Kung Fu Fighting
Dedication: To my beta, jt. Thank you so much for the inspiration.
"Gem!" I gave three quick raps on the apartment door. No answer. Tapping my foot impatiently, I looked around the empty hallway, hoping against hope that one of the tenants would come by take the bag of tryptophan surveys off my hands. Absently, I felt a shudder run down my back. Breathing quickly, I leaned on the doorjamb and hit the door again.
"Come on, Gem!" I muttered as I heard the sound of footsteps scurrying up to the door. I felt another tremor pass through me as Gem opened the door, wearing only a fuzzy blue robe and a towel wrapped around her head.
"Bobbie!" she cried and then peered out the door, looking left and right. "What are you doing here?"
"Gem," a voice called from within the apartment, "Who's at the door?"
"It's just Bobbie, Diesel!" Gem replied, taking a moment to turn her head back to the apartment and then return her gaze to me. "Won't you come in?"
"I'd like that," I said, as Gem let me step into her apartment. As she closed the door, I looked to my right where Gem's daughter Grace was carrying a small red plastic bucket and plastic shovel.
Grace gave me a gap-toothed grin as she held up her bucket and shovel. "I'm going to the beach today."
"Oh, that's nice," I said, raising an eyebrow at Gem.
Gem laughed softly as she reached out to straighten Grace's shirt. "She means the sandbox at the TC playground, Bobbie."
"Oh."
"Gem, where are Grace's sneakers?" asked Diesel, Gem's husband as he stepped into the living room. He held out a jacket, which Gem took and put on Grace.
"They should be under her bed," grunted Gem as she stuffed Grace's arms into the jacket sleeves. "That's her favorite spot."
"Okay," said Diesel. "If they're not there we could check with Lilly on the fourth floor. Grace could have left them there when we were doing-you know." Diesel's skin, though a light bronze, turned a soft cherry red as he and Gem exchanged sly looks. Grace looked at the both of them with a confused expression on her face.
"You could be right," said Gem, her eyes still focused on Diesel. "You better check."
"I will," said Diesel nodding at her, then motioned towards me. "Hey, Bobbie. How you doing?"
"I'm doing good," I replied. "You?"
"Things are fine," said Diesel. He heaved a sigh. "I better go and find those sneaks." With that, he left the living room.
Once Gem finished zipping up Grace's jacket, she turned to me and asked, "You want anything? I've got coffee." I started to decline the offer, but changed my mind when I felt another tremor pass through my arm.
"Yeah, coffee would be good," I answered. "Got any milk?
"I think so," said Gem. "Let me take a look." I followed her into the kitchen and sat down at the kitchen table. Gem turned on the espresso machine next to the sink and buried her head in the refrigerator. After several minutes of searching, she held up a milk carton.
"It's due tomorrow," she said in an apologetic voice. "Still want it?"
"Sure," I said. "It's still fresh, right?"
"Right," said Gem as she set the carton on the counter and poured a bag of coffee beans into the machine. Once she turned the machine on, she walked over to the table and sat in the chair opposite mine. We sat in the kitchen in silence for a few minutes, with Gem looking at me with a strange expression on her face and I was trying to concentrate upon the view provided by Gem's kitchen window. I closed my eyes tightly as I felt my entire body give an involuntary shudder.
"Bobbie, are you all right?" asked Gem, looking at me with deep concern. I opened my eyes again and forced my muscles to stop twitching.
"I'm fine," I replied, keeping my voice calm. "Why do you ask?"
"I don't know," said Gem, sounding a bit uncertain. "It's just that I saw you--,"
"Mommy, I'm goin' to the beach!" Grace bounded into the kitchen with Diesel trailing behind her, carrying her bucket and shovel. Gem smiled broadly at her child, bending down to give the little girl a kiss.
"Have fun, honey," she said, giving Grace a quick hug. "Remember, be good and do what Daddy says."
"I will," said Grace, flashing a broad smile, revealing the dimple on her left cheek. She blurred to the front door and stood on her tip-topes to reach the doorknob.
"Come on, Daddy!" she cried, still reaching for the knob.
Diesel bent down to give Gem a kiss and whispered, "Love you, babe."
"I love you too" Gem whispered back. She clasped his hand that was resting on her shoulder and gave it a tight squeeze. Diesel squeezed back as Grace's voice pierced the air.
"Daddy! Let's go!"
"Coming, kiddo," said Diesel, shaking his head and giving a soft laugh. "Better get to her before she knocks the knob off. Kid doesn't know her own strength sometimes."
"I thought you reinforced it or something?" asked Gem in a worried voice. "We're at the breaking point as it is with the budget."
"I do what I can, babe," said Diesel, rubbing his earlobe. "But this place wasn't made for our kind of kids. Us adults from Manticore-we were trained to control our strength in a norm environment, but Gracie?" He waved a hand in a dismissive fashion, "Face it, Gem, these buildings aren't meant for kids like her. She's too young to know how to handle herself."
