Here are Logan's thoughts on the fall of Manticore and rescuing Max.

Everything I Do…

          I will never forget the look on her face when Director Renfro's storm-troopers marched her in and threw her to the floor in front of me.  I know what I wanted to do.  I wanted to jump up right then and kill everyone that had harmed her.  Manticore Black Ops would have made mincemeat out of me.  I couldn't risk that.  I could see her soul slipping when she looked up at me.  I could feel the frustration at losing the battle against her enemy.

          I also saw the relief and happiness that I had come for her.  I could see it in her eyes.  She didn't have to fight to maintain control by herself.  She knew I would pick up the slack for her and this in itself gave her strength. 

          She had been near to giving up.  I could only think that her struggle in the halls when she stared at the camera had been her last act of defiance before she gave up and prepared to let them win.  I refused to believe that she would ever truly let them win but when I saw her bruised and battered frame struggling to remain on her knees in front of me…

          I will never again allow that to happen.  That day marked the proverbial first day of the rest of our life.  I swore to myself when she looked into my eyes that I would never again allow harm to come to her.  I swore that if I could not stop harm from coming to her then I would make those that brought the pain to her suffer violently.  I've seen much in my time as Eyes Only.  I know things.

          We left that place on our own.  No one followed us.  Renfro was dead and the Children of Manticore were running free.  We were almost clear when she collapsed.  I don't know if it was relief or fear or simply exhaustion but I carried her from the main entrance of the facility to the bland pale truck I had acquired for this particular mission.

          She mumbled something when I set her in the truck and moved to the other side.  I'm not sure what she said and I probably never will be sure but it sounded like 'Don't let go.'

          I hurried to the other side and she pulled herself to me clutching at my leg and resting her head on it.  She was asleep before we left the grounds passing a few fleeing soldiers and kids on the way out.  I don't know if the scientists made it out but I don't really care.  Max was sleeping, her head resting on my leg.  She purred softly.

          I could feel her purring as well as hear that trick of her feline DNA.  I can't explain what it meant to hear that.  I remember the first time she did it.  It freaked me out.  When I got used to it, it turned me on in ways I can't even begin to explain.  Just like a happy little kitten, she would turn on this slight vibrating tone and it screamed to every fiber of my soul and all that made me a man.  I can't explain it but somehow I know I'm the only one that knows she can do it.

          She was completely drained by the time I made it to the cabin.  OC had called me a dozen times in the two hour drive up there.  I carried Max inside and put her into bed pulling the covers up.  She mumbled something but I had to ditch the old pickup and it would take an hour at least.  I locked and secured the cabin and headed out.

          I don't think I ever felt quite as helpless as I did when I drove that truck to the junkyard and picked up the Aztec.  I pushed the Aztec to its limits trying to get back to the cabin.  I was worried about her.  Worried that I had missed something and we had been followed.  When I arrived, though, she was still asleep, tucked safely under the covers.

          Cindy had called five more times but there wasn't time for such things.  I hated making Cindy and Syl wait like that.  I had assumed Krit and Zane had seen the fire and headed out.

          Max was the center of my world from that moment on and I needed to see her healed and well before I called and let everyone know I had succeeded.  That first night when I had called Cindy to let her know everything was okay and Max was safe I realized that I had relaxed for the first time in weeks.  OC had kept me going.  She had made me realize how pathetic I had been acting and that I needed to move on this Manticore thing.  She kept me strong for the struggle and showed me what it meant to have Max.  I was almost as relieved to see her face on the monitor as I was to see Max alive that first time.

          I panicked when Max came into the room and sat beside me on the couch after spending most of the day in bed.  It didn't take long to realize that she just needed to be near me, wanted to be near me.  I should have stayed in the bedroom with her, watching over her.  She was asleep in my arms within minutes and I stayed there holding her until she woke up the next morning.

          She was stiff and sore and I probably got on her nerves worrying about her and fussing over her but I honestly cannot remember a moment that second day when she didn't smile.  I know I smiled like a fool the whole day repeatedly covering her with blankets on the couch.  I made sure she had liquids to drink and gave her snacks in front of the fire.  I know I pushed the limits of her patience when she finally told me to sit with her.  She pushed herself against me.  She purred.  For almost three hours we just watched the fire die down while she dozed, nodding in and out in my arms.

          We talked about a lot of things that day.  She told me what happened to her.  She told me everything saying that I deserved to know what Manticore did to her.  She told me they showed Zack to her and that he was alive but somehow, not.  I promised to look into it.  I promised to find out what they did to him and she said she knew I would do no less.

