Tinga's Perspective

I sit on the floor looking at the guards as they circle around me. I guess I don't look like as much of a threat now. I could use this to my advantage. I look over to where Johndy is and somehow they were able to hold her down. There was six guys pinning her to the floor. The bag of charges is still against the wall where it was thrown. Knowing there can't be much time left, I try to evaluate the situation.

Even if we could leave the bag where it was and get out of here, which seemed highly unlikely, the blast would still do enough damage to this place to accomplish our mission. I look over at Johndy apologetically. This had been a trap, and we fell for it.

I'm going to get her out of here if I can. There is no sense in both of us dieing here today. I'll distract the guards, and get them off of her while she makes a run for it. I just hope it works.

Kladu's Perspective

We run down the halls to where the baby is supposed to be. I know she's not going to be there; Jace is going to want to search the place until she finds her. I know Jace won't leave with out her baby, but I don't know how to tell her about my past, about how I knew the baby wouldn't be in that room. Jace trusted me with who she was, and I didn't return her trust. As she picks the lock to the room, I wait, scared and afraid of how she will view me once she realizes the truth.

When she opens the door, I can see in her eyes how bad she is hurting when she realizes we've been tricked. She attacks a tank in the middle of the room and sends it crashing to the floor.

I walk up behind her and tell her, "Your baby isn't here Jace, but I know where she is."
Jace looks at me with confusion and fear, "Where is my baby?" she asks.

I tell her everything about the Fabunni and my past. It doesn't matter if she believes me or not at this point. All that matters is that we blow the place up and get out of here safely. I can tell she's upset and she doesn't believe me. She turns and breaks another tank. She sends her fist through the side of it. She jumps out of the way as all the water inside comes gushing out. She moves quick enough that she doesn't get herself wet. I step out of the way barely avoiding the spray.

With out looking back, she asks me why I was here if I was one of them.

I answer, "Because I love you." I didn't mean to say it; it just sort of slipped out. I turned away from her and started setting the charges. Did I really love her? Was that really the reason why I couldn't complete my mission and why I had the tattoo removed? I tried to tell myself that it couldn't be true, but I could feel my heart aching with pain. I pushed the emotion out of my mind. Now wasn't the time to be having this conversation with her, even if it is true, which I'm sure it's not. Right now, I'm going to get her out of here, then I'm going to help her get her baby back; I don't want to see her hurting like this.

I turn to her and say, "I know where your baby is, and we can save her. You have to trust me. I may have been one of them, but when I met you and your child, things changed. I couldn't hurt you; I failed my mission and vowed to never return. I removed my tattoo so I would never again feel obligated to listen to the orders Ziya gave me. Let's set the charges and get out of here."
Jace nods her head and takes the charges out of the bag. I can tell she's upset, but I can also sense an understanding in her. She knows what it's like to want out. She escaped; and hopefully, I will be able to also. The Fabunni know I betrayed them, and after all this is over, if I make it out alive, they will come after me. I'll be the next target on their hit list. For some reason, this doesn't bother me. I gave my whole life to them, and finally I'm realizing the freedom I can have. I don't need them to survive; I need a family, and Jace's siblings seemed like they would be willing to adopt me.

After we set the charges, we leave the room and begin to trace our path back to the entrance. I hear someone cry out in pain. I look at Jace and see her tense up. She runs down the hall followed by me. She's much faster than I am, and I do my best to stay with her, but eventually she out runs me. When I finally catch up, I see her around the corner looking down into another room. I stop and catch my breath. My heart is racing; I don't know why. It's either because I'm out of breath, or I'm still running on adrenalin from telling Jace I love her. I tried to shake it from my head, but for some reason, I realized it was true; I was just afraid of what would happen.

Jace looks back at me, and I can tell she's in distress. She motions for me to come to her. I slowly creep up to the edge of the balcony. Before me I see at least thirty soldiers dead and a whole lot more in the surrounding area, not to mention the ones holding Johndy down. Tinga is injured and nursing her leg which appears to have been shot. This must have been what Jace was upset about. Both her sisters were in trouble, and we only have six minutes to get out of here. We're cutting it entirely to close.

Just when I'm about to tell Jace my plan, I hear guns firing. Syl and Kurt have shown up to help us out. I breathe a sigh of relief knowing they have taken out a large number of the guards. Johndy has been released off the floor and Tinga is up fighting again. Jace and I jump down off the balcony. I land hard, but I'm not injured. I pull out my sword and face my first opponent. He rushes at me like a savage running into battle. I duck out of his way cut his head off with my razor sharp blade. With it dripping in blood, I use it to cut the hand off a guard who is trying to shoot Tinga. He cries out in pain as he tries grab his now invisible hand. The guards attack me prepared to die, and I'm going to make sure they do just that. One comes up from behind me. I make a cut into his chest causing him to fall forward onto my sword. In response, my sword sliced through his body cutting him into two.

I could have stayed and fought the guards all night, taking one life after another, but when Jace came up to me, I knew it was time to go. The explosives would be gong off soon, and if we didn't hurry up, we'd be caught in the explosion. As we take off running down the hall, I ask Jace, "Where is Max and Zack?"

Tinga's Perspective

Syl and Kurt couldn't have come at a better time. Just when I thought I would die trying to escape, they show up and help us out along with Jace and Kladu. When I see Kladu jump down, I try to work my way over to him. All of a sudden, my anger is directed towards him. I walk in his direction killing guard after guard. As I do so, everything is focused on Kladu. He's going to pay for what he did. I know Kurt gave the order for us to get out of here, but I wasn't going to leave with out killing Kladu first. Just as I'm about ready to attack, Jace goes up towards him and tells him we have to get moving. After all that has happened, she still doesn't know, or doesn't believe he is a traitor. Jace looks up at me and I can see in her eyes she cares for him. Her eyes plead with me to let this go for now. Maybe she knows something I don't. Either way, I'll find out what is really going on.

