Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for any original characters that happen to pop up.

Dust In The Wind

By Be Boring

Chapter 1: It's News To Me

"Break it up! Break it up!" came frantic shouts from all around the Black Night, an old, rundown bar in Terminal City. Passersby only scurried past the old, dilapidated building that much faster, hoping not to get involved in whatever was going on. The Black Night wasn't the best place to be, particularly on Saturday night when the more rowdy perimeter guards were off duty. Namely, Mole.

It usually started out with something small and escalated from there, but it always ended the same; someone would come out with at least five broken bones. Now for a transgenic, that could be dealt with easily, but not all of the current occupants of Terminal City were transgenic. That was when things went horribly wrong.

"How many times do I have to tell you? There's no cameras allowed in this city!" were the shouts that came from the middle of the mass of strange-looking humanoid creatures. The gruffness of the voice gave away its owner in a heartbeat, which was what drew Max to the area.

"What's going on here?" she groaned when she walked through the door, only to find herself gazing at a scene of total chaos.

It was a male X5 nearby that answered her, sidestepping as two figures came rolling past him with fists flying. "Some ordinary brought a camera in here and started trying to take pictures, and we all know what Mole thinks about that kind of stuff."

Unfortunately, Max did know. Mole had started several fights in the past few weeks over some of the most innocent misunderstandings that involved cameras. A lot of the time it was something ridiculous, like a couple of youngsters that had gotten their hands on a disposable camera and were snapping pictures of each other, but there had also been some pranks that involved practical jokers trying to get a picture of Mole. Those were the ones that Max simply let Mole deal with, even though she personally wished that someone would manage to get the job done. It would be nice to see someone take Mole down a notch, and the easiest way to do that would be to show him that he wasn't omniscient like he seemed to think he was.

Before things could get too out of hand, Max pushed her way to the center of the room and pulled up a familiar long-haired head from the mass. "Sketchy?" She rolled her eyes in disgust and pulled him out of Mole's grasp, then stepped between the two. "Ok, just what the hell were you thinking? We have enough problems fighting our enemies outside of that fence, why bring the fight inside of it?"

Mole made a show of slowly getting to his feet, cracking his knuckles menacingly as he did so. If he thought he was going to intimidate her, he couldn't have been more wrong. "This idiot here started taking little personal snapshots of everyone in this bar. I don't even know where he got the damn camera, but I know where I want to put it." What was almost a growl escaped the back of his throat as his eyes tore into Sketchy, who let out an audible gulp.

"As long as those pictures don't get into the wrong hands, which they won't because of the fact that there's no way he could get out of here, then I don't want you flying off the handle every time you hear a click or see a flash."

A hideous sneer crossed his already ugly face. "We're transgenic, not photogenic."

"Speak for yourself," came a rather cheerful voice from behind the bar. Little to Max's surprise, there was Alec, downing a can of beer while watching the festivities. He smirked when he saw the anger in her eyes. "Hey, it's not my fault that I'm not as ugly as that," he said, tipping his head in Mole's direction. Mole simply snorted, he was used to Alec making cracks about his looks, or lack thereof.

"Maybe not," Max snapped. "But you could learn about a little thing called tact." Then, pushing Sketchy ahead of her, she made her way out to the street, slamming the door on the curious eyes that tried to follow her progress away from them. As soon as they were on a different street, she removed her hand from Sketchy's jacket and seated herself on an old overturned bucket. "Now why don't you tell me just what you were thinking? I think Mole's made it perfectly clear how he feels about having his close-up."

Sketchy's eyes widened innocently, but it was something that Max knew better than to fall for. "Max, I swear he just misunderstood. I found an old camera in the back room of that bar, and I was seeing if it worked. Most of the pictures are just of that room, but a couple guys found me and started acting silly, having me take shots of them and all that. That just happened to be when Mole came in."

Max studied his face carefully, there was a note of truth in what he was saying. "Ok, so maybe it all started out as fun and games, but you were planning on eventually using those pictures, weren't you?"

He shuffled his feet uncomfortably and refused to meet her eyes. "Maybe sometime in the future, but hopefully when things aren't as tense as they are now."

"If that's your plan, then you'll be an old man before you get to use those pictures. From the news I've seen on TV lately, I don't think things are ever going to calm down. They'll kill us first."

The tone of her voice definitely sent the message to Sketchy that she wanted to be alone, and he didn't feel like upsetting someone who could have punched him into next week. He was gone before Max raised her head again. Still, she wasn't alone.

"Are you alright? You look exhausted," came Logan's affectionate voice. His eyes ran the length of her body, taking in the hunched shoulders and the dark circles under her eyes. He knew that she didn't need sleep the way he did, but she needed at least some. She would run herself ragged if she kept going like this.

"Define 'alright'," she muttered wearily. Why did it feel every day like someone had dropped a bulldozer onto her shoulders? As strange as it was, she wanted to go back to before the public knew about everything and it was just Ames White or Lydecker that she was running from. Things were just so much simpler when there was only one enemy to focus on, rather than thousands. At least then she knew who to fight.

