With You - Chapter Two
Disclaimer: Nope, not mine. Too bad though, 'cause I wouldn't mind having Alec all to myself.
A/N: I'd just like to say a huge thanks to all my reviewers!
RGAP48 - Yep, I know which characters you mean *wink* They should be making an appearance in the next chapter.
Ting - There's more about Max's siblings in this chapter. There's gonna be some more in the next as well. Glad you liked it!
Sockbrain - Well, actually my other story was done. I tend to do some short fics to get in the swing of things, and that was one of them. But if anyone would like to continue it, like adding what happens after they. you know. that'd be perfectly fine! I think it would be cool to see someone else's take on the situation. And I hadn't actually realized I made Max seem kinda fragile, so thanks for pointing that out! I can use it though, because now that she's responsible for so many lives it has to be affecting her somehow.
Gamegirl452 - Glad you liked it! Hope this counts as a quick update, lol.
M/a fan - Glad you liked it. And there's some more MA interaction in this chapter, so I hope you enjoy it too.
And last but not least, I'd like to dedicate this to Rose. You're a great friend, and I know I can count on you!
***
The supply truck rumbles down the road as the reunited siblings converse inside.
Zane is in the middle of explaining life after the escape.
"That first night out of Manticore was so different from anything I had ever experienced before. I think it was just knowing that there wouldn't be training at the crack of dawn and how there wasn't as much to worry about anymore."
"I know that feeling," Krit adds.
Max is still curious.
"So where did you go after that?"
"I roamed around, looking for a good place to settle down. I managed to hitch hike my way to LA, and that's where I found an abandoned apartment building. I made some friends, and that was how I got the cash and food I needed to survive."
Alec is fast to quip from the driver's seat.
"You know, for being cracked up to be a bunch of traitors and low-lifes who ditched us back at Manticore, not thinking about what the rest of us had to go through, you all seem quick to take the high road and do what's right."
He gets glares from all throughout the truck and recovers from his harsh remark.
"Jeez, sorry. I didn't mean for you guys to take it personally. It's just we had it rough after you left."
"So I've heard." Syl scowled across the cab of the truck from the passenger's seat.
Max doesn't want him to start anything. Not now.
"What the hell do you mean by 'take the high road?'"
"What I meant was, I'm sure there were other ways to get the cash. But instead of clashing with the wrong arm of the law, he got the money the same way anyone else would. Either bumming it off friends or getting a job."
"You know what, Alec? Maybe you should consider keeping your mouth shut the rest of the way back."
She has the sudden impulse to slap him upside the head but urges herself not to. Instead, she turns her attention back to Zane.
"Now, you were saying?"
"Right, so a few years passed and when I was fifteen I figured I ought to get a job. So I started training to become a mechanic. I almost freaked out the guy I worked for when I picked things up so fast. Then later, after that Eyes Only message was broadcast saying Lydecker knew our locations, I jumped in my truck and just drove. No real destination in mind, just the open road and a collection of CDs."
Max nods and sits in silence, almost expecting Alec to blurt out another of his comments, but to no avail.
He obeys her earlier order, one hand gripping the steering wheel and the other resting on the door.
"I'm a little surprised we didn't bump into each other around that time," Jondy states.
"How so?" Max asks, trying to dig deeper into their lives, gathering as much information from life after the escape as possible.
"Well, while he was out and about, I was headed for Canada from San Francisco. After all, that's what Zack would have wanted."
Aletha speaks up.
"Hey, how is Zack anyway? I haven't heard from him in so long. It's odd, if you ask me."
Krit and Syl look at Max expectantly, waiting to hear the whole story of how she made it out from Manticore a second time.
On the way to Seattle, they had explained their trek to the facility in an attempt to take out the DNA lab and render Manticore useless to the rest of the otherwise clueless group. They just don't know what happened afterwards.
Max gathers her thoughts, putting together an easy way to break the news to them. They notice this and give her their full attention, anxiously awaiting what she had to say, no matter how horrible it may be.
"Well, you see."
It was a lot harder than she thought it was. Zack isn't just their brother; he is the one that holds them all together. He had worked so hard to protect them, even at his own expense.
"The mission was a success, it was the escape that got screwed up. Zack and I were both shot. His was just minor, mine cost me my life. But he didn't give up. He wouldn't let me go. When they told him I would need a transplant, he jumped at the chance. He took his own life to save mine."
She looks at the shocked faces.
Alec breaks the stunned silence, throwing his vow of silence out the window.
"Come on, Maxie. Tell them the rest of it."
"There's more?" Jondy asks.
"The thing is, Renfro decided to use Zack as an organ donor. He involuntarily donated to soldiers wounded on missions. But Manticore's technology is so advanced, they were able to create replacements for the missing organs."
Alec interjected, "So after it was all said and done, good ol' brother Zack was just like a cyborg from the movies."
Max shoots him a piercing glare.
"As I was saying, they gave Zack these implants, and after Manticore burned to the ground, he was picked up by a group of Steelheads."
"Steelheads?" Aletha asked in wonder.
Alec cut Max off, "Local morons. They're big on replacing various body parts with metallic implants."
"So naturally when they got wind of Zack they couldn't pass up the opportunity," Max added.
They wait as the shock of it all wears off and the reality of it begins to sink in.
Syl turns to Max. "Where is he now?"
'Great. More bad news.'
"He's safe. His memory was wiped clean after he. tried to kill Logan. Apparently Renfro had the technicians, who were specialized in brainwashing, program Zack to think Eyes Only was the bad guy. They sent him out to kill him. I had no choice but to fry his circuits and make him forget."
"So now he thinks he works on a ranch," Alec added with a slight chuckle, trying to lighten the depressing mood by adding images of Zack working around cattle into their minds.
