No Need To Argue

By Sorrow Reminisce

Chapter One

There's no need to argue anymore

Time stopped, it seemed the world around her had fallen silent in grief as she felt the surrounding buildings close in on her like giant towering gods. Condemning her for causing this happen. Only vaguely aware of someone standing beside her, she felt her mind explode into pieces. Seems those missiles had gotten in there too.

I gave all I could but you left me so sore

Unable to cope with the pain of this loss, Max's mind recoiled against the emotional blast that ricocheted through her. Instinctively, she allowed herself to sink into the almost-comforting detachment that came of the military training she had undergone half her lifetime ago. Old habits die hard.

Allowing her body to switch into auto-pilot, she felt as if she were floating above everything, looking at life through a bubble. A part of life, but detached from it at the same time. Given the circumstances, she didn't want to feel anything ever again.

When a voice interrupted the silence, she was curiously aware to find her body turning to hug the person beside her. She even found words within the banks of her memory to soothe this person's anguish. Funny that she could give someone comfort when all she wanted to do was dig herself a hole and jump into it.

From her viewpoint above, Max watched as the other person then turned abruptly and left. Neither caring if she’d scared or simply sent him away, Max was just relieved he was gone.

The numbness which had enabled her bruised and battered body to come this far, had been phased out at last. Unable to escape the inevitable, the onslaught of emotions that come when you loose a love you didn't even know you had, Max stumbled forward. Collapsing under the weight of her sorrow at last.

Dropping to her knees, Max drew the body closer towards her until she was cradling it in her arms. Smoothing back the dark brown hair that had clamped to the blood-soaked brow, she leant forward and kissed the cold skin. Wishing she could kiss away the death that hung about her like a thick blanket of prophesised doom.

And the thing that makes me mad is the one thing that I had

As her lips pressed softly against the damp cold skin, she drew in ragged breathes and the tears which she had so carefully held in check - all of her life it seemed, finally descended like a black cloud that had at last found release. Sobbing aloud, she drew away and shook the body in the hope of shaking out some signs of life, as waves of anguish drove into her, piercing her bruised and battered soul.

All the things she should have said, along with all the things she should never have said, crowded her mind; filling it to burst. A thousand ghosts howling at once, a thousand things she should have changed. A thousand sharpened spears of guilt driving into her as she rattled the lifeless body, hoping, praying even, that she'd be granted the chance to bring him back. So she could kick his arse one last time.

I knew, I knew I'd lose you

She had spent half the morning so far, scouring the rubble that was left of Terminal City, searching for signs of life. At first, she had told herself she was looking for anyone. Everyone. But after passing so many bodies of those she had come to know and love... Dix, Mule and the numerous X-series and Nomolies who had sought refuge within these toxic grounds, her hunt became more frantic for one specific person. One person who she needed now more than ever. And he didn't even know she cared.

You’ll always be special to me

She ignored her own injuries as she stumbled over the remnants of what she had come to know of as home. No longer did she see the bloodied bodies lying where they had fallen - or where they had been torn apart. Instead her mind flashed continuously to the past year. The times she had shared with the person whom she sought. The times that she had never appreciated until this day. And the moment when her whole world was ripped wide open and gutted by a series of blasts that no one had seen coming. So much for friends in high places.

And I remember all the things we once shared

Looking back on it, the bickering that had gone on between them was like... terms of endearment. At least, she hoped he'd seen it that way. Though she had the uneasy feeling that some of her more cutting remarks had hurt far more than she could ever perceive. He was just good at deflecting her negativity. She shuddered at the thought that he could die without knowing the truth.

And with that shudder, followed another, brought about by the thought of having to go through life without ever again indulging in his light-hearted banter and the cheeky smile which had slowly but surely broken down all of her emotional defences.

Somehow she had gone from hating him or at the very least feeling apathy towards the guy, to realising he was her comrade, her partner in crime, and one of the few sources of fun in her life. At some point during these past few months, he had wriggled his way into her heart and made himself at home. And she'd been too damn stubborn to admit until now, he wasn't anything like the screw-up she'd made him out to be.

>He didn't deserve the harsh words she had thrown at him in the past. He didn't deserve anything she had put him through. There was enough human in her to realise that she had to let him know he was a friend. Not the pain in the ass she always made him out to be. She owed that to him. If nothing else.

As she stumbled her way across rubble, too shocked and exhausted for her own catlike agility, she reflected upon the time she'd spent an hour holed up with him in a closet. The events of that day had taught her a lesson she had only learnt too late.

Trapped in that confined space, with no choice but to listen to his incessant chatter, he had confronted her with the very same questions her own innate sense of reasoning had been trying voice. Questions she recklessly chose to ignore. "Tell me--tell me that he's worth all this trouble, Max. I mean, tell me how he...how he rocks your world. Something."
She couldn't tell him anything of the sort.

But she remembered the way he made her feel as they waited that length of time for the guards to change shift. Well, asides from irritated, he made her feel... alive. He fired her up with his smart-aleck remarks and blatant honesty. He knew her better then she knew herself.

And with every moment that she spent in his company he reminded her that she was on this earth to LIVE. Not to merely exist. She needed him. With him, she had the chance to feel something more than nothing.

*Where are you?* She'd whispered to herself desperately as she stood atop a high mound of shattered buildings. Her enhanced vision scoured the scattered chunks of concrete and steel that lay around her and the crumbled buildings that stretched out before her. Here and there, the living struggled with the dead. Like her, searching for signs of life.

She heard the sudden sharp cry of a baby somewhere to her right and turned to see Gem slipping on a piece of rubble and throwing out one arm to protect the baby she held in the other. To Max's relief, her new friend was steadied by Dalton, the young X6 who was Gem's constant companion and assigned protector.

But they say it will work out fine

Not all had perished in the series of explosions that had ruptured the silence of early morning and thrown everyone's life into a frenzied battle against a force they couldn't possibly stand up to - the force of a missile attack by unfair enemies who rained death upon them from the skies.

Her people were strong. This was exactly what they were designed for. Warfare. But the transgenics were unprepared for this assault from above, and caught off guard. And soon the enemy would be sending in the infantry to finish where the missiles had left off.

A voice within her whispered that she should be helping attend the wounded, gather intelligence, plan a way to defend themselves against further onslaught. Flee. But she could do none of these things. She had to find him, nothing else mattered. No one else mattered. Not even herself.

Was it all a waste of time

She had set these people 'free', not thinking at the time that her kind had never succeeded in their quest for freedom in the past. Since she had escaped with a small group of fellow X5's in '09, they had been constantly hunted. If not by those who created and trained them, then by a darker enemy.

The ones she had released from the blazing fire of Manticore had never shared Max's desire for independence. They had no prior experience in autonomy. The world can be a hostile place, especially towards that which it can't understand. And so rather then finding freedom, these people were hunted down like rabid dogs. But 'ignorance is bliss' or so the saying goes, and she had tried to forget the people she had unleashed upon the world.

For all her talk of family sticking together, she had effectively turned her back on them. Maybe bailing one or two out of trouble here and there relieved her conscience for a while but truth be told, she was too wrapped up in her own personal drama to care about anyone else's.

She'd deserted Zack, and he'd given up his life for her. He had literally given her his heart and she had returned the favour by giving him a Manticore-style dose of electric shock treatment. Well, one small comfort was that at least he was probably safe. Where ever he was.

She had expected Alec to adjust to life outside of Manticore in the same amount of time it had taken him to learn the piano. She'd been in the 'real world' half her life, and she was still adjusting. Hell, even Superman had problems coping with his identity. How could she have expected Alec to be a candidate for a Citizenship Award?

Shaking her head in self-disgust, she roamed further towards the fringes of Terminal City. Alec had been planning to meet with Sketchy and discuss a pro-transgenic article for New World Weekly. Seems the editor was supportive of the transgenics and their lost cause.

Maybe he wasn't even in Terminal City, or perhaps he had been on his way back when the attack began. Stands to reason that he would use the wee hours of the morning when most ordinaries were asleep to sneak in un-noticed.

A flicker of hope sparked in Max's mind and ignited for a blissful moment, chasing out the demons which were gathering within the shadows of her conscience. The more she thought about it, the more likely it was that he'd still be alive. Probably recovering from a long night of beer and hookers with their pal Sketch.

Strangely, the thought of Alec indulging in such things was comforting to her right now. If it meant he'd still be alive then hell, he could be out in a forest chasing down men and ripping out their teeth right now for all she cared.
So long as he would come back to her and give her one of those cocky grins, she could handle anything else life would throw at her. And she really needed one of those grins right now.

But before she could carry on that merry train of thought, a voice cried her name, breaking through the eerie silence of her surroundings.

Slowly she turned to see an X6, Ajhan, running towards her. Alec was like a big brother to Ajhan and the kid never left his side. He even camped out on Alec's couch most nights, unwilling to be away from his Mentor.

Max both adored and felt tremendous sorrow for the kid. The rest of his unit had been gunned down by White's men after Manticore had gone down. He was just fortunate that he'd run in the opposite direction after leaving the confinements of his cell - and had never been too good at reading signals. Somehow, Alec had become his unit now. His family.

Skidding to a halt in front of Max, eyes wide with shock, he stammered out a few barely audible words before the stress of it all overwhelmed him and he collapsed into Max's arms. Alarmed at this display of weakness coming from a soldier, albeit a young soldier, she felt those few short tendrils of hope slip away from her like dandelion seeds, blowing away on the breeze.

Maintaining her patience to the best of her ability, she gently took Ajhan by his shoulders and pulled him back from her. Looking into his eyes, she took a deep breath to steady her voice and asked, "Where is he?"

Cause I knew, I knew I'd lose you

Ajhan led her to the remnants of an alleyway amongst a cluster of what had once been buildings, but were now nothing more than giant gravestones for the dead buried beneath. The dead who would most likely never be laid to rest.

Stretched out on the ground lay a body, and of course Max knew who it was even before she saw his beautiful blood-caked face. Among his many other injuries, a long piece of metal jutted out from his stomach. Sickly, Max briefly imagined it had torn through all his intestinal tubes. Even if he were still alive, there was nothing any one could do except watch him die.

Will I forget in time?

"I found him here. I didn't mean to lose him, he told me to stay behind and watch the fence till he returned. Stand guard for him." The small voice beside her cracked slightly beneath the weight of unshed tears.

"I did just that, but when they started firing on us, and the buildings started to collapse, I ran. I took cover. I didn't even know he'd returned until I stumbled across him lying here!"

Somehow forgetting her own misery for the moment, Max drew Ajhan into her arms and let him cry into her shoulder. "I'm so sorry Ajhan. I'm so sorry you had to be the one to find him".

"I stayed with him, hoping he'd wake up. But I heard others calling out. I heard people shouting to come and help them. I thought I could find help too. If only I had done so sooner!"

"There's nothing anyone could do" came Max's increasingly detached reply. "You did well to stick by him."

During her search, she had felt almost void of emotion. Unable to cope with her fears, it was easier to push her feelings aside and focus on finding Alec. But at last the events of the day caught up on her, forcing the horror and pain to the surface at last. Without Alec in her life, she hoped she would feel numb forever, so that she'd never have to deal with the torment and grief that accompanied this loss.

There’s no need to argue

Needing to be alone, Max adopted a commanding voice and prepared to bark out orders. It was what Ajhan needed. It was what they all needed. Herself included. Except for once in her life, Max wished she could be taking orders from someone else.

"Now soldier, I need you to head back towards the medic-centre. Even if it no longer stands, that's where anyone still alive would have gone. Find a couple of people to come with a stretcher. We're taking Alec home." *Where ever home may be* she silently added to herself.

"Yes Ma'am!" Ajhan replied before turning and heading back the way they'd come.

At last, Max had found the person she had been searching for. Now she was left to deal with her grief.

There’s no need to argue anymore

It seemed the tears would never stop flowing, that this pain would cling to her like a shroud forever. Why is it that you never seem to appreciate what you have until it's gone? Max asked herself.

Perhaps because you're too busy looking in the wrong direction came the reply. Little voices inside the head can be so unbearably loud sometimes.

As Max ran her fingers down Alec's still, expressionless cheek, she felt a faint muscle spasm beneath her fingertips. Her breath caught in her throat and she held onto it, not daring to move. Sharp feline eyes focused intensely on his face, waiting to see whether the movement had been real, or wishful thinking.

Several lifetimes passed by in the space of one minute, but the muscle spasm was not repeated. With her own heart beat increasing, Max laid a finger upon the side of Alec's throat to check for a pulse. At first, it seemed there was none. But then she felt it, faint, but unmistakably real beneath her sensitive touch. Could this be real? She was no longer sure.

"Hey, hey wake up Alec. Please, just open your eyes?" Pleading, Max cut off the urge to pry open his eyelids herself. She silently promised that if he woke up, she'd never say horrible hurtful things to him again. She promised that she'd be totally honest with him. "There's so much that I have to say to you, and while you're in my arms, you're going to have to hear it, so wake up!"

But there was no reply from Alec. Not even a twitch. His body lay as still and silent as the dead.

"Damn you Alec!" Max screamed in frustration as she gave his shoulders a particularly violent shake. With no regards to the large metal object protruding from his stomach. "This is not the time for laziness! Wake up God-damned it! Bip, bip, bip soldier boy!"

Max's voice was cracked and hoarse as she was overcome by emotions that had never before been accepted. With a will of their own, words tumbled out of her mouth as she alternated between pounding his shoulder and just plain trying to squeeze the marrow from his bones.

“I hate you for doing this to me! You can’t die Alec please? You can’t leave me here alone! Just please, wake up?"

So intent was she on venting her misery that she didn't notice his face occasionally wince in pain, or the breath he struggled to drag into his lungs.

"Why can't you be serious for once and stop playing around? Do you want me to run through all the reasons why I love you before you open your eyes?"

Her own final words stunned her into silence. Love him huh? Where the hell had that come from? Her mind couldn't comprehend this final thought and promptly shut down on her.

It was during that pause in her tirade that she finally blinked away her tears long enough to take a deep breath and look down upon Alec's face. And at the eyes that had opened and were staring intently at her.

For a long moment, Max could do nothing but stare back. And then she smiled and said the first thing that came into her mind.

"You jerk. I'm so gonna kick your ass."

"Max... " Alec's brow furrowed as a stab of pain cut into him. "Max I'm feeling a strange sense of de-ja vu"

"You're going to be okay" Those words were as false as the smile she forced upon her lips and they both knew it.

"I didn't think I'd ever see you again Maxie." He smiled a little as he reached up to tentatively run a finger down her cheek. "I'm dying Max."

"Just hold on because Ajhan's gone to get help. It's not as bad as it looks - really. So don't be talking to me about dying cause you're not gonna get away from me that easily okay?" She was practically choking on her lies now. So much for honesty.

"I tried to find you Max. I wanted have the chance to..." His words were interrupted by racking coughs and Max was alarmed to see fresh blood ooze out of his large abdominal wound.

"Shhh" she whispered, trying to smile but failing miserably at the effort. Alec lay in her arms dying. So much time had been wasted on the wrong person. So many opportunities she had chosen to ignore because of a stupid dream to be a 'real girl'. Who did she think she was - Pinocchio?

Right here and now was the only chance she had left to try and put things right. Alec didn't have to die without knowing he was the most important person in her world, but the window of opportunity was slipping out of her grasp. Rather like sands through an hourglass.

It chilled her that Alec's voice was so weak, it barely sounded like his own. She had half expected him to flash her a grin and crack a joke at the situation he was in. "If this is what it took to be so close to your breasts, I would have thrown myself upon a steel truss long ago." Would have been a fitting remark from Mr Smarty Pants.

But as she looked into eyes that were so filled with pain and fear, Max realised he was too numbed by agony, and the anticipation of his own impending death, to care for wisecracks.

She felt as if her very soul had been torn asunder at the realisation she would never be privy to his collection of one-liners ever again. Alec was the master of witticism, who else could she steal great phrases from?

"There's so many things I should have done different" She whispered as she gently stoked his forehead. It all seemed a horrible nightmare as she watched how his eyes struggled to remain focused. "I've spent my life searching for a home, and I only know now that home is any place where I can wake up next to you."

Alec's eyes widened in surprise as he was temporarily drawn back into consciousness by this revelation. Confusion flashed across his features as her words sunk into his mind.

For a few moments, Alec's mouth opened and closed soundlessly, then he drew in a ragged breath and whispered, "I've tried to find you for so long Maxie. I wanted the chance to show you how much I've changed, that I'm not a failure. I just don't understand how can you care so much about me after all that I've done?"

Max's heart broke to hear these words. If he died right now, at this very moment, then he would die believing himself to be the looser she'd always made him out to be.

"No, you're not a failure. I'm the one who failed you. I left you to face this world by yourself and expected you to cope without any support. I failed you. I failed all of you."

"I tried to do things right Maxie. Just that sometimes I didn't know who I was. Sometimes I wished I was back in Manticore. I needed you Max. You have no idea how much I needed you."

Alec's voice broke with long suppressed emotions on those final words but this only caused him to start a new round of coughing. This time, blood tricked from his mouth. And as he drew in breaths to calm himself, Max could hear a bubbling sound coming from within him on each in and out take.

"I'm so sorry, please believe me?" Max drew closer to Alec and rested her cheek upon his head. "You were right. Logan doesn’t rock my world. You’re the rock in my world, I need you to lean against, to hold me up. I can’t do this without you."

Reaching up to wipe away her tears and brush his fingers across her lips, he smiled weakly "You know I've always loved you Max. Even at my worst, I always loved you."

"I know. I just wish I could turn back time and change everything for you. For both of us." They were meant to be together. There was no one else for either of them. Somewhere along the lines, the universe had stuffed up.

www.boomspeed.com/blahdeblah/BenMax1Chp2.jpg" name="img4768" id="img4768" alt="" border="0"> Alec was so busy trying not drown in his own blood, Max wasn't sure if he could even hear her. Taking into attention the condition of his injuries, Max drew him closer into her arms and kissed his forehead, her lips lingering upon his skin as she inhaled his scent. A scent tainted by blood and death.

She didn't know where she was finding the strength to hold it together. She put it down to sheer determination to make their final moments together as calm and peaceful as possible. There would be plenty of time for tears later. Like the rest of her life.

It wasn’t fair. Why was he the one who lay here dying? Why couldn’t it be her? How could she be expected to remain in this world without Alec? This had to be wrong. A mistake. She’d surely wake up soon and find it all to be a long, painful dream.

She took one of his hands into her own as she felt his efforts to breath grow weaker. As if somehow she could keep his soul within him that much longer.

Smiling at the idea of her own death, she felt light-headed. Her own world seemed to be fading to black as she felt Alec slip away. Perhaps if she wished hard enough, she could share his death.

“It’s going to okay" She said reassuringly. “This world sucks anyhow. I’m going to stay here with you, and we’re going to be together in the good place. No one can hunt us there. We’re free."

He was gone. No longer did he struggle for breath. The hand she held in hers had fallen limp. Tears flowed easily now. She was surprised she still had any left.

Adjusting Alec in her arms, his head tipped back slightly and she couldn't help but smile at how innocent and peaceful he looked. This can‘t be real.. She laid a kiss upon his blood-stained lips and rested her forehead against his. It just feels too wrong to be real.

"I love you Alec" She whispered to him.

