Hormones

By: lfbrox

Rating: R

Timeframe: A couple of month after Freak Nation. Logan can of course walk (still)

AN: Thanks for all your reviews. So I didn't loose all my audience – it's just nice to know it sometimes. I apologize for updating so late. And this time it didn't have anything to do with ff.net. I was just being lazy I guess.

As for the last Chapter's end AN. Logan of course didn't get shot in the leg. He just broke his leg. Sometimes I just don't notice things. But that's what I got my wonderful beta for. Somebody's Angel – pahh – you are mine. Thanks a lot.

Also sorry for this chapter that lacks pampering completely. Be patient with me. The next chapter will hopefully include a lot more than pampering – I promise J Now on with the show………

Chapter 12: Females and wounded last

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"…Max turned and gave the wreck one last look and hurried after the others."

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Max and Syl led the way. Thanks to their enhanced vision they could make out some lights, so they moved towards them quickly. Mole and Clemente followed closely, but Clemente had a hard time keeping up with the two X5's. Alec, with Logan slung over his shoulder, was a little further behind. All of a sudden they heard the helicopters and turned to locate them in the night sky.

"Damn it!" Max hissed and quickly scanned the surroundings for somewhere to hide.

"The crash must have drowned out the noise of the helicopters." Alec stated, slightly out of breath, as he caught up with the rest of the group.

"Now what?" Clemente asked. He felt the urge to run, but knew that it wouldn't save him.

"If we can see the helicopter, then they can probably see us as well." Logan said from his awkward position over Alec's shoulder.

"I can't see anywhere even remotely close where we could hide in case they haven't located us." Syl informed the group.

"What are we gonna do now? We don't even have weapons. And even if we did it would take an army to bring that helicopter down." Mole said.  He looked into the sky again, and added, "Make that two helicopters."

"Okay everybody. Follow me, but stay close to the ground. Cover yourself with dirt and take off anything that might reflect light." Max said as she ducked down. The others followed suit, not quite sure what her plan was, but grateful that at least somebody had a plan.

When everybody looked dirty and quite undetectable, Max turned to Logan. "We've gotta make this quick, will you be okay?"

"Max," Logan crawled closer to her, "if I have learned anything in my life it is how to handle myself without fully functional legs. I can manage. Lead the way."

She gave his upper body an appreciative glance, then smiled at him and turned towards the others. "Okay. There's a water trench a little further on our right. If we can make it there undetected we can backtrack towards the wreck. If they find the trench they will follow it towards the city." Max said and began crawling towards the trench.

"And then what?" Alec asked. He knew that Max was right about backtracking to the plane, but he had no idea what they would do once they were back there.

"I don't know yet. Let's make it up as we go along." Max answered as she crawled keeping an eye on the two helicopters that were approaching them.

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"Control this is Trooper 1. We have lost sight of the targets. Need support. Over." The pilot of the first helicopter barked into his intercom.

"Trooper 2 enroute. Over." The second helicopter answered and turned away from the wreck to follow the first helicopter.

The first helicopter flew to the spot where the targets had been located a few minutes ago. But the area was empty. After a quick exchange with the other helicopter, the first trooper made its way towards the city lights while the second one searched further to the right side of the meadow. Both helicopters were equipped with searchlights and while the pilots navigated the helicopters easily across the meadow the 2 soldiers in the back of each helicopter slowly scanned each square. But neither helicopter found anything.

"There's a water trench 100 yards from your coordinates. Over." Trooper 2 informed the first helicopter, who had almost reached the outside parameters of Queensborough.

"Turn around and check the trench as you return to the wreck. I will fly to the end of the meadows and then turn and check the trench on my side. Over." The first Trooper ordered and continued his way towards the city lights. He knew that those kids were fast, so it was possible they had made it that far, even though he doubted it. But there was no sight of them so far, so either they were crawling the trench, which he would discover on his way back, or they were ahead of him, in which case he would find them any minute now. When he found them he was under orders to open fire and end the problem once and for all.

