Alec woke up with an outrageous headache. It felt like somebody had been using his skull as a makeshift drum kit. Slowly he opened his eyes. White light burned his retina. He shut them quickly.
Where the hell was he? He struggled to remember. The mission … the security room … the chairs … Max.
Max!
Where was Max?
He jumped up; only to feel restrains on his wrists and ankles send him crashing back into his bed.
"Max!"
"Shut up!" a familiar voice shot back from across the room.
Alec couldn't help but grin. "Glad to hear your safe, Maxie," he retorted out of pure habit.
"Shut up!" she snapped, "This is all your fault,"
He sighed and turning his head towards the sound of her voice. Warily he open one eye. The one closest to the mattress, so that the bridge of his noise protected it from the light. "How d'you figure?"
"If you … If you … shut up once in a while. I might been able to concentrate and … and …"
"… might have thought up a decent come-back?" Alec interjected warily.
She was silent. Alec could just about make out the grubby steel bed that she was lying on beside his own. Careful he lifted his head slightly to get a view of it's occupant.
Yeah, he'd been right! She was scowling. Although to be honest it was hard to tell. Her face was lying in the same kind of curious permanent wink, which he had been forced to adopt himself to protect his eyes from the light. It made reading any emotion very difficult.
He caught her eye – and she smiled at him, near as he could tell anyway. Her long dark brown tresses had spilt all over her beautiful face, giving it an added air of mystery. Air of mystery? Beautiful face? Dark brown tresses? Was he all right? Obviously he'd been hit harder than he realised.
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"… might have thought up a decent come-back?"
Max sulked slightly at Alec's comment, but then she caught him squinting up at her. Did he even realise what a silly look he had on his face? She couldn't help grinning.
Where they anyway? She couldn't remember much about being brought here. What had happened in security room? They jumped through the window … the chairs had spun around and then … she wasn't sure … White? … Made sense, she supposed. Who else could be bothered to sit still in a room for ages on the off chance a couple of transgenics might stop by? She suddenly became aware of a silence in the room.
"So when do you think White's gonna drop by to fed us?"
"White?" The idea hadn't occurred to Alec. Actually, he'd stopped thinking about the whole concept of where they were as soon as he'd noticed that Max was okay. He just been lying here gazing at that part her he could see … her face, her shoulder, the tips of her breasts …
He winced. Oh God! That blow to the head had obviously been really hard. Maybe, when they got out of here, he should get one Logan's transgenic‑friendly doctors to check him out? If they got out here. Wherever here was.
"How do you know it's White?" he asked to distract himself.
"Who else would it be?" she replied testily.
"I guess," he shrugged, the movement hurt his arm. Was it hurt? Just how had that happened?
"Alec?"
"Yeah?"
"What were you going to say?"
"What?"
"Just before I stormed off to the security room window, you where going to say something. What?"
"Oh … um …" To be perfectly honest Alec couldn't even remember. Not that he was going to admit that of course, "I was … just going to ask … going to say … that the time would pass a lot quicker if we played a game or something."
"You've forgotten, haven't you?" He could have sworn he caught her smiling.
"You know, Alec?"
"Yeah?"
"That's okay" Max really was smiling. The sight made him feel weak and dizzy.
Appointment with Dr Carr, ASAP.
"I guess it wasn't that important then," he heard her voice continue, "That's okay, gives me one less thing to worry about."
"Yeah," he murmured, oblivious to the insult in the statement.
"Alec?" She was grinning now.
"Yeah?"
"I spy with my little eye something beginning with … O, S, P, O, T."
Alec sighed, "I thought we're only allowed one letter in this game?"
"Max Rules," she explained with a mock-serious expression.
"Great!" he exclaimed, awoken from his trance, "We're stuck in god-knows where, having been kidnapped by a dangerous and very probably lethal maniac and all you can think of doing is play stupid children's games with your own sick twisted little rules?"
"Nope," she smirked, "They're not sick twisted little rules; they're 'Max Rules' and there are only two of them. 1 - Max can do whatever she wants and 2 - Max always wins."
"My mistake," he muttered.
"So – are you gonna guess already? Or do you give up?"
He groaned, "I give up. Tell me what O, S, P, O, T stands for."
"One Seriously Pissed-Off Transgenic."
"Damn straight!" he muttered. Then suddenly he felt her hand on his shoulder.
"Max?" he stared at her in shock as she moved the light away, "How the hell?"
"Don't suppose you can wriggle out of yours too?" she asked, ignoring him and testing his restraints, "No, didn't think so …"
"Max, what …?"
She bit her lip nervously. "Gotta get you out of here," she muttered under her breath, "How? Can't undo them or tear them – Cut them … Where's something sharp?"