I follow her out of the room and down the hall. We should have seen Max and Zack by now. They were supposed to meet up with us somewhere around here. I don't worry to much thinking they might have gone ahead to the car, but when Kladu says something, my heart stops. What if they ran into the same thing we did?

Max's Perspective

When I hear the sound of a gun firing, I know immediately it was Logan's clone, and he was shooting at Zack. I couldn't let him kill Zack; Zack is my brother, my friend. I race towards Logan's clone with furry and anger. I try to knock the gun out of his head, but it is no use. He's to quick, he's faster than me. I hit nothing but air. He puts the gun back in his jacket as he strikes back at me with his fist, I barely duck out of the way and block him. Then he jumps into the air and kicks me. I was able to block him, but I still go flying away. The force he uses to attack is unlike anything I have ever fought against. I land hard on top of Zack. My stomach clenches in fear.

Even when I was fighting the Red's I was not this scared. Logan's clone starts to walk over towards me as he pulls out his gun one more time. I quickly roll over behind Zack and use his body to shield me for the time being. I didn't want Logan's clone to see when I was going to attack. As I get into position, I feel Zack's gun sitting on the floor in front of me. I stare up at my new enemy who is slowly approaching. Zack begins to mumble something. I try to as I breathe a sigh of relief knowing he is still alive, but my enemy hears him. He pulls out his gun and turns off the safety as he points it low. My heart stops when I realize if he pulls the trigger now, it will hit Zack in the head killing him for sure. I have to do something; I can't let Zack die like this. Slowly and instinctively, I reach to grab the gun in front of me.

The clone says, "Die! Traitor!"

He moves to shoot the gun. I pull up Zack's gun and fire.

Logan's clone drops to the ground in front of me as the bullet enters his brain and steals his life. Still in shock for what I did, I throw Zack's gun to the side of the hall way. When Eva was killed, I vowed never to touch a gun for the rest of my life. Now, I just killed the only part of Logan that was still alive, and worse yet, I did it with the thing I hate most.

I pull Zack towards me as I cry. I'm not sure whether I'm crying for killing Logan's clone, or almost loosing Zack; maybe it's a little bit of both.

I look into Zack's eyes and see the love in them that I never could before. Zack goes to speak to me; I try to stop him, but this time he doesn't listen, and I give in knowing I'm the reason he almost died tonight.

"You chose me over Logan Max? I didn't think you would ever do that." he said, "Maxie, I love you."

Those words stuck in my mind, "I love you." Did he really mean it, or was he just having an emotional breakdown. As my eyes searched his for the answers I wanted, I continued to cry inside. If what he is saying is true, and he has no reason to lie, all this time, there was a man who loved me, a man who I continually hurt because I wouldn't let go of the past. I had been blind, and tonight I almost lost him.

Zack's Perspective

I couldn't believe Max chose me over Logan's clone. I felt an overwhelming amount of love towards her. I search her eyes for any sign that she may love me too. I see fear in her eyes; it's not fear for loosing me, it's fear for not excepting the truth. I stop crying inside knowing she understands. For one moment, I won her heart. If only this moment could last a life time.

The desire I have to kiss her becomes to much to bare. I try to sit up so I can pull her towards me. To feel her lips on mine just once would make all this pain worth it. Knowing that in the end, her heart belongs to no one but me. The room starts to spin. I don't have the strength to move. I look at her lips and her eyes allowing my last moments of life to be with her perfection.

Max's Perspective

Another tear slowly drips down the side of my cheek as I whisper to Zack, "You've continually risked your life for me, and I would never allow myself to understand why until now. I'm sorry I didn't listen; I was afraid to let go. I didn't want to get hurt again; I didn't want to fall in love."

I look into Zack's understanding eyes as he starts to slip into another world. I can tell he loves me, and he always will.

He strains to tell me, "You have to get out of here; you have to take care of our siblings. Leave me behind and go."

I don't try any longer to choke back my tears, I just begin sobbing to him.

"I can't leave you. You're going to get up now, and we'll get you out of here." I cry to him.

He simply whispers back, "You don't have time to carry me out of here. Leave now and remember. I love you Max!"

Zack's Perspective

She didn't tell me she loves me, but I can tell she does. She's not holding back her emotions. I want her to take me out of here, I don't want to be left behind, but I know it's the only way she'll make it out in time. Besides, I don't want her to die, I want her to live her life and enjoy it. Even if she does get me out of here, I'm dying, I won't be able to stay with her. I won't be able to fulfill her desires.

All that matters it that I know she loves me in return. I tell her one last time I love her knowing I'm slipping into another world.

I had no idea emotions could be so powerful. They aren't are weakness, they're are strength.

Max's Perspective

I watch him close his eyes and go limp as the life-force leaves his body.

I cry out "NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

I pull him closer and start to cry harder. I start to realize who Zack really is to me. He's always been more than a brother, he's always been more than a friend. We had bonded at a level few could reach. I know it wasn't the same with him as it was with Logan, but the love was there. Zack wasn't my soul mate, but he was someone whom I could have loved. I blink as a stream of tears fall down my face. I pull Zack closer to me hugging him, praying to the blue lady that somehow he would come back to life. Once again, I didn't realize how much I loved a person until it was to late. I reached down to kiss him knowing I didn't have much time left. My lips touched his, unresponding, lifeless body. If only I could have had one real kiss.

I hear movement and look up to see a bunch guards in front of me. I don't even try to move as one of them pulls the trigger. I just reach out to Zack and give him one last hug.