Disclaimer: same old same old.
A/N: I didn't have this beta-ed so please bear with me.
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EP3 CHAPTER2: SHAKIN' LOOSE
JOSHUA'S PLACE
Max entered Joshua's house unnoticed, "Got here soon as I can. Who's taking a case on tryptophan now?"
Logan dodged the question and instead turned from his computers to look at Max. "Hey." Max smiled her greeting, but Logan noticed something was worrying her. Her face did not indicate anything nor her greeting, but something was amiss. Her bad-assed attitude seems to have taken a background role. He can't exactly pinpoint it, but something was definitely troubling Max. He took note on drawing it out of her later. He knew how anxious Max is about this.
He motioned to his monitor, "This has been sent to me by Sebastian." Max walked over to stand behind Logan and looked at his computer screen. Pointing at the highlighted lines on the data, "See here, these shipments have been re-routed from Vancouver. Normally, those shipments would have to enter Seattle in order to be distributed to the rest of the country. Bet they are being transferred straight to San Francisco. The ones that the local companies produce in the Midwest are likewise prevented from entering Seattle. Trucks have been torched, robbed and drivers have been killed along highways. Seems pretty clear that someone's preventing those shipments from entering the city. Someone with enough influence that even the media are not reporting these so-called 'accidents'." Pointing on another screen, Logan continued, "The shipment from Vancouver is the nearest one you can tap for tryptophan. The transfer occurs within three days. If you can hold up until then, maybe we can get lucky with this one."
Max knew that Logan referred mostly to the transgenics. If they can hold up… Terminal City has run out of tryptophan and while they need it, there are others who may still have some for emergency purposes. Three days… a lot can happen in three days. She just hopes that there wouldn't be more of them having the seizures. With the Manticore medicine waning after six months, who knows who could experience those seizures now without the benefit of those medicines? And the crew is getting restless.
Thinking about all these, Max was not able to respond quickly to Logan's revelation. He seemed to be looking at her intently… waiting for any reaction from her. Abruptly, she said, "I'll give the crew a heads up. They gotta know who's swinging this." With that, she walked towards the door to leave.
"Wait!"
Max stopped and turned to see that Logan had stood and followed her. "Can you drop the dime on those shipments for me? The cargo's dump?"
Logan turned his head from side to side indicating that he doesn't have a clue on those thigns as of the moment. "We'll figure something out." Max again turned to leave. "Max."
Max sighed and turned to Logan. "What, Logan?"
"Sit down."
Logan's mild tone made Max do exactly as she was asked. Logan went to sit on the table as max sat down on the couch. He took Max's gloved hands into his own gloved-covered ones and looked intently on Max. "Bad day?" It was more a statement than a question.
"Some dirt chute want to rying to get a pass at me this morning while crew want wanna get ghetto with the law." Logan nodded, letting Max feel the companionable silence they shared. "They're getting restless. We're out of tryptophan… they think that everyone's responsible for it. They're ready to fight, Logan, but it's a fight I don't think we could win. Not like this. Not if we want to live in this society."
Logan gripped Max's hands hard. "Then we'll just have to do everything we can to prevent it, won't we?" He smiled, which made Max smile likewise. "I don't have any leads yet, but the informant net will get back to me by tomorrow night. We can do this, Max. With your cat-burglary skills running in the family and the right satellite and database connections, we can get that shipment before all these gets any worse."
Max smiled thankfully at Logan as she bent her head to stare at the floor. She closed her eyes for a second as he willed for this to work out. They needed the tryptophan shipment fast. She doesn't know how long she could hold up Luke and the other transgenics from going into a fight against the Seattle police. "Thanks." She murmured.
Just then Cyd, came from the basement. "Logan, I've set up another Work station for the computer just as you taught me."
Max looked up at Cyd, "Hey, Cyd." She smiled.
Cyd smiled back, "Hello, Max. Logan has been giving me additional information on computers."
Max remembered that Cyd had informed them that she excelled in computers back at Manticore. 'I thought you only knew how to use computers?"
"Logan taught me how to set up one."
Max looked at Logan and smiled her thanks to him. "What would you be doing with another work station?"
"He said I could help him locate information… if I wanted to." Cyd decided to sit beside Max and Logan let go of Max's hands to hold only her right hand in his left. "And then I use it to talk to Joshua. Hey! I saw you there. You were talking to someone…"
Max looked inquiringly at Logan. Logan smiled sheepishly and proceeded to explain, "When you helped Gem, Joshua turned on the computer to conference with me and she met Joshua."
