Alec and Max were sitting at a table in Crash when Logan arrived. He
spotted them and sat down at their table.
" You were right about Normal having something to do with the familiars." Alec said.
"Huh?…Oh yes! I've had my eye on Normal for awhile." Logan said and made a mental note to check into Normal.
There was an awkward silence at the table. Then Alec broke it. "Logan you look like shit man! What have you been doing?" Max kicked Alec underneath the table. *But he was right* She thought. Logan's clothes were dishevelled and smelly, he had dark circles under his eyes and he had more than his regular bit of stubble. Not only that but he looked dog-tired. Alec and Max on the other hand looked fresh and alert. After the train incident they had driven back to Max's where they had had a quick nap, a shower, and a change of clothes.
The table lapsed into silence again. " So Logan…" Alec started conversationally "What's our next little mission?"
"Ninja hedgehogs. Extremely dangerous." Logan said taking a sip of his beer.
"You're kidding right?" Asked Max in disbelief.
"Yeah. I don't have a mission for you today." Logan replied
Max and Alec sighed in relief.
"Then why are you here?" Alec said after a moment's hesitation.
"To hang out?" Logan said as if he were concerned it might not be the right answer.
" You? Hang out? No ulterior motives or last minute work that needs to be done?" Alec said sceptically.
"No. Why? Should there be?" Logan asked suspiciously.
" No reason." Said Alec brushing the subject aside and staring at the empty glass in front of him.
" I'll go get another pitcher of beer." Said Max getting up.
"So why are you really here Logan?" Alec asked bluntly as soon as Max left.
Logan leaned forward conspiratorially and placed a hand on Alec's shoulder. *The bug was planted. * He thought gleefully.
"I'm here…" He said very slowly so as to make sure Alec understood. "To hang out with Max."
"She doesn't want to hang out with you man! She dumped you." Alec said defensively and shrugged Logan's hand off his shoulder.
" You're just insecure because she loves me and is just using you for sex." Logan spat out viciously.
Logan was totally not acting like himself. He glanced at his watch 34 hours and 17 seconds. That, combined with alcohol was starting to work against him. Logan's vision blurred for a second and Crash seemed impossibly far away.
Max returned to the table. She glared at Alec. She had been able to hear the entire conversation quiet as it was, across the bar. Alec had known she could hear it but Max knew that Logan often underestimated her abilities and probably hadn't.
Logan was silent and looked like he was about to fall asleep. Then he pulled a smooshed doughnut from his pocket and began to nibble on it. He began to lick the sugar off his fingers with loud smacks.
Alec stifled a smirk and glanced at Max. Logan was so far gone it ceased to be funny.
A bit of the jelly from Logan's doughnut missed his mouth and landed on his chin. Logan began laughing hysterically. Bits of half chewed doughnut flew through the air. Alec and Max exchanged glances.
"Logan," she said, " You look exhausted. Why don't you go home and get some rest."
Logan rose reluctantly and stuffed the rest of the doughnut in his mouth. He still needed to plant a bug on Max but he had one on Alec. That was good enough for now. Logan walked back to his car and stuck an earpiece in his ear. Through it he could clearly hear Max and Alec's conversation.
"I need to get out of here…" Alec groaned in frustration. "And do something physical." The atmosphere at Crash was pressing down on them.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Max said.
Logan watched the two X-5's exit crash and pile onto Max's bike. He knew he couldn't follow them. They would know it in an instant. So he started up the car and headed back to his place. All the while listening to Max and Alec.
Max stopped her bike outside an abandoned warehouse. "Take off your jacket." Max told Alec as they prepared their fighting ring.
"Let's do it." Alec replied referring to the fight. They faced each other in fighting stance and then without warning sprang at each other. They grunted as they made contact. Their combat became rhythmic.
"I'd like to see Logan do this!" Alec said cockily as he did a flying spin. Max punched him in the gut and he let out a moan.
"You know Logan can't do that Alec." Max replied. " He doesn't exactly have your skills."
Logan had returned to his penthouse and really didn't want to hear anymore of what obviously was Alec and Max in a wild fit of passion. Passion in which Max was comparing him to Alec and he was coming up way short. How would she know anyways? All they had ever done was eat pasta together. Max's ragged gasps of pleasure ripped through his earpiece.
They were breathing hard and heavy now as they circled each other. Their fighting jumped to super speed and they were grunting as they matched each other move for move.
Then it was done.
"Wow!" Alec said, " That was great."
"What you're finished?" Max asked jokingly. " I wanted to go one more round with the champ." And with that the fighting started a new.
Logan couldn't bring himself to turn the sound off he sat listening in horror as someone else had sex with his girl. Very good sex obviously, he noted. Logan turned on the TV and flipped to a News report on the train wreck.