Gem frowned as she rubbed her chin in thought. She looked at me and heaved a sigh. "Looks like I'm going to have to talk to Luke again. I hate to bring him more repair work."
"Gets him paid, though," I said with a smile. "I'm headed back to TC after this. Say the word and I'll pass it on to Luke."
"Thanks, Bobbie."
"No problem. You going to get that coffee or not?"
"Oh!" Gem exclaimed as she quickly stood up and took out the coffee-pot. Wrinkling her nose as she brought the cup to her nostrils, Gem shook her head as she set it down and took out two coffee cups. "You wanted milk in your coffee, right, Bobbie?"
"Right," I answered, surreptitiously putting my hand into my back pocket and pulling out two tryptophan pills. I clasped them tightly in my palm as Gem brought my café au lait to my side of the table. I put the pills back into my back pocket when Gem set my coffee cup in front of me.
"You can take some sugar from the bowl," said Gem pointing to a medium sized canister set in the middle of the table. She eyed me as I reached over to pick up the canister and sprinkle sugar into my coffee. I glanced up at her and her dark eyes swung towards the gingham-covered table. I forced myself to smile at her as I felt my hand shake, spilling more sugar than I had wanted into my coffee. Taking a deep breath, I placed the sugar spoon back in the canister and nearly slammed the canister top as another wave ripped through my right hand. The canister toppled over under the force of my spasm, spilling the rest of the sugar onto the floor.
"Oh, God!" I said, eyes widening at the sight. "Gem, I am so sorry!"
"Bobbie, it's okay," said Gem grabbing a broom and sweeping the spilled sugar away. She glanced up at me again, her eyes filled with worry. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine!" I snapped, inwardly groaning when a hurt look flickered across Gem's face. "I'm sorry. I'm just-feeling a little tense right now. Can I use your bathroom?"
"Sure. Down the hall to the left."
"Thanks," I gave Gem an appreciative smile before rushing off into the bathroom. Slamming the door shut, I grabbed a Dixie cup from the bathroom cup dispenser and filled it with cold water. Taking the tryptophan pills out of my back pocket, my hands shook as I put the pills into my mouth and swallowed them down with cold water. Violent spasms racked my body as I forced the pills down my throat. I squeezed my eyes shut, feeling tears well up in my eyes as I held on to the bathroom sink for dear life.
"Bobbie, you need anything?"
"I'm fine, Gem!" I called back. I looked into the mirror and glared at my pale reflection.
"Come on, goddammit," I hissed. "Work! Fuck it! Work!" Slowly, I felt the tremors pass and my tense muscles relax. I looked into the mirror again, smiling when I saw my skin returning to its natural dark hue. I waited a few minutes for the tired feeling to pass from my limbs.
"Bobbie?" Gem called again. "Coffee's getting cold."
"I'm coming," I said, straightening my shoulders as I applied some Vaseline to my dry lips. "Keep your pants on, I'm coming." I walked out the bathroom, head held high and a broad smile on my face. Gem had changed out of her robe and wore a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. Her red hair hung limply about her face as she drank in her cup of coffee. I sat down at the table and grinned at her as I put coffee to my lips. With each sip of milk-laden coffee, I felt myself become more and more alive.
"You look good," said Gem, eyeing me up and down.
"Thanks," I said. "I feel good."
"Glad to hear it," said Gem with a smile. "So, what brings you here?"
"Did Rita tell you?" I asked, bending down for a minute to pick up the tryptophan surveys and handed them to Gem. She shook her head as she pored over the questions.
"Oh," I said with a raised eyebrow. "That's interesting."
"Diesel and I came back late last night," said Gem, looking up at me. "Rita could have stopped by then, thinking we'd be home from the heat session."
"Yeah, she could have," I said, looking sideways at the kitchen window. Drinking the rest of the coffee and setting the cup down on the table, I continued, "Anyway, if you can, deliver the surveys to every tenant you have here. One survey for each apartment. If you can, have them in by tonight."
"Okay," said Gem taking a survey from the pile and setting it in a napkin holder filled with old envelopes and other papers. She took another look at the pile and frowned again. "That doesn't look like enough."
"Should be," I said, leaning back in my chair. "Dix gave me the census of the people in your apartments and I counted the papers out myself. You can always talk to him about that if you want."
"No, it's okay," said Gem. "This is good. Grace is running low on the stuff, so this is good."
"I'm glad," I said. "Don't want the kid to suffer." Gem smiled at me when another knock came at the door. She and I exchanged glances. Gem looked up at the clock overhead the stove and furrowed her brow.
"I wonder who that could be?" she asked, as she rose from her seat. I shrugged as I picked up the coffee cup again and swirled the remaining contents in a bored fashion.
