Chapter 4 – And so on…

Terminal City

2022

"Max, are you telling me you succeeded in getting shot up… Again?!" Alec's incredulous voice said as he watched Max grit her teeth while Lela cleaned out the shoulder wound she'd sustained earlier.

"Yeah, I'm just like a damn – aah – Magnet," Max hissed through clenched teeth.

Lela smiled and threw the cloth on the table, "You're lucky that wound wasn't too deep."

"Yeah well, it beats dying. Again." Max commented breezily as Lela started dressing the wound slowly.

Alec smirked, and at Max's glare focused his attention on the bed standing in the far corner, "Any news on his situation?"

Max glanced at the bed. It was surrounded by rusty, but working hospital equipment, and the person laying in it was chained to the wall and floor with heavy shackles. Something she'd requested just for this man.

Because, when it came to Ames White, she was taking no chances.

She'd by now realized that bringing him into the city was probably one of the worst mistakes she'd ever made. Her morals and brain had, in the spur of the moment, told her the choice was right. The media couldn't suspect them of killing a government agent.

But now, looking back, she knew her decision hadn't cleared up the problem. In fact, it had made it worse. The media would not tell that a government agent had been killed, because he hadn't been. Instead, of course, the headlines in the Seattle Post would be that a 'well respected' agent had been abducted by transgenics.

"All done Max," Lela commented, snapping Max out of her thought-train. Jumping of the table, she smiled at Lela, "Thanks for the quick patch-up."

"No problem Max," The brunette answered, before walking over to the person that had been the centre of Max's attention just a few seconds before. She bended over him with a disgusted look on her face, checking if the chains were still secure.

"Don't think he's going anywhere," Max commented, pulling up a crappy metal chair next to the bed. She turned it around and sat down, allowing herself to lean on the backrest.

"You two can go now," She said curtly, nodding to them.

Not questioning, the two X5's left Max alone with her nemesis.

She sighed, and stared at him. Ames White looked too much at rest to be a person who had killed her family. If she didn't know better, she'd say he looked like a little kid asleep. But having knowledge of what he'd done when he was awake pushed that thought straight out of her head.

For a moment, it seemed as if a wave of emotions crossed White's face, but that idea didn't seem appropriate. The man was so cold; he could not possibly feel any emotions.

But how good did she know him anyways?

***

"C'mon, we're on this plane Wendy."

She looked up at him, sighing, "Why do we have to move Ames? I thought you liked your job here!"

Damnit. She was questioning his intentions. He knew he was hurting her by moving away from the place she'd grown up in. But, as far as he could see it, there was no other way.

He roughly pushed her through the gate, dragging Ray along with him. His 5-year-old son looked up at him with confusion.

"Where are we going daddy?"

He ignored the question, instead stonily walking down until they were in the seating place. The airport was about the only place that still had some sort of decent service after the Pulse.

He felt tense knowing they could be tracking him. If they caught him trying to smuggle Wendy and Ray out of America… A shiver ran down his spine. He didn't even want to think about the consequences.

Checking his watch, he sighed, "We still have 10 minutes to go," he told his silent family.

"I don't want to go dad," Ray said, looking at the small airplane through the large window. All his mind had managed to make of the situation was that they were leaving.

"I know Ray, but -" His sentence was cut of by the familiar sound of a bell ringing for an announcement.

"Flight SQ8796 to Mexico has been cancelled. All passengers may return their tickets to get their money back."

"Ames…"

The announcement was repeated again, and his eyes widened. Without a word, he stood up to leave, yet again leaving Wendy and Ray trailing behind him.

As they walked out of the corridor, he became highly paranoid of every person in the halls. It was as if a thousand pairs of eyes were watching him.

"Ames, we need to return the tickets," Wendy insisted, turning to leave for the airline desk. He tried to grab her arm, but she just stared at him stonily.

"Please, Wendy, can we go home?" He pleaded, trying to get her to come along with him.

Wendy glared at him angrily, but, slowly, her face faded from his view…

To be replaced by a dimly lit room, where two man stood, discussing something in the shadows. His vision seemed to be blurred, and he tried to focus on the figures.

"How's he been reacting to it?" The left man asked his companion, who in answer, sighed.

"He's starting to forget, we're trying to replace his memories now."

