A/N: You'll recognize Justin out of the J&J series. Cat owns 'em, I just borrow him for the occasional sexual favor [me-owww]. I also screwed around with the formatting of my spacing, let me know if this is easier to read.
Chapter 11
Logan walked quickly down the hallway of the twenty-third floor of the Vincentia Office complex. The Vincentia was a posh office building, one of the few left of its kind in the post-pulse era. More people were concerned with what they were going to eat and where they were going to sleep, and didn't have time to worry about their office looking nice. The top seven floors were occupied with the editors and head writers of The Truth, the high ceilings and thick carpet giving the offices more of a high class penthouse feeling rather than the home of the controversial magazine that it was.
This is how he had spent the last two weeks. While he'd spend every possible minute of his time with the X5s, whether it be on base or at their home, he still had responsibilities that he had to deal with back at his office, ones that he couldn't leave in the hands of one of the other editors. And that is why he spent two hours there last week total, as opposed to the sixty or so hours he might spend on some other week. He figured it was balancing out quite nicely because you really couldn't consider observing the X5s work when many times it was just him sitting around watching them bicker over a basketball game on TV. It was now almost to the point where Max didn't make a rude comment every time he walked into a room.
And he didn't even feel bad for letting the real work fall back on his executive editor, Justin Carter, because Justin, at this point in time, was really dedicated to his work. Or you could say he was too afraid to go home, because, Denise, his psychopathic ex-wife, the 'ex' being a recent addition, only official about a month ago, might have burnt down his house. Justin had been in more than one hostage situation, talked down suicidal politicians off the tops of buildings, had countless guns held to his head, and he was more afraid now of his ex-wife than he was then. And the sad thing was, Logan knew perfectly well he had reason too.
After two weeks of being relatively lazy and in generally casual clothes, being back in a suit and tie was a real pain in the ass. Ties, in Logan's opinion, were something some vindictive woman had thought up to choke the life out of a man so that when they were weak and near death they could grab the end of it and lead him to do whatever her bidding might be. And five minuets after walking in the door to the office, the damn thing was already driving him insane.
When he rounded the corner to his office, Kat was already sitting at her desk outside the office, tapping away efficiently at her computer, and not surprisingly, looked up, startled when Logan walked by. "Mr. Cale! I didn't know you were coming in today."
"Hey, Kat, I'm only going to be in for a few hours. I just need to take care of anything Justin can't handle."
"I have your messages from today here." Kat said as she followed him into his office. "And the rest of the messages from the past couple days on your desk."
"Jesus Christ." Logan muttered as he saw the neatly stacked piles of messages sitting in the center of the desk. The three piles were at least four inches thick. Each.
"Well, I did do my best to split them up. The most important ones are in the pile on the left." Kat said soothingly as Logan rounded the desk. "Everything else Mr. Carter can probably handle on his own."
"That's fine. I'll start wading my way through here. Hold all my calls unless it's an emergency." Kat nodded as she headed out towards the door again. "And can I get a cup of coffee or something?"
"Will do. Anything else?"
"No, that's it." Logan answered with a sigh as he sat down and began to wade through the piles of messages.
An hour and a half and three cups of coffee later, he was still making pointless calls to people who in reality had intelligence than was really healthy when Kat's voice floated out of the intercom. "Mr. Cale, Mr. Carter is here to see--"
She never got to finish her statement because Justin was already pushing open the door and walking in. "Logan, I'm shocked. You've decided to join us in the land of the working for a few hours."
Logan looked up at Justin, studying him a moment before speaking. "Well, I couldn't let you just completely take over. I didn't want to come back to find that you staged a mutiny against me."
"You couldn't have stayed away like three more days could you? I had all the photographers going by your penthouse with flame-throwers, but no, you had to come back. Well, since you still are alive, what's up with this assignment you're insisting on handling yourself? What's the time frame of this?" Justin asked as he sat down in a chair in front of Logan's desk.
"I'm aiming for November or December issue."
"Its almost July! Why are you going to keep it back so long?" Justin asked surprised. When a major story, such as this Manticore super solider one was turning out to be, Logan's usual style was to get it into the next issue as soon as possible, that way the evil anti-Christs that were the press censors tried to find a way to stop the article. But now he was waiting five months.
"Well its going to take me at least three months observation to get all the information I need, then probably at least a month before Manticore is going to take out everything they can, and a couple of weeks after that for me to talk them into putting more stuff in."
Justin's mouth dropped. "Are you telling me you're going to be gone for three months?"
"I doubt that. I am thinking a month tops, and then I can do everything else by phone." Logan said as he leaned back in his chair. "Why, can't handle things without me?" He asked with an arrogant grin.
Justin rolled his eyes. "Actually, now that you are out of the way, my plot to use the Truth to take over the world is coming together quite nicely."
"Hmm. How's life on the home front, might I ask?" Logan asked with a wicked smile. "Missing any vital organs?"
