Echoes of the Past - Chapter 3

The glazed walkway linking the residential blocks together was filled to capacity as the transgenics headed for the mess hall. They joked and laughed amongst each other, their actions a testament of the camaraderie shared between them.

Travelling in the opposite direction, Max felt acutely aware of the fact that she was, in fact, an outsider. These people knew each other for years, grew up together and cried and sweated through the trainings and the missions.

She sighed. She missed her family. Missed how they used to talk, how they used to be there for each other and she missed everything little thing they did together. Things which she had taken for granted, thinking that they would always be there. That they would always be together. But she was so wrong. Her eyes suddenly stung. Swallowing hard, she forced herself to think of something else.

She looked out through the glass wall, noting that a number of transgenics was taking a less crowded route to the mess hall by cutting across the training grounds. Her steps slowed as a bittersweet smile of remembrance graced her lips. It seemed that some things just never changed, whether they were in Wyoming or in Seattle.

“Hey, Max, we’re going to be late,” Zane complained beside her as she struggled to scrub the purple paint off her face.

Throwing the towel down in irritation, she scowled at the twelve-year-old boy beside her. “Aww…isn’t it just too bad? You should have thought about it before playing that stupid trick on me.”

“Come on, Max. I can’t go out without my boots,” he whined pathetically.

The door to their dorm opened and Zack stepped in. “You two are still here? What happened to your face, Max?” he asked impatiently. Turning his attention to Zane’s feet, he asked, “Where are your boots?”

Zane glanced at her hesitantly. And then he muttered, “I kinda misplaced it. Go ahead without us. We’ll catch up.”

Retreating back out of the door, Zack gave them a suspicious look. “Don’t be late,” he warned.

When the door slammed shut behind their CO, Zane turned back to her. “Max! Please!” he pleaded.

Max planted her hands on her hips, staring at him with an incredulous look on her face. “I’m purple. Sandoval will make me do laps for this. I’ve got to get it out, stupid!” she snapped irritably.

His face set in determined lines, Zane grabbed another towel and began to scrub her face. Between the two of them, her face gradually returned to its normal colour, albeit a little red from all the scrubbing.

“Boots!” Zane reminded her as she rushed out of the door without him.

“Wedged behind Zack’s bunk!” she yelled over her shoulders.

The last thing she heard from him as she went around the corner was, “He’s going to kill you!”

By the time Zane finally caught up with her at the main door, they were already late. “The training grounds,” he said quickly.

“What?” she asked, confused.

“It’s faster to cut across the training ground. Then we can climb up to the lecture room,” he explained as he pulled her along.

Together, they blurred across the training ground towards the tall building in the distance.

A bump against her shoulders brought her out of her reflection. Max blinked, a little disorientated. She did not realise that she had stopped walking altogether.

“Sorry,” a tall, dark-haired X5 muttered. Then his eyes sharpened as they focussed on her. “Hey, are you the new transfer to our unit?”

A little warily, she asked, “Your unit?”

He nodded energetically, his face breaking into a smile. “Yeah. Unit 6. I’m Biggs, by the way. And you’re Max, right?”

Slightly taken aback by his friendliness, Max just nodded wordlessly.

Gesturing in the direction he was travelling, he offered, “Come on, let’s grab some breakfast.”

She declined politely, shaking her head, “I’m okay. I already grabbed something earlier.”

With a casual shrug, he said, “Okay. I guess I’ll see you later then.”

“Sure,” Max replied absently, watching him as he joined the crowd.

A friendly face. That was something that she rarely encountered recently.

Pity? Yes. Lots of it. She supposed it was quite pitiful that she was the only one left in her original unit.

Wariness? Yes. But they had no reason to worry. She had enough of her own problems to sort out without creating more.

Curiosity? Yeah, that too.

She knew that Alec had seen the scars on her body. Her lips twisted. No one could miss them. That was one of the reasons why when she could help it, she always took her shower before any of them woke up. It saved her from answering the awkward questions.

Alec’s presence this morning was unexpected. To her surprise, he had refrained from making a sarcastic comment. She had no doubt that he was more than capable of it. Why he had held his tongue? She had definitely not given him any reason to be nice to her.

