Timeline: Post - �And
Jesus brought a Casserole�
Author�s notes: After reconsidering a few things and designing a few
more writing projects, this will be my only possible sequel to �And Jesus
brought a Casserole� because of my new writing plans.
This story is not Max/Zack in case you were wondering cause as
much as I�ve come to respect Zack after the season finale, I still don�t
think that M/Z stuff is right, sorry Zack fans.
Inspirational music is provided in full by Black Sabbath, Finger Eleven, Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica, Rob Zombie, KoRn and Slipknot.
�Doing my duty, sir.� X7-601 responded as
he walked back towards his barracks, he had heard the noise of the fight and had
responded when he sensed that the X5�s were dealing with a threat to Manticore,
he felt pride that he had kept Manticore safe and relayed it through his mind
link to the rest of the X7 group, which received a backwash of mental backslaps.
�Get him and take him to reprogramming room
sixteen in the West wing, we�re keeping Max in the East wing and we have to
make sure they never make contact.� Thomas said to Amy as she got up from
helping Chris as he dealt with the pain of having a taser shoved in the groinal
area.
�Is it bad?� Thomas asked, even knowing
that was the dumbest question you could ask if anything happened to a man there.
�I can�t feel my nuts right now but I can
still register a great deal of pain, now I know how Zack felt when he came in
after being shot by the X7s.� Chris replied as he twitched with pain.
�I can imagine, do you need to go to medical
or can you handle it?� Thomas asked as gave Chris a hand and pulled him back
to his feet.
�Give me an hour, what are we doing with
Zack today anyways?� Chris grunted as he tried to control the pain wracking
his body after having a considerable amount of voltage shoved into his most
sensitive area.
�What we were doing yesterday, he�s so
enraged that he failed at protecting Max and couldn�t even commit simple
suicide he�ll attack, we can use that to tune him, he�ll be easily
deprogrammed and back into a soldier�s way soon enough.� Thomas replied as
Chris started a slow pace to the room where they were working with Zack that
day.
�Hate and despair, useful for freeing a
subject of bad behaviour, he�s got to understand that Manticore is where he
belongs.� Chris added as he fought the pain from overriding him completely as
he slowly trudged down the hallway.
�Just keep drilling that into him, he�ll
go berserk, then when Amy or I put him down, help him back up and defend him,
see what he does.� Thomas said as Chris managed to maintain only a slight
grimace on his face as they walked to the reprogramming room.
It was actually a hand-to-hand training center
that the X5�s used sometimes, but it had been refitted with multiple cameras
and a see-though mirror for observers, allowing it to become an effective
reintegration room for captured X5s. As Thomas observed the room he noted that
Zack was still out cold on one end of the training mat, Amy stood at attention
watching for any signs of Zack waking up anytime soon.
�X7-601 sure clipped him a good one, I�ve
never seen him out for this long without using tasers or drugs on him.� Chris
mentioned as he stood stiffly, trying to fight past the pain of a damaged groin
area.
�You can relay my compliments to those
Frankenstein doctors working around here, I�ve not had my jaw hurting like
this in the long time.� Zack grunted as he slowly pulled himself up, Amy
raised her fists ready to attack, but Thomas held up a hand signalling for her
to stay where she was. �Hey Chris, how�s your dick? Or did they remove that
for a scientific experiment that would �give us a unique research
opportunity� or something?� Zack asked grinning weakly at Chris as he
brought himself up to stand.
�Defend yourself Zack, find out why you
escaped X5�s failed so miserably that night and why you failed to save Max.�
Chris said ignoring the comment, he knew it would enrage Zack and make him
attack.
Zack bellowed with a war cry and charged the
X5�s, but they had been expecting it and already were prepared for the lunatic
charge. Zack lashed out with a fist in a hammer arc aimed at Amy, but she dodged
the blow and landed a fist of her own in his midsection, then landing one hand
on the ground and springing up with both feet, hammered his rib cage, shattering
a rib on his left side.
