Disclaimer: Still don't own any of these characters. And I won't in the next chapter. Or the next...
Summary: More plot building and scene setting. This one sheds some light on TC.
A/N: Yes, I like details - a lot. If this is a problem, let me know. Luckily, there's more dialogue here. Sorry if this is a slow start; I promise the action will pick up. Please review! Please! I'd love to know what you think... or if anyone's even reading this...
--edited for easier read
It had been three months since that fateful day that no one in Terminal City could erase from their minds. They had been so hopeful after Max had set up a city strictly for transgenics, a place where no ordinary people could ever bother them because they would get deathly ill upon entering the city, a place where they didn't have to look like everyone else to be accepted.
It was going to be a transgenic Utopia, only needing to worry about the occasional hate-crime attempted by braver groups of ordinaries. They had found a sanctuary. And then, in a matter of mere hours, they lost all hope.
Someone had leaked information to Max that they had found some of her missing relatives. Worse still, they baited her with information on a project that enabled the scientists back at Manticore to virtually resurrect her dead siblings. All she had needed to hear was that she would be able to find Tinga and Ben alive and well at Manticore, and then she was off with barely an hour's notice to her second-in-command, Alec.
As soon as Alec had gotten her message, he had contacted Logan to let him know what was going down.
Naturally, Logan smelled a rat and sent out reinforcements in the form of Asha's crew. Max was supposed to stealthily come to a town nearby Manticore HQ, and tell an innkeeper at a local place called Rustic Charm Inn that she would be needing a room for the week. She was to go by a specified false name, and then she would receive further instructions from a 'cleaning lady' who was actually an agent of her informant.
All of this sounded a little far-fetched to Max, but she agreed upon learning the whole operation was to be orchestrated by a man named Sandeman. That name had lulled her into a false sense of security, and the mere thought of Ben and Tinga alive again threw Max totally off-guard. She rushed off to the inn alone, and the 'cleaning lady' gave her a rag of chloroform to the mouth instead of information.
Asha arrived too late, and Max was never heard from again. Most people suspected that she was dead, considering all the trouble she had caused for Manticore, but more well-informed people such as Logan and Alec knew that Max was too valuable to kill. They had, after all, gone to the trouble to cook up such an intricate scheme as that solely to capture Max. Yes, Max had to be alive, but who knew what kind of torture she was being put through? In three months, they could have easily turned her, put her through indoctrination, and completely broken the Max they had known.
Certainly the problem of Max was horrifying, but the part of the incident that had proven to be most damaging of all to TC was the question of who had given Max the information in the first place. That question was truly unsettling. TC was in a state of grief and mourning for a whole day after Max's disappearance before someone thought to ask that fateful question in anger and pain. Who from Terminal City had betrayed them all and handed Max over to the enemy? Who gave those phony directions to her, and where did they come from? Surely, the orders were from some upper officer of Manticore, but who had gone up to Max's office and delivered the package?
The only possibility was that it had to be a transgenic of some sort since Max had received the message on her office desk in TC. The gates of TC were always expertly guarded to insure the safety of the citizens of TC against rogue bands of ordinaries looking for trouble, and those guards had daily reported that no one had come or gone from TC any time within a week before or after the incident. Three months later, there was still no change whatsoever in the population of TC, and that only meant one thing: there was a traitor living right within the walls of TC.
Once this information became common knowledge (despite all efforts to keep it contained), a witch-hunt attitude swept up TC and all of its people. Friends and neighbors took up arms and went about doing vigilante work by cover of night, interrogating anyone they had suspicion against of being involved. So far, there had been no fatalities, but there were certainly injuries.
All fatalities had been mercifully prevented by the special operations crew hastily initiated by Alec, who, with Max gone, was now leader of TC. The crew had to patrol every night for the past three months, breaking up riots and jailing those involved on the side of the instigators. The jail was getting awfully crowded after two months, and so they had to open up a new one to contain the overflow of transgenics involved in the crazed vigilante crusade.
Now, after three months with no sign of Max and no traitor unmasked, the people of TC were getting close to their breaking points. Things were getting out of control at an alarming rate. Basically, TC was a living nightmare.
Alec sat in his chair and listened wearily as the captains of the Spec. Ops. reported events of the night before. There had been another riot. A fight broke out, and a transgenic had taken a serious wound to the shoulder. He was in the makeshift hospital, the building next-door to the one they were in right now. He was there with six others who had taken other serious injuries. They were all expected to live. Same ol' same ol'.
Alec's mind wandered as the men were talking, droning, at him. He absently wondered why, oh why, had Max ever made him second-in-command. If not for that, then he wouldn't be mired in this awful mess right now. He mused that a hot bath would feel great right about now, maybe soak off some of his bone-wearying fatigue. He wondered how long it was going to be until someone was killed under his watch, and how Max would react to that when she got back. When, not if. They would find her. Then she'll just end up kicking my ass for the mess I've made of things, he thought, wondering when he had started to miss her sharp tongue and violent attitude.
ThenAlec realized that the men had stopped talking and were watching him expectantly. "Uh, yes… Good work, gentlemen. Report back to me tomorrow, same time."
"Yes, Sir!" they answered, sickeningly reminding him of his own days at Manticore.
With the men out of the room, Alec could at last let his face relax from its illusion of firm control that he had had to train it into these last months. He couldn't imagine how Max had ever handled it! Psh, she didn't have a civil war going on right outside! he thought ruefully. Plus, I had her back. I have no one!
