Logan's Penthouse…
When Alicia woke up,
Max and Logan were there already with Bling. They had obviously been called in from a night on the town. Max was drop dead gorgeous in a dark green
cocktail dress, and Logan's suit sure as hell wasn't off the rack. Alicia was still on the couch, and she sat
up carefully. There was a tugging on
her arm, and she noticed an IV.
"You were severely
dehydrated," Logan said when she looked at the IV and then them with one
eyebrow raised in question. "It's just
saline."
"Makes sense," she
said with a shrug. After the last three
days playing hide and seek in the desert, she should be dehydrated. She felt better now though. Her body didn't hurt anymore. Her face felt healed, and the light burn on
her arm was mostly gone.
All four of them sat
there not talking for a moment. Coming
here had seemed like a good idea, but now Alicia was starting to wonder. Maybe she should have just called Max and
then headed somewhere else. Florida
would be nice this time of year. Maybe
even Europe. No, she had to come here
in person. Embarrassing, yes, but
required.
"Zack's?" Max
finally asked. Max had to know for
sure.
"Mine," Alicia
replied firmly. "And no, Zack doesn't
know anything. He doesn't need to."
Max had a few choice
names for Alicia, but she decided to keep them to herself for a bit. Max knew what Zack went through over
Alicia. When he left Seattle, he didn't
say anything, but she knew it was killing him. Now Alicia shows back up pregnant with a kid that isn't his? Was it Cole's? Alicia had acted like they were pretty close. Maybe.
"This doesn't matter
to you anyways," Alicia said firmly, touching her stomach. She wished the baby would move. It made her feel better when he proved he
was still strong and healthy. "It's my
problem. But I had to get to you and
tell you what's going on. It involves
Bryn, and you have to get her out before they do to her what they tried to do
to me." Her eyes met Max's.
"Three days ago I
escaped from a mental institution where I was being kept prisoner. I accidentally initiated stage three, and
they were keeping me there, thinking I would be like our mothers. Complacent. They could do what they wanted, and I'd just let them." Her words were full of the bitterness only
one betrayed could have.
Logan winced as
Max's hand tightened reflexively around his. She'd heard of stage three a thousand times, but nobody ever knew what
it was. She knew Lydecker wanted them
back for stage three, but it had always been clouded in mystery.
"What is stage
three?" Logan asked, mostly to get Max to ease up. She forgot sometimes that she could break his bones without
trying.
"Did you ever
noticed there's no active X-1, 2 or 4, around Manticore?" she asked Max. "There were some X-3, but nothing else."
Max thought about
it. She knew some of the guards were
X-3, but Alicia was right. There was
nothing below that. Well, there were
the 'nommilies, but none that were useful. Who cared about early Manticore? She wanted to choke the information about Bryn out of Alicia, but she
had to be patient. Patience was not her
best quality. "I never thought about
it, but no, never saw any."
"That's because
they're all dead," Alicia said. "Except
for a few kept for research and observation." She'd learned all this from pieces she'd gathered over the last few
years, but it never came together until she found out she was pregnant. "The X-1 group never even managed to get
born. The doctor's learned that you can
only tinker with genes so much before the embryo self-destructs. X-2 had several live births, but they were
so severely deformed and retarded that the group was terminated. Some were kept alive, but they were…well,
you've been in the pits, you know what I'm talking about." The pits was the basement areas where the 'nommilies
were kept. Alicia noted Max and Logan's
look of horror at the thought of killing babies. Even if this baby had problems, she wouldn't terminate it. Funny how you could be willing to keep
something flawed just because you created it. Explained a lot about Lydecker.
"The X-3 group was
better. They went way back on the
genetic engineering and got a group to be born live. Within two years they showed enough promise to get more funding
for Manticore to take it to stage two. X-3 wasn't all they wanted a Manticore solider to be. They had maxed out what they could do with
plain human DNA, and now it was time to add animal."