Max turned towards Cyd, "Is that so?"
Cyd, "Am I supposed to be there? I mean, all the Manticore people are there and I was wondering -"
Logan caught Cyd's attention, "Hey, sport! Don't tell me that 2 weeks in my company and you want to drive out of here already?" he smiled to reassure Cyd.
Cyd shook her head, "It's just that-"
Max decided to approach this on a lighter mood, "Hey. Logan's not kicking you out yet, is he? He does it and I'll kick his a-" Logan squeezed Max's hand to remind her of her language. Cyd merely giggled at Max. "Don't you want to stay here anymore?"
Cyd looked at Max and then at Logan, trying to decide whether they really want to hear her answer or not. Deciding to tell the truth she put on her brave face and said, "I want to stay here… I can do some work – with the computers and…"
Logan took Cyd's other hand, "Hey. Is this what this computer thing is all about? I'm not asking you to work, Cyd. You can stay here as long as you like." He looked at Max for confirmation. "…that is, until you want to."
"Jhondy said it's not safe here."
Max swore under her breath. What was Jhondy thinking?, she thought. As her own voice in her head said, She's thinking of relaying information to ensure that a soldier knows the situation in-out. Max sighed, "Well, there are some bad people in here… people like those in Montana. The place you saw? That's Terminal City and yes, most transgenics in the city live there." Max and Logan proceeded to explain the situation to Cyd.
"…So if you still like my company and don't hate my kind of music, you can go on and stay here. But if you like the country, we can always find a way for you to live there."
Cyd seemed to think this through before answering, "I think I'd like to stay here – for now."
Max smiled, "Not that I wouldn't want you to, but… you may not get a chance to roam around and go to school like a normal kid for quite sometime while you're here. Will you be okay in just staying at home the whole day? I can take you out… or Cindy or Zane or Jhondy… but that would have to be at night."
Cyd seemed to take this in a flash, "Okay." She looked at Max and hugged her. then she went to Logan and then gave him a hug as well, "Thanks, Logan!" She let go of a blushing Logan and asked, "Can I go hack with the computer downstairs now?"
Max and Logan laughed, "only if you don't tamper with files and just look. Ask if you need anything." At that, Cyd scooted off into the basement.
Max smiled as Cyd's form receded from her view, "Shouldn't she be in bed?"
Logan smiled at her. "No harm in her trying what she's been used to doing most of her life, right?" Max looked blankly at Logan, "She needs some form of 'normalcy'. She's used to computers, keeps her on balance with these changes. Why don't we let her do her stuff and she'll sleep when she needs to? She may have shark DNA in her as well. I know that you and Jhondy has, but I wasn't too sure about Tinga." Logan held on tighter onto Max's hands as her eyes clouded over the mention of Tinga's name. Logan sat on one end of the couch and brought Max to lie against him. Fully clothed and complete with gloves, he did not think that such an act would be harmful.
When her back touched Logan's chest, Max tensed up and was about to stand when Logan's firm hand on her arm stopped her. "Shh… It's okay. We're fully clothed… The virus won't work." Max, because she wanted to and because she needed to be in Logan's arms, let herself half lie on Logan's chest as he held her hand and brushed his other hand on her hair.
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Author's Notes: *CHIANCAT87 ummm… I don't really know how to write drama, but I'm glad you're liking it. *MUDPIE, GREYSTREET, JADE, NIKKI, DARKONE, SQUEAKZ, EMMA, ICA, RAJANA here is the next chapter! Sorry it took so long and tahnks for all the comments. *ZAZ I know about being very busy – thus not being able to post soon. Hope you all forgive me. *MARGARET I should be the 1 thanking you for reviewing! *POETRY glad to know you lasted till Aug.2 and I'm waiting for M/L to touch too! *DARK PHANTON this will last till 21 eps, hopefully. *JOJO we'll just have to wait on whyand how White got to know about the tryptophan dependency ;) *KRISTI we'll just have to wait and see where this chapter will lead us ;) *AVELYN LAUREN thanks for the suggestions. I may take up those in here or the next couple of episodes so don't be surprised. *PAIGE no problem about the beta. Hope your computer problem gets fixed.
THANKS for reviewing y'all! Please be patient with the next chapters.