A/N: Thanks for all the reviews!!!
Chapter Four: Capture
Dawn had broken, sweeping the land with rays of crimson and gold. The sky's resplendent hues was reflected on the surface of the ocean, its cerulean- colored waves rocking gently on the seashore. But no one seemed to care about the environment's beauty at the moment...
"Let me go!" Max screamed thrashing wildly as five soldiers dragged her across the warehouse where a military jeep was waiting for its passenger. The drugs that Lydecker had injected into her were working quite well, reducing her strength to the size of a pea. She finally gave up trying to break free, and hung limply as they hauled her towards the jeep. From a distance, she could see Alec being towed into another jeep. He wasn't going quietly either.
Max turned her head to an angle that allowed her to see Joshua...or rather, Joshua's body. He lay lifeless on the floor of the warehouse, his eyes wide open. A pool of blood was gathering around his head, where a bullet hit his forehead, dead and center. She blinked away the tears that were threatening to spill. Devon and Kade were nowhere to be seen, but Max could vividly remember their pained cries as they were shot.
One of the soldiers, a big burly one with platinum blonde hair that reminded Max of Renfro grabbed her arms and snapped a pair of handcuffs around them, grinning maniacally at her. He pushed her into the back of the jeep where, Lydecker seemed to be waiting for her. The passenger's door shut behind her firmly. And the vehicle rumbled to life.
Lydecker smiled at her, his pale blue eyes unreadable. Max glared at him, her eyes sparking with rage, her brown irises turning into a darker shade, that was almost black. "Max," he greeted her, finally looking away from her furious gaze. The Colonel turned to look outside the window.
"What do you want from me?" she snarled, tugging half-heartedly at her handcuffs.
"You're an X5. It's as simple as that," Lydecker said in a neutral tone. He was still staring out the window, and she could dimly see his reflection against the tinted panes.
"Then why kill Devon and Kade? They're X5s," Max retorted, dropping her hands to her lap. She knew that X5s were worth millions of dollars, most especially they're DNA. Some geneticists would have loved to study even with Joshua's DNA, which was far from perfect.
"They were unnecessary. Although their organs will be harvested, and it wouldn't be too difficult to take a few samples from their DNA. I have already a few geneticists waiting for them to arrive at the New Manticore," Lydecker replied.
Max's eyes narrowed. "So it 'is' true then, there is a New Manticore."
This time Lydecker turned around to face her. "Yes there is. It is approximately finished. All it requires are the soldiers that will reside within it, to train and be the pride of the nation." At the word 'pride' Max scoffed. Killing and murder was nothing to be proud of.
"So me and Alec will be the first of the soldiers," she said wryly. It was more of a statement than a question, nevertheless, Lydecker had something to say about it.
"Yes, that is if, the reindoctrination will be successful." Lydecker said looking away from her, and out of the window again, probably knowing how she will react to these words.
"There is no possible way that you are going to put me through that hell again," Max said acidly, her eyes flashing. "You'll have to kill me first." And she meant it. They won't make her forget about the past twelve years that was the beginning of her life. They won't take away her freedom...her soul...
"Your answer was expected," Lydecker said with a sardonic smile. "That is why your 'children' will be the next generation of soldiers."
"So your going to take my eggs..." Max said, bitterness tingeing her voice.
Lydecker's smile broadened. "No, 452. As we have no longer the equipment to develop the eggs...the breeding will be done in a more natural way."
Max stared at him in horror. So 'that' was the reason that they brought Alec around alive too. He was after all, her breeding partner at the Old Manticore. Something about their DNA being a perfect match. "And what if we disagree to do this?" she asked.
"Then we'll have to – force you into reindoctrination. The geneticists said that there may be a forty percent chance that the outcome will be successful. And not only will we have our two finest soldiers under our control again, their children will be ours as well."
Max bit her lip to keep from screaming. "And if the outcome will be ineffective?" she asked. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest. She had not felt this nervous since she thought Alec was killed during the encounter with Phalanx.
"Expendable soldiers will be eradicated," he said in a business-like tone. "Your DNA will be taken for further examinations. And of course, your organs will be harvested."
