The Second Key
By Be Boring
Chapter 8: Don't Play Nice
Mole was strolling through the Rec Center, looking for someone familiar so he could maybe get a game of cards going. That was the best way to talk about his plans so no one else got suspicious. So far he had several transgenics that felt the same way he did about everything that was going on, but none of them had the guts to act on it without a real plan. They felt they needed something secure before they agreed to leave Terminal City. Mole thought that was ridiculous. Did they consider this situation secure? They were trapped in the middle of a large city, hiding out in a toxic area. He didn't find that secure.
A tall, normal-looking man came strolling in from the other side of the Rec Center. Mole had to think for a moment, that guy looked familiar but he couldn't remember where he'd seen him. He smiled as the answer came to him, that was the psy-ops guy that had been blamed for cheating at cards the other day. What was his name again? Mole had to rack his brain for at least two minutes trying to come up with it. Oh yeah, Zeke.
Zeke looked up nervously as Mole approached. "What do you want? I don't plan on staying, I just needed to find 452."
Mole came to a stop about three feet from the other man. "Don't worry, I don't plan on kicking you out. What do you need to see Max about?"
"Um, I want to get a job outside Terminal City like some of the X series are doing. I need the money pretty badly."
Mole nodded sympathetically. "So I heard. Something about your girlfriend, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, she's pregnant. Do you think 452 will let me get a job?"
"For one thing, don't call her 452 or you're never going to get anywhere. For another, she's probably not going to let you because she feels the same way as everyone else. She doesn't trust you any more than she trusts those cult idiots. Besides how she feels, she needs to keep herself a respectful figure if she's going to lead the city and that's not going to happen if she's letting a psy-ops out to work." Mole knew that wasn't true, Max would help the young man out happily even at the expense of her popularity. Still, he wasn't going to get what he wanted out of Zeke if he told him the truth. A brilliant idea had just struck him, and judging by the look on Zeke's face, it was going to work.
"You really think she won't help me?"
"I'm sure of it buddy. She's not the sweetest person in the world, or the brightest. If you ask me she's a rather naive kid, not to mention self-centered. She would never let you do anything unless it benefited her."
"Dammit, I was depending on getting a job. What am I supposed to do now?"
"Do you want to get out of here?"
Now Zeke looked slightly interested. "Yeah, do you know a way out?"
Mole nodded, this was going to work better than he had hoped. "I'm the new guard of Freedom Pass. I could let you sneak out every day to go to a job, but I would need something in return because Max would have me hanged if she ever found out."
"What do you need?"
"Well, I want 25% of whatever money you make. Then I want some information about how the ordinary soldiers are set up. I need to know the easiest way through so I can get a group of people outside."
"I could do that, but are you planning an escape? If you are, I want in, and probably so will the rest of the psy-ops. We're not going to get fair treatment here."
"Well then, consider yourself in."
Brin and Max had finally decided to go to the house, Zack had figured it was about time for Max to meet Sandeman. So far, he had basically told her what he'd already told Kay. The only thing he left out was the fact that Kay was Thula's little sister. The only people who'd heard that had been Kay, Ben, and the Skeptic, and two of them were now dead. He knew it was probably better if Kay was the only person who knew about it, the less people who knew meant there was a lower chance that the Familiars would ever find out who they really had to fear.
Max was completely wrapped up in what Sandeman was saying. It was nice to find out what she was made for instead of just knowing she was different than the others. The only thing that bugged her was not knowing who the family of the anti-key was. If worst came to worst and she was forced to stop the Coming herself, how was she supposed to know who to go to so she could make the complete formula to destroy the airborne pathogen? He obviously knew who it was, but why wouldn't he tell her? She would need that information in order to be of any help.
Brin was listening with half an ear, this didn't really interest her. She was more curious about where Kay was. Where had Zack hidden her? That probably wouldn't have bothered her before, but Zack kept looking like he was listening for something. She could only assume it had to do with Kay.
