A/N Surprise here's the next chapter. I told you my muse was back. I hate the entire Familiar cult mythology of S2. So since this is my AU and my story I refuse to use it. Read on for my version of what White is and why Max is important.

"Serious how?" Max demanded. "We know White is out to get rid of the transgenics he's made that very clear and now he's teamed up with Redmond to start a pogrom against them."

Deck waited for Max to finish her outburst then calmly continued as if she hadn't even spoken.

"I first met Alain Sandeman when I came out of the ADAP program. I had been discharged from the military, my wife was dead, and I had no idea what I was going to do with the rest of my life. A friend of mine set me up working in Sandeman's lab as an assistant. I had some rudimentary scientific training, enough to do what he needed anyway. Sandeman wouldn't have tolerated anyone who knew too much. He was paranoid about his work; petrified of anyone who might conceivably understand exactly what he was doing. I thought it was just ego, that he wanted to claim any credit for his discoveries solely for himself. But I didn't care. I needed a job, he paid well and the work was interesting. Over time I picked up a lot from him even though I never could follow his most advanced work. A few years into the program we had a visit from the US government. Seems they had also been following Sandeman's research and decided they wanted a piece of it. They were interested in developing a line of genetically enhanced humans who they could train as super soldiers. They believed Sandeman was the man who could do it for them. I thought he would refuse but to my surprise he was eager to agree. I didn't know it at the time but he was deathly afraid that he had been compromised and he thought that the Manticore project would provide him the safety he needed to complete his work." Logan and Max exchanged glances at Deck's mention of Manticore but remained silent.

"Sandeman had the theory but hadn't actually tried to put it into practice until Manticore. With the new funding and facilities he didn't waste any time. The first group of in vitros was started just 3 months after setup. At least I thought they were the first. It turned out Sandeman had tried on his own and had created a couple of engineered creatures but his DNA calculations were off and they came out looking more canine than human." Max drew in a breath thinking of Joshua and Isaac. "I didn't find out about them until later and they really aren't relevant to this anyway." Lydecker continued. He atopped for a moment seeming to gather his thoughts.

"I won't go into the Manticore program," Deck observed, "since you all know enough about it. The only other important point is that in the summer of 2007 Sandeman vanished. One day he was simply gone and all of his notes and files with him. We watched and waited for him to resurface somewhere else in the world figuring he had been turned by another government but he never did."

Max glared at him. "Watched and waited I bet. With your assassins ready to deploy against him the minute you found him, isn't that right?"

"Actually no, Max. If we had found him we would simply have brought him home. We could have used his genius. We had enough knowledge from him to proceed with the program but we moved more slowly on our own. Things that seemed intuitive to him were an agonizing struggle for our scientists." Lydecker stopped a moment and the three listeners waited for him to resume.

"I never heard a word of Sandeman again after that until you and Cale finished the job of taking down Manticore that we started last summer. When I heard what had happened and that the NSA had been assigned to 'clean up' the mess I decided to pay Ames White a visit at his temporary headquarters. That's where I found the Manticore database disk and Max's genetic workup. When I saw it I knew I had to find Sandeman. It was nothing like an X5 genetic profile and believe me I know all of them. The X5's were my project and I made it my business to know everything about each one of them. Obviously he had changed the records and falsified Max's profile. The question was why and what did it mean. I knew I was on the right track to finding him when someone ran me off the road into the river. That was a stupid move. I was Delta Force in my day. I know how to survive something like that. Actually it made it easier for me. Dead no one was looking for me anymore and it left me free to find Sandeman. Which I finally did. But what he told me was not what I expected to hear. Max is not what we thought she was."

"So what exactly is she then?" Logan demanded harshly aware of Max sitting next to him, tension running through her body. Unobtrusively he reached over and took her hand squeezing it lightly.