Berating herself, she realised she still hadn’t said those words to him before he died. But that was okay. She figured that if she stayed here with him long enough, eventually she too would fade away and join him in the good place.

She smiled again, content in the knowledge that this nightmare would all be over soon. And then she closed her eyes. She was so tired.

“"Max, wake up" A large warm hand pulled back her head and pried her arms away from the body she held in them.

“Max. Max!"

Opening her eyes, Max looked into the large brown ones of Joshua.

"Joshua!" Max cried out both with relief and sadness to see her friend. But the relief was short lived as Joshua pulled her up and away from Alec’s body and started to drag her away.

“Joshua stop! What the hell are you doing? I can’t leave Alec here!"

Joshua looked down at Alec for a moment before tightening his grip on Max’s arm and pulling her along once again. "Max come now. Alec has been looking for you."

Shocked, Max could only stare at Joshua as he rambled on about how Alec had been organising the remaining transgenics into units and planning their escape into the sewers. She couldn't understand this, any of this. How could he not see that Alec was lying dead at their feet?

“Alec is not organising anything except his payment into the next world Joshua! Alec is dead!" It was hard to speak, her mind felt as if it were tearing apart. Words came out with difficulty as though she were speaking underwater.

“Look down at that body Joshua, look at that face. There is Alec, and he’s dead!" She tore herself away from Joshua’s grasp and fell back to the ground beside Alec, throwing her arms around his neck, swearing never again to let him go.

“Max. How can you think that is Alec?"

Joshua was worried about Max. He didn’t know this person she held so tightly to. Perhaps the trauma of the day was simply too much for her. He figured all he could do was pick her up and carry her to their make-shift hospital. Someone would know how to help her. He bent down towards her.

How can you look at this person and say it’s not Alec?" Max’s words were muffled as her face was buried in Alec’s neck. “Just go Joshua, you’re not feeling well. Leave us alone."

Max didn’t know what was going on here. Was this a dream after all? She wasn’t sure, but she was beginning to understand. She was loosing her mind.

Joshua walked over to Max and lay a hand on her shoulder. “Of course he looks like Alec." He spoke to her in a voice one would use when trying to rationalize with a child. “But he’s not Alec."

Mouth open, Max simply stared at her friend - knowing one of them was crazy but not sure who.

Sniffing the air, Joshua continued to try and explain what he meant, although he didn’t understand why Max couldn’t figure it out for herself. “He doesn’t smell like Alec."

Max raised her head at this last remark. “What the hell do you mean?"

Sighing, Joshua searched for the words, but a better idea came to mind. Lifting ‘Alec’s’ head forward to reveal the back of his neck, he said “see, wrong barcode."

Max followed Joshua’s gaze. He was right. The last three lines of the barcode were all the confirmation she needed. Of course he had smelt of blood and death. Of course his voice hadn’t quite sounded like his own.

.

.

www.boomspeed.com/blahdeblah/Ben.jpg" name="img9907" id="img9907" alt="" border="0">

.

The body she held in her arms belonged to Ben.

.

How many times in one day could your heart stand still? How many times before your body finally gave up on restarting itself and gave in to the darkness?

Ben was dead. She had broken his neck herself in the forest as Manticore snipers closed in on them. You don’t just get up and walk away from a broken neck. Life isn’t that easy.
Unless of course, you’re a cat with nine of them.

This was a twist Max hadn’t anticipated. That she could pour out all these feelings at last, and they were to the wrong person. Ben. Poor flawed Ben had died again in her arms - for the final time. And she hadn’t even realised it was him.

Her intense relief to know Alec was alive, was marred by the shock of losing her brother all over again. Never before had she felt such ambivalence as two opposing emotions waged war inside her mind, neither side winning.

“Come Max" Joshua’s soft gruff voice broke her from her thoughts. “We have to go now."

Max leant against her friend and he wrapped his arms around her. She was so, so tired. If only she could just leave this body of hers and let someone else take over it for a while. She didn’t have room within her to deal with a single thing more.

“Not without Ben." Max whispered at last.

Letting go of Max, Joshua knelt to pick Ben up. Max turned her head away as he pulled from Ben’s stomach, the offending object which had caused his death. After doing this, he lifted him into his arms and motioned to Max he was ready. “Come Max"

With the exception of the odd worried look Joshua turned to give Max, there was no interaction between them. Still unable to comprehend that Alec was alive, Max had no idea where she was going, she could be following Joshua into Hell for all she cared. Perhaps she was.

It seemed as if she had been doing this forever: placing one foot in front of the other behind Joshua. She looked up from the ground and noticed Ben’s head had fallen back against the crook of Joshua’s arm. He looked so peaceful. He looked surreal. The sight of him brought fresh pain as memories plagued her. New tears welled up behind red, sore eyes. Max found it was much easier to simply stare back at the ground.

Finally the sound of voices entered Max’s head. She ignored them for a while, figuring it was all part of the insanity of the day. But when at last Joshua stopped walking, and she collided into the back of him, she looked up and discovered the voices hadn’t belonged to her after all. One small relief.

Someone had found Joshua’s flag and propped it up at the top of a mound of rubble. It served as a pillar of strength for those who were left as well as a landmark for the survivors to rally to. Plans to evacuate were well under way, and it wouldn’t be long before the flag also became a target when the Army chose to strike again.

Those few who hadn’t already left TC were gathered here now. Decampment was a work in progress, it was hard to slip past the National Guard and the weary lines of defeat were etched on every face. So many had died, and in a morbid kind of way, it was just as well. It would be easier to escape with fewer of them.
Max scanned the small crowd for faces she knew. For one face in particular.

“Max! What took you so long? " The voice that rang out behind her made her heart beat faster and her stomach churn with trepidation. “Did you bring pizza?"

Turning, she saw Alec standing behind her. Although he smiled and jested, his eyes were sad and serious. Haunted by the death of so many of their kind that day.

Funny how your mind can suddenly become utterly blank when confronted by someone who you hate then love, think is dead, then find to be alive… all in the space of a day. Less than an hour ago Max thought she had been crying over the body of the man who stood this moment in front of her. A man who was watching her expectantly, waiting for something intelligible to come out of her mouth. An insult or two perhaps.

No sound at all was forthcoming. Max had no idea what to say or do. She wanted to simply throw her arms around him and never let go, yet she held back. How would he react to such an uncharacteristic show of affection from her? After all the things she’d said and done to him in the past, why would he even care?

After all, she was the one who had disregarded everything and everyone in her search for him today. Had he even wondered if she survived or not? It was safer not to know. Better just to hold back, lock her heart away in a secret compartment so that nothing could ever rip it out again. After every thing she’d done to him, and after the way she had deserted her people today, she didn’t deserve him.

"Uh hi. Alec" Joshua finally relieved Max from the responsibility of speech, causing Alec to look towards him and notice the body that lay in his arms.

“What the…“ surprise captured an expression on Alec’s face that Max could have found humorous under different circumstances. Joshua too could see the Kodak moment and inappropriately chuffed aloud. The sound was so out of context with the situation, it broke Max‘s trance.

“What the hell is so funny?" Brown eyes blazed in anger as she turned a fiery glare upon her dog-like friend.

“Uh, nothing Max." Joshua lowered his head in embarrassment and decided he’d best depart the scene. Not knowing what else to do, he forced the body into Alec’s arms and quickly headed away from the hurricane he could see brewing within Max’s eyes, while muttering “Sorry Max, sorry" as he went.

Alec now found himself holding the corpse of a person who undoubtedly looked just like himself. What else could he do except ask, “Max why the hell am I standing here holding myself?"

His face crinkled in such a look of confusion, Max could have laughed if she didn’t feel such an overwhelming desire to be violently sick. Seeing Alec standing there holding Ben’s body in his arms was causing bile to rise in her throat. She raised one hand to her forehead while the other hand clenched at her stomach. This was indeed too much.

“Max, please, this is not a time to stand around posing." Alec rolled his eyes in exasperation. “Tell me, when is Mini-me going to run over and grab at my knee? I mean, I know I’m hot but, how many more of me are there out there? I don’t think I can handle all this competition!"

“Alec!" This was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. “Shut up!"

Words fired out of her mouth after that, she had no control over herself. The tough-girl attitude was ingrained into her very soul and even though she had come so close to losing him today, his flippant attitude was almost enough to make her wonder why she cared. Somewhere within her, the quiet voice of reason asked why couldn’t she just be relieved to have him here alive - hadn’t she recently lamented the loss of that unique Alec witticism?

Unfortunately, she had silently asked earlier if someone else could take over her body for a while. At this moment in time, it appeared that wish had been granted.

“Can you just side step your ego for one moment and quit fooling around? How dare you stand here and joke? God, that you even survived today amazes me. It truly does. I expected you to be the first target they’d go for - the guy standing on a rooftop pulling silly faces at the fighter planes!"

Oh yeah, the storm clouds were just rolling into Max’s head now. The rational part of her mind screamed at her to shut up, to stop being so selfish, but she wouldn’t listen. All she wanted to do was ask why he could be so unconcerned for her when she’d spent the past several hours crying for the loss of him?

But she couldn’t ask him that, and so instead she said, “Do you have any idea what’s happened to us today - to our people?"

Alec’s expression turned so cold at that question, Max abruptly shut her mouth. She scanned her brain to recall what she had just said.

“Yes I do have an idea of what happened today Max." Alec’s tone was quite and dangerous. “I was the one who helped pull our dying from the wreckage that surrounded them. Something you should have been doing. I was the one who dug Dix’s grave and made those who could stand, dig the graves of their friends and loved ones. Something you should have been doing."

Max took a step back, away from the pain and anger radiating from the man standing before her. But he hadn’t finished getting his point across yet.

“I was the one who sent scouts to the perimeter of Terminal City to learn how close we are to being invaded by our own country’s army. Something you should have been doing. I was the one who made a count of those able to walk, and paired them with those who couldn’t so no one will be left behind when we move out…Where have you been all this time Max?"

“With you." It made no sense. Nothing she could say would. There really were no simple answers anymore. “I thought you were dead. I thought I was going out of my mind Alec. I’m sorry, I am. You have no idea how many times I’ve said that today…"

Alec’s expression softened as he took in the bedraggled sight of her. Noticing the dejected slump of her shoulders, and the face stained by blood and tears, he felt his anger dissipate. And then her words sunk in.

Had she believed that this body which had been so awkwardly thrust into his arms to be him? And had she cried over him? No, he must have it all wrong, Max the super-bitch would never cry over his death. Then again, he couldn’t recall a time when he’d seen her look so lost and frail - that too went against her nature.

*No, this must be what the Vietnam survivors call shell shock* Alec thought to himself. Obviously the trauma of the day had affected Max's ability to maintain logical thought.

He looked around for a place to put down the body he held, settling for the bonnet of an old car which had been damaged only by time itself. Then he walked to Max and gently took her in his arms, unsure what her response would be.

When Max felt Alec’s strong arms envelop her, she sank towards him and took a deep relaxing breath as the screams inside her mind finally subsided to a dull roar. This was real. Alec truly was alive. These arms around her were no illusion. She wanted to cry again, but she didn’t think he would ever let her live it down. She’d done that enough today anyway - must be too much oestrogen in the drinking water.

They could have stood there in each others arms for eternity, and it still wouldn’t seem long enough. Max closed her eyes and indulged in the feelings Alec provoked in her as he gently massaged away the tension in her back with one hand, while holding her tightly to him with the other. If the future ahead gave her no other reason to live, she had this one fragment of time to lose herself in.

“Hey Max." An elderly voice cut into their peace, causing Max to jump at the harsh grating sound, and Alec to break away from their embrace.

“Glad to see you’re safe and sound."

Standing there with his glasses crooked and hair all pushed together at a funny angle, Logan looked as if he’d aged ten years in one day, putting him at about forty years short of one hundred. Well, at least that’s what Alec thought. God knows Max probably still saw him as Prince Charming.

Max suppressed the urge to shudder as Logan stepped towards her. Without realising what she was doing, she moved closer to Alec until her back was pressed against his chest. Sensing her discomfort, Alec’s reflex was then to place his arms protectively around her.

This reaction towards him didn’t escape Logan’s notice, but he reminded himself how Max was ever concerned about giving him her virus.

“So who’s the guy on the hood?" The irritation of seeing Max in Alec‘s arms seeped into his voice, making his question abrupt and insensitive. “Another clone they cooked up in Manticore?"

“Yeah Max, I was getting around to asking you that too. But I wanted to wait for a more appropriate moment." Alec stared pointedly at Logan.

“It’s Ben" She whispered softly.

“What! I thought you killed him? Did Manticore bring him back to life just so they could find out why he was better off dead?" Logan laughed at himself, that was the closest he‘d probably ever come to a joke.

Alec only realised his hands had become linked with Max’s, when he felt her grip tighten at this remark. He felt disgust at Logan. Obviously the guy had no idea how much Ben’s death had upset Max the first time round.

“Yeah well, I was supposed to be dead, and so was Zack. Amazing what things can be achieved when you combine Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ with modern technology."

“Huh. Kinda like an episode of Day’s of Our Lives with the dead coming back to life, then getting abducted, then dying in a freak accident and coming back to life again… Or was that in The Young and the Restless….?" Logan scratched his head as he pondered on the complexities of those classic pre-pulse TV soaps.

Alec merely nodded vaguely, wondering what the hell Logan was talking about.

“You don’t understand." This wasn’t the way Max wanted to deal with this. Especially when Logan was standing here rambling with barely a grasp on reality and acting for all the world like an insensitive jerk.

She could feel the calm Alec had induced in her be replaced with the feeling of a thousand sparrows beating their wings frantically within her chest. She felt that at any given moment, she may burst.

Alec turned her away from Logan and towards him. Cradling her chin in one hand, he smiled gently before leaning forward to kiss her forehead. “It’s okay Maxie." He whispered in her ear. “If we ignore him, he might go away."

Max smiled, only yesterday she would have hit him for such a remark. Hell, she would have hit him for simply speaking to her. Funny how feelings can change so drastically when you finally allow yourself to count your blessings.

The man standing before her was a blessing, and she needed to tell him that before it was too late. But how? She knew how to naturally be mean, but she couldn’t find the words to be nice. Max had spent so long encasing herself in armour, she didn’t know how to escape out of her protective shell.

Alec always seemed to be able to shrug away life’s little hurts - just minutes ago she had abused him yet he was the one standing here comforting HER! How could she ever make it up to him?

And then a thought occurred to her: It was strangely ironic that talking of Ben’s death brought her close to Alec in the first place, and now here he was, comforting her over Ben‘s death once more. It was as if her lost brother had been resurrected to guide them in the right direction - toward each other.

“He died in my arms Alec, and I didn’t even realise it was him until it was too late! The things I could have said, I didn’t say - I thought he was you!"

Now Alec realised why she was so upset, it was the guilt of dishing out all those insults on her brother while he lay mortally wounded. He felt his heart sink. “What did you say to him then? I mean…“ He paused to search for the right words, “did he know that you were suffering from mistaken identity?“

“I don’t remember. It‘s all a hazy blur." Max lied. She couldn’t do this, she just couldn’t find the words. Too many emotions were tugging at her in too many different directions. Guilt, love, pain, hope, fear…

“Well, if you thought he was me… Then I’m guessing one of the first things you told him was how much you wanted to kick his arse?" Alec’s tone was light-hearted as he arched his eyebrows questioningly, causing Max to shake off her unhappy thoughts long enough to break into an award winning smile.

“Yeah. I did tell him that actually."

Relieved at Max’s smile, and dying of curiosity now, Alec pressed on, Logan forgotten. “Come on Max, what else did you say? What did you say when you thought it was me dying? I mean, I can tell you were crying. Your eyes are all puffed up and red and your nose is…"

Some things, you just can’t say in words - and so Max simply whacked him across the head.

“I was searching for… survivors and came across Ajhan. He‘s the one who led me to you… Ben. I thought you were dead and that I‘d lost my best punching bag!"

“Oh!" Alec could hear a touch of playfulness creep into Max’s voice and he wanted her to hold on to that happiness - God knows she needed it.

“So THAT’S all I am to you huh? A punching bag! And here I thought we were friends. That’s really sad Max, I’ll remember that next time you need a favour…"

“Oh come on Alec, you enjoy the attention! Where is Ajhan anyway? Thought I sent him to get help?"

“Well, while I was organising evacuation here, I sent a search party for you and Ajhan. Perhaps he ran into them along the way and they headed off to get you?"

Alec saw the fear jump back into Max‘s eyes and pulled her closer to him. “Don’t worry, they’ll be here soon and then we can leave."

Alec gulped, he hoped Max wouldn’t ask where they’d go. They didn’t exactly have a place to call home anymore.

“That’s what I came to talk to you about." Logan finally cut in on their playful banter (and new found intimacy) - it was beginning to make his stomach lurch.

Feeling guilty for leaving it so long to tell them the bad news, he took a deep breath and continued. “I went to look for Max. I saw Ajhan and some other X’s being rounded up and forced into a military vehicle on the outskirts of Terminal City. That’s why I had to interrupt the quality time I can see you two are having together." Yeah. And if that hadn’t been an excuse to come between them, he could have concocted one.

Alec and Max both froze. Aside from the few nomolies who’d decided the outside world was more dangerous than remaining in TC, there were no transgenics left to make up a rescue party. The few who had been here on Max’s arrival, had now gone to ground. Logan’s news had come too late.

That left no one else to recover the missing team except for them. But both of their pictures had been recycled throughout every news channel for weeks and to risk exposing themselves by storming a military base now would be suicide.

How many more things could go wrong in one day?

Chapter Four

The bare concrete room was completely devoid of light and smelt faintly of stale urine, the walls damp and slightly greasy. Voices could occasionally be heard somewhere outside the room but the walls were obviously thick as the transgenics couldn’t make out any clues from the muffled sounds. Even with their enhanced hearing.

There were seven transgenics in the room in total. All were shackled to the wall with sparkling new handcuffs and titanium chains, and all were gagged. The person who had brought them here wanted to take no chances. He’d learnt from experience never to under-estimate a transgenic or seven.

Four of the transgenics had been part of a search team. Their CO had sent them to look for the girl who was supposed to be their leader. One or two felt they’d be more adept at the job then she. After all, her training had ended at the age of ten. What did she know about leading an entire race of people when she‘d deserted her own? But they kept silent about their doubts. Most transgenics, be they X-series or otherwise, looked to the CO for guidance. They knew and trusted him in Manticore and he was the one they trusted now. The transgenic’s simply humoured the Rogue’s desire for domination.

Well, there’s a saying amongst the Ordinaries, ‘behind every great man stands a woman’; they figured the woman was her. Their CO had been frantic with worry after the roar of fighter planes had finally faded away and the body count began. In fact he was all for going in search of the girl himself until one of the less welcome ordinary’s insisted he’d be better off sending a scout team.

Much as it obviously pained the CO to admit this ordinary was right, he reluctantly chose the four X5’s who now huddled in this cold damp room. Their mission failed, and their chance of rescue slim.

“So Logan," Alec began in a cheerful tone but his smile failed to reach his eyes. “When exactly were you planning on telling us that Ajhan, along with my scout team had been abducted? "

A blush rose to Logan’s face as he realised Alec had seen straight through him. After watching the transgenics be hustled into the truck, he'd crept into Terminal City, intending to bring the information straight to Max. But when he saw Joshua arrive with Ben’s body, followed by Max, he had stopped in his tracks, the grim news forgotten, as he watched the entire exchange between Alec and Max. Only when the sight of them hugging became too much for him to bear was he able to at last move from his spot.

