A/N: Is it too late to up the rating? Michaela gets a leetle annoyed this chapter, and foul language is issued from many parties. Let's make it... whatever's above PG. :)
Private Corporation, Part Twelve.
Max
Max entered Logan's apartment, and found him sitting at the computer. "I got it," she said, pulling it out of her pocket and waving it at him.
"You may want to check it works before you give it to the CIA," Logan said sensibly.
"What, you don't trust Lydecker?" Max asked, but handed over the disk anyway. They both watched as it opened up, and Max nearly swore when a screenlock appeared.
Logan started fiddling with it, typing in different commands when passwords or the like popped up. Eventually, he gained access to the main network and started looking through the files.
"That would be the transgenics files," Max said as they scrolled through a list of names. All the X-series were there individually, as well as some of the other Manticore projects.
"Staff lists," Logan said, opening another file. "Doctors, Officials, they've got everyone here."
"They'd have to. Renfro said that all the Manticore information had to be saved, so they would have had to make a complete copy. So," Max said, "now we take this to the CIA. I am so not looking forward to that."
"You and me both," Logan agreed. Checking his watch, he said, "Where's Alec?"
"Probably at home. Most likely he's not by himself," Max said, but she wondered. Pulling out her cell phone, she dialled Alec's home phone.
"Hey, you've reached my apartment, talk to the machine and I'll call you back." At the sound of the beep Max hung up.
"He's not answering. I'll check his cell." She dialled another number, and again his voicemail picked it up. "He's probably - busy. Or he's someplace he doesn't want anyone to catch him. Alec's the King of Screwy Deals."
"Probably," Logan agreed, but both of them wondered.
Alec
Alec reflected that there probably were worse situations he'd gotten himself into, but right at this moment he couldn't think of any. Although maybe being caught by White came pretty close.
Screw this, it wasn't doing any good. He'd been trying to make himself feel better for nearly half an hour. Michaela had wandered off somewhere - was it too much to ask that she'd forgotten him? - and left him securely tied to a chair.
With high density steel cord. You had to hand it to her, she thought ahead. She'd known exactly where she would take him, and what would happen once they arrived. Or maybe she was really good at thinking on her feet.
However you looked at it, Alec was now smart enough to know one thing: he was in trouble. Maybe Max had finally gotten through to him. Whatever.
Yelling reached his ears. If he was hearing correctly, it was coming from the computer room. He strained to hear and the voices became clearer.
"Which one of you stupid fucking idiots left the terminals alone? I'm going to kill whoever was supposed to be on duty!"
"We don't know who did it, Boss. Jack came in and tried to boot them up, but the Log On screens have had the passwords changed and they've locked down. We can't get in."
"You incompetent fool!" Michaela screamed. There is vital information on that computer! What part of your feeble, useless brain doesn't understand the phrase stay with the computer?!"
"Boss -"
"SHUT UP!" There was a thud, and Michaela soon came into view in the doorway. Alec didn't know whether to think of it as "fun beginning" or "severe danger." Figuring that Michaela was a psychotic transgenic who, by the sound of it, had just hit that guy over the head, he opted for the severe danger warning.
"What the fuck did you do with those computers?" Michaela yelled at him.
"Computer?" Alec asked innocently, opting for the option of playing dumb. "I didn't touch them. I was just about to leave when you caught me."
"I'm going to ask you one more time," Michaela said, picking up the gun from where she'd left it near the door. She cocked it and pointed it directly at Alec's chest. "What - the - fuck - did - you - do - with - the - computer?"
"I didn't do anything," Alec said through gritted teeth. "Do you want me to repeat that, bitch?"
"What did you just call me?" Michaela's face darkened with rage.
"I called you a bitch," Alec repeated. "Do you want me to repeat it again, psycho?"
Perhaps she would have shot him then and there. Alec sensed instinctively that he'd gone too far, and decided the only way to avoid death would be to keep insulting her. He continued, praying that she would refrain from shooting him.
"See, I know about you," Alec said. "The report the CIA had done on your mental fitness. How barely any of you measured up. But the CIA didn't care, and they killed that man and sent him down a river. Then they decided you could still go on missions. You're the incompetent one, Michaela. So what if Manticore had a few gene problems? At least their transgenics were mentally stable!"
He'd hit a nerve, and knew it. She probably couldn't stand being reminded that she, at least, wasn't up to speed with the rest of the CIA transgenics.
