A/N: I hope you guys like this chapter! Please review and give me feedback; I'd like to know how you think this is going. :) Please check out my other fics. I've got many MAs.
Zack sat in the couch watching the news while Tiana and Ben played with their toys on the ground. Occasionally they would hold up something to show him, mumble something, then go back to what they were doing, but Zack was mostly paying attention to the news reports on the television. Max was sleeping in their bedroom so he cultivated the information himself. More and more reports about transgenics, mostly anomalies, came onto the TV from people who had been too scared to speak up before because they thought they were seeing things. Now reassured that what they saw was real, hordes of them were telling their experiences with the transgenics. The world now knew that there were things known as transgenics out there, living amongst them, perhaps working alongside them. And they were angry.
"What the hell has the government been doing these past few years?" many of them shouted.
"Diverting your tax dollars so that they could create the freaks that are us," Zack muttered, flipping to a different news channel. He watched for a moment then flipped to another one. They were all the same; the public was enraged and wanted "these animals" locked up or killed.
He watched for a little while longer then rubbed his bleary eyes and turned off the television. He just sat there for a moment taking it all in.
They want to kill us. They want us dead. One way or another, there's going to be a war. And I don't want to know how it's going to end.
He looked at Ben and Tiana who were staring at him as if they knew that something was wrong.
No one's going to hurt my family. No way in hell.
Alec and Lucy walked down the streets of Seattle, heading for Crash when Alec's neck prickled, a sense of danger coming along with it. He stopped and surveyed the surrounding area carefully, checking each and every shadow. Finally a yell caught his attention and he looked at the alley beside Crash.
"We got one!" a man yelled. "We got one of those trannie freaks!"
"Alec, what do we do?" Lucy asked.
"I'm going to help him. You just get out of here. Go back to Max and Zack's apartment," Alec said, starting forward.
Lucy grabbed his arm. "You can't help him, Alec! They'll know that you're one of them too."
"No, they won't," Alec said. "I've got a plan." He grinned. "Don't worry, it doesn't suck. I'll be fine."
Lucy bit her lip but he was already moving towards the alley, so she had no choice but to leave.
Alec casually strolled up to the alley where he saw 3 men beating the crap out of a transgenic that seemed like it was made for digging trenches. The poor guy was cowering and was beaten pretty bad.
"What you've got there?" Alec called out, walking up to them.
"One of those transgenics," one man responded. The transgenic looked at Alec fearfully as if waiting for another thorough beating.
Alec looked towards the entrance of the alley. He cocked his head to the side, pretending to listen.
"Hey, I think a news crew is coming," he said. "I hear a van. Why don't you guys go out there and get yourselves together to meet them? I'll hold the transgenic until you get back."
The men looked at each other before inclining their heads in agreement.
"Okay," the one who had spoken up before said. "But remember, he was our find."
Alec held out his hands. "Of course fellas."
The men left after they were sure Alec had a proper hold on the transgenic, smoothing their hair back and straightening their clothes as they walked. As soon as they were out of earshot and eyesight, Alec let go of him and quickly turned around, flashing his barcode.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yes, thank you," the deformed anomaly replied.
"Terminal City is where everybody's hiding out," Alec said. "It's about 3 blocks from here. Keep yourself in the darkness; don't let yourself get caught. Got it? Pull up your hood."
The anomaly pulled his hood up, covering his face for the most part.
"Move quickly," Alec advised, "but not so quickly that they suspect you're trying to get out of here."
The anomaly nodded.
"Now you've got to punch me," Alec said. "Hard. That's the only way they won't suspect me of being transgenic. Hurry now."
"Thank you," was all Alec heard before plunging into darkness.
Alec groaned as Lucy pressed a cloth full of ice cubes to his head.
"The sacrifices you have to make in life," he muttered. He took in Lucy's worried face and smiled slowly. "But you'll nurse me back to health, won't you? On second thought, I don't mind making sacrifices. Are you going to put on a short little nurse's uniform as well?"
Lucy's face turned beet red and she looked away.
"Stop hitting on my sister, Alec," Max said.
"Then will you nurse me back to health, Maxie?" Alec asked.
