A/N: Yeah, so I said that I wasn't using any more of season two. And I thought I wouldn't. Hadn't planned to. But hey, the opportunity presented itself. Please note that this is an AU, and White is not working for the same agency etc. that he was in the season, and this storyline belongs to me.
Everyone seems to like where this is going, so I've posted another chapter, nice and quick. Try not to die of shock. ;)
Thanks, as usual to the people that push me into producing more chapters- Abregaza (who named the last chapter, thanks!) and my beta, Aimee.
Chapter Twelve – Always as they seem?
*** Logan's Penthouse, Fogle Towers, NIGHT ***
"I can't believe you knocked her out!" Zane exclaimed, leaning over Brianna in concern.
"What else was I supposed to do? She was screaming." Max replied with a shrug.
"You didn't have to punch her." Zane said fiercely, straightening up to his full height and glaring down at his sister.
"We don't need a hysterical female drawing attention to this place." Max replied flippantly.
"What's she gonna think when she wakes up?"
"I'm sure you'll think of something." She replied in a patronising voice, patting him condescendingly on the shoulder. He shrugged her hand off angrily, and spun around before commencing to pace the length of the room.
"How are we going to know about Kia?" He shouted, and Max again shrugged her shoulders.
"She won't be out for long. Couple of minutes." Logan and Original Cindy looked from one X5 to the other, watching the siblings argue, and both felt the temperature in the room drop as Zane fixed an icy glare on Max.
"In there, now." Zane growled, pointing to Logan's bedroom.
"That sounds like an order Zane." Max said sarcastically as Logan suppressed a shiver at the all too familiar 'evil Zane' voice. "Now!" He demanded, storming into the room without checking to see that she'd followed. Original Cindy and Logan exchanged a glance as the door slammed shut behind Max.
"What was that all about? I told you you're not my CO, Zane. You have no control over me!" Max demanded angrily.
"Our sister's been taken Max, and now your friend has put us both in danger!" Zane replied in a harsh tone.
"Leave Original Cindy out of this."
"She's a liability. She's compromised us both." He growled.
"You were the one that told a total stranger to track her down!" Max accused, forming a defensive stance.
"Brianna's not a total stranger. And what were my alternatives? Give her this address? Yours?"
"You've known her five minutes. Just because you slept with her doesn't mean you can trust her." Max retorted, putting her hands on her hips and adopting her best glare.
"Kia trusts her." The commanding officer stated simply, arms folded.
"Then why does the news of Manticore come as such a big surprise?" Both of the X5s glared angrily at the door as a gentle rapping came from the other side of it.
"Max, Zane. She's waking up." Logan called in a soft voice. Zane turned to the door.
"This is not over." He said coldly without turning around.
"Oh you bet it's not." Max replied as she stormed out of the room after him.
Max and Zane carried Brianna to Logan's bedroom, depositing her on the bed and glaring at one another. Zane pushed his curious dog out of the way and ordered him out of the room. Without a word to Zane, Max turned and also left the bedroom, slamming the door behind her on the way.
At the sound, Brianna opened her eyes and blinked, disoriented. She pulled herself up onto her elbows and noticed Zane, a smile forming on her face before she remembered the events of only minutes before. She scrambled into a sitting position and pushed herself backwards, increasing the distance between herself and the X5.
"Brianna-" Zane began.
"Get the hell away from me!" She spat, edging away even further.
"Brianna, you need to calm down."
"I need to calm down? To calm down? I just found out that I slept with- Just what the hell did I sleep with anyway? You were created in a lab? Tell me what's going on!" She locked her gaze on his, not daring to look away, but terrified.
"There isn't time. I need to know what happened to Kia." He ordered in a gentle but firm voice.
"No. I want to know now. What are you?" She answered defiantly, not moving.
"I'm part of a secret government project that genetically engineered soldiers by splicing together human and animal DNA." An uncomfortable silence claimed the room as the pair sat in absolute quiet, Brianna absorbing the information Zane had just inundated her with. The X5 waited awkwardly, counting the milliseconds of silence in his head and studying Brianna's face.
"A soldier." She repeated, her voice thick with disgust.
"Ex-soldier." Zane corrected. "My unit escaped in '09. Been on the run ever since."
"The soldier you were talking about. Last time you visited. That was…"
"My brother Ben." He answered softly.
"The other one..?" She prompted, eyes closed.
"Was me."
"You've killed people." Brianna whispered.
"Yes." He took a step closer. "But I-"
"Don't come anywhere near me! You're a killer!" Zane sighed and backed up. Brianna was rubbing at her head. "You knocked me out." She accused, her eyes flashing.
"Actually, that was Max. I'm sorry about that. I've spoken to her-"
"Spoken to her? What are you, their leader?" Brianna interrupted angrily.
"Pretty much. I've been their CO since our brother Zack disap-"
"You told Kia to lie to me about how she knew you." She realised, not waiting for him to finish his sentence.