"So he wouldn't remember us if we passed him on the street," Jondy says, looking at the floor, still taking in all that happened to her brother after the last time that she saw him.
"There's still a chance he could recognize us, though. When he was wheeled past me at the hospital on his way out, he said I looked familiar." Max has a slight sparkle in her eyes, in spite of the bombshells she just dropped.
Zack is alive and well. And now, thanks to Max and the pyrotechnics display courtesy of Director Renfro, there is no way he will be sent back to that madhouse. Not if she and her fellow '09ers have any say in the matter.
The remaining ten minutes are spent in silence.
Alec takes a right and pulls up next to a high, wire fence. He sticks his head out the window, searching for the guard posted outside. When a head pops around the corner of a large crate, Alec motions to let them inside. The kid nods back and opens the fence, allowing the truck to pass through.
"Home, sweet home," Alec mumbles.
When the truck comes to a halt deep inside the heart of Terminal City, the newcomers emerge and take in their surroundings.
"Not much of a sight, but it's good enough to call home," Max said simply, patting Krit on the shoulder.
Mole appears from the main building to greet them.
"Who are they?"
"Some friends of mine. Guys, this is Mole. Mole, this is Jondy, Aletha, Krit, Syl, and Zane." Max nods at each of them as she gets the first round of introductions over with.
"Glad to have you aboard," Mole states, extending his hand to Zane. Despite his superior strength, his arm is almost ripped out of its socket as Mole vigorously shakes hands.
"Come on, I'll get you guys a place to crash and then take you on a tour." Max flashes a smile towards Alec, nudging him along as she heads for the run down apartment complex just about a block away.
***
As they climbed the stairs of the musty smelling building, they pass by quite a few transgenics just trying to make a living.
A few of them look a little out of the ordinary, and Max makes a mental note to explain the hidden agenda Manticore had hidden down in the basement when they reach the appropriate apartments.
"Okay, first off, the living arrangements will be Zane and Krit, Jondy and Syl, and, uh, Aletha. You wouldn't mind bunking up with one of the fine specimens who live here, would you?" Max rambles off the arrangements she came up with in the truck.
Just as she finishes, one of the fine young specimens overhears and walks up to them.
"I'll share! If it's all right with you, of course."
"Yeah, that'll be just. great!" Aletha begins to get a pinkish color on her cheeks as she studies him.
"Aletha was it?"
"Oh, yeah, that's me. And you are.?"
"Ryan."
"Well, Ryan, I'm sure it'll be a pleasure sleeping with you."
He gets a glint in his eye at her comment.
"What I meant was, it'll be a pleasure staying with you. While we, uh." He smiles at her blunder and takes her hand, leading her to his apartment.
When they're out of earshot, the others begin to giggle.
"Somebody made a friend," Jondy said, trying to calm herself.
"I have a feeling it'll be more than friends," Alec quipped in his usual charming manner.
Max can't help but smile and opens the door to Zane and Krit's apartment.
"There you go. Jondy, Syl, yours is right across the hall," she said, pointing at a door with the faded number 26 on it.
"Thanks, Max," Syl says, as she and Jondy enter their new home.
***
Aletha and Ryan arrive at lucky door number 20. He fumbles for his keys, finds them, and opens the door, allowing her to enter first.
"It's not much, but make yourself at home."
He takes his jacket and tosses it on the chair in the corner of the room.
She walks to the couch, taking a seat and glancing at the paint chipped walls and the brand new television in front of her.
"Huh, wonder where this came from."
He gave her a wry smile.
"A friend of mine picked it up for me. You didn't think I got it illegally, now did you?" he joked, pulling up a chair next to the couch.
"Why would I think that?"
She was stringing him along, working her magic to its fullest.
"I don't think I gave you any reason to believe otherwise. Besides, I really did get it from a friend. But taking into consideration that that friend was Alec."
Judging by his statement, her first impression of Alec was correct. He does have a reputation of taking without asking, as well as other things she will learn of at a later time.
"Come on, I'll show you your room and let you get settled in."
As she gets up and walks to the bedroom, she becomes sure that her stay here will be more than memorable.
***
Max and Alec head back for their apartment. Since Original Cindy couldn't possibly live here because of the toxins, Alec was her next best choice.
Besides, he was the best looking guy for miles around. And he can make her smile, which is rare these days.
They walk through the door and he immediately plops down in a chair and turns on his "boob tube."
"What is it with you and that thing? It's like no matter what, your eyes are glued to the screen."
Alec looks up from the music video playing and puts on his trademark grin.
"Aw, Maxie, you won't even give it a chance?"
"No. Besides, I have better things to do."
Alec gets up and goes to grab her arm. She jerks away so he hugs her waist, threatening not to let go until she sits down and watches some television.
"No way. Now let go of me!"
"Uh-uh, you're not getting away that easily."
She tries elbowing him but he doesn't back down for an instant.
A grin spreads across her face and a laugh escapes.
Before she can protest, he swings her up over his shoulder.
"Alec, put me down!"
"I told you that you wouldn't get away!"
He carries her across the room. She dangles, plotting a way to get him back.
Just as he goes to sit her down, she lashes out, tickling him with full force. He almost drops her but instead falls to the floor himself.
They lay there, intertwined and almost breathless from laughter.
"Damn it, Max. You got me."
He raises his hands in surrender.
"Damn right I did. That'll show you for pulling a stunt like that."
Instead of her usual, serious voice, she sounds more casual.
"Could you at least sit down and watch some TV with me? Please?"
He flashes his pleading eyes at her, frowning and wrinkling his face up causing her to laugh.
"All right, all right. But don't think you can use that against me again."
***