Disclaimer: Do I own them? Hmm, let me think. Umm, no?
A/N: Review Guyz! Read the prequel to this, 'The days before'
Max made her way to Renfro's office, wondering what the bitch wanted to say or do to her now. 'Maybe she wants to show me another dying clone,' she thought. 'That would just make my day.'
She knocked on the door to her office and a guard let her in. 'Good thing she has one in there. At least she's smart enough to know that if she was alone in there with me I would kill her.'
Max knew that Renfro didn't believe that Manticore had truly turned her. So Max gave up on the charade and said, "You rang?"
Renfro smirked viciously then turned around and walked to her desk to pick up a briefcase with some papers and stuff in it. "I'm tired of these games, 452. You're going to tell me where Eyes Only is. I know you're connected to him in some way and he's doing so many broadcasts about Manticore because he thinks you're dead."
'Fat chance of me telling you anything except to get that stick out of your ass,' she thought. "I'm not saying anything."
Renfro smiled that smile that made your hairs stand up on end, as if she were plotting your death and you wouldn't even know about it until it happened.
"Oh, I beg to differ." She held up a disk. "See this disk, 452? This is all the information I need to restart Manticore anywhere. And if you don't tell me where that computer nerd is, I'm going to take this disk, lock this place up and blow it to smithereens. How would you like that?"
"You're bluffing," Max said, even though she wasn't so sure. Funny how that plotting death smile rang so true. Renfro was plotting her death. But not just hers. All of theirs.
Renfro walked toward her. "You won't think so when you're dying."
"I'll let you know," Max said. "Oh, and mind me giving you some tips? The really large amount of purple eye shadow so isn't doing its thing and I've noticed that you've gained a bit of weight recently. Try some exercise and the whole messed up, wishy-washy spiked hairdo? It's not for you." She smirked and walked out leaving Renfro with her mouth open in shock, feeling a whole lot better than she did this morning. (LOL! Did anyone else think Renfro looked really horrible in 'Designate This' and had a lot of purple eye shadow?)
Max, still satisfied from her morning diss on Renfro gave it all she got in training. She was sparring against X5-637 again, but just yawned and had him on his back in less than 10 seconds flat. He was so humiliated that he swung to punch her when she turned away from him but she, anticipating this, did a back flip over his head and a roundhouse kick to his temple before he could react, knocking him out cold. The other X5s were extremely impressed that she had beaten someone with 10 years training on her, and truthfully sort of liked her but didn't show it for fear of the trainer punishing them.
Max walked over to the mini playground and took off in a running leap, doing back flips and trapeze walks effortlessly and looking like a professional gymnast. She ignored whoever tried to piss her off, in too good a mood to care. But amidst her cheery mood, she still couldn't shake off this bad feeling that something was going to happen. 'What if Renfro wasn't bluffing?' She shook her head. 'Nah, she was. It's Renfro, o course she was. She'd do and say anything to make me give up Eyes Only. Great, now I'm referring to Logan as another person just like he does. Why does he do that anyway? It's so stupid.' She stopped in the middle of her tracks. 'Since when do I think what Logan does is stupid? Wonderful, now I debate with myself inside my head. Am I officially a nut?'
After dinner and lessons, Max retired to her cell. Little did she know, everything was about to change.
Zack lay on his bunk, waiting for the time when he would go meet Max and Alec. He found out the night before that there were 3 cameras on the east side, 4 on the north, 2 on the south, and 2 on the west. The guards usually changed every half hour. 'All we have to do is slip out during the rotations, and hopefully we'll be long gone by the time they find out we left,' he thought.
Renfro was sitting at her desk when the doctor who took the 452's DNA sample came in. "Yes?"
The doctor scurried over nervously. Truth be told, this woman gave him the creeps. It was like she was made of stone, nothing could faze her and she had a heart of one too. "452's DNA sample, ma'am." He handed her a folder. "What I found is remarkable. I've never seen anything like it. She's different from all the other X5s."
Renfro studied the folder and her eyes widened. "Well, I'll be damned," she muttered. "No junk DNA. Are you sure this isn't normal in some other X5s?"
The doctor nodded. "Positive. Not one of them have anything like this. Even a perfect transgenic would have some junk DNA."
Renfro looked up. "Does anyone else know about this?" she asked.
The doctor shook his head. "No, only me ma'am. I took precautions just like you told me to."
"Good. Then how about it stays that way. Thank you doctor." The doctor's eyes widened and she whipped out a gun and shot him. She pressed the intercom. "Can I have someone in my office to clean up a mess." She regarded the blood disdainfully. Then she took out her phone and dialed a number.
"Salut. C'est Renfro. Je veux te parler d'un de mes trangenics. Je pense qu'elle est ce que nous cherchons. Elle n'a pas de déchets dans son corps. Non, personne à Manticore le sait." She's silent for a moment. "Oui, je te l'amenèrais. Adieu."
("Hello. It's Renfro. I want to talk to you about one of my transgenics. I think that she's what we've been searching for. She doesn't have any junk in her body. Non, no one at Manticore knows. Yes, I'll bring her to you. Farewell.")
She hung up the phone. "So 452," she said to herself. "I've finally found you."
Max sat up in her bed. It was almost time to go see Alec and Zack. Still, she couldn't shake off that weird feeling she was having. She opened her door and walked toward the gym.
Renfro walked into the control room. "Is it time?" she asked one of the guards.
On a TV there is an Eyes Only broadcast.
"Do not attempt to adjust your set. This is a streaming freedom video bulletin. Your location has been revealed. Your secret is out. And now Manticore will be held accountable for its crimes. Manticore's facility is located an hour southwest of metropolitan Seattle."
