Disclaimer: See Part 1
A/N: Beginning paragraph from "Pardon Me" by Incubus. Many thanks to Starr, who has given me a great suggestion! Brin/Zane. That is such a good idea. Expect some Brin/Zane action to arise. Mwahaha! Don't forget to visit my Terminal City website, http://brin734.tripod.com/terminal_city/
Thanks!
Summary: The transgenics prepare for war and an old 'ally' returns to quell the questions arising in Terminal City.
The Siege
By
Brin
Pardon me while I burst into flames
I've had enough of the world
And it's people's mindless games
So pardon me while I burn
And rise above the flame
Pardon me, pardon me, don't ever be the same
"You think this is all some kind of joke? These kids are like puppies you can bring home and housebreak? They were designed to kill. Coldly… efficiently… and happily. You think because she's so pretty that she isn't as dangerous? They're all killers. All they need is a trigger." –Lydecker
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Chapter 6: Aftermath
"How many dead?" Max asked quietly.
Baba stared at the floor. "Twenty dead. Thirty-eight wounded."
"Shit," Max whispered, leaning back in her chair. She held her head in her hands and took a deep breath to calm herself. "Okay. That's it. This can't happen again. I want sentries placed everywhere. No nook or cranny left unguarded. Move the pregnant females, the wounded, and the children to the middle of the city with at least thirty guards at all times."
Baba nodded. "Yes, ma'am."
Max closed her eyes when he left, hot tears streaming down her face. Twenty. Dead. The thought of so many more dying made her sick. If there were more like him… Genocide was the prominent word in her mind. Would they all die for a lost cause? Was freedom even achievable in this world? She sat like that for a few minutes, her mind racing with doubt, then two soft hands rested on her shoulders.
"You alright?"
Max turned around and looked up at Jondy, who looked down upon her with sad, tear-filled eyes. "I'm fine," the younger X5 said, her voice nothing more than a whisper.
"Don't look fine."
"Jondy, twenty of our own are dead from one attack from one… thing. How are we supposed to fight an entire army of things like him? It just… it just seems so hopeless," Max whispered, the stream of tears down her face increasing. "And I don't know what to do… I don't know what to do… I'm going to get all these people killed."
"No, no you're not," Jondy said, hugging her little sister tightly. "Max, we were caught off-guard. All of us. We're just going to have to take some extra precautions from now on."
Max buried her face in Jondy's uninjured shoulder. "But how many of us have to die before we are totally safe?"
Jondy rubbed Max's back and kissed her on the head. "We'll never know, Maxie. What matters is that you lead us through this. They trust you; respect you, Maxie. Every single transgenic in this city would follow you to their deaths. You've got to realize how profound that is. They look to you for guidance, Maxie."
"But what if I can't? What if I do lead them all to their deaths? Jondy… I'm just not ready for this. I'm not the CO. Zack is. I was made to follow orders, not give them!"
"Max, listen to me," Jondy said sternly. "We are gonna get out of this alive. And you are gonna lead us to our destiny, whether that destiny be the happily ever after we wanted or the afterlife. You would not be made our leader if it was not mean to be. Now go visit your man down at hospital wing. He's been whining at me for hours."
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Max slowly walked down the stairs to the underground hospital wing, in no hurry to face the wounded of this incident. Her eyes swept over the cots dotting the floor. The injuries varied from life-threatening to simple scrapes and scratches. She spotted Eddie and Pick huddled around a cot and went over.
"Hey," said Max quietly as she came to stand next to Eddie, who was crying. She looked down to see Axle lying on the cot, his head bandaged.
"The bullet nicked his skull," Pick stated as he wringed his hands. "He's lucky. Junky… and Hank…"
"They're dead, Max," blurted Eddie, turning her tear-filled eyes to the X5. "Both of them. Gone. Like that." She snapped her fingers. "Our brothers are dead."
Max felt her heart sink. "I'm sorry."
They stood there in silence a few moments before Pick stood and stormed out of the room, on the verge of tears. Eddie gave Max an apologetic look before following her boyfriend.
Max waited a second or two after they were gone before setting off in search of her lover once again. She was distracted, however, by the sight of Brin lying on one of the cots with her baby, just a tiny blue bundle, sleeping peacefully on her stomach. Max slowly approached and timidly took a seat next to the cot. "You okay?"
