A/N: Okay, no real author's note here... just my standard disclaimer. :P Oh, and to ask you to all forgive me once more. I really don't have the knack for writing action sequences, at least not the knock 'em down shoot 'em up action scenes... ;P But, hey, at least I tried. :)
There are very mild spoilers for second season in this, but only up to Some Assembly Required, and most of them are only vague allusions to past events.
I welcome all reviews, both here and by email, so please feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you're thinking. I can't improve my writing if I don't know what people want to see. :P
They're not mine, I just borrow them sometimes and mutate their inner voices. What can I say? It's fun. But Cameron will always own the good stuff. :P
Towards the Sunset
Part Fifteen: Fight Till the End
By: Danae Bowen
Email: logansfox@rogers.com
Logan paced the penthouse, his nerves making his stomach clutch and his jaw twitch tensely. Joshua looked through the skylight, frowning as he watched the man below radiate unease.
"Worried for Max?"
Logan nodded absently, his fingers coming up to stroke his scruff as he paced to the window, looking out. He jumped slightly in surprise as Joshua dropped through the skylight, landing with a loud thump on the hallway floor. He grinned up at Logan sheepishly before straightening, towering over Logan even as the human pulled himself up to his entire height.
"Yeah, Joshua, I'm worried about Max. This guy she's going after is dangerous, he's proven that already. He's been out of jail less than a month and yet this entire operation is too well planned to be a haphazard idea that he'd just developed." Logan shook his head. "The worst part is, he knows who I am, and unless I can talk to him, I'm never going to know how he found out." The man shrugged as he followed Joshua, the transgenic peering curiously around the large apartment, his eyes settling on the refrigerator. Logan sighed, moving to begin pulling out containers of food, beginning preparations to feed his newest bodyguard. "I guess it doesn't matter; if he had any solid evidence, he'd have just turned me in and saved himself all this trouble."
Joshua came up behind Logan and laid a large hand on the man's shoulder. "Max got your back, Joshua, too. Little fella'll be sure nothing happens to Logan." Joshua grinned, and gave Logan a wink. "Not in the plan."
Logan chuckled. "One day you're going to have to tell me all about this great plan everyone keeps talking about."
Joshua lowered his voice conspiratorially. "Plan to make Max happy." He nodded vigorously. "Virus bitch kicked, Max 'n Logan gettin' busy, Max gettin' happy. That's the plan."
Logan's laughter continued; the one thing he could say about Max's friends, both transgenic and human, were that they were nothing if not interesting. "Did Original Cindy teach you the plan, Joshua?"
"Sista." Joshua grinned widely. "Home girl. Boo. Gotta have plan or what's a girl to do?"
Logan lifted an eyebrow, and began to laugh harder. Obviously, Max hadn't been lax in allowing Cindy to hang around with her and Joshua. "Joshua, when all this is over, you and I have to have a little talk, otherwise Max and Cindy are going to have you brainwashed."
Joshua's hand lifted to his head, rubbing thoughtfully through his shaggy hair, but he shrugged. He lifted his head to indicate the skylight, before moving beneath it and taking a great leap into the air, dangling from the edge of the window, thrusting his body up and through to the roof. A moment later his head appeared once more, and he flashed Logan a grin. "Gotta blaze. Logan safe now; Joshua help Max."
Logan frowned, turned, and grabbed his jacket. "Joshua, wait. I'm going with you."
Joshua shook his head, frowning. "Logan safe in home, not where Max is."
"Joshua, you don't even know where Max is going."
The transgenic sniffed the air and cocked his head at the human looking up at him. "Joshua find Max; special scent."
Logan couldn't argue with that, but still he stubbornly stared down the larger man. "Joshua, I'm going anyway; you'll find Max faster if you go with me. I'll drive us. Otherwise, I'll go alone, and I will get there before you."
Joshua held Logan's gaze for a moment, his brow furrowing as he considered his options. He whimpered a low whine, wondering how Max would take it if Logan arrived without Joshua in tow, and he sighed. "You drive." He shook his head. "Logan stubborn like Max. Joshua's older, knows more, but neither listens."
"What can I say? We belong together." Logan grinned, picked up the car keys and made his way out of the penthouse down to the garage. Joshua met him downstairs, and climbed into the passenger side of the Aztec.
Together they left the building and began to make their way towards Max and Alec. Sitting around was no longer an option, not when Logan knew they could be of help.
*****
Max made her way silently across the roof of the warehouse, Alec walking along behind her, rolling his eyes at her stealth.
"Max," he hissed, quietly. "No one is going to hear us if we walk normally. The roof isn't paper thin, you know."
She sighed, forcing herself to count to ten before turning to reply. "But if we move silently then we have less of a chance of being heard. God, did you flunk every course at Manticore?"
"No. I just don't care anymore."
Max closed her eyes for a brief moment, concentrating on reigning in her temper. There were few people in the world that could annoy her as thoroughly as Alec. "Fine, get your ass caught. I'm not saving you."
"Who asked you to anyway?"
"Always seems to end up that way."
"Not from where I'm standing."
Max glanced down at the roof and drew in a hissing breath. "Yeah, well keep standing on that skylight and we won't have to finish this argument 'cause you're gonna get your ass shot off!"
Alec looked down and pulled a face, moving forward three feet until he was off the glass. "You could have told me that earlier."
"What am I, your baby sitter?"
