Hormones
By: lfbrox
Rating: R
Timeframe: A couple of month after Freak Nation. Logan can of course walk.
AN: Another quick update. Aren't you proud of me? Thanks for all the guys who reviewed. I knew I would get you with the walker. Poor Logan. I just want to make sure that you know that I love Logan and would marry MW in a sec. I was just teasing him.
My special thanks go to sammi for being the world's busiest beta, but still has time to beta my stuff. You rock.
So without any further ado, I present you:
Chapter 17: Feels like coming home
"Love you." She simply said and let her hand rest on his thigh.
"Love you too," Logan answered and opened his eyes slightly to look at her. "But don't you do something like ever again." That earned him another affectionate squeeze and they drove on in silence towards New Westminster.
Warehouse outside of Seattle
Renfro sat in her room staring at her beige walls, – deep in thought. She hadn't planned on telling anyone anything about 'Project Unicorn' – let alone Victor. But he had to understand her urgency in capturing 452. He had to understand, that 452 must be in their hands before the embryos of phase one died. It had been a long time since Manticore burnt down, and none of the agents involved in 'Project Unicorn' had thought it would have turned out this way.
Back when they had started the project, 452 had been securely stored in a cell at Manticore. No one thought that 452 would escape and burn Manticore to the ground. Luckily they had established a separate lab away from the Manticore facility for this particular project. It was necessary, because the project was not purely Manticore funded and supported. If Manticore had found out that her priority was on Project Unicorn and not on finding and reprogramming the escaped X-series, then they would have eliminated her quickly.
After Manticore burned down and everyone thought Renfro was dead, she and her group had had enough time to take care of the project and phase 2. But the moron White had not managed to capture 452. Double crossing his own breeding cult to work with her and her group had occupied his thoughts so much that he had made mistakes. And you didn't capture someone like 452 if you made mistakes.
She didn't plan on making mistakes. It was her first shot on capturing her, but seeing how things had developed between 452 and her ordinary she had no other choice than to succeed at the first strike.
The shrill ring off the buzzer of her intercom brought her back to reality.
"What?" she yelled back, indicating that she didn't appreciate being disturbed.
"We have a report from a rental car agency in Sunbury. Looks like a car has been rented and charged to the credit card of Inspector Clemente." Victor reported.
"Have you sent a team? Is the area locked up?" Renfro asked and could not hide her excitement at the news.
"Yes ma'am, a team is on the way. They rented the car about 1 hour ago. So they can't be very far. We got the model and color of the car. With helicopter surveillance we will find them in no time." Victor explained.
"Did they say where they were heading?" Renfro asked.
"They said they wanna drive to the US. We have concentrated our search south down routes 10 and 99 towards White Rock." Victor answered.
"Good. Inform me as soon as you know something new." Renfro ordered and cut the connection.
"Yes ma'am." Victor said automatically, even though he knew that Renfro couldn't hear him anymore. He sank down in his chair and hoped he had just done the right thing.
Tilbury, Canada
"We will be there in about 4 or 5 hours." Alec informed Syl and Clemente after they left the town of Tilbury.
"Great. Maybe we can get on a boat tonight while it's still dark." Syl answered while settling down on the backseat.
"We need to get back to Seattle as fast as we can. I can't imagine what they will do to my family - if they haven't killed them already." Clemente said fidgeting nervously in his seat.
"Chill Inspector Gadget. There's nothing we can do now. It's gonna take a while till we're there. Why don't you catch some sleep?" Alec answered trying to shut up Clemente.
Clemente didn't really feel like sleeping. But the prospect of talking to the cynical transgenic Alec for 5 hours made him close his eyes and think about what he would do once they'd returned to Seattle.
Near New Westminster, Canada
"So where is this house?" Max asked after they had passed a sign indicating that New Westminster was 20 miles away.
