A/N: Oh thank GOD IT'S DONE! This is around the 32nd draft of this chapter :dies, and I've just decided to post it cause if I didn't I would keep re-writing it forever. :grins:
Thanks to all reviewers! I know we can't write out individual responses any more so for any future reviews I'll be responding to them individually (you know where it gets sent to your e-mail inbox) if you're signed in.
Some fluffiness in the beginning, then the whole chapter goes to hell in a hand basket :headdesk:
Without further ado, here is chapter 5 and you better like it :glares: that's right, love me, all of you. O.o
Nevair
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Stretching languidly, Alan uncurled himself from where he was plastered to Bret's side and lifted his head from where it lay on his friend's muscled chest. The lack of the warm body made Bret slowly blink his eyes open and focus on the mop of blond hair that had dared to move away from him. Still mostly asleep, Bret gave Alan a half-hearted glare and rolled over to him, wrapping his arms around the boy's torso and closing his eyes again, content as a kitten.
"Bret." The whisper served to shatter his lazy doze and Bret cuddled even closer, burying his face in Alan's neck and soft hair, groaning in irritation at Alan's wakefulness.
"Mm. Sleepy. Warm. Shut up."
Alan blinked. Did he just…oh well, it's too early to be up anyways. Curling up as well as he could with Bret using him as his own personal teddy bear, Alan sighed softly, nearly purring, as he relaxed into sleep. God knows he needed it after that mission and the day-from-hell he had gone through earlier on. Besides, the warm bodies surrounding him and the soft shuffles and breaths he could hear were making him far too relaxed to think. He would start to plan in the morning…well, later on in the morning. Preferably when it was actually light out. For now, he was going to shut up and sleep.
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It was almost too easy to map out the complex the Chimeras were kept in, and even easier to mark off the guard shifts and positions. For a military institution designed to keep in genetically enhanced super-soldiers, the security was nearly insulting. Not that Alan was going to complain, it just made his life easier.
In a little over two days from the day they had arrived and Alan had been forced to complete that 'test' mission, Alan had pulled together a workable plan to break out. Unsurprisingly Kira was his second-in-command for the mission, and it had been no trouble at all to get the rest of the Chimeras to join them. None of them liked being kept like pets in this place, this cage.
Really, Mikal was either way too confident in his soldiers' loyalty, or he really was that stupid. Either way, it practically seemed like he was trying to make it easier for them. The Chimeras trained from dawn until midnight, beginning with a couple- if you can call twenty a couple- of laps around the entire complex. Instant map. It was pure simplicity to memorize the buildings positions and their layouts were guessed from the placement of windows, doors, and fire escapes, along with the help of all that handy information they had so nicely been supplied with if they ever needed to do any infiltration missions. Another bonus to those daily runs was the perfect opportunity to check any soldiers' positions and their movements as they patrolled the complex. What they thought they could do against a Chimera, Alan really didn't know.
Now the only other thing they needed was weapons and an opportunity. Though the weapons weren't really necessary they would simplify things and make taking out targets from a distance possible. That problem solved itself when, later that day the Chimeras were introduced to their weapons training program which would run from 1100 to 1800 every day. Alan actually began to wonder if they wanted them to try something; smart people just don't give killing machines seven hours free reign with access to any weapon available.
Oh, how the mighty will fall.
Alan's grin was feral as he looked around the training grounds at the armed Chimeras. They would let the guards relax for a few hours while they trained as usual; they were always most alert at the very start and very end of training. In a few hours they would move, and those idiots wouldn't know what hit them.
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Mikal was pleased, as shown by the cruel smirk playing at the corners of his mouth. His Alan was doing splendidly. It had been three days since that bus had shown up and he had found his second lieutenant. The blond-haired boy was better than he could have imagined in his wildest dream, and he was living proof that the upgrade to the serum had worked well. They had only added a few extra strings of DNA, chosen from the best of the large feline hunters, in the hopes that the soldiers' physical aspects would have greater changes. You can give someone all the knowledge they need to kill someone with a single blow, but the fact was they had to have the physical strength to hit the target hard enough to do it. It was true, they hadn't gotten as many to accept the Chimera-X code, but it was only the first attempt with this stream; modifications to make it more compatible could be attempted later.
The differences were just starting to appear in the twelve teens they had tested on and the results were looking promising. Just today the X's had completely outran the Chimeras that had been here for some time, totally disregarding their lack of training. It was promising indeed. The weapons training was about to begin and Mikal prepared to observe the changes that could have occurred in their fighting abilities. If this new stream had the desired results, they would continue to create 'X's' and use the original Chimeras in their training. Why keep an older model when the new ones were so much more advanced? Of course, these X's would be his Elite, the first of their generation, with his Alan as their leader. Perhaps Kira would be strong enough to join them as well; she far surpassed the other Chimeras even without the upgraded serum. He would have to wait and see how she faired against his Elite now that they were showing more of their abilities.
Making his way out of his office to the training grounds, Mikal searched out his soon-to-be lieutenant. A pleased smile spread lazily across his face at the sight of his perfect soldier sparring against a caramel-haired boy, one he remembered as being from the group Alan had arrived with, meaning that he would also hold the Chimera-X serum. They were magnificent, moving like liquid through the blocks and spins, striking like lightning at every chance. Alan seemed to match the taller boy easily, neither of them gaining or losing ground at the moment.
Beautiful.
