Sincere apologies for the unforgivable delay in updating, everybody. Got drafted for a WEEK of babysitting for my sister at literally a moment's notice (thank god volunteer work allows for flexible schedules). The nephew had acute tonsillitis and of course failed to be diagnosed properly until one day before I split - hence lots of whining and crying). Anyway *shakes head to clear brain*, point is I had this baby almost ready for you guys right before I had to split, so I finished it first thing when I got home tonight and well..here it is.Love you all for the reviews so far and KEEP THEM COMING, m'kay?
-- Tyler
"I'm telling you, Max, that's all we got."
Max's eyes flicked from the sullen (and somewhat bruised) visage of Dix to Alec's figure slouched against the wall behind the nomalie's chair. The X5's arms were crossed and though he wore an even expression, the gleam in Alec's eyes suggested he was less then pleased with Dix's explanation of events.
"One minute, everything's fine." Joshua agreed as he attempted to lick several droplets of water from the melting icepack he had been holding against his black eye, "Then suddenly, screaming, yelling, people flying everywhere."
"It wasn't like one specific instance set it off." Luke piped up in a somewhat more timid voice (mainly because he was the only one that didn't have his back to Alec and was getting the brunt of both X5's disapproving auras). "Was just the normal friendly banter, 'cept that people just didn't let it slide for once or somethin'."
"Look, I know circumstances have been stressful recently, but you can't just take that as a license to start swinging." Max rubbed at the side of her temple in an effort to calm the hammering pulse, "We gotta stick together if we wanna…"
"Don't even think about throwing a lecture our way, Max, cuz this is in no way our fault!" Dix snapped, shoving away from his chair and jabbing a finger at Max as he spoke, "You wanna lord it over someone, why don't you pitch a fit at the X-series for a change, huh? Not like that's ever gonna fucking happen."
"Hey!" Alec's sharp reprimand was a verbal shove to the shoulders as Dix whirled around to glare at him, "Take it easy, alright? No need to go making this personal."
"Oh really?" Dix waved an arm, clearly incensed and in no mood to be squelched during a rant, "Cuz personal is exactly how things are looking from my point of view right now!"
"Not like you have such a great scope on the world with one fucking eye." Tank mumbled from where he was binding up his swollen, bloody knuckles a short distance off.
Dix swirled on his heels, "The fuck did you just say?"
"Oh you heard me, Cyclops!" Tank snapped bitterly, and Max's eyes locked with Alec's in complete bewilderment.
"Doesn't take two eyes to see you're a sorry, fucked-up, son of a bitch!" Dix hissed as he advanced on Tank, who threw down the gauze he was holding at the statement.
"That's it."
"Yeah? You up for Round Two now?"
"Okay, you know what, just stop this!" Max slammed her fist down onto the table as she rose to her feet and positioned herself between the two warring transgenics, "Everybody just calm the hell down!"
"Why d'you keep looking at me when you say that? Why don't you look at him?" Dix seethed as he motioned to Tanker, who rolled his eyes at the remark.
"Aw, does little Dixie feel singled out?"
"You're a fucking dead man…" Dix lunged but Max shoved him back with enough force to send him clattering into a pile of broken wood.
"I said that's enough!" She turned to glare at Tanker as Dix pulled himself to his feet with a snarl pasted on his face, "We let them get under our skin like this, we may as lie down and let White walk all over us."
The silence which followed Max's commanding statement meant grudging consent as Dix glared out the window and Tanker exchanged glances with Alec before sighing heavily at Max.
"Fine. But can we just call it quits on this whole 'blame game' thing here, cuz it's just going in circles."
"There is one way to know who did what if you're really scrapin' for detail." Mole piped up indolently.
"Yeah why don't we tie an anvil to the feet of everybody who was involved and toss'em in a lake? If they float…"
"Shut up." Max nipped the virulent remark in the bud before Dix had a chance to finish it. She nodded at Mole, "What's your plan?"
"The proverbial black box." He slapped a hand on the railing as he hiked the stairs, Max, Alec, Tanker and the three nomalies on his heels. "You wanna see who threw the first swing, just gotta check out the security footage."
"Wait, there're cameras in this joint?" Tank queried with a wave of his finger, and Dix's lips twisted.
"Yes. Obviously."
"What's obvious to some is fresh knowledge to others." The X5 scowled before he turned to Alec, "Did you know about this?"
"Maybe." Alec responded before he cracked a grin, "Why, Tanker, you uh get a little action on one o' the tables or something after hours?"
"Maybe." Tanker replied in a sour tone as they gathered around the monitor that Mole was shoving Luke behind.
