A/N: to all my faithful readers and the new ones. You all make my day J And to Infie, of course, cause she rocks (and helps me write what I mean ;) )!

Tough Call

Gotcha! (2)

Logan stepped out of his Aztek in an alley just outside of Terminal City. He wasn't exactly sure where the transgenics could be, but he was confident he would be able to find them.

He patted his pocket, making sure he had his gun. He didn't think he would have to use it, but it was a habit for him to carry it with him at all times lately. He had been debating whether to come or not all day. All night as well. Ever since he'd heard them last night, to be precise.

He had been about to go to sleep, leaving Biggs and his girl friend alone, when he'd remembered he'd left some disks on the desk. They contained some information on his Eyes Only contacts. Alec had returned them to him in the morning when he brought the computer with the database. Logan hadn't been surprised that none of the disks with anything on Max or Manticore had made their way back. And he hadn't harbored any illusions that Biggs hadn't looked through these ones when he took them. But now there was someone else in there. Maybe E.O. didn't mean anything to the transgenics, but Logan had to protect his informants, their lives depended on it.

Sure enough, the first thing the woman did was go to his desk. And.. she knew who he was too? Damn transgenics. Logan realized it had been a good thing it wasn't until the end that his hacks had gone against Manticore. All they would have had to do was send a few of these kids to scout the city for computer equipment and then look at him closely. His hacks were untraceable, but who needed a trace when they had a perfect retinal match?

He had heard the conversation rapidly deviate into more mundane topics. He hadn't been able to leave, both fascinated and horrified by the words and the tone he was hearing. He had to remind himself these were not normal kids. With Max he tended to forget. Sure, her special abilities came in handy, but she'd spent so much on the outside that more often than not she behaved like any other troubled young woman. Even Alec was different in that aspect. He was usually annoying, and he was self-centered and a smart-mouth. No different than any other youngster. But these two? Especially the girl! There was no way anyone could hear her and not realize there was something very off about her. He had been lost in these considerations when one word – one name - froze the blood in his veins.

Everything inside him wanted to deny it. But he couldn't. There was no other way to read what had been said. Biggs being with an X5. Max. Heat. Alec bruising Biggs when it was obvious they were friends…

He had already been feeling bad about the way he had treated Max. But now?

He had known, in his head, that she would not come back to him. But there had been this tiny bit of hope… He had seen Alec was serious about them, but maybe, someday, he'd get tired of playing the good guy. Alec was still very young. Especially since the problem was all over something that hadn't been a conscious choice. He had said it himself. Heat.

But it had been. It was Biggs who had been with Max. Biggs was the father of her child.

Alec had been in the exact same situation Logan had been. The woman he loved –because there was no doubt in Logan's mind that Alec loved her, he wasn't sure for how long it had been going on, but he did- had slept with another guy. She was having another man's baby. And while Logan had been furious and insulted her, Alec had been by her side, defending her, understanding her.

A voice in Logan's head had tried to reason that it was different. They had caught him off-guard, Max was supposed to be his girlfriend and Logan was also not as accustomed as they were to the concept of heat. Still, deep down, he knew those were all just excuses.

Whatever ray of hope he might have been harboring died. He had thought Max and he had drifted apart because of the virus and her being a transgenic. But it was more than that. It was deeper. Whether or not Max loved Alec, whether she ended up with him or not, his actions had shown Logan the selfishness of his own.

She deserved better.

And he had to let her know that. Max had never been good with feelings. He owed it to her to make her see the differences in their attitudes. Knowing her, she probably wouldn't realize how rare what Alec was doing was. Plus, he still needed to apologize to her.

So here he was, outside of Terminal City. He gathered his courage and took a step forward, glancing at the barbed wire fence and the alley beyond it. Suddenly he saw Max step from behind a building and cross the street to enter a warehouse. She was inside before he could call her, so he moved to go after her.

That was when he saw the woman, the one that had been with Biggs the night before abruptly emerge from a shadow and jump on a ledge so that she was crouching outside a window of the building Max had gone into. She was obviously following Max.