"Good," Max muttered resentfully, in a decibel too low for an ordinary human like Lydecker to hear. "Like I said, I'd rather die than watch others die in my own hands." He ignored her comment and continued.
"You know, 452. You and 494 can become very valuable assets to the New Manticore. You are given gifts and talents that many ordinary humans would kill to possess." Lydecker said, quietly. "And do you know what happens when you don't use them?" he asked, his eyes glinting like sapphires. Max remained silent. "What happens to a clock when wound backwards, 452?"
"It breaks," Max replied softly. And the ride to wherever the hell they were going was spent in apprehensive silence.
Five gun shots cut through the morning air, and the sound of bullets embedding itself on thick concrete walls, and denting the metal roof was heard. The head agent of the NSA hurled his M19 with such force that it cracked down the middle as it slammed against the steel post. Familiar strength can do that to anything.
Ames White was not a patient man, and now was one of the times that his tolerance was being tested. "Are you sure that they 452 and 494 are nowhere near the perimeters?" he asked through gritted teeth.
"Quite sure, sir." Otto said nervously wringing his hands together. The other soldiers eyed him uneasily. "But Agent Daniels is presently searching Seattle for them, sir. The thermal-scans are satellite-linked, so it wouldn't be too long till they find them."
As if on cue, Agent Daniels darted out from one of the vans, his laptop on tow. "Sir, I found them. They are traveling south. They're destination is somewhere in the outskirts of Seattle. If we leave now, we can get there before they do."
A scathing smile materialized on White's face. "Daniels," he spoke, already moving towards his parked car. They followed obediently. "You just earned your pay today."
Two hours and twenty seconds had passed since they left the docks of Vancouver, Canada. He should know, he had been counting the time. 'As if there's anything better to do, anyway'. Alec thought lazily tilting his head to one side and staring at the guard who sat in front of him, holding the young transgenic at gunpoint.
"Where are we going?" Alec asked, speaking for the first time. He said this in a very casual tone that somehow startled the guard. He was black, and was dressed in green and brown camouflage. Alec had been studying him for the past hour, and had long since discovered that he was not a transgenic like himself. 'Probably from the military.'
"New Manticore," the guard replied flatly.
Alec raised an eyebrow. "I knew that," he said, frowning. Where else would they be going? Disneyland? "Where is New Manticore located?"
The guard looked almost embarrassed. "Seattle's boundaries. There is no exact address for it." His rifle wavered for a bit as he spoke, and Alec would've been able to disarm him and make a transitory escape if he wasn't handcuffed in both his wrists and ankles. And there was also the tiny fact that quite a lot of jeeps were traveling along with them. One of which carried Max.
'I wonder if she's okay', Alec thought worriedly. He had seen three guards dragging her into the jeep that Lydecker was riding in. This unconcerned Alec, all that mattered was if they kept her alive. 'Of course they will', a voice said in the back of his head 'If there's one thing that Lydecker would want, its her eggs and my sperm.' The thought somehow made him feel more restless.
"How long till we get there?" Alec asked. And again, the guard was startled out of whatever thoughts his was having. Alec was starting to get irritated. It was a damned good thing that they chained him up. Or that guard would've been as good as dead.
"A few more minutes," the guard answered, not looking at Alec but outside the window. Something had caught his gaze. Alec followed it and saw that several tall, large buildings could be seen from the distance, looming in an almost intimidating manner. If there was one thing that frightened Alec, that was Manticore. And the things that they could do to you within it.
They were drawing closer now, and Alec could vaguely see a number of vans waiting outside the chain-linked fences of the New Manticore. 'Great, we have a welcoming committee as well'. Alec was about to say something when gunshots sprayed the jeep, stabbing through the glass and shattering it. Alec ducked along with the driver and the guard as shards of sharp glass flew over their heads.
"What the hell?" Alec murmured, straining to see over the chaos that seemed to be undergoing outside their vehicle. Lydecker's soldiers were pouring out of the jeeps and joining the shooting. And Alec finally saw what had caused all the commotion. It was Ames White.