“Well let’s see Alec," Logan’s tone was cool and clipped. Somehow he had to turn the blame onto someone else, preferably Alec. “Perhaps if you’d been doing your job properly, you would have the Intel on this situation without my help at all."

Alec’s eyes narrowed into slits, reminding Logan of a cat. An angry, dangerous cat.
In fact if the transgenic before him possessed a tail, it would no doubt be lashing back and forth right about now.

Max too, could see Alec eyeing Logan as if he were a tasty morsel and she didn’t blame him. Alec was the one who’d kept a level head and stayed to oversee the evacuation. She was the one who’d ignored her responsibilities. Even the panic she’d gone through over Alec couldn’t justify the way she had neglected everyone else after the attack.

No wonder the transgenics seemed happier to follow him - no wonder they gave him their trust while she was still looked upon as the rogue X5 who ran when the going got tough. Was that what they thought she had done today? Once again, Max was amazed that Alec had waited for her return instead of thinking the worst of her - when so many times she had thought the worst of him.

“Look Logan," she began, “unless you’ve had prior experience in military tactics of some kind and actually know what you are talking about, I suggest you refrain from making further comment on Alec’s ability to ‘do his job’."

Logan’s eyes sidled towards Max, and back to Alec. Grudgingly, he gave a small nod of acknowledgment and stepped back.

Sighing at the disturbing level of testosterone wafting through the air - the source of course being Alec - Max threw her hands up in the air and groaned. “Right now, our priority is to find out who has taken our people, and where."

“Well, we all know I’m the one with the computer proficiency." Logan's self-gratifying smile made him look cheesier then a '70's porno star.

"I can hack into a satellite and find out where they were taken. I’d bet my money on White being behind it but anyway, I'll have the information we need in no time." He stared at them expectantly, waiting for some kind of reaction. A standing ovation for his sheer brilliance would be a nice place to start.

Surprised at the lack of blind adoration in Max’s eyes, he prompted further, “Just leave it to me."

Sighing, Max turned a bright sunny smile on him, causing his smug grin to increase until she had to wonder whether the guy had hinges in his jaw. If she didn’t humour him, he’d never leave.

"Yes! Excellent idea Logan! You go do that... stuff you do, while we mere mortal transgenics stand about twiddling our thumbs and wait patiently for your exalted return!"

Logan’s smirk faltered a little - was she taking the piss out of him?

"Uh yeah, you do that Log, we'll just be waiting here." A scowl couldn't last on Alec's perfect face for long. Especially not when the opportunity arouse to make fun of good ol' Log. "I mean, I don't know about you Max, but that computer stuff just goes waaay over my head."

"Mmmm. I don't get it either."

Logan couldn't shake that feeling any longer, "Are you guys making fun of me?"

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Alec looked aghast at the idea "Logan! We know better than to make fun of the disabled!"

All within a hundred yards heard Logan’s squeak of indignation to that remark. With the strength he’d received from Joshua’s blood infusion, combined with his exoskeleton, he was less a disabled man then the most able-bodied human. At least in his fantasy anyway.

As much as he wanted to say something profound and insulting, he knew he could never out-quip either transgenic - especially not when it seemed they were ganging up on him. Instead he shrugged, turned away and headed off towards... well, their headquarters were shattered, as was the computer equipment they had begun to accumulate within it.

"Yeah, you might wanna go back to Joshua's old haunt," Alec grinned at the idea of getting rid of him at last. "Max hasn't done any housecleaning in ages and it's a real mess around here at the moment."

Logan tried hard to ignore Alec as he turned to Max and smiled reassuringly, "Don't worry, I'll find them for you.".

And trying hard to ignore the faces Alec was pulling behind Logan's back, it was all Max could do to not burst out in laughter as she replied sweetly, "Thanks. You're my hero"

Two of the shackled transgenics were wounded. When the first missiles hit Terminal City, the section of the two-story house they had taken refuge in collapsed. Fate would have it that the two of them managed to avoid being crushed to death. A couple of roof beams had fallen at such an angle, it provided them shelter from the rest of the debris. Three others had not been so lucky.

They were fortunate that the scout team had found them. But it was while digging them out from beneath the fallen end of the building that they were all caught. So distracted were they in their struggle to reach their fellow soldiers, the Familiars simply sauntered up and watched their efforts with amusement before swatting them down like flies.

Sure, the transgenics put up a fight once they realised the trouble they were in, but it was a futile one. They were half-starved from the siege that had been going on for the past month. Even a transgenic needs food and rest eventually in order to maintain strength. This sad army of fugitives were operating on less than half of their capacity; they were like lambs awaiting slaughter.

That’s why it only took two Familiars to bring them down. And then to add further disgrace to the efforts of the search party, the cult-bred giants proceeded to finish where the transgenics unwillingly left off, and haul out the wounded from the wreckage. In record time.

The youngest captive - an X6 - started to wonder if being caged in a room, barely able to move and hardly able to swallow, was some sort of ploy. A form of torture without actually having to lay a finger on anyone. He'd suffered enough weeks in solitary confinement to never want to go through that experience again but he had the feeling his previous brushes with madness were a walk in the park compared to what was to come.

Max breathed a sigh of relief to see Logan's retreating back at last. Since the day he had accused her of being with Alec, and she'd chosen not to deny it, he'd been as clingy as a young child. Rather than draw her closer to him, he'd only succeeded in pushing her further away. She couldn't turn without practically bumping into him, and the growing desire to wrap her fingers around his throat and choke the life out of him was starting to scare her. Especially considering they merely had to share the same coffee cup and he'd die.

She felt pair of hands softly take her shoulders and turn her around. She gulped back the nervousness that suddenly filled her as a pair of hazel eyes drew her into their depths. If she leant forward just a little...

Whether or not Alec read her mind she'd never be sure, but the words that came from his mouth jolted her back into reality.

"First things first Max, we have to take care of Ben."

Wrenching her eyes away from his, she looked to the body of her brother. Her greatest wish at this moment was that she could put this off. On top of everything else, she didn't want to deal with the callous finality of what would be a brusque funeral.
Nodding slightly, she stepped away from Alec and walked over to the car where Ben lay.

"How are we going to do this?" she asked as she lifted his body into her arms, she couldn’t handle seeing Alec carry his twin again.

"Before this place turned toxic, there was a small scrap of land they used as a playground. It's now become a graveyard." Alec didn't want to think of how many holes had been dug there already today.

"Lead the way."

Three blocks later they reached their grim destination. As nothing grew upon the earth round here except perhaps for freak bacteria, there were no trees to bury him beneath nor any chance of planting flowers upon his grave.

It usually didn't bother the transgenics as they had never been taught such sentimentality when it came to placing a body into the ground. Asides from those who fell under the hands of Manticore's mad scientists, if a soldier died, it was while on a mission. And there was never time to think of flowers when one was quite possibly in the midst of a war zone.

Grabbing a piece of metal that Max sickeningly thought resembled the one her brother had been impaled by, Alec began to dig. The grave was shallow but there was little concern of Ben's remains being savaged by animals. Those that had survived the cancerous atmosphere had not survived TC's population of hungry transgenics.

It wasn't long before the time came to lay him into the ground, but Max was reluctant to let him go. When Alec approached her offering to take him, and she found herself staring into the face of Ben’s twin, she began to wonder again if perhaps this was all a crazy dream.

"Please Max, I know it's hard, but we still have the living to take care of." Alec's eyes, so open and warm, triggered in her a fresh wave of grief. He resembled everything that Ben could have been, if only he'd had the chance. If only Max had stayed with him all those years ago and chased the demons from his mind.

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"I can do it." Her voice sounded hollow and strange even to her own ears.

Alec watched as she placed a soft kiss upon Bens lips and laid him into the ground. Thinking back to the night Max had opened up to him about Ben, he wondered if she was so hard on him not just because of who he reminded her of, but because she was angry that her brother had died when Alec the screw up got to live.

But then he remembered how Ben had been the budding young dentist, not he. And despite the fact that her brother looked so innocent in death, he had been a cold-blooded killer in life.

Reaching out to brush back Ben’s hair one final time, Max felt hot tears slide down her cheeks at the thought of leaving him here in this fetid earth. He may have become a killer, but she still remembered him as the boy who would tell her stories late at night and make everything all right.

Numbly, she sat back as Alec covered his body over with dirt. She couldn’t move, couldn’t bear to do anything except loose herself within the memories of their final moments together - the second time round. She was glad she’d had this chance to say goodbye to Ben, glad she’d been able to tell him she was sorry, and that she cared. Even though she didn’t realise who she was saying it to at the time.

Maybe it was just as well that he died - Fate had decreed he wasn’t meant to exist in this world. But what had they done to him at Manticore when they'd converted him into one of the Undead? Had they actually been able to treat his psychosis?
It pained Max to her very soul to know she'd never have the chance to find out.

There was so many things she wished she could change, so many people she wished she could make whole again. Today she thought she had lost the chance to tell Alec how she felt about him. She thought he would die believing that she hated him and she had prayed to whatever god that may exist, for a second chance. She had been given that second chance and she couldn't afford to waste it.

"I'm going to be back in a minute okay Maxie? I just have to get something."

Max looked Alec in alarm "No! What if something happens - what if you don't come back!" Panic gripped her at the thought of all the unfinished feelings that lay within her, all the things she had yet to say - to the real Alec.

"Max I'll be straight back. I promise." Alec gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. It did nothing to reassure her.

"No Alec! You can't leave me!"

Alec stopped in surprise. Never before had he heard Max sound terrified. Even during the worst of times, she seemed to retain a certain amount of emotional detachment. Even when it involved Logan and the virus.

"Just one minute okay Max?"

Alec was stunned to realise that for once in her life, Max was actually reaching out to him. But there was one thing that was needed to finish off Ben’s burial - something to give Max a minute bit of reassurance for her lost brother. And so reluctantly, he pulled his hand from her grasp and ran back the way they had come.

Leaving Max fearing that she had somehow just lost that second chance.

They must be underground. That would explain the dampness, the cold, and the complete lack of windows or light. Each transgenic had reflected on all the possibilities of where they could be, and most of all, how they get out. Terminal City was destroyed and none of the survivors had the resources at hand to plan a rescue attempt. They had bigger problems to deal with just trying to make it out of TC in something more lively than a specimen bag.

Finally, when all shred of hope had deserted them, the door to their prison swung open. And in stepped a man with a very big gun and an even bigger smile.

"Who here has missed their training since those Manticore days?" The man paused for effect as he allowed his gaze to fall on each transgenic, before continuing, “Because I'm here to teach you kids a lesson."

Before winding up in TC, the X6 had been a regular to the movie theatres, sneaking into them every chance he got. Needless to say, he had become a bit of a pre-pulse movie critic. And he knew a cheesy line when he heard one.

*Yeah.* he thought to himself. *If these are the lines this guy is gonna be pulling, then I'm about to enter the doorway to Hell.*

"I know it's human sentimentality, but I thought this would be appropriate." Alec returned to Ben’s grave holding a small statue of the Virgin Mary.

"The Blue Lady." Max whispered. "How did you know?"

"I've heard you talk in your sleep Max." He leant forward and placed the statue atop of the mound of freshly churned earth, pulling Max to her feet as he rose up.

"And when I spotted a little chapel on the way here, I figured I'd have a look around for any spare religious effigy's. Obviously, it was meant to be. But now, we gotta go Max. We‘re living on borrowed time by staying here any longer. We should get to Logan’s."

Max refused to move. The world may be falling down around them, but that was all the more reason why she had to tell Alec how she felt, whether he returned her feelings or not. Logan had interrupted them the last time, she wasn’t going to allow that to happen again.

“Max? You don’t have to be afraid. You know I’ve got your back - I‘ll never let anyone hurt you."

"I thought I was going to lose you all over again Alec." She looked down at the ground as if there was something upon it that could tell her what to say next. "I don't want to lose my second chance."

"What do you mean Max?" Alec looked at her quizzically, shocked by what she was trying to say. Unsure if he could believe his ears - or if he could even hear properly over the sudden acceleration of his heart.

“You’re not going to lose me. I mean, look at all the times you’ve told me to piss off or drop dead, and I just keep on coming back! Face it, I'm like a bad smell lingering around a..." Glancing towards Ben's grave, he figured he'd leave out the word corpse.

Alec closed the gap between them and put one hand lightly one each side her face, tilting it so that she had no choice but to meet his gaze. "Face it, I'll always come back to you Maxie, you couldn't lose me if you tried"

“I told him I was sorry for the way I’ve treated him Alec," She watched for his reaction, but his eyes still held uncertainty as to what she was trying to tell him.

"And I also him Logan's not the one who rocks my world, and that I’d wasted so much time looking for a home..." she paused, unsure whether to go on. She couldn't handle it if he rejected her, if she scared him away

Seeing the fear in her eyes, Alec put his arms around her and gave her a hug. Whether he wanted to hear this or not, she needed comfort. She looked so vulnerable, so different from her usual self - the events of the day and death of her brother must have traumatised her.

All of a sudden Max wasn’t so sure if she could trust her legs, and so she held tighter to Alec, drawing him even closer in the process. *This is it.* She thought as she paused to recover from the shiver which ran down her spine. *This is the part which will make or break me.*

She traced her hand up Alec’s arm and throat to softly stroked his cheek, marvelling in the soft skin and warmth of his flesh. “I told him I had realised too late, that home was any place where I could wake up next to him."

Alec gulped. This was not what he'd hoped to hear. In fact, this was the very opposite of what he wanted to be told.

For months now, he had gritted his teeth over her ‘we‘re not like that‘ relationship with Logan. At last he decided she had some kind of fixation with making herself miserable, and tried hard to simply accept it. But what was so wrong with him that she had to go for the guy whose motto was 'you can never have enough teeth'?

Max saw the overwhelming disappointment in Alec's eyes and pulled herself out of his arms. "I'm sorry Alec. Please don’t hate me…" She couldn't stand it any longer. She had to go before she fell to pieces right before him.

Taking two stumbling steps backwards, she turned and ran. Leaving an equally broken Alec to stare after her in defeat.

The transgenics had been unshackled, but they'd held their cramped position for so long, they were now no immediate threat to anyone. Still, the man with the gun had no desire to turn his back on them, and so he called to the men who stood waiting outside the door. Eight of them crowded into the room. Indicating to his men, or rather, demi-gods judging from the size of them, that it was time to move the transgenics out, he followed, grinning like a kid who'd just had all his Christmas's come at once.

And seven genetically engineered hearts began to beat a fraction or two faster when they heard him say "And now the fun begins!"

And then the light went on inside Alec's head. Max had thought he was dying in her arms! She had been trying to say she wanted him, not Ben - how dim-witted could he be? Were the toxins in the drinking water killing off his brain cells?

Laughing at himself for his stupidity, he ran after Max. Wondering if she'd forgive him for his blunder, he decided that by the time he'd finished kissing her, she'd never remember he had made such a stupid mistake.

Of course, as Alec had pointed out, they were living on borrowed time. The transgenics had anticipated that the army would come in to finish off what was left of them. The fact that they'd left it this long should have served as an indication to the those who hadn't already fled, that their credit was just about up.

And when the sound of rapid gun fire rang out into the air, followed by the unmistakable sound of a female’s pain filled scream, it appeared that their time had finally run out.

Chapter Five

At the sound of the gunfire, Alec stopped dead in his tracks. His heart constricted in fear as the echoes of the scream died down. Visualising Max lying bleeding on the ground triggered him into sudden action and he blurred towards the source of the commotion.

“So this is the infantry we’ve been waiting for all day? Oh come on White, I expected better from you!"

Max tried her best to stand and hide the pain from White and his entourage. She refused to give any of them the satisfaction of seeing her so weak, but it was difficult when it felt her leg was slowly being consumed by white hot fire. She had been hit - the bullet ripping into her upper thigh, and embedding itself within her flesh.

“Come on now 452" White was amused to see her practically floundering before him, and his smile was as alien and dangerous as the snake his people were so fixated with. “You know I don’t need to haul in an army to finish you pathetic creatures off."

He sauntered closer and waved the gun around, indicating the sorry state of their surroundings. “Look at this dump. You’re all half-starved and those that aren’t already dead look as if they may as well be…" He paused for a moment when his gaze fell upon a small group of Nomolies. Screwing up his face in disgust he added, “actually, half of your lot looked dead to start with."

"Screw you."

White’s face turned into a sneer. “Oh yuck 452. Thanks for the offer but I don’t do animals, I can hardly bare the idea of having to touch a human."

“Whatever you gotta tell yourself White. But you must be pretty lonely with just your hand to keep you company."

White simply smiled, he'd like to see what a wise-ass she'd be if he were to surgically remove her lower jaw.

“What have you done with my son 452? You must be getting sick of hearing me ask by now. Why don’t you save us all the hassle of monotony and tell me?"

"Why don't you save yourself the embarrassment of getting your arse kicked again and get the hell out? Seriously White, do you get off on public humiliation because I just don't understand why you keep coming..."

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Growing impatient with the whiney chit chat, he turned and lashed out his foot, delivering a solid blow to Max's wounded thigh. The sharp agonising shock coupled with loss of muscle function, caused her to sprawl to the ground. Grinding her teeth to hold in a scream, she tried to rise, but White's powerful kick had driven the bullet further into the torn muscle and ligaments, rendering her leg useless.

"Now I don't have to worry about you running away." He grinned.

Alec wasn’t an idiot. He could see he was outnumbered. Most of the transgenics still alive had left TC already, moving out in small groups through the sewers after taking out the men who had guarded them. Plans to stick together as a united nation of transgenics had obviously fallen through.

Those that had remained in TC were now in White’s custody along with Max. Being that they had spent their lives locked in a basement shunted away out of sight, the Nomolies had been fairly easy for White’s familiars to round up.

From his vantage point in the second story of a building which was only in minor state of disrepair, he could see this was going to be at least a two man job. One transgenic against a dozen or so familiars was just a little too unfair. Even if he could draw White away from Max, she could barely move with her injury. As sickening as the thought was, he was going to have to call on Logan.

Alec felt his heart drop at the idea of Logan playing the shining paragon - again.
It was bad enough when the guy busted into Jam Pony with his pogo-stick legs like he was Christopher Reeves on Ritalin.

“Oh Logan, my Superman!" Alec mimicked to himself in a girly voice before bending towards the floor and making distinct vomiting sounds.

And then the memory of another heroic Logan moment struck Alec’s mind in a fresh wave of embarrassment… As one would be mortified after waking up with dirt on their knees and something resembling egg white on their face, Alec now cringed at the image of Automaton Man kicking a phalanx across the room just as she was about to indulge in a friendly game of baseball - with Alec’s head.

How could it have come to this? Alec wanted to scream in frustration at this turn of events. How could he have let himself get to the point where he needed a paraplegic computer geek to mount a rescue mission?

Max may have decided during the space of today, that she needed a transgenic’s arms to hold her, but Alec felt this could easily change. The terror of the morning had forced her to need comfort. And so she had turned to him. Then out of fear - she even felt she needed to be with him. But why? Because somewhere within her soul she felt Logan wouldn’t be capable of protecting her when push came to shove?

