The next morning when Max woke up Logan was already in the middle of his workout. She smiled as she watched him
work. His eyes shone with determination as he watched the morning news.

"Old habits die hard huh?" Max asked as she walked into the room. She leaned against the wall and studied him. " So,
you settle for watching the news now, or do you still make it?"

"Eyes Only found a way to move beyond the loss of its 'hit girl'," Logan answered tensely. "It was hard, Max."

"I know," she answered. "I didn't ask if it was easy. So, you got the gear that will get me into Jam Pony?" 

"Do you have any idea what you are doing?" Logan asked her. He stopped lifting weights and walked closer to her. 

"I do have a vague idea, yeah," Max answered with a smile. "Don't worry about me, Logan. I spent nine years in intense
training for this sort of thing. Yes, I do want to forget those nine years, but they happened nonetheless." 

"What would your siblings do if you got hurt?" Logan asked he as he grabbed a towel.

"They'd come and kill whoever was responsible," Max answered. "Well, Michael would, but that would just be on
principle."

"Max, if you die because I made it possible for you to get close to Lydecker, which one of us would they deem
responsible for your death?" Logan asked trying to get his point across. The idea of putting him in danger seemed to be
an off-point for her. She didn't seem to like the idea.

"Lydecker," Max answered. "Really, they only know the name 'Logan' and that's because of something that I didn't know
had happened. They wouldn't hunt you down. Again, Michael might try based on the fact that you're a guy, but I'm
hoping Zach and Dawn would talk sense into him."

"Yeah, I would hope so too," Logan agreed. "So, do we want food this morning or are we just going to run off with my
bike and annoy everyone else by showing up again?"

"There might be people working at Jam Pony who could still recognize me," Max said suddenly. "You did give me a new
name, right?"

"Of course," Logan answered. "If I used your real name it would be like posting a sign 'kill the Eyes Only hit girl here' or
maybe 'I was a former child of the Manticore project. Did you want to talk to me?'"

"At least you still have a sense of humor," Max replied, rolling her eyes. "Thank you. You're very well trained for a
civilian."

"I'll take that as a compliment implying that I'm slightly less likely to end up as cannon fodder," Logan said wryly. 

"Cannon fodder?" Max asked. "What the heck kind of phrase is that?"

"Do you read?" Logan asked. "Books from before the Pulse?" 

"Rarely." Max shook her head. "I've never heard the phrase 'cannon fodder'. What does it mean?" 

"People who die because they are simply in the way," Logan replied. "Foot soldiers who get killed early in the action
without making much difference to either side. Disposable, replaceable, inconsequential..."

"Okay already. I get the idea. Sounds like something Lydecker would know all about," Max answered. "Well, if you'll get
me that ID I'll jet before I'm late for work. Gotta make it up to the boss that I was too scared to come in."

"Meek Max," Logan suggested. "Don't act like a girl with an attitude. He'll never believe that you were scared."

"I hate acting meek," Max muttered as he handed her the phony ID. "It always leads to people looking at me like I
should be their next one-night-stand. At least this time I don't have to act like a stripper. I tell you, the things I did for
Sketch."

"I'm sure he was very grateful," Logan answered. "Okay, your name is Samantha. You're a golden girl. If you see
Lydecker make sure to call him 'Sir'." 

"Logan, I hate Lydecker. You want me to be polite to him?" Max answered. "We were trained to do a lot of things at
Manticore, but this is not one of them. Being nice to the people who are trying to capture you? I just don't think so."

"Max, please don't get yourself killed over this," Logan warned. "Please. I already lost you once and if you die no phone
call of mine will bring you back." 

"Even I die, Logan," Max replied. "We all do someday."

"I'm not saying 'don't ever die'," he snapped in annoyance. "What I'm saying is don't get yourself killed because you
couldn't control your anger. Don't let your emotions run away with you on this one." 

