A/N: Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed so far! I've been so busy that I haven't had a lot of time to write lately but as I wrap up my much needed vacation I felt inspired so here's the next prompt!
K is for Kill
The consistent thwak, thwak, thwak was somewhat comforting as X5-494 bounced his smuggled tennis ball against his cell wall, catching it in one hand before immediately throwing it again.
"Shut up!" a voice growled out from the adjacent cell. 494 smirked and tossed the ball again. Pissing off 452 had become his favorite pastime in the month since she'd been reintegrated into the general populace of Manticore. His sensitive hearing picked up on her angry huff and the rustle of sheets and he could almost see her smothering her head beneath a pillow.
"Hey," Bobby called out from the other side of his cell door. 494 glanced over and swung to his feet as he caught sight of the bundle of bills waving through the slot in the door. The X5 slid the pills through the slot as he took the cash.
"Have a nice night, buddy," 494 said with a wink and a knowing grin.
Bobby's heavy boots marched off down the halls and 494 returned to his cot, tossing the tennis ball and delighting in the frustrated near scream that sounded out from his lovely next door neighbor.
~DA~
Max purposefully allowed herself to fall a bit behind as she ran the obstacle course around the perimeter of Manticore with her new unit. She was looking for any weaknesses in the security without being obvious. She watched a group of X7's run group drills, their hive minds assuring that they moved in unison. They would be her most dangerous obstacle.
She had lost track of the rest of her unit and the hair on the back of her neck stood up as she felt someone run up alongside her. She turned as he shot a foot out and barely managed to stay on her feet as the X5 attempted to trip her. "Well, lookie here," 969 sneered.
A few of his croonies stepped up to flank him and Max jutted her hip out as she crossed her arms, the epitome of unimpressed. "Looks like the 09'er couldn't keep up with her superiors," X5-113, the little blonde that attached herself to the other unit leader, chortled.
If Max thought that her unit CO was annoying he was an absolute saint compared to 969 and his unit. "Let's just get this done," was Max's short reply. She was tired of them. She was tired of all of them.
969 smirked and as though they had a hive mind the four X5's descended and Max resorted to every dirty trick she'd ever learned as she ducked, weaved, kicked out at crotches and stabbed her fingers towards eyes. The fact was, as much as it pained her to admit it, that they had ten years training on her and she was at a severe disadvantage. She could usually hold her own in a one on one sparring match but a group beat down was beyond even her skills.
She twisted to the side as she fell to the ground, narrowly avoiding a boot to the face. She flinched back as she caught sight of another boot heading towards her stomach and she knew that she'd be too slow to guard against it when it suddenly flew back and a loud thump was heard from a few feet away. She looked up and sighed, half in irritation and half in relief, as her eyes found X5-494. He did not look impressed as he blurred up to 969 and grabbed him by the throat.
969 was shorter but bulkier than 494's svelte frame but her Commanding Officer had fury on his side as he applied enough pressure to 969's throat that the shorter man started to sink to his knees. The rest of her unit circled around the scene, X5-510 held a hand out to her. She grasped it and he pulled her back to her feet.
"You good?" 494 growled out as he briefly slanted a look towards her.
"Yeah," she replied through gritted teeth as her ribs twinged in response to her stilted movements.
She watched as 494 forcefully tilted 969's head back so that the other man was forced to look him in the face. His cohorts were anxious to come to his aide but one glance at her unit surrounding them kept them in place.
"An attack on anyone in my unit is an attack on me, 969," he said in low, threatening tones. The other X5 managed a slight nod. "You ever come after 452 again and I won't be so forgiving," 494 assured him before releasing him with a slight shove that caused the other CO to fall flat on his ass as he gasped for air.
The air was charged as 494 spun towards her, he made eye contact with every present member of 969's unit as he did so. They shifted uncomfortably and for the first time Max saw her CO as the predator he was rather than the annoying menace he usually portrayed himself as.
