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! Oh, by the way, I'm going on a holiday soon, so I won't be able to update until the 27th Oct or so.

BlueAngel137 – I'm glad that you find the plot intriguing. As it's meant to be an action/adventure fic, I hope that there would be enough of it to keep you on your toes (grins). Thanks for reviewing!

Calistra – Thanks for your review. Hehe, you know I can't really confirm whether or not you have guessed correctly. It'll be no more fun for you to read, otherwise.

X5898 – Heh! I can see the wheels in your mind churning out all sorts of theories, and I'm sure you'll hit on the actual one at some point as usual. (Grins) But I can't tell you which one! You'll have to read till the end, this way I could keep you hostage to the story (laughs wickedly!). I'm glad that the MZ interaction had lived up to expectations and had kept you amused. Hopefully you'll find the same in this chapter! Thanks for reviewing.

HoneyX5-452 – Thanks for reviewing. Glad you liked the MZ action. And you might have your wish after all. By the way, have you been updating your X5 in San Francisco and Betrayal?

Roxyroo – Yippee! I'm so glad that you're still here! You might get what you want in this chapter, in some ways. Thanks for reviewing!

Copper241 – Thanks for reviewing. Ah, yes…(smiles sheepishly) the next tv episode isn't going to happen here, unfortunately. I've taken this at the end of '411' and pushed it off on a tangent. It now has a new plot and a new direction. Hope that's okay with you.

Kay – Don't worry about logging in, I know how it feels, lol! I'm just happy that you reviewed. So thanks!

Angelofdarkness78 – Thanks for reviewing. Yeah, poor Zack's suddenly beginning to realise that he's having 'inappropriate' thoughts involving Max. Hehe! The barcode dude being Ben's work? You'll see soon who it is. But just keep an open mind, alright? Although I wished there were more reviews, I'm actually having lots of fun writing this. It's quite challenging and different from what I normally write.

Too lazy to log in – I hope you know who you are when you read this, lol! Thanks for reviewing and yes, here's the update. Hope you enjoy it.

Yashida – Hey there, thanks for reviewing! Glad you find it interesting. As for the plot, read on and you'll see where it's heading (hopefully!).

Rules Can Be Broken - Chapter 4

(by elle6778)

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."

Zack jumped up abruptly from the sofa as he heard Max's words. The words 'barcode tattoo' rang repeatedly in his ears.

Who could it be? None of them should be in Seattle right now, he thought frantically. He pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to remain calm as he cast his mind back to see if any of them had told him anything about being in Seattle. His search came up blank.

Then it hit him.

He groaned when he realised what must have happened. Max's barcode had been in the papers for anyone to see for the last one week. One of them must have seen it and had decided to come to Seattle. In which case it was hardly surprising that he had not known about it. Max was not the only one who had expressed a desire to reunite with her siblings. The rest of them had indicated at some point or another that they thought that Zack was being unreasonable about keeping them apart.

Now the question was, who could it be? The only three who would so blatantly disregard his orders were Ben, Krit or Zane. Whichever one he was, how the hell did he manage to get himself so beaten up that he had ended up in a hospital? No ordinary human could have done it. Maybe Lydecker had found him first and had tried to take him down. But how did Lydecker know who he was?

The questions continued to race through his mind, but he was not any closer to the answers. He decided that there was only one thing he could do.

Dreading her response, he turned to Max and said, "I'm going to go get him."

"I'll come with you," she said, as he expected.

Frowning, he shook his head and held out a restraining hand. "No, Max. You're injured. Just stay here until we get back, alright?" he ordered, hoping that for once, she would listen to him.

Fat chance of that happening.

Max put her hands on her hips and glared at him defiantly. "Oh, and let you have all the fun? Come on, Zack. You don't really expect me to just sit here quietly, do you?"

"Yes, I do! Bringing you along would be a liability, considering that you're not exactly in top condition right now. You've been shot and had just gone through a seizure. In the state you're in, you would run a higher risk of being caught," Zack insisted firmly, irritated that he had to waste his time explaining all these to her. Why did she find it so hard to obey a simple order? She definitely had not been this stubborn when they had been in Manticore years ago.

Rolling her eyes, Max pointed out, "I've been through worse when I had my seizure. Remember our escape? I had seizures back then as well. And I survived, didn't I? So let's stop wasting time yakking and let's go get him."

"I'm serious, Max. You're not going," Zack said resolutely.

Max looked thoughtful for a moment. Then smiling sweetly at him, Max said, "Well, you can say what you like but I'm definitely going. But you can always try to stop me."

Zack narrowed his eyes. "That sounded like a challenge, Max."

She grinned. "Did it?"

Zack scowled. There was only one thing he could do to stop her from going with him. He would hate himself for it afterwards, but it was for her own safety.

Also, it was not a good idea for her to meet with another one of their unit. It had been simpler when they were in Manticore, where his position as a CO dictated that they listen to him. But now, trying to get them to listen was always a struggle. He could deal with them on a one on one basis, but if they decided to gang up on him, he would lose all authority.

