First of all I might have to say that English is not my native language. So if you find mistakes tell me so I can correct them.
Second: Thanks again for your reviews. Seems like I've lost some readers in the last chaper, but I hope their still out there. For those who did review:
tylee17: Meeting is the right word but somehow I'm afraid Max will not be pleased to meet that part of her family. Well, read and find out :)
throwerpro: Welcome on board and thank you very much. Hope you like this chapter, too.
Thanks again and here we go!
Crash was crowded as always when Max arrived several hours later. After her latest run for Jam Pony she had decided to give the whole Logan-based problem a break and have some fun for a change. Once inside the bar she was greeted by the loud buzz of music and people chattering. She quickly spotted OC, Herbal, Sketchy and a few others she knew from work sitting around a table drinking the horrible stuff that went for beer these days. She made her way over without paying attention to the other people around her drinking, talking, yelling or simply starring at something with empty eyes.
"Hey, boo!" Original Cindy greeted her smiling, "I've started to give up hope. Glad you're here!"
The others welcomed her too and after she'd found a nearby chair and got herself a glass all the friendly bickering and laughing amongst her friends let her almost forget her lousy day, the constant stress she was under because of that bastard Lydecker and all the unsolved issues between her and Logan. Looking around and seeing Herbal's calm but confident face, Sketchy's almost childlike simplicity and most of all her best friend Original Cindy made her feel good. These were the moments she treasured most. They were short and rare but being with her friends – people she knew she could trust with almost everything – showed her that not everything and everybody was bad. It kept her going.
After an hour or so she stood up.
"Right back", she just said before heading towards the restroom. On her way there she passed by an ugly guy in his forties who eyed her with a greedy look.
"Hey suga" he prattled obviously drunk. "'Ow 'bout the two o'us?"
"Not even if you were the last man on earth" Max replied disgusted. Without a second look she took the stairs down to the cellar and entered the restroom. When she left it again she didn't even make it to the stairs before somebody was blocking her way. It was the same drunk guy that had tried to hit on her before. His eyes were red and he reeked of alcohol. It seemed like he had followed her.
"You 'ere not nice up 'ere, suga" he snarled looking at her. Max could only look at him with a mixture of disgust and pity.
"Get out of my way, cowboy, or I'll make you. And by the way: start developing a personality!"
It wasn't the smartest thing for a young woman her age to irritate some drunk idiot but for an X5 her age it was a great possibility to vent some anger. And perhaps it would even teach this moron a lesson. As she had expected he reached out for her and tried to grab her collar. Even sober he wouldn't have had a chance but in his current state it was almost ridiculous. Max caught his hand and twisted it. Her opponent screamed in surprise and pain before she threw him face first against the wall knocking him out cold.
She looked at him for some seconds and had to admit that the feeling that was running through her was a good one. Perhaps she should do this more often. She heard a low chuckle and turned around. Behind her stood a woman about her age who just got out of the restroom. Very short hair, green eyes and a black leather jacket. She looked from Max to the still unconscious drunkard back to Max.
"Nice work" she said with a friendly grin obviously very amused before she went past Max and up the stairs back to the bar's main room. Max grinned back and followed the unknown woman a few seconds later.
"Told you so, cowboy" was the last thing she said before leaving the area of her latest entertainment.
301 made her way back to her table and 451 in a calm but quick manner. She sat down and leaned closer to him and he did the same, like some flirting couple would do. He already knew something was wrong but she couldn't risk telling him with signs. So she just put on a fake smile and nuzzled against him even more while the woman she just met downstairs walked past them.
"What is it?" he inquired playing along. They'd done things like this often and he was well aware of how a seemingly flirting couple could avoid any sort of interest.
"Target located" she whispered quietly. "The woman in the black jacket that just walked past us."
He did his best to hide his surprise and followed the person from the corner of his eyes but quickly returned his attention to the woman snuggled up against him. It was a nice feeling having her so close but he quickly chased that thought away. They were on a mission. "Sure?"
