I know I said this story was complete but some of you didn't like it that way.  I understand leaving Max and Logan separated isn't exactly a good ending but at least he was alive in the end of part two.  Anyway, I have plenty of stories to fit this storyline so you may see more but for now this story is complete.  There may be more, but I doubt it.  I really thought it was complete before and look what happened.

The basic premise is Logan left Max a note so she would be able to meet him when the timing was right.  The only problem was that Logan didn't show up when he was supposed to and Max decides to find out why.

It's rated R for the violence and language of course so read now and review later.  Hope you all enjoy it.                

The One and Only Eyes

          He didn't know who they were.  He didn't know where they had come from.  He wasn't even sure they knew who HE was, but they stood there over his badly beaten body and laughed at him.

          "TELL US!"  They yelled from somewhere far away.  "Where is the Manticore girl?"

          "I told you, I don't know any Mandi Core."  He whispered, but he was sure they didn't care.

          "TELL US!"  They demanded, kicking him in the ribs.  Kicking him in the legs.  Kicking him in the back.  He coughed up some blood and it just pooled in more blood under his chin.  "Where is she?"  One of them held a picture in front of his face.  He could barely focus.  He looked at the picture with his left eye.  The one not swollen shut.  It was not Max.  He started to laugh.

          "What's so funny?"  Came a voice attached to another kick.

          "Tell us where to find her and we will not kill you."

          The picture floated in front of his face again.  He looked at it through a blurry eye.  He couldn't be sure thinking maybe it was Jondy but it was definitely not Max.  He knew Max.  He knew her better than anyone except maybe herself.  He stared at the picture as he drifted away from that dungeon they had brought him too so many days ago.

          He was sure it was Jondy.  He had never met her but somehow he knew they were looking for her in particular.

          "I've never seen her before."  He whispered.  Everything started to turn black.  Everything started to fade out.  He was losing consciousness.  "I'm sorry."  He said.  His mind raced with visions of Max on his couch having a seizure.  Her laughter at one of his corny jokes.  Her smile.  The flavor of her cherry lips touched his bloodstained ones.  The memories of that flavor reached him and he could see her very far away.  They were kicking the body now, but he was gone.  He had left and there was nothing more they could do to harm him.  He had won.  They didn't get the information they wanted because of simple stupidity.  He was the right guy, but they were looking for the wrong girl.  "Maxie..." he whispered only to a void surrounding him. 

          "What's wrong witchu, girl?"  Original Cindy asked.

          "It's Logan."  Max said as Normal babbled and bipped handing both women a small pile of packages for some offices downtown.

          "Your boy okay?"


          "I don't know.  He was supposed to call me a week ago."  Max said.  She reached into her pocket and produced the short note he left in the space needle for her.  "He gave me a specific date and told me that he would call with information about where he was and when he would be returning to our place."

          "Our place?"  OC mouthed the words with a sly smile.  "He really was coming back then wasn't he?"

          "Yeah."  Max said.  "I've been expecting him to call so I could go have a little vacation."  She finished shoving packages into her bag and the two girls headed out.  Alec was just riding up with a big smile and a lipstick stain on his cheek.

          "Ladies."  He smiled.

          They ignored him and kept walking.  He overheard the conversation though and followed.  Max noticed him following immediately but she knew she would probably need his help if Logan was truly in trouble so she let him hear what she wanted him to.

          "So when the call didn't come I waited.  I figured that everything going on with those familiars in the government… I mean he probably just forgot but it's been over a week now.  Eight days to be exact.  Logan is occasionally late but not this late."

          "Care to let me in on the little secret?"  Alec finally nudged in between the two women.  Max looked at him.  She looked at Cindy.  Cindy nodded.

          "I've got runs on the other side of town."  OC said.  "You know I'll be there if you need me."  She rode off with a wave and disappeared into traffic.

          "What's going on Max?"  Alec asked.

          "It's Logan."  She said.

          "What about him?  I thought he was out and about fighting the good fight on the East Coast?"

          "He's been fighting the good fight, but he was supposed to call me."  She again pulled the note and handed it to Alec.  He read it and handed it back.

          "That's damn specific.  You think he's in trouble."  Alec concluded.  He smiled.  He laughed.  "Then we have to get him out of it."

          "Thanks, Alec.  I appreciate it."

          "I'll meet you over at the penthouse at six.  We'll go over everything then.  Who's helping?"  He asked.

