A/N: Sorry for the lack of cool fightin' action in this but I'm not very good at writing it.
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Chapter thirty-three: After The Fall
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White: So what exactly is it that your genes have been coded to do?
Max: Kick ass, mostly
-Max and White (Bag 'Em)
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'How do I feel? I've been here before,
I've felt this
Retreat to a place, a place within me,
I need this. Keep it all down, bottled inside
It breaks me to torment again and
Torture me like it used to'
-Staind (Change)
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"What d'you think you're doing?!" Alec's angry voice made Erin wince. Sighing, she stopped and turned to look at him. He was pissed.
Wincing again at his expression, Erin tried to look innocent "I was bored." She waited for the yelling to start.
"You shouldn't be walking around" his gentle voice surprised her "You're meant to be resting."
Erin stared at him, trying to figure out if he was up to something. "And doing what exactly? Everyone's helping with the supplies and busy setting up the infirmary and cafeteria. I can't skateboard and there's no TV, so what am I meant to do? You know I get bored and I hate being injured!" Erin started walking slowly up the steps again, ignoring his hand as he held it out to steady her.
"You could always read some of Josh's books" Alec grinned "I'm sure he'd be happy to lend them to you"
"Yeah, he was. I checked 'em out and I've read most of 'em. The rest is nineteenth century literature. Do you have any idea how boring that crap is?"
Alec opened the stairwell door and they walked out onto the roof of the garage. "You'll make your injuries worse if you keep walking around."
"Yeah, well, I've had worse. I'll be fine" Erin moved to the edge of the roof and laid down on the wall that surrounded the top floor. Erin looked up at the clouds and tried to make shapes in them. She used to do that with Jake when they were little and she and Matt used to do it. One cloud to her left looked like a rabbit, and another one looked like a duck with an overgrown head, or maybe it was an afro? Erin smirked, the sixties lived on. Another cloud to her right looked like a large sausage or maybe a certain part of the male anatomy? Erin smirked again. Ah, an 'Austin Powers' moment. One cloud almost directly above her looked like a giraffe with a frying pan sticking out of its-
"How much worse?" Alec's quiet voice interrupted her amusing train of thought.
Erin craned her head to look at Alec. He was sat cross-legged on the wall next to her head. "What?"
"You said you've had worse" Alec was watching her intently and Erin fidgeted under his gaze.
She pasted a smirk on her face, like she didn't care about what he was asking. "I really don't want to talk about it. Besides, it'll only make you more annoying. I wish you'd stop being so overprotective! I don't need looking after."
"That's a matter of opinion and you're changing the subject." Alec wasn't fooled and he stared at her waiting. Erin lasted an impressive 30 seconds under his gaze.
"Fine, fine" the smirk faded and she sighed "They doctors said it was a miracle I survived." Erin focused her gaze on the sky again, not really seeing it "Both my legs were broken. I had cracked and broken ribs, broken fingers, a fractured skull and collarbone. A dislocated shoulder and knee, a broken arm, a concussion, and loads of cuts and bruises. I was also suffering from blood loss, pneumonia and the bastards had begun to starve me but realized that killing me quickly would ruin their plans. The last injury they gave me was a gunshot wound to the stomach. Would've blasted my guts out if they hadn't shot me from some distance away." She refrained from mentioning the other internal bruising. He didn't need to know what else they'd done to her. Erin went back to watching the clouds and Alec was silent for several minutes. She could feel him examining her with his eyes, looking for more scars. He wouldn't find any big ones. They were all on her front and back, and she had a scar at the back of her head under her hair that couldn't be seen. The scars on her arms and legs had faded because Erin spent a lot of time outside with her brothers. No one could see the ones on her arms unless they were really looking for them. Alec slowly reached out and touched the inside of her left arm gently. He'd found one of them. With his fingers he traced the small faded line just below her elbow and Erin seemed to snap out of whatever world she'd been lost in.
"What were their plans?" his voice was really quiet, almost dangerous sounding. His gaze went to her face but her eyes stayed on the clouds and Erin's face remained emotionless. Alec looked into her eyes, and read the emotion she couldn't hide in them. Total sadness.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Okay" Alec looked down at the street below, his fingers still stroking her arm gently though he didn't seem to realise he was doing it. "How about we talk about those guys that attacked you? You haven't told the others much about them." His fingers stilled as Erin tilted her head to look up at him again.
