In the blink of an Eye Only.
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue. The story is mine, the people aren't. I make no money out of this. My only return is in the form of feedback. Notice how the word "Feed" is part of the word "feedback". Feed me and I may write a sequel. Feedback is essential. It is the only reason that I share my writing. I not only crave it, I NEED it. It is what makes me write. Katana. [mail]rose_tat@hotmail.com[/mail]
[i]//It's amazing how much your life can change in just an instant. I mean, one minute you're a genetically engineered killing machine being trained to be a solider, the next you're a genetically engineered killing machine running from everything you've ever known and being shoot at, the next you're falling through thin ice and watching your pursuers go over you.
One minute you're wandering the streets aimlessly and trying to pick pockets for food, the next you're in a youth detention center van on your way to a foster home. One minute you're in a bad foster situation in one of the strongest countries on the planet, the next minute an electro-magnetic pulse is giving you an excuse to walk away from a bad situation.
One minute you're a Jam Pony rider that moonlights as a cat burglar, the next minute you're a Jam Pony rider that moonlights as an Eyes Only operative. One minute you're doing a run, the next minute you're on the run. One minute you see somebody as a brother, the next minute you're learning that the light in which he sees you is nothing like fraternal.
One minute you're having a great day, the next you're standing in a hospital room watching somebody you care about as a machine that goes *beep* and another that goes *blip* keep him alive... It doesn't pay to blink, you never know what you might miss.
Please don't die on me Logan.
Please don't die on me Logan.
Please don't die on me Logan…//[/i]
Max stood silently in the hospital room just looking at Logan's unconscious form. Her mind was racing. She turned her head as a doctor came into the room. She watched him closely as he checked Logan's vital signs.
Bling sighed quietly and moved from his position leaning against the far wall.
Neither he nor Max had spoken since Max had entered the room. But then what really was there to say? Somebody had guessed that Logan Cale was Eyes Only and sent some goons after him. They'd beaten him up pretty bad. Neither Max nor Bling had been there to save him. They'd both failed him. Not that Bling was really meant to be muscle, he was a physiotherapist, but somewhere along the way he had become so much more. Logan tended to have that affect on people. He pulled them in and made them care, not just about what he was doing, but about him. Logan was by no way a naïve man, but there was just something about him that made people want to protect him. Nobody was safe from his strong sense of morality. Nobody could hide from those soul-piercing blue eyes.
[i]//Damn you Logan.// [/i] Max thought to herself. [i] //Damn you for making me care. Don't you dare die on me Logan. Don't you dare make me care and then go die on me. I won't let you. You're going to get better. I'll make you. You're going to wake up even if it kills me.// [/i]
All they could do now was hope that Logan would be alright. (And that they could find a way to stop whomever arranged the hit from realizing that their guess was right.) Still, somehow it didn't seem real until Bling spoke. Maybe that was why he hadn't?
"What's the verdict?" Bling's voice, although little more than a whisper, seemed unbearably loud to Max.
[i]//Ask not for whom the knell tolls.// [/i]She thought with a shudder. [i]//Oh great, morbid Max, very morbid.// [/i]
The doctor hesitated for a moment, a touch of humanity breaking through his professional mask. A moment later the hesitation was gone. "Well, he's suffered from massive blood loss." He said slowly.
"He has one punctured lung. Several of his vertebrae are shattered. His arm's broken in three places, and that's not counting his wrist, which is broken in five places. He's suffered from severe head trauma. Both legs are pretty busted up." He took a deep breath.
"Long story short, he's in bad shape." Another pause, Max was becoming extremely uneasy by now. "He seems to have slipped into a coma but it's too hard to tell this early." The doctor turned to face Max. "You his girlfriend?"
Max looked up at the doctor sharply and then shifted her eyes to Bling. If she said no then she wouldn't exactly be able to make any decisions regarding Logan's care. And she *needed* to be able to make those decisions. But if she said yes... Slowly she nodded her head. "Yeah. We, ah, yeah. What are his chances?" Max asked.
"Not good to be honest. There is little chance that he'll make it through the next twenty-four hours."
Max bit her lower lip. "Is he stable enough to move?" She instinctively moved closer to the bed. Massive blood loss, extreme injuries, she could help him. Maybe only temporarily but she could help him. But she couldn't do it here. Tentatively she reached out a hand towards Logan's deathly still form and placed it on top of his.
"Max?" Bling gave her a questioning look.
"Well I advise against it." The doctor replied. "I'm sorry but we would need a family member to sign off on the forms anyway. Maybe..."
"Bennett." Max answered quickly. "His cousin. Would that be acceptable?"
"Yes." The doctor replied.
Max sent a pleading look in Bling's direction. "Bling?"
Bling frowned. "Are you sure about this Max?"
She nodded. "Could you… do you have a number for Bennett?"
