Dark Angel 1. Default Chapter

X-10: Kito's Story 

As with all my stories… DA is the property of 20th Century Fox, James Cameron and Chris Eglee. 

Prologue: 

Kito watched as the stranger jumped into the midst of the circle, disabled Lydecker, grabbed Tima and jumped to the nearest roof. All of it was completed with near perfection before he, before anyone could react to his presence. Kito stared frozen as several of the others finally reacted and pursued them across the barracks roof toward the perimeter fence. He knew he should be with that group lending his support but was unable to make himself move.   
Belatedly he snapped out of it moving toward Lydecker's slowly recovering form to lend assistance. He held out a hand and assisted his commander to his feet, looking back only when Lydecker looked strong enough to stand on his own. Kito caught one last glimpse of Tima as she disappeared over the perimeter fence and faded into the surrounding fog. He barely made out the sound of the tires squealing on a vehicle as it left the area.   
Kito turned back toward Lydecker just in time to get coldcocked by the butt of Lydecker's gun. Kito spun on his heels unbalanced and landed heavily on the ground on his hands and knees, "What do you think you're doing soldier?" Lydecker growled angrily.   
"Providing assistance sir," Kito answered automatically.   
"Assistance?" He repeated incredulously, "Where are your priorities? What is protocol for a rogue Manticore soldier?"   
"To subdue by what ever means necessary, to render the rogue no threat. Then to terminate the rogue expeditiously," Kito quoted by wrote as he looked at a spot on the ground. He knew he had been wrong… now what would Lydecker do to him?   
"And what did you do?" Lydecker spit quickly chambering a round in his gun and pointing it at Kito's temple, "you greeted her! You stood by as she neutralized three of your brethren…" Lydecker leaned in his eyes narrowing, "That is treason, soldier."   
Kito met his eyes only momentarily, then looked down again. He was too much the good soldier to argue the point with the man whom he considered his father, "Yes sir, I deserve whatever punishment you see fit, sir," He responded crisply rising to his feet and stepping into the barrel of Lydecker's gun.   
Lydecker's eyes searched Kito's face for long moments, then pursing his lips he said, "I don't think that is going to be necessary, Kito," Lowering the gun, smiling the false smile that told Kito there was something else he already had in mind for him to do. 

Chapter One: Graveyard Patrol 

It was the third day of a very long and boring patrol around the perimeter of the complex and the several outbuildings that were no longer in use but still in need of being kept vacant. Kito sighed, "How undignified for a Manticore X-10," He thought unhappily. He should have known what Lydecker's smile would have meant for him. The most demeaning thing on the list… there was always openings in the nightly patrols of the grounds. Worse yet he was going to have to do this for a month straight to make up for his mess up.   
He was still puzzling over why his reaction to Tima's presence had overwhelmed his training. It was so imbued in him that nothing should have interrupted his agenda and set of directives, especially in the face of Lydecker himself. Yet he did, essentially refusing to capture and kill a fugitive from the program, branding himself untrustworthy in the process.   
He could pinpoint the moment when he balked… when Lydecker had pulled his gun on Tima telling her in no uncertain terms that she could not come back. Worse she would have to die for being responsible enough to try and return… to want to come home. He could not reconcile that within himself, despite his want, his ingrained need for Lydecker to be right, always. Tima had wanted to come back, she wanted to be a part of the team. What kind of directive turns down a returnee?   
Kito mused over the thought for most of the night, doing the rounds by wrote, taking in all the mundane details of each buildings security and each section of perimeter fences conditions for his log. All the while he actively thought over the events that lead him here to this juncture. They played over and over in his mind like one of the ancient LP's he had heard about skipping in his head.   
Finally he shook himself free of that thought only to move on to an equally disturbing thought.   
He thought about the strange man who had come to Tima's aid as Lydecker was about to shoot her. Kito had never seen the man before. He had pored through Manticore's "Yearbooks," the files kept on every Manticore ever conceived looking for the man, and yet was unable to find him. He wasn't Manticore that was for sure, even if he moved and reacted like one, there was no way. He had wanted to pose the question to Lydecker, to satisfy himself that it was not a soldier from another nation who may be on a parallel course with their Biosynth technology. He was afraid to at this point, afraid that it would overstep his bounds as a soldier. Lydecker did not look highly on independent thought past intuitive combat decisions, and would probably frown on Kito looking into this matter at all. He had therefore remained silent, only mulling over it in his mind and coming to drastically different conclusions about the existence of another similar project somewhere else in the world.   
Kito was pulled reluctantly from his thought as something out of the ordinary caught his attention.   
Moving across the courtyard was the solitary form of Lydecker headed for one of the buildings marked as sealed on every map he had ever seen of the base. Kito's eyes narrowed as he automatically froze.   
Lydecker move with a purpose toward building 241 and reaching the door keyed the lock and stepped inside. Kito could only stand there and wonder. The windows were boarded up tightly allowing no view of the inside and the door was sure to be locked while Lydecker conducted whatever business he had there. Kito kept close tabs on building 241 as he continued his rounds. Every circuit his curiosity grew about what Lydecker could possibly have going in that building that the rest of them were ignorant of. He was well away from the building in question when he saw Lydecker return to the active part of the compound.   
Kito cursed himself silently for not being in a better position to reconnoiter when Lydecker had exited the building. But he knew that there were eyes on him even if he couldn't see them and therefore he could ill afford to be caught hovering around the building, not as much trouble as he was already in. 


	2. Recon

Chapter Two: Recon

Kito moved through the compound like he was on a mission, and he was but it was a self-directed mission. He had served his time on the perimeter patrol and was on a probationary status with Lydecker for an indeterminable amount of time. He knew Lydecker would not give his trust again easily, so it was that Kito was being extremely cautious in his current probe.

Lydecker had specifically assigned Kito not only the worst job on the base but the worst time to stand it. The 2400-0800 watch was dull, no doubt about it. The base was fairly remote and not once since he had been assigned here had he even heard about an incursion into the base. During his month long tour with the gate guards and perimeter watches he had observed Lydecker going into building 241 or departing from it at least eight times. And his curiosity was piqued at what he had hidden there that was of such importance that it needed to remain a secret from the rest of the compound. 

It was always very early in the morning probably between two and four that Lydecker went or came from there. Lydecker was always alone, not once had he seen his usual contingent of guards escorting him to the building. That was a curiosity in and of itself, he never went anywhere unprotected, and Kito was bound and determined to find out what was so interesting about building 241.

Kito stopped in his routine to talk to Torri and Kenai, two of the others from Manticore assigned to this post to carry out any black ops that needed to be taken care of in the Sea-Tac area. Torri was a short but very stout lady, her ebony skin almost melting into the pitch color of her infiltration suit. Her eyes were intense and dark, her mood no nonsense. Her tightly curled hair was cropped short and lay tight against her skull. Everything about her was ease of care as it were, nothing got in the way of her objectives not even taking the time to mess with any length of hair. She was an X-8 and about five years his elder, she was the OIC on any ops in the field and reported directly to Lydecker.

Kenai was a sharp contrast to her, he could have been a farm raised country boy in another lifetime. He was tall and thickly built, his skin fair and his red hair blazed from the top of his head like a flag. He was easygoing for the most part. It was not to be confused with weakness however, he was ruthless and vengeful when it came to the mission. Kito knew that first hand, Kenai was another X-10 and had sparred with Kito many times in practices.

Conversing with the two of them was a ploy to divert attention away from him, a way to get close to the building without looking suspicious. He moved through his carefully choreographed plan of stops across the base until he neared the target building. Kito slid into the building up the road from 241. It was the supply building and he had carefully arranged to pick up the requisitions for the week for the next series of Ops that they were to carry out. He spoke briefly with the "Norm" behind the desk telling him that he needed some stuff on his list from the second floor. The man looked disinterested in helping him out, so Kito conveniently offered to get the requisition himself. The "Norm" was more than agreeable to the idea, and trying not to look to pleased with himself Kito climbed the ladder to the second story to get the items. While he was there Kito took the opportunity to apply a small piece of tape to the fire escape for ease of access later. That done he returned thanked the clerk for his "help" and continued on his routine.

"So far so good," Thought Kito. Now all he had to do was come back later and get a better look at what Lydecker had to hide.

Kito snuck back to the Supply Building after Taps that night, unable to sleep from anxiety and anticipation. He slipped through the door he had earlier sabotaged the lock on and straightened. Moving quickly he came to what he was looking for. Sometime in the bases past someone had built underground tunnels for transporting items from one building to another with out satellites being able to pick it up. The corridors ran all over the base, and though Manticore didn't actually make use of them, him and his fellows often had used them as terrorist training areas. There was little or no blockage between him and the rest of the buildings in the area, including building 241. If his guess was right the tunnel he was breaking into was the primary route to the storage unit in building 241. Silently he moved along the darkened corridor seeing everything clearly, but slightly tinged in green. 

It still bugged Kito why this was so important. To this point he had been a consummate soldier doing exactly what he was told and carrying his duties out in an extremely expeditious fashion. But since Tima had come into his life and left just as quickly he had been finding himself questioning things that had never occurred to him before. The only thing that he could think of was the moment when Lydecker had drawn a weapon on a fellow Manticore. That had disillusioned him in his purpose somewhat, to know that Lydecker thought them so expendable that he could arbitrarily kill one just because she had been gone for eleven years. 

Kito centered his concentration again continuing to head in the direction of Building 241. There were several places where the walls had caved in as he moved along, making his progress slower than he had anticipated, and several times he thought about turning back and returning another time. There was always the time factor, if he did not return before Reveille someone would be dispatched to look for him. 

He shook his head, no that would be no good the more times he attempted this the more times he would expose himself to being discovered. He had to at least penetrate the building tonight or not at all. Kito looked at his watch; it was only about midnight, he had plenty of time to do some good recon of the inside of the building before he had to return to the barracks.

Kito continued down the corridor avoiding several more sections of crumbling wall. Before he knew it he was letting himself into the storage room of his objective. He easily pulled himself up and looked around the immediate vicinity. Around him were stacks of crates neatly wrapped in plastic and marked in code he could not make out. There was no dust on anything. It was well lit and he cautiously moved through the room. The cleanliness of the place was contradictory to what he had built in his mind as to what the inside should look like. This place was in use and had been for some time. But what was it being used for? That thought was still foremost in his mind. 

He had always assumed that because he was Manticore that Lydecker and his team kept him informed on everything that was going on, he was second in command after Torri, after all, and that was saying something. Evidently that had been a vain thought, this building and whatever secret Lydecker was hiding in here drove that point sharply home.


	3. Secrets

Chapter Three: Secrets

Kito moved into the adjacent hallway feeling nervous and edgy. There was no sound save the whir of the air conditioner, thrumming loudly in his augmented hearing, and nearly masking all other sounds. The hallway was hospital clean, the tile immaculately waxed and the walls extremely white under the bright florescent lighting. Kito paused briefly at each door as he moved down the hallway trying to discern what was so special here. 

Each room he came to was empty and dark, and each time he became a bit more disappointed. Was he wasting his time here? There was nothing in so far that would warrant the kind of attention Lydecker seemed to be paying to it. But he kept moving sure that there was a reason, there had to be.

He turned left down the next cross-hall working his way steadily and systematically through the rooms. After about ten minutes he finally came to a room that piqued his interest. As he looked in he found himself staring at what seemed to be a hospital nursery. There were six cribs each holding a child, and each of those had a bar code emblazoned between their eyes. Kito's eyebrow raised as he looked over the children. OK so there was another generation of kids here in Seattle, that was mildly unusual, but a lot had changed in the past ten years forcing the dissemination of the Manticore project to several smaller installations, rather than one central installation that had been in Wyoming. So while it was unexpected it was not out of the realm of possibility.

Shrugging he moved on, knowing in his bones that could not be the reason for the secrecy. As he continued on he found each successive room contained another group of kids each progressively older. He was no expert but they ranged from mere months old to nearly six or seven. He wondered where the training facility was that he had not run across it before. The rooms that he had seen so far had all been pretty much barracks rooms holding ten to twelve individuals. Logic suggested that the training facility was elsewhere.

He continued on curiosity egging him to continue. He found himself disappointed yet again as the next section of hallway was dark just as the first section had been. He checked his watch again, it was no working on two O'clock and he was going to have to turn back soon. But not quite yet he wanted to search just a bit deeper into the facility, still not satisfied that this was all there was to this buildings secret.

He turned down another section of hallway finding himself moving through the dark to another section of lit hallway. About halfway down the stretch a door to the lit section opened and Kito hastily threw open a door entered it and as inconspicuously as possible shut it behind him. Kito then plastered himself against the edge of the doorway so the person coming from the room would not see him.

He watched the small window in the door intently as the individual passed by. Kito already had a clue who he would see but he still held his breath as Lydecker's sour face passed by the glass. He counted to 100 before opening the door and looking both the direction Lydecker went and the direction he had come from. Kito skirted toward the direction Lydecker had come from, already knowing which door he had come out of. That part of his brain that memorized details in a split second giving him an edge now.

Kito's heart was racing, somewhere deep down he knew that this room, and what ever was in it was the secret he had been looking for, that he had risked discovery to figure out. Taking a deep breath to calm himself he sidled up to the door and peered in.