Panic was rising in her chest as it contracted, she turned around to look at Lydecker, her eyes widening in alarm. She was satisfied to see Lydecker looking perplexed as well. He had pulled out a semi-automatic out of his black corduroy jacket, and his sky-blue eyes were alive with shock.
"Take these damned things off of me," Max half-shouted, shaking her hands in front of Lydecker's face. He must have been on the verge of panicking because he pulled out the key without a second thought and released Max out of the handcuffs. She sighed with relief. She flung the door open, the key still in her hand, and looked around wildly for any sign of Alec, while keeping a lookout for White and his men. She dimly felt Lydecker at her heels, his gun cocked and ready.
Using her catlike vision, she peered through the tinted windows of the jeeps, hurriedly looking for the handsome face that was painted in her mind for almost two hours.
"Alec!" she yelled. "Where the fuck are you?"
"Who are these people?" Lydecker asked, looking quite lost.
Max spun around, brown eyes blazing. "Oh, like you don't know them?" she snapped. "They're sent after us 'trannies' to kill us and be erased from this damned world."
"Director Elizabeth Renfro must've been the one to send these NSA agents after you. I've never seen them in my life." Lydecker said, his voice tinged with honesty. Max will have to trust him – for now. And that was when Max spotted him, lying on the ground, and above him stood none other than White. Aside from the few cuts on his face, and his bleeding lip, Alec looked very much alive. White was speaking to him in a tone too low for Max to hear. He was pointing a gun straight at Alec's chest. Ice gripped Max's heart. She vaguely recalled Logan telling her this: 'Transgenics are a lot of things, but they are most certainly not bulletproof.'
Not quite thinking, Max blurred over to White, the Familiar looked up, a maniacal gleam in his steel gray eyes. But before Max could even reach him, a bullet pierced her chest, sending a wave of white-hot pain to sear through her skin. Red sparks illuminated their selves behind her closed eyelids. She briefly heard another gunshot before her whole world turned to black.
A/N: I 'borrowed' some quotes from other fics...so no flaming... Please review!
Chapter Four: Capture
Dawn had broken, sweeping the land with rays of crimson and gold. The sky's resplendent hues was reflected on the surface of the ocean, its cerulean- colored waves rocking gently on the seashore. But no one seemed to care about the environment's beauty at the moment...
"Let me go!" Max screamed thrashing wildly as five soldiers dragged her across the warehouse where a military jeep was waiting for its passenger. The drugs that Lydecker had injected into her were working quite well, reducing her strength to the size of a pea. She finally gave up trying to break free, and hung limply as they hauled her towards the jeep. From a distance, she could see Alec being towed into another jeep. He wasn't going quietly either.
Max turned her head to an angle that allowed her to see Joshua...or rather, Joshua's body. He lay lifeless on the floor of the warehouse, his eyes wide open. A pool of blood was gathering around his head, where a bullet hit his forehead, dead and center. She blinked away the tears that were threatening to spill. Devon and Kade were nowhere to be seen, but Max could vividly remember their pained cries as they were shot.
One of the soldiers, a big burly one with platinum blonde hair that reminded Max of Renfro grabbed her arms and snapped a pair of handcuffs around them, grinning maniacally at her. He pushed her into the back of the jeep where, Lydecker seemed to be waiting for her. The passenger's door shut behind her firmly. And the vehicle rumbled to life.
Lydecker smiled at her, his pale blue eyes unreadable. Max glared at him, her eyes sparking with rage, her brown irises turning into a darker shade, that was almost black. "Max," he greeted her, finally looking away from her furious gaze. The Colonel turned to look outside the window.
"What do you want from me?" she snarled, tugging half-heartedly at her handcuffs.
"You're an X5. It's as simple as that," Lydecker said in a neutral tone. He was still staring out the window, and she could dimly see his reflection against the tinted panes.
"Then why kill Devon and Kade? They're X5s," Max retorted, dropping her hands to her lap. She knew that X5s were worth millions of dollars, most especially they're DNA. Some geneticists would have loved to study even with Joshua's DNA, which was far from perfect.
