Disclaimer: Man is it hard to write for a nation-wide syndicated television show… Okay, okay, so what if it doesn't run on air anymore, I still own it. What's that you say? I don't? Gasp--say it isn't so. Sigh. oh, well…I can still dream big ;).
A/N: Hey, everybody! I am SOOOOO SORRY that it took me as long as it did to finally update this fic…I've had a lot to deal with, but everything is ok now… I promise to work on my new chapters and hopefully will have them updated more frequently.
A/N2: Oh, yeah…. Don't forget to review ;)
Identity of a Soldier
Chapter 7: Cold Hard Truth
Sometime in the night, Alec had awoken to find Max drifting. He knew that her shark DNA would keep her up for hours, but he doubted she had slept at all in the last couple of days. She would need some sleep. Silently he urged her to get some rest, he would continue the watch. Reluctantly, she gave in to his request. Resting her head back against the wall, she closed her eyes, promising herself that it would only be for an hour. Maybe two.
Alec watched as Max's breathing even out. For once, he wanted to do something for her. She had already done more than he ever imagined she would to help him. When she had dragged Bullet inside, promising to kick Alec's ass, he had the faintest hint of familiarity. Either she had literally done so before, or she had promised to. He had mentally shrugged; he had probably deserved it at the time. But still, he felt he owed her more than his life for what she had done.
Zero woke shortly after Max had drifted to sleep. The two male transgenic soldiers stared at one another. Alec watched as Zero looked from Max to Alec and back again. He nodded at the older soldier and turned to watch over his family as they slept. A couple of the teens stirred in their sleep, only to be calmed again as Zero placed a hand on their shoulder or leg. Any contact, it seemed, reassured the younger ones that they were well taken care of.
Alec watched the interplay and noticed how similar it was for him with Max. The night he had trouble sleeping, it only took Max's smell to get him to calm down again. He couldn't explain the response he had given that night. It seemed to be a subconscious reflex that reached out toward strength and security, something not often found within the walls of Manticore. It seemed to be that the only person anyone could trust while on base was themselves.
Daylight slowly crept into the low windows of the barn, illuminating the sleeping forms. With the progress of the sun, the transgenics woke to the first full day of their new lives and a freedom they hadn't known existed.
--
"Tie him up and leave him." Max had great qualms over whether they should take the X7 with them or not. She really didn't want to. But if she was honest to her self, and true to her training, she knew better.
"What if they come here and get him?"
"Who cares if they get him? I'm not taking him with us."
"What if they can communicate with him and he tells them about us and where we went?"
"Hmmm…"
"What?"
"Thinking." Max turned around, facing the wall to think. Turning back around, she called out "Hey, guys! Anybody know anything about X7s' operating systems?"
"Yeah." Bullet hobbled over to where Max and Alec stood. He gave a furtive glance to Alec, wondering why he didn't answer. Out of all of them, 494 had more experience dealing with the X7s. "We had to take special classes on the things. Manticore told us that we had to know how to communicate with them during missions, etcetera."
"How about erasing its memory?" Max inquired. She hadn't been back at Manticore long enough to have any such classes, and Alec sure wouldn't remember.
"Of course."
"They were designed—" Fixit grunted as she made her adjustments on the truck "—to have—memory swipes—after missions," she stood up and wiped her hands on a greasy rag, "in case anything when sideways in an op. We were even trained how to do it." With that she dove back under the hood of the truck.
"Regular X's," Bullet continued with his explanation, "can put up with massive amounts of torture, never giving anything away. With these bat-brained things, all the enemy would need is a computer geek with a digital receiver to download its entire memory bank."
"So…" Max waved her hand, "How do you wipe its memory?"
"We'd need a remote." Ralph spoke up.
"In that case, we'll have to take him with us." Max turned to Alec, "That friend I told you about, he can probably do something about this." She turned to look at the X7. "But after that, I'm cementing his feet, tying his arms and dropping him in the Pacific."
"Sweet! I'm in with that plan." Fixit removed her torso out from under the hood of the truck again. "I almost have it. Hey, Zero! Try the key!"
"Sure thing, li'l sis." Zero climbed up into the cab of the truck.
