"Shut up," Krit said, tilting his gun a little to remind Lydecker it was there. This didn't seem to deter him at all, and he stopped drawing for a moment, leaning back to look at them better.
"Do you have families?" It bothered Syl that he actually sounded interested. When neither of them responded he opened his mouth again, and suddenly Syl knew that he was going to stay something about Tinga, about her family, about her death. She stood up.
"Shut up and finish the goddamned map right now," she growled. He gazed at her for a few moments, and she stared right back. Then he stopped his questioning and picked up the felt marker again. Krit reached out and put a warm, comforting hand on her arm, and she slowly returned to her seat, tense. Lydecker raised an eyebrow. "I see," he said, going back to the map again.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Syl couldn't help hissing.
"Syl," Krit warned, but Lydecker took it as an invitation to set down the marker agin.
"You two," he said, shaking his head. He had a small, patronizing smile on his face. "You really think you can be together out here? If you came home-"
"If we went back there you'd stick her in the breeding program and ship me overseas," Krit snapped. Lydecker looked at him, surprised, and Krit smiled smugly. "What?" he asked. "You think we didn't know what was going on?" Again he flicked his gun at Lydecker. "No more talking unless we ask you a direct question. Draw the goddamn map."
Lydecker had the sense not to smile. Then his eyes shifted and Syl heard soft footsteps approaching- Zack's. She turned to him.
"Krit," he said. "There's an animal control van in sector four I need commandeered. Go with Max." Krit nodded and sent one glance at Syl before grabbing his assault rifle from his duffle bag and heading out the door with Max. Zack looked to Syl and then tossed a handgun to Logan. "He so much as stands up from that table, shoot him," Zack ordered, not even waiting for Logan's nod as he turned and walked away, knowing Syl would follow. They moved to the side of the warehouse where Zack could talk to her privately and still keep an eye on Logan and Lydecker.
"How are you doing?" Zack asked her when they were relatively alone. She smiled at him, fixing her eyes somewhere on his chest, her expression forcibly brave. "I'm fine, Zack."
He sighed and tipped her chin up. "Liar."
As soon as Syl's eyes met his, her own filled with tears. She nodded, biting her lip, and whispered, "Yeah."
Zack touched Syl's face softly. "After this mission is over you can hang around with me for a while if you want," he said after a moment.
Syl brightened significantly. "Really?"
"Sure," Zack answered. "Not forever... but for a while." He squeezed her shoulder. "I know losing Brin and Tinga has been hard."
Syl hesitated as she felt a pang, remembering the newscasts she and Krit had been listening to for the past few weeks, but she looked at Zack's tired face and held her tongue, nodding instead. "Yeah, it has been," she said softly. He was looking at her with such concern that she stretched her lips into a smile and reached for his hand, squeezing it. "After tonight, things will be different," she said.
"They will," Zack answered immediately. "I promise." That comforted Syl immensely and she hugged him. He put his arms around her and held her for a few moments, and then there was a honk outside the warehouse. "They're back," he said, letting go of her to open the warehouse doors for Max and Krit. Syl followed him as Max drove into the warehouse in a white animal control van. Krit slid open the side door to reveal quite a bit of high-tech computer equipment.
Syl smiled, impressed. "Nice."
Max hopped out of the driver's seat and smiled back at her sister. "Yeah, not a bad setup." She called to Lydecker, "We got it."
Logan and Lydecker both moved to the van and started inspecting it. "Well, with a few modifications we can run our operation from in here." Lydecker said.
Logan nodded. "I'll get on it."
Zack nodded and headed for the table. Krit and Lydecker followed him but Syl hung back, grabbing Max's hand. "Max..." she trailed off as Max waited curiously. "I..." Her eyes flitted to Zack and then she said softly, "I wanted to ask you if you'd seen the news broadcasts about Ben. Last we heard, he was in Seattle..." She watched as Max's expression changed, and they lost eye contact as Max glanced away. Syl felt sudden sadness and fear as she realized why the news coverage had stopped. She touched Max's arm. "Nevermind, baby sister," she said softly. Max looked at her with sadness and relief, and Syl smiled softly at her before moving over to the table where the others were waiting.
"What kind of resistance are we going to meet?"
"Fortunately for us, most of the X-series has been deployed in various parts of the world," Lydecker answered. "There is a contingent of conventional soldiers..." He paused. "And a small security detail of X5s. About a dozen."
Syl felt slight nausea and she glanced at Max, who seemed to be experiencing the same thing. "Not the kind of family reunion I was hoping for," Max said quietly.
"With any luck, we'll be in and out before they even know we're there," Zack said reassuringly.
Syl glanced down at the floor plan in front of her and narrowed her eyes. "Say we can breach the perimeter and get inside the building... how are we going to get in the lab and lay the charges?" She grabbed the map and looked at it with distaste. "This thing's a lockbox." She threw it across the table at Lydecker to make her point.
"And I've got to figure when they put out the hit on you, they probably yanked your clearance," Max added, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Lydecker nodded, "Which is why I need to see a friend of mine before we go." Syl resisted the urge to roll her eyes and slid her gaze to Zack, who looked just as unimpressed with that suggestion.
