Title: Broken doll
Author: Shanee
Pairing: M/A eventually
Rating: R (not really in this one)
Setting: AU after the escape of 2009.
Disclaimer: No, I don't own DA's characters. So don't sue me; I'm broke. I only own my own characters. And I don't own any Pharmatech in the world, it's a fictional place.
A/N: Here is chapter 7, and yes, finally some M/A action but I'm afraid it's not the kind you are waiting for. But enjoy it for what it last. I can't promise you'll see a lot of them in the future chapters.
Drum rolls…!!! Entrance of a missing character. When I first watched DA, I didn't dislike Logan at all, I was your average M/L shipper, now I'm grown up and I find him boring, especially in all the fics I read. This chapter and the next will probably have some Logan bashing, but I hope it won't be too cliché and you'll like my portrait of him.
Oh, and the next chapter will be darker, be warned.
djonie: Come on, are you reading my mind or am I that predictable. Good guess.
Timetowaste247: yes you were right, it was a filler. This one is better, I hope.
vballfanatic: your wish should be fulfilled ;-)
HikaruOfArrow; thank you very much.
Important A/N: this chapter is unbeta-ed, Dezy, my wonderful beta reader is too busy with her life currently, so sorry if you find too many mistakes. Remember, I'm French, and English is only the third language I learned. If one of you wants to beta my next chapter, until Dezy has more time, feel free to mail me or review. Thx.
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Amy Derrick
It already was two weeks since Max worked in the labs of Pharmatech and so far, if she hadn't learnt anything crucial, at least she worked on her cover. Thanks to her photographic memory and her learning skills, courtesy of Manticore, she was able to fool anyone that she was who she pretended to be. She was a chameleon like that character of 'The Pretender' that pre-pulse TV-shows she had watched a night. Give her a day and a book and she will be a doctor, a Nobel prize, a mechanic or a prima ballerina.
Glancing through her microscope, Max sighed; it was so damn boring.
"What's up Amy?" asked her nearer colleague, a geek in her mid-thirties. "Something wrong?"
"No, nothing, that's the problem. It's not the reaction I expected," Max mumbled in her English accent.
The woman laughed. "Are you telling me that you're teed off because it actually works? Did someone already tell you that you're weird?"
"You can say that, Alice."
Was she weird? Was a lab-made revved up killing machine weird?
"Hey Amy, do you have a date for tonight?" Billy, another co-worker in his late twenties, asked her.
"Oh right, the party. I forgot. I don't know if I'll come."
"Come on, Amy, you have to live a little. I'll pick you at seven." Before she could protest, the man had already left the lab.
"Great," she grumbled, making Alice smile.
"He's not so bad, and I saw ugliest."
"I know, but I don't mix business and pleasure."
Alice nodded in understanding.
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Hours later, Max didn't regret to be at that party anymore. Of course, she had Billy, following her like a puppy in love who didn't seem to take the hint she wasn't interested, but she was right in the place she had to be. The party wasn't only to Pharmatech's employees but also for the members of three other branches of Cale Industries, and the boss was there, mingling with his close collaborators.
Lewis, her chief, had presented her to Jonas Cale and Max couldn't help but shudder at the recollection of the libidinous look the big boss had given her. She knew it could be easy for her mission if she replied to his expectations, but she wasn't ready to do that, with him, even for the sake of a mission. It would have another way to approach him. Eew…
"Amy, come here. I want you to meet an old friend of mine!" Lewis called her again.
Managing her naïve and interested smile, Max walked towards the head of her lab, who was discussing with a blond guy with glasses.
"Amy, meet Logan Cale. Logan is Jonas' nephew, he's journalist and I know him since he was a toddler. Logan, meet Amy Derrick. Amy is our new hired prodigy, she's brilliant and she's new in town, freshly arrived from Oxford." Lewis could give lessons to Bridget Jones.
"Nice to meet you," replied Max with her best polite and shy voice.
"Pleasure is all mine," Logan said with his, probably, best charming smile.
"Now that the presentations are done, I leave Amy in your hands, Logan, and please behave."
"Who do you think I am, Lew? I always behave, especially with such a beautiful lady."
Refraining to roll her eyes, Max forced herself to blush.
As soon as Lewis had turned his heels, Logan was entirely focused on the beautiful girl in front of him. Lewis had told him she was smart and knew nobody in town, and god, she was gorgeous. Logan had always loved women and he had known a lot of really pretty ones. But this girl had something else; she was perfect. Brown silky locks, perfect little nose, voluptuous full lips, deep mysterious eyes, a tan which would make the Californians frown, endless legs, curved back and her breasts, oh her breasts, which looked ready to escape from the blue fabric of her dress.
