Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, the 'King of the World' guy does. If I did, I'd be very happily working on the next season and wouldn't be going insane with wait.
Please R/R -- it means a lot to me!
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THE HUNT
Chapter Nine
Traps and Pizza
"Explain to me, once again, why it wasn't successful." Renfro sighed as she sat down at her desk and rubbed her temples. It had been an exceptionally long day, filled with failure and loss.
"Well, Ma'am," The doctor began as he played with a pen he was holding to keep eyes contact off of her. "First of all, he showed high resistance and we..." He paused, waiting for the dragon to bite.
"You ... what?" Renfro asked slowly as her gaze moved from the shining black top of her desk to the doctor's eyes. He was shifting and averting contact with her, an obvious sign of a hidden detail that he didn't ever plan to reveal.
"We didn't give him the dosage we would normally give an X5 before you started the psychoactives, Ma'am." His head bowed to the ground and he studied his feet. This was the worst day of his life. He saves a poor guy from dying and practically ends up in his place. The first chance he got, he was high tailing it out of that place.
"What!?" She nearly screamed making the doctor wince away. She stood up from her desk in fury and approached the doctor. He was a few inches taller than her, but still cowered like a dog. That made her feel a little better.
"Ma'am," He began as he recovered some of his shattered pride. "If we would've given him the full amount, it would have killed him. We thought--"
"I didn't hire you to think!" She shouted in his face as she cut him off mid-sentence. "I hired you to do the work I order you to do!" She retorted before moving back behind her desk. When she did continue after a long silence, it was through clenched teeth. "The fate of Manticore rests in the lives of those remaining X5s that escaped in '09. Without X5-599, we don't have anyone but Mr. Cale to fill us in on those details."
"I understand that Ma'am, but--"
"But nothing!" She yelled, completely irritated by his lack of concern for Manticore and his wavering loyalty to her. Renfro was all ready planning on sending him out on the next 'training' game for the X7s as the prey. A wisp of a smile penetrated her mouth as her thoughts shifted over to the plan of his demise. When she finally snapped back to reality, her temper began to boil again. "I don't care if it DOES kill him, we are going to proceed with the psychoactives again. I have to know what he knows. He is not valuable to us otherwise."
She dismissed him with a simple hand wave and was planning on the next phase of psychoactives for the morning. He was only human, she had to remind herself, not one of her X series. As she thought back to her recent conversation with the dense doctor, an idea dawned on her. She immediately began sorting through her files until she pulled out one that Lydecker had filled out, not too long ago.
She flipped through the pages until she found what she was looking for. A smile of triumph flooded her face and made her laugh. She had what she needed to get back X5-452 without Cale spilling anything to her. Of course, she would still use psychoactives on him later on to reveal the other X5s, but this was the one she wanted most. It was the X5 that had escaped her grasp more than once and she wanted nothing than to bring her back to Manticore.
Renfro sat down in her chair and leaned back. Being so intrigued and happy with her sudden plan, she couldn't help but read aloud. "The infamous 'Eyes Only' has led Manticore to believe that he is protecting the X5s, namely X5-452. The dialogue between 'Eyes Only' and one Colonel Lydecker in the previous months showed signs of infatuation between the two." There was more, but it was dribble and she didn't waste her time to continue.
She finished reading and shut the portfolio. Eyes Only was Cale, and X5-452 was 'Max'. There was something deep going on between them and that's what she'd use to get her X5 back. Now and forever.
"I've got you now, my X5. I thought we taught you better than to get yourself involved with someone. It can make you weak, and ... vulnerable." She paused and put her hands behind her head as she leaned back in her chair. Renfro sighed. "Perfect."
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"All right, so what do we have?" Max asked as she scarfed a slice of pizza down. She handed the box to Syl, who sat comfortably in the front seat of the car, and she took a piece. She then passed the box to Krit who was scouting out the land before them with some infrared binoculars.
