Dark Angel

'For a species to survive, it must adapt to any change no matter how subtle. The more adaptive it is to its environment, the greater its chances to thrive and multiply. If it can't learn to adapt, it will eventually become extinct.'

-Basic textbook lesson on evolution, source unknown.

It's fight night at Brickhouse Annie's. It's always fight night at the Brickhouse, but sometimes the fights are actually allowed. In a chicken wire cage, the local rough and rowdy pits themselves in a fight to the unconscious or worse for a taste of the take. The local Seattle mob enjoy such spectacle since most of the other forms of entertainment have been made too expensive by the Pulse or illegal by military mandate. One of Brickhouse Annie's regular patrons is Normal, eager to vent out some of his frustrations that have been built up dealing with his employees. Usually, he doesn't show much emotion, but here…he can let loose with fury and spit while drinking down his watered down overpriced homebrew. Sometimes, he even makes a few bets with the house bookie when it suits his fancy. Right now, he's about breaking even with a fat bald bum losing out to a man mountain despite some quick and dirty bites and kicks. The fans echo Normal's feeling for the bum. Jerk shoulda stayed in Tacoma. The Mistress of Ceremonies and the owner of the joint herself Annie, a middle aged redhead with a few battle scars of her own on her face, announces the main event. A fight with a pot of $5,000 and it's a kicker. The champion: with 45 wins, zero losses, at six feet ten, weighing in at 260 pounds, Seattle's favorite animal…Sam 'The Mangler' Miller. Mangler walks into the cage, a look of complete fierce bloodlust glaring into the crowd. The fans are loving every minute of it. His challenger: hailing from parts unknown, with an impressive three wins to his brief but memorable tour in the cage, six feet tall and at a lean 178 pounds, the pretty boy Monty Cora! No one notices 'Monty's' barcode on the back of his neck…or that his name is really Alec. All they care about is whether Monty will keep his pretty face from being clawed to shreds. The last guy Mangler fought looked more like hamburger after a pack of starving wolves had their way with it. Normal sees the confidence in 'Monty's' eyes and decides to chance $300 with the house bookie. He feels lucky tonight. Mangler takes one look at 'Monty' and it's love at first fight. He swears he'll tear off his head and shove up it his ass. His grin shows the lack of dental care. 'Monty' wonders if they should shake hands first. Mangler promptly shows his good sportsmanship by knocking down 'Monty' to the corner. He shakes it off, figuring correctly it's a no. Normal barks loudly on how Mangler jumped the bell. No one gives a damn. The bell rings and Normal gives 'Monty' some encouragement. Go get him, tiger. 'Monty' may not be as gay as that loser, but he appreciates the sentiment. The fight is short, sweet, and to the point. 'Monty's' moves softens up Mangler's brute strength like water wearing down a mountain. Mangler can't get a fix on the dude. He finally puts 'Monty' in a bear hug and tries to squeeze the life out of him. He asks the punk what the Hell is he? 'Monty' replies, "Better."…and headbutts the Cro-Magnon into a coma. The Mangler's out for the count and Annie crowns the new Champion. The crowd goes wild, especially Normal who has made back his money and then some. All and all, it's been a good day.

In the locker room, Brickhouse Annie receives some bad news from her newest employee…or rather ex-employee. 'Monty' wants to retire undefeated. Annie is shocked. Retire so soon? She's been pulling in twice the business since he came. People love him with his killer moves and farmboy looks. Why mess up a sweet deal? 'Monty' tells her he wants to move on to better things. Beating up people is fine by him, but he wants something more of his life. Annie hands him his five grand. 'Monty' confines in her that his winnings will help out greatly. Annie is not happy with this. Her prime moneymaker running out on her just as things were getting sweet. Dammit! She tells him if he ever changes his mind, he knows where to find her. Her tone is more like a wish for him to rot in Hell, but if she could…she would've made the bum a silent partner to the Brickhouse with a chance at becoming the best fighter in the entire Northwest. Oh, well. She stalks off, leaving 'Monty' to his loot. Alec doesn't remember where he heard his alias. Maybe an old movie or something. All he knows is that the name worked like a charm and he made enough to perhaps go to greener pastures. Maybe Vancouver or even Fairbanks. For the moment, all he's concerned about is him and his. A couple of Power Suits show up and Alex figures they're some uptown gangbangers eager to have him into their fold. He's just about to tell them off…when they pull out their stun sticks and shock him into unconsciousness. Once the boy is out, the Suits' real boss arrives. It's Ames, in his best GOODFELLAS threads, looking so GQ and dangerous. At times, he prefers his good suit to his Fed fatigues. He enjoys the feel and style of Italian threads. He tells his boys to take the freak out back. No need to let the ramble know what's going down. He'll even let the gentleman keep his money. After all, he earned it. Ames has no use for the money, anyway. He figures it'll be better used for the ferryman as 494 goes down the River Styx.

