Chapter 19

Max stood at the kitchen counter, her foot tapping rhythmically along with a tune only she could hear. She'd unearthed a lone blueberry muffin that Zane had somehow overlooked. She was having the best time gloating, sitting across from him, peeling away the paper and taking one long, slow, savoring bite.

Zane stared long and hard. "You are such a bitch." He finally said calmly. He became even more perplexed when Max just smiled. Then, in an act of kindness that had never once been witnessed in their house, Max broke off half of her muffin and offered it to him. Zane stared at it numbly. Max...offering him food... "I'm not taking that!" Zane exclaimed, shoving Max's had away like she was offering him rat poison. In his mind, the chances of that muffin containing rat poison were rather high, seeing as that would be the only was Max would be offering it to him.

Max shrugged, dropping the half back onto her plate, and settled back to concentrating on the rare and blessed silence that was settled over the house.

It was just past ten AM, the sky dark and dreary, as rain-bringing clouds had moved in during the last few hours. For those in their family that didn't need sleep, this late morning start was just a waste of time. Jhondie muttered about it in the shower, unlike Zack who was still stumbling around his room searching for the light switch. Her thoughts were of the upcoming interrogation of Phillip Costello's accountant in San Francisco.

Back when they still lived in the barracks, when it was time for a mission, if they didn't jump out of their cots and stand at attention in half a second, there would be hell to pay. Now, poor Zane lost the bet, and would be the poor soul that would have to spend a half hour fighting Syl out of bed. And by fighting, that meant arming himself. Krit was awake, but printing off the list of information Max and Zane needed to memorize on the trip down the coast.

Times had certainly changed. When the first groups of Manticore transgenics had been created, their sole purpose had been to be the ultimate soldiers. They were designed to kill. They had FBI for investigation, CIA for intelligence, NSA for national security, and DEA for drug enforcement. Manticore was like the clean up agency, used to eliminate a threat and still keep political face.

When the current administration came into power, the first action after learning of Manticore, the Area 51 of the 21^st century, was to issue an ultimatum. If they didn't make there operations streamlined and as close to legitimate as possible when dealing with genetically engineered armies, then Manticore would cease to exist. So, training was changed, and Manticore became what appeared to be a government funded investigation agency.

In a way, that's what they were. Only difference was a lot of times, the investigated went permanently missing instead of on trial or dead like with the CIA or FBI. They might be dead, but the Fivers and Sixers were a lot better at hiding the bodies than government brats.

It gave the X5s far superior minds a chance to work a little harder, gathering evidence rather than confirmed kills.

Phillip Costello was one of their pet projects. Just under seven moths into the investigation, they were closer than ever to proving the old bastard was responsible for over a dozen deaths. It was difficult to continue the investigation when the godson of the suspect was running around base, not to mention carrying on a relationship with one of the investigators. It helped that Costello never used the same alias twice. While Cale would be going along today to witness Max and Zane's strong interrogation skills, he would never put together `Uncle Phillip' with Robert Staub.

Krit keyed in the security passwords and locked the computer up before grabbing the papers out of his printer and stepping out of his room. Zack stepped out of his room across the hall. They each paused for a moment, inclined their heads slightly in acknowledgment, and then moved on. Krit probably got along best with Zack out of all his brothers because they had a perfect understanding of each other. When they worked on missions together, the extent of their conversations mainly consisted of what toppings they wanted on their pizza.

Krit followed Zack downstairs. After slapping the papers down in front of Zane, he moved in front of the coffee maker, and scowled as Zack poured the last into his own mug. Like any good X, he was caffeine junkie. Damn it, they were stopping on the way to get some coffee. They would stop if he had to take some people out. It didn't matter that they were his family; they were talking about coffee here.

Zane glanced at the clock on the wall. "I'm going to go try and wake Syl up." He said mournfully.

"Good luck." Zack said sympathetically.

They sat in silence for moments after Zane left the room. A loud crash and some very audible cursing, Zane's yelp of pain, then the echo a slamming door was heard throughout the house.

