Party

	It felt good to be back on Zack’s back, riding behind him. Where I was supposed to be. No offense against Max, of course.
	We were trailing behind the others: Max on her Ninja, the others with Royce in the Aztec. We had decided to head back to the apartment to talk to Logan and our new “friend” Avery. I knew that little metal box thing made Zack nervous. He would want to make absolutely certain that none of the others would have to deal with it. No matter what it took. And that was Zack.
	For some reason, though, I kept thinking about Ty and Krit. Zack didn’t like it. He hadn’t liked it from the moment he knew about it. But I couldn’t help but be reminded of Zack and I when I saw the two of them. Ty, an SP like me, finding an X5, like Zack, who helped her to be a person in this screwed up world where we needed to forget everything we were taught. Well, not everything. Zack would never allow that.
	It didn’t take nearly as long as I remembered to drive all the way back to the apartment. Zack parked the bike and I slid off so he could get off, too. We climbed the stairs to the apartment, Krit dragging Royce, all of us quiet and not really sure why. Max opened the door.
	“Logan?” she called.
	There was no answer. Max glanced back at us apprehensively before hurrying inside the apartment. We all hurried after her.
	I nearly ran into Max as she skidded to a halt, hands on her hips. I looked around her to see Logan and Avery sitting on the couch, a bowl of popcorn between them and the TV in front of them playing a soap opera of some kind. There was even a box of tissues on the table in front of them.
	“Good to see you two are getting along.” Max said dryly.
	“Uh...yeah.” Logan said, quickly getting up from the couch and brushing off his clothes as if he could wipe his hands of the whole incident.
	“Brought your boss back.” Krit said, dumping Royce on the floor in front of Avery.
	Avery twitched, but didn’t move.
	“And a puzzle-box for Wonder Boy. Think you can figure it out?” Zack asked, tossing the box to Logan.
	Logan caught it, shooting Zack a glare for tossing around fragile equipment.
	“What is it?” he asked, turning it over in his hands.
	“Something your buddy whipped up that can knock a bunch of X5’s and SP’s out cold.” Syl said, “Something about a pulse targeted to our genetics.”
	“And according to Royce, Avery is the only one who can make one of those things.” I finished.
	“Well, looks like we have something to talk about.” Logan said, looking at Avery.
	“Get to it.” Max ordered, hauling Avery off the couch and shoving him in Logan’s direction.
	“I want to know how we can avoid a repeat of what happened today with that thing.” Zack said.
	“I’ll get back to you.” Logan said firmly.
	I caught him glance at Max, as if reminding himself that he was doing this for her. I smiled to myself. Poor Wonder Boy.
	“And where do you think you’re going?” Zack demanded, making me whirl around just in time to see Krit, Ty and Syl freeze before they snuck out the door.	
	Krit straightened and turned to Zack.
	“Well, you know, since everything turned out alright, mission complete and all, we figured that we should end this the traditional way.” Krit sort of explained.
	“What?” Zack asked flatly.
	“Well, how do we end every mission?” Syl asked innocently, “With a party.”
	“No.” Zack said immediately.	
	“Oh, come on.” Syl complained, “Nothing happened the last time. And we weren’t even dealing with Manticore this time around.”
	“Besides, you want us to just sit around here while we wait for Logan and Avery to figure out some magic cure for that stupid box?” Krit added.
	“Please, Zack.” Ty threw in.
	“I could really use a drink.” Max added, “Today sucked.”
	Zack, like last time, would never agree to this. Unless, I happened to work on him a little. And I wouldn’t mind a nice night on the town. Those were always few and far between with Zack around.
	I turned to Zack and leaned against him a little.
	“Come on, Zack.” I echoed Syl, but in a much more persuasive tone, “You owe it to me.”
	“How do you figure that?” Zack demanded.
	“Well, I did get poisoned.” I reminded him, “And besides, it would be really, really nice of you.”
	“Since when is Zack nice.” Krit scoffed.
	“Shut it.” Syl snapped.
	Zack stared at me calculatingly. Finally, he sighed and rolled his eyes.
	“Alright.” he said, “But we leave when I say.”
	“Whatever you say, honey.” I humored him, “Meet you outside?”
	Zack nodded and exited.
	“Thanks, Cade!” Krit and Syl said together.
	“You’re the best mommy ever!” Krit joked.
	“Don’t ever call me that again.” I said seriously.
	“You sure you don’t want to come, Logan?” Max asked.
	“No. I’ll work on this. No fun for Logan Cale, remember?” Logan said, his eyes teasing.
	“Blah blah woof woof.” Max agreed with a smile.
	“See you later, Wonder Boy.” I waved, following the others outside.
					***

