Disclaimer: I think I've disclaimed enough.
Rating: This chapter alone is rated R for violence.
Author's Note: Boo yah, passed the driver's license test on my first try!
Anyway, I write the times of scenarios to show that some events happen at the same time but take place elsewhere. So yeah, observe the times if you can. Everything'll make more sense. I just want to state that I have a soft spot for Brin. Somebody's Dark Angel, I hope this answers your question about why a certain X6 couldn't see in the dark ...
This chapter has character death, just a forewarning.
The Gift of Daylight
Chapter 6: Red Dawn
"A good friend stabs you in the front."
-Oscar Wilde
Location: Terminal City, Washington. Warehouse 15.Time: 3:31 AM PST
"You?"
"Yeah, me," Zeke replied smugly. He didn't look at all proud for getting away with the mass deception. In fact, he avoided eye contact with everyone … everyone except Lydecker. "Hi again, nice to see those scars are healing well."
"It's … you," Lydecker's voice came, an edge of tautness to it. "You're the kid guard I took out back at the Conclave's HQ."
"Yeah, nice job choking me when I wasn't looking, asshole," Zeke bit back, absently rubbing his neck.
"Nothing personal, you understand," Lydecker replied with a quick shrug.
"Enough," Zack cut in impatiently, holding a hand up. His squad stepped forward in unison, raising their automatic rifles and taking aim. "452," he raised a finger and pointed straight at her. "For crimes against the Conclave and humanity, the penalty's death." Zack himself didn't have a rifle in hand, but an oversized flashlight they had used to navigate through Terminal City's sewers.
"The name's Max," she corrected, when she finally found her voice. The idea of Zeke's betrayal was still lingering in the back of her mind. But what's done is done, and if they wanted to live to see the sunrise, she had to think straight. "And you're Zack," she paused shortly, "my brother."
"Lies," Reeve cut in quickly, before Zack could develop any doubts. They were too far into their mission for mind games. The mind games had already been played, and the Conclave had won Zack over. Even so, Zack fell into a deep silence, and when he didn't reply, Reeve looked at him. "Give the command, Zack," Reeve bit out nervously, his finger hovering over the trigger.
But Zack didn't reply. His face was carved of stone as he stared at Max. He flinched when an onslaught of flashbacks unexpectedly assaulted him. He froze for a few tense seconds, then spoke. "Zeke, go seal the door and make sure the coast is clear. I don't want a flood of transgenics spilling in here," he commanded distractedly.
"Gotcha," Zeke acknowledged, sounding extremely relieved to get away from Max and Alec. Max was under the impression that Zeke regretted this entire event. Either way, the boy turned around and disappeared into the back.
Max hissed between her teeth. She had been counting on Logan or Joshua to provide some help, or at least a distraction. There goes that idea.
Behind Max, Alec sent a sweeping glance around the warehouse. The X5s' guns were roughly ten feet away from the closest person, Syl. Krit had a knife tucked in his jacket pocket, but any sudden movements would ensure a bullet to the forehead by either one of the Elements. Zane was right between Lydecker and Max at the front lines, making them the most watched out of everyone. And Brin … Brin! Brin was no where to be found. She had walked off to make the call, and hadn't returned. Alec knew she was skulking in the shadows somewhere in the warehouse and waiting to act — finally, an advantage. "Now where'd you go?" he muttered to himself, eyes traveling up and down the huge stacks of crates. "Come on, come on, come on," he was getting frantic. If Alec was wrong, and she had left or Zack and his squad had killed her on the way in … "Ah, yeah, there you are," he spotted Brin tucked behind a pillar of crates in the far end of the warehouse. Apparently she had been trying to get his attention all this time too.
Once they made eye contact, she sent him a chain of hand commands that he acknowledged with a nod. It was a good plan, an excellent plan in fact, considering the rotten odds everyone had right now and the tough position they were all stuck in. All Alec had to do was relay the message to everyone else so they would know when to move.