"So how was your night?" Zack asked quietly, sitting down at the table. Max looked up quickly, gauging what Zack really meant. When his face remained natural, she sighed in relief.

"It was fine." She answered. She didn't try and feed him the stuff she'd fed Zane and Syl. It wouldn't be nearly as funny because Zack would drop everything to do a hunt. Syl and Zane would privately plot, and that she could take care of. Zack throwing a over-protective fit was something she wouldn't mind avoiding.

"That's good." Zack said, blinking drowsily into his coffee. They glanced up, bemused, as Zane stormed back into the room, swearing under his breath. He pulled a tray of ice out of the freezer and tossed it onto the counter with a disgusted oath.

"What's the matter?" Zack asked, barely holding back the grin.

"She stabbed me..." Zane muttered.

"If she was fast enough to stab you when she's not fully awake, you deserve it." Krit commented.

Zane held up his hand where four, long scratches were lightly bleeding. "She stabbed me with a fork!" He said. "Why she was sleeping with a fork, I'll never know, but I shake her shoulder, next thing I know she's going for the face!"

Krit and Zack politely tried to suppress their amusement. Max, on the other hand, was a different story. Zane paused in dumping ice onto the zip-lock to make a threatening face after Max's bark of laughter. "Don't say a word!" He snarled.

"Sad thing is, she probably went to sleep with that fork in her hand knowing you'd be the one who would try to wake her up."

Max was spared Zane's biting reply when the kitchen door swung open. Logan stepped through to door, brushing the light mist off the shoulders of his jacket. The only sound heard was the light smacking of ice together as Zane bundled up the dishtowel and slapped it onto his hand.

"Logan." Zack finally acknowledged, finally breaking the uncomfortable silence. Zane continued to glare, but Logan barely noticed as some one was usually was glaring at him, and it wasn't anything new.

"Good morning." Syl announced brightly from the doorway. It was surprising that someone who not more than ten minutes earlier had violently attacked someone for disturbing her sleep could suddenly be bright and cheery.

Zane knew the exact moment that Syl registered Logan's presence. The temperature in the room dropped about fifteen degrees. She crossed the room slowly, silently, before leaning on the counter next to Zane. "Kill time?" She asked under her breath.

Zane frowned, studying as he spoke. "Take a look at that and tell me what you think." He whispered back. Syl turned her attention back to the table. Logan had taken a seat next to Max, sitting far enough away that it wasn't inappropriate. Far enough away that it wouldn't set up alarm bells. But the fact that neither of them had spoken since coming into the room, nor had they broken eye contact, said it all. When Logan subtly, or so he thought, reached under the table and took Max's hand, Syl had seen enough. At her disgusted snort, Zane offered the remainder of his coffee to Syl. He had already forgotten that he was supposed to be mad at her. "I could be wrong. In fact, I seriously doubt this could be true. Is it possible that our dear, sweet, innocent sister," Zane said with mock surprise, "Played us?"

Syl smiled. "Hey Max?" She asked easily. Max blinked, surprised by the new voice, and turned in her seat to look at Syl.

"Yeah?"

"I'm dying to know." She said leaning forward and propping her face up with her hands. "Was he good?" She asked loudly, so that she was sure everyone else in the room was paying attention.

"Was who good?" Max asked, a small smile playing across her face, as if she knew there was a joke, only she didn't get it.

"Logan.? You two did have sex last night, right?" She said with a wicked smile and avid interest.

Jhondie walked picked that moment to walk into the room. Max's mouth dropped open and her muffin fell from her limp fingers. Logan's face turned such a bright red; she thought she thought he was on the verge of an aneurysm. Zane was turning red to, but that was from trying not to laugh. Zack had slowly turned in his chair to stare at Max and Logan. Syl, her facial expression could only be described as a smirk. A very evil smirk. "What'd I miss?" Jhondie asked. When no one even acknowledged her entrance into the room, she asked again, this time her voice rising. She hated being the last to know. "Come on, what'd I miss?"