Zack cursed as he felt the pain and fell, the
two broken ribs on his right side had not been attended to while he had been out
and he was now feeling waves of pain on both sides of his chest. You�re
tougher than this, make them pay for allowing that Renfro bitch let Max die and
then harvest her for organs, get up and fight! Zack thought as he leapt to
his feet, only to receive a pair of hits that smashed his head around and a kick
that blew into his chest and blasted the air out of Zack as he fell once more
and saw that Thomas was now dealing out damage.
Chris detected that any more beatings would
certainly smash Zack down and out for good and decided that it was time for him
to enter the fight to convince Zack to fight with him. He leapt between the
attack from Amy that would strike down a rising Zack and snapped out an arm that
batted away Amy�s fist, then lashed out with a kick that smashed her away.
Using the same momentum he had built up landing his returning foot on the ground
and then back kicking with his left leg while his returning right leg kept him
balanced and smashed back Thomas. Chris grabbed Zack�s arm and pulled him to
his feet, then Amy leapt over the two and landed to oppose Zack, Zack shoved his
back to Chris� instinctively and brought his fists up breaking into a combat
stance to defend against any attack that Amy might launch while Chris opposed
Thomas.
Zack kept his back trained to Chris as he
faced Amy, then reacted as she struck out. A fist aimed to hammer his damaged
rib cage was blocked as adrenaline flowed and killed the pain from the broken
ribs as Zack caught the blow between his forearms and directed it away, then
detached his right arm to block Amy�s left jab aimed at his head, then as he
directed that blow away detached his left arm from blocking Amy�s right and
smashed her squarely in the face and became immensely satisfied when he felt her
nose break with the impact. Suddenly realising what was happening, he hammered
back his right elbow and smashed Chris in the back of his head, Zack then
snapped out with his left foot and swept Chris�s legs out from under him and
dropped him.
Thomas was expecting it, but was pleased that
he had managed to have Zack fighting with Chris for exactly forty-six seconds,
far better than he had expected. Thomas decided that it was time for a break,
and with a heavy hit that smashed Zack in the back of his head using a baton he
had with him, knocked Zack out and helped Chris back to his feet as Amy leapt
back up.
�Let�s fill a report and leave him here,
perhaps a feeling of abandonment will lessen his resolve, he�s already
slipping, I guess he never let go of Manticore fortunately for us.� Thomas
decided as he motioned for Amy and Chris to leave the room and also reminded
himself to see how Brin was coming along with Max.
*****************
�Any luck?� Bling asked as he looked in on Logan, who was carefully browsing through the Manticore database, being very careful that he was not noticed.
�Some, not much but some, they tightened up the security around surveillance a
lot and I can only look in on a few cameras at a time and maintain silent to
their eyes, I�ve not seen much except labs and the occasional empty
barracks.� Logan replied as he tapped through the Manticore surveillance data
looking for any hint that Max might have survived and what was happening to
Zack.
�You haven�t slept in two days and
you�ve been subsisting on coffee and the occasional bite of fruit and maybe a
total of two sandwiches, you�re going to pass out before long.� Bling said
as he looked at Logan, who was already showing serious signs of fatigue, bags
under his eyes and skin that was paler than usual.
�If I pass out I pass out, but I�m not
quitting.� Logan replied as he tried to find more information about the status
of the X5 group, but found it was locked up tighter than the money the
government had confiscated from his family and his attempts to break the many
firewalls and passwords protecting it less than successful. �I have to know if
Max survived, if it means passing out and smashing my head on something several
times it is still worth the effort.� Logan continued as he tried a new
decryption routine to break the proverbial fortress surrounding the X5
information.
�Logan you haven�t done your exercises in
days, you need to do something other than try and break into Manticore, you�re
going to flip out or something before you ever break in if you keep going like
this.� Bling said reminding him that had failed to do little else than obsess
about cracking Manticore security for the past two days.
