"Nothing's Worse Than Cold Casserole"
by: iluvaqt@hotmail.com

Disclaimer: As per default chapter.
iluvaqt's Notes: Thanks to dleep and Natters, for you comments. dleep, I hope this chapter if not the next, address some of your questions.


Part 8

Max wondered the basement tunnels, looking for a way out. Frequently over the past couple of weeks, she'd removed the bricks under her bunk and crawl through to the basement level. It seemed that after their first suspicious encounter, Alec had disappeared. Asking a young X5, in mess hall, the girl had told her that X5-494 was away on assignment. Not to complain about her breeding partner's absence, but something about his immediate call on assignment, so soon after his discovery of her extracurricular activity, didn't sit well with her.

It was long after lights out, and just after the guards switched for the dawn shift when she crawled from her bunk and out of her cell. She moved past the cooling cages and down the passage. At the bottom of the east sub-basement stairs, she found Joshua waiting for her.

"Max," Joshua called. He beckoned to her. "Quick."

"What? What is it?" Max asked, hurrying down the steep flight. By the time she reached the bottom, he'd already disappeared around the corner.

She kept running, barely keeping up with his shadow that played off the walls in the low light. Rounding another corner, she lost him altogether and stopped. "Joshua," she whispered.

A large hand wrapped around her ankle and jerked. She fell backward into darkness and choked down a scream, as huge arms broke her fall.

"Here." Joshua set her down, and pulled her towards a small grating that looked outside towards the main gate.

"What? I don't see..."

"Wait. Someone coming," he hushed.

They both crouched in the small sub-basement cell, looking through their tiny window to the outside. Max was about to ask again, what it was they were waiting for, when Joshua nudged her excitedly.

A truck pulled up and two men got out. Zeroing in, she recognized both of them, Alec and the other was, Zack. Seeing him for the first time in weeks, she had to restrain her emotions from causing her to jump around and cry for joy. He was alive! After weeks of no sign at all, her imagination had run wild with the possible scenarios of Zack's location and status. Thank God, he was alive. Zack and Alec disappeared from view, momentarily, only to reappear bearing a hooded man. He was tied up. Zack reached up, yanking off the hood.

Max gasped. It was Lydecker. Why was Zack turning in, Lydecker? She knew that she hated him for their childhood, and all those years running, but he didn't deserve to die anymore than they did. He just believed in something that wasn't meant to be. You didn't kill a man for having a dream. "I have to get out there. He can't do this. They'll kill him."

"You can't." Joshua held her down.

She was about to protest further when something happened. Guards approached and all of a sudden, the parameter spotlight and all the power went dead. Even though the main gate was in complete blackness, Max could still see what was going on.

Zack, cut Lydecker free and turned on the nearest guard. He pulled the man by the shoulders and rammed him into the side of the truck.

Alec elbowed the other guard in the head and climbed back into the driver's seat, revving the engine. Lydecker jumped in the back and Zack grabbed a hold of the side.

TAC soldiers were responding to the blackout, running toward the main gate, night vision goggles in place. Someone was shouting orders to get the power back on. Another was signaling frantically to pursue the truck.

"How did you know?" Max asked.

"Heard guards say, X5s found the Colonel. Bringing him here."

"So Zack wasn't going to kill him," she mused. Turning to Joshua she asked, "I'd like to know just what their plan is, something's going down. Lydecker wouldn't just show up...unless he had a death wish."

Max got to her feet and ran for the opening leading up to the tunnel above. "I've gotta get to the control center, lock down the barracks." She was headed back towards the center of the facility. From there, hopefully she could find a way out of the basement. She had to stop Renfro from dispatching any of the X-series, or her brother wouldn't stand a chance.

~*~*~*~

Syl stood waiting for him to answer, but Logan didn't say a word. She looked over at Krit, who just shrugged and walked past Logan and sat in a chair watching them both.

"Warm welcome, I see." Krit got up and began searching, under the desk and shelves. Checking the phones, before looking over that the laptop screen. "We caught your show by the way."

Logan gritted his teeth and looked over that the younger man. "What are you two doing here?"

"Nice way to great family," Syl said, walking past Logan to the desk. "You're lucky we consider you family, or we'd just leave your ass for the bad guys to pick up."

Krit went to the chair in the corner and sunk into it, stretching his legs comfortably before grinning at Logan, "Great digs you've got. You know Syl and I actually made a bet over who was right...Guess she won."

"What are you talking about?" Logan asked impatiently.

"Sit." Syl pulled across the desk chair and pushed Logan into it. Running her fingers lightly over the back of his ears, she forced his head forward. Signaling to Krit, everyone remained quiet, except Logan.

"What are you..."

