After day of having no idea what to write, beating myself senseless trying to come up with anything and then writing something I'm not too proud of, inspiration hit me. I watched two episodes of DA, Exposure and Hello, Goodbye, and I know exactly how this story is going to go. It's going to be a long one though. Hope you guys can stick with it!
"I've got a problem, oh fearless leader," Mole interrupted Alec.
Alec glanced at Mole a little confused. "A problem with what?" Alec, Mole and Max had been discussing their preparations and Alec had brought up the list of units.
"Units. Why the hell should we break up into units?" Mole asked, his cigar bobbing up and down in the process.
Alec looked at the list in confusion. He thought the answer presented itself clearly. "If we split into units, we'll be more organized. Our response time will be thirty percent faster," Alec stated as if it should be painfully obvious to everyone.
Mole's reptilian skin turned shades darker while his permanent scowl somehow became deeper. "Why are we even listening to you in the first place? Because some outdated prophecy says we should?" He took a step closer to Alec and glared down his scaly nose to the much shorter transgenic. "Or is it because you're an X and you think that makes you better than the rest of us." By then, Mole's voice had reached a dangerous level which drew out every s sharply.
Alec could easily feel the many pairs of watchful eyes from the surrounding transgenics searing into him. Mole was openly questioning Alec's authority in front of everyone assembled in the control room. No matter what, Alec new he couldn't loose face in front of his people. That would make him weak and no one took orders from an inferior leader.
So Alec did the only thing any responsible leader would do. He punched Mole square in the face. It wasn't a courtesy punch; Alec put all of his weight into it.
Obviously not expecting the X to do anything, Mole landed on his ass, hard. His jaw dropped in astonishment and so did his cigar. It seemed time had stopped leaving Mole on the ground and everyone motionlessly waiting to see what the fallen reptile would do.
Well, Mole did what any fallen, hard-ass, just-got-put-into-his-place transgenic would do. He laughed and everyone flinched at the coarse noise. Immediately, the tension dissipated and the onlookers went back to their business.
Mole got up and clapped Alec on the shoulder. "Good answer." And with that left the two X-5s staring at his retreating form.
Shaking her head quickly, Max glared at Alec. "That was a shitty way to handle that."
Alec groaned. "What the hell did you expect me to do? Talk to him?" Alec asked harshly but quietly. Like anyone around them couldn't hear him if they wanted to. "Max, they're soldiers. Trying to tell him his place wouldn't have gotten me anywhere. I had to show him." He calmed down a bit. "Besides, I can't have him questioning my authority like that. We won't have a very good chance if they don't respect me, you know that."
She sighed. "You're right."
At the moment, loud arguing from the other side of the room caught their attention. Alec and Max went to see what all the commotion was about. An X-6 and a very bird-like transgenic were fighting with each other.
Alec looked around the control room and felt an unmistakable building of trepidation. Alec frowned. If they were this tense before any sign of an attack was evident, they'd fry themselves out before they got the chance to kick Familiar ass. Granted, Manticore taught them to always be on alert, but accusing each other of who knows what was simply ridiculous.
"Alright, that's enough!" Alec yelled thunderously. Every eye in the room focused on their, at the moment, highly annoyed leader. "The last thing we need right now is to be fighting with ourselves." His voice lost the sternness and replaced it with a more relaxed tone. "I want everyone in the mess hall by eleven. There will be liquor and there will be fun that won't end until dawn." Amused glances flew around the room.
"Move!" Alec ordered and with that everyone snapped into motion.
Max strode up next to Alec with a small smile. "I hope you don't plan on wasting our six month liquor supply in one night."
Alec smirked. "If it's a good party we will." He slung his arm around her. "Come on, Maxie, we've got about fifteen minutes to scrounge up enough liquor to drown an army."
They only got about ten feet before Rift came in running and worried as hell.
"Hey, Rift. What's up?" Alec questioned the X5.
"We've got a problem and it's in the form of large fiery bombs."
"What the hell do you mean?"
"The Familiars. They're lighting up Terminal City," Rift explained.
Alec leapt into action. Heading for the headsets, Alec continued questioning Rift. "Have they entered Terminal City yet?" He grabbed two headsets, courtesy of Logan, off a nearby table.