Brin stared off into space. "Yeah. I got a few good bumps and bruises, but otherwise I'm okay," she said quietly.
The tension between them was thick enough to slice with a knife; the silence screaming out words left unsaid. Yes, they had already 'apologized' for what had happened back at Manticore… but the wounds were still fresh. Max had left Brin to the wrath of Renfro and psy-ops for her failure. Brin had possibly slowed Max down enough to get her killed.
"Hey Brin, I, uh… I saw how you took charge back there. You prevented total chaos… thanks," said Max with as much sincerity as she could manage, trying to break the mood.
Brin absently rubbed her baby's back. "It was reflex."
"Yeah, but I wish I could say more for myself," grumbled Max. "I saw him hit Alec and I just froze. Not very soldier-like, I know. That's never happened to me before. It's scary. I felt helpless."
"Every soldier has their weak spot," Brin said with a small, nearly non-existent smile. "You won't always freeze up, Max. You'll get over it."
Max gazed at the tiny baby on Brin's stomach. He was sucking his thumb as he slept, his pudgy little face holding a lot more serenity than most transgenics had ever felt. "How old is he?" she asked, scooting closer.
Brin sighed, instantly regretting the action since her stomach went up enough to shake little Ben, nearly waking him up. She froze for a moment, then, when she was sure he wasn't gonna wake up, she spoke, "About five weeks."
"Oh… he's still just a tiny baby then," commented Max, gently touching the baby's soft cheek. She looked up. "Thanks for coming. I mean, I know this place couldn't have been your first choice to take your kid."
"Max, my first choice was to take my baby where my siblings were… and this is the place. No matter that it happens to be under attack by thousands of Ordinaries out for our blood," Brin said, this time with a wide smile. She opened her mouth to say something more, but little Ben woke up and started making his needs known. "Oh… baby Ben, what's wrong?" cooed the older X5, struggling to sit up even though her body screamed in protest.
"Here, let me take him," suggested Max, removing the tiny bundle from Brin's bruised arms.
Ben's wailing ceased as soon he realized he was in Max's embrace, not his mother's, and he gazed up at her with astonished green eyes. His mouth formed a perfect 'o' in surprise.
"Huh… He usually doesn't like strangers," Brin said in a matter-of-factly tone, watching the two as she pulled herself into an upright position. She rested her arms on her knees and took a deep breath, ignoring the sharp pain shooting through her spine.
"Are you okay?" asked Max, handing Ben back to her pseudo sister.
Brin nodded, but her pursed lips and deep breaths betrayed her. "I'll be fine."
"Well… if you ever need anything… ya know, to talk or maybe some babysitting help with little Ben… just stop by. Alright?"
"I will," replied Brin with a crooked smile.
Max stood and grinned back. "See ya."
"Yeah."
The younger X5 hesitated a moment, then bent down and gave Brin a hug. "Great to see you again, Brin. I missed you and… I thought I had lost you…"
Brin lowered her eyes. "You did lose me for a second there, Max… I'm just glad to be back." She gave Max a kiss on the forehead. "Thanks for kicking my ass and destroying the DNA lab. Knocked a little sense into me when they tossed me into psy-ops for like three months and, almost immediately after, stuck me with some strange X5 from another facility as breeding partners. I mean, it was a wake up call… I saw that they didn't care about me. They had burned the idea that Manticore cared for its soldiers into my mind."
"I'm glad you're back," Max said with a rueful smile. "We're gonna need you."
"Damn straight!" exclaimed Brin wryly. She jumped in surprise as Ben began howling again, little fists flailing angrily. "Okay… okay…"
Max laughed and wandered off in search of her lover once gain. She found him at the back of the room, all by himself, sitting there facing the wall. Not wanting to surprise him, she approached the side of the cot and cleared her throat.
"You know, Max, I'm not quite sure what was going through my mind when I let that guy beat the living shit outta me," Alec said, not turning around. "I could've had him. I could've handed his ass back to him on a platter. I… I…"
Alarmed, Max took a step back.
"I could've prevented so much if I had just gotten my head in the game. Lydecker always said…"
"Lydecker," interrupted Max, "was a sadistic asshole who fed us enough shit to double the size of New York's landfill."
Alec turned around and gazed at her with red eyes. "Max, he snuck up on us on our own turf. I should've sensed him! I should've been able to prevent everyone from dieing today."
