Shadows of the Past

Chapter 7: The World Can Wait…

  Okay, So I planned on this chapter being long, but not as long as it's turning out to be so I'm breaking up the chapter into 2 chapters.  So technically this is part one of chapter 7,,,,not that you really care though, as long as I post it right?  Well yeah, I'm still aiming to have this done before Christmas, but you never know with finals coming up and all…but I'm trying.  Anywho, Kat as always, you rock thanks for the input!  DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW…otherwise I'll think you think this sucks….so please review for me…thanks a million to everyone who has…you're the best! J

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          "You're her brother?" Logan asked in shock.

          "Yeah, in a way I guess. She was in my unit, I was her CO." Zack said coolly.

          "Wait," Logan said as a thought struck him, "Why are you here?" As much as Logan wanted Max to find her past he didn't want to lose her either. And if Zack was here to take Max away; he wouldn't give her up without a fight.

          "Lydecker has been sniffing around a little too much for comfort. If he finds Max, she's in more trouble than you can imagine. I just hope she was smart enough not to get caught." Zack said pacing back and forth in front of Logan, his irritation growing.

          "How can you expect her to do-or not do that? She probably wouldn't recognize Lydecker if she saw him. As for not getting caught, she doesn't know that someone's out there trying to do any more that take her money." Logan argued stepping in Zack path.

          ""What are you talking about? Max is a soldier, she always has been. Of course she knows what's going on with Lydecker and that he's been after us for the past ten years. She's not stupid." Zack stalked to the window to see if Max was near by.

          "But she doesn't remember any of that! She has amnesia. Max doesn't remember anything of her childhood before the age of 10." Logan nearly shouted. Slowly Zack turned to face Logan, his face considerably paled.

          "What?" he whispered.

          "She doesn't remember anything Zack. That's why she came to me. I've been helping to find her past. She was being black-mailed and her family was threatened. In order to protect them she had to know who she was up against so she came to me. I have a friend with some connections, that I used, we ended up hacking into government files and finding Manticore. Anything she does know about Manticore and what went on there is from what she read. Other than that…." Logan trailed off.

          "So she doesn't remember me or the others, or what they did to us when we were only kids?" Zack asked his fear and concern growing rapidly,

          "No." Logan shook his head,

          "She's in more trouble than I thought. We have to find her, now! It may already be too late," Zack said intently to Logan.

          "What's going on here? What's wrong? Zack tell me!" Logan insisted taking hold of Zack's arm. Instinctively, Zack threw Logan off of him like a flea, crashing Logan into the wall. Everything flared red in Logan's mind upon impact. Fighting for consciousness, Logan carefully rose to his feet. Zack felt awful for what he had just done but there were more pressing matters at hand and he didn't have time to explain, especially to Logan. He didn't know the man let alone trust him.

          "Zack," Logan said getting his jacket from the back of the couch, "I'm coming with you whether you like it or not," he added seeing the disapproving look on the young man's face,

          "Fine. But we're taking your car." Zack said walking out the door. "And I'll explain the rest on the way." He rolled his eyes and tried to cover the reluctant tone in his voice.

_-_

          "So they've already gotten three of you?" Logan asked, his heart breaking for the young man beside him.

          "Bryn, Ben, and Tinga. That I know of. That's just out of the ones who escaped. All of the ones who never got out are probably already dead. If they hurt Max I'll never forgive myself." Zack muttered looking out the window into the black night.          

          "What is about Max? Why is she so important to you?" Logan asked hoping that he wouldn't regret asking. His head still hurt from colliding with the wall early that night.

          "My entire unit is important to me!" he barked, making Logan flinch.

          "I just the feeling she was, I dunno, special to you." Logan pressed not wanting to let the topic drop. Zack's face softened after a moment and he leaned back into the seat.