"Go on, Luke. Show us whatcha got." Mole patted the nomalie's shoulder as Luke's fingers scrambled into action.
"'Kay fine, but I dunno what you think you're gonna find." Luke grumbled as he accessed the security footage from that day, "Already told ya, there's nothin' to see."
"In that case you should have nothing to worry about." Max took up camp in the chair beside him and leant forward as the flaky display screen flickered into life.
"Wow," Alec smiled smugly at the sight of his Triumph pulling into Central in grainy pixels, "Who's that awesomely sexy dude?"
"You're such an air-head." Max offered the response almost automatically as she nodded at Luke, "Fast forward till about five minutes before the fighting broke out."
Luke hissed slightly (in what Max deemed to be frustration), but did as she requested, "What exactly are we meant to be looking for?"
"Just keep going. I'll know it when I see it." Max leant an elbow on the desk and kept her eyes fixed on the screen in front of her. Truth was she had no clue in hell what they were meant to be looking for. Body language displaying aggression, forwardness? Those were practically virtues amongst the transgenic population, it seemed – and came as naturally as breathing, to boot.
Nope, not a clue in freaking hell.
Wait.
"Go back." Max clutched Luke's wrist, her sharp brown eyes alert and piercing the video image of none other then Kid standing clandestinely in the corner of the warehouse.
"Stop."
Max leant forward and narrowed her eyes slightly to better interpret the picture she was seeing. The frozen images of an X5 and a feline nomalie conversing animatedly were overshadowed by the figure they dwarfed – Kid – who was directly between them and staring with eyes wide as saucers.
"Roll it." Max knew the motion was merely procedural at this point. She for one had seen all she needed to – and judging by the protracted inhale from Alec as he leant over her shoulder to view the footage, Max gathered she wasn't the only one.
The thirty-one seconds it took for the argument to get physical was more then enough time for the viewers to begin loudly issuing their individual hypothesis'.
"Right, that does it." Alec's matter-of-fact proclamation and his about-face were both intercepted by Max's hand gripping the edge of his jacket.
"Alec."
"Max, he's danger on two feet."
"So what're you going to do, take him out?" She raised her eyebrows caustically.
"Lock him up." He responded bluntly, "Till we can figure out what his game is, I'm not lettin' him within an inch of anybody he can work his mojo on."
"Okay, clearly I'm missing something here." Jace spread his hands, "Who the hell is 'he'?"
"Kid." Max and Alec both retorted simultaneously before casting each other reproving scowls.
"What, the little guy in the shot?" Luke's eyebrows hit the roof, "Hey isn't he one of the X6s Alec brought in yesterday?"
"Don't remind me." Alec grunted, and Max rolled her eyes as she pushed away from her chair and stood up.
"What, you think he's pullin' some kinda mind game on us?" Dix queried.
"We don't know that."
"Not think, know."
Max and Alec had once again issued the statements in unison and glared at each other for the second time in two minutes.
"This is ridiculous. Look you guys are blowin' this way out of proportion." Mole placed a hand on the back of Luke's chair and nodded towards Max, "It was just a blow-out caused by lack o' decent grub and shut-eye. Central team's been bustin' their asses non-stop for a month now and the stress is just…"
"They worked us like pack mules back at Manticore, Mole. I highly doubt that present circumstances measure up." Max's explanation was backed by Alec's accompanying addendum.
"If things were gonna come to blows, they already would've, okay? This kid is the one pullin' the strings here."
"Bull shit." Mole replied flatly, ignoring the challenging lift of Alec's eyebrows at the remark, "You're makin' excuses for the fact that Max's constant absence has been puttin' way too much strain on the rest of us."
"So now it's my fault, is that what you're saying?" Max didn't seem surprised at the accusation but the cold expression she wore suggested she was less then pleased.
"Your fault and your problem." Mole emphasized the last word by a stab of his finger.
"Alright, you know what? This is ridiculous." Alec shoved past Mole and headed down the staircase, sparking the rest of the transgenics to follow sharply at his heels.
"Where d'you think you're goin'?" Mole demanded as Alec strode out of the building and into the drab gray of winter, "Has it occurred to you we have no idea where this Kid is even holed up?"
"I'll find him." The confidence in Alec's voice for one didn't come across as swaggery – and subsequently put Max at a great deal of unease, "Five years with a search-and-eliminate unit doesn't count for nothing, you know."
"Neither does a year on the outside learning to make yourself scarce." Max reminded him tactfully as she coiled her arm inside of his and eased him to a halt, "If he doesn't wanna be found, then locating him won't be easy. We should do this as a team."
