Note: Set a bit after Freak Nation. So, Normal knows what some of his employees are. Life is sort of settling back down for our heroes, until...
Seattle 2020 December:
6:00 AM - Logan's phone rang.
Wiping away the sleep from his still hazy vision, he walked over to his computer chair and had a seat before picking up the device causing the sound that jarred him from his slumber.
"Hello?" He answered formally. He wasn't expecting a call, especially not this early.
"Hello, son." The voice, along with the familiar addition of "son," immediately alerted the cyber-journalist to who was on the other end.
"Lydecker. Calling from beyond the grave?" Logan quipped, standing up. Last he heard the former Commanding Officer of Manticore had gone MIA, after taking a dive into the river. Max and Logan had presumed him dead. Wishful thinking on their part, apparently.
"Not quite. I need to meet with you and Max." His voice remained serious with a twinge of urgency.
Logan stared at his desk, thinking of a response. He could hear what Max's snap response would be, "Hell no." or "What for?"
"Now, why's that?" Curiosity had crept more into Logan's tone. A ghost from the past suddenly shows up and demands a meeting?
"Listen, I can't tell you over the phone. You'll just have to trust me on this one and meet me, if you want to know the reason." Lydecker tried an appeal to the investigative cyber-journalist's innate curiosity.
Logan scoffed into the phone. "You know, you don't exactly have a background that inclines either of us to do that – trust you, that is. For all we know, this could be another one of your traps." It was too early to deal with Lydecker's cryptic messages.
"Dammit, Cale." Logan's stubbornness was starting to wear on what remained of Donald's patience. They didn't have time to waste. "Manticore is gone. The FBI has taken over clean up. What angle could you possibly think I have here?"
"I don't know. Presumably, you're currently facing hard economical times. Maybe you're looking to turn Max in for a pay-day?" Logan knew that wouldn't be the case. But how often did he get to step on their former enemy's nerves like this?
Blue eyes widen slightly before settling into a glare, while a deep frown made its home on the older man's face. If Lydecker clutched the phone any more, it'd snap. "I'll send you the coordinates. You'll want to hear what I have to say." A sharp click followed.
Logan smirked just a bit at the effect his words had before hanging up and setting the phone down. He was extremely thoughtful as he leaned against his computer desk. He had set up a secure server between him and Lydecker when they were working together to take down Manticore. Should he take the meet? It could very well be a trap of some sort for some reason; not like Lydecker hasn't done that sort of thing before. But the former leader of Manticore had a point, what reason had he for tricking them? Logan looked out his penthouse window, wondering what kind of miracle it would take to convince Max to go with him to meet a man she spent so many years loathing and running from? He sighed as he sat back down in his computer chair and logged onto the secret server. Sure enough, there were already coordinates waiting on him in black and white.
~ Jam Pony 11:30 AM~
Max and Cindy were coming out of the locker rooms, just dressed for work. It was a rare occasion when Max had arrived on time for her 11-4 job. A genuine smile graced her face. She was actually feeling good about today, considering. Yeah, she still had White and his cult loonies and the government on her back(as always), but the day was going well. She had actually gotten a couple hours of sleep last night and woke up refreshed. Cindy and her had chatted over cups of real coffee this morning. The sun was out in Seattle, for once. Even Normal's screeching was nice. For a change, the news wasn't reporting on "the transgenic menace" plaguing the city but rather a crooked politician who was discovered to be taking bribes, as if that was news nowadays. Her life was finally feeling "normal" again. The first time since she was captured by Manticore.
Then, her pager beeped. Logan. Oh, yeah, the love of her life who she can't touch without unintentionally killing him. Thanks to a souvenir from her last stay at Manticore. She sighed as reality hit her like a pile of bricks and the hazy dream of actually having a good, "normal" day vanished.
She went to the nearest phone and punched in his number. "Hey, you paged?"
Logan scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah, uh, could you swing by today, after work?"
Max's brown eyes darted around Jam's Pony floor. Did Logan seriously have a death wish?
"Sure that's such a bright idea? Considering." She subtly reminded him. Meanwhile Original Cindy shook her head as she held a package and walked past her best friend. Those two were impossible. Max made a scrunched up face at Cindy's reaction. So, she's the bad guy for not wanting to actually be the bad guy and off Seattle's White Knight?
"Yeah. Old friend called. Sounds important." Logan relayed, nervous look on his face as a pen twirled in his fingers. He'd written the coordinates down.
Max's eyes widened. He couldn't be referring to...? Could he? "Oh." Max stared intently at the side of the dispatch desk. Shoulda known it'd be too good to be true for Lydecker to be outta her life for good. She must have really pissed karma off in a past life or something. The disgruntled Jam Pony messenger rolled her eyes. "I'll be by. Gotta blaze. Normal's screeching is getting harder to ignore. Later." And with that she clicked the pay phone down.
