Disclaimer: Don't own Dark Angel. Don't own Dark Angel's characters. Don't own Mad Libs.
Don't own the title: Break Stuff. Break Stuff belongs to Limp Bizkit.
Title Change: I realized, that What A Day! has what I like to call, a "break stuff" theme. If you
ever listen to the song, it's entire theme is pretty much explained in this line: It's just one of those
days. A "break stuff" theme, is when everything goes wrong every five minutes for one character.
From the moment they wake up, their day is screwed. In the last five minutes of their day,
something either catastrophically bad will happen, or something really good will happen to make
up for the entire day. This entire story pretty much has a "break stuff" theme, but the next few
chapters, from the moment someone (you'll find out who when you read) wakes up, will pretty
much be the definition of a "break stuff" theme.
Caderyn: The crowd: Let's just pretend the pulse took out all computers *including* the human
brain. And Asha: I'm not sure how I feel about her anymore. With reading "Twisted" by Brin and
writing "Ain't It Funny" she's growing on me. Not like in "Help the sorry person who reads
this." And Joshua: I'll include him soon, thanx for the reminder. I enjoyed writing the 'wave to
White' scene. Thanx for the wonderful, specific, and constructive reviews. This Chap's for you.
Dedication: To Caderyn, for above reasons.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At two o'clock in the afternoon, Logan came to pick Alec up, at Max's request. Max herself was
nowhere to be seen. Avoiding him, no doubt.
Alec wasn't as excited as he should have been about escaping the boring, boring hospital. He was
feeling a little on the depressed side since Max had left.
He had to be brought out of the hospital in a wheel chair for appearance's sake. After all, he had
just been shot the previous day. It might be a little suspicious if he just jumped up and walked
out.
"So Logan," Alec said from the passenger seat of Logan's Aztec. "You headin' to Crash
tonight?"
"Probably not. You're not going, are you?" Logan asked, turning toward Alec.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" Alec asked.
"Well for one thing, you just got shot."
Alec rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah! I forgot the burning sensation of a piece of metal tearing through
my abdomen and the dull throb I'm feeling at this very moment because it's not yet healed!
Thanks for reminding me, Logan!"
"There's no need to be sarcastic," Logan said, watching the road ahead of him. "I just mean you
might tear your stitches or something."
"To hell with the stitches, I need a drink," Alec said.
"Weelllll," Logan drawled. "Okay then. Here we go; home sweet home." He pulled up in front
of Alec's building.
"Dude, what are you on?" Alec asked. "Or what dream world are you living in? This place is a
dump."
"I'm not 'on' anything!" Logan said. "I wish people would stop asking me that."
"'Cause you're in the right, it's the many other billions of people in the world who are wrong,"
Alec said sarcastically, getting out of the Aztec as Logan pulled away.
***
Crash was packed that night. Original Cindy could've sworn the entire staff of Jam Pony was
present, aside from Normal. Then there was the desperate drunks, the 'I need a break from life'
crowd, the 'I'm underage so I absolutely must be here' crowd, and the uncategorizable extras,
who were plentiful, just like every other group. And yet somehow, her, Max, Sketchy and Alec
seemed to have plenty of room at their usual table. Of course, they couldn't step outside the
bubble without being crushed among the bodies, but it seemed a little strange that no one ever
took their table. Original Cindy supposed that was because they had left a psychic reserved sign.
Or maybe they had become *the* crowd. The group which you could find in any club, who
seemed to own the place, and had been there so long they might as well move their stuff in.
Despite the giant crowd, Original Cindy couldn't help but feel that the place seemed quiet.
Sketchy was fidgeting in his seat, nervously looking between Max and Alec, while drinking a beer.
Max and Alec themselves sat in silence. Alec was drinking like a beer fountain in reverse, and
Max wouldn't even touch her glass. An air of discomfort hung throughout the entire room.
The silence was scary. *Alec* wasn't even talking. He didn't even look at one girl in the entire
place, especially Max. It looked kinda like they were invisible to each other. Neither one would
even acknowledge the other's presence. Something was obviously up. They weren't even
*insulting* each other.
Original Cindy wanted desperately to say something to interrupt the silence, but the words just
wouldn't come to her. -Think dammit!- she said to herself.
