Chapter Seven: Tough choices to make

"So, how was your day, Angel?" Ben asked immediately as she entered their cell several days later. "Don't call me that, 493. My designation is 453 as you know. If they hear you calling me like that they punish you that's for sure so you'd better be careful!" Angel said after the door behind her slammed shut. Why couldn't she get it through his thick skull? He should've known better without her telling him.

It had been days since she had seen Max for the first time, well, the only time she had seen her actually and she still hadn't told to Ben about her. Besides, Lydecker had told her not to tell and who was she to disobey his order like that? "493 is still in unstable", he had said and that was enough. She obeyed but still, not just because she was told to… there was something else. Maybe she was afraid? For what? That Max would mess up things between them or what? She do wanted to tell Ben but couldn't make herself to do it. Couldn't force herself to break the news that could very well end up destroying him for good.

Angel knew it to be bad idea but still she sat down next to Ben who was lying on his bunk and took a deep, tired breath. Ben twisted his arms around her waist and drew her closer to him. She felt his breath in her back and though she knew she should get up, she didn't. Fingers caressed her back so gently that Angel could do nothing but close her eyes and enjoy it for a little while. "Come on, Angel."

Her eyes snapped open again. "Don't do that. They'll punish you!"

"For holding you close? Angel, sweetie, I think that's exactly what they want me to-"

"No, for calling me Angel, you idiot."

"I don't care", he said and sat up behind her kissing her ear and running his lips down to her neck. His touch sent shivers down to her spine and though Angel tried to ignore it, it wasn't going that well. Something inside her was tearing her apart into two different directions.

"Well, you should care", Angel said. Her voice was hardly more than a whisper and then all of a sudden she pushed him further with her elbow and got up. His touch was making her go crazy! Angel sat down to where she should've sat down to begin with - onto the bunk opposite of his while staring at him angrily.

What was wrong with him anyway? How could he act so irresponsibly? He knew what they'd do to him if they found out that he was breaking the rules. He was a soldier goddamnit and he had better start acting like one before he would get them both into a big trouble! That was the last thing either one of them needed right now!

"No I don't", he responded finally and sighed closing his eyes for a moment and rested his head against the wall running his fingers through his hair before opening them again. He looked straight at Angel hoping that she'd understand what he was going through. When he realized that she would never understand, he jumped up and hit the wall above is bunk with his fist making her startle. He couldn't turn around and face her eyes, not when all he wanted to do was throw her against the wall or at least kick her ass to make her see the truth. Where was the Angel he knew?

"I'm sick of doing what they want me to do, aren't you?" He snapped turning around and continued, "I did that mistake once and I'll be damn if I'll let it happen again, I promise you that, Angel."

"No, I don't want you to promise me that. When are you gonna get that I want you to do as they say so they don't kill you!" She paused, "…I'd hate to lose you too."

Ben looked amazed at first, but soon the amazement changed into amusement. "Well, whaddaya know? I thought my Angel was gone."

"She is gone", she said softly and got up moving closer to him. What would it take to make him see that? She grabbed his hands forcing him to look into her eyes. "I want you to promise me, you'll do as they say. Can't you get that?"

"Well I don't want to, when are you gonna get that, Angel?" He looked furious and Angel wasn't sure if he could keep his feelings under control for a lot longer. "When? See I wanna be Ben, not 493. Not some stupid mindless X5 whose orders are to kill everything on our way. And I want you to be Angel again, not some machine named 453."

"Then we seem to have a little problem here!" She spat out not being able to control her own feelings. Frankly, she didn't even want to. If Lydecker and his men were monitoring their fight through candid-cameras to study the, so be it. At that point, she couldn't have cared less. "See I am 453 and you can't change that even if you try! It's just not gonna happen, never!" The pain in his eyes was suffocating her ability to speak, but at the same time it gave her strength she didn't know she had within her. It was complicated beyond reason. "You can't change who you are, 493 - or who and what I am. You tried to change once didn't you?" She knew better than well it was thick ice under her feet, but she couldn't back off anymore. Someone had to put Ben – 493 back to his place and if the Manticore wasn't going to do it, she sure as hell was. "Didn't end so well, did it? And we tried that together too, didn't we?" Hit it where it hurts the most, huh? "Yeah, and look where it brought us. Back in here."

