A/N: As with my other stories, please excuse my severe lack in updates, if I get pestered enough, I'll update more often. I've hit a block with this story, I think I stopped at chapter 8, but I'll keep posting here till I run out of material.
Chapter Four:
Max stepped back into Logan's apartment, via guest room window, about a half hour later, once again soaked by the torrential down pour that had begun half way up the side of Foggle Towers.
Max found Logan, as usual, tapping away at the keys of his computer, brow furrowed as he scowled at whatever happened to be on the screen. "Hey" She said from the open doorway.
Logan looked up from where he sat. "Hey." He replied, standing as he stretched his arms in front of him. "How'd it go? Did Zack's contact call?"
"Yeah, but not with the news I wanted to hear." Max said, a frown marring her face as she turned on her heel to walk out of the room.
"What happened?" Logan asked concerned as he followed her out into the living room.
"Zack's contact is screwing with us." Max said as she walked over to the window, unable to sit still.
"So he doesn't know where Syl is?" Logan asked sitting down in a low chair.
"Oh, he knows, but he isn't going to tell us unless we accept the other half of his little deal." Max said as she walked across the room again. Logan knew Max well enough to recognize her habit of pacing when she was nervous. Since she hadn't sat still she'd arrived, he figured she was pretty upset.
"And what deal might that be?" Logan asked after Max didn't volunteer the information.
"Well, he'll tell us where Syl is, and he'll help us get her out, plus, as an added bonus, before he runs like hell out of the country, he'll upload a virus onto Manticore's mainframe and destroy all the files. All he wants is a little bit more money."
"Define 'a little bit more'." Logan asked, turning his head as Max walked around him.
"Just four million more than I have any hopes of getting my hands on." Max said flippantly as she threw her hands up in the air.
"Damn." Logan muttered. "Where'd Zack go?" He asked after a moment, finally noticing his absence.
"Like he'd willing tell me a god damn thing." Max said grinning sardonically. "He stalked off soon as he got off the phone with barely a word."
Logan stood silently as Max stalked past him yet again, quietly fuming.
After a few minuets of silence, the only sound being Max's boots falling against the hard wood floors, Logan asked the one question that was burning in the back of his mind. "So, what are you going to do?"
Max threw herself on the couch, flinging her arms over her eyes as she kicked her feet frustrated against the floor. "I don't know. I really don't know. How is Zack and I supposed to get four million in, what, a week? I could sell my bike, call in loans to every loan shark in the city, and rob a bank or two, but I still don't think that would be enough."
"Max, you know I'll help however I can, but even I don't have that kind of money liquid. Everything I have, other than a couple of hundred grand, is locked up in trust funds or Cale Industry stock."
Max smiled weakly. "Yeah, I know." She rose from the chair and started to pave again. "I wouldn't want…" She trailed off as she looked up at Logan. He was standing there; visibly pale, his mouth hanging open comically. "What?" She asked
"Trust fund…" Logan muttered as he turned on his heel and walked quickly into his office. Max cocked a brow, following quickly on Logan's heels, confused by his sudden change in mood.
Max found Logan digging through the back of a filing cabinet, muttering irrationally under his breath. He pulled out a thin manila and tossed it onto the desk, shoving the drawer shut and flipping open the file with one hand.
"What's that?" Max asked perplexed as Logan started to riffle through the papers.
"A copy of my parents will." Logan answered distractedly as he found the source of his search. He quickly scanned the paper before handing it over to Max.
Max read the paper quickly, her mind quickly deciphering the legal jargon. It was a document with information on a locked bank account, one containing a little over five and a half million dollars, a bank account in the name of one Logan R. Cale. Max eyes widened as she read the stipulations on the account.
This is all great, Logan." Max said. "But there is a block on this account, one that only gets lifted when you get married." Max glanced up, continuing to speak. Logan scratched the back of his head and stared at the ground. "How do you…" She trailed off a realization dawned.
Logan could have compared Max's expression to something similar to a deer caught in headlights. "Uh uh." She said, shaking her head and laughing at Logan as she backpedaled out of the door. "You are NOT thinking what I think you are."
Max stood completely still as Logan followed her back into the room.
"What choice do we have?" Logan asked, running his hand through his hair.
"A lot! Quite a few!" Max said desperately.
"Like what?" How can you get four million dollars in less than a week other than robbing every bank in the city, which I don't plan on letting you do if there is any other option."
"So, you want to get MARRIED so you don't have to have a couple of breaking and entering jobs on your conscious?" Max shouted.
"No, I am saying that I am not letting you risk this major of a robbery."
Max was silent, her eyes wide and desperate as she grasped for strings, trying desperately for a reason that this wouldn't work. "Logan." She said, trying to be rational. "That was set up by your parents for you, your wife, your children. I am not going to let you just give that money away."
