The phone was ringing when she arrived and she had to body block some kid out of the way to get to the phone. "I'm here. If you hurt her, I will kill you."
"Your loyalty to your friends is admirable, Max." Spoke a voice Max had burned into her memory many years ago.
"Lydecker?" Max said.
"Yes. I'm alive and so is your friend. She was being stalked, so I took her from the street. She wants to talk to you." He said handing over the phone.
"Max." It was OC.
"Are you ok?" Max asked.
"Yeah, sugga. I'm fine. They didn't hurt me. I didn't know someone was tailing me to get to you though. Look, we're at the safe house where you planned the attack on the lab. Logan's been here although no one knows where he is now. He's missing and the Colonel's been trying to find him. You were right. He is in danger and apparently he did it all to protect you and the rest of the family. We'll see you when you get here." OC said then hung up the phone.
Max was pulling into the old safe-house half an hour later.
There were fifteen members of the old Manticore Spec-ops soldiers milling around when Max rode her bike through the door that had been opened for her benefit. OC was sitting and talking with Lydecker. Both watched Max pull her bike up in front of the platform.
"Colonel." Max said with wary tones.
"I am impressed with the way you handled the Familiar situation. We had been training you kids to deal with that situation, but had no idea that you and Logan could or would cause so many problems for them by yourselves." Deck said.
"It was easy. I had great help. Where's Logan?"
"I wish I knew. He was taken by my troops from his Location in Japan, and brought to my headquarters in Canada. We patched him up and did some work, helped him get the rehab he needed to walk and function again with a renewed spinal cord. Everything seemed to be going fine and he and I were planning on his returning to Seattle to find you, but something happened. He found out about something and before any of us could control the situation, he was gone. We've been looking for him ever since."
"They know he is here in Seattle." OC said. "They just don't know where or why."
"What did you do to him?" Max demanded. She grabbed Lydecker by the collar and lifted him off the ground. "Where is he?" She yelled as three guards moved in on her. She threw Lydecker down and dispatched the guards in only a few seconds. Four more approached and they were as easily subdued by Max.
Guns had been drawn and were leveled on Max. "ENOUGH!" Deck shouted. Everyone stopped moving.
"You say one word about emotions and so help me I will kill you and every one of your men present." Max said stepping toward Deck. He held his hands up in surrender.
"I don't know where he is. We figured out why he left though. I would have gotten to that information soon enough..."
"Where is he and why did he run away from you?" Max demanded stepping right up in Deck's face although there were fifteen weapons aimed at various parts of her body.
"He is in Seattle. He has come to stop the assassin sent to kill you." Deck said.
"What assassin?" Max demanded. "What can Logan do against an assassin?"
"They still hunt us, Max." A woman behind Max said. Max turned to see Syl standing there. "I didn't even see him coming. He just jumped in front of me and used his body as a shield. I didn't recognize him at first, but he shoved something in my hand and jumped up bloody and shouting as three men moved in on my position. I tried to follow him but he was gone, moving at incredible speeds for a guy that was once confined to a wheel chair." Syl said.
Max hugged her. "Who was trying to kill you?"
"Familiars." Deck said.
"Logan couldn't possibly fight them alone." Max said.
"He can now, sort of. When we brought him back after three weeks of treatments with the nanocytes, his spinal cord was almost fully healed. He was in excellent condition and his strength was above average for a man of his build. We gave him some injections." Deck explained.
"What kind of injections?" Max asked.
"I hunted you kids for one reason. It was my job to get back what I had lost. It cost three of you your lives. I swore after I found you and Tinga that I would not let anything happen to any of you. I had planned on finding a way to cure the DNA problem, but you had already transfused his blood and then Joshua transfused him for some reason..." Deck paused hoping Max would enlighten him but she didn't. "I had to assume you almost killed him again. I figured out that I was right when I spoke to Cindy here."
Max looked at OC. OC stared back at Max. "I had to tell him, boo. There isn't much he doesn't already know."