	You had to hand it to Cade. She was the only one I know who could control Zack like that.
	“Where are we going?” I asked, seeing that Krit had bypassed all our normal stops.
	“Someplace new.” Krit said evasively.
	“Well, while we’re going there, you want to slow down just a bit?” I asked, glancing at the speedometer, “This is Logan’s car, after all.”
	“Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing.” Krit assured me.
	“Well, that’s a kiss of death.” Syl commented from the backseat.
	“Oh, you shut up. You’re a much worse driver than me.” Krit said.
	“Whatever. I never ran a car into a lake.” Syl said, glancing casually out the window.
	“That was on purpose! I was trying to lose those guys on my tail!” Krit protested.
	“You keep telling yourself that.”
	“You wanna walk?”
	“Can’t. Don’t know where we’re going.” Syl said.
	“That should make it quite a walk, shouldn’t it?” 
	I placed a hand over Krit’s mouth.
	“Don’t argue with Syl.”
	Krit stuck his tongue out and I jerked my hand away.
	“Ewww.” I said, wiping my hand on his sleeve.
	“You gang up on me, you have to expect dirty tactics.” Krit replied with a grin.
	“You just like to say ‘dirty‘.” Syl accused.
	“It’s a good word.”
	“You’re an idiot.”
	“Hey, I’m a lot more intelligent than the last guy you dated.” Krit replied.
	“I’m not disagreeing with that.”
	Krit and Syl quieted and soon we arrived at Krit’s “new place”. He parked the car and we all got out. Max, Zack and Cade all arrived a few moments later.
	“You’ll like this place.” Krit promised, taking my hand.
	I let him lead me inside, the others following behind.
	“I will?” I questioned, knowing Krit would never take me somewhere I wouldn’t like.
	“I promise.” Krit nodded.
	“As long as you promise.” I said, leaning my head against his shoulder.
	We entered the place. The lighting was at a comfortable dimness that my eyes adjusted to immediately. It was a nice place. There were few people here and they appeared to all be regulars from the way they acted. There was an actual band here, though, and a bartender who looked like he was actually happy working there. The bar was in good order. The pool table, while unused right now, didn’t bare a single scratch.
	“I do like this place.” I said.
	“I’m glad.” Krit said, “This is an old haunt of mine. The band owns the bar. It’s a very nice place. Syl prefers the trashier places where she can make some money, but I thought you’d like this place.”
	“Thank you.” I said, kissing him, “Want to get me root beer?”
	Krit laughed and nodded.	
	“Always.”
	Krit walked up to the bar and exchanged some words with the bartender who he seemed to know. I looked around as I waited for him and saw that Syl had immediately claimed the pool table. She had amazingly talked Zack into a game. Cade was watching with interest. Max had joined Krit at the bar and had apparently ordered a pitcher for the others because she returned with it to the pool table. I stopped paying attention when Krit returned. I followed him to a corner seat. It was a couch with a table set in front of it. I sat next to him, taking a sip of the root beer Krit had brought me.
	This was nice. This was...a bit awkward. I wasn’t really sure what to say to Krit now. I looked past him at the stage where a girl was joining the band for their next song. I wasn’t really paying attention to what the song was. I forced my attention back to Krit.
	“So, whatcha thinking?” I asked.
	“That my body’s too bootylicious for you, baby.”
	“What?” I asked, thinking I must not have heard that right.
	“Aren’t you listening to the music?” Krit asked.	
	I shook my head, staring at him like he was insane. Krit grinned.
	“Oops.” he offered, not looking the least bit sorry.
	I shook my head and laughed softly. Krit always kept things interesting.
	I leaned back against his chest and he immediately put his arms around me. I smiled and relaxed. This was Krit, after all.
	I jumped at the sound of a loud cough. I looked and wasn’t surprised to see Zack standing over us.
	“Ty, could I have a word with Krit?”
	It wasn’t a request even though he shaped it as a question.
	“Why?” I asked, glancing apprehensively between Krit and Zack.
	Zack just glared at me until I sighed and nodded. Slowly, I rose and walked over to join Syl, Cade, and Max at the pool table.
	“He’s just mad because I beat him.” Syl commented.
	I nodded absently, but I was focused on Zack and Krit. My hearing was attuned to what they were saying.
	“Zack...” Krit began.
	“Ty put it well; shut up, Krit.” Zack interrupted, then sighed heavily, “You make her happy. So I won’t kill you. But hurt her...”
	He left the threat hanging as if even he couldn’t think of a horrible enough punishment just yet.
	“Understood.” Krit said seriously.
	The two lapsed into a silence awkward enough for me to feel it across the room.
	“I really do care about her, Zack.” Krit said finally, “It nearly killed me when she pulled that stunt, turning herself in. And when that guy had the gun...” Krit shook his head.
	Zack didn’t reply, but turned to walk back to us. He paused.
	“And Krit.”
	“Yeah?”
	“Always wear pants.” Zack said.
	“Yes, sir!” Krit said, only half-mocking.
	Zack didn’t respond to that, but finished walking back to our group. I gave him an appreciative look, that he chose, being Zack, to ignore. I didn’t care. I hugged him anyway before going to rejoin Krit.
	“Shut up, Syl.” I heard him snap before Syl could say a word, then quickly added, “And Max...and Cade.”
	I sent a smile in Zack’s direction as I joined Krit and let him put an arm around me. Zack simply nodded once and turned back to Cade. He accepted it, but he still wasn’t thrilled. I could live with that.
					***

