got no issues with that so feel free." A lot of smirks broke out.
All we needed now was that recording of Ray…I looked down at my watch as we discussed where people were going to be located and what teams for this they were going to be in when a ping from Dix's computer caught my sensitive ears. "You got something?" I asked him dropping the pencil I had on the table and going up to where he was in his seat.
"Yeah apparently Ray and his aunt had to move when he started to display some advanced abilities that had people suspicious. Here's the address." He showed it to me. I committed the new place to memory before I asked Dix for something else, "Can you hack into Foggle Towers security system for the last three hours?" he send the hack out and within minutes was able to pull up the image. It would have taken Logan twice as long if not longer…
But that was then… "Bingo…" I thought out loud, "Isn't that…?" I nodded, "Alec and I had run in with him today. He said he was there to get some stuff." Looking over my shoulder I call out, "Daniel, come here!" Alec looked for all of a second before going back to talking to Mole, "What's up?" he asked jogging up the stairs. "Alec and I ran into an old friend at Logan's old crib." He frowned, "Who?" Like it wasn't obvious, "Logan." he seemed surprised.
"Anyways I have a favor to ask of you." His eyes answered for him, "I want you to slip out of TC and into Foggle Towers. Take the car, you've never been I. for anything you can get by the sector cops no problem. When you get in slip into Logan's place first, it's the penthouse, grab a photo of him, take it downstairs and ask if they've seen him at all in the last month." He looked weary on that one.
"Okay one, sector cops have the heat radar guns, how am I suppose to get past a sector check point? Two I've never met the man how am I suppose to know what he looks like?" I smiled, "The radar guns are an issue but Dix weren't you working on something for that a while back?" I asked him turning my attention but to him. "Oh yeah right over…" he fiddled with a bunch of disks till he found the one he was looking for. "I got it." He announced.
"Good for every check point Daniel here gets to run the program, it'll interfere with EVERY radar gun with a 50 foot radius making you normal body temp…right?" I verified. "Oh yeah it's why I haven't really brought it up much. We're working on making it go out further but we keep getting booted off the systems from the damned blackouts." Happen to Logan with Department of Corrections. "So that's as far as it goes?" Daniel asked.
"It's a start. All you need to do is call Dix two minutes ahead of time for enough warning to make it work. Just be sure to also tell them where you are. Cross streets in the right sectors will greatly increase your chances of success." He seemed better about it, "How long does the inference last?" he asked. Dix answered, "You'll have five minutes, any longer and we run the risk of blowing out another modem, BELIEVE Me." the little guy stressed out.
"Okay, let's just hope it lasts. Alec's not the only one with a pregnant mate out there now." I looked up to him, surprise and happiness in my features, "Where were you guys going to tell us?" I demanded playfully, "It's not like you can't smell it on Cece. But still how will I know what Logan looks like?" I sighed, "He has brownish blonde hair, glasses…has a slight prep look to him." he quirked his brow, "So glasses, got it." I smiled out as he jogged down the stairs and out of HQ.
"So now what?" Alec asked coming up the small flight, "Now we locate Ray before this meeting. If we can record his voice and figure out what he and daddy White would say then I'd say we can work this just right." He nodded, "I'm going to go and get what we need." Alec's eyes shot to me, "And no you can't come along." I warned, finger in front of me in a 'don't argue with me' pose.
"But - " he tried anyways, "NO look!" I guided him over away from the bulk of the noise around us, "I can handle myself we know this. It's just so I record a bit of him and come back home. It's not a death trap nor is it going to be filled with sector cops or familiars. I will be fine. Besides you need to be here. We can't BOTH be THAT far away from here." I warned out.
He sighed. He didn't like this I could tell, "I know you have your 'urges' of protecting me I do. If it helps I'll call every hour on the hour to put you at ease. Would that help?" I tried to appease him while grasping his hand in mine. "I don't like having you THAT far away from Me." he whispered out. Had it not been for my transgenic hearing at the short distance I doubt I would have heard him at all.