Logan felt a sudden surge of anger towards transgenics in general. They thought they were above everything, they had absolutely no respect for others. Not even one of their own. Well, he'd show this one differently.

He approached her silently – courtesy of that transfusion that made him able to walk without the exoskeleton – and called her on her spying. The woman remained motionless for an instant and then she turned, cold, steely eyes glaring at him, just as a guy with a shotgun aimed at them from the roof. What was going on? The guy was obviously too old to be a transgenic. Someone had trapped Max… and now him too. The gray haired woman before him raised her hands but did not seem concerned at all. Was she confident she could overpower this guy? She didn't move to do it, though. Or was it because she knew he wouldn't hurt her. Was she with them? The guy on the roof sprang to the ground, landing smoothly. It was a distance of four meters, easily. This guy was not a normal human being. A Familiar, Logan guessed? The man motioned for them to go inside. As he entered, the scene before him left him horrified.

Max was handcuffed to a pole with a tall light haired guy aiming a semiautomatic at her. Another guy, this one red haired, was also standing at her side, but his gun was trained on the newcomers. Ames White was standing before Max. He was in his shirtsleeves, his tie a little askew. Max's left eye was surrounded by a red halo, as if she'd just been struck.

"Well, well, well, look who's here as well. If it isn't the national hero…" White said, the sarcasm clear in his voice, "Come, come, join us. Your little piece of filth friend was just about to tell me where my son is." He smiled coldly.


Max's head spun to the side with the force of the blow. Damn, he was strong. And why the hell was he hitting her face? Pissed much, Ames? Well, good. If he was, he would keep her here, keep striking her. Not that she particularly enjoyed it. But the longer he kept her here, the bigger the chances of Alec coming after her.

They would eventually realize she wasn't around. Hell, as much as she bitched about it, she was now really glad of that protectiveness of Alec's. The minute he got to Terminal City he was going to start looking for her. All she had to do was keep White angry. That shouldn't be hard.

But she needed him to keep hitting her face. She could not afford being worried about anything else right now. As long as his aim was in the area of her head, everything would be fine.

"You know, Ames, with all those years of selective breeding, you'd think they'd have taught you guys not to hit like girls. Come on, I'm barely gonna need to use my Maybelline to cover these."

The punch to her left eye that followed was probably going to change the veracity of that last statement. "Where. Is. My. Son?"

"You have a son?" She faked an astounded expression. "For real? Poor kid!"

"Funny, 452. Where is he?"

A ruckus at the door stopped his next blow from reaching its destination. She kept her eyes on White, not wanting to be caught by surprise by another one of his vicious punches. She watched a self satisfied smile spreading on his face as he spoke to the newcomers.

Logan? What the hell was he doing here? And Nicole? Had she turned him in too? Wait, she was raising her hands as well. Still, she didn't seem preoccupied as she walked in their direction, followed by a not so poised Logan and the guy with a shotgun who had entered with them.

The only other poles were on opposite ends of the room. White seemed to decide that were too far away to efficiently control them all, so he placed each one of them on either side of Max and had one of his goons pointing a gun at them.

That was not very smart. He had to realize one guy with a gun was no match for Nicole. Maybe she wouldn't be able to outrun a bullet aimed at her from such close range, but at some point the guy would lose his concentration and then he'd be history. Unless, of course, he knew she'd not attempt anything like that because she was, in fact, on their side. But what would be the point of that? Did she truly expect Max to open up to her after all this just 'cause she was apparently trapped too? Not very fucking likely.

She watched White go over and disarm Nicole and Logan. He then approached his redheaded cohort, and said, patting him on the shoulder and looking at Nicole, "She moves one finger, you empty your clip in his head." The guy moved so both Logan and Nicole were on his vision field. White looked at Nicole, "Any movement, girly, and the human is toast," he snarled, "We wouldn't want that now, would we?"

"We? *I* couldn't care less."


Biggs climbed down a fire escape the minute the guy jumped down to make Nicole and Logan go inside. He hoped there were no civilians right outside of TC, cause otherwise they would see quite a show, what with a guy walking over the fence like he was strolling in the park… Not that that would stop him. He then climbed on the warehouse's rooftop and hid behind a ventilation shaft, waiting for the guy to come back up.

