The Blackest White
By Inzane
Disclaimer: I lay no claim to Dark Angel or its characters. I do this only for fun.
Summary: The best way to destroy an enemy is to strike at his heart. Sequel to "The Friggin' Cure."
A/N: I thought I'd have this done a bit sooner, but the holidays were a big distraction. Too much making merry, I guess.
Warning: Language and mayhem. (Mayhem is quite possibly my new favorite word.)
Chapter 13: Old Friends
"Joshua," Max breathed. "I know this place."
Joshua froze, blinking in shock. "What?" he asked, not sure if he had heard her right. They'd been roaming around aimlessly for so long, he'd begun to doubt that they'd ever find what they were looking for.
"I know this place, Joshua," Max said intently, waving a hand jerkily at their surroundings. "I remember."
Joshua looked around, trying to see what Max was seeing, the difference, but he couldn't. It looked like every other hall they'd already been down twenty times before. "You are sure?"
"Yes," Max replied, breath quickening as the memories hit her, hard and fast—being dragged back and forth from her cell, running the halls to escape.
These same halls. She was sure of it.
She looked around, trying to line up what she was seeing with what she remembered. "It's this way," she said, taking a few steps down the hall to her left. "Gaines' lab is this way."
"But…" Joshua stammered, sending a worried glance in the opposite direction, "what about Alec? Went the other way, after White."
"I know," Max said quietly, following Joshua's gaze.
The man she loved was out there somewhere in the maze of subterranean corridors, blindly chasing vengeance.
Their baby, if Alec was right and it still existed, was in the opposite direction.
Max turned and faced the dimly lit hall in front of her, ignoring the feelings that tugged her toward Alec. She knew the choice Alec would want her to make; she prayed that it was the right one.
"We're going to have to trust him," she said, more to convince herself than Joshua.
He ran, following White through doors and around corners. His vision tunneled until all he could see was the outline of White's back, suit jacket flapping like a cape as the Familiar fled.
The soldier in him knew this was a bad idea. Told him slow the fuck down. This was enemy territory, and there were tons of people in the compound that wanted him dead. He could be running right into an ambush.
The man in him said fuck that. The Familiar had taken his woman. His child. He wanted White's blood, and he didn't care what it took to get it.
The bastard wasn't getting away this time.
Damn. He'd forgotten how fast a Transgenic could be.
Ames White went over the map of the building in his head as he ran, always planning three moves ahead. He wasn't stupid. He knew he couldn't outrun a Transgenic. His familiarity with the terrain was the only chance he had. All he needed to do was buy some time until he could face 494 on his own terms.
A left, then a right, then…
His lips twisted in a smug smile. Perfect.
He almost had him. Just a few more feet and he'd be in range.
Alec became a blur, beginning to close the distance between them. He raised his gun and fired just as White slipped around a corner. Chunks of tile and plaster flew instead of blood.
"Damn it!"
Alec rounded the corner, taking it so fast he smacked into the opposite wall, impacting into the surface. Up ahead, White was already disappearing around another corner.
"Keep running, Ames!" he yelled, teeth bared as pushed away from the wall. "It won't do you any good!"
Wil skidded to a halt, sending up a spray of snow as he slid in behind the car that Digger and Surge were taking cover behind. Hank and Ivy were right behind him and took cover at the far end.
"Report," Wil snapped at Digger, following the transhuman's line of sight to locate the enemy.
Digger fired another two rounds before responding. "Familiars. Eight, maybe ten. Got some of them pinned down, but a group split off. Not sure how many. Couldn't stop 'em. Thought they were trying to flank, but doesn't seem to be the case."
"Which way?"
Digger jerked his head to left as he fired again.
Wil turned to Hank and Ivy. "Ivy, with me. Hank, stay here and help. Cover us."
He took off running, Ivy trailing close behind him. Once they slipped between buildings, they slowed, moving into stealth mode. The snow was coming down hard enough that it had already obscured most of the tracks, making them difficult to follow at speed. This, combined with the fact that they could be walking into an ambush, made them extra cautious.
Wil stopped suddenly, holding up his hand to halt Ivy. "Listen," he mouthed. He tilted his head, straining to hear over the wind.
