Max stood dutifully behind Alec without much complaint. She seemed pretty distracted to him and it worried him. He needed her mind to be focused on the exchange, but the sudden appearance of that girl had totally ruined any chance of that. He watched her carefully and she pushed a long strand of hair behind her perfectly shaped ear and bit on her bottom lip. He fought the urge to reach out and pull her into his arms. He didn't want her to be this upset. He would have thought finding this girl would make her happy. Of course not. Max was never happy. It was like against her rules or something. Max shifted her weight back and forth and her eyes darkened into a glare.
"Are they going to be getting here anytime soon, Alec?"
He smirked. This was a good sign. A very good sign.
"They said they'd meet us at 2100 hours. We're here."
"They said that? 2100 hours?"
"No, Max. They said 9 o'clock."
"What if this is a trap?"
"I've known Mir since a little before you burned down Manticore."
"Does he realize that you're Manticore?"
" 'Course not, Maxie. I don't walk up to people and say, Hi, I'm Alec the transgenic."
Max sighed loudly and shifted her weight again. She crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently. Tip, Tap, Tip, Tip, Tap.
"Ever take dance lessons?"
Max stopped the incessent tapping. Finally a creak of the door resounded through the empty warehouse. "Alec, my man."
"Hey, Mir. This is my colleague, Max."
"Lovely to meet you, M'Lady. I've got your Tryptophan, water, gasoline, dry food, Tommy Guns, Glocks, Winchesters, all the classics, bullets, and...cigars?"
Alec tossed him the satchel full of stolen money. "Thanks for helpin' us out."
Max had lifted up two of the boxes and stacked the precariously on top of her Ninja. It was times like these she wished she had asked Logan for some help. Even if it meant driving that ancient thing he called a car. Alec had done the same, pulling up the guns in two duffle bags on the handlebars. He glanced at Max and she was already straddling her motorcycle. "It was no problem, Alec. Always glad to help."
Alec turned towards Mir. He never said stuff like that. He'd say hello. He'd tell them the list of supplies. He'd take the money and leave. But he was still there for some reason. Alec tensed, preparing for whatever had set him uneasy. "Really, 494. It was not problem for Mir at all."
A shot rang out, echoing off the walls. Mir fell to the floor in a stunned silence, clutching his chest from the pain. Unfortunately for Mir, Ames White never missed a target. His eyes rolled up into his head and he gasped one last breath before dying.
"Nice to see you both again."
"You know, I really hate it when you do that. I get kind of attached to my contacts and you go and shoot them."
Max had started the engine to her motorcycle and Alec ran to his, getting ready to drive out.
"You'll never get out of here, 452, we have you surrounded. And even if you do, your little boyfriend here won't make it out. Then, you'd have to organise a whole pesky rescue and get yourself and five others captured. Why don't we skip that part?" Max narrowed her eyes into cat like slits, her grip tightening on the cool metal of her bike.
"You're a little overconfident, White. And just so we're straight, Alec is not my boyfriend!"
She clicked once and set her bike in gear, driving through the warehouse wall. Alec followed with a shout of, "Stop corrupting my freakin' suppliers!"
Max lifted her bike over the heads of several NSA agents, careful to keep a hold of the boxes in front of her and duck bullets all at once. She kept an ear out for the sound of Alec's motorcycle engine above all the other cacaphony.
Lucy glanced around at the grounds of Terminal City. She tried hard not to shy away from the lizard looking man and the dog boy. He was the one in that rag she'd seen in the grocery store. A cat woman lay stretched out on a torn up couch comfortably, purring in her sleep. The man beside her, Biggs, was talking quietly.
"They won't hurt you. There's no reason to be scared. They aren't any different from you, just trying to get by in a screwed up world."
"I figure if you didn't hurt me, they won't."
Biggs flashed her a grin and she suddenly felt warm inside as her blood rushed through her veins. She smiled back, a genuinely sweet smile, and she almost forget about everything that had happened before.
"So, how'd you meet Max?"
"I met her when I was shopping with my mom in February of '09."
"Right after she escaped."
"Yeah, I guess. She disappeared after the Pulse. We didn't know what had happened to her. We figured she'd gotten caught up in the aftermath. How do you know Max? I mean, did you know her when she was a kid?"
"No. I'm friends with Alec and he got me a job at Jam Pony before the takeover. Unfortunately I was discovered and Alec barely got to me before some thugs on the street killed me."
"Wow."
"All in a day. Now, Terminal City is pretty big, but we all usually share apartments. Max and Alec and I all share one. I don't think Max is gonna mind if you move in too."
"I hope not. Who are they?"
She swiveled her gaze on the others.
"Hey, guys, this is Lucy. Max knew her back in '09 when they escaped. This is Mole, Luke, Dix, Joshua, Mallo, and Gills."
Lucy nodded to them all. Joshua smiled at her. "Max's friend, Joshua's friend."
Lucy returned the smile and started to say something when Max burst in the door, trodden with two duffle bags and supporting Alec. "Mallo, Gills, I left five boxes in the tunnel. Go get them please. Luke, can you go get Riles? Alec got himself shot by White's goons after his trustworthy contact turned us in for the great reward."
Alec groaned. "I get shot and all she does is yell at me. The whole way inside it's 'Alec, you're such a moron. I'm gonna kick your butt when you get healed. White'll know we got out of T.C. and it's all your fault. You didn't think to check if your supplier was good buddies with people at the NSA. I can't wait until you get healed, cuz I'm really looking forward to smacking down on you.' She's so abusive. I don't know why I put up with it."
Alec grimaced despite the front he was putting up. Biggs was at his side, helping him with his shirt, since it was already sticking to the wound. Mole stared at Alec. "At least tell me you got the cigars."
Alec sighed. "I'm being used all the time. It's not enough that I get used for my good looks and winning personality. Now it's who I know and what I can get them."
"So, yeah, you got them."
"Yeah. They're in one of the boxes."