9: MOTHER
Max couldn't believe that Alec and Logan had played her for a sucker. She woke up the next morning more determined than before to find Martina without their help. Her only lead was Warehouse XXX, where Len's nephew had been the night before. It was too early in the day to go to the bar again, especially after what had gone down. She had a feeling that Burt and Francesca might have had more answers than they first let on.
The day was left wide open for Max to explore the city. She knew Jondy had lived here once, before her cover was blown when Lydecker was spying on Zack. It was too much to hope that she might have stayed in San Francisco. Looking out at the Gold Gate Bridge, Max wondered if they would even recognize each other if they did cross paths. Would Jondy even want to see her now? Word about Manticore's destruction had been circulated in tabloid for months, and none of the 2009 escapees had come through Seattle to Max's knowledge.
Seattle. That was where Logan was waiting for her. She wasn't looking forward to the conversation that they were going to have when she got back. Max knew he had meant well but paying Alec to baby-sit her crossed the line. As for Alec, Max shouldn't have been surprised that he had disappointed her yet again. Was it too much to ask that he just do one good deed without expecting something out of it for himself?
While he drove her crazy with his yapping and breathing, she had let herself think that maybe, just maybe he had grown a conscience. In the back of her mind, she had been glad for the company before she learned the truth. She would show him that she could find Martina all on her own. She didn't need him or Logan leading her around.
It was late in the afternoon when Max found herself at Warehouse XXX. She was sure they would be preparing to open up for the night, so it would be a good time to pay a friendly recon visit. The area was a mess, well a bigger mess than it usually was, when Max arrived. There was no police tape, but the skirmish had left its aftermath. She entered through the back entrance, which had been left unlocked.
Max was in the storage area, but she heard voices coming from the main area. Burt and Francesca were probably out there. Max pushed through the door to find Burt arguing with a dark-haired woman Max did recognize.
"I can't believe you let him take her!" shouted the woman, who was backing Max.
"Something went sideways last night?" Max asked out loud, causing the two older people to turn their attention to her.
"What the hell are you doing here?" asked Burt.
It took a moment for Max to register who was standing across from Burt. She looked familiar, but Max didn't know her. Suddenly, she remembered the prison photo. No, it couldn't be… "Martina?"
"Who wants to know?" she asked with her gaze becoming distrustful.
In all the fantasies Max had about meeting her mother, she had never made a final decision on how she would introduce herself.
"You've kept Manticore off your tail all these years with comebacks like that?" came Alec's voice from behind Max.
Martina's face blanched. Leave it to Alec to ruin the most important moment of Max's life since her escape. Martina tried to make a run for the front entrance since Alec had come through the back, but he blurred in front of her before she could make it to the door.
"What in the holy hell is going on here?" Burt asked in a panicked voice.
Martina took a swing at Alec, but he was too quick for her.
"Hold on there, we're not here to hurt you," Alec said as he held her with her arm twisted behind her.
Max inserted herself between them, giving Alec a small shove to allow Martina to stand normally. "Can you not be an ass for five seconds? No one asked you to come here."
The click of a gun brought them out of their argument and back to reality. Burt was holding a small handgun that he trained back and forth on the three people in front of them.
"Now someone tell me what the hell is going on here," Burt reiterated.
"Martina?" Max asked again. The other woman didn't respond. "Martina, it's me… It's Max. Well, I suppose you wouldn't know me as that… You probably haven't seen me since I was born…"
It took a moment for the other woman to process what Max was saying. "Max? That was what they named you?"
"Not exactly. I named myself," Max replied.
Martina's face hardened. "And just what are you here to do?"
Max had to think how to respond. "Well, I'm here to find you… See I escaped in 2009 and I'm trying to find my family… I think that you're it."
Max's mother looked at Burt. "Lower the gun, Burt. If they wanted us dead they would have done it by now."
Alec nodded. "She's totally right about that."
Burt lowered his arm, but he didn't look as though he'd trust them enough to holster his firearm.
"Well… Max and…" she began, but her focus was on Max. She studied the girl standing in front of her, as if trying to come to some type of conclusion.
"Alec," the other transgenic supplied with a wistful smirk. Max rolled her eyes.
"I don't care if their names are Butch and Sundance, someone needs to clue me in on this ASAP," Burt said. "The girl here has been looking for you for days now, Marty."
"Once upon a time, Martina, Marty, whoever, here was locked up in a government facility and gave birth to one… Max," Alec explained. "Max thinks that if she meets her mother, she'll have some magical Pinocchio moment where she becomes a real girl, so here we are. That about covers it."
Burt sighed and went behind the bar. "I need a drink to sort this out."
"I think we could all use one," Alec said.
Max smacked Alec in the arm. How dare he ruin her first meeting with Martina? Where did he get off making her sound so pathetic to these people? "No one asked you to be here."
Max had been expecting a warmer welcome than the one she was getting. There was supposed to be hugging and crying, then more hugging and crying professions at these types of parent-child reunions, if TV talk shows were anything to go by. Maybe that type of reunion was reserved for ordinary people and not genetic super soldiers.
Burt took out four glasses and poured scotch into each. Alec picked two up and handed them to Martina and Max. "Cheers?"
"What is wrong with you?" asked Martina.
"So many things," Max mumbled.
Alec took a sip from his glass. "I'm starting to see the family resemblance."
Martina kept her gaze on Max. "So, you escaped? All the way back then. That takes guts."
"Apparently you had the same thought, since you're out here and not in some Arkham asylum," Max replied. Besides their long dark hair and brown eyes, they looked nothing alike. Max wasn't sure why she had expected those differences to seem less visible in person than in the original photo.
"You look more normal that I thought you would," Martina told her. "I always imagined that you'd be some dead-eyed Terminator style killer by now."
"Hey, don't judge a book by its cover," Alec said. "Cats are nature's perfect killing machine wrapped in adorable packaging."
"Shut up," Max snapped, but Alec shrugged it off.
A thought crossed Martina's mind as she looked between the two of them. "Burt, I think I just figured out how we can get Frankie back."
"Martina, they're a bunch of useless kids," Burt sniggered.
"Whoa, hold on. What are you talking about?" asked Max. "Something happened to Frankie?"
"Carter took her last night as punishment for Marty here's little strike," Burt said. "And I'll have nothing to do with this mess. Vogel already charges an arm and a leg on the rent here, he's going to come for the real thing if I get in any further."
Martina nodded. "We were supposed to grab Carter, but the whole thing went sideways and they got Frankie instead. I need to get her back. It's one thing to try to snatch Carter Vogel from a public location, the girls aren't up for breaking into Len Vogel's mansion."
"Before we help you, mind cluing us in on what the heck is going on here?" Max asked pointedly. Of course, the first thing her mother needed wasn't a hug but a favor from an X5. "Otherwise, no deal."
"I get the feeling you two aren't what you seem," Burt said, looking back and forth at the transgenics.
"Yeah, besides Martina being Max's mom, breaking into a big-time crook's house and stealing something is a normal Saturday night for us," Alec informed him.
"That's what I figured. I suppose I owe you an explanation then to get this show on the road," Martina responded, quickly swallowing back her drink and slamming the glass back onto the bar. "Burt, pour another round."
A/N: I know, I wrote a chapter and disappeared for a couple of weeks. As much as I love writing, I have a job and a life which demand my time as well. But, no joke, I finished writing all the remaining chapters of Between the Lines. Now I just need to edit them, which is just as much work as writing… I'm also finishing XYZ and After Life before I go back to Against Time.
I'd just like to say thank you to everyone who has been reading, your encouragement has meant a lot to me, whether it was in 2008 or 2018.