Ivy's eyes unfocused as she strained her senses. A moment later, they snapped back into focus, shooting towards Wil.
They'd both heard it. The sound of a fight. Muffled gunshots.
Wil's head turned in the direction of the sound. "That way."
They took off running, forgoing stealth for speed. They rounded the building to find a group of five Familiars fighting two Transgenics—a guy and a girl, from their size, probably Fives. A third, smaller Transgenic—had to be a Six—was already on the ground with a dart sticking out of his neck.
Wil saw a Familiar, his back turned, scoop up the boy and sling him over his shoulder.
Rage filled him, so hot it should have melted the snow around him. How dare they think that they could come here, take one of their own and get away with it. Bastards.
Wil raised his gun, but he couldn't get a clean head or body shot without hitting the kid. If he'd been in a TV show, now would've been about the time for negotiations, but this wasn't TV, and there was no negotiating with Familiars.
He lowered the angle and fired, putting a bullet into the man's knee.
The Familiar's leg collapsed under him and he fell to his knees, the Six tumbling from his shoulder to land in a heap in front of him. The guy turned to fire, but he no longer had his shield.
Wil put a bullet in his head, another in his chest.
He looked up to see the rest of the Familiar's retreating, dodging and weaving as Ivy emptied her gun at their backs.
Wil moved to kneel next to the fallen X6, fingers seeking a pulse. It was there—a little sluggish, but steady. "Track them," he ordered Ivy, "but don't engage. I'll call for backup."
Ivy gave a sharp nod of acknowledgement and then disappeared into the swirling snow.
"Were they…" the male Transgenic began, trailing off. What was his name? Jake? James? Wil couldn't remember. He hadn't been gifted with Alec's near-perfect memory, and TC's population was a little too large now for his own memory banks.
"Familiars," Wil confirmed. "We're under attack. Didn't you hear on the radio?"
Jake/James shook his head. "We were coming from EOS. The radio there's broken." He ducked his head, chagrinned, and gave a little shrug. "Got out of the habit of carrying a personal."
"Shit." Wil wondered how many of them had gotten lax in the past couple months of relative calm. It was going to make things a lot harder.
"Why'd they knock him out?" the girl—Rose, yeah, that was it—asked. "Why didn't they just shoot him? Us?"
Wil gently brushed the unconscious X6's hair out of his face. "I don't know. But I'm betting it has something to do with that killer drug of theirs." He looked up at the others, his face grim. "Get this kid to Medical, and alert Vash there may be more incoming. After that, I want you to arm yourselves—make sure you grab radios—and report to Luke in Command. Wake up as many people as you can on the way."
The pair snapped to attention, falling back on their training in time of crisis. "Yes, sir!"
Wil, come in. It was Luke's voice, coming from Wil's radio.
"Speak of the Devil," he muttered. He pulled the radio off of his belt and pressed the button to talk. "This is Wil. Go."
We have a report of another breach. South side.
Wil shared a look with the others. "Understood. Has Zev shown up yet?" He didn't think she could have made it to Medical with a wounded Trix and then gotten over to Command already, but if she had, he'd leave it to her to explain so he could get moving.
No. What the hell is going on, Wil?
Damn it. "It's the Familiars."
Familiars?! Are you serious?
"Like a Psy Ops mind probe. Looks like they're operating under retrieval orders, but they're not afraid to use live rounds, either. Trix took one in the side. Zev will fill you in when she gets there. Until then, keep me apprised. Out."
Wil ended the transmission and hooked his radio back on his belt. He looked at the pair of Transgenics, Jake/James now holding the sleeping X6 in his arms. "Watch your backs," he told them, then took off down the street after Ivy.
Mole crouched lower behind the desk he'd flipped over for cover. The rest of his group was in a similar position. He ducked as a bullet winged a little too close to the cranium for comfort.
They'd been pinned down for about five minutes. Too long. He had a schedule to keep. Alec wanted this place turned into matchsticks before they were done, and he was damn sure going to make that happen.
"I don't know about you guys," he called out to his team, "but I'm sick of sitting around. We need to make a push. Ready?"