          "She was the baby of the family. But she was one of the strongest. Not only physically, but her will and independence,,,,, She was special. I just hope that she hasn't lost that fire." Zack shook his head, irritated that he had let his feelings get in the way for a moment. "But that's not important right now. We just need to get her out before it's too late,"

          "We'll get her out." Logan said taking a right turn into an open field as Zack had directed. "And, the fire is still there. I have never met a more determined, independent, and caring woman in my life. It sounds like Max is still the same person at the core, nothing will change that."

          "Go strait for a mile the take a left and park in the cove." Zack told Logan trying ignoring what he had just been told. But no matter how much he tried, he would love Max until the day he died and would do anything for her; even if it meant giving up his life to save hers. Ever since he was a kid, Zack had known that Max was more than a soldier or a sister to him. It wasn't until he  was older and lost track of her that he knew it was love. The only way he knew how to deal with that was to protect her at all costs, and that was what he planned to do.

          "When we get inside, follow me and keep your mouth shut. I don't know how heavy the security is, or exactly where anything is because this isn't Manticore. It's just the warehouse that they moved to after the agency collapsed. So I can't have any distractions."

          "Ok. I won't make a sound."

_-_

          Slowly Max opened her eyes, blinking a few times to bring her surroundings into focus. She tried to move to a more comfortable position but found that she couldn't move. Max was locked down onto a large metal table that was on a slight incline. Her hands were hand-cuffed behind her and then attached to the table by another lock. Her ankles were also locked down to the table, making sure that there would be no chance of her moving. Looking to the left and the right, Max saw nothing but bare walls and a door. All the good stuff must be behind me.  Max tried to convince herself that this was just a dream, that she'd wake up any minute and be back at Logan's. But the throbbing pain in the back of her head was the unwanted voice of reason telling her that this was definitely real.

          "Well, well, well, looks who's awake." A bitter and aged voice said from behind her. Max whipped her head around to see who the voice, praying that it would be a friendly face. But for some reason, the voice did nothing but strike fear throughout her entire soul.

          "Who are you?" Max asked finally finding the strangers eyes.

          "What? You don't remember me? 452, I'm hurt." He mocked. Max looked at the man before her intently, trying to place his face with a name.

          "Lydecker….?" She whispered as the pieces came together, Oh God, if that's Lydecker then where am I? 

          "That's better."

          "it was you the whole time? The phone call…the black mail…"Max said shaking her head in confusion.

          "Please, that pathetic technician McIntire was the poor slob begging for money. However, he did make finding you much easier. You were a hard one to find…"he trailed off lost in his thoughts.

          "What do you want? Why am I here?" Max asked, fighting back tears. She was terrified, but she'd be damned if she let him know it.

          "452, you should know the answer to that." Lydecker said looking down at her, slightly confused by her demeanor.

          " Yeah, well I don't. If you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly on top of things here. It's called amnesia. Apparently whatever the hell it was that you did to me as a kid screwed me up royally cause I don't remember it." Max said looking her captor dead in the eye.

          "Amnesia? Interesting," he took a step closer and reached out his hand to brush the hair out of her face. "Well, that could be why it was so hard to get you out in the open." He said letting his hand linger a little too long on her cheek. "Perhaps our efforts were a bit extreme."

          "Wait, it was you!?" Max spat pulling her head out of Lydecker's reach, "You were the one who killed the best friend I ever had and you killed my family? It was you the whole time."

          "It was a necessary tactic. They knew too much, and couldn't be trusted. It was a security risk that could not be taken."

          "Why do I think it was more than that?" Max replied, her heart breaking because of the truth. Now she knew that it was her fault that everyone she loved was dead. It didn't matter how many times Logan said it wasn't anymore, because in reality – her family was dead because of her,

          "You always had a strong will 452, and it needed to be broken." He confessed coldly.

          "First of all my name is Max. Stop calling me 452." Max said wishing she could  just get out of there. "My will needed to broken?" How much do you think one person can take?" Squeezing her eyes shut, Max took a deep breath to calm her emotions.

          "Well, you did break my will a long time ago, but you also pissed me off. That was your mistake, cause now my will is stronger now more then ever. There is no way in hell I am gonna let you get away with this."

