Disclaimer: Alrighty, this
is the deal. I have a job (that I totally am bored in-but I make okay money.)
That job is NOT writing for DA…as you probably know (but how I wish to hell it
was). I don't own any of the characters (except for Logan ….mmmmm-just try to
convince me otherwise!), and I sure as hell don't make any money off of
this-unless some of you would like to send me a check for all my hard work…???
;) If so, email me, and we can talk! =P
A/N (Also known as Hobbes'
blubbering): Okay, I know I've been serious lacking in updating, and I am sooo
sorry. You all know that my boyfriend's grandmother died, and that took up a
lot of the past 2 weeks. Then, I wasn't quite content with the way the last
chapter came out. I wish I had 'fleshed' it out more than I did. Ah, well.
Anyways, I LOVED the season finale. It had everything I like in it: romance,
action, drama, angst, and a knife twisting surprise at the end. Just remember,
my peeps, Max was captured in my fic first! So if anything I write mirrors at
all what happens in the upcoming season, know that I have had this stuff
planned out since I began writing this little story of mine!
Special Thanks to:
BlackWolf, for his help with weapons (and I am going to need your help soon
again, Blacky!), Zig for his beta-reading expertise, and a wonderful plot idea
I used earlier in the story. To all my wonderful reviewers; I know I've said
this before, but thank you all for your absolutely wonderful and inspiring
reviews. You guys keep me going. J I can never thank you
guys enough. J
Okay, without any further
blabbering, on to Chapter 14!
_____________
The Enemy Within
Chapter 14
Washed Away
The truck came to a halt
in front of them, shielding Original Cindy and Logan from the aim of several
guns carried by the Manticore henchmen. Logan looked on in astonishment as Zack
and Bling jumped out of the passenger side door, both armed with weapons that
were slung dangerously from straps over their shoulders.
A blinding blue light
surrounded them all. For a minute, Logan thought he was dying, or possibly even
dead already, before realizing it was only lightning that had lit the early
morning sky. A deafening crash of thunder confirmed that it was just nature,
and a not a bullet slicing through with deadly force.
Over the loud rumble, Zack
ordered Cindy to get Logan to the Aztek.
"But Zack, what about
y-" Original Cindy began, before she was cut off by gunshots. She flinched
as Zack and Bling turned their backs and began returning the soldiers fire with
their own.
"Cindy, just get him
out of here!" Zack shouted in a pause between gunfire and nodding toward
Logan. There was no sense in arguing with him as he reloaded behind the armored
vehicle. He was all soldier now. "You know where to meet later. Get outta
here!" With that, he turned back toward there assailants and began firing
again. Cindy turned and wheeled Logan as fast as she could toward his car, her
breath coming in small gasps.
The sky flashed repeatedly
and the thunder blended in with the explosions behind Logan and Cindy. A hard,
fat drop of rain hit Logan on his arm, and for a minute, time seemed to stand
still. He looked down and became fascinated with the newly wet spot on his
skin. They were nearing the Aztek and all hell was breaking loose behind them,
but he barely acknowledged it. It was as if his mind was overloaded with
everything that had happened over the past couple of days, and now that tiny,
innocent speck of rain that clung him was the breaking point. He was amazed at
the way it seemed to sit on his skin, hanging for dear life on top of the hair
of his left forearm. Raising his right hand ever so slowly, he brushed the drop
away. With that gesture, an emptiness settled over him –in him- and he couldn't
explain why.
"Not good", he whispered
to no one, and to everyone. He had shocked himself by speaking, as if saying
the words aloud, as if by speaking he had somehow sealed a dark and deadly
fate.
"Logan! LOGAN!"
Original Cindy practically shouted in his ear. He jerked in his chair and
raised startled eyes at her. He hadn't realized that they were now standing
beside the passenger door of the Aztek. Cindy was obviously expecting him to
help her get himself in the vehicle as fast as humanly possible, yet he seemed
in no hurry to get away from this hell hole. The rain was now pouring down on
them, drenching and unrelenting in its mission to water the earth. His hair
meshed to his head, and water clung to his lashes as he continued to stare
unanswering at the woman in front of him.
"Look, Original Cindy
ain't no weakling, but even she can't get your skinny white ass in this car
without your help. Now come on!" Her words were meant to be strong and
commanding, but her shaking voice belied her false bravado. She was desperately
worried about leaving Zack and Bling here, but Logan was in no shape to take on
a Manticore army right now, nor was he in any shape to drive himself out of
here. It was obvious the stress was taking it's toll on him, as well as the
medications he was still reeling from. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling
that something was about to go horribly wrong.
