"You're late," Max's voice was harsh when Alec and I entered the conference room on the second floor of TC's central building.
"Wow, I didn't know I was pregnant," said Alec with a grin. He looked at me with wide eyes. "Bobbie, what should I do? Keep it or put it up for adoption?"
Before I could answer, Max snapped, "Alec, cut that out. We've already started the meeting without you."
"Oh," said Alec, settling down in a chair to Max's right. "Sorry about that. So, what'd we miss?"
Max continued to glare at Alec as she answered, "Just about everything. I told the council members about Logan's removal from Terminal City."
"And the "shoot to kill" order?"
Max looked as though she swallowed a lemon. "Yes, that too. Now, meeting's adjourned." While the transgenics around the table rose from their seats, Max and Alec exchanged glances. My brother raised an eyebrow and Max frowned at him. Alec's eyes stared directly into Max's. A small beat passed before she gave him a slight nod of her head. Alec leaned back in his seat and cleared his throat.
"Listen, the X5 representatives need to stay behind. Max would like to have a word with you." He turned his gaze to Mole who was standing at the doorway. "Mole, could you call Louise up here for a moment?"
"Sure, thing, Alec," said Mole, exiting out of the conference room. While the X-Series representatives and the trans-humans followed him, I sat down beside Jeremiah who was tapping the cigarette box in the front pocket of his shirt.
"So, what's the deal, Alec?" asked Rita from Gem's council seat. She waved her red tipped nails in a bored fashion. "Why are you keeping us here like a bunch of school kids?"
"It's not me," said Alec, turning to Max. "It's her decision. She wanted to call you guys in to let you know that we have a situation."
"And what's that?" This was Seth, another X5 representative. Alec looked at Max who took a deep breath.
"Last night, there was a failed tryptophan pick-up," said Max. "The X6 recon team could only make it back with one box of the pills. I'm letting you know that there will be a survey taking place tomorrow in your buildings to find out who has enough tryptophan." She glanced at the two X5 representatives before her. "I'm afraid I don't know you as well as I should and I hope to change this by working together to keep the X5 situation stable."
"That sounds good," said Seth as Rita glared at him. He looked in her direction and blanched. She raised her long nails and gently moved them up Seth's arm. "I-I-I mean, it's good, we're all working together to keep us safe. Right, Rita?" Rita's dark eyes glanced over in my direction. I stared back at her, unflinching.
"So, who are the census takers?" she asked. "I have a feeling Bobbie is one and the other is..."
"Me," said Max. Rita raised an eyebrow and looked at Jeremiah who squirmed uncomfortably.
"Really?" she asked in an arch voice.
"Yes, really," said Max. "Do you have a problem with it?"
Rita pursed her full lips while shaking her head. "No, I don't."
"Good," said Max with a nod of her head. "As soon as Louise comes in, we'll figure out how much to give to the X5s around here and hopefully, we should be able to pull through until the next tryptophan shipment."
"I heard it was familiars who attacked the recon team," Rita began, looking from Max to Alec, "Is that true?"
"That seems to be the case," said Alec in an even voice.
Rita smirked at Max. "You should have taken them out when you had the chance."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Max asked in an icy voice. Rita licked her lips and leaned back in her seat. Carefully, she crossed and uncrossed her legs and placed a slender hand on Seth again. The X5 stiffened a bit as Rita's hand curled around his biceps, the nails digging slightly into his skin.
"You know what I mean," she said. "I heard you let their leader go three years ago. They figure we're weak since you didn't cut off the head of their operations. With White still alive---,"
"You don't know that," Max snapped. "NSA fired White and last thing I heard he left Seattle soon after. He's not bothering us anymore."
"Really?"
"Really," Max said, staring hard at Rita. The female X5 representative's smirk went wider. Her hand fell away from Seth's biceps as she leaned into her seat, hands crossed over her lap.
"Seems like they still want to make trouble even though their leader's gone," she said. "As I've said before, you should have killed White when you had the chance. If you did, you wouldn't be dealing with this mess."
"It was the right thing to do," said Max. "If we don't want to be known as killers, the first thing we have to do is to stop thinking like killers."
"That may work for you, 452," said Rita, "but it doesn't work for me and mine. Right, Seth?"
Seth paled as Max and Rita looked to him for confirmation. He looked down at the table as he twisted his fingers nervously. "Rita, can you stop, please?" Rita whipped her head to glare at the other X5 representative.
