Alec groaned as he heaved himself out of bed. Another day of work was ahead of him. Another day of Max watching him cautiously, Original Cindy trying to talk to him about what he was feeling, and Normal fawning all over him. Just what he wanted. Ever since he had gone back to work Original Cindy and Max had watched his every move, probably afraid he was going to lose it at any minute.
Alec stripped his clothes and stepped into the warm water, letting it cascade over him and wake him up. As he washed his hair he mentally prepared himself for another day. Just another normal day.
Yeah right, if only Alec knew...
~!~!~!
Lexa woke up as the lights in her cell came on. Another day. Paige came in shortly after bearing a large tray. "How are you feeling this morning?" She asked.
"Fine. When are they going to let me leave this damn room?" Lexa asked testily.
"The answer is the same as last time Lexa. After you give birth. They aren't going to take any risks with you. At least they are letting you walk around the compound at night." She said patiently. Lexa was getting more and more frustrated as time went by. She was nearly four months pregnant now and starting to show.
"Yeah and what is there to see? Dirt!" Lexa said as the threw back the covers and walked to the small table to eat. This cell was larger than her last one. It had a small table and a larger bathroom.
"Quit complaining and eat. You have to see the doctor this morning." Paige said.
Lexa paled as she removed the cover on her eggs. Paige noticed and kneeled by her. "I know you don't want to go. But you have to. Don't give them a reason to punish you." She warned.
Lexa nodded and lifted her fork to her mouth. The eggs were bland but they were better than nothing. She ate quickly and changed into a clean pair of scrubs. Paige picked up her tray and walked to the door. "I'll be back for you in a while."
Lexa nodded and went to brush her teeth mentally preparing herself for the day.
~!~!~!
VIn was doing pushups when 675 came in. He paused halfway up and looked at her. "Breakfast?" He asked.
She nodded. "Yep."
He pushed up off the floor dusting his hands off needlessly. The floor in his cell was spotless thanks to whoever cleaned it when he was taken out during the day. They had been taking him to the drilling grounds for the past week. Two guards watched from the edge of the yard with M-16s strapped to their backs while a TAC leader put him through drill after drill.
Vin studied 675 as she stood waiting for him to finish his breakfast. She seemed keyed up. "What's wrong?" He asked quietly.
675 looked startled. Vin had hardly said more than two words to her every morning. "Uh- nothing." She replied.
"Something's wrong, you can't sit still." He insisted. This was true. She was fidgeting with the belt on her pants.
675 walked closer to him. "I shouldn't be telling you this," She paused then, making a decision continued. "Lexa has to go see the Obstretician today."
Vin's eyes lit up. "Really?"
"It's not a good thing." 675 told him her eyes dark. "He, does things. Bad things."
Vin became angry. "Has he hurt her?" He asked.
"In a way yes."
"I'll kill him." Vin declared enraged.
675 watched him warily. "You have to stay calm. They were talking about taking you to psyobs to see if the outside has had any adverse affects on you." She said in a hushed voice.
Vin looked at her, his eyes stormy. He said not a word.
"Please. I didn't tell you to upset you. It's just," She hesitated. "I don't want what happened to me to happen to Lexa. She's been so nice to me. She gave me a name."
Vin was quiet for a moment then asked. "What is it?"
"What's what?"
"Your new name?"
Paige smiled "Paige, after a girl in a book."
Vin considered it. "It suits you." Her smile widened. "Will you help out escape?" He asked quietly.
The smile left her face and she said. "I don't know. I've been thinking about it." she confessed to him. "When they took my baby, a part of me died inside. I don't want her to go through that."
Vin watched her face carefully.
"Let me think about it some more okay?" She asked.
He nodded. She gestured to him tray. "Are you going to eat?"
He took the toast from the tray and downed the juice in one breath. "Thanks." Paige shook her head. He had left more than half the food on the tray. She picked it up and walked out. She only had thirty minutes before Lexa's appointment.
~!~!~!~!
When Paige came into Lexa's cell she discovered the pregnant woman laying on the bed crying.
"Are you okay? Are you in pain?" Paige asked concerned.
Lexa had been so upset she hadn't heard her come in. She wiped the tears from her cheeks then faced the other transgenic.
"I'm okay."
"No you're not." Paige accused.
