Drop-off Point
Zack stared at me like he couldn't believe what he had just heard. Not that surprising. I couldn't believe I had said it.
"What did you say?" Zack managed after a very, very long pause.
I just shook my head, not sure that I could repeat myself, not wanting to anyway. He had heard me, he knew what I meant.
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Zack asked suspiciously.
I sighed. God, he could be annoying.
"You got a response or not?"
Zack looked down at the ground and it suddenly occurred to me that he couldn't respond. He didn't know how. The pained expression on his face was enough to make me change the subject for him.
"Zack, you can't let me hurt you." I said suddenly.
He almost smiled in gratitude before coming back with another sarcastic remark. Was sarcasm in the genes, too?
"I really wasn't planning on it."
"I'm serious. You'll pull your punches because you don't want to hurt me. But I won't be doing that. And I will hurt you. I don't want to do that. You can't let me execute that command, Zack." I insisted.
He knew I was right. He had to. The look on his face said as much. But knowing I was right and agreeing to do as I said were two different things entirely.
"Zack..." I began again, determined to make him see my point and agree with me.
If he couldn't talk to me about love then he damn well was going to listen to me about this.
"Cade." he cut me off, "Just don't think. Ty can do this. It's a simple mission for her. A ransom assignment; enter enemy territory, drop off the exchange, get out. Plus, she has two X-5's guarding her back."
He took a deep breath and looked at me in that strange way again.
"It's...it's not often that I let myself forget that I'm the commanding officer. But just this once...I want to. I just want to be here. With you." Zack said.
From the way he said it, the words seemed to be strange ones to him. He'd never let his guard down before. He'd never let himself have a moment completely free from his duties to the other X-5's. Yet he was willing to do something like that for me. I couldn't tell him no. I couldn't snap at him and send more sarcastic remarks in his direction. I couldn't make that cold, hard look come back on his face. This was all that I had been looking for in a response, all that I had needed.
So, I nodded. And Zack smiled. A real, all-out smile. God, he should do that more often! Either that, or file it away in the secret weapon section.
I couldn't live with myself if I executed that command.
"Zack. Just tell me, how much time do we have left?" I asked gently, not wanting to break the moment.
I had anyway. The smile was gone now.
"11 minutes." Zack said.
So little time.
"Zack." I said suddenly, realizing my answer, "Before time runs out, I need you to do me a favor."
I could tell he didn't like the grim look on my face, the sound in my voice.
"What?" he asked cautiously.
"Zack, I need you to kill me."
"What?! No!" Zack cried.
"Please, Zack. Promise me you will kill me before I kill you. I couldn't live with the fact that I killed you." I insisted.
"And you think I could live with the fact that I killed you?" Zack demanded angrily, jumping to his feet.
I could only look at him pleadingly.
"No!" Zack hissed harshly, "I will never promise you that."
I felt my eyes start to well up again. Some soldier I was turning out to be in the face of all these emotions.
Zack, of course, saw this and sat down on the floor again. He slowly, almost hesitantly reached out his arms to me and I immediately fell into that hug, slipping my arms around his back inside his leather jacket, resting my head against his chest.
"Neither of us is going to die here because of that bitch." Zack whispered with conviction, "I will not allow it to happen."
I could only keep thinking of all the ways that he would have to allow it to happen if he wouldn't kill me. And all I could do was cry harder, feeling my whole body shake with the force of it.
Zack felt it, too.
"Shhh. It's okay." he whispered even softer, his voice surprisingly gentle, "Everything will be okay, Cade."
I slowly stopped crying, but I didn't move from Zack's arms. Why would I? The comfort I was feeling was something they didn't teach at Manticore and yet I felt like I couldn't have survived this without it.
"Go to hell, Manticore." I breathed, feeling firmly separated from it for the first time.
***
I ordered a halt in the cover of the trees. I pulled the gag and the blindfold off of Renfro, bracing myself to hear her annoying voice again.
"Base, connect to Zack. Copy that, base?" I said.
"Copy that." Lydecker replied.
I waited. There was a soft click that alerted me to a change.
"Zack?" I asked.
"I read you, Ty." Zack replied.
"Get Cade on the line." I said.
