PART 3: The Plan

PART 3: The Plan

"That's suicide," Logan said after Zack explained their plan to him. "You'll get yourselves killed, or caught again. I don't know, you decided which is worse."

"Look, we don't need your opinion on the matter, we just need you to get those codes for us. Or is that too difficult for you to understand?" Zack asked scornfully.

"I can get the codes, I just don't think this is a wise decision. They'll be waiting for you to do something like that. Besides you don't know what they've done to her. They might have done something to make her the perfect solider, turned her against you."

"Logan's right." Max said standing behind him as he was at the computer. "We need to at least put more thought into this. Decide what the best plan of action is."

"We don't have time for that." Zack argued. "The more time we waste, the less chance there is we can get her back."

"There's not much of a chance now." Angela stated. "You guys might be great fighters and stuff, but don't forget that there are others like you. People who are able to do the same things as you. And there are more of them. It's going to be a bit difficult to complete your plan with all of them."

The bell to enter the apartment sounded and Max went to answer it, barely able to contain her excitement. "That'll be Zane with the others. She opened the door to see eight faces that were not familiar bit deep down she knew who they were. All she could do was stare at them and they all did the same.

"Max?" One of them whispered. "It's me Jondy."

"Jondy?" Max whispered. "I missed you so much!" She went and hugged them, and had they been lesser creatures, would have been crushed by the hug. It went the same with the others. Max hugged them all and they went into the other room to talk for a few minutes.

"Am I the only one that feels left out?" Angela asked Logan. "Or is the feeling mutual?"

"The feeling's mutual." Logan responded. "But this is Max's family. You know how much this means to her. Come on, help me get these codes."

"Oh goodie, homework." Angela said sarcastically. "And I thought I'd never have to do that again."

"Just shut up and help me." Logan said smiling tolerantly.

* * * * *

"So Max, what have you been doing for the past ten years?" Jondy asked her as she looked around Logan's apartment.

"Nothing much, just laying low mostly. What about you guys?" Max knew that they were all just making small talk, as if they were trying to avoid the inevitable, talking about Brin.

"Same as you." Jondy responded. "So this place is nice, and so's the guy. Your boyfriend?"

"Yep," Max said smiling proudly. "He's really nice, you'll like him."

"And who's the chick?" Krit asked raising his eyebrows.

"Angela."

"Okay, there's one thing I don't understand." Zane started. "I can understand why you work with Logan, he's Eyes Only, but what's Angela got to do with the situation?"

"Well she's-" Max started.

"Going to kill you if you say anything else." Angela said from the doorway smiling brilliantly. "So just keep your mouth shut Max. Anyway, Logan's found something he thinks you all should see."

"What is it Logan?" Max walked up to stand behind him so she could see the computer screen."

"It looks like I was partially right." Logan stated. "Brin was caught for a reason, and are all of you. Brin's going to be sold for soldier to the Middle East. Her's and all of your genetic codes are worth millions."

"But Brin wouldn't do that." Syl argued. "She would never be somebodies puppet. "She's not like that."

"She would be if that was what she thought she was." Angela said. Everyone turned to look at her for an explanation, even Logan.

"What do you mean by that?" Zack asked curious.

"She could have been brainwashed. It's not impossible, and it can be reversed, but it takes time." Angela began. "What they do is put the person in a deep sleep then give them mental images of what they want. If they wanted the person to believe that they were rich and famous, that would happen. If they wanted to turn someone against all their friends then that would happen."

"How do you know all of this?" Zack asked.

Angela shrugged. "I just do. The point is, when you find Brin be very careful, she might have all her memories, but she would be under their control, so watch what you say to her."

"That still doesn't explain how you know all of this." Zane insisted. "I mean, that isn't exactly common knowledge. I want to know how someone like you knows all of that."

Max was looking at Angela with understanding in her eyes. "It doesn't matter how she knows it, at least we know now, and we can watch out for it." She saw Angela smile gratefully back at her.

Zack saw that and decided to keep that piece of information to himself for the time being. "You said it's difficult to bring the person back, we want her back so how do we do it?"

"It's not just difficult, it can sometimes be nearly impossible. The person needs to have a really strong will, and she'll need to be constantly reminded of who she really is. And then when she does remember she'll need you all there because when she finds out she might go insane."

"Insane!" Krit exclaimed. "Why would she go insane?"

