Disassmebled

by Mystic25

My version of how the events of Some Assembly required should’ve played out. Contains spoilers from the episode.

"Disassembled"

AUTHOR: Mystic25

SUMMARY: My version of how the events of Some Assembly required should've played out.

RATING: PG13, for violence, language and situations.

A/N: I've started writing my next chapter of Choices; but this idea came to me after watching Some Assembly Required. I felt that Zack was really short changed on things; he didn't even seem like Zack This isn't an entire re-write of the episode, I think the episode was pretty okay up until Max and Zack first saw each other; so that's where this fic begins.

A/N#2: I never liked the damn virus, so it's not in here; it wasn't even brought up that much in SAR so it won't be missed, haha.

XXXXXXXXXX

SEATTLE

"I'm going to find my brother and you're going to help me!" Max's grip on Alec's arm was strong enough to crush bones; she ran on very little patience normally and now her reserves were all but depleted.

But Alec was her equal in strength as well as in attitude so he just brushed aside her roughhousing and focused on what she had said: "Your brother?" Amusement colored every inch of his voice. "That's cute Max." Max always acted like a hard ass woman but Alec always knew that estrogen piety flowed in her veins.

Max glared at Alec; her siblings were sacred territory for her. "He's the closest thing to family I have. I don't expect you to understand that. What I do expect is your cooperation, or else."

Alec raised an eyebrow "Or else what?" his words were a playful goad.

But Max was equal to this: "Or else I tell Normal how you used Jam Pony to peddle steroids, and he'll can your ass. No more job means no more sector pass."

Now Alec's face shifted from sly amusement to his version of being crestfallen: "And how am I supposed to get around?"

"I don't know, but it's gonna make it pretty difficult for you to be a cat burglar." She fought off Alec's scowl with one of her own.

The battle between equally matched Manticore wit lasted for a silent five seconds before Alec finally gave in. A few moments later a lanky man dressed in dirty jeans and a more expensive leather jacket walked down the steam filled street, blatantly making himself oblivious to everyone but his own self-importance.

Alec stepped right in his path, ignoring every curse word that came from the man's steely gaze.

You lookin' for some andy, pal? You could beef up a little bit, how about it?" The man sidestepped him with as much violence energy as he would apply to a blow to Alec's jaw. "No? All right, your loss." Alec turned to the empty street calling out like a old time market peddler: "Andy, anybody?"

Max jerked Alec's arm for the second time in two minutes. "Not like that you dolt! Only a first timer would walk around peddling steroids with a sales pitch." Max had come down to this godforsaken Steelhead run corner of Seattle to find Zack not to watch Alec be an idiot.

"How much andy have you peddled Max?" Alec shot back. "That's what I thought, trust me I know what I'm doing." He shrugged out of Max's grip, and straightened out his leather jacket like he was in a high-powered business meeting about to meet elite clientele.

"Anyone want a free enlargement, come on down!" Alec continued his walk down the alleyway. He could feel Max glaring at him the entire time but he didn't care; Max was always pissed at him for something.

A few feet in front of him a patch of translucent white steam rose from the asphalt, and behind it Alec could see a tall man with spiked blonde hair and metal piercing all over every visible part of his body. The man was a Steelhead, thus named for his for his taste in jewelry and in company. Alec had knocked down the skinny man – named Bird for his fledgling-like features and bulbous eyes – before with almost laughable effort. Bird was the kind of man that valued himself as a great threat, but in reality he was just fooling himself.

"Hey you!" Bird's voice –a faint British Accent high and slight, no matter how much toughness he put in it – matched his thin features.

Alec almost laughed in the Steelheads face; his attempt at toughness was pathetic at best. "Finally! Do you know how long I've been waiting for you?"

Bird's pale lips pulled into a leering smile, "Not nearly as long as I've been waiting for you."

Please. Alec didn't have time to listen to a Steelhead's ramblings. He flipped over Bird's head and kicked him in the back; knocking him forward; but Bird regained his balance at the last minute, and pulled a black gun from his jacket pocket. He didn't turn around to aim the gun at Alec; and instead he aimed the gun at Max, because she was the easier target.

Bird checked her out while he cocked the gun. "You're a much finer target love." The gun went off, but the bullet missed its target, as something slammed into Bird; and this time he was thrown to the ground.

Bird hit the pavement in stunned confusion. Not just because he hadn't expected to be taken down – that was a hard blow, but he could deal with it. What shocked him was who had executed the maneuver. Bird was a manipulative man; he never traveled without hidden man. The guy he had chosen this time was new; but strong, and Bird expected him to be loyal as well.

He saw how wrong he was in the three seconds it took him to hit the ground. "You dirty son-of-a bitch!" Those words were ended on a gasp as a strong bare-knuckled fist propelled into his throat, leaving him completely voiceless.

Alec watched the fight from a spectator's view; watching the man raise himself up and reveal something that had been hidden from Alec before. The man was missing half his face. Where the skin of the left side of his cheek and upper jaw were supposed to be there was silvery metal fashioned in the shape of what would have been the bone structure of his facial features. His left eye was also gone, and in its place was a circular black imaging screen with a flashing red light. Alec noticed all of this in the only two seconds it took his quick multitasking brain to process it.

"Nice work buddy, the andy must be doing you good," Alec lost his words when the man lunged forward and grabbed his throat with an arm encased in an exoskeleton. Alec was from Manticore, physically stronger then an average man. And he realized very quickly while he choked for his own air, that if this man was able to do this he wasn't just an average steelhead with a lot of superficial supping up.

While Alec had been noticing the man's cybernetic body features, Max had noticed something else about him, the blonde hair, square jaw, the remaining hazel blue eye. "Zack!"

Zack turned at the sound of his name, his cybornetic hand still gripping Alec's throat. A look of puzzlement crossed his features. "Who are you?"

Max was taken aback by Zack's remark. The words themselves were shocking on their own; but it was the total confusion in which he said them that affected her the most. He had shot himself at point-blank range in the head, and yet he was standing in front of her when he shouldn't be alive. Because of this she had hoped completely and had forgotten the cruel reality that Zack could have very well suffered brain damage.

"Zack it's me." Max still desperately wanted to find a way to reach him. "It's Max."

Her name caused a catalytic reaction to come across Zack's features; but it was slow, like a lost light trying to find it's way through thick fog. "Max?" However after he said her name out loud a flood of remembrance passed over his eyes.

And with this realization came a total and complete depletion of his angered energy. Zack released Alec so quickly that Alec fell to the ground before he could catch himself. Alec coughed, and gasped for air, but Max made no move to come to his aid, and stepped towards Zack.

"It's me." Max repeated again, quietly, as if anything she said would shatter the reality of Zack standing in front of her.

"Max-" Zack said her name in stunned realization. "How?" He reached out a hand to touch her face but he stumbled, and his muscles all but gave up the support on his body. The adrenaline he had from earlier was gone, there was nothing left to sustain him.

"Zack!" Max tried to catch him, but he was too heavy, and he the pavement hard. Max knelt down next to his head. His skin was flushed with sweat, drops pooling into the small outer seams of the metal plating on his face. His breathing was fast and choked.

"Max-" Zack's words ended on a quiet sob. His hard soldier side had been completely hidden under the torrent of emotions resulting from what he had endured.

"Shh," Max stroked his hair, the same way she had done for him in the cave outside of Manticore, forever ago. So much had happened since then, so much pain and loss. "It's okay."

Zack's reached up and touched the cool metal that sat where his flesh used to be. A saddened anger overcame his features. "What happened to me?" He wasn't speaking in a tirade; he had no real idea what had happened to him after he had shot himself, nothing concrete, just shadowy blurs.

"It'll be okay." Max took his hand off his face and held it, caressing his knuckles with her thumb. "Alright? We're going to get you out of here."

By this time Alec had gotten back on his feet. "Don't' worry about me I fine." He dusted himself off non-chalantly, touching red mark already forming on his neck like he just had an itch.

"Good," Max said ignoring Alec's attempt at machosim. "Help me get him up."

Alec stared down at the man who had just tried to strangle him. He was young like him; some might even say handsome like him. But Alec wouldn't be one of them to say that; he wasn't a hooker at a bar. Besides right now he looked like a blubbering tin action figure. "Not much of a soldier is he?"