"Back on course, double time!" 494 commanded and as one Max and the rest of her new unit turned and continued their run. She made it a point to stick close with them.
~DA~
It would be a lie to say that having 452 in his unit wasn't a tough situation. It wasn't even just about the suffering he'd endured when her unit escaped back in '09, it was wrangling his unit mates and keeping them calm and in line. They who had also suffered due to her, they who had watched him suffer because of her. They didn't consider themselves 'family' like 452's unit had but they'd grown up together and had each other's backs. Of all the units left in Manticore 494's was probably the closest and were certainly the best.
It hadn't been all smooth sailing but overall 452's transition into his unit had been relatively painless. The rest of the unit didn't trust her anymore than 494 did but they had her back because they had his back. 494 wasn't stupid, he knew exactly what the 09'er was doing when she fell behind during drills, she wasn't as stealthy as she thought she was. He'd been onto her little routine since day one. She'd fallen further behind than any other time so 494 heaved a heavy sigh and circled around to see if she'd finally attempted her escape or if she'd just tripped over a branch.
Finding 969 and his unit standing over her, his heavy boot aimed and flying towards 452's abdomen had him seeing red. At the end of the day his personal feelings towards the 09'er didn't matter, she was part of his unit and therefore an attack on her was an attack on him...and he'd never taken too kindly to that as he'd all to happily let the other CO know as he pinned him to a tee.
When he'd spun back towards 452, sure to make eye contact with every one of 969's unit, he saw relief war with annoyance and maybe a flash of respect in her gaze and if he hadn't been so angry he would have smirked. He snapped at his unit to get back on course and finally did allow a smirk to grace his face as 452 made sure to stick with the rest of them for the rest of the drill.
~DA~
It had been a few months since 969's unit had cornered and attacked her and she'd had zero trouble with any X series since then. She'd found, after some sleuthing, that 494 actually commanded quite a bit of respect amongst most of the units within Manticore. She hadn't gotten the full story but she had pieced enough together to figure out that they had admired his fearless rise to power that had flown in the face of the stigma that being the twin of one of the 09'ers had caused.
Her unit had been cold and distant towards her when she'd first arrived. 494 was the only one who had made it a point to bring her into conversation and include her in drill strategy sessions. He was annoying, egotistical and sarcastic- she'd started to refer to him as Alec when she thought of him- but there was another side to him that peeked through sometimes, things that she knew his unit saw on the regular but that he hid from most of the world.
He was fiercely protective over his unit mates, he was an expert strategist when he wanted to be and he had the guards wrapped around his finger with his smooth talk and contraband exchanges. Over the last couple months her new unit had been thawing towards her and she knew that she had Alec to thank for that. Whatever he really thought of her he didn't let distract him from his duties as CO and while he relentlessly teased her, to her great annoyance, he hadn't treated her much differently than he did the rest of his unit.
They didn't have a whole lot of rec time, their days were filled with training, drills and missions...well, she hadn't been sent on any missions so far but the rest of the unit had been several times. Alec was a solo act as well so he was in and out all the time on different missions. One time she'd come into the rec room when it was empty of everyone but him and he'd looked so...lost. She'd walked up to him and told him about her high place, about how sometimes she only felt like she could breathe when she was high above the rest of the world.
He hadn't told her what had happened on his last mission to put that look in his eyes but she hadn't expected him to. He'd just cocked his head and listened to her, smirked at some of her observations and asked questions when something confused him. Those moments started to pop up more and more often as she grew comfortable around him. Sometimes he'd surprise her and make her laugh with some stupid little anecdote, he never shared anything deep but she supposed she didn't really either. Some days he was more shut down towards her than others and on those days she wondered if he knew what she was planning.
He had shocked her one day. They were out in the forest picking up after their last drill of the day and it had just been the two of them.
"What was your name?" Alec asked suddenly.
Max immediately tensed, her head whipping over to him, eyes widened in shock. "What?"