Zack was trying to hear what was going on in the basement, it had been quiet down there all morning. He was expecting that if she was out of heat that she and White would be fighting by now, but still he could hear nothing. What was going on down there? He would have to find a way to go down and look without seeming suspicious to anyone else, Brin was already keeping an eye on him. She must have noticed him listening. If only she could just pay attention to the story, he could get out of here easier. Of course, Brin always had to make things hard for him just when it was important.
Brin could see Zack wanted to do something, but he had already caught on to her watching him. He wouldn't do anything as long as he was under scrutiny, but it was obvious he was dying to. If he got up to go anywhere, she would follow him and he knew it. Max and Sandeman were completely oblivious to this. Maybe it was better that way.
Kay rolled over so she was laying on her stomach. Why was it so cold? She opened her eyes and looked down, then looked over to the only bit of warmth on her side. Damn, she had done it again? Ames was dead to the world, sleeping like a baby. Well, she didn't blame him. An X5 in heat could very easily wear a man out.
She slowly sat up, she was sore all over. How long had she been down here? It wasn't like she had been keeping track of time, and there was no clock down here. Where were her clothes? She finally spotted them across the room where Ames had been tied up before. That had been interesting at first, but eventually she had managed to get them off. She pulled on her clothes, trying to stay as quiet as possible. She didn't want Zack to hear her and come down.
Zack! Everything that had gone on when she first went into heat came flooding back to her. That bastard! He had set this up! Well now she did have someone to be angry with. She would never have been angry with Ames, he didn't really have a choice in the matter. But Zack? She could see the door he'd been working on, he'd done a good job with it. Well, just as soon as he got down here she was going to smash his head into it! Who did he think he was? Did he think this was some sort of payback for what she did to him and Brin? That was ridiculous, those two were very close anyways and it might have happened even if she didn't throw them together. She couldn't believe he could be so immature.
When she had first slept with Ames, that had been a one time deal. They had both understood that it wasn't going to happen again and that they should probably just forget it after it was over. But this? Zack had taken away her right to decide what to do about her heat. She had always taken good care of herself at that time and that usually meant she was by herself, but he had just thrown her with someone. She knew how his mind worked, he was testing her to see if this would upset her. Hell yeah it upset her, but it wasn't the actual deed that made her angry. It was him taking advantage of the situation. He had even kept her in the mood on the way down the stairs!
With every thought she had, Kay became more and more furious. It disgusted her that someone she had trusted had done something like this. Did he expect her to still be on his side after this? If he did, someone needed to screw his head on straight. He had just made himself one very pissed off enemy.
Ames gave out a low groan in his sleep and his eyes fluttered open. At first he wasn't sure why he was so sore, but as soon as he saw Kay he remembered. Why did that have to happen? He knew the Conclave would kill him for sleeping with a transgenic, then he went and did it again! Of course, she had been in heat this time so there was an excuse. It was the first time that could still cause him problems.
"Do you still believe your family loves you? I would be hard pressed to change my mind."
Kay's look shot daggers. "It never mattered to me how they felt about me. I could have gotten along just fine without them, they just kept popping up in my life. As long as I get out of here, I don't give a rat's ass how they feel."
Ames smirked and grabbed his sweatpants off the floor. "Why don't I think that's true?"
"You've spent too much time dealing with Max, she's more emotional than I am."
"So you're saying you're more like me?"
"Sort of, without your dependencies."
"What dependencies?"
"Well for one thing, your dependency on the cult. Answer me honestly, do you really think you could go on if they all disappeared one day? Would you even know what to do with yourself?"
Ames sat down on the floor, shuddering from the chill of the stone even through his pants. "I can answer that honestly. Yes, I would be able to go on. I'm not just saying that, like I'm sure you're thinking. It's exactly the same thing as you and Manticore. You grew up with them in your life all the time, then they were gone. You're still here, obviously. It would be the same with me."
"Would you be doing what you are now?"
"What, sitting in a cold basement being held captive by freaks? Probably not."