          Mostly though, she talked about me.

          Eyes Only.  'The guardian of a dark angel.'  She quoted my words as I had stated it before shooting Renfro between the eyes.  She told me those words were as important to her as the poem she finally confessed to stealing from me.  I laughed and told her I noticed a while ago which poem she had taken.  She smiled.  I made a mental note to figure out which poem was missing.  I was pretty sure which one it was, though…

          "You hungry?"  I asked her.

          "I could eat, especially a Cale culinary miracle."  She answered.

          I went into the kitchen and chopped up some boneless chicken and vegetables and mixed a thick red curry, heavy on the garlic and stir fried it in a wide pan.  I didn't have a wok out here.

          "Max."  I called when it was ready.

          "I Love you."  She blurted.  I stared at her for a minute and watched her face turning red with embarrassment.  My only thought was that was what she was thinking about when I startled her.  I feel my own smile widen when she realizes that she is finally comfortable saying it.  I want to rush over there and just pull her into my arms and never let go but I can't.  There's too much going on in the kitchen.

          "I Love you too, Angel."  I continue to smile.  "Do you want to eat out here or should I set the coffee table for us?"

          "I'm comfortable here."  She says.  "The fire is roaring and the rain is pouring outside and I need you close to me."  She says.  She pauses with a strange look in her eyes and I know she is wondering where that emotional response came from.  I laugh as I grab plates and silver and walk into the room returning to the kitchen for the actual stir fry and steamed white rice.

          Fixing her a plate I tell her how much I like hearing those words from her.  I really do.  It means so much after this last year.  First we meet and then we fight and we became a team, you know.  Then that team was broken and, speaking as a man now, my better half was taken away from me.  I must admit to myself that I stepped up to the basket and I got nothing but net.  I put Manticore away and I protected my Angel when she needed me the most.

          "What made you do it?"  She asked me then.  I couldn't help thinking she was reading my mind.  "Why did you risk coming in there alone?"  She asked.

          I had to think about that one a whole milli-second or two.  "I couldn't leave you in that place."  I answer.  I honestly don't know where this conversation could go.  I really didn't know for sure if what I was doing would work but I had to try.  I couldn't give up on her.  "Why did you risk standing in front of that camera for so long when you could have taken the keys and tried to escape?"

          "I wanted them to see that they couldn't break me."  She says.  I think, no, I'm positive she's lying. 

          "The look you gave that camera was not one intended to show defiance."  I scold her almost letting her know that I'm on to her.  I raise my eyebrow.  She sighs realizing that I'm aware of her fib.  "You were pleading…"

          "I was hoping that you would see me.  I was hoping that you would find a way to contact me and free me.  I was begging the gods to let you know I was…"

          "They told me."  I reach out and touch her face.  She presses her cheek into my hand just before I push some strands of hair back over her ear.  She smiles and reaches for some food with her fork.

          "Did I tell you what a damn fool thing that was, you did.  I mean coming in there after me…"  Is she yelling at me?  If so, I can deal.  It doesn't matter to me.  She came to protect me in the past.  She knows now better than she ever did that I will always be there for her no matter what happens.

          "I took on Manticore for one reason alone.  Revenge."  I say.  "They took you away from me and when I had the proof that you were alive I was determined to see you back in my arms again."  I marvel at my own cooking for just an instant while I chew a small piece of chicken.  "I needed to destroy the project for hurting you."

          Isn't this the part where I tell her I can't live without her, I won't live without her?  Something in her eyes tells me it is.

          "Max.  I won't live without you.  I can't.  I don't like the way it feels when you're gone.  I need you and I will use all of my power to protect you from this day forward."

          "I love you too."  She smiles.  I look at her and then look to the food.  She gives me that little giggle of hers that I love dearly.  She takes a chunk of chicken and bites into it.  Our eyes never leave each other.

          I can't help thinking that it will only get harder for us.  The world is still lost in Chaos.  The bad guys are still out there.  There are still other groups looking for Max and Eyes Only.  I don't want to admit my fear.  I'm a man after all.  We don't admit those things.  We're strong and powerful.  I know it will be hard for us, but as I sit here looking into her eyes I know we will be together no matter what the universe has in store for us.  I've waited my whole life for this woman.  I know that now.  Everything is as it should be.

          "Logan."  Max starts to speak.  I silence her with a glance.  The Chaos is still out there.  The world will still be broken in a few days.  We'll worry about it then.

          "The universe is right on schedule, Angel.  Eat.  We have all the time in the world right now."