Since that day at Jam Pony which now served as a landmark within their memories, Alec had developed a bond with Max which transcended anything he’d ever felt before.

By giving up his cover within Jam Pony and organising the chaos of the transgenic community since, he had proved over and over, capable of thinking about someone other then himself. Finally he’d been given the chance to show her a part of him she’d never bothered to see.

And over the past few months, Max had seemed to need Logan less and less.

Alec had at first thought it was simply because of the virus, or fear he’d grow sick from the toxins within Terminal City. But through observation, he realised she had simply found her niche amidst her own kind, and didn’t seem to need Logan to feel complete anymore.

The majority of the transgenics had little faith in her abilities as a leader, but some had grown to trust her as a friend - as family even. And that was all Max had ever wanted. Alec had always laughed at her sentimentality, but he understood why she clung so stubbornly to her dreams. He too wanted a place to belong, someone to care about him. Someone who’d cry for him if one day he never returned from battle.

Alec had never known what he’d do with love if he ever truly found it. These emotions were so new to him. But he realised one thing, amidst all of this suffering today he’d come so close to real happiness, he’d even reached out and held it in his arms. But because he didn’t recognise what it was at the time, he let it slip away.

The promise Alec had so recently made to Max - to never let anyone hurt her - was already broken. He had failed her. And so too, the words Max had said at Ben’s grave would be forgotten, as Logan the Cavalier resumed his place on the pedestal once more.

And Alec… would go back to being a dirt bag. The irresponsible clown who could never do anything right.
That’s what made the idea of calling Logan so intolerable.

And then he heard a gun cock behind him.

Alec stood frozen, waiting to see what would happen next. The sound of a boot tread close to his right side and a voice said, "I think I can take him out from here."

"Mole!" As his friend stepped up the window, Alec's sudden grin near split his face in half. Salvation had come bearing a reptilian guise and despair had no place within Alec‘s mind any longer. "If ever a prayer had been answered! What the hell are you doing here?"

"Saving your sorry ass."

"Yeah Alec, look what we found." Alec turned to find Joshua behind him, waving an M16A2 assault rifle like it were a flag.

"Whoaaah there Josh," Alec grabbed his friend's arm and carefully took the rifle away. "You could take an eye out with that thing, how bout I take it huh?"

“Yeah - I got it for you Alec. We knew you’d be here to get Max out of this bitch!"

Alec realised just then, how glad he was to have a friend like Joshua. It was a warm feeling to have someone place such trust in you. The faithful look in Joshua’s eyes gave him confidence in his abilities once more.

“Thanks Josh!" He gave his friend a quick awkward hug, needing all of a sudden the brotherly comradeship. “Now how the hell did you get this toy huh?"

Mole turned away from the window and proceeded to enlighten Alec on what they'd been up to the past few hours. "We felt the need to relieve our government of some of their weapons - they can be dangerous in the wrong hands you know. I don't know when they're planning on bringing their men in, obviously White's not part of their set-up, he's got his own agenda. But judging by what they're carrying, I don't want to be around to find out."

"Ha, yeah, wait ‘till you see what else we found." Joshua grinned like a mad man as Mole started rattling off their list of freshly acquired artillery.

"This baby in my hands is the MSG90 sniper rifle, minus the bipod unfortunately… I’m sure you’ve seen it before?“ Alec nodded and Mole continued, “There's a couple M14 mines, an RPG-18 grenade launcher and two AKMS assault rifles."

Pausing for a moment to take a breath and bask in Alec's look of adoration, Mole then continued with his list. "What else... we have a Makarov 9mm - with silencer may I add - and heh heh, here's the best part: a box of sheet explosive - that'll set off some lovely fireworks!"

"And don't forget the woollen hat!" added Joshua, who then pulled the grey hat from his pocket and put it on his head.

"Hmmm." Alec's face turned serious for a moment as he pondered upon the list of treasures. With this kind of back-up, they could certainly figure out how to deal with White and his accompanying pack of monsters.

Looking over at Joshua, he couldn’t help but smile at his excitement over a stupid hat. It amazed Alec how someone cooked up in Manticore, forced to survive by his own devices and then hunted by heartless humans, could be so gentle, naïve and innocent in the midst of all this horror.

Not wanting to disappoint his friend - his brother - Alec grinned broadly and said, "Well, I don't know what we're possibly gonna do with the rest of that stuff, but thank God for the hat!"

Mole stood and watched dubiously while Joshua broke out into joyful laughter and swept Alec up into a hug, lifting him off the ground in the process. Ignoring Alec's spluttering pleas for help, he turned back to the window and trained his rifle on the back of White's head once more.

"I've got a clear shot, but White's thugs are holding guns on our own. I can’t chance it."

"That's okay Buddy," Alec had wriggled free of Joshua's grasp and clapped Mole on the back, nearly causing him to squeeze off a round.

"I'll do the predictable thing every great hero does, and cause a noticeably large distraction. Our dim-witted friends will surely decide to investigate."

"How the hell do you come up with that shit Alec?"

"Who needs years of specialist military training when you've got cable TV?"

Joshua moved towards the door, nose the air. 'Hey guys, I hate to be... uh... predictable... but I think someone's coming."

Alec looked to him in amazement, what Joshua lacked in Manticore's criteria, he apparently made up for in his sense of smell.

The transgenics were fully prepared when two familiars burst into the room.

“Where’s your lover boy 494 today? I haven't seen my favourite pain in the ass for a while."

Max tried her best to maintain an aura of indifference as she choked back the pain. Shrugging, she replied nonchalantly “Guess he didn’t make it."

He grinned like a fox in a burrow over-flowing with rabbits. She couldn’t fool him with her tough girl attitude; he’d seen that pathetic look of hurt at the mere mention of her mate. It would give him immense satisfaction to see the proud tough ‘Max’ be reduced to a snivelling little wench like every other girl.

“Or maybe he’s going to play the classic hero role, swoop down and snatch you from my evil clutches huh?"

The three transgenics stashed their plunder back in the corner of the room beneath an old desk. With any luck they'd deal with the familiars without drawing attention to themselves. The last thing they needed was a full blown show down when they weren't the ones setting the scene for it.

As the first familiar entered, Alec stepped out from behind the door and delivered a powerful kick to the middle of his lower back that probably should have splintered his spine. He then followed it through with a sharp side kick to the back of the assailant’s head that sent him reeling over the top of a conveniently placed table.

Smiling, knowing this would not deter the familiar, Alec raised his eyebrows and tapped his foot, waiting impatiently for his playmate to come back for his second dose. When the familiar did leap up and over the table, he was greeted by a transgenic fist slamming into his face.

Alec had the momentary pleasure of hearing the crunch of bone before the familiar intercepted his next punch and twisted his arm up hard behind his back. Ignoring the explosive pain that came of having his shoulder wrenched from its socket, he dug his feet into the floor and drove himself and the familiar backwards, sending them out the door and unfortunately over the banister.

As they fell, the familiar released his hold and Alec turned his body in mid flight so that when he hit the ground, he popped his dislocated shoulder back into place. The agony was mind numbing and as the familiar had the advantage of feeling no pain, he was on Alec in an instant. Picking him up, he slammed the transgenic against a wall and then stalked towards him, intending to finish him off.

The pain was immeasurable, and he blinked his eyes against the darkness that threatened to close in on him. The desire to finish his conversation with Max over-rode the pain and he forced back the shadows of unconsciousness.

As his attacker leapt forward, Alec blurred, grabbing a piece of sharp wood that had splintered from the broken wall behind him and driving it into the approaching giant’s throat before kicking him backwards onto the floor.

Like some horror fresh from an old pre-pulse movie, the familiar tried to rise. Clutching at his throat, he got to his knees and struggled for balance, slumped forward then tried again, too intent on finishing his job to realise he'd already lost the battle.

"Oh please," Alec rolled his eyes in disgust, "Can't you just stop being so dramatic and die already?"

He would have loved to stay and chat longer, but he had a party to crash upstairs.

With only one familiar between them to deal with, Mole and Joshua had made short work of him. Alec rushed into the room expecting to see at least one of his friends gushing blood, but instead found Joshua dragging a body behind the desk and Mole once again admiring his new toys. In fact, it appeared by Mole's out of character cheerfulness, that at least one person in the room had thoroughly enjoyed himself.

"Well that was fun." Alec winced as he tried to move his arm. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm sick of playing Hide and Seek, I think it's time for a little Seek and Destroy."

Mole grinned, "Let's figure this bitch out."

White was going to get the information he needed out of 452 at any cost. He considered whether to start killing of the group of sideshow freaks his men had rounded up, or if there was some other leverage he could use.

“What have you done with my people White? How bout telling me that? Personally I don’t see the point of waltzing in, taking them and vanishing again, but nothing seems to make sense in your little world."

Ames White paused, puzzled only for an instant, before realising how he could use this to his advantage.

“What are you on about 452?" He asked in a tone that indicated he knew exactly what she was talking about.

“Don’t play stupid with me Ames. I want my people back. And then maybe if you get on your knees and beg, I’ll give you back your son."

He turned away for a moment and scratched his head, looking for all the world as if he was considering the idea.

“Nah. I think I’ll take you with me. As you pointed out yourself, I could use the company." He blanched inwardly at that idea, but his comment was worth it to see her squirm a little.

Alec's mood turned serious as he put his mind into getting Max back. They had some major unfinished business between them and he was getting sick to death of these ongoing interruptions. If it wasn't Logan getting in the way, or his own stupidity for misinterpreting Max's words, it was White. Sometimes it seemed his life was a novel written by some kind of sadist who never wanted to see anyone happy.

"We don't have much time." Taking a breath, Alec braced himself for what he had to say next. He knew no one was going to like it.

“Joshua, you have to stay here. You're in charge of the grenade launcher and looking after the explosives."

Mole looked at Alec as if he had just lost his marbles. "You're leaving JOSHUA with a grenade launcher and enough C-4 to… oh man, we‘re all gonna die! Tell me, did you ever recall seeing Joshua receive any kind of training in Manticore? Because as far as I know, he spent his life hiding in the basement."

"Yeah Alec. Mole's right..."

"I'm not expecting you blow the building up!" Alec too wondered just how wise this was, but the words had already left his mouth so he just had to follow it through. "Mole and I are going to get these familiars out of our way, so you're only going to use the launcher if for some reason we need a distraction. And under NO circumstances are you to touch the explosives."

Joshua and Mole continued to look at him dumb-founded.

"Just don‘t touch anything." Alec picked out the small Makarov for his dog-friend. “It’s accurate, dependable and a great personal defence weapon. Just in case."

They still weren't convinced, but Alec felt it was safer to leave Joshua behind for this one. Giving in to Alec’s authority, Mole gave Joshua a run down on what to do. Alec situated the grenade launcher near the window so that if absolute worst came to worst and Joshua needed them back ASAP, he could get their attention.
By blowing a sizeable chunk out of a building.

As they were ready to leave, Alec gave Joshua a quick hug. "We’ll come back for you, just keep an eye on Max and the others."

Joshua smiled and nodded, but they both heard his sad dog-like whine as they left the building.

With two of White's men dead, ten remained, as far as they knew. And that figure didn’t include White himself. The odds were shockingly out of their favour, but Alec had been in trickier situations and came out whole - well, mostly. Explaining to a drunken redneck and his bonehead friends, why you're lying in bed with his wife and sister, is indeed a tricky situation to be in. At least Alec had the advantage of being clothed for today‘s fiasco.

Deciding more ground would be covered if they split up, Mole climbed to the top of a shattered building and disappeared into the tangle of misshapen steel, concrete and what-not so he could set himself up with his sniper rifle.

Alec chose to slip down a side street and investigate a portion of TC that was mostly unaffected by the morning's series of blasts. He awkwardly climbed a fire escape, having to use one arm to do so, and travelled by the roof tops of buildings as much as possible. There was no sign of White's men.

As he was about to try a different direction, he saw movement on the ground within his peripheral vision. Ducking down, he crept closer to the edge of the building and peered below to see what had caught his eye.

Surprised to see it was an ordinary - one of the unfortunates who had taken up residence in TC long before the transgenics arrived, he started to rise to his feet. But then another man rounded the corner and also spotted the homeless guy. Alec, who of course still had the rifle Joshua had first displayed to him, immediately trained his sights on the new intruder.

Silent as death, the stealth-like apparition approached the old man who shuffled along the roadside, oblivious to everything but his own mutterings. At last as the shadow of the silent stalker towered over him. The vagrant looked up and cleared his throat, no doubt about to ask for money, but he never had a chance. In that instant a hand snaked out and grabbed his throat, pulling him forward to check for a barcode before snapping his neck. All in one lightening quick fluid motion.

Alec kept the crosshairs centred on the assassin’s head and fired. The man who was obviously a familiar crumbled to the ground, dead before he had the chance to realise life was no longer in his hands.

Hearing a sound behind him, Alec rolled to the right, just in time to avoid the bullet that punctured the spot where he had just been. His rifle skidded away and teetered precariously on the edge of the roof. Gritting his teeth against the steady throb of his injured shoulder Alec reached for it but the familiar shot towards him again, hitting the gun and sending it hurtling towards the ground.

Jumping to his feet, Alec blurred into action, zigzagging towards a sheltered entry way that stood almost between them to their left. The familiar also moved with rapid speed towards the roof access, planning to intercept him on the other side. Anticipating this, Alec leapt to the top of the shelter and off the other side, landing on the familiar and sending them both tumbling like cats across the roof top.

As Alec tried to wrestle away his attacker's gun, the familiar drove his elbow into the back of the transgenic’s head. For a second, the world faded out and then Alec found himself being flung away like a rag doll. The familiar fired his gun, and the bullet skimmed the side of Alec's head - just - and disappeared behind him.

Hoping his attacker wouldn't shoot again, he held his breath and lay as still and silent as a specimen on an autopsy table. When he sensed the familiar was close enough, Alec flipped up from his back, his feet connected with the underside of his attacker's jaw, sending his head snapping upwards.

The familiar fell to the ground motionless. It appeared his neck was broken, but by experience Alec knew better then to bank his money on such an assumption. Picking up the gun he had sought possession of, he fired a couple rounds into the fallen man before shaking blood from his eyes and continuing on.

There were four familiars down now and with any luck, Mole had also taken out a few of his own. Alec was sick of running around hunting demi-gods while Max lay injured at White’s feet. He decided to stop in at the hideout and get his hands on something a little more powerful then the rifle he’d recovered from the ground. He had an idea on what he could do with that C-4.

Mole was a guy who preferred to shoot first and damn the questions. He was at his happiest when he had a gun in his hand and a cigar in his mouth. At the moment he wasn't very happy - he only had half of his wish-list. Max never had gotten back to him with those cigar's.

Sooner or later he knew that some unwelcome pest would come along so he would have an excuse to pull the trigger. Any familiar who had headed in the westerly direction of TC would surely pass by him, as they returned to the man who they served like the gimps they were. As short-tempered as Mole was, when it came to doing his job, he was as patient as the eternity of time.

It was just as well, because for over an hour he had been tucked away in his makeshift hidey-hole. The sun was slowly sinking down behind him and he wondered just how much longer this drama would take. Eventually he started to recite to himself his own private little mantra *Some one will come along soon. Someone will come along soon.*

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Joshua too had grown bored. Except unlike Mole, who habitually focused on the objective, Joshua had decided to play with the loot they’d lifted from the army. Mole had sternly warned him not to use the grenade launcher within the enclosed room (because of the gases which would be released from the back blast). Defeating the purpose of him using the weapon for a distraction. He had listened to Mole’s instructions, so instead he took out one of the M14 mines.

Joshua sauntered across the room, wondering exactly how it worked. Setting it down near where he had been sitting, he walked back to the stash and opened the wooden box containing the M118 charges and blasting caps. The flexible explosives were much like the clay he'd recently begun to model with as his paint supplies had dwindled. Making himself comfortable by the window once more, with a handful of the C-4, he laughed to himself as he manipulated one block into a shape something resembling a dog. "Joshua 123, ha ha."

When that game was finished, he leafed through some neglected newspaper's lying on the floor. Old news - boring, and so he threw them down atop of the forgotten M14. Soon his attention was focused on the remaining two AKMS and a gurgling within him. These pieces were so much cooler then the little hand-gun Alec had given him. He snatched up the shiniest assault rifle and crept through the building, pretending to stalk invisible enemies as he went off in search of a toilet.

Curious about his surroundings, Joshua made his way down the stairs. He passed the guy Alec had stabbed in the throat (who it must be said, was most certainly dead), but couldn’t find much of interest - bare computer terminals, scattered rubbish and decrepit furniture. No bad guys for him to point the gun at.

Eventually he found himself in what must have once been a staff kitchen. Realising he was famished, he started opening cupboards, hoping to come across an ancient can of spaghetti or two. Half a dozen slammed doors later, he'd found nothing but a container of dried up coffee and a few disintegrated teabags. Finally, there was one more cupboard left, and he figured that knowing his luck, it would hold a nest of large mutant rats, crazed with hunger and eager to pounce upon a man with too much dog in his cocktail.

Cautiously opening the door, he found it was not a cupboard at all but the entrance to a basement floor. He stood at the top step for a moment, trying to decide what he wanted to do. He could go back and stand watch, but he really didn't think he was of much use, or he could find out what was down the stairs. It could be a good place for the Nomolies to hide in once his friends got them away from White. It could be a way out for them all. At last he made up his mind, "Hmm, back to the basement" And down the steps he went, shutting the door behind him.

Moments after he descended the stairs, a team of White's minions entered through the front door, doing a routine check of any place that might be occupied by stray transgenics. Seeing the body of one of their own lying at the foot of the stairs, they signalled silently to each other and quietly made their way up to the second floor.

When White received a radio transmission from a group of his men who had found two bodies and a grenade launcher within a building close by, his anger immediately began to bubble to the surface. Now he had two men dead and another two unaccounted for. He didn't like knowing there was someone out there killing off his men, and he was willing to bet money on just who it was.

Scowling in dark anger, he walked over to 452 who had apparently clawed her way to her feet - or one of them anyway - and was glaring at him, no doubt thinking up some deep and meaningful remark. She was so much more hassle then she was worth.

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Taking hold of her by her chin, he stepped up so close to her, he could see the black flecks in her eyes. Lowering his voice to a whisper, he murmured in her ear, "Well it looks as if your freak boyfriend is making an effort to rescue his poor damsel in distress. That means nothing progressive is going to happen between us until he crawls out from whatever rock he's currently under and gives himself up. I don't want any more nasty surprises you see."

Max chose to say nothing. She knew after the first time White captured her, that Alec would never just desert her. But this time she hadn’t been sure. He'd looked so miserable when she told him how she felt that she'd half expected him to leave her in TC to find her way out alone. Her exhilaration that he was still here - helping her - was marred by the absolute hatred she sensed radiating off White in waves. For the first time, she felt truly afraid of just what he'd do. Of what he'd do to Alec.

Stepping back from the abomination before him, White looked around at the smouldering remains of the transgenics home - he felt so proud of his work. Raising his voice, he addressed the wider community, “Okay 494, you can come out now. As much as it’s always fun to play with you, I have no time for hero games today."

He didn’t get any response, but then, that’s what he’d expected.

Sighing, he turned to 452 and considered her once more. Sure he needed her to get his son, unless of course he could get his hands on Eye's Only... But then, he'd need the bitch for him too. Either way that he looked at it, he just couldn't straight out kill her. That pissed him off no end.

