Hormones
By: lfbrox
Rating: R
Timeframe: A couple of month after Freak Nation. Logan can of course walk.
AN: And another Thursday update. Aren't you proud of me? I kept my word and finish the story with regular updates. Only a few more chapters and it's done. I hope you still enjoy it. Again not beta-read cause Sammi is still busy studying. Good luck and hopefully you're back soon. So on with the show. Here comes:
Reposting
This time it is the beta-read version. Thanks to my wonderful beta Sammi, who came back from the dead to help me finish this story with style.
Chapter 21: Babysitting a dirtbag
The others just stared after him. When he was out of earshot they all looked down in their almost empty beer bottles and wondered how much beer they could buy if they didn't go to that hooker, no one daring to speak first. Then they contemplated if what Alec had said made a lot of sense or if he was just embarrassed and felt trapped. Whatever it was, it kept them thinking. Even Mole, who thought that when Alec said 'if that's your only chance to get some' he meant him especially, had to think about it. After all. The hooker was an ordinary. And god how he hated ordinaries.
Seattle, Original Cindy's crib:
Instead of driving to Jam Pony, Victor drove straight to the address that was in 452's file. Her place before the Jam Pony hostage crisis. Her home, where she lived with her best friend and colleague Cynthia. The place where she lived her life as an ordinary girl, with an ordinary job and ordinary friends trying to make a living in this broken world before some multi-breed psycho bitch came to steal her firstborn to make a world of cold and heartless Renfro clones. Sick. Just sick. Victor thought as he parked his car and looked up to her apartment. The more he heard about the secret project, and the more he learned about Max, the sicker he got. True. He volunteered for this assignment. He wanted to see those freaks dead as much as anyone else on his special force. But now his view was different. How could he still believe that Manticore was the victim? How could he still think of himself of being on the right side of this insane war?
He was a soldier and as a soldier he swore to serve his country. To defend it and, if he had to, die for it. But wasn't that the same thing the transgenics were meant to do? And as soon as it got uncomfortable they twisted the truth and make the transgenics enemy number one. What kept Manticore from doing the same to those who were now responsible for hunting down transgenics and killing them in cold blood? Who said that it wasn't going to be him and his fellow soldiers they were going to hunt next?
Victor had no idea how to convince Max's friend to listen him. But he had to try. He may not have been the brightest horse in the race, but he knew that this was wrong. And he knew that if he didn't stop Renfro now it would get a lot worse. So he wasn't bright – but he was brave. He had to at least try. He opened the door of the building and walked up the stairs towards Max's old apartment.
Inside Original Cindy's crib:
"Tell my boo to chill out and relax. There ain't nothing she can do now anyways. Let her enjoy her lil' vacation with her squeeze. And tell her to call me whenever she gets a chance." Cindy said to Dix, who had called her to 'give her the 411 on the dealio with her boo' – O-tone Dix.
"Will do Cindy. Take care and come by and visit some time. Okay." Dix said.
"Sure thing suga. Gotta go. Got a visitor. Maybe Original Cindy's getting herself some fine new roommate." Cindy laughed and hung up the phone to get the door. After Max had told her that she would have to stay at Terminal City and if that whole thing was over she would maybe look for something together with Logan, OC had spread the word, that some fine lickety chick was welcome to stay and entertain her a little for small dough.
Some girls had already 'auditioned' as Cindy liked to call it, but some were too loud, some too lazy, some too homophobic. At the end Cindy had to admit to herself that the only thing that was wrong with them was that they were too not-Max, but Cindy was willing to give it another try.
But as she opened the door and saw this huge, beefy, white guy with a shaved head she was in a little bit of a shock.
"Suga, I have nothing 'gainst the three-legged gender. You gotta trust Original Cindy on that one. But before you say anything, I gotta tell you that this just ain't gonna work for her." She said with a polite smile and was just about to close the door when Victor spoke up.
"Excuse me. Cynthia? Hi. I'm a friend of Max's and need to talk to you about something." Victor said in a serious tone before Cindy could close the door.
