Outside
By Be Boring
Chapter 13: Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall
Buddy, Mary, Brin, Zack, and Kay were all sitting in the farmhouse with the radio on as loud as they could get it, trying to block out the noise from outside. Even though it was about three in the morning, there was no possible way to sleep. Ben and Lydecker were out in one of the barns, having one of their famous fights. Through a mutual agreement, there were no physical attacks simply because then all hell would break loose. Brin would attack Ben because she felt it was her personal duty to protect Lydecker, and Zack would attack Lydecker because he and Ben had become close ever since Ben and Kay had came to a silent truce. Pretty soon those four would be fighting, usually Lydecker coming out of it in the worst shape, and even Kay couldn't possibly hope to stop it. It was like trying to cut your hair with a butter knife; it could be done, but it would take a while and it wouldn't be pretty. After a while, Ben and Lydecker had managed to keep it strictly verbal between them, but that was almost as bad as when they used fists. They were loud enough to be heard anywhere on the farm, and it drove everyone as nuts as before.
"I'm going to give that old bastard a horse tranquilizer. Maybe that will shut him up," Zack growled. He was cracking his knuckles and running his fingers through his hair, which was a sign that he was about to blow. Kay suspected that Mt. St. Helens would be considered minor in comparison.
Brin's eyes practically glowed. "Maybe I should go out and snap brother dearest's neck. Again," she added with the slightest glimpse of a sarcastic smile on her face. When Zack's eyes landed on her, Kay motioned for Buddy and Mary to leave the room. She didn't want them to get caught in the crossfire of this one. Come to think of it, she didn't want to get in the middle of it either. Just before she shut the door behind her, she heard the explosion.
"WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU PROTECT HIM?! HE MADE OUR LIVES MISERABLE BACK IN MANTICORE! BEN IS OUR BROTHER! HE--"
Kay shut the door quickly before she had a chance to hear anymore. She could almost predict what was going to come out of Zack's mouth, so there was no point in listening to it now. It was too bad she had been stupid enough to let Lydecker and Brin come to the farm. Ben was okay now, but now it was the other two that made Zack a terror to live with again. He had been a little surprised when she had walked into the yard with the little trio tagging along behind her. Actually, a little surprised was an understatement. He'd nearly had a heart attack! For one thing, she had come towards him holding Ben's arm where Brin had managed to do a lot of damage when she was attacking him. He looked like he had about five joints in his arm instead of one. It wasn't a very pretty sight. Of course, Zack also hadn't expected two people he had thought were dead to just appear out of thin air one day. Kay had told Buddy the truth, but had warned him not to tell Logan. The story they had made up for the other workers on the farm was that Lydecker and Ben were Kay's father and brother, and that Brin was Ben's girlfriend. That was laughable, considering Lydecker and Ben couldn't look at each other without saying something insulting, and Brin seemed to hate her brother. Personally, Kay got along with each one fairly well. She and Lydecker were polite to each other, but that was pretty much it. Neither one voiced their opinions for the other. Brin was living with her and Wendy, which actually had turned out nicely. Wendy and Brin hit it off, even though Kay hadn't thought there was enough human left in her sister to really become friends with someone. Brin was nice to Kay, even though they weren't exactly best pals.
The strangest thing to Kay was how close she and Ben had become. He seemed to have forgiven her for their past and hadn't once mentioned the Nomlies, which Kay took as a good sign. She had filled him in on what had happened ever since he had been 'dead', and he had asked her numerous questions about Alec. He seemed curious to find out what his twin was like. When he had asked if they were anything alike, Kay had burst out laughing. Poor Ben had sat there, completely confused by her behavior, and it had taken her at least fifteen minutes to get enough air in her lungs to tell him what was so funny. When he found out what a womanizer his twin was, even he had smiled. It was a real smile, one that just lit up his face and took out the cold deadness that had been there before. She wished he would do that more often. He reminded her a lot of Alec when he let his guard down.
At the moment, Kay was making a beeline towards her house. Unfortunately, it was close to the barn that Lydecker and Ben were currently fighting in, but she could deal with that. She just wanted to get as far away from Zack and Brin as possible. Wendy offered a strained smile as Kay walked through the door. The fighting was getting to her. Kay tried to smile back, but jumped slightly when the phone rang.
