Title: Total Recall, Chapter 7
Author: CSIphile/redwing
AN: Ok, the traitor guy, I know he's not a regular, I just didn't have the heart to do that to one of the mutants we already know and love. But I did pick him from one of the guys in the parking garage at TC, he was onscreen in LAtR for like two seconds.
AN2: Again, thank you so much for all the reviews, I love them so. Please, keep it up, I don't know if you like the direction Im going if you don't tell me.
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Chapter 7: The Beginning of the End
For the fourth day in a row, Alec is dumped onto the floor of his cell; they had long ago stopped dropping him on the slightly more comfortable bed.
Groaning, he pulls his battered body onto the cot and winces when he lays wrong on his dislocated shoulder. Today had been the worst of it. The brain fucks had started two days ago, but today, they seemed to be in an especially cruel mood -- adding a beating onto the already unpleasant images that they sent parading through his brain.
Pictures of broken bodies, some in worst shape than others -- some bloody, some just looking like they were asleep. All with one common denominator: they were all killed by 494. In between the picture show, they had pressed him for mission details he'd rather forget, using violence when they didn't get the answer they wanted. It was excruciating, Alec isn't sure how many times his one shoulder had been dislocated and then popped back in- and not nicely. He has a broken wrist, several cracked ribs, one sore shoulder and more than likely a few concussions… and that is just today.
Then they had showed him Rachel, right after the explosion, and at that point, he had wished for death, sweet release from the hell he was in. And for a fleeting moment, he had almost given in -- almost reverted to 494, just to stop the misery. He feels his alter ego stalking the edges of his mind constantly, ready to take over when Alec can't handle it anymore. But he knows that if 494 comes back, that which makes him Alec will be gone -- lost forever.
He hadn't given in, however, he'd stayed strong -- thinking of Max and Max alone to keep him sane. Surprisingly, they hadn't mentioned her at all since the first day. They'd tried every trick in the book and then some to get him to break -- and failed, sometimes by only the slimmest of margins. What concerned him, though, was that the doctors hadn't seemed very disturbed by the fact that he wasn't giving up. Like they knew something he didn't.
Rolling over with difficulty, he takes up the now customary fetal position, and his last resort plan flashes through his mind.
Max. I won't let them have you. Even if I have to become what I hate. Just hang in, baby….
With that, he slips into a pain-filled slumber.
Even without a clock or light, Max can tell the boys are late to take her to her brain screw appointment. Three days this week, this being the fourth, they had arrived shortly after breakfast to take her to Psy Ops. And every day brought a new pain, both physical and emotional. While she didn't have years of Manticore assassinations behind her to use, she did have the incredible guilt about letting out an army of unwanteds on the world.
Standing slowly, she flexes the hand she was sure was broken yesterday. A few manageable pricks of pain occur, and she nods slightly. Good, not broken.
Pursing her lips, she thinks of Alec. Two days ago, after nearly coming to tears wondering what was happening in TC, Max realized it was better to focus on the problem at hand so she could escape and get back to her home. She wonders if he is ok, if he's still alive for that matter; they hadn't mentioned him or used him against her as Alec had feared. Which makes her very wary about the upcoming sessions. She worries about him, almost more for his well-being than her own.
She would die for him; she would take her punishment and his if it meant his freedom. And yet, she still can't bring herself to admit she may be in love with the guy.
Sitting on the floor, she starts doing crunches. No point in going soft.
Hearing the boys on the other side of the wall, she leans her back against the concrete and waits. Same as everyday, they trot her off and bring her back, sometimes getting in some shots for themselves.
The door opens, and she is surprised when her regular guards aren't there; she tilts her head at the man who enters. She's seen him….but where? He has a similar build to Alec, small but muscular.
And then it comes to her. The warehouse -- he had entered with Olivet, stayed by the other man's side. Maybe his assistant? Max smells an opportunity, and is off the floor and on top of the man in under a second. She is about to bring down a crushing blow to his windpipe, when a sting in her shoulder stops her.
Tranquilizer.
