This is a mid season one fic that has no connection to anything on the show. It's just a fic I wrote while bored one night. It doesn't really have any major significance in the DA universe and it isn't connected to anything I'm currently editing. It's just a story.
I hope you all enjoy it and let me know what you think. I've been out of the loop for a few days so I'm looking for a lot of reviews. Let me know and again, enjoy!
The High Place
She stood in the rain waiting for something to happen. Nothing did. It just kept raining. She looked up to the needle, The High Place. Ever since Ben's death she had started to think about it like that. She didn't think of it as the abandoned space needle anymore. It had become The High Place in honor of Ben. The only one of the twelve to continue the mission, to carry the hunt to the outside even if what he did best had been wrong. Shit happens. That much is certain and again she found herself leaving Logan's on her way to The High Place...
There it was again. The High Place.
Max looked up and immediately dropped her eyes to honor Ben, even if only for a second. She would be up there soon enough. Someday she would bring the others up there and they would all rip out a tooth or something. She smiled at the childhood memory. She looked up to the sky and thanked The Lady and Father Destry simply for being and then she started to run. The High Place was calling to her.
Logan was pulling wheelies in his chair. Bling had left for the night and Max had run off using one of her lame old excuses about curfew as if she would even be caught to begin with. Why didn't he just ask her to stay? Why didn't he just plop himself down on the couch and pull her into his arms?
"WHY..." he yelled as he lost control and fell backward. Rolling out across the floor he laughed quietly to himself. He waited, but Max was gone and Bling had left. He lifted himself and when the depression set in he realized he was truly alone on another rainy night in Seattle. Alone again. Logan pushed himself up and moved over to the chair using his weight to hold him in position and then hoisting himself up and into the accursed chair. He laughed again as he rolled past that "exo-thingy" as Max called it wondering if she could get the parts he needed to make it work and then putting it out of his mind. Better to keep her out of the loop on that one, more afraid she would be willing to jump the fence at a DOD compound and put herself at risk to help him above anything else. 'I had better call Sebastian and see if he was able to locate that info." He thought to himself.
Max was almost to the top when she heard two distinct voices. Her first thought was that some X-5s had sought out the High Place. Zack, Tinga and Jace all knew she was in Seattle and Zack or Tinga had probably told a couple of the others so maybe... just maybe...
"To the death, then." It was a distinct commanding voice.
'Death.' Thought Max. 'At The High Place. Not on My High Place!'
She finished her climb and poked her head up cautiously to get some recon before going into action. Two men stood there. Both were warriors. She could tell by looking at them, by the way they moved. They weren't Red Series. They were too highly trained. There was something about the taller one though. Something familiar about him resonated within her. She knew he would win just by watching him. He had serenity about him and waited patiently for the short stocky one to make his attack. The other one was just as accomplished, but his demeanor was one of hyper-activity, dangerous to the core with tricks of his own. His soul was of a darker path, an evil one. She had climbed into the middle of a personal war and should probably leave but there was something about the tall, calm one. She decided to watch.
"This doesn't have to happen this way." He said. "You could just leave and no one would ever know you walked away."
"You would know. I would know. It has to be this way. How long has this been building between us? How much time could we possibly have left anyhow? I am tired." The short stocky one said dropping into an offensive posture. "I want that 'Kill-Ball' court back home and the stolen Little Kings after again."
"Things were simpler then my friend, but let's face it... full-contact basketball on a cement court wasn't the wisest of our youthful decisions. Have our decisions become better since those days? No. There is just more at stake now. We're not back in that elementary school. We're not tackling each other on that basketball court. We screw up and people in this world die. One of us falls to our death and the other loses a part of his soul. It doesn't have to be..." The tall one ducked and countered, then rolled past the stocky one's attack. Max was sure these two were crazy pulling these techniques on this slick, rain-soaked surface.
"It is a perfect night to die buddy!" The stocky one shouted as he followed up with a middle roundhouse kick and a spin punch into the rainy night air. The tall one dashed back to the edge of The High Place and moved up toward the middle. The stocky one smoothed his movements and paced after his enemy, apparently, his friend.
