The Second Key
By Be Boring
Chapter 13: Blast From The Past
The car was abnormally silent as Normal drove along. Kay was just staring out the window, hoping the rest of their plan went well. They had left Ray with Joshua, he seemed to have given in to the fact that he was now the main babysitter. Luckily for him there weren't many young people for him to watch. Normal finally tried to break the uncomfortable silence.
"That baby that the dogman was holding, was that...?"
"Yeah, she's the one you delivered in JamPony. I think her name's Tahira, Ty for short."
"What does Tahira mean?"
"It's Arabic for 'pure'. I think Gem said it was because she didn't want her daughter's soul tarnished by the hatred of the other people."
Normal nodded in agreement. "That's all anyone can hope for that little girl. I get the feeling that true freedom isn't going to come in her lifetime."
"I'm hoping to change that."
"How? Getting some of them out of Terminal City isn't going to solve the problem, they're still considered fugitives by the rest of the country."
"We can take the people's minds off us."
"How? Everyone considers you guys to be the most dangerous thing since nuclear weapons."
"That's the thing, we're not. There's something else out there that poses a much bigger threat to the world than us, but the people don't know about it."
"What is it?"
"You'll find out soon enough. Actually, I'm hoping you'll help us expose them."
"If it means putting myself in danger, you can count me out. I want to help you people, but I'm not in the mood for suicide."
"You're not going to lose your life, just a little money. I'll help you with that if I have to."
"I don't suppose you're going to tell me what's going to happen?"
"Sorry, not right now."
"Fine, I'm used to people not telling me the truth. Look who works for me."
Kay chuckled, that was true. The JamPony gang weren't known for telling their boss the truth. There was one thing they were good for though, they would come through in a pinch for their friends. She just hoped they would still consider her a friend. They should, she doubted Original Cindy knew about her and White, and Sketchy and Normal definitely didn't know. As far as she could tell, the path was clear for her to get their help.
Max and Brin were talking comfortably, Max had definitely noticed the good mood her sister was in. Things seemed to have gotten a lot better.
"So you two are getting along like usual?" Max asked, referring to Brin and Zack.
"Yeah, it feels like nothing happened. I'm still a little mad, why wouldn't I be? Still, it's so hard to hold anything against him. You don't know him as personally as I do, he can be much more sensitive than he lets us believe. I get the feeling it was killing him to be at odds with us. He may strike most people as a loner, but he can't stand to be really alone."
Max nodded. "It doesn't surprise me, he did everything he could to keep me away from Logan. I know part of it was the fact that he felt a little more than brotherly towards me, but I think he also knew that if I was with Logan, I wouldn't need him. After all, Eyes Only could do a much better job at protecting me than he could."
Brin's mouth opened as she was about to say more, but the door was suddenly pounded on almost hard enough to knock it inwards. Max hurried over to it so she could answer the person before they tore her door off its hinges.
"What's going on that makes you feel like almost destroying my door?"
Alec grabbed the door before she slammed it back shut on him, then Jondy slid in. She figured it would be better if she did the talking.
"There was practically a stampede earlier from the Rec Center. We don't know what's going on, but if those people kept going at the pace they were they would go straight through the fence. Luckily, they didn't do that, but I think they left through the sewers."
Max's eyes widened. "You mean a bunch of transgenics are loose in Seattle now? What scared them so much?"
Jondy shrugged. "I have no clue, but it had to have been bad. You should have seen the way they were moving, it was like the devil himself was on their heels."
Sate stood back and watched as the psy-ops were having their barcodes removed. He was leaving his on for now, there wasn't enough time for everyone to have theirs removed, but most of them were having it done. It would be much easier for them to get through the city. The rest of them would just have to deal with it on their own. He didn't see one other psy-ops who also wasn't having his barcode removed, rather he was slipping out of the room unnoticed.
Zeke took off down the hall once he was sure he couldn't be seen. No one knew the truth, but the main reason that he hadn't been helping the others scare the transhumans was because he was actually focusing on someone else. His main ability was being able to see into someone's mind. Manticore had planned to use him as some sort of lie detector test because the transgenics couldn't hide their entire mind from him, but it also gave him access to things they didn't want him to know.
