Disclaimer: If I owned them, would I be in the job I'm in? No, I'd be living in Texas in a really big house, letting the money roll in! Y'all know that Mr. Titanic Man and Mr. Chic own them, so why do you make me say it all the time? . . . Oh, yeah, that's why. I don't wanna get sued! Not that I have anything to sue for, but stranger things have happened.
A/N: I don't know why I still update this poor little lonely story . . . oh, wait, there are actually people out there who read it! Actually, I'm kinda hooked now myself; I wanna see where I can go with this. Please, PLEASE put words in the little review box; feed my hiatus-starved soul with glowing comments! As of right now, there are 4 days and 6 hours to the premiere!! (I'm not obsessed – can't you tell? LOL!!!)
A/N 2: As usual, HUGE amounts of thanks to my wonderful betas, afan and angel_gurl, for breathing life into what was originally a poor husk of a story. Mucho besitos, amigas!!! As for the rest of you who reviewed, many thanks; you keep me going!
Ok, enough yap – here's chapter 5!!!!!!
Finding a Way Back, chapter 5
"Eyes Only!" Max cried, bolting upright. "When did he become a target?"
"They became aware of him when he alerted the X5's that they had been compromised after Zack's escape," Brin began. "Then, during the incident with Ben, Lydecker's meeting with him confirmed suspicions that he was helping you. They narrowed his broadcasts down to the Seattle area, and we're being sent in to locate and eliminate Eyes Only."
"When do we leave?" Max asked.
"First thing in the morning," Brin replied. "I just wanted to let you know so you could prepare yourself." She got up and headed for the door. "Get some rest," she said over her shoulder, and then she was gone.
Despite her sister's admonition, Max found herself unable to sleep. Her mind raced, bringing up thoughts of Logan, her friends, and her life in Seattle. 'Not yet,' she told herself firmly. 'Not until they let you out the gate. Until then, you have to be Manticore; play their game a little while longer.' The night stretched on, and sunrise seemed to be a long time in coming.
When the first faint light began to glimmer through the window, Max jumped out of bed. The surveillance cameras were back on, so she took care to act the part of a Manticore soldier. A small chest at the foot of the bed held standard camouflage uniforms; trying to suppress her distaste, she put one on. She was dressed and waiting when Brin entered the room. Max snapped to attention and waited for her sister to make the first move.
Brin barely glanced at the cameras. "It's time," she said, her tone firm and brisk. "Are you prepared for the mission, X5-452?"
'Prepared? I can't wait!' Max cried mentally. Squashing the inner voice, she replied aloud, "I am prepared, X5-734."
"Good. Let's move out, then." Brin turned towards the door, and Max followed close behind. They walked silently through the halls, heading for the garage bay where a fully loaded vehicle would be waiting.
As they went, Max worked hard to suppress the memories that flowed through her, of marching through these same hallways with her siblings, the echo of their footsteps surrounding them. And then later, the night of the escape, crouched in a similar hallway watching as Lydecker shot Eva down . . .
Suddenly Brin was no longer at her side. Confused, Max stopped and looked at the door her sister had ducked into. Infirmary was printed in large red letters across the front. When Brin returned, there was a small bag slung over her shoulder. She didn't say anything, but made a hand gesture that Max recognized as an order to keep moving. She suppressed her curiosity and followed Brin the rest of the way to the garage.
Victor met them just inside the door. "What are you doing here?" Max asked in surprise.
"I had him assigned to us, to handle the electronic equipment," Brin said shortly. "Let's go." She led them over to a van parked just outside the bay doors. Victor pulled open the sliding side door and got in; from what Max could see of the inside, the setup would have done Logan proud. She climbed into the passenger seat as Brin moved around to the driver's side; within minutes, they were headed for the perimeter gate.
"Try not to be so tense, little sister," Brin said gently, glancing over at Max. "Take a deep breath; relax. We're being sent on a mission, it happens all the time. Just follow my lead, look at the soldiers like they're a lower form of life, and they won't suspect a thing." A slight smile crossed her face. "They're used to it by now."
At the gatehouse, a soldier stepped into the road and gestured for them to stop. Brin rolled down the window as he approached. "ID cards and travel orders, please," he ordered.
