Usually, she never slept. But her pregnancy didn't like her no sleeping policy. So now, she slept everywhere : in cars, at the dinner in the middle of her lunch, and apparently on planes too. Two hours into the flight and she was out.

"You're two weeks pregnant M'am."

She was tossing in her seat.

"So let me go with you…" said Alec.

"No." she whispered in her sleep.

"452!" hissed White trying to wake her up. He so wouldn't touch her. Ames clenched his jaw as she wouldn't wake up.

"I told you it wasn't safe for you there…See what happened." The last voice was Zack's.

"No! Zack." Her voice was close to a scream.

The stewardess was starting to look at them. Reluctantly, he called her by her name.

"Max." That seemed to still her a bit. "Max, wake up."

Slowly the dark haired transgenic opened her eyes. It took her a fraction of a second to recognize her surroundings. She turned to look at him.

"You were dreaming," he stated his voice full of reproach.

She didn't even raise the venom in his sentence and nodded. The dreaming was one of the reasons why she didn't sleep. Not only because she was blessed with her shark DNA but because the nightmares were always there. These days, they were more frequent. She thanked whoever it was that allowed her to go on weeks without a wink of sleep.

"You're not going to faint on me again are you?" asked White. There was genuine concern in his voice. Probably because she hadn't reacted to his tone as she usually would have.

She just turned her back on him and looked through the window. "No," came her late answer.

"You ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Ames muttered a 'Females!'. As if that was supposed to explain her behavior.

She turned again to look at him this time and smiled. A genuine smile. It wasn't the first time that she heard him mention her, not as an animal but as a member of the fairer sex. It made her hope. If White could think of her as a person, than anyone could do the same. There was hope for the transgenics.

A part of Ames was happy that she smiled though he really had no idea why, and another part of him was annoyed as hell that he was glad because he had made her smile. A disturbing thought if there ever was one for him. All of this was disturbing. All of this was wrong.


White had gone to retrieve their luggage while Max went to the car rental. They argued about who would drive and Max won.

"Now what?" she asked as she steered them through traffic.

"Now, you drive us to Paris and the hotel."

"What's the address?"

"2, rue Gramont in the 2nd district," replied Ames with a slight accent.

"Ah! La résidence Métropole Opéra. Can't stand low class hotel, can we ?"

"Well I have class, and you don't, I have the money and the contacts and you don't." He conveniently forgot that she was the one who found them the clean IDs.

"Ooh! So we're back to trading insult?" There it is was again. The smile in her voice. How could he notice something so humane in her?

"Anyway, how do you know that it's a good hotel?" He scrunched his forehead trying to hide his thoughts.

"It's not a simple hotel, it's a Residence. And a fancy one at that! They don't provide rooms: they provide a 'pied à terre'. A studio room or a 2 room apartment, huge lofts also, if I remember correctly. All with the services of the best four stars hotel, in the best part of the capital."

"How do you know all that?" the question was out of his mouth before he could control his tongue.

"I've lived here for 4 years," she whispered. She didn't really know why she told him this. Years have passed since she had set foot on the French soil. It sent her back to her debut as a cat burglar.


"Hey baby girl!"

"I'm not a baby girl! I just saved your ass from the cops so better show some respect!" the young girl replied. She was about ten at the time. Months ago she had flown from the foster family she was staying with. Just a few days after the pulse.

"You've got spirit I like that!" the older man had smiling eyes. She still remembered those smiling eyes.

She turned to face the man. He was in his late thirties. He had an accent she never heard before since she entered the underground world.

"So you're a thief," continued the man.

"So are you…" the young Max snapped.

"I didn't say it was a wrong. I was just suggesting that you are still very young, and you've got a lot to learn from a guy like me."

"Umph!" she resumed her walking, turning her back on him. Zack would have had her hide for doing that. Never turn your back on your enemy. But she didn't feel like this man was her enemy. "Ten minutes ago, I was the one who saved your arse, so whatever."

"You know for a girl you're cocky!"