"Hey, Bobbie." My hands froze as I recognized Max's voice coming from behind me. Gem walked past me to one of her cupboards and started to take out another coffee cup.
"Max, you want some coffee?"
Max shook her head as Gem nodded and returned the cup back into the cupboard. Gem looked at me and asked, "Bobbie, want another?"
"Yeah, sure," I replied, holding out the cup for Gem to re-fill. She took it and walked back to the espresso machine.
"With milk?" asked Gem, pouring more coffee into my cup. "Max, have a seat." Max and I exchanged awkward glances as she sat down beside me.
"Yes," I said, folding my arms and resting the elbows on the table. Once she finished with putting the finishing touches onto my café au lait, she returned to the table and sat down so that Max sat in between the two of us. An uncomfortable silence fell as Gem and I began to drink our coffee.
"So, Max," Gem began. "Where's Alec?"
"At headquarters," Max replied. "Said he wanted to go over the failed recon mission again. Check for any possible weaknesses."
"Familiars crashed that party, didn't they?" Gem asked, her eyes looking between us.
"They did," Max answered. "We're doing everything we can to make sure that won't happen again."
"The kids who got hurt. They were X6s, weren't they?"
"Yes."
Shaking her head sympathetically, Gem said, "Those poor kids. Trent's in one of my buildings. He's such a sweet kid."
"I saw him," I said. "He's going to be fine. Louise released him yet?"
"No," said Gem. "One of the X6 girls, Callie, I think, told me the rent's going to be late. Apparently, she and Trent moved in together and he's been paying half the rent. Since she's not allowed to do any independent jobs, Trent's been doing the lion's sharing of the rent payment."
"How are you going to handle that?" asked Max.
Shrugging, Gem answered, "They're good kids. Trent and Callie. We'll work something out."
"That's good," said Max. She paused for a minute before continuing, "Why isn't Callie allowed to do independent heists? I thought the X6s were allowed to do robberies. They just have to clear it with Alec or Mole, I think."
"They are," said Gem. "It's just that Callie's not of age to do an independent heist yet. She's only 17, I think."
"They can do recon, though," I added. "Just not independent stuff. They can get that with special permission from Alec."
"Of course, when we were nineteen, we were already doing solo missions," said Gem with a soft smile. "Group stuff was for babies, we thought."
"Yeah," I said, grinning at her. "If you're advanced, like Alec was, you could start doing solo missions when you're thirteen. It depended on the soldier."
"God, I remember half of the X5s in Manticore were pissed that Alec got into the solos so early," said Gem. "The rest of us were stuck doing group missions or sentry duty, while 494 was living the high life."
"You had to wait till you were sixteen, in a squad and pass all of your exams before you could pull solos," I recalled. "I used to wonder just what the hell did learning how to do a geometric proof was going to aid me in killing a guy. I mean, what was the frickin' point? You hold a gun to a guy's head---,"
"Or stick a knife in him," added Gem.
I nodded at her. "Right. Stick a knife in him, poison him or basically beat the everlovin' crap out of him until he croaks. End of story. Reflexive property isn't worth a thing in our old line of work."
"Amen," said Gem, holding up her coffee cup and I held up mine, clinking it against hers. We looked at Max who had an uncomfortable look on her face. Gem looked back at me, slightly horrified.
"Max, I'm so sorry," she apologized. "Bobbie and I were just talking"
"Yeah, you were," said Max. "It's okay, Gem."
"No, it's not okay," said Gem sounding more and more upset. "It's rude for us to be talking about things you don't understand."
"I don't understand?" Max asked. "What do you mean, I don't understand?"
"What I mean," Gem's voice trailed off and she looked helplessly at me. I shook my head, not wanting to get involved in this. Besides, I promised Alec I'd be a good girl. Max's eyes swung in my direction and they narrowed into slits.
"Bobbie, I'm a soldier, just like you," she said. "I was made in Manticore, so I can understand what you're talking about."
"Yeah, you're a soldier, Max," I said in a non-commital voice.
"You don't sound like you believe it," she said. "Is it because I escaped?"
"Look," I began. "Can we not talk about this? We've got bigger fish to fry. Rita, for example."
"Bobbie, I'm a soldier, just like you and Alec and everyone around here," said Max. "God, I thought we were over this."
"And we are," I said. "You're the leader. We accept you, end of story."
"It's not the end of story and you know it," Max snapped. "You know, you guys should be glad I burned down that place. What were you doing before? Being good little soldiers, not knowing that there's a bigger and better world out there."
"Max, you want us to bow down and kiss your feet?" I asked, feeling a surge of anger. "Well, fine! Here you go! We witless soldiers kiss the transgenic escapee ass of X5-452. Mwah!" I made a loud kissing noise and dared Max to say something.
"Guys?" Gem begged. "Don't do this. You're going over to Rita's and you need to present a united front."
