Disclaimer: Not mine except new characters
A/N : My first attempt.
Many thanks:
Maria656: glad you're still enjoying it.
Wildsky: hope you like the Alec/Issy bit in this one.
Darkangelgirl: Candi is straight forward and candid hence the name.
Angel Of Darkness231: Hope you enjoy 'Deck's story.
Shygirl1: Sorry you only have to wait until next chapter for Ben.
Honey X5-452: Sorry this one's long too, but I promise Ben will arrive in the next because this is long.
Who loves the teacher?
Chapter Thirty: The Journey 2
After grabbing Issy out of the room Alec asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice, "so what did you tell her?"
Issy was puzzled, "tell who?"
"Max, she knows something and before I start saying anything I might regret; I want to know what it is."
"Oh!"
"Yes oh! So spill the beans."
"Max was asking about how we first got together, so I told her about your excuses to see me and our first kiss."
"You told her about that," he started dumb founded, "I will never hear the last of that," he paused briefly. "So do you think that was why she got them interested in us?"
"No; I think they were interested anyway and it won't drop until we tell them something." She realised Alec was trying to think of some story to tell. "That won't work."
"What won't work?"
"Max and Candi will see through a lie even if Lydecker believes it."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I didn't work in psy-ops for so long without discovering that just as most X5's can lie easily, so they can tell when someone is lying to them just as easily."
"So what do we tell them?"
"Enough to keep them happy but not too much," she replied as they tidied the bed in her old apartment.
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Breakfast was being cooked when Issy and Alec entered the canteen.
"Glad you decided to join us," Lydecker commented sarcastically, "I was thinking we might need to send a search party to find you."
"I'm touched 'Deck, I never knew you cared," Alec replied with a grin, mocking the older man.
"Insolent punk, I never said I cared, just that I didn't want to lose you," Lydecker replied gruffly.
Max and Candi were laughing at the exchange. "You'd never have tried that in the old days at Manticore," Candi turned to Alec.
"Oh, he hasn't changed that much," Issy said, "just dropped the Manticore mask. I see you've already done the same."
"Yeah its hard work keeping that going," she replied. "Anyway Alec when you ran off last night we were expecting a bedtime story, when you gonna tell it."
"I hoped you'd forget," mumbled Alec.
"Well we haven't, so you gonna talk or do we have to beat it out of you?" asked Max.
"You've definitely got a problem," Alec said rubbing his arm in anticipation. "Still I suppose we haven't been in a good fight for ages," he continued, watching Max warily. As she started round the table he backed away, "Ok but let me have something to eat first."
A plate of bacon and eggs was produced by Lydecker. "This better be good," he said dryly.
"I understand Max knows part of the story, so I think I'll let Issy start," Alec replied taking a forkful of food.
"Thanks," replied Issy, thinking how to start. "A brief synopsis for Candi then; I was created by Sandeman to look after his creations, but with special attention for Max, Ben and Alec. When Max and Ben escaped in '09 I had to concentrate on Alec, so I tried to protect him from the worse excesses of psy-ops and medical experiments and made sure he knew that I was always there for him," she was talking quickly, so that no-one could interrupt. "When I became head of psy-ops I introduced a counselling session after each stay in psy-ops, with Alec spending a lot of time in psy-ops it meant we spent a lot of time alone together."
Lydecker raised his eyebrows, "So all that was orchestrated so that you two could be alone together?"
"No, it just worked out that way," she replied. "Anyway if you'd treated them properly most would never have seen the inside of psy-ops, let alone spent months there."
"You don't mean you seduced him after the '09 escape?" asked a horrified Candi.
Alec laughed, "if she did I don't remember. No it happened gradually and I was the one who moved it up a gear. I didn't know that Issy was trying to protect me at the time, although she kept giving me advice about keeping my mouth shut as she didn't enjoy finding me in med. bay or psy-ops. Guess I never took the advice and once she'd introduced the counselling it was great to talk with someone who knew the outside world."
"So that's how your unit knew so much more than the others?" Lydecker queried.
"Yeah but I'm sure your bugs picked up some interesting conversations," Alec replied.
