Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Dark Angel. I just like to play with the characters since I think that things should have gone differently and it's a shame it ended so early, even with the books.
Warnings: mild language, torture, angst, sexual situations, Max/Alec
This isn't a sequel to Who He Is and takes place after Freak Nation in the show, but before Skin Game in the books. Just something I had in my head.
Chapter 1: Makes Me Wonder
Max cursed her luck as she dropped down into the sewers, feeling the murky, filthy water splash up her leg and leak into her boots. Directly behind her, she heard a second splash as Mole landed and she felt more lukewarm water splash on her, soaking her clothing.
She shrugged off the uncomfortable feeling crawling up her spine as her brain registered the disgusting water coating her clothes. It's not like this night could have gotten any worse anyways. Mole cocked his shotgun behind her as if daring anything else to prove her wrong and as a prepared promise to blow away any more obstacles. The lizard-like transhuman had a short patience and this night had already flown through what little he had. Max wouldn't have been surprised if by this point Mole started shooting at the rats scurrying by just to relieve some of his tension and frustration.
Hell, she'd like to shoot a couple of the rats to get out some of her pent up stress that she was trying to keep in check until they were safely back inside the gates of Terminal City.
It was supposed to have been a routine supply mission. Not even the dangerous kind that had her and Alec jumping from building to building with large knapsacks full of stolen goods. Logan had found a friendly source that was willing to exchange canned foods and other small useful objects such as soap and ducktape, and all he wanted in return was Eyes Only help on finding his kidnapped daughter.
Logan had insisted in coming along since the man wanted Eyes Only help and since there wasn't supposed to be any danger. And who was Max to deny the man? Ever since they had raised the flag Joshua had painted high in the sky above Terminal City, Logan's persistence to find a cure intensified. But the more he searched, the more Max felt herself slipping away and caring less and less. She should be ecstatic. She loved this man and they had been through so much together. He was willing to do so much for her, even risk his life just by being around her with the virus. And yet, she could barely force herself to smile at the idea of them being back together one day.
On the roof that fateful day, he had let his gloved hand slip into hers. At first she felt a spark of fury. She could have innocently and obliviously assumed that he only brought the gloves to wear so that they would be safe in case they accidently touched...but Max wasn't a stupid, naive girl. She knew that he wore those gloves so he could touch her even though she had told him she was with Alec now. And the idea of him being the kind of man that would touch someone else's girl made her blood boil. Even if she had been his first. And especially if he was trying to steal her from Alec.
She didn't mind Alec as much as she pretended to. Not at all. Sometimes it was all she could do to drown his obnoxious voice out of her head but when he wasn't around she found the silence to be empty, colder, and almost painful. She didn't punch him as hard as she used to, and lately, she'd been hitting him more in a joking manner than out of anger.
Sometimes she'd even wake up from her twice a week naps to vague memories of fading dreams full of green eyes that seemed to sparkle with mischief. She mostly just chalked it up to the fact that she couldn't be with Logan right now so she had lied and told the poor man that she and Alec was an item to spare him from being hurt. Or worse, killed by her own lethal skin.
But day by day it had gotten harder to resist picturing his handsome smirking face and lean, muscular body in her mind when he wasn't around. Day by day she found herself making more and more excuses to be close to him at all times. So of course he'd been the first person she'd asked to accompany her on this trip.
Logan may not believe it, and Alec may not know the truth, but Max would never take back what she had told Logan about her and Alec being together. The only part that frightened her, was that if Alec found out she wanted the lie to be the truth, he'd run from her, disgusted by her emotions.
They were only friends. They just 'weren't-like-that' and she wanted to scream in frustration. Why could none of her relationships 'be-like-that'? But even so, she refused to try and push something like this on Alec anymore than she already had. A little lie was better than the painful truth. At least this way she could stay close to him and pretend to have what she never would.
However, at this moment, Alec was currently wandering around with Logan who-knows-where. Probably in another sewer. Hopefully safe and on their way back to Terminal City as well. Like she was with Mole, who had insisted on coming along as well after pointing out that they'd probably need help carrying the cargo and there was safety in even numbers.
A point that had made it easy when the four of them had to split up.
The transgenics had known it was a trap the second they walked into the warehouse - perhaps sooner. Logan, who was lacking any military training of any kind, was oblivious as Alec grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and threw him to the side to avoid a bullet that flew past them, instantly putting Max and Mole on their guard.
