Hey guys! Yes! Another chapter so soon! I went on a writing spree when school let out and I actually have another full one completed after this. I will ask everyone to excuse any tiny grammar or other errors that might show up. I did have my proofreader go through it but they didn't mark specifics and just mentioned certain pages that needed looking over (which I did fix). I wanted to give you guys another chapter relatively fast though so...forgive me? XD
I'm thinking about maybe trying to upload 1 chapter a week for a month as a challenge to myself but I dunno.
I hope you guys all continue to enjoy it, the arc is really starting to pick up. Big changes are in store for our 'heros' coming D
~ Primal
It was almost like the morning before only this time Morgan wasn't roused by her alarm. This time it was her cell phone; ringing; loudly at 4 am. At first she was just going to ignore it but as soon as that HORRIBLE ring tone started, the one that the caller had BEGGED Morgan to make hers… She groaned, rolling over in bed to grab it and answer it.
"Hello?" She growled, voice a little raspy.
"Oh my god FINALLY! Morgan! What the hell is going on!? You got FIRED!?" It was Cadence…at 4 in the god damn morning.
"Cadence…. please stop yelling. Do you have any idea what time it is?" She groaned as she put a hand to her head and leaned against it.
"Um…early? I dunno; I'm about to head into work. You were FIRED!?" She was being so loud it got a groan out of Alex. Alex! He was still in bed with her! Morgan spun her head to look towards where he was, surprised he was still there. Then again it was early. "What happened!? Are you okay?"
"Cadence please…" She begged then as she turned onto her side to talk. "It's too early for this…I'll explain later."
"Morgan I was worried about you! You didn't answer my texts! Are you okay?" Before she could even answer or even snap at her Alex rolled over and grabbed her phone. She gasped and tried to get it back but he was already speaking.
"She is perfectly fine and being tended to I assure you. Now if you would please avoid calling again until a more humane hour we would both really appreciate it. Have a nice day Cadence." He smirked as he hit the 'end call' button then looked to Morgan. She could only see his face in the light of her phone and he looked rather pleased with himself.
"Alex! You've been avoiding her for months! You just-"
"If the fucking army knows I'm in town I can't see any harm in your little work buddy knowing." He snorted as the light went out and plunged them back into the dark. He reached over her to put it back on the bedside table, slowly redrawing his arm so that his hand could brush the sheets off her some more. "Though I'd hate to make myself a liar…I did promise her I'd tend to you…."
He couldn't stop!
"Alex I don't think you promised her anything." Morgan snorted but she did smile at his hand that was stroking. Soon it stopped in order to yank her back towards his chest as he leaned over her some.
"Well I wouldn't want to raise your hopes and let you down…" He reasoned then as Morgan snorted.
"I don't think you have to worry about that…" She reasoned before yelping as he pushed her onto her back and started to slip over her. "Good god Alex…you act like you haven't gotten any in yea-" She stopped as she looked up at his very un-amused face. "Sorry." She laughed weakly as he rolled his eyes.
"I'm going to ignore that..."
The second time Morgan woke up it was at a normal time. The sun shone in through the shutters covering her windows and found their way to her face and more specifically her eyes. She whined, turning over to hid but running into someone when she did. She opened her eyes, shocked again to see Alex still in bed with her but something about it made her smile some. He groaned as she shifted away, causing the bed to shake and wake him more.
"Morning."
"No." His response made her laugh before she moved to get her phone. Now that she was fully awake she could operate the damn thing. No missed calls, no texts from Cadence. God only knew what she was thinking right now. Shaking her head she checked the weather before putting her phone down and moving back over by him.
"Do you think they're gone..?"
"Who?" He sighed as he shifted some to look at her.
"The troopers…they talked about staying all night…" She sighed as she glanced to her window. She wanted to check and see. They were on the second floor but if you looked just right you could see the front of the house. Slowly she shifted away from him and moved so she could get up and check.
