Title: M.I.A
Author: Lexie Jayne
Rating: PG
Characters: Jondy/Zane; Max/Alec; Syl/Krit; Logan, Zack.
Summary: Jondy vanishes, risking the lives of her loved ones, Max is faced with a new future and Terminal City faces it's biggest challenge yet the return of old enemies and allies. WIP. JZ, SK, MA
Feedback: Would be lovely if you feel inclined.
Notes: Thanks to Steph and ZombieGurl98 for their reviews. Jondy and Zane's history will be fleshed out mainly through flashbacks in this fic. I'm always interested in readers input for my stories. If you would like to see anything in this story, leave a review. And I promise this will be M/A, for anyone who is unsure.
Warnings: Language
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to James Cameron. I make no profit from this fan based venture. I only own Tanner, Micah, Sway and the character of Tawny. The name of Tawny is borrowed from the ever excellent Kara. Everyone else belongs to James Cameron.
Jondy coughed as she sat up slowly, her hand against her head. She was shaking a little, no doubt from the drugs that this Ames White person was having her pumped full of. She lay back on the gurney, staring at the two tubes snaking into her wrist – one liquid was a deep transparent-blue one and the other was clear and dripping at a steady rate. Drip… drip… drip…
Jondy rolled over slowly on the gurney, closing her eyes. They felt red raw and stinging. She took in two deep, yet shaky, breaths. She felt like death. She'd never been strong when it came to Psy-ops; she was the one who always broke first.
She could hear a baby cry in the distance and her fingers tightened on the thin mattress. The baby kept crying, as no one attended it. Jondy opened her eyes, her gaze focusing on the drip again.
"Good morning, 2-1-0."
Jondy tensed up as Ames White strolled into the room, followed by two soldiers, carrying a silver suitcase with them. One of the soldiers set up the suitcase on a small table by the wall, but White obscured Jondy's view of exactly what he was doing. The other soldier was examining the drips at the head of the gurney. Jondy laid completely still, her head pounding.
White stood next to Jondy and picked up a glass of water that was sitting on the table next to the bed. He lifted it to her lips and Jondy drank slowly. It could be laced with poison, or something to make her sleep or… her mind was sluggish from the drugs and she couldn't keep her thoughts straight.
"Now, 2-1-0, I want to ask you a few questions, okay?" Ames said, putting the water back on the table.
"Feel free to ask them, jerk, but I can't promise I'll answer," Jondy croaked, coughing a little.
White's hand was suddenly clamped around her throat, effectively pinning her to the bed. "You will answer my questions, 2-1-0, I can promise you that. Now, I want to know exactly where your child is."
Jondy's voice caught in her throat. "You don't have my baby?" she managed. "She's okay? You said… What about my boyfriend?" she swallowed. Please, please let Zane have Tanner somewhere safe. He would've taken her to Jace in Mexico.
White's fist slammed into her face before Jondy could even react. Her head whipped back, colliding with a dull thud against the metal bed-head. White took a step back.
"Understand one thing, 2-1-0. You aren't asking the questions. You are answering them. And if you fail to answer the questions quickly and honestly, there will be consequences." White held up a taser. "What is the location of your child?"
Jondy bit her lip tightly as White brought the taser down to the side of her neck. "Answer me, 2-1-0." And he flipped the switch higher on the taser, as Jondy's body shook violently on the bed. She felt her stomach lurch and her eyes rolled back into her head, falling unconscious to White's demands.
She blinked, suddenly awake, and looked around the room. Her eyes focused on the small details of the room... The wallpaper was nondescript grey. And there was a shelf near the door, covered with vases of flowers; small bunches of roses in sorbet colours, fluffy, fresh, bright flowers wrapped in cellophane. The graying white blinds pulled back from the window to let the morning sunshine flood in…
And Zane was standing next to the window, staring dazed at the bundle in his arms. He swayed gently, back and forth, gazing at the baby in his arms.
Zane was enraptured. His daughter was perfect, with feathery dark hair just like his, and Jondy's wide, bright blue eyes. She lay quite peacefully in his arms, wrapped in a pink blanket, with a little pink cap on her head. He could feel her breathe against him. She was utterly, and completely perfect.
The baby yawned, not opening her beautiful eyes, and settled against Zane once again. Zane couldn't take his eyes away from her.
"You look just like your beautiful mama, Angel," Zane murmured. "You're going to grow up to be the smartest, prettiest little girl ever."
"With lines like that," Jondy's voice broke into his thoughts. She'd passed out not long after she'd given birth, and slept through the next twenty seven hours. The doctor whom Jondy had put her trust in had pumped Jondy full of adrenaline and other meds, trying to re-hydrate her. And now she was awake.
Her hair was tousled and she still looked drained; her face was pale and she looked very thin and tired. But she was sitting up against the pillows calmly, watching Zane with his daughter.
"Such a sweet talker," Jondy teased, her eyes bright.
Zane walked slowly over to Jondy, trying not to unsettle their baby, before placing her gently into Jondy's waiting arms.
"What are we going to call her?" Zane asked softly, pulling a chair up and sitting next to the bed. Jondy bit back a giggle at the adoring expression that was on Zane's face, before focusing on her daughter. None of the names they'd thought of seemed right, looking at their child's face.
"Penny?" Zane offered tentatively. "Eva? Brin?"
Jondy shook her head. "No. She's not… She's not Manticore. She's different."
They sat in comfortable silence for a few moments before a nurse came bustling in. "Hope I'm not interrupting anything… good to see you awake now, Mrs. De Luca."
"Miss De Luca," Jondy corrected absently, completely oblivious to anything but her baby.
"Well, Miss De Luca, that baby girl of yours needs a name. I'll go and get a doctor to check you, and you two can fill out the birth certificate," the nurse said, handing Zane an official looking piece of paper and a pen.
Zane stared at the piece of paper. It asked them for information they technically could not give.
"Jon," Zane began, looking over at her.
"Yeah?"
And Zane made an unconscious decision. "Doesn't matter." And he carefully lettered their names; Jondy De Luca, and Zane Guevara, the surname he'd adopted from Krit. The name Krit had stolen off Max. The family name. The one thing they could pass on to each other.
"Her name is Tanner. Tanner De Luca," Jondy said suddenly, looking up at Zane.
"Tanner," Zane repeated, looking at his daughter. "I like that." And he signed the certificate before handing Jondy the pen. And they both signed the piece of paper for Tanner. They both silently agreed; no more running and no more hiding.
White look at the inanimate body of 210. She hadn't moved in over an hour. Her skin was white and looked like wax. Her lips were faintly blue and her breathing rattled her thin body.
"She will wake up soon, Sir," one of the soldiers reassured him. "Some of the medication you requested has unreliable effects in each patient, Sir."
White looked at 210's pale face. 'Where are they, X5? Where are you hiding them?'
"Soldier, I want every one of my men on the look out for the partner and the child. They should all have a copy of their descriptions. And it is crucial that they are alive when they are brought it," White ordered.
"Why?" the soldier looked confused. "You ordered us to terminate 452 on sight, sir."
"That was before 452 relocated my son. His location dies with her," White said slowly, almost musing. "I can hand her 210 and 210's family in exchange for my son, or 452 watches her sister and her family die slowly and painfully."
Jondy's eyes fluttered against her cheek, as she floated in and out of consciousness, barely able to absorb what White was saying.
White turned to leave before sneering at Jondy. "She'll break soon. She's weak. All Manticore creations were weak."