The glare Max shot him was deadlier then any weapon that was or ever would be made. It was sisterly protection combined with furious solider. "Shut the hell up and help me."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

METRO MEDICAL CENTER

"I appreciate you doing this Sam," Logan said. He was standing in a corridor of the hospital. The long expanse of space was nearly deserted because electrical malfunctions had shorted out most of the wiring in the adjoining rooms; causing them to be off limits for any major medical procedures for safety reasons. But a few of the machines still worked and Sam had convinced one of the nurses to give him the key to one of the examination rooms; saying that he only needed it for a few moments.

"Not a problem Logan," Sam said reassuringly. "Tell Eyes Only that I'm glad to help."

Alec – who was standing about a foot away from Logan – snorted quietly at Sam's remark. "Oh yeah he's always ready to give the Big Man his Kudos." He stuffed his hands into his pocket, adding a casual smug posture to his remark.

Sam glanced at Alec, not sure how to react to the younger man's sarcasm. But after only half a second of silent debate he chose to ignore it, because it was too trivial to worry about. Sam brushed past Alec's resulting look to his silent observation and turned to Logan. "This hallway isn't exactly the most well kept section of the hospital." Sam turned his attention to the closed door of a hospital room where Zack was. He hadn't actually seen Zack yet. "But if Max's brother has undergone medical procedures that are as radical as you told me about over the phone Logan I don't think any of us want anyone around here asking questions-" Sam's words cut out in sharp shock at the sounds of loud clanging that came from inside the room where Zack was.

"What the hell is going on?" Sam pushed open the hospital room's door.

On the far end of the room – taking up half of the space was the white-tunneled structure of a CT machine. Two feet in front of it – separated by a striped curtain barrier – was a silvery metal exam table where Sam could see the tall blonde form of Max's brother Zack; who was forcefully trying to break away from Max who was standing right next to him. His body posture was completely agitated, like a caged animal backed into a corner. A small square mirror hung on the wall directly in front of Zack – not much bigger then a cereal box – but one that Zack could easily look into. And Sam realized then that this was the first time Zack had seen what had been done to him and Sam had an empathic moment with the young man's agony.

The moment was shattered as Zack stepped right up to the mirror, and viciously slammed his exoskeleton-covered fist into the glass. The metal of the exoskeleton didn't break at the impact; but it the metal to glass contact created a loud squelching noise that echoed throughout the room.

Max ran up to him and gripped both hands on either of Zack's shoulders. "Calm down," she pulled Zack away from the mirror.

Zack jerked away from her grip and whirled on her. The remaining expressive side of his face was contorted in a raw angry agony. "What did they do to me?" He didn't shout but his voice was still loud. His question was directed at Max. She was the only thing he that was the same as he remembered; everything else had changed horribly from the semblance of normalcy he had allowed to happen in his life.

"It's okay," Max's words lacked any real reassurance; she knew it was far from okay. But he was her brother; she loved him, and right now he looked so broken, she had to tell him something.

"What the hell am I Max?!?" It was a question more violent in intensity then anything Zack could

have done physically. His good eye stared into Max's; the look of a leader who finally had to admit just how lost he really was.

There was an instant where Max wanted to comfort him, to hold him in her arms. But she knew that even in the pain he was in Zack wouldn't want to be coddled or seen as anything less then what he was. And more then any embrace, she wanted to give him that lost sense of respect back.

Max took his injured hand carefully in hers and this time he didn't jerk away from her. She guided his hand to her body and placed it on top of her chest, where the beating of her heart could be felt. "You're someone who will sacrifice everything to protect the ones you love." Her eyes expressed everything she thought she would never have the chance to tell him. Max caressed the outside of Zack's hand with her thumb, going around the exoskeleton to touch the living flesh.

Zack's hand remained on her chest, taking in the pulsating life he had given to her. A deep look that could only come from two people who shared as intimate of a relationship as they did passed between them.

"You're bleeding," Max pulled Zack's hand away from her to examine the blood on his skin. There was no pity in Max's voice, only concern.

"If she says she's going to kiss his boo-boo's I'm leaving," Alec muttered to Logan who was standing a few inches from him by the door.

Alec's remark had been made in a low almost inaudible tone but Max had picked it up because of her super human hearing, and she wasn't the only one.

Zack had only one remaining eye, but there was nothing lost in the intimidating scrutinizing look he cast on Alec. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm just like you Zackie-Boy," Alec responded. "Just a with a prettier face."

The second after Alec's quip left his mouth Zack started towards him, the pain he was experiencing from where his hand had smashed the mirror masked by the hotness of his anger towards the other man.

"Take it easy," Max grabbed a hold of Zack's shoulders before he could go anywhere. "You're hurt; let Sam take a look at your hand." She pushed Zack down on the exam table, something that was only accomplished because he was willing to listen to her.

At the mention of his name Sam walked towards the exam table; hesitating for a moment because – unlike his other patients – he didn't know where to begin with Zack. "Well...um...why don't we get started? Any allergies I should know about?"

Zack blinked, but remained silent.

Sam blinked too, as a way to relieve some of the tension he felt. "Guess not. Moving right along--are you currently taking any prescription medication? Any vitamin supplements? Something for your skin?"

Zack's good eye shot up to Sam's in a look that was only a partly wounded and completely hostile.

"Sorry," Sam apologized, pushing through Zack's angry look so he could focus on his injuries. He turned to Max who was beside Zack – the stance of her body completely protective of him.

"I need you leave while I do my examination Max; you and Logan and your friend can wait in the other room next door and I'll get you when I'm done." Sam did his best to phrase his order in the least non-threatening tone he had, not sure how Max or Zack would react to what he said.

Max looked from Sam to Zack; calculating in her head if Dr. Carr was worthy enough to take care of her brother alone. Finally in an act of acceptance she brushed a lock of Zack's hair away from his face. "I'll be back."

She walked away without Zack saying anything to her, but she could feel his good eye on her the entire time.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Max paced the small empty hospital room's perimeter for the fifteenth time in forty minutes. On her sixteenth time around she almost tripped over Alec's foot because he had stuck it out in her path.

"Thought you could use a change of pace." The humor in Alec's voice fell away after he saw the look Max was giving him; not the snippy glare from her that he was used too, but one of tired anger. He lowered his foot to the ground, backing off.

Max stared at the chipped white paint of the door that connected the two rooms together. "What's taking so long?"

"There's always the risk that Sam could find cognitive damage." Logan said from where he was sitting in the middle of a row of ancient looking folding chairs.

"His cognitive faculties are fine," Max snapped in a low, almost threatening voice; stopping her pacing to stand right in front of Logan.

"He took a bullet point blank to the head Max; most people don't just walk away from that." Logan knew that his honesty wouldn't sit well with Max, but he also knew that she wouldn't want him to no say exactly what he was thinking.

"Zack's not most people Logan," Max returned defensively. She was not willing to accept that her brother – the leader of them all – could have suffered brain damage.

"I'm going to have to more or less agree with Logan on this one Max," Alec said. "The guy wasn't planning to live after he blew himself away."

There was a moment where Max's body tensed, ready to physically jump Alec for what he had just said. But her actions were never brought to life because the door opened.

Max turned her full attention to Sam as soon as he was through the door. "How is he?"

"I'm running some additional scans on him now," Sam responded. "But I want to show you what I've found so far." Sam turned and reentered the exam room, with Max close behind him.

Logan and Alec remained where they were. Then a second later Alec spoke:"My duty period is over Max; I'm heading out to find something warm and soft on a street corner to take care of this bruise." He walked over to the other door in the room – the one that led out into the hallway. "Let me know how the Bionic Man is doing." Alec was out the door before Max could counteract his remark.

XXXXXXXXXX

Max was standing beside the CT 19- inch computer readout screen. Sam was standing beside her, leaning over the computer's keyboard, typing in a series of commands into the recall mainframe.

Sam brought up an image of a frontal view of the inside of Zack's abdomen, showing all of the internal organs. "Most of his major organs are biosynthetic, and from what I can tell, they're actually more efficient and more durable than the ones they replaced."

"What about his arm?" Max questioned.

"There was most likely some nerve damage, so they grafted on an exoskeleton to enhance motor function. This thing is way more advanced than the one you got a hold of," Sam looked at Logan as he said this, at the black metal of the exoskeleton that was visible around the outside of Logan's shoes." This place Manticore was doing some cutting-edge stuff."

Max didn't comment on Sam's remark about the "cutting edge of Manticore," because she had seen it painfully first hand. "Manticore has a meticulous track record to keep up with; so how come they couldn't fix it so he remembered everything that happened after he got out?"

