"Someone get Dr. Shankar over here! Now!" Mole shouted throughout Command. "We've got two down!"
Max's blood was slipping through his fingers at an alarming rate, and Rocky was next to her but he wasn't moving. Dix ran over and turned Rocky onto his back; blood was pouring out of his right side, under his arm.
Max looked up at him and it looked like she was trying to talk. Mole put some more pressure on the wound, "Max, don't try to talk. The Doc's gonna be on the way soon, so you just gotta hold on."
He turned and looked for where the shooter was. Rosco and Chopper had him in custody and they looked to him for orders. "Take him to room C and tie him up and keep guards posted inside and at the door," Mole ordered. They nodded and drug him off, but Mole turned his attention back to Max.
She gurgled a little as she tried to talk. "Don't worry, I won't do anything stupid while you're out," Mole tried to reassure. "You just gotta hold on or else I might change my mind." He turned to look at the group of transgenics around him and yelled, "Where's that doctor?!"
"She'll be here in 10," someone answered, but Mole didn't bother to see who it was.
"Hear that Max?" Mole asked softly. "The Doc will be here in 10. You just need to hold on for a little while longer." He looked over at Dix and asked, "How's Rocky doin'?"
"I don't know…it doesn't look good. I think the bullet hit his lung…" Dix replied uncertainly. "He's still alive at least…"
"Alec…" Max barely breathed out. Mole's attention snapped back to her, but she didn't look like she knew who he was.
"I'm not him, sweetie," Mole replied, surprising himself with how much he actually cared about Max. "But we'll find him. And then I'm gonna kick his ass for not being here right now." He wouldn't actually kick Alec's ass, the kid would blame himself enough already. He just wished Alec was here now though, he would know how to get Max to keep fighting.
Max's eyes closed and Mole felt a flutter of panic. "No Max, c'mon, I need you to stay awake. I'm going to get Alec here as soon as I can ok? You gotta hang on so you can boss him around some more! You don't want him taking over do you?"
Max still didn't open her eyes again and Mole tried his best not to panic. He didn't want to run this place and he really didn't want Max to die. "Please hold on," Mole whispered.
Alec was blindfolded and his hands were zip tied behind his back this time. When he regained consciousness he found that he was in another truck, but he could hear someone else's breathing next to him. It must have been his guard.
Alec had to hold in his groan as his muscles pulsed with electricity. The electric shock had drained him, but he knew it was only going to get worse. He should've listened to Bear when he had the chance. Now he didn't know when he was going to see Max again, or if he would ever see Max again. He was going to try to escape, but he had no idea if he would succeed. He would either succeed or die trying.
The truck finally stopped, but Alec didn't know how long he'd been out or how far they had gone. His guard pulled him to his feet, but he had to lock his knees so he would stay standing. His guard pushed him suddenly, and he fell the few feet to the ground and landed hard on his knees.
"On your feet soldier," the General ordered. Alec could tell he was enjoying this.
He forced himself back to his feet just to prove to the General that he wasn't weak. He still couldn't see, but that didn't stop him from standing in defiance in the direction the General's voice had come from.
"Take him inside. The Mayor wants a full workup before we start the interrogation," the General said.
Alec's heart pounded hearing that; he hated being tested. He'd hated it at Manticore and he still hated it now. He would rather be interrogated than tested. But he didn't show any of that; he kept his face completely blank and didn't give anything away.
He was pushed forward again, but he shrugged the hand off of him. He could walk by himself; he didn't need someone to push him around. He walked casually, like this was just another day, and only let them steer him when it was time to change directions. He knew that from the entrance, he'd taken 3 rights and 1 left which he would remember if he got a chance to escape.
They walked through a set of double doors, and then they opened a door on the left and pushed him inside. They put him up on an examination table and finally took off his blindfold. The light was blinding and Alec had to squint against it, but he did feel better at being able to see again. His hands were still bound behind his back, but at least he could see.
The room he was in was bare except for a table a little ways away that had medical instruments on it. His guard was standing in the corner with a gun trained on him, but otherwise he was alone. He looked down at the table he was sitting on; it was just a cold metal table, but the worst part was the restraints he could see hanging off of the side. He hated being restrained.
