Blast to the Past? : Chapter 2
Chapter 2: Friend or Foe?
'Look at what you’ve done.’
Max held her breath, her body stiffened when he took one step closer before slipping his hand in hers, holding it tight. Her head lifted towards his at the smile in his words. He was happy. It was apparent from the curve of his lips, the way he was holding himself, that light in his blue eyes.
Max however, was beyond terrified.
Her hand in his latex grasp was sweating, her heart tripping over their haste to leave her chest. What had she done?
She smiled weakly in the general area of his face, trying not to scream out her frustration. Did she make the right choice in asking everyone to stay? Her fear escalated, terror gripping her numb body to see so many eyes on her. Waiting for something.
Her eyes skittered over the expectations in their eyes, searching for someone. Needing desperately on his reassurance. But he wasn’t there.
Surrounded by people left and right, Max felt the cold claw of loneliness sank in.
~*~
‘Hurry up, I’m hungry.’
‘Dude, the diner isn’t going anywhere.’ Sam tossed a rolled up shirt at his brother and continued to shrug into another shirt. He grabbed the discarded towel and dried his hair, running the soft towel over his wet face and his cool neck.
‘You’re worse than a girl. Hurry up, Samantha.’
‘What’s wrong with you?’ Sam frowned when he walked past his scowling brother. ‘I told you we’ll go after my shower.’
‘I’ve been waiting for hours, Sam. Hours! How long do you need to splash water on yourself and change your shirt?’
‘Okay... okay. Let’s go.’
‘I’m hungry. You know I’m not good with waiting when I’m hungry.’ The sulkiness crept into every syllable and Sam tried very hard not to laugh. It would just make everything worse, that he knew from prior experience.
‘Apparently.’ Sam rolled his eyes as Dean slid behind the wheel. The next few minutes stretched quietly as the Impala rumbled smoothly. Sam turned to his brother, knowing this was a good time as any. There was no way he could avoid this. He can’t jump out of a moving car right?
‘Dean, we need to talk.’
‘What?’ The hazel eyes were trained on the road and a muscle started twitching along his jaw. ‘You know I don’t talk before mealtime, Sammy. So just sit tight on your ass and wait.’
Sam saw the sudden pain that flickered in his brother’s eyes and he knew he had to push this. Dean needed to talk. ‘That’s what you always say, Dean. I know you. You’re not going to shut me out this time.’
‘Or what?’ Dean spat out the words from behind clenched lips. He never wanted to think about hell again, why couldn’t Sam understand that? ‘We gonna have an Oprah moment now or are you gonna do something to me?’
Sam let out a pent up breath and forged ahead. He had been thinking about this a lot after that night. ‘Uriel said something.’
‘He did?’
‘Yes Dean, he did.’
Despite everything, Dean’s lips quirked at the annoyance in Sam’s voice.
‘Are you sure you don’t remember anything from hell?’
Dean’s face closed immediately and a shutter slammed over his eyes. ‘No.’
‘Come on man. You can’t bottle everything up like that. Talk to me. You did that when Dad died and look how it chewed you up from the inside out.’
Dean kept his eyes on the road, the occasional roadside lights illuminating his harsh profile. ‘Drop the subject, Sam.’
Sam’s jaw hardened and Dean would’ve bet his car that Sam wouldn’t listen. Too damn stubborn for his own good. ‘I said...’
The rest of his words were swallowed by a great burst of light. They both shielded their eyes from the fiery blast before Dean’s foot slammed hard on the brake pedal and the car swerved crazily from the momentum. They both jumped out and started running towards the source of that explosion. Dean drew his gun from his jacket as Sam flicked his torchlight, his gun in the other hand.
‘Take that side, Sam!’ Dean yelled out and his brother complied, flicking his light, frowning in the dark before sucking in his breath when his sharp eyes caught something. Someone seemed to be pinned down and struggling to get away.
‘Dean, over here.’ He saw the small figure pushing off the guy and even from the distance, he could say it was a girl. ‘Miss, is everything okay? Do you need help?’ he shouted, his brother close behind.
Sam’s hand tightened around his gun when the guy beside her struggled to his feet and his blood ran cold when the guy drew something from the inside of his jacket.