"Logan had been taking the nanocyte injections for three and half weeks when I got to him. His body had already begun changing. The nanocytes were coded to repair his DNA and return his internal systems to their natural state, but their natural state by this time was one containing two things. Your DNA encoded stem cells and Joshua's enriched canine blood. He still looks the same and he still is the same, but his internal systems have adapted with the help of the nano technology giving him a super-regenerative capability. He is not as strong as any of you kids. He is not as fast as any of you kids. He regenerates about five times your rate though. A bullet wound will heal in a day with your body, Max. The scar will be gone in three. In Logan the same wound will heal in about four hours. The healing will be complete. No lingering effects or scars. The nanocytes will use the metal in the body to reinforce broken bones and such. It is what they are coded for."
"You mean you made Logan one of us?" Max asked. "Is that what you are saying?"
"Not exactly. Logan's body will not deteriorate. His body had millions of stem cells floating around. All of you kids have the same type of blood. Logan has had two injections of your blood. One from Joshua and he had similar treatment long before we realized what we were doing exactly. Three transfusions of the stem cells left billions of the cells floating around in his system with nothing to do. The nano tech found them and reasoned they had to be produced from somewhere but could not find where so they rewired his bone marrow to produce them exclusively. They rebuilt his spinal cord and they continue to float around in there using his internal reserves to recreate themselves and help the stem cells by acting as a sort of supervisory staff. They manage the stem cells his body now produces naturally."
"What did you do to him?" Max asked trying to take in all the information. Scenarios flew through her mind. "Are you trying to tell me that you made him..." Max let the thought slip away. "Who is this assassin?" She asked changing the subject.
"We don't know."
"Then how did Logan find out?"
"Logan hacked Manticore computers when we hit the DNA lab. He is Elite as they call it. No one inside even knew about it until it was too late. He had access to computers in my camp." Deck said.
"He hacks available satellites to do the broadcasts." Max mumbled.
"What?" Deck asked but he had already put it together. So did Syl.
"You mean Logan... The Eyes Only broadcast?" Syl asked. Heads turned. Max couldn't believe she had muttered the words out loud. She cursed herself. Her eyes turned to OC who stepped up. "Colonel? I hope you understand the privileged nature of what you now know for sure."
"My men are loyal. They will not reveal information I already knew." Deck said. "What we need to do now is figure out who the assassin is and who he is working with."
"If he doesn't have our strength or speed how is it he was able to outrun me?" Syl asked.
"He has a government issue exo-skeleton. He used it to walk when he was paralyzed. It adds strength and speed where it wasn't before. If he has recovered fully and was as healthy as you said he was, the exo would give him a limited capacity that approached our own." Max reasoned.
"That would make sense now that I think about it." Syl added. "I was standing in front of a window looking at an outfit when I saw the reflection in the window behind me. The three men were crossing the streets drawing guns and Logan came from above me but now that I think about it, he had to have jumped from the fifth floor roof to take the bullets."
"He was shot?" Max asked. A worried tone slipped into her voice.
"We know Max is the assassin's target. We know Max is the main target, but any transgenic is at risk. We know the assassin is in Seattle with friends, but we don't know how many." Deck said.
"I know who it is." Max said.
"What? How?" OC asked.
"You remember Harbor Lights?" Max asked OC. She nodded. "I got shot and Logan played hell trying to save my ass from White. Ames White. A familiar with some connection to the main ringleaders in the cult. He disappeared after the whole 'Harbor Lights' incident. Logan and I assumed him dead, but he's not easy to kill. I've tried. I had an easier time of it with The Red Series." Max said. Syl asked what that was and OC promised to tell her sometime. "White hates me with every fiber of his being. I imagine he is the assassin if I am the main target and apparently Logan is trying to save me." She said as a thought echoed in her mine. 'I will fix this no matter the cost…' His words echoed.
"Where would Logan be? Where does he live?" Lydecker asked.
"I live in his place, but he hasn't been there in over a year. He sent a man to me with some stuff for his computers and some money so I could survive. He provided for me." Max said. The pride in her voice, strong and clear.
"I know. We need to know who he knows and where he would go besides his penthouse."
"How do you know about the penthouse?" OC demanded.