"Stay out of this, Gem," Max warned. "Bobbie, that is rude! I'm going to put you on report."
"That's just fine by me," I snapped. "What's one black mark against me?"
"Plenty," said Max.
"Guys!" Gem yelled. We both stared at her. Face flushing, she pressed her palms on the table, "Could you stop fighting? Max, Bobbie and I didn't mean anything by talking over old times. It happens a lot around here. Bobbie, you need to work with Max against Rita. Sniping against her breaks the chain of command."
"You're right," I grumbled, feeling a little embarrassed. "Sorry, Max." Max looked embarrased as well.
"Sorry, Bobbie," said Max. "I won't put you on report. It's silly, anyway."
"That's good," said Gem, smiling again. "Right, Bobbie?" She nudged my shoulder as I forced myself to smile at Max.
"Right," I replied, while taking a deep swig of coffee. "Look, it's getting kind of late. We should hit Rita's and see if we can breach that fortress."
"Yes, we should," said Max, standing up and smiling at Gem. "It's so good to see you again. I know we haven't seen each other much since the siege, but I'm glad to see you're good. How's your little girl?"
"Grace? She's fine," said Gem. "Diesel's taken her to the playground, so you missed her. She's grown a lot since the last time you saw her."
"When was that?" asked Max, deep in thought. "That would be last Christmas, right? God, she's so beautiful. If I ever have a daughter, I'd want her to be just like Grace."
"Thank you," said Gem, blushing deeply. "I'm lucky to have her."
"That you are," said Max as I finished off the last of my coffee. I closed my eyes as I felt a small tremor pass through my left hand. Gritting my teeth in annoyance, I I closed my eyes and took a quick breath. Setting the cup onto the table, I stood up and smiled at Gem.
"We should go," I said. "Rita's got her boy-toys protecting the perimeter. Don't know how long we'll have before we can breach it."
"Okay," said Gem. "I'll lead you guys to the door." Gem followed Max and myself as we stepped into the hallway of her apartment building. Leaning on the doorjamb, she looked worried as she gave Max a quick hug.
"Don't be a stranger, guys," she said. "Diesel and I would love to have company over."
"Thanks for the offer, Gem," said Max. "We'll take up on it sometime. Bye."
"Bye."
"Bye," I said, giving Gem an offhand wave as she closed the door. Max and I stared at Gem's apartment door, unsure of what to do next.
Glancing at her watch, Max said, "It's only three-thirty. It's still light out."
"That it is," I said, moving away from Gem's apartment and heading out of the building.
Bounding down the steps, I asked, "How do you want to do this?"
Shrugging, Max replied, "We should probably do a quick sweep of Rita's place. I talked to Dix. He says that officially, Rita's only got three buildings under her name, but with Seth, she's got at least six."
"That's not counting the residential houses behind Oak Street," I said as we stood outside Gem's building, facing the looming presence of Rita's three tall apartment buildings. I looked up at them, putting a hand over my eyes to shield them from the sun's glare. My telescopic vision caught sight of at least three X-series walking along the rooftop of the building directly facing Gem's place. My mouth tightened in irritation as I focused on the rifles in the soldiers' hands. The glare from the sun blocked out the make of the rifles.
"Oh, crap," I muttered as I signed to Max the presence of the riflemen.
"How can she have snipers on the rooftop?" Max asked in an indignant voice. "She's not allowed to do that!"
"I wouldn't worry about what Rita's allowed to do right now," I said, looking away from the rooftop and glancing up and down Oak Street. "I'd be more worried about what she plans on doing with them." I pointed towards the group of soldiers; two soldiers a piece, standing on the corner of each building. A couple of females were in the group, looking nastily at me.
"Think she knows we're here?" asked Max, looking in the same direction. I could feel her back tense up as I felt my tense as well, unfortunately, not for the same reason. A tremor went down my spine again, making my heart beat fast. "Bobbie? You with me?"
"You have to ask?" I snapped, feeling my hands curl into fists, even though, my legs were starting to feel like jelly.
"Of course not," said Max. "I was just-asking that's all!"
"Ask again later," I said. "In the meantime, what are we going to do now?"
"We could go to Rita's and ask for the survey," said Max. "She needs to know who's boss."
"I'm down with that," I said as I saw the detail of soldiers move away from the shadows and into the light. My eyes blinked rapidly as I saw that several of the men were insanely tall. At least five of them looked to be six-foot-ten and all had bulging pectorals and arm muscles that would put Hulk Hogan to shame.
"Damn," breathed Max. "What did the docs put in their cocktail?"
"Damned if I know," I said as the soldiers crept closer and closer to us. Max and I edged away from Gem's building and moved towards the middle of the road. "Those guys are monsters. I fought one once at the mat. Nearly chewed me up and spit me out for dinner."
"What are they?" asked Max. "They're X5, right?"
