Title: Running away, Tiptoeing back. (Working title, all suggestions welcome.)
Author: Katana. (Rose_tat@hotmail.com)
Disclaimer: I'm so poor a cat adopted me!! I don't own the main players, but the story is mine.
Spoilers: Up to and including "I and I am a Camera" but forget anything beyond that.
Timeframe: Based in about the year 2024.
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Chapter One: A new life. (Pretending to be Kayla Logan.)
Max Guevara sat on a stool in the corner of the crowded restaurant kitchen as she grabbed a much-needed break. Working in the food service industry was so different from riding for Jam Pony. But then again, a lot of things were different these days. She didn't live in Seattle anymore, nor did she go by the name 'Max Guevara' these days. She hadn't been 'Max Guevara' for almost three long years now. Now she was called Kayla Logan. A name that Zack would truly hate... If he ever found her again.
"Kayla? Kay! We're here to serve food, not to daydream." One of the chefs, David Wang, said as he nudged Max out of her train of thought. David was a rather fatherly, older man of Chinese decent. And although he was seldom grumpy, he was always firm.
"Sorry David, just taking a break."
"Understood, but we're busy. Where were you anyway Cherry Blossom?"
Max half smiled at the nickname. David called all of the waitresses 'blossom', but he had given her the nickname 'Cherry Blossom' as a joke when she'd gotten mad at somebody for taking her last piece of cherry bubble-gum. It had become his pet name for her. "Seattle." She replied with a shrug.
David rolled his eyes and laughed. "Sure you were. I mean who in their right mind would want to be at a beach side resort in Florida when they could be in dirty, run down Seattle? Right? It's almost as attractive as the violent oppression of Hong Kong."
"Oh yeah," Max replied with sarcasm. "Waitressing to the "Hoity-toity's" so rocks my world." She rolled her eyes.
David just smiled. "At least it's a job and a roof over your head."
"Yeah." Max nodded.
"So what's in Seattle?"
"Wouldn't know, never been there." Max lied. She arched her back trying to get a kink out of it.
"Kayla, table five." One of the other waitresses called as she came into the kitchen.
"Guess I can't hide in here forever." Max tossed the words over her shoulder as she went to serve the table.
Finally the evening came to a close. The restaurant was almost tranquil at the end of the day, after closing time, when all the noisy customers had moved on to some bar or whatever to make somebody else's life hell for a while. Oh sure, there were still the tasks of cleaning and preparing for the next day. But the quiet sounds of dishes being washed and put away, David's gentle humming, and the lull of the ocean were such a welcome change to the noise of chatty diners and clashing utensils. It was almost enough to make one forget the chaos of the world outside the door. Isolated from the harshness of society it was a near perfect Oubliette, a forgetting place. Max could almost imagine that this was how it must have been before the Pulse. She could almost forget the things that she was running from. She could almost forget what she was. And she could almost forget what she had left behind. Who she had left behind. Almost.
Max sighed as she swept the floor later that evening. She still wondered if she had made the right choi ce, but there had really been no choice to make. Lydecker had been getting close to Logan, getting close to working out that he was Eyes Only. The only way that Max could protect Logan was by leaving town in a spectacular fashion to draw Lydecker's attention away from him. She'd done that all right. She'd made herself highly visible in each of the next ten towns that she'd been in. She'd dyed her hair electric blue and taken to wearing her hair up so that her barcode was clear for all to see. She'd picked fights and shown off her superhuman abilities, allowing them to be witnessed by hoverdrones. She'd used her heightened vision to make millions by gambling in gang headquarters and then she'd dropped off of the radar screen again. One night, five months later, she'd crept back into Seattle and paid Logan a visit in the early hours of the morning. She'd found him asleep at the computer. Careful not to wake him she'd left him the statue he'd given her (Bast), a bag of money (most of her winnings from gambling) and a simple note. After all, he deserved at least some sort of goodbye.
This should help keep Eyes Only afloat for a while. I'm giving the statue back because I don't want to be put in a situation where I have to consider selling it. That 's not saying that you shouldn't sell it. You should, when you need to. Stop looking for me. It will get you killed and then my leaving would become pointless.
P.S. I stole that poem you showed me. Sorry, but I'm not giving it back... It's all I can keep of you.
P.P.S. I lied about the kiss, but I think you guessed that.
P.P.P.S. I miss you.
Then she'd wandered for over a year before ending up in Florida. She hadn't seen, or heard from, any of the other X5's and she seriously doubted that she ever would again. It no longer seemed to matter. She knew that they had Zack looking out for them. Zack knew that he could go to Logan for help if he could just swallow his pride long enough. And as for her? Well she was a big girl, she could take care of herself. And it wasn 't like she really needed anybody, right? Not really. Well just Logan, but she couldn't have him.
"Tough shit." Max muttered to herself as she put the broom away. "I'll live."
"The first sign of insanity is talking to one's self." Jessie, Max's roommate and a fellow waitress, said brightly as she handed Max her jacket.
"What? You mean the purple talking elephants have nothing to do with it?" Max asked sarcastically.
Jessie rolled her eyes. "Allah help me." She said turning her eyes skyward. "So we ready to split Kayla Kale of the Cabbage family?" She grinned as she used the long-winded name that she had come up with for Max one night while they were sitting around drinking during a power cut.
Max laughed lightly. Jessie was obviously happy to finally have finished work. Sticking her tongue out Max addressed Jessie with the name that she'd come up with in retaliation for 'Kayla Kale'. (After getting over the initial shock of being called Kale/Cale.) "Sure thing Jessie, Loch Nessy." She quickly pulled on her jacket. "David, we're off."
"'Kay blossoms, be careful out there."
"Don't worry, Allah will watch over us." Jessie replied.
"And if he doesn't I'll have a chat with the blue lady." Max muttered under her breath.
"The blue what?" Jessie asked.
"The lady of the sacred heart." Max replied quickly. "Mother Mary." First she'd mentioned Seattle and then she'd mentioned the blue lady, she really was slipping up today. She'd have to watch that.
Jessie looked at her funny. "I didn't realize you were religious."
Max shrugged. "Gotta hedge your bets." They walked the short distance home in silence.
"Heads or tails?" Jessie asked as they entered their apartment. It was their tradition when they both worked the same shift to flip a coin to decide who got the first shower.
"Don't worry about it." Max replied. "Just leave me some warm water."
"You got it, Kay." Jessie replied grinning.
Max shrugged and flicked on the TV. She sat cross-legged in front of it and allowed herself to drift into that meditative state that almost, but not quite, gives as much rest as sleep. It was a trick she'd picked up from one of Kendra's books. Sadly it was all that she had of her one-time friend and roommate. She was still alert, her senses were all still on guard, but her heart rate and breathing were slowed enough to let her body rest.
TBC...