"No, not yet. They're either trying to get us to scatter and leave Terminal City, or trying to get us in one spot where they can take us out in one stroke."
"They want us together, but we're not going to be and we're not going to scatter." Alec threw a headset to Max. "Get the rest of the headsets to each CO. I want everyone talking in five."
Max nodded. "On it." And headed away.
Alec turned to Rift. "Get to the main lookout post. I want you to tell me exactly when the first Familiar pops their cult loving head in Terminal City."
Confusion crossed Rift's face. "How do you know they'll come in Terminal City? They could finish us off with their bombs and not worry about a thing."
Alec shook his head. "This is personal. They'll want to be here to wipe the smug look of every transgenic face."
Rift nodded and was gone.
Searching the control room for the last person he needed to talk to before this got ugly, Alec frowned. She wasn't there.
His legs carried him swiftly outside into the night air. He could already smell the smoke stifling the cold air.
"Alec!" he heard and turned to his right to find Wil rushing to him. She stopped a foot away from him. She had so many things she planned on telling him but standing in the frigid Seattle air staring up at his hazel eyes, all thoughts left her mind. All that existed was him and her having an unending staring contest.
After millennia of stillness, Alec resumed command mode. "Come on, we've got to get you a headset." He took one step and Wil's hand shot out and clamped onto his arm. He faced her, unanswered questions darting about his turbulent eyes.
"Alec, I…" she began but couldn't finish. Nothing seemed the right thing to say.
Knowing the battle raging inside of Wil, his other, if not better half, Alec took her other hand. "I know," he said simply.
Taking a deep breath, Wil nodded.
"You need a headset," Alec continued. They entered the control room and Alec grabbed another black headset that resembled a cordless phone headset and handed it to Wil.
Alec slipped on his headset and so did Wil.
"Max, do you copy?" he spoke into the mouthpiece.
"Yeah, I copy," came Max's reply. "Every CO has a headset and is rounding up their unit. Awaiting your orders."
"I didn't hear a 'sir' after that." Alec grinned at Max's annoyed noise. Regaining his seriousness, Alec gave his orders. "I want everyone to go to Omega defensive positions." Multiple affirmatives and even a sarcastic 'yes sir' filtered through the headset.
Alec grinned down at Wil. "Ready to show those Familiars what we're made of?"
Her lips quirked into a smile. "As long as it doesn't result in you running around bare-assed again, I'm all for it."
Alec heard a distinctive female snort over his headset. Alec let out a fake laugh. "Ha ha. I say after this, we have a grand bare-assed day where everyone runs free with their backend showing."
Wil smirked. "I think it'll go over well, especially with Mole."
"Are you two done yet?" was Mole's rough reply. "We've got a fight to win, people."
Alec winked at Wil. "Let's do it."
"Alec, do you copy? Six units have been completely wiped out," Rift yelled into the headset.
Delivering a final kick to the Familiar who had decided Alec looked like a good target, Alec answered. "Yeah I copy. Everyone keep fighting, don't let up." With twenty people per unit, six units wiped out meant a fourth of them had been killed.
A bullet grazed his arm but Alec ignored the searing pain. He looked out over the dirty streets where part of the battle raged on. Bodies littered the pavement, Familiar and Transgenic alike. This was a mistake. They should've taken to the sewers. Why hadn't anyone thought to go to the sewers?
"Alec." Wil's disjointed voice rang in his ears. "Half my unit is down and there are more Familiars coming."
Alec made a decision. "I want everyone left in the sewers." Taking a pause, Alec shot a Familiar heading for an injured transgenic. "I repeat, everyone to the sewers now!"
"Alec, half my unit is down and more are dying. We're-" Wil's panicked voice ceased and static replaced it.
"Wil?" Alec screamed but got no response. "Wil, do you copy?"
Even if Wil had answered, Alec wouldn't have heard it over the bomb shrieking towards him. It exploded a good fifty feet away from Alec. The power of the blast took Alec of his feet sailing through the air.
He crashed down onto the slick black pavement. Pin burned through Alec's body right before the darkness.
Logan moved slowly along the street trying not to looking at the lifeless faces of people he knew. They had fought with everything they had all through the night and this was where it got them; dead.