Bling nodded. "Yes, I'll call him." He frowned, "But you'll need to talk to him too."
Max nodded. She gently pushed a lock of blonde hair out of Logan's eyes. Slowly she turned to look at both Bling and the doctor. "If he's going to die I'm sure he'd rather die in his own bed." Max said quietly. She looked Bling in the eye, begging him to understand and then fixed her gaze on the doctor. "Can you keep him stable enough to do that?"
"It's possible."
Bling watched Max for a second then nodded. "Well then, what are we waiting for? I'll call Bennett."
Bennett wasn't hard to convince. Max just told him that she could help Logan but it had to be off the record, she muttered something about protected sources and let the words "Eyes Only" and "Radical treatments" get muttered under her breath.
Bennett at least knew that Logan was involved with Eyes Only if he didn't know the whole truth. He was smart enough not to ask too many questions. And he quickly agreed that anything had to be better than the public health system.
Bling kept shooting Max questioning looks as Logan was prepped for transport but she didn't return them, she just kept her eyes on Logan as the thoughts buzzed around in her head. [i]//Okay girl, get a hold of yourself.// [/i] She told herself firmly.
[i]//You have to get Logan home safely. You have to swipe some of that tubing and stuff so that you can give him some revved up Manticore blood. You have to get an Eyes Only broadcast out to stop Logan's cover being blown...// [/i]The thoughts tumbling around in her head slowly began to take on some semblance of order.
Her militarily trained mind was quickly building up a solid plan. Everything would be okay, right now all she could do was sit back and let the medics do their part.
Finally they were out of the hospital. Bling followed the ambulance in Logan's car, Bennett followed him and Max took the lead on her Motorbike. In some morbid way it was kind of like a parade, or a funeral procession, the four vehicles made their way slowly to Logan's building.
Max was brushed aside as the medics settled Logan in. All she could do was just stand and watch as doctors, machines and IV's transformed Logan's bedroom. Taking a perch by Logan's wardrobe Max let them get on with what they had to do. All she really wanted was for them to leave. She had almost forgotten Bennett was there.
Bennett approached Max and motioned for them to go into another room. "So this treatment..." He started tentatively.
"It's better if you're not involved." Max replied. "People have already died trying to protect this secret. Don't worry. Logan will be fine." She added with more confidence than she felt.
~~~~~~~
Bennett left not long after his talk with Max confident in the fact that she would do whatever she could to help Logan. (And even more sure of the fact that it wouldn't necessarily all be legal.) Thankfully Bennett was one of those people that is more concerned with the welfare of their family that with petty, corrupt little bureaucrats. A fact that Max knew from the few times that they had met.
He promised that he would be back the next day and that he would keep the family at bay at least for a little while. It was a lot longer before the doctor and his medics were ready to leave Logan. But at last they were going. Max watched as Bling showed the doctor out of the apartment. She walked back into Logan's room and knelt beside him on the bed. Bling followed her in.
"So what exactly are we up to, Max?" Bling asked.
Max quickly pulled the tube and needles that she had lifted from the hospital out of her jacket. "We're giving Logan a fighting chance. Manticore style." She tried to force a half smile but it faltered. She hooked up the line and watched as her blood started seeping into Logan's vein. "Promise me that you will leave this in for at least another five minutes after I pass out."
"Max?" Bling questioned. It was clear in his eyes that he didn't think that was smart.
"Promise me." Max said firmly.
"Okay." Bling uneasily agreed.
"And Bling?"
"Yeah?"
"Could you ring Original Cindy and tell her that I won't be home tonight? Can't have my homegurl stressin' out on me."
"Consider it done." Bling watched as Max carefully lowered herself down on the bed beside Logan. Bling started to leave the room and was just closing the door as a thought occurred to Max.
"Bling?"
"Yeah?"
"Could you dig out Sebastian's details for me. You never know, given enough to work with, and the right incentive, he might be able to come up with an anti-rejection type thingy. For... y'know."
Bling smiled at Max's mutilation of the English language. "Sure."
Max sighed as she pushed a pillow in an attempt to get comfortable but it was no use. With another sigh she sat up again. "Okay Logan. I think we should talk. First of all, what the hell were you thinking getting yourself into this mess? Why didn't you call me? No. Don't answer that. I know why. Always gotta do it your own way. Well we're going to do this my way. And we're going to do this as many times as we need to. Okay Logan? No, don't argue with me. No being stubborn and digging your heals in. Okay? You just let me win this one, Logan Cale, got it? Okay. Good. Now lets do this bitch."
Max fingered the slender tube and traced her index finger along it to Logan's arm. She watched as her blood bled into his veins. "I have to say," She muttered as she lent back against the pillows again. "This isn't exactly how I imagined I'd end up on your bed. Not that I have, imagined it that is, but if I had it wouldn't have been under these circumstances."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Do not attempt to adjust your set. This is a streaming freedom video bulletin. This cable hack cannot be traced, it cannot be stopped, and it is the only free voice left in this city..."
