Author Note: Remember at the end of Harbor Lights when Dr George gives Max's file to some other mysterious and shady looking suit? Well that scene is the basis for this story, and hopefully gives me poetic licence to turn a virus targeted specifically at Logan, into something that sweeps the country.

As stiff as toys
And tall as men
And swaying like the wind torn trees
She talked about the empty world
With eyes like poison birds

She talked about the armies
That marched inside her head
And how they made her dreams go bad
But oh how happy she was
How proud she was
To be fighting in the war
In the empty world
The Cure, 'Empty World'

E M P T Y . W O R L D

B y . S o r r o w . R e m i n i s c e

. x .

Sometimes I look back on my past and think of how, in the long run, escaping Manticore was in fact the worst decision I had ever made. If I'd remained behind like a good little soldier, things would have turned out a whole lot different. According to Sandeman's little genetic doodles on my skin anyway.

I can't even begin to imagine how much he must have regretted choosing me to be his little messenger. The guy slaved over a hot Bunsen burner for years, trying to create an antidote to the troubles he could see brewing ahead. Then by jumping through a window in the middle of one particularly cold winter's night, I messed up everything.

But how was I to know? The guy was smart, couldn't he have implanted a bit of foresight into my brain?

Unfortunately, no amount of loathing directed at either myself or my creator, can turn back the clock. Right now, I have a multi-choice in front of me, and I need to decide which option to tick.

Neither of them are particularly appealing.

See, once the world was merely broken, I never knew it to be any different. But now, it's not just broken - it's empty.

You don't know what I mean? Well, you're lucky then.

They say you don't appreciate what you've got, until it's gone. Well, I've lost everything. But what I regret most about that, is the fact I'm still alive to remember the how and why's of what went wrong.

5 June, 2022
3.35pm

"Max, take a look at the news. This is the fifteenth person to drop in the past two days. Right here in Seattle this time."

Alec glanced to Max who knelt beside her bike, and waved her over to the small screen perched on the wall mount. Rolling her eyes impatiently, Terminal City's self-appointed leader let her spanner slip to the ground and turned to her source of vexation with a sigh.

"I can see it from here Alec. And it doesn't concern us."

"Come on Max, would ya stop acting like you don't give a damn? People are dying from this bug right across America, now it's right here in our backyard. What are you gonna say when it's OC's name being read out? Or Sketch? Or what about Logan?"

Max paused, her frown of annoyance flickering slightly into one of worry. "It's just a flu Alec. Don't be such a drama queen."

"Hey!" Alec was just about to deliver a retort when the shrill ring of his cell phone cut in. Muttering beneath his breath, he fished it from his pocket and glanced at the screen before sighing and holding it out to Max.

Jumping up, she grabbed the phone off Alec, and punched him on the arm for the hell of it. Laughing gleefully as his face contorted into an expression of indignation if not pain, Max skipped out of the way before he could retaliate, and flipped the phone open. As the voice came to her through the speaker, and the meaning of the words sank in, she stopped, a look of anxiety suddenly crossing her face and wiping away the smile.

"What?!"

Alec watched in concern as Max's eyes widened in horror, the single word escaping her mouth with a punch of their own.

"Max, what is it?" He signalled for her attention but she stared into space, shutting off everything around her but the voice on the other side of the phone. "Come on Max, what's up?"

Waving her hand for silence, Max turned away and whispered. "Yeah, we'll be ready."

Handing the phone back to Alec at last, Max stared at him in fear, causing a shiver of apprehension to worm it's way slowly down his spine. "Max what is -"

"Manticore... the virus..."

"What? How?" Alec shook his head in confusion, wondering how Logan could have contracted Max's virus when he had been on the outside for three days, collecting information on one of his Eye's Only missions. "It's okay, I'll give him a transfusion, he'll be fine Max."

Stepping forward, Alec took Max by the shoulders and began to draw her towards him in a comforting hug. But she placed her hands against his chest and pulled back. "Alec... it's not that virus."