The various shouts of acknowledgement made him smile. "All right then." He shrugged, feeling the familiar weight of his favorite shotgun against his back. He would've preferred to have it in his hands instead of the matching pair of .357s he was using, but it wasn't really practical in this type of situation. Still, he'd brought it along, for good luck.
They certainly needed it.
"Go!"
They rose up as one and ran into the teeth of the enemy.
"Dalton. Can you come over here a minute?"
Dalton's head jerked up at the sound of Oscar's voice, hissing with quiet urgency. He slid down a short section of slope until he reached the rock outcropping where Oscar was lying prone, squinting down at where the Familiar compound would have been if it hadn't been obscured by the blowing snow.
"What is it?" he said as he sunk down beside his friend, scanning the area below, trying to see what Oscar was seeing.
Oscar squinted some more, then shook his head. "I don't know. It's gone now. But for a second, there was a break in the snow, and I thought I saw…" he trailed off, afraid to make his already edgy friend even more edgy.
"What? What did you see?" Dalton repeated, grabbing Oscar's arm.
Oscar hesitated for a second, brow furrowing with worry. "Movement."
"Movement? What kind of movement?"
"I don't know. It was only for a second. It could've been anything…"
"What's up, guys?" Kazi interrupted, coming over to join them. If the boys thought they were going to keep her out of the loop, they had another thing coming.
"Oscar saw something," Dalton said, getting to his feet.
"Maybe saw something," Oscar corrected as he pushed himself up to stand beside Dalton.
"Down below," the blonde X6 continued, ignoring Oscar's interjection.
"We should take a closer look," Kazi offered immediately. She was sick of sitting around.
"Right," Dalton said, already moving to grab his gear.
"Wait a minute," Oscar protested, grabbing Dalton's arm. "Alec said we were supposed to stay right here…"
Dalton pulled his arm from Oscar's grip. "Alec said we weren't supposed to engage the enemy, and we're not. We're just going to get a closer look, see what we can see."
"But it was probably nothing."
"You wanna take that chance?"
Oscar hesitated. There was so much as stake. "No."
"Then let's go."
"But shouldn't we notify the other long range support crews?"
"If we do, they'll just call us off and take care of it themselves. By the time they get there, whatever you saw might be gone. We need to move on this now."
"Fine, okay, but I still think…"
"Boys…" Kazi interrupted with an eye roll, "less arguing, more doing. Here," she said, shoving a sniper rifle at Oscar, "take this. You're better with it than I am anyway."
She handed Dalton a standard assault rifle (they all knew he was the weakest link when it came to marksmanship), then slung a grenade launcher over her back. "I'm better with stuff that goes boom," she said by way of explanation.
When they didn't move, she raised an eyebrow at them. "What are you waiting for? Let's move out."
He was close. So close. Round the corner and he'd have him.
He took it at full speed, compensating his trajectory so he wouldn't crash into the wall this time.
What he saw when he turned the corner brought him to a skidding halt.
The hall was deserted, lined with doors, each one of them open. Stacks of old equipment were shoved up against the walls haphazardly, a sure fire hazard if the Familiars had cared about that sort of thing. There were literally dozens of places to hide.
Ames White was hiding somewhere down that hall, waiting for him.
"Shit."
"Wait. Wait a minute."
Max held up a hand, signaling Joshua to stop. Her friend remained silent beside her, ready to offer assistance but not wanting to do anything that might interfere with Max's memory.
She took a couple of deep breaths to help her focus and to slow her rapidly beating heart. She was beginning to fear that she'd never find Gaines' lab. The memories were there, she knew they were, but it was so hard concentrate. She kept thinking about Alec. Was he okay? Did he find White? What if he was lying in a corner somewhere, bleeding out? Dying, because she hadn't gone after him.
No. She couldn't think like that. Alec would be okay. He'd take care of White, she'd find the baby, and it would still be alive, and they'd take it and run. They'd blow this place to Hell, go home and live happily ever after and forget all about Ames White and the Familiars.
Yeah. And then they'd get citizenship and the right to vote.
Max snorted and rolled her eyes. God, she was tired.
"You okay, Little Fella?" Joshua asked in hushes tones. She could hear the worry in his voice. He probably thought she was cracking up. Maybe she was. It wouldn't be the first time, in this place.