"And got you sent to the brig."
"Yeah and six months of being punch bag for the trainers," Alec smirked, "but the best part was the excuse to go and see Issy, it was during those visits that I took her a birthday card and kissed her."
Lydecker couldn't believe what he was hearing; "you mean that the only reason that you took the beatings was so you could sneak off to Issy's?" he fumed.
"Yeah, you think I'd have let them get away with it if I hadn't got a reason?"
"I was surprised, but thought the threat of the brig; further beatings and a trip to pay-ops if you retaliated had made you more subdued."
"No. Only termination for Issy or I would have worked that easily," Alec replied, "but she convinced me that I needed to comply or risk termination, and that even her powers of persuasion be enough to prevent it."
"You were how old when this happened?" asked Candi.
"I was sixteen," he replied, "anyway by the time the beatings stopped I had seen Issy every week for six months and managed to get my first kiss."
"Yeah a complete breach of professional etiquette, I tried stopping the sessions and passing him on to one of my colleagues, but he just sneaked out of barracks at night and climbed in my bedroom window," Issy laughed at the memory.
Lydecker was furious and speechless.
Max laughed and asked Alec, "so you never thought about using the door then?"
"No, why use the door its far too obvious and the look on Issy's face when she walked in and found me lying on her bed, it was a picture," Alec laughed, looking at Issy who was clearly embarrassed by the memory. "I was comfortable around Issy and wanted to know why she wouldn't see me anymore. When she explained that we had breached the rules of counselling I reminded her that she had told me she'd always be there for me. Since she couldn't argue with that the sessions resumed and I asked her to change the content, using the blackmail angle."
"At sixteen you were threatening Issy," Max accused, "why and what was this change of content?"
"I didn't want to use blackmail but I wanted to see Issy," he replied feeling ashamed, "I needed her to explain some of the things I was feeling, after all Manticore wasn't hot on sex education and the only thing we knew was if a female started smelling different she would be locked in solitary until she didn't smell like that, and the smell would drive all the guys wild and they would fight. I needed answers, especially as I was now getting a similar feeling whenever I saw her."
"Over the next two years we had non-contact sex education," Issy interrupted.
"Yeah but I did keep trying for contact," Alec stated with a glint in his eye.
"Yeah but I managed to keep you at bay," Issy laughed, "then on his eighteenth birthday he decided that it was time find out what the talk was all about."
"Yeah I still go weak remembering that night," he mused.
"So until Renfro found out," continued Issy, "we were making love at least once a week."
"So you were having sex for two years," Lydecker spluttered, "how come you never got pregnant?"
"What do you think they invented condoms for, 'Deck," she replied.
"Ok so how come you got pregnant?" he countered.
"Because Renfro's sex lessons were monitored and we didn't want to be found out," she replied.
"So now you know our little secret how about telling us how come a career soldier like yourself 'Deck ended up in the weapons training division known as Manticore?" Alec asked dryly.
"Nothing to tell," he replied gruffly.
"Oh come on 'Deck if we're gonna build some trust here you need to open up too," pleaded Max.
"They're right Lydecker and you know it," Issy stated, "if you don't give up a bit of yourself here you won't gain any trust and you lost their respect a long time ago."
"Trust you to stick up for them," Lydecker snorted. "Ok, but later first we need to finish checking the site and perimeter for intruders."
"Alright later, but don't think we'll forget," replied Max. "Issy if you man the gate while we search, Candi and 'Deck continue the south and Alec and I will continue in the north. Meet back here at 13:00, ok?"
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As they wandered around the north side of the site Max kept glancing at Alec with a grin on her face. It was annoying him that she seemed to have a private joke. "So what's so funny?" he snapped.
"I was just imagining you as a boy trying it on with Issy," she replied.
"Wouldn't be any different than you and Logan," he replied.
"Yeah and you used to hate it that I was with him," she snapped back, annoyed that he had mentioned Logan.
"Because he's an ordinary," he retorted, "Issy was always special not like any of the staff at Manticore and we talked about all sorts of things."
