The Only Way Out: Does It Really Matter?
Keela13
Part One
Chapter 2
Summary: The transgenics have to find ways to stay alive, and keep themselves occupied while
the siege creeps slowly along.
Note: I have so many ideas that I can work together for this story, I'm gonna call it a season
three. But be warned, my average chapter length nowadays for any of my stories is eight to ten
pages in Corel WordPerfect 9, and that includes author's notes and stuff. So don't expect
episodism rather than chapterism. At least they're longer than the first stuff I ever posted. 1 to 3
pages.
Oh, and also, if you're reading this story, PLEASE review. I'd like to know if anyone at all is
reading this. Let's just say I didn't get many reviews for the first chapter. But I would like to get
some. I'm gonna continue this story anyway, but I'd like SOME acknowledgment.
Thanks Natters, for the one review I got, but more of what exactly? What did you like? What
didn't you like? What could use some improvement? What was you favourite part? I'm glad
you like it and want to read more, but please, give me something to go on!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Cute setup you got here," Alec said, strolling leisurely into Joshua's old house, where boxes
were piled endlessly into a massive fort.
Sketchy peeked his head out from a makeshift doorway in the boxes, obviously feeling much
better now that he was away from the deadly toxins of Terminal City. "Hey Alec!" he said
joyfully. "Hey guys, it's Alec!"
Normal came running from the kitchen screaming, "Golden Boy!" He flew excitedly at Alec. A
look of sheer terror crossed Alec's face, and he jumped frantically to the side as Normal flew at
him, arms open. Normal crashed into the wall. At having the living daylights scared out of him,
Alec's breathing was ragged. The mental, of a smiling, screaming, *giddy* Normal rushing at him
with his arms open was definitely gonna give him nightmares for a long time to come.
Alec was gaining his composure as Normal writhed in pain on the floor, when suddenly something
hit him from behind and he crashed awkwardly to the floor. "Alec!" Original Cindy shrieked. "I
missed you, Boo, you have no idea what it's been like here with these crazy male freaks!"
Alec pushed her off, rolled over, and rose unsteadily to his feet. "OC, I hate to break this to you,
but while I'm not crazy, I happen to be more of a freak than they are, and I am male." Alec
studied Sketchy's fort, and remembered Normal rushing at him, and reconsidered. "No, you're
right, they're the freaks here."
"I think that's giving your people a bad name," Logan said, emerging from the kitchen and taking
a large bite out of a sandwich.
Alec and Original Cindy glared at him. Sketchy and Normal turned to him, both shocked and
surprised. Rage immediately ignited within Alec, and burned fiercely. He forced it under control.
"What," he hissed menacingly, "because no matter how bad you ordinaries can get, we're always
worse?"
Logan looked up at him from his sandwich, momentarily pausing in his chewing, surprise clouding
his features. Still, he did not attempt to correct himself.
-I can see why Max broke up with you,- Alec almost said. Instead, he chose, "I'm here to collect
Joshua's paintings. He's selling them to add to the TC fund."
"All of them?" Original Cindy asked gently. She knew the significance of Joshua's paintings to
the artist, especially those of Annie.
"That's what he says," Alec told her, "but I'm gonna leave one of Annie."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Logan asked. "I mean, he wants you to sell them all. I don't
think he'd appreciate you going against his wishes."
"And I don't think he'd appreciate anyone selling his last reminder of the woman he loved!" Alec
snapped. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some work to do." Alec walked as calmly as
possible down the stairs to the basement. When he got to the bottom, he looked around, counting
the numerous paintings he saw. As he lost count, he knew that he was gonna have his work cut
out for him. He took a deep breath. -Thank god thugs enjoy vans,- he thought. Well, they did,
while they had them. It was Alec's turn, as of ten minutes ago.
His eyes settled on the piano in the centre of the room. He longed to feel his fingers gliding
across the smooth keys. To hear the rich melody pouring through the air. But he had work to
do. There was no time for play. Or reminiscing.
Carrying an armload of paintings piled on top of each other carefully, Alec trudged upstairs.
When he reached the top, Original Cindy raised her eyebrows at him. "Anyone else would be
tumbling back down them stairs right now, ya know. That's some load ya got there," she said.
"Why OC, are we a little jealous?"
"Nah boo, but judging from the looks on their faces, the males are." She gestured towards the
other three. Jealousy, jealousy, and Alec could swear there was a hint of drool pooling at the
corners of Normal's mouth. Not that Alec was looking. Shudder.
Alec stopped in front of the door that led to the outside, arms full. He stood there for a few
moments before he turned to the others. "Well?"
"Well what?" Logan asked.
Alec nodded his head toward the door. The room was silent. Alec rolled his eyes. "Hello? You
guys crippled?"
"Huh?" Sketchy asked, probably the most confused of them all.
"The door, geniuses!"
Everyone other than Alec let out a brief chorus of 'oh's.
Alec stared at them. They stared back. "Or I could just break it down!" Alec turned back to the
door and raised his foot, hoping they'd get the not so subtle message. They did, but
unfortunately, they all did at once.
