Facing Death
By: lfbrox
Story: Set in early second season. Logan can walk (just because I like him to). And lots of transgenics are on the run and the other X-series are all out too. Lydecker, Renfro and White are the enemies – as a team this time.
Rating: R
AN: Hey guys. As promised here is the next chapter. It isn't as long as the last but you probably like it much more. I will be writing the next one during the next week and post it as soon as I can. Please enjoy and leave a review.
Chapter 15: The first taste
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Max slowly raised her hand again and moved it hesitantly towards Logan's outstretched hand. Her entire life seemed to focus on her hand and his hand as they inched closer to one another. She couldn't hear anything around her except her heart pounding in her chest. Her heavy breathing. She tried to forget how scared she was. Tried to forget the consequences if they were wrong.
Happy Endings are not for cowards. She thought to herself and moved the last inches forward and finally covered his hand with hers.
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Observation Point:
"So much for your theory Deck." Renfro mocked him after watching Max.
"I already told you twice that you have to be more patient. Without reindoctrination the change won't be immediate. But it will be lasting. She has shown her leadership potential. Now she just has to let go of her human attachments." Lydecker explained, watching the mini-soldiers in action through the hidden glass front of the observation point.
"It was a mistake to bring Cale inside the cave. She has shown what a great leader she can be. And how obedient the other X generations are. But we need to get rid of her so-called allies otherwise she will succeed in turning the rest of the kids against us. That means we cannot bring any more X5 escapees in the cave. And we need to get rid of Cale and the X5 clone. X5-599 can stay. Have X5-656 X5-701 and X5-471 brought to the headquarters and start reindoctrination on all three as soon as possible." Renfro said and the tone of her voice made it clear that she didn't want any objections to her plan.
"How do you plan on getting rid of Cale and the clone?" Lydecker asked, one hand on the door knob, preparing to leave.
"Let that be my concern. Now go." Renfro spat and as soon as Lydecker had closed the door from the outside she reached for her phone.
After a few rings her call was answered. "White."
"Oh Ames. I hope I didn't wake you up. It's rather late." Renfro said in a voice sweeter than even she knew she was capable of.
"I don't sleep much." Ames answered and sat up in bed trying to sound like he hadn't just been woken up. "How are things working out with the regrouping-coordinates and the Colonel?" He asked.
"Well the regrouping coordinates worked. We didn't get all the kids in as 452 and her kind were about to escape. But she has established her role as the Commanding Officer in the cave. Problem is that she is trying to turn the kids against us. We need to separate her from her allies so she can experience her power without being distracted by her so-called friends. But I will take care of that. Don't you worry." Renfro explained, already forming a plan in her head on how to accomplish this.
"What about the Colonel?" Ames asked, having noticed that Renfro left him out.
"Well, Deck is a different story. He really believes that she will change on her own if given enough time. I doubt that. But we don't really need 452 on our side to complete our mission. We only need to observe them all for a while and make sure that she does not turn the others away from us. Once we've selected our potential wunderkind we can eliminate the rest and go on to physically testing the selected ones. If we only find 2 or 3 of the likes of 452 then our mission was a full success. The rest is just a matter of time and experimentation." Renfro explained leaving it to White to get the message.
"So the Colonel has to go. Want me to take care of that?" Ames asked, now smiling at the prospect of killing Donald Lydecker.
"No. Not yet anyway." Renfro curbed his enthusiasm. "Let him finish the reindoctrination of the other 3 X5's. Then you can do whatever you want with him."
"Good. Just give me a call when the Colonel is no longer needed." Ames said.
"Will do." Renfro said and hung up without saying good bye as usual. She decided to let Lydecker do his work at the lab and observe the cave some more. She would interfere when the situation would demand it. She looked down where the soldiers were still busy looking for an exit when she spotted 452 in the corner of the cave with Cale – holding hands.
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Cave:
"How do you feel?" Max whispered, staring at her ungloved hand touching Logan's equally ungloved hand. Skin on skin. The first contact of their skin shot an electrical current through her body and she was tempted to pull her hand back but Logan had an iron grip on her hand, not allowing her to pull away.
"I feel great. Better than great actually." Logan said in a soft, smooth voice that made Max's insides tingle. He released his iron grip and gave her hand a little squeeze to make her look at him. But her eyes were transfixed on their joined hands. She carefully studied his wrists for any sign of the virus. She felt his pulse, checking for any irregularities. It was beating faster than normal but then again – so was hers.
Finally she let her eyes travel slowly up his body. She lingered for a moment on his neck, checking for sweat, and red swellings or a rash. Nothing. Finally she met his eyes. They were clear and focused. Focused on her. Having finished her medical examination she relaxed slightly and allowed herself to finally look at his face. He was smiling. Watching her. Giving her all the time she needed to make sure he was okay and to let it sink in that the virus was indeed history.
After what seemed like many long minutes she smiled back at him and returned the squeeze.
"It's gone." She said, more to herself than to Logan.
"Yes Max. It's gone. Now would you like to come a little closer?" He said and smirked at her. She still sat in the same position in front of him with her arm stretched out to meet his hand.
"I don't know Logan. What if it isn't cured completely?" Max said, knowing how silly that sounded. What was she so afraid of?
Logan decided that if they didn't do this right now they would be back where they had started. She still sat in front of him in kind of a daze, so he used that to his advantage and pulled on her hand while he was moving toward her.
Before she realized what was happening and without having the chance to protest she felt his lips on hers. Soft, warm lips touching hers. She closed her eyes for a second just enjoying the feel of him. When she tried to pull away a few seconds later to confirm that he was indeed okay he surprised her again by gently grabbing her head with both of his hands – giving her no chance to move away from him.