"She just knocked out a guy twice her size without breaking a sweat" 301 assured him. "And besides that I just know. It's her."
451 nodded. "We should go. We'll wait for her outside."
Without another word they rose from their chairs and left the bar clinging close enough to each other to dispel any doubts somebody could have about them not being a couple. Before closing the door behind him he shot a quick glance to the woman who was now sitting at her table again with some ordinaries who seemed to be her friends. It was possible. Yes, definitely possible and for the rest he would trust 301's instincts.
Outside the Crash they quickly found a place in the shadows to hide. They agreed to follow the target person when she left the building until there would be a good chance to surprise her. 451 felt better than during the whole week. They were close now, very close.
About an hour later the target, X5-452, left the bar accompanied by the Afro-American woman she'd been with during the evening. They went to a black Ninja and 452 started the engine. 301 muttered something that didn't sound very nice. With a motorbike chances were good their target would elude them and the predator inside her was not about to let that happen. As soon as the two women had left the two X5 sprinted out of the shadows towards their own machines and went after the them. Fortunately the colonel had thought about the best means of transport and in a city like Seattle bikes were really the best thing to travel fast.
Although they'd lost track of their target for a few moments they quickly found it again. It didn't seem like 452 had noticed them but she still drove very fast. It wasn't a long ride, though. After about fifteen minutes she stopped before a huge apartment building. Immediately her two pursuers came to a halt too and got off their bikes.
"You'll see, boo, it's the right thing to do." The Afro-American sounded like she wanted convince her companion of something.
"I don't know" answered 452 while they were walking towards the entrance. "Isn't it a little bit too late for something like that?"
"Ah, just cut it. For a little small talk it's never too late."
That was the last thing 451 heard before the two women entered the building and went to the elevator. He waited a few seconds before he sprinted towards the entrance himself and opened the door. His eyes searched for the elevator and the display above.
"They entered the penthouse" he told 301 who stood beside him. "I want to know who lives there, what he does and if he's a possible threat to our mission."
301 nodded and dialed a number on her cell phone. It was clear that this was not their targets home. No X5 on the run from Manticore would choose a penthouse to stay permanently. While the female X5 quickly searched for her information 451 tried to familiarize with this new environment. As he could see the elevator and a fire escape were the only possibilities to leave the building. There was a possibility for their target to jump out of the window but if they acted quickly enough he was sure they could block that way of escape. Finally 301 hang up.
"The apartment belongs to a man called Logan Cale. He's living alone. Apparently he doesn't have a regular job as his family is the owner of the Cale Corporation. He's a paraplegic after a shooting incident some months ago. I'm sorry, that's all I could get."
"Does he have experience with firearms?" That whole shooting incident thing made him a little bit cautious."
"Unknown. I might add that the building has its own security service." 301 watched her CO patiently, giving him time to think. It was clear that he was calculating the risks if they attacked now. There were at least three persons in that apartment now, one a highly trained rogue X5, a paraplegic who perhaps had knowledge and training in using weapons and a woman they knew nothing about. Apart from that they did not know the insides of this penthouse and whether there were any sorts of weaponry or not. The whole situation was far from perfect but the fact that the target had almost no possibility of escape was more than tempting. "What are we doing?"
"We're going in." Together they got into the elevator only seconds later. When the doors closed and their short ride up to the penthouse and her target began 301 could feel how the adrenaline began to pulsate through her body. She had fought countless times against different enemies but never before she had to face an X5 who most certainly would fight to the death. She could feel that 451 was looking at her with concern and flashed him a quick and reassuring smile. He had his own problems and didn't need to worry about her nervousness, too. They reached the penthouse and 451 knocked. Inside the voices of at least two different persons could be heard and somebody came closer to the door.
"What is it?" A male voice, most probably the voice of that Logan Cale.
"Seattle Police Department, sir", 301 answered in her official voice. "There seems to be a problem with your car. Please open the door."
