A little while later, the two were sitting awkwardly inside. 452 said the only thing she could get out clearly,
"You alright?" Cindy looked up at her,
"Yeah I'm fine. I'm just as fine as the last time you asked, five seconds ago." Her face broke into a smile. "I still can't believe its really you." 452 shook her head slightly.
"But I'm not even sure it is. What do you even mean by that? Cos' I only remember Manticore… an bits of other stuff that makes no sense." Cindy took a deep breath.
"I'll tell you what I know, but don't freak out if you don't believe me, ok?" 452 nodded, "ai-aight. You escaped from Manticore Bu. In '09, with a whole load of your sibs." 452 cut her off,
"No! You're wrong. I'm not a traitor! I was not involved in that escape!"
"Yes you were. But you're no traitor. It's Manticore that's wrong. You kids escaped because you were treated like something you scrape off the bottom of your shoe! The way you told me, you were havin' a seizure, and they tried to take you away, just like they did to your bro' Jack, who you later saw dead. Your sibs freaked, and refused to let 'em take you. Your sis' Eva grabbed the guard's gun and you tried to run for it. Lydecker shot Eva. After that, you guys just split, twelve or thirteen of you." 452 had continuously tried to interrupt, but shut up at the mention of Eva. Eva… 452 couldn't prevent the images crossing her mind as the story was told. The jolting memory of her dead sister bought at least part of it back. So I did escape. We escaped. But then what about her memories of Manticore? She looked up at Cindy, and the other girl could see that 452 believed her. "You know it, don't you?" 452 nodded slowly.
"Then why was I at Manticore? Why do I remember being at Manticore all this time?" Cindy swallowed; this was going to be the tricky bit.
"I can't tell you all that, but I know when, and why you ended up back in Manticore." Off 452's nod, she continued, "It was about a year and five months ago. You and 3 o' your sibs went to Manticore to destroy the DNA lab. Don't ask the technicalities 'cos that's as technical as I get. Anyway, you got shot, Zack got caught. Logan saw you die. He didn't want to leave you, but Lydecker forced him. They thought you were dead, Bu. We all thought you were dead." Confusion was evident on 452's face. Slowly, clearly attempting to unravel memories, what was true, what wasn't and what was sort-of both.
"Lydecker betrayed manticore. He helped a group of X5's to destroy the lab. A little less than a year and a half ago, the same time as the attack, I was on a mission with my brother… 599. We both got shot. Him in the head, me in the chest. They used his heart… it was the only was to save me." Cindy gasped, realising what must have really happened, because Zack never got fatally shot. He was just caught. "What?" 452 asked.
"That mission story has to be the cover up for what happened when you destroyed the lab. But Zack got caught Max, not killed." 452 flinched at the use of the name everyone said was hers. "From what I've heard, Zack woulda done anything for you. If he thought you were gonna die…" She dared not continue. She didn't know exactly what had happened, and airing her thoughts probably wasn't a good idea when Max… 452 was in this state.
"They said that I had amnesia after the injury, due to blood loss or something. That's why I barely remembered the last ten years. There were always weird déjà vu moments, but nothing compared to when I saw him. I had weird dreams, shit like that, but it all stayed as dreams. It never stirred anything inside me; it never really meant a thing. But his face… I couldn't kill him. I just don't understand." Cindy bit her lip. Could she really tell Max this? Was it her place?
"Girl, I don't know everything. I don't know how Manticore made you remember stuff that never happened, and I can't tell you your own feelings. I think you need to remember by yourself, if that's possible. All I do know is that you are not just X5-452. You are Max Guevara, wicked friend, total hunny and kinda a super-heroine, and that Manticore are the bad-guys." 452 shook her head.
"No! They can't be!" the taunting voices had started up once again, reminding her of the past year. "Manticore can't be bad!"
"But they are! You've said it yourself, they're misleading you, lying to you…"
"But they can't be bad! Don't you see? If they're bad, then… I'm bad. I've worked for Manticore for a year, even if what you're saying is true. The things I've done…"She seemed to be despairing, and Cindy finally understood the major denial. "The things… they had to be for a good cause. I wouldn't… I couldn't…"
"Max…" Cindy said, trying to be soothing, she reached out, touching the other girl's arm. But 452 slapped it away.
"Don't call me that! Don't touch me!" she backed away, like a scared animal, and headed for the stairs.
"Max! Max please!" Cindy yelled after her, but of course, she was too fast.
Manticore-
Renfro was in a good mood. 452 had been gone for a few days, and would hopefully soon return to tell her she had killed her own lover! Ha! If she ever fell out of line again, how easy it would be to crush her with that fact. She was snapped out of her fantasy by a knock on the door.
"Come in."
"Ma'am." Answered the X5 who entered. "I have a request." Interested, Renfro asked him to continue, not noticing that he hadn't closed the door. "I realise that it isn't exactly normal procedure, but I wondered if you might reconsider the punishment of X5-734." Renfro raised her eyebrows, he continued. "It's just that she didn't really do anything wrong. She was just real tired, after the mission, I think it's unfair that you punish her so severely for such a small mistake." Renfro was angry, but curious. She'd been watching this one. She already had the feeling that the only reason he hadn't started a rebellion was the fact that he had a roof over his head, food to eat, what was the point? He was not there because he was loyal. But still, this wasn't like him.
"Is it your place to question my judgement, 494?" He swallowed,
"No Ma'am."
