Déjà vu
***Foggle Towers, NIGHT***
Logan sifted through the new e-mail on his computer, and silently cursed himself for not checking it earlier. Three months was a long time to go without checking in with informants and sources, and answering over one hundred messages, some of them three months old, was a painstaking process. Though not so painstaking, he thought with a smile, as the killer hangover he'd had only the day before. The day when Original Cindy had decided enough was enough. Logan's smile broadened. He'd have to send her something. Maybe a bottle of wine wouldn't be the best choice.
From the same building across the street, the same figure watched, using his genetically enhanced vision. He'd seen the girl with the miles of attitude come in and give Logan a good talking to. So desperate to hear the exchange, the man had left his position on top of the building, and briefly relocated to Foggle towers, floor below the penthouse. Not wanting to jeopardise his new position, or his old one, he'd stayed there all night, listening to the sounds above. The sounds of Eyes-Only. It had been when the figure left the building the next day that he'd seen the broadcast. The Manticore broadcast. That had clinched it. Eyes-Only was the right guy; he knew what he was talking about. It was time to act.
He waited for the cover of darkness, then moved, much in the way Max had, the first time she'd broken into Logan's apartment. The black-clad figure had no way of knowing that, as he prepared an attack from the skylight, he was retracing his sister's steps almost exactly.
Logan paused mid sentence, his fingers resting on the keyboard. He thought he'd heard the skylight creak open. Not possible. Or was it? Though he knew it couldn't have been Max, Logan wondered if it could be Zack. Logan shuddered at the thought of a re-programmed Zack. Regular Zack was bad enough, without throwing in an order to kill. He thought about Syl and Krit. Could be either of them. Or neither of them. Or not the skylight at all. He took his gun out of the desk drawer, and wheeled around slowly, waiting to hear the telltale 'thud' of a break-in.
The skylight creaked when he opened it. Damn. He listened to the sounds of the apartment, and heard the previously constant sound of typing cease. Element of surprise gone. Not a good start. Not a good soldier. The man in black allowed himself a small smile when he thought of what Lydecker would do if he knew about this. Creaky skylight. Amateur.
He slid from his position, and began to action plan B.
Logan waited again for the thud of a body, catlike or not, hitting the floor. He thought about the chance of the intruder sliding down on a rope, and repositioned himself to get a view of the floor below the skylight, while remaining relatively hidden. He had to fight from laughing. Hide from a genetically engineered soldier? The thought made him smile, but the smile faded fast as he realised the potential danger. Soldier. Manticore. Cable hack. Soldier. What were the words? Duty, discipline, mission. Logan's hand tightened around the gun, and he kept his eyes on the skylight.
Plan B. The stranger grinned to himself over plan B. Plan B is not an option that Zack would approve of, he thought to himself. Well, Zack isn't around. He raised his hand, ready to strike…
Logan realised he was holding his breath, and let it out steadily. He swallowed, and wiped sweat from his forehead. Having heard nothing from the skylight in almost ten minutes, Logan was worried. This would be the first time he'd faced Manticore without… well, without-
Logan jumped in surprise as the doorbell rang.
Plan B. Gotta love plan B. He grinned again. Lost the element of surprise? Ring the doorbell. Shake things up. Great plan. Would the target answer? Remains to be seen. Would the target have a choice? Not likely. Not when an X-5 could break down the door, or pick the lock in under a minute. Five more seconds, then I'm ringing the doorbell again, the impatient X-5 thought.
Logan was more than surprised when the doorbell rang. The doorbell? A would be assassin ringing the doorbell? Zack, in all his visits to the apartment, had never once rung the doorbell. Or used the door, for that matter. Logan had serious doubts as to whether Syl or Krit would use the door either. The doorbell rang again, and Logan had no idea what to do. Actually, he quite liked the idea of hiding under the covers, hoping that no bullet would arrive to rid him of use of his arms, as well as his legs. Not really an option. Cursing his curious nature, he unlocked the door.
The hallway was empty.
Re-locking the door, Logan shook his head, unsure of what to expect next. The gunman could very well be waiting for him to exit the apartment to look around, he'd thought to himself, so he'd gone back inside. This was ridiculous, and he was still sweating. He wheeled his chair around.