"They are," I said, clenching my teeth as I felt a small spasm pass through my body.
"Bobbie? Are you all right?"
"I'm okay, Max," I said. "Look, the best thing to do in this situation is to fight as hard as you can and run."
"What! I don't run!"
"Remember the Familiars?"
"Everyday."
"These guys are as close as you can get to Familiars, transgenically speaking," I said, holding up my fists and prepared my body for a fight. "Most of them used to be in unit-D back at Manticore. We all called them Deltas. You don't want piss one of them off in a fight."
"So, these Deltas, they're tough?" asked Max, pressing her back against mine. "Were they taught-jungle style?"
"Not all," I said, scanning the ever-increasing crowd coming out of Rita and Gem's place. All of the X-series on either side kept their faces blank as they watched Rita's Deltas advance towards us. "The females, you might want to steer clear of their nails and if you hear growling or just any kind of animal noise, it isn't your imagination. It's them, making battle sounds."
"Battle sounds?!"
"It's sounds alot scarier than it is, trust me," I said, looking for Rita. Honestly, I'd never thought I'd see the day when I would think that. Hell's freezing over right now. "Just relax and give it your best."
"You too," said Max. "We're in this together."
"Right," I said as one of the Deltas walked up to Max.
He looked down at her, his voice filled with contempt as he asked, "What are you doing here?"
Max looked back at him, eyes calm and cool.
"We're here for the survey," she said. "Your group needs tryptophan. We're here to find out how many need it."
"We don't need you," the Delta said, his dark eyes moving from Max to me. "Rita states you cannot step into our territory."
"Your territory?" asked Max. "Oh, silly me! Here I was thinking that this is Oak Street. This is Oak Street, isn't it, Bobbie?"
"Yes, it is," I said, smirking up at the Delta.
"I thought so," said Max in a sweet voice. "Oak Street belongs to Terminal City, therefore, you obey me. Step aside." A small muscle twitched in the Delta's right cheek, but his eyes remained dead and cold.
"This side of Oak Street belongs to X5-534 and I have pledged allegiance to her," said the Delta in a crisp voice. "It is my duty as officer of this sentry detail to tell you to get the hell off 534's property."
"Fine," said Max. "She can tell me herself. Or is she too afraid to confront a real leader?"
"No, I'm not," Rita's voice rang clear as a bell. All eyes turned to the X5 who was positioned on the rooftop of the building adjacent to the one directly facing Gem's place. Using my zoom vision, I could see a wide smirk cross the X5's face as she stood on top of the ledge and jumped down. Landing easily on her feet, she stood directly in front of us, her dark eyes snapping with delight. The warm summer breeze lifted her dark auburn hair, so that it whipped about her face.
She looked at me, her grin widening wolfishly, "I see you brought a weak one today, 452. Should be easy to finish off. May leave a few scraps for the boys to 'take care of'." A couple of the Delta males and females stared at Max and me with cruelty in their eyes.
"These soldiers need a real leader," said Rita, waving her nails in the air. "Someone with authority. Someone who knows how to "handle" them properly. Under your control, X5s are being wasted. Under mine, their skills are being honed to their finest points. Seth! Show them!"
Max and I looked up to see Seth on the main building's rooftop and his fingers formed the attack command. In an instant, Max and I felt ourselves being knocked down, the wind slammed right out of us as we stared into the rabid eyes of Rita's soldiers. The man pinning me down had one hand on my throat while the other pressed down on my chest. To my horror, I felt a violent shudder rack my limbs, but to my surprise, the move forced the soldier to loosen his grip on my throat, to which I used this to ram my knee into his groin. Unlike the Familiars, these boys can feel pain in their boys. As the Delta groaned in pain, I pushed him off me and rolled over and kicked the soldier that was pinning Max down. The soldier groaned in pain as Max kicked him off and stood up, hands at the ready.
Rita's eyes glittered maliciously as she raised her hand in the air and gave a quick forward motion. Max stared back and raised her hands in similar fashion. I smirked as Rita's eyes widened and before she could open her mouth, both sides of Oak Street rushed forward, punching and kicking their way into battle. I felt a pair of strong-arms grab me and pull me up. I heard a feral growl escape from my attacker and my heart sped up in fear as my attacker's arms pressed my arms to my side, crushing them. My eyes widened as a female Delta came up at me, twirling a large knife in her hands. Her lips, a deep red color, widened into a grotesque smile as she stepped forward.
"I'm going to have so much fun cutting you up," she said. "I wonder what an Alpha girl looks like on the inside." The strong arms imprisoning me squeezed harder and I gasped in pain. The girl looked at me, revealing two long rows of sharp teeth.
"What's up with you," I managed to rasp out. "Too muchfeline your cocktail?"