Cindy opened the door just enough to look at him. She scanned him from head to toe and didn't really like what she saw. The only beefy-looking guys she remembered seeing with Max were those Red guys and those were definitely not Max's friends.
"I'm sorry. But I know all of my homegirl's friends. And Original Cindy never seen you in the mix. 'Sides, Max ain't here. Try Terminal City if you need to speak to her." Cindy said and started to close the door again.
"Okay, okay. I'm not one of her friends. As a matter of fact she'd call me her enemy if she were here. But luckily she isn't here and I'm here to tell you why it is important for her to stay where she is. I don't even want you to tell me where she is. In fact it's even better if I don't know. All I want from you is to hear me out. Please. I'm unarmed and I don't want to hurt you. If my boss knew that I was here to help Max I'd be dead. Please Cynthia." Victor pleaded through the now closed door. His voice was loud and deep enough for Original Cindy to hear through it.
After about a minute Victor saw the door slowly open again. Original Cindy stood there with a gun aimed at his head. "It's Original Cindy. Raise your hands over your head and step in slowly." She said in a voice that hid her nervousness. Victor did as he was told and entered the room with his hands high over his head. Of course if he wanted to overpower her he easily could, but that was not why he was here.
"Sit down in this chair and slowly bring your hands behind your back." Cindy ordered. Again Victor did as he was told and Cindy wasted no time tying his hands behind his back with one of her pairs of pink, fluffy covered handcuffs. Then she used two pairs of stockings to tie his legs to the chair. She checked his pockets for a weapon and, after finding nothing, she stepped back, picked up the gun again and eyed her work with satisfaction.
"Now. Who are you? Who sent you? What do you want? In that order." Cindy was really getting the hang out of this interrogation thing.
"My name is Victor. I'm commanding officer for a special force at Manticore. Our target is X5-452…ahm, Max. There were no negotiations planned. The plan was to capture her and kill the others. They all got away and since then we have been searching for them. I am in charge of the search efforts. Then I did some digging around trying to find out why the director of Manticore, or ex-director, Renfro, wants to capture Max so badly. I found out that there is a secret project going on, called 'Project Unicorn'. Basically they need the DNA of Max's first offspring to mix it with the DNA of Renfro's clones to create the perfect soldier: ruthless, heartless, cold, strong. Your ordinary super-human killing machine. I realized that I'm helping to create a world where military is not only dominant, but the only thing there. They want to breed a homogenous species that obeys whoever is in charge. Those who aren't strong enough, which pretty much means everybody who is considered as ordinary today, will have to die. I don't have physical proof of that, meaning documents or anything. I'm here so you can let Max know not to come back here for a while. At least not until this project has gone down. I need you to trust me. And if you don't, at least consider what I have just said. We are all in danger. But most of all Max and her baby." Victor rattled out. He wanted to get everything out, before he ended up with a bullet in his head.
Cindy heard him alright. Heard every single word. It sounded unreal. But then again, since Max had let her in on her secret, and after the Jam Pony and Terminal City crisis, it didn't sound too far fetched anymore. But there one thing in this whole story that bugged her. "What baby?"
"Apparently Max was in heat on her way to Canada. Well, how can I put it? We witnessed some action, which will leave her without a doubt pregnant. That's why director Renfro wants to find her so urgently. Abort the fetus she carries, because it's from an ordinary, and have her breed with a more genetically perfect DNA carrier. If Max comes back she will not only lose her baby, she will lose her life and the life of the baby's father." Victor said in a soft and calm voice.
"So my boo's pregnant? And Logan's the Dad. Damn." Cindy said.
"Yes. But did you hear the rest of the story. The clones, the super-soldier?" Victor asked, trying to get back to the reason for his visit.
"Original Cindy heard every single word. But what is it you want? I call her up and tell her about that Rino person wanting to clone her firstborn?" Cindy said, still shocked that Max was pregnant.
