Mission Three

Max ran as fast as she could. How stupid am I? She thought to herself. She had rushed
to Logan's, eager to tell him about the antigen, eager to spend the night holding him. If
nothing more then to just hold hands. She wasn't asking for a commitment, not asking
for romance or passion. She just wanted a night where they could eat together and talk
without the fear of contact. She ran.

"Max!" She heard the voice yell, but she didn't stop. "Max!" She turned; it was Alec
following her. "Damn, you're fast." He said, gasping for air.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"I was about to ask you the same thing." Alec said quickly. "I was on my way to the
market when I saw you fly by. What's going on."

Max burst into tears and fell into Alec's arms. "I-I-I." She stuttered and sobbed; "I w-w-
walked in on Logan and Asha." She sobbed again, "Kissing." She said as she cried
harder.

"O, Max." Alec soothed, "I'm so sorry."

"How could he?" She said angrily. "And with her of all people?"

"Come on." Alec said, hoisting her back to her feet.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"I'm taking you back to the house, I'll send someone down to pick your bike up from
Logan's." He said. "It'll be alright. I promise."

Max let Alec lead her back to the house. She tossed her keys to Timmy, who went after
her bike.

"Come on." Alec said. "You can take my room. I'll sleep on the couch or something."

"No." Max said. "I don't sleep."

"Well." Alec said softly, "You should at least rest for a while."

"What's going on?" Sonia said, as she appeared from the back room. "Didn't the
antigen work? I tested it. It was fine."

"We don't know." Alec said. "She didn't have a chance to use it. Something else
happened."

Sonia looked sideways at Alec; "Can I help?"

"No." Max said. "I've been replaced." She began hysterically crying again.

"Another woman?" Sonia sneered. "That's, that's, that's, I don't know that that is."

Alec helped Max into his room as Sonia stormed off. "Lay down." Alec said.

Max gently rested on the bed. "I buried my feelings for him for a year. I should've kept
them buried. Dead and buried. Zack was right." She said.

Alec gently caressed her cheek, "Shh." He whispered. "Try not to think about it."

Max looked into Alec's eyes and took his hand. She pulled herself to eye level with him,
wanting to thank him for his compassion. Knowing that the emotion was probably knew
to him. She wanted to tell him how much she appreciated his friendship. She kissed
him.

Gently at first, she caressed his lips with hers. He tried to push her back, but she refused
to let go. She clutched his back and pulled him closer, smashing her lips deeper into his.
He pushed away.

"Max." Alec said breathlessly, "As good as this feels, you're not in your right mind.
You don't know what you're doing. You're upset."

Max bit her top lip and thought about his words. She released her grip on him. "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry." He soothed. "You don't have to be. You're upset and emotional."
His voice turned jovial. "And, besides, I'm one damn hot sexy man." He laughed.

She smiled. "Oh, get over yourself already." She joked.

"But I made you smile." He said, raising and lowering his eyebrows.

"Yea." Max sighed, "You did." She smiled and rested her head on his shoulder, as he
stroked her back.

*

"Asha." Logan hummed, "Asha!" He said louder, "Let go. What the hell was that?"

"I'm sorry." Asha quickly said, "I don't know what came over me. I-I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Logan shouted, "You're sorry! You know how I feel about Max. You know!
What were you thinking!"

"Hey!" Asha screamed. "I wasn't doing all the kissing there, buddy boy! That was your
tongue in my mouth! So don't blame this all on me!"

"Get out." Logan said sternly. "Just go, before this ruins whatever's left of our
friendship."

Asha stormed out of the apartment.

*

"New mission." Sonia said to herself, as she climbed Logan's building. "Alec said no
more chain of command. He said we're a family now." She growled and gritted her
teeth. "No one hurts my family, no one. There is no reason for Max to be in pain. I did
everything I could. I broke protocol. I dissected and cured a genetically altered virus
just to benefit one person. Lydecker would be furious if he knew. Twenty six years of
training and I blow it all on one person."