"Wait." Alex reached after her, touching her back lightly with his hand. "Don't. I'll look." He reasoned as he moved to get up. She was starting to become a little less surprised at his spontaneous acts of selflessness but it didn't mean she was taking them for granted. She settled back in bed as he pulled on his boxers and moved to look out the window she had been eyeing. He was careful about it, angling himself as he peeked out through the blinds. They were still out there alright, what was worse was that there were four now instead of two. Alex sighed, watching as two of in the front of the house were replaced with new troopers that had come from an alley by the house. They were incognito about it though and gave simple nods before switching places. Two more were in a car across the street. They were up to something and clearly did not want Morgan leaving the house. That also meant he wouldn't be strolling out the back door anytime soon.
"Well?" Morgan insisted after a moment.
"They're still out there." Alex assured as he peeked back to her. "But there are six now…they must really not want you leaving." He noted as he continued to watch. Morgan just slumped down in the sheets as worry took over again. Six…there were six now. "You know…you never told me what exactly you said to the trooper yesterday." He noted as he turned back and came towards the bed.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean you didn't tell me what you told them. You mentioned they started questioning you about me but you weren't exactly specific on what you told them." He explained before sitting back on the bed.
"I played it off like you were some thug. That you threatened to kill my parents if I didn't get you money. So I thought that stealing the computer chips would be my best bet." She replied easily.
"Not too bad…did he buy it? Donavan?"
"No…I don't think so." She sighed. "He called me a liar and got really pissed. He saw the pictures of us working together, remember." She pointed out as he laid back out on her bed beside her.
"Damn….I can't believe we didn't think about the other stores having cameras…"
"Even if we had I doubt we would have pulled it off Alex…. there had to have been half a dozen stores around there, all with their own cameras."
"We could have just broken those." He pointed out. It was silly to think about the 'could haves' at this point. The break in was done and over with and there was no changing the outcome now.
"My turn for a question." Morgan hummed as she turned towards him a little more. Alex looked to her and raised an eye as he waited. "The tuning fork machines-" He snorted at her name for them and earned a glare. "-were messing up yesterday. They were completely shut down and the troopers were using handheld ones, you didn't have anything to do with that did you?" She finished as she watched him smirk a little.
"Maybe…" He hummed. That was as good as a yes. Shaking her head she settled back in bed again, stroking the sheets around her some as another silence found them. It wasn't uncomfortable in any way but something about it felt dead.
"What are we supposed to do now?" She asked after a moment, her tone rather empty and hollow compared to before. Alex looked at her, not having heard that tone come from her before. She sounded so lost…
"Well…how close do you think you are? To a cure." He reasoned as he turned to face her a little more.
"Not as close as either of us would hope to be I'm afraid. I left some things running on the computer but I'm worried." She had almost forgotten about those programs…plus the ones she had stolen and brought home.
"Why worried?" Alex asked as he raised an eye.
"As great as my computer is…it's nothing like the mainframe at Gentek." She pointed out, Alex nodding in agreement. He remembered the system Gentek had working for it. "I'm worried I won't have the power or the space to run everything I need. I was running a private program at work that I moved onto a flash drive but I doubt my little desktop will be able to run it; even if I did buy more ram and a better processor. Plus I'm bound to run into problems again. More thank likely I'll need to run some tests on you again and then what? I stole my security card from work but it's probably deactivated by now. " She frowned as she stared ahead at the wall.
"You stole from work?" Alex chuckled then. Morgan turned to him and nodded.
"Yes…why do you act so surprised?" She asked, his smirk getting her to smile some.
"Good girl. I'm teaching you well." He grinned as he folded his arms behind his head and rested back. She rolled her eyes at that. "I think I'm going to grab a shower." She hummed as he gave a nod. She started to stand but paused at the edge of her bed. This was probably a bad idea and a horrible question to ask but somewhere deep down it was bothering her.
"Um…Alex?" She began, peeking over her shoulder at him.
"Yeah?" He looked to her, an eye raised at her odd tone.
"Why is it that…um…I…why won't you kiss me?" She felt beyond stupid with this, having turned away when she asked and hidden some. They were just screwing around. Nothing more. Yet this was something she had noticed from the start and it was bothering her. He'd kiss her everywhere but her lips...why?
