A/N- I haven't had much response to this story recently- possibly because I haven't updated in a while, but is interest declining for it?

17

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Manticore hadn't drilled the element of hope into its creations. Those types of base emotions would overshadow logic and jeopardise any mission. Any soldier was trained to look at the situation with dispassionate eyes and break down the situation into its most basic components and assess it from a neutral position. Weigh up the advantages and risks and take appropriate action.

But then Alec had never followed orders very well as his superiors would have attested to.

He hoped. While logic and common sense demanded that he count his losses and move on, hope kept him alive and moving.

Hope that somehow Max was alive and he would get her back to him soon.

Hope that she would be in one piece.  

Hope that she wouldn't hate him for taking so long to rescue her and for letting her get taken in the first place.

Alec's life right now just boiled down to hope.

He lay on his back and stared up at the ceiling with its water marks and cracks, it wouldn't do any good to try and sleep. Although he didn't have Max's shark DNA and needed to sleep to survive, since he didn't know where she was he hadn't been able to catch more than a few hours a week.

According to Original Cindy he was looking worse for wear. Even he could tell that he'd lost weight by the way his clothes fit- or rather didn't.

His every moment was taken up by the project that Max had left him. Talking care of Terminal City and its inhabitants.  Everything that he had ever learnt at Manticore had come back to him. How to organise raids for supplies, to get people to barter, contacts for goods, medical supplies, work details, accommodation, security, guards- the sheer amount of work boggled his mind.

Thankfully he had a group of loyal supporters who knew the great job that he was doing whilst trying to find their real leader. Luke, Dix, Mole, Joshua, Original Cindy and to a certain extent Logan, Sketchy and Ralph were all backing him 100% and it felt good to know that he had someone to get his back even though the only one he truly trusted wasn't even here.

He tossed and turned wondering what she was going through right now at the hands of White. He knew only too well what that sadistic screwball was capable of and he was scared for Max.

He pushed aside the fear like any good Manticore soldier who knew that fear crippled and he couldn't afford to be crippled.

They had stormed the first military base two days ago and found enough medical supplies to last them a good long while and some maps that Luke and Dix already maintained would prove useful. But there had been no Max and no clues as to where she could be.

They were meeting tomorrow to plan another recon mission to the second base.

Which meant that he would need to catch some sleep to be awake and alert for the planning.

Manticore had taught them about being suitably refreshed for missions and that sleep deprivation was the real killer so he breathed deeply trying to regulate himself to fall asleep.

Manticore had taught them plenty of useful tips for life but it hadn't taught them how to hope. Alec had learnt that on his own.

~~~~~~~

452 opened her eyes when she felt the engine vibrations stop which would mean that they had reached a destination and were stopping. She looked up and saw a roof which meant that they were in a building of some kind. She fought the urge to roll her eyes at her deductive powers.

There was a noise of the cab opening and the driver got out and stretched, his muscles popping loudly.

He began to hum to himself. Some off tune sound about honky tonk angels- whatever they were.

She heard the man move further away and a door opening and slamming shut, his footsteps echoing as he walked away.

452 was warm but her muscles were stiffening and she knew that she needed medical attention soon or she would die from blood loss and infection right here in this bale of hay.

She grabbed the edge of the wall and pulled herself to her feet clutching wildly at the wall to stop herself from falling over in a spate of dizziness.

The place she was in was a barn of all things, smelling heavily of animals and the earth. This meant that there were items that could be utilised as weapons since she was in hostile territory until further notice.

In one corner was a unit which housed animal medicine and several articles of what she believed to be farming equipment. Under an oil covered cloth was a small gun.

Despite Max's hatred of guns 452 knew that this weapon could be useful and command had drilled into her to use everything to her advantage if it would help with the ultimate aim. In this case the ultimate aim was to kill Ames White but in the meantime she had to recover. Tucking the gun into her waist band she considered her options.

Going to a hospital wasn't a choice. Transgenics were too well known and her barcode was a giveaway. The second she stepped foot in a hospital she would be giving her position away to Ames White and that was a nonnegotiable negative.

The only people she could trust to help her were other transgenics and Logan's doctor.

After Ames had told her that they were all dead he wouldn't expect her to go to Terminal City thinking that seeing it empty and bullet riddled would put off. But that was Max and this was 452. 452 knew that if they were all dead then they may have left some medical supplies in the toxic city which no human would go into so at least it wouldn't have been looted or at the least other transgenics may have moved in and there was always a chance that Original Cindy or Logan would still be alive and able to help her.

So her basic plan was to get to Seattle and Terminal City to seek help. Which indicated that she'd have to discover her current position.

452 rifled through the drawers and came up with nothing. She made her way back to the truck and looked through the cab. In the glove compartment was a delivery order for South Market.

A smile graced her features, splitting her lip, South Market was in Seattle and according to this order she was in a community just outside the city limits. That made getting home that much easier.