"You could say that," she said, still twirling the knife. The blade looked impossibly sharp, glinting threateningly in the late afternoon sun. I struggled to breathe, but it was hard when it felt like I was being crushed to death. Unbidden, my body shook again, relaxing the soldier's grip on me and I slumped to the ground as my body shook over and over again. I could hear the girl cackle and saw that her arm was arching downwards, the knife headed straight for my heart. As quick as I could manage, I rolled to my left, causing the girl to miss and kicked my right leg out, smashing into her lower back. The girl crashed face first into the ground and I saw the soldier who had held me jump over her and move over to me. His right fist shot out, smashing into my chin, bringing blood to my lips. Spitting out the copper liquid, I tried to block the soldier's blow a second time, but found it crushed to my chest as the soldier brought his fist into my face again and again. I absorbed the blows as much as I could and forced myself to ignore the fiery pain that burned in my lower jaw.
"Son of a bitch," I gasped out as the soldier, clasped his hands together, raised them over his head and started to bring the final blow to my aching chest. I felt my body shake uncontrollably as I waited for the blow to come. It never did. Eyes flying open as I heard the soldier give a terrifying roar that seemed to shake the ground itself. I gasped when the soldier fell to his knees, eyes sightless. I looked up to see Alec grinning down at me.
"Need help?" he asked as he sank down to the ground, giving me a quick once over. He pulled out several pills and shoved them into my mouth.
"Swallow as hard as you can," Alec ordered. "I need you out here." I nearly choked as the pills snaked down my throat. As soon as the last pill went down, I closed my eyes as I felt my body grow stronger. Looking around at the bloody melee surrounding us, I glanced at Alec and he nodded grimly. We didn't have much time to talk as I saw a female Delta throw a knife in his direction. Feeling a burst of energy, I jumped and rolled over my brother's bent back, catching the knife in mid-flight. I landed easily beside him, standing up as the girl glared at me.
"Oohh, swing and a miss for the rookie," I said with a grin, throwing the knife back at the girl. My grin grew wider when the knife struck the sleeve of the girl's shirt and the force of my throw pinned her to the wall of Rita's building.
Alec and I exchanged grins as he commented; "Your knife throwing's improved."
"I know," I said. "I've been practicing." The grins slipped off our faces when a body crashed into the wall beside the girl. The body crumpled in front of us, the long dark hair covering her head as blood pooled out onto the ground.
"Max!" Alec cried, blurring forward and turning her over. Scratches marred the X5's face and her face was covered with purple bruises. Alec and I looked in the direction from where Max had come and glared at Rita whose eyes still glittered hungrily.
"Who wants to challenge me?" she asked, giving us a contemptuous look. "I'm stronger than you, 494 and 592, you're still weak." Alec's hazel eyes turned a deadly green and I stared at Rita's red nails, which seemed to elongate before my eyes.
"Alec, don't go vengeancy on me," I warned. "She can kick your ass."
"Bobbie, she hurt Max," Alec breathed, every muscle in his body tightening with rage.
"I know that," I hissed, "but think! She swipes those nails at you; she'll hit a vital organ! We've got enough casualties." Max coughed and spit up some blood causing Rita to smile sadistically.
"Pity," she said, her voice dripping with insincerity. "452 doesn't look long for this world."
"That's funny," said Alec in a dark voice. "Neither are you."
"Bring it on!" Rita shouted and opened her mouth, giving a primal scream. I felt a shiver go down my spine as Rita's jungle-cat roar reverberated across the sky. The birds flying overhead; fluttered in another direction and I could swear that I saw several squirrels drop their acorns and head for the hills. The X5s on either side fell and bled; Oak Street a road of crimson. The X6s and X7s ran to take their fellow soldiers' place, some surviving, most falling, either dead or grievously injured.
"Bobbie," Max rasped out. "What's going on?"
"Alec's just going to kick Rita's ass," I said, grinning at the thought of the X5 dead on the ground. My blood throbbed painfully in my veins and arteries as my brother and Rita circled one another. Each punched and counter-punched, jumping back when they couldn't touch each other. Max's eyes widened as my brother gave a roundhouse kick to Rita, who ducked the blow by falling to her knees and performed a coffee-grind, swiping Alec's legs out from under him. Max and I leaned forward with a start as Alec fell to his back. Rita smirked and began to kick again, only to be stopped by my brother's hands grabbing her ankle and throwing her to the ground. Rita gave a satisfying thunk to the bloody street, but flipped backwards, her hands grasping my brother's shirtfront and slamming him into her building. She raked her nails against his neck, leaving a bloody trail across his barcode.
"Bobbie, we have to help him!" Max cried, struggling to stand up.
"I agree," I said, watching Rita slam her knee into the small of my brother's back over and over again. "Question is, how?" Before Max could answer, a solid punch connected with my face again and I found myself facing a pissed off X5 female.
"For the love of God," I gasped. "Don't you Deltas give up?!"