There was not that much to see. The room was completely dark, with the exception of a spotlight that illuminated the very center of the room. There was a heavy metal chair lit by the light that was bolted to the floor with some heavy-duty hardware. Strapped securely to that chair was a woman. Kito's brows furrowed as he looked at her. This was Lydecker's Secret…a woman?

Still curious, Kito opened the door, one that he half expected to be locked, and stepped inside. He approached the woman in the chair cautiously, head tilted to one side as he focused and refocused on her details.

The woman had not moved at all since he had come in. She looked like she was in a bad way, if she was even alive. Her dark wavy hair was disheveled and plastered together in wet strings, her head was hanging down and to one side, which meant that she was either unconscious or asleep. She was dressed only in a dirty white tank top and a pair of underwear. Either arm was strapped tightly to the arms of the chair with what looked to Kito like the same material that fire hose was made from. Her ankles were much the same. She was also strapped securely at the thighs, waist and chest. Who ever did this to her didn't want her to go anywhere.

There were scars over much of her body, had Lydecker been torturing her? If so what for?

Kito looked around into the darkness refocusing to see the tools of her torture not too far from where she was, but far enough out of reach that she could not use them. What were they trying to accomplish with her?

Kito had a thought… and raised her slack head to try and confirm it. He parted her damp thick hair looking at her forehead. But no, there was no bar code between her brows. Well she wasn't Manticore, so what could Lydecker want with her? Could she be one of the surrogates? That didn't make much sense to him either. Surrogates were always returned to the outside world, either with substantial compensation, or to a loony bin when they would not remain silent about the project.

She had a soft-featured face that was most probably of Mexican heritage. Her lips were very full, but he could not tell if it was natural of a byproduct of whatever torture that she had endured, for there were several bruises in varying stages of healing. He could only guess through the mask of black and blue but she looked to be in her early thirties. 

Something dawned on Kito as he lowered her head gently… only X-7 and up were coded between the brows. He looked at the floor a moment, what had he been told about those before X-7? They had been coded in a different place but it proved easily hidden so it had been changed. She was old enough that she could have been an older generation of Manticore.

Kito snapped his fingers as he finally remembered where the bar code had been placed pre Gen 7. On the neck, that was where they had been tattooed. It had originally been that way so that the Manticore's could pass for "Norms" and it worked only too well. X-5 had broken free and the twelve that had remained free had easily blended into normal society and evaded their pursuers for years, there were still some that had yet to be caught. Wanting to confirm his self-revelation he stood and moved around to the back of the chair. Easily he moved aside her matted hair, sucking in a shocked breath as he revealed a Manticore bar code, "Oh my God," Kito whispered, and he was not a religious man.


	4. Consciousness

Chapter Four: Consciousness

The first touch of consciousness strummed over her fried nerves as someone gently touched her chin and raised her slack head. All was agony in her body as he performed that act. She wanted to react, to lash out but was unable to make her muscles move. Lydecker had really worked her over that time, and she was yet to understand why she was the target of his wrath. She watched behind her lids as his hand came down again connecting with her already stinging cheek, her swollen and bloody lip. She knew deep down what the problem was, she was a symbol to him. A symbol of every failure in his life, from his drinking problems, even though that was before she had ever been born, to the escape, to the fact that he had never retrieved all of X-5. Even for his frustrations with those who directed his actions higher up the chain. The ones who had said that he was under orders to destroy "his children" if it came to that.

Somewhere deep down she laughed, even though she could push no air past her dry vocal cords. She tried to refocus her attention, there was someone here and he was watching her. The man still held her face and she could only think that he was assessing her. It wasn't Lydecker… his movement wasn't right, but who was he?

No one else had been allowed near her since she had been brought here, not even Lydecker's personal entourage came with him when he came down here. But here was this man, his motion did tell her that much, looking her over and assessing her. Did Lydecker have something new planned? Was he handing the reins over to someone else? Was he still trying to break her after all this time? She felt determination harden in her gut as her body began to respond to her wishes. She continued on as if she was still out listening as the stranger moved and shifted before her.

She heard him stand up and move around behind her, slowly she opened her eyes staring at the dusty floor. She tried to suppress goose flesh as he reached and touched her hair moving it off her sweaty neck. She almost jumped when he drew in a quick surprised breath. She grit her teeth as he knelt down saying, "Oh my God!" then she whipped her head back satisfied when she connected solidly with the man's forehead.

He grunted heavily and fell back. But he quickly recovered his feet dashing around to face her again, which shocked her, it should have put the man's lights out. She was again surprised when she got a good look at his face as he rushed in grabbing her by the chin and bending her head back painfully. He stared angrily into her eyes. He was barely out of boyhood! He couldn't have been more than about sixteen or seventeen. His face was as soft featured as hers was, only he looked to be of Asian descent, with dark upslanting eyes and a cropped shock of dark hair. By his build he was at least part Samoan, tall and thickly built, very strong she knew by the grip on her jaw that threatened to break it. And above all there was the bar code between his brows identifying him to the entire world as a product of Manticore. By his age, she could only guess that he was at least X-9 or X-10. She couldn't be sure though she had stopped keeping track of who, what, where, when, and why at least a year ago.

"Go ahead," She whispered daringly, "Finish me off. That's what you're here for isn't it?"

Sanity returned to his eyes at those words and the grip on her chin slackened. As it did she ripped her chin from his grip. The Samoan Manticore stepped back looking at her oddly.

She made to lunge forward hitting her restraints which hurt but she was too mad to feel it, "Come here to gloat?" She spit.

That seemed to snap him out of whatever thought track he had gotten stuck in, "No," It was almost inaudible. He tilted his head slightly looking at her, "Who are you?"

"Like you don't already know! Lydecker's started parading the Troops past me as an example of what not to become now, I suppose. Where's the rest of your playmates, Manty boy? Get your tickets, step right up, see Manticore's worst screw up…" She continued on in her tirade.

"Shut up," the Manticore said, "Do you want them to hear you?" He peered out the small window for any sign that someone knew of his presence here, "Lydecker doesn't know I'm here. He'd kill me quite literally if he did."

She had bristled at him for so coarse an order but the second half of his statement stopped the retort in her throat. She looked him over again, "Why are you here then, Manty boy?" She said sarcastically, "Come to get some jollies?"

He was taken aback by that statement she saw by the look in his eyes that hardened like water in subzero temperatures, "Why are you here is a better question. You're Manticore as well, so why are you down here and why is Lydecker torturing you?" The hardness in his eyes was still there but the curiosity was mingling his mask of authority.

"Oh that is the longest story." She said rolling her eyes, "If you let me out of here I'll tell you all about it."

The young man smiled a knowing smile, "You must think that because I'm young I'm impressionable... and stupid."

"The thought had crossed my mind," she said sourly.

"Wrong answer," He said shaking his head, "You aren't getting anything without answering a few questions for me… beginning with who you are."

She looked away from him a moment, "My name is Max…" she looked up into his eyes, "Max Guevera."

Kito's eyes narrowed as she said the name, thinking for some reason that he ought to know it. But he was unsure why that thought stuck. He listened as she told him a long detailed story of her life. She seemed relieved to have someone listen to her for a change. She was an X-5 one of the twelve infamous escapee's from 2009, and she had eluded her pursuit until about three years before when her and her husband… that thought was weird to him that a Manticore could be married and live a "Norm life"… Had been ambushed near where they lived. The man had been injured in their attempt to escape and had been captured, leaving her torn about whether to stay and fight beside him or flee for her own life. He had convinced her to flee and save herself, and she had complied with his wishes. She was shot in her attempt to get away and had come very near death when they had taken her back to Manticore. They of course nursed her back to health and then had tried to reindoctrinate her to Manticore Life. She had foiled all attempts at it, retaining her individuality and her desire to be free and live, as she wanted. Manticore would have none of it, and neither would Lydecker.

A pain crossed her face as she said, "Logan…" her eyes became unfocused, "I have no idea what happened to him… I don't know whether they killed him or not. Lydecker was there and won't even tell me… at least they don't know about him," the last she had said to herself, but it was easily audible to Kito.

"Know what?" Kito asked curiously.

Max's eyes pinned him accusingly, "Nothing," she lied realizing that she had said it out loud. "Damn stupid…" she thought, "They are sure to have this place bugged."

Kito let the subject go seeing the set of her face. He could tell that she was not lying or making any of her stories up although it did not jive with the Manticore that he knew and lived. Having lived on the outside for 27 years would give her a wildly different take on the life offered here. Something in him wanted to help her escape her torture and allow her to reunite with her husband, if he was still alive.

Kito looked at his watch, "Damn," he muttered. It was nearly time for reveille. He started toward the door.

"Where are you going?" Max said sounding slightly desperate, "You gotta get me outta here.

"I have to get back before everyone wakes up," Kito said sounding a bit desperate himself, "I'm sorry… I will come back and I will get you out of here… I promise."

He turned around and nearly ran Lydecker over.


	5. Repercussions

Chapter five: Repercussions

Kito back stepped quickly as he saw Lydecker in the door. Lydecker looked as surprised as Kito did, but Lydecker oddly reacted to Kito faster. Before Kito could even think, Lydecker sounded the alarm, drew his pistol and fired three times at Kito. 

Kito had finally begun to react at the sound of the klaxon blaring loudly throughout the building, and no doubt throughout the base. Now there would be soldiers coming and he had no place to run. He ducked away as the bullets came at him but was too slow to get out of the way of all of them. He cried out as one ripped into his arm and buried itself against his bone. Kito fell to the deck with the momentum of the bullet grunting heavily. He put pressure on the wound as he returned his gaze to the elder man, who had now reaimed and with one motion could very easily kill him. Kito didn't cringe as he faced the man, knowing he had risked this very course of action investigating this building.

"What are you doing here soldier," Lydecker said acidly, his face pinched even more than usual and his skin bright red with anger, "This building is off limits."

Kito remained silent, any answer was a wrong answer now. He had just made himself a traitor to Manticore and he knew it. He held his breath watching as Lydecker stepped in closer to his own prone form. Kito realized that Lydecker's anger was overriding his normal sense of caution as he came within range of Kito's defensive circle. He waited just a moment longer watching Lydecker's livid mask as he pointed the gun at Kito's face. Before he could pull the trigger Kito swept out hitting Lydecker in the ankles and knocking him to the floor.

Kito jumped to his feet and descended on Lydecker punching him hard in the face and knocking him unconscious. He then retrieved Lydecker's gun and stepped over to Max still strapped into the chair, "OK, now is as good a time to get you out of here as any," Kito muttered to her.

"You think?" Max said sarcastically.

Kito's lips thinned at the comment but he continued, "Hold still I'm going to break these locks," He stepped back and fired the gun smiling grimly as the lock jumped up and fell from the hasp neatly severed. He moved to the second one and as he was getting ready to fire he heard the many footsteps of soldiers coming his way.

He turned reactively and trained the gun at the open doorway. The first soldier through the door went down quickly as Kito shot him in the chest. He ran up and dragged the body inside as he slammed the door to slow the rest of the would-be captors. He wanted to bolt the lock or brace the door but there was nothing to do either with. His heart sank with every act he performed against his programming, asking himself again and again why he was doing this for a near stranger.

Then again she was Manticore, and Lydecker had been treating her like dirt, how long would it take for him to begin treating the rest that way? That was something that Kito was unwilling to see, and his recent actions warranted just such treatment, he knew. How many others had he treated this way?

Kito shook his head clearing his thoughts as he calculated how best to defend himself and get Max out of the building in the process. He was left little time to it as the door burst inward, Kito tried to fire again at the stream of soldiers now coming through the busted door only to have the gun jam on him. Kito tried to fight them off but there were too many and he fell to their superior numbers. He felt himself being dragged from the room as he continued to struggle. He caught glimpses of several soldiers going to Lydecker's aid and others securing Max again as she struggled against her own restraints, one hand free and taking out any soldiers who came to close to her.

Kito blinked as the group of soldiers dragged him out into the brightening day. In a last ditch effort Kito pushed up and then relaxed completely dead-weighting against their hold. He felt one of the soldiers on his leg lose his grip and immediately took advantage of it. He drew up his free foot and kicked out hard. He was satisfied when one of the soldiers fell away, he then planted his foot and threw his full weight forward pulling the rest of them off balance and another soldier lost grip on his arm. He pulled his arm straight down ripping it from the other soldier who had managed to this point to maintain his hold. Kito immediately followed the move with an upswing shattering the man's jaw. 

He systematically worked through the remaining soldiers until he was surprised to find himself free. But now what? He wanted to go back and free the woman who called herself Max, but was sure that would be futile effort. The building was crawling with soldiers ensuring that no other disruptions to the Manticore soldiers in training.

He had to escape or else he would do Max no good at all, and with that realization he moved toward one of the perimeter fences. He didn't make it very far when he was confronted by Torri and Kenai, his heart sank again.

"Come quietly, Kito," Torri said in her most authoritative voice, "Don't make us fight you."

"I don't know what you did little-bro, but you sure have the compound up in arms," Kenai said with a determined look on his face.

Kito said nothing only shaking his head and assuming a fighting stance. They both took the cue swiftly descending on him. Kenai took the lead jabbing and kicking trying to drive Kito back while Torri circled him trying to move into a position that would allow him no escape. Kito looked back momentarily to place Torri's position when Kenai landed a solid punch on his bullet wound. Kito cried out and Torri leapt into the fray, but Kito ducked and Torri sailed harmlessly over him to land gracefully in a tucked roll, quickly regaining her feet. Kito did not want to prolong this fight that would only allow more soldiers to be called in for back up. With that thought in mind Kito made a running leap, easily clearing Kenai and sprinted quickly for the fence. One leap and he cleared it, continuing to sprint full speed through the tangle of forest. Kenai and Torri were not about to give up on him that easily, but he continued on putting distance between them thinking of a plan all the while to neutralize the two of them as a threat. He rounded the bole of one large tree and stopped. Listening for the pursuit he knew was there. 