Hardening himself for what he was about to do, he stepped closer to her. "I'm sorry, Max. You've left me no choice," he said regretfully.

In a fraction of a second, Zack blurred smoothly behind her and wrapped his arms around her neck. In shock, she did not have time to protest before he applied a firm pressure, cutting off her air supply. She struggled, but he was much stronger.

When she felt limp in his arm, he quickly loosened his hold and lifted her onto the couch. Remorsefully, his fingers reached out to touch her neck, which was red from the pressure he had applied. Clamping down on his overwhelming feeling of regret, he told himself that he had no choice. She would be safer here. He deliberated for a moment if he should bind her, but then decided against it. Binding her would leave her too vulnerable.

Going around the room, he picked up his rucksack and his jacket. At the door, he turned to look over his shoulders at her unconscious form, hoping that she would forgive him for what he had just done.

As the rumbling sound of Zack's bike faded, Max snapped open her eyes and sat up.

From the look on his face, she had known that he had no intention of letting her follow him no matter what she said. Gingerly, she touched her neck, wincing it its soreness. She had half expected Zack to do something when she taunted him, but he had managed to surprise her when he tried to cut off her air supply.

She had pretended to collapse when he had held her in a chokehold. It had not been too difficult. Zack had released her too soon. He had obviously forgotten how good she had always been in the tank, she thought with a grin.

Pushing herself off the couch, she ran to the door and yanked it open, heading for her bike.

Zack was going to get some back-up whether or not he liked it, she thought smugly as she mounted her bike.

Zack could not shake away the feeling that he had forgotten something important. But as hard as he forced himself to think of what it might be, it still managed to elude him.

He shook his head slightly, determined to keep his focus on something more tangible. Like saving the transgenic in the hospital he had been watching for the last half hour. So far, he had seen no signs of Lydecker or anything untoward.

Casually, he straightened and walked towards the front door.

At the reception desk, he stood waiting as the harried looking receptionist spoke rapidly into the phone. When she finally looked up at him, he smiled. "Hi, I'm here to see my brother. Someone called me to say that he had been found in an alleyway?"

Returning his smile, she said, "Yes. I remember that one. He was pretty badly beaten up, poor soul. Go down the hallway on your left and it's the third room on the right. And oh, I understand that you probably want to see him right now, but you need to come back here later to fill in his forms."

Zack nodded his thanks and went in the direction she pointed him, all the while glancing surreptitiously around him to check if anything or anyone was out of place. So far, so good, he thought.

Pausing at the door to the third room on his right, Zack took a last look around the hallway before he twisted the knob and threw the door open without stepping in. When he scanned the room, he noted with relief that it did not look like a set-up and that the only person in there was the patient.

As Zack walked closer to the bed, his eyes confirmed the identity of the heavily bandaged man on the bed. His short blonde hair was in disarray against the pillow and his eyes were screwed shut, hiding the blue orbs from view.

"Zane, what the hell happened to you?" Zack muttered under his breath as he eyed the bandages around Zane's head, midsection and his right thigh.

At his words, Zane's eyes opened, flicking around wildly until he spotted Zack. Then he frowned. "Who are you?" he croaked.

Zack stiffened in shock. "What do you mean, Zane?" he asked warily, involuntarily taking a step back towards the door. He was confused. That was Zane, wasn't he?

Zane blinked rapidly. "Zane? Who's Zane and who are you?"

As his eyes zoomed in on the bandage around Zane's head, realisation slowly dawned. Zane must have hit his head quite hard to get this sort of memory loss. He hoped that it was not permanent. Better to check if he was really Zane, anyway.

"Turn over and show me the back of your neck," he ordered.

Zane's eyes widened. "Man, what the hell do you want that for? No way!"

Zack expelled an exasperated sigh. It had to be Zane, he thought. Even with his memory loss, he still retained his annoying character. "Turn around and I'll explain afterwards."

Grumbling under his breath, Zane rolled onto his left shoulder, wincing as he did so, and showed Zack the barcode at the back of his neck.

Zack noted with satisfaction that it was definitely Zane lying there. Stepping closer to him, Zack put his arms around Zane and tried to hoist him up into a sitting position.

"Ow, stop that. It freaking hurts," Zane protested, frowning.

Zack compressed his lips into a tight line. "Stop whining and start behaving like a soldier, would you?"

"Soldier?" he asked, agape.

"That knock on your head must have wiped out your memory. You're a soldier. I'm Zack, your Commanding Officer. I'll tell you everything you want to know later. Right now we've got to get you out of here before whoever that did this comes back to finish the job," Zack explained impatiently.

"Who did this to me?"

"My guess would be Manticore," Zack replied grimly as he tried to urge an uncooperative Zane off the bed.

Eyeing Zack suspiciously, Zane leaned away from him and asked, "How do I know you're telling the truth? For all I know, you could be the one after me."

Pausing mid-tug, Zack gave him an incredulous look. This was really a bad time for his Manticore-trained wariness to kick in. "You can't be serious. We have no time for this now. Now get your ass off the bed, soldier," Zack ordered irritably. For all he knew, Lydecker and his goons were on their way there now.

