Hey all, back from hols, had a blast etc etc. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. If you look closely at the next few chapters you'll see some surprises in store for you guys.
Chapter 19. Finding your place again.
Colonel Donald Lydecker was furious. No, scratch that. He was more infuriated than he had ever been before in his life and he wanted White's head on a stick.
"Just what the hell did you think you were playing at?" he demanded of the Agent who was disinterestedly eating an apple. "Do the words 'covert operation' not mean anything to you? Where the hell did you do your military training? Beirut?"
White finished his apple and flicked the core into the bin. Then he brushed imaginary lint off his black tailored trousers and settled back nonchalantly in his chair.
"Done?" he inquired truculently.
Lydecker took a deep breath. "I have to question the fact, Mr. White, that someone who supposedly has a genius IQ and a spotless military record could be such a fucking screw up!"
Otto winced at the sheer decibel of Lydecker's voice.
"You not only lost the target through sheer impulse but also let 452 get away and be televised!"
White stared back at him coolly. "I fail to see how that is my fault. If anything your failure to include me on the new techniques for apprehending transgenics is the key to the failure of the mission. You have to be in the game to play the hand."
Lydecker regarded him thoughtfully and suddenly turned to Otto. "I think you could use a coffee, Gottleib."
Otto looked uneasily between the two men and slowly nodded. "Okay."
He left the room slowly, casting looks over his shoulder to the escalating situation.
As soon as the door shut, White turned to Lydecker with a smirk. "Uh, oh, now I'm in trouble."
Lydecker walked sedately over to the widow and twisted the blinds so that they shut out the light.
White rolled his eyes. "Your little interrogation methods won't work on me, Deck."
Lydecker said nothing as he sauntered over to the other window and did the same, shutting out all light to the narrow room.
White slumped in his chair, letting Lydecker know that he wasn't worried by the man's actions.
Then Lydecker spoke, softly and without preamble. "I don't know who you are working for, White, and I don't much care; but the one thing I do care about is my kids. Create a master race, I don't care. Destroy the world, I could care less. But mess with my kids… now that is different."
White sat up straight, his hard dark eyes intent on the older man, still staring at the closed blinds. "You know who I work for."
Lydecker smirked. "Maybe you aren't as covert as you think you are…Brother White."
Ames White froze, his mind racing as the implications of this occurred to him.
Lydecker suddenly moved and had White by the scruff of the neck before the man could even take a breath.
Lydecker's hands tightened on the white material and he saw the tight collar cut into the skin of his enemy and render his throat tight and red.
Still White said nothing.
"See, your little cult isn't my concern. But you?" Lydecker shook his slightly. "You are my concern and when you screw up and one of mine gets hurt, well, then we have a problem."
White's face twisted in pure fury and he made a grab for Lydecker's hands, but the man was surprisingly strong for one not as young as he used to be.
"Get your hands off me!" White snarled.
Lydecker brought him in close. "The only reason I am not messing up your pretty boy looks is because you appear on TV in an hour, which is where you will stick to what you do best—plead ignorance and tell everyone that you know nothing, nothing, about transgenics. As far as you know they don't exist. Are we clear? Because if one more of my kids get hurt because of your little premature problem," Lydecker's voice dropped to a menacing hiss, "then I will make. You. Pay."
White was unceremoniously dropped to the floor where his hand touched his throat, rubbing the red marks as Lydecker stalked out of the room.
He got to his feet and pushed the intense hatred down and away.
White knew better than to show Lydecker just how much he had gotten under his skin.
The crusty old alcoholic may have thought lowly of White's military skills but there was one thing that White knew, that it seemed old Deck had forgotten.
It really, really wasn't smart to tell your enemy what your weakness was.
>>>>
All transgenics hated hospitals. It was like a rule or something, or maybe it was just the memory of having to spend hours, days; sometimes weeks in them at Manticore, that truly made the experience something horrific.
Max, herself, had memories of being strapped to tables, unable to move awaiting the sounds of drills and…
She shuddered and forced herself back to the present; not that it was much better than her reminiscing, but at least she wasn't gripping her chair as harshly, hearing the cracking of the plastic in protest at her rough treatment.
The problem was that all hospitals smelled the same, no matter where they were or how quickly they had been erected, they all had the same scent and the one in Terminal City was no different. It smelt of antiseptic and death; manic cleanliness to override the fact that some people just weren't going to get better.
The steady beep of the monitor that Tara had erected over Pix's still body was grating in the otherwise still air and Max felt nauseous with every single pip of the heart machine, every whoosh of the respirator and every rattle of the tubes that Tara had linked him up to.
That was even discounting the shuddery breaths that Chance hiccupped out every now and then.
Max had her hand to her mouth and was gnawing on the side of her thumb as her eyes fixed on the battered body of her friend and leader. She refused to take her eyes off him and had nearly brained poor Tara when she was told to get herself fixed up. In her anger at the crowds and the chase by White, and even the arrival of her siblings, Max hadn't even noticed that she had been injured too and it was only Tara's efficient movements that prevented Max from succumbing to her injures.
Blood loss and infection.
After she had spoken to the brother and sisters that had newly arrived, Max had flown to the infirmary which Tara had set up only hours before their ill fated exploit outside. She wasn't in the least surprised to see the majority of Terminal City waiting fretfully outside the infirmary door waiting to be let in to see him.