"No matter how great the neurosurgeons were at this place; the human memory is it's own thing. Most likely the gunshot wound affected his memory recall for the last couple of months." Sam responded.

"We grew up together, his memory of me goes deeper then a few damn months." Max spoke these words without any fluctuation in her voice, but her frustration and anger was still evident in it.

"All the various associations that form a particular memory are stored in different parts of the brain. Now it's the temporal lobe's job to keep track of how those things are all interconnected."

"And his was damaged?" Max asked, trying to make sense of what Sam was telling her.

"Right," Sam said; he typed in a command on the keyboard and the image on the screen switched to a crosscut side view of the interior of Zack's skull. In the center or his brain was a small white rectangular patch. "But they replaced it with a cybernetic implant, which seems to be capable of actually rebuilding those connections."

"So there's a chance that he could regain his memory?" Max didn't put complete faith in what she said because she didn't want to have her hopes shattered by an impending reality.

"It's possible," Sam told her. "I mean, look what happened with you. Seeing your face wasn't enough for him to recognize you, but when he heard your name the implant was able to pull those fragments together to form the memory of who you were." Sam watched the change come over Max's face as she analyzed what he had said.

"But how can he get the other ones back?" Max asked. "It's not like I can take him back to Manticore and rejog his memory." She was trying to sound less frustrated then she actually was, but her emotions were rising to the surface cracking her soldier's mask of indifference.

"The implant in his skull has already rebuilt some memory connections in his brain, so it stands to reason that it will continue to do so and enable him to regain all the memories he lost-" Sam broke off for a half second when he said this, weighing his next words carefully in his brain before he spoke them. "I'm not a psychiatrist; but it's my belief that the gaps in Zack's memories aren't stemming from a physical problem but rather a psychological one. He went through a very harrowing ordeal and he could have simply blocked out what happened because it was too traumatizing to deal with. If this is the case; then the only way for Zack to recover is to face these demons in his memory."

"How can I help him?" Max asked; she knew all too well about inner demons, and couldn't stand the thought of Zack carrying around that kind of soul pollutant.

"It's been my experience that inner conflict will come to the surface on it's own; despite the brain's best effort to repress it. Once he faces it he'll get past this mental roadblock; but he has to deal with it on a personal level. What you need to do is be there for him when it happens and remind him that it's something in the past, not the now."

A quiet squeak of a side door opening made Max turn. Zack walked into the CT room dressed in a sea foam green hospital gown and bare feet; looking very unruffled at his current state of dress.

Keeping instep behind him was a nurse pushing an empty wheelchair. "Sir, you need to sit down, Sir!"

Zack turned and glared at the nurse; a look that loss no amount of fierceness even with the presence of the metal plaiting covering one side of his face.

The nurse felt every moment of the glare Zack was shooting her and stopped pushing the chair, removing a large plastic bag containing Zack's clothes from it's seat. "Your clothes are in the bag." Her voice had gone from authoritative to intimidated under Zack's eyes.

Max took the bag from the nurse, pulling out a Zack's jeans, which were on top. "Here, green's not really your color." She tossed him the pants, which he caught one handed, his other hand occupied with holding the back closed on the hospital gown.

After watching Max toss the clothing to Zack the nurse left, relief coloring her face at being allowed to leave the tension filled space Zack had created around her.

XXXXXXXX

Logan was absentmindedly flipping through a fifteen-year-old copy of National Geographic when the sound of the door opening made him look up. He closed the old issue and toss it back on the table. He had thought it best that he not go in with Max while she talked to Sam about Zack because he was her brother and they deserved some time alone together.

Zack stepped through the doorway unsteadily, but still with the determination that fueled every aspect of his life. He was now dressed in jeans and a gray shirt, under the leather jacket that he had worn so much that Logan thought it as much of an appendage of his body as his arm or leg. If Logan could overlook the metal covering the left side of his face, Zack would look as he always did.

Max walked barely two inches behind Zack, a hand on the edge of his left elbow; a stance of discrete readiness to catch him should he fall.

Her discreteness turned to full on support when Zack stumbled as he was turning towards her. She grasped his arm to keep from falling.

"I can walk Max," Zack informed pulling away from Max's arm. He put about a foot of distance between them, now standing closer to Logan then to Max, turning to face the other man.

"This is Logan," Max clarified. Zack turned to face the other man, gazing at him so intently that Max suspected his memories concerning Logan were hazy.

"Good to see you Zack," Logan said, he saw the lost look in Zack's eyes as well, and despite how he felt about Zack, he wanted him to regain his memories as much as Max did.

Zack continued to gaze at him so inquiringly that Logan was reminded of a child trying to place a face with a name. This look went on for ten more seconds before Zack's memory connected with Logan's features, replacing the childlike inquiry with adult recognition. "I remember you. You helped plan our assault on Manticore. You and Lydecker ran the operation while we went in."

"Yeah that's right," Logan agreed, glad he was helping jog Zack's memory, but also a bit wary at the underlying tone in Zack's voice.

Zack narrowed his eyes at Logan, just as he done in the past "It's funny how the mission went sideways."

Logan could feel the hostility rolling of Zack in waves. "What are you trying to say?" His question was nowhere near meek; he didn't come here to be accused.

"I think I just said it, didn't I?" The coldest glacier in the Artic had nothing on the ice infused in Zack's words.

"Zack you're way out of line," Max said defensively. "Logan doesn't deserve that." Logan was as much a part of her family as Zack was, and she wouldn't stand for anyone talking about him like that. But despite her anger towards Zack, she was still worried about him. Zack was always defensive, but not to the point of being overly hostile. She placed her hand in the bend of arm, "Talk to me." He was foremost her brother, and she could take his anger, but she couldn't take him shutting her out.

Zack yanked his arm away "I'm not telling you anything!" The red dot in the circular image screen blinked in an out, but his good eye retained all of Max's focus because of the anger she saw in it. He turned and walked away from her; slamming the door as he left the room so violently that it felt like a slap in the face.

Max stood in the same position for several long seconds after Zack left.

Logan stood up from his chair. "What the hell was that?"

"I don't know," Max didn't turn around when she said this; staring at the door Zack left from.

Logan stepped over to her, laying a hand on her shoulder. "I'm so sorry Max."

Max turned at the contact. "He seems so lost; I don't know how to help him." Her eyes were coated with tears but none were released; which made her expression much sadder because she was trying so hard not to give into them.

Logan squeezed her shoulder; and Max reached her arm back and touched his hand before he could remove it, interlacing her fingers between his.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"What do you mean you lost him?"

In a large room – what used to be a public storage shed – a man glared down at Bird. The room was lined with long counters where piles of broken electronics – televisions, radios, huge black hi-fi stereo speakers – rested all over their surfaces. In between all the chaotic mess was several pieces of dusty furniture – a plaid couch, an arm chair and several metal stools. In the center of the living area was an ancient looking television that was currently showing an episode from the Pre Pulse cartoon "Dexter's Laboratory."

Bird –who was sitting in one of the metal stools – glared back up into the face of his companion, British Eddy. In actuality Eddy was born in Scottsdale, Arizona, but at the age of eight he was on the streets acquired his current cockney British Accent from a homeless man from Yorkshire who peddled rags on the street after the Pulse.

"They got the drop on us," Bird snapped back to Eddy. After Manticore was disbanded many remaining transgenics in the facility who didn't escape after the fire were killed on sight. However, a small group of X5's were kept alive– Zack among them. Renfro intended to have Zack sent to a satellite Manticore facility – but Bird and British Eddy's group of steelheads intercepted the news of a genetically engineered soldier with cutting-edge cybernetics – and "purchased" this soldier from money hungry soldiers on the Black Market before the move could be made.

"Who's they?" Eddy retorted.

"There was this girl," Bird said. "Fine little thing, revved up just like he was."

"You mean she's another one of those Mantacorians?" This question came from Lux; a female steelhead that was sitting sprawled out across the couch in a black bodice and thigh high boots. Her head was a coil of hair and silver wire curled in elaborate designs above her head.

"The way she moved, it had to be," a second steelhead – an African-American man with enormous biceps and a head of hair styled into a dozen brown spikes – shot back.

"Yeah," Bird agreed, standing up from his stool, feeling to short sitting down in the company he kept. "And she and that Andy toting looser took off with our boy."

"I want him back," Eddy said. "He cost me a pretty penny, and – I miss him I do," the last part was said in the same tone a child would use in talking about a favorite puppy that ran away.

