"We should've known they'd mobilize." Batise said, frustrated.
"We did know they'd get up eventually, but we didn't think this soon." West sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. "What are we going to do?"
"You're the one that's in charge." Ebel muttered.
"I say we start the invasion." Hunt said and put out his cigarette with his thumb. "I say we call the conclave and get them to send them all in. The scum will be suspecting more murders, not a full invasion."
West shook his head. "Not now. They're too unified. We'll wait a little while until their guard is down, then we'll kill another batch and call for the invasion while they're still shocked."
* * *
Max walked down the empty street, followed closely by Joshua and Aaron. She looked through every window and into every alley she could find, but so far had not seen a thing, not even a rat.
"I don't think they'll be out tonight." Aaron said. "They've most likely seen a group or two and have figured out what's going on."
"Maybe so, but I'm not gonna stop." Max said and peered into a window.
"Joshua, do you smell anything unusual?" Aaron asked.
Joshua shook his head. "No cult loonies."
Feeling a bit defeated, Max pulled out her walkie talkie and spoke into it. "Logan, do you see anything?"
Logan and Aaron had set up a satellite to look over Terminal City and record the body temperature of every being inside. Transgenics' body temperatures were a few degrees higher than ordinary people, so it was easy to determine who was inside the City.
A minute or so later, Logan's voice came from the walkie talkie. "Nothing."
Max sighed. "Are you sure?"
"The only non-transgenic temperature I'm getting is right behind you, which is Aaron."
She ran a hand through her hair. "Thanks." She switched frequencies and spoke again. "Alec? Mole? Luke?"
"I'm here." Alec's voice came from the walkie talkie.
"Anything?" She asked.
"Nothing." He replied. "Do you think they left?"
"No." She sighed. "Just keep looking."
"Will do."
Her frown deepened as she put the walkie talkie away. She shoved her hands in her pockets and her walking slowed as she began dragging her feet.
"What's wrong, lil fella?" Joshua asked.
She looked up at him and decided not to tell him her fears that she would let everyone down and everyone she cared about would be killed because she had failed. She managed a weak smile. "I just want to catch them."
Mole's voice came back through the walkie talkie. "Can your geniusboy to do something?"
Max tossed the walkie talkie to Aaron and Aaron sighed and spoke into it.
"I'm not psychic. I don't see the future."
"Well why the hell not?"
"All I can do is work with statistics and situa - no. I just can't."
"Can you start?"
"No."
Mole sighed on the other line and the walkie talkie went to static. Immediately after, Logan's voice came over the walkie talkie.
"I got something."
Aaron brought the walkie talkie up to his mouth, but before he could answer, Max snatched it out of his hands. "What've you got?"
"Some non-transgenic temperatures showed up, but they're not exactly human either."
"What do ya mean?" She asked.
"They're a few degrees below ordinary temperatures."
"Where?"
"Next street over from where you are, number seventeen."
"We're on it."
"Be careful."
"Always." She replied, then turned off the walkie talkie and put it back in her pocket. She turned to Joshua and Aaron. "Let's go."
* * *
Chavez's eyes widened as he looked out the window, watching as the group approached. He shook his head in disbelief as they approached the front door, then turned and went to the others.
"452 and the man of Voltaire are coming." He told them. "They're coming inside."
"They found us?" Batise asked in disbelief.
"We shouldn't have waited." Hunt said as he raked a hand through his hair.
"It's only three of them." West said more calmly than he felt. He pulled out his cellphone and quickly dialed a number. "We've been exposed ... Yeah, send them in."
"Okay, so what're we gonna do now?" Ebel asked.
"We get out of here." West told him. "And we wait."
They quickly gathered their things and quickly made their way to the fire escape. Ebel shut the window behind them then joined the others in the street.
Max kicked the door down and rushed into the apartment, Joshua and Aaron closely following. They split up and searched the whole apartment, and came back to the living room.
"Anything?" Max asked.
"Nothing." Aaron answered, and Joshua shook his head.
Max pulled the walkie talkie from her pocket. "Logan, where are they?"
"It looks like they're moving. They're down the street... they've split up. They're everywhere."
"Do me a favor and send a message to everyone, will you?"
"I'm on it."
Max turned to Joshua and Aaron. "Let's go."
They left the apartment quickly and stepped onto the street, looking wildly around for them. Mole and Alec came running down the street toward them and stopped when they reached them, both obviously out of breath.
"What's wrong?" Max asked. "What happened?"
"Luke went off with another group to check something out and we came here." Alec panted. "We were seventeen blocks away."
Max put the walkie talkie to her mouth and spoke into it. "Logan, you gotta stay with me now. Where are they?"
"One of them is a block away and going fast. Go left and take a right, he should be there."
Max looked at the others, then took off. She didn't look back as she ran, knowing the others would be right behind her. She made the first left she found, and ran further along until she reached the right. She continued running down the street until she heard Joshua scream.
"There!"
And indeed, there was one of them. Ebel had stopped running for some reason, but as soon as he saw the small group of transgenics, he quickly started up again. They all took off after him, Joshua managing to stay in the lead. He rushed forward and managed to catch up with Ebel. He grabbed the back of the man's jacket and pulled him roughly backward, causing him to fly to the ground. Instead of waiting for the others, Joshua snarled and grabbed the man's head.
"Hunt! West! Oh Jesus! Bat -"
Joshua dropped the man and straightened up. When the others reached them, they looked from the dead man to Joshua. And that time, Max didn't care.
"Sorry." Joshua mumbled and stepped away from the dead man. "I - I -"
"It doesn't matter." Max said calmly. "It's war now."
"This is Grant. We got one."
Mole picked up his walkie talkie and spoke into it. "Did you -"
"He's very, very dead."
"Good job." He said then shoved the walkie talkie back in his pocket.
Max looked at the others. "According to Logan, that means there's two left."
"Where the hell are they?" Mole asked.
Max spoke into the walkie talkie. "Logan, where're the other two?"
"I'm having a problem getting the signal, hold on." There was a pause. "They're approaching the edge of the City."
"Bastards're trying to escape." Mole sneered.
"Well then, let's go." Max said.
* * *
West ran a hand through his hair and looked around wildly. "They're not here. They're not here, dammit!"
"They'll come." Hunt said calmly and lit another cigarette.
West stared at him a minute, then formed a fist and punched him in the face. Hunt looked down at his cigarette, which had fallen onto the ground, then looked at West and shook his head.
"You can punch me, kick me, attempt to murder me... but never touch my tobacco."
West dropped into a fighting stance, as did Hunt. They circled each other twice, then Hunt moved forward and tried to kick West, but West blocked it and managed to punch Hunt. Hunt quickly recovered and drove a fist in West's stomach. West grabbed Hunt by the arms, but before he could do anything, a fleet of cars appeared before them. The men quickly separated and looked out at the cars.
One by one the car doors opened and four Familiars poured from every car. Without pause they all got in line and marched to West and Hunt, who managed to stay ahead of the crowd and lead them forward.
Max turned the corner first and froze in her tracks. All she could see was an army of Familiars marching toward her. She quickly turned around and told the others what was happening. They started running as fast as they could to the main building, Max managing to pull out her walkie talkie in the process.
"Logan, tell everyone to get back to the main building, now!"