Deception

Disclaimer: Dark Angel and its characters obviously do not belong to me, it belongs to James Cameron and Charles H Eglee. I am writing this purely for non-profit entertainment. No infringement had been intended, and no profit had been made from this story.

Deception - Chapter 3

(by elle6778)


Max’s Manticore Cell

As Max sat in her cell that night, she found herself replaying the conversation they had earlier in the training grounds. She found it odd that it had never crossed her mind to wonder how the male transgenics responded to heat. Now that she thought about it, it was really obvious. The male X5s have their share of feline DNA too; hence it was completely understandable that they would be just as affected as the females.

She looked up as Ben entered her cell. Like clockwork, she mused. He always came at about this time. She greeted him with a smile which he returned.

“Hey, Max. How are you feeling after having your ass kicked by yours truly?” he asked with a cheeky grin. His eyes were twinkling in amusement as he waited for her to take the bait.

Max snorted. “I just got distracted by those X5s trying to make out in the middle of sparring. Otherwise you would not be standing here now.”

He laughed and shook his head. “Gee, I thought you should be quite used to all those public display of affection while you were out there. Tsk…tsk… Didn’t know you are so interested in watching those sorts of things.”

Max shot him a glare and stuck her tongue out. As if Ben did not know why she was so curious. He was just getting his kicks out of annoying you, a small voice inside spoke up.

A small frown appeared on her brow as a thought suddenly occurred to her. Turning to Ben, she asked, curious “How come you know so much about this anyway?”

Averting his gaze, he answered sheepishly, “Well, I had some… personal experience since they brought me back.” He was looking everywhere but at her.

“Oh,” she said in a flat tone. His words evoked an image of him naked, entangled with a blonde female in her mind. Flustered at the feeling of jealousy brought on by that image, she quickly brushed it away. Why a blonde anyway?

She wondered why her mind refused to stop torturing her with the image.

Registering her badly veiled discomfort at his answer, he decided to change shift the conversation to her. “So why were you not aware of the effect you have on us when you go into heat? Surely you must have Zack and Krit on your tail when you go into heat. I mean, I know they are meant to be siblings and all but even then, they should not have been able to control it,” he asked, trying not to wonder what Max would be like in heat.

“I’ve only seen Zack a few times as an adult, and each time I wasn’t in heat. I didn’t meet Krit until just before we blew up the DNA lab. Anyway, I couldn’t possibly make out with Zack or Krit, could I? Not that I am really into all that stuff,” she said grimacing at the image of making out with her brothers.

She frowned as she suddenly realised that she did not include Ben in those images. It was as if she stopped considering Ben as her brother at some point. Weird…

He stared at her with rounded eyes. “Really? Why not? I mean, not about Zack or Krit. I wouldn’t want to make out with them either,” he paused as Max gave him a droll look. Grinning, he continued, “Why are you not into ‘that stuff’? I thought you had a boyfriend.” Sneaky, he knew, but he was waiting for a chance to ask her about her boyfriend ever since Renfro had mentioned it earlier.

“Logan and I are not like that,” she said lamely, picking distractedly at a loose thread on her combat pants.

He gaped, incredulous at what he was hearing. “What exactly do you mean? ‘Not like that’? Either he is your boyfriend or he is not! And physical satisfaction usually comes with a boyfriend. Simple as that.” Unless, of course, he was not really her boyfriend. He felt an inexplicable sense of hopefulness at that thought.

Max had no answer to that, so she did not say anything.

Unperturbed by her silence, he continued, “So, you haven’t had a chance to be with another transgenic. Are you not curious?” He saw a flash of question in her eyes which belied her interest. Grinning inwardly, he waited for her to say yes.

But Max shook her head as she answered, “What’s there to be curious about?”

“You are missing out on a lot, Max. You should give it a go. Tell you what, I volunteer to be your test subject,” he decided to give her a push, grinning.

“BEN! That’s not funny!” she said in shock, finding it difficult to believe that Ben had just said that. And finding it difficult to curb the flush spreading over her at the thought of making out with Ben. She looked at him to see him awaiting her answer. He was serious!

Max insisted adamantly, “I am just not interested, Ben!”

“I am not convinced. Deep down, I think you want to know what it’s like to be with another transgenic. And since I am here…” he prodded, shrugging carelessly.

“Drop it, Ben. I told you, I am not curious about it at all,” she snapped, flustered now. Why he kept making references to himself? Was he trying to tell her something?

“Prove it to me, Max. Prove to me that you are not curious at all,” he said, as he advanced towards her. Her eyes were wide as they stared at him. She was not even aware that she was retreating backwards as he stepped forward to close the gap between them.

Backed against the wall, Max could not escape. Looking nervously into Ben’s eyes, she said, “Ben…you don’t want to do this,” She could hear the uncertainty in her own voice betraying her anticipation. Desperate to regain some control, she tried to squash the traitorous flutter of excitement inside her.

He gave her a knowing smile. “Why, Max? You scared?”