"Are you going against me, 439?" she asked, her dark eyes glittering. She reached out for Seth's arm again and grasped it tightly. Seth gasped and shook his head.
"No, ma'am," he whispered. "I'm with you."
"Good," she spat and turned to look at the disgust on Max's face. "What's the matter, 452? Can't stand to see what your people really do to maintain control?"
"If that's what it means to take control," said Max in a slow voice. "Then I'd rather be an ordinary." Rita's eyes narrowed dangerously as Alec sat up straight in his chair.
Feet falling away from the table, Alec said, "All right, everyone, calm down. Rita, let go of Seth's arm. The poor guy looks like he's going to die of blood shock." Rita growled low in her throat as she removed her talons from Seth.
"Good," said my brother as Seth gasped again, this time in relief. "Look, Rita, Max is doing everything she can to stop the familiars. Yes, she let White go, but that's in the past. What matters right now is making sure none of us go into seizures and if we do, we have the methods to be able to relieve them. No norm hospital is going to accept a transgenic."
"They've been doing that for a long time," said Rita, leaning back in her chair, her cleavage thrusting upwards. A cat-like grin crossed her face when Alec, Seth and Jeremiah took a brief moment to stare at her. Max and I glared at the male X5s. "We've always taken care of our own, 494. This is no different."
"There is a difference," said Max, her voice slightly tinged with anger. Rita smirked at her as she went on, "Before, the doctors and nurses could look the other way if a transgenic came in for treatment. It was their choice to treat us. Now, with the new bill coming on, the humans are getting bolder. They just signed a new law stating that there must be separate hospitals for transgenics in Seattle two months ago."
"It's coming into effect as we speak," added Alec. "That's why we need to know now how many X5s in Terminal City need tryptophan."
A grudging look came over Rita's face as she assessed the news. Leaning back again and crossing her arms, she said. "All right. Max and Bobbie can check out my X5s. Same for Seth's and Gem's. On one condition."
"What's that?" asked Max.
" I get to deliver the goods."
"No way," said Alec.
"Alec!" Max scolded.
"What, Max?" he asked, looking up at her in confusion. "Louise gets to administer the tryptophan. That's her job. We gave her that job."
"And now, I want it," said Rita. "It's not right my people have to bow and scrape to a freak to get what they need. They'd be far more comfortable if they got it from a fellow X5. Me."
"Forget it, Rita," said Alec, looking hard at her. "It's Louise's job to give out the tryptophan. You can come by and pick up what you need. Just wait in line, like everyone else."
"I think Max should have a say in this," said Rita, looking at Max. "I know we don't know each other, but I'm sure you'll agree with me." Max looked at Rita coldly as she stood next to Alec, arms crossed.
"I'm glad you say that, Rita," Max began as Rita smirked at Alec. "I don't know you and I would like to get to know you better."
"Thank you, Max," Rita simpered.
"However, I agree with Alec," Max continued. "Delivering the tryptophan is Louise's job. I gave it to her personally two years ago and she's done a fine job ever since." The smirk on Rita's face fell and I felt a small smirk cross my lips. Rita's dark eyes moved in my direction and I forced the smirk to fall into a tight frown. Her eyes went back to Max and then her hand crawled over to Seth's arm once more and gave it a tight squeeze. The second X5 representative nodded and the two of them stared hard at Alec, Max, Jeremiah and myself.
Pursing her lips, Rita stood up and so did Seth. The other X5 representative kept his eyes to the ground as Rita huffed, "Well then. Since you feel this way, you're not coming into my building."
"You can't do that," said Max walking up to the X5 and practically pressing their noses together. "Your building is within Terminal City. I am your leader and you'll do as I say."
Rita took a step back and let her eyes roam over Max. Crossing her arms, she said, "Think again, 452. My building is facing Terminal City, not away from it."
"What does that mean?" asked Max.
"It means that Rita's people live across the street from Terminal City," explained Alec. "She doesn't live within its boundaries, therefore, her building of X5s are independent. Answer to no one but themselves."
"Glad you could clear that up, 494," said Rita. "I was afraid I'd have to use cue cards." Anger flashed across Max's face and her hand moved to strike Rita, but the X5 grasped Max's balled fist and pushed her down to the ground. Alec jumped up and grabbed Rita by the throat and slammed her against the wall.