"You fool," she hissed. "We are loyal to Rita. 452 will only bring you pain!" She punched me again. I heard ringing in my ears, making the Delta before me, look like an apparition. To my jaw's eternal regret, a backhand punch disabused me of that theory.
"You know, it's funny," I said, giving the Delta a wide grin. "You're telling me about 452 giving me pain. Honey, ain't no one causing it, but you!" With that, I slammed my head into hers and as she stumbled backwards, I punched her until she collapsed to the ground. Max head-butted her attacker as well and threw him to me, to which I grabbed his crotch, squeezed tight and rammed it into his pelvis, causing him to scream in my ear. Ignoring the increased ringing in my left ear, I threw him into the wall next to the girl I had pinned against the wall with a knife. She was still struggling to remove the knife embedded into the wall as I gave her a sweet smile and waved.
"Alec, no!" Max cried, causing me to spin around and see my brother fall to the bloody ground. He was clutching his side and groaning in pain as Rita laughed again, this time sounding like a demented hyena. Her teeth were stained with blood, to which the back of my mind, processed as Alec's blood. It filled the air, pungent in its power. Her arms were covered with blood, also Alec's.
"Oh, God!" I whispered. "Oh, God. Oh, God!"
"Say goodbye to 494, everyone!" Rita laughed again, making my skin crawl and my blood pump with rage. Barely thinking, I blurred forward and jumped, my right leg kicking out and aiming for Rita's solar plexus. I felt my heart sing with pleasure as my foot crashed into her chest, slamming her all the way across from her main building onto the front porch steps of her third apartment building. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Max standing beside me, arms raised and eyes flashing with fury. Moving quicker than I ever thought possible, I punched an approaching Delta male with my right fist and slammed my knee into his chest. Not giving him a chance to recover, I grabbed his ears, yanked them hard and head-butted him. I punched him several times into his gut even though my fists felt as though they were hitting lead. The Delta male recognized this and punched me back, causing my head to whip around and then snap back. I gave the Delta a sharp backhand, causing a grin to come to my face as I heard his jaw make a delicious cracking sound. Groaning in pain, he stomped his heavy foot on mine and head-butted me, bringing stars to my eyes. Before he could land a final punch, blood and matter splattered onto my face and the Delta slumped to the ground, his head blown away.
Wiping the blood and brains from my face, my eyes widened as Max was fighting Rita for all it was worth. Kicks and punches were thrown and Rita fought back every one, seemingly gaining in strength. She aimed several punches into Max's stomach, causing the X5 to grab her stomach in pain. I looked around and saw a large rock lying next to the second building on Rita's side of Oak Street. Blurring over to the building and picking the rock up, I hefted it in my hand, feeling the weight. Max tried to kick Rita again, but the X5 blocked it by elbowing into Max's knee, causing Max to crumple to the ground, next to Alec who was still bleeding. In the distance, I could hear the sirens of TC's medical team arriving to Oak Street.
Rita slowly walked over to them, a bloody knife in her hand. Gathering all of my strength, I aimed the rock at Rita's head andhit her. She fell to the ground with a thud and Max and Alec looked up at me. I looked over to where Gem's building was and saw that Louise and company had arrived, piling in the bodies of injured X-soldiers into the ambulances. I brought two fingers to my bleeding lips and whistled. Louise glanced up in my direction as I waved her over.
"Louise!" I cried. "Over here! Hurry!" Louise motioned for a medical team to follow her over to where we stood. Her dark eyes widened slightly when she saw my brother who was bleeding profusely. Ordering the medics to load him carefully into the ambulance, she looked at Max and myself and shook her head.
"You two better come with me. You look like you've been through hell." One medic reached out to pull Max into the ambulance, where she collapsed over Alec in exhaustion.
"We have," I said, letting my shoulders sag for a minute.
Louise smiled at me, but the smile faded from her face as she screamed, "Bobbie, look out!" I turned around to find the blade of Rita's knife slicing across my left shoulder. I stumbled back; grabbing my shoulder as Rita blurred forward, knocking me down to the ground.
"Louise! Alec's temp's dropping!" cried a medic. "We gotta get him over to the infirmary now!"
Louise looked at me and looked prepared to fight Rita, but I cried, "Go! Take him to the infirmary. I'll catch up." I grasped Rita's strong arms, which were pressing the knife's blade into my chest, just over my heart. My legs kicked out as I struggled to push her off me, with little success.
"You like the movies, 592?" asked Rita, her breath attacking my nostrils. "Ever watched Saving Private Ryan? I always thought Mellish's death was the most satisfying and most painful." Rita pressed down harder. I felt my hands slacken as I tried to keep the blade away from my heart.
"Bet you got off on it, bitch!" I gasped, trying to snake my hands over the knife handle, which was designed like a caduceus. My fingers ached as they tried to dig into the back of Rita's hands. Come on. Come on! I thought.
