Author's Note 1: I am so sorry about how long this took, but I've been having a lot of family issues lately and I haven't even been near the computer. I'll just say that after everything that's been going on here, it sure was a relief to write this chapter and get lost in it for a little while.

Disclaimer: It appears that DA is expensive, so I turned down their offer to let me buy it. :P

Dust In The Wind

By Be Boring

Chapter 9: Showdown

No matter how much he tried to convince himself otherwise, the sight of the figure bleeding from the eyes, breathing heavily, and poised for a fight before him gave White the chills. This was going to be very different from their past encounters.

"Speechless? That's not like you," she taunted as she circled around him. The shudders were becoming more frequent, she had to get this over with quickly or she wouldn't finish at all.

White ended up making the first move, he was getting sick of the mocking. Everything in her movements indicated that she believed she was going to win and he wasn't so sure she was wrong. Unlimited strength was one hell of an advantage. Still, he kicked out to catch her behind the knee. His only chance was to get her off her feet.

Max saw it coming before he was even halfway to her. As his foot hooked behind her leg, she moved with the pressure he gave and moved deftly into a high back flip, kicking him in the chin as she went. Once she was back on her feet, she caught him behind the leg and sent him to the ground in a similar fashion to what he had planning to do to her. She smirked as he just barely managed to avoid his head bouncing on the pavement. "Not as easy as you thought, huh?"

He remained on the ground for a few seconds, not making an attempt to get up. As soon as she made a slight movement that indicated she had momentarily relaxed, he swung up a leg and hit her in the ribs from the side. It only knocked her off balance for a moment, but it was enough to give him the time to get back on his feet and prepare himself again. He ducked as she attempted to punch him, then drove his fist into her gut. Although she didn't feel it like she should have, her body still naturally doubled over and he slammed his elbow into her back.

Max's hands hit the ground and just barely managed to prevent her face from doing so as well. When she looked forward, she did the only thing that seemed to come to mind: reached out, grabbed his ankle, and twisted hard. The resounding crack seemed to ring through the otherwise silent alley.

White's face paled for a moment, then he sent his knee into her face. As he backed up to give himself more room, he realized that although he couldn't feel the pain the same way as everyone else, his body was still refusing to put much weight on that ankle. He threw himself sideways as she went to tackle him, grunting as his collision with the wall of the nearest building knocked the breath out of him. During the time that he was startled however, he didn't notice the look of confusion on Max's face.

The shudders are throwing off my sense of balance! she realized suddenly. Even though he had moved to avoid her, she still should have been able to easily send White to the ground, but somehow she had passed right on by. When she turned to see where he was, she realized to her surprise that her view of him was blurred. She couldn't seem to focus in on him, but he wasn't even moving much. That seemed to bring her crashing back to reality; the craze to fight that had filled her before was slowly draining. The implant's effects were getting worse every second. If she didn't end this now and get the implant deactivated, she might not make it.

White took the only chance he could. Max had turned away for a moment, and he threw himself forward. They both went crashing to the ground, and now all fighting tactics went out the door. They were rolling on the ground, throwing punches like a pair of five-year-olds. The only real difference was that their punches were a hell of a lot more powerful, particularly Max's, but nobody watching them fight would have been able to tell that it was a transgenic and a superhuman cult member.

As they completely rolled over again, Max felt something in the side of White's suit jacket. He has a knife, she thought with relief. She shoved off with her leg so that they went into another complete roll and reached into his jacket to grab the knife. From how it felt in her hand, it had to have been at least a six-inch blade. He rolled so she was under him and raised a fist to hit her, which was when she jammed the knife into his right side. His eyes widened slightly, but he still hit her. She remained motionless afterwards, so he got off to see what kind of damage had been done. She kept her eyes on him at all times, making sure she didn't move other than her frequent shaking. His breathing was becoming raspy, and she gave a sigh of relief. She had punctured one of his lungs.

Crazy bitch, White thought spitefully. This fight couldn't continue much longer, he needed medical treatment. Reaching over with his left hand, he removed the knife from his side and threw it at her. Her eyebrows lowered as she reached out to catch it, but her focus was completely off. The blade went straight through her hand. She lifted up the hand to study it.

"You know, seeing as how I can't feel it, this actually looks pretty cool. This could be kind of interesting." Pushing herself to her feet, Max walked straight up to White and slapped him. He pulled back sharply, reaching up to feel the two extra openings in the sides of his face. They felt like normal cuts until his finger actually slipped through them and into his mouth. He turned his head to the side and spit out a mouthful of blood, then glared at Max.