          "Which is exactly why we need to take care of you now." Lydecker said unaffected by Max's statement.

          "And how do you plan on doing that?"

          "It's simple really." A woman said walking in the door. "It's nice to see you 452."

          "And you would be?" Max asked audacity dripping from her words.

          "Dr. Renfro. And it is a simple process actually. All it takes is one injection…" she said picking up a syringe and tapping it clear out any air bubbles. Max's eye's widened with fear as she began to understand why she was here.

          "So you're just gonna kill me? With no explanation? I think I deserve that much." Max said hoping by herself some time.

          "Are you scared 452?" Renfro asked cupping Max's face in her hand, with a sick smile on her face.

          "I just don't understand why I'm so important to you? I don't remember whatever it is that you're trying to protect or cover up. All I know is that I was a kid who grew up with a few special skills. Other than that I am in the dark."

          "Max, you have no idea how special you are." Lydecker interjected.

          "Did you take the sample yet?" Renfro asked Lydecker suddenly reminded of the necessary blood sample.

          "No. I, uhh, I forgot." He answered a bit embarrassed by his error.

          "Well it's a good thing that I asked before began the process isn't it?" she glared at the man across from her.

          What are they talking about? And why do they need a blood sample? I really don't like the sound of this though. Just breathe Max. Breathe, You have to stay calm if you want to get out of this alive. Just stay calm and keep them talking.

          "Why are you doing this?" Max asked as the vile filled with her blood sample.

"Back in the early part of the century Manticore made a terrible mistake while mapping out the DNA of the perfect soldier. It was something that none of us ever expected: independence and free will. When it became obvious that each of our prototypes had these unwanted qualities, attempts to crush the will and independence were made resulting in the escape of you and eleven of your siblings. At that point the slate was whipped clean and a new improved prototype was created to replace all of the anomalies such as yourself." Renfro explained emotionlessly.

"Soon after the next generation of the perfect soldiers were created three of your fellow escapees burned the DNA lab to the ground after three others were captured and disassembled. We lost all of our research when Manticore burned to the ground. Because of these three." Lydecker said hitting a button that revealed a hidden room where three people where being held in large cylinders filled with a light blue liquid. It didn't seem likely that they were alive. It was a gruesome sight and Max had no choice but to look.    

"Bryn?" Max whispered softly her mind running wild with memories of the faces before her. But not truly understanding what was happening to her, "Ben? Tinga?" Tears sprung to Max's eyes as her heart broke for the people she wished she could remember. All she knew was that she loved them.

"So you do remember them?" Lydecker asked seeing her reaction.

"No. I wish I did. But I don't - I can't." A tear slid down Max's cheek as the room was closed off from her view once again.

"But one of you, has the DNA we have  been trying to create since the beginning of Manticore. A soldier with no junk DNA of any kind. Each combination of acids and bass' had a specific purpose and the removal one of could be disastrous. The only problem is we don't know which one of you it is." Renfro continued.

"That's why we need the blood" Lydecker added placing the vile in a cooling container.

"Okay, but what's that other thing?" Max said nodding towards the syringe laying on a metal tray.

"This is what's going to clean up the mess Manticore made decades ago. This is what brought your 'friends' here to their current condition."

"You mean dead." Max offered sarcastically.

          "You could say that." Lydecker said holding back a smile as Renfro reached for the syringe again. Max couldn't pull her from the prupleish gel within its sealed compartment.  

          "It's a great little invention. It was specifically designed to unravel transgenic DNA." Renfro beamed with pride when she spoke of the serum she held in her hand.

          "And you're gonna use that on me?" Max asked trying to hide the fear in her voice.

          "Of course. You are a transgenic. We cant' have any mistakes running loose out there. They're dangerous. And unpredictable." Renfro said flatly,

          "But why?" Max began to panic. She didn't want to this way. Hell she didn't want to die at all. "I'm not a threat to you. I don't remember anything and I'm sure I could forget all this too. After the past few days I've had I could repress this easy. Please, I'm begging you, don't do this." Max begged her fear showing through  in her tears, now freely flowing.