Sketchy, Original Cindy, and Normal rushed to get the door for him, crashing into each other in
their haste. Original Cindy managed to jump back before the two men took her down, but
Sketchy and Normal crashed to the floor. Logan calmly walked over and opened the door. Alec
stepped out. "Be back in a sec."
After a few minutes, he hadn't returned. Original Cindy was getting worried when, "Uhh, you
guys?"
Original Cindy peeked out the door. Alec stood, unbalanced, the paintings in one arm, tilted
backwards to balance the extra weight, trying to open the back door of the van with one hand.
He was having a little trouble, considering he couldn't keep his extra hand away from the
paintings for more than a millisecond. Transgenic balance and reflexes aside, the paintings were
dangerously close to sliding right out of his grip.
Original Cindy rushed out and yanked the door open, Alec barely avoiding being hit. He carefully
placed the paintings inside. "I think next time I won't take quite so many," Alec decided.
Original Cindy followed him back inside, leaving all doors open. Alec disappeared down the
stairs, and contrary to his previous statement, came back up with an even bigger load. He had all
the paintings in the van in record time.
After saying his 'goodbye's and 'see you later's, Alec drove to the art gallery. He strode in,
looking important, and immediately headed towards Lisa Dowell's office. He knocked, waited to
be permitted entrance and went in. "Yes?" Lisa asked. Recognition flooded her features. "Oh,
it's you," she sighed. Then she brightened at his obvious reason for being there. "You're here for
business, I presume."
"That's right," Alec replied. "Joshua has been very busy lately."
"How busy exactly?" Lisa asked, taking a sip from a glass of water that sat on her deep brown
wooden desk.
"I've got eighty-nine paintings out in my van."
Lisa choked and nearly spit her water across the room. "Eighty-nine?!?"
Alec winced. "He hasn't exactly been able to get out lately."
"Well we can't afford to buy all of them right now!" Lisa said, managing to stop coughing and
sputtering enough for sadness to fill her voice.
"Well, in that case," Alec told her, "I guess you just get first pick. As many as you want."
Lisa smiled at him. "Greatly appreciated. So how has Joshua been?" she asked, rising from her
chair and stepping out the door, which Alec politely held open for her.
Alec sighed. "Truthfully? Not too good. He recently suffered from the loss of a close . . .
friend."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"Well, he's dealing. I think we might need some help bringing them in," Alec observed.
"Definitely," Lisa agreed. "Molly!" she called out to a young woman who sat behind a desk near
the door. "We're gonna need a few extra hands, can you round up the boys?"
"On it." The girl pressed a button on her intercom, called for some help, and within minutes three
heavy, muscular men came in, ready to help. The five of them headed outside to the van. Alec
opened the back doors, to reveal paintings filling the back to the roof. Lisa gasped. It was a lot
of paintings. And it didn't exactly look as if they'd been packed carefully. But as they loaded
them all into the building, she saw that not one of them had a scratch on it. And she noted with
joy the little signature and number in every corner: Joshua. He was most definitely a remarkable
individual.
They lay the paintings around the room, leaning them against the walls, lying them on the floor,
squeezing them into the room that had seemed so large before. They took a considerably larger
amount of time to unload them as Alec had to load them, since they each took one at a time. Alec
had decided to keep the suspicion levels at a minimum. Lisa was glad it was nearly closing time,
she could stay as long as she wanted without any idiots coming in and stepping on the beautiful
paintings. As she began to look them over, Alec realized that this was going to take awhile and
pressed himself comfortably in a corner, sliding to the floor.
Lisa didn't even notice. She paced slowly back and forth in front of the paintings, occasionally
having one of her helpers move a painting to the side, the ones she wanted the most. She was
finding it difficult to chose, however, because she wanted them all. Lisa noticed that a good
portion of the paintings were of the same beautiful young woman. The love Joshua must have felt
for her broadcast itself from every one of them. She gasped.
Alec, who had been dangerously close to nodding off, snapped up his head to look at her. "Is
something wrong?" he asked worriedly.
"This . . . this is that blind girl from TV! Joshua . . . he loved her . . ."
Alec nodded, even though she wasn't looking at him. "He didn't do it," he informed her, anger
seeping slightly into his voice.
"I know . . ." Lisa whispered. "He couldn't have. He loved her," she repeated.
"Yeah," Alec whispered. "He did."
"I'll take all the ones of her," Lisa said. That was twenty-three of the total number of paintings.
She went over several other paintings, with Lisa describing what they said to her and why she
liked them, and negotiating prices, while Alec simply followed her around the room with his eyes,
nodding and tossing one word agreements in her direction. Lisa's helpers scrambled to collect all
the paintings she pointed out and move them off to the side. Lisa stopped in front of one painting
in particular. She stood in front of where it leaned against the wall for several minutes, studying it
closely.
Alec stood and stepped quietly up behind her. "Do you like it?" he asked gently, startling her a
little, wondering if he was interrupting her 'artist's flow' or something by talking to her. You
never knew with these gallery people. And he'd be damned if he'd ever understood a woman.
"It's complicated . . ." she commented, ignoring his question. "See how all the vibrant colours on
the outside seem to pull the attention away from the dark core?"