"Are we going to get this over with, or stand here arguing all night?"
Max's breath hissed out between her teeth, but she forced her mind to concentrate on the task at hand. With one final glare at Alec, Max moved to the other side of the roof, pulling open an air vent and slipping her small body through the opening. Before she disappeared into the darkness, her hand came up, indicating that Alec should move diagonally across from her and enter through the stairwell. Silently. He nodded casually and moved away from her, disappearing from view only minutes before Max's head dropped below the sight line of the roof.
Once inside, Max turned her head to listen for any sign of life in the warehouse below. From the voices nearby, Max knew she was up against at least ten men, and concentrated on trying to pick out their relative positions. She pulled the grate away from the ceiling, silently dropping her head through as she scanned the area below. Her eyes traveled to the roof door, and through the small window she could see Alec getting his bearings as well. His hand came up, indicating that there were two guards to Max's right, and she turned her head, nodding as they came into her view. She signaled for Alec to draw them towards him and quickly he opened and closed the door, allowing the dim sound of metal on metal to alert the guards to his presence.
Max watched from her higher vantage point as the guards turned towards the stairwell, frowning before moving forward. In mere seconds, Max dropped her body through the vent opening and took out the guards as silently as possible. A cock of the head to Alec had him by her side, pulling the guards towards the stairwell, tying and gagging them securely so that they'd not be a problem at a later time. When voices approached from the turn in the hallway, Max signaled for Alec to remain in the stairwell, and a quick leap had her once again concealed in the ceiling.
The men that approached gave a relatively uninterested glance down the hallway, not even taking note of the missing guards. Alec caught Max's eye, raising his hands in a request for orders. Max shrugged, her face betraying her disgust at the stupidity of the guards, and signaled for Alec to repeat his actions from earlier.
Once again the stairwell opened and closed, and once again the men walked forward, not looking up until it was too late to keep from being thrown backwards when Max dropped down upon them. Alec was at her side in an instant, and again the two genetically enhanced soldiers easily overpowered the guards.
"Morons!" Max mouthed in disbelief.
Alec shrugged and leaned in close to her, his words the barest of whispers in her ear. "It's amazing what money won't buy you these days."
They moved down the hallway silently, listening for the source of voices that reached their sensitive ears. Quickly moving her fingers, Max indicated that the four they took out were of no more than ten or twelve, leaving only six to eight guards remaining. Alec nodded, motioning for Max to head left while he'd go right; between the two of them they should have the guards contained in only minutes. Max agreed silently, but added in that he was to go as quietly as possible; she didn't need guards coming at them when they still had the element of surprise on their side.
Alec disappeared down the right corridor while Max turned down the left. She kept her body pressed against the wall, her black cat suit allowing her to blend into the shadows easily. A door opened in front of her, and Max had to keep a quiet gasp of surprise from slipping between her teeth. She pressed her body hard back, using the open door for cover until the man that exited the room beyond turned away from her, allowing the door to slam shut. With a shrug, Max came up behind him, wrapping her arm around his throat and her hand covered his mouth. With his oxygen being cut off by the strength of a transgenic, he was soon unconscious, and Max dragged him back into the room he'd just vacated, using his clothing to bind his arms and legs, gagging him silent.
Five down, five to seven to go, she reminded herself. She suddenly wished they'd had better intel on the warehouse she was now sneaking through so that she could get a more accurate count of the men that waited for her at the end of the corridor. She glanced up at the ceiling, noting another air vent opening. Ten feet further another opening appeared, and ten feet past that another opening could be seen. She frowned a moment, chewing on her lip. She took a quick leap, her fingers catching the edges of the ceiling easily, had her feet plunging through the air vent. She landed on her stomach, flipping over as fast as possible to catch the grating that was about to fall past her to the floor. She caught the corner of the mesh plate, dangling it in the corridor for a single moment before bringing it silently back into the vent and replacing it, covering any evidence of her arrival. She waited motionless for several minutes until she was sure no guards were coming to check on the noises she'd made before she began to move forward on her hands and knees.
She moved quickly but silently, her small body easily able to maneuver in the mere cubic feet of space surrounding her. The vent widened slightly as she passed over the corridor into the main storage space of the warehouse. She paused over a large grate, peering down into the room below; she only had a decent view of ten square feet below her, catching sight of only a single guard. Still, the volume of voices carrying through the vents let her know that there were further men nearby. Heaving a soundless sigh, Max silently worked the grate out of it's plating, moving it into the air vent so that she could extend her view.
She bit her lip as she counted the men below; there were eight guards in the room, nine men when she included the scrawny guy sitting behind a series of computers. She shrugged to herself; at least she knew where to find Dietz, and he certainly didn't appear to be much of a challenge for her revved up genes.
The sound of metal hitting the floor had Max's eyes snap towards the other end of the warehouse. At first she couldn't make out any presence in the shadowed corners, but as her eyes adjusted she could see Alec, frozen in place, his hands holding onto the piece of plywood he'd just almost knocked from a window sill. He caught her eye and shrugged, lowering the wood silently to the floor before straightening.
Most of the guards were centered around Dietz, only the one below her and two nearing Alec's position were close enough for the X-5s to easily take out. Alec looked to Max for instruction and she shrugged. They'd have to reveal their presence at some point or another, but she'd been hoping to have less opposition when that time came. She watched the guards' movements for a moment before motioning for Alec to take down the men closest to him. He nodded, moving silently forward, staying in the shadows until he was right behind the guards.