"I had that information when Eyes Only contacted me. We don't have time for an explanation." Deck said turning to OC. "You go over and wait at the penthouse in case he shows. Contact me if he does whether he stays or not. I have some other addresses and my people are set up on those positions. He was in our camp almost a year so my men know him. He trained with them."
"What do you mean? How did you train him?" Max demanded.
"We put him through the paces to help with his recovery. The injections we gave him helped his body adapt to the new blood flowing in his system. He is revved up to a degree but not physically stronger or faster and we couldn't make him smarter. His body is akin to that of Wolverine in the old comic now. He will regenerate at an incredible rate and because of this it won't deteriorate normally."
"What did you do to him?" Max asked.
"I gave him a better life. He's young. He can adapt to the changes in time and he will live longer and healthier than he would have. Max, when this is over, I will answer all of your questions. Right now, we have to find him. The Familiar assassin and his men are in town looking for you and Logan. We have to find him before they do." Deck said.
Max looked at him. Here was a man that had as much as died without a word when she could have used his help and now a year later, he stands spouting orders as he has always done. Max wanted to kick herself for thinking Lydecker would ever change. She looked down at her hand and stared at her keys. A ride would do her good right now. She stared at the keys in her hand. The keys Logan had sent with the packages. The keys to the penthouse, even though she already had a set, the keys to the safe houses Logan owned and the keys to the Aztec still parked in the garage under Fogle towers. There were also keys from the cabin. Max had added her Ninja key to the ring and that ride was looking better and better.
She walked to her bike and climbed on. Deck was right behind her demanding where she was going, but Max was out the door before anyone could get close enough to stop her. Syl was out within a few seconds on her own ride. Max didn't notice her following at a safe distance.
Syl followed until Max was sitting at a sector checkpoint behind a line of cars. Max didn't move when Syl pulled up beside her on her own bike.
"I shouldn't have left him." Max said.
"Left who?" Syl asked.
"Logan. I Love him so much it hurts and I walked away from him."
"Why? If you Love him so much..."
"The virus..." Max said as if she was going to explain it. Syl was still staring at her. "Manticore put a virus in me targeted to a specific gene sequence in Logan. If I touch him, he dies. It almost happened three times. I left him because I wouldn't have been able to deal with being the reason he died, but I didn't realized how much he meant to me until I couldn't get in touch with him anymore. One day he was living in his penthouse and the next he wasn't and it was my fault. It's all my fault. Always has been."
"Max. From what Lydecker was telling me, this Logan guy is a very dangerous man. He was running these underground cable hacks bringing down the big game without a thought to his safety. He had some sort of help to cover his tracks and Deck says his ability with the keyboard is off the scale." Syl said as they inched closer to the checkpoint.
"What kind of training did Lydecker give him? What did dear old Deck do to Logan?" Max asked.
"I understand they put him through his paces with standard Ranger training up in the Colonel's personal compound in Canada. He did months of training in many climates. He's not perfect, but I can imagine how dangerous he could be with that exo-skeleton. I saw him in action. He's fast and strong. He kicked one guy about fifteen, maybe twenty feet."
"So Deck turned him into a soldier. What a shock..." Max said flashing her Jam Pony pass at the security guard. She was through in a second, but didn't wait for Syl. Syl had to hustle to catch up, but Max wasn't exactly trying to lose her.
"So where we headed?" Syl hollered as she coasted up next to Max.
"That way." Max yelled back not pointing in any particular direction.
"You know where he is, don't you?" Syl shouted.
"I think so." Max said. "Time to go fast. Try to keep up." Max said pouring on the speed and ripping through the night on the winding twisting road toward her destination. They were to the short dirt road an hour away in no time. Max pulled her ninja off the side of the road and hid it behind some bushes. She breathed deep taking in the moist flavor of the air. She smiled remembering better days and wonderful memories she never wanted to forget.
"Where are we?" Syl asked.
"Logan's cabin. He used the last of his money to buy this cabin from his Aunt Margo after his Uncle was killed."
"His Uncle was killed?"