With Max, Lydecker, and Zane in front of him, Alec had a nice improvised shield to block him from the enemy's field of vision. Syl and Krit were standing off to the side, farther away, but visible to Alec. Alec had to think, and think fast. This would be no problem, this was what Alec was best at. Fast thinking.
He threw a quick glance around him, and spotted the vacant fold-up chairs. It would have to do. His fingers traveled to the empty chair beside him, and he began tapping loudly, in Morse code.
Lights. Out. In. 2. Minutes. V. Nod.
Lights. Out. In. 2. Minutes. V. Nod.
Alec kept tapping the chair until he received the nods he asked for. One by one, the X5's, with their backs to him, gave a fractional dip of the head in acknowledgement. Alec suppressed a smile. Lydecker had seemed to miss the message completely; he was immersed with handling Zack and his squad. And Max … well, Alec didn't know if Max got the message or not. Time would tell.
Alec then sat back in his chair, satisfied, but looking nonchalant. He had done all he could at this point. The rest was up to Brin. Max, Lydecker, Reeve, and Zack had been talking for some time now. Alec decided to tune into the current conversation as he waited.
"—Reeve, huh? I take it you're Robin. So where's Batman?" Max inquired, with a large amount of bitterness in her tone. There was no doubt in her mind that White was involved. That son of a bitch always is.
"Not that it matters, but he's waiting outside for us to carry you out in a body bag," Reeve boasted, confirming her suspicions at the same time. "Zack?" he called out again, in a stronger, questioning tone.
"Ahh," he whispered, pressing a finger to his temple. Zack's head was pounding like a drum, seeing the X5s had triggered scattered memories. Zack's expression softened, and for a fleeting moment, hope rose inside of Max. "Tinga," he declared awkwardly. "I remember the name. Who was she?"
Fight it, Zack. Fight it. Remember. "Our sister, Zack. Remember Tinga? One of our sisters," she encouraged him on. "And there's Syl over there. Remember Brin, Jondy, Krit, and everyone else? That was our family, and you were our big brother."
"Max?" he asked, in a confused child-like tone.
Max saw one of the teens, a very pale boy; shift his aim from Lydecker to the back of Zack's head. Apparently, they had prepared for something like this. The rest of the squad, a muscled boy and a thin girl stood awkwardly with their rifles held. The two of them didn't look like they wanted to be here, they resembled two kids playing soldier. But if they came along with Zack on what seemed like a central mission, then Max didn't doubt they were deadly.
"That's right, Zack," she invited quietly. "We're family. Here's Zane and … Ben," she lied, taking a gamble.
Zack's previous innocent expression turned from questioning to violently turbulent. "Ben?"
"Stop playing with his mind! That's 494, not 493," Reeve bellowed, his expression changed from complacent to furious. She had lost her gamble. "Zack, give the order!" he demanded. It was as if this Reeve person, Max observed, held a certain amount of hate, love, and respect all in one for Zack. Obviously their friendship, however tight it was, wasn't enough to override the mission's objective.
Zeke slipped back and regained his position beside his squad. He gave the all-clear sign to them.
Max's heart sank. Either Zeke had killed Logan and Joshua, or they wouldn't get here in time. Both scenarios meant bad news.
At the sound of Reeve's voice, Zack's head jerked back as if he had just been hit across the face. He shook his head and restored his stoic expression once more. "Right," he said dully, reminded of the goal. "This needs to end."
Where the hell is Brin? Alec cursed silently. It had been well over two minutes.
"—No wait," Syl interrupted quickly, before Zack could give the signal to fire. "We're your family, Zack! They're not. You helped us escape Manticore; you gave us our freedom and watched over everyone. Come back to us," Syl said softly. She didn't seem convinced of her words, Alec noted. No, underneath that phony sincerity, Alec could hear the resignation in her tone. Syl knew her brother was long gone— she was only buying time.
