Fran ran quickly and quietly through the back streets of downtown Seattle, under the night's cover. Her eyes darted from left to right, and looked far in front. Then she caught a glimpse of a man at the end of the alley-a Manticore soldier.
Fran jumped into a doorway and froze as a searchlight swept down and past her. She checked out her options...running back down the alley would be futile-it was probably surrounded. But there was a fire escape on the other side of the street...Fran took this and ran across the alley...gunshots went off simultaneously. She grabbed on, and climbed fast up to the roof.
The soldiers were hot on her heels, climbing fast behind her. There is nothing up here, Fran thought, no way back down the other side...Fran suddenly turned around, realizing that someone was on the roof with her...
Fran was about to punch the pursuer, but when she saw the 21 year-old woman, she stopped...
"Max?" Fran's eyes boggled.
Max gave a feisty smile. "C'mon little sis, we gotta blaze."
Max firmly grasped Fran by the waist, and removed a steel rope from her belt. She attached it to an iron rung nearby, and the other end she clipped to her side.
Just as two Manticore men had reached the top, Max jumped off the side. The two soared downwards, and Max released at the closest point to the ground.
Fran and Max hit the floor and rolled, then took off, away from the area now crawling with soldiers.
"So..." Fran said, running side by side with Max, "how did you find me?"
"Oh, I have contacts..." Max replied, and then stopped next to a dumpster. She pulled it away from the wall, and revealed a motorbike behind it.
"Sweet ride..." Fran climbed on the back as Max put on her shades, and she started the engine.
"Come on kid, we gotta see a friend."
The bike roared through the streets of Seattle, passing the huddled groups of homeless families and the odd drunken man. The lights along the side of the road bathed the filthy sidewalks in a pale orange, creating an eerie appearance.
Fran took in everything around her, the run-down buildings; the shelters on the sides of the road-she hadn't seen life after-pulse so bad. She guessed that was because she had been on the move so much. Like Max, she hadn't gone into a safe-location of Zack's choosing. Freedom is when you get do to what you want, when you want to do it, and that certainly isn't Zack's idea of freedom. His idea is 'staying low and covering your tracks'. Now, Fran usually covered her tracks well, but staying low meant not going out and not making contact. No thank you.
Max stopped her bike outside a huge apartment block, and chained it up. Fran stared up - this can't be one of Max's contacts!
They entered a lift and Max hit the button for the top floor.
"Your friend, he lives in the PENTHOUSE?"
"Would I settle for anything less?!"
Fran grinned as the lift doors slid open, and Max strolled into this huge apartment. A young man walked up to Max and smiled.
"Hey Bling" Max greeted him, "Where's Logan? Off saving the world?"
"If saving the world involves cooking, then yes" Bling pointed to the kitchen, and walked off.
Max poked her head around the screen and said something to her friend, Logan. By this time Fran had figured out that something was going on between these two. Max must be a lucky girl.
Then a man in a wheel chair came out from behind the wall, and smiled at Fran then Max.
"Hey, I'm Logan Cale, friend of Max...Fran, isn't it?"
Max stepped behind Fran and placed her hands on her shoulders.
"The youngest of our genetically modified family" Max said, and Fran suddenly pulled away and looked wildly at her.
"You mean, he knows?"
"Look, he found me out, I just wanted to steal some of his stuff and he caught me...look, long story" Max smiled at Fran, and put her at ease.
Logan wheeled himself over to his computers and then turned to look at Fran.
"Why come to Seattle?" He asked as he accessed the informant net. Max sat down on a couch and crossed her legs.
"Well," Fran sat down next to Max and sighed lightly, "After our positions were compromised, I went to Zack for somewhere else to stay. He wasn't really 'happy' to see me, because I hadn't exactly been following orders, but he took me as far as Los Angeles, and gave me money and told me that someone would help me in Seattle. I have been trekkin' up to here for ages. God knows why, Zack seemed too willing to disclose the information to me, I kinda suspected that the person he was sending me to was one who he didn't like very much."