With a few snarled words from Mole and Alec, the crowds had dispersed and Max made her way into the actual infirmary where Chance already paced and they watched together as Tara and her medical team treated Pix.
Tara and Jay managed to stop the blood flowing from his fragile body and fix the various holes that had been ripped into his skin. They had tried to set the cracks and breaks and fractures that littered his body and Jay had thrown up as they unfolded the skin from his leg to see the bone shattered to pieces.
Chance had almost broken down when she realised that it was possible that he would either need a metal leg… or a wheelchair.
But the worst was yet to come and even Max couldn't hold back the tears as Tara showed her the CAT scan. Swelling and blood in the brain, maybe a haematoma or clot.
Max closed her eyes as Chance sobbed and she surged to her feet, starting to pace across the floor.
"How could they do this?" Chance looked at Max through red-rimmed eyes. "He wasn't doing anything, Max!"
"I know," Max bit out.
"Is he gonna die?" Chance's voice was small and scared as Tara bit her lip.
Tara shook her head slowly. "I don't know, Chance. He took quite a beating, I have him as stable as I can with this equipment, but…" she trailed off.
Chance reached out to touch some part of Pix that wasn't covered in either bandages or bruises and had to settle for a light touch on a scratched hand.
"Don't let them take you. Fight them, Pix," she whispered. "Promise me you'll fight them."
Max looked away as tears spilled down Chance's cheeks.
She was relieved when the door opened and Biggs entered his face serious and pale. He took one look at his sister and opened his arms.
With a muffled cry, Chance ran into her brother's arms and started to cry in earnest.
Biggs stroked his sister's dark hair and glanced at Max over the top of her head. "Alec could do with you in central."
Max nodded, knowing that she had to go. She turned to Tara. "Let me know if—"
"Anything changes," Tara finished and nodded, already dismissing Max as she attended to her patient. "Oh, Max?"
"Hmm?"
"If you see Dek, can you send him over? I could do with the hands."
"Sure." And with one last look over her shoulder, Max left.
>
Max walked into Central command and walked up to the central dais and up to the balcony that overlooked the main headquarters of Terminal City. When she had pushed her way through the door, the noise level fell to silence and she made her way to the balcony, ignoring the intense stares that seemingly bored through her.
Max cleared her throat as she stared down at the sea of faces, human and otherwise as they awaited her words.
"I assume everyone knows by now that whilst executing his duties as leader of Terminal City, X5- 418, Pix, was attacked viciously by humans." Her chin lifted as she surveyed the scared expressions down below. "As of now his condition is stable but critical. We don't know if he'll pull through," she trained her voice not to crack. "I'll tell you when we have more news. For now I need a meeting of all department heads."
She turned her back on the crowds and hurried over to the command display where Mole and Dix stood, watching her.
"Ramifications?" she asked in a clipped voice.
"Other than having blown our position?" Dix shrugged. "The army hasn't arrived yet, which is something of a blessing."
"Ordinaries?" Alec asked, coming up behind Max and laying his hands on her hips.
Luke shook his head. "No more than usual."
"No." Max pushed Alec's hands away, not noticing that he flinched at the rejection. She was still too sore over Pix to even think of anything else right now. "White saw us come into Terminal City. He has to know where we are."
Alec pointed to the screens. "There is a major hearing regarding Manticore and the transgenics today. I think White has bigger fish to fry if he wants to keep his job."
"The hearing's today?" Max had forgotten that. It was all over the news that someone was trying to pin the blame of Manticore on someone's shoulders. Billions of tax dollars and a secret government project just couldn't be slipped under the rug, especially when people like Eyes Only had let it slip. There had to be answers, had to be remuneration.
Had to be a scapegoat.
"In about an hour," Mole answered helpfully.
Max stared down at her hands.
What the hell was she supposed to do now? With Pix out of commission, people were looking to her for answers and she just didn't have any.
Despite being a leader for years, Max had never had to bother about what to think or what to say as Manticore had always told them what it was that they should be doing. Now that she was out here and alone she didn't know what to do.
She knew that once she arrived, Pix had assumed she would take over, in fact, back at Manticore, he had been groomed into thinking that Max was the CO and always would be. He didn't mind when she took over as it was almost instinct to let her do so. She had asked him often enough if he minded her adding her advice in and his response was always the same; "You'll always be leader to me, Max."
It was humbling as much as it was terrifying, but to know now that she really was in charge…
She suddenly had much more respect for Pix, although his situation was slightly different.
He had tried to prepare them to live; Max had to prepare them to fight.
Fight.
And to do that they needed to be prepared.
"Meeting in room 6a in half an hour. I want all Spec Ops, all department heads and every sector leader there. Luke, Dix," she turned to them, "I need you to hook the room up with TV, I want to be able to watch the damn hearing."
"Got it." The two anomalies hurried off to find the necessary cables.
"Mole, I want full reports from each department head. Weapons, supplies—what we have and what we need." Max drummed her fingers on the table. "Isacar?"
The blond popped his head up from where he had been working silently with Techie. "Yeah?"
"I need you to go find Dek for me and tell him to haul ass over to the medical bay."
For once Isacar sped off without sarcasm.