He had yet to find Max and feared the worst; that Max would be in a similar state of everyone around him.
A muffled moan drew Logan's attention and hope grabbed him. Looking to his right, he saw somebody waking. Hopping and jumping over bloody bodies, Logan knelt next to the woman.
His heart sank when he saw her face. It wasn't Max. But hope hadn't completely exited from Logan's mind.
He placed his hand on her shoulder. "Wil," he spoke quietly.
Her brow creased in pain and confusion. Focusing on the person above her proved rather difficult. Finally, her vision cleared. "Logan," she said hoarsely.
Logan took her hand and carefully helped her to sit. "How do you feel?" Logan realized it was a horribly stupid question but it only felt right to ask. The bruises on her neck and the dried blood crusted down the side of her face would've been enough of an answer.
Wil brought a hand to her head. "I feel like I've been shot." She glanced down to the hole in her shoulder. "Apparently I have been shot."
"I know the feeling," Logan replied. "Can you stand?"
She nodded. "Probably." Logan helped her to stand with little trouble.
It was then she noticed all the destruction around her. "Oh my god," she breathed. Whatever color contained in her skin visibly palled. "We lost," she whispered.
Logan nodded. "I've been wondering around for half an hour and you're the only one I've found alive."
She shook her head forcefully. "They can't all have died. It's impossible!" she argued with him.
"Wil," Logan said sternly squeezing her arm for emphasis. "There might be more alive but I've only covered a portion of Terminal City. Original Cindy and Sketchy are out looking too."
"Have they found Alec yet?" she asked fervently.
Logan looked at her sadly. "Not that I know of."
Breaking away from his grasp, she started walking away. "I've got to find him."
"Hold on." Logan caught up with her. "There are still Familiars roaming around Terminal City."
Her walk halted. "What?"
"I saw one of them shoot a dying transgenic. Luckily, she didn't see me. They're making sure they got you all."
Wil digested his words. It didn't matter. "I don't care. I have to find him."
Logan sighed dejectedly. "Just be careful, okay?"
She smiled sadly. "Always."
Wil left Logan and ventured on her own. After searching countless mangled bodies for an hour, Wil doubted she'd ever find him, alive or otherwise.
The smoke and fog in front of her cleared.
She saw him.
But before she made a move to go to him, her dream came back to her. The smoke, the death, the war; all of it had played in her subconscious the night before.
A shiver trickled down her spine. Suddenly, her senses sharpened. She could taste the burnt powder mixed in with the fog. The smell of decaying flesh assaulted her nostrils.
But unlike in the dream, everything was quiet. Screeching bullets and bombs didn't disturb the quiet. That fact did nothing to rid Wil of the eerie sensation.
Trying desperately to ignore the similarities between reality and her dream, Wil ran to Alec. Halfway there, her foot got caught on something. She tripped, her knee hitting the cold pavement first. Sliding a few feet on her stomach, Wil slammed into a corpse. Slowly, she pulled herself up only to have her gaze fall on the corpse's face. Her eyes widened.
"Joshua?" she said softly. She rested her hand on his forehead to find is skin frozen and his body already rigid. Her eyes squeezed shut then drew themselves open, fresh tears glistening but still unshed. "I'm sorry, Joshua."
Focusing her attention back to the reason she was even there, Wil crawled to him.
"Alec?" she asked, her face hovering over his.
His eyes managed to open and focus on her. "Wil." She watched the corners of his slightly blue lips curl up. His smile fell. "I'm cold."
Her gaze traveled down his body to find a gaping hole in his side.
She forced herself to look back to his face without crying. "You're starting to sound like Rift; a big baby."
He laughed but it only morphed into a lung splitting cough.
Inching her head towards his, she captured his lips in a kiss only to feel his freezing lips crack and bleed.
She pulled back and wiped his blood away with her thumb. For second, she couldn't take her eyes off the red substance staining her skin. She felt hot tears descend her cheeks.
She knew what happened next.
"I love you, Alec. And if you love me, promise you won't move or talk for the next ten minutes."
Confusion settled on his face. "Why?"
"Just promise me. Don't say anything. Please, Alec, stay still," she begged.
"Alright," he spoke quietly. "I promise."
