"Reunion" - Max/Zack

[Dana0715]

Alec was riding the Jam Pony issue bike through Sector 12, having a score to settle with the Steelhead gang

Yeah it's on Jam Pony time. But Sketchy did a favor for him, delivering a package here yesterday without asking any questions, and the poor guy wound up getting beat up by a Steelhead gang that considers Sector 12 their turf

Sketchy didn't deserve that, and Alec felt terrible that the poor kid got beat up for simply doing him a favor. He's going to make sure the Steelheads pay for it too.... and Alec intends to get the money back for the loss of the package that Sketchy was delivering!

Alec brings the ten speed to a stop and dismounts. He sees the Steelheads about 20 feet in front of him loading a delivery truck. Playing innocent for the time being, Alec called out to them. "Excuse me, gentlemen. I'm looking for three butt-ugly Steelheads that beat up a friend of mine this morning."

The leader, British Eddy, with his blond spiky hair and bits of metal piercing numerous parts of his body gestured with his arms open, saying sarcastically, "Well, you found 'em, mate!"

Alec approaches them, popping his knuckles, his back and shoulders straight, walking in his usual swagger. "Here's the thing, fellas. My friend was carrying a package that didn't belong to him. It belonged to me. You guys took it. I need to get it back."

British Eddy took the last few steps to stand in front of Alec and answered in his British accent, "There seems to be a breakdown in communication, doesn't it? Maybe your friend didn't relay our message."

The biggest, baddest dude that Alec had ever seen was standing behind British Eddy and reached over to poke Alec on the shoulder, telling him menacingly, "Nobody around here sells andy but us."

Andy, referring to the steroids that Alec had in his package that Sketchy tried to deliver for him, not knowing what was in it. Alec just looked at the finger that poked his shoulder and raised an eyebrow nonchalantly at the big guy, "Yeah, see, here's the problem with that statement. I had a buyer who was willing to pay me five hundred dollars for that package. Now he's upset that he didn't get his andy, I'm upset that I didn't get my cash, and you guys are upset because....." He trailed off and then shrugged as if it didn't matter, "Ah, well, I'm not quite sure why you're upset, but you seem to be." He smiles at them with fake charm, "So what do you say you give me five hundred dollars, and I get out of here before anybody gets more upset than they already are?"

British Eddy looks back at his friends, then gets in Alec's face to ask, "What's a poofter like you need with five hundred bucks, anyway, eh?"

Alec got back in British Eddy's face and mimicked his accent perfectly when he replied, "Actually, I need it for a ride on your mum."

British Eddy starts to punch Alec at that remark, but is interrupted by the ring of a cell phone. All four of them stop and check to see if it's theirs. Alec held up his cell phone and smirked, "It's me. Excuse me, fellas. I'm sorry." He starts to turn away to take his call and says into the phone, "Hello?"

Bristish Eddy couldn't believe the nerve of this guy and he yelled, "You cheeky bastard!" and threw a punch at Alec

Logan is on the phone with Alec, and he's in his apartment throwing some things into a bag, including a very large flashlight, while talking on his cell phone.

"Alec? It's Logan."

Logan heard Alec say, "Oh, hey. What's up?" then he heard fighting in the background. Logan paused to listen. He can hear punches, grunts, groans and it turns out Alec is fighting three Steelheads with one fist, while holding the cell phone to his ear talking to Logan at the same time

Logan heard a loud scream from one of the Steelheads and he asked, "Alec, what was that?"

"Ah, nothing, nothing" then Logan heard another punch and groan, so Logan had to ask, "Alec? Are you OK?"

Alec knocks out the last Steelhead and flexes his shoulders. Then he bends down to check the man's pockets and take his money, putting it in his own pocket, Alec answered in a friendly manner like nothing happened, "No, I'm fine. So what's up?"

Logan sighed and admitted, "I need your help."

Later, Logan and Alec are walking through a sewer tunnel. Logan shines the flashlight around the tunnel, following a lead from Max

Alec smirked at Logan and rolled his eyes, knowing Logan has a slight crush on the female X5. Alec had to goad the guy a little bit, "It's just 'cause she's hot, you know."

"What is?" Logan turned to Alec questioningly

"C'mon Logan! Everything she gets away with. You honestly think we'd be down here in this moldy stinky dump looking for God-knows-what if she were ugly??"

They were talking about Max and this mission was on Max's behalf.

Logan would do anything for Max. She's done so much for him and his Eyes Only projects that he could never pay her back. So he's even willing to trek into a sewer, "We're down here to give Max a hand Alec."

Alec chuckles and shakes his head as he passes Logan and takes the lead, "Dude! You're so whipped."

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*Author's note - the reason I brought up the prior scene above is to lead to this one (which I totally LOVED Alec's reply to British Eddy and how he copied him perfectly "I need it to go for a ride on yer mum." That was CLASSIC!)

This story is a Max/Zack story. The scene above was from the episode "Two" in the second season, the following will be from the episode "Some Assembly Required". Then I'll continue it out of my own imagination.

This is an AU I thought of where Zack and Max are the ones in love, the sacrifice Max had to make to keep Zack safe as well as keeping Logan safe (those that watched this episode know Zack was brainwashed into believing Logan is an enemy of his and must be killed....). So I will change a few details here and there, and will cut out anything I feel is unnecessary in my AU

Keep in mind, in this story, Logan and Max are only good friends and Max is Logan's on-call X5 for his Eyes Only missions, and now Alec does that for Logan too at times. In return, just like in Season One, he keeps track of her old unit and has found Zack, whom Max believed was dead. And Alec is just the usual thorn in Max's side, the big brother that lives to torture the little sister.

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Logan and Max are watching the tape from the security camera on his computer of Steelheads that are destroying and robbing an electronics store. Max is sitting in Logan's desk chair at the computer, and Logan is standing behind her with his arms folded. Max shrugs tiredly and shakes her head at what she's seeing

"Why did you call me out here Logan? To watch some Steelheads robbing an electronics store?? Why'd you want me to see it?"

Logan reaches down for the mouse and says, "Hang on." He fast-forwards the video a little until he gets it where he needs it. A fourth man stands in front of the camera, but his back is to it and he is facing the Steelheads. Max recognizes him, seeing his barcode and the blond hair. She sucks in a breath and her eyes widen

"Zack!" she says quietly, near tears, "He's alive?"

Logan nodded, "Your brother's alive, Max. But.... You might want to brace yourself for what comes next."

Zack slowly turns to face the camera and Max's heart did a flip. The upper left side of his face consists of a metal plate. A blinking red light is where his left eye should be and she gasps when she sees this. Zack looks into the camera for a moment, and then knocks it out with his fist. Max grabs the mouse, rewinds the tape back to before he knocked out the camera and pauses the footage, staring at his face in shock

Max sat there in stunned silence, staring at the picture, "I can't believe it. He's alive!"

Logan stood beside her now, careful not to brush her due to the virus she carries, "You told me you saw him when you were back at Manticore?"

She nodded sadly, still not taking her eyes off the monitor, "They'd been harvesting his organs."

A tear ran down her cheek, remembering how he shot himself in the head to provide her with the heart she would need to live.... the heart beating within her now, "I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for him Logan."

Max now stood and began pacing in the middle of Logan's living room, "Renfro said something about moving him to another facility...that they had plans for him."

Logan took his place again in the computer chair and was staring at the picture too as he said, "Looks like they were experimenting with cybernetic implants. Probably replaced his missing organs with artificial ones."

Max stopped behind Logan, arms akimbo, "How'd he end up with a bunch of Steelheads??"

Logan swerved his chair to face Max, "Could be when Manticore shut down, an enterprising lab tech unloaded him on the black market. A genetically-engineered soldier with cutting-edge cybernetics...Steelheads would be all over it. It's the kind of thing they get into."

Max was determined as she answered, "All I know is I've gotta find him. Do you have any idea where they hang?"

Logan hands her a file and tells her, "Wish I did. Been looking to take them down for months. British Eddy and his crew are running a body-parts ring. Paying off hospitals, getting their hands on organs meant for transplant candidates, shipping them overseas for a profit."

"So no leads?", Max sounded disappointed

"I'm sorry Max. Nothing solid. But I put word out on the Informant Net. I'll let you know as soon as anything turns up." he tells her kindly

Max gave him a small smile of gratitude, "Thanks Logan, I appreciate that."

Later at Jam Pony, Max tells Original Cindy about finding Zack. Original Cindy was quiet for a moment and muttered a "Whoa!". Then she tried to be upbeat for Max, "Okay, one might think that you'd be happy to know that your lover boy is all right."

Max shook her head sadly, "That's the thing. I don't know if he is. For some reason, he's running with a bunch of Steelheads, and I've got no clue how to reach him."

OC remembered something.... "Steelheads?" Max nods and Original Cindy yells at the top of her voice, "SKETCHYYYYY!!!"

Sketchy appears almost immediately and answers, "You bellowed, Your Originalness?"

OC pointed at Max, but was talking to Sketchy, "Tell Max what you told me about those guys that kicked your butt."

Sketchy shrugged, "It's been a pretty violent month for the Sketchmeister. Could you be a TAD more specific?"

OC rolled her eyes and said, "The guys with the shiny spikes coming out of their appendages?"

"Ohhh, those guys. Um...Look, I'm afraid the specifics of that particular butt-kicking are a little hazy."

Max stood and began to approach Sketchy threateningly, "Then you better un-haze. Fast!"

Sketchy was backing away, hands up, very nervously telling her, "Um.... See, the thing is, I can't."

"Why the hell not??"

"Well.... I sort of promised someone I wouldn't talk about my run-in with those guys, especially to you."

Max shoves him against a wall with an arm across his throat. She gets in his face and says, "WHO, Sketch?"

"Damn! Have you been lifting weights, Max?"

She shoves him again to get her point across, "Tell me who??"

"C'mon Max! I made a promise."

Max nods, "Oh I see. Well I promise you if you don't tell me in five seconds, I'm gonna introduce your face to your colon!!"

A few minutes later, Max slams Alec's hand in his locker. He looks at Max likes she's lost her marbles and grimaces in pain

"We need to talk!" she demands and then lets go of the locker door, therefore releasing his hand. Alec cradles the hand and watches Max walk to a private corner

About an hour later, Alec and Max ride their ten speed bikes into the market-like area where Alec beat up the Steelheads before. They stop and look around

"All right, here we are." Then he practically whines, "Can I go now??"

Max shook her head as she dismounts and looks around for the Steelheads she saw on the video, "Nope! This is your penance for scamming Sketchy into selling steroids. You're lucky I don't turn you in to the cops you big jerk!"

Alec, living up to the smart-alec name that Max called him, began explaining, "You know, I got out of the whole andy business once I heard it could make your heart explode. I mean, once your clientele starts dying off, who the hell are you gonna sell it to? Just didn't make any business sense--you know, long-term."

Her hands were on her hips as she was looking around at the crowd, "Now, if this is the Steelheads' turf, where are they??"

Alec shrugged, "How should I know? They're probably holed up somewhere, tweaking each others' circuits." He gave a smile to Max, wondering if she got his joke. She wasn't paying much attention and Alec sighed. Max was absolutely no fun! She REALLY needed to loosen up!

"Guess we're just gonna have to get their attention, then." Max tells Alec

He tried again to make her laugh, "PLEASE tell me you're gonna get naked!"

She only shook her head, "Nope!" She pokes him in the shoulder and demands, "YOU'RE going back into the steroid biz!"

Alec scoffed, "Yeah, they made it pretty clear that they didn't want me around here, so...." Alec begins to leave and Max grabs his jacket sleeve, pulling him back and points a finger under his nose

"Exactly!! Now...... imagine how ticked off they're gonna be when they find out you didn't listen?"

Alec yanks his sleeve out of Max's grip and replies, "Yeah, they're gonna come packing this time. So no way! Uh uh! I have ZERO interest in tangling with these psychos again. You're on your own sweetheart." He starts to walk away again, and again Max stops him, grabbing his arm and whispering urgently

"I'm gonna find my man, and YOU'RE gonna help me!"

Alec raised both eyebrows in surprise, "Did you just say your MAN?" He smirks, "That's cute, Max."

She pushed his away and angrily retorted, "I don't expect you to understand that since you treat women like blow-up dolls. What I DO expect is your cooperation, or else!"

Alec folded his arms, thinking he had the upper hand, "Or else what?"

"Or else I tell Normal how you used Jam Pony to peddle steroids, and he'll CAN your ass. No more job means no more sector pass."

Now Alec had his hands on his hips, squaring off with her, "How do you expect me to get around?"

Max grinned, knowing she had him now, "I don't know, but it's gonna make it pretty difficult for you to be a cat burglar."

Alec and Max stare at each other, weighing the other's measure.... then Alec sighs and rolls his eyes and starts talking to people in the area.

"Andy, anyone? Anyone want some andy? You lookin' for some andy, pal? You could beef up a little bit, huh? No? All right. Andy, anybody??"

Max happily follows him while he's trying to push andy he doesn't have

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An hour later found a very large, very muscular man towering over Alec and threatening him, "What you mean, you don't have it on you???"

