23. No Pain, No Gain

The Torturer's Handbook advises frequent breaks. The psychology of torture isn't terribly complicated; most people fear pain a great deal, and it is helpful to give them time to let that fear build up in their minds. In any event, torturers need bathroom breaks too. Periodically, they have to check in with their bosses, and assess the situation.

This is how Max finally came to be alone in a windowless, dirt-floored basement cell. She lay on her back, breathing shallowly, almost panting. Her eyes were open, but she wasn't aware of her surroundings. She was still elsewhere, which was a better place to be at present, than here.



Logan had his hands on his head, and was being marched down a dank basement hallway. The interrogation had taken forever. He was lying, they were lying, and with everybody lying the barrage of questions grew stale and circuitous and it was hard to establish any forward momentum. Throughout the entire experience his fear for Max had been a living thing, like a frantic bird beating against a plate glass window. He'd told them he was a reporter, looking for a photo of the scary mutant. They hadn't touched him. He was relieved. What if they confiscated the exoskeleton? He couldn't walk without it. He'd be helpless. Useless. One of the Familiars opened a door and shoved Logan inside. Across the room was a cell, and he could see Max lying on the floor. She looked like she was in a bad way, and he almost blew it by calling out her name.

"What the hell is going on?" he said. No one responded. He hadn't expected them to, but he was clinging to his cover. Now that he'd gotten his stupid self captured, he couldn't let them use him against Max.

She obviously hadn't given up yet, but now she had to bear both their weight. Logan knew that Max was very strong, but with the two of them trapped in the cold dark heart of their enemy's fortress, her force of will seemed too slender a reed for them both to be grabbing at against the rising current. When Max told White where his son was--and she would, eventually--they were dead. Seeing her battered and bruised, knowing that he only added to her burden, Logan resolved to do whatever he could to help her.

One of the Familiars put a hand on Logan's back and shoved him into the cell. That was the moment he knew. They may not know he was Eyes Only, or what he and Max meant to each other, but they knew that Logan had come for her.

He skidded in the dirt, pin wheeling his arms. He didn't want to fall on her. He couldn't touch her at the best of times, and now she was bleeding in several places. He saw that the shoulder of her jersey had been cut away to accommodate a field dressing. Blood was soaking through the gauze. He turned and grabbed the bars. "She needs medical attention," he yelled after the departing Familiars.

White entered, looking amused. "She's had medical attention," he said. "She's going to have more soon." He came close to the bars. He seemed to be sniffing the air. "You're human," he said.

"What else would I be?" said Logan.

"What do you want with the likes of her?" asked White.

"I've never seen her before in my life," maintained Logan, desperately grasping at the last shards of his cover story. "But, please help her. She's bleeding."

"Help her yourself," said White. "You can stop the bleeding."

Logan stood gripping the cell bars. He had no gloves, no bandages; if he touched her, he'd die. Such are the moments that define the chaotic incoherence of a man's life, and which define all the moments that follow thereafter. The woman that he loved lay at his feet. She had been mistreated, was injured and bleeding, and he could not touch her.

"Why won't you help her?" asked White, interested.

Logan felt like screaming.

"Is it because she's filth?" said White. "Is that why?"

"Go ahead," came a voice, weak and breathy. "Call me names."

Both men looked at Max, who was still flat on her back. She was staring at the ceiling. "I can't stop you," she said, with some effort. "But it just doesn't bother me." Laboriously, she sat up. "Hello," she said to Logan. "Who are you?"

Disgusted, White turned on his heel and left the room.

"Max," said Logan.

"Shh," she said, listening. "Okay."

"Max," he said again.

"Oh, Logan," she said, heartbroken. "What are you doing here?"





To be continued. . .