Groggily, Maxie opened her eyes. She was lying on a couch inside someone's apartment. Max jolted, panicked and sat up- before her head fell down yet again.
She could hear someone on the phone in the next room. "C'mon, Logan, please be there- damn! OK, listen. I got a kid here passed out in my living room claiming that she's Jace's daughter and that her mother's gone missing. I need you to investigate anyone who might have abducted Jace. And hurry."
Max's aunt hung up. She walked into the room and saw that Maxie was conscious. "Hey, you're awake. Well- I guess I should... uh..." Aunt Max folded her arms, gazing perplexedly at her niece.
"I-I apologise for imposing on you, Aunt Max, ma'am," said Max. She'd never had any family apart from her mother and wasn't quite sure how to act.
"Aunt Max, huh? I kinda like that. But cut the ma'am, kid, we're family." She came to sit next to Little Max. "I washed your cut. Nasty. What'd you do, run into some barbed wire?"
"You're really my Aunt Max? You don't look related to my mother."
"Let's just say we're sisters in everything except parentage. Now, what about that cut?"
Max took a deep breath. "Two men tried to beat me up and take my money when I was coming over here. They stole my money and my bag and my papers..." She realised her voice was rising and growing shrill and shaky, a sure sign she was on the verge of crying.
The two Maxs sat in silence for a second, Little Max trying to hide the fact that tears were welling up in her eyes. To her surprise Aunt Max put her arm around her shoulder. Nobody ever took to her this quickly. Usually they'd seen her run, or jump, or correctly add seventeen eight-digit numbers inside her head without really trying and dubbed her a freak.
"It's OK. You're not alone any more. I'm going to help you."
"I'm not crying."
"Who said you were?"
They sat there for a second. "I guess what I should ask you is what happened?"
"I came home from spending the night at my friend's house. Mama wasn't there. She left a note for me to call a number that would bring people to the house who'd look after me. But the phone wasn't working."
"How'd you come to the conclusion that you needed to travel to Seattle from- where were you living with Jace?"
"Nearby Hermosallo. You see, Mama just tells me enough about her family and her past so that the neighbours won't ask questions. Recently she said that she had a little sister named Max who lived in Seattle and worked as a bike courier. I had to walk a lot. And hitchhike. And take buses. Mama always told me where she put our money and papers and passes, so I decided she would have wanted me to come here. It took a long time. All the money Mama had was in hundred-dollar denominations, so I couldn't spend a lot in case people asked where I got it. I found where you used to work in the phone book last night and went there to get your address. That's it."
"What about your daddy? Friend of mine tracked him down years ago, told him where you and Jace were living."
"No... Victor never came to see us. At least, I never saw him. Mama doesn't date."
Max sighed. "So what does my sister tell you about her family?"
"She mentioned you... she says she was born in Wyoming and she went to military school there. Then she grew up and left and met my father and went to Mexico and had me. That's it, basically. I have a question..."
"What?"
"If you're sisters, how come you have different last names?"
"Different mothers."
"Oh... same father, then?"
"No father. All your mother's family, we've all got different last names."
"Really? How many of you are there?"
"Lots of us are dead in the war on transgenics- you would have been a little baby then."
"I heard about transgenics in and around Seattle when I was little. There were more transgenic scares when I started school, and again a few years ago. But what does that have to do with you and Mama's family?"
Aunt Max stood up. "Do you have any clothes?"
"Just the ones I'm wearing. I had more, but those bad men stole them."
"What did they look like exactly?"
"One wore a denim jacket and a red hat. The other was tall and skinny and bald. He had sharp teeth."
"Transgenic?" asked Aunt Max in concern.
"Nope, just sharp teeth. They were pretty gross."
Maxie's aunt laughed. "Well, I guess you can borrow one of my shirts to sleep in tonight."
"I'm allowed to stay?"
"Sure. I've got a friend of mine on tracking down my sister... I've got connections. I can call people up."
"That's very kind of you," said Max.
"I should go and call some people. Um, bathroom's in the next room, kitchen's on the right. You want a drink or something? Anything to eat?"
Maxie smiled at how nervous her aunt was.
"How many nieces and nephews do you have, Aunt Max?"