She turned around again, facing him. She shot daggers at him. He noticed she was small, and thin, as if she didn't eat regularly. She was probably a run away, fleeing an abusive step father or something of the sort. He wasn't far from the truth.

The man raised his hands in mock surrender.

"Okay. Sorry I hurt you feeling young paddawan."

"Paddawa what?" Max frowned, repeating the offending word in her head.

"Paddawan…You know Star Wars, Anakin Skywalker…Ring a bell? Girl where did you live the last decade?"

You don't want to know, she thought. And then she went on and said, "Whatever? Now stop stalking me!"

Louis hadn't stop 'stalking' her that night. And the years after that, they had become quite good friends. Louis had brought her home, to France.


"You lived here? You?" Ames was completely baffled.

"Yeah, so what? You don't believe a freak could live here?" she said in a defensive tone.

"No. I'm just … no…"

"I followed my mentor here. He taught me everything about art and how to steal art. The happiest years of my life."

"Of course," Ames added ironically. "If it was so fun, why did you leave?" White thought she wasn't going to answer.

"Because I wanted to find my family." She finally said.

It was odd that she was confessing those memories to him, Ames White, of all people. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. It wasn't a hurtful subject. She just didn't like the way Ames stared at her as he could for the first time, really see her.

"Quit staring will you!"

"I can't believe you lived here!" he exclaimed as he turned his eyes away from her.

"Well get over it. We're almost there." She added.


"I'm leaving the States baby girl! I'm going home."

"Stop calling me that." Max was bout 12.

Louis smiled. "You wanna come with me?"

"It's not my home."

"But you don't have one, do you? Mine could be yours."

The young girl furrowed her brow and made her older friend smile again.

"Ok."

"Give me five then!" said Louis enthusiastically.

"Don't ever do that again!"

Louis let out a heart full laugh.


"Hello."

"Welcome" answered the hostess.

"We booked a suite 2 room," muttered Ames to the woman.

"What?"

"On a réservé une suite à deux chambres," explained Max.

"Oh. Of course, name please."

"White."

"Oh, Mr and Mrs White. You're on the 4th floor. I'm sure you'll like it. The grooms will get your luggage upstairs."

"Thank you."

Though they slipped undetected from the Conclave, from Logan, someone else caught them on their radar the second they landed in Charles de Gaulle Airport.


"Sir?"

The man lifted his eyes from the documents he was studying.

"We have a call from the team in France. They're receiving a signal of a 4th implant in Paris," said a man with spectacles. He still had his phone in his hand.

"What? Are they sure? It can be some kind of interference…" The older man was in military uniform.

"No there's no doubt sir. It's a 4th implant."

"It's not possible. The only implant we lost was…" the older man clasped his hands in glee. "Finally!"

"It must be the transgenic that stole the implant in Seattle."

"Change the mission for the team in Paris."

"Already done sir."

"Good job! Good job. Soon, we'll have all we need." Years of research and patience were finally paying.


She couldn't help but scan the room; it was the soldier inbred in her, something she always did the last year. To her 'horror', White had the same reflex. Once they had determined that the room was indeed safe, they went in their respective room. They were undeniably on opposite side, yet, the last weeks had shown them how similar they were.

Looking through the window, she noticed a van of 'Darty' parked across the street. She looked at the time on her cell. Probably doing a delivery, she mused.

Soon it was diner time and Max and Ames found themselves sitting in front of each other in a Cuban restaurant in the 2nd district. She had convinced him to dine at "Mi Cayito".

The entire time she felt like she was being watched. As a result, she kept fidgeting on her chair. She was even neglecting the 'Lechon asado en pua', the pork grilled dish that she had ordered. And it had been one of her favorite dishes when she still lived here.

"What's wrong with you?" Ames finally asked.

"I don't know. Something's off. I need to go to the toilets."

She rose up and went for the toilets. Midway there, she noticed the same van that was parked in front of the hotel, parked next to the restaurant. It was past delivery time. At that moment, she saw three men getting out of the car. She never saw those men of her life but she easily recognized what they were: Reds. And that meant she was dead.

How could she be stupid enough to forget the implant? To forget that it was the same way that Alec had found her at Logan's place when she escaped the second time?

