A/N: Thank you so much Infie! (I know I say it all the time, but I still mean it). Thank you all for reading and for reviewing and for being patient with me.
Tough CallMessages
"So... Nicole... how did you get Normal to give you a job anyway?" Max asked the woman pedaling beside her. She had said no more than a few monosyllables all day. At first Max had been grateful, but it was starting to get to her. The seriousness, the quietness. "Was it your charming personality?"
"No." Nicole answered serious. *Duh!* Max thought, but remained silent. "I told him he had to hire me."
"Just like that?" Max studied her, incredulous.
"Yes."
"And the weirdest part is… Normal is probably going to love you now." Max chuckled. "Wait a sec… I bet you even told him which packages to give us so we'd have a straightforward route." She looked around. "One through the best parts of town, at that." She extended one arm to encompass the rich surroundings, the brick mansions, the large lawns, the tall trees lining up at both sides of the streets, the occasional luxury car.
"Of course." Was the curt reply.
One of said vehicles was approaching them now. Max watched Nicole's eyes focus on it. Her hand moved behind her back, and she increased the pace discreetly, only to start decreasing it slowly as the car came nearer, so that she remained between Max and it at all times. Max shook her head as the car passed them without so much as a glance in their direction. She sighed.
"Listen, about this whole 'bodyguard' thing, it really isn't that necessary. I mean, okay, I understand I'm supposed to be careful and all, but you don't have to go all paranoid on me, you know?" she said.
Nicole shot her a grave look. "I'm doing my job."
"Yeah, yeah, I get that." She looked at the other woman. "Despite what Alec thinks, I can still take care of myself."
"What do you mean despite what he thinks?" The gray haired woman asked. Max could have sworn she saw a puzzled look in those silver eyes. "He knows you can. He wouldn't have sent you with me otherwise."
Max blinked. "What?"
"He doesn't trust me. As well he should not. He wouldn't have sent you with me if he did not think you would be able to handle anything."
Max opened her mouth to reply but closed it again. That explanation sounded a lot better than anything else she could come up with. She smiled. Not even Nicole's return to her usual gloominess managed to put her spirits down.
"My name is Ralph," The X6 said. "and this is.."
"Andrew." Biggs interrupted before she could finish.
"Yes, Andrew." Ralph nodded. "We need you to tell us some things."
Ray just nodded. He sent a couple of glances in his direction, but the rest of the time his eyes remained fixed on Ralph. Biggs had to suppress his smile. A whole new level of respect towards his friend Alec arose. He had known it all along. That was why he had suggested Biggs take Ralph with him, of course. The kid was completely fascinated by her. He had to be … what? Six? Seven? And she was this beautiful thing who was big enough to inspire his respect, adoration, but young enough he would not feel awkward around her. He could not remember much about being Ray's age, yet he was sure he would have thought of her as a fairy princess… had he known what a fairy princess was, his mind added. Well, even not knowing what a fairy or an angel was, he would have been enthralled by her. Manticore had not been too concerned with highlighting the beauty of its females back then.
But Ray knew what a princess was, and whatever his idea of one had been before, Biggs was sure Ralph was replacing it right this very second.
His eyes connected with hers and he nodded. She turned back to face the boy.
"Do you still remember what you were instructed on about the ancient language?" She asked. She had a perfect mixture of sweetness and command in her voice.
"I remember all the teachings until I was... taken away after... the test." Ray replied.
"Andrew is going to show you some symbols. I want you to tell me all you understand."
"Is this another test?" The little eyes looked anxiously up at her. "If I pass, you'll take me back to the school?"
To her credit, Ralph didn't even look a little unruffled as she answered. Her voice sounded completely secure. "You will not be taken back to the school. It is in your own interest and ours that you remain with your aunt for the time being."
"It is however important for us to make sure you haven't forgotten what you were taught. You must be ready when the time comes." Biggs added, hoping he'd been cryptic enough to comfort the poor little boy.
"Oh." Ray said, nodding. "I understand." His little face showed the confusion he was experiencing.
"Are you ready?" Biggs asked. The kid just nodded, taking a deep breath.
"Now, remember, some of them you might not know yet. Just tells us the ones you do understand." Ralph added, smiling sweetly. Ray looked into her eyes and nodded again before looking down at the paper in Biggs' hand.
Regina looked around with disgust. This place was horrible. It offended her sense of tidiness.
She bent down and picked up yet another piece of who-knows-what and threw it inside the bag she was carrying.
Joe by her side made a similar movement.