Alec smiled, being as charming as he could, "Well, like I said, sir, if you just wanna give me your name and address, I promise I'll pop it in the mail tomorrow."

"You wack punk!" the man yelled in Alec's face before walking away

Alec groans loudly in frustration, and he and Max keep walking.

"This is ridiculous!" Alec grumbles next to Max, "I'm being dragged along to find your lover boy!"

Bird, the Steelhead with a cyber arm, steps into view a short distance away. Alec sees him and gestures in relief, "Finally! You realize how long I've been waitin' for you??"

Bird smiled evilly at him and replied, "Not nearly as long as I've been waitin' for you."

Bird raises his gun with his cyber arm, aiming at Alec. Max and Alec, seeing the gun, quickly get out of the way.

Alec blurs and zigzags up to Bird until he grabs him by the arm and does a flip, landing behind him. The big Steelhead approaches from a side entrance with gun raised and Max blurs and runs in his direction, kicking him down.

Alec wrenches the gun out of Bird's hand and flips Bird into some crates, knocking him unconscious. The second Steelhead attempts to get Max with the spikes coming out of his forearm; she blocks him, they struggle until she kicks him in the back.

Alec flexes his shoulders and cracks his knuckles, looking supremely satisfied with himself. But Zack takes him by surprise and grabs him by the throat, picking him up and Alec's feet are dangling about 6 inches from the ground. Alec struggles under Zack's hold, trying to breathe and can't loosen his fingers. Max shoves the second Steelhead out of the way and turns to find Zack holding Alec in the air.

"Zack!" Max calls out.

Holding Alec in midair by the throat with one hand, Zack immediately pulls a gun on Max with the other.

Max looked at him sadly, trying her best to not look like a threat. She speaks quietly and reassuringly to him, "Zack. It's me. It's Max."

Zack showed absolutely no recognition, no emotion, as he asked, "Who are you?"

Max did all she could to keep from crying as she tried again. "Zack.... it's me. Zack? It's Max."

Zack suddenly has a few flashbacks of the two of them as kids at Manticore, and then when they blew up the DNA database at Manticore, he remembered seeing her barcode in Manticore that coded vials of Max's DNA

He still wouldn't give up his chokehold on Alec, nor would he lower his gun. Still unemotional, he demanded, "You're an X5. Show me your barcode."

Alec was struggling, choking and he begged, "Max, show it to him already!"

Max turns around, pulls her hair aside, and shows him her barcode and Zack has more flashbacks. Remembering her as a childhood friend, he drops Alec on the ground and lowers his gun

"You're 452. I know you. You're in my unit."

Max smiles encouragingly, "That's right. I'm Max."

"Max." Zack said, trying the name out

Now she stepped toward him and urged, "Come on. Let's get you out of here."

Zack glances at the two Steelheads lying on the ground and asks, "What about them?"

Max shook her head and takes his arm, answering "They're not in our unit."

She leads him away, forgetting all about Alec, who was lying on the ground choking. He gets up, coughs a few times, trying to catch his breath and waves them away

"I'm fine! Sure! Thanks for asking! No! I'll find my ....." He coughs then clears his throat, massaging his throat also "Own way home! Right! I'm good!! Don't worry about ol' Alec!"

[Dana0715]

Another chapter!

Logan had called Dr Carr on Max's behalf to have him meet Max and Zack, and to get Zack checked out. In a hospital lab room, Zack sits on an exam table while Max stands nearby. Dr. Carr is standing in front of Zack, looking surprised at the metal on his face and arms

He tried valiantly to cover his surprise, but it didn't work, "Well...um...why don't we get started? Any allergies I should know about?"

No response from Zack. And Max gave him a look that practically screamed, "Hello! He's an X5! What do YOU think??"

Dr Carr clears his throat and says, "Guess not. Moving right along--are you currently taking any prescription medication? Any vitamin supplements? Something for your skin?"

Logan taps on the window and gets Max's attention. She quietly steps outside to join him in the waiting room. They both watch the exam through the window.

Max was struggling to hold back tears, "It was awful Logan! He didn't even recognize me at first. It was like he'd never seen me before."

Logan tried to find a logical reason to soothe Max in her worry for Zack, "Well, he did take a bullet point-blank to the head. Stands to reason there'd be some cognitive damage."

Max leaned her forehead against the glass, her fingers tracing little patterns on the pane, "Zack was our leader. Any situation, he knew what to do." The tears began falling now and she sobbed, "Now look at him. He's so lost."

Logan would have gladly tried to comfort Max, but knowing about the virus Manticore injected her with, he knew better than to do it. He stood by helplessly, watching with Max as a nurse pushes Zack in a wheelchair out of the exam room. Dr. Carr waves Logan and Max inside. Logan passed Max a handkerchief

"Keep it" he tells her, "I got plenty at home."

Logan steps into the exam room and after Max collects herself, she goes in behind him

They stand in front of a large display screen, which is currently showing an X-ray of Zack's chest.

Dr Carr was talking to them about Zack's condition, "I'm running some additional scans on him now, but I wanted to show you these. Most of his major organs are biosynthetic, and from what I can tell, they're actually more efficient and more durable than the ones they replaced."

"What about his arm?" Logan asked, referring to the metal arm that Zack now has

Dr. Carr hits a key on a keyboard and the display changes to X-rays of Zack's right hand and exoskeleton.

"Looks like there was some nerve damage, so they grafted on an exoskeleton to enhance motor function. This thing is way more advanced than the one you got a hold of Logan, for your legs. This place Manticore was doing some cutting-edge stuff!"

"If they're so good, then how come they didn't fix it so he can remember his own name?" Max asked, confused

"Memory's a tricky thing." Dr Carr began. "All the various associations that form a particular memory are stored in different parts of the brain. Now it's the temporal lobe's job to keep track of how those things are all interconnected."

Max nodded, "And his was damaged?"

"Right!" Dr. Carr hits a key and the display changes to an X-ray of Zack's head. "But they replaced it with a cybernetic implant, which seems to be capable of actually rebuilding those connections."

Max latched on to that hope, "So there's a chance that his memory could come back?"

"It's possible. I mean, look what happened with you. Seeing your face wasn't enough for him to recognize you, but when he heard your name, read your barcode, the implant was able to pull those fragments together to form the memory of who you were."

"So if I take him to a place we've been together..." Max asked, trailing off

"It might trigger some more memories. Now, I want to warn you that he could get confused at times. He might not be able to distinguish between, say, an event that actually happened and something he dreamed about. And obviously there's some things he's gonna lose because of tissue damage, but that aside, there's a chance he could recover almost everything."

Max smiled. There was hope! "When will we know?"

"It's hard to say. Could take some time." Dr Carr answered her

The nurse opens the door and Zack is wheeled in wearing a hospital gown. He sees Logan and narrows his good eye suspiciously

"I've seen you before." Zack said

Max moves to stand next to Zack, who stands up from the wheelchair. Holding to Zack's arm to give him support, she makes the introductions, "Zack, this is Logan."

Zack steps closer to Logan. Logan nods in greeting, "It's good to see you, Zack."

Zack has flashbacks of being in Logan's apartment, confronting Logan while Max kept an eye on Lydecker elsewhere and wasn't there

(In flashback) Zack asked Logan, "You're really worried about Max? The biggest threat to her safety is you!"

Logan, in the flashback, asked Zack blandly, "How do you figure?"

Zack was now back in present day and shakes his head, then stares at Logan hatefully, "I remember you."

Logan looks suspicious, but Max, trying to see the happy side, smiles because he's beginning to regain more memories

Not sensing the tension, Dr Carr replied, "Well! It's a good sign!"

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Later, Max has brought Zack home to her apartment. He looks around and doesn't recognize anything

"You don't remember?" Max asked

Zack shakes his head

She decided to try and jog his memory as he walks further into the apartment, "You came here once, looking for me. You were hurt."

Zack still doesn't recognize the place and Max's face falls

She shrugs and sighs, "You know what? It's okay. Doctor said it would take a while, anyway." She walks over to the couch and gestures "Have a seat."

Zack immediately sits indian style on the floor. The lights suddenly go out. Max starts lighting candles and she heard Zack say, "Lights out. It's time to bunk down."

Max smiled as she walked around the room lighting candles, "It's just a brownout. We're not in Manticore anymore Zack."

"Manticore?" he asked

Zack has brief flashbacks of training when they were young as Max says, "Home sweet home for the first ten years of our lives."

He then remembered when they broke out, "We ran away."

Suddenly, Zack stands up, "We abandoned our mission!"

Max stops him with a hand on his arm. He looks down at her as she stares up at him, "We got a new mission. It's called getting a life. It was your idea. You looked out for us...made sure we were all okay."

Zack was remembering a few bits and pieces, "The others--where are they now?"

"All over the place." Max decided it best to not lay everything on him at once, remembering Tinga's death, and having to give Brynn back to Lydecker to save her life....

"Are they safe?" Zack asked innocently

Max is having her own flashbacks for a moment. She remembers hugging Syl, seeing Tinga dead in the tank, leaving Brynn on a bench to be taken back to Manticore because she had progeria, seeing Krit, and hugging Tinga's body.

Max patted his arm reassuringly, "Don't worry about that right now. Just concentrate on getting better. You should get some sleep."

Max has Zack sit down on Original Cindy's bed. He looks around in confusion, "This isn't my bunk."

Max didn't want to push anything on Zack right now. She wanted so much to hold him and reassure him, but she didn't want to scare him. She just sat next to him, brushing back a lock of his blond hair from his eyes, "You can use it. My roommate's staying with some friends." She gives him a gentle good night kiss on the forehead and whispers, "Welcome home, Zack." before she gets up and walks out of the bedroom to let him sleep

She leaves and closes the curtains separating the bedroom from the main room. Zack falls asleep and dreams about the times he has spent with Max, including several hugs and brushing her hair out of her face. He remembers the times they've made love, at a cabin when running from Lydecker, during a heat cycle a year ago. He had to leave and she refused to go with him. Then he came back, he and Max along with Syl and Krit worked to take down Manticore, but he and Max were captured. He also remembers being arrested and tortured, Tinga giving herself up, Brynn being captured, and being locked up when Lydecker double-crossed them.

Zack remembers the time Max took him to Logan's when he was hurt.

Zack remembers being shot and being wheeled into Manticore's operating room after he and Max were shot and captured

He remembers fighting orderlies to get to Max, seeing she was shot in the heart and dead. How he cried over her, then grabbed a nearby handgun, standing and pointing it to his head

He stared off into space in his flashback and announced, "X5-599, I've got a heart for you." and pulled the trigger

The shot rings out in the flashback and Zack wakes up, breathing hard and in a cold sweat. He looks around and notices a mirror. He sees his reflection, the metal on his face and he touches his face, remembering the way his face looked before he shot himself, and then he begins to cry.

Zack got up, walking into Max's bedroom, where she is reading by candlelight. She sees he's very obviously upset and she jumps up

Zack shook his head crying, "I'm sorry!" and he fell to his knees in Max's bedroom doorway

Max jumped up and ran over to him, dropping to her knees in front of him and cradling his face in her hands, making him look at her. "Zack? What's wrong? Talk to me!"

Zack cradles her face too, crying, "I remember Max...I remember everything. I failed you. I failed all of you."

Max was crying with him, shaking her head, "No Zack, that's not true."

It broke her heart that this big strong man was crying like a little child. He wiped the tears of his good eye away with the back of his hand, "I let Manticore catch Brynn...kill Tinga..."

"Zack! That wasn't your fault!" Max tells him sternly

He touches her face tenderly, "I even let them kill you."

"Zack... you did NOT let anyone kill me. I'm still right here!"

He points at his face in anguish, "Look at me Max!! What did they do to me? What am I??"

Max places his hand on her chest so that he feels the heart beating within, "That's YOU in there. I carry a piece of you with me everywhere I go. You saved my life." She caresses the fleshy side of his face as she tells him, "That's who you are. You're someone who will sacrifice everything to protect the ones you love."

Max hugs Zack to her and he hugs her back fiercely, crying on her shoulder as he says, "I love you, Max. I'll never let anything happen to you again."

Finally! He DID remember it all! "I love you too Zack." She told him with heartfelt abandon, clinging to him tighter.

He raised his head and their lips were very close. She was about to kiss him and he pulled back

"How can you stand to kiss a freak like me?" Zack asked harshly

"Because it's the face of the man I love." Max told him and she bent forward and kissed him

She would have loved to take this moment and make love to him, showing him he's still her chosen mate, that she's his partner in this life, but he'd been through so much mental and emotional stress. Max thought it best that he get rest. Maybe later when he's more himself again they can discuss moving forward. She's found him again and she doesn't want to let him go. To her, he's now home

She let him sleep in her bed next to her. And she was right, he was so exhausted, he fell right to sleep after spooning her in front of him. At some point during the night, his arm with the exoskeleton had tightened over her slightly, like he knew who she was and wasn't willing to let her go either. That was fine by Max and she fell asleep, listening to the familiar sound of Zack's breathing

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The next morning, Max turns over to wake Zack up and she gasps

Zack stretches and sits up and sees that Max is looking at him in wide-eyed wonder. Overnight, skin has formed over the metal plate on his eye.

Zack peered at her quizzically and asked, "What?"