Max and Logan share an intimate dinner at the apartment. Granted, she can only stay about five feet from him because of the virus, but still sharing company and good food is pleasurable enough. Logan tells her about the latest escapades with his Honor the Mayor as he chops up a cucumber. Seems the Mayor's Town Car got stolen the other night. Max tells Logan it wasn't her. Her tastes are more into artwork and precious gems. Grand theft auto is someone else's racket. Logan smiles and continues the story. They found the car in Sector 4 with about 500 hits of Ecstasy in the trunk. Max smiles a little. So, a drug dealer took it? No, actually he got it from his girlfriend, a hooker he pimps. She got the car from his Honor as a gift during a drunken orgy. Once he sobered up, he forgot all about it…until she showed up with the signed pink slip. She threatened to tell the press about the whole dirty deal right down to the lapdance and chains until the charges against her boyfriend were dropped…and she got to keep the choice ride. Max laughs. So the great Eyes Only Informant Net has been reduced to trading secrets of politicians' corrupt sex lives. Logan shrugs it off. He can only fight injustice and fraud for some many hours in a day. He's gotta kick back sometimes. Max goes to the stove and stirs the sauce. She tastes it and likes the flavor as she stirs it some more. Logan says it's a family…then realizes just what happened. So does Max. She didn't even think about it. Sickened, she takes the saucepan off the flame. Logan tries to soothe her nerves. Perhaps with some higher heat, most bacteria can burned out. It's okay. Max shakes her head. It might work with salmonella, but not a Frankenstein virus cooked up to attack him by his own DNA. She dumps the luscious meal into the sink. She's close to tears of anger and frustration. It's bad enough they can't touch, but now they can't even have dinner to together. Logan tries to make amends for the night. They got bread. They got salad. He can rustle up something fast and salvage the night. Max is too emotional for his kind words. She can't take it anymore. Not being able to touch him or kiss him or do anything with him but stare and feel her heart break minute by minute. She storms out of the kitchen. She forgets her jacket and goes to get it. Logan stands behind the glass wall separating the kitchen from the hall. Max sees his hand and touches the glass. It's only way she can close to her lover now. If Renfro weren't already dead, Max would've torn her to pieces for every day in Hell she went through by being denied the simple pleasure of being with the man she loves. Goddamn that bitch!

Night in the city isn't always of heartbreak and violence. Another form of entertainment still available to the public in the Second Depression and military rule is homemade porn. Couples indulge their dirtiest fantasies on film and tape and sell it to those who then profit from those willing to forget themselves into sexual kinks for a little while. One such couple is Sandeman and his wife Marlene, living in Apartment Building 542 off at McCallister in Sector 6. They're doing the Hot Wet Housewife for this evening. Already, they've done the Stream Iron routine with the stream making Marlene so horny in her fishnets and corset. Sandeman keeps on shooting and asks for the Vacuum bit. She happily complies and starts it up. He wonders why she's doing that. Marlene figures such she got the vacuum out, she might as well do some REAL work. Sandeman tells her to turn it off. No sense in spoiling the mood. The shooting continues…until Marlene hears a funny noise. Her hubby insists they're alone. Completely alone. But the loneliness is shattered as a six-foot hairy beast man shows up, asking for someone. It's Joshua, on the search of his father…another completely different Sandeman. Marlene screams in terror as Sandeman shoots a picture of Joshua out of reflex. As Joshua continues to search the apartment, Marlene tries to call the cops. Naturally, they're busy with other things. Sandeman grabs his Louisville Slugger and tries to take out Joshua on his own. Joshua rides out the blows and tosses the amatuer porn king onto the sofa. He stalks off, not finding who was he looking for. Marlene races to her husband. He's okay. Sandeman then pulls out the photo. It develops instantly, a crystal clear shot of Joshua at full growl. Sandeman doesn't know where this guy came from, but he knows of someone who'll pay big for this story. Never mind the Hot Wet Housewife. It's Mutant Time!