Deciding at last what he was going to do, he raised his gun and gave 452 a genuine smile, before he shot her once more. And once more she fell to the ground. This time if she got back to her feet, White decided he'd give her the honorary title of Legendary.

Max took a deep breath, reminding herself how long she could hold it for. The bullet hole in her upper abdomen was only the circumference of a pencil, but the blood that was seeping out bubbled as air gurgled through the hole. They could both hear the air slip right of out of her like a punctured tire.

A transgenic could cope with a collapsed lung for a while. But by the murderous look in White's eyes, she figured if his latest shot didn't kill her, he still had a few rounds to go.

As much as it made him happy to know the transgenic threat would be over in such a short time, he was growing increasingly angry that nothing could ever go EXACTLY the way he wanted it to. He'd shot 452 again to lure out her trusty side kick. Never turn your back on a transgenic. Especially not that 494.

“I don’t think your girlfriend has time for this either 494. Haven’t you noticed she’s been shot? Quite badly too judging by the fact she can hardly breath. I can imagine how her lungs are filling with blood as I speak."

He just itched with curiosity as to what 452 was trying to say at that point through her heaves and gasps. Pity her injuries were now that much worse. She had apparently lost the ability to speak.

“Ironically, I’m going to have to save her life." He loved the euphoric high of playing God. “I need her alive 494, at least for a little while. Now unless she’s immortal or this place has functional surgical equipment tucked away someplace…" He glanced about, knowing full well if there had been once, it was destroyed now. “I’d say I’m the best chance she has."

Growing impatient, he raised his voice until it bounced off the fragmented walls. “I’m not leaving here WITHOUT YOU 494. If ‘Max’ dies in the meantime, it will be your own guilty conscience that burdens the remainder of your days."

He shook his head and looked around for a nice place to sit. For all their supposed genius, these genetic freaks could be so stupid sometimes. This day was growing that much longer.

Chapter Six

Max had lost so much vital fluid, her body was going into shock. Frothy red liquid continued to bubble from the wound and she struggled intensely to draw in each breath. Blood soaked the front of her shirt and her eyes were glassy with absolute terror, the realisation of her own death being a virgin concept to her.

White would have paid money to get inside her head and hear those silent screams. But he knew her injury was serious, and if he wanted his son back, he’d have to keep her alive until the time was right to at last put this animal out of it’s misery. Once again, he belated that now was not the time.

Ripping the bottom off his own shirt, White pulled Max into a sitting position so he could remove her blood soaked jacket and bind the wound. He then lay her on her wounded side to allow the functioning lung to continue doing it’s job. This was only going to buy a small amount of time.

“Come on 494! Don’t you care about your girl? The wretch is coughing up copious amounts of blood all over herself…yuck… and I don’t know if even you Frankenstein’s can survive without THAT!"

Max was truly helpless, her skin was sallow and clammy, she barely seemed able to recognise her surroundings. The sucking sound that could be heard when she breathed in was caused by pneumothorax - air leaking into her chest cavity. Every breath was a struggle because the injury prevented the affected lung from expanding with each inhalation - otherwise known as a collapsed lung. In a war zone, this condition would result in death. Death being a clear certainty for Max, if 494 didn’t get his arse into gear and come play the hero.

When Mole heard a gunshot ring out in the direction of the small open car park where White held Max and the Nomolies, he just knew he’d chosen the wrong place to go fishing. Not that he’d ever actually been fishing before, but he could imagine being cooped up in this hole while all the action was taking place elsewhere, would be similar to sitting idly in a boat and watching the fish bite everyone else’s line except your own.

He hesitated only for a moment as to whether he should hold his position, but curiosity and well, concern even, proved too much to bear. Questioning how a psycho like White could actually be legally entitled to a gun, he leapt down from his perch and stealthily made his way to where the big fish were.

Mole hid within the skeletal remains of a block of shops that lay between White and the hideout they’d left Joshua in. From his position, he couldn’t actually see anything of significance. There was a half tumbled wall in the way and to get closer would risk exposure to himself. But he could hear White basking in the sound of his own voice, and waited patiently to learn what snappy comebacks Max would deliver. Surprisingly, the only voice to be heard was White’s own, although crazy as he was, he didn’t seem to be talking to himself.

Deciding he was getting no where fast, Mole chanced being seen and crept forward so he could peer over the wall. The sight that met his eyes would have made his blood run cold - if it weren’t already. Max lay unmoving on the ground and it appeared from his quick glance, that a significant amount of blood had pooled beside her. Though what the extent of the damage was, he couldn’t be sure.

White’s voice bounced off the shattered walls of nearby buildings, “You’re wasting time 494. Now unless you really want to find out whether you mongrels have nine lives, I’d suggest you get on out here." Cold laughter could be heard in White's voice as he added, "Your girlfriend’s already half dead - she doesn’t even respond when I kick her!"

And with that, Mole heard the unmistakable sound of a boot connecting with a body. And the only complaint to accompany it was a soft gurgling moan.

*Aaww, well this aint good* even inside his own head, his voice sounded gruff. Enough of this pussyfooting round, if White succeeded in killing Max, he’d never know the delight of a cigar ever again. And that was just not on.

White wanted Alec huh? Well, Mole was going to make sure White got what he wanted.

Alec was within sight of the hideout and so far there was no sign of any more Familiars. It seemed too good to be true, but perhaps Mole had succeeded in taking the rest out.

They still had their missing transgenics to locate and Alec wasn’t keen to rely on Logan’s Intel. In fact, he had a perverse desire to find out just how resistant White (and Logan - just for the fun of it) was to interrogation. Either way, he was getting Max and they were leaving.

Opposite the back entrance of their building now, he looked up at the second story and considered how he could scale the wall. The window’s all lacked ledges and had this place EVER had a fire escape? Oh well, there was the drainpipe, but he was an injured man! This just wasn’t fair.

Between Max’s random acts of violence, the infrequent gunshot wounds and the friendly handshakes those Familiars had, Alec wondered if he’d ever be whole again. Berating himself for letting his good looks go down the drain, he prepared to climb the decrepit one attached to the wall.

Three metres and five minutes later, Alec decided it was ridiculous really, a grown man trying to revive his lost childhood by playing Spiderman. It wasn’t that this wall was defeating him - he could get up it if he really wanted to. There was truth in the saying 'transgenic's never knock', but that was no reason why it wouldn't be nice to use the front door for a change. This method of entry was just lacklustre without an appreciative female audience.

Making the... well okay maybe it was closer to a metre... drop to the ground, he glanced about and ran around the side of the building. Time was a wasting, and he had the disturbing feeling that his dog-boy had been left alone for far, far too long.

When Joshua had toyed with the M14 mine earlier, he had unknowingly rotated the pressure plate from its safety position to its armed position. The fact that he had managed to avoid blowing himself up was a small miracle. Oblivious to how narrowly he averted death, Joshua ambled down the stairs and into the pitch black cellar.

While it was unfortunate that there was no source of light at all, he was used to dwelling in basements and held no real concern as to what he may encounter. His canine instinct dictated he should follow his nose, and he was curious to learn just where this was going to lead him.

The air was thick, stale and indicated there was no other way out of here except via the stairs he’d come down - but wait - now he could smell the outside. The outside air wasn’t at all fresh but rather carried the pungent stench of death and… burnt toast. Joshua could smell all these things the further he crept into the basement.

Reaching out his hands, he felt a wall that crumbled beneath his touch. If he were to dig for a while, he’d surely get closer to the outside. But it wasn’t necessary to dig. As his hand roamed further over the wall, it came to an end and Joshua found he was pressing into nothingness, a gap in the wall. A way out.

After spending a fleeting second pondering the sensibility of his actions, Joshua clambered into the gap, finding it marginally wide enough to fit his large tall body. Completely unaware that there were men now in a part of the house where he had been only a few minutes earlier, he wriggled deeper into the hole and hauled himself through what now was remarkably appearing to be some kind of tunnel

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The Familiars moved silently within the building, searching for the transgenic's they knew had been in here at some point. Wordlessly they agreed to lay in wait. Someone had gone to the effort of stealing some fine weapons - they'd be bound to return for them.

One of the familiars spotted something unusual on the floor by the window. Walking over to investigate, he saw it was a dog - made out of C-4. Pondering upon what this could mean, he turned to show the others, stepping down onto a pile of newspapers as he did so.

All within the silent room heard a quiet 'click' - all except the one who held the dog. Lost in thought as he was, he didn't notice his brethren's collective look of alarm as he lifted his foot from the mess of papers.

Half way around the side of the building, Alec decided to find Mole before going back into their hideout. Joshua would surely be safe just a fraction longer. He had developed a plan for wrangling Max away that was both brilliant and completely nonsensical - therefore he needed his two transhuman friends to bounce ideas off.

He had considered allowing White to take Max away so he could follow and discover where Ajhan and his search team had been taken. But allowing White to depart Terminal City with Max just seemed… wrong. Especially when it would mean Alec would surely have to enter a highly guarded compound to get her back.

No, he wasn’t willing to risk Max’s life by leaving her in the hands of White. Who could imagine the untold terrors that genetic oddity would put her through if given half a chance?

Sure White may just put a bullet in Max's head here and now if he thought she'd get away, but Alec trusted the instincts some thoughtful scientist had added to his DNA. White wouldn't be so stupid. If he killed Max, nothing would stop Alec from killing him.

Running now, Alec pondered upon his thoughts, not paying attention to the objects his feet were flying over in his need to get his girl back. His girl - that had a beautiful ring to it... smiling to himself, he placed one foot in the centre of a mangled car tire and for the second time that day, found himself being flung like a rag-doll to the ground

At that same moment Alec was picking himself back up and swearing at the unjustness of it all, whatever great words of wisdom the crudely made dog had imparted to the familiar were forever lost, as the M14 mine which had lain concealed beneath the trash detonated... Causing the whole case of C4 to in turn explode, thus taking the entire building and it's inhabitants with it.

Wiping the blood from his eyes, Alec was just about to step forward once more when the wall he had so recently given up on, disintegrated. Hitting him like a ton of bricks. Literally.

This time when the transgenic hit the ground, he didn't get back up again.

The earth itself seemed to roar in anger as the explosion rocked the western end of Terminal City. Those structures which had been hanging on by a thread tumbled to the ground, and the air squealed and grinded with the sound of a shifting wasteland.

White was flung over top of Max, unwillingly finding himself sheltering her from rocks which fell like shrapnel. Lucky for him that he couldn't feel pain.

The Nomolies had earlier been forced into an old broken van which sat beside the debris of an apartment block. Now cries of terror and pain could be heard from behind the van’s tinted windows as what was left of the structure collapsed atop of them, crushing at least one or two in the process.

When the fragments finally stopped falling, White moved hastily away from Max, disgusted at denying himself the opportunity to see her inflicted with any further pain. Looking at her unconscious form, he figured it wouldn't have made any difference anyway.

Mole had been heading towards the hideout from the opposite direction when he saw Alec and quickly ducked out of sight. Now would most certainly not be a good time for him to run into Alec while he was sorting out the bait on which to snare White.

When their refuge erupted into flames, he saw Alec go down beneath a staggering amount of rubble and cringed. *That's gotta hurt*.

As he drew closer, Mole was relieved to see the pile wasn't as big as he had first thought, but still he hurried to dig the X5 out from beneath it. There wasn't much time.

Finally pulling Alec clear, he could see no life threatening body trauma, the guy was just suffering from concussion so it would seem. Considering what he was about to do, it was a blessing in disguise that his friend would not be conscious enough to know what was happening - would not be able to protest.

Feeling slightly nauseous at the knowledge that this was going to be thought upon as a betrayal - a mutiny perhaps, he left Alec where he was and went to check on White. He had a body to conveniently place within sight of the lunatic and he needed to know what was going on in the other camp.

Maybe one day someone would forgive him for this. No. No Max would never forgive him. She’d probably make it her personal vendetta to hunt him down and disembowel him.

He'd stood in the shadows today and witnessed what had gone on with his transgenic friends. Funny to think that until they'd come along, he wouldn't have given an X5 the time of day. And now here he was trying to help save mankind. Because as much as he knew how wrong this was - that's just what he was trying to do.
Help save mankind.

Max needed urgent medical attention - that much was for sure. There was absolutely no way she was going to get it without White. A group of transgenics couldn't just burst in on a staffed hospital, not even with Logan's contacts. And White would keep Max alive, for a while at least. Until Mole could figure something else out.

Before White would give Max the help she needed, he wanted proof that Alec would no longer be a threat. If White took Alec in alive, both X5’s would be better of dead. White would use one against the other, by means of torture, and in time extract the information he needed.

And so as much as it went against the few good moral’s Manticore had given him, Mole was going to provide White with proof that he’d never have to worry about Alec’s interference again.

After scouting out a place to put the X5 where he could be found by one of White’s men, he slunk away back to his friend and looked over him once more. At least this way, Max could never blame Alec for what was going to happen

Picking up the body beside him, Mole grimly strode down to the car park where a matter of life and death lay literally ahead of him.

.

Screaming. The world seemed to be filled with screaming. On and on and on it went at various pitches like some gothic chorus. And it was just one more thing which was grating on White's nerves.

"Would someone shut those creature's up?" He pointed to a blonde-haired familiar who had started towards the scene of the explosion. "You! Put those damned mutant's out of their life long misery."

The man turned back towards the van and drew his gun.

"No, no wait," It wasn't often White felt a change of heart - that enabled the ability to accept he actually had a heart. "You go on, find out what happened, see if 494's corpse is amongst all that crap."

White walked to the vehicle in which the Nomolies were trapped. He peered in and side stepped the arms that reached out to him, begging for help. "Jesus. And to think Noah had to build an ark to achieve this."

Disappointed to find there was neither a bearded lady nor a two headed man, White grew sick of the sideshow at last. He wanted to see what the rest of the circus had to offer. And so it was with great relief that he emptied the chamber of his gun into the van and indulged in the bliss of silence once more.

Feeling satisfied with himself, he wandered over to investigate the thorn that was forever in his side. She appeared still alive. But he was taking a pretty big chance in her transgenic abilities and it wouldn't pay if she up and died on him at this stage in the game.

With great disappointment, White decided they were going to have to leave without 494 after all.

"Sir!" As White picked up Max, the blonde familiar returned bearing a body. Dropping it unceremoniously to the ground he smiled. "It's 494 sir."

White looked down at the body that lay heaped at his feet and laughed. "Excellent! That just makes my whole day worth while! Bring him. I'm going to remove his barcode and feed it to 452 on a plate!" With a smirk, White motioned to the remaining familiars and like a strange silent game of Follow the Leader, they departed Terminal City.

When Sketchy arrived to work that morning, he'd walked into what could have quite possibly been mistaken for a really intense acid flashback. All present stood silent before the TV and watched in horror as news footage replayed the attack on Terminal City.
The fact that they stood so transfixed (seemingly frozen by the snake-haired Medusa of Greek mythology) - was the comparison to Sketchy’s flashback.

The blonde haired boy tip toed around the enthralled group of Jam Pony messengers and stepped into Normal’s office in the hope of finding reassurance that October ’20 wasn’t repeating itself.

In the confinements of the messy little room, his boss sat in tears. Part of his distress was caused by the sight of such negligent employees. But some would be surprised to see him shed tears over the destruction of what had become a place of refuge for the transgenic‘s when for so long, he had desired this very thing. The hard minded, uncaring boss of Jam Pony wept with utter conviction that his Golden Boy and that dear sweet baby of Jem's could not possibly have survived the damage that had been wrought upon the toxic waste dump.

Original Cindy was no where to be seen and once Sketchy learnt what had happened, he figured she'd be down where all the action was, trying to get through to her Boo.

No work was to be done this day, at least not as far as Sketchy was concerned. He decided the best - the only thing that he could do would be to go to TC himself and find his friends. They had to be alive, there was just no way something like the total destruction of their home could lay them down.

Hours later…
Sketchy was still having a hard time getting close enough to Terminal City to find a section of fence he could creep through. The National Guard had been fending off civilians and reporters since the first air missile struck and his New World Weekly ID had done nothing to gain him access further into the crowd. Although his meandering had served one purpose at least; he'd come across an encouragingly large amount of mixed feelings on the events of the day.

As easily as Normal had been able to change his views on transgenic's after the birth of Jem's baby thus changing the direction of his fanaticism, so were many other's able to reconsider if they too had been hasty in their judgement. And when the government then tried to cover themselves by announcing they had not authorised the bombing, this of course added further fuel to the fires of civil unrest.

Sketchy could see one hell of a front page article within all of this - and to the transgenic's favour. But the idea no longer excited him when it was glaringly obvious that there were no transgenics left to defend. He just wanted to find a quiet place where he could cry. Wandering away from the crowd, he spotted a doorway where he could sit and do just that.

As he stared numbly at the high security fence opposite him, a group of men approached from within Terminal City and passed through a conveniently well hidden gap. Sketchy started in shock when he recognised one of the men from the stand-off at Jam Pony a month or so earlier.
And then he felt his heart plummet when he identified the girl he was carrying. Max..

Grabbing the phone from his pocket, Sketchy keyed in the licence plate of the SUV White was stepping into and texted it to Original Cindy. She’d know what to do with it.

As he continued to watch, another man appeared (these bugger's were sneaky the way they just kept popping up). He too was carrying someone. Sketchy didn't get a look at who it was before the body was shunted into the vehicle, but he had a horrible feeling that he already knew.

As the SUV pulled away from the curb, White glanced out of the window and met the wide eyes of a blonde haired boy who sat within a doorway. Strange, he recognised him from somewhere. Oh well, shrugging it off, White turned his attention back to the girl beside him as the car drove away from the remains of Terminal City and through the darkening streets of Seattle.

She was in a much worse state then he'd intended when he shot her for the second time. In fact she’d be lucky to survive the journey to her temporary new home.

“Stop here!" He ordered the driver as they approached a small doctor’s surgery. Good thing this one wasn’t open after hours.

The car pulled up around the back of the clinic and White hauled Max out while one of his men busted in the back door. Throwing her onto the examination table in the surgery, he pulled open the drawers and cupboards until he found what he was looking for.

After removing her shirt, he unwrapped an 18-gauge needle and stabbed it into Max's chest to release the pressure from the build-up of air. He then attached a catheter so that her crushed lung could have a chance to reexpand and taped it in place before carrying her back to the waiting vehicle.

He couldn't help but laugh as he climbed back in - here he was, saving the girl who if allowed to live, would cause the destruction of his entire race. Stick that on a Hallmark card.

He settled 452 across the back seat and sat back, considering the nasty things he'd have to do to her to make up for this... kindness... once she had recovered enough to handle it.

Making the most of this window of opportunity White and his weirdo’s had given him, Sketchy ran over to the security fence and slipped through the broken wire. It was nearly dark and he had no idea what he would find within transgenic central.

“Oh man!" Sketchy muttered to himself, aghast at the ruins surrounding him. How could anyone have survived this devastation? And how would the citizens of Seattle feel if they were to see this now?

Pulling out his camera to snap off a few shots, Sketchy was unaware he had company until he found himself held up in mid-air by the back of his shirt. Choking on the neckline of his t-shirt, he kicked his legs uselessly, wondering if this was how his life was going to end - without ever indulging in that fantasy of walking in on OC and Max….