"Officials are still uncertain as to what caused the crash. Again, 600 squirrels dead and hundreds more injured in this tragic accident. This is Sandra Guppenheimer reporting. Back to you Rob."
Logan stared at the newscast blankly his eyelids were so heavy. This staying awake thing was really catching up to him. He blinked. His eyelids drooped again. Maybe he could close them for just a second…
"You know what?" Alec said as he sat propped up on Max's bed. "I think that we've been going about this destroying the beeper business entirely wrong."
They had been there for hours just talking about life and Manticore.
"How so?" Max asked.
" Well we have been going after the beeper."
"Yes." Max said not sure what he was getting at.
"We haven't been getting to the root of the problem." Alec said matter of factly.
"Uh-huh." Max mumbled not knowing if she wanted to hear this.
"Why do we want to kill the beeper? Because it won't shut up. Why won't it shut up? Because someone won't stop paging you. I say we take out the source."
"You are not pulling a hit on Logan Alec so don't even think about it." Max said sternly.
"A hit is a good idea that has its merits but I was thinking something a little less drastic. Like aversion therapy."
"Aversion therapy?"
"I read about a hamster back at Manticore…" Alec started.
"What's with you guys and small furry animals?"
Alec glared at her and continued. "They fed the hamster cheese on the end of a stick whenever it tapped the side of the cage. The hamster soon learned that if it tapped on the side of the cage it would get food. Well the hamster began completely ignoring its other food and got really really fat and had a minor heart attack But that's not the point. After awhile the people conducting the experiment put an electrical current in the side of the cage. So every time the hamster touched the side of the cage it would get a shock. The hamster learned very fast not to touch the side of the cage and went back to eating his regular food."
"You want us to feed Logan cheese?" Max asked not comprehending.
"No. We need to put an electrical current in the cage. Teach Logan to only page you when it's actually necessary. I bet that I could rig the beeper to send an electrical overload each time it is activated. So every time Logan pages you he will get a minor electrical shock."
"Ok." Max said. "Just don't make it too big." She handed her beeper over to Alec.
Alec fiddled for a few minutes and then looked up and smiled.
"Jackpot!" He said. "Now let's find a place to go watch."
A/n Thankyou to the reviewer who suggested hedgehog ninjas. I loved the idea but it took the story in a completely opposite direction. I couldn't resist putting them in once though.
A/n2 I About the electrical overload thing. I don't know anything about electronics. And it may not actually be possible but it works in my little fantasy world.
" You were right about Normal having something to do with the familiars." Alec said.
"Huh?…Oh yes! I've had my eye on Normal for awhile." Logan said and made a mental note to check into Normal.
There was an awkward silence at the table. Then Alec broke it. "Logan you look like shit man! What have you been doing?" Max kicked Alec underneath the table. *But he was right* She thought. Logan's clothes were dishevelled and smelly, he had dark circles under his eyes and he had more than his regular bit of stubble. Not only that but he looked dog-tired. Alec and Max on the other hand looked fresh and alert. After the train incident they had driven back to Max's where they had had a quick nap, a shower, and a change of clothes.
The table lapsed into silence again. " So Logan…" Alec started conversationally "What's our next little mission?"
"Ninja hedgehogs. Extremely dangerous." Logan said taking a sip of his beer.
"You're kidding right?" Asked Max in disbelief.
"Yeah. I don't have a mission for you today." Logan replied
Max and Alec sighed in relief.
"Then why are you here?" Alec said after a moment's hesitation.
"To hang out?" Logan said as if he were concerned it might not be the right answer.
" You? Hang out? No ulterior motives or last minute work that needs to be done?" Alec said sceptically.
"No. Why? Should there be?" Logan asked suspiciously.
" No reason." Said Alec brushing the subject aside and staring at the empty glass in front of him.
" I'll go get another pitcher of beer." Said Max getting up.
"So why are you really here Logan?" Alec asked bluntly as soon as Max left.
Logan leaned forward conspiratorially and placed a hand on Alec's shoulder. *The bug was planted. * He thought gleefully.
"I'm here…" He said very slowly so as to make sure Alec understood. "To hang out with Max."
"She doesn't want to hang out with you man! She dumped you." Alec said defensively and shrugged Logan's hand off his shoulder.
" You're just insecure because she loves me and is just using you for sex." Logan spat out viciously.
Logan was totally not acting like himself. He glanced at his watch 34 hours and 17 seconds. That, combined with alcohol was starting to work against him. Logan's vision blurred for a second and Crash seemed impossibly far away.
Max returned to the table. She glared at Alec. She had been able to hear the entire conversation quiet as it was, across the bar. Alec had known she could hear it but Max knew that Logan often underestimated her abilities and probably hadn't.