"Too bad he took this road. Could've saved him this trouble."

"The Conclave didn't want to lose him. He's lucky to be alive."

The smaller, right man, now glanced at him and nodded, gesturing to his friend. They now approached him, and the last thing he made out before darkness overwhelmed him was the sight of a glinstering needle.

"Feeling Pain is weakness, you do not feel pain!" Words stamped into his brain with such fierce power, he felt as if they were trying to explode his head.

"Love is a foolish game for those who are not superior. You are superior. Do not play that game!"

Wendy…

"YOU ARE SUPERIOR," The words rang through his head a hundred times, before he finally found the darkness fade away into a bright light.

***

Max grew supremely bored of watching Ames White be his unconscious self. After twiddling her thumbs for 10 minutes, she got up and started pacing around the room, fiddling with a pen. As she grew even tenser, she broke the pen and let its shattered remains fall onto the ground.

"Need anger management 452?" A snide voice came from the bed. She twirled around in surprise, finding White watching her with a look of disgust.

"I was just giving myself an idea of how to snap someone's bones. Wanna be my test subject?"

He chuckled humourlessly, moving his head as much as he could to get a clearer view of the room. Light reflected from a small metal gurney, beaming straight into his eyes. He pinched them shut, feeling as if someone had just slapped him.

The light was bright, shining straight into his eyes. Words were whispered all around him, melting into one big blur of murmurs. Sometimes, a small sentence seeped through the mess.

"What are we going to do with his wife?'

"Where's Wendy?" His own voice broke through the image for a second,

"We'll let her live for now."

Another voice invaded his senses, "Why are you asking? You killed her, remember? Sure you know where her body is."

His eyes snapped open, but then he regained the right memory, "I knew that."

"Why you askin' then," She made a point of glaring at him for few more seconds than necessary, "You're wastin' my time."

"So leave, I'm pretty sure that will solve all your problems."

Resisting the urge to kick something, Max paced around for a few seconds, before she heard someone tapping the glass window on the door. Lela's face reflected in it, and the rather concerned expression on it was enough to make Max leave the room.

Once they were in the corridor, Max send Lela a questioning look, "What's wrong?"

Sighing, Lela held up the large piece of paper she'd been holding under her arm for a while up to the light. Max recognized it as being an x-ray picture… And judging from the facial outline… White's. She frowned, not knowing why her friend would want to show her this.

Until Lela pointed at a rather bright, square spot in the middle of the head. Peering closer, she could see sever small wires running through it.

"What's that?' She asked, not recognizing it as anything.

"That," Lela began, sighing deeply, "Is something I thought I'd never see again."

"Looks like some sort of metal plate," Max commented.

"It's… A chip, you could call it."

"Right, so a chip is stuck in White's brain? For what goal, exactly?'

"Well, they were testing the very same chip at Manticore," Lela paused, staring through the glass, at White, "It's supposed to suppress memories. "

"Well, he obviously needs it then." Max said, looking through the glass. White gave her his trademark smirk, and she turned to Lela again.

"Only problem is," Lela continued, grabbing a pen from the pocket of her coat, "One of the chips wires is slightly loosened."

"Meaning?"

"The memories it is suppressing are starting to get through his brain again."

"Good, let him wallow in guilt of his murders,' Max spat out.

"I don't think it's supposed to block out those memories, in fact, he knows he's murdered," Lela cringed at her own words, remembering how her brother had been caught a month earlier. He never returned, and there was no doubt left in her mind that he had an unmarked grave somewhere.

"So what is it that he isn't supposed to remember?" Max asked, almost to herself.

"Well," Lela grinned, "There's a way to speed up the process," The grin turned into a smile at the thought of how to.

"Do tell," Max said, seeing the smile on her friend's face.

"Well…" Lela started, and proceeded to tell Max the rest of the 'procedure'. At the end of it, even Max had a hint of a smile on her face too, and turned to the door again, seeing White staring at her with eyes full of disgust and hatred.

A laugh escaped her lips, and she nodded to Lela, "Let's do it."

A/N: OOOOH!! I finished! Big hugs to everyone who was forced to wait. The next chapter should be out sooner, since I've gotten quite some ideas for it and am actually starting to write to it right now (What can I say? Homework got shoved to the back today :-P)