Max was stunned. These two were old, old, old friends and they were trying to kill each other. They talked as if they had know each other since grade school, maybe before and here they were risking their own lives trying to take the other one's. She had to put a stop to it but watching them she realized they were moving fast. Almost superhuman fast as if they had been themselves engineered. There were no visible weapons, only lightning skills and mad, insane determination. The movements were almost hard for Max to follow, but she did.
They lunged and rolled and swung and kicked. They spun on each other and locked wrists, looking for an in to end it. There were Push Hands techniques and Snake and Monkey Style attacks. The small one used Muy Thai and some Drunken Boxing. The tall one relied mostly on Taijutsu but she could see that he learned his basic skills in any number of martial arts. Most likely these two had seen far too much combat in their lives.
Max had heard of Ninja, hell, she was one for all intents and purposes, but this tall one... Max flashed back to the close quarters combat she had with Ben. That was much harder for her to deal with than what these two were about, but her intuition was enough for her to realize she was not in their league. She could possibly take the stocky one, but the tall one... His reality was one of smooth reaction to any action. He was in complete control. He would be impossible to defeat and in the end, it would come down to experience. This he obviously had.
She watched him. His movements were almost poetic. He was absolutely perfect with each and every technique. The Stocky One was almost as good, but Max could see flaws in his technique. He was easily agitated and his anger was just outside of something resembling control. She could see frustration in his eyes. He spun a kick low and came around with a punch high, but The tall one was ready for it and she almost felt the elbow snap. The sound wrenched her back to Ben's knee snapping as The tall one swept his friends knee. The bone broke through the skin and The Stocky One went down, but only to his good knee. He had lost and he knew it.
"I am sorry, old friend." The tall one said.
"I am not. Now we know. The question is finally answered." The stocky one held out his hand. Max panicked. It was the oldest trick in the book. The tall one reached out and they shook hands. "The Neck."
The tall one nodded and walked around behind his friend. There was a slight squelch and the body tumbled forward to rest at the victor's feet. Max cried for some reason she could not fathom, but when a soldier dies, you pay your respects. Then she heard a low rumble. It grew and she realized it was coming from the tall one. His head suddenly turned to the sky and he screamed, yelling into the night with a voice that was not human, but then she wasn't certain that what she witnessed was humanly possible.
And then it got really weird. The soldier walked up the slope of the dome a ways and pulled a backpack on. He walked back to his friend, lifted him in his arms and spoke quietly. "Blood on the Risers, buddy." He turned his head, looked directly into Max's eyes and winked. Then he jumped over the edge.
Max stood. He had known all along she was watching. She walked out to the edge in a daze. She looked down, but could see nothing in the inky black rain falling from some darker place this night.
"And then he jumped, Logan! Just like that he jumped with his dead friend in his arms." She was looking out the window. It was still raining, and the sun wouldn't be up for a couple more hours. She came back here and found Logan sleeping in his chair, wheels locked and legs set up on the couch. Some Eyes Only stuff in his lap and scattered around the floor. She wondered if he did this often but she knew him well enough. She knew he did. She woke him and started to tell her weird story momentarily forgetting about Logan's sleeping arrangements.
"He had to have a parachute. Are you sure you couldn't see anything? Anything at all?" Logan asked. "No sounds either." He had seen Max at screwed up times in her life, but she had never been this confused.
"Nothing, Logan. Nothing. Just the rain. One moment their fighting then he winked at me and jumped..."
"He winked at you? He knew you were there?"
"Yeah. The tall one did, but the stocky one didn't. I am sure of it. There was something about this man. He was not all he seemed. He was not all human. He was revved up somehow. His movements were too precise, to perfect and way too fast."
"What do you mean? 'Not all human?' Were they an older Manticore series?" Logan asked now confused. First Max watched two apparently superhuman warriors, duke it out on top of the space needle. One killed the other. Both were old friends and then the survivor winked at Max before jumping into the darkness of a rainy night and disappearing into thin air. "Maybe X-3 or 4?" He asked. She shook her head.
