Title: Three Chimeras
Author: Nefertiry
E-mail: scorpy282003@yahoo.com
Rating: PG, maybe PG-13
Pairing: M/L and J/A
Summary: Max lost one of her sisters 13 years ago. Now she's back in her life. She might have answers to many questions, but is she a friend or foe? Post 'Freak Nation'
Disclaimer: definitely not mine. The characters belong to James Cameron and FOX. But Jessica is ABSOLUTELY mine. I don't make any money using these characters.
Timeline: In the "Prologue", it's during and after "Designate This". In the next chapters – after "Freak Nation".
A/N: Lots of thanks to Sea Siren, Black Rose, iluvaqt and others who read this story. Your reviews are highly appreciated. Thanks for noticing the locations mix-up in the first chapter. I corrected the mistake, (I hope ;)
A/N: Warning: this story is COMPLETELY result of my imagination. Any similarity to other authors' plots, characters, or events is PURELY COINCIDENTIAL AND ABSOLUTELY UNINTENTIONAL.
Secrets of Manticore
Ghosts of the Past
Max touched Logan. Nothing. Ten minutes later Logan was still alive and very much healthy.
"It worked. It worked!" Throwing her arms around Jessica, Max hugged her so hard, that she squeaked. "Max, I don't think you need me dead, so lighten up your grip."
"Sorry, Jess", said Max, letting her sister breathe freely. "I'm so happy!" She kissed Logan and that was a really long kiss. Nothing changed. Logan didn't fall and didn't die.
Jessica exchanged glances with Sam Carr. He smiled. "So, what are you gonna do now? Don't tell me, I'll take a wild guess. A 48 hours love marathon?" Jess looked at the happy couple.
"Yeah, we'll find some romantic place and…" said Logan and thought 'My place is not even remotely romantic, Max's too. Where do we find a romantic place?'
"I'm gonna regret about this, but… uh, you could use my penthouse. It's big, no one will disturb you, and my fridge is your fridge", suggested Jessica.
"Where will you go?" asked Max.
"I'll crash a Logan's. I want to take a look at the house. If you don't mind, Logan." He didn't mind.
"Then it's all settled, I'll just take my laptop and some of my stuff." Jessica had her plans concerning Sandeman's house.
Thursday Night
Crash
Alec walked into the bar, as he usually did after work. He looked around to see if any of his friends were there. Alec noticed Original Cindy and Sketchy at their usual table and came up to them. "Hey, guys."
"Hey yourself", answered Cindy. "Have you heard about Max?"
"What about Max?" Last time Alec talked to Max was on Wednesday morning.
"Her virus can't hurt Logan anymore and they finally can be together." Cindy was happy for her friend.
"What virus?" Sketchy didn't know anything about the virus.
"It doesn't matter. So, Jessica finally did it", murmured Alec.
"Speaking of Jessica. Hi, Jess. " Cindy's words were addressed to Jessica who had entered the bar and came up to their table.
"Hey, Cindy, guys. Cindy, here's the bracelet I promised to give you." Jess gave her now useless electricity-killing device.
"Thanks, Jess. This bracelet is awesome." Cindy put the pretty piece of jewelry on her wrist.
"Jess, are you having a little research party?" Alec pointed at the laptop in Jessica's hand.
"Yeah, sort of." Jessica noticed a table in the far corner of the bar. It was relatively quiet there and no one would bother her. "Guys, I'll be at that table. I need to work a little." With these words, she went to the table. When she sat down and opened the computer, Alec came up to her.
"Jess, I heard you've solved Max's little problem." Alec sat near Jessica.
"I wouldn't call her problem 'little', but yes, Maxie's virus has a new target - White." She opened the database.
"Poor guy. And where are Max and Logan now?" asked Alec.
"They're in my place, probably catching up the wasted time. I think Max won't show up for a couple of days."
"Where do you live now?"
"At Logan's. I want to take a look at his house." Jessica skimmed the entries of the database.
"Interesting place. Anyway, since you're working with the database, could you find my personal file? I'd like to see what they wrote about me." Alec moved closer, placed his hand on the back of her chair and his chin on her shoulder.
"Are you comfortable?" she asked, raising an eyebrow and looking into his eyes.
"Perfectly." Alec smiled and didn't break the eye contact. Black eyes against green ones.
"Are we playing 'who will blink first'?"
"Yeah."
"Sorry, but I don't have time for this." She broke the eye contact and returned to her computer. Jessica opened the directory of personal files.
"What's your designation number?" Jessica found the files of the X5s.
"X5-494, didn't you know?" Alec was surprised that she didn't know his designation number.
"How was I supposed to know? You didn't tell me, neither did Max. Ok, here's your personal file. What are you looking for?"