�I can�t stop, I know I�m close to
finding out what is happening in there, with a little more tweaking to some of
these IP cracking programs I can get in, I�m getting there.� Logan replied
as he started entering new code into his hacking software.
�You�re going to take a break, leave your
little hacking programs to play.� Bling said as he rested a hand on Logan�s
shoulder as he worked.
�He�s right Logan, we may be superhuman
but you�re not, you need sleep or you�re going to become so distracted that
you can�t see straight, screw up and let Manticore trace you.� Krit said as
he entered with Syl.
�You two ever knock?� Logan muttered under
his breath as he continued to tamper with his firewall-cracking software.
�We came to tell you that Jondy and Zane
will be arriving soon, we�re meeting them in a few hours, have you had any
luck breaking into any more Manticore data?� Syl explained as she nodded
towards the monitors.
�Not really, but I did manage to confirm
that Zack is still amongst the living, but he did look a little beat-up on the
monitors that I caught him on.� Logan replied as he replayed the logs of Amy
carrying an unconscious Zack to a reprogramming room.
�We�ll find some way to get him out of
there and with Zane and Jondy joining our little group, we may have a better
shot at that.� Syl decided as she stood there with Krit.
�From what I�ve been able to tell, the
X7�s are still there and very alert, another attack could mean suicide, unless
we give them something very valuable to hit.� Logan continued as he sifted
through the surveillance he had managed to download onto his network and observe
for clue about the status of Manticore.
�Like what?� Syl inquired wondering what
Logan had in mind.
�Absolutely nothing comes to mind right now
and we need someone to authorize X7 deployment for out of country operations,
but I have something I�ve been thinking about, but I doubt it will fly.�
Logan said as he mulled over his options and thought about one he had thought
about.
�Care to elaborate, or is this going to need
time to come to any sort of workable plan?� Krit asked as he wondered what
Logan was getting at.
�Definitely more time is needed before I can consider it, it all depends on if
a certain number of things turn in our favor, I have to also figure out first if
I�m ever going to break into the Manticore network, the real one anyways
before I can even consider my plan.� Logan replied as he put the finishing
topics on a triple-assault hacking group which would hack into Manticore�s
system cracking passwords, firewalls and distracting the security network in a
hope that he could find out what really happened to Max.
�Come on, go eat something, I�m sure Max
doesn�t want you to faint from hunger or sleep.� Bling said as he pulled
Logan up from his seat.
�Fine, I�m going, I�m going.� Logan
said as he started walking toward the kitchen and the exoskeleton motors whirred
to keep him on his feet.
Logan managed to keep his mind off of the
Manticore hack enough that he managed to reheat some old spaghetti sauce
leftovers and prepare some noodles, but his mind still focused on Max. By the
time he managed to finish dinner and clean up, he decided to lie down for a
moment and another moment later he fell into a deep sleep. While he slept on the
couch, a blinking message flashed over and over on his computer monitors, simply
stating �Full network access is available, enter request.�
****************
Max knew she was in hell, strapped into a
chair, pumped up with probably every drug that�s ever been banned, watching
these damnable subversion videos! Max thought as she struggled against the
restraints occasionally, seeing if she could slowly wear them, a line of tubing
held her mouth open and unable to talk, for the first ten minutes all Max had
done was rail insults at the mirrored glass until Davis showed up and shut her
up. The messages flashed again and again, pictures of escaped X5�s flashed up,
enemy, kill, disease, propaganda, vermin. Earpieces were securely affixed to her
ears to harp over �obedience, loyalty, Manticore, friend� to further her
breakdown, as she put up mental roadblocks to fight the images and sounds. God,
did they break Brin like this? Sending this constant message to her for hours?
Its been at least two now, focus, remind yourself, escape this place and go
home, to Logan, don�t buy this bullshit. Max mused to herself as she
tested the restraints, but they gave no signs of breaking, Max assumed the
restraints were probably strong enough to resist an X7 and she was no X7.