He jumped at the guy as he passed, concentrating all his strength in his arms, not wanting to take any risks. He wasn't sure exactly how strong these guys were. He didn't dwell on the all too familiar sound of a neck snapping. Good. Quite a bit more strength required than for humans, but still within his capabilities. Of course, he'd caught this one by surprise. He was sure that was not going to happen too often.

He pried a trapdoor open and slid inside the warehouse, landing silently on an overhanging balcony.

He heard Nicole's disdainful words as he crouched behind the railing in the opposite end of the room. She sounded completely believable. Probably because she actually didn't give a damn. She continued talking.

"I'd kill him if I was you. Save myself the trouble of dividing my forces."

"Is that right?" White snarled, a slight emphasis on the second word, "Wouldn't you just love for me to lose my leverage on the girly here?"

"He is no leverage. He's human. The second time you hit him, he'll pass out. Same thing if you cut him or burn him. It's no use if she can't see him suffer. Doesn't have the same effect," was her cold response. Biggs could hear the clatter of the handcuffs against the pole as Max tried to lunge at the woman, even knowing it was useless. If looks could kill... well, the assassination game would be a whole hell of a lot easier.

Biggs glanced around once more, but there wasn't much he could do. At least, not without risking Max getting hurt and Logan killed. Of course, if it came to it, he would move, even if it got the human killed. Logan was not anyone's priority.

He focused on the conversation taking place downstairs.


"So... you're saying I should kill him and use you as leverage?" White seemed amused by the whole situation. "You look like you could handle a bit of roughing up."

"I can. And you could. But that wouldn't do any good either. As you can see she doesn't feel very charitably towards me either. You kill him, you're in the same situation you were before, only with one less hostile in your hands."

"I could just kill you." White smiled predatorily.

"Yes, you could." She didn't seem concerned at all.

Logan's brain was going on overdrive trying to figure out a way out of here. It didn't seem very likely. There were three of them against three familiars. Actually, there were two of them, he wasn't sure if he could count Nicole among them. After all, she was coldly discussing his life, or rather, the end of it.

White started pacing, his steps taking him closer to Nicole, apparently considering her words. He then started speaking in a conversationalist tone, "Your analysis is very good," he turned his back to her, "except, you left something out," his voice raised dramatically at the last word and he spun around and backhanded the gray-haired woman. The force of the impact made her head turn. Or at least it seemed that way. Logan couldn't be sure he had actually hit her, it had been that fast. When she turned her head back to look at White, there was no change in her expression indicating the smallest amount of hurt or even anger. "*I* am the one calling the shots here." He cracked his neck and returned to stand between Max and Logan.

"As your friend here pointed out, hitting this one wouldn't be very productive." Logan watched him inch closer to him, giving him a light flick on the nose. "But then again, he has the same information you do, isn't that right, 452?" He smirked, taking Logan's face in his hand, making him look at Max. "And look at those puppy dog eyes. Is he in love with a filthy, transgenic animal?" He shook his head, tsking.

He let go of Logan's face, approaching Max again, "You think he can stand to see you suffer?" he yanked her hair, "What do you say, big guy?" He took a step away from Max and then punched her again on her nose, which started to bleed. "How many of these you think she can take?" White asked him. Logan squirmed.

"I can take as many as you have, asshole!" was Max's answer. She was so brave. Logan's heart fell. She would take everything and never give White an inch, even if it killed her.

White blinked, placing a hand over his heart, saying, "ouch, that hurt," before he hit her again.


Nicole watched coldly as white hit Max again. And again. Such a waste of time. He seemed to be truly obsessed. That was not good. Obsessed people made mistakes.

She wasn't really paying attention to the spectacle before her until she noticed Max twisting at one of the punches to her stomach to take it in her kidney. That was not normal. A good one to her stomach would steal the air from her, but one in the kidneys could do much more damage. Then she realized it. That had been the smell. She was pregnant. So that was what Biggs was hiding from her last night. Interesting.