There was no other way to describe it. They were his masterpieces and their full splendor still had yet to be revealed. Soon though. It wouldn't take much longer for the code to fully activate and integrate itself in them. Then they would see what true perfection was. Settling back against the hard stones of the wall behind him, Mikal continued to watch, growing more and more excited as he saw what they were capable of. Plans for the future began to form and dance across the twisted pathways of his mind; Plans of bringing entire governments crashing down with just his Elite. He would be the most powerful man in this world, with his army of super-soldiers, his Chimeras. Grinning when he saw one of his Elites score a strike against an original Chimera, he watched the crimson spread and drip to the sandy ground of the training yard. His Elite was staring horrified, but Mikal only had eyes for the wonderful ruby slowly spreading across his yard, like his power would spread across the world when his army was ready. The grin turned sinister, eyes darkening with a possessive light as he continued to watch from his place in the shadows of the building. No one would control the Chimeras but him. His creation, his soldiers, his children, his Elites. And they would serve him well.
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Alan watched as the guards dragged out the now lifeless body of the Chimera, while his classmate, Jenny he vaguely recalled her name to be, stood shaking in front of the pool of blood. He knew it wasn't the girl's fault, they all fought without pulling any punches, and until now nothing fatal had ever landed before, they were all trained enough so that it shouldn't have landed at all. He looked over to Bret, whom he had been sparring with when they had heard the other Chimera's cry and stopped to look. His taller friend stared back, hazel eyes reflecting the sunlight as it struck them at an angle.
Hunter's eyes.
Blue eyes feral, Alan met the gazes of his fellow classmates, cellmates, soldiers, whatever they were now. All had the same look as they stood gazing back at him, their leader for the moment. When this was over, they would go their separate ways and possibly never see each other again. At the moment, however, they were all together in the same cage; they all had the same enemies. You cannot trap a predator and hope to never be bitten, and their captors were about to learn just how sharp their pet's teeth were.
Alan's stare looked to the movement at the base of one of the cold, grey buildings of this hell and he bared his teeth in a silent growl at the sight. Mikal was staring, smiling, at the dead body being dragged across the ground. They'd wasted enough time, he wanted that man dead. More specifically he wanted his blood to spatter over his hands, to spill because of him.
And the hunter stalks his prey.
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A quick nod was all it took for the Chimeras to spur into action. Seven guards, all of those on the training field, were down and either dead or dying before those watching from the walls or building tops were even aware of movement. It seemed the death of one of their own had created a savage, primal need to cause as much pain as possible, for all the guards were killed anything but quickly. They had all gotten a rundown of what to do the night before, in the privacy of their one room sleeping quarters. Hand signals were such a wonderful invention; the guards outside their quarters hadn't heard a thing.
Of the fifty Chimeras spread across the training area, the twenty armed with knives promptly split from the rest of the group and surrounded them in a loose circle, taking aim and releasing their weapons to strike the guards slowly reacting to the danger from atop the buildings. Only four got a shot off, and only two actually struck a Chimera, the others having already been falling from the roof when their fingers squeezed the trigger. A teenage girl and a slightly older looking boy went to help support those that had been hit. The wounds weren't bad, one of the girls was shot in the shoulder while the other had taken a graze across her thigh, painful but easily wrapped up with torn shreds from their shirts. Those that had taken out the men on the roofs spread out to take care of and clear any more that were on the walls surrounding the complex. They would make sure that the way was clear of all threats and head out, back to wherever they came from. Though they all looked to be children, they had the knowledge to survive on their own in any country they happened to be stranded in, it wouldn't be difficult to make their ways home or at least away from this prison. Alan sent groups of five to each of the buildings, they could do whatever they wished to whoever they found inside, though he kept himself, Kira, Bret, and two of his friends from school, Sarah and Amanda, to take care of the main building. The rest split into pairs and went to check the surrounding areas, making sure that there were no guards lurking in the shadows between the buildings or sneaking out the backs before those clearing out the rest of the complex got to them. All of them would leave when they were finished, as the way would be cleared from the Chimeras who should have by now finished clearing out any perimeter guards.
"Alan." Kira called his attention to her and he read her question with just a look.
"We're ready. It's time to kill these bastards." Sarah and Amanda looked at each other quickly before turning back to him with identical bloodthirsty grins.
"After you, Alan." One last glance at Kira cracking her knuckles in anticipation, Bret whose eyes were shining with the thrill of an upcoming fight, Sarah and Amanda nearly bouncing with dark excitement, and Alan turned towards the building he knew held his family. His family and the bastard that had taken them.
If he had fangs, he would have bared them with the smile that passed across his features, all flashing teeth and painful promise. He glanced at his hands, noting the fingernails oddly sharper and harder than should have been normal, before curling them slowly into fists.
"Then the hunt is on."
And he'll smile before he strikes.
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Hey, ok here's a question for all ofyou reading this: PAIRINGS
I know pairings are fairly touchy and can either makeor break a story so I want toknow what you think.
Should there be pairings? Which ones? Slash? Het?Hell, tell me absolutely anything you want, no matter how crazy,'cause I'll still read it and take it into consideration.
Keep in mind, any pairings (if there even is one) will not comeinto effect right away, romance takes time, and there are no established pairings in this story AT ALL RIGHT NOW, so it will be a while before it pops up.Tell me what you think!
You know what comes next...:poke:
:poke poke:
The review button's calling you, if you don't press it, it cries. YOU DON'T WANT IT TO CRY DO YOU!