"It's not directly in the town of New Westminster. It's near the outer parameters of the city, a little off the main road in a little forest." Logan explained and carefully watched the street, waiting for the left turn that lead to the safe house.
"Should we stop for any supplies on our way there?" Max asked.
"No. Better not. There are some supplies in the house. Nothing fancy or fresh, but it'll do. Besides, I don't plan on staying too long there." Logan replied and gestured to the road where Max was supposed to turn left.
Max made the sharp left turn and they drove for a few miles until the asphalted street stopped and sandy unsteady ground was ahead of them. "You sure we go right here?" Max asked inspecting her surroundings.
"Uhm. Hard to say. Haven't been here for a while myself. Why don't you try going right? I remember the house being surrounded by large trees. If we are on the right track, then it should be somewhere over there." Logan said, and pointed towards the large pine trees on his right.
"Alright. Let's try it. But hold on to your leg. It's gonna be a bit bumpy." Max warned Logan, before carefully making a right turn and slowly moving towards the trees, hoping the house would be there. She was awfully tired even though she had only been driving for two hours.
After driving for another 2 minutes in that direction, Logan pointed at something that peeked through the trees. "There. Look. The chimney of the house."
"Yeah. It is. I can't believe you saw that without your glasses." Max said shaking her head slightly. "And I'm the one with enhanced vision in the family."
"Yep. Even a blind chicken will eventually finds corn." Logan teased her while Max concentrated on maneuvering the Pontiac around the huge pine trees.
She parked in front of the door and shut the engine off. Without saying a word she went to the trunk and got the bag, while Logan remained seated in the car.
"You coming?" she asked Logan through the open window of the passenger door.
"Yeah. I guess the old man is getting the walker out of the car and dragging himself into the house." Logan muttered while watching Max walk up the stairs.
"I heard that Logan. Now stop being so sensitive and haul your ass in here." She yelled from the front door. Deciding that he might not want her to see him with the thing, she quickly picked the lock and went inside, giving Logan the space and privacy he obviously still felt he needed.
TerminalCity Headquarters
As the hours passed and there was still no word from Max and the gang, everybody got more and more nervous. 10 TV's with different channels were being watched by a bunch of transgenics hoping to find out about something unusual happening somewhere and tipping them on where Max and Co. might be.
Dix and his group of hackers had tried to hack into Logan's computer system to gain access to all his sources. But they failed. The system allowed for entry only in the areas that were safe for Dix to know about. But Logan was known to be a trustworthy man, so he protected the informant net with all his ability. They were out of luck. Then suddenly the phone rang.
"Dix here." The transgenic answered annoyed, not in the mood for another reporter calling in.
"Hey, it's Matt Sung. Any news so far?" Sung asked.
"Oh hey. No. Unfortunately not. And the people here start to panic a little. About time we find out what is going on here before the situation escalates." Dix informed him.
"A friend of mine from the Canadian Police just called and told me that Clemente used his credit card in a Canadian town called Sunbury. He rented a car. He said that by the time he got there the clerk working there had already been thoroughly interviewed by some beefy looking guys wearing camouflage and driving expensive, military style Jeeps." Sung informed them.
"Camouflage. Military." Dix repeated shocked. The people within the headquarters who could hear both sides of the conversation turned deadly silent.
Manticore.
It was an unspoken word, but it seemed the only word that was going through everyone's minds.
Manticore.
They were back. And still after them. Still after Max.
"Hello?" Sung asked after a minute of deadly silence.
"Manticore." It was the only word Dix could get out.
Safe house, near New Westminster
Max dumped her bag in the living room and walked around the safe house, inspecting their new surroundings. Not too shabby. Fire place, comfortable couch, good equipped kitchen, niiice king sized bed, a spacey bathroom and a fully equipped computer room – though it's a little dusty.
Logan had hoisted himself up the stairs and entered the house. He hated walking with this thing, but his muscles were sore from sitting so it felt good to stand up and move. So instead of sitting down at the couch or better yet lying down on the bed, he decided to stretch his muscles some more and look for Max.
