Designate This, New and Improved.
Disclaimer: I own none of it.
A/n: This is an alternate ending to 'Designate This'. I just had to get it out of my system. Yes, I know, it's been done before…
The whole episode up to when Max comes back to Logan happens just like it did in the show.
Logan felt a presence behind him, and for a moment, he didn't allow himself to believe it was real. He turned around, dreading that just like every other time he had felt her near the room behind him would be empty.
Suddenly he couldn't breathe. "Max…" he managed to gasp after an eternity, gazing into her dark eyes.
"We gotta get you out of here. They're coming to get you." He stepped forward and cupped her face in his hands. The smallest trace of a smile twitched his lips as he leaned forward to kiss her. Max's hands rested on his cheeks as she returned his kiss, losing control at the sensation of finally having his lips on hers again. When her brain had returned to her body – and his mouth had retreated from her own – she remembered Renfro.
"We gotta go. They're coming to get you."
"Who? What's going on? How did you…"
"I'll explain later. Come on."
"No, I have to finish my broadcast."
"Forget it. It's not important."
"Well, well, 452, what a touching reunion." The couple turned to see Renfro, flanked by Alec and Brin, standing in the doorway. Instinctively, their hold on each other tightened. "And I assume I am addressing the famous Eyes Only?" Max and Logan could only stare at her in disbelief.
"How did you find me?" Max said at last.
"Short memory, 452? The same way we did last time. That Red Series implant in your neck has proved invaluable. Not only has it led us to you, but to your boyfriend here too."
Max turned and looked into Logan's eyes. "I'm so sorry… I can't believe I led them straight to you… how could I have been so stupid?"
"Shhh, hush." Logan pulled her into his arms and held her close. "It's not your fault. I would have done exactly the same."
"Oh, please. I think I'm going to hurl," muttered Alec.
"Now, 494, don't be a hypocrite. I've read the reports on the Berrisford mission," said Renfro. "We were going to infect you with a retrovirus targeted to his DNA, but this was quicker."
Unnoticed by any of them, a rope snaked down from the skylight and landed on the wooden floor with a soft thud.
"Let her go and I'll give you the codes to the informant net," said Logan.
"Don't you dare!" Said Max. "You know how many lives there are at stake."
"Don't worry, 452, I wouldn't have accepted anyway. He's just proved that he will do anything to keep you safe, so he will give me those codes. What's your name, Eyes Only?"
Logan just stared at the director of Manticore, hatred and contempt in every feature. Slightly disconcerted at his intensity, Renfro drew a gun and shot him in the leg, about half way up his thigh.
He crashed over backwards, pulling Max with him. Desperately, she cradled his head in her arms. "Logan! I'm so sorry, Logan, so sorry…"
"Logan? Never figured Eyes Only for a Logan," mused Renfro.
"You should have," he said, climbing back to his feet. "It's derived from the Greek 'to record'. Means 'noteworthy'."
Renfro, Alec and Brin just stared at him, astonished that he wasn't screaming at the pain of having a bullet hole in his leg.
"What… How…" stuttered Renfro.
"Well, that's a turn up for the books," said Logan to Max as he offered her a hand up. "Bruno Anselmo, one of the stupidest men who ever lived, just made a gibbering idiot out of the mighty Director of Manticore."
Max couldn't help but smile. "Guess the guy did us some good, in his own twisted way. But then again, he's the reason I have this implant in my head in the first place."
They were interrupted by a beep from the computer. A message reading 'Satellite link re-established. Press enter to transmit.' Flashed up on the screen.
Max and Logan's eyes met, and a silent conversation took place in less than five seconds. The only words they said aloud were the final ones.
"I love you, Max."
"I love you, Logan." Their lips brushed together tenderly for a moment. Then all hell broke loose. Max blurred towards Renfro, while Logan dived towards his computer to transmit his bulletin. Alec followed Logan to keep him from the keyboard and Brin raced forwards to meet Max's attack on her commander.
The two sisters exchanged blows faster than the eye could follow. The extra training Max had received after she was recaptured meant she was a match for Brin now, and she was fighting for what meant most to her.
Logan just managed to hit the enter button before Alec caught up with him, spinning the older man around and delivering a roundhouse punch to his face that fractured his cheekbone. Then as Logan staggered, Alec grabbed him in a headlock, drew a gun and pressed it to his temple.
"All right, 452, give it up or you're scraping your boyfriend's brains off the walls." Max froze.
"Let him go, 494," came Renfro's strangled voice. Krit was holding her in exactly the same way Alec held Logan. Syl stood behind them, holding a huge pistol in her delicate, feminine hands.
Alec obeyed, and Logan stepped away from him, rubbing his face. "Hey, Syl, Krit, what are you doing here?" He asked.
"Our baby sister made us promise that if anything happened to her we'd keep an eye on you. We've been staking out your apartment for the last three months," said Krit.
"When we saw her show up, we thought we should make sure she hadn't been turned and was trying to kill you. Good thing, too," Syl finished.
"What are you going to do now?" Asked Renfro, with a sneer, once she and her two X5's were tied up. "The committee will be locking down the cells at Manticore as we speak, ready to burn it to the ground. And the tech team we have can track you everywhere you go."
"I can triangulate the signal from the implant and locate the trackers. I'll get a team together, have them take it out while you free the transgenics." Logan suggested, glancing up from watching Max cleaning up the gunshot wound in his leg.
"Great. What about these three?" Said Krit.
"Take them to the warehouse where we met for the first mission," ordered Max. "Keep them tied up and Alec and Brin sedated. I have a lot of questions for the good Director. You got a contact number for Lydecker, Logan?"
"Yeah, I'm sure he'd like to discuss old times with his dear ex- boss here. What are you going to do?"
"I'm going back to open the cages."
What do you think? Tell me if you'd like this story continued, I'm not really sure if it works yet. I don't know where it might go next either, so suggestions would be more than welcome.