Max glanced around and spotted some X's sitting nearby, their eyes intent on her.
The way that they seemed to be ready to follow her every command pulled at her and she felt the weight of their stares on her.
Responsibility.
Duty.
Obligation.
Control.
Max sucked in a breath "Okay, you."
"Harley," the man said.
Max nodded. "I'm gonna need a sweep team going from one end of TC to the other. You good with kids?"
A strange smile crossed his face. "God, I hope so."
"Get a team together, use kids, freaks, mutants, anomalies, whatever. Section off so that ten cover each sector of Terminal City. I want every sewer duct, every vent shaft, every mouse hole plugged up tight. No one and nothing gets in or out without our knowledge. Understand?"
Harley fought the urge to salute. "Yes, ma'am."
Max scanned the crowds again, dismissing him. "You, you and you."
"Sigma"
"Meri."
"Ganko."
Max blinked. "Really? Those are your actual names?"
The three transgenics shrugged and Max just shook her head thinking that maybe she wasn't as bad at choosing names as she had thought. "Whatever. Look, we will be in a departmental meeting and need cover for any crisis that turns up. One to cover the screens, one to head off any emergencies and one to watch security while we have our meeting. Can you guys handle it?"
She looked at the three transgenics, two X-series and one anomaly that had arrived in the last batch of recruits. They had been inundated with people since the first Eyes Only broadcast, and admission showed no signs of slowing down.
"Sure," hissed Ganko, her snake eyes gleaming in the screen reflection. "I can keep eyes on all screens," she shrugged, "serpentine DNA."
"Nice," Max replied absently, her brain working hard as she tried to think of more that was needed.
As she stood there thinking hard, Ben arrived.
"Hey, Maxie."
"Ben," she greeted, still lost in thought.
"What can I do?" he offered simply, hating the way her eyes were so sad behind the stern exterior.
"Hmm?" she gnawed on the edge of her thumb and Ben reached up to grab her wrist.
"Maxie?"
She looked up and he gave her a supportive smile.
"I always said that this was a disgusting habit." He gestured to the chewed skin on the inside of her thumb and Max grimaced.
"Didn't realise I was doing it," she said with a shrug. "I have a huge responsibility now, Ben."
"Do you want the '09ers in on your meeting?" he grimaced at the nickname that had been bandied back and forth in his brief time there.
Max started to shake her head, knowing full well that there were issues between most Xs and the '09ers and that was one more thing that she really didn't need to deal with. But something struck her even as she opened her mouth to deny them.
"Actually, Ben, I think we could use you guys and any contacts that you have. Syl, Krit and Jondy arrived and I think Zack took them to new rooms. Can you fetch them for me?"
Ben nodded and muttered; "Yeah, family reunion, just what we need."
>
It took almost the full half hour for them all to crawl out of the woodwork and transgenics sat or perched on every available square of the large room.
Max hadn't realised how many department heads that Pix had had to appoint and her admiration for him grew in leaps and bounds as Xs, freaks, anomalies and non-humans appeared from all over Terminal City.
Dix wheeled a large screen television in the room and hooked it up to show the senate hearing and the transgenics had sat through more than twenty minutes of congressional bureaucracy and political back talk.
Max was getting a proper headache and was feeling more than the sudden urge to go down to the hearing and give herself up just to shut them all up.
She was merrily contemplating mass murder when one of the Senators stood up.
"And now on the agenda we have the transgenic issue which has plagued our fair city for months."
Everyone in the room sat up in rapt attention as the various men began spewing supposed details of transgenic appearances and other facts and figures most obviously made up but a few hit close enough to home to have some of the watching transgenics wincing.
The transgenics stared at the television with nervous expressions of distaste and hatred as Ames White came into view.
Alec had a sudden thought. "Hey, Dix, can you pull a pic off this?"
Dix nodded. "Sure, I can link up—"
Alec held up a hand. "Spare me the details. But hike a picture of our friend Ames here and make copies. We'll want it circulated to every single transgenic."
"Know thy enemy," Zan nodded, seeing where Alec was going with this.
"Great idea," Max agreed and Dix hurried to get the cables needed.
Max folded her arms and leaned against the wall, glaring at the man who was making her life a misery.
The picture was tiny and crackled sporadically with static but it was clear enough to show what was going on. The courtroom where they were holding the Senate hearing was large and done out in faded wood and forest green, adding an element of elegance to the trial; an elegance that masked the hideous agenda within.
How can pretty furnishing hide massacre? Thought Max as she shivered.
Amidst the dark suits and briefcases bulbs flashed and cameras whirled as the blood-thirsty news hounds tried to capture the feelings within the Senate.
Cece gnawed on a nail as the screen showed Ames White dressed in his black suit, looking very morbid and not at all dangerous.
Misleading.
There, in all his midnight Armani tailored glory, with his handsome chiselled all-American collegiate looks, sat the devil.
Feen looked into those baby blue eyes and found nothing. No hint of warmth, compassion or humanity. She reached for Techie who was suddenly surprised to find his arms full of red-head. He looked down into her pale face and tightened his arms around her.
Senator McKinley straightened as he dismissed the last witness, barely holding in an air of suppressed boredom at the stale and uneventful proceedings.
"Committee calls to the stand Special Agent Ames White."