"So-" she choked out, her voice hoarse. She coughed into her hand. "H-how's the- the- the-"
Original Cindy sighed. From out of nowhere, she reached to her right and slapped Sketchy in the
face. All faces at the table snapped toward her, aside from Sketchy's which snapped away from
her.
It was as if the entire building had been playing like some tape in slow motion, and suddenly, with
a smooth rip noise, everything skipped to normal speed. And the volume skyrocketed. Finally,
the two transgenics had snapped out of their strange little funk.
"What the hell was that for?" Sketchy yelled.
"Yeah, OC, what the hell?" Max asked.
Alec simply stared at her, looking shocked and confused. He wasn't speaking, dammit! Original
Cindy glared angrily at Alec, then pulled back her arm, turned towards Sketchy, and punched him
in the face, knocking him right out his chair.
"Jesus, OC!" Alec said. "What the hell's the problem?"
"Nothing!" Original Cindy said, smiling, even though Sketchy lay on the floor at that very
moment, uttering numerous curses about females in general. Mission accomplished. "Nothing at
all." She stood up, held a hand down to Sketchy and helped him rise to his feet.
"OC, why-" Sketchy began, but Original Cindy interrupted him.
"Look at those two!" she said, gesturing towards Max and Alec. "They look so . . . alive." She
made herself sound like a proud mother who just watched her children walk into school for the
first time. She put her hand to her mouth and put on an expression of trying to fight back tears of
joy.
"Ooookay then," Alec said, rolling his eyes. He turned to Max. "She's obviously gone insane."
Max smirked lightly. "Obviously."
"Well," Alec said, standing up. Original Cindy frowned. He was all funky again. "It's almost
two and I'm tired, so I'm gonna head home." He put on his jacket, and picked up his bottle of
beer. He began to walk away, but then he turned back. Looking at Sketchy, he said, "You might
wanna put some ice on that." He left.
Original Cindy looked down at Max. Max was chugging her beer. It was gone within moments,
and she poured herself another glass. When she drank, she closed her eyes. When she poured,
she stared off into space. Funky Max was back too, with a vengeance.
Original Cindy hauled off and smacked Sketchy in the back of the head.
Poor Sketchy almost cried at the continuing abuse.
***
The night air felt cool and calming on Alec's overheated skin. Alec took a deep breath and let it
fill his lungs. He exhaled slowly, watching his breath curl around in the air like smoke. He began
to walk.
For hours, he walked. He thought about what had happened earlier that day with Max. They
were clicking so well. They had had their usual playful banter, making threats they both knew
they wouldn't take so far as they could throw the space needle. They had been friendly. There
had been a tad bit of romance. Alec had been warming up to telling her how he really felt about
her. He had hinted, but she hadn't noticed. But she had been becoming more comfortable around
him, becoming closer. And when their names had been put together in that stupid little book . . .
she had drawn back. It was that simple. She had brought up Logan to propel herself away.
And he had let her. He could have told her right out how he felt, he could have asked her to stay,
but he didn't. He just let her walk out, and then he had tried to pretend like everything was
alright. Just like it always was. Only it never really *was.*
Alec sighed. He continued to walk, to think.
Who was he kidding? Max hadn't even been trying to push him away. It was just a subtle hint.
'I love Logan, not you.' That was what she had really been saying when she changed the names.
'Dream on, loser.' Alec was stuck. He was stuck loving a woman who would never realize it,
and would spend the rest of her life chasing after a guy she could never be with.
And Alec was stuck alone.
Alec stopped where he was standing, on a side walk, god knows where. He looked around. In
actual fact, he knew where too. Just outside the fence surrounding Terminal City.
Alec sighed again, looked around to make sure no one saw him, and leapt the fence with ease.
The landing, however, wasn't quite so pleasant, and Alec felt pain explode through his abdomen.
He grunted and leaned over, arms crossed over his wound. After a few moment's he
straightened, shrugged it off, and journeyed into TC.
***
Mole was leaning against the side of a building in TC, cleaning his gun and talking to a cat
anomaly, when he saw the silhouette of a man walking in his general direction. An ordinary man,
or at the very least, not an anomaly.
Mole signaled for his friend to be quiet and the two of them backed into a darkened doorway.
They waited in silence for the man to approach.
