Zoom. Faster and faster. The needle pushed to the peg at the end of its range, but her baby speed along the costal road faster then the speedometer could tell. The wind in her hair Max speed away from all her problems trying desperately to leave her thoughts in the dust. She should have listened to Logan when he'd tried to warn her. "He cares for you Max as more then just a brother." Why did Logan have to be right? Why did Zack have to go and complicate everything by telling her the truth? Why now of all times? When she'd finally come to terms with how she felt about Logan, though she'd never tell a soul.
She loved him! Eyes Only, but it was so much more then just his eyes. It was the man behind those sexy glasses. Logan's eyes watching over her. Those beautiful eyes ... Zack had to go and complicate it all. She'd always loved Zack since they were young now he loved he back as a sister but more ... She didn't know what to do. Where to run. Who she was running from or towards. Someone's arms should be comforting her, but whose? At least now she knew why they seemed to dislike each other so much. Logan and Zack saw each other as the enemy in the war over her.
Her head was spinning the fever was still in her system. Something was definitely wrong; she just wanted to go to sleep. She never wanted to sleep; she needed to sometimes, but never wanted to. Sleep was a waste of time even though there wasn't alot to do while everyone else slept since she'd lost Jondy. She didn't want to deal with this. So she couldn't stop. If she did then the nagging questions would catch up to her and demand answers. Answers she didn't know. Answers she didn't have. Answers she couldn't deal with finding. Not now.
It had never been about Logan not being able to walk at least not for Max. Maybe she did have a bit of that good old Manticore reserve. The thing she hate Zack for and the same thing Logan seemed to respect her for. Lately it had been about professional courtesy or at least Max and Logan told themselves that. 'Eyes Only' could not have a relationship with an operative, it just wouldn't be right. On a more basic level it for Max it was holding on to one of her truest friends in the world. Along with Logan, Max could count the number of friends she had on one hand. Original Cindy, Kendra, Sketchy, Herbal and Logan. Five and it was sad really. Sure there was Bling and Sebastian and Normal and her siblings, but those relationships were different. She didn't want to loose what she had in Logan, a true friend. They were just friends, period.
In all honesty that was all bull and she was just scared. Plain chicken shit. A coward afraid of emotional commitment. Maybe she was more like Zack then she cared to admit. And then there was Zack her big brother and protector, not family really but the closest thing she'd ever have. She loved him sure and along with her other siblings, he was truly her best friend in the world. They understood everything. Words weren't even necessary, sometimes hand signals weren't even needed, and eyes' meeting at a memory brought on by a shared sensation was all it took. Being Manticore born and bread Zack embodied everything Max was as well as everything Max had run away from the night of the escape. She was running again, but this time she had the knowledge of her other sibling's lives. Tinga's story told her that romances out side of Manticore were great but fleeting and only ended in big trouble. Jace's story told her that romances inside Manticore only survived by being free. Brin's story told her that she couldn't run forever. Ben's story told her that the monsters in your past always ran faster then you could and would catch up to you in the end. She just didn't want to run anymore.
She had just about reached the checkpoint anyway and because she had not talked to Logan before she left she had no way of passing it. She could always get through on the premise that she was a Jam Pony messenger, but she didn't actually want to pass through she barely felt up to driving back. She didn't want to run anymore so she'd go back to Logan's and stay indifferent to both men until she could make a decision. Maybe she didn't want to make the decision maybe she wanted everything to be just as it was before today ever happened. Back when Logan was just her best friend and Zack was just he brother. She really wanted to go home and hang out with Cindy and talk it all out but she was too tired and needed to rest. So she spun the bike around and headed back to the towers.
