A/N: Okay, this one isn't TOO short but the one after this is definitely longer. I'm finally getting back into writing at my usual speed but I'm still not quite there yet, and I've still got an assignment to do *studiously avoids looking at the stack of uni books I have to read*. Question: Have most of my reviewers deserted me? I only got 3 reviews last time. Note to self: Include more ferret bashing in the sequel and lots of shirtless (possibly naked Alec). *nods* that should do the trick. I'm actually still looking for someone to write the NC-17 version of chapter 44 so I can post it at the boards. There'll probably be some more of that in the sequel too.
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Chapter fifty-one: Identities Revealed
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'Girls kick ass. Says so on the t-shirt.'
-Max (Pilot)
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'But all the vacancy the words revealed
Is the only real thing that I've got left to feel
Nothing to lose
Just stuck/ hollow and alone
And the fault is my own
And the fault is my own'
-Linkin Park (Somewhere I Belong)
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Max watched, head held high as time seemed to slow down, giving her time to think before her inevitable death. She never thought that it would be White that killed her. No, even though she was a soldier and always would be; somewhere in her heart- in that secret place where she still believed in happy endings, the Good Place and the fact that motorcycle riding transgenic men were created by some ultimate higher being to torment the females of the world- she still believed that she wouldn't be killed. She'd still believed, in her heart of hearts that she would live out her life and die of old age, either surrounded by her family or alone somewhere, preferably not in a broken down shack in the middle of a wasteland. Hey, she had her standards.
So, it was a surprise to her, as she watched the bullet moving towards her- its tiny point deadly, that a single bullet would ultimately kill her. Not that one hadn't done it before but hey, she was still here- if only for a few microseconds more.
She caught a flicker of movement at the edge of her peripheral vision but her eyes remained on the bullet. Defiantly, Max stared death in the face and wondered if she'd see Eva, Ben and Tinga in the Good Place.
She couldn't hear her family and friends yelling and shouting. She didn't need to see their faces to know the range of emotions flickering across their faces. All she could see was black. 'Hang on a second' Max's eyes widened as she realized what she was seeing was something blurring faster than the speeding bullet as it moved in front of her, blocking her view of White and her death. A microsecond later, she also realized that the blurring object wasn't an object at all but something solid, something, no, someone alive.
Time sped up again and Max blinked as she stared in shock at what stood before her. Man, this day just got weirder.
White's gun was kicked up in the air and White received a single solid side kick to the chest. He flew up high and landed over thirty feet away, hitting a concrete column painfully and sliding to the floor. White's falling gun was caught in a small hand and aimed steadily at White as he looked up at his attacker, shock, anger and confusion making an appearance on his features.
"Didn't see that one comin'" Mole's voice echoed in the resounding silence that fell over both sides.
Erin stood calmly, her face held the hint of a smile- the same small smile that White had seen when she'd escaped. The gun didn't waver in her hand as she aimed it, the safety off, at White's head. Her body was facing right but she still managed to block Max partially from view.
"How? What-" Max couldn't seem to form a sentence.
White got to his feet slowly, shock and something else on his face. Some might call it awe.
"Erin Jackson" His voice carried to everyone watching. "The Destroyer walks among us."
The Phalanx shifted around them as if wanting to turn their weapons on Erin instead of the transgenics.
Erin slowly lowered the gun, put the safety on and flicked something to the concrete. It made a tinkling sound as it hit the floor. It was the bullet White had shot at Max. Erin had caught it.
"THAT's the second Link?!" Thula sounded incredulous. "She's just a girl! She looks human for God's sake!" She followed the bullet with her eyes as it rolled to a stop between them and Erin.
"We tracked her for several hours through the woods and she always stayed one step ahead of us," White said calmly as he watched Erin turn to look at Max, not caring that she was surrounded by his team. "She bares the marks. It's her."
Everyone's eyes automatically went to Erin's arms. They were covered in blood but underneath, they could see great swirling black tattoos that disappeared under her tank top and went all the way down to her wrists.
Erin shrugged "The change has come."
'What change? What are you talking about?' Max stepped away from her then. The fact that Erin seemed so real here, scared her more than comforted her.
Erin gave her a know-it-all grin that she only used to annoy people "Gotta prepare for war."
Max blinked as she was slammed back into the present. Erin had changed; she had been prepared for war, their war with the Familiars. She was now a player in their game of cat and mouse. Max realised that she'd probably been part of the whole thing from the beginning. It was only now that she was stepping up to the plate. It was her turn. It was her move and no one knew what she would do. The only question was, was she the cat or the mouse? Whose side was she on?