"So do I," Lux agreed, shifting herself up on the couch. "He was kinda cute, especially with those solider boy guns. I wouldn't mind him tweaking with my wires." She smiled, and coiled a finger – complete with a metallic metal nail – around one of the wires on her head like it was a strand of hair.

"Don't worry Eddy, we'll get him back," Bird insisted.

Eddy wasn't all that convinced of Bird's reassurance; and he let it show in the growling look he shot the other man. He turned his head towards Lux. "You know where the bloke selling the andy hangs out, right?"

Lux nodded "Place called Crash."

Eddy nodded back, satisfied with the information. "Right then. You two are gonna stake the place. Next time he shows his face, you nab him, you get him to tell you where the bird took G.I. Joe, then you get our boy back."

"That's a good plan Eddy," Bird agreed, smiling a smile that was too big for his scrawny face.

"It is isn't it?" Eddy grinned, completely wrapped up in his own self-praise.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

SECTOR TEN

MAX AND CINDY'S APARTMENT

10:30 PM

"You don't have to leave," Max insisted, watching Cindy collect her bus pass from off the kitchen counter; her messenger bag slung on her shoulder. Max had convinced Zack– mostly through a lot of silent pleading–to come back to her apartment for the night. She knew that he hated to be taken care of; but she also knew what he went through had affected him more then he was admitting, and she didn't want him to be alone.

"The man went through a lot Max," Cindy insisted, pocketing the pass in the pocket of her leather jacket. "He needs one-on-one time with you; I'd just be in the way." Cindy glanced back at the partially open door of Max's bedroom, where Zack was. She suspected that he could hear everything because his hearing was as acute as Max's. Cindy didn't like Zack's roughness the first time she met him, but after Max had told her what Zack had done in order to save her life she had changed her opinion of him. That was the most selfless act she had ever heard anyone do for someone they loved.

Max didn't say anything, but looked at Cindy in silent agreement. "Do you even have a place to stay?"

"I got connections boo," Cindy reassured. You just go in there and take care of your boy." She walked back into their tiny living room and hugged Max.

Max accepted the hug, feeling the beginnings of a long night start to creep into the air.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Max pushed the door open to her small bedroom finding Zack standing at the foot of her bed, staring at nothing, but the sound of the door shutting jerked Zack out of whatever unanswered question he was trying find hidden in the air.

"You don't remember?" Max's question was both for Zack and for her, because the look in Zack's eyes transcended just a single kind of lost memory; he looked like he had lost himself.

"You came here once, looking for me, you were hurt."

Zack didn't respond for such a long moment that Max didn't believe he remembered until he started talking: "I passed out; whether or not I made it to your bed is something you'll have to tell me."

The flicker of Zack's old witty arrogance made a smile spread across Max's face; it was one of the things she had missed most of all about him.

The lights flickered, creating a fluttering of shadows across the room that resembled the wings of moths flying overhead. Then they cut out completely, drawing the room into darkness.

"Lights out," Zack said. "It's time to bunk down."

In the darkness Max could see the flashing red glow where his left eye should have been. "It's just a brown out." Max struck a match and lit the pillar candles she had lined up on her small dresser. "We're not in Manticore anymore."

The light from the flames were small, and cast elongated shadows across the room, but with their light and Max's night vision, she was able to see the look that came across Zack's good eye at the mention of Manticore; something that escaped past his brain's attempt to repress the reason behind it.

"I'm tired Max," when Zack had said 'it's time to bunk down' he meant it.

Even with only the minimal lighting Max could see that Zack was using sleep as an excuse to not have to deal with the wounds she had just reopened. She knew he would have to eventually face his demons; but right now he looked so worn out, so exhausted. "You should get some sleep."

She squeezed his shoulder, not knowing if he would accept any deeper form of affection at that moment. She walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. She leaned up against it, feeling the splashing of tears drop from her eyes before she realized she was crying. "Welcome home Zack."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

2:30 AM

Zack had only fallen asleep for an hour before he was assaulted with dreams; a barrage of tortuous images playing and replaying one right after another; all his repressed memories fighting for life in his brain at the same moment.

Zack shot awake; bolting upright in the bed like had been struck by lightning. His breathing came in such huge gasps that he almost choked on them. He looked wildly around the room, trying to find something to take him out of his nightmares and ground him to reality.

His eyes settled on a full-length mirror sitting in the corner of the room; catching sight of his reflection in the glass. He stood up and slowly walked over to it, staring at the face he saw, all the metal that was in place of flesh. Then in a surge of anger he slammed both fists into the mirror, ripping the glass to shreds.

xxxxxxxxx

Max was lying on her side on the couch in the living room – which was lit by a dozen candles - pretending to read the book in front of her, all the while keeping an ear out to her bedroom When she heard the implosion of glass breaking she jumped up so fast that the book fell to the floor.

She was ready to run towards the bedroom but her plan never made it past her mind before she saw Zack emerged from the doorway.

"What's wrong?" Max walked over to him; when she was right next to him she noticed the rivulets of blood that covered the backs of his hands. "You're bleeding," Max made a move to grab his wrist in order to more closely examine his injuries; but Zack yanked himself away from her so hard that Max actually stumbled backwards from the force.

"Zack please, talk to me," her words from earlier were repeated, but this time they were a thousand times more desperate. He had his back turned towards her, and Max could see the tension in his muscles from an agony that he refused to release. "I want to help you."

He turned to face her, anger covering every part of his flesh that was still his own. "No one can help me! I died for you Max!" He touched the right side of his face, feeling the created facial contours of cold steel, a saddened anger coming over his face. Zack was not a vain man. He had willingly scarified his life for Max; but Manticore had screwed him even in death, by not making it absolute. And had left him with an appearance that he didn't know the reasoning behind. "I remember." There was so much pain in his voice that it should have come from hundreds of people, not just one man. The silence that followed was equally as painful.

"Tell me," Max said, softly.

"I can't."

"You have too!" Max's voice grew louder, she wasn't angry at him, but there was anger in her voice. She wasn't about to watch a man she loved destroy himself.

"What the fuck do you want me to say Max?" Zack wasn't shouting, but the fury in his tone was still evident. "I don't want to remember, any of it! Renfro waited until after her Frankenstein doctors brought me back before removing my organs. I felt every moment of it, every moment, but I was paralyzed, I couldn't even scream except in my goddamn head!"

"She told me you were dead," Zack went on in a low voice. "That you died before the heart could be given."

"Zack-" Max didn't know what else to say as she took in Zack's words; feeling a raw hot-blooded anger build up inside her. Had she not known what happened to the former Director of Manticore to be dead she would've hunted her down and killed her for what she did to Zack. Max herself had broken people without a second thought; but she had shown a soldier's code of mercy; making the end so immediate that no suffering was involved. What had happened to Zack was cold-blooded cruelty at the hands of the bitch named Elizabeth Renfro.

"Renfro whispered it right to my face when they transferred me out of Manticore. She had a gun on her and I was still lucid enough and was going to blow her fucking brains against the wall, but she had anticipated it, and shot me up with some powerful shit. I woke up in Eddy's crap dump, but I had no memory of what went on before, or any of you. When I saw you in the street I didn't even recognize you-" The flickering candlelight caught the shine of the single tear that fell rapidly down Zack's face. Max and the others were Zack's family, and to have that memory taken from him was the worst form of torture Manticore could have inflicted. "Why did they do this to me?"

Max felt her heart shatter at Zack's question. "It's going to be okay." Max knew it would never be okay, but in a world where pain was so raw that it burned, words were all she could offer to soothe him. She took his hand, feeling the warmth of his blood seep against her skin. "It's over, they can't hurt you anymore."

Her contact placed a crack in Zack's emotions large enough for the remaining pieces of his resolve to fall around him. He sank to his knees on the floor. "I failed you Max," to know absolute pain was to hear Zack's voice in that moment.

"No," Max knelt down next to him. "You saved my life. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you." She wrapped her arms around his neck, allowing her actions to speak where her words would never be able. To express just how much she loved him; not in the romantic sense, but also not just as a brother, rather it was something that transcended all aspects of boundaries or labels.

Zack slid his hands up Max's back, returning the embrace. "I love you Max."

Max kissed the side of his face deeply. "I love you too."

XXXXXXXXX

7:35 AM

Max blinked, feeling the unusual hard sensation of the couch cushion under her cheek. She sat up, confused before the events of the previous night came flooding back to her. Her muscles protested when she went to stand up; she had only been asleep for two hours and her body was trying to remind her that it needed more rest.

