Disclaimer: I don't own them. Sue if you like, I have $7.32 and an ace wrap bandage for my sprained wrist. You can have the $7.32, but I'll fight tooth and nail for the wrap.
Rating: PG-13 for language and violence
Time-frame: post AJBAC
A/N: Hey everyone, just want to thank you all first for the wonderful reviews, they're a great inspiration, and second for being so patient with me. I only have 2 weeks of school left, including finals, and it's been hectic with papers and last minute exams and I'm sure you all know how that goes, and with the sprained wrist already slowing me down, I've moved even slower. This chapter is short, which I know really isn't fair to you guys, seeing as how you've been waiting for two weeks, but I didn't want to make you wait any longer. I promise the next chapter will be up by next Friday, and it will be longer.
Chapter 3
The Search is On
Lydecker looked down at the small, frail creature he had deemed worthy of the world at birth. Had she really broken? No…she couldn't have. She was surely the strongest of the X5 group. Her abilities surpassed the others in her unit years ago. Lydecker settled himself to the fact that she must have been using Renfro's thirst for knowledge to her own tactical advantage…At least, he surely hoped that's what was going on.
Renfro stood wordlessly, waiting for the mutant before her to speak. She knew every word was worth knowing. Sometimes answers were hidden in the most unlikely spaces, and anything 452 gave her was of complete importance.
Max slipped back into the dark world she had come from. She looked around, noticing that she was back in Logan's apartment.
"Logan!" she called, but there was no answer. "Where are you?" Her voice was floaty, and she wondered if he could even hear her.
Still no one answered. She approached his computer room, maybe he was in there, obliviously typing on his keyboard as she had seen him do so many times before. Unmindful of the rest of the world as he continued on his mission to save it. She peeked in, but he wasn't there either. Where the hell is he? Suddenly, the front door closed, and he walked in, but stopped mid-step when he saw her. And mouthed the very word she so loved to hear him say… "Max".
She turned and began to run to him. At that time, she wanted nothing more than to just be held by him, to feel his arms around her, and hear him telling her that everything was going to be okay. To feel his skin, to smell his scent, to look into his eyes. It was only then that she would believe it. But it seemed the closer she got, the farther away he got. The walls around them melted away, and he held his hand out to her, reaching, grasping for her touch. She reached out to him as well, and it seemed as though their fingertips were just within reach, when something pulled her back.
"No!" she gasped. "Logan, save me. Don't leave me."
"Don't tell them anything, Max," he warned her. "I won't leave you."
"Promise?" she whispered, as he began to disappear.
"I promise," he whispered back, and then he was gone.
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Max opened her eyes to see the two people she hated most in the world standing over her expectantly. She opened her mouth, but found it hard to speak. When she finally found her voice, she looked at them in contempt.
"I'll never tell," she whispered through parched lips, and then descended back into her unknown world of shadows.
"Damn," Renfro sighed in frustration. "I thought we had her."
Lydecker glanced at her, a slow smile on his face, part triumph, part relief. He couldn't help the "I told you so" that escaped his mouth.
Renfro glared at him. "Don't be juvenile, Deck. This is partly your fault," she spat at him, before turning to the doctor. "So what happens now?"
The doctor checked Max's vitals, and looked at his computer screen before typing in a few commands. A screen popped up, showing her information and several comments.
He sighed before looking her in the eye, afraid of the anger he was sure his response would bring. "Apparently, several of these catatonic states that 452 is slipping into are self-induced. When this happens, the brain is in a state of delusion, and the body is inactive. You won't be able to get any information out of her as long as she stays this way. And anything that you do get may be misinformation caused by the hallucinations."
Renfro nearly growled at him. "She's doing this on purpose, damn it! How do we bring her out of it?"
"We can't," he squeaked shrinking back against the table. "We can try giving her some dopaminergic antagonists to stop the delusions, but that won't pull her from the coma. She has to come out of it on her own." Renfro turned fuming, brushing past Lydecker, preparing to leave. The lab tech paused before continuing. "But that's not the worst of it."
She turned on her heel and glared at him. "What?"
"These states of unconsciousness that she's slipping into aren't entirely healthy for the body. There isn't enough brain activity, and the organs and systems throughout her body are shutting themselves down."
"Meaning?" she seethed.
The lab tech looked down at the fragile, broken figure stretched out on the reclining chair before him. "Meaning…she's slowly killing herself."