Kito heard Torri coming first her more compact size built for speed, and behind her by quite a bit was Kenai. He closed his eyes and just listened as they came closer to his hiding spot. Without opening his eyes he reached out grabbed Torri by the lapel and using her momentum smashed her into the tree beside him. She immediately went limp in his grip and he dropped her where she was. He then dashed out from behind the tree and sprinted again glancing back over his shoulder seeing just how close Kenai was to him. Not too close… that was a good thing. Kito ducked behind another tree, leapt into the lowest branch some thirteen feet in the air and waited for Kenai to round the tree. Kito counted only five seconds before Kenai came under his branch. Kito leapt on top of him knocking him to the forest floor, he spun him quickly around, head butting him. Kito felt the skin split on his own forehead, but knew from past experience with Kenai that it was one of his weakest spots. He slowly wiped away the oozing blood looking down at the seemingly peaceful face of his unconscious Manticore brother. 

Kito straightened over the limp form of his classmate looking about him for any further sign of pursuit he neither saw nor heard any. To be sure he began jogging through the brush distancing himself from his former home. He zigzagged through the forest making tracking more difficult as his brain worked overtime on his actions, the repercussions of such, and just what he was going to do now.


	6. The Search

Chapter Six: The Search

Kito slept the night of his escape under the cover of an abandoned shed. There was a house next to it but he knew that it would be the first place they'd look when they came to look for him. He was actually laying under the floorboards of the shed to be less conspicuous to any pursuit. It was dank and cold and smelled of rotting wood. He shivered despite himself as the damp ground stole his heat. His arm was swollen and feverish and though it had stopped bleeding he found himself slightly dizzy and nauseous from what he had already lost. He had treated it the best he could under the circumstances but knew he would have to get better attention to it soon. As if he could afford to walk into the hospital dressed in assault gear with a bar code like a beacon on his forehead. That would be begging for capture. 

Hearing a twig snap in the dark forest, Kito peered out a crack in the floorboard seeing the sky through the shed's open door. The sliver of sky was awash with bright stars peeking and winking around the tops of the surrounding trees. Any other time he could have appreciated the beauty of it. Tonight however his mind was chasing itself in small circles.

He was now a fugitive, like it or not, because of his actions and it left a very sour taste in his mouth. He continued to second-guess the wisdom of it. It seemed very trivial at this moment that Lydecker had kept Max under guard and under wraps. She had probably deserved what she was getting, being on the run voluntarily for so long. Flying her finger in the face of those that had created her and taught her everything she knew. She could have made up any sob story she had liked to get Kito to listen to her, to prick his sense of justice. How was it that he was so sure that she was telling the truth? And now he was forced to live among the Norms, prepared or not.

He drew a heavy breath letting it out slowly and closing his eyes. He knew… whether he wanted to admit it or not, she had been in pain. Not the physical pain that was inflicted on her, but a mental pain. The pain of not knowing, of being separated. It had pulled at his sense of justice… damn it to hell, and now he could do nothing save try and get her out of the situation she was in.

That begged the question of "how?" There were four other Manticore's in that installation, and while he had disabled two of them it was only temporary, he had intentionally left them alive, unable to bring himself to take a brother's life. Them and a contingent of Norm soldiers numbering upwards of 150 troops? There was no way the odds were in his favor. He lay awake most of the night mulling the possibilities over in his head. Slowly the answer came to him toward dawn, but even that was a slim possibility considering his lack of information. But what other choice did he have?

Seattle three days later: 

Tima moved busily through her place tidying up for a friend's visit. By most people's standards, the action was unnecessary the place was clean. But Tima was obsessively neat and she was dusting for probably the third time in the last six hours.

Tima had finally landed a job, cutting down on her need to fleece the local populace to stay alive and comfortable. It wasn't much, assembly line work at a nearby factory, but she had made herself indispensable with her skill and her speed. She reminded herself to thank Logan again for the assist in getting her placed.

She had, more quickly than anticipated, made several friends. They had stared at her the first few days, not having seen an oriental before with green eyes. She had put off their curiosity by telling them that she had gotten contacts to make them look that way. They in turn stared at her eyes saying that it was the most convincing set of colored lenses they had ever seen. They had all had a good laugh about it, and quickly they warmed to her as a new addition.

She had invited her new found friends to her place for a barbecue and party so that they could get better acquainted. She made herself stop a moment but her eyes still restlessly searched the room for any spots she might have missed. Her eyes wandered out to the small balcony of her apartment where a neat arrangement of grill and cooking utensils sat. They then moved to the ice chests brimming with beer and other alcohol's for their enjoyment.

Needless to say she was more than a little nervous about the prospect. She had been such a loner for so long in her life that she didn't think she even possessed the skills to interact with others. 

Folding her towel neatly and replacing it under the kitchen sink she moved back to the bathroom, absently checking her watch again to see how much time she had until her coworkers arrived. She rolled her eyes it had only been fifteen minutes since the last time she had checked. She stepped into the bathroom and closed the door to make use of the full-length mirror on the back of it to check her appearance.

She was wearing a dark gray long sleeved v-neck shirt, which had cuffs flaring from her wrists to cover her slim and delicate hands. Her pants were tight black sudo-suede that also flared at the calf almost hiding completely her shiny black boots. She wore a simple gold chain at her neck with an amethyst pendant, and interconnected gold chains adorned her two nose rings and alternated up her line of five earrings in gradually smaller strands. She had let her long hair down curling the ends of her soft straight hair under giving her a decidedly Japanese look. 

With some creative work she had turned her bar code into a henna tattoo of leaves, grass and flowers gracefully circling her eyes. It probably wouldn't fool Manticore but it was enough to keep her new friends from asking the wrong kinds of questions. Religious customs did not even surface with this crowd so claiming that it was part of her heritage would be a good cover, whereas a bar code would probably freak them out.

As she nodded satisfied with her appearance the doorbell rang. She smiled at her own reflection excited to give this party a go and headed for the door. She was still smiling broadly as she opened the door to greet her visitor… her face fell as she got a look at her visitor.

Tima reacted before he could say anything, grabbing him by the lapel, falling backwards as she planted a foot in his abdomen and flipped him over her. She jumped to her feet pinning him quickly and raising her stiff-fingered hand up aimed at his exposed throat, "What are you doing here Kito?" She asked sure that he had been sent to execute her.

He lay under her angry form stunned. He had both hands out and up at his sides in a gesture of submission, "It's not like that Tima…" He said his voice strained, "I need your help."


	7. Suspicions

Chapter Seven: Suspicions

The words caught Tima off guard for a moment, yet she did nothing to shift her position or give Kito any kind of relief. Her eyes narrowed as she assessed the sincerity of his words, "Right," She said obviously suspicious.

Kito licked his lips, not moving or acting in any way aggressive, "I'm telling you the truth, Tima. I need help, I made a huge error in judgment and I've been forced to flee for my life," He said in that same oddly strained voice.

Tima blinked and despite herself he stance over his prone form relaxed, "Why should I believe you? You and all the others Manticore's left me to the wolves when I came back. You even helped Lydecker out by trying to retrieve me, just so he could kill me."

"I didn't Tima," He defended quickly, "I never came after you… After what Lydecker did, I couldn't make myself come after you."

Tima blinked again in surprise, and slowly she stood still looking at him, "So you escaped? Just because Lydecker changed the rules?"

He slowly pushed himself up on his elbows, "Not just that…" He started shaking his head, "There was something else."

Tima was about to ask what when the doorbell rang, "Shit!" Tima said as she checked her watch again, "C'mon, get up," She said gruffly, "You're mystery is going to have to wait for a few hours," She pulled him to his feet and with one hand on his arm she began to herd him toward the back of the apartment. She opened the door to her bedroom and pushed him inside. That was when she noticed the blood on her hand, she looked back up at him in concern. Hearing the doorbell ring again she yelled, "Just a minute!" and then stepped into the door, "your hurt?" she whispered. His lips thinned a minute as he nodded silently. She motioned him toward a smaller room just off of the bedroom, "There's a first aid kit in there, use what you need. You can make use of the bed if you need to. I'll be back in a few hours, just stay in here," and without another word she left shutting the door behind her.

Left to his own machinations Kito first made use of the First Aid kit, which with Tima was a very extensive kit indeed. You could do just about anything short of surgery with the stuff she was supplied with. He thought back to when he had really known Tima and nodded smiling knowingly. She'd always had a bent for medicine, everyone thought that she would end up being the company's doctor. She regarded even the treatments and sometimes the experiments with more fascination than horror. He mulled over that long distant past as he slowly and carefully replaced the dressing on him arm. The wound was ugly, even his revved up blood was having a hard time dealing with the damage, the edges of the wound were tinged green and it oozed a sickening smelling green fluid. He doused it with peroxide gritting his teeth at the sting of it, then he wiped it clean and applied a new dressing to it, hoping that he could get to that doctor soon.

That done Kito returned to the bedroom looking around and trying to determine what Tima's life was like now in the real world. There was a menagerie of things in Tima's room, childish things like Stuffed animals and toys adorned a shelf across from the queen sized bed that took up the majority of the room. She had a jewelry box on the dresser and vanity that was filled with very pricey looking rings, earrings, bracelets, and chains. Two, silver colored, drawn silver, spiraled armbands lay next to it neatly coiled together. There was what looked like ancient handmade lace lying across the surface of the dresser and upon closer inspection of the workmanship he was at a loss to say just how old it might have been.

There were books of all genres neatly arranged on the shelf with the toys.

Kito gravitated toward the door leading back to the living room of the dwelling, as the music caught his attention. He opened the door just a crack and looked out toward the source of the sound. He heard several different voices including Tima's talking excitedly over trivial things, laughing and that incessant music kept them practically yelling to be heard over it.

Tima had changed a lot, Kito thought quietly. She was always the quiet one in Manticore a loner, reinforced by her exceptional smarts and ability to absorb almost anything the first time. That made even the most highly trained Manticore kid jealous and wary of her. He laughed silently, and Manticore was supposed to be all about teamwork… go figure. It didn't help that she had gotten more than her share of attention from the drill instructor and from Lydecker. But here she was with… he closed his eyes and listened for a second sorting out the number of voices in the next room that he could not see… five, no six people, talking and having a good time. He was impressed, adaptable, even more so than he could have been given the circumstances. He was feeling more and more like a fish out of water right now.

Kito shook his head and stepped back from the door, closing it silently behind him. Suddenly he found that he was very tired and thought about Tima's offer of the bed for his own use. He stripped out of the utility vest that he had escaped in and slowly sat on Tima's bed. Soft… it was very soft… He was sure that it was the softest bed that he had ever had the privilege to sleep on. He lay back and closed his eyes, and was asleep before another thought had run through his head.

Tima smiled graciously as she let the last of her guests out the door thanking them for coming and wishing them well until she saw them again at work. Sighing she closed the door behind her, a smile still lingering on her lips as she thought about just how well that had gotten. She felt that she had cemented some very decent friends tonight.

The smile slid off her face as she remembered the Pandora's box that she had left in her bedroom to tend to this party. She looked at her watch it had been nearly six hours since Kito had arrived, he was probably going crazy in her room. With grim determination she set her self and headed back for the room, still unsure whether or not to trust him. She opened up the door expecting him to pounce on her as soon as she cleared the doorframe. She was surprised however to find him sprawled out, face down, sound asleep on her bed. Tima frowned slamming the door and Kito jumped visibly at the sound. She watched stoically as he pushed himself slowly up and looked sleepily at her.

"Make yourself at home," she said sarcastically. Kito looked confused by the reference, "So?" She added impatiently, "What are you doing here if not as a hit-man to kill a renegade Manticore?"

Kito sat up wiping the exhaustion from his eyes, Tima noticed it for the first time, and he looked as if he hadn't slept in years. 

"Lydecker almost killed me after you left… for my inaction," He started slowly, "He almost shot me on the spot," He looked away unable to meet her eyes, "And being the good soldier I accepted my punishment. But he didn't go through with it, instead he put me on the perimeter patrol, and that is where my trouble really started."

He began to explain about his discovery in building 241, about his obsessive need to find out what Lydecker was hiding. He explained about finding the Manticore woman in bondage being tortured for a reason even she didn't know. About his contradictory behavior regarding his directive to kill any rogue Manticore and his need to keep this one… one of his worst failures, alive only to torture her. How Lydecker had returned too soon and turned him into a fugitive against his wishes.

"She told me that her name was Max," Kito said about halfway through his explanation. Kito didn't see the shock on Tima's face when he mentioned the name, nor did he see her far away expression, as he continued to talk. She only half heard the name of the husband that this Max had supposedly lost, a name she already knew, and a man whom she knew all too well.

She refocused her eyes to look at Kito as he finished with, "That is why I need your help."

"I know someone who may be willing to assist us," Tima said distantly, "If I can convince him its not a trick," she thought grimly, "And how do _I_ know it's not a trick?" She thought logically, "Because Kito doesn't lie… he never learned how," another part of her said.