"No I'm not." Lexa confessed. "I just miss Vin and Alec. I was think about what happens when I have the baby." As she told her this, she rubbed the small mound of her stomach. "Do you ever think about your child?" she asked then shook her head. "Sorry, that was insensitive of me."
Paige's eyes took on a far away look. "I saw my baby once. It was about a week after I had her. I was leaving the mess hall and they were taking her to the infant unit. She was so small. She started crying and the nurse lifted her up to her shoulder to quiet her." Tears rolled down Paige's cheeks. "I wanted to be that nurse so badly. Then I saw her barcode. I will never forget her designation. 2x5-838."
"2x5?" Lexa asked confused. "I've never heard of a unit like that.
"Second generation X5. " Paige explained wiping her tears away. Lexa gave her hand a quick squeeze.
"Don't worry. One day, we are going to get out of here and we will take her with us. All you have to do is start thinking of a name."
They had talked about escaping a few times but had never made any plans. This dream of finding her child and taking her far away from the hell they were at now was what made up Paige's mind.
She was going to help them escape, and she was going with them.
~!~!~!
Paige and Lexa hurried down the halls, they were running late for Lexa's appointment. Paige led her to a small lab where a nurse took a vial of her blood then they hurried to the small examination room. Lexa sat on the table as Paige left. The doctor came in moments later and Lexa's blood ran cold.
He directed her to lay back smiling the whole time. He measured her stomach and recorded the figures. He then took the babies heartbeat and Lexa's temperature. He asked her a few questions about her health and well being and Lexa started to relax.
When she thought the exam was almost over the doctor advanced towards her. He reached his hands out and started to caress her hair. His hand moved to the hem of her scrubs shirt and started to lift.
Lexa's fear faded and anger came full on. She pushed him away roughly.
"Now 427, you don't want me to report this to the Captain do you?" The doctor said grinning. Apparently he didn't know who he was talking to.
"Screw you, you pervert." She said sliding off the table. Gone was the timid woman of the last visit. As Max would say "The bitch is back."
The doctor tried to take a hold of her arms and she yanked hers in wide outward circles, breaking his grasp. She threw a right hook and connected with his chin. The doctor's hands came up too slow to block the blow.
Lexa jerked the door open, only to be confronted by two guards at the end of the hall. She struggled to get out of their arms but they held tight. Finally she sighed and gave up going limp. She made them carry her weight back to her cell.
~!~!~!
Paige paced back and forth in her barracks. She shared the large room with six other females who had also just given birth and were waiting to return to their unit. She had heard about Lexa's altercation with the doctor and had tried to go and comfort her but had been stopped by a guard at her door.
She sat on her bunk and tried to think about what
she could do. She resigned herself to waiting.
~!~!~!
"Sir." A voice came from behind him. Captain Ryke turned to face the X6 who was standing at attention in the middle of his office.
"What soldier?" He asked irritably.
"Sir, X5-427 hit Dr. Orion during her exam today Sir." The X6 reported.
Anger surged through Captain Ryke. He had given her a larger cell, given her leniency and had X5-675 look after her every need and this is how she repaid him.
"Take her to room 554. Leave her to the tender mercies of Dr. Green." The X6's eyes widened slightly in fear. "Tell him only level on reindoctrination. No permanent damage."
The X6 saluted and said "Sir, yes sir." and executed a sharp military turn on his heel and left the room.
~!~!~!
Lexa was marched forcefully to room 554 by two x6s. SHe had thought about trying to break away but she was no match due to her pregnancy. The strapped her to a chair in the room and she knew what was coming.
A doctor walked in. He was tall and thin, reminding her of a walking skeleton. "427, I've been told you assaulted a doctor."
Lexa glared at him.
"Very well, no talking then." He turned off the lights and turned on a projection machine at the back of the room. The words duty, mission, objective, obedience, and punishment flashed across the lighted screen. This did not bother Lexa, she had seen it before. The doctor left the room.
He returned a short while later with a small laser and attached it to a metallic arm on the back of the chair. He positioned it so that the red beam lined up with her pupil. He turned it on and Lexa gasped as the pain.
"You are a failure 427. You think that you could be loved? No one could love you." He told her. "You aren't human."
"Alec loves me." She said through gritted teeth.
"Alec? You mean X5-494. He couldn't love you. You got captured twice, putting him in danger. He came to get you and you couldn't even leave. I think you got hurt on purpose, did you want to stay here 427."
