1 Jaci's Note: Holy crap in a hand basket! I've written two things in less than 24 hours! Okay, same thing as Forever Young. If you want email alerts to when I've updated this or any of my other fics, then drop me a line at princessjaci@hotmail.com

Thanks to Cat for her help with the dialogue. I often don't mention how much I appreciate everything she's helped me with. If it weren't for her, I would have long since given up on writing. She helps me develop the plots to everything I write and shoots down the things that, though I love, can't work.

Jeanne deserves some props for correction my terrible grammar.

"Zack's *in* Niva? SML!!"

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5 Big Apple

Chapter 10

Ben was alone in the kitchen, rooting through his embarrassingly empty cupboards in hopes of finding something decent to eat when Max entered. He could hear the voices of Zack and Niva from the other room, and though he couldn't hear their words, he knew there was a rather heated debate going on. Unfortunately, he didn't have the enhanced hearing of the three transgenics in his home, so he'd been demoted to cooking for them.

At least, that was the plan till he was roughly spun around and slammed into the counter, causing him to drop the can of soup he had been holding. The back of his head smacked against a closed cupboard door with a sickening thud. And there was Max's smiling face. "'Morning Ben." She said flatly. "Sleep well?"

Ben rubbed the back of his head, fleetingly thinking of attempting escape before he looked up to see Logan standing in the doorway. He was blocking the door more than standing in it. He was trapped. Ben shot Logan a look that screamed for help, but only made it harder for Logan to hold back his laughter.

"Not very talkative, I see." Before Ben could blink, he found his face pressed painfully against the refrigerator. "I guess I'll just have to change your mind." Max's voice never lost that emotionless quality that was scarier than if she'd been screaming and throwing things. Being in the middle of five sisters, he could have handled that.

"Max." Ben said as calmly as he could, considering the death grip Max had on the back of his neck. "Let's just sit down and talk rationally."

"Okay, we'll sit." She barely moved a muscle, but Ben suddenly found himself staring at the ceiling and wandering how he'd managed to hit the exact same spot on his head twice.

Max pulled a chair from the table and dragged it over next to Ben. She sat down on it herself, then crossed her ankles and propped her feet up on Ben's stomach. "Okay, now we can talk rationally." Max paused for half a second. "You can think what you want about me. You can think whatever you want about my family. But you haven't lived our lives and you aren't going to be able to help them send us back. The only reason I'm not out disposing of your body right now is because you're a friend of Logan's. Now, you can tell me any and all information that you received from Manticore. Or, I can call Zack in. His specialty was interrogation and you've seen pictures of just what we're capable of."

"I was contacted by Dr. Elizabeth Renfro a little more than a week ago." Ben had barely begun before Max interrupted.

"Who the hell is that?" She snapped.

"The director of Manticore. She heads up the main Wyoming facility. She's been put in charge of finding a group of transgenics that escaped in '09." Ben smiled up at Max from the floor. "That would be you."

"What the hell happened to Lydecker?" Max muttered. "Go on." She ordered.

"As I already told you, I had been in South Africa for the Times, and I saw some pretty messed up stuff. Including what I now know to be a X6 assassinating a top ranking general. None of my photos turned out, but I knew what I saw, so I began calling in favors and gathering what information I could about Manticore. Which is basically nothing. But one day some storm troopers ran me off the road on my way home from work. To make a long story short, I had a pleasant little meeting with Dr. Renfro. She probably would have just killed first, asked questions later but since I lived in New York City she figured I might be of some use since they had just gotten information on a possible X5 in the city. After some negotiation, I agreed to help her detain the X5 in exchange for the chance to get inside Manticore."

"You realize that the moment she got Niva in a cage, you would have been nothing more than a lose thread? You would have been shot in the back of the head before you even made it out of the door." Max said slowly. "If you want to live through this, you need to understand that right now. A civilian means nothing to them. Less than nothing. A civilian that has information on them.there dead as soon as they've run out of their usefulness. These are some seriously dangerous people you've gotten yourself mixed up with."

"Aw, Max, it almost sounds like you care." Ben said with sugary sweet sarcasm.

"Like I said, you're a friend of Logan's." Max said emotionlessly. She slid off her chair then offered him a hand. Ben tentatively took it and was quickly pulled to his feet. She spoke so softly it was barely audible. "One last thing before I'm out of here. I need you to be honest with me here. If you still want to help Manticore, that's your decision. I just ask that you leave Logan out of it. In fact, I'll turn myself in if you'll let me get him out of here before anything goes down. Please, just do that for me." Before anything else could be said to make things worse, she turned on her heel and headed for the door.

That was all Ben needed to hear. "I'm not turning anyone in, Max." Max stopped dead in her tracks. "Not Zack, not Niva, and definitely not you."

Max didn't turn, but she stopped. "Yes, I did think the worst of you." Ben continued. "I only believed what they told me to believe without entertaining the idea that there was another side to this story. A journalists worst mistake." He said with a small smile.

"You thought we were nothing but cold blooded killers." Max finally turned to face him. "Why are you suddenly so sure we're not?"

Ben gestured towards the Christmas tree standing in the corner of his living room. "I'll show you." They crossed the room, Logan stepping out of their way in complete bewilderment and the strange turn this had taken. "Admittedly, I did think the worst of you." Ben picked up a small flat package wrapped in dark green paper and handed it to her. "Then I remembered this."

Max studied the paper, the tag, and the bow in turn before she flipped it over in her hand and carefully tore the paper. It was a photo frame, and when she turned it over in her hand it was all she could not to instantly laugh.

The picture was softly blurred, but the figures were still unmistakable. It was Logan and herself curled up together on his couch. It had been the night they'd gotten completely smashed, giggled through a proclamation of love, and then passed out on the couch. Even in their drunken oblivion, Ben managed to capture the complete mood of the moment in that photograph. "No wonder you've got a Pulitzer." Max murmured, never taking her eyes off the photograph.

"Two." Ben corrected, pointing to the awards displayed over his fireplace. "But that's beside the point. It took me a little while to get over the fact that you're an X5. Honestly, I was completely stunned. There was no way the woman I knew from that weekend in Seattle was capable of the things that Dr. Renfro said. Those hours that you were missing last night I spent trying to come to terms with the fact that it'd been you I had been trying to hunt down. Just before dawn this morning I was still stuck on it. But then I realized why it was so hard to accept. You weren't what I was trying to hunt down, because you aren't what they say you are. The only thing I regret was putting you all at risk because I wanted to get a good story. It's weak, I know, but there isn't words to describe how terrible I feel."

Max felt ridiculous for being as touched as she was. "Well, you should!" She said for a lack of anything else.

Ben laughed; hoping the worst of it had passed. "Well, can I ask a question?"

"I guess." Max said distractedly, still studying the picture in her hands.

"Show me your barcode?" Ben said with enough impishness to have Max's eyes fly up?

"Excuse me?" Max asked at length.

Ben's grin spread and he tapped the back of his neck. "Can I see?"

Max's mouth dropped open. With a final glare, she turned and walked away.

"Oh, come on Max!" Ben followed. "It's not like I haven't seen one before!"

"No." Max said as she crossed the room. "You want to see one so much, go whip out your pictures."

"It's not the same as the real thing!" Ben whined dramatically.