	I still found it funny that all in the same day, Syl had supposedly bested Zack twice. Okay, so the first time had been a set-up to fool Royce’s men, but it had still been funny to envision little Syl actually taking Zack down. And the fact that she had beaten him at the pool table had just topped it off. Poor Zack’s ego had taken a beating today.
	Max and Syl were playing now and I really had no idea who would win. They were both really good. But truthfully, it didn’t really matter to me. Just the trivialness of it all was nice. The fact that none of this was a life and death situation was nice. It was a winding down time. Just like it had been last time. A time for us all to be together once in a nice place before we all split and went back to ground.
	We would spend the next few hours in that bar, just relaxing until finally Zack gave the order to move out. No one protested this time and we all headed back to the apartment. 
	Logan was waiting for us. He said that the design of the little box was not as complicated as he’d thought. It was based on the technology behind electromagnetic pulses, just tweaked to operate on a genetic frequency. And Avery had actually produced a cure for it. He had actually designed an antigen that would null the frequency in anticipation for Royce’s own genetically engineered soldiers. Logan had actually even talked Avery into becoming part of the Eyes Only Informant Net. Well, at least that way we could keep an eye on him. Actually, it was part of the Informant Net that kept constant tabs on Lydecker for us after our last mission. So they were reliable enough.
	Royce himself, Logan claimed he had somewhere he could put him. Some friends of his in Canada that apparently would take good care of him. That suited me just fine. As long as he was far away from me.	
	The only major damper on the whole night thus far was Zack’s unexpected attack on Max. Without warning or preamble, he pulled her aside and tried again to talk her or order her to leave Seattle.
	“You are never going to get me to leave Seattle, Zack! Never.” Max growled angrily.
	“Why, Max? Because of Wonder Boy? He’s going to get you killed!” Zack growled back, “You think he cares about you? He could never even understand you!”
	I sighed in frustration. Just when he had come to accept Krit and Ty he had snapped back into his old habit of fuming about Max and Logan.
	“What do you know, Zack? You know what the first thing Logan said to me was when we were alone, after Ty got us out of Manticore? You know what he said? He said there was a time in his life when he thought he would do anything, even end his life, to stay out of that wheelchair. He told me that he realized that the wheelchair was nothing to him when he thought he’d lost me.”
	Zack just turned his back on her, not saying a word.
	“Turning your back on my won’t shut me up, Zack. Pretending you can’t hear me won’t change anything. How can you even keep this up when you finally know what it feels like to be in love?” Max’s voice had dropped to almost a whisper.
	Zack turned to face her, his eyes intense, searching hers.
	“Are you saying that you love him?”
	Max looked down for half a second before meeting Zack’s gaze boldly.
	“Yes.”
	Zack didn’t seem to know how to respond to that. He just stared at her silently for a long moment until Max finally got fed up with his silence.
	“You know where to find me.” she said, turning and striding quickly towards the door, “Come on, Logan.”
	With that, Max and Logan left. Zack didn’t say a word for a long time. When he finally did, it was to Ty.
	“Well, little sister,” he said finally, “you should get out of here.”
	Ty nodded.
	“Where do you want us to go, Zack?” she asked, putting only a slight emphasis on ‘us’.
	“How do you feel about Salt Lake City?” Zack questioned.
	“Sounds good.” Ty shrugged
	“Good.” Zack nodded, standing, “I’ll check on you there in awhile. You had better be there.”
	“Don’t worry, big brother. I will.” Ty promised.
	I caught Syl roll her eyes behind Ty before she shoved her forward.
	“Would you hug your stupid brother already?” she complained.
	Ty and Zack both shot her a look before Ty gave Zack a quick hug.
	“Thank you.” I said to all of them, before taking Zack’s arm and heading out the door, “See ya.”
	The door closed with a resounding thud.
	“So where to?” I asked as I followed Zack down the stairs and out the door to his motorcycle.
	“I hear San Francisco’s nice.” Zack offered.
	“Where’d you hear that?”
	“Jondy.” Zack said without hesitation.
	I shrugged.
	“Let’s go.”
		----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

	That’s it. That’s all we wrote. Hope you enjoyed SP2. And like I said, there will be an SP3, like it or not. Feedback is always appreciated.

	Ty