Chapter 3: Questions
Logan waited impatiently for the elevator to hit the penthouse, before he could reset it to go back down to the 34th floor. Muttering under his breath, he waited for it to open, close, and head back down again, the whole process seeming to take forever. He sighed heavily, patience had never been his strong suit. His annoyance was exacerbated by a multitude of questions that pounded around the inside of his head both for and about the girl. He ran a hand through his unruly hair sighing heavily and feeling the rising bruise on his shoulder where he had hit the wall. A moment's inattention…that was all it took, and his body was going to pay for it now.
The woman had chosen her floor for escape extremely well. This particular elevator went from 34 to the penthouse floors without stopping in between and that gave her about a 20-minute window of time to get away. Logan was almost certain that she was no longer in the building, much less still hiding on the 34th floor where she had escaped him. Regardless of that suspicion, he was going to check out the floor…he had to be sure she had in fact escaped him or it would eat him alive not knowing the "ifs".
The chime once again cut into his concentration and he slowly looked up as his heart rate soared again. As the doors slid away Logan stepped out into the brightly-lit hallway. He looked cautiously to the right and left before pressing further forward into relatively unknown territory. He closed his eyes a moment trying to read anything, assessing the danger still in the area, and scanning the people within his range. Logan sighed heavily. Nothing…not even a twinge of danger, which was almost a 100 percent assurance that she was no longer here. He pressed on anyway, not trusting completely to what his head was telling him, and despite the evidence over the years of just how effective that sense was. Every fiber of his being strained to pick up a sense of her, primed and ready in the event that another assault fell upon him.
Logan headed left slowly walking and scanning with his eyes for some sign of the girl. The hall was deserted, either his downstairs neighbors were already settled in for the night or else they had not returned yet. He moved slowly, methodically down the hall, pausing every few yards to cast about with his senses, but the results were the same, there was no sign of her. He ran into a few residents, but his inquiries about the girl met blank looks. Frowning, Logan realized that she had probably jumped the second elevator right back down to the lobby.
His mind slipped back again to what had happened. He had to admit he was damned impressed with his own performance. He had stopped the girl's attack easily and had made it look like he defended himself for a living. That could be no further from the truth. It had been years since he had even thought about using what Max had taught him, not since... He swallowed hard as another emotion threatened to spill over again. He shook his head slightly, clamping down on that train of thought, now was not the time for a rehash those events. Despite all evidence to the contrary, it was very possible that the girl was still here, and he need not put himself into a vulnerable position with the pains from the past. That girl had gotten the better of him before because he had let his guard down and he was not going to make the same mistake twice.
Logan slowed again as he came to the corner, peering around it to ensure the hall was clear. He moved systematically covering every inch of the floor for her presence or for clues as to where she had disappeared. He inspected each door for signs of forced entry, pausing to listen to what was going inside, straining with his newer senses to assess the danger level inside. Still there was no evidence of his assailant and short of knocking on each door there was no more he could do.
"Another Manticore..." He thought, picturing the girl in his mind. It was a set of features he would not soon forget. She had an Asian face rounded and soft featured, but her eyes…They were unusual in and of themselves, he had never seen anyone of that descent with such bright green eyes. To think of it, he had never seen eyes that green on any human he had ever met. That had marked her as something, someone different. Concentrating he could see clearly the bar code branded on her forehead. He had told Max once that the barcode was the mark of Cain. It was a blatant marker that she was made, she was a Manticore creation.
"She is even younger than Max when we first met," he thought as he finished his futile search. His walk slowed as he returned to the elevator access intent on heading up to his apartment. There was no use in going to the lobby to try and track her, if she was not here she certainly would not hang around within easy reach of him. This was something that he was going to have to think on, it was very possible that he was going to have to step up his vigilance. Something told him that this would not be the last he saw of the girl, despite her escape today.
He pressed the button to call the elevator back to his floor musing over the possible purpose of the Manticore's attack. Could Lydecker be back again? Logan wouldn't put it past the man; he was tenacious when it came to the recovery of his "Children". He had come before, or sent operatives in his place, once they discovered Logan's tie to Max. They had never managed to discern exactly where he lived, even though they had tried numerous times. He and Max had always managed to obscure there trail when they returned home…until. He squashed that hopeless feeling rising within him at that thought again. What was done was done, pining about it only made things worse.