"That was her decision." Brianna glared at him.
"You can't have been a very good soldier. I fought you. Beat you." She smirked, then frowned. "You let me win."
"I was injured. But I wasn't about to beat you up with a room full of witnesses." She shook her head, her face a mix of confusion and anger.
"What kind of animal are you?" She asked distastefully. Zane looked at the ceiling.
"A bit of everything. Cat, mostly." He replied honestly.
"You're a cat." She repeated in a high pitched voice.
"Parts of me are."
"You're a cat soldier." She laughed nervously. "I slept with a genetically engineered cat soldier." She sounded slightly hysterical, and Zane decided to end the 'question the freak' part of the conversation.
"Tell me what happened to Kia." He said softly. Brianna's features clouded.
"They came in and they took her." She answered warily, not taking her eyes off him.
"They?" Zane asked.
"I didn't see them, not right away. Not until they'd left. She was talking to her boyfriend at the time. On the phone. He arrived straight away. He was the one that told me to come to you," she answered in short, stilted sentences that gave away her fear.
"Jai." Zane whispered, voicing a long-held suspicion.
"Yeah, Jai." Brianna confirmed.
"Tell me exactly what he said. What Jai said." Zane ordered quietly.
"He burst in, looked around and picked up this little business card. Then he grabbed me, and he said 'do you know how to find Zane?' and I told him about the number." Zane immediately pulled the phone out of his pocket. There were no new messages. Brianna shook her head.
"He told me not to call it, just to come straight here. He told me to tell you that- Oh my god. Jai's one too, isn't he?"
"Jai's one what?" Zane asked, somewhat annoyed at her tone.
"One of you. Oh my god, I wonder if Kia knows." Zane raised his eyebrows.
"Kia too. Of course. Army bases. I'm an idiot."
"You're not an idiot." He stepped forward and reached out to lay a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"Don't touch me!" "I don't want you touching me!"
He took a deep breath.
"Tell me what Jai told you." The X5 commanded softly.
"He said they want 452. The business card just said 452. He said he'd track them, but that he'd probably need your help. He didn't want me to call the police."
"You can't go back there." Zane told her gently.
"I'm not staying here." She stuttered, looking around the room wildly and edging backwards.
"I'm not going to hurt you." He continued.
"I don't care." She insisted, curling up tightly.
"We need your help to find Kia." Zane tried. Brianna took a deep breath and sighed.
"Fine. But I want you to know something. When this is over, I don't want anything to do with you or your freak show family. My life was fine until you waltzed in and claimed my best friend as a member of your genetically superior army. As far as I'm concerned, you should never have existed." She climbed off the bed as Zane sank onto it, sitting still without moving. Brianna paused at the doorway, turning to look back at him briefly before leaving the room.
"I only hope you can leave as quickly as you came."
Pushing the sting of Brianna's words away,
Phoney sentimentality
Zane walked out of Logan's bedroom and joined the others, his eyes quickly scanning the room. Original Cindy had left, which was probably the best thing she could have done, given the CO's mood. Brianna sat glued to the sofa, avoiding making eye contact with anyone, but following Zane's order to stay in the apartment.
Max turned to face her brother, still angry, and raised her eyebrows in anticipation.
"Kidnapped. Military." Zane said shortly, his face expressionless.
"And?" She prompted.
"And Jai's gone after her. They're together." He finished in a low voice.
"They've both been kidnapped?" Max asked with wide eyes.
"No. Jai's chasing after his girlfriend."
"His girlfriend's been kidnapped too?" She asked incredulously.
"Max, would you listen? Jai's gone after his girlfriend. Kia is his girlfriend." Zane said with an exasperated sigh. Max's jaw dropped and her eyebrows shot up.
"That's sick! They're brother and sister!" She exclaimed, horrified.
"Not really, Max. They're not blood related." Max stared at him, shaking her head.
"Whatever. It's sick." She muttered. "He's going to get himself killed. We have to move. Logan!" She called, looking over at the computers.
"Correction Max. I've gotta move. You have to stay here." Zane replied in a firm voice.
"You fall on your head recently, or is your ego even bigger than Zack's?" In answer to her earlier call, Logan wheeled over to where the pair were arguing and placed a soothing hand on Max's arm.
"This is about you Max. They're after you, and I'm not giving you to them." Zane said in a gentler tone.
"This is my sister we're talking about. We've come up against this guy before." She insisted, shrugging Logan's hand off her.
"How can you be so sure it's White?" Zane replied, checking quickly to make sure Brianna was still safely in the apartment.
"They're after me. Not you, not the unit. You were the 2IC, with Zack gone, Manticore would target you. It has to be White." Max rationalised.
"You're not going." Zane insisted, though in a less determined tone than he'd previously possessed.
"You're not stopping me. I'm not losing another sibling, Zane."
"How are we going to find them?" Max asked, pausing in her frantic pacing of the apartment.
"The trail would be cold by now. Jai's on his way." Zane replied, he too pausing from pacing.