She pointed at the mirror on her dressing table at the foot of her bed and he turned, then touched the side of his face in wonder

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In the hospital lab, Zack is laying on an exam table as Dr. Carr examines him

Dr Carr lightly touched the new flesh that now covers the metal, but his eye was still glowing red. "It's unbelievable!"

"Can you explain what happened?" Max asked him anxiously

Dr Carr smiled, glad to explain the miracle, "Nanocytes circulating in his bloodstream. Self-replicating, molecular-scale biomachines designed to repair tissue damage. I've read theoretical papers about the technology, but to see them in action...wow!"

"OK, wait." Max raised a hand up, thinking this new information over, "If he's got these nanocytes buzzing around fixing things, how come they weren't doing their job yesterday??"

Zack answered this time, "It's the machine."

Max turned to him questioningly, "What machine?"

Zack sat up on his elbows and explained, "British Eddy and the others hooked me up to it almost every day. Said it would filter my blood, keep it clean."

Max scoffed, "My ass! They were sifting out your nanocytes!"

Dr Carr thought this over, "That would explain why there was no tissue repair going on. Didn't have a chance to replicate in your bloodstream."

Zack shrugged sheepishly, "Eddy said I looked cooler with no skin."

Max ran her fingers through Zack's hair affectionately, teasing, "Well.... At least we can take you out in public now. Just gotta hook you up with a pair of shades."

Dr Carr took a closer look at Zack's eye and just as Zack was about to raise up completely, the good doctor placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him, "Hold on a second. Let me see something. Close your eyes for a second."

Zack does so as Dr Carr massages the eye in circles with a finger, "A little pressure ought to stimulate the ocular implant." After a few seconds, he stops and tells him, "Now... Open."

Zack blinks. An image of a normal-looking eye forms instead of the red light. Dr. Carr shines a light on it and the "pupil" contracts.

Dr Carr nodded approvingly, "Huh. Thought so. It's coated with a thin layer of liquid crystal. You know, the stuff they use on high-def TV's."

Zack gets up and looks in a mirror.

Max stood behind his shoulder, meeting his gaze in the mirror, "Guess Manticore wanted you to look normal so they could send you out on missions."

Zack turned and pulled her into a hug, telling her, "Guess what? Got a new mission. It's called getting a life."

He bent down for a kiss and Max mumbled, "Sounds like a plan to me!"

-------------------------------
TBC

[phoenixnz]

Great start Trina. A nice reunion between Zack and Max.

[Dana0715]

Max had called in sick for that day and the next day and she used the time to spend quality time with Zack

Mostly back at her apartment, in her bed

She was so thrilled to have him back in her arms. And she realized as she was lying with him in bed, he was sound asleep, facing each other, their legs entangled under the sheets, she never felt more safe than when she was with Zack

Zack was what Manticore considered an alpha male, a born leader. Max no longer felt like she was in this alone. She had someone to lean on now, someone she knew, when the time was right, would help her take care of the other transgenics she helped escape from Manticore

Since both she and Zack have some shark DNA in them, neither sleeps for long. Zack was waking up after a thirty minute nap and he blinked sleepily, and then smiled. Seeing Max first thing when he woke up

They were staring lovingly at each other. Zack's metal right hand reached out and brushed a strand of hair off Max's forehead and put it behind her ear

"This is how I want to spend the rest of my life, knowing that every time I wake up, you're there." Zack told her quietly

Max kissed him in reply. And then the kiss began to heat up and they made love again

By the time they did get out of bed, twenty four hours had passed and Max received a page from Logan. She invited Zack to go with her

Later, Max was sitting in a chair across from Logan, who was in his wheelchair. They were both staring at Zack, Max staring in love and admiration, Logan in wonder at his amazing recovery.

Max turned to Logan and asked quietly, "Can you believe it?"

"Actually...no." Logan shook his head in amazement

Zack walked away from the window and back to them, checking over his exoskeleton on his right arm, "This I think I'll hang onto for a while. Doc said the nerve damage should heal before long."

"Better watch out." Max teased, "People might think you're a Steelhead."

Zack sits in the chair next to her and puts his arm around her, "Sure! That's all I need!"

Logan leaned toward Zack with his elbows on his knees, other things on his mind, "Speaking of which, I was wondering if you could do me a favor Zack."

Zack shrugged, "Sure thing!"

"Those Steelheads you were with.... Eyes Only's been trying to track them down for months. I was hoping maybe you could tell me where Eddy and his crew were holed up."

Zack's eyes narrowed. His mind was seeing Logan shooting him and Max before being captured by Manticore, a false memory that was implanted by Manticore.

There was a tic in his jaw as he said, "You...you're Eyes Only!"

Logan looked slightly confused because Zack used to handle a few Eyes Only missions with Max, "Yeah. You knew that."

Max turned to Zack and explained gently, "Logan did that Eyes Only broadcast for us, remember? To warn the others that Lydecker was on to them?"

Zack stands suddenly, standing over Logan, "Yeah. Sure, I remember. You helped plan our assault on Manticore. You and Lydecker ran the operation while we went in."

Logan nodded, not sure where this was heading, "Yeah, that's right."

Zack folded his arms in a defensive stance and cocked his head, staring Logan down suspiciously, "It's funny how that mission went sideways."

Now Logan understood what Zack was getting at. If Logan could have stood up, he would have faced off with Zack. He didn't like being falsely accused of anything, "What are you trying to say?" he finally asked

"I think I just said it, didn't I?" Zack replied, and then he pointed angrily at Logan, "I'm not telling you anything!!” He turned to leave in an angry stride toward the door

Logan looked to Max, flabbergasted, "What the hell was that??"

Max stared off after Zack and then turned back to Logan sadly, "I don't know. I'm so sorry."

She leaves to follow him while Logan contemplates what just happened.

------------------------------------
Max found Zack at the waterfront; He was standing on the beach and throwing rocks into the water. Max didn't know what was going on, but she had to help Zack, one way or another. And a first thing first was his response to Logan. Logan has been a major asset to her and hers. He's been a huge help, and he didn't deserve to be treated like this by anyone

Max finally stood beside Zack and placed a hand on his shoulder. She quietly said, "Logan didn't deserve that. You were way out of line."

Zack had spent the time here alone contemplating how best to get Max away from Logan's influence. He could tell she was already buying into his propaganda. He was a traitor, and Max didn't even see it.

He finally decided the best thing to do was to get on Max's good side and play along with her for now. Maybe he can convince her to leave Seattle with him, start a new life somewhere else.

He finally sighed, looking deflated, "I know Max. I'm sorry. Guess I'm still having a hard time accepting what happened...looking for someone else to blame besides myself."

He hoped that sounded convincing enough.

Max caressed his face in her palm as she told him softly, "We already talked about that, Zack."

Zack took her in his arms and kissed her on the nose affectionately, "Anyway, I'm sorry." He watched her and she seemed to accept it. He then decided to change the subject and looked out toward the water, "Remember the night we decided that it was time to stop running and to take down Manticore?" He looked back to her and smiled in nostalgia, "We were right here."

"I remember."

It was his turn to caress her face, using his good left hand, "Seems like just yesterday."

Max leaned into the caress and thought it was best to bring him up to speed, "A lot's changed since then. Manticore's gone now."

Zack went still, completely surprised, "What do you mean?"

Max grinned proudly, "Burned to the ground. Don't worry. I got everybody out."

Zack smiles back, hugging her tighter, "I'm so proud of you. You finished the mission."

Snuggled in Zack's arms like this felt like coming home to Max. Her voice was muffled by his chest as she answered, "Thanks to you."

They stood there like that, embracing each other until finally, with some regret, Zack stepped back to give her a little space, but wouldn't completely let her go. He kept his hands on her hips as he responded, "So...there's a whole lot more of us out in the world. They're gonna need looking out for."

Max smiled brightly, looking relieved, "I was hoping you'd say that!"

Zack had to chuckle and used the finger of his left hand to caress her bottom lip. "So much for settling down into a nice, normal life, huh?"

Max shrugged and rolled her eyes, "What's normal, anyway?"

"Yeah. Besides....." He kissed her softly, once, then twice, and then replied against her mouth, "We have each other. Like always."

They kiss again, and finally, Max was the one gently breaking the kiss as she told him, "You keep that up and I will not be held responsible for what I do to you next!"

"Like what?" Zack asked, intrigued

"Like sitting you down on this beach and f*cking your brains out."

"Hey! I like that plan!" Zack pulls her to him playfully and she giggled, pulling away

"You know that's dangerous! We'll get arrested and then they'll see our barcodes...."

Zack couldn't believe that for once in his life, he didn't care about getting arrested. As long as he was with Max, he was content.

But the leader within him that always watched out for his unit came to the forefront of his mind and he sighed in resignation.... and frustration

"Rain check?" Zack asked

Max nodded, She took his hand and started leading him away from the beach and he followed.

"I gotta swing by work." she tells him, "Then maybe afterward we'll go back to my place...."

"And repeat what we did yesterday. Sounds like a plan I could get used to!" Zack couldn't be more in love right now as he asked, "So how long is this 'swing to work' gonna take?"

Max laughed happily and replied, "Down, big boy! Anticipation makes it sweeter."

Then suddenly she took off running and after she was several yards away, she turned and yelled back, "Race ya to Jam Pony! Winner chooses where we do it next!"

Zack couldn't pass that up! He took off running after her, causing Max to shriek happily and run as fast as she could

--------------------------------
They arrived at Jam Pony slightly out of breath, and both had arrived at the same time. They argued good naturedly about who won and they finally decided it was a tie and they'll have to find a way to break it later

They walk inside Jam Pony. Max had a couple of things she had to get out of her locker, and she tells Zack, "Wait here. I'll just be a sec, okay?"

He pulls her to him for another quick kiss, not caring that anyone was watching, "I'll wait forever for you." he told her

Those words lifted Max's heart. As she finally turned away to hurry to her locker, she was only able to revel in the feeling for a few seconds when she found that her boss, Normal, was trying to use a pencil through the vents to either get into her locker, or sift through what's in it

Max thought startling him would be the best approach so that he won't ask her why she called in sick, and yet she's here to get things out of her locker. She didn't want him putting her on the clock

"NORMAL!" she yelled out. He jumped and the pencil broke within her locker, "What are you doing to my locker??"

Normal straightened nervously, caught red handed, "Uh, your locker. No, uh, it was nothing. I thought I saw a roach."

Max nods, not believing him for a moment. She unlocks her locker, and takes some stuff out of it.

"Sorry I haven't been around much the last coupla days. Stuff I had to deal with. Doctors' appointments."

She knew what Original Cindy did, convincing Normal that Max is getting too stressed at work and is having violent work related fantasies. So she played along with it, keeping Normal nervous

"Yeah. That's okay. No problem." Normal said in a very un-Normal like way

"I didn't want you to think I up and vanished on you again."

Normal cleared his throat, "Yeah. Take all the time you need. You know, after all, one's health is, uh, you know, gotta be the most important thing. By the way, uh, have I told you how--how impressed I've been with your work lately?"

Max raised an eyebrow in surprise as Normal hands her an envelope.

"Are you feeling okay?" Max asked, slightly confused

Normal leaned close to her in a conspiratorial manner, "Listen, uh, I understand that, uh, I'm hard on you kids sometimes. But believe you me, it all comes from a place of love. You realize that, don't you, Max? That it all comes from a place of love?"

Max nodded uncertainly, "Whatever."

"Okay. Well glad that's cleared up. Take care of yourself Max."

As Max turns to leave, she now finds Sketchy talking to Zack

Sketchy claps Zack on the shoulder as he turns to Max, "Max, why didn't you tell me my boy was back in town?"

"Didn't know you two were so close." Max replied

"What, are you kidding? Back when he was a Jam Pony hump, this generous man showed me some tight shortcuts through downtown. Helped me shave hours off my workday."

Max teased him, "Uh huh. Giving you extra time to nap and get high."

"Precisely!" He bows to Zack and says, "I'm forever in your debt."

"Glad I could help." Zack replied

Sketchy started backing away to head back to work, but he pointed at Zack and announced, "Hey, you must come to Crash tonight. Whole crew's gonna be there. What do you say?"

Zack looks to Max for an answer. Max nodded and answered for the both of them, "Sounds good!"

Sketchy was elated, "Outstanding! Eight o'clock, back room. Last one there does a naked keg stand."

Zack snickers at Sketchy and puts an arm around Max's shoulders, "You know..... I always liked Sketchy..." Then he thinks about it and turns to Max with an uncertain, "I think?"

----------------------------
Zack and Max almost decided to stay in and not go to Crash. But they promised Sketchy, so after sharing a bath together and getting ready, they were late getting there

As they entered the back room, Zack sees Alec and stops cold. He remembered memories of Ben, the two of them as kids, then later when Zack was trying to track him down because he heard that Ben had went psycho and was becoming a serial killer. Zack himself was going to stop him..... he doesn't remember what had happened to him though and now he thought Ben was standing in front of him

Zack, determined, walked around the table to Alec and picked him up by using his cyber hand under one of Alec's arms in a death grip

"You're coming with me!" Zack told him menacingly

Alec, taken by surprise for a moment, quickly recovered and elbowed Zack between the eyes. The two of them began to fight, until Max stepped between them, breaking it up

"Zack! What are you doing??" Max asked while trying to hold him back from Alec

"Why is Ben still walking around??" Zack hissed into Max's ear, not wanting others to hear. "He needs to be in an institution!"