*
Zack sat on the couch perched on the armrest brooding in his own self-pity. Logan watched Zack now truly feeling bad for him because he had never seen the X-5's fearless leader in such a state. Suddenly it became clear to Logan, he and Zack were in the same boat they both loved Max but Max was a hard nut to crack. Logan still disliked the boy but sympathized with his plight because he too was burdened by it. If Zack was not an X-5 Logan would have said the boy could have used a stiff drink. X-5 or not drinking away ones pain was always helpful. It was only and hour, no closer to two now, past noon and as Max had told him once 'it was never to early to get your drink on'.
Logan went into the kitchen and came out with a bottle of wine and two glass goblets already filled. Without a word he handed one of the glasses to Zack. Zack excepted the glass and Logan watched as her finished the ten ounces in four large gulps. It was then that Logan realized he'd never seen Max drunk. Sure he'd seen her drink countless numbers of times but it never seemed to effect her too badly. He didn't know how much it took the X-5's to get drunk or even if the chimeras could get drunk at all. It might not have been in their genetic makeup after all a drunken soldier was a sloppy soldier. Very intolerable for a soldier. They probably had an extremely high tolerance level if they could even get drunk at all. Logan smirked. Instead of asking if he'd like a refill, he didn't think Zack would appreciate that, he simply handed the boy the bottle and sipped at his own drink.
Zack tool the bottle he was offered and stared at it. Then he smelled it, not bad. Then he tasted it. It was kind of sweet and sour all at once and he grimaced slightly. He hadn't really had time to taste the first glass he had downed. He had drunk it down quick like a child would with a dose of medicine because for the time being that's what this was for him. He took a sip and then chuckled. Lydecker had a drinking problem. That was funny. Hell maybe the old saying like father like son actually applied to this situation in some convoluted way. Everything really was Lydecker's fault one way and Manticore's in another. Zack made a silent toast to hell and the 'father' and took another swig from the bottle. Logan was looking at him funny. Zack squinted for a moment focusing in on only Logan's eyes. It was so obvious that Mr. Wonder boy Cale and Eyes Only were the same person. Zack chastised himself for not making the connection sooner. It was very very obvious and extremely stupid of him not to have realized it. Especially after all the times the anonymous self proclaimed savior of the free world or what was left of it had helped notify the X-5's when they had been compromised. Zack chugged the wine again. He could chug for a considerably long period of time. It was easy to down half a bottle in no time when you only had to stop drinking to breathe on average once every five minuets. All that underwater training finally paid off for something worth wild. It was all very amusing and Zack couldn't help but laugh again.
Logan couldn't help but laugh himself. It really was amusing to see Mr. Military making face mumbling to himself and laughing. Maybe it was easier to get an X-5 drunk then Logan had originally thought. Or maybe whatever had happened with Max on the roof had caused the younger man to loose it. Zack was drinking like he was a minor who had gotten his hands on his first six pack. He was downing the alcohol as fast as he could thinking that was the way that a person got drunk. Maybe the high commander of the X-5's had never gotten drunk before. Maybe Logan was corrupting Zack maybe Logan didn't care. For a moment he'd forgotten about how much he hated the boy and what he had just done to Max. It was just too funny to watch for Logan to stay angry right now. Or maybe it was just the ten ounces of wine he had finally finished taking its toll on him. Logan definitely didn't have the tolerance of an X-5 no where's close actually.
Neither of them had spoken since they started drinking but the silence in the room spoke volumes. Both men previously rivals for being love sick over the same girl had found a common ground in trying to drink the problem away. Logan laughed at that thought and glanced down at his empty glass. The movement caught Zack's attention. Zack looked protectively down at the bottle and then over at Logan. He had the same look in his eyes he usually used when he looked at Max or one of his other siblings.
"Hey Zack", Logan held the empty glass out to him. "Top me off will you?"
Zack looked confused. Either he had never heard the expression before and didn't know what it meant or he really was being protective over the bottle now. Either way Logan had grown impatient. That was quite an expensive bottle of wine and he wasn't about to let Mr. Military have it all. "I do have a few more bottles Zack don't worry."