He found her standing in the doorframe of the computer room, looking at the equipment. He silently moved behind her. "Not bad, huh?" he whispered in her ear.
Max turned around in surprise. "I'm loosing my touch. I didn't hear you sneaking up on me."
"Well, the old man is moving stealthily like a ghost with this magic walker of his." Logan teased while planting a delicate kiss on her neck.
"What do you say we get settled in here, grab a bite and see what this equipment is capable of?" Logan suggested as he moved back towards the kitchen.
"Yeah. I'm starving." Max agreed and followed him.
"Let's see what we have here…" Logan said and let go of the walker to search through the cupboards for something decent to eat. "We could have spaghetti and canned pasta sauce." Logan suggested and turned to her with a can of finished pasta sauce.
"Well, it won't be a Cale culinary miracle, but it'll do for now. I'm starving. I'm going outside and get some fire wood. And then we have to change the ice package on your knee." Max answered as she walked towards the door to collect some fire wood.
TerminalCity Headquarters
"What you got?" Dix asked Jesse who tried to bring up some maps on the main monitor.
"Well, Sunbury is right here." He pointed to the spot on the map. "If they're going the fastest way back to the US then I think they'll drove south. Maybe cross the border by foot."
"How long a drive would it be?" another transgenic from Dix's hacker team asked.
"About 7 or 8 hours to the border I would guess. But they should know that Manticore is on their asses after using the credit card. How could they be so careless?" Jesse replied.
"Well maybe they are not going there. Where else could they cross the border?" Dix asked.
"Don't know. Too many possibilities. They could go back to Vancouver and take a plane, or head further east to cross the border there. Or north to catch a plane from an airport far away from the Manticore search radius." Jesse explained as he showed them the different possibilities on the map.
"They have to contact us sooner or later. Let's just wait and see what we can find out." Dix decided, not sure what else he could do. If only Logan was with them. But if Logan was still with the MIA transgenics, then he would contact TC as soon as he could.
Near Parkdale Gardens, Canada
Syl awoke abruptly from her pleasant dreams when the car suddenly made a sharp left turn and sped 100 mph down a bumpy, uneven street.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" she yelled at Alec.
"There's a black helicopter behind us. We need to hide somewhere. Could be Manticore. Damn, I thought they were looking for us further south." Alec explained, and maneuvered the car towards a nearby set of trees.
Syl sat up and looked through the back window, where she could spot a black helicopter in the far distance. That was Manticore for sure. Within the next 30 seconds Alec had sped over the meadow and the car came to a halt within a little forest.
"You think they saw us?" Clemente asked, seeing the chances to get back home vanish.
"Don't know. They are still far away and it's getting darker already. Besides, there are lots of cars on the main road." Alec explained and checked how far away the helicopter was.
"How far until the harbor?" Syl asked while getting out of the car to check if the helicopter was following them.
"From here, about 1 or 2 hours by car." Alec told her and walked around the car opening the trunk.
Mole cursed, and dragged himself out of the huge trunk. He nodded quickly in Alec's direction and went to stand next to Syl who filled him in on the whole situation.
That was as far as an apology and the acceptance of an apology would go between them. A small gesture and a quick nod. There was nothing left to say between them about the fight. Men, Syl thought.
"What do we do now?" Clemente asked after getting out of the car himself.
"We wait until we know where the helicopter is going. When he's gone we get back on the road. If he's after us – well… I guess we fight." Alec explained, having had enough of Clemente's stupid questions.
Safe House, New Westminster
"I'll start a fire. It's a little cold in here." Max told Logan while carrying the fire wood to the living room.
"Really. You think so?" Logan asked Max curiously. Usually Max always teased him because he thought it was too cold at TC.
"Yeah. Just a little. Maybe I should join you in the kitchen where it's warm." Max barked back, not liking the way Logan's question sounded.