	8. Help?

Chapter Eight: Help?

Tima rode the elevator to the penthouse of Logan's building feeling more than a little apprehensive. She knew that he was not going to take the news well, but at the same time she knew she could not neglect to mention something this important. He would say that it was a set up and a trap, it was exactly what she was thinking. 

But how would Kito know? And how would he have any clue about her connection to Logan at all? That was the other reason that she was doing this. She had convinced herself that this was for real, that Kito had actually stumbled onto this Max, Logan's wife, and unwittingly had come to Tima for help, not knowing who else to contact. Extreme coincidence to be sure. And so it was that Logan absolutely needed to know the information and had to be made to believe it. With the amount of defenses there at the base she was going to need Kito and Logan to even consider attempting a rescue.

She was still amazed about how easily Kito had found her here in the city. Not only was it some 15miles away, but Seattle was a big city with nearly 2.1 million people living in and around it. Sure it had taken him several days, but if he could do it in that short of a time with the limited resources he had, how much shorter a time would it take for a determined and much better equipped Manticore search party?

She had dropped Kito at the hospital sure that it was unwise to bring him. She was unsure how Logan would react to another X-10 paying a visit with her. She had done Kito the service of getting him lined up with a doctor for the bullet wound he had suffered at Lydecker's hands. She had also gotten him some clothes that would allow him to blend a bit better than the black ops suit he had showed up at her door with.

The chime of the elevator coming to the floor she requested broke her out of her thoughts before she was ready.

Tima's head came up as the door opened, and taking a deep breath she stepped up to his eloquent wood door. Feeling self-conscious she rang the bell rather than letting herself in as she normally would have. She just could not come up with a way to stroll in and announce to him that his wife was alive, at the base they had been before, being tortured by Lydecker. Somehow it just did not make for a good icebreaker.

Logan was on the balcony leaning on the rail and looking at the city enjoying the mid-spring day. It was starting to warm up finally, which had lifted his spirits. He had hit a low recently and was just coming back out of it. It was a sad anniversary today…it had been four years to the day since he had lost Max… and the baby. He had dealt with a very serious bout of depression, he shook his head thinking it funny to find that he still fought the "dark side" even after all of this time. 

He closed his eyes and listened to the sound of the city, exercising his augmented senses when he picked up the chime of the elevator coming to his floor. His head raised slightly as he heard it and he smiled a small smile, Tima was here. He straightened and headed for the balcony door wondering how Tima's party had gone the day before. She had been so nervous about it; she had even wanted him to come just so she had someone there that she was comfortable with. He politely refused her, knowing that if he had come she would not have let loose with her friends, she'd have ended up hovering around him all night. 

Logan got the distinct impression that she had the slightest bit of a crush on him. She hung at his place whenever she felt it appropriate, and that was a lot. She wanted to accompany him wherever he went and seemed to notice no one else when he was around her. He barked a short laugh; she was WAY too young for him, even if he was interested. 

He was halfway through his apartment when the doorbell rang, and his brows furrowed. Had he been wrong? Tima did not ring the bell, even when she forgot the key that he had given her. If she did forget it, which was pretty often, she just let herself in through the skylight or the balcony. Then again who else would come to this floor? Bling? No, he had his own key as well, and he never forgot it. No one else but the manager had access to the apartment and if he had business here he would always call first.

Puzzled Logan moved to the door just as the bell rang again. He opened the door to find a slightly startled Tima, "Tima?" Logan asked, "Why are you ringing the bell? Did you forget how to fly?" He said joking as he always did about her materialization's in his place.

She smiled at him even though she looked as if she didn't feel like it, "No," she said softly, "I just felt like ringing the bell," He could tell that she was lying about her motivation, she looked apprehensive about something.

"Well don't just stand there, come in…" He stood aside and allowed her entrance, "How was the party?"

"Good," She said in monotone, "Better than I expected… and worse." Logan looked at her retreating form oddly.

Tima preceded him and went directly to the study, which was also odd she normally headed straight for the kitchen. Unlike Max, Tima wanted him to cook for her all the time, thought his cooking was the cat's meow, in fact, "So what's up you look like you have something on your mind."

She turned to face him, "I do, but I'm just not sure how to put it," God when she said stuff like that she seemed older than her sixteen years.

His brows knitted over his bright blue eyes. He sat down crossing his arms over his chest, "So?" He prompted her.

"Well," she started wincing, "I had a visit last night just before the party from a Manticore named Kito."

His eyebrows raised, "Are you OK?"

She waved his concern away, "Yeah." Playing off just how scared that she had been thinking that Kito was there to finish what Lydecker had started before Logan had rescued her, "He said that he needed my help with a problem."

"Oh? So are you going to help him?"

"That would depend on you. I am going to need your help," Tima said straightforwardly.

Logan looked at her dubiously, "My help?"

Tima nodded, "Y'know that base we went to when you tried to help me get back in?" Logan nodded, "That is where Kito came from, he is one of the Manticore's that is stationed there. He's X-10 like me. He told me that there is a woman being held there against her will. Lydecker is abusing her, to what extent he could not say, and he wants my help to spring her from there. Lydecker found him there with her and he was forced to flee. He was unable to help her get free from there. The problem is, as you know, that there are several Manticore's, four others to be exact, and a contingent of about 150 other soldiers. Making it difficult for just him or he and I to get back in and out. I figure with you're help we'd at least have a decent chance."

He just stared at her a moment, then finally blinking he said, "I'm sorry Tima, you know that it is not my style to play an action hero." 

He turned away and straightened some of the workload on his desk, "I can see about getting some of the others to give you a hand… Zach or Jondie maybe…"

"But…" Tima interrupted, "He tells me her name is Max."

Logan wheeled on her anger flashing in his eyes, "That's not funny Tima!" His voice was deep with hurt and anger, "Max is dead, I told you that."

"I'm not kidding, Logan, I wouldn't kid you about that," Tima said sincerely, "I couldn't think of hurting you that way, not after all that you've done for me."

His jaw was clenched tight and she could see the muscles working, "It has to be a trick."

She nodded knowing he would say that, "I thought the same thing too. But think about it, how would he know?"

"Lydecker… he would have that information, most of it at least," He replied unwilling to give up on his fury.

"How would he know where I went, and how would he know that you were the one that had helped me that night? C'mon Logan, I think that he is on the level. I think that Manticore somehow managed to save her and they have her captive, right now at that base."

He snorted unhappily, "I still don't like it, Tima."

"At least talk to him yourself, then make a more educated decision about it."

Logan looked away a moment, closing his eyes against the pain he was feeling again. He didn't like false hope, and this sounded way too good to be true, especially considering the timing, "Are you sure that you can trust him?" He whispered.

"Yes," Tima replied without hesitation.

Holding his breath and then sighing he said, "I'll talk to him."

Kito watched the "Doctor" warily as he worked on his arm. Kito had never been fond of doctors anyway, he had been the subject of one too many experiments when he was younger to have any affection for them, no matter how willing to "Help" they were. He was tense and edgy anyway, way out of his depth in this outside world. He looked down at the gaudy clothes that Tima had picked out for him feeling very undignified in the loose black pants and the tight tank top he was now wearing. She had given him a bandana to tie around his forehead effectively hiding the bar code between his brows. She had dropped him off here at the clinic and said that she would be back soon. She muttered something about having to contact the person that she had mentioned might want to help. To be sure he drew no undue attention from the doctor or anyone else in the hospital, so he guessed she was a better judge than he about the dress code out here was.

Kito remained stoically silent as the doctor finished up extracting the bullet and began stitching the bullet wound shut, admonishing him all the while about letting it go for so long without getting it looked at. He only nodded taking the chastising in style. It was easy considering some of the lectures he used to get about his conduct in Manticore. When the doctor finished and wrapped the arm, he ushered him back out into the lobby finishing up with some advice on the care of the wound over the next several days.

Kito watched as the doctor turned away and called the next of a long line of patients into his office.

Kito wandered about aimlessly waiting for Tima to return. There was not much to the place and he was quickly bored. Movement caught his eye outside the door and he sighed his relief as he recognized Tima. His brows furrowed as he saw the man with her, and he looked as unhappy to see Kito, as Kito was to see him.


	9. The Plan

Chapter Nine: The Plan

As per Tima's suggestion she took the conference back to her place. It was the closest thing that she could think of that could be considered neutral ground, and that would still be private. Logan's place while nice would give him undo psychological advantage, and while this wasn't the most neutral place, being that Kito was familiar with it, it was better than the alternative. She could feel the tension building the whole way back. Logan was suspicious of Kito from the word go, and Kito looked sour to have outside help brought in.

Logan took a seat on her scarlet lounge while Kito remained standing, both with their arms crossed and both looking like there were ready to either attack or be attacked. Feeling uncomfortable Tima just leaned on the counter at the close-by kitchen.

Kito looked the new man over intently. He was about forty over twice his own age, though he looked to be in good shape. He was fairly tall but fell short of Kito's height by many inches, and he was thinly built. His hair was graying from its usual almost brown color. The man's bright blue eyes measured him intently, wariness and suspicion easily read in the features of his face. How could this old fart be of any help to them at all? He was just a Norm.

Kito was feeling the time pressure building, and he wondered just how long it would be until they moved Max free of the facility and hid her somewhere else. His need to get back and get the woman out of there, was overwhelming to him, even if it didn't make much sense why he would care about it. They needed to get this over with so they could get a plan in action.

Logan was assessing Kito just as much, wondering if he could trust this Kito any further than he could throw him. By now he had convinced himself that this whole thing was just a ploy to get Logan to expose his illicit abilities to Lydecker's people. To set him up to be captured and the next in a long line of experimentation to find out just why Manticore blood could affect a normal human the way it had him. He was ready to do whatever possible to avoid falling into the hands of the Manticore scientists, even if he was curious himself why it had happened the way it had.

He was oddly satisfied that this kid looked as nervous and anxious as he felt. The Kid was the same age as Tima, about sixteen, though he could have passed for someone in his twenties easily. He was tall, heavily built and his skin was naturally a dark brown. His hair was pitch black and his eyes were so dark that Logan could not pick out the pupil from the iris easily. His pupils were much the same as Tima's though, slightly oblong, and Logan wondered silently why X-10 had a penchant for the more catlike trait. Just how were they mixing their DNA lately anyway?

Logan blinked and finally broke the silence, "Tima tells me you came here to request her help in freeing someone from Manticore," Logan started, "She in turn asked for my help in the execution of this rescue."

Kito nodded, "Though what help you're going to be I don't know," He looked sharply at Tima then, accusingly.

Logan smiled crookedly as if he knew something Kito didn't, "So tell me the story," Logan said leaning forward daring Kito to impress him, "Why should I get involved with this? Honestly I don't trust you, I think you're setting me up for a fall."

Kito's eyebrows raised as he looked at this bold man. Who the hell did he think he was dealing with? Taking a breath he said, "I discovered a woman in a building on the base. One that has been secretly training more Manticore kids. She was strapped into a chair so tightly that she could not move more than a centimeter or two. She had been beaten, repeatedly from the look of her injuries. She was Manticore herself, but an earlier lot, X-5, X-6… I couldn't be sure. Her bar code was on the back of her neck."

Logan leaned back nodding, OK that was easily enough fed, and even Logan knew the difference between the younger and older generations of Manticore's. Logan continued to listen as this Kito went on, "She woke up then, thinking that I was there to kill her when Lydecker wouldn't. She was angry and accusing, but I convinced her that I had nothing to do with it.

"She told me then that she had been captured during an escape attempt here in Seattle three no four years ago. Something about her and her husband being ambushed by Lydecker's people," Kito had Logan's interest now, but he wasn't entirely convinced, all of that would be knowledge that would be fairly easily attainable, "She said that he had been injured and captured, that her husband had told her to run. She said that she had waited too long, and was shot. She said that she didn't remember much after that except waking up in Manticore. She said that she had almost died though."

"What else, what did she look like?" Logan pressed him.

Kito looked at him again, "She was of Mexican decent, very rounded face, soft featured, dark almond eyes, very full lips. Her hair was reddish brown, like it was hi-lighted, wavy. She was short probably no more than five two… five four, slight of build," Kito paused a moment, his eyes becoming very distant, "There was an odd scar, just under her bar-code on her neck, semi-rounded but it looked as if it had been cut."

Logan's eyes widened and he sucked in a shocked breath that had been the Red's implant scar. He tamped down any further reaction… it was still too coincidental, "Did she tell you anything else?"

Kito thought for a moment then reluctantly shook his head in the negative, "No."

Logan watched Kito for a few minutes before he drew in a deep breath and stood. He walked over to where Tima stood, "Sorry Tima, I'm not convinced. He knows a lot but it is all common knowledge that any Manticore operative could have been given. I can't get involved with this, you know that, I risk exposure of the one thing that would make me their lab rat," Logan shook his head and turned to leave.

Kito approached closing the distance between himself and the retreating man, "So now he's just leaving?" Kito spouted incredulously, "He knows everything now… he could expose me."

"Leave it Kito, he has a lot to lose if he gets involved and he's not convinced its worth the risk," Tima tried to explain.

"Like I didn't?" He reached for Logan's shoulder, "You're not going to tell anyone anything!"

