Syl toyed with her napkin, she was sitting in a dark dingy bar on the outskirts of town. Krit was working late but he promised to meet up with her. It was so surreal, this feeling she had. She was alive and free, keeping her head down as usual. Never loitering, being weary of anyone who gave her a sideways- second glance.

She still couldn't get over those last moments she saw Zack and Max. If she could do it over, she would have told them where to stick their orders and she would have gone down fighting. It was the one thing that she thanked Manticore for, if she could even stomach that thought. Loyalty was above all else and she would have died for her siblings. Especially Zack. He'd protected them all from the start, it would have been her chance to do the same. Repay the favor, show her talent, something her siblings never really appreciated or acknowledged. She could have broken Renfro's skinny neck, one-handed in a split second. She'd just been waiting for the signal, the right moment. If she'd known what the bitch had been planning she would have done it in a blink. Krit hadn't even reached the hill when lights had blared down on them. By the time they got to the fences, the hole they'd initially made had been patched up. The wires had been recharged and without their equipment they had no choice but to try jumping it. Dropping their guns and packs, to lose extra weight, they both cleared it, but with less than an inch to spare. All the way back to Seattle they kept running, never looking back.

They'd looked for the van once they'd cleared the parameter but there had been no sign of it or Lydecker. Krit had muttered something about Lydecker saving his own ass but she hadn't commented. If she'd been in his position with no idea of what the situation had been, other than that everyone had been captured, she'd have moved to escape and evade too. Unlike Krit, she didn't think Lydecker had sold them out. He wouldn't have blown the lab and she knew he had more loyalty than that. He had pride in them too; she'd seen it when he'd given them their final orders. Tossing the napkin aside she took a gulp of her tonic, glancing at the clock on the wall she noticed it was a quarter to nine. He was late, almost three quarters of an hour late. She was about to get up and drop him a line when a crackling followed by a familiar voice stopped her dead.

"Do not attempt to adjust your set. This is a streaming freedom video bulletin. The cable hack will last exactly sixty seconds. It cannot be traced, it cannot be stopped, and it is the only free voice left in this city."

He'd been silent for over a month. It was almost strange to hear his broadcast again. Especially tonight, being the eve of that night. The night she lost two of her siblings; her superiors, her mentors, her closest brother and sister. Zack and Max.

"Since the early 1990s, billions of your tax dollars have been diverted from legitimate government programs to fund secret experiments in genetic engineering. This covert operation is known as Project Manticore. It's goal: to create the perfect soldier, genetically enhanced for superior strength and speed. These children are subjected to relentless training and propaganda. In the winter of 2009, twelve of them escaped from a facility in Gillette, Wyoming. Some of them were captured; some of them were tortured; some gave their lives fighting to stay free. … Manticore has consolidated its operations to a secret location. Eyes Only will find it, and the people responsible for these crimes will be brought to justice…"

She heard him enter and come up behind her, but did nothing more to acknowledge his presence other than vaguely nod when he touched her shoulder. Her attention had been completely absorbed by the sad eyes on the screen. Those eyes. The longer she looked at them, the more she could feel him. She could feel herself being lost in his anguish, drowning in his immense pool of regret. What did he grieve for, why did he feel their trauma so personally? How was it possible that a norm could feel so much for them and why was he speaking of death in relation to Manticore? Sure many of them had died escaping Manticore, Tinga and Ben had died too but that didn't seem to fit the intense pain, she was getting from this man. He'd lost someone. Someone he loved? It didn't make any sense. He was speaking of death… could he? No, nobody had died as a result of their attack on Manticore, unless, she wondered. The broadcast ended and she immediately looked up at Krit.

"You don't think…?"

"No, Syl, Max and Zack are alive. You know it and I know it. They're strong and they're too valuable to terminate. Manticore wouldn't destroy its valuable resources, not now. Unless, Eye's Only does reveal their location, then their entire project will be compromised."

"I wonder what happened to Logan?"

"We didn't get to see the rest of the operation, knowing Renfro, she could have had him killed." Krit said solemnly. Their sacrifice was all worthless, he'd known it from the moment the words had spilled from his sister's mouth. It had cut through his heart quicker than any bullet could have and the dread that had settled there had never left him. He'd hated that they had abandoned them. No matter that it had been a direct order, family transcended a soldier's duty. Any dumb schmuck with half a brain knew that, so why had he done it? Why had he left? Despite the uselessness of the process, he still continued to kick himself over that decision.

"I think we should look him up," Syl suggested.

"Say again?" Krit asked, slightly puzzled.

"Logan, I think we should find him," Syl responded. "I think he's alive, and considering he is, I don't think Manticore would have let him go, no strings attached."

Krit got to his feet and dropped a ten on the counter. "I see where you're going sis, let's move out."

High in his penthouse, sat our mourning hero. He fought the corrupt system infiltrating every level of society and dedicated his life to revealing the truth to the unsuspecting public. Now he'd lost the one thing he knew he couldn't live without, the woman he loved. Max; the special, unique, witty-beauty, whom he never got to tell just how much she meant to him.

Logan pulled off his headset and turned back to he's computer. Hitting ESC twice and clicking once on a tiny icon, an eye, a picture launched itself. He stared at the screen and Max looked back at him. It was a photo taken from one of the neighboring building's security cameras. When she's broken into his apartment over a year ago, he'd tracked her down using that same picture. It was one of the many regrets he had, not having more pictures of her. Ones where she didn't have a threatened look in her eyes, one where she was smiling because she was happy. Happy that he wanted her around permanently, captured in still and posted around his place, so everywhere he looked he would see her. Not that he needed visual impressions of her to accomplish that. A simple coffee mug could do it. He choked as he remembered her first offer to cook for him, and where that day had ended up. So many memories, so many wasted moments. Missed opportunities, things he couldn't change. It was all over.

Two shots, one to the heart and one through the shoulder, but only one was needed. The one that stopped her life force. The one that took her away from him.

"This is what happened to X5-452. She thought she could save you. We gave you another lease on life Mr. Cale. But not without a price, X5-599 traded himself for your life. So you're free to go."

Over and over those images played over in his head, one minute he was speaking to a woman with short blonde hair, the next Bling was looking up at him with concern. And he was sitting in a wheelchair, in the middle of a park. No longer in a cold gray room with a sterile smell, strapped to a bed.

He might have been free to go but Zack was back at Manticore and Max was dead, all because of him. "I watched her die. The thing is, I can't really believe she's gone. I don't believe it. I know it sounds crazy, but I feel like...she's still out there," he whispered to the room. Looking at the picture again, he reached out and traced her face. "Come back to me, Max."


A/N: Lexie :D . Trice, your own medicine? Guys, thanks a bunch for the feedback. Requests, criticism, suggestions… I take anything into consideration. I'll be back with more soon, that's a promise.