"I'm good," she insisted, even though she wasn't. "Got turned around, is all. Just need to get my bearings." She turned around in a circle, comparing what she was seeing to the pictures in her mind.
Nothing. Goddammit.
"We need to backtrack." She ran her hands over her face, trying to rub away the tiredness. "I think I missed a turn."
Joshua patted her on the shoulder. "We'll find it, Max. Have patience."
Max turned around and started back the way they came. "We don't have time for patience."
Zev paced. She knew she was making Luke nervous, but she couldn't help it. Wil was out there somewhere, fighting, risking his life, while she was stuck here coordinating troop movements. Stuck because it had been his big idea for her to hold down the fort at Command.
Who the hell did he think he was, anyway? She needed to be out there with him, watching his back, not manning a radio. She was a soldier as much as he was, goddammit. Not to mention that she was a better shot. The jerk probably thought he was protecting her. Well, she didn't need protecting, and when he got back, she'd let him know what she thought of his macho posturing.
She'd never wanted anything more in her life than to have Wil standing there in front of her so she could yell at him.
There were two, possibly three groups of Familiars inside of TC. There was open fighting in the streets, and Medical was already being overrun with injuries. They'd collapsed all secondary tunnels because they didn't have the manpower to cover them. Oh, and the generator powering Command had died. They were waging a war in the dark with handheld radios and word of mouth reports.
On top of all of this, Wil was missing.
They hadn't heard from him for a while. He'd been checking in regularly, then nothing. She'd asked everyone that called in if they'd seen him, but no one had.
Five minutes. She'd give him five minutes, and then she was going after him. Luke would have to hold the fort on his own.
There was still three minutes to spare when Wil burst through the doors of Command, covered in snow and sweat and grime. Blood oozed from a cut on his forehead, which looked like it might have been caused by shrapnel, but other than that, he was whole and unharmed.
Zev grabbed the edge of the nearest table as her knees went weak. She hadn't let herself feel how scared she had been while he was out there, because feeling it was too close to admitting that something would happen. Now that he was safe and she didn't have to hold it back anymore, those feelings broke free and threatened to drown her.
Dead God, she was falling for him. Hard.
His eyes met hers, and she could see relief settle over him as soon as he'd spotted her. As he headed toward her, she didn't know whether she should smack him or hug him. Maybe both.
He came to a stop directly in front of her, a tired smile on his face. She did neither.
"Where have you been? You've been out of contact," she said accusingly, her voice thick with emotion that she was struggling to reign in. Get a grip, Zev, she scolded herself. This is not the time. We're at war, for crissakes.
"Sorry," he said, reaching up to push his snow-damp hair back from his forehead. "Radio took a hit. Didn't have time to find a new one."
"You should be sorry." Zev sniffed. "You scared the hell out of me."
Wil's smile softened. "Didn't mean to," he said quietly. There was this look of hope in his eyes—even in the midst of everything. Hope for something more.
Zev didn't know what to say. She wished it was all over and done with so she could drag him off somewhere and wrap herself around him, if only to feel the beat of his heart against hers, but she wouldn't get that wish. Before the day was out, they would surely both be put in the line of fire again. If she had learned anything from her time at Manticore, it was to stay firmly grounded in the present. You never knew if there would be a tomorrow, for you or the person next to you, so there was no sense in thinking about the future.
But then there was Wil, standing there, so brave and hopeful that it nearly broke her heart.
Screw Manticore. If she had a future, then she wanted Wil in it.
"Wil," Luke interrupted, breaking the spell between them. "Thank God. Corporal Higgins has been calling for the past half hour." He held out his radio.
Zev grabbed it from Luke, irritated with both the transhuman and friggin' Peach Fuzz that she and Wil had been interrupted. They'd been having a moment.
"We're kind of busy here, Corporal. We'll have to get back to you." She cut off the transmission before PF could respond.
Wil raised an eyebrow at her. Luke just looked tired. "He's going to call back," the transhuman sighed.
Zev made a face. "Let him. We've got bigger problems."
