"Moody, they're everywhere! We can't get out! How the hell do they have all this help!?" Gabriel was frantic. The doors had been blasted only minutes ago, and there were black clad soldiers blocking all the exits.
"I don't know!" Moody cried back. He looked around, his worried eyes resting on the boy who would surely be dead if Moody hadn't asked him to run to his office moments before the doors blew. "Fresca!" Moody shouted. The boy ran to him. "Get these kids calm. I need your help now. Help Gabe to sort them out. Get them ready."
"Ready for what?" he asked nervously.
"Ready to fight."
"I got a better idea." A voice called from one of the back exits. "How about you get ready to run like hell instead." The shout took a while to process. Was it a threat? Or an ally? Then it clicked into place. The person in the doorway was covered from head to foot in black, including cloth obscuring most of her face, but it was not military, and the brood had no female members. "Come on, you idiots! What the hell are you waiting for!?" Fay yelled. The clan all ran for the exit. Outside, they met a small group of similarly dressed people, all obviously intent on concealing their identity from whoever the military part of this was. Fay stood in the doorway, beckoning them all out, while a tall man started off down the alley they'd come into, telling the clan members to follow. Moody stopped by Fay,
"Wait. I'm grateful, but who are you people? Why are you helping us?"
"Cos my sister asked me to." Faith replied.
"Max!?" moody gasped.
"Got it in one, dude. I'm Fay." They shook hands, and set off after the others.
"Sir!" They've disappeared!"
"What!?" Lydecker spat.
"They got out!" The soldier confirmed. Lydecker went through each team on the radio, until he found no answer.
"Damn it!" He cried, "I want all the teams we can spare around the west side of the building!" The soldiers moved out immediately.
"Keep going, you're doing great." Fay told them all, moving along side the running group, moving to the front or back with ease. She was at least twice as fast as any of them. "B, you ok?"
"I'm fine… I'm only worried about what happens when they realise." As if in answer, a gunshot rang out, and Angel flinched.
"Damn it!" He cried, but kept running. The Chinese clan exchanged glances, but presumed he must be wearing a bulletproof vest.
"Faster!" Fay yelled. She dropped to the back of the group, but moved enough to make it clear that she was the X5… she knew Lydecker was looking for a manticore girl- maybe she could draw their attention.
"Sir! We have a guy who was barely affected by bullets, several other disguised people, and a girl moving way to fast for a normal person."
"Excellent. I don't care what happens to the others, let them go for all I care. But get that girl!"
"And the bullet proof man?"
"You have heard of a bullet proof vest, right?"
"Sorry sir."
"Get out of here."
Fay could sense them coming. She allowed herself to fall behind the group- if it came to a fight, she didn't want any of them involved. Even Buffy would be out of her league here. She glanced around, TAC teams were filing into the alley behind them. She dodged a couple of bullets, and yelled for the others to get away. Then she turned to face them. It took her a second to realise Buffy was beside her.
"B, get out! This is not your fight!"
"No it's yours, and that makes it mine. You gotta be kidding if you think I'm gonna leave you here."
"You'll get yourself killed!" Fay yelled angrily.
"Me!? If you try fighting them alone, you're screwed. I'm not leaving. If I die, I die, but I'd do this over again a thousand times if I had to. I'm not leaving."
Faith couldn't help it. She smiled at her friend. The only other person in the world who knew what it was to be a slayer. Her partner. Her girlfriend. Her sister. They both dropped into fighting stances. The odds were crazy, but more than one of the TAC guys swallowed nervously. They could see the confident smiles on the girls' faces even through the masks. Suddenly the alley erupted into a frenzy of fists, feet and tasers. The next time it paused, the slayers found themselves back to back in the centre of a ring of soldier, breathing hard, but still grinning. The ring was in turn ringed with unconscious bodies.
"You boys had enough, or you want some more?"
"We're not all boys, y'know." Replied a voice from the back of the group. Buffy felt Fay stiffen. The girl pushing through pulled off her helmet and gas mask, and Fay's world crumbled.
"Max?" She gasped, then she frowned, had it all been a trap? But something felt wrong…
"Both of you just turn yourselves in, and we'll all go play happy families back at manticore." The girl said. Alarm bells rang in Fay's mind. She thought Buffy was an X5. But Max knew Buffy. Therefore, this was not Max. Fay struck out, slamming a fist into her face, breaking her nose. She grabbed the girl's weapon, stunning her with her own taser, all before any of the other soldiers could react. But following that, the fight resumed. Buffy had caught the same slip as Fay, and did not worry about the X5 on the ground. It was not Max. Soon enough, even with such impossible odds, Fay and Buffy stood surrounded only by only five soldiers.
"You could just run you know." Buffy told them. Fay however, knew that even if they knew they were gonna lose, none of them would risk Lydecker's wrath. The stale mate was broken once again by the sharp sound of clapping. Fay stiffened again, as Lydecker approached.
"Very good! And I thought I was looking for one X5!"
"You are. She's not transgenic. Your guys are just sloppy." Fay quipped, but her voice quavered. Lydecker chuckled. Then ten more soldiers appeared, and just from stance and physique, Fay knew who they were. She swallowed. "She's not one of us, Lydecker, I swear. Let her go." Fay said. Buffy nudged her, furious at the suggestion. Of course she didn't realise the severity of the situation. Lydecker nodded to the newcomers, and they each removed their helmets, to show their faces. Fay had to resist a cringe at each one. They were all X5's, either ones who'd stayed behind, or clones of her brother and sisters, and one… now that was creepy. Buffy saw the girl, and she finally understood the odds. A group of normal guys is one thing… a squad of X5's though? Fay came to a decision. "I'll come without a fight if you just let her go. I swear she's not involved in this."