"Fine. I'll be Samantha and be really nice to everyone. Since I'm not new I won't need anyone to show me the ropes.
Since I have your bike he's going to be more willing to let me work for him again. Thanks, Logan. You're a life saver."

"You're the one that saved lives," Logan corrected. "I just pointed you in the right direction." 

Max grabbed her bike and headed out the door clipping her new ID to her jacket as she walked. She didn't really look
like the Max that everyone remembered. She had borrowed some clothes from Dawn while she was packing. Dawn
probably hadn't figured it out yet though. When Max arrived at Jam Pony she took a deep breath before heading inside.

"Who the hell are you?" one of Lydecker's military men demanded as soon as she had stepped into the warehouse. "We
haven't seen you here before." 

"I'm sorry that I've skipped work," Max said, doing her best impersonation of a frightened person. "I was just so scared
to come back. Seeing what happened, you know?"

"Another one of those kind," the guard snorted. "Alright, head on over there. We put Herbal in charge of the packages.
You screw up a run and you're in jail. Posts need these things ASAP and if they don't get there we'll have another crisis
on our hands."

"Yes, sir," Max said, keeping her eyes down. Her voice wasn't the perfect shade of meek but it would have to do. Max
walked over to Herbal, pulling her hat down and hoping against hope that he wouldn't recognize her. Then she simply
decided that taking matters into her own hands would be much safer. 

"Hello, I'm Samantha. I take it that you're in charge now?" Max asked, still keeping her head down and trying to keep
her voice sweet. "Do you have a run for me?" 

"Yes. You can take this dreadfully heavy package over to the sector police in division one." Herbal said in his accent,
which she thankfully understood. "Make it snappy, girl. Our new boss no like the ladies with dark hair." 

Max smiled at this. It figured that Lydecker would hold a grudge against the whole world just because Max had caused
him some trouble. She grabbed the package, put it in her bag, and jumped on her bike before Herbal could say anything
else. She remembered the districts pretty well and she made it in no time. Her Jam Pony pass got her easily through
every sector police check until she dropped off her package. Then she headed back. As soon as she walked up to Herbal
he waved her away. 

"We don't got that many packages," he told her. "We should get a big rush after lunch though. Go find your friends."

"Thanks Herbal," Max said, looking him in the eyes briefly. "I'm glad I decided to come back to work. Even if my friends
don't know I'm here. It's just they're hurt, you know? They can't come back. They saw too much and now they are in
critical condition. It'd just be too much, but I had to come back." 

Thankfully Herbal was smart. He caught on immediately that Max must have a good reason for using the name
"Samantha". He realized that calling her "Max" would probably get her into a lot of trouble. 

"Go and visit your friends after work then," Herbal suggested. "If they aren't in comas, which I doubt they are, they'll be
glad to see a friendly face." 

That was news to Max. She had assumed when Logan had said that Sketch and Cindy were in critical condition that it
meant they were comatose. Well, it was nice to know that some people didn't make those assumptions and were kind
enough to clue her in. 

"Thanks and have a good day," Max told him as she went to get something to drink. Max sat down and observed the
people that were milling around waiting for a run. A few minutes later Lydecker came out of his office and glared at
everyone with ice in his eyes. 

"Turn the TV on," Lydecker ordered. As the screen flared to life showing an Eyes Only brief Lydecker could barely contain
his rage. Even Max could tell that he was five seconds away from snapping as Logan tried to rally support against the
latest scumbag - none other than Lydecker himself. 

"Find this man and arrest him!" Lydecker yelled. "He shouldn't be allowed to make these. Who the hell is this guy?"

"Eyes Only is the only free voice left in this city. It can't be bought and it cannot be silenced," Logan finished. The TV
went back to regularly scheduled programming.

"Guess they'll be looking for awhile," Max murmured. She turned away from Lydecker, pulling her turtleneck up further to
hide her barcode. 

