Title: Total Recall, Chapter 26

Author: CSIphile/redwing

AN: The very last part of this chapter is an ode to a scene in one of my favorite scary movies of all time. It doesn't even involve the main characters, its two supporting characters who are being chased by the…bad guys. They get caught in a tunnel…and well read the fic to see what happens. I'll be surprised if anyone can figure out the movie.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Chapter 25: Putting Your Money….

Tuesday, Midnight, Pacific (1 am Mountain)

Terminal City

"Is everything set?" he asks for the hundredth time that hour.

"Yes, Mole. Everything is set. The senator has arranged for the Marines to grab all the Grand Committee at one time, stopping them from communicating and warning each other. At the same time at the separate sites, the good guys will lock down the transgenics in their cells so the Marines can come in and round up the higher ups there. Then in the morning, the transgenic population will find a whole new, and very free, world."

"I hope this works."

"Me too. Senator Dobson assured us that it will be the transgenics' decision about what to do. There will be a news conference in the morning explaining the raids and hopefully calming the nation's fears. With any luck, that will help us too."

"What if it doesn't, Dix? What if the transgenics can't handle being free?"

Dix has never seen the bigger man so concerned, but then again, it is Max and Alec. "Mole, they all want to be free, at least a little. And we'll worry if it comes to that."

"Ok, sorry. I just want this over with already."

"We all do man, we all want Max and Alec back alive. And we want our brothers and sisters out there to experience freedom."

"Jesus, man, you've been hanging around Max too much." Mole waves a hand around. "Besides, this ain't exactly what I pictured freedom as, did you?"

"It's better."

With that, Mole is stumped and when Dix turns back to the computer bank, he knows no explanation will be forthcoming. But somewhere inside, Mole understands; despite the hardships, the struggle, he couldn't be happier living with his own kind, fighting for freedom with them, and under no one's rule but their own.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Tuesday, 2 am, Mountain

Manticore, Barracks A, Room 494

Alec stares at the ceiling and exhales loudly. Two hours, two small, insignificant and yet longest hours of his life. He runs through the plan in his head; the Marine detachment should be in the woods, outside transgenic vision at 3:40 am, and just then, Jacob should be unlocking his door and taking him to Max. With the exception of the two or three X's guarding the perimeter, the rest will be locked down in their rooms at 3:50. At precisely 4 am, the Marines would enter the compound, containing the sentries, and gathering all the top brass -- stopping them from attempting to get the facility back.

Everything seems good to go. All he has left to do is wait, and hope nothing goes wrong.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Tuesday 3:00 am, Mountain

Manticore, Barracks A, Room 452

Her stomach is in knots; this could finally be the end of Manticore. They could at long last get one monkey off their backs. Although there was still the problem of White, but knowing Manticore would never be back would sure help the situation. Max stands up and starts pacing, increasing her speed as the time ticks by, excruciatingly slowly.

Fifteen minutes later, she is ready to climb the walls. Alec isn't scheduled to come get her for another 25 minutes. I wonder how he is doing. Probably sleeping, the ass. Damn sharks.

Another five pass, and Max is surprised when her cell door opens. This would be early for Alec, so she approaches cautiously, and is shocked to find two security guards and one of the guys from the lab there.

"452, we need you to come to medical," The lab tech informs her in a bored tone.

"It's 3 in the morning, this can't wait?" She does her best to exude annoyance when every alarm bell in her head is telling her this is bad.

"No," he states and turns around, apparently expecting her to just follow.

Which she does. She can't blow it now, not with 40 minutes until showtime.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Tuesday, 2:30 am, Pacific (3:30 Mountain)

Terminal City

Dix looks around expectantly, but there is nothing for him to do but wait. They won't know if it was a success until it's all over and Logan calls them or the team they sent out to retrieve Max and Alec contacts them.

That had been a fight of epic (or "Max and Alec") proportions. Mole had insisted on going out to Boise tonight to pick up their much missed leaders, but Dix thought it was a horrible idea. Terminal City had already lost one set of leaders to a simple operation. What was going on tonight was far from simple, and Dix wasn't willing to let another leader go out there and retrieve them.

