Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

A/N: Yes I know it's not everyday that you see a writer forget to post a chapter (Yup, I'm talking to you Doza) LOL. ) But hey, even the best fall down sometimes right? Haha. Anyways, thanks for the reviews guys! Especially those who reviewed Chapter Ten.

Fire and Blood

By: human28

Chapter Seventeen

Terminal City was labyrinth of abandoned labs and dusty storage rooms. Now, of course, with actual beings residing within it, most of these rooms had been transformed into sleeping quarters for the transgenics. But not all of them had been transformed – not yet. There were still a few of them that was yet to be discovered.

And one of them was found by none other than Terminal City's newest resident – CJ. After having met Joshua, he had tagged along with him to Transgenic Central, curious and fascinated by them. They were once mere dreams. And now here they were, alive and breathing. His father's dreams had turned into reality.

Joshua had wanted him to meet everyone, but he had declined, knowing that if they found out that he wasn't one of them – he was sure to be dead. He told Joshua that he would rather keep to himself, and that he would rather that no one knew about him being here. Joshua being the kind, generous person that he was, had reluctantly agreed.

CJ had then disappeared into the enormous toxic waste-dump. Being a Familiar, he wasn't affected by any of the hazardous toxins that the biochemical accident had left behind.

Carefully dodging transgenics, he had kept to the shadows, and had discovered this nice little room to stay in. Okay, so it was far from being a room. It was, once upon a time, a laboratory. Filled with shattered beakers and cylinders, vacant shelves and drawers, broken toasters and ovens, and rusty metal stools.

It was located deep in the heart of TC, and he knew that no one would find him here. Even if Joshua told everyone about his new friend, they wouldn't think that he was still here – hiding from them. They'd simply think that he'd declined Joshua's offer to stay and had went and found a better place to reside in.

CJ settled himself into one of the chairs. It creaked under his weight. Resting his elbows on the tiled counters, his thoughts came to plague his head. He thought about his father, whether he was still alive or long since dead. He thought about the Breeding Cult and how they would react to his sudden disappearance. And he thought about his brother. His dear old brother. And he silently pleaded to whoever was up there in the heavens, whoever was watching him…

Please, don't let him find me.

…

Oak Street was made up of nothing more than a couple of rundown five-story buildings and a few smaller buildings that had once been labs. A normal human would've been more than shocked if they happened to walk into a place like this. A decrepit neighborhood filled with beautiful people.

Beautiful people that could kill you in a blink of an eye.

"So, you guys planning to stay here?" Biggs asked. "Because I could hook you up with a room."

"Doubtful." Max replied.

Biggs looked surprised. "What do you mean 'doubtful'?"

"This place is swarming with X5s."

"Well, you're an X5. You wouldn't want to go live with nomalies now do you?"

"That's exactly my point!" Max exploded causing several passing X5s to stop in their tracks. She glared menacingly at them and they hurried away hastily, not wanting to be the focal point of 452's anger.

Biggs stared at her, stunned.

"She has this thing for equality…" Alec tried to explain.

"Shut up," Max snapped. "Listen to me. Sooner or later, word is going to break out that transgenics are on the loose, and it won't be long until every single ordinary would be out of their houses, looking for us, hunting us down, and killing us all until not one of us are left in their perfect world. Do you really think that this little group of X5s will win? We may be genetically-enhanced super-soldiers but in an all-out war against the real world, we are the ones who are going down. There are millions of them out there." The flame in her eyes flickered, and sadness came to put them out. "They may be nomalies – freaks, but when you come to think of it. We're all freaks."

Biggs faltered.

Alec clapped him on the back. "What'd I tell you? A unique creature like no other."

…

Early afternoon began to set in, and most of the Scooby Gang went off to their respective bedrooms to catch up on some much-needed sleeping time. The afternoon was, after all, their version of the night. Because at night, they would be all up from their beds and out on the streets, doing what they did best: hunt down vampires.

Seattle wasn't anything like Sunnydale. Far from it. For one thing, it rained almost everyday, and this was way different from the hot, sunny days in Sunnydale – where the Californian sun always shone its brightest. And for the bigger reason, there wasn't much going on in Seattle.

Oh sure, they ran into the occasional vampire nests here and there. But there just didn't seem to be any challenge. Unlike back in Sunnydale where they had to work double time to keep the vamps in check – and to keep anyone else from getting bitten.

Their transfer to Seattle was pretty much a nice time for the gang, especially the two Slayers. It was like getting a sort of vacation from all the pressure that they had been put under while back at their hometown. Of course, while they enjoyed the supreme lack of vampire-activity in Seattle, there were always times when they would crave for more action. The challenge simply didn't seem to be there anymore.

So I guess you could say that they were more intrigued than annoyed when Giles woke them up from their afternoon naps to show them what he had discovered about Max's runes, with the exception of Spike and Buffy who were in the middle of something erm, private. Giles swore to himself to have a couple of drinks that night. Heaven knows he needed it, after seeing that.

"When the shroud of death covers the face of the earth, the one whose power is hidden will deliver the helpless." Buffy read aloud from the scrap of paper.

They were gathered in Giles' office, and it was eerily silent as they listened to the words that escaped the Slayer's lips.

"Great, just what we needed. Another apocalypse." Dawn said with a yawn.

"Kinda reminds me of Angel Investigations," Xander mused. "'Good morning! You have reached Angel Investigations, we help the helpless'"

Faith burst out laughing.