"You think we're just going to let you walk out of here and drop a dime on us?" Zack snapped.
"If you don't trust me-" Lydecker began.
"That's a given," Krit spat, cutting him off.
"Then one of you should come with me," Lydecker finished. Immediately all four X5s became uneasy. Zack looked to Krit and Syl and then his eyes settled on Max.
Her expression soured but she nodded and stood up, grabbing a gun as much as she hated to use them. "Let's go," she said to Lydecker. "Get this over with." She hauled him up and they went out the door, taking Krit and Syl's car. As soon as they were gone, Syl felt her irritability slipping away as she let her defenses down. She finally started enjoying sitting around with her brothers, and even Zack seemed happy that they were all together.
"We should do this more often," Syl spoke up at one point, sliding a clip into one of her handguns and setting it down to pick up another.
Zack sent her a sideways glance. "Maybe." She smirked.
"So what's the deal with him?" Krit asked, gesturing toward the van, where Logan was working. Again Syl caught the darkening of Zack's eyes, the hardening of his jaw, but he just shrugged.
"A friend of Max's."
"You don't like him," Syl stated. "Why not?"
"A friend?" Krit repeated when Zack didn't offer any response to Syl's question, his voice suspicious. "You mean her boyfriend."
Zack glared at him, but he said, "Yeah, pretty much."
"Is she in love with him?" Syl asked softly after a moment.
"Yeah," Zack answered shortly. "Beats the hell out of me why though." At that, Krit and Syl exchanged a glance and there was silence for a few moments.
"How long has he known about us?" Krit asked.
"Too long," Zack growled. Then he got up and stalked off to go through some of his gear.
"So," Krit said to Syl with a little smile. "I guess that topic's off-limits."
Syl rolled her eyes. "You just don't know when to stop," she said, giving him a little tap on the nose as she picked up one of her guns and headed over to Zack. He glared up at her as she reached him, but she crouched down beside him and held up the gun. "I need a clip."
He looked at the gun and then back to her. "She's going to compromise us all."
"It's a 9mm," Syl answered.
"Fixed sights?" Zack asked, glancing at the gun.
"Yeah. Semi-automatic. Nice piece, but it's got a manual safety, sometimes I forget."
"Hm," Zack answered, studying it. "Floating firing pin?"
Syl nodded. "Yeah. It's a pretty good gun," she said. "I wouldn't have minded it in blue but Krit never buys anything but black. He got it for me back in Montana. You have anything I can use?"
Zack searched through his bag and pulled out a clip, handing it to her. "Max is too reckless," he said. She slid the clip into the gun and smiled.
"Perfect," she said, standing up. Zack stood with her. "Maybe she thinks he can be trusted?" At Zack's grunt, she smiled and added, "Well, supposedly she knows him pretty well is all I'm saying. She's probably told him all about keeping a low profile."
Zack looked at her. "He's Eyes Only."
Syl's eyebrows raised in surprise and she said, "Oh."
"Yeah. So don't try to tell me he's not dangerous," Zack growled, and she decided to drop the subject immediately. It was a rare thing that Zack snapped at her.
When she went back to the platform and sat down next to Krit, she noticed he was frowning at the gun in his hands. "What?" she asked.
"The grip's loose."
"There's an extra one in the second bag," she answered, grabbing the bag and searching through it. She found the grip and pushed it over as Zack headed back toward the platform.
Syl heard the sound of an engine getting closer and then cutting out, and after a moment the warehouse doors opened. Max entered with Lydecker and a couple boxes of pizza. She walked up onto the platform, smiling at the others. "Chow down, my grunts," she said, setting the boxes down. "Mess is on."
Zack got up and moved over to get a slice of pizza. "Everything taken care of?" he asked Max. Syl and Krit grabbed a few slices of pizza, glad for the food, as Max nodded, distaste crossing her features. "Yeah, we got what we went for."
"Pepperoni and mushroom," Syl said softly as she took a bite. "That was Tinga's favourite."
Max smiled a little at her. "Was it?"
"Yeah..." There was a brief silence, then Syl asked, "Did you see Case, Maxie?"
Max smiled. "Yeah, I did. He's beautiful."
Syl nodded. "He is."
"What exactly happened, Max?" Krit spoke up, his voice a bit angry. "Who's responsible?"
Max frowned, glancing at Zack, who looked deeply troubled and very angry. "We don't really know..."
Zack finished off his slice of pizza as Lydecker moved over to a place where he could talk to the four. They all leaned over the railing and Syl held in a smirk, liking being above him. "All right, people," he said. "Listen up. We've got a lot of work to do before we move out."
Zack stopped him there. "Hang on. There's something we need to know."
"Who murdered our sister?" Krit added tensely, taking the lead from Zack. Syl glanced at her hands, then slowly looked at Lydecker, preparing herself for his answer.
Lydecker scowled, "The new director. Name's Renfro. She's a real... piece of work."
"Why'd she do it?" Max asked with slight disgust in her voice.
Lydecker hesitated momentarily, then shook his head. "I don't know."