Before Kito knew what had happened he found himself looking up from the floor the older man standing over him, poised to put him down if the need came, "No," He spit, "I'm not going to tell anyone anything, but not because of your threats. I've kept more Manticore secrets than you're even aware of," With that the man stepped back. Tima tried hard to suppress a laugh at the dumbfounded look on Kito's face.

Kito looked at the man incredulously, "Y… you're him!" Kito said astonished, "You're the guy who helped Tima escape!"

"Yes, I'm the guy."

"But you're not Manticore, you're a 'Norm'!"

He actually laughed then, "Yes and no," and he turned and began to walk away.

"Who are you?" Kito asked.

He looked back at Kito crossing his arms over his chest, "My name is Logan… I'm Max's husband."

Tima thought Kito was going to faint for a moment, "She…she thinks you died," Kito whispered solemnly. Logan's eyes darted to his face now, testing his sincerity with his eyes. He found nothing but honesty in his face, and Logan realized that his danger sense had not so much as twinged the whole time he had been near Kito.

Logan nodded once sharply, "Let me see if I can add to our threesome," Logan said succinctly.


	10. Reunion...Of Sorts

Chapter Ten: Reunion…of Sorts

Tima, Kito and Logan moved from her place to his to make use of his extensive informant net to find the contacts that Logan was looking for. Kito watched for a moment as Logan immersed himself in the Internet. 

Then looking away Kito moved over closer to Tima, "What is he doing?"

Tima's eyes were unfocused as she replied, "He knows some other Manticore's, X-5's, that he is going to try and enlist the help of."

Kito looked at her a moment incredulously, "He knows the other X-5's?"

"The ones that are still alive, yeah. Max introduced him to several of them I guess, back when they had first started working together. Not to many of them left though from what Logan's told me. Most of the twelve were either recaptured or killed. Lydecker's standing orders changed I guess in 2020 or 2021 to a policy of whatever force it took to take care of the X-5 situation, even if it meant killing them. There are about five that are still around, six if you include Max. It surprised me, to be honest, that Lydecker kept Max alive, if those were his standing orders."

"Have… have you ever met any of them?"

She shook her head smiling crookedly and looking up at him, "No… wish I had but, no. Logan doesn't maintain contact with them. Actually he'd rather not be involved with this, except that it's Max. Anybody else and he would have probably just pointed the rest at the problem and remained in the background."

"Why? He fights as well as any of us," Kito grudgingly admitted, "He could probably even take Kenai on."

She smiled again, "It's just not him… its not his style to fight, not physically anyway. He only learned out of necessity, Max made him after what happened to him."

Kito's brows furrowed at that comment, "What is he a pacifist? And what do you mean after what happened."

"No, an activist actually, he's a Cyber-journalist, has been for a long time," Tima corrected, "And well, really it's not my place to tell what happened to him, it's a really long story."

"Go ahead Tima, I'm not shy about it," she heard Logan say from the other room and then he entered through the door, "Tell him how I went from Wheels to wailing," Logan jibbed her smiling all the while.

Tima actually blushed at having been overheard, she still had to remind herself that he could hear as well as any of them. He handed her and Kito a stack of pictures and maps, "Zach's coming, so's Tinga, but Jace, Zane and Jondie can't make it. They're either too far out of town or they have their own matters to attend to."

Kito and Tima shared a confounded glance, he had only been online for ten minutes maybe, "Between now and the time that they arrive we need to figure out just how we are getting in there and the best way to get us and Max back out of there. All my intelligence shows that there have been no transfers from the area so we stand a pretty good chance of catching them before they move Max," Logan looked up at them as they continued to stare, "What?" He said smiling, "I told you it was a custom computer, including a multitasking feature… on a good day I can do five things at the same time," and his smile broadened at their widening eyes.

Tima just shook her head, "You really have to teach me that," she said thinking on how he had directed the inherent Manticore Talents in a totally untaught and unheard of ways. She guessed that is what came from not being taught as a soldier your whole life, Logan saw things from a very different perspective than she or Kito did, or any of the Manticore's did for that matter.

They had almost cemented a plan of attack, all the general points were worked out and the only thing left was to brief the rest of the group when they arrived and assign specific tasks to carry out. About that time the phone rang, and Logan was quick to answer it, "Yeah, go ahead and send them up Mark," he said after a moment of listening. And that was it before he hung up the phone and returned to the small gathering, "Their on their way up," Logan told the two of them with a sigh. Kito looked at Logan a moment seeing that despite his outward calm appearance, Logan looked to be anxious to get this going, just as Kito felt. He saw Logan's need to find out if this was all true, it was the same hunger and longing that he had seen in Max's eyes when she had confided her thoughts about Logan, to him. 

Kito's lips thinned a moment, wondering just a little what it would feel like to be that dedicated to someone, to be willing to share the rest of his life with one person. It was a strange thought process for him, he had never before had personal thoughts, always thoughts and decisions dealt with the group not with individuals. 

Being on the outside was like a virus, and a virulent one at that, independent thought once there spread like a fast moving cancer through his mind. Yet he was unsure if that was a bad thing.

Logan rose and moved to the door opening it before the bell had rung and Kito and Tima caught a glimpse of two people standing there. Logan greeted them individually, "Zach," Logan said shaking the younger man's hand, "Thanks for coming."

"It's for Max," Zach said simply, "You know I had to come."

Logan smiled, and Kito could tell there was a rivalry and tension there between them immediately, "You haven't changed a bit."

As Logan greeted the woman coming through the door, a girl she barely caught the name Tinga on, she watched as Zach gracefully entered the room. He had to be the most amazing specimen that she had seen. He was about Kito's height, with a shock of dishwater blond hair. His features were chiseled as if from stone, his cheeks standing out in sharp relief, and his ice blue eyes were intense and focused. His shoulders were broad and his arms muscular. He was dressed in a black Leather jacket and painted on blue jeans with combat boots on his feet. He was ruggedly handsome. Tima had to force herself to stop staring and harder yet not to blush when Zach looked at her directly.

Tima made herself look at the other entrant in their newly forged group. She was tall and slim distinctly Asian in appearance, her skin was a golden brown color. Her dark almond shaped eyes were calculating and measuring, and she looked to be a cautious and deadly adversary.

"Tima, Kito, this is Zach and Tinga, two of Max's fellow X-5's," Logan introduced, and each group greeted the other then Logan looked to Zach, "Kito is the one who brought us the information… he's got the best idea about how to get us in."

They briefed over the next several hours, Kito explaining the layout of the base and the access tunnels that were under all of the buildings. He pointed out a small auxiliary power building that was near the perimeter fence in one of the deserted sections of the base. They would enter the service tunnels there and then proceed to their objective. Kito now was glad that he had been assigned to the perimeter patrol, it gave him the added advantage of knowing the nightly schedule of shift changes and the most opportune times to breach the fence.

"That settles it then," Zach said at the conclusion of the brief, "I got the gear down in the van." 

Logan looked grim, nodding, "Let's do this," He closed his eyes a moment thinking, "We're coming for you Max."


	11. Infiltration

Chapter Eleven: Infiltration

It seemed to take forever to get from Seattle to the base in question. Logan looked anxiously from the back where he sat through the shifting bodies in the van around him to look out the windshield. On the edge of the horizon he could just make out the glow of the base looming in the distance. His gaze moved to those around him, all of them including himself were dressed in infiltration suits, and to someone with normal vision the company he was keeping would be hard to pick out of the background darkness. Each one in the party was armed to the gills, assault rifles and shotguns, extra clips and shells. Zach, Tinga and even Kito carried a limited number of flares and grenades. They were in this to win, he knew and all of them even Tima seemed comfortable and relaxed about the impending assault on a major Manticore installation. He silently wished he felt the same. 

This was not something that he had ever been comfortable with, and Tima was dead on the money when she had told Kito that it wasn't his style to go on the offensive. The thought of killing only chilled him, as it had whenever he had been forced to it. He drew in a deep breath, "Keep your eyes on the prize," Logan thought. Getting Max back was his foremost concern and damn it, if anyone got in his way… to hell with the consequences. He spent four years of his life in hell thinking that he had lost the best thing he had ever found in his life, and nothing was going to stop him from getting her back.

Then a chill ran through him as a thought dropped like lead into the pit of his stomach. It was something that hadn't really occurred to him to this point. He had been so caught up in wanting Max back that he hadn't even thought about the baby. It hit him hard now. Max was still alive… did that mean that the baby was as well? Max would have been in a real bad way when Manticore had taken her back. She had been bad enough that Logan had thought her dead in his arms before they knocked him unconscious. That would affect the chances of a successful pregnancy, for sure. But what if the baby had survived? And for just a moment he entertained the thought that it had survived. What had it been… boy or girl? Then the thought soured in his mind, just as it had created hope the moment prior. If the baby was alive, it would already be indoctrinated into the Manticore program, programmed to only recognize the objective, not family, not love, "One dilemma at a time, Logan," He thought to himself.

Kito was anxious too, but not nearly for the same reason. His apprehension grew as they neared the complex he had just barely been able to escape from. Now he was bringing a well armed, renegade group of Manticore soldiers back to the installation for something that Kito should have known nothing about in the first place, "How to win friends and influence people," Kito thought to himself sourly. He was going to have to face all of his former brothers and sisters again, and it was not going to be a happy reunion.

Something else was bothering him as well. He had already balked in a combat situation, and that made him nervous. This time he would be going against those he had fought side by side with prior to last week, and he was conflicted on if he could bring himself to kill Torri or Kenai, or Tempest, or even Blade, if the situation came down to it. He could not afford to hesitate this time, it would mean his death and probably the death of some of the group he had with him now.

Kito shifted his concentration outward looking at Logan. He considered the older man to be the weak link in this chain. Everyone else he trusted to carry his or her share of the load, even the two Manticores that he had never met before today. Tima may have been out of it for a while, but she was sure to get back into the swing of it quickly. Logan could fight, but avoided it unless absolutely necessary and that made him a liability. But Kito could not fault the determination he saw in the man's face. This Max was very important to Logan and he was willing to get involved to get her back. That showed courage, Kito just hoped Logan would back it up in actions.

Kito looked away as they veered off the paved road onto the dirt road that would take them nearest their entry point. He shifted as the van bounced and rocked, as Zach sped down the jeep trail. It didn't take them much longer before Zach stopped the van. He looked around and back, "Last stop." He said quietly.

They all filed out of the van and made final preparations. Zach had stopped in the woods skirting the base so not to make as easy a target of the group. They all gathered around Zach as he reviewed the plan, Logan even deferred the lead to the younger man next to him. Kito wondered vaguely why, but let the thought slide as he listened to the last minute instructions.

"Kito you have point, Tinga and I will follow, Logan, Tima you guys bring up the rear. Once we're in we stick close, no wandering," He looked directly at Logan, as if it was supposed to mean something. Perhaps Zach had the same doubts about having Logan in the party. 

After that not a word was spoken, Zach giving a silent signal to Kito. Kito didn't look back he swiftly covered the distance between the trees and the fence. He paused a moment looked down the length of the fence either side of his position then signaled all clear. He rose, stepped back and leapt the fence. Landing lightly he immediately moved into the shadow of a nearby building alternately watching Tinga and Zach's progress and the fence-lines for perimeter patrols. It was only moments before they were crouched next to him. Zach signaled back to the other two to proceed, his mouth thinning as he watched the progress. Logan crouched down just the other side of the fence his eyes looking to the left of the group as Tima, without hesitating jumped it.

"Shit," Kito thought angrily, he was balking already. Zach signaled impatiently for Logan to join them. Logan shook his head and then signaled them to cover pointing up the fence line, before crouching lower into the tall grass. Kito was livid, what did he think he was doing? Logan was going to spoil this party before they even got close to building 241. He looked up and down the fence-line, not seeing anything. Kito signaled to the spot where Logan had blended in, impatient to move on. Then he heard it, the faint sound of boots approaching their position.

With practiced ease the four of them melted into the shadows until the two-person patrol passed by their position, not even aware of their presence. They all peeked out seeing Logan rise from the patch he had melted into and easily clearing the fence he joined them.

Kito looked at him with concern, "How did you know?" Kito asked him ignorantly, even as Zach signaled Kito to resume point. When he didn't move Zach thumped his shoulder hard signaling again.

Logan looked into his dark eyes smiling slyly, "Sixth sense."

"Huh?" Kito said, even as he moved away.

"I'll explain it later," Logan breathed.

They moved on, avoiding the sparse patrols that kept the perimeter clear of unwanted visitors. Kito was uneasy, this was going way too easy. Did Lydecker have that much confidence that Kito would not attempt to come back here and free Max? He listened to the minimal noises coming from the group behind him as they easily gained the outbuilding they had been looking for.

They broke the lock and entered to the loud humming of the auxiliary power transformer that the building housed. Kito moved quickly around the equipment to the access panel he was looking for and opened it. 

The entirety of their party was through the access and into the underground service way in less than a minute, all quickly jogging down the dusky corridor in the direction of their objective. Kito turned the corner on point and slid to a stop. The way was two thirds blocked by rubble and debris. By the look of it, it had been erected there rather than having come from a cave in, and recently too. That made Kito's heart sink as the rest joined him. 

There was enough room for them to move past it on the right side of the construction but it would only be one at a time. Kito looked at Zach, who looked like he had the same feeling, it stank of an ambush. But what choice did they have? They could retreat, but that still left Max trapped here, and there was more than one man in the party who did not wish that to remain the case.