Brin! Alec yelled mentally, to no avail. If only the X5s had telekinetic powers. If Brin didn't come through …
"… No," Zack whispered in response. "Maybe … maybe in another life we were," he said remorsefully, with a pained look on his face. In a sweeping motion, he turned his back to Lydecker and the X5s to glance at his squad.
"Think of what you're doing, son," Lydecker's voice cut in, his tone frantic. "You're making a big mistake."
But it was too late; Zack easily ignored the man's words. "Do it," he murmured to Reeve and the Elements. Reeve didn't need to be told twice. Easily the best shooter of the group, he took aim.
Bullets spilled forward at Max, and a body hit the floor.
------------------------------------
Location: Terminal City, Washington. Warehouse 15.Time: 3:31 AM PST
Brin had long clicked Lydecker's cell phone off and slipped it into her pocket. She was occupied watching the current scene unfolding. X5-599. Zack! You're okay … or, not. The dialogue taking place was not to her liking. It wasn't long before she realized she was her siblings' only hope at this point. Brin tucked herself in a pocket between two crates and waited patiently, all the while, thinking frantically of a plan. She had an idea, but needed to get someone's attention first. Or maybe, one of them would be smart enough to look for her.
With butterflies in her stomach, she waited patiently until … 494— Alec, she mentally corrected herself— spotted her. She waved to him once, then extended her right hand forward and produced certain hand signals. These were all Manticore trained skills, years of lectures drilled permanently into her mind.Her hand signals were rusty, but she got the message across:
Lights. Out. In. 2. Minutes.
Alec nodded in acknowledgement and quickly turned around to face forward. How he would relay the message to the others was his responsibility, Brin had hers.
She disappeared into the dark and navigated through the maze of crates. The power box had to be around here somewhere; many lives depended on it. But if by a stroke of bad luck, it was on the other side of the warehouse … but no, it thankfully wasn't. Brin released a heavy sigh she wasn't aware she bad been holding. The power box was nailed to the wall, underneath a dusty window panel revealing the stormy weather outside. Rain was pouring harder than before, she observed. The metal cover of the power box was rusted and dangling from its hinges. Brin wouldn't risk pulling it off and creating loud noises. She settled for sweeping it out of the way and working on the wires that way. There was one, five-inch thick wire protruding from the bottom of the box and into the ground. That was the main cable, Brin guessed. The little wires distributed the power to certain lights in the warehouse. "Great," she mumbled, faintly discouraged. It wasn't that she didn't know how to kill the power; it was that she didn't know how to accomplish that without frying herself in the process.
At that moment, there was a tapping sound above her. Brin's attention snapped to the window. She instinctively reached for her gun, but realized it was still back with the other X5s. Damn. To her relief, it was … the Wolfman everyone called Joshua, and, Logan. Brin didn't hesitate; she quickly moved towards the window panel and looked for a way to open it entirely. To her dismay, she discovered that it only swung out partially.
"I'm guessing you're one of the good guys," Logan commented through the small window opening, completely drenched, and blowing water out his mouth as he spoke.
"Obviously," she retorted. "Zack's back, and he has some death squad with him. Zeke's the mole."
"I figured as much," Logan replied darkly. "It's why I came around the back, I was on my way here and saw Zeke locking the warehouse door."
"… And if Max was in control of things, she wouldn't have given that order knowing you were out getting your laptop," Brin finished for him.
Logan nodded.
"Smart. Listen, I'm pressed for time here. Any ideas how to get this window out of the way without alerting everyone? That, and how to kill the lights without eating 10,000 volts of electricity?"
"One problem at a time," Logan commented, examining the window pane. "Back up, Brin. Joshua," he called out.
She didn't have time to question him, and complied.
She saw Joshua cracking his knuckles from the other side. "Little fella in trouble," he mumbled repeatedly, and fixed his fingers on the window pane. This was a delicate job, but if he put enough pressure at the right points, he could break the screws holding the window in place without crushing the glass. He got ready and—
The sound of gunshots pierced the previously silent atmosphere.