"But how do we find her?" Max questioned, frustrated.
"We need to access hoverdrone footage." Zane responded, continuing to pace, this time in Logan's direction. Logan turned around to face the computers, dizzy from following the actions of the pacing X5s.
"I've got the when, just give me the where." The journalist said, waiting for more information.
"Sacramento." Zane mumbled.
"You sure?" Max asked, studying Zane's face as Logan typed furiously.
"Why?" He shot her a glare at the question, remembering their earlier argument.
"The look you just gave when you said Sacramento." She replied, remembering to hold her own angry expression.
"Just annoyed at the compromise in location." Zane muttered, and Max rolled her eyes and screwed up her face.
"I can't believe you. You get more like Zack every day."
"And you're the most stubborn and-"
"Could you two…" Logan began loudly, turning to face the transgenics, and immediately regretting his words at the sight of their stony expressions. "Please let me work on this alone for a few minutes?" he finished in a quieter voice.
Max looked over at Zane's back, which was planted in her favourite spot, by the window. She sighed, swallowing her pride, and walked up behind him.
"You can't blame yourself for this." She said softly. He turned to face her, shaking his head.
"It's my fault."
"Zane…" Max protested.
"I visited her twice in the same week. That's a little strange. Zack never would have done that." Zane continued to stare out into Seattle, avoiding looking at his sister.
"You're not Zack." She reminded him gently. "That's a good thing."
"I led them to her." Zane replied, fists clenched.
"Remember the price tags, Zane? They're selling transgenics. To the highest bidder. People would trade in their own mothers if they had barcodes. It's all about money. Kia had a high profile, running a school. Anyone could have led White to her." She threw an accusatory look at Brianna.
"Price tags?" Brianna asked in a small voice from her position on the sofa.
"People'll pay a lot of money to get their hands on Manticore technology." Max replied, her eyes not leaving Zane's face.
"Oh." Brianna said softly, eyes fixed on the pair of X5s.
Zane turned from the window and sat on the floor near Brianna, careful not to get too close to her. He looked up at Max, who had followed him half way across the room.
"Why do they want you? Is it this junk-free deal?" He asked, lifting his head to look at Max and suddenly realising how tired he was.
"Not sure. Probably. But it's bogus. Sebastian says it's all some crap a scientist made up to string the director along."
"How is that possible?" Zane asked, stifling a yawn.
"We still don't know." Max answered with a quick glance at Logan.
"So they're chasing you, but what they're looking for doesn't exist?" Zane leapt to his feet from his sitting position, a trick which may have impressed Brianna had she not been so terrified of him, and resumed pacing.
"Yeah." Max nodded and shrugged her shoulders.
"And now they have Kia as bait." The pair locked gazes, each softening at the other's expression. Zane drew Max into a hug, resting his chin on top of her head.
"We'll get through this, little sister." He whispered, unable to think of anything else to say.
"There's nothing out of the ordinary that day in the area you pointed out." Logan's voice called.
"There has to be something. A full military convoy could not escape every hoverdrone in Sacramento." Zane called back.
"They don't have as many hoverdrones as we do here in Seattle. It's a much nicer place to- Bingo." The X5 entered the room and stood behind Logan.
"A nicer place to bingo?" Zane quipped before remembering the seriousness of the situation and replacing his smile with a stoic expression. "What have you got?"
"Some hoverdrone footage has been removed from the archive."
"Are we talking legally?" Max cut in. Logan's fingers flew over the computer keys as he tried to find an answer to her question.
"Yes." Logan replied, disappointed. "The footage was requested by the owner of a chain of shopping centres. He opened a new one in Sacramento around the same time that Kia was taken." He sighed. "Looks like a legitimate reason. Wanted another ceremony tape to add to his collection."
"No." Brianna's voice floated over from the sofa.
"No what?" Logan asked in surprise.
"No he didn't open that shopping centre the same day as Kia got taken. It was the day before. I know, because half of my class was missing that day so they could play on the jumping castle." Zane and Max exchanged a quick glance.
"So what then? Kia was taken by a shopping centre guy? The shopping centre guy has the footage? What?" Zane exclaimed in frustration. He paced around the apartment furiously while Brianna watched quietly and Logan continued to search for information, with Max looking on.
"Think!" Zane ordered himself, stopping in front of the window and staring out into the night. "Shopping centre. He couldn't know for sure that we'd find it. But he's gotta figure that we know Eyes Only, thanks to the broadcast. He doesn't know about Jai, so if he wants Max, he must have left clues for us to find him. And Kia." He muttered to himself in a low voice. "Damn it!" He exclaimed. "It doesn't make any sense!"
"We'll figure it out, Zane." Logan soothed, his eyes not leaving the screen. "We always do."
While Logan typed, trying to find a connection between the shopping centre and Kia, or any other leads, Zane continued to pace around the apartment. "Max, we can't ignore the fact that it may have been Zack that was compromised." He called, stopping suddenly to voice the thought that had been clouding his mind.
