…"He's coming around"
Logan opened his eyes; a sick feeling washed around his head and his vision was blurry. Pains came from every part of his body, and he couldn't move. Logan blinked rapidly, and looked up at a woman with blonde hair looking over him. There was an older man there…Logan recognised him. There was a feeling of anger deep down inside, and as Logan felt some sort of strength returning to her upper body he pulled his arms up from the restraints and made toward the familiar face. He remembered this person…but as he started to rise a needle was pressed into his shoulder and he fell back onto the bed with the words of the blonde woman in his ears…
…"Place him back in the chair and restart the last stages of the reprogramming"…
"Jace came up with a plan a year ago, but Manticore was at my throat again. You may be aware of the attack that lead to Logan's capture…it was a clever plan to lure in one of the two escapees"
"And we fell for it…" Max muttered.
"Don't blame yourself, Max. Cindy played mind games with me, coxed me into the town by scaring me stupid with dead threats. So she attacked me…setting up a man to take a photo and sell it to each mainstream newspaper in the area. You picked up what looked to be a story of a strange attacker who then fled the scene…and they waited for you. I was lucky to escape alive.
So we delayed the plan…this meeting was met to finalise arrangements now"
"Tinga, tell me straight. What is the plan?"
"I have a friend who deals in stolen firearms and heavy-duty bombs on Seattle's black market. Thanks to him we have enough power to destroy an entire town in one swoop. I made it clear to Jace that I wouldn't be a part of a mission where hundreds would die…but she didn't listen…"
Max reached over to place her hand on Tinga's. Tinga looked at Max briefly and sighed.
"Jace plans to take Manticore down, no holds barred. Once the original SMS are out…she plans to destroy the whole base…the other kids included"
Max stared at Tinga…words failed her as Tinga stopped again by Jace's car Max had borrowed to drive here.
"You were going to let her commit murder…in cold blood?!"
"Max, they are only mindless machines! Told how to feel, behave and kill!"
"What you just described is what Logan was before he started to think for himself…don't you see, these kids deserve a better way of living and blowing them before they have a chance to even try and think for themselves is just…"
"Wrong?"
Jace opened the car door and Max stared at her, their eyes locked for a moment, then Jace broke the silence.
"Get out the car"
Max did as she was told and muttered goodbye to Tinga. As she climbed into Jace's car she felt ridiculous…like a school kid who was caught graffitiing the school wall. She was going to have her azz whopped good by a genetically enhanced principal.
"So this is how you repay my kindness?" Jace said as soon as the café had disappeared over the horizon line.
"What? By wanting to know the truth and having to go to someone else to find it?"
"By going behind my back and blackmailing my boyfriend into getting Tinga to me with you"
"Jace, you wouldn't tell me what you were planning to do because of the way I would react. So now I am going to give it to you straight. I am not going to be a part of this, even if it means losing Logan for a second time, in doing so we save hundreds of innocent lives!"
"They are not innocent"
"How the hell do you know?"
"They carry our genes Max!"
"What are you saying?"
"They are all clones of us, our genetic sequences are passed down…generation to generation until they perfect them...those children are personifications of our dark sides, they have the personalities we tried to suppress over the 20 years we spent at Manticore. They are us, and I'll be damned if I allow another thirty or so Cindy's walk free"
Jace stopped instantly when she said that. Max felt everything just click into place, and she lent back in her chair.
"So this is what it's all about, your buried hate of your sister! God, this is a textbook case! You aren't going to allow Cindy to get away with killing Logan, or coming close as the case maybe, so your going to destroy every last trace of her!"
"It's more then that Max!"
Jace pulled up next to her house and stopped the car. Neither of them moved, and Jace rested her head against the steering wheel. The winds outside the car blew up, making the wheat in the fields behind the house wave and ripple like a pond. Dark clouds covered the sky, and it became dark. Max looked over to Jace and rested her hand on her back.
"Tell me"
Jace looked up, teary eyed and switched off the car engine.
