Hello Everybody. I've been busy lately and haven't had much time to do much writing or editing but I have managed to go over a handful of stories and put something together. I'll be uploading them over the next week or so. As always let me know what you think. It's always good to know what you guys think of my stories.
This one is a fluffy piece of angst (or is that an angsty piece of fluff) about Max and Logan and a fallen hero named Seth.
Not my characters but it would be nice…
Enjoy!
Fallen Hero
"I remember you." Max said suddenly.
Logan looked up from his plate and stared into those dark brown eyes that hold experience they should not. His soul screamed within of all that should be but still wasn't. "I would hope so." He smiled. She smiled back.
"You don't remember do you?" She asked. "You were younger then."
"That would make you younger as well." They shared a laugh. "Seriously though, I'm trying to figure it out but I'm afraid that I need more information."
"The pier when you were about eighteen. You're father was yelling at you for stealing your Uncle's yacht. It sounded to me like you had done it before." She said. "I remember what your mother said when she walked up to you two. She took a picture of you that day and told your father to be happy that you were okay. He wasn't so happy that you had stolen your Uncle's boat again. It was something about an agreement you two had."
"I used to take that boat every couple of weeks to impress some girl or another. I saw a lot of action on that yacht." Logan said regretting it the moment he spoke. "I shouldn't have said that." He mumbled not realizing that he had spoken the thought. Max let it slide. "Uncle Jonas didn't like me or Dad. It had something to do with my Mom and Cale Industries. I never learned why the family disliked her so much."
"Why do you think? I know you Logan Cale. You analyze everything at some point or another." She said. 'Do you ever analyze me, us?' She thought staring into his eyes as she took another bite.
"I think she kept my father grounded. He was a wild man when he was my age."
"Like father like son, eh?" Max asked.
"It's not like that." Logan said. "I'm not wild like my father was. He was always trying this scheme or that one to make money. He did some dangerous things which captured the attention of the government. It was how Cale Industries was born. They saw some talent in him."
"Not like you at all. You don't play a dangerous game. You're just trying to save the world. Not like there's anything dangerous about taking on crime lords and corrupt mob bosses and violent military organizations breeding super soldiers. You're not a wild man at all. You're nothing like your father." She said with a mischievous smile.
"What are you trying to say, Max?"
"You knew you're uncle didn't like you or your dad." Max said. "I could tell. I watched you for over an hour that day. I had gone down to the dock to stow away on a boat. I'd got this ingenious idea that I would leave the country and that hopping a boat would do the trick." She smiled. "I picked the wrong boat and ended up in LA and eventually found myself with the Chinese gang in the old Asian theatre."
"I remember them. Didn't they get shot up by a rival gang?"
"Yeah." Max muttered under her breath. "Lydecker's gang of remarkably sadistic soldiers."
"Rumor was the Brood did it. I heard the report and saw the images. My people there told me the Brood were mean but didn't have that kind of firepower." Logan offered trying to cheer Max up. He could see something akin to loss in her eyes. "You were there weren't you?"
"No. I was actually in Seattle looking for my brother…" She paused. She knew he knew Seth but she wanted him to initiate that conversation so it wouldn't sound like she was making accusations or pointing fingers. "My brothers and sisters." She continued. "I had come to Seattle to find you and ask for your help in finding them. You know the rest." Her smile came off weak and forced as silence again descended upon the room.
"You're the girl that ate my sandwich under the pile of old barrels and greasy rope on the shoreline." Logan said. He didn't intend to change the subject but he noticed a small light returning to her eyes. "I had walked over there to relax while Dad went to settle things with Barb's parents. Mom gave me the sandwich she brought and took another one to the girl, but the girl's mother threw it into the ocean and yelled at Mom."
"Sorry I ate your sandwich." Max said.
"I had some fries."
"I hadn't eaten for days. When you slid your hand behind you…"
"I told you to go ahead and eat it."
"Yep." Max smiled. "It was the best sandwich I'd ever had."
"I don't know about that." He said. "And by the way I was only fifteen. It was my last fling before I was being shipped off to Yale."
"Trust me." Max said. "Until then, the only meals I had eaten were stolen, mostly rotting fruit and protein based glop at Manticore. You were the greatest…" She let the thought drop before she got herself in trouble.
"I don't know about that but I'm glad I could help." He smiled.
"You always help." She said. They ate in silence occasionally letting their eyes rest on each other. Logan was surprised when Max helped him clean up after dinner. She washed and he dried.
"You heading over to Crash tonight?" He asked.
"I was thinking about it…" Her thought trailed off as the lights went down. They turned to the windows and watched each grid go down in its turn over the entire city. She laughed. "Guess I could stay for a while."
