After Dark all Cats are Leopards

By: theunknownvoice

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: Hi everyone! I'm not abandoning Ghosts Not Forgotten or Broken Soldier. Both fics are nearing their conclusions so I decided to write something new. The title for the story comes from a Zuni proverb I found on-line.

Chapter 1: We Make our Beds

"You've made your bed, now you must lie in it."-Spanish proverb

It was a cold bitter morning behind the iron walls of the New York base. The walls were made of high concrete with barb wire gracing the top. It was a sore spot in the New York countryside.

Most people assumed that the New York base was just another insane asylum. No one questioned the presence of the armed guards because the facility was known for housing the criminally insane. Then again why would you question someone who was paid to shoot you on sight?

People were too nosy in Donald Lydecker's opinion. Questions were dangerous when asked to the wrong person. It was better to know your place and keep your mouth shut.

Lydecker sat in his office sipping his coffee. It had taken years for him to rebuild Manticore as far as he had. He sipped the coffee allowing the warm liquid to go down his throat. It was a most soothing experience. The coffee gave him time to comprehend his own success. He was no longer being hunted down by his former associates. Now he was the one calling the shots and for once Lydecker didn't question his lot in life.

His cold blue eyes gazed over the units through the window. Everything was in perfect precision. They moved in perfect uniformity. They were obedient and they belonged solely in his command. His superiors and the committee were people he respected and they trusted his judgment regarding the x-series soldiers.

Retrieval units had been sent out to search for the missing x-series. He had heard rumors about Freak Nation establishing themselves underground. He had searched and day by day was bringing more soldiers to supply his bases.

Some of the original files had been found and the scientists were busy designing the next set of transgenics. Manticore was becoming what Lydecker had always dreamed it could be: a strong independent operation with elite soldiers. Everything was going to plan except that 452 wasn't here.

'Deck had no interest in capturing the other '09ers at the moment. He still wanted back his prized kids but he had other priorities at hand. The best of that unit had escaped that night. The best of the unit had continued to elude him for a number of years. He had back a measly handful but they were still the best soldiers he could find.

His chief objects would be catching 599 and 452. 599 had proved a rather difficult feat to capture. Deck knew that Zack was a capable soldier but he had also seen how damaged 599 had been after the organ transplants. Renfro was a bitch and 599 had been very stupid. He had been too in love with 452 to realize the consequences of firing a gun at close range. Dying for love. What a sentimental fool. The results were the loss of one of the best soldiers Manticore had ever created.

Even if 'Deck did find Zack there would be no telling how operational Zack would be. No, it was a waste of time to find 599 right now. Finding 452 was the objective. Max could lead any team and if they managed to reindoctrinate her—oh the possibilities.

'Deck had a list of plans. He knew for a fact that 452 had decided to stay with her ordinary boyfriend in Seattle. Eyes Only had been a problem since day one. There was a way to kill two birds with one stone that wasn't that difficult for 'Deck to plan out.

"Sir, you sent for me," a male X-5 said calmly.

Lydecker broke away from his gazing. He could picture a glorious future for his units. They would rebuild the US to greatness it had fallen from. They would be the guiding beacon of the future.

He gazed at the young soldier in front of him. This was the best of his lot. He just hoped the mission wouldn't break the boy. He nodded to the soldier motioning for him to take a seat.

--

Max laid awake next Logan. She used to get such satisfaction from watching him sleep. It used to be such a comfort to know that the love of her life and her could touch. It used to be so satisfying to know that Logan loved her. It used to be so beautiful to just wake up with each other and greet the new day. It used to be. It used to be. There relationship was becoming a series of phrases with the words "it used to be."

Sometimes she was grateful to have the love of this great man. She was grateful for the way he looked at her. To him she was a woman not a soldier not a transgenic. To him she was simply a woman, his wife, nothing more or less. Other times she gnawed at the truth. Their relationship had started out with blackmail. There wasn't love there but an easy way to feel safe. It was a relationship built on lies, secrets and deceptions. Eyes Only was his life and because she had married him it had become her life as well.

They had been so happy when they discovered the cure for the virus. They could now touch and have the type of intimate relationship they both longed for. She and Logan had taken their relationship all the way. Logan had planned out the whole thing to be romantic almost dream like. It had been spectacular, amazing, magnificent—it had been a dud. Maybe the problem was that even with the wedding band on her finger the relationship didn't feel real. She kept expecting to wake-up in the barracks and discover that Logan Cale and his world was a dream.