Back to the starting square. "That doesn't prove anything, Angel."

Gods, how stubborn can one be? Angel was not only getting frustrated herself, but also angrier and angrier by every minute. "That proves everything! This is our home whether you like it or not. This is were we belong and-"

Angel's words were cut off by a growl through Ben's gritted teeth. "Shut up!" He took a deep breathe to keep the volume of his voice controlled, "Don't tell me that you wanna live your life like this."

"What if I do?" She didn't hesitate to ask it. It wasn't about what she wanted, after all. It was about what they wanted.

"You don't." Ben looked about ready to burst into flames. He wasn't happy with how the situation had turned out and neither was she. What kind of sick exam was it to put them into the same cell where they had nothing else but each other's company?

"Think about it, 493." She absolutely refused to call him by his 'name' and he noticed it. "It's so simple here. No troubles like we had in the outside. No troubles at all, except you of course. We're safe in here." Ben wasn't sure if she actually believed her own words or if it was a act she had to perform to convince him. Whatever it was, it wasn't that entertaining anymore.

"The hell we are. Tell me, Angel – do you miss him?"

The question was something she had not expected to hear. "You mean Michael?"

Ben rolled his eyes. "Who else?"

"No", she replied immediately.

Angel wasn't sure if it was a lie. Maybe it really was. She didn't remember that much about their son anymore but apparently he didn't believe it. They had almost succeeded with erasing her memories about him entirely but Angel knew that she had loved him. But that life wasn't going to come knock her door no matter how he tried to bring it back. So the only thing to do… was to put him and the life she had had behind her. And he should do the same for heaven's sake!

"Oh yes you do. You miss him like I do, don't try to make me believe anything else - I can see through you, Angel. You'd do anything to get all of that back. To get him back. I know I would."

He was wrong. After everything she perhaps should've hated Manticore for what they had done, but she didn't. This was what she had been built to do and trying to run away from it had been waste of time. "It's a good thing I'm not you then! This is my life now, try to get that! And yours if that matters." Angrily she tossed a lock of hair behind her ear where it belonged. "Like you always said; deal with it 'cause you ain't gonna get it any other way! It's our destiny."

"Didn't know you believed in lucky stars", he commented cynically. "Quit joking around! It's our purpose! Reason for us to even exist!"

"Even you don't believe that." Man, was she serious? It took all of his willpower to keep him from grabbing her. What the hell had they done to her? He knew she didn't really remember their life together anymore, but he also knew that day after day the memories she had grew stronger. Eventually she would remember, he would make her remember. Shaking her wouldn't have helped at all, but it would've made him feel better.

"We were made to serve this country!"

Bullshit. "Screw this country! Fuck it. They can kiss my transgenic ass as far as I care but I ain't gonna give up. You hear me? I'm gonna fight for us. And I'll beat them. I will."

Did he honestly think he could pull it off? That he could make it work? What a goddamn joke! Idiot. Angel shook her head killing the urge to laugh hysterically. He sounded so much like Max… and realizing that made her suddenly very aware of what she had been so scared of. This. That Ben would do what he did last time… that he would ran away with Max. Obviously Max wasn't going stay there behind the locked doors even though Lydecker sure tried to keep her there: the outside world had got into her blood for good. Max wasn't one of them anymore and it worked fine with Angel. She had been nothing but trouble anyway.

"There is no 'us'", Angel said when she got back from her thoughts. Ben groaned massaging his temples to ease the stress. Being X5 he should've been able to handle the stress but when it came to Angel, it was impossible for him to even try. "Yeah, and that's the real problem here, baby. There was 'us' and there's gonna be 'us' again. It just may took awhile", Ben replied glancing briefly around the room.

