EP3 CHAPTER 3: BACK TO REALITY
JOSHUA'S PLACE
Later, Jhondy and Zane entered the house silently and were soon faced with Max bolting from Logan's embrace as Logan continued to sleep.
Jhondy mused, "We always seem to be catching both of you at a bad time." Max gave Jhondy a look, which made the latter notice that Logan was sleeping. The three went into the kitchen and sat around the table. Jhondy sat beside Max as Zane sat across from the two.
Zane looked at Max. "Listen, Max. Logan gave me the address on Zack a week ago and Jhondy and I were thinking of going over to check things out."
At the look of defeat on Max's face, Jhondy closed her arm around Max's shoulders. "Hey, baby sister, we're not bailing out on you. We just have to make sure that Zack's okay. We gotta get to him before he's discovered… maybe even before he discovers who he really is."
"I know. But you've only been here a couple of weeks and Logan's also trying to get in touch with the people who got Zack. But you're right, you gotta go." She looked apologetically from Jhondy to Zane, "I wish I could, but things here are pretty tense right now."
Zane reached over to hold Max's hands, "We know. This problem on tryptophan ought to be resolved soon. You have to be here and we're the only ones available to do this right now."
Jhondy quipped, "'Sides, we should put our newly acquired identities and checkpoint passes to good use!" Max smiled at that. "Hey, Max. Been taking Cyd round the city these past weeks. She gonna stay here?"
Max shrugged, "Said she wanted to. I don't really know."
Zane butted in, "We all know what Zack has to say about that… about this." The three laughed and then sobered up immediately after thinking of Zack. "Seriously, an X9 from Tinga's DNA… It's almost as if she's Tinga."
Max's eyes hardened. "Tinga's dead."
Zane and Jhondy looked at each other before look at Max. Max had explained about Tinga and Zack's situation 2 weeks ago. The siblings shared the hatred they felt against Manticore and what it has done to them, but they could never take away the bitterness in Max's eyes and voice whenever Tinga's name is mentioned. They had not been there to see Tinga as Max had… which is the one reason their hatred against Manticore could never equal Max's.
It was Jhondy who broke the steely silence around them. "Cyd's alive. And I guess we should just let her choose, despite being so young."
Max's features softened, "Logan already has some people willing to take her in in the country, but she just told us she likes it here."
Zane nodded, "Then she should stay here… at least until she decides otherwise. Is Logan okay with this?"
Max smiled at her brother's question. Considering that Logan has always put up with her family even when he was still living in Fogle Towers and how he was kind enough to put up Zane and Jhondy in this house until the two were supplied with their fake identities, she mused at her brother's question. She threw it back at him, "Do you think, Zane?"
Zane reached the same conclusion on his absurd question the same time as Jhondy. He stood up and reached over to ruffle Max's hair, "Got me there, baby sis."
Max looked up, smiling, "Did you tell Normal?" Zane and Jhondy got their jobs at Jam Pony, probably because the guilt of having judged the transgenics was still eating up Normal. "When are you leaving?"
Jhondy nodded and replied, "Tomorrow's not soon enough." She had just about the same amount of patience as Max.
"But the checkpoint -" Zane reached from inside his jacket to produce two sector and checkpoint passes as he looked teasingly at Max.
"Should have known I'd have some competition with the trade with you two around here."
Jhondy, "It was left lying on the desk in the station, what was I supposed to do? Decline an invitation?" They all laughed.
NEXT DAY
Logan woke up to the smell of Bacon and eggs in the air. It made him think of the few times he had breakfast with Max in this house as he took as shower, dressed up and went into the kitchen, where he found Cyd. His smile disappeared, having been thinking of Max actually cooking anything, though she had tried it a couple of times under his guidance in the past two weeks.
He decided to greet Cyd, "Morning."
Cyd took the biscuits from the oven and brought it towards the table. "Morning, Logan. Max said you'd like bacon and eggs so Jhondy cooked some up for breakfast before they left."
That produced a frown on Logan's face, "Left?"