White stood up and walked with confident measure to the stand. He placed his hand on the court-provided Bible and held a hand to his heart.
"I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth."
Alec's eyes narrowed. "Damn thing should burst into flames."
"The Bible or the Agent?" Flex said with a hard jaw.
"Both."
"Shhh," Skye said her eyes intent on the screen.
"Now, Agent White, I'm sure you've been instructed by counsel and by your superiors to invoke your Fifth Amendment right. But I want to remind you, as an officer of this committee and as your fellow American, that all this committee is interested in is truth."
"Since when?" exploded Zan.
"Zan?" Max said absently shaking her head at Zan who settled back at her tone.
"Do you think he will tell about us?" Sunny asked. "Surely it can't be in his best interest."
Biggs ran a hand over her hair. "We'll find out soon."
White stood up. "The truth, sir, is quite simple."
Zan scoffed and Aiden bit his lip.
"Did parties within our government secretly divert funds for genetic experiments? Yes."
There was a swift intake of breath even as the crowd began to mutter.
"Did they allow those transgenics to escape? Yes. Did they then choose to withhold that information from the American people? Yes. Are those transgenics dangerous? Most assuredly, yes. And I cannot, in good conscience, continue to be part of this cover-up."
He took a deep breath playing up to his riveted audience. "These transgenics are a great threat to our national security and our American way of life. They are unnatural, monsters made in labs. Make no mistake. This is a war… a war we cannot afford to lose."
The committee was in uproar as he stood down, his superiors looked furious and the Senator looked proud as the news reporters drew in closer, baying for blood, asking questions and demanding answers.
"Off."
Everyone looked around.
"Off!" Max all but shouted and Mole fumbled for the control, turning the picture to black.
Everyone's eyes were on Max as she walked to the window and stared out at the darkness that had fallen outside.
Down below the dusty windowpane played children; children with tails, and ears that fell to their shoulders. Over on one side of Terminal City was a place where the anomalies lived and Max could just make out a female hanging tattered clothes on a line and calling to a small boy to wash his flippers for dinner.
There were a small gang of transgenic teens throwing dice for a ripped jacket out on Oak Street and Joshua was helping Icarus carry out the rubbish from the kitchen.
A threat.
Out there were families who had been tortured in the basements of Manticore for all their lives.
Monsters.
Out there were children who had never even seen a balloon.
Unnatural.
Out there were adults who had been on the run for ten years to avoid being captured and caged.
Dangerous.
Out there was a man who had made every day in hell something to laugh about and he was dying.
Because of humans.
And they were dangerous?
Max's hands clenched so tight she could feel her nails digging into her veins. Something tickled her cheek and looked at the reflection of the tear in the window; the silvery trail glistening as it fell.
She swiped it away impatiently and turned back to her troops, her eyes hard and her mind made up.
"Max?" Zan asked. "You all right?"
"No," Max said quietly, her head to one side. "I'm not all right. I'll never be all right and you wanna know why?"
Silence.
Max suddenly pointed to Zack and Ben, Syl, Jondy, Krit and Jace.
"Ten years and they never stopped running, never stopped looking over their shoulder for the monster to bite." She swept around the room. "Ten years and he never stopped. One man and they lived in fear. Now we don't have one man, we have an entire nation- an entire world who wants us dead. We can't run and we can't hide and we can't pretend that this can't happen, won't happen… isn't happening, because it just has and we've run out of time. We may have been trained but we're not ready for this."
They all looked at each other in dismay.
"Max—?" Alec began.
She held up a hand. "Newsflash. They are not ready for this. I will not spend my life on the run, I will not hide. Anyone who wants to leave better get out now and run. They made us, and they trained us to be soldiers, to defend this country. It's time for them to face us and take responsibility, instead of trying to sweep us away like garbage. We were made in America and we're not going anywhere. They made us for war and, by God, I will not go down without a fight."
She pointed to the screen.
"He wants a war; then we'll give him a war."
"Amen," Mole said around his cigar.
Alec swallowed as he saw beneath the harsh exterior, beneath the attitude and the militant hatred; he saw the hurt underneath and all he wanted to do was to gather her into his arms and never let her go.
"Feen," Max continued, "gather the head of every Unit; I need a census of who can fight and who has special skills. Biggs, Sunny, I want full scale security on every exit. I need weaponry—Mole on that." She pointed and the Lizard-man leaped to his feet.
"Got it."
"Techie, take your technicians team, I need eyes on every inch of this place. A mouse sneezes and I wanna know about it."
Techie nodded, grabbing his chart and nodding to Dix and Luke.
"Drew, head up a team to go out and get supplies. We need low key operations now; take kids, take Jay and Gem. Take the sewer exits away from Terminal City. Don't be seen."
"Gotcha," she got up to leave, but Max grabbed her arm.
Max waited until she met her eyes. "Be. Careful."
Drew nodded slowly and left quickly.
Max glanced around at the non- X-series heads all staring at her. "Every department head needs to make preparations. Close ranks and up supplies. I want full lists of what we have, who we have, what we need and its level of importance. Rations and acquisitions might be low. Tell me what we need to survive."
The department heads left in a hurry, urged on by her tone.
"B.J., I need you to rig up some kind of explosives that are small, compact and deliver more smoke than Mole."
"Diversionary bombs," said their resident detonations expert. "Got it."