"No, chasing after us. Is that what you would be doing if the cult wasn't there to make you?"
He shrugged, not really knowing how to answer. Would he be here? The scary thing that came to him was that he probably wouldn't be, he'd most likely be helping his father protect them. As a child, he and Sandeman had been very close, very similar to him and Ray. The only problem came when his father humiliated him in the cult by creating the transgenics and leaving the Conclave. If there had never been a cult, that never would have happened and he and Sandeman would most likely still be as close as ever. That would mean he would be on the transgenic side rather than the Familiar side.
"Probably not, but why would that matter now?"
"Do you really want to be where you are?"
"I don't want to be in this damn basement, that's for sure. I like my job, and I liked it all along. That's why..." He hesitated, he had gone way too far. No one was supposed to know that.
Kay cocked her head to the side. "That's why what? You may as well go on, who am I going to tell? It's not like anyone's in the mood to listen to me."
Ames frowned, but she was right. The others wouldn't even believe her if she told them. "I dropped out of the Phalanxes so I could hunt transgenics and make up for my father's mistakes."
Kay's eyes widened. He had been a Phalanx? She remembered how strong he'd been when they'd fought, but she was still far stronger. Well, he would have been better off staying where he was.
"Was your entire family part of them?"
He nodded. "We've always been second-in-command, right next to Thula's family. Phalanxes get better education than the rest, and my father went into genetics. I went into politics and law enforcement, but I did take a class in genetics. My father insisted, he wanted me to follow in his footsteps. I was never that interested in it myself, the only thing I'm good at is reading test results. That hasn't really come in handy very many times."
"Who took your place after you left the position?"
"The others trained and took tests to see who was better suited, then another Familiar was chosen to take their place. That was a fiasco, every second class family wanted a part in it."
Kay was slightly interested in hearing all that went on in the cult; after all, it would have been her life if Sandeman hadn't changed her. "How do they decide who gets to be a Phalanx, and what's a second class family?"
Ames sighed, he really didn't have anything better to do. "Well, I should do the class part first if you're going to understand. The classes are determined by your ancestry. The very first group of children to ever survive the initiation became the first true Familiars, but even though they were continually paired with others as time went on, we would never have had enough of us without adding to the group. That's why they made more original Familiars, which are Familiars that are born from two regular people with strong immune systems that we paired off. The next group of these original children to survive were the second true Familiars, and this went on for quite a while. There are ten groups in all, but by the time the second group was old enough to reproduce, the first group had already had children of their own. All the other groups were one generation behind the other, which meant that they were one generation behind in strength. The descendants of the first group are called the first class because they're the farthest ahead out of our people as far as evolution goes. The second class is the next strongest, and it goes all the way down to the tenth group which is the weakest. They're not weak by any means, just compared to the other classes."
"So, the strongest of the first class families become the Phalanxes? Why aren't there more then?"
"Because there weren't that many first true Familiars, most of the group didn't survive. There were only six originals, one of them being the key. Since the key's family has always been paired with another Familiar, that made it so only five children were born from the group. After that the key has always been paired with a second class Familiar to keep the first class running strong."
"That's why there's only five Phalanxes. What happens if a first class family like yours has more than one child?"
"The key isn't allowed to have more than one child, but the rest of the group is forced to have at least two. The oldest child will then join the group once the parent can no longer be useful, and the next sibling will take their place if there is some reason they need to leave. That's why there needed to be testing among the second class to see who would join the Phalanxes, C.J. was never initiated and couldn't take my place when I left. It's also why I didn't get rid of my wife right away, we were supposed to have another child. For some reason she couldn't get pregnant again, so when she got suspicious about Ray's kidnapping the Conclave ordered me to get rid of her."
Kay studied his face, trying to read the expression. It was rather obvious he'd had lots of practice at hiding his emotions, his face was almost completely blank. He had never talked so much before that she knew of, he didn't seem to be a very talkative person. How had he lived so long being shut up like this? Even she had shown rebellion at one point or another during her time at Manticore, although she had paid for them.
