Life Is The Infamous Edge

"You sure you wanna get into this so soon, Bulldog?" A voice crackled down Chloe Price's earpiece, causing her to sigh. She cracked her knuckles and continued her stretching, lifting her leg and pulling her knee closer to her chest.

"Fuck yeah, Frank. I've been out'a comission for two months, and I'm running out of scrip. I need this shit, my rents due, and Tori wont be happy to cover my ass again."

An audible sigh came back through her piece, and she simply chuckled quietly as she pulled her hair back. It was getting longer, she needed to cut it again. Maybe Courtney could help with that. Tori might be able to contact her.

"Alright, there's never any changing your mind. But you're going with the new recruit. She'll be with you in a half hour, give you some time to run around and get the wind back."

"You're shitting me. I'm saddled with the newbie? Can't you put her with Rachel, or have her run solo jobs? I work better alone, Frank, you know this!"

Frank's voice was harsh suddenly as he spoke, before it relaxed into its usual commanding yet calm tone. "For fuck sake Bulldog! You're the best runner this ratshit group has. The newbie has potential and talent, she'll fit right in, but you know the rules. You handle this assignment nicely and I'll get you one of the major leagues. And we have fucking nicknames for a reason, start using them."

Chloe snorted. No fucking way was she using those dumb ass nicknames. She was barely able to tolerate people calling her Bulldog. He had a point though, if they got caught using real names, they may or may not be completely fucked.

"Why can't fuckin' Rachel, or Justin, or hell, even fucking Logan take her! I just got back to running!" She protested down the mic, her stretches finished.

"Nicknames, Bulldog! Retriever can't do it because she's already on a job, but she's meeting up with you to collect the pack. Beagle is probably lying in a den somewhere, stoned off his face, and Labrador fuckin' broke his spine remember? He's out of comission and will be for the forseeable future. The job I'm giving you is so simple even a fuckin' cat could do it. Get the pack, deliver it to Retriever by the radio tower, and she'll handle the rest. It's less a job and more a training session for our new recruit before she gets her new job. Usual scrip is still coming though."

Chloe just sighed. "Fine. But I'm going off for a training run and coming off the line. My alarm is set for fifteen minutes, so I'll be back in time." She removed her earpiece, turning it off and tucking it safely into the pocket of her running pants before taking off.

Nothing felt as good as she did while running. The heavy rhythmic footfalls of her sneakers on the rooftops, the whistling of the wind past her ears and the soft pants that left her mouth all mixed together to create a cacophony of noises that mad everything perfect. Eventually her alarm went off, and so she came to a stop against a large AC unit on the top of a shopping centre she had landed on. Leaning against it for a moment, she exhaled slowly and itched an exposed shoulder before tugging at her baggy pants. Her fingerless leather gloves were then removed as she rubbed her hands together to itch her palms together, before letting out a heavy sigh.

"Fucking Frank saddling me with the newbie. She probably cant even fucking land correctly."

Her ranting continued as she turned and made her way back to the stop, pausing once she had scaled the pipe to the rooftop she was supposed to meet this newbie at. The girl was already there, leaning against a storage unit on the roof.

Maxine "Max, never Maxine" Caulfield stood impatiently, waiting for her 'teacher' to make an appearance. She was supposed to be here already, and as anyone who knew Max would say, Max wasn't very good at waiting for someone else.

A hand came up from the edge of the building, and - after a little grunting - up came a face, followed by a whole body. Max glanced over, chewing on the gum in her mouth still as she watched the moving figure. Bright blue hair, baggy white pants and a black tank top, a tattoo of a skull with vines, roses and butterflies over her right arm, black fingerless gloves, and a shit eating grin to follow through. Yeah. This was her 'teacher'.

"You must be the new kid. I'm Chloe, but Frank'll make you call me Bulldog. I'm your partner for this run. You know what you're doing?"

Max's hand moved to grip the elbow of her left arm, something she always did when slightly nervous. Years of time with a loud, brash group in Seattle however had given her false confidence, so despite her inner turmoil, she spoke with bravado.

"As much as anyone else. I've been running for years over in Seattle, but some shit went down and I had to come here. I already knew Rach, she hooked me up with Frank, so here I am."

She met Chloe's cobalt hues, and couldn't help but scowl a little at the completely disinterested look the woman gave, and scowl more when she spoke.

"I like the fact you think I give two shits about how you joined up. Come on, we've got a job to run and I want home. If you're hella talented, prove it. Any shmuck can boast."

Max rolled her eyes and turned. Already she was frustrated. This woman was going to be a big steaming asshole and Max was forced to work with her for now. Great. She wanted to play games? Time in Seattle had made her an expert at these kind of games.