"Forget that, trash it," Brin ordered hurriedly.
Joshua didn't need to be told twice. Logan reflexively took a step back and watched as Joshua shot his fists into the window and broke through it cleanly. "Logan, first," Joshua grunted, leaving no room for argument. Before Logan could agree, he felt his legs leave the ground as Joshua lifted him. Brin caught Logan by the shoulders from the other side and set him down beside the power box.
"They need me back there. You work the lights, got it?"
"Got it. Here, take this," Logan's hand slipped into his back pocket and extracted a black silencer. It wasn't much, but it was enough.
Brin took the gun and cocked it. She removed a mid-sized dagger from her boot—a standard weapon the X5s regularly carried— and extended it to him in exchange. "And you take this."
Logan took the knife and nodded. "Joshua, go with her."
Joshua had just finished getting into the warehouse and set himself down on the floor. He shook his head a bit to clear the water from it. "Gotcha," he replied in agreement. "Let's go."
"Wait, what's that?" Logan inquired, pointing at a sleek, black, rod protruding from Brin's back pocket.
"It's a shock stick." When he flashed her a confused look, she continued explaining. "A type of taser? Except it's strong enough to knock an elephant out."
"Give it to me, I might be able to use it."
"If you say so," she pulled it out and threw it at him.
Logan snatched it out of the air and nodded. "Get out of here."
Brin nodded, and the two quickly retreated back to the where the action was.
"Good luck, you guys," Logan called out apprehensively after them. "You'll need it."
He then set off to work.
------------------------------------
Location: Terminal City, Washington. Warehouse 15.Time: 3:45 AM PST
With the notion that Brin had failed them, the X5's burst into action. They couldn't afford to wait for her anymore— they had to act now. Zane dashed forward under the assumption that Max could take care of herself and would jump out of the way of the bullets. Syl and Krit rushed towards their weapons and snatched them up, dodging bullets as they did so. When Zane moved, Alec had a clear field of vision. He grabbed two of the fold-up chairs behind him and tossed them forward at Rianne and Davis. Then, sprung to his feet and dashed forward to follow Zane.
Max, meanwhile, hadn't move. She was cemented in place. It hadn't occurred to her that Zack might seriously give the order to kill her. Lydecker predicted her reaction, and had, without hesitation, tossed himself on her the second the bullets left Reeve's rifle. His body dropped like a rock after the bullets lodged themselves firmly in his skin. Max snapped to attention, cursing herself for losing focus in the first place. She glanced, with sympathy at Lydecker.
"Go," he said coarsely. "I'll be fine."
She didn't need to be told twice. Lydecker was a tough guy, he'd survive. First thing's first. She rolled to the side away from him and reached for a chair to use as a shield. She jumped to her feet, and dashed forward at a furious speed, throwing the chair forward.
For the most part, at the very beginning, the X5s and Elements matched up evenly. Alec had a bone to pick with Zeke, someone he had thought was his friend. Syl and Rianne, oddly enough, paired up squarely too. Rianne's aim was terrible, but her levitation powers made up for whatever she lacked. Syl's speed and aim was excellent, and the two engaged in their own private fight. Krit took after Seth, Zane after Davis, and Max … well, Max was left with Zack.
Things turned very bad very quickly.
For every four punches Zane got in, Davis only returned with one. The difference in speed didn't help Zane much in the end. Davis didn't seem at all fazed by Zane's punches; his muscled build appeared to absorb it all effortlessly. When Zane paused his onslaught for a second, Davis landed an elbow into the X5's nose, blood spurting forward. Zane blurred and sent an assortment of kicks, but once again, to no avail. It took a while, but Davis finally caught Zane by the neck, and lifted him up. "This is only going to hurt for a moment," Davis declared honestly.
Over to the right, Syl had hit the ground roughly; sweat pouring down her bruised face. Rianne slammed her heel on the X5's chest and then drew her rifle and aimed it at her face. "Really sorry about this," she apologized meekly.
