The bullet drove into the windowsill, splintering the rotting wood upon impact. Perez, who had been expecting his own demise, flinched at the gun's discharge, but quickly regained his composure as he tried to mask his fear. It took him several seconds to do so successfully, though his knees still trembled. He had no intention of showing the blonde bitch in front of him that he was afraid, afraid of her and of what she could do to him.
In the deafening silence of the night, Max's sigh of relief almost echoed as she let out a breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding. She watched Jondy's figure, frozen as if a statue, gun still pointed directly at Perez's head. Though she wouldn't mind seeing the man dead, she didn't want to think what the act might do to her sister. She took a tentative step forward. "Jondy?" but her sister didn't seem to hear her.
Several more seconds of silence passed. Across the room, Logan's shock became confusion. He blinked several times to clear his head. Though Max had been guarded with many of the details of her training at Manticore, he had seen what X5's were capable of. Jondy had spent her childhood being trained to kill, that much he knew, and there was no way that she could have missed, even if she hadn't been at such close range.
But Jondy was oblivious to the reactions of her two companions. She held the gun at ready, though she did not intend to fire again. The man who killed Brian . . . The man who killed Brian . . . The phrase ran through her head over and over again. She shook her head slightly, trying to dislodge the thought. It didn't work. The man who killed Brian . . . The man who . . . She stared down at the gun she still held trained on Perez and shuddered inwardly.
"You aren't worth the price of a bullet," she finally told him. Trying to steady her trembling hands, she lowered the gun and removed the remaining ammunition. The man who killed . . .
As she tossed the gun aside, a fresh round of gunfire began on the street below. Perez glanced at the dark-haired woman and Eyes Only. Had they brought reinforcements? No, they seemed to be just as bewildered as he was. He glanced back at the blonde bitch as a round of shots was suddenly heard in the hallway outside. He watched both women snap into a fighting stance as he backed up against the windowpane. Beyond the bedroom door, he recognized the shots and yells of his own men in reply, but he soon realized that they were shouts of pain, and the returned fire of his own men seemed to diminish within seconds. It was as if he could hear them dying.
Jondy glanced towards Perez, sharing in his confusion. She had no way of knowing that at that very moment, they shared the exact same thought: What the hell is going on, anyway? She listened to the sounds of gunfire in the hallway outside the apartment. There were at least a dozen shooters attacking Perez's men, and from the sound of it, Perez's men were losing severely. Who else could be trying to get into this building? she wondered. What enemies does Perez have that are just as eager to take the son of a bitch out as I am? And how many lives has this man ruined anyway . . . She turned her gaze towards Logan, wondering if Eyes Only had some sort of army of bodyguards tracking him down and on the way to his rescue, but if they'd had a chance at backup, Max would have called them in the first place.
A movement in a window across the street caught her eye, and suddenly Jondy understood what was happening. The gunfire made sense now. Everything made sense. Spinning towards her sister she made a single sharp hand signal. It didn't need to be repeated, for although nearly twelve years had passed since last she had seen it, Max understood immediately.
Duck!
Max hurled herself towards the floor as Jondy dived towards Logan, knocking him flat against the ground onto his stomach. "What . . . " she heard him exclaim right before the breath whooshed out of his lungs at the force of the impact, and he gasped to replace the lost oxygen. At that moment, Perez made the greatest, and final, mistake of his life. He turned to look out the window at his back instead of diving to the floor. His last vision was of Tacoma Bleed's determined expression in a window across the street as he lifted his gun and pulled the trigger. Gunshots echoed in the room, and Perez crumpled to the floor in a pool of blood.
And suddenly the room returned to the deathly silence of moments earlier. Rolling away from Logan and pushing herself up onto her elbows, Jondy glanced at Perez's dead body. There was a strange sense of peace, of finality, to the sight of Perez in death, even though it made her stomach flip. She'd almost caused that herself. It made her queasy to think of the deed she had almost done. Wouldn't Manticore have been proud . . .
The gunfire on the street below had stopped, and there was only the sound of heavy feet advancing down the hallway. Jondy could hear them just outside of the door. She shared a look with her sister as they rose to stand in front of Logan, but when Max assumed a fighting stance, Jondy shook her head. Max gave her sister a bewildered look, but relaxed. Jondy seemed to know what was going on, so Max would trust her judgement.
Cautiously, a gun barrel peaked around the corner, followed slowly by its owner. Jondy recognized the man instantly. He was the one who had answered the door at Bleed's, the one she had used to make her point. At the sight of her, he narrowed his brown eyes, but he made no threatening move in her direction, only stood there staring at her, gun drawn, as if not quite certain what he should do. Several more gang members appeared in the doorway behind of him, their weapons drawn in a similar fashion. After a moment, he turned his gaze to Perez. Lowering his gun, he walked across the room to inspect the dead body for a moment, then he leaned out the window and made a hand gesture to someone on the street below. He turned to consider Jondy for a moment, then nodded to the men in the doorway, who stepped back to allow her and her companions to exit the room. After turning to help Logan up off the floor, she did as bid, Logan and Max following closely behind.
