AS202 Breakdown Chapter Seven, a dark angel fanfic

Breakdown by Star24

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Seattle, Sector Police Headquarters

Matt Sung looked at the directive that had just come across his desk and let out a soft whistle. "The city's going into lockdown? What brought that on?"

The detective at the next desk turned to him. "I think it has something to do with the attempt on Judge Jergen's life. Chief Mills' secretary told me that he's been closeted in his office all morning on the phone. The calls have been coming in on the secure line."

"That means someone high up is calling the shots on this thing. I thought they had the shooter in custody?" Matt frowned in concentration.

"Man, you are out of touch. She broke out last night. Took out a few cops doing it, too. Personally I think she had some kind of help. Remember Bernie Sorenson?"

Matt frowned in concentration, "Big guy? Looked like he could play linebacker if we still had a pro football team?"

"That's the guy. You tell me how a little girl all of 5'4" and weighing about 110 pounds could not only take out a guy like that, but break his arm in three places doing it?

Matt just looked at him and didn't answer. With a shrug the other man turned back to his paperwork. Matt pretended to do the same, but after a few minutes he let out an exclamation. "Damn. I'm supposed to have a meet in fifteen minutes. Chief'll kill me if I miss it; the guy's supposed to have a line on those drug runners we've been chasing for the last three months."

"Better move it then, buddy. The Chief on the warpath is not a pretty sight."

"Yeah. Catch you later." Matt was out the door as he spoke, leaving the other detective to shake his head in sympathy.

Safe House, just after dawn the next day

Max stirred in Logan's arms and he looked down at her. Her skin didn't appear to be as flushed, and when he felt her forehead her fever was gone. She appeared to have fallen into a more natural sleep and he gently released her, and eased her down onto the mattress.

She muttered slightly but didn't wake up. Logan used the time to look around the room to see if there was anything that he might find useful. Unfortunately he didn't have his cell phone, and he was afraid to use the comm link he found lying on the floor. He suspected that if he activated it, they would have some unwelcome visitors in no time at all. Instead he ground it under his heel, making very sure it wouldn't function again.

He briefly walked through the rest of the safe house, but there was only one other bedroom, the bathroom, a small living room and a gutted kitchen. All of the windows were boarded up and when he cracked the front door he could see that they were in a rough neighborhood. It was not one where he could realistically expect to find any help. Just the opposite, drawing the attention of its denizens was more likely to put them in danger, especially with his lack of any weapons and Max in no shape to defend them.

With a sigh he headed back to where he had left Max sleeping.

* * * *

Max rolled over and came awake with a start. She wrinkled her forehead as she tried to recall why she was lying on a dusty, lumpy mattress in an abandoned house. Visions of

fighting with Brin and unknown enemy soldiers ran through her mind, along with a memory of being held close by….Logan?

She struggled as she tried to remember what was significant about Logan. Images floated through her head, but try as she might she couldn't quite grasp on to them long enough to make any sense of them. Voices began to echo in her head…

"Duty…obedience…discipline…"the voices whispered. "Those are what are real in your life 452. Emotions are for ordinaries. Emotions will kill you. You are a soldier 452. A soldier of Manticore…"

"Eyes Only is the enemy…your assignment is to obtain his files and eliminate him."

"You're poison X5-452…poison…poison…poison…"

"You have a choice 452. You can be one of us or you can join the nomlies in the basement. Which will it be? Make your decision 452…"

"The enemy is clever. They will try to deceive you. Trust no one, 452. Your fellow soldiers are your only friends. The ordinaries will kill you if they find out what you are. Your safety lies in Manticore. You are X5-452. Remember your designation. Remember what you are, what you were bred to be…"

"X5-452. X5-452. X5-452 X5-452…"

But then other voices came to life, drowning out the whispers.

"You my boo... For life. No matter what"

"You look beautiful in it…in fact you were the most beautiful woman there…"

"It's called soul power, sugah."

"You're the miracle. You did this. You gave me back my life."

"You have nothing to be sorry for...or ashamed of. I know who you are."

"Just come back…"

She pushed back her hair and sat on the edge of the bed realizing that she felt shaky and weak. A creak in the floor alerted her, and she looked up to see Logan standing in the doorway of the room regarding her cautiously.

Fogle Towers

The door to the penthouse opened and Bling and Original Cindy looked up, anticipation on their faces. Syl was alone and she shook her head.

"I checked out both safe houses – no luck at either one of them. Those screams were probably just some hooker getting beat up by her pimp or something. So we're back at square one it seems."

"Not quite. Message came in for you while you were gone. It's encoded – I couldn't open it." Bling indicated the monitor which had a flashing icon in one corner.

Syl quickly crossed the room and clicked on the icon. She drew in a breath. "Damn. This is a Manticore battle group code." She turned to Bling. "You're positive none of the alarms on the system went off while I was gone?"

"Not a one. I triple checked this for signs of worms or Trojans as well, and it came up clean."

"Let me decode it and see what it says. It'll take me a few. Things are certainly getting interesting around here, is all I have to say."

"I only hope they aren't too interesting wherever Max and Logan are." Bling said a worried frown creasing his forehead.

Seattle, Sector 5

The Manticore Tac team settled into the deserted warehouse that they had chosen as their headquarters. It was located in Sector 5 but it was only a short distance from Sector 9 in case that was where they were directed.

"Settle in and get the comms in place," the leader directed. "We may not see action until tonight, but I want everything ready to go. Once you're set up, I want perimeter guards to patrol in three hour shifts. The rest of the team is to rest and prepare for action.

Seattle, an apartment

Donald Lydecker's cell phone beeped softly. Picking it up he pressed the ON button.

