"She's gonna leave me alone with YOU?" Max chuckled as she leaned against the wall. Brin looked to her giggling companion a strange sort of anger flashing in her eyes.
"And why is that so funny?" she asked, stepping closer. Max continued to giggle, feeling giddy albeit oddly so.
"Well," Max began, "seems I took you out pretty good the night of the attack. You're a piece of cake to get past."
Brin shook her head. "That's only because you caught me off guard. Try anything funny now, and there'll be a repeat of that night on the roof." She returned to her pacing on the opposite side of the room, eyeing the younger girl every few seconds. Max's giggling had ceased, but an amused grin still remained, and god was it annoying. It was Brin's all not to attack her just for that.
"But still. You gotta admit this is pretty pathetic," Max continued. "In fact, this whole place is. Do you know how easy it was for us to get in? I would have expected better from the great Manticore." Brin snapped at this, crossing the room quickly to knee her fellow soldier hard in the stomach. Max collapsed and gasped briefly for air, but still the grin could not be wiped from her features and even she couldn't figure out why. She was desperately happy, though, perhaps because she was certain that soon she'd once again be a free woman. Other than that, it made little sense.
"So you got in easy, fine," Brin huffed, "but you didn't get out, did you? You're in the last place you obviously want to be, we brought you in, and all you have to say is that we're pathetic?"
"Truth hurts, don't it?" Her head was bashed hard into the ground at that and as her nose twisted in the wrong direction, a small trickle of blood exited through her left nostril. "I'll take that as a 'yes.'" The grin became a smile; that was Logan's kind of sarcasm, something she'd obviously picked up from him, and the thought of him added to her giddiness before she caught and reminded herself that he must be forgotten.
"You're gonna be a real piece of work, you know that?" cried Brin, keeping her hand on the back of Max's head in case she felt the need to teach her another lesson.
"You just can't admit to yourself that you're a failure, all of you. So I'm in here, oh well. The mission was to blow the DNA lab and we accomplished that objective. Face it; we won." It was Brin's turn to chuckle, though it was the chuckle of someone to whom happiness didn't come easily. Regardless, the ball was in her court now.
"But you see, Max," Brin explained, "the fact that you were caught makes all of that a waste. We've regained one of our best; one who was closest to Zack and who therefore knows the most about the others. And we WILL pull that information from you eventually, whether or not you've made yourself forget. Once we're through with you, you'll understand how important it is that you remember, and you'll make yourself do so. In the meantime, Zack has graciously provided us with extra parts and plenty of DNA with which to restock the lab. YOU are the ones who lost, Max. Face it."
The giddiness left, replaced with boiling rage and Max swung her arm behind her, aligning the edge of her palm with the pressure point in Brin's neck. Brin was faster, though, intercepting Max's arm and twisting it behind her back, then pushing her to the floor with her knee. Max groaned, then let out a long string of expletives as she kicked and struggled without progress. Brin held her tighter and suddenly found herself being overwhelmed by the sisterly sympathy she often felt when dealing with her escaped siblings. She sighed and wished Max would quit fighting; it only made things worse.
"Calm down, Max. I don't want to hurt you," Brin pleaded softly.
"The hell you don't!" Max spat, struggling harder. Another sigh escaped Brin's lips as she realized what she must do to prove herself and she released her sibling, kicking her rather gently but hard enough to roll her over and put a few feet of distance between them. Max quickly pulled herself into a sitting position but decided it was more to her benefit to act too worn out even for that, so she allowed herself to fall back onto her side. Brin knelt beside her as a pang of sadness washed over her.
"I hope you don't think it's your fault, little sister," she whispered. "That things went wrong, I mean. That it has to happen like this. You've just been away from home too long."
"Oh, bullshit! You were out there as long as the rest of us," Max pointed out bitterly.
"Yeah, you're right," Brin admitted with a sad smile. "But I realize now that it's better in here. This is where we belong."
"You only think that because they reprogrammed you that way."
"That's not true," Brin insisted.
"Oh, yes it is," came Max's retort. "I was there when they took you in, remember? You were practically begging for us not to let you go. But...we had to do what we had to do."