Zach looked down at the floor then back at Logan. Logan nodded to him, Kito still wondered if there was not something more that these two understood that Kito was not grasping. Zach signaled them on and each one in turn squeezed through the small opening into the corridor beyond. To Kito's surprise there was no contingent of soldiers the other side of the barricade like he had half been expecting. The way was clear. Kito smiled in relief, and just a bit prematurely.

They all jumped as a small bang was heard followed by a loud rumbling. They all turned back to see the opening that they had come through was now sealed.

"Shit!" He heard Zach and Logan say simultaneously, and they all turned again as the sound of many running feet echoed down the corridor getting louder. When the dust had settled they found themselves five against fifty.


	12. Siege

Chapter Twelve: Siege

Logan watched as those around him automatically assumed positions for maximum defense with minimal effort. Zach and Tinga moved forward side by side and Kito and Tima flanked the two of them, all with weapons raised. Logan hung back, unable to make himself move.

His eyes moved out to the faceless mass of soldiers surrounding them. It was an intimidation factor he knew, as well as a protective measure. It sure was intimidating him. After a moment he forced himself to move forward just to the outside of Tima. He saw Tima glance his direction nodding imperceptibly in approval. That bolstered him a bit, and he brought his gun up to match the ones pointed at them.

The tension was nearly a physical thing as one side waited for the other to make a move. Logan could feel it building inside him, a palpable sensation of impending danger, growing more insistent the longer they faced off. It was a gift that Max had given him but she had not seemed to posses for herself, none of the Manticores he did knew did, and he had often wondered why. It was a feeling, like a combination of butterflies and nausea and the intensity told him just when something was about to happen. He'd felt it too many times in recent years, to not know what it meant, and he had honed to a fine skill just how to interpret the feeling. Since realizing what it was, it had always gave him a reactive edge.

It came to just under the point of breaking when Logan yelled, "Now!" 

Around them all hell broke loose as Tinga and Kito both lobbed grenades into the tightly packed contingent of soldiers as the rest of them began firing into the crowd. The first line of soldiers went down to the volley as the two grenades tore through about a dozen more at the back. Those soldiers behind the first line began to move in closing the distance between them. Logan watched as Zach and Tinga were hit in the flack jackets and knocked back. Kito and Tima leapt over the line dividing the soldiers attention as they took to close in combat. 

Logan sidled over to Tinga and helped her to her feet, shooting blindly, not so smart a move and moving behind a small outcropping in the barrier that they had erected to trap them. She was coughing and trying to catch her breath, and looking at her jacket Logan saw that she had caught the bullet about waist level, it hadn't penetrated but it had knocked the wind out of her. He looked back to see Zach jumping to his feet and retreating toward them. He joined them shortly, looking at Logan meaningfully, "They knew we were coming," Zach said tersely, firing into the mass of riot gear that was the remaining soldiers.

"You were expecting anything else?" Logan replied, still steadying Tinga, "I personally thought there were going to be more."

Zach smiled broadly, "Yeah me too. You feeling anything else coming?"

Logan shook his head negatively, "No, but where are the four other Manticore's?" Zach's smile faded at the realization that they were only dealing with grunts.

"They're probably in reserve nearer where Max is being held," Zach said shrugging, "Patience, my friend. One thing at a time," He turned and headed back for the melee of soldiers still battling with Tima and Kito. Logan watched a moment as Zach took out two soldiers in less than thirty seconds, seeming to relish his job. 

Logan looked back and Tinga nodded to let him know that she was OK. Logan straightened sighing as he looked at the siege before him. Logan and Tinga moved side by side back into the battle continuing to pick off the soldiers moving their direction. All too soon the two forces joined, black on black uniforms surrounded them, friend and foe alike. Their guns were now useless. Determining who was with and who was against them was hard, and Logan was hesitant to strike lest it be one of their extraction team.

Logan paused watching Tinga as she began fighting hand to hand in a blur of continuous motion. All around him Manticore's were fighting for his cause and yet here he stood just watching. What was wrong with him? If he wasn't willing to smash a few heads to get Max back what was he doing here? This was all about "kill or be killed."

Out of the corner of his eye he saw one soldier rushing in and something snapped to life inside him. Reacting rather than thinking he stepped quickly back, spun, and threw an elbow at the soldier's throat. It was relatively unprotected and the man went down fast, gurgling in an attempt to get air into his lungs. He skipped forward two steps kicking out and catching the next soldier in the gut, as the man doubled over Logan moved in cracking him in the back of his neck with the butt of his shotgun and sending him to the deck. 

There was a brief respite in the action and Logan glanced at Tinga who was watching him closely. She smiled thinly and nodded silently impressed. Around her were three or four other soldiers crumpled in fleshy heaps. They moved forward watching as the other soldiers started to break rank and retreat.

Kito, Tima, and Zach paused allowing Logan and Tinga to catch up before they resumed their previous positions and started down the corridor toward Building 241. All around them as they moved, were the broken and bleeding bodies of about thirty of the original fifty they had faced. They moved quickly and cautiously, pausing only when they came to the junction. Pressing close to the wall Kito waited for them to catch up.

"Which way?" Zach asked Kito as they gathered together. 

"Left," Kito said, "About thirty meters down there is a right hand passage. It's only about ten feet from there to the storage room of building 241."

Zach nodded and cautiously peeked around the corner. He caught a glimpse of a soldier rounding the corner of the passage they were ultimately headed for. He signaled Tinga forward and relayed the plan of attack. He signaled Kito to cover the hall opposite the direction they needed to go. He moved out sweeping with his weapon for signs of resistance then positioned himself where he could cover the hall. He signaled all clear. That done Zach nodded at Tinga. She slipped past him and into the adjacent hall and they all peered around the corner to watch as she crossed the hall hugging the far wall. She paused a moment crossing her arms over her chest coming away with a grenade in each hand. She sidestepped to the next junction her back braced on the wall. She neatly pulled the pins with her thumbs pausing a moment before twisting and lobbing them down the hallway.

The group heard the faint tinkling of the grenades rolling down the hall and the curses of soldiers trying frantically to get out of the way before they went off. Several came toward Tinga's position and she mowed them down with her automatic rifle. She quickly retreated to a safer distance as the grenades went off almost simultaneously. As the echo of the explosion died the rest of them joined up with Tinga and they all rounded the corner into the still smoky hallway. Several of the injured soldiers still offered sporadic resistance as they moved toward the lift into the Storage area of Building 241 and had to be dispatched.

They paused again there below the lift long enough to assess their injuries before moving on to the next phase of their mission. Surprisingly they were minor. Tima had a burn mark on her cheek where a bullet had grazed her cheek and Kito's previous wound had begun to bleed again but that was it.

Logan had been amazed to find that he was uninjured, being the least experienced fighter in this group. He said a silent thanks to whatever angel was watching over him tonight.

They stepped onto the lift in a semi circle, just knowing what was waiting at the top for them.

Kito's anxiety went up exponentially as the lift slowly came to their floor, this mission was not going to get easier, and he remembered like a picture in his head just how vulnerable a position they would be in once they reached the top. They all crouched down in the open lift as it rose allowing as much lee time as they could before having to respond to enemy fire. Sure as the rain in Washington there was another group of soldiers waiting for them at the top. And Zach hit the emergency stop before it reached the top, allowing them a small amount of cover. The only disadvantage being the possibility of having to defend both levels at once. Tima and Tinga stayed low providing cover from the floor below them while Zach, Kito, and Logan defended the storage room. The fight didn't last long, the soldiers retreating behind the stacks of boxes in the storage room, and Zach reset the lift sealing them off from attack from below. 

They moved through the storage room relatively easily pushing back what ended up being a very small group. Before they knew it they were in the maze of halls. Kito took the point again his body in overdrive and expecting resistance at every corner, he retraced his path from before toward their objective. The resistance was minimal at best, just small pockets of soldiers there seemingly more to slow them down than do any real kind of fighting. That scared Kito, it meant without a doubt that something major was set up for them either where Max was being held or something else.

He said as much to Zach when they paused the next time. Zach looked around them, "They may be cutting us off. Sucking us in here and then hitting us hard when we have very little in the way of options."

Kito nodded, "I was thinking the same thing."

"Well we've come too far to stop now," Tima said resolutely, "We have to get Max out of here."

"I agree," Logan and Zach said in unison.

Logan looked at Kito, "Lead on McDuff," waving Kito forward.

Kito looked at Logan like he was insane before standing and taking the point yet again.

As they came nearer, Logan whispered, "Zach!" Kito looked back at the sound of Logan's voice. 

Zach paused a moment looking at Logan and Logan gave him a signal that Kito didn't recognize. Zach nodded grimly and Kito knew it must not be good news. Zach moved back up toward Kito, whispering, "They're just around the corner, and there's a lot of them."

"How do you know?" Kito whispered confused.

"I don't," Zach said as if it made him unhappy. He thumbed toward Logan, "He does."


	13. Survival

Chapter Thirteen: Survival

Zach sent Kito across the way and he dashed over listening to bullets zing by him as the soldiers tried to get a bead on his moving body. He only glanced down the hall as he lobbed a grenade, immediately knowing just how many they were up against this time. He rolled the last few feet to cover on the other side, and backed against the wall to avoid the percussive blast. He waited several moments until he could see the others and then signaled his findings to Zach.

"Thirty," Zach muttered thoughtfully, he looked at Logan, "He spotted a Manticore with this group."

"We must be close," Logan added.

Kito waited patiently for further orders from Zach, but hazarded a look every now and again to determine what the soldiers were doing. His grenade had done little, only catching a few of the more unwary of the contingent. Blade was with this group, which was probably the reason for the low mortality rate of his strike.

He took a deep breath that was definitely not a good thing. Blade was the most callous and ruthless of the Manticore's stationed here. He was X-11 and the youngest of them here, only fourteen. He was short, very stout, like a small battering ram on legs, and he had a short man's complex to go with it. It made for a very big chip on his shoulder, and it had made Blade vindictive. He may not have acted right away for a slight or an insult, but eventually he would find a way to get even, and it was never anything nice. And nearly everything was a slight or an insult to him. He was cold and calculating especially when it came to the Ops, he never rushed and as far as Kito knew Blade had never made a misstep. That in itself had always made Kito nervous and made him feel somehow inferior in his presence. Kito could never connect with him on a personal level because of it and so he avoided contact with him except in the line of duty. 

Kito had been stationed here with Blade for two years and still had yet to determine what nationality he originated from. Oh, Kito knew that most Manticores were conglomerates when it came to bloodlines, but usually one stuck out as the dominant one. Not so with Blade, he had fair, almost blond hair but his skin was the natural brown color of someone with Asian or Mexican descent. His face was almost feline in the structure of it and his eyes were the most disturbing shade of gray. Both added to the cold aura of his whole personality.

Kito drew a deep breath trying to calm his fried nerves, and looked back at Zach. He was signaling for Tinga to join Kito and she did, lobbing two more grenades as she went. Again it only did collateral damage and added to the smoke already hanging thick in the hall. She held up the wall next to him readying her weapon. 

"We can't stay here very long," Kito commented, "They'll pin us in for sure if we do."

She looked at him her eyes flinty, "You saying we turn back after all of this?" She said icily.

"No," Kito replied defensively, "I was saying we need to punch through this group quick before reinforcements show up."

"I agree, but we're in a bad position to gain leverage," Tinga added.

Kito sighed, "I know, and Blade is with them."

"And that means what to me?" Tinga asked curiously.

"He's Manticore, and probably the biggest bad ass of us," Kito answered with more than a little apprehension about facing him, "I've never been able to beat him hand to hand and he is cold and ruthless."

"HMPH, You haven't seen X-5's in action before have you?"

"Until today… no," Kito whispered honestly.

Zach assessed possible plans of attack, not liking too many of the choices that faced him. Rushing in meant certain death for them all, so did staying put for any length of time. He glanced back at Logan, wondering if the same thoughts were running through the older man's head as well. Slowly a plan formed in his head that may have just worked. Quietly he explained it to Tima and Logan and then signaled the gist of it to the other two who were covering the opposite direction. He saw Tinga and the X-10 Kito both nod at him, at least the signals remained standard throughout the classes. That was making this mission that much easier for all concerned. He tapped his watch and put up one finger, one minute and then they would execute.

Zach pulled one of the few smoke grenades from its storage on his vest impatiently waiting for the time to strike. Zach watched as Tinga and Kito both pulled two grenades each and then he glanced behind him to see Logan and Tima readying their guns.

As the time ticked down Zach pulled the pin to activate the smoke stepped around the corner and hurled it into the crowd of soldiers with all the strength he had. He heard the sharp percussion of several soldiers firing, and grunted as one found its way into his leg just above the knee. He brought up his own weapon vindictively fired a full clip into the two soldiers that had taken the shots. He smiled tightly as the two of them went down, then he stumbled back to the cover around the corner. Shortly the smoke grenade filled the hall with thick acrid smoke obscuring the view. More shots were heard as some of the soldiers fired wildly losing their cool. He signaled Tinga and Kito and they dashed ten yards up the hall before loosing their grenades and dashing back. 

The blast was deafening and the flash and heat reached them where they were standing. The screams seemed to go on for a long time as the group came out of their hiding and scurried up the hall mercilessly shooting any whom showed signs of resistance. Those grenades had done some damage, nearly twenty had been killed or injured by the blasts.

