A/N: Okay, plz plz plz don't kill me for not updating sooner. I'm sorry. (Bends down and cowers, whimpering.) LOL Plz keep reviewing everyone and give me some feedback. I can't go on without you guys. I'd like to know, what you liked, didn't like, and want to see in the future. It really helps me develop the fic to your liking when I know your opinions on it. So plz review and tell me what you think. :) 5 reviews for me to update!

Dawn and Zero woke up around the same time, feeling someone poking them hard in the chest. Zero blinked and his eyes adjusted to the bright light immediately, although it took Dawn some time for her to fully snap hers open.

They both looked at the ugly face in front of them. Dawn scrunched up her nose.

"Whoa. Someone seriously needs to go to the dentist," she quipped, pointing to his sharp teeth. She sniffed the air and that weird look stayed on her face. "And get them to give you some mouthwash while you're at it."

"Silence," he said. "You are not to speak unless you are spoken to. And don't create trouble, or you'll be punished severely."

"Great," Zero muttered. "This sounds like Manticore all over again."

"Punished severely," Dawn said. She snorted in amusement. "Wow, you really got the whole villain act thingy down. Whatcha gonna do, sink your teeth into us?"

At the way the vamp licked his teeth, Dawn figured she'd do what he said to do and shut up.

"I'll be the one to ask the questions," he said.

"Why?" Zero asked. "We're the guests."

"Silence!" he yelled. He waited a moment so that he could calm down and then spoke.

"One of the slayers has my friend. The top priority is to get him back. Boont and Vlad would be very mad if they find out we've lost one of our men. You two are my bargaining chip to get my friend back," he explained.

Dawn raised an eyebrow. "Boont and Vlad?" she said. "Where do you guys get these names? They sound like cartoon characters."

"And what's your name?" Zero asked dryly.

"Mota," he said proudly.

Zero and Dawn looked at each other then burst out laughing.

"Mota?" Dawn said.

Mota looked offended. "Don't make fun of my name!" he yelled. "My mother named me that because I couldn't say mother and I'd say mota! Stop laughing."

"Mota," Dawn said. "Hey Zero, is there some kind of rule that bad guys have to have crummy-ass names?"

Mota raised an eyebrow. "His name is Zero, and still you make fun of my name?"

"At least mine actually means something," Zero said.

Mota sensed that things were getting way off topic.

"Anyways," he said. "Like I said before, you are my bargaining chip."

Dawn shrugged. "Whatever. I mean, my Faith and my sister hardly care about a vampire. They'll trade us easily."

Mota grinned. "But we won't really be giving you two to them."

"We?" Zero inquired.

"Hello there," White said, coming out from the shadows.

Spike knocked on Logan's door, grinning to himself despite the bad situation. He enjoyed scaring the living daylights out of him.

Logan lay on his bed, depressed about his life, but determined to find the cure. Then Max would love him again and leave Zack for him. And even if that plan didn't work, he still had one card left to play.

He thought about the picture that he had been looking at recently the past few days and smiled to himself.

If anything, I still have at least that one wildcard left, he thought. Then Max'll be mine.

He heard a knock on his door.

"Who is it?" he called.

Spike forced his British accent down and made his voice sort of muffled and soft.

"It's Krit," Spike said. "Can I talk to you about something?"

Logan frowned. Why the hell did Krit want to talk to him? He rather didn't mind this X5 male because he wasn't as aggressive towards him as the others.

Maybe it's about Max! Logan thought. This is great! What if Krit doesn't approve of Zack being with Max? Then I'll have Max's brother on my side!

"Come in, it's open," he said.

Spike grinned and pushed the door open, Logan's face falling and turning pale when he saw who it really was.

"Thanks so much for inviting me in," Spike said, his voice normal again.

"What do you want?" Logan asked.

"Well, I figured you're actually useful for some things," Spike said, coming closer.

Logan had to try extremely hard to stifle the squeak that wanted to come out.

"Like…" he said, trailing off nervously.

He wants to eat me, I know he does, Logan thought.

"Well, I want you to guess," Spike said. "It has something to do with hunting."

So, he's going to hunt me down then eat me, Logan thought. I wonder if Zack put him up to this.

"I'll give you a clue," Spike said. "It has something to do with hunting down people."

Logan closed his eyes in prayer. I knew it. He's gonna eat me.

Spike heard someone clearing their throat and turned to see Buffy in the doorway, her eyes laughing at what he was doing but also worried for Dawn and anxious to get going. Spike looked back at Logan and decided he would stop teasing him for Buffy's sake.

"Alright, here's the thing," Spike started but Logan cut him off.

"Okay, okay! Can you just make it quick? I don't want to die slowly. Oh, please don't eat me!"

Spike and Buffy looked at Logan with utter disbelief, shock, and hilarity. Silence permeated the room and Logan opened one eye.

"That's not what you were going to say, was it?" he said.

They just stared blankly at him until Spike shook his head and laughed.

"No, but that does give me weird ideas," he said. "Returning to our previous topic, we need your cyber skills to hunt down two hormonal teenagers. We need to find Dawn and Zero. Think your mind can handle that?"

Logan nodded. "I'll get right on it."