Max looked a bit pi*s*d off for a moment, then shrugged.
"Whatever. Anyway, I am glad that you are here lil' sis. We can set you up, like we did for Jace...right Logan?"
"Hmm? Oh yeah sure...you are welcome to stay here tonight Fran. Max's place isn't a great place to crash, especially with Original Cindy around"
"I will not take that personally..." Max said, looking in annoyance at Logan. "I think it would be better for you to crash here too. Cindy ain't the kinda girl who likes her space invaded"
Fran pulled Max off the couch and out of Logan's study and whispered in her ear:
"Are you sure about this?"
Max hugged Fran, and smiled at her.
"You gotta trust somebody in this beaten up world, why don't you start with Logan?" Max said, and she called to Logan that she had to leave.
"Look, can I go too? I'd like to see what is keepin' you in Seattle"
Max showed Fran into a small bar, filled with drunks, and a few Jam Pony employees. She moved smoothly over to a table where two guys and a girl were sitting, Fran moved up behind Max as she greeted her friends.
"Fran, this is Sketchy," A tall thin guy waved to her, and winked. "Ignore him...this is Herbal and that's..." the girl stood up and ushered Fran to a seat.
"Boo, this is Original Cindy, nice to meet ya"
The other guy called Herbal gave a warm smile and shook hands.
"Guys, this is Fran. She is going to crash at Logan's place until she gets a place of her own"
"I see..." Original Cindy said, and looked at the empty beer pitcher. "Boo, will you get Original Cindy another drink, she needs to drown away her dislike of men"
Max grinned and walked off the bar. Fran looked momentarily uncomfortable until Original Cindy broke the ice.
She moved her chair closer to Fran's and rested her elbows on the table.
"You stayin' at Logan's right? Cindy wants to know what the hell is goin' on with my home-girl and Wheels? I am fed up with the 'he's just a friend' crap"
Fran laughed, and looked at the bar where Max was still getting the beer.
"Yer, spill! We wanna know!" Sketchy said and also moved closer.
"Well, I haven't seen much, but besides you guys, there is another reason she is stayin' in Seattle..." Fran revealed no more as Max approached the table with two full pitchers of beer.
"Thanks boo"
A few hours later everyone in the bar had left except the barman, the drunken crowd and Max and Fran. They sat at their table talking about their lives since the breakout.
"....then this guy just picked me up off the road and took me in. No questions asked...I stay there for three years of my life, and no one asked whom I was, where I had come from. Their son didn't even ask what the tattoo on the back of my neck was when he saw it once. Of course I expected something, that's why I always had a backpack of food and clothing packed under my bed incase I had to leave. I didn't move simply because I felt loved for once in my life...though when I was 17 I left in the night after I overheard my adopted father talking to...to Lydecker on the phone. Then the bubble burst and I moved. I wondered around for a couple of months, and finally found a good place to lie low for a while.
That's when Zack found me. How, I don't know, I guess I didn't cover my tracks enough...but he set me up in a small town west of Michigan, and there I stayed for a while, you know, making friends, getting jobs, generally livin' free. I got bored soon, I just couldn't get used to the way Zack always checked in on me. So I moved. Didn't tell him where I went, I drifted from place to place, not staying anywhere for more than a month. I finally settled in a place I liked and told Zack where I was. He wasn't please, I tell you that. I hung around there for a while until the Eyes Only broadcast said that our positions had been compromised. Then I went to Zack again...and you know the story from there."
Fran lent back, and let her long brownie-blonde hair flop down.
"Zack told me about your life on the way up here. I am surprised you haven't moved much...how have you been in contact with other X-5's?"
Max laughed. "You'd be surprised. Zack has come to me on occasions to help break out our sisters and brothers, but Logan has picked up odd pieces of info and fed it through to me most times. That's how I found you, lil' sis."
"This Logan guy sounds like he's a good person...are you two...?"
"Seein' each other? I see Original Cindy didn't hang around in tellin' you..."