A guy in a lab coat walked in, drawing Alec's attention away from the table. He was a middle-aged man with dark hair and glasses. He didn't look like a psychopath, but looks could be deceiving. This guy was probably going to enjoy doing this to him. He would be excited about it because of science. Alec was like a scientist's greatest daydream and they just couldn't wait to start taking samples and studying him.
The lab coat didn't even acknowledge him when he walked in though. He turned to the guard and said, "Get another guard in here so you can strap him to the table." The guard nodded once and Alec hoped the guard would leave so he could make a break for it, but he didn't. He just called it in on his radio.
They sat in silence for a minute, and then another guard came in. They cut the zip tie and undressed him, leaving him in just his boxers. At least they were nice enough to let him keep some dignity. Although, he was used to being treated like he wasn't a person. They didn't care if he was naked or not because to them, he was just a test subject.
They forced him back on the table and made him lay down. The metal was cold against his bare skin, but he tried to ignore that. The restraints were put on his wrists and ankles; he tested their strength, but it seemed like the lab coat had done his research. The restraints were too strong for him to break through.
The lab coat went to the other table, and then brought over a scalpel. Alec looked away from him and kept his gaze trained on the ceiling. He wasn't going to give them any satisfaction; he would keep his sounds of pain to himself.
"This is going to be unpleasant," Lab coat said after a moment.
Alec ignored him and tried to think of something else.
Bear ran as fast as she could back to TC. Lucky was still out, but he was still pretty small so he wasn't too heavy. She needed to get back, and then start tracking where they could have taken Alec.
She should have forced him to turn back; she shouldn't have listened to him. But Alec was a hard one to convince and she couldn't just leave him. She felt very protective over him and now he was gone because she couldn't talk him out of it. But she would find him and get him out of there. Max was so going to kill her.
She went into TC through the gate and quickly ran Lucky over to the Infirmary. She didn't stay there to see if Doc was there or not, but Lucky should be fine. She needed to get people to start looking for Alec so she ran to Command. They only had a small window before it was going to be nearly impossible to find him.
It was total chaos when she ran in. People were running around everywhere and shouting orders to each other. She scanned the room for Max, but she didn't see her. There was a lot of blood on the floor though that had her moving forward without even thinking.
"Where's Pretty Boy?" Mole called out as she got closer to the blood. "I need to chew his ass out, and then he needs to get to the hospital. He missed somethin' big while you all were out."
"Where's Max?" Bear asked, ignoring Mole's question for now. She needed to talk to Max.
"She was shot," Mole stated. And now that Bear looked over at him, she saw that his clothes were covered in blood.
"What?" Bear breathed out.
"She and Rocky were both shot," Mole said.
Her breath caught in her chest. She didn't even wait to find out if Rocky was ok or not, she just started running for the exit. Mole ran in front of her to stop her though. She tried to get around Mole, but he kept blocking her exit.
"How did it happen?" Bear finally asked, giving up her escape for a moment.
"Someone walked in here posing as a new transgenic. Nobody questioned him, but Max went over to introduce herself. He shot her, but Rocky tried to push her out of the way. Good thing he did too, otherwise the bullet would have hit her heart. The guy fired again though and hit Rocky before the shooter was tackled to the ground. We have him trapped in a room until we have a chance to interrogate him."
Bear just nodded, unsure on what to make of everything. Rocky and Max were both hurt. Alec needed to be here for this, but she'd let him get captured. She needed to find him as soon as possible so he could get to Max.
She was also worried about Rocky; the transgenic had made her care about him, and then went and got himself shot. She should know better now than to let people in; first Alec gets himself captured, and then Rocky gets himself shot. She wasn't going to let either of them leave the apartment for a month once she got them both back. And she would need Max's help to do it.
"He's stable right now," Mole said. "They're both with Dr. Shankar and she's doing everything she can. I just need Pretty Boy to go over there and talk to Max. Keep her fighting to stay alive and whatnot. So where is he?"
"He's gone," Bear whispered.
"What?" Mole asked, his eyes widening. "He's dead?!"
"No! The General and the Mayor…they took him," Bear replied in a daze. "He's worse than dead."
"Well, now we're really up shit's creek," Mole grumbled. He waited a minute, and then suggested, "Why don't you go on over to the hospital. Joshua and Logan are already there, but I'd feel better if you were there too. Or if you don't want to do that, stay here so I can go over to the hospital. Someone's gotta be in charge around here and unfortunately it's me."
