PART THIRTEEN : " Manumission "

She looked surprised. "Destroy Manticore? That's it?"

Legion continued to look out the window. "That's it. Then Ray will be released, your friends and family will be safe, and I will be vindicated. I know you've met with Rebecca Lydecker. And her infamous brother has once again turned up..."

"What?" Ames exclaimed. "I thought you didn't know if he was around or not?"

Max realized White must not have seen Lydecker when he was being shot.

Legion ignored the interruption. "...and Manticore is too involved. They continue to stumble over their own feet but somehow still manage to cause mishap with my own personal intentions."

Max glanced at White, then back to Legion. She smiled sweetly, and commented in her honey voice; "How about this instead. You tell me where Ray really is, and I'll consider not kicking your butt all around this deck and throwing you overboard. Sound like a plan?"

He chuckled. "You might find that a bit more difficult to do than you might think. In fact, you might find it difficult to do much of anything."

Max began to take a step towards Legion, and found herself unable to do so. She stood rooted, unable to move or blink. What the hell?

Legion smiled again, and in her mind she heard his voice; ~Imagine witnessing the death of family, friends and loved ones, through the murderer's eyes. Your eyes. I've been around for longer than infinity, will be here after eternity has faded. You cannot defeat me, you cannot destroy me. I am Ahriman, Morning Star, Damian, Asmodeus. You're designer jeans in a tight little package but I'm the scissors that could snip you into clumps of fabric. You're not yet ready to battle me, but we may choose our battleground soon enough. ~

She stood in place, rage building.

He cocked his head and laughed. "You're so easily perturbed. Here, do what you feel you have to do."

She suddenly found herself able to move but she restrained herself from engaging; anticipating he could do whatever it was he did again. He was right about one thing, she didn't know how to defend against that little trick.

Legion nodded. "So she has wisdom along with beauty. Sandeman did fair work on this one."

"Why can't you take them on yourself?" Max challenged. "Seems you've got skills, why involve me?"

"Wisdom but limited deductive talents. Well, I suppose nobody's perfect." he replied. "My dear transgenic; don't you think if I personally could act against Manticore that they'd be just so much rubble by now?"

Cutting this exchange off, Max turned and walked towards the elevator. "I'll let you know."

Ames turned to follow but Max put her hand out, stopping him. "Catch the next one. You and I are done."

Raising both eyebrows, he watched the elevator doors close after she entered. He turned to Legion, and his face turned angry. "We have an agreement. I brought you X5420, you need to give me my son."

Sighing tolerantly, he turned back to the window. "Your son is in the next room. You of all people should know the value of illusion. She thinks he's in danger still, so she acts. You on the other hand serve no useful purpose to me any longer. Take your son and leave. I'm rewarding you by letting he and you live. Take him and go very far away."

White instantly went to open the door that Legion initially had walked out from and saw Ray in a chair listening to music on headphones.

Ray's face lit up as Ames walked in the room, jumped from the chair and ran over. He stopped halfway however, waiting for permission. White smiled, then nodded. Ray ran up to his father and wrapped his arms around him.

White hugged him, then held him at arms length. "We're leaving now. Do you have anything here?"

Ray shook his head. "No, Mr. Legion said I wouldn't need anything. He said you would be here soon."

White took his hand and they walked out to the elevator. He saw the sun had set and noticed Legion had vanished.

As they rode the elevator down, Ames decided he wasn't going to risk his son's life again. 452 may have done me a favor after all, he realized.

The elevator came to a halt at the bottom and Ames White stepped out into the possibility of a new future with his son.

* * * * *

Max rumbled down the street on her Ninja, slid to stop as she noticed Whites car trailing, lights flashing her. She saw Alec get out from behind the wheel and she turned around and pulled along side.

"You followed me?" she spat in an annoyed voice.

Alec took a step back and assessed her attitude. She could be volatile sometimes, almost unstable; and it occasionally took tactical psychology to weave through her many mood swings without causing a meltdown.

"Watchin' your back. That's what we do, remember? You did take off without notice after being unconscious for a couple of days from getting the snot beat out of you." he reminded her. "Besides, I figured on selling White's car while I was in town to get some back-stock supplies for Terminal City while we were at it."

"Leave the car and hop on." she told him, ignoring his explanation. "We're not far from where I left him, he'll find it."

Alec looked at her dubiously. "We're giving it back? Just like that?"

"Just do it." She said curtly, revving the cycle.

Alec shook his head in resignation, closed the door and got on the motorcycle behind her.

"Where are we going, if you don't mind my asking?"

She remained silent as they took off into the dark streets of Seattle.