Max ran her fingers through her hair.
"Zack?"
Her big brother stood to attention. "Ma'am?"
Max started and was suddenly wrong-footed at his abject obedience. "I—uh, do you have many contacts around the city?"
"I can get Russian RGN3s," Syl piped up.
"I can get explosives," Krit added. "I'll help that B.J. guy."
"Me too!" Jace said quickly and followed him out.
"I have a few contacts around the city," Zack said, answering her question. "I can get what you need."
"I need anything and everything that we can get our hands on," Max admitted. "Pix did—does his best but we get more influx than we can handle. Food, munitions, med supplies especially are what we really need."
"I'm on it," Zack smiled and touched her shoulder. "I am so proud of you, baby sister. You grew up good."
He left Max with her heart in her throat and tears in her eyes.
Jondy smiled as her sister swallowed hard.
"He gets ya like that sometimes."
Max could just nod.
"You got any contacts?" she managed eventually.
"Babe," Jondy said casually with her eyes rolling. "I'm from San Francisco, you don't even have to ask. What do you want? I could probably get you nukes for a dollar."
Max smiled. "Whatever you can get, boo."
"I'm on it!" Jondy drawled and sped off in a long legged gait that had more than one head turning.
"Max?" Aiden asked from his corner. "You got jobs for us too?"
Max looked at those who were left in the main command centre. Tara and Dek were still in the infirmary with Chance and Pix, which left Aiden, Zan, Emma, Cece, Flex and Skye and, of course, Alec.
"Okay, I have three jobs left," Max said wracking her brains for anything that she had forgotten. "I need someone to help some X called Harley to plug up the holes in Terminal City."
Cece bristled. "That X happens to be my mate."
"Really?" Alec teased.
"Well," Cece blushed. "He said he wanted the job."
"Great," Max continued over the top of their teasing. "You okay with helping him out?"
She nodded. "I can do that."
"Go then." Max gave Cece a rare smile and turned back to her friends. "Skye, Flex, Emma, we are going to be fighting a war soon and there are a hell of a lot of kids and transgenics that either can't, or won't fight. I need you to find some system of getting them out of Terminal City or, at least, some way of monitoring them."
Flex leaned back on his chair, thinking hard about the problem. "We can rig up some safety point that they could go to when fights break out and have drills so that they know what to do in emergencies."
"Icarus, Isacar and Nyx can help with gathering kids," Skye said.
"And they'll need moral aid," Emma nodded, knowing why she was there.
Alec watched as Max dispatched the troops like she had been born to command—which she had.
"If you guys could get on that I would be appreciative."
"Sure," Skye stood and grabbed Flex's hand, motioning for Emma to follow her out.
Max looked at the three men left in the room. The three men who she trusted with her life and the life of her people.
"Aiden, Zan," she looked tenderly at the last, "Alec. You three have a somewhat different mission."
"Name it," Zan said with his usual abject trust.
"In any siege situation the first thing that usually runs low is water, even before morale. If they try to barricade us in, we will need a fresh supply of water coming in to Terminal City." She started to pace. "We have Techie and our other electricians who can hook us up to power cables and generators for power. We have kids who can get food. But water is the one thing we can't produce by ourselves."
"Damn Xs won't stand still long enough for us to milk them," Aiden said randomly.
Zan chuckled but got back to business. "I've talked with Pix about making a water purification system for rainwater," Zan admitted. "That should be up and functioning soon."
"But even in Seattle we won't get enough rain to satisfy everyone," she said regretfully.
"Can't we move everyone to England?" Aiden joked.
"Terminal City isn't far from the bay," Alec sad thoughtfully. "If we could find some way of transferring underground pipes from the bay to TC we could have all the water we want."
"I don't care how it gets done, just get it done," Max said with a smile to soften her words and walked out to leave the three men to plan how to do that.
She was about ten feet from the door when Alec caught up with her.
"Max," he looked back into the room. "I realise how important water is, but don't you need me by your side on this? You need a second in command."
In truth he was more than slightly put out at the fact that she seemed to be able to cast him aside at a moments notice. He had noticed her little tête-à-tête with Ben earlier and he was feeling more than a little jealous.
It wasn't that he thought that she had any feelings for Ben other than familial ones, but she had once almost refused to speak to him ever again for coming between her and her brother, and that was the last thing that he needed.
Especially since he had been told in an aside from Dek that Ben really didn't like him. It wasn't a surprise, but the fact that Dek was almost warning him was.
He'd asked him how he knew and Dek replied with his usual forthrightness. "Oh, I told him I hate you too. He seemed kind of interested. Just watch your back, bro, okay?"
Alec had agreed to keep an eye out and was on the watch for Ben, but at the same time he wanted to show Max that he was taking her seriously.
Max, for her part, had her head so full of plans and strategy that it took a moment for her to realise that Alec had followed her out.
"What?" she said distractedly.
"You need a 2IC," Alec said succinctly, his temper beginning to grow. "I realise that I may not be as great a choice as Pix, or, hell, even Ben. But I am your mate, Max. You need someone to ensure that your orders are carried out. I can do that."
Max rubbed her forehead and tucked one long strand of hair behind her ear. "I appreciate that, Alec. But I really need you to do your job. We need that water."