"Logan's parents were rich, but he was too young to take over his father's company after they were assassinated. His Uncle Jonas gained control of the company making the microchips that run the hover-drones. The company developed a drone that carried two silenced forty-five caliber machine guns. Jonas' partner used the prototype drone to kill Jonas and then turned the drone on Logan." Max explained while they stalked the forest toward the cabin.
"You saved his life." Syl said.
"He's saved mine as often." Max said holding up her hand signaling Syl they were close. They moved behind a small hill. Watching through the trees they could see shadows dancing on the wall. Someone had lit a fire. Max moved slowly hunched over prowling the night. She made her way to the window and peered inside. The room was empty.
"What is it?" Syl asked peeking into the room herself.
"yeah..." Max muttered stepping up and back from the cabin wall.
"See. I told you. You have moves of your own." A man's voice came from the darkness above. Max looked up and there he was. He was different, but then so was she. She watched him as he squatted up there on the chimney. He was watching her, waiting for her to respond. Her words would set the mood and she knew it.
'I do like a challenge...' She thought to herself. She was about to speak when Logan launched himself up into the air, flipping over, spinning to land directly in front of Max. "No Challenge." He said. He seemed taller. He was definitely stronger. "I'm pretty sure you'd still kick my ass." He said. Max stared up at him. The thoughts, the questions were running fast and hard in her head. 'Can I touch him?' 'Does he still Love me?' 'How the hell did he know what I was thinking?' He smiled down at her. She knew at least that he still loved her.
"The virus will still kill me or so Lydecker tells me." He said.
"Logan..." Max muttered. She was smiling a ridiculously wide grin and her eyes were locked into Logan's. She had become a girl. Even now, without having seen him for over a year, Max felt safe in his presence, but she stepped back to be sure. "Logan." Max tried again.
"I'm sorry. I was an asshole. I put too much pressure on you." Logan started, but Max cut him off.
"I never slept with Alec." Max said. "I never even kissed him." Max said. Syl was wandering away.
"Hello. Syl. It's been a very long time." Logan said pulling Syl back into the conversation and helping with Max's present emotional state. Max sighed, still smiling.
"Yeah, about that. I didn't know who you were. Zach never told us. I don't think he ever knew." Logan and Max answered at the same time.
"He knew." They said.
"I want to hear that story someday." Syl said not understanding, Mistaking the response.
"Someday." Max said. "I see you're not so afraid of heights anymore." She turned back to Logan.
"Sometimes when we fall so deep, the falling becomes a part of us. The same old things don't scare us anymore." He answered. "I have some food inside, getting cold. C'mon in."
The three headed around the front and up onto the porch. Max stopped and looked out into the darkness. This place always had potential. She had dreamed of her perfect life many times since meeting Logan and this was an important part of that life. 'Maybe now...' She thought walking through the door finally and seeing Logan waiting for her.
"Maybe." Logan said.
"What?" Syl asked. Max was staring at him. He heard her thought and answered it. He had developed a sense about her. She suddenly doubted that she could ever sneak up on him again.
"I live in the penthouse now." Max said suddenly.
"I know. Parker sent me the note." Logan was pulling deep maroon drapes across the windows and turned up a small lamp in the center of the room.
"Why didn't you come to me yourself?" Max demanded. "Why did you just stop speaking to me? And don't tell me you ever believed that I was seeing Alec. You gave me the option and I took it and I've hated myself for it every minute of every day." Her outburst was controlled, but still emotional.
"I offered the out and you took it. You didn't have to. I asked you to say no, to tell me it wasn't true. I gave you the choice and you chose. You didn't want me so I left."
"That's the part I don't get, Logan. You gave up. You ran away."
"Let me tell you a little story." Syl said suddenly. She lifted her hand to her ear and spoke. "I have him, sir. At the cabin, yes. We are secure. Logan, we know why you left Seattle. Max. I know why you left Logan. We may not know the specifics, but we know how things went down after that small exposure. Logan headed out and hunted some of the Familiars that he knew of. He drew Ames White away from you and the others in Seattle. He headed to Japan after they knew Logan was responsible for killing several of their numbers. They turned all of their attention to him. Lydecker had been following his exploits as Eyes Only for some time. It is the only reason he accepted you, Logan. You were protecting the Rogues, keeping our secret for us. You were the only one. He pulled you out and had every one he could find working on a way to fix you..."