And then he felt the pressure released from his throat as he fell to the ground atop a pile of broken crates and assorted rubbish.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing here kid?"

Looking up warily, Sketchy blanched in fright at the face that stared intently at him. Then realisation sunk in and he scrambled to his feet, fumbling over his words as his mind struggled to retain coherent thought.

“Hey, hey you’re the lizard man… Mouse… uh, Gerbil… Mole! Oh dude, I saw some guys take Max!" Half fearful that this angry looking transgenic might in some way hold him responsible for the existence of the entire human race, he stepped back, and sprawled to the ground amidst a tangle of his own feet. “Ow!"

Mole simply stared at him for a moment before stating, “Get a grip" and continuing in the direction of the security fence.

“Hey!" Sketchy hurried to unknit himself and follow after the transgenic. “What’s up with Max? Why isn’t she doing her transgenic thing and kicking White’s ass?"

Without turning or breaking his stride, Mole replied in a neutral voice, “She’s got a pretty nasty bullet wound in her - kinda makes it hard to fight when you’re dying."

Sketchy stopped and stared open mouthed in shock.. ‘Max’ and ‘dying’ in the same sentence was as illogical as ‘Max’, ‘Logan’ and ‘getting busy’. Finally, his mind was barraged by a new set of questions and they tumbled out of his mouth without restraint.

“What does White want with her - why didn’t he straight out kill her? Was that Alec I saw being taken away with her - how did they let themselves be caught?"

Mole let out an exaggerated sigh before turning to the human. Why couldn’t this kid just shut up and go away? If it weren’t bad enough that his plan had fallen through the moment White passed through the fence… now he had to deal with this shit!

“White won’t let her die until he’s got his son’s location. Alec is… don’t ask.. And if you don’t get out of my face… I’m going to chew it off!"

Sketchy blanched a little but as he watched Mole pass through the fence, a new thought occurred to him. Running after the transhuman, he shouted,

“You can’t go out there man - it’s not Halloween!"

Mole stopped and glared at the ordinary, this was about the point where he‘d have to get the kid to back off in a more obvious fashion. Gross facial disfigurement perhaps.

“Sorry dude, I mean, you know, people will stare at you. And then when they’re finished staring they’ll pick up their tire irons and well, you know…"

Sketchy drifted off into silence as he struggled to interpret what the look on Mole’s face could mean. Did he want to eat him or did he just want to rip off his head and shove it up his… cringe

“Look.." Sketchy waggled his phone in front of Mole. “I took White’s license plate and sent it to Cindy - I’ll ring her okay?"

Silence from Mole. Well that was some progress.

Sketchy tapped in Original Cindy’s phone number and waited with growing unease for her to pick up. Finally on the fifth ring, she answered. Thus giving Sketch something to concentrate on other than the resemblance between Mole’s face and a vision he’d seen while undergoing experimental drug therapy for the Seattle Psychiatric Institute.

{{Sketch. Where you at?}} Original Cindy’s voice was for obvious reasons, strained with anxiety.

“I’m in TC with Mole. White’s got Max … OC, she’s hurt bad. Did you get the plate?"

{{Yeah, Logan’s got a trace on it. Put Alec on the phone will you? We’ve got a little job for him.}}

Sketchy’s face fell.

“Alec‘s with Max… What are we going to do OC?"

The phone was silent for a moment as Original Cindy relayed this information to Logan in the background. When she returned to the phone, the concern in her voice had become even more pronounced as awareness of Max‘s situation sank in.

{{We’re onto it okay? Just sit tight. I’ll call you if - }}

Sketchy stared in horror at his phone. Why did the battery have to die NOW?

Turning back towards Mole, he saw the guy had walked away, back into the destruction that was Terminal City. Shoving the lifeless phone into his pocket, Sketchy ran to catch up.

It was approaching darkness when the car came to a halt for the final time. Leaving someone else to carry 452 to the infirmary and take on the contradictory task of keeping the damn girl alive, he hoisted the body of 494 across his shoulders and made his way to a nearby room where he planned on removing that barcode. He needed to do something constructive while he waited for the transgenic bitch to regain conscious.

Rolling the body onto it's stomach, he brushed back the tangle of brown hair at the nape of 494’s neck and began to cut into the skin with the scalpel he'd pocketed at the doctor's surgery.

Remembering the time he'd sent the X5 to do this very same thing to his fellow soldiers, it just seemed so poetic that this Manticorian now lay before him, stripped of his identity, dignity and whatever else these freaks valued in their pitiful lives.

Having cut away the barcode, he held it up for inspection and began to laugh at an obscure joke which really, when he thought about it, wasn‘t at all funny.
Bafflement was as foreign to White as the sensation of pain, but he had to hand it to these lab experiments - they were elusive little butterflies.

“You did WHAT!"

…Was Alec’s first coherent sentence after he had been roused into consciousness by Mole’s boot and given a quick low-down on the situation.

Illuminated by the phosphorus glow of Sketchy’s Zippo, Alec was still crumpled in a heap where Mole had left him - until he fully comprehended what the transhuman had done. At which point he sprang up, grabbed the reptilian man by the throat and proceeded to choke the living shit out of him. “Do you have any idea what you have done?!"

With determination, Mole shook the enraged X5 off and stepped away. His skin was thick and Alec had not achieved much by his efforts. Fortunately.

"Yeah. I know exactly what I’ve done" Mole had lost his inhibitions about the whole ordeal and was now sitting back against a wall, looking for all the world like a content lizard basking in the sun. “I‘ve dug up Max‘s brother so White can have his corpse for whatever kind of loony cult offering or twisted fetishes he indulges in - instead of yours. Thought it was a good idea personally."

"And can you IMAGINE what Max is going to do to ME because of it!" Alec was near to screaming. He could certainly imagine what Max would do to him - hence the reason why he had already begun to scream.

“Well Alec what was I s’posed to do? He looks like the type with a tendency towards necrophilia as it is, but if I gave you to White alive… well hey, you’ve got an imagination."

“Yeah well, that’s a risk I’d be willing to take. You don’t understand just how much this is going to upset Max!" Alec shuddered to think he’d be the first person she’d blame. And this time her punches wouldn’t be thrown in jest.

“I mean, we BURIED him already! Oh my God she’s going to kill me!"

Alec began to pace back and forth, muttering to himself, “I thought I had a chance with her… I thought ‘at last! She’s seen that I’m not an irresponsible jerk who doesn’t care about anyone except himself, but ohh no! Not anymore! She’s going to think I dug up her brother - ripped him from the ground, just to save myself…"

“Look, would you shut up!"

As far as Mole was now concerned, what's done was done and he was over it. The whole 'will anyone ever forgive me' deal got boring fast. But with Drama Queen Alec carrying on, he began to wonder if he should have just saved himself the effort of digging up a bloody body and handed over the real 494.

Sometimes, Mole could see why Max was obsessively hitting the guy. He had to suppress the urge to do it himself. The transhuman recoiled at the thought of how Alec would react once he was told the reason White had to take Max . Alec still seemed unaware that she had been shot for a second time.

Perhaps Mole mused, I could just knock him out again…

For once, good luck favoured Alec as Mole’s train of thought was interrupted by one rather confused Sketchy. The expression on the human’s face was incredulous at the revelation of Alec’s feelings for Max, and the fact that he had a twin brother - who was also related to Max…

“Alec my man, I don’t think you had a chance with Max to begin with."

Alec, the man no girl could resist (except for Max, but he had reason to believe she too, had given in to his charm), abruptly shut up and stared at his friend, utterly wounded by the remark. To be told by Sketchy that he had no chance - well that really cut.

Noticing the look, Sketchy tried to clarify a little. “Well it’s just that, if your twin and her brother are both the same person… and unless incest has become legal in our state…"

Mole burst into laugher and Alec stood flabbergasted for a moment as he thought upon the complexities of the issue. Although Max and Ben had no genetic connections, he could understand how redneck this would sound to any one not in the know.

Feeling this subject could be dealt with later, Alec impatiently gestured to his friend to shut up and turned his attention back to Mole, “How could you allow White to take Max? Why prevent him from taking me if you‘re gonna let him stride on out with her? I don‘t get it! Did he leave a trail of breadcrumbs for us to follow?"

“Nope. I did plan on following them, but the ordinary here reminded me of all the things my good looks and charm have to offer. That was the point where my great plan kind of… dried up."

Sketchy butted in with a smile, glad he had some useful news to offer, “It’s okay, Logan’s on to that. He managed to trace them after I gave OC the plate number."

“Log - aaaw great! My worst nightmare has been realised!" Alec slumped to the ground and held his hands over his face. The entire human race was doomed.

And now, they had arrived to the part of the conversation for which Mole would prefer to be in another part of the world, perhaps New Zealand - listening to someone else relay the information via the telephone. He understood Alec had a ‘thing’ for Max and the extent of her injuries was news which should be dealt with in a tone portraying sympathy and concern. Pity about that.

“Max’s dying." Damn. Perhaps that was a bit blunt. Well, he gave Sympathy a shot.

Alec raised his head from his hands in disbelief, “What!"

“White put another bullet in her, last I saw she was losing a great lot a blood. He was harping on about wanting his son and how he’d fix her up in exchange for information and - you."

“Why didn’t you give him me?" Alec’s voice was a bare whisper, “I coulda been there with her, I coulda figured something out!"

“How if your immobilised huh? You know he’d only use you against her, and then he’d kill you both. The only person who can get her out is you - and you can only do that if your free." Wow, Mole was surprised at himself. He’d truly outdone himself with this little pep talk.

Alec sat motionless. Stupefied. He had heard nothing of what Mole just said. Instead his mind had become frozen within time as he ran over the last few moments he'd spent with Max - those moments before she turned and ran, believing he felt nothing for her.

How could this happen? Alec squeezed his eyes shut to try and block out the guilt that gnawed into him - to push back the hot tears which threatened to spill down his cheeks. As he had dragged himself through these feelings earlier today, he now suffered the attack of his personal demons again. Oh the irony.

Why would Fate be so pitiless as to give them this chance to belong at last - to one another - and then tear them apart? Were they truly the creatures of Hell most ordinaries believed them to be? Was this some kind of cruel punishment for continuing to exist in a world where they were so obviously unwelcome?

Love, tenderness, passion… all the things Manticore had denied its children - these were the treasures he'd seen offered within Max’s eyes today. For one moment, she had shown him another world. A world where he could wake and feel her soft arms wrap around him. And take away the nightmares.
A world where they could both belong.

For so long he had dreamt of a day when she would look at him in such a way, never believing it could actually happen.

Instead he'd grown to accept the look of disgust she subjected him to, the scathing insults she had engraved into his memory, and then at best, the cold blank stare she'd grant him when he tried to make her look his way.

And at last, after everything that had happened to his people, his home and all he clung to in life - when he had given up on everything, she had turned to him. She had finally looked into him and recognised the person he was - not the screw up she thought he was.

Only foolish idiot! He had misinterpreted her. It could be blamed on sleep deprivation, or the inability to believe his own ears. Or perhaps that she appeared in such a state of shock, he told himself she was speaking of Ben. But why did he have to stand like a dumb mute and let her run away?

Springing to his feet, Alec began thinking of what they were going to do. If White wanted his son, he’d keep Max alive, at least for now. That gave them a little bit of time. And with Ben as a decoy, there would be no reason for White to believe anyone was going to come after her. At least, no one he’d bother worrying about.

“I’m going to Logan’s. If he has their location, that’s half our problem solved. Mole, you‘re gonna have to stay here…" The sudden plummet of Alec’s heart inhibited his ability to speak as he realised during all that had happened, they’d forgotten Joshua.

Turning towards the ruins of what had been the building where they’d left Joshua, he felt his stomach knot up in sudden pain. Unless Joshua had somehow found a secret underground tunnel and crawled into it - and that was unlikely, there was no way he could have survived the explosion.

Alec took a running step forward, intending to dig through the wreckage - he couldn’t just leave without trying to find his friend. But a hand clamped onto his wounded shoulder and pinioned him firmly in place. Crippled by the pain, he reluctantly allowed his body to go limp, until at last Mole was convinced the X5 wasn’t going anywhere.

“I know what you’re thinking Alec - don’t think it. He’s gone. We have to get Max."

Alec was utterly conscious-stricken. He had left Joshua behind, thinking he’d be safe. HE had made that decision, despite the fact even Joshua himself was dubious about being left with their weaponry. Everything Max had ever said about him was right - and now because of him, Joshua was dead.

Mole watched Alec begin to crumble again. Ranging from the Devil being smitten from Heaven, right up to whatever catastrophic event might signal the end of civilisation in the future - it was well known that Max held the guy responsible for every diaster imaginable since the history of the Earth itself.
He could handle being blamed for the sinking of the Titanic and Hiroshima, but this…

“Look, you made a decision that was right at the time. You are not accountable. The person to blame is White and if we don’t find him NOW, he will kill Max." As Mole punctuated his final four words, Alec looked up at him with a look of grim determination.

“You’re coming with us."

And with that, he strode away, leaving Mole and Sketchy to catch up.

White picked up the body which was supposed to be 494 and hurled it across the room. This did nothing to satisfy his rage.

What gave them the right to think they could out wit him? He could read barcodes just as surely as he could read ancient Minoan. Each line signified a number and each sequence of numbers held information as to which specific batch the freak in question was made from. He had one thing to thank his father for - teaching him how to read between the lines.

“Do you have means to alter that barcode?" White held up the flap of skin he had removed from the back of 493’s neck and smiled at his budding new idea.

“No sir, I don’t think -"

“Forget it! Just take the body and incinerate it. I don‘t want to see it ever again."

The Familiar nodded, slung the body of 493 across his shoulder and silently left the room.

As he stared at the closing door, White smiled, there was no way anyone was getting 452 away from him this time. He had the entire compound on full security alert - a mouse couldn’t take a shit without being caught on camera. But just to be on the safe side, White decided to find out if the transgenic bitch had recovered her voice yet

The gap where Sketchy had gained entrance into Terminal City had by now been discovered. They were going to have to create another exit, but considering there seemed to be double the amount of men guarding the perimeter as there were previously, it wasn’t going to easy.

A building had fallen onto the fence along the Eastern side of TC, and so there were more guards here then anywhere else. Two guards regularly waved spotlights across the ruins, while several more stood watchful, eagerly hoping to identify something suspicious.

Alec was curious to know what had triggered the National Guard to become more edgy, and he picked his way closer, the saying ‘curiosity killed the cat’ relaying within his mind as he did so. With his enhanced eyesight and ability to move so silently, he almost laughed at how ridiculously easy it was to draw close to a couple of sentries lost in conversation.

“I hope we see some action soon, after what they did to Leroy - those mutants don’t deserve to live a minute longer!"

The guard facing Alec looked as if he wore a permanent scowl. The light of his torch played upon the sharp angles of his face as the shadows accentuated the lattice of scars and deep crevices which marred his skin, all in all lending him a ghoulish appearance.

The second guard made a guttural sound which Alec took to be a sign of agreement. Turning his head to reveal a shockingly low-sloping forehead, Alec realised this man’s ancestors must have only recently swung down from the highest branch of the family tree.

Freddy Kruegar continued to speak, “I mean Jeezus, we’ve got FREAKS running around giving my kids nightmares, claiming the right to live along side us, and they’re not even civilised!"

Oh now that’s a scary thought, Alec shook his head in disbelief, The guy has offspring?

“Yeah, this place gives me the creeps.“ At last the second guard revealed borderline intelligence by demonstrating his delicate grasp on human speech. “How do I know one of them freaks aint just gonna leap out from behind and rip out my throat?"

From where he crouched behind him, Alec suppressed a giggle. If only the guy knew.

“Well, I’m glad someone tipped us off - freaks did a fine job of hiding Leroy’s body." Freddy spat in the direction of Alec before adding, “Lest we know they didn’t all escape. Any who try and claw their way out are gonna get a lovely surprise when they find themselves staring down my gun."

As King Kong (Alec felt this was a fitting name for the second guard) tried to manoeuvre his jaw in a manner which would allow him to laugh, Alec almost felt fleeting sympathy for him - he must have had such a hard time at school. Finally the primordial man gave up on complex facial movement and resorted back to low level speech, “I wouldn‘t mind having one of them freak head‘s stuffed as a trophy!"

At last deciding he had heard enough barbarity for one day, Alec fell back and returned to Mole and Sketchy to relay what little information he had gleaned. It appeared White had murdered a guard in order to gain access through the fence, and then pinned it on the transgenic’s - even placed a call so that the body could be recovered.

“No surprises there - as if he hasn’t given the world enough reason to hate us already." Mole glared down at the guards before checking over his sniper rifle.

“Hey, we’re not going to go out with our guns blazing," Alec planted himself before the transhuman. “It won’t help us any to have you sending smoke signals in the air!"

Mole stepped closer to Alec and glared at him, “What the hell are you trying to say?"

No sooner had the words left the transhuman’s mouth, when he remembered the shot he’d fired after crashing into a truck a few months back. Seeing Alec’s point, he decided not to press the issue with the X5 after all.

Not realising Mole had backed down, Alec continued, “We could take out those guards down there, but the murder of men who’re simply doing their job isn’t an option. That blood can remain on the familiar’s hands - and their own."

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, stop your prattling." Mole rolled his eyes at Alec’s speech, “I get the point already - now you’re just beginning to sound like Max."

Alec stared at him for a moment, Mole’s words haunting him as Max's many scruples surfaced within his mind. Then he blinked away the memories, flashed a smile and slapped the lizard-man on the shoulder, “Thanks buddy, knew you’d see it my way."

And so they proceeded on their search for a way out of Terminal City - once a refuge for the transgenics, now undoubtedly a death trap.

“I’ve repaired the damage to her chest as best I can - given the equipment available." The doctor turned away from 452 and walked across the room, picking up another pad with which to soak up the blood that trickled from Max’s leg wound. “But she’s lost a lot of blood. Really, she needs a transfusion."

White stood beside 452’s unconscious body and sneered with disgust. “Well, she’s not going to get one. When’s this piece of filth expected to wake up?"

The doctor shrugged, “Like I said, she’s lost too much blood - she might not wake up at all."

“Well that’s just fucking great!" White walked away and slammed his fist into the wall, crushing the plaster. Picking up the phone that sat on the desk, he keyed in an extension number.

“Has our guest succeeded in choking on her own tongue yet?" There was silence in the room as White listened to the answer. “Good. Bring her to the infirmary. Make sure she doesn’t lose any blood along the way."

Hanging up, White turned back to the doctor. “Get 452 ready - we have our donor."

The woman nodded and began to assemble what was needed for the blood transfusion.

White sighed to himself. This was not quite the homecoming he had planned, he had so hoped for something much more… grand.

He began to pace the room, deep in thought, and at last the door opened. A familiar walked in, half dragging a dark haired woman behind him. White grabbed her by the wrist and forced her into a chair beside the bed where 452 lay.

At the sight of her, the woman began to wail and rock back and forth in the chair, her hand reaching out to hold the limp one of the younger girl beside her.

“Shut up!" White slapped her across the face, but if anything, this action made her cry louder. Grabbing a length of bandage from the dressing trolley, he wrapped it around the woman’s mouth, muffling the sound. The woman’s eyes bulged as she began to gag and White turned away in frustration.

“Just hurry up and get this over and done with!" He barked at the doctor. “And then call me."