"Yeah," Alec grabbed her arm, "and there are a million transgenics around here capable of dealing with that. Max, I'm starting to feel a little…superfluous."
"To what? The transgenics?" Max sighed. She really didn't have time for this. "We all have some trouble making our own way here and we—"
"Superfluous to you," he corrected. "Some days it doesn't feel like we are a couple at all, Max."
Max was exasperated. "What?"
Alec rolled his eyes in disgust. "You know what? Forget it."
"No," Max lost her temper and grabbed his arm, dragging him into a nearby room where she could let vent properly. "Let's talk about this now, huh?"
"Max."
"Let's talk about this while I am trying to keep Terminal City from being seized. Let's talk about this while I'm trying to keep us from being starved, or shot at or goddamn lynched! I have a war to plan, a city to run, supplies to find, transgenics to lead and Pix in the hospital. But, no, let me take a minute to pacify your ego."
"That's it!" he pointed at her viciously. "You have a city to run, you have people to lead. What happened to 'we', Max? You need my help. I'm your mate, I love you and you can't do this all by yourself. We were both COs, unless you've forgotten. I was CO of Unit 8 and co-CO with you for most of the time. We commanded together. We made a good team."
"And yet you were comfortable leaving me on my own when it suited you." Max regretted the words as soon as they were out of her mouth and she winced as the shutters came down on Alec's expression.
"Shit," she said softly. "I'm sorry."
"No big." He held his arms wide, as if presenting a bigger target. "Take another shot."
"Dammit, Alec," she swiped her hand across her forehead again.
"I let you down before, and I'm sorry," Alec said quietly. "But I want to be here for you now, Max. Don't shut me out. I'm trying."
They were silent for a moment.
"I don't know what to do here," she admitted. "All Manticore's training and I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm making it up as I go along and I feel so damn unprepared for all this."
"You seemed to be doing well." He leaned back against the wall and slipped his hands into his pockets.
Max shrugged. "Yeah. Its amazing how easy it is to make people believe that you are in charge when you speak loudly and pretend you have some idea of what's going on."
"I did wonder when you ordered all the paperwork," Alec said with a hint of his old grin. "When in doubt, fill forms out."
"Thanks." Max rolled her eyes. "Appreciate that."
"Seriously though, Max. We made a good team in Manticore. I just want that back."
"All of it?" she said with one eyebrow raised. "If I remember right we didn't touch or kiss or… anything back then. And I was more likely to smack you than talk to you."
Alec's smirk was lecherous in the extreme. "Oh, so maybe not everything then." He reached over and pulled Max to him, aligning her hips with his, and dragging her in for a hot, intense, deep kiss.
When they broke away he looked deep into her eyes.
"Better?"
"Much," she sighed. "Okay, so you want to be my second?"
Alec nodded. "Do I have to audition?"
Max licked her lips and pulled away. "You've just passed the practical."
Alec laughed, started to chase her and then paused. "Uh, are there any other candidates?"
"Sure," Max eyed him. "I'm going to go make out with Drew."
He hesitated in his steps. "Should I be jealous… or turned on?"
"Well, what with me and you, me and Dek, Drew and Dek and your twin and Drew. Drew and I should complete the circle quite well. All we need is then you and Drew and it's all done."
"Or me and Dek,"
"Or you and Ben."
"That will never happen," he all but growled.
"But you and Dek is a possibility?" Max seemed intrigued by the idea and Alec pouted.
"I think someone, somewhere is laughing at me."
"It's probably me." Deciding that she needed to get back to her commitments, Max took a deep breath. "Consider yourself hired, pretty boy."
"Yay. Is there a good pension plan?"
"You won't live that long," Max shot back, heading for the door.
"Great." Alec paused as he headed out of command. "Hey, Max, you do realise that if we pull this whole siege thing off, you'll be infamous. You'll be known as the leader of the transgenics and gain immortality."
Max scoffed. "I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve immortality through not dying."
Alec nodded. "Amen to that."
>>>>
Chance closed her eyes; her heart aching at the very sight of her lover so broken and battered. It didn't even look like Pix now. It looked… like an 'it'.
Tears slipped out from closed lids as she rocked back and forth cursing the fact that she couldn't get over this weakness despite having always believed that she was stronger than this.
But this wasn't her sweet, carefree mate. This broken husk, this tortured shell didn't have the same bright eyes and dazzling smile that Pix did.
She didn't want to touch him; didn't want to let her fingers touch those bruises, those slashes and gashes.
She made herself sick.
No matter what he looked like, this was Pix—he had always been there for her, why the hell couldn't she be there for him now?
Chance wiped sweat-soaked palms on her trousers and forced herself to take inventory of Pix.
His mischievous eyes were swollen shut, the vivid red and purple skin a contrast with the deadly pale traces that she could see from his nose to his mouth.
His kissable lips were split and that was all she could see over the shockingly white hospital sheet.
A shuddery breath escaped her and alerted Tara to the fact that Chance was no longer sobbing.
She walked over, handing her clipboard to Dek and gestured for him to leave for a moment.
Dek took one look at the pitiful figure of Chance and nodded, leaving without a word.
Tara strode over and grasped Pix's limp wrist, timing his speeding pulse against her watch.
"A touch fast," she murmured and looked down into the tear-stained face of Chance.
"Chance?"