And there was that unresolved challenge of his. She still had to take him up on it.

The morning sun bathed the transgenics in the training grounds in its warm rays as they rushed about. There was a slight breeze in the air, but not enough to cool their sweaty bodies.

Alec watched intently as the twelve transgenics ran laps around the training ground. Not far from him, at the other end of the open space, two other units were carrying out their own training. One more lap and then he would move on to the next task, he decided.

“Alec?”

He snapped out of his thoughts to find the entire unit staring at him expectantly. Somehow, he had failed to notice that they had completed the run.

Composing his face into his CO mask, he said, “Alright. Pair up. We’ll run through the standard kicks and punches before sparring.”

“Erm, Alec? There are thirteen of us,” Biggs gestured uncertainly around them.

Comprehension dawned. “Right,” he muttered. Ever since Sam’s absence, the even number meant that each of them had a partner. He guessed that now he would be the odd one out. He glanced at Max, but her attention was fixed to an imaginary point in front of her.

“I’ll stand to the side. The rest of you pair up,” he said, watching as his regular partner, Biggs, paired up with Max. He blinked in surprise when Biggs winked at the girl and then barely managed to stifle his laughter when he saw Max giving Biggs a suspicious look. Sam would have laughed it off, Alec thought before he could stop himself.

Because she’s not Sam, you idiot, he reminded himself. Shaking himself inwardly, he began the exercise.

As he led them through a series of warm-up punches and kicks, Alec’s mind wandered back to the latest addition to his unit. Although she had been up even before him, she had missed breakfast with them that morning. Alec frowned. This was the second meal she had missed. He wondered if she was going to make that a habit.

There was no regulation which required them to sit down for meals together, but under the circumstances, he would have thought that she might at least make the effort to join in. Instead, Biggs had told him earlier in the mess hall that Max already had her breakfast before them. She had joined them only when they were all gathered in the training grounds, looking as if she had already ran a couple of laps.

How was he supposed to maintain unity in the unit when one of the members insisted on going her own way? How was he supposed to remain impartial and treat her like the rest? In addition to that, how could he stop associating her with Sam when Max looked exactly like Sam?

Suddenly feeling irritated, Alec gritted his teeth and forced himself to concentrate on the training. He was spending way too much time thinking worrying about it. If Max really wanted to seclude herself, it was her choice so long as she did not mess up the rest of the unit.

He strode closer to them, signalling for his unit to move to the sparring ‘mat’. It was not really a mat in the traditional sense, but a rectangular outline drawn on the concrete floor to mark the sparring zone.

As they gathered around the perimeter of the mat, Alec called out, “Alright, who’s going first?”

Ren, an X5 with an abundance of Hispanic genes, stepped onto the mat. “I think it’s my turn with Laney.”

Her short blonde hair bouncing around her face, Laney stepped in front of Ren. “Okay, ready when you are.”

Alec nodded for them to start. They circled each other. A series of strikes followed in rapid succession. Laney seemed to have improved, Alec thought with satisfaction. It must have been all the extra training Biggs had given her.

However, it seemed that Ren still had the upper hand. Alec stifled a smile when a very disgruntled looking Laney pushed herself up from the ground after absorbing a side kick to her hips. Then, in an unexpected move, she feigned an attack, and then floored Ren with a roundhouse.

As Alec nodded in approval, Ren stood up and grinned. “Well, I guess we’re even now.”

“Damn right we are,” Laney retorted as the rest laughed.

Alec clapped his hands together. “Next pair?”

“You should go, Alec. You missed out just now,” Biggs pointed out.

Alec hesitated for a moment as what he had said to Max came back to him. With a nod, he stepped into the middle of the mat and held his hands out. “Well, who has a death wish?”

The rest sniggered around him.

“Hardly a death wish, Alec,” Thena commented wryly, rolling her eyes.

His eyes landed on Max, and he quirked a brow in challenge. He still wanted to take her down a peg or two, not to mention that as the CO he needed to know how well she performed. The corner of his lips lifted when Max stepped forward.