"No, actually. I kinda picked that up from just seeing you two"
Fran gave a mischievous grin, and watched Max get up.
"We movin'?"
Max nodded, and turned toward the door. Fran waded her way through the heaps of chairs and people tangled up in them and followed her out into the cold night air.
They began toward Logan's apartment, when they came across three guard-boxes in the middle of the street. Max didn't slow because these were empty usually, the Government didn't pay for cops to sit on their backsides all day.
But on approach, one cop walked out from the right box.
"Stop. Lets see some ID"
Max put on a sweet smile and walked up to the officer. But he suddenly looked away, back into his box where a picture of a girl looking like Max was posted.
"Wait...you!" These were the only words that escaped his mouth before Max planted her foot in it. As he fell another man exited the middle box, and switched on his radio and called for back up. Lydecker's voice came over it, stating to take them alive.
"You ready?" Max asked, and with a nod from Fran, they took off in different directions.
Fran took on the guard, who had no time to reach for a weapon as he was knocked solidly in the legs.
Max ran first to the guard box, which was empty, but she saw a jeep coming toward them. Max signaled for Fran that they should move, but the Manticore pack had caught up. Two X-5's for the price of one, who'd miss that...Max signaled to Fran, the chase was on...
Fran jumped up onto the middle box and somersaulted into the Jeep and knocked out a couple of soldiers before they brought out their tazers. Max jumped into the passengers seat and said, as she slammed on the handbrake and kicked the guy in the neck, "Hey, would you stop by my place on the way?"
She then sprung into the back and knocked out the remaining guy who's leg had been broken by Fran.
"We kick a*s!" She exclaimed and jumped out of the jeep. She started down the street again and called for Fran to come.
Fran climbed down but stopped, as Lydecker's voice came over the radio.
"I do this for your own good Fran. I know you're there and I won't stop until you and Max are brought in. You don't think that your fault will go away, do you? You need to come in otherwise it will start again and..." his voice was silenced as Fran turned the radio off shakily. She put it in her pocket, close to her. Just for security...she then ran after Max, back to Logan's apartment.
Fran jumped into a doorway and froze as a searchlight swept down and past her. She checked out her options...running back down the alley would be futile-it was probably surrounded. But there was a fire escape on the other side of the street...Fran took this and ran across the alley...gunshots went off simultaneously. She grabbed on, and climbed fast up to the roof.
The soldiers were hot on her heels, climbing fast behind her. There is nothing up here, Fran thought, no way back down the other side...Fran suddenly turned around, realizing that someone was on the roof with her...
Fran was about to punch the pursuer, but when she saw the 21 year-old woman, she stopped...
"Max?" Fran's eyes boggled.
Max gave a feisty smile. "C'mon little sis, we gotta blaze."
Max firmly grasped Fran by the waist, and removed a steel rope from her belt. She attached it to an iron rung nearby, and the other end she clipped to her side.
Just as two Manticore men had reached the top, Max jumped off the side. The two soared downwards, and Max released at the closest point to the ground.
Fran and Max hit the floor and rolled, then took off, away from the area now crawling with soldiers.
"So..." Fran said, running side by side with Max, "how did you find me?"
"Oh, I have contacts..." Max replied, and then stopped next to a dumpster. She pulled it away from the wall, and revealed a motorbike behind it.
"Sweet ride..." Fran climbed on the back as Max put on her shades, and she started the engine.
"Come on kid, we gotta see a friend."
The bike roared through the streets of Seattle, passing the huddled groups of homeless families and the odd drunken man. The lights along the side of the road bathed the filthy sidewalks in a pale orange, creating an eerie appearance.
Fran took in everything around her, the run-down buildings; the shelters on the sides of the road-she hadn't seen life after-pulse so bad. She guessed that was because she had been on the move so much. Like Max, she hadn't gone into a safe-location of Zack's choosing. Freedom is when you get do to what you want, when you want to do it, and that certainly isn't Zack's idea of freedom. His idea is 'staying low and covering your tracks'. Now, Fran usually covered her tracks well, but staying low meant not going out and not making contact. No thank you.