So far he had only pressed his lips softly against hers. Not moving, just lingering and enjoying the texture of her perfectly formed lips. But he couldn't stand it anymore. He moved his mouth over hers now. Nipping on her lower lip, gently letting his tongue run over her top lip – but never seeking access to her mouth. He had waited for this moment for so long he didn't want to just attack her tongue first. He wanted to take his time to feel her, to taste her.
Max's own hands wound around his neck, holding him close to her, never wanting him to stop making her feel how she felt right now. He was an expert kisser. Sure they had kissed before but that was under different circumstances. One was a good bye kiss and the other one was slightly heat infused. But this kiss was a kiss that promised a future. And this time she was sure that they could make it work. She knew that she should probably stop this right now and get to the explaining part and then to the escape part so they could have that wonderful future together that she hoped for. But she was helplessly and thoroughly lost in this man. His kiss, his taste, his smell. She should stop but she wanted more.
She pulled Logan closer to her, tilted her head to the side and as his tongue darted out to caress her lower lip she parted her lips slightly and their tongues met. They both gasped in surprise at the welcome and purely erotic sensation. That caused both their mouths to open wider and before anyone could make a conscious decision they were engaged in a heated kiss.
"Uhm. Sorry guys. Hey. Max. Just a second." Alec interrupted.
Max pulled away from Logan and turned to glare at Alec. How come every time they kissed there was a new Manticorian brother interrupting them?
"What?" Max said making no attempt to get up.
"Well. Let me just say first: Congratulations. The virus is cured. And I mean congratulations to all of us. No more drama. Lets all live happily ever after. Yadda Yadda Yadda. And I have to say another thing. This time..."
"Alec. WHAT IS IT?" Max asked, interrupting his ramblings.
"Oh. Right. The first team is done searching. Nothing so far. The other teams are almost done. Also: nothing. I don't think the exit will be easy to find Max." Alec said, pointing around at the teams of young soldiers.
"Uhm Max. I totally forgot to ask you. But where are we and what teams is he talking about?" Logan asked, looking from Max to Alec and back. He was a little embarrassed to have forgotten to ask what was going on. Especially after what happened at his penthouse and the fact that he woke up in a dirty cave could have raised a few questions too. But the only thing he could think of when he woke up was Max. And the only thing he could think of when they started kissing was that he never ever wanted to stop kissing her.
"Oh. I guess I should start explaining then." Max said slightly embarrassed that she could forget where she was and what was going on. She quickly moved away from Logan and got to her feet. She reached out a hand and Logan took it and stood up himself.
"That would be good." Logan said and looked over at Logan and shrugged his shoulders indicating that he didn't feel guilty about kissing Max at all.
"I guess I should stay here. As a buffer." Alec quipped in. That earned him a slap on the back of his head before Max turned to Logan and started to explain everything that had been going on since he passed out.
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Observation Point:
Renfro was furious by the time Max and Logan got to their feet and started talking to Alec. She had no idea that 452 and Cale had a cure for the virus. No idea that they were even searching for one. And now that she knew that Cale was Eyes Only, the fact that they cured the virus complicated everything. If only she had known back then that Cale was Eyes Only she wouldn't have bothered with a virus but would have killed him right away. The reason for the virus was unattachment. To unattach 452 from the outside world, unattach her from love.
But now that it turned out that he was Eyes Only and they had cured the virus there was no reason for 452 to change her mind about Manticore and their planned escape from the cage. She reached for her phone and hit speed-dial 5.
"Lydecker."
"Deck. We have a problem here." Renfro said without any further ado.
"What is it?" Lydecker asked in alert. If Renfro called him of all people because they had a problem it must be a huge problem.
"452 and Cale cured their virus. Now tell me. Why is she gonna be separating from him because military life is so much better? For devils sake Deck. They made out like teenagers in the middle of the cave. Any more clever ideas Deck? And how come you didn't know that they knew someone to cure the virus?" Renfro huffed clearly frustrated.
"I had no idea Elizabeth. We've only had the audio surveillance going for the past few days. I had no idea. So I guess the safest thing to do is bring her in and reindoctrinate her too." Lydecker suggested.
"Deck. The reason why we chose not to reindoctrinate her was that we wanted to know what made her so different from the other flawed kids. Why go through all that trouble for nothing?" Renfro reminded him of the part of the mission that he knew of.
"The main part of the mission was to get all escaped X5's back. The other findings would have been a bonus. I'll get a team together and come to get her and the X5 clone ready for reindoctrination. Make sure you activate the sleeping gas into the cave. I'll be there in one hour." Lydecker said and ended the phone call. Glad that this time he was the one without a good bye greeting.
Renfro pressed the disconnect button on her phone then dialed a familiar number.
"White." Came the reply, this time clear and awake.
"Ames. Merry Christmas to you. It's time to collect your present." Renfro snarled.
"Already? What happened?" White asked.
"Let's say that the mission as far as Lydecker is informed has failed. And now we must carry on without him. He's on his way to the cave with a team to collect 452 and bring her to the reindoctrination lab. I don't expect him to arrive here. Call me when you're done. We need to talk." Renfro said and hung up.
"Well Deck. You said you'd give your life for your kids. I grand you your wish." Renfro said to her empty office and with an evil grin she began plotting her next move.
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TBC soon
AN: There. Happy now? There is more coming. Count on it. I will not complicate it for them anymore. There will be sweet loving – and lots of it. So be nice and review. That makes me work faster. Thanks.