Logan, in the brief second before he heard the crack of the gun, had thought Alec had finally lost his mind and grabbed a hold of the X5's arm to drag him down as well as he was thrown across the room. Both the males landed roughly on the ground as Mole cocked his shotgun and ushered Max behind some crates by the door.
Max's senses were going crazy. She couldn't smell any blood which relived her and she zoomed her eyesight across the warehouse floor to where Alec had forcefully dragged Logan behind some other large, wooden crates. Both of them seemed unharmed and Alec had his .45 out and crouched in a defensive stance, ready to fire at will.
Seeing that both of the men were fine, she dodged around to the other side of the crates, signaling to them. An ordinary human wouldn't have even seen her movements, but she knew Alec picked up on the motions she made in the air with her hand. Alec nodded back to her as she slipped out the door to the right of them and into the night.
And now here she was, dragging herself through a foul-smelling sewer with Mole. She hated leaving Alec and Logan behind like that but she trusted Alec more than she had ever trusted anyone in her life. There had been another small metal door on their left side of the warehouse and they had both been in good enough condition to make it out easily. And even if there wasn't a sewage entrance nearby, it'd be simple to make it back out the way they'd come. They'd have the van they drove there to assist them in their escape.
Alec was one of the best she'd ever seen in action. This was probably why most of the X5 males regarded him with an alpha male respect. She wished that she was with Alec right now and it was Logan slugging his way through here with Mole. She hated being apart from him and not knowing what was happening. She wanted to be right there by his side, having his back, like they always did. But worry only clouded your mind during a battle and their fight wasn't over until they were back in TC. She knew he'd be fine. They both would. She had absolutely nothing to worry about except for what she was going to do to Logan when he got back.
She wanted to know who his informant was. The guy clearly wasn't a familiar, or the shot wouldn't have missed its mark and they wouldn't have been able to escape so easily. But it couldn't be a bad guy because Logan had done a through background research on Mr. Robert Parker. There had been a couple of gaps in his kidnapped daughter story, but he insisted it was because he'd been trying to hide her ever since she'd been born from his old gang boss.
Coming to their exit, she gripped the cold, slightly rusty ladder that lead up to an abandoned street right inside of Terminal City. All these years of wandering around in the sewers, Max could find her way anywhere underground. She shoved the manhole aside and heaved herself out into fresh air.
Now all there was left to do was wait for Alec and Logan to show up.
Alec saw Max make the motions for escape and evade before pointing out a metal door to their left. He nodded, motioning that he'd meet back at base before her and Mole turned and slipped out a door to their right.
He let out a breath of relief he hadn't been aware he had been holding as the door shut behind her, safely locking her out of the warehouse that held the lunatic with a gun. He hadn't detected any guards or reinforcements while they had been outside so her and Mole shouldn't have any problem getting safely back to Terminal City.
After all, there was a damn good reason why Max was the leader. Because Max was a damn good solider, even if she had run away from Manticore at a young age. Maybe all that running and hiding and real life evasion tactics had actually made her a better solider than the rest of them who had stayed behind, going through practice all their lives.
And she had Mole at her back, who was one of the most expertly trained transhuman with weaponry that Alec had yet to meet with a rugged, dangerous and intelligent personality to go with it.
They should have no problems getting out. Alec and Logan however, had a few obstacles. He realized the first as he slipped behind Logan, gun still at the ready in one hand as he snuck over to the metal door behind the wall of crates.
Locked. Go figure that was his luck that they'd be trapped on the side of the warehouse with the locked door. He dug through his pockets with one hand searching for a paper clip, safety pin, anything that he could use to pick the lock with.
"Oh eyes only...where oh where are you?" An eerie voice rang out through the not-so-empty warehouse in a sing song tone.
"Eyes only didn't come" Logan responded and Alec darted out a leg to kick and shush him. Logan let out a hiss of pain and glared at the X5 who mouthed the words 'don't give away our position dumbass'.
Go figure his luck was also to get stuck behind with the stupid human. Easy pick-up or not, Max shouldn't have allowed him to come along. But transgenic ass-kicker or not, Max was still a girl. And girls always allowed themselves to be blinded when it came to their emotions - especially love.