Max sat down and took Alec's hand. "Alec… there's nothing any of us could've done. I mean… we were all out there, having a good time, and not thinking of the outside world because so far, we haven't had any attacks so we were just relaxing for once."
"It… it's just… damn it, Max… I wish I had been able to prevent what happened," Alec said, curling into a fetal position on the bed.
"So do the rest of us, Alec. It was no fault of yours that those people died," comforted Max, pulling his head into her lap. "No one thinks any less of anyone else…" She stroked his hair and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
They had been sitting like that for a few minutes and Max, emotionally exhausted, had nearly fallen asleep when someone placed a hand on her shoulder. "Yes?" she asked, not turning around.
"Max, you're not gonna believe this…"
Max turned her head and looked up at Krit. "What?"
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"You have got to be kidding me," yelled Max as she stormed through the dark streets of Terminal City, pulling on her leather jacket. "Please tell me you're joking."
"I'm not," replied Krit. "See for yourself."
Max shot Alec an unsure look.
They came to a dark, crumbling warehouse and Krit opened the door, allowing Max and Alec to step across the threshold before entering himself. He led them through the darkness, weaving between rotting crates and abandoned equipment until they reached the opposite end of the warehouse, where some of the X5 siblings from '09 were gathered around a torch held by Zack. They were all turned inward, staring at something in the middle of the group.
Max tapped Jondy on the shoulder and the older X5 sister moved out of the way, followed by the rest of the X5s. "Holy shit," whispered Max, shaking her head at the person sitting in the chair before her.
His face was covered in thin scars and his hair was grayer than before, but there was no mistaking this man. This man that had caused Max's entire life to be a living hell. This man who was responsible for the death of Tinga, Eva, and Jack…
"Lydecker," Max growled through clenched teeth. She walked up and punched him, hard.
Zane quickly pulled her away from their former trainer. "Max! Calm down!"
Max glared at Lydecker and spat at his feet. "What the hell is he doing here?"
"He was sneaking around the perimeter fence," answered Syl, going around behind 'Deck and looking him over almost curiously.
"I was trying to get in," Lydecker suddenly interrupted, the mere sound of his voice making all the X5s jump. "After all, I had heard that the national guard thought the transgenic defense to be weak and unorganized. I was disappointed in my kids."
"Cut the bullshit," Max said, breaking loose of Zane's grip and angrily stomping up to the colonel. "Tell us why you're here. Or we can have a replay of what happened the last time we had you tied up."
Zack slammed the clip into a gun and pointed it at him.
"You can still be an organ donor," declared Max with a smirk. "Now explain why you have decided to come back from the grave and haunt us."
"I was never dead," Lydecker began, staring around at them.' "I escaped the men chasing me by playing dead and floating down the river. I had plans of coming back and helping you and Logan, but something came up… I assume you've all heard of the Familiars?"
"Only what Max told us," replied Jondy.
"Yes, well the Familiars were on my tail day and night. Whenever I turned around, they were there. I have not had a good night's sleep in months. They were bent on finding out where you all were and how they could catch you… and then, one day, it all stopped. I lost all track of them and thought they had lost all track of me." He sighed. "But, a few days later, I saw Max's face plastered on every newsstand in the nation. I located this place, this 'Terminal City,' and came here to help you."
"You can't help us," growled Zack. "We don't need your help."
"Is that so?" Lydecker snapped, his voice hinting that he knew something that they didn't. "Don't be so sure of yourselves. Just ask your friend 494. He knows."
They all turned around and looked at Alec, who was staring at the ground, refusing to meet their gaze.
"You have no idea what your bodies are capable of doing," explained the colonel, drawing attention back to himself. "Nine years of training was not nearly enough for you to learn how to use your… powers to their full extent. 494 is smarter, faster, and better than the rest of you because he got that extra ten years. He knows what you're all capable of. Isn't that right, 494?"
"Will you stop bothering him?" barked Max.
Lydecker looked in-between them suspiciously, but didn't press his luck. "I can teach you. I can show you how to be better than you already are."
"Thanks, 'Deck, but we've made it alright thus far," Syl said, glaring at him.
"No… you guys, he's right," interrupted Alec, surprising everyone. "After you guys left, we were shown what we could do… it's amazing. It would really help us… all of us… if you would let him teach you a thing or two."
Lydecker gave the rest of the X5s a cocky grin. "Listen to him. He's right."