"What would you know?" she asked. You, the perfect transgenics, Manticore's pride and joy? You don't know what it was like, the unending training, test and more tests, trying to prove that there wasn't anything wrong with us -" she broke off, and burst into tears. Alec was shocked, but she went on: "Then that man came. He was too nice. He sat me down and ran through the excercises. We weren't stupid, even if we're not - you know. We could tell who was - all there - and who wasn't. I can still remember his pitying smile - and I knew. I was ten years old, for Christ's sake! Then they called us all in and said - they said that there wasn't anything to worry about - we were all fine. Then - they said it was part of a lesson. We were given a gun and told to chase him -"
Alec felt sick. Lydecker had done the same thing, but with criminals from Death Row. They were people too, but it was easier to hate them than hate this stranger...
"We shot him. Oh, some of us hung back - Mitch, perfect little shit that he is." Her eyes met Alec's. "That's why I have to punish him, see? He thinks he's so much better than me - just because he passed."
"So we shot the guy. I felt a bit wierd at first, but then we saw him die." A gleam came back into her eyes. Alec cursed; he'd been too busy feeling sorry for her that he'd forgotten she was dangerous. And she was worse now. Dragging up all her old memories had made her worse than dangerous - and Alec didn't know what to do. He noticed she'd dropped the gun, and began to pat around the floor with his foot. Maybe if he could get to the gun first, he'd have an advantage.
"I've been hunting ever since. We were told that you, Manticore shits that had been created from our files, they were the evil ones. they only existed to be destroyed."
"So you spent your entire life killing transgenics?" Alec asked in disgust. He felt the barrel of the gun, softly now, careful, don't piss her off.
"No." Michaela's voice was dreamy now, and somehow this was more frightening that her rage. "We killed the staff. Everyone we could get that was connected to Manticore. Then when we found out that some of the X5's had escaped, we went after them. But we didn't get any."
"And then when we found out about the fire, and the disk, I knew we had to act. I would get a transgenic and find the disk, then kill my "helper"." She found the gun, picked it up just as Alec's foot made a desperate swipe. "But first," she said pleasantly, "I'll kill you." She aimed the gun carefully...
"Boss, that transgenic you want is on the phone. She has the disk."
"Tell her I'll be a minute."
"She said she'll hang up if you don't answer in -" he checked his watch. "Forty five seconds."
Michaela swore and left the room, taking the gun with her. Alec breathed a sigh of relief. This was bad.
His only hope, fading quickly, was that Max or Logan would figure out where he was, or that Mitch would set him free. After all, he'd done it for Max...
A/N: Sorry the chapters so long. Got a bit carried away. Now, review me!!! Please???
Max entered Logan's apartment, and found him sitting at the computer. "I got it," she said, pulling it out of her pocket and waving it at him.
"You may want to check it works before you give it to the CIA," Logan said sensibly.
"What, you don't trust Lydecker?" Max asked, but handed over the disk anyway. They both watched as it opened up, and Max nearly swore when a screenlock appeared.
Logan started fiddling with it, typing in different commands when passwords or the like popped up. Eventually, he gained access to the main network and started looking through the files.
"That would be the transgenics files," Max said as they scrolled through a list of names. All the X-series were there individually, as well as some of the other Manticore projects.
"Staff lists," Logan said, opening another file. "Doctors, Officials, they've got everyone here."
"They'd have to. Renfro said that all the Manticore information had to be saved, so they would have had to make a complete copy. So," Max said, "now we take this to the CIA. I am so not looking forward to that."
"You and me both," Logan agreed. Checking his watch, he said, "Where's Alec?"
"Probably at home. Most likely he's not by himself," Max said, but she wondered. Pulling out her cell phone, she dialled Alec's home phone.
"Hey, you've reached my apartment, talk to the machine and I'll call you back." At the sound of the beep Max hung up.
"He's not answering. I'll check his cell." She dialled another number, and again his voicemail picked it up. "He's probably - busy. Or he's someplace he doesn't want anyone to catch him. Alec's the King of Screwy Deals."
"Probably," Logan agreed, but both of them wondered.
Alec reflected that there probably were worse situations he'd gotten himself into, but right at this moment he couldn't think of any. Although maybe being caught by White came pretty close.
Screw this, it wasn't doing any good. He'd been trying to make himself feel better for nearly half an hour. Michaela had wandered off somewhere - was it too much to ask that she'd forgotten him? - and left him securely tied to a chair.
With high density steel cord. You had to hand it to her, she thought ahead. She'd known exactly where she would take him, and what would happen once they arrived. Or maybe she was really good at thinking on her feet.
However you looked at it, Alec was now smart enough to know one thing: he was in trouble. Maybe Max had finally gotten through to him. Whatever.
Yelling reached his ears. If he was hearing correctly, it was coming from the computer room. He strained to hear and the voices became clearer.