"Uh huh," Alec drawled. Yep, he'd be damned. All he wanted to know was if she wanted it or
not, so he could get the hell out of there.
"But the darkness is the entire focus, the importance, the *point* of the entire painting. It *is*
the painting. And yet it's like it's hidden away, by this . . . fa‡ade of pretty colours. . . ."
"Tricks and treats," Alec muttered. He turned toward the painting, figuring he'd at least try to
pay attention to whatever she was babbling on about. As he studied the painting, he was
transfixed by the centre, the core. Darkness. Covered by 'tricks and treats.' Alec shivered, there
was something so . . . fascinating about it, something that drew him to it, like a magnet. . . .
Alec snapped his head in Lisa's direction, realizing she was speaking to him. Had been doing so,
in fact, for several minutes. "What were you saying?" he asked.
Lisa gave him a puzzled and concerned look, then spoke, "The shorthand version: I said I'll take
it."
"Oh!" Alec said, then shook his head to clear it completely of the fog it had been in. "Sure, yeah.
Any more?"
"I'm afraid that's all I can take right now." She smiled almost sadly. "Don't suppose you can put
them on layaway?" she joked.
"No can do," Alec told her. "I need to get these sold as soon as possible, Joshua's financial
position is pretty . . . tight."
Lisa nodded. She turned towards the paintings she had selected. Thirty-seven in total. Needless
to say, that was a lot of cash, they had settled on five thousand dollars each. She dispatched one
of her helpers to the gallery safe. Alec watched him leave, and idly wondered the exact location
of said vault, and exactly how easy it would be to break into it. He mentally chastised himself.
-Rob from the dirty and give to the not-so-dirty,- he reminded himself. Lisa was, in no way, dirty
or corrupt, and she most certainly did not deserve a massive robbery. Besides, TC was already
gaining $185, 000 with her assistance.
The man returned a few minutes later, carrying a briefcase containing the money. He handed it
carefully to Lisa, who in turn handed it to Alec. "You can count it if you'd like," Lisa said.
Alec smiled lightly at her. "I don't think that'll be necessary. Besides, I'd like to leave here as
soon as possible, no offense." Alec was growing as stir crazy as the citizens of Terminal City.
"None taken," Lisa assured him. She instructed her helpers to help Alec carry the rest of the
paintings back to the van. They carefully piled all fifty-two remaining paintings in. Lisa seemed
very concerned about their health, piled on top of each other like that, but Alec assured her they'd
be fine, besides, their health and welfare was no longer her problem.
Alec spent several more hours cruising around to Seattle's other galleries, conning managers into
believing Joshua would be the next Picasso, without the screwed up faces, and managing to make
a fortune off of Joshua's work. Alec almost let himself feel guilty of the reward he was getting
from Joshua's hard work and love, but he reminded himself that this was for all of TC, including
Joshua, and he left it at that.
********
"I'm telling you right now," stated the gorgeous blonde to her handsome companion as they
walked down the street, "if I don't get out of these rags and military boots, I'm gonna start
venting my frustration on you."
"Me?" the guy questioned, using both hands to point at himself and staring at her. His through
and through black eyes widening with innocence. "What did I do?"
"Well, you're the fashion challenged moron who got these!" she hissed angrily, spending a full
five minutes talking him down to the dirt along with the dirty, torn, once black, now grey, tight
legged corduroys, faded hot pink, warped, stretched, woolen sweater, and military combat
boots she wore.
"And you think I'm just overjoyed with this?" he snarled at her, gesturing wildly at his purple
plaid, buttonless button down shirt and spray painted orange, knee length jean cutoffs. Plus
similar black military combat boots to complete the 'look.' The blonde's naturally pale, pale face,
now seemingly stained brown with dirt, contorted into a twisted mix of anger and amusement as
she looked his outfit over, and burst into laughter. The guy tilted his face downward slightly and
stared up past his eyebrows, heaving a sigh as if to say, 'Do you see what I have to put up with?'
He ran his hand through his dirty, black hair and sighed again. "Let's get some actual clothes
before anyone else sees us," he suggested.
Through her fits of laughter, the blonde nodded and turned, leaping the fence into Terminal City.
She landed on the other side and stumbled, barely controlling her laughter enough to keep from
falling to the ground.
The guy turned his head from side to side, checking once again to see if anyone would see them,
and followed her in. "Would ya shut up already?"
"But making fun of you is *so* fun!" she informed him, her full lips pouting in a very cute
manner. She slapped him playfully on the shoulder. He turned toward her as they continued their
journey into the bowels of Terminal City. His black eyes seemingly alight with mischief, he
grinned at her.
The blonde took one wary step back, and he watched as her violet-green mix eyes filled with
mock fear. He quickly grabbed her around the waist and flung her over his shoulder, giving her
round butt a soft tap and bouncing toward the nearest abandoned apartment building with her
pounding on his back and shoulders with her fists and shrieking loudly. "Ssh," he teased. "You'll
wake the neighbours."
