SUNDAY AT NOON

Max, Logan and Sophie were on their way to Jam Pony, since Original Cindy wanted to see Sophie before Bella bring her home tonight. It was a sunny
day and they agreed to walk to get there.

" I wont be walking though." Logan had said in a smile when Max had ask him if he wanted to walk to get there or take the car.

" You perfectly know it's a figure of speach Logan..." She didn't want to make him feel awkward.

" I know Max, I'm teasing you! I didn't want to upset you...sorry." Shut up Logan, you're making her uncomfortable!

" I'm not upset." Max looked at Logan, who had tied Sophie on him to be able to push his chair without being afraid of her falling down.
Sophie looked happy, she was giggling about everything that passes by them on the street. When they got near the garage door of Jam Pony, a black van
got Max's attention. She stared at it for a few second. It was parked about 100 feet away, in a parking space, but there never was any car
usualy. And this one was too clean to her satisfaction. 'I don't like this...', she said to herself.

"Is there a problem Max?" Logan asked her, when he saw that her eyes were not letting go of the car, and that there was concern on her
face.

"No. I don't think so." She smiled at him and once again glanced at the vehicule. 'Oh! Stop it! You're being paranoiac!' But she hold her
breath anyway.

They got in, and Original Cindy was in front of Normal's desk. She turned towards them.

"Hey!" She said to Max and then to Logan.

"Hello/Hi." They said at the same time.

"Hello Sugar!" She was now addressing herself to Sophie. "How cute are you today!" Original Cindy took her from Logan's
arms. "She must be thirsty, I'll go give her some water, OK?" She disappeared.

Max wasn't really listening to a word she was saying, the car in the street was too much on her mind. 'I wont be at peace unless I go see for
myself.'

" I wont be long." She said to Logan. "I just want to see something." She started to walk away when she added: "Don't do
anything stupid!"

"Why would I do anything stupid?" He said to Original Cindy.

" Hey! She knows you better than me..." She said in a laugh.

He watched the door where Max has disappeared. 'I don't like this.' He turned to Original Cindy.

"Can you watch over Sophie for a sec? I wont be long gone."

"Sure." What's with him?...I don't like this.

Logan rolled his chair as fast as he could and when he finaly got outside, he looked around for Max. He saw her walking toward the black car that was
parked a few feet away. 'What is she doing?'

"Max?" He yelled at her. She turned her head toward him when she heard his voice. Then, the car's doors opened and two men got out. They
started to point at Max what looked like a t.v. remote control and then, Logan saw her being neutralize by it. Max looked like she was recieving an
electric shock, and she fell on the street, unconscious. The two men grabed her and put her on the back seat of the van, and they drove away as
fast as they could.

Logan stared at the empty parking place with horror, recollecting the event that just happened in front of his eyes. 'Just like that? Gone? Like
in 10 seconds?' He couldn't believe this. He suddenly remembered Zack telling to Max how Lydecker had caught Brin, and it was just the same. He
unfroze and got back in.

"Give her to me, I have to go." Original Cindy knew better than to ask question when those two were ploting something. She saw that Max
wasn't there.

"Where's Max?" My home girl better be fine...

" I don't have time to explain, okay? Just give me Sophie back, now!" She could see he was loosing it.

" Tell me if there is anything I can do. Original Cindy isn't stupid, okay?" She gave him the child.

" Just don't say anything to anyone for now. And I'll tell you if and when you can help us." Any extra hands I can find, I'll take it!

" Be careful." She was concerned for both of them now. 'What the heck is going on? What IS always going on with those two!?'
He flew off like his chair was supersonic!

All through the way home, all he could think about was how many times Zack had told them this was going to happen, and that it was only a matter of
time. 'Damn you to be right!'

When Logan got to his Penthouse, he opened the door like a tornado.

"BLING! BLING! FOR GOD'S SAKE WHERE ARE YOU?" He yelled.

"Hey! Do you have a panic attack? What's the rush?" He's never talked to me like that.

"Take Sophie." He wheeled himself to the computer. Bling stared at him like he was from another planet.

"What's with you man?" He didn't see Max anywhere. "And where is Max?" That's it, first he lost his legs...and now he's
loosing his mind!

"Lydecker's got her." He said to Bling without taking off his eyes from the screen.

"What are you gonna do?" Damn!...

" I DON'T KNOW!" He yelled again. 'Don't do anything stupid!', she had told him...so she knew something wasn't right! Why didn't she tell
me?' He breated deeply. "Should I expose Manticore? Or call Zack for help? Or maybe I should talk to Sebastian..." Logan stoped talking
and said to Bling in a hurry: "We are going to see Sebastian."

BACK AT MANTICORE

Lydecker watched Max sleeping on the back seat of the van. She was going to be unconscious for an other 30 minutes at least. He looked at his men,
McKnight and Johnson.

"Take her inside. Carefully." The two soldiers looked at each other, and executed the orders to the letter. They grabed Max under the
arms and took her inside the Manticore military base. Lydecker was following them. "Put her in Room B-265, and I'll take care of her
myself." They entered a small room, about 20 feet by 15 feet, sat Max in a dentist-like chair, and tied her to it with straps.

"Are you done?" Lydecker asked them.

"Yes Sir." They replied.

"Then get out of my face!" Morons!...

He got near Max and set aside the strand of hair that was lying on her face. He sat on the chair that was beside Max's, waiting for her to wake
up, and knowing that it wasn't for a good 10 minutes. 'You've grown up fine Max. You're very pretty, just like your mother was...' He went into
an other time zone. A few minutes later, he came back to 2020 and looked at his watch. It was
time for him to give her the shot to paralyse all muscle activity. He knew she was going to get angry when she'll wake up, and if he didn't injected
it to her, she probably would be able to escape. And he couldn't allow it to happen, not this time. So he gave her 10 cc of Praxydin. 'That should
be enough.' Even for you Max...

When Max opened her eyes, she saw Lydecker's face 2 inches from hers. "Booo!" He said to her. "Did you miss me?" He smiled
at her. "I told you I was going to get you one day! Don't I always keep my promesses?"

Max wanted to speak to him but she couldn't open her mouth, nor move her arms and legs. 'YOU B*STARD!', she yelled at him in her head. Lydecker stared
at her eyes, fixing her like a wolf fix his prey.

"I bet you want to kick my a$$ now, right Max? But guess what? You can't!" He laughed ironically at her. "I see a lot of rage in yourself Max, so I guess it didn't
left you through the years. What a shame...I'll have to break you down before remodeling you into a perfect soldier." He was walking around her and all Max
could do was following him with her eyes. "You must think I wont be able to make you work for me again, but I will succeed Max, and YOU will be working for me!
It worked very well with Brin, and she was no piece of cake at the beginning, believe me! But technology has evolved Max since you were here, and we now have
a very great method of making you rurrender." He stoped in front of her and smiled, proud of himself.
'Surrender my @ss!' Max thought. 'He's even crazier than what I remembered...Logan, please don't do anything irrationnal!' She saw the image of his face,
when he called her name just before getting caught. 'He'd knew there was something that bothered me...' Lydecker stoped walking and fixed Max without
blinking.

"By the way, I knew I had seen that man before...in the wheelchair? He's the one from the genetic conference, right?" Lydecker stared again at Max, waiting for
a reaction.