Alec shrugged. "You all gave each other names, right? Or was that just rumor?" he smirked. "You must've gone by something out in the real world," he'd teased. It was the genuine curiosity in his eyes that had her answering.
"Max," she whispered. "I'm Max."
His mouth moved, lips wrapping around her name as he repeated it back to her. "Max." He cocked his head as he considered you. "Somehow suits you," he told her with another smirk before picking the bag he'd set down back up and sauntering away. It had been the first time she'd heard her name spoken by a voice other than hers in so long.
Max sighed as she stared up at her cell ceiling. Alec was bouncing his goddamn ball against the wall that separated their cells again but, unlike previous nights, she didn't take the bait. She was ready to blaze, her plan was fleshed out and all the pieces were in place. There was only one thing holding her back. Well...thirteen things, really.
Rumors had circled back to her, nasty little whispers that weren't spoken low enough to miss her sensitive ears. They followed her down the sterile corridors, bounced off the walls of the indoor training rooms and hitched a ride in the wind on a quiet day outside. Pieces of tortured lives lived following her initial escape. The suffering of the twins like Alec, the reindoctrination of the entire transgenic population.
She wished that she could close her eyes to the horrific truth of what she'd be subjecting her new unit mates to once she made her escape for the second time but she couldn't. Not now that she knew better. Images of the fates of people she'd come to begin to know filtered through her mind when she closed her eyes. Reindoctrination, possibly even psy-ops for the entire unit if not the entire complex. Alec and 510, the CO and 2IC, they'd suffer the most given their positions of power. Alec...he might be stripped of his command, forced back under the laser. Maybe tossed into the basement with the 'nomalies.
She wished that she would have been able to make her move before she'd been integrated within the unit. Back when she hadn't had any ties or tentative friendships. Back before feelings bubbled under the surface of her every interaction with the thirteen other transgenics in her unit and especially with her CO.
The thwak of the ball in the adjacent cell quit for a moment and stomach clenched as her ears caught the low rumble of Alec's voice as he spoke to the guard, probably making one of his backdoor deals. Her eyes fluttered to a close, face scrunched up as though she were in pain as she drowned in her conflicting thoughts and feelings.
~DA~
452 had been embedded within his unit for the last six months and it had been nearly ten months since her recapture. 494 had been watching her closely and wasn't entirely sure why she hadn't tried anything before now. Could be she was just waiting until their superiors cleared her for outside missions and she found herself on the other side of the walls but he'd felt something growing within her over the last couple months. That something felt a lot like hesitation.
The rumors had always said that the unit that had escaped back in '09 had considered themselves a family, siblings. 494 had even heard that they'd given themselves names and pretended that they were just like anyone else living outside of the compound. Knowing that 452 already had a penchant for forming those kinds of bonds, he sometimes wondered if that's what was happening now, with them. He noticed her getting closer not just with him but with just about everyone else in his unit.
Sometimes she'd find him during down time and sit next to him. She'd tell him things occasionally, like how she liked being up high because she felt like she could think and breath when the rest of the world seemed a million miles below her. Other times they'd just sit in silence, each lost to their own thoughts.
He didn't have much to share that wasn't full of pain and solitude but he sometimes fished a happier story out of his blood soaked repertoire to regal her with, just to feel like he was contributing to the good will she was trying to build. Sometimes she'd shoot him this smile that felt like a blow to the gut. It would twist him up and force him to shut down because he knew that they weren't playing for keeps. Eventually she'd stop holding herself back and he'd be left to pay the price in the wake of her escape.
He thought back to when she'd accidentally let the name she'd given him slip out. It had been a couple weeks after he'd asked her what she'd called herself. Hers was a name he'd only ever repeated once right after she'd trusted him with it. He didn't even think her name when he thought of her, Manticore was too well versed in stealing those kinds of thoughts away and he'd always known the day would come when he'd have to shut them down to protect himself and his unit.
"Alec!" she laughed as she pushed him back, twisting away from him and rolling back to her feet. When she'd met his eyes hers were wide and terrified. She cleared her throat. "494," she said, the slightest tremble in her voice.