White had moved around Max and was now focused on the small of her back. Logan was whining about not knowing anything. Well, maybe not technically whining, but it sounded like that to Nicole.

She sighed.


"I wouldn't do that," Max heard Nicole say matter of factly, "The bruises might make it difficult to read the runes."

"What the HELL are you blabbing about now?" He wouldn't have paid attention. But he noticed Max's eyes open wide and Logan's gasp. Max could see he was intrigued. Damn.

"See for yourself." Nicole answered. "On the skin of her wrist, shoulders and back."

Max felt the fabric of her top give as he yanked hard.


"You bitch!" Max hissed. Biggs couldn't help the smile from reaching his lips. That she was. A complete, coldhearted bitch. But what style!

Nicole's little stunt was working perfectly so far. What she had said about Logan not being able to take the punches was right. And as much as Biggs hated seeing it, Max could. Biggs had to hand it to her, she was taking it like a real pro, only giving the occasional retort. Logan, on the other hand, was about to break. Poor guy was horrified at the beating Max was receiving. But that was no concern for Biggs. After all, Logan didn't really know anything.

Everything was still under control so far. Except for one thing. Max was pregnant. So far the only hits had been to her face. But that was changing.

And that was when Nicole started speaking about the scribbles. Damn it, the woman was smart. Really smart.


Max couldn't believe her ears. That fucking bitch! White was avidly reading her 'message' now, his eyes huge, mumbling about the plans being jeopardized, his disgusting fingers trailing over her skin as he followed the different lines.

It suddenly hit Max. He was surprised. Royally pissed off, but genuinely surprised. Nicole had known about the message even before Max and Alec. If she was working for White, he would have known too.

But if she was on their side, why the hell was she telling him about them now? Didn't she realize that now White would know what Sandeman had been planning?

She forced herself to think back. What had Nicole really done? By suggesting White kill Logan, she had made sure he would be kept alive. Even if the line of reasoning Nicole had used had crossed White's mind, the fact that she suggested it made it impossible for him to do it. It would seem like a weakness.

So why would she tell him about the runes now?

Stalling.

She was trying to buy them some more time. And at the same time had stopped the attacks at Max's body.

Max risked a glance at her. Her profile was turned on Max, her gray eyes focused intently on the guy aiming at Logan. Just as Max began to look away, Nicole's eyes flicked for the briefest instant at a chunk of wood on the floor about three feet away from Max, before returning to Logan's watcher.

Max took a deep breath. All right. She would play the game as well.


White finished re-reading all of the runes, then went for his gun. Exposing the message had bought them a few more minutes. But now the Familiar knew what the threat was. And he seemed to have decided to eliminate it.

Biggs was about to move -he was sorry for Logan, but the loss of his life was acceptable – when Nicole spoke again.

"You know that's not going to help at all. You kill her, there are hundreds of others to take her place."

White laughed. "I have tested the poison on one of your disgusting creatures, the freak survived, but got sick. This one presented no symptoms. I kill her, then all we have to do is kill the rest of you while you are down sick." He said defiantly.

"Is that all?" Was the cold question.

Biggs watched a muscle twitch in White's jaw. He raised his gun to point it at Max. But he wasn't sure.

"You tested one individual?" Nicole continued. When his eyes narrowed, she looked down at him. "Ames, Ames, Ames. Didn't your father try to teach you over and over again about science?" Her voice hadn't lost the coldness, but Biggs could have sworn there was a patronizing undertone in there. "One subject is not conclusive evidence. It was a transhuman, wasn't it?" When he didn't answer, she moved on. "Time, Ames, time. The newer models are more advanced."

"And I am supposed to believe you?"

"No, you are not."

Biggs had to fight back the urge to burst out laughing. She was so good at that. She had driven them crazy the night before. Biggs was glad to see she was having the same effect on White.

"How do you know anything? There wasn't anything on Manticore charts." Oh, yeah, definitely getting to him. He was giving away way too much information. Well, his loss.

"I got it from the source." At his growl, she added, "That's right. Doctor Sandeman."

Biggs frowned. Why tell him the name so soon? He didn't believe it was a slip up. What else did she have up her sleeve? Well, as long as it kept White entertained, it was okay with Biggs. He was interested, though.