Krit was losing his battle with Seth — badly. The only two who seemed to be getting by fine were Max and Alec, but even Alec was resorting to desperate moves like feigning retreat and throwing chairs at the approaching Zeke.
By fortune, Reeve was left to himself. He cursed the old man for getting in the way, but inserted another magazine into his rifle nevertheless. Everything seemed to be under control and this mission would end in an eventual and thorough slaughter.
"Pity, I thought this was going to be more interesting." He lifted his gun up aimed at Max, who was too busy parrying Zack's punches to notice him. Reeve was one of the best gunslingers the Conclave had. And this time, he wouldn't miss.
"Way too easy," he muttered, aligning his eye with the gun's scope.
It took Reeve a second to realize he had lost his balance, and another second to realize who it was that had knocked him off his feet. He looked up and spotted a glowering Asian woman. By the power behind her hit, Reeve deduced she was another X5. Damn, didn't count on this. He saw a wolf-dog-man-thing run past him to join the scattered fights. There was no time to worry about the others, Reeve had to deal with the immediate threat, and that was the new X5.
He kicked at her, not to knock her down, but to put distance between the two. He accomplished this, and with a heave, jumped to his feet and cracked his knuckles. He wasn't much of a hand-to-hand fighter, but generations of refined breeding gave him a few advantages. Reeve ran an eye up and down Brin. Nothing too scary, he thought.
"Where'd you come from, little girl?" he asked mockingly.
"Hell," Brin replied curtly, blurring and landing a solid punch to Reeve's face.
"Shit," he cursed, staggering backwards and holding his cheek. That'll leave a bruise.
"Okay … now it's a fight," he muttered.
------------------------------------
Location: Terminal City, Washington. Warehouse 15.Time: 3:45 AM PST
"Cutting the power? No problem," Logan declared to himself, setting the knife down briefly to squeeze some water out of his shirt. He reached out to touch the cables but suddenly retracted his hands. "Can't do that, Cale, unless you want to eat 10,000 volts," he muttered, looking for a towel to dry his hands. Of course there wasn't one around, so he went with the next best thing— the dust covering the floor of the old warehouse. He patted his hands down on the dirt to soak up most of the water. Then, threw a significant glance over at the net of wires. "Red … black … yellow," this wasn't Logan's department of expertise. Color-coded wires were something he was only modestly familiar with. He was well aware that cutting the wrong wire could result in a very excruciating and messy death. "Black's the ground wire," he murmured, reviewing information he learned ages ago. "And red is … a live wire, so yellow's a router?" He was tentative about the last two.
Logan went back and forth between the colors in contemplation. It wasn't until he heard another round of gunshots that he quickly picked the black wire and sliced it cleanly through. He squinted and tensed his muscles as if he was expecting a pillar of electricity to fry him. Luckily, it didn't come. Instantly, the lights flickered, and finally shut down. The warehouse was pitch black; Logan couldn't even see his hands clearly. The only light came from the warehouse's large ceiling window, but provided hardly anything at this time of morning.
"Nothing to it," he stated, immensely relieved. Logan removed the shock stick from his back pocket and flicked it on; the tip of the stick came to life and crackled violently with blue electricity. It wasn't much, but it was enough light for him to navigate through the maze of boxes. He was careful not to tap the tip of the stick against anything, as Brin said; it's enough to knock an elephant out. Logan did a quick maintenance check on his exoskeleton. Once done, he hurried back to where the others were, praying that he wasn't too late.
------------------------------------
Location: Terminal City, Washington. Warehouse 15.Time: 4:30 AM PST
When the lights turned off, it ended as quickly as it started.
Joshua had thankfully came to the rescue, Zane's rescue in particular. Davis proved to be the most difficult to subdue. The two of them couldn't beat Davis without the help of weapons; luckily Syl provided them with handguns once she handled Rianne. It was still early in the morning, the sun hadn't rose, and the veil of darkness was still present.
