Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel or any of the characters...blah blah blah
Walking on Eggshells
Part 4
Logan's eyes snapped open when he heard a noise in the living room. He got out of bed and slowly peeked around the doorframe. He saw an outline of a young woman and he sighed. "God, Max. You scared the shit out of me. What are you doing here so late?"
She turned around and the light hit her face. "I'm not Max and I'm here to get you."
Logan bolted to the phone, but the woman was too quick. Her hand shot out and snapped up the telephone before crushing it in her hand. He stared at her with wide eyes before she looked him up and down.
"Damn, he didn't tell me you looked this good." She circled him like a vulture. "Too bad we might have to kill you."
"Who are you?"
She grinned and waved a finger in his face. "You don't want to know." She traced a finger down his face and he narrowed his eyes. "What we want to know is where the girl is." She grabbed his face roughly and stared into his eyes. "Where is she? I don't want to kill you, but I will if it will flush her out."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Logan saw her face change and he looked away.
"Okay, I have no choice then." She raised her arm and knocked him out with a blow to the back of his head.
Max twisted the doorknob on Logan's door and was extremely surprised that it opened. She stuck her head around the edge of the door and stepped inside the apartment. "Logan? You home?"
She heard a small shuffle in the kitchen and tiptoed to the wall. She peered around the corner and gasped. A woman with short blond hair was standing over a seemingly unconscious Logan, talking to someone on a cellphone. Max stepped into view and cleared her throat. The blond jumped and dropped her cellphone. She saw Max and smiled vindictively.
"Ah ha. I figured you would come."
"What the hell are you doing here? Who are you and what did you do to him?" Max stepped past the woman and kneeled beside Logan.
"My name is J.C. and I only knocked him out. I was going to use him to get to you, but it seems I don't need to do that anymore." She took a pair of handcuffs from her pocket and walked towards Max.
Max stood up and faced her. "What do you think you're doing?" J.C. kept walking towards her and Max kicked the cuffs out of her hands. J.C. tried a left hook, but Max blocked it and gave the blond a few uppercuts. J.C. tried to kick Max, but she punched J.C. in the face, dropping her to the ground. Max looked down at the woman, who was holding her nose. "Get out of here and never come back."
J.C. scrambled up and ran out of the apartment. Max looked down at Logan, who was still unconscious. She knelt down beside him and stroked his cheek. "Logan, wake up…" She traced his lips and she saw him smile. "Logan…wake up!" She whispered urgently.
His eyes fluttered open and she sighed. "Thank god. You're okay." He tried to sit up, but a pain went shooting through his skull.
"Ow." He winced and touched the back of his head. He looked up at her and smiled. "You probably saved my life."
Max shrugged. "It was nothing." She held the back of his head and gently helped him to his feet. "You okay?"
He nodded slowly before his eyelids started to droop.
"Logan…Logan!" She nudged the side of his head and he murmured something unintelligible. "Logan, wake up." She tapped his cheek. "Logan! Don't fall asleep!"
He slowly opened his eyes and she smiled. "Hey…" He stretched out the word, not breaking eye contact. "Why did you come back?"
"I…I was thinking about the conversation from last night." Max gulped as she realized how close they were. She became conscious of his body pressed up against hers.
He pursed his lips and nodded. "I don't want to pressure you, Max. I know that we have something more than friendship here even though neither of us wants to admit it. But I know that your siblings are important to you." He groaned as he felt the back of his head again. "I'm going to have a goose-egg on my skull tomorrow."
Max led him to the couch and they sat down together. "I came here to tell you that I'm staying here."
Logan's gaze whipped up to meet hers. "What? Why?"
"There are a lot of people who need me here and I know our relationship is complicated, which is why I want to work on it. Figure out what this could be, where it's going." Max ran the back of her hand along his cheek.
He grinned, then looked confused. "What about Zack?"
Max shrugged. "He'll say something about putting myself in danger, but he'll probably just slip away into the darkness." She ran her fingers through his hair, spiking it up. "I think he was jealous of you. I saw the way you guys looked at each other. I'm not oblivious, you know. He knew we had more than friendship going on, but he didn't want it to develop because he felt that we were "meant to be together". What a load of crap."