"Who are you, what do you want?" Logan asked, as the black clad figure dropped from
the ceiling. "You can't just come barging in here."

"I can do whatever I want. I'm in charge of myself." Sonia said, raising her head.

Logan gasped, his heart began to pound, fear entered his voice. "What do you want?"

Sonia's teeth showed as she growled to Logan. "I went through a lot of trouble for you
and Max. I went days with out sleep. I left the house at all hours of the night. I broke
into hospitals, nursing homes, pharmaceutical companies. I risked my life at Arkham
when I could've just let your friend die. I killed how many animals to test the antigen. I
took supplies from how many paramedics as they lay bleeding outside their trucks. But
worst of all, I ignored my training. All to create a temporary cure to the virus. And
when Max came to tell you, what'd she find. What did she find? You! You and another
woman! I hope when death comes for you, it comes slowly. That way, I can watch you
suffer the way Max is suffering now."

Logan opened his mouth to speak, but was silenced by a hard slap to the face. He fell to
the floor and watched Sonia leave the way she had come in.

*

"Max." Alec spoke hurriedly. "We've got it."

"Got what?" Max said, moving to Alec's side.

"Jessie got a job at Arkham. He starts tonight. Jimmy's wiring him with complete visual
and audio equipment." Alec said. "He's going to working as a night janitor."

"So, he should be able to move about rather freely." Max said.

"We don't know yet." Alec replied. "We don't know how heavily guarded they are.
And we only have a few days before his barcode is back."

"How's his neck doing?" Max asked. "Still sore?"

"Kind of." Jessie said, as he entered the room. "I'm used to pain, though."

"I'm going to place a contingent of soldiers about two and half miles away from the
facility. If you get into a jam, just call and we'll be there." Alec said.

"Not a problem." Jessie replied.

Max started to say something, then stopped as her pager began to chirp. "Logan." She
said and grimaced. "Now I wonder what he wants."

"Chances are, he didn't know you were there last night." Alec said. "Use my cell so he
can't trace the call okay?"

Max nodded and reached for the cell phone, she dialed quickly. "You paged?" She said
as Logan answered the phone. Her stomach felt hollow as he spoke.

"Max." He breathed into the phone. "About last night. It wasn't what it looked like."

"Oh." Max said. "So, I didn't see Asha sitting on your lap kissing you? No wait; let me
guess. She passed out and landed on her lap, you were just giving her mouth to mouth."

"That's..." Logan began, but she cut him off.

"That's okay." Max said. "I'm glad I found out now instead of waiting a few more
months."

"It's not like that. I don't know how it started, but I stopped it. I don't want her." Logan
begged.

"What am I supposed to say?" Max said, changing her tone to a love stuck little girl, "Oh
really, you don't want her. You want little old me?"

"That's not what I meant." Logan began, but was again cut off.

"Look, we're busy. If all you did was page to apologize, I'm not interested in hearing it."
Max barked. "Okay."

"Actually, I did call to explain." Logan said, stressing the word explain. "And to let you
know I hacked into the Arkham surveillance system last night."

"Well, thanks for the effort." Max spat. "But we've got it covered." She hung up the
phone.

"He saw you?" Alec said.

"No." Sonia interjected as she walked into the room. "I told him you were there."

"What!" Max screeched, "Why?"

"I wanted him to know." Sonia said flatly. "So if he dies today, he knows he hurt you."

"Whose reasoning is that?" Max stammered.

"Lydecker's." Sonia said. "It's a quasi torture method."

"Let the other half know that he's responsible for someone else's pain." Alec said.

"I remember that one." Max disdained. "All too well."

*

"Hi." Jessie said as he walked to the front desk. "I'm Jessie Simmons, I'm supposed to
start work tonight." He smiled at the receptionist.

"Right." She said. "Here's you name badge and your ID card. Don't lose either one.
They are not replaceable, okay?"