The man was so enticed by her appearance, his eyes devouring her whole body, that he didn't realize that Max was perfectly aware of his oggling.
'All right, I know I'm perfect, Manticore made me, but could he droll a little less', wondered Max. She was aware nobody could compete with her or her fellows X5, but for what she had heard, the prodigal nephew had had his content of beautiful girls, and he could refrain himself better.
She smiled shyly at him. If she had to flirt a little to achieve her mission, she would rather do it with him than with his uncle.
"So, Amy, right?"
She nodded, still smiling like the naïve geek she was supposed to be.
"Are you English?"
"No, actually I'm American, born in Ohio. But my parents moved in London after the pulse, and I always lived there since."
"And how do you like our country so far?"
"It's… nice?" she tried timidly.
Logan laughed.
"Seriously…"
"It's dirty, and scary. We have poor in England, but nothing like that. I'm glad I live near the lab, I wouldn't have to walk in those streets at night."
"Me neither, and I'm a strong man."
Yeah right. Max had to fight her urge to snort. Instead she gave him an admiring look.
"But we have some nice places too. I'll be happy to give you a tour of our museums and restaurants."
"That would be nice." Careful Max, you're naïve, not ditzy. "I love art. When I was little, Dad always brought me to visit castles and museums. I saw the Louvre, Fontainbleau and Chambord the first time we visited France. I was eight and I was amazed." Let's go with the story of Amy Derrick. Give the man something to speak else than the weather. And Max had really visited those castles during previous missions, so she knew what she was talking about.
"Really. I visited the Louvre when I was seventeen, but I have to say at that time I wasn't really interested in Art, more in the ladies." He winked at her and Amy blushed when Max had to bit her cheek not to crack up.
"So, Amy what would you say if I said let's go elsewhere?"
"I really don't know," Max looked at the floor, biting her lips and playing with a curl, obviously embarrassed. "I mean… you're kind of my boss. I'm not sure it would be smart. And we just met, we don't really know each other."
'I agreed to flirt, but don't think you will get laid,' she groaned in her head. Men!
"Oh sure, Amy. I'm sorry. I didn't want to make you ill-at-ease, and you're right. We don't know each other. Not yet at least. Maybe I could call you, sometimes in the week, and we could go to a museum, as friends."
Amy beamed, and Max snorted inside. "That would be wonderful."
Logan grinned. This girl looked like a challenge. He would have her, even if he had to be patient. She would be his tour de force.
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It was four days after the party and Max had received a bouquet each morning, which annoyed her male co-workers, made the girls gush and Lewis smile knowingly. Logan had called her and she had agreed to visit the Asian museum in his company the next day.
She was now sat on a bench in a park, and the spawn was sat on the bench behind her.
"I read your reports," Sandoval told her.
For every pedestrian around, Max seemed interested in her book.
"I understood that Logan Cale seems to have shown an interest on you."
"Yes, sir, it seems so."
"Do you think it could help you to achieve your task?"
"It seems so, sir."
"All right. Do it!"
"I'm sorry, sir? What do you think I have to do?"
"Do what the mission requires. Do what you have to do to gain his trust and to be in Cale's secrets."
"Yes, sir, but I'm not sure Logan Cale knows anything interesting. He's the prodigal nephew, with a reputation of spoiled son and womanizer. He seems only interested in throwing money by the windows and annoying his family. It would be easy for me to go into his sheets, but I'm not convinced it would help the mission."
"You're right, 452, but he's also the genuine heir. He will be the boss when he turns 35, or at his uncle's death, and we're sure that with your help, he'll quickly want to know everything about his inheritance."
"You want me to convince him to grow up and look after his heritage, sir?"
"Exactly. We are certain that Logan Cale could be a really useful pawn for Manticore, especially when he will be the head of Cale Industries."
A dread feeling reached Max's stomach; it sounded like a really long long-term mission. If she had to wait for the man's 35th birthday… But no, it wouldn't. Even if Renfro disliked her, she would never lose a soldier for so long. Max probably would have to kill the uncle as soon as Logan will be Manticore's new puppet.
"Any questions, 452?"
"No, sir."
"Perfect. We'll contact you for the next meeting point."
Sandoval stood up and walked away. Max waited ten others minutes before quitting the park.
The night was falling and she knew where she would go now. She had noticed it the first week, but she hadn't been able to go there before. She needed to act like little naïve Amy in case she was watched, and Geek Amy would have no reason to climb there. It was too 'dirty and scary'. But now, she was sure she wasn't watched, neither by Manticore, who wouldn't have a reason to do it, nor by Pharmatech, which seems like an honest enterprise, as far as a pharmaceutical company could be honest.