"Yes we can." She replied firmly.
"No we can't, as much as we want to. They took him alive, they would have tried to get the information out of him. You didn't see him at Manticore, he was probably in psy-ops or in another division…" Zane trailed off at the look on Max's face. He looked at Logan, who had turned from the computers and was watching Max carefully. The pair exchanged a glance that Zane couldn't interpret, and Max shook her head.
"No." She whispered.
"No?"
"He wasn't in psy-ops." She said in a small voice.
"He wasn't in psy-ops." Zane repeated.
"No."
"No." He repeated with a confused expression.
"Zane, there are some things I haven't told you about what happened with Zack. When we got recaptured. When I-" She paused and met Logan's eyes. "When I died." Brianna's eyes went wide, and she stared at Max, still not moving from the sofa. Max looked at her, and back to Zane.
"Logan, how long do you think it'll take to get a lead…?" Max asked quietly.
"Go. I'll call you." Logan replied, handing Max the cell phone. She took it and leaned in for a quick kiss before turning back to her brother.
"Come on Zane. We need to talk."
"Where are you going?" Brianna asked in a small voice.
"Out." Max said simply. "But don't worry, we're not leaving you alone with a member of our freak show family. Logan's not a transgenic." She smiled a sarcastically sweet smile that matched her tone perfectly, and Brianna looked down at the ground. Max tapped her ear. "Enhanced hearing." She explained sharply. "Being a freak has some fantastic advantages." Zane gave Max a dirty look before grabbing her arm and dragging her out of the apartment.
*** Elevator, Fogle Towers, NIGHT ***
"You heard the entire conversation?" Zane asked as the elevator took them down through the lower floors of the building.
"Nope. Just the end. And the beginning. I managed to miss the whole 'Jai and Kia' thing." Max replied, shaking her head again at the mention, albeit from herself, of Jai and Kia's relationship.
"Could we not dwell on that?" Zane grumbled. He climbed on to the back of Max's bike. "Where are we going?"
"The high place."
*** Logan's Penthouse, Fogle Towers, NIGHT ***
Logan sighed, leaning back into his chair and sighing in frustration as he hit another dead end. He glanced over his shoulder at Brianna, who was staring back at him.
"Can you think of anything else that happened on Thursday?" He asked, tapping a pencil lightly on his desk.
"Nothing significant."
"We may not be talking significant. Did Kia talk to anyone different, did someone come in and ask directions, anything?"
"I don't think so. We may have had some new clients, maybe, but I didn't talk to anyone." Brianna bit her bottom lip in thought, and shook her head.
"New clients. Can you find out?" Logan leaned forward a little, and dropped his pencil.
"We have details at the school." She answered with a nod.
"What if someone just came in to find out about classes?"
"We take names, offer them a free class if they sign up within the month." The brunette responded with a slow nod, as if trying to recall something long forgotten.
"You get every person's name?" He demanded, the volume of his voice building in something close to excitement. Brianna bit her lip again, silent.
"Yeah." She finally answered. "Unless they don't want a free class. But everyone usually leaves their details." Logan handed her the portable phone.
"Find out who visited on Thursday."
"Dave? It's Brianna." She paused, holding the phone to her ear and listening to the answer from her colleague. "No, I'm fine. Fine. Dave! Listen. No, I'm fine. I need to know some stuff." She paused again, waiting for him to respond. "Not exactly. I need the information for any person we offered the new customer deal to on Thursday. Or anyone that joined on Thursday." "Yep, phone enquiries too." Brianna clicked her fingers at Logan and pretended to write in the air. He handed her a pen and paper. "Ok, shoot." She wrote furiously on Logan's paper. "Yeah… uh-huh. Ok. Thanks Dave." She stopped again, rolling her eyes. "No, I'll explain later. I don't know. Soon. Bye." She pressed the button to hang up the phone and handed it back to Logan. "Two." She muttered, re-reading the information in front of her. "Miss Emma O'Connell was interested in a self defence class. Mr Renfro asked about our children's classes."
"Did you say Renfro?" Logan asked, alarmed.
"Yeah, Mr Renfro." She nodded. "A Mr Renfro of…" she paled. "Of '452 Enterprises.' He was at the school."
"Renfro was the name of the director of Manticore. I've gotta call Max and Zane."
"How did you get into all this?" Brianna asked Logan softly as they waited for the two transgenics to return.
"Max just kind of dropped in on me one night." He chuckled at the memory. "Zane too, actually."
"You seem ok with it." She noted, sipping her coffee.
"You don't." He countered, turning to study her.
"No."
"Why?" Logan asked.
"It's a lot to take in. Test tubes, animal DNA, genetic engineering…" She trailed off at the sight of Logan's sceptical expression.
"It's more than that." He observed, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, it's more than that. I have a problem with soldiers. With military." Brianna replied shortly, leaving the chair and her drink and walking to the window that Zane had favoured earlier.