"Hey, guys. Miss me?" He flashed them a cocky smile before using their turns of surprise against them, knocking them to their backs in a single kick.
Flashes of recognition registered in the remaining men's eyes, and several guards went for their guns as Alec spun quickly, sending one man flying into the three approaching.
When all attention was turned away from Max's position, she dropped soundlessly through the air, dropping on the guard below her. The air whooshed out of his lungs as Max's full weight struck him from behind, and when she climbed from his body, he didn't rise. She grinned, moving towards Alec and the remaining guards, at first keeping an eye on the surprised form of Dietz before losing sight of him as she engaged in the battle at hand.
It only took brief minutes before Max and Alec had all the guards subdued, their enhanced skills and training too much for the merely human henchmen. Alec flashed Max a congratulatory grin, making her roll her eyes once more at the cocky nature of her friend, before she turned around to face Dietz.
She froze in spot, taking in the sight of the gun trained at her head, the crooked smile of the underdeveloped man before her making her shiver. Alec still hadn't noticed, occupying himself with sifting through the bodies of the unconscious men, searching for anything worth lifting. Max cleared her throat.
"Alec, think you wanna turn around now."
He glanced up at her, the word "what" forming on his lips, before taking notice of Dietz and the gun. "Christ, Maxie, what is it with you and getting shot at? I can't take you anywhere."
"Very impressive, Max. I wouldn't have thought such a little thing as yourself could fight as well as you do, of course, I've never had the pleasure of watching you in action before. When you came after me the last time, I was by myself, and admittedly am not much of a fighter. I am, however, an excellent shot."
She sighed. "They always wanna talk." She cocked her head towards Alec. "Ever noticed that? None of them can ever just shoot, then they wonder why they lose."
"Perhaps with you in my grasp, Eyes Only will be more cooperative." Dietz continued, ignoring Max's comment as if she'd never spoken.
"Fine, I'll talk. What the hell, not like I have any thing really pressing to do tonight anyway. By the way, have I thanked you for the vacation? Blowing up Jam Pony was a nice touch; me 'n my peeps appreciate it. A whole month of drinkin' and dancin' without having to worry about work in the morning."
Dietz's eyes narrowed. Having Max acting nonchalant towards his plot was the last thing that he'd expected, and it began to annoy him.
"Don't you even want to know why I'm doing this?"
Max laughed out loud at that, her eyes taking in Dietz's macho stance as he held the gun at chest level. "Y'know, it never ceases to amaze me how holdin' something hard 'n pointy gives guys a false sense of power." She sighed. "There's nothing new about revenge, Dietz. You got pissed we put you behind bars, so here we are. How original."
He stared at her in surprise, his eyes flicking back to his computer screens, all the information he'd gathered on Logan apparently of no interest to Max or Alec. "You don't even want to know why I killed the blonde?"
Max's face sobered at that. "Oh, right, there's a reason I came to take you out."
Alec nudged Max in the ribs. "You really should thank him for Asha, Maxie. He got rid of the competition for you."
Dietz's face paled, as Max shrugged. "Nah, I was lookin' forward to kicking her ass. Guess I'll have to kick his instead."
At that both Max and Alec moved forward at speeds too fast for Dietz to follow. Alec circled around behind him and tapped his shoulder, making the man turn. Max followed through with a quick kick, sending the gun flying out of Dietz's hand, making it clatter and clink as it struck the desk before the floor. All three flinched as the gun fired suddenly from the force of impact, echoing throughout the warehouse, but in moments Dietz was restrained in Alec's arms.
"That was fun." Alec shrugged at Max and grinned.
"Not as much fun as this will be."
Max spun quickly, finding a guard behind her with a gun pointed at Alec. The guard smiled suddenly, a look that didn't reach his eyes as they showed only cold determination. "Nobody rails on me like that twice and lives."
He pulled the trigger and Max dived out of the way of the oncoming bullet. Alec moved quickly, shifting Dietz in his arms as a second shot rang out. Max was on her feet in a second, heading towards the guard, but he was already falling forward, his chest exploding in a single red stain. She looked at him in confusion for a moment as he toppled dead to the ground, and then caught sight of Logan standing in the shadows behind him.
"Logan?!" Max's face darkened; she wasn't impressed to know that Logan could have put himself in more danger than necessary by following her into the warehouse.
"Thought we could be of some help. Turns out we were right." He gave her a small smile, nodding towards Joshua who was tying up the beaten guards as they began to regain consciousness.
"Um, oops."
They all turned towards Alec who was holding Dietz's limp body in his arms. He shrugged at them, dropping the man to the floor and began trying to wipe the blood out of his shirt. "Must've accidentally put him in front of the bullet."
"Accidentally?"
Alec flashed Max his most innocent expression and repeated his shrug. "This was your fight, Max. I'm just along for the ride. Not my place to kill anyone not trying to return the favor."
Max sighed. "Right."
"Hey, no harm done. We're all still kicking, bad guy's not. We win. Where's the victory cheer?"
Max shook her head and turned back to Logan. "Want to call this into Matt? We should've time to wipe Dietz's files of any Eyes Only information and still bounce before the cops get here."
Logan nodded slowly, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket, dialing the number of his friend on the force. As he waited for Matt to pick up his line, Logan glanced down at Dietz's cooling body. "Did he say why he did it?"