"Hell no."
"What about your so called brother? He got shot trying to help you escape. He had many internal injuries. It's all your fault 427."
Tears welled in Lexa's eyes. This went on for hours and as hard as she tried not to believe it, the words slipped past her barrier.
"You are X5-427, you have no name. You deserve no name. You are a soldier. Nothing more."
Lexa slipped away into the darkness of her mind.
~!~!~!
A guard came to Paige's barracks to tell her that
she was to go to Lexa's cell and help her get ready for dinner. Paige
hurried to the cell almost tripping over her own feet in her haste.
It had been almost six hours since this morning's event and her anxiety
had doubled with each hour.
She opened the door to find Lexa huddled in the top corner of her bed against the wall. She was staring blankly at the plain wall.
"Lexa?" She asked hesitantly.
"I am X5-427." She replied dully.
This worried Paige. She pulled on Lexa's arm. "Come on, we have to get you cleaned up."
Lexa stood under the water motionlessly. Paige had to wash her hair and hand her the towel to dry off with. Lexa went through the motions like an automaton. Paige tried to engage her in conversation several times and was met with little or no answer.
"I'm getting ready to go see Vin." Paige said trying
desperately to get a reaction from her.
"X5-693." Was all she got.
"He wants to see you." Paige tried again. "He wants us to leave here."
"That is treason." Lexa pulled on her scrubs.
"Don't you want your baby to be safe?" Paige said angrily. She was losing her temper.
"Manticore will train my baby to take care of itself."
"What about Alec?"
"X5-494 has already been through training."
Paige gave up for the time being. Disgusted she helped Lexa into bed. Lexa turned to face the wall again and Paige left.
~@~!!
The door to Vin's cell opened and Paige stormed in. "We have to leave soon."
"We?"
"I'm going too." She said waving her hand in a dismissive gesture. "They've done something to Lexa. She must have been taken in for reprogramming or something."
Vin stood. "What?"
"It's like she isn't there."
"We have to get her out of here. Why did they do that to her?"
"She hit the doctor this morning." Paige told him.
"Okay, so what's the plan?"
"I-uh don't have one." Paige said embarrassed. She sat down at his small table.
"Well, we need one." He said.
"I know." They were quiet for a while. Then Paige got excited. "I know! We go for a walk every evening after I bring you dinner. We can try then. The fence on the North side is only about six feet by the river. We can meet there and go over. Then we go to the nearest city we can."
"Okay well that has too many holes." Vin said frowning.
Paige frowned also. "Why?"
"Well, we don't know how far we are from a city, we will need water and food. Lexa's pregnant so we have to think about her." Then carefully he asked. "What about your baby?"
Paige nodded slowly. "You're right. Give me some time and I will think of something." She added softly "I want my baby to come too." She looked up at Vin. "Do you think we can do this?"
Vin nodded confidently. "We've done it twice." Paige nodded slowly.
"We have to do it soon." She said urgently. Vin agreed.
"Okay, I am going to go check on Lexa." She said
as she left.
~!~!~!
Paige opened the door slowly, hoping to find Lexa back to herself again. She took one look at the girl on the bed and her hopes were dashed. Lexa was sitting up in the bed reading, only thing was, she wasn't reading the novel that Paige had smuggled in to her. She was reading a field manual. One of the guards must have given it to her.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"Studying. I may not be fit for duty now, but when I am I have a lot of catching up to do." Lexa replied her eyes not leaving the book.
Paige pried the book from her hands. "We need to talk."
"About what?" She asked her voice betraying her annoyance.
Paige sighed. "Nothing." She stood and opened the fridge. Pulling out a shake, she handed it to her and gave her the pills she shook from the bottle. Out of habit she filled a glass with water and prepared to hand it to Lexa. Lexa drank the shake and set the glass on the table and turned away before Paige could hand the glass of water to her. She lay down on the bed with the field manual. Paige sat the glass down and left without a word.
~!~!~!
Alec sat down in a chair in what passed for Terminal City's medical center. He sighed heavily as young X6 cleaned the bullet wound in his arm and wrapped it with sterile gauze.
Who knew that he would end up here today? Dirty, tired with his arm hurting like all hell. Fate was probably laughing at him right now. This morning he woke up in his semi clean apartment missing Lexa and tonight he was in their new "city" that was falling down around their ears.