Zack shrugged and leaned over re-filling Logan's glass. "Well when you put it that way okay."
Logan nodded his thanks to Zack and then clinked his glass to the neck of the bottle Zack still clutched. Logan was astonished Mr. Military had actually smiled when he'd done it.
"Cheers."
"Yeah, cheers."
Zack chugged out of the bottle again and when he opened his eyes and put the bottle down there was Wonder boy still right in front of him. After watching him take a few sips out of his glass and looking over at him wonder boy grinned up at Zack. He looked like such a fool. Zack must have been grinning himself because a few seconds latter he was laughing as well a very foreign sound to him. Then wonder boy joined in laughing as well. Silence was never this funny before. If it had been it very well might have been a very deadly force at Manticore. Soon after the two men composed themselves Logan's glass was empty again along with the bottle Zack had been given.
"I'll get another bottle." Logan new it wasn't up to question whether they needed another bottle or not. He wheeled himself into the kitchen and Zack could hear him open the refrigerator to search for another bottle.
Zack couldn't help but laugh. If you wanted to get technical about it, "Wonder boy was driving drunk."
Logan pretended to be hurt as he came back into the room with the second bottle. "I heard that Zachary." Logan scowled at Zack but couldn't keep from laughing. Zack technically was right about it but the alcohol had given Logan a big dose of confidence. "Take it back Mr. Military."
"Or what?" Zack bristled and laughed. "You're going to run over my foot Wonder boy?"
"If you're not careful I just might." Logan uncorked the bottle. "Or I might just cut you off and not let you drink anymore."
Now Zack looked hurt. "You wouldn't. You know I was only goofing around."
Logan laughed. Zack wasn't capable of goofing around so it must have been what they boy was thinking, but it didn't matter. "Sure you were. Next thing you'll be telling me it was the wine talking."
"That sounds good." Zack tilted his head looking over at Logan. "Would that work? Would that make us friends again?"
"We never were friends." Logan filled up both the goblets and then handed Zack the bottle as a peace offering. A drunk X-5 must speak of all of the repressed emotions he had because this wasn't at all like Zack. No more inhibitions or Manticore issued walls.
"We could try for Maxi's sake. What do you say Wonder boy?" Zack took a swig out of the bottle.
Logan mocking saluted Zack. "Sir, Mr. Military. It's worth a try, sir."
Zack laughed and held the bottle out to Logan's glass. "To friendship then."
"Forced as it might be, to friendship." Logan clinked his glass to the bottle. "So Maxie, huh?"
"Yeah," Zack chuckled. "She doesn't like it too much. She usually socks me for it."
"I'll keep that in mind." Logan took four big gulps downing half of his glass.
"It's good solid advice. You'd be smart to take it Wonder boy." Zack slugged out of the bottle again.
"Like I said Mr. Military, I'll keep it in mind. What else can you tell me about Maxie?" Logan thought that maybe he could get something useful out of the drunken X-5.
"She's stubborn and she can really pack a punch." Zack took another drink from the bottle and rubbed his sore arm.
"I know that." Logan took another drink finishing off the third glass and moving on to the fourth. "So what were you two arguing about?"
"Oh no Wonder boy you're not getting me to break down that easily." Zack shook his head and chugged from the bottle again crossing his arms across his chest when he was done.
"You love her don't you Mr. Military?"
Zack mad a face but Logan couldn't read his expression. "Well I know you do Wonder boy and you've known her for a whole lot less time then I have."
It was almost an addition or the closest thing Logan would ever get out of the boy. Logan simply nodded in agreement with Zack. "She's very special."
Both men fell silent and turned back to their drinks. This time it wasn't funny. Neither of them was comfortable with where the conversation had gone. Both were extremely worried about Max for different reasons.
"Hey Cale you look like you could use a re-fill." Zack offered. Both men had considerably slowed down the speed they were drinking at.