"They were unnecessary. Although their organs will be harvested, and it wouldn't be too difficult to take a few samples from their DNA. I have already a few geneticists waiting for them to arrive at the New Manticore," Lydecker replied.
Max's eyes narrowed. "So it 'is' true then, there is a New Manticore."
This time Lydecker turned around to face her. "Yes there is. It is approximately finished. All it requires are the soldiers that will reside within it, to train and be the pride of the nation." At the word 'pride' Max scoffed. Killing and murder was nothing to be proud of.
"So me and Alec will be the first of the soldiers," she said wryly. It was more of a statement than a question, nevertheless, Lydecker had something to say about it.
"Yes, that is if, the reindoctrination will be successful." Lydecker said looking away from her, and out of the window again, probably knowing how she will react to these words.
"There is no possible way that you are going to put me through that hell again," Max said acidly, her eyes flashing. "You'll have to kill me first." And she meant it. They won't make her forget about the past twelve years that was the beginning of her life. They won't take away her freedom...her soul...
"Your answer was expected," Lydecker said with a sardonic smile. "That is why your 'children' will be the next generation of soldiers."
"So your going to take my eggs..." Max said, bitterness tingeing her voice.
Lydecker's smile broadened. "No, 452. As we have no longer the equipment to develop the eggs...the breeding will be done in a more natural way."
Max stared at him in horror. So 'that' was the reason that they brought Alec around alive too. He was after all, her breeding partner at the Old Manticore. Something about their DNA being a perfect match. "And what if we disagree to do this?" she asked.
"Then we'll have to – force you into reindoctrination. The geneticists said that there may be a forty percent chance that the outcome will be successful. And not only will we have our two finest soldiers under our control again, their children will be ours as well."
Max bit her lip to keep from screaming. "And if the outcome will be ineffective?" she asked. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest. She had not felt this nervous since she thought Alec was killed during the encounter with Phalanx.
"Expendable soldiers will be eradicated," he said in a business-like tone. "Your DNA will be taken for further examinations. And of course, your organs will be harvested."
"Good," Max muttered resentfully, in a decibel too low for an ordinary human like Lydecker to hear. "Like I said, I'd rather die than watch others die in my own hands." He ignored her comment and continued.
"You know, 452. You and 494 can become very valuable assets to the New Manticore. You are given gifts and talents that many ordinary humans would kill to possess." Lydecker said, quietly. "And do you know what happens when you don't use them?" he asked, his eyes glinting like sapphires. Max remained silent. "What happens to a clock when wound backwards, 452?"
"It breaks," Max replied softly. And the ride to wherever the hell they were going was spent in apprehensive silence.
Five gun shots cut through the morning air, and the sound of bullets embedding itself on thick concrete walls, and denting the metal roof was heard. The head agent of the NSA hurled his M19 with such force that it cracked down the middle as it slammed against the steel post. Familiar strength can do that to anything.
Ames White was not a patient man, and now was one of the times that his tolerance was being tested. "Are you sure that they 452 and 494 are nowhere near the perimeters?" he asked through gritted teeth.
"Quite sure, sir." Otto said nervously wringing his hands together. The other soldiers eyed him uneasily. "But Agent Daniels is presently searching Seattle for them, sir. The thermal-scans are satellite-linked, so it wouldn't be too long till they find them."
As if on cue, Agent Daniels darted out from one of the vans, his laptop on tow. "Sir, I found them. They are traveling south. They're destination is somewhere in the outskirts of Seattle. If we leave now, we can get there before they do."
A scathing smile materialized on White's face. "Daniels," he spoke, already moving towards his parked car. They followed obediently. "You just earned your pay today."
Two hours and twenty seconds had passed since they left the docks of Vancouver, Canada. He should know, he had been counting the time. 'As if there's anything better to do, anyway'. Alec thought lazily tilting his head to one side and staring at the guard who sat in front of him, holding the young transgenic at gunpoint.
