"What is it?" Alec asked. "I was just about to sc - skate. I was going to go skate with that... girl."
Joshua shook his head. "Joshua's not stupid."
Alec sighed. "Fine, fine. So, what's up?"
"Joshua heard talking." He said. "Some - some people say that the plan's changed."
"Plan? What plan?" Alec replied, thinking that it was just like Max to create a plan and keep him out of the loop.
"The plan!" Joshua said in a way that made it clear that Alec should have known. "The plan. Max and Logan gettin' busy."
"Ah, that plan." Alec smirked and crossed his arms. "What about it?"
"They said the plan changed. They said there was a new plan."
"What, are Max and Logan getting kinky or something?"
Joshua shook his head. "People - people say that Max and Aaron gettin' busy."
Alec's eyes widened. "What!?"
* * *
Aaron stared at the orange in his hand. He had no intentions of eating it right away, but knew that if he didn't grab it at that moment an eager transgenic would snatch it away from him, and that's not what he wanted. He rolled the fruit around in his hand, unaware of the transgenic approaching him.
"Hey."
Aaron was pulled from his own little world, but did not look up at the transgenic. Instead he kept his gaze focused upon the orange in his hand. "Hello."
"So, what's up?"
"The ceiling, the sky, and I imagine a few birds." Aaron mumbled as a reply.
"All right, it's obvious that you know I'm not here to make idle chitchat." The transgenic said. "So, how was she? I bet she was a wild one. A bunch of us've been dying to give 'er a roll."
Aaron looked up at the transgenic with a confused expression. For the first time in his stay at Terminal City, he had no idea what someone was talking about. "What?"
"Max." The transgenic continued. "You know, the fox you've been hanging with."
"I suppose she is attractive." Aaron shrugged. "But that still doesn't tell me what you mean."
"Ah, come on." The transgenic grinned. "Don't play stupid. You know what I'm talking about."
Off of Aaron's blank look, he continued. "Last night. Last. Night. Come on, you lucky bastard."
Aaron nodded. "It is true I am without a father, but I've never considered myself a true bastard."
The transgenic chuckled. "Are you dopey or something? You know what I'm talking about. It's what you were made to do, right?"
"Built to know." Aaron said. "But I only have a 97% success rate, so I suppose you can count this moment in the 3% of things I don't understand."
"I get it." The transgenic smirked. "You're just not saying anything. Don't wanna get her pissy, huh? Okay, I get it. See ya."
Aaron watched as the transgenic swaggered back to his friends and told them something that seemed to amuse them greatly. His brow furrowed and he went back to staring at the orange.
* * *
"Joshua... how... did... what?"
"Joshua knows." Joshua said and placed a hand on Alec's shoulder. "It's whack."
"Is it true?"
Joshua shrugged. "Haven't talked to Max."
"Well, how many people know?"
Joshua shrugged again. "Lots of people are talking."
"Who started it?"
Joshua shrugged, then bared his teeth. "He probably did. He's whack too."
Alec wasn't sure what to think really, but he knew what to feel. Pissed. He clenched his fists. "Well let's go!"
* * *
Max tried to ignore the looks she was getting from every direction as she walked toward Logan's room, but that was very hard to do. She was more than happy to turn the corner that led to the empty, unoccupied hall that led to his room. She stopped in front of his door and knocked softly.
The door opened a minute or so later and Logan stood in the doorway. She looked up at him, for the first time in a long time allowing him to see the weakness in her eyes. She asked softly, "Can I come in?"
He nodded slowly and stepped aside so she could get in. He watched her move over to his bed and crawl under the covers. She pulled them up around her tightly and crawled into a ball. He thought about saying something, but realized that he wouldn't know where to begin even if he could force a few words out of his mouth, so he just closed the door and sat back in front of his laptop. He did not go back to work though. He just sat and watched her.
* * *
Alec and Joshua barged roughly into the cafeteria. They looked around wildly and when Joshua spotted him, they both rushed over to Aaron. Alec knocked the orange from the man's hands, then not knowing what else to do, punched him in the face and pushed him to the ground.
"What was that for!?" Aaron explained.
"It was cause I don't like you!" Alec exploded.
"Yeah!" Joshua chorused.
"And cause you're a rat bastard!" Alec continued.
"You're whack!" Joshua boomed.
Aaron pulled himself to his feet and dusted himself off. He looked at the two angry transgenics who were currently staring him down. "And why would that be?"
"Oh I think you know." Alec said and pushed him onto the ground again. He bent down at the hip and grabbed the back of Aaron's neck and pulled him up so that their faces were only inches apart. "We know that you lied."
