The Surprise
Chapter 7: Sibling Rivalry
Summary: Alec meets Max's siblings and they hatch a plan. Lol, hatch.
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When the group hug ended, Jondy finally got in the door with Jen. "Whoa Jondy how'd that happen? You were only gone for a few days," joked Kat.
"Very funny, she's Max's." Everyone turned back round to look at Max, surprise obvious on their faces.
"So Max spill, how did you do it?" When Max raised an eyebrow, Jace rolled her eyes. "No details please, just . . ." Alec walked in the door and the majority of the people in the room's heart missed a beat.
"Ben?"
"Oh, no, no, no, no," Alec hurriedly, "I'm his twin 494, Alec for short." After the first, few minutes of everybody staring at him Alec began to feel uncomfortable. "Twin, you know as in looks the same but really not. As in I'm not Ben, I'm his twin," said Alec.
"Alec! Do me favour and shut up," said Max who was worried that he wasn't making the best impression. "You can leave the bags in an empty room upstairs," said Jondy who couldn't stop smiling at her siblings reactions.
As Alec went upstairs, still rambling quietly about twins, Max was left to fill in the past ten years or so of her life that she had gone through without seeing these people that meant so much to her.
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Logan pumped his fist in the air. He had finally done it; he had finally beaten the computer at solitaire. 'Intermediate level here I come,' he thought proud of his achievement.
He celebrated by watching the video clip that he was sure would secure his place in Max's heart once again. He had hacked into Jam Pony surveillance and had been watching it intently for a number of weeks, searching anything that would be of use to him in his little personal mission and so far, he had come up dry. Until yesterday, that was, when he had saw Alec walk in with a beautiful young brunette he had not seen before. She and Alec looked close, they had been talking and laughing and she had left with him as well. Max had been nowhere in sight.
Therefore in Logan's demented little mind Alec was obviously cheating on Max with this woman. He began thinking about the best way to tell Max without letting her think that he was telling her intentionally. 'Anonymous phones call perhaps? No, not very original. I could let Alec know that I know and put pressure on him to tell her before I do. However, that would take too much time.' He went through various other options but due to lack of brain cells, none of them were very good. 'The phone call it is.'
He went to his state of the art phone and messed with the signal so that it could not be traced back to him. After a few rings with no answer, he hung up. 'Ah well, will do no harm to wait. It'll give Alec time to dig himself into a deeper mess.'
Deciding to have something to eat to celebrate his victory over the computer, he went into the kitchen and looked through his cupboards. 'Hmm let's see. Will I have spaghetti or tageatelli? However, I do have penne . . . oh and pasta bows. Aren't I just spoiled for choice! I'll just whip up a nice creamy sauce and fetch a bottle of pre-pulse wine. Why Cale you old charmer, how'd she ever resist you!?' giving himself a wink in the mirror he went back to preparing dinner for himself.
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After staying up most of the night to catch up with her brothers and sisters Max was happy. They were still a little freaked out about Alec but were supportive of her and told her that they hoped she knew she could always count on them if she needed anything.
Alec seemed to be getting on great with them. Upon seeing how close he and Jondy seemed to be already, they had decided that he must be an 'alright guy' so had simply accepted him without any questions asked. The only little blip in the evening was when Alec had been left alone in the kitchen with Krit and Zane. He had came back in looking pretty annoyed and Zane and Krit were looking all together pleased with themselves. 'Probably gave him the "if you ever hurt my little sister" speech,' she thought as she rubbed her eyes. Now at eleven thirty everyone was beginning to get up.
There was plenty of yawning and half-mumbled "Good mornings," as they came in and planted themselves on the nearest available seats. She watched amazed that they could be tired, they were trained to go several days without sleep and they had several hours of it.
Knowing what Max was thinking Jace sat down beside her. "We don't all have shark DNA you know." After another yawn she turned round and yelled into the kitchen, "Where the hell is the coffee?"
"God you sound like Alec. He's not really a morning kind of person either. There is not much talking to him until he gets his daily dose of caffeine," said Max.