The three of them moved to the table in the center of the room, which had a detailed map of TC laid across it. Poker chips marked areas where there'd been confirmed reports of fighting. Wil looked down at the map and shook his head.
"Our basic problem is lack of communication and this damn storm. Visibility is low, even for us. People are cut off from each other. Not to mention that most of our best combat specialists are out attacking the Familiar base. The majority of the people that stayed behind are kids or non-combatants. We can't mount a coordinated defense."
"So we're screwed," Zev muttered.
"Maybe…" Wil said, trailing off as his eyes scanned over the map, shifting to the far edge. All of the sudden he straightened, eyes snapping up to meet Luke's. "Get Higgins back on the horn."
The transhuman didn't question him, just did as he was told. He was thankful to have someone else in charge.
Zev's brow furrowed and she took a step closer to Wil. "What are you going to do?"
"You're not going to like it."
"Wil," Zev scolded with impatience.
Wil grimaced. "I'm going to let the army invade TC."
Dix's fingers flew over the keyboard. Every time he'd find a way in, he'd have to work around another lockout. The Familiars were good—damn good. But he was better.
"Tricky bastard," he muttered to himself, eyes glued to the monitor. "Not tricky enough." There was another thirty seconds of the staccato sound of typing, then a loud click as he pounded the Enter key with glee. "Gotcha."
Gem moved to look over his shoulder. "Tell me you're in," she said. Before she had finished the sentence, lists of files began to scroll down the screen.
"I'm in," Dix said, already reaching for the external drive from his pack. He plugged it into a port, hit a few keys, and began downloading everything he could find.
"Fucking A," Gem said. "I'm ready to blow this joint. Literally."
"You and me both," Dix said, smiling.
Underneath the desk, a red light blinked steadily. No one noticed.
Alec took cover behind an old copy machine, checking the load in his weapon. White was close; he had to be, considering how close Alec had been when the Familiar had turned the corner into the hall. There was no way he could've made it to the double doors at the other end before Alec had come around the corner.
So White was close. So what? It didn't do him any good. He could be hiding anywhere, just waiting for a certain Transgenic to walk past so he could put a bullet in his brain.
Alec knew he couldn't stay here forever. Sooner or later, Mole was going to blow the place to kingdom come. He didn't want to be there when that happened.
"Ames…" he called out, his voice bordering on sing-songy. "I know you're out there."
Alec waited, straining to hear any sign of his quarry, but there was nothing. He cursed under his breath. He had to get White out into the open somehow, or at least get him to give away his general position. Unfortunately, as much as Alec hated the man, he knew that White was no fool. He wouldn't give up the tactical advantage lightly.
Then Alec grinned. White may not be stupid, but if he did have a weakness, it was his ego.
"Hey Ames!" Alec yelled down the hall, bracing himself to move at the slightest sound. "You sure you're not a Transgenic? Because I swear there's a little chicken in your DNA." He paused for a moment, letting his words sink in, then yelled. "Why don't you come out here and fight me like a man?"
"I would if you were a man," came the response from somewhere near the middle of the hall, off to the left. Alec rose from behind the copier just in time to see White lean around an open office door and open fire. Alec somersaulted and came up behind a stack of broken chairs—not the best cover, but it would do. He returned fire, emptying his clip in White's direction.
White cursed and ducked back into the office. He popped the clip out of his gun—his last—and checked the load. One bullet left. He had a single grenade in his pocket, which he'd slipped in when they'd found out the base was being assaulted, but that would hardly do him any good. He may have had a thousand years of selective breeding behind him, but his throwing arm wasn't up to even minor league standards of accuracy. Besides, the Transgenic would probably catch it and throw it back.
Fucking 494… he was relentless. Ames began to think that maybe now was not the best time for a showdown. He glanced toward the end of the hall; the doors were too far. He'd never make it. He looked back down the hall to where 494 waking taking cover.
There, on the wall. That would do.
White leaned out the door again. 494 must have heard him, because he rose up, his gun at ready. White fired, aiming not for the Transgenic, but the fire extinguisher on the wall.
It exploded, swallowing 494 in a cloud of smoke and shrapnel.
White ran.