"So you were fine with Kia and Zane when you thought their families were military, but you're not now." He asked, puzzled, unlocking the wheels on his wheelchair and pushing them backwards and forwards while he tapped his fingers in thought.
"It's complicated." Brianna replied, turning away from the window. Logan smiled, abandoning his computers momentarily and giving Brianna his full attention.
"Try me." He challenged.
"Let's just put it down to a blood filled history, and childhood traumas best forgotten." She paused, unsure of whether to go on. "Every time I've crossed paths with military, it's ended in me being hurt or losing someone I love." Logan watched her back as she stared out the window, briefly wondering if Max had taken Zane to the Space Needle, which would just be visible from Brianna's position.
"You've known Kia for some time, Brianna. If you could spend some time with Zane and Max…"
"I can't." She cut him off quickly, leaving the window and walking back to the computers and Logan. "Look. I appreciate what you're trying to do. But once Kia's found, I'm leaving."
"They didn't ask to be soldiers." He reminded her gently. She closed her eyes briefly, as if pushing something out of her mind.
"And I didn't ask to watch my mother and sister die."
"So you won't see Kia again? You're cutting yourself off from her completely?" Logan asked. Brianna paused.
"Yes." She said finally, pushing the unsure expression from her face.
"You know, you can't really judge-"
"A book by its cover, yeah yeah. Things aren't always as they seem, blah blah blah. You know what Logan?" He raised his eyebrows in response. "In my experience things are always as they seem. I go with my gut, trust my instincts, and do what I have to do to survive." She looked down. "Always as they seem." She repeated softly, her gaze faraway.
"Where does the lawyer fit into that?" Zane asked, sweeping into the apartment with Max following closely behind. He didn't wait for Brianna to answer. "You said you've got a lead." He nodded to Logan.
"White visited the martial arts school." Logan replied, trying to read the expression on Brianna's face. "Left his details, Mr Renfro of 452 enterprises. An address too."
"He didn't give us enough credibility. It's almost insulting." Max spluttered.
"Brianna's been here for more than three hours. I'd say he gave us too much." Logan replied.
"So he leaves a fake name and an address at your front desk, then makes with the kidnapping. What a smart guy." She retorted.
"It was intentional. He's after you, Max. He's making no secret of that." Zane reminded the pair bluntly.
"Except it isn't the address. It's a vacant lot." Logan continued. Max let out a frustrated sound and Zane stepped closer to the computers.
"Is the shopping centre connected to this in any way?" Zane asked, exasperated.
"Not that I can see." Logan sighed, tapping at the keyboard. Brianna moved to the sofa and planted herself on it, quietly studying the trio at the computers.
"Then what the hell does he want?" Zane exclaimed.
"Me." Max reminded him gently.
"Ok. So the shopping centre guy requesting the footage got the date wrong, is that what we're saying?"
"For now." Logan replied, turning briefly to face the puzzled CO.
"White's given us a fake address, but a name that directly connects him to Manticore." Zane muttered, thinking aloud.
"A vacant lot." Logan offered.
"That's all we've got?" Zane asked, folding his arms across his chest.
"Yeah." Logan sighed. "And probably all we will get.
"Then we're taking it." He looked at Max. "Prepare to move out."
"We're moving on that?" Max asked.
"We can't waste time on details."
"Details like where the hell we're supposed to go? Kia is being held by that psycho, who'd probably just as soon sell her for parts than he would as a whole, and you're taking me on a wild goose chase? Damn Zane, think about it."
"No Max, you think about it. We're not getting any warmer here, and this is the closest thing we have to a lead. I'm not going to sit around here for another day while we try and find something. Now move out. That's-" Zane stopped himself before completing his sentence. That's an order. "That's my decision." He finished. Max nodded, retreating briefly and re-emerging in her standard 'raid' clothes. Zane nodded in approval, pushing his dog off the bag it had claimed as a bed and rifling through it. With a small grunt of satisfaction, he pulled out a small gun and passed it behind him, holding it out to Max.
"I don't do guns." She said in a small voice. Zane spun quickly, meeting her eyes in disbelief. At the sight of her eyes, Zane softened.
"Eva?" He asked quietly. Max nodded. "I didn't, not for a while after. Zack made me get over it." He tossed the gun to his other hand, then concealed it, avoiding the stare coming from Brianna. He checked his knife quickly, then re-sheathed it and pulled a near identical one out of his pack and passed it to Max.
"Ok with knives?" Zane
"I prefer these." She answered, holding out her hands and making fists out of them. "But if the occasion-"
"It calls for it." He cut in bluntly.
"Comms?" Max asked Logan.
"For the two of you, plus another two for Kia and Jai when you find them." Logan called from the desk where he was fiddling with a headset.
"Transport?" Max called from the bedroom.
"Haven't tracked anything down yet." Logan shouted back, tapping at the keyboard again.