***
Alec kept his eyes and ears opened as he walked towards the center of Terminal City. The
anomalies around here weren't exactly fond of Xs. He wasn't sure why, maybe because, back at
Manticore, they got to breathe fresh air, go outside, and eat on a regular basis. Plus they could
pass as human. Well, whatever the reason for the anomalies' dislike, Alec didn't want to be
caught off guard like he had been last time.
Unfortunately, it was too late to worry about stopping it.
As Alec stepped silently by a doorway, a boot came out from the door unexpectedly and caught
him in the gut. Alec hit the ground, smacking his head hard on the pavement. He didn't even
notice, however, the pain in his wound was too intense. It wasn't exactly a good idea to go out
and get kicked in the same place you had just got shot in the previous day.
Alec rolled onto his side an clutched his stomach, moaning in agony. He felt fresh blood seeping
through his shirt and onto his hands.
Two anomalies stepped from the shadows, and stood over him, looking down as he writhed in
pain. "494," said the lizard anomaly recognizing him from the whole Sam and White hostage
situation. "You should've known better than to come back."
"What the hell is your pro-problem?" Alec asked weakly.
Mole grinned. "You." He leaned down and pushed Alec's shoulder, rolling him onto his back.
"Let me see," he said. Alec lifted his hands. "Jesus," Mole said, worry creeping into his voice as
he noticed the blood all over Alec's shirt and opened jacket. "Sector cops?"
"White," Alec replied. "Don't worry, it was yesterday, he's not after me."
Mole nodded. "Let's get you inside."
"What?" said the cat anomaly, speaking for the first time since Alec had arrived. "He's an X, he's
not our problem."
"Just because we don't like him, doesn't mean we have to leave him here to bleed to death," Mole
said.
"Geez," Alec choked out. "Optimistic." Just then he noticed the pounding in his head. He
reached his hand to the back of his head and felt more blood. "Shit," he whispered. He felt
nauseous. Not a good feeling to mix with the pain in his gut. He groaned. "Could you make up
your minds already?" he asked.
"Can you walk?" Mole asked.
"Does it look like I can walk right now?"
Mole reached down and grabbed Alec's left hand. "Come on, help me out, Tom," he said to the
cat anomaly. Tom sighed and walked around to the other side of Alec. Together, he and Mole
hoisted him up carefully and brought him in to Head Quarters.
There was no use in counting how many sneers and glares flew in Alec's direction as they entered
HQ, there were too many. Plus, it really hurt his head to think right now. All Alec could
concentrate on at the moment was the pain. Ow.
Mole and Tom gestured for some anomalies to clear of a nearby table, and they lifted Alec onto it.
Alec felt his shirt being ripped open, and heard a few commands go around for some medical
thing or other, but he was too far gone to really acknowledge them.
***
Just like everyone else in HQ, Joshua turned to see what was going on when Mole and Tom
entered, supporting some other guy and causing a hell of a lot of commotion. People began
rushing around, searching for gauze and medical equipment and such. Someone was hurt. Joshua
moved through the crowd to see who it was, as did many others.
Needless to say, Joshua was a little shocked when he saw Alec on the table, barely conscious and
covered in blood. "Alec!" he exclaimed.
"Come on people, clear some space!" Mole yelled, trying to direct everyone around. "We need
some blood over here!"
Joshua came up behind Mole and poked him on the shoulder, rolling up his sleeve as Mole turned
around. Mole immediately grabbed the needed tubing from the girl who handed it to him and
connected Joshua to Alec, starting the stream of blood between them. "Is Alec gonna be alright?"
Joshua asked Mole.
"Once we stitch him up and get some blood in him, he should be fine," Mole assured him.
"Good," Joshua said. He looked down at Alec as the medics got to work. "Medium Fella's
gonna be alright," he told Alec, taking his hand.
***
"Alec." Alec heard someone calling his name in the distance. "Alec."
"Five more minutes," Alec muttered, squeezing his eyes closed more tightly.
"Alec!" Alec sighed and opened his eyes, to see Joshua looking down at him. The big guy
looked worried.
"Hey Josh," Alec said.
"Hey Alec," Joshua replied, seeming quite pleased that Alec was awake.
"How've you been, Big Fella?" Alec asked, still lying on the table.