I sighed…then heard my possible salvation as the foots steps came up those stairs, "Hey have either of you seen Gem?" we both look to Dalton holding Eve or rather shifting her from side to side, his young boy genes not all to happy bout being babysitter to an infant of the X5 variety. I felt bad we forgot about Dalton taking care of Eve today. Now we had to tell him White had Gem.
"Yeah sorry so much has been going on I haven't had a chance to tell you, White has Gem, Dalton." He looked stunned, "What? Why?" he raised his voice but tried to work with it due to the sleepy Eve in his arms. "White needed extra leverage to gain something from us." I muttered out. Just as spoke three X5's came rolling in, "Alec! Max! Reporting in!" they all shouted.
We walked forward to the railing. They looked a mess, "What happened?" I demanded ignoring the 'reporting' part. The X5 in question was one of my more least favorites in the place, one of the many or few depending on the class of transgenics or transhumans around here that couldn't stand me and after my conversation with Alec that day I knew why, but still...
He looked to Alec, if we didn't need the information I would have snapped at the lack of respect in my direction. You'd think after everything we've all been through together I'd gain something with those that hate me. "White jumped on the scene. Spotted us, made us, started a gun brawl." Oh shit! I cringed, "That's how he got Gem." I stated low, "How'd he spot you guys?" at least this time he looked to me.
"I briefly heard him say some thing, while the shots were being fired, along the lines of 'The Jam Pony woman that was helped down the stairs with her brat'. Gem." He told us, "And her barcodes a dead giveaway to her being X5." He responded. I nodded, "The White issue is being sorted out as we speak." The X5 looked from me to Alec before he shook his head.
Looking to Alec I decide on what I'm going to do even before he can think of an idea, "I'm going to go do as previously planned and you will help Dalton take care of Eve." His look of fear took over, "Not that I don't want to but I've still got a lot to do here." He points to HQ around us. I furrow my brows in disbelief. I made you SIC for a reason dumb ass!
"I've got to plan and coordinate this strike for Thursday and take over your duties while you're gone. I can't take care of a baby – something I've never done before - ALONE since Dalton is going with YOU on top of all of that. I've had no time to even be around Eve that much and I don't know of anyone here that Gem trusts enough besides Dalton or us, not even Cece and Daniel, that she would let take care of her baby girl." Damn…do I hate it when he's right.
New mother feeling… "So Dalton can watch over her while I go alone - " he seemed ready to shoot the idea down…well the second half that didn't include Dalton going with me, "No you're not going there alone." It was Dalton's words that broke the much needed deliberation, "I can go with Max and watch Eve. Besides, Max…" I look over to him, "Your about to be a mom anyways, sides were not doing a lot, just getting a recording…right?" I…
"You know what that might actually work. You go there, your already pregnant so you'll definitely be way less suspicious, plus with Dalton there acting as the 'younger brother' type you'll have a body guard to make me feel better. Excellent plan." Alec agreed, making Dalton feel big in the eyes of his 'mentor'. He had been growing into a decent guy as of lately. Granted he was still acting like a pimply brat at times but his training as ours was rough and made him mentally older than most his age.
So if anything having him around to help pacify Alec and ease any stressors I might have would be perfect. "But I…" I wasn't ready…I can't babysit while – one look from Alec told me this wasn't going to happen any other way. I huffed out in annoyance, "Okay then we're leaving at the ass crack of dawn tomorrow morning." I told Dalton. Not that I minded Eve around me but I would rather have been at the office to baby sit rather than be across the states over in New York.
I shifted my focus back to Alec, "You still tight with the flight crew for long distance channels? I think Dalton and I are due for a trip to the 'Big Apple'." Dalton looked on confused and once again shifted Eve in his arms, "Big Apple?" I closed my eyes, "New York kid." I iterated, "And were leaving tomorrow just as the sun comes up so can you swing it?" I asked looking back to Alec.
"The guy actually owes me for some sweet deals back in the day so yeah. I've got you covered. I couldn't sleep that night. The baby's constant kicks in the stomach now proved to be unyielding. Alec and I couldn't sleep front to front anymore, not without the baby waking us up. So we slept front to back now. Getting up it was just before the crack of sun could come up. Alec shifted in bed before groaning and getting up himself. "Why can't I go again?" he asked groggily.