"We'll think about it," said Max, gesturing for her siblings to follow her as she walked away. "Alec, can you watch him?"
"Sure thing," he replied, accepting the gun from Zack.
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"I don't like it. He's up to something. Lydecker is always up to something," said Zane, shaking his head.
"He did help us back when we destroyed the lab," said Krit tentatively. "I mean, it took a lot of nerve for him to do that. We practically blew up his life work."
"That's right," Zack piped in. "But Logan did have to keep him at gunpoint… and he did betray us about five times before he cooperated."
"Never thought tough guy Zack would be the voice of reason," grumbled Zane, shooting Zack a glare.
Max looked in-between them and placed a hand on Zane's chest. "Hey! Stop it! We need to think long and hard about this!" She glanced over her shoulder at Lydecker. "He has the same enemies as us… and there are hundreds of us here. We could have someone watching him all the time. He couldn't do anything."
"Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer," Syl piped in, looking around at her brothers and sisters.
"The enemy of our enemy is our best friend," Krit added. "He taught us that, you guys… and I don't know about you, but it's one of the things I've been able to use."
"All in favor of letting 'Deck show his worth?" Max raised her arm.
Krit, Jondy, Zack, and Syl raised their arms in support.
"Zane, he's all we got," reasoned Jondy with a sigh.
"Alright… but if he so much as looks at us the wrong way…" He slammed his fist into his opposite palm. "He's dead."
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"You know, I remember you and your twin, 493," Lydecker said to Alec.
Alec looked down at him. "You were always with Max's unit; hardly ever with mine. We were the trouble makers; never followed orders."
"Yes, but you were one of Manticore's best soldiers. You and X5-599… You both are the image of perfection in the Xs. The X6s were not as quick-witted as you two. The X7s were deprived of all independent thought until they escaped… and the X8s… they were designed to work by sheer force, no brain power. That's why your sparring matches were showcased to all of Manticore's available soldiers. They loved watching you, 494. You were everything they were told they wanted to be."
"Don't try to butter me up," growled Alec. "I'm not your ally so don't even start to formulate a plan that has anything to do with me. I won't help you. None of us will."
Lydecker laughed. "You never change, you kids."
Alec turned and looked at him quizzically, but the other X5s came back over before he could ask about Lydecker's comment.
"Okay, here's the deal," said Max, leaning close to Lydecker. "You are kept under 24-hour watch. You do nothing without the permission of your assigned watcher. You don't sleep unless they say you can. You don't eat unless they say you can. You don't piss unless they say you can. Got it? And if you try anything funny, or even cause suspicion that you are about to double-cross us…" She gestured to the gun in Zack's hand. "We'll blow your brains out. Capisce?"
"I understand," Lydecker replied. "Will you release me now?" He pulled at his handcuffs, which were a little too tight.
Max looked to Zack for confirmation, who shrugged. "I'm not the CO anymore, Max. I think everyone here knows that you are the leader now. You decide," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Alright… release him, but keep the cuffs handy. Who wants first assignment as watcher?" she asked, looking around.
"I'll do it," volunteered Jondy, shooting 'Deck a glare. "I haven't had a chance to spend time with dear old Lydecker."
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Max walked home alone that night, since Alec had gone off to do some planning with the other X5s and promised to be home in half an hour. She didn't really feel like facing anymore reality today and excused herself. No one thought anything of it.
As she was going down a particularly shaded street, she saw three cats walk into a steel door that was slightly ajar, followed by two more. Curious, the X5 slipped inside after them.
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The abandoned factory was particularly moldy, with slick floors and walls covered in green moss. Max followed the trail of cats until she reached a small, cave-like area formed by wooden crates, most of which were covered in fishnets. The area was lit by a single, batter-powered lamp sitting on a table. The cats were milling about like lazy Jam Pony employees, some of them munching on their latest catches…
"What are you doing here?"
Max jumped in surprise and whirled around to see Eddie standing there, dressed in military fatigues. "I—I just thought it was kinda weird with all the cats coming in here and everything. What are you doing here?"
Eddie pushed past the X5 and sat at the table where she opened up a plastic bag and began munching on some cheese as five of the cats poked their heads in, fighting over the beef jerky.
"You know, cats are usually solitary animals… but they seem to enjoy it here, together. I mean, in this world you've got to have friends, right?" said Eddie, staring off into space.
