Disclaimer: I've applied for a loan so that I can buy Dark Angel. Until then, I don't own the tv show, the characters, etc. :p
I also don't own anything relating to the tv show 'Prisoner.' I've never even watched an episode of it, just heard about it and thought it had some relevance to the DA world.
A/N: I do a back flip every time I get a new review! (Or I would, if I could do back flips. I have to make do with smiling a lot.) Thanks to everyone out there that's been really encouraging. I love you all!
I make no apologies for cruel cliffhangers! Enjoy!
For anyone who's wondering, the tv show Zane's watching in this chapter was a real show, and you can find info about the show at http://www.the-prisoner-6.freeserve.co.uk/
Chapter Five*** Warehouse, DAY ***
When Lydecker had yelled at Logan to duck, he had, leaving Zane to catch the bullet. Lydecker had shot the two men that had been advancing on Logan, and turned his attention to the man with the eye patch while Logan saw to Zane. The bullet had clipped him in his left arm, which was bleeding. Lydecker and McGinnis were shouting at each other, but Lydecker appeared to have the upper hand.
The X5 opened his eyes and looked up at Logan.
"Don't tell him who I am." He whispered, and then closed his eyes, unmoving. Logan took a deep breath, and then checked for a pulse. It was strong. Unsure of what Zane's plan was, he stood, turning to face Lydecker and the other man, who was now pleading with Lydecker for the hospital.
"There's a small problem with that, Jim. You got a good look at my friend here." Lydecker said by way of response, gesturing at Logan.
"No no no, I didn't. I hardly laid an eye on the guy. My depth perception's all shot. Besides, all you white boys, you know, you all look alike to me. Come on, Deck. We're old friends." Lydecker turned to face Logan, not looking at Zane, or the dead men in the warehouse.
"What do you think?" he asked, shooting his 'old friend' when he reached for a gun. Logan, not quite believing what he was seeing, approached Lydecker, gun in hand.
"We never really liked each other, did we?" he asked the dead man. He turned to Logan. "So what do you want to know about Manticore?"
The two men didn't talk long, each figuring Manticore would be sending reinforcements when McGinnis didn't return. Logan was growing increasingly worried about Zane, still unmoving, but hadn't mentioned anything to Lydecker. He assumed that Lydecker thought Zane was one of McGinnis's men, since he had told him to come alone. As they were leaving, Lydecker walked past Zane, and noted the difference in the clothes between him and McGinnis's men. He looked from Zane's unmoving body to Logan, shrugged his shoulders, and offered by way of explanation;
"I told you to come alone."
*** Fogle towers, NIGHT ***
"I wasn't playing dead, I was assessing the situation" Zane protested, for what seemed like the tenth time. Logan laughed in reply, and thanked Sam for stopping by.
"He told you to duck." Logan teased as he waved to the doctor and shut the door.
"Excuse me if I wasn't in a hurry to obey orders from Donald Lydecker." Zane replied sarcastically. "Besides, he told you to duck. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time." He waved his injured arm to accentuate his point.
"The doctor said not to move that." Logan admonished with a smile. "And anyway, that doesn't account for you playing dead." Zane shot him a murderous glare.
"I wasn't playing dead. One word from you and he would have met a bullet." He growled. Logan nodded sarcastically, with a teasing smile on his face. Zane shook his head, mumbling something Logan couldn't hear, but smiling in spite of himself.
"Leave me alone, I'm healing." Zane joked, throwing a pillow at Logan. He squirmed on the couch, trying to get comfortable. "And throw that pillow back, I need it." Logan laughed, holding on to the pillow tightly.
"What are you watching?" Logan shifted his gaze to the television, not recognising the program.
"Something called 'Prisoner.' Warped out science fiction show where this village is a prison, and the people are known by numbers instead of names." He grinned, not looking away from the screen. "Hits kinda close to home." Logan followed Zane's gaze to the action on the screen. The show was pre-pulse, and before Logan's time. He guessed it was made sometime during the nineteen sixties.