"Then lets go." She said, before moving quickly. She scrabbled up the storage unit and pulled herself up, before running and leaping over to another roof, landing and rolling out of it.
She was good at what she did. One of the best in Seattle. She figured she might as well make some money out of it.

Max was up on the next building, looking over at the bluenette who had yet to make the jump. The girl was grinning, and her voice rung out through the air.

"You move fucking quick, new kid! Frankie said you were good, but I didn't think you'd land succsessfully!"

Max snorted as she put in her earpiece, turning it on. She gestured to the female, watching as Chloe removed her own and turned it on, before she spoke down the mic.

"Are you feeling threatened that someone might be better than you at something? We have a job to do and I wanna get home." She mimicked the taller womans words back to her, and couldn't stop the smirk that crossed her lips as the bluenette's grin fell into a scowl. She turned and took off, chuckling quietly. Her chuckles were joined by another voice, and Max recognised it as their boss, Frank.

"Not many people mock Bulldog like that. You got guts, kid. Shame she's gonna catch up and rip them out of you."

"If she can catch up, that is." Max giggled in return, only to be rewarded by more laughter from Frank, and muttering that she only assumed was Chloe. This was good. Rapport with her boss was good. Plus, a little competition in her work didn't hurt anyone."

"So anyway, we're meeting someone to drop off the package, and then what?" The brunette asked, pausing once she reached the building where the package was supposed to be hidden.

"That's where your job ends for the day. You'll go home once the package has been verified and the payment sent, and we'll break you off part of the scrip." Frank said down the earpiece. Max face fell ever so slightly at the mention of home, but her voice remained the same.

"Gotcha. Where is this package supposed to be? I'm on the rooftop. Wait, hold on. I see the plants. Thanks, Kennel Master. Tell Pompidou I said Hi!"

"No problem kid."

Max glanced around before kneeling down to examine the rooftop plants. After a bit of hunting, she eventually found the yellow bag and grinned, lifting it over her shoulder. Tightening the strap so it didn't fall, she turned and was immediately met with the smirking face of her 'teacher'.

"'Sup, New kid. Gonna tell me your name or you gonna run away again?"

Max reached for her elbow again and slowly inhaled, but her false bravery wasn't as easily seen through. She spent many years mastering it.

"Tell you what, Chlo-mydia."

Chloe made a face of disgust at the nickname, but the short brunette paid no attention.

"You catch me, and I'll tell you anything you want, even after you were a rude asshole earlier."

The other girl scoffed, and Max let a soft grin touch her lips. False sense of security.

"Kid, I've been running these rooftops since I was fourteen. I know them like the back of my hand. Half my scrip says I can catch you in ten minutes."

Max beamed slightly and thrust her hand out. "Deal!"

The bluenette gripped the brunettes hand firmly, leather on leather squeaking slightly as they shook. After a moment of watching each other, Max took off, shoving past Chloe and leaping over the gap. She landed and gripped the edge of the building, pulling herself up and not even looking behind her as she stuck up her middle finger to the taller woman.

"Ten minutes has started, Beanpole!" She said down the mic, grin wide on her lips. "Better ask Kennel Master to divide the scrip now!"

She planted her left foot on a small wooden box, her right on a slightly taller one, and then jumped and pulled herself onto a large AC. That seemed to be a recurring theme on these rooftops. Glancing behind her breifly, she noticed Chloe was fairly close.

She hadn't wallrun for weeks now, but she simply threw herself into it, feet hitting the side of the building and momentum carrying her forward. She then leapt off, gripping the railing of the fire escape and scrabbling up. She landed on her feet and darted up the stairs as fast as she could, two at a time. Chloe wasn't too far behind, so after a moment she clambered onto the railings and leapt, gripping the edge of the building next to her and yanking herself up.

"It's been five minutes, you lanky ass! Betting your scrip sounds like a bad idea now, hm?"

Chloe was fucking furious. She was going to lose half her scrip to this smart bitch. She gave chase as best she could, but somehow, SOMEHOW she was unable to catch up to the girl. She'd landed badly on that wallrun and hurt her ankle slightly, so that burning pain simply made her angrier. She yelled down the earpiece, hoping Frank could hear her.

"Frank! You said she was a newbie, how the fuck is she outrunning me?! Where the fuck did she come from?" She panted, speeding up slightly as they were coming up to a rather large jump. She watched the package carrier leap, and for a second it looked like she made it, until a sudden shriek made her stop in her tracks.

Max had leapt too early and missed the edge, and for a second she plummeted towards the ground like a stone. Her right arm shot up suddenly, and everything seemed to freeze in place, before moving backwards slowly. A slow purple spiral surrounded her, working its way to the very end. Her body moved, lifting through the air and placing her back on the roof, mid run. This time, she waited till she was at the very edge of the damn building before leaping.