Logan was silent and looked like he was about to fall asleep. Then he pulled a smooshed doughnut from his pocket and began to nibble on it. He began to lick the sugar off his fingers with loud smacks.
Alec stifled a smirk and glanced at Max. Logan was so far gone it ceased to be funny.
A bit of the jelly from Logan's doughnut missed his mouth and landed on his chin. Logan began laughing hysterically. Bits of half chewed doughnut flew through the air. Alec and Max exchanged glances.
"Logan," she said, " You look exhausted. Why don't you go home and get some rest."
Logan rose reluctantly and stuffed the rest of the doughnut in his mouth. He still needed to plant a bug on Max but he had one on Alec. That was good enough for now. Logan walked back to his car and stuck an earpiece in his ear. Through it he could clearly hear Max and Alec's conversation.
"I need to get out of here…" Alec groaned in frustration. "And do something physical." The atmosphere at Crash was pressing down on them.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Max said.
Logan watched the two X-5's exit crash and pile onto Max's bike. He knew he couldn't follow them. They would know it in an instant. So he started up the car and headed back to his place. All the while listening to Max and Alec.
Max stopped her bike outside an abandoned warehouse. "Take off your jacket." Max told Alec as they prepared their fighting ring.
"Let's do it." Alec replied referring to the fight. They faced each other in fighting stance and then without warning sprang at each other. They grunted as they made contact. Their combat became rhythmic.
"I'd like to see Logan do this!" Alec said cockily as he did a flying spin. Max punched him in the gut and he let out a moan.
"You know Logan can't do that Alec." Max replied. " He doesn't exactly have your skills."
Logan had returned to his penthouse and really didn't want to hear anymore of what obviously was Alec and Max in a wild fit of passion. Passion in which Max was comparing him to Alec and he was coming up way short. How would she know anyways? All they had ever done was eat pasta together. Max's ragged gasps of pleasure ripped through his earpiece.
They were breathing hard and heavy now as they circled each other. Their fighting jumped to super speed and they were grunting as they matched each other move for move.
Then it was done.
"Wow!" Alec said, " That was great."
"What you're finished?" Max asked jokingly. " I wanted to go one more round with the champ." And with that the fighting started a new.
Logan couldn't bring himself to turn the sound off he sat listening in horror as someone else had sex with his girl. Very good sex obviously, he noted. Logan turned on the TV and flipped to a News report on the train wreck.
"Officials are still uncertain as to what caused the crash. Again, 600 squirrels dead and hundreds more injured in this tragic accident. This is Sandra Guppenheimer reporting. Back to you Rob."
Logan stared at the newscast blankly his eyelids were so heavy. This staying awake thing was really catching up to him. He blinked. His eyelids drooped again. Maybe he could close them for just a second…
"You know what?" Alec said as he sat propped up on Max's bed. "I think that we've been going about this destroying the beeper business entirely wrong."
They had been there for hours just talking about life and Manticore.
"How so?" Max asked.
" Well we have been going after the beeper."
"Yes." Max said not sure what he was getting at.
"We haven't been getting to the root of the problem." Alec said matter of factly.
"Uh-huh." Max mumbled not knowing if she wanted to hear this.
"Why do we want to kill the beeper? Because it won't shut up. Why won't it shut up? Because someone won't stop paging you. I say we take out the source."
"You are not pulling a hit on Logan Alec so don't even think about it." Max said sternly.
"A hit is a good idea that has its merits but I was thinking something a little less drastic. Like aversion therapy."
"Aversion therapy?"
"I read about a hamster back at Manticore…" Alec started.
"What's with you guys and small furry animals?"
Alec glared at her and continued. "They fed the hamster cheese on the end of a stick whenever it tapped the side of the cage. The hamster soon learned that if it tapped on the side of the cage it would get food. Well the hamster began completely ignoring its other food and got really really fat and had a minor heart attack But that's not the point. After awhile the people conducting the experiment put an electrical current in the side of the cage. So every time the hamster touched the side of the cage it would get a shock. The hamster learned very fast not to touch the side of the cage and went back to eating his regular food."
"You want us to feed Logan cheese?" Max asked not comprehending.
"No. We need to put an electrical current in the cage. Teach Logan to only page you when it's actually necessary. I bet that I could rig the beeper to send an electrical overload each time it is activated. So every time Logan pages you he will get a minor electrical shock."
"Ok." Max said. "Just don't make it too big." She handed her beeper over to Alec.
Alec fiddled for a few minutes and then looked up and smiled.
"Jackpot!" He said. "Now let's find a place to go watch."
A/n Thankyou to the reviewer who suggested hedgehog ninjas. I loved the idea but it took the story in a completely opposite direction. I couldn't resist putting them in once though.
A/n2 I About the electrical overload thing. I don't know anything about electronics. And it may not actually be possible but it works in my little fantasy world.