Author's Note 1: I'll make this brief because I'm sick of dragging this stuff into my story. Snaps and Wintermint, of course you can read Alec everywhere else, and you can read him right here too. And as for Logan's behavior, someone in the reviews answered your question. You can go look for it.

Since I'm sick and tired of people snapping at me about things, I'm going to stop answering anybody who doesn't leave a means of contact other than my own chapter. Leave me an email or a forum I can find you on before dissing the story, or don't expect an answer. If you don't have enough respect for other readers to let me contact you in a way other than making me reply in my next update, then don't expect an answer. I see nothing brave about shooting down a story anonymously.

Disclaimer: Well SuperBlonde, if you manage to get the genie, just don't use my wish! Please? :P

Dust In The Wind

By Be Boring

Chapter 6: Open Your Eyes

Max's body was still convulsing wildly when she was dragged through the lab's doors. As White had ordered, every doctor on staff was waiting for their arrival. White watched as they moved Max into another room where they had more equipment. His blood was racing, and he was almost seeing red. He had come too far to lose his chance of finding his son again. Something in him was screaming that Ray was alive. Why would 452 bother to lead him in circles if he was dead? Then again, he wasn't about to question the way a transgenic's mind worked.

A few hours passed by with no new information. White was furious, they should have at least found something by now. When a doctor finally did come out, he was half tempted to throw something at him. For supposedly being the best in their field, they were incredibly slow. "What did you find?"

The doctor seemed rather unsure as he answered. "It doesn't appear to be the serotonin deficiency that has been known to run in the X5s. The only thing unusual we found was what appears to be a metal implant in the back of her neck that connects to the brain. We're not sure, but we think that it may be causing the seizures."

"Why aren't you sure?"

"Well, it seems that it's been in her for quite some time, and I would have thought that if it was to cause problems for her, it would have done so long before this."

"To hell with what you thought. Is there anything you can do?" he growled. How could his superiors not have found out about an implant in his target's head? They supposedly had all this information on the transgenics, so why wouldn't they have given him this information that could potentially have been useful to him?

"The implant appears to have been put out of commission. Dr. Mitchell is of the opinion, although I'm not sure that I agree, that we should reactivate it, then short-circuit it again shortly afterwards."

"Why don't you agree?"

The doctor, who now White could see by his rather tiny nametag was Dr. Hathel, glanced nervously in all directions then leaned in closer, as if telling some kind of secret. "Before I was hired here, I used to work for a group of people that were developing some kind of external means of extra strength. Basically, we wanted to do the opposite of Manticore. Rather than going directly inside the person and changing their DNA before birth, we wanted something that would make them just as powerful that could be given to them even as adults. The particular group that I was with didn't get very far, but there are some others that did. I may not be an expert in the field, but I believe that the implant in this X5's head might be some of that technology. If we reactivate it, she might be too strong for us to control."

White scowled and leaned away from the other man, who was starting to get too close for comfort as he told his story. "Why would an X5 be in need of extra strength? Besides, how would she have gotten her hands on it? I doubt she came across it in the street and just jammed it into her head. Would the people who created this implant have put it in her?"

Dr. Hathel shook his head. "From what I can see, the reason it was deactivated in the first place was because it was dangerous to her. A normal person might last a year with it in, but she wouldn't last any more than five hours. Then again, her body has become adjusted to its presence, so she might be able to last longer with it in action again. However, I still wouldn't give her more than three days to live if we turned it back on."

White frowned and let his fingers toy with his wallet for several seconds, then nodded. "Do it, we'll deal with the consequences later. After that, let the damn thing kill her. If I can get my questions answered, then she's expendable."

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Logan couldn't help but roll down the windows of the car that Alec had hotwired to take a deep breath of fresh air as he drove. Even though he had been making it alright in Terminal City, it was still a huge relief to not have its mild toxins affecting him. Perhaps even just having a few hours away from it would be sufficient to get rid of the headaches that had bothered him so much lately.

"Are you sure that you'll be able to make a broadcast? I mean, will you be able to do it without being traced?" Alec asked as Logan pulled onto Whitmore Street and headed for Sandeman's old house.

Logan shrugged. "I don't have all the equipment I used to have, but I have enough to ensure that as long as I make the broadcast short, I'll be fine." As he pulled over across the street of the old house and they climbed out, he finally voiced what had been bugging him. "Why are you doing all this?"