"Why do we have to do this? Why can't they do the dirty work?" Regina asked.
"Cause this was our assignment." The redheaded girl on the other side of the room answered.
"That's what I mean. Why do we get this assignment?"
"Probably because we were the ones found sleeping without a sentry." Joe said.
Regina sighed. "I just can't stand this stench. I bet none of them would have any problems doing this. I am sure they can't have our enhanced sense of smell."
"You don't know that. They must have been designed with a variety of purposes in mind. Maybe they can smell better than us." 129 said, ready to defend anything that involved the transhumans since the previous night. "Besides, it's not that bad."
"Yeah." Joe put in, smiling. "Maybe you have a little too much canine DNA."
Regina just glared at them. "Very funny."
"I thought it was." Joe said. "Didn't you, Lizzie?"
Lizzie beamed. She just loved the new name.
Logan took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose before putting them back on. This was going nowhere. He had been at it all day and had only managed to cover around a third of it.
He was not going to give up, though.
At least it was something to do.
He had tried to push it to the back of his mind yesterday, but he had dreaded having to face this day as he'd gone to sleep. What was he supposed to do? They had destroyed everything. It wasn't just the equipment. It was what it represented. The computers had been a means to his purpose in life. What was he if not Eyes Only? All his adult life he had worked to fight the unfairness of this broken world. To distance himself from his family. To give back what he'd received. To provide the truth to those who had no access to it. It had not been easy. He'd had to give up a lot. But by the end of the day he felt it was worth it, because he was helping others. Even if it was just providing information.
But now? It all had been taken away from him. What was he supposed to do? And to make matters worse, he didn't even have Max anymore. He regretted what he'd said to her. It had been just such a shock. Yet there was no turning back. He was sure Max would eventually forgive the things he'd said. But there was no future for them. She had meant that even before his outburst. Which had probably only added to his fury, to his feeling of impotence. He'd lost her.
Even if she hadn't been so adamant, there was Alec. He'd seen it in the other man's eyes, both that day and last night. There was no way Logan stood a chance.
He'd been completely surprised to see the X5 that morning. He had arrived with a pile of computer equipment, which he proceeded to arrange around Logan. He had explained to Logan that some weird runes had appeared on Max's skin, and that he needed Logan to try to translate them, since he basically had nothing to do and Alec had to show his face at work.
Logan had been shocked at first. Alec, asking him for help? But then a feeling of respect for the X5 had filled him. To him, Max came first. He was worried about her, and he'd do whatever it took. He wasn't sure he himself would have been so altruistic. Of course, there was also the fact that Alec did not feel threatened by Logan at all. So he wouldn't think twice about asking for his help. And unlike Max, Alec did not feel he had to give something in return.
"Hey, Logan. I figured you'd be bored here all day, so I brought you a little something to keep you occupied," had been his words.
"What makes you think I will be doing you any favors?" Logan hadn't been able to keep the resentment from showing, even when he'd been extremely grateful for having something to do.
"Hmmm… Lemme think… Well, there is the fact that you are staying at my apartment without paying any rent, you know?" Alec had replied, with a raised eyebrow and a smirk on his face.
So now here Logan was, trying to decipher the weird symbols. The computer Alec had given him had a huge database of ancient languages - one Logan had tried to access on countless occasions without much luck, he wondered how Alec had obtained it, but he was still having a hell of a time translating. He was however surprised at the accuracy of Alec's drawings. He had given Logan a piece of paper with little scribbles neatly drawn on it. So far, all of the symbols he had been able to find were a perfect match.
Apparently, along with a photographic memory, reproducing said memories was another trait of X5s.
He shook his head and went back to the task at hand.
"Josh? You around?" The X5 sauntered into the house.
"Joshua here." The voice carried over from the basement.
"Hey, whatcha doing there, buddy?" Alec asked as he descended the stairs.
"Painting." The transhuman answered with a trace of sadness. "Laying low."
Alec winced as he approached him to pat his shoulder. "I know it's a drag, Josh." Joshua looked at him briefly, before turning back to his canvas. "Listen, I have to go to Terminal City, remember I was telling you about it the other day? Biggs – I haven't introduced you to my friend Biggs, have I? – well, anyway, he was there this morning. There are a lot of others over there. And, they're getting organized. I thought maybe you'd like to join me. You know, see some other people besides me and Max…"
He watched Joshua's face light up and heard him growl his reply happily.
Alec stepped outside and looked around before motioning for Joshua to follow him. They both disappeared into the sewer.