Mole had, of course, protested; the lizard didn't trust anyone else to do it. Dix had countered with endless worst-case scenarios for him, all of them ending with Mole's death or re-capture by a not-so-destroyed Manticore. After much fast-talking, Dix had convinced Mole to allow Dalton and two other trusted X5s to head out yesterday.

The three Xs are currently instilled outside the compound waiting for the military to move in and help, and then to bring home their missing leaders. Of course they are on radio silence; no need to alert anyone to their presence.

Dix leans his head against the back of the chair and sighs. This could be the longest 45 minutes of his life.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Tuesday, 3:40 am, Mountain

Manticore, Barracks A, Room 494

Right on time, Alec's door unlocks and swings open, and the X stands quickly, just in case. Thankfully, it's just Jake, and Alec noiselessly exits, closing the door behind him. Without speaking, they head 50 yards to the south and Jake uses a key to unlock a door similar to his. Alec feels a rush of adrenaline course through him; this was the part of missions that he loved, getting out there and completing the task right under the enemy's nose.

As the door opens, Alec takes one step in only to be greeted by nothing. She's not there. Lightning fast, he spins on the other man, pinning him against inside wall -- one hand squeezing Jacob's neck enough to restrict airflow.

"What the hell is going on?" he hisses.

Jake just shakes his head and indicates for Alec to let go a little. The transgenic narrows his eyes menacingly, but complies, allowing enough air into the other man's lungs so he can speak.

"I don't know. No one is taken out of barracks this time of night unless it's for an operation."

"Well, I'm sure Max would have mentioned a mission, so where the hell is she?" Alec is furious; they are not even 2 minutes into this and there's already a problem of the worst kind: Max is AWOL. With a frustrated sigh, he releases Jake's neck and leaves the room, heading toward security.

"Let's go, we can find her on the monitors," he barks at the human, and heads down the hall. Luckily, security was the next stop anyway because they needed to lock down the barracks doors.

While the barracks cell doors are manually locked at night, from the security stations you can do a computerized lockdown, so the physical keys that all the security people and top people at the facility have, don't work. The doors have to be unlocked again by inputting the code set when they are locked down to start with.

Slipping through the facility, the two men walk with purpose; security won't question Jacob accompanying a transgenic -- that's not their job. They easily make their way to Security Station Three, blissfully unmanned during the hours of midnight through five am.

Entering, Alec checks out the area; the room is maybe 5 by 10 feet, with one wall covered in cameras, and the control panel. In the middle of the room is a small station, where the lockdown controls are. Jake turns on the overhead lights, illuminating the dark room for his sake.

Quickly, the two men turn on all the security monitors, and while Jake starts the sequence for lockdown, Alec scans for the missing transgenic. He has to find her, and quickly. Alec has no intention of being caught up with the transgenics onsite; he wants to slip out quietly once the military has it under control.

Midway through the scan, he finds her on the monitors. And only two words escape his lips into the silent room.

"Oh, shit."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Tuesday 3:40 am

Manticore, Medical Ward

She's just about had it with whatever is going on; they brought her to medical and so far she has silently sat on the bed, waiting for the lab tech to return. They are 20 minutes from freedom and she's stuck here, playing the dutiful soldier. Max can only imagine that Alec is going in insane wondering where she is. They should be at her door by now, only to find her cell very empty. Hopefully though he will be able to locate her on the security cameras. It's not critical that they are together when it all happens, but it sure would be nice. She doesn't want to lose him in the mess she is sure will occur, and Max doubts Olivet or security would go down without a fight.

Sighing, she entwines her fingers, relieved when a sound behind her indicates the return of someone. Unfortunately, her relief is short lived when she sees that the tech is carrying a petri dish. He places it carefully on the stainless steel counter and turns to her.

"Strip from the waist down."

"What?"

"You heard me, 452. Waist down. Time for insemination."

She is stunned; they can't be doing this now, of all times. Quickly she looks at the clock -- 15 minutes left -- maybe she can draw this out. "Of all times in the morning you drag me out of bed…on whose authority?"

Another voice answers the question from the door. "Mine, 452. Now strip." Max turns and finds Olivet leaning in the doorframe, a self-satisfied smirk on his face. "Or should I call you Max?"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Tuesday, 3:50 am

Manticore, Security Office 3

"Oh shit…FUCK. I have to go get her."