Syl let out a breath of disappointment and felt the same reaction from Krit next to her. Before any of them could speak she caught the sound of flapping wings from behind her. She turned quickly, scanning the air above her, and froze at what she saw. She tried to close her eyes against the bird, so like the one that day, the one she'd shot at but missed, the bullet hitting Bram, killing her little brother before he knew what hit him. And then Psy-ops... pain, fear... even now the thought of it made her heart race and her hands shake.
Out of the corner of her vision Syl saw Zack raise his gun calmly at the bird. He missed purposely and it flew away, but the sound of the bullet snapped through Syl's trancelike state and she tore her eyes away from where the bird had been, hoping she wasn't too visably shaken. She exchanged a glance Krit as he asked with his eyes if she was okay, and she gave him a small smile. Max pushed away from the rail and walked down the steps. Syl watched as she went to Logan and as they left together her eyes quickly slid to Zack, who frowned and pushed away from the railing. "Come on, Krit," he said. "Let's go get that ammo." He tossed a gun to Syl. "Keep an eye on Lydecker."
Syl nodded and watched Krit leave with Zack. She hopped off the platform and walked over to him, gesturing to a chair nearby. "Make yourself at home," she said to Lydecker with a wide, insincere smile.
Lydecker looked up at Syl. "It's been a long time, 701."
Syl's eyes darkened but otherwise her face stayed impassive. "Sit," she ordered. "And don't call me that." She folded her arms and leaned against the wall, staring at him coldly.
Lydecker sat down slowly, studying her. "Something's bothering you."
She forced herself to look at him, keeping her expression blank. "Yeah, you are."
"A bit defensive, Syl?"
She let out a little laugh without any humour in it and sneered. "You don't even know me."
"Don't be so sure," he answered. "You'd be surprised how much I can read on your face. I know you. I made you."
"Shut up," Syl growled, and she snapped her leg out, kicking him in the chest. The chair toppled, sending him sprawling to the ground. "Get up," she said, her voice dripping with disgust. Lydecker picked himself up and righted the chair; it bothered her how calm he was. It bothered her even more when his smile came back, as though nothing had happened.
"Did that make you feel better?"
"No," she answered honestly.
"Not even a little? Fighting's in your blood."
"A lot of things are in my blood," she growled. "And I thought I told you to shut up." He didn't say anything for a few moments. He seemed to be weighing something in his mind, but then he spoke again. "Do you and Krit have any children?" Syl couldn't stop a little pang of distress and she averted her eyes from him. But he caught it anyway, leaned forward a little. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. Touched her arm.
Syl dropped him so fast his hand was still shaped to hold her arm when he hit the ground. She blurred to his head and pressed her foot into his windpipe, holding the gun on him. "Don't. Touch. Me," she growled, the words evenly spaced by more and more pressure to his neck. Both the way his eyes widened and the little gurgling sound he let out made her feel a little better. She let him up, going back to the wall and leaning against it again, crossing her arms over her chest.
"It doesn't have to be so hard," Lydecker said. "You could come home."
"You really need to shut up."
"I know how it hurts, Syl," he said quietly. "Brin returning to Manticore, what happened to Ben and Tinga..."
She glared at Lydecker. "You took them away."
"No," he answered. "I brought them home."
"Manticore is not home," she said through gritted teeth. "Do you think we would have run away if it was home? If you had your way we'd be back there in chains."
Lydecker shook his head slowly. "You'd be doing what you were born and trained to do. You'd all be safe and alive. It wouldn't hurt like this, Syl."
"What are you trying to prove?" she growled. "That Manticore was some happy wonderland where we all lived in bliss?"
He didn't answer. Waited.
"You know what I remember about Manticore?" she hissed. "I remember Eva. I remember Dar. I remember Jack. Bram. Tali. Cade." At each name Lydecker looked more and more remorseful, and that made her more and more angry. "And you know what else I remember? You. You at the other end of the gun, you with the stopwatch drowning the ones who weren't good enough, you watching me getting dragged half-dead out of Psy-ops, you-"
"I was so proud of you," Lydecker cut in. "It made you so much stronger."
He went down again and she was on top of him before he had a chance to blink, her hand gripping his shirt, the gun shoved into his mouth. "I was eight years old," she growled. "Eight years old, scared as hell, and you took me and you punished me for two months for something that was an accident. You think I came out of there stronger?"
"Syl," Zack's sharp voice came. She looked up and he was standing in the doorway of the warehouse with Krit. She let go of Lydecker's shirt, shoving his head into the concrete floor, and she removed the gun from his mouth and stood up, shoving it into her belt. Zack walked over to her and he hauled Lydecker up and dropped him roughly into a chair, where he watched them with a gaze that made Syl's skin crawl, something between pride and smug recognition. Zack's hand came down on her shoulder and squeezed. She met his eyes, her own full of apology, but he just gave her a tense but understanding smile.
"Max and Logan should be back soon," he said softly. "We'll be moving out then. Go finish getting your gear ready."
"Okay," she said, thankfully leaving Lydecker and going with Krit back to the
table. She felt Krit's hand slip into hers and though she didn't acknowledge it,
she also didn't let it go.