Mole watched the tall figure approach the Southern entrance. It was wearing a big sweater with its hood up, effectively preventing the cameras from getting a glimpse of the face below it. The fact that whoever did not want their face to be seen, added to the sheer size of the body gave away their genetically tampered with genes. Mole, however, had been trained to never assume anything, obvious or not.
Everyone was already in position, and he watched them surround the newcomer, their guns cocked and their grasp on them firm. It had no way out. Just as Mole was about to sit back ,something in the lower right corner of the screen caught his eye. At the same time a little stone hit Lyon right between the eyes. The hand that had caught Mole's attention moved again in a rapid succession, too fast for the eye to follow, and three other rocks found their way to the head of each of the other transhumans around the big guy. As Mole was getting up, a face with light-colored hair and a mischievous look appeared on screen, waving at the camera with a wink. Mole felt a rush of rage course through him. Damned X5s they thought it was all so easy. He was going to have to have a little talk with his sentries. They had been really careless. As he was thinking this, he watched the young man raise his hand to his mouth, and as he took it away, a cigar was placed between his white teeth.
"Son of a bitch!"
"Who the hell does he think he is?" Lyon protested, as he leaned on the railing to watch the X5 and his dog-faced friend. "He comes in here acting like he's just paying us a little visit, he inspects the whole place and then he just sits down like this is a fucking tea-house."
"Oh, shut up, Lyon. You are just pissed cause he got the drop on all of you." Dix interceded. "Besides, he's with Joshua. Joshua is a good guy."
"Yeah, right. He hit us with little stones. Big deal."
"He had to move his entire arm to throw those little no-big-deal stones. If he had a gun, none of you would be alive to tell the story." Luke cut him off.
"And neither would he. You guys would have killed him."
A bitter laugh escaped Mole's throat. "Yeah, if we'd been alive." Every head turned to look at him as he came out of the shadows. "You saw that cigar of his? That was mine. It was laying on the table right behind me. He got inside headquarters right under our noses and none of us here," he said looking at Dix and Luke, "even realized it. He could have killed us all."
"Who the hell is he anyway?" Rat-guy asked, his voice filled with resentment.
"You didn't recognize him?" Mole asked, searching their faces.
"Not like we had that much contact with the Xs." Luke shrugged.
"Yeah, the only time we saw any of them was when they were kids and Lydecker made them march through the basement."
"Or when they were making a little trip to the re-indoc section." Lyon added with a wink that caused everyone to chuckle.
Everyone except Mole.
"Oh!" Dix suddenly sobered up. "So that's how you know him. You saw him being taken to re-indoc?"
"No. I wouldn't be able to tell one X5 from the other. I know this one cause I saw him being taken to re-indoc and psy-ops more than once." Mole answered. "That boy down there has been through more than most of you guys could even imagine. So I don't know who he is, or what he did when he was at Manticore, but whoever survived that many stays down there and is still smiling has my deepest respect." Mole clamped his jaw shut.
The rest of the transhumans stared after him as he went down the stairs to talk to the X5 and Joshua.
"I believe that belongs to me?"
Alec smiled as he raised his head to look at the lizard guy approaching them. He handed the guy his cigar, which he grabbed and examined closely.
"Don't worry, I don't carry any diseases." He said with a smirk. Then he frowned. "At least… not that I know of." He shook his head and extended his hand. "I'm Alec. This is Joshua." He tilted his head to the side.
"I am Mole." The lizard-man said, shaking first his hand and then Joshua's. "And you are the one the fed us." He addressed Joshua.
"You did, huh?" Alec asked, turning to look at his friend.
Joshua nodded, looking down before raising his head again, his hair flying around from side to side, his lips curving into a shy smile. "Upstairs people. They forgot to feed downstairs people sometimes." He shrugged.
Alec nodded, as if confirming something to himself and smiled, before turning back towards Mole. "I guess you are the one Nicole left in charge, huh?"
Mole nodded and narrowed his eyes. "You got a problem with that?"
"Whoa, buddy, lighten up!" Alec said, raising his hands defensively, an amused look in his eyes. "If she left you in charge, I am sure you are quite a professional. She's nothing if not a true blue soldier."
Mole relaxed. "Yeah, sorry." When Alec took his hand to his ear pretending not to have heard his mumble, he added. "Don't push it pal!" Which earned him a grin from the X5. "Fact is, your little stunt before didn't leave me – or any of us- in a very good position."
"Hey, don't beat yourself up over it. I cheated. I mean, I had the layout of the place from my friend Biggs, and a real live transgenic to distract you with." Alec offered.