Zeke had never trusted Sate, it was just a feeling he got. He finally had decided to try and see into Sate's mind, but that was hard to do because unless the person had no idea what was going on, they would know a psy-ops was in the area. The usual effect was that they got a headache, but sometimes they saw flashes of what he was looking through in their head, sort of like a memory flash. A transgenic that knew what to expect from a psy-ops would immediately come looking for him. He just hoped that Sate hadn't noticed.
He had figured the best time to do it was when Sate's mind was on something else completely, like what they were doing today. It was more than enough to distract him from anything Zeke might be doing to his head. The problem was that Zeke didn't know what to do with the information he had learned. Who could he talk to? There was no point in sticking around and telling Max, Sate and the other psy-ops would be long gone by the time she did anything. Other than that, would she even trust him after all that went on today? No, his best chance was to tell one of the other transhumans outside of Terminal City. They would be able to do more. The psy-ops would never leave him, they were too blind to see that he was going to lead them head-on into a brick wall.
The only problem was that he didn't know when he would get the chance to tell anyone without Sate being right there or finding out that he was the one who'd told. Zeke now knew just how much the other man was capable of, in fact he knew it better than anyone else after what he'd seen in Sate's head. They were all in trouble, he could see that clear as day.
Subconsciously his legs led him to the edge of Terminal City, over to the sewers where pretty soon everyone else would be coming. He finally decided just to get out now, there shouldn't be any guards down there after earlier, hopefully they wouldn't have been replaced already. Zeke was made more for reading minds, not fighting. He was strong, but Manticore hadn't kept him focused in that area. He would never be able to go up against several ordinaries. The most he'd be able to do would be to read their minds and taunt them with whatever he found, but that wouldn't help his case any.
The sewers were completely silent, it almost creeped him out. He was half expecting someone to just jump out and yell "Boo!", but that wasn't likely to happen. His imagination was just taking over, which wasn't surprising with some of the frightening things he'd seen in people's minds. If anyone knew what other people really thought, everyone in the world would be hiding from each other. He'd seen fantasies some people had that scared the shit out of him, most of the sweet, quiet people had rather violent thoughts that made him wonder why they hadn't become serial killers yet. He was glad to be a transgenic considering what normal people thought.
Just as he pulled himself up out of one of the manholes, a car pulled so close to his head that he nearly threw himself back down. Kay jumped out of the car and ran around to the front, not expecting anyone to be coming up already.
"Don't tell me they've started already."
"No, I just got a head start."
Kay studied his face, trying to remember where she'd seen him. It finally hit her that she'd seen him around a couple times in the Rec Center, his name was Zeke if she remembered right.
"Why are you coming out so early?"
"I'm looking for someone who's going to be able to stop Sate without him being able to trace it back to me."
"Why do you want to stop him, don't you want to get out of Terminal City?"
"It's not that, it's just that I know more about him than anyone else ever wanted to know. He can't be trusted, he's going to destroy everyone who gets out. You and the X series, the freaks, the psy-ops, and then he'll come back for everyone else in Terminal City. He won't be alone either, he'll have plenty of help. He'll be able to take out the city easily because of all the others he'll have with him, not to mention the fact that the population just went down by at least 50%."
Kay kneeled down next to him as he sat down on the ground after lifting himself up out of the sewers. "Why does he want to kill everyone? Manticore wasn't really big on treason."
"He was never in Manticore, he's not a transgenic. Everyone assumed he was because he showed up before everyone got locked in. He was there almost right after Manticore was burned down, but he was never in Manticore itself. He's one of the Familiars, and he's been in contact with them all along."
Kay bit her lip. If Sate really was with the Familiars, that meant the Conclave knew about her plan. That was when she smiled. Sate knew they were getting out and she had a place set up, but he didn't know where it was. He had no clue she was taking everyone to Foggle Towers, he didn't even know her safe place was in Seattle. Maybe she could still keep things running smoothly.
Normal had gone back to sit in the car to give them some privacy while they talked, and now Kay could hear the radio playing. She turned to tell him it was starting to bug her when a news bulletin came on.