Kito's eyes darted from face to face, hoping that Blade had been caught in the blast. He didn't see him and that was no comfort. As they came through the wall of smoke, half-deaf from the moans and the echo of the explosion and gunfire, they found the last of the resistance holding their ground trying desperately to halt the Renegade Manticores' advance.

All of the five brought their weapons up firing with accelerated reactions and taking down most of the group. One dashed away in a blur headed the opposite direction that they needed to go. They ignored it for the moment heading down the last stretch of hallway leading to their objective. Kito moved to the rear covering their movement from Blade whom he was sure still lurked in the darkness beyond the junction. 

"Third door down," Kito directed over his shoulder. He shouldn't have taken his attention away even for that second… he knew better.

Blade rushed in before he could react, coming from the shadows somewhere off to Kito's left. That Blade could get the jump on Kito was saying something. Blade laid a shoulder into his waist knocking him heavily to the ground. Blade moved off quickly before Kito could get a hold of him. He hit him again before Kito could get to his feet, and Kito felt the warm trickle of blood at his lip. Blade began to head for Logan and the rest of the party and Kito leapt to his feet pulling him back with a choke-hold. He looked back at the group, which had paused seeing the take down, "Get Max!" Kito bellowed at them. Reluctantly they did what he said moving away but glancing back now and again to see what was happening.

"You son of a bitch," He heard Blade hiss in his arms, "You traitor!" and with that he stepped back and flipped Kito over his shoulder. Kito grunted heavily as he landed flat on his back.

Blade descended on him again murder in his eyes, Kito kicked up and back hitting the younger Manticore Square in the chest and knocking him back, and following through he leapt to his feet and spun to face Blade.

They continued to spar for long moments neither gaining much advantage over the other, both of them about equally matched in skill and in strength. Both of them were bleeding now having landed some serious blows to each other's bodies, and they both were tiring. They both stepped in at the same time grappling with each other as they fought for advantage. 

Suddenly Kito felt a small puff of air move by his neck and without warning Blade's body went lax in his arms. Losing his balance he fell on top of Blade, looking down he found him looking balefully into Kito's eyes, the life draining out of him. Kito was confused until he saw the pinhole just below Blade's chin and the growing pool of blood under his body.

Kito looked quickly back to see Tinga kneeling down rifle still trained toward where the two had been fighting a stalemate. Slowly she lowered it and rose to her feet. Kito did the same and approached Tima, "I could have taken him," Kito said defensively, angry to have been interrupted.

"I believe you," Tinga replied tersely, "But we don't have time for you to have a pissing contest with your sib's, 'K?"

Kito nodded swallowing his pride and, joining Tinga, they caught up with the rest of the group who were now gathered around the door of the cell where Max had been held. Of Logan he saw nothing, and figured he must be in the room having a long overdue reunion with his wife. He couldn't have been more wrong…


	14. Ambush

Chapter Fourteen: Ambush

The group watched anxiously as Kito grappled with the younger X-11 known as Blade, of two minds to interfere or not. Tinga was especially worried considering what Kito had told her about this particular Manticore, she knew hand to hand that he could be in serious trouble.

"Get Max!" they heard him shout, and reluctantly they extended the distance between them heading for the door where Max was purported to be held.

Tinga held back even as the others moved toward the objective moving back down the hall toward where the two were scuffling. She was still unsure if her help would be welcome in this matter, but considering that this may be a distraction to allow for more soldiers to move in unnoticed she decided that she had better interfere anyway.

She knelt down, aimed her rifle and waited for an opportunity to strike.

The others had taken no notice of Tinga's absence, and being near the halfway point in their mission all focus was for what lay ahead not what was happening in behind.

Zach paused at the door Kito had indicated waiting for the rest to catch up. He stood to one side plastering himself against the door as Tima did the same on the other side of it. Logan moved in behind Zach allowing the more experienced soldiers to clear the room. Zach reached over and tried the door, and his eyebrows raised as he found the door unlocked. He slowly turned the knob and then swiftly pushed it open sweeping the room with his gun, Tima a step behind him doing the same.

Oddly there were no soldiers in the room itself, just the chair, spotlighted and Max securely strapped to it. Zach didn't like the feel of it… this was too easy. What his eyes saw was hard to refute however, he lowered his weapon. 

He looked at Max, so vulnerable in the chair, and wanted to rush to her. Zach had never stopped loving Max, he had always wanted her to chose him, not a man in a wheelchair. He glanced back, but even that had changed. Logan was no longer in a wheelchair, he was walking, and worse, at least to Zach's mind, he was as capable as any Manticore soldier in his new found abilities. And Max had fallen deeply in love with that man, long before those abilities had even manifested themselves. She had… married Logan, and he knew that is what hurt the worst, that she had been happy with a normal man. He closed his eyes drawing an unsteady breath, then he called, "Logan."

Logan stepped into the cleared room and Zach stepped aside allowing him to see her, "Oh my God," he whispered, half expecting this to be all a hoax, a way to hurt him deeper, to trick him into revealing himself. To see her actually here and alive was more than he had been prepared for. He slowly set down his gun and stepped up to her as she raised her head slowly. Zach looked to Tima and with a nod of his chin ordered her outside. She complied, crying happy tears that this had not been for nothing.

Max heard the name called with a familiar voice, breaking through the fog of her half consciousness. She opened her heavy lids seeing the blurry shape in front of her move to one side and another shape drawing closer. As her eyes focused, she was sure that Lydecker had finally broken her, because she was now seeing an apparition floating toward her. It looked to be Him, he moved like him, but he was dead…. Was he now coming to release her from her misery here in the real world? Somewhere in the back of her mind she reminded herself that she was not a highly religious person.

So she was hallucinating? The injuries done to her body now causing delusions of grandeur? A short laugh tore from her throat at that thought.

Max blinked in surprise when the apparition touched her face, the warm, solid touch of flesh and blood, proving the reality of what she was seeing. Her brows furrowed as she whispered in a cracked voice, "Logan?"

A smile broke on Logan's face then, a relieved and concerned smile. To hear her voice after so long not hearing it at all was like a knife of pain in his heart. But it also had proved her reality to him, "Max," he replied in the descending tone of relief.

"I… thought they had killed you!" She said.

"And me you," Logan replied softly, tilting her head down and kissing her softly on the forehead. He closed his eyes and fought back the tears that were threatening. So overwhelmed by the event was Logan that he did not recognize when his danger sense went off.

Behind the two of them the door slowly shut, clicking loudly as it slipped home in the frame. Logan wheeled around and Max's head came up just in time to see Lydecker slip the card key into the lock, denying access to all without and trapping those within. 

"You!" Logan growled rising to his feet, kicking himself for laying aside his weapon.

Zach and Tima covered the hallway to either side of the room both allowing Logan some privacy and to protect themselves from possible ambush from other forces that still manned the base. They watched intently as Tinga and Kito rejoined the group.

Kito was bloody and bruised from his fight with Blade, one eye was swollen nearly shut and his lip was cut and bleeding profusely. The wound on his arm had opened yet again and blood had run down his arm all the way to the wrist where it was quickly drying into dark red streaks. He was holding his side and his face was drawn up in pain.

"Tinga where'd you go?" Zach asked of her as she stepped up.

"I was backing up a teammate," she said testily as if the answer was obvious. Her face smoothed as she asked, "did you find her?"

Zach nodded, "Yeah, Logan is in with her now," He said as he turned to find himself facing a closed door. His brows knit knowing he had left it open on his way out so that when Logan was done with his reunion he could enlist their help in freeing her from her bonds. He tried the knob only to find it locked, "What the…" He trailed off, "Logan?" He hollered pounding on the door.

"What's the matter?" Kito asked sluggishly, his injuries slowing him considerably now that the adrenaline was no longer in his system.

"Something's wrong… the doors locked!" Zach said, worried and angry about having let his guard down.

That was the least of their worries as more soldiers appeared at either side of the room essentially pinning them in. Each contingent was lead by a Manticore, one was a short dark-skinned female, and the other was taller dark-haired Caucasian man.

"Surrender your weapons and put your hands in the air," The short woman said to them in a mid range voice that easily carried.

Zach looked grim, unhappy at the turn of events. He nodded to the other three and they all laid their weapons putting their hands on their head.

"We can't do this," Kito protested, "They don't want us alive!"

"What choice do we have," Zach growled, "We're surrounded, and while I'm sure that we could take some of them with us we'd all be dead anyway."

"Sir," The short Manticore said into a two way.

They all heard Lydecker's voice on the other end of the line, "What is it Torri?" He sounded pleased with himself.

"They're in custody sir," Torri said as she watched them gather the groups weapons.

"Good, keep them there and await further orders."

Logan stared icily at Lydecker as he talked to someone outside the room. Inside his heart sank, they had captured Zach and the rest. And he was trapped in here with Lydecker, and Max was still bound. A poor situation to say the least. His fear was burnt away by his seething anger at seeing this man again, a man that had caused so much pain in his past, himself and Max included.

"So it _was_ you," Lydecker said with a chuckle. He glanced at the floor pursing his lips before looking back at Logan, "I've been wondering about you since seeing you in the alley that night," Lydecker added and Logan's eyes flashed with hatred at the reminder of what Lydecker had taken from him, "The last time I had seen you prior to that, you were in a wheelchair, during the hostage crisis. You so bravely offered yourself to save the women, Max included.

"Then when we came to claim Max four years ago, you were walking… interesting enough. But then you help Tima escape here, several months ago. And not with guns, but with the speed and agility of a Manticore X-5. Absolutely intriguing…" He said as he paced back and forth in front of Logan.

Logan for his part said nothing, there was no point, and the man had all the facts in front of him. That did not make him feel any need to confirm the information. Lydecker had a memory like a steel trap once it was there it never got back out again.

"And what may I ask could have brought on such a miraculous change in you?"

Logan crossed his arms taking a deep breath and just continued to glare at him.

"Oh you don't need to tell me I think that I have it figured out," He said quickly when Logan didn't answer, "There was an unsubstantiated report that you had a miraculous blood donation during a time when no one else had blood available; during a surgery related to your spinal injury. You were in the same hospital that Max was arrested in when we were hunting for her.

"I just never imagined that Manticore blood could have such a profound effect on a normal human." Lydecker sounded happy about this new discovery, and that dug under Logan's skin that much more. 

"So you know, so what?" Logan spit, "Don't think that I am going to be volunteering to be your next prize experiment."

"You really think you have a choice?" Lydecker asked acidly, "You're trapped, and unless you cooperate, the 'friends' you came in here with are going to meet an untimely demise."

Logan began to move forward, but stopped when Lydecker pulled his gun and pointed it not at him but at Max. Logan raised his hands in a warding motion, but his gun did not relax.

"Logan," Max whispered behind him. He turned around to look at her, "Don't," she pleaded, "He can't be trusted," She looked into his eyes.

"I know that, Max. I'm not making deals," He said softly, his anger bleeding through. He held her hand in his as he rose and turned to look at Lydecker again, "What about our child?" Logan asked as the welfare of the child occurred to him.

Lydecker shook his head, "Max was in desperate shape when we got her here," Lydecker offered, "We tried very hard to keep her alive, especially when we determined that she was pregnant." 

The words stung as Logan realized that they had only kept her alive as a brood mare to provide another test subject for their research, "But there was nothing we could do… she miscarried two weeks after arriving here."

Logan looked back at Max, wanting confirmation, her face was downtrodden and as she looked into his eyes she nodded. Logan sank to his knees before her, the tears coming unbidden now, "I am so sorry, Max," He said trying to comfort her even as his own heart broke.

Even as he grieved for the child he had never know another part of his mind was formulating a plan of escape. He wasn't staying and neither was Max, he was determined that it not be so. Yet another part of his mind, the built in radar in his head tracked Lydecker as he moved through the room, approaching closer. He made an educated guess about what Lydecker would do in the next few minutes and planned accordingly.

As Logan felt the Proximity of the gun barrel against his neck he reacted. Lydecker obviously had not paid attention to his own assessment of Logan's ability for he laid a hand on Logan's shoulder. Logan rolled backwards onto his shoulder blades and drawing his legs in he kicked out directly into Lydecker's chest. Both knocking him back several feet and making him lose his grip of the pistol. Logan followed through in the motion pushing up with his hands arching slightly and landing neatly on his feet. Without pausing he rushed in tackling Lydecker and hearing him hit the deck with a grunt. Somehow Logan's hand had found Lydecker's errant gun and Logan quickly pushed up aiming it steadily at the older man's form.

Lydecker raised his hands eyeing Logan closely, "Go ahead," Lydecker said, "I know you want to, I can see it in your eyes. I've cause you a lot of agony in the last six years."

Logan felt the urge well up within him, and felt his grip tighten on the trigger. Lydecker had so much to atone for, the blood on his hands was still visible to Logan.

"Shoot!" Lydecker ordered him. 

Logan blinked, realizing that if he did Lydecker won, because though he were dead they would never get out of here alive. He took a deep breath as his want for vengeance burned away, "No, not today. Today you get to live… so long as me and mine get the same courtesy," Logan said firmly, "Get up!"

Slowly Lydecker did, looking as if he was going to try something. Logan's danger sense reinforced that visual assessment. Logan pulled his aim and pulled the trigger, catching Lydecker in the meat of his shoulder, "If you still think that I am that meek Cyberjournalist you met at the Tanaka conference, you'd better reassess the thought," all thought of countering Logan left his face, "Now get up and release Max…"


	15. Show Me to the Door

Chapter Fifteen: Show me to the Door

Logan kept the gun trained on Lydecker as he slowly regained his feet, "Go on, unlock her bonds!" He ordered.