"Come inside"
Logan opened his eyes; a sick feeling washed around his head and his vision was blurry. Pains came from every part of his body, and he couldn't move. Logan blinked rapidly, and looked up at a woman with blonde hair looking over him. There was an older man there…Logan recognised him. There was a feeling of anger deep down inside, and as Logan felt some sort of strength returning to her upper body he pulled his arms up from the restraints and made toward the familiar face. He remembered this person…but as he started to rise a needle was pressed into his shoulder and he fell back onto the bed with the words of the blonde woman in his ears…
…"Place him back in the chair and restart the last stages of the reprogramming"…
"Jace came up with a plan a year ago, but Manticore was at my throat again. You may be aware of the attack that lead to Logan's capture…it was a clever plan to lure in one of the two escapees"
"And we fell for it…" Max muttered.
"Don't blame yourself, Max. Cindy played mind games with me, coxed me into the town by scaring me stupid with dead threats. So she attacked me…setting up a man to take a photo and sell it to each mainstream newspaper in the area. You picked up what looked to be a story of a strange attacker who then fled the scene…and they waited for you. I was lucky to escape alive.
So we delayed the plan…this meeting was met to finalise arrangements now"
"Tinga, tell me straight. What is the plan?"
"I have a friend who deals in stolen firearms and heavy-duty bombs on Seattle's black market. Thanks to him we have enough power to destroy an entire town in one swoop. I made it clear to Jace that I wouldn't be a part of a mission where hundreds would die…but she didn't listen…"
Max reached over to place her hand on Tinga's. Tinga looked at Max briefly and sighed.
"Jace plans to take Manticore down, no holds barred. Once the original SMS are out…she plans to destroy the whole base…the other kids included"
Max stared at Tinga…words failed her as Tinga stopped again by Jace's car Max had borrowed to drive here.
"You were going to let her commit murder…in cold blood?!"
"Max, they are only mindless machines! Told how to feel, behave and kill!"
"What you just described is what Logan was before he started to think for himself…don't you see, these kids deserve a better way of living and blowing them before they have a chance to even try and think for themselves is just…"
"Wrong?"
Jace opened the car door and Max stared at her, their eyes locked for a moment, then Jace broke the silence.
"Get out the car"
Max did as she was told and muttered goodbye to Tinga. As she climbed into Jace's car she felt ridiculous…like a school kid who was caught graffitiing the school wall. She was going to have her azz whopped good by a genetically enhanced principal.
"So this is how you repay my kindness?" Jace said as soon as the café had disappeared over the horizon line.
"What? By wanting to know the truth and having to go to someone else to find it?"
"By going behind my back and blackmailing my boyfriend into getting Tinga to me with you"
"Jace, you wouldn't tell me what you were planning to do because of the way I would react. So now I am going to give it to you straight. I am not going to be a part of this, even if it means losing Logan for a second time, in doing so we save hundreds of innocent lives!"
"They are not innocent"
"How the hell do you know?"
"They carry our genes Max!"
"What are you saying?"
"They are all clones of us, our genetic sequences are passed down…generation to generation until they perfect them...those children are personifications of our dark sides, they have the personalities we tried to suppress over the 20 years we spent at Manticore. They are us, and I'll be damned if I allow another thirty or so Cindy's walk free"
Jace stopped instantly when she said that. Max felt everything just click into place, and she lent back in her chair.
"So this is what it's all about, your buried hate of your sister! God, this is a textbook case! You aren't going to allow Cindy to get away with killing Logan, or coming close as the case maybe, so your going to destroy every last trace of her!"
"It's more then that Max!"
Jace pulled up next to her house and stopped the car. Neither of them moved, and Jace rested her head against the steering wheel. The winds outside the car blew up, making the wheat in the fields behind the house wave and ripple like a pond. Dark clouds covered the sky, and it became dark. Max looked over to Jace and rested her hand on her back.
"Tell me"
Jace looked up, teary eyed and switched off the car engine.
"Come inside"