"Too old. The tall one was maybe fifty or sixty, somewhere in that range."
"Red Series?" Logan asked.
"I don't know Logan. I doubt it. They would have come after me I think. I just don't know. I'm sorry I woke you. We'll talk tomorrow. I gotta blaze." She said as she always did. Logan saw his chance. He decided to take it.
"Stay here tonight. You can have my bed and I will make sure you get up in time for work. I'm waiting for a call from Sebastian and I'm going to be up until he calls anyway. He had a lead on some genetics experiments in the early eighties and was following up on it for me. Supposedly these experiments were the keys to unleashing the Human Genome Project in the eighties and nineties. Some of which led to your birth. I have some leads of my own that I am working on. When Sebastian calls me back I can give you some information. Besides, I wouldn't mind the company now that I am awake." He hadn't intended to blurt out like that but he could see Max thinking. She wanted to stay. He could see it in her eyes. "Stay and talk with me. Are you hungry?"
"No. But I will stay. Tell me about this Genome Project. I have never really heard much about it." She said as she sat down on the opposite side of the couch.
"Back in the early eighties, some scientists in France, India and The US unlocked the secret to DNA. They discovered they had proof of how a certain arrangement within a strand of DNA affected the outcome of experiments with lab mice. They started to map this DNA and for the next several years..." Logan was talking mechanically at this time. He wanted to roll over and hold Max in his arms until she fell asleep, but knew he wouldn't and that she wouldn't. It was enough that she finally decided to stay the night. He knew she was listening but that her mind was on that tall one jumping off of the needle. They were both happy, even if it was a strange form of happiness.
Sebastian had called soon after the Genome conversation ended. Max left Logan lost in some technical mumbo jumbo when she saw his eyes lighting up with numbers and information and leads to more of the same. She felt it was better to leave him to his work. Bling was coming in just as she was heading out so Logan would be okay.
Herbal smiled a wide smile as Max walked up to the gang over near the television.
"Hey." Max said.
They all nodded. Sketchy chimed in with a story of how wild the party was the night before. He spoke of everything that Max missed exaggerating and embellishing as was his way. Original Cindy noticed Max was preoccupied when she just wandered away and started poking around in her locker.
"Whassup, Boo? You okay?" OC asked.
"I'm fine. Same as always. Something big happened last night. I was out. There were these two guys and they were fighting..."
"You mean like arguing or actually puttin' a smack down?" OC asked.
"It was a fight to the death."
"Did you break it up?"
"I couldn't move. I didn't want to." Max
explained. "I heard their
conversation and I realized they were actually old friends and I mean from like
way back before the pulse. Long before
you and I were born. I know by their own
words they had grown up together."
"And they were fighting to the death?"
"Yes." Max said.
"You didn't let that happen, did you?" OC asked.
"I couldn't stop it." Max said looking into Cindy's eyes. "I was out of my league last night. These guys could have made mincemeat of The Red Series and not broken a sweat. I wasn't putting myself between them. After about twenty minutes of lightning skills and technique, the tall one killed the other guy. He pulled his friend over his shoulder and then he jumped off of The Space Needle."
"He jumped off?" OC asked before realizing what Max had just said. "Wait, what were you doing on the Space Needle?"
"These guys were trained better than I was or at least before I was. He winked at me, the tall one, and then he jumped. He had to have a chute, but I couldn't see one in the darkness below. He jumped and then disappeared."
"He winked at you? He knew you were there?" OC seemed stunned, but she had come to expect the strange black-copter stuff from her best friend. "What does Logan think about all this?"
"He is as stunned as I am, but he is looking for information." Max said.
"I got a hot run here." Normal yelled from somewhere.
Max stood and started for the run. She needed time to think and although it wasn't her Ninja, her other bike would do in a pinch. "I got it!" She shouted to Normal. "The only thing is we have no idea where to start looking." Max said as she grabbed the package and headed out.