Logan knew better than to reply to something like that and poured the sauce in a pot. He heard Max trying to get the fire going and smiled at how cute she was when things didn't work out right away. He heard the little sounds and not-so-little curses but decided, again, that it would not be the smartest thing to comment on that. Maybe this mood is the after effect of her heat cycle. Something like post-heat PMS. Logan thought, grinning.
"What's so funny?" Max asked, joining Logan in the kitchen. She hopped on the counter and crossed her legs at the ankles.
"Nothing. It's just that dinner is already done." Logan lied.
"Yeah. Really hilarious. Let's eat then." Max said, and hopped off the counter to carry the pots to the table. But Logan stopped her.
"No. It's not done yet. What I meant was that there is nothing more to do. Just boil the water, put the pasta in and heat up the sauce. You know, no chopping, no bread, no salad. I just thought it was funny how we've come from regular culinary miracles in a fancy Seattle penthouse to canned tomato sauce and pasta in a safe house in Canada." Logan explained, and hooked his hurt leg over the rim of the walker, standing on one leg as he leaned against the counter and waited for the pasta water to boil.
"Well," Max said, and approached him slowly, "but even with all that luxury we still didn't have this great way to pass the time till the pasta water boils." She sidestepped his walker, wrapped her arms around him and fused her lips to his.
Near Parkdale Gardens, Canada
Syl, Mole, Alec and Clemente stood next to the car, which was hidden by big bushes, and gazed towards the sky where the helicopter came closer and closer.
"I think he's following the path of the main road towards Delta. When he has passed us we can just follow him with a little distance." Syl strategized.
"Well we will know for sure in a few minutes." Mole said and nodded towards the helicopter that was by now so close that even Clemente and Mole could see it.
"It is certainly Manticore." Alec stated, now able to look into the interior of the helicopter. "But he has his eyes on the main road. I doubt they saw us. We should hop back in the car so we can get going as soon as he has passed us." Alec announced, taking up Syl's plan without even bothering to verbally agree with it.
"Great." Mole muttered and walked towards the trunk of the car. Alec walked around and sat in the driver's seat. Letting Mole out of the trunk was a sign of peace. Helping him back in would only look like he was mocking him, so he left that talk to Syl, who opened the trunk and helped the grouchy lizard man inside.
Safe house, New Westminster"I really don't want to complain Logan-" Max started to say once they had sat down at the table and started their dinner.
"But?" Logan interrupted her, already knowing what she was gonna say, but unsure of how she was gonna put it.
"But I think I'm kinda spoiled. With all the spur of the moment culinary miracles you always compose, I guess my taste buds always expect something divine when you are cooking. But I think, without insulting you, considering that you are hurt and had absolutely no ingredients, like practically none, that even I would have managed to cook this." Max babbled trying not to hurt his fragile male ego.
"Well," Logan began, but he stopped his counter, as Max was just too cute when she was babbling like that. "At least it's better than what we get at the mess hall in Terminal City. But still. It's really not that good. But to my defense, I overcooked the pasta because some beautiful girl was climbing me and my walker." Logan teased and ate the overcooked pasta and stale tomato sauce.
"Hey. I didn't hear you complaining." Max shot back, and finished her plate and got up to get seconds.
"You still eat with the same appetite no matter how it tastes, don't you?" Logan asked as he watched Max come back from the kitchen with another full plate of food. He himself was done without even finishing his first plate – he wasn't very hungry.
"Hey. Food is food. I've had worse." Max quickly explained, and started to devour her pasta.
"Once you're done we can check out the computers and send Dix a message if we have a secure connection." Logan mused while watching Max eat. He just hoped that after this plate she would be done. It seemed like he hadn't touched his computers forever, and he was a little itchy. But he would rather die than tell Max that he missed his computers.
"Earth to Logan." Max said and waved a hand in front of his eyes.