'I am not a number, I'm a free man!' The man on screen yelled in protest.
"You tell 'em, buddy!" Zane yelled back. Logan groaned, and Zane looked at him in question.
"You're not one of those annoying people that insists on talking to the tv characters, clapping along…?" he asked Zane desperately. Zane shot him a devilish grin.
"I wasn't, but after that whole 'playing dead' comment, I think I might just become one, Logie." He dissolved into laughter, and Logan threw the cushion back at him.
"Hey, careful, still healing here!" Zane protested with a smile. Logan shook his head, smiled, and joined Zane on the couch, too exhausted to face the pressure of an Eyes Only broadcast tonight, especially one that meant so much to him.
Manticore would go down tomorrow.
*** Warehouse, NIGHT ***
"Looks like Lydecker double-crossed us." The man spoke into a cell phone, glad he wasn't standing in front of the woman on the other end of the phone call.
"He knows our location. If Eyes Only broadcasts it, the Committee will bury us." She sounded more than annoyed, she sounded ready to kill.
"Sir! Over here!" The man looked up, grateful for the distraction from the angry woman in his ear. He walked over to where one of the other Manticore men was crouched, studying the ground. He leaned over, forgetting the phone call.
"What is it?" The voice in his ear made him jump, and he fumbled the phone, almost dropping it.
"Uh, blood trail. Couldn't have been one of our people; none of them walked out of here." He could almost picture her face, curious and calculating - he shuddered at the thought.
"Take a sample and run a full DNA assay. Get back here right away." He swallowed as the line went dead, dreading facing her.
"Scrape it and get it to the lab. Now. Full DNA assay." He barked at the younger man, who was still crouched next to the blood trail.
*** Fogle Towers, DAY ***
"So I was thinking…" Zane began.
"Don't make a habit of it. You were designed as a soldier. Why don't you leave the thinking to those who've had more practice at it?" Logan quipped, and Zane pretended to take offence. After the 'knife incident' and subsequent mission, the two had been getting along extraordinarily well, each enjoying the company of the other. Well, Logan was enjoying the company. Zane was enjoying the company and the free food.
"Logie, that hurts. Really." Zane stopped eating, pretended to wipe away a tear, and then remembered what he was going to say. "So anyway, been thinking, and I realised I owe you one now." Logan looked at him in surprise, eyebrows raised.
"How do you figure that?" He replied, thinking about the gunshot and the help with the VA job.
"The broadcast. I'm going to find my brothers and sisters because of that broadcast. I owe you big." Logan scoffed in reply.
"You don't think that the gunshot was enough?" he laughed. Zane shook his head.
"Flesh wound." He grinned. Logan thought again.
"Planning the VA job?" he asked. Again, Zane shook his head.
"I was bored. Nothing better to do." Logan frowned into his pasta, thinking that, if anything, it was he who owed Zane.
"So I was thinking," Zane repeated, watching Logan's expression. "Maybe I should move to Seattle. You know, make sure you don't stuff things up. Join the informant net, pay you back." He rushed the last part out as he saw Logan's face fall.
"I don't know, Zane. I'm doing ok, getting help from the S1W, managing alright on my own. They came through on the VA job, I can broadcast the location." Zane frowned.
"You could do with more help." He protested. Logan shook his head.
"I'm fine. I have my sources, you don't owe me anything. If anything, I owe you." Logan answered firmly.
"None of them know who they're working for. You need a legman. A legs man." Zane said with a smile, glancing at Logan's still legs. "What's your problem with this? Thought you'd appreciate it. I want to help." Zane was confused. He had been thinking about moving to Seattle since the broadcast. He had nothing tying him to his current home; he hated his boss, his dog could be moved, and his apartment was disgusting. Here, he had a link to Max and Zack, and a friend he could work with. He'd checked out the city while he'd been on surveillance of Logan, and thought it could be home, if he could get used to all the rain.
"I don't want you helping me. I appreciate the offer, but I don't need it. Thanks." Logan said flatly. Zane was even more confused, but trying not to take Logan's refusal personally.