Logan blinked forty ounces or so of wine was pushing his limit. He was bleary eyed and glad (most likely for the first time since he'd landed back in it) glad for the wheel chair because he already had a place to sit down. He'd be the first to admit he was a little bit more then loopy.
"What happened to Wonder boy? No Mr. Military I think I'll hold off for a little while."
"What's amatter Wonder boy can't keep up?"
"Not with you Mr. Military. With all you're supped up genetically enhanced higher tolerance to alcohol."
Zack nodded. "I'll drink to that." So he chugged again. "I'll have to remember to thank Lydecker for that next time I run into the bastard. I'd think a drunken soldier would make a sloppy one so he upped our tolerances. It was more for field missions and recognizance when we got older. That way we could get a threat drunk and still be all right enough to pump him for information." Zack grinned like a fool babbling.
Logan grinned. "Again I'm amazed at the pure miracle of Manticore technology. A genetically enhanced supper drinker. What a marvel of modern science."
"Hey watch it Wonder boy." Zack snapped.
"Or what you're going to knock me out of my chair Mr. Military, puh-lease." Logan sipped at his drink.
Zack smirked. "Try me Wonder boy. If you ever hurt Max make no mistake about it you'll be dealing directly with me."
"Sounds like a threat." Logan answered.
"No it's a promise Wonder boy remember Max belonged to me first. She always will."
Logan got really angry really fast he really did hate this boy. He leaned over and gave it all he had socking Zack square in the nose.
Zack rubbed his nose which had started to bleed.
"You hit me!" Zack sounded surprised.
"Yup, I did." Logan looked pleased.
"I guess I asked for that."
"You did."
"But you hit me!"
"Right."
"And it hurt"
"Really?" It was Logan's turn to look surprised.
"Yes. Can I hit you back?"
"Don't ask stupid questions Zack."
"What happened to Mr. Military?" Zack asked slugging from the bottle again to dull the throbbing in his nose. "It fits me to a tee. I'm a soldier it's all I'm ever capable of being."
"Right and I'm the all mighty Wonder boy." Logan looked down at his legs then up at Zack and started to laugh then found he couldn't stop. Zack joined in too. Their laughter was only broken by the occasional utterance of Mr. Military or Wonder boy followed by more laughter. As well as Zack getting up to help himself to a third bottle to dull the throbbing in his nose.
*
Max had made it back to the Towers a whole lot slower then it had taken her to get to the checkpoint. Her head was spinning and she felt down right miserable. She was glad she was finally back because it was getting difficult to maneuver her babe because her vision was getting blurry. She planed to stroll in through the door ignoring both men and head straight to the guestroom, lock the door and go to sleep. She hovered outside the door making sure she wasn't heading into hostile territory. She listened outside the door and all she heard was the sound of both men laughing. It made her angry. Both men originally enemies had found a common ground in the short time she was gone in order to be able to really laugh together. They'd grown close enough to laugh and Max could smell the stench of wine, the room reeked of it even through the door. They had been drinking and they found whatever it was funny. It wasn't funny, nothing could be that funny when she felt this bad. They were laughing and it made her angry. They were laughing ... that meant Zack was laughing.
Zack was laughing! In all her life she had never heard her CO laugh. Never. She'd hardly even ever seen him grin let alone outright smile. The fact that Logan had been the one to break down all of Zack's walls only served to make her angrier. Or maybe she was jealous she had never been able to make him laugh, but then again she had never gone and gotten Zack drunk either. Her head was spinning. The fever in her system was kicking in full force again. It almost felt like she was in heat but she knew she wasn't due. Max was angry at both of them. They were drunk and it was not at all becoming of either of them.
"Wonder boy will you shut you yap for like two seconds I swear I heard something." Zack insisted.
"Sure thing Mr. Military I guess I have to trust those supper ears." Logan fell silent.
"Shhhhh." Zack snapped there it was again.
Max walked confidently into the apartment then. There was no use in waiting any longer. If Zack heard her then they knew she was there anyway.