"Report!" Max shouted in the dark. She used her sleeve to swipe the rolling sweat off her forehead and surveyed the area carefully.
"Clear," Alec gave her a thumbs-up and kept his boot firmly pinned to Zeke's neck. Every muscle of his body was aching thanks to Zeke, and Alec had a few new cuts and bruises to show for. Zeke could have thrown Alec's leg off and continued fighting, but he looked exhausted of energy and motivation. Besides, the rest of his team was out of commission, it would've been stupid and suicidal. The boy simply stared up at the ceiling of the warehouse and lay on the floor silently. In all honesty, Alec had been fighting a losing battle. That is, unless the lights shut off.
One enormous advantage came in the form of night vision. X5s could see in the dark. Elements could not.
Alec noticed tears welling up in Zeke's eyes, even if he pretended not to look at the traitor. He eased his boot off slightly.
"Clear!" Syl called out, her hair messy and her appearance disheveled. She was standing over an unconscious Rianne and a broken AK-47. "Next time, learn to aim," she bit out, not that Rianne could hear a word she was saying. Syl kicked one half of the AK-47 away and checked herself for injuries.
"Clear," Joshua grunted, holding a bloodied and broken Zane up. The X5 looked barely awake and was fighting a losing battle to stay conscious. Zane's forehead was soaked in crimson, and his shirt was thoroughly shredded. "X5's hurt badly," Joshua stated gruffly, stepping over Davis' large— and very dead— body. It took some effort on Joshua's and Zane's part, but finally, twelve shots to the skull put the Element permanently to rest.
"Zane!" Max called out, rushing to Joshua's side.
"I've got it, don't worry," Syl assured, brushing stray strands of hair out of the way. "Field Med was always my thing."
"Then you're in charge of injuries," Max decided, before walking away.
"Sure thing," Syl acknowledged.
"Maybe you can help me with this," Krit called out as he limped towards Syl, Joshua, and Zane.
"What happened to you?" Syl asked, running a critical eye over him.
"Dislocated arm and shoulder," Brin cut in, before Krit could reply. For the most part, Brin seemed unscathed. She had joined late in the battle, and the element of surprise had worked considerably to her advantage. "It could have been worse, lucky I was there."
"Don't hog all the credit," Krit stated dryly. "Hey, I wore him down," he protested, 'him' being Seth.
"Of course you did," Brin dismissed, arching an eyebrow.
"Is he dead?" Syl asked, nodding over to Seth's fallen body.
"Just knocked out. Pretty tough for a kid who looks like he's barely hit puberty," Krit noted scornfully. "You mind, Brin?" he asked, gesturing to his wounded arm.
"Not at all," she replaced her gun in its holster and firmly set both her hands on certain parts of Krit's arm. "This isn't going to feel good," she said, stating the obvious. In one quick movement, she jerked Krit's arm back into his elbow socket with a satisfying crack.
"Ahh, yeah, that didn't feel good," Krit growled.
Brin moved her hands up his arm and rested them on his shoulder. She popped his shoulder back into place using the same method as before.
"Neither did that," Krit stated, wincing noticeably. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it," Brin responded nonchalantly.
"You'll need a splint," Syl stated in a commanding tone. "Joshua and I are relocating Zane to another warehouse. He's in bad shape. You two might as well come," she offered.
"I'll stay here with them," Brin spoke up. "They might need help," Brin motioned over to Max, Alec, and Logan.
"Fair enough," Krit replied.
Syl nodded and led Krit, Zane, and Joshua quickly out of the warehouse.
Meanwhile, Logan was busy tending to Zack, who lay unconscious in a massive pool of mixed blood. Logan switched the shock stick off and discarded it to the side. Max appeared by his side.
"How is he?" she questioned, fearing the worst.
"Just unconscious," Logan stated to her relief. "The good part," and he used that word tentatively, "is that his memory's wiped clean again. He won't remember any of the poison the Conclave fed him."
Max blinked, feeling the fatigue lingering in her sore limbs but ignoring it altogether. "What'd you do?"