"There has been another animal attack, following the four this morning that have already occurred. It happened no longer than twenty minutes ago at the Star Inc. headquarters. The first attack happened at 8:00 a.m. at the police department in South Market; the next at 9:00a.m. in Chinatown..." She continued naming off the attacks that had happened hourly all the way up to noon, which had just happened almost a half hour ago. Kay frowned as she listened to the report, then smiled. Zeke couldn't help but feel nervous.
"I wouldn't be happy right now. I saw some other weird things in Sate's head."
"Like what?"
"Like the fact that there's only one transgenic he likes, the rest of them he'd kill without even blinking."
"Who does he like?"
"You, but not in a very good way. He likes you like a stalker would like someone. His thoughts about you aren't exactly for kids to see. I'm sorry to have to tell you that, but I thought you should know."
Much to Zeke's surprise, she smiled again. "That actually works in well. What time do you think they're coming out?"
"I'd say in about a half hour."
"That works for me."
Max frowned as they reached the Rec Center, it looked like a fight had broken out. Then there was the tables that were flung around, laying in a pile in the middle of the room. Whatever had happened could not have been good.
Everyone jumped as Zack stepped into the room behind them. Max turned on him with Jondy, Alec, and Brin just watching in silence. "What happened here? Why didn't you come get me?"
"I would have, but I had to take Chelsea to the infirmary. She was pretty badly shaken up. I think you should have at least realized that the psy-ops pulled something again."
"Actually, that thought never entered my mind. It's just that one man Sate that wants to cause problems, the rest of them just want to feel equal."
"Not anymore, there were quite a few psy-ops here. Sate was here too. He tried to take Chelsea, that's what shook her up bad enough for me to have to take her to the infirmary. It wasn't all telekinesis this time either. A lot of the telepathic ones were pulling stuff. Sate scared the people here to the door, then the others made them start fighting each other. It didn't take long for them all to forget about the psy-ops and just focus on tearing each other apart. When they figured out what happened, they took off."
Max clenched a fist angrily. "So that's why they left. Do you know where any of the psy-ops are right now?"
Zack shook his head. "I haven't seen any since then. It wouldn't surprise me if they're about to get out of here too. They're certainly not going to be accepted after pulling a stunt like that."
Alec finally took advantage of the short silence so he could get his two unwanted cents in. "Why don't we go to the sewers? The psy-ops may be planning to get out that way just like the others."
Max looked at him for moment, then nodded. "That sounds good, let's go."
Jondy rolled her eyes as Alec leaned in close and whispered, "Let's write this down on the calendar or something, she actually took some of my advice without insulting me!"
"If they do go through the sewers, I'm using you for a shield!" Max called back over her shoulder.
Jondy laughed as a mumbled "Dammit!" came from next to her.
Sate was satisfied, the psy-ops were finally done having their barcodes removed. He had even managed to get his taken off. The only difference was he knew his was never coming back like theirs. It was better that he got rid of it, the others might get a good look at it and realize it wasn't a real barcode. After all, the Conclave didn't know anything about the different barcodes for the different divisions, so they had just slapped any old barcode on him. For all he knew, it was the barcode of one of the freaks. The chances of it really belonging to a psy-ops were one in a million.
He considered it very lucky that he had gotten away from Sandeman before the old man could see that the barcode wasn't one of his. Not only that, but Sate had met Sandeman before when he was young and still at the school. The Phalanxes had visited his classroom and Sandeman had been there. Of course, Sate had hit his huge growth spurt after that, so the old man shouldn't recognize him for his height.
His phone call to the Conclave earlier had surprised him, he hadn't known Ames White was still alive and knew his son was as well. That made his phone call very important to the other man, it confirmed he was right about Ray. Sate recognized the boy immediately, he had seen him several times when he went to visit his younger brother, Samuel. It made him proud that Sam was almost as good at telekinesis as he was.
The group of psy-ops had just reached the sewers and were starting to climb down when Sate heard a noise behind them. He turned in time to see someone pull their head back around the side of a building. He had no doubt it was Max or someone connected to her, that just wasn't acceptable right now. Focusing on a dumpster near that corner, he turned it sideways so the alley was blocked. He knew they could jump over it, but they knew as well as he did that once they were in the air he could take over. They wouldn't stand a chance against him that way, he could just send them flying into something sharp and impale them.