"I think its time we head out." Zack said in an eerily calm voice, the only sign that anything had just happened being the fact that he still hadn't broken his glare at Logan.

Syl, who was still smirking, crossed the room and picked up the remainder of Max's muffin where she had dropped it and took a big bite. "Thanks Maxie!" She said brightly, then grabbed her bag from next to the door, and continued out to the driveway.

Without a word, Max scrambled up after her, and ran out the door. No one could tell if she was going after Syl or running for her life.

"Syl!" She called, temper rising in her voice. "Syl!" She called again when her sister continued to walk. Max caught up with her a at the end of the sidewalk. "What the hell was that?" She shouted, stepping in front of her.

"That?" Syl asked innocently. "Oh you mean...Well, see, I was so confused it just slipped out."

"Confused?! Slipped out?!" Max raged. "Zack was...the whole room...Syl!!" Her vision had a lovely red haze and it was becoming hard to form a sentence.

"Can you blame me? I mean, one minute you're telling me that he doesn't feel the same way about you, the next minute he walks in the room and the temperature spikes thirty degrees." Syl waited till the exact moment that realization started to spread across Max's face to side step around her and head towards her car.

Max was still staring open-mouthed and stunned at Syl's back when the rest of her siblings began filtering out of the house. Zane handed her the small black back that contained all she'd need for the day, then waited till Max looked up to point and laugh. Literally. Even Krit laughed. Zack walked by without a word. That wasn't a good sign.

Logan joined her on the sidewalk, politely keeping quiet till Max chose to speak. The rest of the X5s were milling about two cars getting ready to leave for the long drive.

"I'm really sorry about that." Max finally said quietly. She sighed, and then began to walk slowly towards the car. "That was embarrassing."

"To say the very least." Logan pushed his hands into his coat pockets. "Zack ever-so-nicely suggested I ride with him in his car."

Max's head whipped around to look at his face. "What? Oh crap." She muttered. "Are you armed?"

Logan started to laugh and realized she wasn't joking. "Agree with him." She said quickly. "Whatever he says, agree to it."

"I take it you aren't riding with us." Logan said wearily. It was almost embarrassing that he was relying on his girlfriend to protect him, but then he realized that the girlfriends brother was made to kill people like him, so it wasn't all that bad. Was it?

"No, I've got to ride with Zane and Syl so we can prep for the UIC." UIC stood for Unofficial Interrogation of a Civilian. The plan was for Max and Zane to pose as IRS agents and commandeer the records of anyone associating with Costello's crime ring. It might just be asking for permission to see the files, it might be knocking the guy out cold, tying him to his chair, and playing `snatch and run' with the guys filing cabinet. Max, Zane, and Jhondie were the best suited to deal with civilians, mainly because they were the most adjusted. The rest of them just tagged along for technical, communications, and good old-fashioned ass-kicking support.

Max was still muttering under her breath as they approached the cars. Deciding they were both dead anyways, the risk wasn't really that bad. "Good luck." She said quickly, standing on the tips of her toes to give him a chaste kiss. "If it gets too bad, just jump out of the car or something." She suggested with a grin, then retreating to the backseat of Syl's car without another word.

Logan stared off into space for another moment, then decided to take his life into his hands. He walked over to where Zack's non-descript black Suburban was parked. The car seemed to fit him so well. Krit, Zack, and Jhondie were loading the last of the surveillance gear into the backseats when Logan made his approach. No matter how well he thought he was handling this, Jhondie still noticed, with a snide smile, that he wouldn't look up from the ground that seemed to be oh-so-amusing to him.

He was thirty-four, Logan thought with growing confidence. They were both consenting adults. Zack couldn't possibly be that pissed off about this.

"All right, lets go." Zack said as Krit slammed the back doors. Jhondie moved to take the passenger seat when Zack stopped her. "No, let Cale take the front seat." He said with a pointed glare. Zack climbed in the drivers side and Krit and Jhondie took the back seat as Logan slowly walked towards the passenger side, as if every step was his last.

It very well could be, he thought, climbing in and pulling his seatbelt on.