They had been very quiet as they spoke, and apparently someone was getting curious upstairs. Footsteps could be heard crossing the floor, heading for the basement door. Kay was willing to bet anything that it was Zack. That asshole was going to pay for what he'd done. She walked and stood near the newly-built door, standing so she'd be out of sight when he opened it but it wouldn't hit her if he flung it wide open.
Ames watched her, seeing the look in her eyes. It was completely different from the curious one from before when he was telling her about the cult, now it was furious. He could remember when one of his men had shot that little boy off the back of her motorcycle. She had gone nuts on the spot. The way she'd killed his man and fired throughout the car, she'd even sent a chill down his spine. If there was anyone he didn't want to truly hate him, it was her. Of course, he didn't think she hated him at all. She had more or less become adjusted to having him around.
Zack finally lost his patience, he had to find out what was going on downstairs. It had been quiet for way too long. What could be going on down there? It wasn't like Kay and White could be having a conversation or anything, she had always seemed to hate White. Well, she couldn't hate him so much if she could sleep with him willingly.
He didn't even provide an explanation when he got up, they could think what they liked. He could feel Brin's eyes on his back as he left, it wouldn't be long before she followed him. He wished she could just mind her own damn business. Max would be furious if she ever found out what he'd done, and she would be who Brin would tell first.
The silence only seemed to deepen as he descended the stairs. If those two were talking to each other at all, he would have heard it. He strained his sensitive hearing as hard as he could, but there wasn't so much as a peep from the other side of the door. Now he was starting to feel nervous in spite of himself. He was no match for Kay on her own, and now she had White in there with her. They could both take him out in ten seconds flat if they really wanted to. He would just have to be especially careful, that was all.
No matter how careful he was trying to be, Zack could never have expected what happened. Just as he opened the door and started to step through, it came flying back and hit him in the face, effectively slamming him into the edge of the doorframe. Kay stepped out from behind the door, her eyes blazing.
"Nobody is going to recognize you by the time I'm through with you!"
She grabbed his hair and slammed his head into the wall, then buried her knee in his groin. By the way he doubled over, that last one had a definite effect. She punched him several times while he was against the wall, switching from fist to fist so fast it was hard for Ames and Brin, who was standing at the top of the stairs, to see them. Zack finally managed to block one of the punches and shove her back, wiping some blood off his face once he had some room.
Kay could see Brin out of the corner of her eye and got an idea. She knew Zack would never tell her sister what he had done, so she could do it for him. She just had to keep him from seeing Brin. She stood back to let Zack catch his breath.
"If you wanted to get back at me, you could have found a less disgusting way to do it!"
"Gee, thanks," Ames muttered under his breath. Kay almost grinned as she heard it. Zack's eyes didn't show any remorse.
"Why did it bother you so much? You chose to do it of your own free will before, why not when you're in heat and you needed it?"
Kay could see the confusion in Brin's eyes. She would have to clear up the details. She turned her attention back to Zack.
"If I wanted to fuck White again, I would have gone to him myself!" she growled lividly. Now full realization dawned in Brin's eyes. Maybe she should take this a step further. "The only thing I'm happy about is that you didn't take advantage of it yourself. Of course, you were thinking about it while you were keeping me in the mood on the way down the stairs!"
Max was standing by Brin now, and her face was a picture of pure horror. She would never have believed her own brother could do something like that. Kay just needed a little more. Where was Sandeman? The old man would finish off this interesting little scenario she was in.
Max was down by them in an instant, but her eyes were now on Ames. "You asshole, you did it again? I would think you wouldn't lower yourself to sleep with something not human! To think she had to do that another time!"
Ames smirked sarcastically. "I would have tried to get away, but I was chained up. Not that it bothered her. Oh, and by the way, it wasn't just another time. She was in heat a couple days."
Max was shaking in anger, but Kay grabbed her arm as she tried to get at him. "He's not worth it, and you couldn't have expected any different from him. Now Zack on the other hand, what were you expecting from him? I'm pretty sure it wasn't this."
