Disclaimer: I thought I owned my brothers and sisters, but they have shown me the error of my ways…so I guess I don't own much of anything…

Rating: PG-13 for language and violence

Time-frame: post AJBAC

A/N: Well, here's the next chapter, as promised. I had planned on having this out a while ago, but stuff kept getting in the way. Sorry about that. The next one might not be for about a week. I really gotta sit down and figure out how they're gonna take Manticore down. 10 to 1 says I spend hours trying to figure it out, and then end up with some stupid solution anyway. Oh well, my muse will send me something. Giving up is not an option. Enjoy.

I'm so tired of being here, suppressed by all my childish fears

And if you have to leave, I wish that you would just leave

Cuz your presence still lingers here; and it won't leave me alone

These wounds won't seem to heal; this pain is just too real

There's just too much that time cannot erase

When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears

When you scream, I'd fight away all of your fears

And I held your hand through all of these years

But you still have all of me

You used to captivate me by your resonating light

Now I'm bound by the life you left behind

Your face it haunts my once pleasant dreams

Your voice it chased away all the sanity in me

-'My Immortal' Evanescence

Chapter 13

Trouble in Paradise

"Yeah, we're taking out Manticore once and for all."

Did she just say what I think she just said? Logan wondered. "Max, do you remember what happened the last time you tried that?"

"Of course I remember, Logan," she said as she passed him, and headed towards the dining room table to take a seat. "I was there."

"So, what? You're just gonna go get caught again?" Logan approached her, and leaned against the table.

"Well, it's good to know that you have so much faith in me." The X5 looked him straight in the eye and caught a mixture of feelings.

"Max, my argument isn't rooted in my lack of faith for you, it's rooted in this petrifying fear that I have of losing you again. Do you have any idea what it was like thinking that I would never see you again? Do you have any idea how much that hurt?"

"Logan, don't you think I had the same fears?" Surprisingly, he didn't answer, and instead turned away and stood in front of the fire. "Newsflash, I did. Every single day. I'm doing this for you…for us. Manticore is the cause of our problems. I'm trying to get rid of it. Why are you fighting me on this?"

"Because we've been here before! We've done this before, and it nearly got the both of us killed."

"So your suggestion is that I just sit back and wait for them to come seek me out?" Max's eyes narrowed at him, and for a second, the primal look in her eye almost made Logan afraid of her.

"That's not what I'm saying," he sighed in irritation. "But at least let me help you. If not hands on, then as Eyes Only. I could make a broadcast—", he suggested.

"Forget it," Max interjected. "Manticore will just use it to further track you down. It's too dangerous."

"I know that Manticore is dangerous—" he began.

"Do you?" she cut him off. "Do you know how dangerous they are? Because I could tell you. I've spent years there. I've been trapped and held prisoner there. I've been beaten, and tortured, and…" Max's voice trailed off. She still had a lot of trouble admitting everything that had happened while she was there.

Logan looked up at her, his heart breaking for her. But he couldn't understand why she didn't see where he was coming from. The X5s had been running for the past ten years, and while he understood why they were tired of running, he couldn't understand why she wouldn't let him help. "Max, I want Manticore gone just as much as you do. They took my heart away from me for three months."

Upon hearing this, Max looked into his eyes. His heart? Does he mean…? But no. He could get hurt. Manticore already has a personal vendetta against Eyes Only. If they find out it's him, I could lose him forever. "They took mine too, Logan, literally. But you are Eyes Only. If Manticore catches you, they will do things to you…terrible …horrible…things." She couldn't even begin to imagine Logan suffering through the types of things she'd had to suffer through when she was there. Especially knowing that for him, they would make it ten times worse.

"I won't get caught." His voice was unwavering. He hoped it sounded confident, and didn't betray the hammering of his heart.

Max threw her hands up in the air. "Unbelievable!" she seethed. "You haven't heard one word I've said. They don't care about you, or me, or us, or anything we have. They will find you, and they will take you down. Didn't you see what happened at your apartment? They either know where you live, or they found us X5s again, neither of which would surprise me. They raised us on the motto: 'by any means possible', and that's exactly how they'll take you down. I'm tired of having the people I care about be hurt because of them. Don't you understand?" She paused and gave emphasis on each word that followed. "Manticore. Will. Kill. You."