Original Cindy flicked off the TV, cutting off Logan's voice. Well, a computer recreation of Logan's voice. She walked across Logan's living room and headed to the kitchen in search of food.
"Hey!" Max yelled out from Logan's office. She sent a pen flying at Cindy's head. "I was watching that."
"Why?" Cindy replied lightly. "You wrote it."
"Bastian actually wrote most of it." Max replied. "And what? Now a gurl can't admire her own handiwork? You know how far I had to stick my neck out to expose those slimy grease-bags?"
"Well I know you're in desperate need of another manicure, Boo." Cindy frowned. "Since when did it become 'Bastian' anyway?"
Max rolled her eyes. "Since it became 'Kendra and Bastian' or more like 'KendraandBastian'." Max replied. "I don't know," She continued melodramatically, "Get a guy out of his two wheeled prison and suddenly he goes from being a brain to a piece of meat."
"Men." Original Cindy replied as she puffed a stray piece of hair away from her mouth. "Can't live with them. End of sentence. Fudge?"
"Where'd you get fudge from?" Max asked as she eyed the offered plate.
"Bling. His sister made it." Cindy added with a shrug.
"He never told me."
"Yeah well maybe he wanted to give others a fighting chance." Original Cindy replied. She brought the fudge over to Max who was still at the computer in Logan's office. "Take a break gurl, you've earned it."
"Jace should be back by now."
"Jace is a big girl, she'll be back when she's back. Take a break, have some fudge and let Original Cindy do those nails of yours."
Max sighed. "You're right, I'll check Logan, you check baby."
Original Cindy nodded sympathetically. "Some how I don't think either of them are going to be awake Boo."
"Assumption is the mother of all fuckups." Max said quietly.
"Nice. Tom Cruise?"
"Lydecker."
"Worshiping the Anti-Christ now are we?"
"Wisdom cometh ever from the mouths of fools."
"You've been spending too much time around Herbal."
"Whatever." Max replied. She turned on her heals and walked towards Logan's room.
"Just me." She said brightly as she checked the machines that proved Logan was still alive. "Just thought I'd let you know that we brought that drug ring down. Jace is just out doing some housekeeping, making sure there's nothing for Manticore to find if they come on the scene. Routine stuff."
Max sighed as she sat down in the chair by Logan's bed. "Zane checked in from New York about an hour ago. Just to let us know it's all good. Krit's decided that all those 'false sentimentality' lectures we used to get from Lydecker are all a load of bullshit. Actually asked his girlfriend to marry him. Can you believe that? That makes three of my sibs lost to coupledom." Max forced a chuckle and then sighed. Marriage, that just seemed like such an impossibility right now.
Heck, the extent of her love life for well over a year now had been these one-sided conversations with a guy that might be too brain damaged to even remember her if he ever woke up. //Shut up. Logan *will* wake up. He has to.// Sighing she forced herself to keep talking.
"Um… Bennett and Marianne's second wedding anniversary is just a couple of weeks away now so if you want to go you're gonna have to wake up some time soon. He really wants you to be there. I still have that red dress, and you never know, it could be fun. You just have to wake up, Logan, I'll take care of everything else. Just wake up. I promise I'll run interference with Auntie Margo. Bennett promises he'll run interference with Auntie Margo. You'll walk in there just like nothing's happened. And you're not going to loose your legs again, not this time. Sebastian hasn't, he's been walking for ages now. Didn't even relapse when we stopped the treatments. Not that we're going to stop the treatments with you until you friggen wake up."
Max took a deep breath as a single tear ran down her cheek. "You know, I'm really getting sick of hacking up you're old video bulletins to make new ones, it takes me a day to do what you could do in ten minutes. I need you back Logan. Eyes Only needs you back. Heck, you are Eyes Only. And Zack's been deposed as Commanding Officer, remember? You have almost half a dozen barcodes willing to help the cause and I think more will come around. After all, it's a good deal both ways."
Max sighed. She gently brushed some of Logan's hair aside and adjusted his blanket. "Well it's seventy-four hours and counting until your next does of Manticore blood, maybe that will wake you up? This isn't funny anymore, I mean, I knew you needed a break but isn't a year and a half enough? I want you back, Logan. I need you back."
Max shook her head. "I'm going to head back into the other room and hang with Original Cindy for a bit. Call me if you need anything, believe me, I'll come running." Max lightly kissed Logan's forehead and quietly left the room.
"Maxine asleep?" She asked Original Cindy as she plopped down on the couch.
"Yup, little Max is sleeping like a baby. Just like Jace said she would."
Max forced a smile. "She *is* a baby."
"And Logan?"