"What?" Jake yells from his position. "I'm almost done, hang on!"

"No, it's him, Olivet. He knows, holy shit. HE KNOWS."

"How can you tell?" Jake asks and Alec hears the clicking of buttons increasing.

"Lip reading, man. Basic training."

Without even waiting to hear Jake's response, Alec opens the door and runs down the halls at top speed. Even at this rate, he is 2 or 3 minutes from medical. Plenty of time to…

No, no, no. Hang on, Max.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Tuesday, 3:55 am

Manticore, Medical Ward

Max shrugs and looks at him, keeping the fear off her face and out of her voice. "Congratulations, asshole, you figured it out."

Swiftly, Olivet approaches her and before she can react, punches her across the face -- not knocking her out, but dazing her a bit. Fucking X3s. She can feel him strapping her to the bed and she immediately starts struggling.

"Relax, 452. It will all be over in a minute. You'll be carrying the perfect Manticore soldier. I may have to put you in solitary for the next 9 months, but it will happen, and I'll be able to show the Committee my success."

"You sick, twisted freak. You're one of us, how could you do this? You know what they did to you…." she spits at him and fights as the lab tech cuts her pants off.

"I'm not 'one of you,' Max. I never was. I'm better than you. I'm the first human-like X that didn't die from progeria. I'm the first to succeed, and here, success is rewarded in spades. How do you think I got this assignment?" When she doesn't answer, he grabs her roughly by the cheeks. "By being the best, by completing every mission I've attempted, and this will be no different."

She can feel the cool air touching her bare legs and she starts to panic; she can't let them impregnate her. Can't. Struggling, she pulls harder at the straps holding her down, the metal only cutting into her skin.

That's when she hears it, and by Olivet's expression he hears it too. Alarm bells.

Alec races through the facility at top speed, and just as he gets to the front of the med ward, alarms go off. Obviously his flight didn't go unnoticed by security. He pushes open the double doors and is greeted by silence and darkness. Quickly, however, his eyes adjust and he walks a short hallway to the smaller procedure rooms. He hadn't taken notice of which one she was in, but only one has light streaming from the door.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Tuesday 3:58 am

Perimeter of Manticore

"What the hell is that?" Commander Law barks at his unit. He can hear the ringing all the way out here.

"The internal alarm is going off, sir," his second responds quickly.

Law surveys the situation, but the perimeter guards seem to also be confused by the ringing. It's a perfect opportunity. "Christ. Ok men, let's go!"

With that, a 50-man Marine unit descends on the fence, snipers tranquilizing the X's on duty quickly. With military precision, they cut through the previously electrified fence; the power had been shut off just seconds before by Jacob.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Medical Ward, Same Time

Max is still fighting the lab tech who has one hand on her abdomen, somewhat stilling her, with the other hand poised with needle in hand, ready to enter. Olivet seems content to stand at her head and watch with disturbing pleasure.

Max feels pressure when suddenly Olivet goes flying across the room, followed with transgenic speed by Alec. The director hits the counter with incredible force, his head making contact with  a sharp cracking noise in the small room against the metal cabinets above and slumps to the ground unconscious -- a small trickle of blood making its way down his face from his temple. Alec manages to stop himself at Max's side and glares at the tech who hasn't moved since watching his director explode across the room.

"You better get the hell out of here." Alec's voice is vicious, angry and non-negotiable.

The tech makes the correct decision and gets up, leaving the unused needle on the tray next to him. He walks by Alec as quickly as possible, as the transgenic keeps his eyes on him the entire time until he is out of the room.

Swiftly he removes the restraints from Max and lifts her off the table, placing her carefully on the ground. Initially she is a little wobbly, but easily gets her balance.

"Are they in?" she asks as she pulls on a pair of dark blue scrub pants and laces up her boots.

"Should be, let's get out of here."

He grabs her hand, but before they can make it out the door, Alec feels Max's hand release him. He turns to find her struggling with Olivet, her upper arm tightly in the other man's grasp. Just as she is starting to gain the upper hand, Olivet pulls a gun and places at her temple, stilling both Max and Alec from attempting anything.

"Move one centimeter and she's dead."