There was a man in his living room. Standing under the skylight.
Logan raised his gun, aiming it at the man in his apartment. He looked around twenty, with dark hair, and blue eyes. Not Zack, he thought. Not Krit either. This was someone different, though he certainly fit the profile of an X-5. Physical perfection, and the right age. Eyes-Only tightened his grip on the weapon.
"Hi!" The unknown man said brightly. He looked Logan up and down, settling briefly on the gun in his hands.
"Hi." Logan answered, in an even tone. "You wanna tell me who you are and what you're doing here?" He didn't lower the gun, even though he knew it'd be useless on an X-5.
"Come on, Eyes-Only!" The stranger teased. "Thought you were smarter than that! Can't you guess?" Logan raised his eyebrows. The stranger may have been teasing, but he didn't seem to be mocking, which was interesting. Mocking was Zack's favourite tone of voice in Logan's mind. This one was certainly different to Zack. Very different. Logan decided to play along.
"Well, I'd guess, skylight and all, that you might be an X-5?" Logan asked, eyebrows still raised. The man standing opposite him smiled, showing a set of perfect teeth. Logan briefly struggled to remember ever seeing Zack smile. He couldn't think of a single occasion.
"There you go! Knew you couldn't be all superheroish and not know a thing or two." The X-5 walked forward to Logan. Logan had put the gun in his lap, but moved it so he was sitting on it when the man started walking closer. The stranger laughed, and Logan knew for sure that he'd never seen Zack laugh. He wasn't even sure if laughing was something that was accounted for in Zack's genetic makeup. The man reached out a hand, as if in handshake. Logan stared at it briefly, before grasping it with his own, and shaking it.
"Logan Cale." Logan stated. He knew that the stranger already knew his name, but stated it by way of encouragement for the stranger to do the same. Which he did.
"X-5 205. Zane." Zane replied.
Logan took a deep breath. Max's brother. What did he want? Revenge? Redemption? Answers? This is going to be a long night, Logan thought to himself.
"What can I do for you, Zane?" Logan asked, still not completely at ease.
"Ah, this and that." The younger man answered. Logan was amazed at his tone. For an X-5, Zane was very easy going, and the complete opposite of his brother. More like Max, he thought sadly.
"I have some things to ask you, and I need a favour. Actually, a few favours." He grinned again, and Logan found himself beginning to like this new X-5.
"Things to ask me?" Logan looked down. "Like what?" He held his breath, waiting for Zane's response.
"Caught your cable hack last year. You know, X-5s, your cover has been blown, move on… and I figured, since you're still alive, that you must know Zack." Logan looked at him. It was certainly true that Zack would have killed Logan if given the chance, especially if he had jeopardised the X-5s.
"I know Zack, a little anyway. Call him a friend of a friend." Logan stated simply. He had no idea of how much Zane knew about his connections with Manticore. Best to leave Max out for the minute.
Zane was nodding. "Heard from him lately? Contact number's down, and it doesn't fit his profile."
*Flashback*
Max, Zack, Syl and Krit going over the hill to attack Manticore. Cut to Krit, telling Logan and Lydecker that Manticore got Zack.
"Captured by Manticore." Logan answered. He lowered his eyes. "They killed Max too."
Zane took a step closer to Logan and looked sharply at him.
"Max? You know Max too?" Zane's eyes darted to the open door of the study, and the picture taped up there. His enhanced eyesight studied the picture, as he had a flashback to younger days with Max. He studied Logan again.
"What about the others? What do you know? Who do you know?" Zane's expression was eager, and he spoke quickly. Logan took a deep breath.
"I only know about a few of them… Zack led Max, Syl and Krit on a mission to take down Manticore. They blew up the DNA lab, then got attacked by X-7s. And a re-programmed Brin. It was a revenge attack. Manticore killed Tinga."
Zane shook his head, taking it all in. "Max and Tinga dead, Zack captured, Brin re-programmed… what about Krit and Syl?"
"They're ok. I don't know exactly where they are, but they know how to contact me."
"That's it? That's all you know?" Zane's face held a familiar expression, which Logan recognised. It was the expression Max used to get when she thought about her brothers and sisters.
"Well, almost. Ben. Ben was killed. That's all of them that I know of."