Logan's in the middle of brushing his teeth when he gets a phone call. It's Lydecker. Logan is not too happy with this. Lydecker's calling to see if Max came out of her little misadventure all right. Logan says she did. Lydecker breathes a sigh of relief. She always does. Logan snorts he should know…since he hunted her down for the last ten years. Lydecker tells him those days are over. He's just as hunted as Max is now. He then tells Logan about a lead he's been on and he has to talk to Max soon. Logan is pissed off now. He's tired of delivering cryptic messages back and forth. He wants a straight answer. Lydecker decides to let him on his investigation. Seems he found out something about Max's DNA that even he didn't know about. Something that interested Renfro enough to risk her life over when Manticore went bust. Among the other items he recovered was an employee ID card that may or may not be legit. He looks over the card as he talks to Logan. It reads 'RCF Demolitian & Disposal', with Renfro's full name and everything. Lydecker tells Logan he'll look into whatever Renfro was doing and what connects her to the test results and Max. He asks to tell Max about it. Logan agrees…but then asks for something in return. If he's going to be Lydecker's message boy, he might as well make it worth his while. Lydecker agrees to listen.

Later in the morning, Max and Logan meet up with a nervous balding man in a bad part of town. The man was one of Manticore's genetic specialists, lucky enough to escape the general lockdown and culling. Of course, he knows his luck may run out at any minute and even Lydecker can't protect him with what he's doing at the moment. He mutters about how he did the virus splice on Max's DNA. Max remembers this creep. He did some work on Zack too. Nasty work at that. She tells him if he keeps bragging about his handiwork, she'll kick his ass. Fair enough. The terms of his services are simple enough: ten grand will buy a cure for Max's problem. They're not negotiable. Max starts wondering if she should start roughing him up now until Logan pulls out a wad of cash. She stares at him, horrified. Logan tells her he sold some stuff to get the bread. Logan has some terms of his own: the creep will get half now as a down payment and the rest when the job's finished. The doctor decides not to press the matter and takes the cash. He then asks for a blood sample from Max to figure out the best way to kill the bug. He assembles his gear to make the analysis. He tells them it'll take a couple of days, but he'll have them back sucking face at no time. Max is sorely tempted to ram the jerk's head into the wall, but decides to let the insult slide as she makes a finger ready for the sample. She decides on her middle finger.

A few hours later, Max is at the Crash. She meets up with Original Cindy and tells her about what had happened last night and how her condition is making things hard for her and Logan. Asha then shows up, surprised that Max comes to the bar. Max tells her she's practically a regular. Before the ladies can share a brew, Sketchy shows up with a disagreement he hopes Max and her fine new friend can referee on. Seems his drinking buddies have been dissing on Eyes Only's recount on the VA Hospital fire. He insists on the version where it was a front for Manticore and its experiments. Since she's a fan of Eyes Only, Sketchy wonders if Max can help defend the man's honor. Max tells him she stays out of politics. Asha says the same thing. Sketchy, disappointed, then pulls out a tabloid he bought to help prove his point. Cindy shakes her head in amazement. One too many 40s, and now the fool is seeing zombies walking among us. Sketchy disagrees. They're not zombies, they're creatures made in labs. Some of them human, some of them not. He then starts a rant about how their barcodes are actually transmitters beaming back information about the city and citizens back to the main HQ. Max is a little unnerved by this talk. Cindy snatches the tabloid from his hands. The wigga's faded. She tells him the 'official' story about how SW1 torching the place being the truth. Asha corrects her on that point. It's actually S1W and they didn't have anything to do with it. You can't believe everything the 'official' news says. Sketchy then makes a move on Asha, purring about if he was making creatures in the lab…he would make 'em just as beautiful as her. Asha blushes, appreciates the compliments. Cindy hits the fool on the head. She asks him to quit bugging her and stop reading such trash like that tabloid before they ruin whatever brain cells he has left. Max takes one look at the cover and starts to freak. It's Joshua! She takes the tabloid and makes a run for it. Cindy chases after her and asks what's going on. She tells her best friend about Joshua and how she's worried about what trouble he's gotten into and what kind he might get into unless she gets to him first.

