A/N: Man, ff.net is being really annoying. I didn't realise I had all these reviews until I checked it. Maybe they're having problems with that email thingie? *shrugs* Oh well, hopefully it's fixed now.
…………………………………………………………………………………………….
Chapter forty-two: Listen To Your Heart
…………………………………………………………………………………………….
'Argh! I can't believe this. I've been stuck in this closet for over an hour to facilitate you having sex!'
-Alec (Borrowed Time)
…………………………………………………………………………………………….
'Chill out Whacha yelling for
Lay back it's all been done before
And if you could only let it be
You will see'
-Avril Lavigne (Complicated)
…………………………………………………………………………………………….
Erin was lost in her own world as she skated along what was considered 'Main Street' in Terminal City. She did grinds along the pavement and practiced small jumps over crated and boxes. She'd barely said anything to Dalton for the last hour and that was fine with him. He was practicing his own tricks on Erin's board.
Hearing a whistle, Dalton flipped the board into his hand and turned. He was greeted with the site of two older X6s that Dalton hadn't seen since the fire- two X6s known as Zero and Bullet.
Grinning, Dalton went to meet them. "Hey wondered when you guys would get here" Dalton shook their hands.
Zero grinned down at his fellow unit member "Just got in with a few others. Max and Alec tell you about us?"
"Yeah, heard you helped each other out after the fire."
"We heard all about you too, man" Bullet patted him on the shoulder "You were on TV, you're famous."
"Want my autograph?" Dalton smirked at them and they rolled their eyes at him. Dalton always was a bit sarcastic.
"Hey, who's the girl?" Zero spotted Erin and he caught her eye and winked at her "She's hot."
Dalton grinned "She's Erin."
"Erin? Nice name. She choose it herself? Bullet watched as Erin pulled another grind along the pavement.
"I think her mom gave it her- she's an Ordinary." Dalton explained patiently, "She's 18, British and doesn't talk. White's after her for some reason and she doesn't know why. She doesn't remember how she got here and she has all this info in her head and she doesn't know how it got there."
"Wait, back up" Bullet stared "she's an Ordinary?!"
"She's cool alright? You see that thing on TV the other day? The thing with the bike chase? One of them was Erin. She rescued Alec. She also rescued some of Max's family before she came here. She has some skills, man."
"Hey, isn't she the one who's face's been all over TV? They say she's an X6." Bullet knew he'd seen her somewhere.
"Yeah, for some reason White wants her dead. Yet another mystery. Erin's full of 'em."
"Mysteries?" Zero looked back at Erin to see her stop, sit down on the curb and begin to take off her blades.
"C'mon" Dalton ignored Zero's question and headed off to join Erin, "I'll introduce you guys." The boys followed Dalton.
"Yo, Erin, like you to meet two of my squad mates" Dalton nodded at the X6's.
Erin smiled at them "Zero, Bullet. Wondered what happened to you two. You were in Canada, right?"
"See!" Dalton grinned "She's weird."
"Hey!" Erin poked him in the shoulder "nothing wrong with weird, boy with feline DNA!"
"Good point" Dalton grinned.
"Okay" Zero and Bullet looked at each other.
"So, you're friends with Alec and Max, huh?" Bullet smiled slightly, looking slightly uncomfortable.
"Yep, they're cool" Erin grinned and pushed some hair from her face.
Zero sniffed "You're mated?"
"Mated? Hell no!! Why would you say that?" Erin's eyes widened in surprise.
"You smell like Alec" Zero shrugged.
"Dude, she's one of Alec's best friends" Dalton grinned at him.
"Oh, cool" Zero grinned and looked Erin up and down again.
Erin rolled her eyes "Yeah, well, I'm gonna go eat." She picked up her blades and turned in the direction of the cafeteria.
"I think we'll join you" Zero smiled at her and the other X6s rolled their eyes before nodding and following them.
The cafeteria was a large warehouse, not far from HQ. In it were hundreds of tables that Mole and Zane had had built, and a long buffet-like counter like you have in some schools where someone stands behind it and gives you your portion of mostly inedible mushy stuff. After Erin and the others collected their meals, they turned back to the huge room. Dalton and the others headed over to a large table of X6s and Erin was debating on whether to go join them when she heard someone calling her name.
"Hey Erin, you wanna come sit with us?" Max called out to her and Erin paused.
"Depends" she smirked "are you gonna go all evil on me and corner me in some plot to make me more girly?"
Max, Lee and Jondy grinned.
"Don't worry" Lee patted the seat beside her "You're safe… for now."
Erin sat down beside Lee and immediately began to eat. She was starving.
"We're talking about Max and Zack" Jondy told her as Erin tucked into her mac n' cheese. Joshua had obviously influenced the menu.