"No, no, I don't think so. It's not like you have a choice anyway." Lydecker said with a smile.
"If you force a fight, I will let these guys kill me before I give in."
"An' so will I!" Buffy added for effect.
"So what's it gonna be, Deck? One or none?" Fay asked. Buffy was quaking. What if he said she could go? Could she really leave Faith here? But if she could go, she could get the others… they could help. Fay was bored of waiting. Knowing she had barely a second, she moved faster than ever before. By the time anyone knew she'd done anything, Lydecker's own gun was pointed at his head. "I know they can move fast. I know they can disarm me. I also know that before they do, I can pull this trigger, an' you'll be just as dead. Let her go." For a moment, no one knew what to do. The Lydecker said,
"Let the other one leave." Fay nudged Buffy, and she reluctantly sprinted off.
"Just us now." Fay said. Fear over whelming her, Fay failed to notice the X5 behind her. The gun went flying as she fell forwards from the kick. All ten soldiers did their bit, and when the chaos cleared, Fay was kneeling before Lydecker, Her arms held out tight to the sides, her head yanked back by her hair.
"Let's get a look at you then." Lydecker said.
"Wait!" Fay cried. She didn't know what she was gonna say, but she had to delay him somehow. "Don't you wanna figure who I am first? Surely seeing me will take all the fun out of it?" Lydecker thought for a moment.
"Well, today seems different somehow… but still, I think you're Max."
"Wrong!" Cried the figure that landed on one of the soldiers holding Fay, knocking them unconscious. Another figure knocked another soldier down, and yet another fight ensued. It would have worked, too, if it hadn't been for the soldiers already having a grip on Fay. Everything froze when a gun was cocked. The small 'click' sounded deafening, especially to Fay, as it was right by her ear.
"Don't move a muscle." Fay's clone said. She still gripped Fay's hair, and the gun was pressed right to her head. Max (one of the newcomers) didn't dare even twitch. She glanced around at the other transgenics, now that she could see all their faces, her stomach began to churn as she saw the same as Fay had- she knew all these people, or at least felt that she did. It was when she saw the one that looked exactly as she'd imagined Ben would that she nearly lost her balance and ruined everything. He was quite tall, muscular, and very good-looking. Max actually had to resist a groan as she looked him over, and scolded herself for even thinking such things about a guy who looked exactly like her brother. Watching him, Max noticed that his stance was less confident than the others- he was very uncomfortable. He held in both hands a double ended taser which reminded Fay of the newer 'Star Wars' films… but that would be lost on Max, she'd never seen them, she just thought it looked horribly like a cattle prod, and knew just by looking at it that it could take down even a transgenic in no time. What Max really noticed was how he was standing between two of the other remaining soldiers, and kept glancing at either one, then down at the weapon.
"You might as well give in." Lydecker said, "You are out number and badly armed. And at one word, I can have her killed." He nodded at Fay.
"You wouldn't dare." Max growled, "You want us alive."
"I could easily settle for one dead and two alive."
Max grinned,
"Tsk tsk, Deck." She scolded, keeping her voice low and unrecognisable from her usual tone. "Thing is, if you kill her, you wont have anything to bargain with, and you get none of us."
"You can't fight all of us." Lydecker said, "It's 8:3. Nine including me."
"Maybe we should change those odds then." Someone said. It took a while for anyone to work out who, but by the time they did, the guy who looked like Ben had burst into action. He thrust the taser first to one side, then the other, stunning his two flanking soldiers. The confusion gave Fay time to jerk herself out of her clone's grip, dodging the gun, and tripping her. Max and her companion also sprang into the fight once more, knocking down soldiers while they were wondering why their teammate had turned on them. In mere minutes, the odds were shortened to 4:4, Fay knocking her clone out, and Max and her companion flooring one of their opponents. The truth was, however, that the Manticore soldiers were simply too strong. The only reason they hadn't all been caught (other than Ben's twin joining them) was because of using skill, lucky timing and as Max would say, 'fighting dirty' to oppose the strength they knew they couldn't meet- 10 years of Manticore training was bound to make a difference. The four of them now knew that they had to get away, rather than pushing the fight. The agreement was met without a single word, but it was much easier said than done anyway. Several times they attempted to knock their opponents down in order to seize the chance to run, but each time the Manticore soldiers were just too fast. Fay knew she was weakening. The mask made it hard to breath, as well as restricting sight a little, and even with the flattened odds, this was not easy. Lydecker was just standing back, watching. His radio had been smashed near the start of the fight, but he knew he could not leave to get reinforcements in case one of his people got trigger-happy. The few ordinary soldiers who'd been left were long gone. They knew all too well not to get involved once the X5's got going. Fay saw him out of the corner of her eye, and longed to get rid of her current opposition in order to get at Lydecker instead.
Max slammed back to back with her companion, breathing heavily.
"We have to run. It's our only chance." She gasped.
"You tell me when we have time then!" He snapped back.
"Give it up!" Max's soldier yelled.
"Bite me!" she shouted back, and launched herself at her. The girl dodged, and Max hit the wall, cursing. She crumbled on impact, and when she turned, she was looking up the barrel of a gun. Either the soldier didn't hear Lydecker, or she didn't care. Max closed her eyes as she heard the crack of the gun.
Ha ha ha. Please review.