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Lydecker's breath caught in his throat. He began to wonder when he had grown feelings for his kids. Max is killing herself to keep from giving the identity of Eyes Only away…This is definitely a dent in my plan. I've got to get her out of here…ASAP.
Renfro's glare tore through the lab tech. "It doesn't matter. I will get the identity of Eyes Only, even if I have to do it without her help…it'll just take longer." She looked down at Max's bruised figure with disgust. "Have her moved to the basement. And when I give you the order…terminate." She pulled the door open, and left, slamming it behind her.
Lydecker could only stand and watch as two uniformed officers entered and pulled Max from the chair, dragging her along the floor towards the basement. He followed them out.
"Hey!" he called after them. "Is that how you transport half a million dollars in US government research and development?"
The soldiers stopped and turned to face him, standing at attention and dropping Max to the ground.
"I'm sorry, sir?" one of them asked tentatively.
"Carry her," Lydecker said through clenched teeth. "She's not a POW. We need her alive, and if anything happens to her, and I think that it might in any way be your fault, you will answer to me! Is that understood?"
"Yes, sir!" they both chorused.
"Dismissed."
They saluted him, and one of the soldiers picked Max up, cradling her like a small child, as they began their descent to the basement.
Lydecker turned and headed to his office. When he got there, he sat at his desk, and turned on his computer. The screen flashed a bright blue, and as he began to type in a message to a familiar email address, he hoped he was doing the right thing.
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Logan pulled himself up out of his sleep. He had dreamed of Max again. Just before she had been pulled away from him, he had promised not to leave her. She was alive, if he hadn't been sure of it before, he was sure of it now.
(Flashback)
Cindy looked down on him with a look that clearly said 'Boo, what are you smoking?'
"She's alive Cindy, I know it."
"Ok, hold up. When you were finally coherent enough to talk in sentences with more than three words, you explained to me that Max had taken a lead from Mini Max."
" 'Taken a lead'?" Logan asked uncertainly.
"Caught one…taken a hit….got shot…" Cindy explained to him.
"Oh, yeah, she did."
"And then she died in your arms?"
"Yeah."
"Ok, so explain to Original Cindy how you know she's still alive. Cuz this, she's got to hear."
"Look, I was dreaming about her…"
"Ok, stop right there. Are you sure you wanna keep going with this?"
Logan gave her an exasperated look. "Not that kind of dream. Anyway, she was in this cell, and the guards were torturing me to get her to tell them who Eyes Only is."
OC's eyebrows knitted together. "But Max doesn't know who he is…does she?"
Logan regarded her carefully. They hadn't really spent a lot of time together since Max's death, but the knowledge that one was there for the other if they needed it went unspoken. They were both suffering the same loss, and Logan felt as though he could trust her. He looked her carefully in the eye.
"I'M Eyes Only."
She raised her eyebrows. "For real?! Damn…so hold up, all those 'missions' that Max goes on for you, those were for Eyes Only?"
"Yeah," he admitted ashamedly, "she was helping me out in exchange for some information on her brothers and sisters. At least, that's how it started out."
Cindy nodded again. "Still doesn't explain how you know she's alive."
Logan sighed. "In the dream, one of the guards hit me in the mouth with the gun. That's where the blood came from."
She looked at him skeptically. "Uh, you do realize it was just a dream."
"Yeah, but it was so real. Real enough that the blood was still there when I woke up. Besides, it's not like that's the first dream Max and I have shared…at least, if my suspicions are correct."
"Ok, all this has warped around Original Cindy's brain. But you've never been wrong about my Boo before, so I believe you when you say she's still alive. Wherever she is, you get out there, and you find her." Logan nodded, and she turned and headed toward his kitchen, taking a small Tupperware container from his refrigerator. "I'm takin the leftovers since you ain't make me no real lunch." She headed for the door. "Bye, Moneybags."
"But I don't have any—" his statement was cut off by her slamming his door. "—money anymore." He sighed to himself, more inspired than he had been in the last six weeks as he began a search for Manticore's new location.
(end Flashback)
That must've been when he'd drifted back off to sleep and then had woken up from the other dream. A loud dinging sound in his ear. 'You've Got Mail' was written in big letters across the bottom of his screen. He clicked on the image of the letter, and the file opened before him. His eyes widened as he scanned through its contents quickly, and rested on the familiar address before him.
"Lydecker," he whispered.
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Post: Ok, so yeah, it's short, but I had to get it out there. Next chapter in a week.
Angie731
PS-I love my reviewers!