"But, she's just a CHILD!!! She couldn't possibly be from another world!" Thula continued to protest as Erin put the gun in the waistband at the back of her combat trousers.
Max eyes widened as she watched Erin turn towards her. Another world? Erin?
She looked at Erin. 'You fit in but you don't.' Max tried to explain how she saw Erin 'It's like you belong but you're-'
"Not from this world?" Erin smiled and Max nodded.
Erin looked back at the fire "We're worlds apart; our lives are so very different."
'What was it like?' Max felt like she was asking something big, like she was asking the meaning of life or what happens after you die. 'Your life before you came here? Was it so very different?'
"Oh, it's her alright," White began to laugh. "They've been going on about not wanting to be killers when they've had one of the best in the world right under their noses!"
He took in Max's expression of shock before looking back at Erin. "They didn't know, did they? They don't know what you are, what you're capable of?"
Erin seemed to be ignoring them as she turned to Max and walked around her. She examined the shackles on Max's wrists and then gripped them firmly in both hands.
A loud crunching sound was heard and the shackles fell to the floor. Max immediately brought her wrists around to her front and began to rub them, her eyes never leaving Erin.
"I refuse to believe that SHE is the Destroyer!" Thula took a couple of steps towards Erin and Max, a defiant look on her face but stopped dead when a loud growl echoed around her. It sounded like a large cat's version of a warning and it came from Erin's mouth.
Erin had turned slightly, her head down and slightly facing her with her teeth bared, gleaming white in the darkness. Then, as if growling was nothing new to Erin, she straightened up and moved more fully in front of Max, obviously protecting the transgenic.
Raising her eyebrows Erin smirked slightly.
"Do all Familiars have sticks up their asses or is it just you?"
"And she has an attitude. You can tell she's been hanging with 452," White smirked as Thula glared at Erin.
"You… you talk?!" Max whispered at Erin, despite the fact that everyone transgenic could hear her.
Erin simply shrugged "Sometimes."
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'Erin's alive.' Alec watched the scene unfold with mixed feelings 'Erin's alive.' Relief flooded through him before several other facts presented themselves. 'Erin's alive, she just jumped from 6 floors up, blurred, caught a bullet, and now she's talking. She lied to me.'
The relief disappeared and Alec gritted his teeth, his hands flexing on his gun. He knew she'd jumped from 6 floors up because that was where he'd left her. He knew that not even a transgenic could've survived that fall without injuries, and he knew that no transgenic could catch bullets. He also knew the last time he'd saw her, he had been dreading going back up to find her dead, and that added to the horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach. 'And she's from a different world.' Okay, that seemed a bit far fetched, but still, Alec knew he'd been betrayed. His hands tightened on his gun even more- the only sign that he was bothered by any of this. His face remained blank as the others kept glancing at him. He had to remove his finger and put it on the trigger guard to stop himself from accidentally firing. He closed his eyes briefly. She'd used him to gain their trust and like the idiot he was, he'd given it to her. He'd given more than that to her. He'd given her everything. His heart, his soul. He opened his eyes again and they flashed green in the torch light.
'Get your head in the game soldier' he ordered himself before focusing on the scene before him again. 'Beat yourself up later.'
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"Aha!" Everyone ignored the triumphant yell of the annoying cyber journalist and remained focused on what was happening in the courtyard. Logan was not pleased.
He'd remained silent throughout the entire thing when he'd found out Max had been captured, figuring Max would be able to escape without his genius. She would feel that because it was so difficult, such a strain to figure everything out for herself, she would come running back to him, apologising profusely for breaking up with him in such a humiliating manner. Yes, he was that stupid. That didn't go to plan. Neither did his backup plan. This was that the others would finally come to him for help when they had been unable to find Max themselves. This too had failed. Now, feeling utterly disappointed that he'd been unable to display his genius and save the day (ignoring the fact that he wouldn't have had a clue how to find Max himself), Logan had made his way to the ground floor, following the sudden commotion that had engrossed all of Terminal City. That was when he'd seen Max, his Max, beaten and bloody before his eyes. He'd been trying to figure out what to do, knowing that Alec would never be able to think of a way to save her, when the strangest thing had happened. Something had fallen; a blurring figure moving so fast, he could've blinked and missed it, had landed on the concrete, dropping from some height above. The gun shot had then registered in his brain and he'd turned to see White with his gun pointed at Max, having obviously just shot at her. This was when the blurring figure- seemingly nothing more than a ghost, moved between Max and White. Then White flew up into the air as if yanked off of his feet by strings behind him to slam painfully, a considerable distance away into a column. This was when everything finally slowed down. White and the Familiar woman began to talk and finally, the ghost began to speak back, with considerable sarcasm on her features and a distinct accent to her voice. Logan narrowed his eyes. He had known that the bitch Alec was shacking up with was up to something. He had known she was trouble. This new information gathered, Logan began to plan.