As soon as that thought entered his mind, Zack sensitive hearing picked up the sounds of heavy vehicles pulling to a stop outside the hospital. Rushing to the window and looking out, he saw a team of black-clad soldiers pouring out of three unmarked vehicles.

"Great," he muttered under his breath. Turning towards Zane, he threatened, "They're here now. If you don't want to be captured by Manticore, I suggest that you start trusting me. Or I'm leaving you here for them."

The seriousness of his tone must have convinced Zane of his sincerity, because without another word, Zane pushed himself off the bed gingerly, wincing as he did so. Zack allowed himself a small breath of relief. One hurdle passed and about a hundred more to go. Now he had to think of a way to get them out of the hospital without being detected.

The door suddenly burst open, prompting Zack to blur ahead into a fight stance between the door and Zane. When he noticed the person who entered, his stance relaxed but his face drew into a scowl.

"What the hell do you think you're doing here, Max?" he snapped. As if one was not enough, now he had to keep an eyes on two injured transgenic. And how did she manage to wake up so soon? He had thought that she would be out for at least an hour or two.

And what was she doing dressed up as a nurse, he wondered in annoyance as his eyes travelled down her bare legs out of their own volition. Very shapely, very bare legs. Then realising what he was thinking, he forcibly snapped his eyes back up to glare at her.

Max raised an insolent eyebrow and smirked at him. "I'm here to cover your ass, Zack," she said, wheeling a gurney in.

"How did you manage to get here so soon?" he asked, curious.

Max waved her hands dismissively. "Don't you remember, Zack? I was the best of our unit in the tank."

Zack groaned. So that was what he had forgotten earlier.

Turning her attention to Zane for the first time, Max's expression became emotional as she asked softly, "So, which one are you?"

Zane gave her a look filled with male interest, his eyes running up and down her body in a thorough appraisal, much to Zack's disgust. Before Zane could say anything, Zack said tersely, "This is Zane. Unfortunately, he can't seem to remember who he is."

Max's eyebrows shot up in surprise, and then she said slowly, "Okay…this is not exactly how I imagined our reunion."

Turning to Zane, Zack said meaningfully, "This is Max, one of your siblings."

Zane gave him a sceptical look. He did not say anything out loud but his expression said it all; Yeah, right. He was obviously not convinced that Max and him were related. Which was understandable seeing how different they looked compared to each other.

Max grinned as she caught Zane's expression.

Zack's eyes narrowed as Zane returned her grin.

Max was glad that she came. Zack definite looked as if he needed help, whether or not he wanted to admit it.

When she had slipped in earlier, not too far behind Zack, she had gone straight to the nurses' quarters, knowing that some form of disguise was necessary for them to execute an escape.

She had been nervous and excited at the same time at the thought of seeing one of her brothers. When she saw Zane for the first time, she could not believe how much he had changed. Whilst he had the same colouring as Zack, Zane's features appeared less formidable and more approachable.

She had seen the assessing look he had given her, but did not think much of it. He was probably just as curious about her as she was about him. She had also noticed Zack's reaction, and for some reason, it pleased her that Zack appeared to think that she needed protection from Zane.

Then remembering the situation they were in, she gestured to the gurney and said, "Well, hop on, guys. We've got to get out of here. Lydecker's men are already here."

She rolled the gurney closer to the bed.

With Zack's help, Zane laid himself onto the bottom part of the gurney. Zack went on the higher platform. Max covered Zack completely with a large light green sheet, letting the edges of the cloth fall around the gurney to hide Zane from view as well.

A second later, she wheeled them out of the room.

Just as she turned around the corner, she heard the rapid approach of heavy footsteps, heading towards the room they had just vacated. That was a close call, she thought, her heart beating faster.

Stabbing a finger at the outline of Zack's shoulder, she whispered down to him, "Aren't you glad that I'm here?"

A snort came from under the covers before she heard Zack reply, "Don't speak so soon, Max. We're not exactly safe yet."

Max rolled her eyes at his pessimism and continued to push the gurney until they reached the rear fire exit which led to a back alley.

Hoping that Lydecker had not posted any guards there, Max whipped the sheets off Zack and gestured to the door.

"I'm not sure if Lydecker's got this exit covered, but this is the only way out I could think of," she said to him as he got up and pulled Zane to his feet.

Zack frowned his disapproval at her. "You didn't do a recon before you brought us here?"

Max stared at him disbelievingly. "And when was I supposed find time to do that, huh? Between dressing up as a nurse and finding an empty gurney in an extremely busy hospital?" she retorted.

"Do you guys argue like this all the time?" Zane asked, switching his gaze back and forth between them.

"No!" They said simultaneously, and then exchanged an uncomfortable look.

"Oh, whatever! Let's get this bitch over with," Max finally said. Watching the two males behind her, she said, "Ready?"

At their nod, she turned around and pushed the door open.

She could hardly believe their luck when she saw what was in front of them.

"Oh, great!" she muttered.

t.b.c.

A/N: Please feed me reviews! I crave them, really, lol. Tell me what you think of this chapter and what's the deal with Zane. I would love to know your thoughts on this.