Chapter 3

Terminal City

"I'm sorry Nat," Sketchy yelled to a closed bathroom door. I know we're not supposed to keep secrets from one another. But..."

"But nothing," Natalie cut him off like an axe. "You promised when we got married, no more lies. I always end up getting hurt by them. Just like when I found out about Lydia."

"This is nothing like that. I was young, stupid, arrogant," Sketchy replied.

"So is it true," she asked.. "Are you this Eyes Only person?"

"That's complicated," Sketchy said. "I am and I'm not."

Natalie opened the door and walked to a bed, gathering clothing together on it. "What the hell is that supposed to mean," she questioned angrily.

"Like I said, it's compl..." before Sketchy could finish his sentence his cell phone went off. "One sec Nat."

As Sketchy was fully engrossed in his phone conversation he didn't notice Natalie walk out of the room with all her stuff gathered in a suit case. The door slammed shut.

"What is it," Sketchy asked.

"I just got a message from a contact named Raul," the voice on the other end said. "A group of roughs came by, he said, and kidnapped a guy by the name of Max. His mother, an X-5 named Jace, tried to stop them but she was overpowered by them.

"Raul said that if anyone tried to mess with Max and/or the mother, he was to contact Logan. But since he's not with us anymore, the call was redirected to me."

"Thanks Otto," Sketch replied. "I'll see what I can find out about it."

Sketch turned off the phone and noticed the clothing that was laying on the bed had disappeared along with his wife. "Damn it, Nat," he shut his eyes and exclaimed to the ceiling.

A Burned Down House

Evening was approaching. The old man, Father, crouched by a series of six stones, half marked, half not. The two he was kneeling before, one read Joshua and the other one was a pile of stones that almost formed an "I"

Father, through his tears took a curious glance at two others right beside each other. One had the initials A.B. the other one had O.C. Two more were close by but the stones were blank. Making these two graves unidentifiable.

What kind of tragedy struck his old house, Father wondered. How could such a great idea he had lead to so much madness and death.

After saying prayers to his departed sons he walked down the street heading in a random direction. He suddenly noticed a shadow overlapping his. Someone was following him. He slowly crept over to a wooden fence and turned around. No one. Feeling a bit panicked he backed off from the fence. He then turned to face the fence, ran towards it and leapt, clearing the top of the fence by at least 3 feet and landed on his feet on the other side. Cane still in hand. Father then walked away in search of a place to sleep tonight.

Outside the Warehouse

Alec knocked on the steel door in a patterned rhythm, "Knock, knock, kn-knock, kn-knock, knock."

"You were already here this week Alec, what do you want?" the female voice asked.

"I'll get right to it," Alec said.

"Get right to what," the female voice replied.

"Ok," Alec began. "This guy came into Jam Pony today."

"Yeah," she said

"He looked like he had just come back from Safari," Alec stated. "He had this picture of a girl from Manticore he was looking for." Alec slipped the picture through the crack in the door in which the female voice was talking through. "He called himself "Father"."

"Father," the voice questioned to herself.

Flashback

Joshua stood before Max. "Father named you," he asked

"Nope. No father. Just me," Max replied.

"Father named me...Joshua," Joshua stated

"Father? You don't mean Lydecker?" Max asked curiously.

Joshua growled ferociously at this. "No. Father...Sandman".

"Sandman named you," Max stated.

"Mm-hmm," Joshua replied assuredly.

"Okay," Max humored Joshua.

Back Outside the Warehouse

"He says that this girl is in danger," Alec continued. "Someone is looking to kill her. Apparently she pissed them off in a big way years ago, which is why they're coming after her in particular.

"So, do you think with the your sources you could help me track her down?"

"She's closer than you think, Alec," the voice replied.

"What do you mean?" Alec asked.

"This girl, it's me," the voice said.

Just then Alec noticed someone on a bicycle approaching the warehouse, the door slid shut and Alec waited around a corner of the building to grab him in case he was dangerous. The guy got off of his bike and lifted his hand to knock on the door when Alec grabbed him from behind.

"What do you want," Alec asked.

"Get offa me, dude," the guy shouted. "It's me, Sketchy." Alec heard the familiar voice and let go his grip around Sketch's neck. "This how you greet all your friends?"

"Sorry, guess I'm a little jumpy these days," Alec replied

"It's cool," Sketchy stated.

"What do you want," the feminine voice asked Sketchy.

"I got some information you might fin interesting," Sketchy said

"More," the voice stated to herself. "Spill it."

"Otto phoned me today," Sketchy said. "He had some information that involves an X-5, so I figured I should talk to you ASAP. There's this contact in Mexico by the name of Raul..."

Flashback

Max and Jace were walking by a bus in South Market Street. "Money, sector passes, passport, and your contact's name at the Mexican border is Raul," Max listed.

"I can't thank you enough," Jace replied.

"You don't have to thank me at all," Max stated. "Just make sure that kid has an excellent life."

Back Outside the Warehouse

"What happened," the voice asked worriedly.

"There was a kidnapping," Sketchy replied. "Some dude named Max was stolen in a confrontation with some really powerful guys. They were strong enough to overpower the mother of this guy, and she was an X-5."

"Was," the voice asked.

"I'm sorry," Sketchy said. "But she was killed by whoever these people were."

There was a hard pound on the door and then the voice softly said "dammit."

"I wonder if this has something to do with those guys this Father was talking about," Alec chirped in. At this the door of the warehouse slid fully open showing behind it, Max.

To say that Max had aged well would be an insult to wine everywhere. There were no wrinkles. No strands of gray hair. Absolutely no signs of ageing. She simply looked like someone has kept her preserved for 20 years. Max was wearing her leather burgling suit and black pants, but her hair was worn down to her mid-back.

As strange as this was to both Alec, and Sketchy, having not actually seen her face to face for almost ten years, what was even stranger was what was behind her in the center of the room. It was Logan hanging from the ceiling by dozens of cords and wires protruding from his back and coming out of his loosely panted legs. He wore a white T-shirt and appeared to be asleep. His arms were enfolded against his chest. He still had his stubble but he didn't have his glasses on at the moment. His hair wasn't spiked up but smoothed down and cut just above his ears.

Alec and Sketchy followed Max into the warehouse looking at all the computer equipment that the wires from Logan were hooked into. Max went over to a computer in the back of the room and pressed a button to lower Logan to the same level as them. Max went over to him as his feet hit the ground. She gave him a quick kiss.

"Wake up, Logan," Max said to him.

"Wha-Huh," Logan mumbled, struggling into consciousness. Max gave him another quick kiss to help him wake up.

"Sorry to wake you," Max said smiling. "But it appears that the world needs us once again." Her smile fading.

"Where do we begin," Logan asked.

AN: The story continues. So what does everyone think? R+R please.