Realizing her error in not explaining earlier, she sighed in relief, "Zack... this isn't Ben."

Alec now understood the mistaken identity. He straightened to his full height now, which still made him slightly shorter than Zack. And Zack outweighed him by about twenty pounds of muscle, probably all in his biceps!

Max explained, "This is Ben's twin Alec. He's X5-494."

Zack was then seeing Alec in a different light. He still didn't completely trust the other X5 alpha male and his look showed it, putting Alec on his guard.

Original Cindy exclaimed, "Whew! Glad that's settled, I'll start the first pitcher of beer, we can all sit down and get to know Zack a little better. And by the way Zack...." she looked him up and down, and then smiled wide, "Welcome back!"

Sketchy was the last one to arrive, he grabbed himself a beer from the pitcher OC brought back to the table and pointed at Zack, "How about a round of foosball?"

Zack really didn't want to leave his seat next to Max. He didn't trust Alec, and he sure didn't like the look in Alec's eyes when he talked to Max. He knew the look well. Lust!

But he had to trust Max sometime. So he took Sketchy up on the offer to play foosball and excused himself

Alec took a sip of beer from his mug and smirked at Max, "I would have never guessed you'd go for the possessive type."

"He is not possessive Alec!" Max hissed, "He's just.... confused. Cut him some slack!"

Original Cindy turned to Max and asked, "Now that he's got his total recall on, what's next? Hook him back up at Jam Pony, help get him his own place?"

Alec smirked and muttered sarcastically, "Living the dream!"

Max shot Alec a look, then turned back to OC, "I haven't really thought about it. I'm just glad he's back."

"Things are looking up now. It's about time." OC announced and she raised her mug to Max. Max clinked hers to OC's in agreement

They watch as Zack and Sketchy finish their game and return to the table

"Who won?” Max asked

Sketchy shook his head dejectedly, "He spanked me, ten-zip."

Zack shrugged, trying to be nice, "It was no big deal."

"Wasn't a fair fight, what with that cyber-hand of his. Thinking maybe I oughta get one?"

Original Cindy rolled her eyes, "Right. And maybe you should try to get you a cyber-head!"

Sketchy was really getting tired of OC riding his ass all the time. He changed the subject, "What I could really use is another beer."

Max grabs the empty pitcher and says, "I think it's my turn to buy!"

Alec jumps up and says, "Yeah, I'll go with you."

Avoiding the possessive look from Zack, Alec hurries after Max

"Max, Max, let me ask you a question. Think there's something a little, uh, a little off about 'your man' Zack?"

"Like what?" Max asked, suspicious

"There's something not right about him Max."

Max was getting defensive now and said, "You got something to say, Alec, spit it out."

"OK...... Seems to me like he's just playing along. Biding his time. He definitely has feelings for you, granted. But he's got something up his sleeve. I don't know what it is or why, but I know the look. I was Manticore Special Forces for the last four years Max, leader of my own unit. He's undercover. The only thing real about him is his feelings for you."

Before Max could punch him, he had his hands up and pleaded, "Just think about it OK? It turns out that he was fully functional at Manticore, as far as physically. Mentally? Don't you think he may have gone through reindoc and brainwashing?"

"You know what Alec? Stay outta my life, OK?"

"Max.....just watch your back. Manticore plants things in our minds that alter reality. Just be careful."

Alec walked back to the back room, leaving Max to stand there and ponder what he said. She remembered Zack's outburst at Logan's, and then he played it off later. Was it a strategy to distract her?

Max heads for the bar and orders her pitcher of beer. At another table, Bird, one of the Steelheads, finishes a drink and pops a needle out of one of the knuckles on his cyber-arm and stands, approaching Max from behind

"Can I get a refill?" Max asks the bartender

She notices that the man next to her is one of the Steelheads, the big one she fought when rescuing Zack. And then she feels a poke from behind and turns around to see the other Steelhead, Bird

"Ow!"

Bird, sarcastically answered, "Oops! Sorry!"

-------------------------
At the table in the backroom, Original Cindy noticed Max hadn't come back with that pitcher of beer yet. It usually doesn't take this long

"Wonder what's keepin' my girl?" OC asked

Alec rolled his eyes, "Well, I'd give her a hand, but she'd just bite it off."

Zack, who can see the bar from his seat, suddenly gets up and walks toward it. Alec snickered

"Well! There goes her knight in shining armor. Oh, God forbid our little Max have to lug a big, heavy pitcher of beer with her delicate little hands, huh?" Original Cindy gives him a look and Alec shrugged innocently, "What?"

At the bar, Zack grabs the bartender's wrist with his cyber hand in a painful grip, almost breaking the man's arm

Through clenched teeth, Zack asked the man, "Max--where is she?"

The bartender nervously answered, "Had too much to drink. Left with a couple Steelhead friends of hers."

Zack thought about that for a moment, remembering where the Steelheads hang out and live, he released the bartender's wrist and ran out of Crash as quick as he could

Max is in trouble and he had every intention of rescuing her from those lowlifes

------------------------------
At the Steelheads' house, the three men are gathered around a table on which Max lies, covered completely with a sheet.

The big massive one asked, "Hey, Eddy, think she's got nanocytes inside her like our boy did?"

Bird was like an excited little boy as he exclaimed, "Ooh! Let's hook her up to the machine and find out."

British Eddy answered, "Yeah. First things first. We find soldier boy, then we start tinkering with the both of them. At the very least, we ought to have a fresh supply of organs for our friends overseas."

Bird pulls away the sheet. Max is tied down and gagged. British Eddy removes the gag and smiled maliciously at her

"Don't worry, love. You're not dead."

Bird chuckled and said, "Not yet anyway!"

Max looked at the three of them, weighing her odds on escaping. She asked, "What do you want from me?"

British Eddy bent down to talk to her, "We want our boy back. Where is he?"

Max pouted slightly and tried to give the best lost puppy dog look she could muster, "How should I know? He ran off on me."

British Eddy gives her a look, scoffed and raised up. Obviously not believing her, he turns to the other guys.

"Was she at the bar alone?" he asked his buddies

Bird thought about it, "Uh...didn't notice." He turned to the big Steelhead and asked, "You, Tuck?"

Tuck shook his head, "Uh-uh."

Bird turned back to British Eddy and answered, "No."

British Eddy couldn't believe how THICK these guys were in the head! That's why HE'S the leader; he has to do all the friggin' thinking for them! "Well, what was she doing when you snatched her up?"

Tuck answered, "Gettin' a pitcher of beer."

British Eddy turns back to Max, "Oh! A pitcher, eh?"

Max shrugs, "I'm a big drinker."

Eddy still obviously doesn't believe her. He mutters, "Oh, shut up!" He turns back to the other guys and tells them, "Come here. Come here. “He takes them aside to explain to the numbskulls, "It could be that our boy was there, too, and right under your noses. You check the back room?"

Bird turned to Tuck, "Didn't know there was one. You, Tuck?"

Tuck looks away, chagrined. Eddy was now outraged

"You TWITS!!" He yells and with one swipe of his arm, he smacks both of them across the face. Enraged, he paces the room like a caged panther, "Lock her up!!" he demands as he goes to gather weapons.

Tuck and Bird handcuff Max to a pipe above her head and lock her inside an old meat locker. They meet Eddy back in the living room, gathering their weapons to go find Zack

Bird was trying to get back into Eddy's good graces, "Don't worry, Eddy. This time we'll check the back, the front, the whole place!"

They didn't have time to do anything. Suddenly Zack crashes through the door, having kicked it open. The door hits Bird on the head and sends him to the ground. Zack shoves Tuck into the wall, knocking him out and then turns to British Eddy, who looks scared. Zack's face is now completely formed, no scar tissue, you can't tell anything ever happened to him. After scuffling with three of them, he locks each Steelhead into a coffin for each of them. He turns the lock on each coffin to make sure they're locked in, and then picking up a rifle, taps the butt of it against one of the coffins, enjoying his triumph

Now to find Max!

He goes into the back room, gun cocked and ready in case someone was hiding. He then hears Max call out

"Zack! In here!!"

Zack runs to her and looks through the little broken window of the useless meat locker, "Max!"

Her hands are handcuffed above her head, across a metal bar. He assesses the situation quickly

"What did they do to you? Are you okay?" he asked, genuinely concerned

Max nods reassuringly, "I'm fine. Can you get these off me?", gesturing at the hand cuffs

Zack breaks the lock on the closet door and opens it. He runs in and kisses her, thankful she's alive

Then he stops suddenly and remembers something else, another Manticore-planted memory that he thinks is real

Max in bed with Logan, he catching them and he starts backing away

"Zack? Get me out of here!" Max pleads, not liking the way he was looking at her

"You cheated on me!" Zack exclaimed

"What?? What the hell are you talking about?? Zack!!"

"You set me up! You, Logan, and Lydecker were working together against me! You knew I'd trust you! How could you do that!!”?

"Zack!!! I have NEVER cheated on you and I certainly NEVER betrayed you!"

There was no stopping Zack now, he was in a full outrage, "It was him, isn't it? How can you love him and not me? He betrayed us, Max!"

Zack remembers him and Max getting shot in the woods outside Manticore, and the planted memory of Logan shooting them

Max was totally confused now, "What are you talking about? Who??"

"Logan! You slept with the enemy Max!"

"Logan and I aren't like that Zack! We never were!"

"Bullsh!t Max! I saw you two!! Well the joke's on you! He's been working against us the whole time! That's the reason the mission went wrong!"

Max took a deep breath, trying to stay calm, "Zack.... Just undo these handcuffs, okay. We can talk about it."

Zack was so enraged! The woman he loved was working with the enemy against him; it seemed right now that EVERYONE was against him. He got in her face yelling, "He's a traitor! Why don't you believe me??"

"Baby! You've got it all wrong! They did something to you back at Manticore! Please, help me out of these handcuffs and we'll work it out."

"I'd die for you!! I DID die for you Max!! You betrayed me!" Zack holds up his cyber hand in front of Max's face, "He did this to me! And YOU did this to me!!"

He starts tearing at his face where the skin covered the metal plating over his eye, pulling that new skin away.

"He's the reason I look like this!" Zack stated to her

Max, completely horrified that he was damaging himself like this, screamed, "Zack! Stop it!!"

He keeps tearing. The skin starts coming off. Zack pulls away the rest of the skin. The metal plate is now visible, and the ocular implant shows a red light again instead of an iris. He remembers being back at Manticore, shooting at the paper target with Eyes Only printed on it, while three people watch and take notes.

"Now he's gonna pay for what he did...to both of us." Zack began to back away and Max yelled, "Zack, get me out of here!"

He turns back to her when he made it to the door and points at her, "You're safer right there. I'll be back for you." and he leaves

Zack could hear Max calling to him as he left, determined to take Logan Cale, aka Eyes Only, out for good. He made sure the safety was off on his rifle and went up to the rooftop. He was jumping from rooftop to rooftop in the dark of night by running and jumping to the next roof.

Max, adrenaline now rushing through her in her concern for Logan's safety, and for Zack's as well, she yanks her hands down and breaks the handcuff chain.

Running out of the meat locker and to the nearest phone, she quickly calls Logan and at the same time, tries to undo the broken cuffs from her wrists

In his apartment, Logan's cell phone rings. He's still in his wheelchair, so he wheels over to it and answers.

"Yeah?" Logan answers, not sure who's on the phone because he doesn't recognize the number on his caller id

Max yells, "Get out of the apartment, Logan. Now!"

"Max, what's wrong?"

"It's Zack. He's coming after you. Get out!"

She hangs up and successfully got the handcuffs removed. She takes off outside and ran in a blur back to Crash where she has her motorcycle parked. Once she cranked it up, she heads quickly to Logan's apartment building

Logan grabs his keys from the counter, and wheels over to the exoskeleton. He puts it on and now walks for the elevator, jabbing the call button. Zack crashes through the skylight into Logan's apartment, gun at the ready. The elevator has opened and Logan quickly hides within the elevator, furtively pressing the door close button over and over.

Zack points his gun and starts walking around the apartment, looking for Logan. Logan keeps jabbing the DOOR CLOSE button. He takes a chance and glances out through the still-open elevator doors and sees Zack walk into view. Zack sees him. Logan ducks away from the doors, which finally close.

The elevator starts to descend. Zack blurs to the elevator doors and pries them open. He sees the elevator below. He grabs the cable with his cyber hand until the elevator comes to a stop. The elevator's floor indicator says P1. Zack, holding to the cable with his cyber hand begins sliding the 30 stories down to Logan.

Logan, realizing this, thought quickly and starts to pull the elevator doors open to get out. He felt the jolt of Zack landing on top of the elevator and it made Logan more frantic to get out

Zack's hand punches through the elevator ceiling just as Logan gets the doors apart and jumps out. The elevator floor has stopped a few feet above the floor of P1, but there is enough room for Logan to jump out. He does and starts running. Zack jumps down into the elevator and starts running after him. Logan goes through a door into a stairwell and runs downstairs. Zack shoots after him, but hits nothing but glass. Then he goes through the same door and runs downstairs.