"Alec?" he questioned.
Her gaze had darted away and he'd nearly smirked at how anxious she was. He didn't though because the moment was too serious for that. "Someone from the outside...lost myself for a minute," she lied.
"Liar," he called her out.
Her nostrils flared and her eyes glinted as she met his gaze defiantly. "Fine. I named you Alec."
He tilted his head, amusement flashing through his eyes even though he knew that the fact that she was naming him meant that she was slipping further away. "When?"
She shrugged. "When I got fed up with your smart ass remarks."
A slow smirk finally spread across his lips. "So day one?" he joked.
"Somethin' like that," she agreed as she relaxed in relief.
Just before they got back into sparring position he caught her gaze, his serious and full of warning. "I appreciate the name, 452, but don't ever call me by that again."
Surprise and hurt had flashed through her expression before dawning realization and she had nodded in agreement, shooting him a sad smile before launching her attack.
He sometimes asked himself why he hadn't reported his suspicions when she'd first joined his unit. He'd had plenty of cause to do so long before any...feelings emerged. He hadn't then and he couldn't now.
He shut his eyes tightly when he heard the commotion. The blaring alarms, barking dogs and shouting voices. He'd heard the grating sound of the brick on the other side of his cell wall about twenty minutes earlier and something in him just knew that she wouldn't be back this time.
~DA~
Max still couldn't say what it was that finally decided for her that she had to get out, only that she knew that if she stayed any longer she would be too attached to leave them behind. Once she'd made the decision she'd followed through immediately, before she could remind herself of all the reasons she'd been holding herself back. She didn't allow herself to think of her new unit and their burgeoning trust in her or her CO and his smirking hazel green eyes. She just let instinct guide her as she propelled herself over the barbed wire fence and ran away from the barking dogs and alarms that so loudly announced her betrayal.
Once she entered Seattle proper she sank down against a dank graffiti filled wall and let the choked sobs loose. She couldn't help but wonder if her unit had already been pulled from their cells and relocated to the torture rooms. She sucked in a deep breath and pushed herself back up. She needed to get to Logan, she still had a lot of work to do.
~DA~
A plan started to come together though she didn't really know if it was any better than the one that had led to her capture in the first place. It had been nearly two months since she escaped for the second time. Two months since she'd ended up in Logan's penthouse where he'd been working on a pretty solid homeless look. They'd kissed and she'd eventually pulled away realizing that they spark that they had just begun to acknowledge nearly a year earlier had burned out.
Logan had been devastated by her refusal to reignite what had once been between them but he'd set to work with her on taking down Manticore for good. She knew that he believed that if she got some closure she might reconsider things between them. Maybe he was right, maybe it was guilt and Stockholm syndrome that had contributed to her feelings for Alec.
She had never been able to tell him and the rest of her new unit that the plan was always to come back for them. She couldn't trust them with her plans no matter how badly she hadn't wanted them to hate her in the wake of her escape. She suspected that Alec had known what she was planning, the escape part at least. He hadn't ever sold her out though so maybe she was wrong. Or, maybe, he felt for her what she'd felt for him and he just couldn't bring himself to turn her in.
In the end, they never really got a chance to enact their flimsy plan because when Logan put out the Eye's Only hack that was supposed to put everything in motion it led to an entirely different domino effect. It was only because they were close by that they knew about the explosions rocking the complex and Lydecker's warning about their fail safe system rang through her ears as she threw open the van door and blurred towards the flaming building.
She jumped the fence, the X-7's not paying her any attention as they watched the inferno that was burning away their home, and ran as quickly as she possibly could to the doors. She used all her strength to shoulder through the locked metal doors, stumbling through them and coughing as smoke filled her lungs. She heard the shouts and screams from behind locked metal cells as the heat rose and the flames grew closer.