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"One helicopter turned around." Logan informed the others while still half-crawling and half-swimming through the trench, which was half-full of water. "It's coming back this way."

"We've gotta hurry." Max said as she crawled. "Once we're at the wreck we can move quickly to the right and hide in those bushes. What are the odds they haven't seen us and don't expect us so close to the wreck?" She asked. As much as she hated this and as scared as she was for Logan's safety, she had to admit, that it was an adrenaline rush. Her instincts told her what to do, her past training gave her the ability to do it and, as much as it disgusted her to admit it, – she was a soldier. Let's show them that the training wasn't for shit. Max thought and crawled even quicker hoping the 'civilians' would be able to hold the pace for a little longer.


They all heard the helicopter move closer and saw the conical ray of light following the trench a little further behind them. Max was at the front of the group, way ahead of the rest, while Logan, dragging his broken leg, was last. His glasses were so muddy he could hardly see a foot in front of him, and every time his hurt leg hit a rock on the bottom of the narrow trench he had to close his eyes and stifle a gasp of pain. But it seemed that Max had complete confidence in his ability to make it to the finishing line, otherwise she wouldn't have moved out so quickly.


Max was the first to reach the plane wreck. She quickly scanned the locations of the others and of the helicopter, which was coming dangerously close to her team in the trench. She shook off her fear of something happening to Logan, and quickly snapped back into soldier mode, crawling out of the trench and wiggling her way, snake-like, towards the bushes 100 yards to the right of the wreck.

Mole followed her – though not quite as gracefully – while Alec and Syl crawled out of the trench and waited in the grass for Clemente and Logan. Max and Mole watched from the bushes as the two X5s helped Clemente and Logan out of the water trench. With her night vision Max could make out the strained look on Logan's face and could have sworn she heard him wince in pain as Alec grabbed his arm and dragged him up. She moved towards the edge of the bushes, eager to get back and help Logan, but Mole stopped her with a hand on her shoulders.

"He's gonna be fine. No need to put us all in danger." Mole said, looking in his water-drenched pockets for a cigar he could chew on to calm himself down. He would never have admitted it, but he was almost as anxious as Max. While they wanted Max and maybe the other X5s alive, they almost certainly had no use for him.

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"Trooper 1 to Trooper 2. Reached the outer parameters. No sign of targets. Now backtracking along the trench. What's your status? Over." The first helicopter reported as it turned around and made its way along the trench towards the second helicopter.

"Trooper 2 to Trooper 1. 200 yards from wreck. No sign of targets. Over." The second pilot informed.

At the headquarters Renfro, Victor and the rest of the soldiers followed the exchange. Victor's jaw tightened. What was going on? How could they have gotten away again?

Renfro grabbed the intercom and changed the channel, so both troopers could hear her. "They have to be there. Find them and if you can't capture them, kill them." Renfro barked into the intercom, her patience gone.

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Syl, Alec, Clemente and Logan slithered through the grass towards the bushes where Max and Mole were eagerly waiting for them. Alec and Syl reached them first, crawling in behind Max and Mole to hide inside the bushes. Clemente was the next one to reach them and Mole grabbed him and pulled him to his side, covering the hole he had made in the bush with a few loose branches that lay around.

Just as the helicopter reached the wreck, Logan scrambled the last few yards towards Max. He was sweating heavily – not that it was noticeable considering he was already dripping wet from the trench. Max helped him crawl in and covered everything up with branches and leaves just as the helicopter spotlight swept over their hiding place.

"You okay?" she asked, gently wiping the mud off his face with her sweater.

"Yeah." Logan replied groggily and closed his eyes briefly, trying to slow his breathing. His leg hurt like hell and nothing in the world could have made him move from the spot he was in; lying on the ground in front of Max. He was glad, that all they had to do now was wait until the helicopters stopped their search. Unfortunately, since it was Manticore chasing them, that wouldn't happen any time soon. Renfro wanted Max, and she would not capitulate until she had her. But right now he was too exhausted to even think about it. He badly needed a rest. Closing his eyes again, he focused on enjoying Max's loving touch, as she gently stroked his chest.