That was true, Max realized. White was pretty much the scum of the earth as far as she was concerned, but Zack was supposed to be someone she could look up to and trust. Now she turned to him, her eyes telling him what he had coming.
"First you had Brin yourself, then you throw Kay in with the enemy. What would you have done if I came into heat? That thought scares me now, thank God I don't go into heat anymore." Her eyes still burning, she headed up the stairs. Zack didn't know what to say. He had actually been pretty close by during one of her earlier heat cycles, but had decided against going to her because he didn't want her to know he was watching her yet. That probably wouldn't be the best thing to tell her right now.
Kay had found that little confrontation interesting, but she wasn't quite through with Zack yet. She waited for him to look back at her, then coiled all her muscles and punched him so hard she heard his cheekbone crack. He was sent straight to the ground by the force of her blow, completely stunned. He knew she was strong, but he hadn't known how much. Even Brin and Ames hadn't expected that much power from her.
Kay knew what was different, he had royally pissed her off and she wasn't afraid of hurting him anymore. That was something that had always scared her about her strength, it was almost too much for her to handle. It was scary to lose control and fly off the deep end. She wasn't afraid of that anymore, she was more than willing to use all her strength. She could thank Zack for that one.
Seeing as how Zack wouldn't be able to come after her too quickly with how much she had dazed him, Kay shot up the stairs past Brin. Instead of shooting straight out the door, she headed upstairs to the bedrooms. Sandeman's wasn't too hard to find, the door was open and he was sitting on the bed. He looked up and seemed to surprised to see her.
"Where have you been?"
"Never mind that, you need to know something and you can't tell anyone you know. Ames is in the basement, and Zack is going to try and use him against you."
The look in the old man's eyes was pure ecstasy. "He's alive?"
"Yeah, but you can't let Zack know you know that. Understand?" When he nodded, she continued. "Have you heard anything else about the X2s?"
"No, but I did notice that the Phalanxes were at that crime scene."
Well, that was interesting. "Don't tell anyone what you know."
She opened his bedroom window and jumped easily to the ground. She had no idea how to get out of this place, but she wasn't going to be getting out alone. What Sandeman told her had given her a whole new idea. If she wasn't going to have Max, Brin, and Zack on her side to stop the Coming, she would do it without them.
Jondy grabbed Alec's arm as she saw Mole and Zeke walk out of the Rec Center. "Alec, what's he up to?"
Alec rolled his eyes disgustedly after Mole's retreating back. "He wants to get out of here. I'll bet anything that it'll have a lot to do with the psy-ops. He'll have no problem convincing them to leave with him, it'll just make it harder for him to get others to leave as well if they know the psy-ops are going along."
Jondy frowned. "Do you think he's right? Do you think we shouldn't be locked up in here?"
"I never thought at all that we should be locked up in here. Mole is right about us needing to get out, but I don't like his idea of going into battle against regular people. It sounds like a suicide mission to me."
"What do you think we should do?"
"Why do you care? Why do you keep asking me what I think?"
"To see if it's anything like what I'm thinking."
"Is it?"
"I don't know, you haven't told me yet."
Alec sighed. "Fine, I think we should expose the cult to get some of the heat off us. After all, we didn't choose to be what we are, they did. They also want to destroy normal people. I think that should at least get some of the nation's attention."
"Do you realize how paranoid people will be?"
"They're already paranoid, they're keeping their eyes open for any of the X series. That's not really easy, considering the fact that we can have our barcodes removed. The Familiars do have a defining mark that they can't get rid of, that Caduceus mark on their left forearms."
"They can cover that up if they wear long sleeves."
"If we get people to believe it, then there will be people raising up shirt sleeves to check for it."
They kept talking like this, completely unaware that they were being watched. The only person who noticed the watcher was Mole as he turned back to look at the Rec Center. He smiled when he saw Alec and Jondy being spied on. Things just kept getting more and more interesting.