CHAPTER 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel or any of it's characters.

Max laid in the large bed and searched the area looking for a window or something that would indicate an escape route but saw nothing but a door that was probably guarded. She sighed, she'd only been conscious for five minutes and already she was giving up, she had to fight it, she couldn't let White beat her. She lifted her good leg... so far so good... She tried to lift her bad leg and got a blinding pain, and decided to not do that again for a while. When she tried to sit up all she got was another set of unbearable pain wash though her. How hard did he hit her? Any harder or at a different angle he could've killed her! She moaned... she wanted to cry out of defeat, but she didn't she couldn't let him win, but she couldn't even walk without support. Max thought hard but her senses were off because of her body's need for medical attention and food, she was starving, how long had she been out? How long had she been here with White?

"Good morning!" White said with sarcasm.

It was then that she looked down and realized her shirt was gone, and the horrific events before she passed out came flooding back like a nightmare she might have had,

"Mind loaning me a shirt?" She tried to sound cocky, but felt the blush rise in her cheeks.

"Now why would I want to do that?" He smiled, "I think Logan liked to see the bruises and broken ribs it looks almost... poetic."

She just looked at him.

"Besides, my father used you for a sign, what he didn't think was that we'd cross paths as soon as we did. I know what he's trying to tell you, and too bad you couldn't figure it out. You might not know this but I bet the first mark showed up in a very noticeable spot..."

My wrist... she thought.

"That was to get your attention." He smirked, "Then they started up your arms and your chest and back right? I found the one on your stomach and lower back yesterday. Today one of the last one's one of the important ones should be lower. By then the marks will stop and you'll notice what ever else he spliced into that freakish body of yours come out. Now let's see what he had to tell you next..."

Her eyes widened as he grabbed the top of her jeans and pulled them down, she instantly began to struggle and kick with her good leg while trying to punch in what ever area her fists landed in. Before her eyes saw the impact White pounded her hurt leg twice with seemingly all his might. She gasped in pain locking her eyes onto the ceiling and forcing the tears from her eyes. She let her breaths come out heavy hoping that would ease the throbbing.

"I could care less 452 about your modesty, I'm going to find out my father's purpose for you entirely, I'm sure he wants you to take us down and if he's cluing you in on it, I want to know."

Her jeans were now tossed onto the floor and just as he promised there were new ink imprints on her thighs, they might have just appeared because of the still light color against her skin. He gripped her leg hard and studied it for quite some time, then to the other one which still hurt like hell. He held no compassion or remorse in his eyes for her as he held her firmly and studied the foreign marks on her legs. A slight whimper escaped her as he turned it slowly to read the finishing characters,

"Shut up 452 I'm almost done."

She bit her lip to keep the pained groan from escaping her lips as he leaned close to her face applying more pressure and said,

"It's a shame, you know? Here I thought you were actually a worthy opponent and look at you... you can't move, or speak. Are you in that much pain? Does your leg and ribs hurt that much? Good thing that concussion is now mild right? You could've fell into a coma possibly died. Lucky for you I'm a compassionate man. That's why I won't upset you further and tell you what my father has in mind for you... wish he would elaborate more but at least he brought you more time to live. As for my son? He'll be here tonight around dark, your precious Eyes Only Informant will be dead, and you'll be shipped off to another country where they'll tell me then what's going on with you, and how we could use you for our benefits. Dead or alive... your still worth something, so don't tempt me 452."

He gave her leg one last squeeze and saw a tear or so slide down the sides of her face and smiled,

"Here, this is to help you sleep." He stabbed a needle into her arm and the only indication she felt it was the wide eyed look she gave him as he pushed the clear liquid into her system. "Good night 452"

He watched as the drug quickly went to work and her eyes glazed over and soon closed, her once rapid breathing now slowed tremendously and she lied still and unconscious.