"Are you alright? You're not yourself tonight," commented Max nonchalantly. She frowned as she noticed the blood leaking from the girl's temple. "Eddie… did someone hi you?"
"Two friends dead in a period of five seconds… I don't think anyone would be peachy after that," replied Eddie, equally nonchalant. She didn't even act like she had heard Max's observation about the blood. "You answer me now. What do you want?"
"I was just checking the place out… nice little cove you got here. Private." Max gave the anomaly a hopeful smile.
"Until you came."
Max looked genuinely hurt at Eddie's words. "Gee… nice to see you, too, friend."
Eddie glared at her. "Will you just go away?"
"Look, if you came out here to sulk and piss off at everybody that comes your way, then maybe I will leave," said Max in a raised voice. "You know what, to hell with you! You are not the only one who lost a friend and had a really shitty day, alright? Think about someone else for once! The rest of us are suffering, too. I just thought you were mature enough to realize how much we understand what you're going through and how much we want to help. I'm out of here." She turned and started walking away when she heard muffled sobs. Sensing she had gone a little overboard on the hurting teen, Max turned around and gulped. "Eddie?"
The young anomaly was rocking back and forth on her backless chair, rubbing her arms and whimpering as if she was in pain.
Max tentatively went over to the girl and reached out to touch her shoulder, only to have her hand swatted away. "What's wrong?"
Eddie stood up and backed away from Max, shaking her head. "No…no!"
"Hey, calm down! Just calm down," said the chimera, alarmed at Eddie's sudden change.
By now, the anomaly was hyperventilating and had backed up against the wall. She slid down into a sitting position and pulled her knees to her chest. "D-d-d-d-don't touch me…"
Max stared at her friend for a moment, then she noticed something peculiar… Eddie's hands were shaking. "Hey, you're starting to shiver. What's wrong?" She resolutely moved forward and knelt next to the young transgenic. "Talk to me, Eddie."
"I-I-I-I-I need to get out, n-n-need to go. I n-n-n-need to g-g-g-go," she stuttered in reply, the words dieing in her throat. Her arms and upper body were shaking now.
"Tell me what's wrong!" Max grabbed a hold of Eddie's shaking wrists. "Don't fight me. What is it?"
Eddie's head fell back against the wall, her eyes rolling up into her head. Violent shudders ran through her entire body now.
"Holy shit, seizures!" Max cried as the realization washed over her. She jumped to her feet and pulled the younger transgenic into her arms. "Hold on, Eddie."
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Alec's head whipped up as Max burst into the meeting room screaming for someone to help her. He spotted Eddie's tiny form hanging from Max's arms and ran over to relieve his lover of her burden.
"What happened?" asked Zack, clearing off the table so Alec could place her on top of it.
"She's seizing. I don't know what happened… one minute she was fine, then she started freaking out on me and… shit, don't let her die," pleaded Max, her heart pounding in her head.
Alec used his belt to strap one of her arms to the table and felt her wrist. "Blood pressure rising. Her heart's racing."
Jondy pulled out some rope and tied down her legs while Zack used his belt to strap down her other arm. Syl waved her hand over Eddie's mouth. "Breathing is shallow and quick."
"Going into cardiac arrest," shouted Alec. "Anyone got an idea what's wrong?"
Krit pulled a bottle of liquid tryptophan and a syringe from the emergency medical bag on the floor. He filled the syringe and handed it to Max. "You think it'll work?"
Max injected a small amount of the clear liquid into Eddie's arm, just to be safe. "I… I don't know. We haven't a clue what's wrong with her."
"You're lucky Krit insists we carry around the medical bag," commented Zack.
"But we don't know if it works yet," Max pointed out. "She's still seizing."
As if on cue, Eddie stopped seizing… in fact, she stopped all movement at all. Alec felt her neck. "Max, no pulse."
Max shook her head, a horrible weight dropping on her shoulders. "No… no! She… she can't be…"
"She's dead," confirmed Krit as he felt her wrist. "There's nothing there, Max."
"No, she's not," interrupted a voice. The X5s whirled around to look at Lydecker, who was tried a chair a few feet away. He smirked at them. "If you untie me, I'll help her." When no one moved, he added, "You've got a little less than a minute to let me revive her before she's beyond my aid."
Max glared at him, but ran over and quickly untied him. "Move fast, asshole." She shoved him towards the table.