Max was glad they had all made it to their makeshift safe'house'. But she knew eventually they would have to move. It would not be dark forever, and in the bright daylight it would be easy to follow their traces through the flattened grass.

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The helicopter finished its wide circle around the wreck and got ready to land on the side of the plane where Max and her crew and the pilot and co-pilot had exited earlier. The pilot had already regained consciousness but still lay flat on the ground next to the still unconscious co-pilot. The thought, of answering the questions they were sure to have, hurt him; all he wanted was to lie there and not move. So he decided that the wisest thing for him to do would be to play dead.

He heard the helicopter land, felt the strong wind it created and the dirt the wind blew in his face. Then he heard the engine being shut off and the sound of doors opening and closing. He didn't dare move his head to see who it was – he was sure his 'rescuers' weren't exactly the good guys either. When he heard footsteps coming closer he closed his eyes and willed his breathing to slow.

He heard them coming closer and closer, and then could sense that they were standing right in front of him. He could feel their eyes on him even though he could not hear a thing. The presence of the soldiers was confirmed when he felt a hard kick in his side. He didn't cry out, but could not stop his body from jerking a little. He prepared himself for another kick, and when it came he didn't move at all.

"He's out." said a deep voice, then he heard them move over to his co-pilot, presumably to give him the same treatment. Once they were, satisfied that the other man was out cold as well, the soldiers stepped closer to the wreck, guns at the ready.

After confirming that nobody awaited them at the entrance of the wrecked plane, they stepped over the tree branch that was stuck in the side of the plane, and entered the wreck. They separated, one of the soldiers turned right – towards the back of the plane – and the other one went left towards the cockpit. On his way to the cockpit he opened the door of the front bathroom, only to find the board personnel knocked out on the floor. He shut and locked the door and proceeded to the cockpit.

The other Manticore soldier slowly moved to the back, where he found the soldiers who were still tied up. After informing Control that the plane wreck was sans freaks, he rushed to untie them, hoping to get some more information from the groggy soldiers, even though it looked like they hadn't consciously noticed anything for quite a while now.

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"Trooper 1. Any trace of the freaks yet? Over." Victor asked through the intercom.


"Control this is Trooper 1. No sign yet. We're half a mile away from the wreck inspecting the trench. Over." Trooper 1 answered.

"Trooper 2 already checked the trench. Scan left and right of the trench for any evidence. Over." Renfro rasped into the intercom. She couldn't risk loosing them again. Especially not now. Even if she had to lock down the whole area – they would not get out – at least not alive.

"That would take a lot of time. We don't know which way they went. They could get away if we spend too much time scanning one direction. Over." Trooper 1 answered.

"Are you disobeying an order soldier?" Renfro barked back.

Even though she was indirectly threatening him, through an intercom, the pilot felt shivers run down his spine. "No Ma'am. Of course not Ma'am." The pilot answered, clearly intimidated.

"Good. Scan the trench and surroundings. There must be a trace. And if your life is worth something to you, you had better contact us soon with better news. Understood?" This time Renfro threatened him directly – just to make sure he would not question her orders ever again.

"Yes Ma'am. Over" Trooper 1 ended the communication and did as he was told – wise or not, he had orders.

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"What the hell is he doing?" Alec asked from inside the bush.

"I don't know. Looks like he spreading his search cycle." Syl answered, watching the helicopter move in a wide zigzag move over the trench.

"That'll give us some time till he reaches us." Mole mused.

"Not enough. We have to come up with a plan. Those other two won't stay inside the wreck forever. They're probably just trying to wake up their fellow soldiers." Max stated, thinking hard about their next move. Her hand still rested on Logan's chest as he lay with closed eyes on the hard ground next to her. His breathing had stilled and his heartbeat was back to normal. If she didn't know better she could have sworn he was sleeping. But she knew he was thinking hard about how to get them out of there.