He knew from the look on her face that she was trying to think of a sarcastic comeback, but came up with nothing. Obviously giving up, she just clamped her lips shut and stared at the floor.

Taking her silence as a sign of her acquiesce, he lifted his fingers and trailed it down her jaw. When his fingers reached her chin, he tilted her face up. He took in the stubborn look in her eyes, laced with something else akin to excitement. And a hint of anticipation, he noted with satisfaction.

He brushed the pad of this thumb across her soft bottom lip, feeling it tremble slightly at the contact. He has not even kissed her yet and he was getting aroused. Breathing in, he inhaled her heady scent. He could not believe how much he liked the way she smelled.

Not wanting to prolong the agony any further, he decided to make his move.

He bent his head and captured her lips in his. A jolt of passion coursed though him at the contact as he felt Max gasp under his lips. He sucked her bottom lips gently and was instantly rewarded by the sound of her moan against him. He increased the pressure, his tongue seeking entry past her lips. There was a moment’s hesitation on her part before she parted her lips to allow him access. She moaned against him as his tongue probed the warm recesses of her mouth, caressing her tongue with his.

***

Max could not believe she was doing this. But she could not help moaning as he delved further into her mouth. The feeling was intense and she could feel herself burning up with desire. She knew she shouldn’t, but she could not stop herself from responding and kissing him back with equal fervour.

A small voice in her head told her to stop. This was Ben, her brother. They should not be doing this. It was wrong. But her body betrayed her. Her lips and limbs simply decided not to obey her mind.

Her hands snaked up his torso under his grey shirt, feeling the ripples of muscles under her palm. Her lips trailed a line from his lips across his jaw down to his neck. She nuzzled his neck and caressed it softly with her lips and tongue. She smiled against the side of his neck as she heard him groan, glad that he was as affected as she was.

She gasped as he placed his hand between them on her breast. He fondled her gently through her clothes, all the time keeping one hand on the back of her head to keep her at his neck. Max could feel shots of pleasure spearing through her as he brushed his thumb repeatedly against her rigid peaks. Incapable of coherent thought, Max pressed herself against his hands to increase the contact. Her hands were under his shirt, her nails digging into his smooth back.

The small voice in her head told her to stop this before it spiralled out of control. Max knew that if they did go further, things would never be the same between them. But would that be so bad, a contrary voice asked her. She decided that she should listen to the voice of reason before they did something they may regret later.

Reluctantly, she pulled away, trying not to look at Ben as she did so. Ben seemed to understand her discomfort. He pulled her to the bed and simply wrapped his arms around her loosely. He rubbed his cheeks against her hair and kissed the top of her head, sighing deeply.

A few minutes passed before either of them could look at each other. When they did, Max could see the twinkle in Ben’s eyes. As Max realised that it was not going to be as awkward as she feared, she felt the load lift off her shoulders. He was right, they were not biological siblings. So maybe it was not as wrong as she thought it was.

It had definitely felt right.

“So, what do you think? Was that as good for you as it was for me?” he asked with a cheeky grin.

Max could not stop herself from grinning back as she smacked him on the shoulders. She did not realise that in all that time, it did not occur to her to think about Logan.

***

In the Control Room

Max stood at attention while Renfro continued to pace in front of her.

Looking at Max, she said, “You don't understand what's at stake here, 452. If Eyes Only isn't stopped, there will be news vans parked outside the perimeter. The Committee is not going to allow the existence of this program to be exposed. It'll jeopardize its other operations,”

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Max retorted blandly, “Guess I'm supposed to be curious and ask what that means.”

“It means that I lock down the cells and I burn this place to the ground with you and everyone else inside,” Renfro said in a threatening tone. Her eyes narrowed as Max rolled her eyes. Arching her eyebrows, Renfro continued, “Oh, you don't believe me? On paper, this place is a VA hospital. Anybody comes looking, all they will find is the remains of a tragic fire that killed all its patients. It's called plausible deniability,” Renfro smirked.

“It's called bluffing,” Max said dismissively. There was no way Manticore was going to burn down their precious facility.

“Look, you need to understand something. You are nothing but meat to me. This…” she held up a disk, “This is what matters. I could start over anywhere. I just put all the data that we have accumulated into my briefcase, lock the door, light the match, and kiss your transgenic ass goodbye,”

Moving closer to Max, Renfro looked into her eyes and said, “You make me find Eyes Only by myself...he is a dead man. Help me...there's a deal to be made. Think about it,”

The sound of the door opening took Renfro’s attention away from Max.

A man entered and said, “We ran the blood sample we found at the warehouse.”

Renfro took the file and ran her eyes over it. Then she looked up and smiled at Max, “Ah! Time's up, 452,”

***

Max’s Manticore Cell

Max sat up violently in her bed, bathed in sweat. She was not sure if the psy-ops session was a dream or a memory. She was in a chair and they were doing something to her. She just could not remember what it was they did. Then she suddenly recalled her conversation with Renfro in the control room. Renfro wanted Eyes Only. The trip to psy-ops must have been for them to extract the information out of her. But Max could not remember if she had told Manticore anything.