Lydecker's face pinched in pain as he looked back at the younger man, "What makes you think that I am going to help you? I could just as easily let the others my men have get scragged, and you'd be helpless to stop it."

"Just how much do you value your life?" Logan said, "Because make no mistake if those men and women with me die, your life means nothing to me. I still owe you… For her," He nodded toward Max, still groggy in her chair, "For the hell you put me through in taking her away from me, for making me think that she was dead, and for taking our baby from us…" the last was a whisper of barely controlled emotion.

For a moment neither of them moved as Lydecker assessed Logan's resolve. He must have seen the absolute lack of want to live if this went bad for Logan and his group. Lydecker wondered how this man had lasted this long with out killing himself, his eyes were so desolate. Slowly he moved toward where Max was held, pulling out the key to her locks. Slowly he began to unlock her bonds glancing back occasionally to see him still hovering several feet back from him and the gun was still steady on his head.

As Lydecker finished releasing her, he slowly looked up as he stood, "So what now?" He asked.

"Now you back your men off and show us to the door," Logan said sharply sidling over to Max and lending his shoulder to her to help her stand up. She gripped Logan's sleeve heavily as she pulled herself to her unsteady feet. Logan's eyes never left Lydecker, "Now!!"

Lydecker jumped despite himself at the level of authority in his younger voice. Against his best judgement he slowly pulled out the radio bringing it up to his mouth, "Tach team twelve, this is Lydecker come in," He said in a level voice watching the gun still trained on him.

"Yes sir awaiting your orders…"

"Code thirty two…" He said calmly.

"Sir?" The incredulous voice on the other end said.

"You heard me," he barked, "Fall back to starting point!"

"But sir… the prisoners?" She said.

"Leave them," He said acidly, "Their no longer our concern."

"Y… Yes sir," The female voice said.

Kito looked angrily and dejectedly at the soldiers surrounding him and this group, wondering if there was going to be a way to get out of this situation that didn't involve being carried out in a makeshift casket. His arms were aching from holding them with numb interweaved fingers on his crown. His legs were also aching, the soldiers had made them kneel down and his thighs were shaking from the position. His whole body hurt from his previous encounter with a fellow Manticore. He was pretty sure that he had fractured a rib or two and the swelling in his face, arm, and lip pounded a dull metronome on his nerves.

Zach, Tima, and Tinga all looked as uncomfortable as he felt. They shifted minutely as the time stretched out into infinity. Around them the soldiers aimed steadily at them, no signs from them that they were fatiguing.

The silence was cut by the static of a radio coming on line, and even the stoic soldiers jumped at the sound.

As Kito listened to the exchange he shared a befuddled glance with his other detainees. What was going on?

They were further perplexed when the contingent began to back away from them. They disappeared to either side of them without ever relinquishing their aim.

Slowly they all dropped their raised hands still exchanging confused glances, and stood up. They found themselves alone in the hallway, still weaponless but free none-the-less. But what now?

"What just happened?" Kito asked of no one in particular.

Zach shrugged, "I'm not sure, but I have an idea," he said turning to face the interrogation room door as it slowly opened.

"Now what?" Lydecker said darkly.

"What do you think?" Logan answered him, "You will precede us out of here to be sure that your men don't get any heroic ideas on our way to the gate."

"My word promising your safety isn't good enough?"

Logan laughed shortly, not amused, "I've seen what your promises are worth, Lydecker, no deal."

Max had recovered enough to actually understand what was happening around her, and she could only stare at Logan, surprised at the hard edge she heard in his voice. Had her absence affected him so much? He's always had an edge, a well-hidden one granted, but it was always there. It seemed that her loss had exacerbated it and brought it dangerously close to the surface. 

It then occurred to her what it must have taken for him to get this far into a Manticore installation. She found herself awed and proud of his accomplishment. This was a well set up and well guarded base from what she had seen of it four years ago. That he had infiltrated it to get her out said a lot about his determination, and it also told her something else. Before she had been taken he had been extremely reluctant to use his newfound ability, embarrassed even about even possessing them. Now it seemed apparent that he was using it and doing well at it. She wondered what had brought about that change in him.

Her brows furrowed as she thought of something else…she thought that she had seen Zach, how had Logan enlisted his help? They had never gotten along, in all the time that she had known Logan, he couldn't stand Zach, and only barely tolerated when his assistance was needed. She knew just as Logan did that Zach was attracted to her and that made him a direct rival for her attention even after she and Logan had gotten married.

These were questions that were going to have to wait for later, in the middle of a Manticore base was not the best place to broach the subject. So she remained silent content just to be out of the chair and warmed by Logan's body. She thought she would never understand what it was to be cold. The past three years had been nothing but cold. She was physically tormented and mentally abused until she was cold to the core, but she had never been sure whether it was an actual physical symptom of her captivity or the mental knowledge that she had been captures after remaining free for twenty one years.

Her strength was slowly coming back, but she was still unable to support her own weight. She wished she could just to give Logan a better position to keep Lydecker at bay. She was hindering his freedom of movement.

"Move to the wall," Logan continued to instruct Lydecker, "Now slowly open the door," He did as he was told not making any false or sudden moves. He slowly produced the card key and the light over the lock turned green. He then turned the knob and slowly pulled the door inward.

The first person through the door was Lydecker and Zach immediately grabbed him by the lapel and yanked him all the way through, not exactly knowing what was going on. He hoped that his guess had been right, that Logan had somehow overpowered him and there was not a room full of corpses behind the man. He threw Lydecker to the deck and was poised to do him some damage, "Wait," a tired voice said from behind him. Zach turned around to see Logan with a gun in one hand and Max supported in the other, "We need him to get out of here."

Zach straightened as Logan neared him and handed him the gun repeating, "We need him alive," looking sternly at the younger man. Zach didn't look happy about it but he nodded crisply as he yanked Lydecker to his feet and stepped back covering him with the gun. Logan looked around slowly, "Is everyone OK?"

Everyone around him nodded, and he looked relieved to hear it, "Let's get the hell out of here."

Zach made sure to pat Lydecker down as Kito covered him with the gun, Tima had retrieved the shotgun that Logan had left behind and backed Kito up. Zach took Lydecker's radio to monitor the other soldiers on the base and ensuring no counterstrike was being assembled against them. They moved down the hallway one gun on Lydecker and the other covering their retreat from behind. Tinga had relieved Logan of Max's burden as he started to tire from overexertion and anxiety. His energy seemed to dissipate now that the objective was achieved. Tinga hoped that he didn't fall too far into his stupor in the case of this going south, which it had every possibility of doing.

To everyone's surprise Lydecker was as good as his word as they retreated to and out the perimeter gate. They remained cautious on their trek back to the van, still hidden in the woods. No one opposed them as they all piled in, Lydecker included and left for the city. 

"What about him?" Kito said still steadily aiming for him, as the van jounced down the dirt road for the main road.

Zach glanced back, "Dump him."

Kito only nodded, looking back at the man that had been his leader, and nodded for Tima to open the doors.

"Kito you're making a big mistake here," Lydecker admonished him.

"No you made the mistake, Sir," He couldn't stop himself from using the title even now, "I've seen now what a hypocrite you are…telling us that we can never come back if we leave. Even if it's not our fault, even if we want to return, that it means death for us. Then I find you with a Manticore that had eluded you for years, kept alive just for… for what?" He couldn't make himself say the things he knew were true.

"You won't get away Kito, none of you will."

"Oh I think you're wrong… we've done it before us Manticore's, and I think we can do it again," and before he could think about what he was doing he pushed Lydecker from the back of the slowly moving van.

He watched for a while as Lydecker became smaller and smaller behind their retreating vehicle, trying not to think about the life that he had just thrown away this past several weeks, and unsure what the future would hold for him now. Slowly he shut the van doors and turned back to the others. He said nothing as he resumed his seat and closed his eyes, suddenly he was very tired.


	16. Epilogue: Reunited

Epilogue: Reunited

Logan started awake from a nightmare of blood and gunfire. He blinked heavily as the adrenaline rush to his system waned and he realized just where he was. He was home and in his own bed. He sighed in relief. Then he realized he wasn't alone… he refocused on the slim body lying next to him in his bed. Recent events rushed back into he mind making him both anxious and happy, Max was back in his life. His arm was still draped over her, he hadn't even relinquished it as he had slept, fearful that she would disappear and make this morning nothing but a dream.

He lay there for long moments taking the reality of her presence in, smiling to himself. He closed his eyes again and drew in a long breath savoring the smell of her, a smell that he had dearly missed in the four years that she had been absent from his life. He opened his eyes yet again lifting a hand and reaching to stroke her dark wavy hair lovingly. She stirred lightly in her sleep, and Logan paused, not willing to rouse her from a much-needed rest after her ordeal. A pang hit him as he realized how much he had missed her. 

Cautiously he got up continuing to watch her sleeping form as he dressed and stepped out into the hall. He was still upset about the loss of their child, hoping that it would not drive a wedge into their historically caustic relationship. That was a worry that would wait for later, when the recent events were dulled by the passage of time. Not now, and not in the near future. 

Groggily he moved down the hall to the kitchen intent on having some tea. He passed by the living room noticing it was littered with the members of the rescue team all still sleeping soundly. He smiled at the sight of it, it looked as if a bomb went off in there strewing bodies over every available piece of furniture in the place. Logan shook his head and moved on, he set the kettle on the stove to boil and slowly lowered himself onto one of the barstools near it. His whole body, every muscle from his scalp to his toes ached, that had been more of a workout than anything he had done, ever. He would be glad for some privacy and a nice hot bath. But he was not an ungracious host… he owed this group a lot, more than he could probably repay… ever. But he could at least offer them brunch, to start.

Logan looked up as his radar told him that someone was up and about. He watched silently as Kito entered the kitchen and seated himself at another stool near Logan.

"Mornin'." Logan said quietly.

Kito nodded, "How's Max?"

Logan nodded his mouth thin, "Pretty banged up, but I think she'll pull through it. She's been beat up worse," Logan looked up at Kito, "How about you? You took a pretty good beating yourself."

Self-consciously Kito's hand went to his face, "I hurt like hell," Kito said honestly, "But nothing permanent."

One corner of Logan's mouth quirked up as he began picking at a nail not looking at Kito, "I want to thank you," Logan started, "For getting what you knew about Max to Tima. You don't know how much I appreciate what you did… what you sacrificed in exchange for that info. 'Thank you' doesn't even express my gratitude."

Kito just shrugged, "I couldn't leave her like that… something in me just wouldn't let it happen," Kito went silent again for a moment and Logan could tell that there was something on his mind, "How… How'd you know… I mean how do you know when something is about to happen?" It had been a question that had been eating at him since Logan's first display of that unusual ability.

Logan smiled broadly this time, "I told you… sixth sense," Kito looked confused by the concept. Logan leaned forward, "When Max's DNA started to rewrite mine it gave me a gift of… well I guess you'd call it a danger sense or radar," He shrugged.

"You were a Norm once?" Kito interrupted.

Logan laughed out loud that time, leaning back again and crossing his arms, "Oh yeah… was even paraplegic at one time."

"Huh?" Kito said incredulously.

Logan waved it away, not really in the mood to tell the story yet again, "It's a long story… I'll tell you about it but not right now… All I want is a cup of tea and a bit of something to eat," Logan got up as the tea kettle started to whistle taking it from the fire and pouring hot water over the Earl Gray in his cup. 

"So if you've been trying to keep your ability a secret for so long… how is it that Zach knows?"

He stopped a second and looked at Kito, "We… worked together at one point shortly after Max was taken. We had never really gotten along, got into a knock down drag out even about Max, that was how he found out about the Manticore abilities. We were forced by necessity to cooperate. My ability to sense danger slipped out during the job. I saved his life with it, not once but twice," Logan smiled a tight smile, "Since then we've had a strained but friendlier relationship," Logan shrugged again and then headed to the refrigerator opening it and looking through the contents of the appliance. He looked back at Kito, "Would you like some Eggs Benedict?"

"Um, not to sound stupid but what is it?"

Logan laughed again, "Sorry, I forgot…" He said turning back to grab the eggs. He brought it back to the island, a pan in the other hand, and as he started to cook he said, "I'd like to apologize for my suspicion when Tima introduced us. I tend to be wary of strangers, especially lately… What I said about the timing… had to do with the fact that Max had been 'dead' four years exactly when she told me what you had to say. It was too convenient."

"I understand," Kito said. Logan was finished shortly and slid a plate over to him, looking apprehensive Kito took a bite and his eyebrows raised. He looked back up at Logan, "Damn, this is good."

Logan smiled broadly, "Just another small Logan Cale Culinary Miracle."

Logan sat back down with his own plate and a lightly sugared cup of tea, only to get interrupted by the rest of Logan Cale's Brigade. 

"You got anymore of that?" Tima said sleepily, "I'm famished."

Logan could only shake his head and smile, it was the first time in a long time that the smile was heartfelt, his world was nearly whole again. 

THE END!! 

Will there be a sequel? Maybe… A prequel, definitely! A little something about the whole Zach/Logan tiff and partnership. Be patient… don't have the details yet just a general idea! Give me about two weeks… I'll try not to disappoint!

Darwin


End file.