‘Miss, are you okay?’ Dean called out when she didn’t answer. Their fingers tightened around their guns when the girl turned to her assailant.
‘Do you have another twin, Alec?’ Max asked.
‘What? Why do you bring that up at a time like this?’
She cocked her head towards the two guys running towards them and the frown was still there when he zoomed in on them. The man in the lead was in his mid twenties, tall and lanky with firm muscles underneath the shirt. The one slightly behind was...
Alec sucked in a breath like he was sucker punched and Max whispered again, ‘Do you have another twin?’
‘I didn’t even know about 493 until a few years ago. How the hell should I know if there’s a 495? Or a 492?’
‘Good question,’ she muttered before calling out. ‘Hey fellas! We know who you are. There’s no need for firearms among our own kind.’
‘What the hell, Max?’ Alec swore a list of unintelligible words when he saw that the two guns had taken aim at his head.
Dean muttered to Sam, ‘Our own kind?’
‘Dean,’ Sam’s voice had turned hard and the sound of the gun’s safety being release bounced erratically in the quiet area. ‘Shapeshifter.’ The shot rang loud, a sudden burst of sound that shattered the silence like an angry bull.
Then everything happened as in a blur, a stretched out dream. Dean’s eyes widened when his gaze locked on the pair. His own fingers tightened on the trigger and he winced when the Shapeshifter suddenly appeared in front of him. He just barely blocked the rapid movements and groaned when his jaw exploded in a burst of pain. ‘Son of a bitch!’ he growled, struggling to his feet, the pain swelling when he realized his gun was knocked out of his hand.
Alec reacted instinctively when he saw the bullet speeding towards them. He tackled Max to the ground and blurred to his clone, ignoring the sharp pain in his arm. Something screamed inside him when his clone’s reactions weren’t up to the regular X5 standard. Alec stood over the fallen man, his gun trained on the clone’s head.
‘Who are you?’ Alec saw the glint of silver and blurred, grabbing the knife from the clone’s hand. A second later, he was straddling the man, the knife pressed into his throat. ‘Who.. are.. you..?’
Something crawled up Dean’s spine at the almost military tone in the Shapeshifter’s voice. ‘Shouldn’t I be asking you the same thing?’
The Shapeshifter was quiet for a second, the eerily identical eyes boring into his. Then he flipped Dean around and pulled down the collar of his jacket. Dean struggled but the Shifter held him in place easily enough. What the hell? A second later the Shifter turned his head and called out, ‘Everything okay, Max?’
‘Apart from my bruise when you fell on top of me and then tossed me to the ground, yeah I’m peachy,’ the girl replied, annoyance lacing her every word.
Dean saw the slight lift of the Shapeshifter’s lips. ‘At least you didn’t get shot. It’s just a scratch, stop worrying,’ he added when the girl opened her mouth to say something. From his vantage point, Dean took a strangled breath when the Shapeshifter’s lips thinned in concentration. ‘What’s your designation? 495?’
‘What? What designation?’ Dean’s spirit sank when he saw the girl dragging Sam towards them. Can’t you even kick a girl’s ass, Sam? Jeez.
‘Yours isn’t talking?’ Max asked before nodding towards her so called prisoner, ‘Neither is mine. Alec, now what?’
‘You’re asking for my opinion? Wow Maxie, I’m flattered. I knew I was your Second for something.’
‘Shut up,’ she scowled and pushed the tall guy forward. ‘We could tie them up.’
‘With what? Leaves?’
‘Then what do you suggest we do?’ her scowl deepened.
‘We could break their legs,’ and at her reaction he added, ‘I’m kidding.’
Dean was getting bored with the whole thing. If the Shifter and his girlfriend wanted to kill them, they would’ve done so ages ago. ‘Max, right? You do know you’re with a Shapeshifter?’
‘Shape-what?’
‘Great,’ Alec threw his hand up. ‘First it was a witch who turned out to be a crazy old guy and now Shapeshifters? What’s wrong with all of you today? And I’m not a Shapeshifter, whatever that is.’
Alec stomped to Max and dragged her a few feet away. ‘I don’t think he’s 495, he’s too old for an X5. Maybe X3 or even X4. But the thing is, he’s way too sloppy for an X series. I have my doubts that he’s even a transgenic. I checked for his barcode. He didn’t have one but that doesn’t mean anything.’