Alec wakes up in a cage hanging on a chain somewhere in a warehouse. He can't believe this. He sees Ames and a few of his toadies looking at him. Ames compliments him on his display of strength and skill last night. Alec muses about how nice it is to have fans. Ames then gets down to business. He shows Alec a picture of Max and asks if he knew about her since they were breeding partners at Manticore. Alex jokes about it being a summer fling and having no idea who she really was. Ames is not amused. He asks if Alec had kept in touch with the other fugitive transgenics. He tells him he doesn't fraternize with automatons. They just slow him down. Alec has some questions of his own. Who does Ames work for? FBI? NSA? Ames smiles coldly, telling him he's been assigned to wipe out all traces of Manticore and to leave it at that. He then tells one of his lackeys to take a DNA sample before disposing of the body and begins to walk away. Alec then tried to bargain with the man. Killing him won't help. Ames agrees. He doesn't want him dead. He wants ALL transgenics dead. Fair enough, Alec reasons. But Ames won't be able to find them all unless he has a transgenic to hunt them down…like him for insistence. Ames is unimpressed by this. Why would Alec want to hunt down his own kind? Alec figures the man would have an easier time if he had a little insider help. Ames decides to test the foolish boy. He releases him from the cage from a trapdoor under his feet. Alec lands with a circle of guns pointed at his head. Later on, a tech injects something into the back of Alec's neck. Ames lays down the rules. He knows Alec would be planning to run away the first chance he got. So, he put in a little incentive. He shows Alec a microexplosive pellet and stamps it with his foot. There's a loud bang. Ames explains that while it's not much of a punch, it'll be enough to kill if put in the right spot…like close to the brain stem where Alec's pellet is at right now. The boy is to locate and kill three transgenics in 24 hours. If he comes through, Ames will disarm the pellet and put him into service. If not, POP! Alec will not know what hit him. Ames hands him a stopwatch to remind him of the time he has left. He also gives him a switchblade. It's to secure the barcodes as a…proof of purchase. Alec gets the meaning and races off to his task. Ames beams about how this little experiment will turn out. One of his lackeys wonders if Alec was lying about Max. Ames knows he was lying. He tells the lackey to learn when someone is lying. He'll live longer. The lackey then muses about if Alec gets Max's barcode. They can scrape it for DNA and answer a lot of questions. Ames likes the idea. Either way, he wins. A smile curls up on his face.

Max shows the tabloid to Logan, showing him Joshua's face. He wonders if the manbeast was dangerous. Max tells him he isn't and not to assume such a thing. He probably broken into the Sandeman apartment and other places like it to get something to eat or sleep or something like that. She wants to find him before something bad happens. Logan tells her he'll get the police reports on the other break-ins and get the addresses. They all could be in the same general area. Max agrees. It'll help narrow things. Logan then figures on monitoring his police scanner for any possible disturbances. It could lead to Joshua. Max vows to save him before the police get to him. She feels responsible for him. He is so not ready for the world. Alec then shows up, cracking about how he wasn't ready for the world but he's doing fine. Logan mutters about why transgenics never knock. Alec starts asking Max if she kept in touch with any of the others since the signal to scatter was sent. Max is leery about this sudden interest. Is he looking to start a support group? Alec tells her he's bored and wants to hang with his own kind. Ordinary is so…ordinary. Max grabs him by the arm. She'll set up a play date for the jerk later. She has more important things to do. Alec then notices Joshua's photo and offers to lend a hand in the search. Logan counters she already has two, but thanks all the same. Alec then gets serious. This affects him as well. They can't risk exposure at this time. Today, the tabloids…tomorrow the nightly news. Max then decides to take him up on his offer. If Joshua wants to lay low, the best place is Terminal City. Alec raises his eyebrow. Terminal City?

Max shows Alec what Terminal City was: a rundown fenced off section of Seattle. A collection of biotech labs went super critical after the Pulse knocked out their containment protocols. Rather than spend the billions they didn't have on a clean-up, the city simply shut the place up with razorwire and concrete blocks. Over the years, the fences were scaled and the blocks overturned, but no one goes to that part of town except for the very down and out and the desperate. The police occasionally fetch the HAZMAT truck to collect the diseased corpse for disposal. Alec and Max make their way through Terminal City, glad they were made immune to most bio-warfare agents. Alec tries to lighten the mood by asking about the bug in Max's life. The dirty look he gets is enough to kill the subject.