�Can you hear me? Blink twice for yes.� An
unknown voice cut into the earpieces, Max did not make a sound and made two
blinks, wondering what was going on.
�My name is Victor, you helped Jace, now
it�s my turn to help you, act as if nothing is happening, pretend you are
still buying that shit and listen carefully.� Victor�s voice echoed through
Max�s earpieces, a soothing voice, it was the first time that Max ever
remembered hearing a soothing voice in Manticore. �This place is locked up
tighter than an X7�s mouth during an exercise and with the X7�s on patrol
there�s no way to get you out of here, but I�m going to see what I can do,
the important thing right now is to fight this.� Victor continued as Max
continued to play along watching the messages, giving no sign she was getting
vital information that she would need to effect an escape. �I have to go,
they�ll detect this soon, but hang in there and fight this, if you�re
anything like Jace I know you can do it, I�ll try and make contact at a later
date.� Victor finished as he left her and the annoying propaganda messages
filled her ears again.
So
I do have a friend here, interesting, maybe with him working from the inside and
if I know Logan, working from the outside, I may just be able to escape this
freak show! Max
thought triumphantly but kept her expression neutral as the messages played over
and over, fighting the subversion of both the drugs and the messages in her
mind, keeping it under her control and never Manticore�s. At about noon
as near as Max could figure, all the power in the base shut down for an hour,
but came back up as the frenzied Manticore technicians brought the reserve
generators online to generate fresh power, but it gave Max a good hour to rest
and rebuild her mental defences against the Manticore subversion data. Logan,
it has to be, he�s giving Manticore a hard time and giving me a break, good
going Logan, you�re doing it, teach that bitch some humility as Manticore
crumbles around her.
**************
�What happened today?� Thomas whispered as he came up behind Brin, who was casually doing bench-presses in the X5 gymnasium.
�The usual, Max dropped a series of insults
on us that would make a sailor wretch in disgust, she�s not responding at all
to the subversion material, whatever corrupted her did a damn good job of doing
it.� Brin replied as she pumped through the repetitions on the machine bench
press.
�Zack went down with three broken ribs and a
dislocated wrist, he fights like a crazed animal when we remind him of failure,
he fought with Chris for nearly two minutes in the session today, a good
sign.� Thomas put in filling Brin in on how the re-education of Zack had been
that day.
�Max is not responding as nearly as well,
the belief that Zack sacrificed himself to save her has fuelled her with a
fervor that we cannot suppress to resist our efforts, nothing we do is
effective.� Brin replied as she finished the set and started stretching her
arm muscles.
�We�re also equally damned if we tell her
that Zack has survived, because then we�ll have her believing she can escape
with Zack from here if she ever breaks free, an unfortunate
damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don�t situation.� Thomas added as he
considered how they would ever retrain Max.
�I need your help tomorrow night.� Brin whispered as she looked straight at
Thomas.
�With what?� Thomas asked, even though the
answer was pretty obvious to him.
�I want to get into the archives for
security of all Manticore facilities, I want to see what the treatment logs show
for Tinga, I need your help to deal with the two X7�s that are stationed
there.� Brin replied as she continued stretching stiff arm muscles, a bit
tired after five sets of reps of lifting three hundred pounds.
�How are we going to take on X series two generations ahead of us?� Thomas
inquired wondering what Brin was planning.
�Simple, we take Zack out of his cell and
put him near the archives, we rush in and tell the X7�s that Zack is loose,
they take off, we take off, only you�re going to be standing over an
unconscious Zack when the X7�s show up after tracking him, I�ll fetch the
surveillance data.� Brin explained as she prepared a plan that would get them
the truth behind the loss of Tinga.
�What about the security logs on the
archives themselves?� Thomas asked wondering how Brin had planned to cover
their little escapade.
