Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Dark Angel, no money was made here.
***
November 20th, 2019
2:30 PM
La Casa de Café, Veracruz, Mexico
Max had a covert stakeout at the coffeehouse for the next three days, waiting for the guy to come back. It was the third day, and she was inconspicuously sitting in the corner with her hair tightly pulled back into a ponytail and her black baseball hat and sunglasses on. She glanced up from the newspaper she was pretending to read with indifference just as he walked in. She stayed in the corner, beyond his field of vision, as he ordered a cup of coffee. Funny. If he weren't an old friend of mine he'd only seem slightly evil. He walked out and Max got up as soon as the door closed. He got in his car and started down the road. As soon as he was a safe distance away, Max jumped into the car and Logan drove (they had had an argument about Max going alone. Logan won).
"So you're sure that it's him."
"Yes! I told you before. I never forget a face." Logan paused, and looked over at Max pensively as he drove.
"OK," he said, turning his eyes back. They drove in silence for a few more minutes, although it was hardly tranquil. Logan felt kind of weird about Max being able to see the car and he couldn't, but he wasn't going to complain over something so trivial. "Still see him?" he asked.
"Yeah." They had been driving for over twenty minutes, and were now in the midst of a desert-like area.
"I wonder where this road leads. There haven't been any roads branching off it for like fifteen minutes now. Did you catch what it's called?"
"No. I don't think there was a sign where we started." She was trying not to think about 'where this road leads'. If it had anything to do with Lydecker, she wasn't joyfully anticipating it. She looked out the window and saw the guy stop. "Stop the car- he's getting out." Logan hit the brakes and they got out of the car and stared down the road. The guy jumped out of his car, looked around at the ground for about ten seconds, and got back in the car. He started it up and veered out, off the road. "What the hell is he doing?"
"Wherever he's headed it must be out there," Logan said. They looked at each other and both got back in the car and drove until they got to the spot where he had stopped. They didn't need to see his car anymore because he had essentially blazed a trail for them in the sand. Max looked around on the ground just like the guy had, and saw three little circles in a line drilled into the asphalt. Normally she wouldn't have even noticed it. They got back in the car and followed the tire tracks for about ten minutes. Logan stopped the car about a hundred feet before what looked like a sector checkpoint. "So what do we do now?" Logan asked. Max took off her jean jacket. Underneath she was wearing an extremely low-cut crimson tank top.
"I work my magic," Max said, getting out of the car. She smoothly sauntered over to the checkpoint. Logan was getting more uncomfortable every second. When she got to the two officers, with a virtuous (albeit seductive) smile on her face, the men brightened up a little from their long, hard day of sitting on their asses.
"Hey baby," one of them said. He actually reached out and put his hand on her hip. This is gonna be easier than I thought.
"Hey boys. What's a girl gotta do to get past the checkpoint?" she asked, suggestively, looking at them innocently with her big, chocolate eyes.
"Sorry, baby, boss says no one goes. Why dontcha stay here, with us? I'm sure we'll find something creative to do," he said, coming closer to her face, oblivious to the obsidian tempest that was she. She would have snapped his neck right then, if it hadn't been for the guard standing next to him with the assault rifle. She feigned a ditzy giggle.
"Sounds like fun," she said. She beckoned them both closer with her finger and furtively whispered into their ears. "But I've got work to do." She grabbed the gun and threw it skidding across the road. They didn't even have time to react as their windpipes were cut off, each by one of her hands. Their eyes drifted shut and she locked them back up into the sector post. She went back to the car. Logan was staring at her. "No problem," she said.
"Um… are they dead?" he asked, eyebrows raised.
"No. But they'll be out cold for a good three, maybe four hours."
"Ah," he said, nodding. He started up the engine. "Remind me to kill them later," he said, driving off. Max smiled and put her jacket back on. They got about a quarter of a mile away from the checkpoint, when Max repeated her earlier statement.
"Stop the car." Logan did. She got out.
"What's that?" he asked, seeing something small in the distance.
"A building. I can see towers around it, so I'm guessing we're not gonna get a whole lot of hospitality if we just waltz on in," Max replied. Logan didn't even have to ask to know what she was going to say next. "Look. I know you don't want me doing anything alone and all that, but I'm not letting you go in there. So don't even try. I don't want to bruise your delicate male ego or whatever, but it'll be faster and easier if I just go in there and check it out and do whatever needs doing."
"Max."
"This was my idea and I'm going alone. If anything happens I'll get out, I promi-"
"I know it's pointless to argue with you, you just have to promise you'll be careful."
"Definitely," she replied, and they sat there for a second. Logan hugged her remarkably hard, even she had to admit, and kissed her cheek just as hard.
"Not that this isn't enjoyable, but just so we're clear. It's not like this is goodbye and I have a death wish," Max reassured him, each still grasping the other.
"I know," he replied. "Just try to create as little trouble as possible and get out of there fast?"
"Scout's honor," she said, putting one hand over her heart and one in the air.
"I'm having a very hard time picturing you as a Girl Scout."
"Oh, yeah. When I was a child it was right up there on the list. Weaponry, telecommunications, sparring, brownies. I was two badges away from-"
"OK! I get the point," Logan interrupted.
"Can I go now?" Max asked.
"Yeah, yeah. Go. Just hurry." So saying, he reached into a bag he had put in the car earlier without Max's knowledge. He pulled out a little box and opened it up. "Put this behind your ear," he said, handing her a small, circular piece of metal. "I'll be able to hear you talk, and any especially loud noises." Max took the little device and did as she was told.