Renfro nods. "Alright, lock them up. No one gets out. Then blow this place to hell." She turns and goes to look for Max.
All around Manticore, doors to the cells were locking. "What the hell?" a few X5s shouted. "What are they doing?" They heard an explosion and looked at each other.
As soon as Zack heard the click of his door he ran up to it and struggled to open it. "Come on dammit, oh you have got to be kidding me." He pounded on it with his fists. "Let me out!" Zack started to smell smoke and wondered what the hell was happening.
Alec was about to leave his cell to go to the gym when he was knocked off his feet from an explosion. He picked himself off the floor and dusted his clothes. "Ouch." He walked to his door and looked out the little window. "Uh, hey guys? Someone out there? Mind telling me what's going on." Alec heard people screaming and smelled smoke. "This is so not good," he muttered. "Why do I get the feeling that this isn't the result of some stupid kid playing with his science kit?"
Max was so surprised by the explosion that she had to hug the wall for support. 'Oh god, she wasn't kidding.' She looked out a window and saw flames licking the building on the other side of the facility. 'Oh shit.' She blurred down the hall to the control room, hearing the pleading cries of those stuck in their cells. 'Hold on, god, please, please, please hold on.' She burst into the control room, knocked out the guards, and her fingers started flying at the keyboard. "Block 1 through 5 cells are opened…" she muttered. "Oh hell, stupid computer, go faster."
"Ma'am, you need to leave," one of the ordinary soldiers said. "It's dangerous for you to be here."
"Not without 452," Renfro said.
"But ma'am-" the soldier started.
He was cut off when a guard burst into the room. "Someone's unlocking the cell doors," he panted. "The cells in blocks 1 through 5 are already open."
"What!" she said, outraged. "We need to lock down those cells, not one of them can make it out! Override the system."
"We can't ma'am. The controls were fried from one of the explosions."
"Dammit 452!" she screamed and left to get her disk holding Manticore's information and to find 452 ignoring the calls of the soldier and guard.
"Almost done," Max pep talked herself. "YES!" She found one of the guards' guns and shot at the controls then left to find Renfro.
Zack's door opened and he bolted thinking that it was probably Max who sprung them. He left to find her and Alec.
Alec's door opened and he stepped out very calmly. "Thank you," he said to no one in particular. He grinned. "Aw, the hell with it, I wanna have some fun." He blurred outside looking for Max and Zack.
Max exploded into Renfro's office and grabbed the disk from her hand. "Thank you," she said to Renfro. She grinned wickedly. "So much for my death. Oh, the next thing I'm going to do is for lying to me about Zack." Her smile was almost feral when she saw Renfro's shocked eyes. "Did I forget to mention that I knew he was alive?" Renfro never got a chance to answer because Max blurred forward and snapped her neck. "Buh bi." She pocketed the disk then left to search for Alec and Zack.
When she got outside, everything was in chaos. There were numerous explosions and fires causing transgenics, X series and anomalies alike screaming and running for their lives. She heard a bullet come at her so she ducked. "Effin X7s." She blurred and knocked the one who shot at her out cold. She spotted a tall blonde figure through the smoke. "Zack?" she called.
Zack turned and breathed a sigh of relief. He blurred over to her and hugged her. "You're okay."
"Yeah, we gotta find Alec." He nodded and they took off.
As much as he hated to admit it, Alec was having the time of his life. I mean, who didn't want people trying to kill him, with bullets whizzing past his ear and explosions going off now and then. Alec chuckled. Maybe he was insane. He was enjoying this. 'Nah,' he reasoned. 'I just like action and kicking ass.' He saw two figures coming at him and waited until Max and Zack appeared. All three of them blurred to the perimeter fence.
"Let's do this together," Max said. The other two nodded and they all linked hands and blurred towards the fence together, jumping and making it over easily. They didn't stop though, they ran until they were far away from the perimeter and the stupid X7s.
Alec was grinning, Max was exhilarated from the action and even Zack was smiling. "We made it out," he said.
"Of course we did," Max replied hotly. "You doubted?"
"No," he said. "I was just a tiny bit worried when there were bullets flying everywhere." He looked at his shoulder. "One scratched me."
Max laughed at his little boy expression. "Poor baby. You're not gonna cry are you?"
Alec smiled as he watched their interactions. It was obvious they liked each other. 'Zack knows but does Max?' he mused. He breathed in a deep breath of fresh air. It was like he was seeing everything for the first time as a free man. Sure, he'd been on the outside before for solo missions, but he always had to follow rules. He'd never been completely on his own and free.
Max finally turned to him. "So how does it feel?" she asked.
A big smile settled on his face. "Good. Damn good."
And with that they headed toward Seattle, a fresh new start for everything.
A/N: You like? Love even? LOL! I had a great time writing this. Wasn't it funny when Alec acted so calm? REVIEW PLEASE! I'm dying for reviews. P.S. Ok, hands up, who liked my impeccable French? LOL I know how to speak French even though it's not in my backround andI didn't grow up in France. Ok, I'll stop before I get cocky. LOL
Thanks so much to –
kiwifruit03 – Your reviews are always welcomed and appreciated.
hphotshot – Thanks so much for reviewing my story. I will try to fit some clones like Sam and I'll try to put in Ralph, Bullet and all the others in too. Zack doesn't need to make an appearance. He's already there remember? He's one of the main characters. I read your story, it's great so far, keep up the great work!
shygirl1 – I know I can always count on you for reviewing my stories. Thanks so much, I really do appreciate it a lot.
Keep the reviews coming!