Max paused, not wanting to say the words out loud. As Alec's look of puzzlement began to flicker with impatience, she took a deep breath.

"Well it is but... It's mutated. And so far it's caused the death of twenty people - in two days."

"Twenty? But the news said…"

"Five of them were lab technicians. And that information has been kept under wraps. The CDC don't want to cause a panic - or be forced to admit they're to blame. When I was holed up in Harbor Lights, there was a CDC doctor with an over-zealous interest in my DNA. After I broke outta there, I guess he just got even more obsessed about figuring out the 'mystery of Linda Eastman'. "

Max paused as she felt panic began to surge through her. Choking it back down to the pit of her stomach, she continued. "Logan's on his way here. He's been on the phone with Dr Carr. The CDC want a blood sample from a transgenic - to see if they can come up with an antidote to the virus. But..."

"Hang on, how is everyone else getting this virus? It wasn't contagious was it?" Alec stared down at Max with wide startled eyes.

"Dr. George wanted to know about my unique DNA, but instead, some corrupt little lab techie thought he could see potential for a biological weapon or something. Maybe he wanted to make himself famous. Who knows? Point is, they tampered with it - too much. Now, skin contact with an infected person will pass it on to anyone."

Finally she did allow Alec to embrace her, and burrowed her face into his chest. He wrapped his arms tightly around her, briefly wondering why Max wasn't blaming him for the virus as she usually did. Especially now of all times. Perhaps she was too consumed by her own guilt? Or maybe this was just one of those rare occasions where Max simply needed reassurance without laying blame.

"It's going to be okay Maxie. Sandeman sussed everything out when he made you remember?"

Nodding her head, they continued to cling to each other in silence, waiting for answers to be delivered. Or, for the world to end.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx . xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx . xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

6.27pm

"It's just a flu Alec. Don't be such a drama queen"

The words echoed in Max's head, taunting her with her own off-handed rebuke. She wrapped her hands tightly around her own waist, feeling herself rapidly crumbling inside. A mental image entered her head that almost made herself burst out into desperate laughter. Imagine, just imagine if she imploded right here before everyone? The strong leader of Terminal City, losing absolute control?

Twenty dead… and it was all her fault wasn't it? She was poison. Not simply to loved ones, but to strangers too.

Fixing her eyes on Joshua as Alec removed the needle from the dog-boy's arm, Max fought within herself to find solidity. With such incredible guilt bearing down upon her, it was a battle she was rapidly losing.

As if sensing Max's inner turmoil, Joshua met her eyes and offered a calm, comforting smile, but Max's lips failed her as she tried to return it. Instead she asked herself why it was that everyone was holding themselves together so well, when she was the one splitting at the seams?

Watching as Alec began to unwrap a fresh syringe to extract blood from his own veins, Max silently prayed to any available deity, that their sacrifice would pay off - that one of them would hold the solution to this virus within the blood that was being carefully siphoned from their bodies.

But a heaviness had settled over her, chocking her. Somehow it seemed that such a thing would be far too easy. And if she'd learnt one thing in this world, it was that life was never, ever easy.

"Max, it's gonna be okay."

Jumping slightly as the voice broke into her thoughts, Max turned towards Logan. He looked so calm. Almost optimistic. Even now it seemed he was fighting the good fight - unwavering in his certainty that good could prevail over evil. One way or another.

Aware that Logan was waiting for a reply, Max raised her eyes from the ground where they had become fixated, and met his own. He wore the poker face he often donned, when he was holding back the things he wanted most to say. To her. It was almost a game. Who could lie to themselves, and each other, the most?

"I know."

And there it was. Her counter-lie. Both knew it wasn't going to be okay. For any of them. But sometimes it was simply easier to make believe, than to risk laying yourself bare with some deep, dark version of the truth. Whatever that was.