The sound of gunshots were
still raging in a rapid fire war behind them, pausing only briefly every now
and then for reloading of weapons or interruption for the nauseating sound of a
man screaming his final words. Logan glanced back at Zack and Bling, who were
holding down the fort.
"We can't leave them!
They'll be slaughtered out there!" he shouted to Cindy.
"We have no choice!
You are in no condition to go out there and play Cowboy and Indians!"
"They're going to die
because they were saving me! I've got to help them-"
"Logan, you'll only
slow them down. The best way to help them is leave" She knew was being
harsh, but they didn't have time to argue about it. "Zack's trained for
this. He will get them back to us. I'm not letting you go back there!" She
opened up the Aztek's door, ending the debate. "Now help me get you in so
we can get the hell outta here!" She grabbed him from under his arms and
did most of the work as the worked to get him inside.
Logan slowly climbed in,
not only because he was still in agonizing pain, but also because he was
reluctant to leave his best friend and Max's brother to fight his fight. But
Cindy was right. He would only slow them down. He was a cripple who could
barely see out of his swollen eyes and couldn't move without tears forming from
the effort.
When he was settled in his
seat decently, Cindy shut his door. The sound was eerie; one minute, the sound
of bullets, rain, wind, and thunder were deafening and all encompassing. The
next, everything was muffled and distant, reminding him of listening to a tv
show that was on in a different room. You could hear it, but it was a distant
thought. Not real. Once again, Logan's stomach sank as if they door shutting
was another omen that things were going to get much worse. He fought off the
urge to open the door and go to Zack and Bling, never wishing more than he did
now that his legs still worked.
Behind him, Cindy raised
the hatchback and threw the wheelchair in the back, before appearing again on
the driver's side and jumping into the seat. Putting the car in reverse, she
gave him a small, unsteady smile.
"Let's get you outta
this bitch." She punched the gas, and they set off. He was amazed by the
young woman beside him. She was no doubt scared out of her mind, but she was
acting efficiently. They had wasted no more than two minutes-three at the most
–after walking away from the now bloody scene behind them to driving off the
premises.
Yet, even while thinking
those thoughts, Logan eyes stayed focused on the rearview mirror as they hauled
ass through the parking lot, his gaze never leaving the two men that had saved
his life.
__________________
"Zack, I'm running
out of ammo here!" Bling shouted. They had been in this hellacious battle
for what seemed like a lifetime. Hiding behind the cover of the truck, Bling
re-loaded as quick as possible. He was scared, and his breath was coming in
heaves. In all of his life, he could never have predicted he would never be
involved in such a scene as this. It was surreal, and it seemed almost as if he
were not really here. He couldn't be participating in such an outrageous
situation as this. He was a physical therapist, for Christ's sakes, not some
warrior with blood on his hands.
"Just keep going!
They're wearing down!" Zack ordered, as he ducked behind the vehicle.
Bling nodded and stepped around to cover Zack.
Zack figured they were
doing well. They had taken down two thirds of the men they had confronted. If
they could just last another five minutes, then they would be able to set the
explosives and haul ass out of here. Then this facility would be just a huge
hole in the ground, and they would be on step closer to getting Max bac-
"
ARRRRRRGGGGHHH," Bling screamed in agony and slumped to the ground. Zack
looked up from reloading and immediately hurried over to the other man,
dragging Bling behind the truck to shield him completely from their attackers.
Bling grabbed his stomach in pain and just as quickly pulled his hand away
before looking down in terrified horror. The torrential rain cleaned the blood
that was flowing freely from the grotesque wound that where Bling's hand had
briefly touched.
"Damn." Bling
sighed. He looked shocked and scared, yet at the same time, Bling seemed to
accept that it was his fate. He raised his eyes toward Zack, and spoke quietly
and clearly. "Get her back, Zack. You and Logan-get her back. Don't let
this be in vain." Bling choked out as blood bubbled through his esophagus
and spilled over. He forced himself to speak again. "Don't let them
win…" One single teardrop slid down his cheek, before the precipitation
washed it away. Bling rapidly blinked the rain and tears from his eyes two
times. After blinking the third time his eyes just stayed open and he didn't
blink anymore.