"Well, it's a good thing I take an existential point of view that life and death are solely subjective states of being," was his only response.

Max's heart clenched. How could he say such a thing? Fine, if he wanted to be cold and heartless, she could play that game. "That's not what you were saying three months ago," she said coolly.

Logan's face fell instantly. "That's not funny, Max," he breathed.

"Well, at least we agree on something," she replied, refusing to back down. She continued on, allowing her anger to take her over, all repression of emotions forgotten. "What happened to you while I was gone? Did you grow a death wish? You're not invincible. You know Logan, your innocent and at times amusing naivety has quickly escalated into negligent and downright hazardous gullibility. And it's making it very difficult for me to tell you that I love you."

Before Logan could even register what she'd just said, his own mouth was open, and words were coming out. "Well that's ridiculous, because your stubborn and relentlessly attitudinal paranoia isn't stopping me from telling you that I love you."

Max froze at that. Did he just say what I think he just said?...He's just trying to throw me off. Well, it's not gonna work. "Logan…" she began exasperatedly.

"Max, I'm gonna help you, like it or not. I've made my choice," he stated harshly.

"And it's the wrong one damn it!" She slammed her fist down on the table, hoping to emphasize her point, but the only thing she succeeded in doing was startling Logan, whom she found staring at her as though he'd never seen her before.

He crossed the room to the love seat and sat slowly, burying his head in his hands, as though seriously contemplating the situation, and it was a long moment before he could finally lift his head to look at her. When he spoke, his voice was barely audible.

"But I choose you, Max. How can that be wrong?"

The soldier's features softened considerably, and she waited for a minute before approaching him and kneeling before him. He looked away, but she took his chin in her hand, and tilted his head to look her in the eye.

"Please…" she begged. Max hated to beg. It took a lot to make an X5 beg. They were taught that it was beneath them. Something that desperate ordinaries did. If they were to ask for something and were denied, they either took it by force, or seceded to their superiors. Begging was simply out of the question. But now, the situation called for it, and Logan's heart shattered at the sheer desperation in her voice. Max's eyes nearly filled with tears at the mere thought of what Manticore would do to him if they ever got a hold of him. Her hand, seemingly of its own accord began to stroke his face, the stubble of his cheek giving her an odd comfort she'd never felt before.

Logan took a deep breath and surrendered to her touch before he spoke.

"Okay." He felt as though he had signed both their death warrants with that one little word, and it weighed heavily on his heart, but he had never heard Max plead for anything the way she was pleading for this. He would give everything he owned to get that look out of her eyes.

Max knew how hard it was for him to give into her and she appreciated that he'd finally agreed with her. They both had innately stubborn personalities, and she knew mixing that with his insatiable sense of pride made Eyes Only a nearly immovable figure.

"Need I remind you that the last two times we tried to take Manticore down, we failed. Not only that, but we nearly all got killed."

"Third time's the charm. Besides, this time you'll have something you didn't have last time."

Logan gave her an inquisitive look.

"Me," she responded in turn.

Logan sighed. There was no use arguing with her, she wasn't going to give in. "I'm sorry, Max. I just thought that maybe things would be different…you know, now that I'm up on my feet and…"

"It was never about that Logan," she said softly, "you know that."

"I know, Max. When are they coming to get you?"

"Before dawn."

But that's in a few hours…Logan swallowed hard. "That soon, huh?"

"That soon," she sighed. "So what do we do now?" she asked, a slight twinkle in her eye.

"It's late. Lay with me, Max," he whispered. He stood, and began to spread ash over the flames of the fire to make it die down.

She nodded, almost invisibly, only slightly surprised that he hadn't asked for more, and followed him to the bedroom in the back, and climbed into bed. Logan waited only a moment before he joined her, spooning his body behind hers, and she scooted closer, seeking his warmth and comfort. He snaked an arm around her waist and she interlocked her fingers with his own. They lay that way for long moments, neither one able to sleep, though they were both trying hard. Finally, she brought his hand up to her lips and kissed his fingers softly.