Most of the psy-ops had already made it down, but he stayed until every last one of them was out of sight before heading down himself. Once his feet hit the bottom of the sewers, he took off running. His long legs carried him easily, he would be out on the other side before Max could get down here. One of the psy-ops grabbed his arm and helped him out once he reached the right manhole, and as soon as his arm was free he rubbed it with distaste.
His senses nearly exploded as a very familiar scent reached him. He had always been able to tell people apart by their scent, and he recognized this person right away. Turning around, he smiled easily at Kay, who was standing right behind him.
"So you did make it in time. Should I feel honored that you wanted to be here fast or should I feel hurt that you didn't trust me to handle it on my own?"
"Stick with that last one and I think you'll be fine," she quipped, barely paying attention to him as she watched Zeke slowly start whispering in the ears of other psy-ops. Good, he was already getting started. He was a key factor in separating Sate from the transgenics. Soon, the others were starting to slip away on their own. Kay turned her attention back to Sate. She would have to distract him from them if this was going to work.
"If you and I are going to go, we may as well do it now."
Sate raised an eyebrow. "You and I? What about the others?"
"It'll be better for us if we all split up into smaller groups. The sector police won't be as suspicious that way. You'll ride with me and Normal, he'll drop us off."
"And just where are we going? You never shared that little bit with me."
Kay smiled, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she did so. His eyes watched her every move in a strange way that made her stomach turn over. Zeke wasn't kidding about the stalker thing. "You'll find out when we get there. I would settle down, we have a long ways to go."
"Out of town?"
"Way out. Do you really think we want to stay here?"
He followed her to the car and slid into the backseat. Kay tapped Normal on the arm and held up the magazine in her hand. He looked at it, then looked back at her questioningly. Why was she holding up a copy of the Seattle Times? Then she mouthed "building". He shrugged, he didn't know what was going through her head, but he would listen.
Alec started helping pull Max, Jondy, and Brin out of the manhole, leaving Zack to climb out on his own. They all looked around the alley they were in, it looked like whoever had been here had cleared out already. The garbage that used to be laying around was either trampled or pushed off to the side, so they had no doubt that this place had been filled with people. Max swore silently to herself, now she knew she had lost most of the people in Terminal City.
Zack sniffed the air. "Some sort of big vehicle was here, I can still smell the exhaust. It's pretty strong, there may have been more than one."
Max frowned, she could smell it too. More people must have gotten out than she thought. That was definitely not a good thing, who knew what would happen? "Mole must have set this up. And to think I believed he was on our side!"
"He is, in his own way," Alec commented. "He wants us to be free and equal, but he didn't want to stay in Terminal City, he wanted to go out there and make it happen."
"I don't care what he wants, I'm going to give his slimy lizard ass the biggest beating it's ever seen."
"I don't think you'll be doing that in this lifetime," a voice said from behind them. They turned to see Luke standing there. "I was looking for you guys and some people said they saw you come this way. Just figured you'd want to know that Mole's dead, he took a big fall off the Seattle Times Building sometime during the night. There's reporters all over that place."
Max's eyes widened. "Well then who got these people out of here? There hasn't been anything on the news about an escape from Terminal City, has there?"
Luke shook his head. "Other than Mole, they're not talking about transgenics at all."
Max ran a hand back through her hair. "Ok, if Mole's not leading everyone, then who is?"
The silence seemed to become overwhelming after a while as they thought. Finally, Zack's voice reached their ears. "Kay."
Brin's head snapped up. "What about Kay?"
"She's leading them. Think about it, she has all sorts of allies. Normal, Sketchy, OC, and a lot of the other people of JamPony. She also might be able to convince Logan to help her. It wouldn't have taken much for her to get the transgenics out of here."
Alec thought for a moment, then something hit him. "The semis! Normal has access to a couple semis just in case we ever get a huge delivery or something. We never needed to use them, but I'm sure he would use them to help in a case like this. Kay would probably be one of the only people who could convince him to let her use them."