But she ignored its signals and instead stretched to alleviate its painful protests. She groaned while she stretched out a particularly sore ache in her back, casting her eyes towards the closed door of her bedroom. It had been a long night for her and Zack both. He had fallen asleep at four, after a long fight to not want to succumb back to the realm of his nightmares. But he was exhausted, and his body eventually won out over his mind. Max sat beside him after he finally was asleep, but some time later she woke to find that she had been sleeping with her head on his chest. So she left her bedroom on the intent of trying to get some real sleep, knowing that she would be of no help to anyone if she were that tired.

The apartment was so quiet that it took Max a minute to adjust to it. Normally Cindy was the first one up and the sounds of her moving around in the kitchen would fill the air. Now the only sound Max heard was the quiet ticking of the nickel alarm clock that sat on the counter by the stove.

Her brain desperately screamed for coffee because – like all her siblings – she pushed it to the limit and thrived on caffeine stimulation. But first she wanted to check on Zack. In a way she felt like a mother checking on her child, but she snorted at her own thought. Zack was her big brother; he had taken care of her countless times when they were kids. This was a return of that quid pro quo, not a maternal instinct for a child who was in actuality a grown man.

Max pushed open the door to her room, not wanting to wake him, but also wanting to at the same time. Zack was lying on his side; she had bandaged both his hands last night and the starkness of the white medical tape contrasted with the tone of his skin. One of his arms was drawn under the pillow, and his blonde hair cast small shadows from where it fell on his forehead. Max smiled at the innocence that would only reveal itself when Zack wasn't aware of it.

"Up and at'em."

Max's words roused Zack. He raised his head slowly from the pillow, stretching his good arm above his head. He sat up in bed, turning to face her as he did.

Max blinked, hard. She had expected a lot of things to occur after the hellish night they had gone through, but what she was seeing was completely unexpected. The left side of Zack's face, which up until that moment had been comprised of created metal features, was now a completely normal covering of human flesh. His right eye was still circular imaging screen with a flashing red light, but the contrast of it with the actual human skin that was now in place of the silver metal was amazing.

Zack took on Max's disbelieving stare and matched it with one of his own. "What?"

XXXXXXXXXX

METRO MEDICAL

8:30 AM

Sam leaned over Zack – who was lying on his back on an exam table in the same exam room the doctor had used the day before. Sam's gloved hands moved over the contours of Zack's face, examining every inch of the flesh that had somehow grown over the metal plating over night. "It's unbelievable I've never seen regeneration that was this rapid before."

"What happened?" Max asked Sam. She stood just a foot away from the exam table, watching.

"Nanocytes circulating in his bloodstream." Sam said. "Self-replicating, molecular-scale biomachines designed to repair tissue damage. I've read theoretical papers about the technology, but to see them in action..." he didn't even try to hide the wonder in his voice. Even with all the new technology Sam had been exposed to in the medical field, he had never seen anything like what he was currently looking at.

"But if he's got these nanocytes buzzing around fixing things, how come they weren't doing their job yesterday?" Max insisted.

"Got me," Sam told her honestly. "Like I said I've only heard about this from a theoretical standpoint."

"It's the machine," Zack said from his lying position, watching as both Sam and Max turned their heads down to him in inquiry.

"What machine?" Max asked, trying to figure out who could build something that would counteract with such advanced Manticore biotechnology.

"Eddy and the others hooked me up to it almost everyday;" Zack responded, drawing from memories that were still slightly cloudy, but getting stronger. "They said it filter my blood and keep it clean."

"My ass," Max returned. "They were filtering out your nanocytes."

"That would explain why there was no tissue repair going on," Sam said. The nanocytes didn't have a chance to replicate before they were filtered out of your bloodstream. But last night they were able to multiply enough to allow for epidermal tissue regeneration."

"I remember that Eddy said I would look cooler with no skin" Zack said, his voice a disbelieving snort. "You put up with a lot of shit when you're too whacked out to be yourself."

"Good thing you got your groove back," Max smiled down at him. "Now we can take your pretty face out in public-" she stole a glance at his right eye, which was still a red blinking light. "-we just have to hook you up with a pair of shades."

"Hold on a second, let me see something," Sam leaned over Zack's face. "Close your eyes for a second." After Zack obliged Sam rubbed his index finger over Zack's left eyelid. "A little pressure ought to stimulate the ocular implant." Sam stopped rubbing. "Open."

When Zack opened his left eye the red light had disappeared and was replaced by a gray sheen, that slowly began to fill with the white colorings of the eyeball and the brown of Zack's iris, much in the same way a fade in happened on a pixilated picture.

Sam took a penlight from the pocket of his lab coat and shined it in Zack's eye; which made his left pupil contract. "Huh, thought so" Sam pocketed his penlight. "It's coated with a thin layer of liquid crystals; you know the stuff they use on high-def TV's. The cyborgenics allow for normal ocular vision but these crystals were designed to give the aesthetic appearance of a regular human eye."

Zack sat up from the exam table. Behind him on the wall there hung a new mirror to replace the one he had destroyed yesterday. He walked over to it; and stared at his reflection, taking in his features. There was a raised red scar-like line running under his left eye from where the nanocytes hadn't yet completed their tissue regeneration, but other then that he looked completely normal.

Max stepped up behind him. "Guess Manticore wanted you to look normal so they could send you out on missions; they were pretty big on form as well as function."

Zack turned around to face her. "I've got a new mission; it's called 'screw Manticore, this is my life.'" Zack would never be a happy man; he had survived too many wars and too many scars to be happy. But these facts only made the smile that gently pulled at his lips more real, because it came from something that had nothing to do with happiness and everything to do with real emotion.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

CRASH

8:00 PM

"Can you believe it?" Max was talking into a silver cell phone that she had swiped off of Alec. She was telling Logan about what had happened with Zack. Though she was a super solider, and a bad ass of a woman, a hint of excited glee escaped with her question.

"Actually…no." Logan said from his end. "I mean it's not something you run into everyday." Everything Max said that Zack had undergone sounded completely unreal. Nano technology had only been theorized by scientists to be effective; there had been no hard proof to establish it as fact. At least those outside the Manticore scientific community believed this to be true.

"Logan I'm not something you'd run into everyday," Max said. "I'm just glad it's over."

"I know you are;" Logan agreed from his end. "And I'm not saying you shouldn't be; but Zack didn't just get into a school yard scrape. He shot himself for you, and got sold off to a bunch of steel heads for it. That's not the kind of thing that gets 'over' anytime soon."

"Repercussions are meant to be dealt about when they happen," Max insisted. "'Till then I'm not going to worry about it."

"Worry isn't always a bad thing Max, not if it keeps you safe."

"Safety is overrated anyway," Max returned, the clanking sounds of the foosball table making her turn in her chair to see Sketchy vigorously involved in a game with Zack. Zack had been roped into the game, but though Sketchy was spinning the polls at a quick pace it was obvious that Zack had the upper hand. He could never resist a competition.

"I'll talk to you later," Max told Logan before ending the call.

Cindy was sitting beside Max and she turned to watch the foosball game as well. "Now that he's got his total recall on, what's next? Hook him back up at Jam Pony, help get him his own place?"

"Living the dream," Alec said from his seat across from Max. "A low-paid schlum, what undercover soldier wouldn't jump at that chance?" He swiped his phone back from her.

Max rolled her eyes at Alec before answering Cindy's question. "I asked him about it; Zack's not too keen on any form of employment; too many paper trails."

"Guess even bullets can't damage paranoia," Alec returned.

There was a beat of silent disbelief before Cindy turned and smacked Alec upside the head.

"What'd I say?" Alec asked innocently, rubbing the back of his head.

The sounds of the foosball table no longer sounded off behind them because Zack and Sketchy had finished their game and were both making their way to the table. Zack still had the exoskeleton on his arm. Sam had told him that now that the nanocytes were fully activated the nerve damage would heal itself completely in a week and then he could get rid of it. But until then Zack was taking advantage of an extra bit of supping up to his already supped up body.

"Who won?" Max asked.

"He spanked me ten-zip," Sketchy answered.

"Hate the game man," Zack told Sketchy.

Sketchy muttered something inaudible and slapped twenty dollars in Zack's hand; which was the wager for the game. "Wasn't a fair fight, what with that cyber-hand of his. Thinking maybe I oughta get one."

"Maybe you should try to get you a cyber-head," Cindy said. "Then maybe the rest of your coordination's would fall into step."