Corporal Higgins kept his head up and his eyes straight ahead as he was escorted toward Terminal City's Command Central. He had brought two of his men with him as backup, but TC's leaders had sent four Transgenics, all heavily armed, to escort them through the streets, and he had a sneaking suspicion that they were there for his protection, not because they didn't trust him. Coupled with the way the Transgenics were actively scanning for threats, it made him nervous as hell.
When he finally made it to their Command hub, his eyes darted over the personnel, assigning names to faces. (He'd been boning up on TC personnel ever since that embarrassing incident with the Transgenics' top brass.) Strangely, he only recognized a couple of them. Most of the higher Command personnel seemed to be missing.
"Corporal," someone called out to him, and he turned to see a man approaching him. Higgins flipped through the memorized pages in his head. Wil—head of Internal Security. Zev, the red-head in charge of the border, was right behind him, as well as a pale-skinned transhuman. Dix? No, Luke.
"Wil," he said, and nodded to the others in greeting. "If you don't mind, I'll ignore the normal pleasantries. I would like to speak to Max."
"She's not available. And before you ask, neither is Alec or Mole or Dix, so why don't you just deal with me, okay?"
Higgins straightened his shoulders, trying not to show his discomfort. He didn't exactly have a lot of experience with diplomacy. "Fine. Let's get to it, then. We've been hearing strange noises all night coming from inside your borders. The snow has muffled the sound, but we're pretty sure it was gunfire. I heard it again on the way in, and I know now for a fact that it was gunfire. What the hell is going on here? Where are Max and Alec?"
"Fighting," Wil said, which was the truth... sort of. "We're under attack, Corporal. As part of our treaty with the United States government, I am officially granting you access to Terminal City and requesting your help to repel the enemy."
Higgins couldn't hide his shock. He'd thought the Transgenics were conducting live weapons drills, which was frowned upon but never officially forbidden. "What do you mean, you're under attack? Protesters haven't made any organized attempts in over six months…"
"It's not protesters," Zev interrupted. "It's Familiars."
"Who?" Now he was completely lost.
"They call themselves Familiars," Wil explained. "We don't have time to go into all of it, but basically, they are an organization of genetically enhanced humans that is out to take over your government and wipe us off the face of the earth."
"You've gotta be shitting me." Higgins flushed as soon as the words came out of his mouth. Hardly professional.
"I wish we were, Corporal. You heard the gunfire. This is very real. We are under attack, and we are officially requesting aid from the United States government."
"I…" Higgins stammered, "I'm not sure if I can make that decision."
"We don't have time to wait for you to get Flanagan on the line," Wil snapped angrily.
One of the soldiers Higgins brought with him put a hand on the butt of his gun. Wil took a moment to steady himself. He couldn't let this get out of hand. They had more important things to think about.
"Please," Wil pleaded. He waved a hand at the room around him. With TC being shorthanded, many of the Transgenics manning the stations were Six series or younger. "We've got children here."
Higgins glanced around the room, which was lit mostly by flashlights and a few battery powered lamps. A young girl near him, not much older than his niece Hannah, stood at a table with a radio to her ear, making notations on what appeared to be a casualty report.
A girl that age should be playing with dolls, not dealing with life and death.
Higgins pulled his radio from his belt. "Alpha base, this is Corporal Higgins. I want you to rally the troops and have them report, fully armed, to the TC gates. We'll meet you there. Terminal City is under attack, and we are offering the assistance of the United States Army. Copy?
There was a slight hesitation on the other end, then a voice crackled, We copy, Corporal. Rallying the troops. Alpha base out.
Higgins snapped his radio back on his belt. "So," he asked, resigned to the course he had chosen. "What exactly are we dealing with, here?"
Max stopped suddenly in the middle of the hall, her heart pounding a mile a minute.
There it was. Gaines' lab. She'd found it.
A chill ran down her spine, and she shivered. When Joshua's hulking form moved into her peripheral vision, she jumped.
"Okay, Max?" Joshua asked.
"There," Max said hoarsely, pointing to the doors off to the left. "That's it."
"The lab?"
Max nodded. She was glued to the spot. Her brain knew she had to go in there, but her body resisted her with everything it had. It remembered what had happened in that room.