"This morning, I checked my voice mail. I had four messages, all from four different brothers, all four different ways that they want to kill me." Justin said somewhat mystified. "You'd think I was the one who freaked out and started stalking her, instead of the other way around. Now instead of one stalking me, I've got six, if you don't count the parents."
"Doesn't Denise have five brothers?"
"The one isn't all that good with verbal threats. Well, I should say he isn't that good verbally at all. He isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. Well, to make a long story short, security is threatening to strike because he showed up here yesterday and it took quite a few of them to get him back out again."
"Your mistake was trying to keep your stuff. When I broke up with Val, I just let her take whatever she wanted from the penthouse. I wasn't even married to her, and she took practically everything but the mattress." Logan said expertly.
"Didn't she leave your clothes?" Justin asked with an ached brow.
"Nope."
"That sucks."
"Well, you're one to talk. At least *I* don't have a stalker."
"Go ahead and joke, but when pieces of me get mailed back to my dad's house…" Justin shivered. "Please, tell my family I love them and I'm sorry."
"Well, your fault your married the crack job." Logan said without the slightest trace of pity.
"I need to get protections. Think you can hook me up with one of the killing machines you are in the current company with?" Justin asked hopefully, the expression on his face similar to that of a little boy on Christmas.
Logan laughed distractedly as he read a memo from the advertising department. "They have been trained from birth to be the superior soldier. Even they can't save you from that."
"You don't feel my pain at all do you? You are just having a great time watching me as my life gets threatened? Or is this all payback for when you and Val…parted ways?"
Logan merely grinned. "You have everything handled here?" The question wasn't really necessary, just a formality.
"I've got like eight numbers to reach you at if I don't." Justin rose from his chair and headed towards the door. "I know I was bitching at you to take a vacation a couple of months ago, and I know you to know that this completely doesn't count."
"What the hell do you mean it doesn't count?" Logan snapped, looking up from stuffing files in his briefcase. He was taking almost two months off of regular work, and then the creepy little bastards he called friends still wouldn't leave him alone.
"A vacation is white sandy beaches in the Carriabean. You're hanging out at a covert military watching a bunch of training missions…" Justin threw a hand into the air. "You're sick and twisted if you think that's fun."
How was Logan supposed to explain to Justin that out of all the stories he'd written, all the people he'd met, the X5s were certainly the ones he'd pick to spend his time with. Before Logan could even try and explain this to his friend, Justin walked out of the room, quickly shutting the door behind him.
Logan swallowed the last inch of coffee in his mug before he closed his briefcase and headed out. Now that he was sure that things were as well settled as they could be during his absence, he could make it to Manticore's base in about an hour and piss off Max with clear conscience.
Chapter 11
Logan walked quickly down the hallway of the twenty-third floor of the Vincentia Office complex. The Vincentia was a posh office building, one of the few left of its kind in the post-pulse era. More people were concerned with what they were going to eat and where they were going to sleep, and didn't have time to worry about their office looking nice. The top seven floors were occupied with the editors and head writers of The Truth, the high ceilings and thick carpet giving the offices more of a high class penthouse feeling rather than the home of the controversial magazine that it was.
This is how he had spent the last two weeks. While he'd spend every possible minute of his time with the X5s, whether it be on base or at their home, he still had responsibilities that he had to deal with back at his office, ones that he couldn't leave in the hands of one of the other editors. And that is why he spent two hours there last week total, as opposed to the sixty or so hours he might spend on some other week. He figured it was balancing out quite nicely because you really couldn't consider observing the X5s work when many times it was just him sitting around watching them bicker over a basketball game on TV. It was now almost to the point where Max didn't make a rude comment every time he walked into a room.
And he didn't even feel bad for letting the real work fall back on his executive editor, Justin Carter, because Justin, at this point in time, was really dedicated to his work. Or you could say he was too afraid to go home, because, Denise, his psychopathic ex-wife, the 'ex' being a recent addition, only official about a month ago, might have burnt down his house. Justin had been in more than one hostage situation, talked down suicidal politicians off the tops of buildings, had countless guns held to his head, and he was more afraid now of his ex-wife than he was then. And the sad thing was, Logan knew perfectly well he had reason too.
After two weeks of being relatively lazy and in generally casual clothes, being back in a suit and tie was a real pain in the ass. Ties, in Logan's opinion, were something some vindictive woman had thought up to choke the life out of a man so that when they were weak and near death they could grab the end of it and lead him to do whatever her bidding might be. And five minuets after walking in the door to the office, the damn thing was already driving him insane.
When he rounded the corner to his office, Kat was already sitting at her desk outside the office, tapping away efficiently at her computer, and not surprisingly, looked up, startled when Logan walked by. "Mr. Cale! I didn't know you were coming in today."
"Hey, Kat, I'm only going to be in for a few hours. I just need to take care of anything Justin can't handle."
"I have your messages from today here." Kat said as she followed him into his office. "And the rest of the messages from the past couple days on your desk."
"Jesus Christ." Logan muttered as he saw the neatly stacked piles of messages sitting in the center of the desk. The three piles were at least four inches thick. Each.