"Where are we going?" Alec asked, speaking for the first time. He said this in a very casual tone that somehow startled the guard. He was black, and was dressed in green and brown camouflage. Alec had been studying him for the past hour, and had long since discovered that he was not a transgenic like himself. 'Probably from the military.'
"New Manticore," the guard replied flatly.
Alec raised an eyebrow. "I knew that," he said, frowning. Where else would they be going? Disneyland? "Where is New Manticore located?"
The guard looked almost embarrassed. "Seattle's boundaries. There is no exact address for it." His rifle wavered for a bit as he spoke, and Alec would've been able to disarm him and make a transitory escape if he wasn't handcuffed in both his wrists and ankles. And there was also the tiny fact that quite a lot of jeeps were traveling along with them. One of which carried Max.
'I wonder if she's okay', Alec thought worriedly. He had seen three guards dragging her into the jeep that Lydecker was riding in. This unconcerned Alec, all that mattered was if they kept her alive. 'Of course they will', a voice said in the back of his head 'If there's one thing that Lydecker would want, its her eggs and my sperm.' The thought somehow made him feel more restless.
"How long till we get there?" Alec asked. And again, the guard was startled out of whatever thoughts his was having. Alec was starting to get irritated. It was a damned good thing that they chained him up. Or that guard would've been as good as dead.
"A few more minutes," the guard answered, not looking at Alec but outside the window. Something had caught his gaze. Alec followed it and saw that several tall, large buildings could be seen from the distance, looming in an almost intimidating manner. If there was one thing that frightened Alec, that was Manticore. And the things that they could do to you within it.
They were drawing closer now, and Alec could vaguely see a number of vans waiting outside the chain-linked fences of the New Manticore. 'Great, we have a welcoming committee as well'. Alec was about to say something when gunshots sprayed the jeep, stabbing through the glass and shattering it. Alec ducked along with the driver and the guard as shards of sharp glass flew over their heads.
"What the hell?" Alec murmured, straining to see over the chaos that seemed to be undergoing outside their vehicle. Lydecker's soldiers were pouring out of the jeeps and joining the shooting. And Alec finally saw what had caused all the commotion. It was Ames White.
Panic was rising in her chest as it contracted, she turned around to look at Lydecker, her eyes widening in alarm. She was satisfied to see Lydecker looking perplexed as well. He had pulled out a semi-automatic out of his black corduroy jacket, and his sky-blue eyes were alive with shock.
"Take these damned things off of me," Max half-shouted, shaking her hands in front of Lydecker's face. He must have been on the verge of panicking because he pulled out the key without a second thought and released Max out of the handcuffs. She sighed with relief. She flung the door open, the key still in her hand, and looked around wildly for any sign of Alec, while keeping a lookout for White and his men. She dimly felt Lydecker at her heels, his gun cocked and ready.
Using her catlike vision, she peered through the tinted windows of the jeeps, hurriedly looking for the handsome face that was painted in her mind for almost two hours.
"Alec!" she yelled. "Where the fuck are you?"
"Who are these people?" Lydecker asked, looking quite lost.
Max spun around, brown eyes blazing. "Oh, like you don't know them?" she snapped. "They're sent after us 'trannies' to kill us and be erased from this damned world."
"Director Elizabeth Renfro must've been the one to send these NSA agents after you. I've never seen them in my life." Lydecker said, his voice tinged with honesty. Max will have to trust him – for now. And that was when Max spotted him, lying on the ground, and above him stood none other than White. Aside from the few cuts on his face, and his bleeding lip, Alec looked very much alive. White was speaking to him in a tone too low for Max to hear. He was pointing a gun straight at Alec's chest. Ice gripped Max's heart. She vaguely recalled Logan telling her this: 'Transgenics are a lot of things, but they are most certainly not bulletproof.'
Not quite thinking, Max blurred over to White, the Familiar looked up, a maniacal gleam in his steel gray eyes. But before Max could even reach him, a bullet pierced her chest, sending a wave of white-hot pain to sear through her skin. Red sparks illuminated their selves behind her closed eyelids. She briefly heard another gunshot before her whole world turned to black.
A/N: I 'borrowed' some quotes from other fics...so no flaming... Please review!