"You get it. It's probably your sister checking up on you again," Kay told her. Wendy's sister, Julie, was the only outside person that had been allowed to contact Wendy. The thing that annoyed Kay was that she seemed to take advantage of it too much. Wendy picked up the phone, but after a moment she held it out to Kay, smiling.
"You lied to me. It's for you."
Kay tapped her temple and grinned. "Damn telepathy. I can never get it to work right!"
Wendy laughed and walked away to let Kay talk privately.
"Hello?"
"Hey.....Logan.....no answer.....main house.....things okay?"
"No, everything's fine. There's just some farmhands having an argument. What did you need?" Kay noticed that there seemed to be quite a bit of static on the line. Logan was calling from a payphone somewhere.
"I ..... tell you ..... coming up there ..... Eyes Only mission ..... need help ..... anytime now ..... Max can't ..... shot ..... do it?"
"What? I can barely hear you over the static. What are you saying?"
"When.....explain everything.....there.....now."
"I'm sorry Logan, but I can't hear you. Should I come down there? Logan? Hello?"
She frowned as she hung up the phone. He made it sound like he needed her help on an Eyes Only mission and that Max couldn't help, but she had no idea if she should go down there or not. When Wendy came back into the room, she looked relieved.
"I saw Lydecker leave the barn, so I think they'll be done fighting for a while. Was that Logan? I thought it sounded like him, but I couldn't really tell through the static."
Kay nodded. "Yeah, but we got cut off before I could really tell what he wanted. At least I can ponder it in peace." She jerked her head in the direction of the barns. Wendy smiled and dug into the bowl of ice cream she had brought back with her. That looks REALLY good right now. She headed into the kitchen to make a bowl for herself. She glanced out the window as she opened the cupboard. Wendy hadn't mentioned Ben leaving the barn, and its light was still on, but she could see Ben walking towards the barn right now. Who was in there? She watched him walk in, then heard loud bangs. Damn, another fight was starting up. Who was Ben fighting with?
When Kay reached the barn, she had to blink hard and rub her eyes a few times. She had to be seeing things, but when she opened her eyes again it was all still there. She could see Ben laying on the ground where his attacker had thrown him, but she could also see him standing up and staring down at himself on the ground! The Ben on the ground sat up and raised his hands almost as if in surrender.
"Whoa! Calm down buddy! Maybe you should get back in the mirror where I usually see you!"
Kay studied him a moment, then groaned. "Alec?" she asked in shock. He looked up at her.
"Hey, I have a twin. Why don't you go get one too?"
She shook her head. "From where I'm standing, it doesn't look like much fun. What are you doing here? Ben, don't worry. You've heard me talk about the holy terror that Manticore made to look like you, and here he is."
"Hey, I'm not a holy terror! And I'm only here because we have to do one of Logan's stupid Eyes Only missions for him since Max went and got herself shot."
"What!"
"Oh, she tried to do the hero thing and save a kid. She'll be fine, but I thought Logan was supposed to tell you when he called you?"
"He was trying, but I couldn't hear him through the static. I guess he tried to use a hospital payphone to call me. What's the mission?"
"Some kids Max and I saved a while back have been stupid and somehow managed to slip up about who they are. We have to get them out of some hostage situation going on with this guy who's trying to sell them to the highest bidder."
"Are they the kids Max gave all the funny names to?"
"Yeah, but...hey, how did you know about that?"
"Um, Max told me about them once," Kay lied quickly. He still looked slightly suspicious, but he accepted it. He rose to his feet quickly and warily eyed his twin. Ben didn't seem to like looking at him too much either. Kay couldn't help noticing how different they were. As far as general looks went, they were identical. Even their hair was the same length. Still, Ben had much more soldier-like eyes. Even though he had changed considerably since Kay had found him, he was still a lot more serious and more of a soldier than Alec was. Alec's eyes almost danced with a mischievous light and a smile always played on his lips, even in a serious situation.
Everyone jumped up at a harsh voice behind them. "What the hell is going on?" Kay spun around and saw Zack standing in the doorway, eyeing the situation and looking as though he couldn't believe it. Alec grinned and sent him a casual wave.