"What, dontcha trust me?" she asked, climbing out of the car. She shut the door and, as she walked away, put on a confident exterior for Logan's sake. Good thing he can't see your face.
5:00 PM
30 Mi. North of Tehuantepec
Max cautiously made her way up to the circle of lush trees surrounding the fence. Guards were everywhere. She had a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. And she usually had pretty good intuition.
"This can't be good." She hadn't realized she'd said that aloud, and she had unknowingly succeeded in making Logan quite uneasy back in the car. She heard a twig snap a few feet behind her and whipped around to find an insipid guard who hadn't even seen her yet. She soundlessly jammed his head up against the side of a tree before he had a chance to say anything. She immediately went back on alert. Not seeing or hearing anyone near, she continued on towards the fence, scaling it in less than two seconds. She landed gracefully on the other side, and moved swiftly through the shadows. The building was guarded commendably, but she could handle it since most of the watchmen were bumbling idiots. She got up to the building and moved adjacent to the wall until she found a small window near the ground. She broke the lock off and slipped inside, after checking to make sure no one was there. The room was dark. As her eyes adjusted she saw two rows of chairs, one row on each side of the room. The armrests had straps, and there was another strap that would go around the waist. As she took the room in, she noticed a table in the back with trays on it and decided to take a look, staying out of the view of the security camera. There were various tools. She picked up a scalpel and glanced with malice at the syringes in the corner. She looked back at the chairs and saw a scene playing out before her. It was a little boy in surgery with lots of doctors. If she hadn't been basically trained to smell fear (or been in his situation before), she would have been absolutely unaware of the boy's anguish, with his defiant, cool face. An officer, drinking coffee and giving orders. She blinked and it was gone. Great, now I'm hallucinating. She put her ear up to the door out of the room and heard someone coming. She ducked near the hinged-side of the door as it was opened and the person looked inside. She waited a minute and went out. As she walked down the hall she heard shouting and went towards it. It sounded distantly familiar, for some reason. She ducked into a medium-sized room when a guard walked by. There were five cots in a row on one side of the impeccably spotless room. She got out of there fast, feeling like she had landed right back where she escaped from a decade ago. Continuing on down the hall, she froze in place when she heard the familiar voice. Lydecker. Show time. She peered around the doorframe to where the voice was coming from.
"Intruder!" a young, but powerful voice called. It was a child. Guards ran toward her and drew their guns.
"Hold your fire! Get her!" Lydecker yelled. The guards rushed to Max to subdue her. She took out the first two with a swift roundhouse kick to the face. She grabbed the third's right shoulder with her left hand and punched his stomach with her right. He groaned and she kneed him in the crotch as he fell down, wailing. The last one ran to her and she leaned him over and elbowed him on the back of the neck. Then she turned to Lydecker and kicked his radio out of his hand before he could call in any more guards. She cornered him as the five tiny children, no more than five years old, watched, not knowing what to do.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now," she commanded. He was slightly disconcerted, but still maintained some of his confidence.
"Give me one good reason why you should," he replied calmly. She knew that throwing a tantrum would not help so she kept her face devoid of emotions.
"You tortured us. Used us as lab rats and worked us until we almost died. And now it seems you've learned absolutely nothing from the fact that we escaped and you've started over," she said, motioning towards the kids. Unable to hold herself she punched him, hard. Blood streamed from his nose.
"So go ahead. Why don't you just kill me," he replied, his eyes wide and wild. She stood and glared at him. "You wouldn't dare, just as I thought. You need me. I created you, and I'm the only one who knows everything about you." Max stood there, still in a fighting stance. Pictures flooded her mind of her whole life, starting at Manticore. Then to foster families. She pictured her life now, and how it had recently become perfect. Friends, a home, and Logan. The ideal existence. And Lydecker wasn't part of any of it. She didn't need him, or her past. She broke out of her thoughts and stared at him, hard, filling him with fear from her steely glare. He froze as she moved closer to his face, a wicked smile gracing her features.
"What can I say, Donald? You brought me into this world, and I'm taking you out. Kind of ironic, isn't it?" His eyes widened.
"What about them?" he asked, motioning to the kids. "They don't know how to function without me. I raised them." Max scoffed at him, disbelieving what she'd heard.
"Raised them? You call what you did to us and these poor kids raising? You know, Deck, I always thought you were brilliant. An over-confident, psychotic, merciless, cold-hearted genius. I guess I over analyzed. You're nothing but a jackass. If you think that you were preparing them, giving them and us what we needed, and not just satisfying this condescending, fascist, bullshit wet dream of yours, then you're nothing but a complete and utter jackass." His eyes remained on her face, still wide in apprehension of what was most definitely to come. "So, Donald. What exactly, If I may be so bold as to ask, inspired this… benevolence?" He didn't understand, his mind spinning. He flinched at her every slight move. "What motivated you to provide for and raise these kids?" she asked, her voice draped with acrimonious incredulity at how self-righteous he was being. He was speechless. Somehow the smell of death to come had wiped away his sick sense of nobility. She raised her eyebrows and looked at him expectantly, as if to say 'Well?'. Still he didn't answer. She never really looked forward to killing someone, and this case was no exception. Although she would have far less remorse for her actions here. She was doing these kids good. The world would be better without Lydecker. He contributed nothing to society or, from what she could tell by looking at the children, was never of any comfort or support to anyone. His world revolved around tormenting people, children and adults alike. And he just refuses to believe the fact that his precious children will overtake him, and continues on, without a care in the world. She decided she better get this over with fast, since she might back down from what she knew needed doing.
She looked back at the man after the bargaining going on inside her head was complete and realized that he'd drawn a gun. A single blast fired.