Still, running the whole city by himself was taxing, to say the least. Alec was an extremely good-looking X5, but with all of the stress he had been put under, the mischievous gleam was missing from his gold-green eyes; his handsome, firm face was slightly hollowed out from lack of sleep; his whole frame lost its strong, muscular appearance since his entire body was sunken and defeated, a feeling his attitude was beginning to reflect. He didn't know how much more of this he could stand.
"Huh, I can barely stand right now," he softly confided into the empty air.
Just then, one of the Spec. Ops. rapped lightly on the doorframe and peered inside, clearly asking permission to enter.
"Come in," Alec said while firming up his face without even thinking about it. Amazing how it had become second nature to wipe all emotion off of his face whenever he spoke to anyone else.
"Sir, there's a call for you," the young transgenic officer said.
Alec nodded. The young man handed him the cell phone used by their 'government' officials. Max had bought it a long time ago, as soon as it became clear that TC officials would need a contact phone number where anyone could reach them at any time. She had been clever enough to make it a mobile phone, since they might have to go on the lamb at any given moment. But that was Maxie for ya, always planning ahead.
"Sir?" The officer was still holding out the phone, and Alec realized a bit too late that he had let his thoughts wander again. Worse yet, his face had softened with thoughts of Max. Of late, those thoughts always brought that reaction.
Shaking himself out of his momentary reverie, Alec took the phone. "Thanks, I'll take it in here," he added with a subtle dismissal.
The young man left the room, and Alec watched the door close before saying formally, "Alec here," into the phone expectantly.
"Alec, it's Logan," a man's voice answered.
"Logan, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Alec said, letting in a more casual tone for this rather long-time acquaintance. But casual or not, Alec's insides were writhing with anxiety and excitement. He didn't really like Logan all that much, since they were about as opposite as two people could be, but Logan only called to talk to Alec when it was something important, usually a new lead or information concerning Max or Manticore. Alec would have preferred only those reports dealing with Max, so that he would know how close she was to coming back and saving him from all the hell exploding in his face, but Logan had an unflappable desire to save the world one bad-guy at a time, so he could only hope that this report would be an interesting one.
"I have news… on Max," he said cautiously.
Alec's heart skipped a beat. Logan didn't exactly sound happy. Alec wanted to shout, "Where is she? Is she okay? Why haven't they brought her back yet!" but instead he said smoothly, "Alright. And?"
Logan hesitated. "Well, my informant who has been watching her movements at Manticore has reported that they haven't seen her outside training with the others for a few days now."
What! His informant had been watching Max, and he had never been told of any sighting of her since her capture? Alec fought to keep the anger from his voice. "Really? And how long has your informant been watching her?"
"For about two weeks now. She's been training outside with a certain team of X5s every morning." Logan sounded… slightly triumphant. Damn. There must have still been some anger in his voice when he asked that question. It was no secret that Logan Cale and Alec didn't like each other. Alec thought Logan was a snobby, daydreaming idealist, and Logan thought Alec was a cocky, smart-mouthed jerk. It must have been thrilling to keep such vital information from Alec. Especially news on Max.
For some unfathomable reason, Logan seemed to be chronically jealous of the man and his relationship with Max. Logan resented the fact that Alec could see Max on a daily basis in TC, resented the fact that she had trusted him enough to name him second-in-command, resented the fact that Alec could accidentally touch her and not die from some whacked out virus. That was why he played these vicious games with Alec's head, and oh how it rankled Alec. But his pride wouldn't allow Logan to know that.
"And your informant hasn't seen them training now for a few days?"
"Actually, they saw the others, but Max wasn't with them."
"Just Max?"
"Just Max."
"Hmmm. Do you think she's in trouble?"
"I don't know what that could mean. You're the one who actually lived there. When people don't train, are they in trouble?"
Calm down, stay calm, man. "Either that, or they're getting a special mission. Or being tested."
Worry entered Logan's voice. "Tested? How so?"
Ha, shook him up a bit. Guess he's human after all. "As in, evaluations of fighting and mental skills to test them for promotions," … or their sick little experimentations. He really hoped it wasn't that last. The things they did were quite horrific sometimes.
Logan sounded relieved. "Okay, so how do we know which it is?"
"We wait and watch for her. If she returns in a few more days, it's safe to assume she's either been punished or tested. If not, we know she's on a mission."
Logan snorted. "Huh, real safe, eh? She's only been punished or 'tested'."
"Hey man, you asked."
There was a pause before Logan said, "Well, okay. That's all, then. There's nothing more we can do."
"Nope. Nothing but keep watch," Alec interjected even though that last hadn't been a question. Oh how he loved to mess with Logan!
Annoyed pause. "Well, I just thought you should know."
Yeah, after two whole weeks. "Thanks, Logan. Let me know as soon as you hear anything more." He had laid a slight emphasis on the word "soon" in hopes that Logan would pick up his subtle chastisement.
It worked. Logan uttered a noncommittal noise that sounded like, "Sure thing," before hanging up.
Alec pocketed the phone. Feeling slightly more refreshed, he said to the open air, "Alec, one, Logan, zero!"
He pondered what Logan's mysterious information could mean. He didn't know what they were doing to Max, but knowing her, she had a plan. But why would she train there like an obedient little lamb for three months? Unless she has something up her sleeve? Or, maybe she hasn't been obedient at all and she's being punished? Ugh, that line of thought was starting to make his head spin!
A loud crash outside and the sound of lots of shouting brought Alec back to reality. Great, another riot. And during the day now! Perfect, just keeps getting better. Now the transgenic KKK is getting braver and attacking by day, too. He hoped Max was okay, but she would have to wait. Right now, he had duties to take care of.