"Hey big guy. Long time no see."
"What are you doing here?" Zack scowled.
"Just visiting. Do you know who I am?"
Zack was about to reply when Kay made a slicing motion across her throat. Alec would for sure tell Max if he knew about Zack regaining his memory. Zack seemed to get the drift. "No, but you look exactly like my friend here."
Alec shrugged nonchalantly. "Weird coincidence, huh?"
Zack nodded, then repeated his earlier question. "What are you doing here?"
"I need Kay's help with some business. Is there a problem with that?"
Dammit, we don't need another fight! Kay shot Alec an angry look and dragged Zack out of the barn, saying she needed a word alone with him.
"Kay, what does he need your help with? If he lives with Max, why doesn't she help him?"
"Don't get mad, but it's an Eyes Only thing. It has to do with other transgenics, so don't you even start on some rampage about how Logan's missions are dangerous and pointless. I'm doing it whether you like it or not so don't even argue. I can kick your ass if I have to."
She spotted Alec appear in the barn door in the corner of her eye. If he was going to listen in, she'd have to be more careful. She made sure Zack saw her gesture in Alec's direction without Alec seeing it. He nodded, but continued talking.
"I don't trust him. He's new, and I don't want you to have to depend on him to get yourself out of a bad situation. I'm coming with."
"There will be no bad situation, and I can take care of myself just fine. If anything, he'll have to depend on me if, and I repeat if, there is a bad situation. You stay here. There'll just be all-out chaos if you come along, you know that as well as I do."
He frowned, but there was obviously no changing her mind. He turned and flashed Alec one of his famously hard looks, then walked to his house. Alec walked over to her.
"How did you manage to get a bunch of guys on your tail like this?"
"What are you talking about?"
"That guy that looks like me has definitely got the hots for you, and I think anyone with half a mind can tell that Zack is nuts about you. Getting off the subject here, I thought my twin was supposed to be dead? I don't know the story since Max won't tell me, but I am pretty sure he died somewhere along the line. What's up with that?"
"Alec, you have to swear to me that you won't tell Max about Ben. She doesn't need to deal with him right now, and yes, Ben did die. I don't have time to give you the details, but Max is in a lot of pain over him and it's probably better if we wait until a time when things aren't so hectic for her. I don't think she'd want to hear about him right after being shot. Besides, he's working on getting his life back together and will probably tell her himself in his own time. Do I have your word that you won't tell Max anything?"
"Yeah yeah yeah. Is it really such a big deal?"
He cringed slightly at the look she gave him, but he got the point. "By the way, what should I call Zack?"
"Just call him Zack."
"I thought he went by Adam?"
"Not anymore. Don't tell Max that either."
"Okay, so when are we gonna get going on this mission thing?"
"Let's eat first. I think you should eat a good ways away from Zack and Ben. We've got others here too that you wouldn't want to see."
"Okay, I'll be ready to go after that though."
"Fine."
A few hours later they were climbing into Alec's newly stolen truck and headed for the kids. Kay only hoped that they made it there in time. She glanced back through the rear window and noticed the tarp that was in the back of the truck. Alec was so stupid. Zack was probably hiding under it. She signaled for Alec to stop, which he did without asking questions despite the fact that he was obviously full of them. She climbed out and ripped the tarp off the back. Her eyes widened when she saw who was laying there.
"What do you think you're doing?"
Ben cringed slightly at her tone of voice, but seemed fully prepared to stand his ground. "I don't trust him and I figured I should come along just as backup."
Kay knew perfectly well that he was talking about Alec and that what he was saying was true, she and Alec should have backup, but she still wasn't happy with it. Those two would most likely fight the entire time. Well, Ben was better than Zack right now.
"Get up in front."
She ended up being squashed between Alec and Ben, which was pretty strange when she'd look back and forth. This is going to take some getting used to. There was a long, awkward silence because nobody knew what to say to each other. After a little while, Kay noticed that Alec kept looking into the rearview mirror. She would have passed it off as him just being careful, but it looked like something was bothering him.
"What's up?"
He frowned slightly and looked into the rearview mirror again. "There's a red truck that's been following us for the last ten minutes. I even took a gravel road to see if I could lose it, but it's still there."