Alec mentally groaned. If he had just let Logan get shot all his problems would have been solved. He liked to let himself think that Logan was the only thing standing between him and Max actually being together for real. After all, virus or not, she had chosen to lie to him about Alec being her boyfriend. Too bad it was all just a ploy to keep Logan safe from her toxic skin until the day they'd find the cure and she'd frolic off to have hot monkey sex with the cyber geek without ever glancing back at what she could have had.
Alec could give her everything if she'd only give him the chance. He'd gone along with her little act, more than willingly. Every time he saw a hint of worry or despair in her beautiful chocolate eyes he'd do whatever he could to take it away, even if it ended with him in bruises that would heal by the next morning.
But because of that, he watched her more closely than she'd ever know. He knew the reason why she was so sad and distracted most of the time was because she was longing to be with Logan...and to have let that bullet hit Logan would have sent her into a spiral of despair. He couldn't let her get so brutally emotionally hurt like that. He'd protect her both mentally and physically, no matter what. Even if it cost him his own heart.
A bullet ricochets off a nearby crate, splintering the wood across the cold concrete floor and snapping Alec out of his thoughts. Logan beside him flattened himself onto the ground as Alec crept by on his haunches to try and get a look at the contact's location to get a shot back. From the angle of the bullet's path, he had to be somewhere above them. Yet he obviously couldn't see exactly where they were so he must be on the other side of the warehouse in the rafters or something.
His finger tightened on the trigger as his eyes scanned the darkness and another bullet rang out to break the tense silence, breaking the wood of yet another crate, further away from them this time.
"Why didn't Eyes Only come? This was HIS deal!" The voice rang out again. Alec shot Logan a glare that he must have gotten because the human kept his mouth shut this time instead of answering.
The lack of response seemed to provoke the stranger, as he pulled off three more shots, hitting various heights and locations in the crates and watching the wood explode like tiny fireworks. Some sort of gravel or sand started pouring out of one of the broken boxes, covering the ground and Alec used the noise of gravel tumbling and scattering across the floor as a distraction to blur to the other side of the warehouse.
Their little friend in the shadows saw the movement however and Alec felt a bullet whiz by him in the air before embedding itself into the wall, forming a small cracked hole. He slid back to a crouching position, his gun at the ready as another shot rang out and he felt a flaring pain through his shoulder.
Why always the shoulder? Alec thought miserably as he set his sights on a shadow almost directly above him standing on a grated catwalk, gun aimed down at the transgenic form. He must have had seen Max and Mole over here and not killed them simply because he knew Eyes Only wasn't female or half lizard...and Logan seemed to be his only target.
"I'll ask one more time..." The click of a safety being pulled back as the gun aimed at Alec through the darkness. "Where is Eyes Only?"
Alec smirked, quickly raising his own gun and aiming back.
"Couldn't make it. Had to go get a booster shot for his STD. He sends his regards though."
He tucked and rolled as another bullet flew past him and fired up into the rafters, grimacing as he heard a yelp followed something heavy hitting the metal bridge above him. A groan accompanied it with a scrapping noise as the man struggled to find his dropped gun and return fire but with Alec's transgenic eyesight and military training, he was no match. Alec raised his gun ready to shoot again.
"Did you get him?" Logan's voice rang out from the other side of the warehouse.
"Stay where you are!" Alec yelled, to both Logan and their mystery man. Neither listened to him as Logan's form stepped out from behind the crates, faltering at Alec's order and the man above them found his gun, aiming it at the human that was now standing in plain sight.
"Get down!" Alec yelled again, once again not caring which of the humans listened to him. If Logan got down and ducked, great. If the guy decided to give up and die, great. If they both listened to him, even better. But knowing the chances of that were one in a million and everything was going to Hell in a hand basket, he blurred forward, managing to knock Logan out of the path of a bullet for the second time that night.
He also felt the tiny piece of metal rip through his skin for the second time this night. 'Man this night sucks' He thought as he hit the ground and rolled onto his back, firing his gun once more into the rafters and hearing a satisfying thud as the body fell from the cat walks onto the ground, laying a few feet from them in a puddle of his own blood.
Alec felt his adrenaline rush wear off as he let his arms drop to the ground beside him and the gun clattered out of his grasp. The cold concrete he was laying on felt nice against his skin and he didn't bother to try and sit up, not even as Logan leaned over him.