Sketchy gave Cindy a hurt look, which only came off as silly because of how much he had to drink already. "What I could really use is another beer."

"I think it's my turn to buy," Max said, standing up and grabbing the pitcher off the table.

Alec stood up as well "Yeah I'll go with you."

As soon as Alec got the words out of his mouth Zack shot him a hostile look. "I think she knows where the bar is."

"I'm just offering a little friendly help," Alec said, not intimidated by Zack's gaze. To him Zack relied too much on a prowess that was over inflated.

Cindy could see that the situation was getting tense between the two X5 soldiers. "Sit down boo," Cindy said to Zack. "If Alec wants to pull grunt work, don't question the down time." Alec had his cocky wit and Zack had his 'big brother' anger; the shit would hit the fan if she didn't do anything.

Zack turned to Cindy, judging the credibility behind her remark. His analysis of her found a good-point, and he sat in the now vacant seat next to her as a silent approval to her words.

xxxxxxxxx

"Max let me ask you a question," Alec leaned up on the bar beside Max who was waiting in line for a refill on her pitcher. "Think there's something a little, uh, a little off about Brother Zack?"

"Like what?" Max asked.

"Well, for starters, he doesn't act like any brother I've ever seen," Alec answered.

"And just how many brother/sister relationships have you been associated with?" Max insisted.

"None like this," Alec returned.

Max turned to face him. "You got something to say Alec, spill it."

"Seems to me like Zackie Boy's got the hots for you." Alec raised both eyebrows as he said this to give a visual to the meaning behind his words. "It's kinda kinky, if you ask me."

"I didn't ask you," Max retorted. "So stay out if it."

"I'm just saying-"

"Well don't, Zack is my brother-"

"Talk about 'brotherly love'-"

"Keep what goes on in that sick little mind of yours to yourself okay?" Max snapped back.

"That hurts Max," Alec said.

"The truth always does," Max agreed. "And as long as you keep your warped thought processes to yourself, it'll be the only thing that'll hurt."

"I don't have to take this kind of abuse when I'm sober," Alec said in mock hurt. He left the bar and started making his way back to the table.

"Can I get a refill?" Max asked the bartender who had finally been able to tend to her. He took the pitcher from her with the smile of a bartender to one of his loyal customers and went to do what she asked.

Max caught sight of several guys heading towards the bar and had to press herself up against its painted surface because of how close they were when they walked by.

Max held her breath, but a low growl emitted in her throat when she felt a none-to-subtle brush of a hand on her ass.

"Sorry about that."

Max had a glare already set in her face as she swiveled around to find the face behind the idiotic remark, but when she turned around she felt a sharp pain pierce her arm; making her gasp under her breath.

"You should really be more careful Love."

Max stared up into Bird's face; her head was swimming with dizziness and her vision was blurred. She knew instantly that she had been drugged; but her lucidity was fading too fast for her to do anything about it.

"Is she okay?" Harold the bartender asked, watching as Bird and British Eddy lifted Max's body between them.

"She's fine mate," Eddy reassured. "Just had a bit too much fun," Eddy smiled a completely unconcerned and unconvincing smile. But Harold didn't see anything wrong with the scenario; people over did it all the time in a bar. So long as Max got home okay, it was none of his concern.

xxxxxxxxx

Cindy glanced back at the bar. "Wonder what's keepin' my girl." Even with the crowd it usually didn't that this long to get a refill pitcher.

"Well I'd give her a hand but she'd just bite it off," Alec said, taking a long drink from his beer. "I tell you there's nothing left of chivalry anymore."

From where he was sitting Zack had a clear view of the bar. Several people were walking by it and there were several others laughing over overflowing beer pitchers, but he couldn't see any sign of Max. He got up from his seat in a flourish of force and headed towards the bar.

"There goes her knight in shining armor," Alec said watching Zack leave with a rolled eyed expression. "Oh, God forbid our little Max have to lug a big, heavy pitcher of beer with her delicate little hands, huh?"

"That's his girl; he's looking out for her." Cindy insisted. "It's called being a brother."

"Yeah, being a brother who thinks like Zeus did with Hera," Alec returned.

Cindy reached over and knocked him upside the head again.

Alec rubbed the back of his hair where Cindy had hit him. "What'd I say this time?"

xxxxxxxx

Zack stepped right up to the bar and grabbed the bartender by his shirt collar, yanking him across to him. "Max, where is she?"

"Had too much to drink," Harold said, trying not too sound as scared as he was for being manhandled by a guy with a freaky looking exoskeleton on his hand. "Left with a couple of Steel head friends of hers."

"How long ago?" Zack growled.

"Just a few minutes," Harold returned, feeling Zack's hot breath on his neck.

Zack released Harold's shirt, throwing him backwards at the same time so that the bartender hit the shelves behind the bar filled with liquor bottles with a hard force.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Alec watched Zack approach the table again. "So Maxie could handle the weight of a glass pitcher on her own?"

Cindy could sense there was something going on by the look on Zack's face. "What's wrong boo?"

"Those metal-melded losers have Max," Zack's words were an angry growl. He turned to Alec. "Where's this crap dump the Steelheads hang out at?"

"You were their prisoner Zack, you should be able to find it," Alec returned.

Zack grabbed Alec by the throat with his exoskeleton-covered hand. "I'm not going to ask you again!"

Zack and Alec were both from Manticore; but Alec had been there longer, and had the "privilege" of being drilled more on his skills. He pulled Zack's hand off his neck and threw the other X5 off him with such force that Zack skidded backwards for several inches.

"Then don't," Alec shot back.

Zack made a move towards Alec but Cindy stepped in front of him, placing a hand on Zack's chest.

"This is no time for male dominance!" Cindy barked. "My girl's been taken by a bunch of steel plated idiots, you need to get her back. Now." Cindy took her hand off Zack's chest slowly, shooting him a dominating glare. She may not be from Manticore, but she didn't lack anything in the intimidation department.

Zack shot Alec a steely gaze. "You're going to show me where this place is. If anything happens to Max; it's over for you."

"Fine," Alec snapped. "Let's get it on Big Brother Commando," He didn't like Zack, at all, but Max was his friend. And he wasn't about to leave her with a bunch of Steelheads. "But I go fast, so try and keep up." He left the table and walked out of the bar, Zack glaring at him the entire time while he followed him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

8:45 PM

In the center of the mess that made up the Steelheads 'living quarters' sat a large and elongated metal table. Max was lying motionless on it, with a thin white sheet covering her entire body like a corpse in the morgue.

"Hey, Eddy, think she's got nanocytes inside her like our boy did?" The steelhead with the enormous biceps asked this while looking down at the sheet covering Max's body as if he had X-ray vision and could see the nanocytes coursing through her system.

"Let's hook her up to the machine and find out!" Bird said in excitement. He was standing on the other side of the table, next to British Eddy.

"Yeah," Eddy agreed "But First things first. We find soldier boy, then we start tinkering with the both of them. At the very least, we ought to have a fresh supply of organs for our friends overseas."

Bird nodded in over exaggerated glee and pulled the sheet away. Max was tied down to the table in restraints and a cloth gag was stuffed in her mouth. The sedative she had been given was powerful enough to keep her out for several hours. But when Bird placed an open bottle of pungent smelling salts in front of her nose Max jerked awake.

British Eddy smiled down at Max like a father soothing a child. "Don't worry love, you're not dead." He removed the gag from Max's mouth.

"Not yet anyway," Bird added.

Max whipped her head around to him, an angry scowl on her face. "What do you want from me?"

"We want your boy back," Bird said. "Our boy actually. He cost me a bundle and you just stole him from me."

"You can't buy and sell people you bastard!" Max spat.

"Whoo, she's a feisty one!" Eddy said. "Maybe we should send her back to dream land.

"But first-" he leaned down right next to Max's face. "How's about you tell us where our soldier boy is eh?"

"How should I know?" Max retorted, lying expertly. "He ran off on me."

Eddy narrowed his eyes at Max in confused anger; and then looked over at Bird. "Was she at the bar alone?"

Bird was startled by the question, he had just grabbed Max like he had been told to; he didn't even think about anything else. "Um…didn't notice," he turned to the other steelhead – the one with the enormous biceps – "Did you Tuck?"

"No-" Tuck's voice was a very uncomposed lie. "No I didn't."

After hearing the explanations of his companions Eddy had left anger behind and had moved right on to pissed. "You idiots! What was she doing when you snatched her up?"