"Yeah, which was exactly what you were trying to demonstrate. Any bad-guy could have a mole in here and do exactly what you did. Am I right or am I right?"
"Well…" Alec wriggled his eyebrows. "Not anymore." He drawled with a wink.
"Oh, you bet your ass!"
Regina approached the fence and placed a hand against the wire as she looked at the young man walking a block away from them.
Regina murmured, without taking her eyes from him, "Isn't that…?"
"494." Joe answered her unfinished question.
She nodded. "I thought so."
"Well, whoever he is… he's cute." Lizzie commented, leaning against Joe to look over his shoulder.
Regina just kept staring at him. He nodded at her in passing and moved into one of the buildings. The sun was behind her, so even if his sight allowed him to see this far, it wasn't likely he would have been able to make out her features.
"Women!" Joe exclaimed. "Come on. Cute or not, doesn't look like he's coming to help us, and this junk is not going to collect itself."
Regina sighed and went back to picking up garbage.
"Yeah." Alec said into his phone. "Hey, buddy." He smiled and then nodded. "Okay, what did they say? … Uh huh… okay… Yup, all right. Meet you back here tonight. Crash. You know where it is, right? Okay, see you there." He closed the connection and turned to look at Joshua. "You sure you want to stay here?"
"Joshua stays here. That's the plan."
Alec searched his eyes for a few seconds before he nodded. "All right, Josh. You're a big guy." He bit his lips. "Of course, now all I got to do is tell Max about this. Just what I needed." A lazy smirk slowly made its way into his face and he raised his shoulders. "Oh, well, she hasn't yelled at me since… this morning?"
He was not worried at all. In fact, he was looking forward to it. Max was back to shouting. None of the ice-queen treatment she had subjected him to after finding out about Biggs. That was good.
He'd spent an hour talking to Mole. The organization of the place was pretty good. Mole had told him how everything was done, who was who, what everyone did. Alec had asked Dix, who seemed to be the most literate of them all, to help him out with the runes. He had then left him and Joshua, to take a little tour around the streets. He'd run into a couple of transhumans transporting some metal parts from one building to the next, seen a group of X6s cleaning and one of the guys who had met Joshua at the entrance doing some kind of inventory in another building. Everyone looked at him curiously, but he had only nodded in passing.
He'd then gone to do some more deliveries. He'd left Joshua here. The big guy seemed to be having a great time around the others. Alec understood how he felt.
He'd come back about two hours later. Mole had given him an update on what they needed, on what was being done.
Alec sighed as he left, wondering how all of a sudden he was being given reports to. Well, he had known it would happen, as soon as Biggs had told him about the place. He had known they'd need a wake up call. And he had known that would put him in this position. But what was he supposed to do? Leave them as they were, sitting ducks waiting for White's attack? Maybe he would have, once. Things had not looked as gloomy before. He had thought they could all get a life. Sure, he'd kept in touch with Biggs, but only cause they were friends. And with Max, because… well, because she was Max.
Yet nothing had turned out as it was supposed to. White had proved to be more problematic than he'd initially thought. So now they needed to stick together. There was really nothing else he could do.
He frowned as he walked to his bike. Dix had been able to come up with some stuff, and apparently, so had Biggs. Now there was only one thing left for him to do.
"Yes." White answered his call. "You sure? Very well… Stand by for more instructions. Fenos 'tol."
"Okay… so you wanna tell us the real reason you are here?" Alec asked the gray haired woman as they were all sitting around a table at Crash. He had purposefully called Max and told her to meet him at the bar, so Nicole would have no choice but to come. He had paid Logan a little visit earlier and had a talk with Biggs as he had arrived. Now he wanted answers.
"I came looking for her."
Max choked on her drink. Alec didn't seem surprised.
"Why?" He asked, examining her face closely.
"I was supposed to find her and protect her." Nicole answered curtly.
"So the mission Alec assigned you made you really happy, huh?" Max asked belligerently. "No wonder you accepted it so quickly."
"I would have accepted it anyway. I do not question my assignments once I've agreed to take them." Nicole replied. "But it did make things easier for me."
Max was about to keep arguing when Alec raised a hand. She huffed but remained silent. "Why does she need to be protected?"
"She carries a message. It is supposed to have appeared by now."
Max looked at Alec out of wide eyes. He remained calm and asked, "You know what the message is?"
"I do."
"And why the hell didn't you say something before?" Max yelled at the other woman.
Nicole, however, remained absolutely impassive. "You would not have believed me."