"You mean, make me worthy." Logan said. "I've already had this conversation with Lydecker. The only reason he made me walk again was because he needed me alive and without the treatments I took in Japan, my life was doomed to a violent death from within." The look Max gave him was one of stunned fear. She hadn't suspected. "My spinal cord was rejecting everything, it had even begun to reject Joshua's blood and I was falling apart from the inside out. I had to go to Japan but the familiars were close. He had no choice but to continue the treatments or at least some form of treatment. He fixed me. I'm not complaining about the end product, but I am complaining about the way he went about it."
"He did it for a reason." Syl said. "We did all of this for a reason."
"Working for Deck. I didn't even see it." Max said.
"It's not like that. We had exposure because of your little war with White and the Familiars. Logan found Sandemann somehow and all hell broke loose. Then the CDC got involved and just as suddenly, Logan disappeared. What the hell were we supposed to do? White was systematically eliminating us, one by one." Syl argued with Max.
"You could have told me about your involvement instead of using me to find Logan. I would have helped a long time ago. I have been in misery since I..." Max stopped suddenly realizing that Logan was no longer in the room. "Where did he go?"
"Who?" Syl asked before realizing that Logan was gone. The women searched the apartment but Logan was not inside. Max was out front and checking the roof but Logan was not up there. Max listened intently for a minute before she heard it. Somewhere off in the distance she heard a motorcycle. It was not hers or Syl's. It was a different one.
"He's gone." Syl said.
"I have to find him. Can I trust you to go back to Lydecker and tell him he blew it?" Max asked.
"I'm sticking to you. You are the target here, not me." Syl said.
"Let's get the bikes then." Max said.
Max was distressed when she and Syl didn't catch up to Logan on the way back into the city. Sure there were other ways into the city, and Logan probably knew all of them, but if he had been heading back into Seattle, he would have gone the quickest way.
Back at operations, Lydecker was grilling someone they had pulled off the street. Max walked up and recognized Matt Seung. Matt recognized her instantly.
"Detective." Max said.
"Hello, Max. I'm sorry. I didn't figure you would ever speak to me again."
"You tried to help, but your hands were tied. I understand. There was nothing you could do at the time." Max said to him, then to Lydecker. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you."
"Max. We have to find him. No matter the cost."
"Why? Why is he so important to you?"
"He isn't important to me. He's important to you."
"What do you mean?" Max demanded.
"I know everything, Max. I know about Bast and Zach and Ben. I know about the familiars and the virus. I know about your DNA and what it did to him. I know about Manticore assassins looking for him. I know about the drone and the exo-skeleton and the transfusions and I know you Love him as much as he loves you." Deck stopped and stared at the floor.
"What is it?" Max asked.
"I infected him with the virus. I programmed some nanocytes to build antibodies against it, but I never got the chance to inject them. He fled later that night. He came to save you."
"Why didn't you inject the nanocytes? Logan isn't stupid. He wouldn't have just run off without the ability to fight the disease... unless you didn't tell him you injected him with the virus..." Max worked it out in her head.
"How much time does he have?" Syl asked.
"The other nanocytes will fight and repair damaged systems. He may even pull out of it on his own. If he doesn't then I would say he has about two days left. Maybe three. He will start to break down in about thirty-six hours and be bedridden in forty-eight. He will only survive about two or three hours after that. We have to find him." Lydecker said. His concern was evident. But whether it was for himself or for Max and Logan, she couldn't tell.
"I don't know where he is. I might have an idea, but he hardly trusts me now as it is." Max said cursing herself for screwing things up in the first place.
"Go and find him. Syl, I want you to take OC back to her apartment and get set up on the penthouse." Deck wandered off spouting orders to men in every direction. Max was already heading out the door.
Max headed straight for the Needle. If anything, Logan knew she would eventually go there so she just had to sit and wait. It didn't take long.
"I came alone this time." She said as he walked up behind her.