But, it had been three years since the last attempt. What was it that had brought them back, yet again, into his life? Wasn't the last time enough for them? Had they not caused him enough pain? It said something about their intelligence in the matter if they didn't know about Max, that they didn't know she was gone. But Lydecker was there…he would know, and if he knew then there was no reason to send another soldier to his door.
Another thought occurred to him, one that sent a shiver over his skin. It was possible perhaps that they knew what had happened to him, that they knew what he had become. His heart sank a moment at the prospect and he prayed that was not the case. A sudden picture of himself in a small dank cell and endless experimentation surfaced in his mind making him shiver. If it were true they would send more to find him, and he was not certain that he was prepared to defend himself against a whole squad of Lydecker's supersoldiers.
The elevator chimed its arrival startling Logan out of his contemplation. He took one last look down the hallways before stepping in and returning to his Penthouse apartment.
Tima sat on the plush scarlet couch in her apartment staring at a point on the low table in front of her. Her thoughts were turned inward as could be told by the slight frown that dragged the corners of her mouth down. She was replaying the day's events in her mind, the images looping over and over as she studied his face the set of his body and the events that had led her to a retreat. What had happened? She had gotten her butt kicked by a man over twice her age that was what happened.
Tima chewed a nail, as she stared unfocused across the room. He had anticipated her move somehow, and his speed! He possessed Manticore fast reflexes, nearly as fast as her own and she had been on the upper end of the scale in speed. There were not many that she knew who could match her in a fight. This man had not only matched her he had beat her. She discounted some of that as surprise, he had caught her off guard with his skill and speed, and that had given him an advantage over her. She shook her head to no one, it was something that she wouldn't let happen twice that was for sure.
"Could he be one of us?" she thought as an excited twinge went off in her belly. Had she found another? Was he someone who could take her back to where she belonged after so many long years on the road?
Tima shook her head disregarding the thought as it soured in her mind. He was much too old to be a Manticore soldier. Even the few X-1's she had seen weren't that old, the man who had fought her off was at least five years older than they were. Perhaps he belonged to another country's supersoldier program, and was here under a special op. No, that did not fit with her pretty extensive knowledge of foreign Super-soldier programs. The man fit none of the profiles that she had stored in her head. An aberration then, or a prototype that had not been made available to her sources. He could even be a rogue product that had been quietly swept under the rug by an agency already in existence, someone that they could never track down. She smiled having heard of many cases where the product ended up being smarter than the people who created them. It was even true of some Manticore.
"Even so, how did he beat you?" She mused, angry, because she knew that she was the best of her group, and she should be better than some old run down man, even if he was a SS from another project.
Tima stood abruptly, pent energy and frustration causing her to pace. She toyed with her second earring as she continued to analyze the situation. She was angry with herself, she had let the opportunity slip by her. She kicked herself now for not trying to take him down on the street. He had possessed the advantage of being in his own territory. Outside the crowds confusion would have made her job easier and made escape for him damn near impossible.
Looking back on her time staking the man out she realized that he had known, somehow, all along that she had been watching him. He had never come near her perch in the alley, never presented himself as an easy target as she followed him. He never appeared to avoid her on purpose, she had never seen him veer from her where she had hidden, but those simple clues stood out glaringly now telling her that she had somehow given herself away.
Tima grimaced again back to chewing her fingernail. What was she going to do? She was getting extremely low on funds, and her next month's rent was due in only a few days. It would take weeks of preparation to set another one of her potential marks up. She had invested so much time in this one man. Stubbornness welled up within Tima, determined that she should not have to do that. She had one already on line and all the details worked out. No she was going to have to try again and this time she was going to hit his place while he was away. Besides she was forewarned, and that meant that she was forearmed. She snapped her fingers thinking that this should be cake!
She busied herself over the next few hours making sure that she had all supplies ready for a stake out. Smiling broadly she stepped back out of the apartment, confident that she would do better this time.
