"Aw, why so glum, 494?" White asked Alec almost an hour later.
Alec didn't respond. He just glared at White, emoting all his feelings of hatred towards the Familiar.
"She'll be here in a few minutes if she knows what's good for you," White commented dryly.
"Why do you want her?" Alec asked finally. The only reason he could think of was to kill her. She killed Sean, therefore White would kill her. And Kris would come because White had him. Alec gritted his teeth.
"That is none of your concern," White said dismissively.
"If you hurt her..." Alec didn't bother finishing the sentence. White already knew the rest of what Alec would say, it was what anyone in love would say. He laughed.
"My, my 497. You are rather attached to her. How touching," White sneered.
Just then the doors opened and two burly Familiars escorted Kris into the warehouse. They had firm grips on her arms. Alec just looked at her, so many thoughts zooming around in his head.
"It's so good to see you, Kris," White said smiling.
She looked calm and collected. Alec watched the scene carefully. She hadn't glanced at him once since coming within a few feet the cage.
"Get your hands off of me," she said angrily to the two men holding her as she turned her neck to face one of them and pulled out of their grasp.
She faced White again and barely looked at him before he slapped her hard, throwing her to the floor.
"You son of a bitch!" Alec screamed from his cage.
Kris got up slowly, flexing her jaw and looking furious.
"I was talking to you," White said as he gripped her hair and pulled it back hard, exposing her neck.
"It's not good to see you," she retorted, her hair still in his grip.
He threw her to the ground again, and she slowly sat upright on the floor, ignoring the pain. White wouldn't kill her, she knew this now.
"Get up, Kris," White ordered.
She got up and looked at him. "I'm so glad I had such a lovely welcoming," she said sarcastically.
Alec looked down because he was smirking with amusement. Here she was, completely alone and at any moment White could just kill her yet she was showing spirit. She was amazing.
White looked as though he was going to hit her again, but opted not to.
"So, why did you want me to come?" Kris asked, feigning innocence of her vital role for the Familiars.
"To negotiate for the well-being of your beloved 494, of course," White said as though it were obvious.
"His name is Alec," she replied evenly, looking at White straight in the eye.
Alec held his breath. That was a comment White could react violently towards.
"So what are the terms you are suggesting?" Kris asked, not letting White respond to the last comment.
"You for him."
Such as she expected, but she didn't let it on. "Why?"
"Why not?"
Kris was silent for a while. "Well, he's killed more Familiars than I have," she reasoned. "And he's a transgenetic. He stands for everything you and the other Familiars hate."
White creased his brow, honestly confused. "Are you trying to get your boyfriend killed?" he asked arrogantly.
Kris looked at him as though he was stupid. "Of course not," she replied, glancing briefly at Alec for the first time who was as confused as White was.
"Then what is the problem?" White asked.
"I just don't understand. I'm nobody, really. And he's someone you've been hunting down for a year and a half. You can see where the logic fails," Kris said.
Alec thought about it. She had a point; there didn't seem to be big enough payoff for White to let Alec go in exchange for Kris.
"The logic is none of your concern," White spat out, approaching Kris.
Kris did not flinch when he was inches away from her. "I suggest a different set of terms. You let Alec and I walk out, you leave all the transgenetics alone, and this doesn't get to the public," she replied, flashing a CD at White.
"And what is on that?" White asked.
"Everything. A comprehensive list of Familiars in the public eye. Lots of interesting people, like Senator McKinley, but I'm sure you knew that. Tells all about how you guys are in trouble and I'm your universal mate. That's why you need me. That's why you won't kill me. You guys need to fuck me and have me make your super babies," she spat out vehemently.
White frowned. "Don't flatter yourself. You may not be the only one."
"Yeah, but I'm the only one you know of. You can kill me and continue searching for someone to make your babies, but are you willing to take that chance? You may be all powerful, but you're still mortal. C'mon, White, we both know you guys are running out of time. Anyway, if Alec and I don't walk out of here in three minutes, Eyes Only will make a broadcast and we all know how entertaining those are," Kris said with a smug smile.
White looked furious. He grabbed the CD from her, broke it in half and threw it across the warehouse.
"We have copies, lots of copies," Kris warned White. White stormed over to her and punched her in the face this time, sending her flying and landing hard on the cold cement floor with a sickening thud.
Alec gripped the bars of his cage, trying to see if Kris was moving. She wasn't.
"We are not threatened, we are not blackmailed. You don't mess with us," White shouted angrily.
Slowly she began to sit up on the floor. Blood flowed from her cut lip and she wiped it off. He was losing control, Kris observed. She could hear Alec cursing ferociously at White for hitting her, but paid no attention. "I'm just suggesting that you do this. It's for everyone's benefit," she said from the ground. She seemed to be spending more time there than on her feet. She really couldn't feel the left side of her face.
"You honestly think that some broadcast a faceless coward makes will destroy us? We are everywhere. You cannot look to a sector of business, a branch in government, anywhere without coming across one of us. This little stunt you're threatening to pull won't hurt us," he replied condescendingly.
"We'll see, White," Kris said quietly, looking at him evenly. She was beyond furious if such an emotion existed. White had Alec, she loved Alec, and Alec was not going to get shipped off to a lab or die tonight - she was determined.