"We could travel faster on your bike." Zane yelled to her, still rifling through his bag,
"We have to get Jai and Kia back here. We don't know what kind of condition she'll be in." Max reminded him, causing Brianna to pale considerably. The others didn't notice.
"The Aztek?" Zane asked, looking to Logan.
"Possibility. Won't be able to bring much computer gear along though." Logan replied, thoughtful.
"So video surveillance is out?" Max questioned she re-emerged from the bedroom
"If we knew what we were looking for, it'd be a possibility. But we'd need a van."
"So we find a van." Zane said.
"Then we'll be set." Logan returned to his computer.
"What about me?" Brianna called from her position on the sofa. Both Zane and Max spun to look at her, exchanging a glance.
"You're coming too." Zane answered. Max's eyes went wide and she grabbed Zane by the arm.
"Are you stupid? We can't take her, it's too important!" Max protested wildly.
"Then what do you suggest? Leave her here so that she runs, taking her knowledge of Manticore and who we are with her?"
"Original Cindy could stay-" Zane shot her down with a glare at the mention of Original Cindy.
"I don't like this." Max folded her arms across her chest.
"Duly noted." Zane replied sarcastically, storming over to Logan. "What have we got?" He demanded.
"I've got nothing near the lot at all. Couple of houses, but that doesn't seem likely. I don't think-"
"We're going." Zane ordered in a low, steady voice.
"Thought Robin was the sidekick?" Logan joked, trying to lighten the mood. Zane gave him a genuine smile.
"I always wanted to see Robin knock Batman out, take control, beat the bad guys and save the girl." He grinned briefly. "Let's move out."
*** Building exterior, NIGHT ***
With great frustration, Alec made his way back to the building to again plead his case before White. He had delivered two transgenics already, but was unable to find the third that would keep him alive. He kicked a stone, cursing Max and her CO for not being in the place he had tracked them to after their last meeting. Alec rubbed the back of his neck absently, willing away the barcode that had prevented him from going to a doctor or scientist who could have removed the chip implant.
*** Flashback, 3 weeks earlier ***
"Nice young thing like you should fetch a profit." The woman practically purred. "Of course, sometimes the boss isn't interested in the sell. Sometimes he just likes to see how fast you can run." She giggled, patting Alec's head.
"What did you give me?" The X5 hissed out through stiff lips.
"Don't talk honey." The woman said, pulling her dress back over her head. "It'll just make it work faster." She pressed her lips together. "On second thought, talk all you want.
Alec struggled to open his eyes as he felt someone repeatedly kicking at his leg. The X5 quickly assessed the situation, deciding that there was little chance of escape. Although he had more control over his body than he had felt with the blonde woman earlier, his movements were still sluggish, and he was bound to the surgical table.
"Wakey wakey!" The woman's voice, which at one point Alec had found sexy, came at the X5 from his left, and he turned his head slowly to see her, a pain searing through his neck. He tested his neck by moving his head to the other side, and grimaced as pain hit him from the same spot.
"Oh, I think he's discovered it already. He's a smart one!" She gushed excitedly.
"Shut up." White's voice came from behind the woman. "You've got your money, now leave." With a pout, the blonde retreated. Alec swallowed, feeling more pain in his neck at the slight movement.
"494." White stated simply. "Here's how we're going to play this. I saw you with X5-452 and her Commanding officer. You're going to deliver them to me." Alec remained silent. A short man who had been standing behind White stepped forward eagerly.
"She's important to the cause. We need to find her. Even got our hands on her former commanding officer, but it turns out they wiped his brain." The man let out what could only be described as a giggle. "So we sold him. Scrap metal!" He laughed at his own joke.
"Hurry up Dickens" White warned the eager man.
"So now it comes down to you. Tell me you don't know where to find her." Dickens waited expectantly. Alec remained silent.
"Good. Tell me you do know where to find her." The X5 again stayed silent. "Now that's not right, 494! You're supposed to say 'Of course I know where to find her. I can deliver her here alive in ten minutes.' How does that sound, 494?" He frowned at Alec's silence. "See the thing is, we don't really care whether or not you succeed. There're enough transgenics overrunning this city that one of them will gladly trade their life for hers."
"I'm worth too much to you alive for you to kill me." Alec finally croaked out.
"That's the thing, 494. We've made a bundle from selling your little freak show friends. And we haven't even gotten down to the dead ones yet. See, scientists will pay almost as much for a dead freak as the army will pay for a live one. We can do what we want." He grinned.
"Then do it." Alec spat out.
"What we want, 494, not what you want. You're of a greater purpose. Bring us 452. If you do, that little explosive that I put in your head is going to stay nice and inactive. If you don't, then kaboom!" He laughed, and White shot him another warning look. Dickens held a tiny chip in his hand, and Alec stared at it.
"See? Small, isn't it? Thing is, this is positioned right here." He pointed at a spot at the base of his skull and laughed. "And I have this neat remote control," he held the remote control for Alec to see, "which means I can detonate it at any time. Any time, can you believe that!?" He laughed crazily. "One false step and I'll-"
"You have twelve hours." White cut in.
