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 Chapter 2:  Why?

Timeline: Post "Kids are aiight" but before "Female Trouble"

It was a full two days since Logan had Max transferred to the hospital in Vancouver that Max finally awoke from her injuries. She recognised the hospital as not being Logan's, and as she looked out the window, she saw the Canadian flag being flown, she was in Canada, but why? She remembered what had transpired the night she had been shot. I saw the guards, problem was they saw me, I started running at Manticore speed, which is why I didn't die on the spot. Even running at top speed, bullets were flying everywhere, as I jumped over the fence, I knew I had been shot several times, but the adrenaline pumping through my system kept me going. Logan had been waiting for me, I jumped into his car, and he drove off, driving like a madman, trying to get me to his hospital. He arrived there, they rushed me in, and the last thing I saw was a look of guilt on Logan's face before they put me under. So why am I here? Maybe Logan brought me here so my recovery would be easier, but where is he? Max thought as she looked around, she felt along her chest, and felt two sets of dressings covering wounds, another was on her right arm, another on the right leg. She didn't feel too bad, despite the injuries.

"Oh good, you're up." Said a doctor as he walked in, he was in his forties, with steel-grey hair, and a solid build.

"Where am I?" Max said, wondering how she had gotten there.

"You were transferred here from a hospital in Seattle two days ago, a Mr. Cale arranged for it, and is paying for your stay and recovery." The doctor said as he got out her patient chart.

"Is Mr. Cale here? Can I speak to him?" Max said, wondering where Logan was.

"I'm not sure where he is, your stay is being funded through an account he gave us to draw from. We tried to contact him to announce you had arrived safely, but his contact number was out, and he seems to be no longer be in Seattle, as far as we can tell." The doctor said, as he checked her IV line.

"I see, how bad are these wounds, is there any permanent damage?" Max said, hoping nothing vital had been injured.

"Not as far as we can tell, we put you through an MRI to make sure no nerves had been injured, but there were none. We're all quite surprised that you have recovered so quickly from your wounds, we weren't expecting you to be up for another three days." The doctor said as he checked the dressings on her wounds.

"It's a family trait, no injury keeps anyone in my family down for long." Max said, explaining away Manticore genetics.

"Well, your family is certainly unique, we've found some unusual traits in your blood work, we're not sure what to make of it." The doctor said.

"Ah yes, the Guevara family blood, apparently back before the pulse, my father took some experimental vaccine that warped his blood chemistry. It didn��t kill him, or affect him really, it did alter my blood, my brother's and sister's blood as well." Max said, hoping that the lie would take.

"I see, do you know anything about this vaccine?" The doctor said as he checked something off on her chart.

"Not really, he never talked about it." Max said.

"I see, well, it's not affecting you for the worse in any way, and Mr. Cale paid a great deal of money to guarantee that your medical file would remain closed after your stay." The doctor said as he shut the folder.

"When can I expect to be up and around again, I'd like to get back to Seattle as soon as possible." Max said and find where that son of a bitch is hiding from me.

"I see, thank you doctor��" Max said, never catching his name.

"Atkins" he said.

"Thank you doctor Atkins." Max said as he lied down, wondering what it all meant.

"Oh, one last thing, Mr. Cale arranged for calling account to allow you to call people if you wanted." He said as he walked out of her room.

Max decided to call Original Cindy, tell her what was going on.

"Hey Cindy, it's me, Max." Max said, as she picked up.

"Damn girl, where you been at? We all thought you'd died or gone on a vacation with your rich boyfriend." Original Cindy replied.

"I'm in Vancouver, I'm in a hospital, I was doing a favour for Logan, but some jerks shot me a few times, Logan sent me here to speed up my recovery." Max replied.
"I went looking for that boy's ass, I am going to lay the smackdown on him for leaving you there, I went looking for him, his apartment was cleared out. I checked around the building, said he left about a day ago." Original Cindy said.

"That's odd, did he leave a message for me or anything?" Max asked, hoping there was some explanation for what was going on.

"No, but I'm going to give him a message when I find him for leaving you all alone in Canada, you sure he's not there?" Original Cindy replied.

"No, the doctor said so, no one's been to see me, his contact number is out of service, and he set up some account to pay for my staying here." Max said.