Giles hadn't been so sure at first if it was wise sharing this piece of information with Buffy and the rest, especially since they 'belonged' to Max. There was not a doubt in the world that she could take his life in a matter of seconds, and possibly even the Slayers. Well, the latter would probably take a couple of hours – but then, Max was genetically-enhanced, practically superwoman. Bollocks, he was starting to sound like Xander.

"Does Max know about this yet?" The blonde Slayer asked.

Giles shook his head. "I'm about to call her."

"Why'd you tell us this anyway?" Faith asked him. "It's not like this is our battle. And who knows where we would end up if we get ourselves into this upcoming shit."

"I have to agree with the bitch," Spike said ignoring Faith's scowl. "Meddling in other people's lives – especially the transgenics' lives. We're bound to end up dead for sure."

"But if the whole world is at stake…" Willow trailed off.

Buffy nodded. "If the whole world is at stake. It will be our business. And besides, we owe Max and her friends for helping rescue Dawn. We couldn't have done it without them. You guys know that."

Giles sighed. "That is if she wants our help."

"The G-man's right." Faith said in agreement. "After all, we barely know her. It's been what? Three days?"

"Feels like a month," Willow said tiredly.

Giles picked up the phone and quickly dialed Max's number. "I suppose we'll have to find out."

…

"Hello? Oh hey Giles."

Alec immediately stopped mid-sentence from his conversation with Biggs as his attention became focused on Max. Biggs turned to gaze curiously at the brunette who began to walk further away from them, apparently wanting some privacy with the phone call, which was obviously an important one.

"Hey man, thanks for showing us around." Alec said clapping Biggs' on the shoulder and tearing his attention away from Max. "We'll try to drop by later tonight, or maybe tomorrow."

Biggs shrugged. "No problem. But TC would be eternally grateful if one of you would decide to take charge of this city. Manticore knows you two are the best."

Alec raised his eyebrows at the unexpected praise. "Thanks."

By this time, Max had reappeared to join them. "Hey, we gotta jet." She smiled at Biggs. "Nice meeting you."

"Pleasure's mine." Biggs smiled back.

The two X5s then made their way out of TC, leaving Biggs to stare after their retreating figures. There was something going on – that he was sure of, but what exactly? He had yet to find out.

…

"Dawn! Get the door will you?"

The two transgenics winced at the rather loud scream that sounded from the other side of the door. One of the down-sides of having enhanced hearing. The door opened three seconds later to reveal an annoyed-looking Dawn – apparently, she disliked being ordered around, especially by her older sister.

However, at seeing who it was at the door, her face split into a grin. "Hey guys! Come in!"

They barely made it through the door when they were ushered instantly into Giles' office by the Watcher himself. It was evident that whatever he had unraveled was important – too important to be delayed by any other member of the Scooby Gang with their famed ways of incessant and unnecessary ramblings of things that were utterly useless.

Giles shut the door behind his back with a soft click and motioned for the two to take their seats on either chair in front of his desk. They did as told, both wearing expressions of blatant curiosity.

"You translated it?" Max asked, her eyes betraying her worry and nervousness.

Giles nodded mutely and handed them the piece of paper where the translation as written in his neat, sinuous penmanship. His handwriting was like that of the olden times – elegant and refined. But that was the last thing on Max's mind as she silently read the written words in less than a second.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Alec asked, confusion clouding his handsome features.

"No idea," Max said, biting her lip. Both of them simultaneously turned to look at Giles.

Giles took off his glasses and proceeded to clean them using the hem of his sweater. "I'm afraid I don't quite understand it myself. But suspect it has something to do with an upcoming war…When the shroud of death covers the face of the earth…"

The transgenics exchanged alarmed glances.

"The one whose power is hidden will deliver the helpless…" Giles continued. "It speaks of a hero."

"Max." Alec whispered, his hazel-green eyes widening.

Max squeezed her eyes shut. "No. It can't be – how can I be?" Renfro's words echoed in her head. 'You're the one we've been looking for, 452…'

"I don't know if you are aware of this fact, but Max, it seems that you contain no junk DNA." Giles informed them. Judging from their looks of astonishment, it was obvious that they were indeed, unaware of this little piece of information.

"How do you know that?" Alec asked, his eyes narrowing, suspicion laced his voice.

"I suppose you recall the night that you erm, 'hitched' a ride from Buffy and Faith."

Alec smirked.

"We were – curious. So we asked for some information from Logan. And he provided us with some rather interesting information."

"How much did he tell you?"

"Not much. Mostly about how you are genetically-enhanced super soldiers. How you were trained to become killers. And then he began telling us how interested he was on finding you – Max. How you possessed no junk DNA…"

"That means every single DNA was built to have some specific genetic purpose." Alec said in understanding. "Sandeman must really be trying to tell us something here."

"Sandeman?" Giles questioned curiously. "Who's he?"

"No one." Max said hurriedly. "So you said that Logan was actually interested in finding me?" She asked bewildered. "How come he never tried talking to me? I mean, question me, or whatever."

"I don't know," Giles said.

"I guess we'll just have to find out for ourselves," Alec said rubbing his hands together. He clapped his hand on Giles' shoulder before walking out of his office, throwing a brief "Thanks for your help!" behind his back.

Max smiled weakly. "Yeah, you've been a great help." She slipped the piece of paper in her jeans pocket.

"Wait, before you go." Giles started nervously. "We just want you to know. I mean, this prophecy evidently speaks about some kind of upcoming war…and we just want you to know, that if you ever need any help…"

Max sighed. "As much as we would love your help, I don't think you'd want to get engaged in this kind of war. You'd just end up getting yourselves killed."

"Figured as much." Giles muttered to himself watching the door slam shut.

…

To be continued…

…

A/N: Be a dear and review, will ya?