"Hold up a second." Mole chewed at the end of his cigar before drawing it out of his mouth and waving it at the pair, "Are you guys serious 'bout this? I mean you honest-to-god think that A. This kid is Psy-Ops and B. He's actually manipulating us against each other?"
"It's ugly but yeah, it's an option." Max had seen a lot of ugly in her time – even amongst her own kind. And she was beginning to wish she'd sided with Alec from the start, however much she'd wanted to give the X6 the benefit of the doubt.
"Okay." Mole crossed his arms and rocked back on his heels, his cigar twirling in his fingers, "So supposing that's the case – how exactly d'ya intend to shut'im down? I mean if he's powerful enough to set forty-odd transgenics against each other all in one place at the same time, unless you got a freaking Magneto helmet stored away somewhere, I don't see how this is gonna work."
"Same way tackling Psy-Ops'ers always works." Alec stated matter-of-factly as he fixed the small huddle of transgenics around him with a smirk, "Reverse psychology and a heckuva lot of teamwork."
"Teamwork?" Dix's eyebrows shot up, "News flash, 494…"
"Don't fucking call me that." Alec's was quiet and full of muted danger. The brief flash of warning that flashed across his countenance blew over as suddenly as it had come.
Dix seemed somewhat shaken by the reaction, and aimed the rest of his statement at Max, "Somehow I don't see 'teamwork' bein' a feasibility with this kid out to have us at each other's throats."
"You think he's a plant?" Luke offered in a low voice as his eyes skirted the courtyard outside Central nervously, "Like from the Conclave?"
"Or the government." Max shrugged.
"Which is more or less then same thing." Mole heaved a drag of his cigar before flicking at the edge of it and glancing at the setting sun, "Well it's gonna be dark soon, so whatever we're gonna do, best do it now. No sense addin' to the factors against us by givin' the kid night cover to work with."
"Should we split up?" Joshua suggested, "We'd cover more ground that way."
"Max?" Alec nudged her from where she had been massaging the front of her temple in an attempt to beat her now throbbing headache.
"I dunno. This was your idea – you run with it." Max sighed and forced a lackadaisical tone into her voice as she raised an eyebrow at Alec.
A frown flickered across his face, "You okay?"
"Yeah, just beat." She dismissed the evident disapproval on the tip of Alec's tongue with a wave of her hand, "So what's the call?"
Alec's eyes were still hosting skeptical concern as he licked his lips and then squinted at the horizon, "Alright, Mole, Josh, you guys take the outskirts. Dix and Luke, you got everything within half a mile of Central, full-circle. Tanker, you 'n me'll take Oak Street.
"What about Max?" Joshua motioned to his Lil' Fella with a slight smile.
"Man the fort." Alec informed her, and Max's eyebrows furrowed in disbelief.
"What? Forget it!" She looked ready for a fight.
"You didn't let me finish." Alec reminded her quietly, and Max's folded arms hugged her rib cage tightly as she allowed him to do so, "Whoever finds Kid knocks him out on the spot," This statement was directed at the entire search unit, "Don't care how big his eyes get, alright? Just take him out nice and quick, throw him over your shoulder and shag ass back to Central."
"Kinda got that figured – what's your point?" Max's words came with a ring of snap.
"Need you to be on the welcoming committee, get thing set up for when we bring him in." Alec pulled out his cell phone, "You'll have back-up."
"Who?" Max squinted sardonically.
Alec smiled briefly as he searched through the contacts list in his phone, "I'm callin' in a favor."
"Hi, Max!" Mia, the feisty, good-natured transgenic who had very brilliantly manipulated Max, Alec, Logan and her narcoleptic hubby Dougie less then a year before, paused to pout disconsolately at Max.
"Oh…honey. Why aren't you bed with a headache that nasty?"
Max smiled turgidly and avoided eye-contact, "It'll blow over. Besides, it's not like I have…"
"Time?" Mia's genial smile never left her face (it was almost unnerving), "Trust me – if you don't rest up while you have the chance, it's gonna get a whole lot worse."
"I'll wing it." Max said shortly as she sidestepped the woman and flicked the lights on in the grotty basement of the Central warehouse. As far as Max knew, Mia's telekinetic abilities didn't stretch to fortune-telling – her little prediction regarding Max and Logan's future hadn't panned out anyway.
Logan.
Max shut her eyes briefly at the stab of pain that pierced her heart. She forced the memories, remorse and self-loathing back into their designated slots in her mind. Brooding was never convenient these days – not that it had ever been anyway.
"You shouldn't blame yourself, you know." Mia's pealing voice sounded gently beside her, "You just did what you thought was best for him, Max."