"She moves around a lot!" Alec said desperately. "It may take me days to find her."
"Then you'd better hurry. You've got days worth of work to do in twelve hours."
*** Later that day ***
"Do you think we're stupid, 494? This isn't her. This isn't even human." Dickens' annoyingly whiny voice screeched.
"You can make money…" Alec began desperately, noting the presence of the scientist's hand on the button controlling the implant.
"We don't need money." He grinned, flexing his finger over the button.
"I can bring you more…" Alec pleaded, looking around in desperation.
"How many more?" White stepped into his line of vision, and Dickens immediately handed him the implant control.
"As many as you want." Alec replied quietly, looking at the floor. White smiled at the X5's defeated tone.
"Here's the deal. Three a day until you find 452. You capture three a day and deliver them and your head stays on your shoulders. You find her, the chip is deactivated. That's it."
"Three a day." Alec repeated in confirmation of the deal.
"Until you find 452. Naturally, this deal has an expiry date."
*** Flashback, ten hours earlier ***
"What's your progress on tracking 452?" White snarled, his foot tapping impatiently.
"Steady progress. I am triangulating her location" Alec replied, hoping that the men weren't too familiar with tracking terms. White looked at him, a sneer curling his lips.
"Thing is, 494, we don't really need you anymore." He snarled.
"We've got a new plan." Dickens cut in. "Meet X5-426. She was in 452's unit. And she's what we in the industry like to call bait." Alec glanced at the woman crumpled in the corner. With his enhanced vision, Alec could just pick out the staggered and sporadic rise and fall of her chest.
"She won't be much good to you in a couple of hours." Alec replied. Dickens laughed.
"They don't know that. Far as they know, we didn't kill her when we took her, so we must want her alive." The scientist approached her with a smile. "Maybe we can have some fun before you die?" He grinned at the slumped form and bent over, turning her head to face him. "Such a pretty freak." He whispered, tilting her chin up and leaning in closer to her. Alec felt his fists clench at the sight of the scientist with the defenceless X5 and moved closer, as quietly as he could. He reached out to pull Dickens off the woman at the same time as her eyes flew open, startling both himself and the scientist. Alec stepped backwards, out of the way, and watched as the X5 tightened the hold she had on Dickens' neck. White approached the group, watching coolly as Dickens clawed at X5-426's hand, and gasped for both help and air. The scientist reached for a taser, and aimed it at the X5, sending her back into her slumped position against the wall. White sighed as Dickens swung the taser at X5-426, and walked away at the sound of it connecting with her head.
"I'm sick of feeding these things." White said to Alec, motioning toward the pair of cat-like transgenics occupying a cage, two thirds of Alec's daily quota. "Make sure you kill the next one before you deliver it." White gave Alec a nasty smile before turning and storming out of the room, Dickens scurrying after him. Alec stared at the cat nomalies, then at the crumpled figure of X5-426, and shook his head, dreading killing the next transgenic he came across. He had to end this.
He had to find Max.
*** Surveillance Van, City Street, NIGHT ***
"So we're supposed to just sit here?" Brianna asked with a sigh.
"Yes." Logan replied, his eyes not leaving the computer. The two transgenics had left the van to assess the situation on foot, leaving Logan to hack surveillance footage of the immediate area, and Brianna bored and nervous.
"Doesn't seem like the most interesting job in the world, playing sidekicks to a couple of super soldiers." She muttered.
"You'd be surprised." Logan replied, continuing to type and ignoring the term 'sidekick.'
"Why don't you get someone else to do this part?" Brianna asked, looking around at all of the surveillance equipment hastily thrown together earlier. "You could be out there, fighting beside them." She nodded at the exoskeleton. "We could be helping rescue Kia."
"I don't get someone else to do this part because I don't trust anyone else to do this part. It's important." His fingers flew over the keyboard in front of him, and aerial surveillance footage filled the screen. "Max, Zane." Logan spoke into a small headset. "I've got visuals of the area. Nothing sticks out. A couple of small buildings around, but nothing suspicious." He paused as he listened to Max's reply, then smiled. "No," he answered with a glance at Brianna, "just a little cabin fever, I think." He laughed at her reply. "Will do. Be careful." Logan gave Brianna a reassuring smile and went back to typing.
"I'm just worried." Brianna said in a small voice. "What if they don't find her?"
"They'll find her." Logan answered.
*** Building Exterior, NIGHT ***
Alec kicked at another rock, pretending it was Max.
"Damn you." He muttered to the rock. "Why couldn't you have been there? Why couldn't you have been there?" He kicked at the rock again, more furiously, and watched as it sailed away. "No one was going to get killed, least of all me. I was supposed to deliver transgenics until I found you. Why did he have to want them dead? Why did you have to be gone? Why couldn't I find any god damn transgenics today?!" With heavy feet, Alec approached the building; a small smile twitching at his lips as he noticed a figure crouched in the bushes near the side entrance.
