The next morning... somewhere

"You wanted to see me?" asked Donald Lydecker to the man in front of him.

"Yes," he said as the two men sat down.

"What is this about?"

"As you know I was assigned to verify that the surrogate mother X5-452 remained no threat to Manticore and it's activities. I've been visiting the psychiatric facility once a month for the past two decades to do so. However, on my visit yesterday, I came across a... situation..."

"A situation?"

"She's... gone."

"Pardon?"

"She has left Snowhill."

"That's impossible. We made it very clear in her files that she was never supposed to leave. Care to explain what happened?"

"I have no idea." Lydecker looked outside the window. It was going to be a long day. And he was getting a headache.

*

A few hours later, Snowhill psychiatric institute, Seattle Washington

"Excuse me?"

"Yes, can I help you?" said the woman at the front desk, looking up to the man who was now standing in front of her.

"Yes, I believe you can," he answered. Before the woman could place another word, she felt a pain at the back of her head and fell in a mass on the floor. Lydecker nodded to the man who had knocked her out, and he moved off to keep lookout for anyone who might interfere with their plans. Lydecker and the other two men who had come along followed him further into the building.


They came to the record room, and as the two men guarded the surroundings, Lydecker went to retrieve the woman's file. At certain times, he could hear sounds of struggle, which he assumed were people who had come across their operation that his guards had to restraint. He continued searching and eventually found the file. He opened his briefcase and put it inside, locking it when he closed it. He exited the office, and made his way out of the building, his three guards following him once he'd passed them.

*

The next night, Seattle streets

Max, her mother, and her mother's friends were walking together, after spending the night at Crash. All of them had had a great time, especially Max and Liz, as they talked all night, Max telling stories about her friends from work, and Liz talking of some experiences of before she left Roswell. Logan had remained home, watching Jack, Ricky, Lisa and Anna.


They were still laughing at a story Max had told them about an incident with Sketchy and Normal that had happened a few weeks before. Max looked up ahead, absently observing the people standing around. And then something caught her eye. She used her high vision to focus on some of them, more precisely their feet. She felt an urge to shake her head and roll her eyes, but there were more important matters.


"Listen, I forgot to go pick up this thing for a friend, I really need to go, so how about we meet back at Logan's," she told them quickly.

"Um, okay," said Liz.

"Go on," she said, trying not to push them away, so they wouldn't panic. Once they'd passed the corner, making sure they would be heading in the opposite direction, she quietly made her way to the men's location, not letting them see her just yet.


She scanned the surroundings, checking everyone. Four... she could take them easily. She climbed up above them, on a low balcony, unseen. She positioned herself, making sure they hadn't noticed her. She looked to see if there were bystanders, before jumping back to street level, right in front of one of the four men. What was perfect, was that none would hear the other from their location.


As soon as she dropped in front of him, he swung his arm up to try to hit her, but she caught it. She pulled him around and slammed him into a wall. She then grabbed on to his arm and flipped him over on his back and knocked him out. When she was sure he wouldn't rise again, she moved on to the second one. All she needed to do was insure they wouldn't follow her mom and find where she hid.


She sneaked towards the second man. He had his back turned, but sensed someone and turned. He too tried to take a swing at her. She ducked and evaded it and gave a direct thrust, sending him to the ground. When he stood up again, she didn't hesitate to continue, with a punch to the face, using her momentum to spin into a roundhouse kick, knocking him backwards into some crates, disabling him. Knowing she might have alerted the next closest man, she moved on.


She came running, and just as he turned and saw her, she leapt and tackled him. After a short struggle, she pulled him to his feet and punched his face. He managed to place a direct hit to her face as well, which she quickly followed with a double fisted punch to his stomach, which had him knock against a wall, but he recovered seconds later. As she had to get to the last one soon, she sent a line of punches to his face and gut flying, not giving him time to respond. Soon, he lay on the ground defeated.


Just then, the last one came up from behind her. She sensed him, turned around and kicked him in the gut, then jaw, then gut again. He took a swing at her, but she grabbed his arm and punched him twice in the face. He swung at her with his other arm, but she ducked and caught it as well. She yanked it back and heard something snap. As he hollered in pain, she jabbed him in the face and he stood down.


She looked around quickly, making sure no more were around, and hurried away, heading to Logan's house. She knew why they were there, and she wouldn't let them get what they wanted. Never.