"Alec for the last time! I don't need A cell phone. I need THAT cell phone"
Max pleaded her nose pressed firmly against the glass of a display case.
THAT cell phone was the Mona Lisa of all cell phones. Diamond plated,
completely indestructible and with more gadgets than Logan's whole computer
system. It was a masterpiece and the second Max had seen it, she wanted it.
Alec had looked at the price and swallowed.
"Um…Max. I don't think that you need a cell phone like that. I mean it's a big leap from a beeper to a cell phone. One that I think you need to take very slowly. You know what you need? Cell phone training wheels. Maybe we should look at some of the (Alec cleared his throat) less expensive models. Like this one." Alec picked up and old clunky phone from the 1990's and flashed his trademark grin.
"Were you in the remedial class back at Manticore? Training wheels? And besides Alec that thing is older than I am. "
" Come on Max, it's a classic!"
" You're such a cheapskate! Besides don't you think that Scarlet belongs with an owner of equal genes?"
"Scarlet? You named the cell phone?"
Max blushed " Shut up Alec!"
"What's with you and naming things?"
" I should have called you Dick. That is a mistake that will haunt me forever" Max turned back to the display case. "Alec she's so pretty can I at least hold her?"
Alec sighed and looked again at the price. It was going to take a lot of midnight burglaries to pay this one off. He motioned to the saleswoman who had been making flirtatious gestures for the last hour as he and Max had traversed the store. She unlocked the case and handed it to Alec on a red velvet cloth. Max huddled in close and they ohhhhhed and ahhhhed like it was a baby.
"It's so small" Max whispered.
"And look at the tiny buttons. They're so perfect." Alec responded in awe. Max scrolled through the games, word processing programs, and movies that were stored on the cell phone. The more she saw the more she wanted it. Alec could swear his wallet felt lighter already. Then she found it. The melody they had played that morning wafted through the store.
"Alec it rings with our song! Pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasssssssseeee. I'll be your slave for a week." Alec resigned himself to his fate.
"Fine Max you can have it." Max squealed in delight. "But you have to help on the jobs that I'll need to make up the difference. And very importantly you must NEVER EVER tell Logan the number. I don't think that we can drop this one off the space needle."
Max smiled a huge smile and planted a sloppy kiss on his cheek.
Max was acting strange Logan thought. She was sitting on his couch her leg lightly touching Alec's as he sat next to her. They would sit perfectly still, then suddenly they would break into a tickle fight or a slapping war. They were acting like hyper kittens and it was getting on his nerves. If that wasn't enough every couple of minutes Max would excuse herself and retreat to the bathroom. Logan was getting annoyed. He had important saving the world work to get on with and he didn't have time to deal with these amateurs. The latest tickle fight had ended but only because Alec had secured both of Max's hands in his. Logan stared at the intertwined fingers jealously.
" So Max, I tried paging you." he said after he overcame the lump in his throat.
"Oh yeah. I meant to tell you. My pager fell off the Space Needle." Max said. Beside her she felt Alec tense as he suppressed a grin.
"You're joking right?" Logan asked.
"No I was holding it and it slipped out of my hand. Shattered into a million pieces. You can see the dent in the sidewalk where it landed."
"To my calculations it would have fallen 183 metres or 605ft accelerating at a speed of 9.8m/s/s meaning that it would have hit the ground at a velocity of over 60 m/s." Alec said doing the math in his head. "Unless Max threw it. Then the velocity could have reached speeds upwards of 100m/s. I expect that she threw it considering the way it shattered"
" You saw it?" Logan asked Alec sceptically.
Alec shook his head. "Only the remains. Pretty gruesome. It was something that no one should ever have to see." Max elbowed Alec in the ribs.
" Can you two excuse me a minute. I need to use the bathroom." Max said getting up. Alec met her eyes. She reluctantly unentwined her fingers from his and lost the connection.
"You've used the bathroom 6 times in the last 20 minutes." Logan said suspiciously.
