Title: Today "They" Won the Battle Part 7
Author: Rhasa
Rating: PG-13
Keywords: Max/Alec developing relationship.
Category: Drama
Spoilers: None really
Summary: Max faces facts. Alec faces responsibility. While the Transgenic ask themselves, what it is that they are really trying to achieve?
Disclaimer: I bought these characters at a garage sale for a pretty decent price. They just needed dusting off. You know what they say, one man's trash is another man's treasure. Why on earth James Cameron and Charles Eglee ever gave these up, is beyond me. But really, not mine, no money being made, no infringement intended etc etc etc.
Author's Notes: Okay... Hmmmmmm. Yes I know you guys won't believe me when I keep writing Max/Alec developing relationship, but it is, I promise. I guess I wanted to make it a bit more realistic than the wham bam thankyou Max's I read out there.
Feedback: I like to hear from strangers who read my stuff. I especially like to hear why people like it. When someone hates it, it's usually because they think I don't get to the smut quick enough. If that's what you're after better bail now, because there'll be no smut here - at least not yet. Rhasa4@yahoo.com
Today "They" Won the Battle Part 7 (Facing Facts) By Rhasa
"Face facts, Max. The mother isn't coming back," Mole huffed at the petite self-appointed leader.
"We don't know that," Max replied, in an agitated tone.
"Sure we do. It's been two days hasn't it?"
If ever Max wanted to wipe the smug grin from Mole's face it was now. In her opinion, his theories as to the fate of 'Mary', Alec's ex-breeding partner and mother of his son, was none of the transhuman's business. This was a private matter. And Max had hoped to keep it that way, until Joshua brought a sleeping Jed to the command centre and enquired about diapers in front of everyone.
To give them credit, Mole, Dix, Luke and Kyra weren't all too surprised by the news that another result of Manticore's breeding program had turned up. Four infants had been born inside Terminal City since the beginning of the siege, not including Gem's, which it can be argued, had started this whole mess. No doubt with the way Manticore had tried to rebuild their genetic data and program, there would be more babies out there somewhere.
The presence of this next generation and their future had yet to be tackled head on. Although they were the first, they surely wouldn't be the last, with females coming into heat and strange relationships forming amongst the inhabitants of Terminal City. If she was honest with herself, Max would admit that she had tried to push the problem to the back of her mind. Their first priority was to survive today. Long term plans, the future, had pretty much taken a back seat. She'd guessed Jed's arrival would change all that.
"Dix, any word on the scanners?" Max asked, momentarily turning away from the verbal showdown she had been having with Mole for the past ten minutes or so.
"Nope. As far as we can tell, there hasn't been any Transgenics arrested," Dix sighed, disappointment tinging his voice.
"Maybe she got nabbed for something and they don't yet realise she's transgenic," Luke suggested.
"Nah. We hacked into the police database. There were no matches for someone of her description. The police haven't got her," said Dix.
Mole smiled. "Which means, she's done a runner, Max. She's abandoned him," he said with sarcastic glee.
"No. I refuse to believe that."
"You refuse to believe?" Mole spat in an incredulous tone. "What's so hard to believe?"
Max looked at him, refusing to accept the scenario Mole was providing, and stated, "I can't believe a mother would willingly abandon her baby like that."
"What you mean is, that you can't believe *your* mother abandoned you like that," Mole challenged.
"What?" Max asked, in bewilderment. "This is not about *my* mother."
"Whatever you have to tell yourself. But I know you X series better than you think.," Mole stated plainly. "You're not the first to wonder why your surrogate didn't try to find you, or why they abandoned you to Manticore. Your not the first X series to think that and you won't be the last. You all seem to have this misguided belief that your mothers were innocent victims in the pathetic story of your existence."
"What are you saying?" Alec asked stepping forward and into the debate for the first time. It was no surprise that Jed's arrival had unsettled him somewhat.
"I'm saying, that Max is allowing her personal feelings to cloud her judgement, that's what I'm saying."