"B-better than you," Joshua replied.
"That's a good thing, that is. A very good thing," Alec said, bringing his hand up to touch the
back of his head. He winced at the contact. Well, he wasn't dead. He could still feel pain.
"Why are you here?" Joshua asked.
"Well it's nice to see you too," Alec said. "I was just walking around, found myself outside the
fence, thought I'd come visit."
"White . . . shot you?" You could see the anger in Joshua's eyes.
"I'm fine, Joshua. It's nothing I can't handle."
"White will pay," Joshua growled.
"Someday, Josh. Not today, and not by you."
"Why?"
"Because if a transgenic just goes out and kills him, the humans will try to wipe us out. Try
harder, anyway." Alec reached up his hand and put it on Joshua's shoulder. "Someday."
Joshua nodded. "Something's bothering you."
Alec nodded. It was no use trying to hide these things from Joshua. He could always tell what
people were feeling. He was just gifted that way.
"Max okay?"
"Max is fine," Alec assured him.
"You and Max not okay," Joshua concluded.
"No, not really."
"Did you hurt her?" Joshua asked.
"Did I hurt her?" Alec said, getting angry. "Why do people always assume that I did something?
Did anyone ever consider that I might be hurt?"
Mole approached the two of them, sensing that things were getting a little uncomfortable. "I
think it's time for you to be going," he said to Alec.
Alec sighed and ignored him. "Look Joshua, I'm sorry. I just- I'm just a little on edge tonight. I
didn't mean to snap at you."
"Did you hear me?" Mole asked. "I said it's time for you to leave."
"Hey!" Alec snapped. "You're the one who kicked me in bullet wound hard enough to almost
break my skull on the pavement. Can I at least have a small conversation before you kick me
out?"
"No," Mole said.
Alec looked at Joshua, then slowly got up off the table. "Fine," he said coldly. "I'll get out of
your hair. Later Joshua." He walked out of HQ, managing to fight his temporary dizziness.
"Bye Alec," Joshua said sadly, watching him go.
***
It was almost six in the morning when Alec got home, showered, and got to bed. Needless to say,
he was a little on the tired side.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next chapter: Break Stuff.
Don't own the title: Break Stuff. Break Stuff belongs to Limp Bizkit.
Title Change: I realized, that What A Day! has what I like to call, a "break stuff" theme. If you
ever listen to the song, it's entire theme is pretty much explained in this line: It's just one of those
days. A "break stuff" theme, is when everything goes wrong every five minutes for one character.
From the moment they wake up, their day is screwed. In the last five minutes of their day,
something either catastrophically bad will happen, or something really good will happen to make
up for the entire day. This entire story pretty much has a "break stuff" theme, but the next few
chapters, from the moment someone (you'll find out who when you read) wakes up, will pretty
much be the definition of a "break stuff" theme.
Caderyn: The crowd: Let's just pretend the pulse took out all computers *including* the human
brain. And Asha: I'm not sure how I feel about her anymore. With reading "Twisted" by Brin and
writing "Ain't It Funny" she's growing on me. Not like in "Help the sorry person who reads
this." And Joshua: I'll include him soon, thanx for the reminder. I enjoyed writing the 'wave to
White' scene. Thanx for the wonderful, specific, and constructive reviews. This Chap's for you.
Dedication: To Caderyn, for above reasons.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At two o'clock in the afternoon, Logan came to pick Alec up, at Max's request. Max herself was
nowhere to be seen. Avoiding him, no doubt.
Alec wasn't as excited as he should have been about escaping the boring, boring hospital. He was
feeling a little on the depressed side since Max had left.
He had to be brought out of the hospital in a wheel chair for appearance's sake. After all, he had
just been shot the previous day. It might be a little suspicious if he just jumped up and walked
out.
"So Logan," Alec said from the passenger seat of Logan's Aztec. "You headin' to Crash
tonight?"
"Probably not. You're not going, are you?" Logan asked, turning toward Alec.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" Alec asked.
"Well for one thing, you just got shot."
Alec rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah! I forgot the burning sensation of a piece of metal tearing through
my abdomen and the dull throb I'm feeling at this very moment because it's not yet healed!
Thanks for reminding me, Logan!"