Lydecker pulled a vial of blue liquid from his jacket's inside pocket and grabbed a syringe from the medical bag. He filled the syringe and injected it into Eddie's neck, emptying the entire thing. "There. She'll be a little stiff, but she'll live," announced the colonel. He pulled Eddie into an upright position and smacked her on the back twice.
The second time his fist made contact, Eddie's eyes shot open and she gasped, air rushing into her lungs. She looked around, confused, then turned and vomited on the floor.
Max breathed a sigh of relief and rubbed Eddie's back as the anomaly threw up again. "You're gonna be okay," she whispered.
Eddie, disoriented, nauseated, and sore, buried her face in Max's shoulder and began to sob from sheer exhaustion.
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Five minutes later they were all sitting around the fire in Max and Alec's apartment living room, each waiting for someone to ask Lydecker about what happened. Syl had been sent to fetch Pick.
Zack was the first to speak up, "So what was wrong with her?"
Lydecker glanced over his spectacles at Eddie, who was wrapped up in a blanket on the floor. "X6-301 was diagnosed at the age of three with an advanced form of the seizures you X5s experienced. She has the same need for tryptophan, but there are several other chemicals in her brain that aren't properly supplied. These deficiencies cause things like delirium, hallucinations, flashbacks, irritability, seizures, and cold spells. The liquid I gave her contains high amounts of these missing chemicals. Back at Manticore she was made not to remember that she has this problem."
"So the tryptophan would have done nothing?" asked Krit.
"It would have made her life span a few seconds longer, but that's it."
"Well, aren't you just Mr. Good-timing?" sneered Zane.
"Yes, you are all very lucky I showed up," replied Lydecker with a smirk. "Now lose the attitude and listen to me. You people are in way over your head. There are new prototypes out for your blood."
"New prototypes?" Jondy was wide-awake now. "What do you mean by that? I thought the X8s were the newest."
"You wouldn't understand. There were three Manticore facilities—one in Gillette, one just outside Seattle, and one in Oregon. The facility in Oregon had its own plan. It didn't share notes with anyone else and it developed soldiers capable of killing Xs in hand-to-hand battle without getting a scratch. They were years ahead of the other two facilities, but their prototypes were not born until a little before the X6s were created. Their soldiers are called Centurions and they have been trained as X-killing machines. Faster, stronger, smarter… these guys are not to be taken lightly. I've never seen them in action, but I've read the reports."
Max narrowed her eyes. "That means… the man that was here earlier! The one that killed all those transgenics! He was a Centurion!"
Lydecker looked surprised. "You've met one of them already?"
"Yes. He killed twenty of us," said Zack solemnly.
"Twenty?!" Lydecker gasped. "That's not good. I found through some closed sources that they've brought in fourteen soldiers. If one of them alone can do that much damage… just think of the possibilities of the rest working together…"
Just then, the door opened and Brin stepped inside, little Ben nestled in the pack on her chest. She looked at Max and gestured for her to come outside.
"Excuse me," said Max, standing up and following her sister out the door.
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"What's up?" asked Max as the door closed behind them.
Brin sighed. "Syl told me what happened, but I told her to go home and get some sleep instead of finding Pick given her condition and all…" She leaned against the wall and took a deep breath. "So I went after Pick and found out from an X7 who had witnessed the whole thing that Pick and the anomaly, Eddie, had a spat before the seizures occurred. They were yelling and screaming, then he hit her and she left. Pick shut the door in my face and refused to listen to anything I had to say when I asked him to come."
Max cringed and rubbed her hand down her face. "Well that's just what Eddie needs," she grumbled. "I'll get Alec to talk to him. He might be more willing to listen to a male." She rubbed Brin's shoulder. "Are you alright? You're kinda pale."
"A little sleep is all I need," replied the older X5 with a weak smile.
"You want someone to take you home?" asked Max.
"I'm fine…"
"No, I insist. I'll see if one of the boys doesn't mind. You've got Ben to worry about, after all." Max smiled and hugged her sister. "I don't want anything happening to either of you." She opened the door and poked her head inside. "Zane, Zack, Krit? Any of you wanna take Brin back home?"
Zane, surprisingly, was the first to stand up. "I will."
Max grinned. "Thanks."