"I love you, too," she whispered, unable to forget his earlier declarations, and then, exhausted by the days efforts, drifted into a restless sleep. Had she stayed awake, a few moments later, she would have heard him crying softly behind her.

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Renfro paced in front of the line of soldiers that stood at attention before her.

"So let me get this straight." Her voice was very low. Something that scared them even more than her yelling. "You don't have Eyes Only. You don't have 452, and you have no idea where Donald Lydecker is?" It hit her that, ironically, she sounded exactly like her bosses from the committee, and she smiled inwardly.

The commanding officer stepped forward. "Ma'am, the extenuating circumstances prevented—"

"Your ineptitude," she cut him off, "is only short of remarkable." Slowly, she approached her desk and sat down. "Can I count on no one in this company for a little help? All I asked you to do was recapture someone we already had in our grasp, who would have never gotten away had it not been for your incompetence."

"Ma'am, we had her in our possession. But she was not alone. She had two other X5s with her."

Renfro sat up straight. "The ones from the previous break-in?"

"We believe so, ma'am."

"Interesting." The director paused for a moment, seemingly thinking over this information. "Three X5s are better than one. I better make a call. Head to your barracks. I'll call when I need you. Dismissed."

The soldiers saluted her and left the room.

Renfro picked up the phone on her desk and smiled wickedly. "Get me Pyre." She paused as she listened to the response on the other end of the line. "I don't care if he's in a meeting with God himself. I want him on the phone, yesterday!" She turned in her chair to look at the picture of X5-452 that donned her wall. You're going down, 452. And nothing and no one is gonna stop me.

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Max opened her eyes, but instead of the familiar surroundings of Logan's cabin, she saw drab gray walls. Gray…looks a lot like…Manticore! She tried to sit up, but found her arms and legs were bound tightly to the cot on which she had slept. No no no, I can't be here…I can't be back…Logan rescued me…he came and got me. I've been out for days…how did I end up back here? Before she could even begin to postulate possibilities, the door to her room opened and in walked the person Max hated more than anything else in the world.

"Welcome back, 452." Renfro's ice cold eyes showed a mere glimmer of amusement, and Max despised her all the more for it. "The committee's been on my tail about your recapture and the eradication of Eyes Only. So far, I'm 2 for 2."

The eradication of Eyes Only… "What are you talking about?" Max spat at her.

The director turned to the television that was mounted in the corner across the room. She pointed the control in her hand at it, and the TV came to life. On the screen, was an obviously previously recorded video of Logan, sitting in a chair, his hands tied behind him. Max could clearly see the river of crimson that flowed from the cuts on the side of his head and the corner of his lip.

Logan "What is he doing here?" Max asked, unable to take her eyes from the screen.

"He's helping us," Renfro answered unceremoniously. "Or…he was."

Max's attention snapped to the director upon her previous statement. But the older woman simply pointed her remote at the television, and fast forwarded a few minutes. Max could see Logan being beaten more and more, and nausea welled up in her, so that she had to turn her gaze from the screen. Then the tape slowed down, and played at a normal pace.

A soldier stepped into view of the camera. "For the last time," he spoke to Logan's near lifeless body, "what is the location of the other X5s?"

Max glared at the woman before her. "What the hell? He doesn't know where they are!"

Renfro simply smiled. "That's what he said."

Logan raised his one eye to look at his offender. The other had been swollen shut. "I already told you, I don't know."

Without a second thought, the soldier who questioned him raised his gun and pulled the trigger. Before Max could even register what had happened, Logan's head fell limp, blood oozing from the hole in his chest.

Her surroundings changed, and the X5 found herself kneeling on the floor beside him in a turn of events that sardonically reminded her of a situation she'd been in just three months before.