The figure had a barcode.
*** City Street, NIGHT ***
"I should have listened to you." Zane muttered, pulling the communication device from his ear in disgust. "There's nothing here. Who am I kidding anyway? I'm not the CO. I'm the jester."
Max followed him, glancing over her shoulder at Logan in the van that was slowly following them.
So much for more luck on foot.
"If you think I'm about to pump your ego by telling you what a fantastic CO you are, you've got another thing coming. Get over your-" Max halted as Zane raised a hand, which quickly formed three short hand signals. Max's eyes went wide and she sniffed the air, nodding.
"Logan." She whispered into her comm. as Zane replaced his and led the way. "Pull over. We're tracking the scent of an X5, male. Could be Jai. Wait here." The two X5s followed the trail silently.
Ahead of them, Max spotted their target. A small parking lot attached to a building long since abandoned. She gave Zane a quick hand signal. He replied, nodding towards a figure crouched behind a bush bordering the carpark, and the shadow fast approaching it.
*** Building Exterior, NIGHT ***
With lightning fast reflexes, Alec sprang from behind the transgenic, landing on top of him and pinning him to the ground. The transgenic struggled, launching into full defence mode, but Alec pinned his legs expertly and pushed a gun into the back of his neck. Thinking better of it, he aimed it slightly higher, so as not to destroy the barcode. Alec closed his eyes briefly.
"Nothing personal buddy, but it's you or me." He said softly.
"Exactly," agreed a voice from behind him. "But see Alec, you're wrong. It's not going to be him, it's going to be you." Max grinned as Zane moved in and pulled an outnumbered Alec off the transgenic on the ground.
"Max." Alec grumbled, barely keeping the relief from his voice. "It's not like you think," he said desperately, looking from one pissed off X5 to the next.
"Max." The unknown X5 repeated, pulling himself off the ground and staring at her. "Zane."
"Jai." Max answered. She hugged her new-found brother briefly, and Zane flashed him a quick smile before releasing Alec and moving to face him alongside Jai and Max.
"So explain. Quick." Max demanded.
"Yep. And it better be good, cause I'm itching to shoot something." Zane grinned wickedly.
"They put this implant in my neck." He explained, rubbing at the spot to accentuate his point.
"So far, I don't see a problem." Max said sarcastically.
"They want to catch you. They saw me with you two that night in the forest, and they thought I could bring you to them."
"That doesn't explain why you just tried to kill my brother."
"Brother." Alec repeated, rolling his eyes. "You guys and family."
"Still holding a gun here" Zane called, and Alec tensed.
"Right. They want Max. So they drugged me, dragged me here, got a mad Manticore scientist to stick a remote controlled chip in my neck, and sent me after you."
"Chip?" Zane asked, exchanging a glance with Max.
"It'll explode. When they want it to. If I don't meet their deadlines. Blow my head off."
"And?" Max sighed.
"And I couldn't find you. So they cut me a deal."
"A deal." Max repeated.
"Three transgenics a day until I found you." A horrified expression crossed Max's face, but was quickly replaced by a furious one.
"You've killed three transgenics a day? You're disgusting. Give me the gun." She said to Zane, who raised an eyebrow at her and held on to the weapon.
"No, he's the first." Alec protested. "White only threw this little 'dead' condition in today. All of the others have been alive."
"White." Zane repeated, exchanging a glance with Max.
"Please. You have to help me. If I don't get back in the next thirty minutes, I'm dead." Alec pleaded, looking from one X5 to the next.
"Help you? I should have wasted your ass long ago. At least now we all get to watch." Zane said sarcastically.
"I know how to get past them." Alec said desperately.
"Why should we believe you?" Max reached over and smacked him across the head. His eyes narrowed before relaxing into a pleading expression.
"Technically, we're related." He tried.
"Technically, I think I'd rather see your head explode." She snapped back.
"I know where they're keeping 426."
"Kia?" Zane asked, stepping closer to Alec without lowering the gun.
"She's alive?" Jai asked in a low growl, shooting a threatening look at Alec, and startling the others by breaking his silence.
"Barely. I know where to find her. It's a mess in there."
"Fine. You'll help us, then we'll help you." Zane replied. Alec looked nervously at his watch.
"I don't have long." Alec protested, reaching to touch the back of his neck.
"Then you'd better hurry." Zane answered, heading toward the building.
"Ok, ok." Alec replied, walking more quickly in the direction of the building, which boasted a sign that proclaimed 'Emblanda Enterprises' in faded lettering. He turned around, eying up the group. "One of you has medical training, right?"
"A friend gets what's left of the discovery channel. I've got a thing for medical documentaries. Think I could handle a chip." Jai replied in a low monotone.
"He's kidding right?" Zane grinned into the darkness at the loud gulp that accompanied Alec's question.
"I don't really know him that well." Zane replied lightly. "Guess we're about to find out."