Zane nodded, wondering whether to press the question about Ben's death. He thought best to leave it alone.
"Gone to the good place." Zane smiled a different smile. He was silent for a few minutes, and Logan began to get uneasy, and curious.
"Hate to ruin your moment of family history, Zane," Logan began. "But what exactly are you doing here?" Zane laughed. Logan looked at him, still amazed at the differences in the Manticore brothers.
"Hadn't heard from Zack. Contact number was disconnected, didn't get the new one, like I usually do. Thought it could have been something I'd done, Zack's always going on about me staying in the same place for too long, and he rags on me about my dog. But I didn't think I'd done anything unusual to piss him off. It got clear that something was wrong, so I headed here."
"Why here? Why me?" Logan asked, not liking the growing number of people that knew his secret.
"I wanted to find you because of the X-5 broadcast. Thought you might know where Zack was, where to contact him or something. And if worst came to worst, which it looks like it has, I needed your help. So I started tracking down Eyes-Only. Television the way it is, didn't have to check long before I found out which city got the most broadcasts, and where they were clearest. Plus, a lot of your exposés hit pretty close to Seattle." He grinned.
Logan raised his eyebrows, looking at Zane curiously.
"But how did you find me?" Logan asked, realising that he'd heard Zane say more in twenty minutes than he'd heard Zack say in the entire time he'd known him.
Zane's grin broadened. "Accident. Scoping your place for things to steal, saw the equipment. Let myself in while you were, well, sleeping, and checked out your system." Logan's eyes widened. Then, as he realised that Zane probably meant 'passed out' rather than 'sleeping,' he felt embarrassed, and angry with himself. He nodded.
"Building across the street?" Logan asked, pointing. Zane followed Logan's line of sight to the building.
"How'd you know? Lucky guess?" Zane could not bring himself to believe that his surveillance could have been made by this semi-sober man in front of him.
"Hardly," Logan smiled, wryly. "It's the same building your sister watched me from when she robbed me." Zane laughed, and Logan joined in. Logan knew it was pointless to ask, but he did so anyway "How did you get past my computer's security? Passwords, encryptions, there's no hacker that could have done that…" Zane shook his head, looking amused. "But of course," Logan continued, "you're a pretty advanced hacker. And I'm willing to bet that you excelled in that class as a child." Zane nodded, still smiling.
"So this favour that you need…" Logan questioned, wondering what the X-5 could want from him. Zane looked more serious for a moment, then answered,
"I need to contact the others." Logan began shaking his head, thinking that he couldn't help Zane any more than he had helped Max.
"Not like that," Zane continued, anticipating his response. He guessed that Max would have had Logan try to trace their other siblings. "I need you to get the contact number back up, and I need a way to know if it's been hacked, or tapped. Then I need to be able to contact the other 5s and tell them that it's back in action. Thought you'd help with another broadcast." Logan thought for a moment, then slowly nodded. Anything, he thought, for Max's family. He still had questions.
"Why you? Krit and Syl were here, and they could have asked me, but they didn't. And they have my number, so either one could still have asked before now. Why didn't they ask me to do this?"
"Will you do this?" Zane counter-questioned.
"Of course." Logan responded immediately. Zane looked briefly relieved, then nodded his head.
"If anything were to happen to Zack, I'm the next in charge. The new CO. That's how it was when we were in Manticore, that's how it is out of Manticore. It falls to me." He looked at Logan, a glint in his eye. "Not sure if Zack would be so happy at his successor. Not quite the same breed of soldier, figuratively speaking. Not serious enough for his liking." Logan laughed in agreement, again thinking of how much the two brothers differed. He smiled sadly when he thought of how much Max would have liked her brother. He had a sudden thought.
"Jace!" he exclaimed, "I forgot about Jace!" Zane looked at him quizzically.
Logan filled him in on the details of his dealings with Jace, then the other X-5s, saving Max until last, and talking long into the night.
As Logan typed at his computer with Zane looking over his shoulder, he was reminded of the last X-5 that had stood in that same way. He smiled sadly, and, though knowing that Zane could hear him, even at low volume, whispered a goodbye to his Angel. He paused, looking down at his fingers on the keyboard, happy to be doing something for her, even if she could never thank him for it.