Max and Alec exchanged a look and Max rolled her eyes. "Figure it was a vengeance thing. Pretty simple if you ask me. He caught wind of some info, tried to use it against you, died. Story of our lives."
Max realized how cold she sounded, but as much as she loved her strange little life, sometimes she got tired of a new baddie every week trying to take everything away from her. For the last two years, she had been concerned that Manticore or a similar agency would try to use Logan to get to her, so she kept her distance. Just as they were starting to really click, some lunatic throws a wrench in the plan and tries to use her to get to Logan. Either way they look at it, the world was against them. It kinda sucked when she really thought about it; they'd fought so hard to stay together, through various dangers, kidnappings, death and the virus, the least the bad guys of the world could do was give them a break.
She moved away from her little group, pulling herself up to sit on one of the warehouse tables, watching as Logan's fingers worked their magic on Dietz's computer system. She smiled softly as Joshua moved to join her, his eyes following hers until he too watched Logan quietly. Finally, he spoke, slowly as if he was gauging every word carefully.
"Wouldn't stay, needed to make sure you're okay."
Max smiled at his thoughtful words. "I know, big fella. Logan can be stubborn sometimes. Sorry."
"Not mad, little fella." He sighed. "Max 'n Logan together now?"
She shrugged. "Yeah, I guess."
"Stayin' together?"
"For a while at least. We'll see."
"Don't let them win." His voice was dead serious as he shifted to meet her gaze. "Long fight, good fight, but always someone coming for Max or for Logan, always fighting. Don't let them win."
Her lips curved into a warm smile; she moved over to rest her head on his shoulder, and she sighed. "I promise that we'll try, big fella." She picked her head up and gave him a firm grin, her eyes sparkling. "Anyway, we can't let them win." When his gaze grew confused, she chuckled softly and patted his arm. "It's not in the plan."
Joshua's body shook with laughter causing Alec and Logan to look over at them in confusion. Max only grinned at them, shaking her head. She knew that there would always be someone coming for one or the other of them, not just Logan and herself, but for Joshua and Alec as well. As much as she wanted to kick Alec's ass to Canada and back, he was a part of her life now and she cared what happened to him. Then there was sweet Joshua who would never be given the chance to live a normal life. He'd always be dependant on Max to bring him food, always having to hide in the shadows, and would always have to live in some place he'd never be seen. Unless some miracle came to be, Joshua would never know true love, never see his children grow up, and never truly exist out of the basement at Manticore. Everywhere he went, Joshua had to be hidden away and that was unfair. As much as Zack, Tinga and the rest were her siblings, so was Joshua, in some ways more so than the kids she'd escaped with so many years before. She understood finally how Zack felt about them all, why he created the contact number, why he was always on her case to disappear. She was doing the same thing for Joshua, protecting him, making him her responsibility for far more than just the things he really needed her to do. The situation with Isaac had nothing if not proven Joshua's ability to make the right decisions, but she couldn't bring herself to leave him alone in the world to be misunderstood and mistreated.
Then there were Logan and Max, themselves. Max couldn't see a day when they weren't going to be in danger; she couldn't see a time when they weren't working together to try and fix the city that lay in ruins around them. It's who they are and what they do, and more importantly, it's what brought them together and allowed them to see the life that was waiting for them.
Logan met her thoughtful gaze and smiled at her, making her stomach flip flop and the now familiar warm feeling spread throughout her body. It was worth it, she figured. Eyes Only gave Logan a sense of being, even if he wasn't recognized for the work to which he dedicated his life; Manticore would always be a part of Max, but without it, she wouldn't exist to know that life didn't always suck.
In the end, it would all work out. Whether she and Logan would still be together when that end came, she didn't know, and for the first time, she could honestly say that it really didn't matter. The future was so completely uncertain for them all; maybe it was time to start living in the present. The kisses, touches, and time they shared together now would make whatever happened tomorrow worth the effort.
Needing to lighten her mood, Max raised her voice, even though she knew her intended target would hear her at any volume. "Hey, Alec, we never gotta finish our game. What were you thinkin' of?"
Alec grinned. "After watching you go all commando girl on these poor bastards, I'm not sure I want to tell you now."
She raised an eyebrow, leaning back. "Okay, now you're gonna tell me or I'm gonna beat it outta you." She strained her delicate hearing, trying to understand the mumble that crossed his lips. "A what?"
He sighed. "A banana."
Max blinked, remembering back to their game. "How is a banana dangerous?"
He grinned, then, his eyes sparkling wickedly. "I told you, it depends on how you *use* it."
Her face wrinkled in disgust as images of exactly what Alec had in mind for that banana flowed relentlessly across her mind. He held his hands up in front of himself, defending his body from her glare as he backed away quickly. "I think it's time for me to go."
With that he disappeared into the shadows of the warehouse, and Max tracked the sound of his exit through the corridors until he was safely outside. She sighed and shook her head. She knew she had walked into that one hook line and sinker, but that wasn't about to keep her from kicking his ass royally the next time they crossed paths.
Max jumped down off the table and moved behind Logan, slipping her arms over his, then down around his waist. She rested her chin on his shoulder and watched quietly as he finished clearing Dietz's computer files of any reference to himself, Max or Eyes Only.
When he was done, he turned to look into her eyes and smiled. "Ready?"