"Lazarus this is Medusa. The trap is set for 23:00 hours tonight. Are you ready for the location coordinates?"

"Proceed with coordinates." Taking out a piece of paper Deck listened and jotted down a series of numbers. "What will the opposition consist of?"

"Opposition consists of five X5 series units. Units are armed with conventional weapons."

"Does Medusa want the units returned alive?"

"Negative. The units are expendable and replaceable. Deadly force is authorized. Do you copy?"

"I copy."

There was a click and the cell phone went dead. Deck set it down on the table and picked up the paper on which he had noted the coordinates. He stared at it for several moments and then with calm deliberation he took out a match. Placing the slip into a glass ashtray, he lit the match and stood there in deep thought as he watched the paper go up in flames.

Fogle Towers

Syl walked over to where Bling and Original Cindy waited for her.

"What did it say?" Original Cindy demanded.

"Who was it from?" came from Bling.

"It was from Lydecker. Krit managed to contact him."

Original Cindy drew in a deep breath and started to advance on Syl, anger in her face. "You are one of them. One of them black helicopter guys."

Syl leapt to her feet and stood there ready to defend herself. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Lydecker." Cindy spat out in disdain. "Max gave me the 411 on him last year. He's the one been after her. The one who took away her sister and brother."

Syl relaxed. "Yeah, until one of his own turned him into a man with a price on his head. He's in the wind as much as all of us are now. I had my brother contact him for some help on deprogramming Max. Lydecker's the bastard who created the techniques. He's the best one to help us figure out how to beat them."

Original Cindy looked at Bling. He nodded in confirmation of Syl's words. "What she said. He's a bastard, but he's out in the cold now. Logan has had some contact with him in the last few months. I won't say he completely trusted him, but he did say the man was in the know about Manticore."

"My momma always said that no leopard ever gonna change it's spots. Why are you so sure you want to believe anything he says?"

Syl sighed. "I hear you. Anyway if we don't find them we won't get a chance to use his advice so it may not matter. Not that I'm even sure what it is."

Bling and Original Cindy looked at her in confusion.

"He didn't really say much. Here, look."

She handed a slip of paper to Original Cindy who took it and read it out loud. "Remember your training. Don't let the enemy's apparent weakness fool you. What appears to be his weak point may actually be his point of greatest strength and conversely, his apparent strength may be his Achilles heel. What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm not sure. I have to think about the stuff he taught us – it's gotta be in there somewhere. Then we need to find Max and Logan and try to use whatever it is that means. We also have to figure out Max's trigger phrase."

"What's a trigger phrase?" Original Cindy wanted to know.

"It has to do with the selective memory techniques. Before we make ourselves forget we pick out a trigger phrase. When we hear it, it releases the memory block we've created."

"If you forgot everything how would you know what the trigger phrase is?" Cindy looked confused.

"Either we give it to someone trusted before we use the technique, or we choose something that only someone we're close to would ever use. It's tricky." Syl's shoulders slumped and she looked discouraged.

Bling walked over to her and gave her a hug. "We'll figure it out. If Logan hasn't already. He knows her better than anyone. If he can break through to her he'll do it, even without this so-called advice from Lydecker."

"Yeah, maybe…if he's still in any shape to do that…" Syl muttered the last so softly that the others almost didn't catch it.

"We need some food. When did the two of you eat last?" Original Cindy took charge.

Bling and Syl just looked at her.

"Thought so. Original Cindy may not be a gourmet chef like Max's hot boy but she knows her way around a kitchen. I'm gonna rustle up some food for us all. Maybe we can think better after we eat." With that she headed in the direction of Logan's kitchen. Bling started to follow but Syl headed to the computer room.

"Call me when it's ready. I'm going to try some more ideas for locating them."

Safe House

Max stared at Logan as he stood there in the doorway of the bedroom watching her. She frowned in confusion and her eyes swept the room.

"What's happening? What is this place?"

"What do you remember, Max?" Logan made no move to come any closer to where she sat on the sagging bed.

"I…I'm not sure. It's all mixed up in my head…" Max dropped her head into her hands, slumping forward, and her hair fell forward hiding her face from him.

Logan abandoned caution and crossed the room in a few swift steps, dropping down to sit next to her. He reached his hands toward her shoulders but suddenly she spun into a whirlwind of motion and he found himself lying flat on his back. Max was kneeling over him, holding his arms stretched out over his head. He looked into her eyes and was relieved to see that at least she appeared to be rational. The previous wildness was gone from them.

"Max?" he tried.

"What is this place? How do I know you aren't just a trick Manticore set up to break me or an ordinary sent to kill me?"

"Ask me something that Manticore would have no way of knowing about, Max." Logan suggested to her calmly, realizing that she remembered nothing of the past few day's events, and possibly nothing for some time prior to them.

She frowned and shook her head, once again seeming confused. "What did they do to me? How can I be sure who you really are…? How do I know if I really remember you and that you aren't just something they implanted in my head? " The last was a whisper.

Logan remained silent, not sure what to say. Max suddenly rolled off of him even as she maintained her grip on his wrists. Logan didn't attempt to free himself.

Max released his wrists and jumped to her feet. "Don't even think of trying anything," she warned him.

"Believe me, I have no desire to get my ass kicked today, Max." Logan assured her with a wry grin. "Am I allowed to sit up?"

Max just shot him a look and taking that as a yes, Logan eased himself to a sitting position. He thought hard about his next move. Max was clearly past what he now realized had been a withdrawal from some heavy drugs, probably used as a part of Manticore's re-programming procedures. He guessed that Manticore had been using intense psychological techniques on her in addition to the drugs. The trick now would be to gain her confidence and help her differentiate between Manticore implanted memories and her real ones.

End of Chapter Seven