"Because she'll have different things going through her head, it'll really confuse her and might be too much for her to handle. But from what I've heard from Max you guys were taught to be strong of mind as well as of body, so there's a very high chance that she'll be okay."

"Well, that's good news." Logan said turning back to the computer. "You guys said that the codes for the security doors are changed every day. Well you were partially right, they are changed every day, but the codes are the same."

"How do you mean?" Max asked frowning.

"Every Monday it's the same codes, every Tuesday, same code. The codes change with the days, but when the day repeats, they use the same code."

"Okay, what you said didn't make much sense but I think we all understand." Ben said and the others nodded.

"So what day did you want to go get Brin?" Logan asked typing away on the computer.

"As soon as possible." Zack answered. "The sooner she's back the sooner we can get out of here, away from Manticore."

"Tomorrow then." Max said. "That's Saturday, it'll work, we'll go at night. Logan get the code for the doors and we'll all get ready."

"Have fun," Angela said rasing a glass in toast.

"What do you think you're talking about?" Max said. "You're coming with us."

Angela's shoulders slumped. "Do I have to? I mean that really isn't something I want to do, get in a big old fight that'll probably get me killed."

Logan almost choked on his drink. "I didn't think people like you could die." He said before Angela could shut him up. She gave him a glare that might have killed him if she tried.

"Well we can," Angela responded. "And stop referring to me as some thing. It's really annoying."

"What people?" Zack asked. "How is she not able to die? What is she?"

"Oh, I'm able to die, I'm just very stubborn and won't. But as for your other questions I'm perfectly normal." Angela said, and stepped hard on Logan's foot. "Now if you'll excuse me I have some things to do."

"Be back soon," Max called after her. "We need to talk about tomorrow." Angela just waved her arm in consent and walked out the door.

"What's all that about?" Jondy asked Max.

"It's a long story." Max said.

"I'll be back." Zack said getting his jacket and following Angela.

"Zack, don't be too hard on her." Jondy called as he too went out the door.

"What do you mean by that?" Max asked Jondy a bit worried for her friend.

* * * * *

Angela walked down the dark streets of Seattle knowing that it wasn't the safest thing on the world to do, but she needed time to herself. Talking to the others about Brin had brought up memories that she wanted to keep buried. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't even notice when Zack came to walk beside her.

"You know I could have killed you by now." Zack said and watched and she jumped and looked accusingly at him.

"Yeah, but why would you want to?" Angela said and kept walking. "Why are you here Zack? I know you're not just enjoying the nice weather we're having."

That was certainly true, because it was freezing outside. "I just wanted to talk."

"Oh, really? Somehow I don't believe that."

Zack took hold of her arm and stopped, forcing her to stop too. "You're right. I want to know what you were talking about back there. How you know all of that stuff that could be happening to Brin."

"It's not as uncommon as you think." Angela answered looking at the sky. "It's just that the use of it never gets out because then think of what could happen if every common thug knew how to use it."

"That still doesn't explain how you know about it."

"Because it happened to someone I knew." Angela answered still not looking at him. "She was put to sleep and told all of these things, when she tried to fight it, it got bad for her. All these different things were going through her mind and she wasn't able to handle it."

"So she went insane." Zack stated quietly.

Angela nodded, but didn't say anything for a while. "I don't know what happened to her after that. I don't even know if she's still alive."

"I know what that's like." Zack said. "After we all got out I didn't know what happened to the others. Who got out who didn't, if any of them died. It was hell, but eventually I found them all and I've been watching over them ever since."

Angela laughed. "It sounds like Zane was right. You treat them like little kids."

"They're my brothers and sisters. I couldn't stand it if anything happened to them that I couldn't prevent."

"But you can't always prevent things." Angela said softy. "Look what happened to Brin, you couldn't stop that, it happened. But you can rectify that, you're going to get her back,"

"I know, but who knows what else could happen in the mean time."

"Nothing while I'm around." Angela said smiling. "I mean look at me and Max, all the shit we've been in, but has anything really bad ever happened to us? No. So you see you're safe in my hands."

"That's good to know," Zack smiled back at her.

"Come on, let's go back to Logan's, it's freezing out here."

"Oh, you just noticed that?" Zack laughed.

"Not so fast kiddies." A dark voice said from behind them. They both turned around to see three beefy, but muscly guys standing there. How about you give us all your money first."

