PART TWENTY-THREE : " Abracadabra "

Lydecker and Alec made their way down to the basement. It was obviously used as a housing facility for the mainframe network.

"Set a couple of charges near the power couplings, and one more on each of the units," Lydecker told Alec, who began setting up the plastique and timers.

Donald was having trouble concentrating, after reading the data on the computers upstairs. SciTech, a.k.a. Manticore, was under intense surveillance by the Conclave. They knew everything, including names of field operatives. There had to be a mole, someone his sister wasn't aware of. Of course, it was also possible she was very aware of the spy and was baiting him/her with filtered information. He'd have to contact her and find out.

Alec's voice broke his train of thought. "So what are you involved in this for, Lydecker? You're not in control of the group, you're not torturing anyone and although I bet you're a kick at parties; I'd put real money on the fact that you're not doing this for your own personal jollies. So what's the story?"

Lydecker looked at Alec disapprovingly. "You know, you've developed quite a mouth on you. You learn that from Max?"

"Must have been that rebellious teen phase when you stopped coming around, Pops. How about a straight answer instead of avoiding the question?"

Lydecker sighed and glanced at his watch. "When I learned what was really going on, my mission changed. It wasn't just training you kids for engagement against possible hostiles or a new breed of soldier for a tactical advantage; I discovered an organization that you were specifically designed to combat. I wasn't told about the Conclave when I was originally assigned to Manticore. Renfro was part of the Cabinet that created Manticore and she never let on what was at stake."

Alec finished hiding the first explosive and moved to the next. "So your participation is out of a sense of duty, is that what you're saying?"

"Yes. For me, it's all about duty. Protecting the country and government. If you don't know that already, you didn't learn as much as I thought you had at Manticore."

"You also taught us never to assume that anything was as it seemed. If you don't like what the result is now, maybe you should question your tactics instead of our behavior. OK, this one is finished. All you'll have to do is set the timer and start it; but once you do you won't be able to stop it. I've got it set so if they remove the timer or try to disable it, all you'll end up with is a premature explosion."

Lydecker nodded. "Good work. If nothing else we can take out this relay system, maybe set them back a bit. Set the timers for 15 minutes."

Alec glanced sharply at the human. "We should check with Max first."

"We shouldn't be here more than 10 minutes longer and she doesn't know about this. Set it."

He shrugged, set and engaged the timers, then nodded. They ascended the stairs and Alec slowly surveyed the hallways.

"Hallway's clear." Alec said and stepped out from the stairwell, gun in hand again.


* * * * *

Legion forced Max to turn and walk to the middle of the room, facing him. He was becoming more and more disappointed with this woman. It always seemed as if the most promising ones turned out to be the most stubborn and strong-willed. Unsuitable.

"You really are beginning to erode my patience, my dear child. First you ignore my request regarding Manticore, and now you rebel against joining me. I fear I cannot use you after all. The time may have come to eliminate you, as sad a fact as it is true. White told me that you were engineered to stop the Conclave. I had hoped that whatever abilities you were given would help instead. Unfortunately, it seems not to be."

He pulled out a .45 revolver.

Max tried to speak and discovered to her surprise that she could.

"What are you going to do with that?"

He sighed. "I'm afraid you're going to have to be terminated. A terrible loss but perhaps for the better. I'll have to decide whether I'll let Mr. Cale live or not as well, I suppose. He could also, in his own way, cause problems for the Conclave after your demise."

Trying to distract him, she thought quickly. "The last time you disabled me from moving, you said something to me in my mind about you being Asmodeus. Were you just flapping your gums, or only trying to 'boogey-man' me?"

He paused, then smiled. "Actually, I hadn't realized you heard that. Let's just say I tend to get a little full of myself when I'm intoxicated with the presence of a few special people. Though you are in fact quite special, I'm afraid that you must die now."

Max desperately fought to free herself from the unseen bonds, but as before; there didn't seem to be anything to fight against.