"Max, do you think that that money means a thing to me?"
"There is no way this could work out. The day you and I get married is the day that they are taking ice skating lessons in hell." Max said knowingly as she backed away from Logan once again.
Original Cindy cocked an eyebrow at Max when she walked back into the apartment several hours later. "Hey Boo."
"Hey." Max said in a strange voice.
"Where's you go. You never came back from that run to Rich-y Rich's place."
"Yeah, sorry. Normal pissed?" Max asked as she walked over to crouch on a chair.
"Yeah, but you've talked your way out of everything else before, so I'm nor worried. So what happened at Logan's house that you couldn't get back to work? You guys finally drop the pretenses and get down to getting busy?" Cindy asked wiggling her eyebrows at Max.
"You know we're not like that." Max said, again her voice sounding strange.
"Then what exactly do you do over there all the time?" Cindy asked, a hand on her hip.
"Well, tomorrow, we're getting married." Max said flippantly.
"You too really need to…wait…what did you say?" Cindy asked confused. "Did you just say…WHAT!" Max stared blankly ahead as Cindy stared openmouthed at her roommate and best friend. "You guys spend months and months denying any sort of relationship and your getting married??"
"Pretty much." Max said, the promptly burst into tears.
Cindy rounded the counter quickly. "Boo? What's wrong? What aren't you telling me?"
Max sniffled out the story, choking back sobs as Cindy held her and petted her head. "And…the worst thing is…we have to stay…married…for a year…" Max sniffled. "Or…the trust fund…gets cut off."
Original Cindy was, for the first time in the history of her existence, completely speechless. "Damn, boo. That's a bitch. That's a real bitch."
"Tell me about it." Max said as she stood to grab some tissues off a table at the other end of the room.
"Well, this may not be the best time to mention this, but considering, at least he isn't ass ugly and mean, and rude."
I can handle living with Logan, right? I mean, we are both mature adults and good friends, we can pull this off. No problem."
"Whatever you say." Cindy said.
Max burst into tears again. "Cindy!" She wailed. "I don't want to be married to someone who doesn't want to be married to me." Cindy noticed that Max had never once said she didn't want to be married to Logan.
"Well, at least you can get him to cook for you more often, right? So just look at the positive side. You get to live in that phat pad of his, and it doesn't even have rats." As if on cue, a small mouse skittered across the corner of the room. Max laughed around her tears. "Cindy," Max said, laying her head on Cindy's shoulder, "Zack is going to be so pissed."
Chapter Four:
Max stepped back into Logan's apartment, via guest room window, about a half hour later, once again soaked by the torrential down pour that had begun half way up the side of Foggle Towers.
Max found Logan, as usual, tapping away at the keys of his computer, brow furrowed as he scowled at whatever happened to be on the screen. "Hey" She said from the open doorway.
Logan looked up from where he sat. "Hey." He replied, standing as he stretched his arms in front of him. "How'd it go? Did Zack's contact call?"
"Yeah, but not with the news I wanted to hear." Max said, a frown marring her face as she turned on her heel to walk out of the room.
"What happened?" Logan asked concerned as he followed her out into the living room.
"Zack's contact is screwing with us." Max said as she walked over to the window, unable to sit still.
"So he doesn't know where Syl is?" Logan asked sitting down in a low chair.
"Oh, he knows, but he isn't going to tell us unless we accept the other half of his little deal." Max said as she walked across the room again. Logan knew Max well enough to recognize her habit of pacing when she was nervous. Since she hadn't sat still she'd arrived, he figured she was pretty upset.
"And what deal might that be?" Logan asked after Max didn't volunteer the information.
"Well, he'll tell us where Syl is, and he'll help us get her out, plus, as an added bonus, before he runs like hell out of the country, he'll upload a virus onto Manticore's mainframe and destroy all the files. All he wants is a little bit more money."
"Define 'a little bit more'." Logan asked, turning his head as Max walked around him.
"Just four million more than I have any hopes of getting my hands on." Max said flippantly as she threw her hands up in the air.
"Damn." Logan muttered. "Where'd Zack go?" He asked after a moment, finally noticing his absence.
"Like he'd willing tell me a god damn thing." Max said grinning sardonically. "He stalked off soon as he got off the phone with barely a word."
Logan stood silently as Max stalked past him yet again, quietly fuming.
After a few minuets of silence, the only sound being Max's boots falling against the hard wood floors, Logan asked the one question that was burning in the back of his mind. "So, what are you going to do?"
Max threw herself on the couch, flinging her arms over her eyes as she kicked her feet frustrated against the floor. "I don't know. I really don't know. How is Zack and I supposed to get four million in, what, a week? I could sell my bike, call in loans to every loan shark in the city, and rob a bank or two, but I still don't think that would be enough."