Sebastian's head was rocking from side to side. "We have the information you need to go forward with this story, but it holds no bearing on anything in the informant net. This is outside of all you have ever worked on." His disembodied mechanical voice said.
"I know, but a group of genetically altered soldiers created or re-created back in the late nineteen-eighties is news in itself. The information of their release into society in the late nineties as if they were normal is too much. If even half of this stuff is true then Manticore would look like a Boy Scout troop. Dig up all the info you can on each one individually and send it to me. I will try to track their post pulse activities from this list of names."
"I will talk to you later, Logan" Sebastian's disembodied voice said.
The Government of the United States was creating enhanced soldiers back in the eighties and then releasing them to roam the world free of restrictions and with no supervision. What kind of men were these individuals? Where did they come from? What was their motivation and what were their specialties in service? Demolitions? Snipers? S and D? Recon? There had to be information. Logan ran down a list of questions in his mind.
"Hey, Max." Bling's voice sounded from the other room. "What brings you around today?"
"I had a delivery in the area and decided to take lunch with you guys. Is Logan here?"
"I'm in here!" Logan hollered.
Max poked her head around the corner and found Logan in front of his computer. She walked over and before she could speak, she looked at the screen. The picture on his screen was the stocky one from the night before.
"That's the dead guy from last night. Logan, that's the one that was killed."
"What? Are you sure?" He asked.
"Of Course." She leaned in close to Logan. They looked at each other. A feeling passed between them and for a second both shared a small quick smile. "I will never forget those two. That's the short guy that lost the fight last night. Who is he?"
"He is Robert Pintauro, a member of an elite Special Forces unit that took part in a genetics experiment back in nineteen eighty-seven. He and his squad were surgically and genetically altered to be more efficient soldiers long before we really understood what Genetic code could tell us. They were given gifts that no one really understood. Gifts of strength, speed and agility that made them beyond perfect."
"Are there others? See if the tall one is there."
"Okay."
Logan scrolled the list through a bunch of deceased soldiers before Max yelled in his ear.
"THAT'S HIM!" She shouted mere inches from his ear.
"When my ear stops ringing..." He said.
"Sorry." Max laughed into his ear.
"So that's the guy, huh?" Logan said as his phone rang. "Colonel John Roberts."
Two weeks later…
Max walked her bike through the remnants of a park people had tried to restore as a sign of some kind after The Pulse. It was mostly empty except for benches on one side of the medium sized block and a wall, formerly a row of connected buildings, now a row of food stands for the downtown office crowd that struggled to run the city daily. Max and the gang would sometimes eat lunch here but today, she was running this whole sector by herself.
Normal practically worshipped her on days like this when she didn't want to be distracted by anything. It was almost a Zen thing. What you are doing in that moment is all you are doing, in that moment… 'And at this moment, I am delivering packages all day if I have to.' She thought to herself as she walked her bike over to her favorite falafel stand and looked down the lane a short way. Something caught her eye.
It was the colonel standing on the other side of the square talking to a man. She stopped walking and refocused her eyes. In the split second she focused on the two men, she realized they were both looking directly at her as if she were just a few feet away. She stopped thinking for a second and watched. They looked back to each other exchanging anger and some heated words before both looked back to Max. The tall one did not look away as he started walking toward her from the far side. He was near the benches on the north end of the park and Max needed to follow him through a crowd along a large block without breaking the eye contact or she would lose him. The big tree would be the only tactical obstacle, but he wouldn't be able to draw away from it without her noticing. She looked into his eyes. They were deep inside of hers.
She didn't sense danger so much as it was completely wrapped around her at that moment. She watched him, looking directly at him when it happened. He phased out right before her eyes. He smiled and winked again just before he disappeared. It was then she felt it crawling up her spine. Something behind her only she couldn't see anything around her. She turned, searching in all directions but could see nothing. She couldn't even see the Colonel. The second man was gone also and she realized her mistake, but it was too late. She searched frantically trying to find either of them.