"Remember when you and him were going at it? Well he stepped in this pool of blood and I stuck the shock stick into puddle. The results were … interesting, as expected," Logan bit his lip in the dark before coming to a slow stand.
"All of that is his blood?" Max's eyes widened. Even if Logan couldn't see in the dark, he sensed her shock.
"No," Logan stated gravely. "Most of it belongs to … him," he gestured over in the general direction of a lone body. It was away from everyone else and a trail of blood led to another large pool of crimson— Lydecker's body.
Max frowned, the skin on the back of her neck tingling. Dead. She swallowed hard, her expression carved of stone. There was nothing she could say on the matter that would lessen the shock. "You okay?" she stated distractedly, examining him warily.
"Okay enough," dismissing the question with a shrug. "You?"
"I'm always all right," Max stated, echoing Alec's words. "Can you get Zack over to VII by yourself?"
"Of course," he assured. Logan paused to study the expression on Max's face. "It could've been worse," he said, as if he could read her mind.
"It could have been better," she retorted, too coldly. She realized the statement came out harsher than intended and shook her head apologetically. "You better get going, Syl's taking Zane, Krit and Joshua to VII. The medics there will handle Zack too."
"Right," he responded, worry still lingering in the back of his mind. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm a tough girl, I'll be fine," she stated, clutching her side.
Zack was, by no means, a small man. It took some effort on Logan's part to lift him up. Luckily he had the help of his exoskeleton, the trip to warehouse 7 wasn't as difficult as it could've been.
Max watched Logan's retreating figure for a moment, then snapped back to attention when Brin addressed her.
"What do we do with them?" Brin's voice cut in, gesturing to Rianne's and Seth's unconscious bodies, then to a very much awake but resigned Zeke who was still pinned by Alec. "Three POWs," she reported.
"We're not at war," Max pointed out defiantly, fighting a loud buzz in her head. Her body was hurting everywhere.
"Are you sure about that?" Brin countered.
Max didn't have a response to that. She instead fell silent and observed the two dead bodies, Davis' and Lydecker's. "Bury both the dead bodies behind the warehouse," she continued smoothly. "Then we'll contact—"
"—Three, you mean," Brin corrected.
Max paused mid-sentence and glanced at the other woman. "What?"
"Three dead bodies," she repeated. "You forgot that one," Brin nodded towards one last body that Max had missed.
It was Reeve's.
From where Max was standing, she could see a bullet hole drilled in the man's forehead. And from the awkward position he was laying on the ground, Max realized a few bones were broken. Sights like that would be incredibly disturbing to a regular person. But Max was far from ordinary.
"A little thorough. This your doing?" she questioned Brin.
"I just wanted to make sure he wouldn't get up again," she conceded, referring to the bullet hole. "He wasn't much of a fighter, I'll tell you that."
"But his aim was fine …" Max said grimly, her breathing suddenly becoming stagnant.
It was just then that Brin realized the wet stains on Max's shirt weren't sweat— it was blood. "You're hit," she stated matter-of-factly. "Where?" Brin instinctively moved to Max's side and grasped her by the elbow.
"I'm fine," Max assured. "They just … grazed my shoulder," she said slowly, her vision wavering.
It all happened so fast. She lost her balance and felt the ground approach rapidly. Something stopped her midway to prevent her from meeting the floor. She blinked; but even as her oxygen-starved brain tried to figure it out, there was an ear-popping rush of hair as she was swept off her feet and rushed out of the warehouse. Before she knew it, she was dropped on something soft in a room full of strange voices.
"I've got her!" a voice shouted uncomfortably loud in her ear.
"She's been hit. Get Syl down here, fast," another voice said.
"Already here," a third voice came in from Max's other side. "Who do you think you are, Supergirl?" the voice questioned soothingly.
Max lacked the energy to formulate a suitable response.
There was a tingle of something in her arm … and she was out.