"Guess you really are 'I Only'." He joked, repeating Original Cindy's comment from earlier in the week. Logan glared at him.
"I should have known you heard that." Logan groaned, thinking back to the conversation with Max's best friend.
"She was right. You don't let other people help you. You shut yourself up in here, and try to change the world. But Logie, that's no way to live. I've been here a few days, and the only people that have called or stopped by have been your sources. You have no life outside of Eyes Only. Stop trying to carry everything, share the load, have some fun." Logan stared at him, feeling like he'd been slapped in the face. It was true. He tried to remember the last time he'd done anything for himself, anything not directly related to Eyes Only. He came up blank.
"Even Superman had a day job. And friends. And help." Zane pointed out, and Logan cracked a small smile.
"I don't remember that from my comic books. His friends just kept getting kidnapped, and he had to save the day. It always came down to him."
"Batman had Robin." Zane persisted, and Logan shook his head, smiling.
"Robin wore tights." He teased, and Zane laughed out loud.
"We can discuss the uniform later." He looked at Logan, in question, eyebrows raised.
"You really want to do this, don't you?" Logan asked the X5, watching his face for doubt.
"Be your sidekick or wear tights?" The younger man joked, getting a laugh from Logan. He stopped laughing, and nodded in reply. Logan sighed, looking at the floor. He thought for a moment, then looked at Zane and extended his hand.
"Welcome to the informant net, Robin." He smiled, and Zane pumped his hand enthusiastically.
"Thanks Batman!" he paused. "By the way, I Only," The X5 smiled, remembering Logan's joke about him thinking, "I've already told you, my IQ's off the charts. Maybe you should lay off the thinking." Logan turned to answer with a smart comment, but was interrupted by the beeping of a phone. He looked at Zane.
"It's not mine." Logan said with a smile. The X-5's eyes widened, and he scrambled from the kitchen to the sofa where he'd left his cell phone.
"Someone's checked in!" He exclaimed, excitement written all over his face. He held the phone, dialling digits, and Logan watched curiously. Zane looked like a child at Christmas, and Logan was reminded again of Max when her siblings were mentioned. The younger man finished listening to the message, a broad grin spread across his face. Logan raised his eyebrows.
"Kia. It was Kia. My little sister." Zane's smile was huge, and Logan wondered if Lydecker himself could have wiped it off the X5's face.
"She told you where she is?" Logan asked, and Zane's smile flickered for a second, before spreading wider.
"Not exactly. But she gave me the city. I think. Actually, she was kind of cryptic. I don't know if she completely trusted the broadcast. But it's enough. I'll find her. I'm going to find my sister!" His smile was contagious, and Logan found himself grinning back.
*** Manticore, DAY ***
"Oh, now this is interesting!" Renfro exclaimed, drawing out every word. She looked from the folder she was holding to the man in front of her.
"This is the blood you found at the warehouse?" She barked at him, looking back down at the folder. "Nobody tampered with it?" The man from the warehouse shook his head.
"No ma'am." He answered. She let out a small laugh, and he looked at her in alarm.
Renfro hit a button on the computer in front of her, and an Eyes Only broadcast started playing.
'…This is a message for those known as X5. It is a message from the blue lady. Check in with your CO…'
"Eyes Only has just become very useful. Get X5-452 down to psy-ops and wait for instructions. And bring me 494." She didn't take her eyes off the folder in front of her, just kept flicking the pages, nodding, and smiling to herself, while the broadcast repeated over and over.
*** Fogle Towers, NIGHT ***
"I've figured out where she is. I'm sure of the city. I can find her from there. I'll go in a couple of weeks, when all of this Manticore expose thing has blown over. I can pick up my dog on my way back. It'll give me time to find a place around here. Maybe a new job. Gotta have a day job, alibi so no one knows I work for Eyes Only." He grinned at Logan, the excitement still evident in his face.