Legion pulled the trigger.

* * * * *

Alec and Lydecker made their way up the stairs, cautiously listening and watching to make sure they had no unexpected visitors.

Reaching the top, Lydecker motioned Alec to try the doors on this end, while he went to the end of the hallway and started from there.

Quietly making his way down the long corridor, he opened the first door and was surprised to find himself staring at Logan bound to a chair in the middle of the room. Surveying the room and discovering nothing out of the ordinary, he pulled out a knife and cut the binding cords.

"You don't look the worse for wear..." Lydecker commented, eyeing the door. "How many have you seen?"

"Just one. Legion. The guy White brought Max to at the Space Needle." Logan finished unbinding himself and stood.

Lydecker went to the door and motioned to Alec, who promptly came to the doorway. Seeing Logan, he nodded.

"Mission successful, Herr Lydecker." he quipped. "Now let's find Max and get out of here."

"She came up the stairs first. If Logan didn't see her, then she's in one of these upstairs rooms as well."

"Then we'll check each room until we find her," Logan said without hesitation.

"That could present a problem," Lydecker stated, checking his watch. "There are high-level explosives set to go off in ten minutes..."

Logan interrupted. "What does that have to do with us?"

"...in the basement of this building. If we're going to look, we better do it quickly." Lydecker finished.

As the words registered in Logan's mind, the sound of a gunshot rang out from down the hall.


* * * * *

~ Time seemed to slow to a crawl as her mind suddenly went into overdrive. She had realized as Legion began pulling the trigger that she would have to do something or there was a real chance she would die. She didn't know yet how to deflect items tossed to her, let alone block a bullet with her mind, if that were even possible. Bearing White's instructions in mind, she focused on the bullet with every essence of her concentration. ~

As he fired the bullet, Legion both felt and saw a golden-white flash around her body.

~ She could see it in her mind, felt the chemical explosion of the compressed gas and powder that propelled the bullet along the chamber of the gun's barrel. As it left the barrel she could feel the friction in the air as the bullet pushed through it. ~

~ As the round began its path towards her, she sensed the trajectory of the bullet and where it would strike. Concentrating more deeply, she could feel the molecular existence of the path. ~

~ The bullet was now halfway to her. She could almost feel the matter and mass of the object as it almost seemed to float towards her, even though she knew it was speeding at a speed that precluded evasion. ~

~ She suddenly became aware of the part of her that was in the path of the bullet, her very genetic material, even her molecular and atomic make-up, almost sensing the quarks bouncing around within her. For the briefest moment she almost lost her concentration, thinking for a nanosecond that she must be hallucinating. However, she regained her sense of the path and found that the bullet was reaching her. ~

As he recognized the glow, it expanded suddenly and with such intensity that he could feel actual heat from it microseconds before he and the rest of the room was enveloped by the heat and light.

~ As it struck her she could see the molecules and atoms of organic and metallic materials sway and avoid each other, weaving a path around each other and yet not disturbing the rhythmic orbit that maintained stability. The complexity of the movement seemed nearly impossible; billions of separate atomic orbits, plotted in avoidance of the billions of orbits of the atoms in the bullet that were passing through the body at somewhere around a thousand feet per second. ~

He knew then that he had severely underestimated the abilities of this one. Before the heat incinerated his body, he realized that though her talents had not been tested sufficiently, she had the instincts borne of her own uniqueness. He knew that returning to this existence anytime soon would be difficult. Yet he was a legion of evil and as such, was no minor power. He pondered this as he felt his physical form begin to fail. The glow enveloped him, and as he vaporized; his crackling blackened face appeared as an expression of a fatherly smile.

~ The bullet seemingly materialized from behind her and imbedded itself in a strut in the wall. She felt the path within her quiver and calm to a normal state. ~

She found she could move again, and just as suddenly discovered she was perceiving the rest of the room in 'normal time'.

The last thing she heard before losing consciousness was Logan's voice crying out, "Oh my God!"