"Max is not just an X5." Lydecker stopped and let his words sink in. "Unknown to any of us at Manticore, there was another genetic program out there. An older more established one that had taken a different route. Instead of using animal DNA and creating transgenics this program had been experimenting with human DNA manipulation since the 1950's. They were much further advanced than we were and their products were different in some ways from what we had created at Manticore. Sandeman was an actual product of that program. He was one of their creations. He had been trained and worked in the program until the 1990's when he became disillusioned with what they were doing and he managed to escape. His goal was to create transgenics who could rival their enhanced form of human. He knew he didn't have time to bring the human enhancement research to their level but he thought by using animal DNA he had a chance."

"Wait a minute. Why did Sandeman leave their program and what was the urgency?" Logan demanded.

"This isn't adding up."

"This program was not a government sponsored program Cale. It was a privately funded operation and it had one goal in mind. Create a superior human. This accomplished these humans would infiltrate into every level of government and society. Once they had created enough of their kind they would take over as the ruling elite and the ordinary, normal humans would serve as their slave labor. Sandeman would probably have stayed happily as one of them except for one thing. He fell in love with an ordinary girl. She was one of the surrogate mothers they used for their breeding. He met her during her pregnancy. They fell in love and he wanted to keep her with him afterwards. When his superiors found out they had her terminated. They assumed it was simply a sexual liaison and he would quickly forget. They assumed wrong. Shortly after, he left. I don't know how and it doesn't matter. What matters is that he knew their plans and he set out to ally himself with us, the normal humans to stop them. He was afraid to let anyone know exactly what he was doing because he knew they had infiltrated to the highest levels of government. Manticore had the highest level of security and on paper it was something completely different. He thought he could safely continue his work under its cover and he was right. Until 2007 when he got wind that they were on his trail. So he picked up and left. He knew Manticore was established and the X series would continue to be made.But he left behind his most important creation. Max."

"What the hell does that mean?" Max demanded.

"In addition to using the normals as slave labor Sandeman's creators planned one more thing. They knew they wouldn't need all of the human population. So they set to work to design a bio-warfare virus. One targeted to normal human DNA. When they made their move they would isolate a selected group of humans for breeding and slave usage. Then they would release the toxin and let it kill off the rest of the population. The only problem was engineering the correct toxin. One that could easily be released and that would remain effective for a long period. One that killed quickly and didn't allow time for treatment. They are very close to achieving that toxin as we speak. Too close. Sandeman knew what they were doing with the toxin because he was one of the scientists assigned to create it. With this knowledge he built immunity into his transgenics. But he still had the problem of protecting the normals. He needed a transgenic who was not only immune but whose body could produce antibodies that could be used to manufacture a vaccine that would give the normals immunity. Max is that transgenic. Her blood holds the antibodies that can protect the human race against the bio-toxin. The problem is that Sandeman's group knows about her existence now."

"White." Logan and Max exclaimed in one voice. "That's why he wanted you so badly." Logan continued. "So what's the plan now ?"

"We need to get Max to a lab that can start to isolate the antibodies from her bloodstream. But first she has to manufacture them. She has to be infected with the toxin."

"NO." Logan's voice was loud in the empty warehouse. "How do we know for sure she's immune? What if it kills her? We only have your word about this whole thing. What if this Sandeman isn't telling you the truth?"

"I understand, son, but I'm telling you the truth" Deck reached into his jacket and pulled out a computer disk which he held out to Logan. "Take this to your friend. Sebastian isn't it? Let him read this and explain it to you. Then contact me at this number. But do it fast. We don't have a lot of time." Logan reluctantly took the proffered disk from Lydecker and slipped it into his pocket.

"Wait a minute. If Max is the key why the pogrom against transgenics?" Alec demanded.

"Max is the key to the bio-toxin. The transgenics are the soldiers who can meet the others on their own ground. Without the virus they may still try to take over by pure brute force. The transgenics can meet them evenly and help the normals stand against them. So it becomes important to destroy them before that can happen." Alec nodded seeing the sense in Lydecker's words. Max had sat silently during the last exchanges and now she rose with Logan. She gave Lydecker a hard stare but didn't say a word then turned and headed for Logan's car.

Logan nodded shortly at Lydecker. "We'll be in touch shortly." The he turned and followed by Alec headed to the car as well. Lydecker simply stood and watched as the three climbed in and, accompanied by the groan of the old warehouse door rising, drove away.