Disclaimer: Don't own them, k?
A/N: Come on guys, review! Plz!
After Logan left, Max burst into tears. Zack pulled her into his arms, muttering comforting words in her ear. Max's heat was almost over now, usually it stayed longer but that was because she was with humans. With Zack, she was satisfied quickly so it was almost over.
"It wasn't supposed to be like this," she moaned. "I didn't want to lose one of my closest friends. But he just doesn't understand that I don't want to be with him like that. I just want us to be friends. But now it seems like even that can't happen."
"I know, Max," Zack said. "I don't like the guy myself, but he was important to you and probably still is. Give him some time, maybe he'll come around about us. He was just shocked, he might get over it. He's probably really angry too, and confused. I know how he feels, it was just like I felt when I saw the two of you together."
She turned around in his arms. "I'm sorry. For hurting you. I didn't mean to."
"Shh," he said. He took her hand and kissed her fingers. "It's okay. That's in the past, Maxie, what's important is that we're together now."
She nodded. "Maybe you're right. Maybe he'll come around."
A wicked grin formed on Zack's lips. "You're heat's still not over. In the mean time…"
Max matched his grin. "Come here, tiger."
Somewhere in the woods near Manticore, a bunch of soldiers walked towards the rendezvous point.
"Come on," one said. "We're almost there. Only about 6 more klicks."
"Are you sure we should go?" asked another.
"Of course we should go," the first one said. "You saw the signal to regroup."
"Yeah, but they were shooting at us. What if it's a trap?"
"Look, the base was probably under attack. So we took some friendly fire. That's all. Let's go."
The other Xs looked at each other and shrugged, then followed their leader.
"There it is," an X6 said.
They all walked to the bridge where soldiers were waiting.
"X6-323, reporting Sir!" the leader said.
A man, wearing a leather coat, nodded at the regular soldiers. They took aim at the transgenics, who were becoming uneasy.
They fired.
And all that was left was silence.
"Ooh," Max moaned as pain surged up her leg. She was trying to regain the use of her legs, and the job was rather painful. "Who knew heat with an X5 made you so sore," she muttered. She let a small smile cross her face when she looked at her sleeping mate. He looked so adorable, all the hardness in his face melted away when he slept. He reminded her of a little boy. She also had to stifle a chuckle when she saw the nail marks on his chest and back. She certainly gave him a run for his money. Two X5s in heat were something she wished on no one to handle unless they wanted to commit suicide.
Max made her way into the bathroom, trying to ignore the throbbing she felt everywhere. She turned on the shower and stepped in, letting it soothe her aching body. "Blessed hot water," she said. She washed herself and her hair, then smiled when she felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist.
"I'm thinking we sneak out of the hotel unless you want to think up excuses about why the room looks like a tornado hit and half of the things in it are broken," he muttered, then kissed her neck.
"Sounds like a plan," she said. "We better call Alec first though to let him know that he's going to be kicked out and we should also leave a note for the Evans. They're nice people and it would be mean to disappear without a goodbye."
"Okay." Zack turned her around and kissed her. "I should also check the contact number to see how everyone is doing."
"You're not going to leave to do the rounds yet, are you?" she asked worriedly.
"No, not unless I have to. Besides, I don't want to leave you. If I do have to do the rounds, I'll take you with me."
She looked surprised. "You will? But that could compromise everyone."
"I think it's high time everybody saw each other again," he said. "And I also don't like the idea of leaving you by yourself with an angry Logan."
"Alec's there," she reasoned.
He cocked his head to the side for a moment. "I guess you're right. We'll see."
They finished up and stepped out of the shower. Max left a note for the Evans, a little money to pay for the damaged things although the room was practically destroyed and packed their things while Zack made the phone calls. Then they climbed out the window and were off.
"Fenos'tol," the man said into his cell phone.
"Fenos'tol, Brother White. It's good to hear from you again. How is the transgenic situation?" the person on the other line said.
"Very well. We have gotten rid of many of the filthy scum. They're stupid enough to actually show up at the rendezvous point."
There is laughter on the other line. "The only good those animals are are dead. Good work, Brother White, I hope to be hearing from you soon. Take care."
"You too," White said. He hung up and walked into his tent. He found his assistant Otto there waiting for him.
"What is it, Otto?" he asked.
"Sir, this was retrieved from the Manticore site. It belonged to Director Renfro."
"Well, open it up," White said.
Otto unlocked the briefcase and White took out a piece of paper. "Well, look at this. A DNA workup of an X5." He skimmed the info. "She has no junk DNA." He looked at Max's picture. "Not bad looking for a freak. Could almost pass for pretty." He put it down and searched the briefcase for something, but couldn't find it. "Where are the disks holding Manticore's data?" he asked.
"I don't know, Sir. Maybe someone took it," Otto said.
A soldier walked in. "Sir, there's a man named Lydecker requesting to see you."
"He identified himself?" White said, stunned. "Is he high?"
They left to see what Lydecker wanted, but unbeknownst to them, he was hiding behind the tent. While they were gone he snuck in and looked at what was in the briefcase. He saw the DNA workup. "Max," he muttered. "So. You have been what we've been looking for." He took the paper and left.
White returned and saw the DNA regarding the X5 gone.
"Dammit!" he yelled and threw a chair.
Max and Zack opened the door to the apartment and closed it gently, not wanting to wake up Original Cindy since it was fairly late at night. They tried tiptoeing around but a voice startled them.
"Hey guys."
Max groaned. "Alec, you have seriously got to stop with the whole 'sneak up on Max and Zack and give them a heart attack' deal."
He chuckled. "Payback for getting me kicked out of Logan's guestroom. It's nice there you know?" He tried to look pissed but couldn't. "So, what did you do that was so bad he hates you now?"
Max and Zack looked at each other, and Zack said, "Just this and that."
Alec snorted. "Yeah, think you can elaborate?" Seeing neither was going to say anything he shrugged. "Fine, don't tell me." He looked at the couch and back. "Where should I sleep since Zack's got the couch?"
"It's fine," Zack said. "I'll share with Max."
Alec raised an eyebrow at this but said nothing. He turned around to go back to sleep. Max and Zack headed for their room when Zack heard Alec say, "Nice going, buddy." He reddened and Max chortled, hearing what Alec had said.
"He thinks he can just take away my girlfriend? Oh, no. He is so wrong. I'll get Max back, and we'll have a nice happy, crime fighting family, righting the wrong in the world," Logan muttered to himself, the whirring of his exoskeleton sounding like a buzzing bee.
"I'll sweep her off her feet with my charm. She won't be able to resist me," he continued. He sat down at his computer thinking of ways to win Max back.
A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for taking so long to update. I have a lot of work. REVIEW PLEASE and recommend this story to your friends if you want. I really need your reviews so I know you're still interested. Thanks so much! White's in this now so things will be interesting. Read the prequel 'The days before'
Thanks soooooo much to –
shygirl1 – Thanks for reviewing! Logan is a loser who needs to control his temper. Anger Management much? At least Zack can control his temper. But then again, Zack's perfect. LOL
Iridescent Twilight – Thanks for reviewing. LOL You're damn funny! You're right. Logan needs to die so no one will have their wonderful TV time interrupted by a save-the-world wannabee. LOL
kiwifruit03 – Thanks for the review! I just had to have the heat in here somewhere.
willow98002 – Thanks for reviewing! For the whole calling Zack a something part, umm… typo? LOL I'll fix it when I get a little less lazy and read through my chapters to fix the spelling mistakes and stuff. Zack could never be a something, he's too damn fine! LOL
REVIEW plz!