Alec look up as he opened the front door. "What do you mean? Doing all what?"

"I mean all this stuff you're doing to help me. I'm not saying that you've sat in my way all the time with your arms crossed, but you haven't come right out and tried to help me before without my asking. What's going on?"

Alec sighed and gestured around. "You see all of this? It's not extremely great, but people who walk through here are free. They don't have to worry about being lined up and killed, or thrown in a cage for the rest of their lives. I don't know about everyone else living in Terminal City, but I hate living there. We're trapped like animals in there, and I want out. But I don't want to have to go into hiding. I know I could do it easily enough, but I just don't think I should have to. That might just be Max rubbing off on me, or maybe Mole, but I don't want to have to be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life. And I don't want this all to take place in ten or twenty years, when I don't have as much time left to enjoy it, I want it to happen now. Seeing as how you're a respectable figure that many people count on to give reliable information, I think you just might be the only person that can make it happen."

Logan made his way to his computer and started turning everything on. "As much as I appreciate the faith, don't put too much stock in what I might or might not be able to do. Although I would love to be able to get all of you equality in the eyes of the public, that's not realistic. While you might be able to pull off citizenship, there are always going to be people looking for you and wanting you gone. Plus I don't think there will be any way for the psy-ops and X series to live like normal people because I'm sure you'll be required to leave your barcode on so it can be checked, and there will be hell to pay if you have it removed. You won't be able to just disappear into the crowd like you could before."

"I can live with that. I just don't want to have to stay in Terminal City, wondering if they're going to just say to hell with it and drop a bomb on the place. I..... hey, what's she doing here?"

Logan turned and looked out the window that Alec was gazing through. To his surprise, Minx was walking around outside, glancing in the windows of all the houses. She apparently was under the impression that they were in one of the houses across the street. "I guess the Familiars didn't tell her where Sandeman lived."

Alec shrugged and pulled the shades closed. "If she's on a mission, then she's on a need-to-know basis. Sandeman's old house wouldn't exactly be something they would expect her to have to know, would it? Should I get rid of her?"

Logan thought for a moment, peering through the tiny opening in the shades to stare out at her. "No, let me handle her. She's going to find us eventually, and I'd rather it not be in the middle of an Eyes Only hack. We shouldn't give her any reason to be suspicious." He turned and studied Alec for a moment, then pointed towards the computer. "How much do you know about computer equipment?"

"Enough to get around with."

Logan strode over to the computer and sat down, making adjustments on the audio and video for nearly five minutes. When he was done, he walked into the back bedroom and came back with an armful of clothes. "I doubt I'll be able to get her off my back so I can come back in, so you'll have to do my hack for me. Don't look at me like that, I have everything set up for you. All you have to do is click on this," he pointed to one of the several gray buttons that took over the left hand side of the screen, "get close to the microphone seeing as how it's not as clear as my old one, wait for the computer to tell you that it's broken into the satellite feed, and start talking. You've seen enough of my hacks to know how to start, and we've already discussed what the hack will be about. Make it under sixty seconds or you're going to get traced, especially without all the safeguards I used to have. The computer is set up to already have an image of me onscreen no matter who is running it. Your voice will be changed as well. Max has done it before, and it worked like a charm then. Hopefully Minx won't suspect either one of us. I'm sure you could convince someone to give you an alibi in case she starts digging around. Oh, and when you're done you just have to hit 'escape' to drop the connection. Just remember to shut everything down before you come back to Terminal City."

Alec nodded as Logan made his way outside. He didn't want to have to take the car and leave Alec without a means of transportation, but he knew the X5 could get back on his own easily enough. He'd probably just hotwire another vehicle. Minx looked up as he stepped out the door with both eyebrows raised.

"I wondered where you had gone, I saw you leaving Terminal City. Was someone in the car with you? I couldn't tell."

Logan shook his head. "I asked a couple people for help, but they're too worried about getting caught to come outside of Terminal City."

"What are you doing?"

"Well, there's not a lot of running water in Terminal City, so I came out and got some fresh clothes. They've been here for a while, but they're clean enough. I would have stayed out of the city, but I'm pretty involved with things that happen there." That wasn't really true, but he didn't want her to think twice about the old house behind him. In fact, he had been half thinking about just remaining in the house for a while.