"I'm doing no such thing," Max cried.
"Aren't you?" Mole asked.
"No," she declared while firmly crossing her arms in front of her.
"Good, then let's end this charade once and for all and do the right thing," Mole said, as he jumped down from the command table where he had been sitting.
"Which is?" Alec asked.
"Snap his neck."
"Are you insane?" Max cried.
"No. Are you?" Mole deadpanned.
"You can't be serious," Kyra added.
"I'm perfectly serious," Mole declared as he took a quick drag on his cigar. "Look around you. We're trapped in here. Trapped in Terminal City. This is no place to raise a child with or without its mother and anyone raised in the hell called Manticore would recognise the truth in what I'm saying."
"This isn't Manticore," Max said.
"Isn't it? Well, with the dark depressing conditions, the training, all the armoury and munitions, rations and details going on, not to mention a hundred or so soldiers on our doorstep, trigger happy and more than a little keen to storm in here and mow us all down with semi automatics, it's pretty damn close."
Max couldn't help wince at Mole's accurate assessment of their current home. "We made it, through a childhood full of that. So can he," she asserted.
"Not without his mother he can't. What are you going to do, Max? Whip out your own titty for the sprog to suck on in between raids? Or does that honour belong to someone else," he said looking directly at Alec.
"Hey!" Alec yelled angrily, while stepping forward only to be restrained by Max's arm.
"What if we have to evacuate suddenly?" Mole continued, unperturbed by Alec's challenging stance. "Or worse still what if they do decide to take us out? The humane thing to do would be to end it for him now, not leave it up to a stray bullet in the middle of a gun battle as he toddles across the compound unattended!" He shouted.
"He's one of us," Max said, the quietness of her words momentarily stilling all those round her.
She wanted to scream, 'We don't kill our own! We don't leave our own behind,' but she couldn't. If she had had said those things, she would have been lying. The fact was, that as much as she didn't want to believe it, Jed had been abandoned. And as much as she liked to believe that they'd never give up on one of their own, that was exactly what she had done with Ben. He had been helpless, a liability perhaps less so than Jed, and yet Max had done the humane thing and killed him, albeit at his own request. Perhaps it was that memory and the everlasting pain associated with it that was the driving force of her decision now.
"I will not let you kill an innocent child," she said, looking up at Mole while clenching her fists at her side. If Mole wanted a fight, she was sure ready to give it to him.
"Who said *I'd* be the one doing it?" he sneered.
"Things may not be perfect here, this is not the ideal place to bring up a child, I know that; but it's all we got. We're family. We'll do the best we can," she told him.
"There is another option," Dix offered up quietly.
"What?" Kyra asked, glad for the chance to distract Max and Mole from tearing one another apart.
"What about adoption? Why can't we give him to a normal family? On the outside?" Dix suggested meekly.
"I-" Max began but no sooner was the syllable out of her throat than Dix interrupted her.
"I heard what you just said, Max. I really did," Dix reassured her. "But a part of me agrees with Mole. This isn't the life we would choose for our children, if ever we would have a choice. He may be one of our own, but it's not uncommon for families or single mothers to give their children up, to do what's in the best interest of the child. With the right screening of parents, he could lead the kind of life that we always wanted to lead."
Max looked towards Alec, and wondered just when he would weigh further into this little situation of theirs. But all she saw in his eyes was confusion. He was at as much a loss with what to do as she was.
She sighed, and dropped her eyes to the floor. "No. It's too risky."
"There are those on the outside who are sympathetic towards us, Max. Surely we could find someone to take him that would keep the fact that he was transgenic a secret."
"And what if someone found out? Or worse, what if White found him? What if he has seizures, like the rest of us? Who would protect him then?" She shouted with frustration.
"Who will protect him now!" Mole spat back at her.
"His father," Alec said, as he stood a little straighter and took a step forward to face off with the large creature man before him.
