Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel and there's no way I'm going to profit from this either! I'm just a poor college student and if you sue me, you'll get bupkis!
A/N: Wow! People actually like it! I'm so excited! I've got lots planned for this story and I'm not even quite sure just yet how it will all wrap up in the end. But have faith! I'll try to come up with something good. Sorry if the conversations are a bit dull. They've mostly been functional so far. I'll work at getting some good character driven chapters in too! Thanks for the encouragement too!
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Chapter 4: Control
Logan's Penthouse
Seattle, WA
Logan eagerly poured over the information from the disks Lydecker had brought him. It was even better than he'd hoped for. Manticore had been hiding plenty of information from its investors.
"So?" Krit asked. He was finding it more and more difficult to maintain the cool facade that Manticore had drilled into him.
"Looks like we're in luck. Seems Manticore has a good number of skeletons hiding in the closet... and they're all neatly documented right here," Logan gestured at the screen, "Why did you keep this around anyway, Lydecker? This has the potential to stir up a lot of trouble."
Lydecker smirked, "To tell the truth, it wasn't my idea. Taylor's always been rather anal... Good quality in an accountant, but dangerous in this case. This is the only copy. It's encrypted and protected to keep it from getting... passed around."
"How are we going to contact Manticore?" Syl glanced from Logan to Lydecker, "We'll need to set up something for the trade. Additional support would be good too, considering their tendency towards backstabbing."
"First, we need to get their attention," Logan smiled to himself.
"What? We blow up another building?" Krit seated himself in one of the extra chairs that Logan had brought into the computer room.
"I was thinking of something a little less... violent," Logan commented dryly.
"How do we do this without exposing ourselves? Phones can be traced..." Krit looked at Logan curiously, wondering what he had in mind.
"True... but Eyes Only can't."
Krit stared at him blankly. Of all the things he had thought Logan might say, THAT was not one of them, "W...what?"
Lydecker started laughing which immediately drew everyone's eyes, "Well I'll be damned... Now I know why Eyes Only's been getting involved," focusing on Logan he grinned, "Never thought I'd get to meet you face to face."
Syl gaped at Logan, "YOU'RE Eyes Only?"
With a shrug, he responded cryptically, "I didn't say that..."
Lydecker snorted derisively, "As if you thought we couldn't keep a secret."
Logan smiled wryly, "True enough... I doubt I need to tell you three that this information can't be told to anyone, right?"
Syl nodded, "You saved our lives once. We owe you at least that much. It's nice to meet you in person so I can thank you."
"You don't need to thank me. Just doing my job."
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Manticore Base: Infirmary
Max drifted in and out of a drug induced haze. They'd been keeping her heavily sedated ever since she'd tried to escape. Several days ago, she'd managed to break one of the restraints that bound her hands and had grabbed an orderly who had been checking her monitors.
The guy had freaked and started yelling, but Max hadn't cared at the time. She wanted out and would do whatever it took. Unfortunately, she was still weak from the procedure, and the guards had pinned her down in the end while a doctor pumped her full of sedatives.
She couldn't remember much of what had happened after, having pretty much slept through the past few days. Her brain actually welcomed the time out. There were a lot of things she really didn't want to think about.
//Zack...//
Max had tried so hard to convince herself that what Renfro had said was just a lie to screw with her head. The thought of Zack being gone, leaving her alone in hell was too much to bear.
The infirmary was quiet except for the incessant beeping of the heart monitor and a television that had been stuck up on a shelf on the wall. Some reruns of a pre-pulse soap opera were all that ever seemed to get watched. Max ignored the images, but the sound of voices and background music occasionally cut through the fog.
"Well, aren't we lucky today?" an excessively cheerful nurse smiled at her from the foot of the bed, "You've got a visitor!" she chirped.
//Huh? Who could it be? They never announce Renfro... Not that I want to see her again...//
Brin walked over to her bedside. She glanced at the nurse - a signal for her to get back to watching the tv - and the woman quickly obliged. Brin seemed edgy, unsure she should have come to see her wayward sister. Her sharp eyes darted about the alcove that housed Max's bed as if searching for a cue as to what to say or do. She finally gave up and cleared her throat, "How are you feeling?"
Max's brain rapidly sought a clever response but found none, "Better..." she said quietly instead.
The single word seemed to relieve Brin, who relaxed noticeably, "It's not so bad, you know... You'll be glad you came back, Max. It's so much better here than on the outside. You don't have to worry about anything! Food, clothes, a place to sleep..."
"Thinking for yourself," Max interrupted bitterly. Brin frowned in response and tensed up again, "Can you hear yourself? You're talking about Manticore like it's a church camp!"
"You're still weak from the surgery. When you're better, everything will seem different," Brin's voice was hard, refusing to betray her inner emotions, "You'll be doing what you were meant to do. It's our purpose in life. I just wish Zack..." she suddenly fell silent.
Max squeezed her eyes shut. //Nonononono! It wasn't true!//
"He died for you, Max... So you could come home," Brin's emotionless mask slipped then, revealing some of the intense loneliness she had been feeling since her return.