Logan reaches the next level, P2, and runs between some cars in the parking garage, staying low and hiding from Zack. Zack reaches the next level and shoots, missing Logan. As Zack shoots, a man who had been washing his car nearby ducks, then runs upstairs. He has dropped his bucket of soapy water and it has spilled onto the floor. Logan runs to his car, ducking, and Zack looks around for him. Logan stays down and goes to a nearby car. Zack walks around, still looking, ready to shoot, the proverbial soldier going after the enemy.

Logan peeks above the car, sees Zack nearby, and ducks down again. He uses the remote on his keys to disarm his car's alarm. The Aztek's lights flash once and the alarm makes a brief noise. It draws Zack's attention and he fires at the car so that Logan could start running in a different direction. Logan jumps up and starts running again. Zack stops shooting at the Aztek, sees Logan, and fires at him. Logan goes down. At first Zack thought he wounded him, but the exoskeleton had shut down.

Lying on the ground, Logan checks his hip and sees that a servomotor has been shot loose. Zack approaches, gun pointed at Logan, poised to shoot him dead with Logan lying helpless on the ground

Suddenly Max zooms by on her motorcycle, knocking Zack down and knocking the gun out of his hands. The gun lands in a puddle of soapy water, a short distance in front of Logan and he tries to reach for it.

Max gets off her bike and tries to reach Zack with her words, "Zack! Don't do this! Manticore has screwed with your mind!"

"No! HE has screwed with YOUR mind Max! Why don't you believe me???"

Knowing what she had to do, she would have to at least knock him out, she quickly swings on a pipe near the ceiling, and kicks Zack down with both feet. with a kick of his legs, he jumps up in one move, back on his feet and in a fighting stance. Max grabs him by the jacket.

"Zack, I'm giving you one last chance. Don't do this! Logan is innocent! I'M innocent!"

"I don't wanna hurt you Max.... but I will if I have to!” Zack warned her

[Dana0715]

Zack swings a punch at Max and Max blocks it, then knees him in the stomach, knocking him back a foot or two. Then they begin to fight. Anyone watching them can tell they were trained by the same people. They're both fighting and counter-fighting the same moves, neither making headway for a while in taking the other down

Logan starts to crawl toward the gun. Max and Zack exchange punches and kicks nearby until Max grabs Zack by the jacket and throws him bodily onto the windshield of a nearby car. Max immediately starts running toward Logan to help him, but Zack recovers quickly and jumps on top of her. He flips her over, picks her up, and throws her at a nearby pole. She hits an electrical box mounted on the pole and lands on the ground under it, slightly dazed.

Sensing victory, Zack picks up the gun that Logan could never reach and points it at Logan, cocking it.

Max notices the soapy water that Zack is standing in, but she and Logan are away from. She comes up with an idea and detaches some wires from the electrical box and touches the sparks to the soapy water on the ground. Zack, who is standing in the soapy water, gets shocked and turns to Max with a look of utter betrayal, breaking Max's heart. In tears, Max removes the wires from the water and Zack collapses in front of Logan. The red light in his ocular implant fades out as Zack slips into unconsciousness

------------------------------
Later, Dr. Carr is tending to Zack, who is unconscious, lying on a table and hooked up to breathing tubes. Max and Logan sit outside in the waiting room watching. Logan is now sitting in his wheelchair since his exoskeleton is being fixed and Max paces the waiting room until Dr. Carr joins them.

Sitting down across from Logan and Max, Dr Carr gives them the news, "He's gonna be okay...physically, anyway."

"What do you mean?" Max asked, wanting all the facts

"The cranial implant. It's still working, but the shock overloaded the circuitry and wiped it clean. He's not going to remember anything that's happened to him since it was first switched on."

"Nothing?" Max asked, turning back to the window to look at Zack lying helpless on the table

"It'll be just like before. He won't recognize your face--not unless he puts it together with your name, and so on, and so on."

Max thought over Dr Carr's words then dejectedly turned back to both men, slouching against the window. She was so tired, and emotionally wrung out, "Then what? Everything else will play out the same way?"

Dr Carr nodded, "Whatever Manticore did to his head to make him go after Logan is still in there. It's a pretty safe bet that, sooner or later, it'll happen again."

Logan was formulating plans in his mind, and needed to speak to Max privately. He asked Dr Carr, "Can we have a minute?"

Dr Carr stands and nods, "Yeah. Sure." He leaves, giving Max's shoulder a reassuring squeeze as he passes.

After Dr Carr is out of earshot, Logan explained quietly, "It doesn't have to play out the same way. Maybe this time we can make him understand that I'm not a threat."

Max was clearly torn. "I need him, Logan. Now more than ever. I don't want to lose him. You're not the only enemy he saw. He thought he caught us.... um..... together, if you get my drift and that I conspired with you against him." She hits the cement block wall in her frustration. "How could he possibly think I'd do anything to hurt him??" She collapsed in a chair across from Logan and finally turns teary eyes on him, "I have to let him go. For your safety and mine..... but it's so hard!"

Logan REALLY wanted to hold her now, just to comfort her, and he knew he couldn't. When Manticore found out that she was working for Eyes Only, they had injected her with a virus targeted to kill him. He didn't dare touch her, but watching her heartbreak tore at something within him. He finally told her, "I can use my contacts...give him a new identity. He can get a fresh start somewhere else."

Max thought about that idea for a moment, trying to think more positively, "A chance at a normal life. It's what he always wanted."

A tear runs down her cheek as she turns to look through the window at Zack again.

-------------------------------
(One week later)

In a hospital room, Zack wakes up. The skin on his face has regenerated, his ocular implant displays a normal-looking iris, and the exoskeleton has been removed from his arm, which is in a sling. He turns over and sees a man sitting beside the bed. The man folds the newspaper he has been reading.

"You're awake." the man says

Zack looked him over, deciding he looks kind enough, but didn't recognize him, "Who are you?"

The man gestures to himself, "It's me--Buddy. You don't remember me?"

Zack shakes his head so the man leans forward to explain

"Well, Dr. Carr said this might happen. Said you might have some memory loss."

Zack still looks confused. Buddy stands and approaches the bed.

Buddy explains in a gentle manner, like a father toward a son, "Your name's Adam--Adam Thompson. You've been working on my ranch for going on three years. You were driving one of trucks into Seattle when a tire blew. Sent you right off the road. Any of this ring a bell?"

Zack was drawing a blank, and that frustrated him. He shook his head helplessly, "No."

"Well, the doc said it might take a while. What say we hit the road? Get home in good time, Mary'll cook you up anything you want for dinner. Sound good?"

Zack liked the sound of that, a hot home cooked meal and he smiled, "Yeah. Actually, it does sound good."

One hour later found Buddy pushing a fully dressed Zack in a wheelchair down the corridor leading out of the hospital. Zack was looking through his identification in "his" wallet and nothing rang any bells. There were no pictures, just a driver's license, a social security card, and a couple of credit cards that Buddy explained were actually for Buddy's farm, "Adam" just had the permission to use it and had two in his name too

Max wanted to see Zack one last time and she sat in the corridor in one of the chairs, pretending to read a magazine. Zack looks up and sees Max. He holds up a hand so that Buddy will stop the wheelchair

"Hold up." Zack tells Buddy and he studies the woman curiously. Max looks up at him and they stare at each other for a full five seconds before Zack smiles at her charmingly and asks, "Do I know you?"

Max kindly replies, "No. I don't think so."

They share a smile again. Zack is thinking he'll never forget that beautiful face and he hopes he'll run into her again one day

Buddy begins to push Zack away now and turns back to Max to give her a wink, letting her know her man is in good hands

Then she ran to the nearest bathroom and cried her eyes out at the loss of the only man she ever loved. To keep him safe, as well as her friends, she knew it had to be done. But it was the hardest thing she ever did in her life.

-----------------------------------------
TBC

[phoenixnz]

Aww, that's so sad! Poor Max. But had to be done.
Good story Trina

[Dana0715]

Yeah, well I can't take credit for a lot of that, just the inserts regarding Zack and Max's relationship, the rest came from the episode "Some Assembly Required". The rest will be all me. :)

[Dana0715]

Author's note - This is a Max/Zack story, but I'm throwing Alec in a little bit to stir things up, make this kind of a love triangle story. I was typing it up, and as you know, I type what I think and this is what came out. Hope you enjoy the next installment!

-------------------------------------
(18 months later)

Max is now the leader of Terminal City, and being the leader causes a lot of responsibilities to be thrown on her shoulders

She can see now why Zack used to always look like he was carrying the weight of the world on him. She was sure she looked like that now

She had released the transgenics into the world, and she felt it was her responsibility to make sure they're all taken care of

Every day was a new problem. For instance, not too long ago they realized one big problem

The X5 females outnumbered the X5 males 3 to 1.... and it's the females that get the heat cycles. The first time they dealt with this problem a year ago, it almost started a riot amongst the X5 males when two females went into heat at the same time

So she allowed a system at first where the female could choose the male she wants to "help" her. But after several months of this, it eventually caused a problem because some of the same males were being chosen again and again and frankly, they were getting worn out, which caused them to not be their best when they had to go on a mission

And since Alec was a favorite male, he was one of them that was too worn out to take a mission. And it didn't bode well when Max herself finally went through a heat cycle. And Alec was the only one she remotely trusted to help her through it. He did it gladly, but she could tell after their three days together, and before that three days with another female, and then a week later three days with another.... he was exhausted!

Then the same problems showed up in the teen X6's. Max had to finally come up with a peaceful and fair solution.

Since there were three X5 females to every X5 male, she called all adult X5's together for a conference. Joshua had helped her fashion a box and gather paper to write on. She passed a sheet to each X5 male and told them to cut or tear the paper into three strips. They were then to write their name on each strip, fold them and put them in the cardboard box. Each female draws a name and that male will be her "partner" during her heat cycle

Hopefully, none of the guys will have to deal with two heat cycles at the same time.... she knew it might happen and she had each male choose a back-up male, just in case

When it came time to draw the names, since she was the leader, she would have to go first and draw a name. Alec drew her aside privately beforehand, looked around to make sure no one was watching, and he took her hand in his in what would appear to be a handshake. It would look like they were making some kind of deal to the casual eye. But Max felt a piece of paper being palmed into her hand, and Alec quickly closed her fingers around it

Quietly, he told her, "It's my name. When you reach into the box, palm this paper. If you want to make sure I'm your heat partner, then just pretend to pull this out. If not, just drop the paper in the box and pull another name out. It's up to you."

Now Max was looking furtively around as she hissed, 'Alec! How would it look if I fixed this drawing? People look up to me around here!"

Alec smirked in his usual devil-may-care manner, "Trust me, you won't be the only one. And no one has to know if you'll just keep your mouth shut."

Alec was a skilled lover, but her heart belonged elsewhere. Alec understood this and even acted like he didn't want anything more from her but to be f*ck buddies during the heat cycle. Max admitted to herself that Alec had become a good friend to her and she can talk to him about personal matters that she can't to anyone else. He didn't approve of the fact that she still carried a torch for Zack. As a matter of fact, he encourages her to move on. But he kind of understood why she didn't

The little bundle of joy that Original Cindy is currently babysitting. Zack's child. A boy that was already showing Zack's features at nine months old, blond hair, green eyes.... and the center of Max's universe

Alec knew that this was one of those circumstances that the father couldn't be told of the baby. It's rare that you find an exception in this situation, but when the father goes psycho, thinking the mother is his enemy and would have killed her.... well to keep the child safe, the father has to be kept blissfully unaware

Alec also knew that Max goes to the farm Zack works at to "check up on him", make sure he's doing OK, always staying out of sight. Alec was the only one that knew of these periodic jaunts Max made to see Zack from afar. He told her it sounded kind of stalker-like to him, but she's an adult and he knew he couldn't talk her out of it. There were a couple of times that Alec followed her without her knowledge, to make sure she didn't do anything stupid

He knew as well as anyone that's ever been in love, you do some crazy things for love. You think with your heart instead of your head and you can screw up royally

Now, palming the paper with Alec's name, she nodded, "I'm only doing this because you're the only X5 male I trust around here."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Alec answered, giving her a wink and walking away

Max usually keeps herself so busy that she doesn't think much about Zack during the day. Alec once told her that she did it on purpose and she found he was right. The only way to push past the pain of losing Zack was to keep herself busy

But when she's home with their child and she lays on the bed with the baby kicking and cooing next to her, it all comes back. The happy times with Zack, before Manticore messed with his head. If there was some way to safely be with Zack without fear of him going off the deep end again, she'd do it in a heartbeat

If he wasn't so screwed in the head by Manticore, they would have been one big happy family. Zack would have adored his son, she knew it in her heart. The son she named after the father. She named him Zachary and gave him her last name of Guavera.

Taking a deep breath to compose herself, she stepped up to the podium in the main building of Terminal City and announced the beginning of the drawing. Joshua was going to pass the box around so he presented it to Max first

Palming the paper Alec gave her in her hand, she debated back and forth while pretending to reach into the box. Drop it and draw another, or keep it?