"Yeah, she told me," Max replied picking up some things that she thought might be useful, "Anyway which of these was her apartment?"
"That one," Alec said pointing at the only building without any telltale signs of the fire. "Why do you want to know?"
"Can we have a look in that block?" she asked.
As they entered the block it was obvious that the fire hadn't reached here, although there were signs of water damage from the sprinklers.
"How many apartments are there in this block?" Max asked.
"Ten I think," he replied, "why? What are you thinking?"
"Why are we roughing it when there are all these apartments we can use?" she asked. "I mean the owners aren't going to return, are they?"
"You'd better tell Lydecker that his soldiers prefer comfort these days and are moving in here," he replied.
"What's your beef with him?"
"You mean aside from the obvious beatings, torture and killings?" he replied and she nodded. "They never told us the truth and treated as like we were machines that they could dismantle at any time. Every unit watched their brutality and if he didn't order it he condoned it, how can you really trust someone who would do that."
"I remember him shooting Eva the night we tried to escape and taking Jack away when he got the seizures," Max answered quietly. "But he's here with Sandeman and was looking for me just after the escape. Said he had information for me, but went missing. I think we need to give him a chance, if he's not on the level there are enough of us to kill him, if he is we've got an ally who knows people in high office."
"Ok I'll give him a chance, but only one," he replied. "You'd better call him and Candi over, so you can all pick your bunk for tonight. Just remember 22 is taken, ok."
Max called Lydecker and Candi over and they selected their rooms for their stay.
"I must say this is more comfortable than I was expecting," Lydecker commented.
"I'm sure Issy would have had a hand in preserving this piece of Manticore," said Max as they returned to the canteen for lunch.
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Candi went to relieve Issy on the gate and as Issy returned Max called out, "hey Issy how did you manage to rescue your apartment from the flames?"
"I forced the sprinkler system when I realised what was about to happen," she replied.
"What do you mean?" asked Lydecker.
"When I saw the broadcast I lit a candle and piece of paper and put it under the smoke detector in the corridor; that forced the sprinklers across the area giving the psy-ops team time to escape. Then I went to unlock the barracks, by-passing Renfro's controls," she replied.
"I thought I did that," Max argued.
"Sandeman had a back-up system built in the basement of the living quarters which would over-ride any other system on the site," she replied. Seeing Lydecker's unbelieving face, she continued, "he didn't trust the military and I was the only person who knew about it and what to do. Not surprising really, after he got the equipment in the basement he left me to hack into all the systems and get it working. I even had to install a Trojan horse in the Manticore system to allow me to override theirs in an emergency."
"If we're going to use the living quarters then someone will have to be in the gate house at all times," Lydecker suggested.
"Fine I'll take the night shift; you take the morning, Alec the afternoon and Candi the evening, everyone ok with that?" Max commanded.
"Ok by me, but since Candi's doing the afternoon shift now, I don't suppose she'll want to do the evening shift as well," Alec responded.
"Ok, you relieve Candi now and tell her the shift pattern," Max snapped.
"Why do you want me to do the afternoon?" he replied.
"Because Ben is more likely to return in the day time and he might not react well to Candi," she replied.
"You mean seeing his twin on the gate won't make him suspicious," he replied.
"It might but I thought you'd probably want Issy there," she replied watching his reaction, but there wasn't any. "Between the two of you I'm sure you can persuade him to come in."
"Ok but maybe you'd better warn Candi," he turned to leave, giving Issy a quick kiss.
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After her meal Candi went on duty while the others got their meal.
"Ok 'Deck you said later, it's later now," said Max. "What's your story of how you got to came to join us?"
"As Alec said earlier I was a career soldier with no plans for working in a weapons testing facility, but somewhere down the line I got promoted and moved to Manticore. At first I saw it as being sidelined, then as the units got older I realised the potential of these in battle, but they were still considered experimental. I thought if I could prove how superior they were to the normal soldier then I would be returned to an active role, but after the escape that seemed unlikely," he started.
"So we were just weapons to be used, abused and destroyed," Alec jeered, "and some were abused in all senses of the word."