"Cause Ray doesn't know you, he'll freak out if you try and explain things to him. Plus I thought you didn't want me on the strike team? We both know if - " he started to blubber out a 'abbababa' gibberish while making a 'stopping' motion with his hand to prevent me from continuing on, "I get it fine." I get up and get dressed while Dalton arrives ten minutes later with a fully clothed Eve. "Hey Max can you hold her, while I go get armed?" I almost laughed at how this went by.
He handed her to me while asking, then shot away to go to our armory area. Eve was doing that little 'thibbing' piece with her mouth while smiling. Having seen Alec and me around enough she knew well enough that we were friendlies and to trust us. However as I've never actually held a baby for longer than a few seconds I had no clue on how to hold Eve properly. Spending time with Gem doesn't always equate to holding baby Eve you know.
"Just please be good. No screaming, no yelling, not unless you see a bad guy. Okay?" I stupidly asked the 'thibbing' little bundle currently smiling her hearts content out. I had no conception if she could understand a word I was saying. I could only hope some part of her brain could register it later on and avoid the inevitable mini X5 screeching her lungs out.
"Here." Alec said as he came up from behind me. The position as I had guessed was wrong but having actually held the child for longer stretches of time taught him how to hold. That was about it. "Here's how you hold little 'Eveie'." He gurgled, yes gurgled back at the now cooing little tike. "Wow…" I surmised. Watching him holding Eve did something strange to my insides. I held my own stomach in affection, "Let me?" I asked a little timidly.
He gave her back and showed me with my own arms and hands the proper way to hold a baby. "And there you go." He surmised. Now back in my arms Eve was once again cooing…. and slowly falling asleep. "Well this should be easy…as long as she stays asleep." I hoped… "Oh I woke her up early so we could be out, she'll be out for most of the flight then we have these." Dalton came up with the bottles of formula…I assumed it was formula.
"Gem has her own little personal male nanny huh?" I smiled out. The kid blushed, "It's not like that. She helped me when we first got out of Manticore. Kept me out of trouble, helped me stay hidden, helped me figure out what the signal from Manticore the days following really meant." So Gem figured it out… "Smart woman, knowing it was a trap isn't that easy." I stated knowingly. Dalton gave us a strange look, "She figured it out when we accidentally missed one."
Alec and I looked to each other, "What do you mean?" Alec asked, "She told me to stay put that night. Said she was going to make sure it was okay with 'control' if she came in with someone that wasn't in her unit. Her pregnancy at that time hindered her speed so she missed it, and thankfully. She…" he looked down, "She watched them get shot down by White's men." I finished him off.
His head snapped up, "How'd you - " I answered, "They weren't the first, but hopefully they were the last. I managed to screw up White's operation, but not before Golden Boy here helped destroy the satellite telling everyone to go to ground." I smiled up at my man in admiration. He beamed out, "NO biggie. Sides shooting off that semi was fun." He mused out.
Dalton just looked to be agreeing before we all headed off. Taking the sewer entrance the four of us – don't forget Eve – left for the airport. Alec's contact came in the form of an ex military looking type that wanted to get back into the swing of his old days. The way he looked to Alec was like a younger version of himself it seemed, "Is he okay?" I asked Alec in a small transgenic voice that only he or Dalton could hear. "He's the only contact with an actual plane license."
That didn't exactly tell me he was clear for this issue but we did need to get the required proof and fast. Getting Dalton secured on board with Eve secured in her own hand man seat I watch Alec hand the man some cash before coming over into the cock pit, "Sorry you gotta be here but it's the best I could do on short notice." He apologized. I touched his face, "Hey, listen to me." I brought him closer for a small kiss…that turned passionate for a reason neither of us could figure out.
Not that we were complaining but it almost seemed like we were desperate for a last piece of contact. "I'll be fine. We all will be." I move his right hand to my stomach to show him we'll both be fine. "I know. I've just got this gut feeling…I don't know what it means but it doesn't feel right." I knew the feeling. I had it once we left TC. "A gut feeling could mean a lot of things." I answered unsure of myself.