"Max!" Logan who was facing the door saw her first.
"Take a seat Wonder boy." Zack pushed Logan back in order to help himself up. "Maxie."
"Fall in line Mr. Military." Logan ordered Zack as he rolled his wheel chair over his foot.
Max couldn't help herself and she started to laugh. When the sound broke out of her mouth the penthouse started to spin. Maybe it was the stench of alcohol. Maybe it was the overwhelming emotional freedom that came with laughing openly in front of them both. Or maybe it really was just the fever. The world spun and faded to black as the floor rushed up to meet a now unconscious Max.
*
Max burst through the door and stumbled into the room. Both men got up and moved to go to her bickering a bit. Then she laughed sounding like the drunk and delirious one in the bunch. Two more steps with a giddy grin and she fell to the floor. Both men froze and the bickering stopped. A moment later Zack's slower then normal X-5 reflexes kicked in and she joined her in that position. He hadn't meant to of course but the drinking had taken its toll on him. He jumped up to try and catch Max and tripped over the coffee table in his haste landing flat on his face. Logan laughed despite the serious turn the days events had suddenly take. Zack got up and dusted himself off acting as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. As soon as he was back on his feet he was at Max's side in a heartbeat.
"I doubt your in any condition to carry her." Logan pointed out rolling up next to Zack as he tried to pick Max up.
"That's why you're taking he into the guestroom." Zack was man enough to know when he needed help, he'd just never ask for it. He scooped Max up off the floor and deposited her in Logan's lap.
"Oomph!" Logan groaned and held on to Max as Zack pushed him into the guestroom. "She's heavy."
Zack laughed because Max would have never let Logan get away with that if she was awake. Then he was all seriousness very quickly. "She feels hot. Hotter even then when she's in heat." Zack sounded worried. "Worse even then yesterday."
"I'm going to call Bling." Logan reassured him.
"You do that." Zack looked worried and then the good old Manticore mask he always carried around fell back into place. He was still not coordinated from the drinking he had done but he'd sobered up in thought anyway. He was back to being the levelheaded soldier at least for the moment.
While Logan was on the phone with Bling requesting that his friend bring over a bunch of bags of ice, Zack listened in on both sides of the conversation. The second Bling heard Max was still sick he promised to rush over. He also suggested that Logan call one of the doctors with the informant net to help her. Bling suggested that he try and find Hanna first and then use a back up doctor from the net. At least someone was thinking clearly.
Zack bristled at the thought. They didn't need anyone else's help right now. They only needed to lower Max's core body temperature for the time being. It would be just like that time Zack saw the doctors pack her in ice before Lydecker came in to visit Max in the infirmary. She'd had a really bad fever then. It was simple. No outside help was needed for that. Zack would tell Logan that once he got off the phone. For now Zack pulled a chair up to the bedside and turning it backwards he straddled it in order to hold Max's hand and talk to her. He'd seen Lydecker do it when Max was in the infirmary and he honestly didn't care if Max could hear him, it was making him feel better. Forgetting for a moment the weakness associated with showing emotions. It was only Max and besides she couldn't see him anyway.
Right now Max was all that mattered in the world. Her hand was so cold in comparison to the rest of her body. It really scared Zack so much more then anything had in a long time. Along with everything that happened over the past two days and the story she had told him about that thing in her head nothing was looking very good. Holding Max's hand with her being sick made Zack's mind wander back to their shared past. He thought about the first time that he kissed her. He saw her the time she had been in the infirmary with that awful fever when even Lydecker had been worried. He saw flashes of every time Manticore had ever hurt her and tried to close his eyes against the memories. It didn't help any and only served to make his cheeks wet and his shoulders shake. He was in the same state he had been the first time he'd kissed Max. Zack was crying.