The comment brought Erin's eyes to his and she grinned "That's because I knew it'd get back to you, doofus. You are the Second in Command. I figured you or one of the others would get it in your tiny little brains for a little revenge. You're not goin' out there to get 'em."
The disappointed look on his face confirmed her suspicions and he gave her the puppy dog face.
Erin smirked "That don't work on me, dude. I got 2 little brothers who use that look daily. Thanks to them, I'm immune"." Her smile faltered for a fraction of a second but she forced it back up. "Back to cloud gazing."
Alec shrugged and laid down so his legs were going away from her and his head was next to hers. Erin looked back up at the clouds in search of more funny shapes.
After a minute or so, Alec spoke up and pointed at the sky "Does that look like a giraffe with a frying pan sticking out of its ass?"
"It's good that Alec hasn't brought up the relationship stuff, isn't it? I mean, I could've just imagined that he was gonna kiss me, right? Maybe I shouldn't have told him I thought he was hot. It's obviously made him uncomfortable even if I did say it like I was saying the sky was blue and the Pulse effected America's economy. I was just stating a fact, simple as that. I figured he could handle it. He's used to girls drooling over him, only I don't drool and faint at his feet when he looks at me. But damn, I've come close. The thing is, me telling him I liked him hasn't affected his protectiveness. He's still really annoying; he has to know what I'm doing and if I'm not getting into trouble. I swear, he has Dalton hang around with me so he can keep tabs on me and my location at all times. Sometimes I feel like hitting him, I really do! When I ask him why he's so overprotective, he gets this cute little smile on his face that he must've practised in front of the mirror and says he's just looking out for me. Okay, so maybe he doesn't practice in front of the mirror, he doesn't even have one in his little room thingie. On the other hand, Sketch's told me that Logan has a mirror. *smirks* He apparently spends about an hour holding it up to see if his hair is spiked right. Doesn't he know he looks like a ferret?
Anyway, back to the point. If Alec doesn't want to be anything but friends with me, I'm pretty much safe right? No risk of me making an arse outta myself in front of him. I can't believe I even considered letting him get even closer than anyone's ever been. It was insane, totally stupid; I don't know what came over me. I had no chance with Alec so why did I even admit to liking him? I can still tell he's uncomfortable with it though. Sketchy made a joke the other day about Alec and me being so close we were practically married. Alec went all quiet and he got this look on his face that Sketchy didn't catch. He looked kinda, I don't know, nervous? Yeah, I know. Alec and nervousness don't tend to go together do they? He covered the look up almost as soon as it appeared and answered with a smart ass remark saying our children would be too sarcastic and bad tempered thanks to my DNA. I swore at him. Anyway, that look kinda made me wonder. What if he DOES like me? What if he's scared how close we could be if we ever got together? He doesn't have the greatest track record when it comes to relationships. Let's see... there was Rachel and then there was, well, Rachel. And THAT ended badly so I can see why he'd be nervous. Wait a minute! Why am I even going into this? Alec doesn't like me! Damn, this is a waste of paper. Alec would never even consider a relationship with me. I shouldn't even be thinking about this. It's never going to happen so what's the point?"
Erin sat with Josh, Cindy and Sketchy on crates in an old warehouse. Joshua had found the warehouse for Alec so they could use it for training. Everyone had been banned from watching these sessions but Joshua had persuaded Alec to let Cindy and Sketchy watch because they were getting bored. Erin had been invited by Alec himself because he thought she was less likely to get into trouble when she was with him. So now, Erin and her friends sat in silence watching Alec teach the '09 escapees. Everyone had been paired off to fight and Alec was watching each pair fight one at a time, rotating the X5s with different partners. It was pretty cool to watch. Erin had sat in silence the whole time, hardly blinking.
"This is so cool" Sketchy said between mouthfuls of chips. "I never get tired of watching them do this stuff."
"Yeah, those honeys sure have some moves" Cindy watched as Jondy swept the legs out from under Krit only to see him land in a crouch and flip backwards, kicking Jondy in the jaw. Jondy staggered for a second before launching an attack with a volley of blows and kicks. Luckily, they were both holding back on the hits.
"Alec good teacher" Joshua watched as Alec spoke to his class at the same time as watching Jondy and Krit fight. "He was best at Manticore, then it was Zack and Max."
"Really?" Original Cindy looked over Erin's head at her dog-like friend.
Joshua nodded "Even downstairs people know that. It used to be Zack but then they left and rules became tougher. Alec became the best."