White was so enraged with Kris' insolence that he slapped her again. She always had a fire within her, he knew this, but she had always feared him as well. He had used this to his advantage in their previous encounters. But this time, he could not sense any fear towards him but rather pure anger. He didn't know how to react to this new change. Violence, though, was a good stalling mechanism.
"Don't you dare think you have anything worth shit on us. It doesn't matter. You take a few of us down, there will be more, generations more."
"Not if you don't continue deceiving these women to fuck you and then killing them once they make your God damn babies!" Kris said furiously. This all would end tonight. No one should have to go through what she had to. These Familiars took away her innocence, her trust, her heart, and when she finally gained back the last two with the presence of Alec in her life, they were going to take him away from her as well. No, this ended tonight.
A little alarm went off on the watch Kris was wearing.
"It's too late now for you," she replied softly, looking at the television.
"This is a streaming freedom video bulletin. It cannot be traced, it cannot be stopped and it is the only free voice left in the city," the two eyes on the screen said. All eyes in the warehouse were now glued to the television set. Alec listened attentively to Logan's voice from his cage. He couldn't believe this all was happening. "A secret cult known as The Familiars has been in existence for thousands of years, breeding with unsuspecting women genetically capable to create offspring with superhuman capabilities. They have extremely heightened senses, increased strength, longer endurance, all the things that transgenetics have. It is a time-consuming process where only a handful of the children born have these capabilities. They then kill the women and inferior babies and raise the genetically enhanced children in a secret location to continue the traditions." Pictures of dead women littered the screen along with the house that Max had rescued White's son from. "They look just like everyone else and have infiltrated every part of our society." Photos of celebrities, government officials, CEO's, and other important people flashed onto the television. "They are responsible for the mysterious disappearance of Lydecker, the head official of the now destroyed Manticore." A picture of Lydecker's crushed car appeared on the screen. "Manticore was created by a Familiar named Sandeman who developed a way to accelerate the process of genetic improvement this cult values. He created the transgenetics. Now the government, headed by the Familiar named Senator McKinley is attacking these transgentics not because the transgenetics are dangerous or a threat to society in general, but because they stand for a bastardized version of themselves. They are exposing these people who are just trying to make a living, not wanting to harm anyone. So, I will return the favor. Here is a list of over ten thousand Familiars worldwide, most of them involved in some powerful aspect of our society." A list of names scrolled down the screen. "At this very moment they are holding a transgentic hostage in the warehouse on 558 Mayfield here in Seattle as bait for a woman to give herself over to them. What they are doing is unacceptable. With this exposure, they will be dealt with accordingly, I promise you this. This has been a streaming freedom video bulletin by Eyes Only...Out."
Everyone in the warehouse was silent for a second before chaos broke out. But it wasn't from within the warehouse. Before White could react to anything he heard, an Aztec SUV broke through the tinny warehouse doors and people dressed in black and camouflage came down ropes from the ceiling widows. White began barking orders to his men to fire at these attackers, baffled by the fact that they were even able to penetrate his guards outside. However, he underestimated the sniper abilities of Mole who was able to take out the Familiars surrounding the exterior of the warehouse easily with neat bullets to the head. The Eyes Only report was so distracting that White hadn't been able to hear the small sound of the silencer on Mole's weapon. Familiars rushed into the room, Kris could count fifteen of them. The transgenetics were outnumbered by six.
She didn't have time to reflect on that further when she realized that one of the Familiars was grabbing her and pulling her to her feet. She struggled, screamed, and fought, but she was unarmed and her struggles were like shooting a killer whale with a water gun. Suddenly a bullet whizzed very close to her head and struck the Familiar between the eyes. His blood trickled down his face and Kris jumped back, pushing the dead man away from her. She looked behind her quickly and saw Mole smile wryly at her before heading off to his next victim. Gaining her wits, she snatched the Familiar's gun and ran over to the cage holding Alec, carefully avoiding bullets along the way. She reached the cage and shot the lock off with the gun, freeing Alec. He leapt out of the cage and immediately flattened Kris to the ground as a bullet flew by that would have hit her in the torso. As Kris lay on the warehouse floor with Alec's face as her ceiling, she panted heavily and locked eyes with him.
"I can't protect you here," Alec said quickly.
"You already have," Kris replied giving him a small smile.
For one second, they were in their own little world where only the two of them existed. She looked up into eyes that she hadn't really seen in a month, stirring up deep feelings she had tried to suppress. And suddenly it was over. They were lying on a cold cement warehouse floor with bullets whizzing everywhere around them. Alec quickly got off of Kris and lunged at a Familiar approaching them.
Kris ran to the Aztec that was being defended by Logan and a few X-6's that she didn't recognize. She crouched down, using it as a defense against the onslaught of bullets. She aimed a shot towards the head of an approaching Familiar and he went down. Another one came towards the car and Logan and her shot at him, but he wouldn't go down until a few more bullets were in him. It reminded Kris of those Pre-Pulse zombie movies where the characters would shoot the monsters but they would just continue their advance. It felt weird to be killing these people, but she would worry about that later. She figured it was better them than her. Soon, however, she was out of bullets and there were no more guns left in the SUV to use.
She swore and momentarily dropped her guard. She felt arms snatch her up from behind and place a firm arm grip under her throat, almost choking her. It was White. She cursed her stupidity, yet it didn't make any sense because The Familiars need her, right?
"Nobody move!" White yelled as he held a knife to Kris' throat.