"I think it would be a good idea if you went tonight." Logan answered. "It's been a long time since you've seen her. Why not drop in?" Zane looked at him, eyebrows raised in question. Logan sighed, then looked at Zane, and prepared the real answer. "I don't think you should be here when this goes down." He explained, and after thinking for a moment, Zane nodded.
"They'll probably come looking for the rogue X5 that tipped you off to the location. Or the details of Manticore, anyway." Logan nodded in agreement, though he doubted that Manticore would find him. Or even come looking. More likely, they'd do as Lydecker had once said, and shut down the entire operation. Whatever happened, Manticore would be exposed, and it was probably best for Zane to be as far away as possible until everything died down.
"You'll be alright?" Zane asked. Logan nodded, considering the question with a small smile. What did Zane mean by 'alright?' Would he be safe? Probably. Would he be able to go through with the broadcast? Yes. Would he feel satisfaction in finally avenging Max? Yes. Would every fibre in his body still long for her? Absolutely.
Zane left a few hours later with smiles and jokes, happy to be heading towards his sister.
"I'll look into getting you a place to live." Logan said by way of goodbye. "And if I can't find anything by the time you get back, I'll set up the guestroom." Zane nodded, opening the door to Logan's apartment.
"Might want to dog-proof the apartment." He smiled, and then laughed at the expression on Logan's face.
"I'll look really hard into getting you a place to live." Logan corrected. "Really really hard." Zane laughed again. "Good luck with Kia." Logan finished, extending a hand. Zane shook it with a smile.
"See ya soon, Logie." He replied, heading toward the elevator. Logan's mumbled comment about X5s and their warped senses of humour didn't go unheard by Zane, who laughed as he stepped into the elevator.
*** Manticore, NIGHT ***
Max blinked, groaning when she tried to move her head and felt the heaviness there. Trying desperately to remember what had happened, she looked around her cell, for the first time noticing 494 watching her. Alec. She'd called him Alec. Were they friends? He hadn't said anything about the bricks under her cot. Could he be trusted? Did he do this to her head?
"What happened?" Max asked him, the voice echoing through her head. She closed her eyes and groaned again.
"That psy-ops is a killer. But I guess they finally got it out of you, huh?" Confused, Max looked at him. She couldn't read the expression on his face.
"I don't know what you're talking about." He raised his eyebrows at her.
"I heard they were sending an X5 to take out some reporter friend of yours. And your fellow traitor, of course." He offered by way of explanation. Max shook her head, immediately regretting it, and struggled into a sitting position.
"I didn't tell them anything." She answered, wary of him.
"Are you sure?" Alec asked, studying her. Max felt it before she remembered it. Being strapped down, the injection, tubes, then the doctors, leaning over her as they did when she was a child. And Renfro. The bitch that killed her sister. Max struggled to remember the words.
"You're going to help me whether you want to or not." Hours in psy-ops, the torture, then back to psy-ops. How long had she been there? What had she told them? What about the fellow traitor? It had to be a trick. Maybe Syl or Krit, they weren't caught, they could be in danger, what had she told them? How long before they got to Logan? She had to move. Now.
"I gotta get out of here now." She said desperately, scrambling off the cot and clawing at the bricks.
*** Fogle Towers, NIGHT ***
"Do not attempt to adjust your set. This is a streaming freedom video bulletin. Your location has been revealed…"
Logan watched his broadcast for the fourth time, nodding. He was happy with it. Though he sometimes broadcasted live, he didn't want to take chances with the Manticore broadcast. He wanted it to be perfect. Taking a deep breath, he hit the button to establish a connection. This was it. This was for Max. He sat back and stared at the screen expectantly.
The computer stalled, and Logan watched in frustration as a message appeared. 'Satellite link failed.' He grunted in annoyance, angry at the delay. His eyes narrowing, he moved back to the keyboard, and prepared to try again. Then he froze. Someone else was in the room. Thinking Zane had changed his mind or forgotten something, he turned around in his chair, ready with a smart comment.
The comment died on his lips. His eyes widened when his eyes fell on the person in front of him. He opened his mouth and said the only word that would come.
"Max."