"Okay." Jessie replied.

"Eli will be here in a minute to get you." She said, turning her back to Jessie.

"Thanks." Jessie said as turned to look at the reception area.

"You Jessie?" Eli asked on approach.

"Yea." Jessie said, sizing up the tall muscular man. "That's me."

"Ready to learn about the wonderful world of cleaning?" Eli asked.

"Sure thing." Jessie said, trying not to sound too eager.

"Good." Eli said. "First things first. There are always guards everywhere. Which
basically means you can't even pee without someone knowing about it. All this stuff is
some kind of sensitive chemical experimental crap, so don't touch it. Last guy who
worked here knocked over a beaker and burned a hole right into the floor, not to mention
his foot."

"Got it. Chemicals bad." Jessie said.

"Yea. Chemicals bad. Now, this will be your area." Eli said, ushering Jessie into a large
room. "Empty the trash, wash the counter and the floors, clean up anything messy. And
don't meander around too much. This room should take about an hour, hour and a half.
Then you'll help me with the labs on the lower level. Everything gets cleaned, don't
screw up."

Jessie stood and watched Eli leave. He pushed the janitor's cart into the room and began
emptying the trashcans. He quickly glanced around, noticing a security camera in every
corner of the room, as well as a rotating camera in the center of the ceiling. He cleaned
the tables, carefully avoiding the chemicals and washed the floor.

"Looks good in here." Eli said, as he entered the room. "Ready to do the labs?"

"Yea." Jessie said. He followed Eli, both men pushing their carts.

"Seen some weird shit in here." Eli said. "Should've seen it last week. Some
environmentalist group busted in here and tore the place apart. There was crap
everywhere."

"That sucks." Jessie said.

"Yea." Eli muttered. "But we've got to deal with it."

Jessie went to work emptying the trashcans, before washing the counters and chairs.

*

"Alec." Jessie called as he ran into the house. "Hey, Alec."

"What's up, Jessie." Alec said, coming from his bedroom, rubbing his eyes.

"I took the garbage from the lab." Jessie said.

"What?" Alec snapped.

"I took the papers that had been thrown away." Jessie said. "A lot of research
information. It looks like someone's not only trying to create a chimera of their own, but
it looks like they've succeeded."

Alec sighed, "Let's see." He said.

Jessie pulled the papers from the bag and began spreading them out on the floor.

Alec looked at the papers, reading and re-reading the notes. "Let me go get Sonia." Alec
said. "None of this means anything to me." He stood and left the room.

"It's still dark." Sonia said, as she opened the door, slowly eyeing Alec in his boxers.

"I know." Alec said. "I need you downstairs. Jessie brought home a ton of stuff from
the lab, but it's all meaningless to me."

Sonia rubbed her eyes and blinked. "Okay." She breathed. "I'm going."

Alec turned and walked off, Sonia followed. "Sorry to wake you." Alec said.

"Think nothing of it." Sonia replied. "Next time, just make it for something more
enjoyable."

Alec said nothing as they walked downstairs.

"Hey, Sonia." Jessie said, looking at the half sleeping woman. "What happened to your
leg?"

"What?" Alec said, turning and noticing for the first time a long scar on her calf.

"Nothing." Sonia said. "One of the directors wanted to see how fast I could heal in
battle and sliced my leg open before sending me out on the field. It didn't heal right."

"Have a seat." Alec said, sitting on the floor, "And grab some reading material."

Sonia sat and began leafing through the papers. "Hmm." She muttered and groaned.
"They've definitely created something." She said. "I don't know what though."

"You can't tell?" Alec asked.

"Yea." Sonia said, sadly. "I can tell." She looked up at Alec. "It's a human baby, born
about three years ago. Mixture of canine DNA in with the human, but it looks like
whatever they were trying to do, didn't work." She straightened the sheet of paper.
"Subject displays no human qualities, other than appearances. Subject continues to walk
on all fours, arms six inches longer than normal human subjects. Subject still can not
speak; all sounds are of the canine nature. Subject has been deemed a failure and will be
terminated." She stopped and lowered the paper. "They created it, now they're going to
kill it."