She let out a small roar of frustration and renewed her attack. She squirmed more and more until
she ended up kicking him, right where it counts. He gasped and dropped her, doubling over, arms
protecting his package. The blonde fell into another set of laughter, as she landed, somewhat
hard, on the ground. After a few minutes, the girl stood shakily and patted her aching friend on
the purple plaid back. "Come on, what are we waiting around here for?" she teased.
He growled, and straightened up slowly. "We're waiting for you to stop abusing me."
The girl giggled. "You started it!"
The guy shook his head. "Oh, no. Don't you even start *that*," he warned.
The blonde simply giggled and took off into the apartment building, with the guy hot on her heels.
*********
Alec strolled tiredly into Headquarters lugging three briefcases of cash. Despite their contents, he
dropped them unceremoniously onto the long, meeting table. "Here's our first haul," he
announced.
Joshua rushed over excitedly. "Is that all from the paintings?" he asked eagerly, his eyes alight
with hope.
Alec smiled at him. "Every penny. Congratulations Josh, you're the first to add a real sum to the
TC Un-retirement Fund." He patted his friend on the back amicably. "Now, you think you can
add it to the contents of Max's office? I gotta go plan for even further additions."
Joshua was more than glad to present his offering to Max in her office. He took the briefcases
and scrambled off. Alec chuckled at his friend's cute innocence. He stood still for a moment,
content to be done with a day of running around, but as it was only 3 o'clock in the afternoon, he
knew his work day was only just beginning. Spotting a trio of X's chatting and passing by a
nearby window, Alec turned and jogged outside to meet them. They looked in shape enough for
a few thieveries.
"Hey, you guys!" he called after them once he got outside.
They turned as one to see who demanded their attention. "494!" exclaimed one of them, a male,
about Alec's age, with blond hair and bright blue eyes, and tattoos covering his muscular arms.
He jogged over to Alec and caught him in a manly bear hug.
Surprised, Alec returned the favour as the identity of the X5 came to him. "223! Long time, no
see!"
The two of them pulled back to look each other over, as the rest of the group approached. "Cute.
As always, 494," a petite brunette commented. Her brown eyes sparkled with joy.
"It's Alec now, guys," Alec informed them. He studied the girl's spiked locks, which were short,
but longer than his own, and stuck off stylishly in every possible direction. "Nice cut 562," he
complemented.
"Ashton," she corrected. "Yeah, I needed a change."
"And she most certainly got what she was looking for," 223 added. "But I have yet to find a
stash of gel, so I have no idea how she keeps it so porcupine-ish. My name's March. The month,
not the verb."
"Nice choice. And you are?" he asked the remaining X. 'Stunning,' was the first thought that
came to his mind. Glossy red hair, straight down to the middle of her back and short in front to
frame her cherub face, almost glowing green eyes, full red lips, smooth white skin, curves in all
the right places . . . slightly shorter than Alec, the woman radiated perfection almost as much as
Max's DNA.
Noticing the look Alec was giving her, the woman grinned, flashing perfect pearly whites. She
held out a hand to him, which looked to be perfectly manicured without any work. "I'm
Blake," she introduced herself. "Formerly known as X5-607."
A comfortable, cocky grin fell unto Alec's face. "Charmed, I'm sure." He took her outstretched
hand and kissed it reverently. Just before he let go, he hesitated. "Wait a minute . . . 607?
You're an '09 escapee!"
Blake nodded. "That I am."
"Holy whack! Max is gonna freak!" Alec exclaimed. He held his firm grip, gestured toward HQ,
more for Ashton and March's benefit than Blake's, and yanked on Blake's hand, practically
dragging her into Headquarters and to Max's office.
Not needing much encouragement, Blake followed him, in a bit of a daze. "You mean Max as
in 452-Max?" she asked.
"Yeah!"
Alec threw open the door to the office and barged in. Startled, Max dropped the suitcase Joshua
had handed to her, crushing her toes under the onslaught. She shrieked in pain and turned to
Alec, face red. She promptly began to scream at him, wiping the excited and proud look off of his
handsome face. "Alec! What the hell do you think you're doing?!? I'm gonna kill you, you son
of a bitch!" She punched him roughly on the shoulder. That day being only a few days after he
had gotten shot in said shoulder, Alec yelped in pain and leapt away from her like the opposite
side of the room had just exploded. Blake yelped as well and stepped to the side, one foot at a
time. Unfortunately for Alec, she wasn't fast enough, and he tripped over her still outstretched
foot, and stumbled back out the door, smacking into Ashton and March, who toppled over like
bowling pins. Max slammed the door behind him.
Ignoring the curses and moans floating through the door, Max turned to Blake, and smiled
sweetly and calmly at her. "How may I help you?" she asked pleasantly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Remember, if you love me or my story, or any particular scene in my story, review, PLEASE!
I know the intro of Ashton, March, and especially Blake was a little abrupt, but that scene was
meant as fast-paced and full of surprises. It's like, Alec sees people, thinks they're can help bring
in the cash. BAM! He knows them. BAM! '09er. BAM! See Max. BAM! Max 'throws' Alec
out. The story should calm down a bit next chapter. As it is now, I think it has had too much
caffeine.