Joshua put a hand on Max's arm to steady her. She looked so pale, he was afraid she would pass out. "Come on," he said gently. "Need to take a look."
Max nodded, but she didn't move until Joshua physically steered her toward the doors. Thank God he was there. If he hadn't been, she was afraid that she might have run screaming in the opposite direction.
Joshua opened the doors and stepped inside the threshold, shotgun at ready, eyes quickly scanning the room for threats. Max stood in the doorway, stuck. Unable to move forward yet unwilling to turn away.
The room was dark. Of to the right, she caught a glimpse of something. A soft glow. The glint of shiny plastic.
The stasis chamber.
Max's breath caught in her throat. Her hands began to tremble.
She was afraid. Afraid to believe what Alec believed. Scared of what she might find. Terrified of what she might not.
"Joshua…could you…," Max croaked, and she had to stop and clear her throat. "Could you… wait outside for a minute?"
Joshua's eyes nervously scanned the empty room. It looked safe, but… He shook his head. "Don't think that's a good idea, Little Fella."
Max closed her eyes. A single tear traced its way down her cheek. "Please."
Joshua could see the turmoil Max was in. He didn't want her to face it alone, but knew that some things you had to face on your own. "Okay," he said reluctantly, moving to stand beside her in the doorway. "Joshua will wait outside."
"Thank you," Max said gratefully.
She took two tentative steps forward. The doors closed behind her, making a whooshing sound that she'd heard so many times before, when someone had come to hurt her.
Drawing in a shaking breath, she slowly walked toward the glow.
Alec stumbled backwards, coughing and blinking rapidly as the smoke stung his eyes. There was a small piece of metal buried in his neck. Fortunately, it wasn't deep, and it had missed his carotid. He plucked it out, moving forward to get clear of the smoke. Up ahead, he spotted White running for the doors at the end of the hall.
Alec took off after him, raising his gun and firing at White's back. There was a small spray of blood as one of the bullets grazed the Familiar's arm. White didn't slow down, probably didn't even feel it. The Familiar shoved through the doors, slipping out of sight.
Alec picked up speed. You can't get away that easily, Ames.
A couple of seconds later, Alec hit the doors at a full run. Instead of bursting through them his vision filled with stars, blinding him as his body went from full speed to a complete stop when it collided with the locked doors.
He bounced off of unforgiving steel and crashed to the ground. Pain radiated from the center of his body, pulsing outward. He groaned and began to push himself to his feet, shaking his head to try to clear his vision.
"Get up, stupid," he growled at his uncooperative body as he stumbled, arms and legs reluctant to obey his commands. "He's getting away."
By the time he got to his feet, his vision had cleared. Teeth bared and hands clenched into fists, he spun on his heel and landed a punishing kick against the doors. They shook, but didn't give.
"Dammit." He bent over and picked up his gun, which had clattered against the wall when he fell. He popped out the empty clip and angrily jammed in a new one. He moved back over to the door. Taking aim at the lock, he fired.
His eyes picked up the explosion a split second before the concussion hit him. His brain had a moment think, Huh. Booby trap. Then he was flying backwards, caught in a wash of heat and flame.
Max stood in front of the glowing chamber, eyes wide and brimming with tears.
At the base of the cylinder, a line spiked up and down. Steady. Sure. Floating inside—incredibly, amazingly whole—was a tiny body, no bigger than her palm, arms and legs tucked in against itself.
Their baby.
The scar across her stomach ached.
She reached out, stopping halfway, almost afraid that by touching the chamber she might make it disappear. She forced herself to take a step closer, and her fingertips touched the clear plastic. It was surprisingly warm. She trailed her fingertips down the surface of the chamber.
The corner of her mouth quirked in a ghost of a smile. "Hey," she whispered.
Maybe miracles did happen.
The silence was split by a loud clack behind her. She spun to find evil incarnate standing by the door in the form of Dr. Elizabeth Gaines. The woman's hand was still on the bolt that she had just slammed home, locking them both in and Joshua out. In her other hand was a gun, pointed directly at Max's chest.
Gaines smiled. "Welcome back, 452. I missed you."
A/N: That's right! The bitch is back!!!