She kept it

She "pulled" it out and opened it to call out the name and when she announced Alec's name, she caught his eye. He simply nodded once in acquiescence

Of course as the drawing went on, Alec's name is drawn two more times by two other females and Alec seemed to take some pleasure in pulling out a calendar that already had the times Max's heat cycle might appear and to mark the other two females in the calendar as well. Luckily, they were spaced out enough to where it was one female a month, and then a completely free month every four months.

Max just hoped it worked out close to the same way for the other males!

Max was heading to a room that was her converted office. Alec was her second in command anyway and had also used the office to finalize business matters

Alec and Max had a friendly relationship now, she didn't ride his ass like she used to and even took his suggestions into serious consideration now. They were as close as two friends could get and once in a while, Alec has lightly teased her regarding sex, even once going so far as to mimic her orgasm, rubbing in the fact that yes, he is a stud and knows her body as well as she does

There are still times she snipes at Alec, but he usually takes it in stride, knowing she's stressed. There is a look that passes from him to her when his head gets bit off by her, warning her that she'll pay for that. That he WILL undoubtedly get her back during her heat cycle and make her pay for talking to him in such a manner. He just lets everything build and build, tallying up every "wrong" she's done to him to "punish" her for during the heat cycle. Max can almost hear what he's thinking when he shoots her that heated look because it fairly screams, "You're gonna pay big for that, Maxie! I'm gonna make you beg for it. I'm gonna make you beg for it hard!"

And Alec knew full well that Max has made HIM beg too! It goes both ways!

It's all done in the most pleasurable way possible of course! He's helped her through two heat cycles since she had Zachary (and she'll soon hit a third) and he's left the invitation open for times in between, she just hasn't taken him up on it. Oh well! Alec thought with a shrug. Can't compete with the memory of good ol' Zack!

So he simply takes what's offered and doesn't ask for more

--------------------------------
"Adam", aka Zack, pulled the diesel truck into the farmer's co-op in Seattle, Buddy in the passenger seat, the truck bumping over gravel and dirt as they pull into a parking space

Adam has made a full recovery and was back at work as foreman of Buddy's farm. It was rough going for a while because he couldn't remember anybody's name at first, but he learned them quickly

The farm work just didn't seem like something he was used to doing, but he eventually enjoyed working by the sweat of his brow and taking care of cattle, running a dairy farm. In the 18 months since he's been working for Buddy and Mary again, he realized there was only one time that he felt a sense of deja-vu. There was a crow getting into the corn and Adam picked up a rifle from the back of the truck, loaded it, took careful aim and shot the crow dead on the first try

Buddy explained that Adam used to be in the Armed Forces and that explains how he's a crack shot. He served his four years and was honorably discharged before coming to work for them.... but he doesn't remember any of that. He just knows when he holds a weapon, knowing how to use it is as natural as breathing.

There is a big blank in his life that he doesn't remember, this huge black void. But he does remember one thing

The woman at the hospital..... he's certain that he knows her. The dreams he's had of her were of actual happenings, he's sure of it. It's little things he remembers. Whoever she is, he could bet his bottom dollar that she loves to take bubble baths, her favorite bubble bath scent is jasmine, when he has held her or made love to her (and he knows he has, he just can't understand why she denied knowing him), she smells of a combination of jasmine, leather and rain

He knows she has a favorite black leather jacket, he also knows she has a motorcycle. He could have sworn he saw her in the marketplace a couple of weeks ago. When he spotted her, he walked over to the booth he thought he saw her in and she disappeared

Buddy and Mary do not have a TV, instead relying on newspapers and the radio to get the information they need. They are too far away from the city to get much reception on a television. Therefore Adam never saw the hoverdrone footage, nor did he hear anything about transgenics. He's usually kept too busy working and he tends to listen to CDs anyway when he's back in his guest house on the ranch and reading detective novels. He can care less what's going on in the world. He has a roof over his head, a good job, a good employer, he's single with no cares and no responsibilities. What more could a guy ask for?

He swore to himself that one day he'll find that girl at the hospital and get some answers.

--------------------------------
TBC

[phoenixnz]

Whoa, Max had a baby? Didn't see that one coming.
It's good that Alec has stepped in to help during the heat cycles, but poor guy, having to service that many X5 females.
Zack/Adam getting his memory flashes could be a problem. It will be interesting to see how you deal with the reprogramming.

[Dana0715]

"Max, I know you don't want to hear this, but I'm not sure Alec's the way to go this time."

Max looked up from the clipboard she'd been reading. "Why not? He's certainly capable of pulling off a job like this. Jacking semis from grocery store loading bays is a lot easier than some of the cat burglar stuff he's done. And, more importantly, I trust him."

Logan pushed away from the computer monitor, pulling off his glasses and rubbing his eyes. "Trust has nothing to do with it Max. I simply don't think he can keep the other X5's in line."

Max was frowning. She hated to admit it, but she kind of agreed with Logan, especially after Alec himself had expressed doubts regarding his relationship with his brethren after the failure of the Berrisford mission. She looked out over the main warehouse, noting the many mutants busily going about their business, maintaining equipment, setting up computer terminals, distributing what little supplies they had to hungry people standing in line ...

"Logan, I've already asked him. I can't just go tell him I've changed my mind, that I don't want his help after all. Talk about a blow to his ego."

"We still need his help, Max. Like you said, he's a pro cat burglar and good at what he does. Once we get that forgotten tunnel to the ocean shored up he can come and go as he pleases, help us as he wants. I just have my doubts about him leading this mission."

Logan was watching her closely, obviously gauging her reaction to his words. "There's another X5 I've been hearing about," he said. "501. Calls himself Bruiser. They say he's the one really in charge down on Oak Street. He'd probably be the better choice to lead the X's. He's already got their respect. I say we bring him up here and at least talk to him."

Max didn't like what she was hearing, but she gave serious consideration to Logan's words. She and Alec were friends and she didn't want to do anything to jeopardize that, "Alec's not stupid, Logan," she said quietly. "He'll be hurt, really hurt, if I take the mission away from him." She stared out across the cavernous room, watching the speedy yet controlled activity.

"So put Bruiser as the leader of this mission to keep Alec safe. We can't lose any more X5 males than we have. Bruiser is freelance, and expendable.... at least compared to Alec."

Max decided to at least talk to X5-501, "Bruiser", and see what they can work out. It might be helpful to have more X series that can gather intelligence from the outside and assist when needed

With a resigned sigh, Max acquiesced and told Logan, "Set up a meeting, the sooner the better."

----------------------------
"Bruiser!!" Alec said to Joshua, flabbergasted. "What the hell does she want to talk to that pig for?"

"Don't know," Joshua shrugged. "Mole just says Max sent word for him to come to the command center."

"Yeah, well Max had better be careful. She was gone from Manticore long before the big boys like him came out to play. She doesn't know his kind. He doesn't just like to fight, he likes to kill. And I hear he's gone a little nuts out here in the free world, taking what and who he wants, giving all the X's a pretty bad reputation." He looked at Joshua. "She'd call me an angel compared to that jackass, and you know what an amoral jerk Max thinks I am sometimes."

"Max doesn't think you're a jerk, Alec," Joshua said. "Max trusts you, likes you. You're her friend."

"Maybe so. But Bruiser's no one's friend. My squad went on a mission with his a few years ago. We were supposed to take out a stockpile of biological weapons in Iraq. They were being kept in the middle of this village." Alec looked off into the distance, forcing himself to remember things he'd tried so hard to forget. His voice dropped lower. "My team blew up the caverns where the weapons were. 501's squad was in charge of keeping the Iraqi troops off our backs. They went through that village like a pack of wolves. I never saw so many bodies in my life. Women, children, old people ... a few soldiers." he looked up at Joshua. "Manticore called it 'collateral damage'. 501 wasn't even reprimanded. Hell, I think that's why they promoted him to team leader. Everyone was so friggin' scared of him ... Manticore saw that as an asset."

Joshua was nodding in sympathy. "I hear things about him too," he said slowly. "They say he hurts women."

"Women?" Alec said. "What women? The only women down on Oak Street are X5's. Even that sh!thead couldn't rape one of them. They'd kill him first."

"Don't know," Joshua said. "Just hear things. They say he's hurt one female really bad. Since then the others do what he says."

Alec had at first been miffed that Max was going to talk to Bruiser in the first place. Now, he was getting scared for her safety. "I'd go down there myself and take this f*cker out except--"

"Except what?"

"Except short of shooting him in the head there's probably no way I can. He's got six inches and a hundred pounds on me, built like a pro wrestler -- one of Manticore's bigger series. My body was designed more for stealth, speed, and beauty. 501's pure power."

"Alec is a good fighter. Strong. Alec could beat Bruiser."

Alec laughed and flung an arm around Joshua's shoulders. "You know what Big Fella, you have no idea how great it makes me feel, you havin' faith in me like that. I wish Max could see what you see. Maybe I could beat Bruiser in a fight if I had to. But the fact is, I really don't wanna hafta try if I can help it. But if tries to hurt Max ..... I guess I'll have to fight him."

Alec now looked up at the command center. Something was going on up there. A group of X5's were ascending the stairs and it looked like Logan and Max were waiting to greet them.

"That Bruiser?" Joshua asked, pointing to a large, dark haired X5 male surrounded by five other X's -- three male, two female.

"Man! Everyone hated him," Alec said quietly. "Said he was really bad news, a loose cannon. Max shouldn't even be talking to him. She should have left this to me."

"Logan probably advised her to."

Alec watched from his vantage point next to Joshua for now, keeping a close eye on the proceedings and letting Max handle this how she sees fit......... but he'll step in at the first sign of trouble

-------------------------------
"We asked you here so we could clue you in on what's been happening," Max said to the group of X5's who'd just arrived. She nodded at the activity below, gesturing to the busy mutants. "We've got a lot of things going for us. Power, water, plenty of ammo. The news on television says the government doesn't know what to do with us for now so they're just going to wait. That buys us some time. However, we're still short of food."

"That's where we come in, right?" a big X5 male asked. Max couldn't help but be impressed by his size. She had to literally crane her neck to look into his eyes. But when she did, she wished she hadn't because it made her shudder. They were the kind of eyes she remembered from Manticore. Emotionless. Dead.

Zack's eyes became like that once his brain implant took full effect.

"What are you staring at?" Bruiser challenged threateningly

"Nothing," Max said, caught off guard in the moment of awkward thought.

"Max?" Logan asked, concerned. It wasn't until the whole Zack fiasco that she began losing her train of thought while talking, just like she's doing now

Max shook it off and got right down to business, "We need your help," she continued. "I've heard you're the leader of the X's on Oak Street. We're going to soon be sending foraging missions through a tunnel we're opening up. The mutants can't venture out for obvious reasons, so that leaves it up to our kind."

"My squad's getting hungry," Bruiser said. "But what we find we keep for ourselves. That's how it's always been."

"Well, things are different now," Logan said, interjecting some reason. "We've all got to stick together if we're going to survive."

Bruiser stared at him. "And what's an ordinary got to say about anything?" he said, his lips pulling back in a mirthless grin. He looked Max up and down, causing warning bells to go off in Max's head at the lustful stare of the large X series male. "I figured you were a stupid little b!tch when I heard you'd shacked up first with 599, now with 494, two of Manticore's most glaring failures. But now here you sit takin' advice from ... this." He pointed at Logan, then glanced around. "Where is 494 anyway? Heard he was the one you put in charge, which makes me wonder what you want with me."

"He's right here," Alec's deep voice said from the top of the steps, now approaching to stand next to Max. He whispered urgently to her in warning, "Max, what are you doing?"

"My job," Max said sharply. "I didn't send for you. Go away."

"No," Alec said. "You're about to make a big mistake and I'm not gonna let you."

"Alec, go away. That's an order."

"Yeah, go away traitor," Bruiser snarled. "We don't need defective soldiers here."

Max immediately defended her friend, "Alec's not--"

"Max, leave it," Alec said as his lips quirked up in a smile. "I can handle this just fine."

"There's nothing to handle," Max said tensely, not liking the look in Alec's eyes. He was about to do something stupid. The last thing they needed was a fight amongst their own

"The b!tch said for you to get lost," Bruiser said. "But if you wanna stay, that's fine. It's the excuse I've been waitin' for." And then with the speed of a striking snake, he lunged across toward Alec, knife in hand.

Bruiser was quick, but Alec was quicker. The swipe of the blade barely touched him as Alec spun backwards, keeping Max behind him protectively and nimbly avoiding all but the very tip of the blade that grazed across his belly. A streak of blood appeared on his belly, staining his grey t-shirt crimson, the wound superficial and leaving a hole in his t-shirt.

Max yelled, "Hey!" and started forward, but found one of the other X's between her and the two fighting males, holding her back. Logan got out of the way quickly, knowing he wasn't a match for the X's

Alec danced aside, feinting first right, then left before whirling and knocking the knife from 'Bruiser's hand with a crescent kick.

"What's wrong 501," Alec taunted, his green eyes on fire and fists up, ready for battle. "Can't beat a defective soldier?" he taunted

"Alec, stop!" Max shouted, still trying to get around Bruiser's man without causing the fight to escalate. The last thing they needed was fatalities.