I didn't wait for a reply, but pulled off my earpiece and shoved it in Renfro's face.
"Deactivate the command." I growled at her.
"What guarantee do I have that you won't kill me once I give it?" Renfro replied.
I felt my jaw clench and my hands curl into fists.
"We don't have time for this." Syl pressed.
"You have my word." I spat, feeling disgusted that I was saying such a thing to Renfro.
She had to know I would never go back on my word. Still, she wasn't talking.
Krit had the knife at her throat again.
"Deactivate it!" he said angrily.
Slowly, she spoke, "SP-452/493, deactivate Command: Starfire."
I yanked the earpiece back up to my ear.
"Deactivate." I heard Cade's voice in the same dull tone she had used when the command had been activated.
I sighed with relief.
"Let's get out of here." I said.
Krit shoved Renfro away and we all turned and headed towards the perimeter. We hadn't gotten 30 feet when we ran into trouble.
"Halt! Surrender and you won't be shot!"
It was Brin. And a contingent of soldiers.
"X5-734, send one of your men to mobilize the X-7's!" Renfro shouted from behind us.
I could see Krit was going to send his knife flying to embed itself somewhere in Renfro. I stopped him, but not before twenty guns were cocked and ready to fire on us. I wouldn't go back on my word.
I watched carefully as Brin sent a soldier running back to the compound. Damn it!
Slowly, I raised my hands over my head. I could feel everyone's eyes move to me with that movement.
"Evasive, now!" I yelled and flew at Brin.
Krit and Syl both reacted instantly. The slow reflexes of the normal soldiers kicked in a moment later and shots started being fired. I could only hope a stray bullet would find its way to Renfro.
Brin wasn't as caught off guard by my move as I could have hoped. She side-stepped my lunge and moved to smash the hilt of her assault rifle into my back
Brin was fast, but not as fast as I could be. I could take her, I knew it.
I blocked almost all of Brin's attacks. She did score on me, but not as much as I scored on her.
Brin backed off suddenly. My eyes snapped back and forth, quickly taking in the scene. We were surrounded by the soldiers that were still standing. Krit and Syl had done their best to disable and disarm, which was a good thing.
"Escape and evade." I said.
"I hate guns." Syl commented as some of the soldiers began to find weapons.
"Me, too." Krit replied, promptly pulling out a gun and firing.
Syl and I both dropped. Krit managed to take out the few soldiers that had already recovered weapons. As soon as Krit stopped firing, Syl and I sprang back into action.
"I didn't know you were packing." Syl said as she fought, as if this was a casual sparring session now that all the fighting was hand-to-hand.
"Bad habit, what can I say?" Krit answered in the same attitude.
"But guns are so impersonal." Syl said as she kicked a soldier in the temple, "Nothing says 'I hate you and I'm going to destroy you' like explosives."
"I'll keep that in mind next time I argue with you." Krit agreed.
A strange noise came out of Krit as he delivered a final blow to his opponent. Syl and I both looked at him strangely after knocking our own opponents unconscious.
"What was that?" I asked.
"A very manly battle-squeak. Can we get on with this, please?" Krit said quickly.
I looked around. Brin and Renfro had disappeared. Everyone else was lying around either too injured to move, unconscious or dead.
"Very manly." Syl agreed as we headed quickly away from the scene of the fight.
"Very, very manly." I seconded.
Krit just rolled his eyes and gave us an exasperated look. Despite our attitudes, we were running hard for the perimeter fence. We knew better than to wait around for the X-7's.
"I wish we could've gotten Brin out." Syl said quietly as the fence drew nearer.
"Another day, sis." Krit said, serious for once.
I think all of our hearts leapt when we saw
***
I had been out of it for a second and I couldn't remember what the hell had happened. That scared me. I looked up at Zack and the smile spreading across his face reassured me. It was over. Ty had done it! I owed Ty one. I actually even liked her for the time being. She had come through, after all.
Zack's arms tightened around me and I returned the pressure, feeling a smile come onto my own face. And then I was pulling pack so I could look at Zack again and he was leaning in to kiss me. It was a deep, sweet kiss that left me staring at Zack, wide-eyed, when he pulled away. Zack laughed at the expression on my face and I shoved him, playfully.