"There's no need to be sarcastic," Logan said, watching the road ahead of him. "I just mean you
might tear your stitches or something."
"To hell with the stitches, I need a drink," Alec said.
"Weelllll," Logan drawled. "Okay then. Here we go; home sweet home." He pulled up in front
of Alec's building.
"Dude, what are you on?" Alec asked. "Or what dream world are you living in? This place is a
dump."
"I'm not 'on' anything!" Logan said. "I wish people would stop asking me that."
"'Cause you're in the right, it's the many other billions of people in the world who are wrong,"
Alec said sarcastically, getting out of the Aztec as Logan pulled away.
***
Crash was packed that night. Original Cindy could've sworn the entire staff of Jam Pony was
present, aside from Normal. Then there was the desperate drunks, the 'I need a break from life'
crowd, the 'I'm underage so I absolutely must be here' crowd, and the uncategorizable extras,
who were plentiful, just like every other group. And yet somehow, her, Max, Sketchy and Alec
seemed to have plenty of room at their usual table. Of course, they couldn't step outside the
bubble without being crushed among the bodies, but it seemed a little strange that no one ever
took their table. Original Cindy supposed that was because they had left a psychic reserved sign.
Or maybe they had become *the* crowd. The group which you could find in any club, who
seemed to own the place, and had been there so long they might as well move their stuff in.
Despite the giant crowd, Original Cindy couldn't help but feel that the place seemed quiet.
Sketchy was fidgeting in his seat, nervously looking between Max and Alec, while drinking a beer.
Max and Alec themselves sat in silence. Alec was drinking like a beer fountain in reverse, and
Max wouldn't even touch her glass. An air of discomfort hung throughout the entire room.
The silence was scary. *Alec* wasn't even talking. He didn't even look at one girl in the entire
place, especially Max. It looked kinda like they were invisible to each other. Neither one would
even acknowledge the other's presence. Something was obviously up. They weren't even
*insulting* each other.
Original Cindy wanted desperately to say something to interrupt the silence, but the words just
wouldn't come to her. -Think dammit!- she said to herself.
"So-" she choked out, her voice hoarse. She coughed into her hand. "H-how's the- the- the-"
Original Cindy sighed. From out of nowhere, she reached to her right and slapped Sketchy in the
face. All faces at the table snapped toward her, aside from Sketchy's which snapped away from
her.
It was as if the entire building had been playing like some tape in slow motion, and suddenly, with
a smooth rip noise, everything skipped to normal speed. And the volume skyrocketed. Finally,
the two transgenics had snapped out of their strange little funk.
"What the hell was that for?" Sketchy yelled.
"Yeah, OC, what the hell?" Max asked.
Alec simply stared at her, looking shocked and confused. He wasn't speaking, dammit! Original
Cindy glared angrily at Alec, then pulled back her arm, turned towards Sketchy, and punched him
in the face, knocking him right out his chair.
"Jesus, OC!" Alec said. "What the hell's the problem?"
"Nothing!" Original Cindy said, smiling, even though Sketchy lay on the floor at that very
moment, uttering numerous curses about females in general. Mission accomplished. "Nothing at
all." She stood up, held a hand down to Sketchy and helped him rise to his feet.
"OC, why-" Sketchy began, but Original Cindy interrupted him.
"Look at those two!" she said, gesturing towards Max and Alec. "They look so . . . alive." She
made herself sound like a proud mother who just watched her children walk into school for the
first time. She put her hand to her mouth and put on an expression of trying to fight back tears of
joy.
"Ooookay then," Alec said, rolling his eyes. He turned to Max. "She's obviously gone insane."
Max smirked lightly. "Obviously."
"Well," Alec said, standing up. Original Cindy frowned. He was all funky again. "It's almost
two and I'm tired, so I'm gonna head home." He put on his jacket, and picked up his bottle of
beer. He began to walk away, but then he turned back. Looking at Sketchy, he said, "You might
wanna put some ice on that." He left.
Original Cindy looked down at Max. Max was chugging her beer. It was gone within moments,
and she poured herself another glass. When she drank, she closed her eyes. When she poured,
she stared off into space. Funky Max was back too, with a vengeance.
Original Cindy hauled off and smacked Sketchy in the back of the head.