Without waiting for the nod, he stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. “Fucking lunatic, should have left her in the damned mental asylum where she belongs!" Making a note to never again do anyone a favour, he strode down the hall. He was so, so sick of this entire transgenic mess.

It had been well over two hours since White had taken away Max, and it seemed Alec was wrong. Maybe they were going to have to injure some sentries in order to get out of Terminal City after all.

“I can cause a diversion - pretend I’m a transgenic and lead some guards away?" Sketchy looked a little fearful at the idea, but he knew Alec needed to reach Logan’s before the guy went off by himself to save the day.

Alec smiled at Sketchy’s courage, no guard would believe the kid to be a transgenic. “No can do Sketch. They’d shoot you just for an excuse to test their guns."

Sketchy gulped. “It’s worth a shot though right?"

“Not if the shot hits an internal organ."

At that remark, Sketchy grew silent and returned his thoughts to the magazine article he was planning to write the moment they got out of this jam. “So do you think Max will give me an interview when this is done?"

Mole chuckled, “She’d sooner rip out your throat."

I’ll put in a good word for you buddy." Alec realised how grateful he was to have a friend like Sketchy, especially at a time like this.

Rather then irritating him, Sketchy's unfaltering optimism kept a flicker of hope burning within Alec‘s own mind. And he needed that hope to prevent him from being crushed beneath the weight of his own guilt. If ever there was a time when Alec was congested by self-doubt, now was that time.

By nature, Alec considered himself a happy-go-lucky kinda guy. He gave everything his best shot, smiled at Lady Luck and basked in the confidence of knowing he could succeed at any task he put his mind to.

Except for the Berrisford mission. Except when he allowed his heart to rule his common sense.

And what about now? Alec's morals found a voice within his head, Am I making that mistake once again?

Alec’s attempts at remaining positive in the face of adversity were wearing as thin as Logan Cale’s hair. He couldn’t help but fear the worst. What if he couldn‘t get her out? What if this time round…

“Alec! Mole!"

A voice cried out in the darkness behind them - and it was one of the most welcoming sounds the trio could possibly hear in such circumstances. It was the sanguine voice of optimism, a sign that hope need not be lost after all.

A huge smile broke across Alec’s face as he turned and found himself being swept up into the crushing embrace of his brother - Joshua.

“How the hell did you make it out!" Alec grinned madly at his friend, while his eyes raked over him, searching for any sign of injury. “Did they put something special in your cocktail? Armadillo perhaps?"

Joshua grinned at the thought before replying, “No, just a good sense of smell."

"But I don't get it, where were you when the building blew up?" Alec couldn't comprehend how his dog-boy could be here, alive, in one piece.

"In the basement - the tunnel. I followed my nose, crawled back out." Joshua was proud of himself, he'd had to push against alot of rubble and sqeeze through many gaps to find his way to the surface.

Joshua‘s eyes lit up, reminding Alec of a kid with a rabbit in his hat. “Uh huh. Leads to the sewers. Come, I'll show you!"

Alec groaned in mock dismay, “No! No more sewers - Joshua, whenever I go into the sewers with you, it leads to trouble!"

“No, not this sewer," Joshua giggled, feeling half mad himself. “This one leads to the outside."

“Well shit, what the hell are we standing round yapping for?" Mole stepped forward and motioned Joshua to turn around. “Lead the way Big Fella."

Alec's relief to see Joshua alive was immeasurable. He made a mental note to keep Joshua in lifetime supply of hamhocks. Not only had he returned to them unharmed, he'd also found them a way out. For the first time, Alec felt a genuine glimmer of hope.

Once again, White was standing over 452, the deathly pallor of her skin had been replaced by a healthy pink glow. Looked like she was going to pull through after all.

“Vital signs are up" The doctor removed the intravenous drip from arm of the transgenic and the woman beside her - who had by now been tranquillised and lay limp against the chair.

White crouched beside the bed moved closer until his face hovered over 452’s. “Wakey wakey sleeping beauty." He whispered into her ear.

The transgenic didn’t twitch a muscle. This was not at all progressive.

“Hey!" He raised his voice to a yell fit to raise the dead, “Wake up bitch!"

“That’s not going to help." Spoke the doctor disapprovingly.

White whirled around and grabbed the doctor by her shoulders, shoving her back towards the wall. “When I next walk into this room, I want to see that bitch awake - awake and ready to spill every secret she has ever harboured. Do I make myself clear?"

The doctor nodded her head vigorously.

“Speak! Use your voice! I’m sick of everyone nodding their god-damned heads!"

“Yes, yes sir. I’ll make sure she’s awake."

White stared at her a moment longer and turned to leave the room once more. As he began to walk down the hall, the doctor opened the door and called out, “Sir, she’s awake."

“Finally!" White stalked back into the room, a twisted smile firmly in place once more. 452 stared groggily at him as he entered before wincing and turning her head towards the wall.

“Oh 452, you should be happy to see me! After all, I saved your life." He stepped between the wall and the bed. “I have so many lovely surprises in store for you, I just don’t know where to start!"

At that moment, his pager began to beep. Keeping his eyes on the transgenic, he took it from his pocket and glanced at the small screen. Someone had set off the close proximity wiring outside of the compound.

“Well it looks like someone else has come to join our little reunion party."

Max weakly turned her head to look at the woman in the chair beside her. “And who’s she? My mother?"

White’s eyes penetrated Max’s in a way that chilled her. “Funny you should ask."

“As far as sewers go, this one’s pretty clean. And I should know - I’ve wandered through enough of them."

Mole turned to give Alec a disgusted look. “Don’t you have anything better to do with your time?"

“Well you’d think huh!" Alec’s usual buoyancy had returned, for that was exactly what his happiness was - buoyant - it floated upon the surface of his mind, shutting out all the pain and darkness which lingered beneath the murky depths of his soul. Tricks and treats.

Sketchy’s Zippo had lasted remarkably well and for that the X5 was grateful. Even with his catlike eyesight, he needed some particle of light to see by, even if it was just the faintest echo of a star.

Thinking of Sketchy, the transgenic spared a glance at the ordinary who trailed behind them. He had remained unusually quiet for a while now, Alec began to fear the toxins had already begun to affect him. “What’s up Sketch? I’ve hardly heard a peep from you since you got here."

“Well you know, I keep thinking back to that time I offered myself as a guinea pig for that psychiatric hospital."

“Uhh- huh. You did?" Man, no wonder his friend was a little whack. “And when was this?"

“Oh, ages ago. I needed the money you know?"

“Uhh-huh." Alec didn’t know. No amount of money would be worth loosing brain cells over, especially when you possessed below average brain cells at that.

“It’s just that, ever since you guys have been springing up in the headlines, I’ve wondered if perhaps none of this is real - maybe it’s all just a really intense flashback. I mean, look at Mole!"

At that remark, Mole turned back and growled at the human. “Here we go again - insult the reptile."

“No I mean, you look like something created from my imagination." Once again, Sketchy’s efforts to clarify himself, were backfiring.

“Idiot. I was created from someone’s imagination!" The transhuman nearly laughed as he added, “But just because I’m cold blooded, doesn’t mean I don’t have feelings. Lay off huh?"

Alec decided to interject. “Yeah I understand buddy. Sometime it seems like it happened to someone else - like maybe it was a story I heard."

Sketchy smiled, at least someone understood what he was getting at.

“Here, through here.“ Joshua turned to a door in the wall and began to wrench it from its sockets. The door was old and rusted, and it wasn’t long before he pulled it free, exposing another tunnel beyond.

“Great!" Alec grimaced, “More sewers!"

Joshua stuck his head through and inhaled deeply.

“Mmm, you just suck in those odours Josh." Alec turned away and scratched his head, slightly embarrassed for his friend who appeared to have gotten a bit too carried away with the whole ‘tracking’ thing. “Does it make ya feel hungry?"

At that question, four stomach’s simultaneously began to rumble. Sick - that was just sick.

Joshua slapped one great hand over Alec’s shoulder. What was it with people needing to claim contact with his shoulder? “Home is this way."

And with that, he disappeared into the tunnel, dragging the X5 with him.

Left behind with a scowling creature fresh from his delusional dreams, Sketchy nearly tripped over himself in eagerness to catch up. “Hey! Wait for me!"

Mole watched the human stumble off and shrugged before stepping through into the new sewer. That was one weird kid, he decided to himself.

As the transhman caught up to the small group, he was just in time to hear Alec retelling one of his many adventures through the sewers to a rapt Sketchy.

“…it was a gossamer, isn’t that right Big Fella?"

“Yeah, Gossamer."

Sketchy‘s eyes widened in disbelief, “Oh man, sounds like some of those Manticore scientists had the same dealer as me! What the hell did they use it for?"

“Oh it was created mostly to cough up great big goobers. You know, just for fun. Then they discovered it was also good at retrieving soldiers gone AWOL."

Alec looked around at the section of tunnel they were in and had a sudden, sobering thought. “You know, when life reaches the point where you actually begin to recognise the tunnels you're in, it’s time to start reconsidering what direction fate is leading you in."

From behind, Mole chuckled, “Well, you could always hire yourself out as a tour guide for Seattle’s prodigious sewage pipeline system once the whole ‘Kill the Freaks’ hype blows over."

Alec rolled his eyes and laughed. “Yeah, yeah. ‘Cause I just can’t get enough of this place you know?"

At last, Joshua stopped once again, much to the combined relief of his companions.
Turning to them, he pointed to a manhole above them, “We’re here."

Sketchy pushed forward, grabbed hold of the rungs and began to climb, gagging as he went. “Hey, I can’t get this lid off!" Panic was evident in his voice as the desire to throw up became nearly too much to bear.

“Shuffle across" Alec swiftly ascended the ladder, his injured shoulder long forgotten, and pushed the manhole open.

Sketchy and Mole had no idea where they were once they crawled out into a street lit by dull lamps. But Joshua and Alec bolted across the road in excitement towards a decrepit veranda as if it were the Pearly Gates of Heaven.

As if on cue, the front door creaked open to reveal the Seattle’s own St Peter - Original Cindy.

“Alec! Thank god you’re here!" She ran forward and threw herself upon the X5, nearly sending them both backwards and off the top step as she wrapped her arms around his neck and began to cry with relief.

“Hey, it’s okay!" Alec stroked back her hair reassuringly as he waved Sketchy and Mole inside. “Where’s Logan? We need to get Max."

Original Cindy lifted her head back from Alec’s shoulder and blinked away her tears. “He’s gone. He went after White."

Alec swore. This was the last thing they needed.

Original Cindy felt Alec tense and she released him. Stepped back towards the door, she noticed Sketchy and gave him a weak smile before adding, “He scribbled down White’s location and took off. Guess he figured no one else had made it out."

Alec followed her inside and walked over to the computer equipment Logan had managed to scrounge together since White’s men had raided his penthouse. The screen displayed a satellite picture and beside the monitor was a print out of what appeared to a group of buildings. With the location at hand, Alec had just a little more research to do. He wanted to know exactly what he was up against. As Alec sat down at the computer and began to type, he only hoped Logan wouldn’t ruin their chances of releasing Max.

Logan realised the fence before him probably had a motion alarm rigged to detect the slightest movement in the wire. But for all he knew, he could have already set off a tripwire. In his eagerness to reach Max, he hadn’t considered that possibility before now.

He wished he had taken a moment to find out just what kind of compound lay before him. A little bit of research would have revealed the kind of security they had access to. Too late now. Perhaps if he was quick enough, he could get in and get Max out without any fuss. The place looked deserted after all.

Searching beside him for a damp twig, he held it close to the wire, waiting for the mild shock which would prove the fence to be electrified. Nothing. Pulling out his wire cutters, Logan began to make a hole in the fence. He’d be in and out. No one would even know he’d been here.

Having cut away at the fence at last, he squeezed through and scurried down the hill towards the buildings in his map. Sidling up to a wall, he remained close to the shadows as he made his way to the corner of the building. This was easy peasy. He felt just like the last action hero.

When he reached the corner, he noticed the largest building across the courtyard had a well lit doorway. Strangely enough, the door appeared to be partially open. Smiling at this good fortune, Logan dashed across the pavement and disappeared through the door. He felt like he was back at school camp playing Spotlight. Or rather, watching all of the other kids play Spotlight.

How could this place be so empty? Logan took a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and examined it. No, he was definitely at the right place. As he tiptoed down the corridor, a song began to play inside his head. Smiling sneakily, he recognised it as the theme to ‘Mission Impossible’. Logan smoothed back his hair and sucked in his stomach a little. He could certainly see himself as Tom Cruise in his younger days. And once Max got a sight of him coming to her rescue, she too would wonder what she ever saw in that transgenic sidekick of hers. Especially when she had a lean mean prime piece of beef such as Logan Cale to save her from the long claws of evil.

So rapt was he in this little fantasy, Logan never noticed the camera’s on the ceiling which swivelled to record his every move. He was unaware that the Evil behind the above mentioned claws, stood at this moment within a room filled with state of the art surveillance equipment. Logan’s minutes had been numbered from the time he was three metres away from the perimeter fence.

White watched as Logan made his way towards through the building. 452 wasn’t even in this building. The idiot could be wandering about forever before he finally figured that out. Growing impatient at such absurdity, White left the surveillance room and headed towards his carrion. This was indeed, a gratifying turn of events.

“Hooray for Max’s bike." Alec stood before the Ninja and eyed it with appreciation. “What better way to retrieve the damsel in distress than upon this jet black steed!"

“Oh shut up!" Original Cindy balked at Alec’s choice of words, “You’re sounding just like Logan!"

Alec recoiled in fright, his eyes widened with repulsion. There was no quicker way to be humbled then by the comparison to that… runt.

“And don’t get any ideas about Max’s bike. You know she’ll wring your scrawny neck if you lay a fingerprint on it!" Original Cindy wiggled her index finger in front of Alec, a fierce expression on her face.

“Hey, I wouldn’t even consider it!" Alec turned away before muttering, “I’ll just walk to where she’s at. You know, it’ll only take a day. Should be there by the time White’s finished removing her spleen."

“Go and steal a car. I’m sure that’s something you’re good at."

“Cindy!" Alec looked wounded at the suggestion, “What makes you think I would indulge in such criminal activities?"

Just then, Mole and Sketchy appeared at the door, Mole had on a sweatshirt Joshua had left behind before moving to TC, and the hood was pulled up around his face. Sketchy appeared both racked by nerves and exhilarated at the same time as he announced, “We’ve got the car you asked for."

Alec turned a dazzling smile upon Original Cindy, “See. Why would I steal a car when I can recruit someone else to do it for me?"

Rolling her eyes, OC waved him away, “Go do what you were designed for and kick some evil ass."

Blowing a kiss to his former Jam Pony co-worker, Alec walked out the door to his waiting chariot. Mole sat hunched in the back, his face hidden by the shadow of his hood, Sketchy sat in the front passenger seat, looking a little more dazed and confused then usual.

As Alec was about to step into the driver’s seat, Joshua came out from the house and stood beside Cindy. “Be careful Alec!"

Joshua looked so lost and alone, Alec hoped desperately that he wouldn’t fail this mission. Not just for Max and himself, but for everyone who’d ever meant anything to him. Trying desperately to hide the despair he felt tightening its fingers around his heart once more, Alec forced himself to smile at the friends he was leaving behind.

“Always."

.

“What is it with the bad guys always having to build secret facilities in remote forest locations? It‘s all very predictable."

Alec was holding up a print out from Logan’s computer which he was endeavouring to read from behind the steering wheel. Every now and then he would forget he was driving and so the car would veer towards opposing traffic. Sketchy had strapped on his seatbelt with gusto the moment they had pulled away from the curb.

And then ten minutes after cringing through Alec’s haphazard efforts to multi-task, he’d made an attempt to pull a belt from the back seat over him too.

“I mean we didn’t really need Logan to find this shit out. It says on page one of Intelligence and Counter Intelligence Techniques of the United States Special Forces - ‘when in doubt as to the location of the hostile party, consult the movie reviews in your TV Guide’."

Taking his hands off his eyes long enough to look at Alec in amazement, Sketchy couldn’t help but ask, “Does it really?"

With a grin, Alec reached over to pat his friend on the head, “So, so gullible."

“But really, what would stop you from thinking they’re holed up somewhere in sector 12?"

“Well Sketchy my man, it’s relatively simple. Just take a look at classic Arnie movies such as Commando and True Lies. Not to forget Manticore itself of course. The bad guys always think they’ll be inconspicuous if they’re out in the middle of no where."

Alec shook his head at such predictability before continuing.

“As if any one observing satellite feedback aint gonna question why there’s a property heavily guarded by gun-toting mercenaries… on a road that doesn’t exist on any map!"

“Ha, yeah - it‘s like a universal agreement between bad guys to try and outwit us with their own stupidity. Like maybe they think we‘re dumb enough to fall for it!" Sketchy paused to contemplate his own words. Did that make any sense?

A gruff yet muffled voice rang out from the back seat, “Hey! Would you two quit your yabbering and concentrate on the road?"

Often when one places a blanket over a birdcage, the bird promptly shuts up and falls asleep. Unfortunately, the same can not be said when a blanket is placed over a lizard.

Disguising a man who looks as if his mum dated one of the characters from V is no easy task even in the darkness. Alec had been all for forcibly stuffing him into the trunk, just to be on the safe side. But instead Mole lay on the back seat, covered over by a travel rug. A sneaky disguise - who would ever guess?

Unwilling to incur the wrath of the transhuman while they had their back to him, they drove in silence for a while, each reflecting upon their own thoughts.

At last Sketchy was unable to suppress his innate journalistic nature (re: compulsion to ask pesky questions at inappropriate times) any longer, and so he blurted, “What do you think White’s gonna do with Max?"

Alec flinched as if burnt. That was a question he’d been avoiding from himself for hours now. Grimly, he replied, “He’s gonna keep her alive. And that’s all he’s gonna do."

Sketchy wisely chose not to force the subject and instead fell once again into his own introspection. If anyone had told him he‘d one day be sitting in a car with two transgenics, helping to save both Max and the world from a wacky five thousand year old breeding cult… He would have laid off the substance abuse a looong time ago.

The day he’d stumbled upon OC leaving Normal’s office with Max and Alec’s files, he’d felt utterly betrayed. Initially he wasn’t sure which hurt the most; finding two of his best friends were transgenics, or finding out by accident. Ultimately, it was the fact that they’d kept it secret from him for so long that really stung. It’s great to have friends you can trust, but even better to have friends who can trust you. At that point, he hadn’t felt as if he had much in the way of friends.

But OC had laid it down for him; Max and Alec were his friends. No amount of genetic engineering could change that. And as for their lack of trust in him…perhaps they would have let him in on it sooner if it weren’t for his ‘anti-transgenic vigilante’ stance.

Alec sighed deeply, breaking through the quiet at last. Thoughts churned around inside his head and suddenly the silence of the car had become almost deafening. Lowering his voice, he found himself confessing to one particular thought that refused to leave him in peace.

“We all knew we’d never make it you know."

Sketchy glanced at his friend, surprised by his words. It was almost as if they were spoken by a man who believed himself to be condemned.

“Max’s speech… it was so noble, but even then we knew we couldn’t stand up against the world." Alec almost laughed at his following words. “But she spoke with such conviction - and we wanted to believe. She has that way about her you know? …that way of making you believe it has to happen because she‘ll make it happen."