"Frank! You said she was a newbie, how the fuck is she outrunning me?! Where the fuck did she come from?" Chloe panted, speeding up slightly as they were coming to a rather large jump. She watched the package carrier leap, and couldn't help but admire the girls form as she made it across the gap. It was a pretty big jump, but the girl had managed to grip onto the pipe on the edge and shimmy up, climbing onto another AC and then strangely coming to a pause.

Frank crackled back into existance and spoke down the air, Chloe and Max both listening in closely.

"She used to run with a pretty big crew over in Seattle, after Arcadia Bay. She met Retriever whilst in Arcadia Bay, leaving after the freak storm in 2013 destroyed the entire town."
He sounded like he was reading this off a file, and Chloe managed to climb up the side of the building to catch up with the other female.

"I don't appreciate you spilling all my secrets to my sworn enemy, Kennel Master." The brunette said, flashing a toothy white grin to the other female as she sat down.

"If it's any consolation, Greyhound, you're getting half of Bulldog's paycheck. The least you can do is let her know who she's up against."

"You're kidding, Frank. It's been ten minutes already?! Fuck! I don't have to give her that much, do I?!" Chloe said, glaring at the other female who was kicking her legs off the edge of the AC. The brunette looked up and gave another grin, along with sticking her thumb up.

"We shook hands on it, Beanpole." She muttered, and Chloe wanted to punch that smug grin off the shorter girls face.

"Greyhound is right, Bulldog. You know the rules. Greyhound, fill Bulldog in, I'll go see if I can get in contact with Retriever and see where she is." The audible static and then slow beep into silence let them know Frank had come off the line for now, letting them use real names.

Max exhaled slowly and lay back, looking at the other girl upside down. "This is the pick up, and because Retriever isn't here, I'll tell you a tale."

Chloe moved and sat next to the female, cross-legged and playing with her leather glove. Max watched her for a moment before giving a grin.

"The name is Max. My last name holds some negative connotations, so we're not gonna talk about that right now. Remeber the freak storm that Frank mentioned? After it destroyed my hometown, I left the place. Too much bad memories. I knew Rach from Blackwell, and when she told me she got a gig with some fairly decent people, I knew I had to join up. I spent a few more months in Seattle saying goodbye to everyone, found Rachel and she set me up here. I was running with a pretty small but famous group in Seattle though. You ever hear of a group called The Conduits?"

Chloe sat up suddenly. Had she ever heard of The Conduits? Duh, of course she had! She'd wanted to run with them ever since step-douche kicked her ass into the streets.

"Holy fuck Max, you're a member? Thats so fucking awesome!"

Max shook her head. "Was. Some shit went down when one of our group, Hank, went a little crazy and crashed a bus into a junkyard. They brought in some other childish asshole. Liked to think of himself as a "Bad Boy", in reality he was just a douchebag with a self-righteous, self-centered attitude." She used air-quotes to describe the male. "Damn, I hated that guy. After a pretty heavy argument he had with my running partner and girlfriend at the time, I almost killed the guy."

She sighed, leaving out the part where she HAD killed the guy, and simply wiped that part out of existance with her powers. Chloe didn't need to know about Max's abilities just yet, nor about the abilities of her running group. Not many people made it into The Conduits. They were very selective about their members.

"So I went back to Arcadia Bay. I was born there, moved to Seattle when I was thirteen. The place was familiar there. Some...shit went down involving a teacher at Blackwell, and after the tornado wrecked the place I wanted to start again. I was good at taking pictures, but I'm one of the best at this kind of thing...and this was gonna make me more money quicker."

She then suddenly grinned. "I still sometimes get messeges from the old group. Or at least the two I like. They miss me. I don't plan on heading back though. After Hank died, Delsin - the new guy - went on a bit of a rampage and ended up attracting way too much attention. They even ended up making a special task force to hunt us down. We'd lived pretty harmlessly with the civillians, we didn't hurt them, they didn't hurt us...but Delsin got into some serious shit. Abby - she'd kill me if she knew I was calling her that - and I eventually got so torn over it that we just kinda...stopped. I left a couple of months after, like I said. We still talk, she calls me quite often. I'm sure if I was to go back, I'd take her back in a heartbeat. You'd like her. She's kinda like you. Bright pink hair, crazy attitude and she's super good at what she does."

She stretched out, and her t-shirt lifted ever so slightly. Chloe glanced down and noticed several scars running over the smaller girls stomach. Her brow furrowed ever so slightly, and she glanced over to ask, only to spot a familiar long-haired blonde in the distance.

"Here's our pick-up." She mumbled as she stood, and Max sat up, turning to the figure in the distance.

"Well well well, if it isn't my little Maxine! I figured Frank would pair you with Chloe here!" Rachel yelled as she got close, and Max grinned as she stood up. She then darted forward and caught the blonde in a tight hug, before stepping back.