          Renfro looked over to Lydecker with a devious grin that didn't bring Max much comfort.

          "What do you think Deck? Shall we try it out?"

          "Max always was a special one, so why not try it out, It could work better than expected on her." Lydecker's grin grew as he spoke.  Renfro put down the syringe on the way to the cooling container that was holding her blood sample. Carefully, she picked up a vile and a filled a clean syringe with the dark purple liquid.

          "What's that?" Max whispered, watching Renfro clean a portion of her arm with an alcohol swab.

          "This, my dear is merely a preparation for tomorrow morning. You see, normally the serum would take about an hour or so to finish 'unzipping' the transgenic sequence. But with this it preps the DNA to be unraveled cutting the completion time by 75%." Slowly, Renfro injected the serum into Max's blood stream as tears flowed down her face.

          "Please, don't." Max begged, even though she knew that it was too late.

          "I think that it should be effectively spread throughout her body by 8 am, don't you Deck?"

          "That sounds about right." Lydecker flipped the latch that held the lock in place and roughly pulled Max's hands off of the hook and pulled her forward, then did the same with her ankles. Taking her off of the table, Lydecker dragged Max towards the open cell that was behind her.

          "I guess that means we'll see you in the morning." He said unlocking the handcuffs and throwing her into the empty cell. "Sweet Dreams."

          "I hope that this has been as memorable for you as it has been for us." Renfro said, watching Max rub her sore wrists, through the bars.

          "Yeah, it's been a night I wish I could forget." Max mumbled as she watched The pair walk across the room to the cooling container and put a vile in the large refrigerator near by.   What is that?  Max listened closely trying to decipher what they saying. Unfortunately her super-hearing-ease-dropping-skills were out of practice and she could only make out one word: antigen.

          If that's the antigen in there then all I have to do is get out of this cell and I'm ok as far as the serum goes… But how am I going to get out of here? 

          Max sat down on the cold cement ground and leaned back against the wall. With her knees pulled up and her elbows resting on them, Max held her head in her hands to avoid the large painful bump on the back of her head.

          Why did I have to go for that damn walk? If you just stayed put for once in your life you would still be safe. But no, why would I ever just stay put and think when I'm inside? Always have to go for walks to think…Oh God, Logan. He doesn't know. He's gonna be worried sick when I don't come back. He's gonna think I just left or something. I wish I could somehow get a hold of him, just so he knows that I'm okay. Well, I'm not okay, but he doesn't need to know that. All he needs to know is that I'm okay and he doesn't have to worry about me.

          Logan, I know you can't hear me but maybe somehow you'll know I'm thinking about you. I can't thank you enough for everything you've done. I have only known you for less than a week and you have become so much more than a friend to me. I'll never forget you ever. You'll be in my heart for the rests of my life. No matter how short or long that turns out to be. I think Noah knew before I did about how much you mean to me. Noah liked you Logan, and he trusted you. He told me that he trusted you with my heart. He's never trusted anyone like that. I thought I was in love once, with this guy named Darren. Lets' just say it wasn't love and it ended badly. There's no way it could be when how I feel about you is so much more than….I don't know. Is it even possible to fall in love with a total stranger in a matter of 5 days? Especially, when I was dreading staying with a cocky, self absorbed rich boy. A rich boy you are but a far cry from the self absorbed ass I expected. You're the most compassionate and selfless man I have ever known. I haven't so safe with anyone since Noah.

My world caved in on itself tonight and you were right there with me and you didn't have to be, but you were there just the same. I swear it feels like all of my fears and worries and problems just disappear when I'm in your arms. Nothing can hurt me when I'm with you. I know it sounds stupid and I am probably crazy for thinking all of this and hoping you can hear me. To you I'm probably just some kid, but the again maybe I'm not. I wish that I could at least say goodbye to you. There are so many things I have to say, most of them I don't even know yet.