On cue, Krit came in with enough cups for everybody with Syl behind him carrying a kettle full of the coffee, which the tired transgenics treated like the divine ambrosia itself, with most of them perking up instantly from their first sip.
Alec came in, taking a cup off Krit before sitting on the other side of Max who greeted him with a kiss. "Morning," she said resting her head on his shoulder and snuggling in closer to him. "Where is Jen, surely she's not still sleeping?" she asked.
"No, Jondy wanted to get her ready, said she wanted to spend some time with her niece," he said.
"Right then," said Kat taking charge and bringing the quiet bantering in the room to a stop. "As soon as JONDY GETS HER ASS DOWN THE STAIRS, we can start to discuss our course of action."
"Kat, it's too early. Can't we wait until we are all awake?" whined Syl, with her eyes still half closed. Kat ignored her and when Jondy did appear within a minute of Kat yelling for her, she decided to continue any way.
"As you know there is only one idea that has been put forward so far and that is for all of us to move to the other side of the country where it is highly unlikely that White will ever be able to find us again but none of you seem to agree. As much as you hate my plan none of you have came up with another solution."
Choosing this moment to appear with Jen, Jondy rushed into the room giving Kat an apologetic look. Giving Jen to Max, she hurried over and sat down on a stool in the corner.
"We cannot just sit around and wait for a solution to present itself. Therefore unless anyone can come up with a better idea that is what we will be doing," Kat concluded.
"Wait a minute did I miss something?" asked Jace. "Why should we do what you tell us to? You're not our CO."
"Yeah but Zack is off tending pigs and someone had take to charge and I am the oldest," she argued.
All hell proceeded to break loose as everyone started arguing about who should be in charge.
"Well I was acting CO," said Jondy putting in her bit.
"Well I was SIC and with Zack down that puts me in," was Max's argument.
This went on for another few minutes or so with everybody putting their own case forward until Alec got tired of it. "That's enough!" he yelled. The room became silent as everyone stopped bickering and turned to look at Alec.
"For the love of God yous are all acting like children! You can't just fight about who is going to be the leader all the time, you should be beyond that. Now if you want to play soldier and pull rank I got you all just by experience among other things so how about you all shut up, sit down and listen to each other and act reasonably. You call each other brother and sister and yet you fight like cat and dog."
"Hey," said Jondy. "Haven't you ever heard of sibling rivalry?" This lightened the mood considerably and everyone calmed down and decided to talk things through rationally.
"Everyone put in any ideas they have, decide what's best, take a vote and majority rules," said Alec calmly as if he was talking to a bunch of three year olds rather than the fully trained super soldiers that filled the room.
"Look," began Max. "I think we, all of us, should go to Seattle. We need to take action against the familiars and the only way we can do that is with an army. Since Manticore is just outside of Seattle most of the transgenics ended up there, I think most of them live in and around Terminal City so it shouldn't take too long to round them up. We could work with them and devise a plan to wipe out the familiars before they come after us. Plus with us all in the one place it will be harder for us to be picked off one by one, safety in numbers and all that."
Everyone looked around at each other to see what everybody else thought. Then, slowly everyone began nodding.
"Sounds good to me."
"Hell yeah, a plan I can relate to."
"Finally, someone with a good idea."
"Let's do it."
"Seattle here we come!"
Then they all turned to Kat. After much consideration she smiled, "Count me in. thank god someone else took charge. You all know I'm more of a take it easy girl anyway," she said as everyone began laughing and joking glad to have finally decided on something.
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"Is anyone else a bit pissed off that we have only been here one day and we are already heading back to Seattle?" asked Alec who started loading up the car with their bags and a few other of Max's siblings.
"Oh sorry, well I'm sure we can push back wiping out a race so that you can have another few days in San Francisco," said Max. "I was just saying," he mumbled. "Are you trying to tell me you aren't just a little bit annoyed that you didn't get the chance to climb the Golden Gate Bridge?"