Alec does nothing but stare at Olivet, a murderous expression on his face. If he thought he could beat a bullet, Alec would charge. Instead he goes the route he is best at…talking.

"You can't win, Dick. Its over."

"Nothing's OVER, 494. I've got you both at a distinct disadvantage." Olivet presses the gun harder into Max's skin.

"What you aren't seeing, Olivet, is that there is a Marine unit infiltrating your facility and all the other Manticore farms around the country right now. It's not just over for you, man -- it's over for everyone. Manticore is history."

"You're lying. I've read your file, 494 -- that's what you do. You lie and talk people into things. It's a gift really. A gift I can only hope your offspring will inherit." The grin on Olivet's face gives Alec the chills.

Alec remains still, but he can hear someone entering the Medical Ward. He can only hope it's the Marines and not security.  "Look at my face, Olivet. Do I look worried in the least bit, do I look like a man resigned to staying in this hell hole?"

Alec can see Olivet thinking about this so he continues. "It is over. In five minutes, this place -- everything you've worked for -- will be under government control. No more experiments, no more trainings and missions. All your R&D will be destroyed." Now Alec approaches them imperceptibly, his voice almost a whisper. "Your purpose in this world will be gone"

Keeping one hand holding the gun at Max, and his eyes never leaving Alec, Olivet grabs his radio and calls security.

"Olivet to Station One, what is your status?"

"We've got a problem. Someone has cut through the fence and is in the facility. We can't seem to pin them down, seems to be 40 plus people." There's a pause. "They look military, sir. I've got half a dozen men trying to get them. I can't seem to lockdown at all."

Alec speaks again. "We have control, Olivet. Give up now and maybe I won't have to kill you."

Just then whoever had entered medical ward comes around the corner, and Alec realizes they are in trouble. It's not the military, it's Manticore security, and he can only see one for now. Additionally, now in the distance he can hear gunfire. It's started.

Alec turns back to Olivet. He needs to get him to drop that gun. "Give it up, Olivet. Your men are outmanned and will be overrun in minutes. It won't take them long to find you."

"No, NO! I won't allow it." Olivet removes the safety from the gun. Alec has managed not to look at Max until now -- afraid that if he does, he won't be able to focus. Somehow he manages still not to.

He hears a noise behind him and Alec moves to the door, surprising the guard who has just arrived at the threshold. A well-placed punch to the face, and Alec grabs the man's gun as he falls to the ground. Faster than he has ever moved in his life, Alec turns and fires one shot, hitting his mark with deadly accuracy. Olivet hits the ground, his gun unfired, a bullet hole in the center of his forehead.

Max stands stunned for a moment before snapping to and grabbing the gun that had just seconds before been pointing at her head. Alec leans over the unconscious guard and grabs a grenade off the man's belt. Slipping it into his pocket, he looks down the dark hall to find no one else coming.

Once again grabbing her hand, he pulls her down the short hall into the main medical area. Just as they reach the double doors, however, Alec sees half a dozen armed guards racing to their position.

"Damn…" he mutters, and swings back in the direction they just came, Max following closely behind him. Those doors are the only way out of here.

He walks past the room they were just in and observes Olivet lying on the ground, still dead and the guard out cold on the floor. They walk another 10 yards before coming to the end of the hall, and the road. None of the procedure rooms have windows; they are at a dead end, with only a maintenance closet in front of them.

Thinking quickly, he opens the door and shoves her in.

"Alec, do you really think that hiding in the closet will work? I'm pretty sure they will look here."

He says nothing, but smiles and points up. In the wall near the ceiling there is a grate covering the heating duct. It is just big enough to fit a transgenic.

Smiling back at him, she puts her foot in his offered hand, and he boosts her up enough so she can tear down the cover. As she does, dust flies out of the duct and Max sneezes hard.

"Could you make some more noise? I don't think they quite heard us in the barracks." he snips at her.

Instead of responding, Max places one boot on his shoulder and pushes herself easily into the hole, pulling her body in with her arms. He waits for her to disappear before leaping and catching the edge of the hole with his hands. Mimicking Max, he uses his upper arm strength to pull through the hole.