Cyd then went into the fridge to get the orange juice and milk cartons and placed it on the table, "Uh uh. Didn't they tell you? They said they were going to look for someone named Zack." Then talking more to herself than Logan, "I'm sure I've heard about him before…"
Logan took some glasses and sat opposite Cyd, "Max with them?"
Cyd shook her head as she placed some biscuits on her plate and before giving the Logan some. "She left with Zane and Jhondy for Terminal City." She got some bacon and eggs and passed it to Logan, "Do you think could go there anytime soon? I'd ask Max, but she seems straight up on not wanting me anywhere near it… Jhondy promised to take me, but she said she's do so after they come back… which would be such a long time!"
Logan smiled at the child. "I'm sure you mean well about going over to Terminal City and meeting everybody. And I'm sure that Jhondy would take you there when they get back. So why don't we wait for her to take you. See, Max would want to take you there, but she's busy and all so… we just have to wait when she has the extra hands of Zane and Jhondy, right?"
Cyd seemed to think this through before saying, "Okay." The two resumed their breakfast as they chatted about the Internet and what Cyd was able to find the night before.
TERMINAL CITY
Max was in a meeting with Mole, Luke, Alec, the Cat woman, Mole, Joshua, Arctic Guy, Dix, Dalton, Gem and a few other X-series/ "Logan's found something. All shipments and deliveries of tryptophan are being diverted to other parts of the country but for Seattle. But we shouldn't worry. There's a shipment within two days from Vancouver to San Francisco. We can divert it before it reaches San Francisco." Murmurs of approval go around the group. "It appears that this was under the work of the Familiars, the breeding cult I had informed you about. But we shouldn't act harshly nor rashly. Logan's trying his best to do what he can to find out about this. And if anyone can find out, it's Logan."
Mole challenged Max once more, "What about Cyd? She's staying with him while he goes off to look into this matter? Isn't this more dangerous for her? What if people decide to break inside the house while he's away?"
Max sighed, "Cyd can take care of herself."
Mole smirked, " And you were the one who said we don't need that kind of attention?"
This irked Max, "Cyd can take care of herself and she can no more be placed in danger here than at Joshua's old place. Logan knows what he's doing and he would not put Cyd in any position nor would he place her under any kind of situation that would mean her exposure. Most of us here are grown ups. Cyd is just a child and she needs to live it as normally as she can."
Mole smiled menacingly, "So we're back to this obsession to being normal are we? Is that why you spend so much time with a cripple?"
That got under Max's skin. She wanted to pounce on Mole for his comment. But it was Alec who stopped her with his hand, which shot out as soon as Mole mentioned the word normal. "Hey, hey. Let's not get heated up here. Mole, my man, Max is not digging. Look. Logan's helping us out here. If it weren't for the man, we'd have been under siege by now. Give him a break, eh? We're not perfect after all." Alec said sarcastically under his breath, "God knows." He then coughed to cover up his side comment. Surrounded by Manticore folks, muttering under his breath is as good as saying it flat-out on the nomlies' faces. "Uh… this meeting is over, I get it?"
With that, the transgenics dispersed with Max still fuming at what Mole had said. Alec looked at her and said, "Don't try and make them all see Logan as you do. God knows I admire the man, but not everyone out here knows him as you do. They know normal people as those outside the barricade." He motioned towards the fence area where the fence was located, "Logan will be accepted for his own merits. But thrashing out your anger at comments made by Mole will only stop that process."
---------------
Author's Notes:
Sorry for taking so long. I have had this chapter for weeks, but I have not been able to post it since I got busy with Virtual Season 3 and I got sick. Since I'm rushing this, I will not be able to greet everyone. However, I would like to thank everyone for your continued support. I can now continue writing my fic since I don't have any pending things to do. At the same time, it might not come as fast, though since I'm still recovering from my illness a few weeks ago. Please bear with me and please review. Thanks to Kristy and Poetry23 for the beta. I hope that your pc works again Paige. I'll see that I greet everyone in the next chapter. Don't worry, I have nto abandoned my fic, btu I would like to see more reviews. J