"Oh no," she whimpered. "Logan?" she shifted his body up against her, unable to keep the tears from falling. "Come on, come on. Damn it, don't do this to me! Don't give up on me," she pleaded. Her fingers felt frantically for his various arteries, searching for a pulse, any sign that he might still be alive, but there was none. His warm blood was sticky on her hands, and it made her stomach lurch. Max tried to scream for help, but she couldn't. Her voice wasn't working the way she wanted it to, and there was no one around. No one to help them.

Logan woke to Max screaming and thrashing wildly beside him.

"Max! Max!" He shook her by the shoulders. "Wake up!"

She sat straight up in bed. "Logan! No!" Her eyes flew open, and she looked around hysterically. It was a minute before she could focus and be able to tell that Logan was right in front of her. As soon as she realized it was him, her arms went around him. She couldn't stop the sobs that wracked her body.

"It's okay, Max," he hushed her. "It's okay; it was only a dream. It's all over now." He held her tightly, rubbing circles in her back. It was a long time before her cries calmed and her tears stopped, and Logan felt completely helpless. What was it that had her shaken up so badly?

Max found she couldn't even speak to tell him what had happened to her. The soldier deep inside berated her for acting so infantile. She'd had bad dreams before. Of course, nothing had scared her as badly as this one had. Still, she wasn't raised to be so vulnerable, and the whole situation made her nervous. It was a moment before she realized Logan was speaking to her again.

"Max? Are you okay?"

In response, she nodded, still not trusting herself to talk, and released him enough to look him in the eye. He used his thumb to wipe some of the tears from her cheek.

"I guess you don't want to go back to sleep though, huh?"

At that, she shook her head, and rested it back in place on his shoulder. "Well, okay," he started, unsure of what to suggest. "Why don't we just go sit out in the living room? Sound good?"

Max nodded again. Logan lifted her out of the bed, and carried her out to the living room, a little shaky himself. He wasn't used to Max being to so quiet. She hadn't spoken a word since she woke up screaming, and while Logan could understand that she was scared—correction, terrified—he couldn't understand why she wouldn't want to discuss it with him. She was getting ready to go off into battle…the least she could do was level with him. Maybe that was it. Maybe she was scared stiff of going back to the one place that had single-handedly managed to make her life a living hell. And Logan of all people knew that talking about a predetermined situation of which you were anxious to begin with only caused the anxiety level to rise. But then, she'd yelled his name…which still threw him off. What had she dreamed about him that had caused her to wake up in such a blind panic? The thought seared through the journalist's head as he made his way to the sofa in the living room, with Max still clutching him for dear life. He sat her on the couch, and began to back away, but she clung to his shirt.

"I'm just gonna start the fire back up," he assured her. She let him go, and he knelt by the fireplace, and began to rekindle the flame. When the fire commenced engulfing the logs, he sat back on the couch next to Max.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

Max stared off into the undulating flames of the blaze. The images of her dream danced before her eyes, and she knew they would forever be ingrained in her memory. But she gave no notice of what she felt to Logan, and instead nodded, and leaned her head on his chest, her hand over his heart.

Logan was a little taken aback when she did that, but he put his arm around her shoulders to offer comfort and didn't say anything. Together, they sat, gazing into the fireplace, watching the flames, both lost in their own thoughts. And then he heard her.

"Tell me a story, Logan." Her voice was fragile, delicate even. And if it hadn't been completely silent in the cabin, he didn't think he would have heard her.

"A story?" he asked, vaguely surprised. "What kind?" His voice was equally as soft, not wanting to invade on the serenity of the atmosphere.

He could feel her shrug. "Any kind. I just need to hear your voice," she admitted.

"Ok," he agreed. His hand went to her hair, and he began raking it softly with his fingers. Something like a small contented purr escaped her, and he smiled. Must be that cat DNA…"When I was younger, my mother used to take me to the circus. Every year we went. It was usually right at the beginning of the summer…"

Max listened intently, hanging on his every word. She paid close attention as he described his various trips down childhood memory lane. She even smiled when he felt open enough to tell her about the summer he'd finally tried the diving board at the deep end of the pool, and resurfaced without his swim trunks. His voice droned on, and the low humdrum of his heartbeat finally led her back into the subconscious.