‘I can see that,’ she nodded her head. ‘Let’s say he’s not a transgenic, then what explains the freakishly similar look you two share? Coincidence?’
‘I don’t believe in coincidence.’ His eyes hardened. ‘Let’s go talk to them.’
Sam rubbed his arm, wincing at the tender skin when his brother spoke. ‘Dude, I know she’s a girl and you’re the perfect gentleman and everything, but can you keep the chivalry act in check and kick a chick’s ass for once?’
‘You have no idea what you’re talking about, I couldn’t even land a hand on her. I’ve never seen anyone that can move so fast, guy or girl.’
‘Now that you mention it... What the hell is going on? Who are they?’ Dean frowned as he fixed his gaze on the duo. His eyes sharpened when they turned and walked towards them. ‘They’re coming.’
The brothers stood stiffly, muscles tensed in preparation of another fight.
‘Don’t bother to fight us,’ Alec grunted. ‘You won’t win.’ The disgruntled effect was totally spoiled when he sputtered and wiped his wet face indignantly, ‘What the hell was that?’ Beside him Max glared as she tried to dry her soaked arm.
Dean and Sam stared at each other, shrugging as they tossed aside the empty bottles. ‘We had to make sure.’
‘Of what?’ Max’s hand was on her hip, eyes narrowed, lips thinned. ‘Does it look like we need a bath?’
‘We can rule out that you’re a demon. That’s good news. Now we can get past your attempt to kill us.’
‘You shot us first,’ Alec pointed an accusing finger.
‘We thought you were a Shapeshifter. Sorry about that.’
‘And by soaking us, you made your point?’
‘That’s holy water,’ Sam pointed out.
‘Riiight,’ Max nodded skeptically.
‘And who are you?’ Alec asked, fixing his eyes on Dean.
‘Dean. That’s my brother Sam. And you?’
‘I’m Max,’ she pushed past him, ‘and that’s Alec. We’re still in Sector Four, right?’
‘Sector Four?’ Sam turned to his brother but Dean just shrugged.
‘But we’re still in Seattle?’
The slow drawl didn’t hide its cutting edge. ‘That would be correct.’ Dean rolled his eyes at the younger image of him. It still felt weird looking at the guy, knowing he wasn’t a Shapeshifter. ‘Come on, you’re bleeding all over. Let’s get you patched up first.’
Alec flicked a gaze at his arm. ‘It’s just a scratch.’
‘Yeah, he’s a moving target practice, that’s a known fact but why are you suddenly being nice when you were about to kill us earlier?’
‘That bullet is pure silver and since he’s still breathing, he’s not a demon.’
‘What’s up with the demon thing? Do we look even remotely demonic to you?’
The brothers ignored her question and nodded towards the darkness. ‘Let’s go. Our car is over there.’
Alec turned to Max, who just shrugged. ‘We can overpower them if they start getting weird or stuff. Maybe they’ll drop us off somewhere closer to TC.’
‘Yeah, I’m not in the mood to walk.’ He sighed and a few seconds later, they followed in the brothers’ footsteps.
~*~
'Look at what you’ve done.’
Alec grimaced, the satisfied smile in Logan’s voice moved like a grater over his wound. Yeah Max, what have you gotten us into this time? We were trained to move in enemy territory dammit, not hang around like sitting ducks. His Manticore-trained side almost blurted that out but something was holding him back. Maybe it was the smile she gave Logan, who knows?
His hand moved to his shoulder, his breathing shallow and fast. He could feel the other transgenics’ restlessness, the aggression they hid behind Manticore masks as they waited for their orders. Alec took a step forward, wanting to know what their fearless leader had in mind. He froze in mid-step, a muscle twitched along his jaw when Logan’s hand snaked towards Max, holding her hand tightly in his gloved fingers. Blood roared to his head and he clutched his shoulder. When Logan’s hand closed around hers, something in him snapped.
The sharp pain from his shoulder merged with the one from his heart, turning a white flash of fury and he had to walk away. Alec pushed past the wall of transgenic bodies and disappeared.
It's not that long! Grrrrr Click here for the next part..