As I stroll back into Jam Pony, Sketchy comes up to me. "Check it out man – Max just broke Jason's arm!"

I lift an eyebrow. "She what?"

He shrugs. "Okay, so it's a muscle sprain, but she was kick ass fast! Just between us, I think she might be one of those mutants. That X series that looks human. Normal and I are going to check her for a barcode."

I shake my head a bit in shock. "Sketchy man, how could that be? That place only burned down what, 6 months ago?"

He nods.

"And you've known Max for a couple years."

"Yeah, but Eyes Only says that a bunch of them escaped more than ten years ago."

Stupid Fucking Logan Stupid Fucking Logan. Stupid Fucking Logan. Stupid Fucking Logan. "True, but you'd have picked up on it." I insist. Stupid Fucking Logan and his stupid fucking Eyes Only.

He nods slowly. "You're right. Normal will probably still check though. No harm, no foul, right?"

I smile tightly. "Absolutely." I gesture inside. "I should get in there."

"Yeah." He agrees, and crosses to his bike, taking off.

I quickly move inside and approach Max near the lockers. "Hey Maxie." I wrap my arms around her and kiss her neck lightly.

She smiles. "Hey you."

"You need a touchup." I whisper just below human hearing.

Her eyes widen. "I just got one yesterday." She murmurs back.

"It's coming back faster then."

She sighs. "How did you know to check?"

I turn her in my arms. "You sprained Jason's arm. Normal and Sketchy are curious."

"In my defense he pulled a gun on Wheels."

I tighten my hold on her a bit as she leans into me. "Okay, but come on. We need these sector passes. You know that."

She kisses me lightly. "Speaking of backup, Normal hired some friends of yours." I glance up and notice 511 standing with the rest of my unit. "He goes by Biggs." She murmurs.

"Biggs!" I call out.

He grins. "Alec!"

I wince as the unit members nearly stand at attention. We move to join them and I signal at ease, then sigh when they adopt a stance only a soldier would find comfortable. "Guys, come on, relax." I say firmly. They don't move. Max, of all people, giggles, and I glance down. "Something funny?"

She shakes her head, still giggling. "It's nothing." Her grin grows.

"Not that seeing you happy isn't a good change, but what's so funny?" I push.

"You thinking they're going to relax around you." she offers, and I freeze. Fuck. She's right. I hate it when she's right.

"They need to relax Maxie." I say in their general direction.

She nods. "Biggs, come talk to Alec." She moves towards the others as 511 moves closer.

When he gets close enough, I nod. "So what's up with them?"

"Nice girl you got there." He comments lightly.

"You know that's not why you're here. What's wrong with them?"

"You're the one who told them 'at ease' of all things." He offers carefully.

"Biggs, they pulled me from CO. You know that."\

"That's the thing dude. You remember the reason you got named CO? That still holds. It's why they know she's not 453, and why they haven't said anything to her about 09."

I sigh, and grin as they suddenly relax with whatever Max told them. "Do they have names?"

"Everyone but 665."

"Please don't tell me he was waiting for me."

"He's a techie 49 – Alec." He corrects himself quickly.

"You'll get used to it. It's why Maxie probably didn't ask for designations."

"Blonde is Cece, Red hair is Blaze. 398 decided to go by Jasmine, and 727 has been answering to Mikey."

"Mikey?" I ask carefully.

"Something about a really neat commercial he saw on one of his solos."

I lift my eyebrows. "The french fry kid?"

He nods. "That's the one."

"Nobody's heard from the others yet?"

He shrugs. "They were out on an op when Renfro tried to torch us. We were heading into TC tonight to check into it when 453 stopped us."

"What did Max call 665?"

"Dick."

I grin. "Of course she did." I mutter. "I'll talk to him."

"We were worried about you man. We couldn't find you anywhere after the fire, and then we saw that ridiculous hack about the Nomalie. Does that guy actually think Ordinaries are going to care that they were friends?"

"His name is Joshua, but yes, Eyes Only is pretty sure he makes a difference."

"You know him?"

"He's the reason I wasn't around for the fire." I glance at Max. "They gave her a retro-virus targeted to kill him. I was supposed to make sure it did."

Max's pager goes off then and she groans. I laugh, and toss her my cell. She hurls it back. "You call him." She calls.

I sigh, and glance at Biggs, whose eyebrows are lifted. "Yeah, I know him." I dial quickly.

"Max?" his voice asks through the phone.

"Nope, try again!" I grin into the phone.

"Alec." He deadpans. "I paged Max."

"I'm aware. What's up?"

"I need to ask her for a favor."

"Hang on." I hold the phone up towards her. "Logan needs a favor." I call over.

She glances up from her conversation with 323. Blaze. That's going to take some doing. "Tell him to stick it up his ass. I'm busy."

I put the phone back to my ear as Biggs begins to laugh. "Max says to stick it up your ass. She's busy." I repeat.

"It's important!" he shouts, and I wince. Girlie voice much?

"Just a sec." I glance back at Max. "He says it's important!"

She growls, and I grin. "I told you to call him so I wouldn't have to deal with this idiocy Alec. Get rid of him."

"And just how do you propose I do that?" I ask calmly, shaking my head at Biggs, whose laughter has increased.

"I don't care! I'm busy!"

"Max just took off her clothes Logan, we're going to have sex now." I end the call, and grin when she screeches as her pager goes off again.

She stalks over to me. "You suck." She mutters darkly.

I lean down to her ear. "Only if you ask really nicely Maxie." I whisper.

I feel her lean closer. "Promise?" her hands wrap around my waist.

I touch my lips to hers softly and smile. "Sure." I hold up my ringing cell. "That's probably for you." I murmur.

She takes it from me and flips it open. "What?" she clips.

"Thank god. Max, I think I –

"Fuck off Logan. We're busy." She cuts off the call.

"I really like her." Biggs comments lightly as he begins to recover.

I don't break eye contact with Max. "So do I." I wrap my arms around her tightly.

She moves in more closely. "Did Biggs explain to you not to give them commands?" she asks calmly.

"He did."

"BIP BIP BIP people!" Normal's voice cuts in. "The whole point of Motor Pony is faster service!" The unit begins to disperse, and I catch 665s attention as Max moves towards her bike in the middle of the room. I wonder what that's about?

"Hey." I nod at him to follow me out.

"You wanted to talk to me sir?"

"Didn't Max cover the 'sir' thing?" He hesitates, and I sigh. "Max called you Dick, right? I'm Alec by the way."

"Is that the name you're issuing me sir?"

I stop, and face him. "Is that the name you want? Because your name needs to be something you can live with for the rest of your life."

"I was Brad on a mission once. I liked it."

"Then Brad it is. Welcome to Seattle Brad."