Yikes. Another long interval between posts. Sorry... again... But now you get my longest chapter yet!
So, I am officially announcing that this story is M/A. Did you guys really think I'd allow Max to go back to Logan when the ridiculously amazing Alec is there? Well, I guess I did tell you I wasn't sure earlier, but that was due to a lapse of insanity, because I'm in love with Alec and maybe I wanted him all for myself. ;)
Anyway, I hope this chapter is good. I tried to get Original Cindy's slang right, so hopefully I didn't completely fail in that department. Things will start to pick up in the next chapter, I promise. Alec needs to be a hero, but there's going to be some pretty big obstacles, and that's what I had to set up in this chapter. Oh, and my scientific/medical knowledge does not extend grade eleven biology at the moment, so sorry for any inconsistencies. Enjoy anyhow, and thanks to all my readers, especially you reviewers!!!
Original Cindy stepped cautiously down the passage, hidden within the giant shadow of Joshua as he stood protectively before her. The 'dog man' had announced that he had heard gunshots, and even though Original Cindy had only perceived the leaky pipes of the sewers, she wasn't about to doubt his intensified hearing capabilities.
Joshua had been leading OC through the sewer systems just like he did every week, guiding her through the twisting passageways to Terminal city. She usually came four times a month to pay visit to her best friend, Max, risking exposure to toxic materials in order to lend a helping hand to the struggling transgenics that called the contaminated area 'home'. She had done it multiple times before, but something was awry this time. It wasn't just Joshua's notice, for Original Cindy felt it within her as well.
The transgenic's heavy feet stopped as he came to a ladder climbing the tunnel wall, rising up and halting as it reached a circular plate, tiny holes of grimy light shining down. Though almost every square inch of the sewer system looked alike to Original Cindy, Joshua knew the area well, and she climbed up after him, trusting the transgenic with her life.
"Gunfire stopped," came Joshua's informing whisper from above just before the sound of metal scraping against asphalt reached her ears. A dim light flooded down and was briefly blocked as the large transgenic squeezed through the sewer opening, quickly turning around and helping Original Cindy clamber out as well.
As her feet planted themselves firmly upon the faded road, Original Cindy looked around and was met with the familiar surroundings of Terminal city. The main building was to their right, several other crumbling structures surrounding the narrow street. Trash lined the walls, collecting beside rusted garbage cans and overflowing the decomposing containers. Terminal city was not a place where most would like to reside, but it served the transgenics well, and after all, it was the only place they could safely call home. At least that's what OC had thought before Joshua had perked his ears up and announced the presence of gunshots.
" Main building," was all Joshua said as Original Cindy followed him through the front doors and to the main stairwell. As the duo climbed the stairs, heading towards the control room located on the third floor, Joshua let out something that resembled a bark as a voice reached his ears. This time Original Cindy heard the noise as well, and ran up the steps, chasing the plea for help calling out from the floor above.
As they came to the door marked with a fading four, Joshua tore it open without hesitation. The voice became louder and clearer, OC immediately recognizing it as belonging to Logan Cale, the great Eyes Only. The pair found themselves in a hallway now, obviously at the edge of the building. Large windows were aligned to their right, daylight shining in as the sun rose, painting red across the opposite wall.
"Blood," Joshua growled from ahead of her, his voice deep and malicious. "I smell blood."
Logan continued to call out, urgently pleading for help though his voice did not seem to hold any pain. They came to an open doorway halfway down the hall, Original Cindy pushing past Joshua and tearing through the entrance, desperately searching the large, cluttered storage room for a living being. What her efforts found were several bodies strewn across the room, each motionless. She recognized them all as transgenics and a lump formed in her throat as she took in the gruesome sight.
Joshua barreled in behind her. " Logan?"
"Over here." The proximity of the answer surprised OC and she jumped slightly as she turned her head to the left. The man was nowhere in sight, but a large cart stood against the wall and Original Cindy made a guess he was hidden behind it.
" Logan? You all right?" She was practically running towards the crate, her voice holding a tinge of hysteria as dread and panic overwhelmed her, Joshua following closely behind. "Joshua said he heard gunshots. What happe-" Her voice abruptly broke off. "Oh god…"
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The clink of the bullet dropping into the glass sounded incredibly loud to Alec. What should have been a faint ring echoed in his head like a tolling bell. He struggled to escape the noise but could not fight the steady hands gripping his arms to his side.
"Hold him still, damn it!" an unfamiliar voice hissed angrily. "I'm almost done."