A loud shot rang out over the quiet streets. Wil felt the scorching lead imbed itself into her spine and knew she'd never kiss those perfect lips of his again.
"I've got a problem, oh fearless leader," Mole interrupted Alec.
Alec glanced at Mole a little confused. "A problem with what?" Alec, Mole and Max had been discussing their preparations and Alec had brought up the list of units.
"Units. Why the hell should we break up into units?" Mole asked, his cigar bobbing up and down in the process.
Alec looked at the list in confusion. He thought the answer presented itself clearly. "If we split into units, we'll be more organized. Our response time will be thirty percent faster," Alec stated as if it should be painfully obvious to everyone.
Mole's reptilian skin turned shades darker while his permanent scowl somehow became deeper. "Why are we even listening to you in the first place? Because some outdated prophecy says we should?" He took a step closer to Alec and glared down his scaly nose to the much shorter transgenic. "Or is it because you're an X and you think that makes you better than the rest of us." By then, Mole's voice had reached a dangerous level which drew out every s sharply.
Alec could easily feel the many pairs of watchful eyes from the surrounding transgenics searing into him. Mole was openly questioning Alec's authority in front of everyone assembled in the control room. No matter what, Alec new he couldn't loose face in front of his people. That would make him weak and no one took orders from an inferior leader.
So Alec did the only thing any responsible leader would do. He punched Mole square in the face. It wasn't a courtesy punch; Alec put all of his weight into it.
Obviously not expecting the X to do anything, Mole landed on his ass, hard. His jaw dropped in astonishment and so did his cigar. It seemed time had stopped leaving Mole on the ground and everyone motionlessly waiting to see what the fallen reptile would do.
Well, Mole did what any fallen, hard-ass, just-got-put-into-his-place transgenic would do. He laughed and everyone flinched at the coarse noise. Immediately, the tension dissipated and the onlookers went back to their business.
Mole got up and clapped Alec on the shoulder. "Good answer." And with that left the two X-5s staring at his retreating form.
Shaking her head quickly, Max glared at Alec. "That was a shitty way to handle that."
Alec groaned. "What the hell did you expect me to do? Talk to him?" Alec asked harshly but quietly. Like anyone around them couldn't hear him if they wanted to. "Max, they're soldiers. Trying to tell him his place wouldn't have gotten me anywhere. I had to show him." He calmed down a bit. "Besides, I can't have him questioning my authority like that. We won't have a very good chance if they don't respect me, you know that."
She sighed. "You're right."
At the moment, loud arguing from the other side of the room caught their attention. Alec and Max went to see what all the commotion was about. An X-6 and a very bird-like transgenic were fighting with each other.
Alec looked around the control room and felt an unmistakable building of trepidation. Alec frowned. If they were this tense before any sign of an attack was evident, they'd fry themselves out before they got the chance to kick Familiar ass. Granted, Manticore taught them to always be on alert, but accusing each other of who knows what was simply ridiculous.
"Alright, that's enough!" Alec yelled thunderously. Every eye in the room focused on their, at the moment, highly annoyed leader. "The last thing we need right now is to be fighting with ourselves." His voice lost the sternness and replaced it with a more relaxed tone. "I want everyone in the mess hall by eleven. There will be liquor and there will be fun that won't end until dawn." Amused glances flew around the room.
"Move!" Alec ordered and with that everyone snapped into motion.
Max strode up next to Alec with a small smile. "I hope you don't plan on wasting our six month liquor supply in one night."
Alec smirked. "If it's a good party we will." He slung his arm around her. "Come on, Maxie, we've got about fifteen minutes to scrounge up enough liquor to drown an army."
They only got about ten feet before Rift came in running and worried as hell.
"Hey, Rift. What's up?" Alec questioned the X5.
"We've got a problem and it's in the form of large fiery bombs."
"What the hell do you mean?"
"The Familiars. They're lighting up Terminal City," Rift explained.
Alec leapt into action. Heading for the headsets, Alec continued questioning Rift. "Have they entered Terminal City yet?" He grabbed two headsets, courtesy of Logan, off a nearby table.
"No, not yet. They're either trying to get us to scatter and leave Terminal City, or trying to get us in one spot where they can take us out in one stroke."
