A/n: Massive thanks for your reviews, guys. Sorry there was a bit of a gap in this story before the last update; Logan's birthday present was taking up a lot of time. But it's finished now, so…
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Chapter 22: Preparation
Logan and Max headed back into the main lab, where Sebastian, Chris and Jake waited for them.
"Sorry about that, guys," said Logan. "Had a few things to sort out. Now, here's the plan…"
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"So? What do you think?" Logan asked, raising his eyebrows at the group.
"It's possible," said Chris, thoughtfully. "Might need some fine tuning on the night, but I'm sure we could cope with that."
"The difficulty is going to be in finding the two boys we want after the escape," said Jake. "There'll be hundreds of kids running around; we don't know where the two of them will be."
"Actually that's not true," said Sebastian. "According to the files, all of the X8s have been fitted with tracking devices, specific to their barcodes. It's a precaution, in case they try to escape like the X5s did; the groups have fairly similar designs. We can hack into the signal and find them on the ground easily enough."
"But then won't Manticore be able to track them too?" Asked Max; it was a subject she was well versed in.
"Not after the number we're gonna pull on their computer system," said Logan, grimly. "How long d'you think it'll be before they put their system back online, Chris?"
"If the hacker can't be found standard procedure is to wait forty eight hours," the CIA agent replied.
"Then we'll prep everything we can now and execute the day after tomorrow." Logan paused. "It's not too late, if any of you want to back out…"
"Don't even think it, Logan," said Jake. "We're with you, all the way." Logan looked from Jake to Chris to Sebastian, and finally to Max. Seeing the support and determination on their features, a true smile broke over his features, warming the whole room like a beam of sunlight. And then it was gone, as he slipped back into his Eyes Only mode.
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Some time later, Logan unlocked his brakes and pushed himself away from his computer terminal with a sigh.
"Done," he told Sebastian, beside him. "Now all we can do is wait for them to reconnect their system to the internet."
"Logan… you do know Renfro is in charge of Manticore now," he said.
"I know," said Logan, an edge creeping into his voice.
"You're not going to do anything Max wouldn't approve of, are you?"
"I don't do revenge, Sebastian, however much she deserves it."
"Then what do you call this?"
"Justice," Logan replied, wheeling away. "Max! He called out. You want a ride home?"
"I'll be right there," she returned from the next room.
"What are you going to tell her?" Sebastian's synthetic voice intoned.
"The truth," said Logan, his mask slipping a little. "I owe her that much."
"All of it?"
"I'll… try to…"
"Are you sure you should be putting yourself through this right now?"
"No," said Logan. "But I'm gonna have to tell someone sometime; and if I wasn't going up against a secret government agency in two days time I don't think I could do it."
"Hey," said Max, approaching. "You ready to go?"
"Sure," said Logan, making for the door. "See you guys soon."
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So? What did you think?