"The X-4 group was a
flop. They had tails and whiskers and
fur and constant seizures. They were
terminated, the mistakes corrected, and then X-5 was born." She paused for a moment, thinking of how to
continue. "X-5 was exactly what they
wanted but for the seizures. X-6 was
much better with seizures, but not as perfect physically. But we still aren't the solider Manticore
was supposed to create."
This is what she'd
learned since her pregnancy. Stage
three. "Stage one," she said, was to make a super human. Stage two was to add animal DNA to the mix,
and create a solider with better than the best human abilities. Stage three is what the doctors tried to do
with the X-1 group. They did too much,
and it destroyed the embryos."
"The perfect solider
would have both physical and mental abilities beyond human. The doctors got the physical down, but doing
both was too much. But, what if the
embryo, by nature, is genetically enhanced because both of his parents are? Then you do what you want to it genetically,
and behold, the stage three solider."
"What do you mean
mental abilities?" Max asked, thinking about her own. She had a photographic memory, and would probably be a genius if
her IQ were tested. They all would.
"Telepathy,
telekinesis, any ESP ability really," Alicia replied. "Think about it. You send
an assassin who can read his target's mind. There's no way the target can hide. Add our physical abilities, and there's no way to stop an assassin like
that. How about the solider that can
put things behind enemy lines without leaving command? That's the perfect weapon, and that's what
Manticore is supposed to create."
Both Logan and Max
stared in horror, as they thought of the possibilities for a stage three
solider. It would be unstoppable. How do you fight something that knows every
move you're going to make before you do? Why use a bomb timer when you can just detonate it mentally from a safe
distance? The possibilities were
endless. No wonder Lydecker practically
salivated thinking about stage three.
"What are they doing
to Bryn?" Max asked. She had an idea of
what was coming, but needed to know for sure.
"I think at some
point they tried to initiate stage three," Alicia said. "Only three X-6 females made it to maturity,
but there were several that passed puberty. I think they used their ova. Their seizures were getting so bad nothing would stop them, and I guess
the director didn't want anything to go to waste." The hatred in her face was obvious.
"A norm female
cannot carry a stage three child. I
think that's what they discovered. I
mean, a regular baby can dislocate its mother's rib. Can you imagine what the product of two genetically engineered
parents could do to its mother's insides? As of now, there are only two X-6 females left. We were both useful. Bryn isn't."
"Oh my God," Max
whispered.
"I found out right
before I was incarcerated that they were going to force an in vitro pregnancy
on Bryn. They could probably get eight
or nine babies. It'll probably kill her,
but they don't mind losing her. She's
not cooperating with them anyways in being re-indoctrinated."
Alicia's eyes filled
with tears. Pregnancy was making her
extremely emotional. "My baby was going
to be the control. What happens with no
further engineering? At least that's
what I was told. Six weeks ago they put
me in an institution. They tried to
make me take drugs. I think they were
to alter my baby." She snorted
disdainfully. "Idiots actually thought
I was taking them. Stupid norms."
She looked up at
Logan and Bling. "No offense, but norms
do not know how to handle us."
"Have they already
done it to her?" Max asked, her voice harsh. Logan could see the light of battle in her eyes already. It was going to take everything to get her
calmed enough to think this through before she was charging into Manticore.
"I don't know. They were planning it when I was taken
away." She looked at Max, her eyes
pleading for belief. "I would have
stopped it, Max. I would never have let
it happen to her if I hadn't been put away."
Max was on her
feet. "Where's Bryn now?" she asked,
ready to go right at that moment.
"An old Air Force
base in the Salt Lake Valley," Alicia replied. "That's where all the medical equipment was taken when Gillette was
closed."
"Gotta blaze," Max
said. Logan grabbed her arm before she
could leave.
"You are not running
out like this," he said firmly. "Nothing has been checked out yet. You don't even know where this base is, or even if Bryn is still alive."
Alicia was on her
feet, albeit more slowly than Max or Logan. "He's actually half-right for once," she said. She had caught the insult towards herself, but ignored it for
now. "You can't go after her
alone. I can tell you how to get on and
off the base, but you're going to need help."