"Again, I should believe you, because…?" White was asking.

"Want to know my name?"

White was debating whether to ask or not. He lost. "What is it?" He asked Max.

Nicole nodded imperceptibly and Max said. "Well, most of the times I call her 'bitch'. But she also answers to Nicole." Her tone was belligerent, if slightly bored.

"Want to know who named me?" White's face was turning red. "That's right. He did. I think it was your mom's name... wasn't it?"

His mom's na..- Holly shit! Biggs could see Max's eyes opening wide to match White's. Even Logan's jaw dropped.

And the expressions on the other two goons! It was well worth the trouble. So White was Sandeman's son? That was what she was implying, right? Oh, boy, this was too good! He was smiling now. Useful information and Max was not getting beaten anymore. That was it…. Nicole was officially his hero. He suddenly turned serious and nodded to himself. Time for business.

---------------------------------

"Oh, puh-lease! Don't tell me you are Sandeman's son!" Max was rolling her eyes. "Now I get it! I mean, seriously, after seeing what selective breeding produced…no wonder he left the cult and made us!"

"Shut up!" White hit her with the butt of the gun, splitting the skin. Blood began to flow down her cheek. "What else do you know?" He approached Nicole.

"Everything." She said coldly. He aimed his gun at Nicole's forehead. She didn't flinch.

"I know all about the cult. I know all about the plans."

Biggs' entire body was tense as he placed one hand on the railing. He raised his eyes. Just three more seconds… Keep talking hon… She did.

"And I know the dates."

White growled and stepped closer to her, placing the cold metal against her temple. "You will tell me everything you know, Nicole, or I'll fill your repulsive little head with lead."

Suddenly Biggs appeared, jumping over the balustrade and landing beside the blond guard. He gave a cheeky grin. "Well, normally I wouldn't mind, but she and I got a date. Do you know how hard those are to come by these days?"

That was when all hell broke loose.


Alec had been riding his bike when he received Biggs' call, some fifteen blocks from Terminal City. He'd never ridden so fast in his entire life.

He supposed he should be glad this hadn't happened the day before. At least today they'd been ready - not as ready as they could have been, but not caught completely off guard. But he wasn't glad. That bitch!

He'd had to make some arrangements, but he did them over the phone. He practically flew by Logan's car, ditched the bike and soared over the fence. He wasn't worried about any guards on the outside. If there had been any, 511 would have taken care of them. Two seconds later he was crouching beside the same window Nicole had been using before. One look inside was sufficient to take in everyone's position, including 511's overlooking the floor. His eyes hardened momentarily as he saw Max, but they went back to efficient coldness immediately. He could not let his mind worry about the bruises in Max's face right now.

His window was four meters to the South of the main door. Both White and the two guys with him had their backs to him. He silently levered the window open and slid inside, White was too busy pounding on Max to notice – Careless! – and the other two had their eyes fixed on Nicole –well, even though that was smart, it was definitely bad tactics-wise. Well, their mistake. He wondered briefly why White hadn't killed one of them yet. Then he started listening to Nicole's words, and understood. A feral glint shone in his eyes. That was the good thing about working with pros.

He moved closer, sticking to the shadows, his back plastered to the wall, until he was behind the crate two meters to the right of Logan. He looked up seeking Biggs. He was ready. The guy nearest Logan was, of course, the biggest problem. Nicole's distraction had been good enough so far to allow Alec to move. But now they needed the guard to look away from her, so he wouldn't shoot Logan when she moved.

Alec made a sign and watched Biggs nod. Now they just needed to find the exact moment to..- Before he could make the signal, 511 was already in the air. The second he started speaking, all hell broke loose.

The faces of the three Familiars turned to look at 511. Max grabbed the pole she was handcuffed to and used it to slide down, her feet pushing forward to kick the piece of wood on the floor which flew into the hands of the red haired guy near Logan, knocking them aside.

Alec moved at top speed to knock Logan to the ground. The bullet flew over them, completely deviated. He grabbed Logan by the jacket and pushed him to the side, where he would be protected by the wooden crate. He turned as he heard the next gunshot leaving Red's gun. This time, it was aimed straight at him.