"Alec? Alec can you hear me?"
"Unfortunately..." Alec groaned. He could feel his pulse throbbing through his body, leaving a slightly numb feeling in his arms.
Logan toke his answer as good enough and checked Alec over in the dim moonlight that filtered through the dusty windows above them. The wound in his shoulder didn't seem bad, however the bullet was still inside of him and it was going to hurt like a bitch to get out. He didn't know if his collarbone or shoulder stopped it from exiting the other side of his body and he didn't want to know, his whole right shoulder ached with a dull flame.
The second bullet had hit him in the side and he silently berated himself for not being quicker. Just another inch and it probably would have only grazed him. But as it was now, he could feel a broken rib as blood poured out of the gaping wound that Logan was leaning over trying to staunch.
"Come on; let's get you back to TC..." Logan mumbled as he grabbed a hold of Alec under his arms, trying to hoist him up.
The X5 male jerked in his grasp, letting out a sharp gasp and shocking the ordinary into dropping him right back onto the ground. He let out a hiss of pain as his battered body hit the floor. The comfortably numb feeling that had been leaking into his body was now replaced by searing hot pain igniting through his nerves, leaving him twitching slightly on the ground until he regained control over his limbs, taking deep breaths.
His vision was wavering back and forth in-between blurring and the sharp clarity he usually saw with. He could hear Logan speaking to him but the words were muffled as if they were underwater.
Red lights flashed through the dark night sky in the distance and he could pick up the wail of sirens. Shit...police. After all, these weren't abandoned warehouses. Someone must have been doing some late night inventory and heard the gun shots go off.
He felt Logan pulling on his arms again, weakly trying to get him to move. Sometimes he forgot how strong transgenics really were until he saw an ordinary human trying to lift something. That something at this moment happened to be his wounded body however, and Logan was unknowingly inflicting more damage than good while he was trying to help.
He could hear bits of Logan talking to him. Words like "come", "up", and "help", seemed to be repeated. But someone like Logan just wasn't strong enough to even drag 190lbs of transgenic muscle to safety much less carry. Even with the help of his exo-skeleton legs. If only he had exo-skeleton arms as well he might have a chance.
The word "Max" floated through his consciousness and he gathered the strength to grab Logan's wrist, willing him to stop.
"Just go." His voice sounded weak and raspy to his own ears and he hoped that wasn't how he sounded to Logan. It must just be the fuzzy hearing. Yea, right. He couldn't hear Logan's response but he could see him shaking his blonde spiked head. "Isn't the time to be righteous. Go before cops..."
Logan shook his shoulders and he mustered up a glare at the ordinary as pain spiked through his shoulder like a red-hot thorn through his veins. Go figure Logan would be too stubborn to leave anyone behind, but Max would boil Alec alive if anything happened to her precious roller boy.
Or worse...she'd be sad. Devastated. He couldn't risk Max's happiness. He couldn't let her live without her beautiful smile gracing her full lips. Logan had to get out of here, even if it killed him. He'd rather die than let Max live unhappy.
He squeezed Logan's wrist harder and looked up into his icy blue eyes. Or he thought he was anyways, he was having trouble focusing on anything but he defiantly saw the glint of glasses above him.
"Go." He shoved Logan's hands away from him. "I'll be fine. I just...I'll distract them. For you...long enough for you to get away." He fought the cough that was forming in his throat, and fought to keep his voice steady and strong. He was pretty sure it was easier to talk his way into girl's panties than it was to talk common sense into this man. "Van is too risky. Take the gun and go to the sewers."
He felt the pressure leave his shoulders as Logan lifted himself off of him and seemed to be debating following his orders. 'Come on...let it be my dying wish, just listen to me...just this once' Alec begged inside of his mind. Of course, if he let Logan know he was dying he'd never leave. He had to play this strong. Let him think that once he was gone he'd fake hurt for the cops only long enough to spring an attack on them and escape. It'd be the perfect plan if Logan would just go with it...he'd never have to know he was actually leaving Alec to die.
He resisted letting his eyelids drop knowing that once they shut he wouldn't have the strength to open them again. He could feel wetness underneath him that he knew was his own blood he was laying in. There was a faint buzzing in his head and he could feel his body growing colder by the second. He just wished he could have seen Max one last time. See her smile and hear her laugh...now that he was going to be gone it was going to be up to Logan once again to keep her happy.
