Author's Note: Astra, I'm planning on updating every four days, and I'll let everyone know if something changes. I was just so sick of getting writer's block or having something else come up and I ended up making everyone wait for a month. Now the chapters can come out regularly.

Disclaimer: Actually, I remembered that I also own Paige, so at the moment I own two characters. I'm so proud. :)

Black Ice

By Be Boring

Chapter 1: A New Hope

Kay paced meaninglessly around the house, wishing she didn't feel so helplessly, irreversibly useless. She wasn't accustomed to nearly constant silence, only broken by Paige's occasional cries. X5 babies didn't require as much care as ordinary children, so Paige spent most of the day sleeping. In fact, the past week had seemed hardly any different from when she was pregnant, except for the fact that she occasionally had to feed Paige, change her diaper, or give her a bath, not to mention the time she spent just watching her daughter sleep peacefully. She loved staring in wonder at what she'd created, but eventually a relentless need for action would surge through her veins and she would do exactly what she was doing now, pace the house until she felt some of the energy die out. She couldn't risk going outside; if anyone were to see her, everything would go up in smoke. Ames was allowed to go out and earn money, but only because it was required and he wasn't quite as much of a risk factor as she was. Even she had to admit that.

If the cult was furious with Ames for impregnating the genetically enhanced second key, they were even more furious with her for killing the original key. Even with Thula's murder aside, her mere existence was enough to infuriate them. Her life was a form of sacrilege to them, considering that they didn't believe in having more than one key per generation and they were unswervingly against genetic engineering. Just imagine if I told them that Ames was the one who actually killed Thula, she thought with a smirk.

Her feet eventually carried her into the room that they often referred to as Ames's office, even though it wasn't much more than a storage room for things that he didn't want the cult to know. Files were stacked neatly on the floor all around the room, stuffed nearly to their bursting point, but for the life of her Kay didn't know why he needed to keep so much crap lying around. She didn't know what was in most of it, even though she knew he had stolen every scrap of paperwork concerning her pregnancy from Harbor Lights Hospital. The rest of it was a mystery.

For the first time in the eight months she had lived there, Kay decided to look through some of the files. You probably won't even understand most of what you're looking at, a little voice protested in the back of her mind, but she ignored it. If she didn't understand it, then what was the harm? She was bored. If Ames happened to ask, that was what she'd tell him. He couldn't argue too much, despite just having a baby she was still considerably stronger than him. Without further ado, she settled herself down on the floor and grabbed the nearest stack of files. The first folder was haphazardly thrown together, unlike the others, which were neatly organized. The first piece of paper she picked up was nothing more than a slip of notebook paper on which he had scribbled down a date. Wednesday, March 17, 2021. That was just last week. She pondered it for a moment, then her eyes widened. This is Paige's birthday. She still wasn't used to that yet. Why would Ames have written that down? When she looked at the document under it, which was a release form from Harbor Lights Hospital on Monday, July 20, 2020, she realized that she must have opened the file about Paige. She understood why he would have the hospital papers, but why had he stored Paige's birthday? He would be able to remember it, there was no reason for him to write it down.

She flipped through a few more papers, most of which were just more hospital crap that she had already seen before when he'd first stolen them, but then she landed on something else. It looked like the results of a blood test. Just one glance told her it wasn't hers, but she saw all the traces of genetic engineering in the results before her. Whose is this? After staring at it for nearly a minute, the only possible conclusion came to her, but she didn't see how he had managed it. How could he have taken a blood sample from Paige without me finding out? Kay stood up abruptly and rushed to her room, hurrying to the crib and looking down at her daughter. "I'm sorry I have to do this, honey, but you can get some more sleep later," she whispered guiltily, then reached down and lifted Paige out of the crib. Almost immediately Paige started to cry in protest, not exactly thrilled about having been woken before she was ready, but for the first time Kay ignored it. She gently shushed her daughter and said anything that came to mind in a fruitless and halfhearted attempt to calm her down, but her mind was too focused on studying the baby's skin to really put in a full effort. It didn't take too long to find what she was looking for, a tiny, almost completely faded bruise directly in the soft crease of her elbow, the only remnant of a needle entering her. Even the puncture mark had already disappeared. Kay sat there, dumbstruck, as she finally rocked her daughter gently to put her back to sleep.

When had he done it? She had always been so careful about letting him handle Paige, she would definitely have noticed if he had jabbed a needle into her arm. Then there was the fact that it appeared to be almost completely healed already. Did this mean he had done it a while ago? How had he managed it? You weren't so careful when you gave birth to Paige. Don't you remember? He's the one who helped you deliver her, not to mention when he took her to clean her up and sterilize the umbilical cord. He was out of your sight with her for several minutes while you were recovering, the little voice pointed out, sounding very pleased with itself. Kay wished she could push it out of her head, but it was right, Ames had been alone with Paige for quite some time at the very beginning of her life. Had he taken the blood sample then?