Max stopped short of the canopy of the tree and looked around. He was behind her suddenly and closing, his eyes flaming and full of something unnatural. He is moving in on attack vectors with malice his only intent. She tenses as she realizes there is more to the other one than the stocky one. He is far more dangerous. Suddenly she sees the Colonel again. He is fading in between her and the other one. They draw up facing each other just a few feet from where Max stands.
"Another time perhaps. We have a meeting to attend."
"She is pure. Look at her. She is the only one here following our movements."
"Another time." The Colonel insisted.
"Why are you protecting her?" The new soldier asked. His voice and his body faded out before her with her apparent protector beside him.
And they were gone.
Max burst into Logan's apartment mostly sure she wasn't followed. Logan was sitting in front of his computer, talking to Sebastian. "This is why Manticore came into existence." She heard Sebastian's disembodied electronic voice. "These men were prototypes for the whole genetic project in the United States. They were test subjects to see what could be tweaked… They all have strength enhanced with primate genes and other land mammals. Some, mostly the officers have DNA from some sea creatures. Skill and agility are off the scale, Logan. These soldiers are dangerous and exceptional. Their group is unique. They have had several alterations individually and none have been treated exactly the same way as the others. They were given a failsafe though. The end is coming for all of them."
"What do you mean?" Logan asked.
"They were given a failsafe to insure their demise at an appropriate time." Sebastian explained.
Max enters the room. "Do they have any flaws? The Governments used to use drugs to enhance performance. Are these guys on anything?"
Logan looked up at Max. Max looked down at Logon. Sebastian started again. "Hello Max. How are you?"
"Fine. What do we know? How do I beat them?"
"Are they after you?" Logan asked.
"Some of them may be. The Colonel is protecting me, though. Tell me what you know about them, Sebastian." Max said.
"They are addicted to Adrenaline. The US, German and European nations developed a formula to feed them in times of battle. Adrenaline was a huge part of this. They became addicted which may have been part of the plan all along. All records up to the pulse speak of wars being fought by American troops and small battles and police actions here and there."
Logan continues… "These guys were trained to be section leaders, mostly all Captains, a few Majors and apparently one Colonel. Your tall one is the CO. He's in it hard. There were two groups in the experiment. The first were pulled from the elite military groups. The second were volunteers picked at random from three criteria. They all had Martial Arts training from youth. They all had high-test scores but no real commitments and they were all born in the same year. They are all male." Logan finished and Sebastian started again.
"None of these men had a life expectancy beyond thirty-five years. They should not be alive. I have another call." Sebastian smiled. "Logan has all I know for now. Goodbye, Max. Logan."
"I take it you have seen one of these guys." Logan said.
"Yes." Max answered. "I…"
"Are you in danger?"
"I'm not sure. This Colonel, I saw him and another guy today. Do you have those pictures still?"
"Sure. Let me find them." Logan started racing through files.
"He winked at me again and then he faded from my view." Max started the story. "Like smoke dissipating yet somehow more like he just turned himself off. I watched him and the other one arguing. They separated and then a few seconds later, the other one was coming toward me. The Colonel turned himself back on and intercepted the other one. He said something about me being pure and then asked The Colonel why he was protecting me. His soldiers are the ones after me and I need to find out why."
"Max. I've been over these files. These men are far more dangerous than the reds. This is too dangerous and you know it. What exactly do you mean they faded from your view? Where did they go?"
"I don't know. One moment they were there in front of me talking. I approached, and then they were gone. It is weird, but I didn't perceive any physical danger. It was more like I felt it. There!" She shouted. "That's him."
"Carter Ramsey is his name. This guy is a real winner it seems. He has black bags and deleted files across the board. This guy is top of the line hardcore spec ops. I imagine there are only a few old soldiers who ever knew he existed. These guys are wandering around downtown?"
"There are only a few of us left." The Colonel said.
Max spun around taking a position between Logan and The Colonel. Her movements were fluid and her stance was centered, she was ready for a fight. She stepped forward, wary, but ready to defend Logan.
