By Valjean
Run
Alec knew he was in trouble the moment he dropped from the second floor window into the alley behind Jam Pony. He could feel the presence of others around him, confirmed when his keen hearing picked up the sound of a soft footstep, the faint click of metal, deep breathing.
Familiars. Sector cops weren't this stealthy.
He ducked behind a stone pillar, melting into the darkness.White had apparently been watching Jam Pony on the off chance he or Max would be stupid enough to come back. Well, Alec thought, Ames was right about that. One of them had been stupid enough to come back.
Alec scanned the alley, his vision zooming in on the black Harley parked behind a dumpster down at the other end. Touching the Glock 35 tucked in his belt, he weighed the odds. White and his men would undoubtedly have much heavier firepower. He sensed at least six in the shadows. If he tried going back in the building they'd follow and kill Normal. The bike was impossibly out of reach.
There was no way he was getting out of this alley alive.
Alec was scared. Sweat made the gun handle slippery in his hand as he checked the clip. White wasn't going to wait much longer. They had to know he was pinned. The only thing they were waiting for was to see if he had backup -- if Max was going to show up too.
Thank whatever god there was he'd made her promise to let him go if something happened. At least she was safe. His stupidity hadn't killed her too.
"Sir," Otto said. "He's trapped, sir."
"Good," White said, watching the action below from the rooftop of a nearby building.
"He's back behind that column, the one on the far right. Our men have the alley blocked at both ends and we're ready to send more down from above."
"Remember, I want him alive if possible," White said. "He's no good as bait for 452 if he's dead."
"That might be difficult, sir," Otto said. "You know how viciously they fight when cornered."
White clenched his jaw and a vein throbbed visibly in his temple. "Just don't let 494 get away this time," he said. "If he runs, if he's escaping, take him down. I'd prefer to do the honors personally, blow a hole in his head in front of 452, but I will not allow that piece of shit get away a third time."
"Sir," a new voice spoke behind him.
"What is it?"
One of the purebred females stepped forward. "Sir, I'd like a chance to finish my job. This transgenic should have been my kill."
"You already had your chance, Lieutenant," White said. "And you failed."
"I was blind sided, sir. Just as I was about to kill this filth an ordinary interfered."
"An ordinary kicked your butt," White said with a mirthless smile. "As no doubt 494 would have also if he hadn't already had a bullet in him." He turned on the woman. "Tell me again, Lieutenant. Exactly how 494, handicapped as he was, managed to get away from you?"
"I have no excuses, sir. I only ask for a chance to redeem myself by bringing you the transgenic."
White regarded her for a long moment, then nodded. "Very well. Since you've been put under my command, I might as well make use of you." He gestured below. "Bring me the animal, alive or dead, and we'll consider your honor restored."
"Yes, sir," she said. Then she turned and stepped off the edge of the building to land lightly on her feet below.
Alec sniffed the air, recognized the scent, and his heart began beating faster. White's uber bitch was in the alley, the one who'd been about to bash his head in before Logan intervened. She was back to finish the job. Time was up.
Taking a deep breath, Alec stepped away from the wall, his hands held in the air. "You want another go at me, bitch!" he taunted. "Well, here I am! Come and get me!"
He tensed, expecting to feel the impact of bullets hitting his body. Instead, the Familiar female emerged from behind a garbage bin, no weapon in sight.
"You're mine," she growled and charged.
Alec remembered how she moved and blocked her first two blows. The third, a kick to his stomach, pushed him backwards. He landed hard on his back, but arched and was on his feet again in an instant. White's men had apparently been ordered to not interfere. Just what he was counting on.
A whirling kick to the head stopped the bitch's onslaught for a brief moment, long enough for Alec to catch sight of the Harley. He was almost close enough. Her return blow caught his bad shoulder, and for a second Alec thought he was going to go down with the pain. As sparks exploded behind his eyes, he was tempted to pull out his gun, finish her once and for all. But that would mean his instant death as well. Instead, he did the only thing that gave him any chance at all.