Probably searching for something with what to knock me out, Angel thought sarcastically.

"You'll see", Ben added knowingly.

"Goddamn with you! How stupid can you get? This whole thing you got", Angel paused, took a deep breath and continued again a little bit calmer, "Your attitude – it's just gonna get you and probably even me into trouble, you know that, don't you?"

She was getting really pissed off but tried to hide it. Why couldn't he wake up to realize that the way he thought about things was only getting him closer to the end? It would've been a lot easier if he had been the soldier he once had been instead of this rebel guy who tried to be something he wasn't meant to be; normal. He wasn't normal for crying out loud! Never would be.

"I'm not gonna let you step back or let them destroy me. Or you."

Angel's index finger got up to point at him commandingly. "Oh yes you will, 493. You will do it no matter what! I've have seen how it works… the whole brainwashing thing – training – making you suffer. You've been there, I know you have. Can't you remember it?" She did remember. She remembered it too well to back there.

"Angel-"

"That's the one thing I can remember. And I know I've been there too." Of course she had. After trying to play the game with Ben and pretend to be normal… after they killed her precious baby boy… of course she had been there. She had done something wrong and when that happens, you get punished. She couldn't blame them for straightening her up, could she? "You know how it goes… It's their way to show us our place."

"I know."

Angel had no doubts. He had probably spent half of his life in psy-ops… the half he had spent inside Manticore. "They'll make you step back whether you like it or not! You're gonna lose that game before it even starts."

Ben tilted his head to one side with this unreadable look on his face. "We'll see about that."

"And you say I'm the stubborn!" The verbal fight had reached the yelling-level. "Yeah, well I learnt it from you!"

Oh you son of a b- Before Angel had the chance to translate her thoughts into an actual sentence, the sound of an explosion made her to jump and then the sound alarm finally attracted her whole attention. "What's that?" she asked looking at Ben who answered calmly. "That'd be the fire alarm."

"I know that!" She shrieked.

"Then why the hell did you ask? If you know that it's a fire alarm, you know that it usually means that there's a fire but 'cause I happened to be stuck in here with you the whole time – how the hell am I supposed to know? That is what you wanted to know, isn't it?

How had he grew out to be such a pain in the ass? It couldn't be the genes for they were supposed to be perfect. Then again, they were both faulty in a way, weren't they? "Forget I asked."

Ben sighed which was a reaction she hadn't expected. There was fire somewhere all he could do was sigh? "I can say one thing though – this is a bad", he stated and sat down on the floor next to his bunk leaning his head against the wall again eyes closed. Yeah, Angel knew that. This really isn't good.

It wasn't going to get any better by him just sitting there! "Do something!" she yelled hoping he'd stop looking at her with those green eyes of his. It almost made her forget that something was terribly wrong at the moment.

"Do something, Ben!" she commanded again without realizing she had used his "real" name. Ben did note it although at that point it didn't make him feel any better. "Like what?" He asked, annoyed. "What the hell you want me to do? You're the soldier here, you figure it out!"

Angel was about to say something not so nice but then she smelled it and froze. It was smell of smoke. Smell of fire. How the hell she hadn't noticed it already? Suddenly they heard desperate screams reach their ears from other cells down the hallway.

Something had to be done and fast. Angel moved to the door and tried to open it. When it didn't move at all a hint of panic got hold of her. Oh shit… Oh gods. Something was wrong, like really, really wrong! She started to bang the door with her fists as hard as she possible could ignoring the pain it caused. Somebody had to hear – why wasn't it opening already? Why?

"Sweetheart." Ben's voice was soft, almost amused as he looked up to Angel. "I have this funny little feeling that it ain't gonna help."

