"What are you doing in here?" he asked. "You were supposed to stay put in your room."
"I wanted to see what was going on," she told him. I wanted to make sure you're alright, her body language said. After Max had explained everything to Eve, she had stopped being mad at Alec for kidnapping her. Now she was even concerned.
"I'll be fine. I was made for this." Eve ducked her head, embarrassed. "You don't want to know what's going on here," he said. The computer behind him beeped, drawing his attention. The blip on the screen had stopped moving around Seattle. Max had arrived.
"That's where Freddy lives," Eve said, having come up beside Alec to look at the monitor.
"Freddy Pratt?" Asha asked from the doorway.
"Can no-one follow orders?" Alec asked rhetorically.
"You know him?" Eve asked. She could feel a certain tension radiate from this blonde woman, though she also sensed that not all of it was directed at her, but that she and Alec had unfinished business.
"He's my liaison in Seattle," she told Alec.
"Your..."
"He's a member of the Conclave, a pretty high-ranking one."
Alec looked at Eve.
"He knew," Eve breathed. "If you hadn't been there that night...I would have compromised everything."
"What's going on?" Asha asked, propping an elbow on her hip. Alec thought the gesture was to accent the curves Eve did not have. Did Asha still want him after all that had happened? Hot damn! Rule #1 in Alec's Book of Seducing Women: Never let them meet.
"Her dad used to be a member of the Conclave until he tried to stop their plan for mass genocide by genetically engineering, well, us," Alec gestured around him as Asha approached the computer. "That makes her a great bargaining chip."
"Gee thanks," Eve muttered.
"I want to help," Asha said.
"I do, too," Lydecker echoed from the doorway.
"Jesus, did Max open the brig doors before she left?"
"Yes," Asha and Lydecker said together.
"This is my fight, 494, as much as it's yours."
"Fine, whatever," he agreed. "Eve, would you go find Mole, Joshua, and Sandeman?" He really just wanted a chance to talk to Asha and Lydecker alone, and he knew Eve probably saw right through his scheme. "It's time to move out."
It was a nice house, Max decided. It was large, well-maintained, dripping of wealth. She felt bad for bleeding on the Oriental carpet. She could have gotten good money for that back in the day. Maybe she still would once she kicked everyone's ass.
She fell down again as a non-pain-feeling cult-freak socked her in the gut. Maybe Logan would like this place. It didn't quite have his subtle, tasteful style, but it was nice enough for Eyes Only, and hey, she wouldn't mind crashing here every once in a while. She wondered how nice the kitchen was. She hadn't had a Cale special in ages.
These guys might as well use knives on her. As it was, it felt like they were sticking dull, white-hot blades into her right shoulder as one of them twisted it out of socket. It dangled painfully by her side, and she really wished the rest of her comrades would hurry the hell up before these goons killed her. Leave it to Alec to screw things up...
Alec put his hands up as White approached, just seconds after he had asked Eve to rally the troops. White had herded Lydecker and Asha further into the control room with his gun. Alec was tactically in the completely wrong place to do anything about it, and White knew it.
"Good to see you," he said to the X-5.
"Likewise. Can I get you anything?"
"I want Sandeman."
"I meant in terms of beverages."
White leveled his gun at the X-5's chest and took a step forward. "Where. Is. He."
Alec sighed. "He's not here. He's out trying to stop your evil plan for world domination."
"Then I want his daughter."
"We're all his children, really," Alec said in a philosophic tone. White responded by pulling the trigger. Alec flinched and ground his teeth, but did not move, as Lydecker grunted and slid to the ground jerkily. It's hard to stand when one's kneecap has been shattered by a high-velocity piece of metal.
Eve stepped forward, drawing White's attention. "Stop it. I'll come with you."
"No," Asha stepped forward, too, and looked pointedly at Eve. "I can't let you take the fall for me." Asha set her jaw and looked at White, who sneered.
"How sweet."
Eve started forward again, but Alec caught her by one hand. "Now's not the time to play hero," he murmured.
Eve watched helplessly as Asha stepped down toward White in her place.
The thing about doorways is that they are great strategic positions for controlling a room, but only if someone's got your back. White had attacked by himself, and now all of Terminal City was behind him. The only way he was getting out of the complex alive was if he had Sandeman or Sandeman's daughter as a hostage. He thought he had his half-sister, but he only had Asha.
White put her in front of him, gun at her heart—no mistakes—and marched her out of the room. As soon as he opened the door, he ran into Joshua's chest. Just like that, he lost control of the situation. There would be no reasoning with this transgenic, who neither feared White, nor feared hurting White's captive.
White pointed his gun at Joshua, point blank, and Asha ducked, ramming into his right arm to send the shot wild, grazing the transgenic's right cheekbone. White didn't get a second shot, because Joshua's brutal attack knocked the gun out of his hands. Alec had blurred over to the fray, getting Asha out of the way of Joshua's rampage and stopping the Big Fella from doing anything rash.
"It's justice, Alec!" Joshua growled.
Ok, Alec couldn't really argue with that logic. White deserved to pay for his crimes. He backed away.
"Joshua, please don't," Sandeman pleaded, hobbling to his two first-borns as quickly as his leg would let him.
"He killed Annie," Joshua said, though he had stopped choking White. "He deserves to die."
"He's my son," Sandeman tried again. "I'm begging you as your father and his, don't."
With frightening force, Joshua pushed White away from him, hurling the man into the air and slamming him against the wall.
"We gotta go," Mole said, cigar already burned down to a nub. "Rescue the boss-lady."