"Just my nephew Case. He lives in Canada with his dad. I contact him as often as I can, but I haven't seen him in person since he was little. You could say I'm a little rusty with big kids."
Max giggled. "I'm only ten, Aunt Max."
"Ten, huh? Time flies. Last time I heard about you you weren't even born."
Aunt Max sauntered into the other room and started dialling telephone numbers.
Little Max stood up and began walking around the living room. Maxie made very little noise when she moved. She could sneak up on anyone.
She decided to eavesdrop on her aunt while she was on the phone. Aunt Max seemed to talk to herself more than anyone when she was telephoning people.
"Alec- damn! Alec WOULD have no answering machine. Aiight, I'll call Syl." She dialled a number and started talking. "Syl! I can't believe you're there, no-one else is answering their phone. What? Syl, forget going to that club tonight. We have a situation. I've got Jace's daughter here and- yes, Syl, Jace had a daughter. She's ten and she came from Mexico because her mother's gone missing. You got any news of anyone looking for X5 technology?"
There was a pause.
"Syl, think. Foreign military, maybe? Like with Brin, remember?"
Another pause.
"OK, that's good. Can you scope it out tonight? Yes, Syl, you can bring Krit. And I apologise for ruining your evening. Yes. Mmm-hmm. Can you drop by afterwards? No? Oh. You mean- thanks, Syl. I appreciate it. So remember, you and Krit come by and- yes. Uh-huh. OK. Peace out." She hung up the phone.
She turned around, bumping into Little Max. "Who's Syl and Krit and Alec and Brin?"
"My sisters and brothers. Didn't your mother tell you it's not nice to eavesdrop on people when they're on the phone?"
"Yes, many times. Mama is very much for politeness and respect to those who outrank you."
Max raised her eyebrows. "Like who?"
"Adults. Relatives. Teachers. Politicians. Sector police."
"Figures. You can take the girl out of Manticore, but you can't take Manticore out of the girl."
"What's Manticore?"
"Our military school. Syl, Brin and Krit were there too."
"What about Alec?"
"Oh, he wasn't in our class. His twin brother Ben was."
"Am I going to meet Ben, Aunt Max?"
Max sighed and looked away. "I don't like to talk about Ben."
Maxie bit at her lip. "I am sorry if I have offended you, Aunt Max. Do you want me to get you something?"
Max looked at her niece and managed to giggle. "You don't even know your way around this place, how are you going to get me anything?"
"I learn fast."
Aunt Max ushered Little Max into the kitchen. "How fast exactly?"
"I get very good marks. I should have skipped two grades."
"Really. Clever girl. But let me guess, your mother thought it would be best if you didn't?"
"It was Mama's and my decision, actually. I wanted to stay with Lila and Mama thought the bigger children would tease me. I'm given different work to the other children, but I learn in the same classroom."
Aunt Max had begun to make herself some coffee. "What do you want to drink, kid?"
"Can I have some of that... please," she said, remembering herself.
"Your mother lets you drink coffee?"
"No, but I always wanted to because she drinks so much of it herself and I wanted to find out what was so great about it."
"I'm guessing Jace doesn't sleep much."
"No, not from all that coffee. Do you want to know a secret, Aunt Max?"
"Sure." Aunt Max turned around to look at Maxie, who'd taken a seat at the table.
"I don't sleep as much as I should but I never drink coffee. I drink tea and chocolate milk, though."
"Oh, don't worry about that. None of your mother's family sleeps a lot. I can stay up for weeks on end without even yawning, that's why I have such a great nightlife." Max laughed nervously.
"You're lying to me, Aunt."
"How do you figure?"
"Well, I thought it was pretty weird that I can stay up for four or five days at a time, but you'd break down from exhaustion if you didn't sleep for weeks on end. It's not humanly possible," Maxie said sternly.
"You come from a very exceptional family, Max Morales. We have incredible abilities."
Max found this to be a very odd thing to say but let it go. She grinned at her aunt. "That's what my mama says, Aunt Max. She always calls us the two exceptional Morales women." She stopped smiling. "Aunt Max, I miss her. Why would anyone want to take my mother? She never broke the law or anything. She's always so nice to me and my friends."