But, they're gonna kill me Logan. All because they screwed up and can't take responsibility for their actions. I'm going to die because of what I am, what they made me for, not what I turned out to be. They gave me this serum that's gonna make the DNA unravel faster. I hope it doesn't hurt too badly. I just wish I wasn't going to be alone tomorrow morning, this morning actually. So, I'll probably never see you again Logan. But please, know I'll never forget you.

          *And if this should all end tomorrow , the way they want it to, all our best laid plans and all our typical fears….Am I running out of lifetimes? This isn't the first time something will end in tears. About tomorrow I can't imagine-how am I supposed to know how this will all go down?*  Jeeze, I'm not even making sense to myself anymore…

Max sighed deeply looking down at her watch. "Well, only another seven hours left until d-day. What can I do with the rest of my life in a lovely 8x10 cell?" Max rose to her feel restless,

          "I've got to get outta here." Max mumbled looking down at the lock on the cell door. "Yeah don't know how to pick this one. It's a little too complex for me." She said pacing back and forth down the length of the cell.

          "Argh!" she screamed kicking the cell door with all her might.

_-_

"Did you hear that?" Logan asked Zack stopping momentarily to listen closer. "Max?!"

_-_

          Max stopped dead in her tracks to listen closer. What was that? Logan? No it can't be. Can it? 

_-_

"Max!?" Logan called again, as they made their way down the abandoned corridor.

          "I thought you said that you'd be quiet." Zack snapped. "And we don't even know if she's down her. You could be drawing unnecessary attention to us."

          "She's down here. I can feel it." Logan stated. Zack rolled his eyes, holding back numerous comments on the tip of his tongue.

          "Okay, come on." Zack quickened his paced down the hallway.

_-_

          That was definitely Logan. But how did he find me?

          "Logan!" Max called running over to the bars, trying to see where he was.

          "She's over here!" Logan called back as he reached the bars that separated him from Max. "Max." He whispered taking her face in his hands through the bars.

          "Logan…How…" Max asked touching his shoulders to make sure he as real.

          "Move." A young man, a stranger to Max nudged Logan out of the way so he could crack the lock. The instant that it was broken Logan rushed into the cell as Max threw herself into his open arms.

          "Are you okay?" He asked pulling back to look at her face.

          "Yeah, I'm fine." Logan stroked her hair before pulling her into a hug.

          "You sure."

          "Yeah. I'm okay." Max told Logan with a small smile to reassure him. Nodding, Logan kissed her forehead happy that she was safe and with him once again.

          "Ummmm, I hate to break up this love-fest, but we really should get out of here while we have the chance." Zack broke in. Logan turned around suddenly remembering they weren't alone and stepped back to Max's side.

          "Logan?" Max said, her eyes questioning him as to who this man was with him.

          "Yeah, uh, Max, this is your brother, Zack." Logan said cautiously, unsure of how she would react.  

          "Maxie?" Zack asked his voice softened greatly, actually  looking at the woman that was his sister for the first time.

          "Yeah, that's me. Uh, nice to meet you Zack." She replied nervously, extending her hand to him. The pain of Max not remembering him was apparent in Zack's eyes but he did his best not to let it show. A soldier never lets his emotions get in the way of the mission.

          "Well, we should get out of here." He said turning on his heal and walking out of the cell, bringing his bar-code into Max's view. Suddenly, hundreds of memories flooded back, flashing in Max's mind like a movie, and everything began to make sense,

          "Hey, you okay?" Logan asked concerned by the look on her face,

          "Yeah," Max said shaking her head to clear her head. "come on, I wanna get out of here." She said forcing a smile.

          "Okay."

          "But I need to do something first." Max added seeing the panel that hid her brother and sister from view.  

Well there you go part one….the *is part of a song by Over the Rhine…more or less…..I'll have the next part posted soon…..REVIEW!!!!….pathetic I know but review the pathetic girl…..lol