"Beats the basement." Alec said, motioning to Joshua's room.

"I guess." Sonia said. "But according to the rest of this there are other subjects. Listen
to this one...Captured Subject Alpha, male, approximate age: ten years; height: 5'6";
weight: 110 pounds; strength: exorbitant. Subject does not appear to have vocal cords,
all data is transmitted through rapid eye movement. Subject DNA scans reveal heavy
concentration nocturnal bat."

"They have an X7." Alec said.

"Sounds like it." Sonia replied. "Age is about right, so is height and weight. They're not
fully grown yet." She started reading again, "Here's another, Captured Subject Beta,
Female, approximate age sixteen years, height 5'4", weight 125 pounds, strength
superior. Subject chooses not to interact with Subject Alpha, even when in close
proximity. Subject DNA scans shows no traces of nocturnal bat, researchers note
subjects may be incompatible. Subject DNA scans shows high concentration feline
DNA. Researchers note, subject extremely volatile and uncooperative. Subject may be
better tested after termination." She stopped her reading and looked to Alec.

"Sixteen?" Alec said sadly. "Must be an X6."

"Probably." Sonia said flatly. "And probably being tested on as we speak."

"Did you hear anything?" Alec asked Jessie.

"Nothing." Jessie replied. "I didn't see anyone other than a few guards and the guy I
was working with. There are cameras everywhere, except the dumpster area. But there
is no access through the door."

"So, what's next?" Sonia asked. "Do we abandon the captives or mount a rescue
mission?"

"I think a straight out rescue attempt would be best." Alec said. "But security must have
been beefed up since our last attack and we won't have the S1W to create a diversion."

"Maybe we can get more people on the inside." Sonia said. "Then we strike while our
people are already there."

Alec shook his head, "Let me think about this." He said. "Let me talk to Max, too."

"Hmm." Sonia mumbled, "Speaking of Max, I have some work to do."

"Do I want to ask?" Alec questioned.

"Probably not." Sonia said. "But, no one will be harmed, I promise."

*

"Max." Alec said, waking her from her thoughts.

"I can't believe they have two of us." Max said, "I just can't."

"They may have more." Alec said. "That's why we have to get moving on this and fast."

"So what's your plan?" Max asked. "Send in more janitors?"

"Actually." Alec inhaled deeply, "I was hoping Logan could get Sonia a good
identification and doctorate documents. I'd like to send her in as an ex-Manticore doctor
and see what she can find out. She'd understand all that bio-babble"

"Did you tell her about this?" Max asked.

"No." Alec said. "I didn't want to mention Logan in front of her and I didn't want to get
her hopes up on going in there. I also don't know how well trained she is for
undercover."

Max nodded, "She was locked in a cage in a lab for her whole life. We don't even know
if she can go undercover. She may not be ready."

"She learns fast." Alec said. "And she does speak just like the Manticore doctors. The
only real barrier is her age. She doesn't look old enough. But she is the only one who
speaks the lingo."

"Given a little bit of a make over, I bet we could pass her off as a medical student who
was working for Manticore to get through school. They still do that stuff at the
hospitals. It'd give her a cover." Max said.

"Someone's got to teach her how to talk and how to control her temper." Alec said. "But
yea, if we can get her in the lab and a few others in the building, a full on strike should
be a breeze."

"I'll ask Logan about..." Max stopped herself, "Actually, you ask Logan about the
papers."

"Still haven't spoken to him?" Alec asked.

"Don't plan on it." Max grunted.

*

"Logan." Alec grunted, as he entered the apartment, "you here?"

"What do you want, Alec." Logan sighed, "Come to yell at me, too?"

Alec chuckled, "Sonia here again?"

"Not since the other night." Logan said, "Should I expect her?"