"Rita, let's get one thing straight," my brother hissed. "Out on Oak Street, you can be the boss. In here, Max is the boss. Terminal City is Max-land and in Max-land, you shut the fuck up and do what she says, take it or leave it." Alec added more pressure onto Rita's throat. "Got that, 534?"
"I got it, 494," Rita gasped. Alec let go of her throat for a minute and the X5 swiped her nails across his cheek. Alec grabbed his bleeding cheek, letting go of the X5 who spat on the ground. Seth ran over to grab her hand and pull her up. Standing steadily on Seth's arm, Rita hissed, "Don't ever do that to me again, 494. Or else you're going to have one less supporter when you become the leader."
"What?" asked Max, her eyebrows coming together in confusion. "What is she talking about? Alec, answer me!"
"It's nothing, Max," snapped Alec while glaring at Rita. "Absolutely nothing." He gave a little laugh. "Rita, I always knew you were a bitch, but this takes the cake. Making your own people suffer on account of a little prejudice, that's really something."
"I do what's necessary," said Rita, looking hard at Alec. "I heard about the need for X5s to guard the perimeter. Guess you're going to have to look somewhere else. Come along, Seth. There's no need to talk to these people." Rita exited the conference room, with Seth following her like a puppy.
"Seth," Alec called, causing the male X5 to pause in mid-stride and turn to face my brother. "You're just going to leave? You're not going to let your units suffer on account of what Rita says."
Seth looked at my brother and started to speak, but Rita called out, "Seth! Are you coming?"
The X5 representative swallowed hard and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Alec. Rita used to be in my unit. I have to obey her."
"Seth!" Rita screeched again.
"I'm coming!" Seth called back and moved away from the conference room. Max, Jeremiah, Alec and myself watched him move down the hall.
Once Seth was gone, we turned to Alec, who wiped the blood trails from his cheek. His eyes were dark as he spat, "He's so her man-whore. Doesn't do anything except follow what that bitch says."
"Alec, what did she say about not supporting you when you become the leader?" Max had her hands on her hips as her dark eyes went from Alec to myself.
"Max, it's nothing," said Alec. "Just Rita mouthing off again. No big deal."
At that, Max shook her head. "It is a big deal. I don't know why you're not telling me anything. I thought I was over this with Logan. I thought you, of all people, would tell me the truth, no matter what."
"Max," said Alec, "Please don't ask what you're not ready to hear."
"And what's that?" asked Max, "That Terminal City wants you to be the leader?" Her eyes widened. "That's what they want, isn't it?" She turned to me. "Bobbie, did you know about this?" I hesitated to answer and looked at my brothers out of the corner of my eyes.
"Bobbie, don't look at Jeremiah and Alec. Look at me." Max placed herself directly in my line of vision. "Did you know about this?" I looked at Max calmly, refusing to look away.
"Max, don't pressure her," said Alec, coming in between Max and myself. "You want to know if Terminal City wants a new leader? Yes. You want to know if they have someone in mind? Yes. You want to know if it's me? Max, open your damn eyes." The X5 glared at him with crossed arms. "Don't get angry with me. Get angry with yourself and get angry at Logan. You two caused this mess. Not me. I did my best to keep things running and it just so happens that the people around here saw me a hell of a lot more than they saw you."
"That's not true!"
"You know damned well it's true," Alec snapped. Max stared at him in shock. Alec pressed a hand to his eyes and continued, "You tried to do your best in the beginning and I have to give you props for that, but later on, you let Logan control what you could do and how you could do it."
"Logan was my boyfriend."
Alec snorted, "Some boyfriend."
"Don't you talk about him like that," Max snarled.
"I can talk about him any damn way I'd like," Alec snapped back. "Especially after his leeching on my family." At that, Max's eyes turned hard and cold.
"Your family?" Max mocked looking at Jeremiah and myself. "You don't know anything about that. You were raised at Manticore."
Jeremiah muttered, "Bitch!" and started to move forward, but I held out my arm, stopping my brother from doing something stupid. Alec's eyes flicked over to Jeremiah and myself before settling upon Max.
Face calm, almost devoid of expression, Alec looked Max up and down and said, "So were you, sweetheart. If I were you, Max, I'd be very careful about what I say next." Max's eyes flashed with anger as she pivoted on her heel and marched out of the conference room. Once it looked like she was out of earshot, I crept over to Alec, whose shoulders sagged as he sank down in his chair. He cradled his head between his hands and moaned.