"When you get back check on the progress report with Dix and Daniel with Logan's footage. I want to see what he wanted at his old place. I'll call you every hour once we land." He sighed, but kissed me again in confirmation of my words. "Dalton." He swung his head into the teen's direction, "Protect her and both the babies. Or I swear I'll have your ass." The threat was clear…don't fuck up!
He nodded desperately, "I promise." Alec nodded before leaving the plane. Still both of us thought something was up. We were ignoring our guts mainly cause we knew it could mean anything. But does it mean nothing this time…? I asked myself. I sighed, "Don't worry Max, we'll be there and back before you know it." Dalton tried to re assure me, it did little of that.
I slept as much as possible for the eight hour flight but four hours into it and Eve started to cry out for food. Dalton was trying to feed her but apparently he had the issue of her not wanting him to feed her, "Gem normally feeds her." he muttered out slightly embarrassed that he couldn't get an infant to take any of her food. I smiled, "Give her to me." he gladly handed both her and the bottle over. "For some reason that's her only issue with Me." he remarked trying to figure it out.
I smirked at the teen. He was clueless for this type of work. He probably babysat for Gem for only a few hours a day while she helped remodel the nursery. Surprisingly it was easy to feed Eve. She seemed happy bout getting food in. "Oh you'll need this." Dalton put a small towel over my left shoulder. I looked to him, "For the burping thing. Eve tends to get a little…messy." I nodded, unsure of this now.
When she was done I did as Dalton suggested which was becoming more and more weird, listening to a 15 year old kid telling me how to burp a baby. As true to form Eve's burp went all over the towel. Thank god Dalton put it there. The diaper bit was even worse due to the slight turbulence we hit. The used one slid to fast for me to catch but Dalton did…but with his strong grip…let's just say his hand needed about a pound of hand sanitizer.
Once we touched ground the pilot told us he'd only be there till the very next day at that exact time. Knowing this was important we set out to find Ray. It hadn't been that hard considering Logan's files still had Ray's last known location on there. From that point on it had only taken a 45-minute trip by bus to the area his aunt lived in. Dalton and I walked the four blocks and right up to the front door. The house was very well maintained, made me wonder if Logan gave her any cash to live off of for Ray's sake.
The door opened to reveal a light brown, curly haired woman, bout mid forties, with casual clothes on, "Hi I know it's been a while but I'm an old friend of Logan's." her eyes widened before she looked out past me then ushered us both in. "I haven't heard from him in a long time how is he? Did he ever stop my sister's psychotic husband?" she demanded from us.
Dalton looked from her to me, "Every point is secure we're fine here. Should I go find Ray?" he asked. Eve had been sitting in my lap the whole time so he could go and look around really fast. "No…I don't want to scare him by having people he's never seen before enter the room first. It's why Alec didn't come." He arched his brow in a near Alec like fashion, "I thought he did come along so he could work on the mission with White?" Ray's auntie look at him
"That to, but more to the point. Melissa I do apologize for the intrusion. We're working on an assignment. White is trying to hurt people yet again and we can't have that. Is there any way we can talk to Ray?" I didn't want her to get the impression that Dalton or I were taking Ray from her or taking over this little house of hers. "Sure." She gestured towards Ray's room, "Has that man been caught?" she asked me as I stood up – with help from Dalton.
"We're actually working on him right now." I answered honestly. "He's going to get what's coming to him…" I hope… "Good. That monster murdered my sister then tried to get my nephew involved in some wacky cult. Ray needs a normal environment, away from all that craziness." I looked down to my own stomach, "Right…I don't think he'll ever forget though…" she looked oddly at me.
"You never forget what you were taught…no matter how hard you try. Believe me." I whispered the last part out. "Thank you." Dalton stated trying to hurry me up. I gave the teen a small smile before I left to enter Ray's room, his auntie following right behind us both. Letting the door brush open I saw him hide a book. But I saw the markings to fast for him to hide. His dad must have given it to him and he couldn't let go of it…
Giving Eve to Dalton to hold I walked up to Ray gently. You never forget… "Hey Ray." He smiled at me, "Your mommies friend." I smiled as he looked to my stomach, "You're going to have a baby huh?" he said more than asked it. I smiled wider, "Yeah listen Ray I need a favor from you." He stood up and I saw how much he'd grown. Taller than before, looking more like his father.
