Disclaimer: Dark Angel and its characters do not belong to me. This fan-fiction had been written purely for entertainment purposes. No infringement intended and no profit had been made out of this.
A/N: Thank you all for all your wonderful support in reading and reviewing this!
HoneyX5-452 – Thanks for reviewing both chapters! Hehe! You're so obviously a MZ fan! Glad you liked it so far.
X5898 – Thanks for reviewing. Hehe! I liked that line too (if I may say so!). It's basically there to show that however much Zack may follow rules, he would still try to keep Max's approval whenever he could. Glad you liked the non-bitchy Max. I don't think I can go though with the pain of the way she treated Zack in S1, LOL!
Wildsky – (Blushes) I'm glad you're enjoying the way I wrote Max and Zack. The first two chapters kind of set the tone of their relationship and now we'll get a glimpse of the main plot. Thanks for reviewing!
Blissfully-jaded73 – Thanks for your review. I'm glad you like it so far. Main plot kicking in soon, so keep on reading!
L80bug – Hey, nice to see you here! Hope you'll enjoy this chapter and thanks for reviewing.
Angelofdarkness78 – You're meant to read and savor the words, not skim, lol! Kidding! I know what you mean. I do the same too, hehe! I'm glad you think that they're in character. I think that's the hardest bit to write! Hmm, maybe updating too soon is not good; I don't want to interrupt your homework (grins). Thanks for reviewing.
X52-599 – Thanks for your review. Glad you liked the story. Hehe! I'll keep your offer in mind and if I get stuck, I'll be sure to beg you for help!
Roxyroo – Yeah, I'm trying to be impartial about the MA vs MZ thing, but look at what I normally write and you can tell which pair I ship, lol! Thanks for reading and reviewing this! I appreciate the support!
Rules Can be Broken - Chapter 3
(by elle6778)
Zack rushed towards Max, catching her just in the nick of time before she hit the ground. Holding her securely, he carried her to the door, kicked it open, and brought her inside the cold, dark cabin.
Falling to his knees onto the dust-covered wooden floor, his breath caught in his throat as her shaking intensified. He called out urgently, "Max! MAX! Wake up!"
But caught up in the throes of her seizure, she did not answer. Her eyes were shut and her entire body was tense as she spasmed continuously. Zack forced himself to remain calm, knowing that he needed a cool head to think of a way to help her.
Then he remembered the bottle of Tryptophan he had grabbed earlier. Cradling her convulsing body with one arm, his other arm went to rummage blindly within his rucksack.
When his fingers found the bottle of Tryptophan, he pulled it out and yanked off the cap with his teeth. Trying to keep his fingers steady, he shook out two pills and slid them between Max's lips.
"Come on, Max. Take it," he urged as he tried to force them past her clenched teeth. When she did not respond, he snapped harshly, "Pull yourself together! This is an order, soldier!"
It seemed to have the desired effect as Max suddenly blinked. "Zack?" she mumbled blearily.
Zack pushed the pills into her mouth. At her questioning look, he explained, "Tryptophan."
Max swallowed and leaned back against him, closing her eyes again. Zack noted with relief that as her system began to digest the medication, the intensity of her seizures gradually reduced.
It took another fifteen minutes before her convulsions ceased and that was when Zack finally allowed himself to breath normally.
He lifted her up and carried her across the room to a dusty couch.
"Lie here and don't move. I'll go get a fire started," he said, lowering her carefully.
Max nodded listlessly and shut her eyes, breathing evenly.
When he went back to her fifteen minutes later, a small fire was dancing in the fireplace, bringing warmth to the room. Max had already fallen asleep. She seemed to look a bit better, he thought with relief as he noted the colour in her cheeks. He felt almost bad that he had to wake her, but it was necessary.
Laying his hand on her shoulders, he shook her lightly. "Max, wake up. We're not done yet."
"Huh?" she mumbled as she blinked in confusion.
He could not keep the look of worry from seeping into his expression when he noted how lack-lustre her responses were. She seemed so out of it. Holding up a gleaming knife, he said, "Your wound needs to be cauterised."
Max groaned as she sat up reluctantly, swaying slightly. She clutched the side of the couch to steady herself. "Fine. Let's get this over with."
Schooling his face so that his embarrassment did not show, he gestured to her pants and said briskly, "You've got to get that off or we'd have to cut through it."
Max's eyes widened as she realised what he meant. Then she said dully, "Seeing that this is the only pair that I have now, I don't seem to have much of a choice."
Zack did not comment. Pulling the paper with the ad out of his rucksack, he rolled it up and gave it to her. "You might want something to bite on when I do it."
Wordlessly, Max nodded as she took the proffered item and set it down beside her.
Zack averted his gaze when her hands went to her waist, uncomfortable at the thought of seeing Max partially clothed. He decided to keep himself occupied by going to the fireplace to hold the blade of the knife in the flames.
He was confused by his reaction. It was not as if he had not seen her in fewer clothes before. Manticore had been pretty much an equal opportunity, sexless organisation. All of them had shared showers for years. But she's an adult now. She has a body of an adult, not a nine-year-old, a voice in his head told him.
As if he needed to be told.