Logan had finally gotten off of the phone with Bling and if asked he would have been the first to admit that the drinking he had done had really taken its toll on him. He stopped halfway down the hallway to watch Zack with Max. On Zack's face was a mixture of a sense of duty, devotion, protection, infatuation, brotherly love, fear and hopelessness. Then Zack closed his eyes and broke down and cried holding tightly to Max's hand. Zack was crying Logan couldn't have moved if he wanted to. It was a shock. Maybe it was the wine. Before today he had never seen Mr. Military crack a smile let alone laugh. Now he had lost all reserve and broke down and cried openly. Although he didn't know anyone was watching him so he wasn't really exposing himself. Maybe he really did love his surrogate sister and maybe Logan didn't care. Maybe he saw Zack as a bigger threat now then before.
Logan came up behind Zack and put a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort and calm the boy down. Bad move. Startled and felling completely venerable and on the defense Zack jumped up and reached back to fend off his would be attacker. Zack had been so lost that he hadn't even heard Logan come into the room. Startled he tried to jump up as he reached backwards but only succeeded in having the chair topple over and land him in Logan's lap. The commander of the X-5's gapped up at Logan startled frustrated and embarrassed, unable to move for a moment. He sputtered and said something that Logan didn't catch, "I wasn't crying!" jumped up and righted the chair then fled the room.
"I think I could use that third bottle." Zack mumbled this time loud enough for Logan to hear as he fled down the hallway.
Logan laughed he just couldn't help himself and at the same time felt bad for the poor boy. No matter, he'd let Zack be and do his thing in the other room. For the time being it gave him some alone time with Max. He maneuvered his chair around Zack's abandoned chair and situated himself near the head of the bed taking Max's hand into his own.
Love was a bad thing at least for all of the X-5's Zack thought miserably to himself. It was turning him insane. Maybe that was what had gone wrong with the X-2's they had all learned to love and gone insane. Love hurt and love could kill. He chugged from the bottle and thought of all the love that had taken away his siblings. Eva's love and devotion for her little sister. Brin and her love for life had taken her back to Manticore. Tinga and her marriage. Now Jace and her baby and Manticore run relationship. Love never seemed to go very well. Maybe love was just a waste of energy, a senseless emotion, especially if it always lead to something bad. Maybe giving in to false sentimentality would make Zack insane and lead to his demise as well. If that was the case he wasn't willing to bring Max down with him.
"Can I get a little help here Zack?" Bling's voice interrupted Zack's train of thought as he struggled through the open door and juggled the bags of ice he held.
Zack jumped and cursed himself. That was two people who had managed to sneak up on him in the last few minuets. Zack pried himself away from the couch and the bottle and took half of Bling's load carrying it into the guest room.
Bling expertly surrounded Max with bags of ice he really did seem to know what he was doing. All around her body, under her neck, in her armpits and one on her stomach. Then they waited. Zack went back to the couch and the bottle while Logan and Bling discussed what to do next. Half an hour or so passed and Max's eyes fluttered. She grinned weakly up at Logan.
"Hi." Max croaked out sleepily.
"Hi yourself." Logan smiled.
"I wanna be your everything Mr. Eyes Only." Max blurted out.
"Huh?" Logan was taken by surprise.
"I was ridding my babe and I realized I love you." Max nodded her eyes rolling back in her head which lulled to the side.
Logan was sure she was delirious, she looked it and besides their relationship had never been like that. Oh who was he kidding? Logan was happier then a kid in a candy store. Could she really mean it? Should he tell her how he really felt? "I love you-"
"Where's Zack?" Max suddenly started to cry. "He's going to hate me forever when I tell him."
"Well me what?" Zack snapped his speech slurred he'd been listening the whole time and didn't have the stomach to hear it again. "That you love wonder boy?" It pained Zack even to say it.
"That's not why your going to hate me." Max shook her head stubbornly her voice sounding much like the young soldier Zack used to know.
"What then." Zack snapped running his had through his hair. "What is it Maxie?"
