TAKE ME OR LEAVE ME




Chapter 7 by Wicked Sue

I'm sorry this took more than a week but I had a very hectic week, what with all those tests staring at me and Big Sister was nice enough to give me an extension :) and after bugging her again last night

*I'm too lazy to go through every chapters again.. yes, I'm a bad baad girl :P*

*sue, you should be ashamed of yourself! Yes, I know *sigh* and yeah, I am.. ashamed of myself I mean..* BS's too nice to me for her own good ;) anyway, here is the next chapter, and I have tried to make it longer, but sadly I don't think it's long enough.. but I really hope you'll like it and please tell me what you think :)

Okay, this is the second note. I had to rewrite some of the scenes because of my laziness in going through the chapters. So, please.. any comments are very much appreciated.


A few hours before..

The sun was shining through the shiny windows and the bright beams fall onto a very tidy desk. One perfectly manicured set of hand was seen tapping impatiently on the shiny surface of the table as the owner of that hand was talking into the phone.

'Are you sure? Can you tell me for certain that those team members are indeed transgenics?' he asked briskly, frowning into the phone. 'Give me their barcodes,' he suddenly barked.

He listened attentively for the next few seconds as the caller reeled of numbers after numbers but his head snapped up as he heard the last two. The excitement shone brightly from his eyes as he whispered contentedly, '452, 494. Can't wait to meet the two of you.'

The man in the perfectly pressed suit stood as his door creaked open and another agent walked in. 'Agent White,' he said quickly, 'we have to get going. We're late enough as it is.'

'And you're saying that it's my fault?' Agent White asked sharply as he looked with a scornful glance at the other agent.

'Of course not, sir,' the man barely concealed his stammer as he stood, waiting for White's next move. Word has it that White was one agent everyone tried to get out of the way. And to sweeten matter, his reputation at the Bureau was too good to look down on.

Too damn good.

But none of the other agents dared to question White, except for their superiors but he could named a few who seemed to fall under White's spell. But quickly he shook his thoughts away as he tried desperately to gather his scrambled thoughts together again. 'As I was saying sir,' he tried again, 'we have to go now.'

White just waved the request aside as he turned back towards his desk and started to shuffle some papers. 'No, I'm withdrawing myself from this mission. I have another one that needs my attention,' as if realizing that the other man hasn't moved a muscle, he spun on his heel and raised a brow, 'and you can go now. I have work to do.'

After a few more seconds of complete silence, the younger agent realized that White wasn't bluffing and he turned wearily and left, thinking that White was as weird as his reputation.

Back inside the office, White smiled as his eyes gleamed menacingly. 'I'm going to get the two of you, if that's the last thing I do,' he said with rock hard conviction.

A few minutes later, he exited and went straight to his destination.

A bank.

The present: Inside the bank.

The dark haired man glanced at his partner and cocked his head to one side. 'Are you ready?'

Next to him, the beautiful 210 just grinned, 'Are you kidding? Let's go 511.'

511 smiled and together they moved silently through the empty and deserted hallways. Their eyes flicked around, trying to find any sort of danger but somehow, their path was clear. They stopped and listened as they got in front of one particular door. After hearing only silence, 511 drew out a small pin and started to pick the lock. A few seconds later a loud click rang out and he grinned with satisfaction as he turned towards the waiting girl. 'Aren't I the best or what!' he crowed.

'Yeah.. Yeah,' she slapped the side of his head sharply before reminding him, 'We're on a mission, remember that!' But she was grinning nonetheless.

Feeling light hearted, the two exited the bank and got into a waiting car before starting towards their destinations, to go in search for the much wanted files.


The wind whipped through 210's fair hair and she leaned her head into the head rest as she closed her eyes. She sighed softly as the breeze ruffled her hair and the light touch caressed her face. The cool comforting air brushed all over her and suddenly she was shoved back into the past.

One cold chilly night.

The night of their failed escape.

Instantly, her thoughts wandered to 599, her ex-commanding officer. The captured rogue and her heart sank a little. Despite her sessions of Psy-Ops and reindroc, she can't entirely see 599 as the so called traitor. She recalled how he had always looked after her and the rest of her unit and she shook her head a little as she turned to look at the speeding scenery. Her usually bright eyes dulled with pain and sadness as she leaned her head against the glassy window, looking outside with blank unseen eyes.

511 threw a glance towards his suddenly silent partner and frowned. Okay, this is weird, he thought to himself as he sneaked another quick glance. She never get this quiet, so something is definitely wrong. And her eyes.. he shuddered slightly, he had never seen such empty and desperate looking eyes.

'Care to tell me what's wrong?' he asked simply without taking his eyes of from the windscreen.

210 almost jumped out of her skin before she turned in her seat and looked at his firm profile beside her. 'What?' she answered with a quick startled laugh, 'What the hell are you talking about?'

'Something's troubling you, that much I could tell,' he shrugged as he gave her a quick glance before giving his attention back to the road. 'So, let's skip the hassle of me digging it out from the reluctant you and you just tell me everything,' he grinned as he saw that 210 had stiffened in her seat, 'it'll save time and you'll feel better afterwards, trust me.'

Heaving a heavy sigh, 210 turned and stared at the blurred trees, 'I was thinking about.. 599,' she admitted softly as she kept staring at the rushing scene outside her window before lapsing off into another silence.