"Maybe we should split up and spread out in different directions. That way they will have a harder time catching us." Clemente spoke up for the first time since exiting the plane.

"We wouldn't get very far. They will catch one of us eventually and knowing Max's honor code of transgenics, they will catch the rest of us when we come to save the day." Alec replied mockingly.

"Shut up Alec." Max answered distractedly. She checked on the helicopter that was circling around the trench. She estimated that it would take him another 20 minutes to get here. Then her eyes flew over to check on the second helicopter. She couldn't see if the two soldiers had already come out of the plane, as they had landed on the other side of the plane - out of her view, but she figured they would still be in there, trying to get some information from their colleagues.

But they would be out soon. They had to do something. Even if it was risky. She quickly turned around to face Alec and Syl.

"Can either of you guys fly a helicopter?" she said with a grin, as a plan formulated in her mind.

"What?" Syl and Alec answered in unison.

Logan opened his eyes and struggled to a sitting position. He knew that tone in Max's voice and it didn't mean anything good.

"Syl, Alec. You are gonna speed to the helicopter. Mole, Clemente you follow them and wait till they got rid of the pilot and signal that everything is clear. Then you take the helicopter and take off. By the time the second helicopter gets to you, you'll already be a few minutes ahead. Try to get back to Terminal City and warn the others that something is up and that Manticore is on our asses." Max proposed her plan. It wasn't perfect and by all means very risky, but it was the best – and the only – thing she could think of.

"What about you and Logan?" Syl asked, apparently agreeing to Max's plan.

"There's no way Logan can get over there quick enough with his leg broken. And you can't come over here and pick us up and still get back to Terminal City without them catching up. They won't know how many of us are in the helicopter. Plus they'll be too busy trying to catch you to check. So while they chase you, Logan and I can try and make it into the city and catch up with you later." Max explained and put a hand over Logan's mouth to stop him objecting. She knew he would feel bad about slowing her down, but she had had enough of him trying to apologise for it. His uneasy expression and his loud exhalation into Max's hand demonstrated his disapproval, and also served to distract Max from the task at hand.  She was still in heat and the close proximity of Logan's body was making her already overactive hormones take over.

Syl noticed the smouldering look Max threw at Logan, and shot her sister a glare of her own that served to put the younger X5's mind back on track.  She quickly removed her hand from Logan's mouth and took a couple of deep breaths.

"Are you sure?" Alec asked, not sure that the plan would work.

"Do you have another plan?" Max asked him with raised eyebrows, trying to focus on getting out of the situation alive, and not on how good Logan looked, even covered in mud and leaves. Alec just shrugged his shoulders, illustrating to Max that he didn't have anything better. That was good enough for her.

"Alright then. Get ready. We need to hurry up." Max's final decision was made.

"You ready Syl?" Alec asked, removing the branches from their hiding place. Syl just nodded and climbed out after him.

"Give us a minute. Then follow us. But stay low. Wait behind the wreck, when we give you the thumbs up, you run to the helicopter. You need to run as fast as you possibly can. As soon as we start the helicopter they'll run out of the plane and open fire." Alec instructed Mole and Clemente and then turned to Max and Logan. "Max, Logan. Are you gonna be alright?"

"We'll be fine Alec. Good luck guys." Max turned and grabbed Logan's hand to reassure him that she was positive that they would make it.

"Yeah. I guess we'll be alright." Logan muttered, still a little uneasy. It was a long way into the city and he had no intention of letting Max carry him all the way there. But he decided to worry about that later, so he just said his good luck's to Syl and Alec who rushed off towards the wreck, their feline DNA making them a blur to unenhanced eyes.

Mole and Clemente followed a minute later, leaving Logan and Max alone in the hide out place.

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AN: There you go. An error free chapter with some action. Hope you guys liked it. Let me know what you think, will ya?

Lfbrox