"I can't believe I said that," he whispered. "I can't believe I hurt her."
"You didn't hurt her," I said, sitting down beside him. I pressed a hand to his shoulder. "You told her the truth and that's what matters. She's got two choices to make here. Either she accepts what you said and re-evaluates her life or she can ignore you and falls prey to feral cats. It's her choice, not yours."
"Bobbie's right," said Jeremiah, walking over to us while puffing on his cigarette. "You told her the problem and now it's up to her to fix it."
"You know, if I didn't know better, I'd say you're actually sympathizing with Max," said Alec. He turned his hazel eyes to our CO, "But I know you and you're not all that sympathetic to Max. So, what's your angle?"
"I have no angle," Jeremiah replied. He leaned against the conference room wall, crossing his legs casually. His fingers idly played with the burning butt. "I'm just supporting you. If you become the leader, it can only serve to achieve what I want."
"Bobbie, that sounds like an angle," said Alec, looking at me. "What do you think?"
"Supporting a move that ensures what you want," I said, pretending to muse aloud. "Yep, that's the definition of an angle."
Alec smirked up at Jeremiah, "Tell me, Jeremiah. What's your plan? Support me as the leader and you're hoping to get a new contingent of X-series for that government job you're so desperate for us to join."
"I might have thought something like that," said Jeremiah, his blue eyes looking coldly at Alec. "If you become the leader, then you'll have my word that New York's transgenics will be sending you a package of tryptophan within a day."
"I see," said Alec. "Why not now? We need the pills. You know that."
"I do," said Jeremiah, "But X5-678, Manhattan's leader, is not going to deal with 452."
"Her name is Max," Alec corrected.
Jeremiah looked down at our brother with contempt. "Whatever. Fact is, Manhattan says it's willing to deal with a true transgenic. 452-I'm sorry-Max, isn't a true transgenic. In Manhattan's eyes, you are a transgenic, 494. If you become the leader of Terminal City, New York's services will be open to you without a second thought."
Alec nodded, while pursing his lips. "So, what you're saying is that you're going to damn my group from getting what it needs, just so you don't have to deal with a niner."
"Precisely."
"And you wonder why I'm not chomping at the bit to join your group," said Alec, standing up and walking towards Jeremiah. "You tell 678 that as long as he keeps refusing aid to TC because of his hate for Max, he can be damned sure that I won't accept anything he gives us if I become the leader."
"Not if, 494, when," said Jeremiah, his blue eyes staring directly into Alec's.
"Doesn't matter," said Alec. "678 can kiss my ass if he's upholding that sorry-assed order."
Jeremiah smirked, "Interesting, 494. Sometimes, I think you haven't changed a bit." Jeremiah took a deep drag of his cigarette before dropping it to the floor and grinding out the butt with the tip of his shoe. He looked at Alec between heavy-lidded eyes. A bitter smile crossed his lips. "You've let your dick do the thinking, once again."
Alec's eyes flashed and threw a punch at Jeremiah, who reeled backwards from the blow. Wiping his bloodied lip, Jeremiah stood up and threw a punch that knocked Alec to the ground. As I moved to pick him up, Alec's right leg shot out and swept Jeremiah's legs out from under him. My CO fell on his back and then rolled backwards until he stood on his feet again. Alec pushed my hands away as he faced Jeremiah, his body tense. Breathing heavily, both boys stared hard at each other waiting for the next blow.
"Guys," I said, edging between them. "Stop this right now."
"Bobbie, stay out of this," Jeremiah snarled as he jumped and used his legs to smash Alec into the wall. Alec used the momentum to grab Jeremiah's arms and flip him over so that my CO landed on the conference table with a thud. Alec leaped over to the table and rammed a knee into Jeremiah's chest. I could hear Jeremiah's jaw crack as Alec backhanded him. A low rumble echoed from my CO's throat as he punched Alec, forcing my younger brother to fall backwards on the table. Alec rubbed his jaw as he leapt up, causing the table to rattle. While he moved towards Jeremiah who was getting up, I crawled on top of the table. As my brothers focused on each other, waiting for the next blow to land, I walked up to Jeremiah's back and jumped on it with my right arm hooking over my CO's neck. Stumbling backwards, I used all of my strength to throw him to the floor, causing him to crash into several chairs, which splintered under his weight.