The wedding ceremony had been unreal. It had been a quick ceremony devoid of any of her friends or family. It had just been her and Logan in that quiet chapel. She was in a plain white dress and Logan was in a nice tux. It still hadn't felt like a wedding more like a contract between two individuals. They didn't have a honeymoon because of the Seattle police riots.

The Seattle police department had been abusing its authority for years. Finally the police department had pushed too many people to the breaking point. It had resulted in a fire fight and several officers being killed by gun toting citizens. The blood and death had resulted in fires and mass riots.

Logan had been determined to stop the riots. Eyes Only had been busy typing away. Broadcasts were done every hour. People had to be rescued and moved to safe houses. It wasn't safe to walk in the streets. Max had been sent out to retrieve information from the Seattle Police Department. She had stolen countless disks and spent hours helping Logan with the cause.

Even though Logan promised that they would go on their honeymoon they never did. After the police riots there had been a murder of an outspoken journalist. Then there was the drug ring that was running amok in lower Seattle followed by an influenza outbreak that was being manipulated by one of the medical companies. Soon, Max had forgotten about the honeymoon and just accepted that with Logan Eyes Only always was the number one priority.

Logan succeeded in making her part of the upper class. Max now had designer clothes and could fit in at Uncle Jonas' parties. She didn't work anymore instead her prime job was to help Logan with the informant net. She found the hours long and boring as she poured over paperwork. Eyes Only was all consuming and she rarely had time to even see her friends. It felt like forever since she had gone to Crash with OC and Sketchy.

Alec had become the CO of TC. He had successfully managed to lead the remaining transgenics into the Canadian rookies. Max had helped him plan out the escape. Everything had been planned out to the last detail but only Alec knew the location. She didn't know where they were at or if they were even okay. She didn't even know that about her siblings.

While Logan slept she searched out the others. It became her side project to locate the remaining '09ers and discover the location of the new Freak Nation. She just needed to know that they were alright. It was a consuming need and sometimes it was the only thing that held her sanity together while her marriage was shattering. She didn't focus on her unhappiness as she searched for Case and Charlie. Thinking of Alec or Jondy would make her smile. The searching made her life bearable.

She tried to find Zack's location numerous times only to be side stepped. She felt that someone was sabotaging her efforts. Logan had kept all the information about Manticore under lock and key. Every time she mentioned it he would change the subject. There were too many things in their marriage that could not be spoken about.

One of the unspoken topics was their inability to have a child. She had miscarried three times since they married last year. Every time they went to Doctor Carr the news became progressively worse. Max would become pregnant but her body would reject the baby. Carr suspected it was because of Logan's genes.

"For whatever the reason, X-series are designed to breed with other X-series. Your genes are just too different for your children to not be born with problems," Doctor Carr stated.

"We'll find a way. Money is not an issue," Logan said.

Logan purchased the medicines and vitamins necessary for a successful conception. He went to doctors to discuss the possibilities. He researched methods and treatments that greater enable their chances to have a child. Nothing had changed the fact that Max wasn't getting pregnant and that she couldn't carry to term.

Every time she lost a child, Max felt like screaming. There marriage was a disaster but Logan seemed to think that if they had a baby everything would be okay. Did she want to subject a child to that? Did she want a child to witness the bitter arguments she and Logan had?

The entire building could hear their fights. There were arguments about her need to find her family. There was the blaming game regarding whose fault it was that the pregnancies were failing. There were shouting matches about morals, ethics, beliefs, and even about baby names. Everything had become an argument and Max hated how she felt.

Max knew in the pit of her stomach that she would never have Logan's baby. She knew her marriage would become worse with every failing pregnancy. How could she have been so blind to think that this was what she wanted in life?

Gently she tiptoed past her sleeping husband. Waking him at this hour would not be a good thing. Logan was cranky when he hadn't had enough sleep.

She headed towards the main computer room. Logan had relocated from his penthouse to a nicer one on the other side of town. He was still getting money from Cale industries but he was also pushing for the company to invest in more humanitarian efforts. With Logan everything was a cause.

She moved to the computer room only to find a shadowy figure looming over the informant net. She moved quickly to punch the would-be burglar only to find her movements perfectly countered. Even in pitch darkness she could recognize that the shadow was a male. His face was covered and she couldn't make out his features.

She moved and countered. She spun around aiming a kick at her attacker's head only to see him blur behind her. She felt the strong arms around the back of her neck. The scent was familiar but before she could identify it she felt the prick of the sedative.

She struggled battling to keep conscious. Her eyes closed involuntarily as the stranger with the familiar scent carried her through the skylight

To be continued….