"Don't call me Maxie." Max sat up.
"Max, then what is it?" Zack crossed his arms across his chest and stood glaring down at her.
"I love you Zack."
Logan blanched and began to choke. He coughed mainly because he was surprised to hear her say that. It hurt to hear her say it. Maybe she really was delirious and maybe next she'd be telling Bling how much she loved him. That would have made everything all right.
Zack beamed. "I love you too Maxie."
This time Max let the nickname slide she was crying too hard to put up a fight. "I've loved you since we were kids Zack. You've always been the best biggest brother to me. So good to me. Sneaking me treats and extra food and always protecting me. I love you for it." She made a face. "It's so damn hard though. It's not fair really. The person I've loved for so long finally to love me back when I realize I love someone else just as much." Tears cascaded down her face and she was convulsing again this time from sobs and shivers. Maybe she really was delirious she couldn't even tell where she was. "And now you're going to hate me!"
"Stop saying that Max. Nothing could ever make me hate you. I've seen you at your worst. Nothing." Zack took her had reassuring her.
"But it will." Max nodded insisting. That stubborn child who knew she wasn't just a soldier who knew she was more then just a number and deserved a name that Zack knew so well was back again.
"Just tell me Maxie. I promise I won't run." Zack said making the hand signal the used for trust.
"Promise you won't hate me Zack." Max insisted closing her eyes as the tears flowed again. "I need to tell you before;" She stifled a yawn, "before I go back to sleep."
"I promise Max just tell me." Zack gave her hand a little squeeze.
"Yes sir." Max who had struggled to sit up hung her head. "Manticore didn't get Ben."
"They didn't? You've seen him?" Zack's eyes grew a little bit wider.
Logan's jaw dropped. Ben may have stopped communicating with Zack, but Zack didn't know! He backed up rolling out of harms way and motioned for Bling to do the same. Bling came to stand next to Logan looking confused again.
"You're going to hate me Zack forever and then leave me or punish me like you did with Brin but worse. Oh so much worse. What she did to me after Ash died was nothing." Max bit her lip and batted her eyes trying to stay awake.
Zack had no idea what Max was trying to get at but obviously it was tearing her apart. Better to just get it out and deal with it.
"Tell me Max." It came out as a harshly growled order that Zack had not intended but it worked.
"You won't be mad?"
Zack simply shook his head no and squeezed her hand again.
"Okay. I'll tell you. I saw Ben-"
"That's great. I don't know what it is about all of you and Seattle-"
"Zack listen to me. I saw Ben. He went nuts. He turned into a nomie. He was killing people and tattooing his barcode on them. Chasing them down like that convict in the woods. Each one repenting for a sin to the Blue Lady." Max was ranting trying to get the whole horrid story out.
"I know and I remember. I've been trying to find him and put a stop to it. Then it stopped on it's own before I could catch up to him. I thought Lydecker got him but I guess that Ben just came to his senses." Zack nodded. What else could explain the killings stopping?
"There's more." Max said in an almost sing song tone of voice. She'd calmed down for the time being. She took a deep breath. "Ben's dead." The tears began to flow again.
"Lydecker!" Zack growled.
"No me." Max winched and she was crying hysterically now and close to babbling. "I need to tell you before I die, before they break me or I forget or I-"
"You're not going to die Max." Bling spoke up saying what the other three hoped would be true.
"I killed him Zack. My own brother with my own hands. Just like Ash all over again but for real. Don't punish me like you did Brin. Don't let them lock me down with the nomies. Commander Lydecker is going to be so mad. He's going to yell at me. I had to do it though don't you see? I couldn't let them take him back. There were just so many soldiers and helicopters and we had a fight because I wanted him to stop killing and Ben didn't want to stop. I took him by surprise and broke his leg with that slide move of mine. I just wanted to let the father get away. I wasn't going to be able to get out of there carrying Ben. We would have both been sent back and Ben said he didn't want that. He told me I had to go. He begged me not to let them take him back and not let myself get caught. So I asked him to tell me about the good place."