"OH. Max." Logan snapped up in surprise. "I was just thinking about how cute you look when you eat." Logan babbled.
"Mmhmm." Was all Max said before getting up. She took their plates to the kitchen and then went straight to the computer room.
"Busted I guess." Logan mumbled and grabbed his walker to follow Max.
Warehouse near Seattle:
Renfro emerged from the sliding doors and rolled over to Victor, who was busy talking to one of the helicopters over the radio.
"…keep searching. Maybe they didn't take the main road. If you have approached the borders, return and search some of the back roads that are accessible with a car. Over." Victor finished and put the radio back on the table. He turned around to check the map for the back roads, but stopped dead in his tracks when he noticed Renfro sitting there glaring at him.
"Haven't I made myself clear soldier?" Renfro rasped, her voice icier than usual.
"Excuse me ma'am?" Victor stammered.
Renfro gestured him to come closer and lowered her voice so only he could hear her. "Haven't I made it clear that capturing 452 as quickly as we can is our first priority? Haven't I made it clear that my life and your life depend on us capturing her? She is the key factor for the project to work. After breeding with the ordinary it may already be too late. We need the genetic code of her first offspring and it cannot be coupled with the code of the ordinary. We have a plan and I'm going through with it if it kills me. So you should give this mission equal dedication – because if you don't then I will kill you, no matter what the outcome of this mission is. Are we clear?" Renfro threatened him and then, without waiting for an acknowledgement from him, retreated to her chambers.
Near Parkdale Gardens, Canada
"Alrighty. He's passed us. Let's get going." Alec said as they saw the helicopter pass them and follow the main road. He started the car, backed up onto the field and speed towards the main road.
"I do realize we have lost an hour hiding there, but do you have to drive like a maniac Alec?" Syl complained, holding onto the door in an attempt to stay upright.
"Sorry Syl. But we've really gotta time if we want to get on a boat tonight. They leave around midnight, so we need to hurry." Alec defended his driving style.
"If you drive like that we will sure draw attention to us, now won't we?" Syl attacked him.
"Fine. So we get on a boat tomorrow morning. Not sure when it will depart. Might be at midnight tomorrow." Alec replied sweetly and slowed down the car drastically, now crawling over the highway.
"NO." Clemente practically yelled from the passenger seat, shocking everybody. "We need to get back to Seattle as soon as possible. You might not care what happens to your people at Terminal City. But I'm worrying myself sick, wondering if my family is still alive or if they are being held and tortured somewhere. So no delays. We have to take the risk of drawing attention to us. Max would do it." Clemente finished.
"You heard the man Syl." Alec said with a grin and started to speed the car up again. When he heard Clemente exhale with relief, and saw Syl open her mouth to protest, Alec added, in a much softer and sincere tone, "He needs to save the people he loves. He would not be able to forgive himself for the rest of his life if he were too late or hadn't done everything in his powers to save her."
Syl looked at Alec from the backseat to see if he really meant what he had just said, or if it was one of his tricks again. She had also heard the 'Her' at the end of his sentence. And seeing his pained and honest expression, she decided to let that one slide. She would ask Max whom the person was that Alec was obviously taking about.
So she settled back into her seat and decided to keep an eye on the helicopter in front of them.
TerminalCity Headquarters:
"Hey everybody get over here," Dix yelled from the main computer. "We got a message from Max and Logan." At that everybody came running.
"Where are they?" asked some.
"Are they okay?" asked others.
"Okay people. Shut up and listen," Dix yelled over the cacophony. When silence fell he started reading the e-mail out loud.
"Everybody,
As you probably already know, things got nasty up here. Manticore is on our asses. They're trying to capture us. Not sure who's in charge. We were forced to separate. Alec, Syl, Clemente and Mole are on their way back to TC. Not sure where they are right now. We're in a safe house near New Westminster. We'll be safe here for a while. Try to arrange safe transportation for us back to TC. Detective Matt Sung will be able to help.
