Hormones
By: lfbrox
Rating: R
Timeframe: A couple of month after Freak Nation. Logan can of course walk.
AN: I'm back. Finally. Believe me when I say it was not my fault. If I would have had a say in all of this I would have written and posted a new chapter weeks ago. But life forced me to spend 18 hours a day in front of a computer without allowing me the time to even write a single word for this story. Now I'm done and more motivated than ever. If this mood keeps up, then this story will be finished in no time. So I hope you're still there. I promise I'll make it worth your wait. Or at least I plan on.
My biggest thanks goes out to my oh so patient beta, sammi. You waited and waited without a word from me and still – you are back with me. Not only as a beta but also an idea bouncer and friend. Thanks so much.
Now everyone. Only a few more chapters left. Let's get to it. Here it is:
Chapter 15: Five Rooms
"…Logan's leg rested, relaxed and immobile on the bed, the ice cubes lay melted and forgotten on the floor while Max and Logan slept the sleep of the dead – together, wrapped in each others arms, the way it should be and the way it would always be if they had their way…"
"First Stop Inn" Motel, Queensborough
The morning sun was shining through the half open curtains of the trashy motel room. Max's eyes opened for a second, but she was so tired that she closed them and snuggled closer into Logan's embrace, feelings herself starting to drift off again, still exhausted and incredibly comfortable. Then her eyes snapped open again, as the events of the last few days rushed through her mind like a trailer for some action movie. The plane crash, the helicopter search, the water trench, Logan's leg.
She sat upright and turned around to look at Logan . He lay on his back, a satisfied smile on his face looking incredibly handsome. Max watched as the arm that had previously been slung around her moved over the bed in search for the warm body that had lain there just seconds ago. When he came up empty in his search, he groggily opened his eyes, exhausted, but not willing to sleep without Max next to him.
She smiled as he tried to focus his eyes to continue the search for Max. He found her sitting next to him, smiling down at him over her shoulder. The bedspread pooled around her waist giving him a beautiful sight of her bare back and the side of her left breast. He started to smile too.
She turned around to face him, but didn't lie back down again. Disappointment that she had turned down the invitation to cuddle closer to him flashed through Logan, but was soon forgotten as he could now feast his eyes on a naked Max, who showed no intention of covering herself up any time soon.
"Good morning," Max said softly and lightly caressed his chest.
"Good morning angel," Logan answered, his voice a little raspy – whether from sleep or from Max's caress he didn't know.
"How are you feeling?" Max asked while moving down on the bed towards his propped up leg.
"Good. Given the givens. My leg hurts a little when I move it but other than that I have no reason to complain." He answered with a grin, moving his eyes across her bare chest.
Max felt his eyes on her and threw him a teasing glare, but continued removing the covers from his leg. Then she focused her attention on his leg, which was still heavily swollen. No doubt that their activities from the night before hadn't been the best exercise for his leg, but she was pretty sure she hadn't hurt him even more.
"We should have gotten more ice and cooled it last night," Max said a little guiltily, still observing his leg.
"Hey did you hear me complain?" Logan asked while rubbing her exposed knee.
"No. But I couldn't have expected that you do the rational thinking last night." Max teased.
"Hey, I wasn't the one in heat." Logan shot back.
"By the time we got to the hotel I think the heat was pretty much over," Max explained, trying to ignore Logan's hand, which was moving further up her leg. "But you know you can be damn distracting."
Logan's hand was very close to his desired destination when Max moved off the bed, trying to avoid his exploring fingers.
"Where are you going?" Logan whined from the bed, watching Max search for her clothes.
"I'm gonna get some ice now," she said and hastily put her clothes on.
"No chance I can distract you again?" Logan asked, attempting to disarm her with one of his cute little-boy-smiles.
"Nope." Max answered curtly, grabbed the ice bucket that lay on the floor and hurried out of the door before Logan decided to put on his puppy face. She knew that no matter how much she tried to ignore it, the puppy face would shatter all her determinations and she would join him in bed again before he was able to say another word.
