A/n: Thanks again for your wonderfully encouraging reviews, guys.
Fingers crossed, the new Blitz chap should be up in a couple of days, and I guarantee massive fluff content. We're talking candyfloss fiction here. In fact, I'm getting action scene withdrawal...
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Chapter 3:
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"Hey, kids, I'm home," said Max, letting herself into the safe house where her siblings and Lydecker were staying, balancing a cardboard box on her hip.
"Hey, Max," said Krit, looking up from the dismantled handgun he was cleaning.
"Where is everyone?" Asked Max, setting the box down on the table beside him.
"Zack's sleeping, Syl's keeping an eye on Lydecker while he tries to find out what's happening at Manticore. What's that?"
"Brought you some supplies," said Max. "Anything new come up overnight?"
"Nope. Been pretty dull around here. Except Zack said if Manticore really is shutting down he'd let us have an X5 reunion."
"You're kidding. Zack said we could see the others? I didn't know those X7s got in any cracks to his head."
"They didn't," said Zack, emerging from a bedroom. "And I said I'd think about it. Miracle Boy not with you?"
Max's face fell. "Logan's still a little off his game from last night. Anyway, he knew I wanted a chance to talk to you guys."
"Are you gonna make me say it again, Max?" Asked Zack. "He ties you here, stops your safety being your top priority. Why can't you see that he's going to get you killed?"
"He saved my life last night, Zack," snapped Max. "Not for the first time. And as I recall, he's saved your ass once or twice as well. Get it in your head; Logan can protect me just as well as you can. And there is no way I'm leaving him just as the pressure's letting up."
Max's smouldering brown eyes locked onto Zack's icy blue ones, defying his authority. They stayed locked for an unbearably long moment.
Then Zack looked away. "All right, Maxie," he said. "It's your decision how you live your life."
"Damn straight," said Max, but there was a hint of bewilderment in her voice that he should give up so easily.
Just then, the door opened and Syl entered, dragging Lydecker with her.
"Hey, guys," the blonde X5 said, picking up on the tension. "I miss anything?"
"Nothing important," said Zack. "Did you get any intel?"
"I've put out feelers to a few contacts I have in Manticore still loyal to me," said Lydecker, examining the scene with narrowed eyes. "They should be getting back to me in the next day or two."
"Good," said Zack, still suspicious.
"I brought junk food," said Max. "How about we tie Lydecker up somewhere and hang out for the afternoon?"
"Sounds good to me," said Krit. "But don't you wanna go play nurse with your boyfriend?"
"He's not my boyfriend," said Max automatically.
And he isn't, she realised, even as the others looked sceptical, eyebrows raised. I practically proposed to him this morning and he still isn't my boyfriend. But I think, when he's wrapped his head around this whole X7 thing, he might want to be. I just have to give him a little time. He'll come around; I mean, this is Logan, right?
Logan, the most stubborn, pigheaded man on the planet? A little voice sneered at her. Who gave up all his money for his principles; who says he won't give you up for them too?
Shut up, Max told herself fiercely. He said he wanted to give me everything. And I believe him. If I can't have faith in Logan, I can't have it in anything.
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Renfro leaned back in her executive swivel chair in her Manticore office and sighed. The committee had given her one week to locate and destroy Lydecker and the rogue X5s. And the only lead she had was a civilian they hadn't managed to identify yet. His fingerprints hadn't been listed on any database anywhere, as far as they could tell, which was suspicious in itself. She had the entire lab staff working on the DNA they'd managed to pull off the gun, but DNA analysis takes time, and so far they had nothing.
Renfro puzzled over who this 'Logan' could be. They knew enough about his DNA to know for sure he wasn't an X5, or any other kind of transgenic for that matter. What possible grudge could he have against Manticore? Was he another former employee, like Lydecker? Or could it be that he was connected to the X5s in another way?
Renfro almost wished to have Lydecker back; the man was an incompetent pain in the ass, but he understood how his 'kids' thought better than anyone.
Then a thought occurred to Renfro that made her sit up, amazed it hadn't hit her sooner. She reached for her computer and pulled up the file on X5 452.
"Of course," she purred. "He saved 452; there must be a connection there... And for the last few months, she's been living in..."
Renfro picked up her phone and put a call through to the computer lab. "This is Renfro. I want a list of all the males named Logan resident in the city of Seattle on my desk ASAP."
"Yes, ma'am," came the rather frightened reply.
Renfro sat back and smiled. Perhaps this mission was possible after all.
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Logan was still just sitting in his chair, gazing unseeing out of the window, for some hours after Max left. He was lost in thought, not even noticing when the sky began to darken towards night. He finally snapped out of it when the phone rang; for the first time since he'd met her, Logan found himself praying it wasn't Max as the answering machine picked up.
"Hey, Logan, it's me." Figures, thought Logan bitterly.
"C'mon, pick up, I know you're there. I was just gonna take my peeps over to Crash; thought you might wanna come. You know, kick back and take your mind off things? We'll be there all night if you want to join us; gonna leave Lydecker chained to something for the evening. Anyway, hope I see ya there. Late."
Suddenly, Logan felt trapped, confined. Everything in his apartment – everything in the city – reminded him of Max. He needed space, somewhere free of memories of the woman he loved to try and sort out his tangled emotions. Every time he saw her face, even in his mind's eye, he saw the child he'd killed in her defence; and the guilt threatened to overwhelm him.
Children were meant to be protected; Logan had lived by this principle all his life. It was part of the reason he'd started Eyes Only in the first place. He'd always defended those weaker than himself, like when Bennett had been bullied at their boarding school. Logan had used his size, age and athletic status to force the other boys to leave his baby cousin alone.
Now, he was responsible for the death of an innocent child, who knew no better than to obey the doctrine that had been hammered into her all her short life and attempt to hurt Max. A few years ago she could have been Max; the image of the girl's familiar dark eyes, filled with pain and confusion as she lay bleeding in his arms, was more than Logan could take.
Decision made, Logan set about making the necessary arrangements for his trip, hoping the physical activity would distract him from his thoughts.
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So? Any thoughts?