She had made it her mission to map out as much of the building as she could when she'd been recaptured so she quickly made her way to the control room. It had been left unguarded, all the purely human inhabitants having already left the building and it's 'property' behind them. Max immediately started in on the keyboards, her fingers flying over the keys as she unlocked each cell and cell block.
When she was satisfied she'd opened them all she ran back out into the heated corridors towards the block her unit had been housed in. 510 was shepherding everyone out and demanding calm when she made her appearance. "Where's 494?" she demanded.
"What the fuck do you care?" 246 spat as her ice blue eyes landed on Max. It wasn't a surprise, 246 had never warmed up to Max. In part because of her status as a traitor but Max also had a theory that she had beyond friendly feelings towards Alec and hadn't appreciated him treating Max as an equal.
Max ignored the blonde and caught 510's eye. "Where is he?"
510 hesitated, looking at her with betrayal, anger and reluctance but another explosion rocked the building and had him refocusing on the task at hand. "Psy-ops," he told her shortly. "Lower level."
Guilt grasped at her but she shook it off as she nodded. "Get them out, I'll find him," she promised.
"452—" 510 started to say, but she was already gone.
~DA~
It was complete chaos, 510 guided his unit to fresh air before going back and helping other transgenics and transhumans out. He itched to go after 452 and find his CO but he knew that 494 would want him doing exactly as he was so he made the decision to trust that the 09'er would follow through on her promise.
"We need to find 494," 246 yelled out, fear and anger sharpening her tone.
"She's right, man. No way would he leave one of us in there," 807 agreed.
"452 went back for him," 510 told him. "We need to get the others out before it's too late."
"You expect us to trust her to get him out? She's the reason he's down there in the first place! Shit, man, you know she's the reason we almost got barbecued!" 631 scoffed.
510 squared up and turned to face the unit he was temporarily in command of. "Most of us saw a side of 452 beyond her status as a traitor during the time she was in our unit. Do any of you really believe she'd choose to come back here if she didn't intend to try and get us out?" Other than a few mumbles that he chose to ignore no one had a reply for him. "Didn't think so. Now we get to work. Looks like 969 could use a hand getting his unit free of the debris," he ordered.
~DA~
Max skidded to a halt when she reached the psy-ops rooms, the smoke was thick making it hard to breathe and to see. She cocked her head and tried to listen to the sounds beyond the yelling coming from the transgenics and the groaning of the building as it shifted and crumbled around her. A few cells down she heard a clatter and quickly made her way towards it.
Her breath caught as she took in the sight of Alec, strapped down to the table, eye held open. The laser had been knocked off course during one of the explosions so he was relatively aware of his surroundings. She quickly made her way up to him, undoing the restraints around his ankles, waist and wrists. He reached up and pulled off the eye guard with a groan.
"Alec?" Max asked as she helped him swing his legs around to the side of the table he had been stretched out on.
"452?" he grunted out, wary and surprised eyes finding hers.
"We gotta jet," she told him urgently, coughing as smoke filled the room.
"Trick," he muttered as he pushed her away.
Max grasped his face in her hands. "Not a trick, Alec, I promise. Manticore betrayed you all and enacted a fail safe that blew the building. 510 and the rest of your unit are outside waiting for you. I promised them I'd get you out so we gotta go now," she implored him.
He started to shake his head, refusing to believe it wasn't a trick so she did the only thing she could think of. She pulled his face to her and kissed him. He pulled back in surprise, wide eyes catching hers. "Please Alec? We gotta go before the whole building goes up."
Awareness seemed to filter in as his eyes took in the hazy room, as he breathed in the heavy smell of smoke and flame and heard the desperate calls from transgenics trying to find each other. He pushed himself to his feet, tilting a little bit as he fought for balance on shaky legs. Max came to his side immediately and the two of them staggered their way through the wreckage.
The journey out of the building seemed to take an eternity as they constantly had to find new routes through the debris or find ways around areas that had been completely engulfed. Once they were out Alec's unit surrounded them immediately. Max looked around as they asked their CO how he was and noticed that most of the compound was now empty.