"Is it White?"
"No. He's way too busy dealing with Max and some crazy doctor to be worried about us. It could be his men though."
Kay turned in her seat to try and look out the back window. Sure enough, there was a red truck behind them. She let out a groan. Both Ben and Alec glanced at her with their eyebrows raised.
"What is it?"
"That's not White's men. That's Zack."
Ben turned to look over his shoulder and nodded when he recognized the truck. It looked like big brother had decided to come along on their little joyride. Can't he just accept it when I tell him I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself? Alec pulled off to the side of the road and let Zack catch up to them. As soon as Zack stopped alongside them, Kay nudged Alec in the side.
"Get out, I have to talk to him."
Alec rolled his eyes. "Do you think I'm nuts? You'll just get into a fight with him and as funny as it might be, I need you at top strength if we're going to get those kids."
Kay glared at him for a moment, then reached over him, opened the door, and climbed right over him to get out. He tried to stop her for a bit, but then just rolled his eyes and sat back to let her through. Zack got out of his truck and met her just in front of it. He kept on his hard look despite the fact that she was matching it.
"Is there a reason that you just had to follow us?" Kay snapped.
"I was planning to stay home, but I saw Ben sneak into the back of your truck. What did you expect me to do?"
"Ben's a big boy, you didn't need to make our little party here any bigger. The larger the group, the larger the chance of one of us being caught. You should know that. From what I've heard you enforced that rule quite a bit with the escaped X5s."
She watched him clench his jaw. That last one had struck a nerve.
"I can keep myself hidden if need be, but I don't trust that other guy you're with. What's his name again?"
"Alec, and he was in Manticore as long as I was, so it's not like he's stupid when it comes to something like this. Ben knows what he's doing too, so you can just turn around and head home anytime now."
"You know I'm not going to do that."
"Yeah, I know. You're such a dumbass," she growled as she went to get back into the truck with Alec and Ben. Alec rolled down the window.
"As long as he's coming with us, why don't you ride with him? It's kind of close quarters in here."
Kay nearly screamed out loud but she turned and got in the truck with Zack. Great, now she could fight with him the rest of the way too. Thankfully, he stayed quiet for the rest of the ride. She almost smiled as she watched Alec and Ben keep turning to each other in the other truck. It was obvious that as soon as she wasn't in there anymore to act as a barrier, they were fighting again. Couldn't anyone get along out here?
Everyone finally pulled off the road near a large building. Kay thought it looked like a prison, which it probably was or used to be. Alec got out and walked around to the back of his truck. He grabbed the tarp that Ben had been hiding under and removed it, revealing what was practically an arsenal. There were four handguns and two machine guns, as well as eight grenades and several knives of all sizes. Alec turned to face Zack and Kay as they approached.
"Since I thought it was going to be just me and Kay, I didn't bring enough for all of us. I had it set up so that we would each have two handguns, one machine gun, four grenades, a long knife, and two pocketknives. I guess we'll have to divvy it up a little differently. I say Kay and I get the machine guns, Zack and Ben get the long knives, and we'll all get a handgun, two grenades, and a pocketknife. Thankfully, I brought enough belts with holsters for everyone just because I was being careful, so we'll all get one. How does that work for everyone?"
Zack frowned slightly. "Why do you and Kay get the machine guns?"
"Because we're the ones who were originally supposed to be on the mission. Is there a problem with that?"
Kay stepped between them as Zack started to move forward. "No, there's no problem. Right?" She shot Zack the toughest look she could muster up. He held her gaze for almost a minute, then sighed and nodded. Ben nodded as well, so everyone got suited up. Kay glanced over at Alec.
"Where'd you get this stuff?"
"Cat Burglars R Us."
"Don't be an idiot. Where would you get stuff like this nowadays?"
"I never reveal my sources. Just be happy I got it, okay?"
She shrugged it off and slipped her handgun into its holster on her belt, hooked the grenades onto it, and bent down to slide her pocketknife into her sock. She knew that everything was loaded, Alec would have seen to that earlier. That was just how they were trained. She just hoped she wouldn't have to use any of it.