"What do you think about this Suga?" Cindy looked down at the silent Erin.
Erin shrugged, her eyes glued on the action taking place in front of her. Her eyes flickered rapidly from one fighter to the other. "They're really good. I'm trying to catch some of their more basic moves- everyone should know how to defend themselves."
"Right on" Cindy smiled "Original Cindy knows that. It was one of the reasons why I joined the army."
A spray of chips covered them and both Erin and Cindy tore their gazes away from the fighters to stare at Sketchy. Sketchy sat staring at Cindy "You were in the army?"
Cindy gave him a laid back smile "Mmmhmm, and I still remember some of the training so don't you go and piss Cindy off, you know what I'm sayin'? 'Cause Cindy really can put the smack down on your ass." O.C. bumped fists with Erin and went back to watching the girls. Jondy and Krit moved to sit at the edge of the mats. Next up, Max and Zack.
"Okay, Max, you're up with Zack" Alec's words made Max stand up straighter, any straighter and she would be stood to attention.
Her gaze ticked over to Zack as he stood up and moved into the middle of the mats. Okay, she could do this. Max forced her feet to move. All she had to do was avoid eye contact and not lose because of it. Max knew this was gonna be a long fight….
Erin and Cindy exchanged looks as Max and Zack walked into the middle of the mats. Zack looked his usual self but Max looked tenser than usual. Erin gave Cindy a questioning look and Cindy grinned. She knew what was going on inside Max's head and they were gonna have a little chat as soon as training was finished. Of course, Max knew nothing of Cindy's plans for her.
Max stretched her sore muscles as Zack rotated his shoulders, loosening them up. They nodded at each other and immediately took fighting stances. And off of Alec's nod, the fight began.
Max blurred as Zack lashed out with a kick to the chest. Max blocked it and followed through with a punch to the face. It was blocked and countered with an elbow to the gut and a kick to the knee. The elbow connected but the kick was blocked by a foot and his leg was grabbed, flipping him over. The rest became a blur of movement and Erin couldn't follow it any more, it was just too fast. Looking over at Max's brothers and sisters, she did catch Jondy's amused smile as she watched Max fight. Jondy knew something was wrong.
Over half an hour later
Kick. Block. Sweep. Jump. Counter sweep. Flip. Punch. Block. The fight was still going on and Alec stood watching, his arms folded as he leant against a wall. What was Max playing at? He could tell she was distracted. He'd seen her fight enough times to know her style. Zack did too apparently because he had a confused expression on his face even as he continued his attack. Max was good at adapting to any situation, using her surroundings against her opponents. She usually watched their eyes as any good soldier was trained to do so they could see where there opponent was going to attack next. Max wasn't doing that now. She still managed to block most of Zack's attacks and she kept her eyes moving quickly so Zack couldn't see where she was going to attack but she wasn't fighting as well as she usually did. Her movements seemed stiff and she seemed distracted. Zack was also obviously holding back and Alec sighed. Whatever Max's problem was, she had to get over it. Even though both fighters were covered in sweat and were obviously tired, neither one of them wanted to give up and let the other win. He'd heard Joshua and the others talking and he knew Cindy and Sketchy had a bet on. Neither would win any money.
"Okay, stop!" Alec commanded and both Max and Zack froze in their fighting positions. "You can collapse now" he smirked and both Max and Zack sat down on the mats, wiping sweat from their faces.
The other transgenics moved to sit in the centre of the mats with them, Alec stood in front of them in the at ease position. When he realised what he was doing, he dropped his arms to his sides and slouched slightly.
"Okay, I'll begin with the fight. You're both very good, you adapt well and you think fast on your feet. Problem is, you both still have weaknesses. Zack, you rely on your strength too much. You put all of your energy into it rather than your skill. It makes you slower, don't do it. Max, you go for speed- it drains your energy. Also, you're distracted for some reason and you keep leaving yourself open. Whatever your problem is- get over it."
Max glared at him and he held up his hands defensively "You wanted me to train you; I get to point out your problems." Max's family chuckled quietly and Max turned her glare on them.