"Well, I've got my friends on the case. Here, have some coffee."
"Thank you, Aunt Max." Max took an experimental sip. "It's not bad. Did Mama used to like coffee when she was a little girl?"
"We weren't allowed to drink coffee or tea or chocolate milk at military school."
"What did you drink, then?"
"Water. Milk, sometimes. It had a lot of vitamins and artificial things put in it to hype us up and make us strong. We could actually taste them. They were dis-gust-ing. Each of us was on a special diet of vitamins that got modified as we got older. Once your Uncle Zane tried to trade with Krit and Jace told on him. They got punished really badly because both of their vitamin diets had gotten screwed with."
"What did they make him do?" Maxie's eyes were wide. She never knew you had vitamin diets at military school.
"They made them wash up everyone's plates all by themselves, and then they had to sort out everyone's vitamins for the dosage we got before bedtime- or maybe we had a night lecture that night, I can't remember, and then they had to clean everyone's gun, and then-"
"You had GUNS at military school? Little children really got to play with guns?"
"Well, I wouldn't call it playing. Damn, this stuff is strong. Where does Original Cindy get this coffee?" Aunt Max was trying to change the subject.
"Is Cindy another sister?"
"OC is my roommate. She's my homegirl."
Little Max raised her eyebrows.
"My best friend," she explained.
"Oh, right. Tell me more about military school, Aunt Max. Mama says you were taught running and swimming and things like that."
"I think I've told you too much already."
"Please?" begged Little Max. "I'll do housework and run errands and I'll be very polite to your friend Original Cindy."
"I thought you were polite to everyone?"
"I am. But I'll be really, really polite if you tell me more about Manticore Military School."
"What do you want to know?"
"What were the teachers like? And who was the boss person?"
"You can get Jace to tell you when we get her back. You finished with that coffee?"
"Not yet. Hey, is that why the military wants you all?"
Aunt Max froze. "What did you hear?"
"Well, you were saying to your sister Syl that the foreign military might have taken her like they had your sister Brin. Do they abduct girls who used to go to Manticore Military School?"
"Sometimes," Aunt Max said. "Because we're genetically hyped-up."
"You mean the vitamins?"
"Yes. Yes, I mean the vitamins. And we're all very well-trained and intelligent. Exceptional, like Jace says to you. Any self-respecting foreign military would kill to have one of us in its ranks."
"What are you trained to do?"
"Fight."
"Not to sound mean, but didn't they teach you anything else? I-I'm not saying you sound stupid or something like that."
"They did teach us how to read and write and count. And all the usual things, like how to tie our shoelaces."
"Couldn't your relatives teach you how to tie your shoelaces? How old were you when you went to military school?"
"No, our relatives couldn't teach us." She looked a but far away at that point. "I bet we were the only little kids in the world who had a coupla shots fired into the wall if we didn't tie our laces right..."
Aunt Max realised that Little Max's mouth was slightly open. "Uh, yeah," said Aunt Max.
Suddenly, the front door opened. "I'm home!"
"Hey, boo," called Aunt Max. A woman wearing very bright clothes and pushing a bike walked into the kitchen.
"You get a new roommate while I was at work, suga?" she said, surveying Maxie, who suddenly felt horribly shy.
"This is my niece. You know, Jace's kid? From Mexico."
Original Cindy nodded. "I remember Jace. She stayed with us for that one afternoon. She was fine. What's yo' name, boo?"
"My name is Max Morales, Miss Original Cindy, ma'am. Like I said to her," she said politely, pointing at Aunt Max, "I'm sorry for coming here without asking first but my mama went away."
Aunt Max and Original Cindy looked at each other for a second and then burst out laughing.
Hours went by. Aunt Max and her friend were quite kind to Maxie. They were different kinds of women to the mothers in the street back home, who gossipped and said mean things about Max's lack of a father. They laughed about things and had their own slang like the big girls at the high school.
Max wondered why everyone skated around her questions. What was so terrible about the military school that nobody would talk about it?
* * *
DISCLAIMER: 'Dark Angel' belongs to Fox and James Cameron. Not me. So don't sue.