"Getting a pitcher of beer," Tuck answered like a hasty child wanting to get the reasoning of what he did wrong out of the way in hopes that it would lessen his punishment.

"Yeah," Bird agreed. "She was."

Eddy glanced down at Max incredulously. "Oh, a pitcher?"

"I'm a big drinker," Max explained. "The twelve-step program never worked on me."

"Shut your smart mouth girlie!" Eddy hissed, not sounding nearly as intimidating as Max did when she was enraged, but there was still evident anger in his tone. He snapped his head back up to stare at Bird and Tuck again. "Did either of you morons bother checking any of the back rooms for our boy?'

Both Tuck and Bird looked completely baffled at the suggestion because neither of them had thought of it themselves.

"Didn't even know there was one Eddy," Bird ventured to respond to the question. "The place is not my frequent hangout."

Eddy glared at Bird and knocked him upside the head. "You twit! I should've left you in the trash where you were squatting!"

Next to Bird, Tuck backed up a few paces; he was considerably more built then Eddy, but Eddy had a dangerous temper which more then made up for his lack of muscle.

"I want both of you freakin' buffoons to go back there and search every inch of that dive until you find him, understand?"

Tuck looked down at Max "What about her; shouldn't we lock her up?"

"In a minute," Eddy insisted. "Since you two dolts fowled up I'm going tinker around with this little beauty until you get me boy back."

Eddy smiled such a leery, grotesque smile that Max – even with all her hard ass soldier training – felt sick when she looked at it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The streetlamps of Sector Three cast such dim and minimal light that they were practically useless; except to the homeless that congregated around them and the few prostitutes that would slink themselves around the tall metal polls in order to entice potential customers.

It was next to one of these polls – under a black sky where a few stars managed to peek out from the pollution – that Logan's tan Aztec came to a stop at.

Logan threw the car into park, and held out an earpiece to his passenger. "Take it, I want to know everything that's going on."

Zack looked briefly at the earpiece Logan was holding out but made no move to take it. "I won't be in there that long."

"I'm not just here to drive the damn getaway vehicle Zack!" Logan snapped, waving the earpiece at Zack's face. Zack wasn't the only one who had license to get angry.

Zack scowled at him but in the end took the earpiece and positioned it in his left ear.

A motorcycle engine's growl slid in beside the passenger side of the Aztec. "Can we wrap this up ladies?" Alec asked. He was straddling the body of his lime green and white Ninja 1200. "I'm sure Max would like to be saved sometime tonight." He turned off the engine and dismounted the bike.

Zack turned his scowl from Logan to Alec, but kept his remarks to himself and exited the car silently.

"I couldn't hack into any kind of surveillance for this place," Logan called out to Zack and Alec from the passenger side window. "So nothing fancy, just get Max and get out."

Zack reached into the car through the open passenger side window and removed Logan's black Vector from where it was stowed in the cubby of the door. "Save the lecture for your productions Cale, I know what I'm doing." He checked the rounds inside the clip then placed the gun in his back pocket and left before Logan could offer any counter response.

Alec followed Zack, an amused expression on his face. "Glad we share the same opinion of Logan Cale."

"Don't think this makes us friends," Zack retorted.

"Don't think I give damn about that," Alec countered. "Being born in the same crap dump doesn't make us brothers, I'm not all cutesy like Max."

Zack glared at Alec so fiercely that had Alec been a lesser man he would've been checking his boxers at that moment for leakage. "Shut up and focus." He moved ahead of Alec and stopped at the corner of a white concrete building that was crumbling in places revealing the original faded red bricks that had been re-covered in cement when the building was remodeled.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Zack snapped.

"Sir yes Sir," Alec returned sarcastically. "I specifically remember slamming one of those loser's metal heads against this wall right here before they scrambled back inside with their tale between their legs."

Zack removed the gun from his back pocket and cocked it. "Are you strapped?"

"I've got ten years of training on you Zackie-Boy, " Alec returned. "I don't need a gun."

Zack shot daggers at him; then turned his attention to the faded white door that was flush against the concrete wall. A large metal chain was wrapped around the door's handle and a fat steel padlock was connected to the tangle. Zack shot at the lock, blowing the metal clasp off causing it to fall uselessly to the concrete. The door could now be open, but it wouldn't be opened fast enough to Zack's liking because he next shot apart the hinges, and the entire door swayed precariously to the right, suspended at a crazy angle by the single wrapping of metal chain.

"I could've done that with my teeth easy," Alec quipped ducking inside the opening Zack had created before Zack could say anything.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"You're a really pretty little bird ain't ya?" Eddy traced the side of Max's face with the muzzle of a black 9mm Glock. He had placed the gag back in her mouth so he really didn't expect her to answer him. "I usually don't go for the normals, but you ain't exactly normal, so I think I'll make an exception. Beside him Bird and Tuck were grinning like children did when they knew what they were doing was bad, but they did it anyway because it was fun.

Eddy stroked Max's inner thigh with his left hand; shoving the gun in the hollow of her neck at the same time "No screaming now love, or I'll make sure it's your last." He lazily started to move his hand upwards, ignoring the angry violated look Max was shooting him. He had only moved his hand barely half a centimeter before an echoing loud boom sounded off as the door was blown off it's hinges.

"What the hell?" Eddy aimed his gun off of Max and pointed it towards the hole where the door used to be. Tuck and Bird had vanished to the back when all the noise started, heading towards the back room where the steelheads kept their supply of weapons.

Max took her opportunity when Eddy was distracted. She yanked her right foot up hard tearing apart the restraint. The restraints were several inches of thick tough leather and the maneuver ripped a fire of pain through her leg but she ignored it and slammed her foot into the side of Eddy's face. Eddy fell from blow and dropped to the floor. But by some miracle he recovered five seconds later and glared furiously at Max.

"That isn't very nice girlie-" He aimed the gun at her, but then the whizzing pop of a carefully aimed bullet shot the weapon out of his hand.

Eddy turned right into the face of Zack who was now breathing down his neck. "You-"

Zack didn't let him finish his remark and grabbed Eddy by the neck. "Just thought I'd by come by and catch up on old times," he head butted Eddy and threw him into the wall.

"Your forms a little off," Alec quipped, as he watched Eddy slide down the brick.

Zack ignored him. "Max-" he removed the gag from her mouth.

"What the hell took you so long?" Max said as soon as the cloth was removed from her mouth. "These guys don't play house very well."

Zack digested what she was saying. "Did they do anything to you?" His anger could've killed a thousand men right where they stood.

"I'm fine," Max reassured.

"Well isn't that sweet?" Alec remarked.

Max glared at him, pulling at her restraints. "Shut up and get these damn things off me."

The restraints Max was tied down with connected to the table with metal bolts. "Hold still." Zack shot at these bolts, and the bullets tore through the heads of the bolts, releasing the hold of the restraints.

Zack shot both restraints on her legs and the one on her right arm this way of, when Max caught the sight of British Eddy climbing back up to his feet, aiming his Glock at the back of Zack's head.

Zack heard the sound of the gun cocking; he turned and whipped the Vector around, but Eddy was quicker and a hard shot rang out. Eddy meant to shoot Zack in the neck, but the bullet went high catching Zack in the cheek.

"Zack!" Max screamed watching Zack reel from the impact. Blood oozed from the wound and Max could see the glint of silver metal where the bullet had torn through the flesh of his face, right down to the silver exoskeleton.

Zack had crumpled after the shot; the impact from the bullet throwing his senses off, some of the blood had managed to leak into his eye, making his vision sting.

After Eddy saw that his shot was a miss he raised the gun again to finish the job. "This is for all the money I wasted on you soldier boy-" a gasping surprised shriek emitted from his mouth a second later when Alec slammed all his weight into Eddy and knocked him down.

"Obviously you're not a very wise investor," Alec remarked before dealing a hard blow to Eddy's face knocking him out cold.

The fighting between Steelheads and the Manticore soldiers was so intense that no one noticed a new figure emerge through the doorway.

Logan ducked through the doorway as quietly as he could. Zack hadn't bothered to use the transmitter at all, and listening to the sound of static had driven Logan crazy in worry. He had no weapons, he knew he was a blatant open target; but he didn't care, he needed to get to Max.

"Max-" he spotted her lying on the table just as Tuck and Bird came out of the back room each carrying black Berettas.

The two men either didn't see Logan, or they were ignoring him believing that he wasn't a threat because they both aimed their weapons at Alec and Zack.