Keela13
Part One
Chapter 2
Summary: The transgenics have to find ways to stay alive, and keep themselves occupied while
the siege creeps slowly along.
Note: I have so many ideas that I can work together for this story, I'm gonna call it a season
three. But be warned, my average chapter length nowadays for any of my stories is eight to ten
pages in Corel WordPerfect 9, and that includes author's notes and stuff. So don't expect
episodism rather than chapterism. At least they're longer than the first stuff I ever posted. 1 to 3
pages.
Oh, and also, if you're reading this story, PLEASE review. I'd like to know if anyone at all is
reading this. Let's just say I didn't get many reviews for the first chapter. But I would like to get
some. I'm gonna continue this story anyway, but I'd like SOME acknowledgment.
Thanks Natters, for the one review I got, but more of what exactly? What did you like? What
didn't you like? What could use some improvement? What was you favourite part? I'm glad
you like it and want to read more, but please, give me something to go on!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Cute setup you got here," Alec said, strolling leisurely into Joshua's old house, where boxes
were piled endlessly into a massive fort.
Sketchy peeked his head out from a makeshift doorway in the boxes, obviously feeling much
better now that he was away from the deadly toxins of Terminal City. "Hey Alec!" he said
joyfully. "Hey guys, it's Alec!"
Normal came running from the kitchen screaming, "Golden Boy!" He flew excitedly at Alec. A
look of sheer terror crossed Alec's face, and he jumped frantically to the side as Normal flew at
him, arms open. Normal crashed into the wall. At having the living daylights scared out of him,
Alec's breathing was ragged. The mental, of a smiling, screaming, *giddy* Normal rushing at him
with his arms open was definitely gonna give him nightmares for a long time to come.
Alec was gaining his composure as Normal writhed in pain on the floor, when suddenly something
hit him from behind and he crashed awkwardly to the floor. "Alec!" Original Cindy shrieked. "I
missed you, Boo, you have no idea what it's been like here with these crazy male freaks!"
Alec pushed her off, rolled over, and rose unsteadily to his feet. "OC, I hate to break this to you,
but while I'm not crazy, I happen to be more of a freak than they are, and I am male." Alec
studied Sketchy's fort, and remembered Normal rushing at him, and reconsidered. "No, you're
right, they're the freaks here."
"I think that's giving your people a bad name," Logan said, emerging from the kitchen and taking
a large bite out of a sandwich.
Alec and Original Cindy glared at him. Sketchy and Normal turned to him, both shocked and
surprised. Rage immediately ignited within Alec, and burned fiercely. He forced it under control.
"What," he hissed menacingly, "because no matter how bad you ordinaries can get, we're always
worse?"
Logan looked up at him from his sandwich, momentarily pausing in his chewing, surprise clouding
his features. Still, he did not attempt to correct himself.
-I can see why Max broke up with you,- Alec almost said. Instead, he chose, "I'm here to collect
Joshua's paintings. He's selling them to add to the TC fund."
"All of them?" Original Cindy asked gently. She knew the significance of Joshua's paintings to
the artist, especially those of Annie.
"That's what he says," Alec told her, "but I'm gonna leave one of Annie."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Logan asked. "I mean, he wants you to sell them all. I don't
think he'd appreciate you going against his wishes."
"And I don't think he'd appreciate anyone selling his last reminder of the woman he loved!" Alec
snapped. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some work to do." Alec walked as calmly as
possible down the stairs to the basement. When he got to the bottom, he looked around, counting
the numerous paintings he saw. As he lost count, he knew that he was gonna have his work cut
out for him. He took a deep breath. -Thank god thugs enjoy vans,- he thought. Well, they did,
while they had them. It was Alec's turn, as of ten minutes ago.
His eyes settled on the piano in the centre of the room. He longed to feel his fingers gliding
across the smooth keys. To hear the rich melody pouring through the air. But he had work to
do. There was no time for play. Or reminiscing.
Carrying an armload of paintings piled on top of each other carefully, Alec trudged upstairs.
When he reached the top, Original Cindy raised her eyebrows at him. "Anyone else would be
tumbling back down them stairs right now, ya know. That's some load ya got there," she said.
"Why OC, are we a little jealous?"
"Nah boo, but judging from the looks on their faces, the males are." She gestured towards the
other three. Jealousy, jealousy, and Alec could swear there was a hint of drool pooling at the
corners of Normal's mouth. Not that Alec was looking. Shudder.
Alec stopped in front of the door that led to the outside, arms full. He stood there for a few
moments before he turned to the others. "Well?"
"Well what?" Logan asked.
Alec nodded his head toward the door. The room was silent. Alec rolled his eyes. "Hello? You
guys crippled?"
"Huh?" Sketchy asked, probably the most confused of them all.
"The door, geniuses!"
Everyone other than Alec let out a brief chorus of 'oh's.
Alec stared at them. They stared back. "Or I could just break it down!" Alec turned back to the
door and raised his foot, hoping they'd get the not so subtle message. They did, but
unfortunately, they all did at once.