Logan grinned widely. "If you picked up on all that, why didn't you pick up on my feelings for you?"
Max raised her eyebrows. "Well, I was too busy trying to figure out my feelings for you."
Logan pulled her into his lap and she rested her head on his shoulder. "You really did save my life just now. I owe you for that one."
She looked up at him. "Oh, I'm sure we can find some way for you to repay me." She tilted her head up to him and he took the hint. He leaned in and kissed her, running his hands down her back. She sighed into his mouth, her hands clutching his shirt. He pulled away after a few moments, resting his forehead on hers.
"I wasn't sure what I would have done if I had lost you… especially to someone like Zack." He played with a curl of her hair.
She pulled away and grinned. "Were you jealous of him?"
Logan raised an eyebrow. "Me? Jealous of a guy who breaks into my apartment and starts yelling about how much you and him are meant to be together? Of course not!" He grinned. Max quickly broke eye contact and looked down. "Max, what is it?"
"I used to believe that I was in love with him. He basically brain-washed me into thinking we were going to end up together and we were all going to be safe."
"What convinced you otherwise?"
She finally looked up at him. "You. Zack is completely different from you in so many ways. The day that we first met made me realize that what I had been feeling for Zack wasn't love… it was fear. I had been afraid of being independent and having someone who loved me made me feel… I dunno, accepted, I guess."
"How did I cause you to change your mind? We didn't do anything the first time we met." Logan gave her a confused look.
"You did more than you think." She smiled, recalling their encounter in front of the mirror. "In front of the mirror… when we were just inches apart… I remember feeling scared because of what happened when you touched me. You made me feel like Zack never did. I fell for you the second I saw you… I was just fighting it until now."
Logan grinned, then pushed Max off his lap and got up. "I need to stretch… and sleep." He touched the back of his head and winced. "Ahh, I forgot about that."
Max got up and put her arm around his waist. "Well, come on, let's get you into bed so you can sleep." She smiled mischievously and Logan raised an eyebrow.
"I don't think I'll be able to sleep after what just happened." He led her into the bedroom and closed the door.
~Zack's POV~
I watched as the two of them kissed on the couch. It made me sick. Max wasn't careful enough when she left the apartment. Suddenly, I saw him get up from the couch and they both went into the bedroom. It was enough to make my blood boil, I can tell you that much. I could have gone in there and kicked his ass, but it would have made Max angry.
I turned to look away when movement caught my eye. It was a girl about my age with short blond hair coming up the fire escape. I prepared myself for a fight. She stopped when she saw me sitting by the window.
"Who are you?" I snarled.
"Listen, I know you want the girl… so do I. The only problem is that we want her for different reasons. We're going to have to make a compromise." She kneeled beside me and peered in. "Where did they go?"
"Into the bedroom." I almost threw up at the idea. "What kind of compromise?"
"I'll let you have the girl if… let's say… I get to have the guy." She smiled at me and I narrowed my eyes.
"Why would you want him?"
"We believe he's withholding valuable information about my boss's work. He's also cute." She glanced at me before taking something out of her belt. Before I could stop her, she had carved a circle in the glass large enough for her to climb through. "I'll go in and grab him, then you can get the girl. Deal?" She held out her hand.
I thought for a moment. Not only would this rid me of Logan, but it would give me Max. I shook her hand. "Deal."
She climbed through the hole and ran quietly over to the bedroom doorway.
Logan brushed a hair out of Max's eyes before leaning down to kiss her forehead. She had fallen asleep in his arms after they decided to wait to consummate their relationship. "I love you Max." He whispered softly before there was a small noise at the door. Logan glanced up just in time to see the door open and the girl from earlier that morning step into the room.
"Well, isn't this cozy. You're breaking my heart." She exclaimed before grabbing Logan's legs and pulling him out the door.
"Get the hell away from me!" He yelled as she pulled him towards the window. He noticed a hole cut into the glass and saw Zack sitting on the other side. "What the hell?" then it dawned on him. The girl pushed him through the window and he narrowed his eyes at Zack. "Did you cut a deal with her so you could get Max?" Zack didn't say anything. "Did you, you bastard?" Still nothing. "ANSWER ME GODDAMIT! Did you cut a deal with this psychopath?" He screamed at Zack for an answer.