"You did the right thing."
Her peripheral vision allowed Max to spy the handcuffs by her feet where they'd been dropped, just out of Brin's line of sight. She hooked her toe under them and smiled sweetly at her sister, whose hard resolve was finally beginning to crumble. "Yeah...I guess we did."
Brin felt happy, truly happy. It would be a difficult stretch for awhile, but she was slowly getting her sister back and it felt wonderful. "It's not so bad as you think. I mean...we can be a family again."
//Perfect// Max thought. "That's true. Maybe...I'll get used to it. I still don't...I mean...I don't know. Just...help me try and make this work, okay?"
"Sure thing," Brin said with a smile.
Max mirrored the smile and offered her hand. "Truce?"
"Truce." The sisters joined hands and shook firmly, a rare moment of joy passing through. It was over more quickly than Brin could tell; in an instant, Max had pulled her to the floor, flipped the handcuffs into her free hand, and hand-cuffed Brin face-down. One knee rested in the small of Brin's back, the other in the back of her knees, and she screamed every curse she could think of at her attacker.
"I'm sorry, sis," Max said as she removed the keys for both the handcuffs and the door from Brin's pocket. "That was kind of a dirty trick. But I did what I had to do before, and now I'm doing it again. Meanwhile, you need to hush up." She slammed the older girl's head into the floor a good number of times, and then all was silent as Brin fell unconscious. Max scrambled to her feet and looked down with sorrow at her elder sister. Part of her wanted to convince Brin to come along. Part of her wanted that more than anything. But the other half, the half that usually never came forward but which the circumstances of Zack's death had now magnified, told her that Brin was presently no more than the enemy and that she was weak and thusly dangerous. It was the soldier within her talking, and it was the soldier that won out.
"Hmph, and Zack said -I- was weak," she muttered before moving to the door. She looked over her shoulder once before leaving and breaking the key off in the lock. "Next time, maybe you people won't be so careless when it comes to security. Man, keeping the keys in your own back pocket...how dumb can you possibly get?" With that, she called up her memory and quietly moved along the wall to the janitor's closet she'd noted earlier.
"And why is that so funny?" she asked, stepping closer. Max continued to giggle, feeling giddy albeit oddly so.
"Well," Max began, "seems I took you out pretty good the night of the attack. You're a piece of cake to get past."
Brin shook her head. "That's only because you caught me off guard. Try anything funny now, and there'll be a repeat of that night on the roof." She returned to her pacing on the opposite side of the room, eyeing the younger girl every few seconds. Max's giggling had ceased, but an amused grin still remained, and god was it annoying. It was Brin's all not to attack her just for that.
"But still. You gotta admit this is pretty pathetic," Max continued. "In fact, this whole place is. Do you know how easy it was for us to get in? I would have expected better from the great Manticore." Brin snapped at this, crossing the room quickly to knee her fellow soldier hard in the stomach. Max collapsed and gasped briefly for air, but still the grin could not be wiped from her features and even she couldn't figure out why. She was desperately happy, though, perhaps because she was certain that soon she'd once again be a free woman. Other than that, it made little sense.
"So you got in easy, fine," Brin huffed, "but you didn't get out, did you? You're in the last place you obviously want to be, we brought you in, and all you have to say is that we're pathetic?"
"Truth hurts, don't it?" Her head was bashed hard into the ground at that and as her nose twisted in the wrong direction, a small trickle of blood exited through her left nostril. "I'll take that as a 'yes.'" The grin became a smile; that was Logan's kind of sarcasm, something she'd obviously picked up from him, and the thought of him added to her giddiness before she caught and reminded herself that he must be forgotten.
"You're gonna be a real piece of work, you know that?" cried Brin, keeping her hand on the back of Max's head in case she felt the need to teach her another lesson.
"You just can't admit to yourself that you're a failure, all of you. So I'm in here, oh well. The mission was to blow the DNA lab and we accomplished that objective. Face it; we won." It was Brin's turn to chuckle, though it was the chuckle of someone to whom happiness didn't come easily. Regardless, the ball was in her court now.