When she was a foot away from him, she stopped. “I believe I owe a kick to a certain part of your anatomy,” she so softly that only he could hear her.

Alec smirked, unperturbed. So the girl really intended to kick his ass, huh? Well, she could try, he thought with amusement. He was not the CO for no good reason.

“Come on, then. Show me what you’ve got,” he challenged.

Her face set in concentration, she charged forward without warning. Alec ducked an incoming punch and crouched down, sweeping his foot in a wide circle. Max jumped, his kick only glancing her boots lightly.

Not bad, Alec thought as he resettled himself into the neutral stance. They circled each other slowly, and Alec kept his eyes on hers, trying to gauge her next move. She has adopted their usual stance, but there was something about how she held herself which made it look different.

The next attack came fast, almost too fast for him to see. Alec’s eyes widened in alarm, but her fist was retracted just as it was about to connect. The out of balance force caused her body to slam into him instead, throwing both of them to the ground.

What the hell was that? Was it just his imagination or did she pull back? That would explain why they were now lying tangled on the ground. He rolled over, pinning her under him.

“What did you do that for?” he hissed quietly into her face. The warmth of her body under his suddenly told him just how close they were pressed together. Subtly, he lifted himself off her to minimise the contact.

She stared back at him. “What are you talking about?” she retorted belligerently.

Alec stiffened. The same eyes, the same mutinous expression, he thought, swallowing hard. It was as if he had done this before in a different place and a different time.

She tackled him to the ground, but he easily reversed their position such that he had her pinned down. They were both breathing hard.

“I said, cut it out!” he snapped irritably.

The pair of chocolate brown orbs widened innocently. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb, Sam.”

“Honestly, Alec. What?”

He sighed in exasperation. “You can’t always get what you want, Sam. I explained why we can’t do what you’re asking.”

Her expression turned mutinous. “I wasn’t aware that I was asking for anything.”

Grinding his teeth together in frustration, he snapped, “I mean it, Sam. It’ll cause nothing but chaos.”

Her eyes flashed indignantly before she shoved him away from her. “Fine. Play your games if you want to,” she snarled angrily as she strode back into the building.

What game? He was dead serious about it. He ran a hand over his hand in a gesture of sheer weariness. And then, gritting his teeth, his hand snapped out and connected with the wall.

A low growl reached his ears, snapping him back to the present. “Let me up.”

It was a warning, Alec noted. And from the look on her face, Max had no intention of asking twice. With a curt nod, he pushed himself off her and stood up.

“Don’t hold back,” Alec warned just before he pulled her up to her feet.

Max’s eyes flickered slightly before they became shuttered again. “Won’t dream of it.” Stepping back from him, she readied herself for another round.

This time, he struck first. She jumped out of the way and returned with succession of jabs which he blocked with his arms. Their limbs continued to dance around each other, both trying to attack and defend at the same time.

Beads of sweat began to appear on his forehead. And hers too, he noticed absently as he twisted around into a crescent kick which connected with her arm. With a loud hiss, she staggered back, but did not slow down. She jumped forward and extended her arms, but he slapped her fist away. Too late, he realised that the move was feigned. Before he could dodge, her legs shot out towards his midsection.

He tensed for the hit. But when it contacted, the impact was barely discernible. Something was not right. She was still holding back, he thought angrily. How was he supposed to gauge her skills if she kept that up? He needed to know her level to be able to fit her in the unit.

What stumped him the most was the reason she was holding back. Why was she doing it? From their interaction so far, he would have thought that she would grab the chance to physically pound him to a pulp. She sure had no reservations about attacking him verbally.

What could he do to get her to react? To show him what she was capable of? Perhaps he should challenge her in another way. There must be something he could say to jar her enough so that she let loose. An idea came to him. Yes, he knew what he should do.

Smirking, he dived towards her feet. “That was just pathetic, Max. That’s all you got?” he taunted loudly.

She did not reply. But to his satisfaction, her eyes narrowed while she sidestepped his sweeping foot.