"You would lose such a battle, little one. I am beyond your abilities. Do not make me prove it. I am not here to harm either of you." He said.
"What are you doing here?" Logan demanded.
"I followed the little one. Max, I think you called her?"
"That's my name." Max answered. "I will not let you harm anyone here."
"I understand and I submit. You win." He said, laughing as he turned and headed toward the living room. Logan rolled past Max. Bling was sitting on the couch rubbing his head. "He's quick. He almost pulled his piece clear before I knocked him unconscious. I am impressed." The tall one reached behind his back. He pulled a small pistol from his belt and tossed it to Bling. Bling caught it and looked at the guy. He raised the weapon, checking the cartridge.
"I am sorry, friend. I do not expect you will understand, but I did what I had to do. I mean you no harm."
"Tell us what you want." Logan said.
"Are you in charge of her unit?"
"My unit? What Unit? What do you want?" Max was losing patience.
"It is as I suspected. You two are working some personal angle on the immediate society. You aren't even official military although I have seen your kind in battle before. They are good, but the training is limited and centered on a singular line of thought. There is no room for expansion or growth. Too much Military can kill a man." He mused. He seemed lost in his own thoughts, remembering. "They were efficient and well trained and followed orders to the letter, but they had no life of their own. Empty beings each one, almost brainwashed."
"What are you talking about?" Logan asked. The Colonel ignored him.
"Tell me why you were up on the space needle. Tell me what draws you there." He turned to Max.
"It is The High Place. It is a place of honor where very few go. Why were you up there and how did you get down." Max explained.
"I jumped." He said.
"Do you expect us to believe that you just jumped off of the space needle and landed softly on the ground?" Logan asked
"I don't care what you believe, only that you believe. I will answer your questions. I will answer them with truth that satisfies my needs. The little one is something of interest to me."
"You are interested in her adrenaline." Logan's mind snapped to attention and the numbers began rolling. "You want to drain her adrenal gland because you are addicted to it aren't you."
"I have no interest in her adrenaline. I have my own supply taken only in times of personal risk to myself. I have grown accustomed to untimely dosages unlike some of my brothers."
"Tell us about your 'brothers.'" Max said. "The one you killed up there. He was your friend and from what I heard it was a very long friendship. Why did you kill him?"
"We reach a point where the body craves more than we can supply it. There is a crash of our DNA and our chosen abilities begin to fail. The heart loses its basis and our system slowly deteriorates. It falls apart. It is almost like implosion. It is not fun. Those who cannot control it seek me out and we duel. One of us will always die." The Colonel explained.
"Why do they come to you?" Logan asked.
"You have my records on your computer. I am their commander. They answer only to me. I am Colonel John Roberts. He moved an eye and looked at both of them simultaneously. "We broke free of those who sought to control us so that we could live our own lives. We escaped. It wasn't until Franklin imploded that we learned about our terminal sequence." He said looking deep into Max's eyes.
"So you just kill them." Max whispered.
"It is The Way of the Samurai." He said. "We fight to live. We live to die. There is Honor there. We are soldiers little one. Just like you, our daily life is a path filled with tests and adventure and just like you we occasionally end up drunk in a backroom on a rainy night of mistrust in the self or crying over the body of a slain comrade and brother…"
"Ben…" Max breathed.
"What?" Logan asked. "What does he have to do with Ben?"
"You've been watching me?" Max asked.
"I have been watching you for quite some time now. Five of us faced this group of lunatic children not long ago. Children… They were actually teenagers but highly trained. They were sent out to us on a mission of great urgency for an old friend of mine. I had agreed to do a job for him. I called in a few of the lads…"
"You maintain contact…" Logan's interruption interrupted.
"I have never been out of touch with my men. Our senses our hyperactive, all nine of them are beyond anyone's expectations back at the lab and we know this. They wanted to eliminate us. They arranged for us to head out to a remote island in the pacific in search of some craft of some kind. I was suspicious from the beginning but I saw no harm in a small adventure to alleviate pressure in the hearts of my men. You know a little R and R to alleviate the pressures of society. These fifteen kids had orders to kill us once we reached the crash sight."