Spinning out of her reach, he turned and ran, blurring for the bike. From above somewhere he heard White screaming "Shoot him! Shoot him!" He vaulted onto the Harley and touched the ignition wires. An automatic rifle opened fire, but the garbage bin gave him some cover. Still, one bullet tore through the material of his jacket, another ricocheted off the Harley's fender, and several more cut a pattern in the ground. The engine roared to life and tires screeched on the pavement as he cut out of the alley headed for ... where?
Alec realized that it wasn't just his night vision letting him see so well. The sun was rising. And dawn meant the tide was coming in. He couldn't go back to the beach. The tunnel wouldn't be there. And he doubted he could survive all day in Seattle with White on his tail. Soon the Sector Police would be notified, shutting down all the checkpoints and ways out of the city. They'd have their thermal scans in full use, scouring the crowds looking for him.
Behind came the scream of another motorcycle. Alec looked back. White's uber bitch was on his trail again, chasing after him on a machine that made his Harley look like a toy. Off to one side three more Familiars on bikes were closing in. Alec pulled out his pistol, tossed off several shots, and gunned the engine, flying down the deserted highway, headed for the only place he could think of.
"I don't believe this," Max said, her eyes wide as she stared at Station 9's early morning news. Logan was watching too, his brow creased with concern. A small crowd of other transgenics were gathering around a tv set on the lower level, their worried voices a dull murmur in Max's ears.
"Sector Police, the National Guard, and a team of government special agents are all in pursuit of the renegade transgenic, apparently the first of its kind to escape the siege at Terminal City," the announcer said.
The camera was obviously in a helicopter. The panning shot showed a lone motorcyclist rocketing across a field pursued by at least four military types on larger bikes. Sector police cars were closing in from ahead, sirens screeching, while a National Guard helicopter hovered dangerously close to the news chopper, a uniformed man on board waving the station's crew to back away.
"What is he thinking?" Max practically wailed.
"He's not thinking," Logan said. "That's the problem. He never does. He just does something stupid."
Max turned to Dix, a mutant who's speciality had turned out to be computer systems. "He can't come through the tunnel, can he? The tide's in."
Dix was shaking his head sadly. "Alec's screwed. Even if he reaches the beach that tunnel's half full of water until tonight."
Max turned back to the television. "He wouldn't lead them to us anyway," she said. She watched Alec's Harley swerving as he tore through the uneven terrain. They were shooting at him. She wanted to close her eyes.
"He's going to be trapped against the cliff edge," Logan said. "He hasn't left himself anywhere to go."
"Alec knows what he's doing," Max said. Unfortunately, she knew what he was doing too.
"He's going to get caught," Logan said.
"No," Max said. "He's going to die."
"I don't wanna die. I don't wanna die. I don't wanna die," Alec chanted over and over to himself as he gunned the Harley toward the edge of the cliff, leaning low and forward to avoid the occasional bullet still coming his way. The tide had been rushing in for an hour. The rock face was three hundred feet high at this point. If he could get enough speed, make the bike's trajectory work for him, he might ... just might land in water deep enough to survive.
If not .. well, at least White could get his jollies picking up his broken transgenic body off the rocks below.
The edge was fast approaching. Alec leaned lower, opened the bike's throttle wide -- and screamed at the top of his lungs as he soared into the air.
Behind, White's four Familiars braked their bikes, skidding in the dirt. Three stopped just short of the cliff face, but the fourth tumbled over the edge, his scream joining Alec's in the still morning air.
There was utter silence in Terminal City Central.
"Jesus, he really did it," Luke breathed. Then he grinned. "Alec's sure got balls."
"Alec's an idiot," Max said bitterly, tears streaming down her face.
"A dead idiot," Logan added quietly. "There's no way he could have survived that kind of fall."
Joshua had come up behind them and was looking mournfully at the television screen. The news camera was panning the ocean while police and National Guard rappelled down the cliff face. A body dressed in black could be clearly seen floating face down in the water.
"Alec?" Joshua whimpered.
Max reached out and touched him. Joshua howled and enveloped her in his arms.
Logan, staring at the body on the television screen, said nothing.