Krit stood and told Logan to shut up with a hand gesture. Syl had pulled out her knife and was burning the blade. She nodded to Krit to hold Logan still, before making a neat and clean incision behind his ear.

"Owww!" Logan kicked out in pain, connecting with Krit's shin. Who let go of Logan and started rubbing his wounded limb.

There was a small crunch, before Syl pronounced, "Got ya sucker." When Logan attempted to turn around, Syl forced his head straight. "Got a needle and thread?"

Logan winced and gritted his teeth in pain, "I think I'd like some morphine first."

"Don't be a sissy. Krit, go look in the kitchen," she ordered.

Pulling a face, Krit grudgingly complied.

Meanwhile, Syl gently cleaned the cut with a damp tissue. "Why didn't you try to track us down? Why try to take the big guns on your own?"

"Do you know what happened that night?" Logan asked, clenching his fist when Syl held the red-hot blade to the cut. Stopping the bleeding.

"Max and Zack turned themselves over, so Renfro would save you," Syl supplied tonelessly.

"So she's alive?" Logan asked hopefully. His blue eyes suddenly alight, pain forgotten.

"Last we saw, yes, they both were. Whether they're the same, is another story," she replied sadly. Krit returned, passing her a small needle and some green cotton. And she finished patching her patient up.

They all sat in silence, before Krit spoke up, "I don't know about you guys but I'm starving. And considering the blonde bitch is probably sending out the hit party, I'd like to take 'em on with a satisfied stomach."

"Got anything, Logan?" Syl asked, already walking to the kitchen.

Logan walked closely behind, still feeling a little queasy. He opened the fridge and pulled out some containers. Taking off the lid of one of the bigger dishes, he sniffed it before walking towards the microwave. "We could heat this up."

Syl scrunched her nose. "Tell me you're not seriously considering eating that."

"Why not? It's only a couple days old. It's still good," Logan said defensively.

Taking the container from him, she took a good sniff of the contents. "Let's just say it's gonna take a lot more than nuking to save that casserole," she said, passing it back to him. "No wonder you norms get sick so often, you can't even tell if something's decomposing. I'll show you real food."

"Hey, I might be a guy but I can cook a seriously good meal," Logan protested, half blocking her path to his pantry.

"Certainly doesn't look like it," Syl scoffed, moving around him.

Logan sighed as Syl began pulling items out of the cupboards.

"Believe it or not, she can cook up a storm. She's a wicked chef," Krit assured him.

"I guess I'll just take your word for it," Logan replied reluctantly.

Logan was about to get comfortable and watch, ensuring that his custom designed kitchen didn't fall prey to an unskilled hand.

Syl had other ideas. Before proceeding any further, she shooed the men from the room.

~*~*~*~

Sam lowered herself from the skylight, stealthily. Her rubber boots not making a sound as she crept along the passage. She could hear voices, two men talking behind the screen to her left, and she stopped the moment she realized what they were talking about.

"So how did you meet her?"

"She was actually stealing from me, caught her red handed. Got to hand it to you though, you guys are definitely not breed for regular entrances."

There was a low chuckling from both men and she paused wondering if she could take them both on. Without seeing them, she couldn't be sure. She had to find a better angle.

Krit continued the conversation, all the while hearing the soft footsteps retreating towards the kitchen. He wondered whether he should make his move and grab the intruder before they had a chance to surprise Syl, who was busy cooking. He thought better. Anyone who disturbed Syl while she was in the kitchen, was in for a nasty lesson.

Sam slid the door open a fraction, to watch the blonde haired young woman occupied at the cook top. It would be so easy just to pull out her 9 mm semi-automatic and drop 'Miss Sally-Homemaker' without raising a peep out of anyone. Reaching for her pistol, she was about to take her level when the glass in front of her shattered, a knife cutting across her right shoulder.

Syl flew at the stunned woman. The impact knocking them both to the ground, the gun skittering out of reach. Not giving the girl a chance to recover, Syl got to her feet and dragged her up by the neck. Shoving her up against the wall.

Clawing the blonde's vice grip with both hands, Sam recovered enough from the sudden attack to knee the girl in the stomach. Making her release her grip. Sam did waste her opportunity; punching the girl hard in the face, sending her reeling backward through the broken sliding door.

Krit came running as soon as he heard the sound of glass breaking. He picked up the fallen pistol and walked towards the women, Logan stood behind him watching them fight.

Logan moved to step in, thinking Syl was fighting Max. Krit stopped him.

"Don't you think she would have said something by now? It's not Max."

He looked at Krit in surprise. "How can you be so sure?"

Krit showed Logan the pistol and nodded to the empty holster at the intruder's hip. "Max would never carry a gun."

