Chapter 4 - Forgive and Forget?

Two weeks passed slowly for Asha. The first week she spent feeling sorry for herself in her room, eating little, speaking little, her heart was weighed with regret and sorrow. In all that time Max and Logan refused to come near her room both avoiding her and each other. Alec and Joshua brought Asha her meals and Original Cindy came to help her bathe and change her clothes. Alec came to see her every day trying to inspire her to get up and do something but Asha remained in bed for the entire first week. On the Monday of the second week Alec strode into Asha's room his face firm, he looked like a man with a mission. He walked to her bed while Asha lay there breathing softly staring blankly up at the ceiling. She had no idea how good she looked to Alec. Cindy had just taken Asha for a bath so Asha's hair was wet and messy, a look that Asha could pull off. Alec stared down at her admiringly for a few moments before Asha groaned.

"What?" she asked him tiredly and Alec crossed his arms across his chest.

"You are getting up today Asha," he informed her determinedly and Asha shook her head.

"No, I don't want to go anywhere," Asha said sulkily but Alec was unwavering in his resolve to remain firm with her. He was going to get Asha up and out of bed if it took all day and night.

"Stop behaving like a spoiled brat," Alec told her nastily and Asha rose to the bait.

"Oh you're one to talk," she fired back at him rudely not being in the mood for Alec's teasing.

"Get up Asha," Alec said, this time more firmly and Asha folded her arms under her chest.

"Make me," she taunted him and Alec smirked and shrugged his shoulders resignedly.

"That can be arranged," he told her leaning over her and he pulled the covers off her slim body unashamedly while Asha screamed in protest horrified that Alec had actually done such a thing. Alec then reached over and gathered Asha up into his arms while she struggled half-heartedly then he picked her up and she protested again as she reached up to entwine her arms around his neck, afraid that she would fall.

"Alec put me down or I'll start spreading the rumour that you keep more girls out of bed than you do in them," Asha threatened him and Alec had to laugh at her wry attempt at blackmailing him. He didn't care what anyone else thought about him, he never did and he knew he sure as hell never would.

"I'm shaking in my little bunny boots," he said mockingly and Asha grunted with frustration as Alec began walking.

"Alec put me down!" Asha demanded but Alec didn't stop walking.

"Didn't you hear me Alec? I said put me down!" Asha said tugging on Alec's neck but he didn't even react as he jumped Asha up and down in her arms just to spite her.

"I heard what you said princess but it just ain't happening," he goaded her teasingly and Asha pouted with frustration. Alec didn't say anymore to her he just kept on walking and Asha had decided to give him the silent treatment, something that amused Alec immensely. He finally stopped walking and Asha tried not to seem as intrigued as she felt wondering where Alec had taken her. She could hear the sounds of soft sobbing, moaning, creaking and soft words of comfort.

"You are going to help out around here, its time you earned your keep," Alec told her and Asha's mouth dropped open, not quite comprehending what Alec was saying.

"Earned my keep?" Asha repeated and she waited as Alec settled her down into a chair.

"Asha, do you honestly think we have enough money to feed every transgenic and pay for their hospital treatments? We can barely afford to keep all of us fed and clothed, and our population is growing, can you hear the sound of babies crying? Its because we haven't got enough milk to feed them, we need your help Asha, if you can help in anyway then we need it," Alec impressed upon Asha who bowed her head. She had never even thought about the life that the transgenics lived. It had never even crossed her mind, yet now here she was right in the middle of it and she was thinking only about herself.

"I trained as a nurse for a year before joining S1W," Asha said slowly and Alec smiled sensing that Asha felt that she wanted to help them out. This was what he had hoped Asha would react like and he smiled as Asha began nodding her head slowly.

"Perfect, some transgenics become ill, it has something to do with their DNA make up, they need medicine but until they can get it we keep them in our sick bay, from now on you will come here everyday to help out," Alec commanded and he expected at least a small argument but Asha continued to nod her head.

"Okay, but will you come with me everyday?" she asked looking up shyly in Alec's direction and Alec reached over and took Asha's hand in his patting it comfortingly.

"Yes, but Joshua is here as well so you won't need me so much," Alec reminded her and Asha heard Joshua panting and his heavy footsteps as he raced towards them.

"I'll always need you near me Alec," Asha said softly and Alec blinked twice to be sure he had heard her right, he was about to talk to her but Joshua was already into the conversation.

"Pretty Ash come meet Joshua's babies," Joshua said pulling Asha's hand from Alec's and Asha pulled back not wanting to leave Alec.