"Morgan…I'm pretty sure I have." He snorted, moving over some to touch her neck lightly. It was sporting red spots once again on top of the others from the day before.
"That's not what I mean." She reasoned, as he slowly withdrew her hand. He didn't say anything, sighing then as he rested back and stared at the ceiling.
"Maybe you should just take your shower…" This wasn't the time. She had too many things going on to have him launch into an explanation. Feeling a bit off she gave a stiff nod and rose, moving across the room and to the bathroom. She never should have asked…
Despite the awkward moment made by Morgan the rest of the day turned out fairly well. Stuck in the house Morgan focused on work and sadly discovered her computer concerns had been well felt. Her computer crashed when she tried to run the program from Gentek and even after some online shopping she didn't think she could buy a computer good enough to run it. Alex even took a crack at it, working rather diligently until he had to walk away to avoid smashing the tower. Some quiet time and reasonable discussion allowed them to conclude that they could do nothing more with her home resources and that, once again, Gentek would have to provide the tools. Morgan thought it was a stupid plan, not sure what could be done by breaking in a second time when she was already in a shit load of trouble. Surprising however, Alex provided a plan.
They had to leave the city.
The idea scared Morgan to pieces. She didn't want to abandon all she had worked for and built for herself. But as she thought about it more and more… she realized that she had no choice; that she was either with Alex or she was dead. It wasn't even that she was worried he would kill her anymore, but more of the fact that if she went along with everything he wanted and succeeded in a cure she still wouldn't have a life to return to thanks to him. As time passed in the house Alex started to realize that same fact and it caused the mood of the house to drop twice as fast.
"So remind me again why we're breaking in?" She asked as she sat back on the couch with him after grabbing some lemonade from the kitchen.
"Gentek keeps records of all the companies it buys its tech from as well as the facilities that house them."
"You mean the smaller operations that aren't publicly affiliated?" She asked, knowing about those. They were small operations running small, special projects and not like the big, glamorous buildings she worked in or the one in NYZ.
"Yes, those." He nodded. "We can look for them in the database, get the addresses and get out. Easy."
"That's what you said last time." She sighed as she rubbed her temples. "Then what?"
"We'll be moving around a lot…place to place until you figure this thing out." He reasoned as he gestured to himself.
"Alex, you do realize I have a finite amount of money right? What do you plan to do when I run out and we can't stay in hotels anymore?" She assumed they would be living in hotels at least.
"We'll deal with that when we come to it." He replied, which didn't make her feel much better. Her life really was going to be over after all of this. Sighing she bowed her head before resting it into a hand. She was feeling that 'trapped rat' sensation again where her heart began to race and her eyes started to sting. This wasn't unnoticed by Alex and he frowned as he thought about it.
He had been living with Morgan for 6 months now and it was still hard to believe. Over that span of time he had changed and he was starting to realize it. He actually felt again, he felt like he was more of a real person now than he had been when he arrived; he had some of his humanity back. In that moment though he felt horrible and he knew this was all his fault. He had just ruined her life and he had no idea or way to fix it at this point.
"Morgan I…" He didn't know what to say. He was so confused and scrambled by all the emotions churning up he couldn't find a clear thought. "I….You realize I'm not going to let anyone hurt you right? No one will. It's a promise" He decided those were words that worked. However they didn't get a response from her and he frowned. "You know that right? You're going to be okay…" Why was this so weird!?
"You're only saying that to calm me down…you're only keeping me safe because I'm an investment. I'm the only person who has any idea what's going on with you and the virus…" She argued as she half glared at him through watery eyes. Again he felt this unsettling pain flare in his stomach. She was really upset this time and it was 100% his fault.