"How 'bout you jump off the nearest space needle?" Angela said sweetly, her body tensing, getting ready for a fight she knew she could easily win.

"Some mouth on you girl, but I'm sire I can find other uses for it though." A different guy said and he and him friends laughed crudely.

"If you want it, come and get it." Angela said stepping way from Zack.

"But you're not going to get it." Zack said smiling cruelly. After what had been happening lately he was looking for a good fight.

"Oh we will." Another one said. "Don't worry."

"I won't," Angela shrugged. And the fight was on. Two guys went for Zack and the other for Angela. Zack took the first one down easily with a snap kick to his head, and circled the other, who pulled a knife out of his sleave. Angela was having no difficulty what so ever. She was actually enjoying herself. Whenever the guy would come at her she would just jump out of the way and kick him in the butt. Meanwhile Zack had knocked out the other guy and turned to see if Angela needed any help. She didn't. She was even verbally abusing the guy.

"Do you really think you could get me if you tried? Please, you're pathetic. A looser, who couldn't get a girl if one fell right in your lap." Angela saw the guys face turn red with rage and he charged at her. She herself had had enough fun and decided to end it here. She flipped over him when he charged and as she came down from her flip she kicked him hard in the back, sending him headfirst into a wall. Hard. She ended her flip in a roll, coming to stand gracefully on her feet.

"Impressive." Zack said, admiring her moves.

"I did gymnastics." Angela explained.

"That's not all."

Angela laughed. "Not it's not, but sometimes it's enough. Now lets go back to Logan's for real this time." As she turned around she ran into Zack and almost fell over. As it was, she would have if he had not caught her. They stared deep into eachother eyes before Zack brought his lips to hers for a long kiss.

They were both deeply involved in the kiss, not noticing the world around them. Zack backed Angela into the wall, keeping her there with he body so his hands were free to roam. Angela placed her hands on the back of his neck, keeping his mouth on hers and his hands wondered over her stomach and upwards.

They both jerked away suddenly when they heard a gunshot far away. They were both breathing heavily in the cold night air, then Angela smiled. "Well, that was different."

"Yeah," Zack said. "Come on let's go." He took her hand and led her back to Logan's apartment.

* * * * *

"What took you guys so long?" Max asked as they walked through the door of the apartment. Angela looked a bit flushed and her eyes were glowing, but Max knew that the night did that to her.

"We ran into a few would-be muggers, no big dealio." Angela answered smiling wickedly. "It was very entertaining." She hot knuckles with Max, their little victory thing.

"It doesn't matter." Zack said getting to business. "We need to talk about our plan of action. We'll all go in together but when we come out we'll spilt up in two's."

"Spilt up?" Max asked confused. "You just get us all back together, and now you're telling us to spilt up again."

"It won't be for long. It's just a precaution, in case we get caught, we're not all together." Zack answered, and Max nodded. "Alright we go in quietly. Not a sound at all. You see anybody you take care of them and dispose of the body. The groups are; Krit with Tinga. Zane with Syl. Ben with Jondy. Max you'll get Brin and I'll be with Angela. Any questions?"

"Yeah I have one." Logan said. "If Brin's been turned somehow, how do you expect Max to be able to handle her?"

"I'll knock her out, no matter what, even if I think it's really her." Max answered.

"And if we're being chased, we'll lead them away from Max, give her time to get away." Zack answered. "We've got everything covered."

"And Angela-" Max started.

"Not unless it's absolutely necessary." Angela responded rolling her eyes. "I know, Max you tell me this every time we go out to do something. Because I slip up once doesn't mean it'll happen again. Besides it was new then."

"I know Angela." Max responded. "But if these guys find out, you'd be hunted just like us, do you want that?"

"I won't let it happen Max." Angela said softly. "Don't worry about me, I'm a big girl now."

Zane was looking between the two girls, confused. "Okay there you go again. That's just freaky man, tell us what you're talking about."

"I will when hell freezes over. Now I'm going to get some sleep while I've got the chance. You should all do the same. Goodnight." Angela walked out of the room, to enter one of the many guest rooms in Logan's apartment.

"Angela's right." Logan said. "You are going to be using a lot of energy tomorrow, you need to rest now. There are three guestrooms; you can work out the details. 'Night."

"Night Logan." Max said. "I'll be in soon."

TBC