Password for accessing the informant net: DARKANGEL
Try to figure out where Clemente's family is and keep them safe. Clemente betrayed first the Seattle police and then Manticore. There are a lot of people out there who want to see him and his family dead.
Do not reply to this message. We suppose the outgoing lines of TC are tapped. We will figure out a way to communicate with you. We will contact you soon.
Max and Logan
Peace out."
Everybody just stood there after Dix finished. That was a lot of bad news. They had a lot to do. But where to start?
Safe house, New Westminster
After sending the e-mail and starting the installation of a secure and scrambled phone line, Logan and Max had retreated to the living room. Logan sat on the floor with his back leaning against the couch. His leg lay propped up on two huge pillows with an ice pack on his knee. Max's head was lying in his lap where she was enjoying a head massage from Logan, purring like a cat. The fire was warm and lulled the room into a romantic glow. The radio played some romantic classic music and they enjoyed a bottle of post-pulse wine. Not the good pre-pulse stuff, but it was still nice.
"You sure know how to stock up your safe houses," Max sighed, enjoying Logan's gentle touch.
"Well, I figured every safe house should have the basics." Logan explained sleepily.
"Like wine, a bathtub, music, a fireplace and nice surroundings. I like the way you figure." Max teased.
"Glad you do. Let's pretend this is a vacation. You never know when we will have the chance to do that again." Logan said.
"Well, we could at least try. There's not much we can do now anyway tonight. I just hope the others are okay and back on their way to Seattle." Max wondered out loud.
"I'm sure they are okay Max." Logan assured her as he moved his hands to her back and caressed her softly. "They know what they do. They hate Manticore as much as you do and they don't want to go back there ever again. And remember they have Syl with them. A voice of reason." Logan joked to get Max to lighten up.
"Yeah. Guess you're right. It's just a little scary to have Manticore back in the picture. I really thought they were off our case. We need to find out who and what is behind all of that Logan. Or it will never end." Max said, and snuggled closer into Logan's lap.
Logan hugged her tighter. He was able to deal with a lot of Max's emotions. Anger, frustration, hurt, doubt. But he didn't know how to deal with her fear. She was the strongest person that he had ever known. She gave him strength when he needed it, even though he didn't always accept it and definitely never asked for it. He was the more analytical one in their team. Assessing a problem and look for alternatives to solve it. She was a gut person. An emotional person. All he could do now was being a rock for her, like she had been for him so many times. He needed to hide his own fear of losing Max and be strong for the both of them – even in a walker and with grandpa clothes.
TerminalCity Headquarters:
"Okay. Dix, you and your crew access the informant net and try to find out about recent Manticore/Military activities." Jesse said after reading the e-mail again.
"Yeah. We're on it. You call Matt Sung and inform him. Maybe he can give you some info on Clemente's family." Dix replied.
"Okay. I better get a team together to move out and get them to a safe place. You guys can work on the safe transportation for Max and Logan." Jesse gestured to a group of X-6's. "We should also send a pick up team to the border. I don't know where they will cross the border, but we should have a team there on call." Jesse said to Dix while dialing Sung's number.
"I got it." Dix replied and pointed out some people standing there to take on that responsibility. "Oh and Jess," Dix said to him, while Jesse waited for Sung to answer the phone.
"Huh?" Jesse replied distractedly.
"Since you're on phone duty, better call Original Cindy and tell her Max and Logan are okay. Otherwise she's gonna – what is she calling it again? Put the smack down on our transgenic asses." Dix said with a grin and turned back to his computers.
Jesse grinned back and opened his mouth to reply, but Sung answered.
"Oh, Hi Detective Sung. This is Jesse, aka X5-487, we have news from Max and Logan."
Boundary Bay, Canada
After driving – or speeding – for 1 ½ hours, Alec, Syl, Mole and Clemente had arrived near the harbor. They parked the car in a nearby alley and sneaked closer to the docks. As it was already dark, it was no problem for Mole to join them.