"Don't you dare say 'I told you so'." I warned, but ruining what was supposed to be a mock-threatening gesture with the smile that was still on my face.
"Wouldn't dream of it." Zack replied.
His hand touched my face and I rubbed my cheek against his palm, liking the way it felt, feeling almost like a kitten. I heard Zack exhale sharply and glanced up at him.
"Zack!"
Both of us must have jumped two feet straight up. X5-452, Max, was back.
Zack was almost instantly back on his feet, a good six feet between us. Max was staring from him to me and back again with an astonished look on her face. The man I'd heard called Logan was behind her, a grin on his face.
"Where have you been?" Zack demanded quickly.
Now Max looked away, blushing.
"Out." she said vaguely.
Zack frowned. I noted with slight interest that Max had Logan's scent all over her. Almost as if they had...well, that would explain why she had been gone for so long.
"Where is everyone?" Logan asked, breaking the almost visible tension in the room.
"Ty led a mission to Manticore." Zack said, almost as vague as Max had been.
"What?!" Logan and Max both demanded.
I smiled at that. They had missed quite a bit while they were away, preoccupied with other things.
"Renfro activated a subliminal message that made me try to kill Zack. Ty took her back to Manticore in exchange for her deactivating that command. Krit, Syl, and Lydecker went with her." I explained, knowing Zack wasn't one for detailed explanations.
"I can't leave you guys alone for five minutes!" Max quipped.
"It was a bit more than five minutes, Max." Zack replied, glaring past her at Logan.
Max blushed again. I think, Logan might even have been blushing.
"Just a joke, Zack." Max muttered.
There was silence again. It was so thick you could cut it with a knife.
"So." I said finally.
"Yeah." Logan agreed.
"Uh huh." Max supplied.
Zack just grunted, practically radiating disapproval towards Max and Logan. We lapsed back into an even more uncomfortable silence.
"Well, this is fun." Logan said sarcastically, a trace grin on his face.
Zack rolled his eyes and turned his back on Max and Logan and headed outside. I followed him.
"I can't believe she did that!" Zack growled.
"It's none of our business." I said.
I was starting to feel betrayed. A few minutes ago he had just wanted to be in this place, with me. Now all he seemed to care about was what Max and Logan had done.
"What does she possibly see in him? You don't see anything in him do you?" Zack continued angrily.
I doubted he really expected me to answer that.
"I told her time and again that he was going to get her killed. She's tied to this place, to him. She'll never leave now." Zack fumed.
"Why do you care?" I said, some of the anger I was starting to feel towards him coming through in my voice despite my efforts.
"She's Max. Of course, I care. I will always care about Max." Zack said absently without even looking at me.
For all his talk about how he would never kill me, that's exactly what he was doing now.
I was starting to feel a lot of things now and none of them were pleasant. I was starting to want to kill Zack. Or kill Max. But I knew I wouldn't. Maybe I would just beat Zack into a bloody pulp. That sounded like a good idea.
"I can never be Max." I said, not even realizing I had said it out loud until Zack whipped around to stare at me.
Emotions seemed to war on Zack's face until he finally settled into a sad, apologetic expression.
"Cade, I didn't mean..." he began.
"Just shut up, Zack." I snapped.
I turned away from him, not able to bear looking at him anymore. I heard his footsteps moving towards me and I quickly stomped away from him. His motorcycle was nearby, I could steal it and take off. He deserved to have his motorcycle stolen.
"Cade, don't go." he said quietly.
"Leave me alone, Zack. I don't want to talk to you anymore." I said coldly.
"Don't leave me. That's an order."
I whirled around to stare at him.
"After what you just said do you really think your orders mean a damn thing to me?"
"Cade, please." he said softly.
He looked up at me and I made the mistake of looking into his eyes. His blue eyes
"What?" I asked finally.
"I used to feel things for Max. I admit that. But I...I love you now."
That wasn't fair. He couldn't just throw that out and think that he could use it to keep me with him. How could I know he really meant that? How could I know that he still didn't love Max?
"You can't..." I began.
I stopped abruptly when I heard the sound of a car approaching quickly. I jerked my head to the side to see the van pull up. Ty, Krit, Syl and Lydecker were back.