At another part of town, Lydecker finds what he was looking for. Seems RCF is a real company, specializing in environmental clean-up and disposal. He sees one of their projects across the street. He checks his gun and decides to case the joint. After knocking out the lone guard, he sees an ancient Indian burial. He's surprised that the Ice Queen would be working with a company that deals with historical preservation, especially in this day and age where it's more profitable to break up such history and sell it on the Black Market. He takes pictures of the site with his digital camera. It contains three skeletons: two infants and one obviously female with a crack in her skull. He then sees a startling sight: a Manticore painting in a place where such mythos is uncommon in the Native American culture. He photographs that too. He then decides to call up a contract to make sense of this.

Max and Alec talks to the various 'residents' of Terminal City. They describe Joshua as tall, wearing an Army jacket, hairy…and growling like a bum's favorite dog Bongo. The bum didn't see their friend, but he did see someone like that the other day. A lizard man and his panther lady friend came by and made their way to the sewers. Max and Alec go down there, the smells and sights putrid enough to make Alec declare it was the most disgusting place on earth. Max sees a dead dog, taken out by something big. Alec wonders if Joshua could turn on his own 'kind'. Max shakes her head. He's not the violent type unless he's attacked. Her pager goes off. It's Logan. Alec gives her his cell and she calls Logan up. He got the last address Joshua broke into: across town in Sector 6, 542 McCallister…under the name of Sandeman. Max remembers that name from both Joshua and Renfro. She figures Sandeman founded Manticore, but why would he turn Joshua away? She'll go and ask some questions. Alec suggests they split up and he will deal with whatever is living the sewers. Max agrees and goes on her way.

Sandeman finishes installing the deadbolt on the front door, much to Marlene's relief. If any more freaks tries to break in, they'll have a tough time getting in. Everything is now safe and sound. Max puts a dent into that thinking by busting in and nailing Sandeman to the wall. He doesn't look like the father of her country. She starts grilling him about Manticore and genetic enhancements. He doesn't know anything about that…but Marlene shows Max the 'enhancements' she got on her breasts. Disgusted, she stalks off. It's a dead lead.

Alec looks his watch. Thirteen hours to go before his head explodes. The noise of the bum calling for Bongo doesn't help calm him down. Suddenly, he sees the panther woman holding the poor pooch in her hands. She intends to eat Bongo raw! Alec is disgusted and amused. She's not gonna eat that? He asks her to have a little dignity. The charm doesn't work as well. She decides on bigger game and tosses the dog aside. She attacks Alec, biting his arm and trying to make the kill. Alec gets the better of her and uses the switchblade on her ribcage. It's a fatal blow. The bum continues crying for Bongo. Alec yells at him to shut up and pushes Bongo out of the storm drain. The bum is overjoyed and takes the wet but alive dog into his arms. Alec finds the panther girl's barcode and does his grim work. One down, two to go.

Logan and Max talk about Sandeman back in the apartment. Max didn't even know there was someone who founded Manticore until Joshua and Renfro talked about him. It's not like there was a statue of him in the quad. She also remembers how Renfro cooed about her being the one she was looking for. Logan mentions about Lydecker's checking on Renfro's shadow employers. Max doesn't care about that. She's worried about Joshua. Logan then gives his assessment: seems the addresses to the other B&Es don't add up. There was no other Sandeman, the addresses were all over the city, and there was no discernible pattern. Max notices an empty space on his wall. She's shocked! He sold his Hockney, the one his grandmother gave him, to pay for the lab-tech creep. Logan figures it was a small price to pay…and the creep did call. He's close to a cure. He wants her to come by tomorrow. Logan gives the rest of the money to Max, careful not to get too close. Max offers to pay her half. She wants the cure too. Suddenly, the police scanner is buzzing about a crazed dog-man making trouble at 349 Whitney. Before Logan could ask her a question, Max is gone!

At 349 Whitney, Joshua is face to face with a shotgun. Seems the owner of the house he was breaking into doesn't like people going through his garbage. The cops show up and wonder if Animal Control should be called in. Before they can do anything, Max roars in on her cycle. She makes short work of the cops as Joshua runs out of a window. The homeowner, seeing the two unconscious cops, drops his shotgun and flees the scene. Max chases after Joshua, calling his name. He's nowhere to be found.