She nodded, tightening her hold on him for a brief moment before releasing him and moving away. "You know what, Logan? I think I am."
End Part Fifteen: Fight Till The End
There are very mild spoilers for second season in this, but only up to Some Assembly Required, and most of them are only vague allusions to past events.
I welcome all reviews, both here and by email, so please feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you're thinking. I can't improve my writing if I don't know what people want to see. :P
They're not mine, I just borrow them sometimes and mutate their inner voices. What can I say? It's fun. But Cameron will always own the good stuff. :P
Towards the Sunset
Part Fifteen: Fight Till the End
By: Danae Bowen
Email: logansfox@rogers.com
Logan paced the penthouse, his nerves making his stomach clutch and his jaw twitch tensely. Joshua looked through the skylight, frowning as he watched the man below radiate unease.
"Worried for Max?"
Logan nodded absently, his fingers coming up to stroke his scruff as he paced to the window, looking out. He jumped slightly in surprise as Joshua dropped through the skylight, landing with a loud thump on the hallway floor. He grinned up at Logan sheepishly before straightening, towering over Logan even as the human pulled himself up to his entire height.
"Yeah, Joshua, I'm worried about Max. This guy she's going after is dangerous, he's proven that already. He's been out of jail less than a month and yet this entire operation is too well planned to be a haphazard idea that he'd just developed." Logan shook his head. "The worst part is, he knows who I am, and unless I can talk to him, I'm never going to know how he found out." The man shrugged as he followed Joshua, the transgenic peering curiously around the large apartment, his eyes settling on the refrigerator. Logan sighed, moving to begin pulling out containers of food, beginning preparations to feed his newest bodyguard. "I guess it doesn't matter; if he had any solid evidence, he'd have just turned me in and saved himself all this trouble."
Joshua came up behind Logan and laid a large hand on the man's shoulder. "Max got your back, Joshua, too. Little fella'll be sure nothing happens to Logan." Joshua grinned, and gave Logan a wink. "Not in the plan."
Logan chuckled. "One day you're going to have to tell me all about this great plan everyone keeps talking about."
Joshua lowered his voice conspiratorially. "Plan to make Max happy." He nodded vigorously. "Virus bitch kicked, Max 'n Logan gettin' busy, Max gettin' happy. That's the plan."
Logan's laughter continued; the one thing he could say about Max's friends, both transgenic and human, were that they were nothing if not interesting. "Did Original Cindy teach you the plan, Joshua?"
"Sista." Joshua grinned widely. "Home girl. Boo. Gotta have plan or what's a girl to do?"
Logan lifted an eyebrow, and began to laugh harder. Obviously, Max hadn't been lax in allowing Cindy to hang around with her and Joshua. "Joshua, when all this is over, you and I have to have a little talk, otherwise Max and Cindy are going to have you brainwashed."
Joshua's hand lifted to his head, rubbing thoughtfully through his shaggy hair, but he shrugged. He lifted his head to indicate the skylight, before moving beneath it and taking a great leap into the air, dangling from the edge of the window, thrusting his body up and through to the roof. A moment later his head appeared once more, and he flashed Logan a grin. "Gotta blaze. Logan safe now; Joshua help Max."
Logan frowned, turned, and grabbed his jacket. "Joshua, wait. I'm going with you."
Joshua shook his head, frowning. "Logan safe in home, not where Max is."
"Joshua, you don't even know where Max is going."
The transgenic sniffed the air and cocked his head at the human looking up at him. "Joshua find Max; special scent."
Logan couldn't argue with that, but still he stubbornly stared down the larger man. "Joshua, I'm going anyway; you'll find Max faster if you go with me. I'll drive us. Otherwise, I'll go alone, and I will get there before you."
Joshua held Logan's gaze for a moment, his brow furrowing as he considered his options. He whimpered a low whine, wondering how Max would take it if Logan arrived without Joshua in tow, and he sighed. "You drive." He shook his head. "Logan stubborn like Max. Joshua's older, knows more, but neither listens."
"What can I say? We belong together." Logan grinned, picked up the car keys and made his way out of the penthouse down to the garage. Joshua met him downstairs, and climbed into the passenger side of the Aztec.
Together they left the building and began to make their way towards Max and Alec. Sitting around was no longer an option, not when Logan knew they could be of help.
*****
Max made her way silently across the roof of the warehouse, Alec walking along behind her, rolling his eyes at her stealth.
"Max," he hissed, quietly. "No one is going to hear us if we walk normally. The roof isn't paper thin, you know."
She sighed, forcing herself to count to ten before turning to reply. "But if we move silently then we have less of a chance of being heard. God, did you flunk every course at Manticore?"
"No. I just don't care anymore."
Max closed her eyes for a brief moment, concentrating on reigning in her temper. There were few people in the world that could annoy her as thoroughly as Alec. "Fine, get your ass caught. I'm not saving you."
"Who asked you to anyway?"
"Always seems to end up that way."
"Not from where I'm standing."
Max glanced down at the roof and drew in a hissing breath. "Yeah, well keep standing on that skylight and we won't have to finish this argument 'cause you're gonna get your ass shot off!"
Alec looked down and pulled a face, moving forward three feet until he was off the glass. "You could have told me that earlier."
"What am I, your baby sitter?"
"Are we going to get this over with, or stand here arguing all night?"