"They want us together, but we're not going to be and we're not going to scatter." Alec threw a headset to Max. "Get the rest of the headsets to each CO. I want everyone talking in five."
Max nodded. "On it." And headed away.
Alec turned to Rift. "Get to the main lookout post. I want you to tell me exactly when the first Familiar pops their cult loving head in Terminal City."
Confusion crossed Rift's face. "How do you know they'll come in Terminal City? They could finish us off with their bombs and not worry about a thing."
Alec shook his head. "This is personal. They'll want to be here to wipe the smug look of every transgenic face."
Rift nodded and was gone.
Searching the control room for the last person he needed to talk to before this got ugly, Alec frowned. She wasn't there.
His legs carried him swiftly outside into the night air. He could already smell the smoke stifling the cold air.
"Alec!" he heard and turned to his right to find Wil rushing to him. She stopped a foot away from him. She had so many things she planned on telling him but standing in the frigid Seattle air staring up at his hazel eyes, all thoughts left her mind. All that existed was him and her having an unending staring contest.
After millennia of stillness, Alec resumed command mode. "Come on, we've got to get you a headset." He took one step and Wil's hand shot out and clamped onto his arm. He faced her, unanswered questions darting about his turbulent eyes.
"Alec, I…" she began but couldn't finish. Nothing seemed the right thing to say.
Knowing the battle raging inside of Wil, his other, if not better half, Alec took her other hand. "I know," he said simply.
Taking a deep breath, Wil nodded.
"You need a headset," Alec continued. They entered the control room and Alec grabbed another black headset that resembled a cordless phone headset and handed it to Wil.
Alec slipped on his headset and so did Wil.
"Max, do you copy?" he spoke into the mouthpiece.
"Yeah, I copy," came Max's reply. "Every CO has a headset and is rounding up their unit. Awaiting your orders."
"I didn't hear a 'sir' after that." Alec grinned at Max's annoyed noise. Regaining his seriousness, Alec gave his orders. "I want everyone to go to Omega defensive positions." Multiple affirmatives and even a sarcastic 'yes sir' filtered through the headset.
Alec grinned down at Wil. "Ready to show those Familiars what we're made of?"
Her lips quirked into a smile. "As long as it doesn't result in you running around bare-assed again, I'm all for it."
Alec heard a distinctive female snort over his headset. Alec let out a fake laugh. "Ha ha. I say after this, we have a grand bare-assed day where everyone runs free with their backend showing."
Wil smirked. "I think it'll go over well, especially with Mole."
"Are you two done yet?" was Mole's rough reply. "We've got a fight to win, people."
Alec winked at Wil. "Let's do it."
"Alec, do you copy? Six units have been completely wiped out," Rift yelled into the headset.
Delivering a final kick to the Familiar who had decided Alec looked like a good target, Alec answered. "Yeah I copy. Everyone keep fighting, don't let up." With twenty people per unit, six units wiped out meant a fourth of them had been killed.
A bullet grazed his arm but Alec ignored the searing pain. He looked out over the dirty streets where part of the battle raged on. Bodies littered the pavement, Familiar and Transgenic alike. This was a mistake. They should've taken to the sewers. Why hadn't anyone thought to go to the sewers?
"Alec." Wil's disjointed voice rang in his ears. "Half my unit is down and there are more Familiars coming."
Alec made a decision. "I want everyone left in the sewers." Taking a pause, Alec shot a Familiar heading for an injured transgenic. "I repeat, everyone to the sewers now!"
"Alec, half my unit is down and more are dying. We're-" Wil's panicked voice ceased and static replaced it.
"Wil?" Alec screamed but got no response. "Wil, do you copy?"
Even if Wil had answered, Alec wouldn't have heard it over the bomb shrieking towards him. It exploded a good fifty feet away from Alec. The power of the blast took Alec of his feet sailing through the air.
He crashed down onto the slick black pavement. Pin burned through Alec's body right before the darkness.
Logan moved slowly along the street trying not to looking at the lifeless faces of people he knew. They had fought with everything they had all through the night and this was where it got them; dead.
He had yet to find Max and feared the worst; that Max would be in a similar state of everyone around him.