"My first deep-cover mission. It was in 2018. Here in Seattle. I was sent to keep close surveillance on Robert Berrisford, the CEO of Mercidyne, one of Manticore's subcontractors. He had a daughter, her name was Rachel. When we met, she was seventeen. I was her music teacher. We fell in love. When I got the necessary information, I was ordered to eliminate Berrisford and Rachel. He became dangerous as he had some damaging information about Manticore. Berrisford planned to make this information public. I didn't want to kill Rachel, but Sandoval had sent a back-up team and they blew up his car. Berrisford survived and Rachel was hurt. She fell into a coma and died last year." Alec's voice was sad.
"Heartbreaking story. What do you want me to find?" Jessica felt sorry for Alec.
"I want to know who wrote the plan of this mission. "
"What for? Rachel's gone, why bothering the ghosts of the past?"
"Jess, please. I need this."
"Ok, here it is." Alec looked at the computer screen. "What the hell is that?" he saw that Jessica was the author of the plan of that mission. Alec got angry. He stood up and wanted to leave, but Jessica stopped him. "Gee, Alec, you're just like your brother – hot…" she didn't finish.
Alec turned to face her. "You think I'm hot?" His anger faded away.
"I meant hot tempered. You didn't listen to the end. Read the whole plan. Wait, it's not what I wrote." Jessica typed something and opened another file. "This is my plan. I wrote it two years before your mission. It was like my graduation paper at the end of the course of operations planning. See, no names, just a hypothetical plan of compromising a high-rank person using his family. So, does the jury find the defendant guilty or not guilty?" Jessica looked at Alec. He sighed and said. "Not guilty."
"Great. Now, since we're bothering the ghosts of the past, let's take a look at Ben's file." She found his file and began to read it.
"Jess, don't. You might not like what you'll read." Alec tried to warn her, but she didn't listen to him.
"Alec, he murdered 11 people. Damn, he began killing in 2016. He killed Jim Horton in Chicago in April, 2017. That means…" Jessica frowned when she read the details of those murders.
"Yes, when you met him, he already had killed 2 people in Chicago. Look, after Chicago four of his victims were found in Miami, then he moved to New York – three people dead and then Seattle. Max stopped him after he had killed Peter Chong and Timothy Ryan. By the way, I was arrested last year for the murder of Timothy Ryan. Max got me out of jail, but still – your lover boy wasn't a saint." Alec saw Jessica pale face and her attempts to hold tears.
"Definitely not a saint." She whispered. "Look, Alec, I'm gonna go home. " Jessica closed the laptop and stood up. "Damn, Max and Logan are there."
Alec put an arm around her shoulder. "C'mon, I'll take you to your temporary home. You know, it was my home too. For some time. When I had to hide from the police, I lived with Joshua."
* * * *
They left the bar. When they approached Jessica's BMW, she noticed three big biker-looking guys hanging around her car. One of them tried to open the door.
"What the hell do you think you are doing with my car?" Jessica's voice was trembling with anger. She felt like she wanted to beat somebody very badly.
"Hey, you dolly, give me the keys, or you and your pretty boy will be sorry that you were born", said the guy who tried to open the door.
"Jess, he thinks I'm a pretty boy, can you believe this?" Alec also felt the sudden desire to smash somebody's face.
"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM MY BABY OR…" Jessica came to the guy who dared to touch her car.
"Or what?" He asked, grinning smugly.
"Or THIS." One hard right to the jaw, a punch in the midsection and a kick in the groin. Two seconds later, the guy was lying on the ground, whining like a baby. The other two stared at Jessica. "Would you like to join your buddy?" she asked. Alec moved closer to her.
"No, no", babbled they and ran away.
"Nice fighting skills", noted Alec.
"Thanks, I've been practicing." Jessica opened the door. "Nobody touches my baby."
"What about my bike?" Alec pointed at his means of transportation.
"I think it can fit into the trunk", said Jessica, opening the trunk. Alec put his bike there and closed it.
"Let's go." She started the engine and took off. Strange as it was, but after that short fight with that guy she felt better and calmer.
* * * *
Sandeman's/Joshua's/Logan's House
Jessica opened the door and came in. Alec followed her.
"Do you think Logan has food in the fridge?" he asked, going to the kitchen.
"Don't know, I haven't checked." Jessica put her laptop on Logan's table and went to the kitchen too.
"Alec, could you stay over tonight? I don't want to stay alone in this big house," said Jessica and looked at Alec. A wide smile appeared on his face. "Whatever you are thinking of is not going to happen. Got it?" That was Jessica's answer to that smile.
"I'm not thinking of what you are thinking I'm thinking of. What are YOU thinking of, Jess?"
"Oh, cut the crap. What's in the fridge?" Changing the subject of the conversation, said Jessica, holding back her smile.
"Hmm, Logan's fridge is not as empty as yours", teased her Alec.
"That was once, ,,, or twice." Jessica turned around and left the kitchen.
In the living room she took off her denim jacket and threw it on the chair. She went to Logan's table to get her laptop and noticed photographs and books on the table. Those were some kind of dictionaries and books about ancient languages. Jessica took one of the photos and glanced at it. Then she looked at the picture more attentively. "Alec, what are these pictures on Logan's table?" shouted Jessica.