Alec watched her breathlessly. "Max, please … Don't. If White comes back …" he didn't know why he was saying it. He just knew he had to. If Max leaving five minutes earlier could save her from White … then Max had to go, even if that meant leaving him behind.
She however ignored him, "If I was something able to cut Alec's restraints where would I be?"
"Max, go now," Alec repeated more urgently.
"Flushed? Thrown away? No, that doesn't help … Think, Max, think!" she scanned the room desperately.
"Maxie, please – GO!" Alec nearly yelled.
"Oh, shut up Alec. I'm not leaving without you," she snapped, searching various surfaces and drawers around the room for anything vaguely able to free the male transgenic.
"Max!" Alec cried, "White could be here any second! Get out of here while you have the chance!"
"What the hell is it with you Alec?" Max shot back at him, "Do you want to be left here for White to torture you?"
"What I want if for you to save yourself so you won't end up joining me!" he roared in defiance.
"Really! You ought to relax sometime Alec," Max sighed, yanking open cupboards.
"You ought to get out of here Max!" Alec screamed at her.
"You ought to listen to your boyfriend more often, 452," White told her calmly from the doorway.
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"Where the hell is Kitty?" Nick sighed, staring at the building on the opposite side of the street from where they had parked Logan's old bulletproof Aztec.
"It's not like her to be late," Logan agreed, drumming his fingers on the windscreen.
"It's not like her to have not been here from the start!" Nick cried, slamming his fist on the dashboard, "Especially where there are X5s involved!" The large man chewed his lip agitatedly.
Logan eyed him nervously. It was at times like this that he remembered his friend's enormous strength. When he started using it to beat up his car.
"I'm sure she'll be here," the normal man mumbled soothingly.
"She better," Nick growled.
Logan sighed. It was gonna be a long night.
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Max spun around. Her eyes narrowed, "He is not my boyfriend, White. You'll pay for that one."
Alec sighed inwardly. Like that even mattered right now.
"Really?" White laughed, "And just how will you do that 452? Last time I checked I was the one who had you trapped in here, with no possible means of escape."
"We'll see about that!" Max growled, launching herself at him.
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Nick glanced at his watch. "We can't delay the mission any longer," he muttered despondently.
"So go in," Logan shrugged.
"Without Kitty?" the transgenic asked, somehow surprised by the logical conclusion to his own words.
"You're the one who said we can't delay any longer," Logan told him simply.
Nick stared dully out of the window for a second. "I guess," he finally shrugged, "You packing?"
"Isn't that the question you X3s ask right before you pull of some far-fetched crazy stunt completely unarmed?" Logan asked warily.
Nick roared with laughter. "I see you've met Raven," he grinned, pulling a handgun out from his jacket and waving it right under Logan's nose to reassure him. That wasn't exactly the response the ordinary displayed, but Nick didn't seem to notice as he stuffed the weapon back into the inside pocket of his worn leather jacket.
"Well, lets go then," the transgenic beamed, climbing out of the car.
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Max slammed into White, knocking him onto the floor. Landing straddled across his mid-section, she immediately started punching him across the face.
The familiar snarled. Lurching upwards, he threw her off him. She landed stunned on her side several feet away. Instantly White started to lay into her with his hard army boots. Smashing into her soft flesh, bruising and wounding.
Max howled in pain and swung her legs up hard, catching White in the midriff, inches above his crotch. Using his surprise, she spun away from him. Crawling to safety beside Alec's bed.
The other transgenic watched helplessly as White pounced after her, dragging her forward by her hair. White's free hand found Max's right arm, locking it behind her back with a vicelike grip.
Growling, the familiar manhandled her across to the bed she had escaped from. It was all over. White slammed the struggling transgenic against the mattress, tightening the restraints around her wrists.
"You'll be the one who pays now, 452," White laughed viciously, turning the lamp back over her bed so that the bright light shone directly into her eyes once more.
He lent down close beside her, managing to avoid throwing any sheltering shadows over her face. He put his mouth close to her ear to whisper, but when he spoke it was loud enough for Alec to hear every word. "You know, 452, the boys at forensics are really getting quite desperate to have a chance to take one of you apart alive," he laughed, "But don't worry – after all the trouble you've caused, I wouldn't even think of handing you over. They can have your little boyfriend over there. I'll take care of you myself."
Max turned her head towards him and spat fiercely into his face.
He straightened, laughing, "Last act of a desperate woman. Tell me 452 – do you like knives? I'm really looking forward to our little date."
"Just make sure you have her home by midnight," a voice rang coldly behind them.
Alec stared at the doorway. It was the X3 – Nick – and behind him, Alec's jaw nearly dropped off his face, Logan.