They made up a strange group as they walked down the hallway and several flights of stairs, flanked on all sides by Rydin' Forties. They all looked away, trying not to focus on the bloodied bodies that dotted the floor here and there. The men seemed at ease. No weapons were drawn, and Logan couldn't help but feel as if they were being guarded, not to protect the other people in the building, but for their own protection. In the hallway just inside the main doors on the ground floor, they met Bleed, who appeared to have been waiting for them. Stopping ten feet apart, he and Jondy measured each other for a moment in silence. Finally he spoke.
"I owe you," he said. "For the head's up."
Jondy shook her head. "You killed that bastard for me. Your debt is paid." Bleed paused to study her for another moment, then he nodded and took a step back, allowing Jondy to leave.
Logan watched the exchange in bewilderment. They had made a deal with a street gang. Jondy had warned Bleed, and Bleed had killed Perez, so they had an understanding. They were free to go with no interference. Maybe there was honor among thieves, he mused as Jondy motioned them to follow her out the door.
"So, baby sister has friends in the Rydin' Forties," Max chuckled as they exited the building.
"Oh, I wouldn't say that. More like an arrangement was reached." She grinned to herself. "We understand each other." She thought briefly of little Gregory, who was probably snuggled up in bed somewhere, never dreaming of what his father was up to tonight.
Logan glanced back at the building as they walked away. Though he had witnessed it all, he still wasn't sure if he believed it or not. Eyes Only had just been saved by two transgenic women and a street gang. It was definitely one of the strangest experiences of his life. He glanced over at Max to find that her eyes were focused on him. At any other moment, one of them would have looked away, but somehow neither could.
Suddenly, he felt himself falling forward, but Jondy grabbed him from behind and righted him before he went face first onto the concrete. Belatedly he realized that he'd been paying more attention to Max than to where he was walking. The exoskeleton may help him walk, but it couldn't let him feel when he'd tripped over a brick. "You two can make googley eyes at each other later, okay?" Jondy teased. Underneath, she couldn't quite admit that she was a little jealous. She and Brian had gotten away from Perez once, but the second time they hadn't been so lucky. This time, she knew that Perez was dead. There wouldn't be a "second time" for Max and Logan. If only there hadn't been for her.
Glancing back at Max sheepishly, Logan realized that she had averted her gaze to the shadows in the distance. He felt like a fool.
Jondy spoke up. "So, how exactly are we going to get home, anyway?" Max turned to her sister. "Three people, one motorcycle, and the two of you can't ride together." Max frowned.
"Well, I guess we could take turns. You take Logan home and then come back for me." She glanced over at her motorcycle sadly. Whether Jondy was her sister or not, her bike was still her baby.
"Go home?" Logan asked. "The one I was just kidnapped from?"
"Well, anybody that knows about that is dead now. I'm sure it's pretty safe." Jondy shrugged, but Logan still looked ill at ease. "Okay, how about this. I take you to Max's and drop you off with Cindy. Then I'll come back for Max, and we'll check your place out. If everything looks okay, I'll come and pick you up." He thought it over for a moment.
"Okay, sounds good to me." Jondy was already pulling Max's motorcycle out of the shadows. As he got on behind her, he glanced back towards Max, expecting to see her looking on mournfully as her motorcycle left without her. He began to chuckle at the thought, but the look in Max's eyes caught him as Jondy began to pull away. She was watching him, not her motorcycle.
Original Cindy was wearing her pajamas when she answered the knock at her door. Jondy frowned. She hadn't realized how late it was. "I'm sorry. I woke you."
"No, no. It's aiight, boo. What can I do for you?" she mumbled through a yawn. Hearing Jondy's voice, Milly appeared from behind the counter.
"Actually, there's been a . . . complication. Can Logan stay here for a few hours while Max and I . . . take care of something?" Original Cindy narrowed her eyes. More Eyes Only problems, she imagined, though she was sworn to secrecy on that count. She tried to sound confused.
"Okay . . . so, what happened anyway? Gas leak?" She stepped back so Logan could enter and watched as he shrugged.
"Something like that." As Logan entered the apartment, Milly stepped into the center of the room and glared at Jondy.
"Oh, don't even try to give me that look, mouse-breath. I've been busy kicking bad guy ass, which is more than you've done lately." The cat flicked her tail and stared at her owner for a moment.
"Fuzzball there's got problems," Original Cindy said. "Original Cindy was trying to give herself a manicure, and every time she pick out a color, Miss Milly over there would push her nose up at it." Jondy grinned. "Kept doing it until I picked one she liked." Jondy chuckled. At the sound of her owner's laughter, the cat finally gave in and crossed the room daintily to allow Jondy to pet her. She scratched her behind her little feline ears.
"Well," she said after a moment. "I've got to go pick up Max. We'll be back in a little while." At that, Milly twitched her tail and stalked off, annoyed that Jondy was leaving again. "Imp!" Jondy called after her with a chuckle. She nodded towards Logan and Original Cindy and left.
"Well, Original Cindy don't entertain too many of the mens after hours." She headed towards the kitchen. "Want somethin' to eat?" Logan realized that his stomach was growling. He'd been otherwise occupied all night, and hadn't even thought of eating.