          "It's just us."  She said.  "I can't ask anyone else to be involved in this."  Max hopped on her bike and sped into oncoming traffic taking the corner between two delivery vans.  Alec laughed as the second driver was cussing through his windows.

          He didn't know how much time had passed.  He had been out until his mouth was thick with something rank and his body was one solid mass of pain and bruises.  He rolled over on his back and looked up at the ceiling.  Both eyes were open.  They would soon realize something if he kept healing as fast as he had been.  In the last four days, they had tortured him for information about Jondy and he didn't have any of the information they wanted.  He had known Jondy was in San Francisco a while back but she was still avoiding Max for some reason and he didn't know why.  He looked at his hand where they had broken three of his fingers and noticed they were beginning to heal.  Visions raced through his mind as he tried to figure out how he was connected to these kidnappers and or Jondy.

          Japan glittered and bustled with activity below him.  He thought only about Max while he was in Dr. Kotogiri's lab.  The Doctor was a very quiet woman but she seemed to sense Logan's loss.  They talked for a long time after each treatment about Max.  He knew the Doctor knew more than she was letting on...

          The doctors were transfusing his body with a mixture from a blood sample of Max and Logan's blood and some amino acids and other chemicals.  Doctor Kotogiri had matched some anomalous DNA in Logan's system to Max's viral laden sample to engineer the nanotech Logan would need to fight the virus eventually.  Logan asked her to keep it off the record.

          Three weeks of burning blood vessels, needles, intensive therapy and isometrics and Logan was actually able to stand without the exo-skeleton.  He still had trouble walking long distances but he could at least stand on his own.  The atrophy in the muscles would take some time to repair…

          It had been a beautiful day.  The sun was shining.  The park outside the hospital was full of patients and visitors.  No one seemed to care about the three black vans driving around the emergency entrance toward the path Logan and Dr. Kotogiri were walking.  They were talking about Max when the van doors opened revealing soldiers wrapped in black…

          Then the water hit him and he drank the foul stench filled stuff from the old hose his kidnappers used to clean him off.  He rolled over as they threw an old potato at him.  He pulled it over to him and bit into it.  It tasted rotten, but he didn't care.  He hadn't couldn't remember the last time he had eaten.

          He could hear them talking, yelling actually.  The voices were both male and they were arguing.

          "He can't take much more."  The first voice said.  "I'll tell you now, no one takes this much and doesn't talk."

          "Everyone talks.  Every single one of them talks.  You talked.  I talked.  We all talk eventually."  The second voice said.

          "The dead ones don't and that is exactly what he's going to be if we continue on this course."

          "One more and then we leave him in the box for a few days.  He knows where the transgenic is.  I know he knows.  I can see it in his eyes."  A door somewhere opened and closed and he knew what was coming.

          A hand slapped the potato away after only a few bites and he just dropped his head onto the floor.  They were going to beat him some more.

          Alec was already waiting for the elevator when Max and OC walked into Fogle Towers.  "I still have to get my last set of signatures to Normal."  She said.

          "You have time for coffee and a snack.  You've been running like mad all day."  Max said.  "C'mon up before you head over to the office."

          Max sat down in front of the computers in the office.  OC walked to the kitchen and made some coffee.  Alec sat in a chair and watched Max.

          "What are you going to do?"

          "I don't know.  He hasn't had anything on the informant net since that group of senators was exposed last month.  He's been updating his files here on the server every time there was a new story and I've been tracking him that way but the usual week or two of inactivity is moving into its fifth week.

          "Could it be that Logan has finished his little crusade against the corrupt government types and is closing up shop to come home?"  Alec asked.

          "Did you even read the note, Alec?"  Max asked.  "That's why he was going to call me.  He had planned to let me know if he needed me or was coming home.  He didn't call and I can find nothing on the IN."

          "Then what are you looking for?"  Alec asked.

          "I have no idea."


          OC brought some coffee and snacks into the room and Alec and she ate something while Max read and reread files from the informant net.  After a short time OC excused herself to finish up her day at work.  She arrived at Jam Pony almost an hour later.

          "Where the hell have you been?  It's not bad enough that Max and Alec lit out of here early but I've come to expect more from you missy."  Normal was shouting without even looking at OC.

          "There are some things going on with Max and her squeeze."  OC said.  "He's missing in action and no one seems to know where he is."

          "What do I care and how long is she going to be gone this time?"

          "Logan was supposed to return from wherever he had gone but he didn't show up when he was supposed to.  That was over a week ago.  An SPD detective is looking into some angles right now…"  Normal interrupted her.