Brin passed a set of papers to him. "X5-734, X5-452, and Equipment Specialist Santiago, en route to Seattle. Mission: EO," she said crisply, a hint of disdain in her voice.
The soldier examined the papers and then looked past Brin to Victor in the back, and then to Max. She tried not to react as his eyes drilled into her, working instead on an expression of contempt, as if the soldier wasn't worth her time.
It seemed to work; the soldier rolled his eyes and handed the papers back to Brin. "Command has already called down your mission confirmation," he said, boredom in his voice and expression. "Proceed."
"Acknowledged." Brin rolled up the window and waited for the gate to open. No one said a word as they passed through and turned onto the road leading to Seattle. Once Manticore had disappeared into the distance, Brin pulled the van over to the side of the road.
Max opened her mouth to speak, but Brin held up a hand to silence her. She followed that with a series of hand signals that Max recognized from their childhood: 'Be silent, and follow.'
The two of them left the van and headed into the woods, where a small river ran parallel to the road. Turning to face Max, Brin made some more hand signals: 'Turn around, and kneel.'
Max hesitated, unsure of what to do. Brin was her sister, and Max trusted her, but what if this was all a trick, a test of her loyalty that she had failed? Was Brin supposed to kill her?
Brin saw her hesitation, and smiled understandingly. Reaching back, she undid the severe braid her hair had been in, letting it fall freely around her face. 'Trust me, Musketeer,' her hands said.
That phrase sent Max's mind back to their childhood, in the days just after they had all been put together as a squadron. One night, during a thunderstorm when none of them could sleep, Max and Jondy had joined her in her bed. Huddled under the blanket like a tent, the three girls told stories to make each other laugh. One of the stories Jondy told was something she'd overheard from one of the guards. It was a story about three friends, soldiers who fought together and protected each other – The Three Musketeers.
"I wish we could be like that," Brin sighed.
"We are," Max insisted. "Here – we'll take an oath." The three of them reached out and clasped hands. "All for one," Max began, repeating the words of the soldiers from Jondy's story.
"And one for all!" Jondy's blue eyes flashed with excitement. "That's us – the Three Musketeers."
"Forever," Brin agreed.
Max turned around and knelt, waiting. She heard the rasp of a knife leaving its sheath, and forced herself to remain calm and still. The knife dug into the base of her neck, just below her barcode, and Max fought to remain conscious as pain shot up and down her spine.
After a few seconds that felt like an eternity, it was over, and Brin was bandaging the wound. She then knelt in front of Max. Handing over the knife, Brin pointed to a spot on her neck, also below the barcode, and made a gesture: 'Cut.'
Max ran her fingers over the area Brin had indicated and was not surprised to find a bump. Making a small incision, she pulled back the skin to reveal a flashing locator device. 'Don't smash it,' Brin's hands told her. 'Just remove it.' Max did so, and then bandaged the wound.
Brin stood up, and the two of them exchanged implants, each taking her own. That task complete, they headed back to the road. Victor had exited the van, and was waiting with a container for the implants. Once they were inside, he sealed it and put it into a black travel bag that Max hadn't noticed before. Brin nodded to him, then turned to Max with a smile. "Let's go home, little sister."
Max couldn't help herself; she grinned back. "Sounds good to me," she agreed.
They traveled for a few hours, and then stopped to eat. On the way back to the van, Max remembered something. "Brin, what's in that bag you grabbed from the infirmary?" she asked.
"Oh!" Brin slipped the bag off her shoulder and opened it, her smile growing. She withdrew a syringe and a vial of liquid. "This is Manticore's solution to our problems," she announced, holding the vial up for Max to see. "They combined their research on our seizures and Werner's syndrome and came up with this. I brought it for you."
Max stopped dead, her hand on the passenger door of the van, as Brin's words impacted on her brain. No more seizures. No more dependence on Tryptophan. To live free . . .
As if triggered by her thoughts, her hand began to tremble. The seizure descended quicker than any ever had before, so quickly she had no chance to speak. She heard Brin shout as she fell, felt strong arms catch her, and then blackness overtook her.