Logan glanced around and lowered himself onto a crate. His legs trembled a little as they were finally relieved of their burden, but he forced himself to overlook it. He had been getting regular blood transfusions, but the toxicity of the city was still getting to him slowly. At least he was fairly sure that he wasn't going to lose the use of his legs again. He, Sketchy, and Original Cindy had been getting regular transfusions every week from a specific transgenic. Logan got his from Joshua, Sketchy went to Alec for blood, and Original Cindy received hers from Gem. It took the edge off the city's effect, but it didn't take away all of it. They still had spells of nausea, dizziness, and weakness. Then again, things could have been worse, they could have been dead already.

"What happened?"

Max sat upright and rolled her eyes. "Where do I start? Sketchy's being an idiot, Mole is blowing up every time he sees a flash of light, and everyone is getting so bored that a fight seems like good entertainment. I'm just not cut out for this leadership stuff. I can help out a few people at a time, but hundreds? You may as well tell me to stop eating."

Logan smiled a little, hoping to cheer her up. "And we all know that's never gonna happen, right?"

Her face lit up for a moment, but the moment was ruined as soon as Alec's tall figure came sauntering around the corner. He froze for a moment, fully aware of how Logan's face turned almost completely cold at the sight of him. Max didn't look too pleased with him either, which meant that he must have interrupted something. So much for timing, he thought with a touch of frustration. It was easier for him to avoid Logan these days, because he could feel the older man's resentment. Not that he blamed him, who wouldn't be pissed at their girl saying that she's with someone else that you know?

"Maybe I'll just leave you two alone for a while," he said uncomfortably, turning to walk back around the corner he had come from.

"No, I'll go. I mean, why should you be the one to leave, right?" Logan snapped, only a touch of bitterness in his voice. Alec had to hand it to him, he could hold his emotions in check if he really worked at it. He wanted to protest, but Logan was gone before an argument could be made.

"You couldn't have waited to leave that bar for five more minutes?" Max growled, absentmindedly studying the runes on her wrist.

"Don't blame me. You never should have dragged me into this whole situation, it just makes things that much worse. You should have told him you were sleeping with a hobo or something."

"He's not stupid enough to believe that. At least you're a plausible boyfriend."

Alec nearly bit into his cheek, she just didn't seem to be getting the point. "I'll take that as a compliment, but I still think you should tell Logan the truth. This tension isn't doing you guys any good. It's distracting you from leading this place, and it's keeping him from staying as healthy as possible. Plus, I don't like getting fried by his eyes every single time I go into the same room he's in. I think everyone would be happier if you two would just work it out."

Max suddenly jumped to her feet, strode over to him, and pressed her palm against his forehead. "You feel this? This is something, innocent as it is, that Logan could never get from me." She pulled her hand back and kicked the bucket she had been sitting on so that it smashed against the brick wall behind it. "I don't want him to get hurt. You don't understand at all, he's the only truly good thing that has happened to me in my entire life. That's why the last thing I want to do is hurt him. If the only way I can manage that is to make him stop caring about me, then so be it."

Alec snorted. "Now you're the one who doesn't understand. You haven't pushed him away from you, much less made him stop caring for you. The only thing you've done is made him hate me, as well as making everyone around you two miserable. I know both of you try to hide it, but you're being as negative as it is humanly possible to be, and it's dragging everyone down. And you're the one person who should realize that the last thing this city needs is to be more depressed than it already is!" By the time Alec had finished with his rant, he realized he was breathing heavily and a small line of sweat hovered above his right eyebrow.

Max was stunned speechless. Alec usually never spoke so seriously, and the fact that he was trying to shove her and Logan back together was almost enough to make her wonder if the air in Terminal City was starting to get to him. They both remained where they were, staring silently at the ground and pondering everything that had just been said. Max was seriously considering what Alec had said, while Alec was praying that she wasn't going to blow up at him like she had been prone to do lately.

Neither one of them noticed that Logan was just on the inside of the building that Alec was in front of, listening through a broken window. What had just gone on was certainly news to him.

********************

Ames White barely managed to suppress a shudder as the burn of the alcohol he was drinking made its way down his throat. "Karen, what the hell did you put in this thing?" he asked, eyeing the reddish-brown liquid in his glass. The Asian woman behind the counter grinned at his reaction.

"It's a secret. I wondered if you'd like it, it seems to be too strong for anyone else."

"It's good alright. You might just have to share your secret with me." He forced his face to remain expressionless as Karen winked playfully at him. Joking around was fine, but he knew that she wanted more than everyday flirting from him. Not that he wasn't interested, but he didn't have the time for even a one night stand at the moment.

"Sir, the police just got a call from some kids claiming that they know how to get into Terminal City without the transgenics' knowledge. They even said they know where the building is that they use as their headquarters." Otto looked as though he was hoping this would be good news to his boss as he warily gauged White's reaction to the information.

A slow smile spread over White's face. He tilted his head back and let the rest of his drink flow straight to his stomach, then banged the glass down onto the table. "Let's go. There's something I have to repay 452 for," he chuckled as he pulled his jacket on. I'll not only pay her back, but I'll give her interest as well.

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A/N: It's not extremely long, and the real plot hasn't really started yet, but things will get rolling quickly after this. It's weird, I had two other stories I had been planning on doing, but this plot popped into my head and wouldn't leave me alone, so I decided to give it a try. Press the nice little button down there and tell me what you think.