Tawny, Crystal and Emerald were very bad at poker so they lost their clothes quickly. They sat apart from the others, teeth chattering, legs brought up to their chests, and huddled up because they were as naked as the day they were born. Jondy was wearing only a red lacy bra and her underwear, Xander clad in only his boxers, Willow in a shirt and her underwear, and Zane without his shirt. They were a comical sight, all huddled up and shivering. There wasn't much heat in the room as the cold outside seeped in through the windows.

Coco and Michael were laughing at the rest of them, both almost fully clothed. Michael had lost only his sweater and Coco only her shirt.

"Okay," Xander said. "Either both of you have x-ray vision and can see our cards, or you're cheating, or you're just really, really good."

Coco grinned. "I used to have a thing for casinos. Practiced there a lot."

"Ditto for me," Michael said.

Zane looked at the door when he heard a creak, and in walked Liz, Maxwell, Ruby and Aqua.

Maxwell squeezed his eyes shut and walked right back out there door, but the three girls were laughing hysterically at what they saw.

7 glares were shot their way, but it still took several minutes for them to calm down. Liz looked at Jondy.

"What are you looking at me for?" she asked innocently.

"Oh, give it up Jond, we all know that you're the only one here who would come up with such ideas like strip poker," Ruby said.

Jondy threw her hands up. "All right, guilty as charged. But I was just making things a little more interesting."

"I'll say," Aqua said with a smirk as she looked over her three naked siblings, then the rest of them.

"Could, we, uh, get our clothes back on?" Tawny asked under their scrutinizing gazes.

"By all means," Maxwell said from the hall.

"Max called a meeting," Ruby said. "It's important. So get your asses to the control room, naked or not, in 10 minutes."

"Preferably not," Maxwell said from the hall again.

Max stood in the control room with her family, Mole, Logan, Dix, Luke, Joshua, Alec, the Roswell aliens and the slayers. She stood in the middle, issuing orders to everyone.

"Mole, Joshua, and Alec, once Logan finds out or gets an idea on where Dawn, Zero, and possibly the other missing transgenics are, you three will go do some recon. Actually, I think Buffy, Willow, Faith, Spike or Xander should go with you because they know how these vampires think," she said. "Oh actually, Faith? Go and interrogate that vampire you were playing punching bag with. Maybe he knows something."

They nodded and left, so she turned to the others.

"Dix and Luke, I want you two to find out how the hell we lost so many people in that tunnel underneath without the camera picking it up or being tampered with. And just in case something freaky deaky is going on and has something to do with supernatural forces, take either Max, Liz, Isabel or Michael with you."

They all nodded as well and left.

"Now I want the rest of you to split up into two groups. Half of you will be putting concrete over that door in the tunnel. We can't risk losing anymore people. The other half will get more weapons. Even if we're dealing with vampires, I get the feeling they're not working alone. I want all of you to be careful, especially those going down into the tunnel. Really strange, unexplainable things have been happening lately, so I want you all to be on your guards. Now, can someone send Maria, Sketchy, Original Cindy, Herbal and Jesse here? I have a job for them."

"Original Cindy's name is on the sign out list, as well as Maria's," Emerald spoke up. "I can go out and get them. I think they met the gang at Crash."

Max nodded and everyone except Zack left. She slumped a little. Being the leader left the weight of every transgenic's life on her shoulders, now the slayers and the Roswell gang as well, and it drained her.

"You're doing great," Zack said, wrapping his arms around her. "You're a natural leader, Maxie."

Max nodded absentmindedly, thinking about all that she had to go and accomplish now.

Find out what the hell is going on between the explosions and the disappearances, the secret door in the tunnel, save everyone who needs to be saved, and stop an Apocalypse. All in a days work of being a Messiah. Being a leader sucks.

"You okay?" he asked her, turning her around.

"Yeah, just got a lot on my mind," she replied.

Zack grinned. "I'm proud of you. You've done a lot for our people."

She smiled. "Thanks."

"Plus," he said, "I love it when you're all commanding and in charge. Turns me on."

She laughed and hit him playfully on the shoulder. "Good to know, soldier. Come on, get to work. Can't have you slacking off even though you are my favourite."

He kissed her again then left to go on a few weapons raids with the others.

She replayed the list of things she had to do in her mind.

"And here Lady Jesus goes off to save humanity so that the prejudice humans of the earth can live another day in a corrupt, broken world to piss each other off and to make no money," she mumbled as she left.

A/N: Okay, so that chapter sucked. I'm sorry. It's just that my wrist is hurting like a bitch and I'm tired so I can't think properly. But I would still greatly appreciate it if you'd review, like I said, to let me know what you like, dislike, and would like to see in the future in this fic. 5 reviews for me to update. Come on people, I'm depending on you. I have nothing to do this summer so I need to write.

Thanks so much to –

shygirl1 – I have a thing for cliffhangers. LOL

HoneyX5-452 – Glad you liked the strip poker idea.

meri24 – Thanks so much for your encouragement!

MoonAngel23 – Thanks! If you'd like, I have another story called "Whose Love?" It is heavily Max/Zack, so if you're looking for some MZ stuff, go there. There's LOTS of it.

Thanks everyone and plz keep reviewing! 5 reviews for me to update! I hope you guys still like this story. Also, I have a new MA fic out; you might want to read it. And for those patiently waiting for an update of Whose Love, it's coming soon.

See that button. The review button. Plz push it. Pretty plz? With a cherry on top? It'll only take a sec and it makes my day. Thanks everyone! –aod78