"Not bad, but it ends here." The whole time they had been fighting, they had been slowly but steadily making their way back towards the car. He winced slightly as he kept putting his weight down on his broken ankle, but he felt even more hints of pain when he put his arm through the passenger side window and opened the glove compartment to pull out one of his guns. He remembered once when Max had threatened to see how high his pain threshold was, now he had the feeling he was getting to it. Still, he kept his face perfectly blank as he raised the gun and pointed it at her.

"You really think that you'll stop me that way? You've tried to shoot me so many times that I've started to wonder if you skipped target practice when you were learning to become an agent." Just as she saw his finger start to tighten on the trigger, she shot forward and kicked it out of his hand and caught it. "Nice try," she growled as she held up the gun. She didn't ever want to have to use one of these, but circumstances had changed a lot since she had made that resolution in her youth. Now the world couldn't afford to have her die, and the implant was starting to make her less capable of killing him with her bare hands. It'll only be a last resort. He's too set on finding his son to die, hopefully just the threat of being shot will be enough. Normally, she would have killed him and freed herself from the threat of it being the other way around, but the shudders were starting to really become powerful. It was all she could do to keep them from being obvious.

"Well, are you going to fire or not? I don't see the point in putting it off," he said tonelessly. It honestly surprised him what she did next.

"Get in the car. We're going to the hospital."

He hesitated, then carefully made his way over to the other side of the car and climbed in. "How do you know that I won't just crash this car and get rid of my problem once and for all?"

"You still want to know everything you can about your son, and I'm the only person who can give it to you. There's no way you'll get rid of me. Now drive."

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Alec was practically gasping for breath when he reached Terminal City. He had looked in the general area around JamPony for nearly an hour, but finally decided to get back to the transgenics and find help when he couldn't find any sign of Max. The trail was much fresher, they would have a better chance of finding her. Tracking wasn't his specialty. This was something that was much better left up to Mole's crew.

He had just pulled himself out of the sewers when he ran straight into Joshua, who had one arm hooked around Sketchy's waist to help hold him up. He was doing a more than effective job, Sketchy's toes were barely skimming the ground. "What's wrong?" Joshua asked, shoving Sketchy's head out of the way so he could see Alec more clearly.

"Max," he choked out, still struggling to catch his breath.

Logan stepped out from behind Joshua, nearly forgetting to keep his arm around Original Cindy. "What about Max? Have you seen her? Where is she?"

Alec sucked in a deep breath and sat down on an old crate nearby. "She was at JamPony, I saw her when I was coming back from Sandeman's house. For some reason she had been bleeding from the eyes, and she was planning on skipping town. She figured it would be safer if she was far away, then the cult wouldn't focus on everyone here. Frankly, I think that's bullshit, but she didn't take it too well when I told her that. After she went storming out, one of the messengers said a black car was chasing her. I think we all know who would be in there."

Logan was processing everything as quickly as possible. Bleeding from the eyes? But that implant's dead, how could that be? Where would she go if it was active again? That was easy. The only way they knew of shutting down the implant was to use a defibrillator, and unless she had one just lying around, she would have to make her way to a hospital. Nothing guaranteed that White had managed to catch her again. She could have gotten to a hospital and hidden out for a while. It was worth a shot anyway.

"Joshua, can you take everybody to Sandeman's house? It's as good a place as any to relax. I'm going to head over to Harbor Lights Hospital to see if I can find Max there."

Alec looked up at the other man. "Why there?"

"Because in her current condition, she's going to need a hospital. Plus Dr. Shankar already knows all about her past, and she'll be there today." Just as he was about to head down into the sewers, he turned back and held out his hand. "By the way, could I have my glasses back?"

Alec reached into his jacket pocket and pulled them out. "Almost forgot about these." He didn't have the time to say anything else, Logan was already into the sewers.

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The car ride had been long and silent, but the mutual hatred could almost be touched. The frequent glares, the white knuckles, and the occasionally grinding teeth spoke volumes more than if Max or White had said anything out loud. And I thought my one car ride alone with Lydecker was bad, Max thought miserably. This uncomfortable little trip was only made worse by the fact that it was practically impossible to hide her shaking from White. She couldn't let him see any weakness, or they would never get to the hospital. How long do I actually have left before I pass out? Last time, I wasn't even experiencing seizures until after I went unconscious. How long will it take this time? She didn't even want to think about it.