The large transgenic waved a gun loosely at White's face. "Move away from the bed," he growled.
"How nice to see you again, 326," White hissed.
"Pleasure's all mine," Nick snarled back, tightening his grip on the gun.
"Old friends?" Max asked, her voice sounding strained with the pain of the light in her eyes. The doorway was directly behind her lamp.
"We've met," Nick replied, stepping forward to allow Logan to hurry to Max's bed. The ordinary slipped slowly across the far side of the room, keeping as far away from White as possible.
Nick on the other hand, moved boldly towards White, forcing him away from the two younger transgenics with the threat of the weapon in the X3's hand.
Pushing the lamp out of the way, Logan fumbled with Max's restraints, loosing them sufficiently for the girl to slip back out of them. Carefully she rolled away from Logan off her bed. She landed in a crouched position beside Alec's.
"Alec's restraints are tougher than mine," she called across to the other two men, "I'm gonna need something to cut them open with."
Nick made the mistake of turning his head round in surprise at the request.
Instantly White seized his chance. He leapt through the unguarded door, slamming it shut behind him. Alec groaned as they heard the lock clicking into place.
"That's just perfect!" he sighed, "Now we're all trapped in here!"
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Nick pulled a pocketknife out of his pocket and flung it at Max. "Free him," he snapped, "Maybe he'll be less tetchy if he's not pinned down."
"Don't count on it," Max muttered, as she started to sever the restraints.
Nick shrugged and barged sideways into the door, sending it flying off its hinges. "Just so long as he can follow us out of here," he sighed.
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White lent against the door, panting. He wiped the sweat off his forehead … and then noticed that everyone in the room was staring at him.
He glowered and they turned swiftly back to their work, but they had succeeded in making White's bad mood yet worse. He snarled, his angered eyes fixing on his faithful sidekick, Otto Gottlieb, who was trying to read some reports on the other side of the room.
"What the hell happened?" he screamed, "There I was trying to do my job – when suddenly I find myself having to fend off 326 as well."
"326, sir?" Gottlieb asked, his lip quivering.
Over of many years of working with White he had developed a shrewd mental gauging system when it came to his superior's infamous tantrums. His insides almost instinctively started to freeze in terror when White was about to have one of his worse ones … Gottlieb currently had the entire Arctic Circle crushed inside his torso.
As unobtrusively as he could, he started to back away from the irate man, putting as much distance as possible between them before White exploded again. He was too late.
"Yes, that's right," White's voice had become dangerously quiet, "You can imagine my surprise to have him barge in on me unannounced when funnily enough I'm sure I remembered having a whole squadron of agents directly in his path out here." He nearly screamed the last line, making every agent in the room flinch in fear.
White fist slammed into a nearby desk, breaking it. Gottlieb flinched. White worked out too much for his liking. Such strength couldn't be natural.
Thinking quickly Gottlieb threw a meaningful glance at several agents close to the holding cell in which the transgenics were locked. They grabbed their tasers and headed for the door. Anything was better than their superior's rage.
Unfortunately however – at that moment the door of the holding cell burst off it's hinges. 326 stood in the settling dust.
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Pandemonium broke loose. The men with the tasers bravely leapt forward jabbing them into his side. The great man shook heavily, but used the last of his control to hurl his bulk against his attackers, knocking them to the floor.
Suddenly the two younger transgenics leapt through the doorway over his fallen mass. Pushing unarmed agents out of their way they headed straight for the exit. Behind them stumbled – a normal man, if White wasn't mistaken, brandishing a gun.
The familiar snarled and sprang after the escapees. His hand closed on the arm of the ordinary human, knocking the gun from him. Growling in irritation he thrust the man from him like a broken doll, turning to the two transgenics instead.
Max screamed, dashing to Logan's side, she left Alec to fend off White alone. The transgenic swung his fist into the familiar's face, almost instantly following it with a kick to his mid-riff. White growled and landed a hard punch of his own in Alec's side, knocking the transgenic to the floor. The agent laughed. Grabbing his victim's shoulders, he dragged the transgenic to his feet and thrust him straight into a group of agents, who finished him off with tasers.
Snarling White turned away, looking for the object of all his hatred. She was crouched over the ordinary human, shaking his jacket-covered shoulders in a futile attempt to wake him up. Apparently when White had thrust him away earlier, the human had slammed headfirst into a wall and been knocked unconscious.
Smiling to himself, White crept silently behind the frantic girl. Before she even knew what was happening his hands closed vice-like around her neck.
Max struggled desperately against her captor. Her arms flailed about her body and her feet kicked madly in the air behind her. No use. White had the sense to keep her in the air several feet away from him. She couldn't reach.
"Put her down White," came a female voice behind them.
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