White watched her lying there and surveyed her battered figure lying before him, broken ribs- four to be exact, ripped tenant in her right leg her left was broken her right wrist was sprained and she still had a mild concussion, he also noted the bruises and scrapes all over not to mention the healing portion around her wrist from where the cuffs where. He knew why they made the X5s so much prettier than most normal men and women, it was for moments like this when the enemy had the perfect opportunity to kill them and hopefully they would think twice about it, giving the soldier the perfect chance to kill them first. Still, through the nasty cuts and bruises her beauty still shown through, and for some reason, that angered him. Just thinking of what was to come of her was his only soothing thought.

"How do I know that this won't kill me? Or her for the matter?"

"Logan," Dr Boran chuckled, "Come look at your blood samples."

They went over to the table and Dr Boran took the antidote,

"Ok, I saved some of your untouched blood just in case you wanted proof, which I knew you would. I'm injecting the serum into your tube, now watch as I intertwine the two viruses." He put a drop onto a small, flat specimen slab and set it under a microscope. "Take a look"

Logan walked up and saw both almost identical viruses start diminishing each other he looked over at him,

"Ok, and what effect will this have on, Max?"

He smiled, "Her body's temperature will rise in response to the infection you gave her and she may need to rest for a few days, hook her to a IV to keep her hydrated and give her soft foods if it's difficult to swallow. But after two days her temperature should be gone and you two could share a normal relationship."

He looked down at that, but then asked, "Wait, but if I touch her again won't she get worse?"

He laughed, "Once you make that first point of physical contact that's it, the virus found it's target and will have no purpose in your system anymore. Instead, you transfer it to her and the virus will "kill" so to speak, the one she has, once that's done her body heat will reach about 115 to 120- she might go into a seizure, nausea might occur, make sure you give her the medication I'm about to give you and keep her cool and hydrated and by the second day her temperature will reduce to normal and she should be fine. But remember this, do not let her temperature go over 120, that can lead to some serious damage for her body, it'll almost be like cooking her organs."

"Her body might reach 120? Won't that kill her? What if she doesn't make this? I can't risk her life." Logan sat down heavy on a seat.

Dr Boran walked up to him and pulled up a seat, "Listen here, Logan, I'm sure your brother told you that I worked with genetics in some pretty unbelievable top secret government facilities. I went to England for training and study, what used to be Russia back then and later on to Korea for more study and work. Then, getting recognized and set above my peers in the Middle East before the Pulse, I was sent back to the states."

"So basically your trying to tell me your experienced and not to question you." Logan interupted.

"No, what I'm trying to tell you is that I know more about Max and her kind than you do." Dr Boran blurted.

Logan looked up shocked had he slipped the fact that she was a transgenic? No, no it couldn't be that, he was careful not to let that slip.

"Don't look so shocked, you forgot that I specialized in this. When I heard that there was a virus targeted specifically to your DNA I knew that you were highly wanted on someone's shit list and only money and a great acquired amount of intelligence could do that. Then I took a look at both of your blood samples and yours of course is average although I found that your body accepted a few stem cells which repaired your severed vertebra, must have been from a transfusion, another piece confirming my theory. Then looking at her DNA it was like looking at the perfect human right before my eyes, not one piece of junk DNA. Then it clicked- I know her. I got transferred to the states to a high tech facility in Gillette, Wyoming. It used to be an old VA hospital until US Intel turned it into their own personal Boot Camp from Hell. They were tired of spending billions on wars, and wanted soldiers to get the job done without coming home in body bags. So they hired us to get to work on the embryos, they gave us the requirements and showed us the past failures of the X series which they held in the basement of the building, they kept them locked up and had one of their own looking after them, nice fellow- harmless as I recall. We worked hard for months and months on the in vitro work and when the mothers came to us- all of them no more than 22 years old exactly we fertilized them and gave them their daily vitamins so the babies could come out with the required needs. We decided what the children would be built with, some had similar qualities while others were mixed with something completely different. Some children needed the required amount of sleep, while others were built for night watch and could stay awake for days at a time, but then again there were only two that I know of that could do that- me and a friend thought that might come in handy if they were ever out on patrol together the others can sleep while they stood watch. I thought that might be nice, anyway they were female children, I was betting mine was a boy, oh well."

Logan's heart was racing at this point, he knew that one of those female children was Max, she could stay awake for days at a time, "Wait, you were the one that created them? You know everything about them? But..."