NOTE: Once again, I'm apologising. I write a terrible Max Guevara and a worse Original Cindy.
She could hear someone on the phone in the next room. "C'mon, Logan, please be there- damn! OK, listen. I got a kid here passed out in my living room claiming that she's Jace's daughter and that her mother's gone missing. I need you to investigate anyone who might have abducted Jace. And hurry."
Max's aunt hung up. She walked into the room and saw that Maxie was conscious. "Hey, you're awake. Well- I guess I should... uh..." Aunt Max folded her arms, gazing perplexedly at her niece.
"I-I apologise for imposing on you, Aunt Max, ma'am," said Max. She'd never had any family apart from her mother and wasn't quite sure how to act.
"Aunt Max, huh? I kinda like that. But cut the ma'am, kid, we're family." She came to sit next to Little Max. "I washed your cut. Nasty. What'd you do, run into some barbed wire?"
"You're really my Aunt Max? You don't look related to my mother."
"Let's just say we're sisters in everything except parentage. Now, what about that cut?"
Max took a deep breath. "Two men tried to beat me up and take my money when I was coming over here. They stole my money and my bag and my papers..." She realised her voice was rising and growing shrill and shaky, a sure sign she was on the verge of crying.
The two Maxs sat in silence for a second, Little Max trying to hide the fact that tears were welling up in her eyes. To her surprise Aunt Max put her arm around her shoulder. Nobody ever took to her this quickly. Usually they'd seen her run, or jump, or correctly add seventeen eight-digit numbers inside her head without really trying and dubbed her a freak.
"It's OK. You're not alone any more. I'm going to help you."
"I'm not crying."
"Who said you were?"
They sat there for a second. "I guess what I should ask you is what happened?"
"I came home from spending the night at my friend's house. Mama wasn't there. She left a note for me to call a number that would bring people to the house who'd look after me. But the phone wasn't working."
"How'd you come to the conclusion that you needed to travel to Seattle from- where were you living with Jace?"
"Nearby Hermosallo. You see, Mama just tells me enough about her family and her past so that the neighbours won't ask questions. Recently she said that she had a little sister named Max who lived in Seattle and worked as a bike courier. I had to walk a lot. And hitchhike. And take buses. Mama always told me where she put our money and papers and passes, so I decided she would have wanted me to come here. It took a long time. All the money Mama had was in hundred-dollar denominations, so I couldn't spend a lot in case people asked where I got it. I found where you used to work in the phone book last night and went there to get your address. That's it."
"What about your daddy? Friend of mine tracked him down years ago, told him where you and Jace were living."
"No... Victor never came to see us. At least, I never saw him. Mama doesn't date."
Max sighed. "So what does my sister tell you about her family?"
"She mentioned you... she says she was born in Wyoming and she went to military school there. Then she grew up and left and met my father and went to Mexico and had me. That's it, basically. I have a question..."
"What?"
"If you're sisters, how come you have different last names?"
"Different mothers."
"Oh... same father, then?"
"No father. All your mother's family, we've all got different last names."
"Really? How many of you are there?"
"Lots of us are dead in the war on transgenics- you would have been a little baby then."
"I heard about transgenics in and around Seattle when I was little. There were more transgenic scares when I started school, and again a few years ago. But what does that have to do with you and Mama's family?"
Aunt Max stood up. "Do you have any clothes?"
"Just the ones I'm wearing. I had more, but those bad men stole them."
"What did they look like exactly?"
"One wore a denim jacket and a red hat. The other was tall and skinny and bald. He had sharp teeth."
"Transgenic?" asked Aunt Max in concern.
"Nope, just sharp teeth. They were pretty gross."
Maxie's aunt laughed. "Well, I guess you can borrow one of my shirts to sleep in tonight."
"I'm allowed to stay?"
"Sure. I've got a friend of mine on tracking down my sister... I've got connections. I can call people up."
"That's very kind of you," said Max.
"I should go and call some people. Um, bathroom's in the next room, kitchen's on the right. You want a drink or something? Anything to eat?"
Maxie smiled at how nervous her aunt was.
"How many nieces and nephews do you have, Aunt Max?"