"There are a few guards posted, nothing we can't handle." He said with a smile. "Since Logan's temporarily busy at the moment, we don't have any lead on the inside security. I never thought I'd say this, but it's a shame Lydecker's not here."
"Don't ever say that." Max snapped instantly. Both Syl and Krit looked back to her in awe. She was the one that was favoring him out of all of them to start with. "I still think that he 'forgot' to tell us about the X7s on purpose." Both her siblings nodded at the thought, it was possible. Lydecker never wanted to see an end to Manticore, it was his life's work. He claimed that he wanted to do it to stop Renfro, but there was a tinge of false claim in his words.
"Anyway," Krit continued after a moment of hushed silence. He took a bit of pizza and swallowed. "We shouldn't have too much trouble if we can find both of them and get out before were detected."
"We need to get into the mainframe of the security cameras." Syl said, noting on their detection without doing so. Krit and Max nodded simultaneously. Before Krit was going to ask who would do it, Syl answered. "I can do it, I watched Logan do it the last time." Krit looked at her with some doubtfulness and then she added, "Piece of cake." She shrugged. Syl knew it wouldn't settle Krit's nerves, but he had to trust her.
"All right. Then Syl, you take out security, while Krit, you find Logan and Bling." Max said as she crunched up the empty pizza box before tossing it into the woods.
"Then, Max ... where are you going?" Krit asked as he and Syl exchanged worried glances.
"I'm going after the bitch that killed Tinga." She said with venom practically pouring from her mouth. "If you thought Lydecker was obsessed with his passion to catch us, you don't have any idea about this psycho. She wants us all in cages and under the microscope until we stop breathing for good. And not because we're her 'kids' but because we're the only thing keeping Manticore alive and kicking." Syl and Krit looked down for a moment, neither wanting to think about the reality of what would happen if they ever did get caught, even though it constantly loomed in their minds.
"Let's do it." Syl took a deep breath and smiled at her siblings.
"Last time, it was for Tinga," Max started solemnly. "This time, it's for Zack."
Please R/R -- it means a lot to me!
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THE HUNT
Chapter Nine
Traps and Pizza
"Explain to me, once again, why it wasn't successful." Renfro sighed as she sat down at her desk and rubbed her temples. It had been an exceptionally long day, filled with failure and loss.
"Well, Ma'am," The doctor began as he played with a pen he was holding to keep eyes contact off of her. "First of all, he showed high resistance and we..." He paused, waiting for the dragon to bite.
"You ... what?" Renfro asked slowly as her gaze moved from the shining black top of her desk to the doctor's eyes. He was shifting and averting contact with her, an obvious sign of a hidden detail that he didn't ever plan to reveal.
"We didn't give him the dosage we would normally give an X5 before you started the psychoactives, Ma'am." His head bowed to the ground and he studied his feet. This was the worst day of his life. He saves a poor guy from dying and practically ends up in his place. The first chance he got, he was high tailing it out of that place.
"What!?" She nearly screamed making the doctor wince away. She stood up from her desk in fury and approached the doctor. He was a few inches taller than her, but still cowered like a dog. That made her feel a little better.
"Ma'am," He began as he recovered some of his shattered pride. "If we would've given him the full amount, it would have killed him. We thought--"
"I didn't hire you to think!" She shouted in his face as she cut him off mid-sentence. "I hired you to do the work I order you to do!" She retorted before moving back behind her desk. When she did continue after a long silence, it was through clenched teeth. "The fate of Manticore rests in the lives of those remaining X5s that escaped in '09. Without X5-599, we don't have anyone but Mr. Cale to fill us in on those details."
"I understand that Ma'am, but--"
"But nothing!" She yelled, completely irritated by his lack of concern for Manticore and his wavering loyalty to her. Renfro was all ready planning on sending him out on the next 'training' game for the X7s as the prey. A wisp of a smile penetrated her mouth as her thoughts shifted over to the plan of his demise. When she finally snapped back to reality, her temper began to boil again. "I don't care if it DOES kill him, we are going to proceed with the psychoactives again. I have to know what he knows. He is not valuable to us otherwise."