~*~*~*~

Max opened the closet door a crack and looked out. The lights were still down. Whoever cut the main power was certainly doing a good job of keeping it that way. Before she had a chance to open the door further, the sound of an explosion rocked the building. The ground beneath her feet trembled and she stood back against the wall, waiting for the tremors to pass.

For a moment, the ground leveled and everything was quiet. But only for a moment. Someone must have accessed the back-up generator because not two seconds later the sirens sounded, blaring through the corridors and all over the compound.

"Here we go," she whispered. Walking out of the closet, she quickly started up the hall to the main control room. The lights overhead flickering back on as the power surged into the main building.

Reaching the control room, she took out the guard by the door. Running into to room, she quickly dispatched the two monitoring the cameras, and told the tech to get out. Locking the door behind him, she barred it and set about tying up the guards. She didn't have a lot of time. It was lock down the barracks and fry the system.

Typing in commands furiously, she accessed the panel for zone security. On one of the monitors she could see Zack and Lydecker headed her way. Looking quickly over the others, she could see; Alec headed towards the infirmary and someone else, a woman, was headed for the watch tower.

By the time she managed to secure the barracks, someone had recalled the X7s guarding the parameter. They wouldn't be able to get out the same way they came in. The main gate was heavily patrolled by TAC soldiers and very soon the facility would be crawling with X7s. Picking up a nearby fire extinguisher, she smashed the panel that controlled the barracks.

When Zack appeared at the door, Max kicked the chair away and threw it open. "Zack. I'm so glad you're okay."

Zack pulled her into his arms, crushing her to his chest. "What do you mean, am I okay? I'm so glad you're all right. I'm sorry I took so long."

Max was about to ask what he was on about, but Lydecker interrupted.

"Time to move, kids, company's on its way." Into his earpiece, he queried, "Dem, have you secured the watch tower?"

"Affirmative." A female voice responded.

"E.T.A. Two minutes. Let's move out."

~*~*~*~

Croan watched in disbelief, as the facility went into total blackout and everything went to chaos.

Sam checked in two minutes ago, saying she'd arrived at the target's premises. She wouldn't check in again until the target was eliminated.

This wasn't happening, the facility was under attack and they couldn't credit it to Eyes Only, this was an inside job. Lydecker.

Renfro had advised him that X5-599 and X5-494 were bringing the Colonel to the compound. He should have known that Lydecker would have had something up his sleeve, it had all sounded too neat.

He should have anticipated an attack. Even as he clenched his fist, he knew what was coming, the unwelcome vibrations of his cell phone confirmed his predictions.

"Get the data files and destroy the main server. We're cauterizing the site. TAC teams have their orders...meet me at the helipad," Renfro ordered.

"Yes, ma'am," he grudgingly replied. Snapping his phone shut, opened his desk drawer and pulled out his Taurus PT-911. Grabbing his keys from the filing cabinet, he walked out of his office. His kids were finished. At that moment, he was intensely grateful that 4 of them were in deep cover missions. And with Sam out on assignment, it brought his field tally to 5 out of 24. He's mind worked over time as he hurried for the labs. Maybe he could make them disappear off the books. The hard copy files would be destroyed in the fire and it was a simple matter of altering the mission files in the main database. Knowing his mentor, he'd have used this opportunity to pull all his old files from the archives. As he neared the lab, he began thinking strategy.

"Deck, I think I'll collect on those IOUs."

~*~*~*~

"X5-599, status."

"Report," Zack replied crisply. He still couldn't believe they trusted the X5 enough to send him out alone.

Alec cringed knowing the reply he was going to get, but considering his circumstances, he didn't have much of a choice. "X5-453 is gone."

Zack stopped, and so did Max, concerned at her brother's sudden change of expression. His face had suddenly gone pale and he gripped his gun harder, his knuckles chalky white.

"Where are you?" Zack demanded coldly.

"The director's office, the infirmary was empty. The mission file is still on her desk. X5-453 was sent to assassinate Subject 34," Alec supplied, as he sped read.

Lydecker spoke up as he continued towards the tower, "Location and profile?"

"627 Dulton Street, Seattle."

"Logan," Max said, "I've got to get to him."

Zack's heart sunk even further, he'd been conned. Why hadn't he learnt the first time? He'd stupidly fallen for their cheap ploy, not once but twice. It wasn't Max that they'd thrown in his cell, it was her clone, X5-453. He cursed and ground his jaw, and took off in a dead run for the tower. Dem wouldn't be able to hold it on her own forever. And it was the one chance they had to get off the base. He'd deal with the traitor later.

"Get out here, son. Those doors won't hold them back forever," Lydecker advised.

"Yes, sir." Alec grabbed the file and threw it into an empty briefcase. He collected everything else in the director's drawers and archive cabinet, that looked important, and ran for the door.