"I…." He couldn't argue with her. It was true. He had spent months searching the Gentek frame for someone he thought had the right expertise to fix this thing. On top of that he had looked for someone he thought he could scare enough that they wouldn't tell and in the end it had come down to Morgan. Yet now, he couldn't help but feel bad for coming to her and involving her in everything. Before anymore words could be said her doorbell went off which made Morgan jump a good 4 inches off the couch. They both stared towards the door, waiting to see if anything else was going to happen. The bell went off again and Morgan rose, as did Alex. He grabbed her arm before she got too far though, shushing her as he walked with her to the door. He moved behind it, nodding for her to proceed.
"Who is it?" She called out first before peeking through the view hole.
"It's me. Please let me in Morgan?" Cadence called as she waited by the door. Morgan hesitated, looking to Alex who actually nodded for her to do so. Was he not going to hide? She assumed not as he walked back to the living room. Blackwatch already knew he was around so he clearly didn't care if anyone else did either. With a sigh Morgan opened the door and faced her so called 'friend'.
Cadence snatched her into a hug straight away, Morgan allowing her but not really returning it.
"I have been SO. Worried." She gasped as she moved into the house. Morgan locked the door behind her before following the rambling women towards her living room. "They told me you were sacked and I was freaking out! They said you were the one who broke in a few days ago? Morgan tell me it's not tru-" Her words cut short when she finally laid eyes on Alex. He looked rather comfortable where he was, legs kicked up and arms along the back of the couch. She seemed unsettled by his presence, looking to Morgan for reassurance. "I um….didn't know you had company…" she said softly as Morgan moved into the room.
"I figured you did after that 4 am wake up call." She muttered as she moved to lean against the couch by Alex.
"Sssoorrryyy about that." She grimaced as she remained in the entrance to the living room. "I wasn't really thinking…"
"Clearly not." Morgan scowled as she continued to give Cadence dirty looks.
"Morgan what the hell is your problem?" She huffed as she crossed her arms. "I've been worried all day! I even gave up my lunch break to come and see you…"
"Umm maybe it's the fact that you're partially to blame for the hell I went through yesterday Cadence." She hissed. Alex turned some then, keeping an eye on both women for the time being.
"I…. what?" She didn't understand, face in shock.
"Yeah Cay…lovely little Blackwatch trooper threw me in the room and started demanding I tell him why YOU told THEM I contaminated you with some biological agent. Thanks for throwing me under the bus." Cadence was at a loss or words, the girl opening her mouth to explain but no words coming out.
"I….I just panicked…you know how frightening they are…" She reasoned as her eyes glanced to Alex. She was dying to know if this was the guy she had heard on the phone but she and Morgan were sort of fighting so her questions would have to wait.
"You don't think I was freaking out too? They SHOT at me…" She reasoned as she looked to the floor. She really didn't want to keep talking about this.
"Well…I'm sorry." Cadence offered as she looked at them hopefully. "But…Morgan, about the break in rumors..."
"I don't want to talk about that." She hissed as she moved around to sit on the couch. Thinking about it now she was shocked that Cadence had even made it inside her house…weren't the troopers watching it? She seemed to realize something was amiss just as Alex had as she sat, catching his eye that seemed to hold he same suspicion.
"Okay well…. where do you think the contagion came from? I know you weren't workin-"
"Cadence…..seriously. Shut up. I don't want to talk about work; I don't want to think about what has happened okay? I've had a really difficult few hours and it's not going to get better playing 20 questions with you." Alex was a little impressed with how harsh she was being. If he remembered correctly, Cadence was her one friend she had and she was chewing her out pretty bad here. Then again…if their suspicions were correct…
"Okay, okay…. sorry." she sighed as she moved to sit in a chair by the couch. Silence followed for a time before the air seemed to cool and Cadence couldn't hold her questions back anymore.
"Soo….I don't think I got an introduction…" She hummed as she eyed Alex. Morgan looked to him, not sure if she should say something or if he would. She got her answer easy enough.
"Mark. Mark Sanders." He introduced. Morgan almost made a face at his fake name but was distracted when he draped his arm around her shoulders. The hell was he doing…
"Well it's nice to meet you Mark! I take it you and Morgan are uh…" She wagged an eye and Morgan hid her face in a hand.