It's small, maybe 24 by 24 inches, and covered with thick dust on every surface. Alec has to restrain himself from sneezing like Max; he would never hear the end of it if he did. There is just enough room for him to lie on his stomach and maybe get half a push up off before hitting the top.

Max is currently facing away from him, her ass staring him right in the face, and starting to shimmy on her stomach down the narrow passage -- neither really sure where they are going yet, but hoping to find a way out.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Commander Law surveys the scene in front of him. The damn security guards were better armed than he had expected, but not enough to concern him. Eventually they will take over, it's just a matter of patience. They are fighting in the hall outside the executive offices. His men had managed to gather about half their targets and contain them before running into the current problem.

Law looks at his second in command, Rodriguez, and sighs. "Enough of this crap, smoke 'em."

Rodriguez sends the message to the half a dozen men, and they all don small gas masks before sending smoke bombs down the long hallway in the direction of resistance.

It doesn't take long before the only noise is coughing and choking, and Law and his men move forward carefully, swiftly restraining the men and moving them out of the area.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Coming to a T in the heating system, Max pauses and looks both ways. "Which way?" she hollers back at him.

"I don't know, Max, I didn't have a chance to memorize the system….well we started in medical and headed north, so….left?"

"Was that a statement or a question?"

"Just…go left, Max."

He hears her make an annoyed noise, but she turns left. Thankfully, a few hundred yards after they make the turn, the duct increases in size. It's large enough now that they can walk hunched over, which will make for a faster getaway.

Just as they get moving again, she pauses and he stops beside her. "What?"

"I heard something." Again she pauses, and cocks her head to the side. "In the vent with us."

He puts his head down and listens intently, also hearing the distinct scratching noises of people following them.

"Gotta be Manticore. Move…" He grabs her upper arm and they start moving again, this time stopped when similar noises start from ahead of them.

"Shit," he mutters, and swings his head back and forth. There are people ahead and behind them now, and from the sounds of it, lots of them. Again he curses, "Fuck me."

Looking around, Alec sees little opportunity for escape. They can't move forward or back, as there are soldiers poised to stop them at all costs for sure. The last T is 200 yards back, but now he can see the guards coming that direction; they would never make it. The vent is pretty well built, with no seams he can break through, and anyway, Alec doubts his strength could punch a hole through the metal.

He lashes out a fist at the side of their trap, only to have pain shoot up through his arm and into his shoulder. Of course, there is no dent in the vent.

"Son of a bitch!" he screams and shakes his hand.

"Alec…"

"I know. I got nothing, Max, how 'bout you?"

"I was about to try what you did, but, thankfully, you beat me to it." She gives him a tight smile.

"Lucky me."

She looks back the way they came; the guards are closer now -- they're almost to where the vent expands. "Alec…"

"I know." His tone is defeated. He can't believe its come to this. Alec was prepared to die today, but he never really believed it could happen- until now.

He pulls out the gun and gets 4 or 5 shots off in that direction before running out and doing no damage. Fucking Kevlar. They won't hold still long enough for him to get a head shot in.

"Dammit!" Now he can see the soldiers approaching from the left, and he is surprised to see Max raise her weapon and get a few shots off. The first guard goes down screaming, but there are 4 more where he came from, and she's having no better luck than he is when the weapon runs out of ammo so quickly.

Luckily, the guards have slowed their approach. Obviously their first choice would be  to get them alive, but Alec has no doubt that failing that, the guards would be fine with bringing back bodies. Alec's mind is whirring, but his options are seriously limited. There is nowhere to go and seven armed men willing to stop them from attempting it.

Turing his head, he sees the distinctly Manticore soldiers coming entirely too close for his taste. Without speaking, he pulls the grenade out of his pocket and shows her. She sighs and imperceptibly nods. They won't go back, they refuse to, not after this time. They had made the agreement and Alec is prepared to stick by it.

He gathers her in his arms in front of him, placing one last kiss in her hair. She puts her hands on the grenade around his. He squeezes her tighter and places his forehead on her left shoulder, breathing through his nose to inhale her scent.

"I love you, Max." He can hear her sniffling.

"I love you too, Alec."

Just then, their pursuers get within 10 yards of them, and the last thing Alec sees before pulling the pin is the Manticore lion emblem.

tbc…………………………..