"Look, you have to understand, what if it was your brother out there in the war? What if he was backed by one of these genetically enhanced soldiers, his chances of surviving an ambush just went up to almost guaranteed. Now why not? These children would be masters of combat and make the world a whole lot safer, why not produce these soldiers and let them fix things? Sure they where children, but now they are adults, and beautiful at that. My partner and I made sure to make ours as exotic as possible, at least if they became POWs they'd have a chance of surviving once the enemy looked at them. They'd have a chance at escaping."

"What soldier did you create? Do you remember her bar code?"

"Yes, but if your wondering if it was Max, it's not. My soldier doesn't have perfect DNA, she's flawed just like your Max, but she's a normal soldier anyway. I think she might be my partner's project. He took the longest with his embryo, he was practically our supervisor but he stood by me and we worked together on ours. I got done way before him, but he kept telling me that he wanted his to be perfectI didn't understand what his purpose was but after a month or so he impregnated the last surrogate. His fetus was the last one but due to the mother trying to run away, they had to perform a cesarean on her, the baby was perfectly fine to be almost two months premature. They put her with the others and we watched together how our little soldiers started to show signs of accomplishment at a young age. His little girl was brunette, mine was blond, it was funny how we were so attached to these little soldiers right away, but any unauthorized contact with them was forbidden they were in "training". We went to work on them when we needed to and ran test on them when we were told to. If one of them needed medical treatment we were there with staff to provide that for them. Too bad my partner skipped out on Manticore and his "special girl" as he called her was assigned to me since I was his partner. The last thing he told me was that he'd keep in contact and that was the last I heard from him. As for both of our soldiers... they were apart of the twelve that escaped in '09. Too bad, I would have loved to meet my creation, but then again I'm sure Max would know where she was. I think I really did love that child, her and my partner's soldier were almost exactly alike... except for this "perfect DNA" structure I'm seeing here."

"How could you be sure Max is your partner's creation? I mean you said it yourself... your not sure."

"Her bar code... if Max's last three isn't 452 in her bar code, then your right, she isn't my partner's. My soldier's was 210, I don't remember her self given name or my partner's for the matter, we weren't allowed to refer to them as that."

"Wait, your partner's name wasn't Sandeman, was it?" Logan asked trying not to sound too hopeful.

"Hmm..." Dr Boran said simply, "I guess he did have some issues, huh? Yes, that was him. He was a great scientist, a good friend, but something was off about him, and since you know who he is.."

"Not exactly..." Logan said simply.

"Well, maybe Max is his creation, and if she is, she probably has a whole lot of questions, when she's well bring her in and if she wants I'll tell her anything I can."

"What about Manticore? Were you there when it was burnt down?" Logan asked.

"No, thank God, I got transferred again right after both my soldiers ran away. I was glad, I missed her a lot, I didn't know her but I watched her during training and I worked on her when they asked me to. But I hoped she made it and she's living a good life out there. Where ever she is..."

"I'll talk to Max, I'm sure she'll want to speak with you. As for the antidote, I really appreciate this, it's just... your not like most of the staff and doctors from Manticore, it kind of surprises me..."

"Look, there were some of us with good intentions for the children, I really did think I was being a patriot. I'm sorry I did it... I wish Max's mother had made it out of there with her, then maybe she would've grown up with a better life than she had. But I'm sure when she gets here I'll be able to help her out. Now, give me your arm so we can get this done and you two can start a real relationship."

Logan drove right up to the doors in an old, beat up Toyota- he'll never see this thing again he thought. Alec sat beside him holding a bag with Max's clothes while Ray sat in the back oblivious to the plan and eager to meet the father he aimed so hard to please.

"Ok, Raymond- you stay in the car, Alec and I are going in to talk to your daddy, then he'll come out to get you. Alright?" Logan instructed.

Raymond nodded looking around eagerly.

"Let's go, Alec."

They got out the car and went inside the building careful not to look around, or give any indication that there was something wrong with the picture. As always the door was open and White was there patiently,

"I said to come alone, Cale. You broke our aggrement. 493... always a pleasure."