Tonight was her night and she was free to go there.
She entertained herself, stirring her muscles jumping from roof to roof, just for the pleasure not to conform herself to the rules of the city and to avoid the Sector cops. She had an all-sector pass, but that was too boring and too ordinary for tonight.
She was soon at the top of the Space Needle and she sat in the wind, looking at the dark city in front of her. The High Place, she had found it. For the first time in a long time, she thought about her family and especially about her brother Ben. Where was he? Was he happy? Had him all the girls throwing themselves at his feet? Yeah, probably, he was Alec's twin after all, a gorgeous male. Then Max thought about her best friend. Where was he? Was the mission going well? Did he miss her like she missed him? Probably not, he wasn't touchy-feely like her. Oh, right, she wasn't either. But she still missed him. He was her first friend, her male best friend, her confident, her… something. Max often wondered if Renfro was aware of the close bonds her two best soldiers shared and if it wasn't one of the reason she always separated them.
Thanks to the others, Max knew about Alec, even if she never saw him anymore. Their friends always told her about their missions and they were aware that Max suffered to be left aside. So she knew about his missions, his successes, his records, about the time when Blondie deliberately didn't go in Iso just to throw herself at him but ended in Bull's arms because Alec wasn't interested, or about Lola, Biggs' and his best intercourse. It was almost five months since she had last seen him and she hoped he was okay.
Max was so deep in thought that she didn't hear the person approaching in her back. But as soon as the wind brought his smell to her nostrils, she jumped on her feet and into his arms.
"Alec!"
"Max? What are you doing here? In Seattle."
"Long-term mission, like you. And you, what are you doing here, on the Space Needle, not that I mind?"
"You always told me about Ben's high place, so I come here to think."
"About?"
"A lot of things. But stop talking about me. Talk about you. How are you? How is your mission? Did you grow up again, since the last time?"
"Shut up, you know I didn't. Smart-ass." It was their joke, Max was petite and her body didn't seem to want to grow up more. "But I'm fine, always when you're around." She smiled at him and he laughed. The others always said they were continually flirting when they were together, but that was their special thing, their way to react to each other. It didn't mean anything else, and surely not what was in the dirty minds of their unit mates. They were just really close friends. "And the mission is boring. I have to spend the day in a lab, looking through a microscope, hoping to make a big discovery, and now I have to open the eyes and wake up the conscience of a spoilt grown-up brat, in order for Manticore to have a new puppet."
Alec frowned at what she said.
"How?"
"How do you think? Flirt, gain his trust, play with his mind. Pick one."
"Are you okay with that?" He knew Max really wasn't fond to seduce her targets. She always found another way to achieve her missions, but he knew she hated being in that situation. He was also aware that she wouldn't always find another way, sometime there wasn't another way, and he dreaded the day that would happen.
He knew Lydecker didn't want Max to use her charms for a mission, but he also knew that Renfro didn't care and would never tell him. And Max was too damn stubborn being the perfect soldier that she would probably sacrifice herself for a mission. So Alec decided he would alert Lydecker about her mission as soon as his ended. The Colonel was too busy with the 09ers to know everything concerning Max, but he had trusted him with Max's safety and Alec knew it was his role to protect her. Even if that meant protect her against Renfro's orders.
"It will be okay, don't worry, Alec, I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself."
"I know you can. After all, you learned from the best." He smirked and she slapped his shoulder.
"Smart-ass. Tell me about your mission."
"Max!?"
"Come on. I told you about mine. So tell me about yours. It's not like I don't know your specialty."
"Robert Berrisford. You have in front of you Simon Lehane, Rachel Berrisford's piano teacher."
"Nice to meet you Simon, I'm Amy, Amy Derrick, Oxford genius. Would you play for me one day, Simon?"
"Maybe Amy. It will depend on what you will do in exchange." He added with his signature smirk.
She played the game and smiled seductively, whispering in his ear. "I could… gave you something…" She licks her lips and Alec felt his throat dry suddenly. "… to cure the seizures!" She laughed at his miffed face.
"Party pooper," he groaned, and added after an instant. "Was you serious?"
"Like death. I told you, my mission is boring, but I have all the time I want to experiment some chemicals compositions. And I'm actually working on something, which could be better, more efficient and quicker than the Tryptophan, and of course cheaper."
"Nice." They still had seizures. Manticore had looked for a way to treat them, but if surgery worked sometimes, some other times they had lost their soldiers during the operation, so they had decided to put them all on Tryptophan.