"Just my nephew Case. He lives in Canada with his dad. I contact him as often as I can, but I haven't seen him in person since he was little. You could say I'm a little rusty with big kids."
Max giggled. "I'm only ten, Aunt Max."
"Ten, huh? Time flies. Last time I heard about you you weren't even born."
Aunt Max sauntered into the other room and started dialling telephone numbers.
Little Max stood up and began walking around the living room. Maxie made very little noise when she moved. She could sneak up on anyone.
She decided to eavesdrop on her aunt while she was on the phone. Aunt Max seemed to talk to herself more than anyone when she was telephoning people.
"Alec- damn! Alec WOULD have no answering machine. Aiight, I'll call Syl." She dialled a number and started talking. "Syl! I can't believe you're there, no-one else is answering their phone. What? Syl, forget going to that club tonight. We have a situation. I've got Jace's daughter here and- yes, Syl, Jace had a daughter. She's ten and she came from Mexico because her mother's gone missing. You got any news of anyone looking for X5 technology?"
There was a pause.
"Syl, think. Foreign military, maybe? Like with Brin, remember?"
Another pause.
"OK, that's good. Can you scope it out tonight? Yes, Syl, you can bring Krit. And I apologise for ruining your evening. Yes. Mmm-hmm. Can you drop by afterwards? No? Oh. You mean- thanks, Syl. I appreciate it. So remember, you and Krit come by and- yes. Uh-huh. OK. Peace out." She hung up the phone.
She turned around, bumping into Little Max. "Who's Syl and Krit and Alec and Brin?"
"My sisters and brothers. Didn't your mother tell you it's not nice to eavesdrop on people when they're on the phone?"
"Yes, many times. Mama is very much for politeness and respect to those who outrank you."
Max raised her eyebrows. "Like who?"
"Adults. Relatives. Teachers. Politicians. Sector police."
"Figures. You can take the girl out of Manticore, but you can't take Manticore out of the girl."
"What's Manticore?"
"Our military school. Syl, Brin and Krit were there too."
"What about Alec?"
"Oh, he wasn't in our class. His twin brother Ben was."
"Am I going to meet Ben, Aunt Max?"
Max sighed and looked away. "I don't like to talk about Ben."
Maxie bit at her lip. "I am sorry if I have offended you, Aunt Max. Do you want me to get you something?"
Max looked at her niece and managed to giggle. "You don't even know your way around this place, how are you going to get me anything?"
"I learn fast."
Aunt Max ushered Little Max into the kitchen. "How fast exactly?"
"I get very good marks. I should have skipped two grades."
"Really. Clever girl. But let me guess, your mother thought it would be best if you didn't?"
"It was Mama's and my decision, actually. I wanted to stay with Lila and Mama thought the bigger children would tease me. I'm given different work to the other children, but I learn in the same classroom."
Aunt Max had begun to make herself some coffee. "What do you want to drink, kid?"
"Can I have some of that... please," she said, remembering herself.
"Your mother lets you drink coffee?"
"No, but I always wanted to because she drinks so much of it herself and I wanted to find out what was so great about it."
"I'm guessing Jace doesn't sleep much."
"No, not from all that coffee. Do you want to know a secret, Aunt Max?"
"Sure." Aunt Max turned around to look at Maxie, who'd taken a seat at the table.
"I don't sleep as much as I should but I never drink coffee. I drink tea and chocolate milk, though."
"Oh, don't worry about that. None of your mother's family sleeps a lot. I can stay up for weeks on end without even yawning, that's why I have such a great nightlife." Max laughed nervously.
"You're lying to me, Aunt."
"How do you figure?"
"Well, I thought it was pretty weird that I can stay up for four or five days at a time, but you'd break down from exhaustion if you didn't sleep for weeks on end. It's not humanly possible," Maxie said sternly.
"You come from a very exceptional family, Max Morales. We have incredible abilities."
Max found this to be a very odd thing to say but let it go. She grinned at her aunt. "That's what my mama says, Aunt Max. She always calls us the two exceptional Morales women." She stopped smiling. "Aunt Max, I miss her. Why would anyone want to take my mother? She never broke the law or anything. She's always so nice to me and my friends."
"Well, I've got my friends on the case. Here, have some coffee."