Bear shook her head, "No. I have to start looking for Alec."
"Bear," Mole said on a sigh. "We need to get a team together and start searching the computers for where they could have taken him. This isn't a one person job."
"No," Bear stated. She looked over at Mole with determination. "I'm not leaving him out there. I can pick up the trail and start the search."
"You need-"
"No, I don't. I only came back here to drop Lucky off and to tell Max. Since Max isn't available, then I'm going to find Alec." Bear pushed past Mole and went to the door. "I'll check in when I've found something. Keep me updated on Max and Rocky." Then she left without looking back.
Alec clenched his jaw and closed his eyes tight as a huge needle was driven into his pelvis. He'd been flipped over so they could shove a needle into him to get some bone marrow. They'd already taken skin samples, hair samples, and over a pint of blood. He couldn't even remember everything they'd done to him, but he was already tired of being their lab rat.
His breath hitched as the needle was pulled out, and then put in again in another spot. To distract himself, he'd been thinking about Max. She was either going to kiss him or kill him when he got out of this. He didn't care, as long as he got to see her again. He needed to have the chance to finish what he started. He couldn't believe it was just this morning that he and Max were finally almost together, it had seemed like weeks ago.
"Take a little more blood, and then I'll be done for now," Lab coat said to one of his helpers. The helpers had come in a little while after he'd been restrained.
He relaxed against the table at the promise of a small break. He was exhausted and he just wanted to go home, but he couldn't give up. He needed to figure out how to get out of this, but so far he had nothing. Besides, right now he wouldn't be able to stay standing for more than a minute, let alone fight his way out of there.
He jumped a little when someone released one of his wrists a few minutes later. His arm was wrenched behind his back and his other hand quickly followed. He was zip tied again before his ankles were released. One of his guards dragged him off of the table and he didn't resist being taken down the hallway.
Alec tried to take in every detail of the compound as they went through the maze of hallways. He remembered every turn and knew if he could make it back to the examination room, then he could find his way out of there. Even if he couldn't make it back to the examination room, he could make a new exit. He was pretty resourceful when he needed to be.
He was taken into another room; his hands were freed for just a second, and then tied again in front of him.
"You guys must have an endless supply of zip ties," Alec quipped as his hands were put above his head. They put his hands on some kind of hook, and then raised him up until his toes barely touched the ground. The skin on his wrists was already raw, but now blood started to drip down his arms.
The General walked in and he slowly walked around Alec. "You should make this easy on yourself and just answer my questions when I ask them."
"That takes all the fun out of the interrogation!" Alec said with a smirk.
"I was hoping you'd feel that way," he replied with a smile. "Now tell me, how many transgenics are in Terminal City?"
"How should I know?" Alec asked back easily.
The General glanced over at one of the guards and nodded. The guard moved forward and hit Alec hard in the side. Alec took the hit without a sound, but he tried to stop his swinging with his tip toes.
"How many transgenics are in Terminal City?" The General asked again.
"More than you can count," Alec said with a small smirk. "Especially since I think the highest you can count is like 5…" The General nodded and he was hit again. He clenched his jaw and tried to keep his breathing under control.
"How many transgenics are in Terminal City?"
"Where's the Mayor? I think I like him better…" Alec muttered, and then he was punched.
"How many transgenics are in Terminal City?"
"You can keep asking that question until you lose your voice, I'm not going to answer," Alec growled. He was hit and the General started walking around him again.
"Oh, you'll answer me at some point. I just have to figure out what it's going to take," the General said. "Now, how many transgenics are in Terminal City?"
"Go screw yourself," Alec replied with a challenge.
"How are they?" Lucky asked as Dr. Shankar walked over to him, Logan, and Joshua, who had begged to go and was only allowed since he was wearing a very oversized hoodie to hide his face. Original Cindy and Sketchy were they too, who Lucky only knew because Joshua had told him who they were. He'd just gotten to the hospital; Mole had sent him here so he could report back to the rest of Command.
He had wanted to go find Bear since she was looking for Alec, but he'd been given orders. And since Max was pretty much Alec's girlfriend, he owned it to his CO to check on her. He liked Max as a leader, but he had to admit that she terrified him. It was probably just because he'd never really talked to her before and she had a total badass image that he wasn't really used to.