Max turned and looked at him. He was standing near the center spiral several feet away. His stance was defensive and Max knew instantly that he didn't trust her right now.
"I'm alone and no one knows where I am. Lydecker told me to find you and bring you in." Max said to him.
"I'll go in when I'm dead." Logan said. Max stared at him looking for some sort of smirk or smile, but she knew he was dead serious.
"Why are you doing this?" She asked him. "It didn't have to happen this way."
"But it did. You left me when I needed you and as it turned out, when you needed me most. You didn't come back. I waited and I paged and I called and I realized after about a month that I was alone again. You know what. Nothing else has changed. I am still alone, but at the very least I am stronger even if for a little while." Logan said. Max knew Logan well enough to know when he had information he shouldn't. She looked at him.
"You know what Lydecker did?" Max asked for an answer she already had.
"Yes. I have about a day and a half left."
"Lydecker says you have three days at least. He says he can save you."
"I don't want to be saved. I want it to end and tonight it will." Logan said. "I have all the information I need and with the regenerative capabilities of my new body and the training good old Deck put me through I only need a few minutes. Take a couple of bullets and kill a dozen familiars and I win. End of story."
"What are you going to do?" Max asked.
"Do you think I'll tell you now?" Logan asked. "Do you really think I'd give you the information you need to run in with Deck and the boys and screw my plans up? Do you think I care…" Logan stopped instead of trying to hurt her. She seemed to pick up on his feelings.
"So you don't trust me anymore?" Max asked. "This is all my fault?"
"No. It's mine. If I'd had bigger balls I'd have blown my brains out a long time ago. I don't care anymore. I'm an even bigger freak than you now. I'm one of the nomlies but fortunately my hours are firmly numbered."
"So why are you doing it? Why don't you go find a cure. You have the resources and the ability now. Why don't you fight it?" Max demanded.
"Why would I want to do that?" Logan asked with a cheesy little smirk that infuriated Max.
"What about us?" Max said. "I still Love you."
"A little late for that. Besides, I provided for you. You have the penthouse and the bank accounts and all the perks of being a spoiled rich man's woman and you won't even have to deal with me being around. I'll be dead just like they wanted. You said it yourself. We're through. Deal with it." Logan said. Max cursed herself for not noticing, but he had a line attached and when he jumped off the Needle she watched him disappear into the darkness below. She screamed his name as she scrambled to get to the hook of his rope, but when she grabbed it to let herself down, a small charge popped and she found herself holding onto a limp rope. Logan was already gone and she couldn't trust the damaged hook to hold her long enough to get down.
A few minutes later she was on her baby and heading off into Seattle to find Lydecker.
"Where is he?" Deck asked.
"He's gone." Max said. "I found him on the Space Needle, but your attempt to control the situation with Syl backfired and he won't trust me now. If he dies..." Max said grabbing Lydecker by his collar. "I will personally rip you intestines out and boil them in your skull." Max pushed Deck away from herself and left him sprawled out on the floor twelve feet away. "I know Logan. I know what he plans to do. I just don't know how he plans on doing it." She said. Deck pulled himself up as Syl and the rest gathered around.
"It's all about getting this group of Familiars in town in the same place. Logan believes he can do it and he says he only needs a couple of minutes anyway. He also knows you infected him. He left your camp knowing you did it. He is using it as an excuse to take them out."
"How does he plan on getting the familiars in the same place at the same time?" Syl asked.
"You don't know Logan." Max said. "If he sets his mind to it, he accomplishes it. Unfortunately, because of me he is going to give up. He expects to die tonight."
"Yeah, but where?" Deck asked.
"I don't know." Max said before offering all of her information on the Familiars and everything Logan had in a folder she printed out the last time she was in the penthouse."
"Colonel. You need to see this." One of the soldiers said. Everyone walked over to the television.
"This dramatic video comes from a live event happening downtown. Police and the military are on the way but these two are obviously more of the transgenic soldiers that disappeared a year ago after the viral epidemic." The voice of the newscaster was still talking but no one was listening. A cell phone rang and Max grabbed it immediately.
"Max." OC said.
"I know. We're watching it now." Max said as she hung up the phone.