"Bobbie, what the hell are you doing?!" Alec yelled.
Glaring at him, I snapped, "Trying to keep you from killing him!" I grabbed my brother by the scruff of his neck and threw him off the table. He crashed to the ground on his behind. I looked down at my brothers, breathing heavily. "You two better sit down and shut up, 'cause I've had just about enough of this!"
"Bobbie," Jeremiah began. I whipped my head over in his direction.
"Did I say you could talk?"
"She got you there, Jer," said Alec, rubbing the nape of his neck. My eyes swung in his direction. Alec blanched. "Sorry, Bobbie."
"You better be," I said, surveying the damage done to the conference room. "This room's a mess. Do you know how much it's going to set us back trying to fix this?"
"Bobbie, I'll have Josh and his pals fix it up," said Alec.
"You'll do better than that," I said. "You and Jeremiah are going to clean this place up and you're going to be civil to each other."
"Bobbie!" Both boys looked at me in horror.
Hands on hips, I snapped, "You heard me, you two are going to clean this place up, be nice to each other, and Jeremiah?"
"Yeah?"
I jumped down from the table and walked over to him. "You better straighten out whatever the hell is up with you because you've been working my last nerve this weekend." I paused to look at my brothers. "Do we understand each other?"
Jeremiah and Alec stared at each other sullenly. Annoyed, I grasped both of their necks and pulled them close so that their noses almost touched. Tightening my grip on my brothers, I repeated, "I said do we understand each other?"
"We understand," said Jeremiah and Alec, still glaring at each other.
"Good," I said, letting go of their necks. I backed away from them and looked at the broken chairs, the blood splotches on the rug, and sighed.
"Is everything all right?" a small voice asked and Jeremiah, Alec, and myself looked up to see a nervous Louise standing near the doorway. I straightened and crossed my arms as Alec bent his head down in embarrassment.
"Louise, I'm so sorry. Um, Jeremiah and I had a little argument."
"I see," the female lizard said slowly as she surveyed the damage. "Mole said you wanted to see me?"
"Yes," said Alec. "I was wondering if you had the tryptophan estimate." Louise nodded her head and rummaged though the large purse she had slung over her shoulder.
"Yes, here they are. There are one hundred fresh bottles that can be used for distribution." She took out a thick file and held it out for Alec. My brother walked over to her and grasped the folder. Opening it up, Alec nodded in approval.
"Looks like you had the hundred pill bottles instead of the fifty-pill bottles the team came back with from the pick-up."
Louise nodded. "That's right. That means ten thousand extra pills for Terminal City."
"Okay," said Alec, snapping the folder shut and handing it back to Louise. "That means the people who get the emergency supply first and foremost will be the families with young children and the pregnant females."
"I know a few X5 women who are coming to see me tomorrow for their prenatal check-ups," said Louise. "I'll give them a bottle from the supply. I'll even set up a chart designating which X5 gets a bottle from the stock."
"Good," said Alec. "Bobbie, you and Max are going over to Gem's building and check out her group. When you're done, relay the information to Louise and myself. We should set up the deliveries for the day after tomorrow."
"Okay then," I said. "But what about Rita and Seth's? That leaves at least two hundred X5s or more out in the cold." Alec's jaw visibly tightened.
"I'm tempted to let them suffer," said Alec, "but I'm not. Those X5s shouldn't have to shoulder the blame for the stupidity of their leaders. You go over to Rita's place anyway and take the survey."
"And if Rita stops us?"
Alec looked at me grimly. "Fight her." Jeremiah and I exchanged glances. I turned my gaze to my brother.
"I fight her, she'll take it as a challenge," I said. "The way she sees it, it will look like I'm planning on taking over her territory. You might want Max to fight. She's the leader."
"I would, except---," Alec hesitated for a moment; uncertainty reigned in his hazel eyes.
"Except what?" I prompted.
"Except Rita's a different make," said Alec. "Remember how she fought back in Manticore?"
"I remember," I said. "Got the nice teeth marks to prove it, if they still existed."
"Right," said Alec. "You and I nearly beat her at the mat one time. Chances are, you and Max could take her on and maybe dominate her in front of her building."
"That'll be tough," I said. "Max has been out for a while. She's not going to know how to fight jungle style. If you were with me, I say we could stand a chance."