          "Wait a minute.  You said 'Logan' right?"

          "Yeah."

          "Logan Cale?  His father ran Cale industries until his death?"

          "Yeah, why?"  OC asked.  "You know him, he's been in here many times looking for Max."

          Normal rummaged around on the wood table that passed for a desk and pulled up two pieces of paper.  "Three men came in the other day and asked for a trace on these two packages.  I couldn't trace them because they didn't have numbers.  I remembered the packages.  Some little weasel looking guy brought them in.  The packages were from Logan Cale and were going to someone out of state.  We were going to deliver them to a Fed Ex station downtown.  I thought that was a familiar name.  Mr. Cale is one of my best clients."

          "You mean he's been using Jam Pony?"  OC asked.  "For how long?"

          "He been using Jam Pony for two years.  Great customer.  Set up a monthly tab that he never misses paying whether he uses us or not.  I hope you find him."

          "Thanks.  I think."  OC said taking the paper and heading out.

          Max was on the vid phone with Sebastian.  Alec launched himself at the door when she opened it but he recognized her immediately and smiled.

          "Sorry."  He said.  "Things are a little tense around here right now."

          "What?  Why?"

          "I'll let Max explain."

          "Whassup, boo?"  OC asked walking in the office.  She waited until Max was finished with her call.

          "Thanks, Sebastian.  I owe you a few now.  Call me if you need me."

          "I will, but find Logan for us.  Only you can."

          "Cindy..."  Max started. 

          "Boo?"

          "It's Logan.  That was a friend named Sebastian.  He has been in contact with Logan over the IN just like I have.  He said Logan was tracking a militant group from The Brazilian Coalition just a few weeks back.  It seems the uprising in Mexico isn't going as well as they had planned so the government there hired a team of international terrorists to do some back door work on the Mexican army."

          "What does this have to do with Logan?"  OC asked.

          "Well, the terrorists couldn't get into the country without help.  They needed a large force in the country and with the burgeoning stability and the change of hands in Washington it's hard for them to move large groups of soldiers in.  Logan has been tracking their movements.  It seems they have an ulterior motive for gaining entrance into the US."

          "What kind of an ulterior motive?"  OC asked.

          "They are trying to get a hold of a transgenic female."  Alec said.

          A small woman, wrapped in the deep blue of the night sky moved through the chill of the mountain air without sound.  Long flaming red hair tied in a pony tail waved behind her as she moved along in the misty cold night.  She knew what she was looking for; she just didn't know where she should be looking for it.  She had to find Eyes Only and to do that she had to find Zack.  The only problem was she couldn't find Zack.  She hadn't heard from him in months and there wasn't a new contact number after the last one fell through.  She knew Zane had been in LA before the Eyes Only broadcast last year and that he had moved to Denver.  So she found herself in Denver.  She would find him somewhere, that much she knew for certain and maybe together, they could find the mysterious Eyes Only.

          She had been in Denver for two days since receiving the package from Seattle.  It was her only lead and she was definitely not going to go check on this guy alone.  She had thought about Max a lot since learning she lived in Seattle and refused to leave, but how could she go to Max after what she did so many years ago.

          'I should have pulled you out of the ice, Maxie, but I was scared and Lydecker was too close.'  She thought as she waited outside the fifteenth garage she had come across trying to find the most mechanically inclined member of the escapees.  'I know I failed you, but you got away and I just ran away.  How you must hate me.'

          She froze when she heard a footstep in the shadows behind her.  A low growl came from the German Shepard that had stalked her.  She turned to see a man standing behind a vicious looking animal.

          "Jondy?"  The voice was almost confused.

          "Zane?"  She said, not moving from fear of the dog.  "Is that you?"

          "Jondy.  I can't believe... is it really?  What are you doing in Denver?"

          "I'm looking for you."

          "Why?"

          "I need your help.  Can we go someplace and talk?"

          "It's okay Charlie."  Zane said patting the dog.  "She's my sister.  Come with me.  Charlie won't hurt you.  He's as sweet as they come unless I tell him to cut loose."

          They talked as they walked.  She led him back to her motorcycle.  He made some offhand comment about her black Ninja and led her to an abandoned warehouse he called home.  She explained the situation about Eyes Only to Zane and he agreed they should find him.

          "I really just want to find out how he knows about us."  Zane said.  "I wonder if Maxie is familiar with him?"

          "Max?"  Jondy asked.

          "I highly doubt she hates you Jondy."  Zane said.  They had obviously had this conversation before.  "You were nine at the time.  You would have been caught trying to save her and neither of you would have escaped." 

