Summary:  If they hadn't escaped in '09 would Ben still have been crazy.  I think so.  The blue lady still has plans for him and for Max…whether she's willing or not.

Warning:  Mature themes and character death.

No Escape

Chapter 6: Foiled

            Ben was furious.  He couldn't believe what he was hearing.  He got to choose the pairings.  Ben clenched and unclenched his hands into fists in an effort to reign in his fury.  How could they be so stupid?  How could they not see what Zack was doing?  How could they buy that crap about Zack "needing to know which soldiers worked best together in every capacity so he could choose groups for missions accordingly?" How could they fall for that?  Ben knew exactly what it meant if Zack was put in charge of the parings.  It meant Zack would have Max every time.  She would be his.

            "Well look who finally decided to join the rest of us and quit hanging with the "nomalies."  Zane joked when he turned the corner and saw Ben.

            Zane was fairly equal opportunity with his teasing.  Well, Ben probably did get a surplus but since it was Zane, Ben for the most part ignored him.  Not this time.  In a blur, Ben pounced on Zane crushing him into the wall before throwing him down on the floor.  Zane was too surprised by Ben's reaction to adequately defend himself.  Ben took full advantage and continued to pummel Zane until a couple of sets of hands began dragging him off.

            Zack and Sgt. Donovan came running when they heard the commotion outside the office. Krit and Speedy were pulling Ben off of Zane.  Donovan went to help Zane up while Zack went to take over for Krit and Speedy. To Zack's surprise, this seemed to anger Ben more because Ben launched himself at Zack. 

Zack quickly recovered from the blow to his head, so when Ben went to throw another punch, Zack blocked it, grabbed him by his throat and shoved him bodily into the wall.  Ben was still trying but it was clear that Zack had him completely immobilized.  The other X5s present were still dazed over what they had just witnessed.  It took them a few moments to register the bark of a superior officer telling them to fall in.  Once they did they were all marched to isolation on the double.

**

            Ben clamped his hands over his ears and slid down against the wall of his isolation cell.  He stared at the door like he always did praying to the blue lady for Max to come and stay with him like she did when they were kids.

**

            Ben stared at the pills in the little white cup.  He hated pills.  He hated the infirmary. He hated Manticore.  But above everything else, he hated Zack.  Zack came between him and his destiny.  He was supposed to be with Max.  She was to be his first and him hers.  They were going to produce the child that saved them all.  Transgenics weren't like humans.  Ben was sure that they needed their own savior.  He thought all it would take to get to the good place was being a good soldier.  But that wasn't enough.  He needed to show the blue lady that even though he was created in a lab, his life didn't end with him.  He could create a part of himself that lived on.  His baby would start from the same place the blue lady's came from; not from a computer database but from the Good Place.  That baby would pave the way for him. But he needed to make a baby with Max.  She had always been kind to him.  She had always been his light in this dark, ugly place.  It had to be Max.  It was their destiny.  At least it had been until Zack interfered.  Now everything was ruined.

            "Here you go."  Dr. Shorn handed him a cup of water.  After 48 hours in isolation with no food or water, it was standard procedure to report to the infirmary immediately after being released.  The threshold of the X series was well documented and a two day stint in a hole without provisions was hardly life threatening but procedure was procedure. 

            "What are these pills anyway?"  Ben was in a bad mood when he was put into solitary and he was in an even worse mood now.  He had gone through this routine a hundred times before but today he planned on bitching about every single thing he had to do after coming out of solitary.  The others had only gotten twenty-four hours thanks to the surveillance tapes showing it had been Ben who attacked first.                                 

            "Why do we have to take them every day?"  Ben added in an irritable tone.

            "These are just vitamins."  Dr. Shorn said pointing at a few of the pills.  "These are for birth control and these are antibiotics."

            "Wait. What?"

            "Well after being without food or water for an extended period, your resistance is down and in case—"

            "No I'm not talking about the antibiotics.  Why these?  Why the birth control?" 

            "Well with the copulation program you are now undergoing we can't have any unauthorized pregnancies especially if one of the females goes into heat."

            "They get birth control too."

            "Some do.  It's harder with the females because of their feline cycle so a few aren't given birth control for research purposes."       

            Ben's mind was spinning at this new information. 

            "Why the sudden interest?  Know what, never mind, I almost forgot who I was talking to."  Ben just smiled and tossed back the pills.  The moment the doctor turned away he reached into his mouth and pulled out the birth control ones.