"Her name is Renfro. Trust me, Max knows her. She was thought to be dead. But thanks to her breeding and cloning, they were able to keep her alive somehow. Anyway. I want you to tell Max about it. Hear what she thinks. I don't have proof, but from what I've read in her file she is close to Eyes Only. Maybe he can dig something up. I can't without losing my head. Listen. I need to report back to director Renfro by midnight. You have 4 hours. Go speak with whomever you think. Go speak with Max if you can. Then come and untie me. We can make a plan on how to proceed further when you get back." Victor suggested sensing Cindy's hesitation.
"I'm not leaving you alone here suga. No offense. Your motives might be honorable. But maybe not." Cindy said and walked over to the phone.
"Knock, knock. Anybody home." Alec yelled and walked inside.
"Pretty-boy. Never thought I'd be glad to see ya. Listen. Take this gun and babysit this dirtbag. He's gonna give you the 411 of what's going on. I need to get to Terminal City. I'll be back in 2 hours. And don't do anything stupid or I'll put the smack down on your skinny white ass." Cindy said, grabbed her purse and left the apartment.
TerminalCity Headquarters:
"Aight peeps. That's the whole dealio. Whaddaya think?" Cindy asked after having told everybody Victor's story. There was a deadly silence, broken only by small gasps, 'damn's and some 'fuck's.
"So little sis is pregnant?" Syl asked and hugged Cindy.
"Yep boo. We're gonna be aunties." Cindy said and hugged her back.
"Could we get back to the reason why we're all worried out of our minds?" Jesse interrupted Syl and Cindy's happiness.
"Sure. Let's call the expecting parents and tell them how bad their life sucks. Dix, Luke. Try to find anything about this project unicorn thingy." Syl said and move to the phone.
Safe House, New Westminster"Renfro?" Was all that Max could say after hearing what Cindy had to say.
"Yeah, boo. I guess that was the name. Soooooooo? You're pregnant?" Cindy asked, not forgetting for a second where she was and who could hear them, but too happy for Max as not to ask her.
"Well. I thought I'd get to tell you that in person instead of a Manticore baddy, but yeah girl, we're having a baby." Max said while smiling at Logan.
"Okay. Congratulations. You two, or three, can deal with that later. What are we gonna do about that unicorn thing? Logan, can you hack into something over there?" Jesse asked clearly annoyed at how Cindy and Syl behaved.
"I don't have the equipment here to do that. But with the passwords I gave Dix and Luke they might be able to hack into the Manticore and NSA files. Maybe they find out something. Try to contact Matt Sung. See if he ever heard anything about it. Other than that, there's nothing we can do. But the question here is: do we trust that guy? The story sounds too crazy to not be true. And if we can trust the guy and the story is true, are Max and I still safe here? I guess there's no way out of the country right now. But we need to get somewhere safer. Where we could stay for a longer period of time." Logan said, clearly annoyed that he could not boot up his computer system and get to work right now.
"Hey. Funky idea. If we decide to trust this Manticore guy. How about he helps you over the border so you can maybe go further south?" Cindy suggested.
"Too risky. This could be a trap." Max fired back.
"Maybe not. Why would he come here and tell us all that if he's still on their side?" Cindy asked.
"Tactics. Strategy. I don't know. It's just too much of a risk." Max replied.
"Okay. Send this guy back to report in, just in case he is speaking the truth. Then we wait what information we can come up with. After that we can decide what to do." Logan said.
"Let's do that." Jesse agreed.
"Talk to you tomorrow?" Cindy asked.
"Yeah, we'll call you at around eight." Max said and cut the connection.
"Great. Just when we thought it couldn't get any worse." Max said as she sat down on Logan's good leg and hugged him.
"Don't worry. We've been through worse. We're gonna get through this." Logan said and hugged her back.
Original Cindy's crib:
"Hey boys. Had a nice evening?" Cindy sing-songed as she walked in her apartment.
"Very interesting to say the least." Alec said and followed Cindy into the kitchen. "So what do we think about this fantastic story?" Alec asked her in a low voice so Victor couldn't hear them.