"Max," Logan
hissed. "You're just going to trust
her?"
"My sister could be
dying!" Max shouted. "I'm not going to
let that happen!"
"She's using this
pregnancy thing to scare you!" Logan shouted back. "It could be a trap."
"Logan," Alicia said
quietly, with a deadly calmness. She
had a very sweet smile on her face. "Did you ever fix the wall from the last time you accused me of
something similar? I wasn't lying then,
was I?" Even pregnant she could flip
him into a wall again. As a matter of
fact it might be fun.
"You just said
you're carrying around the start of stage three, and they just let you walk out
of Manticore?" he retorted hotly.
"It wasn't
Manticore, and for your information I drove out of there," she replied. "If Dad had been keeping me, I would have
never gotten out."
"And nobody tried to
find you?" Logan asked, still angry with her. A few words, and Max was ready to run out the door.
"Of course they
tried to get me!" Now she sounded disgusted. "They went right by the book. Except I wrote the book they're using. I should be offended I suppose. The director actually thought norms could catch me."
"So you left just
like that," Logan said snapping his fingers.
"Not just like
that. I never said it was easy. I nearly got killed a couple of times, but I
got away." She looked at Max.
"You're going to
need help," she repeated. "I'll give
you what you need before I leave. The
rest is up to you. If you'll excuse me
for a moment, I need to use the bathroom." She disconnected the IV drip, and made her way to the bathroom. She really did have to go. The bigger she got, it seemed every five
minutes she had to go.
"At least let me
check it out," Logan pleaded. "I can
find out if there was an escape from an asylum. They'll have broadcasted her picture in the area."
Max wavered. She wanted to go right away, but she had no
clue where Bryn was or how to get her. But she was going. She really
didn't care that Alicia had run around on Zack. She just wanted Bryn back. "I'm going to call Zack," she said finally. Before he left, he'd finally given her his contact number. She dialed, and left a message telling him
she knew where Bryn was and they were doing something to her that might kill
her, and hung up. "Zack will probably
be here soon," she said. "Within a day
or two at most," she continued.
Alicia had come out
of the bathroom as Max said that. She
wanted to see him. But he couldn't see
her. If he knew what had happened…no,
she wasn't going to ruin everything good that had ever happened to her. He couldn't know about the baby. It would just be too much for him to deal
with.
"Good," she
said. "You two should be able to do
it. Let me give you what I can before
he gets here."
"You don't want to
see him?" Max said. Ha! It wasn't Zack's. If it were, she'd want him to know.
"That's irrelevant,"
she said. A sudden dizziness over came
her, and she grabbed a chair for support. She knew she needed to get somewhere stable for a while so she could
rest. The last couple of months had
been flat out grueling. The last thing
she wanted was to hurt her baby.
An arm came around
her shoulder. Bling. He helped her sit down. She was glad she hadn't eaten in a while. She'd just throw it up. Lately, she was throwing up everything
again. Maybe it was just stress. Not like she'd had any of that in her life
recently. She didn't realize that her
arms were wrapped around her stomach. She didn't look like the battle-hardened solider they remembered. She looked like a scared kid.
"Logan," she said a
little unsteadily, "I'm sure you can get the plans for the base. I'll map out what I can for Max, and answer
whatever questions she has, and I'll get out of your way."
Logan glanced up at
Bling still standing behind Alicia. He
gave a small shake of his head in the negative. She shouldn't be running around. Whatever the truth really was, she had just come through a bad time.
"It'll take some
time," Logan said smoothly. "I'll have
it in the morning," he added, ignoring Max's stomp on his foot. She was ready to go now.
"That should be OK,"
Alicia replied. It wasn't, but she'd
finish what she started. She started to
stand, but immediately sat back down again. Her head was swimming.
Max got the hint. "You just hang here till Logan gets the 411," she said. Alicia started to object, but Max easily overrode her. "'Sides, it gives him another excuse to whip up a Cale culinary masterpiece."