Everyone followed Alec's lead. Logan had given him the layout of the building when he was back in Seattle, and he had memorized it up and down. There was a basement window that didn't have bars on it, so Alec smashed it and climbed inside. Kay was the last one to get in, and she was keeping her eye out for any approaching guards. So far they didn't seem to have been spotted. Once they were inside, Alec gestured towards the ceiling. When Kay looked up, she noticed that there were huge vents up there. Alec stepped over so everyone could see him.
"Kay and Ben will go up into the vents, Zack and I will cover from below. That's so we all have a machine gun with us. There's a main room on the second floor with all the controls for the locks in it, so that's where we're headed. Everyone got it?"
They all nodded and Ben reached up to pull down an opening on the bottom of the vent that Alec pointed to. After he jumped into it, Kay went after him. Zack shut the opening behind her and she followed Ben straight ahead. He paused for a moment, then they heard tapping ahead. Alec was letting them know the coast was clear. When they reached the end of the tunnel, Ben stood up and braced his back against one side with his feet against the other. Once he was set, he started sliding himself up towards the next floor. Kay waited until he was far enough ahead, then did the same thing and followed him upwards. He grabbed her arm and pulled her into the next tunnel when she was far enough up. They continued following Alec's taps until they were in the room. Kay couldn't have been happier to get out of that enclosed space. She preferred being able to move freely. She heard Alec swear behind her.
"What's wrong now?"
"The locks are all controlled by a computer system, and I'm not that good at this stuff. This isn't what they had me specialized in."
Kay sat down in front of the computer. "Lucky for you, they taught it to me." It took her awhile to work through the security blocks set up, but she finally managed to unlock the locks. After logging off the computer, Alec led them down the hall. Kay tried to keep her eyes focused on Zack's back as they walked. This place reminded her too much of Manticore.
"Shit! We've got company," Alec grumbled. Kay could hear approaching footsteps far ahead of them. Whoever it was wasn't close enough to see them yet, but they were aware someone was here. Alec opened a door on their left and slid inside. Once everyone was in, the smell hit them. Kay nearly gagged as she covered her nose with her hand and looked around. They were in a laundry room, or at least it had been used for that once. Now all the old clothes that for some reason had never gotten washed were covered in mold and so was the rest of the room. The air reeked of mold and body odor. Alec grabbed hold of the grate covering a large air vent in the corner of the room with one hand.
"Could someone help me with this thing? I would be able to do it myself, but I don't want to use my other hand for anything other than covering my nose right now."
Ben reached over with one hand and they pulled off the grating. Luckily, it didn't bend so they would be able to put it back on once they were inside. Alec climbed in first, followed by Zack, Kay, and finally Ben. It was extremely narrow so they were all crammed against each other in single file. Alec grunted in the back.
"Stop pushing! I can't go back any farther than this!"
They could hear voices and footsteps out in the hallway. Kay just hoped they stayed out there. She couldn't help noticing how hot it was in the vent. After only a couple of minutes, her hair was plastered to her head. She also couldn't help noticing that the others didn't seem to be affected by it. None of them had so much as a drop of sweat on their faces. She tried to ignore it, but it was really starting to get to her. Even her stomach was growling like nuts now. What's up with that? I ate a huge meal before we left.
Ben removed his hand to sneeze, then glanced back at them. "Does anyone smell that?"
Alec snorted from the back. "You mean other than the obvious?"
"It's not the stink. It's something else. What is that?" He sniffed the air a little bit, then turned to Kay. "Is that you?"
Kay raised an eyebrow. What could he be smelling on her? Zack and Alec removed their hands from their faces and sniffed the air as well, then turned and looked at her in shock. Kay didn't know what their problem was, she couldn't smell a thing. Zack backed away from her as far as he could before Alec practically screamed in agony.
"Kay, you have to get out of here fast."
"What are you talking about? Why do I have to go?"
Alec managed to choke out his own version of an answer despite his lack of breathing room. "You may not be feeling it just yet, but pretty soon you're going to be one of the horniest people alive and we'll be right there with you."