Max stopped her bike outside a huge apartment block, and chained it up. Fran stared up - this can't be one of Max's contacts!
They entered a lift and Max hit the button for the top floor.
"Your friend, he lives in the PENTHOUSE?"
"Would I settle for anything less?!"
Fran grinned as the lift doors slid open, and Max strolled into this huge apartment. A young man walked up to Max and smiled.
"Hey Bling" Max greeted him, "Where's Logan? Off saving the world?"
"If saving the world involves cooking, then yes" Bling pointed to the kitchen, and walked off.
Max poked her head around the screen and said something to her friend, Logan. By this time Fran had figured out that something was going on between these two. Max must be a lucky girl.
Then a man in a wheel chair came out from behind the wall, and smiled at Fran then Max.
"Hey, I'm Logan Cale, friend of Max...Fran, isn't it?"
Max stepped behind Fran and placed her hands on her shoulders.
"The youngest of our genetically modified family" Max said, and Fran suddenly pulled away and looked wildly at her.
"You mean, he knows?"
"Look, he found me out, I just wanted to steal some of his stuff and he caught me...look, long story" Max smiled at Fran, and put her at ease.
Logan wheeled himself over to his computers and then turned to look at Fran.
"Why come to Seattle?" He asked as he accessed the informant net. Max sat down on a couch and crossed her legs.
"Well," Fran sat down next to Max and sighed lightly, "After our positions were compromised, I went to Zack for somewhere else to stay. He wasn't really 'happy' to see me, because I hadn't exactly been following orders, but he took me as far as Los Angeles, and gave me money and told me that someone would help me in Seattle. I have been trekkin' up to here for ages. God knows why, Zack seemed too willing to disclose the information to me, I kinda suspected that the person he was sending me to was one who he didn't like very much."
Max looked a bit pi*s*d off for a moment, then shrugged.
"Whatever. Anyway, I am glad that you are here lil' sis. We can set you up, like we did for Jace...right Logan?"
"Hmm? Oh yeah sure...you are welcome to stay here tonight Fran. Max's place isn't a great place to crash, especially with Original Cindy around"
"I will not take that personally..." Max said, looking in annoyance at Logan. "I think it would be better for you to crash here too. Cindy ain't the kinda girl who likes her space invaded"
Fran pulled Max off the couch and out of Logan's study and whispered in her ear:
"Are you sure about this?"
Max hugged Fran, and smiled at her.
"You gotta trust somebody in this beaten up world, why don't you start with Logan?" Max said, and she called to Logan that she had to leave.
"Look, can I go too? I'd like to see what is keepin' you in Seattle"
Max showed Fran into a small bar, filled with drunks, and a few Jam Pony employees. She moved smoothly over to a table where two guys and a girl were sitting, Fran moved up behind Max as she greeted her friends.
"Fran, this is Sketchy," A tall thin guy waved to her, and winked. "Ignore him...this is Herbal and that's..." the girl stood up and ushered Fran to a seat.
"Boo, this is Original Cindy, nice to meet ya"
The other guy called Herbal gave a warm smile and shook hands.
"Guys, this is Fran. She is going to crash at Logan's place until she gets a place of her own"
"I see..." Original Cindy said, and looked at the empty beer pitcher. "Boo, will you get Original Cindy another drink, she needs to drown away her dislike of men"
Max grinned and walked off the bar. Fran looked momentarily uncomfortable until Original Cindy broke the ice.
She moved her chair closer to Fran's and rested her elbows on the table.
"You stayin' at Logan's right? Cindy wants to know what the hell is goin' on with my home-girl and Wheels? I am fed up with the 'he's just a friend' crap"
Fran laughed, and looked at the bar where Max was still getting the beer.
"Yer, spill! We wanna know!" Sketchy said and also moved closer.