Max looked surprised and disgusted by Alec's statement. "Were you ever abused?" she asked quietly.
"No," he replied. "But I had a guardian angel looking out for me," he continued, looking at Issy, who looked embarrassed. "There were several rapes that I heard of though, both male and female."
Lydecker looked shocked, "I never knew about those, if I had they would have been dismissed."
"Dismissed for fucking a weapon," Alec laughed. "I don't think anyone would have taken you seriously."
"It was one of the reasons that I started explaining about sex to Alec, I knew he'd pass the information on and maybe protect his unit from some of the twisted bastards who called themselves guards," Issy interrupted.
"Yeah that information got a few of the guards dismissed from the service permanently," Alec finished.
"Do you mean that you were killing the guards?" Lydecker asked astounded. "Renfro assumed that they'd gone missing to avoid Manticore's usual method of dismissal."
"Only those who should never have been working with children," Alec replied easily. "So we did the job for you. Anyway after the third went missing I think the others got the message."
"Enough of the digressing Lydecker," Max decided to bring them back to the subject. "So when did you start to change your mind about us?"
"There were two things the death of my wife, which seemed linked to my work and finding out information about you," he said looking directly at Max. "That information sent me on a search to find out the truth about what Manticore was really about, and led me to Sandeman. I'd always thought of your unit as my kids, the best of the best, but only in terms of your abilities as soldiers. Since finding Sandeman and learning about his plans and watching you working as a complete unit without guidance, I realised that there is more to each one of you than any manufacturer weapon. That in some ways you've got more humility than the rest of us."
"Nice speech, it really tugs at the heart strings," Alec mocked, earning him a quick thump in the shoulder from Max and a kick under the table from Issy. "What was that for?" he glared at them.
"For being such an ass," said Max, "agreed Issy?" Issy nodded.
"Look I spent enough years trying to teach you to fight in all extremes, now I want to help you fight for your survival. I want to help you pick the fights that will win you the most points in your favour with the government. I want to help you become American citizens in the same way that immigrants can, so you don't have to hide from persecution by the very country that created you."
"But we were doing so well without you," Alec replied sarcastically. "Didn't you think your little soldiers could pull it off without you? What's in it for you, a new commission since the last one got blown up?"
"I admit that working with you to bring about a peaceful end to the siege will help my position, but it will also give you an ally in the corridors of power," Lydecker countered. "As for you working without help, isn't that why everyone is either trapped in TC or being hunted?"
"Touché" replied Issy. "I believe you've been honest but what about your feelings towards the other series, the ones that don't look so human."
"Before I came to TC I would have said that they should all be shot on sight," he replied. Max gasped worried about Joshua and the others, Lydecker noticed. "But," he continued, "since being in Mole's company for so long and seeing how well everyone work's together I have modified my view. I now believe that everyone should be treated as equals, although I think some will having difficulty being accepted in society."
"You mean you've changed that much?" queried Max.
"I still think your community is a little rough and could do with a more experienced person guiding it, but I'm willing to accept that you all have a lot to offer the country," he replied. "I just wish I'd known what was really going on at Manticore, maybe I would have understood earlier if I'd realised that much of the time you were just play acting for our benefit."
"So what was all that crap when Candi arrived and on the journey?" Alec queried.
"Old habits die hard," Lydecker joked, "besides if we talk to the returning X5's like this, they might think we took down Manticore then try to kill us before we explain."
"That's true," Max replied absent-mindedly.
"I think you might need a rest before your shift Max," Issy commented.
"I think you're right," she replied, "see you in the morning."
"And you two," Issy started looking from Lydecker to Alec, "I want a truce on the aggro."
They looked at each other and as Alec started to open his mouth, Issy cut in, "and I won't listen to any excuses. Shake hands on a truce and then let's get some rest."
Looking at each other then at Issy, the two men reluctantly shook hands.
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A/N: Sorry it's long but I wanted to get Alec's version of the get together and Lydecker's story out of the way, before bringing in Ben. I promise Ben is in the next chapter (it's written and ready to post) but you won't get to hear from him until I receive 160 reviews.
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