She realised that she was running out of time. She could not stay here any longer. She had to get out now.

Hearing the door to her cell slam shut, she jumped up to find Ben standing there. He raised his eyebrows in question at the expression on her face.

Taking in the look on her face, he stepped closer and asked worriedly, “What’s wrong, Max?” This can’t be because of the kiss they shared, could it, he wondered. He hoped that she did not regret the kiss. He definitely did not. And if she did, she would be lying to herself. Siblings or not, she definitely had responded with a passion.

“Ben! You’ve got to help me,” she said in a panicked tone.

“Max, if you don’t tell me what’s going on, I can’t help you,” he said, cocking his head to one side as he regarded her. It did not sound as if it was the kiss which was bothering her.

“We got to go now. I can’t wait anymore. There’s something I have to do!”

He had dreadful a feeling that he knew what she was talking about. “Go? Where?” he asked anyway to be sure.

“Out of Manticore. We need to escape from Manticore,” Max hissed.

“Oh, come on, Max. It’s not so bad here. We got food, a roof over our head and these wonderful grey clothes,” he proclaimed. He knew that his efforts would be in vain. There was no chance that she would listen to him when it came to this.

“Ben! This is no time for jokes,” she said in exasperation.

Opening his eyes wide, he remarked, “Hey, who said I was joking?”

Standing with her hands on her hips, she asked, “So? You coming with me or not?”

***

Manticore’s Grounds

They escaped from the building via a window in the basement, with the help of the dog-man Max called Joshua.

As he ran beside Max, he felt a sudden feeling of exhilaration. It has been so long since he had been out. He had missed the freedom of being out in the open. The reindoctrination had taken months of his life away. He frowned, shaking the depressing thoughts out of his mind.

Halfway in their journey to the perimeter, a team of X7s showed up. He signalled to Max, hoping that she still remembered the basics. Between them, they managed to take down the team of X7s.

As they ran towards the fence, Max said with a grin, “Hey, we do make a good team!”

He felt a slight twinge of guilt as he saw the look of absolute trust in her eyes, but he clamped it down. Outwardly he grinned back and said, “Yeah, we sure do!”

Their approach to the fence was interrupted by yet another X7. Blurring towards the kid, Max kicked the weapon out of his hands and took a flying leap over the fence.

Following her lead, he too, leapt over the fence.

As the distance between them and the Manticore facility increased, he let his thoughts drift through his head.

(FLASHBACK)

Renfro seemed to have something up her sleeve, he thought silently as she continued to study him. He kept his face impassive under Renfro’s regard.

“To make things more… interesting, you are also assigned another mission parallel to this one. X5-452 may have information on the whereabouts of some other people we are looking for. Your mission is to extract these information from her,” Renfro pushed a file across the deck towards him. “You may find it useful to study the file in-depth to familiarize yourself with the targets.”

He took the file from Renfro and opened it.

He stared at the picture of a pair of eyes framed in blue, read and white borders. Beneath the picture there were details of the activities pursued by the man who called himself Eyes-Only.

The file also contained information on all the transgenics who escaped in ’09. There were sheets of paper with descriptions of the children complete with old pictures. At the corners of each sheet, newer pictures were attached; pictures of the genetic twins of these children as adults. He turned the pages, pausing momentarily to study a particular picture.

His breeding partner, X5-452.

Closing the file, he straightened, “When do I start, ma’am?”

Renfro allowed a small smile to enter her face. “You need to report to the medical facility for some jabs. I have given them their orders. You start tomorrow night.”

He thought that Renfro had finished but she continued, “I have an idea of how you could gain her trust.”

Picking up another file, she handed it to him.

He took the file wordlessly and opened it. His eyes widened in shock at the picture in front of him. Gritting his teeth, he forced his hands to remain steady and his face to remain emotionless. Renfro did not have to tell him in so many words. He understood what she wanted him to do.

Smiling, Renfro continued, “I see you recognized the picture. We had him a while back but unfortunately, nothing could be done. He belonged to her unit, and they were all very close. Very fond of each other. Turned out that they thought of each other as brothers and sisters.”

Swallowing to clear his throat of the sudden dryness, he spoke, “With all due respect, ma’am. Wouldn’t it be harder to convince her to copulate if I carry the mission out this way?”

“Just keep in mind that recapturing the Eyes Only and escapees are our priority. Impregnating 452 is secondary. We could still inseminate her artificially. Do what you have to do, just get me the information,” Renfro said, her cold eyes boring into his.

“Yes, ma’am,”

“Dismissed,”

Just as he was about to turn the doorknob, Renfro’s words made him pause, “Do not fail us, 494,”

(END FLASHBACK)

t.b.c

***

A/N: *Grins* Some of with more suspicious minds have probably guessed it already! So come on, review and let me know what you think!

Review shouts for Chapter 2…

7star – It’s the same but this one will go up to NC-17 rating. Thanks for reviewing! And if you’re interested, watch out for another MA fic coming out here soon (next week maybe).

Liv – Thanks for reviewing. Hope you have enjoyed Chapter 3.