"Okay, I've got an Eyes Only job lined up," said Logan.
"Great," said Max, clapping her hands. "Let's do this thing."
"You ever hear of Herrero? He was a famous crusading journalist that disappeared some years back. Anyway, his daughter contact Eyes Only. She reckons there is more to it than that."
Logan handed Max a stack of photos. Max flipped through them. One was taken from a birthday party, presumably Herreo and his daughter, surrounded by streamers and wrapping paper and balloons, grinning for the camera. This cheery family snap theme occurred in all the photos.
"She sent me these," Logan continued. "I looked into it back when he first disappeared. It's all coming back to me. Everybody wanted Herrero dead-cops, mob, political bosses. Basically, he gave anyone who was dirty a reason to kill him...and they did."
"She's looking for the truth," said Max. "I mean it's too bad. Her dad vanishing is a big hole in her life, but I dunno, finding out whether he was murdered isn't gonna bring him back."
Logan shrugged. "I know what you mean. I feel for her. I guess knowing is better than not knowing. It'll get rid of the question marks. You still wanna help?"
"Name your help," said Max.
Logan did. He threw down the gantlet with the challenge of some breaking and entry. Something he presumed that a cheerleader would be ill-equipped to handle. For Max, it could be a typical Thursday (minus the payout and the weekly affair).
Max swaggered into Fogel Towers the next day before class and handed over the stolen CD cases she lifted from Municipal Building. "The CDs, as requested, Mr. Cale."
Logan raised his eyebrows, but quickly inserted one into his laptop. "Do I even want to know how you got these?"
"Girls kick ass. Says so on the t-shirt," said Max.
Logan's eyes flickered from his screen to her chest, confirming that yes, it did say precisely this on the t-shirt. He rolled his eyes. Not quite the reaction she hoped for, but still, worth borrowing the t-shirt from Emma. Logan was way too single minded to be distracted from these CDs by anything less than a fire right now.
Whatever. For Max, the job was a bit of fun . Much better than teaching snot nosed brats fractions. That was it. Nothing more or less (unlike Logan – this was his life blood). It wasn't like Max actually cared beyond keeping up appearances.
"Thanks for this, by the way," said Logan. "I didn't think you'd get on this so soon. I meant to give you something first."
Logan gestured at a wooden box on the coffee table. Max narrowed her eyes at it. Was that supposed to be? She reached for it gingerly, as if there might be a bombed inside and opened it, finding a gun. Her first ever present and it was a gun? Typical.
"Not to sound ungrateful, but I don't really do guns," said Max. Adding, "falls under one of the big 10: thou shall not kill."
Lydecker gunning down Eva was still too fresh in her mind. Max didn't have a choice in Manticore about using guns. It was a matter of put up and shut up. That sort of defiance and weakness was inconceivable – certainly an extended trip to Psy Ops and probably a starring role in X.
Out here, Max could do what she wanted. No guns. All the better that it fitted her persona.
"Ah, okay," said Logan. He pushed the box away out of sight. "I forget sometimes. I don't remember girls like you back when my parents used to drag me to church."
"I wasn't like this back when I was going with my parents to church," said Max. "Speaking of which, you're coming to my world next week. Hope you ready."
"Born ready," said Logan. "You're not finished with this job yet."
"Okay. What next?"
"Spying on the housekeeper," said Logan. "She's looking like the most probable killer. I'll look into it this further. Might get you to install a recorder in the house. That won't be an issue right? Girls kickin' ass and all."
"Whatever."
"You're late," Normal snapped.
"I overslept. Sorry," said Max.
Simple lies worked the best. Normal knew that her schedule was packed. It was him that suggested most of her extracurricular actives. It wasn't exactly shocking news if she struggled to balance everything from time to time. Normal already knew far too much without telling him extra Eyes Only scandal.
"Thought you didn't sleep," said Normal. He gave Max a hard look.
Normal hadn't outwardly reacted a couple weeks ago when Max made this quip, but obviously he stored that tidbit away to throw in her face. That man was paying far too much attention to Max for comfort. It made her skin prickly. Normal knew too much and was too smart. Too much watching and he'd figure everything all out.
"I guess my body probably needed to catch up," Max muttered.
"Yes, well, catch up on your own time, girlie. Sleeping in 'til noon…Christ on a bike. That's what's wrong with America today."
"Yes sir," Max said through gritted teeth.
A sarcastic retort would be much more satisfying (and not unexpected). Politeness, however, would distract Normal. Being called sir almost gave Normal a hard-on. It would be the only thing he would remember from this conversation, pushing away his suspicions for another day.
Normal complained a bit more before leaving Jam Pony in Max's hands. Logan dropped by after work, as planned, and joined her for after school homework club in a disadvantaged school in sector 2.
"So what's our story?" Logan asked. He killed the engine, but made no move to get out of the car, just drummed his fingers on the steering wheel.
"What do you mean?"
"What are you going to tell them about who I am?"
"A bored rich kid with grandeur notions about saving the world?" Max quipped.
She tilted her head and studied Logan's profile. She hadn't thought about this. What was Logan? She could hardly introduce him as a business partner or colleague (if that's what they even were). He didn't exactly fit in with her college friends. One thing was for sure, everyone would have lots of fun thoughts and opinions on the subject of Logan.
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
"Boyfriend," said Max decisively.
Logan smirked and raised his eyebrows. "Boyfriend?"
"Yep."
"Does that sound believable? That a good little Christian schoolgirl is dating a man ten years her senior? No funny business. Just honest to god good clean fun? No one will buy that. Try again."
There was a hard nasty edge in Logan's voice. This, it seemed, was a touchy topic. Why? Was this a matter of reputation or something else? This conversation seemed to extend in front of them like an endless minefield.
"I don't know what you're getting at here," Max admitted. "Are you worried about your reputation? That people will think you're taking advantage of me?"
"Amn't I?" Logan countered. "Dragging you into this Eyes Only stuff? The only way we can cover that up is by making everything look dodgier. I think we should call the deal off. All of it. Including your help with Ben. I shouldn't have gotten you involved. I'm sorry. You probably should forget about everything."
Shit. This is the opposite of what Max wanted. Damn Logan and his stupid conscience interfering with her plans.
"You didn't make me do anything. I knew exactly what I signed up for," said Max firmly. "I'm not a fragile innocent damsel being tricked and conned by a big bad man to suit his own agenda. That little role play is all in your twisted imagination. Deal not off."
"Max-"
Max cut Logan off with a kiss. It was quick and chaste and made her want much more. Max pulled away. "Too late. Show has started. Get your game face on."
That's it! I'll quickly fill in some blanks here. In the episode, Max plants the recorder and sees the guy is still alive and kicking. Logan ad Max arrange her his daughter to contact him again and she ends up killing him. Logan is disappointed. This all happens. What doesn't happen? Max helping out Sketchy with his money problems. Original Cindy still does and probably someone else, and Sketchy finds the money in another way. Max isn't really a part of that gang in this version of events and probably isn't even aware of it. In addition, Max is cheering and research off-screen.
I will be following canon pairings more or less, but different events gives characters different motivations, hence this fake relationship between Max and Logan. It's not real, not yet, but it took Max and Logan awhile to get there in the real version of events.