Max shrugged " A girls gotta pee." Max walked calmly around the corner and as soon as she was out of sight. Sprinted to the bathroom and pulled out the cell phone.
Once Max returned Logan explained his latest Eyes Only Mission. "Seattle's squirrel population is in danger because of a by-law that forbids people to feed them. I think that the Mayor means to eliminate the squirrel population and release his own spy squirrels, which will bring back information on every citizen of this City. He means to use this information for his own corrupt purposes. Eventually these squirrels will become assassins and no one will be safe. Once the squirrels are released they cannot be traced, they cannot be stopped, and there will be no free voice in this city."
"Do they last exactly 60 seconds?" Alec asked.
Logan looked at him not understanding.
"Alec be serious. The squirrel assassins are a major threat."
" You're right Logan I'm sorry. I only spent the first 20 years of my life in a government facility learning to be an assassin. One who had the highest success rate of all the X-series. A cyber journalist like you would defiantly know more about the threat of squirrel assassins." Alec quipped back.
" May I continue?" Logan asked Max. She nodded and nudged Alec into silence.
Logan rolled over to the computer and brought up a map of Seattle. "My sources say that this is the facility where the squirrels are being held." Logan tapped the screen. "I want you to destroyed the facility and bring all the research files back here."
"Hey, Max is really good at destroying military bases but she has a tendency to let everyone out…"
"We'll do it." Max cut in. She rose. "Bathroom."
" The guards change at 11:30pm. Logan run interference in the surveillance video. If Alec enters through this pipe here and I enter here. We can lay the charges underneath the cages and blow it when we reach here. In and out in 15 minutes." Max said studying the map. "We'll call you when we're done."
Logan didn't like not being able to reach Max. It made him feel nervous. The way she was acting with Alec was making him nervous too. He had doubted before that there had been anything going on but now…he wasn't quite so sure. He knew what she needed. Max needed a present she loved presents and he knew just what to get her. Logan strapped on his exoskeleton and went to the store.
A/n: Sorry I gotta go the Canucks are playing the Redwings and winning 3-1 I can't keep writing and watching at the same time. I will write more soon.
A/n2: sorry I'm from Vancouver and so I only know metric. For anyone that doesn't know 100m is the length of an Olympic sprint.
"Um…Max. I don't think that you need a cell phone like that. I mean it's a big leap from a beeper to a cell phone. One that I think you need to take very slowly. You know what you need? Cell phone training wheels. Maybe we should look at some of the (Alec cleared his throat) less expensive models. Like this one." Alec picked up and old clunky phone from the 1990's and flashed his trademark grin.
"Were you in the remedial class back at Manticore? Training wheels? And besides Alec that thing is older than I am. "
" Come on Max, it's a classic!"
" You're such a cheapskate! Besides don't you think that Scarlet belongs with an owner of equal genes?"
"Scarlet? You named the cell phone?"
Max blushed " Shut up Alec!"
"What's with you and naming things?"
" I should have called you Dick. That is a mistake that will haunt me forever" Max turned back to the display case. "Alec she's so pretty can I at least hold her?"
Alec sighed and looked again at the price. It was going to take a lot of midnight burglaries to pay this one off. He motioned to the saleswoman who had been making flirtatious gestures for the last hour as he and Max had traversed the store. She unlocked the case and handed it to Alec on a red velvet cloth. Max huddled in close and they ohhhhhed and ahhhhed like it was a baby.
"It's so small" Max whispered.
"And look at the tiny buttons. They're so perfect." Alec responded in awe. Max scrolled through the games, word processing programs, and movies that were stored on the cell phone. The more she saw the more she wanted it. Alec could swear his wallet felt lighter already. Then she found it. The melody they had played that morning wafted through the store.
"Alec it rings with our song! Pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasssssssseeee. I'll be your slave for a week." Alec resigned himself to his fate.
"Fine Max you can have it." Max squealed in delight. "But you have to help on the jobs that I'll need to make up the difference. And very importantly you must NEVER EVER tell Logan the number. I don't think that we can drop this one off the space needle."