Now that she knew when it had happened, a new question occurred to her. Why had he done it? Was he hoping that his DNA would cancel out her genetic engineering? That was ridiculous, and she knew that he knew better. She glanced back down at the paper in her hand, but she couldn't determine anything else. She had never been taught to read these things; what little she did know, she had figured out herself. Detecting transgenic blood was the only thing she was good at. But Ames knows how to read blood tests. He told you so back when Paige was first conceived. He even commented that it was the only medical thing he really knew, the voice jeered, sounding more snidely pleased all the time.

It wasn't until Kay snapped out of her thoughts and noticed the silence of the room that she realized Paige had fallen asleep again. She carefully placed her back in the crib, then rushed back to Ames's office. The file was still sitting wide open on the floor, and she reached down to flip through it some more. Everything else looked normal, it was all junk she knew about already. She finally reached the back of the file and was about to snap it shut when something caught her eye. Written directly on the inner edge of the folder was a telephone number, written in such tiny print that she had almost missed it. I guess his memory for numbers isn't as good as mine, she thought triumphantly. Maybe she would be able to get to the bottom of this. She neatly set the papers back into the file and settled it back on top of its stack, then turned to walk to the door. For the second time in the space of a minute, something caught her eye. She hadn't been in here much, so it must have been there the entire time, but she had never noticed it before. A fax machine was sitting on the other side of the room, surrounded by more stacks of files to keep it hidden. She wouldn't have spotted it if it hadn't been for the glare of light reflecting off the only visible corner of it. When she walked over to it, just one glance told her that it had been used recently. Ames had a habit of keeping his possessions clean, and the fax machine was spotless. If he hadn't been using it, he wouldn't have bothered keeping the dust off it that had settled onto many of the files she could see around her.

That number wasn't for a phone at all, it was a fax number, she realized suddenly, and her stomach knotted up tightly. Had Ames faxed Paige's blood test to someone? Why would he do that? And who would he send it to?

Ames wandered lazily around a tiny, musty old laundromat. He knew he looked suspicious without any clothes to wash, but it didn't matter. In this day and age, the other customers wouldn't ask any questions. The entire country had become a wasteland of suspicion and fear. Nobody was very quick to make new friends, and they were even slower to make new enemies. It was impossible to tell what you could be getting yourself into. Transgenics were still avoided if possible, and the cult was feared above all else. Seeing as how they all looked normal and it was harder to check for a scar than a barcode, he wasn't surprised that people were terrified, especially if you counted the fact that the Familiars' intentions were very clear. As cliché as it sounded, world domination was their ultimate goal. If he weren't one of them, he'd be afraid too.

"May I help you, sir?" inquired an incredibly deep, female voice in a manner of very forced politeness. He turned and forced a smile onto his face that was equally as false as her own, then replied, "Is your boss here?" It was a simple enough question; it wouldn't raise eyebrows but she would understand the meaning if she was a member of the cult.

"Right this way, please," she responded, turning and leading him to the back of the laundromat. He followed silently, sensing her enmity towards him without seeing the look on her face, which he was quite sure no longer held its phony smile. She opened a door for him at the back and gestured for him to enter, but she didn't come in. Instead, she shut the door and he heard her footsteps moving swiftly away. He turned to the man sitting behind the desk in front of him. He had only seen him twice before, first at his son's initiation, then shortly afterward when the Academy was closed down and moved. Both those times he had been honored to be in the presence of the most influential man of the cult, but now the novelty seemed to have worn off.

"Your assistant is a wonderfully warm woman," he commented dully, struggling to keep the edge off his sarcasm as he sat down.

The High Priest smiled indulgently, but it didn't stretch to his eyes. "We all know what you are, Ames, you can't blame us for being a little cold. Not only have we determined during your absence that you are from the family of the anti-key that we have been searching for throughout the entire history of our culture, but you also fathered a hybrid child that is an absolute abomination to us. I'm sure you knew that we found the documentation on that X5's pregnancy at Harbor Lights before you could get rid of it. I don't understand what you feel you have to gain through meeting with me. In the past, I may have done whatever I could to help you rectify your situation, but so far I have not found you worthy of my forgiveness. I understand that you sent a certain document to one of our people in the free clinic just across town. There are two things I want to know from you. One, how did you know who she was? And two, why did you send that document to her?"

"I take it you aren't aware of exactly what the document was?" Ames asked. If the High Priest had known, his demeanor would be quite different, he was sure.

"Would it make a difference?"

"I know it would. I knew Jennifer Palton at the Academy, and I recognized her one day as I was driving past the clinic. I knew she would be able to alert you to my current situation."