------------------------------------
Location: Terminal City, Washington. Warehouse 7.Time: 6:15 AM PST
She came to slowly, or at least slowly for an X5. For a moment she remained laying quietly, her eyes closed, as she assessed the situation and her own physical condition. Her right chest and arm felt vaguely numb, and her head felt hollow like it always did after doses of anesthesia. But aside from that she felt reasonably fine. From the soft sound of breathing she could tell she wasn't alone; from the lack of loud background rainwater it seemed that the rain had finally ceased.
She was lying on one of the ten beds in Terminal City's … medical warehouse? A few beds down, she spotted a sleeping Zane and Zack, both wrapped in bandages. Seated across her in a vacant bed, staring meditatively off into the horizon, was Logan.
"I'm guessing everything's under control?" Max asked.
Logan jerked slightly, his gaze coming back to her. He had long changed into dry clothes; his hands were fitted with brand new gloves. "Yeah, everything's quiet now," he said. "You should've told me you were shot," if Max expected a lecture, she would be disappointed. "How are you feeling?"
"Not too bad," she said, moving her right arm experimentally. Aside from some stiffness and the numbness she'd already noted, it didn't seem to bad, at least as long as she didn't try to move it too far in any direction. "Arm needs a little more work."
"Yes. Syl says you'll need at least a few days off," Logan said skeptically. As if Max would ever agree to a vacation. "Krit's okay, he'll be 100% in a few days too. Zane took a few hard hits to the head, he also has some broken ribs that need time to heal. He'll be out of commission, but he'll be all right. And Zack, well … he hasn't woken up yet. We'll deal with him when the time comes."
"Where exactly are we?" she said, realizing she didn't know the answer to that question.
"Warehouse 7," Logan replied. "You don't recognize it because we got rid of a few tables and added beds."
"They all look the same to me," Max quipped. "And warehouse fifteen?"
"Joshua and Brin buried the bodies already, just the two Familiars. Lydecker's still where we left him. We assigned a few people to clean everything else up."
Max fell silent, dread swirling violently through her. For all his faults, Lydecker redeemed himself the moment he sacrificed himself to save one of his kids. She should have moved when Reeve drew his gun, and regretted that she hadn't. It was a critical error on her part. Max's expression turned from confused to disgust. The disgust was directed at herself.
Logan took note of this change and locked eyes with her. Odd, he thought, that he'd forgotten just how brilliant a hazel those eyes were. "It's not your fault," he injected delicately into the silence. "It was his choice to do what he did."
"He wouldn't have needed to do what he did if I had moved. I didn't think Zack would give the order. When he was still with British Eddy, he couldn't kill me. I just thought that …"
"Yeah, I know," Logan replied gently. "But now that Zack's gone. We've got another clean slate to work with."
"I don't want to keep doing this to him," she replied, anger bubbling up.
"What's the alternative? Stash him away at some farm again? He deserves to know what he is. What he does from there is his choice. You can't make that decision for him."
Max shook Lydecker's death and Zack out of her mind for a moment. One at a time. Just then, something occurred to her. "What about Zeke and those other two?"
"You mean Rianne and Seth?" Logan asked.
Max registered their names in her mind and nodded.
"Warehouse 5 is playing host to them. Alec wanted to interrogate them, but we figured we should wait until you came around."
"I hope you're watching them closely."
"Very closely," Logan assured her. "They're good, but they're not invincible."
"What now?" Max wondered, not realizing she had voiced the question out loud.
"Lydecker was our only lead out of this mess. We're back to step one on this plague thing without him, but now that we have three Familiars with us …"
Logan didn't need to finish that sentence. "—Let's go then," she interrupted abruptly. Max swung her legs over the side of the medic bed and came to a slow stand.
"They'll be hard to budge," Logan warned, helping her up. "A headstrong group of genetically superior teenage soldiers. Sound familiar?"
"Very," Max smiled wryly. "Give me five minutes to get changed … and we'll go have a little chat with them."
Author's Note: Poor Lydecker. I really liked him too.