"Sunnyside Motel", Sunbury
"Rise and shine everyone," Syl sing-songed after leaving the bathroom. Alec, the gentleman that he was, had fallen into the first bed as soon as they entered the door, and refused to move. Syl, the only woman in their little group, of course got the other bed.
Mole, who had already claimed the couch by the time the bed situation was sorted out, refused to forgo his own comfort for a mere mortal, leaving Clemente no choice but to sleep on the floor. No one had enough energy to go to the bathroom and wash up, so they all just fell I into their chosen sleeping place as they were.
Syl was the first one to wake up, and decided to take a shower and wash her dirty clothes in the sink. Feeling a whole lot better after her shower, she wrapped a surprisingly big and fluffy motel towels around her body and reentered the room to wake the guys. They would have to leave today and the sooner the better.
But her little, cheery yell yielded no response, so she had no choice than to go to each one of them and shake them, trying not get too dirty in the process. Clemente sat up after the second kick, Mole threatened to kill her, and Alec muttered some girl's name, telling her to get the hell out before he got up.
Since all her clothes were drying off near the bathroom window, Syl had no other choice than to sit on her bed in her towel and wait, while Clemente used the shower and Alec and Mole snored loudly in their respective 'beds'.
As soon as everyone was awake and clean they would move out and try to find a way to get back over the border into the US and then contact Terminal City for a pick up. Only there they had equipment that was secure enough to try to contact Max and Logan – wherever they might be.
"First Stop Inn" Motel, Queensborough
When Max arrived with the bucket full of ice Logan had already fallen back asleep. Good. Max thought. This way he won't be trying to 'distract' me again. As much as it was fun last night, his leg's not going to get any better while it's not iced.
She found some small towels in the bathroom and wrapped the ice in them. Then she carefully propped up his leg a little higher and placed the ice on it. Logan stirred a little at the touch of her hands, but he didn't wake up.
After Max was done she slipped out of her shoes and jeans, leaving her t-shirt on, and slid back into bed next to Logan. She never needed a lot of sleep, but she had to admit that she was still exhausted. And it was still early in the morning. There was nothing much she could do now anyway, so she nuzzled into the crook of Logan's neck, and wrapped an arm loosely around his bare chest, drifting off into a dreamless sleep almost immediately.
Warehouse outside of Seattle:
Victor paced nervously around the command center. Trooper 1, 3, 4 and 5 had reported in with nothing. No sign of the missing transgenics or the helicopter they had stolen. There was no guessing where they could be by now. Victor had ordered them to continue and spread out their search radius, while he waited for Renfro to come out of her office.
She had been holed up in there for hours. Victor had tried several times to talk to her, but nothing. She wouldn't answer. He wasn't really worried that something had happened to her physically, but he didn't like being in charge either. It would have helped him to know why Renfro was so obsessed with capturing 452. To him she was just another transgenic. And if she escaped, then there would be thousands of others right in Terminal City.
He didn't know what was so special about 452, that was why he would probably make the wrong decisions and issue the wrong orders – at least wrong for Renfro's liking. He needed her to come out of her office and advise him on what next to do. What the hell was she doing in there anyway?
TerminalCity Headquarters:
"Nothing yet?" Jesse asked after entering the headquarters.
"Not a word," Dix replied without turning away from the monitors. "I searched the news and contacted some people but nothing. Do you have any clue on how to" Dix was interrupted by the phone.
"Hello?" Dix answered.
"This is Detective Sung. Are you in charge there?" Matt Sung asked.
"That depends. What do you want?" Dix asked. After Max left no-one had really been appointed as 'in charge'. They all just did their best to hold things together until the people 'in charge' came back.
"I'm a good friend of Logan's' and I work for Inspector Clemente." Sung explained.
"Then you should know that they are in Canada, negotiating the future of Terminal City." Dix explained, not sure how much information he could give him.