"Lord…Cay…"
"What!? I knew you had a guy living here. I can't believe you didn't introduce us before." She hummed as she gave Alex a once over. "How are things?" She asked, still remembering the night Morgan had called her…hurt.
"I'd say we're going well. Like Morgan said the last few hours have been hard but nothing we can't work through and figure out." He reasoned before hugging her into his side some. This…this was freaking Morgan out. He was acting so…. sweet and coupley.
"Awww…See Morgan? You shouldn't worry!" Cadence grinned as Morgan rushed to play along.
"Well I guess…I just hope I can find a way to drop these charges. I think Mr. Donavan has lost it." She snorted as she snuggled into Alex's side. She felt him flinch away initially but remembering that they were playing a little game he had no choice but to snuggle back close. She mentally smirked at this but realized this was going to become a game of 'oneing each other up'. Shortly after she snuggled in he let his arm drop from her shoulders to wrap around her back in order to reach around and hold her hand; a smooth move.
"Probably. The guy is getting on up there isn't he?" Cadence laughed before returning the topic to Alex.
"So where do you work Mark?" She hummed as Morgan groaned.
"Cadence really…" How long was her lunch break?
"It's fine sweetie." Alex grinned at her though something about his smile seemed painful. Now he was just over doing it on purpose. "I work down at the First National bank in town." He answered easily. "Nothing fancy, nothing like Morgan." He hummed as he looked between Cadence and Morgan. He was going to make her sick with all this sweet talk.
"Ahh I see…well it sounds like you two are getting along really well huh?" Cadence hummed as Alex nodded and Morgan just rested into Alex and ignored everyone.
"We are." Alex assured before clearing his throat some. "We actually had some lunch plans. A little something to help cheer Morgan up…"
"OH! Oh I'm totally interrupting aren't I?" Cadence gasped then as she jumped back up to her feet.
"A little." Alex laughed as he watched. Morgan was shifting to get up as well, figuring she could walk Cadence out at least.
"It was nice meeting you Mark!" Cadence called as Morgan paused to say something to him.
"I'll be right back honey, I'm just going to walk her out." She cooed, Cadence already to the doorway of the living room. Alex glared at her, flicking her off then and mouthing a very definite: Fuck you. Morgan just snickered and scampered out of the room to make sure Cadence left. She composed herself by the time she reached the door and Cadence turned to face her. She was giggling though which caused Morgan to raise an eye.
"What?"
"Mark and Morgan…you guys are M&M's…" She giggled as Morgan rolled her eyes.
"Alright little girl are you sure you can find your way home without your mommy?" Morgan sighed as she moved to open the door.
"What? I think it's cute." She reasoned before trying to get a few more words in. Morgan insisted that she leave though, shutting her up but making a false promise to call her later. Once the she was gone and out of the house she took a sigh of relief and headed back to face Alex. There would be some name calling and teasing to be had for a time but more importantly? It was time to prepare for one, last break in.
It felt like she was reliving a bad dream.
It had been hard enough getting out of her house with, now NINE, troopers outside but what had been even more difficult was explaining to Eric why he was now the proud father of all of Morgan's pet fish. After a few rounds of dodging questions he agreed and Morgan told him she would leave him a key outside her door in her mailbox. Truth was, Morgan and Alex had no intention of ever coming back. Morgan made sure to pack a bag and moved all her computer files onto a combination of CDs and flash drives before they smashed the thing. All her personal effects were put into boxes with her parents address on them so they would hopefully make it through whatever happened next. With everything at home taken care of Morgan was now faced with the jump and run up the Gentek building.
"Morgan come on…we need to go." Alex sighed as he looked up the building, a little worried since…well…Donavan's window wasn't open anymore. He already had a plan on what to do with that, he just hoped Morgan wouldn't notice.
"I know I just…." She exhaled loudly and continued to pace. She was just so scared…she didn't like the sensation of falling much less having to piggy back with Alex when he jumped. She was NOT meant for this.
"Just jump on and close your eyes. It will be over soon enough." He sighed as he held out a hand to try and get her to come along. Morgan snorted though and stopped her pacing to look at him.