"Well, I did do my best to split them up. The most important ones are in the pile on the left." Kat said soothingly as Logan rounded the desk. "Everything else Mr. Carter can probably handle on his own."
"That's fine. I'll start wading my way through here. Hold all my calls unless it's an emergency." Kat nodded as she headed out towards the door again. "And can I get a cup of coffee or something?"
"Will do. Anything else?"
"No, that's it." Logan answered with a sigh as he sat down and began to wade through the piles of messages.
An hour and a half and three cups of coffee later, he was still making pointless calls to people who in reality had intelligence than was really healthy when Kat's voice floated out of the intercom. "Mr. Cale, Mr. Carter is here to see--"
She never got to finish her statement because Justin was already pushing open the door and walking in. "Logan, I'm shocked. You've decided to join us in the land of the working for a few hours."
Logan looked up at Justin, studying him a moment before speaking. "Well, I couldn't let you just completely take over. I didn't want to come back to find that you staged a mutiny against me."
"You couldn't have stayed away like three more days could you? I had all the photographers going by your penthouse with flame-throwers, but no, you had to come back. Well, since you still are alive, what's up with this assignment you're insisting on handling yourself? What's the time frame of this?" Justin asked as he sat down in a chair in front of Logan's desk.
"I'm aiming for November or December issue."
"Its almost July! Why are you going to keep it back so long?" Justin asked surprised. When a major story, such as this Manticore super solider one was turning out to be, Logan's usual style was to get it into the next issue as soon as possible, that way the evil anti-Christs that were the press censors tried to find a way to stop the article. But now he was waiting five months.
"Well its going to take me at least three months observation to get all the information I need, then probably at least a month before Manticore is going to take out everything they can, and a couple of weeks after that for me to talk them into putting more stuff in."
Justin's mouth dropped. "Are you telling me you're going to be gone for three months?"
"I doubt that. I am thinking a month tops, and then I can do everything else by phone." Logan said as he leaned back in his chair. "Why, can't handle things without me?" He asked with an arrogant grin.
Justin rolled his eyes. "Actually, now that you are out of the way, my plot to use the Truth to take over the world is coming together quite nicely."
"Hmm. How's life on the home front, might I ask?" Logan asked with a wicked smile. "Missing any vital organs?"
"This morning, I checked my voice mail. I had four messages, all from four different brothers, all four different ways that they want to kill me." Justin said somewhat mystified. "You'd think I was the one who freaked out and started stalking her, instead of the other way around. Now instead of one stalking me, I've got six, if you don't count the parents."
"Doesn't Denise have five brothers?"
"The one isn't all that good with verbal threats. Well, I should say he isn't that good verbally at all. He isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. Well, to make a long story short, security is threatening to strike because he showed up here yesterday and it took quite a few of them to get him back out again."
"Your mistake was trying to keep your stuff. When I broke up with Val, I just let her take whatever she wanted from the penthouse. I wasn't even married to her, and she took practically everything but the mattress." Logan said expertly.
"Didn't she leave your clothes?" Justin asked with an ached brow.
"Nope."
"That sucks."
"Well, you're one to talk. At least *I* don't have a stalker."
"Go ahead and joke, but when pieces of me get mailed back to my dad's house…" Justin shivered. "Please, tell my family I love them and I'm sorry."
"Well, your fault your married the crack job." Logan said without the slightest trace of pity.
"I need to get protections. Think you can hook me up with one of the killing machines you are in the current company with?" Justin asked hopefully, the expression on his face similar to that of a little boy on Christmas.
Logan laughed distractedly as he read a memo from the advertising department. "They have been trained from birth to be the superior soldier. Even they can't save you from that."
"You don't feel my pain at all do you? You are just having a great time watching me as my life gets threatened? Or is this all payback for when you and Val…parted ways?"
Logan merely grinned. "You have everything handled here?" The question wasn't really necessary, just a formality.
"I've got like eight numbers to reach you at if I don't." Justin rose from his chair and headed towards the door. "I know I was bitching at you to take a vacation a couple of months ago, and I know you to know that this completely doesn't count."
"What the hell do you mean it doesn't count?" Logan snapped, looking up from stuffing files in his briefcase. He was taking almost two months off of regular work, and then the creepy little bastards he called friends still wouldn't leave him alone.
"A vacation is white sandy beaches in the Carriabean. You're hanging out at a covert military watching a bunch of training missions…" Justin threw a hand into the air. "You're sick and twisted if you think that's fun."
How was Logan supposed to explain to Justin that out of all the stories he'd written, all the people he'd met, the X5s were certainly the ones he'd pick to spend his time with. Before Logan could even try and explain this to his friend, Justin walked out of the room, quickly shutting the door behind him.
Logan swallowed the last inch of coffee in his mug before he closed his briefcase and headed out. Now that he was sure that things were as well settled as they could be during his absence, he could make it to Manticore's base in about an hour and piss off Max with clear conscience.