Chance sniffled and swiped at her cheeks. "Is he gonna wake up?"
Tara regarded her silently for a long moment.
Tara had been taken away from her Unit before she was old enough to tie her own shoes because she had proven gifted in pre-medical training. She had visited some of the hottest war zones on the planet and had dealt with death and destruction. She had seen some of the worst things that humans could do to each other; she knew the damage that people were both capable of and capable of surviving. She'd dealt with death and decapitations before she'd ever had a date. She'd operated on soldiers before she'd grown tall enough to see over the table and she'd seen autopsies before ever seeing a movie.
It gave her something of an advantage over her peers in that she was rarely shocked by what they had to do or what they'd gone through. It was more personal when it was her friends but she still managed to find that calm place inside where she had always gone when things got too much for her.
As she looked at the girl who was much the same age, crying over her mate, Tara felt something stir besides pity.
Annoyance.
Why was it okay for Chance to sob over Pix when he wasn't even dead, when Tara had been beaten for crying over that cancer-riddled soldier in Azerbaijan? Why could Chance sniff and snivel over someone who had every chance of living when Tara hadn't been allowed to mourn those that she had lost?
Chance had Biggs to hug and tell her that he'd always be there. Ben had held her in his arms even though he barely knew her. Max was on hand for constant support.
Who had held Tara in the wilds of Africa when an entire platoon was blown up in front of her? Who had kissed her when she lay by the side of her only friend who was internally haemorrhaging? Who had told her it was all right when the guerrilla group in Uruguay raped that group of women she was staying with, when they'd looted the village before being slaughtered by Manticore soldiers?
Tara sat by the edge of the bed and stared, stony faced at Chance.
"He might live," she said. "But it would be better if he dies."
Chance's jaw dropped as her head whipped towards the blonde.
"What?" she croaked.
Tara shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm saying that he would probably be better off dead."
"How can you say that?" demanded Chance, her hand reaching for the one discarded by Tara; touching him for the first time, despite her misgivings. Any doubts that Tara had about being too harsh were washed away when she saw the effects her words had on the young girl. People had pussy-footed around Chance too much.
Perhaps what she really needed to make her stand on her own two feet was opposition, not understanding.
Be cruel to be kind? Tara could do that.
"He has cracked ribs, broken bones—all healable," Tara said almost idly. "The bruises will fade; the blood will dry, flake and wash off. But he was hit on the head. Several times with blunt, heavy instruments. They cracked his skull and caused some subdural haemorrhaging. The pressure of blood on his brain could cause irreparable damage. Oh, he'll come around, there's no question about that. But the longer it takes the more chance there is of permanent brain damage."
"Br—" Chance couldn't even get the words out.
"Memory loss," Tara continued, seemingly uncaring of the emotional turmoil of the girl beside her turning paler with ever word, "that's the best scenario, of course. He might have short term memory loss—doesn't recall what happened or why. Maybe mid-term— thinks we are back in Manticore— but then again, complete memory loss and loss of identity is also a possibility."
"Stop."
"If it isn't memory loss, it might be complete reversal of personality. I read of a man who went psycho after a car crash and killed his entire family."
"Tara."
"But then again, he could end up brain damaged. A complete vegetable; incapable of even the most basic of bodily functions."
"Stop it!"
"In that case he'd still be better off dead; because even in a vegetative state he could still see and hear all around him."
"God, stop it!"
"Because if he could hear, it would break his heart and his spirit to see you— to hear you— weeping and crying over him like some useless baby."
Tara turned hard eyes to a shocked and horrified Chance.
"You. Are. Pathetic," she said succinctly. "He's not dead yet. He's probably in a coma knowing full well that you can't even bring yourself to touch the man who saved your life every day back in Manticore. The one man who stood up for you; the one man who always was there telling you to be yourself. Pix is supposed to be your mate. You think if the roles were reversed, he'd be sat in a chair on the opposite side of the room, not even wanting to look at you?" She shook her head. "No. He'd be massaging your muscles so they didn't atrophy. He'd be demanding to feed you. He'd move the heaven and earth to make you better and you sit there as if everyone should feel sorry for you."
Tara stood up. "You know what? For Pix's sake; I hope he dies."
She walked over to the other side of the room both revelling in the stunned silence and feeling ashamed of it. She was a doctor, supposed to make people better and she had just torn Chance down in her time of need.
Good, a part of her yelled. Maybe that will shake her up, make her think twice about her little pity party.
She busied herself with tidying up the bandages and checking their supplies of medication.
Suddenly she felt a presence behind her and turned to see Chance standing there.
"Brain damage?" challenged Chance, her eyes dry.
"Gonna cry?" Tara shot back, her tone adversarial.
Chance swallowed once and then glanced over at the bed. Straightening her shoulders she met Tara's eyes unflinchingly. "What do I have to do?"
Tara gave her a once over and her dark eyes appraised the woman's sincerity.
"Okay, she said finally. "You need to start massaging his muscles. Start at the feet. The last thing we need is for his muscles to atrophy or for him to get bed sores."
Chance agreed and headed over to the bed.
The two women worked in silence for a while before Chance spoke up. "That was evil. I hate you, you know?"
Tara smiled; glad to see some evidence of a backbone, however late it was in developing. "Now ask me if I care."