It was an old trick and letting a female do the talking usually made it easier to get someone to open the door. Of course they could just kick it in but they didn't want to warn their target. The lock finally clicked and a man with glasses and brown hair in a wheelchair opened. Before he could even open his mouth 451 knocked him out with a single but brutal blow. The guy fell out of his chair and to the floor but the two X5 didn't care; he would survive. They rushed past the fallen figure towards the living room where they could sense the presence of the two women. As soon as they entered their target jumped up and got into her fighting stance while the other one was just too surprised and shocked to react at the moment. 301 had been right: It was 452. The way she reacted to the unexpected intruders, her fighting stance and the fact that she didn't lose time with questions told the two soldiers everything they needed to know.
Before the rogue X5 could do as much as think about escaping 451 attacked her. He had a gun just like his partner but they didn't want to use it. Their orders were to bring back the rogue X5 alive. 301 wanted to charge too but out of the corner of her eyes she saw a movement and without thinking she lashed out at the unexpected person that suddenly appeared. Her instincts saved her live. The moment her jackboot connected with her new opponents arm the gun in his hands went off but instead of killing her the bullet went into the ceiling and the gun dropped to the floor. The female X5 used the short distraction of her enemy to twist his arm and knocking him out.
In the mean time 451 had done a good job in driving Max away from the windows, blocking her only way of escape. He was better trained and in better shape than her and it was quite clear that this battle would end soon with her defeat. Even the short distraction that Bling caused by firing his weapon wasn't enough for her to gain an advantage and only seconds after that 451 managed to throw her off balance and sent her stumbling to the floor. She groaned in pain and her vision blurred for a moment. He moved to finally finish this fight when he suddenly heard the sound of a second shot and felt a strong blow against his back. Almost immediately he recognized the smell of blood in his mouth but nevertheless he turned around to face the woman that had accompanied 452. She had picked up the gun that bodyguard had dropped and aimed at him slightly shivering but her eyes full of determination but also fear. Before he could do anything the woman – Original Cindy, as he would later learn – squeezed the trigger again and the next thing he knew was an incredible pain on the right side of his head. He fell to the floor, his mind filled with agony and he felt how close he was to unconsciousness. He tried to fight back the darkness but knew that he was failing.
When 301 heard the second shot she whirled around letting Bling fall to the floor. She watched in horror the blood that slowly began to drip from 451's back but before she could decide what to do Original Cindy fired another shot and her partner – her brother – fell to the floor clutching his head.
"NO! Wolf!" she exclaimed and took a step forward wanting to help him. A sudden movement from the woman with the gun who turned and aimed at her made her stop.
For some seconds the whole room seemed to freeze while nobody moved until 451 moaned in pain and his unfocused gaze searched for her eyes.
"Kyla. Run." he whispered barely audible but 301 starred at him with disbelief. He would die if she'd let him here now.
"Don't move", Original Cindy snarled still sitting on the couch but Bling's gun firmly pointed at the unknown woman. She'd never thought her time in the military would come in handy this evening but you never know. She was afraid and unsure what to do next but she sure as hell wouldn't…
"OC, don't." It was Max who spoke. She had gotten back up and wanted to prevent her friend shooting the second attacker, she didn't want Original Cindy to have to live with the knowledge of having killed someone. Her voice caused OC to look at her which gave 301 more than enough time. Without thinking she sprinted through the living room and jumped right through the window. Behind her she could hear a surprised gasp before she sailed through the air amongst the shattered glass and landed safely several floors below the penthouse. It broke her heart to leave 451 behind but there was no alternative at the moment. As soon as she had regained her composure she looked up. There she saw X5-452 looking down at her. For a moment it almost seemed like she was confused before she signaled in Manticore's sign language: 'If you call in reinforcements, he dies. Call us!'
301 gritted her teeth and answered in the same way: 'Understood. But if he dies, you die!'
She starred up to the rogue X5 in pure anger before she turned and sprinted away into the darkness.
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