"That's what you said last night too." She hummed, unable to help herself with that one. Alex groaned, grabbing her hand and moved towards the edge of the building. He pulled her close, giving Morgan no choice but to hop onto his back before locking her arms and legs around him like a vice. He considered doing something mean…like pretending he couldn't glide anymore but when he realized she was shaking he tossed the idea out. They just needed to get this over with. With a swift leap he was up and in the air, headed right for the ominous tower that they still had to climb. He scaled it without a problem, Morgan not even realizing Donavan's window was shut until she felt his arm phase under her knee. She peeked down, watching as he kicked off the building and shattered the window with his whip power. Immediately after he threw it forward again, lodging it in the wall directly ahead of them and using this to reel them into the office. It wasn't as graceful a landing as last time; Morgan and Alex separating as they tumbled into the office.
An alarm was blaring before Morgan even stopped rolling but that was short lived thanks to Alex. Another wave of his arm and the blade at the end had sliced the alarm box in half, permanently shutting it off. With that unexpected development Morgan scrambled to her feet and rushed to her boss's desk. At the most they had 5 minutes before the place would be swarming with cops, or more likely, Blackwatch troopers. As Morgan tackled the computer Alex was already working away at barricading the door so they had a little insurance should they run out of time. Morgan scrambled to access the network, thrilled and relieved to find that her log in information hadn't been removed from the system yet. Her fingers flew over the keys, typing furiously in order to find the facility archives she and Alex needed. She felt like she was zooming and making great time but that was before she noticed Alex bracing the door (and the bookshelf he had slammed down in front of it) as men shouted from the other side.
"HURRY!" He roared. In an attempt to keep the doors shut he phased his arm into a new power. They were huge, almost rock like fists that he threw against the door and braced. All of this caught Morgans attention and distracted her from the computer. The power oddly reminded her of the Hulk…
Her thoughts were cut short when the remaining windows to her left shattered in a rain of gun fire. She dropped out of Donavan's chair and hit the floor screaming. Alex shouted to her and bolted to her side, sliding under the desk as Blackwatch swarmed the room like wasps protecting the hive. Morgan was in a ball under the desk, trying to find a safe place from all the gun fire. She ripped the flash drive from the computer, not even sure she had gotten any of the information she needed. Seconds later Alex was there, grabbing her up in his arms before throwing himself out the window as they made their escape. For a brief moment Morgan dared to look down, heart pounding as she saw a million lights and ants rushing up towards the building. Spot lights hit them and she turned her head into his chest and listened to the sounds of helicopters approaching at rapid speed. She swallowed her screams as Alex flipped them, his back to earth as they plummeted down.
Alex took the shots from the men below, hissing softly as the bullets tore into his back and sung deep. Before they got too low he dashed, throwing himself and Morgan towards some lower, small buildings. He slid on his back onto the roof of one before flipping onto his feet and hopping down into the alley. Morgan was in a ball in his arms, he didn't even think it was possible for a person to be so small but she had somehow managed it. Slowly he lowered her back on her feet but it didn't take long for shouts to echo down the alley towards them.
"Morgan…you have to go. Now. Get back to your house and grab everything you can. I'll meet you back there." He hissed as he started to shift once more. This time it started at his feet, thick plates of armor starting to grow up his legs. Morgan shook her head, shaking from head to toe as her hands feebly held onto the sleeve of his jacket. "You HAVE to. I can handle this. Just get back and I'll see you there shortly. I made a promise remember?" He reminded as he tried to pry her hands off. Hot metal shot past there heads then as the troopers rounded the corner and fired. Morgan yelped again and finally let go, starting to take some steps back as Alex fully shifted into his armored form. Morgan stumbled just around the corner but paused to look back. His hands changed then into the long, menacing claws she had only seen once before as he turned to face the men. They hesitated as they watched then opened fire again once they had reloaded. Alex countered by slamming his hand into the earth, sending up a cluster of spikes that tore through the men like tissue. Morgan covered her mouth, turning away then as she tried to calm her stomach. It failed miserably and she vomited as the listened to the sounds of gun fire and screams fade a little. As the minutes passed she could only assume Alex was headed back to Gentek. Not wanting his efforts to be in vain she pushed herself forward and rushed to join a crowd of frightened civilians who were running from the increasing sounds of war coming from just a few blocks away. She flagged a cab, tumbling into it as she tried to get a grip on everything that was happening.