"I know. I also know that they should have reported in by now. We have not heard from Clemente yet. Any word from Max and the others?" Sung asked.
"Hang on," Dix said to Sung, and then he addressed the others. "Its Detective Sung. Says he is a friend of Logan and works for Clemente. He hasn't heard anything from him and wants to know if Max reported in. Does anyone of you know him? Can we trust him?" Dix inquired.
"Logan mentioned him a couple of times. But I don't know." Jesse answered and looked around the room to see if someone else knew anything.
"The boy is aiight – I mean for a male." Came a voice from the back.
"Original Cindy? What are you doing here? How do you know Detective Sung? Have you heard anything from Max and the others?" Dix shot his questions at 100 mph.
"Easy there Whitey," Cindy tried to slow him down and stepped up the ladder to join the party that had circled around Dix and the monitors. "I came here to check if you have heard anything from my boo. I haven't heard from her in days – that's not like my girl. And Matt Sung is a friend. You can trust him. He's helped Max and Logan out of a lot of trouble. He saved her ass once when she was holed up in prison with some black helicopter guys on her ass." Cindy finished and looked around the room.
"Thanks Cindy. If you say so." Dix said, and got Sung back on the phone."Detective Sung. Sorry to keep you waiting."
"No problem. So have you heard anything?" Sung asked again.
"No. Not yet. What happened?" Dix asked, pressing some buttons to put him on speakerphone.
"I don't know. They were to report in as soon as they had settled in and started their negotiations. They should have been there for hours now. Clemente's phone is dead, so are Logan's and Max's. Do you know if they changed the plan at the last minute and Clemente forgot to inform us?" Sung inquired.
"No. No change in plans as far as we know. Something must've gone wrong. Do you know if anybody else was involved in those negotiations?" Dix asked.
"No. But I will look into it right away. There are not a lot of guys here that are pro-Transgenic. So I have to be careful whom I talk to. But I will let you know as soon as I find out anything." Sung promised.
"We contact you as soon as we hear anything from our side. Thanks." They both hung up.
"Something had gone wrong when even the police are worried." Jesse stated to no one in particular.
"My boo is tough. She's got out of every bad situation so far. And she has Logan and Alec with her. I wouldn't worry too much. Just make sure she gets back here in one piece – and her boy too. Can't have her moping around again." Cindy said and walked out of the headquarters to grab a free meal at the mess hall during her – earlier as usual – lunch break.
"First Stop Inn" Motel, Queensborough
Max lay awake, securely snuggled up against Logan, and thought about their next steps. With the strategic logic of a soldier and the loving care of a girlfriend she considered everything they had to do that wasn't too dangerous for Logan's leg.
Every so often she got up and changed the ice on Logan's knee, or checked if it was still propped up. Other than that, she had no desire and saw no necessity to leave his embrace. Logan stirred a little underneath her and slowly opened his eyes. He was happy to see Max still cuddled up next to him and tightened his embrace.
"Hey sleepyhead," Max said and moved a little in his arms so she could look at him.
"Hey yourself," Logan replied and smiled lovingly at her. "How long have you been awake?"
"For a while now," Max gave him a quick kiss on his lips before laying back down on his chest.
"What are you thinking about?" Logan asked after a moment of comfortable silence.
"About what we do next." Max answered.
"I'm all ears." Logan replied, and stared to caress her back with his right hand.
"Well. You are not able to walk yet, so we'll have to stay here for a few days. But we need some medical supplies, like painkillers, a cast, crutches and stuff. Then we need to get us some more clothes. We also have to find a secure way to contact TC and let them know what happened. Maybe you have contacts here or something. Then I suppose we need to get passports to get back to the US, and of course some cash. But the first thing we need is some food. I'm running on low battery." Max ticked things off her fingers as she explained her list of things to do.
Logan thought about if for a while, thinking of things that needed to be added to that list and problems he would be able to solve.