"I'd like that." Logan said. "I'll get a bottle of wine and meet you in the living room."
"I'd like that." Max smiled walking into the room. A feeling hit her suddenly and she felt a twinge in her stomach that she didn't want to. Her first thought had been seizure, but she was shore that wasn't going to happen. She had had a very easy day and was relaxed. Something was on her mind though and it was affecting her whole body. She prayed it wasn't her heat cycle. That had recently happened and she had dealt with it in the usual manner. A long, long ride on her baby and a long, long day trip down to reality.
Logan walked out of the kitchen and watched Max lighting candles for a few minutes. When she got to the shelves along the wall he noticed she lingered in front of the few family pictures he kept there. She reached up and touched his face on the picture Max had found at the main base where the attack drone had been kept, the picture they had used to track Logan when his Uncle's partner had tried to kill him. Logan clinked the glasses and made a noisy entrance. Max lit another candle.
"I was thinking about heading up to the cabin next weekend." Logan said as Max joined him on the couch. "I've secured some advanced tech from a contact of mine and need to set it up somewhere. I could set it up here but… I'd rather have it as far away from me as possible but still within my control. I'd be working most of the day on Saturday to make sure everything was up and running."
"What kind of tech is it?" Max asked.
"It's some routing software and a new set of servers that will help The Informant Net expand as well as giving it added protection. I lost an entire server last week to a random home invasion and I realized just how vulnerable The IN is."
"You can't call The Informant Net vulnerable because some gang busted into some guys house. C'mon, Logan, randomness happens. Just because you lost a server doesn't mean you are in danger."
"Maybe not me personally…" He said. "But it is my obligation to protect the net and I failed in that task as well as protecting someone that worked for me." Logan said. "I work hard to protect my informants and when I lose one, it just gets to me."
"So that's why you've been quiet this last week." Max said.
"I guess. So will you go? I could make up some excuse and get you out of work for a few days." Logan asked.
"Of course." Max said. "I Love that cabin." Max said. 'Alone with you for three or four days?' Max thought. It would be perfect. "As long as you don't detour us to some charming little resort town again." She smirked.
Logan leaned back on the couch and reached his hands to the Exo. "This thing gets heavy. If you'll excuse me a moment…" He started to get up but Max put a hand on his ankle.
"Let me help." Max said. "Where's your chair?"
Logan stared at her hand for a full minute. When she didn't remove it, he smiled. "There's not much you can do really unless you want me to sit here in my boxers."
"Right." She said. She smiled as he stood next to her near the couch. 'It wouldn't be that bad to see him lounging in his boxers.' She thought.
"But you can push my chair into the room for me. It's in the office." He smiled. She smiled back and moved for the chair. He headed toward his bedroom. She wheeled his chair in and found him sitting on the edge just staring at the floor.
"What's wrong Logan?" She asked.
"I'm sorry." He said. "I wanted to tell you, but I had no proof. I wasn't sure how it happened, just that it happened."
"What are you talking about?" Max walked over and knelt in front of him. "Tell me. It'll be okay."
"I think you already know." Logan said. "At least, I'm sure you already suspect."
"What is it, Logan?" She asked. "Tell me."
"Seth." Logan said. "He used to work for me. I…" He looked into those deep brown eyes and could see the moisture forming. "I found out about Manticore and I tracked down one of your sibs. I, he had been living here in town pulling jobs on locals. He hit my parent's old place and I caught the whole thing on video. He was my first real operative. Before him I was restricted to taking down small time hoods that I could handle myself. We did a lot together and I never really questioned his actions. Manticore training gave him an edge and helped build the reputation Eyes Only has now. People were afraid of me and there is power in fear. His abilities gave him an edge that even the best soldier couldn't match."
"Logan." Max started.
"Max. I lost him. He was just supposed to transfer some paintings for Eyes Only and take out the bad guy, but something went wrong. Someone else was there. Someone else got into the mix and it all went sideways. I wanted to find out who. I tried to find out. I wanted to make them pay. To this day I cannot find out who or what the anomaly was."
"It was me." Max said.
"What was you?" Logan asked. "You were there?"
"I had been living with the Chinese clan for a few years. Moody was their leader and he wanted me to stand beside him but I had seen a news story about you on the local stations one afternoon. It was the footage of Seth fighting a squad of sector cops. I decided to take the chance and come up here to find you. Find him." She said.
"That's how I got hooked up with Vogelsang. I was paying him about a grand a week for nothing or so I thought. I had come across a painting and was trying to sell it. Vogelsang hooked me up with a fence that could help, but some guy called Sterling sent an idiot and the whole fence went south. I tracked the real deal to the space needle."
