Author's Note: OK, to clear up the timeframe problem: Chapter 1 is an prologue, and happens in the 'present'. Chapter 2 goes back in time by three weeks or so to explain why things were the way they were in Chapter 1. Chapter 3 takes place after Chapter 1 and is followed by this chapter. Capeche?
Also: Max and Alec sleep together sometime between the events of Chapter 2 and Chapter 1... The number of reviews will dictate when you get to learn about more about that!
"Beauty Sleep"
Present;
The small room in the RCF abandoned warehouse was damp, dank, and home to a mere cable connection and electric plug. Wind whistled through the aging wall planks as Otto flipped through the channels until White yelled "Stop! Go back!" and so he did. "That's the one, Otto."
"Top stories on the six o'clock news report tomorrow morning: Just how big is this transgenic threat? Hostess stocks skyrocket by five and a half points, and a young Timmy is still trapped in a rural well. All this and more on CKVR24 Breakfast Television! For Marlene, Larlene, Tim, Tom, Tarlene, and Jim, I'm Darlene. Goodnight Seattle."
A smile crossed White's face. "I just made my own day."
"How'd you do that, sir, if you don't mind my asking?"
"Twinkie stocks, Otto. Promotion has just been out of control these past three weeks. With the money we're making, we'll be able to afford an even larger apocalypse."
Otto raised a cautious eyebrow. "Apocalypse, sir?"
"The Coming, Otto." Lazily, he flicked off the TV. "Give Eyes Only a shout. Tell him you've got a story he won't believe... I can't have him messing this up."
"Should I leave the last part out, sir?"
"Just do it."
- - - - -
"We didn't 'make out'."
"Because you're lame." Max looked away and didn't say anything. "Okay, so basically, you and Logan are both in denial and you're 'not like that' with him because you feel guilty about sleeping with me?"
"I'm not like that with him because we can't touch, nimrod." He noticed she was avoiding the rest of his question but didn't say anything.
"You're just not creative," Alec smirked at her disgusted face. She got up from the couch in a huff and stalked off to her room. "Where're you off to?"
"My room. I need an hour of beauty sleep," she called from the hallway.
"'Night, pumpkin," he mocked.
"Shut up!"
- - - - -
Logan tried to keep his eyes on the road ahead but found himself continually glancing at Alec. Him and Max... Him and Max. He'd always thought of the Manticore kids as a somewhat responsible, trust-worthy, and respecting bunch, and had to keep reminding himself that Alec was just a bad apple. It never occured to him that it may have been Max's fault, of course. Max was perfect, an inhuman image of perfection. She'd probably just slept with Alec because she couldn't have Logan, and Alec was a transgenic and therefore a better choice than some random guy... Not a better choice than Logan, though. Definitely not.
Alec rubbed his hands together and tried to start conversation. Logan glanced at him, jaw set, eyes narrow, then looked back at the road. The younger man ignored his gesture. "So... Uh... Eyes Only informant, huh?" Logan nodded. "Who doesn't understand sign language?" Nod. "So I'm going to be your interpreter then?" Nod. "And you're going to pretend that your deaf?" Logan would've said, "And you're going to pretend that you're daft? Or is pretending a waste since you actually are a moron?" if he had a voice to say it with. He kept glaring at the road.
He'd meant to take Max along, but when he called she was asleep. And Alec found it all too amusing that Logan had to communicate over a phone by morse code-ing his way along with a pencil and the phone handset. So now the Moron was going to be his interpreter, because Little Miss Shark DNA apparently needed sleep. The thought of what could've possibly tired her out invaded his mind. No, no, no.
She'd been lying about the whole thing! Of course! It was dangerous for them to be together, virus or not. They were constantly having to save each other's lives, and trying to push him away was the best solution to their problem. And Alec? Perfect excuse. Logan would just have to keep stepping over that boundary she'd created, and show her that it was OK for them to be together, yes, that was the solution.
And if she really was with Alec or it was the fact that Logan was human... Well, it was easy to be Alec, and easy to be 'transgenic'. If he had enough transgenic blood around, that would solve the problem of both his weakness and possibly the virus; the X series probably had some sort of protection against biological warfare.
Alec- the Moron- snapped him out of his daze momentarily. "Hey, Log, buddy ol' pal o' mine... I think we've passed like, six suspicious looking warehouses. Where are you taking me?" To the slaughter house, Logan thought, a devious Grinch-like smile forming. "Uh, Logan?" He simply shrugged in response. "I can lip-read, eh. Say something."
"It's after six o'clock and the bite me rule is in effect." Alec couldn't hear the intonation, just read his face. Logan displayed just about every emotion from homicidal anger to impatience.
"Never mind then," he responded, slightly less oblivious to Logan's mood.
Speaking of Logan, he slammed the Aztek to a halt in front of one of the warehouses and almost threw himself and his passenger out the windshield. "Are we here?" He questioned in a more pissed-off voice. Logan didn't respond, so he just hopped out of the car and shut the door behind him with a good slam.
"Wait up," the mute one called. Shit, he can't hear me because I don't have any fuckin' vocal cords. Moron continued towards the warehouse, stopped at its entrance, peeked inside. Logan was silently praying that he'd go in and get shot or something along those lines, but he just walked in with his usual swagger, and no gunshots were heard.
A moment later they were both inside, standing a few feet apart in what appeared to be... A big warehouse. "You sure about this, Logan?" Alec questioned with a careful glance. All he got in return was a time-hardened glare. "Look- About what happened what, two weeks ago? Get over it," he blurted, starting to name things off on his fingers. "It's called 'casual sex'," finger two- "I'm not the kind of idiot who would move in on another guy's girl," three- "As far as I knew and know now, you two aren't like-"
"What, did you two get drunk and sleep together or something?" A feminine voice called. The two of them looked around wildly until they saw her, a presumably twenty-something blonde with a slight figure in jeans and a tank top. She descended a rickety staircase not far from them and walked over.
Alec stood up a little straighter as the woman approached, and Logan groaned mockingly in his voiceless way. She looked at him, then back at Alec. "I guess your friend's not deaf, then? When my friend called he was tapping on the damn phone in morse code or something." Her glance turned back to Logan. "Crazy shithead was the first phrase that came to mind."
"So, you have some sort of story or something?" Alec interrupted. The blonde looked at him and rolled her eyes, boredom the only emotion to betray her otherwise poker face.
"You know about White and his kooky gang, right?" Nod. "They've got Hostess stocks. Most of the Hostess stocks, actually." In the back of Alec's mind, he was wondering how she knew about all of this...
"So?"
"So, they need to make money. We were originally trying to cripple the Hostess company, but then they turned to harvesting human organs to make money. We have to put them out of business, period." She was much more serious now; she sounded like a token freedom fighter trying to prove a point. "Apparently they want to capture 452, as well, because she's preventing them from doing their big things where they kill people." What the hell? She knew about Max as well?
Alec looked slightly confused. "What do they need all that money for?"
"Facial paint," she deadpanned. "Seriously. The stuff costs a fortune.. Not to mention snake food and other necessities." The woman looked at Logan again. "What's his story? Deaf? Dumb? Mute?"
"Mute."
"Tell him to bugger off. He looks weak." Alec glanced quickly at Logan's retreating form, then back at her. She rubbed her hands together and stepped forward, until she was barely two feet from him. "Now then..."