AUTHOR'S NOTE: My first Elysium story. I must admit, I am a bit obsessed with the character of Kruger and the actor who portrays him has fast become one of - if not my absolute - favorite actors. I've tried to keep him in character as best as I can, but as I didn't create the character, there will be some OOCness, especially towards the end of the story.
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with the movie Elysium or its creators or actors in any way. I write this purely for the fun of it.
Summary: Kruger abducts Max DeCosta's little sister to lure him out into the open where he can retrieve the stolen Elysium information. In the process, his sister manages to crack his armor little by little. Does he manage to wedge himself into her heart and soul as well? Or will she simply loathe him more and more as the days pass?
Warnings: Throughout the story, there will be graphic and not-so-graphic violence and killings and some - possible- love scenes thrown into the mix as well as lewd language and molestation. If you are not into any of that, I suggest you not read the story.
AN 2: The storyline arc is basically the same as in the movie, but I've lengthened the amount of time Max has to live to fit in with the plot of the story and other details will be altered as well. Whatever I get wrong or spell wrong or say wrong, I sincerely apologize ahead of time.
The dry air that littered the world around her surrounded Sharra DeCosta and she gagged on the heavy dust that flew into her mouth when she coughed. She hated this place! So dusty, so rundown, when once upon a time it had been a thriving metropolis - or so all the history books had claimed.
Throwing the hood of her cloak over her head, Sharra stepped beneath the shade of the nearest low-hanging roof to stare longingly up into the clear blue sky. She could just barely make out the circular ring of the Elysium station out there in space between the earth and the moon. Her heart ached to be up there - safe environment, clean air, disease-free - and away from here. Away from this absolute hell that she was shamed to call home. She remembered in vivid detail how she, her older brother Max, and Frey used to talk about their dreams of getting up there one day. Of saving all their money and buying their own house or condo for just the three of them.
That was way back when they'd all been living in the orphanage - her and Max's parents had just been killed in an industrial work accident two days before they'd arrived at the orphanage. They'd been permitted to go to the funeral, but then Sharra and Max had been hustled quickly off to the nearest orphanage the social workers could find. Frey had been living in that orphanage nearly her entire life - her own family having turned their backs on her once her mother had passed away from terminal lung cancer. The three of them had bonded immediately and clung to each other for the entirety of their time there.
Sharra sighed as she pressed her hand to her chest, trying to ignore the pain inside, the longing. And not just for a better life up on Elysium. No. She was also longing for love and the powerful embrace of a man's strong arms around her. Aside from her brother, she'd been alone all her life and she was dreadfully lonely.
Sighing, Sharra pulled her cloak over her head and scooted back out into the bright burning daylight - back to the ramshackle house she shared with Max.
Sharra sighed as she stepped into the darkened house twenty minutes later. She flipped on the lightswitch and nearly screamed at the sight of her brother leaning against the wall near the bathroom, chest heaving as he struggled to suck in sobs. Metal was embedded deep into the nerves of both his arms and some kind of black metal computer had been drilled into the back of his skull.
Dropping her cloak and small black bag to the floor, Sharra rushed to his side. "Max! Max, what the hell - what happened to you?! What is all this?"
"Ju-Julio," Max rasped, throwing his arm around Sharra's shoulders as she pulled him towards the single bed in the house - the bed they alternated sleeping on every other night.
"What about Julio?" Her eyes fell on the right side of his stomach and for the first time she noticed the wound, the blood soaking into his shirt and causing the material to cling to his skin. "Jesus, Max, what the hell happened to you?!"
"Julio's dead," Max rasped. It physically pained him to even speak. His left arm was wrapped tightly around his own midsection as he rocked back and forth. "I shouldn't even fucking be here. They're looking for me and I don't want them to find you -"
"Whoa, Max, slow down. Who's after you? And - Julio's dead? Are you sure?"
Max glared through the sheen of tears that filled his eyes. "I fucking saw that bastard slam his fucking sword through Julio's chest, Sharra!"
Sharra ignored the painful flutter in her chest at the loss of a good friend. Right now she needed to tend to Max. Max was the priority right now.
"I'm so sorry, Max." She tenderly pressed a kiss to the top of his head. "I'm going to call up Frey so she can work on your stomach and then we're going to have a very long talk."
Sharra started for the phone in the kitchen, but Max reached out to wrap a hand around her slender wrist. "Don't," he whispered, voice gruff. "I'm already endangering you just by being here. I'm not going to do the same to her."
"Well, what about the hospital?"
"Again, too dangerous."
"Your wound needs attention, Max."
"It doesn't even matter. Unless I can get up to Elysium for a medbay, I'm going to be dead in a month or so anyway."
Sharra's eyes widened to the size of saucers. "WHAT?! Max, what the fuck is going on?! You're not telling me a damn thing! Why are you going to die? What happened in the last couple of days that I've been gone?"
Max closed his eyes and released a deep breath. "I was exposed to radiation at work a couple of days ago. Enough to be fatal."
Sharra collapsed onto the bed, eyes still wide and skin ashen.
"I went to Spyder to see about getting a ride up to Elysium. The radiation poisoning - as you know - can be healed by a medbay."
"Okay." Sharra released a deep breath of her own. "But I'm sensing that something went wrong."
Max nodded. "Yeah. A lot of things went wrong.
"Spyder agreed to give me a ride to Elysium if I did one job for him. The job - at the time - sounded simple enough - a simple extraction mission - and I don't want to fucking die, so I accepted the offer."
"What, exactly, was the offer?"
"All I needed - all I needed to do was get some information out of this guy Carlyle and get it back to Spyder. I got the information, but it came with a heavy price. Some military goons - looked like mercenaries to me - showed up and everyone but me and this one other of Spyder's men were killed. The guy who killed Julio - he's the same guy who stabbed me. Almost cut my fucking head off and would have if Julio hadn't saved my life. He's maniacal, that one. And he's still after me for the information that I'm now carrying around in my fucking head."
Max hung his head between his legs to keep himself from hyperventilating.
Then he abruptly jerked his head up to face her. "You have to get out of here. They'll use you to get to me and I won't be much help to you in the condition I'm in."
"Leave you alone? I don't think so, Max. Besides, where am I supposed to go? There's no place I could stay besides at Frey's and I'm not going to intrude on her and Matilda that way. I'm staying here."
Max choked on an affectionate laugh. "You're so stubborn."
"It runs in the family, bro."
Sharra sighed and rubbed at her face to get her own tears under control. "Well, Frey taught me how to stitch a little, so I'll go grab the first aid kit. We've got to get that wound taken care of."
Max nodded and watched her as she moved smoothly through the house. He remained in his spot as she sat back down next to him, remaining still as stone as she cleaned, disinfected, and bandaged the knife slice in his abdomen.
"I love you, Sharra," Max muttered, tone serious as he stared at the top of his sister's head.
She looked up and instantly frowned. "Don't fucking talk like that, Max. You're not going to die. We'll get you to Elysium and you're going to be fine."
"Still - I want you to know that I love you."
A small half-smile spread across her face. "I know you do. I love you too."
AN 3: Oh yeah. Also, Max and his sister have kept in contact with Frey throughout the years and so they know all about her daughter.