With tattoo in an address book, Alec checks his watch again. 8 hours to go. At this rate, he'll be dead before he finds the second tattoo. Lucky for him, he runs into a transgenic at a quiet part of town. It's a X-6, wondering if they're remobilizing. Alec asks him to follow him and not to make a big deal of it. He asks the X-6 where his squad was. The X-6 was separated from his group after the fire. Then, when the signal to go to ground was received, he just wondered about. He's all alone. Alec nods his neck and then attacks the X-6. The struggle was brief and soon the X-6 was subdued…but not killed. Try as he may, Alec can't bring himself to kill him. A Nomlie is one thing, but this was a human being. He decides to take the barcode, but spare the boy. Hopefully, Ames won't know the difference.

Later on that night, Lydecker confers with a professor on his cell. The photos he sent to him have yielded some interesting facts. The place was an Indian burial ground, as he suspected. It was of the Kiloma tribe from the early 1800's. From the looks of the occupants, it seems like they might be from a legendary tale. The story centers on a group of white fur traders who kidnap a Kiloma girl and forced her to have a child for them. They had her mated with a boy of fourteen who was already six feet tall. The first child was stillborn and terribly deformed. The second child didn't suit the traders needs, so they had her bear one more child. Satisfied at last, they took the baby and murdered the mother. Lydecker wonders why the child was so important. The professor can not say. He does know the Manticore painting was not of Kiloma design or of any other Native American origin. The painting baffles him just as it does Lydecker. The professor asks if he can see the original photos to make a better analysis. Lydecker tells him he bring the photos to him tonight. Just what the Hell was Renfro into?

Alec meets up with Ames and shows him the two barcodes. He asks for more time on the third. A few more hours to complete the deal. To Ames, there is no deal. They had an agreement. Alec was to kill the freaks, not wound them! He shows the dead body of the X-6 Alec 'relieved' of his barcode. Seems they'd found him in an emergency room with a bandage on the back of his neck. Alec argues that he was just a kid. Ames is disappointed and pissed off. Alec had no trouble dealing with whatever had the black fur, but when it comes to his own kind…well, screw that. He's a dead man now. Alec pleads his case. He says he can do the job if given another chance. Ames decides to be generous, against his own vengeful nature. He allows the X-6 to count against the final tally, but Alec needs one more to prove his loyalty. He asks for a 'thank you'. Alec gives it, then asks for more time. Ames refuses, but then gives him a stun stick. If whomever Alec takes as his third kill doesn't beg and scream, maybe he'll get the job done. Ames then makes a tick tock noise. Time's wasting.

Logan has some good news for Max. Seems the addresses do add up after all. Comparing them to an old pre-Pulse directory, he found out there were six addresses under the name of Sandeman. Max's face lights up. Joshua must have gotten a copy of an old directory and is now checking the addresses one by one, not knowing that they've been out of date. Logan prints out the last two addresses and gives it to Max. Max tells him she would hug him, but… Logan appreciates the sentiment. Maybe in a couple of days, they'll catch up on those hugs and kisses and whatever follows.

Max is in a daze looking over the list. So much so, she's startled by Alec. He wants to talk to her, but she's in a hurry. Alec tries to explain his situation, a matter of life and death…mainly his. His hand draws close to the stun stick in the back of his pants. Max is not in the mood. She has a lead on Joshua and she has gotta go now. Alec looks puzzled until he remembers who he was…and then looks at his watch. Fifty-nine minutes left. He asks if he can come along. Maybe he can help. Max reluctantly agrees, remembering that Joshua would know him too. Perhaps two friendly faces will calm him down.

Max and Alec arrive at the next to last Sandeman address on the list. It's nothing but a fenced in lot and a few ruins. The place must've been torn down. Max sees Joshua sitting in the dark. She calls his name and they embrace. She calls him big fella and he calls her little fella. Max tells him how worried she was for him. Joshua tells her he couldn't find Father there or anywhere. She looks at the directory page Joshua used. He told her he got from the people upstairs after Father left. She tells him it was too old to be of any use. There's one more address to go. She decides to go with him to check it out. Alec hates to be a killjoy…but they ain't going anywhere. He pulls out the stun stick and knocks out Max. He then stuns Joshua after struggling with the manbeast. Alec turns him on his back to get the final barcode and…NOTHING! No barcode. He asks why he doesn't have a barcode. Joshua tells him he was the first. Special. Enraged and pressed for time, Alec uses the stun stick to knock out Joshua and then goes to Max. She's semi-conscious, calling his name. Alec tries to reason with her. He had no other choice. He readies his blade and lunges…and leaves Max alive with the knife embedded on the ground. He then falls on his back, exhausted and ashamed.