Max smiled a huge smile and planted a sloppy kiss on his cheek.
Max was acting strange Logan thought. She was sitting on his couch her leg lightly touching Alec's as he sat next to her. They would sit perfectly still, then suddenly they would break into a tickle fight or a slapping war. They were acting like hyper kittens and it was getting on his nerves. If that wasn't enough every couple of minutes Max would excuse herself and retreat to the bathroom. Logan was getting annoyed. He had important saving the world work to get on with and he didn't have time to deal with these amateurs. The latest tickle fight had ended but only because Alec had secured both of Max's hands in his. Logan stared at the intertwined fingers jealously.
" So Max, I tried paging you." he said after he overcame the lump in his throat.
"Oh yeah. I meant to tell you. My pager fell off the Space Needle." Max said. Beside her she felt Alec tense as he suppressed a grin.
"You're joking right?" Logan asked.
"No I was holding it and it slipped out of my hand. Shattered into a million pieces. You can see the dent in the sidewalk where it landed."
"To my calculations it would have fallen 183 metres or 605ft accelerating at a speed of 9.8m/s/s meaning that it would have hit the ground at a velocity of over 60 m/s." Alec said doing the math in his head. "Unless Max threw it. Then the velocity could have reached speeds upwards of 100m/s. I expect that she threw it considering the way it shattered"
" You saw it?" Logan asked Alec sceptically.
Alec shook his head. "Only the remains. Pretty gruesome. It was something that no one should ever have to see." Max elbowed Alec in the ribs.
" Can you two excuse me a minute. I need to use the bathroom." Max said getting up. Alec met her eyes. She reluctantly unentwined her fingers from his and lost the connection.
"You've used the bathroom 6 times in the last 20 minutes." Logan said suspiciously.
Max shrugged " A girls gotta pee." Max walked calmly around the corner and as soon as she was out of sight. Sprinted to the bathroom and pulled out the cell phone.
Once Max returned Logan explained his latest Eyes Only Mission. "Seattle's squirrel population is in danger because of a by-law that forbids people to feed them. I think that the Mayor means to eliminate the squirrel population and release his own spy squirrels, which will bring back information on every citizen of this City. He means to use this information for his own corrupt purposes. Eventually these squirrels will become assassins and no one will be safe. Once the squirrels are released they cannot be traced, they cannot be stopped, and there will be no free voice in this city."
"Do they last exactly 60 seconds?" Alec asked.
Logan looked at him not understanding.
"Alec be serious. The squirrel assassins are a major threat."
" You're right Logan I'm sorry. I only spent the first 20 years of my life in a government facility learning to be an assassin. One who had the highest success rate of all the X-series. A cyber journalist like you would defiantly know more about the threat of squirrel assassins." Alec quipped back.
" May I continue?" Logan asked Max. She nodded and nudged Alec into silence.
Logan rolled over to the computer and brought up a map of Seattle. "My sources say that this is the facility where the squirrels are being held." Logan tapped the screen. "I want you to destroyed the facility and bring all the research files back here."
"Hey, Max is really good at destroying military bases but she has a tendency to let everyone out…"
"We'll do it." Max cut in. She rose. "Bathroom."
" The guards change at 11:30pm. Logan run interference in the surveillance video. If Alec enters through this pipe here and I enter here. We can lay the charges underneath the cages and blow it when we reach here. In and out in 15 minutes." Max said studying the map. "We'll call you when we're done."
Logan didn't like not being able to reach Max. It made him feel nervous. The way she was acting with Alec was making him nervous too. He had doubted before that there had been anything going on but now…he wasn't quite so sure. He knew what she needed. Max needed a present she loved presents and he knew just what to get her. Logan strapped on his exoskeleton and went to the store.
A/n: Sorry I gotta go the Canucks are playing the Redwings and winning 3-1 I can't keep writing and watching at the same time. I will write more soon.
A/n2: sorry I'm from Vancouver and so I only know metric. For anyone that doesn't know 100m is the length of an Olympic sprint.