She walked back to their table.

"That was fast…" Ames commented.

"We need to go." She ordered.

"What? I didn't get my desert yet!" he replied.

"We need to go now or we're dead."

She was grateful that he didn't question her further more and followed her out of the restaurant, through the back.

"Don't slow down," she ordered, she had her eye on her watch.

"What, no one's following us. I know how to lose a tail…"

"It doesn't matter. They'll always know where I'll be. As long as I have the implant in my head and unless I die, they'll always find me."

Half an hour later, White knew how she had the implant in her head.

"You should have let the human die," he commented.

"I would never do that."

"You should have. It's going to get you killed one day. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do in order to survive," he spat angrily.

"Like killing your wife for example."

Without hesitation, he answered: "Yes. It was necessary." It was in moments like these that she remembered who he really was. The snake to her mangoose.

"Just like injecting poison in your son," she spat. She wanted to hurt him.

"He had to pass the test! Otherwise, he would have been dead!" he said matter of factly. "What do we do now?"

"We have a small window of time. They need to scan each district; we can buy one or two hours by getting out of Paris. I know someone who could help us. He may have the technology to override the implant's system…"

"Why don't we just fight them?"

"You don't fight the reds, unless you're a red. Trust me they are worst than you, they are stronger than you. And you may have a high threshold of pain, but they don't have a threshold of pain, they don't feel anything, and they're desperate." She paused. "Just keep driving for now."


The late hour had always been her friend. The time where the moon covered her deeds. She easily got into the fancy apartment of the 5th district, dodged all the traps her old friend had in place.

At the moment, she had a knife right under his neck.

"Wake up Louis," she whispered at his ear.

"2 minutes maman"

"Je ne suis pas ta mère, " Max replied saying that she wasn't his mother.

Slowly the man called Louis opened his eyes.

The man straightened up immediately as he recognized the voice and the face of the person who was threatening him.

The blonde asleep on the other side of the bed, woke up too and started shouting 'oh my God's' in French in a high pitched voice.

"Hey Blondie!" called Max. "Tais toi!" the transgenic added throwing the knife in the blond bimbo's direction.

It only made her scream a lot more. Ames hit her and the woman fell on the floor.

"Couldn't help it…" he said.

Max shrugged and turned to look at Louis.

"Hi Louis!"

"Max ! Qu'est ce que tu fais ici bon sang ? I can't believe you're here!"

"I'm happy to see you too. I always said, I'll pay you a visit one day. So here I am!" she shrugged. She took the place of the blond on the other side of the bed.

"I can't believe my baby girl is back!"

Louis was now about 50, she never really asked his age. He had been her partner in crime for 6 years. He still had his smiling eyes and he still recognized the dashing thief behind the graying hair and the weary muscled.

"I can't believe you're dating a girl young enough to be your daughter." Max threw a brief look at the girl on the floor.

"I never had a daughter. And if I did, her mother never said a word."

"Whatever."

Louis rose up from his bed and put a robe on.

"I'm sorry to interrupt this reunion, but we don't have time." reminded Ames.

"I guess you're not here for a 'visite de courtoisie'."

"That's right."

She cut to the chase by telling him right away what her problem was. Louis didn't know she was a transgenic. But he knew of her past as a burglar. Hell he helped train her. She let him believe it was all about a deal gone wrong. She was supposed to get something for some people but something went wrong. Now the people wanted their money back and they had put the device in her so she couldn't run.

"Wow! Seems like you lived some nice adventures without me, baby girl!" the older man exclaimed.

"So, think you can help me?"

"Yeah, I know someone who could help you." He looked at Ames for the first time. "And who is the man in black?" he finally asked.

"You don't need to know."

"Ok." Now he was intrigued.

At that moment, the blond girl regained consciousness.

"Boo." Max murmured and again, the woman fainted.

"What's her name anyway?" she asked.

"Lola."

"Lola who?"

"Tu crois que je prends le temps de savoir quel est le nom de famille de mes conquêtes d'un soir. She was here for a night. Why would I bother?" he shrugged.