What the hell did he mean by that? Angel didn't bother to ask – she knew she wouldn't like the answer anyway. "I knew it was gonna happen sooner or later." He raised his eyebrows to his own words and continued, "Actually I thought it would happen a little later."

"Shut up and let me think!" Angel snapped at him. Pessimism wasn't the solution, nope. Calm down, she commanded herself again like so many times before but it didn't seem to help that much. In fact, it had no effect at all.

"I'm pretty sure they ain't gonna let us out of here, Angel, so sit down and relax. Enjoy the view."

"Who asked your opinion? I mean, of course they're gonna let us out!" Ben was trying to fuck up her head, wasn't he? He would succeed only if she let him and she wasn't going to give him a chance.

"They are? And why would you think that?" For some unknown reason Ben gave a laugh as if there was something amusing happening around them.

"We're valuable military assets in case you didn't know. They need us!"

Only natural she thought so. One day she would realize just how much Manticore really needed them and for what exactly. Well, the dirty work didn't do itself, now did it? "Yeah, you keep telling yourself that. Must be the only thing that helps you to sleep through the night, huh?" Silence landed upon them and no matter how Angel tried, she couldn't bring herself to look away from his eyes. "What happened to you, Angel? You were ready to fight the world and now – look at you, now you're just like one of them. What happened to the fire in you?"

"It started raining", she replied huskily, "What do you think happened to it? It was put out. They won." Angel shrugged her shoulders not knowing if it had been smart to admit that. "Now will you help me break this door or are you just gonna sit there like a damn idiot?"

"Well then, I'm gonna pick number two. Angel, ya know damn well that even you cannot break it. So now they won again. You'll see."

Why the hell did he have to act like that? He could've even tried to pretend like he cared about what was happening, but no. "No, you'll see!" Angel exclaimed loudly. "They'll come for us", she stated and continued hitting the door when it suddenly opened with a click. She looked over her shoulder at Ben to see his surprised reaction.

"See?" she raised her eyebrows as a sign of victory. Ben frowned as he got up from the floor and stepped closer. This was his chance; they're chance. "Let's go, now." It was a command more than anything else. Angel didn't argue – staying in a burning building wasn't what she thought of as a decent plan either. So, they ran into a hallway where everybody were running without any common sense.

All the sudden Angel was unable to move even though the smell of smoke already hurt her throat. It was the other side of Manticore that was burning but still screams yearning for help filled the hallways, or what was left of them anyway.

What was happening there? Was Manticore under an attack or what was it? And if it was then why the hell were they all running around like headless chickens instead of regrouping and defending the base? Had they learnt nothing?

Somebody ran into Angel making her fall down for Ben didn't even try to catch her.

"Come on." Apparently his short moment of pondering upon his options was over and decision made. "We have to get out of here." Ben grabbed her arm violently pulling her up and started to drag her down the hallway towards the door at the other end of the hallway. Wait a minute! Angel frowned. Why did he drag her towards the exit instead of the regrouping spot?

"No! We can't just go! We have to stay defense!" Angel tried to stop him from moving but he kept dragging her along anyway. She knew that the exit-doors had automatically been unlocked by the alarm and if Ben really wanted to drag her out, he'd probably get his way. It wasn't that she didn't had what it take to beat him up, it was that at the moment she simply didn't have the strength.

"I'm not gonna stay here and you ain't gonna either!" With no doubt, he truly meant his words. "Are you gonna walk by yourself or am I gonna drag you out of here? Make up your mind - now!"

No! There was something more important than his freedom but he couldn't see it. There were people there; people that needed their help. "We have to help them!"

"We can't help them, Angel. No one can."

It was the tone of his voice that made Angel give up in the end. The hallway was already empty; she had no idea where everyone had gone to. For some reason they had all been running towards the opposite direction… And so she let Ben lead her out through the exit. What else could she do? Nothing.

"Freeze!" a growling voice demanded from the bushes just when they got outside. Ben pushed her behind his back as two military guards stepped into the light pointing guns at their direction.