Nicole took advantage of the split second White looked at Biggs. She placed both her hands on his gun arm, twisted hard and left herself fall, her legs entangling with White's and sending his crashing to the ground. The piece went flying, landing several feet away. She rolled, kicking him in the head before he had a chance to recover, then jumped to her feet. White immediately followed suit and they started circling each other.

Biggs elbowed the blond guy hard in the face, his other hand grabbing the hand with the gun and pulling down as his knee came up swiftly. The weapon fell as the wrist bones collapsed. Biggs caught it and pushed the blond hard. When the guy was a few feet away, Biggs fired a round into his head. "Bye bye, loser."

He turned and moved towards Max. He handed her the semiautomatic – he still had the shotgun from the guy on the roof dangling at his back - and started working on her handcuffs. He never saw the disgust in her eyes as she glanced at the weapon.

Alec barely had time to move aside and down. The bullet entered the flesh of his upper arm, and a burning heat to spread down the entire limb. He ignored it as he twisted, changing the direction of his movement as he blurred towards Red. He stopped an inch away from him, using his left shoulder to hit the guy's chin. His left elbow jammed hard into the guy's stomach. Alec spun around him, coming on the other side to grab the arm with the gun and kicking the guy's knee with all his strength. The knee gave with a satisfying crack, but the guy didn't fall. He just smiled at Alec and backhanded him hard. Alec stepped back, still holding the arm with his left hand, his foot going for the same knee again. At the same time his injured right arm went for the gun at the small of his back. It wasn't moving as fast as he hoped. Red landed a good punch to Alec' s jaw before the transgenic managed to bring the gun around. He clenched his teeth but still pulled the trigger. He watched the bullet penetrate the Familiar's head, right between his eyes. As the body started to fall limp, he shot again, this time at the heart. He panted heavily.

That was when he heard the semiautomatic go off again. He spun around once more his eyes wide at the sight before him.

Nicole feinted an attack with her right arm, her left leg launching at White's midsection. He parried both blows, his left arm catching hers and yanking. His knee went for her stomach. She twisted, avoiding the knee. She didn't try to hit him, knowing he'd feel no pain. Instead she used the arm that was holding her as leverage to jump, twisting around it in the air so that she landed with both her knees in his hunched back. He fell face first on the ground. Nicole felt her arm being yanked from its socket. She knew it was going to happen, the movement too unnatural for it not to, and had been prepared for it. It still took her breath away for an instant. The impact had freed her arm, but White took advantage of her moment of distraction and spun on the ground, pushing her to the side. Hard. She landed in a heap. White was standing at her side before she could get up. She watched him aim the gun he had lost before at her. How had she missed they were so near to where it had landed? He was too close for her to dodge the shot. She watched him smirk and then point the gun away from her at someone else. Before she could begin to turn her head, his eyes opened wide in shock as three shots of the semiautomatic pierced the flesh of his thighs and stomach. His shot went completely astray. She rolled quickly and grabbed the gun from him as he fell backwards.

She then turned and saw Max's horrified expression.

Max jumped into a crouching position by the pole. She watched Alec push Logan to the side and then try to dodge a bullet. She winced as it hit him, but he was immediately moving towards the shooter. A movement to her left caught her eye and she turned to watch Biggs approaching her. She stood up and he stuck the gun into her hands. She wasn't even able to express her repulsion, he was already working on her handcuffs. Besides, not like he would appreciate it. Her eyes went to Nicole who was .. flying over White's head? to land on his back, making them both fall on the ground; then to Alec – who was breaking his opponent's knee –, before they swept back to the other X5 who was.. on the floor White aiming at her. Before she could shout at Biggs to do something he changed his aim towards Alec, whose back was turned to him. Max didn't hesitate. She fired a round at White's legs.

It wasn't until she heard the shot whiz past Alec, very much off track, that she realized what she'd done. Her eyes opened wide and she was vaguely aware of the gun slipping from her fingers as she started trembling.