"Stop hitting on my girlfriend, Alec," Zack said.
Alec rolled his eyes. "Tough crowd." He felt a tug at his feet and looked down to see Tiana playing with the hem of his pants.
"At least I've got one little lady who likes to be around me," he said, reaching down to pick her up. "Want to sit with uncle Alec, Tiana?"
He put her in his lap and she sat down quietly.
"You know what's weird Max?" Alec said. "She's not obnoxious at all. I figured since she's your daughter that – " He stopped in mid-sentence as he smelled something funny. He sighed and said, "I spoke too soon."
Max laughed and walked over to pick her up and change her.
"That's a good girl," Max said as she walked to hers and Ben's bedroom, which had previously been Cindy's room. Cindy had been staying with one of her lickety-boos and Lucy was sleeping on the couch, so the sleeping arrangements worked out fine albeit a little crowded.
Zack was sitting on the floor playing with Ben while Alec talked to Lucy when they heard a scream. Zack jumped up immediately, grabbed Ben and raced to the bedroom where Max stood, pale as a ghost.
"Maxie, what's wrong?" he asked, worry evident in his features.
She pointed a shaky hand at Tiana. On her chest little black marks were starting to appear on her skin, just like the runes on Max. Zack opened Ben's shirt a little and saw that the exact same thing was happening to him.
"Zack," Max whispered hoarsely. "What's going on?"
A figure watched from a rooftop across the street. It had become habit to check up on them everyday. It watched as Max screamed and her mate had come in. It watched as Max pointed out the runes to Zack and both of them look scared and confused. It nodded its head to itself.
"The time has almost come." The voice was softyet strong. "The runes have presented themselves. The time is almost near. I do hope that you'll be strong, my little ones, and help your parents save us all. You'll know what to do. The Coming is near."
The figure's voice faded as he walked away silently.
"You were supposed to contain this White!" a furious voice on White's speaker phone said as he cleaned the blood off his knife. "The whole damn world knows now about how there are transgenics out there. Who do you think they're going to pin this on? Us! The government!"
"The situation was beyond my control," White said in a bored tone.
"You need to fix this, and fix this fast!" the voice said heatedly.
"With all due respect Sir, I don't think that will be possible. Everyone knows they're out there and besides, shouldn't they know? They need to be aware of what's out there."
"Not if it points the blame at us," the voice said in a harsh whisper. "Do whatever you have to do, but fix it!"
White was met with a dial tone and he put down his knife, clean at last. Thank God this idiot will be dead in only a matter of weeks. He better hope the Coming will get rid of him, because if not, I will.
The phone rang again and he put it on speaker.
"White," he drawled. "What is it?"
"Brother White," the voice said, and immediately the voice had his full attention.
"Yes?" he said.
"After much consideration, the Conclave has decided to let the people of the world know about these brutal animals. Do whatever you can; expose them, show their animalistic faces, their violent habits… It's about time the world knew about them. Imagine the chaos, the panic. It's wonderful now but it will be even better as you feed them more information."
"I understand," White said.
"Leak them information slowly. Especially about the X series. Imagine how terrified everyone will be when their theories are confirmed that there are transgenics who look just like them out there. They'll be scared… and outraged."
"Consider it done," White said. "Fe'nos tol."
"Fe'nos tol," the voice repeated.
A/N: Did you like this? Please give me feedback. I'd also love it if you'd check out my other fics. I have quite a few MAs.
Thanks to –
elle6778 – Thanks! About Alec and Lucy, things'll be rocky because of the whole thing that happened with Rachel. But you never know; good things always come with the bad…
shygirl1 – Thanks!
Kelzaa – Thanks! About the figure, well, we'll just have to see, huh? Same goes for Alec and Lucy.
sun-shy – Thanks! Don't worry, there'll be more AL coming up as well as MZ. About the figure, well, I'm not giving away anything. LOL But it's probably pretty easy to guess.
L80bug – Thanks! It's great to have a new reviewer!
MoonAngel23 – Thanks!
Thank you to everyone who took the time to review. Please do me a favour and do it again. (Grins) Kisses, aod78