501 roared and charged Alec, arms wide, trying to grab the slimmer man, intent on defeating him by sheer force. Max didn't doubt that he could snap Alec's spine, but catching hold of 494 was another matter. Alec blurred, getting behind his enemy, grabbing hold of the bigger man's arm and bringing it back and up, breaking his arm quickly at the elbow. There was loud crack of bone splintering and Bruiser's scream of agony reverberated through the warehouse.

Everyone down below stopped what they were doing and stared up at them, watching the fight with interest

Max couldn't help but be impressed. When had Alec gotten so good at hand-to-hand? He was fighting like he really knew what he was doing.

And then Bruiser's men were moving in, attacking Alec from behind. One of them viciously clawed his wounded side, making the gash much worse and Max heard Alec cry out, fighting pain. Enough was enough!

Punching the X5 holding her in the nose, she waded into the fray, landing blows with hands and feet. Alec spun free and they were standing back to back, fists raised, watching each other's back. Even with his wounded side, he was good, just breathing heavily. Within 30 seconds everything was over. Bruiser was leaning heavily against the balcony railing, eyes glazed over, holding his broken elbow. His three men lay groaning on the metal landing floor. The female X5's, however, had never joined the fight. Instead they were standing to one side, smiling.

"Ladies," Alec acknowledged them with a smile and nod of the head, breathing hard but still taking note of their admiring glances in his direction.

"Don't you ever stop?" Max rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath.

"Never," Alec replied with a cocky grin. He looked back over his shoulder at her. "Oh, thanks for helpin' me out there. Four on one are a bit much even for me. Not that I couldn't have taken 'em, of course."

"They were going to kill you," Max snapped at him. She peered back at Alec and suddenly found herself uncomfortable.... she almost lost her right hand man!. "And that's the only reason I didn't let them beat your ass into the ground. I need you intact."

Alec was still a little cocky over his victory, "Yeah.... heat cycle coming up in about a week right? I'll be right as rain then!"

Logan, who'd watched the whole thing from his seat by the computer terminal, was shaking his head amusingly. "Well, that went well," he remarked dryly.

The X5's were leaving, headed down the stairs supporting their leader between them. One of the females paused on the landing to blow Alec a kiss, the look in her eyes promising more if he wanted to come and get it.

Max rolled her eyes again. Alec. Always Alec. Why did he have to complicate her life so much? "Guess we won't be getting any help from them after all," she said, bitterly. "Thanks to you."

Alec let that remark roll off him like water off a duck's back. He shrugged, now waving them off, "Ah, let 'em go," He waved to the female as she reached the bottom of the steps, giving her a flirtatious smile and wink, trying to stay upright with the loss of blood, still trying to play off his wound, not wanting anyone to know how serious it is now.. "I can round up enough X6's and 7's to get the job done, plus a few independent X5's. We'll manage." He was holding tightly to the balcony railing, supporting himself but he was beginning to sway

Joshua had come up the other set of steps and now stood behind them. "You're hurt Alec," he said to his friend.

"What?" Max said, for the first time taking a really good look at Alec's side where blood has stained his shirt and dripping on the landing. "You're bleeding." She reached out and lifted his t-shirt, kneeling and checking the damage

"Wanting me out of my clothes already Maxie? Even with an injured side, I could still perform." he joked

"Shut up!" she snapped, noticing he lost a lot of blood. She started shouting orders, "Get him a medic ..... and Joshua.... take him to the infirmary." She calls out, "I need any available X5 to volunteer for a blood transfusion. Who will do it?" She knew she couldn't give it to him because that would just infect him with the virus targeted for Logan, which would mean two people Logan would have to avoid any contact in any way

A couple of X5 males volunteered and Joshua picked Alec up just as he passed out and carried him to the infirmary, followed by the two males that will donate blood

She turned to Logan, sighing, "Well, Bruiser's out and so is Alec. Now it looks like I'm going to have to lead this mission."

Logan shook his head, "Max, you're the leader HERE. What would they do without you if something were to happen? You're irreplaceable to these people."

"You and Alec could take over.", Max stated with a shrug

"Riight! Like they'll listen to me, an 'ordinary'." Logan remarked with some humor

"They'll get by Logan, with or without me. We need food to survive and there's not many X5's I trust. I can trust myself. I can do this."

"What about Zachary?" Logan asked quietly, hoping maybe the mention of her baby would hold her back, "What would HE do without his mother?"

"Original Cindy would raise him, we already discussed that. Bottom line Logan, I have no intention of anything happening to me. Remembering my baby will keep me grounded and should get me back here safely. Stop worrying!"

Logan knew there was no way to talk her out of it. She was perfectly capable of following through on missions. That didn't stop him from being concerned for her though

"I'll be your eyes and ears here then." Logan told her, gesturing to the monitoring equipment

"Thanks Logan." she smiled at him then remarked, "I guess I better go choose my group and formulate a plan."

------------------------------
The heist, luckily, went off without a hitch and now the transgenics have food for the next two weeks if rationed well

That night, Max went to OC's to check on Zachary. Since her heat cycle is coming up soon, she made arrangements with OC to take care of Zachary in the interim

But she couldn't go without her baby for long so being careful to not wake OC, she snuck into OC's apartment using her spare key and tiptoed to Zachary's crib

He was sound asleep, causing Max to smile. She picked him up to hold him for a little while, and cuddle with him. She'll be without him for the next few days and she wanted a little quality time of bonding, even if he is asleep

She sat in a rocker and rocked back and forth holding her precious baby boy. She reveled in this close feeling she had with Zachary, this unbreakable bond between them. She'd literally lay down her own life for this little one. And again she thought of Zachary's father, what he was doing now and how she wished Zachary had the chance to meet the man she remembered instead of the one that Manticore turned him into.

Stroking the baby's soft cheek, she hummed to him quietly a little lullaby

She had every intention of following up on some leads regarding a way to deprogram Zack and bring him back to her and Zachary...... if he still wants her when it's all over

She sat like that for an hour, completely content in holding her baby. The love she had for him knew no bounds. She knew she still loved his father, but the love a mother has for her child, it can just never be expressed sufficiently

Finally, giving him one last kiss on the cheek, she laid him back in his crib and regretfully left.

--------------------------------
Two days later Alec was completely healed of the gash he received and it was just in time for the beginning of Max's heat cycle, which was five days earlier than expected

Max put herself in lockdown when she realized it was starting. If the X5 males get a whiff of her pheromones, Alec would be forced to fight and she didn't want that, especially so soon after his recovery

She called Alec on her cell phone and he was in the middle of planning a raid on Harbor Lights Hospital. The tryptophan the X5's need to keep around in case of seizures was hitting a dangerous low and they needed to add more to their storage

Alec was bent over a blueprint of the hospital, talking to the X6's that were going to help him with the mission when his cell phone rang. He answered it with a "Talk to me!"

He heard heavy breathing first and he checked the caller id. It was Max

"Max?" Alec asked, concerned, "What's the matter?"

"What do you think is the matter Dumbass! I'm in heat!"

"Already??" Alec walked around the desk and pulled out his desk calendar, "You're early!"

"Get your fine ass over here NOW dammit!" Max ordered

"Be right there. Don't start without me!" Alec said cheekily, and chuckled when she groaned. He hung up his phone and pointed at Dalton, "You know the plan, relay it to the others. I have something to take care of and will be back in a couple of hours."

The X6's looked at each other mischeviously, knowing what it was about. Alec raised a finger, "And no little comments out of ya! A guy's gotta do what he's gotta do to keep order around here, right?"

Alec headed out of the office and was walking straight to Max's apartment within TC. When he arrived, he knocked on the door. Max opened it, pulled him in by grasping the collar of his jacket and slammed the door behind him

True to his word, Alec left her apartment two hours later, thinking how f*cking her to five orgasms should tie her over long enough to finish tonight's mission

coming back here afterward was something he could really look forward to.

--------------------------------
After Alec left, she received a phone call from Original Cindy and could hear her baby crying in the background

"I don't know Boo. Original Cindy is at a total loss here! He's not hungry, his diaper is clean, he's been burped, there's no fever..... something is wrong!"

Max knew the dangers Alec had warned her about regarding going out while in heat. If there are other X5 males lurking out there, they'll smell her pheromones if she's within a few yards of them. But her baby was sick and OC was at her wit's end

"OK, I'm heading out, I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

Original Cindy's apartment wasn't that far from Terminal City, and Max didn't want to draw attention to herself with her motorcycle. She took the sewer to Main Street, then got out to walk normally through the streets to get to OC's apartment

Suddenly, a man grabbed her from behind and Max began fighting him. With the help of two other men, they pinned Max against a brick wall in an alley between two storefronts

She looked up... and up and found it's Bruiser..

SH!T!!!!

"A b!tch in heat! You've come to the right place sweetheart! 494 wasn't quite good enough for you?"

Bruiser held her by the throat with his good arm while the other 2 X5 males were on each side of her, pinning her arms against the wall. She was effectively pinned while Bruiser took the liberty of squeezing her breasts. She would have kicked the sh!t out of him if she weren't in the middle of a heat cycle. She couldn't believe the combination of repulsion and desire she felt at that touch

"Believe me sweetie, I have a lot more meat than 494 does. Once I'm through with you, you won't be satisfied with any other d!ck."

"Let her go!" said an achingly familiar voice in the background that she hadn't heard in months. In shock, Max turned to the sound of the voice, confirming her suspicions

Zack!!

Zack, in his usual swagger that he never seemed to lose, approached the bunch with his hands in his jacket pockets, head up in defiance

"What did you say shorty?" Bruiser asked, still not letting go of Max's breast

Zack pulled out a handgun, reaching up and pushing it against Bruiser's temple, "You must be big and STUPID so I'll repeat it slower so you can understand. Let. Her. Go."

He didn't let go quick enough apparently for Zack's comfort, so just when he saw Bruiser about to grab him, Zack pulled the trigger and stepped aside. Bruiser fell to the ground at his feet

Without emotion, he cocked the gun again at the next X5, "Do I need to repeat it to you?"

They knew the reputation of X5-599 and both males let Max go and left, running back to Oak Street

Max grabbed Zack quickly and pulled him away from the dead body, "We gotta get outta here before someone fingers you as the killer. Let's go!"

------------------------------------
TBC

[phoenixnz]

Yay Zack. I did not like Bruiser, shudder shudder. Glad Zack was able to come to the rescue.
PPMS

[Dana0715]

They ran through the streets quickly, Max leading Zack to Original Cindy's apartment

As they turned the corner to the street leading to Original Cindy's apartment, Zack stopped, spun Max into his arms and kissed her

Being with Alec so recently helped curb her impulses for now, but Max knew if he kept this up, she'll have trouble getting them to safety. Zack always had a way of addling her brain without the heat cycle

Zack was experiencing the deja vu feeling again. He'd swear he's done this before with her. And this uncontrollable urge to have her here and now wasn't like his usual behavior in the last year and a half

For some reason, she's special apparently

"Zack.... we have to stop." Max groaned and closed her eyes and his lips trailed down her neck

He did stop, but just raised his head. He couldn't let go of Max's body as he asked, "What did you just call me?"

Oh F*CK! Max cursed to herself mentally at her slip.

"That's my real name isn't it? Zack." he clarified, "We have some talking to do!"

And he dragged her into a nearby alley trapping her against the wall with his body in front of her, his arms blocking her on either side of her head

His eyes were predatory.... possessive. It made Max gulp

"Who am I? Why did you lie to me at the hospital, telling me you didn't know me when we obviously DO know each other? What's your name? How do we know each other?"

Trying to speak calmly, she told him, "Zack.... I will try to explain everything really soon, but right now, I have a sick baby that I'm trying to get to, he's just down the street."

"You have a baby?" Zack asked

She almost wanted to correct him and tell him they both had a baby, but she knew better and kept her mouth shut about Zachary's parentage

"Yeah, he's nine months old, and he's sick. But after I get him taken care of, I swear we'll talk."

God! He wanted her so bad, he had to fight hard to keep his sanity. He knew doing her right here in an alley could get them in trouble with the law, get them arrested for indecent exposure and anything else they can come up with

Max had debated on bringing Zack with her to OC's apartment, but she knew Zack would not take the chance that she won't come back and he would stick to her like glue

Maybe that would be best. Based on their experience a moment ago, maybe letting other X5 males know she has a chosen mate would keep them at bay

She didn't have to tell Zack the name of the baby.... and he can believe that the baby was fathered by someone else. She knew OC would go along with the charade

Finally making her decision, she took Zack's hand and led him back to the street, "C'mon! Let me check on my baby and then we'll have quality alone time, OK?"

-----------------------------------
Zachary was very fussy and now running a fever when Max made it to Original Cindy's apartment. It took Max a few minutes, but she figured out the problem when she checked his mouth

Sighing in relief, she said, "He's teething. Get me a cold washcloth for him to chew on."