He bounced and launched up in the air, coming down at her feet first. She twisted to the side, but one of his feet caught her shoulders, throwing her down to the ground.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Biggs shaking his head disapprovingly, a meaningful expression plastered over his face. No doubt the rest was also wondering what he was doing. But there was no time for him to explain to everyone why he was going all out on this. Ignoring his Second in Command, Alec returned his attention to Max. Holding back or not, he could tell that she was not happy at being thrown down.

“You’re going to have to do better than that, Max,” he remarked, adding a mocking tone to his voice for good measure.

She glared at him. “I’m just warming up.”

Then he thought of the one thing that might get her to respond. It was going to be a low blow, but that was the only thing he could think of right now.

“Just warming up?” He laughed mockingly. “You’re no good to us if that is the level of your skills. And I don’t want this unit to end up like yours,” he taunted as he watched her carefully, ignoring the sharp intakes of breaths from the rest of his unit.

Max froze visibly at his words.

Then her eyes hardened.

As their gaze connected, he could see flecks of gold in those brown eyes, making her appear almost feral. A slight shudder ran through him. No, it must be just the sun, he thought. Anyway, he was beginning to get to her, to shatter that control of hers, and that was all he cared about at the moment.

Suddenly, a blur came at him.

He raised his arms just in time to deflect a head-on collision with her fist. Before he could come up with a counterattack, she swept her legs up high and caught him on his shoulders. He stumbled to one side but quickly righted himself.

As she charged at him again, he caught sight of the wild gleam in her eyes. The gold flecks were still present, he noted. It was not a trick of the light. A fist glanced off his jaw, and he responded by delivering a hook punch to the side of her head. The blow connected hard, but she did not even flinch.

Something told him that she was no longer holding back. Her strikes came at him rapidly, and he found himself defending more often than attacking. Reluctantly, he admitted that she was doing a good job of cornering him.

Suddenly, something told him that this might not be such a good idea after all.

A jab found its way to his midsection. Inhaling sharply at the pain, he forced himself to ignore it. Then he sidestepped a sweeping kick from her and threw a fist which connected on her cheeks. Again, she did not seem to feel it.

What the hell was wrong with her? His knuckles stung from the hit but she did not even pause before she launched into another series of jabs. Alec blocked, and then forcefully grabbed one of her arms. Before she could extricate herself, he kicked and knocked her feet from under her.

She fell on her side and immediately rolled back into a standing position. Settling back into a neutral stance facing him. Angry red marks were beginning to be visible on her cheekbone and her jaw. Her arm sported an imprint of his fingers where he had grabbed her earlier. She had suffered a lot of damage, he realised. A shot of remorse coursed through him, but he pushed it down. This was no time to be distracted.

Her eyes flickered, telling him that she had something up her sleeves.

Alec braced himself.

She took a step forward, her gold-flecked eyes strangely expressionless. Two more quick steps followed. Then she launched herself off the ground and rotated into a mid-air cartwheel heading straight for him.

Alec’s eyes widened for a second before he dove to his left to avoid the impending blow from her foot.

Then he saw a blur out of the corner of his eyes. An unexpected hit connected with his right shoulder, throwing him to the ground. Surprised gasps sounded around him. What the hell? The only way she could have hit him was to twist around at the last minute while she was airborne.

He looked up to find her staring at down at him with an expression of horror on her face. But why? She should be happy that she managed to floor him.

Biggs stepped forward onto the mat, a deep frown on his face. His Second-In-Command would no doubt challenge Max now, Alec thought wearily. Just what he needed, his entire unit defending him. He had no time for this. He had to figure out what had just happened just now, especially Max’s unexpected reaction.

At Biggs’ approach, Max’s expression cleared.

Then the dark-haired X5 spoke. “Hey, Max, wanna share that move?”

Alec’s jaw dropped in astonishment. What the-?

Ren joined Biggs, his grey eyes shining with curiosity. “Yeah, Max. How do you get that much power behind that twist?”

The rest gathered closer to the centre, leaving Alec alone outside the mat.

“Did you extend your body first or your legs? I didn’t really catch that,” Biggs questioned, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. He turned to Ren. “Did you get it?”

Suddenly noticing how quiet Max was, Ren asked, “Max? You okay?”

