A/n: again, thanks for the reviews, everyone. I've now decided that this story would fit into S1 as an AU of Meow, but obviously without the heat thing.

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Chapter 16: Re-entry.

About two and a half hours after he'd left, Logan returned to Sebastian's.

"Sorry, guys," he said as he wheeled in. "Needed some thinking time."

"You had Max worried out of her mind," said Jake, somewhere between relief, amusement and accusation. "She went out looking for you ages ago."

A flicker of… something… crossed Logan's features, too quick to catch, before they hardened back into his mask. "I'll page her," he said, pulling out his cell, "let her know I'm back."

When Max called, he was back at the computer terminal, reading the files on his son expressionlessly. He picked up his cell without looking away from the screen. "Yes?"

"You paged me?" Said Max. "Where are you?"

"Back at Sebastian's."

"I'll see you there in twenty," Max said, sensing he didn't want to talk over the phone. Perhaps Jake or someone was listening in.

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Eighteen minutes and thirty four seconds later, Max parked her motorcycle outside Sebastian's and hurried inside, looking around for Logan. She found him and the other three all sitting around the computer terminal, like they had been when she entered, totally absorbed in the screens before them.

"Hey," she said, standing behind Logan and reading over his shoulder. "You got your head straight now?"

"More or less," Logan replied, his tone still cold. "I don't suppose you know the Manticore procedure for a breach in computer security?"

Max was shaken yet again by the absence of any of Logan's usual warmth and compassion. "Uh, they just take the system offline until they trace the hacker, I think. Then send out an assassin to remove the threat and recover the data. We could be in danger…"

"Not much chance of that," said Logan, still not looking at her. "Sebastian has so many blocks, firewalls, loops and various other barriers in place that it'd be next to impossible to trace the hack."

"Did you, uh, come to any decisions?" She asked, timidly. "You know, while you were pulling yourself together."

"Yes, as a matter of fact," he replied. "I have a plan."

"What kind of plan?" Asked Sebastian.

"I'm going to take down Manticore, once and for all."

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Sorry, everyone, I can't help it.