Max sighed. "Same as ever. I swear, if he doesn't wake up soon I'm gonna lay a smack-down on his ass." She grumbled.
Original Cindy rolled her eyes. "Well Original Cindy says stressin' over it ain't gonna get you anythang but wrinkles. Logan will wake up when he's good and ready."
Max sighed. "I know, I just..."
"Miss him."
"Yeah." Just then Jace's daughter, Maxine, began crying. Max pulled a face. "Thought you said she was sleeping?"
"She was, I swear."
They shared a look. And then both started racing towards the bedroom that Jace and her daughter shared. Max got there first and had Maxine in her arms by the time Original Cindy got there.
"No fair." Original Cindy pouted.
"I'm the auntie." Max replied grinning. "Hey Maxine, y'hungry? Auntie Maxie will give you a nice bottle, huh? That sound good?"
"You are so clucky, gurl." Original Cindy teased.
"And you're not?" Max asked teasingly. "Come on, look at that cute little face. Doesn't that just say 'Love me'?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You know, this is getting kinda 'old hat' Logan." Max grumbled as she slipped the needle into her arm. "I mean, sure, this quiet time is all well and good. But you really need to get out of the apartment sometimes." She slipped the needle at the other end of the tube into Logan's vein with practiced ease. Carefully she opened the release valve. She sighed as she watched her blood trickle out of her vein and along the thin tube.
"Wouldn't it be nice to go out for a nice dinner or something? Just for a change. I mean sure, we've got a good routine going, it's comfortable, it's safe... I never was big on 'safe' Logan." Max sighed.
Three years, Logan had been in a coma for three long years. Things had changed a lot in that time. It had taken less then two months for Max to come to the conclusion (with Bling and Original Cindy's help) that it was stupid for her to maintain an apartment when she was spending all of her time here. It had taken another month to get Original Cindy to move in as well.
Four months after that, seven months after Logan had been attacked, Jace had rung while Max had been out on a mission. Original Cindy had taken the opportunity to have a *very* in-depth discussion with Max's sib about how Max was stretching herself too thin. Jace had agreed and had shown up on Logan's doorstep, baby and all, less than a week later.
Jace had immediately inserted herself into Max's life, both as an Eye's Only operative and as moral support. And Max had to admit that it was great to be part of her niece's life. Original Cindy had happily handed over the guest bedroom to mother and daughter, especially since her current girlfriend was asking her to move in.
Eventually Zack showed up. Although he was happy that Jace was free he was *not* happy that her and Max were living together, and he went ballistic about baby Maxine. Jace and Max quickly put him in his place however. When Zack left to lick his wounds it was definitely with his tail between his legs.
Over time Jace and Max found all of the escaped X5's. It seemed that one-by-one none of them had the guts to challenge Zack's way of thinking but the more they talked to Jace and Max, well... Suddenly instead of "My way or the Highway" it was "Zack's way or Max's way". Or, if rendered into more psychological terms, Freud or Jung. Karl Jung agreed with many of Sigmoid Freud's conclusions but not his methods. Jung believed that there was always room for compassion and that it was a requirement not a luxury.
The parallels between two of the western world's greatest psychologists and two of Manticore's greatest X5s are all but infinite. Yet it was the argument that Zack was mentally still back at Manticore that really got the other X5s thinking. And the more they though the more they agreed with Max. And the more they agreed with Max the more determined they became to find their other sibs.
And the more determined they became to find their other sibs the more interested they became in the Eyes Only network. And the more sibs that were found through Eyes Only the more sibs that decided to become a part of Eyes Only. Which kind of made sense since the more sibs that were part of Eyes Only equaled the more resources available to find more of their sibs.
It was never Max's plan to make all of her siblings operatives, it was just something that naturally happened. Two and a half years after Logan had slipped into his coma there were six sub-branches of Eyes Only, all faced by X5's. It was only natural that they would eventually launch a major attack on Manticore. Two years and eight months after Logan had been attacked Manticore was taken down. Few transgenics died in the event. Every trannie that looked human was integrated into society. Those that couldn't pass for human were set up in communities of their own. The Eyes Only organization was huge by this stage and many of the human members had been educated about Manticore. Maybe four hundred humans knew about, and accepted, the GE's. Many of them were part of, or connected with, the communities that had been created for the not-so-human transgenics. Education, acceptance and co-existence were high on the Eyes Only agenda. The human race's view of the genetically engineered was changing, one operative at a time.
Everything seemed to be going perfectly. It was like a fairytale. Everything was perfect. Well almost everything. There was of course the sad princess in her ivory tower and the enchanted prince. But every fairytale has a touch of darkness in it. Would the prince ever wake up? Would the princess ever truly be happy again? Not every story gets a happy ever after.
And even if Logan were to wake up, that would be another story.
The End? Maybe. But every ending is also a beginning…