Again 511 darted a quick look at the brooding girl, 'The rogue. He was your ex-CO, right?'

The blond girl was silent for a few seconds before she opened her mouth again and whispered, 'Yeah.'

The sad despondent tone tugged a string at 511's conscience. But before he could do anything about it, he stopped the car and said simply, 'We're here.'

The two of them turned and looked at the big sprawling mansion before getting out of the car.

Meanwhile, in another part of the bank.

'Dammit 494, you almost screwed the whole mission up!' 452 hissed angrily as she glared heatedly into his hazel eyes.

'Hey, how should I know the guards change their schedule today. If I remember correctly, I'm not the one who did the recon,' he answered, hands securely on his chest as he stared into her fury filled dark eyes. 'Hmm..' he tapped a finger on his chin as he started to look as he was thinking something heavy, 'who was it that did the recon for this mission? Hmm..' he finished with a heavy frown, but his eyes were gleaming as he sneaked a glance her way.

452 could actually felt the heat that crept into her face as she desperately tried to find something to get out of this little predicament. 'Well,' she said hastily, 'I guess those guards could be useful in case anything went wrong, they could be our hostages. 20 odd hostages should be enough right? And team Alpha, I guess they're already going through those files?' she asked as she tried to change the subject. There's no way in hell I'm going to admit that I'm wrong in front of him, she thought determinedly. No way indeed.

494 almost chuckled as he saw through 452's thin act, there's no way she's going to admit she's wrong, he thought with an affectionate grin. His gaze fell onto the unconscious man in the good suit and he took a step forward. 'You guys caught White too? Now, this is amazing! Manticore wanted his for ages,' he grinned with delight, 'I could already smell the promotions.'

The brunette shook her head as she scowled at him, 'For once 494, be serious! This is a serious situation, so.. please! Act your age, for god sake!'

'Me? I'm always responsible,' he answered with an innocent look as he knelt besides the unconscious White, checking the Agent's pulse.

'Yeah right,' she rolled her eyes.

'If I wasn't, why did they make me the CO huh?' he asked cheekily as he winked at her.

'Lack of judgement or was it a moment of insanity?' she mumbled as tested their prisoners' duct tapes for lack of anything else to do.

For the other side of the room, 494 burst out into a loud laugh. 'Someone is in denial,' he said knowingly, a smirk on his annoyingly cheery face.

But suddenly the tiny hair at the back of his neck rose and he turned his head quickly, trying hard to find the source of his instinct. He narrowed his eyes as he ran his glance slowly through the room and he held up his hand to warn 452.

She stiffened as she saw what he was doing and she too tried to find the source of their disturbance. Heart racing, the two of them listened hard as quietly, 494 slipped his gun out of its holster as he motioned at 452, and together they inched their way towards the thick wall until their backs were plastered against the cool wall.

He glanced towards their unconscious prisoners and he bit back a groan as he realized that the rogue 599 was stirring slightly. This is bad, he thought as he turned and looked into 452's already wide opened eyes. He tried to find the sedatives but they were all out of his reach. This is really bad.

He snapped his head towards their other prisoner, the fallen agent as tendrils of icy cold fingers crept through his spine. 494 clenched his teeth as he looked helplessly as White shook his head before opening his eyes. Damn! Damn! Now this is getting worse! Quickly, he turned towards 452 and motioned for her to cover his back before he blurred towards their stirring captives. But before he could do anything, White snapped the tapes that were holding him apart and rose slowly, his eyes were on the slightly surprised transgenic.

'You must be 494,' he drawled as he tried to straighten his rumpled suit.

'And you must be White,' 494 answered flatly as the two men faced each other.

With the speed of light, White threw the first punch but 494 saw the faint movement and reacted instinctively. He grabbed the fast moving arm before his feet lashed out, hitting White squarely on his kneecap.

The agent crumpled as his knee cracked but his face remained expressionless. He moved closer and 494 didn't wait for the next attack as he leapt into the air, somersaulting past White's dark head and before he landed, he kicked the agent's back as hard as he possibly could before he dropped onto the floor, crouching on all fours. Instantly, he jumped back on his feet as White tried to stop himself from stumbling.

452 stared fixated, as the fight continues. She frowned lightly as the other man seemed to be as good as 494 and as far as she knew and that was something she won't publicly admit, her partner was among Manticore's best. She zoomed as for an instant, his neck was clearly seen and she suppressed a shudder as she couldn't find any traces of barcode. If he was not a transgenic, that what was he? Suddenly she looked with horror as she saw that the stranger palmed a glinting piece of metal as he hobbled on his weakened knee. And she didn't have time to warn 494 as White lunged and pierced it through 494's flesh.

At that second, she was filled with utmost fury as 494 stumbled as he clenched his bleeding ribs. She blurred towards the fighting duo and she swiped her feet under White and watched how he fell down in a heap. Quickly, she straddled his body and with her strong legs, she pinned him down as she used her hand to hold his jaw firmly. 'Who are you and what do you want with us?' she snarled into his bruised face.

But again she was distracted as behind her a dull thud sounded. She turned her head and watched with wide eyes as 494 crumpled, holding onto his bleeding side and she gasped as she saw his white face and how he had to fight for each breath.