"I could even sell it to Manticore. What do you think about my idea?"
"You're a genius, but be careful, they will be pissed if they realize that you play with them."
"Yes, daddy."
"Eew, I'm not that old, and I'm not Deck. And don't you dare call me brother either."
"All right, Dick."
He groaned and launched himself at her. She laughed and quickly stood up in a fighting stance.
"Spar time, Dicky."
"All right, Bitchy."
Both missed their fights and they quickly started their special 'dance', laughing all the way.
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It was their third date, and if Logan knew something, it was date and date's rules. At the third date, you get laid. Of course, usually he didn't need to wait for the third date, but Amy wasn't his average date. For one, she was smarter than three quarter of his ex girls together, and for two, she was shy. If he didn't knew that with a body like hers, it was impossible, he could believe she was a virgin. But she was English, twenty-two years old and a science student, three facts that prevented her to still be a virgin.
Escorting her to their table in the most beautiful and expensive restaurant of Seattle, Logan was undressing her with his eyes. She wore a simple dress, printed with minuscule flowers, and with her hair cascaded down her back, she looked like Innocence personified. She didn't look more than twenty tonight, but every eyes were on her as she walked and Logan felt proud like he never had felt. She was his girl.
He loved being the attention of the room, and he could feel the envy in all the men's stares. That was definitely addictive.
He was telling her about his life and she was attentively listening to him. She looked completely entranced by his person and his words, not that was something really new for him, he was used to girls who were interested in him, but those girls had never seems as genuinely interested as she was tonight. She was a smart woman and she looked at him like he was God. He loved that. So he smiled more and continued to regale her with his past adventures.
Max had a cramp. She was admiring the man in front of her for one hour and her face hurt. It wasn't that easy to look fascinated when the object of her fascination was that boring. Come on, did he really think the story of all his past famous conquests would turn her on? Listening to him, Max had quickly found out what was Logan's favorite subject. Him, him and him again. The man seemed to live to be worshipped. At least, she had her angle. It would be easier to convince him to become involved in his company if she could convince him it would do good for his persona.
Playing the clueless girl again, Max smiled at him and kept her hand close to her chest, as far away of his as she can without looking suspicious or not interested. Less she gave him a chance to feel her up, better it was.
"But I talk, I talk, and I know nothing about you Amy but your love for chemical reactions." What a geek… "Tell me about your childhood, and your family. I'm sure your parents must be wonderful people to have such a daughter."
Here it comes. Amy gave him a tensed smile, while Max laughed and recalled about 'her story'.
"Not exactly," she said in a breath. She had to give him the impression she confided in him. "I have been adopted when I was a baby, I never knew my real parents." Strike! She had caught his whole attention, and pity was showing. She had to involve his feelings, or she would never be anything else than a notch in his bedpost. "My foster dad is really authoritarian and he's not often at home, always away for his job. But he truly loves me. Contrary to my foster mother who can't stand me and is the reason I left England." Amy tried not to look affected, while Max was congratulating herself to be such a good actress.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't want to remind you of her."
"No, no, it's okay," she pretended to be brave. "Besides I'm not unhappy. They gave me a great education." 'scoff' "And I probably deserve my mother's anger. If I hadn't run away from our house when I was little, she probably wouldn't hate me so much."
"You ran away? Why?"
"I wanted to see the real world. My family has always been secluded. But when they found me, Dad was furious and they sent me in that boarding school. I never wanted to see the real world after that."
"It was that bad?"
"I don't want to talk about it." She gave him a small smile.
"Of course, I'm indiscreet. Sorry."
"It's okay." Indeed it was. He was right where she wanted him, interested about her and concerned. "But can I ask you something personal?"
"Of course, Amy," he replied with his most charming smile.
"I don't understand why you don't work in your Industries. You're licensed from a good University, you're 28 and you're clever, so why?"
"I think I love my actual life too much. I'm not ready to be serious."
"But aren't you bored sometimes? I know I will if I'd have nothing to do my whole day."
"I do things. I read a lot, sometimes I write an article and I visit museums, and I meet beautiful girls like you."
Amy blushed a little, and Max gritted her teeth. That was lame!
"Don't you want to have something special, something completely yours? A job you could be proud of, your family could be proud of."
"I'm not really fond of my family."
"I meant your family as your own, your wife and kids. You do want a family, right?"
"Yes, of course. Why? Do you want to appeal for?" He gave her a flirtatious wink.
"Oh no, not at all," she exclaimed.
Logan's face fell a second, and Max grinned. Hooked! Now he would want to have her and not only sleep with her.