"What makes you think Rita will let you fight her, Bobbie?" said Jeremiah, putting his two cents worth into the conversation. "She's been leader of those X5s for six months. I heard she's got at least four X5 units under her control. That's a lot of soldiers and she's probably got one hell of a way to keep control of her groups. She's good and she works fast." I nodded in agreement.
"Let's not forget Seth," I added. "He's got three units of X5s under his control and everyone knows that he goes to Rita for leadership. Add that up and we've got seven units, at least two hundred ten soldiers outside of Max's influence. Gem's the only X5 representative who is actively loyal to Max, relatively speaking."
"So that means we've got what?" asked Alec. "Sixty to eighty X5s under our control?"
"Looks like," I said. "It's not good. Rita puts her mind to it, TC won't have to worry about a coup because there won't be a TC once Rita's done."
Alec pinched the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes. "All right. I'll talk to Max at the hospital. See if we can come with a way to keep Rita from turning against us. Meantime, Bobbie, you do the survey tomorrow morning. Max'll join you in the afternoon and then you two can head over to Rita's place and try to work it out. If you can't-fight her."
"Okay, then," I said.
"Good," said my brother. He took a deep breath. "Let's get out of here. I'm starving. Bobbie, want to eat something?"
"Sure," I said. "Just let me talk to Jeremiah for a second, okay?"
"That's fine, Bobbie," said Alec. "I'll see you at the mess hall."
"Will do," I said as my brother exited the conference room with Louise following not far behind. Jeremiah and I were the only ones left in the room. We stood in silence for several minutes before I finally spoke up, "What the hell is up with you?"
"Nothing, Bobbie," my CO muttered.
"Like hell it's nothing," I hissed. "What happened between Saturday morning and Saturday night that's got you in such a foul mood?"
"I'm not in a foul mood," said Jeremiah. I smirked at him.
"Could have fooled me," I said. "Telling Alec he thinks with his dick, yeah, that's sounds like a person who ate his breakfast of champions this morning."
"Bobbie, you wouldn't understand..."
I held up a hand.
"Spare me," I snapped. "Spare me the crap that you're going to spout and you know what? My blood pressure can't take it. My heart-it's going wham, wham and it's all on account of the fact that you won't stop ragging on our brother!"
"I'm not ragging on him!"
I smiled at that. "Again, you could have fooled me." I crossed my arms and looked at my CO hard. "So, tell me, what's up with you?" Jeremiah started to walk away from me, but I blurred in front of him, blocking his escape.
Leaning on the doorjamb, I said, "Jeremiah, I'm going to keep you here all night until you tell me what crawled up your butt and died." My brother pursed his lips and crossed his arms. He drew himself to his full height of six feet two and stared down at me.
I stared back at him and gave a little laugh. "Jeremiah, that trick's played out. Don't try scaring me with how tall you are. Tell me what crawled up your butt? What is it? A raccoon? A ferret? A Siamese? Oh, wait! Is it a chinchilla?" I pretended to gasp in horror.
"Bobbie..." A quick smile crossed my older brother's lips.
"Hah! I knew it!" I crowed, while snapping my fingers. "A chinchilla crawled up your butt and died. No wonder. They've been running around like crazy ever since Logan left the place."
"It wasn't anything like that," said my CO as he sat down in one of the few chairs left intact.
"Then what is it?" I asked, sitting down beside him. Jeremiah heaved a sigh.
"Bobbie, I can't talk about it. Not yet."
"You know I'm going to find out sooner or later," I said. "So, you might as well tell me now to save the time and energy." Jeremiah still had that stubborn look on his face. He clenched and unclenched his fists and I knew I wasn't going to get anything out of him no matter how hard I tried. Time to move on to a new topic.
I heaved another sigh. "Okay, here's some news. Bree's got a job at the mess hall." Jeremiah looked at me in irritation.
"What did you do that for?"
"Alec said he wanted Bree to have a job," I said. "I put two and two together and came up with four. Bree likes to cook and it'll give her something to do."
"I already had a job lined up for her."
"She doesn't want it."
"How do you know?"
"I know," I said. "Because none of us want that government job, Jeremiah. The sooner you come to realize that, the better off we'll be."
Jeremiah stood up and pulled out another cigarette. Lighting it up and pacing nervously, he said, "Bobbie, I'm trying to look out for you. Why can't you see that? This job is what you're meant to do. You were created to be a soldier. It's what you do best."