Biggs was cursing under his breath at the stupid lock. He'd always had a lot of trouble with handcuffs –meaning it took him a few tenths of a second longer than Alec to open them. As he finally heard the click of the mechanism unlocking, Max's body went stiff, then she fired the gun he'd given her. Well, that should be that last of the bad guys going down, he had heard Alec's gun fire a moment before. He turned around with a smile on his lips when he felt Max's body beside him start to tremble. He caught the weapon fifty centimeters above the ground.

What the hell…?

He watched Alec look at Nicole, making sure she had White under control, and then walk towards Max. He nodded at Biggs to go help the other transgenic. His eyes were cold and expressionless, the way Biggs was used to seeing them on missions. But right before he was out of Biggs' line of vision, they turned into a storm of emotion as he placed his uninjured hand on Max's bruised cheek.

She had shot White.

Only after he heard the bullet whizzing over him and watched Nicole secure White's gun, did he allow the thought to come to the front of his mind.

Max had shot someone.

To save him.

He didn't realize he had moved until he was by her side, but he did remember to order Biggs to go help Nicole. He warily placed a hand in her cheek. His eyes focused on hers as she finally stopped trembling and looked up at him. He released the breath he had been holding and leaned forward to place a soft kiss on her forehead. She looked so shaken, so shocked. But she was going to be okay. His good arm went around her shoulders and she pressed herself against him for a second. He'd been so scared for her. The rational part of his brain had known nothing was going to happen to her, that Biggs was there, and he wouldn't let Max get killed. But that was just a part of his mind. He took a deep breath and released her, smiling fleetingly and mouthing a thank you before he turned around to face White.

His eyes changed completely, going from dark green to almost blue as he coldly looked at the only Familiar still alive in the room.

He was bleeding profusely and couldn't sit on his own. Biggs and Nicole had moved him so that his back was to the crate Logan had been hiding behind. Alec barely registered the human who had silently risen to his feet and moved out of the way. Smart move.

A slow smirk spread on his face as he stepped closer.

"We meet again, Ames." He said, no inflection in his voice. "Too bad you don't have that much time to talk, seeing as you are … er… dying. And what do you know? You'll also miss the doom of the human race." He shook his head sadly, "Oh, wait," he raised his head, "no you won't." He smiled coldly. "Your daddy made sure of that."

"You.. will… not.. win." White said, his voice barely a whisper, but the glare of hatred in his eyes undimmed.

"What was that? Can't hear you? Oh, you thinking of your little mole?" He said condescendingly. "See, Ames, you made a little mistake. Well, actually it was worse than that. Apparently your selective breeding also causes selective memory problems. I mean, otherwise, how do you explain one of your men 'forgetting' to tell you that one of the kids they had trapped got away?" He watched satisfied White's fury increase.

"Piece.. of.. scum." White sputtered.

Alec smirked. "I'd love to stay and chat but I got stuff to do and a prisoner to interrogate."

"She'll.. never..tell..anything."

Alec flashed him a very cold smile that said more than any words could have, right before he lifted his left arm and fired his gun.

"I know how to do my job."


Regina was walking near the entrance of Terminal City the X5s usually used. She was trying to look busy by picking up some garbage from the floor. She had picked and dropped the same one piece over ten times already. Where was 494? She needed to keep track of him. And give him a false lead if necessary.

But he wasn't arriving.

She heard a sound and turned to look. Maybe her hearing wasn't as good as that of the beasts here, but her smell was just as good. Or even better. Not all Familiars had it so developed. But Regina did. She immediately realized the person approaching was human.

She walked closer to the wall to hide. It was what a transgenic would do.

The woman, however, remained standing just outside the fence, not three feet away from her. She was a pretty blonde, her hair cut short, big clear eyes, a very arrogant profile. She looked around, very discreetly, then spoke in a whisper. "From my mother before me, to my daughters."

Regina immediately snapped to attention. She repeated the code sentence and added, "What can I do for you, sister?"

"Your mission here is over," the woman said. She didn't give Regina time to reply. "Follow me." She turned around and started walking towards her car. Regina glanced back once again and then followed suit.

Asha smiled briefly as she heard the girl follow her.