Max's living quarters, Terminal City
January 13 2022

Max shoved a few things into a backpack and was riffling through a pile of papers on the makeshift desk trying to find her old Jam Pony id when Logan knocked on the door "you ready to go?"
"Yeah I'm just trying to find, ah here it is" she pulled the id from under a pile of papers and tucked it into her pocket "lets get out of here". Max and Logan were walking across to the Medtronics building when they heard Alec behind them "hey guys where you goin'?" he shouted and jogged across to meet them,
"Nowhere" Max rolled her eyes
"You packed a lot for going nowhere" Alec retorted
"We're going on a little road trip" Logan said
"Sounds great where are we going?" Alec raised his eyebrows in anticipation "WE are going nowhere, Logan and I are going for a drive" Max was getting impatient
"Oh come on Maxie, you know I hate being cooped up in this hell hole, just give me five minutes to pack" Alec pleaded
"There's not enough room in the car" Max said dryly, Logan was going to say something but Max gave him a swift nudge
Alec looked at her suspiciously "You look like you packed light or is there more where that came from" he pointed to the backpack Max had "If you two want to be alone you just say so"
"We want to be alone" Max was really getting annoyed
"Fine I'll take my bike then. So where are we going?"
"Shelby" Logan jumped in before Max could stop him
"You were going to do the archive without me! Come on you know that's a two person job"
"I can handle it" Max brushed past him but Logan grabbed her arm
"Max let him come, he can take his bike and it wouldn't hurt to have an extra person on the team"
"Fine, we move out in five minutes" She pulled her arm away from Logan and kept walking.

Logan flip out his cell phone and dialled as Max threw the last of the gear in the back of the car
"Hey Buddy, it's Logan ... Max, Alec and I should be there sometime tomorrow ... thanks I'll see you then" he snapped the phone shut and Max climbed into the passenger seat
"Damn it, he's always late, lets just go" she slammed the door and Alec came rolling around the corner on his bike stopping at the window of the car
"All set?" he asked, Max just sighed.

Buddy's Ranch
January 13 2022

Buddy hung up the phone and sat down at the table where Zack was filling his plate with bacon and eggs, "That was Logan" he started piling food onto his plate. "He and his friends should be here by lunch tomorrow" he poured a cup of orange juice paying no attention to the fact that Zack had stopped what he was doing and stared at him in complete shock "You said it would be ok" he looked up at Zack
"It's fine" Zack continued his breakfast "I'll fix up the guest rooms this afternoon".

Safe House
January 13 2022

Lydecker rolled over in the creaky old bed "Where's Max?" he groaned to the guard on duty
"Not here" the X6 replied dryly
"Then get her, I want to speak to Max" he mumbled
"Well that's not going to happen she left this morning to go hiking or something in the country"
"Oh" Donald rolled back over and went to sleep. There was a loud knock on the door, the X6 got up and looked through the peep hole all he could see was a baseball cap "What do you want?" he spoke loudly
"Pizza" the deep voice answered from the other side of the door
"Sorry you got the wrong place we didn't order a pizza" he was about to walk away when a hand punched through the door and grabbed him by the neck there was a snap and the X6 fell lifeless to the floor. The door splintered as the two big men pushed through, they went straight to the back room and unfolded the stretcher.

Command Center, Terminal City
January 13 2022

Luke was staring blankly at the bank of screens when the phone came to life he jumped and picked it up "Speak to me ... uh ha... yep... dead... gone what do you mean gone? Ok I'm on it" he slammed the phone down and went down the stairs "Hey Mole" he called across the room "We've got a situation at the safe house"
"Oh what now, Shaun leave his post before he was suppose to can never rely on those damn X6's" Mole grumbled
"No he's dead"
"What? How'd that happen?"
"Snapped neck, and Lydeckers gone"
"Damn it. Get Max on the phone"
Luke dialled the phone and listened intently, he slammed down the reciever "They're out of range"
"Keep trying, I'll go check out the safe house" Mole threw the stub of his cigar on the ground and headed for the car pool.