          "Maybe we can find her while we're in Seattle."  Jondy said.  Her voice was hopeful but hushed.

          "I hear Krit and Syl worked with Max and Zack blowing up the DNA lab back at Manticore."  Zane said.  He didn't tell her that Syl told him Max had died in that little engagement and Zack had been captured.  It would have broken her heart to hear that.

          "Yeah.  I heard that too.  We should get going.  Do you have a ride?"  Jondy asked.  Zane walked over to a pile of dingy old carpets and tarps and pulled them off an old GSX Hayabusa.

          "Back in the day you couldn't find a bike faster than this monster.  I had to modify it at some cost to its speed so I could carry Charlie with me, but it's still faster than your little Ninja over there.  No offense, sis."

          "I'm 5' 6."  You're 6' 3."  She said.  "I can't even wrap my legs around that thing.  My 'little' ninja suits me just fine."  She said with a smile.  "Shall we?"

          The trio set off on the two bikes toward Seattle.

          Jondy looked over to Zane across the table from her.  They had watched the cable hack at the diner in Idaho where they had stopped for a quick meal and some fuel.

          "So what's with the search for Eyes Only?  This about that hack last year?"  Zane asked.

          "Not exactly."

          "What exactly?"

          "Some guy in Seattle sent me a package.  He sent the package through a private courier.  It contained a warning that someone was looking for me.  He had pictures and information and I went over every inch of it before I had to run."

          "Run from what?"  Zane asked. 

          "There is a terrorist group looking for me.  It seems they have found out that I'm revved."  She said.  "This guy in Seattle sent me the package to warn me."

          "Or this guy led them right to you."  Zane offered his two cents worth.  It was obvious that Jondy had already been over that line of logic.

          "No.  I've already thought about that.  This guy in Seattle had information about something called the Red Series that went after another one of us in Seattle about two years back.  This guy was trying to help me."

          "Why do you think they're after you and why did this guy choose to warn you?"  Zane asked.

          "I don't know."

          "But you have a theory."  Zane said.  "I can see it in your eyes."

          "Yeah…"  She muttered.

          "So…"

          "I think I know who the guy is.  I've worked it over in my brain for days now.  I can reach no other logical conclusion.  Even the illogical ones lead to the same response."

          "Which is?"  Zane asked.

          "I think Eyes Only tried to warn me."

          "Are you crazy?"  OC demanded.

          "I will not lose Logan."  Max said standing alone in the office with OC.  "Things were screwed up for a year.  We fought our feelings for a year.  Then I died in his arms and when I came back to him he almost died in mine.  We struggled and in the end I walked away from him.  I have a chance to fix that mistake with this.  I will not lose him."

          "Max.  You don't even know where to begin searching.  Where are you going to start looking?  You don't know because you haven't got a clue about where they are."  Alec said as he walked into the office.

          "And even if you do find them, how do you know they have Logan?"  OC asked.  "Maybe Logan went into hiding when he found out they were looking for you."

          "What if Logan didn't have a chance to go into hiding?  He would have contacted me on the IN.  He would have called.  He would have got a message to me.  I know they have him and his life is in danger.  I can feel it."

          "You can't go rushing off like a madwoman."  Alec said.

          "I don't care."  Max said.  "Logan has protected me in the past at great risk to himself.  He took on Manticore for me.  He stood beside us through that whole familiar thing.  I will take on any terrorist group.  I will take on all of them if I have to but I will not lose him!"

          Cindy held out her arms to Max and the two girls hugged.  "Max.  You need a few hours rest.  You haven't slept for days and it's beginning to slow you down.  Please."  Cindy and Max held onto each other for a lingering moment.  "Go in and get some sleep."

          "Awww…"  Alec said with a smile.  "That's sweet.  OC is right, Max.  You're wasted.  You're not thinking straight.  Get some rest.  We'll keep our eyes on things."

          Max and Cindy walked to the door into Logan's bedroom.  Max breathed deeply and inhaled his scent.  It was fading but still there.  She had come into this room with him in it so many times.  Sometimes he was sleeping and she just watched him taking in everything her senses brought to her.  Max walked in alone as she has done for so long now.  She took an old blue shirt of his into the bathroom.  She took a hot shower pulling Logan's shirt on after she dried off.  She sat on the edge of the bed and could almost feel him there sleeping soundly.  She found herself wishing it were true as she pulled herself to the pillow and set her head down.  She fell asleep almost instantly.