A/N: Sorry it's taken so long for me to post this. I seem only to have one beta left and she's been really busy lately so I'm looking for at least a couple more to help me out.
What you would be required to do is check my grammar and spelling, give me advice and your opinions on plot ideas and make plot suggestions. This means you'll get to see my chapters before they're posted, and know a LOT about the story and where it's all going. Hell, if you want, you could make covers, banners and avatars for them if you want to. Hmm, that'd be pretty cool actually.
Also, I've been looking to revamp my site for months now but don't have the knowledge. If anyone's interesting in helping me with that, again, please contact me.
Anyway, if any of you are interested, please, please, PLEASE email me. My email address is in my profile. Thanks!
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Chapter 2: A Story Untold
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'Look what the cat dragged in.'
-Syl (And Jesus Brought A Casserole)
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'I don't want the world to see me
Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am'
-The Goo Goo Dolls (Iris)
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Erin didn't know how it happened. One minute, she was seething with anger, hating herself beyond reason, the next, she was sobbing in Zack's arms as he held her, listening to the soothing words he murmured and never wanting to be alone like that again. She knew it was a lie- that she would end up being alone, that Zack, though he might understand some of what she was feeling, could never truly grasp the feeling of helplessness and hatred she felt towards herself, towards the world. But, for those few brief moments, she allowed herself to feel safe, to feel protected, maybe even loved, and it was somewhere during those few brief minutes, she found herself agreeing to go back with them to Terminal City. She found herself sat behind Zack on his bike, her arms around his broad leather clad frame, watching Terminal City come closer and closer. Behind her shades, her eyes narrowed as she allowed a feeling of bitterness to wash over her. Bitterness and dread.
A certain someone resided in this city. A certain someone who was still there. A certain someone who she had given her heart to. A certain someone who would probably hate her for as long as she remained in Seattle, maybe for as long as he or she lived. Alec.
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"So… she's coming back…" Jondy sat down at one of the tables in HQ. "What d'you think is going to happen?" Mole had called them as soon as they had made it down from the space needle.
Jondy briefly looked down at the paperwork littering the table's surface. Max was looking at the list of weapons and other useful things that Krit had drawn up for her. There was also a list of contents that had been found in the abandoned lab below Terminal City. Max seemed to be only half-heartedly looking through the lists, with her mind obviously elsewhere.
The transgenic leader shrugged, wincing at the movement before looking around them, "No clue. Guess we're gonna have to see how it goes. Have you seen Alec?"
Jondy narrowed her eyes. There was something her little sister was keeping from her, she knew it. Zack was the same, then Mole got let in on it and whatever 'it' was, and it was something that had made him agree to go with her old CO to retrieve Erin.
Knowing Max or Zack would tell her eventually, Jondy nodded and winced in sympathy. "Zane went to tell him that Mole and Zack are bringing her back. He didn't tell him nicely."
Zane was still being stubborn. He had always been the same- once his trust had been taken advantage of, it was almost impossible for anyone to regain his trust in them. Erin would have to work hard if she wanted him to give her another chance.
Max winced too now, though not from any of her own injuries. "How hurt is he?"
Unfortunately, Jondy's boyfriend could also act like an idiot from time to time too, despite his enhanced brainpower. For instance, telling someone that their traitor girlfriend was coming back to Terminal City was not a good idea. Especially if he was telling someone that was at one point, one of the highest ranking transgenics in Manticore.
"The idiot got himself a dislocated shoulder and a black eye." Though Jondy was technically dating Zane, she didn't seem to feel sorry for him. He got himself into these kind of situations, and he could get himself out of them. Jondy was on neutral ground when it came to Erin, she had no idea what to think about the girl.
"That's lucky, Alec could've killed him" Max murmured looking around her, though not sounding too concerned. She knew that her friend wouldn't kill Zane for insulting Erin- hurt him, yeah, but not kill him. Max knew without a doubt that Alec would be difficult to deal with for a while, or at least until he put the mask back up- the one she had gotten past when it was revealed what had happened with Rachel. Max hated that mask. She hated to see him pretending, albeit convincingly, that he was always alright. He was her friend- one of her best friends. She hated seeing her friends hurt, she hated watching their hearts break and knowing there was nothing she could do about it.
"We should move this somewhere else. This place is too confined, we need to do this somewhere bigger, somewhere more open" She stood up slowly, smiling her thanks when Jondy stood up and offered her her arm. "Erin will feel too cornered here, we can't have her panicking."
"Where shall we move it? The bar?" Jondy began to lead them towards the exit.
Max thought about if for a second. It wasn't very private, but Erin's answers needed to get around to the rest of the transgenics. Erin was going to be questioned, but it will only be a few of them asking the questions. If it got out of hand, whoever triggered it would be escorted out and put into a cell for a little timeout session.
"Yeah," Max finally answered, "the bar should be cool."
Nodding, Jondy pulled out her cell phone and called Mole.
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'Run!' her mind screamed at her as she slid off the bike and began to walk with Zack and Mole towards the bar. She was walking between them, one on either side like bodyguards, or maybe prison guards.