"The way I see it. We do need food. We should have money left to buy some. And you have clothes, so that shouldn't be a problem. We should have enough money left to stay one more night here, but after that I think we're pretty much broke." Logan calculated.
"I guess some breaking and entering is out of the question. Bet Manticore is just waiting for something like that." Max mused.
"Yeah. I guess you're right. But you could score some clothes for me from somewhere. And maybe some crutches. I have a safe house set up about 50 miles from here. We could move there. I also have some equipment there we can use to contact Terminal City. I have a contact man here, but I can't recall his number and without my laptop and a secure line I have no idea how to reach him. We have to figure out how to get to the safe house." Logan explained.
"Wow. That would really solve a lot of our problems if we get there. How about I get us something to eat first and then we can figure out the rest." Max said and started to get up when Logan pulled her back down.
"Just a few more minutes Max?" He pleaded.
"Okay," Max said and snuggled back down. "A few more minutes."
"Sunnyside Motel", Sunbury
"He's not moving an inch" Syl said angrily and kicked Mole a little harder.
All had showered, cleaned their clothes as much as possible and now they sat on the bed trying to wake Mole from the dead.
"Lizard man really is a heavy sleeper." Alec joked and went to the bathroom, returning with a trashcan of cold water that he splashed over Mole. Within a split second Mole sat upright on the cough. There was a dangerous look in his eyes, which focused on Alec who still held the bucket in his hands, grinning at him sheepishly.
"Good morning Mole. Hope you had a good night sleep." Syl said, jumping in between Mole and Alec, before the lizard man could wipe the grin off Alec's face.
"What the hell?" Mole said getting up and stomping toward Syl and Alec.
"Mole!" Syl yelled trying to get his attention. "We need to move out. It's close to noon. We need to find a way to get to the border. Manticore is on our ass and we need to warn everyone in Terminal City."
He stood still for a second and let everything sink in. After a minute it dawned on him and he rushed into the bathroom without saying another word. Alec, Syl and Clemente just stood in the room, confused about what had just happened. Then they heard the shower running.
"Who would've thought that Lizard Man needs a cold shower to start the day," Alec joked and placed the bucket back on the floor.
"Alright people. Now that everyone is awake. What do we do next?" Syl asked, determined to get this show on the road.
"Ahm, shouldn't we wait with the planning until, ahm, Mole is back." Clemente asked insecurely from his position on the bed. He seemed a little petrified after Mole's little show just now.
"We fill him in once he's back," Syl answered all business-like. "Now. Any ideas on how we get back ASAP?"
Warehouse outside of Seattle - Renfro's chambers
Renfro sat motionless in her chair and stared blankly at one of the four beige walls of her room. She'd sat like that for the past few hours going through various stages of emotions. First she felt nothing, unable to believe that 452 had escaped her again. Then rage, because 452 had escaped her again. Then defeated, because 452 had escaped her, ruining her last chance to reach her goal.
Now she sat there and felt hope. Maybe it wasn't too late. Maybe nothing had happened in that bathroom. Maybe she could still capture 452 and force her to live her destiny. It was her last chance to capture her.
Hope quickly turned into feeling challenged. Challenged to get 452 - no matter how unlikely it seemed.
She would not die – and nor would her kind. Renfro was sure of that. She would get 452. And if it was too late for her to benefit from 452's capturing– it wouldn't be too late for mankind. For her kind that is.
With grim determination on her face she pressed the button to open the sliding doors that lead to the command center. It was time to issue some orders – and let the people pay that were responsible for letting 452 escape.
TBC
AN: How did you like it? We're getting closer to the end. Some of you showed in their reviews that they are on the right track. I have no idea on how the story ends. But it'll end eventually. Hope you're with me when it's time. I can't believe that it's been that long. End of 2001? Time to get to something new. Thanks for everybody who stuck with me for so long. Life can be a bitch sometimes but I try not to let it overwhelm me again like this for so long. Love.
Lfbrox