"Jeremiah..."
"Bobbie, you excelled in underwater sabotage," said my brother. "Alec was the best in the solo missions aside from that unfortunate first deep-cover mission. Bree was designed for spy operations."
"I know, Jeremiah," I said, "But ever think we might want to do something else? Bree loves to cook and I think she'll be great at it. Alec's shaping up to be a great leader and me? Well, I love working with kids."
Jeremiah still looked stubborn. "It's not what you were made to do. You know, you're lucky. The norms out there? They're debating on what their purpose in life is and even when they die, they're still wondering if what they did all their life was worth it. Whether it was truly what they were meant to do. Us? We know why we're here."
"To kill," I answered as Jeremiah glared at me.
"Yes," he said evenly. "I won't lie to you about that, but we were made to serve our country. To be soldiers and that's what this job is all about." I slowly nodded my head and looked down at the ground for a moment.
I looked up at my brother and asked, "Jeremiah, answer me this?"
"What?"
"Are they going to pay us?" I asked, walking up to him, hands on hips. "Are they going to let us lead our own lives and if we fall in love, they'll let us set up our own families?"
Jeremiah was quiet.
I continued, "What about our kids? Already we've got quite a few second-generation X-series. What's going to happen to them? Are they going to be soldiers too?"
"They have the barcodes."
"That they do," I agreed. "But don't you think we ought to have a choice in what we want in our lives? Don't you think those children ought to have the childhood we never had? Don't you think Bree should have a chance to heal from the crap that TAC Officer put on her?"
"We put a stop to that, remember?"
"I remember," I said, "but that's not the point. She's still suffering and the transgenic blood junkie mess is her way of asking for help."
"The job will help her," my CO insisted. "It'll give her a sense of discipline and duty."
"And a mission," I added as my brother cocked his head at me. I gave him a small smile. "That's what it said on the posters. Duty. Discipline. Mission."
"That's right," said Jeremiah. "That's the way we ought to live our lives. It's the only way and you and Alec are not willing to see that." I pursed my lips. For several minutes, Jeremiah and I stared at each other, unwavering in our gazes.
"Where were you when Manticore burned down?" I asked.
Jeremiah raised an eyebrow. "You know where."
"Humor me."
My CO rolled his eyes and answered, "In New Orleans. It was a solo mission."
"Right," I said. "You know where I was?"
"At Manticore."
"Right. I was about to be inducted into the breeding program. Remember that?"
"I remember."
"Good. I was wondering if that slipped your mind."
"Bobbie..." Jeremiah warned. I ignored him.
"Anyway, the place burned before me and the X5 could get busy," I continued, "Manticore didn't care whether I wanted to copulate or whether I wanted to have kids. They just wanted me to be their brood mare and I hated that."
"Bobbie, that's not going to happen with the government job," said my brother. "I can promise you that."
"Really?" I asked, raising both my eyebrows. "They obviously want you to do assassinations for them."
Jeremiah winced. "They're for the country's enemies."
I grunted. "That's funny. That's what Manticore used to say in the mission briefings. Jeremiah, they brainwashed us, but come on, even you're not that stupid."
Jeremiah looked away from me. "I know."
"You didn't like doing those missions then and you're sure as hell not liking doing them now."
"We did what we had to do," said my brother.
"I know," I said. "At least now, we have a choice in that."
"And you're not going to take it."
"Damned right, I'm not," I said. "This government job sounds way too much like Manticore. If you asked me if I wanted it when Manticore burned, I would have said yes. Now? I've got a life. Okay, not much of one, but it's a life."
"I'm not convinced."
I stepped up to my brother, hands on hips. "Be convinced. 'Cause I'm not going to change my mind." Jeremiah continued to frown and I sighed. "Look, we're not getting anywhere. So, I'm going to go to the mess hall and get something to eat. Want to join me?"
"No," said Jeremiah, shaking his head. "I've got some things to do."
"Oh." I shrugged. "Suit yourself. When are you going back to New York?"
"End of the week."
"Okay, then. Tomorrow night, you and Alec are going to clean up this room and I'll be here making sure you two don't kill each other."
"All right, Bobbie."
I moved to hug my brother and kissed him on the cheek. "You take care of yourself, okay?"
"I will," he said.
"Good. I'll see you tomorrow."
"I'll see you too." With that, I exited the conference room and headed for the mess hall.