"Grrr. Call me that again, and I promise I will kick your ass so hard it will take a week even for a transgenic to heal the bruise!" Fixit hollered while the engine ground.
Max smiled. Only a couple of days and already she was rubbing off on them. Give it a full week and they'd be as independent as any other person in this broken world.
Fixit shook her head, shrugging off her aggression. "A couple seconds to adjust the timing and we're good to go."
Just then the engine died. "What happened?" Zero demanded.
"I don't know." The red-head began taking the spark plugs out one by one. She rubbed corrosion off from a few before replacing them. "Try it again."
Zero cranked the key and the engine roared to life.
"Alright." Max turned to the rest of them, "Everybody load in. I'll grab popcorn."
"Max, who's Popcorn?" Bugler stopped in is dash for the truck.
"The X7." Max smiling, winked at the small boy.
"But, why 'Popcorn'?" Buglers small face contorted in confusion.
She nodded toward the tall transgenic leaning against the doorframe, his arms crossed over his chest. "Ask Alec." Max grabbed a rope and headed to where the X7 stood blinking at their movements.
Bugler turned to the other X5.
"What did I do now?" Alec complained, throwing his arms out.
"Alec," Max spoke as she pulled the ropes tight around the arms and legs of the X7, "I'm not blaming you for anything. Why do you think I think everything is your fault."
Alec shrugged. "I don't know. Just like I don't know a damned thing about anything." Yet, deep inside, Alec felt like there was indeed a reason.
"You're just being pessimistic. And I don't think everything is your fault, by the way."
"Okay… So what, I threw popcorn at it. Not like the thing reacted or anything. At all… Didn't do anything 'cept make me even more bored."
"Well, call it inspirational, 'cuz that's how the thing got a name." She hoisted Popcorn onto her shoulder and headed to the truck, dropping the X7 through the back window. "And, don't get pessimistic. You still remember some of your training." She tied the X7 in place, reducing his chance for it to escape and tell his friends what fun it's been having with a couple rogue Xs.
"Field med is one thing though. And I didn't do much…I just sterilized a jack-knife. I don't know if I remember anything else, or if that was even remembering or something that made logical sense."
"Let's see. Let's find out if you remember." Max shut the gate of the truck and moved toward the other X5, dropping into a fighting stance only feet away.
Alec stood still, eyeing her, unsure of what to do.
Max sighed. She just had to go for it. She punched hard at his solar plexus, but Alec easily blocked her move, dropping into his own fighting position.
From the truck, the waiting younger X's watched as their former CO fought the female they had come to respect. It was amazing for them to see the spontaneous sparring match. They had watched the older X series spar before, of course, but this was an entirely different caliber. Max was testing Alec, they knew. It was like an instructional review, only rather than watch him fight, Max chose to fight Alec herself. That way she could really tell if it was his training he was remembering or self-preservation alone.
The two X5's sparred for a good fifteen minutes before Max stood up straight and nodded approvingly. "Good news, Pretty Boy. You pass the test. Seems like your training has to be provoked before you can use it, though."
"Test? I thought you were giving me my promised ass-kicking," he replied smartly.
"I was," she said heading to the truck once again. Passing Alec, she kicked her foot up behind her and smacked his butt with the outside of her foot. "There ya go."
Alec followed Max to the truck, sticking his tongue out at her.
"I don't think so, kid," Alec waved his thumb at Zero pointing to the back seat, who sat waiting behind the wheel of the truck.
"Uh-uh. Man. I'm gonna drive!" Max eyed the teen. "Alright! I'll go!" Zero complied, climbing over the back of the bench seat to sit behind the driver, next to Fixit.
Max climbed in, picking Bugler up and sitting him on her lap. Alec followed her into the truck, taking his place behind the wheel.
"Alright kids. Road trip!" Alec put the truck in gear and drove out of the barn onto an abandoned dirt road. "So, what do you want to sing: '99 bottles' or 'the wheels on the bus'?" Everyone groaned. Alec couldn't help but laugh at their pained response.
A/N: Well? You like? Please review.
A/N2: The next chapter is in the works, should be up soon. I am now working on four in-progress stories! ….Bear with me.