"Your such a big boy now huh?" he showed me his latest trophy, in fact his room was full of them. His inner familiar coming out more and more so these days. I could see how a parent would be proud but I could also see how it was troublesome. It would make others see him differently at some point. It also made me wonder how others down the line worked their strengths.
"What I need from you is very simple and it's not something I couldn't get over the phone…" The interference would have been too easy for White to spot. "I just need you to say these words into the tap recorder. "Okay." He said, "Is this for dad?" I lost a hint of my smile, "Yeah you wanna say 'hi' to him?" he had no clue…I almost felt bad…almost, "Hi daddy. How are you? When can I come home?" the last one I threw in there so it would get White more off his game.
I added on a few more, "I'm fine. Can't wait to see you. I love you daddy." It was cruel to do it this way but considering how much White had done to us this was very little compared to what he'd put us through. The last ones were for just in case matters only, "Thanks Ray." I turned to leave when he asked me, "Is daddy ever coming to see me? I miss him." I turned around, slammed my Manticore face down so he couldn't see through my lies.
"Were giving this to your daddy. What he does with it is up to him." I was trying very little to lie to him, "Okay." He went back to what he was doing, before I could leave the room I walked over, slid to my knees and reached for the book. Ray didn't look upset but a little bit ashamed, though due to being caught or studying it I didn't know, "Look I understand this is probably all you have left of your dad."
He nodded, as he knew I understood, "I'm going to borrow this, just for a little while. I'll mail it back. I promise." He sniffed and let me have it. The markings in here were a direct translation to the symbols that still plagued my back and front. It would provide very useful to Dix. "Thank you. Oh and Ray." He looked up to see Dalton helping me up, "I want you to be careful about using your 'daddy's qualities'."
He didn't understand it too much. "What I mean is don't over extend yourself. There are some people out there that might not like the fact that your stronger or faster or smarter than them so you might have to hold back, the more so as you get older." He nodded, "Daddy's very strong, I wanna be just like him." I bit back the retort I had for that one, "You be like him when it comes to his strengths. His love for his son, and his redeeming qualities." Whatever the hell those are…
"Be good for your auntie." He nodded as I gave him a small hug. Leaving the house I talked to his aunt. "Let me know when the dirt bag is dead." She held a lot of hate for her sister's killer and with good reason to. "I will. Make sure he doesn't expose himself too much. I'm assuming Logan told you about transgenics?" please tell me he did. "He told me a brief version when he explained Ames. Why?" she asked.
I looked back inside, "Because I don't want Ray to be in fear just because he's going to become stronger, and more pain resistant. You'll need to teach him how to avoid major conflicts as he grows up. At least until certain issues blow over. I don't want people to think that he's a transgenic and gets taken from you. If his photo gets into the system White could be down here in just a few days time." She nodded her head seeing the possibilities. "I'll do whatever it takes."
Her promise had me feeling more assured as Dalton and I walked away from the house and down the street. "So where to now?" he asked handing Eve to me. "Now we go to a computer chat room. I need to get this sound file over to Dix ASAP." Dalton looked to me, "Why didn't we just have her send us down the sound?" I tapped the back of his head, "Cause you think she'd be able to figure out how to use this recorder let alone make sure its sent PRIVATELY to our own servers?"
He nodded, "Got it." He went back to walking. We got to a café after taking a cab ride for a good twenty minutes. Sitting down I used our own back channel system to get in. I was once again thankful for Manticore training us on how to hack without being traced. If White was monitoring the lines in anyway – even if Dix assured me he couldn't – my abilities would prevent it anyways.
Grabbing my cell I dialed Alec, "You never called." Was his abrupt slightly angered response, "Yeah sorry once we landed we went straight to the place. Your guys not going to be there past that exact time tomorrow so we needed to hurry up and get it." He huffed, "From now on call me. I was seconds away from sending in another team to retrieve you." I could hear his fingers tapping in the back round.