"Gave the order to go to ground," 510 told her, we were just waiting for you two before following suit."
"Manticore did this?" Alec asked, voice raw from disuse and smoke inhalation.
"Seems like. All the ordinaries retreated before the first explosion hit. I overheard the orders to evacuate on one of the walkies just before the first bomb went off," 510 replied.
"Why?" 631 asked.
"Me," Max breathed out. "Well...not just me. Eye's Only put out a hack that gave out the location of this compound. We didn't think they enact the fail safe so quickly though."
"But you knew they'd bomb us. Why they hell would you do that?" 246 seethed.
"To get you out!" Max shot back. "To stop them from using us as toys. Because I couldn't stand the thought of leaving you all behind."
246 scoffed. "So you just made the decision to take away the only home those of us who aren't traitors have ever known."
"Leave it 6," Alec told the blonde warily. "What's done is done."
"So what now?" 807 asked.
Alec looked towards the star filled sky for a moment as he contemplated their next move. "Manticore will find out their extermination plan went sideways and they'll make their next move."
"Capture?" 510 asked.
Alec shook his head. "Kill," he replied. "They wouldn't have tried to get rid of billions of dollars of R&D if they didn't have a fall back plan and want us dead. We go to ground. You all know the contact number. When it's safe you get burners and we keep in touch through them. Keep your barcodes covered or lasered. Don't trust any rendezvous signals they might try to give," he ordered. He sighed deeply as he met the eyes of each one of his unit mates. "You all know how to survive out in the real world, just treat this like a deep cover op and you'll be fine."
There was a long moment of silence as they all took each other in for what could very well be the last time. "Yes sir," they each said with a nod to him before turning and going in their separate directions.
Max took a deep breath and turned to face Alec when they were the only two remaining. "Are you going to ground too?" she asked hesitantly.
"You should too," he answered with a nod.
She slowly shook her head. "I have a home."
Alec shot her a halfhearted smirk. "Yeah," he acknowledged as his eyes wandered over the burned out shell that used to be his home.
"Max! Thank god!" a voice yelled out. She turned towards where Logan was running towards them, the whirl of the exoskeleton reaching their ears. "We need to go, emergency services have been dispatched to put out the blaze," he told her through gasping breaths as he came to a halt in front of them.
"Logan, this is Alec. Alec, Logan," she introduced.
"Hey," Alec acknowledged briefly, ignoring the hand that Logan and awkwardly stretched out.
"You could come with me," Max entreated.
Alec shook his head. "I have some things I need to get set up. Things are unstable right now and our people will need me."
He backed a step away before hesitating and catching her eyes again. "Remember the number I gave you a couple months back?"
Max frowned as she thought back to the time he'd spouted a number at her and told her to remember it before an away mission, she hadn't known what it meant but she'd remembered every digit. "Yeah?"
"That's how you can reach me if you need me," he told her. "Good luck, Max."
"What if you need to reach me?" she asked as he started to walk away.
"You have a home, remember?" he teased as he drifted further away from her. "I'll find you."
Those last three words drifted back to her as he faded into the shadows. Logan grabbed her arm and she let him guide her back in the direction of the van.
~DA~
In the four months since Manticore had burned down Max had come across a few transgenics and transhumans. None of them had been a part of her unit but most had known who she was. She had helped a couple of them out of a sticky situation only to have them reach for a phone, call a number and disappear before she could say 'you're welcome'. She knew the number, it was his.
Many of the transhumans were making a home within Terminal City, which had been condemned after being declared a biohazard. They were mostly safe from humans, at least from any humans that anyone would believe were they to say that they'd seen a giant talking dog or lizard man.
Alec hadn't been wrong when he'd said that Manticore would try to kill them once they'd found out they hadn't been successful the first time. She'd heard of groups of transgenics being gathered up, following rendezvous signals only to be shot down. She'd saved a few kids from that very fate.