She dismissed him with a simple hand wave and was planning on the next phase of psychoactives for the morning. He was only human, she had to remind herself, not one of her X series. As she thought back to her recent conversation with the dense doctor, an idea dawned on her. She immediately began sorting through her files until she pulled out one that Lydecker had filled out, not too long ago.
She flipped through the pages until she found what she was looking for. A smile of triumph flooded her face and made her laugh. She had what she needed to get back X5-452 without Cale spilling anything to her. Of course, she would still use psychoactives on him later on to reveal the other X5s, but this was the one she wanted most. It was the X5 that had escaped her grasp more than once and she wanted nothing than to bring her back to Manticore.
Renfro sat down in her chair and leaned back. Being so intrigued and happy with her sudden plan, she couldn't help but read aloud. "The infamous 'Eyes Only' has led Manticore to believe that he is protecting the X5s, namely X5-452. The dialogue between 'Eyes Only' and one Colonel Lydecker in the previous months showed signs of infatuation between the two." There was more, but it was dribble and she didn't waste her time to continue.
She finished reading and shut the portfolio. Eyes Only was Cale, and X5-452 was 'Max'. There was something deep going on between them and that's what she'd use to get her X5 back. Now and forever.
"I've got you now, my X5. I thought we taught you better than to get yourself involved with someone. It can make you weak, and ... vulnerable." She paused and put her hands behind her head as she leaned back in her chair. Renfro sighed. "Perfect."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"All right, so what do we have?" Max asked as she scarfed a slice of pizza down. She handed the box to Syl, who sat comfortably in the front seat of the car, and she took a piece. She then passed the box to Krit who was scouting out the land before them with some infrared binoculars.
"There are a few guards posted, nothing we can't handle." He said with a smile. "Since Logan's temporarily busy at the moment, we don't have any lead on the inside security. I never thought I'd say this, but it's a shame Lydecker's not here."
"Don't ever say that." Max snapped instantly. Both Syl and Krit looked back to her in awe. She was the one that was favoring him out of all of them to start with. "I still think that he 'forgot' to tell us about the X7s on purpose." Both her siblings nodded at the thought, it was possible. Lydecker never wanted to see an end to Manticore, it was his life's work. He claimed that he wanted to do it to stop Renfro, but there was a tinge of false claim in his words.
"Anyway," Krit continued after a moment of hushed silence. He took a bit of pizza and swallowed. "We shouldn't have too much trouble if we can find both of them and get out before were detected."
"We need to get into the mainframe of the security cameras." Syl said, noting on their detection without doing so. Krit and Max nodded simultaneously. Before Krit was going to ask who would do it, Syl answered. "I can do it, I watched Logan do it the last time." Krit looked at her with some doubtfulness and then she added, "Piece of cake." She shrugged. Syl knew it wouldn't settle Krit's nerves, but he had to trust her.
"All right. Then Syl, you take out security, while Krit, you find Logan and Bling." Max said as she crunched up the empty pizza box before tossing it into the woods.
"Then, Max ... where are you going?" Krit asked as he and Syl exchanged worried glances.
"I'm going after the bitch that killed Tinga." She said with venom practically pouring from her mouth. "If you thought Lydecker was obsessed with his passion to catch us, you don't have any idea about this psycho. She wants us all in cages and under the microscope until we stop breathing for good. And not because we're her 'kids' but because we're the only thing keeping Manticore alive and kicking." Syl and Krit looked down for a moment, neither wanting to think about the reality of what would happen if they ever did get caught, even though it constantly loomed in their minds.
"Let's do it." Syl took a deep breath and smiled at her siblings.
"Last time, it was for Tinga," Max started solemnly. "This time, it's for Zack."