�I bullied that lab technician Victor into
hacking fake feeds in, hopefully no one notices the difference, we�ll use
footage from Zack escaping earlier doctored with imaging programs to remove and
insert identifying section marks.� Brin replied as she explained the plan she
had conceived of earlier when overseeing Max�s reprogramming.
�You keep this up and you�re going to
supplant me as team leader.� Thomas said with a slight laugh which Brin added
to as they mulled over the plan.
�Sounds good enough, Renfro may have ordered
us to stay out of this, but orders for soldiers can only be given by soldiers,
we�ll do this anyways.� Amy chimed in as they realised they were no longer
alone.
�You�re not going to report us?� Thomas
asked surprised, ready to spring at Amy and put her down before she could call
for Tac troopers.
�Hell no, Tinga was my sister too and I want
to find out what happened to her, you�re going to need more people to cover
your story later anyways, Davis said you were acting suspiciously. I�m worried
that if he gets any more information that you two are investigating Renfro, he
may decide to report you two, you need me to clarify any story you tell.� Amy
replied as she joined the now trio of X5�s determined to discover what had
really happened to their sister and free themselves of the spider web that
Renfro had spun for them.
�Then what happens if what we heard Max
yelling is true, that Renfro killed Tinga?� Brin asked, wondering what Thomas
had in mind.
�Then we�re going to have an accident during
a live-fire training exercise. To be exact, a few misplaced mines are going to
be on the road that Renfro takes to observe the X-7 training exercises, a few
soldiers will be blamed and resigned to scrubbing toilets and X5 has its
revenge.� Thomas replied, constructing a plan that would make sure that the
X5�s had their revenge for any act perpetrated against them.
�One step at a time, let�s spend some time
tonight making sure the elements for this mission play out perfectly, otherwise
we are in for a long bout of punishment and �re-education� from our beloved
instructors.� Amy put in as she reminded the two that it all still depended on
pulling the mission off in the first place.
�Agreed, but go about your daily business,
we can�t let anyone catch wind about this.� Thomas said as he got up and
went over to the leg press and reset it for eight hundred pounds and started
pumping his powerful leg muscles.
Amy went to practice her combat manuvers as
she always did during the mid-afternoon at Manticore, Brin continued her own
workout as the three prepared plans in their heads for the mission at hand.
***************
�Always were a tad overenthusiastic and emotional sis, is this the enigmatic Zane?� Syl said laughing as she nodded towards Zane who was now getting out of his SUV.
�That would be me, now where�s that bitch
that killed Max and Tinga?� Zane responded as he cracked his knuckles.
�Slow down there bro, can I at least have a
hug from my brother?� Syl said as she came up to him and pushed his arms down
before he made fists.
�Of course, can I grab your ass first though, its part of the tradition in�
OW!� Zane exclaimed as Syl slapped him across the head.
�I keep forgetting, Zack told me you were a
womanizer.� Syl said as she dropped her hand and made sure before they shared
an embrace that Zack�s arms stayed away from her rear end.
�That he did, he also told me that one too,
still going after every woman that has good assets in certain regions?� Krit
added grinning as he caught Zane�s arm in a strong grip and they shook hands
firmly.
�No, he managed to find a girlfriend for the
time being and stuck her with watching his German Shepard whilst we all played
superhero.� Jondy put in smiling at Zane.
�What�s going on exactly?� Zane asked,
wondering what the game plan was now that he was there with Jondy and what Krit
and Syl had in mind.
�We�ve got some help hacking the Manticore
mainframe, if our friend can get us into the Manticore base and create a
diversion, we�re going to try and free Zack and exact some revenge at the same
time.� Krit explained as he started to recall some of the plans he and Syl had
devised since that faithful night where they took revenge on Manticore and
Manticore took revenge on them.
�What happens if we can�t get into
Manticore without getting our asses kicked by our younger selves and own
family?� Jondy asked, wondering what contingency plan Krit and Syl had in
place.