Sketchy couldn’t help but nod in agreement. Yeah, she had that way about her. If feminine charms wouldn’t work, she’d simply resort to brute force. More often then not, Max skipped the charms and moved straight to force …it always went better with her outfit.

From the back seat came the unmistakable sound of a snort. “Oh please, we all followed her cause she’s hot! You think we'd be doing all this if she looked like me?"

Alec and Sketchy both shuddered at the thought.

“What’s gonna happen now Alec? To the rest of the transgenics - the ones who made it out?"

“I don’t know. We‘ll go to ground same as we did after Manticore went down. There’s no other choice …I just hope I won‘t have to do it alone."

“Ahh, you won’t be alone Alec - you’ll always have me!" Mole chuckled dryly to himself. The way this conversation was heading, he expected someone to at any given moment, burst into melancholic song.

Sketchy was taken back by the emotions he could see bared within Alec’s eyes. He was used to seeing his friend as the ever confident man devil-may-care man he’d always known him to be. Not like this. Not lost and eaten by fear and doubt. He knew Alec was trying to make a show of hiding it, but for once, the mask kept sliding off his face.

“Alec buddy, I don’t really know how to tackle these complex emotional issues… but the way I see it is this; you survived over twenty years in Manticore, and still you can start every day with a joke up your sleeve. No matter what, you‘ll always find a way to keep on going. Whether you want to or not."

Mole cut in with his own set of positive affirmations.

“Oh my god - are you ladies finished yet? Geeze, what happened to you Alec? Are you sure you’re not 493 and I gave White the wrong body?"

Alec smiled coldly into the rear vision mirror. “If I was Ben I’d be ripping your teeth out as we speak."

“Noted."

“Oh crap," The mood changed yet again as Alec slowed the car and turned down a side street, then into an alley.

The last exit out of Seattle had snuck up upon them and there were a number of guards at the checkpoint to prevent surviving transgenics from escape. This was where the fun truly began. Strolling on through with the flash of a sector pass, a wave and a nod was no longer an option.

“We have to assume they’ll have a thermal imager. They’ll know I’m one before I get within 20 yards. And as for Mole…" Alec thought about their options, there weren’t many.

“We’re gonna have to just bust through the checkpoint and hope we can somehow outrun them. There‘s too many to take out."

He looked at Sketchy levelly. “You’re not coming for this neck of the journey buddy."

“Hang on!" Sketchy was alarmed at the suggestion of leaving the story in such a manner. He felt at least partially responsible for the public’s view on transgenics, and fervently needed to remedy that. “I have an idea!"

Noticing Alec was actually taking him seriously and patiently waiting for this brilliant plan of action, he mumbled, “Just give me a chance to figure out what it is…"

Mole sat up from the back seat and pulled off his hood, looking frighteningly excited by their dilemma, “Why don’t we take the kid up on his earlier offer? He can cause a distraction so we don’t have to worry about cops pursuing this rusty hunk of shit."

It was a simple answer, therefore Mole couldn’t understand why they were both looking at him as if he’d suddenly morphed into a big cuddly wombat.

After all, Mole was looking forward to a bit of excitement. It would be a nice change from the mild mannered life he had led up until this point.

“Hey yeah…" Sketchy slowly warmed to the idea. (That is if humans usually wear an expression of forced bladder control when faced by a brilliant idea, Mole told himself encouragingly.)

“Oh no! No, no, no!"

Alec turned in his seat until he was fully facing the transhuman. “Sketchy’s helped us enough already - just coming into TC was a risk for the guy, so whatever plan you have inside that ugly head of yours… lose it!"

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, Alec. Sticks and stones…" Mole grinned, he wasn’t insulted by Alec’s words. He knew he’d never be a centerfold. “Hey, the kid’s got a plan - at least one of us does huh?"

Alec sighed and held up his hands in defeat. They could go back and forth debating this forever. Turning to Sketchy he asked, “So what’s your plan Stan?"

“Uh, well…"

“Here, let me!" grinning madly, Mole leant forward and turned the heater on to it’s highest setting before stepping out of the car.

“Come on Alec, get out. Sketchy - you stay there. We need to raise your body temperature - you‘re our decoy."

“What?" Alec remained seated. He was beginning to realise the transhuman had a little obsession with using people as bait. It was kinda manic.

Mole opened the driver’s door and leaned in, grabbing Alec by one arm and wrenching him over his shoulder. Backing out with the X5 hung upside down over him, he laughed as he dumped him to the ground.

“Come on, give the kid a chance. If he wants to go out in a blaze of glory then let him! You never know, he might just make it."

It was now time for phase two of Mole’s cunning plan. The transhuman was behind the wheel and had pulled behind a parked car when they were close to the checkpoint.

“Thanks for the ride guys, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it."

Sketchy jumped out of the car and started towards the guards, Alec grabbed his arm through the open window. “See you at Joshua’s right?"

It was less of a question, more a cross between a command and a goodbye.

Sketchy looked at him for a moment, forcing his smile wider, “Yeah, sure thing. Got nothing better to do." And with that, he began to run.

The car slowly rolled down the road and the transgenics could only watch as the guards took the bait and yelled at him to stop. Seeing he had no intention of doing such a thing, the majority then took off in pursuit.

“You ready?" Mole looked at Alec intently, and the X5 recalled similar words being asked from another transgenic on the day his whole existence took a turn towards the worst.

“I’m always ready."

Opening the door, he jumped out and blurred towards the guard who stood before the checkpoint booth. Mole watched as he kicked the guns out of the hands of two men before they even realised he was there, then brought them both down with a roundhouse kick. Nicely done.

Two other’s raised their guns at him but he dropped to the ground and swept their legs out from beneath them. One remained on the ground - heavily winded, but as the other made to stand, Alec picked him up by the front of his shirt and propelled him into the final guard. They both collapsed in a heap and he quickly gathered up their guns. Sparing a glance towards Mole, he ran into the booth and a moment later, the barrier began to rise.

Mole gave the car a rev (to lend a feeling of atmosphere to the scene) and slammed his foot on the brake. Oops. At last, he found the accelerator and took off towards the sector border.

An unfortunate guard had risen to his feet and placed himself in the way of the car. Smiling manically, Mole pushed the car faster, but as he was about to experience the gratification of seeing how far a human could bounce off a bonnet, Alec plucked up the man and threw him back to the curb.

Squealing to a halt in front of the transgenic, Mole glared at him as he opened the drivers door. “Spoil my fun." But then he noticed the guns Alec had swept up from the ground, and added with a grin, “But I’ll forgive you."

As the car pulled away from the border, the guard at the curb heard a loud groan from within the vehicle as a voice cheerfully cried, “Now, I bags the first round of ‘I spy’"

Logan strained against the rope by which he was bound to the table. He realised he had been caught in a trap when White stepped out from a room and held his arms open as if beckoning a young child forward for a hug. He had been watched from the moment he passed through the fence. If not beforehand.

Logan wriggled his hands a little more. He should have waited for Alec. As much as it pained him to admit it, he knew by storming in here he had quite possibly ruined any chance for Max to survive this mess.

Who was he kidding? He’d saved Alec himself once. He had proved himself perfectly able to defeat on of the strongest - a phalanx. All he needed to do was wait for an opportunity to strike down White. After all, he was practically bionic.

Once again, he tried to tug free from the slivers of string binding his wrist - for that was exactly the material White had used to restrain him. String.

Oddly enough, Logan Cale: Genius in Disguise, Protector of the Down Trodden and Crime-Fighting Superhero… was completely unaware of this fact.

At the sound of the door handle turning, Logan mustered a glare capable of causing even the hardiest man to run with fright. He was fearless in the face of fear, and this was exactly the sort of image he projected when the suited figure walked into the room.

White walked over to the man tied to the table and felt his skin crawl. He wasn’t sure if his tolerance for pain included being subjected to the ridiculous sight before him.

Grimacing at the thought of having to touch this insult to humanity even long enough to torture him, White looked around the room for a means by which he could avoid coming into contact with the him. At last his eyes feel upon a small cardboard box containing latex gloves. Perfect.

Drawing on a pair, White noticed the man didn’t seem at all surprised to find White donning the gloves. The familiar sniggered. Obviously the loser was used to this kind of reaction towards him.

Now, how to get the ball rolling, what to do first? He gave thought to removing what he considered to be 452’s obvious breast implants and giving Logan a feminine touch (perhaps it would help him score, let’s face it, he needed all the help he could get) but he came across an even more devious and humiliating plan.

White walked across the room to pick up a scalpel and as he ran his thumb across the blade he smiled without emotion at the blood which began to trickle down his wrist. Slowly he raised his eye’s until he met the terrified gaze of the man before him. As he stepped forward, his victim began to let out a series of high pitched shrieks - rather like that of a small furry animal upon being stuffed into a switched on food processor.

Now that was an idea.

Max had initially been surprised by White’s sudden departure after she had awoken. In fact, she’d almost been offended - if there was a bad smell in the room it had obviously been generated from someone else. Of course, she wasn’t complaining. As long as he wasn’t in here torturing her with his crazy-ass mutterings, she didn’t care what the hell he up to.

Max looked across over at the woman who had not yet recovered from whatever had been pumped into her system. She tried to judge her age but it was difficult to tell. Perhaps she was in her thirties? No, she looked like the type to carry her age well. At last Max settled on forty as an appropriate age and began to wonder at the clue White had given earlier of her relevance to this sordid little tale.

Could this lady be her mother? That didn’t make sense. How did White find her and why would he bother? No, it was likely some kind of tactic he planned to use against her so that she’d spill the beans about his kid. Yeah. Like she was that gullible.

A sudden scream reached her ears and she strained her head to look towards the door. What the hell was that? White certainly had some bizarre fetishes in his twisted little brain. Right now it sounded as if he were in the process of flaying a chinchilla. The scream rang out again, this time it lasted longer before tapering off into a pitiful whimper. Max clenched her jaw against the sound.

“Hey! Someone get their ass in here! If I’ve gotta be stuck here, at least take me to another room!" Clearing her throat, she yelled louder, “Come on! I can’t stand hearing that screech - just put the animal out of its misery!"

It was no use. This was how White was going to torment her. The scream turned to shrieks and Max began to wonder if he was torturing a young child. That just wasn’t on. Squirming beneath the straps that bound her to the bed, Max tried to wriggle her way free. She felt like a psychiatric patient, restrained from causing herself harm. On the contraire, the only harm she was going to inflict would be upon White’s face. Damn it.

She felt pain sear through her chest and looked down her nose towards the latest bullet wound White had given her. It was then she noticed her lack of clothing. With a flush of embarrassment, Max stared down at her exposed body. Her jeans had been removed so that one of White’s more thoughtful minion’s could attend to her leg, and the strategic placement of the bandage which bound her chest made her feel like she’d just stepped off the set of Gilligan’s Island.

Max shuddered to think she had been in such a vulnerable state around White. That guy oozed creep. Ignoring the fact that she’d recently hovered on the outskirts of death, Max tried harder to tug free of her restraints. The screeching from down the hall was driving her nuts and she had every intention of finding the chinchilla, cat, young child or whatever it was and drowning it.

Beside her, the woman groaned softly and rolled her head. Max’s anger grew. No doubt she’d have to make small talk. Perhaps the lady could start by telling her what the hell she hoped to achieve by this ruse.

“Hey! Wake up and untie me huh?" Feeling surprisingly spry given her condition, Max began to map out her plan of action. This woman beside her would wake up and untie her, she would kill White, and then she would leave. Simple. “I said wake up damn it!"

The woman’s eyes slowly fluttered and Max sighed with impatience. “Stop being so dramatic already!"

Oh it was no use. White had obviously told her to milk it. Max had no choice but to lie here and feel pissed off and degraded. Just as he obviously intended.

Logan had finally stopped screaming. He had stopped muttering to White about his quest to take control of the world through Eye’s Only subliminal messaging too. That was an interesting titbit White had gleaned from him. White almost had to congratulate the guy. He wasn’t quite a sissy after all. In fact, he was holding out pretty well considering he’d lost six of his teeth.

“Perhaps you’d like to tell me what you’ve done with my son now?"

White had chosen to inflict gross facial disfigurement upon Logan first, and then ask questions. It was his prerogative to be mean like that. Of course, this meant the imbecile was too busy writhing in pain to actually produce anything vaguely coherent. But such was life.

Logan thrashed his head violently from side to side as if hoping doing this would propel him towards the ceiling like a helicopter rotor. His body occasionally broke into spasmodic twitches, possibly from the reaction of cool air on the nerves White had exposed.

Of course, Logan has no choice but to stop making noise once White had literally sewn his mouth shut. He could take no pleasure in hearing screams when they grated on his nerves much like fingernails running down a chalkboard.

And so he’d given up on this piece of meat and had instead spent the last five minutes stitching the man’s lips together so he could carry on torturing him for the pure fun of it. And in the sweet sound of silence.

“Ahh… What to do? I know, I’ll have a game of noughts and crosses against myself. Let’s see, who’ll win. Me - or me?"

“What do you think Mr Eye’s Only?" White poised the scalpel over Logan’s chest. “Oh now, that‘s a thought! How would you like to literally become eye’s… only?"

White smiled wickedly as the very body parts he was speaking of began to bulge from Logan’s head - as if begging for release. He may never get what he wanted from the guy, but hell, it was a fun experiment anyway.

I love my job.

Just as Max decided she’d try raw anger as a means to snap her restraints, the door opened and a woman walked in.

Max composed herself long enough to plaster on a sunny smile, “Hey! Can you help me?"

The woman stopped in surprise at seeing the transgenic awake but shook her head. Instead moving to pick up a glass vial and syringe.

“Come on! Give me a hand! I’m tied naked to a bed - and there’s two chicks in the room. Do you have any idea what my boyfriend would suggest if he walked in right now? Please, at least give me some dignity!"

With relief Max watched as the woman Max presumed to be a doctor, finally put down the syringe and picked up a blanket to place over her. She then moved across to the woman in the chair and pried an eyelid back.

“Has she stirred yet?"

Max quickly shook her head. “Nope. Not a murmur."

“Hmm. Should have by now."

“Oh well, so she’s fond of her sleep." Max shrugged, or at least tried to beneath her confinements. “So… wanna tell me who she is?"

The smile on the doctor’s face was a chilling reminder of Max’s old pal, Renfro. And when she spoke, the resemblance was even more uncanny.

“White‘s been keeping her here as a special surprise for you 452. He brought her here from the same place where his brother is being kept."

“Ah, the old mental institute. Why - oh I get it, because no one in their right mind would want to get busy with him huh?"

The woman simply stared blankly at her - obviously that one went right over her head.

“So you’re telling me out of the goodness of his heart, that son of a bitch tracked down my mother? Come on, I know CJ‘s padded cell was owned and operated by you cult wacko’s. You expect me to believe she was one of them too?"

Desperation had begun to creep into Max’s voice as it appeared increasingly obvious she was trapped on this damned bed. She could care less who the unconscious woman was - she was simply trying to get the doc to warm up a bit. Bit of light conversation and all. She noted the screaming had stopped for the time being. One relief.

The woman smiled in amusement, “Why not? Sanderman was a familiar as you must know. Do you think just because he broke away from the fold, he wouldn’t want to increase the strength of his little army by using our DNA?"

“Fuck you!"

Max turned her head away and squeezed her eyes shut, but she could do nothing to block out the sound of the doctor’s taunting voice. She refused to believe a word of it. Sanderman was good, he broke away from the Conclave because he knew they were wrong. He had created the transgenics to protect humankind. There could be no other possibility.

“My mother was a surrogate, she was paid to carry me within her, same goes for the rest of us - there’s nothing special about that!"

The doctor smiled and leaned closer towards Max, dropping her voice to speak in a conspiring whisper, “And why do you think you’re so different from the rest of them? Why do you think you’re so ‘special’? You are a familiar. Just. Like. Us."

“I’m nothing like you!"

Max felt as if she were going explode, fury and hatred seethed within her and she longed to lash out at the woman, to beat her beyond recognition…

“Did you sense the phalanx when they were near? Is that why you managed to hide from them?"

The doctor watched with contempt as the fire within Max’s eyes abruptly burnt out as she shrank within herself at the question. She paused, waiting for an answer. But Max lay in silence, refusing to meet her eyes.

The doctor chose at that point to say nothing further, there was no need. She had planted the seed of doubt within the girl’s head. Now she just had to wait for it to grow.

She picked up the syringe of clear liquid and approached Max once more. Max didn’t try to fight against the injection. Instead, she welcomed it.

With Murphy’s Law being so fond of keeping tabs on Alec, the car had of course broken down when they were still miles away from their target. They had been travelling by foot for an hour now. It didn‘t matter, they’d planned to leg it for this portion of the journey anyway. No doubt every homestead within 10 miles of the compound was owned by the conclave. Ploughing down the road in a car would only attract unwanted attention.

Alec and Mole made their way towards the destination on their map, staying as much as possible within the shadows of trees. The enemy was most likely out here somewhere with them.

Of course, the risk of being caught did nothing to prevent Alec from discussing with his friend, the many fine things he had learnt since being in the outside world. Perhaps it was his way of smothering anxiety, or keeping up moral, but he couldn’t help but talk during times when it was necessary to remain as quiet as possible. Such as now.

“Now one aspect of TV which makes no sense to me is the Rambo-style ‘elimination of the guards’ technique which Hollywood was so fond of back in the day. Don’t you agree?"

“Can’t say I share your passion for TV Alec." In fact, Mole couldn’t so much as share the experience of having watched TV - period. “But that’s humankind for ya - nothing they do makes any sense. Why would anyone want to alert the enemy?"

“Exactly! It’s much more gratifying to sneak on in, do your job, then sneak out. And then watch from a safe distance as they realise their top notch security has been breached and we‘re walking round with their underwear on our head’s!"

“Yeah - makes them look like fools don’t it?" Mole spoke around the strand of wheat in his mouth. It wasn’t the same as having a cigar, but he was planning to get on Max’s case about that. Life without cigars was like going a week without Alec getting shot.

Alec chuckled as his eyes scanned the area, ever watchful for signs of the enemy. Perhaps to anyone else, it may have seemed as if he were paying no attention at all to his surroundings. But during the space of this conversation, he’d noticed many things even an observant ordinary would never pick up on.

Like the occasional power pole which had been rigged with a surveillance camera. And the houses were… wrong. They were few and far between, set fairly close to the road and looked less like homes - more like mini observation towers.

And the most obvious sign of all that they had crossed the enemy line, was the odd car which travelled the lonely road. They could have been innocent people merely returning home, their cars were nondescript and hardly threatening. Except that they would drive past at regular intervals from opposite directions. Rather as if they were sentries on patrol.

"Well what do you know." Alec motioned towards a set of beaming spotlights, a mile or so down the road. “Looks like we have a party. Whaduya say…"

He raised an eyebrow and produced a devilish grin, “do we crash?"

Mole nodded at Alec's discovery. He slowly removed the strand of wheat from his mouth, a grin meeting with his ears. " What the heck, I could do with a beer."

It was the final light-hearted interaction they would share between them before all traces of personality were discarded for the dangerous predator Manticore had made them to be.

Like soldiers… hunters… killers… 494 and 398 descended towards the shining spotlights as a pack of wolves would close in upon a lamb. Wolves that hadn't eaten for months.

...h.o.m.e...