There was a slight hesitation before she replied quietly, “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You need to get some ice on your face,” Laney pointed out, sounding concerned.

“No. It’s okay,” Max protested, shaking her head.

Glowering, Alec pushed himself up, brushing the dust from his clothes. “I’m just fine over here. No need to worry,” he said sarcastically.

Looking back over her shoulders, Thena shook a dismissive hand at him, her red curls bouncing around her face. “Yeah, we know.”

Alec stared at them, hardly believing what he was hearing. So much for being their CO. So much for worrying that they would hold it against Max for taking him down.

Traitors.

She walked beside Thena, making sure that her face expressed nothing but interest in what the tall redhead had to say about the chefs in the kitchen.

Inwardly, however, she was still shaken over what she had come so close to doing during the sparring session. She had almost lost control, all because of some childish taunting. Alec had been trying to get her to stop holding back, that was all. She understood his intentions perfectly well. But his words had cut her deep. It had brought back to her the feeling of helplessness, the self-blame, the frustration of not knowing if her family was alright.

Everything she had been trying to forget.

Something had snapped when she heard his words. It was as if her consciousness had taken a step back, letting only her instinct take over the fight. She had watched herself attack Alec as if he was some faceless enemy.

This had not happened for a long time.

The last time had been when she was back in Wyoming. By then, most of them had shunned her anyway. But one went too far. The X5 she was sparring with had taunted her until she snapped and unleashed herself on him without restrain. Sandoval had been furious with her. And since then, the rest of the transgenics had kept an even warier eye on her.

If she had not regained her sanity just before that last hit connected with Alec, she doubted that she would be walking into the mess hall right now with Unit 6. Like the rest of them back in Wyoming, they probably would have given her the cold shoulder.

And she would have deserved it. However angry she was, she should have keep herself in control.

Her right cheek and her jaw throbbed from the blows Alec had inflicted on her. Her arm was also hurting, but she could not remember how it got hurt. She was so full of adrenaline that the pain did not even register until a short while ago. Bruises were going to form, she thought in resignation.

Unit 6 headed straight for the table at the end of the mess hall. Max’s steps faltered at the roomful of transgenics, unsure how she should react. A part of her wanted to turn tail and run for the safety of her solitary room, but another part of her shook its head at her cowardice.

Because that was all it was, wasn’t it? Cowardice. She was scared of receiving the same reactions as those in Wyoming. Even after she wrapped herself in layers of protective indifference and arrogance, the rejection had stung. She just never let it show. And somehow, along the way, she managed to convince herself that she did not care.

But she cared.

All it took was the kindness of this unit to break it down. All it took was for someone not to judge her harshly.

And the worst thing was, Max knew that all of this would disappear like smoke in a windy day if she did not manage to control that part of herself; her anger, her pain and everything that was consuming her ever since she had lost her own unit.

She found herself pushed into the seat sandwiched between the petite blonde-haired, blue-eyed Laney and a shaven X5 called Silt. Biggs took a seat opposite her. Out of the corner of her eyes, she spotted Alec dropping himself into a seat at the end of the table.

“So, how are you finding this so far?” Silt gestured around them. “Is this very different from Wyoming?”

Max took a moment to consider her reply. “The facilities are the same. But I think it’s a little more… relaxed… here,” she said quietly.

Silt grinned. “Hey, we’re a relaxed bunch.”

Thena swallowed a mouthful of food and turned to Biggs. “Say, you’ll be partnering Max from now on, right?”

Biggs looked up. “I suppose so.” Turning to Max, he added with a grin, “If that’s okay with you, of course.”

Smiling a little, Max nodded. She did not know any of them anyway, but she could do much worse than have a friendly partner like Biggs.

“It’s kind of weird, sitting here talking to you,” Laney said a little uncertainly.

Raising a questioning brow, Max asked curiously, “Why weird?”

Laney laughed awkwardly before she looked away. “Oh, Alec didn’t tell you then.”

“No,” Max replied slowly, wondering what was coming next. She glanced down the table to find Alec stuffing his face, seemingly oblivious to their conversation.