Max's breath hissed out between her teeth, but she forced her mind to concentrate on the task at hand. With one final glare at Alec, Max moved to the other side of the roof, pulling open an air vent and slipping her small body through the opening. Before she disappeared into the darkness, her hand came up, indicating that Alec should move diagonally across from her and enter through the stairwell. Silently. He nodded casually and moved away from her, disappearing from view only minutes before Max's head dropped below the sight line of the roof.
Once inside, Max turned her head to listen for any sign of life in the warehouse below. From the voices nearby, Max knew she was up against at least ten men, and concentrated on trying to pick out their relative positions. She pulled the grate away from the ceiling, silently dropping her head through as she scanned the area below. Her eyes traveled to the roof door, and through the small window she could see Alec getting his bearings as well. His hand came up, indicating that there were two guards to Max's right, and she turned her head, nodding as they came into her view. She signaled for Alec to draw them towards him and quickly he opened and closed the door, allowing the dim sound of metal on metal to alert the guards to his presence.
Max watched from her higher vantage point as the guards turned towards the stairwell, frowning before moving forward. In mere seconds, Max dropped her body through the vent opening and took out the guards as silently as possible. A cock of the head to Alec had him by her side, pulling the guards towards the stairwell, tying and gagging them securely so that they'd not be a problem at a later time. When voices approached from the turn in the hallway, Max signaled for Alec to remain in the stairwell, and a quick leap had her once again concealed in the ceiling.
The men that approached gave a relatively uninterested glance down the hallway, not even taking note of the missing guards. Alec caught Max's eye, raising his hands in a request for orders. Max shrugged, her face betraying her disgust at the stupidity of the guards, and signaled for Alec to repeat his actions from earlier.
Once again the stairwell opened and closed, and once again the men walked forward, not looking up until it was too late to keep from being thrown backwards when Max dropped down upon them. Alec was at her side in an instant, and again the two genetically enhanced soldiers easily overpowered the guards.
"Morons!" Max mouthed in disbelief.
Alec shrugged and leaned in close to her, his words the barest of whispers in her ear. "It's amazing what money won't buy you these days."
They moved down the hallway silently, listening for the source of voices that reached their sensitive ears. Quickly moving her fingers, Max indicated that the four they took out were of no more than ten or twelve, leaving only six to eight guards remaining. Alec nodded, motioning for Max to head left while he'd go right; between the two of them they should have the guards contained in only minutes. Max agreed silently, but added in that he was to go as quietly as possible; she didn't need guards coming at them when they still had the element of surprise on their side.
Alec disappeared down the right corridor while Max turned down the left. She kept her body pressed against the wall, her black cat suit allowing her to blend into the shadows easily. A door opened in front of her, and Max had to keep a quiet gasp of surprise from slipping between her teeth. She pressed her body hard back, using the open door for cover until the man that exited the room beyond turned away from her, allowing the door to slam shut. With a shrug, Max came up behind him, wrapping her arm around his throat and her hand covered his mouth. With his oxygen being cut off by the strength of a transgenic, he was soon unconscious, and Max dragged him back into the room he'd just vacated, using his clothing to bind his arms and legs, gagging him silent.
Five down, five to seven to go, she reminded herself. She suddenly wished they'd had better intel on the warehouse she was now sneaking through so that she could get a more accurate count of the men that waited for her at the end of the corridor. She glanced up at the ceiling, noting another air vent opening. Ten feet further another opening appeared, and ten feet past that another opening could be seen. She frowned a moment, chewing on her lip. She took a quick leap, her fingers catching the edges of the ceiling easily, had her feet plunging through the air vent. She landed on her stomach, flipping over as fast as possible to catch the grating that was about to fall past her to the floor. She caught the corner of the mesh plate, dangling it in the corridor for a single moment before bringing it silently back into the vent and replacing it, covering any evidence of her arrival. She waited motionless for several minutes until she was sure no guards were coming to check on the noises she'd made before she began to move forward on her hands and knees.
She moved quickly but silently, her small body easily able to maneuver in the mere cubic feet of space surrounding her. The vent widened slightly as she passed over the corridor into the main storage space of the warehouse. She paused over a large grate, peering down into the room below; she only had a decent view of ten square feet below her, catching sight of only a single guard. Still, the volume of voices carrying through the vents let her know that there were further men nearby. Heaving a soundless sigh, Max silently worked the grate out of it's plating, moving it into the air vent so that she could extend her view.
She bit her lip as she counted the men below; there were eight guards in the room, nine men when she included the scrawny guy sitting behind a series of computers. She shrugged to herself; at least she knew where to find Dietz, and he certainly didn't appear to be much of a challenge for her revved up genes.
The sound of metal hitting the floor had Max's eyes snap towards the other end of the warehouse. At first she couldn't make out any presence in the shadowed corners, but as her eyes adjusted she could see Alec, frozen in place, his hands holding onto the piece of plywood he'd just almost knocked from a window sill. He caught her eye and shrugged, lowering the wood silently to the floor before straightening.
Most of the guards were centered around Dietz, only the one below her and two nearing Alec's position were close enough for the X-5s to easily take out. Alec looked to Max for instruction and she shrugged. They'd have to reveal their presence at some point or another, but she'd been hoping to have less opposition when that time came. She watched the guards' movements for a moment before motioning for Alec to take down the men closest to him. He nodded, moving silently forward, staying in the shadows until he was right behind the guards.