This meant he needed to know the truth.
His bleary green eyes sought out Logan's form again that was tucking Alec's fallen gun into his waistband.
"Logan..." His voice sounded so far away, like a whisper. Could Logan even hear him? The ordinary leaned close to him, placing a hand over Alec's own cold hand to let him know he was there. He wished that touch was from Max instead and he wondered for a second if Logan hated that he could touch Alec but not Max. Maybe at this second they both hated that they weren't touching Max...how ironic.
"It was a lie..." He whispered this time, not because of weakness, but because he didn't want to get these words out. He didn't want to admit that Max had never been his and it had all just been make-believe for Logan's benefit. He didn't want to accept the fact that what he wanted so badly had never been real; he didn't want that to be his last thoughts. Instead he settled for thinking of how happy Max would be one day, and how Logan would make her smile without him. If he could just keep that image in mind, he could make it through these last few words. "We were never together...it was a lie." He felt like choking, or maybe he was choking. "Max still loves you."
He choked back a pained whimper that was building in the back of his throat as he let his hand finally fall away from Logan's grasp.
"Logan...please...Go. Make her happy."
The sirens got louder, streaming red lights through the windows. He couldn't hear Logan's response over the wailing noise but he hadn't been able to hear him for the past few minutes anyways. He vaguely felt Logan give his hand one last squeeze and the last thing he saw was Logan's retreating form bathed in red lights as he escaped out the door Max and Mole had previously exited into the night.
Knowing Logan was safe on his way back to Max, he let himself finally give in and drop into oblivion.
Max paced back and forth across the worn floor of the control room in Terminal City. Dix was typing away on a computer while Luke and Mole were fidgeting with a police scanner.
Minutes ago the scanner had crackled to life, as a cop reported hearing gunfire out by the warehouses off of Masonboro rd; the warehouses that her and Mole had just escaped from after the botched supply run. It requested back-up before static set in and the scanner cut out. Mole and Luke had been trying to tune back in since.
Gun fire...that couldn't be right. They had only been shot at once before they got away. And Alec and Logan had been right next to a door so they shouldn't have had any problems getting out either. But as the minutes ticked by and neither male walked through the doors she found herself getting more and more anxious.
What if something had happened to them because she left them behind? Had she mis-judged the situation? Had they needed back-up? She hadn't seen any reinforcements as she left but what if there had been others inside? What if Logan and Alec were hurt? Oh god...Alec...
What if she never got the chance to make this between them real? He'd been growing on her so quickly...what if it was over before it ever really started? His green eyes flashed in her memory and she squeezed her own brown eyes shut, refusing to wonder if she'd ever see those mischievous emerald eyes so full of life again.
After twiddling a few more dials the static on the scanner slowly turned back into vocalized words. Max rushed over, leaning over the table to listen to the small device as Dix turned in his squeaky chair to do the same.
"Emergency request for ambulance- two males, one identified as Ronald Piner - dead on arrival. One un-identified- critical condition. Stabilizer needed." Words crackled in and out over the speakers and Max slid into the chair next to the table, unable to stand up any longer.
Ronald Piner? Wasn't their contact's name Robert Parker? Was it an alias or had someone shown up in his place, or perhaps killed the poor man before he'd had a chance to show up at all? And they only reported one other male. Did that mean one of them had been able to escape? But who had escaped and who had stayed behind in critical condition?
She cringed as another thought slipped into her mind. Or maybe...Alec ran so many scams all over town and after the Jam Pony incident everyone seemed to know who Alec McDowell was. Had he made an alias for himself, a fake ID when he went outside of Terminal City? Was he the dead Ronald Piner and was Logan dying?
The thought of loosing two of the only people she cared about in one fatal swoop almost wrenched her heart out of her chest. She'd lost so much already...Tinga, Brin, Ben, Zach, Biggs and CeCe...the thought of adding Logan and Alec's names to that growing list was unbearable. The idea of Alec...her breath caught in her throat. The idea of Alec doing anything besides staying by her side forever was unbearable.
The doors to command burst open and she could smell the same sewage that covered her and Mole's scent as well. She hadn't bothered to shower yet; she wouldn't rest until she knew Alec and Logan were safe. But now she didn't even need up to know which of them was safe. She heard the familiar whirring of the exo-skeleton before he even spoke.