"Don't know. She's a little odd." Alec said. "But family stuff aside, I was hoping you
could help me with something."

"Thought you guys didn't need me." Logan snapped.

"Hey, don't take it out on me if you and Max are fighting." Alec shouted. "If you're not
interested in helping, then fine. I'll figure something else out."

Logan inhaled and sighed, "What do you need?"

"An identification for Sonia. Basically saying that she worked at Manticore and has the
knowledge and experience to work on the transgenics." Alec said.

"Medical degrees can be forged, job papers can be forged, we can even release some
information about the Manticore doctor." Logan said. "But it's going to draw attention
to her, and if the wrong people find out. Well, who knows."

"I'm hoping to get her into Arkham." Alec said. "And she's the best candidate. If she
does come up against anything while inside, she can handle herself. But they have at
least two of us, and we intend to get them back. And frankly, I figure you owe Sonia."

"How do you figure?" Logan half-shouted.

"Well, she busted her butt to make that antigen. She went against everything she's been
taught. She got so personally involved in your case that she took it to heart. Only to
have all of her hard work be for nothing." Alec said. "I don't want to get into it about
Max."

Logan erased the next thought from his mind. "I can get the papers by tonight." He said.

"Thanks." Alec said, as he left.

*

"Say this again, Alec." Sonia frowned, "You want me to do what?"

"Look, we got papers and degrees and all sorts of things." Alec said. "All you got to do
is get a job there. Shouldn't be hard, walk in, get a job as a lab tech or a doctor and
recon."

"No offense, Alec, but um, remember me, X3, track it, kill it, bring it back. Recon and
surveillance isn't in my training. And undercover? Not even close." Sonia said.

"Then they die." Max interjected. "Then at least two of our family dies because you
couldn't adapt. You have to go in. You're the only one who knows this stuff."

"I can't." Sonia said, standing and leaving the room.

"Sonia, wait." Max said, catching her in the hallway.

"I can't." Sonia said again. "If need be, I'll leave tonight."

"You don't have to go anywhere." Max said. "I understand you're scared."

"I'm not scared." Sonia said. "I've been in those labs Max. I was in the one at
Manticore for a long time. I did things that I really don't want to talk about. I did things
that I shouldn't have done, to our people, Max. Things were done to me; things were
done to others. I can't go into another lab Max. I can't."

"Sonia." Max said, grasping her hand. "We all did things that we shouldn't have done.
Especially while in Manticore. Now, you can repent. You can help those kids instead of
letting someone do to them what was done to us."

*

"Hello." Sonia said nervously, standing in front of the receptionist. "I'm Doctor Sonia
Rhodes, I'm here to meet with Dr. Mitchell."

"One moment please." The receptionist bubbled. "Dr. Mitchell." She said into the
receiver, "Dr. Rhodes is here for her appointment." She paused. "He'll be here in a
moment."

Sonia sat on the leather couch in the waiting room and quietly breathed. Her nerves were
getting the best of her. If even one other Manticore doctor came here, she'd be
discovered.

"Dr. Rhodes." A man in his late forties said, "I am Dr. Mitchell."

"It's a pleasure, sir." Sonia said as professionally as possible.

"It isn't necessary to call me sir." Dr. Mitchell said. "I am sure working at Manticore
you're probably used to calling everyone sir."

"Yes." Sonia smiled, "It is a hard habit to break. But with Manticore gone, I'm looking
to continue my research. A colleague suggested I contact you."

"Yes, yes." Dr. Mitchell said, "Dr. Vale and I were at Harvard together."

Sonia furrowed her eyebrows, "I'm sorry, I thought you were at Yale together."

"Just testing." Dr. Mitchell said. "We've had some... unpleasantness."

"I heard." Sonia said. "A group of terrorists breaking into your lab."

"Yes." Dr. Mitchell said. "Please, come this way. I'll show you to the labs."



*Mission Four is on the way, Honestly!