Setting his fork down on the table, Biggs explained, “Well, there used to be thirteen of us in this unit. But about two years ago, we went on a mission and one of us didn’t make it.”

Max tensed. Yet another mission which had gone wrong, she thought darkly. She looked at the surviving members of the unit, wondering if they had ever recovered from their loss. Knowing that no words could do any good, she remained silent.

Silt added, “The one who didn’t make it, her designation was 453. Sam.”

Max heard the sound of metal clattering onto table just to find that it was her who had lost her grip on her knife.

453?

“453,” she echoed numbly, her gaze fixed onto her plate. “453 as in…”

“Your twin,” Biggs confirmed quietly.

That explained a lot, Max thought, remembering the shock on Alec’s face when he had first seen her. Lydecker sure had a lot to answer to this time. Somehow, Max felt that this move of his was deliberate. But why? Lydecker knew how she felt about the demise of her own unit. And why do the same to Alec’s unit as well? Why remind them of the one they had lost?

The dark haired Hispanic called Ren cleared his throat. “Well, this is one uncomfortable moment,” he remarked, breaking the silence.

Wearing a worried expression, Laney turned to Max. “Hey, just so that you know. This doesn’t make any difference to us, okay?”

“Yeah, we’re a team,” Silt added quickly.

Max glanced around at them, touched that they were actually trying to make her feel less uncomfortable. She understood how they must feel like she was the interloper, and yet, they still made that effort. It would not be unusual for them to think that she might try to take Sam’s place.

But what about Alec? He had been silent through the entire conversation. What did he think?

Perhaps, as the CO, he felt responsible for Sam’s demise. Perhaps to Alec, by being around, she would be a constant reminder of Sam. The way he was a constant reminder of Ben?

She debated whether to tell them about her own unit. And about Ben and Alec being twins. She looked down at her plate, watching as her knuckles turned white as she tightened her grip on her fork and knife. If she started, she was sure that the questions would fly. Questions that she did not want to answer because it meant she had to live through it again.

She blinked. No. She was not strong enough to deal with it yet. It was still too raw. The wound was still fresh in her mind even when the physical ones had faded into the crisscrossing scars on her body.

“Max?” Biggs called out tentatively.

Max forced a smile onto her lips. “Yeah, we’re a team,” she said softly in reply to Silt’s comment.

Alec was still keeping out of the conversation, she noted as she glanced again at him. She was sure that it was deliberate. Well, considering that the rest had extended their welcome, she guessed that she should attempt to make some effort at maintaining the peace as well. But how? It was not as if she was particularly good at these sorts of things.

As they stood up to leave the mess hall, she saw Alec walking off by himself. Well, here goes nothing, she thought resolutely.

When she caught up with him, she called out, “Alec?”

He slowed his steps, but did not look back at her. “Yeah?”

She hesitated. Then, drawing a deep breath, she said, “Laney told me about Sam.”

She watched as he raised a hand to rub the back of his neck, a gesture which betrayed his discomfort with the topic. Biting her bottom lip, she waited for his reaction.

“I see,” he replied, his voice sounding a little strained.

She exhaled slowly before she continued, “I just want you to know that I understand if having me around feels weird.”

She could see his eyes flicker uncertainly as he directed a surprised glance at her. Straightening her spine, she plowed on. “All I’m trying to say is that I’ll try to not to make it worse.”

There. She had said it, she thought, watching him silently.

He gave her an assessing look.

She was beginning to feel unnerved at his perusal when he finally said in a measured tone, “If you’re as good as Lydecker said you are, then I’m sure we won’t have any problems.”

Her brow arched in surprise.

Tilting his head to one side, he gave her a smile. Her jaw dropped. This was the first time she had seen him smile like that, and it reminded her of how Ben used to smile at her. Her heart constricted painfully at the memory.

Then he sighed. “Come on. We need to put something on the bruises.”

She shook her head. “No, I’m alright.”

He frowned at her. “Are you always going to question my orders? I thought you just said that you’ll try not to make things worse.”

Max began to bristle, and then it sank in. He was right. There was no harm in applying a little bit of medicine on her bruises.

Relenting, she nodded. “Lead the way.”

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