Erin looked at Max who was playing with her food distractedly. "What about them? Surely, they'd have got it on by now?"
"It's not so simple" Max said over a mouthful of food, "I can't just tell him right out that I like him, and it's not like I'm totally sure about the way I feel about him and-"
"You better not say you don't know if Zack likes you" Lee interrupted. "It's totally obvious. He's just learnt how to control his instincts."
"Instincts?" Erin looked up interested. This might help her.
"Yep, as transgenics, we're more in tune with our instincts" Lee shrugged. "The way we act, the way we stay close together. Pack instinct. It's this same instinct that allows us to sense danger. When it comes to interaction it's the same thing. When a male likes a female enough, his instincts tell him to make her his mate."
"How come I don't know all this?" Max looked slightly confused.
"Because, you're not used to being with other transgenics like us. We've all spent some time with one of the others after the escape. It took you until last year to have any sort of contact with us. Even then, it was only for short periods of time."
"So, how do they go about making you their mate?" Max looked to her sisters for an explanation.
"Well, if they know that you're interested, they put their mark on you" Jondy shrugged.
"Their mark? What's their mark?" Max leant forward and Erin listened with a sense of dread washing over her. She had a feeling she knew what that was.
"They bite you" Lee said simply.
"They bite you?" Max nearly choked on her drink.
"Yeah" Jondy rubbed her neck with a grin "it's instinctive for them Maxie. It's their way of marking you as their mate. Once they do that, it's like they can't keep their hands off of you." Erin listened silently and absently rubbed her neck. The exact spot where Alec had bitten her.
"It also tells other males that you're taken." Jondy grinned.
"How do they know? That you're mated, I mean?" Erin spoke up for the first time. Alec was SO gonna get his arse kicked.
"Well, usually, they just see it and know you're mated. If they don't see it, our sense of smell is acute enough to tell us who you've been around."
Obviously the others hadn't picked up anything different with Erin's smell because she was always around Alec anyway.
Erin and Max looked at each other and simultaneously shrugged.
"So, Zack is somehow controlling his instincts?" Max frowned as she finished her meal.
"Yep, now, you need to decide if you want to be mated with him." Lee shrugged.
Max bit he lip and begin to think.
Erin finished her meal and stood up "Well, I gotta jet. I'll see you guys later."
Erin left quickly and Max and her sisters watched her leave.
"You don't think…" Max began and Jondy and Lee shrugged.
"It'd be about time" Jondy grinned. The sisters nodded in agreement.
Erin walked quickly to HQ. She had to find Alec so she could kick his arse. He knew! He had to have known. Erin stormed into Headquarters. He wasn't there. Erin walked up to Mole who was now watching her in amusement.
"What's up kiddo? Someone steal your board?" He grinned over his cigar.
"Have you seen the little shit?" Erin ignored his question.
Mole smirked "Now who would that be I wonder?"
"Alec!" Erin kicked his chair in frustration. Anyone else who tried to do that would be dead. However, this was Erin and Mole thought she was kind of amusing.
"Last I saw he was talking with Syl and OC in Sector D. What's he done now?"
"Something that would result in me kickin' his arse so bad he won't be able to sit down for a week" Erin looked like she was going to explode.
Mole simply chuckled and wondered what it was this time. They always wound each other up.
"Ah, another lovers' quarrel. You know that actually fucking the guy might ease the tension."
The sound of a slap echoed loudly in HQ as Erin slapped Mole and all movement stopped as Erin kicked Mole's chair over with Mole still in it.
"What the hell was THAT for?!" Mole got to his feet quickly and glared down at Erin who didn't look scared in the slightest.
"You were being a bloody great eejit! That's why you stupid shite!" Erin glared up at Mole.
Everyone waited for Mole to snap and kill her. Mole stared at Erin, chewing on the cigar he'd managed to keep in his mouth. "What did you just call me?" He growled low in his throat.
Erin shrugged "A bloody great eejit and a stupid shite."
Mole was suddenly grinning "That's a good one! Better than green wanker and a freakin' wazzock."
Erin grinned back, "I thought so. Still needs some work though."
"Yep" Mole picked up his chair "come back to me with something better."
Erin shrugged "Okay dude" and left in search of Alec.
Everyone shook their heads and got back to work. Erin and Mole seemed to understand each other. It was the strangest thing. Who could understand a walking lizard? More importantly, who could understand Erin?
Sector D used to be used for storage, a bit like the warehouses but with better buildings. Here the buildings were smaller with no corrugated metal in sight. This was the kind of place where food such as meat and fruit had been stored for shipment.
Erin found Cindy walking away from one of the more stable of the buildings with a smile on her face.
"Hey Suga, Cindy was just coming to look for you. Alec wants to talk to you" Cindy steered Erin into the building.