"Lied? I didn't lie about anything." Aaron replied calmly. "It isn't in my genetic code."
"Sounds like a lie to me." Joshua said.
Alec nodded and punched Aaron as hard as he possibly could. He then dropped Aaron's head and straightened up. He looked around the crowded cafeteria at all the gawking transgenics and addressed them. "Don't believe anything you've heard."
He and Joshua turned to leave, Joshua throwing a few snarls at the transgenics that turned to stare at them. They stormed past most of the transgenic crowd milling in the halls and ended up in the communications area.
"I feel... weird." Alec said and sat down. "Never felt like this before."
"Feel kinda good, but kinda bad too?"
Alec turned at the familiar voice and was quite surprised to see Asha standing behind him. "Yeah."
"It's what it feels like to defend a friend." She told him. "You feel good you defended your friend, but you feel bad because you had to do it at all."
"Is that what this is?" He asked with a smirk.
* * *
After fifteen minutes of silence, Max finally turned to face Logan. She pulled the covers from her face, but kept herself wrapped up. She mumbled, "Sorry. Now you'll need new sheets."
"Doesn't matter." He replied. "Are you okay?"
"I really don't know." She told him quietly. "I think I had my first high school experience"
"I'm guessing it wasn't prom."
She smiled a little. "Not exactly."
"Mind sharing?"
"I will." She said. "But not right now. You don't mind if I just sleep, do you?"
"Go ahead." He replied gently.
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. He sat, just watching her and not quite sure what to do.
* * *
"So, what are you doing here anyway?"
"I brought a few supplies Logan asked for." Asha told him. "I tried finding Mr. Crusader to talk to him, but I couldn't find him so I just came down here to visit my good friend Mole."
Alec turned to Mole with raised eyebrows.
Mole just shrugged. "I like blondes."
Alec chuckled and turned back to Asha. "So, you saw that whole thing I take it?"
"Yeah." She said. "I saw you kick his ass. I didn't think I would be getting a show with my Cocoa Puffs."
"With me, really anything's possible." Alec smirked.
* * *
Aaron hurried out of the cafeteria, his jaw throbbing. He pushed an X7 against the wall and demanded to know where Alec had gone. The X7 pointed him in the right direction and he flew off in that direction. He made his way to the communications area, the only logical place for him to have gone.
He walked into the room quickly and went over to Alec. He grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him on his feet, then punched him. Before Alec could recover, he punched him again. Before he could get in another, Joshua rushed over and pulled him away from Alec.
"No, let him go." Alec said and took a fighting stance. "If he wants to fight me, let him."
"Alec..." Asha warned.
"No, no." Aaron said. "This must be dealt with."
Joshua shrugged at Asha, let Aaron go, then moved over to where Mole was standing out of the way.
"Before I was only beating your ass cause you were causing problems," Alec said as the two circled each other. "But now I'm just doin' it for the pleasure of kicking your ass."
"Yes, how nice." Aaron drawled. "But I don't take people assaulting me for no reason lightly."
"No reason?" Alec repeated. "No reason?"
He rushed at Aaron, grabbing his arms then throwing himself forward, head-butted him. He pulled back and released him, then jumped up and delivered a swift kick to his gut. He landed gracefully on his feet and was satisfied to see the wind knocked out of Aaron. Taking the opportunity, he grabbed Aaron again and tried to knee Aaron in the face. Tried.
Aaron's hands flew up quickly, knocking Alec's leg away. He then straightened quickly and punched Alec. When Alec staggered back, he kicked him in the side of the head, sending the transgenic to the floor. He went to drive his fist down, but Alec rolled out of the way and his hand connected with the concrete.
"Bet that hurts." Alec smirked as he flipped to his feet. While Aaron was still crouched down, he went forward and delivered a spinning kick to his side. They both fell to the ground, but Alec lifted his leg and brought it down on Aaron's stomach.
Aaron cried out, but kept control of himself and grabbed Alec's foot. He jerked it to the side, causing Alec to roll. He then got to his feet and this time managed to drive his fist into Alec. After Alec screamed, he kicked him onto his back and lifted his feet, ready to slam it down onto his stomach.
Before he could do that, however, he heard something behind him, then found an extra weight riding around on his back. A second later he felt two thin arms snake around his throat in an attempt to choke him. He calmly reached up and grabbed the arms, then flipped whoever it was over his head and onto the floor... where Alec should have been.
He turned around to look for Alec, but didn't have the chance. All he saw was a board coming at his head, and he didn't even have time to duck. The board hit him full on, sending him crashing backward onto the floor, unconscious.
Alec dropped the board and walked over to Asha. He helped her up and smiled at her. "Thanks."