"But Alec and I." Asha said then she stopped struggling and looked around before saying, "he's gone hasn't he?"

"Alec gone, come back later," Joshua assured her then tugged on her hand again, "come."
For the rest of the week Asha took great pride and satisfaction in caring for her patients. They were mostly children or babies too young to care for themselves. Their mothers, young transgenics had come to Terminal City to give birth then they left their babies and disappeared into the night leaving the children orphans. Asha even began to have some favourites of the children, a group of five friends, orphans who were lead by Hawk, a half bird half transgenic, ten years of age a product of one of the very first breeding programmes between a transgenic like Joshua and a normal transgenic male, an X-6. On his head instead of hair there was a plume of feathers and his legs were close to being the claws of a bird. His face was very handsome and when he smiled dimples appeared on his cheeks. The most amazing thing about him was that on his back were two graceful wings, however Hawk did not know how to use them. His second in command, a transgenic one year younger than himself was called Snow, named so because of her strange white skin and soft white hair. She had bright blue eyes though, of course Asha had never seen them, Joshua would describe them so vividly that Asha felt she really could see them. Snow was transgenic and transgenic, the product of an X-6 male and a transgenic female like Marro, who had perfect blood and passed the blood onto Snow. Then there were the twins, seven years old and both were bundles of mischief. Their parents had been an X-5 female and normal man who, once having found out that the girl he had married was a transgenic, kicked her, and their three month old children out onto the street. The twins were cute little things, blonde haired, hazel-eyed, one boy and one girl. They were very close to each other, and both were very quick with the slight of hand, the boy was called, Spider, well known for his long fingers adept in pick pocketing and the girl was called Siren, as she used her beauty to con people. The youngest of the five, Tiny, was the daughter of an X-7 from the latest breeding programme used at Manticore, the X-7 however had been much too young to survive the birth process and had died giving birth to Tiny who was premature, thus the name Tiny.

Those five children made an adoring fan club, worshipping the very ground Asha stumbled across. They were very fond of Alec as well, seeing him as a big brother figure who would play with them and rough them up a bit, he was their god and Asha was his 'girlfriend' according to the group, something that Asha and Alec didn't try to deny and didn't really want to. Asha and Alec grew closer to each other, spending so much time together taking care of the kids that Asha sometimes felt a connection with him. She had never imagined that she would fall for Alec. Meanwhile Alec felt himself getting reacquainted with feelings that he thought had long since left him. Suddenly he was shy and bashful in Asha's presence, she made him want to be better than he was, she made him want to change. Max and Logan still never came by but Asha soon was able to put it out of her memory having too much to do without worrying about them, although at night she fretted for hours. Asha feared the day when Logan and Max would discover the truth about her and then they would hate her forever, and Alec would too.
Logan sat in his office at his desk staring at his photo of Max. He had been sitting there doing nothing for the passed two weeks. There was nothing he could do now. They had a way to find out where Sandeman was, they just couldn't get to him. It was hopeless. He was startled from his reverie by the phone ringing and he picked up the receiver and pulled it to his ear.

"Logan Cale speaking," he said dully wondering who would be calling him.

"Logan, I have some interesting news," Dr. Carr's voice said on the other end of the line and Logan sat up interested.

"Shoot," he encouraged Dr. Carr who was breathless with excitement.

"It's about Asha," Dr. Carr said and Logan couldn't help but stiffen at her name. He felt guilty for not going to see her. It wasn't her fault that she was protecting her family, but in protecting Sandeman she was ruining Logan and Max's hopes of a life together.

"What about her?" Logan asked tightly and Dr. Carr paused dramatically.

"She's a transgenic," he announced and Logan nearly dropped the phone as he leaned forward.

"What?" Logan asked needing confirmation.

"She's a transgenic, I tested her blood and found differences in her blood to normal blood so I tested it against Max's blood.it isn't exactly the same but it is so very close, I even thought it may have been some sort of trick so I tried it against Alec's blood but I got the same result, Asha's some sort of transgenic," Dr. Carr explained and Logan eyes turned cold. She had lied to him again, he couldn't believe how little he knew Asha. Didn't she even care about their friendship? She was the one person he thought he really knew in this world full of lies, but he was wrong.

"I see," Logan said and Dr. Carr was silent wondering why Logan wasn't more excited.

"That means, her eyesight will be returning in a few more days she has amazing regenerative skills, in normal people it would have taken weeks, maybe even years but for someone as advanced as Asha, it will only take about two more days, a week at the most," Dr. Carr assured Logan who nodded his head absently.