"Well, I haven't seen much, but besides you guys, there is another reason she is stayin' in Seattle..." Fran revealed no more as Max approached the table with two full pitchers of beer.
"Thanks boo"
A few hours later everyone in the bar had left except the barman, the drunken crowd and Max and Fran. They sat at their table talking about their lives since the breakout.
"....then this guy just picked me up off the road and took me in. No questions asked...I stay there for three years of my life, and no one asked whom I was, where I had come from. Their son didn't even ask what the tattoo on the back of my neck was when he saw it once. Of course I expected something, that's why I always had a backpack of food and clothing packed under my bed incase I had to leave. I didn't move simply because I felt loved for once in my life...though when I was 17 I left in the night after I overheard my adopted father talking to...to Lydecker on the phone. Then the bubble burst and I moved. I wondered around for a couple of months, and finally found a good place to lie low for a while.
That's when Zack found me. How, I don't know, I guess I didn't cover my tracks enough...but he set me up in a small town west of Michigan, and there I stayed for a while, you know, making friends, getting jobs, generally livin' free. I got bored soon, I just couldn't get used to the way Zack always checked in on me. So I moved. Didn't tell him where I went, I drifted from place to place, not staying anywhere for more than a month. I finally settled in a place I liked and told Zack where I was. He wasn't please, I tell you that. I hung around there for a while until the Eyes Only broadcast said that our positions had been compromised. Then I went to Zack again...and you know the story from there."
Fran lent back, and let her long brownie-blonde hair flop down.
"Zack told me about your life on the way up here. I am surprised you haven't moved much...how have you been in contact with other X-5's?"
Max laughed. "You'd be surprised. Zack has come to me on occasions to help break out our sisters and brothers, but Logan has picked up odd pieces of info and fed it through to me most times. That's how I found you, lil' sis."
"This Logan guy sounds like he's a good person...are you two...?"
"Seein' each other? I see Original Cindy didn't hang around in tellin' you..."
"No, actually. I kinda picked that up from just seeing you two"
Fran gave a mischievous grin, and watched Max get up.
"We movin'?"
Max nodded, and turned toward the door. Fran waded her way through the heaps of chairs and people tangled up in them and followed her out into the cold night air.
They began toward Logan's apartment, when they came across three guard-boxes in the middle of the street. Max didn't slow because these were empty usually, the Government didn't pay for cops to sit on their backsides all day.
But on approach, one cop walked out from the right box.
"Stop. Lets see some ID"
Max put on a sweet smile and walked up to the officer. But he suddenly looked away, back into his box where a picture of a girl looking like Max was posted.
"Wait...you!" These were the only words that escaped his mouth before Max planted her foot in it. As he fell another man exited the middle box, and switched on his radio and called for back up. Lydecker's voice came over it, stating to take them alive.
"You ready?" Max asked, and with a nod from Fran, they took off in different directions.
Fran took on the guard, who had no time to reach for a weapon as he was knocked solidly in the legs.
Max ran first to the guard box, which was empty, but she saw a jeep coming toward them. Max signaled for Fran that they should move, but the Manticore pack had caught up. Two X-5's for the price of one, who'd miss that...Max signaled to Fran, the chase was on...
Fran jumped up onto the middle box and somersaulted into the Jeep and knocked out a couple of soldiers before they brought out their tazers. Max jumped into the passengers seat and said, as she slammed on the handbrake and kicked the guy in the neck, "Hey, would you stop by my place on the way?"
She then sprung into the back and knocked out the remaining guy who's leg had been broken by Fran.
"We kick a*s!" She exclaimed and jumped out of the jeep. She started down the street again and called for Fran to come.
Fran climbed down but stopped, as Lydecker's voice came over the radio.
"I do this for your own good Fran. I know you're there and I won't stop until you and Max are brought in. You don't think that your fault will go away, do you? You need to come in otherwise it will start again and..." his voice was silenced as Fran turned the radio off shakily. She put it in her pocket, close to her. Just for security...she then ran after Max, back to Logan's apartment.