"Hey, guys. Miss me?" He flashed them a cocky smile before using their turns of surprise against them, knocking them to their backs in a single kick.
Flashes of recognition registered in the remaining men's eyes, and several guards went for their guns as Alec spun quickly, sending one man flying into the three approaching.
When all attention was turned away from Max's position, she dropped soundlessly through the air, dropping on the guard below her. The air whooshed out of his lungs as Max's full weight struck him from behind, and when she climbed from his body, he didn't rise. She grinned, moving towards Alec and the remaining guards, at first keeping an eye on the surprised form of Dietz before losing sight of him as she engaged in the battle at hand.
It only took brief minutes before Max and Alec had all the guards subdued, their enhanced skills and training too much for the merely human henchmen. Alec flashed Max a congratulatory grin, making her roll her eyes once more at the cocky nature of her friend, before she turned around to face Dietz.
She froze in spot, taking in the sight of the gun trained at her head, the crooked smile of the underdeveloped man before her making her shiver. Alec still hadn't noticed, occupying himself with sifting through the bodies of the unconscious men, searching for anything worth lifting. Max cleared her throat.
"Alec, think you wanna turn around now."
He glanced up at her, the word "what" forming on his lips, before taking notice of Dietz and the gun. "Christ, Maxie, what is it with you and getting shot at? I can't take you anywhere."
"Very impressive, Max. I wouldn't have thought such a little thing as yourself could fight as well as you do, of course, I've never had the pleasure of watching you in action before. When you came after me the last time, I was by myself, and admittedly am not much of a fighter. I am, however, an excellent shot."
She sighed. "They always wanna talk." She cocked her head towards Alec. "Ever noticed that? None of them can ever just shoot, then they wonder why they lose."
"Perhaps with you in my grasp, Eyes Only will be more cooperative." Dietz continued, ignoring Max's comment as if she'd never spoken.
"Fine, I'll talk. What the hell, not like I have any thing really pressing to do tonight anyway. By the way, have I thanked you for the vacation? Blowing up Jam Pony was a nice touch; me 'n my peeps appreciate it. A whole month of drinkin' and dancin' without having to worry about work in the morning."
Dietz's eyes narrowed. Having Max acting nonchalant towards his plot was the last thing that he'd expected, and it began to annoy him.
"Don't you even want to know why I'm doing this?"
Max laughed out loud at that, her eyes taking in Dietz's macho stance as he held the gun at chest level. "Y'know, it never ceases to amaze me how holdin' something hard 'n pointy gives guys a false sense of power." She sighed. "There's nothing new about revenge, Dietz. You got pissed we put you behind bars, so here we are. How original."
He stared at her in surprise, his eyes flicking back to his computer screens, all the information he'd gathered on Logan apparently of no interest to Max or Alec. "You don't even want to know why I killed the blonde?"
Max's face sobered at that. "Oh, right, there's a reason I came to take you out."
Alec nudged Max in the ribs. "You really should thank him for Asha, Maxie. He got rid of the competition for you."
Dietz's face paled, as Max shrugged. "Nah, I was lookin' forward to kicking her ass. Guess I'll have to kick his instead."
At that both Max and Alec moved forward at speeds too fast for Dietz to follow. Alec circled around behind him and tapped his shoulder, making the man turn. Max followed through with a quick kick, sending the gun flying out of Dietz's hand, making it clatter and clink as it struck the desk before the floor. All three flinched as the gun fired suddenly from the force of impact, echoing throughout the warehouse, but in moments Dietz was restrained in Alec's arms.
"That was fun." Alec shrugged at Max and grinned.
"Not as much fun as this will be."
Max spun quickly, finding a guard behind her with a gun pointed at Alec. The guard smiled suddenly, a look that didn't reach his eyes as they showed only cold determination. "Nobody rails on me like that twice and lives."
He pulled the trigger and Max dived out of the way of the oncoming bullet. Alec moved quickly, shifting Dietz in his arms as a second shot rang out. Max was on her feet in a second, heading towards the guard, but he was already falling forward, his chest exploding in a single red stain. She looked at him in confusion for a moment as he toppled dead to the ground, and then caught sight of Logan standing in the shadows behind him.
"Logan?!" Max's face darkened; she wasn't impressed to know that Logan could have put himself in more danger than necessary by following her into the warehouse.
"Thought we could be of some help. Turns out we were right." He gave her a small smile, nodding towards Joshua who was tying up the beaten guards as they began to regain consciousness.
"Um, oops."
They all turned towards Alec who was holding Dietz's limp body in his arms. He shrugged at them, dropping the man to the floor and began trying to wipe the blood out of his shirt. "Must've accidentally put him in front of the bullet."
"Accidentally?"
Alec flashed Max his most innocent expression and repeated his shrug. "This was your fight, Max. I'm just along for the ride. Not my place to kill anyone not trying to return the favor."
Max sighed. "Right."
"Hey, no harm done. We're all still kicking, bad guy's not. We win. Where's the victory cheer?"
Max shook her head and turned back to Logan. "Want to call this into Matt? We should've time to wipe Dietz's files of any Eyes Only information and still bounce before the cops get here."
Logan nodded slowly, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket, dialing the number of his friend on the force. As he waited for Matt to pick up his line, Logan glanced down at Dietz's cooling body. "Did he say why he did it?"