"Bip, bip, bip! You're on the clock, remember." He tapped his wristwatch. "Special DNA or not, I do not pay you to chat with friends on the phone." Normal lectured as he walked over to her with a package.
Max swiftly took it from him. "You barely pay us at all, Normal." And sauntered out the door. Yeah, screw this being a good day. Today can bite her transgenic ass.
Alec appeared as she left in a huff. "What's her deal?" He asked his worshiping boss. "I've been asking that question since she started working here." Normal replied as he slapped Alec on the back and returned to behind the dispatch desk.
Alec furrowed his brows in confusion before shrugging and going over to talk to Sketchy.
~Logan's penthouse~
Logan glanced at the time on his computer screen. Half hour after 4. Max should be here any second. He nervously tapped his fingers on the desk.
As if on que, the transgenic whirlwind known as Max, flew through his door. They never knock.
"Yo. So, what's the deal on this sudden call from our "old friend," as you put it." Over the years, Max had compiled a comprehensive list of titles for the old colonel. "Friend" was not high on the list. Max stopped in front of Logan, arms crossed and that impatient look on her face. Already not one of her stronger virtues, anything remotely Manticore related had a way of disintegrating whatever shred of patience Max hoped to possess.
Logan looked at the floor and shrugged. "I don't know. Said he had some information for us and that we should meet him."
Max couldn't hold back a chuckle of disbelief. "Yeah, like that's gonna happen."
Logan just looked at the transgenic standing across from him.
Max threw her hands up. "Oh, come on. You are not seriously considering taking whatever bull he's trying to sell this time, are you?" Then, she noticed the small square of notebook paper in his hand with writing on it...
"Logan, tell me those are not coordinates scribbled on the paper you're holding." Max gave him an exasperated look. This is the man who always warned her to be careful.
Logan looked down and sighed. His eyes met Max's again. "I... can't. Well, I mean I could but I'd be lying to you." He tapped the square of paper anxiously on the desk.
"Logan! This is Lydecker. Emphasis on the "Ly." Just because he's helped us before when he was let go and his back was against the wall, doesn't mean he's suddenly turned into some saint who we can just trust to meet with and walk out okay. ...Plus, I was kinda getting used to the thought of never seeing him ever again." She added, with a jerk of the head as she suddenly found Logan's desk corner interesting.
Logan sighed again. He knew he was asking a lot from Max to go meet with Lydecker, a ghost from a past she'd rather not dig up again. "He made it seem important. Like world-hanging-in-the-balance important."
Max tutted. She thought on that for a moment. "Think he knows? ...About the familiars and the whole cult business? One time when I was having one of those ever so wonderful conversations with White, he did speak as if I was savior of the world." Max looked at Logan, eyes slightly wide.
Logan shrugged. "Could be. Or something else. No way to know, really. He's not a big talker on the phone."
Max almost chuckled. Same old Deck. Probably paranoid the lines were tapped...
"Alright." Max said, after a few moments of more thinking.
Logan's expression took on a hint of surprise but then nodded. "Alright then. To this location we go." He handed Max the coordinates as they left his penthouse, not before Logan swiped his gun. Lydecker had shot him before, even if he had warned him to duck; must have forgotten cyber-journalists don't have enhanced speed.
~Inside Logan's Van~
Max was as could be expected on the way to their destination – a nervous wreck. Logan was calmer but not without his own concerns. Logan knew he could trust Lydecker as far as he could throw him and Max knew she could throw Lydecker farther than she could trust him.
They pulled up to an old factory warehouse in the Middle-of-Nowhere, Washington, far outside the city limits of Seattle. As Logan's van slowed to a stop, Max's nerves got worse. Her leg was bouncing and she was looking around. Logan was thinking that this better be worth all the trouble.
Logan wanted nothing more than to be able to reach across and take Max's hand in his, gliding his thumb over the back of her hand to give comfort and reprieve from the anxiety. But, alas, though the distance between them seemed small to the outside observer, there the retrovirus stood in their way. Their own personal great wall that was ever separating them.
"Can we just get inside already and see what the hell Don wants?" Max spoke out. If she sat here any longer, her leg was going to detach.
Logan was jarred from his depressing thoughts. "Oh... right." Max and him exited the vehicle. "It's going to be all right, you know." He called over to her as they walked to the entrance.
Max just nodded. She needed to collect herself. That meant getting into soldier mode once more. She would put her fears aside. "Fear accomplishes nothing," after all. She took a deep breath and all worry faded from her outward appearance; determined not to show weakness.