There was an intense searing pain in his shoulder and Alec had to bite his tongue to stop from screaming. He couldn't see what was happening. Every time he opened his eyes a blinding light would shine forward, causing him to slide his eyelids closed once more and forcing him to dwell in darkness as chaos encircled him. Voices were everywhere. They surrounded him, some far away and faint while others coming from only inches away. He recognized a few; the deep, soft tone to his left obviously belonging to Joshua, and the female voice to his right could only be Original Cindy.
"Blood. Too much blood," Joshua stated in a serious voice. His words didn't make much sense and Alec wondered what he was talking about. He tried to tell the dog man to lay off the drugs but his tongue felt thick in his mouth. There was something wet sliding down his throat and he began to cough through instinct; a choppy, strangled sound.
"Damn it, he bit his freakin' tongue," the unfamiliar voice rang out impatiently. "Will someone make sure he doesn't choke on his own blood before I can stop the bleeding here? I don't want this to end up being a waste of my time."
"Look fool, this ain't no waste of your time. Now shut up and do your job, and if you let this boy die I'm gonna kick yo' ass, you feel me?"
Alec would have smiled at OC's threatening tactics if he had any clue as to what was currently happening. He had awoken after a few bad fights in the past, but nothing compared to the agony he was feeling now. A couple of broken ribs he could handle, but it felt as if there were holes running through his abdomen and shoulder - gaps filled with searing liquid fire.
He felt a warm hand on his face, turning his head to the side as he continued his coughing fit. "Alec? Alec, try to breathe." The hand belonged to Original Cindy but it felt strange against his face. Almost as if her hand didn't belong there.
Alec stay with me.
"You're gonna be all right, okay?"
Everything will be fine.
"Damn it Alec, if you die on me I'm gonna have to kick your little transgenic ass in the afterlife!"
Alec almost laughed at the threat as his coughing subsided, the hand on his face disappearing. But then it was his own voice filling his ears, a low shout as an extremely painful sensation gripped his body, his muscles unwillingly and simultaneously tightening and constricting in reaction.
"What's happening?" a new voice asked, and through his pain Alec barely recognized it as Logan's. His voice was monotone, void of any recognizable feeling.
"He's going into some sort of shock. I'll have to…" The unfamiliar voice faded away as Alec's anguish seemed to intensify dramatically. He could not stop himself from crying out, wondering desperately why and how he had awakened to this painful nightmare.
"What's happening to him?" It scared Alec to hear Original Cindy's usual calm tone distorted by the deep panic it now contained. It was also a relief to sense her nearness.
A new wave of pain rolled through the transgenic as his body cruelly reacted to the strong sensation. He groaned in pain, a scream unable to build in his throat. It was too strong. Too much. It burned with a ferocity he had never experienced before.
However, through the agony a thought was trying to form in his mind. He tried to grip it, to focus all his efforts on this memory that was trying to take form, but it refused to pass the barrier between the subconscious and the conscious. He felt it was important to remember. He knew it was the reason why he was here.
Then, suddenly, the memory came hurdling into view, and the pain he felt with its awakening was more excruciating than anything he could have ever imagined.
Max.
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"Alec in pain. Much pain."
"Weknow Joshua." Original Cindy's voice was gentle and soft, obviously trying to comfort the big dog. "Just hold him down, a'ight? We're gonna fix 'im." Her eyes watched as Alec struggled on the makeshift table, his body trying to arch but Joshua's strong hands pinning him firmly down.
"I can barely work in this environment," the transgenic claiming to be knowledgeable in medicine mumbled as he pressed a red drenched cloth against Alec's abdomen with two chubby hands. "I can't stop the bleeding with him moving like this."
"What's yo' name again?" OC asked in irritation. She would have placed her hands on her hips for emphasis if they weren't busy placing pressure on Alec's shoulder wound. The injured transgenic didn't look so hot. He had lost a great deal of blood due to the three bullet wounds he had obtained, and his skin was a ghostly pale.
"J-James," the chubby transgenic answered as he shuffled his hands slightly against the cloth he held.
"This boy's in pain James," Original Cindy stated decisively. "You don't have to be some sort'a doctor to figure that one out. So cut 'im some slack and try to do yo' job as best you can. Okay?"
James refused to look at her but instead replied by saying, "I can't help him. These aren't ordinary bullet wounds."
OC had no clue how to respond to this. She looked at the short, fat transgenic with a perplexed scowl. She was lucky to have found him passing by the storage room shortly after she had found Alec and Logan, no other survivors within the space, but he was starting to get on her nerves. She opened her mouth to shout a nasty remark but was beaten by Joshua, who let out a threatening growl. "What does James mean?"