"They have already finished loading the boat." Syl observed, seeing that the crew loading the freight had already gone.
"Now we just need to find the right boat. We need to get to a computer and find out which boat is leaving for Seattle tonight." Mole suggested.
"I never thought I would be saying something like this, but I wish Logan and his Laptop were here." Alec mocked.
"Let me handle this," Syl said and tried to adjust her clothing. After getting rid of the dirt and opening the first 3 buttons of her shirt, she walked towards the booth, swaying her hips.
"What is she doing?" Clemente asked as he saw Syl approaching the guard.
"Getting information the way only girls can." Alec grinned, watching Syl lean across the counter of the booth.
"Wow, you have a lot of blinking buttons here." Syl drooled, looking seductively at the fat night guard of the dock.
"Ehrrrr. Well, yes. But this is very complicated. I have a lot of responsibility here. No ship leaves without my saying." The guard bragged. "So what is a pretty girl like you doing at the harbor in the dark?"
"I just love those big ships. I just sit here and watch them leave the harbor. I always dreamt of getting on a boat myself and floating down to L.A. and becoming a filmstar." Syl quipped sweetly. "Any boat leaving for L.A. tonight?"
"Sorry sweety. No boats go to L.A. from here. But this one there," he said pointing to a freight boat a little further down the dock, "This one is leaving for Seattle in about half an hour. You wanna watch me pressing the button so the ship is able to leave?" The fat guard said while raising his eyebrows.
"No thank you. Seattle is not really my dig. But maybe some other day. Catch you around big boy." Syl replied, concealing her disgust, and moved away from the booth, disappearing into the darkness.
"What did you find out?" Clemente asked enthusiastically when Syl returned.
"It's that one over there." Syl pointed at the boat the guard had said would leave for Seattle. "It's leaving in half an hour. We should hurry."
"Okay. Stay down and follow me. We enter at the loading ramp. They close it only a few minutes before they depart in case they have forgotten something. So we should be able to hide between boxes." Alec said and led the way through the shadows.
When they were right across from the boat they had to stop and wait for 10 minutes as 2 crew members were on the deck smoking a cigarette. Once they were out of sight, Alec and the others sneaked closer to the boat, always careful not to be seen.
"Over here." Alec whispered, and gestured to the open loading ramp.
They quickly made their way over there. "I go in first. Syl, you are the back up. Let's see if it's clear."
Alec jumped down on the ramp and carefully made his way inside. Syl also jumped down the ramp, but stayed outside, listening carefully in case she needed to come to the rescue. Mole and Clemente sat ducked down near the ramp on the dock.
After a few minutes Syl could spot Alec between a couple of huge boxes in the loading area. He gestured to her that everything was clear and that they should move.
"Alright. Get down here and try to be quiet." Syl whispered to Mole and Clemente. They were just starting to climb down when the loading ramp started to close.
"Hurry. Hurry. This thing is gonna mush you to jelly." Syl hissed. She grabbed Clemente off the wall of the dock, where he was dangling down, and pulled him inside the loading area. Mole, on the other hand, had decided that the closing of the ramp made so much noise already that his hitting the steel ramp with a big thud would go unnoticed. So he jumped and rolled down the pivoted ramp into the loading area.
They quickly got to their feet and ran over to where Alec had found the perfect hiding spot. Exhausted and out of breath Clemente sank down in between two big steel containers. Mole, Syl and Alec followed suit – not as exhausted, only glad that they were on their way and could grab some sleep.
They were on their way home. And while Clemente was relieved to finally get to his family, Syl, Mole and especially Alec wondered when Seattle, when Terminal City had become the home that they were now looking forward to arriving at.
TBC
AN: So how did you like it? Praise, flames – everything is welcome. As long as it comes. Thank you guys. And no, this is not the end yet. I will let you know when it is in case you don't notice. Love.
Lfbrox