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"Oh the Conclave is gonna love this" White seemed to be savouring the moment. "The Link AND 452 in one go."
A look of realization dawned on his face as he scrutinized Erin. "It was you on the motorcycle. It was you who saved 494. They told me you'd be smart and get out of the area as soon as possible. Why did you stay? Did you honestly think they could help you?"
Erin ignored him and began to examine Max's injuries with gentle hands and a blank face, her eyes still hidden behind her shades.
"Why did you stay, Erin? Why are you here now? Did you actually think they could help you in some way?"
More silence.
"Holy shit! You actually care about them!" White's face was full of a manic kind of glee at this and his eyes fell once again on Alec. "Or is it him?"
Erin straightened and turned back around to face him, her stance relaxed, her face still blank as she watched him, saying nothing.
"Fuck, you actually love the freak!" he began to laugh as he looked between a blank faced Erin and an obviously fuming 494. "The very reason why these freaks are here today, the only person with the abilities to destroy them, has fallen in in love with one of their leaders. How ironic."
"What the fuck are you talking about, White?" Max ground out, feeling totally overwhelmed by what he was saying.
"Of course" White turned to look at her, a superior look on his face "The Committee never thought it imperative to tell you freaks about the way they thought up your design- what they were truly striving for." He grinned at them all "They wanted the perfect predator, the perfect killer yet one able to follow orders. They wanted her. She was the inspiration for your creation. Oh, she isn't a soldier, but that doesn't mean she couldn't be one. Erin is the reason you exist."
Erin began to get a bored look on her face.
"Only one problem," Max interrupted with a simple fact "Erin's 18. The Manticore program began before she was even born."
"Was it?" White smirked "The thing is, Erin isn't 18." Everyone turned to examine Erin who had begun to hold up pieces of her hair to check for split ends.
"Erin is from a different world, 452. Though, she may have been 18 in her world," he looked her up and down "though that can be debated, she is older here. Much older. She's just kept the same appearance from her previous world."
"Riight" Max rolled her eyes, praying internally that this was not true.
White shrugged "Believe what you want. Story's over."
"Thank God for that," Max sighed "I was beginning to get sleepy."
White ignored her "Man, could this get any better? This is gonna be so easy!" He turned back to focus on Erin "And you get to watch your friends and lover die before you end up following them yourself," He smirked "And it's gonna be painful."
"Oh, I don't think it's gonna be that easy, White," Erin finally spoke calmly, taking a step away from Max. Max realized that she did sound exactly like she sounded in her dream. Creepy.
White looked at her questioningly "You're surrounded by 30 of my kind. Everyone knows that legends can be exaggerated."
Erin smirked and folded her arms. Her confidence helping to dissolve some of White's own and caused him to finally feel uncertain.
"Tell me why I shouldn't kill all of you right now?" she asked, challenge in her features. She wasn't about to just give up and let them kill everyone.
"I'll tell you why…" Thula grinned, aimed her gun at Erin and fired.
Next Chapter: Fearless…
A/N: Okay, the next chapter is NOT gonna be split up so it's gonna be longer than this one- promise. However, it's still not finished. I hate writing fight scenes *rolls eyes*. Anyway, if you're ever in need of a longish preview, I've started to post them at Agora, The Alternative Space and Freefall Expression. Also at these boards and several others, you can see the covers for the Erin Trilogy. AND, at my site there is a little summary (a bit like a preview) of what's to come in 'Wisdom of War'. Go check it out-it's in the fanfic section.
Cat x5-989: Erin knows why her family was murdered- well, kinda anyway. You guys get to find out in the sequel. You get to find out everything about Erin's past in the sequel. And the reason why she lived? Well, again, that might take some time for it to come out in to the open.
RiotGirl04: See! You didn't have to wait TOO long for an update. It's just now, after I've written each chapter, one of my betas has a look at it.
Moonlight: Dude! *hugs* Long time no see! Sorry dude, I seem to have a knack for ending things on cliff-hangers, don't I? *grins* If you think this fic is bad, wait until you read the sequel. I'm glad you're still reading this dude- I know you've been with it from pretty much the beginning which was what? 2 years ago!!! Freakin' hell?! I better get this fic finished!! It's gotta be the longest running fanfic on the net! Anyway, I know for a fact that this fic is almost done. I'm not gonna say how many chapters are left because that always seems to jinx it and I have to split things up and stuff. Anyway, hope I talk to you soon- keep reading!