Outside Shelby
January 14 2022

The sun was high as the Aztek bumped along the dirt road towards Buddy's farm "How much further?" Max sighed
"About a mile less than when you last asked me" Logan adjusted the rear vision mirror "Haven't seen Alec for awhile"
"He stopped back at Shelby to get a few things" Max wriggled around in her seat trying to get comfortable "He won't be far behind. Are you sure Zack is cool with this?"
"I double checked with Buddy this morning he said everything was fine"
"Maybe we should wait until Alec catches up, you know, just in case" Max looked over at Logan
"It's going to be fine Max trust me" their eyes met for a moment before Logan turned his attention back to the road "Ah here it is". They past the rusty letter box that stood tentatively at the start of the driveway, the cruised along for a few minutes before the house came into view. The Aztek pulled up beside the old farm house, they sat silently in the car for a moment before Logan made a move for the door, Max grabbed his hand before he could open it "Max are you ok?" he asked quietly
She thought for a moment "Yeah" she nodded and let go of his hand. As they both climbed out of the car Buddy came waddling along the porch of the house "Logan! So good to see you again" he came over to them and offered his hand to Logan, Logan took it gratefully
"Hey Buddy, how are you?"
"Good good yes everything has been running well. Ah and this must be Max, I remember you from the hospital. Well if you'll follow me I'll take you 'round to the shed where Adam ... I mean ah Zack is" Buddy led them around the side of the house to a small machinery shed "I'll get your bags. He's just in there" Buddy pointed towards the shed door and went back to the house.
Max paused for a moment before cautiously entering the shed
"Zack?" she scanned the dark shed and headed towards the clanging sounds that were coming from underneath an old tractor, Logan followed close behind. Zack slid out from under the tractor
"Max" a tight lipped smile came across his face, Max gave him a quick hug
"How have you been?" she said quietly
"Not bad, it's pretty nice out here." Zacks smile faded slightly when he saw Logan appear behind Max "Logan" he offered his hand but Logan looked at him suspiciously "Don't worry I'm over that whole killing you thing, if I wasn't you'd already be dead"
Logan cautiously shook his hand "So Buddy's been keeping you busy"
"Yeah, there's always something that needs fixing"

Shelby, Corner Store
January 14 2022

Alec switched the bike off and walked over to the corner store. He peered through the fly screen into the dark room he saw someone moving around behind the counter so he quietly slipped through the door. He stood in the shadow of the door and watched the young girl staking cans on the shelves behind the counter, she had her dark hair pulled back into a messy bun exposing her slender neck. She was shuffling things around on the shelf "Can I help you?" she said but she didn't turn around but just kept fixing the cans, Alec was taken by surprise thinking he hadn't been noticed so he didn't answer. "Can I help you?" she asked again this time she turned around and looked straight at him, her dark eyes piercing his,
"Ah yeah" he stepped forward into the light "Um I'm looking a gas station"
"You won't find any gas in here" she smiled sweetly and walked around the counter "anything else?" she brushed past him and started staking bags of flour
"Erm got any chocolate?" Alec let his eyes drift down her slim body
She looked at him sideways "You're not from around here are you?"
Alec snapped his eyes back up "Passing through from Seattle"
"Ah a city boy, I should have guessed. Unfortunately chocolate is in short supply out here" she smiled
"Thanks anyway, I better get going" he turned towards the door
"Where are you headed?"
"A ranch, run by umm Buddy" Alec replied
"I might see you around then, I do a bit of work out there"
"Yeah" Alec smiled

Buddy's Ranch
January 14 2022

Alec slowed his bike to a halt behind the farm house and looked around, he saw Max and Logan talking to someone by the shed so he wandered over.
"Zack?" Alec looked confused
Max smiled "You remember Zack don't you"
"Ben?" a look of confusion came across Zacks face as Alec joined the group
"Oh no not again" Alec shook his head "Sorry man, my psycho twin's dead, I'm Alec X5 494"
Zack thought about it for a moment "Sorry I don't remember you"
"Max you didn't tell me Zack was going to be here too" Alec spoke through his clenched teeth
"Don't worry he's ok now"
Alec relaxed a little "You know it was the strangest thing I just saw this girl, and I swear if I didn't know better you two were separated at birth" he looked at Max
Zack smiled "That would be Leah. You know you were the first person I thought about when I was getting my memory back" he said to Max "You know why? She reminds me so much of you"
"Smart, talented..." Max smiled
"Stubborn" Zack added "Seriously she looks similar to you it's kinda weird"

Terminal City
January 14 2022

"Anything?" Mole mumbled behind his cigar
"Nope, but I left a message on Logan's phone hopefully he will check them and call back on a landline" Luke flicked little bits of paper at the screens
"Max is going to be pissed. We have no idea who or what has the strength to overpower an X6 and we have no idea where the colonel is"
"You didn't even like the guy"
"No one did, I just don't like the fact that there is something out there that can take out a transgenic single handedly" Mole growled
"I guess we just have to wait for Max to get back"

Buddy's Ranch
January 14 2022

The sun sank slowly behind the trees Max and Zack lent on the railing of the porch and watched it go down
"So why did you really come out here Max?" Zack sighed
"I can't just see how my big brother is doing"
"And risk Logan's life... I don't think so"
Max sat silent for a minute before answering "There's an archive somewhere around here, it's got information ... about my mother, about our mothers"
"You're always on some mission aren't ya Max" Zack smiled "So where is this archive?"
"Not sure exactly, it was registered as a disused mail sorting office"
"A disused mail office? Tom works at this place down the road, said it was some kind of storage facility... I think it use to be a mail office" Zack looked over at Max
"Where?" Max looked back at him intently
"Just over the east boundary of the property in the middle of some thick forest"
"Strange place to have a storage facility, out in the middle of nowhere"
"Not if you don't want it to be found" Zack said