~~~~~~~

Ames White was pleased as hell. The conclave had praised him for his efforts and had given him the go ahead to pursue the transgenic menace with due force thanks to his expert handling of the transgenic known as Max.  They knew that he had personal issues with her and yet had put aside his issues to better their cause and he had disposed of her like they had ordered and not taken matters into his own hands and pursued that line.

Inside he didn't even feel a pang of guilt for lying to them about the bitch being dead. She was so beaten that any moment he was sure that she'd not only give him his son but the whole of Terminal City as well. Since she thought it was all destroyed anyway- at least in her mind. Producing that picture of her X5 brother 493 or "Ben" and passing it off as the erstwhile 494 was a stroke of genius. Thanks to Lydecker for that. The old man had been so helpful when he thought that Ames had 452 and would hand her over to his jurisdiction. As if he would help the abominations and now he had Lydecker safely secreted in their local hideaway where he couldn't realise his vision of a new Manticore.

He strode into the safe house and nodded to the guards feeling quite charitable which wasn't a common feeling with him. He walked up the stairs planning how to get the latest information out of 452 and froze when he saw the empty chair in front of the basement stairs.

If Brutus had gone to the can and left the door unguarded he was going to kill him. 452 was a tricky bitch and though in her condition he was sure that she couldn't possibly walk up the stairs let alone escape there was always a chance that her friends would come to try rescue her.

He growled his good humour fading and wrenched open the door. He edged down the stairs as a precaution and felt his temper rise as he heard no sounds. What if 452 had died of her injuries?

He stopped dead at the bottom of the stairs and stared in blatant disbelief at the sight. Brutus's mangled body lay on the floor contorted at a ridiculous angle showing that he had been at the top of the stairs when he had fallen. The wooden table that had lain in the centre of the room was smashed to pieces and the most damning of all- the sight that turned his already cold heart to ice was the lack of bleeding transgenic hanging from his ceiling.

Ames White roared and kicked at the cold body of his former minion and watched as it struck the opposite wall.

He was in serious, serious trouble.

~~~~~~

452 knew that blood loss was serious issue for her. She may have feline DNA but she didn't have nine lives. Two bullet holes both still bleeding and nothing to cauterise the wound with were highly dangerous.

She was seriously dizzy and scrambling over the sector fence and racing across the checkpoint to escape firing from the guards had taken its inevitable toll on her already taxed beyond endurance system and as she staggered through the forest she was marvelling on the irony of getting so far only to fall at the last few miles. She knew from tactical lessons that she was only a few miles from the back of Terminal City- her target and she was getting too weak to put one foot in front of the other.

452 was failing in her mission to keep Max alive.

She slumped against the tree and tasted blood. She had been sweating since she left the barn and her heart had been racing but now she just felt cold and could feel each individual thump of her failing heart every the she moved. Her eyes were blurring and the edges of her vision were dim. She wasn't that far from Terminal City she couldn't give up now.

Two steps later and 452 fell to the floor her body seizing.

"Get up, get up, get the hell up!" she whimpered urging her throbbing body not to give in.

She turned onto her stomach and pushed herself to her knees.

"On your feet soldier." She hissed through clenched teeth and used the nearest tree to pull herself up.

She would make it if it was the last thing she ever did, she would get to the gates of Terminal City and be home even if it killed her and to be honest it probably would.

452 had been told once that when you die your whole life flashes before your eyes and she hoped that was true. There were some people that she really wanted to see again.

Original Cindy who was Max's best friend. Joshua who was her little brother. Luke and Dix who had become her firm friends. Gruff Mole who lived for his cigars and Alec.

No, Alec was dead. She'd seen the picture herself. That was really when 452 had taken over. If it had been Max who had to stare at the glossy of the man she… well she'd have cracked big time. 452 to the rescue again.

But now each step was harder and she wouldn't make it over the fence.

She could see the fence that surrounded Terminal City and in eight steps she would reach it.

8 steps to go and she needed to focus on what made her life so important.

7 and she had never called Kendra back after last time.

6 you know Normal wasn't so bad once you got to know him.

5 breathing hurt so badly

4 and she had never told him.

Before she took another step her leg shook and she caught her foot in an uprooted branch. She melted to the floor and hit the ground surrendering to the darkness, her exhausted body finally, unconditionally, giving up.

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Yes I am evil.