"And what situation is that?"

"You know as well as I do what the mother of my hybrid child is. I'm sure you are aware that she was the second key, Thula's younger sister. Although Sandeman rendered the pathogen in her blood harmless to humans, the original genetic code for the virus still remains in her DNA. While it's useless in her, I had reason to believe that it would be passed on in its full lethality to her offspring. A simple blood test on our daughter was enough to prove me right. While X5-358 cannot be used as a key, her children can."

The High Priest sat back, looking stunned at this revelation. "Are you sure about this?"

"I was positive before the child was born, but I worried that my own DNA would neutralize the virus and leave her as harmless as her mother, so I had a blood sample tested before I let you know my suspicions. Seeing as how the results were conclusive, I didn't see any reason to hold off telling you about our new hope."

The powerful man across from him smiled, his eyes shining with eagerness. "A new key. Of course, the transgenic blood also running through her veins is a disappointment, but as it can't be helped…." He stood up and walked around the desk so he could pace the room, his hands clasped behind his back. "Is the mother aware of what you have found out?"

"No, I was discreet. I do have some terms to set with you before you have access to the girl."

The priest stopped and turned, some of the delight fading from his face. "What kinds of terms?"

Ames held out his hands as he gave a little shrug. "I'm sure it's nothing you'll have a problem with, considering what I will be giving you in exchange. I request that I be reinstated as a Phalanx, the only one left as it turns out, and that my son be accepted back into the Academy without questions to resume his training. Any problems so far?"

He shook his head and returned to his chair to listen to Ames's final demand. "I also want it spread to the rest of our people that the rumor of my family being the anti-key is a lie, and I want it well known that it was I who 'discovered' the new key. Although I'm sure many will already know, my daughter's transgenic background isn't to be mentioned, and she will be raised as any other key has been. When she is old enough, we can pick up where we left off with the Coming. It's a whole new chance for us. The public believes that our goals died with Thula, and I see no reason to let them believe otherwise. There's no reason that things can't still work out for us. Are there any problems with this?"

Now the priest folded his hands on the desk and stared at them, lost in thought. "Am I to trust that you will ensure the mother won't be a problem for us?"

"Naturally. X5-358 won't even be a factor in this."

Max felt a great rush of relief when the workday was over and Alec no longer had an excuse to cling to her. Zack had thrown her some questioning looks when she and Alec came back from each set of runs only to rush right back out again. She couldn't do anything more than shrug helplessly at him, then follow as Alec dragged her off again. When they were done for the day, he had no choice but to leave with Jondy. She ignored the pleading gaze he sent back in her direction, then crossed over to her big brother. It was fairly obvious he wanted to talk to her.

"Why have you two been working so hard all day? Neither of you even took a break," he said as she opened her locker and pulled out the soda she had been storing there. She frowned as she discovered it had long since turned flat.

"Alec and Jondy were having some kind of misunderstanding, and Alec was using me as a barrier between the two of them. Believe me, I wasn't happy about it, especially since I know Normal won't pay me overtime, but I got enough in tips to make up for it. How has Jondy been all day?"

He shrugged and sat down next to her, pulling his jacket on. "Basically the same as always, except for some little talk she had with Brin. Brin wouldn't tell me what it was about, though. All she would say was that it was girl talk and I didn't need to know about it."

"Fair enough. Where's Brin?"

"She called from a payphone to tell me she got hung up in Sector 8 by a bunch of roadblocks, so she'll be late getting back. She said she'll meet me at Crash, though. Care to keep me company until she gets there?"

"Sure. I'll have to leave around five-thirty, though, I'm having dinner with Logan at six."

Zack nodded blankly, trying to hide his strong dislike of Logan. He'd been trying harder lately to at least hold back his hostility. Max was with Logan, and he'd learned from experience many times that separating them was next to impossible. His last attempt had ended with his own electrocution. The memory still left a bad taste in the back of his mouth. No matter how many times he told himself that it had all worked out for the best, it never failed to hurt him when he remembered that Max would rather kill him than let him hurt Logan.

Max didn't notice the bitter expression on her brother's face as they walked out the door and mounted their bikes, but she did notice how much colder he grew as they rode towards Crash. I guess when I'm around him I'll have to pretend that I've never met anyone named Logan before. Either that, or he should just grow up. She preferred the second option, but it wasn't likely that Zack was ever going to accept Logan as a part of their lives, so she would have to settle for Option A.

She paid for the drinks at Crash, ready to share her unwillingly earned extra cash. Zack was still looking sulky when she filled his glass up and sat down, so she slammed the pitcher of beer down on the table harder than she normally would have to at least make him look up. He glanced at her nervously, immediately detecting the change in her attitude. "So, have you talked to any of the others lately?" he asked, more for a change of subject than anything else.