Déjà vu.

"What are they doing?" Angel whispered to his ear. It didn't make sense; wasn't they supposed to protect them - help them?

"What they're ordered to do", he answered coldly, "– terminate us."

"Clever guy", the bigger guard barked. Angel didn't know what to do or say and before she even had thought about saying something, Ben started to talk. "Come on Sean, I ain't stupid."

Sean? He knew this guy's first name? Why? How? "Not for long anyway. I'm sorry, Ben. I really am, see I kinda liked your temper but I can't help ya out this time buddy."

Against all odds, Ben gave a loud sarcastic laugh shaking his head in what looked like disbelief. "Oh, when exactly have you helped me out?"

Sean didn't look exactly happy about his cocky attitude."Don't play smart ass with me, Ben. You and your little girlfriend there have to go back inside right now so that we can lock the doors."

So they can what? Angel couldn't believe her ears even though she know she had heard right. Those suckers were going to lock them in and let them burn? What the hell for?

"Over my dead body, you asshole", Ben said pointing him with his finger. His voice was low and his eyes were burning with anger. Angel knew that look more than well. He was going to fight his way out and not a single thing was going to stop him. "If you even so much as touch this little girlfriend of mine I'll break you neck, you got that?"

Only at that point Angel recovered from the shock and got her voice back again. "Hey, I ain't no one's little girlfriend, okay?" She stated with a sour tone. "But he got the 'breaking necks' part right!"

"Did you hear her, Sean? The bonehead is gonna put up a fight and his little girlfriend isn't too happy about it either. Shoot them will ya? We gotta things to do you know", the other guard cut into the conversation. "Yeah, like people to kill", Ben spat staring at them ready to attack.

"Among the other things - yeah, that too." Sean nodded taking pride out of his words. What kind of pricks were Manticore hiring these days? "You two do know that we can beat you up in a minute?" Ben questioned, but neither one of the guards looked impressed. "Yeah, well, we ain't freaks like you guys but you ain't faster than bullets." Sean lifted his gun a little bit higher to get a better aim.

The interruption came unexpectedly, as they normally do. "Actually I believe they are", strangely familiar voice said to the guards, getting them back off a couple of steps. Angel turned her head towards the voice only to see a man coming from behind a big tree pointing two little pistols at them. Or was it even a man? Upper left of his face was covered with some kind of metal and he looked like a robot to Angel. Who was it? Fortunately she didn't have to think about it that long for Ben recognized him.

"Zack?" he drew in a breath. Why did Ben sound so confused? Who was this Zack? Angel had heard that name before, hadn't she? She… Oh my God! Zack? X5-599 - One of those twelve escapees' again!

"493?" The man just tilted his head observing them. "Nice to meet you again. We have met before." It wasn't a question as much as it was a simple statement.

"What the hell?" Was the only thing Sean got out of his mouth and it was pretty much what was going on in Ben's head too.

"Zack?" He repeated his brother's name to get his full attention, "What have they done to you?"

"You really should put down those big bad guns before somebody gets hurt – well, before you guys get hurt actually", said a female voice chuckling before Zack could say anything else and all of a sudden another figure stepped into the light next to him. With a speed that fooled even their eyes, she knocked down both of the amazed guards letting them fall down to the ground with a loud thud.

Angel could feel Ben shaking against her shoulder, but she knew it wasn't cold that made him shiver like that. It was them, whoever they were.

"Syl? Is it really you?" The question was whispered by Ben who couldn't believe it to be true. All these years, all those years spent alone there they were standing right in front of him.

Syl? Angel felt the rage building up somewhere inside her again. Was this little blond lady another escaper? Yeah, it was the only thing that explained Ben's sudden change of behavior. Man, this just wasn't her day at all!

"Don't forget me, big brother", third voice said and a next thing Ben knew was that he was face to face with dark good-looking guy. "Krit!"

Angel sighed. Krit? An X5 like Zack and Syl, no questions about that one.