Zack was standing aside watching while OC did as Max told her. He watched mother and child closely as Max put a corner of the wet washcloth to his mouth and the baby began chewing on it and it settled him a bit

"What I wouldn't GIVE for some baby tylenol and numbing gel for his gums." Max muttered as she walked and jiggled the baby

Zack was feeling helpless a moment ago and now saw an opportunity to help, "I'll go get some for you. I have a friend that works at Kilgore drugs down the street."

Max looked up, "You would really do that for me?", knowing how hard it is to find both medications that at one time was a simple matter of buying at any store over the counter

"Yeah, Bob knows exactly who to talk to and where I can get the stuff. Baby Tylenol and gel to numb the gums, right?"

Zack had a mission! This also felt normal to him, but he still wasn't connecting WHY it felt so normal

"I'll be back soon." he stated as he turned to the door. He stopped and looked back at Max, "I won't return to find you gone, right? I have spent months trying to track you down, and not knowing a name makes it hard."

Max and OC exchange a look, then she told Zack, "My name's Jessica.... and with my baby this fussy, I'm not going anywhere."

Zack nodded, then satisfied with that, he left

"Jessica?", OC asked her, "Where did that name come from?"

"It's the first one I thought of on the spur of the moment.", Max told OC. She caught OC up on the events that happened from the time she left TC until she got to Original Cindy's apartment. OC was shaking her head

"This is bad Boo! Really bad, with a capital REALLY. Now he knows of the baby."

"Well what choice did I have OC?? I'm in heat now, he'd find me no matter where I went for the next few days. I think it's my heat pheromones that caused him to find me in the first place and save me from a gang bang. After we get Zachary settled and asleep, Zack and I will lay low in some hideaway until the heat cycle is over.... and then I have to figure out what to do afterward."

Max now sat in the rocking chair again, holding Zachary and keeping him settled as much as possible until Zack brings back the needed medications

----------------------------
At the same time, White and Otto were meeting with a young scientist, the same one they dealt with two years ago that sent a virus into the air to kill transgenics. It only failed because their test subject, a young X5 male, had been saved by 452. She had them jump into a tank of water after the virus was released into the air and they stayed underwater for the five minutes needed to allow the virus to dissipate

So since this young fool had the technology and was looking for more money, White was giving him a second chance

"OK, there will be three steps in this process." the young scientist said and White rolled his eyes

"Always the three step rule! OK, whatever! What are these three steps?" White asked with a condescending sneer

"Step one, release the viral agent over Terminal City, which I did one hour ago. This is not to kill them. Gotta protect myself you know. Cops would come looking for me if transgenics start dying like that, especially Detective Sung!. He's still sore over the test virus I created for you that killed the Chinese!"

White pointed a finger under the kid's nose, "That had to be done and I've cleared your record with the government. Stop wasting my time. What's step two?"

"Step 2 - There will be utter chaos in Terminal City and any X5 females in a five mile radius. This agent triggers the heat cycles of all X5 females. It's gonna be wild kingdom in there, man!"

"And that puts all X5's out of commission because the males will be busy trying to settle the females however they can. And since my intelligence tells me the females outnumber the males, the females would take care of killing the males for us. Then during this distraction...."

"Step 3 - your guys go in and take the rest out."

White smiled, then clapped the kid on the shoulder, "If this works out, you will be a rich man!" White turned to Otto and gestured toward the door, "Let's move out!"

-------------------------------
When Alec got back from Harbor Lights Hospital with the tryptophan, he was surprised when he walked through the entrance of the control center and was attacked by three X5 females simultaneously... trying to tear his clothes off

"Whoa! Ladies!! What the...." he turns to the X6's, three males and a female and orders, "Help me out here! Can't you see something is seriously wrong??"

But the X6's were no match for the X5 females during a heat cycle. The females would kill if they don't get their male and the X6's were trying to keep from having to kill the X5's ..... they needed everyone that they could keep in Terminal City

With next to no fanfare, the X6's were knocked out by the X5 females and they surrounded Alec, looking like all three wanted to devour him whole

Alec's hands were up in a supplicating gesture. He smiled charmingly at them, trying to ignore the pheromones that were circling around him. His cock was screaming to f*ck, but common sense told him something was VERY wrong

"Ladies... can't we talk about this? I admit, I'm good, but even I don't think I can take on three at once."

"I want him first! He's mine!" one of the females demanded. Her name is Veronica and she was designated to be with Alec.

So was the second one, a blond by the name of Cheyenne, but the third, Alec quirked an eyebrow in question at the red head

"My heat partner is gone on a mission and won't be back for a couple of hours. So I choose you."

OH great!!, Alec thought to himself. Death by f*cking. If Alec would have guessed what his death would be, at one time he might have said this was the way he'd want to go.... in the arms and between the legs of a beautiful woman. But this was carrying it too far!

Looking around quickly, he saw the same thing going on with other X5's, females grabbing at males, some already started screwing each other on the concrete floor. Even Logan had a female in his lap, the female pratically raping him since his strength was no match for the female in heat

Alec found a plank of wood next to him and picked it up, holding it like a baseball bat, "OK ladies, I don't want to hurt any of you, but you take one step closer and I'll bean you with this!"

He backed up, holding the two by four aloft, watching carefully, swiping it periodically to keep the women back. He called out loudly, "Where's Joshua and Mole? I need the strongest transhumans to fall in, NOW! And bring out the X6s too! I need 'em all!" Alec yelled out

Joshua, Mole, all DACs like Mole and the X6s began doing what they could in the chaos. Alec knocked out one of the women after him, but the other two worked together to disarm him of the plank, tossing it aside. Coming up with another idea, he grinned at them

"OK, let's play a game. First one that gets me gets first dibs." and he took off running, the girls running after him in pursuit, screaming like he was some kind of rock star and they were the crazed fans

Alec ran hard toward the gym. There are two doors, and there's a deadbolt on the outside of each door. If he works quickly, he might can trap them inside

He yelled over his shoulder playfully, "Catch me if you can girls!"

He ran into the gym, straight through it, dodging punching bags and scattered weights that somebody didn't put up. Once he ran through the second door, he slammed it shut and locked it. Then ran back around to the front door and closed it, locking it. He looked through the little window in the door at the girls inside

"Sorry ladies, but this is for your own good!" he tells them

Then he jogs back into the command center to try and restore order

What the HELL is going on with the females here?? And it seems to only effect the X5's. Thank God for that! Because if it was X6's too, they'd really be screwed! Figuratively and literally!

More girls ran toward Alec as soon as he walked into the command center. Trying to dodge them, he yelled out to anyone that would listen

"I need every available freak or X6 out here to gather the females and throw them into the gym together, put them in lockdown! NOW!!"

It took an hour for everyone to work together and gather the females, restrain them and toss them into the gym, where they were going nuts, practically climbing the walls

Finally after all of them were locked inside, Alec remembered one other female

"Where's Max?" he asked Joshua. Alec noticed he hadn't seen her at all since he got back to Terminal City, but that didn't mean she wasn't there

"Baby sick. She's at Original Cindy's."

"WHAT???" Alec cursed a blue streak, then stated, "She's traipsin' out there in heat, and with Bruiser out there somewhere too?? What the HELL was she thinking??"

"Baby sick Alec!" Joshua told him, "Original Cindy upset and Max had to leave to take care of little one."

Alec pulls out his cell phone, calling Max, 'Damn woman is gonna get herself killed! And her baby, at this rate! What was she thinking when she......" He trailed off on his tirade when Max answered the phone, "Max! Hey! Please tell me you're OK."

"Of course I am Alec. Zachary was teething, that's all it was. I have Za.... I mean a friend going out to get medication."

"You almost said Zack didn't you? Zack is THERE?? Zack, the psycho, tried-to-kill-Logan maniac??"

"He saved my life Alec! I ran into Bruiser and his gang..... "

"After I specifically told you not to be out and about with those heat pheromones of yours Max!"

"And since when have I taken orders from YOU Alec? My baby was sick. You're not a mother so you don't understand. My only thought was getting to my child, so get off my back, OK?"

"Max.... listen, it's not safe for Zack to be around you, or the baby, or Original Cindy for that matter. Let me come out there, we'll make Zack think the baby's ours and that we're together, send him on his way. Because once he starts connecting the dots Maxie, Logan will be on his sh!tlist again as well as you for lying to him AND not tellin' him about Zachary."

Max was quiet and Alec could hear the baby whimpering in the background, so he wheedled a little more, "Maxie..." his voice had dropped low in urgency, "Think of the safety of your child and your friends. I'm heading to OC's now and getting you and Zachary out of there. You know I can score any meds you need. And tell OC to run to a friend's house for a few days, because we don't need Zack using OC as bait for you."

"Alec, I promised him that we'd talk..... what is it going to look like if I skip town on him?"

"Max! He will go psycho on you and your own! Think about Zachary! Think about Logan and Original Cindy...... you have to protect them. I'll talk to Logan, he's still around here..... recuperating." Alec smirked at the thought. Poor Logan didn't know what hit him when an X5 female in heat attacked him, "He can stay here, send OC here too if you want. Maybe she can help with the chaos I walked into a little bit ago."

"What chaos? What's going on Alec?"

"All X5 females are in heat at the same f*cking time! We have them all in lockdown. We have nothing to knock them out, so I'm calling some male friends to get out here and help. They're ordinaries, but they'll do." Max could hear the smile in his voice as he sighed, "Since you're in danger from Zack, I won't be able to help around here.... darn it!" Alec quipped, "But hey, the X6 guys are gonna love it! At least those over 16 years old! Sixteen IS the legal age limit in Seattle, right?"

Alec finally got off the phone with Max and he had to hurry, "I need all available X5 males front and center. And I need the X6 males OVER 16 to fall in! Hut, hut, hut! Let's go people!! We have to do this quickly!!"

He coordinated it to where each male had two females. He snickered at the thought of the X6 males with X5 females..... they'll be in heaven with their teenaged hormones going awry without heat cycles!

He put Mole in charge of Terminal City while he and Max are busy, advising him that Sketchy and Normal will be coming there soon, along with some of the bike messengers he and Max used to work with. They're young, in their late teens and early twenties and Alec instructed Mole to put them right to work. After making sure there were guards at every entrance and exit of Terminal City, Alec left, getting on his own motorcycle to speed off to Original Cindy's apartment

--------------------------------------
Once Alec arrived at the apartment building OC lived in, he was walking up the steps to the third floor and he heard voices...... one he hadn't heard in months confirming that Zack is indeed in the vicinity

He stood outside in the hall, listening to the conversation, trying to ignore Max's pheromones. They'll have plenty of time for the heat cycle later. Right now, he really needs to get rid of Zack...... which may mean an all out war between the two alpha males. Alec sincerely hoped he wouldn't have to do that, to fight Zack. Regardless of his own feelings for Zack, Max cared deeply about him and she'd give him hell for hurting Zack.... and for fighting in front of her baby

"Jessica, what do you mean you're leaving?" Zack asked angrily, "You can't leave now that I've found you again."

Jessica? Alec thought to himself quizzically, she must have made up a name for herself instead of telling Zack her real name

Smart move girlie, Alec mentally congratulated Max for that idea

"Zack.... I have someone else now. I lost my head for a moment when I saw you again, but I can't cheat on my man like that." It hurt Max so much to have to say that to Zack. But she swore to herself that she will find out how to deprogram Zack of his violent tendencies and bring back the man she first fell in love with

"Jessica.... You kissed me earlier and now you're saying you're with someone else??"

"For the record, YOU kissed ME Zack, and I said I lost my head and I missed you. But I'm sorry.... I'm with someone else now. You and I can't be together."

"So is he the baby's father?"

Alec waited outside in the hallway, waiting to hear what Max would say, holding his breath

He barely heard her, because her answer was said in a tortured whisper, "Yes Zack.... he's the father."

Alec now took this opportunity to walk in unannounced, like he lives here

"Sorry I'm late baby, but traffic was killer! Oh hey!" Alec pretends to just notice Zack and holds out his hand for a handshake, "My name's Monty. You?"

Alec decided to use his stage name, he didn't know if Zack would have memories of Alec, or even Ben like he did before. And he certainly didn't want to trigger any

"Zack." Zack answered, shaking Alec's hand reluctantly, looking Alec up and down.

Apparently sizing him up, Alec thought. Alec walked over to Max and purposely kissed her in front of Zack, staking his claim

Then he bent down to the baby in Max's arms, "Hey little guy! Teeth givin' you problems buddy? Daddy has something to make it feel ALL better!" he said as he brought out a white paper bag and passed Max the medication

Alec felt strange in calling himself "Daddy", when the real "Daddy" was standing a few feet away watching everything in growing anger and resentment, practically shooting daggers at him with his eyes

Oh boy! This is NOT going to be easy! Zack looks like he's ready to kill

Easily explained. One female in heat, two alpha males. The math means one of the males is going down

And Alec had no intention of letting it be him!

---------------------------------
TBC

[phoenixnz]

Oh crap!
Stupid scientist, evil White - playing bio-warfare - hate that guy.
Max coming up with another name was a good idea but having two alpha males with Max in heat, yikes!
Trina, you are weaving such a great plot, it's keeping me on the edge of my seat waiting for an update.

[There Is No Spoon]

Wow Trina, this story is just awesome.

Definitely cannot wait to read more.

Post soon.