Sketchy, Original Cindy, and Normal rushed to get the door for him, crashing into each other in
their haste. Original Cindy managed to jump back before the two men took her down, but
Sketchy and Normal crashed to the floor. Logan calmly walked over and opened the door. Alec
stepped out. "Be back in a sec."
After a few minutes, he hadn't returned. Original Cindy was getting worried when, "Uhh, you
guys?"
Original Cindy peeked out the door. Alec stood, unbalanced, the paintings in one arm, tilted
backwards to balance the extra weight, trying to open the back door of the van with one hand.
He was having a little trouble, considering he couldn't keep his extra hand away from the
paintings for more than a millisecond. Transgenic balance and reflexes aside, the paintings were
dangerously close to sliding right out of his grip.
Original Cindy rushed out and yanked the door open, Alec barely avoiding being hit. He carefully
placed the paintings inside. "I think next time I won't take quite so many," Alec decided.
Original Cindy followed him back inside, leaving all doors open. Alec disappeared down the
stairs, and contrary to his previous statement, came back up with an even bigger load. He had all
the paintings in the van in record time.
After saying his 'goodbye's and 'see you later's, Alec drove to the art gallery. He strode in,
looking important, and immediately headed towards Lisa Dowell's office. He knocked, waited to
be permitted entrance and went in. "Yes?" Lisa asked. Recognition flooded her features. "Oh,
it's you," she sighed. Then she brightened at his obvious reason for being there. "You're here for
business, I presume."
"That's right," Alec replied. "Joshua has been very busy lately."
"How busy exactly?" Lisa asked, taking a sip from a glass of water that sat on her deep brown
wooden desk.
"I've got eighty-nine paintings out in my van."
Lisa choked and nearly spit her water across the room. "Eighty-nine?!?"
Alec winced. "He hasn't exactly been able to get out lately."
"Well we can't afford to buy all of them right now!" Lisa said, managing to stop coughing and
sputtering enough for sadness to fill her voice.
"Well, in that case," Alec told her, "I guess you just get first pick. As many as you want."
Lisa smiled at him. "Greatly appreciated. So how has Joshua been?" she asked, rising from her
chair and stepping out the door, which Alec politely held open for her.
Alec sighed. "Truthfully? Not too good. He recently suffered from the loss of a close . . .
friend."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"Well, he's dealing. I think we might need some help bringing them in," Alec observed.
"Definitely," Lisa agreed. "Molly!" she called out to a young woman who sat behind a desk near
the door. "We're gonna need a few extra hands, can you round up the boys?"
"On it." The girl pressed a button on her intercom, called for some help, and within minutes three
heavy, muscular men came in, ready to help. The five of them headed outside to the van. Alec
opened the back doors, to reveal paintings filling the back to the roof. Lisa gasped. It was a lot
of paintings. And it didn't exactly look as if they'd been packed carefully. But as they loaded
them all into the building, she saw that not one of them had a scratch on it. And she noted with
joy the little signature and number in every corner: Joshua. He was most definitely a remarkable
individual.
They lay the paintings around the room, leaning them against the walls, lying them on the floor,
squeezing them into the room that had seemed so large before. They took a considerably larger
amount of time to unload them as Alec had to load them, since they each took one at a time. Alec
had decided to keep the suspicion levels at a minimum. Lisa was glad it was nearly closing time,
she could stay as long as she wanted without any idiots coming in and stepping on the beautiful
paintings. As she began to look them over, Alec realized that this was going to take awhile and
pressed himself comfortably in a corner, sliding to the floor.
Lisa didn't even notice. She paced slowly back and forth in front of the paintings, occasionally
having one of her helpers move a painting to the side, the ones she wanted the most. She was
finding it difficult to chose, however, because she wanted them all. Lisa noticed that a good
portion of the paintings were of the same beautiful young woman. The love Joshua must have felt
for her broadcast itself from every one of them. She gasped.
Alec, who had been dangerously close to nodding off, snapped up his head to look at her. "Is
something wrong?" he asked worriedly.
"This . . . this is that blind girl from TV! Joshua . . . he loved her . . ."
Alec nodded, even though she wasn't looking at him. "He didn't do it," he informed her, anger
seeping slightly into his voice.
"I know . . ." Lisa whispered. "He couldn't have. He loved her," she repeated.
"Yeah," Alec whispered. "He did."
"I'll take all the ones of her," Lisa said. That was twenty-three of the total number of paintings.
She went over several other paintings, with Lisa describing what they said to her and why she
liked them, and negotiating prices, while Alec simply followed her around the room with his eyes,
nodding and tossing one word agreements in her direction. Lisa's helpers scrambled to collect all
the paintings she pointed out and move them off to the side. Lisa stopped in front of one painting
in particular. She stood in front of where it leaned against the wall for several minutes, studying it
closely.
Alec stood and stepped quietly up behind her. "Do you like it?" he asked gently, startling her a
little, wondering if he was interrupting her 'artist's flow' or something by talking to her. You
never knew with these gallery people. And he'd be damned if he'd ever understood a woman.
"It's complicated . . ." she commented, ignoring his question. "See how all the vibrant colours on
the outside seem to pull the attention away from the dark core?"