"Max, you know I'll help however I can, but even I don't have that kind of money liquid. Everything I have, other than a couple of hundred grand, is locked up in trust funds or Cale Industry stock."
Max smiled weakly. "Yeah, I know." She rose from the chair and started to pave again. "I wouldn't want…" She trailed off as she looked up at Logan. He was standing there; visibly pale, his mouth hanging open comically. "What?" She asked
"Trust fund…" Logan muttered as he turned on his heel and walked quickly into his office. Max cocked a brow, following quickly on Logan's heels, confused by his sudden change in mood.
Max found Logan digging through the back of a filing cabinet, muttering irrationally under his breath. He pulled out a thin manila and tossed it onto the desk, shoving the drawer shut and flipping open the file with one hand.
"What's that?" Max asked perplexed as Logan started to riffle through the papers.
"A copy of my parents will." Logan answered distractedly as he found the source of his search. He quickly scanned the paper before handing it over to Max.
Max read the paper quickly, her mind quickly deciphering the legal jargon. It was a document with information on a locked bank account, one containing a little over five and a half million dollars, a bank account in the name of one Logan R. Cale. Max eyes widened as she read the stipulations on the account.
This is all great, Logan." Max said. "But there is a block on this account, one that only gets lifted when you get married." Max glanced up, continuing to speak. Logan scratched the back of his head and stared at the ground. "How do you…" She trailed off a realization dawned.
Logan could have compared Max's expression to something similar to a deer caught in headlights. "Uh uh." She said, shaking her head and laughing at Logan as she backpedaled out of the door. "You are NOT thinking what I think you are."
Max stood completely still as Logan followed her back into the room.
"What choice do we have?" Logan asked, running his hand through his hair.
"A lot! Quite a few!" Max said desperately.
"Like what?" How can you get four million dollars in less than a week other than robbing every bank in the city, which I don't plan on letting you do if there is any other option."
"So, you want to get MARRIED so you don't have to have a couple of breaking and entering jobs on your conscious?" Max shouted.
"No, I am saying that I am not letting you risk this major of a robbery."
Max was silent, her eyes wide and desperate as she grasped for strings, trying desperately for a reason that this wouldn't work. "Logan." She said, trying to be rational. "That was set up by your parents for you, your wife, your children. I am not going to let you just give that money away."
"Max, do you think that that money means a thing to me?"
"There is no way this could work out. The day you and I get married is the day that they are taking ice skating lessons in hell." Max said knowingly as she backed away from Logan once again.
Original Cindy cocked an eyebrow at Max when she walked back into the apartment several hours later. "Hey Boo."
"Hey." Max said in a strange voice.
"Where's you go. You never came back from that run to Rich-y Rich's place."
"Yeah, sorry. Normal pissed?" Max asked as she walked over to crouch on a chair.
"Yeah, but you've talked your way out of everything else before, so I'm nor worried. So what happened at Logan's house that you couldn't get back to work? You guys finally drop the pretenses and get down to getting busy?" Cindy asked wiggling her eyebrows at Max.
"You know we're not like that." Max said, again her voice sounding strange.
"Then what exactly do you do over there all the time?" Cindy asked, a hand on her hip.
"Well, tomorrow, we're getting married." Max said flippantly.
"You too really need to…wait…what did you say?" Cindy asked confused. "Did you just say…WHAT!" Max stared blankly ahead as Cindy stared openmouthed at her roommate and best friend. "You guys spend months and months denying any sort of relationship and your getting married??"
"Pretty much." Max said, the promptly burst into tears.
Cindy rounded the counter quickly. "Boo? What's wrong? What aren't you telling me?"
Max sniffled out the story, choking back sobs as Cindy held her and petted her head. "And…the worst thing is…we have to stay…married…for a year…" Max sniffled. "Or…the trust fund…gets cut off."
Original Cindy was, for the first time in the history of her existence, completely speechless. "Damn, boo. That's a bitch. That's a real bitch."
"Tell me about it." Max said as she stood to grab some tissues off a table at the other end of the room.
"Well, this may not be the best time to mention this, but considering, at least he isn't ass ugly and mean, and rude."
I can handle living with Logan, right? I mean, we are both mature adults and good friends, we can pull this off. No problem."
"Whatever you say." Cindy said.
Max burst into tears again. "Cindy!" She wailed. "I don't want to be married to someone who doesn't want to be married to me." Cindy noticed that Max had never once said she didn't want to be married to Logan.
"Well, at least you can get him to cook for you more often, right? So just look at the positive side. You get to live in that phat pad of his, and it doesn't even have rats." As if on cue, a small mouse skittered across the corner of the room. Max laughed around her tears. "Cindy," Max said, laying her head on Cindy's shoulder, "Zack is going to be so pissed."