"What are we going to do?" Syl asked. "He can't fight them by himself."
They watched as Logan kicked and jumped and eventually landed a right kick to the jaw. He dropped the familiar hard enough to stun him. It gave him enough time to get behind him and attempt to snap his neck.
"What the hell was that?" One of the soldiers asked. "Did anybody else see that?"
"We all saw it." Logan popped some kind of a capsule. A gas pellet of some kind but as soon as the familiar breathed in, he died and Logan just pretended to snap his neck. Then Logan was gone jumping a fence and running at incredible speed into the night.
"They know now. We need to figure out where he is headed." Deck said. "He's going to gas them."
"And himself." Max added with a slightly shaky voice.
"What do you mean?" Syl asked.
"He told me he only needed a few minutes. His exact words were 'take a couple of bullets and kill a dozen familiars and I win. End of story.' He has a plan and they are going to walk right into it."
Max walked over to a window and looked out. She needed to think but she was worried about Logan. He had been in a bad way before, but now he was just being stupid. A breaking story came back on the TV and Max couldn't help it. She knew it was about Logan. The transgenic as he was called now had just kidnapped an older woman from a business office not far from the penthouse. He was being followed by a hover-drone. It was obviously a ploy. Max recognized the building. She shouted the address as she ran for the garage and left the building on her ninja.
Across town and into the high rise district in record time, she was able to see a handful of familiars entering a large warehouse not far from the convention center. She approached as the others were just heading into the sector, Max could hear auto locks bolting the doors. She ran up but could not get in. A quick run around the side led her to a drainpipe she could climb to a window high up near the roof. Syl had approached and was climbing right behind her.
Up on the roof, Max and Syl ran over to the skylights and looked in. The windows were dirty, but they could see Logan standing there surrounded by several familiars. He cracked another gas pellet and the woman in his arms dropped dead instantly. Max saw one near a doorway fall and Syl pointed out a third. Both transgenic women listened closely as White pointed a pistol at Logan.
"Hello Amy." Logan said.
"Logan Cale. The great and powerful Eyes Only." White said. "You shouldn't have done that."
"There goes another one." Logan said as a body fell by the electronically locked door. "The gas is not extremely harmful to humans, but you guys drop instantly when you breathe it. Sandemann told me about the whole thing although he didn't realize he did. He's a very secretive man."
Another body fell. White was looking around. A fourth victim collapsed followed by a fifth. The gas was filling the warehouse slowly but surely and the familiars were dropping like flies. White pulled the trigger shooting Logan in the calf just below the knee. He went down hard and Max stood up to jump, but Syl held her back.
"What the hell did you do?" White asked.
"I killed you. All of you. Expose 452 and the other kids and I hunt you down like the dogs you are. You made the wrong enemy this time Amelia. You have no control over this situation." Logan explained as White shot him in the arm. The gas claimed two more familiars. The ones left moved into the center of the room, surrounding Logan although they weren't paying much attention to him. White moved in closer to Logan until the two men were face to face.
"Do you think we are all there is?"
"No. I think you are the ones that matter though. It's going to be another millenia or three before you can have this little 'coming' festival of yours. Pretty good for a human, eh?" Logan said as he laughed. Other familiars in the closer circle dropped until only Logan and White were left. Logan could see in his eyes that the gas was getting to him. They turned blue then a deep purple and then they went white. White pulled the trigger three more times before he collapsed on top of Logan. Max was just staring down into the warehouse when Lydecker and his men burst in wearing gas masks and checking bodies. Max and Syl headed down the fire escape on the far side of the building.
"Where is he?" Max asked one of the soldiers.
"I don't know, but don't go in without a mask." He said tossing her one.
Inside, she could see the familiars were dead. She saw Deck standing over the group of bodies in the center and he had a look Max hadn't seen in quite some time. He was stumped. She walked up and grabbed his shoulder.
"He's gone, Max." Deck said. Max almost started to cry. Deck realized what she was about to do. "No Max. His body. It's gone."