"Sure. Sounds good to me." He watched as Original Cindy stooped over to slip Milly a piece of cheese and chuckled to himself. The cat was definitely a piece of work.
When Jondy returned for Logan several hours later, the stars were still shining overhead. She spoke very little on the trip back to his apartment, and he thought that she seemed rather preoccupied. She dropped him off at the door and left Max's motorcycle in its usual parking spot.
"Max is already upstairs waiting, and everything checked out. I don't think you're going to have to worry about any unwanted visitors." Logan nodded.
"Thanks for . . . well, everything tonight."
She stuck her hands in her pockets and offered him a weak smile. "No problem, I do what I can." She paused. "You saved me once, too, remember?" She looked off in the opposite direction. "Anyway, I guess I'll catch you later," she said as she began to turn.
"You can come in if you like . . ." Logan began, but he figured she already knew that. Glancing back over her shoulder, Jondy shook her head.
"Thanks for the offer." She gave him another weak smile. "But I've got somewhere I have to go. I've got . . . some things I need to figure out." He watched as she walked away, then turned to the building's door and went up to his apartment.
Max was pacing a hole in the floor of his living room when he entered. Hearing the door open and close, she turned and stopped to stare at him. Had it only been hours ago that she had stood right here and wondered if she would ever see him again? She knew he didn't look any different to the rest of the world, but somehow, he looked more wonderful than ever to her.
He smiled awkwardly. "Hey." God, but he wanted to touch her. All he could think of was burying his face in that long hair of hers, just to feel its softness against his cheek, just to smell the scent of her shampoo. He would have given everything tonight if he could have, just for one moment, but the terror of the previous hours was over, and now he was actually afraid that soon everything would drift back as it had been before, but for now, in these few quiet moments, somehow everything was suddenly different.
"Hey yourself." Max looked down at the floor for a moment and crossed her arms across her chest. She was trying to calm the overwhelming urge to touch him, just to be sure that he really was okay. "You sure you're okay?" she finally asked.
"Yeah, I'll be alright." There were so many things that both wanted to say, and yet they couldn't quite find the words. A moment passed in silence as they stared across the room at each other. Neither moved, and though Max's eyes focused on Logan, her thoughts were on Jondy. Do you have any idea how much I envy the two of you? her sister had said several nights earlier. Logan is alive. He's alive, and you just give up without a fight. Not until tonight had the full reality of Jondy's words struck her, not until she had almost lost him had she really felt just what her sister had meant. Maybe there was this virus thing between them, but in the end, it was such a little thing. She smiled across the room at Logan. A little thing, she thought, but we're gonna beat this bitch. But deep inside her heart bled for her sister. She knew what the fear of losing Logan had done to her. She didn't want to imagine the pain her sister had felt at losing Brian.
Logan felt as if his head were spinning. Hours ago, he had gone from planning his talk with Asha to wishing he could see Max just once more before he died, but now, virus or no virus, looking across the room at Max, he realized that he had everything to live for. His thought shifted to Max's sister. He remembered the way she'd walked into the night only moments before, her head hung down and her shoulders slumped over. It must have hurt, he realized, to see it all happen again, only this time someone else got the happy ending she'd been cheated out of.
Max was thinking the same thing. As eventful a night as it had been for she and Logan, it had been just as hard for Jondy. Tonight had been the end of over a year and a half of hell. She wondered how her sister was handling it. "Is Jondy okay?" she asked, glancing around the doorway to see if her sister was hanging around in the next room, trying to offer them a few moments of privacy.
He frowned, not quite sure what the answer to that question was. "She didn't come up. She just dropped me off downstairs and left. Said she had some things to figure out." Max glanced down at her hands. She knew her sister needed her, but it was hard to leave Logan now, after all that had happened tonight. She took a step forward.
"Are you sure you're gonna be okay?"
"Yeah. I'll be fine." She glanced back down at her hands again. She was about to speak when he spoke again. "Max, are you okay?"
She offered what she hoped was an encouraging smile, though she feared it was a complete failure. "Yeah, I'm alright." She took a step towards the doorway. "I should probably go check on Jondy, I mean, it's been quite a night for her . . . " Max's voice trailed off.
"Yeah, you should probably do that." They kept each other's gazes for another moment before Max reached over, grabbed her jacket, and headed for the door.
"I'll see you later then."
"Okay." So many words he wanted to say, only he couldn't find them. He watched her walk towards the door, but turned away. He somehow didn't want to watch her go. She paused, one hand resting on the doorframe. Not knowing that she had stopped, he opened his mouth to call her back. He didn't know what he wanted to say, but he knew that he had to say something.
"Logan-"
"Max-"
They turned to look at each other, both hoping that the other would speak first, not knowing what they wanted to say themselves. Max bit the bullet. "I just . . . I was really scared tonight." She paused, and Logan realized just what it had cost her to make that admission. Max never let her fear show. "I thought that you'd . . . and then . . . and I'd never . . . " she trailed off again, diverting her gaze onto the floor before returning it to his eyes.
"I know," Logan said after a beat. "Me too," he whispered.
They locked gazes for another moment, and then she was gone.