"No, after all I never said we wouldn't be making a little pit stop," said Max, leaning back, allowing Alec to wrap his arms around her and pull her close, something he tended to do more frequently recently and Max was not going to complain. She needed a bit of comfort now and again and Alec could be really sweet when he wanted to, well when he wasn't busy being a smart- ass. She turned around, put her arms around his neck and kissed him, only stopping when Krit and Syl started clearing their throats loudly.
"If you don't mind we have to share the car with you so if you could kindly refrain from doing that it would be greatly appreciated," commented Krit.
"Oh please! Don't pull that with me! You know as well as I do that yous are just after doing the exact same thing upstairs," said a knowing Max, slightly miffed that they had to stop.
"Yeah but at least we had the decency to do it in private," said Krit.
"Just get in the car," said Max, opening the door, and ruffling his hair as he got into the car.
Everyone had started preparing for the journey to Seattle once they had ate breakfast. Krit and Syl would be going in Max and Alec's car and Kat, Jace and Jondy where in Zane's. They would have to leave their bikes in Jondy's garage.
Max had been amazed when she found out that the house had been Jondy's. It appeared that her sister had been doing pretty well for herself. The house was huge, hey, it had been big enough to house the nine of them and the gardens were quite big as well. Jondy apparently had a great legal mind and had spent quite a number of years as a lawyer.
Everyone was nervous about the journey ahead; in a way, it almost felt like going back to the beginning. They had managed to lead relatively normal lives and now they were off to fight side by side with the rest of their kind, an act that would distinguish then from the ordinaries for the rest of their lives.
The drive itself was enjoyable, both parties telling more stories and sharing past experiences with Syl just doting on Jen. That night everyone crowded between Max and Alec's which was claustrophobic at the best of times when there was only the three of them and Original Cindy's place as no-one felt like splitting up too much for the purpose of comfort.
Soon the floors were covered with empty sleeping bags, blankets and pillows as everyone was on top of the Space Needle. They stood in silence for ages, just watching the lights of the city and the people passing through the different streets, and the thick fog that seemed to loom over tomorrow's destination. . . Terminal City.
"So really," asked Alec. "What is it about you people and heights?"
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there ya go so plz review!
Chapter 7: Sibling Rivalry
Summary: Alec meets Max's siblings and they hatch a plan. Lol, hatch.
_____________________***************_____________________
When the group hug ended, Jondy finally got in the door with Jen. "Whoa Jondy how'd that happen? You were only gone for a few days," joked Kat.
"Very funny, she's Max's." Everyone turned back round to look at Max, surprise obvious on their faces.
"So Max spill, how did you do it?" When Max raised an eyebrow, Jace rolled her eyes. "No details please, just . . ." Alec walked in the door and the majority of the people in the room's heart missed a beat.
"Ben?"
"Oh, no, no, no, no," Alec hurriedly, "I'm his twin 494, Alec for short." After the first, few minutes of everybody staring at him Alec began to feel uncomfortable. "Twin, you know as in looks the same but really not. As in I'm not Ben, I'm his twin," said Alec.
"Alec! Do me favour and shut up," said Max who was worried that he wasn't making the best impression. "You can leave the bags in an empty room upstairs," said Jondy who couldn't stop smiling at her siblings reactions.
As Alec went upstairs, still rambling quietly about twins, Max was left to fill in the past ten years or so of her life that she had gone through without seeing these people that meant so much to her.
____________________********____________________
Logan pumped his fist in the air. He had finally done it; he had finally beaten the computer at solitaire. 'Intermediate level here I come,' he thought proud of his achievement.
He celebrated by watching the video clip that he was sure would secure his place in Max's heart once again. He had hacked into Jam Pony surveillance and had been watching it intently for a number of weeks, searching anything that would be of use to him in his little personal mission and so far, he had come up dry. Until yesterday, that was, when he had saw Alec walk in with a beautiful young brunette he had not seen before. She and Alec looked close, they had been talking and laughing and she had left with him as well. Max had been nowhere in sight.
Therefore in Logan's demented little mind Alec was obviously cheating on Max with this woman. He began thinking about the best way to tell Max without letting her think that he was telling her intentionally. 'Anonymous phones call perhaps? No, not very original. I could let Alec know that I know and put pressure on him to tell her before I do. However, that would take too much time.' He went through various other options but due to lack of brain cells, none of them were very good. 'The phone call it is.'