As the car pulled into the parking lot, doubts flashed through Max's mind. Would Dr. Shankar be available? Anyone else would turn her in and she'd be right back where she'd started. What if she passed out too early? Perhaps White would still have her treated; after all, he still wanted his son back. But he could just as easily leave her, get himself treated, and think of it as a job well done. Others knew where Ray was, he didn't necessarily need her.

Her grip nervously tightened on the gun. With her deteriorating health, she might have to depend on it much more than she ever would have wanted. As soon as the car was parked, she got out of the car as quickly as her body would allow. She started backing away from the car as White climbed out, making sure he could see the gun at all times. "Go in, get yourself treated, and leave without making any inquiries not pertaining to your own condition. I don't care what you do after that, as long as it doesn't involve me. Now get in there."

White's face remained expressionless, but he couldn't hide the limp. For the first time in several years, there were bolts of pain shooting up and down his right leg. Seeing as how he hadn't actually felt pain since he was a child, it was becoming rather overwhelming. Of course, the top half of his body was turning strangely numb, breathing was increasingly difficult, and his eyesight was getting fuzzy. There shouldn't be this much blood. How could he still be functioning with so much blood loss? For the first time since he had gotten his hands on Max, she was the farthest thing from his mind. He wanted to find his son, but it would be worthless if he died before even getting to look for him.

Max finally sighed with relief when he was out of sight. Without even bothering to pull up her hood, she ran into the hospital and grabbed the first nurse she came to. "Where's Dr. Shankar?"

The nurse seemed rather taken aback by the condition of the young woman in front of her. "She's in surgery right now, but one of our other doctors might be able to see you."

"No, I need to see Dr. Shankar! I don't care how you do it, but get her in here now!" She was hardly aware of a grip she had on the nurse's arm, but tears actually sprang to the other woman's eyes before she let go. "I'm sorry, but I really need to see her."

The nurse nodded nervously, backing away the entire time. "I'll see what I can do."

Max dropped into the nearest seat, completely ignoring the stares of everyone nearby. She started instinctively pulling herself into a ball as the seizures worsened, struggling to hold them back. I only need a little more time. Just a little more time. Funny, she had been thinking something so similar not too long ago when she had been silently praying for just a little more strength. Look where that got me.

Dr. Shankar's breath caught in her throat when she saw Max. It wasn't just her appearance, it was the fact that she could be in serious trouble if the government found out about this. Enough people were looking in their direction to worry her. "Come with me, we're going to have to talk in private." She wasn't too much happier when she heard the entire story either.

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Mole and his crew had already headed out in three groups. Mole's group was going to Harbor Lights Hospital, and the other two groups were heading to the hospitals closest to JamPony. Now Alec was just trying to get comfortable in his bed. It felt like it had been forever since the last time he had slept, and he was set on catching up on that missing time.

Who is banging around? I swear, if they make me come down there… Apparently, the person downstairs didn't care about the racket they were making, because it only seemed to get louder. Alec finally just climbed out of bed and headed down the stairs. The other people in the building seemed to know what was going on, because they didn't seem all that concerned about the noise. He ended up just asking an X6 about what was going on.

"You didn't know?" the girl asked, looking up at him innocently. "That Familiar spy is being held downstairs. They needed to keep her somewhere near the Rec Center, so this was their best choice. Weren't you informed of the situation?"

"No, I've been away for a little while," he grumbled, shoving his way past her and heading down to the basement. He doubted Minx would listen to him, but he wasn't planning on doing much talking if she didn't cooperate.

The banging stopped abruptly when he entered the basement; Minx was too busy laughing. "Can't take a little noise? I thought your kind were supposed to be tough?"

"You don't know anything about our kind, as you put it. We're an entirely different race from you, we're as separate as cats and dogs." Giving her a very deliberate once-over with his eyes, he added, "I think I'll place you under the dog category."

She chuckled, trying to make herself more comfortable against the beam she was tied to. "You're not as different as you think you are. Sandeman made you all to spite us, but he ended up making you more similar than you know."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about your immunity to our pathogen. Sure, it means that you'll live if you're exposed to it, but it can also make you carriers."

"Once again, what the hell are you talking about? I don't see where you're going with this, or why I should care. I didn't come down here for a science lesson, and I'm not interested in knowing anything about this pathogen you're talking about. As long as I know I can live through it, I don't need to know anything else."

"I guess you're not as close to 452 as I thought you were."

"What does this have to do with Max?"

"It has everything to do with her. She's the only natural cure for the virus, my analysis of her blood showed that much."

Now she had Alec's attention, but not in the way she thought she did. "Your analysis? You're a scientist?"