"They're both stable for now," Dr. Shankar replied slowly. "It was close though. And they're not out of the woods yet."
"Can we go see them?" Lucky asked.
"Only a couple at a time," she answered. "They've both been through a lot…"
Lucky nodded in understanding. He turned to the small group that was around him, trying to figure out who should go with him. He needed to go so he could protect them and to report back. Max would probably want to see either Original Cindy or Joshua when she woke up. Lucky would rather sit with Original Cindy so that's who he would ask.
Joshua would have been ok, but the big guy was really broken up about Max, and then when he heard about Alec he just became even more distressed. Lucky didn't know how to deal with people in distress and Original Cindy looked like she wasn't going to freak out on him.
"Cindy…would you want to go with me?" Lucky asked quietly.
"Sure thing, honey," she replied. Then she and Lucky followed Dr. Shankar down a hallway, and then to the room where Rocky and Max both were. They had to keep them in the same room since they were both transgenics and they didn't want word to get out that they were there.
Max was lying on the first bed and Rocky on the other. They both had a ton of tubes in them and they both were being kept alive by machines. Lucky started to turn to leave, unable to bare bringing this news back to Command, but Original Cindy put her hand against his chest to stop him.
"It's ok sugar," Cindy soothed. "They're gonna be ok."
He took a deep breath, and then sat down in the chair next to Max's bed. Original Cindy sat in the chair between Rocky and Max's beds. Lucky didn't know what he was supposed to do; if he was supposed to talk to her or hold her hand or something, but he really wished Alec was here. He was the one Max would want to see anyway and he would know what to do.
"Max," Original Cindy said, interrupting the silence. "Me and Lucky are here with you. And you too Rocky. And we're gonna stay here until you guys are well enough to wake up. You just take your time, 'cause we aren't goin' anywhere."
Lucky sat back in his chair. He would wait until Max woke up or until Alec got there to take his place.
Alec was only half conscious as he was lowered back to the ground. They pulled his hands off of the hook and he almost fell forward. His guard caught him though, and then pulled him to his feet. The hands were gentler this time and Alec tried to remember which guard might be willing to help him if he needed it. This one had freckles all over his face, so Freckles was the nice one. Alec also knew Freckles had been pulling his punches too, so there was some hope that he could get some help. The other guard seemed to enjoy this though; he looked like he worked out too much and didn't ever think for himself so Alec was going to think of him as Meathead.
"Take him to his new room. We'll try again in a few hours," the General said.
Meathead went to his other side and helped drag him to a different room. They were nice enough to actually put him on the little cot in the room instead of just tossing him inside. He was grateful for that since he wasn't going to move for a little while. It seemed like they were being nice by giving him a break, but he bet they were just letting his muscles get stiff before they started round two.
He knew he had some broken ribs and his wrists were a mess. His head was throbbing from getting hit in the face with the General's gun earlier and his muscles still weren't quite under his control from getting shocked earlier. None of that even included all of the testing they had done to him earlier. His bones were aching and his skin felt raw. And he was lightheaded from all the blood they took at one time. He was a mess and they were just getting started.
He was so exhausted that as soon as his head hit the cot, he was out.
It seemed like only a minute later and Freckles was pulling him out of bed. He was taken to the same room as before and hung up just like last time. His shoulders protested the position; they were already strained from holding his weight earlier and they hurt even more now.
The General walked into the room and Alec rolled his eyes.
"You're not looking so cocky anymore…but I still haven't gotten my answers," the General said.
"Yeah…good luck with that," Alec replied, but his voice was rough.
Freezing water was suddenly blasted in his face, and then they sprayed him down completely. Alec spit the water out of his mouth and shook his head to try and get the water off of his face. He hated being wet.
"The longer we have you in custody, the more we learn about your kind," the General said as he circled him. "You're a tough bunch that doesn't break easy. You can take a beating and you're extremely resourceful. But I also learned that like humans, you don't handle electricity very well…"
Alec kept his focus straight ahead so he wouldn't give anything away. He knew what was coming and it made his heart beat faster, dreading what was coming. He'd been tortured like this before, but it still sucked.
"Now, do you want to answer my questions?" The General asked.
"Go to Hell," Alec said in defiance, and then the first shock hit him.
More soon...