"That's great," he mumbled unenthusiastically.

"Call me if there are any problems," Dr. Carr said concern evident in his voice.

"I will, thank you for calling and letting me know," Logan replied putting down the phone then stalking from his office in the direction of Asha's room.
Asha was doing her stretches to keep in shape and so she was standing up, with her body bent over as she tried to touch her chest to her legs. Come on, head to knees, you can do it, she thought encouragingly straining to achieve her goal as sweat poured from her face. He hair was hanging over her face leaving the back of her neck bare facing the entrance to her room. Logan came to her door and his eyes searched her neck for a barcode but to his surprise he couldn't find one. He briefly wondered what else she had been lying to him about.

"Where's your barcode Asha?" Logan sneered at her and Asha froze her movements then stood up straight slowly.

"What are you talking about?" she asked nervously reaching for her towel and wiping her face.

"When are you going to stop lying to us Asha? We trusted you, I trusted you," Logan said his voice thick with disgust and Asha winced at the contempt she heard in his voice.

"Logan." she breathed as she sat down on her bed, her legs turning to jelly.

"I thought I knew you, now I know I don't know you at all, why didn't you tell us you were a transgenic? " Logan demanded and Asha bowed her head. He had discovered her secret. There was no turning back now. She had to tell him the truth.

"Logan.please, I thought of you as my brother, please don't hate me; my real brother Ames.he worked with father and I, we assisted father in his research, sometimes we let him test things on us, strength enhancers, brain enhancers and stuff like that, for some reason we knew the changes wouldn't harm us, and they didn't because we were descendants of a cult, the Familiars. We reacted to whatever father injected us with, that why Ames is somewhat stronger than his Familiar counterparts. When Ames found out we were descendants of a cult and we were the evolved form of humans he became dissatisfied with father and his 'fake' genetics and joined the cult; in a few weeks the brother I had known and loved was replaced by Ames White, a cold-hearted monster. Before the cult, my brother was a good man, he was a totally different person, but the cult changed him, so father had the idea to inject one of his transgenics with the power to get rid of the cult once and for all, this transgenic would be the next level of evolution that the cult had yet to reach; he chose X5-452, Max, as the chosen one; I injected it into her when she had been returned to Manticore it would react when she was bitten by a snake of the Familiars an event which father and I knew would happen one day because of her endless curiosity. She didn't recognise me when we were first introduced by you because she had been drugged earlier when I had injected her but I guess that's why she always felt so uncomfortable around me. When Max returned to you I suddenly felt so inadequate, I wanted to be what she was because I wanted you to love me like you did her, but because I was only injected with the DNA, my cult genes reacted with it differently, I'm not a transgenic, I'm not a Familiar, I'm something else," Asha confessed finally feeling a huge weight of burden come off her shoulders. Logan was standing there arms folded not quite understanding what she was saying.

"What do you mean?" he asked his voice cold and Asha pursed her lips knowing that she had lost Logan by the unforgiving look in his usually warm eyes.

"I can call on the genes to assist me when I need them so I don't have the abilities all the time, father only got around to injecting me with cat DNA, the DNA that allows transgenics to heal quickly, and strength and mind enhancers," she admitted and Logan stared at her.

"So what does the cat DNA do for you?" he asked sarcastically and Asha stood up.

"This," she said softly as her eyes became sleek and dark green, her body toned up, her legs becoming chunkier as her nails grew longer and her face changed to resemble that of a cat. Logan stared at her in shock unprepared for what he saw and at his silence Asha smiled as she commented dryly, "Not exactly what I was expecting."

"You've kept this secret from me since the moment we met, why didn't you just tell me about it all instead of lying about not knowing your father created the transgenics?" Logan asked her and Asha turned back to her normal self and collapsed onto the bed, her strength gone.

"I was afraid you would react the way you are acting now, I wanted to tell you everything but father swore me to secrecy, I couldn't tell you, it was way too complicated," Asha pleaded for Logan to understand but Logan stared at the girl who had once been his trusted friend with a sadness in his heart. He could never trust her again.

"And now it's way too late," he told her sadly walking from the room and Asha tried to feel her way to the door.

"Logan.Logan!" she screamed after him tripping over a chair so that she fell to the floor still calling his name but Logan kept walking away from her not even turning back to see if she was okay. Asha pulled her knees to her chest and curled up into a ball crying on the floor of her room.