The question seemed to catch her off guard, she had thought that he'd be more interested in the fact that Max was the cure. "Yes, but I think you're slightly missing the point here. Max, as you call her, was meant to be a cure for the virus, but Sandeman didn't count on one thing. After he was chased out of Manticore, the other scientists that had been creating the transgenics saw the immunity that all of you held and used it to their advantage. They managed to make a form of our virus that was different enough so that your antibodies didn't destroy it, but it wouldn't affect you. They were using it as one of their main weapons by targeting it to the DNA of their enemies, putting it in one of their soldiers, and sending that soldier to do nothing more than touch that enemy and get away without any suspicion."

"Are you telling me that's what they did to Max?"

"Aren't you the brilliant one? But I guess you don't see the problem yet, so maybe I'll spell it out for you since I'm being so kindly treated," she snapped sarcastically. "Until the virus in her is killed, she can't be used for the cure. Sandeman had been planning to harvest her blood, in a manner of speaking, by taking a little bit out of her as she grew. Your kind regenerate so quickly that he'd be able to take a decent amount of blood every other day. He had been planning to start this harvesting around the age of ten, when her body's physical advantages would completely come into play, but you already know what got in the way of that. The strain of the virus that she has is directed at one person through physical contact, but it could still do damage to anyone if it was entered directly into their bloodstream. Perhaps it wouldn't be as harmful as the pure form of the virus, but it's still dangerous. As long as it's in her, she's useless as a cure, and since it's been made to survive in her, she can't cure herself."

"Then how do you get rid of it?"

Minx rolled her eyes. "You actually think I'm going to tell you? I'm being held against my will, I have no reason to share anything with you. Find a way to get me out of here, and I'll think about it."

"Share what you know, and I'll think about it. I'll let you think that over for awhile." It was a relief to leave the room. Alec didn't even know why he had bothered to stay in there that long, Minx could have been lying to convince him to let her go. For all he knew, she was a plumber. Still, Terminal City needed Max, and if he could get rid of the main reason she wanted to leave, then they might get her back.

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A strange, heavy feeling had filled Logan's stomach by the time he reached the hospital. Every last instinct was screaming that something was wrong. There were a couple defibrillators in Terminal City, she didn't necessarily have to go to the hospital. Was she trying to stay away because she didn't think she was going to make it? He doubted any X5 would want to die while surrounded by a bunch of people, it was probably something that they'd want to be alone for. Also, Max wouldn't want to put anyone through more pain than they needed to be.

His feeling didn't get any better when he entered the hospital. He didn't really like hospitals anyway, so the fact that Max might need to be in one didn't make him feel any better. He walked up to the counter where a very hassled-looking nurse was trying to take in all the calls she was receiving. "Excuse me, but is Dr. Shankar in today?"

The nurse covered the mouthpiece of her phone in exasperation. "She's with a patient, you'll have to make an appointment."

Just as she was about to start talking to the person on the other end of the line again, Logan reached over the counter and pulled the phone away from her mouth. "Could you tell me where she's seeing this patient? It's kind of urgent."

"All I know is she's on the second floor," the woman snapped, jerking the phone out of Logan's hand. At least he knew a little more. The only thing he hadn't expected was how crowded the second floor was. There were people packed into the halls and patients in every room, and there was far too much talking going on. There was no way Logan would be able to find her in the next three hours if he didn't get a little more information. He started asking every person he came across if they knew where Dr. Shankar was, but either they just didn't know, or they had no clue who she was.

He was about halfway down the hall before he actually saw another doctor. "I need to know where Dr. Shankar is!" he half-shouted, trying to be heard over the commotion around them.

"She's in the second room on your left, just around the corner!" the doctor replied, also having to shout. Logan nodded his gratitude as he passed by, trying to squeeze in between bickering families, screaming children, and lone adults who were trying to get the attention of the doctor that he had just spoken to. The corner itself was a huge obstacle because of all the people who were going in the opposite direction; he had to practically flatten himself against the wall in order to get past them. He ended up sliding into the room and swinging the door shut before other people could try to get in by Dr. Shankar.

When he turned around, he saw Dr. Shankar lowering herself into a chair next to the cot that Max was lying on. The paddles of the defibrillator were on the table next to them. Max's eyes were closed, but there was blood smeared on her face underneath them. "Did you already short circuit the implant?"

Dr. Shankar's eyes moved to Max's limp body. "I'm sorry, Logan, but I'm afraid I have some bad news. You might want to sit down."

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Author's Note 2: Same old, same old. Please review!