He went to his state of the art phone and messed with the signal so that it could not be traced back to him. After a few rings with no answer, he hung up. 'Ah well, will do no harm to wait. It'll give Alec time to dig himself into a deeper mess.'
Deciding to have something to eat to celebrate his victory over the computer, he went into the kitchen and looked through his cupboards. 'Hmm let's see. Will I have spaghetti or tageatelli? However, I do have penne . . . oh and pasta bows. Aren't I just spoiled for choice! I'll just whip up a nice creamy sauce and fetch a bottle of pre-pulse wine. Why Cale you old charmer, how'd she ever resist you!?' giving himself a wink in the mirror he went back to preparing dinner for himself.
______________________**************_____________________
After staying up most of the night to catch up with her brothers and sisters Max was happy. They were still a little freaked out about Alec but were supportive of her and told her that they hoped she knew she could always count on them if she needed anything.
Alec seemed to be getting on great with them. Upon seeing how close he and Jondy seemed to be already, they had decided that he must be an 'alright guy' so had simply accepted him without any questions asked. The only little blip in the evening was when Alec had been left alone in the kitchen with Krit and Zane. He had came back in looking pretty annoyed and Zane and Krit were looking all together pleased with themselves. 'Probably gave him the "if you ever hurt my little sister" speech,' she thought as she rubbed her eyes. Now at eleven thirty everyone was beginning to get up.
There was plenty of yawning and half-mumbled "Good mornings," as they came in and planted themselves on the nearest available seats. She watched amazed that they could be tired, they were trained to go several days without sleep and they had several hours of it.
Knowing what Max was thinking Jace sat down beside her. "We don't all have shark DNA you know." After another yawn she turned round and yelled into the kitchen, "Where the hell is the coffee?"
"God you sound like Alec. He's not really a morning kind of person either. There is not much talking to him until he gets his daily dose of caffeine," said Max.
On cue, Krit came in with enough cups for everybody with Syl behind him carrying a kettle full of the coffee, which the tired transgenics treated like the divine ambrosia itself, with most of them perking up instantly from their first sip.
Alec came in, taking a cup off Krit before sitting on the other side of Max who greeted him with a kiss. "Morning," she said resting her head on his shoulder and snuggling in closer to him. "Where is Jen, surely she's not still sleeping?" she asked.
"No, Jondy wanted to get her ready, said she wanted to spend some time with her niece," he said.
"Right then," said Kat taking charge and bringing the quiet bantering in the room to a stop. "As soon as JONDY GETS HER ASS DOWN THE STAIRS, we can start to discuss our course of action."
"Kat, it's too early. Can't we wait until we are all awake?" whined Syl, with her eyes still half closed. Kat ignored her and when Jondy did appear within a minute of Kat yelling for her, she decided to continue any way.
"As you know there is only one idea that has been put forward so far and that is for all of us to move to the other side of the country where it is highly unlikely that White will ever be able to find us again but none of you seem to agree. As much as you hate my plan none of you have came up with another solution."
Choosing this moment to appear with Jen, Jondy rushed into the room giving Kat an apologetic look. Giving Jen to Max, she hurried over and sat down on a stool in the corner.
"We cannot just sit around and wait for a solution to present itself. Therefore unless anyone can come up with a better idea that is what we will be doing," Kat concluded.
"Wait a minute did I miss something?" asked Jace. "Why should we do what you tell us to? You're not our CO."
"Yeah but Zack is off tending pigs and someone had take to charge and I am the oldest," she argued.
All hell proceeded to break loose as everyone started arguing about who should be in charge.
"Well I was acting CO," said Jondy putting in her bit.
"Well I was SIC and with Zack down that puts me in," was Max's argument.
This went on for another few minutes or so with everybody putting their own case forward until Alec got tired of it. "That's enough!" he yelled. The room became silent as everyone stopped bickering and turned to look at Alec.