And so they stood facing each other, regret and longing adorning both of their faces. Regret for the unmeasurable distance that lay between them, and a longing to close what to an onlooker would seem only a four foot gap.

"Hey Max, your turn."

At the sound of Alec's voice, Logan's carefully assembled smile faltered, and he stepped back, allowing the silent game between himself and Max to end.

Max removed her jacket and briskly rolled up the sleeve of the top she wore beneath, as she approached the chair around which Alec and Joshua now stood. Taking her seat, Max closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Perhaps it was futile, but she hoped against hope that her own virus riddled DNA would offer some kind of insight for the doctors who vigorously worked on cracking a cure to this new, improved virus bitch.

"I guess I don't need to tell you it'll be okay huh?"

Max opened her eyes and looked straight into Alec's own a mere foot away, as he leant over her and extracted blood from her veins. Realising he had over heard Logan's words, she nodded.

"He's right you know." Alec's tone was light, as optimistic as Logan's had been.

Max nodded, perplexed suddenly. Was it human nature to hide insecurities behind false bravado? Or maybe it was a guy thing. Perhaps they just spent less time dwelling on life's niggling worries than she. However they did it, Max only wished that she could carry it off as well as these two men did.

Reflecting on the rare and unusual embrace she had shared with Alec a few hours earlier, Max drew a small measure of solace from the memory. Finding her platform of solidity, at least for a moment, Max gave a show at optimism - however false it may be.

"Of course. Sandeman sussed everything out…"

The words faded away. What had Sandeman given them except false hope? How the hell were stupid runes supposed to save them? Sure, they had a bit of forewarning about a damn shroud of darkness, couldn't he had saved costs on the invisible ink by cutting to the chase and telling them how to beat the bitch?

"Exactly Max. Sandeman has everything sussed. Now stop worrying and let the good Doctor Alec take care of everything."

Max fell into silence as she watched her blood fill the syringe. She knew Alec was offering support, but she didn't know how to respond to it. It was only recently that she had discovered he was a rock for her to lean against, to draw strength from. And now she had him offering words of wisdom to boot. Was this the same Alec she'd misjudged for so long?

Sure, she should suck it in, put her chin up and 'soldier on'. But a negative voice continued to nag away inside Max's head. Neither Logan nor Alec had the same guilt to wrestle with as she, did they?

"If you're thinkin' it's your fault, it's not Max. If anything, it's mine. I'm the one who followed Renfro's orders. I had a hand in the release of this virus, didn't I?"

Realising he spoke of her escape from Manticore, Max forgot all thoughts of tenderness as anger flared within her once more. After all, laying the blame on someone else would surely help alleviate her own conscience that much more efficiently.

"A hand? Just a hand? Damn it Alec, you're the reason we're here right now!"

As Alec flinched at her words, Max realised the accusation didn't bring the sense of release she had hoped for.

She wanted Alec to deny it, to give her a reason to fight. Fighting was how she coped, it was her outlet. But he denied her that. There was far too much shame in his eyes to allow her such an unreasonable comfort.

Of course he had followed orders. The punishment he'd received after the Berrisford incident had taught him why one should never, ever defy such powerful, unforgiving authority. Max didn't want to be that for Alec too - an unforgiving authority. She didn't want to be the one to hold such a noose over him when he already seemed to be doing a good job of hanging himself.

"I'm sorry Alec."

Max had little practice in saying those three words. Especially when used in conjunction with each other. Even to her own ears the apology sounded insincere. But it was mere lack of practice that caused such a tone.

Shooting Max a sidelong look, Alec gave her a curt nod as he removed the syringe and handed back her jacket.

Taking a step after Alec as he turned away, Max reached out to stop him. But her hand slipped uselessly from his shoulder as he shrugged her away. A mirrored gesture of the one made once upon a time, in a bar called Crash.

And there it was. The wall between them once more. Just as solid as it stood between herself and Logan. She was poison in more ways than one.