Her voice shook him out of his internal conversation. "Well, I'm ready," she said quietly, but strangely did not seem as flustered as he was. Zack decided that the medication must have numbed her inhibitions slightly.
Or maybe she thought that there was nothing for her to be bothered about. Somehow that thought did not sit too well with him.
Zack stared at red-hot blade of the knife for a moment, and then went back to Max who was sitting at the edge of the couch. His eyes went to her left thigh, where a jagged bloody hole had been torn in it. He forced himself not to notice the black lacy thing she had on.
The black lacy thing which did not cover much.
Disgusted with himself for having thoughts equivalent to those of a hormonal teenager, he clenched his hand harder around the knife and knelt down in front of her, determined to keep his mind on the task ahead. He knew that he had nothing to give her to numb the pain and it was going hurt.
Trying to keep the remorse from his voice, he said flatly, "This is going to hurt."
"Go ahead," she said, taking a deep breath and bit on the roll of paper.
Hardening himself, he quickly brought the knife down. A searing sound could be heard as her flesh hissed and burned. Max shut her eyes and groaned but did not pull away.
When Zack withdrew the knife, he could hear her expel a relieved breath as the paper fell from her mouth. Glad that it was finally over, he ripped one of his clean shirts into strips and wrapped it around her thighs.
He was still trying very hard not to notice that black lacy thing she was wearing or what it covered. If he continued that way, he would probably end up embarrassing himself. Snap out of it, soldier, he berated himself. It annoyed him that his mind refused to obey his orders.
When he finished, he noticed that she had already fallen asleep. He pushed her down into a lying position on the couch and draped his jacket over her exposed legs.
As the events of the night caught up with him, exhaustion overtook him and he allowed himself to lean back against the couch. The sound of Max's breathing finally lulled him to sleep.
Lydecker was pacing back and forth across the length of the empty warehousethat they had decided to use as a temporary base.
"Tell me again, how did they manage to get into the building and later escape fully intact? Considering that there are nine of you to only two of them?" he bit out harshly as he raised a questioning brow at the squad leader standing at attention in front of him.
"Sir, we have no idea how they got in. None of us saw anything. But when they left the building, we did try to go after them. But then we lost them," the soldier said nervously.
"Did you even manage to note down which direction they were heading to?" Lydecker asked, trying hard to keep a rein on his temper.
The soldier nodded almost eagerly, "They were headed south, sir."
"So what are you waiting for now?" Lydecker snapped.
Not understanding what Lydecker meant, the unfortunate soldier asked gingerly, "Sir?"
"I can't believe this," Lydecker muttered under his breath. Then glaring at the soldier, he barked, "Head south and track them down. Do not, I repeat,do notkill them. I want them alive."
"Yes, sir," the soldier replied quickly.
"Dismissed," Lydecker snapped.
As the soldier left the warehouse, Lydecker shook his head, muttering under his breath, "I'm surrounded by idiots."
He stopped pacing and began to run through the plans in his head. Although theydid not manage to succeed this time, Lydecker was not overly worried.
He had not spent all these years searching for his kids without coming up with a few alternative plans. Pleased that one of those plans could be utilised now, he smiled. Taking out his cell phone from his pocket, he dialled a familiar number.
"Sandoval. Lydecker here.Proceed with Plan C. The mission file is on my desk, labelled C-206."
The sun was high in the sky when Max cracked open her eyes. Blinking blearily, she sat up, wondering where she was.
Then she remembered.
She flushed with embarrassment when she realised that she was sitting there practically naked from waist down with only Zack's jacket to cover her. Ah well, it's not as if he haven't seen it all, she reasoned, thinking back to their Manticore days. Anyway, he did not seem too bothered when he was tending to her wound last night, not that she recalled that much considering she had felt pretty zoned out most of the night. Only parts of it remained in her mind. Max rolled her eyes as she remembered the efficient manner he had approached the issue of her removing her pants. Zack probably had not even noticed that she had not been a nine-year old kid for a long time now.
Scanning the room, she spotted Zack. He was curled up on the floor in front of the couch. A smile curved her lips as she recalled how he took care of her in his usual brisk manner. She had no doubt that he cared for her but his actions last night reinforced it.
Considering the hectic night they had, she had not really had the chance to see study how he had changed in the last decade since she had last seen him. Manticore had done a good job on him, she thought, her mind quoting the words Zack had said to her just last night. Her eyes traced over his strong features, lingering on his stubborn jaw and his full bow-shaped lips. She would bet that those lips had rendered many females breathless.
Her breath caught.
Whoa, Max! Don't even THINK of him that way, she admonished herself, quickly tearing her eyes away, just in case her mind decided to come up with more disconcerting thoughts about Zack.
She must have made a sound or something because Zack suddenly moved, dragging her attention back to him. Instantly alert the way only a highly trained transgenic could be, he snapped his blue eyes open and fixed his gaze on her.
"So how are you feeling?" he asked by the way of greeting.
Slightly taken aback at his expressionless tone, Max did not answer for a while. Then she realised that Zack being Zack was still following the rules. With the phenomenal memory power bestowed on her by Manticore, she could even remember exactly when they had been taught one particular lesson.