Zack swallowed hard as an
unbridled fury slammed into him. With a primal rage he hadn't known since he
was confined behind the walls of Manticore, he leapt and began firing on the
men in front of him, the men responsible for taking the life of the man who lay
on the pavement beside him. Unknowingly, Zack screamed animalistically as he
showered the men with deadly force. He didn't know how long he lasted there;
whether it was ten seconds or ten minutes, but he didn't stop until every last
one of the bastards were dead. These men who had destroyed so many lives in a
misguided sense of patriotism. Some of them had families waiting at home-wives
they would never kiss again; sons and daughters they would never hug goodbye;
mothers that would never have another opportunity to nag them about one thing
or another. Others were loners-they had no one waiting at home every night and
the closest family their fellow militants. Yet none of that mattered. Zack
didn't discriminate in whom he mercilessly killed. All he knew is that each on
of them represented everything he had hated about himself all of his
life. The fact that he was half human; the fact that he couldn't control his
body's actions half the time; the fact that half his 'family' was hiding
throughout the country, constantly running from a force that was always two
steps behind; the fact that he could never have a normal life; the fact
that the woman he loved was no doubt being tortured in the most inhumane ways
to become an ideal soldier again. And most importantly at the moment, -the fact
that the blood no longer pumped life into Bling. No, that blood only streamed
out into a puddle mixed with blood and water.
"You killed us! You
killed all of us." He cried out as he sprayed his deadly bullets into the
hapless bodies of the soldiers. What he was saying shouldn't have made sense,
but it did to Zack. In a way, he was dead before he was born-all of his
brothers and sisters were. All doomed to a life no one should live. He kept
shooting until he completely ran out of ammo, pausing only briefly in between
rounds to reload. All were dead long before that, but he kept on firing,
wanting to kill the ghosts of his past and present. He stopped only when he had
no bullets left to fire at all.
Finally, he took the small
detonator out of his pocket and gripped it tightly in his left hand. Then he
crouched down to pick up the lifeless body from the slippery concrete. He
wasn't going to leave a fellow fallen soldier like that. Bling deserved a
proper goodbye, not this. He unconsciously thanked the abilities that would
allow him to carry the weight back to the cabin without any difficulty.
"I'm sorry."
Zack said brokenly to the man he had known for less than two days, but had come
to respect for his loyalty and courage. It was the first time in a long
time-hell, maybe his whole life- that he could remember uttering those two
words. He walked across the parking lot with the weight of the man in his arms
and the weight of the world on his shoulders. Death permeated the soggy air,
and lightning and thunder continued to crash down around him. Lightning and
thunder were distant in the sky, and the rain eased up. The storm was coming to
an end. Like all things. Everything came to an end sooner or later.
At the gate they had
crashed through earlier, Zack pressed the button. The loud explosion didn't
faze him and he kept walking without looking back. The mission was complete,
but it had come with an expensive. He didn't even realize that the wetness on
his face was caused by his own tears, not the drops of rain that he blamed it
on.
________________________
Cindy paced nervously by
the window of the cabin. It had seemed like an eternity since she and Logan had
left Zack and Bling to deal with the soldiers, and she was getting worried.
Outside, the rain had stopped completely, but the sky was still gray and
threatening. It would probably be like this all day, but that wasn't uncommon
in Seattle.
She glanced over at Logan,
who was dazedly rolling himself back and forth in his wheelchair, lost in his
own world. Lord knew what the man was thinking about, but she knew he sure had
enough to ponder for the next decade. And that was with just thoughts about
Max. She had bandaged him up as much as she could, but didn't give him any
medicine. He no doubt still had some in his system, and if they guy never even
took a Tylenol for the rest of his life, she couldn't blame him. She walked
over to him and gave him a small smile.
"Original Cindy is
going to make some tea. Want any?" she asked softly. He didn't bother
looking up at her, and only responded by giving her an almost imperceptible
shake of his head. She sighed and walked to the kitchen. She had to keep
herself busy or she would go insane.
__________
Logan was thinking a
million things at once, yet no one thought was prevalent in his mind.
...Max. Still with
those monsters…
…Bling…Zack...
…How we gonna get her
back?
…Where is Zack and
Bling? They should be back by now…
…death…
…something's not right…
…oh, Max…I promise you,
when this is all over, you will never have to hide again..I'll figure it out
somehow…
The door opened, and
immediately Logan snapped out of his internal dwellings. Standing in the entry,
a drenched, stony faced Zack stood. In his arms was a lifeless body. Bling's
body.
"Oh my God."