All eyes turned towards Alec, as he took some time to survey them in turn. "God knows this is the last thing I ever planned on or even wanted and the same probably goes for Mary, based on the little pickle her sudden departure seems to have placed us all in.. We were never supposed to become parents; well, not as long as we were under Manticore control. Copulate and impregnate. Those were my orders, and I followed them without much thought; afterall, I was a good little soldier," he said as he turned to look at Max with a knowing look in his eye.
"I'm guessing the foetuses would have been transplanted later;" he continued. "There would be no sense in knocking an X5 up for nine months, not when she could be used to conceive again so quickly. She was probably too far on to abort at the time of our escape. So I guess I can't blame her for taking off like she did. She never expected to become a mother, and obviously she never wanted to, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm still the father of this child and he is my son."
"Only in the biological sense. That hasn't always been enough of a reason for some guys to take responsibility," Mole told him.
"Well, it's enough of a reason for me. As I said, I didn't plan this, but that's not unlike most of the guys out there in the world today," Alec sighed.
"Except, when they didn't plan this, they didn't have a gun to their head, or the threat of torture if they didn't comply and follow orders. This is different, Alec," Mole tried to persuade him.
"No. It isn't," Alec declared.
Mole snorted. "Yes it is. And no one would blame you if you decided to-"
"*I* would blame me," Alec stated clearly.
"Fine," the transhuman threw his hands in the air in defeat. "But explain to me just how you think you are going to pull this off. I don't care what other roles you wanna play in your life, but first and foremost you're a soldier, Alec. You're responsible for practically all of the procurement raids, not to mention the fence patrols and plenty of the work details. Just how do you think you're going to fit being a 'Daddy" into all that?"
"We'll work something out," Max said defiantly while coming to stand next to Alec. "Afterall, we're family."
TBC
I would love to hear from you and welcome all coments, suggestions, theories and requests. Got an idea of where this story should go? Let me know. Wanna tell me just what you think of all these characters? Drop me a line. Hate Mole for suggesting what he did? Don't worry he shall redeem himself.
Rhasa4@yahoo.com
Author: Rhasa
Rating: PG-13
Keywords: Max/Alec developing relationship.
Category: Drama
Spoilers: None really
Summary: Max faces facts. Alec faces responsibility. While the Transgenic ask themselves, what it is that they are really trying to achieve?
Disclaimer: I bought these characters at a garage sale for a pretty decent price. They just needed dusting off. You know what they say, one man's trash is another man's treasure. Why on earth James Cameron and Charles Eglee ever gave these up, is beyond me. But really, not mine, no money being made, no infringement intended etc etc etc.
Author's Notes: Okay... Hmmmmmm. Yes I know you guys won't believe me when I keep writing Max/Alec developing relationship, but it is, I promise. I guess I wanted to make it a bit more realistic than the wham bam thankyou Max's I read out there.
Feedback: I like to hear from strangers who read my stuff. I especially like to hear why people like it. When someone hates it, it's usually because they think I don't get to the smut quick enough. If that's what you're after better bail now, because there'll be no smut here - at least not yet. Rhasa4@yahoo.com
Today "They" Won the Battle Part 7 (Facing Facts) By Rhasa
"Face facts, Max. The mother isn't coming back," Mole huffed at the petite self-appointed leader.
"We don't know that," Max replied, in an agitated tone.
"Sure we do. It's been two days hasn't it?"
If ever Max wanted to wipe the smug grin from Mole's face it was now. In her opinion, his theories as to the fate of 'Mary', Alec's ex-breeding partner and mother of his son, was none of the transhuman's business. This was a private matter. And Max had hoped to keep it that way, until Joshua brought a sleeping Jed to the command centre and enquired about diapers in front of everyone.
To give them credit, Mole, Dix, Luke and Kyra weren't all too surprised by the news that another result of Manticore's breeding program had turned up. Four infants had been born inside Terminal City since the beginning of the siege, not including Gem's, which it can be argued, had started this whole mess. No doubt with the way Manticore had tried to rebuild their genetic data and program, there would be more babies out there somewhere.