She felt bile rise up in her throat, bitter and acidic, making her want to spit on the pavement to remove it's taste from her mouth. She swallowed it instead, hiding her fear, and anger behind the stoic unfeeling mask she'd perfected as a child.
'Run!' her mind continued to scream at her as she clenched her fists tightly in her pockets, causing the knuckles to crack and Zack to give her a sideways glance.
'He's in there, they're all in there! They hate you! They turned on you! You betrayed them! You deserve no ones trust!' Conflicting emotions battled inside of her and Erin briefly closed her eyes a second before opening them again, making them unreadable as they approached the warehouse-like building that had been converted into a bar/ chill out area/ skating ramp kinda zone. She used to hang out here when she was relaxing, laughing with her friends. Now it would be the place of her interrogation. If she was lucky, maybe her execution.
She couldn't hear anything clear from behind the large metal doors, maybe a chair scraping, a few mumbles of conversation, a gun being loaded.
Mole walked forward, grasped the metal handle and pulled the door open.
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Erin didn't need to see the anger on everyone's faces as she walked into the warehouse, her feet still making no sound on the floor despite the fact that she was now in control of her own body. She looked like a drowned rat, and a teenager to boot, but that didn't mean they believed her exterior anymore. The predator was still in her, lurking under the surface, just waiting for the chance to get out. No, she didn't need to see the anger on everyone's faces- she could smell it's bitter smell, taste it's sour taste and feel it as it caused the muscles in her body to tense, even as she fought the urge to growl a warning at them as they fingered their guns and knives.
Erin forced herself to keep her eyes on Max as she walked into the giant room, Mole and Zack on either side of her like armed guards. Even then, she found herself examining escape routes before she realized what she was doing, at the same time as her mind was deciding who to kill first, who to use as a shield, who was weakest. Erin gave her head a minute shake, forcing herself to remain focused on the transgenic leader, the woman who was watching her with open concern as she stood by one of the tables set up near the bar and dance floor, to the right of the skating ramp. Beside her stood Jondy , Zane and Lee, to her left stood Tawney, Krit, Syl and Logan. Sketchy, Dalton, Zero and Bullet were all sat on the ramp, looking down at her with blank faces. Brin, Josh and Cindy sat at the bar, on either side of the most important person to Erin in the room- Alec. He had his back to her, a glass in one hand and a bottle in the other but she knew that he knew she was there. She could tell in the way his back tensed and the way he gripped the bottle tighter.
Erin forced her eyes back to Max as she came to a stop some distance away from her when she heard over 50 guns being loaded. They were surrounded by over 100 other transgenics, all of them wanting to kill her. Somehow, Erin just couldn't seem to make herself care. Instead, she let her arms down by her side, kept her face blank and refused to shuffle as Mole and Zack remained on either side of her, tense, cautious.
Erin waited, not saying anything.
"Are you okay?" Max broke the tense silence, taking a cautious step towards her.
Erin almost laughed. She was treating her like she was dangerous. The laughter died before it even made itself to her throat. She was dangerous.
"Five by five" she shrugged, ignoring the glare she received from Zack.
Mole wouldn't let her comment stand as he snorted, "Five by five my ass, kid. You jumped off the freakin' space needle!"
Erin shrugged and ignored the fact that Alec had now spun around to stare at her. "I'm no one's pawn. Don't want to stay in a world where I'm not wanted." She was pleased that her voice came out bored sounding.
"You're lucky you didn't die, Erin" Zack told her quietly.
Erin turned to glare at him and she allowed a small amount of anger to show, "Lucky for who? Besides, luck had nothing to do with it. It seems that it'll take more than that to kill me." She allowed a small bitter smile to grace her lips, "Don't worry though, I'm sure I'll come up with something soon."
"Don't Erin" Max stepped closer, her voice loud, almost desperate.
This time, Erin allowed herself to laugh, "Max, will you listen to yourself? We're surrounded by over 100 transgenics who are just itching to shoot me, and you're asking me not to kill myself. C'mon, give them the order- it'll save us all some time."
Max was not deterred, "They will NOT shoot you- any of them that tries will have it done to themselves, understand?"
There were some shuffling from the crowd but no one said anything. Some of the guns were lowered, but the majority remained pointed at the girl.
Erin smirked at Max and shook her head, "I'm rolling my eyes right now."
"Why don't you take the glasses off?" Logan piped up, the gun looking ridiculous in his hands as he aimed it at her head, pretending to know how to use it properly.
"Ah, I was wondering when you were gonna start blabbin'. Aren't you meant to be in the garage?" Erin turned to look at him, the annoyance obvious in her voice. "And to answer your question, they don't feel normal to me, so it's safe to assume that they don't look it either." Erin's accent seemed very pronounced as she spoke, pointing out the fact that she wasn't like them in more ways than one.
"I think we should be the judge of that" Logan replied condescendingly, ignoring the exasperated looks he received from the surrounding transgenics. Max, realizing that he had got a gun from somewhere, nodded at Lee who stalked over to him and snatched it from his hands, earning herself a glare. Lee simply smirked, tossed her hair over a shoulder and walked back to where she was standing, the gun loose in her hand. To be honest, they were a tad bit curious about her eyes too.