"When you find that spoiled rich-boy, give him a smackdown for leaving you." Original Cindy said.

"I have to go, I'll call you later." Max said, she saw Zack outside, talking to Doctor Atkins.
"Take care of yourself boo." Original Cindy said as Max hung up.

"What the hell happened?" Zack said as he walked in to Max's room.

"I was doing a job for Logan, security was much tighter than he thought, I tried to escape, but they got me several times before I got out. Logan drove me to his hospital, they patched me up, next thing I knew, I was here." Max said as Zack sat down next to her bed.

"Your rich boyfriend obviously grew a brain, he's gotten you out of the country." Zack said.

"Reality check Rambo, I'm going back as soon as I get out of here, I'm not leaving my friends." Max said as she folded her arms.

"You're not going anywhere for a month, I talked to the doctor, even with revved-up Manticore genetics, you need to recover." Zack said.

"As soon as I get out, I'm going back to Seattle." Max said.

"No you're not, you're going to stay here in Canada, or do I have to make you stay?" Zack said.

"Try it, you know you can't stop me from going back." Max said, staring at him with an intense fury in her eyes.

"You're throwing your life away at every turn, your fucking miracle-boyfriend isn't even here for you, what's that say about him." Zack replied.

"I don��t really care, I'm going to get out of this bed, and go back, if only to see Original Cindy, Sketchy, Kendra, and Herbal, so fuck off." Max said.

"Just don't expect me to show up when Lydecker comes looking for you again." Zack said as he gets up and walks off.

"I wasn't expecting it." Max said.

Dammit Logan, where the hell are you? Why are you hiding? He's blaming himself that I'm here, that I could have died, so he decided to run away, I'll find him, if only to ask him why he thought he could just send me away, and run. Max thought, but then she realised why do I want to find out so badly? He's a man, he's a jerk, he used me, and when his leg-woman got hurt, he sent her away. If that's why, why do I even want to go looking for him? Because you feel something for him besides friendship, but what is it? They didn't exactly educate us on this stuff in Manticore, and during the pulse, education on feelings wasn't exactly plentiful. I'll find him, and ask, why, he'll tell me why, it'll be some stupid guy thing, and I can move on, but I have to know the exact reason, otherwise I'll never be able to let it go. Max thought as she lay there.

Her therapy only lasted 3 weeks in fact, and then she was back on her feet, Logan had apparently sent her a train ticket to get back to Seattle, but still no note explaining anything.

I'll see my friends, assure them that I'm fine, then mount up on my baby, and hunt that bastard down, and find out why he left me alone in Vancouver. Max said as she rode the train, he had also provided false papers to get her across the border, the regular Eyes Only grade, but Eyes Only was vanishing as far as she knew. she found out from Kendra that only one Eyes Only broadcasts was seen in the entire time she was in Vancouver, he can't find contacts wherever he is, or he can't dig up dirt on the government. Max thought as she got off the train when she arrived in Seattle, she would find answers to where Logan went.

*******

"Alright, thank you." Logan said as he got off the phone with the hospital, Max had been released that day, but he was far from Seattle, and he had left no traces. He had decided that Max should come looking for him, he had best change his appearance. He lost the ever-present fuzz on his cheeks, with a clean shave, he exchanged his glasses for contact lenses that gave him green eyes. His spiked hair was now flat, dyed red. Not myself anymore, but I can't let Max find me, she'll tell me it's not my fault, she'll do a job for me, and get killed. Logan thought as he walked back to his computer. He worked with no cane, after three weeks, he had managed to shed the cane, he had fired Bling, he had suggested one time to many after the therapy was over and it was just simple training to see Max. He had then moved from Boston to L.A., he didn't want Bling running into Max and giving his location away. He was having a hard time finding new contacts, and the government was keeping things wrapped up tight, no success in finding anything to crusade for. He would work his hardest, he reminded himself, to establish Eyes Only again, Max would give up searching for him after a week or two of cold leads. She would move on, find someone who wouldn't shove her into risky situations, and live, forgetting about that jerk Logan Cale, and how he nearly got her killed. So if it's over, why do you keep thinking about her? Logan thought as he tried to find any trace of injustice in America.

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Chapter 3