"Well. It's Manticore, so everybody thinks it's plausible. We're still not sure if we can trust the guy, but we called Max and Logan and told them to lay low for a little longer. Dix and Luke will try to find something out about that unicorn project. Afterwards, we can decide if maybe Victor can help Max and Logan to cross the border. Until then we let him get back and report in. If he wanted to hurt me he would have done so earlier. So go and untie him." Cindy said and ushered Alec back into the living room.
"Okay Victor. Looks like I'm not gonna hurt you tonight." Alec said to a relieved Victor and started to undo the stockings. Then he stopped. "Uhm, Cindy. Do you have a key for these?" Alec asked, nodding his head to the fluffy handcuffs.
"Sure. Hang on I'll go get them." Cindy said and moved to her bedroom. The two guys she left behind just looked at each other and rolled their eyes. A considerably weird thing to do as Victor was still tied to the chair and Alec still pointed the gun at the other man's head.
"Got it." Cindy yelled and came out from behind her bedroom curtain to give Alec the key. Within seconds, Victor was untied and stood in front of Alec and Cindy.
"So you're just gonna let me go now?" Victor asked, a little unsure what to do next. There was a big possibility that there were a few transgenics out there either intent on capturing him and taking him to Terminal City, or just following him.
"Yeah. Go report back to your Renfro clown. If you get some news let us know. I bet you have the number." Cindy said a little uneasy with the fact that Manticore obviously had a file on her.
"How do we contact you?" Alec asked, because he was sure that was something Logan or Max would have asked.
"You don't. I contact you. Give me a day or two. I'll try to find out more about this. Okay?" Victor asked and slowly walked towards the door.
"You do that suga." Cindy said and walked him out.
"Oh, before I forget." Victor said and turned around before Cindy could close the door. "I need to report back something to director Renfro. I told her my plan was to go to that Jam Pony place and ask for a transport to Terminal City. It said in Max's file, that's how transgenics get into Terminal City. So I do need some info on that, so I can report something." Victor said, just now thinking that he needed to report back something.
"Just tell that director of yours, that there was that stuck up guy called Reagan Ronald aka Normal who bip, bip, bipped you out." Cindy said and closed the door, thinking that she had helped him enough.
Once on the other side of the door, Victor exhaled loudly. He was relieved. That went better than he thought. Maybe those transgenics weren't so freaky after all. He checked his watch. It was close to midnight already and he had to hurry to get back on time.
"That was strange." Cindy said after having closed the door and heard Victor walk away.
"Yeah. Babysitting a dirtbag wasn't on my to-do list for tonight either." Alec said and followed Cindy to the kitchen where he plopped down on one of the stools while Cindy started some coffee.
"Really? What was on your to do list? And why did you come here in the first place?" Cindy asked, realizing for the first time that it was Alec who was coming to her and not the other way around.
"Not much actually. I just needed to get out. Wanted to see if you're up for a game of pool and some beers at Crash." Alec said casually.
"Oh." Cindy said in surprise. That was strange. "Well, it's too late now anyway. Maybe tomorrow?" She offered, sensing that something was up with him when he chose her company instead of, well, anybody else's company.
"Sure. Why not? Hey, maybe I should stay here tonight. Just to make sure no other Manticore baddies are gonna pay a visit to Lady Cindy tonight." Alec said and took off his jacket to make his point.
"Ahhm, okay. Might be a good idea. I'd offer you Max's old bed, but even if she never sleeps in it again she would kick my ass for letting you sleep there. Is the couch okay?" Cindy asked, not admitting that she thought that it was a great idea for him to stay over.
"The couch is fine. I've had worse you know." Alec said, grabbing the coffee she handed him and moving to the couch.
Cindy took her cup and followed him to the couch. Something was clearly up. He never behaved that way. The so-called charm that unnerved her most of the time was absent. He looked serious and she had no idea what had changed his mood – if it was the trip to Canada or the situation tonight or maybe something totally different. And if there was one person in the world that got people to talk it was Original Cindy.
"What's up boo? You look deep in thought tonight. And, no offense, but Original Cindy don't get to see this very often from you." Cindy started the conversation carefully.
"Oh nothing. Been a long couple of days. That's all." Alec replied and stretched out on the couch.