The presence of this next generation and their future had yet to be tackled head on. Although they were the first, they surely wouldn't be the last, with females coming into heat and strange relationships forming amongst the inhabitants of Terminal City. If she was honest with herself, Max would admit that she had tried to push the problem to the back of her mind. Their first priority was to survive today. Long term plans, the future, had pretty much taken a back seat. She'd guessed Jed's arrival would change all that.
"Dix, any word on the scanners?" Max asked, momentarily turning away from the verbal showdown she had been having with Mole for the past ten minutes or so.
"Nope. As far as we can tell, there hasn't been any Transgenics arrested," Dix sighed, disappointment tinging his voice.
"Maybe she got nabbed for something and they don't yet realise she's transgenic," Luke suggested.
"Nah. We hacked into the police database. There were no matches for someone of her description. The police haven't got her," said Dix.
Mole smiled. "Which means, she's done a runner, Max. She's abandoned him," he said with sarcastic glee.
"No. I refuse to believe that."
"You refuse to believe?" Mole spat in an incredulous tone. "What's so hard to believe?"
Max looked at him, refusing to accept the scenario Mole was providing, and stated, "I can't believe a mother would willingly abandon her baby like that."
"What you mean is, that you can't believe *your* mother abandoned you like that," Mole challenged.
"What?" Max asked, in bewilderment. "This is not about *my* mother."
"Whatever you have to tell yourself. But I know you X series better than you think.," Mole stated plainly. "You're not the first to wonder why your surrogate didn't try to find you, or why they abandoned you to Manticore. Your not the first X series to think that and you won't be the last. You all seem to have this misguided belief that your mothers were innocent victims in the pathetic story of your existence."
"What are you saying?" Alec asked stepping forward and into the debate for the first time. It was no surprise that Jed's arrival had unsettled him somewhat.
"I'm saying, that Max is allowing her personal feelings to cloud her judgement, that's what I'm saying."
"I'm doing no such thing," Max cried.
"Aren't you?" Mole asked.
"No," she declared while firmly crossing her arms in front of her.
"Good, then let's end this charade once and for all and do the right thing," Mole said, as he jumped down from the command table where he had been sitting.
"Which is?" Alec asked.
"Snap his neck."
"Are you insane?" Max cried.
"No. Are you?" Mole deadpanned.
"You can't be serious," Kyra added.
"I'm perfectly serious," Mole declared as he took a quick drag on his cigar. "Look around you. We're trapped in here. Trapped in Terminal City. This is no place to raise a child with or without its mother and anyone raised in the hell called Manticore would recognise the truth in what I'm saying."
"This isn't Manticore," Max said.
"Isn't it? Well, with the dark depressing conditions, the training, all the armoury and munitions, rations and details going on, not to mention a hundred or so soldiers on our doorstep, trigger happy and more than a little keen to storm in here and mow us all down with semi automatics, it's pretty damn close."
Max couldn't help wince at Mole's accurate assessment of their current home. "We made it, through a childhood full of that. So can he," she asserted.
"Not without his mother he can't. What are you going to do, Max? Whip out your own titty for the sprog to suck on in between raids? Or does that honour belong to someone else," he said looking directly at Alec.
"Hey!" Alec yelled angrily, while stepping forward only to be restrained by Max's arm.
"What if we have to evacuate suddenly?" Mole continued, unperturbed by Alec's challenging stance. "Or worse still what if they do decide to take us out? The humane thing to do would be to end it for him now, not leave it up to a stray bullet in the middle of a gun battle as he toddles across the compound unattended!" He shouted.
"He's one of us," Max said, the quietness of her words momentarily stilling all those round her.
She wanted to scream, 'We don't kill our own! We don't leave our own behind,' but she couldn't. If she had had said those things, she would have been lying. The fact was, that as much as she didn't want to believe it, Jed had been abandoned. And as much as she liked to believe that they'd never give up on one of their own, that was exactly what she had done with Ben. He had been helpless, a liability perhaps less so than Jed, and yet Max had done the humane thing and killed him, albeit at his own request. Perhaps it was that memory and the everlasting pain associated with it that was the driving force of her decision now.