"Where no one yells at you and in the morning you can stay in bed as long as you want." Zack grinned and joined in with Max but Max cut Zack off there.
"And then I snapped his neck." Max was so hysterical she couldn't say anything else. All the apologies she had planned drifted away in a sea of tears. She may not have been able to talk about Ben but between sobs she begged not to be locked in the basement, not to be left with the nomies, and not to be reprimanded. Zack was certain she thought she was in the barracks.
Zack held her hand. "You did the right thing soldier no one is going to reprimand you for it. I won't let them."
Max nodded wide-eyed and cried herself back to sleep clinging to Zack and begging him not to leave her. Once she was asleep Zack leaned over and kissed her softly on the forehead. "You did good Maxie. You saved Ben from going back to hell. You sent him to the good place where the nomalies can't get him and no one will hurt him ever again. I couldn't possibly be mad at you for that little sister."
Zack was up on his feet then tears in his eyes that he quickly blinked away. He started passing the room and smacking his fist into the palm of his hand.
"Zack." Logan turned to him.
"Save it Wheel-boy it is my fault. I should have been there. I failed him not Max. Hell I failed her too." He continued passing and smacking.
"Zack what are you doing?" Logan asked.
"Calming down." Zack growled. "There's nothing I can hit in here without breaking something expensive and I don't need Max getting mad at me over something like that." Sometimes honesty was truly the best policy.
"Be my guest if it will help you, just don't choose me." Logan said. Zack still owed him for that shot in the nose earlier.
Zack wrinkled his nose and raised a hand to it as he passed. "I do owe you one."
"Oh no." Logan shook his head he couldn't believe he'd said that. He'd just given Zack permission to wreck the place; it must have been the wine.
"Don't worry Wonder boy the wine helps a little" Zack was oddly calmer then he normally would have been about the situation. Maybe it was the wine or maybe the way he felt about Max was softening him already.
"I know Max felt horrible about Ben-"Logan started to apologize for Max.
"Argh." Zack growled and snapped lashing out at the nearest wall with all his might.
Bling flinched wide-eyed and looked to Logan then the wall and then moved to stop the destructive force.
"Bling let him go." Logan couldn't believe that he said it but he'd rather have to fix a wall then see Bling, one of his closest friends, get broken.
Zack pounded the wall putting neat little hole after neat little hole into the wall. He went at it with everything he had. Instead of fifty little holes when he was done it looked like only one big one. The hole was exposing a beam that Zack turned and punched as well cracking it in half but not splitting it. Exhausted mentally and physically he collapsed against what was left of the wall he had attacked. His knuckles were bloody, torn and bruised. They were swelling and becoming stiff. The world was simply going to utter chaos around him. For the second time in less then and hour Zack broke down and cried. That made the number of times he'd ever cried still countable on only both his hands. Max had made him into a complete and total emotional wreck. Logan and Bling tried to sneak out of the room.
"Hey Cale." At least Zack wasn't hysterical enough not to be able to speak but just shedding a few very unmanly tears. "If you're leaving you want to bring me back that bottle?"
Logan nodded maybe that was just what the boy needed some booze and a good rest. Logan left and then brought back the bottle.
"Thanks." Zack took a swig out of the bottle. "How bout I finish this while you try and find me another one. When I'm done I'll come out and we can figure out how to help Maxie."
Logan simply agreed and left the room to let Zack calm down. He came back a few minuets later to find Zack in the same spot. The bottle of wine empty and on the floor next to him. Zack himself was leaning up against the wall fast asleep. Logan left him there. He helped Bling pack Max in ice again. She didn't feel any cooler to either man yet which could only be taken as a bad sign/ So Logan and Bling left the room to discuss what there next move would be if this didn't work and let the two sleeping X-5's lie.