Zack turned and looked at him coldly. "Yes, I did."
Logan started to lunge at him, but was cut off by another blow to his head that knocked him out. She pulled him towards the fire escape and turned to Zack. "She's all yours, sport." Then she went down the fire escape and disappeared into the night.
Max woke up a few hours later and forgot where she was. She sat straight up and panicked until she remembered she was at Logan's. She lay back down and sighed, smiling. She closed her eyes and reached out for him. Her outstretched hand encountered a shoulder and she pulled him towards her. She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head against his chest. She took a deep breath and froze. This wasn't Logan. She quickly pushed the person away and turned on the light beside the bed. "Zack?"
He stretched and pulled her towards him. "Hey Max. How'd you sleep?"
"What the… Where's Logan?" She pushed him away again and looked at him. "Zack… where is Logan?"
Zack shrugged, then took both sides of her face in his hands and kissed her. She struggled against him, but he was too strong. He finally pulled away and she slapped him. "Get the hell away from me!" She yelled and jumped out of the bed. "Zack, I'm only going to ask this one more time… where is Logan?"
"Why should I care?" She gave him a stern look and he sighed. "Some chick took him."
Max rolled her eyes. "What chick?"
"I dunno. Some chick. She said that she really wanted you, but she would take him because he knew some stuff about her boss. All I know about her is that she had blond hair."
"Oh shit. Not that bitch again." Max ran a hand through her hair. She sat down on the edge of the bed. "I think she's from Manticore." She felt tears build up inside her and decided to let them fall.
"Manticore huh? But I thought we were the only projects going on in that place." Zack replied. "Max?" He heard sniffling and saw her shoulders shake. He got up and kneeled in front of her. "What's the matter?"
She looked at him through watery eyes. "I… was right here… and she took him…I could have stopped her…" She said through sniffs and sobs. Then she wiped her eyes. "Why am I even telling you this? You don't care about him… you never have." She got up and went into the bathroom to wipe her face. "I have to get him back, Zack. I have to." She turned around to face him. "He means absolutely everything to me… I can't lose that."
Zack sighed. "Okay. I'll help you find him. If you think he's at Manticore, then we're going to have to break in there and get him. But I think the first thing we should do is check his computer. He's always looking up crazy shit on Manticore, he might have saved some stuff." He walked into the computer room and flicked Logan's computer on.
Logan woke up with a groan. He opened his eyes and then winced with the bright light of day.
"Hello Sleepyhead." A voice said from beside him. He looked over and saw the girl who broke into his apartment.
"Who are you?"
She got up and Logan noticed he was sitting in a chair with his hands cuffed behind his back. He looked around and saw they were in a warehouse, most likely abandoned after the Pulse. The girl sat down on his lap and he frowned.
"My name's J.C. It stands for Jungle Creature." She put an arm around his neck and crossed her legs over top of his. "You see… I can change my shape. As you already know, because you've been peeking into Manticore files, I'm part of a group called the "Zoomorph 8 Group." We can change our form into any one of the animal kingdom. It took a while and there was 7 other groups that failed before we succeeded." She turned her head and looked at him. "You tripped over a black cat the other night… that was my sibling Paws."
"They're coming up short in the name department these days at Manticore." Logan said through gritted teeth. He wasn't comfortable with her sitting on his lap, but he knew his life was at stake, so he stayed quiet.
J.C. laughed, then switched her position on his lap so that she was straddling him. "You sure are sexy. I'd hate to see you get killed." She leaned towards him and kissed him on the lips. He set his jaw and resisted the urge to gag. She pulled away and got up. "Sit tight, my sexy little friend. My boss will be by shortly."
Oh shit, I'm screwed. Logan thought as he stared at the rusted door in front of him. He knew what Lydecker was capable of.
Max widened her eyes when she read through the file. "God, Manticore is wacked." She paced back and forth in the computer room. "Okay, the bitch probablyt hasn't taken him to Manticore yet. She'll probably want to interrogate him first in some place remote." It dawned on her. "Zack... what about that building we interrogated Lydecker in when we wanted to get Brynn?"
Zack widened his eyes and they both ran out the door.