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Krit turned the handle, and, slowly and quietly, slid the door to the cabin open. He looked around, and seeing no one, waved Syl forward. The two of them crept into the silent cabin and rounded the corner. Syl smiled when she saw her two friends cuddled up on the couch fast asleep.

"Wake her," she ordered Krit.

"I don't want to," Krit protested. "Remember that time I had to wake Maxie for live ordinance drills one morning? She tried to shatter my jaw!"

Syl glared at him. "I said wake her, damn it!"

Krit sighed. Guess I know who wears the pants in this relationship…He approached the two sleeping people on the couch quietly. "Maxie?" he whispered, not wanting to startle her. "Maxie?" When she didn't stir, he dared go nearer, and reached out for her. The speed with which her fist jumped out and caught him in the face was like lightning. Immediately, he backed up, holding his cheek like a wounded puppy. Syl merely smiled.

"Oh, sorry Krit," Max apologized when she realized who it was. "Old habits die hard. You should've known better. Don't you remember that time back when—"

"Yeah, I remember," he muttered bitterly, casting a glare towards Syl.

Max looked up into Logan's still sleeping face, and slowly slid from beneath his arm rubbing the sleep from her eyes. He stirred a little at her absence, but didn't wake up. Max turned to her siblings. "Ok guys, what's the story?"

"First, you change into these." Syl held up clothes for her.

"Where did you get fatigues on such short notice?" Max questioned her.

"Uh, yeah, about that…we kind of have a contact, who's helping us out. He's in the car."

Max tensed visibly. "Who is it?"

"You'll just have to see when we get out there," Krit interrupted them. "Right now, we gotta make pace. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can get back to my Xbox."

Max still had her doubts, but she trusted her brother and sister, so without another word, she turned and left for the bathroom.

"Your Xbox?" Syl fixed Krit with her gaze. "You still have that old piece of junk? What is it, vintage 2002?"

"Hey," he disputed, "it's a classic. The older the system, the better."

"Whatever you have to tell yourself," she rolled her eyes.

A moment later, Max emerged from the bathroom down the hall, and approached them. "It's weird to be back in these things," she remarked, straightening out her sleeves.

"Yeah, I know," Syl smiled at her, "Manticore had absolutely no style."

"Well actually, they've graduated to urban camo. I'd say it's a step in the right direction. The black and white blend so well with the already gray walls."

The two sisters grinned at each other, trying to ease the apprehension they both knew the other felt as they always did before an important mission. Max looked down at Logan, before turning to her sibs.

"Should I wake him?"

Syl seemed to think on it for a moment before answering. "I don't think so. If you wake him, we'll never get out of here."

Max nodded reluctantly, understanding her reasons for saying what she had. If she woke Logan, he would look at her, with that look in his eyes…the smoldering one that said he was terrified for her, but that he trusted her decisions, and all he wanted was for her to come back to him. One of those looks from him, and Max knew she'd never leave that cabin. So she knelt before him, and threaded her fingers in his hair. This look is so not him…I'm gonna have to take him to a barber the minute I get back. She smiled at that thought, trying carefully not to wake him.

"We haven't really had time to be alone or together or alone together," she spoke softly to him. "But all that's gonna change. When I get back, we're gonna start our lives over the right way. I promise."

"Max, we kinda gotta hit the road," her brother pressed her gently.

She gave a him quick nod before turning back to Logan. "You're in my heart," she whispered, using her thumb to lightly caress the stubble of his cheek. Max gently planted a kiss on his forehead before straightening up, and turning to look at her siblings. The look in her eyes was cold and desolate, the perfect soldier's mask. "Ok guys, this is Search and Destroy like you've never seen it. Are you ready?" She looked at each of them in turn.

Syl nodded firmly.

"I'm ready, Max," Krit confirmed.

"Good. Let's move out."

Post: This chapter is dedicated to all of my reviewers. You guys are awesome, and without you, no reason to write. And I am just so ecstatic that I can make someone's day just by throwing my imagination out there. Try not to spend too much time on the edge of your seat. Two more chapters to go, and all done. Stick with me.