"I will not let you kill an innocent child," she said, looking up at Mole while clenching her fists at her side. If Mole wanted a fight, she was sure ready to give it to him.
"Who said *I'd* be the one doing it?" he sneered.
"Things may not be perfect here, this is not the ideal place to bring up a child, I know that; but it's all we got. We're family. We'll do the best we can," she told him.
"There is another option," Dix offered up quietly.
"What?" Kyra asked, glad for the chance to distract Max and Mole from tearing one another apart.
"What about adoption? Why can't we give him to a normal family? On the outside?" Dix suggested meekly.
"I-" Max began but no sooner was the syllable out of her throat than Dix interrupted her.
"I heard what you just said, Max. I really did," Dix reassured her. "But a part of me agrees with Mole. This isn't the life we would choose for our children, if ever we would have a choice. He may be one of our own, but it's not uncommon for families or single mothers to give their children up, to do what's in the best interest of the child. With the right screening of parents, he could lead the kind of life that we always wanted to lead."
Max looked towards Alec, and wondered just when he would weigh further into this little situation of theirs. But all she saw in his eyes was confusion. He was at as much a loss with what to do as she was.
She sighed, and dropped her eyes to the floor. "No. It's too risky."
"There are those on the outside who are sympathetic towards us, Max. Surely we could find someone to take him that would keep the fact that he was transgenic a secret."
"And what if someone found out? Or worse, what if White found him? What if he has seizures, like the rest of us? Who would protect him then?" She shouted with frustration.
"Who will protect him now!" Mole spat back at her.
"His father," Alec said, as he stood a little straighter and took a step forward to face off with the large creature man before him.
All eyes turned towards Alec, as he took some time to survey them in turn. "God knows this is the last thing I ever planned on or even wanted and the same probably goes for Mary, based on the little pickle her sudden departure seems to have placed us all in.. We were never supposed to become parents; well, not as long as we were under Manticore control. Copulate and impregnate. Those were my orders, and I followed them without much thought; afterall, I was a good little soldier," he said as he turned to look at Max with a knowing look in his eye.
"I'm guessing the foetuses would have been transplanted later;" he continued. "There would be no sense in knocking an X5 up for nine months, not when she could be used to conceive again so quickly. She was probably too far on to abort at the time of our escape. So I guess I can't blame her for taking off like she did. She never expected to become a mother, and obviously she never wanted to, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm still the father of this child and he is my son."
"Only in the biological sense. That hasn't always been enough of a reason for some guys to take responsibility," Mole told him.
"Well, it's enough of a reason for me. As I said, I didn't plan this, but that's not unlike most of the guys out there in the world today," Alec sighed.
"Except, when they didn't plan this, they didn't have a gun to their head, or the threat of torture if they didn't comply and follow orders. This is different, Alec," Mole tried to persuade him.
"No. It isn't," Alec declared.
Mole snorted. "Yes it is. And no one would blame you if you decided to-"
"*I* would blame me," Alec stated clearly.
"Fine," the transhuman threw his hands in the air in defeat. "But explain to me just how you think you are going to pull this off. I don't care what other roles you wanna play in your life, but first and foremost you're a soldier, Alec. You're responsible for practically all of the procurement raids, not to mention the fence patrols and plenty of the work details. Just how do you think you're going to fit being a 'Daddy" into all that?"
"We'll work something out," Max said defiantly while coming to stand next to Alec. "Afterall, we're family."
TBC
I would love to hear from you and welcome all coments, suggestions, theories and requests. Got an idea of where this story should go? Let me know. Wanna tell me just what you think of all these characters? Drop me a line. Hate Mole for suggesting what he did? Don't worry he shall redeem himself.
Rhasa4@yahoo.com