Title: Total Recall, Chapter 24

Author: CSIphile/redwing

AN: Pssst…Mrs Ackels, check NWP for the answer to your question. Also…I don't know from erasing peoples memories, all the information in this chapter is purely made up, unless of course its right, and in that case I did extensive research to make sure it was correct. Heh.

AN2: You all rock, you all rock…lalalalala. Thank you for the nearly 200 reviews on FF…its unreal to me. And deeply, deeply appreciated. Once this is all posted Ill have time to read y'alls and leave reviews for you! I have a hard time focusing on writing and reading at the same time, Im always afraid that someone else's idea will lodge in my subconscious and Ill write it without realizing. It's a problem for me….

Anyway….who was our mystery man? The old foe Lydecker? The supposedly evil director Olivet? Find out this week on Days of Our….oh wait…wrong Jensen show. My bad.

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Chapter 24: Levels of….

"Well, this is a surprise," Alec says as the other man walks into the now almost dark room. It's slightly illuminated by the florescent lights from the training grounds a mere hundred yards away.

"Alec."

"For someone who is one of the good guys, you really know how to hide it." Alec's tone is accusatory.

"It's not like I had a choice…"

Alec steps forward, closing the distance between them. He may be a good guy, but that doesn't mean Alec has to like him. "Sure you did. You didn't have to stick those probes in our heads and take our lives away. Our memories."

"Yes, I did." Brady's voice is hard, but Alec has to give him credit for not backing away from the approaching transgenic. "If I had refused, I'd be dead now. Someone else would have done the procedure the right way and you NEVER would have regained your memory. You and your girlfriend would still be Manticore property, happily going about your killing ways."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Alec pauses his approach, contemplating the other man's words.

"Science has come a long way since your last visit to re-indoctrination, Alec. We can pinpoint a memory and erase all of it or only certain parts. For 45-Max, we erased all her memories of 493, due to his resemblance to you, and everything since she got out in '09. Replaced it with someone else's memory store. You were easier; three years gone. But there are levels to erasure, Alec."

Brady walks to the chalkboard and finds a dusted over piece of chalk. After wiping it on his lab coat, Brady writes one word on the board.

Terminal City

"You can erase the whole thing." With one hand he wipes the word entirely from view, and then rewrites it. "Or…you can erase just the top couple layers and write over it." Again he wipes his hand over the words, but instead of erasing them, he leaves just a ghost of the word. Picking up the chalk again, he writes directly over Terminal City.

Manticore.

Terminal City is still slightly visible behind Manticore, but you had to work at it to make out all the letters.

"The principal is the same, Alec. We…skimmed off the memories, removing the top layers and writing over it. We left the basic elements, hoping that in time, your transgenic healing would eventually shed the new memories and reveal the old."

Alec just stands there, stunned. They hadn't miraculously regained their memories after all. It is quite a feat, Alec can admit, and he's impressed as hell.

"When did you know?" he chokes out, his eyes never leaving the two intersecting words on the board.

"Your handler started to suspect something when Max went into heat. She tested negative for pregnancy, which was confounding. I explained it away as an aberration, possibly because of her time on the outside, and assured Olivet her next cycle would be productive. And if she's not pregnant…" Brady is cut off by Alec.

"We have to be out of here by then. No way will Max let herself get impregnated. And no way I'll do it."

"Actually, you need to leave sooner. When she has recovered from her bullet wound, they are going to start the in vitro process. You have maybe two days before they harvest from you both."

"Oh, Christ," he mutters and runs one hand through his hair. "She won't…."

"I'll let it go as far as harvesting, but I'll try and hold off implantation as long as I can. No guarantees though."

Finally Jacob speaks up. "You can't let them do that to her, Alec -- once they are done messing with its genetic code, it probably won't be a baby anymore. I've read her file -- Max would never allow Manticore to have her child. I suspect she would reveal she isn't who they think before allowing it. I cant help you here, as it is I've already had to call in a favor with the Seattle police."

Alec narrows his eyes at the other man. "Seattle? Why?"

"Olivet thought it would put the transgenics on edge if there was a sudden increase in police presence. Maybe cause them to do something that would allow him to come in and exert control over Terminal City. It was his backup plan; I took care of it, a Detective Clemente was happy to help since he didn't know what was going on either. We managed to call off the extra security without arousing suspicion."

"Thank you…."

It's all rushing around in his head, and Alec has to take a deep breath. He needs a plan, and fast. He looks up at the other men in the room. He hates this, he is putting his and Max's lives in the hands of men who at one time were the enemy. Alec has nothing but instinct telling him they are on the up and up, and won't go running to Olivet to expose the whole thing. Logic tells him though, that they wouldn't expose themselves so much if what they said wasn't true. First rule of getting the enemy to trust you is only give out the minimum amount of information, and charm the hell out of them. These two are neither charming nor quiet, which goes a long way in Alec's book in convincing him of their intentions.

Sighing, he jumps into the ocean. "Ok, is there any way to contact TC? We need to coordinate. I assume you can contact the people on the inside?"

"Yes, I can. And I might be able to arrange something regarding TC. We have someone in IT who might be able to help us," Jacob responds.

"Good, and you…" He points at Brady. "You….hold things up as best you can."

Brady nods at him.

"Why do I feel like we are missing a piece of this puzzle? And that Alec has it?" Mole asks his smaller counterpart and the human on the telecom. Somehow Logan and Dix had set up an international video conference call. Mole doesn't know how they do it.