Logan breathed. Zack said nothing and walked to the couch. Gently he lowered
Bling on it, not caring if any of the blood stained. Original Cindy returned to
the living room at that moment and promptly dropped her glass. She made a
helpless noise as her hand flew to her mouth.
"Nooooo," she
cried and stumbled back into the kitchen. She cut her foot on the glass of the
mug that had crashed to the floor in the process, but it seem to phase her in
her attempts to leave
"He's dead."
Zack told Logan flatly without looking at him. Then, as if sensing Logan might
want to be alone with his best friend, he walked back out the front entrance.
Slowly, Logan rolled over
to where Bling's body lay. The man's eyes were still open, though they were
unseeing and lifeless. Bling had sacrificed himself for Logan, and Logan had
never even told Bling that he was his best friend, his confidante, and his
motivator. Bling had been there for him when Logan had been so alone those
first months after he had become paralyzed. If not for Bling encouraging him
on, giving him confidence in himself and giving him hope, he would have no
doubt put a bullet through his brain and ended it all. But Bling had saved him.
He had saved him in so many ways, and now he had done it again. This time,
though, Bling hadn't been able to save himself.
"DAMN IT!" Logan
screamed at the top of his lungs, staring at Bling through watering eyes.
"DAMN YOU! I'M NOT WORTH IT!" He heaved in a breath and turned toward
the ceiling, as if speaking to God himself. "I'M NOT WORTH IT, DO YOU HEAR
ME?" He choked back a sob, then finished limply, "I'm not worth
it..." The tears were there, though Logan didn't allow them to spill over.
He reached his hand over to Bling's eyes and gently shut them. Then, he simply
sat by his best friend, not thinking, not speaking and barely breathing. Just
being. And it hurt, because just being was more than Bling would do ever again.
______________________________
…Max stared at the man.
He didn't know she was there. In fact, she wasn't really there. She knew she
was dreaming, she just wasn't sure of what. The man in front of her had spiky
blond hair, and cerulean blue eyes that were hidden behind silver rimmed
glasses and swollen eyelids. Whoever he was looked like he had spent the past
few days through some long, drawn out torture. He was black and blue all over,
and he was confined to a wheelchair. However, there was no denying he was
handsome-even given the givens. Something tickled at the back of her mind, but
she couldn't grasp on to whatever it was. She couldn't help feeling that she
knew him, somehow. Like they had met before in a previous lifetime or something
like that. She could almost remember. It was like she was reaching for the
memory, but she was reaching with the wrong hand.
The man was sad and the
reason was obvious. In front of him, on a couch, lay a thick, bald black man. A
man who was very obviously dead from a gunshot wound to the abdomen. The guy in
the wheelchair looked utterly hopeless and beaten-not just physically but
spiritually as well. She walked over to him and lay a hand on his shoulder, as
if to console him. He looked up at her-no through her- and whispered her name.
"Max?"
"Logan" she
rasped, and for one instant, she remembered everything. It all came back in a
rush, but just as quickly, it was gone. And once it was, she couldn't get it
back again.
She lifted her hand and
slowly backed away from the captivating stranger. He looked confused, but now
had a small hopeful glint in his eye. That hadn' t been there before. And he
was still staring through her. She was merely and observer in this lucid dream,
not a participant, but he seemed to sense her somehow. She couldn't seem to
back away quickly enough, yet she moved slow. She couldn't turn around. The
man's eyes drew her in, haunted her, held her prisoner. And she was powerless
in them...
She awoke in a sweat, bolting
upright in her rigid barrack. The darkness was thick, but her capabilities
didn't fail her. She was able to see everything with ease in the small room she
was in.
Something was trying to
tickle her memory, no doubt from dream she just had, but she was still
medicated enough not to have the strength or the will to dwell on it. She
lowered herself back down on her cot, struggling to remember the vision that
must have had a profound effect on her, but she couldn't. Sleep started to
beckon her again, and she was vulnerable to it because of the medication. She
embraced it, and as she sunk back into it's welcoming arms, she had a small
flicker of recognition.
"Logan." She
whispered the name aloud, but it the word held no meaning for her. Then, she
was under, and everything was forgotten.
The name Logan was now a
distant memory once again. One that had no room in X5-452's mind.
_______________________________
A/N: Alrighty, let me know
what you think. And review!! Please!! I love getting reviews. And I won't be
such a slacker on this story anymore.
And REMEMBER! I had Max
captured before the DA writers did, so THERE! *sticks tongue out* at writers
=P