"What the hell are you guys doing here?" Ben asked charging towards the petite blonde and pulled her into a hug. Only then he was sure of it; it wasn't some dream or hallucination – they actually were there!

"Saving your butts, that's for sure", Krit answered picking up the guns. "Yeah, obviously. Are you alright?" Syl spoke after pulling away from his arms. "We are", Ben replied nodding towards Zack, " – but is he? What has happened to him?" Krit shook his head with a shrug. "Do not know and apparently he doesn't know either."

"What?"

"He doesn't remember anything, didn't Max tell you? They did something really bad to him, messed him up for good. We'll talk later, we gotta blaze now. Come on, are ya ready Max? I mean we have to go now so you betta be ready."

What the fuck? Max? Angel's blood was boiling again and she tried so hard not to hit him. Max?! Of course they assumed her to be Max! Hate that she had buried within inside her now took over.

"Max? Max? You go to hell! All of you!"

"Okay, woah, what was that?" Krit's jaw opened into a question as he quickly looked at Ben hoping to get an answer. "She-" Ben started but Angel cut off his words. "Who the hell are you guys anyway? Ben, who are they? If they are those traitors like I think they are then I'm gonna kick their asses to Spain, you hear me!

"Shut up Angel and come on", Ben silenced her looking at Krit with an apologizing look on his face. "She ain't Max."

"Oh my God! She's her twin, right? 453?" Syl asked with eyes as big as plates. "Yep", Ben answered nodding again before he suddenly stopped and frowned. "Why did you – Is she here?"

"You didn't know? They got her ages ago and she just escaped. We came to help you guys."

"Help?" Angel spat the word out in disgust. "Why the fuck would you want to help after all these years?"

Krit was definitely not liking this girl's bitchy attitude. Manticore's marks were all easy to see. It wasn't her fault of course, but it did feel like she wasn't asking to be saved. "Well, as you can see the place is burning like hell which is Renfro's fault and also the reason why we should flee - now. We don't have time to go back to look for Max, she's on her own. She's fine, always is but we aren't if we stay. We have to go somewhere far, somewhere safe and never come back here. Are you two coming or not? This would be the time to make as decision here!" Syl rushed glancing around.

"We're coming", Ben answered and without waiting for Angel's answer she grabbed her in his arms and lifted her up onto his shoulder like an original caveman should. Angel was so stunned that she completely forgot to protest.

"Good choice", Krit said with laughter in his voice before they started running back to the shadowy forest. Branches scratched Angel's face but she didn't care, not now. She wasn't sure why she let Ben treat her like that. It was humiliating – to be carried like that on his shoulder like she had been a little naughty girl that had done something wrong.

"Let me go!" She suddenly screamed kicking his back with her legs and Ben stopped. "Fine", he said, "but only if you promise to come with me!"

What choices did she really have? Running back to the Manticore would've been the smartest thing to do but she would have never gotten that far without a fight… and then there were those idiotic guards waiting to get to her.

So. "Fine", Angel said nodding even though all she wanted to do was punch him down, hard. "Fine, I'll come."

After hearing that he dropped her onto the ground. "Really?" Ben sounded surprised. "It's not like you're gonna let me stay in here and at this point – I'm tired of fighting with you. So yes, I'll come."

Ben didn't know if it was just a lie with what to get him off her back but he didn't care. He was going to make sure she'd get to somewhere safe even if it meant knocking her out and drugging her for few days to keep her out of harm's way. "Good choice. Again", Krit commented maliciously before he started to run again and just then Angel decided to hate him for the rest of her life. And his.

As they ran, Angel forced herself to keep eyes front instead of looking back. It was the only thing to do; she didn't want to see her life slipping away from her… again.

A/N Let's s see. This chapter has been on my comp for, what, years but only now I felt like rereading it and actually posting again. Cause chapter by chapter I'm gonna finish this story… even if it means I'll be writing it for thirty years.