"Uh huh," Alec drawled. Yep, he'd be damned. All he wanted to know was if she wanted it or
not, so he could get the hell out of there.
"But the darkness is the entire focus, the importance, the *point* of the entire painting. It *is*
the painting. And yet it's like it's hidden away, by this . . . fa‡ade of pretty colours. . . ."
"Tricks and treats," Alec muttered. He turned toward the painting, figuring he'd at least try to
pay attention to whatever she was babbling on about. As he studied the painting, he was
transfixed by the centre, the core. Darkness. Covered by 'tricks and treats.' Alec shivered, there
was something so . . . fascinating about it, something that drew him to it, like a magnet. . . .
Alec snapped his head in Lisa's direction, realizing she was speaking to him. Had been doing so,
in fact, for several minutes. "What were you saying?" he asked.
Lisa gave him a puzzled and concerned look, then spoke, "The shorthand version: I said I'll take
it."
"Oh!" Alec said, then shook his head to clear it completely of the fog it had been in. "Sure, yeah.
Any more?"
"I'm afraid that's all I can take right now." She smiled almost sadly. "Don't suppose you can put
them on layaway?" she joked.
"No can do," Alec told her. "I need to get these sold as soon as possible, Joshua's financial
position is pretty . . . tight."
Lisa nodded. She turned towards the paintings she had selected. Thirty-seven in total. Needless
to say, that was a lot of cash, they had settled on five thousand dollars each. She dispatched one
of her helpers to the gallery safe. Alec watched him leave, and idly wondered the exact location
of said vault, and exactly how easy it would be to break into it. He mentally chastised himself.
-Rob from the dirty and give to the not-so-dirty,- he reminded himself. Lisa was, in no way, dirty
or corrupt, and she most certainly did not deserve a massive robbery. Besides, TC was already
gaining $185, 000 with her assistance.
The man returned a few minutes later, carrying a briefcase containing the money. He handed it
carefully to Lisa, who in turn handed it to Alec. "You can count it if you'd like," Lisa said.
Alec smiled lightly at her. "I don't think that'll be necessary. Besides, I'd like to leave here as
soon as possible, no offense." Alec was growing as stir crazy as the citizens of Terminal City.
"None taken," Lisa assured him. She instructed her helpers to help Alec carry the rest of the
paintings back to the van. They carefully piled all fifty-two remaining paintings in. Lisa seemed
very concerned about their health, piled on top of each other like that, but Alec assured her they'd
be fine, besides, their health and welfare was no longer her problem.
Alec spent several more hours cruising around to Seattle's other galleries, conning managers into
believing Joshua would be the next Picasso, without the screwed up faces, and managing to make
a fortune off of Joshua's work. Alec almost let himself feel guilty of the reward he was getting
from Joshua's hard work and love, but he reminded himself that this was for all of TC, including
Joshua, and he left it at that.
********
"I'm telling you right now," stated the gorgeous blonde to her handsome companion as they
walked down the street, "if I don't get out of these rags and military boots, I'm gonna start
venting my frustration on you."
"Me?" the guy questioned, using both hands to point at himself and staring at her. His through
and through black eyes widening with innocence. "What did I do?"
"Well, you're the fashion challenged moron who got these!" she hissed angrily, spending a full
five minutes talking him down to the dirt along with the dirty, torn, once black, now grey, tight
legged corduroys, faded hot pink, warped, stretched, woolen sweater, and military combat
boots she wore.
"And you think I'm just overjoyed with this?" he snarled at her, gesturing wildly at his purple
plaid, buttonless button down shirt and spray painted orange, knee length jean cutoffs. Plus
similar black military combat boots to complete the 'look.' The blonde's naturally pale, pale face,
now seemingly stained brown with dirt, contorted into a twisted mix of anger and amusement as
she looked his outfit over, and burst into laughter. The guy tilted his face downward slightly and
stared up past his eyebrows, heaving a sigh as if to say, 'Do you see what I have to put up with?'
He ran his hand through his dirty, black hair and sighed again. "Let's get some actual clothes
before anyone else sees us," he suggested.
Through her fits of laughter, the blonde nodded and turned, leaping the fence into Terminal City.
She landed on the other side and stumbled, barely controlling her laughter enough to keep from
falling to the ground.
The guy turned his head from side to side, checking once again to see if anyone would see them,
and followed her in. "Would ya shut up already?"
"But making fun of you is *so* fun!" she informed him, her full lips pouting in a very cute
manner. She slapped him playfully on the shoulder. He turned toward her as they continued their
journey into the bowels of Terminal City. His black eyes seemingly alight with mischief, he
grinned at her.
The blonde took one wary step back, and he watched as her violet-green mix eyes filled with
mock fear. He quickly grabbed her around the waist and flung her over his shoulder, giving her
round butt a soft tap and bouncing toward the nearest abandoned apartment building with her
pounding on his back and shoulders with her fists and shrieking loudly. "Ssh," he teased. "You'll
wake the neighbours."