Bird spotted Eddy lying on the floor; and glared at Zack, who had regained his bearings, and was standing a few feet in front of him, with rivulets of blood trickling down the left side of his face. "Hey what'd you do to Eddy soldier?" Bird's words were a pathetic version of an angry growl, but he was no less hostile for it.

"Max, are you okay?" Logan asked.

Max didn't have time to answer his question. "Get this last one off me-" She tugged at the single remaining restraint, which was holding her right arm down on the table.

Logan reached into his leather jacket pocket, pulling out a steel handled pocketknife, and started slicing through the restraint.

"Hurry," Max said. The leather of the restraint was thick, and it was talking seconds longer then Max wanted. When he had almost sliced though completely Max yanked her arm up, and broke the leather the rest of the way off.

Bird cocked his gun, liking the intimidation of the sound. "This is for messing with my boys-"

Max snatched the knife from Logan and threw it hard across the room, where it found its target in Bird's back. Bird screamed then choked on a gasp, dropping the gun, falling forward onto Zack who caught him by the front of his shirt.

"And was for messing with him." Max retorted angrily.

Zack didn't hide the satisfaction in his face at watching Bird squirm under his grip. The knife wound in his back was having little effect on his faculties, but Zack's death glare certainly was.

Bird saw the glint of metal from Zack's exoskeleton peaking out of bleeding wound on his face. "You're still one of us mate-"

"The name's Zack bitch," Zack, hissed, releasing Bird's shirt and grabbing his neck with his exoskeleton arm.

Bird gasped and choked "Right Zack. It's a good name for you." Bird's words were a thin wheeze. "A good name for a steelhead, how bout it?"

"Sorry, game over." Zack threw Bird's thin frame into the wall; he hit the brick hard and landed on top of Eddy.

Both men didn't move; they were either dead or seriously injured. But either way Zack felt that it wasn't anything that they didn't deserve.

Tuck had been stunned into a silence so profound that he hadn't even been able to fight with Bird. He now gaped at Zack –who was panting heavily and who had blood pooling down his face from his gunshot wound. But the furiousness of Zack's gaze was still strong; too strong, and Tuck turned and ran.

Tuck's escape was cut short by Alec jumping him and slamming him into the wall, effectively knocking him out. "Thanks for playing 'We're Better Than You.'"

A wave of dizziness overcame Zack and he gripped onto the end of a bookcase to steady himself. Now that the fighting was over, his adrenaline had worn off and his body was now fully succumbing to the shock of being shot.

"Zack!" Max grabbed his shoulders to prevent him from falling; but he was too heavy and she ended up following him to the ground.

Zack's gaze was clouded with pain, but it was still strong as he looked up at Max. "I'll never let anything happen to you again Max." His eyes closed as he fell unconscious.

Max cradled his head in her lap and stroked his hair gently. "I know you won't."

XXXXXXXXXXX

METRO MEDICAL

Max jumped up from her seat as soon as she saw Sam.

Sam read all the anxious worry in her eyes and answered her question before she had to ask. "He's going to be okay. The bullet couldn't get past the outer exoskeleton; that thing saved his life, I've seen rounds smaller then that penetrate into the brain. Still I want him to stay overnight for observation but-" Sam gave Max a knowing look; she and Zack were from the same place. Staying in a hospital wasn't an option. "Just make sure that someone keeps an eye on him, at least for twenty-four hours."

"Can I see him?" Max asked.

"Of course," Sam responded in a voice that wondered while Max even had to ask. "He's in room 203 just down the hall; take all the time you need." He touched Max's shoulder before walking away.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Logan asked. He was standing a foot behind Max, under a large black and white wall clock displaying the time in military increments.

Max turned to him. "He almost died twice because of me."

"I don't think he sees it that way," Logan told her. "He did what he did because he loves you." Logan allowed a pause to happen before continuing. "That makes two of us."

Max allowed the words he said but didn't to sink in; not caring if they were exact. It was the meaning behind it that mattered. She walked the short distance over to him and stopped barely a step in front of him. Her breath was warm as her lips touched his, and he returned the longing in them. It was only a three second kiss, but it left a sense of comfort and affirmation after it was over.

"Do you think any of us will ever have a chance at a normal life?" Max asked.

"What's a normal life anyway?" Logan returned.

Max smiled at his question; she allowed the smile to linger on her face before turning and heading down the hall.

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When Max entered the room she found Zack sitting on the edge of a hospital bed. A wide sterile white dressing covered the wound under his left eye. He was still wearing his own clothes, and blood stained the collar of his shirt from where it had leaked out of the bullet hole.

She noticed Alec in the corner of the room as she entered, but also she noticed a stranger, a tall man in a white button up shirt and jeans standing next to the bed.

"Who are you?" At first Max's warning flairs went up, but when the man turned to her after hearing her footsteps the look on his face was so genuine that Max dropped the thought she had that this was a Manticore recon soldier.

"My name's Buddy, Buddy Thomas." The man responded. "I think I got the wrong room number. Was looking for a friend of mine, Adam Thompson. He does some work for me on my ranch; and well he got flung right off his truck when his tire blew and-" Buddy stopped when he noticed the look Max was shooting him, not an angry look, but more of a look questioning the relevance of what he was saying as it related to Zack. "Sorry ma'am, it's just that your friend here looks almost like Adam from the back. But I'll just leave now so you two can have some privacy."

Buddy turned his attention back to Zack. "Hope you get to feeling better soon son." He then turned and walked out of the room.

"I think I better be going to Adam," Alec quipped. "So you two can incest –I mean – instigate some stuff."

"Hey," Zack's voice stopped Alec from leaving. "Thanks for helping out." Zack's words weren't exactly an affirmation of friendship, but they were honest.

"I had no choice Zack," Alec returned. "Maxie there would've never let me hear the end of it had I left her with the steelheads." He turned and left the room.

Zack watched Alec go with the expression that came to everyone's face after they had met him. "You couldn't have left him in Manticore while it burned?"

"I've seriously been wondering about that." Max responded. She sat down on the edge of the bed beside him, gazing at him intently. "How do you feel?"

"How do I look?" Zack said.

"You don't want me to answer that," Max returned.

A quick smile came across Zack's face before he masked it.

Max read the next look on his face with painful clarification; it was one she had seen on his face before. "You're not staying are you?"

"I can't," Zack responded. "It's not safe."

"But I finished the mission," Max told him "Manticore's gone, burned to the ground."

"There's a whole lot more of us out in the world," Zack insisted. "Manticore being gone doesn't make it any less dangerous for us."

Max knew what Zack was saying was true. Manticore was now a pile of ashes, but that didn't deter people from wanting what had come from within its walls. "I don't want to loose you again." She lowered her eyes to the floor.

Zack placed a finger under her chin and tilted her head until her gaze was even with his. "They're not all as strong as we are Max, They're gonna need looking out for, and if I don't do it, who else will?"

Max didn't say anything, not trusting herself too, because she knew he was right. She felt a warm tear slide down her face before she had the chance to stop it. After the escape she had been haunted by what Zack had done for her; and now she didn't want to let him go.

Zack traced the tear track on her face with his finger, wiping it away. He pulled her into a hug, wrapping his arms around her back; returning the embrace she had given him the night before.

Max wrapped her arms around Zack, resting her head against his shoulder. She wanted to stay there, wanted time to stop, and have there be no more pain, no one chasing them.

Zack pulled away and held Max's face between his hands. He gazed at her, taking in every angle, every curve that made up her face. "This time I won't forget you, not even for a second." He kissed the side of her face, right next to her temple. "Take care of yourself okay?"

"You too," Max said, in a voice that she was trying to keep even, but finding it hard to do while feeling the warmth of Zack's hands of her face.

Zack's hands remained where they were for another second before he pulled them away and climbed off the bed.

MAX (VOICE OVER): "Zack has done so much for me; for all of us; no matter the consequences that fall on him."

Zack paused in the doorway, and turned once more to gaze at Max; a look that said everything that his character would never allow him to say out loud.

Max watched him walk out the door under the sheen of tears in her eyes.

MAX (VOICE OVER): "I never wanted Zack to go; it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. Because leaving was something we all did too much. But sometimes you have to make sacrifices to protect the ones you love – it's something I learned from him."

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Hope that I remixed it well, if not, then well, go watch the episode, haha. And like I stated earlier I'm working on Choices, but this little ditty got in the way and demanded to be fleshed out.

And I hope everyone appreciated how I still managed to work "Adam" into the end of the story, heh.

R/R Please.

Peace,

Mystic