"Did he die?" Logan asked.
"He did. Lydecker was there and Seth didn't want to go back. I tried to save him, but he just let go and took Sterling with him. Seth and I had already taken care of the Koreans and Kafelnikov."
"The brood leader? How did he get involved?" Logan asked.
"He was ex KGB or something. He had connections that Sterling needed to fence the stolen goods." Max said. "It wasn't your fault."
"Of course it was my fault. I put him in danger every time I sent him out."
"Logan, we're soldiers." Max said. "We thrive on danger. It is what we were made for. I'm sure that he would have told you 'no' if he had not wanted to do it. You didn't kill him."
"I told him to bring the painting to me and he could keep the money. He just wanted to move to Canada and live a life in peace." Logan said. "Instead, I got him killed."
"Logan…"
"Don't Max. Don't." He dropped back on his bed and stared at the ceiling. Max didn't move. She stayed there watching him breath and brood over what he believed to be his fault. They stayed there for a while until Max reached out and started to undue the buckles on his exo. She was pulling the third one apart when he slowly pulled himself into a sitting position and looked down at her as she finished with the left knee and moved to the right ankle. He pulled the thigh straps and slid the unit toward Max. She pulled it the rest of the way off and set the exo on the floor by the bed stand.
Logan sat there feeling helpless. He stared down at Max. She looked up into his eyes.
"What now?" He asked finally.
"We can do anything you want." She said. 'Where the hell did that come from?' She asked herself.
"We could move to the French Riviera and let the world fend for itself. I could certainly live easier knowing you weren't risking your life on some fool Eyes Only mission."
"Could you really do that?" Max asked. "Leave the world in CHAOS?"
"No." Logan admitted.
"Neither could I so I guess I'll have to settle on a week long vacation at the cabin with the best man I know." She smiled.
"I'm sorry." Logan said.
"For what?" She asked.
"Seth." He said. "I should have told you sooner. I should have told you how I found out about Manticore in the first place. I should have…"
"Logan." Max interrupted him. "Seth let go. He didn't want to go back to Manticore so he let go."
"But I should have told you."
"You just did." Max said climbing up on the bed and sitting as close to him as possible. She reached out and wrapped her arms around him. "Logan. Before I met you I was only doing enough to survive. I was a thief and a fugitive. Nothing more than a survivor."
"There's nothing wrong with surviving." Logan said. Max smiled.
"I thought I had a lock on it, you know? My training had kept me out of so much trouble and helped me become one of the most feared thieves in the business down in LA. Then I got to Seattle and I met you. You saved me Logan. You gave me something bigger and better to shoot for, something to believe in. You showed me that I could make a difference.
"When you got shot, I thought that would be it. I had no idea that you would turn around and get your head back into the game from that wheelchair. I stayed away from you for three months because I didn't think you had it in you. When I saw the EO hack I had to come back. I NEEDED to come back."
"Why?"
"You are the greatest man I know, Logan Cale." Max smiled leaning in close to him. "They say that behind every great man is a great woman." She could feel his breath on her chin as she stared into those ice blue eyes she adored so much. "I want to be that woman."
"I won't risk your life anymore." Logan said.
"I don't care." Max whispered. "I just want to be near you. I want to be a part of your life. I need to be a part of your life and I need you to be a part of mine."
"Why?" Logan said. "I don't understand. Just knowing me is a risk."
"You are a great man, Logan. You are doing great things and playing a very dangerous game. You need me to watch your back at the very least and I will always get your back." She smiled and gently let her lips brush against his. "I know you can protect me, Logan, so let me protect you." She said. Her voice turned husky as she whispered the words into his mouth before they fell back onto the bed in each others arms.
Well there you have it. I hope you enjoyed it. Don't be shy with the reviews. I thrive on the praise and devotion you all heap on me. Seriously though, let me know what you think.
This is a short piece from the season one Future History which includes these stories and others...
One…………Recovery
Two…………White Out –- coming soon
Three……..Hunt for the Eyes
Four………..The Trouble with Jondy –- coming soon
Five…………The Industrial Cycle –- coming soon
Six…………..Shadow of the Cat –- coming soon
Seven………Joe –- coming soon
There are more in the series but I haven't edited them yet. Four will be coming shortly and five is a five part series that I am currently editing.
Two was lost to a collection of unlabelled mini discs I burned off shortly before I upgraded my machines a year ago and I have only recently found it. It explains how White came to be involved in the game after Logan rescued Max from Manticore.