Max and Alec exchanged a look and Max rolled her eyes. "Figure it was a vengeance thing. Pretty simple if you ask me. He caught wind of some info, tried to use it against you, died. Story of our lives."
Max realized how cold she sounded, but as much as she loved her strange little life, sometimes she got tired of a new baddie every week trying to take everything away from her. For the last two years, she had been concerned that Manticore or a similar agency would try to use Logan to get to her, so she kept her distance. Just as they were starting to really click, some lunatic throws a wrench in the plan and tries to use her to get to Logan. Either way they look at it, the world was against them. It kinda sucked when she really thought about it; they'd fought so hard to stay together, through various dangers, kidnappings, death and the virus, the least the bad guys of the world could do was give them a break.
She moved away from her little group, pulling herself up to sit on one of the warehouse tables, watching as Logan's fingers worked their magic on Dietz's computer system. She smiled softly as Joshua moved to join her, his eyes following hers until he too watched Logan quietly. Finally, he spoke, slowly as if he was gauging every word carefully.
"Wouldn't stay, needed to make sure you're okay."
Max smiled at his thoughtful words. "I know, big fella. Logan can be stubborn sometimes. Sorry."
"Not mad, little fella." He sighed. "Max 'n Logan together now?"
She shrugged. "Yeah, I guess."
"Stayin' together?"
"For a while at least. We'll see."
"Don't let them win." His voice was dead serious as he shifted to meet her gaze. "Long fight, good fight, but always someone coming for Max or for Logan, always fighting. Don't let them win."
Her lips curved into a warm smile; she moved over to rest her head on his shoulder, and she sighed. "I promise that we'll try, big fella." She picked her head up and gave him a firm grin, her eyes sparkling. "Anyway, we can't let them win." When his gaze grew confused, she chuckled softly and patted his arm. "It's not in the plan."
Joshua's body shook with laughter causing Alec and Logan to look over at them in confusion. Max only grinned at them, shaking her head. She knew that there would always be someone coming for one or the other of them, not just Logan and herself, but for Joshua and Alec as well. As much as she wanted to kick Alec's ass to Canada and back, he was a part of her life now and she cared what happened to him. Then there was sweet Joshua who would never be given the chance to live a normal life. He'd always be dependant on Max to bring him food, always having to hide in the shadows, and would always have to live in some place he'd never be seen. Unless some miracle came to be, Joshua would never know true love, never see his children grow up, and never truly exist out of the basement at Manticore. Everywhere he went, Joshua had to be hidden away and that was unfair. As much as Zack, Tinga and the rest were her siblings, so was Joshua, in some ways more so than the kids she'd escaped with so many years before. She understood finally how Zack felt about them all, why he created the contact number, why he was always on her case to disappear. She was doing the same thing for Joshua, protecting him, making him her responsibility for far more than just the things he really needed her to do. The situation with Isaac had nothing if not proven Joshua's ability to make the right decisions, but she couldn't bring herself to leave him alone in the world to be misunderstood and mistreated.
Then there were Logan and Max, themselves. Max couldn't see a day when they weren't going to be in danger; she couldn't see a time when they weren't working together to try and fix the city that lay in ruins around them. It's who they are and what they do, and more importantly, it's what brought them together and allowed them to see the life that was waiting for them.
Logan met her thoughtful gaze and smiled at her, making her stomach flip flop and the now familiar warm feeling spread throughout her body. It was worth it, she figured. Eyes Only gave Logan a sense of being, even if he wasn't recognized for the work to which he dedicated his life; Manticore would always be a part of Max, but without it, she wouldn't exist to know that life didn't always suck.
In the end, it would all work out. Whether she and Logan would still be together when that end came, she didn't know, and for the first time, she could honestly say that it really didn't matter. The future was so completely uncertain for them all; maybe it was time to start living in the present. The kisses, touches, and time they shared together now would make whatever happened tomorrow worth the effort.
Needing to lighten her mood, Max raised her voice, even though she knew her intended target would hear her at any volume. "Hey, Alec, we never gotta finish our game. What were you thinkin' of?"
Alec grinned. "After watching you go all commando girl on these poor bastards, I'm not sure I want to tell you now."
She raised an eyebrow, leaning back. "Okay, now you're gonna tell me or I'm gonna beat it outta you." She strained her delicate hearing, trying to understand the mumble that crossed his lips. "A what?"
He sighed. "A banana."
Max blinked, remembering back to their game. "How is a banana dangerous?"
He grinned, then, his eyes sparkling wickedly. "I told you, it depends on how you *use* it."
Her face wrinkled in disgust as images of exactly what Alec had in mind for that banana flowed relentlessly across her mind. He held his hands up in front of himself, defending his body from her glare as he backed away quickly. "I think it's time for me to go."
With that he disappeared into the shadows of the warehouse, and Max tracked the sound of his exit through the corridors until he was safely outside. She sighed and shook her head. She knew she had walked into that one hook line and sinker, but that wasn't about to keep her from kicking his ass royally the next time they crossed paths.
Max jumped down off the table and moved behind Logan, slipping her arms over his, then down around his waist. She rested her chin on his shoulder and watched quietly as he finished clearing Dietz's computer files of any reference to himself, Max or Eyes Only.
When he was done, he turned to look into her eyes and smiled. "Ready?"
She nodded, tightening her hold on him for a brief moment before releasing him and moving away. "You know what, Logan? I think I am."
End Part Fifteen: Fight Till The End