"Yeah, I'm getting that idea, too," Logan replies, with no small amount of annoyance in his voice.

Dix chimes in from his seat in front of the computer. "Well, we can expose all the sites and their true nature and go over the atrocities with the media, blah blah…but that doesn't mean anyone will believe us."

"Exactly. We need someone at a higher level to expose this mess. The Seattle incident, while national news, has faded into obscurity. People don't realize it's still going on," Logan comments, and chews his bottom lip lightly.

"Maybe that's why whoever this is has been sitting on this information," Mole propositions.

"Probably," Logan says and purses his lips.

Mole knows he has an idea, and isn't in the mood for Logan's typical "tell you at the last minute" behavior. "What you thinking, man?"

"I might know someone who can help. A well-respected senator who has been pro-transgenic since the beginning. I checked him out a while ago to be sure he was on the up and up. I'll double check and let you guys know."

Mole grumbles slightly, but he and Dix agree. "We will let you know if we hear from them," Mole comments.

"Thanks," the cyber hacker sighs just before signing off.

Mole looks at Dix after the connection is clear and frowns slightly. "You ever get the feeling he still loves her?"

"Yeah, I always feel bad."

Mole just shrugs. "She made her choice. Hopefully we will hear from Alec soon."

"Yeah, did you also notice the cops have backed off some?"

"Yeah, what the hell is going on around here?"

"No idea, man," Dix comments and turns back to the computer. He refuses to leave until he hears from them. One way or the other.

Two Days Later

Manticore, Idaho

Alec looks up from taping his hands and finds a beautiful face standing right in front of him. He restrains a smile from cracking across his own face, as they are surrounded by unit mates. He hasn't seen her since leaving her in medical two days ago. Alec had no doubt that she was all right; if they can bring a man back after shooting himself in the head, then they could take care of a bullet wound. But there is a difference between knowing she is ok and seeing her in person, whole and well.

"Good to see you back, 452."

"Glad to be back."

They are all business as she mimics his movements, taping her hands up for a round of sparring.

"Ready for me to beat the hell out of you?"

She smirks at him. "Only in your dreams, pal."

He smiles and leads them to a small area of the gym, away from the others. Straightening up, he cracks his neck and gets into fighting stance. She purses her lips at him and sets her feet on the blue mat. He lunges at her first, and she ducks him easily.

"Jeez, 494. I'm not human -- you can come after me harder than that." To accentuate her point, she gets in a punch to his ribs.

"Hey, just trying to go easy on the lady." He winks at her.

She rolls her eyes at him and dodges another swing. For several minutes they spar lightly, each occasionally getting in a hit before he speaks.

"How are you? Really?"

"Fine, really." She smiles at him. God, I would do anything for that smile.

"Good, 'cause if we are going to do something, it's going to be sooner rather than later."

"Why the rush all of a sudden?"

"I met our man on the inside."

Her eyes widen somewhat. "Really?"

Quickly he details the conversation he had, and those involved -- his photographic memory allowing him to recall the conversation word by word, if needed.

"They already tested you for pregnancy, but obviously it was negative. Everyone's favorite Manticore dictator was not pleased. He is getting serious pressure from the Grand Committee to produce more soldiers, by any means necessary."

"Damn," she hisses. "When?"

"I don't know… anytime. Let them harvest, Max -- you won't be implanted. We should be long gone, and this place will be exposed by then."

She nods slightly and sighs. "How are you going to contact Dix and Mole?"

"It's been arranged for a few hours tomorrow. I'm thinking 36 hours after that we strike, if they can get organized in time. Hopefully Logan knows someone."

She nods. "He probably does, knowing him. What do you need me to do?"

"Nothing, Max, not until it happens."

"But…"

"No arguments, Max, you need to be one hundred percent. Besides, how many transgenics does it take to send an email?" He smiles.

She grumbles, but agrees.

Any more discussion is cut off by the handler approaching. They both come to a quick attention.

"After training, you are both to report to Brady in medical."

"Yes, sir!" they respond in unison.

The handler gives them a quick smile, almost so faint that if they hadn't been super soldiers, they would have missed it.

She turns back to him, an unreadable expression on her face. "I don't want to have to do this."

His face softens and Alec resists the urge to hug her. "I know, but we can't tip our hand yet."

"I know. I just don't want them having any part of me. But especially that part."

He nods and they go back to sparring. "You know, I've been thinking."

"Oh no…."

He gives her a look and continues. "The only unknown in this equation is the other transgenics. Who knows what will happen when they realize what's going on."

She purses her lips and ducks a swing. "Hopefully, it will be like Seattle. Once the doors are open, they run."

"Yeah, but now the government will know they exist, all wrapped up for them. This might be more than we can handle Max."

She is silent for a while. He lands a hit on her shoulder, and she swipes his feet out from under him. Leaning over his prone form on the mat, she finally speaks. "When you talk to Dix tomorrow, make sure they can assure the transgenics freedom, wherever they decide to go." She shrugs. "Maybe they will want to stay here under their own rule, but that has to be part of the deal."

"That might be harder than you think, Max."

"Try, Alec. If not…we may need a new plan."

"No time for…"

"I know, Alec, so use those charming techniques of yours and get them to do it."

"Didn't realize you thought so highly of my techniques." He waggles his eyebrows at her.

"I don't know, I haven't seen them all yet. Have I?"

"Not by a long shot," he comments, and she smiles broadly at him.

tbc……………….