They had been sitting facing the front of the room, their hands on the table exactly at ninety degrees from their body. The instructor was pointing to the board as he rapped out one after another rule which they had to learn.
"Rule E.21: Emotions. Emotions will cloud judgement and reduce the ability to form an educated and impartial assessment, leading to higher probability of mission failure. Any signs of emotion will not be tolerated. You are soldiers, and emotions have no place in your lives."
Max sighed. It would seem that Zack had taken that rule to heart. Outwardly, anyway.
Zack's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "Max! I asked you if you're alright?"
His face came into focus. Still expressionless, she thought with a grimace. She waved her hands in a dismissive gesture and said, "I'm fine. Slept well?"
"It's okay. Floor's a bit hard, I have to say," he said, getting off the floor and brushing the dust off himself.
The sound of a series of beeps caught her attention. It came from her jacket. Dragging it off the back of the couch, she pulled out her pager, wondering who it was. Recognising the number on display, she frowned slightly. "Damn. I've got to get to a phone."
"Why? Who's that?" Zack demanded to know as he walked away to the fire, checking if there were still any burning embers.
Pushing herself off the couch, Max stood up and stretched. "It's Logan."
"Who's Logan?" Zack asked with a frown, turning to her. "Max, could you put something on?" he snapped, quickly looking away, hence not catching the surprised expression on Max's face.
So he was not quite unaffected as he seemed, she thought in amusement. Swallowing the urge to tease him about it, she quickly put on her trousers, making a face at the patch of dried blood. "It's one of my favourites too," she muttered under her breath as she walked to the bathroom.
Grimacing at the dilapidated state of the bathroom, she proceeded to try to remove the bloodstain. Then remembering the question Zack had asked her, she yelled over her shoulders, "Logan's a guy who had been helping me find you all. And in turn, I help him with stuff. Quid-pro-quo, he called it."
"Another Vogelsang?" he exclaimed. "What's the matter with you, Max? Don't you realise that this sort of exposure could compromise your security?" he asked in a hard tone, his expression disbelieving.
Max stiffened at his words. Slowly, she turned around and walked towards him. "What security? The guy already knew about Manticore even before I turned up. The minute he saw my barcode, he knew what I was," she defended herself.
"Your barcode was exposed?" Zack asked, incredulous.
Max rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I kind of thought that it works as a fashion statement," she said as crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him defiantly.
"Max, this is not a laughing matter. What do I have to say to make you understand?" Zack said, exasperated.
"Okay, okay. It wasn't exposed, alright? He saw it by accident," Max explained.
Zack frowned at her. "And how did that happen?"
His reaction was beginning to rile her. It was not as if normal people knew what the barcode stood for. Logan's case had been different because he was Eyes-Only. Taking a calming breath, she said, "Look, he already knows. So what's the big deal?"
"What do you mean? It's not a big deal? You're risking yourself, Max. The way you carry on, you might as well hand yourself back to Manticore on a platter," Zack shouted in anger.
"Well, nothing had happened in the last decade, so would you please just stop being so paranoid?"
"I'm not being paranoid. The incident yesterday with Lydecker should have told you something. Don't you get it, Max? You can't afford to trust anyone with your identity. People have weaknesses, and Manticore knows how to exploit these weaknesses. Who says this Logan would not give you up to Lydecker if he was threatened?" Zack challenged.
"He won't," she replied confidently. Why must Zack be so picky about everything she did and who she trusted? She had to trust someone; she just could not go around suspecting everyone she met of having bad inclinations towards her.
"Max, you don't know that."
I give up, she thought. Sighing wearily, Max said, "We're going nowhere with this conversation. So why don't we just cut it short. Anyway, I need to find a phone to call Logan."
Zack laid a restraining hand on her arm. When she looked back at him inquiringly, he pulled out a cellphone from his jacket and handed it to her. "Here. Use this," he said grudgingly.
Max stared at the phone in his hand in surprise. Then she grinned cheekily and said, "Gee, I'm surprised you actually own one of this. I thought it would be considered a security risk."
Smirking, Zack retorted smugly, "It's untraceable. You don't really think I would expose myself that way, do you?"
She rolled her eyes. "Why am I not surprised?" she said with a grin, and then proceeded to dial Logan's number.
When Logan answered the phone, she greeted, "Max here hitting you back."
She listened as he spoke, her frown growing by the second. Then she said, "Are you sure, Logan? Where did this happen?"
A minute later, she said, "Alright, I'm on to it," and hung up the phone. Before Zack could ask her anything, she said, "Logan said that one of his contacts called. A male in his early twenties had been admitted to Harbour Lights hospital. Apparently a woman was taking out her garbage when she found him unconscious next to her dumpster, bleeding all over."
Zack stared at her in bewilderment. Gesturing to the phone, he said, "This is part of your quid-pro-quo? Helping people who were beaten up and left to rot next to a dumpster?"
Max took a deep breath. "Zack, his contact said that the male's only distinguishing mark is a barcode tattoo at the back of his neck."
t.b.c.
A/N: Yep…Main plot coming up! So what do you think of this chapter? Please review and let me know. I need the encouragement!