"Where to miss?" The driver asked as he turned to look at her. "Whoa…you don't look so good lady…what's going on out there anyways?" He asked as he looked at all the other freaked out and frightened people.
"Something….something at the Gentek building…I just…I just saw some people…" She could barely speak.
"Hey now…no worries. Hows about I just drive some eh? If you see somewhere you want to go just holler up." He smiled as he reached back to pat her arm. She nodded weakly and gave a smile as the man let up the brake and started away from the fighting. As they did so Morgan couldn't help but catch a glimpse of something in his side mirror…a smoking helicopter spiraling down into the street….
The taxi driver took Morgan all around the city, often passing places more than once as they drove round and round. Morgan went into shock again then came back out when he paused at a red light and turned on the radio. There was an emergency announcement on, telling everyone to stay clear of Gentek because there had been a terrorist attack. Listening to the announcer caused Morgan to look at the clock in the taxi's dash and realized she had been driving around for almost an hour.
"I think I need to get home…if there has been an attack.." She said then as the man looked back.
"Of course." He nodded as Morgan told him her address and they headed back. He sped like a mad man, Morgan thanking him for that as she got out of the car and gave him a rather generous tip. He wished her a good night before heading away and left Morgan facing her house.
She stood on the street for a time and did nothing but look at it. None of the lights were on, there was no one on the street and the only other noise was the sound of distant alarms from emergency vehicles and military sirens. After taking a deep breath she took her keys from her pocket and moved towards the house. She just had to be slow, careful and quiet. Alex was probably waiting inside and he would handle this, he always did.
She moved to her front patio, unlocked the door and stepped inside. The house was too quiet for her liking, even the alarms drowned out once the door was shut. She put her keys back in her pocket then moved to turn on a lamp just inside the hall. However it didn't turn on. Even after checking the bulb the lamp refused to shine which meant one thing; the power was out. Morgan wondered if Gentek had called in to have the grid shut down or somehow in all the chaos Alex had done it himself.
"Alex?" She called softly, shocked by the frailty of her own voice. She sounded broken…or sick with meningitis. There was no reply nor any movement from the shadows where she would have thought him to be lurking so she moved down the hallway just a little further. The hairs on her arms and neck were standing straight up as she moved, something just not right about any of this. She was so on edge that a simple little 'splash' from something trickling down the hallway made her jump. After her heart slowed a fraction she removed her phone from her pocket and used it as a light. She realized then she didn't hear her fish tank filter humming and, feeling an absurd burst of courage, headed down the hall. She stopped short when something crunched under her foot; glass? Turning her phone she aimed the light around the corner to discover the source.
Her fish tank had been shattered, the glass scattered everywhere and her poor, defenseless goldfish gasping as they laid on the floor.
"You poor angels!" She half sobbed as she rushed to their aid. It was stupid how upset the sight made her feel, tears starting to bead up as she looked around desperately for water to put them in. They didn't deserve this; they were just fish for Christ's sake! "Oh….oh I'll fix this. You poor things." She sniffed as she jumped back up and headed for the kitchen. She hit a wall on her way which was surprising since she was in the dark...no not a wall! A man in armor with glowing eyes…
Morgan screamed as the trooper grabbed her in his arms, holding her back to his chest as she was swarmed by 3, no 4 more men. They struggled to stop her thrashing, this made easier when the one holding her tossed her to the floor. Her hands were zip tied and they attempted to do the same to her legs but she just continued to thrash them. The last thing Morgan remembered was the room going completely pitch black as a bag was thrown over her head, claustrophobia kicking and then a blisteringly painful hit to the head.