"Really? What's he want?" Erin looked around her.
The building had only one floor and what looked like 4 rooms. They were stood in what looked like an old lobby. It had a dirty linoleum brown floor that was had probably been cream in another day and age. The walls were white painted brick that had turned a grey colour with age. Some old calendars and advertising posters still remained pinned to the walls. One wall had two doors side by side- made of thick metal and with large padlocks keeping them shut. They used to be giant freezers. Obviously, they didn't work anymore. Another wall had another door in it- this time wooden. It probably led to an old office. The lobby had been stripped clean but someone had put a table and 2 chairs in a corner near the freezer doors. Alec was nowhere to be seen.
Syl was sat at the table with a large grin on her face that made Erin feel nervous.
"You'll need this" Cindy gave her a torch and led her to one of the freezers.
Syl stood up and pulled out a set of keys from her pocket.
"Guys, what's going on?" Erin didn't like this. They were up to something.
"Nothing" Syl smiled innocently, unlocked the door and shoved her in. She'd locked the door before Erin could turn around.
Erin heard movement and heard someone swearing.
"Alec?" Erin flicked on the torch. Without it, the room had been pitch black.
"They've locked us in" Alec shielded his eyes from the torch light as Erin found him with it.
"What d'you mean they've locked us in?!" Erin kicked at the door and it didn't budge.
Alec simply shrugged in response and slid down the wall opposite the door. He sat down cross-legged and glared at the door. "We're not getting out of here until they let us out. I've already tried knocking it down but it won't budge."
Erin looked back at the door with a slightly panicked look in her eyes. The darkness seemed to close in on her and Erin felt like she was going to pass out. She hated the dark.
Next Chapter: Fool For Life…
"You bit me" Erin glared at Alec "You bit me and you marked me as yours. You never even gave me a choice!"
A/N: Ooh! Erin and Alec locked in a room together with nowhere to hide. *wiggles eyebrows and tries to look innocent* Wonder what's gonna happen?
Marty: Dude *stares* they were NOT 'shagadelic smoochies'! Have you been watching Austin Powers again? And does Erin come across as a girly girl who likes to plan for future apartments together and ya know, start to decide on curtains and shit? Hell no!
Messymissy: Oh shit!!! *stares at review for 10 minutes before deciding to read it* Okay, here goes.
THE SEQUEL: It's gonna be better because it's more about Erin and her past. There'll be the introduction of another character and some actual plot! *grins* you'll also see a darker side of Erin. Let's just say, she gets angry at one point and it's enough to scare even the transgenics! Yep, it has more violence in it *smirks* some directed at Ferret Guy and there'll be more Max/Zack stuff hopefully. I actually have bits written for both sequels, they're just not in any order yet. When I finish this story, I'm gonna try to put a section on my site totally dedicated to the Erin trilogy.
THE LINK: Well, if you haven't guessed, this story is kinda mixing the scientific (transgenics) with the more supernatural side of things. Erin is definitely more supernatural even if she doesn't seem like it yet. I kinda touched on that in Max's freaky dreams. Erin never FEELS like she's all supernaturalish (not a word, I know *shrugs*) but it's not like she has a choice in the matter. She has a destiny to fulfil whether she wants to fulfil it or not.
DREAM RELATED STUFF: 'Two joined together' *grins* ah well, later in the sequel, it'll be revealed that that has more than one meaning. When Erin and Max are in the weird dreamland, Erin isn't actually there. The Erin Max sees is like a messenger- giving her riddles to solve and clues as to what's going to happen. Max will have more dreams later on. All I can say is, everything Erin says has a meaning. That, or she's just being sarcastic but you'll be able to tell if she's messing around.
ERIN TALKING: Well, I'll put it in order for you. 1) Abilities 2) Swearing 3) Violence, sarcasm and lots of angsty stuff. Cool enough for you? *grins* not gonna tell you anymore.
ERIN & ALEC: Later on, Alec isn't gonna be causing the trouble in their relationship… well, he will be but not yet. Erin's the one with more relationship issues thanks to her bad past.
MAX & ZACK: Well, Logan isn't the kind of person who'll give up his cat burglar easily. He has a warped sense of view. Now Max realises she doesn't love him, she's gonna be more relaxed (kind of). The relationship with Zack is going kind of slow because I like to focus more on Erin and Alec. Max still isn't sure how to act around Zack now she sees him in a different light, and Zack just thinks she's acting weird. He's used to her viewing him as a brother even though he still loves her.
Cat X5-989: *grins*Well, you'll just have to wait and see woncha? *wiggles eyebrows*
MM: Cat and mouse? Never thought of that one. Well, what if I told you that later on, Erin' is more ah, cat-like? As in, instinctively ah, driven?