That little…he was really ready to send out another team to bring us back home…how sweet and utterly annoying… "Relax you can call off the hounds were fine. And so are the babies." I smiled back. Even if he couldn't see it he could hear it in my voice, "You got Ray's voice?" he asked, "Yeah sending the file through our channel. Once it's sent use it and make the exchange with White. We'll be on our way in just a few minutes. I promise." And I didn't like to make promises and NOT keep them.
I still felt bad to this day that I told Case I'd get his mom back from the 'Evil King' who had held us all captive at one point. I still hadn't had the balls to call up his father to tell him the truth…that his wife was dead…that Cases mother was murdered by a grubby pawed Renfro…Ray's survival in this was a promise to his own mom that I would make sure he stayed safe.
Even if he didn't know staying away from daddy was for his own good. "Okay. See you tomorrow night. I love you." He said, "See you then to, and hey…" stupid prego hormones, "I love you too, with all my heart." I said it low feeling people watching me around the café. 'I think we should go.' Dalton's military signals coming in loud and clear, we had an audience, "Got to go." I hung up.
File sent, I shoved the recording into the back pocket of my jeggings as I stood up to leave. Eve in my arms we walked out in onto the busy streets looking for another taxi. I felt it before I saw it, the robbery that was taking place two storefronts away. One of the robbers had a black bag, more than likely full of cash, as he ran. As I was a thief in my days I was noting how wrong he was doing it.
He started to run in our direction, "Get out of my way or I will shot!" he screamed in angry panic waving the gun in our general direction. "You've got to be kidding me…" I groaned in annoyance. You've just publically threatened to shot a pregnant woman, how stupid can you be?! I failed to see the look in Dalton's face as the man started to run closer to us.
If Alec were here there's no telling what his highly protective hormones would have had him do. Apparently Dalton already had an idea though. I dodged in record time but Dalton wasn't having it. With speed and grace born from perfect practice, he nailed the guy with a severe upper cut before slamming the burly guy down to the ground. He looked weary before looking up.
"You lazy, little half assed moron! Any dick in town can pull a gun on someone and call it a day. You don't know the first thing 'bout robbing someone." And just for effect I kicked him in the stomach and grumbled, "Moron can't even rob right." Now for anyone whose anyone seeing a burly guy get taken down by a teenager, less than 16 whom didn't even look like he was hyped up on anything, wasn't something people ignored.
We had everyone's eyes on us. The man himself groaned in agony. The hit just enough to stun him, preventing him from getting up to fast "Damn bro, you've been working out." I complimented. Dalton looked around. It worked with my friends a few years ago…why not now? This was why not now. The transgenic scare was out and about and it seemed had reached here as well. "Great…" I spat sarcastically.
"Um Max what do we do now?" seeing the angered, hateful, glaring looks we were receiving from everybody. "Take a page from the 'smart book', we fall back." the moment we started to back up everyone started to come out at us. "We need to find a safe place, FAST!" I screeched as we started to run – now blur our way through the alleyways, trying desperately to avoid running into anyone. Rounding the right corner I saw a busy intersection.
Knowing no body would let a prego get run over Dalton and I ran, Eve in my arms down the alleyway and gave only a few seconds of waiting – it was all we could afford - till we ran across the four lane road. Several cars stop and honked horns but we got across nonetheless. "We need help, NOW!" I called HQ, "Dix I need directions back to the airstrip we came from, NOW!" "What happened Max?" he asked worriedly.
I look to Dalton. "We got made, I'll explain later but we need a way out before all of New York becomes aware of a few transgenics roaming about." he started to type, "Okay Max just give me a few so I can get satellite images for you. Try to call off a few hounds if I can." Great, something to help us out with. "Good. Dalton, Eve and I are ducking into…" I looked up and used my enhanced sight to see a park sign in the distance. "We'll be in Tremont Park." I respond.
"What should I tell Alec?" he asked. Damn… "Don't. Not yet. He's got the deal with White to work on. Let him get it worked completely out plan wise before you do." At least he won't have his head compromised before the plan making. "Okay. Just give me a few minutes and I'll have a route for you." I had no conception of New York's mapping layout, Dix was my one and only way out right now. Dalton and I made a run for it with Eve in my arms…great, my adventures in babysitting ladies and gents…
To be continued…