"Don't try to sell Original Cindy that. She saw you at the Jam Pony hostage thingy. She saw you in Terminal City the first few days. Those days were long and stressful. Something else is eating at you suga. And Original Cindy's got a hunch it ain't got nothing to do with the Canada trip or Terminal City. Spill it Alec. What's nagging on ya?" OC asked him straight to the face, not in the mood for beating around the bush.
"I'm fine Cindy. Just tired." Alec said again clearly uncomfortable at her questions. He placed his cup on the couch table and closed his eyes.
Then it hit Original Cindy. It must be something personal, otherwise he would say what was up. Alec always had the uncontrollable, and to OC unbearable, urge to tell everybody everything. (Yep, he's a yapper). So if he was so reluctant to speak it must be something personal.
"Okay. This might be a little far fetched, but has it anything to do with that pimping thing Sketchy managed for ya? If so, spare Original Cindy the physical details. Don't wanna hear anything 'bout that. But if Sketchy fucked it up again lemme know and she'll hit him one over the head." Cindy said and could clearly imagine that it was all Sketchy's fault.
"No. Sketchy did not fuck it up. This time. It's nothing. Now would you let me sleep? It's late." Alec yelled.
"Whatever ya say. Lemme get you a blanket and a pillow." Cindy said and got up to get the stuff. She dropped the blanket and pillow on the couch and turned around to leave. Then she turned around again to look at him. "But we're gonna talk tomorrow. You can count on that."
"Whatever. And hey. Thanks. You know. For everything." Alec stuttered.
"Your welcome. Good night." Cindy said, turned off the light and went to bed.
Alec stretched out on the couch and wrapped the blanket around him. He really wanted to talk to someone. Maybe Cindy was the right person. After all, that was the reason he came here for in the first place.
Warehouse outside of SeattleVictor arrived shortly after midnight and quickly parked his car and walked inside. The plan he had in mind worked well. But the plan he told Renfro hasn't even been executed. So he might have a problem there. He was sure she would be waiting on the other side of the door for him wanting a full report of what went down. So he had to think. If only he had more time. More self confident than he really was in that moment, he opened the door and marched inside.
"So? What do you got?" Renfro asked not giving him the time to take his jacket off.
"Ma'am. The plan didn't work out. Apparently the place is not helping Terminal City anymore. There's too many sector cops and other military troops in that corner to try something like that. The boss of the place, a guy called Reagan Ronald or, like the messengers, call him 'Normal', told me to get out and there weren't anymore jobs. Ma'am. After I left the place I was followed by some sector cops. That's why I drove around Seattle for a while. I stopped by Max's old crib and wanted to talk to her former roommate, but she wasn't there. I'm sorry ma'am. But unfortunately I come back here empty handed." Victor finished his report. He tried to sound disappointed as well as honest and by the look on Renfro's face it looked like she bought the story.
"Okay." Renfro said after a while of thinking. "Check her roommate's place again tomorrow. If necessary beat out of her what she knows, then kill her. In the meantime coordinate the teams in Canada. I await your update in the morning." Renfro said, turned around and left for the night.
Victor finally took his jacket off and sat down on the chair, pretending to check the computer screen. That was close. Let's see if I can find out more about the unicorn project. Victor thought and turned around to get an update from the soldiers observing the various computers.
TerminalCity Headquarters:
"Wow. It's amazing how much easier that is once you've got the right passwords." Dix said as he quickly outsmarted all the obstacles, firewalls and password-protected areas of the NSA computer system.
"Yeah. That would have taken us ages. If we would have ever gotten that far." Luke said while helping Dix finding what they needed.
"Cindy said something about a former NSA and Manticore cooperation that is now considered dead. We should look in the older files." Dix said as he scrolled through the various folders and subfolders of the system.
"Guess we have a long night ahead of us." Luke said as Dix started to open one folder after the other.
AN: There you go. Sorry not much Max and Logan in that one, but I promise more in the next chapter. As usual next Thursday. If you liked it drop a review. Thanks to all for reading.
Lfbrox