"You and I both know I wouldn't have been able to get her out of here alone. Besides, there are only two of us here... unarmed at that. Who knows how many NSA or Familiars you got crawling around here, now where is she?"

White smirked, "Fine, Cale. Behind me up the stairs, first door to your right. Hurry, my friends don't like guests in their house."

"Ray is in the car, right out front, can't wait to see you." By the time he finished both men were on their way to pick up who they came for.

Logan's heart sunk immediately as soon as he laid his eyes on her, she laid there yet again unconscious and in only her under clothes. He now saw why White did it, she had fresh markings on her thighs and the one on her abdomen was nearly faded.

"Oh my God... Max." Alec breathed.

Logan forgot this was Alec's first sight of her, "Come on, Alec we have to hurry. Get her clothes out."

Alec pulled out a t- shirt and sweat pants, "Uh, Logan how are you going to do this? You two got that... virus..."

"Alec, listen we don't have much time, Mole and them might not have enough man power up there-"

"Our plan is flawless, Logan. We're fine."

"Ok, this is what's gong on... I think I found a cure... it's a virus I'm carrying to kill her virus she's carrying. The doctor explained everything to me, so once I touch her it starts, I wouldn't be doing this if I thought it would kill her."

"Uh, Logan do you think this is a good idea I mean, Max... she looks..." Alec looked sadly at her once again.

"She'll be alright, I talked to the doctor he's sure about this. Its now or never, Alec." Before another word was said he grabbed her hand and held his breath.

Max's eyes slowly opened and as soon as she saw him a small smile formed on her lips until she realized he was holding her hand.

"Logan...!" Her voice was broken and soft, he wasn't even sure if she really saw him, her eyes now brimming with tears, "Why... why would you do this?"

"Max, everything's going to be ok. Lay still." Logan started pulling her sweats on careful over a leg he was sure was broken and prone to infection if not tended to soon.

Alec pulled the t- shirt over her head and winced as she cried out in pain as he moved her torso a little too quickly. "Her ribs," he sighed, "Sorry, Max."

"Logan... what's going on? What's happ..." Tears still streamed down and his chest hurt to see her so beaten. He wanted his strong, witty Max back.

Once that was done Logan scooped her up and Alec took his pistol out and went out first. They were met right out side the door and was met by Mole,

"Oh my... Max." Mole said surprisingly without a cigar.

"What's the word?" Alec asked.

"Well, this is our show, huh Logan?"

"Hurry up," Logan said rolling his eyes. Mole still ran the show.

"We got six on the Eastern side of the roof, eight on the West and fifteen ground level." They were moving now through the hall following Mole and his AR15, he must have had almost 10 mags on him and five pounds of extra ammunition.

"Where'd you get the equipment and ammunition?" Logan asked.

"Asha." Alec said simply.

"We got M16, some have the M203 grenade launchers some are just hooked up with the M67 frag grenades. One of my guys got his hands on an AT4 Rocket launcher and another is set up on a hill with a M20 Golf machine gun." The sound of gunfire and explosions could be heard now just outside the walls they passed. "We decided to kill the lights around this place since these guys can't see a damned thing now. So far, we got 0 KIA, 2 mildly wounded still in the fight, and a whole lot of ammunition and supplies. We got the drones who dug an escape route not too far ahead, it'll take us right outside the building, missing White and most of the Familiars by a couple yards. We got almost ten of the X5 and X6 series pushing the enemy port side of the building and five of the X7 series getting the boy. White didn't get more that two steps of calling in his team when the X7s stepped in and snatched Ray up, allowing the X5s and X6s to start pushing him and his into and towards the building. We took out half of the security in just under 15 minutes, about the time it took you and him to depart to your selected areas. Ok, here we are in the closet." Just as a Familiar popped out was just as quickly as he got pumped of lead.

Logan saw Alec hop in first and he slid Max into his arms and climbed in after, Mole stood his ground until his relief came in no sooner than two minutes after and Mole went in after also. The X5 relief was instructed to hold his position for five minutes or until his fight receded and set up his M18 A1 claymore mines around their escape route and go through the same tunnel they did. The C4 explosives were hard to come by but lucky they had some good soldiers made some from scratch. The tunnel was nearly deserted with the exception of a few drones finishing their work.