"Look," Max turned to face the woman, who (she noted) was beginning to tilt her head in a way that made Max's stomach knot up, "I appreciate the effort, but do me a favor – stay the hell out of my mind, okay?"
"Max," Mia's eyebrows narrowed in confusion, "I'm not reading your mind, just your face. You're transparent, you know…"
"Just save it for the kid, you got it?" Max raised her own eyebrows before turning and dragging a fold-up chair from the corner of the room, planting it firmly under the naked light bulb above them.
"What is this supposed to be, a third-degree interrogation?" Mia didn't seem to appreciate the set-up as Max flung open a dusty trunk and pulled out a long coil of rope.
"Until we know what he's capable of, we take precautions." Max stated as she fished around and procured a set of handcuffs, "You're here to psyche him out and also act as a shield in case he tries to pull the whammy on any of us."
"Yeah, yeah – I got it, Alec filled me in." Mia sighed, then paused to stiffen as she cocked an eyebrow at Max, "Wow…you have got a lot of underlying tension."
"Yeah well you keep nosin' in on it, you're gonna experience some first-hand, you got that?" Max slammed the trunk shut and turned to glare at the transgenic.
"Easy, Max." Mia chided, "I'm here to help…and by the looks of things, not just with this kid problem."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Max responded belligerently.
"Sure you do." Mia sat down on a cluttered wooden table and crossed one leg over the other, "I mean this whole situation with Logan and Alec isn't getting any less complicated, and I mean everything that's been happening with the…okay!" She squeaked as Max's hands suddenly clamped around her collar and the X5's face was inches from her own.
"What's going on in my life is nobody's business but mine, you understand me?" Max's tone was low and cold as she shoved Mia's collar away and turned her back on the woman.
"Max…" Mia began hesitantly.
"Just stay out of it!" Max called as she strode hastily around the staircase leading out of the basement and put the solid oak steps and railings between her and the now truly concerned Psy-Ops offspring.
Just in time to prevent Mia from seeing the tears of complete confusion, frustration and pain trickle unobtrusively down her face. Max's eyebrows titled up momentarily and her shoulder shook once with a repressed sob, her lips pressed tightly together in effort to stave off a flood of crying.
A deep breath and a leather glove palmed across her face later, and Max was okay again. She was always okay – there just wasn't time to be anything else.
"Max?"
She jumped at the sound of Alec's voice echoing down the steps, brushing her hair back behind her ears and sniffing once as she squared her shoulders and stepped around to hover at the foot of the staircase.
"Mia? You guys down there?"
"Ready and waiting." Mia called chirpily up the steps, with a quick glance in Max's direction as the latter headed up the steps to meet with Alec mid-way.
"You got him?"
"Not us – Dix and Luke managed to snag him in some godforsaken shack just two blocks off of Oak Street." Tanker sounded slightly irked by the near miss for his and Alec's team as he followed his buddy down the steps, ducking under the low=-hanging roof and launching an award-winning smirk as he caught sight of Mia.
"Well hello."
"Hi." She smiled coyly in return.
Tanker's grin broadened, "You must be..."
"Mia." Alec's hand on his shoulder caused Tank to meet sardonic green eyes, "Yeah. Don't even try it, man."
"That's not very nice." Mia frowned sourly as the men made their way down the staircase to join Max at its foot.
"Yeah well," Alec shrugged with an insincere grin, "Neither is a kick in the pants that leaves you pissing blood for a week, okay sweetie?"
"Wasn't that bad." Max scoffed, batting Alec over the back of the head with her palm as he walked past.
"Try gettin' kicked the nads, Maxie, then tell me that." He replied tightly, patting her shoulder briskly before he raised an eyebrow at the chair placed in the center of the room.
"I know," Mia sighed poignantly as she came to stand beside him, "Overkill much, huh?"
"Not really." He scoffed, eyes still glued to the chair, "Not compared with Psy-Ops anyway."
"Six months is a long time." She agreed, soft eyes bathing the young X5 in concern he failed to catch sight of, "You know, if you ever want to talk about it…"
"Oh Christ." Alec rolled his eyes as he pointedly turned and headed back up the staircase, prompting Tanker to frown.
"What're you doin'?"
"I'm puttin' a safe distance between me and her messed-up mojo, s'what I'm doin'." Alec grumbled tersely as he stalked up the stair railing, ignoring Mia's pitying sigh and Tank's accompanying snort.
Max raised an eyebrow as Tanker turned to her and stabbed a thumb over his shoulder, "What's with him?"
"Trust me," Max arched her other eyebrow and flashed him a brief, sardonic smile, "man has his reasons – and for once, they're justifiable."