She let out a small roar of frustration and renewed her attack. She squirmed more and more until
she ended up kicking him, right where it counts. He gasped and dropped her, doubling over, arms
protecting his package. The blonde fell into another set of laughter, as she landed, somewhat
hard, on the ground. After a few minutes, the girl stood shakily and patted her aching friend on
the purple plaid back. "Come on, what are we waiting around here for?" she teased.
He growled, and straightened up slowly. "We're waiting for you to stop abusing me."
The girl giggled. "You started it!"
The guy shook his head. "Oh, no. Don't you even start *that*," he warned.
The blonde simply giggled and took off into the apartment building, with the guy hot on her heels.
*********
Alec strolled tiredly into Headquarters lugging three briefcases of cash. Despite their contents, he
dropped them unceremoniously onto the long, meeting table. "Here's our first haul," he
announced.
Joshua rushed over excitedly. "Is that all from the paintings?" he asked eagerly, his eyes alight
with hope.
Alec smiled at him. "Every penny. Congratulations Josh, you're the first to add a real sum to the
TC Un-retirement Fund." He patted his friend on the back amicably. "Now, you think you can
add it to the contents of Max's office? I gotta go plan for even further additions."
Joshua was more than glad to present his offering to Max in her office. He took the briefcases
and scrambled off. Alec chuckled at his friend's cute innocence. He stood still for a moment,
content to be done with a day of running around, but as it was only 3 o'clock in the afternoon, he
knew his work day was only just beginning. Spotting a trio of X's chatting and passing by a
nearby window, Alec turned and jogged outside to meet them. They looked in shape enough for
a few thieveries.
"Hey, you guys!" he called after them once he got outside.
They turned as one to see who demanded their attention. "494!" exclaimed one of them, a male,
about Alec's age, with blond hair and bright blue eyes, and tattoos covering his muscular arms.
He jogged over to Alec and caught him in a manly bear hug.
Surprised, Alec returned the favour as the identity of the X5 came to him. "223! Long time, no
see!"
The two of them pulled back to look each other over, as the rest of the group approached. "Cute.
As always, 494," a petite brunette commented. Her brown eyes sparkled with joy.
"It's Alec now, guys," Alec informed them. He studied the girl's spiked locks, which were short,
but longer than his own, and stuck off stylishly in every possible direction. "Nice cut 562," he
complemented.
"Ashton," she corrected. "Yeah, I needed a change."
"And she most certainly got what she was looking for," 223 added. "But I have yet to find a
stash of gel, so I have no idea how she keeps it so porcupine-ish. My name's March. The month,
not the verb."
"Nice choice. And you are?" he asked the remaining X. 'Stunning,' was the first thought that
came to his mind. Glossy red hair, straight down to the middle of her back and short in front to
frame her cherub face, almost glowing green eyes, full red lips, smooth white skin, curves in all
the right places . . . slightly shorter than Alec, the woman radiated perfection almost as much as
Max's DNA.
Noticing the look Alec was giving her, the woman grinned, flashing perfect pearly whites. She
held out a hand to him, which looked to be perfectly manicured without any work. "I'm
Blake," she introduced herself. "Formerly known as X5-607."
A comfortable, cocky grin fell unto Alec's face. "Charmed, I'm sure." He took her outstretched
hand and kissed it reverently. Just before he let go, he hesitated. "Wait a minute . . . 607?
You're an '09 escapee!"
Blake nodded. "That I am."
"Holy whack! Max is gonna freak!" Alec exclaimed. He held his firm grip, gestured toward HQ,
more for Ashton and March's benefit than Blake's, and yanked on Blake's hand, practically
dragging her into Headquarters and to Max's office.
Not needing much encouragement, Blake followed him, in a bit of a daze. "You mean Max as
in 452-Max?" she asked.
"Yeah!"
Alec threw open the door to the office and barged in. Startled, Max dropped the suitcase Joshua
had handed to her, crushing her toes under the onslaught. She shrieked in pain and turned to
Alec, face red. She promptly began to scream at him, wiping the excited and proud look off of his
handsome face. "Alec! What the hell do you think you're doing?!? I'm gonna kill you, you son
of a bitch!" She punched him roughly on the shoulder. That day being only a few days after he
had gotten shot in said shoulder, Alec yelped in pain and leapt away from her like the opposite
side of the room had just exploded. Blake yelped as well and stepped to the side, one foot at a
time. Unfortunately for Alec, she wasn't fast enough, and he tripped over her still outstretched
foot, and stumbled back out the door, smacking into Ashton and March, who toppled over like
bowling pins. Max slammed the door behind him.
Ignoring the curses and moans floating through the door, Max turned to Blake, and smiled
sweetly and calmly at her. "How may I help you?" she asked pleasantly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Remember, if you love me or my story, or any particular scene in my story, review, PLEASE!
I know the intro of Ashton, March, and especially Blake was a little abrupt, but that scene was
meant as fast-paced and full of surprises. It's like, Alec sees people, thinks they're can help bring
in the cash. BAM! He knows them. BAM! '09er. BAM! See Max. BAM! Max 'throws' Alec
out. The story should calm down a bit next chapter. As it is now, I think it has had too much
caffeine.