"How do you stay in touch with them?" Logan asked. The Colonel pointed to his head and smiled. "Implant, a sort of subdermal comm system?"
"That explanation will suffice." He said to Logan. "I must go now. None of my men will harm you Max. I will not allow it. Mr. Cale. Perhaps we will meet again sometime soon."
"I have more questions..." Logan trailed off as The Colonel seemed to phase out of existence right there in the living room. Max had seen this trick before and ran into the hall to see if he went up the sunroof or out the front door but he was nowhere in the apartment. Logan had the same idea and came around the hall from the other direction and rolled up to Max.
"You did just see that. Tell me you did." Max said.
"I saw him then he was gone. He just disappeared." Logan said.
"It was more like he phased out slowly. Like he dissolved."
"It must be your hyper-senses and genetic engineering. Because he flat out disappeared. Took all of a second and he was gone."
"Logan, why would he want to protect me and what if the others are in trouble?"
"They are all here, in Seattle I mean. Apparently they are here looking for you and if that is the case then you are in danger. You have to leave Seattle. Find Zach and get a team together..."
"That will not be necessary, Mr. Cale. We have simply come here to die. The discovery of the transgenic was an unexpected boon. I will not let my men harm her." The Colonel's voice came from nowhere in particular. Max spun in the hall instantly on the defensive looking for a target eavesdropping on them. She could see no one. "Where are you?" Logan yelled. The Colonel was long gone though.
"Logan, what's happening? Where is he?"
"I don't know, Max. I just don't know."
Max turned and looked at Logan before reaching for the door handle. "Where do you think you are going?" Logan demanded. Max smiled at him and turned to face him. "I'm going to find him." She said.
"How? Apparently you have to be psychic or have some Psionic ability to even know that these warriors are around you. The phase in and out..." He paused and Max could see the energy in his eyes firing and fusing into something. He was learning or at least theorizing and she could tell. She watched him. She stared deep into his eyes. She could hear noises suddenly. It all sounded like a great mass of people started shouting simultaneously into microphones. She stared even deeper as she started to feel woozy from all of the activity in her presence. "Telepathy!" Logan shouted suddenly.
"Very good, Mr. Cale."
"Colonel?" Max asked.
"I must let you two go now. Do not exert yourselves for a few minutes as your mind adjusts to the link I have created." Logan blinked as he noticed Max twisting in a fall to his side. "Logan..." she said quietly, but confused. His reflexes took over and he felt himself rolling over to her holding out his arms to catch her. He pulled her to himself and then onto his lap as he slowly lost consciousness.
"Logan. Where are we?"
"I don't know Maxie. I think we are safe though."
"How can you tell?"
"I just feel it."
"Yeah, I can feel it. What is it?"
"Peace."
Logan opened his eyes and looked into the brown eyes of Max. He reached up and touched her cheek. "Hey Maxie. Are you Okay?"
"Do you listen to yourself, Logan? You have been out for over an hour and before you even take in your surroundings and worry about yourself, you are asking if I am okay."
"So are you? I should assume that you are by that sarcastic tone then."
"Yeah. Something like that Logan. Thanks."
"Sure." He said to her trying to move from where she had placed him on the couch after he caught her.
"No Logan. I am saying thank you. I'm the superior super heroine and yet you still managed to catch me and secure me in your lap before you passed out. Thank you. It means something to me that you risk yourself on my behalf as much as you do."
Logan was still holding her cheek and she had reached up and took his hand into hers. She was smiling. "I'm really hungry. How about you?"
"I could eat but I don't think you are in any shape to be cooking."
"I'll be fine Maxie." Logan said as he realized for the first time that he was calling her the name he called her in the dream. She seemed to realize it also. They looked at each other for a few minutes as if trying to get that psychic link back. When it didn't happen they both snickered and Max helped him into his chair. They were silent as he cooked. Max watched everything he did stepping in as needed. There was no conversation, but they both looked into each others eyes and smiled with the other throughout the whole meal. After dinner they did some random research and brainstorming with nothing useful occurring or showing up. Max decided to work it out the old fashioned way.