Logan couldn't believe it. She wasn't interested.
But why? He was gorgeous, smart, rich, a great catch and this girl didn't dream to be his wife, not that she would but still. That hurts.
"Can I ask you why?" His hurt pride couldn't help but ask and didn't care about dignity.
"Oh, it's not you", she nicely said. "You're perfect and I'm sure a lot of women would be happy to be your wife. But it's just me. I don't think I will ever get married."
"Why?" enquired the now reassured Logan.
"No reason. Just a feeling. And I don't know who would want to marry me, after all I'm a geek."
"A really beautiful geek," Logan added and asked for the bill. "I'm pretty sure one day someone will knock at your door and propose."
She laughed, amused. "I think I have too many expectations. I could never marry someone who doesn't fully understand and know me, who doesn't accept me for who I truly am. And I want to be loved, and to love in return. I want to find my Prince charming, but I know there is no Prince Charming for me in this world."
"Of course, there is."
They reached his car.
"So, do you want to have a last drink, somewhere?" he asked with full confidence.
"I can't. Not tonight. My best friend is in town and I promise we will see each other tonight."
Logan hid his disappointment and smiled.
"Do you think you would want to dine with me another day?"
"Of course. I had a great time. You know my number."
With that, she climbed in a taxi. It was so quick that he hadn't even received a goodnight kiss. That girl was definitely different.
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Max was late. Actually, no, they had never said an hour, but still Alec was already waiting for his best friend to come. Sat in the wind, he was deep in thought. He really needed her advice tonight.
The young X5 was confused and didn't know what to do with the feelings his mission awoke inside him. He wasn't conceived to have feelings and therefore didn't know what to do with them. He already had feelings, but they were feelings for his unit mates and that was something easy to deal with. He knew these were reciprocated and he could trust them, himself and his friends. But those new feelings were different and he was lost.
That was why he needed Max. The things he felt for his target's daughter were close to the feelings he had for his best friend, but he knew Rachel Berrisford was far to be his best friend, so here he was, confused.
"Eyes front, soldier!"
He couldn't help but obey the order, then he groaned and turned to see an hilarious Max.
"That's not funny, Maxie."
"Sure, it is. How are you Alec?"
"I'm fine. How was your date?" he stressed the last word.
"Boring as always. I just had fun picturing Renfro as my evil foster mother."
"Jeez, what would you do such a thing?"
"I needed to move my target."
"Did it work?"
"Perfectly."
"How does that progress?" He was worried for her. A part of him wanted her mission to end soon to free her, and another part wanted her to fail to protect her from her target's claws.
"Slowly but surely. He'll call me."
"Great," he grumbled.
"Don't worry Alec, I'll be okay. And you, what's new?"
"I think I might have a problem."
"Really? What kind of problem? Exposure?"
"No, nothing like that. Just the girl, you know…"
"Rachel?"
"Yes, her. She looks like she's interested in me, romantically."
"She wouldn't be the first."
"Yeah, I know that, but it's different. She's different. She doesn't look at me like the others; you know she sees something, someone else. Someone I may like. Someone I want to be."
"Alec, she doesn't know you. Who she sees is not you, is not real," Max's voice was colder.
"But Max I want it to be real. I want…"
"You can't! She's your mission, nothing else."
"Max!"
"What?!"
"Why do you react like that? Why are you angry?"
"I'm not." Max looked pissed.
"Yes, you are!"
"I am not angry! I have no reason to be." Her eyes were challenging him to object, and Alec felt bad, he didn't want to fight with her.
"I'm sorry Maxie. It's just… It would be nice if for a moment I was someone else, someone… pure."
"We are soldiers, Alec. We are not pure. We have blood on our hands, that's who we are."
"I know that… It's just…" He sighed and Max put her arm around his shoulders.
"Just be careful, Alec. Promise?"
"Promise."
"I'll miss you when you will be back at the base. I will be all alone here, with my microscope and my boring 'date'."
"Don't worry. You'll see me soon." He promised and kissed her forehead.
Max smiled at him and they relaxed in each other embrace, watching the lights of Seattle.
"I'll always be here for you."
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A/N : So ? Love ? Hate ? Review !
I hope you enjoyed the M/A scenes, because as I said before, you won't read another soon.
Oh and in the previous chapter, it wasn't a « spare cloak » you had to read but a « spare glock » (the gun). Sorry for the mistake.
No offence to English people intended, with my remark about Max's virginity, it's just that I know us, European, and we aren't really the kind to wait for our wedding night, luckily.
Remember, I need a beta-reader for my next chapter, which is already written, so if you want to apply, you'll be welcome.