Max and Joshua take Alec to the lab-tech to see what he can do. The creep admires the work, having put a few in himself. He asks why Alec has a popgun near his brain stem? Max rants that he was a cold-blooded, opportunistic showoff who thought he could run his game on a major bad guy who, it turns out, was an even bigger scumbag than he was. It about covers it. She then sarcastically thanks Alec to not killing her. Joshua gives his thanks too, but less venom. The creep is untouched by all this. He offers to remove the pellet for an easy 10 grand. Max wonders if that's the only number he knows. Alec gives him his $5,000 won at the Brickhouse and offers to find the rest later. The creep tells him he needs the rest up front now! Alec goes nuts. Where can he find $5,000 in five minutes? Max decides to make a sacrifice: her cure for Alec's life. She hands the creep the money and tells Alec he's paying her back. The creep is overjoyed. He can leave town tonight. Max starts to protest. What about finishing HER job? The creep tells her it's too hot for him to stay around. She offers to protect him. He doesn't accept it. He knows what kind of dark men are hunting him down. The best he can do is to give her an analysis of her blood sample for some other Manticore tech to finish the cure. Max asks where she can find another tech. The creep doesn't know. He reckons if they're smart, they're half way to Mexico or Canada or Japan or anywhere else but here. Do they have a deal? Alec has two minutes to live. Max tells him to do it.

Armed with an extractor, the creep tries to remove the pellet. Alec reminds him he has only seconds to finish. The creep tells him to stop distracting him. He pulls off the pellet, just in time see it pop. He gives his congratulations. Alec is not dead. The creep then packs up his stuff and leaves, giving Max a hurried sayonara. Max looks over the final address on the list…and then directs all her fury at a mournful Alec. She's only going to say it once. The creep was the last chance for Max and Logan and it's all Alec's fault! Max will not ever get over it. Alec realizes his cocky attitude cost her plenty. Feeling small, he acknowledges his mistake. Max then asks him to go away. She can't even look at him at the moment. Alec sulks away, begging for forgiveness as he leaves the door. All he gets is silence, except from Joshua who growls at him. Max holds back her tears. She knew she shouldn't have gotten hopes up anyway. She wonders how she'll ever face Logan with this. Joshua can only give his arm for comfort.

Into the night, Lydecker races in his SUV, evading a shadowy truck out to run him off the road. Again and again, the truck hits his rear until… In the morning, the Sector Police will find the SUV smashed into the harbor. They'll find no body, figuring it was thrown clear, and start dragging the river. They will not notice the odd photos floating to the rocky shore. But that's for another day.

Max and Joshua go to the last address on the list. Success! It is Sandeman's house. Joshua recognizes Father's books. He then finds an interesting item: a walking stick with a Manticore handle. Max recognizes that as the Manticore symbol and shows Joshua the symbol on his jacket. Joshua tells her it's not Manticore. It's Father. She suddenly has a flashback. As a child at Manticore, she saw the cane and a shadow of a man and embraced him. He tells her she's his little one. His special little one. Why is that, she wonders. Joshua pulls her back to reality. He knows Father is not here. Max knows he hasn't been there in the house for a long time, owing to the sad shape of the place. She apologizes to him. It wasn't the plan. It was supposed to be Joshua and Father. Joshua corrects her. The plan is Max, Joshua, and Father. Realizing this, Max offers to help him in his search. She has some questions for the gentleman, especially those involving a certain cure. Joshua knows Father will help her like how the man helped her 'friend'. Father made them. Father can make her better. That is what she can tell Logan…to have hopes up. Max's mood is still blue over losing out a cure for now, but she understands what Joshua is saying. Only Sandeman can help her now. She just has to find him before Ames does.

Later on, Max watches over Joshua as he sleeps by candlelight. They've tried to salvage what they could from the remains of the books and papers to find Sandeman's whereabouts. Perhaps somewhere was a code or map or directions to where he could be hiding out. Max gently kisses Joshua on the head and then blows out the candles. Tomorrow, she's back to Square One. Tomorrow, she helps in the search for Father.

Tomorrow, hope remains...for Max, Joshua, and those fighting to survive at the Year Zero.