�Then we wait for that bitch to leave
Manticore, we follow her closely, than snatch her and have a little discussion
involving electricity, razor blades and other unpleasant devices until she
orders Zack released, then we kill her.� Syl said with venom in her voice as
she unleashed her anger a bit.
�I vote we recreate the scene from Reservoir
Dogs involving the razor blade, so she can feel what its like to get used as
a lab rat for their twisted games.� Zane offered as he looked around the
warehouse that Krit and Syl had appropriated as a base of operations, including
a stack of rifles, SMGs, grenades and handguns along with a small mountain of
ammunition.
�All torture methods aside, are you sure
that whoever this person is that�s helping you can be trusted?�
Jondy asked, wondering who Krit and Syl spoke of.
�We wouldn�t have mentioned this guy if he
couldn�t be trusted, he has his own score to settle with Manticore and is more
than willing to see it go down one way or another.� Krit replied, a score
to settle is to put it lightly, Logan would like nothing better than to gut
Renfro like a fish for Max dying.
�What score to settle? How do we know he isn�t putting out bullshit and shoving us into some big trap for Manticore to set us all up!� Zane protested wondering why Krit and Syl were so trusting.
�Because he and Max were in love, they had
just gotten together and when Max was shot, she died in his arms, he wants to
shut down Manticore with a vengeance, that is why, don�t even dare to say he
isn�t genuine in what he intends to do.� Syl snapped cutting him off coldly,
revealing the reason she had put her faith in Logan.
�Fine, I guess I did overstep the boundary
there, I�m sorry.� Zane said throwing his hands up in defeat.
�Then let�s start figuring out possible
infiltration plans on Manticore, we still have maps from our last attack and we
can start discarding attack venues and plan on the ones we want to use. We
already have a good arsenal here that we managed to build up, Logan will call us
if he penetrates the Manticore database and gets into their files, that�s the
guy we were talking about.� Krit said as he put the group of X5�s off why
Logan was helping them and on to the mission.
***************
Logan opened his eyes to hear the doorbell ringing, he got up and his exoskeleton whirred and looked at his watch, but his vision was still a bit blurry and he had left his glasses behind, he made it to the door and opened it and nearly fell to the floor. Max was standing there, wearing clothes that she had obviously ripped off while on the run from Manticore, a slight smile on his lips.
�Max!� Logan exclaimed as he looked at Max and rushed forward to take her in his arms, tears ran from his eyes but he didn�t care, Max was there.
�Logan, I made it out, they fixed me up at Manticore but got sloppy with security, I snuck out and just got here.� Max whispered as Logan felt her own tears of joy penetrate his grey T-shirt and soak it a bit.
�It�s going to be alright Max, they�re never going to get near you again, I promise.� Logan whispered as he gently stroked her dark hair.
�Just hold me.� Max whispered as she collapsed, Logan sensed her limbs were tired from her escape and that she was malnourished, he gathered her in his arms and carried her to his bed and set her down.
�It�ll be alright, I�ll go get you something to eat.� Logan whispered as he slid Max under the covers and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Walking out, he banged himself against the doorway and his vision flashed.
**************
�FUCK!� Logan yelled as he awoke, angry that it had been a mere dream,
enraged that Manticore continued to toy with his emotions over the loss of his
beloved Max. �Aright you sons of bitches? You want to play with my mind over
losing Max? Then let�s play, I�ll go public on Manticore if I have too, but
you�re going to pay for this!� Logan yelled at an empty apartment as he got
up and headed back to his computer, filled with resolve to give Manticore hell. But
I�ve already got the means at my disposal, full access to the Manticore
network and they don�t have a clue about it! Logan thought excitedly as he
began to enter the Manticore network and found himself on a bottomless pit of
data. Time to find out what�s going on with Zack and maybe even Max, maybe
then dreams can finally become reality for me while I give Manticore back as
good as I got. Logan thought smirking as he ripped into the Manticore
network and began accessing the most heavily guarded secrets they had.