"I need someone to run a package for me, Herbal," Lydecker said, turning toward the man. "And I need it to get to its
destination, which shall only be known by the rider, within half an hour. Who is trustworthy?" 

"Samantha. Dat girl got an honest streak in her a mile wide," Herbal said, flashing Max a smile. He knew that this could
be a potential break, but on the other hand, being alone with Lydecker could be very bad. Even if all he was planning on
doing was handing her a package.

"Which one is Samantha?" Lydecker asked, carefully toning down his voice. If he lost his temper then people would
completely lose faith in him. That would make it even harder to hold the city.

"I'm Samantha," Max said quietly. She stood and walked over to Lydecker, keeping her eyes down and trying to look like
a timid, but good little bike messenger. It wasn't working. She hadn't been genetically engineered to be an actress. She
had been engineered to be a soldier.

"Samantha, why do I get the impression that you're hiding something?" Lydecker asked when she avoided his gaze.
Max was actually doing this to see what the first conclusion he would jump to. Maybe he was off the whole Manticore
project thing and would guess she had something to do with the bomb that went off. "Never mind," he said abruptly.
"The package is more important right now. They should give you one to return to me when you get there. Bring it to me
at once."

Lydecker gave her the delivery address. She was off before he could warn her that if she didn't get the package
delivered he would kindly remove her head. When Max returned soon with a package for Lydecker she went to his office.
When she heard loud voices inside, however, she decided against knocking right away. 

"Explain to me why I'm suddenly a target for the biggest free speech cyberjournalist in the United States?" Lydecker
asked someone that Max couldn't see. Anger was clear in his voice. "How can he know?' 

"It's often viewed that he doesn't really know," a man answered. Max assumed that he was one of Lydecker's men. "He
just goes with what information he can get. The bad thing is that he gets really good information."

"He won't get any information on me, will he?" Lydecker demanded. "Because you are going to find a nice convenient
way to make sure the two workers here never recover. The world must never find out that I destroyed Seattle."

"Sir, I doubt that anyone would believe it even if it did leak," the man objected. "You are a decorated military man.
Despite the ruin of Manticore, which no one outside the project really knows about, this wouldn't affect your career at
all." 

"Manticore isn't a loss," Lydecker snarled. "One of them is in Seattle. That's the whole point. This is going to get me that
girl. I am going to take the first step in restarting Manticore. Then we are going to make America the most powerful
nation once more, even if we have to kill every person in Seattle to do it." 

Max stopped listening then. If she hadn't felt guilty before she did now. All this was because of her. That wasn't good.
People had died because of her. People would die because of her. However, she now knew for sure that Lydecker was
warped. If she didn't find a way to wrest Seattle out of his control it wouldn't be long before he hunted Logan down and
found out where she was. Then he would hunt them all. Max knocked on the door. As soon as it opened she handed the
package to Lydecker then turned and walked away. 

She jumped on her bike and headed back to Logan's, her mind whirling. Working here wouldn't do her any good. It was
time to do something about Lydecker that would keep the rest of Manticore's leftovers safe. She wondered what
Lydecker's men would think when they found out exactly how "inside" Seattle's inside job had been. She had heard
somewhere that people don't like it when their leaders betray them. If she wasn't mistaken, sometimes lynching was
involved. She was betting on the side of lynching. People already didn't like Lydecker because of all the misery his
martial law was causing. Wait until they got a load of the fact that things would have been a lot better if Lydecker had
kept his trigger-happy fingers away from Seattle to begin with. 

On the other hand, if Lydecker had known that she was in Seattle and that was the entire point of all this then she was
in major trouble. It would be even worse if he took the Manticore project public and made it seem like they were the bad
guys. No, that wouldn't do at all. Having half the United States' special military forces after them was bad enough. If the
entire nation was hunting them they wouldn't stand a chance. Now Max and Logan had to talk. The next few days were
going to make or break Lydecker... and Max.