Max looked down and watched as the soldiers pulled the bodies from the pile in the center of the room to reveal a sewer entrance. Logan had slipped down into the sewer. Max knocked two men out of the way and yanked the cover off. She jumped straight down into the sewer and looked both ways in the long round tunnel. She could very faintly make out the sound of an engine very far off and chased after the direction it sounded like it was coming from, but as quickly as she heard the noise she lost it in the night somewhere.
Climbing from another sewer somewhere, she was standing in the middle of the Fogle Towers garage. It was deadly silent. Her heart skipped a beat as she realized that he might have gone up to the penthouse and she found herself willing the elevator to move faster, but when she opened the door, she knew he was gone. He was gone and unless he went to Lydecker himself, he would soon be dead. The Cell phone appeared in her hand and she was talking to Lydecker almost instantly.
"I followed the noise out of the sewer but he isn't around."
"He didn't come back here. Don't worry Max, we will find him." Deck said. She knew he meant well. She knew he would try, but she also knew Logan.
"No. You won't." She said as she tossed the disconnected phone to the couch and sat down facing the window. Maybe. Just maybe... She hoped. She prayed to the Blue Lady, she begged actually although she didn't believe anyone cared anymore.
Three Months Later.
Max and OC were sitting in the kitchen of the penthouse with a small group of friends. Sketchy had wandered into the living room and turned on the TV to see what was on. He was laughing about something when Max heard the very familiar crackle and pop of the coming Eyes Only broadcast.
"Hey, guys. It's Eyes Only." Sketch said. "I haven't seen him in almost a year."
Max was the first one into the room. OC stood right behind her.
"Do not attempt to adjust your set. This is a streaming freedom satellite hack of the Eyes Only Informant Net. This hack will last only sixty seconds. It cannot be traced and will never be silenced. Several months ago, I lost something more important to me than my own life. A group of alien human hybrids you all knew as The Familiars took something from me. I will have that perfect something back no matter the cost. Unfortunately, in uncovering the secrets of a five thousand year old cult, Eyes Only has learned some secrets about our own government and some of the agencies that reside within that system. Over the next several weeks, Eyes Only will expose these covert agencies and the men and women behind them. This is a warning to anyone that works for these organizations." A series of names from businesses to congressional boards and several personal names scrolled across the screen. "Eyes Only knows who you are and I will find you. I will expose you. I will end your careers and destroy your organizations. Eyes Only will not fail. I WILL BECOME YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE. You have been put on notice. You will fall. This has been an Eyes Only satellite hack of the Streaming Freedom Video Network. Peace. Out."
Max watched intently and just before the last snap and crackle for a few frames only, Max saw her number flash inside the pupils of Logan's eyes. The color was only a few shades off of his blue-grey tones but he had known Max would catch it. He wouldn't do it twice. He wouldn't risk her safety again.
"Max." OC said. Sketchy grabbed her shoulder. "He's alive. At least that's good news, right?"
"Who?" One of the Jam Pony messengers asked.
"Isn't it cool that Eyes Only is back?" Another one asked.
"He's really going to take on some corruption in the government." A third offered. The party started to kick back up but Max, OC and Sketchy stood there in a small huddle.
"What if he needs me?" Max asked.
"What if he does? He'll contact you. You know he will." Sketchy said.
"Sounds like he's still trying to protect you." OC said.
"Yeah." Max said. "I Love him, too."
She found herself sitting on top of the Needle while the party was going on in her apartment. She sat up there for hours and just looked out over the broken city she called home. One day soon she would make arrangements to lock up and go looking for Logan, but tonight, she would go back to the party and hang out with her friends.
She swung down into the main dining area of the Needle, she noticed something hanging against the wall by the elevator shaft. It was an envelope and a withered white rose. Perfect Love, pure and true. Her name was on the note. Max smelled the rose and tucked the envelope into her pocket. She would read it later and know exactly where to find Logan. She believed he could never leave her and she had been right. He had come back for her and was waiting patiently so they could save the world together.
Well there it is. It's just something I wrote after the Harbor Lights to Hello/Goodbye sequence. I refuse to accept that Max would ever truly give up because of the virus. It's just not in the stars…
Hope you liked it.
More stories coming soon.