A muffled moan drew Logan's attention and hope grabbed him. Looking to his right, he saw somebody waking. Hopping and jumping over bloody bodies, Logan knelt next to the woman.
His heart sank when he saw her face. It wasn't Max. But hope hadn't completely exited from Logan's mind.
He placed his hand on her shoulder. "Wil," he spoke quietly.
Her brow creased in pain and confusion. Focusing on the person above her proved rather difficult. Finally, her vision cleared. "Logan," she said hoarsely.
Logan took her hand and carefully helped her to sit. "How do you feel?" Logan realized it was a horribly stupid question but it only felt right to ask. The bruises on her neck and the dried blood crusted down the side of her face would've been enough of an answer.
Wil brought a hand to her head. "I feel like I've been shot." She glanced down to the hole in her shoulder. "Apparently I have been shot."
"I know the feeling," Logan replied. "Can you stand?"
She nodded. "Probably." Logan helped her to stand with little trouble.
It was then she noticed all the destruction around her. "Oh my god," she breathed. Whatever color contained in her skin visibly palled. "We lost," she whispered.
Logan nodded. "I've been wondering around for half an hour and you're the only one I've found alive."
She shook her head forcefully. "They can't all have died. It's impossible!" she argued with him.
"Wil," Logan said sternly squeezing her arm for emphasis. "There might be more alive but I've only covered a portion of Terminal City. Original Cindy and Sketchy are out looking too."
"Have they found Alec yet?" she asked fervently.
Logan looked at her sadly. "Not that I know of."
Breaking away from his grasp, she started walking away. "I've got to find him."
"Hold on." Logan caught up with her. "There are still Familiars roaming around Terminal City."
Her walk halted. "What?"
"I saw one of them shoot a dying transgenic. Luckily, she didn't see me. They're making sure they got you all."
Wil digested his words. It didn't matter. "I don't care. I have to find him."
Logan sighed dejectedly. "Just be careful, okay?"
She smiled sadly. "Always."
Wil left Logan and ventured on her own. After searching countless mangled bodies for an hour, Wil doubted she'd ever find him, alive or otherwise.
The smoke and fog in front of her cleared.
She saw him.
But before she made a move to go to him, her dream came back to her. The smoke, the death, the war; all of it had played in her subconscious the night before.
A shiver trickled down her spine. Suddenly, her senses sharpened. She could taste the burnt powder mixed in with the fog. The smell of decaying flesh assaulted her nostrils.
But unlike in the dream, everything was quiet. Screeching bullets and bombs didn't disturb the quiet. That fact did nothing to rid Wil of the eerie sensation.
Trying desperately to ignore the similarities between reality and her dream, Wil ran to Alec. Halfway there, her foot got caught on something. She tripped, her knee hitting the cold pavement first. Sliding a few feet on her stomach, Wil slammed into a corpse. Slowly, she pulled herself up only to have her gaze fall on the corpse's face. Her eyes widened.
"Joshua?" she said softly. She rested her hand on his forehead to find is skin frozen and his body already rigid. Her eyes squeezed shut then drew themselves open, fresh tears glistening but still unshed. "I'm sorry, Joshua."
Focusing her attention back to the reason she was even there, Wil crawled to him.
"Alec?" she asked, her face hovering over his.
His eyes managed to open and focus on her. "Wil." She watched the corners of his slightly blue lips curl up. His smile fell. "I'm cold."
Her gaze traveled down his body to find a gaping hole in his side.
She forced herself to look back to his face without crying. "You're starting to sound like Rift; a big baby."
He laughed but it only morphed into a lung splitting cough.
Inching her head towards his, she captured his lips in a kiss only to feel his freezing lips crack and bleed.
She pulled back and wiped his blood away with her thumb. For second, she couldn't take her eyes off the red substance staining her skin. She felt hot tears descend her cheeks.
She knew what happened next.
"I love you, Alec. And if you love me, promise you won't move or talk for the next ten minutes."
Confusion settled on his face. "Why?"
"Just promise me. Don't say anything. Please, Alec, stay still," she begged.
"Alright," he spoke quietly. "I promise."
A loud shot rang out over the quiet streets. Wil felt the scorching lead imbed itself into her spine and knew she'd never kiss those perfect lips of his again.