She nodded, now staring over his shoulder at the house behind him. "Was that actually your house?"

Logan shrugged, wishing she'd not focus on it. "Not in the legal sense, but it was empty when I came so I took it over. It's not a bad setup."

Alec listened to the conversation through the open window. Why weren't they leaving? It wasn't for lack of trying on Logan's part, Minx was just extremely stubborn. He could tell she was dying to get inside the house just by the way she was talking. It was almost ten minutes before they actually left, by which time Alec had seated himself on the floor under the window while throwing odd objects at the dust bunnies in the corners of the room.

As soon as the coast was clear, he made his way to the computer system. Damn, how am I going to say all this and still sound like Logan? He and Logan didn't exactly have the same speech styles, but if Max had pulled it off, he should be able to. After clicking on the screen, he leaned forward to get near the microphone. He could already see Logan's eyes between the two moving banners reading "Streaming Freedom Video" so he figured he was pretty much good to go. It wasn't until a tiny beep came from computer that he knew he was connected.

"Do not attempt to adjust your set. This is a streaming freedom video bulletin. The cable hack will last exactly sixty seconds. It cannot be traced, it cannot be stopped, and it is the only free voice left in this city. Not too long ago, an intruder made their way into Terminal City. This person entered only because everyone believed that she was an X4, more specifically, the X4 that the leader of the city was cloned after. Although the barcode seemed authentic, what these people didn't realize is that there were no clones made of the X4s. Despite the fact that there are X4s out there, the first truly successful group was the X5 division. While these people did not realize this, the population of Terminal City has. It would not be wise for this woman to remain there much longer. This is also a message to those that sent her there. If you insist on sending spies into the midst of the transgenics, you must understand that their patience will only last so long. Peace out."

Alec pressed the Escape key and sat back. God, that sucked. There's no way they wouldn't be able to tell that it wasn't the usual person. He groaned and ran his hands back through his hair. He had let his personal feelings get involved and he had threatened the people who had sent in Minx. That wasn't something Eyes Only would have done. Oh well, he had made the hack under sixty seconds so there couldn't be a trace, so what was the worst that could happen?

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White's eyes never left the screen through the entire hack. How the hell did that guy get his operation up and running again? Although it sounded a little strange, he couldn't think too hard on it right now. They wouldn't be able to continue the mission that way. Maria Jades had been an old school friend of his back when he had been at the cult's special school. She had owed him a few favors, so he had asked her to go into Terminal City and pretend to be an X4. He had even set her up with a barcode that would pass as a real one. Seeing as how she looked so much like Max, they had decided to send her in as Max's genetic predecessor. The idea had been that perhaps after he removed 452 from the city, more people would trust Maria simply out of the likeness between her and their leader. After all, they supposedly had the same genes. Genes don't mean much, though, he thought sarcastically. Then she had to find out if any other transgenics knew of Ray's whereabouts. It appeared that the transgenics were aware of what was going on, but he doubted they knew the reason that Maria was there.

Max had also heard the hack, but she still too focused on keeping the doctors guessing. As long as they get this damn implant working again, I'll be just fine. It had occurred to her back in her cell when she had been wishing for a little more strength that the implant was still in her head, and although it wasn't operational at the time, it was still intact. Why not trick the doctors into reactivating it? She had had enough seizures in her lifetime to know how to fake one reasonably well, and from the sounds of it, she was doing a pretty good job. She had even overheard them telling White the good news, that she would be able to survive longer this time when the implant was working.

When the doctors came in, she was jerking around as hard as ever. One of the doctors looked worried, then said, "Let's get this thing going again as soon as we can. I just hope she can hold on for another two hours."

Max tried hard to hide her smile as her body snapped around. Oh, don't you worry Doc, I have all the time in the world.

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Author's Note 2: It's official, my muse is trying to make me mad. Every time I tell myself that I'm going to update faster, it leaves. Then again, maybe I should just take a different approach. I'M NOT GOING TO UPDATE FASTER! See, now my muse will find it safe to come back. Shhh, I don't want it hearing my plan. Well anyways, press the button say, er...um...uh, type a couple words. I love you guys, negative reviews and all!