Poor Sketchy almost cried at the continuing abuse.
***
The night air felt cool and calming on Alec's overheated skin. Alec took a deep breath and let it
fill his lungs. He exhaled slowly, watching his breath curl around in the air like smoke. He began
to walk.
For hours, he walked. He thought about what had happened earlier that day with Max. They
were clicking so well. They had had their usual playful banter, making threats they both knew
they wouldn't take so far as they could throw the space needle. They had been friendly. There
had been a tad bit of romance. Alec had been warming up to telling her how he really felt about
her. He had hinted, but she hadn't noticed. But she had been becoming more comfortable around
him, becoming closer. And when their names had been put together in that stupid little book . . .
she had drawn back. It was that simple. She had brought up Logan to propel herself away.
And he had let her. He could have told her right out how he felt, he could have asked her to stay,
but he didn't. He just let her walk out, and then he had tried to pretend like everything was
alright. Just like it always was. Only it never really *was.*
Alec sighed. He continued to walk, to think.
Who was he kidding? Max hadn't even been trying to push him away. It was just a subtle hint.
'I love Logan, not you.' That was what she had really been saying when she changed the names.
'Dream on, loser.' Alec was stuck. He was stuck loving a woman who would never realize it,
and would spend the rest of her life chasing after a guy she could never be with.
And Alec was stuck alone.
Alec stopped where he was standing, on a side walk, god knows where. He looked around. In
actual fact, he knew where too. Just outside the fence surrounding Terminal City.
Alec sighed again, looked around to make sure no one saw him, and leapt the fence with ease.
The landing, however, wasn't quite so pleasant, and Alec felt pain explode through his abdomen.
He grunted and leaned over, arms crossed over his wound. After a few moment's he
straightened, shrugged it off, and journeyed into TC.
***
Mole was leaning against the side of a building in TC, cleaning his gun and talking to a cat
anomaly, when he saw the silhouette of a man walking in his general direction. An ordinary man,
or at the very least, not an anomaly.
Mole signaled for his friend to be quiet and the two of them backed into a darkened doorway.
They waited in silence for the man to approach.
***
Alec kept his eyes and ears opened as he walked towards the center of Terminal City. The
anomalies around here weren't exactly fond of Xs. He wasn't sure why, maybe because, back at
Manticore, they got to breathe fresh air, go outside, and eat on a regular basis. Plus they could
pass as human. Well, whatever the reason for the anomalies' dislike, Alec didn't want to be
caught off guard like he had been last time.
Unfortunately, it was too late to worry about stopping it.
As Alec stepped silently by a doorway, a boot came out from the door unexpectedly and caught
him in the gut. Alec hit the ground, smacking his head hard on the pavement. He didn't even
notice, however, the pain in his wound was too intense. It wasn't exactly a good idea to go out
and get kicked in the same place you had just got shot in the previous day.
Alec rolled onto his side an clutched his stomach, moaning in agony. He felt fresh blood seeping
through his shirt and onto his hands.
Two anomalies stepped from the shadows, and stood over him, looking down as he writhed in
pain. "494," said the lizard anomaly recognizing him from the whole Sam and White hostage
situation. "You should've known better than to come back."
"What the hell is your pro-problem?" Alec asked weakly.
Mole grinned. "You." He leaned down and pushed Alec's shoulder, rolling him onto his back.
"Let me see," he said. Alec lifted his hands. "Jesus," Mole said, worry creeping into his voice as
he noticed the blood all over Alec's shirt and opened jacket. "Sector cops?"
"White," Alec replied. "Don't worry, it was yesterday, he's not after me."
Mole nodded. "Let's get you inside."
"What?" said the cat anomaly, speaking for the first time since Alec had arrived. "He's an X, he's
not our problem."
"Just because we don't like him, doesn't mean we have to leave him here to bleed to death," Mole
said.
"Geez," Alec choked out. "Optimistic." Just then he noticed the pounding in his head. He
reached his hand to the back of his head and felt more blood. "Shit," he whispered. He felt
nauseous. Not a good feeling to mix with the pain in his gut. He groaned. "Could you make up
your minds already?" he asked.
"Can you walk?" Mole asked.
"Does it look like I can walk right now?"