She could see a small smile on Chance's face at that and they settled back to their tasks.
They were interrupted moments later by the re-entrance of Dek who gave Tara a look as if to ask of she were done. Once Tara nodded he walked over to Pix's bed immediately.
"How's he doing?" he asked as he trailed his hand over Pix's dishevelled locks.
"He's been better," Tara replied.
Dek nodded and watched Chance for a moment. "Here, doll, you're doing that wrong." He reached over to show her how to rotate the limbs and exercise them. As she continued the movements he suddenly went silent and rueful smile crossed his face.
"What?" Chance said.
"I was just thinking," Dek said softly, "that I wished Mets was here." He shook himself. "You'll never get me to repeat that and I'll deny it if you tell anyone. It's just that he was great at physical therapy and, he could be quite… funny at times."
The two girls turned to watch him in shock but he was lost in thought and delving in memory.
They had rarely seen Dek so quiet, he was the one who cracked jokes and added witty sarcasm to every situation and, he had once confessed, that he was physically incapable of seriousness. But now he looked so grave that they both felt their pain even more through him.
"I never ever thought we'd come to this. Steve and Biggs dead, Coco missing, Anna, god knows where, and Pix… here." His shaky hand touched Pix's head. "Fallen friends and missing mates. Growing up sure is hard," he gave a bitter laugh and was shocked to find his eyes filling with tears.
He knelt at the side of the bed and spoke directly into Pix's ear. "Pix, you have always made me laugh. No matter how evil things were in Manticore, your humour and pranks were, sometimes, all that kept me going and stopped me committing heinous acts of murder on small Xs. In a world of darkness you were our light and I swear… I swear… to Lydecker, Renfro and any powers that listen to transgenics, that if you don't come back to us, wake up and get your ass off this bed, I will personally come and find you, no matter what level of hell they invented just for you, and I will kick your ass so hard they'll find pieces of your butt and my shoes in Wyoming! Now get up you lazy son of a bitch, we have work to do!"
Tara folded her arms and leaned against Chance. "Quite the inspirational speaker, isn't he?"
"I'm choked up."
"Ah, bite me," Dek said as he clambered to his feet and grabbed the medication off Tara. "Don't you guys have work to do to?"
The girls exchanged glances. "Yeah."
"Then go to it," he straightened his sleeves and tapped the syringe. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a man to dope up."
Well, that was relatively painless. So Pix is in a coma, Chance is wet and Alec is needy. Lord makes you wish the bad guys would hurry up and annihilate them already.
I really wish I had time and space to answer all the reviews that were sent, I'll make do with mentioning names again—so sorry but RL is frantic right now.
Crazy-VampireSlayer
Geminangel
Moonangel18
Eganone
SakuraAkira365
Sweet tweety 06- Don't cry in the middle of class- Hamlet is a comedy (well, I laughed- Ophelia- yeah she had all her marbles.) I think Max will slaughter all who hurt her Pix.
BlueJean452- Hardcore transgenic- sounds like a rock band.
KrzyRiver
Feenian- LOL, shame on me?
Peatrie
Sigma1
Vega- Thank you, pet.
WerrieAnna- What kill no one at all? Thank you so much for your kind words and I hope you do enjoy what I do with the remaining chapters. Big hugs for you.
Susamaroos
Pinkflipflop3- Aw don't cry, well actually do since it shows how you like the fic. Don't be mad and ill update faster, I swear.
Dawns heart/ Elyra
Black Rose9- Jondy is awesome, I love her. Incoherence is fun. More of that then.
A reader- Ben and Dek rock, all is good while Pix still breathes.
KiaraKlay- hey. I think I stole your powers of speech. Yay me.
Spuffyshipper- I was a HUGE X files fan. Loved Mulder to distraction. Home creeped me out seriously.
BlueAngel137
Kim- LOL, Cece is pregnant! I can't kill her off. Yet. Aw I'm sorry I made you cry. LOL, I'm guessing that you don't me to kill Pix off. Hmm?
Aku-neko – 18-21- gracias.
Toniboo
Charlotte- cheers pet, I will try to add some more Zack/ Emma in there.
Ganko- you know how I like top lull you into a false sense of security. The supernatural reference was a must! Humour for me is a necessity. Hope you enjoy your cameo.
ArrowOfHikaru
Moonlite star
Ganko- okay I'll update, just need to find that---
Spiritkez
Nevan- I'll take votes. Who would you like to die?
SGOU- I wondered what it would take to get you reviewing again? So all I have to do is attack Alec? Done.
Jenwin23- there was reasoning behind it, pet. Trust me, I know what I'm doing and if I don't at least I can fake it well enough to pass.
Wickedfaery494
Lynsi
AngelofDarkness231
Mely- love each other? Where would be the fun in that? A good old fashioned naked fight between the brothers…uh, did I say naked? I meant uh… uh.
Chiki-b- hey there. Sometimes real life bites me and I have to stop fro a bit but I do try not to let RL get in the way of what is truly important, that being my fic! Ben's reasoning will be fully explained in the next instalment, trust me when I say that this guy has issues. Sorry I almost made you cry, I'll try harder next time.
Mae- good luck with that and also hope the phone works for you. What network?
Chaosti
Angelp316
Clare328
Timetowaste247
Lotamoxie