"Max...it was a trap..." He sounded genuinely shocked as if it had taken him until now to figure it out and he expected them to have not figured it out yet.
She snapped her head up, letting anger take over her emotions to drown out the desperate screaming inside of her that wanted to fall down and cry. Logan being here meant Alec was dead or dying somewhere. While she'd never want anything to happen to Logan, she'd secretly, selfishly rather it was him than Alec. Logan would be painful to loose and she'd never forget him. Just like she never stopped thinking of Tinga or Ben and the others. But if Alec was gone...the grief just might kill her.
"Who is Ronald Piner?" She snapped. The recognition of the name before confusion flickered through his blue eyes and she allowed herself a small relief that the name was real and wasn't Alec. That still gave her a small sliver of hope.
"Ronald Piner? Why? What about him?"
Mole stepped forward, sparing Max from speaking and she was grateful. It felt like swallowing needles trying to talk while fighting back tears.
"Whoever he is, he was just found dead inside that warehouse we were in. With someone else critically injured" the transhuman mocked the cop's voice from the scanner. "They were just called in." He leveled Logan with a glare that could burn holes through a wall. "Now tell me, that you did NOT leave pretty boy back there and he's going to walk through those damn doors behind you any second."
Logan hesitated, his eyes darting towards the door.
"Ronald...he worked for an underground gang. He gave Eyes Only information to bring down his company in exchange for help getting his family out of the country safe. But...it went wrong. Something tipped them off and we were only able to get him into Canada. His boss murdered his wife and daughter..."
"Well that's nice that we now officially know it was a trap to get revenge against Eyes Only but that's not the answer we were looking for princess." Mole snarled and Logan visibly winced as if he were expecting the lizard man to lunge forward and attack him at any second.
"Logan..." Dix spoke up. "Where you shot?"
Max froze and let her eyes travel over the rest of Logan's body. His hands were coated in red as well as a dark stain on his pants although he was standing perfectly fine as if he weren't wounded.
He hesitated before answering.
"No..."
His response slammed into Max and if she weren't already sitting she could have collapsed. Her legs felt like jelly and all the pain that had welled up inside of her turned into an unreal numb feeling that barely left her able to think straight. To think about anything except that Logan had blood on him that wasn't his. That Ronald Piner was dead. That someone was left behind to die and Alec wasn't here. That was Alec's blood covering Logan. Alec...
Mole snarled. "WHERE is Alec?"
Logan was keeping his stance calm but she could see the terror and panic reflecting in his eyes and hear his erratic heartbeat hammering against his chest.
"He...He told me to leave him. But he said he'd be fine! That he was just going to wait for...the right moment after I got away...he just...he..." Logan trailed off, unable to meet the gazes of any of the angry transgenics in the room.
"He was lying!" Max finally found her voice to scream at Logan. "He's Alec! He's always lying you idiot!" Stupid Alec, always getting himself into trouble with his lies. But why would he make Logan leave him behind?
Logan's eyes snapped up to level with Max. "Oh yeah? Well maybe you're a liar too."
Max's head snapped back as if she'd been sucker punched.
"Excuse me?" She growled.
"You heard me. Alec told me. He told me the truth."
"The truth about what exactly?"
"That you and him were never really together! That you lied to me about everything and you still love me!" Logan started yelling back at her. "Why? Why would you do that Max?"
"Why does this matter right now?" Mole spoke up, irritated that Logan was changing the subject but also sparing Max from having to answer these harsh questions and accusations right now.
Logan's shoulder sagged, the fight leaving him as quickly as it's come. His blue eyes darted back to the floor before looking back up at Max with a pained, apologetic expression in his eyes.
"Because he told me to make you happy."
Max froze. Time seemed to stand still, vibrating around Logan's words. Why would Alec have told Logan the truth? Why would he have told him to make her happy?
Unless...
Unless he knew he wasn't going to be around anymore.
"You shouldn't have left him behind..." She whispered, too low for Logan to hear because it wasn't him she was talking to. She was talking to herself. She had left Alec alone against an unknown enemy with an ordinary human that wouldn't be able to back him up or help him if things went south.
But she'd make up for it. She'd go and get him and bring him back to Terminal City. Alive. She had to. She wouldn't allow any other options.
End Chapter 1