James seemed to be a little more than uncomfortable in the presence of Joshua, a genetically mutated dog man twice his size. This seemed to work out for the best as he quickly explained his reasoning.
"The bullets were laced with a toxin. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but it was created by Manticore a few years back."
"You mean to tell me that Alec's poisoned?" Original Cindy asked as she stole a quick glimpse of the injured transgenic. Alec's hands were balled into fists by his side as he seemed to be oblivious to the world, his face contorted in pain, his breathing choppy and broken with low cries of agony. She quickly returned her eyes to James, immediately transforming her anxious stare into an angry glare.
"Something like that," James stated as he continued to avoid meeting her eyes. "I don't know much about the toxin. All I know is that it was meant to affect an individual's cells, mainly toying with mitosis, which allows a cell to divide," he began to explain. "In transgenics this process usually occurs much faster then in normal human beings, allowing them to regenerate faster. However, when this specific toxin is released into the body - human or transgenic - the process of cell division is slowed tremendously. Now you have to understand that mitosis occurs numerous times in the body each and every minute."
"Alec…" Joshua's voice had lost its threatening edge as his face softened with confusion. "…die?"
James sighed. "If he was human than he probably would have already croaked a long time ago."
OC cleared her throat forcefully, warning the transgenic to watch his words. James seemed to heed the notice as he continued, hesitating slightly. "Lucky for him though, he isn't human. Transgenic cells are already programmed to divide faster than normal cells, allowing them to multiply and heal faster. With this toxin - which would have slowed a human's cell division to the point that it was pretty much non-existent - Alec's cells now multiply a little slower than humanly average."
"Which means what exactly?" Original Cindy asked, not completely following the transgenic's scientific language.
"It means he'll heal slower than normal."
"That's it?" Logan, who had been listening intently, asked. He had a tone in his voice that indicated he knew there was more.
"Not exactly," James stated. "As the toxin spreads everything else will start to slow down as well. His blood cell count will start to drop, which, taking into account the amount of blood he's already lost, will not be good at all. He'll start to get weaker and weaker. He'll be prone to disease and infection if there are not enough white blood cells being generated."
"I thought transgenics were immune to that sorta' stuff," Original Cindy announced skeptically.
"True, but I don't know how the toxin will affect his immune system."
"Then you learn!" Joshua shouted angrily, causing all those around him to jump slightly at the outburst. The dog man was staring viciously at James and the tension in the room seemed to have grown to the point that it was almost suffocating. But then it broke with the sound of a new voice.
"Joshua?" The large transgenic answered to his name by looking downward. Alec's eyes were open, his face suddenly void of pain. In its place was confusion. "Since when do you shout angry orders? Isn't that usually Max's job?"
A breath caught in Original Cindy's throat as she saw Logan's body stiffen beside her at the mention of Max's name. She was a little vague on the details still, but she knew what had taken place in Terminal city moments before her and Joshua's arrival. She knew that Max had allowed herself to be seized and taken away by a vengeful Ames White. She knew the bargaining item had been Alec's life.
And she was damned if she was going to allow Alec to die now. If Max had traded her freedom for his life than she would see to it that Max saw Alec alive and breathing when she returned. If she returns…
Original Cindy had to remind herself that Max always came back as a brief flicker of doubt tore through her mind. Even when everyone had thought the raven hair beauty was dead, killed on a mission to bring down Manticore, she had shown up again. She had always been stubborn when it came to death and defeat. But will that be enough this time?
Shaking these thoughts from her head, OC focused her attention back on Alec. The injured transgenic had fallen quickly into unconsciousness after speaking to Joshua and was now lying motionlessly on the table. James seemed to have things under control for the time being as he began to dress the bullet hole wounds. OC increased the pressure on Alec's shoulder as she remembered what James had said. If he was correct, then Alec would need all the blood he could get.
That gave Original Cindy an idea. Turning to James, she asked, "What can we do to slow this bitch down?"
James gave her a perplexed and annoyed look. "Excuse me?"
Original Cindy ignored the look. "This toxin. What can we do to slow it down?"
"Well, there's not much but-"
"Will a blood transfusion work? It will increase his blood cell count, am I right?" she asked excitedly.
"Yes, it will help him for a time, though-"
OC didn't want to hear whatever James was about to tell her. "Look, you're gonna do whateva' you can to help Alec out, a'ight?" Her commanding voice hid the emotions she felt were about to burst from within her. Alec may have proven himself to be an inconsiderate jerk numerous times, but he was a loyal inconsiderate jerk. Someone who, beneath all his faults, was a decent person. He had proven that numerous times as well.
"You're not gonna let 'im die."
Because Alec didn't deserve to die this way. No one did.