What really got him though was that it was Logan, Logan! Who had saved his ass when White's breeding cult psycho hell bitch had the edge on him. That really hurt his ego. Minutes ago he had been standing on the roof with Max, Logan, Joshua and many other freaks like him when they had raised their flag, telling the humans they were here to stay.
When he had looked over at Max and Logan they were holding hands with these creepy latex gloves on. Logan's face had been shining. Max on the other hand, her face wore a determined look. Alec could see the look of longing in her eyes and he didn't think it had to do with Logan. She had seen him looking her way and told him to take himself to the medical building to get checked out.
And he had, nodding his head in a salute to their new leader, reminding himself to catch up with her later so they could talk. The X6 finished with his arm, giving him a pat on his good shoulder dismissing him so Alec headed to the main building to find Max.
When he arrived Max was standing in the middle of the room giving orders to various soldiers. Nomalies and X series alike jumped to obey her commands without a second thought.
"Hey Mole?" Max called out to the tall lizard looking transhuman. "Could you find a place for these three to sleep?" She gestured to the three humans, Sketchy, Original Cindy, and Logan, who had helped them escape capture earlier that day. Mole nodded.
"Yeah, I'm sure we can find something." He said giving Logan a distasteful look. He started to lead them away. Logan hung behind.
"Max, I'll just stay with you until-" He started but Max put a hand up.
"Logan, go rest. It's been a long day and we still have a lot to do here. Besides, the toxins will start affecting you soon, so you need to rest while you can." She told him and turned to another transgenic who requested her attention. Alec watched this with a mixture of relief and amusement.
He had been afraid she would give up on Vin. He knew they needed each other. Now getting them back was definitely going to be harder since this mess went down. If they could find them.
He waited until he, Max and Dix were the only ones left in the building. Max sank down onto a couch sitting against the wall and he made his way to her, flopping down just as gracefully.
"Hey." He said in greeting.
"Hey yourself. The arm okay?" She replied smiling weakly.
"Yep, like you said no big deal."
"Glad you're okay. I don't think I could stand to
lose another person in my life." She said whispering the last sentence.
Alec put his arm around her shoulders giving her a quick hug. Since Vin and Lexa had been taken they had grown closer. "Nope, you're stuck with me."
She rolled her eyes. They sat in companionable silence then she broke it. "Do you think they are okay?" She asked.
Alec knew who she meant. "I don't know." He confessed. "Lexa is almost five months pregnant now. If nothing went wrong." He said quietly. Max nodded.
"We'll find them." She said.
"We will."
" I miss him." Max told him.
"So do I." He hesitated then asked the question that had been on his mind. "What was that with Logan, on the roof?"
Max looked at him. "I don't know." She said slowly. "I think I got caught up in the moment. Then later, I look at him, and all I can see it him and Asha, that day. I get so mad." She told him.
Alec sighed in relief.
"They are going to have to leave soon. It's not good for them to be here." Max said.
"I'll get someone working on a way out. But Logan can't go home." Alec told her.
"I know. White." She said.
"He could go to Logan's." Alec suggested.
"Yeah." Max said. "We could set him up there, maybe he will have more time to find Vin and Lexa."
"Let's hope so." Alec agreed.
"So maybe tomorrow?" Max asked
"Maybe, or the next day." Alec told her then smiled "In a hurry to get rid of him?"
Max frowned. "It's not that. It's just, I think better
without him here. If things get hairy then I won't have to worry about
him not approving of something we do. Whenever I would steal something
or use force with someone, I could see it in his eyes. He didn't
approve and it made me feel guilty." She told him.
Alec nodded. He had seen it too. Many times.
He stood. "Mole found me a place a couple of buildings over. There's an apartment down the hall from it that's empty. You are welcome to it." He told her and offered her his hand to help her up.
She took it and stood. "Thanks but I don't think I'll be able to sleep."
Alec looked at her, her eyes were drooping and she
yawned. "C'mon, you can at least look at it. Maybe you can check on Joshua,
he's on the next floor down." She nodded and they started off into the
night.
***
To Be Continued...
Okay next chapter: The break out. I am already working on it. See why I split it up. The first chapter was HUGE. Sometimes I just get in the mood to write.
Let me know what you think!