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Soon after Zane and Brin left, Krit, Zack, Jondy, and Lydecker also excused themselves for the night. It was, after all, about 3 o'clock in the morning. Alec breathed a sigh of relief as he finally closed the door behind them, resting his head against the doorframe. "I am gonna need some therapy when this is all over." He turned around and looked at Max, who was holding Eddie like a concerned mother. "Are you alright, Maxie?"
"I am, but she's not," Max said as she brushed a strand of hair from Eddie's pale, blank face. The eerie thing was that Eddie's eyes were open and her jaw hung slack, as if she was in some sort of coma. "She needs to eat."
"Well… how are we gonna feed her? She's not responding and she might choke," he said, scratching his chin. "You think spoon-feeding would work?
Max face went from surprised to pleased to mischievous. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen." She grinned at him. "Alec, Monty Cora, the greatest boxer ever, is willing to spoon-feed an anomaly? Personally, I never thought you resorted to such labor."
"That's very funny," growled Alec. "I resent that, you know."
"Aw… I'm sorry, baby," crooned Max. She gently placed Eddie back on the blanket and stood to give Alec a quick kiss. "I won't make fun of you anymore."
Alec poked out his bottom lip. "Thank you. It's about time I got some respect."
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Brin shivered as the cold Seattle air penetrated her clothes. She had wrapped baby Ben in her jacket to keep him warm.
Zane noticed her shivering and removed his leather jacket, gingerly placing it around her shoulders. "You gonna be okay?"
"Yeah."
"What about Ben?"
Brin looked down. "He's fine."
"Good," Zane mumbled, more to himself than anyone else. He noticed she still seemed a little cold and put his arm around her. "Better?"
"You don't have to do that," she replied, her eyes never leaving the ground.
"Of course I do, Bri." He smiled and kissed her on the head. "Remember that training mission where Lydecker made us go outside during a blizzard wearing nothing but those hospital gowns? I was a total wuss… I remember collapsing in the snow and just curling up into a ball. Remember what you did when you found me, Brin?"
Brin grinned nervously. "How could I forget?"
Zane laughed as he stared up at the sky, the memory playing like a movie through his mind.
734 stared down at 205, blinking the snow from her eyes. She looked around for any of her other siblings, but they were nowhere to be found in the blizzard. 205 was curled up in a ball in a snow bank and not moving. 734 went over to one of the pine trees and pulled off a few branches, covering 205 with them then sliding underneath with him. He hugged her close and their body heat, combined with the makeshift tent provided by the pine branches, saved 205 from freezing to death.
"Scared the shit outta me," declared Zane. "That a girl was lying there in a hospital gown next to me."
Brin laughed. "Zane, we were six."
"Yes, and girls had… COOTIES!" he cried, throwing his arms in the air.
"Really?" Brin narrowed her eyes at him and grinned mischievously. "Then consider yourself infected." She gave him a quick peck on the hand.
"Aaah! Cooties!" yelled Zane, jerking his arm away and taking a few steps backwards.
Brin's almond-shaped eyes widened. "Uh… Zane…"
Zane gave her a quizzical look, and then the sidewalk disappeared from underneath his foot and he started falling backwards. Brin jumped forward and grabbed his hand, yanking him back up onto the sidewalk. There was little sidewalk left for him to steady himself on, however, and he ended up wrapping both arms around Brin's waist in an effort to stay standing, but was careful of baby Ben nestled in the pack on her chest. They stayed like that awhile, each too terrified to move, before Ben finally decided to break the silence by grabbing onto Zane's necklace. Brin and Zane looked down simultaneously, bumping heads.
"Ow!" they shouted in unison.
Ben giggled.
"You like that, huh?" asked Zane, poking Ben's pudgy cheek. He looked up at the baby's mother and smiled. "Cute kid. Hate to say he doesn't bear too much resemblance to you besides the dark hair…"
Brin shrugged. "Looks like his father."
"Ah… right. That's too bad… his mother's absolutely gorgeous," he said quietly, almost whispering.
"Are you flirting with me, Mr. Girls-have-cooties?" asked Brin.
"Maybe…"
A few moments later, Brin realized something and said, "Zane?"
"Yes?"
"You can remove your hands from my ass now."
Zane flushed dark red and quickly unwrapped his arms from her waist, moving a few feet away in embarrassment. Brin laughed and kissed him on the cheek, pulling his arm over her shoulder once again. They got their first taste of what it was like to be… well, normal, as they walked home, laughing and remembering 'old times.'