"Which one of you stupid fucking idiots left the terminals alone? I'm going to kill whoever was supposed to be on duty!"
"We don't know who did it, Boss. Jack came in and tried to boot them up, but the Log On screens have had the passwords changed and they've locked down. We can't get in."
"You incompetent fool!" Michaela screamed. There is vital information on that computer! What part of your feeble, useless brain doesn't understand the phrase stay with the computer?!"
"Boss -"
"SHUT UP!" There was a thud, and Michaela soon came into view in the doorway. Alec didn't know whether to think of it as "fun beginning" or "severe danger." Figuring that Michaela was a psychotic transgenic who, by the sound of it, had just hit that guy over the head, he opted for the severe danger warning.
"What the fuck did you do with those computers?" Michaela yelled at him.
"Computer?" Alec asked innocently, opting for the option of playing dumb. "I didn't touch them. I was just about to leave when you caught me."
"I'm going to ask you one more time," Michaela said, picking up the gun from where she'd left it near the door. She cocked it and pointed it directly at Alec's chest. "What - the - fuck - did - you - do - with - the - computer?"
"I didn't do anything," Alec said through gritted teeth. "Do you want me to repeat that, bitch?"
"What did you just call me?" Michaela's face darkened with rage.
"I called you a bitch," Alec repeated. "Do you want me to repeat it again, psycho?"
Perhaps she would have shot him then and there. Alec sensed instinctively that he'd gone too far, and decided the only way to avoid death would be to keep insulting her. He continued, praying that she would refrain from shooting him.
"See, I know about you," Alec said. "The report the CIA had done on your mental fitness. How barely any of you measured up. But the CIA didn't care, and they killed that man and sent him down a river. Then they decided you could still go on missions. You're the incompetent one, Michaela. So what if Manticore had a few gene problems? At least their transgenics were mentally stable!"
He'd hit a nerve, and knew it. She probably couldn't stand being reminded that she, at least, wasn't up to speed with the rest of the CIA transgenics.
"What would you know?" she asked. You, the perfect transgenics, Manticore's pride and joy? You don't know what it was like, the unending training, test and more tests, trying to prove that there wasn't anything wrong with us -" she broke off, and burst into tears. Alec was shocked, but she went on: "Then that man came. He was too nice. He sat me down and ran through the excercises. We weren't stupid, even if we're not - you know. We could tell who was - all there - and who wasn't. I can still remember his pitying smile - and I knew. I was ten years old, for Christ's sake! Then they called us all in and said - they said that there wasn't anything to worry about - we were all fine. Then - they said it was part of a lesson. We were given a gun and told to chase him -"
Alec felt sick. Lydecker had done the same thing, but with criminals from Death Row. They were people too, but it was easier to hate them than hate this stranger...
"We shot him. Oh, some of us hung back - Mitch, perfect little shit that he is." Her eyes met Alec's. "That's why I have to punish him, see? He thinks he's so much better than me - just because he passed."
"So we shot the guy. I felt a bit wierd at first, but then we saw him die." A gleam came back into her eyes. Alec cursed; he'd been too busy feeling sorry for her that he'd forgotten she was dangerous. And she was worse now. Dragging up all her old memories had made her worse than dangerous - and Alec didn't know what to do. He noticed she'd dropped the gun, and began to pat around the floor with his foot. Maybe if he could get to the gun first, he'd have an advantage.
"I've been hunting ever since. We were told that you, Manticore shits that had been created from our files, they were the evil ones. they only existed to be destroyed."
"So you spent your entire life killing transgenics?" Alec asked in disgust. He felt the barrel of the gun, softly now, careful, don't piss her off.
"No." Michaela's voice was dreamy now, and somehow this was more frightening that her rage. "We killed the staff. Everyone we could get that was connected to Manticore. Then when we found out that some of the X5's had escaped, we went after them. But we didn't get any."
"And then when we found out about the fire, and the disk, I knew we had to act. I would get a transgenic and find the disk, then kill my "helper"." She found the gun, picked it up just as Alec's foot made a desperate swipe. "But first," she said pleasantly, "I'll kill you." She aimed the gun carefully...
"Boss, that transgenic you want is on the phone. She has the disk."
"Tell her I'll be a minute."
"She said she'll hang up if you don't answer in -" he checked his watch. "Forty five seconds."
Michaela swore and left the room, taking the gun with her. Alec breathed a sigh of relief. This was bad.
His only hope, fading quickly, was that Max or Logan would figure out where he was, or that Mitch would set him free. After all, he'd done it for Max...
A/N: Sorry the chapters so long. Got a bit carried away. Now, review me!!! Please???