"Say goodbye, 592," said Rita, pressing harder and harder until it felt like the blade was going to hit home. I closed my eyes as I struggled again, but I could feel myself getting weaker. Just as I felt myself nearly collapse in exhaustion, a bullet whizzed past my ear, slamming into the building in front of us, sending shards of plaster into our faces. Rita snapped her head up, glaring at the rooftop of one of her buildings.
"You son of a bitch!" she cried. I took this as an opportunity to kick the knife out of her hands and roll away to safety. Before she could react, I slammed my foot into her mouth, bringing forth blood and then punched her so that she lay on the ground as helpless as I was a few minutes before. I jumped in the air and landed on Rita's kneecaps, effectively breaking them.
"Bitch!" she screamed as her kneecaps broke.
"Look who's talking!" I snapped back and kicked her in the chin, forcing her head to snap back to the ground, adding more blood to the already bloody pavement.
"You know, I'd love to finish this and don't worry, we will. I've got to go. Don't be waiting." I ran off towards TC's infirmary, ignoring the screaming ache in my legs. I crashed into the infirmary doors, whose waiting room was filled to the brim with X-series injured and non-injured waiting for their turn at the doctor. Brushing past an X6 with a head wound, I ran over to the receptionist desk to find Connie. She was bent over several boxes of what looked to be blood bank boxes when I slammed my hand onto the desk.
"What?!" she snarled, pushing her dark hair out of her eyes. "Can't you see I'm busy?"
"I'm sorry, Connie," I began. "But where's Alec?"
"Louise and them are dealin' with him in the Operating Room."
"Thanks," I said, marching off to the OR.
I ignored Connie's cry of, "You can't go in there!"
It wasn't hard to find the OR where Alec was located since Max was standing at the door with a haunted look on her face.
"How is he?" I asked, trying to take a look through the dim oval windows. "Those damn windows don't show a thing. What's happening in there?!"
"I don't know," said Max. "They've been in there awhile, repairing what they could." Max took a deep breath and walked over to an empty bench. Sinking down on the seat, she moaned softly as she buried her head into her hands. "God, there was so much blood. I can't believe he could bleed so much."
"I know. I saw," I said. "I've seen him bleed worse. One time, when we were kids, we doing this training mission and--,"
"Max? Bobbie?" Max and I turned to see Louise walking out of the OR with a grim look on her face. Two medics followed her, with equally grim expressions on their faces.
"Louise, what's wrong?" Max asked. The female lizard looked at Max and myself and shook her head.
"He's lost a lot of blood. His body is repairing what it can, but his blood count's too low."
"Don't you have any in the reserves?" I asked. "I saw Connie with them earlier."
"It's used up," said Louise with a shake of her head. "I called her a minute ago. Says she's going to try and contact the other transgenics outside TC for a blood drive, but Alec needs blood right now." Max and I exchanged a look. Grimly, I rolled up what was left of my sleeve.
"I'm ready when you are," I said. "Just say the word."
"Bobbie, no!" said Max. "You're still weak from the seizures."
I glared at her as she insisted, "Well, you are! Louise?"
Louise looked at Max, then at me and shook her head. "Bobbie, she's right. You need to take blood more than give it. Sam, take Bobbie to Exam One and have her checked out."
"Louise, I'm fine," I said, glaring at Sam who reached out to take my hand. "Touch me and I will kick your ass."
Sam smirked at me. "Try me, sister."
"Bobbie, stop it," said Max in an impatient voice. She turned to Louise, eyes pleading. "Alec can take my blood, can he?" Louise's eyes flickered with hope.
"You're not too weak, are you?"
"No," said Max. "I haven't had a seizure in a month and I'm just a little banged up, that's all."
"All right," said Louise. "Dave, take her into the OR and prep her for transfusion. Do it fast!" Dave grasped Max's hand and led her into the OR. The female lizard looked at me, giving me her no-nonsense look.
"I don't want to hear another word from you, young lady," she scolded. "You let Sam patch you up and we'll call you when your brother pulls out of it."
"B-But, Louise," I began.
"Not another word!" snapped the trans-human. "I don't need anymore X5s dying on me today. I've seen enough. Sam, take her!"
"Come on, honey," said Sam, grasping my arm. "Let the Love Doctor take care of you." I glared at him and then kneed him in the crotch.
"Why, thank you, Love Doctor," I said sweetly. "I feel so much better."
"Thathurt, 592!" Sam gasped as I stared back at him coldly. "You and me were breeding partners! You ought to show some respect to the jewels that could have made you the mother of my child."
"Don't make me sicker than I already am," I said, wrinkling my nose in disgust.
"Hey babe," said Sam with a lecherous grin. "I gotta represent." I rolled my eyes and marched off to the examination room.
"What! What?" he cried as he followed me into Exam One.