Logan opened the old steel door and held it open for Max, like the rare neo-pulse gentlemen he was. She flashed him a smile, becoming blank-faced once more as she bravely marched into the building.
Sure enough, there stood Lydecker. They were face to face for the first time in what had started to feel like forever.
He smiled and Max fought a shiver not to go up her spine. "It's good to see you again, Max."
"Gee, wish I could say that same but I can't. I was, you know, kinda starting warm up to the thought of never seeing you again, actually. What is it you have for us that is supposedly so damn important?"
Though, Lydecker was a near expert at not expressing emotion, the sting of her words managed to register briefly on his face. Max had even surprised herself at the harshness of her reaction, not that he hadn't earn it.
Logan waited somewhat patiently behind Max. His arms folded in front of him, as he watched the interaction between the two.
"My assistance."
Good thing they weren't outside because if a breeze hit Max right then, she would had fallen over.
An incredulous look swept over her face. "Your assistance?" There was no mistaken the sass in her voice. "Thanks for wasting our time, 'Deck. But we're doing just fine without your "assistance." She rolled her eyes and began to turn to leave. Five minutes with her former anti-Christ and she already had a headache and regretted taking the meet.
"Oh, really?" He began, his tone suggesting he knew better. He threw a stack of papers down.
Max whipped around at the sound of paper meeting the iron table and narrowed her eyes as she took in the headlines.
"You have Agent White to thank for exposure."
"Yes, him... and the rest of the cult." Lydecker added as he took a step away from the table, intently watching Max, gauging her reaction.
Her face contorted in shock and confusion. "You know...?"
Lydecker nodded. "Yes. But if you're wondering, I didn't always. When you were being created, I was under the impression you were solely to be a soldier. Then, I dug around. Uncovered some interesting facts, pieces to the puzzle. Turns out you were meant to be more."
"I'm guessing by "more" you're not referring to a world famous rock star." Max added, processing it all.
Logan's eyes had gone wide. Perhaps, Lydecker was right. This meeting had been worth agreeing to. What else did the old colonel know? How to stop them? What their big plan even was, exactly?
Logan took a cautious step forward. Careful not to get too close to risk bumping into Max. Like most details, Lydecker didn't miss the purposely kept distance.
"I take it the virus is still alive and well?" His gaze shifted from Cale to Max.
Max threw her hands up slightly and they came slapping down on her jean-clad thighs. "Yep." She supplied. "Nothing gets by you, huh?" Her tone not hiding her irritation.
Lydecker looked back at Logan, accessing him. "The tech didn't come through...?"
Logan opened his mouth to answer but Max was already talking. "No, he did and I just reinfected myself for the thrill." Max bit back, not liking the change of subject.
Lydecker had worked with transgenics for many years, seen them at their most frightening. Though, he kept a careful watch on her, outwardly Max's temper did little to phase him.
"What happened?" The question simple enough but had landed on Max's nerves.
"It's not any of your business but someone else needed his talents more than I did, at the moment. After that, he fled to who knows where because the feds wanted his head. Just another example of the government screwing up my life." Max was one more question away about the failed attempt at curing the virus from slapping Lydecker.
Logan spoke up. "You said you had some information for us... what else do you know about the cult situation?"
"I know they're powerful. They hate humans and the transgenics they created." Lydecker dropped.
"Preaching to the choir here, Don." Max responded.
Lydecker took a breath to calm himself at Max's continued insolence. Hands resting behind his back, as they had been since he dropped the papers, he advanced a few more steps toward Max. They were a couple feet apart. He was wary of getting too close. He knew her temper and knew he didn't have his men standing beside him. If he got too close and she got too angry, he'd be dead on the floor in less than a second. Yet, he felt pride at that knowledge.
"I also know they're a highly organized, massive, elite group and you need a plan to defeat them. What is it, exactly?" He stared her right in the eyes, knowing that she remembered what he had instilled in her. Always have a plan.
Max looked down. The hot anger gone from her like air from a deflated balloon. She didn't have a plan. She didn't even know the enemy all that well. She had no idea how to stop them or even the details of what they were planning.
She grumbled something that vaguely resembled, "I don't have one."
"What was that?" Lydecker prodded, ducking his head to catch her eyes.
"I said I don't have a damn plan, alright?!" Max spit her response at him. The anger was back.
Lydecker straightened. He looked calm, like he'd expected that. He looked confident.
"No, you don't. But you know you need one. And that's what I have for you." Lydecker responded, a slight smile threatening to break onto his face.
Logan narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out where Deck was going with all this.
Max narrowed her eyes as well. "And what, pray tell, is your grand plan?"
"Rebuild Manticore."