Kay was furious. She had known she was due for a heat cycle soon. She had to have the worst timing ever. "Well this certainly isn't the most comfortable spot for me to be fulfilling my heat cycle, so I think I'll go." She squirmed her way past Ben, trying to ignore the way her body was reacting to him. It was starting fast. It wouldn't be too long before she'd be completely out of control. She shoved the grate off the wall and climbed out. The footsteps outside had stopped. The guards must have heard her getting out, but that didn't really surprise her since she hadn't exactly been quiet. She threw open the door before they had a chance to react, grabbed her machine gun, and whipped it in a wide arc around her, knocking out most of the men. One of the leftover guards grabbed her left arm and tried to get the gun out of her hands. She smiled at him.
"Did anyone ever tell you that you're fine?" she asked huskily. Before he could answer her and before she could go farther, she dropped the gun from her right hand and punched him directly in the nose. She knew perfectly well that she had broken it as he tumbled over backwards. She turned and smiled at the other men. They certainly were good looking. She shook her head as hard as she could. It would be a bad idea to get distracted now. She pulled one of the grenades from her belt, pulled out the pin, and dropped it behind her without them seeing. She grabbed her gun and backed up quickly. As soon as the men started to approach her, she turned and took off running. It was a good thing she was fast because the grenade went off the second she rounded the corner. Despite the screams she heard behind her, she didn't stop running. If she did then there was a chance she might go back to the vent where the X5 men were.
Kay was nearly out of the building when she heard shouts from the hallway to her left. People were fighting, possibly the kids she was here to get. She was almost to the room where she figured the fighting was taking place when a little boy ran out of it and ran straight into her. She looked down at him in shock. She recognized him as Bugler, so the other kids had to be inside. She opened the door to see about seven guards trying to battle the X6s. Despite the fact that they were so much older and larger than the kids, they were losing miserably. Kay decided that she'd better stay back. She might do something she'd regret if she tried to fight the guards. As it was, she couldn't help noticing how good looking Zero was. The whole thing probably only took two minutes. The guards were just no match for a bunch of transgenic kids. When they were done, Bullet and Zero turned to her. Zero took a step back.
"I don't know who you are, but I know you're an X5 because there's no way you could smell like that if you weren't. It's probably best if we keep our distance."
Kay nodded and tried to turn her attention to the girls and Bugler. Ralph offered her an understanding smile, took her arm, and led her out of the room. Fixit and Bugler followed close behind. Kay looked up ahead and saw Alec, Zack, and Ben round the corner and head towards them. While Ralph shoved Kay down the nearest corridor, Fixit pointed back at the room where they had been, then grabbed Bugler's hand and dragged him after Kay. Bugler was the one who broke the silence.
"How are you gonna get us outta here?"
Kay thought for a moment. The question hadn't occurred to her before. Finally, she grinned. "We'll take Alec's truck." She knew they had no idea who's truck she was talking about, but they didn't press her about it. Kay nearly laughed out loud. Alec's truck was much bigger than Zack's and a lot more comfortable. They would kill her for taking the nicer truck when they had more people, and those people were bigger. She couldn't wait to see their faces. After she was out of heat of course.
When they reached the truck, Fixit climbed into the driver's seat. She smiled apologetically at Kay, but Kay knew it was for the best. She'd probably drive them straight into the ditch if there was a cute guy on the side of the road. After they were all situated, Fixit driving, Kay on the passenger's side with Bugler on her lap, and Ralph in the middle, the guys came out. Kay burst out laughing as Alec came running towards them, shouting obscenities the whole way. She smiled sweetly and waved at him through the window as Fixit squealed out onto the road.
When they got back to the farm, Kay ran straight to her house. Ralph shouted after her, "What do we do?"
"Wait until the guys get here and have Zack figure something out!" Kay shouted back. She had to get to her house before the guys got here. She came bursting through her front door, much to the surprise of Wendy and Brin who were eating breakfast. Her words were probably something they were even less prepared for.
"I'm in heat, you gotta hide me!"
Wendy sat there in shock, but Brin nodded with a slight smile on her face and took her to the basement. Thankfully, there was shower and gym equipment down here so she could keep herself under control. She managed to thank Brin before jumping straight into the shower. The only thing she was aware of was that this was going to be a long couple of days. She wasn't herself enough to even notice that that was the first time Brin had smiled here.