"I talked to Cade the other day, he just kept going on and on about this new girlfriend he has. Doesn't he have a new one every other week?"

Zack smirked briefly before taking a drink. "Yeah, and he's just as excited about each one. Not too different from Gina."

"If you let them know where the other is, I'd bet you anything they'd be together. It might not last, but maybe between the two of them they'd manage to maintain a month-long relationship."

"Either that, or it would only last half as long and they'd break up in a few days." They both grinned, taking another drink at the same time. Max watched Zack glance around the bar without really seeing anything, and her mind started to run away with her again. It didn't happen very often that they were alone together, but when it did happen, she was strongly reminded of the way he had been when she first found him running around with the steel-heads. It wasn't so much the way he acted, but the feelings for her he had revealed at the time that made her think of it. Even outside of him trying to kiss her at the steel-heads' place, Alec had noticed that he seemed to care for her more than a brother should. She had thought nothing of it then, but that also meant that she didn't pay attention to how Zack acted around her. When she was alone with him now, she wondered if he was acting any different than he had then. If she hadn't detected his feelings then, she wouldn't be able to tell if he had them now. Most of the time she thought this was ridiculous, but whenever they were alone, she started to have her doubts. Sometimes she found herself imagining that he was looking at her with a softer expression than usual, only to take a second look and see that it was gone.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, studying her face carefully. She had gone so quiet that he really didn't know what to do. He had such a hard time reading her.

She smiled quickly and sat up straight, trying to push her thoughts away. She was being silly, Zack was head over heels in love with Brin, wasn't he? "No, I guess I'm just a little tired after running around so much today."

"I thought you didn't sleep?"

"I have to catch up sometime," she replied so quickly that she knew she was doing a pitiful job of concealing her discomfort. She glanced hurriedly at her watch and muttered, "I should probably go, Logan will be waiting." With that, she strode quickly out of the bar and ran her fingers through her long hair, trying to shake off the guilt she felt at leaving him alone to wait for Brin. Stop being so damn stupid. Even if you don't feel like doing it now, you're going to go up to him tomorrow at work and apologize for being so rude.

Zack watched her until she had gone through the door, then turned back to his beer. Max never seemed to want to be alone with him for long, and he was pretty sure he knew why. Even though he felt that it was obvious, it probably wasn't as clear to her that he was over her. He was happy to be with Brin, even though he had to admit to himself that the only reason he had started to care so much for her was because she had become very similar to Max. He hadn't so much gotten over the feelings as projected them onto another person that seemed suitable enough. It probably wasn't fair to any of them, especially Brin, but he knew that in time he would get over it. Brin was wonderful, he couldn't have asked for anything better to happen to him. And when she finally walked through the door at Crash, he was honestly glad to see her.

Ben had sat in the church for most of the day, but it wasn't as good as most he went to. For one thing, it seemed that not many people were faithful churchgoers in this town, so he knew he wouldn't find anyone worthy of a chase, but he was so thrown off guard by seeing White that he hadn't been as focused as usual. When he finally decided that he couldn't take it anymore, he slid quietly out of the church without passing a single person on the way. I guess I'll be moving on soon, he thought moodily, not looking forward to the idea of traveling so soon again. It hurt his head so much more to be on the move these days. He avoided Colorado at all costs, the drastic change in elevation was almost too much for his head to handle. He was so sensitive to everything these days, particularly changes in the weather. Lightning storms used to fascinate him, but now he found himself with an icepack on his head every time he saw signs of lightning in the distance. The thunder was a nightmare, but something about the energy in the air really seemed to set off his migraines. Perhaps it was the barometric pressure, he wasn't sure.

As he was walking down the sidewalk, a woman walked out of the front door of the free clinic and promptly ran right into him. She was a tall woman, only a few inches shorter than him, with chin-length black hair and sharp green and brown eyes, both of which glared at him furiously from the ground where she'd landed. "Why don't you watch where you're going?" she snapped fiercely. He reached down to help pull her up, but as soon as he had her left arm in his hand, she ripped it away with what he could have sworn was a hiss. "Don't touch me!"

He wasn't bothering with trying to help her up anymore, however, his eyes had landed on her left arm, where her vicious pull away from him had ripped her sleeve, baring the Caduceus scar on her forearm. "Well, that's interesting," he said softly, looking into her now nervous eyes. "You might want to leave before I decide to find out how interesting everyone else around here finds it." She scrambled to pull her sleeve together over the scar, stood up, and rushed off down the street. Ben stared after her, a light smile playing on his lips as he watched her run away from him. Yes, that was very interesting. Maybe this town wasn't completely empty of potential chases after all. A Familiar would be a lot of fun to hunt down.

A/N 2: Please review!