"No!" Max cried, "He died so we could be free! So we wouldn't have to run anymore! So..." she choked, unable to say more.
"It's okay, Max... It wasn't your fault," Brin understood her sister's pain, even shared some of it, "Everything will be fine. You're home now and we're..."
Eye's Only Contact Point/Logan's Pent House
Renfro slid into the chair in front of the screen. Ever since the broadcast, she'd been dodging verbal bullets. The committee had NOT been pleased to hear the broadcast about Blue 24. Especially considering they had never been told about it in the first place.
It hadn't really surprised her when Eyes Only called several hours later. The technicians had tried to trace the call, but, of course, they hadn't gotten anything. Instead, Eyes Only had given her an address and a time. Apparently he wanted to talk. Leaning back, she waited for Eyes Only to make his appearance. He had all ready caused her enough trouble, and she certainly didn't need anymore. Not that she'd let HIM know.
"Director Renfro." A pair of icy blue eyes lit up the dark screen.
"Present... So, what's this little meeting all about?" she drawled, toying with a pen in her hand.
"I have information I think you don't want to see the light of day," the digitized voice said confidently.
"And just what might that be?"
"Files... Misappropriated funds, failed experiments you never reported. A little of everything. You've been busy."
"So I should just take your word for this, right?" she laughed, "Forgive me if I'm skeptical."
Logan smiled though she couldn't see it. He glanced at one of the files that he had previously pulled up on a separate screen, "ECS-460. Does that ring a bell?"
Renfro's eyes
narrowed dangerously, //H
A thought leapt to her mind //Lydecker!//
"Well, well... You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" she murmured, "I'm sure you've got a reason for going to all this trouble, so why don't you just speed things up and tell me what you want."
"X5-599. Zack."
Renfro blinked. //They don't know about Zack.... This might just work to my advantage...// "So you're proposing a trade..."
"You give him to us, and we hand over the disks. You keep all the hard evidence and no one's the wiser."
//Us? Eyes Only wasn't working alone... It HAD to be Lydecker.// "Do you really think your information is worth that much?"
"Depends on how much your funding is worth to you. You've already lost your DNA lab and murdered two X5's."
"Two? Ah... you mean X5-656... and 452..."
"Her NAME was Max!" the digitized voice snarled, his composure slipping.
Off screen, Syl glanced nervously at Logan, worried he might be revealing too much through his emotions. She glance instinctively at Lydecker who motioned for her to stay.
Renfro smiled as she leaned her elbows on the table, folding her hands, "We didn't kill her... We SAVED her."
The eyes on the screen narrowed slightly, but Eyes Only didn't speak.
"Her... friends left her for dead. We took her in and revived her. Actually, she's recovering quite nicely now..."
Eyes Only's normally piercing gaze had become unnerved, unsure, darting to the side as if trying to find something that would let him regain control of the situation.
//Gotcha!// Smiling smugly, Renfro addressed the screen, "Well... obviously this is... news to you, so I'll let you RETHINK your offer. When you're ready..." she said as she stood, "Give me a call." She reached out and turned the monitor off.
Turning, she spoke to McGinnis, "I want to you find everything you can about Eyes Only. We don't need him interfering any more than he already has." The so called cyber journalist was quickly turning from a nuisance to an outright threat.
She was in control now, though. If she played the cards right, Eyes Only would drop right into her hands...
Renfro smiled as she walked towards the car that had brought her there. What a nice little present he would make for the committee. Or maybe they'd sell him to the highest bidder. There were a lot of people who wanted Eyes Only silenced, and they'd pay handsomely for the privilege of putting a bullet in his head. Eyes Only might make up for all the problems he'd cause them by solving their funding crisis. Renfro allowed herself to laugh out loud at the irony of the thought.
Logan stared unblinking at the dark screen in front of him. //Max...// Could she really be alive? Could he dare to hope...
Krit looked at Logan's stunned face, "Didn't you hear that? Max's alive!" he gestured wildly, unable to contain his joy.
Lydecker grunted and rubbed his jaw, "We don't know that for sure, that bitch might just be trying to throw us off track..."
Syl's face looked pained at the thought that the revelation might not be true, "How can we find out? We need to know!"
"I might be able to hack into some of the peripheral networks for Manticore... If she's alive, there'll be some records... something..." Logan said quietly, his sharp mind running through the possibilities.
"We have more to worry about than that..." Lydecker said, "We may have tipped our hand. We're going to need something more if we want to get the ball back... and now they know we're up to something. They'll be expecting us."
"But it's okay, " Krit said determinedly, "We WILL find something..."
Logan's smile was grim, but his eyes spoke of hope, "What ever it takes..." he murmured, "What ever it takes..."
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A/N: Whew... Yeah, I have trouble ending chapters... I hope you'll excuse the chopping finishes. I'm working on that! So what's next? Still interested? :) I hope so! I've got lots more where this came from. Logan, Lydecker and Co. are looking to get Max and Zack back. They don't know Zack is dead which will cause some problems later. But Manticore won't be the only people they have to worry about! Stay tuned... :)