"For the love of God yous are all acting like children! You can't just fight about who is going to be the leader all the time, you should be beyond that. Now if you want to play soldier and pull rank I got you all just by experience among other things so how about you all shut up, sit down and listen to each other and act reasonably. You call each other brother and sister and yet you fight like cat and dog."
"Hey," said Jondy. "Haven't you ever heard of sibling rivalry?" This lightened the mood considerably and everyone calmed down and decided to talk things through rationally.
"Everyone put in any ideas they have, decide what's best, take a vote and majority rules," said Alec calmly as if he was talking to a bunch of three year olds rather than the fully trained super soldiers that filled the room.
"Look," began Max. "I think we, all of us, should go to Seattle. We need to take action against the familiars and the only way we can do that is with an army. Since Manticore is just outside of Seattle most of the transgenics ended up there, I think most of them live in and around Terminal City so it shouldn't take too long to round them up. We could work with them and devise a plan to wipe out the familiars before they come after us. Plus with us all in the one place it will be harder for us to be picked off one by one, safety in numbers and all that."
Everyone looked around at each other to see what everybody else thought. Then, slowly everyone began nodding.
"Sounds good to me."
"Hell yeah, a plan I can relate to."
"Finally, someone with a good idea."
"Let's do it."
"Seattle here we come!"
Then they all turned to Kat. After much consideration she smiled, "Count me in. thank god someone else took charge. You all know I'm more of a take it easy girl anyway," she said as everyone began laughing and joking glad to have finally decided on something.
______________________**************_______________________
"Is anyone else a bit pissed off that we have only been here one day and we are already heading back to Seattle?" asked Alec who started loading up the car with their bags and a few other of Max's siblings.
"Oh sorry, well I'm sure we can push back wiping out a race so that you can have another few days in San Francisco," said Max. "I was just saying," he mumbled. "Are you trying to tell me you aren't just a little bit annoyed that you didn't get the chance to climb the Golden Gate Bridge?"
"No, after all I never said we wouldn't be making a little pit stop," said Max, leaning back, allowing Alec to wrap his arms around her and pull her close, something he tended to do more frequently recently and Max was not going to complain. She needed a bit of comfort now and again and Alec could be really sweet when he wanted to, well when he wasn't busy being a smart- ass. She turned around, put her arms around his neck and kissed him, only stopping when Krit and Syl started clearing their throats loudly.
"If you don't mind we have to share the car with you so if you could kindly refrain from doing that it would be greatly appreciated," commented Krit.
"Oh please! Don't pull that with me! You know as well as I do that yous are just after doing the exact same thing upstairs," said a knowing Max, slightly miffed that they had to stop.
"Yeah but at least we had the decency to do it in private," said Krit.
"Just get in the car," said Max, opening the door, and ruffling his hair as he got into the car.
Everyone had started preparing for the journey to Seattle once they had ate breakfast. Krit and Syl would be going in Max and Alec's car and Kat, Jace and Jondy where in Zane's. They would have to leave their bikes in Jondy's garage.
Max had been amazed when she found out that the house had been Jondy's. It appeared that her sister had been doing pretty well for herself. The house was huge, hey, it had been big enough to house the nine of them and the gardens were quite big as well. Jondy apparently had a great legal mind and had spent quite a number of years as a lawyer.
Everyone was nervous about the journey ahead; in a way, it almost felt like going back to the beginning. They had managed to lead relatively normal lives and now they were off to fight side by side with the rest of their kind, an act that would distinguish then from the ordinaries for the rest of their lives.
The drive itself was enjoyable, both parties telling more stories and sharing past experiences with Syl just doting on Jen. That night everyone crowded between Max and Alec's which was claustrophobic at the best of times when there was only the three of them and Original Cindy's place as no-one felt like splitting up too much for the purpose of comfort.
Soon the floors were covered with empty sleeping bags, blankets and pillows as everyone was on top of the Space Needle. They stood in silence for ages, just watching the lights of the city and the people passing through the different streets, and the thick fog that seemed to loom over tomorrow's destination. . . Terminal City.
"So really," asked Alec. "What is it about you people and heights?"
______________________**************_____________________
there ya go so plz review!