"Max, never Maxine. And yeah, she's been showing me around and getting her butt handed to her at the same time." Max shot back, cockily lifting a brow to the taller girl behind her.

"Fuck off, Maxine." Chloe grunted, folding her arms before glancing over to Rachel. The blonde was sipping her one feather earring around in her fingers, something she did when feeling nervous, michevious, or both. The looks the blonde kept giving to Max only further cemented Chloe's suspicions. The bluenette had fallen for those amorous looks and playful teases before, leading to some serious heavy petting in her apartment. A shiver ran up her spine.
Those times had been fun, but bad. They both agreed it had been a mistake a few days after that, and had simply went on like it never happened.

"Well, Maxitron, as a reward for kicking Priceless' ass, earning yourself a bonus, and delivering this package unbroken to boot...I'm extremely tempted to ask you out to dinner." Rachel flirted, catching Max's deep blue eyes with her own hazel ones.

Max shuffled on her feet, hand moving to her elbow and squeezing it tightly. "Uh...no, thats okay. But can you point out a motel to me?"

Chloe tilted her head in slight confusion, listening closely to Rachel explaining the route to the nearest one. "Can't find a place to stay?" She eventually asked, and Max shook her head.

"No, most apartments require a deposit and I have fifty bucks until the scrip from this job comes in."

Chloe and Max met eyes and simply watched eachother for a moment before the bluenette pursed her lips.

"You can crash at mine tonight. My roommate is a bit of a stuck up prep, but she shouldn't be any problem. You can crash at mine and tomorrow I'll help you hunt down an apartment."

Max blinked at the woman, before a shy smile touched her lips. "If you're sure...T-Thank you. I'll buy drinks and stuff, we can hang out."

It was amazing how fast Max's fake bravado fell away around these two girls. Rachel, who she had known for years, and Chloe, who she had only just met. She was back to her quiet, shy self. Great.

Chloe glanced over to Rachel, who was staring at Max with an expression one might see on a shark when it spots a tasty looking seal.

"You wanna come along, Rach?"

The blonde looked over to the taller girl and then simply shrugged before giving a grin. "Of course! Let me drop this off and I'll meet you there. Through the window?"

"To the wall." Max mumbled under her breath, and Chloe had to fight back a laugh.

"Yeah. C'mon, Maxi-Pad. Let's leave Lara Croft's less attractive sister to do her job. Oh! By the way, how much scrip are we getting?"

Rachel was examining her flawlessly painted nails, lips pursed. "A thousand bucks. Max is getting three thousand since you bet half you're scrip."

Max's mouth dropped open in shock, at the exact same time Chloe's mouth released enough curses to make a sailor blush.

"Fucking Frank! Does everyone know about that shit?!"

"Yeah." Rachel smirked. "Frank relayed the messages around. Logan thinks it's fucking hilarious, and Justin was too off his face to say anything coherent. I have to go, I'll be at yours at the usual time."

Chloe just nodded and waved her hand in frustration, before glancing to a stunned Max. She lifted her hand and clicked her fingers in front of the female a couple of times, waking her up from her shock.

"Maximum Prime, what's gotten into you?"

Max was still astonished. Three thousand dollars?! For running a simple job that required no escaping the cops, no gathering intel, no assault, and no murder.

"Why is it so much money?" She asked, and Chloe blinked.

"The fuck do you mean so much? The job cost ten to run. Rach gets two, I got two, you got two, Frank got two, and whatever's left gets stored into the vault. Isn't that the amount you got paid in Seattle?" Chloe said, strawberry blonde eyebrow lifted.

"I never got paid in Seattle." Max answered with a shake of her head. "The money we got from jobs was usually piss poor and went back into stocking up the home base. We all just kinda hung out there unless we were running. We had food, clothes, a bed each, and all that shit."

"How the fuck do you have fifty bucks in your pocket?"

"Oh. Uh..." She grabbed her elbow again before inhaling slowly. "I may have stolen some cash from the vault before I left. Delsin wanted to build an expansion to the base, a firing range, but that was bullshit. So I broke in, stole all the cash, and fucked off to Portland for a while. This is all I have left." She gave a harmless smile, before turning her back to the taller female who was watching her with a slack jaw. "We should go to a store and pick up some food and shit for tonight. My treat."

Chloe closed her mouth, and just stared at the back of the other womans head.

"Uh...sure. Lead the way."

A/N: So I had this idea in my notebook for a while now; a cross over between three of my favourite video games. Mirrors Edge, Life is Strange, and Infamous: Second Son. Let the story commence! (TAGS: AmberPrice blatantly mentioned, eventual PriceField, blatantly hinted ChaseField, NSFW for Smut (At some point), mentions of rape, drug use, violence and kidnapping)