Alec's gaze ticked to each of the X5s. "You're all pretty good. Living on the streets has made you good street fighters. Each of you knows what you need to improve on. I'll find a couple of people who'll help you train, listen to what they say. If you have any problems with them, come talk to me and I'll sort it out. I suggest we get you working on a training program. You'll each have one and we can work it around your schedules. This warehouse will be your training room. A gym is being set up not far from here as we speak. Everyday, I want you running around TC 10 times. In a week's time, you'll increase it to 15. I'll see each of you fight again in 3 weeks so I'll be able to see your progress. Our next session together will be in a couple of days. I'll need to see what you know about strategies. Obviously, I won't need to give you weapons training cuz you know enough as it is. Any questions?" Everyone got to their feet and he shrugged "Class dismissed." Turning around, he began to walk over to his friends sat on some crates near the door.
"Max! Alec!" Dalton ran into the warehouse without knocking. He looked around until he spotted them and blurred right over.
"What?" Alec put a hand on the boy's shoulder to stop him falling over "What's wrong?"
"It's Logan" Dalton straightened "He says there's a problem."
"Today, officials have released this photo-fit of a transgenic" Erin's face flashed up on the screen. "She is believed to be 18-19 years old, but looks younger. The transgenic, apparently an X6 of the notorious X series, answers to the name of Erin. Officials say she must not be approached if seen and is considered to be highly dangerous." Everyone stared at the television screen in silence.
The reporter moved on to talk about the abilities of the X series and what the soldiers were able to do at Erin's age. The television was turned down.
"This sucks" Sketchy stated matter-of-factly. He looked at Erin "White wants you dead SO bad."
Erin sat on the couch impassively, holding her arm protectively, her shoulder still hurt like hell.
"And there's nothing we can do about it" Max stood near the computers looking agitated "The only good side to this is that it shows us he doesn't know where Erin is."
"It's being broadcast on all major channels nationwide" Logan stated in that usual whispery voice he used to try to make him seem calm and mysterious. "He knows she's survived in this country on her own."
"Well, why wouldn't she survive?" Max looked over at the injured Erin on the couch next to Sketchy. Erin simply shrugged her left shoulder and closed her eyes, leaning her head back against the couch, content just to listen to them work this all out.
"Think about it" Dix spoke up "He knows that Erin should be scared, right? And we can assume he knows she's from England. He probably thinks she's in a strange country in an economic depression, surrounded by criminals and mass hysteria with no place to go and no friends."
"Ah shit" Erin sat up straighter and winced at the pain it caused. "Those guys, the ones that did this to me. They'll tell people what they did and where it happened. It was only a couple of blocks away from here!"
Alec was in front of her in an instant. "Description. Now." He ordered and Erin sighed.
Next Chapter: To Hell With What Could've Been…
Alec watched the men walk through the alley, his eyes narrowed as they laughed and joked around. These guys thought they could beat up Erin and get away with it. They weren't gonna walk away from him laughing. Alec stepped out into the alley…
A/N: *hides from stressed reviewers* Sorry for the lack of Max/Zack action but I just couldn't write it. Not now anyway. However, Max will have to admit her feelings to Cindy soon. You know how Cindy can get anything outta her. *nods* Yep, a girly talk is on the way.
Marty: Yes dude, you WERE ranting. *glares at comment about Erin running* So, Jensen was cornered by an old lady. Damn, they're annoying. Hopefully, he'll be able to escape. *thinks* That is, if he can walk. They're dangerous with walking sticks.
Sea Siren: They'll kiss soon, don't worry about that. The "playing footie wi' my head" line is just summat I've heard around and I thought it was funny. Don't worry dude, my meds have disappeared yet again, so I think the ideas will continue to flow. *frowns* It doesn't shut up the voices in my head though.
Messymissy: *falls off chair again*Okay *reads through review* Erin won't need to rest for a month 'cause Alec was just being sarcastic. Not sure when the Logan bashing will commence but it shouldn't be too far now. As for the Max/Zack stuff, more intervention will take place. The "After The Fall" title is meant for Erin- ya know, cuz she's injured and everything. YES I want you to keep asking questions, but you write a lot!! Not a problem *smiles* It just takes me awhile to read it.
Shards Of Normality: Thanks for the compliment. Sorry for the lack of sexual tension though, I'm trying to focus on Erin's relationship with Alec more than what Max feels towards Zack. I included this thing with Max cuz I can't stand to see her with ferret guy. When it comes to the writing, I know where this story needs to go. I have some chapters written for the sequels, and I also have a few future chapters written for this story. I'm just filling in the gaps between the ones I've written. The reason why this story is taking so long is I keep getting more ideas as I write and I just HAVE to include them.
Elin: *grins* No comment dude