I was in such a good mood as we drove back to base that I actually participated in Krit and Syl's pointless conversations.
"Ten bucks says Cade and Zack leave Seattle together." Krit said.
"What is it with you and gambling?" Syl replied. With a straight face and serious tone she continued, "Krit. You have a problem."
"Yeah, my problem is I haven't had a job in like a month and I have zero cash flow. Now is it a bet or not?" Krit asked.
"You think she's going to take your bet now that she knows you can't pay up?" I asked.
Krit stuck his tongue out at me.
"No more Zack and Cade bets." Syl declared, "I bet...I bet that Ty could
I shot a look at Syl. She grinned mischievously.
"You're not willing to race me, Syl?" Krit prodded.
"No challenge. I already know I can beat you. I bet Ty can, too." Syl replied.
"You are pretty tall. That would mean more air resistance. She's probably right." I agreed, getting into this bet.
Yet another excuse for me to "borrow" Zack's motorcycle.
"Oh, you are so on." Krit said, unable to back down from the challenge.
As we approached base, I moved to look out the windows, scanning to see if Zack's motorcycle was there. We could track down Max's and then we could race. I was actually looking forward to it.
Zack and Cade stood outside the building near Zack's motorcycle. Cade didn't look too happy at all. And Zack...well, Zack almost looked like he was trying to apologize. Maybe I was imagining things.
Lydecker stopped the van and we got out. None of us ever spoke a word to Lydecker. I think we were all more comfortable pretending he didn't exist. If we acknowledged his presence, then we'd be tempted to get rid of it. And that would mean having to try and think of reasons not to. And that would take just too much effort.
Cade was staring at us. I couldn't tell if she was angry at us for interrupting whatever conversation she had been having with Zack or thankful for the same reasons. Maybe both.
Zack slowly turned to me, his eyes reluctant to leave Cade. He allowed me to give him a hug and even managed to find a small smile for me.
"Good work, Ty." he said.
I nodded thankfully.
"Zack, would you mind if we borrowed your motorcycle?"
"Go ahead."
Something must be wrong. That was way too easy.
"Is everything alright?" I asked, looking from him to Cade and back.
"Fine." he said shortly, his tone indicating that any further questions were more than unwelcome.
I gave a small shrug and went to retrieve the motorcycle. It was obvious that we were all giving Zack and Cade a wide berth. The air practically vibrated with tension. Even Krit and Syl looked uncomfortable.
And that's when Max and Logan made an appearance. I hadn't noticed that Logan's car was here. I began to wonder where they had been, but the smells coming from them made that all too obvious. Sometimes it can be a little embarrassing to have enhanced senses.
Now everyone was outside, staring at Zack and Cade, but pretending not to. I gripped the handlebars of the motorcycle and moved to wheel it away.
"No!" Cade said suddenly, making me freeze.
"No one leaves! Everyone's here now. If you meant what you said, Zack, you'll say it now in front of them. In front of her." Cade said.
What the hell had Zack said?
"Don't do this, Cade." Zack said.
"If you meant it, you'll prove it." she insisted.
We were all pretty confused, but it didn't matter to Zack or Cade. If they're conversation didn't concern our presence I would say they weren't even aware we were there.
"Prove it." Cade repeated, softer, almost as if she was pleading with him to do so.
Zack slowly stepped closer to her. They were very close together when he stopped and looked down at her. She, in turn, stared up at him, waiting for his next move. The rest of us were still frozen where we stood. I felt like I shouldn't be watching this, but I couldn't turn away.
Zack cradled her face with his hands and slowly leaned down to kiss her. We all found something remarkably interesting to study somewhere, anywhere, else. I found a particularly interesting patch of ground near my feet. That kiss had been very passionate and full of emotion and it felt wrong to be here while they were doing that.
When I looked up again, they had separated
"I believe you." she whispered softly and reinitiated the kiss.
I could sense movement and knew that the others were all slowly edging away. I decided that they were right, this would be the time to make an exit, and slowly wheeled the motorcycle backwards. After all, I still had a bet to win. Even if I was starting to think that Krit would win that twenty from Syl in regards to Cade and Zack getting together before we left Seattle.
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