PART TEN : " Confabulation "

Max opened her eyes and immediately regretted it. She had a headache that made the Pompeii eruption seem like a firecracker, her shoulder felt three times it's normal size and hurt like the dickens. She saw Alec and Beck standing near the bed, and Beck noticed Max was awake.

"Hey hon... how're you feelin?" Beck asked as she looked into Max's eyes for dilation.

She groaned. "Like I was the receiving end of a 15 car pileup. What happened, did I crash the Ninja?" Alec and Beck glanced at each other, and the incident flooded to her consciousness. "Where's Lydecker? And where's White?"

Alec stepped to the other side of the bed. "White is in the next room in chains and an IV, Lydecker and Logan made a run to Terminal City. Mrs. Bradford was nice enough to let us use the house to stabilize the three of you before we moved you back to TC. She's already walking around even though she had a bullet yanked out of her shoulder last night."

Max absorbed this. "I've been out a day?"

Alec shook his head. "Two. She refused treatment until she knew you were ok. What's the story here Max?"

Beck pushed him out of the way as she came around to check her IV. "Out." she said.

"What for...?" Alec complained. "She's awake now."

Beck turned and looked at him in a way only she knew how that turned him around 180 degrees. "Ok, ok... you need anything Max?"

She smiled "Yeah, a steak and fries." Then she touched her jaw and grimaced, "Better just make that a milkshake."

Alec chuckled and left the room.

Beck began explaining. "We showed up as Lydecker was coming out of the house. Seems he carried you in and then dragged White in and handcuffed him, bullet holes and all. When he saw us arrive he gave us the Reader's Digest version of what happened. White apparently was about to clock you out permanently and Lydecker happened to show up in time to add a few more button-holes in his shirt."

She leaned over and checked the IV. "White really did a number on you, your clavicle is spiderwebbed. If you weren't transgenic, it would have been powder. What'd he hit you with, a sledgehammer?"

Max grimaced at the memory. "Feels like it, that's for sure. Which room is he in? I want to talk to him."

Beck glanced sharply at her. "Not a chance. It's going to be hard enough getting you to the van and back to TC for a complete set of X-rays without having you try to go 5 more rounds with Jack Dempsey there."

She looked at Beck with a questioning look, but Beck just laughed. "Never mind. And forget it. I don't want..." Her voice trailed off as she saw the look on Max's face, one which she was well familiar and from experience knew better than to bother arguing with. "Aw hell Max, I just put you back together." she complained in a genuinely annoyed tone. "If you mess yourself up again, I won't care if you give me a direct order; I'll pump you so full of drugs they'll think you've been a junkie since the early days of Manticore. Got it?"

Max looked stern for a couple of seconds, then broke out laughing. "Deal. Now help me up."

She looked at Max exasperatedly, then resignedly sighed and helped her sit up and shift her weight so she could stand without stressing her shoulder. She walked with her out of the room with the IV walker and down the hall to another room where an R&D medic named Cory was sitting in a chair on the opposite wall by a window, facing White.

Alec wasn't kidding, she thought as she saw Ames White, who was spread eagle on the bed, face up. He had an assortment of chains, handcuffs, three-ton stress-test restraining straps and clamps holding each of his 4 limbs from movement. She also noticed that Lydecker hadn't fooled around; she recognized the bed as a similar type that had been used at Manticore to restrain adult transgenics when necessary. She'd have to ask later where they obtained that piece of paraphernalia.

Cory stood when Max walked in, and she motioned him to depart. He looked questioningly at Beck, who nodded. Shrugging, he left the room without a word. Beck motioned towards White with her head, "We'll be right outside if he gets out of hand." then closed the door behind her.

Max walked over to the window and gazed out into the forest. Then she looked back at White, who was trussed up with an oxygen tank with a nasal attachment, an IV and a heart monitor. He was awake, which she supposed she should be surprised by but wasn't, and looking at her.

"That was quite a show you put on out there. I especially liked the twitching part from the bullets hitting your sorry ass." she said. "Though I was a little busy to really pay attention to what you were droning on about in regards to your son. Feel up to bringing me up to date?"

Eyes filled with hate, Ames followed her with his gaze. "The Conclave has elected to filter those who have had questionable influence. Because of you; that includes Ray."

Max observed his face while he spouted off. "What does that mean, that they've elected to filter?"

He stared at her, "What do you think it means. They'll kill him. And I've been told that he'll be killed anyway if you weren't delivered to Agent Legion."

The name didn't mean anything to her, so she stored it away for now. She walked over to the window. "So, where is Ray? I could get him out of there. If anyone knows this, you do."

He scoffed, "And so do they. Do you think they've ignored everything that I've reported about you? You must have a head as thick as steel, because nothing seems to get through."

She spun, almost pulling the IV out of her arm, and was at his bed in an instant. "Don't get all high and mighty with me you hypocrite. All I've ever done in regards to you is mind my own business, with the possible exception of your son. You're the one who keeps interfering in my life, you self-magnanimous jerk. Now you can either keep rattling off insults until I'm mad enough to finish the job on you that Lydecker started or you can shut your trap and let me do things my way; which incidentally has gotten me farther from you than your way has gotten you closer. Now I suggest you start giving me the scoop before I turn you into about a hundred and fifty pounds of mush. Understand?" Still glaring at her, he appeared to think this over. She leaned closer, "Tell me you understand, before I start yanking wires."

Ames slowly nodded, giving in. "I understand. But you listen carefully, 452. If you try anything moronic and Ray gets hurt because of it... I'll be the one finishing this."

Max ignored the threat. "Where is Ray."

White smiled inside. "They're currently holding him in a downtown construct, the Seattle Space Needle."