"No need to scream like that, I'm here", Alec entered the living room and saw Jessica staring at the pictures. He came up to her, took the picture from her hand, and said: "Oh, this is Max; these signs appeared on her skin and later disappeared. I'm telling you, she was like a message board."
"When did they appear?" whispered Jessica, taking another picture.
"Three months ago. Why do you ask?" Alec looked inquiringly at Jessica, who grabbed her cell phone and burst out of the living room.
"I'll explain later." She went to the porch and dialed Sandeman's number.
"It's me. The letters appeared on her skin three months ago and then disappeared."
"Did you read them?" asked Sandeman, frowning.
"No, I haven't seen them all. Sandeman, about those 'Three Chimeras'. You said that we were the chosen ones - Max, me and some X5-4…and my phone died. Who was the third?" asked Jessica, remembering the weird conversation she had on Saturday.
"X5-493", answered Sandeman.
"Oh, boy, we're screwed. Totally screwed. Sandeman, X5-493 has been dead for two years", said Jessica and shivered. Then the meaning of Sandeman's words reached her – Ben was The Chosen One.
"Oh, my God", sighed Sandeman. "You need to get into my old house.."
"I'm IN your old house. What's next?" interrupted him Jessica.
"Go to the attic. There's a bookcase near the window. Find the book with Manticore logo on the cover. Read it."
"Anything else?" asked Jessica.
"Yes. Be careful. Good luck."
"Bye." Jess disconnected the call and entered the house. Having entered the house, she noticed how cold in was outside and how warm inside. She went to the living room where Alec was watching TV, flipping through the channels. He looked at her and noticed that she was trembling.
"Where have you been?"
"Outside. It's cold there." Jessica's teeth chattered. Alec took a blanket from the couch and wrapped it around her shoulders.
"Well, September nights are usually cold", he said, not removing his hands from her shoulders.
"Thanks for reminding me. I haven't noticed", remarked sarcastically Jessica, getting warmer. "Alec, I need to go to the attic."
"I'm going with you. What for?" Alec let go of Jessica.
"I need to find one book. Let's go." She put on her jacket, then thought for a while, went to Logan's table and took her laptop.
* * * *
"Where's the attic here, by the way?" asked Jessica, when she and Alec were walking around the house for the third time, trying to find it.
"I don't know. I haven't seen any stairs on the second floor", answered Alec, looking for the access to the attic.
Jessica noticed a locked door. "Where does it lead?"
"Have no idea." Alec pushed the door. Nothing. He pushed harder and the door opened. "Oh, look, stairs."
They climbed the stairs. Another door. Also locked. Remembering the first door, Alec used his transgenic strength to open the door.
They entered the attic. It was dusty and dark. Jessica looked around and saw the bookcase, mentioned by Sandeman.
"Here." She started taking out the books.
"What book are we looking for?" asked Alec.
"It has Manticore logo on the cover", answered Jessica.
"This one?" Alec showed her the book that he had taken from the upper shelf.
"Yes, give it to me." Jessica took the book and sat down on the floor. Alec sat near her. She flipped through the pages.
"Oh, there it is." She flipped through the pages and found the familiar words 'Three Chimeras'. She read.
"As the Great Evil comes to this world, three Chosen Ones, Three Chimeras will stop it. The First Chimera, born on the 28th day of the second month of the last year of the second millennium, will be able to see it. The Second Chimera, born on the 28th day of the sixth month of the last year of the second millennium, will be able to defeat it. The Third Chimera, born on the 28th day of the tenth month of the last year of the second millennium, will deliver the message."
"What is that?" To Alec it sounded like a fairy-tale, but Jessica was serious.
"Alec, do you know that we, transgenics, are called chimeras?" she looked at Alec.
"Yes, 'chimera' is a made-up creature, like in mythology. Head of a lion, body of a goat", answered Alec not sure what he she was driving at.
Jessica opened her laptop, found the files on her, Max and Ben.
"Alec, look at the dates of birth. Max – 06.28.2000. Me – 10.28.2000. Ben – 02. 29.2000. What? They messed up with my date of birth on the driver's license!" Jessica's date of birth on the driver's license was 10.31.2000.
"So, you're a couple of days older than you thought. No big deal." Alec hadn't noticed the coincidence between the dates of births in the prophecy and in the personal files.
"And what the hell is wrong with Ben's date of birth?" murmured Jessica and then she looked at Alec. She opened his personal file. Date of birth – 02.28.2000. "O, boy, we're not screwed. Sandeman was wrong. Ben is not the Chosen One. Alec is!" shouted Jessica and looked at Alec. He stared at her. "WHO WAS WRONG AND WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY???"
TBC
A/N What do you think? Review. I like to read your reviews. Remember, I wrote one more story. Read it, you won't regret.