Mole reached down and grabbed Alec's left hand. "Come on, help me out, Tom," he said to the
cat anomaly. Tom sighed and walked around to the other side of Alec. Together, he and Mole
hoisted him up carefully and brought him in to Head Quarters.
There was no use in counting how many sneers and glares flew in Alec's direction as they entered
HQ, there were too many. Plus, it really hurt his head to think right now. All Alec could
concentrate on at the moment was the pain. Ow.
Mole and Tom gestured for some anomalies to clear of a nearby table, and they lifted Alec onto it.
Alec felt his shirt being ripped open, and heard a few commands go around for some medical
thing or other, but he was too far gone to really acknowledge them.
***
Just like everyone else in HQ, Joshua turned to see what was going on when Mole and Tom
entered, supporting some other guy and causing a hell of a lot of commotion. People began
rushing around, searching for gauze and medical equipment and such. Someone was hurt. Joshua
moved through the crowd to see who it was, as did many others.
Needless to say, Joshua was a little shocked when he saw Alec on the table, barely conscious and
covered in blood. "Alec!" he exclaimed.
"Come on people, clear some space!" Mole yelled, trying to direct everyone around. "We need
some blood over here!"
Joshua came up behind Mole and poked him on the shoulder, rolling up his sleeve as Mole turned
around. Mole immediately grabbed the needed tubing from the girl who handed it to him and
connected Joshua to Alec, starting the stream of blood between them. "Is Alec gonna be alright?"
Joshua asked Mole.
"Once we stitch him up and get some blood in him, he should be fine," Mole assured him.
"Good," Joshua said. He looked down at Alec as the medics got to work. "Medium Fella's
gonna be alright," he told Alec, taking his hand.
***
"Alec." Alec heard someone calling his name in the distance. "Alec."
"Five more minutes," Alec muttered, squeezing his eyes closed more tightly.
"Alec!" Alec sighed and opened his eyes, to see Joshua looking down at him. The big guy
looked worried.
"Hey Josh," Alec said.
"Hey Alec," Joshua replied, seeming quite pleased that Alec was awake.
"How've you been, Big Fella?" Alec asked, still lying on the table.
"B-better than you," Joshua replied.
"That's a good thing, that is. A very good thing," Alec said, bringing his hand up to touch the
back of his head. He winced at the contact. Well, he wasn't dead. He could still feel pain.
"Why are you here?" Joshua asked.
"Well it's nice to see you too," Alec said. "I was just walking around, found myself outside the
fence, thought I'd come visit."
"White . . . shot you?" You could see the anger in Joshua's eyes.
"I'm fine, Joshua. It's nothing I can't handle."
"White will pay," Joshua growled.
"Someday, Josh. Not today, and not by you."
"Why?"
"Because if a transgenic just goes out and kills him, the humans will try to wipe us out. Try
harder, anyway." Alec reached up his hand and put it on Joshua's shoulder. "Someday."
Joshua nodded. "Something's bothering you."
Alec nodded. It was no use trying to hide these things from Joshua. He could always tell what
people were feeling. He was just gifted that way.
"Max okay?"
"Max is fine," Alec assured him.
"You and Max not okay," Joshua concluded.
"No, not really."
"Did you hurt her?" Joshua asked.
"Did I hurt her?" Alec said, getting angry. "Why do people always assume that I did something?
Did anyone ever consider that I might be hurt?"
Mole approached the two of them, sensing that things were getting a little uncomfortable. "I
think it's time for you to be going," he said to Alec.
Alec sighed and ignored him. "Look Joshua, I'm sorry. I just- I'm just a little on edge tonight. I
didn't mean to snap at you."
"Did you hear me?" Mole asked. "I said it's time for you to leave."
"Hey!" Alec snapped. "You're the one who kicked me in bullet wound hard enough to almost
break my skull on the pavement. Can I at least have a small conversation before you kick me
out?"
"No," Mole said.
Alec looked at Joshua, then slowly got up off the table. "Fine," he said coldly. "I'll get out of
your hair. Later Joshua." He walked out of HQ, managing to fight his temporary dizziness.
"Bye Alec," Joshua said sadly, watching him go.
***
It was almost six in the morning when Alec got home, showered, and got to bed. Needless to say,
he was a little on the tired side.
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Next chapter: Break Stuff.