"So why are you here?" he looked a little confused,
"To request…"
"I know that you idiot! If I feel like punishing her, then I'll punish her! It has nothing to do with you! You think that punishment was harsh, do you? Well I can do a lot worse." He then snapped back,
"But she didn't do anything, and you gave her a punishment that a traitor might get!" he yelled. Infuriated, she told him something she really shouldn't have,
"I don't care! She annoys me! OK soldier? That punishment was nothing on that of traitors! Trust me! You remember 452?" she smiled "Of course you do. Well when she was on the outside, she had a relationship with Eyes only. We don't know how far it went, but during reprogramming, to protect him I suppose, she made herself forget everything, including him. Now, she is on a mission, one she is very proud of, to kill him. Whether she knows it or not, she has been sent to kill someone she cared about, maybe even loved, and that, my little soldier, is punishment." 494 stood in silence. He'd heard rumours about her and eyes only, but he never thought Manticore would do something like this. That's sick! He thought. To top that off, the last mission he'd been on he'd seen a couple of eyes only hacks, and that guy seemed to be doing good, not bad, so why was Manticore trying to kill him? Unless they have more to hide than I realised…Renfro smiled at him. "So now, I'm afraid all you've earned yourself is a long stint in solitary for shouting at you superior, and insubordination, oh and if you ever repeat what you just heard to anyone, you'll never see daylight again. Ok?" Breathing hard, totally furious, all 494 said, in a low, almost growling tone, was,
"You will never be my superior." Renfro called out for the guards to come and take him away. When they didn't, she called again, starring intently at the open door. 494 looked too, there were always guards out there. As they both watched, 452 appeared in the doorway.
"I'm afraid they've decided to take a little nap." She hissed. Renfro, terrified, working out how much 452 must have heard, tried to keep her cool.
"452, what are you doing here? Get me a guard."
"OK." She answered, leaning out of view, then throwing the limp form of one of the guards towards Renfro. "Don't think he'll be much use though. 494? You been a naughty boy?" she smiled at him. He looked confused, but didn't feel like solitary, and figure that 452 was probably the preferable ally at this time. He smiled back. Renfro lost her cool.
"452! You are supposed to be on a deep cover mission! What the hell…"
"You mean the mission you were telling 494 here about?" she shook her head slightly, "I knew something was going on, but I didn't realise that they were totally right! I actually came back to ask you to screw my head back on about how great Manticore is, but then I heard you, and, well, suddenly a hell of a lot of stuff makes sense, only the opposite way from which I thought it would." Renfro only understood half of this, but was determined to win this war of words,
"You will report to phy-ops…"
"No. I wont actually. You lied to me bitch. I've not even been here a year an' a half. I escaped in '09 with the others. What really happened to Zack?" The use of his name even shocked her. 494's face contorted in a pity she didn't understand. But Renfro smiled.
"You really want to know? There was no mission, you were both outside, involved in the destruction of the lab. You got shot, just as I said, but he was only caught. When he saw you lying there, dead, and the doctors said they couldn't restart your heart, he broke free of his bindings and insisted that they save you. He even offered my heart, pointing a gun at me. But I told him the truth, that only an X5 heart would save you, so he turned the gun on himself, and gave you his heart. He died because of you. It was no lucky coincidence." 452's breath caught in her throat, brief flashes of what Renfro just said came into view. As the effect of the defibrillator wore of, and blood still flowed to her head, she heard, as if over a great distance, her brother's voice. "Fight them Maxie! Promise me you'll fight them!" Renfro was telling the truth, and 452 realised that her brother had really killed himself so that she could live to continue the fight. With a jolt, she also realised that she hadn't. She hadn't fought them, she fought for them! She shook her head, not in disbelief, but in despair.
"You bitch." She managed. "You took everything from me!" Renfro hit an alarm button at the side as pure rage flared in 452's eyes. 452 made for her, but 494 held her back.
"452, we have to get out of here, they'll kill you if they get here first!" she tried to push him away, telling him she didn't care, but he forced her to face him. "How can you fight Manticore if you're dead? Are you really gonna throw away your life after what he sacrificed to save you?" she calmed slightly, and met his eyes.
"You're right," she said, "But my name is Max."
With a last look of pure hatred at Renfro, Max left, 494 close behind, grabbing Renfro's gun. Referring to what Renfro had told him, 494 grinned at Max,
"It's a good thing you were exempt from the breeding program, then? We were gonna be together, y'know?" then shaking his head, joking, he said, "We coulda had some good times." She elbowed him and smiled, but hearing running footsteps, she slipped back into soldier mode.
"We have to get out of here." She said stiffly,
"Well duh, but there's one other thing we have to do first." She looked a question at him. "We have to get 734."
"Brin? She more Manticore's soldier than I was!" He nodded, but continued,
"Until a couple of days ago, when she came back from that mission. She was knackered but Renfro made her do training anyway. We were playing a war game, when she collapsed, causing her team to lose. Renfro freaked, yelling at her," he smiled, "She yelled back, and I saw this look in her eyes. Hell that was scary, but it's the look you used to have, when you were in reprogramming. Renfro chucked her into solitary, she was kickin' and screaming all the way." Max grinned.
"Y' serious?"
"Renfro has had it in for her since she failed to stop you guys blowing up the lab. Anyway, we have to get her out." Max nodded.
"Ok, you go get her, and I'll see about a way out. Hurry!" he nodded, and sped off down the next corridor. Max kept going straight, taking out flustered guards as she went. A minute or two later, she found the door she was looking for. It was locked, strange, she thought, it's never locked.
"Don't move a muscle 452. This time there is no escape. I'm gonna get rid of your transgenic ass once and for all." She turned slowly to see Renfro grinning, and pointing a gun straight at her, as were the five guards surrounding her. Crap, she thought. Renfro positively beamed as she cocked the gun. Max realised that she was right, there was no way she could possibly take out all those guards before someone got a shot off. She braced herself for impact as a gunshot echoed around the corridor.
Hee hee, don't ya just love cliff hangers!?