She can feel everything start to get fuzzy, the edges of her vision blurring. Must be some strong sedative, she ponders before giving her visitor one last look and promptly passing out.
Groaning, she comes to with a wicked headache and a dry mouth. Blinking a few times, she expects to see the interior of the Psy Ops room, but is surprised to find herself elsewhere. It looks like a hospital operating room -- cold surgical steel and monitors everywhere. Immediately, memories of Jack torn open in a similar room flood her mind, and she panics.
His small body strapped to an autopsy table.
His wide eyes looking straight at her; through her practically.
The smell of disinfectant and blood mingling together. His blood, her brothers life being drained slowly, painfully, and he is still awake.
Pulling violently on the restraints at her wrists, she starts breathing hard and struggling.
No. No. No. No. No. No. No.
She remembers this part; the pain, the sheer terror of having your body practically autopsied while you're alive.
"Relax, 452," she hears as a needle is inserted into her arm, and she thanks God for the blackness sure to come.
Unfortunately, Max is not that lucky. While whatever they injected her with soothes the panic, it keeps her mind alert and awake. She can feel the leather binding her extremities, and the bit in her mouth to keep her from screaming out, the chill in the room, that familiar smell of disinfectant. But she can also feel something at her forehead, two small probes inserted under the skin.
Max can see Olivet standing in one corner of the room, an unsure expression on his face.
Max looks around frantically; instinct is telling her this is an even worse situation than Psy Ops, and she needs to get the hell out. But there are no escape options: she is bound tightly to the table, and even if she could wiggle free there are three armed guards at the only door.
This is so very, very bad, is her last thought before an electrical surge courses through those probes and into her brain.
Alec is surprised when Beavis and Butthead come to get him before they feed him. He's barely recovered from yesterday's 'session' and wonders if their real goal here is to just kill him -- screw trying to turn him back. Quietly, he allows his arms restrained and follows the same path as always into the same room as always.
Again, he wishes for a quick death. He simply cannot handle much more.
They seat him in the same old chair in front of the same video screen, and he wonders what today's atrocities will be.
Then the door opens and Olivet arrives.
"Well, good morning, 494. We have a special treat for you today. Instead of the little retrospective as of late, let's show you something we've accomplished lately." With that, he pulls out a CD and places it in the machines.
Alec watches as the screen blinks a few times.
And then his heart drops in his chest.
Max.
He can see her strapped to a table, struggling before the nurse injects her. There is little sound on the recording, just the noise of her moving around and making small moaning noises.
"Max," he whispers without even thinking, missing the smile that crosses Olivet's face.
He watches with trepidation as one of the doctors makes adjustments on a machine before pushing a button that causes her entire body to lift off the table slightly, and a loud scream come around the restraint in her mouth.
Alec is near tears as he watches this continue, the doctor taking some kind of measurement before sending another shock through her with the same result. After watching about 15 minutes of the same thing, Alec starts struggling with the chains at his arms.
"You BASTARD, what did you do to her?" he spits at the older man.
Alec watches as the older man gestures to the doctor first, and a gag is placed in his mouth. Then he nods at the guard, and a door is opened.
In walks Max, unguarded and dressed in the Manticore uniform of city camouflage. Alec searches her face for something…anything to tell him his Max is still in there, still fighting, but all he finds is the blank look of a soldier. He sends an evil look to Olivet, and the other man merely turns to Max, who salutes.
"What is your designation?"
"X5-452, sir."
Alec feels his chest constrict; they couldn't have. Could they? Then he feels it, 494…ready and willing.
"What is this soldier's designation, 452?" he asks crisply, pointing to Alec.
Please, Max… please, baby. He looks into her eyes, pleading with her to give him a sign that she's still in there.
But she doesn't. Max isn't in there anymore. He can tell, the life that lived in her eyes is gone, replaced by nothing.
She stares back at him, their eyes locked, hers holding no more emotion than a robot's. "Unknown, sir. I've never seen this solider."
Searching her eyes desperately he sees no recognition, she truly thinks she's never seen him. In that instant, he breaks; all that he was holding out for is gone, Alec gives up the fight, and 494 takes over.
tbc……………