"Max." Logan said as she started to leave. He didn't have to finish the thought.
"I promise I will be careful." A wink and a smile later, she was gone.
Max had no idea where she was going. She had no idea where to look for him. She was wandering around aimlessly heading in the general direction of the needle as if she would find him there. Several minutes had passed when she realized she was running to The High Place. She looked around as she ran at a speed unmatched by those around her. Many people looked in her direction seeing only an elusive shadow gone before it had appeared. She watched the people as she ran like she hadn't run for a long time. She looked off at the cars as she darted between them, at the bikes and motorcycles as she cut through streets on her way to the base of the Needle. She saw something out of the corner of her eye on another block. She ran along and caught it again one street over. She could see something moving with her, shadowing her. She continued running. Whatever it was, it was faster than she was and would make its self known when it wanted to. The Colonel said he would protect her from the rest of them.
She came up to the no man's land outside the perimeter of the needle. Something was waiting for her. Something was out here with her. She could feel it. One of them was here and it wasn't the Colonel.
"I know you are here." She shouted.
"You are a smart girl." A voice replied.
"Tell me something I don't know. What do you want?"
"I want you to feed me." The voice said from behind her. She turned prepared for battle. Instead, she found herself staring at The Colonel's back.
"Colonel?" He was startled. "What are you doing here?"
"The Little One is under my protection. I will not allow you to harm her. Nor will I allow YOU to harm her, Ramsey." Max spun to see the other one standing behind her. He had a dark smile but his eyes were different
"Even you would be hard pressed to combat two of us Colonel."
"I will still win. I am in complete control of my senses and body. You two are not. Malcolm would have trouble with the girl and she could defend against him until I dispatched you. Eventually, he may get the upper hand, but I would be finished with you by then. Look at him, he is almost broken. He just chased her across town and has nearly passed out from the exertion."
"It is true Major. I am burned out. I would ask that someone put me under. I am willing to harm a child for my fix at this point. Please."
Max stood close to The Colonel. She was not afraid of this Malcolm. He was weak after the run. She could take him. He was even starting to shake. The Major was different. He was in excellent shape easily stronger, faster and more highly trained than anyone of her brothers or sisters. Probably stronger than all of them together. "Why are you after me?"
"We went on a little mission. Some nameless jungle somewhere and were set upon by our own troops, children ordered to kill us. They got two of us before we tied them off in a cage. They were eventually picked up but we had some of their juice. It did things to those of us who tasted it. It made us stronger than we already were. It helped us live longer. I WANT MORE!!!" This Malcolm explained as he seemed to swell and grow larger in front of them. He lunged at Max in desperation though as The Colonel reached out and caught him by the throat. The man died instantly as his throat was crushed in the deadly grip. The body made a dull thud as it hit the pavement under the Needle.
"Impressive as ever Colonel." Ramsey said. "I will not harm the girl. You know that but the few of us left might."
"Then help me find them so I can get on with what is left of my life or tell me how we can get them to just go away and leave her alone. She is not for us. None of them are anymore. We are passing beyond."
Max was standing behind The Colonel and peering at Ramsey from the safety of his left arm. "You were going to attack me five hours ago... why the change of heart?"
"It was merely a test to assure an assumption. I was not sure you were the one. I know now that you are." He spoke to Max then looked to his Colonel. "I am pretty sure that I know where Pete is. Man needs his whiskey, you know. Shall we go have a talk with him?"
"The time is near..." Their voices trailed off as they walked away seemingly ignoring Max. The weird thing was their mouths. They were not actually talking, but Max could hear every word spoken. Then she heard both men laughing at her realization that she could hear their thoughts. She started to follow, but both men phased out right before her eyes and she could see nothing anywhere near her. "She will learn…" One of them thought. "It is already within her."