Jondy was completely confused. "Why would she do that? What would the point be? I can understand wanting to help people out of Terminal City, but it's not exactly risk-free. Is she really selfless enough to put her life on the line to help them?"
Zack frowned. "No, she's not. She was never a completely selfish person, but she doesn't just go out and do nice things for others. If Ben was still around I could believe it, but on her own she wouldn't do something like that for nothing. She must have some reason for wanting a large number of us with her."
"I can handle it that she's in charge of a bunch of our people now, but she'd better not do anything to screw up what we're working for," Max hissed under her breath.
The Seattle Times Building was just in sight. Kay relaxed in her seat, it wouldn't do her any good to get herself worked up before everything started. She just hoped it actually worked, there was so much that could go wrong. Her own death could be involved, but she hoped it didn't come to that.
The ride had been quiet, Normal wouldn't say anything in Sate's presence and Sate was trying to figure out where they were going. They had already made a pit stop for gas and she'd seen him use his cell phone at that time, but just thinking they wouldn't be in town wasn't enough for him, he wanted to know the exact location. The Conclave must have wanted their information pretty badly.
Reporters were milling around everywhere, not giving nearly enough room for the car to get through. Normal honked on the horn, but it was no use, they weren't budging. Kay grabbed his arm to calm him down.
"We can take it from here, Normal. You can head back to work, we'll just grab another ride."
He didn't look like he wanted to leave her alone with Sate, but Kay thought that was a joke. She could more than take care of herself if Sate got out of hand. Right now, Sate didn't look too happy with having to get out of the car. He felt too exposed around these people, he didn't need his face on TV. The Conclave would punish him severely for that.
As soon as Normal had pulled away from the crowd, Kay and Sate wound up being engulfed in it. The reporters didn't even seem to notice the new arrivals, they were looking for one of the many people who claimed to have seen the fall. Kay almost smiled to herself, she had had a front seat for the whole thing. If only these people knew.
Just as Sate stepped forward and tried to push his way through the crowd, Kay tore the left sleeve of his jacket to reveal his entire arm. She stepped back quickly until she was almost fifteen feet away from him, letting him think it was someone else who had accidentally done it. He covered his arm quickly as he looked around, hoping nobody had seen the Caduceus that was on his left forearm.
Kay slowly let herself catch up to him, exclaiming "These people are way too pushy, we're not going to get through here fast!"
He glanced at her sideways, but she was looking in a different direction to let him think she hadn't seen his arm. She couldn't chase him away now.
They had been slowly working their way through the crowd for nearly a half hour when the first scream rang out. Kay heard it clearly and smiled, they had finally made it. The screams started coming more regularly, then the crowd started to push in their direction. Kay let herself fall back, separating herself from Sate until she knew he would have to turn around to get her.
"Sate, slow down!" she shouted. The other people didn't care, they were in too much of a hurry to bother with her. Sate turned and looked over his shoulder, then swore under his breath. He couldn't believe that a transgenic could be so slow, weren't they supposed to be superior to people? He started pushing his way back through the crowd, not finding it to be very easy due to the current of people pushing against him. By the time he reached her, almost the entire crowd had passed by.
Some cameramen were still stationed up on the second floors of buildings, still filming all that was going on. That made Kay feel even better, the people of the country would be able to see everything that happened here. She kept her hood up, making sure her face couldn't be seen by the cameras. She didn't need to get exposed to everyone.
Sate grabbed her arm and started to drag her along when she was jerked out of his arms. He turned around to find her being held by one of the strangest things he'd ever seen. It looked pretty human-like, but the eyes were strange and its teeth were sharper than the average person's. It was also taller than most people, being nearly his height. That was when he noticed there were three more standing on all sides of him. What the hell were they? They looked like mistakes of humanity, and they sure weren't sane. That was the thing about their eyes that he didn't like, they looked stark-raving mad.
Kay's whole body was shaking. She had deliberately planned to run into the X2s, but she hadn't thought about what her own reaction would be. The only thing that kept running through her head was her memory of being locked up with that one X2. He wasn't the one holding her, the one she had been trapped with was standing to Sate's left. The one holding her was the one they had all seen as children, the one that Ben first called the Nomlie and started to make a story about. Her skin felt like it was crawling at the touch of the creature, her stomach was doing flip-flops and she felt a little light-headed.