"I didn't remember you being so shallow when I was here." She commented.

"Well, tout le monde change! (everybody change)"

"I guess you're right."

"Come with me."


Louis led them the lair of Martin 'Main d'argent' (silver hand).

"Alors tu peux les aider?"

-Si je comprends,

-Can you please talk in English, said Ames.

"Right. Correct me if I'm wrong, the implant is made of a special alloy that those how do you call them?"

"Reds"

"Yeah, that the Reds can detect via a specific signal." Martin was a typical tech geek. His all house was tech and ever corner was wired.

"That I already know, but what's your solution." Max was starting to get frustrated. She knew they had to move soon or the Reds were going to close in on them.

"Easy, you die and the implant goes out. Just as you told us."

"Well that is going to be hard, because I don't want to die."

"What I mean, is that we could put you in a coma and unplug the implant safely. No brain activity means, the implant will naturally turn off, right?"

"In theory, but…" said Max with hesitation.

"She's pregnant." Ames announced.

It wasn't hard to see that Louis, and Martin were shocked. Actually, Martin was just a bit surprised, it was Louis who was really shocked.

"Who's the father?" Louis asked looking straight at Ames.

"I am," answered Ames as he read the challenge in Louis' eyes. A mere mortal trying to defy him, a god.

"Louis, you're not my guardian or anything." Max intervened. "And anyway, he's way too strong for you."

"Are you telling me that I'm old?"

"No. I'm telling you that he's stronger than you. So you better sit back in your chair and down a shot of vodka."

Louis did as he was told. Martin cleared his throat.

"I don't think it'll do any harm to the baby. I mean the whole thing will last 5 minutes tops. I have a special product that will accelerate the process."

"You're sure?" she asked.

"No. I'm not."

Ames pulled Max away from Louis and Martin, in the hallway.

"Are you crazy? We don't have time for this." she protested.

"You're going to kill that baby! If you kill it, there'll be no reason for me to keep you alive, because all the clues to my father's whereabouts would be lost!"

She snickered. "Last time I checked it's still my body! And if you want to find your father, you'll need me and not the baby!" she hissed dangerously. That wasn't true. Plus neither of them wanted a repeat performance of what had happened between them.

Ames' mouth opened and closed. Theoretically, it was true. She just needed to be pregnant again, or injected with hormones that would make her body believe that she was pregnant to release the runes.

"It's still dangerous for you," he argued.

"Not like you care," she commented.

"You could lose the baby! Does the prospect of carrying my child is so unbearable?"

She looked in his eyes and saw for the first time a flicker of worry. Was he really worried about her?

"I…" she started but never finished. She took a deep calming breath. "I have to do it. I'm tired of running, and if we have to face the Reds, which I believe, we will, I'd rather have the element of surprise, which I can't have with this bug in my head!" she said with sincerity. "And if it's not the Reds, someone else could find out. And I can't let that happen. Not if I have to raise a child in a few months."

"Uh, you guys!" Martin called.

"What?" barked Ames.

"Some sentinels have spotted the van you described us heading our way, so if you want to do it, we better do it now. ETA 8 minutes."

Max looked at Ames.

He nodded.

She nodded back.


The first part went without a hitch: Unplugging the implant was fine, but after that she wouldn't wake up. And the worst part was that the Reds were closing on them.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know!" answered Martin.

"Martin! You have to fix this! You have one minute!" said Louis as he monitored the computer.

"Okay, okay!" he sighed. "Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic!"

Refocusing on the task at hand, he electrocuted her.

Immediately, Ames punched him hard.

"She's pregnant!"

"There's no other solution!" Martin said as he nursed his bloody nose.

Thankfully for Martin, Max's eyes fluttered. He scanned her to see if the baby was alright, and smiled brightly.

"He's fine. Well, he or she." Added Martin with a smile. "That's a strong bugger you got there." He commented.

Ames sighed with relief, and without thinking about it, he pulled the transgenic in a bear hug.

"Come on, time to go."

They fled out of the Martin's security perimeter and Max threw the implant in the Seine.


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