"I think not" Erin replied, just as condescendingly, "My eyes are very sensitive right now, Ferret, and just because you're a nosey sod doesn't mean that I'm going to risk the chance of blinding myself." She turned back to Max, "Are you gonna start the inquisition or are we going to stand here for the rest of the night?"
Taking a deep breath, Max nodded, "Fine, take a seat."
Erin shrugged, walked over to the ramp, climbed up the ladder and sat on the edge closest to Max, her feet dangling. Dalton and the others were on the other side of the ramp so it wasn't like they could push her off or anything. Like it'd make a difference.
"Why don't you start from the beginning," Max suggested as Mole and Zack approached her. Max sat down in an empty chair and stretched out her legs, trying to appear more relaxed than she was. "Tell us how you came to be here… in this… world."
Erin raised her eyebrows, "You want it from the beginning? Ookay, this'll take a while." She wrapped her arms around the metal poles that acted as a barrier incase anyone fell off the edge of the ramp. She rested her chin on the cold metal, its solidness somehow making her feel more real. "The first thing I've got to say is this- I'm not going to tell you what year I'm from or how old I am- it's rude to ask a woman her age. I'm also not going to tell you everything about my past- those of you who know it" Her eyes flicked to Alec and then Jondy, "should know that it's the truth- I never made any of it up." Jondy simply nodded while Alec, his face emotionless, simply stared at her.
"I'm also not going to tell you why or how I know lots of things about you guys and this world."
"Why?" Zack had placed himself beside Max, towering over the smaller transgenic as she sat in her chair.
"It would make you question your very existence" Erin replied simply.
"We already are" Max replied just as calmly, though a frown marred her features. "We've been questioning it for years."
Erin shook her head, "I don't mean you as in transgenics. I mean you as in your entire world- humans, transgenics, Earth."
"So you really are from a different planet!" Sketchy's awed voice reached her. Erin turned around to stare at him, dumbfounded, "Dude, I'd slap you right now if it wouldn't give you brain damage."
Sketchy's look immediately changed from one of awe to anger and Erin wished she hadn't said that. "Look mate, I'm not an alien. I'm from a different EARTH not a whole different planet. I'm from a different reality."
There was silence for a few moments as everyone attempted to take this in.
"What's so different about it?" It was Lee who spoke up now, her voice very neutral.
"Well, for one, there's been no pulse" Erin tried to think of how she was going to explain all this- it was a lot more complicated than she had ever planned it to be. "At least, there hasn't been yet anyway. And no, my reality isn't simply your past and I doubt that an electromagnetic pulse would turn the states into what it is here. They've probably got safe guards for that kinda thing."
"So, you're from a time where that can be prevented?" Lee smirked and Erin frowned.
Oops, don't want to them to know everything. Erin grinned, "I'm not saying that. For instance- we don't have hoverdrones flying around our cities, nor do we have genetically engineered super soldiers… that I know of, anyway."
"But you have computers" Lee pointed out, "You set up Logan's pretty good. And you have stuff like skateboards and motorcycles."
"Ah yes," Erin smirked, feeling some of the darkness recede as she began to toy with Lee. Distraction was good. "But what makes you think that we developed these things at the same rate that this reality has?"
Lee's smirk turned into a pout, "You're not even going to give us a clue as to how old you really are, are you?"
"Nope" Erin grinned properly now, "Just know that I'm 18 in my world and that it isn't this year there."
"Back to how you got here" Tawney caused the grin to disappear as he brought the topic back on track, "What happened?"
He didn't like the fact that she lied to them, Erin could practically see his anger simmering beneath the surface, yet she knew, just like Lee and a few of the others, they were open to change. If she proved herself to them, they just might forgive her.
"A portal, I think" Erin scratched her head absently.
"You think?" The doubt in Tawney's voice was obvious.
Had they each come up with questions to ask her? It looked like they had, and Erin wouldn't have put it passed them.
"It's not like I've seen a portal before, mate. They're not exactly the norm if you know what I mean." Don't get angry, don't get emotional.
"What did it look like?" This came from Brin as she sat on a stool next to Josh with her back to the bar.
Erin thought back to what she had seen, what she had come to think on with hate.
"It was… bright… and blue."
Closing her eyes, Erin forced herself to think back to the day that she had been taken from her world and dumped into that of her favourite TV show…
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A/N: Okay, I need your help people! What kind of situations do you want Erin to get in? What kind of Max/ Zack situations do you want Max in? And yes, I know, several of you want Mole to bitch-slap Logan.
Crazy- Vampire Slayer: No comment. (grins infuriatingly)
Angelofdarkness78: Thanks! There will be more Max and Zack moments in future chapters. After all, Max has only just realized that she likes him.
Skysha-Tranqui: I'm hoping to play on the Zack/ Max stuff a bit more- you know, have him flirt subtly with her and getting her all flustered.
ACharmedJedi: There won't be any Erin/ Alec stuff for a couple of chapters at least, but there WILL be some Max/ Alec interaction and some much needed Max/ Zack stuff going on.