"But you see, Max," Brin explained, "the fact that you were caught makes all of that a waste. We've regained one of our best; one who was closest to Zack and who therefore knows the most about the others. And we WILL pull that information from you eventually, whether or not you've made yourself forget. Once we're through with you, you'll understand how important it is that you remember, and you'll make yourself do so. In the meantime, Zack has graciously provided us with extra parts and plenty of DNA with which to restock the lab. YOU are the ones who lost, Max. Face it."
The giddiness left, replaced with boiling rage and Max swung her arm behind her, aligning the edge of her palm with the pressure point in Brin's neck. Brin was faster, though, intercepting Max's arm and twisting it behind her back, then pushing her to the floor with her knee. Max groaned, then let out a long string of expletives as she kicked and struggled without progress. Brin held her tighter and suddenly found herself being overwhelmed by the sisterly sympathy she often felt when dealing with her escaped siblings. She sighed and wished Max would quit fighting; it only made things worse.
"Calm down, Max. I don't want to hurt you," Brin pleaded softly.
"The hell you don't!" Max spat, struggling harder. Another sigh escaped Brin's lips as she realized what she must do to prove herself and she released her sibling, kicking her rather gently but hard enough to roll her over and put a few feet of distance between them. Max quickly pulled herself into a sitting position but decided it was more to her benefit to act too worn out even for that, so she allowed herself to fall back onto her side. Brin knelt beside her as a pang of sadness washed over her.
"I hope you don't think it's your fault, little sister," she whispered. "That things went wrong, I mean. That it has to happen like this. You've just been away from home too long."
"Oh, bullshit! You were out there as long as the rest of us," Max pointed out bitterly.
"Yeah, you're right," Brin admitted with a sad smile. "But I realize now that it's better in here. This is where we belong."
"You only think that because they reprogrammed you that way."
"That's not true," Brin insisted.
"Oh, yes it is," came Max's retort. "I was there when they took you in, remember? You were practically begging for us not to let you go. But...we had to do what we had to do."
"You did the right thing."
Her peripheral vision allowed Max to spy the handcuffs by her feet where they'd been dropped, just out of Brin's line of sight. She hooked her toe under them and smiled sweetly at her sister, whose hard resolve was finally beginning to crumble. "Yeah...I guess we did."
Brin felt happy, truly happy. It would be a difficult stretch for awhile, but she was slowly getting her sister back and it felt wonderful. "It's not so bad as you think. I mean...we can be a family again."
//Perfect// Max thought. "That's true. Maybe...I'll get used to it. I still don't...I mean...I don't know. Just...help me try and make this work, okay?"
"Sure thing," Brin said with a smile.
Max mirrored the smile and offered her hand. "Truce?"
"Truce." The sisters joined hands and shook firmly, a rare moment of joy passing through. It was over more quickly than Brin could tell; in an instant, Max had pulled her to the floor, flipped the handcuffs into her free hand, and hand-cuffed Brin face-down. One knee rested in the small of Brin's back, the other in the back of her knees, and she screamed every curse she could think of at her attacker.
"I'm sorry, sis," Max said as she removed the keys for both the handcuffs and the door from Brin's pocket. "That was kind of a dirty trick. But I did what I had to do before, and now I'm doing it again. Meanwhile, you need to hush up." She slammed the older girl's head into the floor a good number of times, and then all was silent as Brin fell unconscious. Max scrambled to her feet and looked down with sorrow at her elder sister. Part of her wanted to convince Brin to come along. Part of her wanted that more than anything. But the other half, the half that usually never came forward but which the circumstances of Zack's death had now magnified, told her that Brin was presently no more than the enemy and that she was weak and thusly dangerous. It was the soldier within her talking, and it was the soldier that won out.
"Hmph, and Zack said -I- was weak," she muttered before moving to the door. She looked over her shoulder once before leaving and breaking the key off in the lock. "Next time, maybe you people won't be so careless when it comes to security. Man, keeping the keys in your own back pocket...how dumb can you possibly get?" With that, she called up her memory and quietly moved along the wall to the janitor's closet she'd noted earlier.