Sate slowly moved towards her, keeping his eyes on the X2 behind her. He could sense the other three moving slowly along with him, not letting him get an inch farther away from them. He slowly counted to ten in his head, then whirled around and focused his mind on the X2 behind him. The creature suddenly went flying backwards, crashing through the glass of the front door of the Seattle Times Building. The two to either side of him rushed forward and he sent one into a wall while lashing out and kicking the other one.
Kay felt the grip of the X2 holding her loosen and she took full advantage of it. She reached behind her head with both hands and grabbed the neck of the thing behind her, then threw the top half of her body forward, effectively flinging the X2 over her shoulder. She managed to catch her hood as it started to slip back, but she was sure the cameras had caught at least a glimpse of her face.
The X2 on the ground started to climb back to its feet, but Sate's eyes were focused on it, not allowing it to stand up. Kay saw the others approaching again, but she didn't say anything. Sate was completely distracted by the one on the ground as the other three grabbed him. Kay stood back and watched as Sate was thrown against a wall then slammed to the ground. The X2 on the ground in front of her climbed slowly to its feet and glared at her. She held up both fists in a fighting stance, more than ready to kick its ass.
"You're one of the others," a strange, raspy voice hissed. Kay was stunned to realize it was the X2. Sandeman had told her they could talk, but it still came as a surprise to actually hear it.
"What do you mean, 'one of the others'?"
"You're one of the ones that worked, they didn't keep you locked up like they did to us."
"I wouldn't say that, but I wasn't locked up full-time."
A strange cry from one of the other X2s distracted both of them. "He's one of the snakes! I can smell it!"
Kay had no idea what they were talking about. "He's not a snake, not literally anyway."
The X2 in front of her turned to face her again. "They smell like snakes, and they smell sick. They're different."
Kay smirked. "I knew that a long time ago. He's not normal by any means."
The X2 eyed her thoroughly, making her knees tremble slightly again. "You aren't trying to destroy us or get away from us. Why?"
"You can be more useful than some others. I knew you were coming, you were heading in a straight line for this place with the attacks."
A strange smile spread over the creature's face. "You're not one to miss anything, are you?"
"Not a thing."
She glanced back over its shoulder and watched the other three nearly tearing Sate apart. He wasn't dead yet, but he didn't look too good either. They were tearing at him almost like wild animals, using their nails to inflict the damage. She felt a little sick as she noticed one of his eyes had been torn out, but he deserved it. He had been going to kill everyone, then the cult would have proceeded to kill the rest of the world. She wasn't interested in seeing it happen at all, she would do what Sandeman had made her to do.
Walking straight past the X2 she'd been talking to, she grabbed the arm of one of the others. "I would stop if I were you. He'll be useful later."
The creature's eyes flashed, but it stepped back. Her body tensed as the one she'd been trapped with brushed past her roughly. Shaking off her fear, she grabbed Sate by the throat and lifted him up off the ground.
"You're going to wish you were dead before I'm done with you."
Lenore sat back with her eyes on the television. It was showing footage from earlier in the afternoon at the Seattle Times Building. She felt a burning anger as the broadcast finished and she pressed stop on the VCR, she had been recording everything. Sate's mark had been clear to the camera, not hidden or blurred in the least. It was obvious what it was. Just as she finished rewinding the tape, Ames White stepped through the door. It amused her to see he was still wearing a suit.
"What did you call me for?"
"You might want to watch this." She pressed play on the tape, showing the X2s tearing Sate apart as Kay and the other X2 watched. Ames's eyes never left the screen, he didn't like what he was seeing. As Kay stopped the beating and dragged Sate to his feet, he watched her lips. There was no sound to the video other than the reporter talking, but he had learned to lip-read long ago. A lot of her face was hidden, but he caught the end of what she was saying.
"...were dead before I'm done with you."
He clenched a fist at his side. According to Sate's past few phone calls, not only were the transgenics leaving town but they were taking Ray with them. That last part concerned him more than anything else. If she could hurt another person like that, even if they were a Familiar, what would she do to his son? He wasn't going to let her have Ray long enough to find out.