It was from them that she found out how the number Alec had given her had become so well known. A few years earlier one of Manticore's especially experimental units had become a little too independent so they'd been given orders for one last mission where they'd been separated and executed. Alec, 510 and, surprisingly, 969 had all been in the area on a separate mission and had witnessed it.
After that the three leaders had set up an emergency line just for transgenics and once they'd gotten back to base had set about spreading the word. Just in case they were ever betrayed by command or in trouble out in the field they'd have a way to reach out for help. The rumor mill, being as strong as it was, pieced together the events that had led up to it once the exterminated unit failed to ever come home and Alec, 510 and 969 had never denied that there was truth to it.
The kids that had told her the story called the number as soon as they got to a safe place and went their separate ways from her once they were given coordinates.
Max had watched them leave with a heavy sense of loss. The loss of a sense of community she was missing out on due to her refusal to leave Seattle. Sometimes she wondered why she was so insistent on staying. She and Logan weren't ever gonna happen, she hadn't ever been able to dredge the feelings she'd once had back up and he was now moving on with a woman named Asha who was also in a position to help him with his EO missions. She had Original Cindy and Sketchy, of course, but they were really the only things holding her there anymore.
~DA~
When eight months after the fall of Manticore she'd finally called the number and requested 494 she'd been denied access to him, apparently he wasn't in a position to take calls at that time but they gave her coordinates to meet someone at. She'd said her goodbyes to OC, Sketch and Logan, assuring them that she wouldn't be a stranger and she'd call as often as she could. Then she'd gathered Joshua, Mole and the other transhumans willing to leave with her and set off to the rendezvous site.
Word had gotten out about their existence, she knew that they wouldn't be able to keep it secret forever. Not with so many of them out there. The lynchings had started when the heat sensors got popular with the sector police. It was nearly impossible for even the most ordinary transgenic to blend in with the crowds anymore. The transhumans had become bigger and bigger targets especially once they'd been seen inside Terminal City.
Max had finally made the decision to join her people in whatever network Alec had long ago got set up. It had been a hard decision to make but ultimately she felt she'd owed Joshua and all the rest of them her help and allegiance. After all, they wouldn't be under attack from those that had created them if it hadn't been for her.
They reached the coordinates and a grin stretched across her lips as 510 stepped out to greet them. "510," she said with a nod.
"Biggs now, actually," he corrected with a smirk. "Alec told us you go by Max."
Her grin widened. "He kept the name," she mused, pleased.
Biggs scoffed. "Proudly," he joked with a wink. "If he'd known it was you calling in he probably would have come pick you guys up himself."
"Where we going?" she asked with a tilt of her head.
"Somewhere safe," he promised with a warm grin. She looked to the transhumans standing by her side and nodded.
"Better be right about this, Queen B," Mole grumbled as he climbed into the old school bus Biggs had brought. Max just grinned at the lizard man. She hadn't had such a good feeling about a decision in a long time.
~DA~
It had been a lot of work, setting the network up and putting all the pieces in place but it had been worth it. Alec and Biggs had scouted out a lot of buildings before settling on a large remote old school building situated out in the vast Montana countryside. It had long since been abandoned, decommissioned after the pulse. It was far enough from civilization that they didn't have to worry about being discovered so long as they were careful.
After setting up safety protocols they'd gotten in contact with the rest of their unit and had given them the coordinates. They'd been there within a week and had gone about setting up rendezvous coordinates in different parts of the neighboring states to facilitate the transfer of transgenics seeking refuge. Their system ensured that they were able to vet any new arrivals before they were given the location of the actual safe house.
The more people that came the more they were able to retrofit the school to meet their needs. Bedrooms, training rooms, offices and headquarters. It already came equipped with a cafeteria and kitchen so the mess hall just needed supplies. Everyone was able to leave as they pleased but if they wanted to return they had to go through the vetting process again for their safety and that of everyone else.
He sometimes wondered how he'd found himself in the position he was in now. He, Biggs and Novak (formerly known as 969), once he'd arrived, had become the de facto leaders simply by virtue of creating the emergency line in the first place. Alec had been voted Commanding Officer a few months earlier and it certainly kept him busy.