"Thank you, Aunt Max." Max took an experimental sip. "It's not bad. Did Mama used to like coffee when she was a little girl?"
"We weren't allowed to drink coffee or tea or chocolate milk at military school."
"What did you drink, then?"
"Water. Milk, sometimes. It had a lot of vitamins and artificial things put in it to hype us up and make us strong. We could actually taste them. They were dis-gust-ing. Each of us was on a special diet of vitamins that got modified as we got older. Once your Uncle Zane tried to trade with Krit and Jace told on him. They got punished really badly because both of their vitamin diets had gotten screwed with."
"What did they make him do?" Maxie's eyes were wide. She never knew you had vitamin diets at military school.
"They made them wash up everyone's plates all by themselves, and then they had to sort out everyone's vitamins for the dosage we got before bedtime- or maybe we had a night lecture that night, I can't remember, and then they had to clean everyone's gun, and then-"
"You had GUNS at military school? Little children really got to play with guns?"
"Well, I wouldn't call it playing. Damn, this stuff is strong. Where does Original Cindy get this coffee?" Aunt Max was trying to change the subject.
"Is Cindy another sister?"
"OC is my roommate. She's my homegirl."
Little Max raised her eyebrows.
"My best friend," she explained.
"Oh, right. Tell me more about military school, Aunt Max. Mama says you were taught running and swimming and things like that."
"I think I've told you too much already."
"Please?" begged Little Max. "I'll do housework and run errands and I'll be very polite to your friend Original Cindy."
"I thought you were polite to everyone?"
"I am. But I'll be really, really polite if you tell me more about Manticore Military School."
"What do you want to know?"
"What were the teachers like? And who was the boss person?"
"You can get Jace to tell you when we get her back. You finished with that coffee?"
"Not yet. Hey, is that why the military wants you all?"
Aunt Max froze. "What did you hear?"
"Well, you were saying to your sister Syl that the foreign military might have taken her like they had your sister Brin. Do they abduct girls who used to go to Manticore Military School?"
"Sometimes," Aunt Max said. "Because we're genetically hyped-up."
"You mean the vitamins?"
"Yes. Yes, I mean the vitamins. And we're all very well-trained and intelligent. Exceptional, like Jace says to you. Any self-respecting foreign military would kill to have one of us in its ranks."
"What are you trained to do?"
"Fight."
"Not to sound mean, but didn't they teach you anything else? I-I'm not saying you sound stupid or something like that."
"They did teach us how to read and write and count. And all the usual things, like how to tie our shoelaces."
"Couldn't your relatives teach you how to tie your shoelaces? How old were you when you went to military school?"
"No, our relatives couldn't teach us." She looked a but far away at that point. "I bet we were the only little kids in the world who had a coupla shots fired into the wall if we didn't tie our laces right..."
Aunt Max realised that Little Max's mouth was slightly open. "Uh, yeah," said Aunt Max.
Suddenly, the front door opened. "I'm home!"
"Hey, boo," called Aunt Max. A woman wearing very bright clothes and pushing a bike walked into the kitchen.
"You get a new roommate while I was at work, suga?" she said, surveying Maxie, who suddenly felt horribly shy.
"This is my niece. You know, Jace's kid? From Mexico."
Original Cindy nodded. "I remember Jace. She stayed with us for that one afternoon. She was fine. What's yo' name, boo?"
"My name is Max Morales, Miss Original Cindy, ma'am. Like I said to her," she said politely, pointing at Aunt Max, "I'm sorry for coming here without asking first but my mama went away."
Aunt Max and Original Cindy looked at each other for a second and then burst out laughing.
Hours went by. Aunt Max and her friend were quite kind to Maxie. They were different kinds of women to the mothers in the street back home, who gossipped and said mean things about Max's lack of a father. They laughed about things and had their own slang like the big girls at the high school.
Max wondered why everyone skated around her questions. What was so terrible about the military school that nobody would talk about it?
* * *
DISCLAIMER: 'Dark Angel' belongs to Fox and James Cameron. Not me. So don't sue.
NOTE: Once again, I'm apologising. I write a terrible Max Guevara and a worse Original Cindy.