"Let's go," Mole instructed and they instantly followed him.

While Mole had rear security and Alec front they moved with ease over the rocks and bumps, while Logan slipped on a pair of night vision goggles they stole from a guard outside of Terminal City. Logan stumbled with Max in his arms, her body heat already rising and her eyes were barely open.

"Max... Max don't worry, I got you. You hear me? Can you hear me Max? We're almost home, hang in there."

"Here we are, let's go" Alec said climbing up the the made ramp and scooping Max up taking her out of sight.

Logan passed off the goggles as he hoisted himself up into the grass above ground being help by a bunch of kids probably no older than eight to nine years old. He noticed there were three boys with messy boyish hair, and two girls their hair grown nicely out and up in ponytails as they easily lifted him out the way and into a van. They were strapped with M16 A2s and one of the boys had at least 3 M67s strapped tightly to flak jacket. They secured the door of the van and with a couple short hand signals and a two slaps on the side of the van they dispersed. Logan looked back and saw as they drove off Mole and Alec waving a hand in the air in circles as the transgenics formed it up and listened closely to what Mole had to say with very few words and a whole lot of hand and arm signals.

It was a long ride back, the X5 that drove gave him the instructions that Ray was being safely moved back to his Aunt Cathy, and they would be moving further up the Canadian Border. Max laid next to him with a temperature of 108 and rising, and they would be at their destination in 4 hours and 57 minutes, he advised him that he might want to get some sleep first. Logan did follow that order and laid next to Max hoping that everything would be alright and that tomorrow would be full of much more happiness for everyone.

The drive was just that long... 4 hours and 57 minutes, it turned out that the X5, Ace, excelled in Automotive and Cyber-communications technology and intelligence, thus the name- Ace, Automotive, Cyber excellence. He was cocky too, and just as handsome as Alec and the late Biggs. Dr Boran was rigt, they were handsome and beautiful for a reason. Ace looked back at Logan and Max

"She is beautiful, man." He smiled at him, "You know when her and the others escaped they taught us how much of a traitor her and the others were, especially our CO at the time, X5599, Zack. I think most of us were more afraid of getting caught and punished for it than actually escaping into the real world... we didn't know what was out here. As far as we knew, everyone was the enemy except us. I'm glad she got us out of there... I owe her."

He went around the other side and lifted her into his arms as Logan climbed out, "You knew Max back at Manticore?"

Ace chuckled, "I'm an X5 I was in her unit. I remember that night... Jack had a seizure not too long ago... Maxie came back after looking for something to stop the shaking only to inform Zack and the rest of us of his death. She was shook, Zack was angry the rest of us were wondering who was next. One day, the day that finalized the escape plan, she fell to the floor with a seizure as Jondy, Zack and Eva tried to help her. A guard came to separate us and Zack new that she was next, so he knocked him to the ground, Eva grabbed his weapon... that was it, everyone who wanted out followed them, the rest of us watched from windows and doors- Jace came back to inform everyone that Eva was shot and the rest of them were in the woods dispersing amongst the trees and snow, it turned into a game of escape and evade. After that it was hell for the next year for us, trying to reprogram our thinking and tactics, we were locked down most of the time, and training doubled. I wished I had did the same as them and left, even the three wound got out, Seth, Vic, and Coran. Oh well, at least I'm out now, come on, we need to hook her to an IV, I say she's at around 110 right now. She's burning up."

"I need to give her something, let's hurry up and get her inside."

Logan rushed in after Ace and they quickly set her up on the IV, Ace expertly inserted the tube into her arm and they put a light sheet over her. Logan sat her up causing her to regain consciousness for a minute and let her take the pills with water.

"Don't worry Max... everything's going to be alright. Hang in there, please, hang on."

"111.5 now." Ace informed.

Logan pulled up a chair next to her and held her hand, and there he stayed not drifting, or heavy eyed the whole night... just watching her, talking to her and hanging onto the hope that she'll pull through.