"New arrivals are here," Steph (formerly 246) announced, peeking into his office.
"Thanks Steph," he muttered as he pushed the papers he'd been looking over to the side and stood to go greet them. He tried to be there to meet all the new arrivals and get them signed in. He was able to size them up easier if he knew who was who straight out the gate.
He got stopped a few times on his way outside as different issues were brought to his attention. He was still talking to Novak when he finally got to the bus yard. The wind shifted just enough that he caught her sent on the breeze and his eyes snapped up and immediately caught hers.
She grinned as she took in the sight of him. A lazy grin stretched across his face as he returned the favor. "Took ya long enough," he called out as he strolled closer. "I figured curiosity would have gotten the better of you months ago." He'd had a few groups of arrivals tell him about the female transgenic known as Max who had helped them out over in Seattle over the months.
Max shrugged. "I've always been stubborn."
"Well if it isn't the 09'er," Novak spoke up causing Alec to roll his eyes and Max to tense up. "Guess we owe you a thanks for not leaving us all behind this time, eh?" he continued with a smirk and a nod towards Max. "We can finish this later, Alec," he suggested as he turned to go back to the training rooms.
"You guys already been all signed in?" Alec asked as he came to a stop before the group of transhumans and Max.
"Done and done," Biggs replied for them. "We got Joshua, Mole, Dix, Luke and Timber here with Max."
"I'm Alec. Biggs here can get you rooms, work assignments and show you around," Alec told them with a nod. He turned his attention back towards the X5 who had captured his attention what felt like forever ago and hadn't left his thoughts since. "C'mon, Max, ready for the grand tour?" he asked with a grin.
~DA~
It was impressive, all that they had built over the last eight months. It had some structure and rigidity but enough freedom to prevent it from being a 'New Manticore'. "So...969 seemed different."
"Novak," Alec updated her. "He's always been a bit of a dick but he cares about his own...back at Manticore that just didn't include you," he said with a helpless shrug.
Max just nodded. "I get it." She looked at him from the corner of her eye as he finished up her tour. "How are you?"
"I'm alright, how about you Maxie?" he asked with grin.
"Better now," she told him. "I was worried when you'd disappeared after two months of psy-ops," she confided.
His eyes slid away from her, shuttering a little at the reminder. "I was fine. Biggs stayed behind despite my order to go to ground and got me all patched up," he told her.
"He's a good friend," she acknowledged.
"The best," he agreed before continuing on to show her to the room that would be hers.
~DA~
Over the few months following her arrival at Transgenic City Max had worked her way up to a position of respect. She'd had the most experience in the outside world and had gained the respect of most of the city's inhabitants just by virtue of her roll in getting them out of Manticore alive despite her roll of almost getting them killed in the first place. She wasn't accepted by everyone but those who despised her were now the minority rather than the majority and she was happy with those stats.
They were working with the governments to get citizenship and had been so far successful in keeping their location hidden from them and from what remained of Manticore. It was kind of funny, really, that the actions their creators had taken to kill them just might end up leading to their legalized freedom.
She sat in bed going over some paperwork when the door banged open and a loud moan sounded out as Alec stumbled into the bedroom and collapsed face first beside her. He'd been busy dealing with the politics the last few days and had barely been home let alone been able to sleep.
Max smiled and put her papers to the side. "Come on big guy, lets get you out of those clothes," she said as she began removing his boots and jeans.
"No time," he muttered sleepily.
Max laughed as she finished pulling them off. He rolled so that he was on his side facing her as she slid back into bed. He threw an arm over her waist and was out before she could ask how his meetings went.
She leaned down and pressed kiss to his forehead, smiling against him as his arm tightened and pulled her closer in his sleep. She smiled fondly as she watched him, smoothing some hair back from his brow. They had a long ways to go and a lot of work ahead of them but she wouldn't trade what they had for anything in the world.